Henry Louis Gates; Jr.; gives us a sumptuously illustrated landmark book tracing African American history from the arrival of the conquistadors to the election of Barack Obama. Informed by the latest; sometimes provocative scholarship and including more than seven hundred images—ancient maps; fine art; documents; photographs; cartoons; posters—Life Upon These Shores focuses on defining events; debates; and controversies; as well as the signal achievements of people famous and obscure. Gates takes us from the sixteenth century through the ordeal of slavery; from the Civil War and Reconstruction through the Jim Crow era and the Great Migration; from the civil rights and black nationalist movements through the age of hip-hop to the Joshua generation. By documenting and illuminating the sheer diversity of African American involvement in American history; society; politics; and culture; Gates bracingly disabuses us of the presumption of a single “black experience.†Life Upon These Shores is a book of major importance; a breathtaking tour de force of the historical imagination.
#33384 in Books 2012-04-03 2012-04-03Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.00 x .78 x 5.18l; .80 #File Name: 0307390683368 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Revolutionay GardenersBy P. CarleThis interesting book tells the stories of four patriots with emphasis on their gardening efforts in Virginia. The founding gardeners are George Washington; Thomas Jefferson; John Adams; and James Madison. There is also a fascinating section about the early development of a "City of Magnificent Intentions; Washington; D.C.The writing is direct although there are many very long sentences to trip up a naive reader. Once used to this style; it becomes easier. The author includes details about the lives of the founding fathers which suggest deep and thorough research. Details of place; conversation; and of many plants make the book fascinating. Colored pictures show the people and certain trees at their best.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Nature's Bonding for a Young AmericaBy carey robertsIn the prologue of this fascinating study of the inner lives of Washington; Adams; Jefferson and Madison; historian Wulf says that by carefully studying records; letters and diaries; she came to see "how vegetable plots; ornamental plants; landscapes and forests had played a crucial role in America's struggle for national identity and in the lives of our Founding Fathers.Wulf tells of Benjamin Franklin's early certainty that America's future rested on it's "endless horizons; fertile soil and floral abundance" - a belief; she states; "became the perfect articulation of a distant national identity - of a country that was young and strong."The author claims Washington; Adams; Jefferson and Madison felt the same and offers their stories and letters to prove it.Even as Washington struggled through the eight year ordeal of the Revolutionary War; his thoughts were constantly of his gardens; his fields and the wooded lands of Virginia. At the war's end; he wished to return to his life as a "farmer and plantsman".And; he did; throwing himself with passion into daily life as a "hands-on" gardener - an intellectual gardener; sending out seeds; acorns and thoughts on soil conservation; etc. He accepted the presidency with great reluctance.Jefferson would also serve as president but saw himself as "farmer; gardener and philosopher". Adams regarded himself as a farmer first; stating; "zeal at my Heart for my country" was the reluctant drive that kept him in politics. Jefferson in Paris and Adams in London were profoundly affected by English gardens. When the Adames returned home in 1788; Wolfe clims they packed "books; seeds and plant lists of American trees; shrubs and flowers discovered in English gardens" for use at home in Massachusetts.The Constitutional Congress of 1788 brought fifty-five delegates to Philadelphia; bound only by the Articles of Confedertation. Vicious disputes marked the convention. The tenuous bond between the delegates was that most were farmers or from a planter's background. Their uniting agreement was that the rich expanse of soil and the variety of possible plantings in this new land of theirs would allow personal livelihoods; individual state independence and a common commitment as a people.Wolfe moves from the national story to a detailed account of the first presidents' dedication to and involvement in their own lands; homes and gardens - Washington at Mount Vernon; Adams at Peacefield; Jefferson at Monticello and Madison at Montpelier.Well-described. Intimate details. Meticulously researched.A new favorite on my bookshelf.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. layers of meaning for both gardens and historyBy V. VesperThis is a very enjoyable and well-written book. It serves as a reminder that we too often view things without full consideration for the time and the people involved in their creation. I was initially surprised how many of the founding fathers were intensely interested in plants and gardening. I shouldn't have been. After all; they lived in an age when most people either farmed themselves (though the scale varied) or were; at the very least; still reliant on the farmers immediately around them. Disease-resistant crops which produced good yields were important to everyone. Shipping food long distances was not nearly as easy as it is today. And as a vast land with tremendous settlement opportunities (apologies to Native Americans; but this is how our founding fathers saw the continent); it seems painfully obvious that agriculture could be a way of not only existing but prospering and being economically independent.Beyond the economic value of crops; the native flora were a way of demonstrating the beauty of their new country. anyone passionately interested in crops for food; building; etc. would find it hard; I think; not to see the beauty in plants as well.The book gives a step by step account of many of the events surrounding the revolution and the first years of the United States' existence. Tied in to these events are the ongoing daily lives of the founding fathers; as they planned their farms and gardens. I think the book demonstrates well that if we ignore this side of their personal history; we miss a fundamential portion of why the country developed as it did.
