Israel Potter by Herman Melville

This book is Melville's reworking of the historical story of Israel Potter, a private at the battle of Bunker Hill who quickly finds himself taken away from his new country and, after a series of intrigues, spends most of his life in poverty in London. This text is marked by Melville's interest in animal metaphors, the extreme gothic tropes (Potter is buried alive in a hidden room in an English house, for instance), and the story's lack of reward for a life well lived--even as Potter experiences one disappointment after another, things keep getting worse. It was initially published serially, which accounts for its episodic nature.

Sup with the Devil by Barbara Hamilton

In this mystery Abigail Adams gets drawn into mysterious circumstances at Harvard which center around a document whose contents are hidden by the Arabic script used to write it, a collection of books owned by a pirate that may have fallen into the wrong hands, and that pirate's hidden treasure. It seemed to take a while for this mystery to really get going, but it all came together nicely in the end. Hamilton continues to write excellent historical fiction.

Toussaint Louveture and the American Civil War: The Promise and Peril of a Second Haitian Revolution by Matthew Clavin

This book provides a hemispheric perspective on the US Civil War by showing how Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian Revolution were part of the dialogue and the public consciousness in the years leading up to and during the Civil War. Although these figures are shadowy to most American citizens now, Clavin shows how both abolitionists and staunch supporters of slavery invoked and manipulated the memory of the general and the revolution in order to win public support for their positions. This book was very persuasive.

James Madison: A Biography by Ralph Ketcham

This biography gives a thorough account of Madison's life from his birth to his death. It covers matters both personal and political with a thorough approach: it has all the necessary background to make sense of the political events and it covers not only Madison's opinions and actions but also the philosophical basis for his actions. The book quotes heavily from Madison's letters and writings. My biggest problem was with its organization: it lumped all his personal affairs (most notably his marriage to Dolley Payne Todd and his retirement to Monticello during John Adams's terms as president) into one chapter that didn't fit entirely chronologically. Otherwise this book offers a thorough and entertaining view of Madison's life.

An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon

This book shares its virtues and faults with many of the previous books in the series. I felt like the plot arcs weren't clearly defined and worked towards cliffhangers rather than resolution.

A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon

This book continues the story of Jamie and Claire Fraser, settled in North Carolina on the eve of the American Revolution. It's not as annoying as some of the previous books as there's a discernible arc to the plot (Jamie's conversion to the Revolutionary cause as a matter of principle instead of survival) and a few abductions (both Claire and Brianna) to be dealt with, but, as with many of the books in this series, this book could have used a stronger editorial hand.

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

I felt that this book was one of the weaker entries in the Outlander series. Jamie, Claire, Roger, and Brianna have a series of adventures in North Carolina--there are some plot lines that get lost in the shuffle--and several don't get finished. There are several plot points (usually medical) that stretch the limits of belief. I enjoy parts of the series, and I'm so far in now, I'll probably keep going, but the first book was the best.

The Trials of Phillis Wheatley by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

In this book, which Professor Gates developed from a lecture he gave, Gates looks at the critical reception of Phillis Wheatley from her own day (both her trial in front of eighteen of Boston's most upstanding citizens, who concluded that she did write her own poetry and Thomas Jefferson's disparaging assessment of her work) to the present. I appreciated both the reading of Wheatley's poetry and the placement of Wheatley in a larger cultural context. Also, because the book is based on a lecture, it was a quick read.

The Ninth Daughter by Barbara Hamilton

This book imagines Abigail Adams working to solve a brutal murder and the disappearance of one of her friends. The mystery was really well plotted, and I enjoyed the historical ambiance of the story. I thought the author did a good job representing both the realities of the time period that are easy to forget (for example, the way that most travel had to stop after darkness fell) and the complicated political situation of the time (I especially appreciated that she didn't just make all the British soldiers bad and all the Sons of Liberty noble). All in all a satisfying mystery, and I look forward to reading more from this author.

Imagined Communities by Benedict Anderson

This book examines the phenomenon of nationalism and attempts to place it in a new perspective, denying the myth of European origins (instead locating them in the Americas). Anderson speculates nationalism has such a pull in part because it fills in cultural gaps left by the decline of religious community and dynastic realms. He investigates the roles of vernacular language, print culture, and pilgrimages (at first bureaucratic and then educational) in creating these imagined communities and traces them from the Americas to Europe and then finally to colonial areas in Southeast Asia and Africa, where the ideas are pirated from the European colonizers. The 1991 additions are particularly interesting about maps and museums; the 2006 appendix about translations of the book struck me as insufferably self-aggrandizing.

The Declaration of Independence edited by Michael Hardt

This edition of Jefferson's writings, prefaced by an essay of Hardt's, insists on separating Jefferson's political thoughts from the inconsistencies in his life. Furthermore, the selections are carefully chosen to reflect Hardt's own ideas about how Jefferson ought to be read--as advocating a model of democracy with revolutions every 20 years and then training the citizens for democracy with a ward system.

On Revolution by Hannah Arendt

I think this book is fantastic. Arendt attempts to provide a theoretical framework for reading revolutions using both the American and the French Revolutions. In addition to her useful distinctions between liberation and freedom, Arendt usefully and skillfully draws examples from history and literature. Literate, engaging, and articulate, Arendt makes you feel like you're engaging in a great conversation with a smart friend.