Finished Reading the Man, where Elizabeth Pryor Brown lowers my opinion of Lee even farther than it had already gone. She says she didn't set out to write a biography, but it's really a series of biographical essays derived from Lee's private letters. Quite how she comes out the end fond of the guy, I've got no idea. But I have an irrational fondness for Alexander Stephens, who is most famous for a loathsome speech, so I can't complain too much.

Started up Michael Morrison's Slavery and the American West: The Eclipse of Manifest Destiny. It's fine, if a bit dense, but I feel like he's working way too hard to emphasize that people in both sections had reasonable positions from their perspectives and plausible interpretations of American history. The book's nineteen years old this year, so maybe it's just that the field's moved on. I'm less persuaded by the contrast between liberty and equality that he's using as a theme to explain things. He takes the Enlightenment-era line that they're inherently in conflict, but that strikes me as extremely context-dependent. Freedom from arbitrary restriction is usually called liberty, but if you're of a minority in dire straights straits then equality is the condition to which you aspire to to enjoy liberty. I get that Morrison's speaking in a very white male political context, but so far I don't feel like he's acknowledged that quite enough.

Haven't started reading it yet (probably next) but my copy of Paul Finkelman's Slavery and the Founders came in today and gave me a used book adventure. Came in one of those prefab mailing envelopes with glue all over the insides, which concerned me because paperback vs. glue usually ends badly for the paperback. I tear that open and inside is a second layer of wrapping. I open a corner of that and find out it's a Cinnamon Toast Crunch box inverted. Ok, that's funny. I open that and...another layer. This is wrapping paper, non-seasonal. Attached is a personalized note from the seller that was mostly a request that I give them store feedback but also had a line about the book's subject. Now I'm thoroughly charmed.

I tear that open and there's my book. Condition is good. There's a torn page, but it's the title page and it's not major. Nothing to worry about. That paperback cover, however, is sticky. I don't know why, how, or what, but it's sticky. It only smells like a fifteen year-old paperback. It's not sticky like glue exactly, but it's enough that you really notice while holding the thing.

Recently found out my (father's side) grandparents didn't move to the United States until 1948, I always thought they left before the war.

All my family knows is that my grandparents and uncle were from Drobrymil. My Aunt was born in Germany. I also have a copy of the passenger manifest with them on it. They sailed on the Marine Tiger from Bremen to New York on December 17th 1947. Their destination was Harvey, Illinois and my father was born in 1958.

I'm very curious about their experience before coming to America. Unfortunately, my grandfather passed when I was 1 and my grandmother passed in 2010. My uncle committed suicide when my dad was 18. My father passed away last year. They were all very reserved and didn't talk much. I remember my aunt and father not having a close relationship and she was never in contact unless someone died. I'm sure I could contact her.

Curious if there's a way to get more information or records. If this isn't the right place to post or there's a different sub, please let me know.

After finishing Death of Woman Wang by Jonathan Spence all I could think was "why have I waited so long to read this"? It has grown to be a standard in undergraduate survey courses on Chinese social history and is probably accessible for high schoolers as well because it is just so well written. But that doesn't make it any less appreciable to more advanced readers, because it is social history done very, very well, leaving me with a real sense of the lives of the people of seventeenth century China.

Recently finished two very different books, and finally have time to give a short review of them:

• The Polish Revolution: Solidarity by Timothy Garton Ash (1983; Third Edition, 2002). This covers the rise of the Solidarity movement in Poland from 1980 to the institution of Martial Law in December 1981; Ash was working as a journalist in Poland during most of the time and wrote an account of its rise and (apparent) fall. Trained as a historian (and indeed has worked in that field), he wrote the book as a sort of live history. It's nice that he gets to talk to the figures as things occurred (though only the Solidarity side; he didn't get to talk with government figures), and his conclusions from 1983 are not that far off. The updated version does include a short recap of what happened in 1989, and the real fall of Solidarity throughout the 1990s, which is nice, but not in the same scope of thoroughness as the original events. He is also highly critical of Lech Walesa, the de facto leader of Solidarity, which was interesting considering the reverence he has in the West. While not exactly a history per se, it is almost historic in itself in that Garton Ash serves as a kind of primary source for the 1980-81 events.

• The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1944-1945 by Ian Kershaw (2012). Kershaw's last book on Nazi Germany set out to answer one question: why did Nazi Germany continue the Second World War when it was apparent they had lost? The short answer, which Kershaw stresses is not the only answer, is fear. Fear of the system created by Hitler, in that no one was able to counteract any of his directives, for they may lose their positions, or their lives, over it. The chapters are divided thematically, looking at the Western and Eastern fronts (though not from a primarily military standpoint, though that naturally comes up), the homefront, and the last actions of a post-Hitler Nazi Germany, to list a few. As Kershaw notes, he wanted to write this book because he couldn't think of any other that adequately covers this period, and he does a superb job of showing why Nazi Germany was one of the few warring states to continue fighting even after it was apparent they had lost the war.

I've been reading J.L. Bell's The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War (Bell runs my favorite Revolutionary War era blog Boston 1775.)

There's been a great deal written about the lead up to the start of the fighting, but Bell manages to shed some light on a little talked about aspect of that build up.

In the fall of 1774 and early spring of 1775 there was a cat & mouse game going on between British regulars and Massachusetts Whigs over the ownership and control of the Province's cannon. Four of these cannon were new brass cannon that were stolen from literally under the noses of the British guarding them and then smuggled out to Concord, where they became (along with the many other cannon in town) a target for British forces.

While I think that Bell overstates the importance of these particular cannon, the information about the gathering of cannon going on in Massachusetts is interesting and useful and most of it I've never seen before

Comparing translations of H. P. Lovecraft's letters in French and Italian for a potential project. All of the ones I've come across so far are translations of letters already published in English sources (no real surprise), and most of those from the Selected Letters, so they sometimes share some of the peculiarities of the Arkham House Transcripts and editing.

I've been reading Christendom Destroyed by Mark Greengrass. It discusses the Protestant Reformation and its contemporary Europe in great detail. None of it is particularly groundbreaking or radical as far as I can see, but that's exactly why I'm interested in your views on the book or its author. I've been kinda taking it at face value so far (speaking as a hobbyist and student, but still an amateur) so it'd be good to know if there's something to be aware of.

The other day (liberally used), there was a thread that brought up the concept of mental illness changing throughout history. The idea that struck me was what we currently consider anorexia was more closely tied with religiousness during the Middle Ages and the symptoms presented themselves differently. Are there some good historical books on the subject, or would looking in a psychology genre be more appropriate?

Has anyone read Indian Conquistadors: Indigenous Allies in the Conquest of Mesoamerica by Laura E. Matthew and Michel R. Oudijk? I came across it and it sounded interesting.