Book Review: Looking for Humboldt & Searching for German Footprints in New Mexico and Beyond by Erika Schelby The author is a German immigrant to New Mexico. While studying the history of her new state, she learned that Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), the famous Prussian naturalist and explorer, had passed through what would become New… Continue reading Book Review: Looking for Humboldt & Searching for German Footprints in New Mexico and Beyond
Tag: Thomas Jefferson
Book Review: Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of THE BIRDS OF AMERICA
Book Review: Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of THE BIRDS OF AMERICA by William Souder When John James Audubon arrived in Philadelphia in 1824, he carried with him a portfolio of beautiful bird paintings he hoped to turn into a book, and a backstory of childhood in Louisiana, being the… Continue reading Book Review: Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of THE BIRDS OF AMERICA
Book Review: Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession and the President’s War Powers
Book Review: Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession and the President’s War Powers by James E. Simon Those of us with a cursory knowledge of American history, like myself, have heard of the Dred Scott decision of 1857, in which Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney opined that the black man had no… Continue reading Book Review: Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession and the President’s War Powers
Comic Book Review: Action Presidents: George Washington
Comic Book Review: Action Presidents: George Washington by Fred van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey Our story begins with two modern tweens glued to their portal screen devices while Parson Weems bores them with the cherry tree legend. The day is salvaged when Noah the Historkey appears and reveals that George Washington’s father Augustine didn’t raise… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Action Presidents: George Washington
Book Review: Abraham Lincoln: Selected Speeches and Writings
Book Review: Abraham Lincoln: Selected Speeches and Writings by Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was the sixteenth president of the United States, shepherding the nation through the dark days of the American Civil War. Though mostly self-educated, he had a gift for the English language, making memorable speeches and writing interest letters. Because of his… Continue reading Book Review: Abraham Lincoln: Selected Speeches and Writings
Book Review: The Penguin Guide to the United States Constitution
Book Review: The Penguin Guide to the United States Constitution by Richard Beeman After the last book I reviewed, I felt I needed something a bit more intellectually challenging to recharge my brain cells. Thus this volume, which contains not just the annotated text of the United States Constitution, but the Declaration of Independence, selections… Continue reading Book Review: The Penguin Guide to the United States Constitution
Comic Book Review: Alexander Hamilton
Comic Book Review: Alexander Hamilton written by Jonathan Hennessey, art by Justin Greenwood. Alexander Hamilton (1757?-1804) was born in the West Indies, immigrated to the mainland American colonies in his teens, fought in the American Revolution, and served as the first Secretary of the Treasury under George Washington. He was killed in a duel with… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Alexander Hamilton
Book Review: The Rebels
Book Review: The Rebels by John Jakes Philip Kent, nee Phillipe Charboneau, would much rather be at home, caring for his pregnant wife Anne. But after he was forced to kill his murderous half-brother in self-defense, Philip has gone all in for the cause of the rebels against British rule. Thus it is that on June… Continue reading Book Review: The Rebels
Book Review: Jefferson’s America
Book Review: Jefferson’s America by Julie M. Fenster In 1803, many people in the fledgling United States expected a Louisiana War, as the Spanish had forbidden American shipping from passing down the Mississippi and through the port of New Orleans. That didn’t happen, as the Spanish were induced to yield the Louisiana Territory to their… Continue reading Book Review: Jefferson’s America
Book Review: In the South Dakota Country
Book Review: In the South Dakota Country by Effie Florence Putney This is a history of South Dakota written for grade school children in the 1920s, when the frontier days were still in living memory. (Indeed, my mother was educated in a one-room schoolhouse some years later.) This was before Mount Rushmore and Wall Drug,… Continue reading Book Review: In the South Dakota Country