Several members of The Warning community have asked me for book recommendations. I thought I would put together a list of 10 books that I would suggest as gifts and/or for you to enjoy over the holiday season. Here it goes: Empire of the Summer Moon
Regarding John Adams, there was an excellent TV miniseries (2008) on HBO that I watched a few years ago based on the biography (if TV is more of your thing): https://www.hbo.com/john-adams
How applicable today! My favorite quote by John Adams at the end was:
“Oh posterity, you will never know how much it cost us to preserve your freedom. I hope that you will make a good use of it, for if you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”
I wonder what he would think now with today’s events.
I much appreciated your holiday reading list. I have read and much enjoyed several of these books already. I must say that the one "surprise" book was Destiny of the Republic. It was a wonderfully well-researched and well-written book, deftly linking three unlikely historical figures - Lister, Bell, and Garfield. Also excellent reads: Codebreaker and John Adams. Would love to see some "post Holiday book recommendations".
Recommendation: Robert E. Lee and Me by Ty Seidule is a fascinating read about a southerner's evolution from a believer in the "lost cause" to a more realistic view of the civil war and the leaders of the confederacy, especially Robert E. Lee.
I read Empire of the Summer Moon after you mentioned it in an earlier post. Fascinating! I've since gifted it to all my Texas relatives and recommended the book to many others. Thank you for this list.
Steve, I just finished Timothy Snyder’s book “Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin.” It was the first history of WWII that I have read that describes how that war unfolded on the ground from the perspective of people caught between these two monsters. In the past, I have tended to read history of that war from our American perspective. This history sure puts that war in perspective, and reinforced for me how remarkable was the effort to build a global rules-based international community.
Solid list. I’ve read a few of these. I just got “Code Breaker” and I’m excited to read it. I would add “The Enormous Room” by e.e. Cummings, and anything by Patrick Radden Keefe - immersive non-fiction about various subjects we all should know more about. I read “The Snakehead” about mass Chinese immigration into NYC in the 80s and it was a lamp-burner. Next I’m reading “Say Nothing” about the troubles in Ireland....all of his books look fascinating to me. On another note, I’m happy Zelensky is coming to DC so the male Republicans against funding for Ukraine and Marjorie Taylor (whatever she goes by now after her divorce) can see what strength really looks like and they can tell him why they no longer want to support Ukraine to his face.
Steve I'm curious what made you get out of the Republican party and join the Democratic party? I know that MAGA's had something to do with it but was it something else? In reading your recent posts it seems you've made a complete turnaround. Meaning, you sympathize with Native American, Blacks, POC, women, LGBTQ, and "99 percent folks".
As a different look at FDR's wartime leadership, I strongly recommend Doris Kearns Goodwin's "No Ordinary Time," because it has a strong focus on the period between May 1940 and Pearl Harbor and how FDR prepared us for war and got us ready to win it. Given where the country was at politically, that was no small achievement.
Leila Philip's "Beaver Land: How One Weird Rodent Made America" is something we all should read to become aware again that the things that are Really Important are often the things overlooked.
And in an act of shameless self-promotion, allow me to recommend the book I finished assembling from my friend the late Eric Hammel's lifetime of research: "The Cactus Air Force." I thought I knew all there was to know about the Guadalcanal campaign when I took this on after he passed from Parkinson's, and I found myself Educated at the end. Eric spent 50 years interviewing all the guys who *didn't* make it into the history books, to tell the story of the most important 100 days of the War in the Pacific.
Great lists! Try Educated by Tara Westover. Biography of her life in the mountains of Utah with a bi-polar Mormon father. Best book I read this entire year. The very first paragraph so we’ll-written you won’t put it down.
Regarding John Adams, there was an excellent TV miniseries (2008) on HBO that I watched a few years ago based on the biography (if TV is more of your thing): https://www.hbo.com/john-adams
How applicable today! My favorite quote by John Adams at the end was:
“Oh posterity, you will never know how much it cost us to preserve your freedom. I hope that you will make a good use of it, for if you do not, I shall repent in Heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it.”
I wonder what he would think now with today’s events.
A holiday gift to me from Elon Musk is that I have more time to read.
I much appreciated your holiday reading list. I have read and much enjoyed several of these books already. I must say that the one "surprise" book was Destiny of the Republic. It was a wonderfully well-researched and well-written book, deftly linking three unlikely historical figures - Lister, Bell, and Garfield. Also excellent reads: Codebreaker and John Adams. Would love to see some "post Holiday book recommendations".
Two books I've enjoyed reading and sharing over the years and that also make nice gifts:
*Love Letters to the Universe: Quotations for Independent Thinkers -by Richard Kehl
*Breathing on Your Own: Quotations for Independent Thinkers -by Richard Kehl
Thank you, Steve, and those in this community, for sharing your book recommendations -Enjoy, all.
The Prophet by Kahlil Vibrant - my version of The Bible.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith - coming-of-age story of a girl with an alcoholic father. (The original film is awesome.)
Anything/Everything by Chaim Potok or Frank McCourt or John Hersey.
Here's a few I've read this year & would recommend:
Dark Towers - Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump & An Epic Trail of Destruction by David Enrich
Zero Fail - Rise & Fall of The Secret Service by Carol Leonnig
Unthinkable - Trauma, Truth & The Trials of American Democracy by Jamie Raskin
Devil In The Grove - Thurgood Marshall, The Groveland Boys and the dawn of a new America by Gilbert King
Currently reading Grant by Ron Chernow. So far so good.
Happy Holidays to The Warning community!
The best ones I read in 2022:
1) Lincoln Highway, Amor Towles
2) Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell
3) Being Mortal, Atul Gawande
4) Mao, the Unknown Story by Jung Chang and Ryan Halliday
5) Shared Notes, Martin Hayes
6) Before the Storm, Rick Perlstein (really good! don't shy away from it because it is about conservatives!)
Recommendation: Robert E. Lee and Me by Ty Seidule is a fascinating read about a southerner's evolution from a believer in the "lost cause" to a more realistic view of the civil war and the leaders of the confederacy, especially Robert E. Lee.
I read Empire of the Summer Moon after you mentioned it in an earlier post. Fascinating! I've since gifted it to all my Texas relatives and recommended the book to many others. Thank you for this list.
Indigenous Continent by Pekka Hämäläinen. This is United States history from the Native American perspective. Brilliant book and very informative.
Steve, I just finished Timothy Snyder’s book “Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin.” It was the first history of WWII that I have read that describes how that war unfolded on the ground from the perspective of people caught between these two monsters. In the past, I have tended to read history of that war from our American perspective. This history sure puts that war in perspective, and reinforced for me how remarkable was the effort to build a global rules-based international community.
Solid list. I’ve read a few of these. I just got “Code Breaker” and I’m excited to read it. I would add “The Enormous Room” by e.e. Cummings, and anything by Patrick Radden Keefe - immersive non-fiction about various subjects we all should know more about. I read “The Snakehead” about mass Chinese immigration into NYC in the 80s and it was a lamp-burner. Next I’m reading “Say Nothing” about the troubles in Ireland....all of his books look fascinating to me. On another note, I’m happy Zelensky is coming to DC so the male Republicans against funding for Ukraine and Marjorie Taylor (whatever she goes by now after her divorce) can see what strength really looks like and they can tell him why they no longer want to support Ukraine to his face.
1619-Nikole Hannah-Jones.
Steve I'm curious what made you get out of the Republican party and join the Democratic party? I know that MAGA's had something to do with it but was it something else? In reading your recent posts it seems you've made a complete turnaround. Meaning, you sympathize with Native American, Blacks, POC, women, LGBTQ, and "99 percent folks".
I love your writing, you are such a wordsmith.
As a different look at FDR's wartime leadership, I strongly recommend Doris Kearns Goodwin's "No Ordinary Time," because it has a strong focus on the period between May 1940 and Pearl Harbor and how FDR prepared us for war and got us ready to win it. Given where the country was at politically, that was no small achievement.
Leila Philip's "Beaver Land: How One Weird Rodent Made America" is something we all should read to become aware again that the things that are Really Important are often the things overlooked.
And in an act of shameless self-promotion, allow me to recommend the book I finished assembling from my friend the late Eric Hammel's lifetime of research: "The Cactus Air Force." I thought I knew all there was to know about the Guadalcanal campaign when I took this on after he passed from Parkinson's, and I found myself Educated at the end. Eric spent 50 years interviewing all the guys who *didn't* make it into the history books, to tell the story of the most important 100 days of the War in the Pacific.
Steve, I just finished Timothy Snyder’s history “Bloodlands:
Great lists! Try Educated by Tara Westover. Biography of her life in the mountains of Utah with a bi-polar Mormon father. Best book I read this entire year. The very first paragraph so we’ll-written you won’t put it down.