No comments about William Louis Poteat: A Leader of the Progressive-Era South (Religion in the South).

5 comments about Terry Sanford: Politics, Progress, and Outrageous Ambitions.

1. Former North Carolina Governor and United States Senator Terry Sanford is one of this century's outstanding political leaders. While serving as Governor in the early sixties, Sanford became known nationwide for his commitment to improving education in North Carolina.

   Covington and Ellis' biography of Sanford offers a great deal of insight into Sanford's formative years and his political career. The authors researched their subject thoroughly, and the reader gains a great deal of insight into North Carolina politics and into the historical forces shaping the country.

   Many of Sanford's colleagues, family, and friends were interviewed for this book, and their stories and perspectives add depth to this book. Many of the characters in the book are still active in North Carolina politics, including "Jimmy Hunt" (as he is referred to in the book) who now serves as Governor of North Carolina.

   People who still believe that our government can be a force for good, and that a political life can be synonomous with a life of public service, will be inspired by this book and by the life of this outstanding public servant.




2. Anyone who lives in North Carolina will learn much about the state's recent political history in this book. And anyone who is interested in progressive politics should read it too. Terry Sanford's forward-thinking approach to government is an inspiration, particularly in the areas of race and education.



3. Every Tarheel, or any non-Tarheel who has an interest in one of the most important political figures in the South, Terry Sanford, should read this book. Senator in the NC General Assembly, Governor, President of Duke University, and US Senator, this book covers it all. It provides an interesting look at Southern politics, and how our past still effects us to this day. There should be a "Six Degrees of Terry Sanford" game, as he can be linked to practically anybody in the field of NC or National politics. Kerr Scott, Lauch Faircloth, Bill Clinton, John Edwards, The George Bushes, Al Gore, Jesse Helms, Jesse Jackson, Richard Nixon, Elizabeth Dole & Erskine Bowles (both front runners from their respective parties in the 2002 Senate race) and the list goes on. Terry Sanford witnessed great movements in history. The race issue in the South, a political atmospheric change, the wheeling and dealing of politicians. Throughout he kept his values and goals, which helped him become a symbol of Progressive policies, and helped place Duke University into national prominence. This should be required reading!



4. Outrageous Ambition" by Howard E. Covington, Jr., and Marion A. Ellis is the biography of Terry Sanford. Sanford was a North Carolina politician, child of the depression, President of Duke University, Governor, Senator and failed Presidential Candidate. The book chronicles his life and times. It assesses the impact he had on the state and visa versa.
   
   This book is excellent.
   
   The writers have a readable and exciting style of prose. The narrative moves along well.
   
   The book is not simply a story about Sanford's life, though that is covered in good order. It is a history of the politics of North Carolina from the 1930's to the early 1990's. It would be of benefit to students and teachers, and any reader who wanted to more about this era in state politics. The account of desegregation is especially well written.
   
   As for the biographical nature of the book, it is clear that the authors liked their subject, and made no attempt to hide that fact. This is a clearly stated account of Sanford's life from two admirers. Though the book is not free of some criticisms, the writers measure Sanford's life and find the good outweighed the bad. Their case is strong.



5. From his efforts to improve public education and race relations in North Carolina to his success in transforming Duke into one of the top universities in the country, Terry Sanford left an indelible impact upon both the North Carolina and the nation. In this book, Howard Covington and Marion Ellis provide a sympathetic account of Sanford's life. Using an impressive array of sources, including Sanford's papers and interviews with Sanford and dozens of other figures, the authors chronicle his life and times, from his childhood in Laurinburg to his years as governor, university president, and United States senator.
   
   Yet this is more than just a biography of a great public servant. In seeking to explain Sanford's achievement, Covington and Ellis provide the context of his life and career. Their subject occasionally recedes into the background as they navigate state politics or describe the issues Sanford faced as president of Duke University, but it helps the reader better understand the challenges he faced and the full measure of his achievements. This perspective that they provide makes the book a valuable resource not just for understanding Sanford but the many areas of American life that he effected in his lifetime.

No comments about Jean-Jacques Rousseau (Continuum Library of Educational Thought).

5 comments about Earth and Water: Encounters in Viet Nam.

1. This book is unusual, for it offers readers a sense of the sights, feelings and sounds of Vietnam in the late 1990s. Shillue is an honest reporter, who travels to Vietnam without war baggage. She writes like a dream and the only criticism I have of the book is that I wanted more. Read it.



2. I am enjoying this book, but the numerous grammatical errors (ex.: the use of "it's" to indicate the possessive, as opposed to "its") are beginning to prove distracting. In this day and age, there is no excuse for such inattention to detail on the part of the publisher.



3. Excellent Read! In the early 1990s I was an American businessman living in Vietnam and this well written book takes me back to the country and a time which I still miss every day.

   It reminds Americans that Vietnam is a place and not a war.

   If anyone wishes to see and feel Vietnam and Cambodia as they are today this is THE book to read. I look forward to Ms Shillue's next book.




4. This book was alright, a good description of Vietnam for those that have never been and want to know what is about over there. I studied in Hanoi for four months during college and it was a real trip back for me while reading this, especially when the author speaks of her visit to Hanoi. I stayed in Bach Khoa while I was there and lived in that very neighborhood for four months and it made me very nostaligic. However, the author tended to irritate me at times with what I saw as an attitude towards the culture and traditionalism of the northern region. Frankly, I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would...but then again I'm very biased when it comes to Vietnam since the country means a lot to me...



5. As a child of the Vietnam era, I've long been curious to find out what became of the people that populated the Time magazine of my youth. Shillue brings up to date with a personal look at the lives and times of the Vietnamese. It is reassuring to hear about the resiliency of the Cambodian people and I was glad to see that Shillue's first-hand accounts bring us right into the lives of those we left behind. I particularly liked when she compared contemporary Americans to their counterparts in Asia.

1 comments about Hesburgh: A Biography.

1. This book is a superbly written history of one of the greatest leaders of the past century. You do not have to be a Notre Dame fan to appreciate the impact that Fr. Ted has had on our society and culture.

No comments about Tenderfoot Teacher: Letters from the Big Bend, 1952-1954 (Chisholm Trail Series, 21).

5 comments about Oxford Days.

1. As a devoted reader of West's novels, I knew the prose would be stylish and witty, but I didn't anticipate how funny this memoir would be. It's a wonderful evocation of an era at Oxford, full of eccentrics, later-to-become famous writers, and West's touching memories of his life at a nearly mythic university. I found it smart, charming, and spirited.



2. West is one of the most versatile writers I know, as his ever-growing list of both fiction and nonfiction titles show. He's particularly fabulous when recalling in his elegrant and playful prose those events and places he experienced first-hand. This recollection and preservation of his youth defines the moments that will eventually make the great stylist he became. He is a writer and a man extraordinaire...and this is a book to be cherished.



3. Oxford Days is a omni-sensual remembering -- of the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches of mid-C20th Oxford University. West brings to life some of the people with whom he lived (he is especially good on Edith Sitwell, George Steiner, Warden John Sparrow, and his supervisor F. W. (?Freddy?) Bateson), loved (several girlfriends are introduced, though discretion gets the better part), and laughed (particularly the camaraderie he enjoyed with fellow undergraduates). There is a series of vignettes of supporting cast members (a custodian, a baroness visiting the college, a college dean, a groundsman, etc.). His mother and father are also lovingly summoned.

   On contemporary Oxford he is acerbic ("the Oxford of today is a glum, sulfuric place . . . an ammoniac show-place . . . a Frankenstein overlay on the road map of Southern England"), but on the whole this is a sympathetic, entertaining, and charming appreciation of what Oxford was and bestowed.




4. Paul West is a brilliant novelist but it wasn't easy for him to get into Oxford. When he was finally accepted at one of the less well known colleges he had, well, arrived.

   This is a touching memoir full of humor and just nice experiences in a world long gone. Oxford still exists of course but the Oxford attended by Paul West exists only in memory. He has, however, put it all down for us in this wonderful book.




5. A tome perfectly cromulent in its wordness and allusive vagueosity. On the whole enjoyable - much though at times rarefied prose and wit too lost on me were better spent *THUD* against my bedroom wall.

No comments about Teacher Education and the Cultural Imagination: Autobiography, Conversation, and Narrative.

5 comments about Duke Ellington: a Spiritual Biography (Lives & Legacies).

1. I just got finished listening to the new CDs of Duke Ellington's Sacred Music, picked up at Borders. Wow! While I was listening to this great stuff I was reading this book. And Wow! again. If you want the nitty, gritty, the lowdown, or dope so to speak, on the Duke you'll have to go somewhere else. Miss Steed does give you the whole story but her emphasis is on his work, his artistry, and his legend--what the Good Man left us with--and his Sacred Music, which he said, was not his best work, but his most important work. And it was real, man, this is what I was looking for, someone who really had something new to say about The Man, and knew what they were talking about! Buy this book and get to know the Duke and the man behind the legend.



2. The author's knowledge of Duke Ellington, and descriptions of his compositions is impressive. After studying Ellington's life and compositions through this book more closely, in his music, even when it is not overtly religious, one can quickly see that Ellington did indeed work out his spirituality through his music, as this author so convincingly argues. Of especial interest is the author's conception of spirituality and her deep artistry of both genuinely recognizing Ellington's and making that connection with his music, and how both shaped and influenced his life. This is not a scholarly tome, but rather a wonderfully quick, short read. As one of many old Ellington fans, my guess is that Duke Ellington would have smiled brightly and given his big stamp of approval to this book.



3. I picked this book up after reading Joan of Arc in this Lives and Legacies Series. This new book delivers everything it promises. I'm a real biography nut with an interest in a very broad range of subjects (and that's just what this series delivers) but have little time to immerse myself in a 500 or 700 page reading. So it's great to be able to pick up these short biographies, get a great read, and then decide if I want to explore a subject in further depth. But I can tell you with both these books, short as they are (192 pages), they are still very in-depth, scholarly and but still accessible to the popular audience. Duke Ellington was a particular pleasure as I knew nothing about his Sacred music and Concerts, nor have I run across anything that examines so fully the films that him and his orchestra were featured in, and which by the way Ellington had a significant role in developing. Author Janna Steed offers up a terrific little gem with this new book on Duke Ellington.



4. I just recently joined a book discussion group and last night, during my first meeting we were discussing Janna Tull Steed's new book "Duke Ellington: A Spiritual Biography." In just 192 pages Steed traces Ellington's development from a piano player to bandleader to composer and his truly thrilling and sublime sacred concerts in the last decade of his life. Steed also discusses in depth Ellington's ability to write for the individual voice, or band member, which seems to be, at least partly, what made and marks him as such an extraordinary and perhaps greatest American composer--that and his overwelming dedication to his music and a relentless ability to constantly break new ground.

   Steed's grasp of Ellington and his music, particularly Ellington as a composer is tops. She draws on the enormous archives at the Smithsonian Institution but also on extensive firsthand interviews with scores of people who were intimately familiar with Duke Ellington and his music, and especially his development of his sacred music and concerts. It is in the area of the sacred concerts that Steed breaks new ground but also her focus of Ellinton as composer, as well as his oft forgotten important work in Hollywood. Her outstanding achievment is that she accomplished this in 192 pages. Steed covers the entire scope of Ellington's remarkable life and career and her insights are very welcome and as engaging as they are informative.




5. Very accesible book & good introduction not only to Duke Ellington but the world of Jazz. I suppose an author is limited by the number of pages how in depth one can get but still I expected a more critical examination of the contradiction of Ellington's public persona w/ his spirituality and how he reconciled these contradictions. That said, I still found Steed's argument convincing, especially his leading up to his sacred music. This is especially a good book for the new initiate to Duke Ellington.

1 comments about W. E. B. Du Bois and American Political Thought: Fabianism and the Color Line.

1. When most think about Dubois, one of the first theoretical formulations that come to mind is the oft-quoted "double-consciousness." In this work, Reed's central task is to situate African American political thought squarely within the material context in which it occurs using W.E.B. Dubois as the focus for this project. Along the way Reed slices and dices Henry Louis Gates and the new black intellectuals, as well as the troublesome concept of "double consciousness" that Reed shows to be overstudied at best. Clearly among the best works of its kind to come to light in some years.