Annette Ranald's Blog: Annette's History Reads, page 4
May 31, 2014
Book Review: Victorio: Apache Warrior and Chief, by Kathleen Chamberlain
When I took a recent trip to Bisbee, I stopped in their Mining and History Museum, which is a Smithsonian affiliate. I went in the bookstore, looking for books about Lozen, Victorio's sister. Instead, I found Victorio, Apache Warrior and Chief, by Kathleen P. Chamberlain. Chamberlain's book isn't the only biography of the Warm Springs Apache leader, but it is rated one of the best and with good reason.
Chamberlain traces Victorio's life from his birth c. 1825 in New Mexico, till his death in the battle/siege of Tres Castillos, Mexico, in 1880. Along the way, she sets Victorio in the context of his Apache culture and belief system, showing a human being trying to comprehend the unthinkable. Why would anyone else covet his native land with its sacred warm springs? Why would they not want to leave him and his people alone in exchange for stopping the fighting? Chamberlain also traces the contradictions of the United States' Indian Policy, and of the various military and civilian leaders charged with carrying it out. Men like Colonel Edward Hatch, who saw the wisdom of allowing Victorio's people to live at Ojo Caliente, versus leaders like Gen. Nelson Miles, who intended to force all the Apache bands to live at San Carlos in over-crowding and misery.
Although the book would be suitable for reading in any undergraduate college course, it is accessible to the lay reader. Chamberlain maintains control of the various threads of the story, setting it forth concisely and without repetition or confusion. This would be a 5-star rating on Amazon.
Victorio: Apache Warrior and Chief
Chamberlain traces Victorio's life from his birth c. 1825 in New Mexico, till his death in the battle/siege of Tres Castillos, Mexico, in 1880. Along the way, she sets Victorio in the context of his Apache culture and belief system, showing a human being trying to comprehend the unthinkable. Why would anyone else covet his native land with its sacred warm springs? Why would they not want to leave him and his people alone in exchange for stopping the fighting? Chamberlain also traces the contradictions of the United States' Indian Policy, and of the various military and civilian leaders charged with carrying it out. Men like Colonel Edward Hatch, who saw the wisdom of allowing Victorio's people to live at Ojo Caliente, versus leaders like Gen. Nelson Miles, who intended to force all the Apache bands to live at San Carlos in over-crowding and misery.
Although the book would be suitable for reading in any undergraduate college course, it is accessible to the lay reader. Chamberlain maintains control of the various threads of the story, setting it forth concisely and without repetition or confusion. This would be a 5-star rating on Amazon.
Victorio: Apache Warrior and Chief
May 21, 2014
The Romanovs--How a Kid Got Hooked on History
One thing that people notice about a friend or family member who's a history lover, is that we tend to get stuck on one era, person, or event, until we've studied every drop. My first historical fixation was the Romanovs, especially Nicholas II and his family. I read and reread several books on them, particularly the assassination.
Robert K. Massie remains the preeminent authority on all things Romanov. I own both Nicholas and Alexandra, and Peter the Great. I'm on my third copy of each. You see, I've read them over so many times I've literally worn the books out. I can't wait to get my hands on Catherine the Great and The Romanovs: the Final Chapter.
I love the details of history. I want to know everything about a character's world, particularly if there's a chance I might get an inspiration to write about it (there might be a Catherine I book in my head somewhere). Massie goes in depth with his characters, their family, their courtiers and acquaintances, their enemies, their experiences, and the world and society they lived in. For me, detail is like cake icing, you can never have too much!Catherine the Great: Portrait of a WomanNicholas and AlexandraPeter the Great: His Life and WorldThe Romanovs: The Final Chapter
Robert K. Massie remains the preeminent authority on all things Romanov. I own both Nicholas and Alexandra, and Peter the Great. I'm on my third copy of each. You see, I've read them over so many times I've literally worn the books out. I can't wait to get my hands on Catherine the Great and The Romanovs: the Final Chapter.
I love the details of history. I want to know everything about a character's world, particularly if there's a chance I might get an inspiration to write about it (there might be a Catherine I book in my head somewhere). Massie goes in depth with his characters, their family, their courtiers and acquaintances, their enemies, their experiences, and the world and society they lived in. For me, detail is like cake icing, you can never have too much!Catherine the Great: Portrait of a WomanNicholas and AlexandraPeter the Great: His Life and WorldThe Romanovs: The Final Chapter
May 13, 2014
How to Mine for Books in Arizona's Most Historic Towns
When I go on a trip, I never miss an opportunity to go into all the gift shops I can find. I pass up the t-shirts, shot glasses, and other knick-knacks, and head right to the book shelves. There's a reason for this. Many of these books are by local historians, and not all of them will be available on Amazon, or even Kindle. Case in point, Bisbee: Then and Now, a book by a local historian and photographer, is available in the Mining and History Museum gift shop for $12. You have to buy it used on Amazon, for much more.
If you're lucky, like I was in both Bisbee and Tombstone, you'll find docents or book shop caretakers who are also amateur historians themselves. They are often full of stories, and of suggestions where to look for stories. In Tombstone, I made a contact with a docent who agreed to let me contact him in future to pick his brain, if and when the notion to write about the OK Corral gunfight ever strikes me. So many stories, so little time! Attached to this blog are a few of the books I picked up. Doc Holliday: A Family PortraitMattie: Wyatt Earp's Secret Second WifeOn the Border with CrookVictorio: Apache Warrior and ChiefBisbee, Arizona, Then And Now
If you're lucky, like I was in both Bisbee and Tombstone, you'll find docents or book shop caretakers who are also amateur historians themselves. They are often full of stories, and of suggestions where to look for stories. In Tombstone, I made a contact with a docent who agreed to let me contact him in future to pick his brain, if and when the notion to write about the OK Corral gunfight ever strikes me. So many stories, so little time! Attached to this blog are a few of the books I picked up. Doc Holliday: A Family PortraitMattie: Wyatt Earp's Secret Second WifeOn the Border with CrookVictorio: Apache Warrior and ChiefBisbee, Arizona, Then And Now
May 1, 2014
Mary Queen of Scots and the Murder(s) of (David Riccio) and Lord Darnley
The life and struggles of Mary Queen of Scots have always intrigued me, especially the tumultuous years of her personal rule in Scotland (1562-1568). I've read and reread Antonia Fraser's biography of Mary, written in the 60's, and I've had the idea that the murder of her secretary David Riccio (March, 1566), and the murder of her husband Darnley (February, 1567), were linked. I'm also convinced that Bothwell, although he participated in Darnley's murder, wasn't alone, and he wasn't the only noble with the motive to kill Darnley.
I have an ulterior motive in pursuing this story. There's novel material here. Haven't we had enough novels about Mary Stuart? Well, the one I'm also working on (When John Revere and his fun bunch leaves me alone), is a series of novels about that time period as told from the viewpoint of her fictional half-brother, Lord David Stewart, Earl of Glenburn. Had he existed in real life, he would have had a front row seat and connections to a lot of people, including his own full brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, and later Regent of Scotland. He would have had plenty of incentive to spill beans after Mary and Moray were dead, but what would he say about Rizzio's death and Darnley's?
Alison Weir's book, Mary Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley, confirmed several of my theories. Darnley's death wasn't just Bothwell's attempt to remove Darnley so Bothwell had a chance at capturing and marrying Mary. I don't think that idea entered Bothwell's mind until much later. No, Darnley's murder was the Scots nobles' payback for him squealing on their involvement in Riccio's death. Darnley's mother had been born a Douglas, and as the Douglas family were the ones most implicated in Riccio's death, they would have thirsted for revenge against the little punk who opened his mouth.
But the Douglases wouldn't have been the only ones with a motive to kill Darnley. Nor would he have been the only victim. Mary's half-brother would have stood to gain by both her death and Darnley's, as it would leave him Regent for a baby king in a Protestant land, which he eventually was. The English, too, would also gain by removing two troublesome claimants to Elizabeth's throne. The possibilities are endless.Mary Queen of ScotsMary Queen Of Scots: And The Murder Of Lord Darnley
I have an ulterior motive in pursuing this story. There's novel material here. Haven't we had enough novels about Mary Stuart? Well, the one I'm also working on (When John Revere and his fun bunch leaves me alone), is a series of novels about that time period as told from the viewpoint of her fictional half-brother, Lord David Stewart, Earl of Glenburn. Had he existed in real life, he would have had a front row seat and connections to a lot of people, including his own full brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, and later Regent of Scotland. He would have had plenty of incentive to spill beans after Mary and Moray were dead, but what would he say about Rizzio's death and Darnley's?
Alison Weir's book, Mary Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley, confirmed several of my theories. Darnley's death wasn't just Bothwell's attempt to remove Darnley so Bothwell had a chance at capturing and marrying Mary. I don't think that idea entered Bothwell's mind until much later. No, Darnley's murder was the Scots nobles' payback for him squealing on their involvement in Riccio's death. Darnley's mother had been born a Douglas, and as the Douglas family were the ones most implicated in Riccio's death, they would have thirsted for revenge against the little punk who opened his mouth.
But the Douglases wouldn't have been the only ones with a motive to kill Darnley. Nor would he have been the only victim. Mary's half-brother would have stood to gain by both her death and Darnley's, as it would leave him Regent for a baby king in a Protestant land, which he eventually was. The English, too, would also gain by removing two troublesome claimants to Elizabeth's throne. The possibilities are endless.Mary Queen of ScotsMary Queen Of Scots: And The Murder Of Lord Darnley
April 27, 2014
Team of Rivals-Band of Enemies
I like many different eras of history. Not surprisingly for a political fiction writer, Presidential history is another fave. I especially enjoyed Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. This is the book that the blockbuster movie Lincoln, starring Daniel Day Lewis and Sally Field, was based on.
Abraham Lincoln was a brilliant man, but he was also humble enough to realize that jealousy was not always the best approach to a rival. Sometimes, the better way is to co-opt the rival's abilities for your own use and betterment. Rivals are also easier to watch and hopefully control that way. Many of the men who became his cabinet secretaries and closest advisors had been political opponents in some way. William H. Seward (Secretary of State), Salmon P. Chase (Treasury), Montgomery Blair (Postmaster General), and Edward Bates (Attorney General), had challenged Lincoln during the primary stages of his campaign, but later became a cohesive and loyal team.
Lincoln's deepest and most surprising friendship was with William H. Seward. Seward was from an old New York family, and rightfully felt that he should have been the President. At first, like many others, he looked down on Lincoln's homely ways, slow speech, jokes, and stories. But Seward soon discovered the statesman under the country hick, and Lincoln found a kindly heart under the pompous outer shell. Lincoln would often go to Seward's home to visit and unwind.
Lincoln was not close to Salmon P. Chase, who resigned for awhile before coming back aboard. Yet, Chase always managed to find money out of nowhere when it was needed to fund the war. Montgomery Blair was from an old Maryland family with deeply Southern roots. They were related to the Lees. However, Lincoln never doubted his Postmaster General's loyalty, and backed him when others tried to cast suspicion on him.
There's a sad undercurrent to the book, though, the story of Mary Lincoln. With the exception of Julia Bates, who helped her nurse Willie, and was with her after the assassination of the President, Mary never developed a support system. In those days, First Ladies did not have staff, other than the servants. No press secretary or social secretary. Many of Washington's elite women, and those who followed their husbands to the Capitol, remained aloof. They often ignored her, did not attend her receptions, and some whispered about her behind her back.
Kate Chase Spraque was the outspoken leader of the Anti-Mary faction in Washington. The daughter of Salmon P. Chase, Kate was young, barely eighteen when she came to the Capitol. Yet she had already served as her father's official hostess in Ohio, and was bitterly angry that he had not been elected President. She did not take that spite out on Lincoln, though. She was cordial to him to the point that Mary believed she was flirting, and Mary threw a fit when Lincoln accepted Salmon's invitation to walk his daughter down the aisle in his stead at her wedding. Kate reserved her venom for Mary, deliberately planning parties to conflict with events put on by the First Lady, spreading stories that Mary was a Confederate sympathizer and possible mole, and making her dislike of Mrs. Lincoln plain to Mary herself. Although Mary had grown up a plantation owner's daughter, spoke French, and had every refinement that Southern women of that era did, Kate made sure to put Mary's Kentucky birth and Western origins in her face every chance she got. The men, busy with the war and oblivious, did not intervene, and probably wouldn't have anyway, seeing it as women's quarrels.
The Lincolns bore many hardships in the White House, but Mary perhaps more so, and therein lies the tragedy.Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was a brilliant man, but he was also humble enough to realize that jealousy was not always the best approach to a rival. Sometimes, the better way is to co-opt the rival's abilities for your own use and betterment. Rivals are also easier to watch and hopefully control that way. Many of the men who became his cabinet secretaries and closest advisors had been political opponents in some way. William H. Seward (Secretary of State), Salmon P. Chase (Treasury), Montgomery Blair (Postmaster General), and Edward Bates (Attorney General), had challenged Lincoln during the primary stages of his campaign, but later became a cohesive and loyal team.
Lincoln's deepest and most surprising friendship was with William H. Seward. Seward was from an old New York family, and rightfully felt that he should have been the President. At first, like many others, he looked down on Lincoln's homely ways, slow speech, jokes, and stories. But Seward soon discovered the statesman under the country hick, and Lincoln found a kindly heart under the pompous outer shell. Lincoln would often go to Seward's home to visit and unwind.
Lincoln was not close to Salmon P. Chase, who resigned for awhile before coming back aboard. Yet, Chase always managed to find money out of nowhere when it was needed to fund the war. Montgomery Blair was from an old Maryland family with deeply Southern roots. They were related to the Lees. However, Lincoln never doubted his Postmaster General's loyalty, and backed him when others tried to cast suspicion on him.
There's a sad undercurrent to the book, though, the story of Mary Lincoln. With the exception of Julia Bates, who helped her nurse Willie, and was with her after the assassination of the President, Mary never developed a support system. In those days, First Ladies did not have staff, other than the servants. No press secretary or social secretary. Many of Washington's elite women, and those who followed their husbands to the Capitol, remained aloof. They often ignored her, did not attend her receptions, and some whispered about her behind her back.
Kate Chase Spraque was the outspoken leader of the Anti-Mary faction in Washington. The daughter of Salmon P. Chase, Kate was young, barely eighteen when she came to the Capitol. Yet she had already served as her father's official hostess in Ohio, and was bitterly angry that he had not been elected President. She did not take that spite out on Lincoln, though. She was cordial to him to the point that Mary believed she was flirting, and Mary threw a fit when Lincoln accepted Salmon's invitation to walk his daughter down the aisle in his stead at her wedding. Kate reserved her venom for Mary, deliberately planning parties to conflict with events put on by the First Lady, spreading stories that Mary was a Confederate sympathizer and possible mole, and making her dislike of Mrs. Lincoln plain to Mary herself. Although Mary had grown up a plantation owner's daughter, spoke French, and had every refinement that Southern women of that era did, Kate made sure to put Mary's Kentucky birth and Western origins in her face every chance she got. The men, busy with the war and oblivious, did not intervene, and probably wouldn't have anyway, seeing it as women's quarrels.
The Lincolns bore many hardships in the White House, but Mary perhaps more so, and therein lies the tragedy.Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
April 26, 2014
Why the Donner Party?
Under an Evil Star is a first-person account of the Donner Party, as told from the perspective of Louis Keseberg. Wasn't the Donner Party a bunch of crazies who got snowbound in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and turned into cannibals? Eeewww! Why them?
Well, first off, the Donner Party (1846-1847), was a wagon train of emigrants attempting to reach California. They did become snowbound in the mountains. Over half of them, 43 out of 84 people, perished, and some of those who survived did use the flesh of their companions. However, they were not skin walkers, vampires, zombies, or psychopaths waiting a chance to spring on helpless victims. They were people, human beings driven to desperation to survive.
Louis Keseberg, a German immigrant traveling with his wife and children, is often cast as the villain of the piece. Because he was the last person to survive, he is viewed with suspicion as having possibly murdered some of the others. As I researched his story, though, the defense attorney's instincts kicked in and I realized the strong possibility that he might be innocent. True, he was no angel, but he was no murderer with a supernatural fetish for women's body parts either.
Well, first off, the Donner Party (1846-1847), was a wagon train of emigrants attempting to reach California. They did become snowbound in the mountains. Over half of them, 43 out of 84 people, perished, and some of those who survived did use the flesh of their companions. However, they were not skin walkers, vampires, zombies, or psychopaths waiting a chance to spring on helpless victims. They were people, human beings driven to desperation to survive.
Louis Keseberg, a German immigrant traveling with his wife and children, is often cast as the villain of the piece. Because he was the last person to survive, he is viewed with suspicion as having possibly murdered some of the others. As I researched his story, though, the defense attorney's instincts kicked in and I realized the strong possibility that he might be innocent. True, he was no angel, but he was no murderer with a supernatural fetish for women's body parts either.
Annette's History Reads
I enjoy reading and writing about history. I've loved history all my life and read a ton of books. Now, I'll share a few of them with you. I also want to take you along with me in this new and strange
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