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Showing posts with the label American History

Where Lincoln Walked by Raymond Bial

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Great introduction to Lincoln for children Published by Walker Childrens in 2008. Where Lincoln Walked is a wonderful little history mostly about Lincoln's pre-Presidential life. Lots of beautifully shot full color pictures of such places as Lincoln's mother's home in Kentucky, Lincoln's boyhood home in southern Indiana and his law offices in Springfield. The author, Raymond Bial, took most of these pictures himself. He has a good eye for photography and does a great job with the text and the captions. Recommended for budding young history buffs, classrooms and the hardcore Lincoln collectors. I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Where Lincoln Walked . Reviewed on December 6, 2008.

The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat by Bob Drury

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A slow start but don't let that deter you Although I am a history teacher, I have to admit that I am woefully under-informed on the Korean War - at least when compared to our other wars. Sadly, I am not alone in this fact - there's a reason why the Korean War is called "The Forgotten War". Drury and Clavin start off slowly, in part because there is no context as to why the soldiers are marching around in the subzero weather in northern Korea. However, once they explain the purpose of this particular campaign in the war as a whole and show the reader a few maps I got a lot more comfortable with how they were telling the story and appreciated it a lot more. Marines during the Chosin Campaign in the Korean War The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat is not a fancy history - it is told from the ground level perspective of the the Marines on the hill and is full of tales of bodily fluids, men too young to actually join t...

Be the People: A Call to Reclaim America's Faith and Promise by Carol M. Swain, PhD

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Sometimes incredibly strong, sometimes deeply flawed. Carol M. Swain's Be the People: A Call to Reclaim America's Faith and Promise is a look at several broad areas of concern in American policy, including the high divorce rate, abortion, gay marriage, illegal immigration, race relations in America, HIV, school prayer and the high unemployment among those with lower levels of education. First, the positives: -Swain's personal story is inspirational and she shares it as she writes about these issues. -Swain accurately describes how illegal immigration destroys job opportunities for the least educated Americans by driving the wages down to a pathetically low level. It is not that Americans will not do those jobs, they will not do them for that low of a wage. She also provides a humane 15 point plan to deal with illegal immigration. -Her commentary on race and racism are quite interesting and well thought out. I teach in a multi-racial school with a near even mi...

Sign-Talker: The Adventure of George Drouillard on the Lewis and Clark Expedition by James Alexander Thom

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An entertaining look at the Lewis and Clark adventure Lewis and Clark's famous Voyage of Discovery lasted from 1803-1806. Besides Lewis and Clark there were a number of French trappers, Seaman (Lewis' dog) soldiers, frontier hunters, Clark's slave named York, Sacagewa and her son and George Drouillard, a half-French/half-Shawnee brought along with the dual role of sign-language interpreter and hunter. Meriwether Lewis called Drouillard "One of the two or three most valuable members of the expedition..." A memorial in Jefferson City, Mo.  from left to right:  York (sitting),  Meriwether Lewis,  Seaman the dog,  William Clark, and  George Drouillard (crouching) In Sign-Talker , James Alexander Thom tells the story of Drouillard, focusing on his journey with Lewis and Clark. This book is James Alexander Thom at his descriptive best - the descriptions of camp life, hunting with Drouillard and the look into his presumed spiritual life gives the re...

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (audiobook) by Frederick Douglas

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An American Classic 4.5 hours Narrated by Jonathan Reese Published by Tantor Media Frederick Douglass wrote three autobiographies during his life. Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglas, an American Slave , written in 1845, is, perhaps, the most famous. The others were My Bondage and My Freedom (1855) and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass (1881, revised 1892). Written as a response to those that doubted that such an intelligent and well-spoken man could have ever been a slave, Narrative tells about the early life of Frederick Douglass (b. 1818 - d.1895), how he learned to read and write and how he acquired the skills necessary to escape and prosper in the North after he escaped. Frederick Douglass (1818-1895)  as a young man Douglass was a young man when this book was published (aged 27) so there is not a lot of detail about his life as a free man (with the caveat of being an escaped slave living the constant fear of being kidnapped and returned to slavery)...

America, 1908: The Dawn of Flight, the Race to the Pole, the Invention of the Model T and the Making of a Modern Nation by Jim Rasenberger

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The strong points are very strong but there are flaws Originally published in 2007 by Scribner. America, 1908 covers some of the key cultural, political, manufacturing and just plain odd events that happened in 1908 in the United States in an easy-to-read, often fun format. These include the Race to the North Pole, the New York to Paris automobile race, the introduction of the Model T, the last time the Cubs won the World Series for more than a century, the Wright Brothers proving to the world that they really could fly (and do it for hours, not just seconds) and a series of horrible race-based lynchings. While I enjoyed learning more about the Wright Brothers and the Model T, other parts seemed more than a bit skewed towards events in New York City (the Cubs win their last World Series and it's told from the point of view of the New York Giants?) and against rural areas and the South (the only references to the South are from newspapers mentioning events in NYC or ...

The Invention of Air: A Story Of Science, Faith, Revolution, And The Birth Of America by Steven Johnson

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Meandering book felt more like an expanded magazine article  Published in 2008.  I am a history teacher and thought The Invention of Air: A Story Of Science, Faith, Revolution, And The Birth Of America might be an interesting new perspective on the Enlightenment and the American Revolution from the perspective of English theologian, philosopher and scientist Joseph Priestley. We get a hefty dose of scientific history which is appropriate but not my area of interest. We don't get a lot of detail on his theological writings that caused him to flee England for America and later made him unpopular with some politicians in America as well. We also get a lot of off-topic meanderings such as his pages full of information on the Carboniferous era (millions of year ago) that form a rhetorical touchstone for the rest of the book but mostly seemed to fill the book with extra pages. Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) In fact, the large-type print, off-topic musings and s...

This Hallowed Ground: The Story of the Union Side of the Civil War by Bruce Catton

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An Amazing One Volume History of the Civil War Originally published in 1956. When I was a freshman in college, way back in 1986, I happened upon a Bruce Catton (1899-1978) book in the bookstore while buying all of my textbooks for my first semester. I picked it up just because I was in a mood to be educated with something that looked more interesting and less daunting than my economics and math textbooks. My fascination with all things Civil War began with that book. I traded it in a fit of stupidity a couple of years later at a used book store near campus. I read his trilogy, re-printed articles in American Heritage and then I moved on to other talented authors, such as James McPherson. Bruce Catton (1899-1978) I had forgotten how truly gifted Catton was as a writer and I just assumed that because Catton was the historian of my childhood, he was an inferior writer. Why? I don't know. I picked up this older copy (see picture above) of   This Hallowed Ground: The Story of ...

Greeks & Romans Bearing Gifts: How the Ancients Inspired the Founding Fathers by Carl J. Richard

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Great book even though it was not quite what I thought it was. So, if it was not quite what I thought it was, what is it? Greeks and Romans Bearing Gifts: How the Ancients Inspired the Founding Fathers is a very succinct, well-written and entertaining history of the Ancient Greeks and the Romans with a little commentary at the end of each section about how these histories influenced the Founding Fathers. For example, he has seven pages on a history of the Spartans (probably the best short explanation of the Spartans I have ever read) and two pages about the lessons learned. There are 13 pages on the Persian Wars and just one page about the lesson learned. "Declaration of Independence" by John Trumbull This book does fill a serious gap in our education nowadays. Unfortunately, in the world of education, it is not uncommon to think of Western history as not important to our lives ("Hey! Ho! Western culture's got to go!" - Stanford protester...

Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession and the President's War Powers by James F. Simon

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An interesting head-to-head biography about two gentlemen who went head-to-head quite often during the Civil War. Published in 2006 by Simon and Schuster. James F. Simon's Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney shines an interesting light on two overlooked aspects of 19th century American history. The first overlooked aspect is the Supreme Court, specifically the person of Roger Taney (pronounced Tawney), the Chief Justice most famous for what may be known for all time as his single worst legal opinion, and one of the most controversial and ill-considered opinions of all time - Dred Scott. Roger Taney   (1777-1864) Simon tells the story of Taney's life, including his surprisingly liberal views on slavery and his legal defense of blacks who were seized illegally to be sold into slavery, the fact that he freed most of his family's slaves and even provided a modest pension for the elderly ones. Taney even defended an the rights of an abolitionist preacher to preach his m...

Rise to Rebellion and The Glorious Cause by Jeff Shaara

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T he Glorious Cause is the second in Shaara's two volume piece historical fiction concerning the Revolutionary War. Rise to Rebellion was the first, and I believe the superior of the two, but The Glorious Cause is an excellent novel as well. Rise to Rebellion is the superior of the two novels due to the changes of heart that the readers sees in John Adams and Benjamin Franklin concerning the issue of independence from England. The Glorious Cause has little of that type deep soul-searching. However, it is a fantastic portrayal of the difficulties encountered by the Continental Army and George Washington, in particular. If I were to have my druthers, I would have preferred that Shaara had broken the second 600+ page novel into two novels  to make it a trilogy and expanded them both by delving more into the politics of the day and the difficulties of fighting a war with the governmental structures and restrictions that the Continental Congress was hampered with. ...

The Final Storm: A Novel of the War in the Pacific by Jeff Shaara

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A bit disappointing. Published in 2011 by Ballantine Books. Jeff Shaara's European Theater World War II trilogy covered America's participation in that theater completely - from before the invasion of North Africa to the occupation of Germany. All of my reviews of those books can be seen by clicking here . He did a great job of discussing the grand strategies and showing the view from the trenches. I really was hoping for the same treatment here. Shaara alludes to problems with his publisher in an introduction, but the reader is left with a truncated version of the war in the Pacific Theater. Shaara picks up this story with the dates he left off in his European Theater trilogy - Spring of 1945.So, no Pearl Harbor, Battle of Midway or threat of invasion of Australia. No occupation of the Aleutian Islands. No Bataan Death March. The B-29 bomber Enola Gay Instead, we are told the story of one major campaign (Okinawa) and the story of the Enola Gay and the bombing of ...

The Civil War: Strange and Fascinating Facts by Burke Davis

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Fun to read, but be warned... Published in 1982. ...you had better be up on your Civil War basics before attempting to read this book. It assumes that the reader is well aware of the main battles, campaigns, personalities and relative strengths and weaknesses of both the North and the South. Union General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) As the title suggests, the book is primarily a collection of facts and oddball "did you know?" type of stories that are not really intended to re-tell the story of the Civil War but are mostly aimed at  people who know the story fairly well and are looking for some new stories (in my case, these are new stories I can use to bore my wife in new and different ways with the Civil War). There's bound to be something new in here for everyone but the hardest of the hard core Civil War aficionados. Well-written, breezy, although oftentimes disjointed and random. This book is also published under the titles Our Incredible Civ...

To Make Men Free: A Novel of the Battle of Antietam by Richard Croker

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This Civil War buff thoroughly enjoyed it Originally Published in 2004 by William Morrow To Make Men Free , like an epic feature from the 1950s, features a cast of thousands which is both its strength and weakness. A lot of reviewers complain about the lack of depth in the characters, which is fair to say about the book. Unlike Shaara's The Killer Angels , the gold standard of Civil War fiction, there is not much character development. But, to be fair, Shaara focuses on precious few personalities of the War while Croker includes Lincoln, many cabinet members, Lee, McClellan and at least a dozen of the generals, not to mention colonels, sergeants and even a couple of privates. George B. McClellan  (1826-1885) The inclusion of so many characters does contribute to a lack of character exploration but it also contributes to a wide view of the mayhem of the battlefield. Croker also delves into political intrigues that went hand in hand with this bloodiest day in Am...

Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad by Ann Lane Petry

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Well-written biography of a true American hero Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad is a fantastic little biography of Harriet Tubman. Tubman has always been one of my personal heroes and this book does her story justice. Harriet Tubman (1820-1913) I would say this book can be easily enjoyed by 4th graders and up. It also could serve as a great starting point for adults that don't know much about slavery and the American Abolitionist movement. While telling the story of Tubman's life, Petry also includes at the end of nearly every chapter historical tidbits about the slavery and the Abolitionist movement at the national level. The discussion of her service in the Civil War as a scout in the coastal areas of South Carolina spurred me to do some further research. Her commanding officer in the raids was Colonel James M. Montgomery, the nutty commander in the movie Glory with this memorable line: "You see sesesh has to be cleared a...

Jesus Says So (kindle) by Mass. Sabbath School Society

A 19th Century Inspirational Story Printed in 1851, "Jesus Says So, or A Memorial of Little Sarah G----" is a great example of a witnessing tool from the 19th century. The title derives from the saying of a little girl who quotes the promises of Jesus and proudly proclaims that she believes them because "Jesus says so." Modern witness tracts typically include the story of a person who has sinned in a big way but has turned their life around thanks to a conversion. This tract features an 11 year-old girl who is practically without sin, lives a poverty-stricken life and dies from an unknown illness after a long period of being bedridden. This type of tragic story was very common in the 19th century. This is a very short story, perhaps a 10 minute read. It was printed by the Mass. Sabbath School Society. Even if you are not interested in the religious content it does provide a window into American culture in the 19th century and invites comparison w...

Undying Glory: The Story of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment by Clinton Cox

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Comments from a history teacher Okay - so hear I am once again reading a kid's book. However, it is for my classroom library - I try to read them all so I can make recommendations. Sgt. William Carney  of the 54th  Massachusetts, the first African American to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor For those not in the know, Undying Glory: The Story of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment   is a brief history of the 54th Massachusetts - the first official regiment of blacks in the American Civil War. The unit was immortalized in the Academy Award winning film Glory , starring Denzel Washington. Cox has the great majority of his facts straight (I have some quibbles, such as when he claims that a good soldier could load and shoot a civil war rifle in about 45 seconds, when the reality was that a competent soldier could do it up to 3 times per minute.) The larger problem goes from being factual to the problem of being written in such a way that young people wo...