Monday, May 24, 2021

Let's Bust a Recap : Martin Van Buren & the American Political System

Let me tell you something: coming off a fantastic biography of Andrew Jackson I was not looking forward to this book on Martin Van Buren. In fact, I put this 1984 biography by Donald B. Cole in the "book you're secretly afraid of" category of The Unread Shelf's 2021 Unread Book Bingo because I was afraid it would take me all year to read this once I finally started it and I would completely lose momentum in my quest to read through all the presidents.

But it wasn't bad. It took me approximately two weeks to read, and the writing was not as dense and difficult as I was expecting. I'm not exactly sure why I was expecting it to be so challenging, but something about a presidential biography written in the '80s about an arguably boring president just seemed insurmountable to me. The actual book even looks dull and academic, right? 

Martin Van Buren was born during the Revolutionary War and died during the Civil War. He and his contemporaries really made up the second generation of American politics, and let me tell you: Martin Van Buren's life was politics. Born to Dutch parents in Kinderhook, NY and growing up in his father's tavern with several siblings and lots of strangers who were in and out of the tavern as guests, Van Buren developed a bit of an inferiority complex that he had to contend with for the rest of his life. Besides a basic education at the village schoolhouse, Van Buren did not receive any higher or formal education. He apprenticed himself to, what he considered, a much superior family of lawyers and ended up having a very successful law practice. He's the first president I've read about who didn't ever seem to have any financial difficulties and that enabled him to focus on politics as much as he wanted...which was a lot. By the time he was 18, he was already very interested and involved in local politics and that continued for the rest of his life. 

I wasn't excited to read about Van Buren because from what I had read about him in the last two presidential biographies of John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, it seemed like he was just a political wheeler and dealer and there wasn't much else to say about him. 

And you know what? I was right. Even though Van Buren was a well-liked man and didn't really have any personal enemies, he was a political schemer and lots of his political opponents couldn't stand the way he worked the system. He was really the first president who believed and advocated a two-party system whereas the presidents who came before, particularly the founding fathers, thought partisan politics were beneath them, even dangerous. Van Buren was the true forerunner of the political system we have in place now, producing the model for our two-party system with caucuses and national conventions to choose candidates and all of that boring political crap. (Can you tell how not impressed I was with him?)

Throughout his life, he made his way through state politics, rising to national politics as a senator from New York, briefly became governor of New York which he quickly cast aside to accept the role of vice president under Andrew Jackson for Jackson's second term. At the end of his vice presidency, he resigned (a political maneuver—not a true resignation) and served as minister to England for a short time before coming back to the U.S. to run for president. He served one term as our nation's eighth president but lost in his attempt to be reelected, to popular war hero William Henry Harrison. Despite all his successful political maneuvering and a lifetime of effective strategizing, in his presidency he got stuck on the issue of the independent treasury and really didn't accomplish much. In his retirement at Lindenwald back in Kinderhook where he was born, Van Buren lived the life of a gentleman farmer, but after a lifetime of political intrigue, he couldn't abide that for long. He tried to run for president again in 1844 but wasn't ultimately nominated to be his party's candidate. After Polk gained the presidency, Van Buren had a little hissy fit when Polk snubbed Van Buren's choices for key cabinet positions, so in 1848, going against his entire life's work of cultivating a strong two-party system of politics, Van Buren created the Free Soil party and ran for president again. He lost.

Martin Van Buren is a bit of a mystery to me. Despite all his political wheeling and dealing, people liked him and he managed to become very close to people he seemed to be the political and ideological opposite of. As I was reading about him, his strategy of playing his cards close to the vest and not taking a political stand until he could figure out what would best serve his interests was unpalatable to me. But he was one of the closest advisors of Andrew Jackson, a man who very clearly knew what he believed to be right and acted decisively on his ideals no matter who he offended. Van Buren's mind was constantly trying to find the political edge and ideology was a minor factor for him. During his career, he was for slavery, against slavery, for federal involvement, against federal involvement depending on what he thought would bring him the most votes. And that's just one example. He was always trying to work the angles and that just doesn't broker any of my respect. 

As for his personal life, he married relatively young and was faithful to his wife who gave him five sons although his fourth son died in infancy. After their fifth son was born, his wife passed away and Van Buren never remarried. I wish Cole would have focused more in this biography on the relationship Van Buren had with his sons. It seemed like they got shuffled around to family members to be raised and Van Buren largely lived the life of a carefree bachelor, but several times throughout the book, Cole made reference to Van Buren's familial responsibilities, and when his sons were adults, Van Buren very obviously had close and healthy relationships with all of them. I would have liked to read more about his relationships with them. 

Martin Van Buren outlived not only his wife, but two of his sons and died at the healthy old age of 79. He really seemed to enjoy his life and people liked to be around him. He never made any enemies and was never bitter, even in his political defeats. I liked him, but I didn't like him. What an interesting guy. 

Like I mentioned before, this biography was actually much easier to read than I anticipated, and if you, for some strange reason, are looking for a biography of Martin Van Buren to read or are on a similar quest to read through all the U.S. presidents, I have no problem recommending this one. I mean, his life was not exciting and while the subject matter was a bit dry at times, I thought Cole did an excellent job of putting together a biography that was thorough without browbeating the life out of you with all the politics. As it turns out, I had no reason to be afraid of this book. 

On to Old Tippecanoe! 

Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Monday, May 17, 2021

Let's Bust a Recap : Stories I Wrote When I Was Young

Well, we're diving back into recaps with my little brother's self-published book! That's right. We have a couple of writers in the family. 

I started reading this collection of short stories back in March when I still lived in Florida and bare feet and tank tops were a normal part of my life. (Pro-Tip of the Day: Always carry a book with you everywhere. This photo was taken waiting at the airport to pick up my dad whose flight ended up being delayed a couple hours.)

Stories I Wrote When I Was Young consists of nine short stories that my brother wrote when he was a kid. This is actually the first collection of short stories I've read in its entirety. I own several short story collections, but they're not the books I naturally gravitate toward. So this was a fun introduction to the genre. 

This book was released on Amazon on February 1st, and obviously I bought it the same day. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the quality of the book itself is really nice. Reagan did a great job with all the formatting and the book feels good in your hands. It's the perfect size for a paperback and easy to read.

Now the stories themselves? Wow. The first couple stories about a killer bear, Reagan wrote when he was only 9 years old. In the very first story, you have this brilliant literary gem:
"But when I looked at her again, I could not help feeling that I had feelings for her."
I mean, if that doesn't evoke some serious emotion, I just don't know what will. 

But in all seriousness, the best part of reading this book is seeing the progression in the stories as Reagan grows as a writer and starts to flex those muscles. The stories are arranged in the chronological order of when he wrote them so the growth is clearly evident. Having grown up in the same house with this kid, I could easily pick out what influenced him, but his imagination and originality unquestionably shine through. While several of the early stories had me rolling my eyes hard or chuckling with amusement, by the end of the book I was genuinely interested in the plots of the last few stories. 

As far as recommending this book, I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, my brother created this and I'm proud as a mama bear of him and his book and all of it. I want everyone to buy a copy and for him to become fabulously rich and support me in my old age. On the other hand, all these stories tend to the horror side of things. There's not a single story that doesn't contain a violent, bloody death. There's more than a little profane language, and the crude and immature references to sex are not my jam. My brother didn't share his writing with me when we were kids because I didn't like that kind of stuff. I didn't like it then, and I don't like it now. Can I recommend it? Not without specific caveats. If you're looking for pure amusement, a study of a young writer's developing talent: yes, read it. Laugh, roll your eyes, enjoy the journey. If you're looking for brilliant writing and plots that will blow your mind and make you think: this isn't your book. I mean, he wrote these stories between the ages of 9 and 16. That has to be taken into account. As someone who personally knows and loves the author, my favorite parts were his dedication to our parents, the foreword and acknowledgements. I enjoyed discovering a side of my brother that I missed out on when we were kids. I was already out of the house when he was writing a lot of these stories, and being able to read them now has generated a lot of hysterical conversations between us the last couple months. I'll treasure this book for that.

And now for a little fun. I told my brother that I would rank his stories from my favorite to least favorite. So here we go, one through nine, best to worst. 
  1. Terrorist Academy : This was actually one of Reagan's earlier stories, but I immediately liked this father/son tale, and it remained my favorite for the rest of the book.
  2. The Violet Blossom & Dreams : For second place, we actually have a two-way tie. I really can't decide which of these two later stories I liked the best. One, an Indiana Jones-esque adventure tale and the other, a sci-fi action story: they couldn't be more different but I legitimately enjoyed them both.
  3. 24 Hours : This crazy story about a boy getting stuck inside a locked-down building on a school field trip actually had me screaming at the characters not to be so stupid at certain points.
  4. Predator on the Roof : This Jurassic Park set in an American high school type story had me rolling.
  5. The Bear & The Bear Returns : Fifth place isn't so much a tie as it is the fact that it's hard to separate these two stories which involve the same characters. 
  6. Grover Estate : This teens-get-stuck-at-a-creepy-serial-killer's-mansion story prompted a phone call where I asked my brother if he actually needed counseling when we were kids. 
  7. Terror at the Door : Dead last. This story would have ranked 5th if it weren't for the disgusting sexual tension that was introduced halfway through that completely grossed me out and ruined the whole story for me.
There you have it. Nine stories written by a kid with a need to create. I can't wait to see what my brother does next, and I can't wait to read your first full-length novel, RP. Love you forever.
Hotel Del Coronado circa 2011
Buy Stories I Wrote When I Was Young here.

Friday, May 14, 2021

Casual Fridays

Well hello there! I've decided to jump back into blogging with a Casual Friday post. It's been over two years since I've done one of these, but there have been some major life changes happening since my last post and I didn't want to hijack a recap with a lengthy explanation of why I've been blog silent for the past two months. 

If you're hyper-observant and prone to haunt my blog, you may have noticed that my "About Me" section over there to the right of the screen has changed recently. 

If you're just a normal person who occasionally pops in, what I'm trying to get at here is......

WE MOVED.















That's right. After living our whole lives in sunny Florida, we sold our house o' dreams, packed all our belongings into that truck (well, that truck plus two trailers full of books and bookshelves, and no, that is not a joke), and moved to the tippy-top of a mountain in western North Carolina. We live in a house with a fireplace now and there hasn't been a day we've lived here that's gotten to 80 degrees Fahrenheit yet. 
On April 1st, my niece and I got to take our first big roadtrip together. She wasn't too sure about running down the side of the highway to snap photos in front of the state welcome signs, but I hope we made some memories she'll never forget. After ten hours in the car, and a lot of "Auntie Hannah, are we there yet?!"s we arrived and the unpacking began. 

Turns out, we had a little stowaway from Florida. After he jumped out of a box I was unpacking in the guest room and scared the wits right out of me, I continued to catch glimpses of him making his way from one end of the house to the other. After two weeks of co-habitating, he finally got a little too close to my bedroom and I caught him and introduced him to his new, much colder home outside.

But if you start to hear any news reports about how there's been a disruption to the ecosystem in Western North Carolina and Floridian lizards have started to run rampant, you didn't see anything.

We've hit a few unexpected and not exactly welcome snags—like having to completely replace the roof of our home before we sold it, having electrical problems in our new house which resulted in half the power being out for more than a week, popping a tire on our truck and buying four new ones, and hearing a mouse—or something—scratching inside of the walls where we live now. But all in all, we're confident God brought us here and we trust Him to keep providing for us. Even though I'm really missing our Florida fam, hot weather, and the ability to pick up and drive to the beach whenever I feel like it, we're starting to settle in here and I'm excited for this new phase of our life. 

Still on the To-Do List: find a job and find a church. We've visited a different church every single Sunday we've been here, and now that we are smack in the buckle of the Bible Belt, we could probably keep visiting different ones for a whole year. Say a prayer for us!

In other news, this being the first Casual Friday post in over two years means it's been equally long since I've shared some of my favorite things. I recently discovered Reese's Puffs cereal for the first time in my life and wow. I can't stop with it. It is my new addiction and I think I've bought like, three boxes of it in the last month.

Also, as of Wednesday, I completed my first ever viewing of Avatar: The Last Airbender. This has been my sister's favorite show for years, and much like she did with the Harry Potter books, she persisted in wearing me down until I gave in. My husband got the series for Christmas and I agreed to watch it with him. 

And I dig it. I should just follow all my sister's advice from now on. (Don't tell her I said that.)

Other favorites lately:

-puppy snuggles

-roaring fires on cold days

-listening to the wind in the trees

-having a dedicated library room

-Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy every night because our antenna picks it up clear as a bell now


These are some of the books I'll be recapping in the upcoming weeks so be on the lookout for those. (And yes, this photo was taken in our new home library. Be still my heart.)

What's been going on in your life lately? Have you discovered any new favorite things that are making you happy or keeping you sane? And why hasn't anyone told me about Reese's Puffs cereal?!

As always, feel free to leave me a comment, contact me via the "Contact Me" form on the righthand side of the screen, or respond to this e-mail if it showed up in your Inbox. I'd love to hear from you!
Easter Sunday 2021