Tag: history

Book Review, featured, History, Non-fiction, Rants

Forget the Alamo by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson and Jason Stanford

One thing that makes reading history fun, for me at least, is finding out what really happened. So often what we know, or think we know, has been influenced by forces outside the facts: racism, sexism, classism, nationalism, all the ‘ism’s plus time. Time passes and history changes. Then, periodically, someone comes along to set the record straight. It makes for interesting reading. In the … Continue reading Forget the Alamo by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson and Jason Stanford

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Book Review, featured, History, Non-fiction, Western

Four Hundred Souls, edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N Blain

This book may be illegal in your state. If you live in Texas, Florida or any assorted U.S. states with Republican governments, it may be difficult to find Four Hundred Souls in your public library, school library, even at your local college or university library. This is just the sort of book Texas Governor Abbot and Florida Governor DeSantis have in mind when they complain … Continue reading Four Hundred Souls, edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N Blain

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Book Review, featured, History, Non-fiction, Rants

Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First Frontier by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

History is problematic. American history is very problematic. I only recently started reading American history seriously. During the last three years of my teaching career, I kept trying to get an 8th grade history position. If I had, I might still be teaching. The closest I came was teaching it via Zoom during lockdown. Prior to that my historical interest was ancient and Medieval, largely … Continue reading Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First Frontier by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

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Book Review, featured, History, Non-fiction

The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara by David I. Kertzer

A Jewish family sits together peacefully in their home. It is an ordinary night. After dinner. Mother, father, six children, the oldest still under ten years. Suddenly, agents of the Inquisition are at the door, there to take away Edgardo, age six, claiming he was secretly baptized by one of the family servants, therefore a Christian, therefore in need of Christian parents. The panicked family … Continue reading The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara by David I. Kertzer

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Book Review, History, Noir, Non-fiction

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

I come to this book by way of the recent television series. Both are very good. The television series, while based on a true crime, is largely fiction. The producers created entire characters and storylines to flesh out the historical plotline into multiple episodes. The book fleshes out its true crime story with a fascinating history of Mormonism focused on the religions violent past and … Continue reading Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

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Book Review, featured, History, Non-fiction, Uncategorized

My New Favorite Book–Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer

Don’t be afraid of reading history; it’s not just a learning experience. At least not in the case of Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer. This is one of the most entertaining books I’ve read in a while. I couldn’t put it down, as they say, much of the time. At nearly 500 pages, some parts are more interesting at others, but reading it … Continue reading My New Favorite Book–Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer

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Book Review, California, History

The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny by Michael Wallis

I’m going to assume that you know the basic story of the Donner Party.  Just in case, here is the Wikipedia article; it’s fantastic. I also had a pretty good grasp of their story before reading Michael Wallis’s recent book about them, The Best Land Under Heaven. So, did I learn anything? Was the book worth reading? Yes, and mostly yes. The full extent of what … Continue reading The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny by Michael Wallis

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Book Review, History

A Brief History of the Vikings by Jonathan Clements

Jonathan Clements book A Brief History of the Vikings is very old school history, very one event after another.  Lots of successions of rulers and records of who won and who lost various battles. It was just the thing to pass the time I spent last week riding the ferry boat back and forth between my home and San Francisco where I was taking a class … Continue reading A Brief History of the Vikings by Jonathan Clements

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Book Review, History

Cinderella’s Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding by Dorothy Ko

I often tell my students that reading is like swimming, the only way to get better at it is to do it.  Which is only partially true.  If you really want to get better at swimming, and at reading, you need to push yourself to perform at a higher rate than you typically do. Sometimes, you need a coach. Sometimes you need to challenge yourself. … Continue reading Cinderella’s Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding by Dorothy Ko

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Book Review, History

Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest by Matthew Restall

None of this is true, what we were told in history class if you’re my age,  but the story goes like this… When Moctezuma, the Aztec Emperor met Conquistador Hernan Cortez in 1519, he thought the Spaniard was the god Quetzalcoatl returned to fulfill a prophecy ending the empire.  Though he had just  a few soldiers with him, Cortez was able to use superior armor and guns … Continue reading Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest by Matthew Restall

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Art, History

A Brief History of Paper Moons

At the end of nearly every school year, someone cleans out a classroom closet and leaves a box of books on the table in the faculty room. Take whatever you want. Typically, they are pretty slim picking. There’s really no use, beyond collage, for old textbooks anymore.  But this year I found a copy of Hal Morgan and Andreas Brown’s book on early real photo post … Continue reading A Brief History of Paper Moons

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