What I read February

I am linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy's Quick Lit.  Check out what everyone else is reading.

 

The Revolutionary Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff

Listen, my children, and you shall hear

Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, 

On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five: 

Hardly a man is now alive

who remember that famous day and year.

The book opens with the ride of Paul Revere. A lot of us are familiar with the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem.  But do we know who specifically Paul Revere is riding to warn the British are coming? I probably wouldn't have picked up this title on my own. It was a book club read and it is challenging. I think this is the slowest I have read a book in a while. That being said, it is a worthwhile read. Samuel Adams is very interesting and not to be confused with his younger cousin John Adams. Samuel Adams is described as, "all the smoke, flame, and lava."  This was also said about Samuel Adam, " if there was a subversive act, he was somewhere near or behind it." I think the vast contributions that Samuel Adams made are somewhat lost to history. Maybe that is what he intended. This made me think differently about the Revolutionary War.  We have such a sanitized version we are taught. 

Who Do You Think You Are? by Megan Smolenyak

I am reading this as part of my genealogy education. This book was published in 2010 so there are many more digital resources now, but the information is a good foundation for a family history buff.  I would like to get a thrifted copy to have as a reference.  Megan makes family history accessible to all. It also made me watch a lot of Who Do You Think You Are? on tv.