The subtitle is “A Modern Pilgrim’s Journey on the Great Wagon Road”. So this is part travelogue, part history lesson. Personally, I’m more interested in the history, but Dodson does make the journey itself interesting. While he has obviously planned ahead, and set up meetings with various experts along the way, he also serendipitously encounters Read More
Category: Nonfiction
American Midnight, by Adam Hochschild
This book discusses the years just before, during, and after The Great War. The subtitle is “The Great War, A Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis”. Hochschild starts with the entry of the United States into the War to End All Wars, and it was a little messier than we probably realize. Many people wanted Read More
The Whiskey Rebellion, by William Hogeland
This is one of those incidents in American history that don’t get talked about much, especially in High School history classes. In their defense, it is probably because it is a complicated subject, and class time is limited. But it is something that people who care about early American history should at least be aware Read More
America Eats!, by Pat Willard
One of the projects of the Works Progress Administration was to assign several writers and photographers to document how and what Americans were eating in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. However, the WPA program was ended before the material that had been created could be published. Some of this material has been lost, but Read More
After the Revolution, by Joseph J Ellis
The subtitle of this book is “Profiles in Early American Culture”. Ellis looks at four men who were prominent in the early days of America, just after the revolution. These were not necessarily typical Americans, however. Each were prominent, and well known at that time, in a different area of arts or letters. Only one Read More
Daily Life in Immigrant America, 1870-1920, by June Granatir Alexander
The subtitle of this book is “How the Second Great Wave of Immigrants Made Their Way in America”. The time frame, 1870 to 1920, is when the largest group of immigrants arrived on our shores. This is between the Civil War, until just after World War I, when immigration rules were tightened to exclude numerous Read More
The Small and the Mighty, by Sharon McMahon
In this book, McMahon looks at several people who made a difference in the lives of the people around them. A few are still relatively well known on the national stage; most have faded into obscurity. Some were focused more on their small corner of the world, even though their actions may have had larger Read More
As Various as Their Land, by Winifred Gallagher
The subtitle of this book is “The Everyday Lives of Eighteenth-Century Americans”. This book is part of a series – “The Everyday Life in America Series”, which consists of six books, by as many authors, which start in “Early America” and go through 1945. Many of the other books discuss changes during and between different Read More
The Uncertainty of Everyday Life, 1915-1945, by Harvey Green
The author describes the changes in the United States that would have affected what life would have been like for our ancestors between 1915 and 1945. This book is part of a series – “The Everyday Life in America Series”, which consists of six books, by as many authors, which start in “Early America” and Read More
Victorian America, by Thomas J Schlereth
The author describes the changes in the United States that would have affected what life would have been like for our ancestors between 1876 and 1915. This book is part of a series – “The Everyday Life in America Series”, which consists of six books, by as many authors, which start in “Early America” and Read More