new posts in all blogs
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: US history, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 25 of 43
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: US history in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
By: Ayana Young,
on 9/26/2015
Blog:
OUPblog
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
*Featured,
Richar M Nixon,
american history,
America,
US history,
presidential debates,
Richard Nixon,
jfk,
john f. kennedy,
Add a tag
On the evening of September 26, 1960, in Chicago, Illinois, a presidential debate occurred that changed the nature of national politics. Sixty-five years ago debates and campaign speeches for national audiences were relatively rare. In fact, this was the first live televised presidential debate in U.S. history. The two presidential aspirants were both youthful but […]
The post Substance, style, and myth in the Kennedy-Nixon debates appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Amy Stewart,
on 9/10/2015
Blog:
PowellsBooks.BLOG
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Literature,
Biography,
Q&A,
Gardening,
US History,
Pacific Northwest,
Amy Stewart,
Elaine S. Abelson,
Gloria E Myers,
Add a tag
Amy Stewart is the author of the novel Girl Waits with Gun and six other books, including The Drunken Botanist and Wicked Plants. Some of her earliest research for the novel happened right here in Portland, and Tin House editor Masie Cochran was there to witness it all. We've brought them back together to reminisce [...]
By: Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz,
on 8/14/2015
Blog:
PowellsBooks.BLOG
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Education,
Native American,
US History,
Original Essays,
authorpod,
William S. Burroughs,
John Grenier,
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz,
Susan Sleeper-smith,
Add a tag
The most frequent question readers ask about An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States is "Why hasn't this book been written before?" I'm flattered by that question, because it's the one I ask about texts that deeply move me; at the same time the information, argument, or story is new to me, it seems [...]
I could say that Between the World and Me, a piercing exploration of race in America, is a book that is timely and important. There's no doubt that it is. But it also has a purity and intensity that demands it be read. I cannot think of another book in recent memory so powerful, so [...]
People have been asking why I wanted to write about Andrew Jackson and the Cherokees. To be more precise, they ask: Why did you want to write about that? My day job is to write not history but "the first draft of history," which is what people sometimes call the news. I work for NPR, [...]
Bradley's prior histories reveal remarkable truths about America's often-overlooked imperial past. With The China Mirage he presents a provocative take on U.S.–China relations from the 19th century through World War II. Books mentioned in this post The China Mirage: The Hidden History... James Bradley Sale Hardcover $24.50
Describe your latest book. My book, One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America, seeks to explain why so many Americans have come to believe that this country is an officially "Christian nation." As I show in the book, the religious symbols and ceremonies that are often invoked as proof that it is [...]
By: Rhianna Walton,
on 3/9/2015
Blog:
PowellsBooks.BLOG
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Interviews,
Literature,
Biography,
Mystery,
Germany,
Military,
World History,
US History,
Kate Atkinson,
Dashiell Hammett,
Erik Larson,
Emily St. John Mandel,
Add a tag
I've been a fan of Erik Larson's riveting brand of narrative history for years, and his latest book, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, is his finest work yet. Suspenseful and expertly researched, Dead Wake transports the reader to the Atlantic theatre of WWI, where the luxury passenger liner Lusitania and a German [...]
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy is the true story of four women fighting for their countries during the Civil War. It's a stunning narrative compiled from personal letters, covert correspondence, and arrest records! The Civil War pit brother against brother, but as Karen Abbott eloquently proves through this book, it also pit sister against sister. This [...]
My new book, The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, is the story of two bodies. The first body was the new kind of slavery that emerged in the young United States right after it achieved its independence from the British Empire. Although at the end of the American [...]
While some of the revelations contained within this classic by Howard Zinn have become familiar since the nearly 35 years after it was published (thanks in part to this book), it is to this day an astonishing and eye-opening read. Several revisions later, it remains a seminal work, in stark contrast to the whitewashed (pun [...]
It's 2014 and Hillary Clinton's at the top of her game: polling high and openly contemplating a run for the White House. Her latest memoir is a must-read for Clinton fans and foes wanting the dirt on her time in the Obama administration and clues about where she's headed next. Books mentioned in this post [...]
By: Alex Beam,
on 4/23/2014
Blog:
PowellsBooks.BLOG
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Original Essays,
Alex Beam,
Juanita Brooks,
Religion Western,
Christianity,
US History,
David Ebershoff,
Fawn Brodie,
Jon Krakauer,
Add a tag
I spent two years with Mormon people, with Mormon books, and embraced by Mormon history to write American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church. People constantly ask me: Well, what did you think of them? What were the Mormons like? I respond that I started this project mildly [...]
Packer's book offers a new perspective on the American economy from real people, some of whom have adapted to the new landscape and some of whom continue to struggle. Is the American Dream still attainable? Read The Unwinding for the real story. Books mentioned in this post The Unwinding: An Inner History of... George Packer [...]
Do you have a moment? I'd love to hear your thoughts on Caroline by line. Please fill out this brief survey and enter to win a signed copy of MAY B. Thank you, friends!
UNITE OR DIE: HOW THIRTEEN STATES BECAME A NATION —Jacqueline Jules
age range: upper elementary
setting: Constitutional Convention of 1787
genre: illustrated picture book in comic book format
"A lively way to kick off discussions of how the Constitution works and why it's still a living document . . . ." — Kirkus Reviews
"The vividly colored spreads will hold the interest of even middle school students and would be useful to introduce how our form of government was created. Students will enjoy presenting this book as reader’s theater." — School Library Journal
"An original presentation of a pivotal point in U.S. history." — Booklist
"[This book] reminds me a bit of Schoolhouse Rock. It takes important historical information about the United States, and conveys it in a fun, fresh format.... This is a must-have title for schools and libraries." — Jen Robinson's Book Page
What drew you to this topic?
It was 2005, the year Public Law 108-477 went into effect, requiring public schools to provide an educational program on the U.S. Constitution on September 17th. At the time, I was working as a library media specialist in an elementary school. The classroom teachers at my school were swamped, and administration asked the specialists (librarian, art, and music) to take over the responsibility. My assignment was for the upper grades, 4-6. I wanted to do something the students would not only learn from but enjoy. So I wrote a four-page skit, briefly describing the bickering between the thirteen colonies after the revolutionary war, the need for a more unified government, and the crisis which almost caused the Constitutional Convention to fail. The characters were the thirteen original colonies who each spoke on behalf of their state.
We presented it on our in-house television show on September 17th. The kids had such a fabulous time rehearsing and performing it, I gave the script to a teacher friend at a nearby school. She said her students also had a blast with it. This gave me the itch to do something more with the material. But what? There is almost no market for student plays. A writing group friend suggested that I rewrite the skit with speech bubbles and try to sell it in comic book format. Originally, I thought it would be an easy endeavor. But I ended up re-writing the skit we performed entirely. I think there are only one or two lines from the original in the final book. I became engrossed in the subject matter, adding more and more information to my manuscript. The final product provides a hearty overview of why we needed a constitution and how our founding fathers ultimately created a document capable of meeting the needs of a growing country.
What were some interesting things you learned while conducting your research?
Governmental history is often thought of as a topic guaranteed to make you yawn. But the story of America’s constitutional government is filled with caffeine. The thirteen colonies behaved like squabbling children—fighting over borders and water rights. They refused to take each other’s money, making interstate business difficult and when Massachusetts had an insurgency problem, the other states saw no reason to help. It really was Unite or Die in 1787. But the founding fathers haggled, more devoted to the autonomy of the individual state than the need to work together. Over the July 4th weekend, George Washington, president of the convention, was said to have looked as haggard as he did during the darkest days of Valley Forge. Many representatives thought the Constitutional Convention would disband and the United States of America along with it.
Then Roger Sherman came up with the Connecticut Compromise. When I began researching, I had no idea how close the thirteen original states came to dissolving. The pivotal compromise that preserved our union provided a natural arc for my narrative. It taught me that nonfiction writing should build to a climax, just like fiction. Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation has supplemental notes at the end with all kinds of other fascinating facts. Did you know that the founding fathers devised an election system that gave the vice-presidency to the runner-up in the national election? What were they thinking! This period of American history captured my attention and I hope young readers will share my fascination when they read Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation.
To whet student appetite for the subject, a downloadable reader’s theater is available for free on my website. I also have a song to share about that momentous summer called “In 1787.”
Happy Constitution Day!
Having trouble leaving a comment? Click on Caroline by line and try again.
ELECTRIC BEN: THE AMAZING LIFE AND TIMES OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN - Robert Byrd
"A beautifully realized labor of love and affection brings to life one of our brightest founding fathers." – Kirkus Book Reviews, starred review
"With a jacket showing Benjamin Franklin as a cross between a mad scientist and a superhero standing amid wild lightning bolts and surrounded by all manner of electrical devices, this book shimmers with excitement, begging to be read." – The Horn Book, starred review
"It's a fascinating and comprehensive portrait, and an asset for student research." – Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Large in format and ambitious in scope, this appealingly designed book spotlights Benjamin Franklin and his times." – Booklist, starred review
HERE COME THE GIRL SCOUTS!: THE AMAZING, ALL TRUE STORY OF JULIETTE "DAISY" GORDON LOW AND HER GREAT ADVENTURE - Shana Corey
"Deft storyteller Shana Corey knows that good history writers pick rich details to paint a life story. That’s exactly what she does in ‘Here Come the Girl Scouts!’.” —The New York Times
"Corey tells Low’s story with few words, but a lot of energy. This is an exuberant celebration of Low’s work just in time for the Girl Scouts 100th anniversary.” —School Library Journal, starred review
"Corey’s gung-ho prose conveys Low’s gumption and optimism. Hooper’s folksy mixed-media art, much like Corey’s prose, portrays the Scouts and their history in a fresh, unstuffy manner.”—Publishers Weekly
“Girl power, all the way around.”—Booklist
THOSE REBELS, JOHN AND TOM - Barbara Kerley
"A witty and wise portrait of strength being born out of difference. " --Starred Review, Publisher's Weekly
"A graceful and good-humored account introduces the very human sides of the disparate duo who came together in the Continental Congress to give birth to American independence in an extraordinary achievement in 1774-1776. Humorous, respectful and affectionate: a solid invitation to learn more."
--Kirkus Review
“Forthright and dynamic....authoritative yet child-friendly.” — School Library Journal
“Light-hearted but eminently humane.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
WHAT TO DO ABOUT ALICE?: HOW ALICE ROOSEVELT BROKE THE RULES, CHARMED THE WORLD, AND DROVE HER FATHER TEDDY CRAZY! - Barbara Kerley
"Irrepressible Alice Roosevelt gets a treatment every bit as attractive and exuberant as she was....The large format gives Fotheringham, in his debut, plenty of room for spectacular art." --Starred Review, Booklist
"Theodore Roosevelt's irrepressible oldest child receives an appropriately vivacious appreciation in this superb picture book.... Kerley's precise text presents readers with a devilishly smart, strong-willed girl who was determined to live life on her own terms and largely succeeded." --Starred Review, Kirkus
"Kerley's text gallops along with a vitality to match her subject's antics, as the girl greets White House visitors accompanied by her pet snake, refuses to let leg braces cramp her style, dives fully clothed into a swimming pool, and also earns her place in history as one of her father's trusted advisers. Fotheringham's digitally rendered, retro-style illustrations are a superb match for the text."--Starred Review, SLJ
ANNIE AND HELEN - Deborah Hopkinson
“...What is breathtakingly shown here, through accurate, cross-hatched watercolor paintings; excerpts from Sullivan’s correspondence to her former teacher; and concise and poetic language, is the woman’s patience and belief in the intelligence of her student to grasp the concepts of language....elucidating the brilliant process of educating the deaf and blind pioneered by Annie Sullivan.” --Starred Review, School Library Journal
"Combining short excerpts from Annie Sullivan's letters with lyrical prose, Hopkinson succeeds in making the early years of the relationship between Helen Keller and the woman she called Teacher feel newly remarkable." -- Publisher's Weekly
So, today's the 497th anniversary of the birth of England's Queen Mary, Elizabeth Tudor's miserable, "bloody" half-sister and golly, what a sad and dreadful, star-crossed bunch there's was. How sane and lucky many another family is by comparison, no? It was on this day in history that physicist Alessandro "Mr. Battery" Volta was born, in 1745, a good 103 years before Louis Comfort Tiffany came into the world. February 18 marks the deathdays, too, of lovely painter Fra Angelico and revolutionary Martin Luther, who exited the world through the celestial door marked 18 Feb, in 1455 and 1546, respectively. Just for you to know. A pair of the best character actors ever to glower down from the silver screen, Edward Arnold and Adolphe Menjou, were both born on the 18th of February, 1890, two years before that glad-hander Wendell Wilkie was born, only to be well and truly thrashed by FDR in the 1940 election..
And speaking of Franklin D., it appears to be Presidents' Day, splitting the difference as we do between the commemorations of the great No. 1 and No. 16. In the stores, the tired Valentine candies are discounted. Soon there'll be green shamrocks, pastel eggs and bunnies. Here's a slim window in the culture's cavalcade; today there will be a pause in the beleaguered postal service. There will be silly Abes and Georges in advertisements for furniture, cars, and appliances. Behind and beyond it all were the steadfast pioneer of untrodden ground, of revolution and dare I say it: nation-building. And the grievous, complex stalwart who held it all together for a little while longer. I cannot help but think of all of the other gents who've held the office, each of whom represents a chapter in our ongoing, bumptious experiment in self-governance. And anyway, so the world turns and the calendar continues, And every day of it is a chance to remember those who've gone before. So let there be books, all of our books in which the stories of those vanished lives are shown and told, pictured and explained, again and again for our young readers, for our ever-renewing citizenry. Long live the republic.
So: A worship service at St. John's Episcopal Church not so very far from the White House. The old church, once attended by James Madison and buxom Dolley (I wrote a book about her; I could tell you how many times it's been rejected, but I won't), was designed in 1815 by handsome Benjamin Latrobe whose daughter Lydia married an inventor Nicholas Roosevelt, whose great-grand-nephew, Theodore Roosevelt would have one heck of an uproarious Inauguration Day of his own in 1904, complete with Rough Riders and an enforced appearance by the old Apache warrior, Geronimo. And, just for you to know, 93 years earlier, Nicholas and Lydia went on one heckuva steamboat ride down the Mississippi River just in time for the New Madrid Earthquake. Yes, Dorothy Patent, noodling one's way through the winding pathways one's research takes one is a purely engrossing pastime.) .
• A procession to the U.S. Capitol, also designed by Mr. Latrobe. At least President O. doesn't have to worry about having a godawful ride like FDR had with furious, worn-out HCH back in '33. • Joe Biden (born 20 Nov 1942, not long after Allied Forces landed in North Africa, just a few days before a hellacious fire broke out at Boston's Cocoanut Grove and killed 487 night-clubbers...Happy Warrior 'Smiley' Joe shares a birthday with Robert F. Kennedy, Alistair Cooke, and the astronomer Edwin Hubble), the 47th U.S. Vice President, once more will be sworn in to office.
• [the program] U.S. President No. 44, Barack Obama is scheduled to take his ceremonial Oath of Office at 11:30 A.M., having taken his official O. of O. yesterday, in a private ceremony on January 20, the official I. Day. So it was for Rutherford B. Hayes, in 1877, and Ronald Reagan, too, in 1985, being as their Inaugurals fell on Sundays. As a matter of fact, Mr. Hayes was sworn in in the W.H., a presidential 1st, in the Red Room, where charming Dolley Madison once held her popular Wednesday evening receptions before the whole joint was torched by the Redcoats. • Then Mr. Obama gives a speech - no, make that an address. Think about it, Citizens: What would you say to your divided, somewhat disheartened nation? (What would I say? Read a book. Heck, read a LOT of books. Learn what we Americans have - and haven't - been about all these years and think about what you read, for crying out loud. And just for a change, listen and THINK about what we have in common. Our history, for one thing. Our scary future, for another.) • There's a luncheon. Click HERE for the menu! (sounds a good deal fancier than the tortilla/melted cheese & handfuls of 1. cherry tomatoes and 2. MandMs I've got planned. ) • PARADE! • BALLS. (What would I wear? What would I wear? Gownless Evening Strap? Could we have, like, an Author Prom, a BiblioBall or something, PUH-lease??? I totally want to see Jim Murphy in a tuxedo.) Aren't we thankful for the 20th Amendment? If only for the fact that it isn't the 2nd Amendment, which I am WAY sick of hearing about, at least the part of the argument that comes from these automatically-armed-to-the-teeth blowhards? Because at least we're not having to wait until the 4th of March for all of this hoohah. All of this glorious hoohah, celebrating that for all our bloody-minded, well-intentioned, noble, greedy, bumptious, wonderful/horrible goings-on, we Americans have managed this banged up but unbroken chain of power passing to power. And in the spirit of that old saw, that trite-but-true wheeze about this being the first day of the rest of OUR lives, how in the heck are we going to inaugurate it? What are we prepared to do? (Despite opposition, fear, inertia, the tough, fast-changing marketplace) Ponder on our intentions. Ask what we can do for our country. And do it. So help us God.
The story of the Dakota War of 1862 — a six-week clash between Dakota warriors and white soldiers on the Northwestern frontier that left hundreds of settlers dead and culminated in the execution of 38 Native Americans on the day after Christmas, the largest mass execution in United States history — is grim. Its troubling [...]
Ronald Reagan and his apologists have always claimed that he never pointed the finger at a single individual in his dealings with American clandestine agencies. But as Seth Rosenfeld makes clear, thanks in large part to the 20 years of lawsuits he endured to have his Freedom of Information request accepted, ol' Ron pointed his [...]
I don’t know if people are willing to admit it, but many of us, and I suspect especially those of us who write books, have given some thought to what our legacy will be. I know I have. Since I am childfree—a term I recently heard for the first time—I won’t be leaving any progeny to carry on the family name. But I will be leaving my books to inform future generations. Even if libraries purge their holdings to make way for newer volumes, I’m thinking (hoping) that some of my writings will survive on the dusty shelves, or at the very least, in Cyberspace. I know it won’t really matter to me after I’m gone, but right now, I find the thought comforting.
Perhaps that’s why I had such a visceral reaction to the Gilda’s Club brouhaha that erupted last week. For those who don’t know, Gilda’s Club is a community organization with more than 20 affiliates that is dedicated to offering support to people who are living with cancer, and their loved ones. It was founded in the 1990s in honor of Gilda Radner, one of the original “Not Ready for Prime Time Players” on Saturday Night Live, who died of ovarian cancer in 1989. During her illness, Gilda found encouragement and solace at a California organization called the Wellness Community. Gilda’s Club was modeled after that group. (The name refers to Gilda’s quote that “having cancer gave me membership in an elite club I’d rather not belong to.”)
In 2009, Gilda’s Club Worldwide merged with the Wellness Community to create the Cancer Support Community. After the merger, the home office decreed that affiliates could determine which of three names worked best for them: Gilda’s Club, the Wellness Community, or the Cancer Support Community. A few weeks ago, the affiliate in Madison, Wisconsin, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate its new name, the Cancer Support Community Southwest Wisconsin. The executive director, Lannia Syren Stenz, told the Wisconsin State Journal the name was being changed because the population they serve is getting younger. "One of the realizations we had this year is that our college students were born after Gilda Radner passed," she said. "We want to make sure that what we are is clear to them and that there’s not a lot of confusion that would cause people not to come in our doors.”
Coverage of this event jumped from the Wisconsin State Journalto Gawker.com and pretty much all over the Internet, thanks to Twitter and Facebook. Fans of Gilda, and common sense, pointed out that it would be more meaningful to teach people who Gilda was than to obliterate her from the organization that was founded in her name. Toward that end, actress Martha Plimpton tweeted that she had ordered five copies of Gilda’s moving memoir, It’s Always Something, to be sent to the Madison chapter. Others pointed out that few of us know who Mayo was, or Sloanand Kettering, or Dana and Farber, but we still can find our way to their hospitals when necessary. Among the hundreds of comments on the Madison branch’s Facebook page (now taken down) was this one: "The only educating you're doing is teaching kids that when they die from cancer, their name will be erased from history in 20 years because the next generation doesn't know who they are. Way to give them hope!"
While the Wisconsin affiliate doesn’t seem to have been swayed by the petitions, tweets, and articles blasting their decision, other branches were quick to reassure the public that they had no intention of changing their name. “As the flagship Clubhouse, we value our brand and our association with Gilda Radner,” the New York club posted on their Facebook page. The Chicago branch tweeted, “Gilda’s Club Chicago will remain Gilda’s Club Chicago in honor of the courageous way Gilda, and all of our members, live with cancer.”
Just two months ago, I blogged about the importance of naming buildings and public memorials after women, so there’s no mystery about where I stand on this matter. I was also a big fan of Gilda, who had the guts to bare her soul in the process of reaching her audience. (Just watch this clip from her movie, Gilda Live, to see what I mean.) She did the same in her book, an admirable, intimate account of her struggle with cancer which is back in print with a new Resource Guide and a new chapter on Living with Cancer. And besides all that, she was really funny. Just check out these clips of her characters Roseanne Roseannadanna and Emily Litella.
I joined the New York chapter of Gilda’s Club when a close friend was dealing with cancer. The other day, she reminded me that not too long ago, cancer was something you didn’t discuss. Friends would shy away from you if they knew you were sick and you pretty much suffered in silence. Thanks to Gilda and the movement she inspired, people with cancer have a place to talk about what the “civilians” in their lives might not want to hear, the gritty details of survival. Helping each other empowers them in their own fight. That's why if people don’t know who Gilda Radner was, they sure as heck should find out.
By: Will Schwalbe,
on 10/2/2012
Blog:
PowellsBooks.BLOG
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
Crime,
john steinbeck,
F. Scott Fitzgerald,
Christopher Isherwood,
US History,
Ernest Hemingway,
Guests,
Hilary Mantel,
Patricia Highsmith,
Monique Truong,
Patrick Suskind,
Amanda Vaill,
Barnet Schecter,
Chandler Burr,
Esther Forbes,
Kevin Baker,
Paul Hendrickson,
Simon Baatz,
Will Schwalbe,
Literature,
Biography,
Add a tag
I'm a big believer that books, like people, can have partners: there are pairs of books that complement each other and belong together. With some books, as soon as you mention one, someone is bound to mention the other. Obviously, this applies to sequels and prequels. If you say you like Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, [...]
Recently, I was watching Page do laps in the backyard (at 5 AM!) when I started thinking about how most of my book projects have begun. Usually in odd, strange ways.*
*
Once (and this was years ago) I was in the Newark Library doing research when I spotted an open book on a table. It was there in the morning, at noon, and in the afternoon and I never saw anyone actually reading it. It looked kind of lonely and since the library was (is) understaffed and underfunded, I decided to reshelf the book. So I picked it up and headed into the dusty stacks and hunted until I found the exact spot where it belonged (there was even a perfect space between two other books just waiting for this volume to return). Which was when I finally looked at the book.*
*
Turned out to be the Civil War memoir of a young soldier, Elisha Stockwell, Jr. When I glanced at the introduction I found out he was 15 when he enlisted. I almost immediately thought, gee, I didn't know kids that young actually fought in the war. Mind you, this was at least eight years before the Ken Burns' documentary let us see and hear Civil War soldiers old and young, so it was a revelation to me. And then that little light in my brain lit up and I thought, well, maybe young readers would like to know about this, too.*
*
So I took the memoir home and read it and loved it. Maybe there's a book idea here, I wondered. But to be sure, I had to do research. Lots of it. I began what turned out to be an endless quest for information: about the Civil War, about what a soldier's life was like, and about what young soldiers experienced. And here is where a confession is necessary. I was never a big fan of the Civil War. I read a little about it, but never really delved very deeply into it. History texts always seemed to be about the important players (military and political) and whenever these individuals wrote about the war their writing always seemed pompous and stilted and distant. And the battles were always described in dry, technical terms. But reading Stockwell's memoir and discovering other underage soldiers who left written accounts of their time in the war was an eye-opener. What they described was immediate and emotional and vivid and very often humorous. And it made me want to know more.*
*
It took about eight years, but eventually The Boys' War was published (during the same week that the Ken Burns' CW documentary first appeared. Talk about riding long coattails!). Other books had unusual beginnings as well. The Last Dinosaur was born out of my reading an article (obit, really) about a species of bird that was the last of its kind and held in captivity for years while scientists searched for a mate. Very sad. Inside the Alamo came about because a friend sent me an article that suggested that Davy Crockett had tried to escape the Alamo massacre by dressing as a woman (Not true, but it would have made for some interesting headlines). All of these titles (and others I've done) have something in common; when I began my research, I really didn't feel I knew enough about the subjects to write a book.*
*
So each required that I, in effect, create and give myself an intense and lengthy course on the particular subject. And I never stopped researching even when I began the actual writing, or even after I submitted the ms. Or even when the text went off to the printer. I kept trying to learn more; I needed to know more -- in part because I wanted the most up-to-date information or take on the subject, but mostly because I loved the subjects. And that love never dissapated as I dug deeper into the subject and learned more and more about it.*
*
I think this passion for learning about a subject gets passed along to the readers in the resulting text. Listen to this, I hope my writing is saying, it's a weird story but really cool and not too many people know about it. I want to take readers along on the voyage of discovery, of coming across an unusual character, an extraordinar
By:
Susan E. Goodman,
on 3/12/2012
Blog:
I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids
(
Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags:
history,
publishing,
animals,
publishers,
Susan E. Goodman,
US History,
marketing books,
2012 titles,
Susan Goodman,
Add a tag
Have you ever waited at a bus stop? Waited and waited at a bus stop? You watch cabs rolling by, watch buses going the other way, watch your watch with increasing irritation. Finally your bus does come--with two or three other buses right behind it. A herd, a pod, a troup of buses. Very annoying, isn’t it?
A similar thing has happened to me in the publishing world, but I’m not sure whether it’s annoying or not. In 2004, I had five books come out in one year. And, up until a few months ago, I thought I would have four coming out in 2012.
How does this happen? I’ve never written four or five books in one year, so how do they get bunched up on the other end like buses? Good question. Some books go into production relatively quickly, while others take a long time to write. For example, I wrote a book called Skyscraper that chronicled the making of the Random House Building and I couldn’t write any faster than the construction. It had a four-year gestation period and came out in 2004 along with Choppers! that took about two years from research to release. Other reasons? Editors have babies. It can take a while to find the right illustrator or to wait for an illustrator to finish two other projects before starting yours or the illustrator goes on strike. The economy tanks and publishing houses thin their seasons and spread out the books so your pub date jumps a year or so into the future.
Let me be clear, I’m not complaining, really. I know having a bevy of books is an embarrassment of riches. It’s certainly better than no books at all, or a surfeit of buses traveling in a pack. But what are the pros and cons for the author—and the books?
In the old days, the perception was: bringing out more than one book a season or a year meant the author was competing against herself. Mark that down as a notch in the “con” section. Of course in the old days, most authors published with only one house so the publisher would be competing against itself too; they controlled supply and demand.
Today many children’s book authors work with several houses. We cannot act as traffic cops giving Simon & Schuster the green light for one season and putting Penguin on hold. Now publishers are competing against each other. Has that changed the model? Does it help or hurt the author? And given the increased avenues of media, does having multiple books out at the same time increase buzz? Advertising wisdom says the more consumers hear something, the more likely they will remember it, perhaps become interested and start word-of-mouth.
In 2004, I decided that if there was any time to hire a publicist, having five books come out was it. Susan Raab and I concentrated on three of them. Susan was great and responsible for a good deal of the media coverage they received. S
by Jim Demonakos
When creating a book that is rooted in the past, especially a time that you did not experience yourself, it’s hard to paint a 100% accurate portrait of the era. Largely because, no matter what, you bring a modern sensibility to the politics and attitudes of the era, and it can be very hard to wrap your head around the civil rights struggle, not ideologically, but what it would feel like to be in that era of uprising and national change.
It was such a great resource that my co-writer, Mark Long, experienced that time in Texas in the late 60’s himself. His stories, which we weaved throughout the book, helped define the era by giving depth to our characters because their experiences were real. Additionally, it was personally fascinating to hear stories of the time, which created for me a better sense of the attitudes of the people who were living through these upheavals.
Our collaborator and artist Nate Powell grew up in the south, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas. While finding photographic reference to create the visuals of the world we set our story in, having Nate from the same geographic region, regardless of era, able to pull from his experience to show the attitudes, details and atmosphere was invaluable.
Writing can be a lonely pursuit, rewarding to be sure, but many times it is just you sitting in front of a blank page. Creating a book with such amazing collaborators, for me, THE SILENCE OF OUR FRIENDS is a unique combination of the experiences of a diverse group who melded together fact and fiction in to a narrative about a specific period and time Texas that will hopefully not be forgotten.
View Next 17 Posts
.jpeg?picon=2982)
So perfect for Women's History Month!!!
I didn't think of that, but yes, you're right!