Expansion Books

The second volume of Remini's celebrated biography is inevitably rather less intriguing than the first. While it's predecessor was largely about military campaigns and duels, this volume is more focussed on such dynamic topics as debt repayment and, especially, the controversy over renewing the charter of the US Bank.

The controversial election of 1824 is covered in detail and well explained. Remini also shows how the aftermath of that election reshaped American politics - the parties became far more organized. Although the Democratic Party is spoken of as having been created by Jefferson, Jefferson was the leader of a group or faction more than a true party. In a real sense it was created as a party when Calhoun and Van Buren agreed to unite their factions behind Jackson for the election of 1828. The new era of national parties was illustrated in 1831-32, when, for the first time, national conventions were held to nominate presidential candidates. (The Democrats were so firmly Jackson's party that they didn't bother to formally nominate him, meeting mainly to ratify his desire that Van Buren replace Calhoun as the Vice Presidential candidate.)

Also covered at length is the bizarre 'War of the Petticoats', when Jackson's cabinet was torn apart over the fact that some officials and their wives, spreading lascivious rumors about Peggy Eaton, wife of the Secretary of War, refused to appear at social events to which the Eatons were invited. However absurd the incident sounds, the consequences were significant.

Along the way, I learned quite a few things ranging from remarkable to trivial. For instance, I had never suspected that Jackson was the first President to veto a bill with a veto message that centered on what he believed to be the faults of the bill. All prior vetos (there were only a few over 40 years) had been based on arguments that the bills vetoed were unconstitutional. Vetoing partially on the merits (Jacvkson also thought the bill unconstitutional) was considered at the time a shocking extension of executive power. I also learned that Jackson had the first 'kitchen cabinet', a term that dates from the tensions in the cabinet over the Petticoat War. The kitchen cabinet, those friends who Jackson trusted more than many of the men in his official cabinet (also called the 'parlor cabinet' at the time) was so called because they supposedly used a back staircase from the White House kitchen to meet Jackson in his study.

Overall, a strong history with clear writing, a remarkable central character, and intriguing glimpses at the period covered.

Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Freedom, 1822-1832 begins with Jackson's return home from Florida, where he served as military governor, and goes through his first term as president.

There are many interesting aspects to Jackson's life covered in this volume, particularly his devotion to his wife Rachel and his devastating grief when she died a few weeks after he was elected president. But the part that I found the most interesting was how Jackson revived the American political system. In many ways he was the founder of the system we still use today.

The 1820s are often mistakenly referred to as "The Era of Good Feeling." James Monroe was president, and there wasn't really any organized opposition. As Remini documents, there was very little good feeling involved except for those officials who were lining their pockets at the expense of the public. Needless to say, there were many people who were upset and alarmed by the corruption and saw it as a real threat to the American republic (remember, it was only about 50 years since the Declaration of Independence and less than 40 years since the Constitution had been written). These Republicans wanted to restore the two-party system, reconstituting their party along the old Jeffersonian doctrines. They soon hit upon the idea of recruiting the most popular man in the country, retired General Andrew Jackson, to run for president.

Jackson was a military hero, but he was much more than a figurehead candidate. Jackson was also a brilliant instinctive politician and a strong, capable executive. But the rise of Jackson was about more than the candidacy of one man. The purpose, in Jackson's own mind as well as many others, was to connect his popularity with something large and more meaningful--the restoration of the republican principles of the Founding Fathers and a constitutional form of government that adequately protected the liberties of the people. Jackson built a party organization around himself that soon became the Democratic Party, the direct ancestor of the party that still exists today.

As president, Jackson discovered that the nation had changed greatly in the years since he was a boy soldier in the Revolution, and he adapted his ideas accordingly. He became president of an America that had become a sprawling land with an expanding population and a dynamic and complex economy in which industry was increasingly important. Instead of limiting power, Jackson instead changed the nature of power, shifting it (permanantly, as it turned out), from Congress to the presidency.

Before Jackson, "freedom" meant the right of the individual to enjoy the fruits of his labor without interference by government. During his presidency, freedom came to mean majority rule. A free society was one that conformed to the will of the masses. Since Jackson represented the people (something of a new concept), it followed that his program constituted their sovereign command--what we would today call a "mandate."

When we last left Andrew Jackson, he had just quit his job as governor of the Florida territory. Having built his reputation on his military actions against Indians and his rout over the British in the Battle of New Orleans, Jackson now had two goals: first, recovering his precarious health, and second, becoming president.

In this second volume of Remini's biography of the seventh president, Jackson rises to the pinnacle of his power, though it is by no means easy. First, there is his health: having abused his body over the years in war and duels, Jackson was not in good shape and probably spent the last decades of his life in constant pain which only his vast willpower could overcome.

In 1824, Jackson ran for president and despite getting a plurality of the popular and electoral votes, wound up losing to John Quincy Adams that makes the 2000 election seem non-controversial in comparison. Getting cheated (as many felt) would lead to a second, successful campaign in 1828, but even this had a high price, as the slander he was subjected to due to the dubious circumstances of his marriage would emotionally wreck and eventually lead to the death of his wife.

The second half of the book focuses on Jackson's first presidential term, ending with his election to a second term. In many ways the first populist president, Jackson redefined the role of the presidency by expanding the power of the veto (rarely used previously and only in limited circumstances) and attempted to clean up the corruption left over from the so-called "Era of Good Feelings."

Remini is a great biographer and this book is every bit as great as the first volume. He holds back few punches when it comes to Jackson's negatives, especially his treatment of Indians and his tendency to dwell incessantly on little things (such as the Eaton affair). Nonetheless, this is a generally positive biography, as Remini demonstrates that despite the view that Jackson was an ignorant backwoodsman manipulated by his aides such as Van Buren, Jackson was both intelligent and independent.

This is the definitive biography of Jackson. If you want to learn of the man or the era, this is a must-read.

This is the second book in Remini's trilogy and it's an extremely detailed, well-researched book. So many biographers bury their subject and forget that most readers what to know who their subject *was*, not merely what they *did.* Remini doesn't fall into this trap. He gives the reader a well-grounded and detailed look at Andrew Jackson as a man: his foibles, passions and prejudices, as well as his extreme ambition and vacillating brilliance.

Remini strikes a beautiful balance when examining Jackson's private life and military/political life. His examination of Jackson's personal life is exceptional, and he weaves Jackson in and out of the narrative with rare poise and skill. The reader can actually picture Jackson in the midst of his political battles, feel his emotions and understand the decisions he made. When a biographer can paint such a vivid picture, the reader will always be rewarded.

This is an excellent book for the entire spectrum of people interested in Jackson. Whether you are a neophyte or an established Jacksonian historian, there is much to enjoy, as well as new material. The footnotes and bibliography are excellent resources and lead to additional sources for the reader. Highly recommended.

In this, the second (and shortest) installation of three volumes on the life of Andrew Jackson, Robert Remini covers the decade between Jackson�s ostensible retirement from public life after serving a short � and miserable � term as governor of the newly acquired Florida territory to the culmination of his first presidential term.

The central issue covered in this volume � indeed, the central issue in Jackson�s political life, as Remini later concludes in Volume III � is the presidential election of 1824 and the so-called �corrupt bargain� between John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay to deprive Jackson of the presidency despite his commanding lead in the popular vote. For Jackson, it was conspiracy of the wealthy elites against a commoner, and it proved that the American republic itself was in mortal jeopardy. The defeat served as a catalyst for Jackson�s passionate, almost obsessive commitment to �reform and retrenchment,� which Remini weaves together with the character developed in Volume I. It was his quest to avenge the loss of 1824 (and the honor of the American people who had been swindled) and sweep the �augean stables� of corruption and graft in Washington that led to the great democratic movement that bears his name. (It should be noted that Harry Ammon and other leading historians of the Monroe and Adams administrations stridently contest Remini�s assertion that the Era of Good Feelings was actually the �Era of Corruption.�)

For those of you who puzzled over Washington�s obsession with the Monica Lewinsky affair, you will be amused to read that the dominating issue of Jackson�s first term was the reportedly lascivious nature of Peggy Eaton, the wife of Jackson's old friend and secretary of war. This so-called �Petticoat War,� which saw the wives of other cabinet members and senior officials � mostly notably vice president Calhoun�s wife, Floride � shunning social interaction with Peggy, literally ripped the cabinet asunder and very nearly toppled the government. Remini tells the story with verve and wit, which at times reads more like a Sidney Sheldon novel than a volume in a definitive presidential biography.

Like every American kid, I grew up knowing the names "Lewis and Clark." But (also, I suspect, like most American kids), I really knew (and cared) very little about their incredible journey, or why it was undertaken. Then, 10 years ago, I stumbled across Dayton Duncan's wonderful Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery, and I was hooked.

Duncan's book is a wonderful introduction to the Corps of Discovery (even the name itself is exciting, isn't it?) in that it offers information about the expedition without overwhelming the reader new to the topic, illustrates the text with fine photographs and reproductions, all of which are instructively captioned, contains a number of sideboxes and page-long essays on specializied subjects, and includes several essays from other Lewis and Clark authorities, including Ken Burns, who produced the companion film, and Stephen Ambrose.

Duncan ends the book with an essay, "We procceded on," that is as reflective a meditation on the deep meaning of the Corps of Discovery journey as I've read. It also serves as an excellent preface to another of his books, Out West, a fascinating and entertaining account of his recapitulation of the Corps of Discovery's route in a volkswagon camper.

If you're new to Lewis and Clark, this is the book to read. But it's also pure pleasure for afficionados.

The book is good and interesting (especially for someone with very little prior knowledge about the Corps), but the reading is absurd! He (I mean the narrator; the supporting cast is good) is so melodramatic as to be incredibly distracting. GOOFY. Only buy it if you are able to ignore the reader's voice and style; otherwise, order it in print form!

I've been looking for the audio version for a long time and found it easily on amazon. You can keep your eyes on the road and still learn something about the the most mindboggling journey in American history.
It makes me want to follow their trail (by road of course). Fantastic set of CD's

I enjoyed this book completely...it really gave me a sense of the human experience of the journey, and made me appreciate just what an incredible accomplishment it was. The illustrations really add to the enjoyment of the book, as do the excerpts from the journals of several of the men. I also liked the background information on what goals were actually behind the exploration and how they worked to meet those goals. There's only one reason that I didn't give this book 5 stars, and that's because it lacks a good map to help understand where they were during some of the events described. But that can be found in other works, and this really is a good introducion to Lewis and Clark...it's a relatively easy read but full of interesting facts and adventures.

This book was so hard to put down! The way the author combines the facts with the actual quotes from the Lewis and Clark journals (complete with spelling errors), the original sketches and descriptions by Lewis and Clark, old pictures and paintings, and the attention to the sequencing (i.e., he walks you straight through the entire journey and makes it flow) really makes this book come alive for me. I highly recommend it!!

this book is a joy to skim and read in bits -- lots of worthwhile advice from famous folks

I've stopped giving redundant, briefly used, baby items to new parents. Instead, I buy them Posterity: Letters of Great Americans to Their Children. The connection to the commonality of parenthood, that feels so unique and precious to many who've encountered it, resonates throughout this collection. Except for Jack London's contribution, you'll smile as you read most of the letters that editor Dorie Mccullough Lawson has included in this peerless treasury.

To often, we think of historical figures as cardboard characters, names in a textbook. In this wonderful book, they come alive as thinking, feeling human beings, sharing their innermost thoughts with their children. No matter the era, or the fame of the writer, the humanity is what one remembers. Perhaps the greatest tribute I can give Dorie McCullough Lawson is the fact that I have since read, or am reading, biographies of N.C. Wyeth, Theodore Roosevelt, John J. Pershing, and Harriet Beecher Stowe...all because of what I learned about them from her book, and the letters therein. "Posterity..." is a book to treasure.

Although I love books of letters, I found this anthology uninspiring and a poorly chosen group of contributors. The letters rely mostly upon the interest of the reader in the author, not the content of the letter itself. For example: Arlo Guthrie is a neat character, but in his letter to his son, when he tells him to be thankful to God -- why? Sure, It's good advice, and any half-wit can relay it, but the real intellect and insight comes in explaining why someone ought to be thankful to God when they or someone else is suffering. I think a much, much better anthology of letters can be found in Lisa Grunwald and Stephen Adler's "Letters of the Century". It collects hundreds of letters from authors famous and anonymous, and each is tremendously insightful about the emotions of the author, and often makes prescient remarks about the era.

This wonderful book spans more than three centuries and gives the reader insights into the thoughts of many great Americans as they wrote to their children.

This treasury of short letters also provides some background for each one. The research needed to discover these personal letters is documented. I love this collection and the way all the letters are presented.

To quote from the author's father, David McCullough, "This is a book to pick up and read at almost any page, a book to keep close at hand, to return to for nourishment and guidance, yes, but also for reassurance and pure pleasure". I couldn't have said it any better! This quotation says exactly how I feel. I want to purchase several copies to give as gifts and as a parent, I even feel compelled to write to my own children!

All the letters provide wonderful insights into the minds of the parents, and I have several favorites; Eleanor Roosevelt wrote one to one of her sons who wanted to skip Christmas and it is so touching! As Dorie M. Lawson reminds us, letter writing is generally a thoughtful art - it cannot compare to e-mail writing.

These personal letters from parent to child are arranged thematically and within each section, they are in chronological order and printed in their entirety just as they were composed. It is thrilling to read them, especially the really old ones and all of them were written by aparent who made worthwhile contributions to America.

Here are a few of the parents whose letters are included: Thomas Jefferson to his daughter Patsy, Harry Truman to his daughter Margaret, General Patton to his son, Oscar Hammerstein to his son, and so many more from all walks of life. All of us who have children and even those who do not, will benefit from reading this rare collection of parents expressing their thoughts.

Thank you Dorie McCullough Lawson and please continue writing!

I purchased this book for my history buff husband. He loved it. Great writing.

Dr. Trasks's work FINALLY attempts to balance the Black Hawk War with something other than Black Hawk-- the hundreds of other personalities and downright characters that participated in the 12 week war. A bold, even radical departure from the tired monographs from the 1970s on the same subject. For a change, Black Hawk is looked at as a human being-- and not a sub-diety-- and major players including Dodge and Henry are seen in the significant roles thay played-- and not as smaller than life 'angry white guys.'

The book does have some drawbacks. I agree with the numerous post-modern "Professorisms" that leak into the book (as mentioned by a previous reviewer.) Trask ardently refuses to cut through the the accounts of Stillman's Run to present his interpretation of what happened.
Three American accounts indicated that BH's men fired first; BH does not indicate that in his autobiography-- and Trask waivers between "can't decide" and siding with BH anyway. Trask makes mincemeat of early settlers (calling the frontiersman a "myth" and presenting a big dissertation regarding Trask's use of James Fennimore Cooper's work as an example of an indian captivity story upon which the myth subsisted. unfortunately he neglects to tell his readers that the captive narrrative in Cooper's "Last of the Mohicans" was in part based on TRUE events!

All in all, the narrative is much more balanced that previous works, and is generally insightful into the conflict as a product of its times. Buy or borrow it.

This book gives detailed information related to the causes, effects, and events leading up to, and including the BLACK HAWK WAR. While the title suggests the book is a biography of Black Hawk's life, it is not that at all--and this did not disappoint me in the least.

Trask tells the story with just the right amount of depth, and in a contemporary, reader-friendly style. I had read a few other books about the BLACK HAWK WAR and Black Hawk's autobiography, but this book was more thorough, and easily understood. There are ample footnotes and resources listed in the apppendix for those who desire further research.

I came upon this book entirely by accident while killing time waiting for a flight. I spent my first 21 years in Northwest Illinois, and while I only became interested in U.S. history 30 years after moving away, as Trask states at the end of this book, people from that part of the Midwest can't really get away from Black Hawk. It was certainly one of our myths, tangential to history, growing up there. I had no idea that Alexander Hamilton's son, sometime Indian fighter, had a fort within ten miles of my hometown and Henry Dodge, founder of Dodgeville, became a frontier hero in a nearby skirmish. Author Trask is dead-on contrasting today's sleepy Illinois-Wisconsin towns with their brief brushes with Black Hawk during the summer of 1832. The whole story fits nicely, or maybe awkwardly, into white America's concept of settling North America.

I found the book fascinating and an artful mix of history and perspective. There is just enough analysis of white and native interaction and perspective to keep this anything but a dry historical account. The research seems meticulous, the writing and editing superb, and the narrative strong enough to make the book a page turner. It is hard for me to imagine better coverage of the Black Hawk War.

I'll have to disagree with another reviewer who thinks Trask goes to far with naive, modernist analysis. I hate pedantic, term-paper analysis and frankly, I found very little here. I liked his Trickster analogy and was most happy this book was not a rote recital of historical events.

Like some of the previous reviewers, I grew up in Black Hawk country. As a result, I have read many accounts of the Black Hawk War, and this is one of the best.

Black Hawk : The Battle for the Heart of America is fair and balanced (and not in a Fox News kind of way). Trask documents the rapacity of the government and the businessmen who cheated the Sauk and Fox out of their lands. He discusses the Indian culture in which internecine warfare, including revenge murders and mutilations, was considered to be an essential element of manhood, and how this reputation led to panic among the whites and the subsequent overreaction to the Sauk incursion into Illinois. He explains how a similar macho culture among the white frontiersmen led many of them to feel they had to prove their own manhood by going out and killing a few Indians. He points out not only Black Hawk's qualities as a leader but also the flaws that eventually contributed to the destruction of his people in a tragic precursor to the massacres at Sand Creek and Wounded Knee.

Trask's book tends to concentrate more on the social and cultural issues behind the conflict rather than on the military campaign. This is appropriate and after reading the book, I feel I have a much better understanding of the background of this significant episode in American history. However, I would have liked to have seen a little more detail about such military events as the Battle of Stillman's Run in which Black Hawk led 40 Sauk warriors against 300 Illinois Militiamen and completely routed them.

I was also annoyed by the fact that Trask chose to end this otherwise excellent book with a rather silly and specious analysis of why so many things in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin are named after Black Hawk. It's guilt; he says. I disagree. People everywhere like to identify with famous people that lived in their area. In central Illinois, things are named after Abraham Lincoln, and across the Mississippi in northern Missouri, after Mark Twain. In my area, it's Black Hawk. If the people south of us feel guilty about Abe and Mark, that's their problem. Around here Black Hawk is the only famous and heroic figure we've got, so we build strip malls and bowling alleys in his honor. And if that theory sounds silly and specious to you, well I have an excuse-I don't know what I'm talking about.

I very much enjoyed this book.They say history is written by the winners and the women of the old west were truly winners.They fought hardships we can never imagine and most never lost hope.These are their stories,in their own words,which to me,gives it more meaning.Nothing was really edited and it is marked as such.We can see the hope,dispair,and fulfilment of these women as they braved a new land.They trod beside their husbands and children and thru it all reamined the glue that held them together.I has helped me understand more and learn more about the fierce American woman!

I have read all 11 books in this series over and over, and I would recomend them all. It is like looking over the shoulder of the rugged pioneer women as they took time, almost every day, to document what would probably be the most important event in their lives. Tired,wet, and sometimes hungry, they brought stability to the west. I have also traveled and seen many sights that still remain as evidence of the Oregon Trail. We can't travel back in time, but this is the next best thing!

After reading Lillian Schlissel's excellent book "Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey" I was stricken by the 'curiosity bug' and NEEDED to read more. I turned therefore to Mr. Holmes, a recognized name in this field.

His series, "Covered Wagon Women", currently consists of 11 volumes, although this review is just about the first book. Volume One consists of entries from the very first period of westward migration: 1840 to 1849. The authors are women who write of their experiences in a way that reflects both their ages and educational levels -- and it is fascinating.

For example, from Keturah Belknap we discover how families prepared for the 8 month trip. She tells of difficult goodbye's to family and friends; how she spun wool so that she could have a friend weave it 'just-so' to make good solid wagon covers; and even how she and her husband packed their wagons. And from many of the journals we find out how absolutely difficult it was to cross the mountains. How in snow and rain they had to ratchet the wagons up by hoists and chains to get over huge boulders, and then lower them down the steep declines with breaks on the rear wheels. There are also the sad records left by the Donner party participants, and those that witnessed the drownings and accidents along the way.

To his merit, Mr. Holmes has left these records pretty much alone. He has not changed the writers creative spelling nor punctuation, except to provide [spaces] where the sentences are run on and the meaning consequently obscured.

In addition to the original writings, Mr. Holmes provides background information for each diarist, and footnotes throughout. While I found the footnotes interesting and informative, the introductory material dealt almost exclusively with with genealogy (rather than historical backdrop) and so was not of much assistance to me in trying to understand the emigrant's experience.

Here are the Chapter headings:

Editor's Introduction
Across the Plains in 1845, by Betsy Bayley
A Letter from the Luckiamute Valley, by Anna Maria King
A Brimfield Heroine, by Tabitha Brown
The Donner Party letters [note: by Tamsen Donner and Virginia Reed]
Two letters of Phoebe Stanton
Letters from a Quaker Woman: Rachel Fisher
The Diary of Elizabeth Dixon Smith
A Pioneer Mormon Diary: Patty Sessions
The Commentaries of Keturah Belknap
The Diary of a Pioneer Girl, by Sallie Hester
A Letter from California, by Louisiana Strentzel
Running a Boarding House in the Mines

Four Stars [B-]. The diaries and letters published here are valuable historical records that thankfully have not been tampered with: the reader gets the full flavor of the writers. There is one map showing the routes, but almost no pictures of the women involved. And annoyingly there is NO Bibliography in this volume, with sole exception of the one provided for the one Mormon entry. Sources are listed throughout.

If you are a newbie (like myself) interested in this timeframe and in written records of women, I would suggest you read up on the period first, or concurrently, before beginning this series. Personally, I would not have gotten as much enjoyment out of this book if I had not read Lillian Schlissel's book first.

Lillian Schlissel's book "Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey": Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey

The study of women's history has blossomed during the past several decades, and the result has been the production of several outstanding works on the subject. "Covered Wagon Women" is an important contribution to this growing field of investigation. It is a useful work that makes available to historian and buff alike several fascinating letters and diaries written by women involved in the westward movement of the 1840s. The editor, Kenneth L. Holmes and the publisher have undertaken an ambitious project, and, this work, and others in this series, represent a benchmark in this field's historiography.

The material presented in this first volume has been arranged by the editor into twelve chapters with entries by fourteen women. These accounts are representative rather than exhaustive. However, there are important documents discussing the experiences of several intelligent and articulate women on the Oregon, California, Santa Fe, and Mormon trails. The editor chose his documents well. They are all primary resources, written at the time of the incidents described or immediately thereafter. More important, Holmes did not reprint commonly used diaries. I was pleasantly surprised that Susan Magoffin's diary of her trip to Santa Fe in 1846 was not included in the collection. It is an outstanding diary but readily available elsewhere. Instead, Holmes scoured the nation's archives and libraries, and solicited copies of documents from individuals, to assemble what should be considered an exemplary collection of manuscripts.

Holmes's editorial work is also outstanding. He allows the individual writers to tell their own story without correcting grammar, punctuation, and syntax. He adds, moreover, useful annotations providing additional background information about key personalities and events without overediting, certainly no easy task judging from the number of edited works that suffer from this defect.

The editor gives considerable attention to Mormon women during the westward trek to Utah. Holmes includes as a major piece within the collection a diary of Patty Bartlett Sessions, dated June 21, 1847, through September 26, 1847. The original, located in the Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been well used by scholars investigating the Mormon trek to Utah, the role of women in the Church and in western history, and the development of medical treatment, but its publication for a wider audience is most welcome.

While "Covered Wagon Women" is a fine book of lasting historical value, it could have been made better with additional work. For instance, the editor chose to omit both a bibliography and an index, opting for the issuance of a cumulative bibliography and index in the tenth volume of the series. This decision will, of course, make the volume less usable by researchers in the interim. Additionally, Holmes is inconsistent in his editorial work. He is at his best in his treatment of the diary of Patty Sessions. First, it has an excellent introduction that draws heavily upon the research of such leaders in the study of Mormon women on the frontier as Leonard J. Arrington and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher. Second, it includes a useful dramatis personae, briefly describing characters mentioned in the diary. Finally, Holmes attaches a solid bibliography pointing the direction for further study. In contrast, Holmes's editing of other diaries and letters possesses nothing approaching the depth of scholarship he demonstrates in his work on Sessions. Most other entries contain only a cursory introduction, and none has either a description of characters or bibliography. It would have been commendable had Holmes been able to bring to the other accounts in this volume the fine editorial work he displays in his work on the Sessions diary.

In spite of these shortcomings, Kenneth Holmes has compiled a well-balanced, enjoyable book that should be of interest to all readers concerned with the study of women, the frontier movement, the overland trail, and Mormonism. This type of documentary history, although until recent years considered somewhat esoteric, should be encouraged, for it can open entirely new avenues of investigation when handled by skilled historians.

Authentic, bold and openhearted accounts from 1840's emigrant women. Historians and the general reader should be so fortunate that these noble women took the time out of their busy, hectic days to write letters and diaries of their westward travels. Secondly, we should also be grateful that these narratives have survived for us future readers to somewhat comprehend their stamina, perserverence and gutsy character.
Heartfelt accounts of river fordings, lack of food and/or water for livestock and people, Indian misconducts, wagon breakdowns, disease and death of loved ones, vivid landscape and countryside descriptions and the numerous day to day occurences for survival. To mention a few of the dozen writings:
Betsey Bayley and Anna Marie King's accounts of the perilous 1845 Stephen Meek Cutoff.
Tabitha Brown's 1846 account of emigration along the Applegate Cutoff.
Letters from Tamsen Donner and thirteen year old Virginia Reed's trip with the horrific Donner Party of 1846.
Patty Sessions who drove her own wagon to Salt Lake in 1847 and delivered several babies along the way (midwifed nearly 4,000 deliveries in her lifetime).
Rachel Fisher's travels in 1847 who lost her husband and a child during the emigration.
Elizabeth Dixon Smith's party of 1847 that lost several emigrants during their journey.
Editing by Dr. Holmes is second to none.

Great natural history of the American bison and their connection to Plains region native tribes. Important resource.

So often, we tend to think of the near-extinction of the Bison as having been solely caused by overhunting by the fur trade. This book shows the intensely interwoven cause and effect relationships that led to massive changes, not only for the Bison, but for the Native Americans as well. The scope of this book is so much larger than just the destruction of the Bison - it addresses the full range of effects that Westward Expansion had on the plains. To gain a better understanding of the ecological dynamics at play between the Bison, the indigenous tribes, the settlers and the environment - this book is a must.

Andrew Isenberg, professor of History at Princeton University, has produced a brilliant monograph documenting the relationship between the Plains Indians, whites and the bison that once thrived on the Great Plains.
Isenberg carefully presents the ecology of the Great Plaines, demonstrating how tenuous the environment is to begin with: drought and fires can easily destroy the short grass that the bison depend on, causing sudden fluctuations in the herds. Given the already sensitive nature of the bison population, Isenberg then discusses the effect of human hunting.
Many readers, accostomed to thinking of the Plains Indians as ancient cultures, practicing a lifestyle as old as time, will be surprised to learn that the tribes of the great plains were largly recent developments. The introduction of the horse in the late 17th century dramatically altered the lifesyles of the plains tribes. Now that horses could be used to follow the bison herds year round, many groups abandoned agriculture and became full time bison hunters.
Isenberg documents the rise of trade networks, and the material wealth that Indians were able to accumulate in the beaver and bison pelt trade. Isenberg argues that Indians increasingly exploited the bison in a non-substainable fashion, thus dramatically weakening the bison population by the mid 19th century. Thus white hunting, which escalated in the 1870s to fill the demand for bison leather machine belts, was merely a coup de grace for the already decimated herds.
Isenberg's thesis rather explodes the old myth that Indians were always ecologically sensitive people who cared meticulously for their rescources. Yet in the end, his message is one of environmental responsibility, as he narrates a tragic case study of unsubstainable environmental exploitation. The book is well crafted and highly readable, and recommended for all interested in the American West.

Andrew Isenberg's "The Destruction of the Bison" shows that the interaction between ecology, culture and economy contributes the the destruction of bison. Unlike most historians who contributes the environmental degradation to Euro-Americans, Isenberg shows that Native Americans also play a role in modifying the ecology. He is able to show how introduction of horses, made Native Americans became more mobile and therefore were able to hunt the bison while riding their horses.

Initially, the Natives hunted for subsistence but later were drawn into the market-oriented economic system and were trading the bison's skin for other European products. Gradually, bison became nearly decimated.

This is an incredible book in this survey of the history of the North American bison population and is very well-written. He organizes this book well and is very readable. Even if readers who do not have prior knowledge of bison or is unfamiliar with the field of environmental history, this book will not pose any difficulty for understanding the complex relationship between human and the environment around them.

As all the other reviews are positive, I will add a much needed critical perspective.

The central argument of this book is that:

"The combination of Indian predation and environmental change decimated the bison" (Isenberg, p.3).

As such, this book contradicts massive amounts of primary historical sources that show, un-arguably, that the destruction and near extinction of the Bison herds was a direct result of Anglo predation in a direct attempt to destroy the resource base of the Plains Tribes in order to force them onto reservations.

As the other reviewers have pointed out, it is true that the Plains Tribes were not nomadic hunters for all of their history. It is true that the Tribes adopted nomadic hunting as a primary subsistence strategy only after being forced to do so by Anglo aggression and encroachment.

But from that truth, Isenberg moves on to a series of unproven theories based on questionable ecological assumptions that are rooted in the "new ecology" - an ecological theory that describes nature as a disordered, chaotic and individualistic struggle for survival (For info on the "new ecology" see my review of "Discordant Harmonies: A new ecology for the 21st century).

For example, Isenberg bases one of his arguments on the un-proven theory that early Tribal Peoples, thousands of years ago, hunted to extinction many species of large land mammals.

But the story of the Bison is not a pre-historic story. It is a story of modern history and Isenberg presents no historical proof that the Tribes were responsible for the near extinction of the Bison.

Rather, he makes subjective philosophical arguments against "romanticizing" wilderness and Native American cultures.

From there Iverson uses these arguments as a backdrop to a series of environmental statistical analyses.

Basically, Iverson lays out an exponential statistical model where by he argues that, given the estimated number of Bison deaths necessary to sustain the Plains Tribes, eventually the Bison would have been rendered extinct by the Tribes at some point in the future.

The problem is that this can never be proven because it never happened!

What happened, and it is documented in massive amounts of printed primary historical sources, was that the Bison were deliberately slaughtered by greedy Anglo hunters for their skins and tongues.

The United States Army was in on it as well, as is documented by many sources showing that the Bison herds were decimated in a deliberate attempt to make it impossible for the Tribes to remain living free on the Plains.

Isenberg's book is one that must be extremely comforting to those forces that continue to destroy what wild animals and lands we have left here in North America.

This is an amazing campaign expansion. Anyone who wants to learn the History, the people, the current events, the Shadow Thieves, the TR (You'll understand when you buy it), and the hooks and plots waiting for adventures of Amn and Tethyr should buy this source book. I've run 3 campaigns from this and all have been very successful. I just wish more was covered on the psyche of some of the villains, and The huge map of Ruins was at least slightly fleshed out for you (It's pretty hard to design that much on one's own).

There's quite a bit of information about Amn, Tethyr and the previously unknown Erlkazar. Unfortunately, Tethyr is now under the rule of allies of Elminster so there's no empire building there unless you want to diverge from the official timeline.

Erlkazar's rulers are almost Good aligned to a man.

Amn has a lot of evil people on its council but from the given future timeline, it seems very likely it will break up and much of it incorporated into Tethyr. All in all, expect the locations to be peaceful in a few years time (estimate 1375 DR), totally ruled by Good aligned people with Elminster/Khelbun as backer and not conducive to plots that diverge from the standard dungeon-kill monster-get treasure routine

It does describe quite a bit about the countries and some power groups that are baed there or have an influence there. All in all, it seems the Toril is nearly completely good aligned and thus less and less exciting. Get the world builders guide and build your own world for better options.

Lands of Intrigue is packed with info, and lore. The source on Amn and the struggles therein was wonderful, as was the whole country left for DM development (Erlkazar). Tethyr, a land which was (up until this product I believe)at civil war has recovered and now tries to rebuild. It would seem this limits it to another Cormyr, but the people are of a different mindset, and the lands are ripe for raids by other nations and powergroups trying to stiffle the fledgling government. Well done, and worth every penny.

It's true: Tethyr is pretty much a "good-guy" kind of place. Just read the book on Tethyr, and you'll see what some of us reviewers mean.

But add a little DM magic, some fire in the politicians, a few young upstarts who slowly grow powerful and hunger for more power, and voila -- instant corruption, civil war, and powermongers.

The book on Amn contains great source material and can lead to many adventures. Amn just seems a bit "average."

The book on Erlkazar is skimpy, but leaves the DM an entire REGION to play with, create, shape, and call his or her own. There can't be anything wrong with that.

this is a great box set, which brings a lot of badly needed detail to the southern Sword Coast region, while still leaving plenty of room for DM's to play around in (a whole country of minimum details to be developed by DM's, THANK YOU! ).

My favourite part of this set has to be the brillaiant poster map of the runed city of Shoonach (the Undermountain of the south), which is HUGE (several miles across, and thats just above ground, with whole farms, and several towns/cities within its ruined walls). You could easily base a whole campaign in this setting, and I would love to see it developed further in a sourcebook (Ruins of Shoonach anyone?).

It is nice to see thet Tethyr has been sorted out, and the setting deals with the aftermath of the novel War in Tethyr, and just as it is getting itself together, its northern neighbor amn is in real trouble, cities deserting to Tethyr, and a massive invasion that decimates half the country, and leaves the other halfs fate uncertain.

Well worth the cost of admission for any DM.

This book is decent for the price, it gives nice reference material. Just don't look for a lot of tips and strategies here, especially ones that haven't been tried already.

this book was sooo helpful that it would have taken me twice as long just to complete the scenarios, much less find all the secrets. the illustrations helped, not hinderd, the very deep walkthroughs that used multiple strategies instead of just one straightforward killing spree. i like working alone so when i'm playing true to history by playing as the byzantines and defending against the huns, turks, saracens, teutons, goths, persians and the franks all at once this is my greek fire against them. with it's help i bash aside their light cavalry and charge through their heavy infantry to take the heart out of each and every civilization and leave nothing standing except for mountains upon mountains of skulls... thats why i call myself nick the butcher.

This game is the best game I ever played. I wish I could buy it, but my parents say I can't because they need the computer for taxes and bills and also they don't let me in case it ruins the computer like one of my other games. So I play it at a friend's house. I never seem to get enough of playing it so I am sometimes late home. It is really interesting because some of this is like real life because each civilization is unique in it's own way with special things like each of their special units. Now I guess the only way to but it is if I buy a new computer so I can play on it, because my mom doesn't like me playing the game all the time.

This is a great book IF you are already aware of all the existing strengths and weaknesses of the civilizations that are not new to the Conquerors Edition. In other words, you better have the previous book if you want complete knowledge of all the civilizations.

That having been said, the depth of the analysis for each of the new civilizations is impressive. It tells you everything you need to do to use a civilization's strengths to their best advantage.

There is very little general training here, and so is not the right book for 'beginners'. I makes a fine addition to the knowledge base of an already experienced user who needs depth on what's NEW in this edition.

If you play campaigns and need help, this is the book for you. Over 2/3's of the book is devoted to walking you through the campaigns. If however, if campaigns are a thing of the past for you and you are trying to refine your skills to play against other people... this book is of little help. There are a couple of pages detailing the newest civs to TC, not much more info is offered than what comes with the aoe documentation. There are a few strategies that are described that are pretty basic and are useful if you've never or hardly played before. There is a section that supposedly has tips from the actual ES testers (3 I think)...pretty weak because everyone's preferences are always debatable. Anyway, they pretty much just give their opinions on what civ, what unit and combinations they like best. (To kill your curiosity, most chose Mayans for the archer/eagle scout combo.) Adding links in the book to aoe websites is a waste of space. You're better off going to Google and typing in 'AOK TC' and getting hundreds of links to sites that people actually use. So... since I don't really play campaigns anymore and I am a person trying to find resources to get better playing against other people, I found this book a waste of money. I only gave it an extra star because it details the campaigns pretty good.

This book is the best, by far, most complete, and most satifying book I ever read on the fantastic and fantastically interesting Dreyfus affair. The book is a most absorbing study, and won my award for "Best Book read by me in 1986" beating out the other 74 books I read that year.

At least for the foreseeable future, this superb account of the Dreyfus Affair by Jean-Denis, which appeared first in French in 1983, will almost certainly stand as the best account of what is unquestionably one of the seminal events in France since the French Revolution. Bredin does a masterful job of assembling all the primary facts of the Affair, introducing and describing all the major actors, and analyzing both the situation that made the Affair possible in the first place and the effects it had on France as a whole. If in the end the account lacks the small degree of passion and moral vision that could have rendered it a masterpiece of historical writing, the dispassion and deliberateness that he employs in his narrative are perhaps appropriate to a tale full of too much passion and too much irrational activity.

One of the most striking features of Bredin's history is the amazingly small role that Captain Alfred Dreyfus himself played in the Affair. Not only did he not engage in the activities that caused his being tried for treason to begin with, he was not a major actor in the events that unfurled in the four years following his conviction. Dreyfus, in fact, was almost completely unaware of the Dreyfus Affair as it raged in France, dividing the nation and almost provoking a Civil War and inspiring a military coup d'etat. For most of those in the military who soon realized that Major Walsin-Esterhazy and not Dreyfus was the person engaged in espionage, and that therefore Dreyfus was innocent, Dreyfus's sufferings were utterly unimportant compared to the honor of the Army. Dreyfus the person dropped out, and Dreyfus the innocent victim became a potentially more dangerous threat to the Army than Dreyfus the supposed spy would have been (or Esterhazy the actual spy was). Ironically, after Zola's famous J'Accuse was published and the Affair gripped all of France, Dreyfus again was forgotten as a person. He became, instead, a symbol that the opponents of the Army and the Church could use as a weapon to attack those entrenched institutions. Indeed, when those who were more concerned with Dreyfus the individual rather than Dreyfus the cause, such as his brother Mathieu and his attorney Edgar Demange, undertook actions that were more beneficial to the individual than the cause, they were roundly criticized. Both sides seemed willing to make Dreyfus a martyr.

The most painful parts of the book are those that reveal the depth and irrationality of the anti-Semitism of the supporters of the Army and the willingness of the Church and masses to espouse the most paranoid fantasies about the Jews during the Affair. No individual supported Dreyfus's cause on the merits of the case in these person's minds, but only because the Jewish Syndicate had paid them off. Every piece of evidence either exonerating Dreyfus or incriminating either the Army or anyone else was declaimed to be a Jewish forgery. The Dreyfus Affair becomes in this way almost a prequel of the events that were to transpire on a few decades later in Nazi Germany. During Nazi occupation, France would cooperate with the extermination of its Jews to a greater extent than almost any other occupied country.

The social effects of the Affair in France are incalculable. If there had been a struggle since 1871 between Republicans and Monarchists, there never was one again. France had unquestionably become a Republic for good, and the political power of the entrenched institutions of privilege--the Army, the Church, and the aristocracy--was shattered for good. Never again would "the saber" truly threaten civilian rule. On the negative side, the Affair also unleashed all the latent anti-Semitism that lay dormant or inactive in the French populace. Many writers have noted that Jews enjoyed a higher standing in French society before the Affair than afterwards. Bredin does an excellent job of noting not merely the main facts and events connected with the Affair, but its aftermath.

The book serves also as a cautionary tale. In a time in the United States (where I live) where Civil liberties are under constant threat from the government that is supposed to be their guardian, the story of the ignoring of the rights of an innocent individual and the willingness to elevate the needs of the military and the state, this bit of history has an astounding relevance. As George Santayana famously said, "Those who do not learn from mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them."

Unfortunately, one seldom finds history as engrossing and artfully composed as Jean-Denis Bredin's "The Affair." As an American with scant knowledge of fin-de-siecle France or the proceedings against Alfred Dreyfus, I was surprised just how quickly and completely absorbed I was by this book.

There are several distinct reasons to recommend reading "The Affair." First and foremost, it is an incredible and sobering story. The plot is filled with so much drama, so many eccentric and historically significant characters, bizarre twists of fate and intrigue that by the time you reach the denouement of Dreyfus' acquittal it is nearly impossible to believe that what you are reading actually happened.

Second, even with a century's worth of perspective, there are still many debatable points about the Affair. For instance, it has been often repeated that had Dreyfus not been Dreyfus, he would have been Anti-Dreyfus. Bredin explicitly rejects this thesis, but after reading his book I must respectfully disagree. There is much about the Dreyfus Affair that is alternatively poignant, ironic, and tragic. That Dreyfus was personally imbued with and adhered to the principles and cause of his chief adversaries - namely a devotion to hierarchy and order, an unflinching loyalty to the Army and his superiors, and fervent nationalism - is one of them. Ultimately, whether the traitor was guilty or not was beside the point. During the course of the Affair, the Old Regime and its honored institutions, the Army and the Catholic Church above all, were pitted against the agents of Revolution. The Dreyfus that Bredin describes would never have deserted the cause of the Army and national honor to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the radical leftist elements that made up the Dreyfusard community.

Finally, the Affair also serves as a cautionary tale for modern readers. The themes that dominated late nineteenth century France - the imminent threat of war with a long-time rival, agitated nationalism in the wake of a national tragedy, reactionary xenophobia and racial profiling - are not foreign to early twenty-first century Americans. It is important to remember that the Dreyfus Affair began quite accidentally; it was the mood of the nation that served as the tinderbox that lit the conflagration. There was circumstantial evidence pointing to Dreyfus as the author of a letter written to the German military attaché in Paris. That evidence was further supported by prejudice that expected an Alsatian Jew to be a traitor. When the French General Staff embarked on their mission to fabricate evidence against Dreyfus, it was with the complete conviction that they had the guilty party and merely wanted to ensure that he was appropriately punished. That first legal transgression, which seemed rather innocuous at the time, was the root of the conflict, for in order to save itself from that first indiscretion greater illegalities had to be committed. It is not impossible to envision something like this happening domestically in the United States in the course of the War on Terror. Let us pray it never does.

Few books have as much to offer as "The Affair." It is a truly superlative work.

I agree with all the other reviews- this is certainly a comprehensive account, sympathetic, etc. There are 2 things I feel make it more difficult than necessary to really sink one's teeth into this account. First, too many people who are listed as having taken public stands are merely names. One really has to know a lot about the history of France in this period to put these people in their perspectives. Second, which is related to the first, is the absence of a real historical perspective in terms of what else was going on at the time in France, in Europe, or elsewhere. So while we get a LOT of detail about the Affair itself, and background information on Dreyfus, Alsace-Lorraine, French anti-Semitism, and relations with Germany, the chapters dealing with the impact on French public opinion lose some of their impact because the Affair dominates to the point of almost excluding all else.

I found Bredin's book to be most useful while doing a project on the Dreyfus Affair and its impact on the Zionist movement; namely, Herzl's personal experience of the Affair and how he utilised the Dreyfus Affair as the pinnacle of antimsemitism in Europe to propagate Zionism.

Not only does Bredin focus on the logistics of the Affair with intricate details of the main players and day-by-day accounts, but also uses the impact of the Affair on France and on the world to in a sense show what can be learned from the past, which is what history is all about anyway. A considerable amount of pages is devoted to Theodore Herzl who witnessed Dreyfus' military degradation and humiliation; there were excellent quotes that I could use as evidence of historiography and a summary of Bredin's view.

As with any event, there are always ramifications on the individual, the group or the country, which Bredin takes into account thereby widening the scope of the Affair into something of which any reader can take heed.

Pupil of Aristotle, ruler at 16, commander at 20 of armies when modern men are only just legally eligible to drink in America, and conqueror of half of the entire known world by age 26 .... the historical accounts of Alexander the Great's imperial military campaigns ... and its enduring legacy centuries later. A man who truly belongs to history.

Not even Napoleon, Douglas MacArthur, or General Patton could match the military legacy of Alexander the Great. Both Alexander's youth and his zeal created a legend that is unrivaled.

Alexander the Great, was born on or around July 20, 356 B.C.E., and is my favorite personality to read about in history. To me he is the whole package general, statesman, conqueror, and philosopher. The smartest man who ever lived, Aristotle, tutored him. Alexander conquered more of the known world than any other figure in history, accomplishing all this before he dies at the ripe old age of 33. Some people called him conqueror and violent overlord. Some other called him civilizer and even God! All of them yet, called him "The Great". He was the first man in modern history that took this name, "The Great"! Even as a young boy, he shows great promise.

Curtius' work is the oldest extant work available and based on eyewitness accounts. He does a better job than most in explaining the battle scenes, and seems to be more balanced in his admiration and criticism of Alexander then any of the other early biographers. I love his Bucephalus Story, and I recount it here so you get a flavor of the promise this young Alexander shows.

The legend begins with Philoneicus, a Thessalian, bringing a wild horse to Philip for him to buy. None of the hands was able to handle it, and Philip grew upset at Philoneicus for bringing such an unstable horse to him. Alexander, however, publicly defied his father and claimed that he could handle the horse. The bet between Philip and Alexander was that if Alexander could ride the horse, Philip would buy it, if not, Alexander would have to pay the price of the horse, which was 13 talents, an enormous sum for a boy of Alexander's age to have.

Alexander apparently noticed that the horse had been shying away from its own shadow, and so he led it gently into the sun, so that its shadow was behind it, all the while stroking it gently and whispering into its ear, (Alexander seems to be the original horse whisperer). Eventually the horse let Alexander mount him, and Alexander was able to show his equestrian skill to his father and all who were watching. The incident so impressed Alexander's father, King Philip that he told the boy "Look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of you, for Macedonia is too little for thee". He named the horse Bucephalus, which means Ox head, and rode it across Asia, founding a city in its honor in India after its death. This story gives you an inkling about the man.

This book is a must read for students of Alexander, I also recommend Plutarch's and Arrian's work. Contemporary writers, J.F. C. Fuller and Tarn. Most of Alexander's greatest military traits are in the area of military logistics and to understand his genius in this area I highly recommend reading, "Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army," by Donald W. Engels.

As a retired U. S. Army Major, I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in ancient warfare, and history.

The idea is to cut-and-paste segments from classical biographers into a relatively cohesive narrative of Alexander's life and exploits. Over all, the project comes off fairly well. It reads quickly, hitting all the expected the highlights. A nice sampling of the "original" sources; a short book that would serve well as an introduction to the topic.

As with all history, one never knows all, one can only assume, because, one was never there, or so we think.

Alexander the Great, by Arrian, is the modern English translation of "The Anabasis of Alexander" by Lucius Flavius Arrianus (Arrian), written in the second century A.D. There are no surviving "first hand" accounts of Alexander; however, Arrian informs us that his work is an abridgement of many other writers, some of whom accompanied Alexander on his conquest of the Persian Empire. In particular, Arrian relies most heavily on Ptolemy (an outstanding General in Alexander's army who later founded the Ptolemeic dynasty,in Egypt, ending with Cleopatra) and Aristobulus (probably a military engineer or civilian who accompanied Alexander on his campaign). Arrian is a Roman historian who lived 85 AD to 146 AD, and had multiple reasons for writing about the career of Alexander the Great. Arrian, himself, was a military leader over an entire Roman legion. No doubt, he had reason to admire Alexander for his brilliance as a leader and tactician. Also, although Arrian was a Roman citizen he was also ethnically Greek, born in the Greek town of Nicomedia. I can't help but feel that a sense of nationalism and pride may have played a role in Arrian's selection of 'Alexander of Macedon' as the subject for his books.

This is the third audio book about Alexander the Great, in a row, that I have listened to. It is, as far as I am concerned, the gold standard by which to compare any other audio book on this subject. I discovered, while listening to the other two books that both authors quoted Arrian, either directly or indirectly, frequently. I decided, therefore, to go right to the source, itself, and listen to what Arrian had to say about Alexander; and I am glad that I did. I had some initial aprehension about listening to an audio book that was written (probably in 'Attic') in the second century