The Civil War - A Concise History - Book Review

With the 150th anniversary of the Civil War fast approaching, it is probably time you brushed up on your Civil War history.  If you're in need of a refresher on the topic or have never ventured into the Civil War era, The Civil War: A Concise History is a great place to start.

Author Louis P. Masur begins with the causes of the conflict and continues year by year covering major political, social events of the time.  Not to mention the military events, battles and important characters of the war.

The book focuses on two main themes:

How the war changed from an effort to restore Union towards an all-out war that would change the fundamental existence of the Southern society.  And how the war changed to become a battle to abolish slavery.

Masur continues in the aftermath of the war, including post-war policy and reconstruction.   It's a good introduction into this very complicated era of American history.


The Civil War: A Concise History is a readable, palatable introductory overview of the different causes, major events and some new stories that have created the Civil War.

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50 Books That Changed the World

Don't know what it is about these lists... but people love them.

According to the Online Education Database, these are the Top 50 Books. They've inspired, provoked thought and caused controversy.

Enjoy....

http://oedb.org/library/features/50_books_that_changed_the_world

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Q&A with Author Kenneth C. Davis; A Nation Rising, Untold Stories of Flawed Founders, Fallen Heroes, and Forgotten Fighters from America's Hidden History

Kenneth C. Davis is the author of the book, "A Nation Rising; Untold Tales of Flawed Founders, Fallen Heroes, and Forgotten Fighters from America’s Hidden History"

Below is a short interview

“When You Don’t Know Much, Ask a Question: A Q -and- A with Bestselling Historian Kenneth C. Davis”


Since I began my career as a writer more than 25 years ago, I have embraced the basic belief that there are no bad questions—only bad answers.  Whenever I write a new book, give a speech, talk to teachers, students, librarians or radio show audiences, I try to invite questions and tackle them as best I can, while encouraging a spirit of curiosity in adults and children alike.

Here are a few questions that I am often asked —as well as some new ones about my current work.

Q. You didn’t finish college and you're not a trained historian or academic. How did you come to write history books?

A. Years ago, while working as a freelance journalist and book reviewer, I was casting about for a book project when my wife said to me, “You love American history. Why don’t you write about it?” That’s how I got started on Don’t Know Much About History more than 20 years ago. To my surprise the book went onto the New York Times bestseller list, stayed there 35 consecutive weeks and eventually sold over 1.5-million copies. Don’t Know Much About History gave rise to a series of “Don’t Know Much About” books for adults and children.  More recently, I wrote America’s Hidden History, and my new book, A Nation Rising.
        But my love of history is much older –it goes back at least as far as third grade, when I wrote a book about the U.S. presidents with colored markers on construction paper.  (Thanks to my mother, I still have it!) As a child, on family camping trips to places like Gettysburg and Fort Ticonderoga, I learned that history isn’t about marble heroes in textbooks—it happens to real people in real places. And that the “villains” like Aaron Burr or Benedict Arnold can sometimes be heroic too.
        All I’ve done in my books is to share my passion and curiosity and try to replace that “black hole” of dates and battles called “American History” with some true stories of remarkable, real people, told in an entertaining style.

Q. How do you respond to critics who say you are tearing down our history and our heroes with a “negative” approach?

A. I don’t equate “negative” with “accurate.”  People are ignorant of history because they are bored. They are bored because we have created a tidy but false narrative that is more like a bedtime story than real, live history. Our “heroes,” like Andrew Jackson in this new book, were capable of reprehensible things –like cutting off the noses of dead Indians to count casualties. We can put those truths into the context of the times, but we cannot ignore them. And sometimes we can find new “heroes” whose names we didn’t know –like William Weatherford, an American “Braveheart” who fought for his people’s land and freedom. It’s all part of the Hidden History. It’s not always pretty, but it sure is interesting.

Q. What is your new book,  A NATION RISING, all about?

A. This book describes what happened between 1776 and the Civil War –you know, those famous “four score and seven years ago.” More precisely, I set out to tell the story of an extraordinary half-century in which America went “from sea to shining sea.” But I’ve done it through the lens of six stories that your schoolbooks probably ignored. They are stories of courage, corruption, conquest, and conspiracy –not the tidy tales of “rugged individual” pioneers heading west and happy immigrants coming to America, mixing into the “melting pot” and fulfilling the dream.

Q. Of all the things that happened between 1800 and 1850, how did you choose the six stories in this book?

A. I often head down one path of research only to discover all sorts of people and events that have been overlooked –or deliberately erased—by our history books. Aaron Burr is a good example. I learned that as a 19-year-old, he served in the Revolution with Benedict Arnold and that remarkable coincidence fascinated me. Then I went on to find that this extraordinary character, who was reduced to a murderous scoundrel, was actually more complex and quite noble –he was a war hero, an early abolitionist and an advocate of the vote for women.  Or in looking into Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans, I found another story in the Fort Mims Massacre in Alabama that led to Jackson’s brutal first war with Native Americans, who called him “Sharp Knife.”  I had never heard of Fort Mims, but it was the deadliest frontier massacre in American history, a 19th-century “9/11” moment. But most of us never heard the name “Fort Mims.”
        Each of these stories involves this incredible expansion of America –what the textbooks called “Manifest Destiny.” But they left out the sordid details and the human cost of that lofty goal: the ethnic cleansing in our own past; the violent fights over religion; the vicious attacks on immigrants. And these stories are not only fascinating; they are important and obviously timely. We are still fighting over immigrants and religion in America.

Q. You've sold 4.5-million books. But your name isn't as well known as other historians. Why is that?

A. I may be the “Rodney Dangerfield of American History “—”I don’t get no respect.” No, seriously, my satisfaction doesn't come from being famous but rather from hearing a parent who says that my books got their kids hooked on history. And there’s always the student who gratefully tells me, “Your book got me through my AP History exam.” But the best compliment is when a teacher comments, “Your books made me want to teach History.”  I consider that a good day’s work!

© 2010 Kenneth C. Davis

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The Correspondence of John Cotton Junior

In today's world of email, cell phones and electronic media it is not uncommon for a private correspondence to reach the masses.  Though it may happen quite a bit by error, there are times when the viral nature of one's "private" correspondence was released on purpose.

John Cotton Jr. (1639-1699) was born to one of New England's most famous clergymen.  By the age of 22 he was already the pastor of a church in Wethersfield, Connecticut and trying to put out the fire of a sexual scandal.  Already excommunicated from the First Church in Boston, for sinfulness with a woman other than his wife, Cotton diligently contested the charges brought against him.

Jobless, embarrassed and disgraced, Cotton moved his family from Connecticut to Martha's Vineyard, where he became a missionary to the Indians.  This move allowed him back into the good graces of the Church and soon accepted a job to the church in Plymouth.  For nearly 30 years he avoided scandal, until Church politics got the best of him once again.

What makes John Cotton Juniors story so fascinating is that his letters and writings were written in an era when it was widely accepted that his correspondence would reach far more than the intended recipient.  It is because of this that many letters addressed to him and written by him often read as newsletters and political propaganda.  These writings help to document some of the most dramatic happenings of the late 17th century in New England and the American colonies. 

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The Great Virginia Triumvirate; George Washington, Thomas Jefferson & James Madison

I love the University of Virginia Press.  And I think they love me.  They send me the best books.  And what's great about the University of Virginia Press is the fact that their books are Virginia-centric.  This means, you'll find a lot of books on Washington, Jefferson, Madison, et. al.

The most recent of these books is entitled, The Great Virginia Triumvirate: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson & James Madison, In the Eyes of Their Contemporaries.



With the help of these three men, Virginia played an important role in the fight for independence.  And as one of the largest and wealthiest of the colonies, they played an equally important role in helping to set up the new republic.  This is demonstrated with the number of Virginians who played key roles in guiding the fledgling nation. 

Washington as Commander in Chief and Army General, Thomas Jefferson as a statesman and scholar and James Madison as the "Father of Our Constitution".  

Author John Kaminski, who's Founders on the Founders is an excellent glimpse into the lives of our forefathers through personal quotes from journals and writings.  His knack for using candid dialogue and letters to bring personality to the founders is once again brought back in The Great Virginia Triumvirate.

This is a series of biographical portraits that bring these three men to life through the words of these three Virginians themselves.

Take for example the idea that Jefferson once told John Adams that he had not written about his life or a history of his time because he found his correspondence to be more direct and honest.  This in turn would provide a more accurate history of the time. 

Taken from letters, speeches, diaries and memoirs, the quotations and vignettes bring to life the personalities behind the public personae of these great men.

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FYI: 18th Annual African American Children's Book Fair - Philadelphia

THE 18TH ANNUAL AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN'S BOOK FAIR

The 18th Annual African American Children's Book Fair, will be held on Saturday, February 27, 2009, 1:00-3:00PM, Community College of Philadelphia, 17th Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, PA, in the Gymnasium. The event is free and opened to the public. Rain or snow....the good books will have an audience.

The Book Fair started out on a cold frosty day at John Wanamaker Department Store. Today it is one of the oldest and largest single day events for African American Children's Books in the nation.

The success of the program is due to the fact that we offer the best and the brightest from the African American Children's literary community. Parents, caregivers, and educators from the tri-state area are very supportive of the event. They all understand that children who read make more responsible decisions about their lifestyles.

Participants are nationally best selling authors/illustrators. Many have won the American Library Association Coretta Scott King award. Confirmed E.B. Lewis, Tonya Bolden, Deborah Gregory, Sean Qualls, Eric Velasquez, Shelby Williams, Nicole Bailey-Williams, Walter Dean Myers, Linda Trice, Lynda Jones, Lorraine Dowdy Gordon, Jerry Craft, London Ladd, Kelly Starling Lyons, Booker T. Mattison, Felicia Pride, Katura Hudson, Cheryl Hudson, Mutiya Vision, Charisse Carney-Nunes, and Lori Nelson

These authors/illustrators have written some of the best books of our generation. This book fair is an opportunity for them to promote their works to our children to enlighten, empower and enrich their lives. The book fair will offer the largest selection of affordable and best selling African American titles in the region to purchase.

NBC10 will once again host the Reading Room offering children a brand new book (while supplies last) of some of our guest authors/illustrators. The young attendees not only get a great book, but the opportunity to meet the person who wrote and illustrated the book.

In addition to the authors and illustrators we have an area called Literary Row that distributes book related promotional materials, a parent's book resources section and an Educator's Book Book Give-Away.

With proper ID some of our sponsors will give away books of some of our guest participants (while supplies last) to educators to use in the classroom libraries. I Lead-The Urban Genesis Project, and PECO are some of the sponsors. Cabot Creamery Cooperative is presenting information on good nutrition. Comcast, Health Partner, The Literary Media Consulting, Just Us Books will also offer resources for good reading habits.

The afternoon is filled with games, prizes and promotional give-away's. For general information about the book fair call (215) 878-BOOK.

This event will kick-off our "Take A Book Home," campaign. Children need to have books in the home. We are encouraging care-givers to create a library in the home. After all a book opens up world of Opportunities.

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John Muir - Library of America's Story of the Week

I like books. I like collecting books and referencing books and knowing that I have books that could cover almost every part of American history. But like most of the free world, I don't like to pay for books. To subscribe to the books that Library of America (LOA) offers, one has to pay a heft price.

LOA usually has some kind of introductory offer that is too good to pass up. I acquired 3 books this way. I was browsing my own web site, http://USHistorySite.com and saw an add for an Abraham Lincoln collection for about $5, and a free book about US Grant. I clicked on the add (even though it was on my own site... sorry GoogleAds, I probably have 3 fraudulent cents in my pocket), and I got the books and quickly sent back the invoice with 'cancel' on it... Of course I still received a shipment of books, paid for them to be returned and made a phone call to cancel my account. I didn't like the idea of paying monthly for more books. But I do have some pretty good looking cloth bound books about Lincoln now in my collection.

And another good thing about giving them my information is now I receive The Library of America Story of the Week via email. This is simply a link to a blog written by an LOA staffer which gives their service more exposure and allows you short previews of the books the peddle.

The story I received last week struck a chord... John Muir. I'll be honest, I hadn't hear of John Muir until a few years back when my wife and I were visiting family in San Francisco on the way back from our honeymoon. We were fortunate to be able to spend a few hours driving Muir Woods just north of San Francisco. Naturally the curiosity in me nudged me to research a little more about Muir. That year while teaching in Atlanta the high school librarians were getting rid of old books that hadn't been checked out in a few years - and I was able to convince my wife to allow a box load or two to come back to our 2 bedroom apartment in Atlanta. One of those two boxes of books was a collection of John Muir writings, with a narrative by a more modern writer of the same vein.

To make what's already a rather long post shorter... John Muir is founder of the Sierra Club and a catalyst for the preservation of Yosemite National Park. Library of America pays tribute to the best thing since Thoreau in their blog: http://www.loa.org/storyoftheweek/2010/01/wind-storm-in-forests.html

Enjoy his prose. And then go outside...

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A Teddy Bear of A Book....

I'm trying like heck to get through the Wilderness Warrior... I'm loving every page of it...but I can't seem to find time to actually sit down and read it.

This in and of itself is kind of a paradox... and here's why. In the book Teddy Roosevelt seems to accomplish an amazing amount of work with what seems to be very little free time. I envy his passion, his drive and his determination to do his job, and still find time for his adventures and his passion of wildlife.

The book opens up a whole new version of TR that I had never seen before. It recognizes his love of family and his conservative, almost secretive nature in revealing his relations with his wife. He's a good husband. He doesn't kiss and tell.

But there's good news ahead...

Our school has implemented 2 days of Sustained Silent Reading during our Seminar/Study Hall period. I now have those days to find time to read. And this will hold me accountable to finish reading.

Disclaimer: This entry is by no means a reflection of the book. With my busy schedule and so many interests, I find it hard to actually sit down and read. But I made a New Year's resolution to finish the books I start. Because I read mostly history books, I have a tendency to read a lot of it, really enjoy it, and then pick up another book, and thus have 2, 3, 4 books at the same time. This is going to stop. The disclaimer is the book is great, I'm learning a lot, and my love for TR grows with each page.

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Gettysburg: One Man's Visit

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm an excitable reader. By this, I mean that I get excited about reading, and usually try to bite off more than I can chew. But this is never a bad thing.

When it comes to books, I have a problem. I rarely finish them. This is probably due to my excitability around books and the subjects they cover. I'll read 90% and gladly pick up another if the mood suits me. I'll read 4, 5, 6 books at one time. And as a dedicated teacher and father it is hard to find time to sit back and relax with a good book.

This weekend is no different. I'm going to Gettysburg, and I'm excited about a few books.

For my birthday my wife has decided to take me to Gettysburg this weekend. A short drive from our home in Philadelphia, Gettysburg is one of those places that has always eluded me. So I'm excited to finally get the opportunity to go. And we're not just going. We're GOING. We're leaving tonight (Friday) and staying all day Saturday and some of the day Sunday.

In preparation, and for the little downtown I'll have (with bringing our 3 1/2 month old son with us), I've brought with me, two books. One I've already read; The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara
. It's a favorite of mine, and because of the way it's written, it's a book I've finished. I hope to thumb through this and pull out some good dialogue concerning the battle.

The other book I've brought with me is a collection of speeches and writings of Abraham Lincoln
. This book, from the Library of America collection is a cool looking canvas bound book, which looks great on a book shelf. (a book shelf that doesn't exist in my house)

These books, along with the history of Gettysburg, the nightly ghost tours, the quaint little town of Gettysburg and my incredible wife and son, are sure to make my birthday weekend enjoyable. Oh, and an Eagles win over the Cowboys Sunday night would help too. All of this might make the Phillies loss a little easier to swallow.

Happy Reading!

Go Birds!

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Theodore Roosevelt: The Wilderness Warrior - A Man Before His Time

What's amazing about the quote below, is not the eloquence of the statement, but the idea behind it. A man before his time, often criticized for his desire to preserve land, Theodore Roosevelt's quotes are even more special today. Our new found desire for greenness, and the reality of environmental awareness as a true virtue and the destruction of it as a true problem, make Teddy's words that much more important.

Used as in introduction to the The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America - it's a quote that really sets the scene for what appears to be a great book - a book I can't wait to continue reading...

"Defenders of the short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things sometimes seek to champion them by saying the 'the game belongs to the people.' So it does; and not merely to the people now alive, but to the unborn people. The 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations. The movement for the conservation of wild life and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method."

- Theodore Roosevelt, A Book-Lover's Holidays in the Open (1916)

The picture here shows Roosevelt hiking Yosemite with Sierra Club founder John Muir. Roosevelt should be commended for setting aside so much land. The land TR saved for the National Forests was greater than France, Belgium and Holland combined.

Roosevelt is a gem, and we are very lucky that he took the initiative to make conservation a national endeavor.

A book I'm reviewing now focuses on exactly this...

Roosevelt's role as the "naturalist president". The book, entitled The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America, pulls from never-before-published material to paint a picture of Roosevelt, that not only evokes masculinity, but a sense of both concern and pride for the nature and beauty of the United States. In the little bit I've read thus far, Roosevelt uses his network of naturalists, mountaineers, hunters, ornithologists, museum experts and the elite to save the country he loves and leave a legacy for which we should be forever grateful.

I'm enjoying this book so much - you'll probably see several blog entries from me concerning this book... great research, great read.

Click here to check out the book and read some reviews.

More Roosevelt Quotes:

http://ushistoryquotes.com/teddy

http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/life/quotes.htm

John Muir Quotes:

http://ushistoryquotes.com/john_muir_quotes.php

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Still I Rise; A Graphic History of African Americans

I've noticed in recent years the popularity of graphic-novels. You know, the comic book style books you're students can't seem to put down. Though not quite award-winning literature, it was books like these that had kids reading. It gave them a break from reality, and the ability to get lost in the plot of an anime character.

I was a fan of anything that had kids reading. Whether it be a magazine, a website or a graphic novel. But there was always something about these books that just didn't sit well with me. Maybe it was the fact that they were reading a video game plot and weren't really learning anything.

Still I Rise, changes all that. It's a graphic-novel chronicling the struggle that is the history of African-Americans. This is a new version of the book which extends to the Presidency of Barack Obama. The previous version released several years ago stopped at the million man march.

From the slave trade to Denzel Washington and Halle Berry, Still I Rise: A Graphic History of African Americans does an excellent job of highlighting important events and introducing some astounding people most Americans never heard of.

Some of local Philadelphia significance include James Forten and Richard Allen, to name just a few.

I liked the book so much I'm going to propose that it become a necessary text for teaching African-American history at my school. It is the perfect compliment to any text. There is not an event in African -American history left unturned.

Still I Rise: A Graphic History of African Americans - is much more than a comic book. It's got content. History is drawn onto every page. From Amistad and Nat Turner's rebellion to Abraham Lincoln and the assassination of Martin Luther King.

The book will do wonders in getting your students engaged. They won't see it as a text, but as a comic book. There are so many extension activities you can do within the pages of this book.

For example:

Students can choose a character from the book and create a mini-comic book highlighting a day in the life of that character.

The can research and write a biography of one or more of the people in the book. Would be more challenging to choose someone they've never heard of. And there will be plenty.

You could take certain scenes, vignettes from the book and have your students create a movie trailer for a movie about the event.

Regardless, your kids will read the book. They'll learn history.

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Christopher Columbus the Tyrant

Is Columbus Day something that should really be celebrated?

The following is an excerpt from Howard Zinn's, A People's History of the United States. It is a gruesome look at the real Christopher Columbus. Not the Christopher Columbus celebrated in 1st and 2nd grade classrooms across the United States, but the Christopher Columbus who allowed greed and power to get the best of him.

A People's History of the United States - Chapter 1:

"Arawak men and women, naked, tawny, and full of wonder, emerged from their villages onto the island's beaches and swam out to get a closer look at the strange big boat. When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts. He later wrote of this in his log:

"They... brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things, which they exchanged for the glass beads and hawks' bells. They willingly traded everything they owned.... They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features.... They do not bear arms, and do not know them,
for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane.... They would make fine servants.... With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."

These Arawaks of the Bahama Islands were much like Indians on the mainland, who were remarkable (European observers were to say again and again) for their hospitality, their belief in sharing. These traits did not stand out in the Europe of the Renaissance, dominated as it was by the religion of popes, the government of kings, the frenzy for money that marked Western civilization and its first messenger to the Americas, Christopher Columbus.

Columbus wrote:
"As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts."

The information that Columbus wanted most was: Where is the gold?

****
The Indians, Columbus reported, "are so naive and so free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone...." He concluded his report by asking for a little help from their Majesties, and in return he would bring them from his next voyage "as much gold as they need . . . and as many slaves as they ask." He was full of religious talk: "Thus the eternal God, our Lord, gives victory to those who follow His way over apparent impossibilities."

Because of Columbus's exaggerated report and promises, his second expedition was given seventeen ships and more than twelve hundred men. The aim was clear: slaves and gold.

They went from island to island in the Caribbean, taking
Indians as captives. But as word spread of the Europeans' intent they found more and more empty villages. On Haiti, they found that the sailors left behind at Fort Navidad had been killed in a battle with the Indians, after they had roamed the island in gangs looking for gold, taking women and children as slaves for
sex and labor.

Now, from his base on Haiti, Columbus sent expedition after expedition into the interior. They found no gold fields, but had to fill up the ships returning to Spain with some kind of dividend.

In the year 1495, they went on a great slave raid, rounded up fifteen hundred Arawak men, women, and children, put them in pens guarded by Spaniards and dogs, then picked the five hundred best specimens to load onto ships. Of those five hundred, two hundred died en route. The rest arrived alive in Spain and were put up for sale by the archdeacon of the town, who reported that, although the slaves were "naked as the day they were born," they showed "no more embarrassment than animals." Columbus later wrote: "Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity go on sending all the slaves that can be sold."

But too many of the slaves died in captivity. And so Columbus, desperate to pay back dividends to those who had invested, had to make good his promise to fill the ships with gold. In the province of Cicao on Haiti, where he and his men imagined huge gold fields to exist, they ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Indians found without a copper
token had their hands cut off and bled to death.

The Indians had been given an impossible task. The only gold around was bits of dust garnered from the streams. So they fled, were hunted down with dogs, and were killed.
Trying to put together an army of resistance, the Arawaks faced Spaniards who had armor, muskets, swords, horses. When the Spaniards took prisoners they hanged them or burned them to death. Among the Arawaks, mass suicides began, with cassava poison. Infants were killed to save them from the Spaniards. In two years, through murder, mutilation, or suicide, half of the 250,000 Indians on Haiti were dead.

When it became clear that there was no gold left, the Indians were taken as slave labor on huge estates, known later as encomiendas. They were worked at a ferocious pace, and died by the thousands. By the year 1515, there were perhaps fifty thousand Indians left. By 1550, there were five hundred. A report of the year 1650 shows none of the original Arawaks or their descendants left on the island."

---------

Zinn's book is eye-opening to say the least. I was used the book as an alternate text in an accelerated history class, and it was well received by the students. They seem to love anything that is anti-authoritarian, or something that is different from traditional thinking.

You can see more reviews of Zinn's updated book... A People's History of the World here.

I had the learners read certain chapters from the book, write essays and comment on this blog. You can see their comments here: http://ushistorysite.blogspot.com/search/label/Howard%20Zinn

I'm wondering if any other teachers have done anything similar?

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Washington Burning: The Creation of Our Nation's Capital

In 1791, in a quaint Philadelphia town house near Sixth and Market Streets, just a short walk from Chestnut Street where his congress would meet, President George Washington approved a plan to move the nation's capital to an undeveloped plain of undulating hills along the Potomac River. Coincidentally, this new plan would place the president's house and Congress over a mile apart. But with the hiring of Peter Charles L'Enfant, that mile and the rest of the 10-square mile plot would become one of the grandest cities this nation will ever see.

I had never thought much about Washington, D.C. I understand its importance. I've stood on Pennsylvania Avenue, in awe of the White House. I've seen the reflection pool and pictured Martin Luther King proudly shouting "I have a dream!". I've seen the Washington monument and thought of "the republic for which it stands". But I had never given thought to the blank canvas that existed on the banks of the Potomac River a little more than 200 years ago and the planning and work that had gone into creating it. Until now.

Washington Burning by Les Standiford, is a book that has made me appreciate our nation's capital more than ever.

What starts out as a story of the building of our capital city becomes an excellent account of history and the roller-coaster life of the cities original designer, P. Charles L'Enfant.

L'Enfant is a very curious character, one who in my opinion deserves way more recognition in American history than he's received. His visions of grandeur, as expensive as they may be, eventually do come to fruition under the tutelage of other designers. L'Enfant's life seems to parallel the ebb and flow of the making of the city, it's demise during the War of 1812 and it's eventual resurgence.

Standiford has a knack for helping the reader to visualize the correspondence between the rotating architects commissioned to finish the job L'Enfant started, and each of the founding fathers who had a say in the city's planning. His ability to describe war movements and the "what if's" in history compare to Michael Shaara's account of Gettysburg in The Killer Angels.

Each chapter is a small vignette of the history of the making of Washington D.C.. Standiford often goes into great detail, demonstrating his ability to research and describe only what is most important. Washington Burning brings out great stories of George Washington, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson and James & Dolly Madison. The intimacy of these stories and those of some lesser known characters make Washington Burning a great read.

For more information about the author Les Standiford, you can visit his website at
http://www.les-standiford.com/, or read his blog.

Here is a link to the book on Amazon.com if you're interested in purchasing it.


Notes:

In doing some of my own research on the topic I came across this website, which is a well written account Washington's history by Bob Arnebeck: http://www.geocities.com/bobarnebeck/introduction.html

And if you're super curious, like me, and you're wondering how Washington D.C. got it's name. Then you can check out this link by Arnebeck who describes the christening well: http://www.geocities.com/bobarnebeck/name.html

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