Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
First of all, I think this is a really good book. It is also an important book. The book is “American Whitelash: A Changing Nation and the Cost of Progress” by Wesley Lowery
Whitelash may not be a term familiar to all. Slang.net defines it this way:
Whitelash is a political term that refers to a resistance by white voters against social progress among minority groups.
Jon Meacham has provided us with a great biography of Abraham Lincoln. It is especially good and timely because of the many divisions in the United States. Our country is more divided than any time since the Civil War. And learning about Lincoln and the evolution of his beliefs could yield a few useful lessons that could help us through the current situation.
Continue reading “Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle”
During a recent vacation we spent a few days at Wilmington, NC. One afternoon, after a pleasant lunch on the riverfront, we drove to Moore’s Creek National Battlefield.
The Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge took place about a half hour northwest of Wilmington NC in a very rural area. It was rural then and it is rural now.
Looking at the map, it is fairly close to an interstate highway so it may not be quite as remote as it seemed to us. We went by another route so it seem quite remote. We didn’t expect anyone else to be there but there were several carloads.
Continue reading “Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge”
Some love New York City or at least find it interesting. Some love to hate it. Some don’t care much one way or another. Unless you are in this last group, you probably will like this book.
I am now reading A History of New York in 101 Objects by Sam Roberts. Continue reading “A History of New York in 101 Objects”
Like many Americans, we are making our daily journey to the TV to watch the Ken Burns documentary on the Roosevelts. So far I have found it very enjoyable. But last night’s third installment reminded me of an excellent book I read a couple years ago.
The book is The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard. After former President Theodore Roosevelt lost Continue reading “Rio Roosevelt Revisited”
I am reading a wonderful book right now. Since I am still reading, it would not be fair to write a review at this point. So this is more of a Progress Report. Or maybe a note about What I am Reading Now.
A great Introduction got my interest in the opening paragraph where the author takes us on a nature adventure to a “veritable Garden of Eden” Continue reading “A Natural History of Greater New York”
Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival by Peter Stark is a page-turning tale full of great adventures and a true story that was once well-known but until now was a forgotten piece of history.
In this remarkable book, Peter Stark tells us Continue reading “Astoria by Peter Stark”
I think that that much of the problem in Washington is due to the excessive power we give to our 2 major political parties. This shutdown and the debt ceiling crisis are just examples of that.
Now there appears to be a compromise that may solve these problems but even if the immediate problems are solved (for now anyway), we still need to fix the partisan problem.
It is nice to know that George Washington thought political parties were a problem too.
Woodrow Wilson was a complicated man and he dealt with complicated issue so it seems fairly obvious that this biography must be complicated. In “Wilson”, A. Scott Berg tells this story well. There are some places where the complications and details slow down the reading but I think Berg gets about as close as you can get to a page-turner given the amount of material and complexity of material in some places.
He piqued my interest with an introduction about President Wilson’s journey to Europe to settle the terms of the peace after World War I. I was interested (otherwise I wouldn’t have even attempted the 800+ pages here) but this made me more interested.
Then Berg gives a more or less chronological account of his life giving you a better understanding of this man who would be President. I’ll not go into detail here but I will say Berg tells this well. You can probably find many short summaries of his life online.
Woodrow Wilson graduated from Princeton (Class of 1879) and would return there after practicing law, earning a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and several faculty positions. He was a respected academic and wrote extensively on government and politics. In 1890 Wilson joined the Princeton faculty and in 1902 became president of Princeton.
In 1910 the political bosses in New Jersey thought he was an electable candidate for Governor and could be easily controlled. He was elected and they were very surprised.
Then with about a year of political experience, he was chosen as the Democratic candidate for President. The bulk of the book describes the next 8 years as president and then his final years. Wilson is often rated among our greatest presidents. Read this book and you’ll learn why.
I enjoyed the book. It is a commitment to read book of this length but it is certainly worth it.
Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham is a wonderful book. I had done some reading about Jefferson before but never a full-length biography. I had heard this was the best so I was eager to tackle it and I’m glad I did.
In my previous readings, I had always felt Jefferson was a very gifted man and with that rare ability to hold 2 contradictory beliefs in his mind without being a hypocrite. For example, he was firmly against the idea of political parties, yet the most partisan of politicians.
The list of these internal contradictions is massive. But Jon Meacham spends a good bit of time on the early Jefferson and his love of control and dislike of conflict. This was paired with a strong set of beliefs about what was right or ideals (Jefferson, the Philosopher) with a realization of what was possible and how to get there (Jefferson, the Politician). And the latter is the art of power as in the subtitle.
This is a large (but still 1 volume) biography. I have seen blurbs calling it the best but I’ll have to leave that judgement of others who are more qualified. I’ll just say that I enjoyed it and feel that I understand Jefferson much better than before.
Here are some other reviews:
The Irish Americans is one of those books that although written for the general reader is detailed enough and sufficiently referenced to be useful to those seeking more depth. I think over the years I have read quite a bit of Irish history and the history of Irish Americans because of my interest in Irish-American genealogy to be somewhat knowledgeable on the subjects. Yet I was not bored at all and found the book very interesting and informative.
My family came from Ireland to New York. So I was particularly interested in the discussion of New York Irish. There was much I had read before but here is was put in the context of the larger Irish American experience. That is, I was more interested in the discussion of Irish American politics and so forth in New York but reading about the similarities and differences in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and other cities was valuable in putting it all in perspective.
Dr. Dolan is a scholar in the fields of Irish Americans and American Catholicism. He is a Professor Emeritus of History at Notre Dame. This book clearly benefits from his years of scholarship on immigration and ethnic studies (including 18 years teaching Irish American history).
This is a complicated story and Jay P. Dolan tells it well. The big Irish migration came with The Famine in Ireland and after. Most of these were Catholic and so the author’s background studying American Catholicism is extremely helpful in explaining how these immigrants fit into American society. The authors does not ignore non-Catholics or those who came before the great influx but discusses similarities and differences and the uneasy relationships among various groups. In a few generations the Irish have moved from one of the lowest rungs of the social ladder to move upward considerably.
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
By Candice Millard
I had read a book about President Cleveland and in a discussion of medical care, the shoddy medical care of President Garfield which resulted in his death was mentioned. By chance I ran across a favorable review of Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard and figured I would like to learn more about this. So I requested the book for my local library and waited. (If you are looking for a new book it is much quicker to just buy it.)
Other than a brief mention of President Garfield in high school history and the book mentioned above, I knew little about this President. Millard’s book was wonderful way to fill in that gap. Millard tell the fascinating story of his rise from abject poverty to the presidency, his assassination by a mad man, and the medical care that killed him.
This is not a complete biography of James Garfield. His life before his brief presidency is well told. It is clear that he was an extraordinary man and his assassination only a few months after inauguration was a great loss to the country. The assassin Charles Guiteau is vividly portrayed as he gets closer to the President. As in River of Doubt , you know how this story is going to end but Millard adds considerable suspense while telling this story.
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard is a fascinating account of that era and the sadly short presidency of James Garfield.
I enjoyed The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard. It thought it might be interesting as I enjoy reading about little known historical events but this book was much more.
The trip started out as a sort of photo-op adventure tour in the wilds of South America to occupy and satisfy former President Theodore Roosevelt after he lost his attempt as a third party candidate to oust President Taft in 1912. For those unfamiliar with the election: Wilson (the Democratic nominee) won; Roosevelt came in second; and Taft (the Republican nominee ) came in third.
Before starting this adventure tour, Roosevelt journeyed to South America and was convinced to make this a real journey of exploration. In partnership with a Brazilian officer, Roosevelt led a small group of men on this hazardous expedition. This small group included Theodore Roosevelt’s son Kermit. Both Theodore and Kermit Roosevelt were ill during the journey and risked their lives as they shared the hardships and work with the rest of the group. In fact, the former President came very close to death.
It amazed me that although I knew both Roosevelts would survive the trip, there was a very real sense of suspense during the river journey. I believe this is due to Candice Millard’s superb writing skills.
My backstory here is that I found this book accidentally. I had just finished a book about President Cleveland and in a discussion of medical care, the shoddy medical care of President Garfield which resulted in his death was mentioned. I saw an excellent review of a recent book by Candice Millard on James Garfield and while I was requesting that one from the library noticed she had published The River of Doubt a few years back. I requested both books but the older one came in first so I read it and was very pleased with it. So now I am looking forward to reading Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President when I get my copy from the library.
No. It is not the current president or a recent past president. I’m sure there are many people who would think this title is one of the many political hatchet jobs that have been published in the last few years. But the full title The President Is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth makes it clear that this is not about a recent president at all and there is certainly more to it than the usual political hatchet job.
The President is Grover Cleveland, the year is 1893, the country faces a financial crisis and there is some secret stuff going on. Cancer is not spoken off in polite society and a president with cancer would be severely weakened politically at a crucial time. President Grover Cleveland has cancer. So the While House just lied.
This is the story of the event and a cover-up lasting for nearly a quarter century. And, of course, the reporter who broke the story in 1893 was believed to be a liar. (Since the President is an honest man.) Matthew Algeo is a reporter and covers this little-known historical event well, putting things in the context of the times and issues and making the story interesting.
The asides are interesting too. President Cleveland had excellent medical care but this seems to be an exception. President today have very good care but that has not been the case for much of our history. I learned in school that President Garfield was shot and died of the resulting infection. The part you don’t learn in school is that the wounds were not fatal but the infection probably resulted from his medical care. Other presidents had doctors picked for political or social reason. Some were good enough but some were really incompetent. The Baby Ruth candy bar is often said to be named for President Cleveland’s daughter Ruth but that does not seem to be the case. I found the background on newpapers of the day fascinating.
The author addresses differences between journalism and newspapers of the 19th century and today’s journalists and media. This a completely enjoyable book. I highly recommend it.
I’ve been reading Independence: The Struggle to Set America Free by John Ferling for a few weeks now. For me, nonfiction goes much slower than fiction and that has its advantages and disadvantages.
The book focuses on the years leading up to the Declaration of Independence. The author is a historian known for his expertise in the American Revolutionary era and several previous books have shown that he knows how to tell the story well. Concentration of this relatively short period of a few years allows the author to tell the story in some detail and explain well both the English desire to control a part of their empire and the change as the colonists and Continental Congress progressed from just wanting their rights as Englishmen to the realization that independence was neccessary.
Of course, not everyone made that jump, and those that did, moved a very different rates. I very much enjoyed reading about the interactions of the members who moved from their uncertain prospects to the founding a successful republic and highly recommend this book for those who would like more insight into this era.
