Archive for the ‘Books & Reviews’ Category

I spent some time this afternoon at Barnes and Noble book store (not virtually) as I love to browse their large selection of Bargain Books and in particular, of course, the history section. I made two nice purchases. Journals: 1952-2000 by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. and Reading the Man: A Portrait ... Full story

I don't know when or if I will get a chance to read and review Colin Grant's Negro with a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus Garvey from Oxford University Press due to come out in March. 544 pp. $17.95. But I appreciate the folks at Oxford for sending me ... Full story

I received today my A.P. United States History catalog from SocialStudies.com which was filled with books, DVDs, and other resources and guides for purchase. First off, I wish I had a budget I would order a ton of materials from this resource. But I would be remiss if I did not mention that ... Full story

Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness." "My baby boy..." she whispers before dying. Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually ... Full story

To be sure, Americans have always been against large standing armies, yet we are the poster child for the Military Industrial Complex. For that matter, we have been ardent anti-tax; anti-big government; ect, ect. And what have we evolved into? Neither Republicans nor Democrats escape culpability. This brings me to an excellent book ... Full story

By: Michael A Dreese. McFarland & Co, Jefferson N.C. & London, pp 190. A decade ago historian Michael A Dreese resurrected one of the more unheralded fighting units of the American Civil War. McFarland has recently published a new paperback edition of Dreese's excellent narrative. Unheralded as they were one of the "9-month" regiments and curiously enough, they ... Full story

I received a copy of Joan Waugh's U. S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth several months ago and put it in the "pile" and promptly moved on. Yet 2 weeks ago for some reason I picked it up and looked at it. This turned into actual reading and I am pleased to have done so. Waugh's ... Full story

Received my copy of William L. Shea's Fields of Blood: The Prairie Grove Campaign (Civil War America). Publish date: November, 2009. Hardcover: 392 pages Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press ISBN: 0807833150 From the publisher: "William Shea offers a gripping narrative of the events surrounding Prairie Grove, Arkansas, one of the great unsung battles of the Civil ... Full story

What are the best American Civil War Regimental Histories? Not the best regiment, but the best book about a Civil War regiment? I'd like to invite my fellow Civil War bloggers to join in and let me know what regimental histories they have enjoyed and why. My pick: Stand Firm Ye Boys from Maine: The 20th Maine ... Full story

I've often been fascinated how reviews can vary so much in regards to American Civil War books. Reviews for The American Civil War: A Military History, by renown British author/historian John Keegan perhaps represents one of the finest examples of such variety in reviews. I understand that every reviewer is not equal, and that ... Full story

I recieved from Oxford University Press a couple of new books. This Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War and Stand Firm Ye Boys from Maine: The 20th Maine and the Gettysburg Campaign. This Mighty Scourge is the new paperback edition and Stand Firm the 15th Anniversary reprint. I have not read Stand ... Full story

For more information on book: Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 (Oxford History of the United States). I can't wait to get a chance to read  Gordon S. Wood's latest book. I am a huge fan and once my semester ends I will enjoy this book during the holidays. Full story

As noted in my last post, my A.P. United States history class is in the final phase of our Reconstruction Unit. Yesterday we opened class discussion with a reading they were assigned the night before from Elizabeth R. Bethel's excellent book, Promiseland: A Century of Life in a Negro Community. Afterwards students organized into groups ... Full story

West Pointers and the Civil War The Old Army in War and Peace By Wayne Wei-siang Hsieh (UNC Press, 304 pp., ISBN 978-0-8078-3278-3) Americans at one time were very sensitive to standing armies and very distrustful of the idea of a large professional fighting force, which is why throughout the 19th and early 20th Centuries America time and again was woefully unprepared for war. At the outbreak ... Full story

Yet another new arrival, and a beautifully created one. Atlas of the Civil War: A Complete Guide to the Tactics and Terrain of Battle (National Geographic). The folks at National Geographic were nice enough to send a review copy and I am speechless. A beautiful presentation, all glossy with excellent maps, narrative, and photos. Broken down by ... Full story

I got a chance to look through my recently arrived copy of John Keegan's book and I am already enjoying it. Some interesting comments just in his introduction alone he writes, "Had the battle gone the other way, as it might so easily have done, the war might have been concluded more quickly and ... Full story

John Keegan is a British historian and a foremost military historian. His writing examines warfare throughout history, but focuses on the 14th Century to the modern warfare of the 20th and 21st Centuries. His latest work is on the American Civil War titled, The American Civil War: A Military History. Mr. Keegan is ... Full story

Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation, by Ray Raphael came out earlier this year by The New Press and I am finally getting to read it and I must say I am thoroughly enjoying it. Raphael emerged in 2001 as a top notch social historian for his acclaimed People’s History of the American Revolution, ... Full story

I am just getting into an excellent book by Harry L. Watson titled, Liberty and Power: The Politics of Jacksonian America. In the introduction of the book, Watson recalls a story by a young Frenchman who visited America in 1834 and witnessed, among many things, a Democratic Party Parade. The event amazed the visiting European. ... Full story

Hello, I am alive and still kicking though my blogging has not reflected that as I have been drowning and swimming these past few weeks of my first foray as an A.P. U.S. history teacher. Anyway, I have been reading -- when I can -- my fellow bloggers and there has been some chatter concerning a "50 greatest books on the Civil War of all time" ... Full story