Looking back, Summer 2012 at Jacksonian America wasn’t very Jacksonian. My summer reading list dictated the topic of many of the posts. If you’re looking for some reading material, here’s a look at the past couple of months.
My summer reading list included several books on fundamentalist and evangelical Christianity. You can find my reviews of the books at the following links:
- Randall Balmer, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory
- Andrew Himes, The Sword of the Lord
- Randall Stephens and Karl Giberson, The Anointed
In addition to reading and reviewing these books, I also picked up a memoir by Lewis Donelson III and a new book on the Snow race riot of 1835.
In early June, I attended The Historical Society conference in Columbia, South Carolina. My paper, entitled “Old Hickory Just Got All Sexypants,” was part of this panel that I summarized. I also attended a great session on digital history.
I reflected on the historians who influenced me the most and what I would have studied if I hadn’t chosen Jacksonian politics and celebrated the ten-year anniversary of completing the Ph.D. and two years of blogging.
For those interested in the process that goes into writing a scholarly book, you might want to look at my posts on editing the manuscript and working with your editor(s).
Summer wouldn’t be any fun without vampires, though. I proposed a mash-up with Andrew Jackson and aliens to take advantage of the Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter novel and movie (which is deeper than one might think, it turns out). To top it off, a reader informed me he had already written a screenplay about Jackson and vampires.
I also took down (and put back up) part of a fence, re-shingled part of a shed, and changed an electric ballast without electrocuting myself. Let me tell you, blogging was a lot more fun.
Jacksonian America: Society, Personality, and Politics 