Event Calendar

Please join us for a lively discussion
 

This Month's book discussion will be "A Brief History of Vice: How Bad Behavior Built Civilization" by Robert Evans

We get together on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. Our titles are chosen based on member suggestions, and we have quite a varied slate: fiction and non-fiction, classic and current, bios, science, social science, history, mystery, travel. 

The afternoon book group will meet Wednesday, May 28, at 1 p.m. at the home of Diane W.

In May the Vale Evening Book Club will discuss “A Brief History of Vice: How Bad Behavior Built Civilization,” by journalist, author, podcast host and self-proclaimed anarchist Robert Evans. This tongue-in-cheek narrative on the formative effect of controlled substances on the history of civilization provides a completely different perspective on human social development. We will meet on Wednesday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the home of Irene Z. If you plan to attend, please sign up on our SUG page. You can find the link in this newsletter.

Please email Liz N. if you have any questions or would like to receive Vale Evening Book Club updates and reminders during the coming year. 

- See more at: http://www.thriftbooks.com/w/alexander-hamilton_ron-chernow/248552/?mkwid=s8qQFOqyY|dc&pcrid=82708320552&pkw=_cat:memoirs&pmt=b&plc=&gclid=CKOZg_mb-sgCFZGRHwodTLIMaw#isbn=1594200092

Overview

Building on biographies by Richard Brookhiser and Willard Sterne Randall, Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton provides what may be the most comprehensive modern examination of the often overlooked Founding Father. From the start, Chernow argues that Hamilton’s premature death at age 49 left his record to be reinterpreted and even re-written by his more long-lived enemies, among them: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Monroe. Hamilton’s achievements as first Secretary of the Treasury, co-author of The Federalist Papers, and member of the Constitutional Convention were clouded after his death by strident claims that he was an arrogant, self-serving monarchist. Chernow delves into the almost 22,000 pages of letters, manuscripts, and articles that make up Hamilton’s legacy to reveal a man with a sophisticated intellect, a romantic spirit, and a late-blooming religiosity. One fault of the book, is that Chernow is so convinced of Hamilton’s excellence that his narrative sometimes becomes hagiographic. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Chernow’s account of the infamous duel between Hamilton and Aaron Burr in 1804. He describes Hamilton’s final hours as pious, while Burr, Jefferson, and Adams achieve an almost cartoonish villainy at the news of Hamilton’s passing. A defender of the union against New England secession and an opponent of slavery, Hamilton has a special appeal to modern sensibilities. Chernow argues that in contrast to Jefferson and Washington’s now outmoded agrarian idealism, Hamilton was "the prophet of the capitalist revolution" and the true forebear of modern America. In his Prologue, he writes: "In all probability, Alexander Hamilton is the foremost figure in American history who never attained the presidency, yet he probably had a much deeper and more lasting impact than many who did." With Alexander Hamilton, this impact can now be more widely appreciated. --Patrick O'Kelley

- See more at: http://www.thriftbooks.com/w/alexander-hamilton_ron-chernow/248552/?mkwid=s8qQFOqyY|dc&pcrid=82708320552&pkw=_cat:memoirs&pmt=b&plc=&gclid=CKOZg_mb-sgCFZGRHwodTLIMaw#isbn=1594200092

Overview

Building on biographies by Richard Brookhiser and Willard Sterne Randall, Ron Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton provides what may be the most comprehensive modern examination of the often overlooked Founding Father. From the start, Chernow argues that Hamilton’s premature death at age 49 left his record to be reinterpreted and even re-written by his more long-lived enemies, among them: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Monroe. Hamilton’s achievements as first Secretary of the Treasury, co-author of The Federalist Papers, and member of the Constitutional Convention were clouded after his death by strident claims that he was an arrogant, self-serving monarchist. Chernow delves into the almost 22,000 pages of letters, manuscripts, and articles that make up Hamilton’s legacy to reveal a man with a sophisticated intellect, a romantic spirit, and a late-blooming religiosity. One fault of the book, is that Chernow is so convinced of Hamilton’s excellence that his narrative sometimes becomes hagiographic. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Chernow’s account of the infamous duel between Hamilton and Aaron Burr in 1804. He describes Hamilton’s final hours as pious, while Burr, Jefferson, and Adams achieve an almost cartoonish villainy at the news of Hamilton’s passing. A defender of the union against New England secession and an opponent of slavery, Hamilton has a special appeal to modern sensibilities. Chernow argues that in contrast to Jefferson and Washington’s now outmoded agrarian idealism, Hamilton was "the prophet of the capitalist revolution" and the true forebear of modern America. In his Prologue, he writes: "In all probability, Alexander Hamilton is the foremost figure in American history who never attained the presidency, yet he probably had a much deeper and more lasting impact than many who did." With Alexander Hamilton, this impact can now be more widely appreciated. --Patrick O'Kelley

- See more at: http://www.thriftbooks.com/w/alexander-hamilton_ron-chernow/248552/?mkwid=s8qQFOqyY|dc&pcrid=82708320552&pkw=_cat:memoirs&pmt=b&plc=&gclid=CKOZg_mb-sgCFZGRHwodTLIMaw#isbn=1594200092