Sunday, October 7, 2018

Civil War in the First Person

By Jeff Burns

The Civil War was a major departure from previous wars in a number of ways, new technologies, strategies, and tactics made it a truly modern war.  It was also unique in that so many participants wrote about their experiences, both on the battlefield and on the homefront.  There are so many first person primary sources that one could spend years reading them.


Among the most famous examples is the diary of Mary Chesnut. “One of the most compelling personal narratives of the Civil War, Mary Chesnut's Diary was written between 1861 and 1865. As the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner and the wife of an aide to the Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, Chesnut was well acquainted with the Confederacy's prominent players and-from the very first shots in Charleston, South Carolina-diligently recorded her impressions of the conflict's most significant moments. One of the most frequently cited memoirs of the war, Mary Chesnut's Diary captures the urgency and nuance of the period in an epic rich with commentary on race, status, and power within a nation divided.” (Amazon.com description)

Another phenomenal diary has just been published. LeRoy Gresham was a young teen boy in Macon Georgia, the son of a wealthy planter.  Because of an injury and chronic illness, he was mostly incapacitated during the war, but he kept very insightful journals that have just been edited.  LeRoy displays a poise and intelligence well beyond his years as he recounts the parallel deteriorations of his own body and of the Confederacy; he is able to see things about both subjects that the adults around him can’t, or refuse, to see.  Many reviewers compare this diary to Anne Frank’s, and I don’t think that’s necessarily hyperbole.


Also recently published is Barracoon, by novelist, anthropologist, and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston. It is basically the annotated transcript of months of interviews Hurston had with Cudjo Lewis in 1927 and 1928. Why Lewis? He was the last surviving person brought to the United States as a slave, after the importation of slaves was outlawed in 1808. Cudjo Lewis was one about 130 Africans sold to American slavers and brought to America on board the Clothilde, the last ship known to bring enslaved Africans to the U.S. Lewis’ story is thoroughly engrossing. He has rich recollections of his life and culture in Africa and of his life as a slave.  It is an incredible story.


Civil War soldiers were, on the whole, very literate compared to soldiers of past conflicts. Many letters, written by and to soldiers, have survived. Ken Burns practically launched his filmmaking career based on that fact.  From Fields of Fire and Glory is an interesting collection, done in the “museum in a book” style.  The letters are reprinted and annotated, but they also appear as facsimiles of the originals that the reader can pull out, unfold, and handle, becoming an archivist as well as a reader.

Sunday, September 2, 2018

Brothers

By Jeff Burns

The brotherly bond can be a strong one, and it is a common theme in many books.  Here are four books about brothers that focus on that relationship and on history.


Taylor Brown’s The River of Kings is a novel set on the past and present coast of Georgia. I grew up near the Altamaha and spent many weekends fishing on the river as a child, so this book really hit home.  I can’t say anything else about it better than the Amazon.com description: “The Altamaha River, Georgia’s “Little Amazon,” is one of the last truly wild places in America. Crossed by roads only five times in its 137 miles, the black-water river is home to thousand-year-old virgin cypress, direct descendants of eighteenth-century Highland warriors, and a staggering array of rare and endangered species. The Altamaha is even rumored to harbor its own river monster, as well as traces of the oldest European fort in North America.

Brothers Hunter and Lawton Loggins set off to kayak the river, bearing their father’s ashes toward the sea. Hunter is a college student, Lawton a Navy SEAL on leave; they were raised by an angry, enigmatic shrimper who loved the river, and whose death remains a mystery that his sons are determined to solve. As the brothers proceed downriver, their story alternates with that of Jacques le Moyne, the first European artist in North America, who accompanied a 1564 French expedition that began as a search for riches and ended in a bloody confrontation with Spanish conquistadors and native tribes. “ It’s well worth the read, and I’m encouraged to read more of Brown’s work.

I heard Deanne Stillman speak about her book  Blood Brothers: The Story of the Strange Friendship Between Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill at the Savannah Book Festival in February.  While not brothers by blood in the literal sense, Buffalo Bill Cody and Sitting Bull lived lives that had remarkable parallels and led them to a strong brotherly bond in their later years.  It makes for a very interesting story.


The Kelloggs: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek by Howard Markel is about an entirely different brotherly relationship.  Yes, it’s those Kellogg brothers.  One was an internationally renowned physician who promoted an entirely new vision of health and wellness at the turn of the 20th century. The other was his long-suffering (at the hands of his brother) right hand, who was the brains behind the creation of a brand new industry: prepackaged breakfast grain foods.  Their relationship was unique to say the least, and this book provides an interesting look at how it all started.

Finally, a book I’ve discussed in an earlier blog: The Oregon Trail by Rinker Buck. This is a true story of two brothers who outfit a covered wagon and follow the Oregon Tail west – 2000 miles – in the 21st century.  It’s a great adventure book, but it’s also a great book about the relationship between the Buck brothers.

Sunday, August 5, 2018

Three Books on Race

By Jeff Burns

Here are three books on race in America that I highly recommend.



When I was a teenager in South Georgia, I remember the news coverage of the civil rights marches in Forsyth County Georgia and Oprah Winfrey, at the time a relatively new talk show host, dedicating an episode of her show to the “whites only” county north of Atlanta. Stories referred to the 1912 purge of the counties black residents.  I couldn’t believe such a thing was possible.  Blood at the Root by Patrick Phillips tells the full story of the “cleansing” of the county and the events leading up the 1987 marches. 

I teach the story of Emmett Till every year.  Not only is it a story or unimaginable tragedy and brutality, it is also considered a seminal moment in the civil rights movement.  Till’s murder is considered by many to be the catalyst of the modern civil rights movement. It was fresh in the minds of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, and the others involved in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Yet, too many Americans do not know the story. Timothy Tyson’s book is an essential read on the topic. Perhaps the most important part of the book is Tyson’s interview with Carolyn Bryant, the white woman who accused Till of disrespecting her – the incident that led to his murder.

The Potlikker Papers by John T. Edge is an original take on the 20th century civil rights movement.  Edge tells the story of the movement through the lens of food, how southern food simultaneously unites and divides black and white southerners.  It is one of my favorite reads of the last year, and I was privileged to hear Mr. Edge speak at the Savannah Book Festival in February and to talk with him for a moment afterwards.  Here are some quotes about the book:

“To read “Potlikker” is to understand modern Southern history at a deeper level than you're used to. Not  just a history of Southern food; it also stands as a singularly important history of the South itself.” —The Bitter Southerner 

“Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi, uses food as a lens to explore Southern identity, seeking to reconcile a legacy of slavery and Jim Crow with who claims the Southern table today.” — NPR

“A panoramic mural of the South’s culinary heritage, illuminating the region’s troubled place at the American table and the unsung role of cooks in the quest for social justice.” —O, The Oprah Magazine

            

Sunday, July 15, 2018

Three Views of the Gilded Age

By Jeff Burns

I’ve recently read three interesting books of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Gilded Age or the late Victorian period. Each was very interesting in its own way, and each focused on a different aspect of the period.


The Wilderness of Ruin by Roseanne Montillo, is the story of Jesse Pomeroy, a fourteen-year old Boston boy, convicted of brutal attacks and murders of local children in the 1870s.  The story behind the crimes and the criminal himself is very interesting, but that’s not the entire book.  Montillo paints a very vivid and detailed picture of Boston in the 1870s, the lives of several of Boston’s leading citizens including Oliver Wendell Holmes and Herman Melville, and the penal system of the time. 

Houdini, Tarzan, and the Perfect Man is an original way of looking at the time that hadn’t occurred to me.  John Kasson, the author, selects three men - escape king Harry Houdini, the first professional bodybuilder Eugene Sandow, and  king of the jungle Tarzan – to explore how the modern age affected white men in America and Europe and their perceptions of what it meant to be the perfect physical specimen, the perfect physique, the “perfect man.”  He deftly relates these changes in perception to racism and imperialism in a unique way. 

The Last Days of Night is one of the best historical novels I’ve read in a while.  It’s about the Current War between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, a war to determine which electrical system, AC or DC, would power the world. Throw in real characters like Nikola Tesla, J. P. Morgan, and opera singer Agnes Huntington, and you’ve got a very exciting story.  Moore also starts each chapter with a quotes from scientists, engineers, inventors, or businessmen.  Most of the quotes are from Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.  Their use really encourages the reader to make comparisons among the men of the late 19th century and early 21st centuries. The book  whetted my appetite for biographies of Tesla and Edison, especially Tesla.

Saturday, July 7, 2018

From Tony to Anne Hillerman

By Jeff Burns

A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog about my love of Tony Hillerman’s series of novels featuring two Navaho policemen, Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. Unfortunately, Hillerman passed away recently.

Never fear, though, Leaphorn mysteries are not over. Anne Hillerman, Tony’s daughter, is continuing the series.  The books are still very entertaining mysteries set in and around the Navaho Reservation, and they are full of Navaho and Southwest culture.  The main difference is that Joe Leaphorn is kind of a minor character now; the stories really focus on Jim Chee and his wife Bernadette Manuelito. 

If you are a Tony Hillerman fan, I strongly suggest you continue reading Anne Hillerman’s books.






Sunday, June 17, 2018

Book Festivals

By Jeff Burns

My wife and I discovered Book Festivals.  Neither of us like crowds very much, but of course we love books. Since 2008, the Savannah Book Festival has taken place in venues on three historic downtown squares in mid-February.  Each year, the festival hosts about 40 authors from all genres in a one-day event. Even though we never need an excuse to visit Savannah, one of our favorite cities, this seemed like a great way to dip into the book festival pool.

We decided to check out the schedule and read some of the selections.  Come to find out, that’s not the usual way for Book Festival goers, at least in Savannah.  In talking to other people, we discovered that it seemed that most of the audience members for each talk hadn’t read the book, or at least a great number hadn’t.  There’s also a disadvantage to reading in advance; authors only sign books purchased at the festival.

Long story short, we thoroughly enjoyed the talks, the conversations with strangers while waiting in line or waiting for the talks to start, and even meeting the authors.  Savannah Book Festival will now be an annual destination for us, and we’re looking forward to the even bigger, 3-day, Decatur Book Festival Labor Day Weekend.

Some of the books and authors featured  at the Savannah Book Festival 2018:





Saturday, June 2, 2018

History Book Suggestions for Young Adult Summer Reading


Are you a reader? Do you want to share your love of reading and history the young adults in your life this summer?  History books and historical fiction for young adults offer some great options for engaging readers.

The love of history and reading grew together in my house. I grew up reading about history and visiting historical sites. History and books inspired conversations and trips. I have fond memories of historical fiction from that the described Revolutionary- Era Boston  and took me across the great plains in a covered wagon. I could share in their experiences and enjoy their adventures. 

As a teacher and a parent, I have had the chance to share the love of reading about history and visiting historical sites with a new generation. From the Magic Tree House series to Bud not Buddy; I have continued to share books about history written for young readers and young adults.

The young readers of today benefit from the growth of books being published about history for them. Books published about history or with historical themes continue to grow.  Series like Dear America and Dear Canada have expanded the historical narratives for young adult readers. The Snipesville Chronicles combines history with the adventure of time travel.  If you are looking for a history book to share with young adult readers in your life, check out our list of old and new favorites.  It is a great way to share your love of history with a new generation. You both may find a history book to love.






Have a suggestion to share? Let us know in the comments or send us a pin on Pinterest. We are always on the lookout for a good book.

Monday, January 1, 2018

Book Reprints to Enjoy

Reprints of books and drawings can be the gateway to new perspectives and inquiries. Here are a few reprints that you can enjoy and  use in the classroom.




A post shared by Histocrats (@histocrats) on


A post shared by Histocrats (@histocrats) on


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