The Pioneers by David McCullough

Title:  The Pioneers

Author: David McCullough

Read by:  John Bedford Lloyd

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audio

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 24 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Shuster Audio.  Thank-you!

The Pioneers is an interesting story of the settlement of a community in the Northwest Territory.  After the end of the Revolutionary War, a group of men got together and created the Northwest Ordinance to start settlement of the vast territory that was ceded from Great Britain.  This territory included Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois. 

The Pioneers mostly centers the story on the first settlement in Ohio, Marietta, through the eyes of early pioneers including Massachusetts minister Manasseh Cutler, Revolutionary War veteran Rufus Putnam, and Manasseh’s son, Ephraim.  They had early struggles and then built their community.  Manasseh helped pave the way for slavery not to be in the north by ensuring that slavery was not allowed in the formation of the State of Ohio.

I would by lying if I didn’t state that I was most fascinated by the section of this book on Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett.  Harman was an Irish nobleman who built a grand estate on an island in the Ohio River near Marietta.  While their marriage seemed perfect, the two had fled from Ireland to conceal the fact that Margaret was indeed Harman’s niece!  Harman got involved with disgraced ex-Vice President and murderer of Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr in a treasonous plot.  Harman was soon fled from the federal government and their estate was taken over and later burned to the ground.  They never were able to come back again for the rest of their live.  I looked them up after reading this book and the estate has been reconstructed by West Virginia government as the Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park.  I’m filing this away with my future road trip ideas.

While I was fascinated by that segment of the story, in truth, I was overall disappointed in the direction of this book.  I thought it was going to focus on the actual pioneers that settled the Northwest, and not just include the long history of Marietta, Ohio.  I wanted more on the actual pioneer experience of traveling and the early settlement. I found it strange that the Native Americans in the area were not much included in the book.  I think if the title of the book and blurb would have been different and I would have realized the direction of this book, I would not have been as disappointed.  It was an interesting look at the settlement of one town.

Narrator John Bedford Lloyd has the friendly conversational tone of a grandfather telling this story to his grandchildren.  It’s a close version of author David McCullough’s narrative style.  It was enjoyable to listen to.

Overall, The Pioneers is an interesting audiobook about the settlement of one town in Ohio, but I wish it would have had more detail about the pioneer experience in general in the Northwest territory.

The Wright Brothers by David McCullough

Title: The Wright Brothers

Author: David McCullough
Read by: David McCullough
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Length: 10 hours and 3 minutes
Source: Review Digital Audio from Simon & Schuster – Thanks!

I have been fascinated with the Wright brothers since I was a kid.  Who has not seen the film footage of the brothers flying and not been fascinated?  How could bicycle builders from Dayton Ohio solve the problem that humankind had been puzzling over for millennia?

David McCullough’s biography of the two Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, answers that question – perseverance and a naturally mechanical ability.  I was intrigued to learn about how Orville and Wilbur inherited their mechanical aptitude from their mother, Susan, who built them intricate toys and who tragically died young.  Wilbur was smart and outgoing with big plans to attend Yale until a hockey accident took out his front teeth and made him withdraw from society.  Wilbur and Orville built printing presses and bicycles, but soon became obsessed with flight.  Through massive research, tinkering, practice with gliders, and many tests using a wind tunnel, the brothers were able to finally solve the mystery of flight.  They also recorded everything each step of the way to help with improvements and to prove that they were the sole inventors of their aircraft.

Once their aircraft took off, the Wrights had problems proving they were legitimate.  Orville stayed behind in the United States to show the military what their plane could do while Wilbur traveled to France.  Both men became international superstars along with their sister Katherine.  Once the world saw that flight was possible, the limits were endless for what could be done.  Sadly the two were not businessmen and spent their time after this trying to defend their patents rather than in innovation and Wilbur died young.

My own Great-Grandfather, Ward Stone, was part of aviation in the 1920’s and it is family legend that he had a pilot’s license that was signed by Orville Wright.  After Ward’s death in the 1970’s, this artifact along with others disappeared with his young third wife.  Ward Stone opened that Stone Aircraft Company in Detroit in 1928, but the depression soon ended the fledging company.  He taught aviation at Case Technical School in Detroit and Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo (picture below)

I found this audiobook to be really interesting and shared the facts with my students and husband.  I loved that the author was the narrator of this novel, David McCullough sounds like a Grandfather telling you a story.

Overall, the Wright Brothers is an intriguing look at two aviation pioneers.

1776 by David McCullough

I finished 1776 by David McCullough over Thanksgiving weekend. It was my Kewaunee library book club pick for November. Our November meeting isn't until tomorrow though. We are a bit off due to not being able to get last month's book until late.

I like reading history books. This wasn't one of the top ones that I've read, but it was pretty good. It told the story of America's fight for Independence against the British focusing on the year 1776. It gave gripping portrayels of both George Washington and King George as leaders in a two-dimensional light. The parts I liked best though were the stories of the common men that fought the war and the women they left behind.

I had forgotten how much of the Revolutionary War was sitting around waiting for things to happen - and how much our victories were because of good luck. Interesting things I learned included the fact that there were a large number of African and Native Americans who fought the war on the American side. You don't see or hear about that at all really. Why didn't we think about granting them the equality and freedom that they were helping to fight for? I also had never thought about the problem of Loyalists. When the British fled Boston, they had to take a vast number of Loyalists with them, some of whom were third or more generation Americans. I think they later settled in Canada or moved back to England. New York City was something like 2/3 Loyalist, which made for great difficulty holding the city in rebel hands. I also didn't realize that American soldiers only signed up for one year and then would leave at the end or when they felt like it. Poor George Washington really had his hands full trying to keep things together!

As an environmental engineer, I was interested in how the British Army largely avoided sickness by following protocols for sewage disposal and clean drinking water versus the American Army that basically went to the bathroom everywhere and was largely sick most of the time. Very interesting. The British army had great engineers that helped with such problems, but these men were large unable to advance because they were not aristocrats. On the American side however, capable men were able to advance when they were young based on abilities. Therefore the Americans were able to get some of the best leaders of the war.

Another interesting tidbit was that the German and English soldiers were confused when they got to American on why the Americans were rebelling as they had it so good. I didn't realize that even in the 1700s, the American standard of living was much higher than the rest of the worlds.

This book was very interesting and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning about American History or the Revolutionary War.