It’s Monday, What are You Reading? America’s Reluctant Prince

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? 

America’s Reluctant Prince: 

The Life of John F. Kennedy Jr.

by Steven M. Gillon

https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Reluctant-Prince-Life-Kennedy/dp/1524742384/

This post is the one-hundred and sixty-seveneth 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]

Wasn’t going to get this…then, had nothing else going… decided it might have some interesting side stories…so, here we go! ;-)


Book Description from Amazon:

A major new biography of John F. Kennedy Jr. from a leading historian who was also a close friend, America’s Reluctant Prince is a deeply researched, personal, surprising, and revealing portrait of the Kennedy heir the world lost too soon.

Through the lens of their decades-long friendship and including exclusive interviews and details from previously classified documents, noted historian and New York Times bestselling author Steven M. Gillon examines John F. Kennedy Jr.’s life and legacy from before his birth to the day he died. Gillon covers the highs, the lows, and the surprising incidents, viewpoints, and relationships that John never discussed publicly, revealing the full story behind JFK Jr.’s complicated and rich life. In the end, Gillon proves that John’s life was far more than another tragedy—rather, it’s the true key to understanding both the Kennedy legacy and how America’s First Family continues to shape the world we live in today.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? The Unexpected President

It’s Monday, What are You Reading?

The Unexpected President: 

The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur

by Scott S. Greenberger

 

https://www.amazon.com/Unexpected-President-Times-Chester-Arthur/dp/0306922703/

This post is the one-hundred and sixty-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]


This presidential biography of Arthur follows that of the assassinated Garfield that I am just finishing. Sort of a forgotten period of our history in the Golden Age, filled with graft and corruption…


Book Description from Amazon:

When President James Garfield was shot in 1881, nobody expected Vice President Chester A. Arthur to become a strong and effective president, a courageous anti-corruption reformer, and an early civil rights advocate.
Despite his promising start as a young man, by his early fifties Chester A. Arthur was known as the crooked crony of New York machine boss Roscoe Conkling. For years Arthur had been perceived as unfit to govern, not only by critics and the vast majority of his fellow citizens but by his own conscience. As President James A. Garfield struggled for his life, Arthur knew better than his detractors that he failed to meet the high standard a president must uphold.

And yet, from the moment President Arthur took office, he proved to be not just honest but brave, going up against the very forces that had controlled him for decades. He surprised everyone--and gained many enemies--when he swept house and took on corruption, civil rights for blacks, and issues of land for Native Americans.

A mysterious young woman deserves much of the credit for Arthur's remarkable transformation. Julia Sand, a bedridden New Yorker, wrote Arthur nearly two dozen letters urging him to put country over party, to find "the spark of true nobility" that lay within him. At a time when women were barred from political life, Sand's letters inspired Arthur to transcend his checkered past--and changed the course of American history.

This beautifully written biography tells the dramatic, untold story of a virtually forgotten American president. It is the tale of a machine politician and man-about-town in Gilded Age New York who stumbled into the highest office in the land, only to rediscover his better self when his nation needed him.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? Destiny of the Republic

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? Destiny of the Republic: 

A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President

by Candice Millard

 

https://www.amazon.com/Destiny-Republic-Madness-Medicine-President/dp/0767929713/

This post is the one-hundred and sixty-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]

Two connected presidential biographies are up next. This on Garfield, the next on Arthur who followed. 1880 - a turbulent period of our national life! ;-)


Book Description from Amazon:

The extraordinary New York Times bestselling account of James Garfield's rise from poverty to the American presidency, and the dramatic history of his assassination and legacy, from bestselling author of The River of Doubt, Candice Millard. 

James Abram Garfield was one of the most extraordinary men ever elected president. Born into abject poverty, he rose to become a wunderkind scholar, a Civil War hero, a renowned congressman, and a reluctant presidential candidate who took on the nation's corrupt political establishment. But four months after Garfield's inauguration in 1881, he was shot in the back by a deranged office-seeker named Charles Guiteau. Garfield survived the attack, but become the object of bitter, behind-the-scenes struggles for power—over his administration, over the nation's future, and, hauntingly, over his medical care. Meticulously researched, epic in scope, and pulsating with an intimate human focus and high-velocity narrative drive, The Destiny of the Republicbrings alive a forgotten chapter of U.S. history.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? The Pioneers

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? The Pioneers: 

The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the 

American Ideal West

by David McCulloch

https://www.amazon.com/Pioneers-Heroic-Settlers-Brought-American/dp/1501168681/

This post is the one-hundred and sixty-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]


The story of the first settlement in the Northwest Territory, at Marietta, Ohio. We have visited there - Nancy has ancestors who passed through at the time of this story. Could not pass it up!! ;-)


Book Description from Amazon:

Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important and dramatic chapter in the American story—the settling of the Northwest Territory by dauntless pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would come to define our country.

As part of the Treaty of Paris, in which Great Britain recognized the new United States of America, Britain ceded the land that comprised the immense Northwest Territory, a wilderness empire northwest of the Ohio River containing the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. A Massachusetts minister named Manasseh Cutler was instrumental in opening this vast territory to veterans of the Revolutionary War and their families for settlement. Included in the Northwest Ordinance were three remarkable conditions: freedom of religion, free universal education, and most importantly, the prohibition of slavery. In 1788 the first band of pioneers set out from New England for the Northwest Territory under the leadership of Revolutionary War veteran General Rufus Putnam. They settled in what is now Marietta on the banks of the Ohio River.

McCullough tells the story through five major characters: Cutler and Putnam; Cutler’s son Ephraim; and two other men, one a carpenter turned architect, and the other a physician who became a prominent pioneer in American science. They and their families created a town in a primeval wilderness, while coping with such frontier realities as floods, fires, wolves and bears, no roads or bridges, no guarantees of any sort, all the while negotiating a contentious and sometimes hostile relationship with the native people. Like so many of McCullough’s subjects, they let no obstacle deter or defeat them.

Drawn in great part from a rare and all-but-unknown collection of diaries and letters by the key figures, The Pioneers is a uniquely American story of people whose ambition and courage led them to remarkable accomplishments. This is a revelatory and quintessentially American story, written with David McCullough’s signature narrative energy.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? Dodge City

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? Dodge City: 

Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West

by Tom Clavin

 

https://www.amazon.com/Dodge-City-Masterson-Wickedest-American/dp/1250160561/

This post is the one-hundred and sixty-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]


Haven’t quite finished Wild Bill, but will get to Dodge City immediately, so here you go. Enjoy! ;-)


Book Description from Amazon:

The instant New York Times bestseller!
Dodge City, Kansas, is a place of legend. The town that started as a small military site exploded with the coming of the railroad, cattle drives, eager miners, settlers, and various entrepreneurs passing through to populate the expanding West. Before long, Dodge City’s streets were lined with saloons and brothels and its populace was thick with gunmen, horse thieves, and desperadoes of every sort. By the 1870s, Dodge City was known as the most violent and turbulent town in the West.

Enter Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. Young and largely self-trained men, the lawmen led the effort that established frontier justice and the rule of law in the American West, and did it in the wickedest place in the United States. When they moved on, Wyatt to Tombstone and Bat to Colorado, a tamed Dodge was left in the hands of Jim Masterson. But before long Wyatt and Bat, each having had a lawman brother killed, returned to that threatened western Kansas town to team up to restore order again in what became known as the Dodge City War before riding off into the sunset.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Tom Clavin's Dodge City tells the true story of their friendship, romances, gunfights, and adventures, along with the remarkable cast of characters they encountered along the way (including Wild Bill Hickock, Jesse James, Doc Holliday, Buffalo Bill Cody, John Wesley Hardin, Billy the Kid, and Theodore Roosevelt) that has gone largely untold―lost in the haze of Hollywood films and western fiction, until now.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? Wild Bill

It’s Monday, What are You Reading?
Wild Bill: 

The True Story of the American Frontier’s First Gunfighter
by Tom Clavin

https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Bill-American-Frontiers-Gunfighter/dp/1250173795/

This post is the one-hundred and sixty-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]

Ok, truth time, I saw this book in a sponsored ad on Facebook by History Books, or something like that… but, it did catch my eye. I have been thinking of reading something a little lighter and this fit the bill. He always wrote Dodge City, which I’ll read next. No hurry, just fun nonfiction, with the fiction stuff thrown in along the way!! ;-)


Book Description from Amazon:

The definitive true story of Wild Bill, the first lawman of the Wild West, by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dodge City.

In July 1865, "Wild Bill" Hickok shot and killed Davis Tutt in Springfield, MO―the first quick-draw duel on the frontier. Thus began the reputation that made him a marked man to every gunslinger in the Wild West.
James Butler Hickock was known across the frontier as a soldier, Union spy, scout, lawman, gunfighter, gambler, showman, and actor. He crossed paths with General Custer and Buffalo Bill Cody, as well as Ben Thompson and other young toughs gunning for the sheriff with the quickest draw west of the Mississippi.
Wild Bill also fell in love―multiple times―before marrying the true love of his life, Agnes Lake, the impresario of a traveling circus. He would be buried however, next to fabled frontierswoman Calamity Jane.
Even before his death, Wild Bill became a legend, with fiction sometimes supplanting fact in the stories that surfaced. Once, in a bar in Nebraska, he was confronted by four men, three of whom he killed in the ensuing gunfight. A famous Harper’s Magazine article credited Hickok with slaying 10 men that day; by the 1870s, his career-long kill count was up to 100.
The legend of Wild Bill has only grown since his death in 1876, when cowardly Jack McCall famously put a bullet through the back of his head during a card game. Bestselling author Tom Clavin has sifted through years of western lore to bring Hickock fully to life in this rip-roaring, spellbinding true story.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? The Threat

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? 

The Threat: 

How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump

by Andrew G. McCabe

 

https://www.amazon.com/Threat-Protects-America-Terror-Trump/dp/1250207576/

This post is the one-hundred and sixty-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]


Besides telling his own story, this is really a tribute to the men and women of the FBI and how they operate, told by one who had been through it from top to bottom. Really an easy and interesting read.


Book Description from Amazon:

On March 16, 2018, just twenty-six hours before his scheduled retirement from the organization he had served with distinction for more than two decades, Andrew G. McCabe was fired from his position as deputy director of the FBI. President Donald Trump celebrated on Twitter: "Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy."
In The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump, Andrew G. McCabe offers a dramatic and candid account of his career, and an impassioned defense of the FBI's agents, and of the institution's integrity and independence in protecting America and upholding our Constitution.
McCabe started as a street agent in the FBI's New York field office, serving under director Louis Freeh. He became an expert in two kinds of investigations that are critical to American national security: Russian organized crime―which is inextricably linked to the Russian state―and terrorism. Under Director Robert Mueller, McCabe led the investigations of major attacks on American soil, including the Boston Marathon bombing, a plot to bomb the New York subways, and several narrowly averted bombings of aircraft. And under James Comey, McCabe was deeply involved in the controversial investigations of the Benghazi attack, the Clinton Foundation's activities, and Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.
The Threat recounts in compelling detail the time between Donald Trump's November 2016 election and McCabe's firing, set against a page-turning narrative spanning two decades when the FBI's mission shifted to a new goal: preventing terrorist attacks on Americans. But as McCabe shows, right now the greatest threat to the United States comes from within, as President Trump and his administration ignore the law, attack democratic institutions, degrade human rights, and undermine the U.S. Constitution that protects every citizen.
Important, revealing, and powerfully argued, The Threat tells the true story of what the FBI is, how it works, and why it will endure as an institution of integrity that protects America.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? The Curse of Oak Island

It’s Monday, What are You Reading?

The Curse of Oak Island: 

The Story of the World’s Longest Treasure Hunt

by Randall Sullivan

 

https://www.amazon.com/Curse-Oak-Island-Longest-Treasure-ebook/dp/B01N0SMHMR/

This post is the one-hundred and sixty-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]


We have been avid fans of the History Channel’s television show of the same name, so it was natural that we would follow up with this book that brings all the information on one place. I’m reading the kindle edition, as I choose, to read on this subject.


Book Description from Amazon:

In 1795, a teenager discovered a mysterious circular depression in the ground on Oak Island, in Nova Scotia, Canada, and ignited rumors of buried treasure. Early excavators uncovered a clay-lined shaft containing layers of soil interspersed with wooden platforms, but when they reached a depth of ninety feet, water poured into the shaft and made further digging impossible.

Since then the mystery of Oak Island’s “Money Pit” has enthralled generations of treasure hunters, including a Boston insurance salesman whose obsession ruined him; young Franklin Delano Roosevelt; and film star Errol Flynn. Perplexing discoveries have ignited explorers’ imaginations: a flat stone inscribed in code; a flood tunnel draining from a man-made beach; a torn scrap of parchment; stone markers forming a huge cross. Swaths of the island were bulldozed looking for answers; excavation attempts have claimed two lives. Theories abound as to what’s hidden on Oak Island—pirates’ treasure, Marie Antoinette’s lost jewels, the Holy Grail, proof that Sir Francis Bacon was the true author of Shakespeare’s plays—yet to this day, the Money Pit remains an enigma.

The Curse of Oak Island is a fascinating account of the strange, rich history of the island and the intrepid treasure hunters who have driven themselves to financial ruin, psychotic breakdowns, and even death in pursuit of answers. And as Michigan brothers Marty and Rick Lagina become the latest to attempt to solve the mystery, as documented on the History Channel’s television show The Curse of Oak Island, Sullivan takes readers along to follow their quest firsthand.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? Camelot’s End

It’s Monday, What are You Reading?

Camelot’s End: Kennedy vs. Carter 

and the fight that broke the Democratic Party 

by Jon Ward

 

https://www.amazon.com/Camelots-End-Kennedy-Carter-Democratic/dp/1455591386/

This post is the one-hundred and sixty-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]

This book was an interesting follow-up to having just finished the book “President Carter.”
Fascinating read. I actually enjoy reading about the political tactics that go on inside election campaigns. ;-)


Book Description from Amazon:

From a strange, dark chapter in American political history comes the captivating story of Ted Kennedy's 1980 campaign for president against the incumbent Jimmy Carter, told in full for the first time.

The Carter presidency was on life support. The Democrats, desperate to keep power and yearning to resurrect former glory, turned to Kennedy. And so, 1980 became a civil war. It was the last time an American president received a serious reelection challenge from inside his own party, the last contested convention, and the last all-out floor fight, where political combatants fought in real time to decide who would be the nominee. It was the last gasp of an outdated system, an insider's game that old Kennedy hands thought they had mastered, and the year that marked the unraveling of the Democratic Party as America had known it.

Camelot's End details the incredible drama of Kennedy's challenge -- what led to it, how it unfolded, and its lasting effects -- with cinematic sweep. It is a story about what happened to the Democratic Party when the country's long string of successes, luck, and global dominance following World War II ran its course, and how, on a quest to recapture the magic of JFK, Democrats plunged themselves into an intra-party civil war.

And, at its heart, Camelot's End is the tale of two extraordinary and deeply flawed men: Teddy Kennedy, one of the nation's greatest lawmakers, a man of flaws and of great character; and Jimmy Carter, a politically tenacious but frequently underestimated trailblazer. Comprehensive and nuanced, featuring new interviews with major party leaders and behind-the-scenes revelations from the time, Camelot's End presents both Kennedy and Carter in a new light, and takes readers deep inside a dark chapter in American political history.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? Let Me Finish

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? Let Me Finish: 

Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the 

Power of In-Your-Face Politics

by Chris Christie with Ellis Henican

 

https://www.amazon.com/Let-Me-Finish-Kushners-Your-Face/dp/0316421790/

This post is the one-hundred and sixty-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]


This one looked too good to pass up. Quick and interesting read of recent events of interest. Written by a politician from his point of view, with an eye toward the future as he shares his past experiences, through his viewpoint. My note: What he leaves out is almost as interesting as what he includes.


Book Description from Amazon:

From the outspoken former governor, an "explosive"(Guardian) account of Chris Christie's life in politics including his eye-opening insights into Donald Trump -- "you will like the stories he tells" (Brian Kilmeade).

After dropping out of the 2016 presidential race, Chris Christie stunned the political world by becoming the first major official to endorse Donald Trump. A friend of Trump's for fifteen years, the two-term New Jersey governor understood the future president as well as anyone in the political arena--and Christie quickly became one of Trump's most trusted advisers. Tapped with running Trump's transition team, Christie was nearly named his running mate. But within days of Trump's surprise victory over Hillary Clinton, Christie was in for his own surprise: he was being booted out.

In Let Me Finish, Christie sets the record straight about his tenure as a corruption-fighting prosecutor and a Republican running a Democratic state, as well as what really happened on the 2016 campaign trail and inside Trump Tower. Christie takes readers inside the ego-driven battles for Trump's attention among figures like Steve Bannon, Corey Lewandowksi, Reince Priebus, Kellyanne Conway, Jeff Sessions, and Paul Manafort. He shows how the literal trashing of Christie's transition plan put the new administration in the hands of self-serving amateurs, all but guaranteeing the Trump presidency's shaky start. Christie also addresses hot-button issues from his own years in power, including what really went down during Bridgegate. And, for the first time, Christie tells the full story of the Kushner saga: how, as a federal prosecutor, Christie put Jared Kushner's powerful father behind bars--a fact Trump's son-in-law makes Christie pay for later.

Packed with news-making revelations and told with the kind of bluntness few politicians can match, Christie's memoir is an essential guide to understanding the Trump presidency.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? Field of Bones

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? Field of Bones: 

A Brady Novel of Suspense (Joanna Brady Mysteries)
by J.A. Jance

https://www.amazon.com/Field-Bones-Suspense-Joanna-Mysteries/dp/0062657577/

This post is the one-hundred and sixtieth 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]


The latest by an author we started reading (and met and got to know) in Tucson, many years ago. One of the few authors Nancy and I both read each time a new one comes out. This Brady novel was especially good!! ;-)


Book Description from Amazon:

Sheriff Joanna Brady’s best intentions to stay on maternity leave take a hit when a serial homicide case rocks Cochise County, dragging her into a far-reaching investigation to bring down a relentless killer in this chilling tale of suspense from New York Times bestselling author J. A. Jance.
This time Sheriff Joanna Brady may expect to see her maternity leave through to completion, but the world has other plans when a serial homicide case surfaces in her beloved Cochise County. Rather than staying home with her newborn and losing herself in the cold cases to be found in her father’s long unread diaries, Joanna instead finds herself overseeing a complex investigation involving multiple jurisdictions.
Filled with the beloved characters, small town charm, vivid history, intriguing mystery, and the scenic Arizona desert backdrop that have made the Joanna Brady series perennial bestsellers, this latest entry featuring the popular sheriff is sure to please J. A. Jance’s legion of fans.




Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? Lying beneath the oaks

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? 
Lying beneath the oaks
by Kristin Wright

https://www.amazon.com/Lying-Beneath-Oaks-Kristin-Wright/dp/1622681436/

This post is the one-hundred and fifty-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]

A new novel by the sister of the husband of a cousin… have to read it, of course!  ;-)
A very different genre (one reviewer called it a southern gothic romantic suspense), for us, but curious to see how it reads…


Book Description from Amazon:

Molly Todd wakes up in a Vegas parking lot with a headache, a virtual stranger, and a wedding ring. Jobless and broke, she's left with no other option but to go home with new husband Cooper Middleton to the Lowcountry of South Carolina to straighten out the mess they've made. It's in Molly's best interest to get an annulment sooner rather than later--before her hosts find out that she's not the kind of guest anyone wants at their Thanksgiving dinner.

The more Molly gets to know Cooper and his family, the more she wonders if she and Cooper might have a real chance together. She longs to tell him her secret even though she knows the truth might get her kicked straight out into the nearby swamp. While she wavers, Molly's unusual life experiences allow her to spot the skeletons in the Middleton family closet: ones Cooper's never suspected, ones that are hidden in plain sight. What Molly discovers will shake Cooper's foundations--and could threaten both their lives.



Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? Marooned

It’s Monday, What are You Reading? Marooned:

Jamestown, Shipwreck, and a New History of America’s Origin
by Joseph Kelly

 

https://www.amazon.com/Marooned-Jamestown-Shipwreck-History-Americas/dp/163286777X/

This post is the one-hundred and fifty-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]


Christmas Book One from my Wish List… Thanks, Annette Lamb! ;-)


Book Description from Amazon:

For readers of Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower, a groundbreaking history that makes the case for replacing Plymouth Rock with Jamestown as America's founding myth.
We all know the great American origin story. It begins with an exodus. Fleeing religious persecution, the hardworking, pious Pilgrims thrived in the wilds of New England, where they built their fabled city on a hill. Legend goes that the colony in Jamestown was a false start, offering a cautionary tale. Lazy louts hunted gold till they starved, and the shiftless settlers had to be rescued by English food and the hard discipline of martial law.
Neither story is true. In Marooned, Joseph Kelly reexamines the history of Jamestown and comes to a radically different and decidedly American interpretation of these first Virginians.
In this gripping account of shipwrecks and mutiny in America's earliest settlements, Kelly argues that the colonists at Jamestown were literally and figuratively marooned, cut loose from civilization, and cast into the wilderness. The British caste system meant little on this frontier: those who wanted to survive had to learn to work and fight and intermingle with the nearby native populations. Ten years before the Mayflower Compact and decades before Hobbes and Locke, they invented the idea of government by the people. 150 years before Jefferson, they discovered the truth that all men were equal.
The epic origin of America was not an exodus and a fledgling theocracy. It is a tale of shipwrecked castaways of all classes marooned in the wilderness fending for themselves in any way they could--a story that illuminates who we are today.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)