history

Book Review: America’s Founding Myths

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America's Founding Myths...And What REALLY Happened by Christy Mihaly

America’s Founding Myths…And What REALLY Happened
by Christy Mihaly (Goodreads Author), Marta Sevilla (Illustrator)

This book examines myths that some people believe about American history and tries to set the record straight. Unfortunately, it fails miserably.

The topics include the New World being discovered by Christopher Columbus, Pocahontas and John Smith, the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, Paul Revere’s ride, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and women and Native Americans and Black Americans fighting in the Revolutionary War.

This book has so many problems. The text is clearly trying to undermine American history and deconstruct American heritage. The author uses half-truths to reframe history and misrepresent what happened.

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Book Review: Looking for the King

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Looking for the King by David C. Downing

Looking for the King (Inklings, #1)
by David C. Downing (Goodreads Author)

4.5 out of 5 stars
Tom McCord is an American visiting Oxford just before the outbreak of World War II. He is searching for evidence of a real historical King Arthur, and writing a guidebook to all the Arthurian sites in England and Wales. He meets Laura, who has been having mysterious dreams that seem to point to the legend of the Spear of Destiny, which pierced the side of Christ on the cross.
As they search for King Arthur, they also begin looking for clues that the Spear could be hidden somewhere in England. Unfortunately, someone else is looking for the Spear with evil intentions, and mysterious figures harass and spy on Tom and Laura at every turn.
A lecture from Charles Williams convinces Laura that her dreams are true visions of the past. Tom and Laura enlist J.R.R. Tolkien to help them uncover the secrets of the Spear. Tom talks with C.S. Lewis about the spiritual context behind the history, and finds that his search for antiquity is really a journey within his own soul.

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Book Review: With Wolfe in Canada

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With Wolfe in Canada by G.A. Henty

With Wolfe in Canada
by G.A. Henty

4 out of 5 stars

James becomes involved with the squire’s estate when he saves a little girl, Aggie, from drowning in the ocean. The child is placed with his mother’s school for girls, and they become childhood playmates. James comes to Aggie’s defense when the squire’s nephew, Richard Horton, breaks her toy boat and pushes her down, and the squire hears about the fight between the two boys. Years later, James and Richard meet again when James is pressed on board a ship going to America. James joins the militia as a volunteer until his commission in the royal army can come through from England, and he fights in the French and Indian War, joining officers like Colonel Washington, Colonel Monro at Fort William Henry, and the famous General Wolfe who led the American troops into Canada.

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Book Review: From Aristotle to Christ

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From Aristotle to Christ by Louis Markos

From Aristotle to Christ: How Aristotelian Thought Clarified the Christian Faith
by Louis Markos

5 out of 5 stars

Aristotle, like his teacher Plato, had a particular way of asking questions about the world and organizing information in the way that seemed most logical to him with the information he had available. Even without the direct revelation of the Bible, Aristotle intuited some universal truths that have helped Christians to examine their faith more closely and find deeper truths in the Bible than Aristotle ever dreamed of.

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Book Review: America As It Happened

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America As It Happened by What on Earth!

America As It Happened: A moment-by-moment journey through time, from prehistory to the present day
by What on Earth!, The Washington Post

1 out of 5 stars

This book can only loosely be described as “history” since it is filled with some of the worst propaganda that I have ever read. I don’t know how they think they can get away with outright lies about well-known historic events when any child could just look up the facts for themselves and know that this book is full of untruths. But most people probably won’t bother to look up the facts, and so the writers seem to get away with it.

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Book Review: Outlaws of Ravenhurst

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Outlaws of Ravenhurst by M. Imelda Wallace

Outlaws of Ravenhurst
by Sister M. Imelda Wallace

Ten-year-old George has grown up with a poor farmer’s family in the colony of Maryland, but he discovers that he is actually a Scottish lord and his uncle takes him back to Scotland to be the chief of the Gordon clan. The Gordon clan are traditionally Catholic, but Catholicism has been outlawed in Scotland, and the young chief must now decide if he will risk his life for his faith.

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Book Review: From Achilles to Christ

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From Achilles to Christ by Louis A. Markos

From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics
by Louis A. Markos

5 out of 5 stars

Christians can look back on the pagan classics from Homer and Virgil and see the universal human longing for a Savior. As Achilles and Odysseus struggle through their heroic adventures, the Christian can draw parallels to Christ’s own heroic deeds, finding the completion of every myth in the person of Christ. In the Bible, God often uses pagan kings to reveal His truth and further His kingdom. The truth of Christ can be found reflected in all of creation and especially in the greatest creative literature of the ancient world.
The author says that “…the great, overarching symbols of literature can function as they do only because history and the universe are inherently meaningful and moving toward a purposeful end.”pg. 133
The pre-Christian myths of the Greeks and Romans include the same symbols and themes that are present in the Bible, and which find their final fruition in Christ.

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Book Review: The Bookshop Book

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The Bookshop by Evan Friss

The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore
by Evan Friss (Goodreads Author)

3 out of 5 stars

Throughout American history, the books we read have shaped our culture, politics, and collective imagination. This book gives a broad overview of the history of bookstores in the USA, as well as anecdotes and close looks at the rise and fall of different types of bookstores. We meet the individual booksellers, and learn what inspired them to start their book business. We get a snapshot of the interior of a bookshop and the general mood and ambience of the place. We learn what purpose each bookstore has, whether focused on revenue, politics, personal expression, or community values. And we follow the dramatic stories of bookstores struggling to stay afloat, fighting against bureaucracy and unfair laws, and serving as meeting places for people of many varied creeds. Every bookstore has a place in history and maybe… in our hearts.

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Book Review: Dickens’ Fur Coat and Charlotte’s Unanswered Letters

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Dickens' Fur Coat and Charlotte's Unanswered Letters by Daniel Pool

Dickens’ Fur Coat and Charlotte’s Unanswered Letters: The Rows and Romances of England’s Great Victorian Novelists
by Daniel Pool

3 out of 5 stars

I liked reading about how the Victorian novel rose to prominence and the different literary trends that came and went during the Victorian era. It was interesting to learn more about some of my favorite authors.
However, the book just drags on and on with really dry writing that made it hard to concentrate, and the sentences are so convoluted and long that it was difficult to follow sometimes.

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Non Fiction Review: Transported

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Transported by Matt Ralphs

Transported: 50 Vehicles That Changed the World
by Matt Ralphs, Rui Ricardo (Illustrations)

4 out of 5 stars

This book gives information about 50 amazing vehicles, including boats, cars, planes, motorcycles, chariots, wagons, rockets, and bicycles. It’s really amazing to see how history has changed over the centuries and especially in the last one hundred years just because of mankind’s ability to travel.

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