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Book Review: The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For (David McCullough)

B. Kline — Fri, 31 May 2024 03:14:54 +0000

Book Review: The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For (David McCullough)

When you pick up a David McCullough book, you usually expect a sweeping, immersive journey through history — the kind of deep-dive that takes you from dusty archives to the front row of America’s most pivotal moments. McCullough has given us John Adams, Truman, 1776, The Wright Brothers — all hefty, research-packed works with rich storytelling.

The American Spirit by David McCullough

Book Blurb

This is the back of the book cover blurb, from GoodReads:

A New York Times Bestseller

A timely collection of speeches by David McCullough, the most honored historian in the United States—winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, two National Book Awards, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among many others—that reminds us of fundamental American principles.

Over the course of his distinguished career, David McCullough has spoken before Congress, the White House, colleges and universities, historical societies, and other esteemed institutions. Now, at a time of self-reflection in America following a bitter election campaign that has left the country divided, McCullough has collected some of his most important speeches in a brief volume designed to identify important principles and characteristics that are particularly American. The American Spirit reminds us of core American values to which we all subscribe, regardless of which region we live in, which political party we identify with, or our ethnic background. This is a book about America for all Americans that reminds us who we are and helps to guide us as we find our way forward.

– The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For (David McCullough) (GoodReads)

Book Review

The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For is a different kind of book. It’s lean. It’s quick. And it’s made up of a series of speeches McCullough delivered over the years to graduating classes, historical societies, and civic groups. Instead of one continuous narrative, you get short, reflective pieces, each with its own flavor, but all circling the same big themes: history matters, citizenship matters, optimism matters.

McCullough reminds us that knowing where we’ve been is essential to knowing who we are. He encourages curiosity, engagement, and pride in our shared past. His words are measured, dignified, and carry the weight of someone who’s spent a lifetime studying the American story. This is McCullough in teacher mode — not lecturing, but nudging, encouraging, and sometimes outright challenging us to do better.

Where the book succeeds: it’s inspiring. In a world that feels fractured and noisy, McCullough’s voice cuts through like a calm, steady guide. If you need a reminder of the values that have held the country together — hard work, perseverance, civic duty — this delivers.

Where the book falls short: it’s repetitive. Because it’s a compilation of speeches, you’ll notice certain lines, anecdotes, and themes pop up again and again. That’s natural for live addresses given to different audiences, but when read back-to-back in book form, it can feel like déjà vu. And if you’re used to McCullough’s more in-depth historical works, this might feel a bit light on detail.

Still, as a “sipper” rather than a “full pour,” The American Spirit works. It’s a book you can read in short bursts — maybe a speech over coffee, or while waiting for your latest homebrew batch to boil — and walk away feeling just a little more hopeful about the American experiment.

Best for:

Fans of McCullough who want something quick and uplifting.
Readers who enjoy historically rooted reflections on patriotism and civic engagement.
Anyone in need of a reminder that American history is more than dates and battles — it’s about values and the people who carry them forward.

Much like a good session beer, The American Spirit is easy to take in, doesn’t overwhelm, and leaves you with a pleasant aftertaste — even if it’s not the strongest pour in McCullough’s catalog.

My LibraryThing Rating: 3.5 Stars
My GoodReads Rating: 4 Stars (since they don’t do half stars, I decided to round up)
Average GoodReads Rating: 4.22 (as of 5.30.24)

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Book Review: Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents (Cormac O’Brien)

B. Kline — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 15:43:09 +0000

Presidents of the United States

Simultaneously one of the most revered and the most reviled position or figurehead on the face of the planet. Often demonized or lauded for no reason, the President of the United States is a position of immense power, responsibility…. and folly.

And boy oh boy has there been lots of follies in the White House.

I remember reading the first version of this book back in High School, at the time it came out Bush Jr., had only been in office about a year, so it briefly covered about the first three or so months of his tenure. This edition runs up to about the first year of Obama’s year in office. I can only imagine a new edition now, covering Trump’s term, as well as Biden’s term so far.

So far as I know, there’s been no changes to the past segments, the only new changes from the edition I read in High School to the edition I read here is that it added a full account of Bush’s time in office, as well as Obama’s first year. (I could be wrong, since I don’t have the original copy to cross check.)

Book Review

The back of the book blurb:

Your high school history teachers never gave you a book like this one! Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents features outrageous and uncensored profiles of the men in the White House – complete with hundreds of little-known, politically incorrect, and downright wacko facts. You’ll discover
– George Washington spent a whopping 7% of his salary on booze
– John Quincy Adams loved to skinny-dip in the Potomac River
– Warren G. Harding gambled with White House china when he ran low on cash
– Jimmy Carter reported a UFO sighting in Georgia
– And Richard Nixon . . . sheesh, don’t get us started on Nixon!
With chapters on everyone from George Washington to G. W. Bush, Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents tackles all the tough questions that other history books are afraid to Are there really secret tunnels underneath the White House? How many presidential daughters have bared their all for Playboy ? And what was Nancy Reagan thinking when she appeared on Diff’rent Strokes ? American history was never this much fun in school!
Secret Lives of the US Presidents (GoodReads)

The book is pretty straight forward. Each chapter is about 3 – to – 4 pages and covers each preisdent in sequential order. Some are a little bit more interesting than others, and some are a bit more ‘known’ than others (in the sense that its not bizarre weird trivia about the person).

(I can only imagine if they make an edition of this when it gets to Donald Trump.) For the most part, a lot of the chapters are typical histories of their time in office and their greatest scandals / offenses, with bits of esoteric knowledge of each president thrown in.

It is interesting to see what level of scandals different presidents have, and how thats impacted their political careers and how well their time in office went. It certainly seems like the scandals have ramped up over time. What “passed” for scandals in the 1800s and early 1900s are just mere blips on most Presidential tenures these days.

In the Presidents of the past there isn’t much political bias that creeps in – in the way of authorial voice – but in the more modern Presidents… a little bit creeps in. (In my opinion.) On the whole, I don’t think its bad, and certainly not off putting to the point that it makes it unreadable (either pro or con your side).

Its relatively fair through and through.

Overall I enjoyed the book, its a fun, relatively quick and easy read. Not crazy informative, but does provide some ‘fun reader entertainment level information’. If your a fan of history and not a super academic historian, this is a fun little read.

My GoodReads Rating: ***
Global Average GoodReads Rating: 3.71 (as of 4.26.23)
My LibraryThing Rating: ***

Other Book Reviews

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Thank You For Reading

Hope you liked this book review. From time to time, I enjoy doing book reviews on the site. Combining my different interests. Sometimes they wll be beer related book reviews, and sometimes not. Either way, let me know in the comments if you like them. Thanks!

Cheers.

-B. Kline

You can check out our different directories here: Beer Reviews, Hike Reviews, Book Reviews, Brewery News, Brewery Openings, Brewer Interviews, and Travelogues.

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The Beer Thrillers on LinkTree can be found here: The Beer Thrillers LinkTree.

The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests – such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at Knights of Nostalgia. We are currently listed as #7 on FeedSpot’s “Top 100 Beer Blogs” and #8 on FeedSpot’s “Top 40 Pennsylvania Blogs”. (As of January 2023.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers. Thank you!

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Book Review: The Philosophy of Snoopy (Charles M. Schulz)

BKline — Fri, 05 Nov 2021 16:50:57 +0000

The Philosophy of Snoopy by Charles M. Schulz

Snoopy

Snoopy was always my favorite of the ‘Peanut Gang’. Ever since I was a kid, Snoopy was my favorite in the comics (in the Newspaper comic strip section) as well as on the TV movies (No Dogs Allowed, The Great Pumpkin, Peanut’s Christmas, Peanut’s Easter, the one at camp, etc.).

When I was in kindergarten, for the science fair I got a pet mouse and used a rat maze that my Uncle had built and entered the mouse as my science project. Of course – the mouse was named Snoopy. Spoiler alert – I won first prize. And Snoopy ended up living until the summer between my 2nd grade and my 3rd grade. He went from being the “goodest of dogs” on screen to the “goodest of mice” as pets.

Snoopy Dance

There is something just so endearing about the character. He’s always lovable, he’s a wanna be writer, he’s Joe Cool, he’s the Easter Beagle, he’s got a best friend thats a bird (and the whole bird’s family), he’s a perpetual “loyal” friend to Charlie Brown despite not always acting like it, etc.

He’s got a diverse and lovable family of his own that has been explored in the movies and comic strips. He gets the comeuppance on Lucy that she deserves for meddling with Charlie Brown, and of course… he has some killer dance moves.

He can be both cynical and a voice for the viewers / readers, as well as be a downright normal / earthy / regular guy (well… dog). And in that vein of “man’s best friend that also acts like man” (like Brian from Family Guy), he still retains his characteristics of doghood.

So What is the Philosophy of Snoopy?

Well, this book both does and doesn’t show you what that philosophy is. This isn’t a product of deep or intense thought, this isn’t a philosophical treatise. But it is an encapsulation of comic strips that show what Snoopy is, why Snoopy is, etc.

A collection of pages from the book – The Philosophy of Snoopy

So there’s no clear cut answer as to what the Philosophy of Snoopy really is; not so far as is told to us. But we can read and gather it, we can look and read the comic strips, and see how the character of Snoopy acts and behaves, and we can create our own understanding of his philosophy.

And the word philosophy here is being used a bit lightly. Its not like Nietzsche’s philosophy or Aristotle’s philosophy or Spinoza’s philosophy or Camus’ philosophy. Its a philosophy of life (through the fictional character of a dog). Its a philosophy in the way that he lives / acts / interacts with the rest of the Peanut’s Gang.

The Book of Snoopy

The book itself is rather short, its not counted, but its roughly 80 or so pages of comic strips per page (some lightly colored, some not). (GoodReads lists it as 80 pages, so that was a good guess on my part.) The GoodReads blurb reads:

“The world’s most beloved beagle shares his philosophy on life in this beautifully produced gift book for all generations.

In his inimitable style, Snoopy spends his days extolling the virtues of dancing, hanging out with his best bird friend Woodstock, pursuing a full supper dish, and giving his owner — our favorite lovable loser, Charlie Brown — the run-around.

For the millions of faithful Charles Schulz fans, and those who fondly remember the joyful dog with the wild imagination, this is the second in a new series to cherish that will see the beguiling Peanuts gang share their sentiments on everything from food to friendship.”
The Philosophy of Snoopy – GoodReads

Its obviously a quick, cute, fun read. Its not meant to be truly deep or revelatory or life changing. But its supposed to be a fun little afternoon time kill, an uplifting, humorous book, that lets you see life through a series of Snoopy centric comic strips.

It does exactly what it sets out to do, and thats provide a fun diversion to what our lives are. Rush rush rush. Work work work. This lets you sit down, enjoy who and what Snoopy is, and get some laughs out of you all at the same time. Its a beautiful aesthetic book, hardcover but not big, and ends on the two best comic strips to sum things up – especially in a book.

(Spoiler alert for the last two comic strips.)

(Don’t read the next paragraph if you don’t want to be spoiled.)

The penultimate strip is Peppermint Patty asking Snoopy what the secret to living is, and in the next panel its Snoopy giving her a kiss. This is followed up with the ultimate strip of the book which shows Lucy sitting on the floor with an open book in her lap and Snoopy walking by, saying: “Books aren’t everything.” With Lucy having a bit of a stupefied look on her face.

Maybe this sums up life. It seems to for Snoopy, and for his creator – Charles M. Schulz; whose creations are still inspiring the world and bringing love and laughter to the world, years and years after he died and decades after his works were created.

My GoodReads Rating: ****
Global GoodReads Rating: 4.33
My LibraryThing Rating: ****.5

Thanks For Reading

As always everyone, thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this book review, be sure to visit some other recent book reviews here:

November keeps on rolling, and we’re still pumping out the daily (and sometimes multiple articles in the same day) articles. So be sure to keep coming back and checking in with us to see whats new and happening.

Tonight is the Autos and Ales in Hershey, hopefully I’ll see some of you out there. I’ll be in my Boneshire Brew Works hoodie, so say ‘hi’ if you see me.

Cheers!

-B. Kline

Please be sure to follow us on our social media accounts – Facebook, Facebook Group, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Influence. Please be sure to also follow, like, subscribe to the blog here itself to keep updated. We love to hear from you guys, so be sure to leave a comment and let us know what you think!