Jeffrey St. John (1930–1997)

Noble Metals by LA Witt is an intriguing mix of historical romance (maybe 90 percent) and steampunk (maybe 10 percent, perfectly placed). Its breathtakingly vivid descriptions of the harsh pioneer wilderness of the Alaskan Gold Rush years make it a fresh and unusual variation on most steampunk fiction, which is set in overcrowded Victorian metropolises like London.

At the same time, there are wonderful steampunk images such as the “mech,” a giant mechanical spider that the prospectors use to carry their supplies over the ice. The steampunk touches give the world building the flexibility to introduce concepts such as male prostitutes working alongside their female counterparts in bordellos, which wouldn’t be accurate in a strict historical. The story is told in first-person from young Robert’s viewpoint with a smattering of first-person diary entries from John, the scientist. Both characters are three-dimensional, appealing, capable, and deeply caring individuals. As they fall in love with each other, they (and the reader) are swept away with emotion.

Robert first meets John when he is working as a prostitute in a rough bordello within the hardscrabble logging town of Seattle. He was once an aspiring prospector, but lost all his capital while in Seattle, swept up in gambling and bad investments, and now he’s barely hanging on for a chance to get to Alaska before the gold rush is over. After John hires him for a steamy secret night of pleasure, Robert talks him into taking him on as an assistant. As they travel onward, falling in love, they must stand together against threats to John and his mysterious “platinum detector,” which he hopes to take into the gold fields on scientific research.

Val for AReCafe… (más)

There have been many books written on the Constitutional convention. This author presents the story of what took place from May 25, 1787 to September 17, 1787 as daily newspaper stories. It was first published as a daily series in the Christian Science Monitor in 1987. I did a project in college using this format and it requires a lot of research and organization of the material. The book is a well written and interesting narration of a very important event.
I have some general knowledge of the subject and the people involved. The author brought out details of what happened and was able to introduce the parties through their speeches and actions. The fact that Luther Martin had a drinking problem and Gouverneur Morris had a wooden leg. The changing of the preamble to leave out the names of the States as the final draft of the document was written. The fact that the street outside the meeting room had to be covered with dirt and the windows closed so everyone could hear each other. All of these details give the reader a you are there feeling.
There is also a good discussion of the issues involved and how the different interests represented at the convention worked their way to a conclusion they could all agree on. The discussions of the Virginia Plan, the New Jersey Plan and Roger Sherman's compromise are presented in the way they happened.
I think the reason that the final document came out so well is that all of the different aspects of the government, such as all of the details of the office of the President, were gone over time and time again. There were probably eight to ten resolutions on the length of the President's term in office. That is how this very short document that is the framework of our government was crafted with such precision. This process is presented very well in the day by day narration used by the author.
The result is an interesting story that provides a lot of historical information.… (más)

This book is the second in a trilogy beginning with Constitutional Journal. In this book the topic is the ratification of the Constitution and the author has expanded to a weekly news format.
The ratification process was longer and more involved than the writing of the Constitution. The author sets out the major issues that were debated and identifies the major states and individuals involved. The format portrays the events as they happened without anticipating the result. This makes the story much more interesting and actually adds some suspense about the outcome.
The Constitution was first sent to the Continental Congress who forwarded it to the state ratification conventions. Nine states were required to ratify the document before it became effective. Any state which did not ratify would be left out of the Union. Delaware was the first state to ratify and did so by unanimous vote of their convention. The Constitution was then ratified by seven more states prior to the conventions of Virginia, New Hampshire and New York. The primary issue that developed was the lack of a bill of rights. This was used by the Anti-Federalists as a strong argument against ratification.
The other major issue was the diminution of the power of the states. Under the Articles of Confederation the central government was a compact between the states that had no direct relationship to the citizens of the country. The Constitution created a central government that had national powers derived from the citizens that were exercised directly. This change was seen by many as the path to monarchy or tyranny.
Virginia was the largest state at that time and James Madison had multiple debates with Patrick Henry over ratification in that convention. Madison and Alexander Hamilton were also involved in writing a series of articles in a New York newspaper in favor of the constitution under the name "Publius" Those have now been collected as The Federalist Papers. The author points out that Madison was at a disadvantage in his debates with Henry since he was only 5'4" and 130 pounds while Patrick Henry was about 6' and two hundred pounds. There were also times when Madison was very difficult to hear.
Patrick Henry was still the preeminent orator of his time and spent hours talking about the tyranny that the Constitution would bring and demanding a bill of rights. Massachusetts and South Carolina ratified with a recommendation for amendments and Henry wanted to make the ratification conditional upon the passing of a bill of rights. In the end Virginia ratified with a ten vote majority and a recommendation for amendments. They then found out that New Hampshire had become the ninth state to ratify the day before. New York was the last large state to ratify. The new government came into office and Congress began work on the bill of rights which is covered in the next book.
The author's factual information is correct and he uses the news format to tell the story as it happens. I couldn't list all of the details used by the author that make this a good story. This is an interesting book that it a painless way to learn about a very important event in history. Two items of trivia. Rhode Island was the last state to ratify the Constitution on May 29, 1790, after the election of George Washington as President and the election of the First Congress. The The 27th Amendment to the Constitution ratified on May 18, 1992 was first proposed in the Bill of Rights drafted by James Madison proposed to the states by Congress on September 25, 1789. It provides that no law varying the pay of the Senate or House of Representatives can take effect until an election of Representatives has intervened.… (más)