What Hath God Wrought - one big book

So today I got one of my summer reading books What Hath God Wrought: The  Transformation of America 1815-1848, a part of the Oxford History of America series.  Written by Daniel Walker Howe an Emertis Professor at Oxford and UCLA in American History.

This book also won the Pulitzer Prize for history.  So needless to say it is a heavyweight in the field.  So I felt I needed to have a look at it.  Hardcover it is nearly 900 pages.  I will probably keep me occupied for a while.

I will report back later on that one.

The other one I bought, thanks to several sources suggesting it was The Democratization of American Christianity by Nathan O. Hatch.  I have read the Mormonism sections which intrigued me enough to read some more at home instead of in the library.  It is a shorter chunk under 300 pages with some interesting views on the Book of Mormon as more than a secular vision as a creature of the era.  His view seemed to be of a system of social commentary, but what scripture is not a comment on society.

More to come.

This entry was posted on June 27, 2008 at 6:47 pm and is filed under History. Tagged: , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “What Hath God Wrought - one big book”

  1. Mr. Thoughtskoto Says:
    June 27, 2008 at 8:52 pm

    Jon, I thought your title talks about “What God hath Joined Together let not man put it asunder”

    or What God hath Wrought Joseph the Prophet.

    Please write us review about these books. Thanks.

  2. Jon W Says:
    June 27, 2008 at 10:21 pm

    yeah I will do once I have finished it, probably around Christmas ;)

    No actually I would like to finish both before school starts up here again, after a move and jumping straight into my Masters program and Teacher’s Assistanceship I will probably be struggling to stay above water let alone reading 900 page books.

  3. Justin Says:
    June 28, 2008 at 7:44 am

    There’s 900 pages and then there’s 900 pages. I was surprised how quickly I read Albion’s Seed. I plan to get around to reading Howe’s tome one of these days…

  4. Jon W Says:
    June 28, 2008 at 8:24 am

    very true that Justin. Sometimes it all depends on the writer.

  5. Ben Says:
    June 28, 2008 at 8:31 am

    Its funny you mention this, John, because I just began Howe’s book yesterday as well. I have set a (highly idealistic?) goal of finishing it in 3 weeks.

  6. Christopher Says:
    July 10, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    Jon, enjoy your new books. You might eb itnerested in previous discussion of Howe’s book here, here, and here.

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