The Books of the Ages

Book Review: Good Wives (New England, 1650 – 1750)

June 4, 2026

I co-wrote the biography of my Irish great-great grandmother, Harriet Susannah Ellis. She was born was born in Ireland’s Co. Sligo the day the U.S. Union Army reorganized during the U.S. Civil War. She married in Dublin the year James Joyce was born in that city. Stories survive of her reading turn-of-the-century news articles about the Boer War to an illiterate neighbour. Harriet spent forty years raising children with a blind spouse. She emigrated the year after the Titanic sank. She died the day the Soviets invaded Poland.

I find nourishment in reading about what everyday life was like for women in historical contexts. I appreciate it when writers sift through historical records, piecing together sociological aspects – portrayals – of what women’s lives were like in specific regions and time periods. I have a number of such books on my bookshelf at home. I recently purchased another of these sorts of books – Laurel Thacher Ulrich’s Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750.

As I read Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750, I am finding what I hoped for in this book:

There is some information I’ve read before about the demographics of historical women. For example, women often married younger in New England than in Europe (18 – 20 vs. early 20’s).
Families often had household servants (actually one of my great-grandmothers – when she was 13 – went to work as a household servant for a doctor’s family in Ontario when her father died in an industrial accident). While many of us wouldn’t imagine affording household servants these days (though some people have child care or part-time house chore services), I can see that household servants would have made sense historically – households didn’t use to have the myriad of labor-saving devices we have today.
I appreciate my life today. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich reminds us that women in New England historically couldn’t own property. When their husbands died, they could “inherit” a portion of their husband’s estate (if their children were still at home when their husband died, they often had full use of the estate while the children remained at home) – whereas today we women become the sole owner of marital assets upon the death of a husband.
Historically, families and communities in the Western world didn’t think about personal autonomy in the way we do today – people’s lives were viewed as socially interwoven with one another.

This book profiles several women of Colonial America (New England, 1650 – 1750). I look forward to learning about these women during my evening reading. I may also order the author’s book she wrote based on the diary of a historical midwife.

Bibliophile and would-be-antiquarian Kim Burkhardt reviews books at The Books of the Ages and at The Hermitage Within. If you are a new visitor, it would be great to have you follow this blog (thank you!). If you know someone who would like this blog, please share it with them (thank you!). FYI, you can $$ support this blog by clicking here here to do your Amazon shopping (if you click here before you start your Amazon shopping, Amazon pays us a commission when you shop via the link provided – thank you).

Book Review: “Light from Light” (Nicene Creed)

June 2, 2026

I have blogged elsewhere about two books I have previously read about the Christian – Catholic – creeds (check out that previous blog post here).

Now, my Master’s in Theology program has us reading Bishop Robert Barron’s Light from Light book that does a deep into the Nicene Creed.

For anyone not familiar with the Nicene Creed, it was formulated by a body of bishops in the year 325 at the Council of Nicea in what is now Turkey (“I believe in one God, the Father almighty….light from light, true God from true God…..”).

While I have already read other books on the Nicene Creed and the Apostle’s Creed (the two creeds are quite similar in content), I still find it insight to periodically read another book on the subject when the book is well written. Knowledgeable and capable writers can each bring their own collection of insights to the topic – offering useful reading at varying stages in our lives.

I am currently mid-way through chapter one of Robert Barron’s Light from Light. I have already found items to highlight – points that I find insightful at my current stage in life. For example, Robert Barron states on page 22 “authentic faith or belief has not a thing to do with naive credulity or accepting claims on the basis of no evidence. Faith, in a word, is never below reason, never infra-rational. The Church has absolutely no interest in encouraging superstition or intellectual irresponsibility.”….”Newman insisted on the intellectual integrity of faith.”

I encourage anyone who wants to practically understand Christianity’s core beliefs to read any of these books on Christianity’s creeds. It’s easy enough to think we are familiar with Christianity (in varying degrees, most people have some-to-more-than-some knowledge about Christianity). Barron’s Light from Light and the other “deep dive into the creed” books I reviewed (above) get into the nitty-gritty in ways that increase one’s understanding in useful ways.

Book Review: “We the Women”

April 17, 2026

I am familiar with Norah O’Donnell from her role as a national newscaster.

I heard a radio interview several weeks ago in which Nora O’Donnell was talking about her new book titled We the Women: Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America. I was generally interested in the interview and the book for two reasons: I like Norah O’Donnell and I already have two other books on related topics. The two related books I have are Cokie Robert’s book Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nations and Bonnie Angelo’s Fist Mothers: The Women Who Shaped the Presidents (I reviewed those two books here).

As I listed to Nora Roberts’ radio interview, I was hooked when she said that the printer who printed the U.S. Declaration of Independence was a woman – a woman who, as the printer, signed her name on the document. I wanted to know more about that woman. I ordered the book.

As I have started reading this book, I appreciate the tenacious research Nora O’Donnell – and, presumably, her co-author Kate Andersen Brower – did to find and learn about the women profiled in this book. I don’t recall hearing about these historical women in school (except Eleanor Roosevelt) – we likely didn’t hear about them. I was surprised to learn in the early part of the book that as our nation was heading toward the Revolution that we had a recognized black poet who compared Britain’s oppression of the colonies to slavery. I was surprised to learn that our first postmaster was an unmarried woman. Several of the signers of the Declaration of Independence knew – and interacted with – some of these women. I’m looking forward to more discoveries as I continue reading the book.

One of the noticeable structural features of We the Women: Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America is that its’ profiling of multiple historical women – 35 in all – makes it easily accessible to readers who wish to take in one historical person at a time. This book can be set out on a coffee table, inviting guests to learn about as many or as few of the book’s profiled individuals as the reader has time for in one sitting.

This book – and the other books mentioned above – are helping to broaden a fuller public understanding of the people – ALL THE PEOPLE – who were involved in shaping our nation. Hats off to the likes of Norah O’Donnell and Kate Andersen Brower who put in the effort to bring this information into the public sphere.. These books are a step toward making it sociologically natural to recognize both women and men’s contributions to our nation and society. I am glad that I am going to have this book on my bookshelf.

Book Review: How to be Old

April 11, 2026

I stumbled upon How to be Old recently on the website where I buy most of my books. (Confession: because I am doing another master’s degree, I am buying a lot of books. Therefore, I’m logging in almost daily to my go-to site where I order books – either looking for school-related books, ordering books, and/or watch tracking of the books I’ve ordered. If you are interested in good book-buying resources, check out my book-resources blog post).

I don’t recall just now what type of book algorythm resulted in the book site suggesting How to be Old, but it proved to be one of those occasional books that I order on-the-spot and site-unseen. I’m now nearly half-way through the book and I’m glad to be reading the book. When I’m done reading it, the book has a permanent home on the “pop culture” section of my bookshelves (do you also have some kind of personalized dewey decimal system for organizing books on your bookshelves?). Lyn Slater – the author of How to be Old – uses fashion to express herself; my bookshelves are similarly a personal form of self-expression. When I moved last time, I told my realtor that “I need a residence that has enough wall space for my bookshelves.” When I have guests over, I – as a book afficianado – want my guests to see what types of books I read; my bookshelves give my guests insight into who-I-am-based-on-what-I-read (e-books are not for me!). Okay, this self-explanation/description is actually in keeping with the writing style used by Lyn Slater in writing How to be Old.

How to be Old is proving to be the feel-good book I was hoping for when I stumbled upon it. Lyn Slater, as she describes in her book, insists on being present in her own life. She is doing what she wants to do and insists on persuing her life without fear in a way that brings her value. She writes of all of this in her own style – a style that makes her perspective accessible. I was thrilled to discover in this book that she – like me – refuses to be afraid of the darker counters of society, choosing instead to go explore those contours (I grew up “on the margins” and then volunteered in the prison system for twenty years – she also “goes to the darker contours”).

This book is accesssible, readable, and is a pragmatic pick-me-up. stumbled upon How to be Old recently on the website where I buy most of my books. (Confession: because I am doing another master’s degree, I am buying a lot of books. Therefore, I’m logging in almost daily to my go-to site where I order books – either looking for school-related books, ordering books, and/or watch tracking of the books I’ve ordered. If you are interested in good book-buying resources, check out my book-resources blog post).

Lyn Slater’s book is accessible, readable, practical. Hers is not a psycho-babble pick-me-up, but a pragmatic life-honestly-lived look at living well. If Anne Lamott were writing about being a fashion-blogger in New York who insists on navigating life in a personally meaningful way, this type of book (How to be Old) could possible be the result.

Book Review: The Lost Mary, Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus

April 9, 2026

When I happened upon a blurb about this recently-published book, I checked to see if my local library has it. I was pleased to find out they had a copy and I checked it out. In amongst my other reading, I found time to read the first few chapters of the library copy before it came due; I couldn’t renew it as other patrons have holds on the book. I’ve found The Lost Mary – Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus to be thought-provoking enough to want my own copy.

Fortunately, the timing of this book’s recent publication dovetails nicely with my master’s in theology studies. We had learned in class that much of what we know about Mary comes from “The Gospel of James (or the Protoevangelium of James).” ….. It’s widely known that there are four “canonical gospels” – the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that are in the Bible. In addition to the four canonical gospels, there are other gospels – some of which are “heretical” and others that are not heretical….. I learned in my studies that the “non-heretical, non-canonical” gospels are read by the church and religious scholars to provide “supplementary history” that enrich what we know from the four canonical gospels. Rabbit hole – this lead to me ordering Robert J. Miller’s book The Complete Gospels and I read “The Gospel of James (or the Protoevangelium of James).” In the Protoevangelium of James, I discovered that Mary’s parents (Joachim and Anna) were wealthy and that Joseph functioned as more of a guardian than a spouse to Mary. I was curious to learn more.

Then, I came upon James D. Tabor’s book The Lost Mary – Rediscovering the Mother of Jesus.

What I find intriguing about this book is that the author – James D. Tabor – goes beyond what we commonly know today about Mary life to consider the historical context of her life. What was it like historically for Mary to be living in Judea at the time that she lived? Tabor looks into topics – and ponders to the sociological impact on Mary’s life of what was happening at the time – the daily details of Roman conquest, a description of the town where her parents were likely living when she was born, Joseph needing to look for a Hebrew midwife when Mary went into labor, the idea that Jesus likely visited his wealthy maternal grandparents when he was a child, etc. It’s never occurred to me to ponder Jesus’ childhood visits with extended relatives and other day-to-day aspects of Jesus and Mary’s lives. Therefore, I am finding it insightful to consider the ideas presented in this book. Does writer and historian James D. Tabor accurately figure out every possible aspect of Mary’s life? Who knows. Even if Tabor goes down some tangents that may be open for debate, Tabor is raising points that broaden and enrich the reader’s understanding of the teenager who gave birth to Jesus.

I am looking forward to having my own copy of this book that I can keep on my bookshelf as a reminder that we should want to know more about the life of Mary.

Plug for “1,000 Libraries”

March 13, 2026

In this book blog (The Books of the Ages), I normally review books.

In this post, I am plugging the website “1,000 Libraries.”

Books live in libraries, bookstores, book cafes, and on shelves in our homes. When I was looking for my current that residence I moved into last year, I told the realtor that “I need a place with enough wall space for my books.” Books are important.

Books feed our souls. Because books feed our souls, the libraries, book shops, and book cafes where books live should also “feed our souls.” Therefore, I was thrilled a couple of months ago when I discovered “1,000 Libraries.” “1,000 Libraries” encourages public awareness about and appreciation of – through its’ website, a book it publishes, and an annual “most beautiful library” contest – the world’s great libraries.

I was happy to discover that the 2025 “most beautiful library” selected by “1,000 Libraries” is a library I’m shown standing in on the About the Proprietor page of this website (I had long hair then) – the old library at Trinity College Dublin. Three of my ancestors did their medical degrees at Trinity College Dublin in the 1800’s, so I felt tingles up and down my spine when I walked the halls of Trinity’s old library when I visited Ireland in 2018….. When I walked the halls of Trinity’s library, I wondered how many times my ancestors visited this same library. I wondered if any of the books they read are still in the library (probably!)….. Also profiled on the “1,000 Libraries” site is an architecturally engaging library I visited in New York City in 2010 during a business trip (I was in a particularly sappy mood at the time and the library provided me with much-needed solace).

The fact that you found your way to this “The Books of the Ages” book reviews site probably means that you are a book lover (a lovely kind of person!). If you are indeed a book lover, I encourage you to visit the “1,000 Libraries” website. Lovely places that house books are – indeed – nourishment for book lovers’ souls. FYI, the “1,000 Libraries” website has a book profiling libraries – you might just decide to buy a copy! Further, the “1,000 Libraries” website just might encourage you to plan a trip to a far away land to visit one of the wonderful libraries they profile – a lovely idea!

Book Review: Coming Up Short by Robert Reich

March 9, 2026

I started reading Robert Reich’s blog a year or two ago based on the recommendation of a friend (more specifically, the blog arrives in my email in-box daily. Some days I open it up and read it…..).

When I read Robert Reich, I always look forward to his self-deprecating “short jokes.” I am one inch taller than Robert Reich, so I understand the challenges of being a small adult (I don’t know if he has his clothes tailored or if he found a niche place to buy clothes, but my height – or lack thereof – is one of the reasons I own a sewing machine. I alter some of the clothes I buy retail. I also make some of my own clothes so that I get clothes that I like AND that fit…..) In the same vein as his choice of photos for this book’s cover, I carry around a photo of me standing next to a relative who is 6′ 11″. When Robert Reich’s latest book came out – Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America – I decided, partly because of the play-on-words title, that I’m “up” for reading it.

When I got my copy of the book arrived, I had every expectation that this book is going to be worth reading. I started with the promotional quotes on the back cover; one of the blurbs started with, “Being bullied as a child helped Robert Reich become a champion for the little guy.” Books that are informative and provide us with personal value are doubly – more than doubly – valuable; it’s taken me until recently to see aspects of my life that “add value” to what I bring to the table….

Okay, enough about how and why I am personally drawn to this book.

Reading clear-eyed memoirs by national leaders have an opportunity to contribute to thoughtful citizenship. The last book I reviewed – Angela Merkel’s “Freedom” memoir – offered the insights of a political figure who I admire for both her politics and her gender. In the case of Robert Reich, he speaks of national matters with clarity.

In Coming Up Short, Reich writes on topics that resonate with everyday Americans. He does so by starting his book – in the first chapter – by talking about the bullies he encountered growing up. In getting broadly to topics affecting every day Americans, the blurb on the inside cover indicates that Reich will write how America can “reclaim a sense of community.” A friend mentioned to me a couple years ago that “The U.S. today isn’t the U.S. I remember growing up” – I got the sense from what he said that a loss of community was part of what he has seen disappear. More recently, I saw a guy walking down the street wearing a shirt that read “I miss the America that I grew up in” – ditto. I am looking forward to getting to the part of Coming Up Short that discusses rebuilding community.

Beginning with the early pages of Coming Up Short, Robert Reich alternates between two useful types of insight: generating hope in what American can be and writing in a way that resonates – with frank insight – about what’s going wrong in America and how those errors have come to be in recent decades. Now that I have started reading this book, I appreciate having it for my evening reading.

Book Review: Freedom – Angela Merkel’s autobiography

February 19, 2026

I am half way through this autobiography of Germany’s Chancellor 2005 – 2021.

I am finding this book to be an important and engaging read for several reasons. For starters, it’s always worth reading about world leaders to understand the world’s political stage and current events. This book does not disappoint – it provides a high level of insight about the context and dynamics of Angela Markel’s German government. Insights into how governments function, how decisions are made, and the “behind closed door” interactions between world leaders make Merkel’s memoir a very readable and useful book.

Further, I am benefitting from Merkel’s own descriptions of how she developed professionally. “Finding out where our limits are,” finding the confidence to step into new roles, etc. – such insights have applicability for all of us.

This book is going to live on my bookshelf next to the biographies and personal memoirs of Madeleine Albright, Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, Winfield Scott, etc.

Trade Talk: New Indie Book Bestseller Lists

January 14, 2026

Publisher’s Weekly has announced that “The Independent Publishers Caucus, a collective of 117 small and independent publishers, has announced the launch of a new weekly bestseller list in partnership with the American Booksellers Association, creating what organizers say is the first national ranking focused exclusively on independent press titles sold at independent bookstores…Dubbed the Independent Press Top 40” (find the rest of PW’s article here).

Regularly publicizing a ranking of independent press titles (“indie books”) sold at independent bookstores is a great idea. This promotes small businesses. It provides attention for authors whose voices might not otherwise be getting large-scale public notice – making it more possible for readers to discover new-to-them authors.

A couple of examples demonstrate the value of this “I ndependent Press Top 40” list.

I personally buy several books per year from several niche publishers in a specific industry whose books (topics) I value. I happen to be “in the know” about the particular market for which these book publishers provide titles, so I know to follow these publishers. With that said, I know people who would likely want to read the same types of books I’m reading, but who aren’t likely familiar with the publishers whose websites I visit regularly. Any mechanism that supports “get out the word” for such indie publishers is a win-win-win-win for publishers, authors, readers, and the sustainability of “shop local” business practices.
My hometown (Bellingham, Washington) – like many communities – has a beloved local bookstore. Village Books and Paper Dreams is a valued hub in the community. This new weekly national “Independent Press Top 40” ranking is another way to keep such small bookstores in the public eye – thereby supporting great businesses.

While we’re talking indie booksellers, I’m happy to plug my two favorite online booksellers:

Hamilton Books. Based in Connecticut, Hamilton Books is based in Connecticut, USA and has been around since 1969. They specialize in selling discounted books to U.S. customers. I love Hamilton Books. They sell books via their website and a print magazine. I discovered them more than twenty years ago when they somehow got my name and mailing address; they sent me one of their magazines listing a sampling of their book inventory. It was actually their magazine that I fell in love with – their listing of quirky and off-the-wall titles of available books. I started buying from them for the purpose of staying on their mailing list (this is a sentence that every marketer wants to read!). Reading their lists of “off-the-wall titles” – such as “off the beaten track” historical books and books on political and religious conspiracy theories from “every end the political and religious spectrums” – literally became Friday night entertainment for me.
Thrift Books (their marketing angles: “gift more, spend less” and “read more, spend less”). This Washington State-based bookseller calls themself “the largest online independent used book seller. A friend told me about them last spring; I have already purchased enough books to achieve their highest reader/purchaser tier of “Literati Elite.” Their “Reading Rewards” program is simple yet fun – the more you buy, the more book-buying benefits you get….. Their membership tier program seems to be tied into our digital age approach to tapping dopamine receptors – our brains get a “dopamine high” every time we “like” or “achieve” something via a click-of-the-mouse….. Of course, book lovers like joining “Literati Elite” status……

I encourage you to click on this weekly Independent Press Top 40 and add to however you track websites that you visit regularly (add it to your browser faves, whatever). You just might find your next great read!

Book Review: Searches – Selfhood in the Digital Age

January 13, 2026

Book: Searches - Selfhood in the Digital Age — Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age

Occasionally, a sociological book comes along that effectively captures the Zeitgeist of people and society within the scope of current events. These books articulate our experience such that we want to read these books. Vauhini Vara’s Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age (2025) is one of those books.

When I recently saw this title on Publisher’s Weekly, the book’s title made the subject and its’ sociological relevance in today’s digital age immediately self-evident. It wasn’t until the last two to three decades that we could – in the course of human history – find bread crumbs of our own thoughts-experience-lives-searches-postings-etc. (lives!) and the collective experience of everyone who ever goes online (i.e., “everybody,” essentially) “on the internet.” Our individual and collective search histories are cumulatively aggregated online. A dream for sociologists and marketers.

Relevant example #1: When I started reading Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age, the author self-disclosed that she looked back at her own Google search history over several years and at her Google account. Based on her cumulative search history, Google had accurately figured that she’s a married high-income-earner with a child. Google had also assumed that she works in tech because she does so many searches about the tech industry; in that case, Google was mistaken….. Similarly, many people complain about targeted search engine advertising based on one’s search history (when you search for shoes, your search engine starts showing you advertisements for shoes….) and/or that “Google probably knows where I live…..” Then, there are the less-common tech privacy geeks like me who literally clear my cache and search history between EVERY search. I never get online advertising as there’s no cumulative history for search engines to use to identify my interests or life-trends (although the contours of my life could likewise be privately inferred by scanning the content of my email history…..).

Relevant example #2: When I want to tweak one of my websites to make the content relevant for the people who I want searching for my website, I go to Google Trends and look up society’s collective search histories from 2004 to the present to find which topical words and/or phrases – relevant to my website(s) – people are currently searching. Ditto when I periodically pay for online advertising. Then, I populate my website(s) or advertising with relevant search terms that match what people are searching for so I can make my content relevant to the people with whom I am looking to connect.

I am glad that Vauhini Vara had the insight to write this book (extra bonus: I learned in the book that she and I have lived in several of the same cities). I appreciate having this book be part of our collective reading for sociological naval-gazing.

Feeding your mind and soul