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My latest podcast is up on the New Books Network website! In it, I interview Tom Chaffin about his history of the friendship between Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette. Enjoy!
My latest podcast is up on the New Books Network website! In it, I interview Tom Chaffin about his history of the friendship between Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette. Enjoy!
I have always loved history, probably because my father took me to every historical site he could find on our travels. As I listened to him tell the story of our ancestors to a group of tourists at our Antebellum home, I suddenly realized that he was weaving tales about my own blood line. Very soon after that I flew to Charleston, South Carolina and began my research. From that first of many trips, my Revolutionary Faith Series arrived.
Definitely among my favorite series to date, Marguerite Martin Gray’s Revolutionary Faith series belongs just as much to the attended upon than as to the smallest boy, stoking the patriotism of Americans then and now. As in the Colonial period in which events are heating up and hurtling toward war, I can’t help but notice parallels between the current Coronavirus pandemic. Both situations require us to come together as a nation, united under a common cause; in the case of the Revolutionary War, this is the first time that the colonies stand independently as one entity, a fact that never occurred to me until Louis realizes it in the book.
Book four, “Draw Me to Your Side”, represents the culmination of the rising action of South Carolina and the other colonies as war is declared and what will become known as the Revolutionary War begins. Louis Lestarjette commits fully to the patriot cause, which seems to be doomed from the beginning due to lack of resources and the might of the English King’s opposition. Looking back through history, it is easy to see the heroes and recognize the victories, but we tend to forget that those same brave patriots were living in the midst of great uncertainty, risking everything for the cause of freedom. This includes the women, too, both those carrying out dangerous missions and those caring for their homes and families. Elizabeth’s internal conflict about this demonstrates how much the unstable political environment has affected the colonies: “She may never understand the timing of her love for Louis, her marriage, and the births of her children. But she’d do the best she could as a faithful wife and mother.” This is one of the traits that I admire most about Elizabeth, however, and also about Louis: their ability to look beyond the present discomfort and conflict and see a positive resolution.
The Lestarjettes are a family whom I never grow tired of reading about, and their faith in God and love of country and each other is something that we should seek to emulate, a testament to the foundation of America as truly one nation under God. I hope that there will be more books to follow since the American Revolution is still raging at the conclusion of “Draw Me to Your Side.” There are a few discussion questions focused on Elizabeth and Louis, respectively, as well as a Revolutionary Faith short story entitled “A Heart’s Home (Jeanette’s Story)” at the end of this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through Celebrate Lit and was not required to post a favorable review. All opinions are my own.
Abba’s Prayer Warrior Princess, March 25
Bigreadersite, March 25
Blessed & Bookish, March 26
Older & Smarter?, March 27
Life, Love, Writing, March 27
Texas Book-aholic, March 28
Betti Mace, March 29
Stephanie’s Life of Determination, March 29
Inklings and notions, March 30
KarenSueHadley, March 31
For Him and My Family, April 1
Emily Yager, April 1
For the Love of Literature, April 2
Locks, Hooks and Books, April 3
deb’s Book Review, April 3
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, April 4
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, April 5
Pause for Tales, April 5
She Lives to Read, April 6
Book Bites, Bee Stings, & Butterfly Kisses, April 7
Back Porch Reads, April 7
Book: Skip
Task #1: Dreidel
I went with having all biographies or memoirs. My choices were:
Nun - Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revoluntionary by Anita Anand
Shin - Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper
Hei - Living and Dying in Brick City by Dr. Sampson Davis
Gimel - This Will Be My Undoing by Morgan Jenkins
On December 15, you spun the Dreidel and got a....
Gimel!
I will be reading This Will Be My Undoing come January 1st!
Task #2: Recipe for Latkes - uh we just fry up a Rosti latke packet, with applesauce on the side.
Task #3: Skip
Task #4: As a family, we have donated 10 cans to the school food drive in November and four more cans and four toys to the local food bank via the town's Tree Lighting ceremony on December 12th.
My latest podcast is up on the New Books Network website! In it, I interview Stephen R. Taaffe about his study of the roles played by the various generals of the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Enjoy!
I hope you don't get too sick of me posting reviews of books I had to complete for my course. I really did enjoy this one a lot. It had a lot of interesting facts and data/examples to show why helping others leads to win/win. It's hard out there if you are a manager and you have employees or bosses that are set to win and they want to make sure that you lose. Heck, I have to deal with agency officials at times that don't want to concede a point since that will be saying (to them at least) that they lost.
"Give and Take" starts off with Grant laying out a story about an investor and a man who had a great idea for a company (the investor's name was Hornik and the man who pitched an idea to him was named Shader). What I thought was interesting was that Shader felt uneasy since he thought that Hornik in a word was too nice. Hornik suggested he seek out other people and take his time. And Shader was worried that Hornik would spend too much time encouraging him instead of challenging him. Yes in the business world this is apparently bad.
From there, Grant breaks the rest of the book down into "takers" and "givers." I found out through my course work and feedback survey and other surveys I took am a giver. I am also a border crosser (means I go back and forth between groups and am a go to person to do that) and surprise surprise I am also more likely to hit burnout. And in fact my one instructor read through all of my surveys and gave me feedback that I am close now. This book really was eye opening to me that you can be a "giver" and not be taken advantage of and not be seen as weak. That you want to approach ever negotiation as a win-win and not do your level best to wreck your opponent. You do have to be protective of yourself though and not "give" too much of yourself away to others.
I loved reading that yes "givers" are more likely to land at the bottom of the success leaders, but also they are more likely to land at the top as well. I think it's all about how people perceive givers as the story above shows. In the end I loved that Shader went back to Hornik after realizing the other guy who was a "taker" was ultimately not who he wanted to work with.
Grant also provides examples of one of the biggest takers out there: Kenneth Lay. What's shocking is how many people knew what Lay was doing, but were talked down to and were not allowed to speak up. Lay was a classic taker and Grant shows numerous ways that he was first and foremost thinking only of himself.
One of my favorite facts in this book though is Grant showcases a famous lawyer named Dave Walton who used to stutter And he points out other famous people who used to stutter as well such as GE CEO Jack Welch, VP Joe Biden, singer Carly Simon, 20/20 anchor John Stossel and actor James Earl Jones. I used to stutter as a child and had a great speech therapist. I eventually learned to speak without a stutter, and now all of my colleagues don't believe me when I mention that I used to have one. I think that they just see the person before them, not the one who had to jump a lot of hurdles to get to where she is now.
So all in all, a great book that I think would enhance any class on leadership.
