History – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families

By Scott J. Pearson | November 15, 2024November 15, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Family is a bedrock of human civilization. After all, it’s where we first learn to care for ourselves, work for others, and socialize among each other. However, life is not always easy on families, and many eventually separate as time proceeds. Separation often takes a heavy toll. For those who suffered under slavery, dehumanizing conditions continually forced separations among spouses, parents, and children. On top of that, the Civil War caused a social upheaval that’s…

An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s

By Scott J. Pearson | October 24, 2024October 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

The 1960s shaped the unfolding of American history. A new generation born after American triumph in World War II seized the national narrative with the election of John F. Kennedy (JFK). Even after his assassination, Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) implemented many of those ideals through Civil Rights Acts and the Great Society. But the Vietnam War, internal fighting, more assassinations, and the troubled Democratic convention of 1968 halted a progressive course and haunted liberals for…

Fiction-Stories History

James by Percival Everett

By Scott J. Pearson | October 12, 2024October 12, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a timeless classic for many reasons. Twain’s wit and humor surpass almost every other American author. His moral clarity about America’s enduring troubles about race still instruct today. For these reasons, it continues to be taught in American high school classrooms. However, the story is told from the perspective of Huck, a white person, someone with inborn privilege. What would the story look like when told from…

Biography-Memoir History Leadership

William McKinley

By Scott J. Pearson | August 23, 2024September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

William McKinley is generally known to history as the US president before Teddy Roosevelt (TR). He was assassinated early in his second term, and as his vice president, TR assumed office. Most historians view TR as proper founder marking the beginning of the American century. In this book, Kevin Phillips says, not so fast. He contends that much of TR’s administrative foundation was laid by his predecessor and that had he lived, McKinley, not TR,…

Fiction-Stories History

Daughter of Fire: A Novel

By Scott J. Pearson | July 10, 2024July 10, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Catalina is born into privilege as a daughter of the president of Guatemala about thirty years after the Spanish invasion. However, she does not fully embrace that identity since her late mother has native blood. Catalina’s promise to her dying mother was to preserve the Popol Vuh, a collection of native Mayan writings describing their spiritual conception of the world. Her father has ruled as a moderate who seeks peace between the native tribes and…

History Religion-Philosophy Society

Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil

By Scott J. Pearson | April 6, 2024April 6, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Banal means lacking in originality or boring. It is a fitting description of the Nazis’ imaginations behind the Holocaust. This crime against humanity was so hideous that international laws were created to try those culpable. Adolf Eichmann was among the planners of the “Final Solution” and fled to Argentina. The new state of Israel had to kidnap him in order to bring him to justice in Israeli courts. He never denied the charges against him…

History Leadership Society

For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of the Experts’ Advice to Women

By Scott J. Pearson | March 30, 2024September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

I grew up in a conservative home in a conservative state with a religion that enshrined conservatism more than Christianity. Fortunately, I was allowed to read, and reading has become a salvation of sorts. As I’ve aged and expanded my horizons, I’ve nonetheless grown concerned that I might have picked up some bad habits along the way. I’m recognized as an expert in my field, but I strive not to be one that oppresses others.…

Healthcare History Society

A Good Time to be Born: How Science & Public Health Gave Children a Future

By Scott J. Pearson | March 23, 2024March 23, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

The life-or-death fate of children has changed dramatically over the past 200 years due to research, medicine, and public health. Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln famously grieved the loss of their child in the White House years ago, but they were hardly alone. Rather in that era, losing a child, often due to illness or mishaps, was pretty much normal though still tragic. Today, such an experience is the exception, and we are all better…

Biography-Memoir History

A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom

By Scott J. Pearson | January 27, 2024January 27, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Facing a seven-hour drive, I picked up this audiobook so that I wouldn’t have to listen to a business book for that long in one day. The author David Blight had won a Pulitzer Prize and is renowned for his annals of African-American history. I knew his writing to be eloquent and clear, and his observations of human nature, compassionate and acute. I had great hopes for this drive, and thankfully, with Blight’s erudite help,…

Healthcare History

The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The Rise of a Sovereign Profession & the Making of a Vast Industry

By Scott J. Pearson | January 24, 2024January 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

To the casual observer, a quick look at the American healthcare system brings out more questions than insights. Most of the developed world has some form of socialized medicine, whether nationalized health insurance or a national health system. By comparison, the American system appears disorderly and inefficient, yet resisting any changes, some swear by its effectiveness. Why? The answer lies not in a simple social, political, or economic force but in the scope of history.…