American Revolution from A to Z (American Revolution, history)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: American Revolution from A to Z

WEB ADDRESS: http://americanrevolutionfromatoz.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Every book every written about the American Revolutionary War will be presented in this blog (eventually), with a description of the book as given in the front or backmatter, the table of contents, list of photographs, list of maps and so on.

The purpose of this blog is to aid the researcher to find information of all kinds on the war in question, from the people involved in it to events on a daily basis, in a fast and efficient manner.

This is one of the Military Blogs "From A to Z" series from Miniscule Guides. Also part of this series are the Vietnam War from A to Z, WWII from A to Z, WWI from A to Z, The War on Terror from A to Z, and the Korean War from A to Z.

MY REVIEW: This is one of a series of American history blogs - this one focuses on the American Revolution. What's covered here is news articles - from the present day - talking about the Revolution, as well as a chronology of the war.

If you're interested in American history, you'll enjoy this blog.

RECENT POSTS:
--Wineka column: Hercules of the Revolution
--Civil War vs. Revolution: A Rhetorical Shift?
--Revolutionary War events featured this weekend
--Concord ceremony honoring Revolution canceled amid...
--Exhibit looks at the King James Version's role in ...
--Morristown National Historical Park to host "Revol...
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Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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Check out the following blogs:
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Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
Rush Limbaugh Report

Miniscule Guide to the American Civil War (Civil War, Military, History)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Miniscule Guide to the American Civil War, by Caroline Miniscule

WEB ADDRESS: http://minisculeguidetothecivilwar.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: In this blog I give a chronology of the war on a day-by-day basis, share biographies of soldiers and civil-war era personalities, and share photos of the battlefields.

MY REVIEW: If you're interested in the American Civil War, this is the blog for you. It's covering the war chronologically from the first day to the last. Whenever a soldier, politician or civilian of import is mentioned in the text of each day's reports, a biography is also given, so that the reader gets a contemporary view of the action.

Highly recommended.

RECENT POSTS:
--James H. Carleton
--General Ormsby Mitchel
--15 April, 1862: Tuesday
--14 April, 1862: Monday
--13 April, 1862: Sunday
--12 April, 1862: Saturday (Great Locomotive Chase)
--11 April, 1862: Friday
--Union: Brig Gen Samuel Curtis
--10 April, 1862: Thursday
--9 April, 1862: Wednesday
--8 April, 1862: Wednesday
--Possible shutdown looms over Civil War 150th anniv...
--7 April 1862: Monday
--Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston

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Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
_______________________
Check out the following blogs:
Seaborn: Oceanography Blog
Star Trek Report: Space Sciences
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
Rush Limbaugh Report

John Brown Kin (American History)

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: John Brown Kin

WEB ADDRESS: http://johnbrownkin.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Follow a direct descendant of John Brown as she researches and documents her family history

MY REVIEW: I am more interested in the Civil War time period itself (the military battles) rather than the time period leading up to it, when diplomacy ultimately failed and "cold iron" was necessary to settle the question. Nevertheless, it's fascinating to read about the people of that time period, and what they were willing to sacrfice for their beliefs.

This is a well-written blog, with an author who knows her stuff. Obviously, since she is a descendant of John Brown. Anyone with an interest to the time period leading up to the Civil War, and anyone interested in genealogy, will find this blog of interest.

A FEW PARAGRAPHS FROM A SAMPLE POST

At the John Brown Remembered Academic Symposium held at Harpers Ferry, WV in October 2009, I had the pleasure of meeting Ian Barford. Ian is an actor, documentary film maker, and the proud father of twins! Last week, Ian traveled to Texas to do interviews for the documentary he is currently working on about John Brown. He traveled to Austin first to interview my good friend Evan Carton, author of Patriotic Treason. He then drove up to Allen to interview me. While he was here I showed him my prized family artifact - Oliver Brown's Bible that he carried throughout his years in Kansas.

The Bible is small, 2 1/2 inches x 3 1/2 inches and just over an inch thick. Just the right size to be carried in an inside pocket of a wool overcoat. The cover is black leather embossed with an ornate design. On the spine, the words Holy Bible are embossed in gold. For a book that is over one hundred sixty years old, the binding is realitively tight, the cover only slightly torn.

On the inside back cover the following is written in pencil, in an ornate old-timey script:

This Bible was carried all through the Kansas troubles by Oliver Brown.
On the left hand inside back page is written the name of the original owner of the Bible, Oliver Brown, in ink and in a beautiful calligraphic hand.

But it is what can be found on the front inside cover that makes this Bible so valuable to me personally -- in pencil, written over and over again, in the handwriting of a young girl perfecting her signature, is the name Annie Brown. It makes me smile to think of young Annie, my great-great grandmother, scrounging around for a piece of paper to practice her penmanship on, and noticing a clean white space inside the cover of big brother's Bible. The temptation was more than she could resist. I imagine that she got into a great deal of trouble when it was discovered that she used the inside cover of the Lord's word for her penmanship practice.

Annie had the Bible in her possession when she moved to California in 1863, and it is one of the items that escaped the fire that distroyed her house and most of her belonging in 1896. Annie passed the Bible to her granddaughter Beatrice Cook Keesey, my grandmother.

RECENT ARTICLES:
-Join Me at the 2010 DFW Writer's Conference in April (FEb 19, 2010)
-2010 Winter GeneaBloggers Olymics Update (Awarding herself medals of appropriate colors for things she's accomplished on her blog - very amusing!) (Feb 18 2010)
-Tarantino to Free the Slaves Next? (Not happy about Tarantino's plan to film a movie about John Brown, given his penchant for violence in his films) (Feb 18, 2010)
-Letter from CORE - Letter to Gov to save John Brown Farm (Feb 17, 2010)
-Winter 2010 GeneaBloggers Olympic Games (Participating in the "Olympics' with other geneolocgical bloggers (Feb 14, 2010)