History Reading Round-Up
Mar. 30th, 2012 11:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerI've read lots of wonderful history books recently, but haven't written about any of them: so here, let me share with you some mini-reviews!
The President Is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth, by Matthew Algeo
Best subtitle ever, am I right? It’s like a Victorian chapter heading, which lists everything that happens in the story!
Algeo tells the story with every bit as much relish as he displays in the subtitle. He does an excellent job grounding his tale in the background of the age, and he treats Grover Cleveland with considerably more sympathy and tact than the subtitle might suggest. A must-read if you have any interest in the Gilded Age, or medical history, or being entertained.
The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City & Sparked the Tabloid Wars, Paul Collins
This one is also tremendously fun. More Gilded Age! Because there is never enough Gilded Age! Gilded Age with extra murder, and police procedural, and NEWSPAPER WARS!
Two kinds of newspaper wars. First, the sort were newspapers duel to provide the fastest and most sensational coverage of a story; and second, the Spanish-American War, which (according to Collins) occurred largely because William Randolph Hearst drummed up support for it, because Hearst figured a war would sell lots of newspapers.
He actually sent some of his reporters to Cuba to break the beautiful daughter of a Cuban revolutionary leader out of jail, after she was incarcerated for trying to break her father out of jail. I’m pretty sure this story has “blockbuster movie!” written all over it in neon lights.
Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary, by Henry Hitchings
Astonishingly, this book is not about the Gilded Age. Rather, it concerns 18th century England - specifically, Samuel Johnson’s composition of the first great English dictionary - which Hitchings treats as a sort of cabinet of curiosities, offering windows into eighteenth century natural history, politics, literary scuffles, etc.
I think Hitchings is a little too willing to extrapolate from the quotes that Johnson chose for his dictionary to theories about Johnson’s life and opinions, but otherwise the book is a pleasure. I always mean to learn more about eighteenth century England - I took a wonderful class about it when I studied abroad - but there are so many fascinating time periods, and so little time!
The President Is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman Who Dared Expose the Truth, by Matthew Algeo
Best subtitle ever, am I right? It’s like a Victorian chapter heading, which lists everything that happens in the story!
Algeo tells the story with every bit as much relish as he displays in the subtitle. He does an excellent job grounding his tale in the background of the age, and he treats Grover Cleveland with considerably more sympathy and tact than the subtitle might suggest. A must-read if you have any interest in the Gilded Age, or medical history, or being entertained.
The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City & Sparked the Tabloid Wars, Paul Collins
This one is also tremendously fun. More Gilded Age! Because there is never enough Gilded Age! Gilded Age with extra murder, and police procedural, and NEWSPAPER WARS!
Two kinds of newspaper wars. First, the sort were newspapers duel to provide the fastest and most sensational coverage of a story; and second, the Spanish-American War, which (according to Collins) occurred largely because William Randolph Hearst drummed up support for it, because Hearst figured a war would sell lots of newspapers.
He actually sent some of his reporters to Cuba to break the beautiful daughter of a Cuban revolutionary leader out of jail, after she was incarcerated for trying to break her father out of jail. I’m pretty sure this story has “blockbuster movie!” written all over it in neon lights.
Defining the World: The Extraordinary Story of Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary, by Henry Hitchings
Astonishingly, this book is not about the Gilded Age. Rather, it concerns 18th century England - specifically, Samuel Johnson’s composition of the first great English dictionary - which Hitchings treats as a sort of cabinet of curiosities, offering windows into eighteenth century natural history, politics, literary scuffles, etc.
I think Hitchings is a little too willing to extrapolate from the quotes that Johnson chose for his dictionary to theories about Johnson’s life and opinions, but otherwise the book is a pleasure. I always mean to learn more about eighteenth century England - I took a wonderful class about it when I studied abroad - but there are so many fascinating time periods, and so little time!
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Date: 2012-03-31 03:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-31 02:45 pm (UTC)