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Monday, April 21, 2014

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Our Lives, Our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor




It's Monday, What are You Reading? 
Our Lives, Our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor
by Richard R. Beeman



This post is the seventy-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]



This was a book I received at Christmas off of my Amazon Wish List.


Amazon Book Description:

In 1768, Philadelphia physician Benjamin Rush stood before the empty throne of King George III, overcome with emotion as he gazed at the symbol of America’s connection with England. Eight years later, he became one of the fifty-six men to sign the Declaration of Independence, severing America forever from its mother country. Rush was not alone in his radical decision—many of those casting their votes in favor of independence did so with a combination of fear, reluctance, and even sadness.
In Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor, acclaimed historian Richard R. Beeman examines the grueling twenty-two-month period between the meeting of the Continental Congress on September 5, 1774 and the audacious decision for independence in July of 1776. As late as 1774, American independence was hardly inevitable—indeed, most Americans found it neither desirable nor likely. When delegates from the thirteen colonies gathered in September, they were, in the words of John Adams, “a gathering of strangers.” Yet over the next two years, military, political, and diplomatic events catalyzed a change of unprecedented magnitude: the colonists’ rejection of their British identities in favor of American ones. In arresting detail, Beeman brings to life a cast of characters, including the relentless and passionate John Adams, Adams’ much-misunderstood foil John Dickinson, the fiery political activist Samuel Adams, and the relative political neophyte Thomas Jefferson, and with profound insight reveals their path from subjects of England to citizens of a new nation.
A vibrant narrative, Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor tells the remarkable story of how the delegates to the Continental Congress, through courage and compromise, came to dedicate themselves to the forging of American independence.

Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Comfort of Fences - Book Review - Virtual Book Tour



Comfort of Fences 
Book Review
Virtual Book Tour
 
 
 I am pleased to participate in this long tour - visit each of the sites, to get a great look at this fine book, starting here, with the complete schedule:

http://theteddyrosebookreviewsplusmore.com/2014/04/book-tour-giveaway-comfort-of-fences-by-stacy-overman-morrison.htm




Publisher: Telemachus Press (October 17, 2013)

Category: Contemporary Fiction/ Women's Fiction/ Family Saga

ISBN: 978-1939927569

Available in: Print & ebook,  244 Pages

Comfort of Fences explores the unconditional love between a trio of women: Ruth, the matriarch and builder of boundaries; Denise, her special-needs adult daughter with powerful secrets of her own; and Georgia, Ruth's best friend and source of strength and practicality. The dynamics of their relationships expose the ironies that the people we love the most can also be the people we most underestimate and that the strongest of loves has nothing to do with romance.


About Stacy Overman Morrison:

Stacy Overman Morrison was born and raised in Texas. She earned her Bachelor's and Master's of Arts degrees in English from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. Upon completion of her Master's, she taught secondary English and adjuncted at the University. She took time off from her teaching career after the birth of her second daughter and has pursued her writing since. She continues to live in Texas with her husband, two daughters, two dogs, and two horses. This is her first novel and she is hard at work listening to the voices of her characters in her second.

Website: http://www.stacyomorrison
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stacyomorrisonauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StacyOverMorr

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+StacyOvermanMorrison


My Review:

I was really looking forward to the story of these three women as outlined in the book preview. I was not disappointed in the relationships built and expounded as the story proceeded. Each of the three had distinctive characteristics that I found especially appealing. I am strongy attracted to stories of "family relationships" whether the characters are blood relatives or not. This certainly applied here.

Interdependencies occur in so many different ways as are well demonstrated in these relationships. I was not surprised by the ending as much as satisfied that the they reached this conclusion in spite of all the occurred in getting there.

For me, the only deficit to the book was the use of the dialect language for the younger lady. For me, it was totally distracting and totally unnecessary. I understood an a primal level who she was… I did not need to be reminded every paragraph. It almost made me put the book away, frankly.

Otherwise, I highly recommend this book about relationship, if you can handle the one issue I found disappointing in the presentation.


Added note: Stacy was just on television to talk about the book.  It was uploaded to You Tube, so they can view it there.

Here is the link: http://youtu.be/H2TlNSjUkEM

Happy Reading,

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, April 14, 2014

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Among the Powers of the Earth


It's Monday, What are You Reading?
Among the Powers of the Earth

Among the Powers of the Earth:
The American Revolution and the Making of a New World Empire,
by Eliga H. Gould


This post is the seventy-seventh 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 was a book I received at Christmas off of my Amazon Wish List. I read it a little earlier, cover to cover, and just realized I did not post it here, as I should have... ;-)


http://www.amazon.com/Among-Powers-Earth-American-Revolution-ebook/dp/B00838XRL0/

Amazon Book Description:

In this reappraisal of the American Revolution, Eliga Gould argues that the nation's founding was far from a straightforward bid for liberty and independence. Even as Americans strove to be free from Old World imperialism, they sought the recognition of Europe's imperial powers--and the authority to become colonizers in their own right and rule a New World empire.

Earlier, I wrote this about this book:
http://books.squidoo.com/full-of-meaning-for-today-as-well-as-200-years-ago
You may find this of interest, to learn more about the book, and why I liked it so much.


Happy Reading!


Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, April 7, 2014

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Unbecoming British


It's Monday, What are You Reading?
Unbecoming British:
How Revolutionary America Became a Postcolonial Nation
by Kariann Akemi Yokota
 

This post is the seventy-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 was a book I received at Christmas off of my Amazon Wish List.

Book Description from Amazon.com:

What can homespun cloth, stuffed birds, quince jelly, and ginseng reveal about the formation of early American national identity? In this wide-ranging and bold new interpretation of American history and its Founding Fathers, Kariann Akemi Yokota shows that political independence from Britain fueled anxieties among the Americans about their cultural inferiority and continuing dependence on the mother country. Caught between their desire to emulate the mother country and an awareness that they lived an ocean away on the periphery of the known world, they went to great lengths to convince themselves and others of their refinement. Taking a transnational approach to American history, Yokota examines a wealth of evidence from geography, the decorative arts, intellectual history, science, and technology to underscore that the process of "unbecoming British" was not an easy one. Indeed, the new nation struggled to define itself economically, politically, and culturally in what could be called America's postcolonial period. Out of this confusion of hope and exploitation, insecurity and vision, a uniquely American identity emerged.

Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)