ZACHARY TAYLOR: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END (Biographies of U.S. Presidents)(kindle) by Hourly History

Published by Hourly History in 2025.

Hourly History specializes in histories and biographies that take a reader about an hour to read. It seems appropriate length for Zachary Taylor, the President with the third shortest time in office (just 16 months).

Taylor had a short and rather vague political career, but his military career was rather lengthy. He fought against the Shawnee under future President William Hentry Harrison on the frontier in the War of 1812 in Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan. 

He fought in the Black Hawk War and served in what would later become Minnesota and Wisconsin establishing and upgrading a series of forts. Later, he fought the Seminoles in Florida and served as the overall commander of American troops in the War. 

He is most famous for his service as one of the two main generals that led the invasion of Mexico in the Mexican War. Taylor crossed from Texas into Northern Mexico, fighting a series of battles, eventually winning the Battle of Buena Vista in February of 1847. That battle cemented his reputation in the American mind and catapulted him to the Presidency in 1848, despite never having voted before and not really having political opinions that alligned strongly with any political party at the time.

On a personal note - one thing Taylor did have going for him was a working knowledge of the what was the American frontier at the time, having served or lived in Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Taylor was a slave holder but was against the expansion of slavery into the territories taken from Mexico. he knew from personal experience that the climate of those areas were completely incompatible with the plantation style of slavery he practiced at his plantation in Mississippi. 

As I already noted, Taylor took ill in the summer of 1850 and died, probably due to some sort of food poisoning or a form of cholera. This book doesn't look much into the "what ifs" of a longer Presidency for Taylor who was pro-slavery, strongly anti-seccession, and against the spread of slavery. Could he have been the political figure that worked out a great compromise that would have prevented the Civil War?

I rate this short e-book 4 stars out of 5. It's pretty good, considering how short it is. It can be found on Amazon.com here: ZACHARY TAYLOR: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END by Hourly History.

GRANT and LEE: VICTORIOUS AMERICAN and VANQUISHED VIRGINIAN by Edward H. Bonekemper III

Originally published in 2007.

Edward Bonekemper was a Civil War historian who came to the game kind of late in life - after he retired as an attorney for the federal government. 

However, he brings his skills as an attorney to this book. Imagine a regulatory attorney bringing all of his research to bear in order to win a case by simply  overwhelming the other side with binder after binder of evidence. In this case, the evidence is almost 200 pages of appendices, endnotes, and a bibliography. 

Bonekemper makes an argument in this book that Grant was undoubtedly the superior general when compared to Lee. In fact, he makes the arguments that Grant was the best general in the Civil War by far and Lee squandered his soldiers and his resources by going on the offense almost all of the time.

Being the best general does not mean Grant made no mistakes. It does not mean Grant was perfect. Bonekemper acknowledges mistakes by Grant in every campaign and gives Lee his due from time to time. 

Grant and Lee is really a dual history of these two generals, comparing their pre-war careers and then various stages of the war itself. For example, there is a chapter called May-July 1863 where the Vicksburg campaign is compared to the Chancellorsville/Gettysburg campaigns. 

A constant refrain is that Lee's biggest weakness is that he did not conserve his resources by falling back on the defensive. His argument is that Lee did not grasp the strategic fact that the North had to literally conquer the South while the South just had to stay alive until popular support collapsed in the North and the Europeans recognized the Confederate government. 

Instead of building a series of fortifications and compelling the Union forces to destroy themselves in useless attacks, Lee kept lashing out at Union forces and invaded the North twice only to lose both times and discourage European intervention after both failures.

Lee rarely lost more soldiers than the Union forces he fought, but he did not have a constant supply of new soldiers coming to the front - and the North did. Not only did the North replace soldiers at an amazing rate, they also managed to create all new armies when needed.

I found that I basically agreed with Bonekemper. Grant was the better general. Lee was too focused on Virginia and too eager to go on the offense. He did not save his resources and did not share the ones he had with other theaters of the war.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: GRANT and LEE: VICTORIOUS AMERICAN and VANQUISHED VIRGINIAN by Edward H. Bonekemper III.

VICKSBURG, 1863 by Winston Groom

Originally published by Knopf in 2009.

Winston Groom will always be best known as the author of Forrest Gump, but he should be equally well known as the author of a series of well-told American histories. Included in those histories is a trilogy of Civil War histories that focus on the Western Theater of the war.

Vicksburg 1863 is the second book in the trilogy, but it can be easily read as a stand-alone history. After a short introduction to the war itself, it follows Grant's campaign to take the Mississippi River away from the Confederacy, beginning with a mess of a battle in Missouri that proved nothing of any importance except that Grant was game to fight and push forward, even if the conditions were not perfect.

That, it turns out, was pretty much the key to Grant's eventual success in this campaign and in the war.

From there, we follow Grant through Kentucky, into Tennessee and the terrible Battle of Shiloh. Although ultimately successful, this marked a low point for Grant because he nearly lost his army. His immediate superior came to Shiloh to supervise him and killed most of the momentum of the campaign

Eventually, Grant regained his command (his superior officer was promoted to a desk position in the Eastern Theater) and began his campaign to remove the last major obstacle for Union control of the Mississippi River - Vicksburg, Mississippi.

Vicksburg was a challenge due to its location on an imposing cliff on a massive bend in the Mississippi River. The Confederate military placed cannons on the cliff that threatened any ship that dared to try to pass by. This book details the many efforts he made to bypass Vicksburg, including attempts to build a canal to reroute the Mississippi and an attempt to go through the swamps around Vicksburg. Eventually, he crossed the river south Mississippi and quickly moved his army to cut off Vicksburg, lay siege to it while also engaging and driving away any Confederate troops that could have helped to lift the siege.

Some people will argue with Groom's assertion that Grant did have bouts of drunkenness during the campaign. He describes a rather wild bender featuring Grant cruising through the swampy rivers north of Vicksburg during a lull during the siege, switching boats, and looking for more and more booze. Grant's defenders will deny it all, Grant's detractors will claim it was probably even worse. I go with the simple knowledge that addiction is powerful and Grant often brought along people that kept him accountable. If those people weren't around, I can easily imagine him falling off the wagon. Whether it was a wild run through the swamps or a binge drunk in the corner of a cabin...well, that depends on who told the story back then and who is writing the story now.

I rate this history 5 stars out of 5. It reads as easy as a novel. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Vicksburg, 1863 by Winston Groom.

See my review of Groom's Shiloh, 1862 here. 

BROKEN BAYOU (audiobook) by Jennifer Moorhead

Published by Brilliance Audio in July of 2024.
Read by Sophie Amoss
Duration: 10 hours, 18 minutes.
Unabridged.

My Synopsis

Broken Bayou features Dr. Willa Waters, a child psychologist with a very popular podcast who lives in Texas. After a disastrous local television interview goes viral, Waters runs to Broken Bayou, Louisiana. This is where her two great aunts lived in a mansion on the edge of town.

When she arrives in town, there is an uproar because a body has been found in the bayou and then a young schoolteacher and her car went missing. But, some of the locals still remember her because Waters spent most of her childhood summers in Broken Bayou with her great aunts. Waters and her little sister would be brought to town by her mother. All three of them would move in and her mother would spend the summer having a good time with the locals. 

In many ways, her great aunts were the closest thing to proper parents that Waters and her sister had. Her great aunts passed away within hours of one another and they have given the house to the local historical society. Waters says that she is in town to go through some things, but really she is looking for one thing - one very specific thing from a horrible night - the last night they ever stayed in Broken Bayou... 

My Review

This book is steeped in Southern Gothic vibes. There is a brooding mood from one end to the other. The murder mystery aspect was quite good, but I found Dr. Waters' behavior to be amazingly, frustratingly, and all too conveniently self-sabotaging. This very educated woman couldn't seem to grasp the concept of taking the stuff she wanted and going to some other town (any other town) with it until it becomes too late.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Broken Bayou by Jennifer Moorhead. 

Note: The publisher of this book sent me a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

MY LIFE AMONG the UNDERDOGS: A MEMOIR by Tia Torres

 

Published by HarperAudio in 2019.
Read by the author, Tia Torres.
Duration: 5 hours, 50 minutes.
Unabridged.

Tia Torres is the director of the Villalobos Rescue Center, a dog rescue center featured on the Animal Planet TV show Pitbulls and Parolees. The rescue center used to be primarily for wolves and wolf hybrids but it morphed into pit bulls when police departments and city animal shelters would ask them to take in pit bulls on the theory that if you could handle a wolf you could handle a pit bull.

Turns out, they were right. Now she runs one of the largest pit bull rescue centers in the country.

This memoir talks about Torres' early life, her family and her early experiences with animals. But, the primary focus of the book are the special dogs that she and her family have had over the years. 

The author and one of her dogs

I have to confess to being a fan of the show. My wife started watching it and I was drawn in. Soon enough, we had marathoned through all 18 seasons of the show and you feel like you are invested in Tia, her family and, of course, the dogs.

If you are a fan of the show, this is a must read. If you have never heard of the show, this book will most likely be of limited interest.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: MY LIFE AMONG the UNDERDOGS: A MEMOIR by Tia Torres.

RUBY BRIDGES GOES to SCHOOL: MY TRUE STORY by Ruby Bridges

 

Originally published in 2009.

In 1960, a six year old little girl named Ruby Bridges was to be the first African-American student to integrate an elementary school in Louisiana. To say it did not go well would be an understatement.

Parents pulled their children out. So many pulled their children out that Ruby was in a class by herself at first. There were so screaming, protesting mobs of parents. There were threats of violence. It was so bad that federal marshals were sent in to ensure her safety and to ensure that the desegregation order was enforced.

**********

This book was written by Ruby Bridges and is published by Scholastic as a Level 2 early reader. That is pretty early for a student to read about this topic - Ruby Bridges was the same age as the children who would be reading this book.

I normally don't review books for little children, but I decided to review this one when I saw that a group called Moms for Liberty called for it to be removed from a a school system in Tennessee. They were worried about its emphasis on racial strife. To that I would say two things: 

1) Based on my experiences as a teacher, (more than 20 years in urban schools) I am of the opinion that a great majority of African-American students are already aware of the racial divisions in this country - maybe the white students should be more aware as well. 

2) These events were not that long ago. Ruby Bridges was born in 1954. She is younger than my parents by roughly a decade. My youngest daughter (high school age) is well aware of Ruby Bridges thanks to the movie and a permanent exhibit at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. It blew her mind to find out Ruby Bridges is younger than her grandparents. 

So, what do I think?

This is a great book. It shows the difficulties she faced but ends on a positive note (the Moms for Liberty disagree, but I disagree with them on a lot of things, so what's new). 

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: RUBY BRIDGES GOES to SCHOOL: MY TRUE STORY by Ruby Bridges

HOW the WORD IS PASSED: A RECKONING with the HISTORY of SLAVERY ACROSS AMERICA (audiobook) by Clint Smith

 

Published by Little, Brown and Company.
Read by the author, Clint Smith.
Duration: 10 hours, 6 minutes.
Unabridged.

Clint Smith decided to explore several key historical sites that have ties to American slavery and how the consequences of American slavery has echoed down throughout American history.

He is looking for constant threads in American history from the perspective of African Americans. He visits Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, New Orleans, Angola Prison, a plantation in Louisiana that emphasizes the lives of the majority of the people that lived and worked there (the slaves and the Jim Crow era labor that was trapped there), a Confederate grave yard, the place were Juneteenth happened in Texas, New York City (a slave stronghold in the North for a surprisingly long time) and finally a fortress used as a slave market in Africa.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and Sally Hemings (c. 1773-1835)

This is a difficult book in many ways. Smith intentionally digs into difficult questions and is an excellent interviewer. His first location is Monticello and his interviews and observations are just about perfect. He explores the contradictions that should fill every discussion of Jefferson. There is a powerful discussion about Sally Hemings, how slavery has been dealt with on the Monticello tours and how the refusal to acknowledge this complicated past reflects the history we want to hear rather than the history that actually happened.

Monticello provided a strong start and the rest of the book was not quite as strong but still provided plenty to think about. This is a topic that America seems to want to avoid at all costs. This is evidenced by all of the furor over the 1619 Project and the abject fear that someone might be teaching something similar to Critical Race Theory in America somewhere. 

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: HOW the WORD IS PASSED: A RECKONING with the HISTORY of SLAVERY ACROSS AMERICA (audiobook) by Clint Smith.

This book would go well with these books that I have read in the last year: 

ROBERT E. LEE and ME: A SOUTHERNER'S RECKONING with the MYTH of the LOST CAUSE by Ty Seidule and DOWN ALONG with THAT DEVIL'S BONES: A RECKONING with MONUMENTS, MEMORY, and the LEGACY of WHITE SUPREMACY by Connor Towne O'Neill.

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.

MILTON HERSHEY: MORE than CHOCOLATE: HEROES of HISTORY (audiobook) by Janet Benge and Geoff Benge

Published in 2015 by YWAM Publishing.
Read by Tim Gregory.
Duration: 4 hours, 55 minutes.
Unabridged.


YWAM Publishing offers a series of biographies of Christian "heroes of history" aimed at home school students. The fact that this was part of series about "Christian" heroes was a surprise to me since this book didn't mention Hershey's faith at all. Nevertheless, this is an interesting and enjoyable biography of one of America's most successful businessmen, Milton Hershey (1857-1945).

Milton Hershey: More than Chocolate is a book showcasing the value of persistence. Starting with a failed attempt by his father in the oilfields of Pennsylvania in the late 1850's, the first half of this book is a series of business failures from Milton Hershey and his father, Henry.

Henry Hershey was more of a dreamer sort of entrepreneur - prone to rash decisions, excited by new technology and not very good on doing the follow up work to make sure that the venture succeeds. They traveled from Pennsylvania to Colorado to Louisiana, chasing the next big thing. Turns out that the next big thing was something that Milton Hershey learned from a baker in Colorado about how to make caramel that tastes better and stays fresh longer - milk.

So, Milton Hershey headed home to Pennsylvania and sets up his kitchen and everything just falls into place - except that it doesn't, at least not right away...

The stories of Hershey's struggles are by far more interesting than the story of his success. That being said, Hershey's commitment to charity once he became a success is extraordinary and worthy of note.

I did have one quibble. When it comes to the Hershey strike in 1937, the book doesn't really tell why some of the employees wanted to organize. Now, compared to most other places in the United States during the Great Depression, the workers in Hershey, Pennsylvania had it pretty well. Still, they had lost 1/3 of their hours per week and the worker learders that tried to organize a union were laid off in what looked like retaliation.

The story is well told and well-read by the narrator, Tim Gregory. We listened to this book as a family on a vacation and found it interesting and were eager to start listening again as soon as we hit the highway.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: MILTON HERSHEY: MORE than CHOCOLATE: HEROES of HISTORY.

THE DUCK COMMANDER FAMILY: HOW FAITH, FAMILY and DUCKS BUILT a DYNASTY by Willie and Korie Robertson with Mark Schlabach

A Review of the Audiobook

Published in 2013 by Simon and Schuster Audio.
Read by the authors, Willie and Korie Robertson.
Duration: 5 hours, 50 minutes
Unabridged

Part of a flock of books from the Robertson family (excuse the pun), The Duck Commander Family by the CEO of the family businesses (Duck Commander and Buck Commander), Willie Robertson, and his wife, Korie, looks at how they both got to where they are now and what life is like among the Robertsons.

The book focuses on the much more interesting story of Willie's family, which is appropriate considering their prominence in the hit reality TV show Duck Dynasty. If you have never seen the show, this book will be of little interest to you. I have seen a few episodes, but my carpool partner, my high school-aged daughter, is a fan of the show and has watched multiple seasons. She picked this audiobook for us to hear in the car during our morning commute.

Willie Robertson in 2015. Photo by
Gage Skidmore.

Willie Robertson relates his family's story, starting with his parents and his father's early financial and personal struggles. This is quite interesting and inspiring and takes up approximately the first one-third of the book. Willie and Korie alternate in telling about how they met and their family life. Of course, their religious faith features prominently throughout, including Bible verses that match the theme of the chapter.

The fourth disc of this 5 CD set basically talks about the Duck Commander business and how a series of low-budget duck hunting shows sold on VHS evolved into the Duck Dynasty TV show. He also talks about how their family business really is a family business - many family members and family friends work there.

The last disc tells about how he broadened Duck Commander into the deer hunting business with Buck Commander. Willie tells about baseball players that have appeared in his hunting videos and how he has appeared with various country music stars on stage. The last disc was a difficult listen because I am not a baseball fan or much of a country music fan and, despite Willie's protestations to the contrary as he read, it really was a whole lot of pretty boring name dropping.

At the end of every chapter is a recipe that Willie and his family love. Listening to people read recipes is tedious, at best. If I were the publisher, I would have considered leaving out that part of the text and including the recipes in an insert inside of the box with the CDs. After a while we just skipped over the recipes.

Willie and Korie Robertson read the audiobook. Willie was pretty good, Korie was adequate. It made sense for them to read it, though, since it is told in a first-person voice.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Duck Commander Family: How Faith, Family and Ducks Built a Dynasty.

DROWNED CITY: HURRICANE KATRINA & NEW ORLEANS (graphic novel) by Don Brown

Published in August of 2005 by HMH Books for Young Readers.

Written and illustrated by Don Brown

Sibert Honor Medalist

Kirkus' Best of 2015 list

School Library Journal Best of 2015

Publishers Weekly's Best of 2015 list

Horn Book Fanfare Book 

Booklist Editor's Choice.

The story of Hurricane Katrina has been told many ways in many different formats but this graphic novel by Don Brown is undoubtedly one of the more powerful re-tellings. The powerful combination of the simple text combined with the simple, sad drawings of this tragedy work together to move the reader.

There is no main character to the book, just a simple re-telling of the story, starting with the birth of the storm, continuing on with the multiple mistakes leading up to the flood, the horror that followed and finally following on to the re-building of the city. 

From time-to-time an unknown person will speak directly to the reader, such as when a FEMA employee says, "When I have a nightmare, it's a hurricane in New Orleans." At another point, a train conductor stands on any empty train platform next to his train and says, "We offered...to take evacuees out of harm's way. The city declined." It turns out that all of these quotes are real quotes from real people that are endnoted in the back of this graphic novel.

This is well worth your time and a portion of the proceeds are donated to Habitat for Humanity.

I rate this graphic novel 5 stars out of 5. Excellent.

As of the date of this review, this graphic novel was being sold for $12.58 on Amazon.com. Check here for current pricing: Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans.

WOOF (Bowser and Birdie #1)

Published by Scholastic Press in April of 2015

Spencer Quinn is best known for his dog and owner Chet and Bernie detective series. Now, he takes this winning formula in a new direction. Rather than have a police dog (almost) and an army veteran turned detective solve murders, Quinn has re-tooled things for a different series. But, he keeps the most important part the same - the story is told from the point of view of the dog!

In Woof, the first book in the Bowser and Birdie series, Birdie Gaux, a little girl living with her grandmother alongside a swamp in St. Roch, Louisiana. Her grandmother runs what some might call a bait shop and conducts swamp tours in her small boat. Birdie's mother works on an oil rig and talks with Birdie on Skype.

Birdie gets a shelter dog for her birthday and she chooses Bowser. Bowser has had a pretty rough go of it and he hates the shelter. But, boy, does he love Birdie. They make quite the pair as they try to figure out who stole the stuffed Black Marlin that has hung in the bait shop for more than 60 years. There are stories of hidden treasure maps hidden in that marlin and no one wants to hear to the clues that Bowser and Birdie have found. So, Birdie decides to investigate on her own. Of course, Bowser just has to go along...

I was interested to see how Quinn could adapt his Chet and Bernie style into a book for kids. It turns out that he does it fantastically. The book moves along well. Bowser is a good narrator, even if he is easily distracted. The mystery is fairly simple but it could not have been solved without Bowser's help. 

The book can be found on Amazon here: Woof (Bowser and Birdie) 

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

Note: I received a uncorrected proof pre-release copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The Phantom Patrol (audiobook) by L. Ron Hubbard

Duration: Approximately 2 hours
Multicast Performance
Published by Galaxy Press in 2011.

First published in 1935, The Phantom Patrol is part of a large series of books and stories that are being re-published by Galaxy Press as part of their Golden Age Stories series. In reality, they are a collection of L. Ron Hubbard's early works that were published in magazines and as pulp fiction books. Hubbard was a prolific writer and he wrote a lot of action stories that translate quite well into the multicast performance audiobook format.



The Phantom Patrol is the story of Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Johnny Trescott who commands a patrol boat looking for drug smugglers off of the coast of Louisiana. He and his small crew have been working for months to catch one smuggler in particular and are close to catching him. While closing in on this smuggler, they are called away by a distress call from a plane that has made an emergency landing in the water. The smuggler turns the tables and gets the drop on the Coast Guard boat and captures it, the crew and the survivors of the plane wreck...and that's just the beginning of an action-filled adventure with romance, gunfights and plenty of intrigue.

The fact that this book was performed by multiple cast members makes this story very entertaining - very much like the old-time radio shows that were popular when these stories were written.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: The Phantom Patrol.

Reviewed on April 11, 2012.

David Farragut and the Great Naval Blockade (The History of the Civil War Series) by Russell Shorto

Solid history for grade 5 and above.

Published in 1991 by Silver Burdett Press
119 pages of text. 9 pages of timelines, sources and and index at the end.

David Farragut and the Great Naval Blockade is part of a larger series (The History of the Civil War Series). It is very readable with a good balance of national history versus the biography of David Farragut.

Farragut joined the United States Navy at age 9 in 1810, fought against the Barbary Pirates and in the War of 1812. Until the Civil War, Farragut was known as an great officer, the kind of officer that sailors were glad to work under, but also the kind of officer that just missed doing something great. He was not sent to "open" Japan with Matthew Perry. He tried to get involved in the Mexican War but the fighting in Veracruz was over by the time his ship arrived.

When the Civil War began, it was assumed that Farragut would go with the Confederacy. After all, he was born in Tennessee, he lived in Norfolk, Virginia and his wife was also a Southerner. But, Farragut was a U.S. Navy man so he moved to New York and soon found himself in charge of the blockade of the Gulf states (from Texas to Florida).

David Farragut in 1858

Farragut's ships took New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama. Both conquests involved a great deal of clever strategy and a lot of nerve. While his ships were going through a mine field (called torpedoes in Civil War times), his men were scared and stopped moving forward into Mobile Bay. Farragut yelled out, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" and on they went to victory.

Due to health issues, Farragut headed home to New York. He became the first person in American history to become a vice-admiral and in 1866 he became the first admiral. Farragut died in 1870. The date of his funeral was a national holiday and 10,000 soldiers and sailors marched in the funeral procession, led by President Grant.

This book is a solid introduction to the role of the Navy in the Civil War as well as being an great little biography of Farragut. The maps are simple and the maps of the Battles of New Orleans and Mobile Bay are excellent. Lots of pictures help to tell the story.

I rate this biography 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: David Farragut and the Great Naval Blockade.

Reviewed on March 17, 2012.

Civil War Adventure #2: Real History: More Stories of the War That Divided America (graphic novel) by Chuck Dixon (author) and Gary Kwapisz (illustrator)

History in a more approachable format (for some)

Originally published in 2011. Re-published in 2016 with additions.
This is a review of the 2011 publication.

All forms of media have their fans and detractors. History teachers (like me) often have mixed opinions about different formats. Movies show the viewer but often skip details or over-emphasize items in order to make the stories work better. Textbooks cover the basics but do it in a dry, boring manner. History books can tell the story with more detail, but give the topic to a bad writer and it is an impossible challenge to the reluctant reader. Audiobooks may help, but how many students will listen to a 13 hour history book? Historical fiction - it is a mixed bag, but has potential to keep the interest up and teach something along the way. The internet - it's literally all there - the good, the bad, the delusional.

As a teacher, I have always espoused the theory that I have borrowed from Malcolm X - teach it "by any means necessary." There are good movies out there. There are good books. Well-written historical fiction can do the job. The internet can be used if it is all verified with other sources. Graphic novels like Civil War Adventure #2: Real History: More Stories of the War That Divided America published by History Graphics Press have a place, too. While I would hate to think that someone got all of their knowledge about history from a graphic novel (or from movies or the internet or any one format), I have no problem with a student (or an adult) reading books like these for a bit of "edu-tainment" - certainly this is more edifying than most graphic novels I have read.

The best thing that Dixon and Kwapisz have done here is they have put the grit, sweat and fear back in a topic that the textbooks have mostly removed. Let's face it, the life of a Civil War soldier was dirty, full of hard work and at times, absolutely terrifying. You can't convey that with a map that shows a blue arrow moving along a map towards gray rectangles in a line. In the seven stories of this volume we see the "black flag" offered to African-American soldiers who fought for the Union (no mercy offered, no prisoners were to be taken for them or their officers), the gruesomeness of battlefield surgery, the heartbreak of the nurses who gave so much to help the wounded and the dying, and the dangers of going out on a little reconnaissance patrol in the middle of enemy territory.

I was particularly fond of the story of the Battle of Milliken's Bend in the story Will the Black Man Fight? which was a concern of the Union generals. They simply could not imagine that they were even more motivated than their white counterparts - with the take-no-prisoners policy of some Confederate generals and the threat of enslavement (or re-enslavement) the fact that those men would even join in the first place should have shown their willingness.

The emphasis is on the small, tiny bits of action in a vast war that killed hundreds of thousands and injured just as many and displaced an untold number. But, those small stories are bound to be forgotten as they are shoved aside by the larger stories of the war, so I am all for re-telling them here (and in other formats as well). Like I said in the beginning of this review, I would hate to think that this was the only source of information that a person had about the Civil War, but it is an entertaining supplement.

Used with permission of Gary Kwapisz

Gary Kwapisz's work on the art is very strong - lots of action, dramatic shading and he does not spare the reader the violence and pain of the war. This is not an episode of Gunsmoke, with its gunshot but no blood and a man wordlessly crumpling and dying. Men are bayoneted, there are gunshots through the head and a civil war surgeon's work is shown in hideous detail (I loved it - show it for what it was). I also loved the full page artwork (see left) in the story about Milliken's Bend with the buzzards gathering as the battle is about to start. Not only do we get a view of the battle from above, we feel the impending doom and we are told what motivated some of the Confederate soldiers.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Civil War Adventure #2: Real History: More Stories of the War That Divided America.

Reviewed on August 6, 2011.

Voodoo River (Elvis Cole #5) (audiobook) by Robert Crais

My first Elvis Cole novel - not my last

Originally published in 1995.

I heard Voodoo River  as an audiobook way back in 2005 - it was not my first choice but I gave it a shot and I was very pleased. The story was convoluted but had a real feel to it. Elvis is tough, but not Superman. The situation was complicated but not impossible.

I seem destined to be perpetually out of sync with Elvis and the real order of his series. Voodoo River is #5 in the Elvis Cole series. In Voodoo River, Elvis leaves Los Angeles for the Louisiana bayou country in search of the birth parents of a Hollywood starlet who is in need of some medical information. Soon enough, Cole finds himself in trouble with the local crime boss who has a special use for alligators.  If you are familiar with the series (as I now am) this book is pivotal as it is where Cole meets Lucy . For Crais (the author) this is a homecoming of sorts since he was raised in Louisiana.The audiobook was well-read and the reader added a lot to it with his great command of the mix of accents of Louisiana.

So, how much did I like this book? I went out and bought another Elvis Cole novel less than a week after I finished my first!

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Voodoo River.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

A Separate Country by Robert Hicks

Tries too hard to set a mood, loses focus on the history.

Published in 2011 by Grand Central Publishing.

As a history teacher, I love well-written historical fiction. It places the reader right in the story. A judicious author can blend the history and the fiction together in a harmless fashion and tell the story in an accurate and entertaining way.

A Separate Country does not live up to those standards. It it presumptuous of an author of historical fiction to take the first person with a very famous historical figure. Commonly, if a first person perspective is used it is with a fictional character - an aide to a general that witnesses events but does not effect them, for example. In this case, Hicks has taken one of the "name" generals from the Civil War and turned him on his head. He has sacrificed the "historical" in the name of the "fiction."

Hicks places John Bell Hood into a series of historic events, some of which are quite true (such as the lottery drawings - many Confederate ex-generals were lottery commissioners) and some of which are of dubious truth (Hood's fascination with the comatose Pascal, for example). A great deal of the book is supposed to be Hood's secret autobiography, but it reads more like a modern blog than a Victorian era journal.

Confederate General John Bell Hood
(1831-1879)

The problem is that Hood's real life story is subordinate to this fiction in the story. It is peopled with characters with symbolic names (for example, Pascal's name is like paschal - an Easter term referring to Jesus and his sacrifice). Hood becomes a part of a much larger morality play about race, love and sacrifice. He even works in a young Homer Plessy, of later Plessy vs. Ferguson claim.

The author, Robert Hicks, is fascinated with Hood's performance at Nashville and Franklin, TN but almost completely ignores his other battles, which read like a roll call of the war itself: The Peninsula Campaign, 2nd Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg (Also, another historical inaccuracy - Hood never would have heard Lee apologize to the survivors of Pickett's Charge - Hood was in the infirmary trying to save his mangled arm), Chickamauga (where he lost his leg) and Atlanta.

The book is just tedious. The use of three points of view to tell the story guarantee us extended descriptions of the heat, humidity and the lush plant and insect communities of New Orleans. Page after page of descriptions of the plagues that strike New Orleans. Enough already!

This history teacher says pass on this one.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: A Separate Country by Robert Hicks.

Reviewed on August 3, 2009.

In the Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir by Neil White

A profound book. Well-written and tugs at the heart.

Published in 2009 by William Morrow.

In the Sanctuary of Outcasts is a memoir of a magazine and newspaper publisher who was sentenced to a minimum security prison for band fraud (he was "kiting" checks to make payroll, grow the business and buy fancy digs for the corporate offices). The prison he was sent to, however, is not your typical prison. Carville serves as both a minimum security prison and the last federal leper colony in the United States.

In the Sanctuary of Outcasts is a title with a double-entendre. At one level it is a sanctuary where the outcasts are kept away from the outside. A sanctuary in which the victims of leprosy can receive treatment and not be "different" from everyone else. The author is literally staying in their physical sanctuary. But, in the case of the author, being in In the Sanctuary of Outcasts is more than this. He is under the care of the lepers. He learns from them. They teach him humility and taking life as it comes. He learns what is really important and the value of human connection. Calling them his friends would presume too much. They become his mentors by their examples and the few moments of humanity that can be passed between prisoners and patients. He absorbs what they teach with a passion.

Neil White at Carville Prison

The community that is created in Carville between these two groups that society's outcasts is unique and fragile. The federal prisoners are a volatile group and the leprosy patients are not confined to the facility - they are voluntary residents. This balance between freedom and confinement proves difficult for the government to manage and, in the end, the tenuous relationship ends as the book ends, giving it sort of a fairy tale quality.

A unique book and one of the best that I have read this year.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: In the Sanctuary of Outcasts: A Memoir by Neil White.

Highly recommended.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on September 10, 2009.