Oh my God what a book! If you're here, you're probably aware that this novel is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the point of view of the Oh my God what a book! If you're here, you're probably aware that this novel is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the point of view of the slave Jim.
That, in and of itself, was incentive enough for me to read it. Then I heard good things about the author's voice. Then I read it and the plot!
Once I got to the big twist (you'll know it when you get there), I had to finish immediately. I was late to work this morning because I had to finish this book.
Suffice it to say that knowing this is Huck Finn told from Jim's perspective doesn't cut it. You don't know what you need to know about this book. Not by a lot....more
From his childhood on a pioneer's farm in the far western territory of Ohio, right to his final days, Goodyear covers everything, and while Goodyear is clearly a fan, he is also able to see Garfield's foibles (for instance, a penchant for wanting to compromise and mollify [i]no matter what[/i]).
So a 5 star bio. I only have the tiniest of nitpicks -
Goodyear mentioned, in the spring of some year of Garfield's career in congress, of the cherry trees about to blossom. While it's true that DC has a native species of cherry, it's a weird thing to call out unless one is referring to the famous cherry trees that were planted during [i]Taft's[/i] presidency, some 40 years hence.
A couple of turns of phrase that made me sit up and say, whuh? I did this as an audiobook, so I didn't go back to note chapter and verse, but toward the end of the book he used the phrase 'it reached a crucible' and I don't know what that could mean (did he mean [i]climax?[/i]).
All in all, though, a great book. There are two visceral reactions I had - first, I want to go back and beat Dr. Bliss and his cohort of physicians who turned an attempted assassination into a sure thing, and second, if I ever get a genie who grants me three wishes, one will be spent on visiting an alternate universe where Garfield got to complete his administration.
Unlike Lee, who removed himself from the national stage after the Civil War, and unlike Mosby, who had never really been on the national stage but actUnlike Lee, who removed himself from the national stage after the Civil War, and unlike Mosby, who had never really been on the national stage but actively accepted the results of the war, and unlike countless Confederate soldiers who agreed to terms of parole and the end of the war but apparently didn't really mean it, Longstreet accepted the outcome of the war, in a very public way, accepted black suffrage and rights of citizenship, and believed in Reconstruction.
And lost causers have been gunning for him ever since.
Varon makes her most keen observation right at the end of the book - had the Confederacy succeeded, Longstreet would have been a full-on pantheonic hero of that young nation, with statues everywhere and reverent biopics still being made to this day. His legacy is complicated.
But as Americans, I believe we should judge people not where they started out, but where they ended up. And flawed as he may have been ever after the war, he made great strides in an effort to truly heal the nation. Too bad it made him a Pariah....more
A fine book, and the subtitle is really important. It's not all of Lincoln's lieutenants. It's the story of the Army of the Potomac, and not any otherA fine book, and the subtitle is really important. It's not all of Lincoln's lieutenants. It's the story of the Army of the Potomac, and not any other aspect of the war, as told as a succession of the commanders thereof.
Sears' biggest hero in his telling is probably Meade, and the bad guys maybe a combination of McClellan, Secretary of War Stanton, and a couple of other back stabbers. Sears makes a great case for what was a surprise to me - I had always taken it as undisputed fact that after Gettysburg Meade had a chance to pin Lee against the Potomac without bridges available and the river swollen, but Meade truly did know more about the situation, and how trench warfare was evolving, than Lincoln or the press. Meade, together with his generals in a council of war, came to the consensus that keeping their army between Lee's army and Washington/Baltimore was imperative, even though it cost time. And once Lee's army was 'dug in,' Meade understood that attacking Lee at Williamsport would be about as successful as Pickett's charge had been. There's a reason the Civil War is called the 'first modern war,' and groking that charges across open land on entrenched positions amount to slaughter, is part of it.
George Guidall's narration of the audio book, is, not surprisingly, excellent.
If anybody ever requests of me where John Mosby was on any date between June 1862 and April 1865, I shall consult this book. If it can't be found in tIf anybody ever requests of me where John Mosby was on any date between June 1862 and April 1865, I shall consult this book. If it can't be found in these pages, it is unknown.
The chronological journey of Mosby, and, starting in January 1863, his 43th Battalion - a cavalry of "partisan rangers" - could not be more thorough. Wert does his share of arguing how important and influential this band was in keeping northern Virginia one of the most frustrating pieces of land for the union army to attempt to bring under control, too. Somehow, though, I found myself wanting more from this in terms of the author's take - the historical significance of these names and actions and places.
Then again, I'd probably be complaining about that, too, had he romanticized it and been a Confederate apologist.
Probably my favorite part of the book was the epilogue, where Wert does talk about what it all amounted to, and I did appreciate that even their enemies respected them. I found it fascinating that Mosby himself became a friend of Grant and a Republican after the war, both of which were apostasy for a former rebel.
Finally, I'm glad I read it because it helps those parts of Virginia, the counties hugging the Potomac from from DC to Harpers Ferry, which is some of my favorite land in the world, "come alive" for me. I hope I remember what transpired there next time I'm at Point of Rocks, or Marshall, or Front Royal, or a hundred other places where Mosby's Rangers fought....more
A book that needed writing. The Underground Railroad is a huge concept that should have more written about it than anyone can read. Certainly there shA book that needed writing. The Underground Railroad is a huge concept that should have more written about it than anyone can read. Certainly there should be more books written about it than one can comfortably read in a lifetime.
Not the same as a collection of the (nebulous) years it existed, nor the same as the (nebulous) people involved in transporting the (nebulous) people it transported, the underground railroad is nevertheless a pretty well defined concept. Well, so is pi.
Bordewich defines it well.
Also, Josiah Henson High would make a great name for a high school in Montgomery County, Maryland....more
A complex and compelling portrait of a complex, compelling man.
I think it speaks volumes that when, at the end of his life, news of his cancer became A complex and compelling portrait of a complex, compelling man.
I think it speaks volumes that when, at the end of his life, news of his cancer became known, Jefferson Davis sent him a telegram. After he died, Union generals William Sherman and Phillip Sheridan were honorary pallbearers, but so were Confederate generals Joseph Johnston and Simon Bolivar Buckner. The funeral procession included both Union and Confederate units.
His flaw was probably being too good for this world. He simply was unable to grasp that most people were not as honorable as him, and his personal fortunes and his presidency were crippled by his being a mark, a magnet - for unscrupulous people.
I hope Lin Manuel Miranda makes his next project a Greek tragedy, hip-hop stage production of this most American story....more
Goodwin seems married to a premise that is unnecessary and I think, largely untrue, that there's some important common thread running from Lincoln to Goodwin seems married to a premise that is unnecessary and I think, largely untrue, that there's some important common thread running from Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt to Franklin Roosevelt to Lyndon Johnson, and that we can learn a lot about leadership by observing the commonalities among them. Coincidentally, these are the four presidents she knows the most about, having studied the first three throughout her career, and worked in the fourth's White House.
What are the odds?
I suspect Goodwin herself knows the raison d'etre of her book is pretty flawed, because she spends time, particularly early in the book, defending it from imagined detractors. She defends, for instance, equating Teddy Roosevelt's death of his first wife (at age twenty-two) and mother (age forty-eight) within twenty-four hours of each other, with LBJ's loss in his first senate election. She defends it because she knows there are people out here in real life who'll call shenanigans on that load, and she knows that, even as she's writing the book, because some part of her must recognize it. Lincoln's 'turbulent time?' A little dust-up called the Civil War, or what was then called the War for the Preservation of the Union. Teddy Roosevelt's? Coal miner's strike.
It's four administrations Goodwin knows well in search of a significant underlying paradigm that doesn't exist.
Nevertheless, each part of the book is interesting enough - even if it is sort of Goodwin's greatest hits repackaged, so I rate it three stars if you want to give it a go.
And I need to call out Teddy Roosevelt, because that trust-buster threw me a t-shirt at yesterday's Nats game. Thanks, TR!...more
He's a very readable writer, especially to the modern ear - the plain-spoken English is a welcome counterpoint to the Hawthorne/Henry James self-indulHe's a very readable writer, especially to the modern ear - the plain-spoken English is a welcome counterpoint to the Hawthorne/Henry James self-indulgent prose of the time.
It fits his leadership style too - he had a hard job to do and he did it, without making it look effortless. He needed to make a hard slog and he did.
And it's great to get a firsthand account of what hadn't yet codified into "The Civil War" (he most often called it The War of the Rebellion or The War for the Preservation of the Union).
I was disappointed he didn't cover his presidential years....more
I haven't read enough about Lee, I guess. I probably haven't read enough about the Civil War. This provides an insightful, brief (for a history book) I haven't read enough about Lee, I guess. I probably haven't read enough about the Civil War. This provides an insightful, brief (for a history book) look at the man, who can be summed up in Horn's thesis as a question. Robert E. Lee is the question, "How could he esteem George Washington like no other mortal, look at George Washington's legacy of union above sectionalism, and conclude that duty to home state trumps duty to nation?"
So it's fair that Horn doesn't answer it - the man is the question, the enigma. Here's a guy who was against secession, but considered duty to the state higher than his own opinion. He was against secession. He turned down Lincoln's offer to head the Union army. Previously, his ranking officer was Winfield Scott, who stayed loyal to the Union, and who was from Virginia. He felt honor-bound to accept the state of Virginia's offer for him to head the state's military, which eventually sort of morphed into becoming the head of the confederate army.
Horn uncovers a lot of interesting symbolism as well. Harper's Ferry, the "Lee Mansion," the C&O canal, and Mount Vernon all lie on the Potomac, which empties into the Chesapeake Bay, where English colonization of the New World first successfully began. All of English/American history can be viewed through the lens of whether the Potomac River connects, or divides, the people above and below it. Additionally, Lee, whose pedigree of being the son of Revolutionary war hero Light-Horse Harry Lee, and who married the granddaughter (through Washington's adopted son) of George Washington, ended up holding the bag, while Abraham Lincoln rose from nothing to become the true inheritor of Washington's great legacy. That's the United States' legacy.
When Lee was born, where he lived was Washington, DC (the part of Virginia that had been part of Washington before it was retroceded to Virginia). Washington, the man and the city, and eventually the monument, stayed with the union. Lee chose Virginia.
The people who titled and blurbed this book need to go back to book titling and blurbing school. This book is maybe 25% about apparitionists (they calThe people who titled and blurbed this book need to go back to book titling and blurbing school. This book is maybe 25% about apparitionists (they called themselves spiritualists - it was a movement) and 75% about other stuff going on with how photography got a foothold in and influenced the United States from when Samuel Morse introduced it through the Civil War and shortly after. The blurb says it's about one guy named Mumler who claimed to capture ghosts on film - my library filed it under biographies - Mumler.
The most interesting stuff for me was about Civil War photography. OK, and about Samuel Morse and why he invented the telegraph and how he introduced photography to this country. Mathew Brady was a student of Morse's, who learned directly from Daguerre. And most Mathew Brady photographs from the Civil War aren't Brady - Antietam and all the famous Gettysburg ones were taken by a guy named John Gardner. And lots of stuff was...manipulated, is a polite word. Famous photo from Gettysburg popularly called "Rebel Sharpshooter's final rest" - the gun was a prop Garnder brought with him, and he and his crew found the dead guy 40 yards away, didn't like the composition, and dragged him to the famous stone wall vee and arranged him looking at the sky.
Anyway, there's tons of fascinating stuff herein, but it's not really a book about a guy who claimed to take pictures of ghosts. Only part of it is. Fascinating thing about that, though - nobody's sure how he did it. There are lots of known ways to put ghostly figures in a picture, of course, but he didn't do the known ways. And the picture of the ghost of Lincoln doesn't match any known photo of Lincoln, nor did the photographer know Mary Todd Lincoln was coming (so history claims) so he would not likely have been prepared with a Lincoln-impersonator negative or glass plate or anything.
Somehow I found this entirely objective. How can a book about the Civil War be objective? It was a war about what is right. Catton didn't shy away froSomehow I found this entirely objective. How can a book about the Civil War be objective? It was a war about what is right. Catton didn't shy away from that, either, but magically produced a good primer without creating the effect of making a moral pronouncement himself.
The book will satisfy those interested in the causes of the war, those interested in political processes, those interested in the downfall of slavery, and those interested in military tactics.
The only downside is this book may be a bit hard to find. Try a coffee shop with a generous 'take a book/leave a book' collection while you're on a road trip. That worked for me....more
It's easy to say that this is a whole book about one short (six minutes, 703 words) speech, but wow! The speech deserves it!
White clearly shows how inIt's easy to say that this is a whole book about one short (six minutes, 703 words) speech, but wow! The speech deserves it!
White clearly shows how influential the speech is, how well it embodies Lincoln, and how every last word matters. He takes it sentence by sentence, and expounds on all contained there. And he's not just making stuff up - White's explication is very fairly inferred from what Lincoln said.
And I agree with White's conclusion - that today politics lacks the integrity Lincoln had, and that's a subtle, but incredibly important, difference in how God is invoked in political speeches these days. Now, as we've all heard, God blesses America, and we are told that God is surely 'on our side' in this cause or that.
Lincoln always invited the listeners to hope and pray that the United States followed God's will.
Personally, I'd be just as happy if politicians never talked about God, especially in telling us a war is necessary, but that will never happen. And if it's going to happen, let us hope and pray that the next politicians sell it to us Lincoln's way.
I'm gonna ask my wife if I can grow an Abe beard and get a stovepipe hat....more
This is an important book that should be required reading (at least excerpts from it) in every high school American history class. It's engaging, straThis is an important book that should be required reading (at least excerpts from it) in every high school American history class. It's engaging, straightforward, and puts the lie to any claims that horrors of slavery are exaggerated, or were extremely rare.
That makes the book sound like a downer. For this short-attention-spanned American, it was also an interesting read, with suspense, good characters, and lots of plot.
This book makes me want to learn more about Harriet Jacobs, and the people in her life. It's interesting that, forward-thinking as she is, a couple of times in the narrative she makes sure to tell the reader that some bad person in New York was Irish. On the other hand, it's fascinating that her brother got himself a good apprentice-type trade situation until they learned he was black - her family was so light-skinned that they didn't know to hate him until they found out he was black. But then they did.
And the father of her children (real name Samuel Sawyer) was a US Rep - man, I'd like to learn about him....more
This is not a mashup. Just because it was written by the guy who wrote the seminal mashup, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, that doesn't mean everythiThis is not a mashup. Just because it was written by the guy who wrote the seminal mashup, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, that doesn't mean everything he does is a classic/horror mashup. Yes, he invented the (limited) genre. He is not the genre. Got that? Good.
Because classic/monster mashup is a one-trick pony. The joke worked for one great book, even though it's impossible to perfectly capture Austen's style.
This book is not a one-trick pony. It's fantastic. I want more and more Abe Lincoln and vampire hunting. The idea is brilliant, but so is the execution here. This is guy wish fulfillment, for those of us who have wanted to be both president and superhero. Vampires are also a wonderful metaphor for the slave economy that led to the Civil War.
It's got lots of wonderful history, lots of vampire hunting, lots of blood. It captures Abe's sullen demeanor. Grahame-Smith has Lincoln's voice (in the journal woven through the book) perfectly.
While the subject matter is fascinating - and so romantic and swashbuckling that I doubted its truth when I first heard about it (in To Kill a MockingWhile the subject matter is fascinating - and so romantic and swashbuckling that I doubted its truth when I first heard about it (in To Kill a Mockingbird), I can only go 4 stars. The subject matter, by the way, is a man who defied the confederate government and remained loyal to the Union, organizing a company to antagonize the confederate government of Mississippi. Which still makes it well worth the read, but I was expecting to love this book.
Either most of the life of Newton Knight, the man who led a loyal Union band of Mississippians in the backwoods of Jones County during the Civil War, effectively neutralizing the local confederate government, is truly mostly lost to history, or the authors didn't uncover enough of it. Much of the book is about ancillary events during the war and Reconstruction, and with the authors admitting "we don't know what Newton thought about X, but we can imagine..."
Also frustrating was the obligatory photo pages in the middle. There is a picture of our hero, Newton, there's two pictures of women that might be his wife Rachel, and then there are random pictures of Civil War generals, Civil War camps, and Civil War dead bodies. No pictures of his wife Serena, although a photo of her is described in the text, and no picture of the land/swamps where they lived, or descendants. I hope it was because of legal issues they couldn't print the photos that exist of Serena, and not an editorial decision, because that's just inexplicable.
In the end, the book is really neither a biography of Knight, nor a story of The State of Jones, but some of each, plus some more "listen to all this bad stuff that happened in Mississippi and throughout the South." But I'm glad I read it. You take what you can get, and this does have a lot of fascinating stuff.
Newton Knight was the son of a slave owner, and had a white legal wife, but also an acknowledged black (as meaningfully as that term can be used, anyway - she almost certainly had some European blood and Indian blood, too - hey, welcome to America!) common law wife and families by each. Rachel, the wife of color, seems to have been the love of his life, and Knight lived by his own set of rules, pretty clearly, in all aspects of his life. And not because he was doing what was easy, either - he clearly followed a true internal moral code. And he didn't back down, even when that life was threatened.
So, in short, we should all know the name of Newton Knight, and the story of the meta-rebellious union enclave in Mississippi during the Civil War, but nobody seems to....more
The dedication (?) page has a quote that sums up the book really well:
"Southerners are very strange about that war." -Shelby Foote
I don't think I couldThe dedication (?) page has a quote that sums up the book really well:
"Southerners are very strange about that war." -Shelby Foote
I don't think I could do better than that with a 2000 word review. Southerners (of which I'm kind of one) are very strange about that war, and it's scary.
Great angle on Lincoln's presidency. I listened to the audio book version, and I highly recommend it.Great angle on Lincoln's presidency. I listened to the audio book version, and I highly recommend it....more
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