5 comments about The Growing Seasons: An American Boyhood Before the War.

1. This is a prequel to the author's great war memoir, Flights of Passage, which I read with much appreciation 23 May 2001. If you have not read that book, by all means read this one first, then read it. This book is an account of a not extraordinary boyhood, but it is told in a poignant, if a bit mocking, way. When I finished it, I found myself much impressed by the way he told the story. It maybe helped that Hynes is only a few years older than I am, and that his account of a single summer doing farm work in Minnesota was filled with things I remember from my youth on an Iowa farm. It was another world and a time now irretrievably past, and I think this is an elegantly told growing up story I enjoyed as much as I did Russell Baker's memorable classic (Growing Up, read 11 Apr 1986) and Jimmy Carter's An Hour Before Daylight (read 11 Mar 2001).



2. One of the keys to this charming book is how many BAD things Sam and his friends do, that prove to be so interesting to read about! His style is understated, self-effacing. Flat, almost, but in a good way, all the cards on the table. I spent four years in Iowa and at the time someone told me that the adjective for Midwesterners wasn't "innocent" or anything like that, but "uncomplicated." You're used to seeing everything around you, all the way to the horizon. So maybe you lack a layer of artifice.

   I'll illustrate. His mother dies when Sam is a young boy, and his father (a stern but wonderfully forgiving fellow) remarries. Sam never figures out what to call his stepmother, so he avoids the issue completely. Permanently! This is remarkable. My wife had the same problem vis-à-vis my parents. It was kind of comical and kind of embarrassing on all fronts, but she figured it out a few days into our first extended visit with them. Sam never manages, yet seems to think nothing of it. Apart from remarking on the fact, he just goes on with things. Some readers may find this lack of navel-gazing a flaw, but I kind of liked it. It's more neutral, one might say scientific, and draws you in to the story. You can interpret things for yourself. He may answer that question of mine in his other books, or he may not, but with his winning style I know it will be fine reading right through it and around it.

   Another example comes near the end, pages 241-242, springtime of Sam's senior year in high school, World War Two looming, when he ponders the nature of women, and convertible automobiles, and describes how a guy a year or two older reveals to him and his friends an important secret about women, and sex. I read this long passage to my wife, and Hynes's wonderful deadpan style had us convulsing in laughter.

   Hynes is my parents' generation (and J.D. Salinger's), so I read it through that prism. My father and I grew up in suburban New York, my mother in El Paso (but I think maybe this is a guys' book), whereas Hynes is from Minneapolis (with a memorable summer on a farm). But it all connects. The eternal summertime of youth.




3. The now storied "Greatest Generation" did not come full-blown into glory. It evolved from childhood, and Samuel Hynes' gentle, understated and illuminating memoir, "The Growing Seasons," assists in our understanding of how the generation that fought and won World War II came to be. Fiercely independent, perpetually inquisitive and unabashedly self-conscious, Samuel Hynes comes of age in America's heartland during the Great Depression. His story, crafted with gentle humor and exquisite detail, gains transcendence and slowly emerges as a representation of millions of youngsters grappling with the age-old obligation of developing an identity, but doing so in an era of frayed innocence and material dispossession.

   Loss and impermanence permeate Hynes' childhood. His father stoically accepts the death of his wife, unemployment as a result of a contracting economy and his own inability to serve the nation he so deeply loves. This unspoken patriotism and sense of place nurture the young Hynes, who never overcomes the gaping wound of losing his mother to a premature death. Motherloss uproots the Hynes' family; the father swallows prejudice and remarries a Catholic and Samuel begins the process of healing and carrying on with life.

   While his father settles into his second family, Hynes spends a summer on a farm. The city boy discovers new cadences to life, a different pattern to work. Most importantly, Samuel gains a sense of his own past. "For one season I had been one, like my father...and all those other country people in our family." With solemn pride, Hynes announces, "I had been my ancestors." With this knowledge of self, Hynes is better able to comprehend the modernizing influences besetting his altered family in Minneapolis during the 1930s.

   There, he observes his father's deep ambivalence over labor violence. A Shell oil salesman, the father is a rock-ribbed Republican who extols the virtue of independence and responsibility. Yet, the father "despised the upper-class ways" of the elite. Samuel watches his father's despair increase. "Whoever won this war, something he believed in would lose. It was sad, losing like that, and I felt his sadness."

   Tempering Samuel's growing awareness of the world is his evolving relationship with his step-mother. Hynes respects, admires and even likes her -- her purposeful energy, her zeal for order, her enthusiasm for life and work -- but never loves her. Even his thirteen-year-old autobiography excludes mention of her, and when his father coerces Samuel to include her, Samuel does so with a "chilled heart." Frugal and despeate to keep her family afloat, his step-mother sells a forgotten but cherished model train set. Awash in the economic misery of the Great Depression, where even wanting something unneeded is considered unworthy, the sale reminds the still-growing Samuel of the transitory nature of life, that "anything could be taken."

   Yet, "The Growing Seasons" is far from grim. Warmth abounds in the memoir, ranging from an excused absence from school due to a housekeeper's inability to close her mouth to the supreme satisfaction to Hynes' deep satisfaction at being able to finally don long pants to school instead of the dreaded knickers. The evolution to adulthood, the absoption of what it means to be a man, the quiet knowledge of the necessity of standing alone -- these benchmarks of maturation -- bespeak a person truly in touch with his own personality and his own potential.

   As Hynes becomes a man, with his attendant alienation from public school and his fascination with sex, he carries with him the formative experiences of childhood. Chafing at his relative youth, longing to experience the formative fires of war, Hynes' restlessness symbolizes an American energy, a robust transformative power that rings true in this instructive and engaging memoir.




4. First of all, this is a very enjoyable book. I wanted to read this because my Father grew up in the Midwest during this time frame in a similar city. While he did grow up under very different financial circumstances, I was interested in exploring the every day experiences that a young boy would live through.
   The book is excellently written and vividly tracks a boys life in a world few can ever understand if you did not live during the Depression Era of the '30's. This being said, the book left me with many questions.
   
   His brother Chuck is hardly mentioned at all. Why? Dr. Hynes does not really go into how well, or badly he did at school. That would have been interesting. What happend to the boy that ran the girl over with his car. His friends were not the kind of kids I would want my children hanging around with. It is amazing he did not do some time in reform school. I also would have liked to have known at the end, what happened to his Father and Stepmother as well as his Stepsisters.
   
   Anyway, it was fun to read and I surely learned more about this time than I ever did in History classes.
   
   I hope that you will enjoy it.



5. I was hooked from line one of this book. Hynes' simple and direct style of writing quickly whisks you back 70-plus years and tells you -shows you - how it was. And it wasn't easy for Sam Hynes either, orphaned at an early age and moving from place to place, being farmed out and coping with a step-mother. But in spite of all this, you also get a sense of the fun of being a boy in the midwest during the depression. Kids don't always know when they're poor; they're too busy learning and experiencing things and trying to get the most out of every day. The sequel to The Growing Seasons is equally good: Flights of Passage. I wish Sam would continue his personal story and tell us what happened after he came home from the war. I do know from talking with him that he was back in the Marines during Korea. There's gotta be another great story in there somewhere. If you're from the midwest and love good storytelling, read this book. Hell, you don't have to be midwestern. It's just darn good writing. - Tim Bazzett, author of Soldier Boy: At Play in the ASA

4 comments about The Illustrated Life and Times of Wyatt Earp (4th Ed.).

1. The mystique surrounding Wyatt Earp,Doc Holiday, John Ringo, and the other "heros" of the town of Tombstone, Az.is as captivating now as ever before. The previous books about Wyatt ("Wyatt Earp,Frontier Marshall", "Tombstone", "I Married Wyatt Earp" etc.) were usually based on conjecture and subjectivity. The truth is that even though Wyatt Earp is an American idol of epic porportions, known to almost everybody, only small amounts of his life are varified by historical fact. This includes "The Gunfight At The OK Corral" With this book Mr. Bell not only gives you a sense of the times with many extraordinary photos and paintings but also tells us what is known for sure and what may or may not be the truth. He also discusses the movies (and there are a lot) about not only the gunfight and the people involved but also those on which Wyatt may have been a consultant. I have never read anything that left me with such a through understanding of the gunfight and the aftermath.Also, I have not until now ever really understood why Wyatt was famous in the first place. This is a great book to read first before you watch any of the movies or read any the other books. This along with "The Illustrated Life and Times of Doc Holliday" also by Bob Boze Bell form a solid and totally entertaining foundation from which to evaluate, understand, and enjoy the many, many versions available of the "Earp Legend".



2. Bob Boze Bell has created a book that anyone would enjoy. Chock full of factual blurbs in chronological detail, Mr. Bell not only gives the reader a complete overview of the life of this incredible gunfighter, but also his place in the West's historical time-line. A visual feast for the eye as well; the book is loaded with photos and illustrations. The few minor facts I checked were accurate; his first marrriage and her subsequent death, for instance, although he attributes it to childbirth, and that has never been confirmed. All in all, this book is a keeper.



3. I say this book is "unfortunately" the best book on Wyatt Earp because it's really a popular coffee table kind of thing and not a serious work of scholarship but at least it attempts to be objective, gets most of the facts right and is a lot of fun.



4. I just got back from Tombstone, Arizona where they celebrated the 125th Anniversary of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
   On Thursday afternoon, October 26th at about 2:20 p.m., "the walk" was recreated by men dressed as Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan Earp along with a Doc Holliday (there were four sets of them in Tombstone that week), covered by all the local media and hundreds of tourists' cameras from all over the world.
   They marched from Allen Street down Fourth Street and made a left on Fremont to meet in the alley behind the O.K. Corral.
   
   If you read Bob Boze Bell's books on the subject, you'll find out a lot of fascinating facts about the legends and myths of this and other stories of the American West.
   Like Myth Number One: the gunfight at the O.K. Corral didn't happen in the O.K. Corral. As Mr. Bell points out, "'The gunfight in the alley behind the O.K. Corral' just doesn't has the same ring to it."
   
   Chock full of old photographs and Mr. Bell's paintings (Arizonans have known what a great artist he's been for years), these books are great editions to anyone's library of Western history and literature (I can also rave about his books on Doc Holliday and Billy the Kid as well). Facts are presented--whenever possible--and usually with a sense of humor.
   
   Mr. Bell has recently revived "True West" magazine as its Senior Editor and you might have seen his segments between films on the Western Channel. I got a chance to talk to him in Tombstone and thanked him for everything he's done to preserve Western history.
   
   It's a rich and vibrant history and, thanks to these books, one that will endure for decades and centuries to come.

5 comments about The Earp Brothers of Tombstone: The Story of Mrs. Virgil Earp.

1. The author must have had a no-so-hidden agenda to debunk the man and the myth of Wyatt Earp. I have read a number of books on the Earp brothers, especially the Tombstone days. I have also read the transcript or at least what is reported to be the transcript of Judge Spicer's ruling on the murder charges brought against the Earps as a result of THE gunfight. The author in my opinion has badly and intentionally distorted the facts. I threw away my copy of this book.



2. 
   "Aunt Allie" was a dead-honest original, and didn't deserve to have Frank Waters misuse the authority of her name to unload on an unsuspecting public this duplicitous melange of lies about her life, especially that part lived with the Earps.
   
   Allie denounced this book in her own inimitable profane manner. In my possession are the letters of Hildreth Halliwell, Aunt Allie's grand niece, saying only that Allie threatened to "sue" Waters. (She actually threatened to kill him.) As Hildreth went on to say, "I get so mad every time I think of what Frank Waters wrote after spending hours with Aunt Allie I go berserk . . . he published a lot of lies . . . "
   
   I make that clear in my Epilogue to I MARRIED WYATT EARP and did on two other occasions while Waters was still alive, thus giving him an opportunity to sue me for libel if he chose. Naturally he didn't.
   
   Before Frank realized what I knew for sure, I visited him when he was writer-in-residence at Colorado State U. at Ft. Collins, in 1966, ten years before my I MARRIED WYATT EARP was published. I asked him what Aunt Allie had said about his book. He said, "She said it was the truth." I still have extensive notes from that meeting." He naturally said that, but it wasn't true, of course.
   
   This book certainly is a "travesty" as Bruce Trinque comments in an adjoining review, and it is far worse than that. Of course Bruce is referring to Frank Waters' initial title, TOMBSTONE TRAVESTY. Travesty is mild, however, this book is an outrage. It is my opinion that principle requires that it no longer be published.
   
   In sum, Waters' book is garbage, although many passages are pure gold. The book's value is as a source for the more knowledgeable to attempt to separate the gold from the garbage. It certainly is a curiosity. But it isn't a dependable memoir.



3. I find Fred Waters to be like so many other writers who try to make a name for themselves (as well as a buck) by taking cheap shots at and writing tawdry yellow sheet propaganda about an American icons.
   
   These hacks take the easy but foul route when writing so called histories of the famous. It's easy to slander an icon (especially a dead one) by taking an opposite slant on the person's accepted character. (Accepted by those who knew him personally, that is). In this way you not only get attention to yourself (some people are like vultures and want to hear dirt), and it diminishes someone whose height and fame you will never achieve. All the while making a living off the fame of the person you are destroying. Dead icons cannot defend themselves, so it is also an act of cowardice. These people are literary leeches of the worst kind.
   
   Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp has been a life long study of mine (60 years now). I have read just about every book, article and slanderous rag that has his name in it. I find most to be trash, worthy of nothing more than tossing into the garbage heap. Most are not worth the time or effort to read. Fred Waters book is such a book. Fiction is fiction. If a library decides to stock this book they should put it in the fiction section.
   
   Wyatt Earp was a man, a real man, a man's man. He was neither saint nor demon. He was a man of his times when real men were men and they did things they had to do. Things that few men today would have neither the stomach nor the nerve to do. They sometimes made friends along the way and they sometimes made enemies along the way. It is to be expected that the friends would aggrandize Wyatt while his enemies would play him down. However few of them then or now would have had the guts to face him down.
   
   Any student of Wyatt Earp should stick to writers who tell the story as it was told by people who knew the man. One such writer is Glenn G. Boyer. While I have never met this man face to face, his works have been the most trustworthy and envied of all the works about Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp. Mr. Boyer tells the good when Wyatt done good and he tells the bad when Wyatt done bad. One thing for certain Fred Waters would not have had the nerve to let Wyatt read the first draft of his book had Wyatt been alive at the time he wrote it.



4. Reading this tripe, you can see why Virgil Earp's widow, Allie, threatened to shoot Frank Waters on sight. For the enlightenment of the three people who don't know the story, Waters paid court to Allie Earp, pumping her for information. Allie had a bone to pick with Wyatt Earp and Waters ran with it. This collection of distortion and outright lies is the result. Waters no doubt gleaned the balance of his (mis)information from the Tombstone Nugget's pages or, most likely out of his own prejudices. Do bear in mind that the book was written during the height of the revisionist movement in the history of the "old west", and hatchet jobs on the notables of the time were common. The Earps were certainly not a bunch of altar boys, but they were definitely not the murdering pimps Waters makes them out to be. Maybe he was hired by the descendants of the McLowreys, some of whom still hold a grudge.
   This book would make good fire starter.
   
   Dennis Hanisch



5. I liked the fact of the amount of history in the book. The way the writer describes some of the scenery, it feels like you are there. Allie did not like Wyatt....she was a little snip. I would have like to have known what happened to Morg's wife and some of the others. And somethings she would not tell..... Overall I found it very interesting.

5 comments about We Are Lincoln Men : Abraham Lincoln and His Friends.

1. Luckily, I was able to find the Large Print edition at the public library. Written in the modern history style, forming opinions instead of using factual information, he even changes his mind from his earlier writings, LINCOLN'S HERNDON (his law partner), saying he has grown "skeptical" about what he had passed on as facts. Feelings don't matter in factual history.
   
   He intimates that Abraham Lincolnn had "questionable" relationships with Joshua Speed with whom he boarded and shared a room and Ann Rutledge, though Lincoln seemed to have avoided becoming involved with women. He quotes Stephen Ambrose whose opinion was that presidents need a confidant "who can be trusted absolutely never to divulge a secret."
   
   These six spotlighted as "intimate friends" to Lincoln all divulged the letters and confidences they were trusted to keep secure! They profited from the assassination by writing books. His personal secretaries, the two Johns: Hay and Nicolay were no exceptions.
   
   For a private, "close-mouthed," self-educated, diversive president, he had no real friends as a youth, nor as President. He enjoyed his sons, playing on the White House lawn with goats and other farm animals. You can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy. Did Mark Twain say that?
   
   Since his orations were considered on a par with Shakespeare, I am wondering if they had speech writers for the presidents back in the 1800s. Are those really his words and beliefs? Did JFK really come up with the "Ask not what your country can do for you" or was that also phrased by some speechwriter? Lincoln was a good actor, sought public influence with his Civil War addresses.
   
   Mr. Donald has won two Pulitzer prizes for his earlier books about Lincoln and many concerning aspects of the Civil War. But I would not call him an expert like Geoffrey C. Ward or William Davis. He is a good researcher.



2. David Herbert Donald has produced an interesting portrait of Abraham Lincoln through the eyes of those who can claim to have known him best. By taking a "friend's eye" view of our sixteenth President, Donald peels back some of the mystery surrounding this very private and guarded man. Some, but not all. As Donald demonstrates, Lincoln was unusually adept of shielding much of his inner self even from most of his close associates. Whether by insecurity at his humble origins and self-taught manner or, (as I am more prone to think), by the design of a very focused ambition which was early on and constantly navigating his life's journey, Lincoln only let those he knew intimately get so close.
   
   The friends (some early life companions, young adulthood companion Joshua Speed, law partner William Herndon, some-time political ally Orville Browning, rival and then acolyte Secretary of State William Seward, and private secretaries John Hay and John Nicolay), give portrayal of Lincoln at every stage of his life. Most give testimony to Lincoln's ultimate reserve, but all have insights, shared thoughts and anecdotes that provide a great depth of understanding at what formed the man and to some extent what made him tick.
   
   Although Donald has a minor psychological theme of motherless-children (Lincoln's mother died at an early age; he benefited from a loving step-mother who he gave great credit to), and the nature of friendships running through the book, most of this is good, solid history. I personally thought the psychological stream could have been left out of this book, but it only occasionally intrudes and never surfaces enough to dominate any chapter of Lincoln's life.
   
   It is instructive to view Lincoln through the lens of those who know Lincoln best, particularly those who knew Lincoln before he was great. Donald has added another valuable work on this most significant and interesting of Americans.



3. David's confusion about Lincoln's sexuality is shown by his going back and forth on the question of whether Abe was in love with Anne Rutledge. At present he seems to deny the legend, which he endorsed a few years ago when Douglas Wilson revived it, having previously followed his mentor J. G. Randall in denying it. Talk about Senator Kerry-like flip-flopping. David, to all appearance a Kinsey "O," is obviously even more at sea about homosexuality. He quoted the obnoxious remark made by Charles B. Strozier (a type who would have fascinated Cesare Lombroso) that a homosexual (or bisexual, in the case of Lincoln) couldn't have led the war or even gone into politics. Have they forgotten Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar? Did they never hear about their bisexuality? But Donald did for a time acknowledge a homoerotic bond between Abe and Joshua; though he has made the outrageous claim to me that no single American president ever had sex with another male.
   When I put C.A. Tripp in contact with David Donald, whom I described to Tripp as the leading Lincoln scholar, I warned him that however much he might learn from David, he could not even hope that David would accept the thesis that Abe had homosexual experiences, and I predicted that David would write a preemptive strike. It duly appeared: We Are Lincoln Men: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends.
   John Lauritsen, an aesthete of unrivaled sensitivity, tells me that in We Are Lincoln Men David writes on two levels: one for the public ("the great unwashed"), who couldn't bear to learn that some presidents were gay; and on another for the initiates, when he describes the banter between Abe and his hardened male secretaries, which borders on camp. At any rate, David certainly notes the electric homoeroticism.



4. Donald's book "Lincoln" is incredible. So maybe I was unfairly expecting too much.
   
   But I didn't learn much from this book. He makes the point that Lincoln did not have any very close friends and therefore there was no one that could truly speak of what Lincoln was thinking.
   
   Much of this book discusses the relationship Lincoln had with each of the people involved. And it then talks some (not a lot) about that those people wrote or said.
   
   But to me, Lincoln did not come out of what was said. I didn't find myself seeing anything new.
   
   Get his book "Lincoln" instead.



5. This was an interesting book. Every historian has a favorite story about one of the greatest American presidents-Abraham Lincoln. He talked plain, told funny stories, and acted like a relative of the family. However, Lincoln had few friends in his life. You can actually count the number on a pair of hands. The reason was Lincoln's upbringing in very isolated areas of Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. The death of his mother at an early age also stunted his development. Except for two individuals (Speed and Herndon), Lincoln had few long term friends.
   
   Professor Donald goes into all the close friends Lincoln had. He examines the relationship with Speed, and lays the fact that Lincoln had a really close relationship with Speed.
   He also examines his relationship with Browning, Herndon, Seward, his two presidential aides, and a bodyguard. Many others may have known Lincoln, but few knew him in a personal way. Lincoln was a very lonely man with plenty of burdens on him. It is a wonder he managed to guide the country through the Civil War without many personal relationships.
   
   Donald examines all of Lincoln's close personal relationships. He disputes the present accusations that Lincoln was gay with good historical facts. This is a good read for those interested in the Civil War.

2 comments about James G. Blaine: Architect of Empire (Biographies in American Foreign Policy).

1. This wonderful study opens a new window on Mr. Blaine and his contributions tot he development of America. Many have looked towards TR as the 'imperial president' but this fine study shows that in fact the ideas and the machinery of 'empire' and expansion beyond the continent were being drawn up long before, in the late 1800s. Blaine used his influence on the navy and to encourage the movement into such spheres as the 'guano' islands, finally America was beggining to actually enfore the Monroe Doctrin, which had been enacted more then 50 years before.

   This is an excellent study of America and one of its great 'forgotten' politicians, someone who everyone knew about in the 1800s but who many forgot by the 1920s. Exploring the picotal role of this man, this is a must read for any student of american history or anyone interested in Americas place in the world.

   Seth J. Frantzman




2. I am related to James G. Blaine and have read most books about him and his times. This was the best to date. Wallace Blaine Murray

3 comments about Once There Was a Farm: A Country Childhood Remembered (Virginia Bookshelf).

1. A beautfiul, poignant memoir of growing up in a less-than-perfect family (who didn't? But how many of us will admit it?) in a now vanished America (the rural South of the pre-World War II years). Dabney's clear-eyed reflections on her childhood memories will strike a chord with anyone who has looked back at their youth across the experience of years. This is no sweetly sentimental reminiscing; Dabney pulls few punches when relating her parents strengths and their failings, as well as her own sometimes less-than-lovable younger self. The pitfalls and prejudices of life in segregated Virginia are clearly spelled out, also. Yet, this is a poetic, moving book, delighting in the slower pace and rich detail of a life lived close to the soil and the seasons, with much beauty to enrich the spirit of an artistic person like the author. Painful episodes like the difficult marriage and premature death of her beautiful older sister are disclosed with grace and sympathy. As the author herself states, this is a book that truly took a lifetime to write, and every page sings with truth, beauty, and the joy and pain of life!



2. this is simply put, a wonderful honest read. this is one of my all time favorite books. i am currently reading it for the third time in about 8 years. it is a pleasure to read EACH time. i know that this will not be my last time in reading it!



3. Just as the reviewer before me, this is absolutely one of my all time favorite books! I am currently reading it for the 4th time in about 8 years. Each time I read it I find something different that strikes me. It is a beautifully written book, each word carefully chosen for maximum impact. It is a nostalgic read that will make you long for the simpler, but not uncomplicated, times of the past. Buy this book and enjoy it many times throughout the years to come! Mrs. Dabney will become like an old friend...

4 comments about Matthew B. Ridgway: Soldier, Statesman, Scholar, Citizen.

1. First of all I can say that I am a great admirer of Matt Ridgeway. The book is overall exceptional well written but lacks the personal sense that Carlo D'Este put into Patton: Genius for War. It seemed that the author has a title for each chapter then expanded this based on topic. A chronological order to Ridgeway's history would have made the book more substantial.



2. I have to respectfully disagree with the previous reviewer's take on this book. While the book is choppy at times in the way that it is formatted, it is still a very good biography.
   
   The previous reviewer stated that it was disappointing because it did not compare to Carlo D'Este's biography of George Patton ( A Genius for War). However I do not feel that this is a fair comparison. How many military biographies can compare to this classic?
   
   I think that this book should be judged on its merits and in my opinion; the author does a good job of telling the life story of this great American General.
   
   Each chapter is dedicated to a certain section of Ridgeway's life; Korea, Joint Chiefs of Staff, etc and while at times this does make the book seem choppy, it still is a pretty good book if you want to learn about Matthew Ridgeway.
   
   One last note about the book, to his credit the author George C. Mitchell does manage to accomplish something very important when writing a biography. It left me wanting to know more about the subject and read more about Ridgeway's life.
   
   I definitely recommend it if you are looking for a good introduction into Ridgeway's career and life.



3. Through correspondence and telephone calls, Matt Ridgway and I became friends. I attended his 85th birthday party in Pittsburgh, with all of his old General-staff from WWII and Korea. he was still 'flint' at 85. Matt talked Ike out of entering Vietnam (IndoChina) in '54, and convinced JFK that it could not be won. this is a wonderful book about a man who lost his beloved son, Mattie (age 20) and rather emotionally imploded after that. Incidentally, I presented him with 'the book' that saved his life in Korea. It was a paperback, with a 50-caliber shell sticking about 3" out either side. Matt is beside me in the photo and howling. "Penny, I know you want this book that brought Matt home to you." It was title: "Hot Army Nurses". The room went up in laughter. Great man...great book....Marshall called him "the finest soldier who ever wore the uniform'. davegwinn@aol.com



4. Of all the great American military leaders the last century produced, from Black Jack Pershing to the World War Two icons- Dwight D, Eisenhower, Chester Nimitz, George Patton, Omar Bradley, George Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, through Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf, perhaps the greatest of them all, militarily speaking, was General Matthew Bunker Ridgway, the man who took over from MacArthur after Big Mac was dismissed by President Harry S. Truman during the Korean War. It was Ridgway, Commander of the U.S. Eighth Army, who rallied the UN Forces from nearly being pushed into the sea by the North Koreans, Russians, and Chinese, and forced what has been an over half century long stalemate. Because of things as this, General Marshall, in fact, called Ridgway, `the finest soldier I have known.' General called it `the greatest feat of personal leadership in the history of the Army.'
   
   Yet, the book Matthew B. Ridgway: Soldier, Statesman, Scholar, Citizen, rereleased in 2002 by Stackpole Books (231 pages, $15.95), and penned by George C. Mitchell, does little to expand on the essence of the man. His personal life is a virtual cipher, which renders his son's accidental death, years before his own death, a mere fact, with no pathos nor gravitas given to it, for we hardly know the boy, nor his relationship with his father, to care that much over the loss. At best, this book is a straightforward rendering of the four aspects of the man its subtitle claims. While this makes for a good encyclopedia entry, as a book, it makes for rough reading. Especially odd is that this rather dry rendering was written by Dr. George C. Mitchell, a well known journalist, diplomat, and educator who had the advantage of knowing his subject before his death before his July 26, 1993, death at the age of 98. Yet, he never exploits this fact to his reader's benefits, with personal anecdotes nor reminiscences of the great man in his dotage. There is no play with form nor stretching of the medium. Of course, given its subject, the book could not be bad, for even an A to B to C journey through the life of such as man as Matthew B. Ridgway is informative and enlightening. Yet, the book never makes a claim for putting its subject on a par with his contemporaries, as MacArthur nor Patton.... I just hope that a book like this will serve as a spur to a future military historian who feels that Matthew B. Ridgway deserves better and deeper treatment. Often it takes a third or fourth stab at a biography of a historical figure to get the true historical significance of a man. Perhaps someone like a David McCullough, if he ever decides to turn his attention to more recent times, will take a stab at Ridgway before he, too, leaves this earth. The only other book to really even deal with Ridgway in any extended manner was Clay Blair's The Forgotten War: America In Korea, 1950-1953, but that only did so in a few sections about the larger war. Ridgway, of course, won many honors, such as a Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star, a Distinguished Service Medal, a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, and a Medal of Freedom, as well as a Combat Infantryman Badge- rarely given to officers, and he was also decorated by many other nations. Would that these words held the same regard for him and the time reading this book would be a good way to be entertained while learning. As it is, even a stroll through the factual online mess that is Wikipedia can satisfy the casual fact hunter as well as this book can. It will also save your fingers the burden of turning pages, although it may not ease you into sleep as well. Such tradeoffs are what military men endure in life, and what some leave after their deaths.

2 comments about The Real Billy the Kid: With New Light on the Lincoln County War (Recovering the Us Hispanic Literary Heritage).

1. Many books have been written about Billy the Kid and his exploits in New Mexico's Lincoln County War. Virtually all of these books, however, have relied on the same basic source of information, that being Pat Garrett's "The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid." Garrett, of course, was the man who killed Billy, and his book was written in part to justify the manner in which he had dispatched the Kid. Sadly, although based partly on the facts as Garrett understood them, his book reads more like a "penny dreadful," than a true biography, casting serious doubts on his book and those which followed.
   
   Fortunately for today's readers, Miguel Otero's book, "The Real Billy the Kid," doesn't trace its roots back to the Garrett book. Even better, it addresses Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War from an entirely new and unique perspective. Consider the following: 1) Otero actually knew Billy the Kid, although only slightly; 2) Unlike Pat Garrett, Miguel Otero had no axe to grind in writing his biography and, therefore, didn't need to embellish the story; 3) Since most of the people living in New Mexico at the time of the Lincoln County War were Mexicans, as is Otero, this book looks at the events of that war from an entirely unbiased point of view and a particularly unique perspective; and 4) In writing this book, the author interviewed those people, still living, who actually knew or were friends with Billy the Kid and who were living in and around Lincoln County at the time of the "war."
   
   This all led to what would appear to be a factual account with a minimum of fluff; Otero simply tells it like it happened. And here are a few other things which struck me about this book and the way it is written: 1) It puts the characters involved in the "war" in proper perspective and in the setting of their times; 2) It provides personal information about some of the participants in the war which I have never seen before; 3) It went on to explain what became of some of those who survived the war. The only disappointment to me about the book was in the way it ended. The author was discussing his interviews with those who knew the Kid, the questions he asked them and their answers. I kept thinking: "Ask this. Ask that." What valuable sources. I would have liked to have known even more. Bottom line - It's a good book and makes interesting reading.



2. The Real Billy the Kid, by Miguel Antonio Otero
   
   There have been over 800 literary and cinematic representations of "Billy the Kid" that present varying view from murdering desperado to Robin Hood of the Southwest (Walter Noble Burns). Otero's book is the first from an Hispanic viewpoint (he was Territorial Governor 1892-1906). Otero personally met William Henry Bonney Jr. Most of the fictional representations used Billy as a means to their ends of telling a story. [Most Westerns were written by Easterners to provide entertainment that is more modern than the Song of Roland.] Otero's book contrasts from the Pat Garrett narrative, and is little known. The 'Introduction' displays Rivera's erudition, but "romance" or "tragedy" is best left to the reader.
   
   The Lincoln County War was caused by the commercial rivalry between the Dolan-Murphy faction (allied to the Sante Fe Ring) and the McSween-Tunstall faction. Otero had his reasons for this book, originally published in 1936 (p.xxxv). So to did Garrett and Upson (p.xxxvii). The 'Foreword' uses an unnamed source to claim that "Billy the Kid had no gun". That is unbelievable! Billy was an escaped convict condemned to hang; he would never be without a gun handy, night or day, since his life depended on a gun. Pat Garrett presented Otero with an autographed copy of his book (p.5).
   
   Chapter I tells of Billy's early years. He was often a nice boy, but had a terrible temper and was dangerous when angry. The stories of Billy's early life show his willingness to kill. Billy was also a "first-class gambler" (p.13). Billy gained from other's winnings (p.14). Chapter II tells of his fights with the Apaches. It was the Lincoln County War of 1878 that made Billy's reputation (Chapter III). The Murphy-Dolan company sold cattle to the government, some of it alleged to have come from John Chisum's big ranch (pp.28-29). Otero was a business ally of the Tunstall-McSween Company. One fraudulent scheme involved cattle (pp.31-32). Success went to the faction that was close to the politicians (p.45). Chapters V and VI tell of Billy's criminal activities.
   
   Chapter VII tells of Pat Garrett's ambush of Billy and his gang at Fort Sumner in December 1880. Billy escaped with most of his gang. Chapter VIII has the statements from those who knew Billy and like him. Mrs. Susan Barber, the widow of Alexander McSween, told what happened to her attorney (p.93). Chapter IX has stories from Lincoln, like Hijinio Salazar who survived the attack on the McSween home. Garrett shot people when they were disadvantaged (p.98). George Coe told of his memories, and Frank Coe too (Chapter X). Testimony about Billy's death is in Chapter XI. Martin Chavez tells his memories of Billy and the Lincoln County War (Chapter XII). Billy was one of the kindest ... he was not blood-thirsty (p.126). Billy "never killed a native citizen of New Mexico" (p.129). Otero tells when he met The Kid (Chapter XIII). Garrett and his deputies captured The Kid and his gang, and brought them to the railroad station at Las Vegas. Otero was on the train to Santa Fe and found Billy likable (p.133). Chapter XIV concludes this history by quoting Pat Garrett's story. Chapter XV provides a postscript about the principals of the Lincoln County War. As Governor Otero banned John A. Riley form Santa Fe. [This book provides another view into a minor event that was greatly magnified by writers to provide entertainment and a distraction to the reading public.]

4 comments about Charleston Blacksmith: The Work of Philip Simmons.

1. a stirring and engaging account of a man whose life spans almost the whole century, who grew up in a fascinating environment, regularly crossing between worlds while he served an apprenticeship, and went on to cross between other worlds, a folk artist who is regarded by the art world as a peerless sculptor, whose work is exhibited in museums. THis is a great study by a preeminent folklorist that will interest anyone.



2. I am sorry, but I never read the book, but I purchased it as a gift for friend. However I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Simmons on a tour of Charleston, South Carolina in 1998. He is an incredibly lively person who is full of humor and has countless stories to share. I remember one in particular, when he spoke of his years as a boy when there were only horse & carriages for transportation. Then he said the age of the automobile came to be and folks would stop whatever they were doing to watch in awe as the automobile went by. Then he chuckled quietly as he descibed the same behavior today when a horse & carriage goes clamoring through town. There are no words to describe the artistic craftmanship of Mr. Simmons iron works, you simply have to see for yourself. As for Mr. Simmons, he is a proud yet humble man about his craft, his works and his life, you should meet him for yourself.



3. After visiting Charleston and meeting this wonderful, talented gentleman, I bought the book to learn more about him. It is well written and describes beautifully the wrought iron gates that he designed and built in this lovely city. If you've seen any of his work either in Charleston or the Smithsonian Museum, this book will add to your knowledge of this very talented African American, now 95 years old.



4. John Vlach gives us an interesting biographical study of Philip Simmons' blacksmithing in this richly illustrated book. The book begins with Simmons' accounts of his early life in the Sea Islands off Charleston's coast. He then describes how Simmons' life changed when he discovered the love of his life: blacksmithing. Vlach and Simmons provide enough context to show how he began learning the art. The book then gives us a portfolio of Simmons' work, with a special focus on the elaborate gates that epitomize much of his artistry. These photos were selected by Simmons, and Vlach provides fine commentary on each illustration. This commentary gives readers a better understanding of blacksmithing, and it trains the eye to examine this type of ironwork, thereby enhancing one's appreciation for Simmons' skill. One of my favorite chapters is a vibrant presentation of Simmons' work with apprentices. He describes interactions between Simmons and Willie Williams to provide a vivid depiction of the folklife of a blacksmith shop. This chapter reveals the passion that both artists feel for their work. The book's final chapters show how Simmons has been honored for his work, and they provide a fine tribute to his many accomplishments and his inspiring artistic vision.

1 comments about Libby: The Alaskan Diaries and Letters of Libby Beaman, 1879-1880.

1. What a wonderful book! Libby Beaman accompanied her husband to the Pribilof Islands (1879-1880). One hundred years later, her granddaughter gathered her journal, sketchbook and letters together to form this book of Beaman's experiences in that remote outpost. At the worst, they spent seven weeks snowbound by severe storms with limited food and 40 below zero temperatures outside. At times they had to stay in bed all day trying to keep warm. Starvation threatened their lives and she almost died from that and from scurvy.
   Libby's accounts of daily life, of the fur trade, people and conversations and of nature form a remarkable picture of a long-ago life.