Kjellquist Blog

John Laurence Busch has written the definitive history of the steamship Savannah and its Captain, Moses Rogers, in his latest book, Steam Coffin.

The steamship Savannah was the first steam powered vessel to cross the Atlantic ocean. However, this accomplishment is but only a small portion of a very compelling history of steam powered vessels, the people that developed and captained them and the intrigues that swirled around the events of this period of world history. For example, Busch explains in detail how the competition between steamship pioneers, European politics of England, Denmark and Russia, the Savannah, GA fire of January 1820 and the national economic depression in 1820 all conspire to drive the fate of the Savannah and its captain.

One of the most interesting aspects of Busch’s narrative is his description of the impact that steam powered vessels had on intercity travel in the early 19th century. Travelers today routinely take for granted the relatively precise scheduling of long distance travel (air travel excepted). However, in the 19th century travel by ocean vessel was at the mercy of winds and weather. Departures could be delayed by hours or days. Steam power offered, at the time, the astonishing ability to depart and often arrive on a precise schedule.

Another interesting detail is what to call these new vessels? In the 19th century, terms such as sloop, schooner, brig and ship had specific meanings and were well known to many. Initially, steamboat was used because of their small size and limitation to quiet inland waters. But as the vessels grew in size and became ocean going the term ship (3 mast, square-rigged) was appended to steam.

The book is excellently indexed. Besides the standard list of illustrations and maps, source notes and selected bibliography, Busch provides indexes of people, vessels and subjects.

In summary, Busch has written a very comprehensive, readable history of the Savannah, Captain Moses and their places in history.

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Dava Sobel has created a most unique biography in her latest book, A More Perfect Heaven, How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos. The core to her approach is a fictional interpretation of the true life visit of Rheticus to an aging Copernicus. The account is contained in a two act play contained in Part Two of the book.
However, the play, if read as a standalone work of historical fiction would be only mildly interesting and totally lacking in context for the average reader. Ms Sobel remedies this problem with her superb writing skills in the Part One of the book. Part One focuses on the early life of Copernicus up to his becoming a canon of the Catholic church in the Varmia diocese. In this first part of the book, Ms Sobel presents a fascinating look into the life and politics of Copernicus as a learned man of the 16th century. She concisely addresses the implications of the ongoing Protestant reformation and the political turmoil. For middle management of the church the threat of Martin Luther created a high state of paranoia. While Copernicus is known today for his unique astronomical contributions during his life he was valued more for his medical and bureaucratic skills. As Ms. Sobel points out, only a handful of peers were aware of Copernicus’ astronomical work. As a canon of the church during the Lutheran paranoia, Copernicus was correctly concerned about heretical nature of his sun-centric universe. With all this background Ms Sobel transitions to her play where she imagines the real life encounter with Rheticus.

Part Three of the book completes the story of Copernicus with the publication of his On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres and reaction to the book. For years Copernicus’ dearest friend (and clerical supporter), Bishop Giese had urged him to publish his notes. But it was only through the efforts of a youthful Lutheran mathematician, Rheticus, that On the Revolutions was actually published.  In the final chapters Ms Sobel clearly summarizes the On the Revolutions relationships with Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei. While obviously not definitive she clearly explains how Copernicus laid the key foundation to the sun-centric solar system model for others to follow.

In summary, Dava Sobel has given us a unique treatment to scientific history. Her use of the two-act play gives us a new take on the relationship between Rheticus and Copernicus.

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It is not often that we are able to get a glimpse into the inner workings of the Supreme Court but Justice John Paul Stevens has give us this opportunity in his memoir, Five Chiefs, of his almost 35 years on the Supreme Court. However, don’t expect a tell-all block buster. Stevens’ approach to a memoir and writing style reflects an entire career set in the decorum of the court room. Stevens summarizes life in the court at the end of the chapter on his service as senior justice. He refers to President Ford’s 1976 State of Union address where Ford refers to the US as a place where Americans can disagree without being disagreeable. It is too bad that we have seemed to have lost this prospective in current political discourse.

Stevens starts his book with a short historical perspective on the first 12 Chief Justices of the Supreme Court. While only providing the briefest discussion of key events, this introduction is important since it sets the stage and foundation for much of modern workings of the court. For example, under the tenure of Taft significant opinions were written interpreting the word ‘liberty’ as used in the Fourteenth Amendment. These opinions still influence current interpretations. Stevens also makes it clear that intellectual bar was set very high by early court justices and Chief Justices such as John Marshall.

Stevens then goes on to describe the duties of the Chief Justice as the “first among equals”. Interestingly, unlike the the qualification to be President, the Constitution provides no qualifications for being a Supreme Court justice. You don’t have to be a citizen, a lawyer, a voter, or even an adult! Congress over the years has legislated additional duties for the Chief Justice and provided a mere 4% added salary!

The main body of the Stevens’ memoir provides a perpsective on his relationship with each of the five Chief Justices under which he served. In each chapter, he singles out significant court decisions of that Chief’s tenure. Stevens selects the decisions based their impact to society, judicial precedent, or soundness of argument. He approachs each with a VERY brief summary of the issues and then discusses the court deliberations and context of the decision. Some decisions he decided with the majority and with others he dissented. With each discussion we get a small peak into who John Paul Stevens is.

Particularly enlightening in this regard is Stevens’ views on the constitutionality of capital punishment in the chapter on Chief Justice Roberts. Stevens candidly expresses “regret” on a Texas statute vote. A couple of pages later we read that Stevens holds capital punishment to be “the pointless and needles extinction of life with only marginal contributions to any discernible social or public purpose”. Later in the same chapter Stevens describes the courts approach and reliance on history (aka original intent) to address “proportionality” in the context of the Eighth Amendment (aka cruel & unusual punishment).

All in all, Five Chiefs is a very interesting and worthwhile glimpse into the workings of the Supreme Court and the mind of one its most influential justices.

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