Best books I read in 2008 Part 2

Most of my history reading in 2008 involved the history of science, but my attention was also drawn to the American revolutionary period and a couple of good, new books: Patriot Battles: How the War of Independence Was Fought, by Michael Stephenson (2008) and Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different, by Gordon S. Wood (2007). They’re the kind of books I’d recommend to my mother in law. Don’t laugh; that’s a compliment. She’s a critical reader and a real history hound. In fact, I think I did recommend them to my mother in law.

Revolutionary Characters did a little Psych 101 on the founding fathers, most of which was unmemorable. But the thing that made the whole book worthwhile was the concept of character. The ideal gentleman of the 18th Century was so disinterested (look it up) that he would drive himself broke to avoid even the faint appearance of feeding at the public trough. There’s a great story about Washington (colonial America’s biggest landholder, one of the biggest slave holders, an avid land speculator) who agonized about taking a gift of stock after he was no longer president because it might smirch his reputation. You quickly realize when reading this book what’s missing in our current leaders (and ourselves).

Patriot Battles is military history and really good military history. It debunks many a grade school myth about the War for Independence, making it clear that both armies were well matched in terms of arms and tactics. The biggest surprise was how tiny the armies were. No bigger than 20,000, more likely 5,000. 35 years later Napoleon invaded Russia with 100,000.

Final judgement: Patriot Battles was interesting, but ultimately it was just about then. Revolutionary Characters was uneven, but it did provide one big insight about now.