Books About the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies

I just wrote a very long post for my personal blog listing 4 different books about the Willie and Martin handcart companies. I was going to write a separate post for this blog but to save time - just check my blog if you are interested. Here is the link to the post:
http://almosthalfwaythere.blogspot.com/2009/06/price-they-paid.html

The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

"While running for judge, Cowen roamed all over Dallam County and saw firsthand how the dirt-packed winds were taking the life out of the place. He drove for days without seeing a single green thing. He saw farmhouses without a chicken or cow. He saw children in rags, their parents too frightened of dust pneumonia to send them to school, huddling in shacks shaped into wavy formations on the prairie, almost indistinguishable from the dunes." (The Worst Hard Time, pg. 177)
"The dust in Kansas was falling in heaps; a team of scientists calculated that during the storms of March and April of 1935, about 4.7 tons of dust per acre fell on western Kansas during each of the blizzards" (The Worst Hard Time, pg. 188)
"How to explain a place where black dirt fell from the sky, where children died from playing outdoors, where rabbits were clubbed to death by adrenaline-primed nesters still wearing their Sunday-school clothes, where grasshoppers descended on weakened fields and ate everything but doorknobs? How to explain a place where hollow-bellied horses chewed on fence posts, where static electricity made it painful to shake another man's hand, where the only thing growing that a human or cow could eat was an unwelcome foreigner, the Russian thistle [tumbleweed]? How to explain fifty thousand or more houses abandoned throughout the Great Plains, never to hear a child's laugh or a woman's song inside their walls? How to explain nine million acres of farmland without a master? America was passing this land by. Its day was done." (The Worst Hard Time, pg 306)
The Worst Hard Time written by Timothy Egan is a powerful record of survivors of the dust bowl of the 1930's. During an already dark and dismal nation-wide depression, the great plains suffered almost a decade of blowing dirt and dust that almost completely wiped out this part of the country. I had heard a little of this catastrophe - one of the worst in American history. In reading The Grapes of Wrath, we learn about people who escaped the disaster. This book is about the people who stubbornly hung on to what was left of their farms and lives and waited it out. One thing I found very interesting about this story is that it reveals the cause of the dust bowl - it wasn't just drought - and also how it was man that actually helped to remedy the problem.
I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this book.

Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King

Filippo Brunelleschi's design for the dome of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence remains one of the most towering achievements of Renaissance architecture. Completed in 1436, the dome remains a remarkable feat of design and engineering. Its span of more than 140 feet exceeds St Paul's in London and St Peter's in Rome, and even outdoes the Capitol in Washington, D.C., making it the largest dome ever constructed using bricks and mortar. The story of its creation and its brilliant but "hot-tempered" creator is told in Ross King's delightful Brunelleschi's Dome (amazon.com).

I was hesitant to read this but ended up really enjoying it. I found it fascinating and interesting - and not too long. There were definitely parts that got a little too technical for my understanding but I muddled through. Now I just have to go to Florence, Italy to see the dome in person!!! (By the way - this is the cathedral that Lucy Honeychurch sees out her window in Room With a View).

The Lost by Daniel Mendlesohn

The Lost begins as the story of a boy , Daniel Mendlesohn,who grew up in a family haunted by the disappearance of six relatives during the Holocaust—a subject that captured his imagination from childhood. Decades later, motivated by the discovery of letters written to his grandfather in 1939 by this lost great-uncle, Daniel Mendelsohn sets out to find the remaining eyewitnesses to his relatives' fates. This journey eventually takes him to a dozen countries on four continents, and forces him to confront the discrepancies between the histories we live and the stories we tell. And it leads him back to the small Ukrainian town where his family's story began, and where the answer to the mystery is found.Moving between past and present, inter-weaving his world wide journey with childhood memories of a now-lost generation of immigrant Jews and ruminations on biblical texts and Jewish history Daniel Mendlesohn has written a masterpiece! At times suspenseful this deeply personal story is always poignant. I felt immediately inspired to do some genealogy and document some of my own families stories. This was really inspiring and beautiful.

Geisha, A Life by Mineko Iwasaki

Iwasaki was one of several geisha author Arthur Golden interviewed while researching his novel Memoirs of a Geisha. According to Iwasaki, she agreed to speak with Golden on the condition that her involvement would be kept confidential, but Golden revealed her identity by mentioning her name in the book's acknowledgments, as well as several national interviews. After Memoirs was published, Iwasaki received criticism and even death threats for violating the traditional geisha code of silence.Iwasaki felt betrayed by Golden's use of information she considered confidential, as well as the way he twisted reality, and denounced Memoirs of a Geisha as being an inaccurate depiction of the life of a geiko. Iwasaki was particularly offended by the novel's portrayal of geiko engaging in ritualized prostitution. For example, in the novel the main character Sayuri's virginity (called mizuage in the novel) is auctioned off to the highest bidder. Iwasaki stated that not only did this never happen to her, but that no such custom existed at all in Gion. Part of Iwasaki's displeasure with Memoirs may also have been because the character Sayuri seems obviously modeled on Iwasaki, with many of the book's main characters and events having parallels in Iwasaki's life. These people and experiences are often portrayed negatively in Memoirs, even when their real-life counterparts were positive for Iwasaki.
Iwasaki sued Golden for breach of contract and defamation of character in 2001. The lawsuit was settled out of court in February 2003.

After the publication of Memoirs of a Geisha, Iwasaki decided to write her real autobiography, contrasting with the fiction of Golden's book. Her book, co-authored by Rande Brown and published as Geisha, A Life in the US and Geisha of Gion in the UK, detailed her experiences before, during and after her time as a geiko to the outside world. It became a worldwide bestseller.

Mineko left home to begin studying traditional Japanese dance at the Iwasaki okiya (geisha house) in the Gion district of Kyoto when she was only five years old. She was legally adopted by the okiya's owner, Madame Oima, and took on the family name Iwasaki. She had been chosen as the house's atotori, or heir. When Madame Oima became too old to run the business any longer, it would be Mineko's job to take over. Mineko became a maiko (apprentice geiko) at age 15. By age 21 she had earned a reputation as Japan's best dancer and maiko.

I absolutely loved this book! When I was in Japan I picked up some of the feeling of respect and awe for these women and their lifestyle and was so excited to find a book which acurately depicts it. Another strong woman who yet remains obedient in the confines of her culture.

Devil in the White City By Erik Larson

Their fates were linked by the magical Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, nicknamed the “White City” for its majestic beauty. Architect Daniel Burnham built it; serial killer Dr. H. H. Holmes used it to lure victims to his World’s Fair Hotel, designed for murder. Both men left behind them a powerful legacy, one of brilliance and energy, the other of sorrow and darkness.

Here, then, is your ticket to the greatest fair in history—a place where incredible dreams came to life alongside darkest nightmares.

Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America's place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction. ( Excerpts from the Devil in the White city website)

I loved this book. Two story's play out every other chapter and I found both fascinating.