finally finished

No, not the story, but this book that I’ve been reading for the past three weeks (a long time for me): Adams vs. Jefferson: The Tumultous Election of 1800 by John Ferling. It’s one of those books that are so densely-written that you can only take in five or so pages at a time. David wondered why it didn’t make my BLiTS List (short for List of Books I Abandoned Because Life is Too Short). That’s because, as a new citizen, I’ve made it a personal goal to learn about American history. I’ve been reading about the American Revolution and the early years of the republic for little over a year now. It sounds more impressive than it actually is–it takes me a while to get through books like, say, David McCullough’s John Adams which is a huge (but surprisingly entertaining and definitely informative) tome. I must say that I’m enjoying the process; reading different historians’ take on the same events and people is giving me a better grasp on the history of those times.

I expect that some of my fiction is going to be influenced by this course of study. So much fantasy tends to be boring when it comes to government: either monarchical or oligarchical. It would be interesting to explore the ideas of the American Revolution in a fantasy setting.

Next up is Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton.