Reading Wednesday: The Half Brother, No God But Gain, The American Slave Coast

This is going to be brief, as we're leaving shortly for a date as guest speakers in the African American Studies and Women's Studies programs at Penn State :

4:15pm: Lecture/Book Introduction: “The American Slave Coast: A History of the Slave-Breeding Industry”
216 Willard Building
Introduction – Dr. Courtney Morris

I would have finished The Half Brother (2015) by Holly LeCraw last night, but as these are very long days, my eyes wouldn't stay open.  However, this is the highest accolade I can provide a novel these days after having read tens of thousands of them: I've not skipped anything and will finish reading it to the very end.

The reason I hadn't read finished The Half Brother (besides having had very little to no time for reading anything in the last three weeks) is because this book came to us, thanks to our time at Brown, where the author received his Ph.D.: No God But Gain: The Untold Story of Cuban Slavery, the Monroe Doctrine & the Making of the United States (2015) by Stephen Chambers.  I'm afraid my keen impatience to learn what this history had to teach me topped my interest in how the author of the novel would play her endgame.

There's a lot to say about both these books, both of which are fascinating works, one in the discipline of writing fiction and the other in the discipline of history, but this shall have to wait.  But I can say both are well worth reading for anyone who loves good fiction and good history.

I particularly admire how Holly Le Craw evokes the sense of cyclical timelessness experienced by long time faculty and their family members in very old educational institutions. What goes around dependably goes around seasonally every year, as the students stay the same age year after year. It's nearly that of the annual flooding cycle for the people who live along the Nile. Yet, even as with the Nile, sometimes there is a vast interruption in the cycle.

Stephen Chambers provides an account of something very little noticed until lately, the effect the illegal trans Atlantic slave trade of the 19th century had upon the growth of our own nation's economy. Recall, the importation of Africans to the U.S. was abolished in 1808.  Stephens is also an excellent writer, who makes complicated matters comprehensible to the general reader.  And, trust me, the more one studies any aspect of U.S. history, the more complex one sees it is.

And, in the meantime, for an amusing -- and civil! --argument among commentators in response to a notice of The American Slave Coast, go to "Civil War Talk," here.

las aventuras de la casa

Making cold brewed coffee.  I have done so, with not as much mess as there might be. Next batch will appear more smoothly and with less mess. For one thing the beans are now on hand. For my first foray into cold brewing coffee the first step was to Bleecker Street and Porto Rico Coffees to get a pound of the right beans. I also had them grind a half a pound themselves since I wanted to make a large batch and the home grinder only grinds at most enough for two cups.  Those grounds to sieve and strain -- it is a messy business.  It wouldn't be as messy probably, in a real kitchen with a stainless steel deep double sink.  Nevertheless, I persisted. El V has announced the product to be delicious.

Now it remains to learn how strong the concentrate is. How much dilution?  El V takes his coffee very strong ... if I have to scrape him off the ceiling at ten PM he will not have diluted it with enough milk and cubes.  But then, he's going to the dentist in an hour, and that is a huge disruption in the normality of the day, so perhaps today's effects will be affected.

In further capers, this Saturday, July 13, el V is going to moderate a debate between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. It is rumored, that, as this is the single subject upon which both gentlemen are in agreement, there shall be much fault found of Thomas Jefferson; otherwise, Hamilton supporters promise to be present in massive numbers ....

The Burr-Hamilton Duo

Saturday, July 13, 2013, at 12:30 pm

Kurt Thometz and Jimmy Napoli

will be representing Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr in a dialog on their common interests in

Thomas Jefferson, Federalism, Civil Rights, Women, Slander, Sedition and Treason, amongst other things.

Join us in a thrilling and fun-filled excavation of some Harlem Heights History.

Morris-Jumel Mansion

61 Jumel Terrace

New York, New York 10032

FREE with Museum Admission

R.S.V.P.

212-923-8008

marketing@morrisjumel.com

Directions: A 30 minute ride from mid-town Manhattan over the following routes:
By Car – Up St. Nicholas Avenue to 160th Street, turn right one block or down Broadway to 160th, turn left to between St. Nicholas and Edgecombe Avenues.
By Madison Ave. Bus – M2 to 160nd St & Edgecombe Avenue, M3 to 160th & Amsterdam.
By Subway – IND 8th Ave – A train to Harlem, Local, C train to 163rd St. Station, use south exit at 161st St. and walk half a block south up the stairs to Sylvan Terrace and one half block east.
By I.R.T. Subway – Broadway 7th Ave. line (1) to 155th St. Station. Walk north to 160th St., then 2 blocks east.

Presented in conjunction with

The Historic House Trust’s Contemporary Art Partnerships

Thank you to our sponsors

American Emperor: Aaron Burr's Challenge to Jefferson' America by David Stewart

Publishes today!

I highly, highly recommend this book to anyone who has an in interest in the history of this nation, no matter which era one may specialize in either as general interest or as a scholar and historian.