No comments about Confederate Navy Chief: Stephen R. Mallory (Classics in Maritime History Series).

1 comments about TO THE MANNER BORN: WM. H.T. WALKER.

1. To the Manner Born; The Life of General William H. T. Walker was a pleasure and joy to read. Especially after discovering that William H. T. Walker is a forgotten American hero. Before the civil war Walker's heroics were known thoughout the United States. Zacary Taylor, President of the United States in the mid 1800's, named Walker "the man", after serving with Walker in the Florida Indian War, and later in the Mexican American War. Walker beleived in honor and duty to his country, right or wrong, and served his country to the best of his ability. The civil war took more than Walkers life, it took his legacy. Many may call Walker a bigot, who was involved in wars that we would rather forget. The book shows that the drama of his life and the way he lived it may still come calling, if only as a whisper. Walker was shot three times in the indian war and thought dead. Then a few years later he was shot three more times in the Mexican American War and left for dead on the battle field. He was gut shot and thirsty, and through a hail of gunfire Walker calmly drank his fill. When the civil war came along Walker chose to side with his home state of Georgia. He was passed over by Jefferson Davis, and not offered a major command. It was clear Davis feared the popularity of Walker, and did all he could to keep Walker from gainning new fame. The book is fresh, wise, and well written, about a forgotten American hero that you may never forget.

5 comments about Martin Van Buren and the Romantic Age of American Politics.

1. This is a very readable and interesting book that deals with the long and highly political life of Martin Van Buren. He comes off very well as a hard-working, fair and moral politician who practically establishes the democratic party as a well-oiled machine for both New York state and the United States. I have now read multiple books about the first eight presidents and he can hold his own with almost all of them so far. Highly recommended.



2. It is hard to tell how a man will do as President based on his experience. Some figures with virtually no political experience became good Presidents, such as Washington and Lincoln; others were failures such as Grant or Hoover. On the other hand, political experience is no guarantee of success: John Quincy Adams and James Buchanan had decent resumes going into office and had miserable presidencies. Martin Van Buren, one of the most politically talented of all Presidents, was not an utter failure, but he didn't shine in office either.

   In Niven's biography, we follow Van Buren from his impoverished roots through his rise in New York state government. Although not perfect, Van Buren had enough political astuteness and the right sort of temperment to help create and lead a party machine and elevate New York's prominence on a national level. Becoming a trusted advisor to Andrew Jackson and a member of his cabinet eventually led to his Vice Presidency and then the Presidency. With a major financial crash occurring right as he got into office, Van Buren was struggling right off the bat, and wound up serving only a single term; nonetheless, in an era of one-term presidents (from 1837 to 1861, no president was re-elected), Van Buren was hardly thrown into ignonimy after his defeat; instead, he remained a powerful member of the Democratic party for the next two decades.

   Niven's biography is generally favorable although he doesn't hide Van Buren's flaws. We learn of a man who was not a great ideologue but was one of the most masterful politicians of his era, holding his own with the often more prominent figures such as Jackson, Calhoun, Clay and Webster. He also wound up being a prominent figure in the anti-slavery movement, even running on the Free-Soil ticket at one point.

   At times, however, this biography is a bit ponderous and often focuses so much on the political part of Van Buren's life that the personal part is pushed aside. Thus, although this may be the best Van Buren biography available (it may also be the only one), I cannot give it a full five stars. Nonetheless, this is overall a very good book and worth reading if you are interested in this period of history.




3. Like others, I've set out to read at least one biography on each American President. This particular biography is extremely well researched. A myriad of detail about Martin Van Buren and his times is presented. It's not the book if you are looking for a brief summary of the highlights of Van Buren's career, but if you are looking for detail it's great. Occasionally I got a little lost, probably due to my relative ignorance of the political figures and movements of those times. You form a definite picture of the little magician with both flaws and strengths brought forward. The one significant historical event that I didn't read about was the interaction of Van Buren with the early Mormons, of which I have read some very interesting things elsewhere.



4. I came away from this book with a new appreciation for Martin Van Buren--who was certainly much more than the Jackson coattail rider I thought previously. This is THE definitive biography of Martin Van Buren, but I agree with the other reviewers that some of the many and DETAILED accounts of the political machinations in New York at the time were a bit much. That's really the only complaint I had about the book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and recommend it highly if you really want to know Van Buren.



5. I am currently reading a biography of every President in order. I realize with Martin Van Buren I am entering a long period of obscure Presidents, but very much looking forward to learning more about the chief executives between Jackson and Lincoln. Based on Amazon reviews, I decided that John Niven's biography was the best and most comprehensive choice.
   
   Thankfully, I have not been disappointed. John Niven has written a readable and extremely well researched biography of our eigth President. I was most impressed with the depth of detail Niven has included and the voluminous research it undoubtedly required. Niven has clearly succeeded in covering the public life of Martin Van Buren comprehensibly and succinctly from his early days in New York politics to his final years as an active participant in the political turmoil leading to the Civil War.
   
   The thoroughness this volume achieves regarding the political side of Van Buren's life comes at a price, however. At times this book is a dull read and seems to provide more detail, especially in the first third of the book dealing with New York machine politics, than most readers are likely to want or need. The book also does not delve very deeply into the personal side of Van Buren's life, although given that Van Buren's entire life revolved around politics (certainly far more than any previous President) this leaves fewer gaps than one might expect.
   
   In summation, this is an excellent biography of Van Buren, though Niven obviously intended it to be a scholarly treatment meant primarily for academic level study. This biography is easy to read and well organized, though not the type of book you that you will likely want to read twice.

1 comments about On to Atlanta: The Civil War Diaries of John Hill Ferguson, Illinois Tenth Regiment of Volunteers.

1. I am originally from Atlanta. This book is excellent. I have only gotten to the Battle Kennesaw Mountain. Very, very good book.

3 comments about Encounters with Lincoln: Images and Words.

1. Lincoln's image is familiar to virtually all Americans. Yet our easy cultural access to the face so closely identified with the American pursuit of freedom and equality also carries its own limitations. Our photographic record of Lincoln does not begin until the late 1840s, and that legacy often seems to mask as much as it discloses. Historians have lately become more intrigued with Lincoln's darker side, portraying him as moody, unhappy, hamstrung by depression, even suicidal. Any serious scholar of Lincoln knows the sources that can lend support to such inquiries. As is often the case, however, historians committed to deconstructing Lincoln's character become preoccupied with fragments that poorly represent the whole of his humanity, the reflective depth of his spirituality, and the playful yet sophisticated nature of his intellect. In this wonderful volume, Thomas J. Trimborn explores the many sides of Lincoln's character and thankfully never loses sight of the whole. His images--at once haunting, amusing,and inspiring--take us beyond the familiar photographic record and give us a chance to better understand why the nation's sixteenth president is placed at or near the top of nearly any presidential ranking one cares to examine. Trimborn's nimble prose provides fascinating context for his work, but the book is clearly about the art. Make no mistake, this is a frank celebration of Lincoln as author of our modern conceptions of freedom and democracy, but it is a celebration that in the end convinces us that Lincoln deserves every bit of the praise that issues from Trimborn's insightful progression of character studies. Most importantly, the artist presents us not with otherworldly iconography, but a human being whose greatness stemmed from a clear sense of his own limitations. He doubted, he feared, he hoped, and thankfully for us, he fueled his leadership with a capacity to change, to learn, and to explore. The man who in 1861 remained unsure of his racial views and not yet committed to emancipation eventually called the nation to a revolutionary understanding of its political heritage in his address at Gettysburg. Trimborn takes us beyond verbal description and gives us a fresh opportunity to feel Lincoln's passion and purpose. Offered in an affordable format and accessible to all ages, Trimborn's keen artistic vision deserves a prominent place in every Lincoln collection.



2. "Encounters with Lincoln" is a book for all ages about a man for all ages. It captures the image of Abraham Lincoln in different stages of his life, in a range of settings, and with a variety of media, including colored pencil, watercolor, pen and ink, scratchboard, tempera, and graphite pencil.
   
   Encounters with works of art, Thomas Trimborn writes, are uniquely personal. They invite responses from those who experience them. That is particularly true of the images in this book. About twenty offer face-to-face encounters with Lincoln--the young man, the steadfast man (shown in five merged images), the thinker, the melancholy man, the humorous man, the determined man, the eloquent man, the reader, the speaker, the wearer of spectacles, the recipient of tributes. One image, titled "His Eyes Say It All," prompts readers to turn to earlier pages to look again at those transfixing eyes. Trimborn also presents images of persons whose encounters with Lincoln through the years have shaped our perception of the great and complex man, such as Frederick Douglas, Walt Whitman, Carl Sandburg, Mahalia Jackson, Martin Luther King, and John F. Kennedy.
   
   Thomas Trimborn is by profession a musician and music educator at Truman State University, but he is obviously not confined by his discipline or by the walls of his university. To accompany his excellent artwork, Trimborn has crafted a compelling and historically accurate narrative. "Encounters with Lincoln" makes an excellent gift, as my brother-in-law and his grandson, to whom I gave a copy, attest.



3. The drawings in this book are simply breathtaking in their detail. These lifelike images reflect the human side of a man we only see in formal portraits.
   
   Do yourself a favor and listen to Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" as you gaze at these beautiful illustrations. It's a moving experience.

No comments about The Privations of a Private: Campaigning with the First Tennessee, C.S.A., and Life Thereafter.

No comments about A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, Washington to Buchanan complete, with active table of contents.

2 comments about Walt Whitman's Civil War (A Da Capo Paperback).

1. Walt Whitman wrote many journals, letters and diaries during his years volunteering at the hospitals in Washington DC. There are many books out there which claim to combine all those elements into one book. This book does a great job keeping Whitman's actual writing--in other words, the entire passage is presented, including the date and location in which it was written. The major problem with this book is that the editor decided to break all of Whitman's work into Chapters with themes. There is a chapter about letter to his mother, about letters to soldiers, about observations of soldiers, etc. This means that the book is not chronological, meaning that in order to view all of Whitman's writing in the order he actually wrote it, you must jump all over this book. I am studying Whitman during the Civil War, and I use this book for most of my reference. But you should see how I have marked it, leaving notes all over the book to remind myself the order of the passages. There needs to be at least one book that has EVERYTHING in the order it was written. Despite this, this book is very good for anyone interested in getting a sense of what Whitman was doing during the Civil War. His language is easy to read and understand, and readers can skip to the chapters that interest them. I do recommend this book, but remember, the passages are not in order.



2. Whitman's book brings together his work from his journals and letters he wrote through out the entire war. As a nurse, Whitman tours hospitals and writes about the brutal realities of the war. His compassion for the wounded and sympathies radiates through out all of his work as he writes about various soldiers and his correspondence with them. With each chapter in the book we are treated to poems and scripture by Whitman that compliments his letters and journal entries. Whitman covers the entire war and it's easy to get a feel for his absolute care and love he had for the soldiers he tended to and visited. It's helpful for understanding just how horrible situations for many were and just what kind of man Whitman was. I highly recommend it.

3 comments about Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847-1865.

1. I found this book to be interesting for its personal stories and perspective, but this is also what makes its downfall. Lamon was a personal acquaintance of Lincoln's and it is evident that he revered the man greatly. This gives way to much bias being placed on Lamon's accounts, failing to mention many negative things about the assassinated president. Lamon refrains from using opinionated words in much of the biography, but his personal opinions are sometimes evident. This book is kept interesting through his personal stories and the hand-written letters that are included. It is good as a resource about Abraham Lincoln, but take Lamon's opinions with a grain of salt.



2. Books about Abraham Lincoln written by those who knew him are fascinating. This one is especially so in that Lamon was not only a friend and legal colleague, but during Lincoln's presidency, his bodyguard.
   
   "Hill," the president-elect told him before leaving for Washington, "I need you." So he went.
   
   Of special interest are two chapters:
   
   One, that deals with Lamon's explanation of something Lincoln was criticized for. After a particularly bloody engagement of the Civil War, Lincoln visited the battlefield and during that visit, requested that Lamon sing a few ballads for him. (Lincoln was in the habit of asking Lamon to do this, as apparently, Lamon had a good singing voice.)
   
   And another in which Lamon tells of Abraham Lincoln's prophetic dreams, including a recurring one he'd had ever since he was a youth that presaged Lincoln's rise to the presidency and his bloody death.
   
   As I said, there is interesting material here, the stuff of legends. Well worth the attention of any Lincoln fan, or indeed, any student of U.S. history.
   
   Richard Salva--author of Soul Journey from Lincoln to Lindbergh [UNABRIDGED]



3. This primary source finally cleared up for me what really happened on that famous ride back from the Soldier's Home.
   
   Didn't one TV 'dramatization' depict Lincoln showing his hat around, with a bullet hole in it?
   
   A valuable primary source.

1 comments about The Lincoln Reader.

1. A tremendous, authentic account of Lincoln's entire life, without modern interpretation. Furthermore a window into the quality people of the time. The authors include cabinet members, personal secretaries, even adversaries. The first parts may be more academic, but as the 179 selected accounts of some 65 period authors progress though the Civil War and to his assassination, the book is a tremendously fascinating chronicle of the tremendous qualities of this man. It only gets better and deeper to the very end; and at the end is a surprise worth reading the entire work for -- the account of his own dream, which presages his assassination. In my opinion, one of the most important books I have ever read. After reading the last chapter several times, I started again from the beginning, with a whole new outlook on the entirety of the work. A great book, providing an indispensable perspective of one of the most troubling times of history.