THESE TRUTHS: A History Of The United States

by Jill Lepore
 
In the October 18, 2018 edition of the L & L Review, I reviewed Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, an eye-opener for me in that I’d never read a book about history that I’d found readable and interesting.  Based on that experience and recommendations from friends, I decided to read Jill Lepore’s newest book, These Truths: A History of the United States.
 
It took me over one month to slog through this 800+ page tome.  Lepore deserves credit for writing a history of the U.S. that includes women and minorities. But I found her writing style laborious, with whole sections dry and textbook-like –- exactly what had prevented me from reading histories in the past.  In her defense, I believe Ms Lepore would have benefited from a good copy editor to shorten her sentences and eliminate many of the commas and dependent clauses embedded within those sentences.  I have often wondered if, once an author has had success publishing previous books, editors give the author’s prose less scrutiny. If so, they are doing the author and the reader a disservice.
 
These Truths contains a treasure trove of interesting vignettes; and I learned about people and events that I’d never heard of previously.  However, the effort required to read the book felt Herculean.  For that reason, These Truths was definitely not my cup of tea.(Liz)