Paul Revere’s Ride by David Hackett Fischer (ISBN: 0-19-509831-5) is an in-depth biography of the man whose famous horse ride and plan to warn the colonists of impending danger has largely withstood the test of time and has been passed down to the present day through prose, poetry, and visual art. Paul Revere’s father was a poor French boy when he arrived in the New World, but hard work allowed him to establish himself and provide a solid foundation for his family. Revere followed in his father’s footsteps by learning to silversmith. He added engraving to his repertoire along with being unafraid to try his hand at other things, including dentistry (not exactly the science we know today). He was also a master networker and communicator who felt and filled a large civic duty. He was a part of multiple civic organizations and participated fully in various local boards and commissions. People up and down the Massachusetts coast knew and trusted him. He did undertake his famous nighttime ride, but he was not alone, and it didn’t involve only the Old North Church. Revere rode one route while two other men took a different route. Revere’s was arguably more successful, as he made contact with more people than the other riders, but both played an important role. As they made contact in the towns and villages near Boston, other riders then carried the warning farther inland or farther north. Wildly, Revere was actually apprehended briefly by a British patrol, but they let him go after questioning. Ultimately, the other Massachusetts towns were warned in time to prepare for the coming of the British army. After the famous ride, Revere went on to continue his involvement in American politics, including making engravings that told the colonists’ side of the story and helped organize them around the revolutionary cause. Revere made many contributions above and beyond his famous ride to the revolutionary effort.I thought the book was really good. I was a little worried when, at the beginning, the author noted that he would tell a bit about British General Thomas Gage as well, but it turned out that didn’t distract from Revere’s story. Given the role Gage played in British efforts, it probably helped to know some of this background. There were a number of illustrations throughout the book, which I thought were interesting. The true story of Paul Revere’s ride, of course, doesn’t exactly match the famous poem; it’s likely better and doesn’t change at all the inspiration that the story provides us, encouraging us to sacrifice for a good cause. Revere provides an excellent example of what an involved citizen should be. He participated in local formal and informal bodies, contributing time, effort, skill, and means to the cause of freedom. He was willing to contribute himself to liberty’s cause.
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John Adams by David McCullough (ISBN: 0-684-81363-7) provides a deep and broad look at the second president and a man who is often credited as being the voice of independence. The book starts just a little before John Adams was born, telling the reader about his parents and lineage before getting into the details of the future president’s life. McCullough tells the Founder’s life story in great detail, in part because Adams left extensive diaries and letters to draw from. One learns about his schooling, his law practice, his family life, his farm in Massachusetts, and his ascendency onto the national stage, where he flourished. One learns about his shortcomings as well, including a propensity to get down on himself, a willingness to let others’ opinions of him matter (vanity), and a sometimes quick temper. Once Adams makes to Philadelphia to advocate for independence, the book goes into great detail, explaining his thinking and his actions and then follows his career. He was a diplomat, helping Benjamin Franklin in France and forging his own path in the Netherlands, where he, on his own, secured loans to help the American cause as the Revolutionary War dragged on. He was the new country’s first ambassador to England and then the country’s first vice president. In all of his positions, he advocated for what he thought was right. He didn’t back down and wasn’t afraid to take a little heat sometimes. The book paints him as a man of strong moral convictions based on a faith in God. During his time as president, he successfully kept America out of a war with France, which greatly helped America, a weak and fledgling nation, find its wings.
Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington by Richard Brookhiser (ISBN: 0-684-82291-1) provides a short overview of the original father of the country, George Washington. The book starts with an interesting discussion of modern history, which is history that often looks to break down the heroes of the past, find fault with them, and discount the stories that have been handed down for generations. Brookhiser claims he’s not looking to disparage Washington like other modern historians while being willing to set aside legend (“I cannot tell a lie,” for example) in order to give a clearer picture of the first president. The book then provides a basic overview of the major parts of Washington’s life, war, 
Miracle at Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutional Convention May to September 1787 by Catherine Drinker Bowen (ISBN: 978-0-316-10378-7) takes an intimate look at the coming into being of the Constitution. The book starts by acknowledging that the Constitution is the result of a miracle. That is not necessarily the author’s conclusion — although it is; it is what those who attended the Constitutional Convention themselves asserted it to be. The case for that is then made by simply recounting the events of the convention and providing a detailed look at the circumstances surrounding the Constitution’s inception. Bowen relies heavily on James Madison’s notes since they were the most comprehensive, but also incorporates the notes and other writings of other Founding Fathers. The picture painted is thorough, deep, and intricate. The account focuses on the major arguments and compromises, which help show how the birth of the Constitution was a miracle. Many delegates wanted nothing to do with a federal government, some leaving early or protesting every vote. Slavery was famously a contentious issue. The nature of the executive branch and whether or not the legislative branch should be mono- or bicameral were fought over tenaciously by men who held deep-rooted positions based on experience or strong philosophical convictions. America itself, a newborn nation only eleven years old at the time of the convention, was already rapidly changing with internal and external forces influencing it course. Finally, once the Constitution was drafted, there was still a high chance of failure since the document had to be ratified, and there were still many convention delegates as well as everyday citizens who were strongly opposed to what the Constitution proposed. Ultimately, it was successfully ratified and has stood the test of time.
Finding God in the Gulag: A History of Christianity in the Soviet Penal System by Jeffrey S. Hardy (ISBN: 978-0-19-775167-1) is a book that gives readers a chance to know more about life in the Gulag. Unlike Solzhenitsyn’s based-on-a-true-story novel, this book is an academic look at Christianity in the Soviet camps from the earliest days under Lenin to the dying days of the Soviet Union under Gorbachev with a little post-script about a few things in the post-Soviet times. It catalogs both attempts by inmates to life and express their religions and attempts by the prison management to suppress religion. It was interesting to note that efforts to extinguish religion in prisoners was not uniform in the Soviet Union. It was more lax in some camps than in others. There wasn’t always a central policy that camp managers could look to, so they did it their own way. Sometimes that meant believers were beaten and spent time in solitary confinement. Sometimes that meant a Christian guard did nothing when a prisoner prayed or sang a hymn or made an icon. There was a short section on faith among thieves and other such common criminals, including a few paragraphs about the fascinating world of Russian prison tattoos. The book also catalogs people losing their faith, which was unsurprising, and one that is not judged neither by the author nor by most prisoners who are cited in the book. They tended to believe the camps were inhumane and that one should not be judged too harshly or even at all for what they did in the camps. There was also a little proselyting that happened in the labor camps. This was especially true of Baptists and Jehovah’s Witnesses, but Orthodox and Catholic priests also preached and even baptized people. Toward the end of the Soviet regime, religion was sometimes encouraged because it generally had a good influence on prisoners and mediated their violent behavior.
He Walked the Americas: The Trail of the Prophet by L. Taylor Hansen (ISBN: 978-1-939149-19-0) is a compilation of stories from North and South American Indians that relate to a so-called white or pale prophet. The stories tell about the arrival of the prophet, his activities, and then his departure. The legends describe the man, usually as wearing white garments (most often with small crosses on the hem), having brown hair, usually a beard, wearing sandals, and usually with cross-shaped marks in his hands. Sometimes he was accompanied by other white men. Other times he organized churches, established temples, and called people to continue his teachings after his departure. The arrival is usually on a ship in the legends, but one of the stories recorded by the author noted that the mysterious white prophet’s ministry started with his appearance at the temple. The man’s activities while visiting the ancient Indians included preaching peace, ending human sacrifice, healing sick and otherwise afflicted people, and controlling the wind and water. The last two were kind of important in the legends because this god was often referred to as the feathered serpent. Wind was often represented by feathers and the water by the snake. The organization of churches, usually with twelve men called to be leaders and teachers, and the establishing of temples was the other main activity of this white prophet in the legends. The stories then tell of his departure, usually with the people mourning his leaving and eventually forgetting his teachings and reverting to war and human sacrifice.
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt (ISBN: 978-0-593-65503-0) explores why anxiety and other so-called mental health problems have exploded over the last fifteen years. The author believes that most of the blame lies with smart phones. He doesn’t deny that there are good things about smart phones, but he points out that because they allow unfettered access to the Internet and social media in particular, children and teenagers who spend time on the Internet lose out on formative experiences that steel them against anxiety and other mental problems while increasing their likelihood of being negatively affected. Haidt first argues that children need to be exposed to a certain level of risk while they are young to attune the body’s natural response to risk. Throughout history, kids have generally done this by playing outside with other kids, usually unsupervised. A culture of safetyism (eliminating all risks even when the positives of some risk are considered) encourages — in some places, usually more liberal places, forces — parents to keep their kids indoors and only let them out when they or other adults can supervise. This tends to make kids view the world around them as a large and constant threat. The perception of a constant threat is just what so-called clinical anxiety is. Additionally, without being exposed to little risks (the risk of falling off a swing or the risk of being rejected by a peer) that come with interacting with others while outdoors conditions kids to be comfortable only when there is no risk. The second half of Haidt’s argument is that social media exasperates these feelings in most people. Social media generally presents only the good side of things, which is something people on it then worry about it. It is also designed to be addictive (people experience hormone-induced positive sensations when their posts are liked, for example), so it’s a cycle of doom where people endlessly scroll, looking at the supposedly perfect lives of those around them while the post themselves, hoping to feel the dopamine-caused high of the next like or comment. If those are few and far between, the anticipation of the next like keeps people scrolling, all the while increasing negative feelings toward oneself. Haidt notes that girls are particularly prone to this type of activity. Boys are also negatively affected by constant time online. They are less likely to be anxious about social media, but video games and pornography easily engage the young male mind, pulling them away from reality. Since it’s relatively easy to exist in a world where you don’t have to engage in real-world situations that may have negative consequences, boys withdraw into these virtual worlds and try to not emerge. The book ends with some ideas on how to overcome the problems caused by smart phones. He has ideas for governments and for individuals, led by eliminating smart phone exposure for those under fourteen and limiting it for those over, both in school (complete bans on smart phones at schools are his preferred option) and at home. He also advocates letting kids get out and play and do other things on their own, like run simple errands, do chores around the house, and other things that are relatively safe, but still have distinct negative consequences for not accomplishing them.