A could-have-been historian’s notes. And so forth.
This is an interesting book that mixes high-level overview, illustrative anecdotes, and technological detail surprisingly well. At heart this is a high-level survey of the development and decline of the North American iron industry from its Virginia origins through its eclipse by Big Steel as the twentieth century began. But there’s a concurrent technical essay about the development–and shortcomings–of the mastery of various technologies over the course of the period. Both stories are told with examples from the historical record which demonstrate the analytical points the author is making. One important point Gordon makes is that the charcoal iron industry’s survival into the steel era was not the result of ignorance, and that American ironworkers generally kept up to date on current technology.
Filed under
Bookworm Alley
History Scrapbook
Posted on
August 26th 2009
Nonetheless: This is an awful book. At the very least, it needed an editor; a better solution would have been a competent co-author. Much of the argument is poorly-sourced assertion. The author spends far too much time raving about conspiracies and coverups. And hiding your arguments in disorderly, rant-prone, and opaque prose is an unlikely strategy for convincing anyone of your righteousness.
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Bookworm Alley
History Scrapbook
Mitten State
Posted on
August 11th 2009
One chapter is devoted to the gunfight, its context, and its aftermath. Faulk basically wishes a plague on all the participants; all are, in his view, pretty bad characters and it’s best that they mostly abandoned the town after the shootout. Some of his facts differ from the currently accepted narrative–likely because four subsequent decades of research have clarified some specifics–but on the whole his portrayal of the event rings true.
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Bookworm Alley
History Scrapbook
Posted on
July 31st 2009
A celebration of the first 150 years of the Wells Fargo Company. Very readable and obviously well-researched, and just critical enough to avoid being a company hagiography.
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Bookworm Alley
History Scrapbook
Posted on
July 27th 2009
While I’m not versed in this material, other interests had me reading about this crisis a couple decades ago; those were dry, theoretical books and essays arguing abstruse points. This book gently reminded me of those, but it’s far more readable; then it extended them, because Silber argues that these events led directly to Wall Street’s century-long reign as the world’s economic center. Absolutely delightful.
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Bookworm Alley
History Scrapbook
Posted on
June 27th 2009
An engrossing, thoroughly researched, well-written, powerful, and profoundly disturbing book.
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Bookworm Alley
Dear Old Macalester
History Scrapbook
Posted on
April 19th 2009
This book is “based on” Liesch’s Masters Thesis at UW-Madison, so (as you’d expect) he knows his material. Occasionally the thesis peeks through, but in the main the book is a well-selected set of photographs documenting the boom and bust life of the mining district.
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Bookworm Alley
History Scrapbook
Mitten State
Posted on
April 13th 2009
Regional history the way it ought more often to be written; this book is far better than I anticipated. It’s an excellent survey of the economics, social realities, and technical issues which drove shipping on the Upper Mississippi prior to the arrival of the railroads. What it does unusually well is show how local development reflected the developing national context. Absolutely delightful.
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Bookworm Alley
History Scrapbook
Posted on
December 3rd 2008
A good portrait of Lord Cochrane as a naval hero and as a man. This book is certainly worth reading if you’re interested in Cochrane (or in Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey). It covers the events of his career adequately, and does an excellent job with his character and the politics which damaged his life.
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Bookworm Alley
History Scrapbook
Posted on
June 4th 2008
According to Howe SportsData’s 2000 season summary, Martinez was a 183 pound, 6’1″ righty. According to Baseball Reference’s player page for Martinez (and a couple other handy sources), he was (is) a 200 pound, 6’6″ southpaw. Except for those little issues, we’re clearly talking about the same guy.
Filed under
Baseball CrankSpace
History Scrapbook
Posted on
April 26th 2008
