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In the first chapter you get a good taste of what it was like to be a child in TR's household as TR is having an interview with his son's teacher. The latter is trying to explain that it might help TR's son if dad was a little less invovled with the details of his homework assignment. TR's "you're taking all the fun out of it" sums up his eternal quest to be a boy again. This seems to sum up TR quite nicely - the adult striving to recapture the best moments of his youth. Maybe this applies to all of us?
You also meet the towering figures in the construction of early US submarines, John Holland and Simon Lake. Lake's submarine is stolen so we see a bit of industrial espionage 19th century style as well as plain old fashion murder.
You will meet various and sundry of the extended Roosevelt family of several generations. Franklin D. makes and appearence.
This is a good detective novel to sit down with. It flows well and informs as well as entertains, but you don't really catch on to the history lessons being delivered. I came to this book more with an interest in TR than in the detective mystery, but I think the author does a fine job of inserting TR into a mystery and doing it well. I highly recommend this book to any mystery buff, without reservation.
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Thank you Mr. Miller & Mr. Quilici for this wonderfully laid-out book.
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This is a great book to read if you are looking for a little fun, or if you wish to share information with a friend or family member unfamiliar with the details of America's 19th century, intramural tragedy.
However, a double biography is an artificial construct, at best. Golay's choice to tie together the lives of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and Edward Porter Alexander emphasizes just how artificial that structure can be.
Chamberlain was a genuine American hero: a civilian academic, past the age when he would have been expected to serve, he rushed to his country's defense at the beginning of the Civil War. Serving brilliantly, at great personal cost, Chamberlain is creditted by many with turning the Battle of Gettysburg, contributing significantly during the Battle of Five Forks, and beginning the process of national healing with his chivalrous gesture at the Surrender Triangle of Appomattox Court House.
Alexander, on the other hand, was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, and a regular Army officer. Like all regular Army officers, he had sworn "to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic." In order to participate in the insurrection, he violated his sacred oath: he lied. The nation expected better of the man, and should have had its expectations fulfilled.
In an age when values are, again, viewed as important, we must clearly state that, ultimately, despite the shared battles, hardships, and adventures, the lives of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and Edward Porter Alexander were not parallel. Chamberlain's life is to be emulated, and Alexander's rejected.
This book works. It is simply flawed by its structure.
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