• Frances Hunter profiled Moses Hooke, who was Meriwether Lewis’s backup companion, just in case William Clark couldn’t go on the expedition.




• There is a new blog called Lincoln Footnotes that tells some of the lesser known facts surrounding Lincoln, such as this post that explains Lincoln’s connection with the Donner Party.




• Blue and Gray Diplomacy: A History of Union and Confederate Foreign Relations is reviewed over on TOCWOC. I have this book as well. It looks good, but I haven’t made the time to read and review it yet.




• Peaceable Kingdom Lost: The Paxton Boys and the Destruction of William Penn’s Holy Experiment is reviewed on Common-Place. Everything over at Common-Place is great. You should add yourself to their mailing list to find out when a new issue is posted.

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Nature’s Ghosts: Confronting Extinction from the Age of Jefferson to the Age of Ecology
By Mark V. Barrow, Jr.

In the time of Thomas Jefferson, many people - including scientists - didn’t believe that a species could become extinct. That would violate the natural order of things. The complete loss of a species would imply imperfection in God’s creation. The natural world was thought of as a “long chain containing every possible kind of organism in a linear, continuous series”. Destroying a species would break this chain. It was only after the destruction of several species that many would accept extinction as an idea.

In Nature’s Ghosts, Mark Barrow talks about our country’s stumbling attempts to preserve nature. Slowly, we have come to realize our impact on natural history. This is largely due to the work of naturalists studying, documenting, and publicizing the decline of our wildlife. The book touches on Thomas Jefferson, John Audubon, and John Muir, but it mostly concerns itself with the numerous lesser known dedicated naturalists who have shaped our understanding of our wildlife.

This book is very different from most of the books I recommend on this website. It doesn’t focus on politics and wars. It is about wildlife and conservation in the United States, which is far more important than many of us realize.

More info:

• Mark V. Barrow, Jr., is an associate professor of history at Virginia Tech.
• Nature’s Ghosts was published by University of Chicago Press. The publisher’s site includes an excerpt.
• See the book on Amazon.
• For more reviews of recently published books related to American history, visit 1776’s book review page.

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Appetite for America: How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West

By Stephen Fried
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Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire

By Robert Perkinson
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Islands of Hell: The U.S. Marines in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945

By Eric Hammel
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The Poker Bride: The First Chinese in the Wild West
By Christoper Corbett

In 1872, Polly Bemis, daughter of Chinese peasants, was sold into the California sex trade. Shortly after arriving in San Francisco, Bemis was again sold to a wealthy Chinese merchant living in a mining town in Idaho. The merchant soon lost Polly in a poker game, and, after her new owner, Paul Bemis was injured in a shootout, Polly allegedly nursed him back to health. Paul Bemis then did the unthinkable - he married her.

Christopher Corbett’s new book, The Poker Bride: The First Chinese in the Wild West, tells the harrowing true story of the Chinese immigrant experience during the latter part of the nineteenth century. He focuses primarily on women, most of whom were forced into prostitution by poverty in China.

Corbett explains how the mass flux of Chinese immigrants to the West coast occurred in the first place. News of gold in California in 1848 reached Hong Kong well before it reached the American East coast, since ships sailed across the Pacific much faster than the American Pony Express operated. Thus, Chinese immigrants hoping to reap rich rewards from “Gold Mountain,” as they called California, came pouring in throughout the 1800s.

Initially, Corbett explains, Americans welcomed the Chinese, viewing them as curiosities. But, as is the case with many immigrant histories, the Chinese were willing to work for low wages, which eventually instigated resentment among Americans. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Geary Act of 1892 effectively served to limit Chinese immigration and monitor Chinese residents who were already living in America.

The part of U.S. immigration law central to Corbett’s story was the addendum that Chinese wives could not join their husbands in America. Chinese as well as American men who had acquired gold wealth in California then sought the importation of Chinese prostitutes, who were able to circumvent immigration officers. Corbett describes the horrific conditions Chinese women faced in the sex trade. Many worked in what were called “cribs” or “hog ranches,” which were essentially curtained outhouses, where the women serviced several men in a single night. Most died from venereal diseases at a young age.

Polly Bemis’ experience, though very rare, was an astounding immigrant success story. She worked as a nurse for some time, and she also ran a boarding house before retiring on a ranch with her husband.

Thoroughly researched, Corbett’s book is filled with both primary and contemporary sources. He extensively cites scholarly works on the subject of Chinese immigration, as well as news articles and personal accounts of those who lived during Bemis’ time.

More info:

• See the New York Times review of Poker Bride.
• See the Wall Street Journal’s review.
• For more reviews of recently published books related to American history, visit 1776’s book review page.
• View 1776’s updated monthly lists of new American history books.

This guest post is contributed by Pamelia Brown, who writes on the topics of associates degree. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: pamelia.brown@gmail.com.

Let me know if you would like to contribute to 1776 as well.

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There is a tempting sale on iTunes right now, thanks to President’s Day. A&E is offering The Presidents (iTunes link) for $0.99 per episode on the iTunes Store through February 23rd (Tuesday). If you buy the whole season, instead of individual episodes, you only pay $6.99.

The Presidents is an 8-part series covering George Washington to George W. Bush. Each episode is 45 minutes.

A&E has also generously offered to giveaway a set of The Presidents on DVD to the readers of this website. So, I’ll make this really easy. To win the DVDs, email me or leave a comment on this post. I will draw a name for the winner.

Get your name to me before 10pm (central) Sunday, February 21st. I will notify the winner on Monday. That leaves plenty of time to download the sale episodes on iTunes if you don’t win.

Update - the contest has closed and the winner was notified.

The Presidents (iTunes link)
The Presidents (Amazon link)

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Recently I found the website Free History Books. There you can find history books in PDF format.

One of the recent features was The Photographic History of the Civil War, Volume 1.

This is the beginning of a ten volume set from 1911. The series presents thousands of Civil War photographs. All ten volumes are available through Google Books. Take a look.

• Volume 1: The Opening Battles
• Volume 2: Two Years of Grim War
• Volume 3: The Decisive Battles
• Volume 4: The Cavalry
• Volume 5: Forts and Artillery
• Volume 6: The Navies
• Volume 7: Prisons and Hospitals
• Volume 8: Soldier Life, Secret Service
• Volume 9: Poetry and Eloquence of Blue and Gray
• Volume 10: Armies and Leaders

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• The Boston Globe and The Wall Street Journal both reviewed Flight From Monticello: Thomas Jefferson at War.




• The Massachusetts Historical Society has launched a web exhibition called Silence Dogood: Benjamin Franklin in The New-England Courant.




• Civil War Books and Authors reviewed Years of Change and Suffering: Modern Perspectives on Civil War Medicine.




• My Adventures in History gave her Top Five Recommended History Podcasts. I listen to a couple of them (Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History and BackStory with the American History Guys), so I’ll have to check out the others soon.




• Now, check out the trailer for the new HBO miniseries - The Pacific:

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Libby Prison Breakout: The Daring Escape from the Notorious Civil War Prison

By Joseph Wheelan
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As If an Enemy’s Country: The British Occupation of Boston and the Origins of Revolution

By Richard Archer
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American Cicero: The Life of Charles Carroll

By Bradley J. Birzer
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To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West

By Mark Lee Gardner
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As If an Enemy’s Country: The British Occupation of Boston and the Origins of Revolution
By Richard Archer

In this book, Richard Archer tells the story of the armed occupation of Boston by the British.

After resistance to the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, and the Townshend Acts, Britain sent ships of soldiers to Boston to maintain order. From 1768 to 1770, the British occupation had Bostonians and Britains and each other’s throats. This occupation created the rebellious sentiment that fueled a revolution.

The story follows reactions of political leaders and the general public. The colonists obviously resented the soldiers’ presence. On the other side, British military didn’t like being stationed among people who disliked and disrespected them. Fights and insults were commonplace between residents and soldiers. The rising anger and resentment eventually led to the famous massacre on King Street (shown on the cover using Paul Revere’s famous print).

Archer has done a great job describing Boston, the tension in the people, and the way the tragedy unfolds.

I blazed through this concise account of pre-war Boston, and I recommend it to anyone interested in the events leading up to the American Revolution.

More info:

• Richard Archer is also the author of Fissures in the Rock: New England in the Seventeenth Century.
• As If An Enemy’s Country was published in February 2009 by Oxford University Press.
• See the book on Amazon.

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The Two Hendricks: Unraveling a Mohawk Mystery

By Eric Hinderaker
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The Making of African America: The Four Great Migrations

By Ira Berlin
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Americans in Paris: Life and Death Under Nazi Occupation

By Charles Glass
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Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State

By Garry Wills
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