Ancient Trade Routes of the Arab World DVD

This made for school DVD highlights an important and oft-ignored facet of history

Published by Schlessinger Media.
Duration: 38 minutes.

Any teacher of world history knows that some subjects have plenty of supplemental resources available. For example, the Ancient Romans and Greeks have literally thousands of DVDs, books, workbooks, programs, units, games and activities available as supplements, including whole weeks of programming on the History Channel.

Equally influential eras, such as the Arab Trade Routes are often ignored or have scant materials available even though these trade routes were the source of medieval Islam's strength, wealth and intellectual flowering.

The DVD Ancient Trade Routes of the Arab World does address this topic, but only in a 3-star (ok, but not great) way. The DVD features three short films (12 minutes or so for a total of 38 minutes) about three trading hubs - Zanzibar in East Africa, Dhofar in the Arabian Peninsula and Ghadames in the Sahara. The movies show the modern-day versions of these cities and discuss their place in history. The Dhofar video does a great job of explaining the past value of frankincense and how it was made and traded in the ancient world.

There is a support website available (listed in the movie intro credits) but you'll probably have to make your own worksheet to make sure the your students' attentions don't wander too much.

I rate this DVD 3 stars out of 5.

This DVD can be found on Amazon.com here: Ancient Trade Routes of the Ancient World.

Reviewed on August 29, 2008.

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.

First Daughter by Eric Van Lustbader

Good action marred by laughable political conspiracies and a not-so-hidden message

Published in 2008.

Eric Van Lustbader is better known as the author who has picked up the Bourne series since the death of Robert Ludlum. First Daughter has some similarities to that series in that we have vast government conspiracies, brainwashing and one man versus the system.

Positives:
The action in the book is strong.

Negatives:
The backstory Van Lustbader told to introduce us to the main character, Jack McClure, is much more interesting than the main plotline.

The politics in this book are laughable. The President is a thinly disguised clone of Bush43 (Iraq, 9/11, Patriot Act, Faith-based initiatives, etc.) except he has the paranoia and anger level of 3 or 4 Richard Nixons. The President makes new policy initiatives in his last week in office. With less than a month to go he has a major negotiation with the Russians, even though everyone knows that no one negotiates with a President with so little time left in office - his replacement will just countermand all of them in a matter of days!

Atheist terrorist groups abound even though there's no such things as atheist terrorist groups - there are terrorists that are atheists, but there are not terrorists FOR atheism. People will kill for their religious beliefs, but I can't imagine anyone killing over their lack of belief...

Even more annoying is Van Lustbader's insistence on ridiculing religion throughout the book. The President is a religious fanatic. The President-elect uses religion as a tool to get elected. The minister who is out to save the neighborhood sells out in a political alliance. A grieving mother finds comfort in the church of her youth - but she leaves it and now acts much more sane. A religious peer of McClure (the only one) ends up leaving the church and McClure congratulates him for it. The bad guy comes off as sort of a good guy in this anti-religious mindset.

It is one thing to decry religion in politics (I'm very religious and I don't like religion in bed with politics) but, it is entirely another thing to decry religion altogether. Maybe Van Lustbader thought he was being subtle, but he was about as subtle as a wrecking ball.

Recommendation: There are plenty of other action/political thrillers out there.

I rate this book 2 out of 5 stars.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: First Daughter by Eric Van Lustbader.

Reviewed on September 1, 2008.

Forced Out: A Novel by Stephen W. Frey

This book had such potential and then...

Published in 2008.

I really liked the premise behind Forced Out: a young baseball player hides from the New York mob by playing single A ball in Florida but he is discovered by a former Yankees talent scout. Soon enough, the mob is on the hunt again.

But... (WARNING: Spoilers, sort of...)

The book gets increasingly complicated (which is fine, life is complicated) and the only way Frey resolves anything with any character in this book is by having someone killed off. I expected lots of people to die (it is about the mafia, after all) but this story gets ridiculous. The book ends up feeling like Frey was either: a) under a tight deadline; or b) unable to figure out how to end this complicated book in a reasonable way so he just started killing everyone off.

Either way, it was a very unsatisfying ending. In good conscience, I cannot recommend this book to all but the most ardent of Stephen Frey fans.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: Forced Out by Stephen W. Frey. 

Reviewed on September 5, 2008.

Samuel Adams: A Life by Ira Stoll

The "Forgotten" Founding Father

Published in 2008.

George Washington. Thomas Jefferson. Benjamin Franklin. John Adams. All there at the founding of our country. All recognized for their unique contributions to the revolution. Author Gary Wills noted that Adams was "the most influential man at the first two Congresses." He was on the committees of correspondence that tied the colonies together in the first place and no one was on more committees in the Continental Congress. It is easily argued that Samuel Adams had as great a role, if not greater than any other member of the Congress. He had such an integral part to play that a local newspaper noted in his obituary that "to give his history at full length, would be to to give an history of the American Revolution."

In Samuel Adams: A Life, Ira Stoll tells the story of Samuel Adams. Called by some the Last of the Puritans for his strong religious faith and willingness to express it openly, Adams was certainly one of the strongest defenders of liberty from the outset. In fact, a general amnesty was offered to everyone in the Massachusetts colony by the British government, except for Samuel Adams and John Hancock. At other times, the British government approached him with clumsy attempts to bribe him with high office or favors, which he rejected with flair ("tell Governor Gage it is the advice of Samuel Adams to him no longer insult the feelings of an exasperated people.") Stoll correctly labels Adams a "religious revolutionary" - those two themes dominate his life until the very end.

Samuel Adams (1722-1803)

Politically, he was closer to Thomas Jefferson than his Federalist cousin John Adams. But, unlike Jefferson, he decried slavery and acted upon it (his wife received a slave as a gift and he freed her that day). He also advocated education for women. He wrote page after page for newspapers supporting the idea of independence and would not compromise on that point. He could whip up a crowd with his voice as well, and he often did during the years when Boston led the protests against taxes, leading up to the Boston Tea Party.

Stoll's prose is not necessarily the most exciting of reading, but Adams words and life are inspiring enough that I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Samuel Adams: A Life.

Reviewed on July 13, 2011.

The Quotable Rogue: The Ideals of Sarah Palin In Her Own Words edited by Matt Lewis

Sarah Palin, without the filter

Published in 2011 by Thomas Nelson

There is no one, and I mean no one that generates as much energy and as much anger in American politics as Alaska's former governor Sarah Palin. In The Quotable Rogue: The Ideals of Sarah Palin In Her Own Words, Matt Lewis has collected a number of Palin's quotes on a variety of topics from her speeches and interviews over the last 5 or 6 years. He has organized them into broad 32 categories ranging from abortion to Barack Obama to Gun Control to Tina Fey. He also has a category of quotes from others about Sarah Palin.

I was interested in this book because so much of what I hear about Sarah Palin is filtered through the opinions of columnists or edited heavily for TV or radio. This book is just Sarah's comment with a brief note about where and when it was said or written. That's it - no spin one way or the other.

Sarah Palin

Being that it is a book of quotes, it really can only be judged on the quality of the quotes - did they clarify Sarah Palin's point of view and were they interesting? Yes, on both counts. I picked this book up and ended up quickly reading it while in the middle of another book.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on July 13, 2011.

I received this book for free as part of Thomas Nelson's Booksneeze program in exchange for a fair and honest review. This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Quotable Rogue.

What They Didn't Teach You About the Civil War by Mike Wright

Entertaining but too many errors.

Published in 1996 by Presidio Press

Mike Wright is a television writer. In fact, he writes a pretty entertaining book as well. But, his lack of training as a historian shows in What They Didn't Teach You About the Civil War. 

 Some of the facts things he writes about were not taught to you because they just are not facts. In other cases, they are factual, but not truthful. For example, the fact about Robert E. Lee not owning any slaves at the time of the Civil War (p. 23) is technically true - but ignores the fact that his wife owned the slaves and they freed them in 1862 (not "long before the Civil War" as the book asserts) because of a requirement of her father's will).

Wright makes the comment that the Confederacy only had one good general (Lee) on page 40. Perhaps Wright meant to clarify his point and say that Lee was the Confederacy's only good commanding general because one cannot say that Stonewall Jackson was a bad general (Lee called him his "right arm"). Or Longstreet (despite Wright's derision of his abilities on page 40). Or Stuart. Or Forrest. Even some of the Confederacy's fair to middling generals, such as Beauregard or J. Johnston or even Hood compare relatively well to the average Union general. Can you imagine if John Bell Hood with his attack at all times philosophy would have done in place of McClellan in the Peninsula Campaign or at Antietam?

On page 39 Wright makes a gigantic mistake. He claims that on May 3, 1861 the U.S. Congress declared war on the Confederacy. It was the other way around - the Confederacy declared war on the U.S. The Union never declared war on the Confederacy because according to international law can only declare war on a country and the Union argued to the European powers that the Confederacy was NOT a country - it was a rebellion. If the Union had declared war on the Confederacy, it would have been an admission that the Confederacy was a country and the European powers would have been free to make alliances with the Confederacy and intervene in the war.

Benjamin Butler (1818-1893)

Good points:

-Wright totally nails the personality and career of McClellan.

-The book is full of fun quotes, stories and facts. His story of the attempt to rid Nashville of its prostitutes by shipping them out to Louisville and Cincinnati was my favorite.

-He includes nice small biographies of Nathan Bedford Forrest and Benjamin Butler.

To sum up, a number of errors combine to make this book less than trustworthy, even though it is quite fun.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: What They Didn't Teach You About the Civil War by Mike Wright.

Reviewed on July 13, 2011.