Drawing the Line

Author: Edwin Danson
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Wiley, 2000
Pages: 240
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: "Made famous as line between free and slave states before War Between the States. The survey establishing Maryland-Pennsylvania boundary began in 1763; halted by Indian wars 1767; continued to southwest corner 1782: marked 1784."

Behind these words, inscribed on a solitary monument in southwest Pennsylvania, lies the complex, compelling tale of the most famous surveyors’ line ever drawn. Originally created to settle an eighty-year border dispute between two aristocratic colonial families, the Mason-Dixon line not only became one of the greatest scientific achievements of its time but, nearly a century later, came to mark the monumental boundary between free and slave states.

In the first nonfiction chronicle of this ambitious undertaking, professional surveyor Edwin Danson takes us on a grand tour through a world now mostly lost to us. Drawing the Line reconstructs the making of the Mason-Dixon line, from the infamous quarrels between the patrician Baltimore family of Maryland and the powerful Penn family of Pennsylvania to the harrowing fields and forests of eighteenth-century America, where we accompany Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, two young, exuberant English surveyors, as they risk their lives to resolve the epic border feud and establish a precise survey that had begun to seem "impossible for the Art of Man."

After five grueling years in which the two intrepid Englishmen faced heavy rains and freezing sleet, along with angry Indians, they finally completed their assignment. Their great boundary survey was the first and, for many years, the most ambitious geodetic survey ever conducted. It set a precedent for the precise measurement and mapping of vast land distances. In addition to surveying 325 miles of boundary lines, Mason and Dixon measured the first degree of latitude and took the first scientific gravity measurements ever recorded in America.

In ordinary language, Danson introduces us to the fascinating science of surveying, revealing for the first time in 250 years many long-lost surveying methods and finally answering the question of how Mason and Dixon succeeded where the best American surveyors had failed. Weaving revelations about surveying into an engrossing historical narrative that captures the spirit of pre-Revolutionary America, this book accomplishes for the making of the Mason-Dixon line what Dava Sobel’s Longitude did for John Harrison and the science of time measurement.

Exhaustively researched and vividly written, Drawing the Line presents a brilliant exploration of how two men solved one of the most formidable problems of eighteenth-century America–and revolutionized the way we have come to map America’s grand landscape.

Review: I liked this, but I don't think it will appeal to most people. I didn't love it. While there is a lot of history, there is also a lot of surveying specific terms and information. I'm not sure why I stuck with it. I'm stubborn and don't often give up on a book.

All in all, this wasn't what I expected.

Dreamers and Deceivers

Author: Glenn Beck
Genre: History
Publisher: Threshold, 2014
Pages: 320
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: THEIR NAMES ARE FAMILIAR. THEIR STORIES ARE NOT.

Everyone has heard of a “Ponzi scheme,” but do you know what Charles Ponzi actually did to make his name synonymous with fraud? Credit for inventing radio usually goes to Marconi or David Sarnoff and RCA—but if you’ve never heard of Edwin Armstrong or Lee de Forest, you know only half the story.

You’ve probably been to a Disney theme park, but did you know that the park Walt believed would change the world was actually EPCOT? He died before his vision for it could ever be realized. History is about so much more than dates and dead guys; it’s the greatest story ever told. Now, in this powerful follow-up to his national bestseller Miracles and Massacres, Glenn Beck brings ten more true and untold stories to life.

The people who made America were not always what they seemed. There were entrepreneurs and visionaries whose selflessness propelled us forward, but there were also charlatans and fraudsters whose selfishness nearly derailed us.Dreamers and Deceivers brings both of these groups to life with stories written to put you right in the middle of the action. You know that Woodrow Wilson was a progressive who dramatically changed America, but did you know that he was also involved in one of the most shocking national deceptions of all time? You know I Love Lucy, but the true story of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball is much better than anything they produced for television. You’ve heard of Upton Sinclair, the socialist author who gained famed with The Jungle, but it was a book he wrote two decades later that proved the depths he was willing to go to maintain his reputation.

From the spy Alger Hiss, to the visionary Steve Jobs, to the code-breaker Alan Turing—once you know the full stories behind the half-truths you’ve been force fed…once you meet the unsung heroes and obscured villains edited from our schoolbooks…once you begin to see these amazing people from our past as people rather than just names—your perspective on today’s important issues may forever change. Find out why this series has become America’s new go-to history book.

Review: This book was recommended to me by a coworker, and I had enjoyed Miracles and Massacres so I decided to give it a shot. I loved it. The heroes and villains chosen were interesting and in some cases I learned a lot about things I'd only heard in passing. Thoroughly enjoyable, and a quick read.