Angels in the Whirlwind by Benson Bobrick

In his introduction, the author explains that he has written this book not due to any lack of excellent materials on the American Revolution but, rather, because he wanted to tell the story of the War from his perspective. Perhaps more serious students of the American Revolution would find this book to be a reprise of familiar material.  I did not. 

More serious students of the American Revolution, I imagine, would be familiar with the campaign against the Iroquois nation in the Wyoming Valley of northern Pennsylvania or the Battle of Freeman’s Farm.  They might know the location of Kings Mountain or Flamborough Head. I had never heard of any of these.  Nor did I know that the American Revolution was perceived less as a revolution and more as a civil war among colonial Americans. Not everyone approved the separation from Britain, of course, but I was surprised to learn that loyalists comprised maybe 30% of the colonial population.  The problem of what to do with the loyalists persisted after the conclusion of the war.  

These same serious students will know that the delegates to the Continental Congress deliberated as to whether a statement of independence should be issued before or after the colonies were formed into a confederation, that the mid-Atlantic states were holdouts in going for independence with New York being last to get on board, that it was Richard Henry Lee’s resolutions that articulated the colonies’ reasons for breaking ties with the mother country. 

What Jefferson was called upon to do was write up Lee’s resolutions in a more elegant fashion.  The reader is given insight into how the sensitive Jefferson squirmed here and there as his essay was slashed and re-hashed by his compatriots. Benjamin Franklin reassured Jefferson that there was no shame in having one’s work cut down to size, but, perhaps regrettably, Jefferson’s mention of the problem of slavery was edited out of the final document. 

Again, from my perspective, General Washington is covered from a slightly different angle by Mr. Bobrick.  To my surprise but not surprisingly, the admired and respected Washington had his share of detractors. Bobrick describes the Conway Cabal, the coup that tried to unseat Washington.  Charles Lee of Virginia, in outright defiance of Washington’s orders at the Battle of Monmouth, emerged as a particularly vocal critic of Washington.   Bobrick gives a more comprehensive picture of the virtuous Washington whom he also acknowledges as a fine military strategist.  General Washington was frequently exasperated and angered by both his soldiers and his circumstances, but as Bobrick describes, Washington emerged from every situation as decisive, principled and steadfast in his commitment to the patriot cause. 

Some of the most colorful figures of the American Revolution had to be our country’s naval commanders.  The chapter entitled Flamborough Head (located in British Isles) read like an adventure-on-the high-seas tale.  John Paul Jones (“I have not yet begun to fight!”) comes to life as a singularly dashing man of great derring-do.  Then there’s Nathaniel Fanning who, having just dodged four British ships in the English Channel, saw ahead of him the “entire English Channel fleet.” Fanning, who happened to be sailing an English-built ship, ran up an English flag and proceeded to plow straight through the fleet while announcing to all that he was sailing “His Majesty’s cutter Surprize.”   Clever Yankee! 

‎Major Patrick Ferguson also deserves a special mention. ‎‎ ‎‎He was a British sharpshooter, inventor of the “deadly accurate” breech loading rifle which could fire “seven times a minute.” All Americans, were we all to know the story, would surely be grateful to him for not picking off General Washington early in the War. In September of 1777, as British and patriot troops gathered at Brandywine Creek –just a few miles down the road from my hometown of Kennett Square---Washington and an aide rode out on reconnaissance. ‎‎ ‎‎Hiding amongst the trees was Ferguson along with three other sharpshooters who saw the two riders but didn’t know who they were. ‎‎ ‎‎Rather than fire, Ferguson thought to capture them. ‎‎ ‎‎He shouted for them to stop, but the aide and Washington took off through the woods. ‎‎ ‎ 

Later, when Ferguson understood that it was none other than General Washington whom he had shouted at, he is reported to have said, “I could have lodged half a dozen balls in or about him before he was out of my reach.  But it was not pleasant to fire at the back of an unoffending individual who was acquitting himself coolly of his duty, and so I left him alone.”   A decent Brit if ever there was one.   Ferguson, too, acquitted himself coolly of his duty throughout the war.  At the battle of Kings Mountain (North Carolina), he met his end.  Ferguson rode to the very front of the lines to shore up his failing troops and was shot repeatedly, both arms broken and his clothes in tatters.  I admit to a fleeting sense of injustice at the death of an “enemy,” an honorable sort of man who had so considerately spared our own leader.  

Not all the British were gentlemen.  As fighting moved southward toward the end of the war, British General Cornwallis took it upon himself to plunder and vandalize Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia estate. Cornwallis then conducted biological warfare by intentionally exposing Jefferson’s slaves to smallpox.  Cornwallis’s little experiment was to see whether he could spread the disease to infect American troops.  Inexcusable treatment of one's fellow man, but likely not atypical behavior of the age.   

The book is organized into two sections, the War in the North and the War in the South. For the most part the author follows events and battles chronologically. There were no pictures in this book.  There were only two maps which, though inconveniently placed, I finally used to full advantage and found immensely helpful.  These maps showed the geographic location of the battles discussed and were numbered to correspond to a key which gave the date and a few particulars of the battle.  

At first, I thought this book was just another survey history of the American Revolution.  I quickly came to understand, however, that there is no end to the topics a historian can unearth and artfully weave into the warp and woof of his account of history.   Mr. Bobrick wanted to write about the war from his perspective and he certainly did so, devoting himself to a thorough and engaging analysis of America’s war for independence from Britain.   

 

Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose

Meriwether Lewis is the central figure in this book which gives a full account of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition of 1804-1806.  Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose doesn’t skimp on details or personal opinions and has plenty of maps.  Overall, it is a very readable and probably very accurate book though maybe not the best book on the subject.  

Meriwether Lewis was born in 1774 to “one of the distinguished families of Virginia.”  His father died when Lewis was five years old and his mother, a respected and capable woman, remarried a man named Marks.  Lewis maintained ties with all family members although he was out of the house at a fairly young age.  From Ambrose’s choppy description, one gets the picture of Lewis as a restless sort, almost a loner, though maybe just an independent, adventurous type. 

Lewis joined the military and worked his way up through the ranks.  Through his military connections and knowledge of the West, Meriwether Lewis came to Jefferson’s attention and when Jefferson became President, he selected Lewis to be his personal secretary (an “Aid de camp” in Jefferson’s own words).  The fellow Virginians became friends and colleagues.  When President Jefferson finally put into action his plan for exploring the continent west of the Mississippi, he was confident that Meriwether Lewis was his man. 

Lewis was educated but he became much the scholar under Jefferson’s tutelage.  As preparation for the western expedition, Lewis also met with various educated cognoscenti of the day to study astronomy, geography, mineralogy and even pharmaceuticals.  He learned the use of scientific and navigational instruments and mastered botany to the degree that he was able to give detailed descriptions of plants using technical terms.  This complete man was already a skilled horseman, hiker, woodsman, shooter and hunter. 

The main points of the expedition are well-known.  President Thomas Jefferson was keen on exploring the continent beyond the Mississippi and was already making plans for exploration before he purchased the Louisiana tract from the French.  He knew of the potential wealth of the fur trade, the importance of the United States dominating the continent and the value of an all-water route from the Mississippi to the Pacific.  Jefferson was also interested in the geography and flora and fauna of the region, a more personal interest perhaps. 

Lewis and Clark’s party, called the Corps of Discovery, was considered an infantry division of the U.S. military.  Roughly 25 men departed from St. Charles (near St. Louis, MO) in May of 1804 and headed up the Missouri River.  They spent that winter at Fort Mandan and in April of 1805, their real work began.  Just shy of the mouth of the Yellowstone River, Lewis and Clark led their men into territory unknown to the white man.  With that, they unlocked the West for their growing nation and their countrymen.  Although Lewis and Clark found no all-water route to the Pacific, they charted and documented countless features of a huge expanse of land that was or would become the United States. 

After a sojourn at Fort Clatsop on the Columbia River (in the same area where the Astorians would set up camp some 7 years later) the expedition party made its way back east taking a slightly different route.  Lewis headed north to Blackfeet Indian country to explore the Marias River.  Clark took his portion of the party and explored parts of the Yellowstone River.  No lives were lost on this expedition (with the exception of one Sgt. Floyd who was laid to rest before leaving St. Charles).  Lewis and Clark returned to St. Louis and the known U.S. to great fanfare and acclaim.  

We meet some old friends in this book.  First, Sacagawea, the famed female Shoshone Indian who accompanies Lewis and Clark to the Pacific and back, appears in a rather diminished role in Ambrose’s account. I suspect this is an accurate depiction.   Sacagawea is the pregnant teenage wife of Toussaint Charbonneau when the Lewis and Clark party meet up with her.  She had been captured by the Hidatsa Indians along with several other Shoshone teenage girls and it was as a prisoner of the Hidatsa that Charbonneau, a French-speaking Canadian hunter, took her (along with the other girls) for his bride.  

Technically, it was Charbonneau who was hired on as an interpreter though Sacagawea’s Shoshone roots were important; Lewis knew they would have to procure horses from the Shoshone once they crossed the Continental Divide.  But Sacagawea’s translation process was a cumbersome one.  She began in Hidatsa, Charbonneau then translated from Hidatsa to French and a third party, sometimes one Rene Jessaume who was said to speak French badly, took the whole matter from French to English.  Charbonneau, Sacagawea and their little Jean Baptiste were additional mouths to feed and while Sacagawea could gather roots and berries and cook, so could everyone else.  As for Charbonneau, frankly, he seemed a bit of a lay-about.  

Although Charbonneau and Sacagawea were interpreters, that role was more often, and apparently more capably, filled by George Drouillard, a part Shawnee independent hunter and master of Indian sign language.  He was to play a prominent role in the expedition and was recognized by Lewis as an invaluable companion.  For Drouillard, the Lewis and Clark expedition was just the beginning of his western wanderings.  Drouillard was an explorer who covered miles of western territory in the years following the Lewis and Clark expedition.  It was due to his explorations as well as those of his counterpart John Colter that Clark was eventually able to draw up a suitably reliable map of the West.  Drouillard is declared a “mountain man prototype” by Robert Utley in his wonderful book called A Life Wild and Perilous, which gives more information about Drouillard.  

Meriwether Lewis could never find his footing after this tremendous feat of adventure and leadership.  He was named governor of Upper Louisiana by Jefferson but it was a position he never filled adequately.  Neither could Lewis seem to decide among a life of politics, entrepreneurship, marriage and family or bon vivant.  He was never able to bring himself to write up his journals for publication.  He seemed to suffer mightily from the “how-do-I-ever-top-this” syndrome. For two years, out in the middle of nowhere, Lewis had on a daily basis called it as he saw it and had answered to no one. Back in civilization, he seemed unable to find a similar niche that would allow his strengths to flourish.  Just three years after the expedition, he died by his own hand from gunshot wounds in 1809 at age 35.  

Stephen Ambrose is considered a popular historian.  While there’s no shame in that, his writing often lacks heft.  He could be repetitive (same words), redundant (different words but same idea) and sometimes just too informal.  Chapter Sixteen begins like this:  “It was always cold, often brutally cold, sometimes so cold a man’s penis would freeze if he wasn’t quick about it.”  Ambrose went on to discuss Lewis’s weather diary, but Lewis didn’t write that in his diary.  In fact, I can’t imagine the well-bred Lewis writing anything like that.  Later in the book, when Lewis was shot by friendly fire, Ambrose correctly described the shot as going through Lewis’s buttocks.  That lasted for about a paragraph and thereafter when the subject arose it was Captain Meriwether Lewis who had been “shot in the ass.” Lewis is a major figure who changed the landscape of American history.  Enough about his ass already!

In addition, Ambrose often kept the content at the surface level when covering issues that touched on his main subject.  For example, Jefferson and Lewis were frequently referred to as men of the Enlightenment, but Ambrose gave no insight into what that meant. A short chapter on the subject might have helped enhance the narrative a bit.  Similarly, the historical context for the Lewis and Clark expedition could have been more thoroughly discussed.  Ambrose gives us a seven-page overview in Chapter Four entitled ‘Thomas Jefferson’s America.’  Westward expansion and Jefferson’s agricultural vision for the country were not universally popular ideas of the day.  Nor was Jefferson’s purchase of the Louisiana Territory uncontroversial especially in the Federalist Northeast.  Jefferson’s various motives for sending a military unit to explore this western territory at times appeared at cross purposes one with the other.  The historical backdrop for the Lewis and Clark expedition was covered but almost as a sidebar.  More discussion would have given the book added depth.     

On an editorial note, at least a portion of Mr. Ambrose’s final chapter entitled ‘Aftermath’ would have better served the reader as a preface.  In this chapter, Ambrose gives a summary of the Lewis and Clark literature.  Throughout the text, Ambrose frequently referenced some of this literature.  The review would have been helpful as a precursor to understanding just where Ambrose’s book fits in and on which types of sources he was relying.  Ironically, he explains in this chapter that Thwaites--whom he did not frequently reference--is “an American classic” on Lewis and Clark. (Thwaites is Ruben Gold Thwaites, editor of Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1969.) 

What I did like about this book was the chapter titles.  They included the dates covered in that chapter, a very helpful feature in a book about an expedition that unfolds over a two-year period.  The maps were very good, but they were scattered throughout the text.  Essential maps should be placed on the inside front and back covers of a book so that they can be easily referenced.  Mr. Ambrose’s familiarity with the territory of the expedition gave the book some added color and personality.  Ambrose, who died in 2002, seems to have been a rugged type who enjoyed the great outdoors.  He was a part-time resident of Helena, Montana. 

While this was certainly a good book though maybe not a great one, I might hesitate just a bit before reading another of Stephen Ambrose’s books.  I would choose instead a historian who writes less for the casual reader of history and more for the history aficionado.  As for reading more about Lewis and Clark and Jefferson’s America, there should be no hesitation at all on that score.  What an exciting and defining time in American history.  My choices might be A History of the Lewis and Clark Journals by Paul Cutright,  James Ronda’s Lewis and Clark Among the Indians or maybe Donald Jackson Thomas Jefferson and the Stony Mountains; Exploring the West from Monticello.  

A related topic, fascinating in its own right, is the story of the mountain man’s contribution to America’s westward expansion.  Men like George Drouillard were unique, self-sufficient types whose appetite for adventure, solitude, and physical challenges are undervalued in today’s soft, risk-averse age.  For this topic, do read Utley’s book cited above.  You may also wish to consult the report I wrote in 7^th grade entitled ‘Trappers, Traders and Mountain Men.’😊

A Memoir by Barbara Bush

Barbara Pierce Bush (1925-2018) was a wife, mother, homemaker, and, as the cards were dealt, a distinguished First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993.  Engaged to George H. W. Bush during World War II and married at 19, she was a military bride for the first months of her marriage until the War ended.  Their first child, George W., was born while the couple was at Yale University as George H.W. completed his undergraduate degree. Then began the sometimes-wild ride that finally led to the White House. All this and the former First Lady wasn’t even a college graduate!  Once married, she never returned to Smith College.  Throughout her life, she declared family, faith and friends as her priorities.

Barbara Bush grew up in Rye, New York in what sounds like a normal middle-class family whose affluence and status may have increased as her father’s career progressed; he eventually became president of the McCall Corporation.   Besides some famous Pierce ancestors and her father’s friendship with Red Blaik, there was little about her upbringing that approached anything more than what would have been the customary privileges and social graces of a family who lived in a pleasant suburb of New York City in the 30s and 40s. 

Mrs. Bush seemed able to manage any challenge that came her way.  She could turn sows’ ears into silk purses, or, if not silk, at least prevail and get the job done.  As someone who accepted life as it was handed to her, Mrs. Bush was a realist.  She frequently and freely acknowledged her wonderful family, husband and children and her overall good fortune in life.  She was not unaware of who she was and how her life stacked up against others not so fortunate.  Though not one to anguish over the torments of her inner soul, she was capable of reflection and self-analysis and her writing in this memoir is warm, honest and very entertaining.

The book recounts in detail the early years of married life in Midland and then Houston, as H.W. built up his career in the oil industry. Adventures along the way were sometimes sad (as the sudden death of her mother in a car accident) and sometimes humorous (life in tiny apartments sharing bathrooms with other families), but there were always plenty of friends along the way and plenty of family support for her five children (largely from the Bush side). Events were also tragic; during these early years, Barbara and George Bush lost their second child, a daughter, Robin, to leukemia at the tender age of 4.  Mrs. Bush devotes a chapter to Robin though she is mentioned throughout the book.

When George Bush won a seat in the House of Representatives, the family moved to Washington, D.C. and from there to NYC for his job as Ambassador to the UN. Mr. Bush then served as Chair of the Republican National Committee during the Watergate years.   Next it was off to China as U.S. envoy during the Ford administration, back to D.C. for Mr. Bush’s time as Director of the CIA.  A solid eight years followed living in the nation’s capital as Vice President and Second Lady during the Reagan administration.  Then came the White House years, years that both George and Barbara Bush clearly treasured.   

As First Lady, indeed throughout H.W.’s political career, Barbara Bush was consistent and thoughtful about her public role.  Her reasoning was that the issues of the day were not hers to publicly pontificate upon; she had not been elected to office. As she put it, her priorities were her children and husband and went on to explain “Abortion pro or con, is not a priority for me.  ERA is not a priority for me, nor is gun control.  I leave that for those courageous enough to run for public office.  Educating a young girl early that she has a choice to wait before she has a relationship with a boy is a priority for me.”  She went on to list equality among all people and feeding and housing the poor as among her priorities.

The issue she took on as First Lady was literacy.  She traveled, gave speeches, visited schools and hospitals and promoted her cause with thoroughness.  She accompanied the president on endless trips. She was hostess, diplomat, friend to countless public figures, and I don’t think any two people could have had more friends in more places than George and Barbara Bush.  Nor did anyone keep a more intense pace of work, play, travel, golf, boating and family activities.

Barbara Bush follows the familiar pattern of public persons who recap their careers once out of the limelight.  As with most of these memoirs, the early chapters are the most engaging because they are the least formulaic. Not so in Mrs. Bush’s case.  Her memoir remains fresh and candid throughout. She describes what life was like as a congressional wife, as Second Lady of the land and everything in between.  Once in the White House she recounts, without the least rancor or regret, how her private life ceased to exist. She gives an insider narrative of her husband’s Inauguration Day.   She takes the reader into her White House office and daily routines.  She describes, with behind-the-scene details,  weekends at Walker’s Point and Camp David which might include children, grandchildren and dignitaries at the same time. 

She offers her opinions about any number of people, usually positive, though there was that little glitch with Geraldine Ferraro.  Neither, during the UN years in New York, did she have any kind words for Mayor John Lindsay.  Otherwise, it is all “a darling young woman,” “a lovely creature,” “the most wonderful friends, we love them.”  Given the international politics of the day, Mrs. Bush was frequently paired up with, among others, Raisa Gorbachev and Denis Thatcher. With Mrs. Gorbachev, Barbara Bush finally cuts through the “red” tape and comes to understand and have a fondness for her.  Of Denis Thatcher she says, he “…played it just right, in my eyes.  He was supportive of Margaret always, and yet had a life of his own.”  For both Bushes, their relationship with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney of Canada and his wife Mila extended well beyond the political.

Mrs. Bush writes about her family also, but without invading terribly personal spaces.  The death of little Robin has been mentioned.  Mrs. Bush seems to have had good relationships with her siblings. Jeb’s marriage to Columba was perhaps a bit of a surprise to the family and maybe took some special attention.  Son Marvin had rather severe health problems as an adult and Neil was raked over the coals and financially ruined by the S&L “scandal.”  Daughter Doro was divorced with two small children until meeting her current husband who was a welcome addition to the family. George W. had not yet run for governor of Texas and he and Laura were often not geographically close by especially during the Washington, D.C. years.  Barbara Bush remained very much a mother through the years. 

This book may not be for everyone, particularly those looking for a substantive discussion of issues or wanting another perspective on Bush 41 and his years in office.  It may, in point of fact, be more of a woman’s book.  However, do not take that to mean that it is all emotion or chatter. The Bush family is not that and neither is Barbara Bush.  She’s a grounded individual, articulate and thoughtful, gregarious like her husband and with a flair for finding the best in people and the best in a situation. As she put it, “…you have two choices in life.  You can like it or not.  I chose to like it.”

I found the book to be really good reading. Plenty of pictures, too!   

Paul Revere and the World He Lived In by Esther Forbes

 

He said to his friend, “If the British march

By land or sea from the town tonight,

Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch

Of the North Church tower as a signal light,--

One, if by land, and two, if by sea;

And I on the opposite shore will be,

Ready to ride and spread the alarm

Through every Middlesex village and farm, 

For the country folk to be up and to arm.”

…..Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

His friend was Robert Newman and Paul Revere was in fact not on the opposite shore when Newman climbed the North Church tower to hang the lanterns.  Revere was still in Boston and he had so quickly hastened off to await the signal that he forgot his spurs and some scraps of clothing to muffle the oars as he made his way across the Charles River.  Nor did Revere make it to “every Middlesex village and farm;” he was captured by the British outside of Lexington. 

 Paul Revere---accomplished silversmith, coppersmith and engraver; early industrialist and Yankee innovator; husband to Sara Orne and then Rachel Walker, father of sixteen; Bostonian, Mason and a Son of Liberty---is portrayed admiringly, colorfully and with a devotion to historical accuracy in this wonderful book by Esther Forbes.

Paul Revere began life with a baptismal date of January 1, 1735.  He was named after his father Apollos Rivoire, a French Huguenot immigrant who landed in Boston as a young man and was apprenticed to John Coney a silversmith.  Apollos soon changed his name to something the British colonists could more easily handle and Paul Revere he was. 

Paul Revere, fils, grew up in a typical colonial household, went to North Writing School (a writing school as opposed to a Latin or grammar school which would have prepared him for scholarly life), worked in his father’s shop, briefly went off to fight in the French and Indian Wars and became head of household at age 19 when his father died.  Revere grew to be a man of integrity, common sense, pluck and not a small amount of ingenuity.

Well before his midnight ride Revere, perhaps unlike most of his fellow craftsmen, was included in various patriot clubs of Boston who were debating and fomenting rebellion.  His inclusion was a bit unusual as he was neither intellectual nor a gentleman of the educated class.  Forbes explains: “Paul was admitted to their society because they wished the sympathy of the large artisan class with whom he was immensely popular….” (p 56)  Paul Revere was also a do-er, a man with an even temperament and a steady head. 

His famous midnight ride was one of several such journeys Revere had already made.  His first was in November 1773 preceding the Tea Party when Revere rode to nearby seaports to advise that the British ships laden with their trunks of tea might discharge their cargo.  After the Tea Party Revere made, according to Forbes, four trips to Philadelphia.  She writes: “If one estimates the mileage from Boston to Philadelphia as three hundred and fifty at that time, his rate was about sixty-three miles a day…..”  (p. 206)  Not bad!  Revere made another famous ride when he took the Suffolk Resolves written by his good friend Dr. Joseph Warren to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. (Revere named one of his younger sons after Dr. Warren who died in the Battle of Bunker Hill.)

As we follow Revere’s life, our author brings us along through the Stamp Act rebellion, The Boston Massacre (to which Revere’s contribution was printing the famous engraving that erroneously portrayed what happened), The Boston Tea Party (Revere was most certainly a participant though no records exist), his famous midnight ride and the Battles of Lexington and Concord (Revere never actually fought in either battle).  We follow the First Continental Congress as it convenes in Philadelphia and the second Congress that appoints Washington as Commander of the Continental Army.  We read of Washington’s arrival in Boston after the Battle of Bunker Hill.  Forbes does not fight the Revolution for us but skips ahead as Boston picks up the pieces after it was under siege and plundered by the British.  We catch up with Revere as he returns to post-War life as a Boston citizen. 

Revere’s later life is as action-packed as were his early years.  Revere tries the military life, merchant life and applies for a position as customs director.  But his talents lie elsewhere and it is to his shop that he returns.  He designed a silver roller and began working in iron and bronze.  He schooled himself in bell castings, and, most notably developed a mill for rolling copper sheeting which would line the domes of colonial buildings (including New York’s City Hall) and the underside of ships, most famously the U.S.S. Constitution, ‘Old Ironsides.’ He collaborated with Robert Fulton on copper boilers for steamships. The Paul Revere Heritage Site in Canton, MA is home to his recently-refurbished copper mill. Revere Copper Products Co. in Rome, New York operates today though Revere Ware is no longer made. If you happen to own any Revere Ware pots and pans with the copper bottom, you own a bit of history.

Esther Forbes was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for this book which was published in 1942.  She credits her mother, a historian, with doing much of the research and document-hunting that forms the basis for her book. The book flows easily for all its history; Forbes has been very accurately described as a “novelist who writes like a historian and a historian who writes like a novelist.”  While telling the story of Revere’s life, Forbes intersperses chapters on teeth and tea, dentistry, political clubs, the smallpox scourge in Boston and Revere’s silver work.  She gives profiles and insights into many of the prominent figures of the pre-revolutionary period in Boston. There is a good map of old Boston in the front of the book but not nearly enough supporting maps and pictures, though it is possible that I didn’t have the best edition of Forbes' book.   

For some additional information on Paul Revere, follow this link to the American Antiquarian Society to read about a 2019-20 exhibit called Reflections on Beyond Midnight: Paul Revere.  The first 28 minutes of Panel 1 with Robert Martello, a professor at Olin College of Engineering, are especially good and cover Revere’s work as a craftsman and inventor during his later life.

Paul Revere died at the age of 83.  He outlived his second wife, Rachel, and was survived by five children and 50 grandchildren.  Let’s hope we continue to have Americans and patriots like this man-of-action, Paul Revere, brought alive in Forbes’ excellent book which I hope you will read.     

Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Bush by Jon Meacham

Whether one casts George Herbert Walker Bush, 41^st President of the United States, as a great Republican or a sell-out to the conservative cause, whether one ascribes to him the ‘wimp factor’ or views him as a public figure who modeled selflessness and service, the author gives enough of a reasonably objective perspective on Mr. Bush that most readers will find this book to their liking.  It is chock full of information on HW’s life, and, with copious quotes from HW’s diaries, plenty of Bush’s own thoughts. 

What a career the man had!  At age eighteen and fresh out of high school, George Bush enlisted in the Navy and earned his pilot wings.  Showing considerable grit, Bush saw action during the war and was shot down in Japanese waters over the island of Chichi Jima.  He parachuted out of his burning plane and was rescued (though the loss of his crew members affected him considerably).  With the end of the war (and already married to Barbara Pierce Bush) he completed his undergraduate degree at Yale in two and a half years.  

He left the East Coast and took his young family to Texas to work his way up in the oil business.  He entered Texas politics in 1966 and served in the U.S. House of Representatives.  He was the UN ambassador under Richard Nixon, chaired the Republican National Committee during the heady Watergate years, served as China envoy and CIA director during the Ford administration, completed two terms as Vice President under Ronald Reagan and went on to the presidency for four years from 1988 to 1992.  HW presided over a family of 5 living children (having lost his oldest daughter to leukemia at the age of 4) and numerous grandchildren.  He lived until the age of 94 and died in 2018 the same year as his wife. 

George H. W. Bush came from wealth and pedigree no question.  On his father’s side, Bush’s ancestors were so long-established in America that one of them, Dr. Samuel Prescott, rode with Paul Revere.  The Bush family was originally from the East Coast but HW’s grandfather, Samuel Prescott Bush, traveled to Columbus, Ohio at the suggestion of a Rockefeller friend to there make his fortune in the manufacturing of railroad parts.  S. P. Bush did well.  Bush’s own father, Prescott Bush, eventually left the manufacturing business and the Midwest and moved East to join the investment firm of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.  He later pursued a career in Connecticut politics and served as U.S. Senator from that state for eleven years.  

On his mother’s side the Walker family hailed from St. Louis and had a dry goods business.  When George Herbert “Bert” Walker decided to walk out on that, he started an investment firm.  Bert was the father of Dorothy Bush, HW’s mother.  Dorothy’s life was not plain.  She had nannies, a childhood filled with the fine arts, athletics and she attended an East Coast finishing school.  The Walker family summered in Kennebunkport at the now well-known Walker’s Point, a parcel of land that Dorothy’s father and uncle had invested in.  There was also a ‘plantation’ in South Carolina. 

HW grew up in comfortable Greenwich, Connecticut, attended Phillips-Andover and Yale and he had an abundance of the right kind of social and political connections.  The stereotype or cliché that he was an out-of-touch elite, however, is neither accurate nor fair.  Bushes were expected to make their own way in the world and do so with honor, hard work and, by the way, don’t forget to make a valuable contribution to society while you’re at it.  George H.W. Bush lived up to the family standard more than admirably.  

HW was high energy and gregarious.  Both tall and handsome, he was a good athlete, an average scholar, he had a good mind though he was not a great speaker.  He liked people and entertaining.  He was at ease with himself and others.  His childhood nickname of Have-Half was an early indicator of a natural affinity for diplomacy.  He directed his abilities and talents to mesh well with the demands of most everything he did.  His knack for getting along served him particularly well during his years as Reagan’s Vice President in my opinion. George Bush was careful and intentional about serving Reagan while also carving out a position for himself that kept him relevant and in the action. 

The book covered all of Bush’s various careers.  His presidency and two presidential campaigns occupied the bulk of the book I’d say, and for those years the author provided a good brush-up on both recent international and domestic history.  Mr. Meacham included enough information on most topics to either refresh one’s memory or provide enough of an outline to follow along.  Gorbachev, Noriega, Thatcher, Mitterand, Helmut Kohl, Lech Walesa (curiously, absolutely no mention of Pope John Paul II comes to mind) frequently populated the international issues.  On the home front, it was fascinating to read about the early careers of, not only HW, but Gerald Ford, Bob Dole, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney.  And remember Gary Hart and Donna Rice?  

The defining issues of the Bush presidency were the end of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall and subsequent dealings with Russia and the international community, the invasion of Panama, Saddam Hussein and the Gulf War (after which Bush’s popularity ratings skyrocketed) and the domestic budget deficit and taxes which he raised despite his campaign promise to the contrary (after which Bush’s popularity ratings plummeted).  Bush also appointed two justices to the Supreme Court, David Souter and Clarence Thomas, with the confirmation of the latter causing considerable controversy.  

The defining tension of the Bush presidency, and perhaps of the man himself was his tendency toward compromise and conciliation as opposed to a self-promoting leadership style.  Perhaps there was also an element of “doing good” that will most always end in some mushy goal or unintended consequence.  In addition, the perspective Bush had on leadership and the traditional values he espoused were becoming increasingly outdated as the closing decades of the 20^th century unfolded.  

Here is how HW characterizes himself as a leader, referring to Newt Gingrich’s criticism of the Bush compromise on taxes.  HW wrote in his diary that the media had been “hitting me for being kind and gentle, instead of confrontational, juxtaposing my views against Newt’s, my style against Newt’s.  I was elected to govern and to make things happen, and my view is, you can’t do it through confrontation.”  p. 365 

And here is the author’s summation of how Bush viewed political office.  “Bush acknowledged that he was neither wonk nor ideologue.  He saw politics more in terms of consensus than of ideology.  One ran for office—and did what partisanship required to win elections—in order to amass power to serve the larger good.  For Bush, the work of government was less about radical reform than it was about careful stewardship.  P 211

This summation, accurate and fair, is in my opinion the best light in which to evaluate George H.W. Bush as a political figure and President of the United States.  Too firmly steeped in gentlemanly decency and too convinced of the value of practicing modesty, he may have been a President better suited to a less combative and morally divided culture.    

Jon Meacham’s biography of HW is a very readable book though his writing can tend toward the lackluster.  He aims to give “Just the facts, ma’am” though see note below.  Meacham never seems to delight in either his subject or the historical context about which he’s writing.  One could argue that this gives his books greater gravitas, but I find his style to be a little drab.  With this book, Mr. Meacham becomes my champion of Notes.  You will recall that Mr. Bergamini’s 1,200-page, two-volume Japan’s Imperial Conspiracy had virtually a book of Notes, 150 pages.  In this 607-page, single-volume biography, Mr. Meacham has 170 pages of Notes!  There are also plenty of photos organized in two sections. 

I had planned this book as a skimmer, but became so invested in George Herbert Walker Bush and his family with each passing chapter that I was compelled to read every word.  Politics and his presidency aside, who wouldn’t want to be best friends with this extremely talented and principled man who would have a party if you visited him and take you for a fast ride on his speedboat, Fidelity?  I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again.  I certainly know the family well enough now with this book under my belt, and I remain convinced.  If we stay in Texas long enough, I’m going to be hanging out with Laura and “W” at somebody’s ranch someday.  Just you wait and see.  

Note:  In discussing the controversial budget deficit and tax issue, it was pointed out to me that Meacham presented a one-sided view that reflected either the author’s ignorance of or bias against Reagan’s economic policies.  Similarly, Meacham listed as achievements a number of Bush’s actions that were unpopular with conservatives such as the Americans with Disabilities Act.  On foreign policy, the author generally covered Bush in a favorable light.  However, as with Bush’s decision not to go after Saddam Hussein once Kuwait was taken care of, there were often a lot of direct quotes from Bush’s diary so the President explained himself more often than not. 

Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton

 Hillary Clinton’s book Living History might be better titled, Diary of a Mad First Lady for Hillary Rodham Clinton is certainly that.  She is an intelligent woman who, had she had the presence of mind not to throw her lot in with a charlatan, would have likely done very well on her own.  That she somehow thought her star could rise with Bill’s was her tragic downfall.  

When she and Bill Clinton met during their law school years at Yale, it was clear that he planned to go into politics.  Hillary, through her mentor Marian Wright Edelman, looked to be on track to undertake what Hillary characterizes as her life-long advocacy for children’s rights (to which she later added women’s rights).  She and Bill lived together, traveled together and campaigned for McGovern together. Hillary Rodham was busy with research projects, writing articles and clerking.  She led a voter registration drive in Texas and was a member of the impeachment staff investigating Richard Nixon. She appeared to be making her own way. 

Hillary says that Bill Clinton was determined to marry her. Yet it was she who trailed him to Fayetteville, AK.  After all she wrote, if the relationship was to succeed someone had to “give ground.” It must not have occurred to her to ask why it wasn’t him. 

Soon after marriage, Bill became Attorney General in Arkansas and Mrs. Clinton became a member of the Rose law firm. Not that she wanted to work for such a prestigious firm. She had always “resisted” private law but now she felt it made sense because Bill’s salary as AG was so paltry. When he became governor it was the same problem.  With a salary of just $35,000 a year she felt the need to “build up a nest egg.”  That’s when Mrs. Clinton began dabbling in commodities and she and Bill invested in Whitewater Estates. 

At page 76, the chapter entitled Little Rock, is when questions about Hillary Clinton’s emotional intelligence really kick in.  Hillary Rodham Clinton seems to have gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to self-awareness and good judgment about herself and others.  In short, Hillary Clinton doesn’t ever seem able to figure anything out.  On the one hand, she tells us she’s sharp as a whip, a self-assured take-charge type.  In the next paragraph she is mystified and aflutter with conflict. As a single woman, she was dedicated to children’s rights advocacy and following her heart to Bill, but she was “utterly confused” about where her life was headed.  As a married woman, she was worried about making ends meet though “we lived in the Governor’s Mansion and had an official expense account.”  When the Clintons got involved with Jim McDougal, they knew he had “reassuring” credentials and a “solid reputation.”(pg. 87) After all, Bill Clinton had known McDougal for ten years.  Later, Hillary just couldn’t understand how she and Bill misjudged him.   

When she became the nation’s First Lady, her troubles multiplied. Right off the bat, President Clinton named his wife chair of the President’s Task Force on National Health Care Reform. Both the issue and Hillary were immediately controversial. Again, Mrs. Clinton seems to have had no idea what lay ahead.   She recounts that, after her appointment, then-governor of New York Mario Cuomo approached her asking what she had done to make her husband so mad. Hillary drew a blank.  What was Cuomo talking about?  Cuomo replied that her husband would “have to be awfully upset about something to put you in charge of such a thankless job.”  The slap in the face didn’t register with Hillary. She barreled ahead. 

Hillary claims she was quite comfortable with the non-traditional role she planned to take as First Lady.  “To me, there was nothing incongruous about my interests and activities.” She liked improving health care just as much as she liked working on table settings (paraphrase)!   In the next sentence she writes, “…through my own inexperience, I contributed to some of the conflicting perceptions about me.”  It took her “awhile to figure out” that not everyone would see things her way.  At one point she complains that the governorship didn’t properly prepare her and Bill for the national stage. (pg. 141) 

In addition to a seeming inability to understand herself and those around her, Mrs. Clinton is always in crisis mode.  She characterizes her life as one muddled dilemma after another. It’s not clear whether this is dramatic posturing on her part or whether it’s an accurate reflection of a woman constantly in conflict.  Hillary isn’t exactly a liar. She’s a dissembler. She prevaricates.  She deceives herself first and seems to think others will follow suit.  

Amidst the fury over her role in health care reform, Hillary describes herself as a First Lady who would lead the way in an “era of changing gender roles.”  She would help accustom people to seeing women occupy positions of power.  Some two years and 120 pages later, however, she depicts herself in the middle of a maelstrom, a good wife trying to support her husband.  She suggests that it was her staff who inspired her to be a pioneering female role model.    

It happened after the crushing mid-term elections that ushered in a Republican Congress.  Hillary went into full crisis-mode behavior.  As she met with her all-female staff (pg. 261), she describes her despair in the face of the election results.  “Fighting back tears, my voice cracking, I poured out apologies.  I was sorry if I had let everyone down and contributed to our losses.  It wouldn’t happen again.”  She was “considering” leaving her political work behind, she was cancelling appearances, she didn’t want to hurt her husband’s administration.  Hillary claims that silence fell over the group.  Then, her loyal posse gave it to her straight.  They brought her out of her stormy crisis and into the sunshine of a new day.  Now she understood. She couldn’t quit.  “Too many other people, especially women, were counting on me.”  Pg. 261 

The book continues with contradictions and elaborations that alternately depict Hillary as confident leader or struggling victim. As the confident leader, it is Hillary who calls Dick Morris to discuss strategy.  It is Hillary who enlightens when normal minds are stumped.  It is Hillary who is forever at Bill’s side being “a helpful partner for him.”  It is “Bill and I” who consider policy.  In an almost delusional passage, Hillary tries to convince us that she was even involved in the Mid-East peace negotiations.  She writes that she often took calls from Leah Rabin and Queen Noor of Jordan when their respective husbands---that is, the Prime Minister of Israel and the King of Jordan---wanted to get information to the President through “informal channels.” (pg.315) Meaning her? Embarrassing. 

As the victim, Mrs. Clinton devotes a considerable number of pages to defending herself and her husband against the scandals and accusations that hounded them during Clinton’s eight years in office. In fact, other than welfare reform and a few scattered chapters on foreign policy, the Clinton years seem nothing but scandal---Vince Foster, Travelgate, Whitewater, her commodities trading, the McDougals.  She aggressively lambasts her adversaries and covers for herself and Bill.  She casts herself as victim of the political right wing and as loyal advisor and soulmate to the man she loves.  Can you imagine?  And we haven’t even gotten to Monica Lewinsky. 

Up until page 439, the chapter entitled ‘Soldiering On,’ Hillary Clinton explains away every other instance of her husband’s serial sexual exploitation and degradation of women.  Monica Lewinsky is the affair she finally couldn’t re-write.  Once again, Mrs. Clinton can’t understand how it all happened. She is in crisis.  When Bill finally told the truth, she was “gulping for air...crying and yelling….”  She couldn’t believe “he would do anything to endanger our marriage and our family.” (Huge eye roll.)   In the end, she says she stood by him because he was the President and, as President, he had done nothing wrong.  

The book rollercoasters on.  In one bizarre chapter, ‘Conversations with Eleanor,’ she describes her mystical, reverential connection to Eleanor Roosevelt.  In similar fashion in another chapter, she recounts an afternoon spent with Jackie Kennedy in Jackie’s NYC apartment.  With the sycophantic adulation of an outsider courting the in-crowd, Hillary portrays herself and Jackie as kindred spirits whose souls meshed into a perfect friendship.  It’s pathetic really. 

There are a few chapters that read more normally such as those that cover her travels to Central Europe, Africa and South Asia; the content is fairly interesting.  Her final chapters are devoted to her rancor about the 2000 election that Gore lost and her campaign for senator of New York.  Regarding the former, she lays out a no-holds-barred aggressive attack on the courts and the Republicans.  Regarding the latter, it’s mostly self-congratulatory fluff about everyone wanting her to run for the Senate.  

Hillary Rodham Clinton is a tragic figure.  Her decision to marry Bill Clinton led to one failure after another, and, in the end, to a demise that even she didn’t deserve.  One has to feel for her. After the humiliations she suffered as First Lady, she scrambled and scraped only to get a dreary stint as a senator. Then she lost a presidential nomination to a younger black man who outdid her in both arrogance and posturing. Obediently accepting it all, she settled for fourth fiddle as his Secretary of State but only as the final springboard that would certainly garner her the well-deserved gold ring of the presidency.  Alas.  She lost out again, this time to a smart-aleck white guy who treated her as badly as her husband always had. 

Hillary Rodham Clinton is a humiliated wife, an alternately exploited and dismissed political appendage to her deviously self-absorbed and emotionally shallow husband.  She is a remnant discarded by the Democrat Party and the feminist movement whose mascot she briefly was. For better or for worse, she has written about all of it in this book.