We all learned about the Boston Massacre in school when we studied the American Revolution. We saw the image of the uniformed British soldiers firing on the unarmed citizens. We learned that it was one of the events that pushed us inexorably to the point of war. But we didn’t learn the whole story. I Read More
Category: Nonfiction
Paper Promises, by Mazie M Harris
This is almost a coffee-table book, which is interesting, since it actually mentions what was probably the first “coffee-table” book, although I’m not sure people even had what we consider coffee tables in 1861. The subtitle is Early American Photography, and while this book does discuss photography – a bit of the history, a little Read More
How the Scots Made America, by Michael Fry
While this is not a comprehensive survey of American history, it definitely covers quite a bit of it. And all of it in relation to Scots, or the descendants of Scots, who came to America. The author makes the point that the unique Scottish personality helped make Americans and America who and what we are Read More
Baptists & Bootleggers, by Kathryn Smith
The subtitle of this book is “A Prohibition Expedition Through the South . . .with Cocktail Recipes”. It does indeed include recipes. I did not try any of them, because I don’t have many of the ingredients or utensils for mixing drinks, but some of them sounded pretty good! The premise of this book is Read More
Homesteading the Plains, Toward a New History, by Richard Edwards, Jacob K Friefeld, & Rebecca S Wingo
Since two of the three authors teach history at the college level, this book is what you might call a scholarly work. It is still accessible for the casual historian, and very informative if your ancestor was actually a homesteader. While they focus their deepest analysis on Nebraska, they look at data from other plains Read More
Encountering Ellis Island, by Ronald H Bayor
This slim book is part of the “How Things Worked” series, and is subtitled “How European Immigrants Entered America”. However, the author describes not only Ellis Island and its predecessor Castle Garden, but also compares Angel Island, the West Coast entry point for many Asian immigrants. When I first started working on my family tree, Read More
Liar Temptress Soldier Spy, by Karen Abbot
These are the true stories of four women who all felt compelled to take action at the outbreak of the Civil War. Two worked to help the Union, two were loyal to the Confederacy. All risked their reputation, fortune, and/or life, and all paid a price for their dedication to their cause. But after reading Read More
Sod Busting by David B Danbom
The subtitle of this slim book is “How Families Made Farms on the Nineteenth-Century Plains”, and is part of a series of books called “How Things Worked”. The focus of this book is mainly Kansas, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota, between about 1862 and 1900. And the author does not describe just how farms Read More
Fourteenth Colony, by Mike Bunn
The subtitle of this book is “The Forgotten Story of the Gulf South During America’s Revolutionary Era”. We have all heard about the original thirteen colonies of the northeast and eastern coast, but we forget that West Florida was occupied by the British at this point in time, as well. While residents of this colony Read More
The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson
This is almost two books, one about the creation of the Chicago World’s Fair, or World’s Columbian Exposition; the other basically a true crime story about a serial killer who took advantage of the Fair to lure some of his victims. He is the “devil” of the title; the White City was the nickname for Read More