History – Page 15 – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Review: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

By Scott J. Pearson | June 14, 2019June 14, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

What was life like before Columbus ventured into the “New” World? Chances are you were taught in school that there was a lot of wilderness to tame and that American Indians sparsely filled the continents in a passive manner. Citing new research on many fronts, Mann contends that this picture is simply incorrect. The Americas have been filled with many civilizations that were more advanced, in some respects, than their European counterparts. They lived in…

Review: Jesus: The Human Face of God

By Scott J. Pearson | June 12, 2019June 12, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

Anyone who attempts to biography Jesus is bound to fail. An author is bound to project herself or himself onto the narrative. That’s why all theology eventually turns into autobiography. In Parini’s work, clearly, both the object (Jesus of Nazareth) and the subject (Parini the author) are worth learning from, and the reader can find much to aspire to. Much of late twentieth and early twenty-first century studies on the Jesus of history devolve into…

Healthcare History

Review: Polio: An American Story

By Scott J. Pearson | June 10, 2019June 8, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

When was the last time you heard the word “polio?” It was probably in reference to a vaccine, not the disease. So thoroughly have the effects of polio vaccination been felt that less than 2,000 cases exist each year and only in remote regions of Nigeria, India, and Pakistan. Ridding the world of it forever (in other words, complete eradication, like with smallpox) is in sight. Polio once caused swimming pools and movie theaters to…

Healthcare History

Review: Pox: An American History

By Scott J. Pearson | May 12, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

by Michael WillrichPenguin BooksCopyright (c) 2011ISBN13: 9781594202865Page Count: 422 pagesGenre: Non-fiction, history of health When did the current controversy about vaccines really start? According to Willrich’s history, the controversy about vaccines started all the way back with Jenner’s discovery of vaccination. Although smallpox once killed thousands of people each year in America, vaccination against smallpox was still controversial. A small fraction of people had adverse reactions, including death. Obviously, this scared people. It especially scared…

Biography-Memoir History

Review: James Madison and the Making of America

By Scott J. Pearson | April 12, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

James Madison and the Making of America by Kevin R.C. Gutzman My rating: 4 of 5 stars James Madison was a genius. He was the main crafter of the United States Constitution and its main defender/expositor in the Federalist Papers. He saw human and governmental problems more deeply than anyone else in his era. We have him to thank for our world’s embrace of democracy and self-government. Nonetheless, he might not succeed as a politician…

History Poetry

Review: Poems on Slavery.

By Scott J. Pearson | April 2, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

Poems on Slavery. by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow My rating: 4 of 5 stars This collection, published in 1842, vividly describes the predicament of slavery. It makes a case of natural philosophy of why slavery is immoral. Works like Longfellow’s began to sway the northern U.S. towards the the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery (through the bloody carnage of the Civil War, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution). What…

Biography-Memoir History

Review: Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President

By Scott J. Pearson | March 28, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard My rating: 4 of 5 stars This nineteenth-century, post-Civil-War story, like almost all stories, intertwines the lives of several people. Key characters include U.S. President James Garfield, Alexander Graham Bell, Garfield’s assassin, Garfield’s chief doctor/surgeon, Bell’s wife and son, Garfield’s wife, and Vice President Chester Arthur. An assassin – clearly mentally ill, probably with bipolar disorder –…

Biography-Memoir History Leadership

Review: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

By Scott J. Pearson | March 23, 2019September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin My rating: 5 of 5 stars This in-depth look into the lives of Lincoln and his closest advisors meets the hype. It tells the life histories of President Lincoln, his attorney general Bates, his treasury secretary Chase, and his secretary of state Seward. All four had a chance of being nominated as the Republican candidate in Chicago, but Lincoln secured the nod.…

Biography-Memoir History

Review: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

By Scott J. Pearson | February 28, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass My rating: 0 of 5 stars Obviously, this work belongs to history rather than to a shelf of recent releases. Nonetheless, it is clearly written, interesting, and provides much insight into the mind of nineteenth-century Americans in the North, in the South, and in slavery. I found Douglass’s writing abundantly lucid and to the point. It’s interesting how American in many ways represented two societies…

Fiction-Stories History

Review: Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes

By Scott J. Pearson | February 24, 2019May 28, 2019 by Scott J. Pearson

Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton My rating: 0 of 5 stars This book, widely recognized as a classic – or perhaps the classic – in the field of mythology, provides not just Hamilton’s scholarship over a lifetime of classical myths; it provides Hamilton’s outlay for how to live the good life. She respects and admires the Greek and Roman cultures whose myths she portrays – so much so that she…