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The Daily Dose/July 15, 2011
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around The Human Experience...
CAPSULE BOOK REVIEW: Eyewitness To America: 500 Years of America In The Words Of Those Who Saw It Happen, edited by David Colbert: Regular readers of this crap will recall we did a rare in-game capsule review of this book last month. This was because the book is so big, about 550 pages hardback, and we are such leisurely readers, we didn't want anyone thinking were slacking off on our personal reading.
Yay: We finally finished it. At the time of the prior review, we were at the Civil War, and it took us five weeks to read the rest, which was about 300 pages.
Back On Message: As noted, Eyewitness To America is a collection of firsthand accounts of assorted events in the history of this nation, from the very beginnings of European settlement - Columbus landing at what was probably the Bahamas in October, 1492 - straight through to someone excitedly exchanging email with Bill Gates in 1993. The accounts are taken from a variety of sources, including diaries, memoirs, newspaper accounts and personal correspondence.
The book is compelling, and we found it riveting reading personal accounts of landmark events, like the stock market crash of October, 1929 and Colonel Paul Tibbets' account of the dropping of the first atomic bomb to Rosa Parks telling us in her own words why she didn't give up her seat on the bus.
We've All Been There, Scott: Less momentous, but rather poignant, was F. Scott Fitzgerald's simple announcement of his reduced circumstances:
I am living very cheaply.
USA! USA! The most moving part was reading the behind-the-scenes accounts of man's first landing on Mars in 1989.
Psych! We're funnin' you. That section wasn't included in the book because we've never put anyone on Mars. There was a section from Neil Armstrong chronicling his time spent on the Moon, though.
Standard Internet Disclaimer: Though Gaylon is rather well read he is not Einstein for Pete's sake and is not a professional book reviewer. Reviews are based on his own personal tastes, are completely subjective and not measured against established literary standards. He has a habit of re-reading selected favorites and books that were published as early as the 20th century.
We Interrupt This Program For A Word From The Ratings Department: Following Is The Official Writer's Shack Capsule Review Rating scale:
EX - Excellent; as good as the medium can produce in every respect.
VG - Very Good. Well worth your time.
GD - Good. More or less worth your time.
AR - All Right. Not completely without merit.
SP - Nothing of substance; a steaming pile, utterly without merit.
Final Rating: VG. This is not for a casual student of history, however, if you have more than a passing interest in history, you will probably enjoy this book because history books - and I know this will surprise you - do not always tell the whole story. From first hand accounts of Columbus first landing in the New World to a reporter's first realization that something was not right with the space shuttle Challenger, Eyewitness To America is very difficult to put down.
UH, WHO HIRED HIM? Ralph Waldo Emerson scandalizes the Protestants by saying Jesus may not have been God and that we shouldn't get too worked up over miracles in a speech to Harvard Divinity School graduates on this date in 1838.
Known as the Divinity School Speech, it's pretty thoughtful, though rather dry. We know, because we read it. If it was given today, it wouldn't cause a stir and would probably put half the audience to sleep.
But in 1838 it caused a stir, even though it is mainly a fairly dull philosophical talk. Of its 7,333 words, the word 'God' is used less than three dozen times.
"One Is Constrained To Respect The Perfection Of This World": Emerson starts off light, blabbing about the perfection and beauty of nature.
"But When The Mind Opens": He gets down to brass tacks in the second paragraph:
What am I? and What is? asks the human spirit with a curiosity new-kindled, but never to be quenched.
Still though, no hint that anything earth shattering is coming up. And why should there be? The six (out of seven) Divinity School graduates were being addressed by a man who himself was a former minister. It was a Sunday evening, and the graduates were probably looking forward to dinner and wondering where the heck they were going to find a job.
Maybe God Is Actually Us: Emerson goes on to chat about virtue. Then, when everybody is about settle in for a nap, he starts trotting out the heavy artillery:
The intuition of the moral sentiment is an insight of the perfection of the laws of the soul. These laws execute themselves…If a man is at heart just, then in so far is he God;
"All Things Proceed Out Of The Same Spirit, And All Things Conspire With It": There are probably several ways on interpreting the next passage, but Emerson might well be suggesting that - the long march of religion notwithstanding - man, deep inside, has probably long suspected he is in this existence alone:
These facts have always suggested to man the sublime creed, that the world is not the product of manifold power, but of one will, of one mind; and that one mind is everywhere active...
"That Is Always Best Which Gives Me To Myself.": Emerson suggests that all this virtue leads man to "the religious sentiment", from which has evolved organized religion, which he is not entirely thrilled with because, as he sees it, it forces man to lean too much on the miracles of Jesus, as opposed to being guided primarily by his own moral intuition.
Go In Peace, Serve The Lord: He ends by imploring the new graduates to become a new breed of teacher, who can open their minds and see that the moral sentiment and the religious sentiment go together.
Thought For The Day: I think this is the end of the war. - Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, US Air Force, pilot of the aircraft that dropped the first atomic bomb.
The Trivia feature will return.
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