Articles tagged "american history"

Books Review

East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart by Susan Butler

by Christel Loar

[17.Nov.09] :. Butler's book illustrates the fact that Amelia Earhart became the embodiment of adventurous spirit because she was such a formidable force.

Recent Book reviews

Books Review

Slumming: Sexual and Racial Encounters in American Nightlife, 1885-1940 by Chad Heap

by Chadwick Jenkins

[9.Oct.09] :. If you want to understand race and sexuality in the United States, don't bother with policy -- look at entertainment!

Recent Book reviews

Books Review

Meriwether Lewis by Thomas C. Danisi

by Michael Patrick Brady

[8.Jun.09] :. Danisi and Jackson claim a definitive explanation for Lewis' dramatic final act, and move to dispel the more sensationalist and macabre embellishments that have tarnished his reputation in the 200 years since his death.

Recent Book reviews

Books Review

Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, by John Stauffer

by Michael Patrick Brady

[18.Nov.08] :. Stauffer demonstrates in amusing and enlightening fashion the pivotal role fisticuffs and fighting had in helping Lincoln and Douglass define themselves and take control of their fates.

Recent Book reviews

Books Review

It Still Moves by Amanda Petrusich

by Derek Beres

[30.Oct.08] :. Petrusich is not concerned with how many records are sold or what tactics artists use in the studio. Her approach is more intangible, hence more emotionally tactile.

Recent Book reviews

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

by Michael Patrick Brady

[24.Oct.08] :. American Exceptionalism has the potential to spur great innovation and bring about profound change, yet it can also be a destructive, insular force that pits the country against those who dare question its authority.

The United Symbolism of America by Robert Hieronimus and Laura Cortner

by Michael Noble

[12.Aug.08] :. The symbols aren’t sinister -- we’ve just forgotten how to read them. These days, if something isn’t clear in a literal sense, it is inherently suspicious.

A Treasury of Foolishly Forgotten Americans by Michael Farquhar

by Kim Simpson

[20.May.08] :. You may be galvanized to the point that you grab foolish historical forgetfulness by the throat and form a William J. Burns awareness society.

The Jamestown Project by Karen Ordahl Kupperman

by Michael Patrick Brady

[30.Aug.07] :. For as long as it's been a part of history, the colony at Jamestown has been a bit of an older, ugly stepsister compared to the Pilgrims at Plymouth.

American Food Writing by Molly ONeill [Editor]

by Erika Nanes

[2.Aug.07] :. Any food lover will tell you that to learn about a culture, one can do no better than to pull up a chair and pick up a fork.

The Fabric of America by Andro Linklater

by Frank Wilson [The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)]

[17.Jul.07] :. Linklater offers an account of the extent to which clearly demarcated boundaries, of both the states and the nation, contributed to the formation of the American character.

The Jamestown Project by Karen Ordahl Kupperman

by Carlin Romano [The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)]

[18.May.07] :. All nations need foundation tales. If they don't exist, it's necessary to invent them. And if the real story doesn't play well, foundation myths come in handy. At least until the real story comes back to bite.

Savage Peace: Hope and Fear in America 1919 by Ann Hagedorn

by Pat McCoid [McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)]

[10.May.07] :. A turbulent year overlooked in its niche between the Great War and the Roaring '20s... when hope dissolved into disappointment and fear put a chokehold on social progress.

Doing Nothing by Tom Lutz

by Jason B. Jones

[9.May.07] :. Lutz's book is charming and graceful, long on anecdote and telling details, if perhaps short on coherent story or even organizing principle.