Give Me Liberty! A review of American History and Voices of Freedom by Eric Foner

Give me liberty! And two book reviews damn it! Yes, I'm reviewing (more) textbooks. Why American History? Well, my instructor asked me the same question, and here was my answer to him:

Why History? Because it's everywhere. It's in the events that lead to a new technology, it's in old pictures I see of myself, as I laugh at the fashion trend of the time. It's in the changes in popular culture, or in our search to understand why something happened the way it did. It's in the obituaries we read about a life now passed.

Why American History? Well, whenever I hear a news report that talks about the workings of government, I always wish I had paid a bit more attention in my high school history class. I want to be more informed about how this country works and why it works the way it does. I don't want to have to turn to Wikipedia anymore to figure out things I feel I should already know, like how a bill becomes a law, or why we have an electoral college. I hope to understand the foundation and growth of this country, and gain context to help me understand current events.

Blah blah blah, you get the gist. So Give Me Liberty is the textbook we used. Eric Foner has another, more comprehensive text. So this one is the condensed version. But a lot of the materials cut out of the main textbook are included in the companion reader, Voices of Freedom. This book has short readings that supplement each chapter, usually essays and letters by people from that particular time period.

I'm not an aficionado of History textbooks, but I actually thought Give Me Liberty was quite good. Foner really emphasized things that weren't traditionally taught, especially in grade school history courses. His focus on racial inequality and the roots of racism in America were really eye opening to me. He spent a lot of time discussing the dishenfranchisement of groups like Native Americans, women, and African Americans. And his summary of American History from Columbus' voyage to the Americas to the Civil War was brief, but impactful.

The companion book, Voices of Freedom, was a bit of a bore for me, tbh. But I suppose it's a great resource if you want a compilation of writings from that time period.

So a hit and miss, respectively, for these two books. Not that you're going out to buy either anytime soon. But you should know, I still don't quite get how a bill becomes a law (that's not really covered in this book). But there's always this guy for that:

via GIPHY

Technology in Action by Evans, Martin, and Poatsy

Ummmmm...this is a textbook.  Wait!  Don't stop reading! Okay, okay, the textbook wasn't SO AWESOME I had to review it.  It was more like, "I'm reading this entire book for a class and damn right I'm gonna get credit on my CBR for it."  It kept me away from other books for EIGHT WEEKS for crying out loud.

It's not like I'm computer illiterate.  I grew up in a house that always had at least one computer.  I remember using DOS at my high school job as a telemarketer (not sure if that helps or hinders my argument here). And I sit at a computer hours a day at my job. But I haven't had any formal instruction on what a computer actually is and how it works.  And I know for a fact that (old lady voice commence) kids these days (end) are programming in elementary school (despite this, I still have a suspicion they couldn't program a remote control like the rest of us).

My tech naivete came to a head at Starbucks one morning.  The conversation somehow prompted me to declare, "hashtag TBT!"  I was really proud of myself for throwing down a popular twitterism, especially since I've tweeted all of zero times.  My friend called me out for using the hashtag incorrectly.  So we decided to ask the young, hip barista what it actually meant.  She settled the disagreement in my friend's favor and served me my short decaf in a tall cup.

Let's just jump into the review.

I took a beginning Computer Science class this summer and this is the textbook.  The book was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than the class.  But don't get me started on that. TIA has chapters devoted entirely to things like computer hardware, the internet, software, programming, and networking.  If your eyes are already glazing over, it's probably fine if you have no interaction with computers, ever.  But you're reading this, so...

Basically, this book will help you understand how computers work, even how to purchase the right one.  You'll know the basic components of a computing system and learn how networks operate.  There is also really practical information on computer and internet safety and security.

So, while you probably won't go out and buy this book (because, duh! The Internet), I'm glad I read it.  It's raised my computer awareness from clueless to I-don't-remember-but-I-know-I-read-about-it-once-in-a-book.  I'll just contact Starbucks tech support for any other questions I might have.