Book Review: The War for the Union, Volume III: The Organized War, 1863-1864 by Allan Nevins

The War for the Union, Vol. 3: The Organized War, 1863-1864) by Allan Nevins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As the war turned from simply restoring the Union to a revolution to restore the Union as it should always have been, the military stalemate finally broke on the same day in July on opposite ends of the war with the fallout being a breaking of the Confederate’s back while the other resulted in the most famous speech in American history. The War for the Union. Volume III: The Organized War, 1863-1864 is the seventh volume of Allen Nevins’ Ordeal of the Union series as the nadir of Northern hopes disappear in the taking of Vicksburg and the victories of Gettysburg and Chattanooga while the Confederacy finds itself increasingly shunned internationally.

Throughout 513 pages of well-written and thoughtful writing Nevins related the turning point year of 1863 in which the results on the battlefield, actions at sea, and domestic economical and industrial weight of the North turned the war in its favor. Barely over two-fifths of the book covers the military developments of the conflict before turning the rest of the volume over to the various domestic and international issues both sides confronted. It was this latter part of the book which I personally found more interesting, especially when it came to the economic boom that North experienced as it built up the industrial capacity in response to the war effort, not only employing more men even as others went to fight, but the increase of wages and profits for all concerned. A fascinating feature of the war I didn’t realize until now was how much illicit trade between North and South there was, especially when it came to cotton especially in the Union army but given the corruption going on in American public life at this time I shouldn’t have been surprised. Once again, I can’t emphasize how even though this book is over 65 years old it is very detailed and gives a total picture of the events of that time that anyone interested in the history of the American Civil War.

The War for the Union, Volume III: The Organized War, 1863-1864 reveals how the North finally organized to conduct war at “home” while turning the tide on the battlefield through the excellent writing of Allan Nevins.

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Book Review: The Americans: The Democratic Experience by Daniel Boorstin

The Americans, Vol. 3: The Democratic Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After the Civil War, the United States transformed from a country looking for a national identity to one whose democratic experience spread to everyone. The Americans: The Democratic Experience is the third and final volume of Daniel Boorstin’s trilogy which features the American experience after it found a national identity and creating a democratic culture.

Throughout the 600 pages of text of Boorstin’s work, his working thesis that after finding a national identity Americans looked to create a democratic culture in which everyone had access to the same quality of products and experiences no matter their income or pedigree. Covering such diverse things like how all Americans were able to get access to fresh beef, how education from primary school up through college—including the creation of high school—for all became a national obsession, how clothing went from being a mark of status to mass produced equality, and so much more Boorstin made the case that Americans looked to make things for everyone either for profit or for the betterment of society but through this democratic pursuit to create for everyone it resulted massive efforts to do things collectively on a large scale leading to the atomic bomb and the landing on the moon roughly a century after the country had nearly torn itself apart while also spreading it’s democratic outlook to the world. Of the six books I’ve read of Boorstin’s this is the one in which his consensus view of history really stands out with his focus on inventors and entrepreneurs in this book even while expressing his loathing of the vulgarities that crept into American culture and advertising through this democratization process. As the concluding installment of his trilogy of looking at American history through how the physical environment of the continent shaped—from the beginning of colonization to the late 20th Century—American society and how it reflected on how individuals interacted with their society, it’s been informative especially one little discussed individuals and trends that would influence those more well known to us.

The Americans: The Democratic Experience completes Daniel Boorstin’s trilogy on the cultural history of the United States by showing how in the shadow of a war that nearly destroyed a country a culture aiming to spread to everyone was formed.

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Book Review: The War for the Union, Volume II: War Becomes Revolution, 1862-1863 by Allan Nevins

The War For The Union: War Becomes Revolution, 1862-1863 by Allan Nevins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After a year of improvised army building, supply gathering, and campaigns tried to do too much with too little, the Union and the Confederates planned to deal that one decisive blow that would end the war but instead what came about was military stalemate and a political revolution. The War for the Union, Volume II: War Becomes Revolution, 1862-1863 is the sixth volume of Allan Nevins Ordeal of the Union series as the Union’s high hopes in the spring of 1862 crater with McClellan’s inability to use his army while Robert E. Lee brings hope to the Confederates and in the West the rise and maturation of Ulysses S. Grant begins.

Over the course of around 530 pages, Nevins covers the events military, political, diplomatic, domestic, foreign, and business over the course of 17 months from January 1862 to the end of May 1863 that made the supposedly “quick” civil war turn into a revolution not just for the change in Union war strategy but in the running of the government and the rise of business. Throughout the book, Nevins examines the events and developments of all these subjects not only in the context of the day but with hindsight as well, which is especially revealing when describing the mistakes of generals. While the military and political developments as well as interactions between the two were the dominant themes throughout the book, Nevins devoted four chapters of the volume to other themes: diplomacy, business related to war, the revolution in industry spurred by war, and the revolution of freedom. Though this volume is over 65 years old, it’s very detailed and gives a total picture of the events of that time making it a most read for anyone interested in the history of the American Civil War.

The War for the Union, Volume II: War Becomes Revolution, 1862-1863 sees the nature and view of the war change as both sides realize this won’t be a “short” war, but as Allan Nevins shows throughout the effects which would influence the future were making the war something more.

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Book Review: The Fate of the Day by Rick Atkinson

The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780 by Rick Atkinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

George Washington inspired a Continental Army on the verge of collapse to a ten-day campaign that saved the hope for independence, but the empire was ready strike back again. The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780 is the second volume in Rick Atkinson’s The Revolution trilogy following the course of the military, political, and everyday factors that played into course of the American Revolution from the battlefields in America to the palaces of Versailles and Queen’s House leading to battles across the globe.

Navigating through a myriad of locations and through various narrative threads that need to be explored while revealing how each reflects on the other, Atkinson does a stellar job at bringing the complexity of the American Revolution to the reader. The important historical characters are covered, but lesser-known individuals, especially those foreign-born officers that are often unsung, get highlighted when in battle or making a difference for the Continental Army. What is most important throughout the book is how the colonial rebellion on the edge of the war sparked political machinations in the backroom of European palaces to get revenge on Britain or simply put it in its place. While the American Revolution is mostly seen as a land war, the naval aspect is not forgotten though as the book goes on it starts to become a Britain-French centric narrative through John Paul Jones’ cruises around Britain and attacks mainly in Scotland brought the war home to Britain in a way that shocked them almost as much as the thought of a French invasion. Given the numerous decades old books of the American Revolution I’ve read in recent years, this volume covers the same North American material through adding a broader brush to look at everyday life which included the economic realities for both the Continental army and the average citizen no matter their political loyalty. The difference is the thoroughness of Atkinson looking to the British domestic political scene as well as bringing in other European powers’ political and diplomatic moves during these years which resulted in the American Revolution becoming a conflict fought across the global. Honestly, it’s hard to find something important to critique.

The Fate of the Day reveals how events turn a colonial rebellion into a global conflict in an engaging way by Rick Atkinson and being the middle volume of a planned trilogy on American Revolution it makes you look forward to see all the various factors that bring it to a conclusion in the final when it is written.

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Book Review: The War for the Union, Volume I: The Improvised War, 1861-1862 by Allan Nevins

The War for the Union: The Improvised War, 1861-62 by Allan Nevins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was a conflict that seemed to be destined to occur for years, but neither side was particularly ready for when it happened even though one side had been preaching for while to be independent and didn’t prepare. The War for the Union, Volume I: The Improvised War, 1861-1862 is the fifth book of Allan Nevin’s Ordeal of the Union series as the war that appeared inevitable after secession start but in a haphazard fashion that leaves both sides scrambling to raise, arm, and supply men while fighting one another.

Through 416 pages of text, Nevins details the lead up to and the fallout of the firing of Ft. Sumter that resulted in Lincoln’s call for volunteers which sent almost half of the border states into the Confederacy and how both sides figured out how to fight a war. As Nevins expertly relates while contemporary feeling—from both sides—demanded fighting, logistically it wasn’t so simple as arming men and getting them arms to fight with and supplies to live on were a challenge early on. The challenges, especially with political considerations for Lincoln, to getting raised troops to where they were needed and how state governments more than the underdeveloped U.S. government were essential early on. Nevins focuses on fighting when it needs to, but this volume is dedicated to revealing about how unorganized either side was to even fight and thus why 1861 is comparatively bloodless. The struggle to get arms and supplies leading to both sides contracting foreign contractors is enlightening and Nevins analysis on how both sides did was very informative. Besides the arming and logistics information, Nevins goes into the political maneuvering that was new to me especially in Missouri and how the Blair family cost the Federal war effort three-years of guerilla warfare due to their machinations when the state could have been firmly pacified by the end of the year. Nevins also goes into how each side, though mainly the Federals, squandered opportunities to get easy victories that would quiet public demand for action and improved strategic lines for defense of important areas even if the lines moved a few miles. Overall, this volume while “light” on fighting shows the forgotten importance of supplies and logistics when it comes to warfare in this period.

The War for the Union, Volume I: The Improvised War, 1861-1862 reveals how two political factions switched from talking to fighting and Allan Nevins reveals the complicated transition that took place to bring it about.

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Book Review: Trial by Fire by Page Smith

Trial by Fire: A People's History of the Civil War & Reconstruction by Page Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There are three eras during which the future of the nation was at stake, in the 18th century it was the Revolution and in the 19th century it was Civil War. Trial by Fire: A People’s History of the Civil War and Reconstruction is the fifth volume of Page Smith’s A People’s History series from Fort Sumter to the election of 1876 as the nation is racked by four years of war to successfully save the Union and 11 years of Reconstruction that failed to bring the freedman truly within body politic short-term but creating a promissory note for the future.

This volume is by the nature of its emphasis in a particularly 15-year period of the nation’s history different from Smith’s previous volumes in terms of scope in military, political, and cultural elements. Over the nearly 1000 pages of text, Smith not only detailed the events of the war along the twists and turns of Reconstruction to correct the record of the period that the “Lost Cause” myth perpetuated about the period over the course of over half a century. Among the most important parts of the book was Smith’s concluding analysis of both the war and Reconstruction: when writing about the former Smith concluded that the South probably should have won given various factors at the beginning of the war but poor strategic decisions by the South allowed the North’s numbers and industrial capacity overwhelm it while the later was always doomed to fail due to Southern intransigence and the fact Northern opinion of blacks was negative Reconstruction needed to be attempted because the alternative would have been emphatically worse. While the overall product was very well written and very informative, Smith made a lot of head scratching mistakes that stood out because they were contradicted by the actual facts just paragraphs later which appears to be sloppy editing by someone because it was blatant that something happened between first draft manuscript and ready for publication proof that allowed these errors to creep in. The fact that I downgraded the rating an entire star compared to the previous volumes is an indication of how much it got my attention.

Trial by Fire is a culmination of events that Page Smith chronicled in his history of the United States as the two conflicting views of what the country clashed and its aftermath that created a more “national” though still incomplete vision of the country that would lead into it’s next chapter.

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Book Review: The Americans: The National Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin

The Americans, Vol. 2: The National Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the first half of the 19th Century, the United States expanded demographically, geographically, and culturally that it had changed nation on the eve the Civil War. The Americans: The National Experience is the second volume of Daniel J. Boorstin’s trilogy which features the American experience as it politically evolved from thirteen independent states into a continent spanning nation that was societally bring ripped apart by a part of the population and view of what the Union was.

Over the course of 430 pages Boorstin covers everything how communities evolved, expanded geographically, and atrophied in various ways to how nationality was created from borders, language—spoken and written—was shaped, symbols, and finally in political views of what the Constitution meant for unionism. There were several takeaways from this volume that I found intriguing, first was that Boorstin popped a whole in myth of the lone individual that pulled himself up by the bootstraps or expanded America knowledge of what was just around the next rise, Boorstin spent several chapters revealing how without a community—whether it be a town, a church, a business, etc.—the individual was lost. The second was how English common law’s silence on slavery allowed it to be planted the colonies and grow in the new nation. Third was the views of the Constitution and Union, which ultimately in conjunction with community and slavery led to a civil war. It was fascinating upon finishing this book to see how Boorstin had constructed it to appear that he was covering various topics that seemed loosely related only to find them essential to one another in the end. The book was unfortunately not perfect as there was several mistakes in dates and one very noticeable anachronism—Boorstin highlights a meeting that included Seventh-Day Adventists in 1840 which was impossible through one might think he meant an Millerite Adventists that worshipped on the Sabbath but that would be really filtered down—that should not have survived so many editions since the book was first published in 1965. Overall, this second volume of Boorstin’s exploration of the American experience is very thought-provoking for anyone interested in reading about a grand view of American history.

The Americans: The National Experience is a view of the country from independence to the eve of civil war written by Daniel J. Boorstin.

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Book Review: The Emergence of Lincoln, Volume II: Prologue to Civil War, 1859-61 by Allan Nevins

The Emergence of Lincoln: Prologue to Civil War, 1859-61 by Allan Nevins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While 1859 seemed to be an uneasy year, there was hope that the moderates and conservatives in both North and the South had marginalized the radicals in both sections then one man’s fanaticism started the chain reaction in the South which changed the nation’s course. The Emergence of Lincoln, Volume II: Prologue to Civil War, 1859-61 is the fourth book of Allan Nevin’s Ordeal of the Union series as John Brown’s raid exasperates tensions as advocates for a Southern Confederacy whip up their faux-nationalism while Republicans aimed to nominate a moderate to ensure their victory in 1860 with no on realizing for once the South would actually walk the talk they’ve been saying for over a decade.

Through 489 pages of text and four appendices, Nevins covers the final dramatic movements as the national fabric was torn in two from John Brown’s raid, the breaking up of the Democratic Party in Charleston and Baltimore, the election of Lincoln followed by Buchanan’s month-long dithering before committing to the Union even as secessionists created a Confederacy. Nevins’ research and writing continue to be top notch, but the best part of the book was Nevin’s analysis of what led to the Civil War from page 462 to 471. Nevin’s conclusion on page 468 was simple, “The main root of the conflict (and there were minor roots) was the problem of slavery with its complementary problem of race-adjustment [emphasis Nevins],” the latter part of that quote is something that Nevins had been developing and in concluding this volume set the stage both for the upcoming war that he was to chronicle as well as the reconstruction of the nation that he planned to cover but never did. Being the final volume of Nevins’ chronicle of the lead-up to the American Civil War, the blow-by-blow account of how a nation victorious in a war that increased its size by a third staggered towards breaking apart while showing how various regions of that country changed economically and in viewing itself within the nation.

The Emergence of Lincoln, Volume II: Prologue to Civil War, 1859-61 culminates Allan Nevins’ excellent relating of the decade plus of American history from the end of the Mexican War to the verge of the Civil War.

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Book Review: The Americans: The Colonial Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin

The Americans, Vol. 1: The Colonial Experience by Daniel J. Boorstin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

From the individual founding of each colony and their unique cultures to the developments the spanned up and down the continent, this is how America started. The Americans: The Colonial Experience is the first volume of Daniel J. Boorstin’s trilogy which features the American experience from the various English arrivals on the Eastern Seaboard to the verge of Revolution.

Over the course of 372 pages, Boorstin covers the colonial period of the “American experience” beginning by covering the founding and political development of four of the 13 colonies then ending with how the colonies viewed war especially in comparison with the British view of war. The chapters focused on the Quaker governance of Pennsylvania and the saga of Georgia’s early history were very enlightening. Another fascinating aspect that Boorstin brought out was how Puritanism, Quakerism, and Anglicanism (Episcopalism) developed differently in American and Britain with how those differences effected the course of American history in both political and cultural terms. The decentralization of British America with 13 colonial capitals and not one central cultural location diversified education, those in profession occupations needing to be jacks-of-all-trades, and the profusion of various centers of printing were also touched upon not only in shaping the beginnings of America but in how in contrast they were to Britain. Finally, Boorstin’s four chapters on the colonial view of war and how the localization of soldiery made them unprofessional and disunited—much to British annoyance during the Seven Years War—that would continue into the modern day thus preventing the creation of a military caste. Overall, this is a quality written history of the colonial period that seems both “conservative” and “revisionist” at the same time when comparing it to the mythologized and popular version general readers might think of when opening this book.

The Americans: The Colonial Experience is Daniel J. Boorstin’s well-researched and well-written volume on how America was shaped by the same things as Britain during the colonial period but turned out completely different.

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Book Review: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman

A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara W. Tuchman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

War, persecution, plague, and death galloped over the horizon on an unsuspecting Europe bring the High Middle Ages to an end and ushering in a series of crises the marked the Late Middle Ages. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman looks at this transformative century that saw two nations begin a century long war, the institution that knitted the fabric of Europe together split in twain, and finally the arrival of mass death thanks to a flea hitching a ride on a rat that stowed away on a boat.

Tuchman weaves the book around the life of Enguerrand de Coucy, a French nobleman once married to the daughter of English King Edward III putting him in the middle of events. The events of the 14th century from the Black Death that devastated the population of Europe, the first 60 years of the Hundred Year’s War that brought physical ruin to France and economic ruin to both France and England, the Papal Schism that broke the unity of the medieval Church after its long residence in Avignon that led to disrepute, and the numerous peasant revolts throughout Western Europe as a fall out from everything happening. Throughout the book, Tuchman brought up the medieval warrior code with its chivalry and worldview that the nobility claimed to do then countering it with what they did. Tuchman wanted to draw parallels between the 14th and 20th centuries and there are several that the reader could nod in agreement, however the differences are stark enough that it’s hard to make the connection but then again that might be why it’s a distant mirror. Over the course of 600 pages, Tuchman gives a pretty good portrait of the 14th Century especially regarding France but not at the total expense of the rest of the continent while being readable for the general reader.

A Distant Mirror is a general overview of the history of Europe’s 14th century which is so much more than the Black Death and Hundred Year’s War which Barbara Tuchman brings out in a very readable book.

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Book Review: The Emergence of Lincoln, Volume One: Douglas, Buchanan & Party Chaos, 1857-59 by Allan Nevins

The Emergence of Lincoln: Douglas, Buchanan & Party Chaos, 1857-59 by Allan Nevins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The 1856 election was supposed to unite the country and save it from the festering issue of Kansas territory, unfortunately the politically spineless James Buchanan turned out to be worse than Franklin Pierce. The Emergence of Lincoln, Volume I: Douglas, Buchanan, and Party Chaos, 1857-59 is the third book of Allan Nevins’ Ordeal of the Union series, an eight-volume history of the lead up to and of the American Civil War, featuring how the last remaining link between North and South in the form of the Democratic party was broken in twain by the decisions of two men.

From the outset Nevins reveals that the country needed a national figure with a vision of national scope to unite the three major regions of the country—North, South, and growing West—but sadly for the United States the man coming into office in March 1857 was James Buchanan who in making up his cabinet became a passive functionary in his own administration. When Buchanan gave prominence to Southern politicians and anti-Douglas Democrats, the stage was set for the dividing of the party and the rise of the Republicans in the North as Douglas Democrats and Lecompton Democrats—named for their support of the pro-slavery constitution for Kansas that was drafted by convention assembled by a rigged election—set the stage for chaotic Presidential contest in 1860. Besides the congressional battle between opponents and supporters for the pro-slavery Kansas constitution, Nevins’ other major focus was the Lincoln-Douglas debates which saw Abraham Lincoln’s emergence on the national scene for the first time as well as detailing what the two politicians spoke about in each debate. Just to through in an additional element to all of this was the Panic of 1857 with its effects in economic terms and political perceptions—whether right or wrong—on all sections of the country. Yet Nevins also wrote about the Dred Scott decision and the Mormon War with their effects on the various elements in the country, the fact that I’m just barely mentioning them shows how much Nevin’s writing made me highlight other things. Honestly, there is so much I learned that I had previously just had a superficial knowledge of.

The Emergence of Lincoln, Volume I reveals how incompetent national leadership exasperated the rising sectional differences while both sides of the divide took different lessons from a economic panic as well as how the growing West were affecting things.

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Book Review: The Aryan Myth by Leon Poliakov

 

The Aryan Myth: A History of Racist & Nationalistic Ideas in Europe by Leon; Howard Poliakov
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The death of six million Jews between 1941 to 1945 was the result of an evolution in the enquiry into the origins of peoples and nations that began during the Middle Ages passing from theological viewpoints to scientific ones and finally—unfortunately—to political viewpoints. The Aryan Myth: The History of Racist and Nationalist Ideas in Europe by Leon Poliakov traces how this myth originated and progressed until it became so accepted as to warrant the attempted destruction of an entire people.

Poliakov’s extensive research covers the whole of the Europe from the Spain’s “tainted blood” mindset after the Reconquista, to England’s belief of their connection to ancient Israel, to France’s back and forth between their Gallic/Celtic inhabitants and Frankish/German namesakes, Russia’s multiple origin tales, and finally Germany’s use of a fourth son of Noah to create a basis for the Germanic peoples. Yet while all these origins were in someway connected with the Bible, once the Enlightenment brought criticism and skepticism into the fore these any Biblical origins were dismissed and something new had to take their place which meant 18th-century social scientists and philosophers and others had to come up answers which resulted in the beginnings of the racial hierarchies and stereotypes that became into vague and still permeate society today. Throughout the 19th century, the division of Europe into being inhabited by two races—the Aryan and Semitic—steadily evolved towards the point that led to the eventual murder of two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population. Through 310 pages the reader is bombarded with a lot of information in rapid succession as well as Poliakov’s give context to quotes and brief information on the authors, while it is very informative there is a sense that Poliakov wanted to say more but either through original publisher or self-imposed page limit.

The Aryan Myth by Leon Poliakov reveals how through the centuries the search for national origins within different cultural prisms slowly lead towards myths of race and superiority.

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Book Review: The Seekers by Daniel J. Boorstin

The Seekers: The Story of Man's Continuing Quest to Understand His World Knowledge Trilogy by Daniel J. Boorstin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Discoveries, inventions, and creations are a defining part of Western culture, just as important as the material elements are the religious and philosophical ideas, thoughts, and questions. The Seekers by Daniel J. Boorstin is a chronicle of Western culture’s search for the answer to the question “why?” over the millennia and how it influenced Western culture itself.

In a little over 300 pages Boorstin writes and connects 41 mini essays covering the lives, ideas, and impact of seekers from ancient times to the modern. The book is divided into three epochs, the first of which was Ancient Heritage covering the prophets of the Old Testament, the philosophical trinity—Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle—of Ancient Greece, and finally the merger of the two in Christianity. Communal Search was the second as it covered how history was written for communities first in epics following the struggles of heroes then transitioning to the course of events as seen in Herodotus and Thucydides, then how in the context of their society’s seekers look to define the individual within a community. Finally, the Paths to the Future covers the abandonment of the empowerment of the individual to the masses who follow an ideology that eventually led to the abandonment of the state to find answers in culture or in existentialism or in the solace of diversity and eventually to looking past the finite to the infinite in processes of evolution or figuring out scientific universal laws. Unlike the previous two volumes of Boorstin’s “Knowledge” series, the West is specified from the beginning thus not promising or giving a false impression that he’ll cover viewpoints from other cultures. Also in this volume, Boorstin speaks out about certain things especially ideology, the belief that the ideas expressed were true because they could be “proven” leading to not only the lose of influence of the individual but also the meaning of being an individual, which proved the basis for the rise of the totalitarian regimes found at both extremes of the political spectrum. As an introduction or get a summary of the cultural history of Western religious and philosophical thought, Boorstin’s book is a great place to start or read but this shouldn’t be mistaken for an authoritative look into it.

The Seekers is the final volume of Daniel Boorstin’s “Knowledge” series, the shortest of the series but the one that invites the reader to explore further the ideas and thoughts that were shaped by and did shape Western culture.

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Book Review: Ordeal of the Union, Volume Two: A House Dividing, 1852-1857 by Allan Nevins

Ordeal of the Union, Vol 2: A House Dividing, 1852-57 by Allan Nevins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Compromise in politics is not clean, nobody gets a 100% of what they want but to get some what they do and to keep peace they’re willing to endure something they dislike, but when one side decides to betray the other…hell hath no fury. Ordeal of the Union, Volume Two: A House Dividing, 1852-1857 is the second of Allan Nevins’ eight volume series on the lead to and history of the American Civil War with the focus on how a compromise to keep the peace was undermined by one of its architects and how all concerned reacted.

Nevins begins the volume by introducing the factor that he believed upset the hard fought and crafted Compromise of 1850 between North and South, Franklin Pierce. A dark horse candidate for the Democratic nomination in 1852 that benefited from being seen as the candidate that supported “the Compromise” only to show his fickleness and weakness by appointing those on either side of the anti-Compromise North and South into his administration thus sowing the seeds of discord. With a weak President potentially causing a rift in the party along with various economic factors at stake, Stephen Douglas brought further the Kansas-Nebraska Bill which shattered the Compromise he helped pass, destroy the Whig Party while dividing the Democratic and bringing furth the Republicans, and causing bloodshed on the plains of Kansas. Nevins shows how a weak man, another in a line of such men to occupy the White House, allowed the nation to literally begin killing over the future of slavery in the nation just a few years after it appeared everyone had peacefully agreed on a ‘final’ settlement. But while the domestic situation was tearing a part, internationally the United States looked incompetent as its ambassadors in Europe made fools of themselves while private citizens waged wars of conquest in various Latin American nations. Over the course of one Presidential term, the nation went from peaceful to threatening to tear itself apart when the election of 1856 saw the nation decide upon the one candidate that looked like he would bring peace and unity back to the nation, James Buchanan, surely things would be looking up.

Ordeal of the Union, Volume Two reveals how the United States unraveled so quickly towards civil war thanks to the poor judgment of one individual compounded by another. Allan Nevins explores not only the political, but the economic and cultural situations in both North and South which revealed shows the two halves of the nation apparently becoming two, as if a clash was becoming unavoidable.

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Book Review: The Creators by Daniel J. Boorstin

The Creators: A History of Heroes of the Imagination by Daniel J. Boorstin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Aesthetic and intellectual innovations from great art to great architectural to philosophy have been a major part of the shaping of Western culture, but they didn’t appear out of nowhere and we have people thank for them. The Creators by Daniel J. Boorstin is a historic tale of the individuals that innovated in the styles of art, architecture, literature, music, and more from Vedic India to the 20th Century.

Boorstin over the course of almost 750 pages covers the development of various cultural aspects that have grown and evolved over the course of Western civilization. When possible, individuals are highlighted in biographical sketches as well as their contribution to the subject being discussed, though whenever the origins of the beginning of are murky or more communal in nature before individuals began to impact them Boorstin ready provides the information as such. Yet this approach of highlighting the Western tradition over the rest of the world through either ignoring it or simply writing off the rest of the world as disingenuous—his covering the Japanese long use of wood for architecture didn’t factor into the reality of how many earthquakes the nation dealt with and how quickly rebuilding homes were put back up with wood in comparison to stone. Also, some of Boorstin’s information was incorrect and he overlooked individual’s negative aspects in almost making them myths to illuminate. While some might believe Boorstin is being subjective in what he included, given wide range of time and the cultural aspects involved not everything could be included and so some selection is required in which an author’s personal preference will undoubtedly play a big role since they are writing the book. Overall, the volume is informative for someone looking for a general cultural history of the West, but if you want something more authoritative then this wouldn’t be the book.

The Creators is the middle volume of a trilogy by Daniel Boorstin on “Knowledge”, a hefty book that covers the development and evolution of Western cultural history.

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Book Review: Ordeal of the Union, Volume: Fruits of Manifest Destiny, 1847-1852 by Allan Nevins

Ordeal of the Union, Vol 1: Fruits of Manifest Destiny 1847-52 by Allan Nevins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The aftermath of a unpopular though very successful war suddenly put two sections of the victors against one another in arguments so serious that it could cause civil war, this is the United States after the Mexican-American War. Ordeal of the Union, Volume One: Fruits of Manifest Destiny, 1847-1852 is the first of Allan Nevins’ eight volume series on the lead up to and of the American Civil War with the focus being on the search for a compromise.

This book featured Nevins revealing to the reader various themes that interact with one another politically, economically, socially, and culturally. Nevins political analysis focused on how weak executives (Polk successful in war but unable to control the fallout of victory, Taylor unable to work with others, and Fillmore an accidental President) and a House of Representatives in chaos demanded the Senate to come up with a compromise to prevent the unraveling the country. Nevins looked how each section of the country—North and South—viewed slavery and treated African Americans along with how the two were economically situated in the early 1850s. Throughout the book, it became clear that many Southerners who preached secession were lying to themselves about the prospects of an independent South and given the 1947 publication date, this was definitely not a “Lost Cause” book. Now that I have brought up when this book came out, there is some word usage that today wouldn’t be used obviously and while it doesn’t need a “trigger warning” one needs to be mindful that different eras had different conventions. Overall, Fruits of Manifest Destiny was a fitting title as Nevins revealed the sweet richness of the new territory acquired from Mexico but the bitterness of the sectional divide that it caused while comparing and contrasting the two sections verbally battling on how to politically and economically organize it.

Ordeal of the Union, Volume One vividly portrays the political tumult of the aftermath of the war with Mexico and Allan Nevins describes it wonderfully while also giving the reader an in-depth overviews of each section of the nation at the beginning of the 1850s.

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Book Review: The Nation Comes of Age by Page Smith

The Nation Comes of Age: A People's History of the Ante-Bellum Years by Page Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

With the Founders fading into history, a new generation of leadership took the helm of the United States, but they faced a problem they didn’t want to deal with and in the end, it would create the nation’s greatest crisis. The Nation Comes of Age: A People’s History of the Ante-Bellum Years is the fourth volume of Page Smith’s A People’s History series follows the deaths of Jefferson and Admas focusing on the expansion of the nation and how it resulted in the idea of the Union to grow in appreciation even as the morality of slavery increasing turned the North and South against one another until open war begins.

In the previous volume Smith introduced his view of the United States as schizophrenic in viewing itself against reality then extended it from how one section of the nation looked at the country against the vision of the other. This social-political schizophrenia during the 35 years covered in the book was centered on one issue, slavery which as I stated above quickly became a moral issue thanks to those reformers who abhorred it much to the surprise of Southerners who in their heart of hearts agreed. This wasn’t a completely political and military (Mexican-American War) only history, Smith takes over half the book to look at various social history elements from the status of women to culture (art, literature, etc.) to the reform movements and finally abolitionism; he also covered the exploration by Americans of the interior West and finding routes to the Pacific West following the adventures of such men like Jedediah Smith, Kit Carson, and John Fremont while following on their heels were settlers whose on experiences were covered as well. While Smith follows a lot of political figures, he ends the volume describing the rise of Abraham Lincoln and setting up the coming bloody crisis that would scare the nation. Overall this 1200+ page book covers a lot of things that happened in the United States over the course of 35 years even as Smith spread his narrative to give a very comprehensive he was focused on what everything was leading to and how everything shaped the coming conflagration.

The Nation Comes of Age is the critical volume in Page Smith’s history of the United States, the use of primary sources of ordinary people to help tell the story of the nation during these critical 35 years brings it alive and informs the reader with new facets of American history they might have not known fully before.

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Book Review: The Federalist by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay

The Federalist Or, the New Constitution by Alexander Hamilton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The United States was in dire need of a form of government that worked better than the Articles of Confederation, in the summer of 1787 a convention in Philadelphia produced what would become the Constitution of the United States but its ratification wasn’t guaranteed especially by the most important states in the Union. The Federalist is a collection of 85 essays written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to convince the citizens of New York to support the ratification of the Constitution that also explained for the historical record what two of its framers believed how the government it created would work and why.

The essays making of The Federalist are a look into both political theory, as three men expound how the proposed government would work in practice and refute allegations against it, and also political history as with two of the Constitution’s Framers and another prominent Founding Father defending it we see how important in the time and day they believed this document was. This is the culmination of almost a quarter century of political writing since the start of the tax dispute with Britain in which the arguments of political thinkers Locke and Montesquieu were prominent as they were within the writings of Hamilton, Madison, and Jay. There are several famous essays known by their numbers (#10, 14, 39, 51, 70, and 78) that become the standards of American political thought to this day. While students of political history and readers of political theory read The Federalist to understand the arguments for the Constitution and to glimpse the thinking that lay behind the document, was it’s intended purpose successful? While New York ratified the Constitution, it was the last of the big four and the overall eleventh state to do so, the Constitution was operational, and the state convention was packed with opponents but being left out of the new government was too much to handle. It could be argued that the essays didn’t sway New York, political reality did, but why is this collection famous? Hamilton and Madison, two young men instrumental in getting the Constitutional Convention called, attended and debated, and then influenced the new government they created over the course of the next quarter century.

The Federalist is a collection of 85 essays planned out to show the need for and defend the Constitution sent to the 13 states to be ratified and create a new government. Written by three prominent Founding Fathers, these essays are in the words of history Richard B. Morris, “a classic in political science unsurpassed in both breadth and depth by the product of any later American writer.”

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Book Review: The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin

The Discoverers: A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself by Daniel J. Boorstin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Today in our interconnected global community we take for granted how much we know about the world around us, but not so long ago every aspect of our modern world would have been considered fantasy but through individuals who expanded the knowledge of their time our world was made. The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin is a historic tale of individuals that pushed the boundaries of human discoveries in the physical realm and more theoretical ones.

Boorstin begins his book with how the calendar came about and finished with how the atom went from concept to fact and in between he covered how time got measured, how the earth was measured then fully mapped out, how plants and animals were classified, and finally how everything about man from the inside out and his creation of science shaped himself and the world. In almost 700 pages Boorstin explores how individuals—all men to be honest—built on the work of others even if it meant they undercut that had come before to revealing something new and unknown, even if it went up against “the establishment” whether that meant the academic consensus or the all-powerful Church, with each segment focusing on a different avenue for discoveries near seamlessly transitioning from one to another. Boorstin’s focus is on the West, he does give China a spotlight early one though to show a cultural contrast, and one needs to come into the book with full knowledge that it will be European-focused.

The Discoverers is the first of a trilogy series by Daniel Boorstin on “Knowledge”, a hefty book that covers a wide range of human adventures into their world.

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Book Review: The Shaping of America by Page Smith

The Shaping of America: A People's History of the Young Republic by Page Smith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The struggle against the political encroachment of Britain and the ensuing military struggle led to independence, but now the real problems began how to follow up. The Shaping of America: A People’s History of the Young Republic is the third volume of Page Smith’s A People’s History series going over the history of the United States with this volume covering the aftermath of the 1783 Treaty of Paris to the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1826.

Smith viewed the young nation caught between two intellectual consciousnesses—the Classical-Christian of the Revolutionary generation, whose last gasp brought about the Constitution, and the Secular-Democratic inspired by the Enlightenment in the generation that followed the Founders, though ironically led by a few of the Founders. Though Secular-Democratic thought came out on top, it was deeply influenced by the intellectual viewpoint it had replaced especially as the international scene saw the resurgence of absolute monarchism in the aftermath of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Though politically the Secular-Democratic intellectual view was victorious, socially the Protestant Christian emphasis on redeeming the world was a major thread in the American tapestry and eventually come up against the issue that the Founders and the next generation didn’t want to confront, black slavery. As Smith ended this volume, he highlighted the growing cloud that slavery was becoming for those in the North and South while the “original” West was beginning to pick sides. But once again I found Smith’s facts about Native American tribes inaccurate in some instances that I was shaking my head, and I don’t know much about that subject which speaks volumes. Overall, this was a well-written and fascinating look at the history of the young republic, while Smith’s analysis or chosen themes might not be for everyone but that is the point as it reveals the uncomfortable facts that need to be addressed.

The Shaping of America follows up the two-volume history of the American Revolution with a fascinating and engaging look at the young republic as Page Smith reveals all facets of the United States over four critical decades.

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