A solid addition to the literature of the American Revolution.
Thoughtful life of the all-but-forgotten Founding Father.
John Hancock may be best remembered for what historian Randall calls “his large, flamboyant signature on the Declaration of Independence”—if, that is, he is remembered at all, for just 15-odd years after Hancock’s death in 1793, John Adams would lament that he was “buried in oblivion.” Hancock’s many contributions to the revolutionary cause included using much of his significant fortune, earned as the head of Boston’s leading mercantile concern, to finance the military; he also helped push the Constitution through, argued over “by paragraphs, until every member shall have had opportunity fully to express his sentiments,” after helping offset contending state interests in the fight over the Articles of Confederation. Randall reminds readers that the years immediately after the war ended were fraught: Frontier rebellions broke out over taxations and pensions for military service, and, briefly, “Pennsylvania and Connecticut had actually gone to war” over territorial issues. A Federalist but also a pragmatist, Hancock championed nine “Conciliatory Amendments” that led to the Bill of Rights, to which he added the 10th, which reserved to the states any “powers not expressly delegated to Congress.” As well, apart from serving as a well-liked governor of Massachusetts, Hancock—serving his own interests to be sure, but also with an eye on the larger U.S. economy—helped restore postwar trade with Britain. For all that, Randall notes, Hancock weathered numerous controversies, mostly financial; he was also the subject of a possible canard that Randall corrects—namely, that he wished to be commander of the Continental Army and resented George Washington for being selected for the post, when in fact, Randall writes, Hancock suffered so badly from gout that it is unlikely that he “would have accepted a position that would require long days on horseback.”
A solid addition to the literature of the American Revolution.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9780593472149
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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