Time for my annual “Spring Cleaning” column, in which I address reader issues and recommend my favorite books of the past 12 months.
My only reader issue is to thank those many hundreds of readers who contacted me after reading my column last September complaining about replacing Alexander Hamilton with Harriett Tubman on the ten-dollar bill. As I wrote, Harriett Tubman, the courageous abolitionist leader of the “Underground Railroad,” was a fine choice. Alexander Hamilton, a fellow abolitionist and creator of America’s financial system, was not. Far more appropriate was replacing the slave owner Andrew Jackson. To those of you who wrote me asking how you could help save Hamilton, or wrote to say you had contacted your elected representatives on Hamilton’s behalf, as you probably know, it was recently announced that Jackson, not Hamilton, would be replaced. Historic justice has been served!
Recommended reading:
The Quartet by Joseph Ellis. Among my favorite historians on America’s creation, Ellis outlines how four men — George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay — worked together to create what Ellis calls the second American Revolution, which produced not only our Constitution but also a unified nation.
Citizens of London by Lynne Olson is a look at the effect that several key Americans who were posted in London during World War II had on U.S.-British relations throughout that war. Prominently featured is Edward R. Murrow, chief war correspondent for CBS News during the war, whose reports from London on the war, especially the Battle of Britain, made him a legend. Also featured is the little-known-today John Winant, whose effectiveness as U.S. ambassador to London during the war should have made him a legend.
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. I previously recommended this, but thanks to the popularity of the musical “Hamilton,” Chernow’s book is back on many best-seller lists, so I recommend it again. It’s an investment in time (700+ pages) but well worth it.
Dead Wake by Erik Larson is the fascinating story of the infamous sinking of the luxury ocean liner the Lusitania, whose death toll included 123 Americans. In addition to the blunders, negligence and miscommunication that caused its sinking is the almost certainly deliberate plot by the British to ensure that a German U-boat sank the Lusitania, so that an outraged United States would enter World War I on America’s side.
Bruce’s History Lessons, Books I and II. Again, a shameless plug. You can purchase both five-year collections of my newspaper columns — years 2001–2006, and 2006–2011 — from the “Buy the Books” link on the home page of my website, or simply Google my name, Bruce G. Kauffmann.
There, the place looks cleaner! I’ll be back next spring.
