ON FASCISM: 12 LESSONS from AMERICAN HISTORY (audiobook) by Matthew C. MacWilliams

Published in September of 2020 by Macmillan Audio.

Read by Kevin Stillwell.
Duration: 4 hours, 18 minutes.
Unabridged.

MacWilliams is a sociologist who studies authoritarianism. He has done a number of surveys over American attitudes towards the Constitution and the freedoms of their fellow citizens and there are areas of concern that he outlines in On Fascism.

For example, "31% of Americans agree that having a strong leader who does not have to bother with Congress and elections is a good way of governing the United States" and "30% of Americans agree with the statement 'I often find myself fearful of other people of other races.'"

Other stats of concern are:

"44% of Americans agree that increasing racial, religious and ethnic diversity represents a threat to the security of the United States"

When you break down the numbers about "18 percent of Americans are highly disposed to authoritarianism. Another 23 percent or so are attitudinally just one step below them on the authoritarian scale." He goes on to explain that people who are disposed to authoritarianism value "authority, obedience and uniformity over freedom, independence  and diversity" and when they grow fearful or are manipulated by an autocrat they will not defend the freedoms of the minority - the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution. 

MacWilliams argues that this is not a new phenomenon. There are some old surveys he can access but there is also the historical record, which is spotty. He didn't have to look very deep - most of these items are in every school child's American history book. For example, the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, the Trail of Tears, The Dred Scott decision, the Japanese Internment camps and the McCarthy hearings. 

Lesson 1: American Enlightened or Authoritarian?
Lesson 2: Fomenting Fear
Lesson 3: All Lies Matter
Lesson 4: Gagging the press, Quashing Dissent
Lesson 5: Taking What is Rightfully Ours
Lesson 6: Using Fear and Violence to Control and Subordinate Others
Lesson 7: The Driving Out
Lesson 8: Fear as a Path to Power
Lesson 9: Galvanizing Group Identity
Lesson 10: Silence of the Law
Lesson 11: Fear Breeds Repression; Repression Breeds Hate; Hate Menaces Stable Government
Lesson 12: The Surveillance Society and the Big Lie

I found this short audiobook to be engaging and thought-provoking. I just kept wondering what MacWilliams would have thought about everything from Election Day up to January 6.

Highly recommended.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: On Fascism: 12 Lessons from American History.

FOR LIBERTY and GLORY: WASHINGTON, LAFAYETTE, and THEIR REVOLUTIONS by James R. Gaines

Published in 2007 by W.W. Norton and Company.

First a bit of traditional blogging. I was going through some old receipts because I had plenty of time on my hands thanks to the Coronavirus lockdowns. This pile of receipts was 12 years old. It included some golden oldies like a Blockbuster receipt. I also found a receipt for this book. I had gotten a great deal on For Liberty and Glory - and it sat in my To-Be-Read pile for 12 years.

I had no idea it was in that pile for that long. If you had asked me before I found the receipt, I would guess it had been 4 or 5 years at most. At that moment, this book moved to the top of my To-Be-Read pile. I should have read it long before now - it was an excellent read.

Originally, I picked up this book because I simply didn't know much about Lafayette. I've read plenty of biographies of Washington and histories of the American Revolution. Lafayette always comes into the story somewhere in the middle. There's always a build up, with the Stamp Act, the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere and Patrick Henry and so on and then this kid from France comes over. He and Washington bond, Lafayette makes a good showing and he helps bring the French military in to help fight the English. And, at some point Lafayette goes away and doesn't come back until 1824.

I knew Lafayette was involved with the French Revolution, but my interest in the French Revolution is not strong (to me, it's a story that starts out well and then, all of a sudden, mobs are carrying heads and body parts around screaming for more blood and ends with a dictator that attacks every country in Europe, parts of Africa and even Haiti). So, I simply lost track of him. I asked someone who was a French Revolution buff what happened to Lafayette and the short answer was: "It didn't go well for him" with no elaboration.

So, this book looked like it would answer that question. It is a double biography of Washington and Lafayette as well as a double history of the American Revolution and the French Revolution. It is certainly not the definitive biography of either man or the definitive history of either revolution. But, it is immensely readable. I enjoyed it.

Turns out that I learned a lot about Lafayette. For example, his first name is Gilbert. Yeah, that seems trivial, but I've never heard him referred to as anything but Lafayette or the Marquis de Lafayette (almost like "Marquis" was his first name).

Lafayette was in love with the concept of the American Revolution from the

moment he heard of it. This teenager was so excited by the prospect of assisting in the war that he came here against the orders of the King's advisors - they had ordered all of the potential volunteers to stay in France. But, Lafayette and a few others crossed the border to Spain. Lafayette bought his own ship, sailed to South Carolina and eventually became an American hero - a Founding Father of sorts with more than 400 towns named after him. In my own state (Indiana) we have two cities and one county named after him.

Lafayette returned to France and was caught up in the French Revolution. The phrase "caught up" makes it sound like he was passive. Hardly. He co-wrote the most famous document of the French Revolution - the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. He created the modern French flag by combining the flag of Paris with the flag of the King of France. He helped save Louis XVI's life at one point and ended up languishing in a foreign prison for five years because of his role in the Revolution. He was offered the chance to be dictator at one point, and like his friend and hero George Washington, he turned it down. Bonaparte would not turn it down when he was offered that chance. But, Lafayette had a hand in Bonaparte's political demise in 1815 (after Waterloo). The luster of his name helped to carry the day.

Speaking of Bonaparte, Lafayette knew him personally. He knew so many big names in his life - George Washington, Victor Hugo, Marie Antoinette, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Victor Hugo, Louis XVI, Andrew Jackson, Alexis de Tocqueville, James Monroe, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and more.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. A must read if you are a student of the American Revolution and the early years of America's independence. Gaines has made this very approachable and writes in a lively manner.

It can be found on Amazon.com here: FOR LIBERTY and GLORY: WASHINGTON, LAFAYETTE, and THEIR REVOLUTIONS by James R. Gaines.

PATRIOTIC FIRE: ANDREW JACKSON and JEAN LAFITTE at the BATTLE of NEW ORLEANS (audiobook) by Winston Groom

Published in 2006 by Tantor Media.
Read by Grover Gardner.
Duration: 10 hours, 10 minutes.
Unabridged.

Winston Groom, best known as the author of Forrest Gump, is also a historian of sorts. He has written 14 non-fiction books, using his research skills he honed as a journalist to investigate a historical topic.

In this case, the topic Patriotic Fire is the Battle of New Orleans. Most people know everything they know about the battle from the catchy Johnny Horton song:

In 1814 we took a little trip, 
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans
And we caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans.

I knew a little bit more, having read a little about the battle. I didn't know much, however, not really being a fan of the War of 1812 or Andrew Jackson. But, I am a fan of Winston Groom so I decided to give it a try.

Groom is skilled at telling a narrative history and at the end, I had a much better idea of how the Battle of New Orleans was fought. He also is excellent at fleshing out the historical figures and making them feel more like real people.

For example, Jean Lafitte. I knew Lafitte's home base was in the islands in the

Jean Lafitte (1776-1823)

swampy river delta south of the city, but since he has always been described as a pirate, I assumed it was some sort of gang headquarters. Instead, Lafitte was a privateer and a smuggler. A privateer is, to be generous, a legal pirate, getting permission from various governments at war to attack the commerce of their enemies.

I was surprised that Lafitte's island was less of a pirate headquarters and more of a warehouse selling items he regularly smuggled and special items he captured as a privateer. Lafitte wasn't really a pirate king so much as a pirate businessman who often lived out in the open in New Orleans. His life was hardly that of a hardened criminal on the run - it was much more like that of a mafia don rather than a wild-eyed pirate with a dagger clenched in his teeth.

The audiobook was read by veteran reader Grover Gardner. Whenever I listen to one of his audiobooks, I start out hating his folksy reading style. But, as it goes along, I find myself really enjoying it, almost like comfort food.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: PATRIOTIC FIRE: ANDREW JACKSON and JEAN LAFITTE at the BATTLE of NEW ORLEANS by Winston Groom.

A PEOPLE'S HISTORY of the UNITED STATES by Howard Zinn

Originally published in 1980 by HarperCollins. 

Multiple updated editions have been printed.

Howard Zinn's (1922-2010) A People's History of the United States is perhaps the most famous and most controversial history book in publication today. 

I read this book because the former governor of my home state of Indiana and current President of Purdue University, Mitch Daniels, repeatedly criticized it and actually advocated blocking its use in public schools in Indiana, including Indiana University. Governor Daniels used to be a frequent guest on a local newstalk radio station in Indianapolis and this book came up enough times in the conversations that I became aware of it. Before that I had never heard of it - but he certainly put it on my radar. That's not really what he had intended, I am sure.

I found my copy of A People's History of the United States in a local thrift shop on a half price day, which made this book a true bargain at $1. I decided that, as a good and loyal American I absolutely had to read the book that my state government's former chief executive had decided was "truly execrable" and tried to remove from Indiana University classrooms and see for myself if he was right.

Zinn has a theme that he hits consistently throughout his book and it is that the "haves" are continually using and abusing the "have-nots" throughout American history although, sometimes, the "haves" give in a bit and let some of the "have-nots" get a little more because it ensures their survival at the top. He argues that this was the case during the American Revolution. He would have been a big promoter of the idea of the 1% vs. the 99% that has come into vogue lately.

He also argues that the elites stoke class envy and racial animosities to create internal rivalries among the lower classes so that they fight among themselves and fail to see who their true enemy is. Throughout the entire book, the details change but this is the basic story.

As a history book, this book succeeds fabulously at hitting that one note over and over and over and over ad nauseam. Is he right? Sure - to a point he is right throughout the book. For example, he is right that the founders envisioned limited participation from the common man in the early American republic. But, other arguments sound hollow. 

For example, on page 37 of my 1990 edition he argues that racial animosities were practically created by the elites as a way to control the slaves. It is a clever argument and it is the culmination of a long argument that he had been making in the previous pages concerning the presence of anti-miscegenation laws in the new world. His presumption that, if left to themselves, the lower classes would have not had any racial issues because the passing of these laws shows that the elites were bothered by interracial romance and conspired to stop it before the lower class united and overthrew them. This sounds too organized for my tastes. Also, I have less faith in human nature than Zinn does - the same base thoughts that he despises in the upper class exist across all of the classes.

Strengths:

-The discussion of Andrew Jackson and Indian Removal.

-The discussion of the labor movement during the Gilded Age/Robber Baron era was particularly well-written and flowed well.

-He covers the governmental overreach during World War I well.

Weaknesses:

-He wrote this book as an antidote to the "hero" version of history - the version that teaches about George Washington's battlefield exploits but overlooks the fact that he held slaves. Sadly, in his zeal to set the record straight, he often overlooks the good (or even great) points about heroes that he is out to debunk. 

-The Andrew Jackson section says literally nothing about Jackson's strongest political fight - his fight against the National Bank. I would have appreciated a look at how the defeat of this bank and the subsequent "panic" (economic recession/depression) affected regular Americans.

-Sadly, he often ignores the "people" and creates a new set of heroes to replace the ones he has debunked. But, he does little to debunk his new heroes so the reader is left with, essentially, the same problem. Also, this does not make it a true "people's" history since people like Frederick Douglass and Emma Goldman are so extraordinary that they are, by definition, not stand-ins for the "everyman".

-The sections on the Vietnam War and the 1970's suffer from just being written too close to when the book was originally printed (1980). I think he was so close to the events that he had a hard time determining what was truly important and what was trivia. This made the book bog down with things like his stories of community newspapers printed on ditto machines as a sign that media was changing. When compared to the tsunami of change that the internet brought to media just a few years later, these little stories are quaint and irrelevant. 

-During the Cold War sections, he never addresses what the other side in this Cold War was doing and at least acknowledging that America and its allies had reasons to be wary of the USSR and its allies.

************

As I stated above, Zinn hits one note throughout the book. This note does appear in most mainstream history books, but not in great quantity. So, the book has value in that it does bring that part of American to the forefront. But, since it does not waver from its obsessive focus, it becomes a tool of limited value. To quote Abraham Maslow:   "I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail."

Now, to go back to the beginning of my review - would I outlaw this book from being used in a classroom? No, of course not. But, I do not think it should be the only text used in a class. Individual chapters are sold as smaller books and I think that would be appropriate. If it were a year-long class I might have students read the whole thing so long as they were reading lots of other works.

I don't see what the big fuss is on either side, to be honest.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: A People's History of the United States.

NOTE: Mitch Daniels, the Indiana governor that wanted to literally outlaw the use of this book in any school in Indiana, was appointed President of Purdue University when his term as governor ended by the Purdue Board of Trustees. He appointed most of those members and is widely considered to have appointed himself through that board. In my opinion, this attempt to stifle academic freedom should have made him ineligible to hold any position at a university, let alone be president of one.

MATTHEW BRADY: PHOTOGRAPHER of the CIVIL WAR (Historical American Biographies series) by Lynda Pflueger

Published in 2001 by Enslow Publishers, Inc.

Matthew Brady is most famous for being THE photographer of the Civil War, but he had quite the career before the war. He was arguably the most famous photographer in the world before the war and the war cemented him in the historical record.

Every American has seen his team's handiwork - one of his photographs of Lincoln was the model for Lincoln's image on the penny. But, if you are a student of the Civil War, you have seen Brady's handiwork over and over again - such as his picture of Lincoln conferring with McClellan in a tent at the Antietam battlefield, his portrait of Lincoln with his son Tad, and his picture of Robert E. Lee taken right after the war.

This biography is intended to be a supplemental reading in a fifth grade or higher classroom. I am a voracious reader of just about anything about the American Civil War (this is my 100th book I am reviewing with a Civil War theme) and I found this slim volume to be quite informative. The pictures that were chosen for the book were excellent. The book features 110 pages of pictures and text followed by a chronology of Brady's life, a set of end notes, a glossary, suggestion for further reading and an index for a grand total of 128 pages.

Matthew Brady (1822-1896)

The maps in the book are accurate, but I don't think I have ever found a more worthless set of maps in a Civil War history. They are focused so close in to the action that the reader cannot see the larger picture. For example, the map showing McClellan's Peninsular Campaign is so tight that you cannot see how the sweep of the Army of the Potomac's movements and how this would have been a stunning attack on Richmond that would have avoided the bulk of the Confederate Army if it had been implemented more quickly. 

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: Matthew Brady: Photographer of the Civil War. 

Jackson: The Iron-Willed Commander (The Generals Series) by Paul Vickery

A Nifty Little Biography

Published by Thomas Nelson in 2012.

Jackson: The Iron-Willed Commander is a welcome addition to a larger series called The Generals that offers relatively short biographies (about 200 pages) of America's better-known generals. This book is by no means the definitive biography of Andrew Jackson, but it is great introduction to this controversial man.

Andrew Jackson lived most of his life on the American frontier. His most famous battle was, of course, the Battle of New Orleans in the last moments of the War of 1812 (technically, it took place after the treaty was signed) but by that time Jackson was a veteran of many battles. He had already fought the British in two wars, skirmished with the Spanish several times and was involved in multiple frontier wars with Native Americans. Throw in Jackson's willingness to duel and one quickly realizes that Jackson thrived on action and danger. A great deal of his life seems to be consumed by organizing for a campaign, going out on a military campaign, recovering from injury sustained in a battle or a duel or recovering from an illness he contracted while on a campaign. His wife, Rachel, must have been a very patient woman.

Rather than go into the details of Jackson's life, I will comment on the presentation of Jackson's more controversial decisions in the book. Jackson is reviled in many Native American communities for his policy of  forcing Native Americans out of their traditional land and making them settle across the Mississippi, including villages and communities that sided with him during the wars and including groups that decided to live like white society. Vickery is to be commended for doing what so many biographers would not do - he explains why Jackson did this. Many writers would scold Jackson, but Vickery explains Jackson's reasoning without excusing him. It makes for a better biography if one can understand the thinking of the time.

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)

Since it is a part of a series about generals, most of the book focuses on Jackson's long and varied military career. Jackson's presidency merits a few pages as does his personal life. This is a nifty little biography and I recommend it as a great place to start a study of Andrew Jackson or the frontier times of the South.

I received this book as a part of Thomas Nelson's Booksneeze program in exchange for an honest review.

Reviewed on July 24, 2012.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Jackson: The Iron-Willed Commander

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

1812: A Novel by David Nevin

Good - but comes with problems

Published in 1996.

If you do not already know something about the War of 1812, I cannot recommend this book for your reading pleasure. Why not? The author, David Nevin, goes into the story without much of an explanation of who the characters are and just assumes you know who they are. I would have recommended a small two to three page introduction that laid out the issues of the day and something about the personalities of the day as well.

Instead, we spend page after page getting these introductions as a part of the story. Along the way, Nevin introduces us to the innermost thoughts of such people as James Madison, Andrew Jackson, Winfield Scott and Dolley Madison. Nevin seems fascinated in exploring each of these characters as sexual beings. We get to read about James Madison's lusting for Dolley (he refers to her breasts so often that I blush when I see Madison in my history book).

However, the book is saved by his descriptions of the battles. They are very well done.

Dolley Madison (1768-1849)

If you don't know your War of 1812, be sure to keep your computer handy so you can check the 'net to learn the background material to the things Nevin is referring to.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: 1812: A Novel.

Reviewed on December 7, 2007.

The Long Hunters by Jason Manning

A solid bit of historical fiction

Published in 2002.

Jason Manning has written a series of novels about the Barlow family, starting with Lt. Timothy Barlow. The Long Hunters is set during the War of 1812 and the Seminole War and features Barlow, young Ensign Sam Houston, General Andrew Jackson and a Creek warrior/family man named Rook. The book covers the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and some of Jackson's Seminole Campaign in some detail, while we get a history book type overview of the Battle of New Orleans.

Manning's books are always well-researched and I am always a bit surprised that his stuff is always marketed with the pulp fiction westerns. Not that I dislike a good Western, mind you, but Manning's stuff is a cut above.

The next book in the series is The Fire-Eaters.

I rate this novel 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: The Long Hunters. 

Reviewed on August 30, 2008.

The Fire-Eaters by Jason Manning

Good historical fiction about an oft-forgotten era of American History

Published in 2003.

The Fire Eaters is the sequel to Long Hunters, a book about Timothy Barlow and his experiences as a young officer during the War of 1812 and the Creek Uprising with Andrew Jackson. You do not have to have read the first book to read this one.

In this second book of a Barlow Trilogy, Captain Barlow is asked by Andrew Jackson to go on a fact-finding mission to find out the source of a dispute between the Cherokee and White Georgians. Jackson is pre-disposed to remove the Cherokee and Barlow is upset by the idea. However, he fulfills his mission since he is honor-bound to fulfill his duty as a soldier.

Later, he is sent on another mission to deal with the nullifiers of South Carolina (AKA the 'Fire-eaters').

Andrew Jackson 
(1767-1845)

If you are not familiar with the real life Fire-eaters or with the issues involved with the Cherokee disputes, Manning does an exceptional job of explaining the issues and putting Barlow right in the middle of the action. Manning does something that I've never seen done before as well, and that is to tie both issues together in such a way that you can see the logic behind Jackson's actions concerning the Cherokee, although I personally strongly disagree with Jackson's actions.

The only problem with this story is Barlow's romantic life. It is tedious in a male action-adventure sort of way. By this I mean that all of the love interests in action-adventure books are all stunningly attractive, lusty, itching to take off their clothes and are insatiable in bed. Nice daydream material but C'mon! This type of woman abound in action-adventure stories but is rarely seen in the real world. However, Barlow's love life is the glue that holds the story together so I guess it has to stay in.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: The Fire Eaters by Jason Manning.

Reviewed on June 6, 2006.