Manhunt Book Review

I wrote this fro Wallace which is why I am upset that I didn't do a very good job. I read teh book, but i didn't start the review until two days before it was due. This is strange for me, but it is what I did... Here it is. In the ink. By the way, I did adore this book.


Manhunt Review
By
Amanda Cunningham
For
Dr. Wallace
Manhunt is a gripping adventure story. The plot follows assassin John Wilkes Booth through his assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. This nonfiction story begins with his sudden plan to kill, rather than kidnap the President, and ends with what happens after the twelve day chase across the country. The beginning of the book tells a lot about the actual assassination of Lincoln. The reader is able to see the light bulb flash in Booth’s head when he notices the perfect opportunity to kill the President, then see the act take place, follow the chase, and finally see what happens to booth in the end. The bulk of the book takes an in depth look at the life of Booth and the country over the twelve days that follow the assassination. The reader can follow booth through injury and escape, victory and fear. This book is a time machine to history that just happens to be interesting enough to pull any reader into the action.

The most thrilling truth about this book is how factual it is. While speaking with the author, James L. Swanson, at a recent book fair, I discovered that he read over 800 print works to compile this text. He said that he spent so much time focused solely on this one subject that he felt as if he himself were there. For many years, he lived in a tiny apartment with only a desk a bed and his Lincoln collection. The selected readings section in this book is so limited that the author himself says that it can not be trusted as a complete bibliography. He read so many other books and original prints that it was impossible to accurately cite each one. If the reader takes a look at the “About the Author” section of the book they will find that Lawson is almost a human Lincoln Encyclopedia. He was born on Lincoln’s birthday and says that is where his passion began. He has a personal Lincoln library that includes original newspaper prints from the time of Lincoln’s assassination. He has a passion for Lincoln, and when a person has a passion for something it is safe to trust their judgment.

One of my personal favorite chapters was near the beginning when Lawson described the moments after Booth shot Lincoln. Before this book I was unaware of how mangled and hopeless Lincoln really was. When I previously heard about Lincoln’s assassination, I heard that he survived for a while after he died, but in reality he was basically dead the moment the shot took place. Lincoln was brain dead by today’s standards, but the men around him wanted to give the President a graceful death. Ironically enough, these men are the same men who ripped out a chunk of Lincoln’s brain and threw it into the street. They didn’t really help Lincoln medically in the moments following the shot. Also, if the reader pays close attention, they can see just how many people wanted to be part of the history. One woman in particular took drastic measures to be sure e her name was a part of history. She pushed her way through Ford’s Theatre and into the President’s box, in order to place his mangled head in her lap for a few seconds. Lincoln’s death was such a gripping tale that I believe it deserves a book all its own.

The book itself is full of actual quotes and documents from actual people who were experiencing the historic events. As I was reading, I was highlighting the quotes and documents throughout the text. Almost 1/3 of the book was glowing when I finished. Quotes and documents bring a reader into a scene. The historical scene comes alive through the dialog. During Chapter three, when Lawson was describing the scene in which Secretary of State William H. Seward was attacked, Lawson dug through years of documents and found actual dialog that was spoken that night in that house. Lawson dug through documents to find the only words Powell spoke during the attack, “I’m mad, I’m mad!” To have that information truly does add to the scene. I imagine a killer who pushes his way through a house to be screaming and causing a ruckus, but from this information it becomes apparent that Powel was the complete opposite. He hardly says a word during the attack and when he finally does speak it is to exclaim that he has gone insane. Was this a cry for help, or a way to get out of charges? For the days following Lincoln’s assassination, Lawson found actual telegrams sent from Edward Straton to different Generals across the country. We find out as the country found out where Booth was supposed to have been sighted, and we find out the status of the rest of the cabinet‘s livelihood. Lawson did an amazing job pulling the reader into the action of history.

Another fun aspect of this book is all the pictures Lawson included. I myself believe that there is no substitute for a good set of words, but a picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. Lawson also has a partner book which goes along with this one that includes a compilation of pictures and documents he used for Manhunt. The pictures bring the reader into the action. One picture that is especially revealing is that of Booth in his final moments behind a wall, fighting to the end, on crutches.

In most historical books the author tends to write with a somewhat bias toward some particular character or characters, but Lawson doesn’t do that. Most likely stemming from his love of the time, he speaks of each character as people, and not like an antagonist and a protagonist. The characters are not all inherently evil or good. As I was reading I felt a sense of encouragement for Booth. He killed Lincoln, because he felt like it was the right thing to do. After the assassination though, the story is really about an escape. It reminds me a lot of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Fin. I was rooting for Booth to get out of complex situations.
I would recommend Manhunt most anybody, not only historians. If a reader is not interested in nonfiction work, the book reads like a fiction novel. For those who enjoy nonfiction work, the facts are all checked and triple checked.

Library Of Congress

I am still working on my Library of Congress papier. It is still going to be ten pages. It is due at the end of the semester. I have added to the beginning and to the end. Take it with a grain of salt.

The Library of Congress
Amanda M. Cunningham
October 22, 2008
U.S. History I
Dr. Wallace


Probably the least discussed building historically in America is the Library of Congress. That fact is surprising because this building has such a colorful past. Today the Library is the largest library in the world, containing over 650 miles of shelving, but this was a revival from the ashes of two one room libraries which only had part time librarians.

The Library of Congress had a rough beginning. The first library was established on 24 April 1801 when John Randolph drew up an act which needed approval by Congress. On 17 November 1801, Thomas Jefferson, the only person who could possibly be credited for founding the library, donated his entire personal book collection to the library. To Thomas Jefferson, learning and books were of the up most importance. Jefferson spent much of his life collecting books subjecting foreign languages, law, philosophy, geography and even cook books. He felt that "there is in fact no subject to which a member of Congress may not have occasion to refer." (If you can get this quote from the book... if not get it off of the website in the “extra research”) According to Boorstin, “When Jefferson offered the young nation his personal library, which was to be the foundation of the library of Congress, it contained so many foreign –language books, including numerous “atheistical” works of Voltaire and other French revolutionaries, that some members of Congress opposed its purchase.”(1987). The donation along with $5000 was all that the first library consisted of.

After the establishment of the library, congress created a committee, headed by John Randolph which would be in charge of running and solving the problems of the library. On 26 January 1802 this committee created a role for a Librarian of Congress, who was to be chosen by the president. This committee also pointed out what the role of the library was to be. {If you can...find out what more you can about what the role of the library is to be}. On 29 January 1802, Thomas Jefferson asked John James Beckley to be the librarian alongside his Clerk of House of Representatives position.

Though the committee for the library was in charge of the library's proceedings Thomas Jefferson and James Beckley were often both personally involved. Jefferson often ordered books for the library himself alongside his personal orders causing confusion when orders were being processed. Beckley often gave tours of the library to important figures when they visited the capitol. According to the Library of Congress website, Charles Wilson Peale recorded this in his diary after visiting the library in June of 1804, "We went first to the Library where Mr. Beckley received us with politeness… The Library is a spacious and handsome Room, and although lately organized, already contained a number of valuable books in the best taste of binding." (LOC1)
In 1812 the United States got into a war with England uncreativly named the War of 1812. This was a war that the United States should not have even been involved in. The United States was severely overpowered and attempting the impossible. The library suffered greatly because of the war. On 25 August 1814 English soldiers marched into Washington unimpeded, because the US Army and government officials had fled to Virginia, and burned the capitol building. At that time, the Library was contained in a room within that building. At the very least one third of Jefferson's original donation was torched. No longer was there a building to contain the few remaining books. The library was out of business.

Fortunately, the library was able to continue after the fire. The library was apportioned a small amount of money and a new librarian, George Watterson, was hired. In order to continue the library, the government bought Thomas Jefferson’s personal library from him on 30 January 1815. His library consisted of 6,487 volumes and was purchased for $23,950. The library wasn’t brought back to what it had been before the fire. For the next thirty-seven years, many of the books remained in boxes, stacked atop each other. The library truly did not have space or staff to properly manage the library. The library was overcrowded and to add to the stress levels, a second fire burned the library on 24 December 1851. This fire burned nearly two-thirds, 35,000 volumes, of the libraries collection. The Library of Congress didn’t seem to want to get off the ground.

After this second conflagration the library went through a very rough patch. Money was apportioned to the library for damages, $168,700, but this time around Thomas Jefferson was not around to save the library by donating his books. What books remained were, yet again, stacked in boxes. Abraham Lincoln did not help matters when he hired John G. Stephenson to be the librarian in 1861. Stephenson was uninterested in the library and more interested in getting closer to what was happening in Washington. According to the Library of Congress, Spofford describes Stephenson as, “"a thorough good fellow, liberal, high-minded, & active, but with no special knowledge of books." The library, again, seemed doomed for failure.

The single productive duty Stephenson did was to hire Ainsworth Rand Spofford. Spofford truly did care about the library and is responsible for turning it into what it is today.






Works Sited
1. Boorstin, Daniel J. Hidden History. Random House, 1987.
2. Library of Congress 1. “About the librarian.” LOC.gov. Web. 22 October 2008 <http://www.loc.gov/about/librarianoffice/beckley.html>

Library of Congress Research Papier

I haven't posted in a while, so I decided I would get something up. This was mainly so you my loyal readers didn't think I was up to nothing important here at school. I wrote some of my ten page research paper today. It is actually a chunck out of the middle, and it is a completely unedited version, so take it with a grain of salt. I am not even going to put it in large font because it is so far from done. LTM. I will have an essay up by the end of Sunday hopefully, so if any of you weekenders want to read on that you can.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
II.History of Library (1800-1886)
The Library of Congress had a rough beginning. The first library was established on 24 April 1801when John Randolph drew up an act which needed approval by Congress. On 17 November 1801,Thomas Jefferson, the only person who could possibly be credited for founding the library, donated his entire personal book collection to the library. To Thomas Jefferson, learning and books were of the up most importance. He spent much of his life collecting book subjecting foreign languages, law, philosophy, geography and even cook books. He felt "there is in fact no subject to which a member of Congress may not have occasion to refer." (If you can get this quote from the book... if not get it off of the website in the “extra research”)This donation along with $5000 was all that the first library consisted of.
After the establishment of the library, congress created a committee, headed by John Randolph which would be in charge of running and solving the problems of the library. On 26 January 1802 this committee created a role for a Librarian of Congress who was to be chosen by the president. This committee also pointed out what the role of the library was to be.{If you can...find out what more you can about what the role of the library is to be}. On 29 January 1802, Thomas Jefferson asked John James Beckley to be the librarian alongside his Clerk of House of Representatives position.

Though the committee for the library was in charge of the library's proceedings Thomas Jefferson and James Beckley were both extremely personally involved. Jefferson often ordered books for the library himself alongside his personal orders causing confusion when orders were being processed. Beckley often gave tours of the library to important figures when they visited the capitol. According to the Library of Congress website, Charles Wilson Peale recorded this in his diary after visiting the library in June of 1804, "We went first to the Library where Mr. Beckley received us with politeness… The Library is a spacious and handsome Room, and although lately organized, already contained a a number of valuable books in the best taste of binding." (http://www.loc.gov/about/librarianoffice/beckley.html)

In 1812 the United States got into a war with England uncreativly called the War of 1812. This was a war that the United States should not have even been involved in. The United States was severely overpowered and attempting the impossible.The library suffered greatly because of the war. On 25 August 1814 English soldiers burned the capitol building. At that time, the Library was contained in a room within that building. At the very least one third of Jefferson's original donation was torched. No longer was there a building to contain few remaining books. The library was out of business.

Book Review: Don't KNow Much About History

Here is my book review. It is meant to be 500 words and I have 532 here. I thought it would be a lot longer, but 500 words isn't as much as I thought it would be. I liked this book... no, I LOVED this book. If you want to glance over my review and give me any advice that would be loverly... and yes, i did mean to write loverly. Let me know. It's not due for like two weeks, so whatever.


Don't Know Much About History by Kenneth C. Davis is one of a series of books written by the same author. These books are meant to take subjects normally deemed boring and liven them up, all the while being truthful with the facts. This particular book accomplishes just that. So far, in the first four chapters, intrigue, fact, and humor have all been achieved. These chapters are the history of the United States from pre-Columbus to the mid 1870's. Davis truly has created a page turner that will get the historical facts into the minds of many.

One of the great things about this book is how easy it is to use and understand. All of the subject headings are broken down into questions the readers would ask themselves. For example, if the reader doesn't know what the Articles of Confederation are, they can look in the table of Contents for the heading “What were the Articles of Confederation (p. 48). The index is very through and lists every page a particular topic appears on, so if someone wanted to know every page Thomas Jefferson was listed on, they would simply need to flip to the index, and there would be a list of all 40 pages he is mention on (p. 667). Throughout the book, the voice Davis uses is that of friends chatting over a meal, and not that of an emotionless text book. Life isn't boring and history is life, therefore history does not have to be boring, and Davis proves that
with his book.

Davis is a step above history text books, because instead of glorifying historical figures he shows them in natural light. As far as any high school student is concerned, Paul Revere is a larger than life character who rode his ride and single handedly saved the American people from defeat. In actuality, Revere was quickly captured by the British, and when leading troops against the British at Pentcost he chickened out and headed back for “safety” (p. 84). Christopher Columbus also has a smudged historical record. Not only did Columbus not “discover” America (chapter 1), but when he did come to The New World he was cruel towards his crew (p.4) and the Native Americans (p. 5). Lincoln is the hardest to accept as imperfect. Lincoln was a great man, but he was, by our accounts, a racist (p. 239). For his time he was very “honest” and liberal, but he did accept slavery in the states where it was already legal (p. 239). Our “Great American Heroes” aren't always the great people text books portray them as.

Even though this book is amazing, it is not perfect and for everybody. Some people only like to have the facts and don't like to turn historical figures into characters. Davis wanted history to be entertaining, so people who don't enjoy that will not enjoy this book. Davis also mistakingly made some of the more important areas of history into a list (for example, “Milestones in the American Revolution” p. 71) which has the same affect on people as the genealogy sections of the bible, they get skimmed over and never really read. All in all though, Don't Know Much About History is a book that everybody should read and keep on their bookselves.

I guess it still just seems short to me...

Outline for History Research Final

This is what i have of the Outline for my History research paper. I chose to write about teh Library of Congress. Mainly that was because I love libraries and I adore the idea of the Library of Congress. I am very excited about this paper. I have been researching since I found out about it. Hopefull I can condense it all to 10 pages!


Thesis:
I.Introduction:
II.History of Library (1800-1886)
A.First Library (1800-1815)
i.John James Beckley (1801-1807)
ii.Start of Library
a)John Randolph's Act for Congresses
b)Thomas Jefferson's donation
Founder if ever there was one
c)First Law establishing Structure (January 16, 1802)
iii. Destruction of Library
a)War of 1812
b)fire
B.Second Library (1815-1864)
i.John G. Stephenson(1861-1864)
a)unproductive as a librarian
b)Hired Spofford
ii.Picking up the pieces after the fire
a)surviving books sold to government
b)Thomas Jefferson's books sold to government for ???
c)Andrew Jackson gives library a catalog
iii.Second (conflagration) fire
a)Insurance Claim
iv.The Weakening of the library
a)Lincoln appoints Stephenson
b)Stephenson on other things
c)Stephenson hires Spofford
C.The “Third” Library (or lack there of)
i.Ainsworth Rand Spofford (1864-1897)
a)put in place the construction for today's library
b)copyright (be sure to get the facts on this)
ii.Additions to the library
a)copyright
b)Smithsonian Donation
iii.Battle for new building
a)10 years of Pres. Mention
Hays, RB
Arthur, Chester
Cleveland, Grover
b)11 Years of building TJ building finished 1886-1897
cost $6,180,000 (cheaper than expected I believe)
III.Today's Library
A.development of LCC system
B.Billington
C.Future
IV.Conclusion

25 september 2008

What I am working on right now.

College Algebra:
Professor: Don JohnsonOn Friday, 26 September 2008 I have a test. The second of the year. I have made my notecard, and I am confident. It is over absolute value, complex numbers, radicals, and quadratics. I think I will do well.

English Composition II:
Professor: HamelinI turned in my Caesarean section Argument Paper. I guess I am in the process of thinking of a new argument topic. I think I am going to try to think of a topic that is related to the work I want to get into. I also need to think of topics for my final, which is a ten page research argument paper. I think I want that topic to have something to do with Libraries. If I can I want to mix it in with my History Research paper, adn do an argument about one of the Librarians for the Library of Congress.

Yoga: We are still doing yoga. We have advanced to tree pose.

Psychology:
Professor: Krista RumageI have test, but it isn't for a while. I need to transfer my notes from yesterdays class sometime before Monday. We are studying learning and memory.

U.S. History:
Professor: The guy I absolutly adore, Dr. Wallace, he makes my day.I have an Exam on 2 October 2008. Well, it's actualy a "mid-term". I will beed to study for that while I do my laundry. This may be a class I want note cards for. My favorite. I am also working in my research paper for the final. It is a ten page research paper and I chose to write about teh Library of Congress. I will post the outline I have soon. I had Dr. Wallace read over my outline and explain to me what was good and what needed work or to just be eliminated. I am so excited for this.

Mysticism:
Professor: Matt BranstetterI have to present my paper today and turn it in to Branstetter. I also have to edit it one final time. I am going over to the computer lab this morning to do it. As soon as the lab opens. Which is any time now. I may eat first though. Then... print print print.
That's it, all my classes

In the Works.Argument paper (No topic yet)10 Page Research Paper (Topic: Library of Congress)10 Page Research paper (Topic: Something about books and learning)Book review for "Don't Know Much About History"

Thus Far in school

College Algebra
Professor: Don Johnson
Thus far: Seven or so quizzes worth 10 points a piece, and one exam worth 100 points. My grade was an 81%; there will be a 10 point curve. I have two purple things. Last class I earned one, but I forgot to get it.

English Composition II
Professor: Mr. Hamlin
Thus far: Five or so quizzes worth 50 points. (At the End of Semester the ten best quiz grades will be chosen.) One Paper. My paper (The one about the Mexican Border Wall) grade was 87%. That's all right. My biggest mistakes were logic and argumentation. I accept that. My next paper (The one about cesarean sections) will be better.

Yoga: I have done yoga. Also there was a pretest I didn't do amazingly on.

Psychology
Professor: Krista Rumage
Thus Far: I don't think we have turned in anything. Monday is my first exam. I am going to study with Brittany Sunday. I am confidant. I have read all the chapters.

United States History I
Professor: Wallace
Thus Far: We have had notes, and one exam. On that Exam I got an 88%. Hopefully next time I get a better grade. It may be my favorite class. I have done some research for the 10 page Research paper final. I also have read, I believe, three of the four chapters in the first book. I had better get one that paper though if I want it to turn out well.

Mysticism
Professor: Matt Branstetter
Thus Far: Possibly my most talked about class socially. We have had one exam which I received a 90% on. I think that is all we have actually turned in. Most of our grade thus far depends on participation. Which I participate in. I also have a paper due in two weeks on the Mystic Julian of Norwich.

What I'm working on now

Right now I have a few projects in the works.


I have an essay for English Composition II for Mr. Hamelin again.
.... I have to write another persuasive paper on a controversial issue. 2-3 pages
..... I am going to write about the growing number of women having elective caesarean sections.
.... I have begun research.

I have a paper for Mysticism for Matt Branstetter.
.....that'll be on a Mystic. Julian of Norwhich. 5-7 pages.

I have my final for History for Mr. Wallace.
..... it is a 10 page research paper on something historical that happened before 1877.
..... I am going ot write about the start of the library of congress.
.....I have begun research.