Books

A NY Classic: Drums Along the Mohawk

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After its first publication in 1936, Walter D. Edmonds’ classic historical novel Drums Along the Mohawk battled Gone With the Wind as the most popular historical novel of the ensuing years, and became a feature film in 1939 directed by John Ford, and starring Claudette Colbert and Henry Fonda.

A New York Times review by Frank Nugent celebrated the film. &#8220It is romantic enough for any adventure-story lover,&#8221 Nugent wrote. &#8220It has its humor, its sentiment, its full complement of blood and thunder. About the only [John] Ford staple we miss is a fog scene. Rain, gun smoke and stockade burnings have had to compensate. The fusion of them all has made a first-rate historical film, as rich atmospherically as it is in action.&#8221 Those laudatory comments still suit the original novel just as well, but for those with an interest in the history of the Mohawk Valley, there’s more than just a good story.

Edmonds was born in 1903 in Boonville (Oneida County) and died in 1998. Edmonds was troubled by the presentation of the history of the American Revolution and used local primary sources to create life on the Revolution’s frontier. &#8220Edmonds turned to &#8216-Working with the sources’,&#8221 Frank Bergman wrote when Syracuse University Press took over publication of the novel in 1997. &#8220His knowledge of the facts enabled Edmonds to dye his narrative in the wool- his history is color-fast and guaranteed not to fade&#8230- His goal was not to establish &#8216-how it actually was,’ but to allow his readers to experience the past as if it were the present.&#8221

&#8220To those readers who may have felt some curiosity about the actual occurrences in the Mohawk Valley during the Revolution,&#8221 Edmonds wrote in the book’s &#8220Author’s Note&#8221, I should like to say here that I have been as faithful to the scene and time and place as study and affection could help me to be.&#8221 Edmond’s sources were varied, but he himself points to the importance of the Minute Book of the Committee of Safety of Tryon County &#8220to understand what valley life was really like&#8221.

This summer readers will have a taste of that life at an outdoor drama based on Drums Along the Mohawk that coincides with the British Brigade and Continental Line’s national Revolutionary War encampment at Gelston Castle Estate in Mohawk, NY. About 1,000 reenactors are expected to take part in honor of the 235th anniversary of the Battle of Oriskany.

Note: Books noticed on this site have been provided by the publishers. Purchases made through this Amazon link help support this site.

Modern New York: Recent NYC Economic History

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The economic history of New York is filled with high-stakes drama. In Modern New York: The Life and Economics of a City (2012, Palgrave Macmillan), journalist, economist and political commentator Greg David (who edited the regional Crain’s New York Business for more than 20 years and is now director of the business and economics reporting program at the Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY), tells the story of the city’s financial highs and lows since the 1960s.

David fairly conservative approach looks at how Wall Street came to dominate the economy in the years following a decade of economic decline. He argues that New York City’s great recession is not happening now, and it didn’t happen after 9-11. &#8220The Great Recession That Wasn’t&#8221, is David’s term for the current American economic disaster.

&#8220By comparison, the city’s great recession had occurred between 1969 and 1977, when a stock market crash devastated Wall Street and the city’s manufacturing sector collapsed and it’s competitiveness waned as the city hiked its tax burden,&#8221 David writes. &#8220Some 650,000 jobs disappeared over those years, and the population fell by almost 1 million people, two little-discussed factors that were as important as budget chicanery in created the Fiscal Crisis that almost sent the city into bankruptcy.&#8221

This understanding of New York’s post-war period rests in part on the neo-liberal interpretation of New York City’s recent history. It goes something like this: the anti-business policies (regulation, and higher taxes) of liberal machine politicians like John Lindsay (Mayor from 1966 to 1973) and Abe Beame (Mayor from 1974 to 1977) led to the loss of manufacturing and then the flight of New Yorkers from a desperate, crime-ridden and &#8220grimy&#8221 Gotham. Only the pro-development policies of Ed Koch and the great victory of Rudolph Giuliani, reformist street cleaner and crime fighter, kept New York City from becoming another Detroit.

That’s more or less the story told here in chapters like &#8220Structural Not Cyclical&#8221, and &#8220Making New York Safe For Commerce&#8221. David chastises leaders for failing to recognize long term manufacturing declines, and points to unions, burdensome taxes, and restrictive zoning as the major culprit. Perhaps due to the author’s limiting regional scope and focus on the perspective of the business community, significant American trends such as baby-boom suburbanization, container shipped goods from low wage workers in Asia and elsewhere, and media-based perceptions about crime and quality of life issues are set on the back burner.

For example, a wider perspective in Modern New York would include worker struggles to retain the wages and benefits that made living in the city attractive. New York City’s economic decline coincided directly with unprecedented attacks on the city’s workers. Witness, for example, the 1966 transit strike during which Lindsey refused to negotiate and mocked workers to the press. Or the seven-month teacher strike in 1968 that was the result of the firing of teachers opposed to Lindsey’s contract negotiation plan to divide their union. These strikes were followed by actions on Broadway, and the sanitation strike in the fall of 1968. In 1971 the city’s AFSCME workforce walked off the job. One might argue that workers simply had no interest in living in the city’s difficult employment environment. Whatever the cause of the city’s working class losses, Modern New York could have offered a deeper, more multidimensional understanding of the city’s recent economic history.

In David’s interpretation, after 9-11 the finance industry and tourism stepped in to help save the day, at least temporarily. In a chapter entitled &#8220Three Sectors To The Rescue&#8221, the author suggests that film and television production, higher education, and the technology sectors are the future of New York, leaving the contrary reader to wonder how the city can survive without its working class.

Note: Books noticed on this site have been provided by the publishers. Purchases made through this Amazon link help support this site.

Adirondack Local History: Echoes in these Mountains

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Glenn L. Pearsall’s Echoes in these Mountains, is subtitled &#8220Historic Sites and Stories Disappearing in Johnsburg, an Adirondack Community,&#8221 but thanks to Pearsall, a tireless advocate for local history, those historic sites and stories are being remembered.

The geography of Johnsburg, the largest township in New York State, is central to Echoes in these Mountains. The book is arranged in chapters highlighting various historic sites, all with handy maps to help locate them on the landscape. That approach &#8211 locating historical stories around town on the landscape &#8211 is part of what drives Pearsall’s personal exploration of his town’s history, and what led to the answer to an interesting historical question.

In 2006, as Pearsall began writing Echoes in these Mountains he set out to confirm long-held local oral history that Mathew Brady was born in Johnsburg and lived there until heading off to become, after his death, the most famous photographer of Civil War. (Brady’s photograph of Abraham Lincoln appears on the $5 bill &#8211 both the old and new designs).

From Brady’s personal letters historians had long known that he was born and spent his youth north of Lake George. Pearsall confirmed through vital records and census schedules that Brady had in fact grown up in Johnsburg, off the old road that went from the Glen to Wevertown (now the straightened Route 28). Bushwacking the old road near Gage Mountain, which now crosses private property, Pearsall found the remains of the homestead.

The story is illustrative of the trove of historical sites in Adirondack small towns, some yet hidden, some in plain sight. Echoes in these Mountains brings those in Johnsburg to life again.

The book is handy as well. GPS locations of each of the book’s 55 historic sites are included in addition to the maps, along with a driving tour. At more than 400 pages, this local history is comprehensive, and well footnoted, though disappointingly lacking an index when would make it all the more important a as reference work. But that’s a minor complaint considering the depth and breadth of Pearsall’s effort. It’s among the most important references to Johnsburg’s local history and an outstanding small study of one Adirondack community.

Note: Books noticed on this site have been provided by the publishers. Purchases made through this Amazon link help support this site.

Lecture: Secret Journeys from Black to White

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In America, race is a riddle. With the widespread availability of DNA testing and the boom in genealogical research, it has become even harder to view race neatly in black or white. Daniel J. Sharfstein, in conversation with Brent Staples, unravels the stories of three families who represent the complexity of race in America and force us to rethink our basic assumptions about who we are at an event on Thursday, April 12, 6:30 PM [note, new date] at The Robert H. Smith Auditorium at the New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, NYC.

&#8220The Invisible Line: Three American Families and the Secret Journey from Black to White&#8221 is part of the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Distinguished Speakers Series. Daniel J. Sharfstein is an associate professor of law at Vanderbilt University and the author of a book by the same name. Brent Staples (moderator) has been a member of the editorial board of The New York Times since 1990 and is the author of Parallel Time, which won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award.

The cost of the lecture is $24.00 (members $12). To purchase tickets to public programs by phone, call the New-York Historical Society’s new in-house call center at (212) 485-9268. Call center is open 9 am–5 pm daily. Advance tickets may also be purchased on site at the New-York Historical Society admissions desk. Advance purchase is required to guarantee seating.

Handy Guide to Cycling the Erie Canal Updated

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The outstanding bicycling and sightseeing waiting for visitors along the legendary Erie Canal is highlighted in the newly revised edition of Cycling the Erie Canal: A guide to 400 miles of adventure and history along the Erie Canalway Trail. The book, which features new sections of trail and up-to-date listings of lodging, bike shops, and other services, is published by Parks & Trails New York (PTNY), the statewide non-profit parks and trails advocacy organization.

Cycling the Erie Canal is a resource for cyclists planning to bike the entire route as well as for riders looking to enjoy an afternoon on the trail. It is also useful for walkers, hikers, in-line skaters, boaters, and auto travelers who want to enjoy the trail and some of the historic and cultural sights along the route.

The 144-page guidebook includes 42 full-color maps and more than 100 color photos that detail the trail route, as well as the things to see and do along the way. In addition to parks, museums, historic sites, and visitor centers, the maps indicate lodging and bike shops. Services such as restaurants, convenience stores, ATMs, pharmacies, post offices, hardware stores, and parking areas are also shown.

Cycling the Erie Canal includes interpretive information about the history of the canal, plus tips on cycling, travel, and trip preparation. A spiral binding, and 5” by 9” size make the guide convenient to carry.

The Erie Canalway Trail route runs east-west between Buffalo and Albany and follows both active and historic sections of the Erie Canal.

The guidebook is the outgrowth of Parks & Trails New York’s many years of involvement with the Canalway Trail. PTNY runs an annual cross-state bicycle ride along the Erie Canal which draws 500 participants from across New York, the U.S. and the world.

“Over the years, more and more requests have come in from cyclists who want to ride the route on their own and are looking for a resource to show them what to see and do along the way, where to find a B&B, and how to locate a bike shop, pharmacy, or ATM. Cycling the Erie Canal provides this critical information,” says Robin Dropkin, Executive Director of Parks & Trails New York and co-author of the guidebook.

Cycling the Erie Canal retails for $23.95. Parks & Trails New York members enjoy a special discount price. It is available from Parks & Trails New York by visiting the Parks & Trails New York website at www.ptny.org or calling 518-434-1583. The guide is also available at bookstores, bike shops and museum and gift shops.

Note: Books noticed on this site have been provided by the publishers.

The Great Bare: The Celebrity of Adah Menken

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Adah Menken, dubbed “The Great Bare” by writer/admirer Mark Twain, was the first media celebrity, who was known around the world as “The Naked Lady” because her stage show featured her nude (in a sheer body stocking).

Her star power inspired poets like Walt Whitman and writers like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who used Menken as the basis for the classic Sherlock Holmes supporting character of Irene Adler. Her popularity was fueled by a new advent of the period, mass circulation newspapers.

Their reporters couldn’t wait to write about her latest adventure, according to biographers Michael and Barbara Foster, who call her the originator of the modern celebrity femme fatale.

In a century remembered for Victorian restraint, Menken’s modern flair for action, scandal, and unpopular causes &#8211 especially that of the Jewish people &#8211 revolutionized show business. On stage, she was the first actress to bare all. Off stage, she originated the front-page scandal and became the world’s most highly paid actress—celebrated on Broadway, as well as in San Francisco, London, and Paris. At thirty-three, she mysteriously died.

“Menken was an original who pioneered in several areas we now take for granted,” said the Fosters, authors of the newly published A Dangerous Woman: The Life, Loves and Scandals of Adah Isaacs Menken, 1835 – 1868 (Lyons Press, 2012). “Adah invented ‘stardom’ in the modern, media-driven sense, making use of the newly invented newspaper, the telegraph, photography, railroads and steamships to become the first global superstar — number one on Broadway, the rage of gold rush San Francisco, the toast of Victorian London and Paris. Onstage, Adah risked her life every evening in the Civil War sensation Mazeppa, in which apparently stripped naked she rode up a four-story stage mountain tied to a stallion. The mix of sexuality and danger made her the Civil War siren, the highest paid actress in the world, and caused her death at 33.”

Moreover, it wasn’t that Adah did these things to garner attention or as cheap publicity stunts. The Fosters believe that “Swimming Against the Current”&#8211an essay she wrote in defense of Walt Whitman&#8211was an essential part of her personality. There was nothing contrived about her.

A Dangerous Woman is the first book to tell Menken’s fascinating story. Born in New Orleans to a “kept woman of color” and to a father whose identity is debated, Menken eventually moved to the Midwest, where she became an outspoken protege of the rabbi who founded Reform Judaism. In New York City, she became Walt Whitman’s disciple. During the Civil War she was arrested as a Confederate agent—and became America’s first pin-up superstar. Menken married and left five husbands.

Michael Foster is a historian, novelist and biographer. A Dangerous Woman is his fifth book. Barbara Foster is an associate professor of women’s studies at City University of New York.

Note: Books noticed on this site have been provided by the publishers. Purchases made through this Amazon link help support this site.

The Interpreter: A Story of Two Worlds

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When it was first published The Interpreter: A Story of Two Worlds (SUNY Press, 1997) was called, “a vibrant tale of courage and adventure” by Booklist and, “rich in historical detail and meticulously researched” by Publishers Weekly. Written by Robert Moss, the book is the third in the Cycle of the Iroquois trilogy and will become the final book to be available in paperback from SUNY Press.

The book is a journey into the crucible in which America was born and a tale of love and war that shares the story of a master shaman and his twin apprentices — the Mohawk dreamer called Island Woman and the young immigrant Conrad Weise &#8211 who become critical players in their peoples’ struggle for survival.

Moss, a novelist, journalist, historian, and lifelong dream explorer, describes in his new preface how his Cycle of the Iroquois — Fire Along the Sky, The Firekeeper, and The Interpreter — began with dreams and visions in which an ancient Iroquois arendiwanen (woman of power) insisted on teaching him in her own language, until he was obliged to learn it.

The Interpreter is available from SUNY Press. You can order all three books in the trilogy by visiting www.sunypress.edu.

Moss will be speaking and signing copies of the work at Mabee Farm Historic Site (http://www.schist.org/mabee.htm) on March 31, 2012 at 2:00 pm. Admission is $5 or free for members of the Schenectady County Historical Society.

Note: Books noticed on this site have been provided by the publishers.

Len Tantillo: The Edge of New Netherland

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A uniquely illustrated history of New Netherland, New Sweden, early North American fortification design, and the construction of Fort Cashmir (New Castle, Delaware) has been published for the New Netherland Institute. The Edge of New Netherland by L. F. Tantillo explores life in the Dutch colony and competition between European powers by focusing on the construction of regional forts, and the trade they engendered.

Tantillo provides readers with new insight into life on “the edge of New Netherland,” where two small groups of colonists – one Dutch, the other Swedish ­– fought to control access to the Delaware River and thus the trade in Indian furs, and later, English tobacco. Decades before British forces captured this territory in a power grab that remade colonial North America, fortifications were built and re-built, deals made and settlements established.

While The Edge of New Netherland (L.F. Tantillo, 2011) examines, in beautifully illustrated detail, the broader aspects of daily life on the Dutch, Swedish, English and Indian borderlands of North America, it focuses on the history of one wood and dirt fortress. Built in 1651 by the Dutch and destroyed in 1664 by the British, Fort Casimir largely failed as a defensive bulwark, but it helped anchor the growing settlement of New Amstel, now New Castle, Delaware.

The Edge of New Netherland includes more than 100 drawings accompanied by explanatory text, a historical overview of the Delaware River by Charles T. Gehring, and commentary by Peter A. Douglas.

Note: Books noticed on this site have been provided by the publishers. Purchases made through this Amazon link help support this site.

New Books on Yates County History Published

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The Yates Heritage Tours Project began in 2010 when four friends &#8211 all active members of the Barrington History Group, the Dundee Area Historical Society and the Yates County Genealogical and Historical Society &#8211 got together with the goal of telling local history. They have published their first two books on the region, with a third on the way.

The first, a book on Jemima Wilkinson, The Public Universal Friend (the first American born woman to found a religious movement) titled &#8220The Unquiet World&#8221 features a companion audio CD self driving tour of historic sites relating to Wilkinson and her followers, the Universal Friends, who created a settlement on the New York frontier in 1788.

They have also published a small book titled &#8220Architecture in a Small Town&#8221 which covers architectural styles beginning with 1790 through today in Penn Yan, NY. The book lists each style with its characteristics and illustrations and includes a glossary of terms and a map showing the location of each structure. Though focused on Penn Yan, the book is a handy reference the architectural styles of buildings you find in other towns, villages and cities.

A third effort, &#8220Penn Yan and How It Got That Way&#8221 about the history of Penn Yan is expected to be released soon and will also include a companion audio CD walking tour of of Penn Yan’s Main Street historic district.

&#8220The Unquiet World&#8221 and &#8220Penn Yan and How It Got That Way&#8221 are written by Frances Dumas, Yates County historian and the public historian for both Penn Yan and Milo NY.

Yates Heritage Tours products can be purchased on their website or through local vendors such as Longs’ Cards & Books on Main Street in Penn Yan, New York and the Yates County Genealogical & Historical Society on Chapel Street. For more information you can reach Yates Heritage Tours via email at [email protected] or by phone at (315) 536-2491.

Note: Books noticed on this site have been provided by the publishers.

John Lewis Gaddis Wins American History Book Prize

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The New-York Historical Society has announced that historian John Lewis Gaddis, recipient of the National Humanities Medal in 2005, will receive New-York Historical’s seventh annual American History Book Prize for George F. Kennan: An American Life (Penguin Press, 2011). He will be presented with a $50,000 cash award, an engraved medal and the title of American Historian Laureate on April 13, 2012, during the Weekend with History event of the New-York Historical’s Chairman’s Council.

Roger Hertog, Chairman of the New-York Historical Society’s Board of Trustees, stated: “A master historian vividly tells the story of the grand strategist who shaped foreign policy over the last sixty years.”

George F. Kennan was an eminent diplomat whose writings were key to establishing the containment strategy that defined U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union for forty years. In writing this biography, John Lewis Gaddis drew from exclusive access to Kennan’s archives and extensive interviews with Kennan himself over thirty years.

Considered one of the most important biographies of the year by a Prize Committee comprised of historians and New-York Historical leadership, George F. Kennan: An American Life was selected from a field of 120 submissions. The American History Book Prize was previously awarded to Doris Kearns Goodwin for Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln- David Nasaw for Andrew Carnegie- Daniel Walker Howe for What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848- Drew Gilpin Faust for This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War- Gordon S. Wood for Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815- and Ron Chernow for George Washington: A Life.

John Lewis Gaddis is the Robert A. Lovett Professor of History and Director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy at Yale University, where he teaches courses on Cold War history, grand strategy, biography, and historical methods. Educated at the University of Texas in Austin, he has also taught at Ohio University, the United States Naval War College, the University of Helsinki, Princeton University, and Oxford University. His most recent books include The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past (2002)- Surprise, Security, and the American Experience (2004)- The Cold War: A New History (2005)- and a new edition of Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of Postwar American National Security Policy (2005).

“No organization has been more successful than the New-York Historical Society in finding new ways to encourage the study of American history. I am honored, therefore, to have received its 2012 American History Book Prize, and to find myself in the company of so distinguished a group of previous winners. George F. Kennan was himself a prize-winning historian, and I know he would have been pleased.”

Pam Schafler, Vice Chair of the New-York Historical board and Chair of the Chairman’s Council, noted: “John Lewis Gaddis is a deeply respected teacher who has inspired countless students of history through his books about the Cold War and International Relations. Members of the Chairman’s Council will comprise the fortunate audience when Professor Gaddis makes remarks upon receiving this year’s New-York Historical Society American History Book Prize.”

Now in its seventh year, the Weekend with History is organized by the Chairman’s Council of New-York Historical and features two days of informal conversations and presentations by leading scholars and cultural figures.

The Chairman’s Council is comprised of New-York Historical’s most committed supporters. Individuals may be invited to join the Council by New-York Historical Trustees and senior staff and by existing members of the Council. Annual dues are $5,000 (Member), $10,000 (Vice Chair), and $25,000 (Co-Chair). For more information on Weekend with History or the Chairman’s Council, please contact Alyssa Venere at (212) 485-9221 or alyssa.venere @nyhistory.org.

PARTICIPANTS IN WEEKEND WITH HISTORY
Friday, April 13, and Saturday, April 14, 2012

JONATHAN ALTER
Columnist, Bloomberg View

JAMES BASKER
President, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

DAVID BROOKS
Columnist, New York Times

JOHN LEWIS GADDIS
Robert A. Lovett Professor of History, Yale University

BEVERLY GAGE
Associate Professor of History, Yale University

PAUL KENNEDY
J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History, Yale University

BILL KRISTOL
Editor, the Weekly Standard

KATI MARTON
Author and human rights activist

CARMEN REINHART
Dennis Weatherstone Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics

MICHAEL J. SANDEL
Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government, Harvard University

ALAN TAYLOR
Professor of History at the University of California at Davis

NICHOLAS THOMPSON
Senior Editor, the New Yorker

IAN TOLL
Author

GORDON S. WOOD
Professor of History Emeritus at Brown University

Photo: Former U.S. President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush stand with 2005 National Humanities Medal recipient John Lewis Gaddis on November 10, 2005 in the Oval Office at the White House. Courtesy Wikipedia.