Will's May Reading Roundup

Some Good, A Few Bad, Many Disappointing

I read somewhat less this month than in the past few months, primarily because I was travelling every weekend for a slew of weddings and because this was the month I devoted to the historical background of my The Old World Show episodes on Virginia’s history, which meant more talking and less reading. I’m now transitioning from the historical background the great gentry families of Virginia—beginning with the Lee Family, starting next Wednesday—and so will be back to reading a bit more as I study up on those great families.

In any case, enjoy the list! I think you’ll find some of these fascinating reads, and you will be glad to know stay away from a number of them as well.

Become a paid subscriber to listen to the audio version of this article here:

[AUDIO] Will's May Reading Roundup

1. The Rise and Fall of the British Empire by Lawrence James

Speaking of terrible books to stay away from, The Rise and Fall of the British Empire by Lawrence James was up there as one of the worst books I read this month. (I know what you’re thinking: I have given very unfavorable reviews for almost all of his books, so why keep reading them? Because I ordered them all at once, and I don’t like wasting money. So I am trudging through them. Fortunately, the finish line is in sight.)

What makes this one terrible is that though the content is broadly interesting, James’s outlook—a befuddling mixture of worry for the “human rights” of civilian-murdering savages and Little Englander-style caustic complaining about the supposed cost of empire—turns the book into a bore, filled with endless moralizing rather than an interesting narrative where he could have used much the same information to tell the tales of America’s colonization, imperialism in Africa, the Brooke dynasty in Sarawak, and so on.

Instead, he primarily berates colonial administrators and military men for being too harsh with the fuzzy wuzzies after catching them murdering women and children.¹ Further, his support for decolonization flies in the face of all that happened during and after the process, yet he remains entirely unreflective about that and instead vaguely gestures at some notion of national self-determination, making it the morally good thing, even if it tossed countless Europeans and natives alike into the cannibal’s pot.

That’s too bad, as it is packed full of useful information, particularly about the practicalities involved in the development of the empire and British imperial strategy. In that respect, it pairs quite well with the much better The British Way of War: Julian Corbett and the Battle for a National Strategy by Andrew Lambert, one of my favorite books on strategy. Still, it is quite an awful book, and probably not worth reading unless you enjoy being annoyed by inane paragraphs full of moralizing by a safe and secure academic about the tactics of men living a hair’s breadth from death on the frontier.

If you are interested in that subject, I wrote an article about it last month:

The Myth of the Noble Savage, and Destruction of Civilization

2. The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family by Paul C. Nagel

While nowhere near as bad as James’s monstrosity, The Lees of Virginia by Nagel was also a disappointment.

On the one hand, it is full of much useful information and I got a great deal from reading it that will make its way into my future videos on the Lees. It is researched well, is packed full of useful historical details, and has a reasonably good narrative despite generally being more scholarly than fun as a read. Nagel also does an admirable job of not just focusing on Robert E Lee, but instead giving the other members of the family, good and bad alike, their due. So, as a general resource, it’s reasonably good.

That said, Nagel evidently wanted to use this book to break apart myths about the Lees, from their genteel Anglo-Norman origins to the military talents of the otherwise feckless Light Horse Harry Lee. That desire is problematic in two respects, both of which unnecessarily make the book unpleasant at times.

The first is that his myth-busting evidence is quite slight, and often flies in the face of what evidence we do have. To use the Anglo-Norman aspect as an example, we know the Lees believed themselves to be descended from Launcelot de Lee, a knight who allegedly arrived with William the Conqueror in 1066, as they thought themselves descended from the Lees of Coton Hall. At least some variation of that story is probably true, given what we know and can tell, but the lack of records makes it hard to tell for sure. It was deemed accurate enough that the College of Heralds accepted it, and it was good enough for Clifford Dowdey. Yet Nagel insists repeatedly that it is false, while offering no real evidence of it being false. Unfortunately, that happens a number of times throughout the book, and is grating, as it comes across as him desiring to tear down a legend not in the name of truth but just to see it destroyed and replaced by something more mundane, a nasty leftist tendency.

The second is more mundane: at times it breaks up the narrative of the book quite severely, and the middle of a story is interrupted by Nagel insisting that this or that fun legend isn’t true despite his not bringing any substantive evidence to overrule the legend. This too is grating, and entirely unnecessary.

Overall, this book is still fine. It is a useful resource and is a concise and detail-filled history of the Lee family for most of its era of glory (Nagel fails to include Fitz Lee² at the end, which is odd, given that he was the last real Lee of note). That it is flawed does not make it a bad book, though those flaws are annoying. I would recommend it if you are interested in learning about the Lee family, but I recommend against believing Nagel’s claims that most legends are false. They are not, and he offers no evidence to show that they are.

3. Virginia: The English Heritage in America by Parke Rouse

Virginia: The English Heritage in America was yet another disappointment, though for a quite different reason than the first two: while a good history of Virginia, the title implies it will discuss the ways that a certain sort of genteel Anglo culture set its roots deeply in Virginia, and Virginia spread them to the nation. That indubitably happened, as shown by the Virginia of the Golden Age, and a full work on how and why that happened would have been fascinating.

Unfortunately, that is not what this book is. It is instead a short and general history of Virginia from the earliest days of colonization through the 19th century, with a focus on its time in the sun leading America and why it declined from that position atop the American Olympus. Rouse does a reasonably good of that, and his writing is superb.

Still, the title is misleading, which was annoying, and I found myself disappointed with it. So, if you want a very general introduction to the history of Virginia with a focus on why it led America for a time, this is a reasonably good one with which you can start. Do not read it expecting what the title implies, however.

4. Virginia Baron: The Story of Thomas 6th Lord Fairfax by Stuart Browne

Virginia Baron was the first book of May that I found entirely satisfactory. It is a good history of Lord Fairfax, the somewhat impoverished lord who owned Virginia’s “Northern Neck”, the strip of land from which many of the greatest Founding Fathers and Virginians came.

In it, Browne does an admirable job of concisely describing how the land came to be in Lord Fairfax’s hands and why its development was of immense personal interest to him (the financial extravagance of his father leaving the family in straightened circumstances), before getting into discussing how Lord Fairfax developed the territory and thus Virginia. It is a fascinating story involving many of the greatest men of the mid-18th century, not least of whom was young George Washington, a close friend of Lord Fairfax.

It is also interesting in that it tells the colonial history of the Northern Neck well, putting it in context and describing its development in some depth, along with the cast of historically influential characters involved, which is of immense utility for anyone interested in the history of Virginia or its role in the Revolution.

So, this is one I can wholeheartedly recommend. I quite enjoyed it and think you will as well.

5. Virginia: The Old Dominion, Vols I and II by Matthew Page Andrews

Virginia: The Old Dominion by Matthew Page Andrews is a superb general history of Virginia, stretching from the colonial era to the then-present (it was written in 1937). Andrews is a great writer, both volumes are well researched and written in a very engaging fashion, and the length is just right to do the subject justice without being overly long. I wish there were a study of Rhodesia of this sort, rather than the lacking options that are out there.

Were I to recommend one general history of Virginia for you to read, this would be it. It lacks the annoying progressivism present in Virginius Dabney’s general history of the state, is about a much broader period than Morton’s otherwise excellent history of the state, and is full of much more detail than the shorter, one-volume works. Further, it accomplishes that without feeling like an overly long read.

That said, it is out of print, so finding a good copy can be somewhat expensive. I recommend looking for the special edition bound in blue, as it is of a somewhat higher quality and isn’t much more expensive than the original prints.

6. One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch

I needed a break from Virginia, but wanted to read something useful, so I reread One Up on Wall Street, which I first read back in college. I figured it might be useful for my articles on dynastic wealth and its benefits.

On the whole, it probably wasn’t. I don’t think there’s much of use in this book, though Lynch is an engaging and entertaining writer, and it’s full of fun anecdotes about good and bad investments. His point that one should invest in what one knows rather than speculating on buzzwords is almost certainly a good one, but also not really worthy of an entire book. Much better, I think, is studying the life of Andrew Mellon and his family, as he and they did this to quite incredible effect.

It did, however, spark one thought: when he wrote it, most companies went public quite early on, and it is the tales of small-cap stocks becoming large-cap successes that make up the bulk of the success stories in this book. In fact, companies with more than 100 shareholders were required to go public. This meant that buying any one stock was riskier, as many of those companies went belly up, but also meant that the general public had more of a chance of investing in companies early on, and so they could benefit from technological revolutions and the like if they paid attention to markets. Since the late 2000s, that has been less true, as a rule change allowed companies to stay private for longer. On one hand, that has probably been efficient, as the costs of being a public company are large. But it also means that most Americans don’t really have an opportunity to financially benefit from new companies in the same way they once did. SpaceX is going public this summer at a $2 trillion valuation…how much compounding is left? Not the same amount as if it had gone public two decades ago, when it hit the 100 shareholder mark. The same is currently true of AI companies that refuse to go public. I think that needs to be considered.

7. Lee Chronicle: Studies of the Early Generations of the Lees of Virginia by Cazenove Gardner Lee

Lee Chronicle is a great history of the first four generations of the Lee family, and does a superb job of describing how the family became such a success, how it built itself into a politically important dynasty, and so on. That it ends where it does is unfortunate, as a full history of the family at this level of depth and without the flaws of Nagel’s book would be superb.

Still, for what it is, it is excellent. It is even more scholarly of a work than Nagel’s, so I would only recommend it if you are interested in studying up on the Lee family and its history. That said, if you are, it is a must-read.

8. All Hail Rhodesia by K.M. Breakey

All Hail Rhodesia is the second book in KM Breakey’s science fiction/history series about the decline of the West. It is a fun read—though you really need to read the first novel first to understand the sci-fi elements in it—that investigates what it would have taken for the Rhodesians to win the Bush War and independence, and what the world might have looked like had they done so.

I agreed with much of it, though I disagreed with some parts, and would have preferred more details about what Breakey thinks Rhodesia should specifically have done to win the war.

The most interesting part of this novel is his thought exercise regarding what Southern Africa might have looked like had Rhodesia won, and rejected the aspects of Western thought that held it back from doing so in real life. I’ll dig into that in more depth in a soon-to-come article, as it’s a fascinating thought exercise.

Check out our podcast on the first book in the series here:

Can Britain Be Saved with KM Breakey

9. The Birth of Virginia’s Aristocracy by James C. Thompson II

The Birth of Virginia’s Aristocracy was yet another disappointment, and a much more substantial one than my dissatisfaction with Nagel’s work. The primary problem is that it’s not particularly interesting, and is not about what the title suggests it will be about, which is how the oligarchy in Virginia developed into a true aristocracy, meaning rule by the best. Had it been about that, I would likely have found it quite interesting.

Instead, this is just a somewhat droll and tedious read on the Virginia Company’s interest in money-making and how that led to Virginia’s development, which then turns into commentary on private property in Virginia and Governor Sandys administration, before later turning into a lengthy screed on the Northern Neck and the difference in land tenure in it compared to the rest of the state. It’s an odd jumble of topics that is neither particularly interesting nor well put together. While it has some useful information, that information is not well presented. And none of it has anything to do with aristocracy.

I would strongly recommend against wasting your time with this one. It has many negatives, few redeeming features, and it isn’t even an enjoyable read. If the subject of aristocracy in Virginia interests you, I’d recommend the two books cited in this article:

Virginia's Cursus Honorum

10. Savage Kingdom By Benjamin Woolley

I read Savage Kingdom to learn about Jamestown and John Smith for The Old World Show, and I had low expectations when I started it, as it is a modern book that involves Anglo-Indian relations…which typically means a tiresome mix of noble savage mythology and moralizing about bad English behavior. But I was pleasantly surprised, and this ended up being one of my favorite books I read this month.

Admittedly, Woolley does lean somewhat towards more praise of the natives than I think is justified. But, on the whole, it is a remarkably balanced book that shows the virtues and vices of the English and Indians in equally fair lights and is brutally honest about the repeated treachery and frequent brutality of the Indians. He even includes gruesome and honest tales of the atrocities they committed, which is rare amongst modern authors, most of whom want to hide the savagery the English faced. Even better, he did so while writing a fabulously interesting and informative book full of detail and developed via an interesting narrative. It’s great, and a pleasure to read.

So, this is one I wholeheartedly recommend if you are at all interested in learning what immense reserves of courage and perseverance it took to colonize America, with a particular focus on how poor decisions made by Virginia Company leaders doomed successive waves of colonists, what Anglo-Indian relations were actually like over the period, and how each side tried to outmaneuver the other. It’s great.

Watch my show on John Smith here:

The Life of John Smith: Virginia’s First Hero

11. The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 by Robert Middlekauff

The Glorious Cause, which is part of the Oxford History of the United States set, is a work that is often praised online. After reading it, I have no idea why that is. While not terrible—at least Middlekauff generally doesn’t moralize about slavery, other than in a few random virtue signaling paragraphs scattered about the book like forgotten socks—it simply isn’t good. I suspect those who recommend it do so because they like the title and never bothered to read it, or have not read any other books against which they might compare it.

Despite being about the climactic moment in American history, it is dull and boring to the point of inducing drowsiness. It contains little original information, no original claims or points, and consists of being a jumbled collection of political and military history that often focuses on one to the exclusion of the other, to the great detriment of the whole. Thus, the work consists of a tedious and dry chunk of pages on the prelude to Revolution that simultaneously leaves out much of importance, particularly regarding Virginia’s role in the budding colonial crisis, and includes far too many irrelevant details that add little to the narrative or work generally. Middlekauff then, without much of a transition, jumps to a tiresome and uninteresting history of the Revolutionary War itself that essentially ignores what politics and diplomacy went on during the on-and-off fighting. He concludes with an interesting but random section on the economy of America after the war—a subject essentially ignored until then—and a history of the creation and adoption of the Constitution that finally does due justice to Virginia’s role in the process. This section at least serves as good research material, and is more interesting than the rest of the book, but is not enough to save it.

Overall, this is another book to ignore. It is dry to the point of being almost unreadable despite also being nothing more than a cursory overview of all the subjects included within it. One could do far better by choosing a few better books on aspects of the Revolution or early Republic in which one is interested.

12. Offensive Christianity: Restoring the Strength of Men in a Feminized Age by Chase Davis

Offensive Christianity is a solid book by Chase Davis about how organized Protestant Christianity got to its dire present state, and what could be done to restore it. Particularly, he focuses on why men—and I think the generally unstated presumption is white men—have left the church in droves, and what could be done to bring them back by restoring the church to its original attitude and message. It’s a much-needed book, and I recommend watching our podcast if you’d like to learn more about it:

Building Christian Heroes with Chase Davis

13. The Revolution in Virginia, 1775-1783 by John Selby

The Revolution in Virginia, 1775-1783 by Selby is a dry but extremely informative history of Virginia during the American Revolution. Selby covers the administrative, political, and military history of the state throughout the entire period in painstaking detail, managing to include in a relatively concise volume both what decisions Virginia’s leaders made as the war progressed and why they made them. He covers the successes of the state during the war, along with its major failures, such as currency inflation and organizing to respond to raids launched by Benedict Arnold and the infamous Tarleton’s Raiders.

I won’t pretend that this book is a page turner. It is not. It is as dry as a saltine cracker, and reads like a dense textbook rather than a narrative history of the sort one might like to flip through on an airplane or at the beach. But for those who wish to learn about Virginia’s involvement in and contribution to the Revolution as a state—rather than just what Richard Henry Lee and Thomas Jefferson did and said while George Washington led—it is without par. Selby covers everything imaginable, from tax/monetary policy and the handling of logistics to battles with privateers in the Chesapeake and militia call up regulations, along with the political battles that led to each major decision. It is interesting and incredibly informative.

So, if you’re looking for a light read, don’t order this one. But if you want to become well-informed about this subject, this is a book without par.

14. Nyika, I Love You by Alice Vye Henningway

Finally, I read Nyika, I Love You by Alice Henningway, a tale of a young girl’s life growing up on a farm during and after the Rhodesian Bush War. It is a tale of traumatic childhood events and incredible moments of the sort that give Rhodesia its romantic lustre and air of colonial grandeur. It’s a tale of life on an isolated farm with a host of dependent natives and their resolute chief, of country club life with fellow white Rhodesians, and of boarding school in South Africa.

It’s a tremendously interesting tale full of anecdotes that do a good job coloring in the details of what life was like on a farm in Rhodesia during this period, and what sort of worries, fears, and hopes were held by members of the white population, along with what their relationship with the native workforce was like. That combination of social and economic history told through tales and anecdotes makes it both a valuable contribution to the history of Rhodesia, and worth reading if you are interested in the subject.

I hope you enjoyed those book reviews. They are always fun to write, and most of the books are fun to read. If you have made it this far, and are not yet a paid subscriber, I would really appreciate you upgrading your subscription. These books are quite expensive, and your subscriptions on here enable me to continue reading and reviewing works like these, all while producing new content that you find interesting. Thank you!

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuzzy-Wuzzy

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitz_Lee_(Medal_of_Honor)