current book?

What history are you currently reading? I've got Inventing a Nation currently going.

Well, normally I wouldn't have much to post on this typ e of site, but I just happen to be reading The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan. It's about the Dust Bowl during the 1920s and 1930s. Really well done .. I' m enjoying it a great deal.

Cool - I was just given a copy of that, and I'm looking forward to it. Honestly, I don't know that much about that era, except that it was awful, and haven't even read much Steinbeck etc. It'll be nice to fill that gap. I feel like there are a lot of interesting stories to be told from that time.

I also liked The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan.

I am reading Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America by J. Anthony Lukas. A great profile of the United States at the turn of the century (19th - to 20th).

The Worst Hard Time was excellent, very deserving of the National Book Award. The Looming Tower, another National Book Award finalist, was also excellent.

I just finished Nixon & Mao and would recommend it as a facinating look into the rapproachement with China.

For anyone who's interested in World War II, I recommend: Anzio by Lloyd Clark and Halsey's Typhoon.

I just got Washington's Crossing after work today (and just finished up the book I'd been reading on the way home). I may get started on it this weekend.

The book I just read really isn't about American history -- it's Victoria Finlay's Color: A Natural History of the Palette.

AnnaClaire

I'd rate Washington's Crossing among the five best history books I've read in the past three years. Good recommendation.

And I just started it this evening! I was a little more "done" with the Finlay book than I thought I was when I went book-shopping on the way home from work last night. I ended up finishing color history half an hour after getting a hold of some American history!

I second the high praise for Wasington's Crossing. Just finished Tulia:Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town. Another fantastic read. Currently reading Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science. Not History...but I'll start another History book soon.

I've started Washington's Crossing, and am about 100 pages in. So far, I've found it very readable in a David McCullough/1776 kind of way -- though Fischer, of course, is focusing a little more narrowly on specific aspects of a slightly different slice of the Revolutionary War.

I actually liked Washington's Crossing better than 1776, in part because zooming in on the battles in New York and New Jersey helped focus and flesh out some of supporting characters like Greene and the genius that was Washington. I felt that McCullough just didn't give himself enough room to run by organizing the book along the calendar. It's a big job to tell that expansive of a story that compactly.

Perhaps my opinion might be biased somewhat, as I read David Hackett Fischer's book first. Also, my brother had taken a course with Fischer at Brandeis, which is where I had heard of the book in the first place.

That's a good point about which gets read first. I read 1776 last year, and, as I've said, am working on Washington's Crossing now. But I can see you point about McCullough not the space to flesh out the "supporting cast" -- to do so, he'd have to take some pretty big tangents, and with a chronological (re)telling, big tangents tend to get in the way of the narrative.

AnnaClaire

Have you finished Washington's Crossing? Interested to read your final review.

The Worst Hard Time sounds great. I'm actually reading a book about the same time period right now - Modern Housing for America by Gail Radford. It's about government involvement in housing through the Public Works Administration and is not as dry as it sounds :)

I just finished reading Jean Edward Smith's FDR and now I'm reading Mary Beth Norton's In The Devil's Snare. I really really liked the FDR one because it was incrediably comprehensive and thoroughly researched. Mary Beth Norton's book offers a new perspective on why the Salem witchcraft trials occured and I like it thus far, but I'm only about 30 pages into it.

I've finished Washington's Crossing (and read a few more since - I like to keep books with similar subjecs separated a bit). I still recommend it -- though if you're understanding of the Revolutionary War is a bit hazy, I'd advise starting with 1776.

Just yesterday, I started another book on American history, Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower. It's another fairly quick read: after about, oh, an hour's worth of reading, I've read seventy-something pages.

Angelic55blonde -- I haven't read the Mary Beth Norton book yet, but have you read Carol F. Karlsen's The Devil in the Shape of a Woman yet?

Yes actually I have read Carol F. Karlsen's Devil in the Shape of a Woman. That was the book that got me interested in reading more about the topic.

I asked because I read the Karlsen book (or most of it, it was a busy semester) and thought it interesting. My knowledge of the Salem Witch Trials was pretty much the standard stuff that most people are supposedly taught in high school. Let me know what you think of In the Devil's Snare when you've had a chance to read more of it.

Angelic55blonde - I'd also like to know what you think of In the Devil's Snare. I bought it a couple of months ago and I've been looking forward to reading it, although I'm waiting until after I've read a couple more general books about early America.

To continue the original topic, I recently finished Mayflower, which I really enjoyed. One of the next books in my pile is A Few Acres of Snow, about the French and Indian Wars, but I'm taking a break from colonial America to read Drinking the Waters: Creating an American Leisure Class by Thomas A. Chambers. It follows the development of mineral springs in New York and Virginia in the eighteenth century and analyzes the commercialization of leisure.

Mayflower and In the Devil's Snare sound really interesting - I've got the first in my queue on Audible, and will likely get to that. I think my next will be 1491, which focuses on the civilizations in North America pre-Columbus (as the name suggests). Similar to AnnaClaire's knowledge of the witch trials, mine of those civilizations is based on high school. Though a few years back I read Changes in the Land which argued that some areas of North America had been more or less landscaped by burnings, agriculture, etc, and that the overall ecology was affected by humans. I think 1491 promises to be a bit broader than just the ecology, which was fascinating in and of itself.

I read A Devil's Snare about a year ago and found it very interesting, especially because I had just read another book (the title of which I can't remember) that put forth the theories that Norton criticizes. If I hadn't read the one before, I don't think I would have appreciated her views as much.

I just finished Vidal's Inventing a Nation -- I haven't read Vidal for a while and forgot how much I enjoy his writing. I've been obsessed with George Washington recently and plan to start on Joseph Ellis' His Excellency: George Washington soon.

I found a copy of "FDR'S Last Year" by Jim Bishop on my library's free shelf. It's an old book, but amazingly readable, month by month account of his life in and out of the White House. His health was so fragile, one wonders if he could have been elected today, what with the internet and 24 hours news. I know there are lots of FDR books, but I'm thoroughly enjoying this one.

nevada, I was actually sadly disappointed with Inventing a Nation, which is not often the case with me. I felt that within the confines of such a thin book, he tried to do too much by both telling the history and trying to relate the era to our modern day. The history has been retold better and in more detail by McCullough and others. Furthermore, while I can't think of a specific example at the moment, I felt that the tie-ins to present day America/American politics were interesting but too brief, a bit stretched, or just didn't quite make it. I think overall, the best thing I liked about the book was the interview with the author at the end of the audiobook.

This was the first book by Gore Vidal that I've read, and I've been told that there are others that are infinitely better - so hopefully this is just a blip. Are there other books by Vidal that you would recommend?

Gore Vidal wrote a book about Aaron Burr called Burr which was really good. it covered a period in American history that is rarely mentioned. i think Vidal does better when he writes about the obscure issues than when he writes about stuff that has alread been covered extensively.

bfertig, you make some good points. I agree that Vidal was stretching it sometimes to make the connection between the past and the present. Still, I enjoyed the attempt :-) I think what I like most about Vidal's writing is that he conveys the flaws of the figures, but doesn't deny their greatness. They seem very human, as if he had actually met them. I haven't read Burr yet and I need to. My impression of him was formed in grade school -- Hamilton good, Burr bad. It's probably time to get an adult viewpoint. I thought that Vidal's Lincoln was really good.

Since the opinion for Burr and Lincoln is so high I may have to give Gore Vidal another go. I read Kalki years ago and it just about put me off him forever.

varielle, what aboult Kalki didn't you like? What's it about?

Too depressing. The human race is exterminated, with the exception of a few people, by circumnavigating the globe dropping a virus along the way that wipes everybody out.

Sounds positively uplifting

i'm working mayflower its pretty good. it goes fairly quick like the rest of his books. i really enjoyed in the heart of the sea.

Yeah, I really liked In the heart of the sea as well - I read that either right before or right after Moby Dick, which complemented it well. I thought Philbrick did a great job on showing the personalities of the captain and the first mate and how much that mattered for the lives of the rest of the folks on board.

David Wise's The Politics of Lying : Government Deception, Secrecy, and Power...

Anyone know any background on it? Rebuttals or affirmations?

I randomly picked up Founding Myths: Stories that Hide our Patriotic Past by Ray Raphael and it is very good. He takes a few jabs at other authors in his notes, but an enjoyable read altogether. Has anyone read his other book, The First American Revolution: Before Lexington and Concord? Any comments about that book?

I'm reading Jefferson and Monticello right now and it's very good. It goes far beyond simple discussions of architecture or methods of building. I've just finished the chapter the author devotes to Jefferson's wife Martha, brilliantly written and very informative. Didn't know, for instance, that on her dead bed she made him promise never to marry again, apparently in the wish that her children never have a stepmother.

"Has anyone read his other book, The First American Revolution: Before Lexington and Concord? Any comments about that book?"

No, but looking at the description in Amazon convinced me so I've ordered it ;)

I'm reading Island of the Lost by Joan Druett. It's about a shipwreck (two shipwrecks, actually) on Auckland Island in the 19th century. If anyone is into survival stories I would recommend In the Heart of the Sea, Skeletons on the Zahara, and Batavia's Graveyard. Anyone else have any suggestions in this genre?

I'm on The Great Upheaval by Jay Winik.

Just a few pages in, but is very interesting so far.

Currently about 9 chapters into Team of Rivals and finishing Jill Lepore's The name of war, both of which are fascinating - the latter is actually about King Phillip's War, in New England, about a hundred years before Declaration of Independence. Talks about how the war, captivity, and brutalism was perceived on both sides (quite differently!), and she argues that the colonists actions/reactions helped shape the American identity. This is following from reading 1491, which was a quite extensive and revealing synthesis of pre- and immediately post- colonial Americas.

I just started reading Crucible of War by Fred Anderson. Just finished the Introduction and Prologue and wow I'm hooked. I love books about "why" and "how" and the author's introduction explained how he felt that it was The Seven Years War, not the American Revolution, that was the seminal event that changed so much of history, that the American Revolution was really an inevitable consequence of The Seven Years War, as was the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars and what we consider the modern era. Like I said, wow. And his writing style is reasonable enjoyable so far.

Sadly the kind of subjects I enjoy are sometimes wasted in turgid academic tomes that are a struggle to read, or meandering narratives that never seem to come into focus or expose themselves to analysis. Here's hoping that the rest of Crucible of War lives up to the first few pages.

Continuing to read a few other books, but I've started the very interesting Grant and Sherman by Charles Flood for a history class this week.

Moose

I read Grant and Sherman a few years ago. Really terrific. I just started The Great Upheaval. How did you find it? Its girth is a little intimidating.

I just finished The Great Upheaval; scholarly endeavor, but very well written. Winik does a great job in pulling together event in Europe, Asia, and the United States, showing the interrelation and trying to make sense of insanity.

Hi, just wanted to introduce myself and say that currently my reading is from 1600s to 1915 with a Southwest U.S focus: Cabeza, La Salle, Larpenteur, Crook and Bourke.

Just finished two articles that shed some light on the Spanish fur trade --or lack thereof-- in New Mexico. And how this contributed to the French intrusion and eventual loss of New Mexico from Spanish control.

French Intrusions into New Mexico
Spanish Fur Trade from New Mexico

Egads! No other posts ;

Well... since my last post have read:

Children of the Indian Boarding Schools by Holly Littlefield

The Lost Trappers by David Coyner (1849) with commentary by David J. Weber.

St. Vrain's expedition to the Gila in 1826 by Thomas Maitland Marshall

White Indians of Colonial America by James Axtell

The Cahokia mounds, with 16 plates; a preliminary paper Author: Warren King Moorehead

I've just gotten through the intro for Rebels and Redcoats: The American Revolutionary War by Hugh Bicheno. Wow, he sure knows how to splash gasoline (or petrol?) around a room and throw a match. Not that I disagree with his observations on the whole. He just tends to be a bit inflammatory. Still, sounds like it's going to be an interesting book.

That actually sounds like a lot of fun. (It is so tiresome to always hear about events from the same perspective: ).

In any case, it's going on my TBR wishlist. Thanks for pointing it out.

Sadly I have given up on Rebels and Redcoats: The American Revolutionary War. The author style in the introduction, which could generously be described as "historical bitchy" has continued into the body of the book. It's a shame because I feel the premise of the book has great merit, but his ranting and sniping become tiresome after a couple of chapters.

One small example. He touches on the Boston Massacre and mentions "Samuel Adam's rent-a-mob". He does not elaborate further. Now are we to infer that the author means that Samuel Adam rented a bunch of folks to go harass the soldiers? Of course not. The author did it for sake of style. However, I like my history to be more discussion and less hype.

And this goes on and on.... sheesh, there have got to be better histories available that discuss this view of the American Revolution without the bitchiness.

...there have got to be better histories available that discuss this view of the American Revolution without the bitchiness. (#48)

I haven't read that book, but I see what you mean. One of the things I didn't like about David Starkey's Six Wives was that every so often it went into an "all those other authors are wrong and I'm right" mode. I mean, critical thinking is good, but not when applied as universally as I recall it being used. Perhaps I wouldn't have minded so much if it were confined to an appendix, but it wasn't.

I did, however, finish the book, but only because I really don't like putting aside a book I've started for something other than school.

Oh dear. I must admit to having the same sorts of feelings towards 'hype', jz.

I'm reading "1491" right now -- and it is interesting-- but there is a fluffy-hype to Mann's style that is a tad wearing. Of course, it is better than the 'ax grinding' that is in the other book that I'm reading on old west prostitution.

I'll probably finish both though. The first has novel concepts worth hearing about, and the second is the only academic treatise I've been able to locate so far.

On hype, agreed. I do generally find the analysis portion of history to be the most interesting -- many of the detail facts and figures I won't retain for any period of time, and the stories are told and retold, but what becomes fresh and interesting is the take or angle of the author or historian.

I find myself enjoying the realization when a page or paragraph is written in response to another book that I happened to have read or a debate within the academic community that I recognize other points of view (I don't claim to be knowledgeable enough to have my own).

For instance, I enjoyed reading what Doris Kearns Goodwin had to say about whether of not she would classify Lincoln as 'depressed' in Team of Rivals, likely in response to Joshua Wolf Shenk's Lincoln's Meloncholy. She didn't agree with Shenk, but wasn't catty about it.

Stephen Ambrose was a bit more adamant against the theory of Jefferson's dalliance with his slaves when he mentioned that in Undaunted Courage.

For whatever it's worth, I like to know where the authors stand. And it feels cool to have read something about the debate before hand as well.

I just finished reading 1812: The War that Forged a Nation by Walter R. Borneman and I couldn't put it down. I was chosing between this book and Union 1812: The Americans who fought the Second War of Independence by A.J. Langguth but decided to read the former because the reviews said that there were battle details, which I love. Any comments from people who have read Union 1812 or both? It would be nice to read a book directed more toward the politics of the war after reading one that was focused on the battles.

{I find myself enjoying the realization when a page or paragraph is written in response to another book that I happened to have read or a debate within the academic community that I recognize other points of view}

Totally agree, bfertig. Watching a debate proceed is one of the reasons that I've started reading more academic articles lately. Some of them are really old, but that doesn't seem to matter. Watching the mystery unravel is just fun.

ThePam: Which book are you reading on Old West prostitution? I've also had trouble finding academic books on the subject; most of the ones I've found just seem to print hearsay, with few footnotes and little mention of sources.

As for the main subject here, I'm currently reading Somerset Homecoming: Recovering a Lost Heritage by Dorothy Spruill Redford. The book deals with the author's genealogical research, which leads her to Somerset Place, a plantation in eastern North Carolina, where her ancestors were slaves. Eventually, she organized a homecoming for over 2,000 descendants of Somerset's owners and slaves. It's a fascinating and very well-written book, which I'm doubly enjoying because my family also has roots in eastern NC.

Morning Corinne :)

You're right. Most of the books on Old West prostitution are fluff. The one I'm reading is Anne Butler's book: Daughters of Joy, Sisters of Misery: Prostitutes in the American West, 1865-90. It's the only serious academic bit of work that I've run across.

She's did a good job in working around the fact that these women didn't leave behind much in the way of personal writings. And there's a solid bibliography... BUT, in my opinion, the book is a little flawed in that she did not keep appropriately 'aloof' from the material and her own (dare I say) feminist leanings can be heard.

In any case, I found the book very informative and well worth the read.

Thanks, ThePam!

I'll have to look that one up. I first got interested in the subject when I took a class two years ago on using photographs as historical evidence. I found some great photos of Old West prostitutes and really wanted to use them for my final paper, but couldn't find enough sources to write an undergraduate paper. It's on my long list of possible graduate school theses, though :)

It's a long book, but Pierre Berton's Klondike: The Last Gold Rush touches on some of the prostitutes who made it to the Yukon River. Those women had hard lives and they were interesting characters without any romanticized fluff! I think one was called Diamond Tooth Gertie, because she wore a diamond in the gap between her front teeth. Despite the length, I think it was one of the best books I've ever read; even if you aren't interested in the gold rush, you could always search the index for female names.

I'm reading Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster and the rise of American popular culture by Ken Emerson

Darn, having no luck with title links today, but you can find it by clicking through the author's name.

Pretty interesting and is a more unusual American history subject.

Egads, Corinne. I think it would be a dreadfully difficult thesis topic. Because those women were so uneducated they didn't leave behind much in the way of personal papers.

Butler combed old newspapers, court and military records to come up with her book. Her bibliography looked like blood, sweat and tears must have been required to produce it. And if I'm not mistaken she ref'd Pierre Berton's book.

It's certainly the place to start, imo, if you are considering your own research on the topic.

Are you in grad school now? Or working on that senior paper?

Forgot to say that Interlibrary has kind enough to provide a copy of Anne Seagrave's Soiled Doves: prostitution in the early west.

I suspect it's fluff, but I wanted something to contrast to Butler's book.

It's been a while since I've read Soiled Doves, but I remember thinking it was fluff, but enjoyable. She writes about a lot of different women in different areas of the western US, but I think most of them were wealthy, more successful madams/mistresses.

It would be a difficult topic for a thesis, but it's mostly just wishful thinking. I have a few other topics in mind for which it would be easier to find primary sources. I'm not in graduate school yet, so I don't have to make a decision any time soon.

I'm about half way through, Corinne. It's light stuff, but I actually think it is a good complimentary text to Butler's more grim work.

Seagraves gives a more background on some of the characters that Butler briefly mentions. And her interpretation is that at least some of the women knew what they were doing and that not everyone was a complete and utter victim.

At least that's the way it looks like I'll write the review at this moment.

========

It's funny that we are discussing the old west as the only books we have in common are of ancient times. :-)

Just starting "Stealing Indian Women : Native Slavery in the Illinois Country" by Carl Ekberg.

That is funny! My undergraduate was in ancient history, so I read alot of it. In fact, I'm reading a book about ancient Egypt right now - Tombs, Temples, and Hieroglyphs by Barbara Mertz. It's a popular history and I'm familiar with alot of what she writes about, but her writing style is very enjoyable and a little irreverent. I love scholars (she has a Ph.D in Egyptology) who can poke fun at their fields. She also wrote the Amelia Peabody books, under the name Elizabeth Peters.

LOL! My undergraduate was in early medieval history. I started grad work but got cold feet after attending too many conferences where no one seemed to have a sense of humor. Shallow of me , but at the time I couldn't see spending my life not laughing.

I considered grad school in classics, but I decided I didn't love it enough to make it through graduate-level Greek and Latin. Most of my undergraduate professors had great senses of humor and loved to make fun of themselves. As one of them once said, "You'll have to wake up and pay attention, students, if you ever want to achieve my level of success - teaching Greek grammar to bleary-eyed students at 8am at a mid-tier university...oh, who am I kidding? I wasn't good enough for a mid-tier university. This school sucks." His sarcasm definitely made Greek and Latin more fun.

Maybe it's just when they are at conferences that they are so darned straight-laced.

My own mentor was a funny lady and absolutely fantastic cook. It's been years and my now husband and I still talk about her meals.

Yeah, I suppose they all have their overly serious moments. I did have a new prof during my last year who had a terrible sense of humor. He took everything very literally and always looked so confused at our classics jokes. Like you, though, I had a couple of great mentors!

Just finished "Jamestown: the perilous adventure" by Olga Hall-Quest.

Also been reading some articles on Indian slavery in the New World.

I'm reading Operation Cyanide. One more book that makes farfetched conspiracy theories seem less far fetched.

The new issue (Winter 2008) of the newly revived American Heritage magazine has a couple of articles on Jamestown.

Just starting Common ground, pulitzer prize winner by J Anthony Lukas.

Thank you, LamSon.

I'm pretty sure my library carries that magazine.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!

If you enjoyed Skeletons on the Zahara an In the Heart of the Sea, you might also enjoy Alone by Richard E. Byrd and The River of Doubt

Currently reading "Three Years Among the Comanches: The Narrative of Nelson Lee".

It's an interesting read from 1859 about Lee's experience as a Texas Ranger, but most probably all or a portion of it is 'fictional'.

I'm currently in Vietnam: The View from Moscow, Peking, Washington by Daniel Papp. An interesting look at how the leaders of these countries view various events during the war.

I'm just about finished with The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlae.

Currently reading "Ledyard: In Search of the First American Explorer" by Bill Gifford.

Ledyard in his time was as well known as Columbus is now. He traveled with Cook on his third voyage, and throughout Europe and Africa. Rather an amazing figure. He left very little in the way of records but the author is doing a fair job of working around that.

Well, it took me a long time to get through Undaunted Courage because I going into the lab only sporadically. Now I'm about 3 hrs into Alexander Hamilton and liking that just fine.

Some good books revealing the lies of people trying to be politically correct about the rumors of Jefferson-Hemings are listed and reviewed at www.tjheritage.org and www.angelfire.com/va/TJTruth. The Scholars full report (13 top swcholars) is there also and they found no truth to the charges of a Jefferson/Hemings connection.

Herb Barger
Jefferson Family Historian
301-292-2739

#79>

I'm totally confused by your use of the word "PC" in this context. How does PC enter into the discussion?

===============

In any case I took a look at the monticello.org website and found this portion of the majority report:

"The laboratories involved are highly reputable in Y-chromosomal studies and have extensive records of publication in scientific peer-reviewed journals. The study compared nineteen genetic markers on the Y chromosomes of fourteen subjects-five male-line descendants of two sons of Field Jefferson (Thomas Jefferson's paternal uncle), three male-line descendants of three sons of John Carr (grandfather of Samuel and Peter Carr), five male-line descendants of two sons of Thomas Woodson, and one male-line descendant of Eston Hemings.

The results clearly show that the male-line descendants of Field Jefferson and Eston Hemings have identical Y-chromosome haplotypes (the particular combination of variants at defined loci on the chromosome). Scientists note that there is less than a 1 percent probability that this is due to chance.

Thus the haplotype match is over one hundred times more likely when Jefferson and Eston Hemings are genetically related through the male line. This study by itself does not establish that Hemings's father was Thomas Jefferson, only that Hemings's father was a Jefferson."

Having finished The Children of Henry VIII last night (despite haveing forgotten to bring it to work for lunch reading), I'm starting Joseph J. Ellis's His Excellency: George Washington today.

Apparently #79 has some other agenda, since he has posted his rants elsewhere and has listed no books in his library.

Thanks Varielle.

What an odd thing to come here to rant. Guess it takes all sorts.

Btw, currently reading "Andele, the Mexican-Kiowa Captive: A Story of Real Life Among the Indians".

As a young boy, Andele was captured by the Apaches and traded to a Kiowa chief who adopted him.

Just starting: "The laws of Spain in their application to the American Indians" by John Gregory Bourke, 3rd Cavalry.

It's a short tract written in 1894.

Finished "Andele" and Bourke's "Laws of Spain in their application to the American Indians" (see above).

Now reading...

"Before Lewis and Clark: The Story of the Chouteaus, the French Dynasty That Ruled America's Frontier" by Shirley Christian

(touchstones touchy today)

Just finished Assination Vacation, starting 1920: The Year of Six Presidents.

Just started "Founding Faith" by Steven Waldman.

It's one of the best books I've read so far in 2008. A nice balanced view of the beliefs of US founding fathers.

Wittgenstein's Poker by David Edmonds and John Eidinow. Fascinating from a philosophical history perspective about an interesting argument between philosophers Wittgenstein and Popper, which Bertrand Russell also apparently witnessed.

I am just into the second chapter of book two of The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote. It is one I am having a real hard time putting down. I'm also reading Landscape Turned Red by Stephen W. Sears. I love just about anything on Lincoln and am just getting into the Civil War. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

crucible of war by Fred Anderson about the French and Indian war.

Just finished Jeffrey J. Noonan's first book, The Guitar in America: Victorian Era to Jazz Age (American Made Music). Historian's manna: virgin territory. It's the first time anyone has attempted to address guitarists and the practice of playing guitar in the,late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Finished "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer.

Now starting "Colonial Ste. Genevieve: An Adventure on the Mississippi Frontier by Carl J. Ekberg.

Ste. G~ was the first anglo village on the west side of the Mississippi. Near Kaskaskia.

"Of Agues and Fevers: Malaria in the Early Chesapeake" by Darrett B. Rutman and Anita H. Rutman

Very interesting article on malaria and it's possible consequences in the new world.

Reading The Rise of American Democracy by Sean Wilentz. Very, very good, but requires a serious commitment of time and concentration.

The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough.

# 96

The Jamestown Flood is a great book. When I saw who wrote it I had to check if it was the same book I read when my daughter was a baby. Sure enough both her and the book are from 1987. McCullough was not such a big name then and his name did not stick in my mind, now I am sure to read more of his books. The Jamestown flood was terrible tragady but I am afraid we have forgotten anything we learned from it. Capital still runs roughshod over citizens.

#97. I have a copy from my library with a very young David McCullough's picture on it. I know that the Johnston flood site is a National Historic park but I've never visited it. I don't know a lot about what happened so I'm looking forward to reading this one.

Victorian America. Pretty good overview of the changes, as the subtitle says, in everyday life. Does kind of skim over each topic, but gives enough information to let you decide if you'd like to dig further into that area. A good introduction to those who haven't gotten very much into American history other than the obligatory high school class.

I am finishing up Path Between the Seas by David McCullough. I thought it really started out slow, but I am enjoying it now as much as his other works.

Finally got around to finishing Leviathan and have started in on Philbrick's Mayflower, which I guess spans up to King Philip's War. Whenever I read about King Philip's War I'm always amazed because its importance and sheer brutality always seem to be kept under the general radar.

I have recently completed the following: Band of Brothers (Ellis), American Sphinx (Ellis), American Creation (Ellis), His Excellency: George Washington (Ellis), John Adams: Party of One (Grant), Alexander Hamilton (Chernow), Abraham Lincoln (Donald), and Benjamin Franklin (Isaacson). I really enjoy reading Mr. Ellis' works.

I am still working my way through The Great Upheaval but am simultaneously going through Mr. Adam's Last Crusade. Actually, I have two other books I'm reading as well.. but not specifically American history.

> 101
Yasuhide Kawashima wrote an excellent history, Igniting King Philip's War.

After teaching American History survey courses for 10 or so years now, I can say that this war isn't swept under the rug (hidden), so much as ignored. General American History texts don't address King Philip's War as a specific event, though they do address the general concept of the tricky nature of colonial-Native American relationships. People who get beyond the survey courses into more specific courses in colonial history will definitely come across King Philip's War.

Daniel

Just finished Us versus Them by J. Peter Scoblic. I'm now reading The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate by James Rosen.

>77 ThePam: Ledyard in his time was as well known as Columbus is now. He traveled with Cook on his third voyage, and throughout Europe and Africa. Rather an amazing figure. He left very little in the way of records but the author is doing a fair job of working around that.

John Ledyard left a book, The Last Voyage of Captain Cook. I have not read it yet but I am getting it from my local library.

North Star over my Shoulder. Excellent autobiography by Buck, who started flying in the late 1920's and retired from TWA as the senior-most captain in 1974. Tales of his cross-country record-breaking flight, at the tender age of 16(!), meeting Lindbergh, Earhart, starting with TWA as a co-pilot in the mid-thirties, spending three months as the personal pilot for Tyrone Powers and friends as they toured South America, Africa, and Europe, and so on and so forth... a great flying life indeed.

An update to #77 and #107. I have now read John Ledyard's The Last Voyage of Captain Cook. It consists of his remaining journals and some letters to men such as Thomas Jefferson. It is a short book but worth the time.

Ledyard was a man who burned to explore unknown lands. His writings show no racial or other prejudice. He saw the peoples he met as they were without thinking them inferior. As much as he respected Captain Cook he felt the man's death was his own fault.

He died in Egypt waiting to start another journey of exploration.

Part way through Crazy Good: The True Story of Dan Patch, the Most Famous Horse in America. It's turning out to be quite good. The author's style occasionally swings into first person and the present as he tells the story. His style is very chatty, not a surprise from someone who is executive editor for Sports Illustrated and has written for Rolling Stone, Esquire and People magazines, among others. And he is the tiniest bit snarky. Still, it's rather enjoyable, but don't expect it to be another Seabiscuit. I would recommend it for horse lovers of course, but it's also a nice slice of Americana covering the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

In the middle of We Die Alone. It is a great story but not necessarily a fan of how it is told.

Revisiting Alexander Hamilton - I've read several other htings in between but have been busy these last few months. Am about an hour into Part 4 (of 5) so may actually finish it this century...

looks like I killed this thread off pretty well.

while lately ive been away from LT and recently on a fiction kick, when I finish listening to Midnight's Children, I think I might start What hath god wrought, which I have loaded onto my ipod.

I have been reading 'SPEECH ON CONCILIATION WITH AMERICA' (1919) by Edmund Burke. This address to Parliament was made in 1775, when the Americans were fed-up with the machinations and maneuvers of the Crown's ministers, and the likelihood of a major break with the home country was rapidly becoming more than conceivable. Despite the somewhat obtuse language, Burke reveals himself more the friend of Liberty and the rights of British citizens than a toady of the Crown. His review of the past actions of the Parliament reveals the vast inconsistencies of previous actions of the Royal party, along with the ever more obvious attempts of King to reduce the ancient rights and liberties of British subjects to those of a German serf, starting with the far-off American colonists. This is well worth the reading. Highly recommended.