A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes
Adam Rutherford, 2017
The Experiment
416b pp.
ISBN-13: 9781615194049
Summary
In our unique genomes, every one of us carries the story of our species—births, deaths, disease, war, famine, migration, and a lot of sex.
But those stories have always been locked away—until now.
Who are our ancestors? Where did they come from? Geneticists have suddenly become historians, and the hard evidence in our DNA has blown the lid off what we thought we knew. Acclaimed science writer Adam Rutherford explains exactly how genomics is completely rewriting the human story—from 100,000 years ago to the present.
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived will upend your thinking on Neanderthals, evolution, royalty, race, and even redheads. (For example, we now know that at least four human species once roamed the earth.) Plus, here is the remarkable, controversial story of how our genes made their way to the Americas—one that’s still being written, as ever more of us have our DNA sequenced.
Rutherford closes with “A Short Introduction to the Future of Humankind,” filled with provocative questions that we’re on the cusp of answering: Are we still in the grasp of natural selection? Are we evolving for better or worse? And … where do we go from here? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1974 - 1975
• Where—Ipswich, Sufffolk, UK
• Education—Ph.D., University College London Institute of Child Health
• Awards—Shortlisted, Wellcome Book Prize
• Currently—N/A
Dr Adam Rutherford is a British geneticist, author, and broadcaster. He was an editor for the journal Nature for a decade, is a frequent contributor to the newspaper The Guardian, hosts the BBC Radio 4 programme Inside Science, and has produced several science documentaries.
In addition to broadcasting, Rutherford has published three books related to genetics and the origin of life: Creation: The Origin of Life and Creation: The Future of Life, both issued in 2014, and A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Told Through Our Genes, released in 2017.
Early life
Rutherford, who is half Guyanese Indian, was born in Ipswich in the East of England and attended Ipswich School.
He was admitted to the medical school at University College London, but transferred to a degree in evolutionary genetics, including a project under Steve Jones studying stalk-eyed flies. In 2002, he completed a Ph.D. in genetics at the University College of London's Institute of Child Health, at Great Ormond Street Hospital. His thesis subject was the role of a specific gene (CHX10) on eye development —specifically, the effect of mutations on the development of eye disorders.
Rutherford's other academic research was also on genetic causes of eye disorders, including the relation of retinoschisin to retinoschisis, the role of mutations of the gene CRX in retinal dystrophy, and the role of the gene CHX10 in microphthalmia in humans and mice.
Rutherford published two books on the creation of life — Creation: The Origin of Life and Creation: The Future of Life — which in the UK, because the two are printed back-to-back (so the book can be read starting at either end), have been collectively called "two books in one."
The first part of the book argues in support of the theory, first proposed by Thomas Gold, that life emerged not in primordial warm ponds, but in extremophile conditions in the deep ocean, while the second part discusses "synthetic biology" — the use of genetic modification to create new organisms. In the US the book is published in a more conventional format with the title, Creation: How Science Is Reinventing Life Itself.
Rutherford was the Podcast Editor and the audio-video editor for the journal Nature until 2013, responsible for all the publication's published audio, video, and podcasts. He also published audio interviews with notable personalities, including Paul Bettany on his role playing Charles Darwin in the movie Creation, and David Attenborough on his documentary Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life. He wrote editorials on other diverse topics ranging from the overlap of art and science to reviews of science-themed movies.
Rutherford is a frequent contributor to The Guardian, writing primarily on science topics. He wrote a blog series covering his thoughts and analysis while re-reading Darwin's On the Origin of Species. And he has written articles supporting the teaching of evolution in schools and criticizing the teaching of creationism as science.
Religion is another topic of interest to Rutherford, notably his authorship of a 10-part series on his experience participating in the Alpha course. His works are also included in the compilation, The Atheist's Guide to Christmas.
Rutherford also writes on New Age themes and alternative medicine, including a review critical of Rupert Sheldrake's A New Science of Life. He has written critically about the lack of controls on advertising claims for homeopathy.
As a guest writer, he published an article in Wired on the possibility of using DNA for information storage.
Broadcasting
Rutherford frequently appears on BBC science programs, on both radio and television. Since 2013 he has been the host of the program Inside Science on BBC Radio 4.
In 2012 he was featured on the series Horizon on BBC Two television in the documentary Playing God, which covered synthetic biology using the example of the "Spider Goat," a goat genetically modified to produce spider silk in its milk.
In 2011 he presented, on BBC Four, The Gene Code, a two-part series on the implications of the decoding of the human genome, and his documentary, Science Betrayed, detailed the story of the discredited link between the MMR vaccine and autism.
In 2010, The Cell, his 3-part series on the discovery of cells and the development of cell biology, presented on BBC Four, was included in the Daily Telegraph's list of "10 classic science programmes."
In 2006, Discovery Science produced the six-episode TV series, Men in White, in which three scientists, Rutherford, Basil Singer, and Jem Stansfield applied science to the solution of everyday problems.
He also appeared in BBC Radio 4's The Infinite Monkey Cage, with physicist Brian Cox, physician and science writer Ben Goldacre, author Simon Singh, musician Tim Minchin, and comedians Helen Arney and Robin Ince.
Rutherford is a frequent guest on the Little Atoms radio chat show, and he has also acted as a science advisor on programmes such as The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, and the film World War Z.
In 2011 he conceived and directed Space Shuttles United, a video and musical tribute to all the space shuttle missions. (Adapred from Wikipedia. Retrieved 10/12/2017.)
Book Reviews
Rutherford’s follow-up to his highly regarded first book Creation is an effervescent work, brimming with tales and confounding ideas carried in the "epic poem in our cells." The myriad storylines will leave you swooning.… Rutherford, a trained geneticist, is an enthusiastic guide. He is especially illuminating on the nebulous concept of race, how it both does and doesn’t exist. Rutherford has proved himself a commendable historian—one who is determined to illuminate the commonality of Homo sapiens.
Guardian (UK)
Fifteen years ago, the first sequence and analysis of the human genome was published. A monumental surge in genetics followed. Science writer and broadcaster Adam Rutherford rides that tide and traces its effects, first focusing on how genetics has enriched, and in some cases upset, our understanding of human evolution, then examining the revelations of recent findings, such as deep flaws in the concept of race.… Rutherford unpeels the science with elegance.
Nature
A sweeping new view of the human evolution story, using the latest science of DNA as the central guide.… Recommended.
Scientific American
(Starred review.) Rutherford raises significant questions and explains complex topics well, engaging readers with humor and smooth prose.
Publishers Weekly
At times, Rutherford succumbs to editorializing on peripheral topics, including creationism, epigenetics, and genetic determinism, but he continues to be a witty writer throughout…. By turns amusing and provocative. —Nancy R. Curtis, Univ. of Maine Lib., Orono
Library Journal
An enthusiastic history of mankind [through] DNA … followed by a hopeful if cautionary account of what the recent revolution in genomics foretells.… Often quirky but thoughtful—solid popular science.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived … then take off on your own:
1. Talk about some of the specific information DNA has turned up regarding "how our evolution has proceeded." Most especially, how has the new genetic learning upset the conventional wisdom about our human development?
2. Follow-up to Question 1: What is the story of the Neanderthals and our relationship with them? In terms of interbreeding, how does new knowledge contradict what has long been the accepted science? And the Denisovans: who were they?
3. How does Adam Rutherford response to the insistence that genetics is destiny? What is his view of the nature vs. nurture conundrum?
4. What light does DNA shed on race...and racism?
5. Rutherford delights in meanders and digressions, providing fascinating nuggets on subjects like earwax. What other stray topics does he light upon? How about the Vikings …or the so-called "warrior gene"?
6. What role have genes played in eradicating or curing diseases? Were you surprised by Rutherford's answers?
7. Discuss the case of sickle cell, and the way in which evolution can give with one hand while taking away with the other.
8. How does the author feel about companies that offer genetic testing to reveal individuals' personal ancestry?
9. How does Rutherford defend against the naysayers when it comes to the cost and danger of continuing genetic research? What are the arguments made against further study — and what is the author's defense for its continuation? What is your opinion?
10. What struck you most about A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived? What surprised you most? Was your own understanding of human evolution challenged … or affirmed?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Sargent's Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas
Donna M. Lucey, 2017
W.W. Norton & Company
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780393079036
Summary
In this seductive, multilayered biography, based on original letters and diaries, Donna M. Lucey illuminates four extraordinary women painted by the iconic high-society portraitist John Singer Sargent.
With uncanny intuition, Sargent hinted at the mysteries and passions that unfolded in his subjects' lives.
♦ Elsie Palmer traveled between her father's Rocky Mountain castle and the medieval English manor house where her mother took refuge, surrounded by artists, writers, and actors. Elsie hid labyrinthine passions, including her love for a man who would betray her.
♦ As the veiled Sally Fairchild—beautiful and commanding—emerged on Sargent's canvas, the power of his artistry lured her sister, Lucia, into a Bohemian life.
♦ The saintly Elizabeth Chanler embarked on a surreptitious love affair with her best friend's husband.
♦ And the iron-willed Isabella Stewart Gardner scandalized Boston society and became Sargent's greatest patron and friend.
Like characters in an Edith Wharton novel, these women challenged society's restrictions, risking public shame and ostracism. All had forbidden love affairs; Lucia bravely supported her family despite illness, while Elsie explored Spiritualism, defying her overbearing father. Finally, the headstrong Isabella outmaneuvered the richest plutocrats on the planet to create her own magnificent art museum.
These compelling stories of female courage connect our past with our present — and remind us that while women live differently now, they still face obstacles to attaining full equality. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Donna M. Lucey, author of the best-selling Archie and Amélie: Love and Madness in the Gilded Age and other books, recipient of two NEH grants, and a 2017 writer-in-residence at Edith Wharton’s the Mount, is media editor at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
In Sargent's Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas, [Lucey] does…more of what she does best, creating a rollicking snow globe version of an almost unimaginable world of wealth, crackpot notions of self-improvement and high-flying self-indulgence…woven around an often passionate commitment to, deep admiration for and wide-ranging pursuit of the fine and literary arts.… Lucey is a persistent detective and a bemused, sometimes amused, storyteller, attentive to interesting, hilarious, disturbing detail.
Amy Bloom - New York Times Book Review
Like characters from the writings of Edith Wharton, these women were smart, passionate, willful, adventurous and striking-looking — particularly when immortalized by John Singer Sargent. Their enticing collective mini-biographies make up Sargent’s Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas, by Donna M. Lucey. We learn something of Sargent’s personality, his technique and his circumstances, but Lucey primarily uses him as a portal through which to glimpse these assertive spirits of the Gilded Age.
Alexander C. Kafka - Washington Post
[A] lyrical meditation on life, love, and art in the Gilded Age.… Sargent's Women abounds with dazzling characters in atmospheric settings.… As rich as [Sargent's] portraits are, the textural evidence in which Ms. Lucey ensnares them is finer still.
Jane Kamensky - Wall Street Journal
[Lucey] delivers the goods, disclosing the unhappy or colorful lives that Sargent sometimes hinted at but didn't spell out.… Sargent's Women is a good read …[and its] chatty pleasures are considerable.
Michael Upchurch - Boston Globe
[T]he fascinating lives of four women affiliated with…Sargent…. Oddly, there is little biographical information on Sargent himself…. Still, Lucey ably pulls these four compelling women out of obscurity with insight and infectious enthusiasm.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) [Lucey's] narrative is engaging and elegant, set in a rich cultural and social framework that insightfully reflects the era. Selected portraits, photos, and helpful notes enhance the text.… [S]killfully written. —Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, NJ
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Lucey vividly reveals the hidden truths of [the women's] tumultuous lives…. [A] superlative group portrait… crystal-clear prose… [and] keen insights into what drove these women to break free of their gilded cages.
Booklist
Perceptive…. Lucey chose her subjects well: four women who responded in unexpected ways to the challenges that they faced.… Colorful, animated portraits sympathetically rendered.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. John Singer Sargent confided to an acolyte, "Portrait painting, don’t you know, is very close quarters — a dangerous thing." What do you think Sargent meant by that? Do you agree? Why or why not?
2. Consider the epigraph to the book: "His quarry was a suitable subject, his trophy the creation of a thing of beauty." What do you think of this take on the artistic process? How does it suit Sargent?
3. Sargent maintained that his paintings were not psychological studies. He merely painted what he saw. What does that say about Sargent’s own psychology?
4. Sargent was known for the fabrics and props he used to make his paintings particularly eye-catching. Lucey writes, "The accoutrements were crucial — perhaps a hat, a rose in a hand, a pair of oversized Asian vases to tower over a group of children, a costume covered in beetle wings." Why do you think he chose to strip everything down in Elsie Palmer’s painting? Why such simplicity for this particular subject?
5. Lucey writes, "Perhaps Sargent posed Elsie, consciously or not, in front of that dun-colored linen-fold paneling in an ancient chapel because he sensed she harbored an interior world that was almost religious in its intensity." How do events in her later life bear out that claim?
6. Sargent supposedly liked "that very calm expression" on Elsie’s face. How would you describe Elsie’s expression?
7. Sargent chose to paint the beautiful Sally Fairchild in a blue veil. According to Lucey, Sargent’s evocation captured a "self-assured, beautiful, and privileged young woman with an independent streak." But a veil also suggests chastity. What do you think of Sargent’s decision to pose twenty-one-year-old Sally in the veil?
8. Lucey suggests that Sargent perhaps should have chosen Lucia Fairchild as his subject rather than her sister, Sally. What distinguishes Lucia? What distinguishes Sally? Who do you think is more compelling as the subject for a portrait? Who is more sympathetic?
9. Sargent warned Lucia that one had a better chance for happiness without intense passion. He told her that "terrific love" might lead to bitter disappointment and "Terrific hate." What do you think of this advice? Do Sargent’s women suffer in their quest for "Terrific love"?
10. Sargent said that Elizabeth Chanler possessed "the face of a Madonna." She appears remarkably calm in her portrait, and yet curators at the Smithsonian American Art Museum have pointed to tension. Do you recognize that tension?
11. How accurately does Sargent paint Elizabeth’s internal landscape? Consider Elizabeth’s eyes, posture, and clothing.
12. After Elizabeth falls in love with John Jay "Jack" Chapman, she writes passionately to him, "I crave more habit of you Jack — I need the close waking & sleeping intercourse of every moment of life." Elizabeth’s desire for Jack is clear in her letters. Did her transition from a sickly and overly burdened child to a woman of intense romantic passion surprise you?
13. After viewing the acclaimed Madame X, Isabella "Belle" Stewart Gardner wanted Sargent to paint a similarly provocative portrait of her. How did you react to the finished painting? What does the painting say about Belle’s sense of herself?
14. The French critic Paul Bourget saw Belle’s portrait and wrote, "This woman can do without being loved. She has no need of being loved." Given what you know about Belle, what do you think of Bourget’s critique?
15. Sargent painted Belle for a second time when she was eighty-two years old. Lucey writes, "Shrouded in white cloth, she sits on a couch propped up with cushions; her pale expressionless face seems to be disappearing into the cloth, about ready to vanish." What were your feelings on seeing this portrait?
16. Which of Sargent’s women most intrigued you? Why?
17. Sargent created more than nine hundred paintings and sketches in his lifetime. How do you feel about Lucey’s decision to examine these four subjects?
18. Biographers have depicted Sargent as robustly masculine. Friends called him "a frenzied bugger." Others noted that he avoided romantic relationships yet needed constant companionship. His sittings were often like small parties. Did Sargent’s behaviors and peculiarities surprise you? Why or why not?
19. Do you think Sargent’s personality somehow shows itself on the canvas?
20. Together, Sargent’s women — Elsie, Sally, Elizabeth, and Belle — represent high society during the Gilded Age. Yet each woman is unique, and each one managed to flout convention in her own way. Do women still face some of the same challenges today?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation's Largest Home
Denise Kiernan, 2017
Touchstone
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 99781476794044
Summary
The fascinating true story behind the magnificent Gilded Age mansion Biltmore—the largest, grandest residence ever built in the United States.
The story of Biltmore spans World Wars, the Jazz Age, the Depression, and generations of the famous Vanderbilt family, and features a captivating cast of real-life characters including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, Teddy Roosevelt, John Singer Sargent, James Whistler, Henry James, and Edith Wharton.
Orphaned at a young age, Edith Stuyvesant Dresser claimed lineage from one of New York’s best known families. She grew up in Newport and Paris, and her engagement and marriage to George Vanderbilt was one of the most watched events of Gilded Age society. But none of this prepared her to be mistress of Biltmore House.
Before their marriage, the wealthy and bookish Vanderbilt had dedicated his life to creating a spectacular European-style estate on 125,000 acres of North Carolina wilderness. He summoned the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to tame the grounds, collaborated with celebrated architect Richard Morris Hunt to build a 175,000-square-foot chateau, filled it with priceless art and antiques, and erected a charming village beyond the gates.
Newlywed Edith was now mistress of an estate nearly three times the size of Washington, DC and benefactress of the village and surrounding rural area. When fortunes shifted and changing times threatened her family, her home, and her community, it was up to Edith to save Biltmore — and secure the future of the region and her husband’s legacy.
The Last Castle is the unique American story of how the largest house in America flourished, faltered, and ultimately endured to this day. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—July 31, 1968
• Where—N/A
• Education—M.A., New York University
• Currently—lives in Asheville, North Carolina
Denise Kiernan is an American journalist, producer and author who lives in Asheville, North Carolina. She has authored several history titles, including Signing Their Rights Away (with Joseph D'Agnese, 2011), The Girls of Atomic City (2013), and The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation's Largest Home (2017)
Education
Kiernan graduated from the North Carolina School of the Arts with an emphasis in music. She earned a BA degree from the Washington Square and University College of Arts & Science in 1991 and an MA from the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development of New York University in 2002.
Career
Kiernan started out in journalism, and as a freelance writer, her work appeared in the New York Times, Village Voice, Wall Street Journal, and Ms. Magazine among other publications. She served as the head writer for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire during its first season. She has produced pieces for ESPN and MSNBC.
Additionally, she has authored several popular history titles and ghost written books for athletes, entrepreneurs and actresses. Her most recent book, The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II, traces the story of the women who worked on the Manhattan Project, unknowingly helping to create the fuel for the world's first atomic bomb. The book became a New York Times best seller in its first week of publication.
Personal life
Kiernan is married to author and journalist Joseph D'Agnese, with whom she co-authored several books including Stuff Every American Should Know (2012); Signing Their Rights Away (2011); Signing Their Lives Away (2009). (From Wiipedia. Retrieved 2/21/2014 .)
Book Reviews
In The Last Castle, Denise Kiernan tries to reveal the answer to what is surely the greatest mystery for any of Biltmore's million annual visitors: Who, exactly, conceived of such a huge undertaking? What kind of bachelor really wanted to inhabit a 250-room house, replete with indoor swimming pool and bowling alley? … Kiernan's wider lens on the Gilded Age compensates for her protagonists' insipidness. The book's vitality lies in the details she reveals about the architects, writers, artists and peers of the Vanderbilts who spent time at the Biltmore.
Vicky Ward - New York Times Book Review
Part diary, part journalism, part social critique, the book’s broad narrative humanizes the rich and effectively characterizes an era. Kiernan’s almost 100 pages of meticulous research notes and photos lend a reassuring gravity to the ethereal world to which we are introduced.
Russell J. MacMullan Jr. - Washington Independent Review of Books
Evocative, meticulously researched.… Kiernan brings a deft eye for detail and observation to a very different kind of story.… Her re-creation of Biltmore’s origins hits like a flute of fine champagne while lending social context to the mansion.… The Last Castle is Edith Wharton’s ‘The Age of Innocence sprung to life.… Biltmore is an ideal vessel for an exploration of our worship of affluence and social cachet, and more importantly, the American myth of classlessness. The Last Castle plumbs these themes and history with subtle insight and élan.
Knoxville News-Sentinel
But reading The Last Castle, the flowing novel-like narrative really is "about America." It's about celebrity culture, wealth disparity, the remarkable charity and foresight of a few wealthy people, the urge to create and maintain a family legacy and, in its darker moments, the ever-present potential for personal tragedy. It's grounded in Kiernan's years of globe-trotting research and yet also immediately relevant to the topics that clog social media in 2017.
Asheville Citizen-Times
This thoroughly researched book… [has] plenty of famous characters sprinkled throughout, there is enough action and history to keep readers engaged and eager to turn the pages. —Mattie Cook, Lake Odessa Comm. Lib., MI
Library Journal
The many diverting detours Kiernan takes make the book enticing for even those who will never set foot on Biltmore grounds.
Booklist
Kiernan discloses little about [the Vanderbilts'] personalities and nothing about their courtship or relationship as husband and wife.… One-dimensional characters undermine the potential drama of life within a castle.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Why do you think Denise Kiernan chose to title her book The Last Castle? In what ways does Biltmore function like a castle for George Vanderbilt and his family? How does it differ?
2. Edith Vanderbilt’s mother hailed from the Fish-LeRoy and Stuyvesant families. These families were "exceptionally well known in New York circles where names carried the weight of history and bore the shackles of expected romantic pairings" (p. 3). What expectations do Edith; her mother, Susan Fish LeRoy; and their peers face with regard to marriage? Do you think these expectations lead to some disastrous marital pairings among Edith’s peers? If so, give some examples.
3. Describe the origins of the name that George chooses for his Asheville estate. What does "Biltmore" signify? Why do you think it’s important for George to choose a name for his estate? The citizens of Asheville have mixed reactions to the name "Biltmore." Discuss them.
4. Kiernan describes William B. Osgood Field as being "like the Nick Carraway to George’s Gatsby: playing matchmaker, yet unable to keep up with his friend financially" (p. 99). Describe George’s friendship with Field. Do you think Kiernan’s comparison is apt? Why or why not? What other friendships are particularly important to George?
5. When Field accompanies George Vanderbilt to Europe, George’s sisters inform Field that "he should be more than George’s companion on this trip. He should seek to help George land his life’s companion" (p. 81). Why do George’s sisters think that Edith is a good match for him? Do you agree? What considerations must someone of George’s social class take into account when looking for a spouse?
6. During the Gilded Age, being "a son of the Vanderbilt dynasty was to have your every move, dalliance, chance encounter, and passing venture watched and analyzed" (p. 7-8). Why do you think the public is so interested in the lives of the Vanderbilt family? Discuss the impact the constant public scrutiny has on the behavior of members of the Vanderbilt family. Can you think of any modern equivalents that are scrutinized in the same way the Vanderbilt family was in their time? Who are they?
7. In letters, George’s niece, Adele, describes herself as "Biltmore homesick" (p. 46). What does she mean by this expression? Why does Adele enjoy herself so much during her visits to Biltmore? How is life better for women of Adele’s social class on country estates? What freedoms are afforded to them that they do not have while they are in cities?
8. One of Edith’s great strengths was that she "strode deftly between . . . two worlds, one of Victorian elegance, the other of rugged mountain simplicity" (p. 156). How is Edith able to move between these two vastly different realms? What about her upbringing may have prepared her for this balance? In what ways is Edith able to make herself an integral part of the greater community in Asheville?
9. When Cornelia is born, the locals honor her by "conferring the ‘tar heel’ moniker upon [her]" (p. 134). How does Cornelia’s birth connect George and Edith with the community in Asheville? Why do the residents feel a sense of ownership over her? Describe Cornelia’s connection to her birthplace as an adult. Were you surprised by it?
10. In 1873, Mark Twain and coauthor Charles Dudley Warner wrote a book about the age of excess in which they lived titled The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. Do you think "Gilded Age" is an appropriate title for the time? If so, why? Would you have liked to live during the Gilded Age? Why or why not?
11. Why does George Vanderbilt elect to build Biltmore in Asheville, NC? What is the effect that Biltmore has on the region socially, economically, and in terms of infrastructure? If you could build an estate anywhere, where would you do so? Explain your answer.
12. Kiernan writes that Biltmore "may not have been in New York or Newport, but if this house didn’t make an impression on the Four Hundred, nothing would, acorns or no." (p. 66). Explain this statement. What kind of impression did Biltmore make on visitors? Was there anything you found particularly impressive about the house? If there was, discuss it with your book club, explaining why you were so taken with that particular feature.
13. When President McKinley expresses a desire to visit Biltmore, E. J. Harding, the auditor of Biltmore Estate, specifies that McKinley, his wife, and any cabinet members are welcome to the estate, but the media is not. Why does Harding object to the presence of the press? Is he right in doing so? How does the press interact with members of the Four Hundred and with the president? Why do you think McKinley might want to have press during his visit?
14. Lillian Exum Clement, who became the first female legislator in North Carolina, said, "I know that years from now there will be many other women in politics, but you have to start a thing" (p. 245). Discuss the role that women played in politics prior to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. In what ways were women active before they were granted the right to vote?
15. As a young man, George Vanderbilt tells Field that he wants to see the world before getting married, and that when he does get married, "he imagined she would perhaps be ten years his junior" (p. 85). Contrast George’s philosophy with regard to finding a life partner with Field’s. Do you agree with either of the men? Which one and why? Given the men’s philosophies, were you surprised by the choices they made in choosing their spouses?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
The Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country
Sierra Crane Murdoch, 2020
Random House
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780399589157
Summary
The gripping true story of a murder on an Indian reservation, and the unforgettable Arikara woman who becomes obsessed with solving it—an urgent work of literary journalism.
When Lissa Yellow Bird was released from prison in 2009, she found her home, the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, transformed by the Bakken oil boom.
In her absence, the landscape had been altered beyond recognition, her tribal government swayed by corporate interests, and her community burdened by a surge in violence and addiction.
Three years later, when Lissa learned that a young white oil worker, Kristopher “KC” Clarke, had disappeared from his reservation worksite, she became particularly concerned. No one knew where Clarke had gone, and few people were actively looking for him.
Yellow Bird traces Lissa’s steps as she obsessively hunts for clues to Clarke’s disappearance. She navigates two worlds—that of her own tribe, changed by its newfound wealth, and that of the non-Native oilmen, down on their luck, who have come to find work on the heels of the economic recession.
Her pursuit of Clarke is also a pursuit of redemption, as Lissa atones for her own crimes and reckons with generations of trauma.
Yellow Bird is an exquisitely written, masterfully reported story about a search for justice and a remarkable portrait of a complex woman who is smart, funny, eloquent, compassionate, and—when it serves her cause—manipulative.
Drawing on eight years of immersive investigation, Sierra Crane Murdoch has produced a profound examination of the legacy of systematic violence inflicted on a tribal nation and a tale of extraordinary healing. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Sierra Crane Murdoch, a journalist based in the American West, has written for The Atlantic, The New Yorker online, Virginia Quarterly Review, Orion, and High Country News.
She has held fellowships from Middlebury College and from the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a MacDowell Fellow. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Remarkable…. [The book’s] strength derives not from vast panoramas but from an intimate gaze…. I’ve long felt that Native communities are perceived… as places in America but not of America.… Yellow Bird’s fanatical but dignified search brought closure to Clarke’s family and change to Fort Berthold. In her telling of the story, Murdoch brings the same fanaticism and dignity to the search for and meaning of modern Native America.
David Treuer - New York Times
A great true-crime story…. Lissa Yellow Bird is one of the most fascinating characters I’ve ever read about—and she’s a real person…. It’s Yellow Bird’s incremental fight that makes the book addictive, full of twists and turns and surprising choices…. Murdoch reports the hell out of it, digging up text messages and conversations and business dealings and shifts in tribal power. She also gets deep into personal relationships and reveals their richness from all sides. It’s a remarkable accomplishment.
Los Angeles Times
Murdoch follows an Arikara woman named Lissa Yellow Bird who is determined to solve the mystery of a missing white oil worker on the North Dakota reservation where her family lives. The book offers a gripping narrative of Yellow Bird’s obsession with the case, but it’s also about the harsh history of the land where the man vanished, how it was flooded and remade, first by an uncaring federal government and then again by industry. Yellow Bird teaches us that some things aren’t random at all—that a crime, and its resolution, can be a product of a time and a place, and a history bringing together the people involved.
Outside magazine
[A] powerful portrayal of an unusual sleuth whose dogged pursuit of a missing person inquiry led to justice.… Murdoch deepens her narrative with a searing look at the deficiencies of law and order on Native American land, corruption, and the abrogation of responsibility by the federal government.
Publishers Weekly
[E]xpertly blends true crime, environmental drama, and family saga.… Murdoch has outdone herself by telling the story in a beautifully narrative way, allowing readers to watch the scene unfold as Lissa Yellow Bird investigates the disappearance of Kristopher "KC" Clarke. —Ahliah Bratzler, Indianapolis P.L.
Library Journal
A murder on an Indian reservation changes lives—at least one for the better but most for the worse.… Thanks to Yellow Bird's tireless search, the truth eventually emerged…. An impressive debut that serves as an eye-opening view of both the oil economy and Native American affairs.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers Book Club Resources. They can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(Resources by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery
Scott Kelly, 2017
Knopf Doubleday
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781524731595
Summary
A stunning memoir from the astronaut who spent a record-breaking year aboard the International Space Station—a candid account of his remarkable voyage, of the journeys off the planet that preceded it, and of his colorful formative years.
The veteran of four space flights and the American record holder for consecutive days spent in space, Scott Kelly has experienced things very few have.
Now, he takes us inside a sphere utterly inimical to human life. He describes navigating the extreme challenge of long-term spaceflight, both existential and banal:
♦ the devastating effects on the body;
♦ the isolation from everyone he loves and the comforts of Earth;
♦ the pressures of constant close cohabitation;
♦ the catastrophic risks of depressurization or colliding with space junk;
♦ the still more haunting threat of being unable to help should tragedy strike at home — an agonizing situation Kelly faced when, on another mission, his twin brother's wife, Gabrielle Giffords, was shot while he still had two months in space.
Kelly's humanity, compassion, humor, and passion resonate throughout, as he recalls his rough-and-tumble New Jersey childhood and the youthful inspiration that sparked his astounding career, and as he makes clear his belief that Mars will be the next, ultimately challenging step in American spaceflight.
A natural storyteller and modern-day hero, Kelly has a message of hope for the future that will inspire for generations to come. Here, in his personal story, we see the triumph of the human imagination, the strength of the human will, and the boundless wonder of the galaxy. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—February 21, 1964
• Where—Orange, New Jersey, USA
• Education—B.S., State University of New York Maritime College; M.S., University of Tennessee
• Currently—lives in
Scott Joseph Kelly is an engineer, retired American astronaut, and a retired U.S. Navy Captain. A veteran of four space flights, Kelly commanded the International Space Station (ISS) on Expeditions 26, 45, and 46.
Personal life
He was born in Orange, New Jersey, to Patricia and Richard Kelly, and raised in the nearby community of West Orange. He attended Mountain High School along with his identical twin brother Mark. While in high school, Kelly worked as an emergency medical technician.
Following high school, Kelly attended the State University of New York Maritime College, where he received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering. He went on to earn an M.S. degree in Aviation Systems from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 1996.
Kelly He was married to Leslie S. Yandell and has two daughters, Samantha and Charlotte. The couple is now divorced. Kelly's sister-in-law is Gabrielle Giffords, the former congresswoman from Arizona.
Naval career
Scott Kelly received his commission via the Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) following graduation from the State University of New York Maritime College in May 1987. He was designated a Naval Aviator in July 1989 at Naval Air Station Chase Field in Beeville, Texas.
He reported to Fighter Squadron 101 (VF-101) at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, for initial F-14 Tomcat training. Upon completion of this training, he was assigned to Fighter Squadron 143 (VF-143) and made overseas deployments to the North Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea and Persian Gulf aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Scott Kelly was selected to attend the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland in January 1993 and completed training in June 1994. After graduation, he worked as a test pilot at the Strike Aircraft Test Squadron, Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division, at Patuxent River, flying the F-14A/B/D, F/A-18A/B/C/D and KC-130F.
Kelly was the first pilot to fly an F-14 with an experimental digital flight control system installed and performed subsequent high angle of attack and departure testing.
He has logged more than 8,000 flight-hours in more than 40 different aircraft and spacecraft. Kelly has more than 250 carrier landings.
After attaining the rank of Captain in the U.S. Navy, Kelly retired from active duty on June 1, 2012 after 25 years of Naval service and continued to serve as an astronaut and civil servant until his second retirement in April 2016.
NASA career
Selected by NASA in April 1996, Kelly reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. On completion of training, he was assigned to technical duties in the Astronaut Office Spacecraft Systems/Operations Branch.
Kelly's first spaceflight was as pilot of Space Shuttle Discovery, during STS-103 in December 1999. This was the third servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, and lasted for just under eight days.
His second spaceflight was as mission commander of STS-118, a 12-day Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station in August 2007.
The third spaceflight was as commander of Expedition 26 on the ISS. He arrived 9 October 2010, on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, during Expedition 25, and served as a flight engineer until it ended. He took over command of the station on 25 November 2010, at the start of Expedition 26 which began officially when the spacecraft Soyuz TMA-19 undocked, carrying the previous commander of the station, Douglas H. Wheelock. Expedition 26 ended on 16 March 2011 with the departure of Soyuz TMA-01M. This was Kelly's first long-duration spaceflight.
In November 2012, Kelly was selected, along with Mikhail Korniyenko, for a special 340 day so called year-long mission to the International Space Station. Their year in space commenced 27 March 2015 with the start of Expedition 43, continued through the entirety of Expeditions 44, and 45, both of which Kelly commanded. He passed command to Timothy Kopra[8] on 29 February 2016, when the ISS 11 month mission ended. He returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-18M on 1 March 2016.
In October 2015, he set the record for the total accumulated number of days spent in space by an American astronaut, 520. This record was broken in 2016 by astronaut Jeff Williams.
For the ISS year long mission, Kelly spent 340 consecutive days (11 months, 3 days) in space. Kelly's identical twin brother, Mark Kelly, is a former astronaut. The Kelly brothers are the only siblings to have traveled in space. On March 12, 2016, Kelly announced his retirement for April 2016. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 10/12/2017.)
Book Reviews
It’s fascinating stuff, a tale of aches and pains, of boredom punctuated by terror and worries about what’s happening in the dark and back down on Earth. A worthy read for space buffs, to say nothing of anyone contemplating a voyage to the stars.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available.)