Just arrived in the mail..... I'm really looking forward to reading this one.
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, not...
I'm back after a couple of weeks of being computer free, as my caretaker got concerned I was going way too fast regaining skilss---but I'm anxios to get started with THE COLONEL which comes out Tuesday. So I'll check in from now on to post--but be on my guard not to ovrtdo things.
ReplyDeleteI see ards post on Johnathan Alters book THE PROMISE. I'll download a sample to my kindle and read it this weekend and post something. I'll be back tomorrow. Have a good evening.
Is it out already?
ReplyDeletemy kindle shows next Tuesday as the release date.
ReplyDeleteMorris was interviewed on C-SPAN and said this was his favorite writing among the books he has written. Still waiting for my copy ...
ReplyDeleteI think Robert is right -- it officially releases tomorrow. I'm starting the Washington bio that Robert really liked, but will switch once everyone has their book.
ReplyDeleteHow many are going to read with us?
I might join you.
ReplyDeleteMy copy is in the bookstore.I'll buy it tomorrow. I downloaded a sample on my Kindle. I thik I'll see if I can read the hard copy, even if it is difficult and if I can get permission from my opthamologist and my caretaker. I can't resist TR. God only knows how many TR books I've read, but I never tire of him. He,like me, had very poor eyesight, and read incessently. He was blind in one eye. He and FDR are inspirations to me as the both had lifetime struggles to overcome their deficiencies. It is fitting to use them in my quest to overcome my eye problem. (Besides, TR isone of the most interesting men I ever read about).
ReplyDeleteHERO, a biography of Lawrence of Arabia is out. Its about 700 or more pages---l00ks good.
I'm reading Madison & Jefferson and will finish before the end of the month.
ReplyDeleteAvrds: do you want to do a mini discussion on WASHINGTON while we wait for the others to get into the TR Tome?
Yes, that would be great! Give me a day or two, and I'll post some thoughts. I was immediately put off by his reference to Washington's "muscular prose" but I'm suspending judgment. I really like his writing generally. And it's a great opening with the portrait painter trying in vain to capture the inner Washington.
ReplyDeleteI also have the Madison and Jefferson book. You'll have to let me know how that one is as well.
I love TR, faults and all (as much as I still love reading about Jefferson with the same caveat).
ReplyDeleteMy guess is this period (vol 3) will be some of the most interesting of his entire life.
Robert, you should check out Oliver Sacks' The Minds Eye on Kindle. Fascinating collection of stories dealing with persons who lost reading, but no writing skills, as a result of strokes, and their battles to regain all or part of these skills. Also discusses his own battle with eye cancer and the loss of his stereo vision. Covers a lot of ground in its 240 pages.
ReplyDeleteRobert, my guess is given the business you're in that you've read Sacks before. But if not, are you in for a real treat!
ReplyDeleteSacks is aa delightful man whose books are intriguing to everyone who reads him. I have the MINDS EYE on my list and of course readily identify with the problem. I could read after the stroke with a great deal of difficulty, but wrote horribly, with one letter letter per page written very shakily like a chiild or a drunk in withdrawal. It took two month of daily pratice to write cursive again, and another four months to get smoothness back.
ReplyDeleteI an dying to get get into THE COLONEL--so I figure I'll read THE MINDS EYE in January--or maybe It'll bemy christmas present to myself. I see my eye MD in January and I want to be able to tell him I read it.
I'm actually ready to pick up the Colonel too. I'll get back to Washington later.
ReplyDeleteHopefully everyone can get books.
Just got my copy but was surprised to see that it begins with a major league error ~ Morris opens with ''of all our presidents, TR was the only one whose greatness increased out of office''.
ReplyDeleteWe have previously discussed the fact that John Quincy Adams and Jimmy Carter both enjoyed FAR greater success after they left the White House. How Morris missed that fact is beyond me.
When people think "great" usually TR springs to mind, not Jimmy Carter or J.Q. Adams, but yes such superlatives should be better qualified.
ReplyDelete....such superlatives should be better qualified.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention the opening.... I sure hope it's not going to be like this for the entire book. I feel like I picked up the wrong book and am reading Dutch. Please, oh please, tell me it gets better!
I did say Morris is quite flattering, but the book is not without its insights. His tour of Europe is especially interesting, especially TR's reaction to German military maneuvers.
ReplyDeleteIn regard to J.Q. Adams, I think William Lee Miller's book, Arguing About Slavery, did much to revive J.Q's image. But, it was interesting in reading Henry Adams' "Education." He was not so flattering in regard to his grandfather.
ReplyDeleteHe never liked his grandfather--thought he as a grumpy old man---and he was. I remember being very impressed with ARGUING AGAINST SLAVERY. gOD111 cHARTRES RECOMMENDED IT TO ME WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT.
ReplyDeleteNY Times gave THE COLONEL a good review--by Geoffrey Ward--who, they say, is writing a biograpphy of his great grandfather--The Ward who was U S Grant's partner who threw Grant into bankrruptcy....should be interesting...
Seems Henry preferred the women in his family.
ReplyDeleteHe didn't particularly like his father either. Somewhere in this house I have a biography of Henry--but ss usual, Its not where its supposed to be..He and TR were close friends. I do remember that he and Clover were very much in love--she committed suicide and Henry never got over it. Her memorial in Washington is a work of art. I've been to it-- I think its named "Death."
ReplyDeletequestion: Can anyone explain what went on in West Florida in 1810? I find extensive material in MADISON & JEFFERSON, but can't seem to find other sources in my own library--not even in McMasters. Its driving me whacky.
ReplyDeleteI just found out my Kindle has internet access for Google, Wickopedia and one other site... The print is too small for me to read, but I downloaded CNN tonight and got Breaking News in print--not sound--too badm, so sad--can't read it.....go into "experimental" to get at it through the menu at the site where your booklist of titles is: "HOME"
ReplyDeleteLong time since I read about West Florida, but as I remember Kukla got into some of this in A Wilderness So Immense.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have read, Madison and Jefferson thought that West Florida was part of the deal they negotiated with France, and were very disappointed that it was not included in the Purchase. By 1810 Britain had seized control of Florida, as France and Spain had a hard time holding onto their overseas possessions during those cataclysmic years in Europe. Britain created West Florida, and it became a thorn in the side of the US, because New Orleans was a part of West Florida, so the Brits controlled the mouth of the Mississippi. Eventually, this would lead to the American War of 1812.
Robert, a created a post for a book on West Florida, 1785-1810, replete with book link.
ReplyDeleteRobert, I'm getting an IPad, not to read books necessarily (although I may download a couple to have with me) but to use as my traveling computer. I wonder if one of those would work for watching the news etc? I watch Hardball on my regular laptop all the time.
ReplyDeleteHow are you liking the Madison and Jefferson book? I have it here in the stack.
For those of us who like our history with more than a Morrisian soupcon of fiction, there's Patricia O'Toole's lovely novel Five of Hearts, about the Adamses, the John Hays, and Clarence King, father of the USGS, I think. Henry James puts in an appearance also. AND avrds, it's epistolary. (You probably read it already.) http://www.amazon.com/Five-Hearts-Patricia-OToole/dp/0345373146
ReplyDeleteCarol, I loved that book. Fell in love with all of the "characters" -- she really captured for me the era and the friendships and the people themselves.
ReplyDeleteSo far I'm up to page 44 of Morris ~ I find it to be rather slow reading, perhaps because the print is so small and my eyes get strained.
ReplyDeleteDarn ~ it's tough to get old! But, like they say, don't complain about old age as it is a privilege denied to many.
:)
Trippler, I'm at about the same place. I had a very hard time with the present tense retelling in the beginning, but it does seem to have lightened up a bit once the actual book starts. It will be interesting to discuss what he has to say about TR, assuming we can all get past his style.
ReplyDeleteGintaras, I'm ready when you and Trippler and Robert are to inch through the book. And hopefully we'll have some others joining us.
ReplyDeleteDo you want to open a new page? I think Morris misses the mark in that bizarre opening about the great white hunter only being a dedicated scientist (although I agree that TR did have an interest in natural history).
You may fire when ready,Gridley--Advance with great haste... Though I need two more days to complete MADISON & JEFFERSON, I'm going to start THE COLONEL at 4 PM EST---I'm off to Africa
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how European heads of state viewed TR as American royalty. All those leaders demanded his attention and, in turn, imposed their attentions upon him as if he held some royal crown. But I wonder how much back biting there may have been - most likely there was much naughty talk behind his back with him doing the same for others.
ReplyDeleteSeems at least 3 persons are reading the book and I read it last month, so will set up a new heading for Colonel Roosevelt.
ReplyDeleteTrip, it seems that the Germans mostly wanted to show TR how strong they were.
Indeed, he says it was the only country that people didn't fill the streets for a look at TR. And if Morris is to be believed, TR left worried about war.
ReplyDelete