What are you currently reading?

[Bogey]

I'll look for it, thank you. 
I noticed in the Amazon listings that Joseph Ellis has a new book coming out on June 4 covering the same time period, roughly, but (going by the title) not so focused on Boston.

Ellis is an excellent writer.  My wife and I have read some of his books.  I just gave my teammate at school His Excellency to read and she cannot put it down.  However, I warned her that every sentence is necessary to take in when reading Ellis.  There is no room for a skim moment or you end up rereading the page. I found his Founding Brothers very much in this category. This is the one my wife, just today, put on her wishlist:



She got the 1776 Illustrated for Mother's Day today and already spent two hours just perusing it.  I just received this one in the mail the other day:



Not sure when I will read it.  I have a number on the shelf to get to, including an Alexander Hamilton bio.  My wife is ahead of me in this era as I spent a lot of time with the Civil War.  She also enjoys the books of this era that deal more with the common man and lesser known personalities, hence the Ellis book above.  I am only 60 pages into 1776 (second go around), so I will wait until I am finished to see what I want to read next.  I want to also go back and restart and finish this one:



I have it on my Kindle, but I am finding I hate reading history books on it as I cannot flip back and forth to pages when I have forgotten a name or a date.  Please list any others that you enjoyed from this time period. 

[kishnevi]

Ellis is an excellent writer.  My wife and I have read some of his books.  I just gave my teammate at school His Excellency to read and she cannot put it down.  However, I warned her that every sentence is necessary to take in when reading Ellis.  There is no room for a skim moment or you end up rereading the page. I found his Founding Brothers very much in this category. This is the one my wife, just today, put on her wishlist:



She got the 1776 Illustrated for Mother's Day today and already spent two hours just perusing it.  I just received this one in the mail the other day:



Not sure when I will read it.  I have a number on the shelf to get to, including an Alexander Hamilton bio.  My wife is ahead of me in this era as I spent a lot of time with the Civil War.  She also enjoys the books of this era that deal more with the common man and lesser known personalities, hence the Ellis book above.  I am only 60 pages into 1776 (second go around), so I will wait until I am finished to see what I want to read next.  I want to also go back and restart and finish this one:



I have it on my Kindle, but I am finding I hate reading history books on it as I cannot flip back and forth to pages when I have forgotten a name or a date.  Please list any others that you enjoyed from this time period.

There's a writer who did a book on Paul Revere and another on the Washington's Crossing of the Delaware that were nice reads, but I can't remember his name at the moment (Hackett Fisher?  possibly).  I think I've seen the Hibbert book at the public library; if it's the one I think it is,  I've never been able to persuade myself to check it to read: looks large and sometimes snooze inducing.

I'm more interested in European history, actually;  I've read Founding Brothers and possibly one more by Ellis.  McCullough is one write I've read extensively--the only book of his I didn't much like was his most recent one about Americans in Paris.   I've got my eye out for that new biography of Jefferson when it comes out in paperback.

Next up is to finish off Paul Reid's continuation/conclusion of William Manchester's biography of Churchilll.  It's not at the level of the first two volumes, but good enough in its own right. (If you have never read the second of Manchester's volumes--Alone--do so, and see how a great writer dissects how the West allowed Hitler to get to September 1939 without any real opposition.  Manchester was merciless.)

[Cato]

Wes Anderson is an inspired choice! But you may also want to seek out the film Brick, a bona fide high-school film noir directed by Rian Johnson.

Thanks for the recommendation!

Roughly five sixths of the way through this 300 pager. 


Unlike his book on Custer's Last Stand,  he doesn't let his modern political filter get too much in the way, although once every chapter or so he can't help but bring in something to show that Blacks, Women and Native Americans were oppressed by colonial white males--sometimes relevant to what the narrative is focusing on, but often not ...

I have read a few book reviews recently which complain that the authors felt compelled either to tsk-tsk the obvious, or to include a politically correct tsk-tsking in a tangent.

Your comment on the book reminded me of something.  Some years ago the Advanced Placement Examination for European History had a question about the effects of the slave trade on the economies of certain European countries.  It generated terrible answers: students told us how awful slavery was, how racism was awful, and people should not own people as property, etc. etc. etc. 

Too few actually answered the question: the belief was apparently that "if I write a diatribe against slavery, they can't possibly give me a bad grade!"   

In this case, being against slavery was nice, but not relevant!

[Bogey]

There's a writer who did a book on Paul Revere and another on the Washington's Crossing of the Delaware that were nice reads, but I can't remember his name at the moment (Hackett Fisher?  possibly).  I think I've seen the Hibbert book at the public library; if it's the one I think it is,  I've never been able to persuade myself to check it to read: looks large and sometimes snooze inducing.

I'm more interested in European history, actually;  I've read Founding Brothers and possibly one more by Ellis.  McCullough is one write I've read extensively--the only book of his I didn't much like was his most recent one about Americans in Paris.   I've got my eye out for that new biography of Jefferson when it comes out in paperback.

Next up is to finish off Paul Reid's continuation/conclusion of William Manchester's biography of Churchilll.  It's not at the level of the first two volumes, but good enough in its own right. (If you have never read the second of Manchester's volumes--Alone--do so, and see how a great writer dissects how the West allowed Hitler to get to September 1939 without any real opposition.  Manchester was merciless.)

I have read the Fischer Revere book many moons ago.  As I recall, a lot about other things than just Revere.  My wife's favorite on him, and maybe of all from that era is:



She also wants you to know how impressed she is with your read of the Bunker Hill book due to the fact that it just came out.  Pretty cool!  On a side note, are you the GMG member that read a lot about Russia during WWII?

[kishnevi]

She also wants you to know how impressed she is with your read of the Bunker Hill book due to the fact that it just came out.  Pretty cool!  On a side note, are you the GMG member that read a lot about Russia during WWII?

So that's three interesting books you've put me onto in the last half hour.

The credit goes to the Broward County Public Library for having it on its shelves.  Normally I only buy history books if 1)they're not available through the library and 2) they've come out in paperback.  I have a lot of books as it is--accumulated in my 20s and 30s and I now prefer to buy CDs.   Philbrick attracted my interest with his "In the Heart of the Sea" although results can be variable.  The book on Custer was a fine one, whenever it moved away from moralizing.

I'm not the GMG who likes Russia/WWII.  in fact, one of the eras of history I'm least interested in.  Which is odd, come to think of it, since I'm always up for a book on Stalinist Russia in the 1930s.

[Bogey]

So that's three interesting books you've put me onto in the last half hour.

The credit goes to the Broward County Public Library for having it on its shelves.  Normally I only buy history books if 1)they're not available through the library and 2) they've come out in paperback.  I have a lot of books as it is--accumulated in my 20s and 30s and I now prefer to buy CDs.   Philbrick attracted my interest with his "In the Heart of the Sea" although results can be variable.  The book on Custer was a fine one, whenever it moved away from moralizing.

I'm not the GMG who likes Russia/WWII.  in fact, one of the eras of history I'm least interested in.  Which is odd, come to think of it, since I'm always up for a book on Stalinist Russia in the 1930s.

With changing screen names and avatars (and your interest in WWII) I thought it might be you.  Thanks!

[Karl Henning]

Thanks for the recommendation!

I have read a few book reviews recently which complain that the authors felt compelled either to tsk-tsk the obvious, or to include a politically correct tsk-tsking in a tangent.

Your comment on the book reminded me of something.  Some years ago the Advanced Placement Examination for European History had a question about the effects of the slave trade on the economies of certain European countries.  It generated terrible answers: students told us how awful slavery was, how racism was awful, and people should not own people as property, etc. etc. etc. 

Too few actually answered the question: the belief was apparently that "if I write a diatribe against slavery, they can't possibly give me a bad grade!"   

In this case, being against slavery was nice, but not relevant!

Pavlov would have been proud, though . . . .

[Karl Henning]

Jeffrey, might I also rec. this one. Probably one of the best that I have read on the American Revolution:



What took it to another level was that I finished it not a week before we visited the area.

Hm, looks like one I ought to read . . . .

[Cato]

I'm not the GMG who likes Russia/WWII.  in fact, one of the eras of history I'm least interested in.  Which is odd, come to think of it, since I'm always up for a book on Stalinist Russia in the 1930s.

Do you know Everyday Stalinism by Sheila Fitzpatrick?



Highly recommended!

[Karl Henning]

And everyday correctly deployed! I'm gonna read it!

[Karl Henning]

"Stopping morons is always my business," I said with a smile. The smile confused him, maybe because he really was a moron.

[Cato]

"Stopping morons is always my business," I said with a smile. The smile confused him, maybe because he really was a moron.

What a wise-guy line!   

[kishnevi]

Do you know Everyday Stalinism by Sheila Fitzpatrick?



Highly recommended!

Didn't know it, but I do now!  Thanks.  My 'to be read' pile may start to pile up again.

[Cato]

Didn't know it, but I do now!  Thanks.  My 'to be read' pile may start to pile up again.

A high-school friend once showed me 2 stacks of books a yard high, which he called his "to-be-read pile"      !

I hope yours does not rival that!

In the same vein as Everyday Stalinism is another excellent look at Communism's impact on the average person in Russia/Soviet Union:  Night of Stone

[asin]B000CDG824[/asin]

Only 10 years old, I see that it is out-of-print already, but used paperback versions are available for as little as a penny!

In one sense it is a micro-history of people not allowed to mourn or even speak of their dead friends and relatives.

[Karl Henning]

I haven't decided quite whether this review is artfully ambivalent, or just one producer of tripe praising a fellow tripester.

Still I love bits like:

One is still excited — one must be; Doubleday is printing a whopping 4 million copies[....]

His novels are like high-stakes, 500-page Mad Libs[....]

Fortunately, his fetching doctor, Sienna — a former child prodigy with an absurd IQ — is willing to sling him on the back of her moped and help him figure it out.

No matter. As with Brown's other works, it's more fun to read "Inferno" when you accept that every whoa-ful tidbit is true[....]

[Karl Henning]

The last line ought to have been italicized, or otherwise set apart from the review proper, yes?  Just seemed to me part of the article for a long second . . . .

Hesse is a Style writer and the author of "Stray," a novel being published next month.

[Cato]

The last line ought to have been italicized, or otherwise set apart from the review proper, yes?  Just seemed to me part of the article for a long second . . . .

Hesse is a Style writer and the author of "Stray," a novel being published next month.

Yes, italics would have helped immensely.

And if my last name were Hesse and I had a novel coming out, I think I would be using a pseudonym of some sort!   

On the other hand, are many people reading Hermann Hesse these days?

[Karl Henning]

She should really name her daughter "Hermione," nicht wahr?

[Karl Henning]

No matter. As with Brown's other works, it's more fun to read "Inferno" when you accept that every whoa-ful tidbit is true[....]

This is still striking me as essentially, it's more fun to read the rubbish after your lobotomy.

[North Star]

I haven't decided quite whether this review is artfully ambivalent, or just one producer of tripe praising a fellow tripester.

Still I love bits like:

Fortunately, his fetching doctor, Sienna — a former child prodigy with an absurd IQ — is willing to sling him on the back of her moped and help him figure it out.

I bet that the fetching Dr. Sienna's IQ is 'cat'.