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Monday, December 29, 2014

It's Monday, What are You Reading? West of the Revolution


It's Monday, What are You Reading?

West of the Revolution: 
An Uncommon History of 1776
by Claudio Saunt
 
 
http://www.amazon.com/West-Revolution-Uncommon-History-1776/dp/0393240207/



This post is the eighty-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]

Received this book, from my Wish List, as Christmas gift. Looks like a fun read, from the few snippets I read on Christmas Day. Not sure when I’ll actually get to it, but I know I will enjoy it! ;-)

Book Description from Amazon:

This panoramic account of 1776 chronicles the other revolutions unfolding that year across North America, far beyond the British colonies.

In 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense, the Continental Congress declared independence, and Washington crossed the Delaware. We are familiar with these famous moments in American history, but we know little about the extraordinary events occurring that same year far beyond the British colonies. In this distinctive history, Claudio Saunt tells an intriguing, largely untold story of an immense and restless continent connected in surprising ways.

In that pivotal year, the Spanish established the first European colony in San Francisco and set off a cataclysm for the region’s native residents. The Russians pushed into Alaska in search of valuable sea otters, devastating local Aleut communities. And the British extended their fur trade from Hudson Bay deep into the continent, sparking an environmental revolution that transformed America’s boreal forests.

While imperial officials in distant Europe maneuvered to control lands they knew almost nothing about, America's indigenous peoples sought their own advantage. Creek Indians navigated the Caribbean to explore trade with Cuba. The Osages expanded their dominion west of the Mississippi River, overwhelming the small Spanish outposts in the area. And the Sioux advanced across the Dakotas. One traditional Sioux history states that they first seized the Black Hills, the territory they now consider their sacred homeland, in 1776. "Two nations were born that year," Saunt writes. The native one would win its final military victory at the Battle of Little Bighorn one hundred years later.
From the Aleutian Islands to the Gulf Coast and across the oceans to Europe’s imperial capitals, Saunt’s masterfully researched narrative reveals an interconnected web of history that spans not just the forgotten parts of North America but the entire globe.

Richly illustrated, with maps that reenvision a familiar landscape, West of the Revolution explores a turbulent continent in a year of many revolutions. [22 illlustrations, 15 maps]


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, December 15, 2014

It's Monday, What are You Reading? John Quincy Adams


It's Monday, What are You Reading? 
John Quincy Adams:
American Visionary
by Fred Kaplan





This post is the eighty-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]

John Quincy is on my “most fascinating” list… I even read the biography of his wife! And, there is another biography of JQA coming out in January… I’ll read it, as well, I’m sure. Reading the large Kaplan bio on my Kindle, over the holidays

Book Description from Amazon:

Fred Kaplan, the acclaimed, award-winning author of Lincoln, returns with John Quincy Adams, an illuminating biography of one of the most overlooked presidents in American history—a leader of sweeping perspective whose progressive values helped shape the course of the nation.
In this fresh and lively biography rich in literary analysis and new historical detail, Fred Kaplan brings into focus the dramatic life of John Quincy Adams—the little known and much misunderstood sixth president of the United States and the first son of John and Abigail Adams—and persuasively demonstrates how Adams's inspiring, progressive vision guided his life and helped shape the course of America.
Kaplan draws on a trove of unpublished archival material to trace Adams's evolution from his childhood during the Revolutionary War to his brilliant years as Secretary of State to his time in the White House and beyond. He examines Adams's myriad sides: the public and private man, the statesman and writer, the wise thinker and passionate advocate, the leading abolitionist and fervent federalist who believed strongly in both individual liberty and the government's role as an engine of progress and prosperity. In these ways—and in his energy, empathy, sharp intellect, and powerful gift with words both spoken and written—he was a predecessor of Lincoln and, later, FDR and Obama. Indeed, this sweeping biography makes clear how Adams's forward-thinking values, his definition of leadership, and his vision for the nation's future is as much about twenty-first century America as it is about Adams's own time.
Meticulously researched and masterfully written, John Quincy Adams paints a rich portrait of this brilliant leader and his significance to the nation and our own lives.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, December 8, 2014

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Chase Time


It's Monday, What are You Reading? 
 
Chase Time
by Craig Van Langen


http://www.amazon.com/Chase-Time-Craig-Van-Langen-ebook/dp/B00O3VT5P8/



This post is the eighty-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 ebook was recommended by my daughter, Allison King, as written by a high school classmate of hers. I generally don’t read SyFy, but I enjoyed this one!



Book Description from Amazon:

Chase Dixon was a typical Midwestern teenager, just trying to get through life. That is, until his neighbor, Brenna Reid, comes home to find her mother missing—kidnapped. Now, the pair is off on a frantic rescue mission that will take them halfway around the world, trying to stay one step ahead of secretive government agents and powerful villains, to a mysterious island where they will discover secrets and horrors that will change their lives and their views of history and the world forever.




Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)

Monday, December 1, 2014

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Saving Lincoln



It's Monday, What are You Reading? 
Saving Lincoln
by Robert Kresge


http://www.amazon.com/Saving-Lincoln-Robert-Kresge-ebook/dp/B00CR7Z20W/

This post is the eighty-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]


This is a book my wife picked out for me and loaded on my Kindle, while I was reading the Robert E. Lee biography. Amazingly, the settings, battles, etc. are very much the same. I enjoyed reading this fiction book - immediately following the Lee biography!


Book Description from Amazon:

In the closing days of the Civil War, Beth Wendland, a Union spy in Richmond, learns of a Confederate plot to send a wagon bomb to blow up the White House and kill President Lincoln and his top generals. Abandoned by her political masters, Beth must evade Rebel soldiers and the bomb's mastermind to deliver the information to Washington before the conspirators can launch their deadly attack.
Assisted by the Federal officer who loves her, Beth risks more than her life to snuff out the burning fuse of the world's first vehicle bomb and prevent disaster on the eve of victory.


Happy Reading!

Dr. Bill  ;-)