Firstly - finished the latest Inspector Lynley novel last night, will talk about it later (and then give it to Mom as a Mother's Day "gift" because I not the awesomest daughter ever - but I am going home a day early to keep her company, and running to the train after work, with just the briefest stop to pack, so I don't have time to buy something new, as planned!).
More importantly, there's a review by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich in the New York Times Sunday book review of Marla Miller's new book, Betsy Ross and the Making of America! I'm so excited; I've been waiting for her to get that project into print since I was in grad school. She was such a great teacher, and I loved The Needles Eye, so I'm as excited for her as I am excited to read it. Not sure how I feel about the review, though. On one hand, I think it's mostly positive, but Ulrich gets a little snippy towards the latter half, and suggests that Marla got carried away with the whole mystique of the thing. I will need to read the book for myself of course, and certainly I have no doubt that Marla was mad enthusiastic about (and maybe even somewhat affectionate towards) Ross, but I suspect she didn't go overboard. And some of it may be Ulrich, too. She totally has her own slant towards women's history / material culture, etc., and it's not always quite in synch with Marla's, so I wonder if this is just a case of the classic academic "it's not what *I* would have written, so I think you're wrong / I'm going to criticize you" situation. That said, I am super happy for Marla that the Times chose Ulrich to do the review, because just the name alone lends a certain gravitas to the review and, by extension, Betsy Ross. Hmm. Okay, just re-read the review. And there are some nice bits. But it's def a little snarky, and I am getting defensive, so before *I* start letting my own ax-grinding needs take over my assessment, I will stop :)
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