History – Page 8 – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

And the Band Played On: Politics, People, & the AIDS Epidemic

By Scott J. Pearson | August 6, 2021August 6, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

“Those ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it.” “The primary problems we now face are not scientific problems but social problems involving science.” Such statements certainly provide an impetus to read this classic about the early history of AIDS in America. Though this book is over thirty years old, its meticulous research still communicates how human nature often denies diseased persons respect, compassion, and the resources necessary to recover. Such was certainly true in…

History Religion-Philosophy

Christ in Camp & Combat: Religious Work in the Confederate Armies

By Scott J. Pearson | July 18, 2021July 18, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

The American Civil War comprises one of the most complex stories in a complex nation’s almost-250-year history. Further, the Christian religion is its own complex entity, even when just restricted to the southern states. In this work, Peterson seeks to combine both subjects in a study of the work of chaplains in the Confederate armies. He does a detailed job in collecting primary sources about southern religiosity during the war. However, on the historical front,…

History Religion-Philosophy Society

The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song

By Scott J. Pearson | June 24, 2021June 24, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

To the casual observer, it has become obvious that America needs more and deeper racial education and reconciliation. Many of the efforts focus their literature on social topics like being anti-racist. In this book, Gates offers a different take – a history of African-American religion. Religion and social justice understandably intermix in this tale. He provides us with a beautiful, cogent expression of how America got to its present situation. He also offers us hope…

History Sports

Sprinting Through No Man’s Land

By Scott J. Pearson | June 9, 2021June 9, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

The Tour de France is established each year as an endurance race that lasts for about an entire month and encompasses the entire range of French lands. In 1919, following the armistice ending World War One, the Tour resumed after a multi-year hiatus. It included areas in the northeast that were decimated from warfare. Many of the riders, too, had personally experienced the tumults of war. The French people needed something to boost morale as…

Biography-Memoir History Leadership

Wilson by A. Scott Berg

By Scott J. Pearson | June 1, 2021September 24, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Both Woodrow Wilson and World War I are generally overlooked by American historians because FDR and World War II tends to overshadow them. However, as Berg makes clear, both set the stage for the American century by transforming an isolationist country into the dominant player on the world stage. The son of a Presbyterian minister and a university president, US President Woodrow Wilson led America into this change. Although Congress never accepted his major creation…

Fiction-Stories History

The Girls in the Attic

By Scott J. Pearson | May 6, 2021May 6, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

This tale, set in the fall of Germany in World War II, unpacks themes of love, loss, the Third Reich, the Holocaust, and the meaning of life. One of the main characters Max returns home after being injured fighting for the Nazis only to find his mother housing two Jewish girls in the attic. All the girls’ relatives have been murdered. Max’s values – formed by the Hitler Youth in rebellion against his Christian parents…

Fiction-Stories History

Finding Napoleon: A Novel

By Scott J. Pearson | April 27, 2021April 27, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

The life of Napoleon Bonaparte provides historical writers with one of the deepest wells of inspiration to dwell upon. His life, beginning as a poor child on the island of Corsica, once extended the French Empire to the far reaches of Europe. Yet it eventually collapsed, and he was sent into exile… twice. Paradoxically, he is associated with liberte, egalite, et fraternite, yet maintained slavery in Haiti for reasons of financial expedience. His love-life is…

Fiction-Stories History

Tears of Amber

By Scott J. Pearson | April 10, 2021April 10, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

In twentieth-century Europe, the two great wars not only wrote the unfolding of history but also dramatically altered the landscape of life. This story tells the tale of how two peaceful families survived the Second World War and became intertwined by fate. Neither German family was particularly nationalistic. Sure, they did not stand up against oppression and slavery, but neither did they revel in it. Both families were ineluctably pulled into the ethnic and nationalist…

Healthcare History HIV/AIDS Science Society

The Origins of AIDS

By Scott J. Pearson | March 8, 2021March 20, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

Understanding the origins of AIDS is important for at least three reasons. First, HIV/AIDS is an important biomedical global disease that is still not conquered. Second, much cultural rhetoric due to stigma exists in society about this disease, and blame for the AIDS pandemic have been wrongfully placed at the feet of many oppressed groups. Third, contemporary events with coronavirus have shown that humans aren’t as safe from disease and pandemic as we might imagine,…

Fiction-Stories History

Gerta: A Novel by Kateřina Tučková

By Scott J. Pearson | January 30, 2021January 30, 2021 by Scott J. Pearson

This novel, translated from the Czech language, describes the life of Germans in the Czech region of Europe before, during, and after World War II. It does not paint a pretty picture. Some Germans supported the rise of Adolf Hitler and paid a moral price for the rest of their lives. Others – especially women and children – were not directly involved in the political and war efforts, but were still forced on a death…