Category — Book Review

Reader discretion advised, book contains explicit content of a disturbing nature.

This little book does not carry a warning label, but it should. It’s diminutive 5” x 7” format and 43 pages of large print belie the universe of disturbing information within. Martin previously reviewed another book in the excellent Encounter series. This one is Broadside 28.

Author Eric Metaxas has written an unusual book. It is part biography, part history, and part philosophy. Ostensibly it is primarily the former more than the latter. However, it is much more than just the story of one remarkable man’s life. It is the story of choices and consequences. It is a depiction of brutal honesty and what it really means to stand for something.

This book is part biography and part social and political history. Quitt draws on previously untapped sources to try to do justice to a complex man now little more than a footnote to history. The irony is that, in his time, Douglas was widely admired and thought much more likely to ascend to the presidency than the man whose election relegated him to the shadows. If Douglas is remembered at all, it is for debating Lincoln in 1858 when Lincoln ran for Douglas’s Senate seat.

The K-12 Implosion deals with the problem of an increasingly expensive and poor performing American educational system. It is a brief collation of facts and analysis about the state of American Education. It is only 38 pages of clear prose, written in large type. The K-12 implosion doesn’t necessarily provide answers to the problems facing the nation’s schools, but does document why things are the way they are and offers a range of ideas which will undoubtedly be tried to resolve the issues.

Simon Winchester’s short biography of two interesting men who were key in the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, is put together in a style reminiscent of that employed in The Knife Man, by Wendy Moore. As one might expect in a book in which the story revolves around the creation of a dictionary, each chapter is prefaced with a word and it’s definition. The word in each case pertains to a theme in the chapter. It’s interesting because the reason for the choice of word is not always readily evident until the reader is well into the chapter. This is a small thing, but for bibliophiles, it’s a nice touch, and one can appreciate the care that went into the organization and layout of the book.

The author’s claim that he offers a “new understanding” seems overblown to this reviewer. Truth to tell, there is little in this book about the American Civil War that hasn’t been covered by other historians. Fleming’s contribution is more a matter of emphasis than originality.

That having been said, this is an interesting and readable book. In the course of Fleming’s narrative he casts light on some little discussed related events, one of which will be addressed later in this review.

If you’re an aficionado of British naval history, a Patrick O’Brian fan, or both, you shouldn’t pass up this book by historian Chris Ware. Ware meticulously researched the life and times of his unfortunate subject, Admiral John Byng.

In his new book, Delbanco traces the development of colleges in the American colonies. He begins in1636 when Puritan emigrants established a New England college and named it after its benefactor, John Harvard. A fund appeal to prospective donors in England said the college would “advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity.”

To say this book presents a panoramic account of the years in the subtitle only hints at what is between the covers. Much has been written about the Civil War period and, more recently, the Revolutionary War period, but the years between have not received the attention they deserve. Howe makes up for the deficit.

Dr. Newmyer’s recent book on the treason trial of Aaron Burr is a densely packed, extremely well-written analysis of one of the most important trials in American history. Ironically, it is a trial that the vast majority of Americans probably have absolutely no knowledge of.