What are you reading now?

[RJNorton]

(07-22-2017 01:00 PM)Gene C Wrote:  Herndon's Informants by William Herndon (another classic $1 find)

If this is the book edited by Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis, I paid $45 for my copy almost 20 years ago!! Great deal, Gene!

[Thomas Kearney]

I finished reading Volume 2 of Blumenthal's bio on Lincoln. It should be required reading in all social studies classes.

[ELCore]

I just finished Townsend's Lincoln and the Bluegrass. Enjoyed it very much.

[Gene C]

Just finished 'George Washington's Secret Six - the Spy Ring that Saved the American Revolution" by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yeager.

Very enjoyable, an important part of our history. All this was new to me. Like many popular historical books, this one has been criticized for taking legend or someone else's theory and presenting it as fact, without adequate source notes. I don't know enough to judge that, but it does not seem to significantly change the story of what these people really did. The reviews for this book are mostly favorable.

One of the things I liked was the bibliography. While the list was a bit shorter than most books, he did add a sentence or two describing the books and papers used. I found this helpful since I would like to read more about these people.

If you are thrifty like me, you can probably pick up a nice copy at a used book store or on line retailer for a good price.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/2808497218001...show-clips

There is more about this book if you are interested, especially reader reviews, on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/George-Washington...secret+six

[Susan Higginbotham]

Elizabeth Brown Pryor's Reading the Man: A Portrait of Robert E. Lee. Excellent book.

[RJNorton]

I am reading The Conspiracy Between John Wilkes Booth and the Union Army to Assassinate Abraham Lincoln by Dr. Robert Arnold. The book was published in 2016. I am not sure why I bought it as I do not agree with most of the author's major points. This is another one of those books which maintains it was James Boyd, not John Wilkes Booth, who was killed at Garrett's.

[Gene C]

Just finished Narrative of My Captivity Among the Sioux Indians by Fanny Kelly.
Published in 1872, about 285 pages.
Mrs. Kelly was in a small wagon train attacked by the Sioux Indians in 1864 with her husband and family (one niece) with several other persons. (less than 25) When the wagon train was attacked, five of the party were killed, several escaped (including her husband) , with the remainder captured. Mrs. Kelley was kept as a prisoner for five months before she was released. Her niece, who was about 8 or 9, was killed a day or two after the capture while trying to escape. It's a fascinating story, very readable.

I can recommend it, but she is witness to some very vicious actions by the Indians she lives with during this period. It's not for the faint of heart.

I read the online version available here -
https://archive.org/details/narrativeofmycap00kell_0

[Gencor]

I just ordered "Stanton" by Walter Stahr. Has anyone read this yet??? It looks like it is going to be good.

[Susan Higginbotham]

(08-17-2017 06:31 PM)Gencor Wrote:  I just ordered "Stanton" by Walter Stahr. Has anyone read this yet??? It looks like it is going to be good.

I bought it over the weekend. Looks good, but I haven't started it yet.

[Eva Elisabeth]

I have his Seward bio - I don't remember exactly why (I seem to recall I missed some trivia tidbids I had read elsewhere, also found it a bit "dry" to read) but I was a bit disappointed and wished I had gotten van Deusen's book instead.

[Eva Elisabeth]

Has anyone read both Stahr's books (Seward and Stanton) and can offer a comparing review? I would be most interested to hear!

[RJNorton]

(08-18-2017 12:31 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Has anyone read both Stahr's books (Seward and Stanton) and can offer a comparing review? I would be most interested to hear!

Eva, like you I have the Seward book but not the Stanton one. If I ever get to the Stanton one I shall attempt to offer an opinion.

[Gene C]

Just finished "Big Shoulders" by William Jamerson, a book about a young man's experience in the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) a voluntary government program during the great depression. The young men were involved in planting trees, putting out forest fires, building national and state parks, agricultural projects, etc.
They were also given opportunities to improve their education, and begin to learn a trade to make them more employable when they left the program (anywhere from 12-18 months).

It is a great book. Easy to read, not bogged down with organizational details about the CCC, it has some touching and humorous stories in it. He has also made a CD of songs about the young men's experiences and life at the work camps.

I met Mr. Jamerson when he came and spoke at an event at my local library. My father had served in the CCC before WWII.
Those two things made this book special for me.

It was the work of the young men in the CCC that helped to build New Salem Park.
http://www.lincolncourier.com/news/20171...ps-history

The book is available at Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Big-Shoulders-Wil...+Shoulders

Mr. Jamerson has a web site and did a program for PBS that is linked to on his site.
Lot's of information about the CCC. The videos are worth watching if you want to know more.
http://www.billjamerson.com/cccboys.php

[Gene C]

Nine Years Among The Indians by Herman Lehmann
1870-1879 The Story of the Captivity and Life of a Texan Among the Indians

Not a book about Lincoln, but a fascinating account, as told by Herman many years later, about his kidnapping and captivity by the Apache Indians when he was eleven years old until he was 20. His younger brother was also kidnapped but was able to escape within a few days.

Kidnapped by one of the more hostile and savage of the Apache tribes, he was beaten and threatened with death many times. Not long after his capture he was forced to eat raw meat (along with the rest of the raiders). Throwing up a few times he was forced to eat that until he could keep it down. (it's more graphically described in Chapter 1 of the sample pages)

A few months after he was kidnapped, while he remained at the main camp, the Apaches again attacked his home. His family survived this attack, but many horses and private possessions were stolen. Upon the Apaches return they told him his entire family had been killed, when they showed him items from the raid it convinced him. After that he gave up all attempts to escape as he had no where to run to. Over time he becomes a member of the tribe and participates in many raids, mostly to steal horses, cattle and weapons.

If you are interested in this period of history, it's a fascinating and very violent story. Available on Amazon -
https://www.amazon.com/Nine-Years-Among-...300&sr=8-1

[Rob Wick]

After a drought in which I have been unable to focus on reading a book since March, I started reading The Fire Is Upon Us by Nicholas Buccola. It is a history of the Cambridge debate in 1965 between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley on civil rights. Taking the book's title from a quote by Baldwin, Buccola spends a large amount of time on developing both Baldwin and Buckley's world view from their childhoods up to 1965, especially on civil rights. Buccola shows that Baldwin was intensely opposed to what he called "protest novels" such as Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, which he argued was written more to help whites feel better about themselves than to aid the cause of black freedom.

Buckley, on the other hand, was a patrician and deeply paternalistic (and racist) in his view of blacks and the civil rights movement. He mixed what he saw as constitutionalism and (white) authoritarianism to develop his intellectual arguments along with his deep and abiding faith in religion. Buccola shows that religion played a strong role in both Buckley and Baldwin's formation as Baldwin was a young storefront preacher and grew up the stepson of a preacher. Buckley, of course, was the young author of God and Man at Yale, which was his indictment of a university that he believed owed it to its alumni to indoctrinate their students (usually the sons of said alumni) into his view of the right way to live a moral life (overlooking the concept of academic freedom in the process). I haven't gotten to the debate yet, but so far the book in enthralling and for an academic, Buccola is a masterful storyteller.

Best
Rob