An informative read that will likely appeal to American history buffs.
A debut historical biography of a Colonial Massachusetts woman who plotted her husband’s murder.
Bathsheba Spooner lived in Brookfield during the Revolutionary War as the 20-something wife of Joshua Spooner, the mother of two young children, and the daughter of the highly vocal loyalist Timothy Ruggles. But she was dissatisfied with her lot in life, and when she met Ezra Ross, a 16-year-old member of a local militia, the two began a troubling sexual relationship. Soon, British Pvt. William Brooks and Sgt. James Buchanan, two former prisoners of war who stayed in the Spooner household, also become her lovers, and along with Ross, they would eventually execute a plan to murder her spouse. All four parties were later indicted, a trial ensued, and they faced execution, which forever cemented Bathsheba’s infamy. In his nonfiction work, Noone’s prose is erudite and accessible as he offers an in-depth look into Bathsheba’s background as well as those of the other players in this true-crime tale. He deftly offers extensive historical context as well, as when he writes of how the political conflict between loyalists and patriots raged in small towns (“In few towns, however, were the lines of demarcation so sharply drawn as in Worcester”) and presents painstaking detail about the home lives of women. Although the story is engaging on its own, it’s particularly intriguing when Noone examines Bathsheba’s mental health and how it might be perceived in the present day, noting that the question of her “mental competence has more recently become an issue” among historians. Although Noone focuses mainly on Worcester and the Spooners’ story, his thorough description of the events leading up to the American Revolution, as well as the war itself, provides a fine chronicle of New England’s cultural and political climate.
An informative read that will likely appeal to American history buffs.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-0578835426
Page Count: 310
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A highly readable, boots-on-the-ground war memoir by a noncombatant.
A devout member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church remembers his time in the military during the Vietnam War.
Debut author Beaven opens his story with an in-depth account of his training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and his subsequent deployment to Vietnam. Right away, he notes how his service differed from that of most other young men in the 1960s, as he was a noncombatant Army medic who swore on religious principles never to carry or fire a weapon: “I went to Nam with religious goals and standards that were far different than most,” he writes. “I still have them.” The book’s latter parts tell the story of his time at war, and thanks to the author’s simple, accessible prose style, these memories have a more appealing immediacy than what one might find in a broader-sweep narrative history of wartime. Beaven is a natural storyteller, and some of his anecdotes show the polish that comes from frequent repetition over the years. He also offers a big-picture view of events with a blunt sense of humor that’s very appealing: “There was a great deal of fatalism in the service. ‘When my number comes up, I’m going to go.’ Needless to say, this is all hogwash….I never saw anyone stand up in the middle of a firefight and say, ‘Nyay, nyah, you can’t hit me.’ ” As he presents an insider’s view of what mucking through the hostile countryside was like, he often reveals small, engaging details; he mentions, for example, how troops were issued baseball-style caps but wore floppy slouch hats instead, both for their functionality and because they “made you look like a combat veteran instead of some camp jockey.” Beaven received decorations for his service, but his memoir benefits greatly from his just-one-of-the-guys humility.
A highly readable, boots-on-the-ground war memoir by a noncombatant.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4787-0480-5
Page Count: -
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An edifying analysis that’s exacting but fair.
Debut author Gonzalez, with co-author Lee, offers a searching reflection on the tension between South Korea’s embrace of globalization and its ancient culture.
When California teacher and guidance counselor Gonzalez first visited South Korea in the 1990s, he was astonished by its technological sophistication, which, by many measures, surpassed the United States’. He lived and taught there for 5 years, starting in 2012, and was impressed by “hard-working, entrepreneurial, goal-oriented, practical, and sacrificial Korean people” in a nation that historically weathered war and financial crisis to become a fiercely competitive player on the world stage. At the heart of South Korea’s success, he says, is its cultural emphasis on efficiency—a “way of life” for many citizens, who place extraordinary importance on conventional career accomplishment. However, for a culture with a long history of Confucian and Taoist traditions, the shift toward more traditionally Western values has come at a steep cost, according to the author, who thoughtfully investigates the ways in which a focus on efficiency and competition has negatively affected university admissions and infrastructure, to name two examples. Even more worrisome, he says, many “longstanding traditions seem to be declining,” including the valorization of unity and harmony, reverence for elders, and other traditional family values. Gonzalez astutely charts this tension, and overall, his appraisal of South Korea is impressively comprehensive, encompassing many aspects of its complex culture, even including eating habits. However, he has a tendency to bury the reader under far too much granular detail; for instance, he dwells at protracted length on recent industrial accidents—much more than is necessary to make his argument. Nevertheless, Gonzalez combines his rigorous research with a depth of personal experience, lucidly presented in this admiring but critical account.
An edifying analysis that’s exacting but fair.Pub Date: Dec. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-67423-215-7
Page Count: 442
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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