History – Page 5 – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt

By Scott J. Pearson | August 30, 2022August 30, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Alexander Hamilton, America’s first Treasury Secretary, is often credited with forming the nation’s new economic system. Not far behind him (or even beside him) sits Cornelius Vanderbilt. In modern times, his name is most associated with a university in Nashville, but his legacy touched many turning points of nineteenth-century America. In this biography, Stiles describes Vanderbilt’s story beginning with the waning years of the eighteenth century and continuing after the Civil War until railroads united…

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

By Scott J. Pearson | July 23, 2022July 23, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

American history, as traditionally taught, teaches of the US’s “manifest destiny” and of many ensuing conflicts with natives on the Western frontier. A few ugly scenarios are often mentioned, but systematic genocide, on the order of Hitler or Stalin, is not described. However, from the perspective of these indigenous peoples, that’s exactly what happened as the United States attempted to destroy their entire culture. It’s this story from this perspective that Dunbar-Ortiz attempts to tell…

Healthcare History Science

The Gene: An Intimate History

By Scott J. Pearson | July 4, 2022July 4, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Genetics is a field of biomedical research that is both in motion and influential over our daily lives. It promises to help millions afflicted with horrific disease, yet it could be poised to change (or unravel?) human life as we seek to write our own destinies in DNA. Real action in this field has only occurred in the last 200 years, starting with Gregor Mendel and accelerating in the early twentieth century. Mukherjee, an oncologist…

Biography-Memoir History Leadership

A Man Named Robert: Lessons from the Life of America’s First Great Emancipator

By Scott J. Pearson | June 26, 2022September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

This book attempts to accomplish two feats at once. First, it attempts to provide leadership lessons, and second, it tries to highlight the life history of Robert Carter III. (Ironically, the author and the biographical subject share the same last name. In this review, the author will be referred to as Dr. Carter while the subject, as just Carter.) Carter was a 18th-century Virginian planter who amassed great wealth around the time of the Revolutionary…

History Society

African Founders: How Enslaved People Expanded American Ideals

By Scott J. Pearson | May 30, 2022May 30, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

African-American contributions to American history are often pushed to the side and either given a lower priority when presented or segregated into its own area. These stories are often discussed during Black History Month, but then forgotten in the remaining eleven months of the year. In this book, a (white) Pulitzer Prize-winning author seeks to make a comprehensive, foundational case that enslaved people significantly enriched the cultural course of America – all before the Civil…

Biography-Memoir History

Destiny & Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush

By Scott J. Pearson | May 12, 2022May 12, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

To many, he’s the hero behind the first Gulf War. To some, he’s the one who let the US economy slow. To others, he guided the world from the Cold War into a more stable future. To others, he fell short of Reagan’s ideals. Like any impactful president, he consisted of many things to many people. Along with John Adams, he remains one of two presidents ever to have their sons someday succeed them. Meacham,…

Fiction-Stories History

The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding: A Novel

By Scott J. Pearson | April 16, 2022April 16, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

This book weaves together many types of historical knowledge in one place. It provides an account of the Manhattan Project in New York City to develop the atomic bomb. It covers the critical but relatively unheralded role that women played in supporting wartime efforts. It shows cultural gaps in New York elitist life. It spans medical subjects like poisons, plants, and remedies to toxic substances. The narrative also explores gender and sexuality, albeit in a…

History Society

South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation

By Scott J. Pearson | April 13, 2022April 16, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

This book took me all over the place. As a southerner, I felt a little defensive of the area where I’ve lived for most of my life. Though from Alabama, Perry’s point of view is clearly northeastern (especially when describing border states), and there’s a long history of northeasterners (i.e., Yankees) stereotyping southerners. As a software developer, I found that she overlooked the “New South” almost entirely. The research triangle in North Carolina was only…

Biography-Memoir History Politics

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, & the Golden Age of Journalism

By Scott J. Pearson | March 11, 2022March 11, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

Kearns Goodwin sits among the best current American presidential historians, and her book takes an intriguing look at Teddy Roosevelt, his successor and Vice President William Taft, and the role a changing press played in their presidencies. Lifelong friends, they became bitter political enemies. Roosevelt ended up founding his own political party and running against Taft, the Republican nominee, in 1912. Woodrow Wilson ended up winning that election. Kearns Goodwin unpacks this story in award-winning…

Fiction-Stories History Religion-Philosophy

Sunflowers Beneath the Snow

By Scott J. Pearson | February 27, 2022February 27, 2022 by Scott J. Pearson

As I write, Russian troops are invading the independent nation of Ukraine. This backdrop compelled me to hurry up to read this book for insight into the current conflict, and I am glad I did. It tells a complex tale of three generations of Ukrainian women trying to make a life amidst international strife. The coincidences are stultifying, but the author claims that the general narrative is true. The story reminds us of the enduring…