This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Lindsay M. Chervinsky will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
What is the favorite book you remember as a child?
Oh my goodness, so many. I was a voracious reader. I loved the Little House on the Prairie series, I read every single Trixie Belden, which my mom kept from her childhood. I also loved the Dear America historical fiction series, Stella Luna, all of the Frog and Toad books, Matilda, and Little Women. The first Harry Potter came out when I was young, so that series was a huge part of growing up.
What are you reading right now?
Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel and heirs of the Founders: The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun, and Daniel Webster, The Second Generation of American Giants by H.W. Brand.
What books do you have on hold at the library?
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson, D-Day Girls by Sarah Rose, The Paris Hours by Alex George, The Tubman Command by Elizabeth Cobbs, and The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
E-Reader or print? and why?
E-reader for fiction because I often read for several hours at a time, frequently switching positions all over the couch, and they are easier to hold. Print for work, since I like to be able to consult the footnotes or leave sticky notes in the book with notations.
One book at a time or multiples?
Only one fiction book at a time, but I’m usually juggling several non-fiction books as part of my research process.
Favorite book you've read this year?
Fiction: The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. Non-fiction: The Problem of Democracy by Nancy Isenberg and Andrew Burstein.
When do you do most of your reading?
I do most of my non-fiction reading during the day as part of my work and writing process. I often read fiction at night and on the weekends. However, I’m absolutely hopeless when stuck in a good fiction book. Those memes about one more chapter? I’m so guilty of doing that and frequently stay up hours past my bedtime stuck in my book. So I try and save really good fiction for weekends and holidays, or I won’t get anything else done! Then over holidays, I’ll often binge books and it’s not uncommon for me to read 5 books in 7 days.
How do you keep your books organized?
My non-fiction books are organized thematically by century and then topic (government, slavery, material culture, war, etc.). I’m a little sheepish to admit that I organize my fiction books are organized by color of the spine. I tend to remember what books look like first and that’s the easiest way for me to find them!
Re-reader or not?
Definitely! For historical work, I return to helpful books regularly. I have a handful of fiction books that I’ll return to regularly, including Pride and Prejudice and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
What would make you not finish a book?
Life is too short to read books that you aren’t enjoying! If I get about half-way through a fiction book and I don’t like it or don’t care about the outcome, I will stop reading it. I have less patience with non-fiction. If the writing isn’t good or the story is convoluted, I will read what I need in order to get a sense of the argument and then set it aside.
On November 26, 1791, George Washington convened his department secretaries―Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Knox, and Edmund Randolph―for the first cabinet meeting. Why did he wait two and a half years into his presidency to call his cabinet? Because the US Constitution did not create or provide for such a body. Washington was on his own.
Faced with diplomatic crises, domestic insurrections, and constitutional challenges―and finding congressional help lacking―Washington decided he needed a group of advisors he could turn to. He modeled his new cabinet on the councils of war he had led as commander of the Continental Army. In the early days, the cabinet served at the president’s pleasure. Washington tinkered with its structure throughout his administration, at times calling regular meetings, at other times preferring written advice and individual discussions.
Lindsay M. Chervinsky reveals the far-reaching consequences of Washington’s choice. The tensions in the cabinet between Hamilton and Jefferson heightened partisanship and contributed to the development of the first party system. And as Washington faced an increasingly recalcitrant Congress, he came to treat the cabinet as a private advisory body to summon as needed, greatly expanding the role of the president and the executive branch.
When Washington and Knox arrived at Federal Hall at 11:30 a.m., the doorkeeper announced their arrival. Washington sat at the front of the chamber, and Knox took the chair to his right. Washington handed his remarks to Knox, who in turn handed them to Vice President John Adams. Adams read the statement, but as Senator William Maclay from Pennsylvania recalled, the senators could “not master . . . one Sentence of it.” Adams wasn’t known for his public speaking skills, but the senators’ struggles weren’t entirely his fault. The Senate gathered for their work in the large chambers that occupied the first floor of Federal Hall. Because of the August heat in New York City, the doorkeeper had opened the windows in search of a cooling breeze. But along with fresh air, noise from Wall Street’s pedestrians, carriages, peddlers, and horses flowed into the Senate chambers. The clamor overpowered Adams’s voice, so few senators could make out the words that Washington had carefully crafted. After a few complaints, Adams repeated the speech from the beginning. Washington’s remarks offered a brief synopsis of the current diplomatic state between the United States and the Southern Indians, and posed seven questions for the Senate to answer with an aye or a no.
Adams finished his recitation and sat. The seconds ticked by as the senators remained in awkward silence. A few shuffled papers or cleared their throats. Maclay speculated in his diary that his colleagues were so intimidated by Washington’s presence in the Senate chamber that they cowered in shameful silence. Eager to show that they could be active participants in the creation of foreign policy, Maclay stood up and suggested referring Washington’s seven questions to committee for discussion in detail. Washington lost his temper, stood up, and shouted, “This defeats every purpose of my coming here!” The senators fell into a stunned hush before Washington acquiesced to Maclay’s suggestion and offered to return to the Senate a few days later. Although he did return the following Monday, his first visit to the Senate was an inauspicious start to the executive-legislative relationship. As he returned to his carriage, Washington muttered under his breath that he would never return for advice. He kept his word—August 22, 1789, was the first and last time he visited the Senate to request guidance on foreign affairs. Unfortunately, the diplomatic challenges facing the United States during the Washington presidency were just beginning...
The New Criterion recently said of her book, “Fantastic…Unlike many works of popular history, The Cabinet never feels like hagiography. It lacks the reverence of works like Joseph J. Ellis’ Founder Brothers or the revisionist obsequiousness that now greets Alexander Hamilton’s name on stage…Chervinsky exemplifies the public-history ethos in her new book. The writing is clear and concise…She takes what could have been a dry institutional and political history of the Early Republic and transforms it into a compelling story of people and places.”
When she isn’t writing, researching, or talking about history, she can be found hiking with her husband and American Foxhound, John Quincy Dog Adams (Quincy for short).
Readers can request a personalized book plate here: https://www.lindsaychervinsky.com/book-plate
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Cabinet-Washington-Creation-American-Institution/dp/0674986482/
Harvard link: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674986480
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lmchervinsky
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lchervinsky/
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Website: http://www.lindsaychervinsky.com/
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Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see what Lindsay liked to read as a youngster, and now, with what holds she has - wow!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for hosting! Looking forward to interacting with your wonderful readers!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good book.
ReplyDeleteGreat excerpt
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway; I like the excerpt. :)
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