Reviews for History of Transylvania From 1606 to 1830

The average rating for History of Transylvania From 1606 to 1830 based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-10-04 00:00:00 Frank Kellam Another excellent entry in the series. Hakim tries to give both sides of the story, even in something so horrible as slavery. She puts it into the perspective of the times, why the Founding Fathers went along with it & how it changed over time. She spends a fair amount of time on the first 8 presidents, but only briefly mentions the next 8 pretty much dismissing 7 & we'll get to the 16th, Lincoln, in the next book. I liked this a lot, but I think she bit off too much. The only mention of Aaron Burr was his duel in which he killed Alexander Hamilton. A thumbnail of Lewis & Clark, but no mention of Fremont, although I can't remember if she touched on him in the last book or will get to it in the next since she barely mentioned the Mexican War of the 1840s. She never mentions why Andrew Jackson hated the Indians so much. She also ducked the Cherokee Nation issue - the fact that it was considered a foreign nation within our borders - & how that contributed to its fall, yet she does a marvelous job of setting up the similar schism that eventually led to the Civil War. She did a good job of showing how the differing economies & the failing Southern influence led to harsher treatment of slaves & the insistence on state rights. She did a great job with Fredrick Douglass. I expect we'll get to John Brown in the next book since he wasn't in this one. It's tough to write a narrative of our history since the land & issues are so big & span so much time, but I wish she'd spent a bit more time on the War of 1812. She spent quite a bit of time on Thomas Jefferson, but never mentioned how the Louisiana Purchase was such a departure from his professed stance as was sending the fledgling navy & marines into Tripoli. They were both excellent moves, just unexpected from TJ. His foresight & pragmatism was incredible. I loved her inclusion of his letter to the Maine rep or senator about how the Missouri Compromise would cause a rift in the country. All in all, she did a really good job, but I think this should have been 2 books. I'm looking forward to reading the next. These might be for kids, but they're great for adults, too.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-06-24 00:00:00 Barry Corrigan This, the fourth book in the series, had a very specific focus on the progress of the American government, from the first president up until Abraham Lincoln (though it didn't do more than merely mention him in the end). It was a decent read, specifically with the first 8 presidents of the United States, though it did briefly gloss over the 8 that followed. There was a lot of discussion on how the political parties formed, and what their sway was in the government, as well as how that was to influence so much of what would follow in history. On several occasions there was ominous foreshadowing of the Civil War. It seems that there were plenty of people who saw that as an inevitable conclusion to the struggles between the slave states and the free states. There was a good bit covered in this time period as well, though there was a little bit of jumping around in the time period which made it a little more challenging to follow than I would like. However, many subjects were covered in this period, from the persecution and the pushing westward of the Native American tribes to the major industrial changes going on in the country which resulted in trains, steamboats, and the first factories in the country. It showed how much of the North was changing and becoming industrialized, while the Southern states were in a situation where they further relied on slavery to make profits, and what the results of those changes were. It covers the factors that influenced the change from slavery slowly starting to die out in the South to coming back into popularity as the demand for cotton grew with the invention of the cotton gin and the factories set to spin and weave the cotton in the North. It was a well thought out and detailed look into the factors of continuing slavery in the South, and the heated tensions that eventually led up to the succession of the Confederate States and the Civil War. Given the complexity of events in this time period, it isn't surprising that there is overlap between this and the next book in the series. There was a good deal going on in this time period, and it seemed that this book was specifically focused on the foundation of the government and the political environment of the time period, as well as the influences that would lead up to the Civil War. From the looks of the next book, it will share some of the same influences, as well as other discussions on the pursuit of liberty in the United States of America.