Book Review: ‘Flora Macdonald,’ by Flora Fraser
Since her daring mission in 1746, Flora Macdonald has lived on in myth. A new biography by Flora Fraser attempts to sort fact from fiction.
Book Review: ‘The Deluge,’ by Stephen Markley
As catastrophe approaches, Stephen Markley’s “The Deluge” considers its many facets.
Book Review: ‘Ghost Season,’ by Fatin Abbas
“Ghost Season,” by Fatin Abbas, follows five characters in a border town surrounded by conflict.
The Last Campaign: Sherman, Geronimo and the War for America
unCovered review by Frank Tomasello, ACLS Mays Landing Branch
The treatment of Native Americans has been a contentious subject since well before the founding of the United States as a nation. In THE LAST CAMPAIGN: SHERMAN, GERONIMO AND THE WAR FOR AMERICA, author H. W. Brands approaches the subject objectively and makes clear that it is more complex than is often portrayed. He points out early on that all peoples who ever occupied North America came as immigrants and many of the Native Americans encountered by the first Europeans in America had engaged in forcibly displacing prior inhabitants. In fact, Geronimo himself had been at war with Mexicans who had killed most of his family long before he gave any thought to the Americans.
This sad chapter of American history can be distilled down to a clash of completely incompatible lifestyles. The Native Americans lived a highly efficient but nomadic lifestyle, while white society was developing a technological and urban society. Brands points out that one is not necessarily superior to the other but each has its own merits. Although atrocities certainly occurred on both sides, the policy of the United States never embraced genocide of the Native population as is popularly thought.
The development of the West had to wait for the outcome of the Civil War and the long Reconstruction afterward so the clash of lifestyles didn’t come in earnest until that time. US policy toward the Natives was thus fashioned by men who had just destroyed the corrupt Southern aristocracy lifestyle and saw the “containment” of the Natives to reservations as less drastic than what happened to the South, opening the West to its inevitable development. On the other hand, the Natives were firm in the belief that the land had been given to them by God and to relinquish any of it was a betrayal of their God. To the Natives, it was all or nothing. To the white population, the reservation system was a fair compromise, especially given that a sizeable portion of the Native population seemingly embraced white society once exposed to it. In the end, technology and the sheer number of white settlers overwhelmed the Natives. Some chose to fight to the death; some accepted the inevitable and tried to assimilate into white culture.
Though the title of the book mysteriously singles out Sherman and Geronimo, neither make up a significant part of the book, which examines several tribal leaders as well as American politicians and Army officials. Brands does a good job in presenting a controversial topic in a fair and objective and highly readable manner. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to learn more about this subject.
Book Review: ‘The Wandering Mind: What Medieval Monks Tell Us About Distraction,’ by Jamie Kreiner
In “The Wandering Mind,” the historian Jamie Kreiner shows that the struggle to focus is not just a digital-age blight but afflicted even those who spent their lives in seclusion and prayer.
Review: ‘The Bandit Queens,’ by Parini Shroff
In Parini Shroff’s debut novel, “The Bandit Queens,” a group of wives get the ultimate revenge on their no-good husbands.
Book Review: ‘The Edge of the Plain,’ by James Crawford
In “The Edge of the Plain,” the journalist James Crawford asks whether good fences really do make good neighbors.
Book Review: ‘Still Pictures: On
The celebrated journalist's brief final book, “Still Pictures,” may well be her most personal, assembling photographs and vignettes of her family, friends and childhood as an immigrant to America.
Where Adventurous, Curious Women Rule
In three new historical novels, female protagonists defy odds and push limits.
Review: ‘Small World,’ by Laura Zigman
In her new novel, “Small World,” Laura Zigman explores the long shadows cast by grief.
Book review: “The Prisoner and the Writer,” by Heather Camlot and Sophie Casson
On the 125th anniversary of “J’Accuse,” a picture book for older kids places the lives of Alfred Dreyfus and Émile Zola side by side.
Book Review: “Mr. Lincoln Sits for His Portrait: The Story of a Photograph That Became an American Icon,” by Leonard S. Marcus
Our 16th president, an early adopter of his era’s newest technology, has a lot in common with today’s Instagram and TikTok stars.
9 New Books We Recommend This Week
Suggested reading from critics and editors at The New York Times.
Book Review: ‘Age of Vice,’ by Deepti Kapoor
In Deepti Kapoor’s cinematic novel, a young man from the provinces falls in with a powerful crime syndicate.
Leigh Bardugo Is Wary of Imposing Limits on Young Readers
“I think they actually have a pretty good barometer of what they can handle,” says the fantasy novelist, whose new book is “Hell Bent,” “and will happily set a book aside when it starts to go places they don’t want to go.”
What Does a Midlife Autism Diagnosis Mean for Matt Haig?
Soon after “The Midnight Library” became a best seller, the British author learned something about himself.
Leigh Bardugo Is Wary of Imposing Limits on Young Readers
“I think they actually have a pretty good barometer of what they can handle,” says the fantasy novelist, whose new book is “Hell Bent,” “and will happily set a book aside when it starts to go places they don’t want to go.”
Newly Published, From Triptych Poems to Boston’s Black Workers
A selection of recently published books.
Review: ‘Sam,’ by Allegra Goodman
In “Sam,” Allegra Goodman provides a sweeping yet intimate view of the challenges and triumphs of growing up.
Book Review: ‘The New Life,’ by Tom Crewe
In his debut novel, “The New Life,” Tom Crewe reimagines the lives of two pioneers who studied, and supported, homosexuality in 19th-century England.
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