RaveThe Chicago TribuneShe scours the archives for fresh insights on topics other historians thought were tapped. Her writing is gutsy, lyrical and expressive ... Ranging from European settlement to Trumpian tweets, These Truths is a perceptive and necessary contribution to understanding the American condition of late. History in Lepore’s nimble hands is more than the telling of tales. It is probed and analyzed and dislodged from the past, presented as a force that resonates in the present ... She presents an honest history, one that searches for evidence and answers ... Some historians shy from presenting the American experience as the story of progress. Lepore seems not so bashful. For nearly every low point in the nation’s undulating past there followed an upswing, often involving a hero, although frequently someone other than the traditional star-spangled savior ... It captures the fullness of the past, where hope rises out of despair, renewal out of destruction, and forward momentum out of setbacks. Lepore points vividly to the true source of American exceptionalism, people who step from the pages and reaffirm your love of country.
Edward O. Wilson
PositiveThe Tampa Bay TimesTwo books that significantly influenced Wilson growing up were the Boy Scout handbook and the King James Bible. You can see the rigor of the first and the gracefulness of the second in his tightly crafted prose ... Wilson's sense of the future cannot be easily dismissed. Over the years, we have learned a lot about the world and ourselves from him; and with Half-Earth, a book of vision and welcome optimism, he has yet more to teach us.
Douglas Brinkley
PositiveThe Tampa Bay TimesBrinkley is a sleuth in the archives, turning over every leaf and letter, which is one reason for the size of his books. Thankfully, they are engrossing ... Starting with the title of this book, Rightful Heritage, Brinkley draws FDR out from Theodore's formidable shadow, showing, in 717 pages, that the environmental record of cousin equaled cousin, that Franklin, to be sure, was a bona fide tree hugger ... So what are the new particulars we learn from this big book about Roosevelt's life and legacy? FDR more than anyone showed that saving the economy and protecting the nation did not require sacrificing the environment, and he validated conservation as a creator, not a destroyer, of jobs.
