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dd3638a
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sutler
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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confronted them now. When first presented
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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illusive
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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Many of the so-called American characteristics,' a chronicler of the [WW2 University of Minnesota starvation] experiment wrote, '--abounding energy, generosity, optimism--become intelligible as the expected behavior response of a well-fed people.
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optimism
hunger
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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e7769ab
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In the end, both sides wanted what the Pilgrims had been looking for in 1620: a place unfettered by obligations to others.
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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In the year 1712, a Captain Hussey, cruising in his little boat for right whales along Nantucket's south shore, was blown out to sea in a fierce northerly gale.
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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bloc, effectively guaranteeing that
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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ccd544b
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When he had learned in the fall of 1778 that she was critically ill, he rushed from New York back to their home in Culford, a small town about a hundred miles to the northeast of London, arriving shortly before her death at the age of thirty-two. Never happy about her husband's decision to leave her and their two children in England while he fought the war in America, Jemima had requested that a thorn tree be planted over her grave to signi..
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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As Arnold had demonstrated, the real enemy was not Great Britain, but those Americans who sought to undercut their fellow citizens' commitment to one another.
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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7f2aca0
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As Thomas Jefferson wrote the following year, "the moderation and virtue of a single character has probably prevented this revolution from being closed as most others have been by a subversion of that liberty it was intended to establish."
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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W
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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7aa7e7b
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In the end, the Mayflower Compact represented a remarkable act of coolheaded and pragmatic resolve. They were nearing the end of a long and frightening voyage. They were bound for a place about which they knew essentially nothing. It was almost winter. They were without sufficient supplies of food. Some of them were sick and two had already died, Still others were clamoring for a rebellion that would have meant the almost instantaneous coll..
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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8edf3da
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Custer did not drink; he didn't have to. His emotional effusions unhinged his judgment in ways that went far beyond alcohol's ability to interfere with clear thinking.
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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Suppose it were possible to conceive that a president and council of one of the united states were the persons with whom those other means have been used--what would be the line of conduct they would probably pursue . . . ? Would it not be to divide the people by every means in their power; to lessen the reputation and consequently the weight and authority of the great council of the United States; to poison the minds of the people and prej..
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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By the 1770s, the Teton Sioux had overrun the Arikara, or Ree, on the Missouri River and made it as far west as the Black Hills, where they quickly ousted the Kiowa and the Crows. Over the next hundred years the Sioux continued to expand their territory, eventually forcing the Crows to retreat all the way to the Bighorn River more than two hundred miles to the west, while also carrying on raids to the north and south against the Assiniboine..
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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You are fighting for what you can never obtain, and we are defending what we never mean to part with.
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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b0a4e94
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Midshipman Edward Pellew was in the British boat right behind Arnold's. The American general had escaped, but in his haste he had left behind his stock and buckle, which Pellew took as a keepsake. Years later, by which time Pellew had become the much-decorated admiral Viscount Exmouth, he could not help but wonder how differently the War of Independence might have turned out if on that cold autumn day near the southern tip of Lake Champlain..
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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In an October 6 letter to Lord Stirling, he set forth the principle that would guide his increasingly sophisticated intelligence-gathering efforts. "As we are often obliged to reason the designs of the enemy from the appearances which come under our own observation and the information of our spies," Washington wrote, "we cannot be too attentive to these things which may afford us new light. Every minutia should have a place in our collectio..
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intelligence-gathering
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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c8adb61
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THAT SPRING WASHINGTON received a letter from Lafayette, who had long since returned to France. Now that peace was looking like a certainty, he had a "wild scheme" to propose: the two of them should buy a small plantation together and "try the experiment to free the Negroes and use them only as tenants. Such an example as yours might render it a general practice." Lafayette's time in Virginia had given him a firsthand knowledge of the horri..
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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8bb0f87
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As Starbuck discovers, simply being a good guy with a positive worldview is not enough to stop a force of nature like Ahab, who feeds on the fears and hatreds in us all.
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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As Arnold had demonstrated, the real enemy was not Great Britain, but those Americans who sought to undercut their fellow citizens' commitment to one another. Whether it was Joseph Reed's willingness to promote his state's interests at the expense of what was best for the country as a whole or Arnold's decision to sell his loyalty to the highest bidder, the greatest danger to America's future came from self-serving opportunism masquerading ..
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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This is where Melville is perhaps the most profound in his portrait of Ahab as the demagogue and dictator. In the end, even the fiercest of tyrants is done in, not by his own sad, used-up self, but by his enablers, the so-called professionals, who keep whispering in his ear." p.105"
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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To be in the presence of a great leader is to know a blighted soul who has managed to make the darkness work for him. Ishmael says it best: "For all men tragically great are made so through a certain morbidness. Be sure of this, O young ambition, all mortal greatness is but a disease." In chapter 36, "The Quarter-Deck," Melville show us how susceptible we ordinary people are to the seductive power of a great and demented man."
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moby-dick
power
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Nathaniel Philbrick |
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e595a16
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To me, the white whale is that wall, shoved near to me.
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Nathaniel Philbrick |