Welcome to this month's reading group selection. David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908. At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades. Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society. I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran. Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, noting the gro
Been a great year. Thanks to everyone!
ReplyDeleteThanks Gintaras and everyone who has participated here.
ReplyDeleteLet them eat Cake!,Oh wait wrong revolution.It has been nice to come here and see civil discourse without the wackos and agenda bringers that took over Elba.Avrds I still haven't heard anything from HBC on the Apache book and it seems to be absent from the flyer this month.There is a shortage of it for some reason.
ReplyDelete"Let them eat Cake! Oh wait wrong revolution....." Yes that was the Reagan revolution!
ReplyDeleteBut as for the revolution here, people here love, read, and discuss books. Now that's revolutionary! What a great service Gintaras has done for us all.
As for Summer Moon, it must be a best seller after that rave review. Probably sold more than the publishers anticipated. Might want to try Amazon, where it's only $16 (even they have some sort of a delay, though):
http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Summer-Moon-Comanches-Powerful/dp/1416591052/
Well I had already ordered from HBC online and was two days later they informed me of delay.Of course I meant to say Comanche book.Don't know where the Apache came from.My bad.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is great to have an outlet where you can learn, have fun, and exchange ideas without the usual @#$#@ that goes on in right wing forums. The one sad thing is that Bob W cannot participate because of his illness. Like you, I wish him a full and quick recovery. Let's hope we can all participate in this informative venue for a long time to come.
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"The Team of Rivals" discussion has had me on the lookout for other related books. I'm now reading Eric Foner's "Reconstruction, America's Unfinished Revolution: 1863-1877." It isn't a new publication by any means, but it's very good.
ReplyDeleteThat's an amazing book. As far as I know, it is still considered the gold standard on that topic. Foner is another one of my heroes.
ReplyDeleteThe Foner book is excellent. I would also recommend WEB Dubois' classic text on Reconstruction in the South, which was a prime source for Foner.
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