I read a lot in 2019. Finally feeling recovered from the forced reading required of me during my undergraduate degree, and armed with my library card and the Libby app, I made reading for pleasure one of my main hobbies last year. That said, some of it was better than others. I’m going to break down my favorite books of the last year, highlighting some that I have not previously written blog posts on.
5. Catch Me If You Can – Frank William Abagnale Jr.
This book was a joy to read. From start to finish I was entranced by Frank Abagnale’s ability to ooze charisma, much in the same way his victims found themselves entranced. I had never even seen the movie adaptation before starting the book, and going in blind helped a lot. From the nail biting close calls with the authorities, to the funnier stunts pulled on unsuspecting service people, the book basically reads itself. Beyond just being enjoyable, the book also gives the reader an interesting look into the world of 1960’s airliner operations, as well as a horrifying glimpse at French prisons. I actually didn’t believe the story about his time in French prison until I looked into the issue further. Turns out southern Europeans basically haven’t changed the way they treat inmates since the 19th century. Yikes.
4. Lost to the West – Lars Brownworth
Anyone who knows me well is aware of my affinity for high quality history podcasts. So when I found this book at the library, I was intrigued to learn the author had a long running podcast on the same subject. Despite my issues with some of the wording of his thesis, I felt that Brownworth did an excellent job arguing for the historical significance of the Byzantine Empire.
For so much of my education, I felt like the instant a course covered the 6th century, suddenly the focus was shifted to the English channel and away from the Mediterranean. This is done to provide context for the rising Western European powers who will dominate the early modern period. However, the bleeding edge of technology, trade, culture and administration was still in the Mediterranean. Any good book on the Venetian Republic can convince you of this, but often the Italians like to ignore the presence of the Byzantine state’s influence. To better understand late-Antiquity and much of the Middle Ages, the Byzantine empire is where one must turn. From the Christianizing of the pagan European kingdoms, to the Islamic invasion of the Mediterranean, and finally the rise of the Turks in the east, all is contextualized well via the viewing point of the Byzantines. It is no accident that the beginning of the early modern period is often marked as the fall of Constantinople and end of the Byzantine Empire in 1453.
3. Kitchen Confidential – Anthony Bourdain
For a long time I felt like I was the only person in the world who hadn’t read this book. In 2018, I actually purchased a copy of the book for my mother as a Christmas gift, only to have her inform me she had read it over a decade ago. Well, better late than never I suppose, and I certainly can understand why the book has the popularity it does.
For as long as I can remember, I have been a very picky eater. It was definitely a childhood deficiency that was allowed to fester, and now I find myself as an adult trying to play catch up to so many different types of food. Bourdain’s book makes me envy the naturally culinary-adventurous-types. His story of going to Japan and eating anything put in front of him made me both excited and a little squeamish while reading. Still, the book is mesmerizing. Having worked in kitchens for a few years, Bourdain’s antics line up with the sort of people I met in the restaurant business. It was funny, it was touching, and it was damn interesting.
2. Searching for Black Confederates – Kevin M. Levin
If you pick up just one of the books I’ve listed here, make sure its this one. The book explores the role of African Americans in the Confederate army, and how Lost Cause revisionism has distorted the South’s own history. I was particularly interested in the affect of entering free states on Confederate armies, who suddenly had to face the fact that their impressed slaves were not particularly loyal to their cause. The sections on Civil War Reunions in the early-20th century, and the few ex-slaves who attended these events was also very enlightening. Levin contrasts these events well with Neo-Confederate black tokenism in the 21st century. The meat of the book was less than 200 pages, and I felt like he covered a ton of ground in a very readable text. This is one of the best works of scholarship I’ve read in a long time. It uses many rich primary sources and keeps the text short and to the point. Rarely do works of history come out this polished and focused.
I actually had the opportunity to go see the author speak at the Royall House Museum, and was pleased to have the subject presented with more visual aides and question-and-answer time. Levin is an excellent writer and speaker, and I encourage everyone to give him a follow on Twitter.
1. What Hath God Wrought – Daniel Walker Howe
At the start of the year if you had told me that my number 1 book was going to be a part of the ‘Oxford History of the United States’ I would have been pretty skeptical. I’ve never been much of an Americanist, usually more interested in reading ancient and global histories. That being said, this book is definitely the opposite of my #2, in that it is long, covers multiple eras and weaves together social, economic and political history. For that reason, I almost didn’t make this book my #1, but the way Howe weaves it all together is too good to ignore.
Often times, early-American history is taught in a highly sectionalized manner. We’re taught the revolution, then perhaps a word or two about the Missouri Compromise and Jacksonian ‘democracy’, and then things are quickly moved on to the Mexican-American War and the looming Civil War. What Hath God Wrought, absolutely throws this cookie-cutter history into the dumpster. We’re presented a detailed look at life in America at the turn of the 18th century and its slow evolution towards being a continent spanning empire. Howe’s focus is on the ‘communications revolution’ of this period, and how the vast distances of North American shrank as rail and telegraph technology emerged.
This book feels so relevant to understanding how America went from its apocryphally plucky, start-up republic to the continent spanning state we live in today. The reader watches the remaining founding fathers deal with the consequences of their new, untested constitution. Then the emergence of political parties, quickly fulfilling Washington’s worst prognostications for our republic. The book excellently describes our continued path towards becoming a settler-colonial empire. It pulls little punches, and how the South and West of the United States were created is told in all of their blood-soaked details.
If slavery was our central original sin, than this book shows just how hard we were willing to double down on slavery and other sins. The lurch towards imperial conquest and expansion into Mexico fittingly ends the work. I fully intend to read more of Howe’s writing, and consider this book to have significantly increased my interest in American scholarship.