I made it through two very different history books this past month from two very different periods of time and parts of the world.  Looking towards the end of the year, I've realized that I won't hit my goal of 50 books in 2016 but I might get to 40.  Stay tuned!

The War That Forged a Nation: Why the Civil War Still Matters

So many books have been written on the American Civil War and I have read nearly none of them, so this looked like a good place to start.  This book is a collection of various essays about the Civil War by respected Civil War historian James McPherson.  Each chapter contains one stand-alone essay so you don’t need to read them in order if you don’t want.   Each chapter was thoroughly engaging, discussing topics like Lincoln as commander-in-chief, the role of slaves in their own emancipation, the importance of naval warfare, the role and perspective of Europe on the American Civil War, and theories about just war as related to this particular war.  McPherson has a pleasant readable style, with plenty of detail and flavor, without getting bogged down in the details.   

In light of numerous articles recently about how to discern fake news from real news, I have a suggestion that will take some time and commitment but in the long run will be more useful than trying to remember a list of fake news websites to watch out for.  

Read books by reputable authors who are associated with reputable universities, and are published by reputable publishing houses.  

For instance, if you want to know what the founders of America really intended with the electoral college, church-state separation, etc., then read a history book about the founding of the United States. How do you find a good book that isn't written by an ill-informed wacko with a severely biased agenda?

1) Is it written by a scholar who is recognized by his or her peers?  
How do you check that?  A quick look at the Wikipedia page for an author will tell you where they went to school, what school they currently teach at, other books that they have written, and (on many wiki pages), criticism or controversy surrounding their work.  

2) If you are interested in a particular book on a topic, google "[name of book] book review" to see if their are any reviews out there by people who teach / write in the same general topic area. 

3) Who published the book?   A publisher like Yale, Oxford, Princeton, Cambridge, etc. university presses are more likely to put out a book with high standards for accuracy.  Self-published books are not necessarily low quality, but with a reputable, established academic publisher, you have a much better likelihood of reading something substantial and well-researched.

4) Read the Amazon review of the books. Read the top 5 star review, a 3 star review, and a 1 star review. Also, a 4 star review will also tell you the pluses of the book, as well as reveal a few weak points.

Over the long run, reading well-researched, well-written books on various topics will give you a much better knowledge base from which to assess current news so you will be able to spot fakes and provide an informed opinion on the accuracy or inaccuracy of claims being made because you understand the broader context of the issue(s) in the article.

I rarely read fiction, but this past month I read two novels, one is famous political science fiction story and the other a fictional missionary auto-biography that critics evangelical missions.  The other book I read is both religious history and political history and is very relevant to today.  Check out my reviews, and I hope you find something that piques your interest :-)

Brave New World

I’ve known about this book since high school but never got around to reading it recently.  The premise is a dystopian future where the majority of people see the world as having reached a utopian state… except for our disgruntled protagonist and a few others.  In this future world of Aldous Huxley’s imagination, people are grown in laboratories, not born.  Children are raised without parents and conditioned to assume a certain class in society, looking down on lower classes, and feeling inferior to higher classes.  In order to maintain social stability, drugs and physical pleasure are promoted while art, science, individuality, and the search for truth and meaning are discouraged.  Written in the 1930s, this is a fascinating and disturbing novel which foreshadows modern American society’s desire for big government to create safety and security at the expense of freedom.  The world imagined by Huxley has similarities to George Orwell’s anti-communist book “1984", but whereas Orwell imagines an oppressive restrictive society from the top down, Huxley imagines an oppressive restrictive society from the bottom up, where people clamor for the security and comfort that their overlords provide.

I read 2 books this month, both of which were very good, but in very different ways.  One was a fascnating historical / theological read, and the other one very encouraging if you can get into Puritan turns of phrases.

The Diffusion of Global Evangelicalism

I read 3 books this past month, the first of which was a real page turner.  I couldn't put it down.  If you want a great biography, check out the "The Girl in the Picture".  The third book had lots of timely reminders so that I don't get too run down.  I had hoped to finish a fourth book but I was pre-occupied for most of August with writing and refining a research proposal in preparation for applying for a doctoral program.

The Girl in the Picture