On the evening of April 15; 1848; seventy-seven slaves attempted one of history's most audacious escapes—and put in motion a furiously fought battle over slavery in America that would consume Congress; the streets of the capital; and the White House itself. Setting sail from Washington; D.C.; on a schooner named the Pearl; the fugitives began a daring 225-mile journey to freedom in the North. Mary Kay Ricks's unforgettable chronicle brings to life the Underground Railroad's largest escape attempt; the seemingly immutable politics of slavery; and the individuals who struggled to end it. All the while; Ricks focuses her narrative on the intimate story of two young sisters who were onboard the Pearl; and sets their struggle for liberation against the powerful historical forces that would nearly tear the country apart. After a terrifyingly calm night; the wind came up as the sun rose the next morning; and the small schooner shot off down the Potomac River. Hours later; stunned owners—including a former first lady; a shipping magnate; a former congressman; a federal marshal; and a Baptist minister—raised the alarm. Authorities quickly formed a posse that chased the fugitives down the river. But with a head start and a robust wind that filled their sails; the Pearl raced ahead—unaware that a violent squall was moving into their path and would halt their bid for freedom. Escape on the Pearl reveals the incredible odyssey of those who were onboard; including the remarkable lives of fugitives Mary and Emily Edmonson; the two sisters at the heart of the story; who would trade servitude in elite Washington homes for slave pens in three states. Through the efforts of the sisters' father and the northern "conductor" who had helped organize the escape; an abolitionist outcry arose in the North; calling for the two girls to be rescued. Ultimately; Mary and Emily would go on to stand shoulder to shoulder with such abolitionist luminaries as Frederick Douglass and attend Oberlin College under the sponsorship of Harriet Beecher Stowe.A story of courage and determination; Escape on the Pearl revives one of the most poignant chapters of U.S. history. The Edmonsons; the other fugitives of the Pearl; and those who helped them can now take their rightful place as American heroes.
#119797 in Books Peter Watson 2011-07-26 2011-07-26Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x 1.98 x 6.00l; 2.50 #File Name: 0060760230992 pagesThe German Genius Europe s Third Renaissance the Second Scientific Revolution and the Twentieth Century
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Fascinating look at the evolution of German and Western culture in the 19th and 20th CenturiesBy Michael Van HilstThis book is about culture; where it comes from; what it is; and how it evolves. The author takes pains to avoid discussing the sorts of historical; military; and political events found in other history books and instead focuses on the thinkers; writers; educators; and artists who were influential at the time. While the book is about Germany; the American system of education copied the one created in Prussia in the Nineteenth century; especially the university system; and many of the great thinkers in Germany crossed the Atlantic and influenced American intellectual culture as well; especially in the mid Twentieth century. Many; if not most; of the individuals discussed will already be familiar to the reader. Only now you will see them in their context; with many new insights revealed.I couldn't put this book down. Every chapter contains interesting new facts and insights. Whether you are interested in physics; philosophy; education; music; religion; art; literature or history this book has a treasure trove of information. Peter Watson has assembled a remarkable amount of research to put this book together.A story about Germany cannot help but be a story about Hitler and the Third Reich. To be anything else would be criticized as a white wash. While the author tries to show that Germany is much more than that; the book still largely focuses on a culture moving toward Hitler before 1940; and coming to terms with those terrible events afterwards. While the book describes what was; I would have liked to see a bit more discussion of what could have been. German culture took distinct turns with Napoleon's victory at Jena; the uprisings in 1848 and 1871; and of course the two world wars. Kaiser Wilhelm; Bismark; and Hitler all took specific measures to suppress certain ideals and ways of thinking. The book talks about how some ideas survived; for example when the government controlled museum shows and theatre performances. But not as much was said about what was lost. In particular; I was hoping to see more discussion of the role of government control over University appointments; for example by replacing the young Hegelians and their Idealist form of skepticism with Positivists (discussed in Marcuse's Reason and Revolution).11 of 11 people found the following review helpful. Stunning in its breath and scopeBy John E. DruryIrony struggles with world history in this recent Financial Times headline "Germany told to act to save Europe." Times have changed since 1945. We missed something along the way in all our readings and movies. Convenient villains for so long; the Germans are now asked to play savior. It is time to pull aside the historical blinders of World War Two; its atrocities and aftermath and open our eyes to Germany's contributions to science; philosophy; music; modern thought and their effect on our twenty first centuries sensibilities. Peter Watson's massive survey book reacquaints the reader; if "reacquainting" is the right verb; to the Germanic phenomenon with his deep research and cultural sensitivity without leaving unaddressed the twelve years of Nazi rule. Reading it is a sumptuous feast on Germanic erudition; philosophical thought and achievement by an author with a keen eye for detail and a gift for synthesis.To paraphrase Philip Larkin; this is a serious book on serious ground; not to be consumed in one or two sittings; its complexities and intricacies are many; inviting the reader to carefully ponder the roots of Western philosophical thought; the wellsprings of nineteenth century symphonic music (mostly Germanic); the scope of Western artistic achievement; the nature of politics and political dialogue in our modern society and the engines of science in the past two hundred years. Watson plies his deep knowledge of the German character in his concluding chapter with five traits of German culture worthy of thoughtful consideration; an educated middle class inhabiting the world of scholarship (and by scholarship; he includes research); the arts (music; film; stage and literature); science; the legal; medical; and religious professions based not on the acquisition of knowledge but "as a process of character development;" a personal reflective character "inwardness" leading one to observe "new structures of our minds;" the German concept of "Bildung;" being the primary achievement of the central driving force of inwardness; resulting in a harmonization of research with scholarship leading as " a defining phenomenun of modernity;" and a redemptive community "sustaining a moral community in the face of rampant individualism." These are thought provoking concepts for a people as controversial - and consequential - as the Germans have been for the last century.Watson offers a fascinating take on the cultural pessimism of German middle class society post World War One and its relationship to Hannah Arendt's theory of "a temporary alliance between the educated elite and the mob" leading to a "constant murderous arbitrariness." This is a view one might not readily read about.This wide ranging examination of German culture invites the American reader to contrast our American culture with German culture. Writers like Thomas Mann and other emigres to this country shine a caustic light on our culture; in Mann's words; he commented on "the American tendency to oversimplify . . . the `barbarous infantilism' of American life." This is not intended to provocate but to evaluate our culture and how the German literary elite saw us over time. It deserves our attention.As I write this; the Wall Street Journal leads with a commentary by one of their business writers about the importance of the present day decisions of Angela Merkel on the 2012 elections prospects in this country. It is about time German society and culture is examined more carefully then it has been in the past. Peter Watson's book is a good starting point.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Germany's Contribution to Our Culture -- EnlighteningBy Anne MillsThis is an extraordinary book; from which I learned a lot in an area where I knew very little -- the German contribution to the cultural and intellectual patterns of our own society. It leaves me wanting to learn more. For that I’m very grateful. This isn't to say the book is without flaws. First; “The German Genius†is more encyclopedic; and less analytic; than I would have liked – it’s long on lists; but short on connections. Second; it is (perhaps in consequence) a very long; very ponderous read. It’s well worth reading; but in recommending to friends I shall warn them that they are undertaking a ProjectWatson; as he notes; wrote the book because of the profound ignorance among most Brits about German history; except for the German history of the Hitler era – an ignorance certainly shared by most Americans. If that ignorance was occasionally reduced – perhaps by a lecture on the German inflation; or on the late emergence of the German state -- the reason for doing so was basically to find out what caused Hitler. This may have been largely unavoidable in the second half of the 20th century. Hitler was hard to look around; and “other†German history did not seem very relevant to Anglo American culture in which English speakers operate. Since English speakers tend to assume that Anglo American culture has now become world culture; this implied that German history really didn’t matter – except; of course; for the question of Hitler.But German history – German history for hundreds of years; not just from 1933 to 1945 -- is highly relevant to today’s culture. Watson shows this by focussing not on political history; but on cultural history; and it is here that the German contribution is astonishing. Germany did not have one political history until 1870; but it had a cultural history that; Watson would argue; is in many ways the basis of “modernityâ€. He goes through intellectual area after intellectual area – philosophy; mathematics; sociology; psychology; physics; chemistry; etc. etc. etc – and shows how Germans dominated their development in the 19th and early 20th century. He also looks at the arts; Germans dominated music; of course; but had a much wider impact on literature and the visual arts than I had realized.The German influence goes beyond what we think; to weigh on how we think. Philosophy is of course an example; but there is a much less obvious and more concrete one. Watson shows how the research-based university developed in Germany; forming a model for the American academic system. This approach required young scholars to develop new knowledge; rather than simply passing on what was already known. It has; Watson argues; a great deal to do with the explosion of knowledge in the past 150 years.At the end of the book; Watson does look at the question of what caused Hitler: he presents some compelling suggestions; though not a definitive answer – as he is the first to emphasize. But ; the importance of this book isn’t in what it tells us about Hitler; but in what it tells us about the rest of Germany’s impact on our world.
