3 comments about Passion and Principle: John and Jessie Fremont, the Couple Whose Power, Politics, and Love Shaped Nineteenth-Century Americ.

1. This book was gripping. It is the best historical book I have read. It reads like a novel. Denton's ability to provide a historical account, introduce many characters and events and keep the reader engrossed in the story is remarkable. As a person who loves to read about strong women in history, I loved reading about this strong alliance between husband and wife.



2. His career wedged between two American titans, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln, John C. Fremont leaps into the his rightful place in American history through this remarkable book.
   
   Fremont's idealism both helped and haunted his career. He was the first American to systematically map the Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin, and he played a key role in the Bear Flag Revolt and the conquest of California. But the "Pathfinder" often found himself too far in front of his contemporaries: his failure to adapt to the military change of command led to court martial within a year of his California exploits; his adamant opposition to slavery cost him first his senate seat and later his position as commander of the Union's Western forces in the Civil War (he issued the first Emancipation Proclamation in the state of Missouri in 1861, and Lincoln punished him harshly for this); finally, he invested the huge fortune he had made in the California gold fields in transcontinental railroad stocks, only to fail at every turn and die in poverty.
   
   No better example of both Fremont's strengths and flaws can be found than the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado: a rugged mountain chain he tried twice to traverse, ending in failure each time, the first time in the service of the U.S. Army and the second time in an vain attempt to survey a pass for a railroads through the mountains.
   
   This is the first biography I have read of Fremont, and I felt that Denton's tone was sometimes overly sympathetic. She seemed to play down obvious indications of both Fremonts' extra-marital affairs and the personality flaws that prevented Fremont from succeeding as a politician (despite runs for the presidency both in 1856 and 1864).
   
   All in all, though, Denton does a wonderful job of bringing this power couple to life. From beginning to end, I was fascinated by these two individuals and their contributions during a critical part of American history.



3. A very interesting account of a couple whose lives and relations spanned so many important events of America's 19th century. Too often, I felt, Denton quoted from secondary source material within the text when the end notes would've sufficed. When countering long-held opinions of historians about Fremont's role in events or competence as an explorer or soldier, presentation of the views of seemed appropriate. However, at other times, the quotations and references to the works of others was burdensome.
   
   Most irritating was the lack of maps included by the publisher. Two hard-to-read maps are found at the front of the book, but no other maps were available to trace the detailed events and travels of Fremont! So much of the story deals with his exploration. Geographic details are available in the text, but without supporting maps, I was left wanting.
   
   I learned much about Jessie Fremont, and, through her relationship with her father, John, and others, about American attitudes about women in the 19th century. I learned that it was Jessie who was the the true pathfinder of the two.

5 comments about Black Elk Speaks (Play).

1. It says on the jacket of this book that Black Elk Speaks belongs in the company of 'religious classics'. Maybe so, but even if you regard his visions as indicative of a religious experience, the parts of the book dedicated to the description of these visions make for rather tedious reading. The real meat of the book is his decriptions of the last of the major indian battles at Rosebud, Little Big Horn (Custer's Last Stand), and Wounded Knee. Black Elk and his friends were there, and lived through those harrowing days. A must-read book for anyone who wants to know how it really was.



2. This is an exceptionally moving book for anyone yearning to know more about Native American spirituality. Black Elk was truly a man filled with the holy spirit. It reminds me of the book, Walking the Trail, One Man's Journey Along the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Both are highly recommended.



3. _Over the years I have read this book in the wilderness and in the wasteland. Every time that I have reread it I have come away renewed.
   
   _There are just so many levels on which this account can be appreciated. It is one of the best first-hand accounts of plains life- from camp life, to the march, the hunt, courting, healing, etc. It is also one of the best first-hand accounts of historical events- the Fetterman Fight, the Wagon box Fight, Red Cloud's Treaty, the Custer Fight, Wounded Knee... It is also a first-rate autobiography of the deepest thoughts of a man who fears that he may not have lived up to his God-given destiny. But, above all, it is a legitimate Revelation from the world beyond.
   
   _At times Black Elk seems to despair that he didn't live up to his great vision. Personally, I do not see this. He did what he was supposed to do. First, he brought his vision to his people in the form of the magnificent Horse Dance. Then, in his twilight years, he wisely brought the same vision to the outside world in the form of this book. This was too powerful and universal a vision to be confined to one people alone. Every part of it resonates with the Perennial Philosophy, the eternal religion that underlies all true Tradition- from the World Tree at the center of the people's hoop, to the certain knowledge that the things of this world are but a shadow of the true Reality of the next.
   
   _As far as the sacred herb of four blossoms is concerned that he saw at the end of the forth ascent- that was the rebirth of the sacred tree from sacred seed. This book is that seed.



4. Both Thomas E.Mails and John Niehardt have brought to life the true nature of the Native American in their masterly renditions of their interviews with these Medicine (Holy) men, both Fools Crow and Black Elk. The result is an understanding of the simple honesty, good nature and trust that initially left them so open to exploitation. More importantly, they demonstrated a sincere belief in God that the 'White Man' was singularly lacking in the early pioneers. Their beliefs ran parallel with the Primitive Church as established by Jesus during his ministry in the Middle Ages.Fools Crow



5. I personally didn't mind the interpretation of a white man (Neidhart) translating Black Elk's legendary stories into a published work of art. The book was a very easy read and insinuated deep emotion and spiritual awareness. I higly recommend this book to anyone who has the slightest interest in Indian culture and tense relations between Indians and Cowboys (Federal Government)

5 comments about Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Restless Genius.

1. It is no disrespect to a biographer of Rousseau to say that his task is made considerably easier by the fact that his subject had himself, in his fifties, written such a vivid and amazingly self-revealing autobiography, the famous Confessions. Especially as far as the first half of Rousseau's life are concerned, the main task of the biographer is to recount a story that has already been written, correcting the occasional misremembering or misrepresentation, and to comment upon it. Damrosch's own writing always reads pleasantly and easily, and he also alerts us in advance to how Rousseau's descriptions of his own childhood and adolescence would inform later writings, like Julie (1761) and Émile (1762), and how much his youthful resentment about the way he was treated by social superiors would be the foundation for his later political theories.
   
   For the first 37 years of his life, Rousseau had not revealed himself as the genius in the subtitle, though he was certainly restless: constantly on the move physically and psychologically highly labile. One wonders, in fact, how interested one would be in those 37 years if he had not shown himself a genius thereafter. I for one became a little impatient that as much as 2/5th of this long book is devoted to this early period, which by itself is not all that interesting, in which there are a lot of trivial incidents and in which we are told more about Rousseau's marginal acquaintances than perhaps we want to know. True, there emerges a good picture of the aristocratic segments of society which took Rousseau up and in which he moved with an understandable touchiness about his own status; and we also learn, for example, that Rousseau's behaviour in placing his five children to a Foundling's Hospital as soon as they were born (not left on the doorstep, a story later spread maliciously by Voltaire) was not as unusual in those days as one might think: more than a quarter of all newborn babies in Paris were abandoned in this way. Most of them were illegitimate, as Rousseau's were, and some of them, like Rousseau's later friend d'Alembert, were the illegitimate children of aristocrats.
   
   To me the book became really interesting when Rousseau made his break-through into real originality, and from that point onwards it gains immensely in power. Damrosch's analysis of Rousseau's writings is excellent. It does several things: it explains the ideas clearly and succinctly; it shows their originality at the time and the way they have influenced later thought, and it invariably links the ideas up with Rousseau's psychology. In this respect Damrosch goes against some literary theorists who insist that one should read texts as if one knew nothing about the lives of their authors; but many of Rousseau's books deliberately reflect his personal experiences in such a thinly disguised form that such arid theories are even more than usually inappropriate. Outstanding, I think, is the analysis, near the end of the book, of the Confessions, and I was particularly taken with his comparisons between Rousseau's autobiography and the autobiographical writings of his contemporaries, Voltaire, Diderot, Hume, Gibbon, and Benjamin Franklin. (Damrosch is an American professor, and he comments: "Contemporary American culture talks the Rousseau line but lives the Franklin life").
   
   Damrosch's account of Rousseau's emotional, prickly and suffering personality amply bears out David Hume's famous judgment: "He has only felt, during the whole course of his life; and in this respect his sensibility rises to a pitch beyond what I have seen any example of, but it still gives him a more acute feeling of pain than of pleasure. He is like a man who were stript not only of his clothes but of his skin, and turned out in that situation to combat with the rude and boisterous elements, such as perpetually disturb this lower world."
   
   The book is attractively illustrated with contemporary engravings and portraits and with photographs of places where Rousseau lived.



2. I had previously read a good deal about Rousseau in general histories of the Enlightenment, and inspired by Prof. Damrosch's course for the Teaching Company, I had re-read a few of Rousseau's own works, but I was still intrigued and puzzled by his place in history and by his personality. Prof. Damrosch's book is so comprensive, insightful, and readable that my questions have now been answered to my complete satisfaction. In addition, Prof. Damrosch encourages and enables readers to compare themselves to Rousseau in terms of the unique individuality that we all share. I think that I now understand my own similarities and differences to Rousseau better than I did before. But I am not only a fellow human being but a participant in the history and culture of the modern world, which has been more profoundly affected by Rousseau than most of us realize.



3. This fascinating biography gives a concise and briskly moving snapshot of one the key figures of our contested modernity, indeed, and ironically, of the Enlightenment tradition. Before Hegel mechanically codified dialectic Rousseau lived it in his embrace and intuitive grasp of contradictions that form the unity of life. Perhaps this is the reason he is often misunderstood and why a work such as The Social Contract provokes in turn its own dialectical audience. At a time when a technocractic rendition of the Enlightenment reigns as scientism Rousseau's critique, at the fount of the Romantic movement, still speaks to us. And Rousseau first grasps what Kant will make explicit in his 'critique of pure reason': the place of freedom in the mechanical Newtonian triumph, finally a triumph over man. All in all Rousseau is simply a human puzzle and this cascade through the strange incidents is superb reading.



4. This fine biography traces one of those lives that would not be credible if it were fiction. After his mother died and his father abandoned him, Rousseau wandered from place to place without receiving any formal education. He failed at just about every job he attempted. Through a course of self study, however, his genuis slowly fermented, and then, in a mind bogling 5 year period around the age of 40, produced The Social Contract plus two of the most popular and influential novels of the 17th century, Emile and Julie.
   
   The story of his life, as told by Damrosch, serves the purpose of explaining where his philosophy came from. In Damrosch's view, Rousseau's outsider status and his ability to learn on his own provided the prespective from which he could see through the assumptions of his day and emerge with a unique view of life. Damrosch does a superb job of weaving between Rousseau's life, his personality and his philosophy.
   
   My only slight criticism is that the substance of The Social Contract, the book for which he's best known today, fills just a few pages. I would have preferred more on that. Damrosch, a professor of literature, seems more at home analyzing the two novels and the later autobiography, Confessions, which he considers the first modern autobiography in which a person tries to look at his childhood and inner life to see how he became the person he became. Damrosch does a first rate job examining all aspects of Rousseau's thought as revealed in the novels and the autobiography.
   
   In short, an extremely well written biography of a both intriguing and important man.



5. Until Damros published this 2005 National Book Award finalist, there has not been a good single-volume biography of Rousseau in the English language. This is because Rousseau's own auto-biography, "Confessions" (1782), is so well done and the number of sources for Rousseau's first 40 years are otherwise so weak, that writing a new biography is mostly a retelling of what Rousseau has already said. The strength of Damros' biography is to summarize Rousseau's life, his evolving thinking and his major works, including historical significance and context, while weaving in some of the best scholarship available after two centuries of reflection.
   
   His personality can best be describe as immature and "sharp at the edges". He either loved a person with all his heart, or hated them as his worst enemy. Usually, it started with the former and ended with the later, fueled by his paranoia and over-active imagination. These are traits one normally sees in a child, a black and white world view of love and hate unable to deal with the ambiguities of human weaknesses - which makes sense given Rousseau's brilliant genius combined with his abusive child-hood; lacking a mother he needed to trust someone, but at the same time could trust no one because of his abusive past. This fueled his desire for self-sufficiency and subsequent rejection of dependent relationships - thus he was naturally conflicted in an 18th C French society which was based on hierarchies of dependencies, where everyone was either the master of someone, or mastered by someone (and usually both)--Rousseau found a way to both live and preach an isolated life of self-sufficiency and inward reflection, hallmarks of the modern man. The master of no one, mastered by no one, and completely isolated from everyone. All of this is directly reflected in his works and ideas, so it is possible to fully understand Rousseau's works by understanding Rousseau the person - this biography paints the full portrait and answers many questions.

5 comments about An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America.

1. What changed George Washington from a man willingly breaking up families by participating in the auction of slave children to a man who planned to emancipate his slaves while he was still president? Why would a man using slave labor decide later in life that if the Union split apart into North and South, he would "remove and be of the Northern."?
   The book does not sugar coat Washington's involvement in slave holding, but tries to solve the question of what transformed Washington from a slave owner to a man claiming holding slaves was his "only unavoidable subject of regret." We find out why George Washington did not set his slaves free earlier in his life even through he set plans in motion several times to do so.
   This is a very informative book, not only concerning Washington, but also the slavery question in general during the colonial period. Enjoyable to read for anyone interested in slavery or Washington.
   There are several interesting discussions concerning the author's interviews with descendant's of slaves, along with a short study of how the subject of slavery has been portrayed in Colonial Williamsburg over the years.
   The only fault I find with the book is the lengthy discussion of whether or not George Washington fathered a child with a slave woman. The conclusion is that he probably did not, but this part of the book becomes rather slow reading.



2. This book is definitely "different". In it, the author examines how President George Washington went from a man steeped in the belief that slavery was acceptable to one who seemed to be deeply troubled by it. Unlike most history texts of the period, this one spends a lot of time constructing arguments and making educated guesses. Although at times the arguments seemed to be a little bit of a stretch, the author presents a lot of apparently fresh research and his ideas were definitely new and insightful. Bravo!
   
   It is fairly interesting how the author pours through seemingly uninteresting records of slave sales and otherwise uninteresting personal correspondences of Washington and his family in order to discover what Washington's true thoughts were and what he actually did when it concerned his slaves. Slavery was not a topic that Washington liked to talk about publicly, and he seemed to have thoughts both pro and con, so we're frequently left with no definite answer.
   
   Furthermore, he seemed to part company with his wife on this subject! Martha, it appears, had no problem with the continuation of slavery, while Washington clearly did. In his will, Washington freed most of his slaves. We also discover that Washington had thoughts about doing so during his presidency. That would have set quite a precedent. It never happened, but things would have been different if it did.
   
   In the first half, the author spends time explaining how slavery evolved in the United States. Slavery just didn't happen overnight. It evolved and changed over the years, finally becoming that brutal institution we all now recognize. These sections were quite interesting and well done, too.



3. This book details the change in G. Washington's attitude toward the institution of black slavery and his efforts to free the slaves under his control and the many reasons why he could not just free them all in his life time. (Many were not 100% his. But the property of his wife and her children (his adopted children and grandchildren). The author gives insight how slaves could earn money by which they could purchase their freedom. That slave owners used various tools to motivate their slaves , from the whip to rewards as incentives. This book also reveals the hard hearted attitude many slave holders developed even toward slaves who would today be recognized as half sisters having the same father but different mothers . An excellent book on the nature and early history of black slavery in the Colonies . Slavery as we understand it today as a birth to death existence only developed about the late 1730s - 1865 in the 13 colonies and later the U.S. Prior to this people of every race could be sold into indenturement which was a limited servitude of a set term usually 7-9 years after which they were free to pursue their own interests . The poor in England often would sell themselves into indenturement as a way to get to America . Another source of indentured servants was the English prisons. As these sources dried up land owners looked to African slavers to provide them with laborers. These too were originally treated in a similar way as the British laborers gaining their freedom after 7-9 years of labor.(This is the origin of many the early free American Negros by the time of the American Revolution.) As greed took over, owners of the indentured began took look for ways and reasons to keep their servants longer thus between 1720-1740 a view that blacks were not really fully human but more like animals was developed by those in power. This allowed a false morality to developed that said Negros and their offspring could be kept, bought and sold into slavery not indenturement Thus if only Negros could be kept in a lifetime of slavery Greed (follow the money) led to owners to define that to be negro only required that they be as little as 1/8 some as little as 1/16 negro to be bought and sold in slavery. .It is a great book in explaining slavery historically and how Washington opinions about slavery evolved over his life. Another good book on this early period that is out of print is "America at 1750: A Social Portrait" by Richard Hofstadter. But Can now be found Amazon new/used books.



4. A well written book, done in a casual style that really brings the issue and the man to life. Not a ringing endorsement of Martha!



5. I bought this book at a used book store for a great price of $4.98 (hardbound) otherwise I think I would have skipped it. When I checked out the clerk commented that he'd heard it was a great book, which certainly piqued my interest and raised it in my queue of books to read.
   
   
   The story is very well told, and I really tore through this book pretty quickly considering the type of book. I enjoy historical non-fiction quite a bit, but in general, I can't sit for hours reading them like I can other types of books. I tend to read these kinds of books 30-40 pages at a time and slowly digest them over a few weeks.
   
   I found the book and topic very interesting, it showed you another side of Washington that you wouldn't normally see. It's so easy to forget that like us, he was only human, and was far from perfect, even sometimes cruel to his slaves (he sent one away to the sugar plantations in the carribean knowing full well he was sending the man to his death).
   
   What I found most interesting was that Washington clearly analyzed his own life over time and recognized both his strengths and weaknesses and took action near the end of his life to do what he felt was the right path, even when that path was one no one else would take with him, even his wife. In many ways, reading this book, gave me more respect for him getting a glimpse into the man from a subjective viewpoint, not an idolized one.

5 comments about The Nature of Alexander.

1. I'm one of the fortunate ones who have a hardback edition with the 4 page fold-out full color map of Alexander's travels (hehe).
   
   Mary Reneaul has Alexander down pat, as far as I'm concerned. I admit I'm an Alexander enthusiast (pro-Alexander as opposed to, say, Bosworth's or Green's anti-Alexander). If you're from the anti- camp, you won't enjoy this book.



2. Mary Renault has always had a thing for Alexander. With her lesbian background in mid-century UK I guess this is not surprising. We have her to thank for much of the current fascination with Alexander's alleged homosexualty and such. This is a compelling work nonetheless, and while the bias and emphasis are obvious and perhaps a bit annoying at times, we can forgive Ms. Renault for being a bit over zealous in her passions. What she tries to do is provide a rationale for some of Alexander's actions. Sometimes she can be faulted for reading too much into what limited information we have on him. Still, this is a passionate look at the man and his times. There are many Alexander's for us to ponder. Perhaps because he was so many things to so many different people, and because of the limited documentation many scholars are free to pursue their own views on what he might have been. Mary Renault is no exception in this regard. To me Alexander is primarily the Great Captain of history. He was never defeated in battle, his conquests ranged far and wide, and his tactical abilities were supreme. He should be remembered for this brilliance as opposed to his sexual proclivities which are important only for those who have certain aggendas to pursue. True Alexander had many different sides to his character it seems, and his short but full life is packed with all sorts of fascinating events. His conquests can be divided into many distinct phases toward his character. Was Alexander a liberalizing influnence who spread Hellenism for the benefit of mankind, or just a thuggish tyrant who ran amok in the decadent Persian Empire. The verdict shall remain open on this and many other questions involving his life. For sure this is a very pro-Alex bio. Renault can see little wrong with even some of his most controversial actions. But her writing style is grand and elegant, and even if slanted, is perhaps no more so than some of the revivisionist bios we encounter today. Alexander shall forever suffer from extreme view points. The nature of his life and achievements seems to make this so even in our own time. Renault is good at possibly reading into his thought processes at certain key moments of his life, and she paints a compelling portrait of his sense of mystery and pathos which ultimately contributed to his demise as much as anything else might have in the end.



3. This is one of the many outstanding books written by Ms.Renault.She depicted Alexander as all of us would imagine him.Handsome, loving, fierce,mercyful and great.Although so many books have been written about Alexander,all in all we will never know if as a person he really indeed was that Great.
   Nadia
   Maryland.



4. Where is Alexander when we need him...now!
   After reading the big-long bio of Howard Hughes I'm thinking he may have been a reincarnation of Alexander.
   Too bad the real story of this phenomenal person is not taught in schools, youth of today would be much inspired by the philosophy and life of Alexander. He was certainly one-of-a-kind. Compared to the vapid, lying, greedy "leaders" of today he truly was a "god".
   After reading the the two novels about him, also by Mary Renault, this was a fitting end to my quest to know more about the Alexander that piqued my interest when I happened on Oliver Stone's interview talking about making the movie.
   PS - anyone who sees the movie should watch the 'special feature' with Mr. Stone first, to really appreciate the scope of his endeavor and the importance of Alexander. Oh yeah...and read M.R.'s books too.



5. Mary Renault is an Alexander apologist. She didn't try to mitigate her fan mentality in this biography. Here, Alexander's life is presented thoroughly along with her analysis of his psychological evolution and her justifications. The title of this book, The Nature of Alexander, warns of an internal analysis. If you're an Alexander fan, you'll probably enjoy this imagination candy.
   
   One problem with any contemporary Alexander biography is the dearth of primary (eyewitness) source material resulting in a rehash of Arrian, Plutarch, and Curtius. If you're looking for more neutral historical material check out Arrian who had Ptolomy's now lost eyewitness accounts to work from.
   
   And another thing that i just can't let pass. Mary Renault was supposedly an English major. Her sentence structure was annoying for me. She wouldn't use just one semicolon if she could use three, even if it meant incomplete clauses. It took some getting used to.

5 comments about Indiana Gothic : A Story of Adultery and Murder in an American Family.

1. This book was in my favorite section of the library: "True Crime," Dewey Decimal #364.1523. It would make a mighty fine Soap Opera too! Passion and murder in "fin de siecle" Indiana.

   As the author explains in his preliminary "Note To The Reader:" " The story you are about to read lay buried in my family for a long time. It concerns the true circumstances of the death of my great-grandfather, Ham [Albert Hamlet] Dillon, and it was kept secret from most of us, his descendants, for nearly eighty years. ... What follows is a true story, reconstructed. No plot points have been jiggered to make it a better tale. However, much of the record is fragmentary, of course - including the courtroom testimony - or missing altogether. Ultimately, the facts formed a line of buoys in a sea of my own imagination." Vii -Viii

   It's a vivid voyage, and Brock masterfully reinvigorates folks from 100 years ago. The attempted suicide in the outhouse is particularly poignant (and probably pungent.)

   This reviewer won't pre-tell the whole tale-wouldn't it lessen your enjoyment if I did? You'll have to read it yourself to find out what Kellogg's Corn Flakes have to do with any of this! But here's an excerpt from the reconstructed transcript of the murder trial, wherein the Defendant is claiming "temporary insanity." The sad state of "psychiatry" in that era is either laughable, or makes one want to reach for the Prozac.

   The Defendant's treating physician is testifying, offering a diagnosis of "Neurasthenia." (Don't go running for your current copy of the DSM - this "illness" is no longer diagnosed.)
   "Neurasthenia, what's that?"
   "Well," said the doctor, growing expansive, "it's a new sort of disorder that's arisen just in the past decade or two, mostly here in the United States. Actually we ought to be a little proud of how many cases there are, because you might say it's an indicator advanced civilization - caused by the general movement in our society now away from physical labor and toward mental labor. Naturally it's more common in offices than in outdoor work. More common in men than women because men are required to use their brains more." (p. 301)

   Earlier, another doctor had told the Hales: "It's not the criminally insane or the hopeless alcoholics or the ones who think they're the King of Siam - who do you think the largest group of mentally disturbed [institutionalized]people is? Farm wives." (p. 166)

   Res Ipsa Loquitur. (Also known as: Well, duh! The thing speaks for itself.) Living in those harsh conditions, with so little respect, might make anyone go a little "crazy!"

   I wish there were pictures of the major players. There is no description of the cover photo. I presume that the gentleman is Ham. But is the woman Allie or Maggie?




2. I ordered this book because it was a crime that took place in my home town. I was delighted to find that this book was very well written by a talented author. Beautifully written story not only about adultery and murder, but what life was like at the turn of the century in a small southern Indiana town.



3. There aren't enough stars or adequate words to give this book the merit it deserves. It was in the "true crime" section of the library, and I mainly picked it up because it was one of the few I hadn't read.

   What a pleasant surprise to find a rather ordinary story told in such a bewitching manner! By reading Mr. Brock's words, I felt that I was familiar with the atmosphere and living conditions of Allie and Link, Maggie and Ham, and the other players.

   Allie Hale is in the prison of a loveless marriage to her former schoolteacher when her younger sister, Maggie, marries handsome Ham Dillon. The subsequent affair between Allie and Ham is not only predictable but perhaps inevitable. Allie's biggest mistake was probably giving birth to a 12-lb. boy that she hoped her husband would believe was premature, but then she named him after her lover. Link, however, could add two and two and, when confronted, Allie confessed all.

   The broken-hearted Link repeatedly attempted suicide (with and without asking his wife to join him) and eventually decided he needed some intensive treatment. He was on his way to the Kellogg's institute in Battle Creek, Michigan, when he met his rival on the street and put five bullets into him.

   Every aspect of this story is fascinating--the rivalries, passions, and betrayals as well as the mundane and ordinary are spellbindingly told.




4. I read this book when it came out in '99 and have it again since then. I adore true crime but I really love historical crime writing. This books fits that bill in every possible way.
   
   It's a book you can't put down. Brock puts you right there in the midwest at the end of the 19th cent. His beautiful prose conveys the restraint, secret passions and conflicting desires to a fever pitch.
   
   Get this book, I can assure you if this genre interests you, it will become one of your most favourites, and will live in your head for a long time to come.



5. I laughed my way through the first half of Indiana Gothic. In true soap opera style, there's not a metaphor, simile, well used phrase or silly word that Mr. Brock missed. My favorite was the "indigo sauce" of the blueberry pie. But when he finally narrates the events of the trial, he sneaks in a few nice plain declarative sentences.
   
   Still, I read on. I wish there were fewer gaps in the story. How was it that one spouse was tortured by the resemblance of the "love child" to its father while the other spouse carried on in blissful oblivion? I needed to know more about what happened to Allie and her eldest son. (I sorely desired that the latter become an accomplished and wealthy gambler.) The relationship between Allie, the adulteress and Maggie, the wounded wife, was not drawn to my satisfaction. What role did their parents play? And my goodness: how did Maggie and Ham's younger brother get together after Ham's death?

4 comments about Joseph Banks: A Life.

1. Having read every one -- all 18, I think -- of the wonderful Aubrey & Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian, coming across O'Brian's earlier "Joseph Banks" is a special pleasure. The same wonderful O'Brian dry wit is there, the same fascinated and fascinating focus on the late 18th century, British politics and society, and the sea. O'Brian's "Banks" is an easy read, compared with many scholarly biographies. That is because, actually, it doesn't really qualify as a "scholarly" effort. It is more discursive, easy-going, unpretentious. Delightful is the word that most aptly describes O'Brian's writing in general, and that applies here. Of special interest, though, is that the character of Jack Aubrey is prefigured, very briefly, in the description of a sea-captain acquaintance of Banks's, and Stephen Maturin himself, while not found in person here, is prefigured by the career of Banks himself: explorer, biologist, botanist, collector, and man of the world. O'Brian's "Joseph Banks" is not for everyone, but is certainly for any one of the thousands of O'Brian addicts. Which makes one muse and wonder: when, oh when is "The Hundred Days" coming out in paperback so I can line it up with the other eighteen volumes?



2. I, on the other hand, have never read any of the Aubrey & Maturin books, but I'm extremely interested in the Cook expeditions of which Banks played so much a part. I think it must be because I can see Banks Island right outside my window. Anyway, I must say that, after reading this book, I was prepared to believe Banks walked on water. Founder of modern botany (and modern science generally), explorer, developer of Kew and on and on. Certainly one of the giants of British naval exploration.

   Alas! Cook biographers have been a little less kind to Banks. While often portrayed as a hard driving scientist, he has also been portrayed as a bit of an upper-class twit, always petulent and silly. Which is it? Probably somewhere in the middle. Read this book, but keep an open mind about the hagiography!




3. Joseph Banks served forty years as president of the Royal Academy, Britain's oldest scientific institution. His legacy survives as a result of his scientific enterprise; he helped to transform an "insular" monarchy to an "industrial powerhouse."
   
   He sailed on expeditions to North America and Iceland as well as the Pacific, and established Kew Gardens as one of the world's greatest botanical centers. His 'Florilogium' about his botanical studies in the South Seas is there in the library.
   
   He was a naturalist, a young botanist, in addition to being an explorer. He was one of Australia's founding fathers. He accompanied Captain Cook as he circumnavigated the globe to discover that country.
   
   His Last Will & Testament requested no monument, but forty-seven years after his death in 1820 at the age of 77 years, a tablet was erected showing his grave. He was portrayed as forthright, cheerful and a hospitable man, an intrepid explorer abroad who investigated all he encountered as a genius journalist. He left all of his possessions to wife, Dorothea, with his library at Kew under the direction of Robert Brown, who would have the leasehold house after her death.
   
   Jason Wilson wrote in 'London Magazine' that "this leisurely and witty biography brings the 'genuine' Englishman fully to life." P. O'Brian used Banks' letters to such luminaries as Edward Gibbon, Samuel Johnson, Cuvier and Watt -- and his journals. He wrote a biography of Picasso and resided in southern France.



4. This biography is obviously a collection of study material for Aubrey & Maturin. Sea travel combined with geographical exploration as well as botanizing and zoologizing, plus English society bickering is what the series is about just like this book on Banks. The whole O'Brian is there in the material.
   Unfortunately only in the material. The flow of the prose is sadly lacking. The wit and humour comes through occasionally, but not the brillant dialogues, nor the elegant story telling, nor the gripping passages on nature and human encounters with it.
   This is far too lean, relying on the accumulation of facts. Too much of the narrative is told in Banks' own stunted language. I have a hard time going through these condensed and stumbling diary entries. This is mostly a probem in the first half of the book. It gets much better at the time after Banks' travels, when he becomes a 'barnacle' and presides over the Royal Society.
   A good biography ought to be more than material and information. It ought to tell us a story. The story is visible, but not fully told.
   A good biography, on the positive side now, is always also a history of something larger than the main hero. This is a history of science and exploration in the 18th century, with some noteable supporting cast like James Cook and Linnaeus, with King George III and Benjamin Franklin. And awful Captain Bligh of Bounty fame, later Governor of Ossiland. And Jane Austen, but she more by association and less by personal appearance.
   All that is fine.
   But what about poor Solander? The man is there for much of the narrative, but does he ever get a chance to become a person? I don't think so, only in wee little asides. Just a tertiary cast member. Does Solander deserve that? Possibly not, but since O'Brian treats him with scarce attention, I may never know.
   Disappointing.

4 comments about Winston and Clementine: The Personal Letters of the Churchills.

1. Winston and Clementine: Happily Ever After

   This is the story of a political marriage. In some ways it will be familiar to the contemporary reader, though it began and ended a long time ago.

   Both husband and wife in this marriage were interested in politics. The husband was elected again and again over decades to high office. For decades his wife fought at his side, entertained at his table, offered her judgment to him and his colleagues and his enemies. She took his place in his absence, and sometimes in his presence. She became an international figure. She had power, and she used it. Always she had a mind of her own.

   Sometimes this couple would quarrel. Once a serving dish was thrown. There was a period, not too long, when one of the partners was out of sympathy with the other, or anyway in sympathy with another.

   They knew trouble. They lost a daughter and many friends to death, and some friends to betrayal. They fought political wars at home in which their own party tried to deprive them of office. They fought shooting wars abroad-including the worst ever. More than once, they seemed down and out. Their livelihood as much as their career was threatened. After decades of struggle they reached the summit of power and they knew the adoration of a nation and a world. By then they had grown old together.

   Readers of this story will find that wives did not enter politics yesterday, and private lives were influential in politics before last week. But in other respects this story is unlike anything we have known in this time. Here are two people who won every honor that human affairs can offer, and they won them together. Meanwhile they operated upon those natural and traditional lines that involve that deepest of partnerships. Their division of labor augmented the strength of them both beyond what either could do, apart or together, if they both had done the same parts of the job. True, this is the story of a political partnership. More than that, it is a marriage.

   The editor of this book is the youngest child of Winston and Clementine, Mary, now Lady Soames. She brings to the work care, intimacy, and insight. She has adopted some of the best devices of Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill's official biographer, to make the book available to the reader unfamiliar with the times and the people. Her notes are useful. She lets the letters themselves convey the story.

   One sees right away the amazing pace at which these people lived. Winston Churchill was a soldier whose bravery and judgment in battle were beyond doubt. He wrote every line of every speech he ever gave, save perhaps one, and they are not surpassed in eloquence or impact or amplitude. He wrote serious books, nearly forty of them. He served in the British House of Commons, and mostly in the Cabinet. Meanwhile he made his living writing and speaking in publications and before audiences all over the world. Their house teemed all day and much of the night with secretaries, researchers, and colleagues. He wrote once that statesmen should exist in a condition of "stress of soul." Ever he took that advice for himself.

   And necessarily, then, he imposed it upon his wife.

   Winston Churchill and Clementine Hozier were married in September 1908, and they remained so until parted by death in 1965. Martha Washington, wishing to keep her relations with our Founding Father private, burned most all of the letters that passed between them. The Churchills' letters are preserved intact in their remarkable abundance. Partly because they were so busy, and partly because they took many vacations apart, occasions to write were frequent. In their day the post traveled rapidly-Fed Ex was not necessary; e-mail was unavailable; the telephone came along, but its frequent use developed later. And so they wrote, and well they wrote.

   Nuggets are found in every shaft of this mine. Sir Winston is candid with his wife as with no other, especially in times of triumph or stress. When the first war begins, he unveils his character: "Everything trends towards catastrophe & collapse. I am interested, geared up and happy. Is it not horrible to be built like that? ...Yet I wd do my best for peace, & nothing wd induce me wrongfully to strike the blow." Another time, in a very different mood, he writes: "you have seen me very weak & foolish & mentally infirm this week...." And then the man of unbreakable will proceeds: "I cannot tell you how much I love & honor you and how sweet & steadfast you have been through all my hesitations & perplexity."

   Clementine often bears the burden of saying to her husband what others cannot. When the first war begins, she cautions him about the feelings of a dismissed Admiral: "there only remains the deep wound in an old man's heart. If you put the wrong sort of poultice on it, it will fester." When the second begins, she writes: "...there is a danger of your being generally disliked by your colleagues & subordinates because of your rough sarcastic & overbearing manner.... Therefore with terrific power you must combine urbanity, kindness and if possible Olympic calm."

   The letters of Winston are often more abstract and reflective than those of his wife. Sometimes they are effectively first drafts of things he will later publish. His life is saved once in the trenches by an annoying general who makes him walk two miles under fire just for a little chat; when he returns his dugout and all in it are destroyed. He reflects: "it is all chance or destiny and our wayward footsteps are best planted without too much calculation. One must yield oneself simply & mentally to the mood of the game: and trust in God which is another way of saying the same thing...."

   At the same time, one sees in the husband a sharp need for his wife. It is he who is "lonely among crowds." It is he who has no one but her "to break the loneliness of this bustling existence."

   History has more to say of Winston than of Clementine. He saved his country and more in a desperate crisis, and he leaves behind him a written account of prudential wisdom that is not surpassed. Both his words and his deeds exhibit a longing for honor. He fought for it. He met its demands with utter resolve and lifelong resilience. But of course there was more to his life than that. Honor itself is limited by the high purposes that define it, including the promises and affections that make a family. So he could write to her, at one of the lowest points in his life: "the nearer I get to honor, the nearer I am to you."

   Churchill ends My Early Life, his explicitly autobiographical work, with the passage: "Events were soon ...to absorb my thoughts and energies at least until September 1908, when I married and lived happily ever afterwards." And so together they did. And do.




2. The real service that this book performs is to remind the reader that great historical figures are not one dimensional. Chuchill was a renaissance man, warrior, journalist, historian, memoirist, politician and statesman. He was arguably the single greatest personage of this century and his name has become a symbol for the indominitable spirit of a free people. The collection of letters sent to and received from his wife are entertaining as well as educational. They provide a feel for the time in which they were written and place many of Churchill's famous accomplishments (and failures) in proper context. Amazingly, unlike today when the more we know of a public figure, the smaller they seem, in Churchill's case one comes away convinced that this was a great man in the truest sense, and that much of his greatness is due in no small part to his marriage to Clementine.



3. This book was introduced to me through a friend and, quite frankly, my first reaction was to cringe at the idea of reading such a bulky historical book. But from the first letter I was transfixed by the dialogue between husband and wife on both political and personal matters. This book brings with it a new aspect of Churchill's personality - he was not only a great statesman but he was a passionate man who loved his wife dearly which is seen clearly in the letters that were intended for her eyes only.

   I often wonder how he would have felt to know millions would one day read the letters he wrote to his "clemmie-cat". In any case, its a great read :)

   Cheers, Meagan.




4. When I considered buying that book, I first felt quite uncomfortable about the idea of reading an exchange of private letters between Winston and Clementine. Fortunately, I overcame my discomfort fast. I quickly enjoyed reading that thick epistolary volume about their political and personal matters. The personal letters of the Churchills revealed to me how influential Clementine was on Winston across the board. Their deep love and trust was the secret of their successful marriage, even if Winston was not always an easy husband and politician to deal with. Corresponding by written messages (today perhaps by email) with each other on a regular basis, even when they were together, proved to be an excellent way to help them keep their enduring flame for each other intact. Today, too many marital and extra-marital relationships get dissolved prematurely because of a lack of enough communication between both players. Life is after all a comedy in which men and women play their part and need to know or rediscover how to communicate their joys and pains to one another in order to increase the odds that they will be successful in their relationship.

5 comments about The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party.

1. I have read nearly every book in print dealing with the exploration and saga of Shackleton and his men. Kelly Tyler-Lewis' book The Lost Men rates as one of the best. The "harrowing story" of these hearty men stranded in the desolate Ross Sea is incredible, for lack of words.
   
   Duty-bound, these men laid the stores for a transantarctic voyage that would never materialize. These were men who risked their own lives to ensure the safety of others whose whereabouts were unknown.
   
   The Lost Men is an epic struggle of man versus the ravages of nature and reveals the triumphs and the tragedies involved. It is a book of determination, leadership and accountability.
   
   Of special interest are the generous notes included dealing with such issues as diet (e.g., Their diet lacked nearly all essential vitamins necessary for such a feat), body temperature (e.g., One man recorded a body temperature of 94.2), and navigation of pack ice (e.g. in 2002 it took two Coast Guard ships over two weeks to break through ice roughly thirty miles to Hut point.)
   
   The Lost Men is an exciting and riveting book. As a two-time traveler to McMurdo Sound, I highly recommend this work.



2. The attractive front-cover design is the first indication of the quality of this work, which is well researched and written and a thoroughly engrossing read. Highly recommended.



3. Both sucessful and failed feats of courage are lauded by literature. Many have heard (and read) of the failed expedition of Ernest Shackleton to cross Antarctica. Shackletom failed to even reach the continent, as his ship, the Endurance failed to reach land.
   
   Less well known is the story of the Ross Sea Party -- the group charged with laying in supplies that Shackleton would need as he crossed the pole and returned northward. This book tells the saga of the poorly funded "other half" of the planned expedition.
   
   Focusing more on the shore party, rather than on the shipboard party on the Aurora, the book details the mistakes that were made in the first summer attempt to stock the depots, where Macintosh drove the sled dogs to death and made very little progress, to the stranding of the shore party at the end of the first summer when they were not picked up by the ship.
   
   Presuming the ship lost, and wondering if a rescue would even be attempted during WWI, the 10 men were determined to do the job they were sent to do and proceeded through all odds to strive to lay the depots that Shackleton would never need.
   
   Kelly Tyler-Lewis examines the physical and mental struggles of the shore party including their deep divisions over leadership styles. Culled from the diaries of the expedition, she has weaved a gripping tale of man's struggle against incredible odds.



4. This book is quite a gripping story both in based in tragedy and triumph.
   I saw the PBS special on the Shackleton Journey, but many times, like this, the book is much better.
   The book was highly researched and vividly written describing the many astonishing moments of the expedition.
   It was a ten-man journey the relies heavily on personal journals about some happy moments and some very terrible times. It goes into detail about the decreasing health of the journeymen and stuggles with scurvey, frostbite, snow blindness and the horrible mental and emotional anguish that many sucumb to on this dangerous 1330-mile mission to Antarctica.



5. The world remembers swashbuckling Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton as a selfless leader who would do anything for his men. But this tale of the hardships suffered by his support crew paints a different picture of Shackleton - a charismatic and courageous figure, yes, but also a man whose disorganization and carelessness wasted the lives, health, loyalty and courage of half his party. Three members of Shackleton's Ross Sea party died while leaving supplies of food that Shackleton never used. Historian Kelly Tyler-Lewis uses the survivors' journals and interviews with their families to chronicle the Ross Party's relationships and sacrifices in compelling detail, illuminating the missteps and mismanagement that caused the expedition to go awry. We recommend this study to managers who want examples of how to respond - and how not to respond - in a crisis.

3 comments about The First Emperor of China.

1. This book is a good biography of Qin Shi Huang Di. It is enough complete. It would be better if the author had used very common words. However, it is sound and well-documented. He is a historical character that one cannot ignore. I will surely buy other books of mr. Clements.



2. This is such a well researched biography. I wish I had read this book before seeing the recent movies and opera on the first emperor. It provides a very informative and lively account of that chaotic period in Chinese history.



3. I purchased The First Emperor of China by Jonathan Clements for research. As such, I looked forward to a rather dull and uninteresting book - and found it to be fascinating. While not necessarily a `page burner', it certainly held my interest (a good thing). I decided to read it before reading my other purchase, Records of the Grand Historian - Qin Dynasty by Sima Qian, Translated by Burton Watson. For me, that was a good decision, as The First Emperor of China is a much more `readable' book of the same period and person.
   
   If your interests lie in Ancient China, I heartily recommend this book. It gives a flavor of the people, the customs, the culture, even the architecture. And it is a marvelous introduction to the Emperor as he was, rather than as the movies make him out to have been.
   
   My one gripe about The First Emperor of China is the use of Endnotes. I absolutely HATE having footnotes relegated to the back of the book.