Sue's bookshelf: history en-US Fri, 26 Apr 2024 20:12:06 -0700 60 Sue's bookshelf: history 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics]]> 16158542
It was an unlikely quest from the start. With a team composed of the sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the University of Washington’s eight-oar crew team was never expected to defeat the elite teams of the East Coast and Great Britain, yet they did, going on to shock the world by defeating the German team rowing for Adolf Hitler. The emotional heart of the tale lies with Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not only to regain his shattered self-regard but also to find a real place for himself in the world. Drawing on the boys� own journals and vivid memories of a once-in-a-lifetime shared dream, Brown has created an unforgettable portrait of an era, a celebration of a remarkable achievement, and a chronicle of one extraordinary young man’s personal quest.]]> 404 Daniel James Brown 067002581X Sue 3 4.37 2013 The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
author: Daniel James Brown
name: Sue
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2024/04/01
date added: 2024/04/26
shelves: history, nonfiction, university-heights-book-club
review:
I saw the movie before reading the book, and I'm glad I did. The descriptions of competitive rowing in the book nearly made my eyes cross (and the rest of me go to sleep) but having SEEN the result of all this technique and talent in beautiful, fluid motion in the movie, the author's explanations made sense. The book follows three story threads: the boys' lives during the Great Depression and how their struggles shaped their characters, Hitler's preparation for the 1936 Olympic games and the false face Germany intentionally presented to the world, and as noted above, an exceptional amount of detail regarding the sport of competitive rowing. 3.5 stars
]]> <![CDATA[In His Steps (Enduring Voices)]]> 45180402 Here’s a nourishing meal.

Enduring Voices books offer time-tested insights into God, scripture, and the Christian experience. With In His Steps , you’ll find a classic novel that has challenged countless believers for well over a century.
See how a self-satisfied, well-to-do church is turned upside-down by the visit of a poor, sick unemployed man who asks what exactly it means when Christians say they follow in the steps of Jesus. Find how the question changes lives in the

In His Steps has been a compelling favorite for generations of believers. Read on to find the substance your soul craves.
]]> 304 Charles Monroe Sheldon 1643522493 Sue 1 spirituality, history
After reading it as an adult, my impression is much stronger -- and worse. I can't think of anyone I would recommend this book to EXCEPT students of American religious history. In that sense, it is an excellent portrait of the religious fervor that ultimately led to Prohibition. There are multiple references to "demon rum" and plot lines that highlight the moral collapse brought about by saloons in working class neighborhoods and the responsibility of the educated classes to oppose them. (Yes, I know how patronizing that sounds, but believe me when I say I have softened the classist rhetoric for the modern reader.)

As might be expected in a book published in the 19th century, complex issues such as alcoholism (the modern term for those who succumb to the seduction of "demon rum") are framed exclusively in moral terms and spiritual power alone (well, and the timely intervention of good Christians) is required to defeat them. (And I say this with no disrespect to the spiritual power necessary to defeat addiction -- I am aware that the first step in 12 step programs refers to a higher power.) However, the general tone and tenor of this book is so old-fashioned that it became meaningful for me only when viewed in historical perspective.

If you are looking for a book to inspire you as a Christian and/or a person interested in positive social change, there are SURELY better books out there! Though I was amazed to see that sales of this book are still brisk on Amazon and many, many ŷ reviewers are far kinder than I am regarding the current readability and value of this book. So, in the words of one of my favorite YouTube personalities, "It's just a thought."]]> 3.20 1897 In His Steps (Enduring Voices)
author: Charles Monroe Sheldon
name: Sue
average rating: 3.20
book published: 1897
rating: 1
read at: 2023/03/01
date added: 2023/08/20
shelves: spirituality, history
review:
An evangelical Protestant classic whose time has come and gone and which ought to be relegated to the dusty shelves of theological history, I read this out of curiosity. I had received a copy as a confirmation gift when I was eleven-years-old (circa 1964). Originally published in 1896 (per Wikipedia), it was surely outdated even at that time. My only memory of that original reading was a general sense of "meh."

After reading it as an adult, my impression is much stronger -- and worse. I can't think of anyone I would recommend this book to EXCEPT students of American religious history. In that sense, it is an excellent portrait of the religious fervor that ultimately led to Prohibition. There are multiple references to "demon rum" and plot lines that highlight the moral collapse brought about by saloons in working class neighborhoods and the responsibility of the educated classes to oppose them. (Yes, I know how patronizing that sounds, but believe me when I say I have softened the classist rhetoric for the modern reader.)

As might be expected in a book published in the 19th century, complex issues such as alcoholism (the modern term for those who succumb to the seduction of "demon rum") are framed exclusively in moral terms and spiritual power alone (well, and the timely intervention of good Christians) is required to defeat them. (And I say this with no disrespect to the spiritual power necessary to defeat addiction -- I am aware that the first step in 12 step programs refers to a higher power.) However, the general tone and tenor of this book is so old-fashioned that it became meaningful for me only when viewed in historical perspective.

If you are looking for a book to inspire you as a Christian and/or a person interested in positive social change, there are SURELY better books out there! Though I was amazed to see that sales of this book are still brisk on Amazon and many, many ŷ reviewers are far kinder than I am regarding the current readability and value of this book. So, in the words of one of my favorite YouTube personalities, "It's just a thought."
]]> Before and After 44908411
The incredible, poignant true stories of victims of a notorious adoption scandal--some of whom learned the truth from Lisa Wingate's bestselling novel Before We Were Yours and were reunited with birth family members as a result of its wide reach

From the 1920s to 1950, Georgia Tann ran a black-market baby business at the Tennessee Children's Home Society in Memphis. She offered up more than 5,000 orphans tailored to the wish lists of eager parents--hiding the fact that many weren't orphans at all, but stolen sons and daughters of poor families, desperate single mothers, and women told in maternity wards that their babies had died.

The publication of Lisa Wingate's novel Before We Were Yours brought new awareness of Tann's lucrative career in child trafficking. Adoptees who knew little about their pasts gained insight into the startling facts behind their family histories. Encouraged by their contact with Wingate and award-winning journalist Judy Christie, who documented the stories of fifteen adoptees in this book, many determined Tann survivors set out to trace their roots and find their birth families.

Before and After includes moving and sometimes shocking accounts of the ways in which adoptees were separated from their first families. Often raised as only children, many have joyfully reunited with siblings in the final decades of their lives. In Before and After, Wingate and Christie tell of first meetings that are all the sweeter and more intense for time missed and of families from very different social backgrounds reaching out to embrace better-late-than-never brothers, sisters, and cousins. In a poignant culmination of art meeting life, long-silent victims of the tragically corrupt system return to Memphis with Wingate and Christie to reclaim their stories at a Tennessee Children's Home Society reunion . . . with extraordinary results.]]> 320 Judy Christie 0593130146 Sue 3 history, nonfiction 3.93 2019 Before and After
author: Judy Christie
name: Sue
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2022/06/01
date added: 2022/10/09
shelves: history, nonfiction
review:
The novelized version of the disgrace that was the Tennessee Children's Home Society, Before We Were Yours, inspired some of the still-living survivors to seek each other out and meet. These are the survivors' stories (at least as well as can be pieced together from the few existing records and the victims' childhood memories). An interesting nonfiction companion to the fictional work.
]]> Slaves in the Family 944320
Through meticulous research and by interviewing scattered relatives, Ball contacted some 100,000 African-Americans who are all descendants of Ball slaves. In intimate conversations with them, he garnered information, hard words, and devastating family stories of precisely what it means to be enslaved. He found that the family plantation owners were far from benevolent patriarchs; instead there is a dark history of exploitation, interbreeding, and extreme violence.]]> 505 Edward Ball 0345431057 Sue 5 history 4.03 1998 Slaves in the Family
author: Edward Ball
name: Sue
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1998
rating: 5
read at: 2022/06/01
date added: 2022/08/27
shelves: history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence]]> 85715
The American Revolution was a home-front war that brought scarcity, bloodshed, and danger into the life of every American. In this book, Carol Berkin shows us how women played a vital role throughout the conflict.

The women of the Revolution were most active at home, organizing boycotts of British goods, raising funds for the fledgling nation, and managing the family business while struggling to maintain a modicum of normalcy as husbands, brothers and fathers died. Yet Berkin also reveals that it was not just the men who fought on the front lines, as in the story of Margaret Corbin, who was crippled for life when she took her husband’s place beside a cannon at Fort Monmouth. This incisive and comprehensive history illuminates a fascinating and unknown side of the struggle for American independence.]]> 224 Carol Berkin 1400075327 Sue 4 history 3.80 2005 Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence
author: Carol Berkin
name: Sue
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2021/10/01
date added: 2022/05/08
shelves: history
review:
I'm so glad to live in a time when traditional (male) accounts of history are not the only accounts available. It's gratifying to hear how the other 50% of the population was living with, reacting to, and participating in the dramatic conflict that engulfed the colonies during the American War for Independence.
]]> Women's Slave Narratives 369796 A compelling, authentic portrayal of women held as slaves in the antebellum South, these remarkable stories of courage and perseverance will be required reading for students of literature, history, and African-American studies.]]> 160 Annie L. Burton 0486445550 Sue 2 history, memoir 3.76 2006 Women's Slave Narratives
author: Annie L. Burton
name: Sue
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2006
rating: 2
read at: 2021/10/01
date added: 2022/03/08
shelves: history, memoir
review:
While one can't help but admire the lives of the five women show-cased in this book, all born into slavery and then freed, the stories themselves could have used some judicious editing. Also, some background and contextual information would have been helpful for the modern reader to fully understand the complexities of these women's individual journeys.
]]> <![CDATA[Narrative of My Captivity Among the Sioux Indians (1871)]]> 28263710
THIS is the title of a very interesting narrative of the capture of Mrs. Fanny Kelly, in 1864, who was en route with her husband and a little adopted daughter with a small band of other emigrants to the Far West. They were surrounded just at nightfall by a troop of Sioux Indians, who at first feigned friendship, but very soon, notwithstanding they were treated with kindness and liberality by the unfortunate party, began a murderous attack, killing several, and taking Fanny, her adopted daughter, and a Mrs. Larimer prisoners. Mrs. Larimer got away the second night, but our authoress remained for five months- the victim of cruelty, exposure, fear, and despair, but having an opportunity to see and know much of Indian life. The work abounds in sketches of scenery, and the wild eventful lifetraits of the Indians of the Northwest.

Fanny was captured from an emigrant train some distance from Fort Laramie on the Platte River, in Wyoming, by a band of Ogallala Sioux Indians. This tribe of Indians were the best fighters of all the Indians. They were of good physique and were rich in horses and traveled very rapidly. At the time of her capture Fanny was but nineteen years of age, and during her career with the Indians she was subjected to more blood-curdling experiences than the ordinary woman could withstand. After carrying her into the Dakotas, the Big Chief spared her life because she showed so much skill in dressing the wounds of their wounded and made herself useful. More severe than the long marches must have been the witnessing of the battles in which her own people were killed, and the fiendish acts of the blood-thirsty warriors.

It was on May 17, 1864, that Josiah S. Kelly, his young wife, and their adopted little daughter, Mary, left their home in Geneva, Kansas, and with other emigrants started for the golden fields of Idaho, with high wrought hopes of future prosperity and pleasant anticipations of a romantic and delightful journey across the plains. They experienced no disturbances from Indians, safely crossed the Platte River, until July 12, 1864, when they came into the Little Box Elder Valley, 12 miles from Deer Creek Station. When suddenly without warning, the bluffs before them were covered with a party of about two hundred Indians. Gaudily painted, uttering their wild war-whoops, firing a volley of guns and revolvers, they descended on the train of emigrants. In the massacre that followed, Josiah succeeded in making a miraculous escape. Favored by the fast approaching darkness, he hid himself in the tall grass and sage brush.

Fanny's narrative covers the succeeding events that led to her eventually being reunited with her husband; Congress later voted to give her $5,000 for her efforts which save a fort from attack.

This book originally published in 1871 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional imperfection; original spellings have been kept in place.

]]> 153 Fanny Kelly Sue 2 3.90 1871 Narrative of My Captivity Among the Sioux Indians (1871)
author: Fanny Kelly
name: Sue
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1871
rating: 2
read at: 2021/03/01
date added: 2022/03/04
shelves: memoir, native-american, history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Burger Chef Murders in Indiana (True Crime)]]> 43546293 144 Julie Young 1467143081 Sue 3 history, nonfiction
Because I don't read much in the true crime genre, I don't quite know how to fairly rate this book. I liked it (if it can be said that anyone "likes" a book about the unsolved deaths of four people). If you've followed my reviews for long, you know that a 3 star rating from me means that you will probably appreciate the book if you enjoy the genre. After reading this book, I felt an immense sadness that these lives were ended so brutally and that those who ended their lives literally got away with murder. (Though I got the impression from the book that the police themselves felt they knew who did it -- or at least, knew one of the people involved -- but they could never prove it, partly because of a gross mishandling of the original crime scene. The Speedway* police in the 1970's were rarely called upon to solve a murder.)

So, if you are interested, the book will be at my local Half Price Books and not on my bookshelf, because I just can't look at those faces without sadness. (*And for those of you who are not familiar with Indianapolis, yes, "Speedway" is so named because the famous track that hosts the Indy 500 every May is there.)
]]> 3.63 The Burger Chef Murders in Indiana (True Crime)
author: Julie Young
name: Sue
average rating: 3.63
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2020/06/01
date added: 2021/02/22
shelves: history, nonfiction
review:
I rarely read true crime, but when I saw this book in the "local interest" section of the bookstore, I bought it because, well, I am local, and I am interested. Had the authorities finally cracked this 40-year-old cold case, and I somehow missed it on the evening news? Sadly, the answer to that question is "no." The deaths of the four young people whose faces are on the cover of this book and who were abducted from a fast food restaurant late at night, driven to a dark woods outside of town, and murdered in cold blood remains one of Indiana's most famous cold cases.

Because I don't read much in the true crime genre, I don't quite know how to fairly rate this book. I liked it (if it can be said that anyone "likes" a book about the unsolved deaths of four people). If you've followed my reviews for long, you know that a 3 star rating from me means that you will probably appreciate the book if you enjoy the genre. After reading this book, I felt an immense sadness that these lives were ended so brutally and that those who ended their lives literally got away with murder. (Though I got the impression from the book that the police themselves felt they knew who did it -- or at least, knew one of the people involved -- but they could never prove it, partly because of a gross mishandling of the original crime scene. The Speedway* police in the 1970's were rarely called upon to solve a murder.)

So, if you are interested, the book will be at my local Half Price Books and not on my bookshelf, because I just can't look at those faces without sadness. (*And for those of you who are not familiar with Indianapolis, yes, "Speedway" is so named because the famous track that hosts the Indy 500 every May is there.)

]]> <![CDATA[Pandemic 1918: The Story of the Deadliest Influenza in History]]> 37923457 In the dying months of World War I, Spanish flu suddenly overwhelmed the world, killing between 50 and 100 million people.German soldiers termed it Blitzkatarrh, British soldiers called it Flanders Grippe, but globally the pandemic gained the notorious title of ‘Spanish Flu�.Nowhere escaped this common in Britain, 250,000 people died, in the United States it was 750,000, five times its total military fatalities in the war, while European deaths reached over two million. The numbers are staggering. And yet at the time, news of the danger was suppressed for fear of impacting war-time morale. Even today these figures are shocking to many � the war still hiding this terrifying menace in its shadow.And behind the numbers are human lives, stories of those who suffered and fought it � in the hospitals and laboratories. Catharine Arnold traces the course of the disease, its origins and progress, across the globe via these remarkable people. Some are well known to us, like British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, US President Woodrow Wilson, and writers Robert Graves and Vera Brittain, but many more are unknown. They are the doughboys from the US, gold miners in South Africa, schoolgirls in Great Britain and many others. Published 100 years after the most devastating pandemic in world history, Pandemic 1918 uses previously unpublished records, memoirs, diaries and government publications to uncover the human story of 1918.]]> 417 Catharine Arnold Sue 3 history, medicine
I am a history nerd through and through, so I had planned on reading this book PRIOR to 2020. Once I found myself caught up in the events of our own century's pandemic crisis, well, it seemed to become required reading. Clearly, there are parallels here to our own time, but there are also great differences -- wonderful differences. From patient zero to the last recorded death from the "Spanish flu" in the summer of 1919 was probably just under 3 years. As I sit and type this, it is just over a year since the first case of Covid-19 was identified in the USA, and I am fully vaccinated. THANK YOU modern medicine!! There is already a "light at the end of the tunnel" for us that was unimaginable for our ancestors.

Another great difference between the "Spanish flu" of 1918 and "the 'Rona" of our own time is its choice of typical victim. Covid-19 is deadliest to the elderly and those with compromising medical conditions. The pandemic of the early 20th century most often attacked the young and fit. In fact, it so decimated the numbers of young men (and women) in the workforce that, when combined with the loss of young men on the battlefields of WWI, it was indirectly one of the driving factors in raising the wages of the working class in the 1920's. The "Spanish flu" also killed more quickly (first symptom in the morning, often dead by nightfall), however, I suspect that if we were living in a world without ventilators and supplemental oxygen, a much higher percentage of the victims of the coronavirus would have died quickly, too. We are just so lucky, folks!

Finally, I will leave you with a story that simultaneously makes me feel both very old and personally connected to the stories in this book. My grandmother was 16-years-old when the pandemic of 1918 was rampant in the US. Her adored older brother Will -- who had been drafted and was scheduled to be shipped out to the battlefields of WWI -- became critically ill with the "Spanish flu." He was not expected to live, and so he was left behind in a hospital where my grandmother stayed with him night and day as his personal nurse. (Then, as now, hospitals in the midst of pandemic were critically short of staff.) To everyone's amazement, he did survive, though by the time he was fully recovered, the war was nearly over, and he was discharged from the army. Therefore, it could be said that contracting the "Spanish flu" may actually have saved Will's life by keeping him off the battlefield. My grandmother would tell this story when she wanted to point out that things are not always as bad as they seem -- a truth in Will's life, for sure! ]]> 3.75 2018 Pandemic 1918: The Story of the Deadliest Influenza in History
author: Catharine Arnold
name: Sue
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2020/06/01
date added: 2021/02/21
shelves: history, medicine
review:
"Those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." A vicious illness about which little is known, doctors shouting an early warning that is largely ignored, a president hesitant to make hard decisions for fear of political backlash, some cities faring better than others based on their leaders' willingness to embrace closures and "lockdown," and most citizens willing to wear masks while a selfish few refuse -- does any of this sound familiar? If it does, rest assured it would also have sounded familiar to your forebears.

I am a history nerd through and through, so I had planned on reading this book PRIOR to 2020. Once I found myself caught up in the events of our own century's pandemic crisis, well, it seemed to become required reading. Clearly, there are parallels here to our own time, but there are also great differences -- wonderful differences. From patient zero to the last recorded death from the "Spanish flu" in the summer of 1919 was probably just under 3 years. As I sit and type this, it is just over a year since the first case of Covid-19 was identified in the USA, and I am fully vaccinated. THANK YOU modern medicine!! There is already a "light at the end of the tunnel" for us that was unimaginable for our ancestors.

Another great difference between the "Spanish flu" of 1918 and "the 'Rona" of our own time is its choice of typical victim. Covid-19 is deadliest to the elderly and those with compromising medical conditions. The pandemic of the early 20th century most often attacked the young and fit. In fact, it so decimated the numbers of young men (and women) in the workforce that, when combined with the loss of young men on the battlefields of WWI, it was indirectly one of the driving factors in raising the wages of the working class in the 1920's. The "Spanish flu" also killed more quickly (first symptom in the morning, often dead by nightfall), however, I suspect that if we were living in a world without ventilators and supplemental oxygen, a much higher percentage of the victims of the coronavirus would have died quickly, too. We are just so lucky, folks!

Finally, I will leave you with a story that simultaneously makes me feel both very old and personally connected to the stories in this book. My grandmother was 16-years-old when the pandemic of 1918 was rampant in the US. Her adored older brother Will -- who had been drafted and was scheduled to be shipped out to the battlefields of WWI -- became critically ill with the "Spanish flu." He was not expected to live, and so he was left behind in a hospital where my grandmother stayed with him night and day as his personal nurse. (Then, as now, hospitals in the midst of pandemic were critically short of staff.) To everyone's amazement, he did survive, though by the time he was fully recovered, the war was nearly over, and he was discharged from the army. Therefore, it could be said that contracting the "Spanish flu" may actually have saved Will's life by keeping him off the battlefield. My grandmother would tell this story when she wanted to point out that things are not always as bad as they seem -- a truth in Will's life, for sure!
]]> <![CDATA[Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man]]> 54081499
Mary Trump spent much of her childhood in her grandparents� large, imposing house in the heart of Queens, where Donald and his four siblings grew up. She describes a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse. She explains how specific events and general family patterns created the damaged man who currently occupies the Oval Office, including the strange and harmful relationship between Fred Trump and his two oldest sons, Fred Jr. and Donald.

A first-hand witness to countless holiday meals and family interactions, Mary brings an incisive wit and unexpected humor to sometimes grim, often confounding family events. She recounts in unsparing detail everything from her uncle Donald’s place in the family spotlight and Ivana’s penchant for re-gifting to her grandmother’s frequent injuries and illnesses and the appalling way Donald, Fred Trump’s favorite son, dismissed and derided him when he began to succumb to Alzheimer’s.

Numerous pundits, armchair psychologists, and journalists have sought to parse Donald J. Trump’s lethal flaws. Mary L. Trump has the education, insight, and intimate familiarity needed to reveal what makes Donald, and the rest of her clan, tick. She alone can recount this fascinating, unnerving saga, not just because of her insider’s perspective but also because she is the only Trump willing to tell the truth about one of the world’s most powerful and dysfunctional families.]]> 225 Mary L. Trump 1982141468 Sue 4 history, memoir
I won't belabor the conclusions of her book, in which she claims that our current president is so unfit for office as to be dangerous. To me, after nearly 4 years of Trump's leadership, this seems self-evident. But I will say that, once you read it, you will no longer wonder at the lack of empathy President Trump shows for the grieving survivors of COVID-19 victims. Not one person in his family could show empathy for anyone, including their own son/brother who was left to die alone in a hospital while his mother and father continued about their business at home and Donald and his sister went to a movie. You will no longer wonder at Trump's lack of generosity of spirit. Again, no one in his family seems able to manage generosity of any kind, with genuine praise non-existent and with Christmas gifts given more to humiliate (e.g., re-gifted purses with used kleenex inside) than to please. And you will have your suspicions regarding his college education confirmed; he PAID another student to take his SAT's.

In many ways this is a "poor little rich kid" story, the story of a childhood in which dollars were abundant but compassion and understanding were scarce. However, since we as a nation have inexplicably put this "poor little rich kid" into office, the potential for disaster that this emotional damage could create for all of us is terrifying. I'm begging you -- please vote this man out of office! ]]> 3.76 2020 Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man
author: Mary L. Trump
name: Sue
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/07/01
date added: 2020/08/02
shelves: history, memoir
review:
After reading this book, one thing seems certain: Mary L. Trump's extended family (which includes our president, in case you have been living under a rock for the last 4 years) will never speak to her again. The upside of this is that, given her particular family, this is not a loss.

I won't belabor the conclusions of her book, in which she claims that our current president is so unfit for office as to be dangerous. To me, after nearly 4 years of Trump's leadership, this seems self-evident. But I will say that, once you read it, you will no longer wonder at the lack of empathy President Trump shows for the grieving survivors of COVID-19 victims. Not one person in his family could show empathy for anyone, including their own son/brother who was left to die alone in a hospital while his mother and father continued about their business at home and Donald and his sister went to a movie. You will no longer wonder at Trump's lack of generosity of spirit. Again, no one in his family seems able to manage generosity of any kind, with genuine praise non-existent and with Christmas gifts given more to humiliate (e.g., re-gifted purses with used kleenex inside) than to please. And you will have your suspicions regarding his college education confirmed; he PAID another student to take his SAT's.

In many ways this is a "poor little rich kid" story, the story of a childhood in which dollars were abundant but compassion and understanding were scarce. However, since we as a nation have inexplicably put this "poor little rich kid" into office, the potential for disaster that this emotional damage could create for all of us is terrifying. I'm begging you -- please vote this man out of office!
]]> <![CDATA[Faith and Betrayal: A Pioneer Woman's Passage in the American West]]> 40217561
In Faith and Betrayal, Sally Denton, an award-winning journalist and Rio’s great-great-granddaughter, uses the long-lost diary to re-create Rio’s experience. While she marvels at the great natural beauty of Utah, Rio’s enthusiasm for her new life turns to disillusionment over Mormon polygamy and violence against nonbelievers, as well as the harshness of frontier life. She sets out for California, where she finds a new religion and the freedom she longed for. Unusually intimate and full of vivid detail, this is an absorbing story of a quintessential American pioneer.]]> 216 Sally Denton Sue 4 biography, history
Jean Rio Griffiths was born to the only surviving member of a French aristocratic family, most of whom met their fate at the guillotine during the French Revolution. In England, where her mother had escaped as a small child and then married well, Jean was raised to a life of upper class ease and then married well herself. Intelligent, musically accomplished, and wealthy, Jean balanced a life of musical performance in the concert halls of Europe with motherhood, bearing 8 children before her 40th birthday. And THEN -- insanity of monumental proportion took hold!! (That is MY interpretation and not the author's, who attempts to put the following event in historical context, but I continue to see it as a WHOPPER of a midlife crisis that Jean most surely lived to regret.)

But to continue, and THEN Jean is converted by Mormon missionaries and convinced to move to the new promised land of the Utah territory to live an exalted life for the Lord. She liquidates all her assets, kisses all of her friends and most of her relatives good-bye, and sets sail for America with her 7 children (having lost her husband and her youngest child to cholera before leaving). She makes the rugged journey across the American wilderness to finally arrive in a very young Salt Lake City to find that the missionaries had neglected to tell her a few important details. That fortune she has? It now belongs to the church. Her husband has died? Too bad, but this is an extremely patriarchal society, and as a widow, you have exactly no power. That expensive, one-of-a-kind concert piano that you have lugged across an ocean and most of a continent to play in your new home? Not gonna happen -- it belongs to Brigham Young now; God has told him so.

If you are seething with anger and righteous indignation right about now, you are in good company. I believe steam may have been leaking from my ears as I read this. The fact that Jean managed to cool her own anger, raise her children in a tiny cabin on the outskirts of the Utah Territory (she wasn't even allowed to stay in the "city" -- the Mormon fathers wanted her and her large family to farm), gain midwifery skills to supplement her meager income, and finally, finally -- ESCAPE -- is remarkable. I'm glad that Ms. Denton has plucked this uniquely resilient woman from obscurity and given her the respect she surely deserves!

]]> 4.00 2005 Faith and Betrayal: A Pioneer Woman's Passage in the American West
author: Sally Denton
name: Sue
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2020/07/01
date added: 2020/07/26
shelves: biography, history
review:
This is the story of a little known but remarkably resilient woman, Jean Rio Griffiths, who crossed the Great Plains via wagon train in 1851 to settle in the new Zion of Utah Territory. It is authored by Sally Denton, an author and investigative reporter who is also this pioneer woman's great-great-granddaughter. Ms. Denton's genealogical and historical research, coupled with extant copies of Jean's emigration diary, combine to reveal a most atypical ancestor that defies the stereotypical portrait of a pioneer woman.

Jean Rio Griffiths was born to the only surviving member of a French aristocratic family, most of whom met their fate at the guillotine during the French Revolution. In England, where her mother had escaped as a small child and then married well, Jean was raised to a life of upper class ease and then married well herself. Intelligent, musically accomplished, and wealthy, Jean balanced a life of musical performance in the concert halls of Europe with motherhood, bearing 8 children before her 40th birthday. And THEN -- insanity of monumental proportion took hold!! (That is MY interpretation and not the author's, who attempts to put the following event in historical context, but I continue to see it as a WHOPPER of a midlife crisis that Jean most surely lived to regret.)

But to continue, and THEN Jean is converted by Mormon missionaries and convinced to move to the new promised land of the Utah territory to live an exalted life for the Lord. She liquidates all her assets, kisses all of her friends and most of her relatives good-bye, and sets sail for America with her 7 children (having lost her husband and her youngest child to cholera before leaving). She makes the rugged journey across the American wilderness to finally arrive in a very young Salt Lake City to find that the missionaries had neglected to tell her a few important details. That fortune she has? It now belongs to the church. Her husband has died? Too bad, but this is an extremely patriarchal society, and as a widow, you have exactly no power. That expensive, one-of-a-kind concert piano that you have lugged across an ocean and most of a continent to play in your new home? Not gonna happen -- it belongs to Brigham Young now; God has told him so.

If you are seething with anger and righteous indignation right about now, you are in good company. I believe steam may have been leaking from my ears as I read this. The fact that Jean managed to cool her own anger, raise her children in a tiny cabin on the outskirts of the Utah Territory (she wasn't even allowed to stay in the "city" -- the Mormon fathers wanted her and her large family to farm), gain midwifery skills to supplement her meager income, and finally, finally -- ESCAPE -- is remarkable. I'm glad that Ms. Denton has plucked this uniquely resilient woman from obscurity and given her the respect she surely deserves!


]]> <![CDATA[In the Hurricane's Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown]]> 38363272 The thrilling story of the Revolutionary War finale from the New York Times bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea and Valiant Ambition.

Here is the story of the remarkable year leading up to the siege of Yorktown. It sets Washington against his traitorous nemesis Benedict Arnold and places him in impossible situations and constant acrimonious negotiation with his French allies, along with his young protégé, the Marquis de Lafayette and his energetic general Nathanael Greene. In a narrative that moves from the ship-crowded waters off Newport, Rhode Island, to a wooded hillside near North Carolina's Guilford Courthouse, to the Dutch storehouses on the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius, Philbrick narrates the pivotal naval battle that brought the end of America's long, elusive path to independence. It was an improbable triumph made possible by Washington's brilliant strategy, leadership, and revolutionary use of sea power.

In the Hurricane's Eye opens in the fall of 1780. For five years, American and British forces had clashed along the edge of a vast continent and were now at a stalemate. The Royal Navy, with its fleet of powerful warships (just one of which mounted more cannons than possessed by the entire rebel army), could attack the rebels' seaside cities at will. The Rebels could just fall back inland and wait. Neither side could inflict the killing blow. As Washington knew better than anyone, only the French navy could break Britain's stranglehold on the eastern seaboard and thus ensure an American victory.

In the Battle of the Chesapeake (1781 - called the most important naval engagement in the history of the world), a French admiral foiled British attempts to rescue the army led by General Cornwallis. By making the subsequent victory at Yorktown a virtual inevitability, this naval battle--masterminded by Washington but waged without a single American ship--was largely responsible for the independence of the United States. A riveting and wide-ranging narrative, full of dramatic, unexpected turns, In the Hurricane's Eye reveals that the fate of the American Revolution depended, in the end, on Washington and the sea.]]> 366 Nathaniel Philbrick 0525426760 Sue 4 history 4.09 2018 In the Hurricane's Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown
author: Nathaniel Philbrick
name: Sue
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2019/10/01
date added: 2020/04/17
shelves: history
review:
For the true history buff, Nathaniel Philbrick never disappoints. I read this book in preparation for a vacation to the "historic triangle" of Virginia, which includes Yorktown. It definitely increased my understanding of the battle of Yorktown and informed my visit, though I'm not sure my travel companions appreciated all my new-found knowledge. (I may have been guilty of over-sharing and being the trip "know-it-all." Lol) So, if you are planning a trip to the area AND you are really "into" history in a big way, definitely read this book. (And, frankly, if you are really "into" American history in a big way, read it even if you're not traveling!)
]]> <![CDATA[The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue]]> 24692921 The story behind the major motion picture from Disney—starring Chris Pine, Eric Bana, and Casey Affleck—written by a recognized master of the genre—“a blockbuster account of tragedy at sea� (The Providence Journal).

It’s the winter of 1952 and a ferocious Nor’easter is pounding New England with howling winds and seventy-foot seas. Two oil tankers get caught in the violent storm off Cape Cod, its fury splitting the massive ships in two. Back on shore are four young Coast Guardsmen who are given a suicide mission. They must save the lives of the seamen left stranded in the killer storm, and they have to do it in a tiny lifeboat. The crew is led by Bernie Webber, who has to rely on prayer and the courage of his three crewmembers to pull off the impossible. As Webber and his crew sail into the teeth of the storm, each man comes to the realization that he may not come back alive. They’ve lost all navigation and have no idea where the stranded seaman are, and have no idea how to get back home. Whether by sheer luck or divine intervention, the crew stumbles upon the wounded ship in the darkness. More than thirty men appear at the railings of the SS Pendleton, all hoping to be saved. Once again, Webber and his crew face a daunting challenge. How can they rescue all these men with their tiny lifeboat?

Dripping with suspense and high-stakes human drama, The Finest Hours has incredible and astonishing true-to-life heroism and action-packed rescue scenes. This “marvelous and terrifying yarn� (Los Angeles Times) “deserves a place as a classic of survival at sea� (The Boston Globe).]]> 204 Michael J. Tougias 150110683X Sue 3 history
In the winter of 1952, a fierce storm in the Atlantic snapped two massive oil tankers into pieces, leaving the crews of both ships at the mercy of the unforgiving sea. This is the true story of the Coast Guard's attempts to rescue these men with a 4 man crew and a 36 foot lifeboat. DID YOU READ THAT? 4 men, a 36' boat, 70' seas, and a New England nor'easter -- in spite of the fact that I live in central Indiana, I've had enough experience with boating* to know that these men were either lunatics or first rate heroes. Read the book -- they were first rate heroes. This book is 3.5 stars. The men who carried out this act of bravery? They have earned too many stars to count.

*Three summers spent working on an island in Lake Superior -- I've been in a 36' boat next to an oil tanker. It was a fairly terrifying experience in placid seas and temperate weather. ]]> 3.77 2007 The Finest Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard's Most Daring Sea Rescue
author: Michael J. Tougias
name: Sue
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2016/01/01
date added: 2020/02/26
shelves: history
review:
This book was another airport discovery -- a gem of a true story that made me glad I was reading it AFTER my Christmas cruise and not before!

In the winter of 1952, a fierce storm in the Atlantic snapped two massive oil tankers into pieces, leaving the crews of both ships at the mercy of the unforgiving sea. This is the true story of the Coast Guard's attempts to rescue these men with a 4 man crew and a 36 foot lifeboat. DID YOU READ THAT? 4 men, a 36' boat, 70' seas, and a New England nor'easter -- in spite of the fact that I live in central Indiana, I've had enough experience with boating* to know that these men were either lunatics or first rate heroes. Read the book -- they were first rate heroes. This book is 3.5 stars. The men who carried out this act of bravery? They have earned too many stars to count.

*Three summers spent working on an island in Lake Superior -- I've been in a 36' boat next to an oil tanker. It was a fairly terrifying experience in placid seas and temperate weather.
]]> <![CDATA[Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project]]> 1376068
StoryCorps began with the idea that everyone has an important story to tell. And since 2003, this remarkable project has been collecting the stories of everyday Americans and preserving them for future generations. In New York City and in mobile recording booths traveling the country-from small towns to big cities, at Native American reservations and an Army post-StoryCorps is collecting the memories of Americans from all ages, backgrounds, and walks of life. The project represents a wondrous nationwide celebration of our shared humanity, capturing for posterity the stories that define us and bind us together.

In Listening Is an Act of Love , StoryCorps founder and legendary radio producer Dave Isay selects some of the most remarkable stories from the already vast collection and arranges them thematically into a moving portrait of American life. The voices here connect us to real people and their lives-to their experiences of profound joy, sadness, courage and despair, to good times and hard times, to good deeds and misdeeds.

To read this book is to be reminded of how rich and varied the American storybook truly is, how resistant to easy categorization or caricature. Above all, this book honors the gift each StoryCorps participant has made, from the raw material of his or her life, to the Americans who will come after. We are our history, individually and collectively, and Listening Is an Act of Love touchingly reminds us of this powerful truth.]]> 284 Dave Isay 1594201404 Sue 5 history, memoir, nonfiction
The StoryCorps interviews help illuminate the fascinating point at which history and human interest intersect for the common man, the point at which those of us who love the history of "every day" life can hear the voices of ordinary people describing what it was like for them as individuals to live in a certain time and place. The excerpts chosen for this book feature Americans of varying ethnicity, wealth, education, religion, and geography (urban vs rural, New Englander vs Midwesterner, etc.). Some stories I could strongly identify with (because they were similar to my family's experience) while others broadened my understanding of what it's like to live in other ways. There was one strong commonality among nearly all the stories, though, and that was the loving relationship between the person asking the questions (guided by a StoryCorps facilitator) and the person answering them. It really is the love of family (whether created by birth or by choice) and good friends that sustains us, and it's a wise thing to remember that the title of this book is absolutely true. ]]> 4.29 2007 Listening Is an Act of Love: A Celebration of American Life from the StoryCorps Project
author: Dave Isay
name: Sue
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2018/07/01
date added: 2018/12/10
shelves: history, memoir, nonfiction
review:
I'd heard of the StoryCorps Project long before reading this book when a friend of mine was interviewed by her grandchildren for her 100th birthday. (She lived for 5 more years!) Now after reading excerpts from the other StoryCorps interviews that are contained in this book, I'm grateful to the radio producer Dave Isay for the creativity and dedication it took to bring this project about and I'm so, so sorry that it came too late for me to add interviews with my parents to the StoryCorps collection.

The StoryCorps interviews help illuminate the fascinating point at which history and human interest intersect for the common man, the point at which those of us who love the history of "every day" life can hear the voices of ordinary people describing what it was like for them as individuals to live in a certain time and place. The excerpts chosen for this book feature Americans of varying ethnicity, wealth, education, religion, and geography (urban vs rural, New Englander vs Midwesterner, etc.). Some stories I could strongly identify with (because they were similar to my family's experience) while others broadened my understanding of what it's like to live in other ways. There was one strong commonality among nearly all the stories, though, and that was the loving relationship between the person asking the questions (guided by a StoryCorps facilitator) and the person answering them. It really is the love of family (whether created by birth or by choice) and good friends that sustains us, and it's a wise thing to remember that the title of this book is absolutely true.
]]> <![CDATA[A Kingdom Strange: The Brief And Tragic History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke]]> 6898455 In 1587, John White and 117 men, women, and children landed off the coast of North Carolina on Roanoke Island, hoping to carve a colony from fearsome wilderness. A mere month later, facing quickly diminishing supplies and a fierce native population, White sailed back to England in desperation. He persuaded the wealthy Sir Walter Raleigh, the expedition's sponsor, to rescue the imperiled colonists, but by the time White returned with aid the colonists of Roanoke were nowhere to be found. He never saw his friends or family again.

In this gripping account based on new archival material, colonial historian James Horn tells for the first time the complete story of what happened to the Roanoke colonists and their descendants. A compellingly original examination of one of the great unsolved mysteries of American history, A Kingdom Strange will be essential reading for anyone interested in our national origins.

]]> 304 James Horn 0465004857 Sue 3 history, native-american
James Horn does a creditable job of taking the bits and pieces of what is known, including obscure accounts of Native American oral history, and coming up with a plausible answer to this question. Though his account is not gripping historical writing, it is well-researched and his conclusion sensible. His discourse also leaves one with a less judgmental attitude about John White, who rather than callously abandoning his friends and family to a difficult (and probably tragic) ending, did try to return to them but was thwarted at every turn by both the political realities of the time and the weather.

Though I wouldn't recommend this to the reader with only a casual interest in history, I do think those with a particular interest in North American colonial history will find it interesting. (And who doesn't like the answer to a good unsolved historical mystery, anyway?) As for that long-ago children's biography of Virginia Dare, which was, of necessity, wholly fabricated? Turns out having her grow up with the Indians might not have been far off the mark.]]> 3.52 2010 A Kingdom Strange: The Brief And Tragic History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke
author: James Horn
name: Sue
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2015/03/01
date added: 2018/12/10
shelves: history, native-american
review:
I've been fascinated with the mysterious disappearance of the colonists on Roanoke Island ever since 5th grade, when I slipped a biography of Virginia Dare off the shelf next to me and read it instead of attending to the excruciatingly boring English grammar lesson in progress. (And thank you, Mrs. Schornhorst, for letting me do this, as I'm sure you knew I had this book hidden inside my larger English grammar text.) What did happen to Virginia Dare and all the other hapless colonists abandoned to fate in a trackless wilderness?

James Horn does a creditable job of taking the bits and pieces of what is known, including obscure accounts of Native American oral history, and coming up with a plausible answer to this question. Though his account is not gripping historical writing, it is well-researched and his conclusion sensible. His discourse also leaves one with a less judgmental attitude about John White, who rather than callously abandoning his friends and family to a difficult (and probably tragic) ending, did try to return to them but was thwarted at every turn by both the political realities of the time and the weather.

Though I wouldn't recommend this to the reader with only a casual interest in history, I do think those with a particular interest in North American colonial history will find it interesting. (And who doesn't like the answer to a good unsolved historical mystery, anyway?) As for that long-ago children's biography of Virginia Dare, which was, of necessity, wholly fabricated? Turns out having her grow up with the Indians might not have been far off the mark.
]]> <![CDATA[Ten Days a Madwoman: The Daring Life and Turbulent Times of the Original "Girl" Reporter, Nellie Bly]]> 25716691 Work for a New York newspaper
Fall in love
Marry a millionaire
Change the world

Young Nellie Bly had ambitious goals, especially for a woman at the end of the nineteenth century, when the few female journalists were relegated to writing columns about cleaning or fashion. But fresh off a train from Pittsburgh, Nellie knew she was destined for more and pulled a major journalistic stunt that skyrocketed her to fame: feigning insanity, being committed to the notorious asylum on Blackwell's Island, and writing a shocking exposé of the clinic’s horrific treatment of its patients.

Nellie Bly became a household name as the world followed her enthralling career in “stunt� journalism that raised awareness of political corruption, poverty, and abuses of human rights. Leading an uncommonly full life, Nellie circled the globe in a record seventy-two days and brought home a pet monkey before marrying an aged millionaire and running his company after his death.

With its sensational (and true!) plot, Ten Days a Madwoman dares its readers to live as boldly as its remarkable heroine.]]> 136 Deborah Noyes 0803740174 Sue 3 3.50 2016 Ten Days a Madwoman: The Daring Life and Turbulent Times of the Original "Girl" Reporter, Nellie Bly
author: Deborah Noyes
name: Sue
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2016
rating: 3
read at: 2018/07/01
date added: 2018/07/30
shelves: biography, south-park-book-club, history, young-adult
review:

]]> Ten Days in a Mad-House 19197664 107 Nellie Bly Sue 3
If you should decide to read this book, I would recommend FIRST reading a short biography of Nellie Bly (intended, I believe, for a young adult audience but quite informative to readers of all ages) by Deborah Noyes titled Ten Days a Madwoman. Since writing styles change over the generations, especially writing styles used by the news media and intended for the general public, words that once kept readers enthralled can seem clumsy and archaic today. Knowing something of Nellie's personal history and that of her particular time and place will help the modern reader see past her style of writing and admire the substance of what she was able to discover and the courage it took to do it. ]]> 3.92 1887 Ten Days in a Mad-House
author: Nellie Bly
name: Sue
average rating: 3.92
book published: 1887
rating: 3
read at: 2018/07/01
date added: 2018/07/30
shelves: history, south-park-book-club, nonfiction
review:
Nellie Bly was the pen name of Elizabeth Jane "Pink" Cochran, the first woman to work in what today would be called investigative journalism. Ten Days in a Madhouse, originally published as a series of expose' newspaper articles in the late 19th century, was Nellie's FIRST assignment for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World newspaper. It was also, essentially, a "trial" assignment. If Nellie could somehow manage to infiltrate the carefully guarded insane asylum on Blackwell's Island and report on the conditions there (which were correctly rumored to be horrific), she had a job with the paper. If she couldn't, well, then, popular opinion was indeed correct and members of "the weaker sex" were not fit for the rigors of newspaper reporting. Suffice it to say that Nellie succeeded in her assignment, and succeeded brilliantly.

If you should decide to read this book, I would recommend FIRST reading a short biography of Nellie Bly (intended, I believe, for a young adult audience but quite informative to readers of all ages) by Deborah Noyes titled Ten Days a Madwoman. Since writing styles change over the generations, especially writing styles used by the news media and intended for the general public, words that once kept readers enthralled can seem clumsy and archaic today. Knowing something of Nellie's personal history and that of her particular time and place will help the modern reader see past her style of writing and admire the substance of what she was able to discover and the courage it took to do it.
]]> <![CDATA[Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America]]> 223428
Born Fighting is the first book to chronicle the full journey of this remarkable cultural group, and the profound, but unrecognized, role ithas played in the shaping of America. Written with the storytelling verve that has earned his works such acclaim as “captivating . . . unforgettable� (the Wall Street Journal on Lost Soliders ), Scots-Irishman James Webb, Vietnam combat veteran and former Naval Secretary, traces the history of his people, beginning nearly two thousand years ago at Hadrian’s Wall, when the nation of Scotland was formed north of the Wall through armed conflict in contrast to England’s formation to the south through commerce and trade. Webb recounts the Scots� odyssey—their clashes with the English in Scotland and then in Ulster, their retreat from one war-ravaged land to another. Through engrossing chronicles of the challenges the Scots-Irish faced, Webb vividly portrays how they developed the qualities that helped settle the American frontier and define the American character.

Born Fighting shows that the Scots-Irish were 40 percent of the Revolutionary War army; they included the pioneers Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, Davy Crockett, and Sam Houston; they were the writers Edgar Allan Poe and Mark Twain; and they have given America numerous great military leaders, including Stonewall Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Audie Murphy, and George S. Patton, as well as most of the soldiers of the Confederacy (only 5 percent of whom owned slaves, and who fought against what they viewed as an invading army). It illustrates how the Scots-Irish redefined American politics, creating the populist movement and giving the country a dozen presidents, including Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. And it explores how the Scots-Irish culture of isolation, hard luck, stubbornness, and mistrust of the nation’s elite formed and still dominates blue-collar America, the military services, the Bible Belt, and country music.

Both a distinguished work of cultural history and a human drama that speaks straight to the heart of contemporary America, Born Fighting reintroduces America to its most powerful, patriotic, and individualistic cultural group—one too often ignored or taken for granted.]]> 384 James Webb 0767916891 Sue 3 3.79 2004 Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America
author: James Webb
name: Sue
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at: 2017/03/01
date added: 2018/05/19
shelves: history, memoir, st-luke-s-book-club
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dunkirk: The History Behind the Major Motion Picture]]> 34304263
THE EPIC TRUE STORY OF DUNKIRK � NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY CHRISTOPHER NOLAN AND STARRING KENNETH BRANAGH, TOM HARDY AND MARK RYLANCE.

In 1940, at the French port of Dunkirk, more than 300,000 trapped Allied troops were dramatically rescued from destruction at the hands of Nazi Germany by an extraordinary seaborne evacuation. The true history of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians involved in the nine-day skirmish has passed into legend. Now, the story Winston Churchill described as a 'miracle' is narrated by bestselling author Joshua Levine in its full, sweeping context, including new interviews with veterans and survivors.

Told from the viewpoints of land, sea and air, Joshua Levine’s Dunkirk is a dramatic account of a defeat that paved the way to ultimate victory and preserved liberty for generations to come.]]> 376 Joshua Levine 0008227888 Sue 3 history
If you decide to tackle the book, be advised there is a lot of discussion of tactical strategy (and, sometimes, of the lack thereof) and horrific scenes of war -- all taken straight from first hand accounts -- that make me very glad that I have not (nor has anyone I love) ever had to be a soldier. For film buffs, there is also a chapter on the actual nitty-gritty details involved in making a historical film of this magnitude that I found very interesting. And finally, on a personal note, I wanted to see the film because I remember my father talking about the event. (At the time, he was a young paper boy hawking newspapers on a street corner, and the Dunkirk evacuation was in the headlines. Apparently, sales were quite brisk.) He found the heroism of the British inspiring. Author Levine makes a good point that, without that determined heroism (including the miraculous rescue of more that 300,000 Allied soldiers at Dunkirk), Hitler might have ultimately prevailed, and the world for all of us would be a very different place today.

]]> 3.63 2017 Dunkirk: The History Behind the Major Motion Picture
author: Joshua Levine
name: Sue
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2018/01/01
date added: 2018/03/11
shelves: history
review:
I read this book AFTER seeing the movie. I would advise, if you have an interest in this part of WWII history, you read the book first and then see the movie. This bit of advice will appall the film's director, Christopher Nolan, who intends for his movie to be experienced from the point of view of 3 ordinary individuals: a soldier on the beach waiting for rescue, a RAF pilot in the skies above the beach trying to buy the soldiers enough time to be rescued, and a civilian boat captain racing across the channel to save those he can. None of these individuals has the whole picture of what is transpiring, none of them can predict the outcome of their efforts, and all of them are in constant, mortal danger from a steadily advancing enemy. If you see the film first -- even if you know the rudiments of the historical event -- you will feel often confused, alternately terrified and relieved, and spend a lot of time shouting at your fellow movie-goers (the movie is very loud), "Why did he do that? Who are those guys, anyway? Is he injured or just trying to hide?" Now that I've read the book, which includes a lengthy interview with Christopher Nolan, I understand that THAT type of experience is exactly what the director was trying to achieve, as it most closely resembles the experience of the actual participants in this pivotal moment in British history, based on extensive interviews with those who know best -- veterans still living who survived the evacuation at Dunkirk.

If you decide to tackle the book, be advised there is a lot of discussion of tactical strategy (and, sometimes, of the lack thereof) and horrific scenes of war -- all taken straight from first hand accounts -- that make me very glad that I have not (nor has anyone I love) ever had to be a soldier. For film buffs, there is also a chapter on the actual nitty-gritty details involved in making a historical film of this magnitude that I found very interesting. And finally, on a personal note, I wanted to see the film because I remember my father talking about the event. (At the time, he was a young paper boy hawking newspapers on a street corner, and the Dunkirk evacuation was in the headlines. Apparently, sales were quite brisk.) He found the heroism of the British inspiring. Author Levine makes a good point that, without that determined heroism (including the miraculous rescue of more that 300,000 Allied soldiers at Dunkirk), Hitler might have ultimately prevailed, and the world for all of us would be a very different place today.


]]> <![CDATA[A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812]]> 15594
Between 1785 and 1812 a midwife and healer named Martha Ballard kept a diary that recorded her arduous work (in 27 years she attended 816 births) as well as her domestic life in Hallowell, Maine. On the basis of that diary, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich gives us an intimate and densely imagined portrait, not only of the industrious and reticent Martha Ballard but of her society. At once lively and impeccably scholarly, A Midwife's Tale is a triumph of history on a human scale.]]> 444 Laurel Thatcher Ulrich 0679733760 Sue 5 history, medicine 3.96 1990 A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812
author: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
name: Sue
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1990
rating: 5
read at: 1995/09/01
date added: 2018/01/21
shelves: history, medicine
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History]]> 473815
Her volume ranges over centuries and cultures, from the fifteenth-century writer Christine de Pizan, who imagined a world in which women achieved power and influence, to the writings of nineteenth-century suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton and twentieth-century novelist Virginia Woolf. Ulrich updates de Pizan's Amazons with stories about women warriors from other times and places. She contrasts Woolf's imagined story about Shakespeare's sister with biographies of actual women who were Shakespeare's contemporaries. She turns Stanton's encounter with a runaway slave upside down, asking how the story would change if the slave rather than the white suffragist were at the center. She uses daybook illustrations to look at women who weren't trying to make history, but did. Throughout, she shows how the feminist wave of the 1970s created a generation of historians who by challenging traditional accounts of both men's and women's histories stimulated more vibrant and better-documented accounts of the past.

Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History celebrates a renaissance in history inspired by amateurs, activists, and professional historians. It is a tribute to history and to those who make it.]]> 320 Laurel Thatcher Ulrich 1400041597 Sue 3 history
I did not enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed Ulrich's A Midwife's Tale, but that is likely a personal preference, since I enjoy reading an individual's history and then considering it against the background of the world's wider history. This book cannot go into as much personal detail, since its scope is much broader. Still, I'm glad I read this and would recommend it to anyone interested in history or in expanding the rights of women (which OUGHT to be everyone.)
]]> 3.80 2007 Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History
author: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
name: Sue
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2016/11/01
date added: 2018/01/21
shelves: history
review:
This is a look at women through-out the centuries who have challenged the prevailing stereotypes and roles to which their particular era and culture assigned them and succeeded in "breaking the mold" to live more satisfying lives. (For those who don't know, the author is the woman who coined the phrase that provides the title of this book, never imagining that a line in a scholarly article intended for a select audience would "go viral" to become a well-known and popular slogan.) It's also a history of the modern women's movement, from the first efforts to achieve the vote for women to the present day (though published before the election of our current president and the women's marches taking place the very week-end I write this -- perhaps an updated edition is in order? Regardless, if you are marching, you are making history!)

I did not enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed Ulrich's A Midwife's Tale, but that is likely a personal preference, since I enjoy reading an individual's history and then considering it against the background of the world's wider history. This book cannot go into as much personal detail, since its scope is much broader. Still, I'm glad I read this and would recommend it to anyone interested in history or in expanding the rights of women (which OUGHT to be everyone.)

]]> <![CDATA[The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America]]> 259028 447 Erik Larson 0375725601 Sue 4 history 3.97 2003 The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
author: Erik Larson
name: Sue
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2017/04/01
date added: 2018/01/01
shelves: history
review:
Every bit as good as the hype -- makes the cream pitcher I inherited from my great-great- grandmother inscribed The World's Fair 1893 (a gift from her brother, who had attended the fair) that much more interesting to own.
]]> <![CDATA[New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan]]> 134164
In New York Burning , Bancroft Prize-winning historian Jill Lepore recounts these dramatic events of 1741, whenten fires blazed across Manhattanand panicked whites suspecting it to be the work a slave uprising went on a rampage. In the end, thirteen black men were burned at the stake, seventeen were hanged and more than one hundred black men and women were thrown into a dungeon beneath City Hall.
Even backin the seventeenth century, the city was a rich mosaic of cultures, communities and colors, with slaves making up a full one-fifth of the population. Exploring the political and social climate of the times, Lepore dramatically shows how, in a city rife with state intrigue and terror, the threat of black rebellion united the white political pluralities in a frenzy of racial fear and violence.]]> 352 Jill Lepore 1400032261 Sue 4 history
Reading this book was difficult given the subject matter but also interesting. My mental picture of colonial era New York is now considerably more detailed and my understanding of pre-Revolutionary justice (or injustice?) more complete for having read this book. I believe any person with a serious interest in history and/or the psychology of mass hysteria (of the organized, "witch-hunting" kind) would benefit from reading this book, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. ]]> 3.70 2005 New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan
author: Jill Lepore
name: Sue
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2016/11/01
date added: 2016/12/11
shelves: history
review:
This is a superb book, but make no mistake, it is serious historical research and not easy reading.(The basis for my 4 star rating is the quality and depth of the research and not necessarily readability.) For the uninformed (as I was), the book focuses on the aftermath of a series of fires that occurred in the mid-1700's in New York City that sparked a much greater emotional fire of fear, suspicion, and racism that ultimately resulted in the torturous execution of dozens of people, most of whom were black. (Not one person died in the original fires, which may or may not have been arson.)

Reading this book was difficult given the subject matter but also interesting. My mental picture of colonial era New York is now considerably more detailed and my understanding of pre-Revolutionary justice (or injustice?) more complete for having read this book. I believe any person with a serious interest in history and/or the psychology of mass hysteria (of the organized, "witch-hunting" kind) would benefit from reading this book, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
]]> <![CDATA[Drinking in America: Our Secret History]]> 24820159
Seen through the lens of alcoholism, American history takes on a vibrancy and a tragedy missing from many earlier accounts. From the drunkenness of the Pilgrims to Prohibition hijinks, drinking has always been a cherished American custom: a way to celebrate and a way to grieve and a way to take the edge off. At many pivotal points in our history-the illegal Mayflower landing at Cape Cod, the enslavement of African Americans, the McCarthy witch hunts, and the Kennedy assassination, to name only a few-alcohol has acted as a catalyst.

Some nations drink more than we do, some drink less, but no other nation has been the drunkest in the world as America was in the 1830s only to outlaw drinking entirely a hundred years later. Both a lively history and an unflinching cultural investigation, Drinking in America unveils the volatile ambivalence within one nation's tumultuous affair with alcohol.]]> 258 Susan Cheever 1455513873 Sue 2 history
A second criticism of the book is that the author occasionally makes an assertion that she treats as patently true when I suspect there is insufficient evidence to prove that point. Two examples: 1) One reason Grant was a successful Union general during the Civil War is that he was so often drunk he took unreasonable risks that, luckily, paid off. (Really? I'm not sure I can buy that a drunken general is a good one; more likely Grant was good in spite of his drinking, not because of it.) 2) Drinking (but not to the point of drunkenness) makes people more creative. (Seriously? I would have to see hard research -- and more than one outlier study -- to support that assertion before I would believe it. What I think more likely is that, IF you are socially awkward or have performance anxiety, THEN a drink or two will reduce your anxiety, and therefore, make it easier for you to express your innate creativity. I definitely don't think that alcohol creates a creative mind.)

If you are a reader looking for a solid historical treatment of the use and role of alcohol in American history, don't read this book. There are better histories out there, if you look.]]> 3.25 2015 Drinking in America: Our Secret History
author: Susan Cheever
name: Sue
average rating: 3.25
book published: 2015
rating: 2
read at: 2015/11/01
date added: 2016/06/16
shelves: history
review:
Too much focus on individual foibles and not enough overview -- for example, the author spends a great many pages discussing John and Abigail Adams' alcoholic son as if the reader does not understand that alcoholism is not a modern affliction (though, I grant you, the term "alcoholism" is a relatively modern one). She also devotes an entire chapter to the prevalence of alcoholism among famous writers (including her father), though I doubt that this is of great relevance to the history of our country as a whole.

A second criticism of the book is that the author occasionally makes an assertion that she treats as patently true when I suspect there is insufficient evidence to prove that point. Two examples: 1) One reason Grant was a successful Union general during the Civil War is that he was so often drunk he took unreasonable risks that, luckily, paid off. (Really? I'm not sure I can buy that a drunken general is a good one; more likely Grant was good in spite of his drinking, not because of it.) 2) Drinking (but not to the point of drunkenness) makes people more creative. (Seriously? I would have to see hard research -- and more than one outlier study -- to support that assertion before I would believe it. What I think more likely is that, IF you are socially awkward or have performance anxiety, THEN a drink or two will reduce your anxiety, and therefore, make it easier for you to express your innate creativity. I definitely don't think that alcohol creates a creative mind.)

If you are a reader looking for a solid historical treatment of the use and role of alcohol in American history, don't read this book. There are better histories out there, if you look.
]]> <![CDATA[Methodists and the Making of America: Organizing to Beat the Devil]]> 291300 Book by Ferguson, Charles W. 480 Charles W. Ferguson 0890154058 Sue 3 history, spirituality 4.33 1983 Methodists and the Making of America: Organizing to Beat the Devil
author: Charles W. Ferguson
name: Sue
average rating: 4.33
book published: 1983
rating: 3
read at: 2007/09/01
date added: 2016/06/09
shelves: history, spirituality
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Heart of a New Nation]]> 1552159
Price offers a rare balanced view of the relationship between the settlers and the natives. He unravels the crucial role of Pocahontas, a young woman whose reality has been obscured by centuries of legend and misinformation (and, more recently, animation). He paints indelible portraits of Chief Powhatan, the aged monarch who came close to ending the colony’s existence, and Captain John Smith, the former mercenary and slave, whose disdain for class distinctions infuriated many around him–even as his resourcefulness made him essential to the colony’s success.

Love and Hate in Jamestown is a superb work of popular history, reminding us of the horrors and heroism that marked the dawning of our nation.]]> 305 David A. Price 0375415416 Sue 4 history 3.88 2003 Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas, and the Heart of a New Nation
author: David A. Price
name: Sue
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2003
rating: 4
read at: 2004/02/01
date added: 2016/06/09
shelves: history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Sacagawea Speaks: Beyond the Shining Mountains with Lewis and Clark]]> 818964 170 Joyce Badgley Hunsaker 1585920797 Sue 4 history, native-american 3.94 2001 Sacagawea Speaks: Beyond the Shining Mountains with Lewis and Clark
author: Joyce Badgley Hunsaker
name: Sue
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2001
rating: 4
read at: 2003/07/01
date added: 2016/06/07
shelves: history, native-american
review:
I purchased this in a museum gift shop quite a few years ago. It is a beautiful book, both visually and in a literary/historical sense.
]]> Twelve Years a Slave 18478222 363 Solomon Northup 0989794806 Sue 3 history, memoir 4.21 1853 Twelve Years a Slave
author: Solomon Northup
name: Sue
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1853
rating: 3
read at: 2014/02/01
date added: 2016/06/03
shelves: history, memoir
review:
Since the original was written for publication in the 19th century, the writing was too stylized and sometimes tedious for the modern reader. However, the story remained as chilling and, ultimately, as redemptive as ever. I was particularly interested in the manner in which Solomon managed to (eventually) get word of his whereabouts to his would-be rescuers, and the manner in which his rescue finally came about.
]]> Boone: A Biography 1097676
This rich, authoritative biography offers a wholly new perspective on a man who has been an American icon for more than two hundred years—a hero as important to American history as his more political contemporaries George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. Extensive endnotes, cultural and historical background material, and maps and illustrations underscore the scope of this distinguished and immensely entertaining work.]]> 538 Robert Morgan 1565124553 Sue 4 biography, history
So here's what I found out: Childhood heroes rarely keep their luster when examined closely. Sigh. (How dare DB be so frustratingly human!) It's true that Daniel Boone was indeed a phenomenal woodsman, a fine hunter and exceptional marksman, a good man to have your back during a fight, easy-going and honest (as reported by nearly all contemporaries), and unusually respectful of his Native American neighbors (in spite of the fact that he lost 2 sons to the hostilities on the frontier). He was also a terrible businessman, constantly debt-ridden, a marginal provider for his family (when he was even present), a slave owner in his later years, and either completely bewildered by or unconcerned with legal requirements (a fact that caused him to lose all his land holdings not once, but twice -- first in Kentucky, and later in Missouri. Talk about not learning from experience!)

I now find that the biography I most want to read is one I never will -- that of Rebecca Boone, his wife. How did SHE feel about all this? Daniel may have been charming, but I suspect that wore thin when he disappeared for months at a time, returned completely broke, lost their homesteads for failure to file the proper court documents, and likely took a Native American wife during his extended wartime "captivity." (This last point is likely but cannot be proven; however, the couple's children remembered a period of distinct "chilliness" between the pair after Daniel's return. Ya think!?)

I do recommend this book to lovers of frontier and/or Revolutionary War history. (Boone fought against British/Native American forces on the frontier, and in fact, was court-martialed -- unsuccessfully -- for surrendering his small force when surprised by a Native American war party of overwhelming numbers, a fact that no doubt saved the life of every man under his command.) And if anyone ever discovers a credible biography of Rebecca Boone, do let me know!

]]> 3.99 2007 Boone: A Biography
author: Robert Morgan
name: Sue
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2015/08/01
date added: 2016/05/25
shelves: biography, history
review:
When I was a child, my most cherished hero was Daniel Boone. I revered him long before the TV show starring Fess Parker appeared, though once it did, I refused to miss an episode. Why a young girl in the 1960's found ol' DB fascinating, I have no idea; call it genetic memory, as some of my forebears were his contemporaries in 18th century frontier Kentucky. At any rate, I was fascinated, and between the ages of 10 and 14, I read every single biography of Boone I could find in our local library, both those intended for children and those meant for adult readers. Four decades later, I read a review of a newly published biography by noted author Robert Morgan and thought that perhaps it was time I revisited my childhood hero, but this time as an adult reader myself.

So here's what I found out: Childhood heroes rarely keep their luster when examined closely. Sigh. (How dare DB be so frustratingly human!) It's true that Daniel Boone was indeed a phenomenal woodsman, a fine hunter and exceptional marksman, a good man to have your back during a fight, easy-going and honest (as reported by nearly all contemporaries), and unusually respectful of his Native American neighbors (in spite of the fact that he lost 2 sons to the hostilities on the frontier). He was also a terrible businessman, constantly debt-ridden, a marginal provider for his family (when he was even present), a slave owner in his later years, and either completely bewildered by or unconcerned with legal requirements (a fact that caused him to lose all his land holdings not once, but twice -- first in Kentucky, and later in Missouri. Talk about not learning from experience!)

I now find that the biography I most want to read is one I never will -- that of Rebecca Boone, his wife. How did SHE feel about all this? Daniel may have been charming, but I suspect that wore thin when he disappeared for months at a time, returned completely broke, lost their homesteads for failure to file the proper court documents, and likely took a Native American wife during his extended wartime "captivity." (This last point is likely but cannot be proven; however, the couple's children remembered a period of distinct "chilliness" between the pair after Daniel's return. Ya think!?)

I do recommend this book to lovers of frontier and/or Revolutionary War history. (Boone fought against British/Native American forces on the frontier, and in fact, was court-martialed -- unsuccessfully -- for surrendering his small force when surprised by a Native American war party of overwhelming numbers, a fact that no doubt saved the life of every man under his command.) And if anyone ever discovers a credible biography of Rebecca Boone, do let me know!


]]> Mr. Jefferson's Women 1073751
The author of the Declaration of Independence, who wrote the words “all men are created equal,� was surprisingly hostile toward women. In eight chapters based on fresh research in little-used sources, Jon Kukla offers the first comprehensive study of Jefferson and women since the controversies of his presidency.

Educated with other boys at a neighborhood boarding school, young Jefferson learned early that homemaking was the realm of his mother and six sisters. From adolescence through maturity, his views about domesticity scarcely wavered, while his discomfort around women brought a succession of embarrassments as he sought to control his emotions. After Rebecca Burwell declined his awkward proposal of marriage, Jefferson reacted first with despondence, then with predatory misogyny, and finally with the attempted seduction of Elizabeth Moore Walker, the wife of a boyhood friend. His marriage at twenty-nine to Martha Wayles Skelton brought a decade of genuine happiness, but ended in despair with her death from complications of childbirth. In Paris a few years later, Maria Cosway rekindled his capacity for romantic friendship but ultimately disappointed his hopes. Against the background of these relationships, Kukla offers a fresh and cogent account of Jefferson’s liaison with Sally Hemings.

Jefferson’s individual relationships with these women are examined in depth in five chapters. Abigail Adams, the women of Paris, and the wife of a British ambassador figure in the first of two closing chapters that examine Jefferson’s attitudes toward women in public life. In the last chapter, Kukla draws connections between Jefferson’s life experiences and his role in defining the subordination of women in law, culture, and education during and after the American Revolution.]]> 279 Jon Kukla 1400043247 Sue 4 biography, history
In an exceptionally well-researched study of Jefferson's relationships with the five women of his own generation with whom he had (or wished to have) intimate relationships, we see a very different man than the one most of us have pictured. As a very young man, when meeting and conversing with the opposite sex, we see a naïve and socially awkward misfit (think the Big Bang Theory's Sheldon in knee breeches and a waistcoat). Later, as one by one his college buddies finally walk down the aisle, Jefferson is the perennial odd man out -- always a groomsman, never a groom. And finally, when still single but trusted so implicitly by his best friend that he (Jefferson) is asked to serve as guardian to said friend's wife in his absence (because -- God forbid -- a woman cannot be expected to handle her own financial affairs!), Jefferson attempts to seduce her. And the word "seduce" is a kind choice on my part; from a 21st century perspective, Jefferson's behavior is somewhere between creepy stalker and harassing misogynist.

How do we know this? Because the author scoured countless libraries, historical archives, and privately held collections to examine first-person accounts of Jefferson as seen by those who knew him long before he was famous. (Remember, it was the era of long letters and diary keeping, and since Jefferson achieved fame in his own lifetime, generations of heirs were inspired to keep grandma's letters because " hey, look, she knew Thomas Jefferson!" Additionally, when the aggrieved husband/best friend discovered Jefferson's perfidy, a long series of communications took place between the pairs' "seconds" -- think duel here, though that was avoided -- some of which were leaked to the press.) At any rate, the author's research appears impeccable and is part of the basis for this books 4 star rating. Jefferson's relationships with the three women we typically hear of -- his wife, Martha, his possible lover, Maria Cosway, and his slave, Sally Hemings -- are also researched and discussed at length in this fascinating book.

If I haven't knocked good ol' TJ off his pedestal by now, let me include a few quotes from his own writings that pretty clearly indicate that when he wrote "all men are created equal," he really meant all MEN are created equal: "Were our State a pure democracy, . . . there would yet be excluded from their deliberations 1. Infants . . . 2. Women, who, to prevent depravation of morals and ambiguity of issue, could not mix promiscuously in the public meetings of men. 3. Slaves . . ." in a letter to S. Kercheval, 1816 AND "The appointment of a woman to office is an innovation for which the public is not prepared, nor am I." in a letter to A. Gallatin, 1807 If Hillary Clinton does win the White House next November, Thomas Jefferson will not just be rolling over in his grave, he will be spinning!


]]> 3.21 2005 Mr. Jefferson's Women
author: Jon Kukla
name: Sue
average rating: 3.21
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2015/08/01
date added: 2016/05/21
shelves: biography, history
review:
When you hear the name "Thomas Jefferson," who do you envision? Eloquent author of the Declaration of Independence? Sure. Savvy third president of the United States whose Louisiana Purchase doubled the United States' land mass and opened the west for exploration? Of course. Handsome, debonair gentleman skilled at wooing all the colonial ladies? WRONG! So very, very wrong.

In an exceptionally well-researched study of Jefferson's relationships with the five women of his own generation with whom he had (or wished to have) intimate relationships, we see a very different man than the one most of us have pictured. As a very young man, when meeting and conversing with the opposite sex, we see a naïve and socially awkward misfit (think the Big Bang Theory's Sheldon in knee breeches and a waistcoat). Later, as one by one his college buddies finally walk down the aisle, Jefferson is the perennial odd man out -- always a groomsman, never a groom. And finally, when still single but trusted so implicitly by his best friend that he (Jefferson) is asked to serve as guardian to said friend's wife in his absence (because -- God forbid -- a woman cannot be expected to handle her own financial affairs!), Jefferson attempts to seduce her. And the word "seduce" is a kind choice on my part; from a 21st century perspective, Jefferson's behavior is somewhere between creepy stalker and harassing misogynist.

How do we know this? Because the author scoured countless libraries, historical archives, and privately held collections to examine first-person accounts of Jefferson as seen by those who knew him long before he was famous. (Remember, it was the era of long letters and diary keeping, and since Jefferson achieved fame in his own lifetime, generations of heirs were inspired to keep grandma's letters because " hey, look, she knew Thomas Jefferson!" Additionally, when the aggrieved husband/best friend discovered Jefferson's perfidy, a long series of communications took place between the pairs' "seconds" -- think duel here, though that was avoided -- some of which were leaked to the press.) At any rate, the author's research appears impeccable and is part of the basis for this books 4 star rating. Jefferson's relationships with the three women we typically hear of -- his wife, Martha, his possible lover, Maria Cosway, and his slave, Sally Hemings -- are also researched and discussed at length in this fascinating book.

If I haven't knocked good ol' TJ off his pedestal by now, let me include a few quotes from his own writings that pretty clearly indicate that when he wrote "all men are created equal," he really meant all MEN are created equal: "Were our State a pure democracy, . . . there would yet be excluded from their deliberations 1. Infants . . . 2. Women, who, to prevent depravation of morals and ambiguity of issue, could not mix promiscuously in the public meetings of men. 3. Slaves . . ." in a letter to S. Kercheval, 1816 AND "The appointment of a woman to office is an innovation for which the public is not prepared, nor am I." in a letter to A. Gallatin, 1807 If Hillary Clinton does win the White House next November, Thomas Jefferson will not just be rolling over in his grave, he will be spinning!



]]> <![CDATA[Quiet Hero: Secrets from My Father's Past]]> 8299318 314 Rita Cosby Sue 3 history
Richard Cosby, born Ryszard Kossobudzki, was 13 years old when the Nazis bombed Warsaw, the city of his birth. In the space of a week, his childhood -- and the life he had lived until that point -- ended. From then on, he lived as a Polish resistance fighter, eventually participating in the bloody Warsaw Uprising and becoming a POW when the uprising failed, surviving for 6 months in a German POW camp before escaping to the approaching American lines.

This book is not only an account of the horrors of war, but a story of what it takes to survive and what it takes to heal. Recommended to those interested in WWII history, especially the history of resistance in occupied territories, and perhaps to those seeking to reestablish their connection with an emotionally distant father, especially if that distance is related to unspeakable trauma (what it takes to survive is not always what it takes to live well afterwards).

]]> 4.13 2010 Quiet Hero: Secrets from My Father's Past
author: Rita Cosby
name: Sue
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2016/05/01
date added: 2016/05/19
shelves: history
review:
When the author was a little girl, she knew that her father carried ugly physical scars on much of his body that he refused to explain, that he was emotionally distant from his own wife and children, and that he could quickly make a life-altering decision and never look back. What she did not know was why. This book is the answer to that "why" -- an answer she did not know until her father was in his 80's.

Richard Cosby, born Ryszard Kossobudzki, was 13 years old when the Nazis bombed Warsaw, the city of his birth. In the space of a week, his childhood -- and the life he had lived until that point -- ended. From then on, he lived as a Polish resistance fighter, eventually participating in the bloody Warsaw Uprising and becoming a POW when the uprising failed, surviving for 6 months in a German POW camp before escaping to the approaching American lines.

This book is not only an account of the horrors of war, but a story of what it takes to survive and what it takes to heal. Recommended to those interested in WWII history, especially the history of resistance in occupied territories, and perhaps to those seeking to reestablish their connection with an emotionally distant father, especially if that distance is related to unspeakable trauma (what it takes to survive is not always what it takes to live well afterwards).


]]> <![CDATA[Conscience: Two Soldiers, Two Pacifists, One Family--a Test of Will and Faith in World War I]]> 10417952 It is not surprising that the World War I experiences of Norman Thomas (1884-1968) form a major part of Louisa Thomas' new book: This long-lived peace advocate was, after all, the author's great grandfather and a six-time Socialist presidential candidate. Conscience does pay due attention to her forebear, but it also traces the parallel stories of his three brothers. Two of them answered President Woodrow Wilson's call to war by becoming soldiers; Norman and his brother Evan both became conscientious objectors. This thoughtful group biography reveals how four members of one remarkable family coped with the moral complexities of responsibilities and beliefs. An extraordinary microhistory of a conscientious period in American history.

]]> 320 Louisa Thomas 159420294X Sue 2 history
This was certainly not for lack of trying on the part of the author, and it was that meticulous attention to extensive detail that ultimately stalled my interest in this book. It was simply too much, and the reading became increasingly tedious. I would recommend this book only to serious scholars of WWI history (especially history of the "home front") or to descendants of the Thomas family (as is the author).

]]> 3.47 2011 Conscience: Two Soldiers, Two Pacifists, One Family--a Test of Will and Faith in World War I
author: Louisa Thomas
name: Sue
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2015/03/01
date added: 2016/05/02
shelves: history
review:
I was intrigued by the idea of four brothers, all raised within the same home, who chose such different paths when their country went to war. I wanted to know by what process of decision-making did they arrive at their own decision to either fight or object? (Both positions required courage in WWI America.) And though the book provided copious detail regarding their actions, and some quotes from letters the brothers had written to family members, I still did not come away from the book feeling that I absolutely understood what experiences and reflection had brought each brother to his final position.

This was certainly not for lack of trying on the part of the author, and it was that meticulous attention to extensive detail that ultimately stalled my interest in this book. It was simply too much, and the reading became increasingly tedious. I would recommend this book only to serious scholars of WWI history (especially history of the "home front") or to descendants of the Thomas family (as is the author).


]]> <![CDATA[The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust]]> 682761 Edith Hahn was an outspoken young woman studying law in Vienna when the Gestapo forced Edith and her mother into a ghetto, issuing them papers branded with a "J." Soon, Edith was taken away to a labor camp, and though she convinced Nazi officials to spare her mother, when she returned home, her mother had been deported. Knowing she would become a hunted woman, Edith tore the yellow star from her clothing and went underground, scavenging for food and searching each night for a safe place to sleep. Her boyfriend, Pepi, proved too terrified to help her, but a Christian friend was not: With the woman's identity papers in hand, Edith fled to Munich. There she met Werner Vetter, a Nazi party member who fell in love with her. And despite her protests and even her eventual confession that she was Jewish, he married her and kept her identity secret.
In vivid, wrenching detail, Edith recalls a life of constant, almost paralyzing fear. She tells of German officials who casually questioned the lineage of her parents; of how, when giving birth to her daughter, she refused all painkillers, afraid that in an altered state of mind she might reveal her past; and of how, after her husband was captured by the Russians and sent to Siberia, Edith was bombed out of her house and had to hide in a closet with her daughter while drunken Russians soldiers raped women on the street.
Yet despite the risk it posed to her life, Edith Hahn created a remarkable collective record of survival: She saved every set of real and falsified papers, letters she received from her lost love, Pepi, and photographs she managed to take inside labor camps.
On exhibit at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., these hundreds of documents form the fabric of an epic story - complex, troubling, and ultimately triumphant.]]> 305 Edith Hahn Beer 068817776X Sue 4 history, memoir
I wavered between a 3 and a 4 when rating this book, but finally decided upon a 4 because of the eagerness I felt each evening when I picked up the book. I really wanted to know just how a woman who spent months in forced labor managed to find her way into such a protected spot -- hiding in plain sight, as they say. And I found I spent time away from the book thinking about those who had either helped or deserted her along the way and wondering who I would be in a similar situation. For these reasons, I definitely recommend this book to readers interested in Holocaust history or simply to those interested in pondering the complexity of human behavior in times of unprecedented stress. ]]> 4.13 1999 The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust
author: Edith Hahn Beer
name: Sue
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1999
rating: 4
read at: 2016/01/01
date added: 2016/04/28
shelves: history, memoir
review:
This is the true story of a young Jewish woman who survived the Holocaust by marrying a Nazi officer, even bearing him a child to cement her identity as a good German wife and citizen of the Reich. So many questions: Did he know of her heritage? (Yes) Did she love him? (Not as most of us would define love, but what is the word that describes the feeling a woman has for a man willing to shelter her from certain death and keep her secret? Love may be as good a word as any.) Did their marriage survive the fall of the Reich? (I will let you read the book for the answer to this question.)

I wavered between a 3 and a 4 when rating this book, but finally decided upon a 4 because of the eagerness I felt each evening when I picked up the book. I really wanted to know just how a woman who spent months in forced labor managed to find her way into such a protected spot -- hiding in plain sight, as they say. And I found I spent time away from the book thinking about those who had either helped or deserted her along the way and wondering who I would be in a similar situation. For these reasons, I definitely recommend this book to readers interested in Holocaust history or simply to those interested in pondering the complexity of human behavior in times of unprecedented stress.
]]> <![CDATA[Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey]]> 1494348 288 Lillian Schlissel 0805210040 Sue 4 history 3.86 1982 Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey
author: Lillian Schlissel
name: Sue
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1982
rating: 4
read at: 1988/06/01
date added: 2016/02/01
shelves: history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock]]> 11067867
In this gripping book, David Margolick tells the remarkable story of two separate lives unexpectedly braided together. He explores how the haunting picture of Elizabeth and Hazel came to be taken, its significance in the wider world, and why, for the next half-century, neither woman has ever escaped from its long shadow. He recounts Elizabeth’s struggle to overcome the trauma of her hate-filled school experience, and Hazel’s long efforts to atone for a fateful, horrible mistake. The book follows the painful journey of the two as they progress from apology to forgiveness to reconciliation and, amazingly, to friendship. This friendship foundered, then collapsed—perhaps inevitably—over the same fissures and misunderstandings that continue to permeate American race relations more than half a century after the unforgettable photograph at Little Rock. And yet, as Margolick explains, a bond between Elizabeth and Hazel, silent but complex, endures.]]> 320 David Margolick 0300141939 Sue 3 3.78 2011 Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock
author: David Margolick
name: Sue
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2012/06/01
date added: 2015/06/06
shelves: biography, history, south-park-book-club, st-luke-s-book-club
review:
This book is about the lives of two (then adolescent) girls -- one white and one black -- in an iconic photograph of the civil rights era taken in Little Rock, Arkansas, on the day the "Little Rock Nine" desegregated Central High School. Following these women's stories into middle-age, the author speaks with them and for them as they try to make sense of their lives and their much-touted reconciliation. (Real life is so much more complicated than we'd like it to be.) This book will be especially interesting to baby-boomers of a certain age who remember the events as they played out in real time.
]]> <![CDATA[When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II]]> 22715829
Comprising 1,200 different titles of every imaginable type, these paperbacks were beloved by the troops and are still fondly remembered today. Soldiers read them while waiting to land at Normandy; in hellish trenches in the midst of battles in the Pacific; in field hospitals; and on long bombing flights.They wrote to the authors, many of whom responded to every letter.They helped rescue The Great Gatsby from obscurity.They made Betty Smith, author of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, into a national icon. When Books Went to War is an inspiring story for history buffs and book lovers alike.]]> 267 Molly Guptill Manning 0544535022 Sue 3 history, south-park-book-club
This was a book club choice and the reason we picked "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and "Strange Fruit" as the two previous month's books, since these titles were among the most popular among the troops. While we could see why homesick Brooklyn boys would crave the scenes of home portrayed in the first book, we were all a little mystified that "Strange Fruit" would have been so popular. Make no mistake, it's beautifully written, but you know from the outset that life is not going to end well for the main characters, so why read it when your own life is at risk daily? Apparently, the answer is SEX, though the fact that the discreetly implied encounters in "Strange Fruit" could excite even love-starved G.I.'s dumbfounded those of us who live in the "50 Shades of Gray" generation. (One club member even asked, "Were there sex scenes in "Strange Fruit?" I must have missed them!)

Read this book if, as I said before, you love books and/or WWII history, or if you are looking for book choices that are quality works now infrequently read. I am looking for "Chicken Every Sunday," and we all are looking for "Forever Amber," the other supposedly sex-saturated book beloved by the troops for its explicit erotica but probably guaranteed to give 21st century readers only a fit of the giggles. (-:

]]> 3.90 2014 When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II
author: Molly Guptill Manning
name: Sue
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2015/05/01
date added: 2015/06/02
shelves: history, south-park-book-club
review:
I enjoyed this book, but I think you either have to be a book lover with broad tastes or a history buff to do so. Having said that, this book told a story I had never heard before -- that of a library service and a publishing industry determined to send books to the troops at the front lines. And as often happens when I read a history of some aspect of WWII, I regret not asking questions of my own family's "greatest generation" while they were still here with me. (So learn from my mistakes. If you still have family to tell you their personal stories, ask them now.)

This was a book club choice and the reason we picked "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" and "Strange Fruit" as the two previous month's books, since these titles were among the most popular among the troops. While we could see why homesick Brooklyn boys would crave the scenes of home portrayed in the first book, we were all a little mystified that "Strange Fruit" would have been so popular. Make no mistake, it's beautifully written, but you know from the outset that life is not going to end well for the main characters, so why read it when your own life is at risk daily? Apparently, the answer is SEX, though the fact that the discreetly implied encounters in "Strange Fruit" could excite even love-starved G.I.'s dumbfounded those of us who live in the "50 Shades of Gray" generation. (One club member even asked, "Were there sex scenes in "Strange Fruit?" I must have missed them!)

Read this book if, as I said before, you love books and/or WWII history, or if you are looking for book choices that are quality works now infrequently read. I am looking for "Chicken Every Sunday," and we all are looking for "Forever Amber," the other supposedly sex-saturated book beloved by the troops for its explicit erotica but probably guaranteed to give 21st century readers only a fit of the giggles. (-:


]]> <![CDATA[American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America]]> 11140803 An illuminating history of North America's eleven rival cultural regions that explodes the red state-blue state myth. North America was settled by people with distinct religious, political, and ethnographic characteristics, creating regional cultures that have been at odds with one another ever since. Subsequent immigrants didn't confront or assimilate into an "American" or "Canadian" culture, but rather into one of the eleven distinct regional ones that spread over the continent each staking out mutually exclusive territory.

In American Nations, Colin Woodard leads us on a journey through the history of our fractured continent, and the rivalries and alliances between its component nations, which conform to neither state nor international boundaries. He illustrates and explains why "American" values vary sharply from one region to another. Woodard reveals how intranational differences have played a pivotal role at every point in the continent's history, from the American Revolution and the Civil War to the tumultuous sixties and the "blue county/red county" maps of recent presidential elections. American Nations is a revolutionary and revelatory take on America's myriad identities and how the conflicts between them have shaped our past and are molding our future.]]> 371 Colin Woodard 0670022969 Sue 5
I was skeptical of Woodard's premise at first, but I kept reading and began to reflect on my own heritage as well. When I realized that most of my political attitudes were exactly what Woodard would have predicted based on my heritage -- primarily Greater Appalachian with a hearty dose of The Midlands thrown in for good measure -- I began to think he might be on to something. I recommend this book to those interested in American history, politics, and -- given that Woodard spends a lot of time describing early immigration patterns -- geneology. ]]> 4.16 2011 American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America
author: Colin Woodard
name: Sue
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at: 2013/08/01
date added: 2014/11/12
shelves: history, nonfiction, st-luke-s-book-club
review:
I rated this book so highly, in part, because it is so unique. I know of no other history of North America, and particularly of the United States, that approaches the topic in this manner. Woodard's premise is that the regional political differences that we all see displayed as "red" and "blue" states on election nights are actually far more complex and deeply rooted. Woodard suggests (and with a lot of evidence to back him up) that regional political attitudes are inherited from the earliest established settlers to a particular region, that these regions are both more numerous and more individually distinct than most people realize, and that any politician who figures this out and capitalizes on it will breeze his way into the White House. (How he will successfully govern the very diverse citizens of all eleven regions is another matter entirely.)

I was skeptical of Woodard's premise at first, but I kept reading and began to reflect on my own heritage as well. When I realized that most of my political attitudes were exactly what Woodard would have predicted based on my heritage -- primarily Greater Appalachian with a hearty dose of The Midlands thrown in for good measure -- I began to think he might be on to something. I recommend this book to those interested in American history, politics, and -- given that Woodard spends a lot of time describing early immigration patterns -- geneology.
]]> <![CDATA[A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World]]> 2076722
An irresistible blend of history, myth, and misadventure, A Voyage Long and Strange captures the wonder and drama of first contact. Vikings, conquistadors, French voyageurs � these and many others roamed an unknown continent in quest of grapes, gold, converts, even a cure for syphilis. Though most failed, their remarkable exploits left an enduring mark on the land and people encountered by late-arriving English settlers.

Tracing this legacy with his own epic trek � from Florida's Fountain of Youth to Plymouth's sacred Rock, from desert pueblos to subarctic sweat lodges, Tony Horwitz explores the revealing gap between what we enshrine and what we forget. Displaying his trademark talent for humor, narrative, and historical insight, A Voyage Long and Strange allows us to rediscover the New World for ourselves.]]> 445 Tony Horwitz 0805076034 Sue 5 history 3.95 2008 A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World
author: Tony Horwitz
name: Sue
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2014/10/01
date added: 2014/10/29
shelves: history
review:
This may be the most entertaining book of history I have ever read. It certainly is the only history book that has ever inspired me to laugh right out loud! Not only did I learn a lot about early North American exploration (it's more complex than that 8th grade social studies text led you to believe) but I learned that, in my next life, I want to be just like Tony Horwitz -- researching history not only in musty old libraries, but also right out in the field -- traipsing around in Spanish armor and sweating it out right next to the shaman in a Native American sweat lodge. If you enjoy history, I believe you will enjoy this book!
]]> <![CDATA[More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Arizona Women (More Than Petticoats Series)]]> 1218074 151 Wynne Brown 0762723599 Sue 2 biography, history 3.81 2003 More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Arizona Women (More Than Petticoats Series)
author: Wynne Brown
name: Sue
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2003
rating: 2
read at: 2014/07/01
date added: 2014/10/26
shelves: biography, history
review:
I picked this up on vacation in Arizona a few years ago. After reading These is My Words, a work of fiction inspired by the author's pioneering Arizona great-grandmother, I decided to give the real thing a try. Though I always enjoy biography, especially of the little known and unsung, these short histories of "remarkable" women were so simply written that I wondered if the series was intended for children. (Okay, precocious children, but still -- children.) I will probably buy more books in the series as I wander into local bookstores on vacations to come, but if you are a serious student of women's history, I would look elsewhere.
]]> <![CDATA[The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History]]> 6514074 In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Momuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture.

Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis.

]]> 473 Robert M. Edsel 1599951495 Sue 3 history, st-luke-s-book-club 3.79 2009 The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History
author: Robert M. Edsel
name: Sue
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2014/02/01
date added: 2014/10/18
shelves: history, st-luke-s-book-club
review:
An important story, but pretty dry reading. For an easier way to get the same info, watch the documentary The Rape of Europa. OR for a mostly accurate story (some dramatic license taken) watch the movie -- with George Clooney and Matt Damon, you can't beat the eye candy!
]]> The Diary of a Young Girl 48855
In 1942, with the Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, the Franks and another family lived cloistered in the “Secret Annexe� of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death. In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and surprisingly humorous, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.
--back cover]]> 283 Anne Frank Sue 3 history 4.19 1947 The Diary of a Young Girl
author: Anne Frank
name: Sue
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1947
rating: 3
read at: 1970/11/01
date added: 2014/01/19
shelves: history
review:

]]> The Hiding Place 357859 219 Corrie ten Boom 0800781562 Sue 5 history, memoir 4.55 1971 The Hiding Place
author: Corrie ten Boom
name: Sue
average rating: 4.55
book published: 1971
rating: 5
read at: 1975/01/01
date added: 2014/01/19
shelves: history, memoir
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl―A National Book Award Winner]]> 72223
In an era that promises ever-greater natural disasters, The Worst Hard Time is “arguably the best nonfiction book yet� (Austin Statesman Journal) on the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land and a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of trifling with nature.]]> 340 Timothy Egan 0618773479 Sue 4 history, st-luke-s-book-club 4.04 2005 The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl―A National Book Award Winner
author: Timothy Egan
name: Sue
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2013/07/01
date added: 2013/08/12
shelves: history, st-luke-s-book-club
review:
If all you know of the dust bowl is in Steinbeck's famous novel (which is all I knew), then you might do well to read this book. Combined with the Ken Burns documentary on the same topic, it serves as a powerful cautionary tale of the damage that uncontrolled development can bring to the land and the people on it. I hope we have learned our lesson, but I fear we have not.
]]> A Night to Remember 61834 A Night to Remember remains the definitive, classic tale of the sinking of the Titanic. Walter Lord interviewed more than sixty survivors before committing their searingly vivid recollections to his minute-by-minute account of the Titanic's fatal collision and the experiences of both passengers and crew under pressure of the unthinkable: the swift plummet into icy waters of the ship promised never to sink.

With a new introduction by Nathaniel Philbrick, bestselling author of In the Heart of the Sea and Sea of Glory, this fiftieth-anniversary edition of Walter Lord's classic brings the drama of that night back to life. As Philbrick concludes in his introduction: "From first to last, A Night to Remember is about the people who briefly inhabited the Titanic, and never again will an author have the opportunity to speak to so many of them. In this most essential way, Lord's book can never be outdone, making A Night to Remember the ultimate survivors' tale."]]> 182 Walter Lord 0805077642 Sue 4 history 4.07 1955 A Night to Remember
author: Walter Lord
name: Sue
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1955
rating: 4
read at: 1978/06/01
date added: 2013/08/06
shelves: history
review:

]]> 1776 1067 386 David McCullough 0743226720 Sue 4 history 4.10 2005 1776
author: David McCullough
name: Sue
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2006/01/01
date added: 2013/05/23
shelves: history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend]]> 11238914 336 Susan Orlean 1439190135 Sue 1 animals, history
To be fair, let me explain to you why I bought this book and what I expected. Like many children growing up in the fifties, I loved the television show The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. (In fact, I clearly remember sitting at the dinner table in a blue funk the night I learned the show was being canceled while my parents tried valiantly to convince me that my life was not over.) When I saw this book, I anticipated strolling down memory lane, reminiscing about favorite episodes and reading humorous doggie anecdotes about my beloved Rin Tin Tin. Instead, I got a LONG, minutiae-filled history of dogs in film generally,and more particularly, generations of Rin Tin Tins (and their Hollywood-obsessed owners).

While I found the very first part of the book interesting (in which the original Rin Tin Tin is found orphaned on a WWI battlefield and brought home by a lonely soldier), by the final third of the book, I was so bored that I had to give myself a pep talk every time I picked up the book. ("C'mon, Sue, you can do it! You CAN finish this book!") Frankly, I don't think my ennui was the fault of the author, whose story structure and writing style were more than adequate. I just don't think she had the material to work with, or rather, she had the material, but most of it was deadly dull. (The only people I would recommend this book to are students of film history, and it would be a niche history at that -- dogs in film.)

So, shame on you, Ann Patchett, for your statement that "this book is for anyone who has ever had a dog or loved a dog." It's not. It's a book for anyone who wants to read about the many, many people in Hollywood convinced that a dog could make them rich. A better quote for the book's cover would be a comment made by the wife of the original Rin Tin Tin's owner: "You meet a lot of goofy people in this business." Truer words were never spoken. ]]> 3.51 2011 Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend
author: Susan Orlean
name: Sue
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2011
rating: 1
read at: 2012/03/01
date added: 2013/04/11
shelves: animals, history
review:
No! Say it isn't so!! The unthinkable has happened, ŷ friends -- I purchased a book with a dog on the cover, but I DIDN'T LIKE IT! Unbelievable!

To be fair, let me explain to you why I bought this book and what I expected. Like many children growing up in the fifties, I loved the television show The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. (In fact, I clearly remember sitting at the dinner table in a blue funk the night I learned the show was being canceled while my parents tried valiantly to convince me that my life was not over.) When I saw this book, I anticipated strolling down memory lane, reminiscing about favorite episodes and reading humorous doggie anecdotes about my beloved Rin Tin Tin. Instead, I got a LONG, minutiae-filled history of dogs in film generally,and more particularly, generations of Rin Tin Tins (and their Hollywood-obsessed owners).

While I found the very first part of the book interesting (in which the original Rin Tin Tin is found orphaned on a WWI battlefield and brought home by a lonely soldier), by the final third of the book, I was so bored that I had to give myself a pep talk every time I picked up the book. ("C'mon, Sue, you can do it! You CAN finish this book!") Frankly, I don't think my ennui was the fault of the author, whose story structure and writing style were more than adequate. I just don't think she had the material to work with, or rather, she had the material, but most of it was deadly dull. (The only people I would recommend this book to are students of film history, and it would be a niche history at that -- dogs in film.)

So, shame on you, Ann Patchett, for your statement that "this book is for anyone who has ever had a dog or loved a dog." It's not. It's a book for anyone who wants to read about the many, many people in Hollywood convinced that a dog could make them rich. A better quote for the book's cover would be a comment made by the wife of the original Rin Tin Tin's owner: "You meet a lot of goofy people in this business." Truer words were never spoken.
]]> <![CDATA[The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History]]> 2111775
The apparently routine task of taking up soap and water (or not) is Katherine Ashenburg’s starting point for a unique exploration of Western culture, which yields surprising insights into our notions of privacy, health, individuality, religion and sexuality.

Ashenburg searches for clean and dirty in plague-ridden streets, medieval steam baths, castles and tenements, and in bathrooms of every description. She reveals the bizarre rescriptions of history’s doctors as well as the hygienic peccadilloes of kings, mistresses, monks and ordinary citizens, and guides us through the twists and turns to our own understanding of clean, which is no more rational than the rest. Filled with amusing anecdotes and quotations from the great bathers of history, The Dirt on Clean takes us on a journey that is by turns intriguing, humorous, startling and not always for the squeamish. Ashenburg’s tour of history’s baths and bathrooms reveals much about our changing and most intimate selves � what we desire, what we ignore, what we fear, and a significant part of who we are.]]> 368 Katherine Ashenburg 0676976638 Sue 3 history 3.71 2007 The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History
author: Katherine Ashenburg
name: Sue
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2007
rating: 3
read at: 2008/03/01
date added: 2012/06/17
shelves: history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War]]> 4820 HOW DID AMERICA BEGIN?

This simple question launches acclaimed author Nathaniel Philbrick on an extraordinary journey to understand the truth behind our most sacred national myth: the voyage of the Mayflower and the settlement of Plymouth Colony. As Philbrick reveals in this electrifying new book, the story of the Pilgrims does not end with the First Thanksgiving; instead, it is a fifty-five-year epic that is at once tragic and heroic, and still carries meaning for us today.]]> 461 Nathaniel Philbrick 0670037605 Sue 5 history 3.87 2006 Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War
author: Nathaniel Philbrick
name: Sue
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2006/10/01
date added: 2012/06/15
shelves: history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece]]> 27398 The artist was Caravaggio, a master of the Italian Baroque. He was a genius, a revolutionary painter, and a man beset by personal demons. Four hundred years ago, he drank and brawled in the taverns and streets of Rome, moving from one rooming house to another, constantly in and out of jail, all the while painting works of transcendent emotional and visual power. He rose from obscurity to fame and wealth, but success didn't alter his violent temperament. His rage finally led him to commit murder, forcing him to flee Rome a hunted man. He died young, alone, and under strange circumstances.

Caravaggio scholars estimate that between sixty and eighty of his works are in existence today. Many others -- no one knows the precise number -- have been lost to time. Somewhere, surely, a masterpiece lies forgotten in a storeroom, or in a small parish church, or hanging above a fireplace, mistaken for a mere copy.

Jonathan Harr embarks on a journey to discover the long-lost painting known as The Taking of Christ -- its mysterious fate and the circumstances of its disappearance have captivated Caravaggio devotees for years. After Francesca Cappelletti stumbles across a clue in that dusty archive, she tracks the painting across a continent and hundreds of years of history. But it is not until she meets Sergio Benedetti, an art restorer working in Ireland, that she finally manages to assemble all the pieces of the puzzle.

]]> 320 Jonathan Harr 0375759867 Sue 3 nonfiction, history 3.86 2005 The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece
author: Jonathan Harr
name: Sue
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2006/02/01
date added: 2012/06/13
shelves: nonfiction, history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Loyal Hearts: Histories of American Civil War Canines]]> 6726639 184 Michael Zucchero 1889246573 Sue 2 animals, history 3.44 2009 Loyal Hearts: Histories of American Civil War Canines
author: Michael Zucchero
name: Sue
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2009
rating: 2
read at: 2012/03/01
date added: 2012/05/12
shelves: animals, history
review:
Too much battle talk, not enough dog talk -- but great cover art on the copy I have. Wish I knew how to add the cover picture to ŷ.
]]> The Zookeeper's Wife 1128178
A true story in which the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands. When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw―and the city's zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen "guests" hid inside the Zabinskis' villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants―otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes.With her exuberant prose and exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman engages us viscerally in the lives of the zoo animals, their keepers, and their hidden visitors. She shows us how Antonina refused to give in to the penetrating fear of discovery, keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her. 8 pages of illustrations]]> 368 Diane Ackerman 0393061728 Sue 4 history, biography
But there is hope and courage in this story, too. Antonina Zabinski, and her husband Jan, use the buildings of the devastated Warsaw Zoo as a temporary shelter for Jews smuggled out of the infamous Warsaw ghetto and on their way to freedom. A few Jewish friends of the Zabinskis hide in plain sight as house guests while Antonina manages to maintain a sense of normalcy in her household, with shared meals, shared laughter, and music -- even as she carries a cyanide pill in her pocket as insurance against revealing the secrets she carries. As a reader, I was constantly wondering: Could I have done this? Would I have this kind of initiative and courage? Would I stand beside my friends with such unflinching loyalty? And would my efforts matter? I hope so, but the zookeeper's wife lived to know so -- of the 300 people she and her husband sheltered, 298 survived the war.

My criticisms of this book are few. I wanted to know more about Antonina's life after the war. The author tells us that the zoo was rebuilt and a bit about Jan's career in post-war Poland, but very little about Antonina. It's my fervent hope that every day of the remainder of her life was happy, and she died at a ripe old age while asleep in her bed, but I don't know that -- and I really wanted to. Also, at times the author refers to things she learned from Antonina's journal. Surely Antonina wasn't keeping a journal during the war, something that could so easily fall into the wrong hands!? Was it a retrospective journal? I wanted to know that, too. Still, these small criticisms would not keep me from recommending the book, and so, ŷ friends, I do.]]> 3.47 2007 The Zookeeper's Wife
author: Diane Ackerman
name: Sue
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2011/11/01
date added: 2012/01/11
shelves: history, biography
review:
To me, the title of this book denotes a charming story -- perhaps for children -- about a kind, elderly woman caring fondly for zoo animals that she loves so dearly and so personally that she calls them each by name. If that is the book you want to read, don't pick this up. It IS about a zookeeper's wife who loves the animals in her care dearly and calls them each by name. And if the horror of World War II had not been visited upon her, her life story might actually have become a real-life version of a happy children's tale. But war did come, and so instead this book is about a young woman caught up in the ugliest of world events, a woman who read children's stories aloud to her small son in an effort to distract them both while Nazi officers killed the animals she loved for sport.

But there is hope and courage in this story, too. Antonina Zabinski, and her husband Jan, use the buildings of the devastated Warsaw Zoo as a temporary shelter for Jews smuggled out of the infamous Warsaw ghetto and on their way to freedom. A few Jewish friends of the Zabinskis hide in plain sight as house guests while Antonina manages to maintain a sense of normalcy in her household, with shared meals, shared laughter, and music -- even as she carries a cyanide pill in her pocket as insurance against revealing the secrets she carries. As a reader, I was constantly wondering: Could I have done this? Would I have this kind of initiative and courage? Would I stand beside my friends with such unflinching loyalty? And would my efforts matter? I hope so, but the zookeeper's wife lived to know so -- of the 300 people she and her husband sheltered, 298 survived the war.

My criticisms of this book are few. I wanted to know more about Antonina's life after the war. The author tells us that the zoo was rebuilt and a bit about Jan's career in post-war Poland, but very little about Antonina. It's my fervent hope that every day of the remainder of her life was happy, and she died at a ripe old age while asleep in her bed, but I don't know that -- and I really wanted to. Also, at times the author refers to things she learned from Antonina's journal. Surely Antonina wasn't keeping a journal during the war, something that could so easily fall into the wrong hands!? Was it a retrospective journal? I wanted to know that, too. Still, these small criticisms would not keep me from recommending the book, and so, ŷ friends, I do.
]]> <![CDATA[The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World]]> 36086 The Ghost Map is a riveting page-turner about a real-life historical hero, Dr. John Snow. It's the summer of 1854, and London is just emerging as one of the first modern cities in the world. But lacking the infrastructure—garbage removal, clean water, sewers—necessary to support its rapidly expanding population, the city has become the perfect breeding ground for a terrifying disease no one knows how to cure. As the cholera outbreak takes hold, a physician and a local curate are spurred to action—and ultimately solve the most pressing medical riddle of their time. In a triumph of multidisciplinary thinking, Johnson illuminates the intertwined histories and inter-connectedness of the spread of disease, contagion theory, the rise of cities, and the nature of scientific inquiry, offering both a riveting history and a powerful explanation of how it has shaped the world we live in.]]> 299 Steven Johnson 1594489254 Sue 5 history, medicine
I really did learn from this book! I learned a) you really did not want to be poor in Victorian London, because if you were, you might have to eke out a living by collecting dog shit all day, b) if you unwittingly drank a glass of water that was hosting a throng of invisible cholera bacteria, you could easily be dead only twelve hours later, c) there is a pub on Broad Street that has been in continuous operation since the time of the epidemic and is now named after one of these men, d) I like reading about, and can even understand, the basic mechanisms of biology, and e) no one can make a detailed discussion of an improved sanitation system interesting.

Okay, I got a little light-hearted in that last paragraph. But, seriously, this is a fine history. If you, like me, enjoy reading about history that does not focus on wars and national political agendas, but instead examines lesser known events that more quietly shape the course of human destiny, then read this book. And when you're finished, we'll go lift a pint at The John Snow Pub on Broad Street! ]]> 3.89 2006 The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World
author: Steven Johnson
name: Sue
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2006
rating: 5
read at: 2011/08/01
date added: 2012/01/07
shelves: history, medicine
review:
Good writing, careful research, and an interweaving of the microcosmic (literally) and the macrocosmic make this a very good history of an event most of us know little about -- the London cholera epidemic of 1854, an event that was pivotal in modern medicine's understanding of the transmission of disease. The author does a really fine job of teaching the reader (even the grossly uninformed reader, namely me) about a) Victorian London and the sorry state of its sanitation systems, b) cholera and the ugly death its unfortunate victims suffered, c) the men who -- without the aid of formal sponsorship -- tracked down the source of the contagion, d) the biology of the cholera bacteria (which remained unknown to the men noted in "c" above), and e) how the improvements in sanitation, water supply, and data mapping that resulted from this epidemic led to the emergence of the mega-cities of today.

I really did learn from this book! I learned a) you really did not want to be poor in Victorian London, because if you were, you might have to eke out a living by collecting dog shit all day, b) if you unwittingly drank a glass of water that was hosting a throng of invisible cholera bacteria, you could easily be dead only twelve hours later, c) there is a pub on Broad Street that has been in continuous operation since the time of the epidemic and is now named after one of these men, d) I like reading about, and can even understand, the basic mechanisms of biology, and e) no one can make a detailed discussion of an improved sanitation system interesting.

Okay, I got a little light-hearted in that last paragraph. But, seriously, this is a fine history. If you, like me, enjoy reading about history that does not focus on wars and national political agendas, but instead examines lesser known events that more quietly shape the course of human destiny, then read this book. And when you're finished, we'll go lift a pint at The John Snow Pub on Broad Street!
]]> <![CDATA[Letters of a Woman Homesteader]]> 8250416 136 Elinore Pruitt Stewart Sue 4
Among the author's strengths is her ability to describe a scene with such detail and clarity that the reader feels as if she, too, is standing in mountain air so still and clear that the sound of a single axe travels for miles. The solitude of snowfall, the heady scent of pine, the welcome brilliance of sunshine after a storm -- all of this is described in such loving detail that one wants to immediately pack a bag and head West! (And, in fact, I loaned this book to a friend headed west for a Montana vacation last summer. She read it during her flight and said no book could have provided a better segue from her harried work life to her relaxed vacation time under the Big Sky.)

Letters of a Woman Homesteader was originally published in 1914 (when, apparently, Elinore Stewart's friend recognized the quality of what she was reading and sold the letters to a magazine that published them in serial form). A century later, these letters -- written by a woman who was simply sharing her personal observations with a friend -- continue to charm and entertain. ]]> 3.94 1914 Letters of a Woman Homesteader
author: Elinore Pruitt Stewart
name: Sue
average rating: 3.94
book published: 1914
rating: 4
read at: 2011/07/01
date added: 2012/01/02
shelves: history, memoir, st-luke-s-book-club
review:
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this series of letters written by a young widow on the Wyoming frontier, sent regularly from 1909 to 1913 to her friend back home in Denver. Since the letters were not originally intended for publication, they are very personal and chatty, and I felt when reading them as if I had stumbled onto a dusty pile of letters from a long-gone great-grandmother and was discovering a piece of forgotten family history for the first time. This is part of the charm of this book; it is the perfect rainy afternoon read.

Among the author's strengths is her ability to describe a scene with such detail and clarity that the reader feels as if she, too, is standing in mountain air so still and clear that the sound of a single axe travels for miles. The solitude of snowfall, the heady scent of pine, the welcome brilliance of sunshine after a storm -- all of this is described in such loving detail that one wants to immediately pack a bag and head West! (And, in fact, I loaned this book to a friend headed west for a Montana vacation last summer. She read it during her flight and said no book could have provided a better segue from her harried work life to her relaxed vacation time under the Big Sky.)

Letters of a Woman Homesteader was originally published in 1914 (when, apparently, Elinore Stewart's friend recognized the quality of what she was reading and sold the letters to a magazine that published them in serial form). A century later, these letters -- written by a woman who was simply sharing her personal observations with a friend -- continue to charm and entertain.
]]> <![CDATA[The Lost German Slave Girl: The Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans]]> 178466 268 John Bailey 080214229X Sue 3 history 3.74 2002 The Lost German Slave Girl: The Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans
author: John Bailey
name: Sue
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at: 2007/05/01
date added: 2011/07/22
shelves: history
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America]]> 278139 316 John Putnam Demos 0679759611 Sue 3 history, native-american 3.64 1994 The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America
author: John Putnam Demos
name: Sue
average rating: 3.64
book published: 1994
rating: 3
read at: 2006/06/01
date added: 2011/03/02
shelves: history, native-american
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade]]> 116477 Roe v. Wade

In this deeply moving work, Ann Fessler brings to light the lives of hundreds of thousands of young single American women forced to give up their newborn children in the years following World War II and before Roe v. Wade. The Girls Who Went Away tells a story not of wild and carefree sexual liberation, but rather of a devastating double standard that has had punishing long-term effects on these women and on the children they gave up for adoption. Based on Fessler's groundbreaking interviews, it brings to brilliant life these women's voices and the spirit of the time, allowing each to share her own experience in gripping and intimate detail. Today, when the future of the Roe decision and women's reproductive rights stand squarely at the front of a divisive national debate, Fessler brings to the fore a long-overlooked history of single women in the fifties, sixties, and early seventies.

In 2002, Fessler, an adoptee herself, traveled the country interviewing women willing to speak publicly about why they relinquished their children. Researching archival records and the political and social climate of the time, she uncovered a story of three decades of women who, under enormous social and family pressure, were coerced or outright forced to give their babies up for adoption. Fessler deftly describes the impossible position in which these women found themselves: as a sexual revolution heated up in the postwar years, birth control was tightly restricted, and abortion proved prohibitively expensive or life endangering. At the same time, a postwar economic boom brought millions of American families into the middle class, exerting its own pressures to conform to a model of family perfection. Caught in the middle, single pregnant women were shunned by family and friends, evicted from schools, sent away to maternity homes to have their children alone, and often treated with cold contempt by doctors, nurses, and clergy.

The majority of the women Fessler interviewed have never spoken of their experiences, and most have been haunted by grief and shame their entire adult lives. A searing and important look into a long-overlooked social history, The Girls Who Went Away is their story.]]> 354 Ann Fessler 1594200947 Sue 4 history
Though an unplanned pregnancy is a life-altering experience for anyone, I think it is probably impossible for members of the younger generation to understand the utter horror with which this news was greeted by middle-class families of the 1940's, 50's, and 60's. The stimatizing shame of a daughter who was unmarried and pregnant caused even well-intentioned families to put their daughters through a hell of which I was unaware prior to reading this book. Certainly I understood that the "girls who went away" had gone away to give birth to an illegitimate child. What I did not understand was the isolating and often demeaning environments in which these young women were forced to finish their pregnancies, give birth, and then make their final choice for adoption. (And I use the word "choice" loosely. In my youth, any girl who found herself "in trouble" had only two real choices: get married or give the baby up for adoption.)

The personal accounts in this book will offer insight into a time in our culture that is blessedly past, will illuminate the adoption experience for those of us who have not been through it, and will finally give a voice to a group of hidden young women who had no voice at one of the most critical points in their lives. ]]> 4.23 2006 The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade
author: Ann Fessler
name: Sue
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2006
rating: 4
read at: 2011/01/01
date added: 2011/02/01
shelves: history
review:
If you are under 40, you will read this book from a viewpoint that is as distant as mine is when I read first person accounts of the Civil War. But if you are over 40, the stories of the women in this book will ring terrifyingly close to home as you remember the days of your own youth, when to be pregnant and unmarried was to be completely and totally ostracized from middle class society -- expelled from school, rejected by friends (and often family), and barred from any participation in the community once you had begun to "show." All of us of a certain age remember these young women, girls who one minute were a classmate or a fellow member of a church group and the next minute were simply gone -- usually with vague explanations from family members and a lot of speculative gossip from everyone else.

Though an unplanned pregnancy is a life-altering experience for anyone, I think it is probably impossible for members of the younger generation to understand the utter horror with which this news was greeted by middle-class families of the 1940's, 50's, and 60's. The stimatizing shame of a daughter who was unmarried and pregnant caused even well-intentioned families to put their daughters through a hell of which I was unaware prior to reading this book. Certainly I understood that the "girls who went away" had gone away to give birth to an illegitimate child. What I did not understand was the isolating and often demeaning environments in which these young women were forced to finish their pregnancies, give birth, and then make their final choice for adoption. (And I use the word "choice" loosely. In my youth, any girl who found herself "in trouble" had only two real choices: get married or give the baby up for adoption.)

The personal accounts in this book will offer insight into a time in our culture that is blessedly past, will illuminate the adoption experience for those of us who have not been through it, and will finally give a voice to a group of hidden young women who had no voice at one of the most critical points in their lives.
]]> <![CDATA[This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War]]> 1283566 This Republic of Suffering explores the impact of this enormous death toll from every angle: material, political, intellectual, and spiritual.

The eminent historian Drew Gilpin Faust delineates the ways death changed not only individual lives but the life of the nation and its understanding of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. She describes how survivors mourned and how a deeply religious culture struggled to reconcile the slaughter with its belief in a benevolent God, pondered who should die and under what circumstances, and reconceived its understanding of life after death.

Faust details the logistical challenges involved when thousands were left dead, many with their identities unknown, on the fields of places like Bull Run, Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettysburg. She chronicles the efforts to identify, reclaim, preserve, and bury battlefield dead, the resulting rise of undertaking as a profession, the first widespread use of embalming, the gradual emergence of military graves registration procedures, the development of a federal system of national cemeteries for Union dead, and the creation of private cemeteries in the South that contributed to the cult of the Lost Cause. She shows, too, how the war victimized civilians through violence that extended beyond battlefields-from disease, displacement, hardships, shortages, emotional wounds, and conflicts connected to the disintegration of slavery.]]> 346 Drew Gilpin Faust 037540404X Sue 5 history I heard about this book through a ŷ review. In that review, the reader stated that she might have appreciated the book more if she had had a more in-depth knowledge of the Civil War to begin with. I will defer to her opinion on that, but if one does already have a solid background in Civil War history, this book will add depth, humanity, and pathos to a story that can too easily be all about battle strategy and military personalities.
Most interesting to me was the author's assertion that 19th-century American views of death were VERY different from current views. I found that I could see her point in some ways, but disagreed with her in others. For one thing, I think the need to believe that a loved one still exists in some type of heaven, nurturing afterlife, or supernatural dimension is essentially universal and transcends time, place, and culture. This need may have been expressed in 19th-century America especially intensely, and the religious structure for such belief may already have been in place, but such a belief would have established itself and been expressed in some way in any culture that was experiencing the death of thousands of its young men, often right on its doorstep.
Smaller, simpler things were interesting as well, such as the fact that every time a soldier slips on his "dog tags," it is a direct result of the chaos of the Civil War, and that the infamous Andersonville prison was not only responsible for thousands of Union deaths but for the death of its Confederate commander as well, who was executed for war crimes.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the Civil War, in diary literature (since many of the personal viewpoints used to illuminate the author's assertions were drawn from diaries and letters of soldiers and their families), or in 19th-century America.]]> 4.03 2008 This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War
author: Drew Gilpin Faust
name: Sue
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2008
rating: 5
read at: 2011/01/01
date added: 2011/01/08
shelves: history
review:
I truly appreciated the information and insight provided by this book. (To say that one "liked" a book exclusively about the death of thousands upon thousands of men would be strange.) It is sensitively written and the sequencing of the chapters is well-organized.
I heard about this book through a ŷ review. In that review, the reader stated that she might have appreciated the book more if she had had a more in-depth knowledge of the Civil War to begin with. I will defer to her opinion on that, but if one does already have a solid background in Civil War history, this book will add depth, humanity, and pathos to a story that can too easily be all about battle strategy and military personalities.
Most interesting to me was the author's assertion that 19th-century American views of death were VERY different from current views. I found that I could see her point in some ways, but disagreed with her in others. For one thing, I think the need to believe that a loved one still exists in some type of heaven, nurturing afterlife, or supernatural dimension is essentially universal and transcends time, place, and culture. This need may have been expressed in 19th-century America especially intensely, and the religious structure for such belief may already have been in place, but such a belief would have established itself and been expressed in some way in any culture that was experiencing the death of thousands of its young men, often right on its doorstep.
Smaller, simpler things were interesting as well, such as the fact that every time a soldier slips on his "dog tags," it is a direct result of the chaos of the Civil War, and that the infamous Andersonville prison was not only responsible for thousands of Union deaths but for the death of its Confederate commander as well, who was executed for war crimes.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the Civil War, in diary literature (since many of the personal viewpoints used to illuminate the author's assertions were drawn from diaries and letters of soldiers and their families), or in 19th-century America.
]]> <![CDATA[Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln]]> 2199 Winner of the Lincoln Prize

Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Lincoln's political genius in this highly original work, as the one-term congressman and prairie lawyer rises from obscurity to prevail over three gifted rivals of national reputation to become president.

On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, his rivals were dismayed and angry.

Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each had energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war. That Lincoln succeeded, Goodwin demonstrates, was the result of a character that had been forged by experiences that raised him above his more privileged and accomplished rivals. He won because he possessed an extraordinary ability to put himself in the place of other men, to experience what they were feeling, to understand their motives and desires.

It was this capacity that enabled Lincoln as president to bring his disgruntled opponents together, create the most unusual cabinet in history, and marshal their talents to the task of preserving the Union and winning the war.

We view the long, horrifying struggle from the vantage of the White House as Lincoln copes with incompetent generals, hostile congressmen, and his raucous cabinet. He overcomes these obstacles by winning the respect of his former competitors, and in the case of Seward, finds a loyal and crucial friend to see him through.

This brilliant multiple biography is centered on Lincoln's mastery of men and how it shaped the most significant presidency in the nation's history.]]> 916 Doris Kearns Goodwin Sue 4 history 4.27 2005 Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
author: Doris Kearns Goodwin
name: Sue
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2005
rating: 4
read at: 2009/03/01
date added: 2011/01/01
shelves: history
review:

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