The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West

The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West by David McCullough

Much of the pioneers focuses on the early inhabitants of Marietta, Ohio. This was the first permanent settlement in the Northwest Territories. The people there were idealistic and hard working. They did not want to allow slaves in the area. This is compared to other areas south of the river that tended to be less desirable. The people founded a university nearby, and gave the town a name of Ohio. They had preferences for different areas. The book attempts to paint a wide picture by using a very narow focus.

The Wright Brothers

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

This book is the story of the Wright Brothers' lives, though the focus was on aviation. I found it interesting that they talked a good amount about their sister. She wasn't directly involved with aviation, but was glue that held the family together. The brothers used experience from their bike business to plan aviation - with banking turns and other ideas that were innovative. There were others that were involved and helped inspire innovation in aviation, however, the Wrights innovations seemed to be the ones that really got things going. They also worked hard to move things along and defend their patents. (They also tended to be secretive, limiting photographs from others.) Aviation was dangerous in the early days. Early flights were less than a 10th the speed of modern jets and did not get high off the ground, but were plenty dangerous. Some died trying to fly. Even the brothers had some scary flights, with Orville crashing while carrying a passenger - the passenger died, and Orville took a while to recover. The book breezes through the end of their lives, stopping only to point out a bit of family drama.

John Adams

John Adams was the second president of United States. He also played a key role in the American revolution. His son would eventually become president. Yet, his accomplishments have been largely forgotten. Washington and Jefferson (the first and third presidents) both have memorials in Washington, D.C. Even Madison (#4) has a building. Adams does not.

He was more of an intellectual president than the others. He prized honesty and being true to his principles above political expediency. Sometimes, this would get him in trouble. He spent a long time arguing about titles, and is known for signing the "Alien and Sedition" act as part of the quasi-war with France. His behind-the-scenes accomplishments do not tend to get as much attention. He helped for the measured advocacy of the American revolution. He was for equality of opportunity for all men and did not own slaves. He served as a representative with France and the Netherlands helping to gain international support for the nascent state. He would later broker a peace with France (that helped enable to Louisiana Purchase.)

Adams left behind a huge volume of personal correspondence. He wrote regularly to his wife and to many friends. He sought to repair his relationship with Jefferson and they ended life on good terms (with both dying on the Fourth of July.) 

The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914

The French were feeling invincible after completing the Suez Canal. They thought they could complete the same success in Panama. Little did they know that the jungle is very different from the desert. The leader of the effort was strongly opinionated and forced the matter of a Panama canal regardless of the potential merits of Nicaragua. There was a strong desire by the general public to invest in the canal and the initial team probably sold themselves short in paying to drum up business and not taking in enough capital.

The French effort eventually failed. Yellow Fever and Malaria killed off many workers. (Mosquitos were not fully understood to be the carriers.) The terrain was much more difficult than anticipated. Progress was slow. The shenanigans to get funding also came back to light. The effort eventually went belly up.

The United States had initially been strongly in favor of a Nicaragua. After the French fiasco, there was little desire to restart work on a canal. Teddy Roosevelt changed that. This time Panama actually won on merit.  However, there was a (false) sense that Columbia was trying to extort the US. There had been a fomenting Panama secession movement. The US felt no problem supporting this (even as they and Columbia were allies.) The United States ended up with a fairly one-sided treaty with Panama. Columbia lost valuable territory. And Panama had its independence and a nice source of income.

The US picked up the French assets and resumed canal construction. Effort were made to eradicate disease carrying mosquitoes in order to preserve the health of workers. Workers, black and white were brought in from all over, with the type of jobs restricted. Health care was excellent for the times, though black workers died at a much higher rate than white ones. 

Construction included lots of digging. Locks were essentially horizontal skyscrapers. The Chagres River was dammed to create artificial lakes. It rains a lot in Panama and the ground was not always the most stable. Eventually the canal was finished and opened to traffic. The United States kept ownership of the canal zone for decades before finally transferring it Panama. 

1776

As 1776 began, most Americans considered themselves loyal British subjects. They had some grievances that they wanted addressed, but few saw independence as an outcome. By the end of the year, they had declared their independence and were engaged in a war with the mother country. George Washington was a rich southern landowner that others rallied behind. Initially, he had little respect for New Englanders. However, after fighting alongside them, they both gained mutual respect. Not everybody was on board with the revolution. Their were spies among the colonists. There were also people that were on the fences, eager to shift their loyalty to the winning side. Few at the time could have predicted what the future would hold.

The Johnstown Flood

McCullough's The Johnstown Flood is written as a disaster novel. After giving a brief background of the history of the city and dam, it quickly moves to the actual dam breach and flood. The narrative relies heavily on the adventurous narratives of the survivors. Some people survived by riding a roof like a surf board, while others just happened to be in a location that the flood avoided.

The last third of the book covers the aftermath of the flood, along with the eventual lives of some of the participants.

The South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club is given some of the blame for the flood. This millionaire's club had taken position of the dam and lake. They had made "improvements" to the dam, but without expert engineering experience. They also had fish gates shut to preserve fish (but also contribute to flooding.) Everyone in the city, however, assumed that experts were managing it, and there was nothing to worry about. The final trigger for the flood, however, was the torrential rainpoor that occurred easily breached the dam to create the huge flood.

I would have liked to see further analysis of the causes. The author seems to merely tack it on to what is otherwise a human-interest adventure story.

And some more books (Nickel and Dimed, The Great Bridge, Lord of the Flies, Crucial Conversations)

Barbara Ehrenreich - Nickel and Dimed: (2001) A well-off, highly educated writer attempts to 'live with the lower classes' to see how things really are. However, her effort comes across as somewhat half-hearted. Her insights seem to show more of the middle-class snobbery than anything else. While attempting to live the life of a lower-class service worker she looks down at the "wealthy" people she is working for, while also looking down at the "poor" people she is working with. One interesting is the disparity in drug policy. In her 'upper middle class' life, her Marijuana usage is no big deal, and doesn't impact her ability to work. However, in her 'lower class' life, the fear of marijuana detection cause her to turn down 'good' jobs.

David McCullough - The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge (1972) : I listened to an abridged audiobook that, rather unfortunately, turned this book in to a biography of the Roeblings. The audiobook was 'nice enough' to provide brief summaries of the missing chapters, so I knew I was missing what sounded like good discussion of the actual building of the bridge.

Golding - Lord of the Flies (1954): When boys are alone, things start out alright, but then gradually drift in to savagery. Would somebody be tried for murder when they returned to civilization? Or would there be a big civil law suit? There would probably be plenty of rationale for just acting out in the harsh conditions. However, how would you rationalize other people not being "as bad"? What would have happened if they were not "rescued" at just the right time?

Patterson, et. al. - Crucial Conversations (2001): Turn brain on at the precise moments when brain wants to go off to "fight". Remember the big goals, not short term "win" in a conversation.

(More details of these below at updated post due to tag limit)

Russell Shorto - Descartes' Bones: The odd history of Descartes' bones show some of the prejudices of the "religion" of rational thought. This is filled with irony. Descartes was religious, yet is treated as the father of a (primarily atheist) rationalism. His bones become a "relic" for those against the church. He sought to find the means to overcome death, yet died in middle age. This book contains plenty of interesting tidbits on the philosopher and his followers and philosophy. However, the main point is the trail of his bones and how they relate to societal sentiments.

Stephen Mitchell - Gilgamesh, a new English version: This is really graphic. It does have similarities to the "Joseph" and "Noah" stories from the Bible. Are they both referring to the same previous event?

Barbara Kingsolver - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: local eating. Properly raised domestic animals do have a place in the food chain. (They can convert non-human-edible plants in to human food. They have also been adapted to live with humans, and wouldn't do very well in the wild.) This provides a very balanced approach to environmentally sustainable food habits, with an emphasis on local and organic to decrease energy consumption, and even eat with a lower cost. The narrative provides an example of "mostly" local eating for a year. It does require hard work in the yard. However, good food plus hard work is exactly what the doctor ordered...

Thomas Aquinas: Interesting rational religious philosophy