Current Reading-July 2024

Flip of the calendar! What are you reading this month?

First up is Designing Modern America, an idiosyncratic take on how being involved in theater influenced the contributions of Norman Bel Geddes and Joseph Urban to a broad array of artistic and technological endeavors. The author was very enthusiastic (he passed away in 2017), but I'm not sure he was wary enough of what he didn't know in writing this work.

Started reading Medieval Mercenaries by William Urban.

Knocked off White Lies, a life and times of Walter F. White; journalist and stalwart of the NAACP. Pretty good, but it reminds me that I really need to read more about W.E.B. Du Bois sometime.

Danube a cultural history For RG 3rd quarter theme July through Sept

Finished a very enjoyable The Perils of Peace: America's Struggle for Survival After Yorktown by Thomas J. Fleming. Fleming writes in a very narrative style, there aren't any deep analyses or assessments. It is a very interesting story and certainly not something that was taught in any detail in grade school. I'm going to be on the lookout for a book that discusses the period from Christmas 1783 (where this book ends) to the start of the Constitutional Convention, telling the tale of how the Republic managed to survive those half dozen years. The way The Perils of Peace finishes, one has doubts that it could have!

Gave up part way through Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America by Michael Hiltzik. If you know very little about the subject this book is a good overview, but if you are like me and are pretty well versed on the subject, there isn't really much depth to the numerous events covered on the book.

Finished up The Hardhat Riot, one of those events that should be more salient than it is, though it probably does represent a real breaking point in American politics. This is when, under Nixon, the GOP really embraced exploiting resentments about patriotism and class, and the Democrats lost a big chunk of the working-man's vote; not that anyone has really ever had a program to pay more than lip service to the issues.

>7 jztemple: Good commentary; I'm always looking for pointers in terms of purging the TBR list!

Gave up after reading about a third of The Unregimented General: A Biography of Nelson A. Miles by Virginia Weisel Johnson. I've had an interest in Western Americana of which Miles was a significant player, so I thought this book would be worth the effort, but it wasn't. Originally published in 1962 the writing style is of a flowery sort which is somewhat off-putting considering the subject. The author had access to a collection of letters that Miles, who was a prolific writer, sent to his wife. Unfortunately too many of the letters are quoted ended to end and concurrently without any analysis or interpretation. There are only a few maps of dubious value as well. Finally the author makes little effort to place Miles in the times of this period, I got very little feel for the era. I'd recommend it only for those with a real need to explore this work, I'm sure there must be others that do a better job.

Knocked off Space Craze, which is something of a history of "media" SF in American culture; the author has enough interesting side notes that she kept me reading.

From the library: The Husband Hunters: American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy by Anne De Courcy

>12 princessgarnet: I haven't read that one, but my wife and I read To Marry an English Lord: Tales of Wealth and Marriage, Sex and Snobbery by Gail MacColl which we enjoyed.

Finished a rather academic The Impossible Office?: The History of the British Prime Minister by Anthony Seldon. The book analyses how the functions and powers of the office have changed in the 300 years of its existence and looks in depth at what the author calls the top tier of PMs, eight in all, that have transformed the office. Disappointingly, there isn't actually a lot of history in the book, or rather not a lot of narrative history. Still, it was worth getting a deeper look at the office.

Knocked off War and Punishment, a workmanlike instant book dealing with the roots of the Russo-Ukrainian fight; distinguished by a Russian critique of the Russian version of manifest destiny.

>13 jztemple: I read a library copy of To Marry an English Lord several years ago. It was a reprint with a new cover.

Finished from the library: A Gentleman from Japan by Thomas Lockely
Includes black and white archival images throughout the text.

Finished Congress's Own, an examination of the Canadian units of the Continental Line (particularly the Canadian 2nd commanded by Moses Hazen), especially from the perspective of what their experience tells one about state-building at the bleeding edge. Worthwhile, although there are times when the author feels like she's tripping over herself in terms of the points she wants to make; this is as much political and social history as it is drums and trumpets and logistics.

>6 jztemple: I highly recommend The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789 by Joseph J. Ellis. The quartet of the title are George Washington, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay.

>19 rocketjk: Thanks for the recommendation. Turns out I have a Kindle copy I picked up on sale quite a while back, I'll have to move it up the queue.

>19 rocketjk: oh Ive read several of Ellis books; would love to read that one esp after watching Hamilton;feel the need to catch up on the history I missed at school

Forgot to post this the black count about Alexanre Dumas and his son, who wrote the count of monte cristo based on his fathers life. Excellent writing, and eye opening about French post revolution and the coming of Napoleon

I completed Mary Queen of Scots by Antonia Frasier. A good biography. Lord Darnley's part intrigued me, so I also purchased Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley by Alison Weir which I hope to read this year.

I also read The Great Escape by Paul Brickhill about the 50 man escape and subsequent execution of same from Stalag Luft III during WWII.

My last history read for this month was Six Years at the Russian Court by Margaretta Eagar . Ms Eagar was a nanny to all the Romanov children until she was expelled when England sided with Japan in the Russo-Japanese War.

Finished Lincoln, Seward, and US Foreign Relations in the Civil War Era by Joseph A. Fry. Not bad, but a rather short book that skims over a lot of the incidents and doesn't go into much depth over the other characters besides Lincoln and Seward. I'd recommend it for folks who want an introductory overview of the subject.