More Readable Than the Last One, But . . .

This book, Virginia 1619, SLAVERY & FREEDOM in the Making of English America (their emphasis, not mine) sounds like it would tell one a lot about how that whole slavery thing got going. It's actually a series of essays on different topics regarding this time and place. To me, (and I sure don't claim to be a scholar, by any means, but still, I can read) it read more like a defense of how hard everyone tried to make a real go of things before they resulted to slavery. Bad luck, unscrupulous leadership, battles with native peoples all made the endeavor full of pitfalls and a money pit, that is, until tobacco made its appearance. And we all know what happened then. Perhaps I missed something? But there was really only one chapter that seemed to address this topic slapped across the front of the cover, and that one was more like what I'd expected. Well researched, but left me a little flat.

Dry As Dirt

This sounded like an important piece of the American history of slavery, so I asked for this book as a gift. Holy mackerel. What a slog. Here's an actual excerpt, chosen (mostly) at random:

'The captives landed in Havana in 1628 on the San Pedro numbered 230

piezas de esclavos but were evaluated as 142 piessas de pago. Most were

young boys and girls whose value was estimated to be two-thirds or one-half

that of an adult; mothers and infants were assessed jointly as 1 pieza de pago.

Likewise, when a slave ship disembarked 16 "young and old" West Central

Africans in Santo Domingo in 1631, they were evaluated as 10.5 piezas.

Another ship arriving in Cuba in 1639 similarly landed 310 captives, eval-

uated as 175.5 piezas; amonth them were 80 captives described as bambos

or nursing infants for whom no import fees were paid. Following the arrival

of a different slave ship in Santo Domingo from Angola in 1633, the ship-

master's legal representative argued that the voyage did not bring any more

captives than his registration papers specified, if their numbers were "reduced

to piezas de Indias, as is customary." '

Riveted yet? Honestly, not until the very last chapter (and that starts on page 253, mind you) did I even understand what perspective the author had on slavery at all.

What came to mind as I strugged through this doctoral project (every dissertation does not a good book make, David) was a comparison between, say, wandering through a Target store, taking in all the colors, shapes, and displays, and reading the packing list from the warehouse. Good research, and really pretty cover. The last chapter recaps the book, so if you're interested, may I suggest saving your time and just reading that?

Not What I Was Expecting

I guess I was looking for some kind of overview of the RNC story arc over the last few decades, and the eventual January 6 race riot? Insurrection? Invasion? No matter --this book was definitely not that. What was it, you ask? That's harder. A slog. A weirdly paced narrative of the Republican party's drama, with some portions agonizingly detailed (meaninglessly so, to me), and others oddly skipped over. I found myself paging back to see if I'd missed something, but no, in fact, I hadn't. The author just glosses over some things that to me seem important markers (like, for example, the fact that 45 won the election), while dwelling interminably on other aspects of the goings-on behind closed doors. I'd hoped there would be some kind of recommendation, hope, something. But no, it was just a giant downer. Ultimately, I was counting the pages until I was finished, and this will not be a book I keep.