Never Too Many Murphys

Too Many Murphys was a very popular book back in the day.  I never read it, but maybe I will someday!  Regardless, A Savage Thunder:  Antietam and the Bloody Road to Freedom is not by TMM's author, Colleen O'Shaughnessy McKenna, it is by Jim Murphy.  He really has a way of making history come alive.  I love his stuff!  I must confess that I am not much of a battle history fan. And that is what this is, well a lot of it.  But the way that Murphy writes makes it all so interesting.
One of the things that again still surprises me, even though it shouldn't, it the war was not about the freedom of slaves.  The people of the north were just as racist as the people of the south.  And I wish that I knew more about Lincoln, because I don't know if he was truly an emancipator or not, in his heart, I mean.  I have been told that I should watch the movie and I need do that.

A Plague Upon You!

Jim Murphy is an author that I found this year and I am so glad I did.  Like Blizzard, I had no prior knowledge of the events chronicled in An American Plague:  the True and Terrifying Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793.  More than 5,000 people in Philadelphia died from Yellow Fever been August 1 and November 9.  I feel like I rushed through this book.  I had it dialed up to 3 speed on the audible and I think I am going to go back and listen again.  Very interesting book and super well done.  Again, I am ashamed and bewildered at the treatment of African Americans in our country's history.  It just appalls me.  Can we ever make amends for such behavior?

Fire! Fire!

These guys were pretty funny.  The Great Chicago Fire was not.  The book, The Great Fire, by Jim Murphy, was excellent.  A Newbery Honor Book, and well deserved.
Mr. Murphy brings the past alive.  I had no idea about the classism factor that was a part of the fire.  I do remember the story of Mrs. O'Leary's cow and hearing Judy sing, "Shout how-now to Mrs. O'Leary's cow." But somewhere in my head I thought that maybe the whole cow story was a myth, but it wasn't.
The way that the poor were blamed for the fire was shocking, but then as I consider the human condition, I guess it isn't, still it is hard to read.
One of the players in this book was exceptionally horrid.  The newspaper reporter...I can't think of his name, and maybe that is best.  He should just be forgotten.  I wonder if this kind of blame goes on today when there are disasters.  Sadly, I bet it does.
Just like in Blizzard, it is just crazy to think about how hard it was to navigate the world before the advances in technology that we enjoy today.  Firefighters of yesterday and today are heroes, truly.  How many people would run INTO a fire while the rest of us are running away?

Just not sure...

why a book like Blizzard isn't as popular as the I Survived series.  This was the first book I've ever read by Jim Murphy and the first I ever heard of the Great Blizzard of 1888.  Which was a REALLY bad storm!  This book is super well done.  I am not a history fan.  I am especially not a history fan of any time in history before WW2 and so for a book to get and keep my attention, the way that this one did, that is saying something.  It made me want to read more about this blizzard, and more by Murphy. 
The other thing that was really interesting here was the whole history of the National Weather Service.  A lot of folks, like me remember when you had to read a newspaper or watch tv or listen to the radio to find out the weather forecast.  Now it is available on your phone at any time.  Before that it was available on the computer at any time.  But back in these days?  Just crazy, crazy how it all went down!  A great read.