Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 8

I have finished reading another book, and like the previous seven books posted, this book was on the reading list for my history class.

The book I read this time was Washington County: Politics and Community in Antebellum America by Paul Bourke and Donald De Bats (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995). As you probably could guess from the book's title, the book focuses on the politics and society in Washington County, Oregon before the Civil War.

(October 15, 2009: I had originally planned to post my opinion on this book, but due to the amount of time that has past, I have chosen to post this review without my thoughts.)

Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 7

Well, I have finished reading another book, and like the previous six books, the book I had to read was also on the reading list for my history class. This time, I read Reforming Men & Women: Gender in the Antebellum City by Bruce Dorsey (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2002).

This book deals with the history of gender ideology in the reform movements in the Antebellum North. The primary focus is on how white men defined their view of manliness against women, African Americans and European immigrants.

(Note from October 10: Since I waited too long to post this book review, I have decided to omit my opinion of the book so that I can post this review.)

Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 6

I have finished reading another book, and like the previous five books, this book was also on the reading list for my class. The book I read this time was What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 by Daniel Walker Howe (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).

The book is part of the Oxford History of the United States series, and as you can tell from the title, the book is focused on the history and growth of the United States from the time period of 1815 to 1848. Since the book covers over thirty years of history, it is quite large and detailed. The author focuses on in detail about the debate over slavery, the reform movements, the Mexican- American War, the Jacksonian Era, the technological growth and expansion of the United States. He also interweaves the contributions and experiences of Native Americans, women and African-Americans in the general history of this time period.

For me, the book not only reminded me of what I did learn in previous history, but it also included some new information and details that I did not learn in previous history classes. As a result, I felt the book enriched my knowledge of the history of the time period, and thus, I enjoyed reading the book. If you would like to learn more about the history of the United States during this time period, I highly recommend that you put this book on your reading list.

Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 5

I have finished reading another book, and like the previous four books I read, this book was also on my reading list for my fall history class. This time, I read A Shopkeeper's Millennium: Society and Revivals in Rochester, New York, 1815-1837 by Paul E. Johnson (New York: Hill and Wang, 2004).

As you tell from the title, the book is about the social history of the early years of Rochester, New York and the Evangelical revivals that occurred in Rochester in the early 1830s. The author explores the formation of political parties in Rochester, and examines which classes made up the parties. He also explores the Temperance and Anti-Masonic movements, and how those movements and the political parties created a climate that made the Evangelical revivals successful in Rochester.

The book is fairly short - under 200 pages - so it is a quick read. I enjoyed reading the book, and I found the information to be quite interesting. Obviously, if a genealogist has an ancestor who lived in Rochester in this time, he or she would probably find this book useful in trying to understand the society of Rochester at this time. I would recommend this book to others. I hope someone enjoys this book 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!)

Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 3

I have finished my third book for this reading challenge! The book I read this time was Soul By Soul: Life Inside The Antebellum Slave Market by Walter Johnson (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999). Like the two previous books I read and reviewed, this book was on the reading list for my fall history class.

As you can tell from the book's title, the book focuses on the slave market in the South between 1810 and 1865. Most of the focus is on the New Orleans slave market, but the author does focus on the internal slave trade between the Upper and Lower South. The author also focuses on the slave masters and slaves thoughts and experiences with the slave trade and slavery. Additionally, he also explores how slave traders were able to convert human beings into items, and the beliefs of those who bought the slaves.

Although I have read about slavery in the United States before, I did not have a complete comprehension of the evils of slavery. I knew slavery was evil, but I did not realize or comprehend how bad it was until I read this book. For me, this book brought the experience of slavery to life more than anything else I had read before, and I was able to picture what life was like to live in a society with slavery, either as a slave or someone who was free. This book brought an aspect of history to life that I had read before and thought I understood. If you want to learn more about slavery in the United States, I highly recommend that you read this book.

Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 2

I have finished reading another book for this summer's reading challenge, and like the previous review, the book I read was also on the reading list for my fall history classes. And like the previous book, this book is a social history of Early American history, but it focuses on the south only.

Southern Cross: The Beginnings of the Bible Belt by Christine Leigh Heyrman (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1997), focuses on the early Evangelical churches in the Southern United States and how the South became to be the center of Evangelical Christianity in the U.S. The time period of the book stretches from 1740 to 1840, but the primary focus of the book is on the years between 1790 and 1830. The Evangelical churches explored in this book are the Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian churches, but most of the book focuses only on the Methodists and Baptists. For me, the most interesting thing to learn about was that prior to the American Revolution, the Evangelical churches were rejected by Southerners, and thus, the author's exploration into why that was so, was the most interesting part of the book for me. As for the later and greater acceptance of the Evangelical churches. Although, I disagreed with some of the author's conclusions in the epilogue, I would still recommend this book for others to read as I found it to be quite interesting, so much so, that I would like to read about the Evangelical movement occurring in the Northern part of America in the same time period. I hope that other people will find this book as interesting as I did. Enjoy!

Summer Reading Challenge Book Review 1

As I mentioned yesterday, I have decided to join a reading challenge, and I have already finished reading my first book for this challenge!

The book I chose to read was Inheriting The Revolution: The First Generation of Americans by Joyce Appleby (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000). As the book's title implies, the book is on how the culture of the United States was formed and created by the generation of Americans after the Revolutionary War generation. The author explores how that generation changed American colonial society and recreated that society. She also describes how those Americans interpreted the legacy of the Revolutionary War, and carried on the ideals of the revolution. In short, the book is a social history of American life between 1787 and 1824.

How did I learn about this book? Well, I requested the reading lists for my fall classes from my professors, and this book was one of the books on the reading list. Although I would have had to read this book for my future history class in the fall, I still enjoyed reading it. Why? Well, for one, I enjoyed the author's writing style, and secondly, I have an interest in social history. As someone who has an interest in social history as a result of my genealogy research, I enjoyed this book for those reasons. Would I recommend this book? Yes, because this book illuminated several movements and life in America at this time period and because of this fact, I believe this book would be beneficial in giving historical social context for genealogists researching in this time period. I hope that other people might enjoy this book and find it interesting as I did.