Les Standiford

Most histories of the American Revolution I've read are focused on the armed conflict; instead, this book focuses on the years leading up to the war. As the British government instituted new taxes, new groups, sometimes called Sons of Liberty, emerged in the American colonies. These men, fed up with taxation, pursued what some might think an extreme (and potentially. treasonous) path. They made prominent community members agree not to collect taxes, they dumped tea into harbors, and they put British troops into situations likely to lead to violence. Eventually, the dynamic they created helped cause a wider conflict. Overall, an interesting read focused on a part of the American Revolution that deserves more attention.… (more)

DNF @ 21% - I had to abandon this book at 21% and here is why. First of all, there was a lot of circus history, which was awesome. BUT the big things for me were:
1) I'm 1/5th of the way in, and the three big names have barely been mentioned. I just finished reading about James Bailey, but there were only mere mentions of P.T. Barnum and John Ringling so far.
2) The very clinical and monotone writing style just didn't keep my interest.
3) There's a lot of USA-specific history, and I'm Canadian so I just don't care much about US history.
4) This book wasn't what I thought it would be, it was a lot of history and facts, and I thought it would be more about Barnum, Bailey and Ringling, and how they were competing in the circus industry. It's of course important to know the history of it all, but I'm just not a history buff and I'd much rather have gotten a quick introduction to how the concept of a circus got started, how they travelled, things they endured, then move right into the 3 main "Ringmasters" and more stuff about them.

I did find the history about the animals, and how the circuses had to travel, and how they setup interesting, so I may come back to this in the future and try to continue it.… (more)