24 Booklist February 15, 2016 www.booklistreader.com
on various topics, the most important of
which, in the authors’ treatment, is Jeffer-
son’s conception of the family. In tune with
his times, he idealized it as a well-ordered,
male-led hierarchy, and further, as the inculcating foundation of citizens for republican
self-government. A problematic subject, of
course, is Jefferson’s fatherhood of a slave
family at Monticello, as Gordon-Reed argued in her influential Thomas Jefferson and
Sally Hemings (1997), and which she reprises in this work. The authors also posit that
Jefferson’s residence in France profoundly
influenced him on family structure and other matters such as music and architecture.
Gordon-Reed and Onuf’s keen and fresh
approach to Jefferson and his ideas will engage history buffs. —Gilbert Taylor
Northern Armageddon: The Battle
of the Plains of Abraham and the
Making of the American Revolution.
By D. Peter MacLeod.
Mar. 2016. 448p. Knopf, $35 (9780307269898).
971.01.
In 1759, the town of Quebec, situated on
bluffs above the St. Lawrence River, was the
political and military heart
of the French empire on the
North American mainland.
After five years of varying
fortunes, the British victory
on the Plains of Abraham
just outside the town was
the decisive battle leading to
the seizure of Quebec, eventual victory in the so-called French and Indian
War, and British domination of North America east of the Mississippi River. The battle
itself, lasting between 15 to 20 minutes, is often portrayed as an easy rollover preceded by
a daring and brilliant scaling of the bluffs by
British troops. As MacLeod’s masterful survey
indicates, however, the British triumph was
the product of prolonged and sometimes misguided planning, an extended and frustrating
siege, meticulous coordination between land
and sea forces, and blind luck. MacLeod, a
historian at the Canadian War Museum, re-lies heavily on original sources from both
sides, including dispatches, letters, diaries,
and memoirs. We glean a great deal about the
major players, including the fatally wounded
commanders, Montcalm and Wolfe, as well
as “lesser” participants, including French
and New England colonists and even a Huron warrior. This is a superbly researched and
written account of a seminal episode in world
history. —Jay Freeman
Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier’s Story.
By Matti Friedman.
May 2016. 256p. Algonquin, $25.95 (9781616204587).
956.92.
Writing out of a surprising sense of gratitude, Friedman gives thanks for what he
learned by serving in the late 1990s as an
Israeli soldier assigned to a vulnerable hilltop fortress in Lebanon called the Pumpkin.
Above all, the Pumpkin taught Friedman
that a frighteningly thin line separates him
from soldiers who perished during the
Lebanon conflict, soldiers
like the free-spirited writer
Avi, whose life ended in
a tragic helicopter crash.
But then the Pumpkin repeatedly exposed realities
hidden behind conventional
boundaries. Readers marvel,
for instance, at how battlefield events dissolve beneath the illusion
of media images captured by a Hezbollah
cameraman. The definitions separating soldier from civilian also repeatedly fade as the
guerrillas threatening the Pumpkin vanish
into village populations and as Israeli mothers spearhead a pacifist movement forcing
military planners to abandon their strategies.
Even the hard division pitting Israeli against
Arab softens when Friedman recognizes a
genial countenance in the photograph of a
dead Hezbollah fighter. Disturbingly, however, readers finally contemplate the way
Israel’s failed incursion into Lebanon has catalyzed a new regional turbulence, vaporizing
hopes for peace between Israelis and Arabs
and plunging Syria, Iraq, and their neighbors
into a cauldron of chaos. A compelling narrative, freighted with explosive geopolitical
implications. —Bryce Christensen
Putin Country: A Journey into the
Real Russia.
By Anne Garrels.
Mar. 2016. 240p. Farrar, $26 (9780374247720).
947.43.
Despite all its prominence on the world
stage, Russia remains a mystery to most
Westerners. For more than 20 years, veteran
NPR correspondent Gar-
rels has enjoyed rare, if not
entirely unfettered, access
to the quotidian as well as
the unorthodox aspects of
post-USSR society. Using
the city of Chelyabinsk as
her base, Garrels interviews
everyone from undertak-
ers to addicts, entrepreneurs to orphans,
homosexuals to religious fanatics to paint a
complex and nuanced portrait of a culture
coming to grips with the realities of the
twenty-first century in a nation ruled by the
mercurial and often malevolent Vladimir Pu-
tin. Her deep history with the people of this
once vital nuclear-industrial region serves
her well, giving her a trustworthy if tenu-
ous vantage point from which to compare
the relativity of freedoms, the pervasiveness
of corruption, and the wishful, if not always
warranted, loyalty Putin evokes. A critical
and crucial study of a country with which
America has always had a volatile connec-
tion, Garrels’ essays cover vital ground and
are essential reading for anyone who wishes
to understand the myriad issues that inform
U.S.-Russian relations. —Carol Haggas
Modern China.
Ed. by Xiaobing Li.
2015. 421p. illus. ABC-CLIO, $89 (9781610696258).
951.
Contemporary nations are shaped not
only by their history but also by world
events, such as migration and turmoil. In
some cases, these events imprint (sometimes
unintentionally) a nation’s personality and
weave a novel narrative in the nation’s fabric.
Technological advances and
globalization are harbingers
of new challenges and new
opportunities. Anticipating
and leveraging these require
not only technical expertise
but also global awareness
and outlook. Modern China
outlines some of the above
major strands—beyond merely a historical
analysis—focusing on aspects that have the
most profound impact on contemporary
China. Thematic chapters address Chinese
geography, history, politics, economics,
religious beliefs, ethnicities, language, education, and other aspects of the Chinese
people. Each chapter is divided into subsections that try to provide depth in the specific
area but may not provide complete coverage
of the chapter subject matter. Most subsections are about a page long and are heavily
cross-referenced. The appendix “A Day in
the Life Of” summarizes a typical day in the
life of half a dozen Chinese, and another lists
Chinese holidays.
For single-volume works, there is always a
compromise between depth of coverage and
completeness, leading to omissions that are
easy to criticize. This work is not immune
from such criticism. However, it is refreshing to see a work that tries to provide a
multitude of perspectives in understanding a
nation’s personality. Each entry is clear, well
organized, and highly readable, making it
accessible to readers without a background
on China. Recommended for high-school
students and general readers looking for an introduction to modern China and its peoples.
—Muhammed Hassanali
YA/C: Suitable for most high-school
collections. RV.
“Most Blessed of the Patriarchs”:
Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the
Imagination.
By Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter S.
Onuf.
Apr. 2016. 320p. Norton/Liveright, $27.95
(9780871404428). 973.4.
Extracted from a Jefferson letter, the title alludes to his role as a plantation slave
owner, despite his expressed progressive
views, opposition to slavery among them.
Declining to arraign Jefferson on hypocrisy charges, Gordon-Reed and Onuf, both
highly reputable Jefferson scholars, strive to
understand Jefferson’s outlooks over his long
life. This is not, therefore, a biography per
se, but rather a pursuit of Jefferson’s thought
