Summer Reading

Suggestions for the curious

I’ve read some especially interesting nonfiction books lately that I want to bring to your attention. Last year I listed some good and not so good books. I also called attention to some overlooked historical topics. In a blog I used to write, I made a list of books that really changed my mind about some historical issues.

Most of my reading is to “keep up in my field” or at least find good materials to assign to my students. But I read mysteries and thrillers for pleasure and other nonfiction because they broaden or deepen my knowledge. Here are some recent finds.

Richard Bell, The American Revolution and the Fate of the World

It’s unusual for a nonfiction book to lack a subtitle, but I think this doesn’t need one. Maryland professor Richard Bell makes a point I wish more Americans understood – that our revolutionary war was part of a global conflict whose outcome was the result of developments far removed from the 13 colonies. Instead of a chronological narrative, Bell has topical chapters on how the war was seen in Britain, Germany, Ireland, France, Spain, the Caribbean, and even India. He often focuses on particular individuals in those places who played key roles. While discussing the immediate developments of the war, he also covers the consequences in later years. The book has excellent maps and contemporary illustrations. As we celebrate the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it’s important to see our struggle in its actual broader context. America won its independence not because the rebels won at Saratoga and Yorktown, though those victories helped, but because the global costs and consequences were too high for Britain. Thus Parliament voted to end the fight in North America.

Matthew Pinsker, Boss Lincoln : the partisan life of Abraham Lincoln

Most of the books about Abraham Lincoln that I’ve read emphasize his leadership during the Civil War, and how he handled his generals and the question of emancipation. Other authors have written about his religious views, his coping with depression, and his political theory. Matthew Pinsker tells about Lincoln as a politician, how he crafted his political career, how he persuaded his colleagues, and particularly how he built a strong party organization. Lincoln was fiercely partisan but knew how to deal effectively with opposing partisans. Pinsker also details Lincoln’s sensitivity to public opinion and how he manipulated the press. It’s great to see how a good politician used that skill for the greater public good.

Alex Wellerstein, The most awful responsibility : Truman and the secret struggle for control of the Atomic Age

Harry Truman is usually praised or damned for being decisive and ordering the use of nuclear weapons to end the war with Japan. Alex Wellerstein, who has written other books on U.S. nuclear weapons and policy, details his evolution. Ignorant of the Manhattan Project until he became president, Truman went along with his advisors as they prepared for first use. Once the weapons were used and he learned of their destructiveness of civilians, Wellerstein argues, he worked tirelessly to keep them under tight civilian control. A substantial portion of the book is devoted to the struggle to create the Atomic Energy Commission and to keep the U.S. military subordinate. Other books have more details on how the Japanese reacted to the bombings, but this is the first I know of to explore Truman’s personal efforts to manage the Atomic Age.

Paul Andrew Hutton, The undiscovered country : triumph, tragedy, and the shaping of the American West

As a third-generation native of Denver, I grew up learning the pioneer myths. I knew that Lookout Mountain with the TV towers was also where Buffalo Bill Cody was buried. Eventually I learned of the Sand Creek Massacre and other mistreatment of the Native Americans. Paul Andrew Hutton depicts the history of the West as a violent clash of empires, the whites against the various native tribes, who themselves were competing for territory. He tells of the many groups pushing for expansion – the miners, the businessmen, the soldiers, the ranchers, the railroads, and the federal government. There are other good books of western history like Ned Blackhawk’s The Rediscovery of America that challenge our myths, and Hutton’s deserves a place on the same shelf.

Daniel Swift, The dream factory : London’s first playhouse and the making of William Shakespeare

I love London; I enjoy watching Shakespeare’s plays; I’ve long been curious about the economics of the arts. Daniel Swift’s book puts the Bard into a very special place – a theatre north of the Thames that flourished just before he wrote his major works. He argues that Shakespeare was shaped by this milieu of competition for space and scripts, with theatres a business that had to cope with laws and finances and plagues. He depicts Shakespeare as part of a team that had to collaborate on material and performers and the physical properties of their surroundings. He shows how the theatrical managers competed for audiences. Swift brings late 16^th century London to life.

Jon Ralston, The game changer : how Harry Reid remade the rules and showed Democrats how to fight

This is a biography of an important Senate leader by a journalist who followed his whole career. I think Harry Reid of Nevada did a terrible thing by weakening the filibuster, but Jon Ralston explains why he thought it was necessary. Books about Senators aren’t usually very good – too much on political drama and not enough on nuts and bolts. This book shows how Reid mastered the rules and crafted procedures to get what he wanted. That is the way legislatures usually work. Reid was also tough partisan, who contributed to the hyperpartisanship poisoning our politics today. I don’t like what happened, but it’s important to understand how.

How to read a nonfiction book. I have a special way of reading books that I should confess. I read fiction, from cover to cover, and if I get bored, jump to the final chapters to see how things turned out. For nonfiction, however, I start with the Acknowledgements. That’s where the author explains why he or she wrote the book, on whom they relied, under what special circumstances. Then the introduction or first chapter. That’s what sold the manuscript to the publisher, so it may be the best in the book. It’s also usually a summary with a guide to subsequent chapters. Then I read the conclusions, thinking “so what?” Only then do I open to specific chapters that promise more about particular topics that most interest me. I prefer books with footnotes, though most these days put the notes in the back. I hate those academic books that interrupt their sentences with references like [Hobbes, 234]. One of the excitements of reading the notes is to find additional sources on the subject at hand. I’ve followed them into many rabbit holes but enjoyed the chase.

Still to come on June 23 is the long-awaited book on the Trump presidency by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump. I expect to find several chapters to assign to my students.

Happy Reading!