4 comments about Covered Wagon Women: Diaries and Letters from the Western Trails, 1850; the diary of Margaret A. Frink (Living Voices of the Past) (Living Voices of the Past).

1. The second in the series is as interesting as the first.The immigrants now have a bit more knowledge as many have gone before them.There are still many misshaps, disease, lack of water and feed. We now are starting to see many oppertunists who prey on the people. It is interesting to note that the women and Indians seemed to get along quite well and shared hints about many things. We also see the diffrence in the trip for diffrent income levels.This is also where we start to see pollution,as the animals were allowed in the creeks and anything not needed was just left .These books show what life was really like on the trail and what the women went through each day.



2. As Americans we have heard many tales, true and false, of tales of, and about, those brave souls who migrated across the country in wagons and on foot in the 19th century. Beverly's LTD has recorded The personal diary of one such woman, Margaret A. Frink.

   Mrs. Frink, along with her husband, whose first name we never know, and a boy named Robert leave their nice home in Martinsburg, Indiana, for the riches of the California territories. It's not only the promise of gold that spurs this couple on, but of the riches available to those who make the arduous trip.

   Mrs. Frink keeps a detailed diary of the daily distances traveled (how did they m ark this?), the price of provisions along the way, the weather, the many people they run into, and an acute observation of the fashions on the trail. I found that quite interesting, those detailed descriptions of fashion, in clothing, transportation, and supplies, and the daily traveling distance. I also found myself amazed at the mileage the wagons were able to make each day and the price of provisions along the way. In 1851, one onion costs the Frink's one dollar, which is astronomically even in the 2002 market.

   Susan Baxter, an actress at the Creede Repertory Theatre in Colorado, gives life to Margaret. By the tone of voice she uses, I suspect that Margaret is a bit of a snob, but she handles the travails of the trail with remarkable good humor.

   It is particularly interesting that the diary does not end with their arrival in Sacramento, but gives a hurried account of life for their life as hotel owners and diary farmers. It is also interesting that the home they dismantled in Indiana and ship by boat, arrived in the new state at almost the same time they did.

   Thanks to the publication of this diary, I have a whole new appreciation of the Old West!




3. Meaningful, first-hand chronicles from six westward women pioneers of 1850.
   As editor Dr. Holmes notes, Anna Maria Morris was the wife of a military commander and as a result was "treated with attention and care". Nonetheless, she describes the relentless heat, lack of water and wood, poor grass, etc. which was typical of travel to Santa Fe, along with daily routines.
   Mary Colby, Margaret Frink, Sarah Davis, Sophia Goodridge and Lucena Parsons all traveled the northern ,more familiar, Oregon Trail. These women give stunning details of wagon travel including: the phenomenal numbers of graves along the trail due to cholera, daily chores and mishaps, the vast numbers of emigrants along the route, dry ponds, abandoned wagons and personal belongings, river crossings, cutting grass for future livestock feed, etc.
   We feel the persistent, annoying stings of clouds of mosquitoes along the Platte, the disturbing sights of countless numbers of human graves, the unsettling smells of innumerable dead livestock left alongside the road, feel their Indian anxieties, the sounds of nerve-racking horrendous thunderstorms, the continual unwelcomed taste of trail dust. These women clearly illustrate what life was like traveling westward in 1850.
   A pleasure to read.



4. My great-great grandparents with an infant daughter journeyed overland from Missouri to California in 1850 and I read this book to learn something of their experience.
   
   As the editors point out few women made the crossing by land and thus their accounts have great significance. This book contains the diaries and letters of six women who traveled by wagon and horseback across the Great Plains and the mountains of the West to a new home in California, Oregon, Utah, and New Mexico in 1850. Amongst their descriptions of terror and hardship are also homely tales of life on the trail and often the generosity and nobility of many of their fellows.
   
   I was impressed most by the sheer numbers of the overlanders. Some 50,000 people took the Western trails in 1850, drawn mostly by the promise of gold in California. Accounts of the dust, the crowded conditions, and the inevitable cholera caught my attention. The journey across the plains and mountains was, as the editors note, the longest voluntary migration in history and one has to wonder why so many people left comfortable homes to journey west. The westward urge -- "Manifest Destiny" -- or whatever it might be called was a powerful force in 19th century United States. Indians and buffalo play surprisingly small roles in the accounts of the crossing. They were perhaps wise enough to keep their distance from the overlanders.
   
   The editors have contributed good introductions to the book and each of the women.
   
   Smallchief

No comments about Sarah Orne Jewett.

No comments about A Virginia Girl in the Civil War.

3 comments about Worthy Opponents: William T. Sherman and Joseph E. Johnston: Antagonists in War-Friends in Peace.

1. Once again, Mr. Longacre has done a magnificent job of profiling two important leaders of the American Civil War. In his highly readable style, he follows the parallel careers of these two military leaders focusing on the periods where their paths converge. I highly recommend this book for even the casual reader of military history or biographies of important American leaders.



2. This book is an interesting dual biography picking two generals from the American Civil War that were not the most famous, but well known enough to make interesting biographical subjects.
   
   The two generals had much in common. Both were professional soldiers that understood the advantages the defense had over the offense during the war. They understood that it was better to out flank, out guess, and approach indirectly than bloody attacks against dug in defenders. The two generals seemed to admire each other, even while they were enemies.
   
   This book gives an excellent history of the battles where the two generals were involved as well as the 'on again, off again' nature of Johnston's relationship with Jefferson Davis. This is a well written and easy reading book, although it covers little new ground.



3. Good read. I'm partial to good U S Civil War Historical books. Longacre certainly did his homework. The research was very in-depth. The details and story telling were excellent. I enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it.

5 comments about Lee and His Generals in War and Memory.

1. Gary Gallagher has compiled 13 interesting essays on Robert E. Lee and his CSA Army and its generals. Each individual essay is very interesting, especially his concentration on Jubal Early and the development of the "Lost Cause" myth to explain the defeat of the CSA. Gallagher expertly details how Jubal Early and other early Civil War historians explicitly wanted to make sure that the soldiers of the CSA were portrayed in a positive light, sometimes, regardless of the facts.
   Gallagher also attempts to rebuild the reputation of Early destroyed by his defeat in his campaign in the Valley. In doing so, Gallagher explains that a comparison between Early's lack of success and the success in the valley of "Stonewall" Jackson is inappropriate. Early inflicted as many casualties as he could on the forces opposing him, however he was faced with superior generals on the Union side than most of those that faced Jackson. In essance, Gallagher explains that Jackson's success must at least in part be attributed to the fact that he faced incompitent opponents, and Early did not.
   There are a couple drawbacks to this book, and while they don't detract from the individual essays, they do detract a bit from the book in its entirety. First, much of the first third of the book, particularly the essays, "The Idol of His Soldiers and the Hope of His Country: Lee and the Confederate People" and "If the Enemy Is There, We Must Attack Him: Lee and the Second Day at Gettysburg" address larger issues than just Lee and his generals, they both seem to me they would have been more appropriately included in Gallagher's work "Lee and His Soldiers."
   While the section on the "Lost Cause" and Jubal Early is very interesting, it also seems that it's misplaced in this book. It seems that it should belong in Gallagher and Nolan's book on the lost cause.
   The last section in the book on "historical memory" which includes essays on Ken Burn's miniseries "The Civil War" as well as battlefields, seems also to be out of place in this book.
   I'm not sure why Gallagher chose to title this work "Lee and His Generals in War and Memory" when so few of the essays included deal directly with the relationship between Lee and his lieutenants.
   Another drawback is that the book doesn't have an epologue that attempts in any way to tie each essay together in a larger framework. Absent this, it really lacks a central focus as a book.



2. Dr. Gallagher brings Civil War discussion into the modern era by using first rate scholarship and sound reasoning to evaluate many of the lingering controversies. Eschewing many of the ideologically driven, axe to grind efforts that often taint Civil War history, Gallagher has produced a balanced account of such topics as "Lost Cause" Historiography, the Longstreet blame game, and a candid assessment of Lee. Gallagher, a historian from the Univ. of Virginia, has attained one of those rare feats in historical writing by compiling a work that is congenial reading for both the academic and the layman. Seeking neither to glorify or desecrate some of the luminaries of the conflict, the author relies on the evidence, and letting such evidence speak for itself. There is also thoughtful commentary on the current state of historical sites, and the flood of film and print fiction works. The latter is particularly instructive, as it commends the likes of Burns and Shaara for promoting interest, while cautioning about the Eastern Theater biases contained in such productions. Teachers seeking an excellent supplemental reading to Civil War courses can do no better than LEE AND GENERALS. It is a masterful job of separating the fact from the fiction and should remain an enduring contribution to Civil War Historiography.



3. Professor Gary Gallagher is a rarity among writers on the Civil War in his ability to appeal to both scholarly and lay audiences. He shares this ability with Professor James McPherson but with few others. Unlike Professor McPherson, Gallagher's writings concentrate on the Confederate war effort. He brings an obvious sympathy and understanding for his subject without overromanticizing of glorifying it. This is also highly unusual among writers on the Civil War. His essays are informed, through, balanced, and inspiring. They are a pleasure to read.

   Professor Gallaher's "Lee and his Generals in War and Memory" (1998) consists of thirteen essays, most of which have been published elsewhere. I think the unifying theme of this collection is Professor Gallagher's attempt to find a middle ground between the "Lost Cause" interpretation of the Confederate war effort and recent, critical and revisionist accounts.

   The "Lost Cause" school sees the Southern cause as entirely noble, tends to glorify Robert E. Lee and the valor of the Confederate troops, and attributes the defeat of the Confederacy almost entirely to the Federal's overwhelmingly superior resources and numbers. The revisionist school emphasizes the origins of the Civil War in the institution of slavery, tends to be critical of Lee and his aggressive and costly (in terms of casualties) approach to battle, and emphasizes Union skill and tenacity, among other factors, in finally winning the war.

   The first section of Professor Gallagher's book consist of four essays on Lee which both explain the high regard in which he was held in the South while acknowledging mistakes and shortcomings. There is an introductory essay, "Lee and the Southern People" followed by essays on the Seven Days Battles against McClellan, Lee's actions on the second day of Gettysburg, and Lee's role in the Wilderness campaign of May, 1864.

   The second part of the book, "Lee's Generals" includes a discussion of Stonewall Jackson's military reputation and how it was in large part deserved but also partly the result of chance and circumstance. In this regard, the section also includes an excellent essay comparing Jackson's 1862 Shenendoah Valley campaign, which was one of Jackson's great successes, with Early's 1864 campaign, generally regarded as a disaster. Professor Gallagher offers some unusual insights. This section also includes a thoughtful essay on A.P. Hill's and Richard Ewell's controversial roles during the first day of Gettysburg, as well as essays on Longstreet and John Magruder.

   The third section of this book covers the history of Southern interpretations of the War, particularly the "Lost Cause" school of interpretation. Gallagher presents a well-balanced account of Jubal Early, whose writings became predominant in the "Lost Cause school" and a discussion of the Civil War letters frequently attributed to George Pickett -- of Pickett's charge on the third day of Gettysburg. Gallagher describes the history of these letters and concludes, in common with most scholars today, that they are in fact forgeries written by Pickett's wife.

   A final section of the book offers a discussion of Ken Burns' "Civil War" series on public TV, which has much good to say about it, and Professor Gallagher's assessment of the continued importance of Civil War battlfield preservation to help educate the public about our Nation's history and about this seminal conflict.

   I learned a great deal about the Civil War and about Confederate leadership from Professor Gallagher's fine collection of essays.




4. Excellent book on Lee and his generals. Covers Lee's unique hands off style and his relationships with his senior staff with mini biographies. The best part of the book is how Lee deals with adversity particularly after Longstreet is shot down in the Wilderness, Ewell is relieved at Spotsylvania and Hill becomes bed ridden. Lee has to rise above it all and pick interim successors in a time of crisis with Grant bearing down. Lee has to make crucial personal decisions with limited experienced staff and take a greater role. One of Gallagher's best books.



5. A collection of essays by Gary Gallagher (not an anthology like many of the other books with his name on them) mostly about Lee, his generals, and Lee's image during and after the war.
   
   Gallagher writes with clear, sensible precision, tending to rationally examine evidence and the arguments of others rather than to leaping to "definite" conclusions or shoehorning the evidence into predetermined pet theories. I found his comments on Ken Burns' The Civil War and on the preservation of battlefields to be interesting, pertinent and something a bit different from the usual historical paper. Other articles here examine Lee and the ideology of the Lost Cause, Confederate leadership at Gettysburg (about which I am in entire agreement with Gallagher's conclusions except that I would be less generous to Hill), the 1862 and 1864 Valley campaigns, and other, often controversial, topics.

2 comments about Stonewall Jackson (Great Generals).

1. I thought this book provided a succinct and accurate assessment of General Jackson's life and career. I do, however, offer three criticisms.
   
   First, a few maps would have been most helpful. The author presumes that the reader has a working knowledge of Jackson's major battles--the places they were fought, the strategy and tactics employed, and the surrounding topography. I realize that the Great General Series must make certain accommodations in order to accomplish its goal of providing a BRIEF overview of the life and service of its subjects, but a few maps would have greatly enhanced my understanding of what Jackson accomplished.
   
   Second, I thought the comparisons between Jackson's strategy and tactics and those employed in the Iraq War were both gratuitous and a bit of stretch, a not-so-veiled attempt to make the Civil War seem somehow relevant to the conflict in the Middle East.
   
   Third, the editors should have read the text one more time before it went to print. There were several typographical and formatting errors that were a bit of a distraction.
   
   These, however, are minor complaints. If you don't know much about Stonewall and want to get a feel for the contribution he made to the Confederacy and towards the evolution of military tactics, you would do well to read this book.



2. Stonewall Jackson by Donald A. Davis
   (Palgrave Macmillan (2007), Hardcover, 224 pages)
   
   A review
   by
   Colin J. Edwards
   
   Stonewall or Oddball?
   
   I have to come clean immediately and confess that I have difficulty with the description, `tough fighting generals'. What they are describing are heartless individuals who send men to death or mutilation with reckless abandon. Let us remind ourselves that wars are started by politicians, fought by generals and won by soldiers. The American Civil War was the exception: the generals prolonged that one.
   Before you cast me aside as a peace-nik lefty, let me assure you that I saw action as an infantry officer, and know a little of what I speak.
   
   Books about wars: and this is a book about a war more than a biography of an individual, are either from an officer's perspective, or the enlisted man. Donald Davis is the exception being quite at home writing about either. His best seller `Lightening Strike', records the active service of a gunnery sergeant. However, I could find little sympathy for the fighting man in this volume. Mr Davis wrote with touching tenderness of the separation of General Jackson from his wife and new baby girl. A separation that didn't last long as the general called them to his side. Tens of thousands of ordinary soldiers from North and South would have thought precious, just a moment with their loved ones. Rank has its privilege it seems.
   
   Davis' detailed descriptions of the various battles are excellent, if a little tedious. This is due perhaps to a lack of information about Jackson who was such a secretive individual, that it's a wonder Davis was able to write the book at all.
   
   Born at Clarksburg West Virginia on January 21 1824 into an attorney's family, he preceded by four months another general and West Point chum who saw the light of day at Liberty Indiana in May: a future adversary, Ambrose Burnside.
   
   After a very unsettled childhood, he entered West Point more by luck than judgement. He struggled to keep up but had an almost eccentric ability to focus unswervingly on the subject at hand. This paid off and he was able to move up the rankings graduating 17th out of a class of 59. This was not good enough to get him into the esteemed engineers, but it did get him into the artillery as a second lieutenant. This single minded eccentricity bordering on autism became more apparent when he was under fire during the Mexican Way. Observation of his reckless valour caused him to be bumped up the ranks to acting major. Another manifestation of his disturbed mental state was his inability to work in harmony with others. His unresolved dispute with a brother officer while stationed at Fort Mead in Florida, resulted in him leaving the army and taking up a teaching post at Lexington Virginia.
   
   The general consensus was that Thomas Jackson was a poor teacher, but the eight years there gave him the opportunity to meet and marry two wives.
   
   The Civil War found him back in the army and up to his neck in muck and bullets in the battles so precisely delineated by Mr Davis. His eccentricity (or mental disturbance), new no bounds and he and his soldiers went from victory to victory even if it killed them. He even had one of his generals (A.P.Hill), dragged along behind a cart on an interminable march for some undisclosed actus reus. This so damaged the general's tender feet that he was out of action for some time. Not the action of a sound mind you might think; particularly when it concerns one of your better generals.
   
   Jackson continued to carry the whole war on his shoulders, confiding in no one until he experienced a nervous collapse. From then until the end of his life he was conspicuous for his ability to fall asleep anywhere. On one occasion he was summoned to see his boss Robert E Lee, and promptly fell asleep before he saw him.
   
   Thomas Jackson was a religious zealot who spoke more to God than anyone else. However, he did not practice what he preached, nor anything anyone else preached as he didn't stay awake long enough. He had no compunction in raking artillery fire into Mexican civilians when Mexico City failed to surrender in 1848, or later when he gunned down a retreating Mexican army. During the Civil War he showed no reluctance to destroy fellow Americans be them from the North or the South, and insisted that his officers do likewise.
   
   To experience fear while in the presence of danger is normal. To some extent it is possible to hide that fear. Jackson did not hide it; he did not have any fear. He constantly took needless risks and in front of his troops defied the conflagration to kill him.
   That was until Chancellorsville on May 2 1863. Throwing caution to the wind as usual, he took his staff beyond his own front lines to reconnoitre the enemy positions. True to form he omitted to inform anyone of his intentions. Upon his return he was fired upon by his own soldiers and hit three times. Six of his staff were killed outright. He however was not killed but was stretchered to an aid station falling off the stretcher on the way. The chief surgeon of Jackson's army, Dr Hunter McGuire, amputated his left arm, but did not notice General Jackson complaining about chest pain. The pain developed into pneumonia from which he died on May 10th 1863.
   
   Google Books list over 4000 entries for General Jackson, and most of them suggest that had he lived the result at Gettysburg would have been different. The generals lost the battle for the Confederates by their bickering and lack of direction. Jackson would have only added to the confusion. The soldiers of the South fought their hearts out at Gettysburg only to be betrayed by their officers.
   
   Donald Davis's book is a myth breaker, and a `must read' for anyone who has an interest in the first modern war.
   
   
   

5 comments about The Southern Haunting of Truman Capote.

1. This book is simply a rehash of information which has already been published. I am a big fan of Marie Rudisill's and loved FRUITCAKE and SOOK'S COOKBOOK. I advise she work on her own and not coauthor with Simmons again--her books with him just don't allow her wit and humanity to show through.



2. This book has so much detail in such few chapters. This story tells how Truman was first left to stay at Jenny's house..Also featuring the special tree house, the bone fence and the Sunday dinners. All these stories were wonderful. I've never read such interesting, real detail about Truman's life..this book is a must have for every Capote fan. Way to go Marie



3. This book has so much detail in such few chapters. This story tells how Truman was first left to stay at Jenny's house..Also featuring the special tree house, the bone fence and the Sunday dinners. All these stories were wonderful. I've never read such interesting, real detail about Truman's life..this book is a must have for every Capote fan. Way to go Marie



4. The reviews of this book vary widely from Capote fans that treasure every shred of information to those that feel the book recycles known information to others critical of the co-author. I am a Capote fan and do treasure information on Truman. The book is short but I found it well written and fascinating. The text also captures the Southern frame of mind so common among those raised in the South (as I was). In addition, the hardcover is an attractive book and will stay on my shelf for years to come. It has a high quality binding; the dust jacket and interior are handsome and well made. Given the price, not only is it a fine volume for Capote fans but it is a good value.



5. I REALLY LIKED THIS LITTLE BOOK BECAUSE THERES NOTHING LIKE READING ABOUT SOUTHERN PEOPLE AND SOUTHERN WAYS. IT WAS JUST A WONDERFUL LAID BACK MOOD. VERY RELAXING TO READ.

5 comments about If the Creek Don't Rise: My Life Out West with the Last Black Widow of the Civil War.

1. After reading "Creek" you'll feel like you know Rita, from the little girl she used to be, to the person she has become as a result of her unique past, beautifully detailed in the pages of her book. To me, that's an indication of a great memoir--that by the end you feel you have taken the journey as well, and that the author is as familiar as a good friend. Lucky for me, I came to know Rita before I even knew her book existed. I have taken four classes with Rita as my teacher, and I'm about to start my fifth. I didn't learn how to write from Rita, but I learned what it meant to write while in her classes, and the improvement in my work after studying with her is obvious. All the attention to detail and care and insight that she poured into her story, she pours into her teaching, and I can't praise her writing or her teaching enough. I'm fortunate to have been exposed to both.



2. In this book, Rita Williams' accounts of her childhood and coming-of-age provide a keenly focused view into the lessons and hardships of poverty and racial discrimination, not to mention puberty itself.
   
   Making these lessons much more compelling than most, the turbulence in Rita's young life plays out against a backdrop of the stunning beauty and cruel harshness of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, all of which is described with magical clarity by Ms. Williams.
   
   Orphaned at a young age, Rita takes the reader along with her as she is flung by wicked fate into an unforgiving life under the stern guardianship of her "Real McCoy" Aunt Daisy, a hunting guide and trapper in the mountains of the Colorado wilderness. Tough as any mountain man, Aunt Daisy is not ready for, nor able to coddle, a small child. Little Rita must toughen up to the mountaineer's lifestyle, or else!
   
   Funny, heart wrenching, and often just plain shocking, Rita Williams' book exudes a fearlessness that few writers ever muster. Powerful, courageous books such as this one often change minds and opinion.
   
   "If The Creek Don't Rise" shines bright light into dark corners of human relationships and emotions - corners that many writers are fearful to even obliquely illuminate, especially when the subject at hand is purely personal.
   
   In the end, this book leaves the reader with a tremendous appreciation for not only the hardships of others, but also with an increased self-awareness.
   
   Ms. Williams' efforts are unique in that her book is not a "mountain wilderness survival story" about a plane crash or stranded, lost campers running out of food or freezing to death. Rather, it is a mountain wilderness survival story that is just as perilous nonetheless. It is the mind and soul, however, at risk of a "starvation and freezing death" in the high mountains.
   
   An amazing tale of tremendous courage and a survival story like no other, this book is a must-read!



3. Rita's book is such a compelling read that I couldn't put it down. She paints a picture through language and draws the reader back in time into her childhood through sometimes painful sometimes uplifting and sometimes amusing memories of growing up. Although our backgrounds are very different, I found myself relating to Rita's struggles and heartbreak and I admire the way she can write about them so eloquently! I have also been blessed in knowing this dynamic women who teaches a memoir writing class at MediaBistro.com in Los Angeles. She is the most gifted instructor I have ever met. I am looking forward to her next class which starts this Spring.



4. All I know is that I did not want this book to end. I was completely immersed into this woman's world. I was moved. I wanted to know what happened next and to hear it in her words. The story is beautiful, painful and inspiring.



5. If the Creek Don't Rise epitomizes for me, what I look for in a book. Her artful articulation of her life not only captures you but leaves you wanting more. Rita's writing goes beyond honest recounting of the past and enters into that world of unspoken details that most people would not have the courage to speak of much less put down on paper. Her willingness to be vulnerable in order to tell her story allowed me to join her on her journey and when I closed my book, all I could think was that I can't wait for her next one to come out.

5 comments about Leap of Faith: An Astronaut's Journey into the Unknown.

1. Very good book as long as it deals with the space program, full of anecdotes. I learned a lot. (I have almost 150 books about the American Space Program). If you believe in UFO's then you will love all the book, if you don't you may be disappointed by some of Gordon Cooper's allegations.



2. This work has produced a rather hefty array of responses from Amazon readers, many of whom are stridently opposed to Cooper's career-long pursuit of the secrets of UFO's and other mysterious new technologies, and others who see in the Mercury astronaut a hero of what now appears to be a cause losing steam. Our focus here is on the book, however. For as several reviewers have correctly observed, this is a tale of two Gordo's, one battling the unknowns of space, and the other battling the knowns of the NASA/military industrial complex.
   
   Unfortunately, neither tale is particularly compelling. The account of the astronaut's career, coming as it did in 2000, was the tail of the dog in a string of early astronaut autobiographies as the pioneers rushed to beat the Grim Reaper with their version of events. As to the second, Cooper's extensive research and observations about UFO's are not as deliciously crazy as some would like us to believe, either. In fact, some of his conjectures about alien propulsion systems and the like are rather fascinating to the layman.
   
   While Cooper has been a busy man since leaving NASA thirty-something years ago, it would seem that something he neglected to do is read what others around the space program were writing in those three decades, and specifically what they were writing about him. One Amazon reader in this sequence of reviews reports to having collected 150 such volumes himself. The general consensus of post-Apollo writers seems to be that Cooper's years with NASA are somewhat enigmatic. One of the original seven Mercury astronauts, he was the last one to fly, a statement of sorts about how the NASA hierarchy regarded him. [Oddly, NASA's "the best shall be first" policy in Mercury resulted in Cooper's complex and spectacularly successful Faith 7 two-day marathon, the last flight in the Mercury series.]
   
   Cooper and Pete Conrad would fly the Gemini 5 mission in the summer of 1965 to test fuel cells, endurance and, as the author observes wryly, defecation technique. But after Gemini 5, Cooper becomes an invisible man. He was designated to the back-up crews of three future flights, the last of which, Apollo 13, he turned down as a political slight.
   
   So why did the hero of Faith 7 fall out of favor in succeeding years? This is the question most readers today would probably bring to the book. The author himself never does soul-searching about his own role in why his space career stalled. Instead he boils his dilemma down to two words: Al Shepard. Cooper believes that Shepard, embittered by his health problems and eager to get back into rotation, used his influence with Deke Slayton, then assigning crews, to keep the Mercury hero under the radar. Cooper's distrust of Shepard appears to date back to his Faith 7 days in 1963 when he asked Wally Schirra to privately tail Shepard, then Cooper's back-up, during pre-flight training.
   
   Cooper cites the Shepard/Slayton cabal as symptomatic of the increasing bureaucracy of NASA, the military, and the federal government. He notes, for example, his complaint in a conversation with President Lyndon Johnson that his photography from Gemini 5 had been seized and classified. Johnson coolly informed him that he, the president, had given the order. It is important for the reader to observe keenly Cooper's misadventures with government entities, for they are of one weave with his later criticisms of government cover-up in the reporting of UFO sightings and general hostility toward individuals like himself at the outer margins of technology, from this world or another.
   
   If Cooper feels that he was blackballed by Shepard and Slayton, what can we say of astronauts Jim Lovell, Frank Borman, Gene Cernan, and Pete Conrad, to name several whose careers thrived under the Slaton-Shepard regime? Lovell, in fact, flew four space missions [two Gemini, two Apollo] after Cooper's Gemini 5, and he is living proof that the "evil duo" was not completely adverse to the emergence of "stars" in the astronaut corps.
   
   No, the answer to Cooper's dilemma is more personal, and probably reflects nagging doubts in NASA about Cooper's manageability and application to the growing complexity of the space business. In this Cooper was hardly alone. Nearly all of the original Mercury Seven had difficulty adjusting to a bigger astronaut corps, greater bureaucracy, public relations, politics, and the general idea of "teamwork." It is no accident that Schirra and Shepard, the two Mercury veterans to fly Apollo, each chose all rookie teams. [Walt Cunningham of Apollo 7 would refer to Schirra as "the cock of the walk."] Schirra himself found the new NASA so discomfiting that he passed on a sure moon landing assignment and retired.
   
   Because Cooper does not really address his own career difficulties with insight, the charges of some historians that Cooper did not train or apply himself sufficiently will still be left to hang out there in the foreseeable future. This is regrettable, because Cooper, like his colleague Scotty Carpenter, was one of the true multidimensional human beings of the early space program. And I give him a great deal of credit for his respect of John Glenn and others for whom timing and luck made them national heroes.
   
   Given Cooper's colorful space career, his subsequent employment by Disney, among others, comes as little surprise. The intrepid pilot of Faith 7 became--how can I put it?--a magnet for scientific entrepreneurs, some of remarkable brilliance, some eccentrics, and some undecipherable. Cooper apparently never lost touch with his astronaut friends, but he certainly picked up new ones along the way, including the mysterious clairvoyant and purveyor of character Valerie Ransone who seems to have preoccupied his personal and scientific attentions for a period in the 1980's. Perhaps if he had met Valerie in 1965, it would be Gordon Cooper making that giant leap for mankind.



3. I too was first confused by Coopers reference to the Saturn VIII. After reading other books about Chris Kraft and Werner Von Braun, it dawned on me that he was referring to the Nova rocket that was on the drawing boards in the early sixties by Werner Von Braun. See the Wikipedea for more information. The Nova rocket was conceptualized before the powers that be decided on the LOR (Lunar Orbit Rendevous). Everybody, including Von Braun thought the best approach was the direct ascent, which was to land a rocket vertically and blast off from the moon and return home. The other option explored was (EOR) or Earth Orbit and Rendevous, where the componets for direct ascent were to be launched individually and assembled in earth orbit, then on to the moon. The winner, LOR, was scoffed, but through perseverance, it won out as the quickest way to get to the moon with the lightest payload. Therefore, the Nova (Coopers Saturn VIII) was never needed.
   
   I'll admit this threw me for a while too. It was worded as if it existed. It never existed beyond the conceptual level. Wikipedia has a picture showing it having a 50' diameter first stage and 8 engines while the Saturn V had a 33' diameter first stage and 5 engines. The height would have been just 10' taller than the Saturn V. It would have been a beast at lift off.
   
   I thought the UFO reference's a little far fetched, and I've read that the confication of film after the gemini lauch was improbable. Cooper says the film was developed right there on the recovery ship and I've heard this was never the procedure. Maybe he's right and their is a conspiracy after all!



4. Over the past few years I have rediscovered my fascination with the 1960s space race by reading several books by or about people connected with NASA back in those glory days. After reading "Leap of Faith" I have now read biographies of all the Mercury Seven astronauts. The good news is that Gordon Cooper's book is easily one of the most interesting. The bad news is that I don't exactly mean that as a compliment.
   
   For about two thirds of this book Cooper recounts his days with NASA and here he is, pardon the expression, on solid ground. The passages feel a bit rushed and his interpretation of events differ from other viewpoints you may have read, but he's Gordon Cooper and he's earned the right to have his say.
   
   Unfortunately, the NASA days are only part of Cooper's life story and it's the remaining one third of the book where he drives himself into the ditch. I knew from other sources that Cooper firmly believes flying saucers have visited the Earth and our government has conspired to keep the truth from us. I don't believe this myself, but again, he's Gordon Cooper and he has earned my respect. I was willing to listen to what he had to say.
   
   A few UFO stories would have been fine, but Cooper shoots himself in the foot and destroys whatever credibility he had when he recounts his relationship with Valerie Ransone who he met in the late 70s. Ransone claimed to receive telepathic messages from space aliens and wanted to use the knowledge she was gaining to start something called the Advanced Technology Group. Of course, this group needed some funding to get itself going.
   
   Rarely, if ever, have I read a book before where something becomes painfully obvious to the reader but of which the author remains blissfully unaware. Ransone begins to use Cooper for his name and prestige to obtain money for what is nothing more than a huge scam. Cooper never seems to catch on. His viewpoint always seems to be "It might be true, therefore it is true."
   
   The lowest point in this silliness comes when Ransone announces that the aliens are coming to Earth to give Cooper a ride in one of their saucers. Cooper, as gullible as can be, prepares for his expectant UFO flight just as he had for any of his NASA missions. It comes as absolutely no surprise, to anyone but Cooper I guess, when shortly before the flight the aliens are forced to cancel. Apparently there was a political squabble over this proposed flight back on the homeworld. Darn the luck.
   
   One is left to wonder if Cooper really believed all this nonsense or if he was just including it as a way to make his book stand out and sell a few more copies. Either way, it's a pretty poor way for a true American hero to act.



5. This isn't a review because I haven't read the book yet, but I want to say that I saw Gordon Cooper on a talk show in the 1970s or early 1980s, describing how he and other test pilots chased the lights emitted by these spacecraft and that it was common knowledge by NASA that these things existed. As he seemed to be a very intelligent, forthright and plain speaking person, I believed him. I just can't imagine why it took him so long to write a book. Did NASA keep him from talking?

1 comments about Kennedys: Stories of Life and Death from an American Family.

1. Clint Willis has launched the Adrenaline Lives series with a strong first volume. The 21 selections are drawn from a wide variety of sources often not focusing on the Kennedys themsleves as much as other people's opinions of and reactions to the Kennedys. The book covers the whole family, with the bulk split between John, Bobby and Teddy. Mr. Willis has again avoided the trap of taking easy pickings - there are no PT 109 excerpts here, nor any rehash of the Bay of Pigs or Cuban Missile Crisis. The selections here are throughtful perspectives on on the people, their lives, and the culture that surrounded them. What I liked best about the book is that it is not biography, per se - you can't use this book for a research paper, but rather it is a collection of snapshots by people who know, knew and are associated with the Kennedys, and the insights you'll take from this book are likely not to be ones you're used to seeing unless you are a Kennedy scholar. I would have liked to have seen selections on Joe and young John, but there are none, and I see that as the only shortcoming.