These are all great books for anyone who loves history, and particularly American history and the story of the 20th century. Both Nigel Hamilton, author of the “FDR at War” trilogy, and Rick Atkinson, author of the “Liberation” trilogy, are exceptional historians and writers. There are no gifts that will please the readers in your family more than these book sets. Fantastic is an understatement when it comes to both of them.
I subscribe to several Substack newsletters offered by people who tell the truth, call out the misdeeds of those in power, inform us on the history of our country and its place in the world and encourage all of us to be engaged, all in a similar way..At the ballot box..They put in an inordinate amount of effort to inform, educate and inspire all of us to keep our critical thinking skills sharp and pointed in the right direction..
These four are the tip of the spear for me..
The Warning
America America
Letters From An American
Civil Discourse
There are more but these are the key sources that help shape my point of view..
As I responded to an offering by The Warning just the other day, I found myself considering a parallel path that I believe is inevitable..Here is that comment..
*******************************
“The question isn’t whether there is goodness all around us. There is.
The question is whether the American people will muster the strength to defend it. The hour is growing late”
~Steve Schmidt
When facing evil such that has manifested itself within our country, does there not come a time in the defense of the goodness it threatens, that an abhorrent action must be entered into to cripple and crush that evil? Is there not a time when we must allow our actions to speak louder than our words?
~Sam Urdank
********************************
The communities generated by these four authors trying to get the country to wake up and see what is happening I can’t begin to guess its number..
But what I do know is that there are too many times when I feel it is a choir preaching exercise..
Words matter, truth matters, however, as I have been told over and over again by various sources throughout my past and recent life, It is our actions that drive the events that shape us..“Actions speak louder than words” or “Watch what they do, not what they say..”
An act of war was perpetrated on our Capitol on January 6th 2021..we have yet to respond with the necessary actions to crush it’s perpetrators..I can not understand why that is..
I too started to read substacks quite a while ago and here I’ve learned more truth than I ever have or expect from the main stream media. I am appalled and frightened by their presentation of the evil, destructive, Republican candidate as just another swell guy running for office.
Gone are the days when I believe anything they publish as being unbiased.
I also believe way too many Americans are complacent and uninterested in facing the truth ahead of us and I have no confidence that Americans will sacrifice a single thing to save our democracy until it’s too late. In my experience people don’t want to hear it. It’s almost as if they’re expecting Mommy and Daddy will take care of it as they may have done so many times before.
There are big guns with very big money behind Trump who are pushing their Project 2025 take over whether Trump’s still around or not. It’s what we do not what we say and time’s running out.
I like your investigation into truth behind power. I too try. I ask myself this:
since we are taught that we are the most generous nation on earth, we believe it because we see evidence that it is true.. Yet, it is necessary to ask --Why does the USA donate huge sums to other nations?
I question the sincerely altruistic nature of public tax dollars send to other nations.
I hope I am wrong to even question it, because I love the way we help those in need..
The Marshall Plan was said to have been altruistic, but I have heard also that it was to create a market for US goods; to wit, we had to get them up again so they could be consumers.
I hate to ask this but is the purpose of giving away public funds simply so that it makes the congress feel good? Or is it as it appears--pure, unadulterated ,unselfish altruism?
Does that body feel that since gifts of cash and goods wont come out of their personal bank account or their salary, they can spend it it with no accounting of its effects?
I am GLAD THey DO! But, is it for ulterior motives? Is it tied up with having hegemonic powers in regions we wish to control for our own gains?
The whole notion of the GOODNESS of the Americans is based on two things;
1) its constitution as being Exceptional
2) on this dispensation of public funds to people in need.
I think our nation's GOODNESS must be questioned before we pat ourselves on the back.
Mr. Schmidt, if you are there, please tell me where to look for an answer.
Civil War: The Millennial Version will be Boneheads Jonesing to Use Their Guns vs People Who Would Rather Not. I can't even wrap my head around what that would look like. Not to mention, the military is comprised of a mixed bag these days.
On the final day of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, when our Constitution was adopted, Elizabeth Willing Powel asked Benjamin Franklin “Well what have we got a republic or a monarchy?” “A republic if you can keep it.”
Perhaps the American Revolution was “the most momentous revolution in world history“, but likely not from a Black American’s perspective.
The American Revolution brought freedom to white Americans, but certainly not to Black Americans.
Indeed, the Constitution that followed --- written by Founding Fathers who were largely slave owners --- only further entrenched American slavery by declaring that slaves were only 3/5ths of a person.
In fact, slaves were not seen or treated as human beings at all, but only as chattel to be owned, bought and sold.
For a book that does bring compelling attention to the perspectives of slaves and Black Americans, I recommend Honoree Jeffers’ wonderful novel, “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois”.
In my forties I read Killer Angels (fiction) but it got me hooked on reading about history. I then read The Captain and everything I could lay my hands on by Jon De Hartog (again fiction). My first non-fiction read was American Caesar and then I discovered David Halberstam. So I will definitely seek these titles out. When I saw Hamilton I thought one of the most impressive numbers was The World Turned Upside Down. I had never before thought about how much our Revolution had/would alter the entire world. I know that if I had not developed an interest in history I might not understand what is at stake today.
That you for the history lesson for today. I must admit to not ever being a history buff, but am certainly upping my knowledge through your wonderful essays. They are truly appreciated.
Thank you for your generosity of recommendations of these books, Mr. Schmidt. I will look into them. May I suggest another one of our greatest American writers? Basically he writes about the Wild West? His novels are fiction, but have the truth on every page. My appreciation of "The WILD WEST' here in the USA only began by reading the inimitable Louis L'Amour. I read all 46 of them. Then I read his histories as a seagoing man in the many unknown unchartered waters of the far east, such as Indonesia, and then he amazed me even further as I read his stories of siberia. He showed me many aspects of man, in dauntingly adverse circumstances.
I agree with Mr. Schmidt that that men and women are amazing in those circumstances. The refugees right now escaping the Gaza strip into Jordan and Egypyt, if they are lucky to survive and produce a great writer to tell their story,, they too will have equal tales to tell of surviving all odds just as the Americans boast of. We must be oh-so-careful not to have the hubris to think we are exceptional here with our struggles to survive, be it the settlers or soldiers we sent into battle... Also we must not shy from talking of cutting down the forests, covering the land with trillions of tons of asphalt all lined with ugly billboards with advertising , polluting the soil and river and lakes, and creating acid rain.
But Louis L'Amour was before all that happened. He actually made the land itself into the main charcacter through his deft, Homeresque like few words of characterizing the nature, and showed how the cowboys lived with and respected Indians, not just slaughter them. His heroes KNEW them intimatrely. His virgin West was a greater way to know the wild west than after civilization populated it and made it so boring by comparison.. I was thrilled with his skills as a writer, and he taught me much good about mankind as well as evil. I know about the settling of this unlawful land called the Wild West, and the romance of the story..
I try very hard not to be a fatalist but I’m have been overwhelmed with negative news , rhetoric, and the failure to make anyone important in the driving the negativity accountability.
What’s even more troubling is the failure to counter this trend. All great empires end from an erosion from within. You have to work hard to keep a democratic republic. Perhaps our time has come to an end.
Moral cowardice, the emphasis on appearance rather than competence, and a simple collapse of the foundations of our nation have brought us to this point.
Money, greed and lust for power has to be fought with equal and or greater fervor.
I first left the Warning after Steve decided to work for Phillips, but returned because I still enjoy reading his daily essays…..BUT, I am becoming increasingly alarmed by some of the rhetoric coming out of Philips……
Steve: you have identified the evil of the Maga movement, but propping up Phillips is a big mistake. Bashing of Kamala Harris can’t be a help to Biden, who most likely will be the Democratic candidate. Also…..sending special forces into Gaza to get Americans out….really, is that a good idea for a Presidential candidate? I don’t think so…
One of my bachelor's is in American history. People don't learn from history. Because Americanism has a lot to do with "forward" thinking, the past is usually relegated to the trash heap when it no longer serves a purpose for the future. It usually takes a couple of generations for history to become almost permanently relegated to a deep, collective unconsciousness/amnesia. Increasingly, norms of constructive behavior are also in flux. Humanity on a global level, continues its persistent march into the future. It makes you wonder how deep is that unconscious, how much past can be packed into that grey matter before there is finally an extinction of sorts, or some kind of evolutionary change?
Even though I grew up where Burmese military garrison was, I never experienced the war first hand until seeing it online in Ukraine. My experience of counting the Russian Kamaz trucks one night, a year or so before I left Burma while wondering where they were going or doing in the Shan State, helped me identify with the Ukrainians fighting back. Your extensive recommendation on the relevant books on war opened up a new chapter for me. There are pundits and Putinists deciphering Ukraine war all around. But you must listen to this man who is on the frontline checking the pulse daily. He said so long as there are Ukrainian forces willing and capable of defending themselves no one is offering to make a deal with Russia. https://youtu.be/XVb_8KFki_Y?si=W2bR9SAZJHpvY4fa
I also recommend "The End of the World is Just the Beginning" by Peter Zeihan.
He supports Seve's cynical cry of pending global catastrophe. But explains how Steve's politics are responsible... were never sustainable to begin with.
Globalism is a failed experiment.
It is post WWII where all the mistakes were made. The elites in the US deciding that the US would need to make the world safe and secure and then show it the way of the markets. The US would open up its giant consumer engine to everyone else, as long as those countries committed fealty to US democratic capitalism and adopted the same or similar model of US superiority.
It was never sustainable... the US propping up all these countries lacking the resources, wisdom, stability and capabilities to be self-sustaining. The US elites did it at the expense of their own people... exporting all the working class economic opportunity... importing other country's poverty. The US is falling apart... infrastructure crumbling, homelessness exploding, national debt soaring, consumer debt soaring. The mounting cost of endless wars and conflicts needed to "keep the peace". And all the US gets in return is resentment from the global community and its own people that it isn't providing more.
This situation is similar to the parent failing to develop his children into well-functioning self-sufficient adults by making life easier for them... by eliminating their struggles. The kids grow up with an easy life and resentful too.
What the hell is South Korea going to do when the US no longer provides protection and the economy contracts due to the massive global supply chain disruption resulting from more conflicts and wars?
We blew it thinking we could just export our successful stuff to everyone else. Not only did we cause these other countries to bypass their own development in self-sufficiency, we killed our own hard-earned industrial success.
Before the end of the century the new order globalism project that started in 1948 will end... and nationalism will again take center stage.
Sorry for the morning rant. I had to get it off my chest after a holiday of shared political rhetoric. The weathermen are forecasting a large destruction storm and the alarm sirens seem to be muted.
Too many are deaf and don’t hear a thing except What's in it for me first. The elf on the shelf is China from which I will not be distracted. Netanyahu and China are in it together. Make no mistake about it.
Dear Steve. Your prose is so impeccable, I thought you might have dozed a bit with "There are [is] a confluence." I understand that turkey contains a powerful chemical soporific. You ok?
I subscribe to several Substack newsletters offered by people who tell the truth, call out the misdeeds of those in power, inform us on the history of our country and its place in the world and encourage all of us to be engaged, all in a similar way..At the ballot box..They put in an inordinate amount of effort to inform, educate and inspire all of us to keep our critical thinking skills sharp and pointed in the right direction..
These four are the tip of the spear for me..
The Warning
America America
Letters From An American
Civil Discourse
There are more but these are the key sources that help shape my point of view..
As I responded to an offering by The Warning just the other day, I found myself considering a parallel path that I believe is inevitable..Here is that comment..
*******************************
“The question isn’t whether there is goodness all around us. There is.
The question is whether the American people will muster the strength to defend it. The hour is growing late”
~Steve Schmidt
When facing evil such that has manifested itself within our country, does there not come a time in the defense of the goodness it threatens, that an abhorrent action must be entered into to cripple and crush that evil? Is there not a time when we must allow our actions to speak louder than our words?
~Sam Urdank
********************************
The communities generated by these four authors trying to get the country to wake up and see what is happening I can’t begin to guess its number..
But what I do know is that there are too many times when I feel it is a choir preaching exercise..
Words matter, truth matters, however, as I have been told over and over again by various sources throughout my past and recent life, It is our actions that drive the events that shape us..“Actions speak louder than words” or “Watch what they do, not what they say..”
An act of war was perpetrated on our Capitol on January 6th 2021..we have yet to respond with the necessary actions to crush it’s perpetrators..I can not understand why that is..
I too started to read substacks quite a while ago and here I’ve learned more truth than I ever have or expect from the main stream media. I am appalled and frightened by their presentation of the evil, destructive, Republican candidate as just another swell guy running for office.
Gone are the days when I believe anything they publish as being unbiased.
I also believe way too many Americans are complacent and uninterested in facing the truth ahead of us and I have no confidence that Americans will sacrifice a single thing to save our democracy until it’s too late. In my experience people don’t want to hear it. It’s almost as if they’re expecting Mommy and Daddy will take care of it as they may have done so many times before.
There are big guns with very big money behind Trump who are pushing their Project 2025 take over whether Trump’s still around or not. It’s what we do not what we say and time’s running out.
Desperate times, desperate measures..
I like your investigation into truth behind power. I too try. I ask myself this:
since we are taught that we are the most generous nation on earth, we believe it because we see evidence that it is true.. Yet, it is necessary to ask --Why does the USA donate huge sums to other nations?
I question the sincerely altruistic nature of public tax dollars send to other nations.
I hope I am wrong to even question it, because I love the way we help those in need..
The Marshall Plan was said to have been altruistic, but I have heard also that it was to create a market for US goods; to wit, we had to get them up again so they could be consumers.
I hate to ask this but is the purpose of giving away public funds simply so that it makes the congress feel good? Or is it as it appears--pure, unadulterated ,unselfish altruism?
Does that body feel that since gifts of cash and goods wont come out of their personal bank account or their salary, they can spend it it with no accounting of its effects?
I am GLAD THey DO! But, is it for ulterior motives? Is it tied up with having hegemonic powers in regions we wish to control for our own gains?
The whole notion of the GOODNESS of the Americans is based on two things;
1) its constitution as being Exceptional
2) on this dispensation of public funds to people in need.
I think our nation's GOODNESS must be questioned before we pat ourselves on the back.
Mr. Schmidt, if you are there, please tell me where to look for an answer.
Civil War: The Millennial Version will be Boneheads Jonesing to Use Their Guns vs People Who Would Rather Not. I can't even wrap my head around what that would look like. Not to mention, the military is comprised of a mixed bag these days.
On the final day of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, when our Constitution was adopted, Elizabeth Willing Powel asked Benjamin Franklin “Well what have we got a republic or a monarchy?” “A republic if you can keep it.”
Perhaps the American Revolution was “the most momentous revolution in world history“, but likely not from a Black American’s perspective.
The American Revolution brought freedom to white Americans, but certainly not to Black Americans.
Indeed, the Constitution that followed --- written by Founding Fathers who were largely slave owners --- only further entrenched American slavery by declaring that slaves were only 3/5ths of a person.
In fact, slaves were not seen or treated as human beings at all, but only as chattel to be owned, bought and sold.
For a book that does bring compelling attention to the perspectives of slaves and Black Americans, I recommend Honoree Jeffers’ wonderful novel, “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois”.
The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story is excellent
Thanks Karen. Could you please let us know who is the author of this book?
Nicole Hannah-Jones is the author, came out several years ago. Very enlightening
I am reading it now. Wonderful book and very well researched . Thanks again.
You're welcome. I couldn't put it down.
“Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism” by Rachel Maddow
In my forties I read Killer Angels (fiction) but it got me hooked on reading about history. I then read The Captain and everything I could lay my hands on by Jon De Hartog (again fiction). My first non-fiction read was American Caesar and then I discovered David Halberstam. So I will definitely seek these titles out. When I saw Hamilton I thought one of the most impressive numbers was The World Turned Upside Down. I had never before thought about how much our Revolution had/would alter the entire world. I know that if I had not developed an interest in history I might not understand what is at stake today.
Thanks for the book recommendations
That you for the history lesson for today. I must admit to not ever being a history buff, but am certainly upping my knowledge through your wonderful essays. They are truly appreciated.
Thank you for your generosity of recommendations of these books, Mr. Schmidt. I will look into them. May I suggest another one of our greatest American writers? Basically he writes about the Wild West? His novels are fiction, but have the truth on every page. My appreciation of "The WILD WEST' here in the USA only began by reading the inimitable Louis L'Amour. I read all 46 of them. Then I read his histories as a seagoing man in the many unknown unchartered waters of the far east, such as Indonesia, and then he amazed me even further as I read his stories of siberia. He showed me many aspects of man, in dauntingly adverse circumstances.
I agree with Mr. Schmidt that that men and women are amazing in those circumstances. The refugees right now escaping the Gaza strip into Jordan and Egypyt, if they are lucky to survive and produce a great writer to tell their story,, they too will have equal tales to tell of surviving all odds just as the Americans boast of. We must be oh-so-careful not to have the hubris to think we are exceptional here with our struggles to survive, be it the settlers or soldiers we sent into battle... Also we must not shy from talking of cutting down the forests, covering the land with trillions of tons of asphalt all lined with ugly billboards with advertising , polluting the soil and river and lakes, and creating acid rain.
But Louis L'Amour was before all that happened. He actually made the land itself into the main charcacter through his deft, Homeresque like few words of characterizing the nature, and showed how the cowboys lived with and respected Indians, not just slaughter them. His heroes KNEW them intimatrely. His virgin West was a greater way to know the wild west than after civilization populated it and made it so boring by comparison.. I was thrilled with his skills as a writer, and he taught me much good about mankind as well as evil. I know about the settling of this unlawful land called the Wild West, and the romance of the story..
I try very hard not to be a fatalist but I’m have been overwhelmed with negative news , rhetoric, and the failure to make anyone important in the driving the negativity accountability.
What’s even more troubling is the failure to counter this trend. All great empires end from an erosion from within. You have to work hard to keep a democratic republic. Perhaps our time has come to an end.
Moral cowardice, the emphasis on appearance rather than competence, and a simple collapse of the foundations of our nation have brought us to this point.
Money, greed and lust for power has to be fought with equal and or greater fervor.
We can only hope... as in Pandora’s box
Both of the postings today (the second being the 1/31/23 post) were remarkably good; well done!
I first left the Warning after Steve decided to work for Phillips, but returned because I still enjoy reading his daily essays…..BUT, I am becoming increasingly alarmed by some of the rhetoric coming out of Philips……
Steve: you have identified the evil of the Maga movement, but propping up Phillips is a big mistake. Bashing of Kamala Harris can’t be a help to Biden, who most likely will be the Democratic candidate. Also…..sending special forces into Gaza to get Americans out….really, is that a good idea for a Presidential candidate? I don’t think so…
One of my bachelor's is in American history. People don't learn from history. Because Americanism has a lot to do with "forward" thinking, the past is usually relegated to the trash heap when it no longer serves a purpose for the future. It usually takes a couple of generations for history to become almost permanently relegated to a deep, collective unconsciousness/amnesia. Increasingly, norms of constructive behavior are also in flux. Humanity on a global level, continues its persistent march into the future. It makes you wonder how deep is that unconscious, how much past can be packed into that grey matter before there is finally an extinction of sorts, or some kind of evolutionary change?
Even though I grew up where Burmese military garrison was, I never experienced the war first hand until seeing it online in Ukraine. My experience of counting the Russian Kamaz trucks one night, a year or so before I left Burma while wondering where they were going or doing in the Shan State, helped me identify with the Ukrainians fighting back. Your extensive recommendation on the relevant books on war opened up a new chapter for me. There are pundits and Putinists deciphering Ukraine war all around. But you must listen to this man who is on the frontline checking the pulse daily. He said so long as there are Ukrainian forces willing and capable of defending themselves no one is offering to make a deal with Russia. https://youtu.be/XVb_8KFki_Y?si=W2bR9SAZJHpvY4fa
I also recommend "The End of the World is Just the Beginning" by Peter Zeihan.
He supports Seve's cynical cry of pending global catastrophe. But explains how Steve's politics are responsible... were never sustainable to begin with.
Globalism is a failed experiment.
It is post WWII where all the mistakes were made. The elites in the US deciding that the US would need to make the world safe and secure and then show it the way of the markets. The US would open up its giant consumer engine to everyone else, as long as those countries committed fealty to US democratic capitalism and adopted the same or similar model of US superiority.
It was never sustainable... the US propping up all these countries lacking the resources, wisdom, stability and capabilities to be self-sustaining. The US elites did it at the expense of their own people... exporting all the working class economic opportunity... importing other country's poverty. The US is falling apart... infrastructure crumbling, homelessness exploding, national debt soaring, consumer debt soaring. The mounting cost of endless wars and conflicts needed to "keep the peace". And all the US gets in return is resentment from the global community and its own people that it isn't providing more.
This situation is similar to the parent failing to develop his children into well-functioning self-sufficient adults by making life easier for them... by eliminating their struggles. The kids grow up with an easy life and resentful too.
What the hell is South Korea going to do when the US no longer provides protection and the economy contracts due to the massive global supply chain disruption resulting from more conflicts and wars?
We blew it thinking we could just export our successful stuff to everyone else. Not only did we cause these other countries to bypass their own development in self-sufficiency, we killed our own hard-earned industrial success.
Before the end of the century the new order globalism project that started in 1948 will end... and nationalism will again take center stage.
Sorry for the morning rant. I had to get it off my chest after a holiday of shared political rhetoric. The weathermen are forecasting a large destruction storm and the alarm sirens seem to be muted.
Too many are deaf and don’t hear a thing except What's in it for me first. The elf on the shelf is China from which I will not be distracted. Netanyahu and China are in it together. Make no mistake about it.
Dear Steve. Your prose is so impeccable, I thought you might have dozed a bit with "There are [is] a confluence." I understand that turkey contains a powerful chemical soporific. You ok?
Robert,
I can’t blame it on the turkey since that essay was written in January! I’ve made the edit. Thanks for pointing it out.
Steve
Whatta guy!
Great idea for gift giving this year, Steve. Thanks a million!