2007 book 12

David Waldstreicher's In the Midst of Perpetual Fetes: The Making of American Nationalism, 1776-1820
Clearly this was another book for class, and it was the most boring read to date! I dunno, you'd think a book about how national celebrations helped form American identity would be interesting, but Waldstreicher is really into making grand sweeping statements and then quoting really boring historical figures, and never makes the history come alive, and never tells any fun or silly stories (one or two would have livened things up, and certainly stories about the fourth of July can be fun). On the other hand, who am I to criticize some dude who's tenured at Yale? His historicity is really sound, but he's the most boring writer EVER. Also, he very rarely mentions religion, and since I read this for a religion class, I was a little muddled.