Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

The Johnstown Flood

The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough

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This is David McCullough’s first book, published in 1968, and relatively (or more so comparatively) small in size and scope from his later, much longer books. This takes on the history of the Johnstown Flood, not only one of the worst flooding disasters in American history in terms of damage and loss of life, but also one of the first natural disasters (however natural you want to call this one) that captured national attention as a kind of media blitz. This book begins with some […]

I know him, that can’t be

John Adams by David McCullough

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One of my first favorite books was Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes. It won the Newberry Medal in 1944 and I must have read a dozen times starting in fourth or fifth grade. Since then, I have loved revolutionary America. Naturally then, I’ve wanted to read this book for quite some time. I read 1776, also by David McCullough, while in college and found myself interested in this book.  As a history major, I didn’t specialize in any specific era but colonial America would have […]

Manifest Destiny was SO cool!

The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West by David McCullough

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I read a lot of the criticism about this book when it came out. That it was another white-washing of history and I must admit that I considered that perhaps the outrage was directed more at the idea of the book than the book itself. McCullough is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner after all. Perhaps, I thought, he would discuss the ideas in an objective way that did not avoid the inherent issues with the idea of the pioneers moving west. I am very interested […]

Biggest thing I learned? Kitty Hawk was not in Ohio

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Okay… am I alone in not realizing that Kitty Hawk was in North Carolina? I guess I took the whole “two brothers from Ohio” thing to mean they achieved all their triumphs in Ohio which is supremely not the case. So most of us know the story of the Wright Brothers (even if we don’t all know the geography) and their breakthrough discoveries that led to modern airplanes. David McCullough delivers a well researched account of the boys’ journey to aviation glory without being too […]

A year in the revolution.

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This isn’t the book I wanted to read, or was expecting to read, but it was good nonetheless. What I was expecting: 1. A book about the first full year of the American Revolution (this part was accurate). 2. Insight into the causes of the Revolution (absent almost completely). 3. Portrayals of the way the two sides saw each other, and why (somewhat present). 4. Stuff about George Washington and the other founding fathers (there was some stuff on George Washington, mostly in his role […]



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