After six or so tries I finally managed to become a contributor (in name only, still; this doesn't count). Thanks for asking me in. IMO (never h), the group is most distinguished.
''Team of Rivals" is also an America ''coming-of-age" saga. Lincoln, Seward, Chase et al. are sketched as being part of a ''restless generation," born when Founding Fathers occupied the White House and the Louisiana Purchase netted nearly 530 million new acres to be explored. The Western Expansion motto of this burgeoning generation, in fact, was cleverly captured in two lines of Stephen Vincent Benet's verse: ''The stream uncrossed, the promise still untried / The metal sleeping in the mountainside." None of the protagonists in ''Team of Rivals" hailed from the Deep South or Great Plains. _______________________________ From a review by Douglas Brinkley, 2005
Carol, glad you made it! A few of us will be reading the Henrietta Lacks book in August -- thanks to NY's strong recommendation. Hope you can join us for that discussion -- and many more to come!
ReplyDeleteAt the moment, I'm stuck in Minneapolis waiting for a flight to DC. Parsons, I have an interesting book along that might interest you -- For the Soul of France, about the "culture wars in the age of Dreyfus." Fascinating reading so far about the struggle between the men of science and the men of the church.