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Monday, December 7, 2015

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Destiny and Power by Jon Meacham


It's Monday, What are You Reading? 
Destiny and Power:
The American Oydesey of
 by Jon Meacham




This post is the one-hundred and first entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]



Got this the day it came out. Advance PR on the TV and magazines caught my attention. Always like George until the last couple of years of his Presidency, when he seemed to be ‘pulled off track.’ Want to learn more. Admire Jon Meecham as a writer/historian. Most useful read, so far… ;-)

Posting this on Pearl Harbor Day, a significant day in the life of George Herbert Walker Bush! ;-)


Book Description from Amazon:

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this brilliant biography, Jon Meacham, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author, chronicles the life of George Herbert Walker Bush. Drawing on President Bush’s personal diaries, on the diaries of his wife, Barbara, and on extraordinary access to the forty-first president and his family, Meacham paints an intimate and surprising portrait of an intensely private man who led the nation through tumultuous times. From the Oval Office to Camp David, from his study in the private quarters of the White House to Air Force One, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the first Gulf War to the end of Communism, Destiny and Power charts the thoughts, decisions, and emotions of a modern president who may have been the last of his kind. This is the human story of a man who was, like the nation he led, at once noble and flawed.

His was one of the great American lives. Born into a loving, privileged, and competitive family, Bush joined the navy on his eighteenth birthday and at age twenty was shot down on a combat mission over the Pacific. He married young, started a family, and resisted pressure to go to Wall Street, striking out for the adventurous world of Texas oil. Over the course of three decades, Bush would rise from the chairmanship of his county Republican Party to serve as congressman, ambassador to the United Nations, head of the Republican National Committee, envoy to China, director of Central Intelligence, vice president under Ronald Reagan, and, finally, president of the United States. In retirement he became the first president since John Adams to see his son win the ultimate prize in American politics.

With access not only to the Bush diaries but, through extensive interviews, to the former president himself, Meacham presents Bush’s candid assessments of many of the critical figures of the age, ranging from Richard Nixon to Nancy Reagan; Mao to Mikhail Gorbachev; Dick Cheney to Donald Rumsfeld; Henry Kissinger to Bill Clinton. Here is high politics as it really is but as we rarely see it.

From the Pacific to the presidency, Destiny and Power charts the vicissitudes of the life of this quietly compelling American original. Meacham sheds new light on the rise of the right wing in the Republican Party, a shift that signaled the beginning of the end of the center in American politics. Destiny and Power is an affecting portrait of a man who, driven by destiny and by duty, forever sought, ultimately, to put the country first.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, November 23, 2015

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Dr. Martha: The Life of a Pioneer Physician, Politician and Polygamist by Mari Grana


It's Monday, What are You Reading? 
Dr. Martha: The Life of a Pioneer Physician,  Politician and Polygamist 
by Mari Grana


This post is the one-hundredth entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]

This was an ‘advance reader’ book I got from LibraryThing.  

This was the review I wrote:
 
“A well balanced commentary on the Mormon view of women's status during the lifetime of Dr. Martha (Mattie) Hughes Cannon during the latter half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Dr. Martha's triumphs and tribulations are illustrative of both the good and the bad of the implementation of Mormon principles within the territorial and federal jurisdictions during this period. As the first elected woman State Senator in the nation, the status of Dr. Martha (Mattie) in American history is secure. This book well presents that status. I highly recommend it to those with an open minded interest in these subjects.”

Book Description from Amazon:

Dr. Martha tells the fascinating story of Martha Hughes Cannon, the first woman elected to the Utah state senate—in 1896. She was a polygamist wife, a practicing physician, and an astute and pioneering politician. In compelling prose, author Mari GraƱa traces Cannon’s life from her birth in Wales to her emigration to Utah with her family in 1861, her career as a physician, her marriage, her exile in England, her subsequent return, and her election to the Utah state senate. Her husband was the Republican candidate she, a Democrat, defeated in that historic election.

Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, November 16, 2015

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Golden Age by Jane Smiley


It's Monday, What are You Reading? 
Golden Age by Jane Smiley
 This post is the ninety-nineth entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]


I got this one in hard-copy the day it was published, from Amazon.com. As I write this, I’m near the end of the one hundred years covered by the trilogy…a few years into the future. The future she envisions is a bit apocalyptic… but seems to fit with he overall narrative of the three books. Having lived the last three fourths of these years, I was fascinated by how similar the lives of her Langdon descendants are to people I know and have known… and also some significant differences. She is a good story-teller, that is for sure! ;-)


Book Description from Amazon:

From the winner of the Pulitzer Prize: the much-anticipated final volume, following Some Luck and Early Warning, of her acclaimed American trilogy—a richly absorbing new novel that brings the remarkable Langdon family into our present times and beyond

A lot can happen in one hundred years, as Jane Smiley shows to dazzling effect in her Last Hundred Years trilogy. But as Golden Age, its final installment, opens in 1987, the next generation of Langdons face economic, social, political—and personal—challenges unlike anything their ancestors have encountered before.

Michael and Richie, the rivalrous twin sons of World War II hero Frank, work in the high-stakes world of government and finance in Washington and New York, but they soon realize that one’s fiercest enemies can be closest to home; Charlie, the charming, recently found scion, struggles with whether he wishes to make a mark on the world; and Guthrie, once poised to take over the Langdons’ Iowa farm, is instead deployed to Iraq, leaving the land—ever the heart of this compelling saga—in the capable hands of his younger sister.

Determined to evade disaster, for the planet and her family, Felicity worries that the farm’s once-bountiful soil may be permanently imperiled, by more than the extremes of climate change. And as they enter deeper into the twenty-first century, all the Langdon women—wives, mothers, daughters—find themselves charged with carrying their storied past into an uncertain future.

Combining intimate drama, emotional suspense, and a full command of history, Golden Age brings to a magnificent conclusion the century-spanning portrait of this unforgettable family—and the dynamic times in which they’ve loved, lived, and died: a crowning literary achievement from a beloved master of American storytelling.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, October 26, 2015

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Union 1812 by A.J. Langguth


It's Monday, What are You Reading? 
Union 1812 by A.J. Langguth


This post is the ninety-eighth entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]

Just finished this one. It’s been sitting on my shelf for years, this was the right time to read it. Great review of 1800-1849 American history, in some detail! ;-)

Book Description from Amazon:

By the author of the acclaimed Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution, a gripping narrative that tells the story of the second and final war of independence that secured the nation's independence from Europe and established its claim to the entire continent.

The War of 1812 has been ignored or misunderstood. Union 1812 thrillingly illustrates why it must take its place as one of the defining moments in American history.

Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly:


Langguth follows his popular Patriots with a fast-paced account of the War of 1812. Ostensibly a fight over the impressment of American sailors by the British, this little-understood three-year conflict was really about who controlled the middle of North America. As the subtitle suggests, Langguth argues that only with America's second victory over England did the new nation fully confirm its sovereignty over the vast western territories. Langguth thankfully takes his time setting up the war, spending 150 pages walking readers through the first decade of the 1800s, when Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase and attempted an ill-fated embargo against Britain. Though not a traditional military history, this book has a few rip-roaring battle scenes, such as Andrew Jackson's famous routing of the British at New Orleans. Langguth presents the War of 1812 as a pivot, the end of the era of early America. The war's end unleashed the next stage of aggressive expansionism. Langguth's prose is vivid, and he brings to life a panoply of personalities, from Dolley Madison to Tecumseh. He hasn't broken new ground, but he has provided a panoramic view of a decisive event in American military and political history.



Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, September 21, 2015

It's Monday, What are You Reading? X by Sue Grafton


It's Monday, What are You Reading? 
X by Sue Grafton
[Kinsey Milhone Book 24]
 

This post is the ninety-seventh entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]

I have have loved the Kinsey Milhone books from "A is for Alibi" in 1982 - and have read each one as soon as it was published (24 so far!). X will not disappoint either!! ;-)

http://www.amazon.com/X-Kinsey-Millhone-Book-24-ebook/dp/B00TY3ZKJA/


Book Description from Amazon:

Of #1 New York Times–bestselling author Sue Grafton, NPR’s Maureen Corrigan said, “Makes me wish there were more than 26 letters.” With only two letters left, Grafton’s many devoted readers will share that sentiment.

X:  The number ten. An unknown quantity. A mistake. A cross. A kiss.

X:  The shortest entry in Webster’s Unabridged. Derived from Greek and Latin and commonly found in science, medicine, and religion. The most graphically dramatic letter. Notoriously tricky to pronounce: think xylophone.

X:  The twenty-fourth letter in the English alphabet.

Sue Grafton’s X: Perhaps her darkest and most chilling novel, it features a remorseless serial killer who leaves no trace of his crimes. Once again breaking the rules and establishing new paths, Grafton wastes little time identifying this sociopath. The test is whether Kinsey can prove her case against him before she becomes his next victim.



Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, August 24, 2015

It's Monday, What are You Reading? The Great Agnostic


It's Monday, What are You Reading? 
The  Great Agnostic:
Robert Ingersoll and American Forethought 
by Susan Jacoby


This post is the ninety-sixth entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]


I’ve wanted to read a book about Ingersoll for a long time. This one recently came to my attention via Bill Moyers blog post. Very useful reading, for sure.




Book Description from Amazon:

A biography that restores America’s foremost nineteenth-century champion of reason and secularism to our still contested twenty-first-century public square

Amazon Editorial Reviews:

"'Jacoby's goal of elucidating the life and work of Robert Ingersoll is admirably accomplished. She offers a host of well-chosen quotations from his work, and she deftly displays the effect he had on others. For instance: after a young Eugene V. Debs heard Ingersoll talk, Debs accompanied him to the train station and then - just so he could continue the conversation - bought himself a ticket and rode all the way from Terre Haute to Cincinnati. Readers today may well find Ingersoll's company equally entrancing.' (Jennifer Michael Hecht, The New York Times Book Review)
'Jacoby writes with wit and vigor, affectionately resurrecting a man whose life and work are due for reconsideration.' (Kate Tuttle, The Boston Globe)"


For more information on Robert Ingersoll:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_G._Ingersoll



Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, July 13, 2015

It's Monday, What are You Reading? The Quartet

It's Monday, What are You Reading? 
The Quartet:
Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789 
by Joseph J. Ellis 
This post is the ninety-fifth entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]



Great birthday gift! Thanks, Annette! ;-) Actually reading it on my iPhone!! ;-)

Book Description from Amazon:

From Pulitzer Prize–winning American historian Joseph J. Ellis, the unexpected story of why the thirteen colonies, having just fought off the imposition of a distant centralized governing power, would decide to subordinate themselves anew.

We all know the famous opening phrase of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address: “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this Continent a new Nation.” The truth is different. In 1776, thirteen American colonies declared themselves independent states that only temporarily joined forces in order to defeat the British. Once victorious, they planned to go their separate ways. The triumph of the American Revolution was neither an ideological nor a political guarantee that the colonies would relinquish their independence and accept the creation of a federal government with power over their autonomy as states.

The Quartet is the story of this second American founding and of the men most responsible—George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. These men, with the help of Robert Morris and Gouverneur Morris, shaped the contours of American history by diagnosing the systemic dysfunctions created by the Articles of Confederation, manipulating the political process to force the calling of the Constitutional Convention, conspiring to set the agenda in Philadelphia, orchestrating the debate in the state ratifying conventions, and, finally, drafting the Bill of Rights to assure state compliance with the constitutional settlement.

Ellis has given us a gripping and dramatic portrait of one of the most crucial and misconstrued periods in American history: the years between the end of the Revolution and the formation of the federal government. The Quartet unmasks a myth, and in its place presents an even more compelling truth—one that lies at the heart of understanding the creation of the United States of America.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Book Giveaway


Book Giveaway




Many of you reading this have already received your free PDF copy of my 23K word eBook, “The Kings of Oak Springs, Vol. One” (Some say it reminds them of a ‘Little House’ story)… for signing up for the free Dr. Bill’s  “The Homeplace Saga” Newsletter.


Join us in discussing family saga and family-related story-telling and reading... ! ;-)

You can still get your free PDF copy today, by simply signing up here with name and email address:
http://eepurl.com/bpPujv

If you share this URL with your friends, and they sign up, they will also receive the free PDF.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Birthday (July 1) - 4th of July Special Offer


Birthday (July 1) - 4th of July Special Offer
 

I made this offer on Facebook, and was pleasantly surprised how many people signed up!
I want to extend it to all my readers, in case you missed it:

I will send you a free PDF of my 23K word eBook, “The Kings of Oak Springs, Vol. One” (Some say it reminds them of a ‘Little House’ story) when you sign up for my free: Dr. Bill’s “The Homeplace Saga” Newsletter. Sign up here today (free): http://eepurl.com/bpPujv

Happy Reading,

Dr. Bill ;-)

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Suggested read for the day... and the summer...


 Suggested read for the day... and the summer...





Read a 'Weston Wagons West' historical fiction story today...

Here is an update of the 64 story suite of tales, chronicling the author's ancestors from the 1600s to the 1900s...


http://hub.me/ajBBs


Happy Reading,

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, June 15, 2015

It's Monday, What are You Reading? American Insurgents


It's Monday, What are You Reading?
American Insurgents, American Patriots: 
The Revolution of the People 
by T.H.Breen


This post is the ninety-fourth entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]




This book sat on my shelf for nearly five years, it appears… don’t know why. It is a fascinating, new approach, to the American Revolution, that I enjoy so much! The author, a history professor, has written several books on the period.
 

Book Description from Amazon:

Before there could be a revolution, there was a rebellion; before patriots, there were insurgents. Challenging and displacing decades of received wisdom, T. H. Breen's strikingly original book explains how ordinary Americans--most of them members of farm families living in small communities--were drawn into a successful insurgency against imperial authority. This is the compelling story of our national political origins that most Americans do not know. It is a story of rumor, charity, vengeance, and restraint. American Insurgents, American Patriots reminds us that revolutions are violent events. They provoke passion and rage, a willingness to use violence to achieve political ends, a deep sense of betrayal, and a strong religious conviction that God expects an oppressed people to defend their rights. The American Revolution was no exception.

A few celebrated figures in the Continental Congress do not make for a revolution. It requires tens of thousands of ordinary men and women willing to sacrifice, kill, and be killed. Breen not only gives the history of these ordinary Americans but, drawing upon a wealth of rarely seen documents, restores their primacy to American independence. Mobilizing two years before the Declaration of Independence, American insurgents in all thirteen colonies concluded that resistance to British oppression required organized violence against the state. They channeled popular rage through elected committees of safety and observation, which before 1776 were the heart of American resistance. American Insurgents, American Patriots is the stunning account of their insurgency, without which there would have been no independent republic as we know it.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, March 9, 2015

It's Monday, What are You Reading? James Madison


It's Monday, What are You Reading?
James Madison:
A Life Reconsidered
by Lynne Cheney



This post is the ninety-third entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]


This is the final book from Christmas, off my Wish List, from my family. I’ve read a James Madison biography, before, so wanted to read this one, but was in no hurry to get there. Now that I’ve finished John Quincy Adams, again, it is time for “Jemmy” - as his parents and wife called him! ;-)

http://www.amazon.com/James-Madison-Reconsidered-Lynne-Cheney-ebook/dp/B00G3L0ZUU/
[I don’t get a commission… this link just takes you directly to the Amazon.com listing.]


Book Description from Amazon:

A major new biography of the fourth president of the United States by New York Times bestselling author Lynne Cheney

This majestic new biography of James Madison explores the astonishing story of a man of vaunted modesty who audaciously changed the world. Among the Founding Fathers, Madison was a true genius of the early republic.

Outwardly reserved, Madison was the intellectual driving force behind the Constitution and crucial to its ratification. His visionary political philosophy and rationale for the union of states—so eloquently presented in The Federalist papers—helped shape the country Americans live in today.

Along with Thomas Jefferson, Madison would found the first political party in the country’s history—the Democratic Republicans. As Jefferson’s secretary of state, he managed the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the size of the United States. As president, Madison led the country in its first war under the Constitution, the War of 1812. Without precedent to guide him, he would demonstrate that a republic could defend its honor and independence—and remain a republic still.



Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, February 23, 2015

It's Monday, What are You Reading? A Long Bright Future


It's Monday, What are You Reading?
A Long Bright Future
by Laura L. Carstensen, Ph.D.
 



This post is the ninety-second entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]

Time Magazine had a cover story titled: “Will a baby born today live to be 142 years old?”
The lead article was written by Laura Carstensen, of Stanford University, and I liked what I read. This book seemed to be the basis of her thoughts shared in the magazine.

http://www.amazon.com/Long-Bright-Future-Laura-Carstensen-ebook/dp/B005GPSKWE/
[I don’t get a commission… this link just takes you direct to the Amazon.com listing.]


Book Description from Amazon:

The twentieth century bequeathed us a fabulous gift: thirty more years of life on average. Supersized life spans are going to radically alter society, and present an unprecedented opportunity to change our approach not only to old age but to all of life’s stages. The ramifications are just beginning to dawn on us.... yet in the meantime, we keep thinking about, and planning for, life as it used to be lived.
In A Long Bright Future, longevity and aging expert Laura Carstensen guides us into the new possibilities offered by a longer life. She debunks the myths and misconceptions about aging that stop us from adequately preparing for the future both as individuals and as a society: that growing older is associated with loneliness and unhappiness, and that only the genetically blessed live well and long. She then focuses on other important components of a long life, including finances, health, social relationships, Medicare and Social Security, challenging our preconceived notions of “old age” every step of the way.




Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, February 9, 2015

It's Monday, What are You Reading? John Quincy Adams


It's Monday, What are You Reading?

The Remarkable Education of John Quincy Adams
by Phyllis Lee Levin


This post is the ninety-first entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]


Got this book via the LibraryThing Early Reviewer program, but it came really late, and came from the publisher - it is a first edition, not an ARC… interesting… good read none the less! ;-)

http://www.amazon.com/Remarkable-Education-John-Quincy-Adams/dp/1137279621/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0
[I don’t get a commission… this link just takes you direct to the Amazon.com listing.]



Book Description from Amazon:

A patriot by birth, John Quincy Adams’s destiny was foreordained. He was not only “The Greatest Traveler of His Age,” but his country’s most gifted linguist and most experienced diplomat. John Quincy’s world encompassed the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the early and late Napoleonic Age. As his diplomat father’s adolescent clerk and secretary, he met everyone who was anyone in Europe, including America’s own luminaries and founding fathers, Franklin and Jefferson. All this made coming back to America a great challenge. But though he was determined to make his own career he was soon embarked, at Washington’s appointment, on his phenomenal work aboard, as well as on a deeply troubled though loving and enduring marriage. But through all the emotional turmoil, he dedicated his life to serving his country. At 50, he returned to America to serve as Secretary of State to President Monroe. He was inaugurated President in 1824, after which he served as a stirring defender of the slaves of the Amistad rebellion and as a member of the House of Representatives from 1831 until his death in 1848. In The Remarkable Education of John Quincy Adams, Phyllis Lee Levin provides the deeply researched and beautifully written definitive biography of one of the most fascinating and towering early Americans.



Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, January 26, 2015

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Lincoln’s Confederate “Little Sister”




It's Monday, What are You Reading?
Lincoln’s Confederate “Little Sister:”
Emilie Todd Helm
by Stuart W. Sanders



This post is the ninetieth entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]

Got this Kindle Edition book copy after reading about it in the January 23 issue of Ozarks Civil War Sesquicentennial Weekly, edited by Len Eagleburger. Thanks for the referral!



 



Book Description from Amazon:

In this longform essay, "Lincoln’s Confederate 'Little Sister:' Emilie Todd Helm" (16,000 words, 40 pages), Civil War historian Stuart W. Sanders examines the life of Emilie Todd Helm, the rebel sister-in-law of President Abraham Lincoln.

As the wife of a Confederate general and the half-sister of Mary Todd Lincoln, Emilie was torn between two worlds. Having lost several brothers in the Civil War, she suffered another blow when her husband was killed at the Battle of Chickamauga. In December 1863, she traveled to the White House and mourned with Mary Lincoln. Although politicians condemned the Union commander-in-chief for hosting this rebel widow, to President Lincoln she was simply “Little Sister,” a grieving family member who brought comfort to his wife. Sadly, a year later, Emilie ended contact with Mary after she blamed Lincoln for their family woes. Their relationship—fractured like their family—was another casualty of the war.

"Lincoln’s Confederate 'Little Sister:' Emilie Todd Helm" describes Emilie’s life, her controversial 1863 visit to the White House, and her unique role in postwar reconciliation, when she revered her husband’s Confederate legacy while commemorating Lincoln’s memory.

Stuart W. Sanders is the author of three Civil War books, including "Perryville Under Fire: The Aftermath of Kentucky’s Largest Civil War Battle," "The Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky," and "Maney’s Confederate Brigade at the Battle of Perryville."




Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, January 12, 2015

It's Monday, What are You Reading? The American Revolution


It's Monday, What are You Reading?

The American Revolution: 
A Historical Guidebook
Frances H. Kennedy, Editor
 
 
This post is the eighty-ninth entry for this meme suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books. [Entries 22-25 in the series were posted at  the Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories]

Received this book, from my Wish List, as Christmas gift. It is really a Guidebook, a reference book, for my favorite time period - or, one of them, for sure!

http://www.amazon.com/American-Revolution-Historical-Guidebook-ebook/dp/B00KQK8ZOW/
 
 

Book Description from Amazon:

In 1996, Congress commissioned the National Park Service to compile a list of sites and landmarks connected with the American Revolution that it deemed vital to preserve for future generations. Some of these sites are well known--Bunker Hill, Valley Forge, Fort Ticonderoga--and in no danger of being lost; others less so-- Blackstock's Plantation in South Carolina or Bryan's Station in Kentucky--and more vulnerable. But all are central to the story of our nation's fight for independence. From battlefields to encampments, meeting houses to museums, these places offer us a chance to rediscover the remarkable men and women who founded this nation and to recognize the relevance of not just what they did, but where they did it.

Edited by Frances H. Kennedy, The American Revolution: A Historical Guidebook takes readers to nearly 150 of these sites, providing an overview of the Revolution through an exploration of the places where American independence was articulated, fought for, and eventually secured. Beginning with the Boston Common, first occupied by British troops in 1768, and closing with Fraunces Tavern in New York, where George Washington bid farewell to his officers on December 4, 1783, Kennedy takes readers on a tour of the most significant places of Revolutionary history. Accompanied by illuminating excerpts and essays from some of the foremost scholars in the field, including David McCullough, Barbara Tuchman, David Hackett Fischer, Eric Foner, and John Ferling, the entries move in a roughly chronological order from the pre-Revolutionary years up through 1787. Taken together, the combination of site, essay, and excerpt provides rich context and overview, giving a sense of the major figures and events as well as the course of the Revolution, and cover topics ranging from the Boston Tea Party to the frontier wars.

The guide is encyclopedic in scope and covers a wide geographical sweep. Accompanied by historical maps, as well as a number of illuminating primary documents including the Declaration of Independence and letters from John Adams and George Washington, it offers a comprehensive picture of how the Revolutionary War unfolded on American soil, and also points readers to the best writing on the subject in the last fifty years. The American Revolution: A Historical Guidebook is an essential companion for anyone interested in the story and history of our nation's founding.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)