Have you considered writing a memoir?

Have you considered writing a memoir?

Blog posts or articles that discuss 'writing a memoir' tend to catch my attention. Having led a long life, already, I suppose I'd like to believe there are some of my stories that would make a decent memoir... certainly not a life story, but a memoir.

What makes a good memoir?

From his post of that title on his blog: 'Family History & Memoirs' Biff Barnes says:

"Values, honesty, intimacy and discovery – not a bad list of goals to strive for in writing your memoir."
Biff Barnes


What do you think?

Happy Reading! 

Dr. Bill  ;-)

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Washington by Ron Chernow

It's Monday, What are You Reading?

Washington: A Life 

by Ron Chernow

This is the twenty-first entry for this meme, suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books.

I finally finished Team of Rivals on my kindle and am now taking on Washington: A Life, by Ron Chernow... I also have this in hard cover, but it is heavy... so I'll be reading it on the Kindle, in waiting rooms and while my wife is shopping... another good read, it appears from the early pages.

George Washington, of course, was a contemporary of my 5th great grandfather, Sergeant Major William Kinnick, who served under Washington (and a few intermediate commanders, of course) in the Revolutionary War. I am currently researching and working on a first draft of a non-fictiion account of the world this ancestor inhabited. Chernow's book is certainly one additional excellent reference.

Note, announced April 18, 2011: Pulitzer Prize for Biography to Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow, "a sweeping, authoritative portrait of an iconic leader learning to master his private feelings in order to fulfill his public duties."
Source: http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2011-Biography-or-Autobiography 

A Description from Publishers Weekly on the Amazon site:

In his introduction, veteran biographer Chernow is clear about his goals. Using the recent "explosion of research," he wants to render George Washington "real" and "credible," to replace "frosty respect" with "visceral appreciation." In many respects, Chernow succeeds. He gives us a Washington who starts with limited education and means and, through a remarkable combination of timely deaths, an incredible capacity for hard work, a shrewd marriage, astonishing physical hardiness and courage, a propensity for land speculation, and a gift for finding influential patrons, transforms himself into a soldier, well-to-do planter, local official, and eventually the only real choice to command the Continental army, preside over the Constitutional Convention, and serve as the first president. Chernow makes familiar scenes fresh (like the crossing of the Delaware) and expertly brings the provisional revolutionary and early Republican eras to life. Along the way, however, he mistakes "visceral" for ardent; while he never hides Washington's less than saintly moments or shirks the vexed question of slavery, he often seems to ignore the data he's collected. Examples of shady dealing are quickly followed by tales of Washington's unimpeachable ethics or impeccable political savvy. At times it feels as if Chernow, for all his careful research and talent for synthesis, is in the grip of a full-scale crush. The result is a good book that would have been great if better edited, and if Chernow had trusted that Washington's many merits, even when accompanied by his faults, would speak for themselves.

*****

I've previously read 10-12 biographies of Washington, so I look forward to how this one more may, or may not, be different, or add to our better understanding of this "Father of our Country."
*****

Happy Reading,

Bill  ;-)

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Driven West by A.J. Langguth

It's Monday, What are You Reading? 

Driven West by A.J. Langguth

This is the twentieth entry for this meme, suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books.

I have generally avoided the Jacksonian era, but am now tippy-toeing into it. I've been working on Team of Rivals on the Civil War and the last book noted here on President Polk. "Driven West" is a bit of a 'gap filler' and also has implications here in Souther Missouri because the "Trail of Tears" passed by here.

From Booklist on Amazon:

Excluding the most die-hard southern apologists, there is a consensus among historians that the original sin of slavery lay at the root of the sectional strife that developed into the Civil War. Within that consensus, however, there remains considerable debate. Why, for example, did the strife break out into a full-blown civil war, and why did it break out when it did? Langguth asserts that the uprooting of the so-called Five Civilized Tribes under the Jackson administration set in motion a train of events that led to the Mexican War. To illustrate his argument, Langguth traces four decades of American history between the end of the War of 1812 and the end of the Mexican War. He does so primarily by providing examinations of the personalities and actions of key players in those decades, including Henry Clay, John Calhoun, John Quincy Adams, and Cherokee leaders Major Ridge and John Ross. Langguth may not prove a direct line of causation to the Civil War, but he writes well and provides interesting insights into the actions of these men. --Jay Freeman

 

Happy Reading!

Bill  ;-) 

It's Monday, What are You Reading? James K. Polk book

It's Monday, What are You Reading? 

James K. Polk book

This is the nineteenth entry for this meme, suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books.

This week, I have started reading a book that has been on my shelf for awhile, but now is the time I am ready to read it. Having read Team of Rivals up to where the Civil War actually started, I'm going to continue it on the Kindle, as we approach the 150th anniversary of the various events.

This current book now "feels right" to me because it is just a little earlier in history and will provide some additional background on the story of the times that I just read, from a different perspective.

A Country of Vast Designs: 

James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent 

by Robert W. Merry

Product Description from Amazon:
When James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, the United States was locked in a bitter diplomatic struggle with Britain over the rich lands of the Oregon Territory, which included what is now Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Texas, not yet part of the Union, was threatened by a more powerful Mexico. And the territories north and west of Texas -- what would become California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado -- belonged to Mexico. When Polk relinquished office four years later, the country had grown by more than a third as all these lands were added. The continental United States, as we know it today, was established -- facing two oceans and positioned to dominate both.

In a one-term presidency, Polk completed the story of America's Manifest Destiny -- extending its territory across the continent, from sea to sea, by threatening England and manufacturing a controversial and unpopular two-year war with Mexico that Abraham Lincoln, in Congress at the time, opposed as preemptive.

Robert Merry tells this story through powerful debates and towering figures -- the outgoing President John Tyler and Polk's great mentor, Andrew Jackson; his defeated Whig opponent, Henry Clay; two famous generals, Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott; Secretary of State James Buchanan (who would precede Lincoln as president); Senate giants Thomas Hart Benton and Lewis Cass; Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun; and ex-president Martin Van Buren, like Polk a Jackson protégé but now a Polk rival.

This was a time of tremendous clashing forces. A surging antislavery sentiment was at the center of the territorial fight. The struggle between a slave-owning South and an opposing North was leading inexorably to Civil War. In a gripping narrative, Robert Merry illuminates a crucial epoch in U.S. history.

Happy Reading!

Bill  ;-)

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Team of Rivals

It's Monday, What are You Reading? Team of Rivals

This is the eighteenth entry for this meme, suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books.

As I noted last week, I finished reading "Private Life" by Jane Smily on the Kindle. I read it waiting for my wife in the Doctor's Office, the Lab work, and Urgent care, etc. Good waiting room reading. I like this kind of reading for these situations. I am just past a quarter through, starting the second year of his administration, with: "White House Diary" by Jimmy Carter, also on the Kindle.

In my other reading and writing I was recently reminded, with the 150th anniversary of the 'official' start of the Civil War just a few months away, that I have not yet read: "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goddwin. The very large book has been sitting on my "to read" shelf for four years - it is simply to heavy to handle, it seems. Now, however, with my early Kindle experience, that has changed. My wife was good enough to get the Kindle edition for my Kindle, and at her 45 minute shoulder therapy session today, I began to read Team of Rivals - I am so happy.  ;-)

Here is the Publishers Weekly comment from the Amazon website:

Pulitzer Prize–winner Goodwin (No Ordinary Time) seeks to illuminate what she interprets as a miraculous event: Lincoln's smooth (and, in her view, rather sudden) transition from underwhelming one-term congressman and prairie lawyer to robust chief executive during a time of crisis. Goodwin marvels at Lincoln's ability to co-opt three better-born, better-educated rivals—each of whom had challenged Lincoln for the 1860 Republican nomination. The three were New York senator William H. Seward, who became secretary of state; Ohio senator Salmon P. Chase, who signed on as secretary of the treasury and later was nominated by Lincoln to be chief justice of the Supreme Court; and Missouri's "distinguished elder statesman" Edward Bates, who served as attorney general. This is the "team of rivals" Goodwin's title refers to.The problem with this interpretation is that the metamorphosis of Lincoln to Machiavellian master of men that Goodwin presupposes did not in fact occur overnight only as he approached the grim reality of his presidency. The press had labeled candidate Lincoln "a fourth-rate lecturer, who cannot speak good grammar." But East Coast railroad executives, who had long employed Lincoln at huge prices to defend their interests as attorney and lobbyist, knew better. Lincoln was a shrewd political operator and insider long before he entered the White House—a fact Goodwin underplays. On another front, Goodwin's spotlighting of the president's three former rivals tends to undercut that Lincoln's most essential Cabinet-level contacts were not with Seward, Chase and Bates, but rather with secretaries of war Simon Cameron and Edwin Stanton, and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles. These criticisms aside, Goodwin supplies capable biographies of the gentlemen on whom she has chosen to focus, and ably highlights the sometimes tangled dynamics of their "team" within the larger assemblage of Lincoln's full war cabinet.

Happy Reading!

Bill  ;-)

It's Monday, What are You Reading? White House Diary

It's Monday, What are You Reading? White House Diary

This is the seventeenth entry for this meme, suggested by Sheila@ One Persons Journey Through A World of Books.


I just finished reading "Private Life" by Jane Smily on the Kindle. I read it waiting for my wife in the Doctor's Office, the Lab work, and Urgent care, etc. Good waiting room reading. I like this kind of reading for these situations.

My new reading on the Kindle is "White House Diary" by Jimmy Carter. I have always be fascinated by Presidential activities, beginning with George Washington, of course. I rarely read recent presidential books, but decided this distinctive perspective might be interesting. Here is the product description from Amazon:

"Each day during his presidency, Jimmy Carter made several entries in a private diary, recording his thoughts, impressions, delights, and frustrations. He offered unvarnished assessments of cabinet members, congressmen, and foreign leaders; he narrated the progress of secret negotiations such as those that led to the Camp David Accords. When his four-year term came to an end in early 1981, the diary amounted to more than five thousand pages. But this extraordinary document has never been made public—until now.

By carefully selecting the most illuminating and relevant entries, Carter has provided us with an astonishingly intimate view of his presidency. Day by day, we see his forceful advocacy for nuclear containment, sustainable energy, human rights, and peace in the Middle East. We witness his interactions with such complex personalities as Ted Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, Joe Biden, Anwar Sadat, and Menachem Begin. We get the inside story of his so-called “malaise speech,” his bruising battle for the 1980 Democratic nomination, and the Iranian hostage crisis. Remarkably, we also get Carter’s retrospective comments on these topics and more: thirty years after the fact, he has annotated the diary with his candid reflections on the people and events that shaped his presidency, and on the many lessons learned.

Carter is now widely seen as one of the truly wise men of our time. Offering an unprecedented look at both the man and his tenure, this fascinating book will stand as a unique contribution to the history of the American presidency."

Happy Reading!

Bill  ;-)

Happy New Year 2011!

Writing plans for 2011

As a retired 71+ year old person (professor), making "New Years Resolutions" is really not especially useful.

First, I am retired; I can do pretty much as I wish (if my wife doesn't object) most any time I wish.

Second, family comes first - grandpa, husband, father, brother, uncle, etc.

Third, I have a contract to teach an/my on-line university course in the Spring.

FInally, with the time left, I write.

1. I expect to complete and publish my second novel in the Spring of 2011. I will continue to promote both novels through appropriate activities throughout the year.

2. I will continue to write weekly articles for Examiner.com on both my topic areas: Springfield Genealogy Examiner and Ozark Cultural Heritage Examiner.

http://www.examiner.com/genealogy-in-springfield-mo/dr-bill-william-l-smith
http://www.examiner.com/cultureal-heritage-in-springfield-mo/dr-bill-william-l-smith

3. I will continue to research and begin to write the non-fiction Revolutionary War family history book on Sergeant Major William Kinnick.

4. I will continue to research and write the non-fiction family history book on my great-grandfather Michael Smith.

5. I will continue my primary blogs, with most entries related to the research, writing and promoting I am doing at the time.

Dr. Bill Tells Ancestor Stories
Dr. Bill on Retirement
Dr. Bill's Book Bazaar
The Homeplace Series Blog
The KINNICK Project

6. As mid-year approaches, I will step up the Civil War research and writing for my young adult Civil War novel and "The Beginnings" novel in "The Homeplace" series.

Happy Reading!  ;-)