No comments about The Dragon of Krakow and Other Polish Stories.

No comments about Manhunt; 12 Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer.

No comments about Walking with Beatrix Potter.

1 comments about Flower Gardens.

1. I have an extensive library of gardening and landscaping books and this wonderful book is one of the best for how to incorporate flowering plants effectively into your garden whether it be natural or formal. The carefully chosen photographs illustrate points in the text and show garden situations achievable by the average gardener. The A to Z guide of selected plants for the flower garden review more than seven hundred plants, many not often contained in such complilations or in such usable detail, but all are obtainable with an little search. It is a shame Flower Gardens is no longer in print, but Amazon was able to locate a pristine copy for me within two weeks.

1 comments about Duchess of Devonshire's Chatsworth Cookbook.

1. This is quite a different cookbook, and quite nice. The Duchess early on admits that she hasn't cooked in 50 or so years, but her interest in recipes, or receipts as she calls them, is huge. Lets face it too, with an interest in the raising of livestock, vegetables and especially poultry, it is really a follow on interest in how it is prepared.
   
   Luckily for us she uses the receipts which friends, family, chefs and other people have given her, tried and true, tested in the kitchens at Chatsworth and made to their own taste. They are credited at the end for where the recipe came from, and who cooked it.
   
   These are often french based, but you can see the clear influence of English cookery here - the Hartington Quiche for instance is a rich creamy concoction and includes Stilton cheese.
   
   Each chapter is on a different thing (puddings, eggs etc) and each is started with a short discussion which is more memoir than anything. When you have the wealth of history that you do at a place like Chatsworth there are plenty of old memu and kitchen items to write about. The Duchess intersperses these with her own memories of food - for instance only eating Bread Sauce for many years in her childhood - and being allowed to.
   
   It is a nice little cookbook - not brilliant, but nice. Most of these recipes I would think can be found just about anywhere else - or in a similar format. However what lifts it out of teh ordinary is the memoirs and background. They are quite sweet and another small insight into the fascinating Mitford Family of whom The Duchess was the youngest and now only surviving member.

3 comments about Ghosts of the Civil War (Harness' Ghost).

1. I read "Ghosts of the Civil War" as I am working my way through Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals," so the idea of being able to go back in time, as it were, to talk to these people when they were alive is appealing to me. Of course, I have been thinking of what could have been said to Abraham Lincoln, George B. McClellan, or anybody else who appears in these books that could have shortened the war and saved hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides. However, in her fascinating book, writer-artist Cheryl Harness sends her young surrogate Lindsey back to the past in the company of Willie Lincoln to find about what the Civil War was really about.
   
   The idea is that Lindsey has been dragged by her parents to a Civil War re-enactment (I have been to couple of those in Illinois and at one of them Abraham Lincoln showed up). Lindsey thinks the whole thing is dumb, that there is nothing civilized about a rotten war, and has no idea why the North fought the South. But then she sees a sad little boy who seems lost. He explains that he was just wondering why future folks were playing out the War of the Rebellion. When Lindsey wonders why people in the United States could be so dumb as to war against each other, the boy explains it was because the states where not united at all, and proceeds to show her. The next thing she knows, Lindsey is watching a beardless Abraham Lincoln giving his "House Divided" speech at the state capitol in Springfield, Illinois on June 16, 1858. Harness provides a two-page spread that show the entire country divided into free states, slave states, and U.S. territories. Off to the side a list of key dates on the road to the Civil War are laid out, while Willie explains to Lindsey how the national was like two different countries, with factories in the North and farms in the South, a distinction emphasized by how Harness illustrates what is happening in each state.
   
   This sets up the basic approach of the book. Each two-spread spread shows a particular scene, from the Lincoln-Douglas debates and the First Battle of Manassas to Pickett's Charge and the Gettysburg Address. The people shown in the pictures make interesting comments (e.g., the old woman at Lincoln's inauguration who saw George Washington sworn-in 72 years earlier at New York and thinks it would break the first president's heart to see his nation breaking apart), while Willie explains key points and Lindsey responses to what she sees and hears. I was wondering why Harness picked Willie to be the guide rather than Tad, seeing as how the former died in 1862 and the latter did not die until 1871. But there is a point where Lindsey knows what is going to happen next and Willie warns her that things cannot be changed no matter how much they might want, and the conceit does off a chance for father and son to be reunited in the afterlife (it might be a bit much, but I can appreciate the sentiment).
   
   The key thing is that at the end Lindsey is able to tell her dad that the Civil War was about a whole lot more than cannons and flags and stuff. The back of the book provides a look at some of the key figures both North and South, paying attention to not only presidents and generals, like Jefferson Davis and Ulysses S. Grant, but also key figures in the slavery issue, such as Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, and some notable women who were battlefield nurses, spies, and tragic figures. This provides a nice cross section of people with less then half of them being military figures. A two-page map shows the major campaigns and battlefield sets, while another page is devoted to the flags of the two sides, a chart explaining how the soldiers were organized, and some of the key firsts that made the Civil War the First Modern War. Finally, there is a Glossary of key terms from "Abolitionist" to "Zouave," and a short Bibliography and list of Recommended Reading surrounded by a Look Around the World in the Time of the Civil War.
   
   Ultimately, I am not sure that "Ghosts of the Civil War" works as an introductory book for young readers, and that they really need to know a little something about the subject to get the most out of this interesting volume. Harness' goal is to make the people of the Civil War seem a bit more like real people, and to do this by filling the pages completely with artwork and information. If you start from scratch this onslaught of information and images could be a bit much, but once a young student understand the basics of the Civil War this book will expand their knowledge and be a lot more fun to read than a history textbook. Harness has written similar volumes, "Ghosts of the 20th Century" and "Ghosts of the White House," that take the same approach in presenting a wealth of information to her young readers.



2. This picture book for upper elementary has fascinating detailed pictures and printing. The book has a current narrative, which takes the reader into history. The learners may enjoy the fantastic images.



3. My 9yr old loves this book and wants to get another in the series. It has a lot of information in it, but can be difficult to navigate through it as the pages are so busy - both a plus and a minus.
   Great book and we will probably get the Ghosts of the Whitehouse too.

5 comments about Mr. Lincoln Goes to War.

1. Mr. Marvel, the author of over a dozen previous books on much narrower slices of the Civil War, now launches the first of a multi-part series taking a completely fresh look based on primary sources and--most importantly--an ability to think, judge, and raise reasonable questions. Was the war and all its devastation inevitable? Marvel doesn't hold to the historical inevitability school that seems to maintain an iron grip on the minds of so many historians of the great wars. Did Lincoln have options in what became the opening months of sparring? Many historians shudder at the mere raising of such questions, but without understanding options it is difficult to judge decisions. The book helps us make sense of the events which did take place by looking at decisions made on both sides of the emerging conflict as actual decisions based on partial and often very mistaken information. Marvel's use of primary data to raise questions about the degree to which the Union relied on economic incentives is also fascinating in giving us a more realistic view of what drove men to volunteer when they did. It's not clear, however, that we have any good standard against which to judge the economic incentive aspect, and one ought not to assume a kind of economic reductionism here, but the question is a fair one and the examples Marvel uses add color and comprehension. Most importantly, Marvel is a bold, colorful writer and the book sparkles with nuggets and surprises. An intelligently provocative read.



2. This author's works on Appomattox and the Andersonville prison are some of my favorite and most recommended books, but this work falls short of those efforts. Knowing Marvel to bring fresh insights to his subjects I was anxious to read this book. I wanted to know "Could the Civil War have been avoided by President Lincoln?" The author says yes, but not in a very convincing manner. The early chapters are interesting, but when the focus of the book becomes the battles of First Manassas, Wilson's Creek, and Ball's Bluff it strays away from the subject. Apparently there just wasn't enough information to support a book length work. This work should have been written as an article in a periodical. A disappointment particularly to one familiar with this author's previous outstanding works. I did find the story of the Union's efforts to protect a largely undefended Washington, D.C. to be good. Read Marvel's other works and you will be rewarded, but pass on Mr. Lincoln.



3. This is a very good book. Taken from a bit of a different perspective then most Civil War books. A very, but no too detailed book to keep it from being a page turner. As in every aspect of history there are always more then on way of looking at things. While a lot of Civil War books are simply rehashes of their brothers then one just has that little difference to make it more interesting. Kept my attention and did not bog me down with a telephone book's worth of names to confuse me.



4. The author uses this study of Lincoln to present a thinly disguised diatribe attacking President Bush and the current war in Iraq. His basic thesis on Lincoln - that Lincoln should have abandoned the core principle underlying his campaign and the principle on which his party was built (i.e., Free Soil - the opposition to the spread of slavery in the territories), or even agreed to a peaceful separation in order to avoid war, is not going to find much acceptance among thoughtful readers. Unfortunately it's all too symptomatic of an attitude widely held among Bush haters - that peace is the highest value of all, that peace and stability can best be obtained by concession to one's enemies, and that nothing is worth fighting for.
   
   Thankfully, that wasn't the attitude of the American founders in 1776, or of Lincoln in 1861 or of Churchill in 1939. The author seems to suggest that we'd have been better off with Neville Chamberlain in the White House in 1861 (and, by implicaton, that we'd be better off with an appeaser in the White House today). Sorry, I'm not buying it.



5. Marvel, as always, gives a fresh, objective look at the history of the Civil War. For those who have read his biography of Burnside and his great book on Lee's Retreat from Petersburg, you know that his research is well done lending a base to fascinating revelations contributing to his opinions of cause and effects. In Lincoln's case, Marvel presents that Lincoln's heavy handedness in Maryland, particularly the suspension of habeas corpus and the blatantly illegal arrest of politicians, was far more abusive then necessary, He argues further than Lincoln's aggressive reinforcement of Ft. Sumter contributed to armed resistance and solidifying the states that became the Confederacy. And further, Marvel argues that Lincoln's call for men from all states to put down the rebellion was reckless, drawing many of the Border States over to the confederacy. Controversial to some degree but the actions did occur and the results were the same as Marvel noted. But that's what makes the book fascinating, Marvel presents well documented facts and you may disagree with his point of view but the evidence is solid and the reader can interpret the outcome as he wishes. Further points of view, that many soldiers, particularly in the union, were suffering economic hardship that helped recruitment significantly and there is well presented evidence of that. Fascinating detail is on Lincoln's arrival in Washington through a potentially revolting Maryland requiring him to secretly board another train, the weakness of the capitol security bolstered by fragile forces, the self appointed General Lyon's rash actions that created southern resistance in Missouri, the clash at Bull Run and great detail about the union fiasco at Ball's Bluff that killed Lincoln's close friend Senator Baker resulting in the ridiculous and politically motivated arrest and incarceration of General Stone. Ball's Bluff lead to the abolitionist led committee on the conduct of the war, which was a very successful but brutal breaking of Union generals with democratic principals. Thus, the history is excellent, the opinions, particularly in the epilogue, are controversial and I do not agree with many of them such as a war being avoided as I think it was inevitable. I also think that the paranoia in Washington, not knowing who was friend or foe, contributed to the temporary crushing of the Constitution; however illegal it was during a national emergency. However, the facts and presentation is well done and there is nothing wrong with a good argument. In addition, Marvel captures his subjects quite well and the description of innocent General Stone's plight is quite sad, while the description of the audacious and irresponsible General Lyon, who Marvel describes as an "insubordinate, self righteous psychopath", seems to fit the man. Read the book and enjoy an intellectual challenge, a good debate gives a healthy outlook and has the potential to break the traditional view.

5 comments about Riding the Rails: Teenagers on the Move During the Great Depression.

1. E.L. Uys should be commended for his efforts on this book. First, he tackles a topic that has not traditionally been looked at--teenagers who, during the Great Depression, decided for one reason or another, to leave their homes and families and illegally travel from city to city in trains. More than give a staight-through narrative as most authors do, he allows the rail riders to tell their own stories. Uys arranges the narratives (a chapter long, usually three in a row), then inserts his own chapter of commentary pointing out similarities and differences in the stories he's researched. What results is something that can be thought of as a book discussion group, where Uys is a participant. Uys simply points out many of the interesting aspects of the stories and sometimes other things he's researched while leaving the powerful first person narritive alone. Through this the reader can see not only the historical context and big picture (usually thanks to Uys), but also the smaller details that many third-person book length narratives might leave out--the long, maddening hours one would experience if he was unfortunate enough to hop on a car with a flat wheel (constant jackhammer-esque pounding for hours upon hours, preventing sleep or comfort of any kind); the looks on people's faces or tones of voices as they offer to help or chase away hobos; the story of the lady who called the police on a starving young begger as she fed some stray animals instead; the many anonymous people who paid for meals for starving teens; watching a fellow teenager die after he tried to jump onto a moving car, fell and had his legs severed by the train's wheels and the list can go on. This book was an interesing and moving one as Uys and his interviewees show both the freedoms and the dangers of riding the rails. As an interesting side-note. I decided to read this book afters seeing a documentary on MTV about modern day Rail Riders ("Travelers"). Knowing that a similar subculture of people still exist, experiencing the same freedom and dangers (added to it a sense of confusion and hopelessness) made the book that more moving. I would recommend it.




2. This book helps bring home the reality of life during the Depression. I think it would be a good one for high-school- or junior-high-age kids to read while studying this period of history. It doesn't tell the whole story by any means but it would be a good adjunct to a study of the period.

   I disagree completely with the reviewer who said that the use of many, short quotes "makes for dull reading and dilutes the overall power of the experiences shared by these people." For one thing, there are longer first-person accounts at the end of each chapter. And to me the shorter quotes used in each chapter are moving in themselves. I also appreciated the greater scope of commentary they provided, more than just few stories in their entirety would have done.

   I also disagree with the person who said there should have been more first-person accounts and less commentary. I think the commentary helps set the historical perspective, which not all readers might have.

   That said, I can see how someone might want to read more first-hand accounts after reading this book. Some are mentioned in the bibliography.




3. Riding the Rails tells a story not often heard about life during the Great Depression. Although the story is fresh, it really puts into perspective what was going on in America at that time. By using teenage runaways to illustrate the struggles of our country, Ulys puts a very human face on the time period.
   I thought the way the book was divided into sections with each section illustrating a different aspect of the runaways' lives, was extremely helpful. Each section began with an overview of the particular subject, using people as well as facts to tell the story. The section ended with the true life stories of the runaways told in their own words, which I found to be the most enjoyable part of the book. You could tell a lot of research went into finding reliable and interesting sources, because all of the personal accounts were compelling.
   This book tied together so many aspects of the economic disaster that was the 1930s. By showing readers a face behind the poverty, they can understand how the country's economy has everything to do with the lives of its people. The stories told are so sad and hard to believe that it can serve as motivation to see that our country learns from its mistakes and never lets the economy become what it was at that time.
   Overall, I found this to be an interesting read and well worth the time to gain insight into a compelling piece of history.



4. While Dad never rode the rails, he was a part of this generation and a part of the CCC, which saved many of these youngsters lives.
   The book is a great trip to understanding how life was and how hard supporting a family was in the Depression.
   I recommended it to my teenage son who can't understand how good he has it. My Father was impressed with the honesty in the book and the truth, as he knew it, in the stories from the survivors.



5. The intent is certainly noble and of utmost importance but I believe the author should have focused on memoirs from a few rather than short reminisces from hundreds. This type of format leads to muddle and retention loss.
   Several recollections from the individuals themselves were absorbing and the reader gains insight on how tough-going it was riding the rails as a teen during the Depression. Stories of hunger, ever-present dangers on and off the rails, job searching, life in hobo "jungles", railroad "bulls", injustices and civility, etc. were fascinating reads.
   A sensitive study of human nature when times were wretched.

3 comments about Churchill and Chartwell: The Untold Story.

1. Mr. Buczacki provides a nice, well-written history of the various houses and gardens directly associated with the long life of Winston Churchill. In doing so, the author also reveals important elements of the non-political side of this most remarkable man.
   
   Many general histories of Churchill speak in passing of the domestic trials imposed after the purchase of the family's most important home, Chartwell. Reading this book gives one a keen understanding of what Mrs. Churchill endured as Chartwell and its grounds were slowly, slowly brought into good shape.
   
   If you have a friend who is interested in English landscaping and gardens, this is a book to consider. If that friend also is an admirer of Sir Winston, then it is a must purchase.



2. a great book one of the must have for any churchill library . great anecdotes good pictures .recommended by the churchill society



3. I am a huge fan of Winston Churchill (I'm even tackling Martin Gilbert's eight volume biography at the moment!). Since WSC loved Chartwell so much, and spent so much of his time there, I come to this subject with some interest. My wife visited Chartwell a couple of years ago -- what a treat. That experience only heightened my interest and great appreciation for the house and its history. Leaving no stone unturned, this book provides a complete (if sometimes a bit dry) history of the house. It also has some great photos of the house at various points in history. If you want to know nearly everything about this ancient, though modern, house and home to WSC then this is the book for you.

No comments about From Log Cabin to White House With Abraham Lincoln (My American Journey).