Brian Andersen > Recent Status Updates

Getting a little more insight on the spiritualism via some unrelated court testimony by Tennie. She claims to believe in it yet admits some "humbuggery". Also getting a different view of Harriet Beecher Stowe who seems to slander the sisters in a serial. The unflattering fictional character Dacia resembles Victoria and/or Tennie in many ways. I never really thought of this factionalism in the suffrage movement.

I love this book but I'm not getting a good sense if Victoria and Tennie really believed in their spiritualism or if they knew it was a racket. I also feel the author is skirting some issues in regard to their possible drug use and prostitution. Maybe Gabriel addresses some of this later. Nonetheless Woodhull is an impressive progressive figure in history and this is a very easy and engaging read.

I'm not sure I like this book. I think the writing is sloppy and repetitive. I'm not sure if I like the non chronological presentation either. So far a 1/4 of the way through the book, he doesn't even really mention St. Clair's Defeat by name or even provide a general overview. He mainly sings praise of St. Clair's lineage and character. I agree St Clair's image may need revisiting but this is overkill.

The author asserts that Newport Tower in Rhode Island dates to the 1300s and was built by a Scottish Templar ancestor of St. Clair named Henry Sinclair after an alleged pre-Columbian voyage to North America. This is all an unproven fringe theory that he states as fact. 1990s Carbon dating & other 19th & 20th century investigation of the mortar dates it to the mid 1600s. This makes me suspicious of his other research.

I'm enjoying this book more than I expected. There are some weird type correction issues with this edition. Also this was written in the 1980s and uses some terms like squaw that are now considered offensive. Blue Jacket is described as a white man but that was not fully disproven until the 1990s. Nevertheless despite all this it is highly entertaining and well written.

I want to like this book. However I've seen some typos. Page 25 says 1972. This should be 1792. A sentence on page 16 implies the area would be called the Old Northwest. Historically yes, once the NW US was settled but in Harrison's time it was called the Northwest Territory. Very distracting.

I've found my new favorite author. Humor and history. Perfect.

Great book on a fascinating and overlooked individual in American history!