Book Description
The successful creation of the Constitution is a suspense story. The Summer of 1787 takes us into the sweltering room in which delegates struggled for four months to produce the flawed but enduring document that would define the nation -- then and now.
George Washington presided, James Madison kept the notes, Benjamin Franklin offered wisdom and humor at crucial times. The Summer of 1787 traces the struggles within the Philadelphia Convention as the delegates hammered out the charter for the world's first constitutional democracy. Relying on the words of the delegates themselves to explore the Convention's sharp conflicts and hard bargaining, David O. Stewart lays out the passions and contradictions of the often painful process of writing the Constitution.
It was a desperate balancing act. Revolutionary principles required that the people have power, but could the people be trusted? Would a stronger central government leave room for the states? Would the small states accept a Congress in which seats were alloted according to population rather than to each sovereign state? And what of slavery? The supercharged debates over America's original sin led to the most creative and most disappointing political deals of the Convention.
The room was crowded with colorful and passionate characters, some known -- Alexander Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris, Edmund Randolph -- and others largely forgotten. At different points during that sultry summer, more than half of the delegates threatened to walk out, and some actually did, but Washington's quiet leadership and the delegates' inspired compromises held the Convention together.
In a country continually arguing over the document's original intent, it is fascinating to watch these powerful characters struggle toward consensus -- often reluctantly -- to write a flawed but living and breathing document that could evolve with the nation.
Customer Reviews:
The Summer of 1787.......2007-09-01
Most revealing on the individual character of each of the signers. Lots of good inside information. Well worth the read
summer of 1787.......2007-08-04
I thought that the book was very enlightening on what the founders of thid country went through.
History Alive!.......2007-07-30
This is one of the most readable and enjoyable history book I have ever read. It certainly depicts the tortuous development and atmosphere surrounding the process of writing the Constitution in a way that makes one feel part of it. I could not put the book down for any length of time!
Learn more about our US history.......2007-07-26
If your American History studies were like mine, they jumped from the Revolution to the election of George Washington with little mention of the years inbetween. Now you can learn just how twelve colonies (Rhode Island did not participate) met to form the basis for our nation. It is a very readable yet factual book, with plenty of footnotes. I would recommend it to any reader, young or old.
An important story, well retold.......2007-07-05
The general sense of some editorial reviews of this fine book, while rightly praising the author's stylistic dexterity and story-telling skills, was to question whether there was a need for another account of the great Constitutional Convention of 1787. This point of view finds its answer in the following verse, quoted in the preface of Catherine Drinker Bowen's earlier book on the same subject: "If all the tales are told, retell them, Brother./ If few attend, let those who listen feel."
David Stewart has retold well this most important of stories, and in doing so has brought the tale to a larger audience, and to a new generation. His judgment that this book was worth undertaking is amply justified by the result.
Amazon.com
Abraham Lincoln, who had worked as a riverboat pilot before turning to politics, knew a thing or two about the problems of transporting goods and people from place to place. He was also convinced that the United States would flourish only if its far-flung regions were linked, replacing sectional loyalties with an overarching sense of national destiny.
Building a transcontinental railroad, writes the prolific historian Stephen Ambrose, was second only to the abolition of slavery on Lincoln's presidential agenda. Through an ambitious program of land grants and low-interest government loans, he encouraged entrepreneurs such as California's "Big Four"--Charles Crocker, Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins, and Leland Stanford--to take on the task of stringing steel rails from ocean to ocean. The real work of doing so, of course, was on the shoulders of immigrant men and women, mostly Chinese and Irish. These often-overlooked actors and what a contemporary called their "dreadful vitality" figure prominently in Ambrose's narrative, alongside the great financiers and surveyors who populate the standard textbooks.
In the end, Ambrose writes, Lincoln's dream transformed the nation, marking "the first great triumph over time and space" and inaugurating what has come to be known as the American Century. David Haward Bain's Empire Express, which covers the same ground, is more substantial, but Ambrose provides an eminently readable study of a complex episode in American history. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
In this account of an unprecedented feat of engineering, vision, and courage, Stephen E. Ambrose offers a historical successor to his universally acclaimed Undaunted Courage, which recounted the explorations of the West by Lewis and Clark.
Nothing Like It in the World is the story of the men who built the transcontinental railroad -- the investors who risked their businesses and money; the enlightened politicians who understood its importance; the engineers and surveyors who risked, and lost, their lives; and the Irish and Chinese immigrants, the defeated Confederate soldiers, and the other laborers who did the backbreaking and dangerous work on the tracks.
The Union had won the Civil War and slavery had been abolished, but Abraham Lincoln, who was an early and constant champion of railroads, would not live to see the great achievement. In Ambrose's hands, this enterprise, with its huge expenditure of brainpower, muscle, and sweat, comes to life.
The U.S. government pitted two companies -- the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads -- against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution. Locomo-tives, rails, and spikes were shipped from the East through Panama or around South America to the West or lugged across the country to the Plains. This was the last great building project to be done mostly by hand: excavating dirt, cutting through ridges, filling gorges, blasting tunnels through mountains.
At its peak, the workforce -- primarily Chinese on the Central Pacific, Irish on the Union Pacific -- approached the size of Civil War armies, with as many as fifteen thousand workers on each line. The Union Pacific was led by Thomas "Doc" Durant, Oakes Ames, and Oliver Ames, with Grenville Dodge -- America's greatest railroad builder -- as chief engineer. The Central Pacific was led by California's "Big Four": Leland Stanford, Collis Huntington, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins. The surveyors, the men who picked the route, were latter-day Lewis and Clark types who led the way through the wilderness, living off buffalo, deer, elk, and antelope.
In building a railroad, there is only one decisive spot -- the end of the track. Nothing like this great work had been seen in the world when the last spike, a golden one, was driven in at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869, as the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific tracks were joined.
Ambrose writes with power and eloquence about the brave men -- the famous and the unheralded, ordinary men doing the extraordinary -- who accomplished the spectacular feat that made the continent into a nation.
Download Description
The Union had won the Civil War; slavery was abolished. Lincoln, an early champion of railroads, would not live to see the next great achievement. It took brains, muscle, and sweat in quantities and scope never before ventured and required engineers and surveyors willing to lose their lives in the wilderness; men who had commanded and obeyed in war; workers from China, Ireland, and the defeated South; and capitalists betting their money for possible great profit. The government pitted the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific against each other in a race for funding, encouraging speed over caution.
Locomotives, falls, and spikes were shipped from the east through Panama, around South America, or lugged across the country. The railroad was the last great building project to be done by hand: excavating dirt, cutting through ridges, filling gorges, blasting tunnels. Nothing like this great railroad had been seen in the world when the last spike, a golden one, was driven in at Promontory Peak, Utah, in 1869, as the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific joined tracks. Ambrose writes with power and eloquence about the brave men who accomplished the spectacular feat that made the nation one.
Customer Reviews:
changing face of America.... .......2007-01-25
American dreams, greed, courage, innovation and daring make this a wonderful story of an event that changed the face of this country forever...
"Hmmm.....Railroads are Boring!" Right?.......2006-11-07
I "read" this as a book on tape. I had this on my Mp3 player for quite awhile because I thought, "Railroad stories are boring!" But, I found that not to be true. Imagine a time when the "fastest" and "easiest" way to travel across country was by wagon, horse, and oxen going 20 miles a day! Then, you find out about a "train" that goes 18 miles an hour and you can just sit there and let it carry you and your stuff for hundreds and even thousands of miles! You don't even have to push your wagon over any rivers! You'd be pretty excited...yea! Then, there's these two Railroad Companies that are competing to see who gets the further in a given amount of time. The further each company lays track the more their profits in terms of land grands and fares will be. The only problems are that they have to tunnel through about 8 mountains, fight off angry Indians, build bridges over streams and rivers and fill in ravines, and get all the supplies and workers out into the wilderness so they can lay the tracks. Plus there are "the personalities" of the leaders and workmen to contend with not to mention how to finance the operation that will take about 6 years to complete at full speed. Yep, it's quite a story! Read it either in print or as a book on tape. Email: boland7214@aol.
a wonderful journey back in time.......2006-10-07
we loved this book - transported back to a time where our country was expanding - highly recommend
Very Well Written, Factual and Fulfilling!.......2006-09-24
Stephen Ambrose did a great job of explaining the complicated details that led to the miracle of the transcontinental railroad. Anyone who appreciates herculean feats and the web of intrigue surrounding their beginnings, eventual birth and their effect on our great country will love this story. A true five star book.
The Great race.......2006-09-10
An engrossing story about the companies and the men behind the building of the Railroad from Omaha to Sacramento. The US Government with its hands tied in the Civil war, sets up a competition between 2 private companies Union Pacific and the Central Pacific who start laying tracks from Omaho and Sacramento. The book details the progress through each state, with insight into the leaders and the workforce behind the construction. Then it reaches a fast pace once we enter Utah where the two tracks meet.
Well this railroad accelerated exponentially the immigration to the the west. The story of the construction is really a mix of great entrepreneurship, big business, railroad surveyors, wild life lovers. But elements like using/abusing an underclass for cheap labor but denying rights, overreacting to native peoples fear of intrusion into their land, insensitivity of big business/technology to native lifestyles may have some relevance even today and make us interospect what 'liberty' actually means.
The Author does a good job in keeping the reader interested, but probably is prone to exaggeration sometimes.
A good way to relive the railroad is to take Amtrak's California Zephyr (which skips wyoming, parts of utah,nevada) or to take I-80
Book Description
The Man Who Stayed Behind is the remarkable account of Sidney Rittenberg, an American who was sent to China by the U.S. military in the 1940s. A student activist and labor organizer who was fluent in Chinese, Rittenberg became caught up in the turbulence that engulfed China and remained there until the late 1970s. Even with access to China’s highest leaders as an American communist, however, he was twice imprisoned for a total of sixteen years.
Both a memoir and a documentary history of the Chinese revolution from 1949 through the Cultural Revolution, The Man Who Stayed Behind provides a human perspective on China’s efforts to build a new society. Critical of both his own mistakes and those of the Communist leadership, Rittenberg nevertheless gives an even-handed account of a country that is now free of internal war for the first time in a hundred years.
Customer Reviews:
an exceptionally human look at the early PRC.......2007-10-06
Lots of people have derided Rittenberg in this space, most seemingly because of Rittenberg's religious-level belief in communism in his earlier years. Read this book not as a defense of communism (it isn't, at all), but as an intensely personal journal of one life, lived at the core of the PRC, from 1946 to the late 1970s. Rittenberg, now in his mid 80s, gives a unique perspective on the early leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, and the vision, plus the folly, that intertwined with the early years. Whether one believes that he earned his 15+ years of imprisonment or not, no feeling human can fail to empathize with those, including him, who were jailed by the regime.
In recent years, the PRC has admitted that the Cultural Revolution was a mistake, and therefore these years have seen a flurry of what's called 'scar literature' in China. Rittenberg's work cover much more than just his years in jail during the Revolution--it provides a remarkably close-up look at the emergent PRC in its first 25 years. Read it without fail if you seek to understand the roots of China today.
An unbelievable story and man.......2007-04-24
Few books written about Communist China are pleasant to read because of the experiences related, this is certainly one of them. Mr. Rittenberg's quixotic adventure in China was tragic-comic to an unbelievable proportion but still his undying idealism commands one's respect.
I have googled and read his speeches about China on internet and I think he is one of the wiser guys in matters of China. He knows China inside out.
One of the best China biographies out there.......2006-09-14
Sidney Rittenberg is a truly amazing character, and you must read his story to believe it. It's also one of the most insightful and thorough evaluations of Maoism and the Cultural Revolution, written by someone who believed firmly in those ideals at the time, but came to reexamine and question them as he saw their darker sides. This book is highly recommended for anyone even remotely interested in China, Chinese history, Communism, or just a really well-written autobiography of someone with an extraordinary life.
The man who stayed oblivious in spite of mounting evidence.......2005-11-21
Sydney Rittenberg was one of a tiny handful of misguided utopia seekers who escaped from America to the Workers' Paradise, Mao's China. Rittenberg spends decades of his life in China championing a supposedly idealistic movement that was rife with intrigue from its inception. I cite Mao's "Let a 100 Flowers Bloom" campaign as one of many examples. It was a call for a dialog with the country's intellectuals. After getting them to air their true feelings he launched his "Uprooting Poisonous Weeds" campaign in which those who's views didn't spout the official party line were sent to the laogai, the Chinese gulag. I won't get into Mao's manufactured famine (read The Hungry Ghosts and Scarlet Memorial) or the Cultural Revolution. He was imprisoned twice for a period of 16 years. He didn't commit any criminal offense he was simply an international pawn for the Communist Party. What is so frustrating about this autobiography is that he never wavers in his so called "faith". For whatever reasons he just can't contemplate the reality that the intensity of his obsequiousness and fanaticism or political correctness (we got that term from the communists) is irrelevant to the Chinese. Perhaps that realization would have totally destroyed his persona. At the end he decides that the Communist Party has deviated from its "pure and humble" origins and moves back to the capitalist United States where his wife makes a windfall from an import deal. The United States is hardly perfect but I think it speaks to our generosity that after Rittenberg's dream of a totalitarian utopia failed, after he spent decades denouncing the "yellow dog imperialists" he was allowed to return along with his Chinese wife and Chinese born adult children.
I was more impressed with Army Private James George Veneris, the man who stayed behind until the end. Veneris was one of 21 POWs during the Korean War, between America and China, who chose not to be repatriated. Eventually all but Veneris returned to the US in disgrace. I realize that a lot of Americans would consider Veneris a traitor, but at least he stayed true to his principles to the end. I was quite intrigued by the adaptability of this man and what motivated him to sever all aspects of his former life. I spent the academic year of 1999/2000 in China and had many difficulties adjusting, even with access to the Internet, English TV, and Hong Kong nearby. I wanted to write his biography. Unfortunately, he died a few years ago. In the process of searching for Virginia Pasley's book, 21 Stayed: The story of the American GI's who chose Communist China: who they were and why they stayed, I came across Rittenberg's book.
The book is worth reading for the fact that Rittenberg had a unique experience during an interesting period of history. I would also recommend Jan Wong's Red China Blues. Wong is a Canadian born Chinese who was a college student during the Cultural Revolution. She decided that revolution was the way to paradise and was allowed to go to China to participate in the process. She became an ardent fanatic, but it only took a few years for her to wise up.
A Hero by Failure.......2005-08-04
Anyone who has made seeking truth his or her quest should read this book. With a painful honesty, Rittenberg accounts a sincere believer's failed efforts in pursuing idealism. He does not shun away from the truth that idealism and stupidity were often twins in human history. In fact, "faith" can make one blind and an involuntarily contributor to harm. It took the author a lifetime - including 16 years in the prisons of the system he believed in - to realize this simple truth. An ordinary person might have woken up a lot earlier, but not a believer. Is this faith or stupidity? The reader should draw his or her own conclusion. Nonetheless, what I really want to say is: although his effort in pursing ideals has failed, his life experience is not a waste; we can all learn from his lessons. In this sense he is still a hero, or in classic Chinese terms, a "hero by failure". To the reviewer below who called Rittenberg a "coward" with the "integrity of a worm" I want to ask, could you do better than him in those circumstances - in the bombing and in the prisons? That is a very pointed question.
Rittenberg's Chinese name Li Dunbai has been known to me since my childhood during the Cultural Revolution in China, though I never knew him personally, and still don't know him now. In this book it is his candid and thorough accounts of the personal experiences of the familiar history that grab me, from the opening page to the last. Unlike some other bestseller memoirs on the same period of China, such as "Wild Swans," which emphasize the virtue while downplaying the deficits of the protagonists, Rittenberg hides nothing about his own personal weakness and mistakes. Anyone who has gone through the same period knows that we were all participants, no matter how noble or gaudy our motives were, no matter you admit it or not. To deny this and dress up as a pure victim or even a hero is truly a shame. Only by facing our mistakes and failures honestly we can help ourselves.
Customer Reviews:
(RAW Rating: 4.5) - What is happening to black men?.......2007-08-04
Demico Boothe has explored the reasons so many black men are indeed in prison in, WHY ARE SO MANY BLACK MEN IN PRISON? He begins with his own story of a shaky upbringing and his subsequent dabbling in drug dealing. He was caught with a few grams of crack cocaine but because it was the dreaded crack, he was given 10 years in prison. When he left prison after serving his time, he was actually railroaded back into prison by a crooked justice system. He delves deeply into our justice system and the motives behind all the new prisons that are being built. He gives succinct and reasonable views of exactly what is happening now in the United States and how the past has played a role in the present. He uses persuasive statistics regarding the number of black men in prison as compared to the number of white men who are incarcerated.
Demico Boothe has done an excellent job of researching his subject and it is a plus, if unfortunate for him, that he has actually experienced first hand what he's talking about. I knew I was hearing the real story rather than just statistics from an intellectual who had no real idea of what the prison system is really like. I would have liked for Boothe to search a little deeper into the Haiti, Aristide and USA question, maybe even reading Randall Robinson's take on the situation, and then he might see it a bit differently. Otherwise, it is a good book and one every one in America should read. We indeed, have a crisis going on.
Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Why Are So Many Black Men In Prison? A Comprehensive Account Of How And Why The Prison Industry Has Become A Predatory Entity In.......2007-06-09
The book was very interesting. I learned soooo much about the government and the prison industry. I did some searching independantly to check on the things reported in the book and they are very true. Great Read!! Buy the book.
A Must Read.......2007-05-25
Mr. Demico's book is a must-read for anyone concerned about young African American men. Although I did not agree with every conclusion he reached, Demico's main premises are convincing. As a white woman who teaches mainly students of color, I am always impressed, and often in awe, of those young men who reach college with so much going against them. Demico's books lays bare not only the horrible inequalities of our society, but also the racist attitudes of our political system - - Democrats, Republicans, and most everyone in between.
Why are so many Black Men in Prison?.......2007-05-13
I is a well put together book. He really goes into a lot of detail of how our society is really set up.
Why are so many blacks in prison?.......2007-05-12
I found this book very interesting. As a white devil myself, I had no idea that I was responsible for forcing blacks into committing crimes and then subsequently clogging up the whole "Prison Industrial Complex"(tm). I will try to stop causing this, as I am sure it is creating a LOT of trouble for everyone! Sorry!
It is probably also my fault that young black men dressed in XXXXL clothes overtly threaten me and my family members routinely. Can anyone tell me what I should do to make this not happen?
I imagine it's also my fault that black on white violent crime is WAY higher than white on black violent crime, even though blacks constitute about 12.5% of the population, and whites are about 70%. But since it is impossible for a black to commit a hate crime according to our criminal justice system (since blacks are not under any circumstances racist), statistically, there are more white on black hate crimes. Boothe notes a statistic regarding hate crimes, but he skips the one about interracial violence in general.
In sum, Boothe notes that just about everything blacks do is actually MY fault, because my skin is white. Boothe, I've got a word for you.
Introspection.
Book Description
An authoritative new examination of John Brown and his deep impact on American history.
Bancroft Prize-winning cultural historian David S. Reynolds presents an informative and richly considered new exploration of the paradox of a man steeped in the Bible but more than willing to kill for his abolitionist cause. Reynolds locates Brown within the currents of nineteenth-century life and compares him to modern terrorists, civil-rights activists, and freedom fighters. Ultimately, he finds neither a wild-eyed fanatic nor a Christ-like martyr, but a passionate opponent of racism so dedicated to eradicating slavery that he realized only blood could scour it from the country he loved. By stiffening the backbone of Northerners and showing Southerners there were those who would fight for their cause, he hastened the coming of the Civil War. This is a vivid and startling story of a man and an age on the verge of calamity.
Customer Reviews:
When is a fanatic not a fanatic?.......2007-08-13
Highly enjoyable read. Not written at arm's length; It's clear that Reynolds "gets" John Brown and the age he lived in, so his heart and imagination are fully engaged as he writes. He doesn't hide Brown's humanity however. What bothered me the most was that Brown seemed to harden his heart toward his wounded son at Harpers Ferry. (How it appeared to observers apparently.)
All in all though Thoreau and Emerson got it right when they quickly came to his defense after Harpers Ferry. Thoreau compared Brown on the scaffold to Christ on the cross.
If Brown had died at Harpers Ferry before the country could hear his defense and see the greatness of his character--his every word and behavior a challenge to the country to throw off the evils of slavery--history would no doubt have been different. Reynolds is redeeming Brown from neglect and misunderstanding to his rightful place as a heroic patriarch and patriot of America.
In our age when "true believers" are highly suspect, Brown's character and long-contemplated actions shine as an example of exactly how and when a "fanatic" is not a fanatic. Brown founded a community where blacks and whites lived together as equals. He lived out his religious and political beliefs fully, whole-heartedly, yet included others of different beliefs in his inner circle (his first lieutenant was an atheist).
I read mostly library books; this one I bought and buy for others.
Informative, a bit long, not as objective as one would hope.......2007-02-24
David S. Reynolds background as a Professor of English Literature shows in this book: although focused on John Brown's life, you can see Professor Reynolds' interest in Mid 19th century literature on almost every page, with frequent and extensive discourses on John Browns' interactions-with and impact on many of the well known authors and orators of the day, such as Walt Whitman, Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Melville, and Emily Dickinson.
In general, Reynolds makes the argument that John Brown sparked the Civil War, and that he was a high minded, intensely religious man who was not as crazy, and not as violent, as history has led us to believe. He further argues that Brown was a man a century or more ahead of his time in terms of his attitudes towards racism, and foresaw where the war of words between the North and South over the future of slavery would inevitably lead.
Reynolds does a great job of helping us better understand Brown as a person; and brings to light many facets of his personality and life of which I'd been unaware, such as Brown's total acceptance of African Americans as equals in every respect - a stance that few, if any, whites had at the time (and is a viewpoint that is not as widely accepted as it should be, even today). The author demonstrates, quite rightly, that most other abolitionists of the time were not so much pro-African-American as they were against slavery and its impact upon America. Many were at best dismissive, and at worst rabidly against, accepting blacks as equals.
Reynolds comes across as an apologist for Brown, and seems to be attempting to justify some of Brown's bloodiest and most violent actions as merely being the unavoidable side effects of a man consumed with a passion against slavery. Those side effects included the deaths of several of his sons.
The book's pace is not the best, and hits some really slow spots here and there: especially when it reaches the aftermath of the Harper Ferry raid, where the author launches into a very extensive discourse on the impact of John Brown (and his execution) on American literature, thought, society and politics - again with a focus on the writers and orators of the day. These last chapters could have been reduced in length by half or more, with little loss in terms of content.
I question the author's repeated and strong emphasis on John Brown's strong Puritan faith as being a basis for his actions: this refrain starts to sound hollow after so many repetitions - as if he's hoping we'll get the message if he hits us with it enough times. As an inheritor of several centuries of that same Puritan tradition myself, many of his arguments concerning Brown's faith seem (at best) forced and overstated.
Reynolds' argument that John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was the spark that started the Civil War is also overstated: While I think the raid certainly contributed to the paranoia of the time, particularly in the South, Reynolds' arguments that John Brown's attack and behavior following the raid destroyed the South's reputation for chilvalric military prowess and invincibility is not believable. The war was inevitable: Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry may have raised emotions, but the South was already diligently preparing for war by the time the raid occurred. The attack, at best, hurried things along a bit, but in my view, the country was almost certain to fall apart soon after the election of 1860, regardless of who won the Presidency.
In the end, though with some significant flaws in terms of pacing, facts, and the arguments presented; this book is informative: it does bring out the nature of the man, and it helped me better appreciate his impact on the country and History. Dr. Reynolds' work especially helps us to understand Brown's impact upon many of the thought-leaders of the day, and how regional attitudes and cultural traditions played into the unfolding of events at the time and their impact on John Brown's own career and reputation during the trial, and in the years following his execution.
To better understand how racism changed and evolved after the Civil War, I'd strongly recommend the book "Race and Reunion" by David W. Blight. For a better understanding of the four regional cultures in America at the time (Appalachian, Southern, New England and Mid Atlantic), which play a major role in Reynold's text, I'd recommend "Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America" by David Hackett Fischer.
"John Brown, Abolitionist" is a book that is worth the read, though its flaws limit the impact that it could have made, given the strong personality that is its subject. I give it a positive, but limited, recommendation.
Relatively decent understanding of Brown, poor understanding of his times. .......2007-01-31
Overall this book does not contribute significantly to an understanding of John Brown and his times. The strength of the book is within Reynolds grasp of Browns personal character. Reynolds convincingly demonstrates that John Brown was not crazy, at least from a clinical perspective. Also important is the way the book shapes how Brown's Calvinist views affected his own worldview. However, Reynolds often times errors in his analysis through his overt affinity for Brown. For instance, Reynolds too often takes Brown at his word, such as on the limited nature of his Harper's Ferry raid despite the solid evidence suggesting otherwise. If one wanted to understand the life of John Brown a much better choice of book would be Stephen Oates' biography on Brown.
As far as understanding Brown within the context of his time, this book hugely disappoints. Reynolds is not a historian and it shows (he is a professor of English). Even if we ignore the absurd contention that Brown had anything to do with the Civil Rights movement, there is plenty of reason to believe Brown had nothing more than a negligible effect on the coming of the Civil War.
From an epistemological standpoint, Reynolds is contending a revisionist interpretation as the cause for the Civil War (a war that could have been avoided had it not been for extremists on both sides). The key difference is that while typically revisionists see the war as a tragic consequence of blundering politicians among the free soil and fire-eater persuasion, Reynolds puts all the blame (or praise in this case) on John Brown. This of course ignores the traditional interpretation that sees the conflict as irrepressible. However, both schools of thought agree that events leading to Civil War were well put in place prior to Brown's raid in 1859. The Missouri Compromise, acquisition of Western lands from the Mexican war, the Compromise (or `armistice') of 1850, Kansas Nebraska Act, bleeding Kansas, the Dred Scott decision, and the Lecompton dispute, all significantly call into question Reynold's assertion that sectional hostilities were relatively tranquil prior to John Brown's raid. Perhaps one of Reynold's biggest blunders was emphasizing the significance of the abolitionist movement in the coming of the Civil War while completely ignoring the emergence of the much more significant free-soil Republican Party.
While the book does a relatively decent job of presenting Brown as a person, Stephen Oates remains the Brown standard bearer. As for the larger picture, Reynolds demonstrates a dismal understanding of antebellum politics.
A frustrating read.......2006-11-09
I expected Reynolds to write fluidly and clearly but he does not. The book turned out to be about two hundred pages too long. There aren't normal notes and many times I checked for them when I wanted to check a claim and found no note. His insensitivity to the role of Calvinism in Brown makes him overgeneralize claims and misidentify Brown as simply a Puritan. The book is marred by stylistic flaws that frustrate the reader and make the read an arduous one. In the end, it makes for an interesting even if one that makes the reader frustrated at the storyteller.
If only Doris Kearns Goodwin had written this book.......2006-04-05
In an epidsode of the PBS series History Detectives, host Tukufu Zuben expressed his idolatry of John Brown. Idolize someone who cut five men to pieces? After reading David Reynolds' bio of Brown, I know more about this intriguing figure of American history but haven't changed my negative stance on Zuben's high opinion of the maniacal but fascinating John Brown.
The book is readable but clearly not penned by a superb writer capable of bringing John Brown alive inside the reader's head. There is much - sometimes too much - detail (a weakness common to many historians), and he uses far too many passive sentences. Reynolds also has the annoyingly bad literary habit of pointlessly relating the outcome of key future events well before he details them. I found Reynolds' focus on the Trancendentalist connection tenuous since Emerson et al knew Brown only after he had committed to a life of violence and gained fame for it. It is also the most boring part of the book. The Cromwellian influence on Brown's life is a bit more believable since Brown had a copy of Cromwell's biography in his collection but still seems to be a stretch and isn't any more interesting. Reynolds is on firmer ground in describing Brown as one of the first Abolitionists who struck back.
I would ask Mr. Reynolds' why he did not delve into Brown's history as an economic loser. While Reynolds describes Brown's failure at every job he ever undertook, he refuses to recognize it as motivation for violence. Throughout history many extremists were personal failures who struck out at society, a description that aptly fits Brown. Also, Reynolds almost glosses over the slaughter at Pottawatomie and gives sparse emphasis to the post-traumatic stress suffered by several of Brown's murdering band. Justifying a slaughter, particularly one so calculated, just doesn't fly.
In spite of this rather negative review, I recommend the book both for its in-depth portrait of John Brown's life and its readibility. If Ms. Goodwin had written it, however, it would have been a giant of a work.
Book Description
Elizabeth, Mary, and Sophia Peabody were in many ways our American Bronts. The story of these remarkable sisters and their central role in shaping the thinking of their day has never before been fully told. Twenty years in the making, Megan Marshall's monumental biography brings to new life the era of creative ferment known as the American Renaissance. Elizabeth, the oldest sister, was a mind-on-fire thinker. A powerful influence on the great writers of the era Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau among them she also published some of their earliest works. It was Elizabeth who prodded these newly minted Transcendentalists away from Emerson's individualism and toward a greater connection to others. Mary was a determined and passionate reformer who finally found her soul mate in the great educator Horace Mann. The frail Sophia was a painter who won the admiration of the great society artists of the day. She married Nathaniel Hawthorne but not before Hawthorne threw the delicate dynamics among the sisters into disarray. Marshall focuses on the moment when the Peabody sisters made their indelible mark on history. Her unprecedented research into these lives uncovered hundreds of letters never read before as well as other previously unmined original sources. The Peabody Sisters casts new light on a legendary American era. It is destined to become an event in American biography.
Customer Reviews:
Don't miss this one.......2007-10-03
Somehow I overlooked this book when it was released, but thank goodness I discovered it later. The author takes readers back in time to share the amazing lives of these sisters. In the process, acquaintances of the Peabody family, that readers already know as historical figures, are brought to life as real, flawed but remarkable people. Readers will identify with these women as they strive to achieve and practice their own talents in a society that shares possibilities and limitations not so different from our own.
One of my favorite reads!.......2007-07-25
I only get to read on the train to and from work. This book makes my daily trip a real treat. I'm only half through, but hooked from page one. Not only does Marshall make a fascinating biographical and historical account of the Peabody sisters, but she provides answers as to why strong, ambitious, smart women have been so frustrated for so long. Society supressed gifted women in the 1800's so much so that women either became outcasts because they had to find expression, which in itself was restricted to motherhood, housewife or teacher, or they retreated into themselves in the form of illness or depression. Indeed, the contributions to romanticism by the Peabody sisters came at a very high cost to them. And now I can read about them and think "How strange that society was so close-minded back then!"
Excellent book!.......2007-03-17
Megan Marshall has done superb work in this carefully researched account of the amazing Peabody sisters.
The Peabody Sisters Rock.......2007-01-07
This book is one of my picks for the best reads of all time. I usually don't care for biography, but this had me spellbound like a novel. I could visualize the ladies in their respective settings and the personalities were fascinating. What complicated and difficult lives in so many ways, living in one another's shadows. Elizabeth's accomplishments were staggering. Translating from Latin and German? I don't even speak English correctly half the time! How interesting to live in a time when America was smaller. Obviously, I can recommend this book wholeheartedly.
Janice Lawson - Montana
Could Megan Marshall do any more research?.......2006-12-13
Peabody Sisters is excellent. There are so many people connected to these three woman that the reader is vicariously hearing inside information about historical figures, as well as the Peabody sisters---women most of us probably did not know. While you learn the historical significance/involvement of these women, you also learn of their daily lives and personal frustrations and joys. Megan Marshall has some 150 pages of notes and I think she must've examined every diary, note, letter, and biography of every individual involved in the sisters' lives. But, this is NOT a boring biography...Marshall speaks in a readable voice.
Book Description
A slave determined to gain freedom, a widow battling poverty and despair, a man of God grappling with spiritual and worldly troubles, and a former Confederate soldier seeking a new life. They lived in the South during 1865 -- a year that saw war, disunion, and slavery give way to peace, reconstruction, and emancipation.
Between January and December 1865, these four people witnessed, from very different vantage points, the death of the Old South and the birth of the New South. Civil War historian Stephen V. Ash reconstructs their daily lives, their fears and hopes, and their frustrations and triumphs in vivid detail -- telling a dramatic story of real people in a time of great upheaval and offering a fresh perspective on a pivotal moment in history.
Customer Reviews:
Great angle to the Civil War.......2007-02-06
Wonderful way to tie several story lines into each other while revealing true stories from the Civil War. I'd recommend this for anyone interested in the history of this period.
A Step Back In Time.......2006-01-15
I highly recommend this book. The stories are captivating. I didn't want it to end. As the review states, this book is about the lives of 4 ordinary people who lived through the Civil War. You will get caught up in the people and their lives. It's almost as if you know them personally. Great book!
Virtual Time Machine.......2006-01-15
Would you like some real insight into the lives of your ancestors during a portion of the Civil War? Do you wish you could take a time machine trip back to 1865 and feel what it was like for ordinary people, without Hollywood glamour, without layers of historical filters?
Read this book, wherein author Stephen Ash recounts how the last year of the War Between the States affected the lives of four very different, very ordinary people. One is a widow struggling daily with crushing poverty. Another is a young man developing into a preacher. One is a former Confederate soldier trying to establish a new life and avoid the chaos around him and the fourth a slave whose inner desire for liberty cannot be extinguished. The travails and emotions of these people are easily recognizable to us today. In some measure you can vicariously experience this momentous period in our history through them. Their stories are individually compelling and wrenching for different reasons but you will not be able to escape caring for them.
Ash follows each person through 1865, the year that saw the end of the war and the end of slavery. They each saw the year from very different vantage points but separately and together their stories reveal the typical. Ash avoids being broad, which would be vague and unsatisfactory to the reader. Further, he makes no judgements and allows these individuals to simply be who they are. What results is less the glossy, two dimensional portrait that one often finds when reading biographies of famous people and more the familial.
I found the book captivating and I highly recommend it.
Very, very good.......2006-01-04
This book is a very, very good read. I am normally a very slow reader, but I finished this book in about two weeks. I read it before I went to bed, I read it at work, I read it in my spare time. I just couldn't get enough of it. The book follows four people in the South--one a slave, then a freedman; one a widow and refugee; one a former Confederate soldier who is moving towards the priesthood; and one a preacher who has lots of idle time--in differing locations. Their experiences tell the tale of the experiences of many Southerners at this time in history. As the author states in the foreword, though, this book does not attempt to claim that the experience of these four people can tell the tale of the entire South in 1865, but it gives us an understanding of what the experience was like for some people. The book is also interesting because most books of this nature stop with the end of the Confederacy, but this book deals with the whole year, so we get the reaction to the slaves being freed, Yankees occupying the South, the quest for jobs, and more. Overall, the book is well written and extremely interesting.
An excellent book!.......2004-07-10
This was a wonderful book. Since it was a true story, it really gives you an inside look on these people and their lives. Stephen Ash doesn't sugar coat a thing and it gives you a wonderful perspective that you won't get in today's media or in an American History class.
Customer Reviews:
A true tour-de-force.......2003-06-25
Coogan's biography of Collins is often called the definitive one and for good reason: no other author to date has undertaken the sheer level of work studying the life of Collins, period. Coogan walks the reader through virtually every aspect of Michael's life, some good, some bad, some momentous, and some minor. His preface to the American edition alone is phenomenal. His biography (as most tend to do) goes in chronological order, from Michael's birth to his poignant assassination in 1922. We are given the details of Michael's family life, his friends, his comrades, his guerrilla warfare tactics, his temperament, his favorite books, etc., etc. Coogan's chapters are as follows: The Little Fella, Easter 1916, Kicking Down a Rotten Door, The Twelve Apostles, The Year of Terror, The Sky Darkens, Peace Comes Dropping Slow, Settling This Old Strife, Fighting the Waves, Wading Through Blood, Setting up the Six, The Mouth of Flowers, and Honouring the Dead. There are also notes, an appendix, and many b/w photos. Coogan spends a good deal of time on the Easter Rising, the events surrounding Bloody Sunday, and the negotiating of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. He also addresses several of the controversial issues surrounding Michael's life and death, e.g. allegations that Collins was a homosexual, claims that de Valera might have instigated Collins' assassination, and Collins' supposed dalliances. Although Coogan's writing is not what I would particularly call easy or light reading, I do believe this selection could make a good starter book for anyone's investigation of Michael Collins. If you are interested in any way in Collins' life and times, you absolutely must own this book.
The Definitive Biography of the Big Fellow.......2002-02-20
Tim Pat Coogan's biography of Michael Collins, the legendary Irish rebel leader during the Irish War of Independence, leaves no stone unturned. It traces Collins' rise to prominence from his boyhood in nationalist Cork County through his ten years in England working for the post office and financial firms, his return to Ireland to participate in the Easter Rising of 1916, his increasing influence in Frongoch prison in Wales and in nationalist/republican circles upon his release in 1917. This biography reads more like a riveting novel given the almost mythical qualities of the central character. Coogan conveys not only the facts about Collins and his exploits during Ireland's fight for independence but also his charismatic personality, engaging wit and humor, capacity for ruthlessness, magnetic leadership qualities and passionate devotion to his country and its people. This is also a fascinating textbook picture of a successful guerilla war and intelligence operation led by a man with a genius for conspiracy, the so-called "Dublin Pimpernel", the most wanted man in the British Empire at that time. Highly recommended, particularly for anyone who would like to have a better understanding of the troubles in modern Ireland.
Average customer rating:
- Who was who for the Union
|
Who Was Who in the Union
Stewart Sifakis
Manufacturer: Facts on File
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Customer Reviews:
Who was who for the Union.......2000-07-04
This incredible book lists all the principle players for the Union in the Civil War. From government members to generals to spies to soldiers. All of the people I could think of have a several paragraph capsule of their lives and contributions to the Union cause. If you ever wanted to know an extended history of some one you read about, this is the place to look. over 1500 biographical sketches are presented.I find myself referencing this information frequently.
Book Description
Most Americans know that John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia -- a raid he believed would ignite a bloody slave revolution -- was one of the events that sparked the Civil War. But very few know the story of how Brown was covertly aided by a circle of prosperous and privileged Northeasterners who supplied him with money and weapons, and, before the raid, even hid him in their homes while authorities sought Brown on a murder charge. These men called themselves the Secret Six.
The Secret Six included Thomas Wentworth Higginson, minister, author, and editor of the Atlantic Monthly; Samuel Howe, world-famous physician; Theodore Parker, the Unitarian minister whose rhetoric helped shape Lincoln's Gettysburg Address; Franklin Sanborn, an educator and close friend of Emerson and Thoreau; and the immensely wealthy Gerrit Smith and George Luther Stearns.
The existence of the Six has been known to scholars, but there has never been a book devoted to them. Now, drawing on archives from Boston to Kansas, Edward J. Renehan, Jr., has created a vivid portrait of this unlikely cabal, showing how six pillars of the establishment came to believe that armed conflict was necessary in order to purge the United States of a government-sanctioned evil, slavery. The messianic zealot Brown -- also brilliantly portrayed-streaked across their path like a meteor. Renehan traces how the Six became involved with Brown, and how their lives were forever changed by the events at Harpers Ferry and the war they helped to start.
Customer Reviews:
Rich Radicalism 1850s style.......2007-06-04
Where is that very fine line between supporting a cause and breaking the law? This is a history of the six men who provided money to John Brown and may have crossed that line in supporting him. Slavery was the cause of a major division and source of disruption in nineteen centaury American life. The Northern states managed to abolish slavery with minimal problems. At the same time, slavery in the Southern states became immensely profitable and the foundation on which a society rested. Slavery colored every national debate, becoming the sticking point for westward expansion and the source of radicalism in both the North and South. Agreeing with their position and knowing history makes it easier for us to be sympatric toward these men. This masks the fact that their money supported actions that caused a number of deaths.
Who are "The Secret Six" and why would they support someone like John Brown? The answer to that question is the subject of this book. Edward Renehan shows that there is no easy answer to this question, providing a look at six complex men. Individually and collectively, they decided that the United States was evil and their cause placed them above the law. Two placed themselves "in harms way" during resistance to the Fugitive slave law or in Kansas. The balance stayed home and allowed their money to do their fighting. Into their lives came John Brown, failed businessman, possible criminal, zealot and ready to "fight slavery". Six wealthy men wanting to strike a blow for freedom and one zealot with money problems was the almost perfect match.
The book contains a very good portrait of all the main characters. An overbearing possibly abusive husband, a hypochondriac, a number of well meaning people that were committed to revolt and a cold-blooded killer is the cast. They do not make for a likeable or heroic group and the author details their good and bad points. Along the way, we get a nice overview of bleeding Kansas as seen in Boston and as Brown contributed to it. This build up, allows the reader to understand how the Secret Six were able to accept Brown's ideas and assume his plans would work. When Harpers Ferry failed, the Secret Six realized that many might consider them to be as guilty as Brown. This section shows them at their worst as they scrambled to get clear of the mess they had helped create.
The opening chapter is one of the best introductions I have ever read, setting the tone of the book, introducing the cast and providing closure. The writing style is very good and easy to read. The book is informative and complete, providing a look into a world of privileged radicals in the years leading up to the Civil War. This is a balanced history, free of condemnation or adulation leaving judgment up to the reader.
Meticulous research, splendid narrative prose.......2000-02-13
No one has done more than Renehan to explore and explain the Byzantine tale of abolitionist John Brown and his idealistic but confused (and sometimes absurd) northeastern bankers. This is a splendid story that, by polishing with his customary narrative excellence, Renehan has turned into a real gem.
A tangled web revealed.......1999-12-06
THE SECRET SIX does a wonderful job of revealing the tangled web of intrigue that lay behind John Brown's 1859 incursion at Harpers Ferry. This is stunning stuff: six affluent northeasterners, one of them the husband of poetess Julia Ward Howe and another the leading Unitarian minister of his day, financing terrorism in slave states -- and going about it methodically, calmly, and deliberately. What a story. And so well told.
First-Rate Abolitionist History.......1999-12-03
THE SECRET SIX paints a vivid portrait of the northeastern aristocrats who financed John Brown's infamous 1859 misadventure at Harpers Ferry. Renehan's elegant, complelling treatment of true historical facts reads like a novel. All the members of the Six -- Franklin Sanborn, Theodore Parker, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Samuel Gridley Howe, George Luther Stearns and New York's Gerrit Smith -- are brilliantly sketched by Renehan, who also does a first-rate job rendering the unpredictable and unstable John Brown. Most importantly, Renehan proves expert in unscrambling the many Byzantine intrigues that combine to make up the story of Brown and his often-perplexed benefactors.
Excellent.......1998-04-10
I notice that three Pulitzer Prize-winning historians disagree with Mr. Shear's scathing criticism of THE SECRET SIX. Garry Wills, author of LINCOLN AT GETTYSBURG, says "Renehan admirably works himself into the inner circle of these would-be conspirators for good." James McPherson, author of BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM, says: "In vivid prose, THE SECRET SIX unravels the mysteries of the six prominent abolitionists who supported John Brown but abandoned him to his fate after the ill-starred raid at Harpers Ferry. Edward Renehan has made an important contribution to our understanding of the Civil War and its causes." And C. Vann Woodward, editor of MARY CHESTNUT'S CIVIL WAR, writes: "With their own words and private correspondence, this remarkable book reveals more secrets of the Secret Six than John Brown himself ever knew." The book has also been praised by the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Baltimore Sun, and Esquire Magazine. Mr. Shear, it seems, stands alone. -- Arnold Roosevelt (aroos@cyberdude.com)
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