Bear Flag Blog

What Hath God Wrought? The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 by Daniel Walker Howe - 8.5/10

A very interesting book about a largely forgotten period of American history. Part of the Oxford History of the United States series of which I have read a number this last year, and give a blanket recommendation to all of them.

What Hath God Wrought? really conveys the dynamics of the 'Era of Good Feelings' and the subsequent Jacksonian period, the people involved, the social movements (Second Great Awakening anyone?) and the beginnings of what we now call technology, as evinced in the book's title. (The first message transmitted over telegraph wires.) This era is largely overshadowed by the Revolutionary War and Jeffersonian periods before it, and the Civil War afterward; and to be honest, rightfully so. But although the moon is dimmer than the sun, it's worthy of study, and this an era in which much of the foundations of the Republic were laid.

As with all of the books in the series, it was tremendously readable; the individuals involved had real life and animation, the material was interesting, the pacing good. It did flag somewhat when describing the various nascent social movements, but I think that's hard to avoid. And it painted great pictures of Jackson, Henry Clay, Polk, and a wide range of once-towering and now ignored American figures.

I recommend it. Good book, and possibly the best way to fill in one's knowledge of an American period frequently overlooked.