Ill Literacy: Books with Benson

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Paul Kennedy, J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History at Yale University, to discuss his new book, Victory at Sea: Naval Power and the Transformation of the Global Order in World War II. They chat about the six major naval powers of the war and their individual strengths, weaknesses, and challenges, and how the war was won and lost in the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Mediterranean. They also talk about how the strategic landscape for naval affairs was completely altered by the war and the rise of American economic and military hegemony.

Get the book here:  https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300219173/victory-at-sea/

Show Notes:

Engelsberg Ideas: Lincoln Paine – “A marriage of the geopolitical, the military and the material”
https://engelsbergideas.com/books/a-marriage-of-the-geopolitical-the-military-and-the-material-victory-at-sea-naval-power-and-the-transformation-of-the-global-order-in-world-war-ii-by-paul-kennedy-review/

Foreign Policy: Alexander Wooley – “The Navy Made America a Superpower Once. Can It Again?”
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/05/30/us-navy-victory-at-sea-review-paul-kennedy-history/

The New Criterion: Jeremy Black – “A new ruler of the waves”
https://newcriterion.com/issues/2022/9/a-new-ruler-of-the-waves

The Sunday Times: Max Hastings – “Victory at Sea by Paul Kennedy review — did the navy win the Second World War?”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/victory-at-sea-by-paul-kennedy-review-did-the-navy-win-the-second-world-war-bd7tft0l9

Wall Street Journal: Brendan Simms – “‘Victory at Sea’ Review: Ruling the Waves in World War II”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/victory-at-sea-book-review-ruling-the-waves-in-world-war-ii-11650634290

Washington Free Beacon: Mike Watson – “How We Achieved Naval Supremacy—And How We Could Lose It”
https://freebeacon.com/culture/how-we-achieved-naval-supremacy-and-how-we-could-lose-it/

Washington Post: Robert D. Kaplan – “How the naval battles of World War II reshaped the global order”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/05/20/how-naval-battles-world-war-ii-reshaped-global-order/

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Christopher M. Reali, assistant professor of music at Ramapo College, to discuss his new book, Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals. They chat about the Muscle Shoals music scene in the 1960’s and 1970’s, what exactly is the “Muscle Shoals Sound,” and how that sound became such a potent cultural power that still means something even up to the present day. They also talk about the overlooked history of Muscle Shoals' impact on country music and describes the region's recent transformation into a tourism destination and something of a pilgrimage stop for musicians from all over the world.

Get the book here:  https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=45zfd3qs9780252044519

Blues Blast Magazine: Mark Thompson – “Christopher M Reali – Music And Mystique In Muscle Shoals | Book Review”|
https://www.bluesblastmagazine.com/christopher-m-reali-music-and-mystique-in-muscle-shoals-book-review/

Deep South Magazine: Erin Z. Bass – “Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals”
https://deepsouthmag.com/2022/07/19/music-and-mystique-in-muscle-shoals/

Southern Review of Books: Lacey Lyons – “Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals” Chronicles a Legendary Music Scene
https://southernreviewofbooks.com/2022/08/08/music-and-mystique-in-muscle-shoals-christopher-reali-interview/

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by all-time surf god Shaun Tomson to discuss his new book with Noah benShea, “The Surfer and the Sage: A Guide to Survive and Ride Life's Waves.” They chat about purpose, loss, hope, faith, the importance of doing nothing, what lessons surfing has to give about living a fulfilling life, and the power of “I Will.” Tim also tries to not geek out and ask too many surf fanboy questions about Pipeline.

Get the book here:  https://www.familius.com/book/the-surfer-and-the-sage/

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Jonathan W. White, professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University, to discuss his new book, To Address You as My Friend: African Americans' Letters to Abraham Lincoln. They chat about the personal connection many blacks felt to Abraham Lincoln and how that gave them confidence to write to the president and to seek redress of their grievances. They also talk about how the act of writing to Lincoln for blacks was, in a small way, an act of civic participation and allowed them to claim the rights of American citizenship in a wide range of circumstances.

Get the book here: https://uncpress.org/book/9781469665078/to-address-you-as-my-friend/

Heartland’s Tim Benson is joined by Mark A. Noll, Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame, to discuss his new book, America's Book: The Rise and Decline of a Bible Civilization, 1794-1911. They chat about how the Bible decisively shaped American national history even as that history influenced the use of Scripture, and how a strongly Protestant Bible civilization was fractured by debates over slavery, contested by growing numbers of non-Protestants, and torn apart by the Civil War. They also talk about how the more religiously plural period from Reconstruction to the early 20th Century saw Scripture become a much more fragmented, though still significant, force in American culture.

Get the book here:  https://global.oup.com/academic/product/americas-book-9780197623466?q=america%27s%20book&lang=en&cc=us

Show Notes:

Wall Street Journal: D.G. Hart – “‘America’s Book’ Review: The Word Out of Season”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/americas-book-review-the-word-out-of-season-11651009649