Category: Book reviews

The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind and Changed the History of Free Speech, by Thomas Healy

This book was good.

Do I enjoy reading about Constitutional Law? No. But this law book is very readable. Complex arguments are explained clearly by the author, and details of the lives of those involved make the story very interesting. You have the highly conservative Supreme Court Justice from New England who, through study and correspondence with more liberal and progressive friends, comes to see that “he was ignorant” in early cases involving free speech.

The late teens and early twenties was a time of real turmoil, with its own “Red scare” because of the Bolchevik Revolution, riots and strikes over labor issues, and protests about the U.S. involvement in WWI. There were several cases brought before the Supreme Court where the Justices had to decide under which conditions the First Amendment would apply. They wrestle with themes such as intent, war-time vs. peace- time speech, and the value of a “free market” of ideas.

You know that Oliver Wendell Holmes changes his mind from the title page, but it is the study of his correspondence, friendships, and the literature choices that influenced his opinion that makes this a fascinating read.

Summer is my fallow season for writing. Since I’m not doing well connecting sentences, the next few days I have decided to share lists of my favorite things, beginning with books. About 10 years ago I discovered that I enjoy reading history. Here are 5 of my favorite works of history/biography. Do you have some favorites not listed here?

• Truman by David McCullough (It’s so thorough. It was great.)
• John Adams by David McCullough (I have read this a couple of times I liked it so much. I like all of the letters to and from Abigail. It was a good study about Jefferson, too.)
• Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K Massie (Fascinating! I have an affinity for Russian history and this was my favorite so far.)
• The Forgotten Man by Amity Schlaes (Conservative author; scathing review of the failed policies and philosophies of Roosevelt and his cabinet during the Depression)
• A Day in Old Rome by William Stearns Davis (This made me want to visit Rome. Perhaps any book on Rome would have done it, though.)

In my recent foray into the world of child psychology literature I am now up to date with the worn out lingo of the five love languages. I’m probably the last person on the planet to read about these. Do you know your “love language”? What do you register as the greatest acts of love? Are they service, words of affirmation, physical touch, quality time, or gifts?  I have learned that my primary love language is words of affirmation. I guess that’s why I don’t allow comments on this blog. A snarky line in a comment would send me reeling for a decade. This also explains my hoarding of every kind email, text, and note anyone has ever sent me.

Here’s something that you can do for me that will appeal to my need for words of affirmation without you needing to come up with a heartfelt comment. Perhaps you can give me a book recommendation. I’ve had a dry year in reading. If you want to see what I read, I have a list of the books I have read the last few years in my sidebar.

And remember, if you share a book title, you will really be saying, “Angie, you are so weird, but I like you anyway.”

I’m shaking. What if no one gives me a book title? I’ll just have to continue slogging through C.S. Lewis. Help!

Do you feel manipulated?

Sorry.

I loved the concept of this book. It’s a collection of stories about the women of the Revolutionary War era. I liked reading about women from the southern colonies, not just Abigail Adams. However, the slim amount of material written by women in this era, along with some annoying habits of the author left me a little disappointed.

It’s not the author’s fault that there isn’t much primary source material from the period. Many women didn’t have the luxury of education or time to write. Also, many women burned their letters. It was the ladylike thing to do. I blame Martha Washington for the world’s lack of understanding of George Washington because she burned much of his correspondence.

Since there is no way to really know what the women thought or felt, Roberts compensates by inserting her own feelings into the situation. Roberts repeats the phrase,  “she must have…” again and again, inserting a modern feminist tension where there may not have been any.

Cokie’s shortsighted feminism is a major weakness in the book. Childbearing is depicted primarily as a burden. She celebrates these women for all that they did without their husbands, but she can’t seem to cheer for their husbands at the same time.

She finds every opportunity to list faults in Washington, Adams, and Franklin. She had a hangup about George Washington writing about beautiful ladies. She especially seems to dislike Franklin because he left his wife to run the business while he had fun in Europe. It seems pretty clear that Franklin’s wife wished to be home. History is rarely as simple as, “He was a jerk. She was a martyr. We should rewrite the history books.” Roberts doesn’t make a serious effort to explore other motives or possibilities.

Not far into the book I realized that author doesn’t trust the few primary sources that she quotes to speak for themselves. This author’s thoughts are really intrusive. Abigail, in 18th century prose, is suddenly interrupted by Cokie’s, “No kidding!” (How annoying.)

John Adams by David McCullough gives a more complete picture of several women of the day because he allows historical characters to speak for themselves. His research is amazing. I recommend that you read this instead of Founding Mothers.

This is a “classic in Mormon literature,” and I decided that it was time to read the whole thing. Anyone who has attended institute or seminary has heard parts of Parley’s autobiography, especially his description of Joseph Smith.

It’s a good read, especially if you know Joseph Smith’s history because Parley weaves in and out of Joseph’s sphere and gives a remarkable view of what was going on in the Church elsewhere. For instance, I didn’t know (or had forgotten) that while Joseph, Hyrum, and others were in Liberty Jail, Parley P. Pratt, W.W. Phelps, and King Follett were imprisoned in a different town.

It was touching to read a vision he had of his deceased wife, sent to comfort him in prison. I turned down the page to remember that part. Parley’s account of his escape was a lot of fun to read. I think he enjoyed writing it.

He gives a broader view of where Church members lived. Not everyone followed the saints to Ohio, Nauvoo, and Salt Lake City. Members lived throughout the eastern states and missionaries were continually sent back to strengthen these branches.

Parley’s autobiography is a big travel log. From England to San Francisco, Canada to Chile, he really got around, without purse or scrip. He was often sick, nearly froze to death, nearly died of thirst, and endured many ocean voyages and treks across the west. One of his principal duties, wherever he lived, was to write for the Church.

I liked that he included some of his sermons from his mission to Canada, which resulted in the baptism of Lorenzo Snow & Joseph Fielding. These were my favorite doctrinal chapters.

His autobiography is nearly silent about his 12 wives. Now and then he mentions a different one by name. Nowhere does he share the names of all of them. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Perhaps, given the opposition to polygamy, he doesn’t mention their names in order to protect them. He died at the hands of the estranged husband of his twelfth wife.

His posterity is enormous, and you may be interested to know that Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are both descendants (great-great and great-great-great grandsons) of Parley P. Pratt.