Review-Forgotten Patriots by Edwin G. Burrows

FORGOTTEN PATRIOTS:
An Untold Story of American Prisoners During the Revolutionary War

Edwin G. Burrows (Pulitzer Prize Winning co-author of GOTHAM)
Basic Books
November 17, 2008
Hardcover, $27.50
978-0-465-00835-3




Boldly written history of American Patriots and civilians who suffered inconceivably inhuman treatment on numerous prison ships and sugar houses during the American Revolutionary War at the hands of the British.

Burrows presents his research and unveils the horrors inflicted on over 30,000 captured patriots.  These brave, yet unfortunate prisoners chose to live in retched squalor, close to starvation, surrounded by disease and death, rather than switch allegiance to England.

This is a part of American History that missed the textbooks in school. It was a surprise to me. Perhaps if you live in the area of New York and New Jersey, you are aware of this unspeakable part of history.  Truly, it really has been forgotten. It took over one hundred years to dedicate a monument to these patriots.

Why study history? Many professors would caution, we study history to learn from the past. With our 21st century awareness, it is not hard to make comparisons with our global community and reflect on the human rights abuse and suffering in our country and around the world.

incredible book of timely relevance that will shock and sicken readers.  It is a difficult subject to fathom. The conditions and numbers of dead who suffered are staggering.  Questions may be answered with many more generated.

Edwin Burrows' book is  a valuable and necessary addition to American History shelves. Excellent.



Disclosure:  This book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.  This review is my honest opinion.

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2013]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner] with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/1276167-wisteria-leigh">View all my reviews

Review: City of Hope: A Novel, by Kate Kerrigan

CITY OF HOPE

by Kate Kerrigan

William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (June 25, 2013)

Paperback, 352 pages

978-0062237286
$14.99

CITY OF HOPE, the sequel to Ellis Island, begins in Ireland in 1934.  It has been over ten years since Ellie returned from America with enough money to pay for her husband John’s leg surgery. Today, John works on the farm his parents own, and Ellie owns a successful business in town. They yearn for a child, although she has failed to carry to term. She arrives home one day to discover John slumped over a chair, having died of a heart attack.

Ellie spirals into inconsolable grief, refusing comfort from everyone.  After the customary Irish wake and funeral passes, denial and hopelessness pervade her thoughts, and she makes the sudden decision to return to America.  She leaves her business and family behind as she seeks solace in her past. After arriving in New York, she questions her purpose in life until one day she meets Maureen, a homeless woman with children. Once again, an entrepreneurial challenge sets in motion a plan that has unexpected results.

CITY OF HOPE is a lovely story that captures the essence of the 1930s.  The author weaves her story around the social issues of that time: labor strikes, homelessness, poverty, joblessness, and the plight of single women. Ellie Hogan is a strong female character, but the author doesn’t make her sympathetic enough.  However, two lesser characters emerge who will delight the reader: Sheila, a somewhat eccentric and shallow woman out to catch a man, and Bridie, a steadfast mother figure who Ellie comes to depend on.

Readers with an affinity for generational epics and historical fiction will enjoy both Ellis Island and CITY OF HOPE, with a promise of book three to come.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from HNR to write a candid review for publication. 

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2013]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner] with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Originally published in HNR periodical, Issue 65 (August 2013).

Review: When We Argued All Night by Alice Mattison

 

WHEN WE ARGUED ALL NIGHT
Alice Mattison
Harper Perennial
Original edition (June 12, 2012) 
PB, 384pp
$14.99
978-0062120373.

Genre: Historical Fiction



 

Along a lake in the the Adirondack Mountains, near a cabin in the woods, Artie Saltzman and Harold Abramowitz friends since the third grade thought they had the place to themselves for a week. In 1936 they were 26 and had no money and no girls, but that was about to change.
Two women arrived claiming to be the daughters of the owner. Although a bit skeptical the two men agreed to share their cabin.  Better yet, the women have money and they leave with the promise to bring back dinner.

Mattison begins her story during The Great Depression, and the novel is a historical field trip through the decades with Artie and Harold two friends, witnesses who lived through it. Their cohesive bond of friendship seems eternal. They experienced World War II, and are shocked and weep when the chairman of the World Jewish Congress confirmed the extermination of approximately two million Jews in Germany. The year is 1942. Roosevelt dies in 1945.  When the Feinberg Law is passed in 1949 teachers are at risk; however, the Red Scare infiltrates the lives of Americans everywhere. It is during this time when Harold and Artie would argue all night.   Harold now a professor and Communist Party Member is at risk, but it is Artie who must face a difficult decision that would alter their friendship forever.  

As the decades pass, the air raid drills of the Fifties and the Civil Rights struggle of the Sixties are further anchors of history that add vivid realism to Mattison’s novel.  Artie and Harold could be anyone, male or female, young or old, who embrace the love of friendship and the power to forgive. Alice Mattison has a magic writing pen. Without a doubt readers will praise When We Argued All Night,  is an irresistible story with universal appeal.



This review appeared in Historical Novels Review November 2012, Issue 62

Disclosure: A print copy of this book was provided by HNR for review.

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2008-2013].

Sunday Salon-Monday Recap-July 19, 2010

My cousin Russ came to visit on Thursday night and so I was busy, busy, busy hanging out with him. So, please excuse this Sunday Salon on Monday this week. I didn't get a lot of reading done over the weekend but did pick up a couple of books and wanted to tell you about my trip to the FDR Library and Museum and Val-Kill in Hyde Park, NY. In Connecticut, it has been unbearably hot and humid. The humidity is really the killer for me, bad hair days and uncomfortable sticky icky weather. Russ and I were going to go kayaking on Friday, but when I looked at my kayak, there was a hole in the bottom that needs to be patched. No problem, Russ brought his bike and so we took a 10 mile ride up to Kent, CT along the river. What a beautiful ride. It was so much fun and so pretty, we repeated the same trip on Sunday morning, biking a little further on the second trip.

Along Our Bike Route-CT Americana

Biking Along the River-July

On Saturday we went to the FDR Library and Museum and Eleanor Roosevelt's Val-Kill Cottage. I get so inspired by this woman's legacy. She was an amazing woman, a powerful political figure and as I walked through the doors to her home I couldn't help but reflect on the history surrounding me. This modest cottage in the country was a retreat for Eleanor and her family, not only Franklin, but her children, and many grandchildren. Think about this, she entertained countless heads of state at Val-Kill in the country, including John F. Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev, Haile Selassie, Marshal Tito and Winston Churchill to name just a few. The park guides mentioned that she would often tell her staff to expect 4-5 guests for lunch only to learn that twenty or more would show up. She would just set up card tables and portable folding chairs and make do. If you are ever in this area of New York, the Roosevelt Historic Site is well worth a look.

Photos-Hyde Park, New York-The Roosevelt Historic Site

The Mansion or as they called it.....The Big House

A chat with Franklin and Eleanor even on a bad hair day!

FDR's Childhood Books (one by Randolph Caldecott on right)

WPA Project-Traveling Mobile Library ( Photo taken inside Library)

A Collage of Mrs. Roosevelt's Books (Never knew there were so many!)

Naturally I picked up a couple of bookmarks!!

© [Wisteria Leigh] and [Bookworm's Dinner], [2010]

Teaser Tuesdays- June 7, 2010

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read. Open to a random page.
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I'm not the biggest sports fan in the world so I was reluctant to read this story centered around baseball. Surprise on me! I enjoyed reading about Ruby Thomas and her boundless will and eternal hope for a better life.

Diamond Ruby by Joseph Wallace

From the cover:
"Seventeen-year-0ld Ruby Thomas, newly responsible for her two young nieces after a devastating tragedy, is determined to keep her family safe in the vast, swirling world of 1920's New York City. She's got street smarts, boundless determination, and one unusual skill: the ability to throw a ball as hard as the greatest pitchers in a baseball-mad-city."


"She tried to picture what it would be like to wear such things as a rule. To lie on luxurious pillows on Sunday morning, with nothing to do but pick at breakfast off fine plates while music played and the sun streamed in through unstreaked windows." (Page 79)

This book is an ARC sent by Historical Novels Review for review.

Review--Once a Witch, by Carolyn MacCullough

Once a Witch
by Carolyn MacCullough
Clarion Books
978-0-547-222399-5
September 2009
$16.00





I received this ARC from The Picnic Basket. I read through it quickly and can only imagine how eagerly YA readers will embrace this novel once they pass the word around. My niece will be getting my copy and I know her head will be stuck behind the cover, hunkered in her bedroom for a night. It is marketed for the Age 12+ market, but adults looking for a unique plot written by a creatively inquisitive author will enjoy a peek at this too. I loved it and would not be surprised to hear MacCullough plans a sequel. Here is my review/comments that were posted on The Picnic Basket blog.

REVIEW................

It would be too obvious a word choice to say I was spellbound by the story and characters of Carolyn MacCullough’s coming of age story. However, spellbound in an enchanting pleasant way accurately describes my reading of Once a Witch. It is a spicy blend of sorcery, mystery and just enough of a romantic attraction to keep sparks flying.

Tamsin Green is an odd seemingly Talentless misfit of a witch growing up in an extended family of witches who all have interesting powers. At birth, her grandmother foretold that Tamsin would have great power such as the family had never seen. So, as the years pass it is with much surprise that Tamsin exhibits no talent at all. With great disappointment Tamsin grows up lacking any signs of Talent. She lives in the shadows of her sister Rowena’s grace and glory. One day mistaken identity provides Tamsin the opportunity to prove her value. She accepts a challenge that takes her beyond her corporeal capabilities.

The story evolved around a question the author asked herself about the character Tamsin. What would it be like to be born into a magical family with no magical talent?

MacCullough wondered: “How would she cope in a family like that? What kind of person would that make her be? Her story and her thought process provide young writers with a unique perspective as she provides the scaffold for the story. Further fun can be found at her sites www.onceawitch.com and www.carolynmaccullough.com.

Once a Witch, inspires the reader to examine the unique talent, unique beauty that is often untapped, hidden or unrealized within ourselves. I would highly recommend this novel for middle and high school age students.