January 2020 Journal (Patreon)

First of these for the new year. Sadly a $1 post again.

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (James M. McPherson) - A masterpiece. There's stuff on every page of this book that I never knew about. Every school in the United States should assign this to their students. A necessary and corrective masterpiece.

The Turn of the Screw (Henry James) - Didn't make my way into this one. Maybe James doesn't lend himself well to skimming (few 19th century English authors do), but this one went over my head. More on me than it.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb (Richard Rhodes) - As readable as Battle Cry of Freedom. It cuts through the Great Men of History Doing Great Wars veneer to talk about the science and philosophy that led to the invention of the 20th century's worst scientific invention (barring the hydrogen bomb). Excellent.