I first learned about this book in an article, probably this one, which shows how long it sometimes takes me to actually get around to reading my nonfiction books, since that article is dated November 2013. The concept interested me as someone who has lived in various states and lived outside the U.S., which gave an interesting perspective looking back at my own homeland. Now that I’ve read this book I can see that I’ve lived in probably five of the North American nations posited by Colin […]
Capital Dames
This review is for the audiobook version of Civil War Dames. I enjoyed listening to this book, but I did have a hard time following the timeline. It was difficult to know when she was quoting the women and when she was summarizing. I also had a hard time keeping track of whose story she was telling. I understand the need to go back and forth between the women as time progressed, rather than telling each story fully and repeating the benchmark events, but […]
Let’s Give It Up For America’s Favorite Fighting Frenchman!
*This review is for the audiobook version of Lafayette in the Somewhat United States* This book was really fun to listen to. The actors were well chosen, (someone should put Nick Offerman in a Washington biopic immediately) but it doesn’t hold up well on reflection. She begins by talking about Lafayette’s return to the United States in 1824 and I got excited. I’d never heard about this! After a few anecdotes from his trip the book takes a turn into Revolutionary War history, which is […]
Every moment points toward the aftermath
If you were asked to name every president who was assassinated, would you remember James Garfield? He was president for only a matter of months, part of a generally undistinguished cohort that served between Grant and McKinley. There is no great legislation that we credit to Garfield, no famous speeches or charismatic wife. On the surface, Garfield was nothing more than a generally decent man, a loving father, a good husband–an ineffectual president, although to be fair he spent a third of his term in office dying of a […]