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Book Notices

New Book On Oneida Co’s Harold Bell Wright

May 10, 2018 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

William A. Wright of Boonville NY’s 97th Regiment and the lieutenant’s cousin, Frank L. WrightThe new book, Harold Bell Wright and his Wright Settlement Cousins, by Christine Tyrlik, looks into Harold Bell Wright’s life, and his ties to New York State.

In the early 20th century Wright became one of America’s best-selling authors. Known for his westerns, Wright was born in 1872 near Rome, NY, and maintained close ties to his cousins and old friends in Wright Settlement (Ridge Mills). Wright returned to New York often and used some of the state’s settings and people in his novels.

His birthplace, Spring Brook Farms is now the Mohawk Glen Golf Clubhouse on the former Griffiss Air Force Base (now itself an industrial park). Wright’s parents and a brother are buried near the runway at the historic Wright Settlement Cemetery. [Read more…] about New Book On Oneida Co’s Harold Bell Wright

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Book Notices, Books, Oneida County

Anthony Comstock, Censorship and Obscenity

April 25, 2018 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

lust on trialAmy Werbel’s new book Lust on Trial: Censorship and the Rise of American Obscenity in the Age of Anthony Comstock (Columbia University Press, 2018) takes a look at Anthony Comstock, America’s first professional censor.

In Lust on Trial, Werbel presents a colorful journey through Comstock’s career that doubles as a new history of post–Civil War America’s risqué visual and sexual culture.

Born into a puritanical New England community, Anthony Comstock moved to New York in 1868 armed with his Christian faith and a burning desire to rid the city of vice.

[Read more…] about Anthony Comstock, Censorship and Obscenity

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Book Notices, Books, New York City

Oneida Community And The Crusade For Public Morality

April 25, 2018 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

ministers warMichael Doyle’s new book The Ministers’ War: John W. Mears, The Oneida Community, and the Crusade for Public Morality (Syracuse University Press, 2018) takes a look at Hamilton College philosophy professor and Presbyterian minister John W. Mears and his fight against every sin and carnal lure, from liquor to free love.

In The Ministers’ War, Doyle explores the ways in which Mears’ multipurpose zeal reflected the passions behind the nineteenth-century temperance movement, the fight against obscenity, and the public animus toward unconventional thought. As an speaker, author and political candidate, Mears was a prominent moralizer.
[Read more…] about Oneida Community And The Crusade For Public Morality

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Book Notices, Books, Oneida County

Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles

April 22, 2018 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

broadway bookFran Leadon’s new book Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles (W. W. Norton & Co, 2018) takes a mile-by-mile look at Broadway that traces the gradual evolution of the seventeenth-century’s Brede Wegh, a muddy cow path in a backwater Dutch settlement, to the twentieth century’s Great White Way.

Readers can learn why one side of the street was once considered more fashionable than the other; view construction of the Ansonia Apartments, Trinity Church, and the Flatiron Building and the burning of P. T. Barnum’s American Museum; and discover that Columbia University was built on the site of an insane asylum. [Read more…] about Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Book Notices, Books, New York City

New Book On 1968 Columbia Student Protests

April 15, 2018 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

a time to stirPaul Cronin’s new book, A Time to Stir: Columbia ’68, (Columbia University Press, 2018) reflects upon the 50th anniversary of the Columbia University student uprising and the legacies of the 1960s.

For seven days in April 1968, students occupied five buildings on the campus of Columbia University to protest a planned gymnasium in a nearby Harlem park, links between the university and the Vietnam War, and what they saw as the university’s unresponsive attitude toward their concerns. [Read more…] about New Book On 1968 Columbia Student Protests

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Book Notices, Columbia University, New York City

Farewell To The Horse: A Cultural History

April 13, 2018 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

farewell to the horseUlrich Raulff’s new book Farewell To The Horse: A Cultural History (Liveright, 2018) takes a deeply academic look at the ancient and complex relationship between horses and humans.

Once man’s most indispensable companions, horses were for millennia essential in helping to build cities, farms, and industries. But during the 20th century, in an increasingly mechanized society, they began to disappear from human history. [Read more…] about Farewell To The Horse: A Cultural History

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Book Notices, Books, Horses

American Eden: Botany, Medicine In The Early Republic

April 11, 2018 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

american edenVictoria Johnson’s new book American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garen of the Early Republic (Liveright, 2018) is the untold story of Alexander Hamilton’s ― and Aaron Burr’s ― personal physician, whose dream to build America’s first botanical garden inspired the young Republic.

When Dr. David Hosack tilled what is believed to one of the country’s first botanical gardens in the Manhattan soil more than two hundred years ago, he didn’t just dramatically alter the New York landscape; he left a legacy of advocacy for public health and wide-ranging support for the sciences. [Read more…] about American Eden: Botany, Medicine In The Early Republic

Filed Under: Books, History, New York City Tagged With: Agricultural History, Book Notices, Columbia University, Manhattan, New York City, Science History

Graves of Upstate New York: 100 Notable Resting Places

April 10, 2018 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

graves of upstate nyThe second edition of Chuck D’Imperio’s 2006 guide to unusual upstate graves has been published as Graves of Upstate New York: A Guide to 100 Notable Resting Places, Second Edition (Syracuse University Press, 2018).

The book looks at the lives (and deaths) of 100 legendary Americans laid to rest in Upstate New York. [Read more…] about Graves of Upstate New York: 100 Notable Resting Places

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Book Notices, Cemeteries

New Book Reveals Mystery of Albany Mummies

April 8, 2018 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

mystery of the albany mummiesA new book, The Mystery of the Albany Mummies (Albany Institute of History & Art, 2018), tells the story of how two ancient Egyptian mummies ended-up at an Albany museum.

In 1909, two mummies, one dating from the 21st Dynasty and the other from the Ptolemaic Period, were purchased from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo by Albany businessman Samuel Brown for the Albany Institute of History & Art. They have been on continuous exhibition since.

The story of their discovery in the tombs at Deir el-Bahri and their subsequent purchase by Brown, transport by steamship from Cairo to New York City, and steamboat travel to Albany was covered extensively by local newspapers. [Read more…] about New Book Reveals Mystery of Albany Mummies

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Albany, Albany Institute For History and Art, Book Notices

Milton, NY: New Local History Published

April 6, 2018 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

milton a new town in a new nationA new book by Kim McCartney, James Richmond, and Karen Staulters, Milton, New York: A New Town in a New Nation (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2018) takes a look at the growth of the shire town of Saratoga County from its first settlement on the eve of the Revolutionary War to the conclusion of the Civil War.

The book offers the story of pioneers, farmers, entrepreneurs, politicians, people of color, industrialists, mill workers, teachers, and soldiers. [Read more…] about Milton, NY: New Local History Published

Filed Under: Books, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Book Notices, Milton, Saratoga, Saratoga County

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