What difference does a name make?

What difference does a name make?

What difference does a name make?

Bob Greene, writing for CNN, posted this story that is very telling. Each of us as authors and prospective authors needs to fully understand the implications of what this story tells us.

Publishing is a very fickle busy - we all know that, I hope, but this really brings it home.

Each of us must decide, on our own, what it means to us.

What will you decide?

Happy reading... and writing!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Old Man River

It's Monday, What are You Reading?

Old Man River: The MIssissippi River in North American History

by Paul Schneider

This post is the 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]

I received this Advanced Readers copy as part of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

From the Publisher, on Amazon:

In Old Man River, Paul Schneider tells the story of the river at the center of America’s rich history—the Mississippi. Some fifteen thousand years ago, the majestic river provided Paleolithic humans with the routes by which early man began to explore the continent’s interior. Since then, the river has been the site of historical significance, from the arrival of Spanish and French explorers in the 16th century to the Civil War. George Washington fought his first battle near the river, and Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman both came to President Lincoln’s attention after their spectacular victories on the lower Mississippi.
In the 19th century, home-grown folk heroes such as Daniel Boone and the half-alligator, half-horse, Mike Fink, were creatures of the river. Mark Twain and Herman Melville led their characters down its stream in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Confidence-Man. A conduit of real-life American prowess, the Mississippi is also a river of stories and myth.
Schneider traces the history of the Mississippi from its origins in the deep geologic past to the present. Though the busiest waterway on the planet today, the Mississippi remains a paradox—a devastated product of American ingenuity, and a magnificent natural wonder.





Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Revolutionary Summer

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Revolutionary Summer

Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence 

by Joseph J. Ellis

This post is the 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]


My middle daughter, Allison, got this one for me for my Birthday.
Joseph Ellis wrote 'Founding Brothers" in 2000 which was one the books that really got me started reading about the American Revolutionary period. I have since read, I will guess, 50-60 books, perhaps more, including biographies and other non-fiction works of the period.

From the Publisher, on Amazon:

A distinctive portrait of the crescendo moment in American history from the Pulitzer-winning American historian, Joseph Ellis.

The summer months of 1776 witnessed the most consequential events in the story of our country’s founding. While the thirteen colonies came together and agreed to secede from the British Empire, the British were dispatching the largest armada ever to cross the Atlantic to crush the rebellion in the cradle. The Continental Congress and the Continental Army were forced to make decisions on the run, improvising as history congealed around them. In a brilliant and seamless narrative, Ellis meticulously examines the most influential figures in this propitious moment, including George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Britain’s Admiral Lord Richard and General William Howe. He weaves together the political and military experiences as two sides of a single story, and shows how events on one front influenced outcomes on the other.
Revolutionary Summer tells an old story in a new way, with a freshness at once colorful and compelling.




Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Martha Jefferson Randolph

Martha Jefferson Randolph, Daughter of Monticello 

by Cynthia A. Kierner

This post is the 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]

My oldest daughter, Annette, got this one for me for my Birthday, today (back when we celebrated birthdays and anniversaries in Utah, a couple of weeks ago).

From the Publisher, on Amazon:

As the oldest and favorite daughter of Thomas Jefferson, Martha "Patsy" Jefferson Randolph (1772-1836) was extremely well educated, traveled in the circles of presidents and aristocrats, and was known on two continents for her particular grace and sincerity. Yet, as mistress of a large household, she was not spared the tedium, frustration, and great sorrow that most women of her time faced. Though Patsy's name is familiar because of her famous father, Kierner is the first historian to place Patsy at the center of her own story, taking readers into the largely ignored private spaces of the founding era. Randolph's life story reveals the privileges and limits of celebrity and shows that women were able to venture beyond their domestic roles in surprising ways.
Following her mother's death, Patsy lived in Paris with her father and later served as hostess at the President's House and at Monticello. Her marriage to Thomas Mann Randolph, a member of Congress and governor of Virginia, was often troubled. She and her eleven children lived mostly at Monticello, greeting famous guests and debating issues ranging from a woman's place to slavery, religion, and democracy. And later, after her family's financial ruin, Patsy became a fixture in Washington society during Andrew Jackson's presidency. In this extraordinary biography, Kierner offers a unique look at American history from the perspective of this intelligent, tactfully assertive woman.




Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Mastering Genealogical Proof

It's Monday, What are You Reading?

Mastering Genealogical Proof 

by Thomas W. Jones

This post is the 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]

My oldest daughter, Annette, was good enough to get me a copy for Father's Day, and got one for herself at the same time. I had written about the book earlier, and am looking forward to spending more time with it.

From the website for the book, at The National Genealogical Society:

"Mastering Genealogical Proof aims to help researchers, students and new family historians reconstruct relationships and lives of people they cannot see. It presents content in digestible chunks. Each chapter concludes with problems providing practice for proficiently applying the chapter's concepts. Those problems, like examples throughout the book, use real records, real research, and real issues. Answers are at the back along with a glossary of technical terms and and extensive resource list."

You can order your copy from the link, above.


[Cross-posted on Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories blog]

Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It's Monday, What are You Reading? The Presidents Club

It's Monday, What are You Reading? The Presidents Club

The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity

by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy

This post is the 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]


My oldest daughter, Annette, was good enough to get this fun book for me, on my Kindle, for Father's Day.  I love good books about the American Presidency. This is well researched and well written. Very insightful!


Book Description from Amazon.com:

The Presidents Club, established at Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration by Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover, is a complicated place: its members are bound forever by the experience of the Oval Office and yet are eternal rivals for history’s favor. Among their secrets: How Jack Kennedy tried to blame Ike for the Bay of Pigs. How Ike quietly helped Reagan win his first race in 1966. How Richard Nixon conspired with Lyndon Johnson to get elected and then betrayed him. How Jerry Ford and Jimmy Carter turned a deep enmity into an alliance. The unspoken pact between a father and son named Bush. And the roots of the rivalry between Clinton and Barack Obama.
Time magazine editors and presidential historians Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy offer a new and revealing lens on the American presidency, exploring the club as a hidden instrument of power that has changed the course of history.






Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Surrender the Wind

It's Monday, What are You Reading?

Surrender the Wind by Rita Gerlach

This post is the 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]


This "inspirational historical romance novel" was on my Kindle when I was sort of 'in between' books. It started out in the Virginia backwoods near the end of the Revolutionary War… the first chapter caught my attention, and I was hooked…  ;-)


Book Description from Amazon.com:
Publication Date: August 1, 2009:

(Inspirational Historical Romance) A quick~match tale of unexpected love . . . A fuse that burned rapidly. A tale of love and betrayal in Georgian England.

When Juleah Braxton meets her best friend's American brother, he is nothing what she imagined he would be. He is battle scared from the Revolution, determined to restore his father's home in Virginia when he unexpectedly inherits his grandfather's estate in faraway England. Juleah's independent spirit and gentle soul wins Seth's heart and she becomes lady of the manor, enraging the man who sought her hand and schemed to make Ten Width his own.



Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)