I had thought that this book would cover the history of the American railroad system, and it does. However, it also covers the history of railroad systems around the world. So, the level of information is in some cases very broad, but not terribly deep. Having said that, I did learn a couple of things Read More
Geneature
American Aristocrats, by Harry S Stout
The author tracks the Anderson family, starting with the patriarch, Richard Clough Anderson, through the next two generations. This was made easier by two things – there is a lot of correspondence between the family members, and a few other individuals, that is still extant, and this family was acquainted with, or was distantly related Read More
Murder Between the Lines, by Radha Vatsal
This is the second, and so far last book, about Kitty Weeks. The first was “A Front Page Affair”, which I posted about in February of 2022. Kitty is still working as a reporter for the Ladies’ Page of a New York newspaper, and still living in a grand apartment with her wealthy father, still Read More
Diamonds and Deadlines, by Betsy Prioleau
This is a biography of a woman I had never heard of, although I was familiar with her husband’s name. Nothing unusual there, especially since this woman lived in the late 19th century. And the reason I had heard of her husband is also the reason she was able to become wealthy and well-known.in her Read More
The Trees, by Conrad Richter
I had never heard of this book, which I find a little surprising, as it is very reminiscent of the “Little House” series. I think one reason that this has not had the same amount of interest is that the family detailed in this book is not as “photogenic” as the Wilder family. Also, this Read More
The Cause, by Joseph J Ellis
The subtitle is “The American Revolution and its Discontents, 1773-1783”. This book is somewhat of an overview of some of the people involved in the Revolution, without going into too much detail about specific battles. This author discusses the major players in the time period instead. He spends much of the book, understandably, on George Read More
The Santa Claus Man, by Alex Palmer
The title makes this sound like a cheerful Yuletide story, but the holiday is not the focus of this book. The focus is a man called John Duval Gluck, who started out trying to make sure poor New York City children had at least one gift for Christmas, but at some point, his goals shifted. Read More
Home Fires, by Sean Patrick Adams
The subtitle of this “How Things Worked” book is How Americans Kept Warm in the Nineteenth Century. The author starts by discussing how even before the American Revolution, in the larger East Coast cities, wintertime could bring a shortage of fire wood. The heating method, and cooking method, at the time was a hearth using Read More
A Square Meal, by Jane Ziegelman & Andrew Coe
The subtitle of this book is “A Culinary History of the Great Depression”, which is what tempted me to read it. I was assuming that there would be recipes. Well, you know what they say about the word “assume”. There are a several recipes from that era, very few of which I would want to Read More
Middling Folk, by Linda H Matthews
This book tells the saga of one family, the Hammills, through several generations. Matthews starts her story in Scotland, moves to Ireland, and then brings her ancestors into the American colonies, before the Revolution. The title refers to the fact that the people she writes about were neither very rich and at the top of Read More