History – Page 10 – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Le Morte d’Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table

By Scott J. Pearson | December 27, 2020August 13, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

King Arthur’s mythic Round Table – with Queen Gwynevere, Sir Launcelot, and the famous sword Excalibur – resounds through England’s history. They might be fable, or they might have a historical root. Either way, they make for a good telling and national myth. Sir Thomas Malory recorded these tales in book form in the late fifteenth century, and Keith Baines adapted these for modern languages in the mid-twentieth century. Their storytelling power remains full of…

Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin

By Scott J. Pearson | December 26, 2020September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

In this work, Goodwin charts the lives of four influential US Presidents – Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson. Having written leading biographies previously of each of these, she combines her insights to profile the character of leadership, at least in an American form. She distills prior deep study of these presidents into an interwoven narrative that highlights how their personal narratives enabled them to meet the challenges of their times…

History Software-Technology

Leonardo to the Internet: Technology and Culture from the Renaissance to the Present

By Scott J. Pearson | December 17, 2020December 17, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Many people hold one of two views of technology and culture. Some think that technology determines how society evolve. Others contend that human affairs express themselves in the technologies they produce. Misa contends that technology and culture evolve together in a mixed group; neither determine the other. He makes this case by examining this evolution, as his title promises, from the days of Leonardo until the present. Generally, Misa sees the history of technology moving…

Biography-Memoir Healthcare History Science

Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher

By Scott J. Pearson | December 5, 2020December 5, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

The surgery of organ transplantation has taken off in the past fifty years. However, the ability to apply these gains to the nervous system has lagged behind due to the limitations of nerve regeneration. As told in this book, during this time, Robert White, MD/PhD, sought to pioneer head transplantation onto a new body. He was successful in transplanting a monkey’s head onto another’s body. However, he retired and died before his dream could come…

History Society

On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

By Scott J. Pearson | November 28, 2020November 28, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

“You should read this.” Those simple words ran across my mind as I finished page 126 of this wonderful book. I am no political scientist though I follow current events tightly. This book, written in 2017 in the aftermath of the election of Donald Trump, reminds us how fragile history can be. By looking at the challenges of the present, it looks at how democracy was subverted by tyranny in the twentieth century. Snyder provides…

Fiction-Stories History Humanities

I Jonathan: A Charleston Tale of the Rebellion

By Scott J. Pearson | November 26, 2020November 26, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Recent events remind us that America – especially the South – is still haunted by the oft-unspoken tale of the Civil War. This tale, Scott’s first novel, shows us why. It reminds us of the myriad of lives forever altered by this event and that simple narratives of good-versus-evil fall short. It showcases decency of many Southerners, the hideousness of slavery, and lives caught in a tale of lost-and-found. Apparently, the author received in the…

Biography-Memoir Healthcare History Research-Education

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

By Scott J. Pearson | November 20, 2020November 20, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

This work will stand as one of the most interesting works in the genre of the history of medicine in our era. Not only does it tell the origin in life of a famous cell line (HELA, an abbreviation of the name Henrietta Lacks, taught about in college biology classes). But it also tells the story of a humble family who was seemingly forgotten by science. Skloot tells the story of Deborah Lacks, Henrietta’s daughter,…

Biography-Memoir Fiction-Stories History

My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton

By Scott J. Pearson | November 19, 2020November 19, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

Thanks to Ron Chernow’s award-winning biography and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award-winning musical, interest in the historical figure of Alexander Hamilton has experienced a rebirth in recent years. Many have also fallen in love with his wife Eliza who endured much for the birth of America – a revolutionary war, the country’s first sex scandal, deadly duels impacting her family, whispers and improprieties, a hostile post-revolution political environment, and fifty years of being a widow. However, the…

Healthcare History Research-Education

A Change of Heart: How the People of Framingham, Massachusetts, Helped Unravel the Mysteries of Cardiovascular Disease

By Scott J. Pearson | November 17, 2020November 17, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

When US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died from complications of high blood pressure in 1945, the medical community sought to discover the nature and causes of heart disease. Thus was born a multi-generational, decades-long research study into people’s health in Framingham, Massachusetts. This study found scientific evidence about heart disease and changed treatment, research, and culture. This book chronicles this history and preserves this inspiring story for future generations. At the time of writing, Levy…

History Humanities

The History of Jazz

By Scott J. Pearson | October 29, 2020October 29, 2020 by Scott J. Pearson

As chronicled in this work, jazz is currently experiencing a resurgence as artists all over the world are using its elements to launch new musical sounds. Gioia captures this momentum by updating his celebrated second edition by Oxford University Press into a new third edition. In so doing, he continues to push forward scholarship about jazz while providing a tour de force of its history to interested readers. In nearly 600 packed pages, Gioia analyzes…