Spring Cleaning 2017
Time for my annual “Spring Cleaning” column, in which I address reader issues and recommend my favorite books of the past year.
This year’s chief reader issue was, do I lecture on historic topics and what do I lecture about? I lecture often, and my topics can be found on my website, www.historylessons.net, by clicking the “Host a Lecture” icon on the homepage. If you are interested, fill out the form on that page or contact me at my email address, bruce@historylessons.net.
Recommended Reading: “The GeneralandthePresident” by H.W. Brands. In this book Brands, a well-known historian, describes the complex relationship between President Harry Truman and his brilliant but mercurial general, Douglas McArthur, and how their uneasy alliance finally became antagonistic, resulting in Truman firing McArthur and ending his military career.
“ValiantAmbition” by Nathaniel Philbrick. The author of “TheLast Stand,” the life of George Custer and the battle of Little Bighorn (previously recommended), Philbrick again takes on a controversial character, Benedict Arnold, deftly tracing his career from hero to our greatest traitor, while noting that his treachery, while indefensible, was not without cause.
“BoundforCanaan” by Fergus Bordewich. The cast of characters in this story of the famous Underground Railroad that assisted so many slaves in their quest for freedom includes a “Who’s Who” of famous abolitionists, white and black, including, of course, the future face of the $20 bill, Harriet Tubman, a God-fearing, gun-toting woman who let nothing stand in her way of helping runaway slaves find the American equivalent of the promised land.
“Bloodlands” by Timothy Snyder. This horrifying but fascinating book describes the “bloodlands” of World War II, those illfated nations caught between Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia - Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Soviet Ukraine and Soviet Belarus - which bore the brunt of the death and destruction meted out by Hitler and Stalin as they battled each other to the end.
“EverybodyBehavesBadly” by Lesley Blume. Blume writes a page-turning story of how Ernest Hemingway wrote his first acclaimed novel, The Sun Also Rises, by literally turning the real lives of his family, friends and travel companions, especially on his trips to Spain, into a novel of supposed fiction. Thanks to the book, the lives of many of these easily recognized people, and their relationship with Hemingway, were never the same.
“Bruce’sHistoryLessons,” Books I and II. Again, a shameless plug. You can purchase both five-year collections of my newspaper columns - years 2001–2006, and 2006–2011 - from the “Buy the Books” link on the home page of my website, or simply Google my name, Bruce G. Kauffmann.
There, the place looks cleaner! I’ll be back next spring. BRUCE G. KAUFFMANN
Emailauthor BruceG. Kauffmann atbruce@ history lessons.net