My Summer Reading List

I’m not a voracious reader. As the parent of two active kids who are in that golden age where they have super busy social and extra-curricular calendars and no drivers licenses, I spend most of my non-work time on the road shuttling my boys to and from friends’ house and sports practices. The summer is the time I normally try to dive into reading, but this summer I decided to pick golf back up, a sport I used to adore but gave up when the kids were born. So, I didn’t read as much this summer as I hoped. But I did get through a few really fantastic books, and I wanted to share them with you, in case you’re looking for something new to put on your shelf.

Grant, by Ron Chernow – Admittedly, I “listened” to most of this book (something I love to do as I’ve driving to or from work, or during the long drives between Connecticut and Washington), but it was as good as advertised (Chuck Schumer read it last year and couldn’t stop talking about it). The book is a full scale rehabilitation effort for Grant, who history has mostly defined as a corrupt drunkard who was a wildly better General than President. Chernow sees Grant differently, and gives special attention to Grant’s successful campaign during his first term as President to break the early iteration of the KKK.

But what really stands out about Chernow’s Grant is his focus on the randomness and sheer luck surrounding Grant’s ascendancy from desperate failure to military and cultural icon. Grant was a completely unremarkable, failed businessman who had been discharged from the military for his alcohol addiction when the Civil War began. No doubt, Grant was a brilliant tactician, but it was just because he was in the right place at the right time, over and over, with the right connections, that he rocketed up the military command chain. Fortune and sheer luck were on his side, and it’s wild to think of all the other brilliant men and women throughout American history that we never knew because chance didn’t shine on them like it did on Grant.

Of Boys and Men, by Richard Reeves – I’m so glad I finally read this book (I’ve been hearing about it for a year). While none of Reeves’ solutions are revolutionary, he is right to point out that American males are going through a unique moment of crisis, and it’s both a cultural and political failure to ignore this phenomenon. He pays particular attention to the rapid disintegration of the economic patriarchy, in which many men found their identity and meaning in being the sole earner for their family. It’s a very good thing that so many women have entered the workforce in the last fifty years, but we can’t deny that this has caused an understandable existential crisis for lots of men. Reeves’ book challenges us to start thinking about what we are going to do to help men adapt to a quickly changing world.

SPQR, by Mary Beard – This is one of two books I read in preparation for our family trip in August to Italy. This book, a few years old, is the newest short history of Rome, and it’s gotten a lot of attention since it came out. I found it to be a very serviceable reintroduction to classical Roman history. It jumps around a bit, which can be frustrating, and though it claims to answer the big questions (like why did Rome, versus other early civilizations, become so regionally dominant), it doesn’t always deliver as promised. That being said, it’s tough to do Roman history well in so few pages, and I was much better equipped to be “Dad the tour guide” in Rome after having read SPQR.

City of Fortune, by Roger Crowley – Wow. This is one of the best history books I’ve read in years. Right from the first page, Crowley paints a wonderful picture of the era when Venice ruled the seas. He elegantly parries back and forth between thorough narrative storytelling and broader explorations of why Venice rose so quickly. Few people know the story of how Venice came to be the preeminent naval power during the Middle Ages, but it’s a fascinating tale. My kids loved hearing me retell stories from the book, like the one about how Venice’s blind Doge helped organize, then mostly bungled all of the Crusades campaigns.

Barnum, by Robert Wilson – Given how much P.T. Barnum meant to his beloved hometown of Bridgeport, I’ve always wanted to dig into a good Barnum biography. Wilson’s account is sterling, and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to know about the greatest American entertainer of the 19^th century. Today, we have little appreciation for how iconic and famous/infamous Barnum was in the 1800s. In many ways, he was America-personified to Europeans – bigger than life, obsessed with success and money, willing to cut corners to get ahead, magnetic and commanding.

The Shortest History of Europe, by John Hirst – This book was recommended to me by my friend, Congressman Jake Auchincloss. It’s magnificent. He described it to me as a “meta-history of Europe,” and though I’m still not sure I know what that means, it’s basically six very short retellings of European history, each set on a different axis. For instance, one chapter tells European history through the prism of rulers; another through the prism of wars; another through European languages. It’s a breeze to read – a true page-turner. And it’s a fun mechanism that makes you think: is there ever really a dominant narrative to a civilization, or just a set of constantly intertwining narratives?