Review: Evergreen: The Trees That Shaped America

Evergreen: The Trees That Shaped America by Trent Preszler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I like reading books about trees. This one took the evergreen trees as a jumping point. This was a social history, looking at what trees are used for with a focus on the use of wood and Christmas trees. The holiday tree became a recurring theme, even looking at the various fake trees history, and what a Christmas tree can symbolize.

Wood is a very important resource. This was not a complete assessment of everything evergreens are used for, but did discuss a variety of areas. Which trees that were found to be better during the war, which trees are better the balloon frame type house that became popular.

Preszler meanders away from the topic, going into more social and cultural history at times, such as lumberjack camps and how that plays into gay history. After veering away from the trees, he would refocus back, particularly onto the Christmas tree.

Had hoped for more about the trees history, not just focused on its usage, but it was a decent book overall.


Thanks to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book. However, I listened to a published audiobook copy of the book.


View all my reviews

Review: Evergreen: The Trees That Shaped America

Evergreen: The Trees That Shaped America by Trent Preszler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

Review: The Tao Of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road

The Tao Of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road by Paul Theroux
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

Review: The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This tale is a true account, as much as one can know, of the disaster that occurred with British naval warship The Wager and it’s men. It was 1740 during a war with Spain, and The Wager was deployed engage enemy ships. When approaching the horn of South America the wild seas and severe storm punished the ship severely, and without realizing how close they were to the rocky shores the ship was destroyed.

The men were already weak from scurvy even before the battle of the fierce seas, then shipwrecked, now with lack of provisions. Once on the island the men were starving and keeping the rank was difficult.

Some of them do survive, but not many. After finally leaving the island, now called Wager Island, their ordeal was not yet over.

David Grann dug up the different accounts, some buried by time, others purposefully lost. He puts together this narrative that has been long forgotten. There are different scenarios of what happened, told by those few that survived. Grann gives both accounts, which does make the narrative less linear, but more truthful.

I listened to the audiobook which was narrated a bit dramatically. At times I thought more than was necessary as the story itself was dramatic enough.



View all my reviews

Review: The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews