Merry Christmas!
May your family be well this holiday.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Paul Revere's Ride
Paul Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fischer - Of all of the accounts of the American Revolution, this is by far the best one I've read. Until you've read this book, you'll have no idea how key a role Paul Revere actually played in the battles of Lexington and Concord. You'll also find out how extremely organized the network of militia and volunteers really were. You'll also learn how carefully the British and Americans regarded property rights and personal freedoms.
This is a great read that, despite its size, will fly by quickly and leave you wishing there were more. Highly recommended!
This is a great read that, despite its size, will fly by quickly and leave you wishing there were more. Highly recommended!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Trails of the White Savages
Trails of the White Savages by Gary Wiles & Delores Brown
This is one of the best history books I've ever read. I swear. It's about the Scots-Irish outcasts which Ben Franklin branded "White Savages," who became the trail blazers, warriors, and leaders of early 1800s America. It tells the stories of Andrew Jackson, Sam Houston, Kit Carson, Davy Crockett, Joe Walker, Ewing Young, and more.
This is one of the most vivid history books I've ever read. The portions dealing with Davy Crockett are written as a Tennesseer back-woodsman would speak and tell a "powerful lot" in the process. You become the right-hand of Davy Crockett, seeing his career as a politician in new light and his ultimate ejection from the US House of Representatives for what it really was: him acting under his own conscience ("Be sure you're right, then go ahead." was his motto) and getting villified for it.
The tale of Andrew Jackson (dubbed "Sharp Knife" by the Indians and "Old Hickory" by the Americans) is no less riveting. He carried two bullets in his body for most of his adult life, a product of two of his sixteen total duels of honor. His health plagued him throughout his life, but his iron will and determination kept him from the sick bed and death. He has the honor of being the only American president to rid the nation of debt and keep us debt-free during his entire tenure. I wish someone today could enter the office and do the same...
Others portrayed in the book, such as Sam Houston (founder of Texas, many say, and who was also plagued by a festering leg wound received during his service under Gen. Jackson), are shown intimately and in their true light. Joseph Walker, well-known trapper and mountain man who is credited with restoring the Old Spanish Trail to California and with leading Capt. Bonneville on his historic mission across the US to Oregon (founding several forts and acting secretly as a spy for the US govt.).
This is a truly great book of American history and should be read by anyone interested in the early years of our nation's development. The so-called "White Savages" are shown as the trail blazers and leaders that they were in a time when that was what the nation needed most.
This is one of the best history books I've ever read. I swear. It's about the Scots-Irish outcasts which Ben Franklin branded "White Savages," who became the trail blazers, warriors, and leaders of early 1800s America. It tells the stories of Andrew Jackson, Sam Houston, Kit Carson, Davy Crockett, Joe Walker, Ewing Young, and more.
This is one of the most vivid history books I've ever read. The portions dealing with Davy Crockett are written as a Tennesseer back-woodsman would speak and tell a "powerful lot" in the process. You become the right-hand of Davy Crockett, seeing his career as a politician in new light and his ultimate ejection from the US House of Representatives for what it really was: him acting under his own conscience ("Be sure you're right, then go ahead." was his motto) and getting villified for it.
The tale of Andrew Jackson (dubbed "Sharp Knife" by the Indians and "Old Hickory" by the Americans) is no less riveting. He carried two bullets in his body for most of his adult life, a product of two of his sixteen total duels of honor. His health plagued him throughout his life, but his iron will and determination kept him from the sick bed and death. He has the honor of being the only American president to rid the nation of debt and keep us debt-free during his entire tenure. I wish someone today could enter the office and do the same...
Others portrayed in the book, such as Sam Houston (founder of Texas, many say, and who was also plagued by a festering leg wound received during his service under Gen. Jackson), are shown intimately and in their true light. Joseph Walker, well-known trapper and mountain man who is credited with restoring the Old Spanish Trail to California and with leading Capt. Bonneville on his historic mission across the US to Oregon (founding several forts and acting secretly as a spy for the US govt.).
This is a truly great book of American history and should be read by anyone interested in the early years of our nation's development. The so-called "White Savages" are shown as the trail blazers and leaders that they were in a time when that was what the nation needed most.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Boston's Gun Bible
Retro Review: Boston's Gun Bible by Boston T. Party - This book is nothing short of awesome! It's great stuff from beginning to end and you'll hardly notice it's somewhere around a thousand pages thick! Boston manages to cover all aspects of the battle rifle, basic defensive pistol use, battle carbines, and more.
Boston's huge amount of experience and field use of these weapons really shows through and the data and rankings of those rifles is spot on. He goes into a lot of things that many of those who are considered "gun nuts" miss and makes fun of one of my favorite kinds of person: the over-accessorizer; the guy who has a fine rifle and then fills it up with extra grips, a too-large scope, an integral bipod, laser pointer, interchangeable buttstock, etc., etc... Yet can't hit a fifty-cent grouping at 50 yards...
Boston also includes a lot of great political commentary and information. He gives (no doubt accurate) predictions of what the lobbyists and gun-grabbers will go for next and how they'll succeed first in the near future. He explains definitively why we need to be armed and TRAINED in those arms to effectively defend our nation, way of life, and especially our liberty.
By far one of the most informed patriots and easily one of our nation's most learned gun nuts, Boston is worth listening to.
I don't care who you are, you need a copy of this book! Get one now!
Boston's huge amount of experience and field use of these weapons really shows through and the data and rankings of those rifles is spot on. He goes into a lot of things that many of those who are considered "gun nuts" miss and makes fun of one of my favorite kinds of person: the over-accessorizer; the guy who has a fine rifle and then fills it up with extra grips, a too-large scope, an integral bipod, laser pointer, interchangeable buttstock, etc., etc... Yet can't hit a fifty-cent grouping at 50 yards...
Boston also includes a lot of great political commentary and information. He gives (no doubt accurate) predictions of what the lobbyists and gun-grabbers will go for next and how they'll succeed first in the near future. He explains definitively why we need to be armed and TRAINED in those arms to effectively defend our nation, way of life, and especially our liberty.
By far one of the most informed patriots and easily one of our nation's most learned gun nuts, Boston is worth listening to.
I don't care who you are, you need a copy of this book! Get one now!
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