2nd Edition of the Carnival of African American Genealogy Posted!

The 2nd edition of the Carnival of African American Genealogy has been posted! You can read it here. The topic for the next edition will be on

"They Served With Honor ~ In Memoriam, African-Americans In The Military 1914-1953

Host: Amy Cain of Reconnected Roots

Military research can yield important genealogical information. Yet, many overlook this valuable resource. Have you researched military records for your African American ancestors? In your research, what did you find out about their service? If you have not done any research in military records, this CoAAG presents the perfect opportunity to get started.

For the 3rd Edition of the CoAAG, tell us about your African American ancestor(s) who served in the military and write a post to honor them. If you don’t have an African American ancestor with military service, but know of one who served honorably make this an occasion to honor that person.

Submissions deadline: 12 May 2010"

Enjoy!

Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 9

I have finished reading another book, and unlike the previous eight books, this history book was not on the reading list for my history classes. This book was one that I read for fun, and was a gift I received from my parents.

The book I read was Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring by Alexander Rose (New York: Bantnam Book, 2006). As you probably tell from the title of this book, the focus is on George Washington's attempts to create a spy ring to defeat the British during the American Revolution, and on how successful the ring was to gathering and sharing military intelligence with the Continental Army.

(October 15: I did enjoy reading the book, but I will not be adding any other thoughts to this book review as too much time has past since I finished reading the book. I just wanted to get this review posted as soon as possible. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.)

Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 4

I have finished reading another book, and like the previous three books I read, this book was also on my reading list for my fall history class. This time, I read Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty In The Civil War Era by Nicole Etcheson (Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 2004).

As you can tell from the book's title, this book is about Kansas' struggle to become a state before and during the American Civil War, and the civil war-like fighting that led to Kansas being called "Bleeding Kansas." The author argues that the fighting in Kansas was originally concerned with the rights of white people but that the fighting eventually resulted in concerns for the rights of African-Americans as well. She also argues that Kansas would led the way in the nation in granting rights to African-Americans during the Civil War. The author also ties in the fighting in Kansas with other events that occurred elsewhere in the United States during this time period.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, I would. The book was fairly easy to read, and I think the average person would be able to read and enjoy the book. Before I read this book, I only had a basic understanding of Bleeding Kansas from reading textbooks, but after reading this book, I have a better understanding of what occurred in Kansas in the mid-to-late-1850s. (I should note that although I will be working with the author in the fall, she did not ask me to read her book. I am reading this book ahead of time for my fall history class. I will be writing reviews of the other history books that I still have to read for the class.)

(As a side note, this post happens to be the 1,000th post since I started this blog!)

To Those Who Served and Are Serving ...

I just want to thank all those out there who have served, and all of those who are serving today, from the bottom of my heart on this Veteran's Day.

Military History Reading Challenge: A List of the Books I Read

I have finally completed the Military History reading challenge! For those who might be interested, here is a list of the books I read with links to the reviews of each book I read

• Silent Night: The Story Of The World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub
• Because Each Life Is Precious: Why an Iraqi Man Risked Everything for Private Jessica Lynch by Mohammed Odeh Al-Rehaief and Jeff Coplon
• Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution by Laurent Dubois

Well, those are the three books I read for this challenge. I enjoyed reading each of the books, and I would recommend them to others as well.

Military History Reading Challenge: Book Review 3

I have just finished reading my last book for the Military History reading challenge, and as a side note, I will be posting the list of the books I read with links to the reviews. The book I chose for my last choice was Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution by Laurent Dubois (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2004).

Why did I choose this book? Well, this one of the books I am supposed to read for one of the two history classes I'm taking this semester. I could have chosen to read another book for this challenge, but since I enjoyed reading this book, I thought I would write a brief review about it. In addition, I do not believe many Americans know much about the Haitian Revolution, so I thought this would be excellent book for those who do not much about the revolution in Haiti. (Before I read this, book I hardly knew anything about the Haitian Revolution outside of the fact that the slaves in Haiti revolted against their masters around the same time as the French Revolution.)

Laurent Dubois' book gives background into what society on the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) was like prior to the revolution, and he especially highlights the racial character of the society's hierarchy. In addition he explains that the white landowners' push for autonomy from France and denial of political rights to the free, colored landowners was the foundation for the Haitian Revolution. (The fight for legal rights created tensions between both sides.) In addition, the French Revolution's ideals would also began to feed into the problems in Saint-Domingue, but as the revolution in Haiti continued, it would also influence the path of the French Revolution.

In short, I thought it was an excellent book, and I liked how the author put the revolution in context with what was going on outside of Haiti at that time. Additionally, I felt the author's explanation of the social conditions in Haiti was excellent, and I felt that his description of Saint-Domingue's society gave me a better understanding of why events in Saint-Domingue and France occurred as they did. If a person wants to read about the Haitian Revolution, this is one book that should be read.

Military History Reading Challenge: Book Review 2

For the second military history book that I had to read, I chose Because Each Life Is Precious: Why an Iraqi Man Risked Everything for Private Jessica Lynch by Mohammed Odeh Al-Rehaief and Jeff Coplon (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003). Although I am not completely sure if this book would fit into the military history category, I chose to read this book primarily because I had wanted to read this book for some time and because this book is a recounting from a civilian's point of view an event that occurred a few years ago during the Iraq War.

This book, though, is just more than about why Mohammed Odeh Al-Rehaief chose to help Private Jessica Lynch; it is also a book about his life under Saddam Hussein's regime, Iraqi culture and his experiences of life during the three most recent wars Iraq had been involved in. In short, the book is part autobiography and part memoir. Additionally, his description of how life was under Saddam's government does make it very clear that his decision to help Private Lynch was putting whole family at risk; his wife, daughter, siblings and father also could have faced reprisals for what he did. And even if he did have some legitimate grievances against Saddam's government, I did not feel that that was his main motive in wanting to help Private Lynch. From my reading, I gather that he was motivated more by compassion and humanity than anything else.

Of course, this is just my opinion of the book. I think it is a very good and interesting book, and I enjoyed reading it.

Military Reading Challenge: Book Review One

As you may remember, about a week or so ago, I signed up to take part in another reading challenge, except this time the I must read three books on military history. Well, I have just finished reading the first book I chose for this challenge.

The book I chose was Silent Night: The Story Of The World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub (Plume: New York, 2001). As is clear from the title, the book's focus is on the 1914 Christmas truce on the Western Front. The author does give a little bit of background information on the war, but he primarily focuses on how the truce began, how the soldiers from both sides reacted to the truce, and how the truce ended. Accounts from memoirs, letters, diaries and regiment histories are used to recount how the truce began and ended. The conclusion to the book speculates on what might have happened if World War One had ended early.

To be honest, I enjoyed reading the book, and I would recommend it to others. I found it very informative, and at times, I started to laugh at some of the recounting on incidents that occurred during the truce. Of course, not everything in the book was funny. I chose this book primarily because I had a great-grandfather who served during World War One in the British Army, and although I don't know very much about his service, this book does help give me a glimpse into what his service experience might have been like. Even though the author does speculate about what might have been, I still believe that reading the conclusion of the book is important. I do not believe that many people realize just how much of an influence World War One has had upon the Twentieth Century and up to the present, and the author does make clear in the conclusion how World War One changed history. Even if someone were only to read the conclusion, I still think this book is worth reading. To be honest, I believe this book would be fairly easy for people to read who are not into reading history books since the book keeps a person's attention.

Another Reading Challenge!

I just learned about a another reading challenge from Lori's post. This time, the reading challenge is to read 3 military history books by November 11th, and you can read more about it here.

I think I have three military history books that I have not read yet that will work just fine for this reading challenge. Oh, and by the way, I am still reading my fifth book for the summer reading challenge.