history

Paul Elie's book is a sort of multiple biography of four well-known American writers (Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, Thomas Merton, and Dorothy Day), as well as a social and intellectual history of 20th century American Catholicism. This is a very ambitious book, but Elie pulls it off with great style. The strongest parts of the book are about O'Connor and Percy; maybe this is because they were the more accomplished writers. Elie makes O'Connor come alive again; we see the maidenishly lovable and strong-willed young author as she is struck down by illness and condemned to a confinement in her rural backwater. Instead of giving into despair she turns to her faith and casts a compassionate but unblinking eye to the human "grotesques" of the South: they come to unforgettable life in "Wise Blood" and "A Good Man is Hard to Find". She becomes interested in the powerful, consoling theology of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who taught that "everything that rises must converge." She dies of lupus at age 39.

Walker Percy also had to battle with despair. Both his father and grandfather committed suicide. The Percys were an aristocratic Southern family with a strong tradition of stoicism; that is, the nobility of suffering as the sole consolation. Percy eventually came to see that wasn't enough. In his first novel, "The Moviegoer", he examined "the greatest despair: that it does not know that it is despair." And in his best novel (in my opinion) "The Thanatos Syndrome" he explores the death wish of western civilization and the necessary faith-based cure.

Elie's accounts of the lives of Merton and Day are also very interesting, but those authors are perhaps not quite as prominent as they used to be. Day is better known for her many good works than her prosaic writing. And the monasticism of Merton seems to be a little esoteric and removed from quotidian, everyday life as it is lived by most of us. But they are still worthwhile as studies of what it means to take religion seriously in your life; to try to see the ultimate, luminous transcendental reality above and beyond the immediately visible one. This is a very moving, soul-satisfying book.

While the common theme of this book is on how four very distinct writers: Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Walker Percy, and Flannery O'Connor, expressed their faith through their literary lives, the real beauty of the book is in seeing how the four authors dealt with issues of their faith in their own lives. At times it seems like a story contrasting Doris Day's fiery activism to Thomas Merton's move into monastic life, both in response to the passions of their own lives and the events of the world. Walker Percy and Flannery O'Connor seem like much more of a middle ground between the two extremes, living much more in the world of literature than Day and Merton.

Each life makes for a fascinating reading on its own. The beaty of Paul Elie's book is that he allows each life to stand on its own, while combining them into a larger book on how to live as a religious thinker in the secular world.

The title of Paul Elie's book THE LIFE YOU SAVE MAY BE YOUR OWN is borrowed from a short story title of Flannery O'Connor, one of the four writers discussed in his book. The other three are Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and Walker Percy. The focus of Elie's work is not as much biographical as it is literary. He looks at the two things that connect these four great people: faith and writing, and shows how both work together to produce the great literary output of each author. Elie sees these four people as being part of an informal "Catholic" school of writers. Elie looks at an analyzes many of the writings of each author, and presents it in a manner that will appeal to the scholar and lay reader as well. Though the book has biographical information, and is arranged in a chronological manner, biographical and historical details are only provided where absolutely necessary to discuss the literary works of Day, Merton, O'Connor, and Percy.

There has been a temptation to see Merton and Day as larger than life, almost saintly figures, Percy and O'Connor as eccentric southerners who happen to be Catholic, and in the case of O'Connor, a Catholic writer trying to impose blatant symbols of faith in all of her writings. Elie certainly admires all four, but shows them from a human point of view. In doing so, he debunks many of the myths surrounding these four figures. From a spiritual point of view, they are just as human as we are, and it is because of their very human struggles that their literary output is possible.

Elie breaks important ground by looking at these four great Catholic figures as writers, and his work will undoubtedly set the stage for further study of the literary connections of Merton, Day, O'Connor, and Percy. His book includes copious endnotes that will enable a person to easily find works by and about these four authors. In most chapters Elie discusses each of the four, but he uses breaks after sections about each author which makes reading easier. Elie himself is a book editor and he uses his skills as an editor to write a concise work. The length of the book demonstrates this alone. The text without endnotes is approximately 475 pages. There are certainly individual works about Merton, O'Connor, and Day equal or greater in length than Elie's work, but hardly say as much. I cannot say for certain about Percy since I am not familiar with scholarly or biographical works about him.

This book will more than likely be of interest to Catholic readers, but anyone who wishes to study the role of faith in Day, Merton, O'Connor, and Percy, will find this book a great read an a valuable resource.

M.C. Escher was a true genius. This book has every print he has ever done. Along with a comprehensive history and a lot of his writings, this book gives you the best insight to a mathematical genius who barely passed math in school.

Illustrated are 448 (of the 449) original woodcuts, wood engravings, lithographs, linocuts and mezzotints by Maurits Cornelis Escher. An attractive volume, it virtually constitutes a catalogue raisonne. Each print is illustrated in minimum quarter-page format, with size, medium and date provided. Introductory chapters provide biographical and autobiographical information. In addition, the only book that the artist wrote, REGELMATIGE VLAKVERDELING (THE REGULAR DIVISION OF THE PLANE), which was published in 1957 in a very limited edition by a Dutch bibliophile society, is translated and illustrated in full. As owner of and dealer in the main body of Escher's original prints, drawings and watercolors, which were previously on loan to the Hague Museum, I make extensive use of this book and commend it to all. Published by Abradale at less than half the price of the out-of-print Abrams edition, but identical to it except for a different dust jacket, it provides good value, and is certainly less expensive than the signed original prints themselves, which cost more than ten thousand dollars each.

The other key books on Escher are VISIONS OF SYMMETRY; THE MAGIC MIRROR OF M.C. ESCHER; and THE GRAPHIC WORK OF M.C. ESCHER.

This is by far my favorite artist. My Geomentry teacher would show these pictures in class and it was the only time I would pay attention. It's like being on drugs without ever taking drugs.
It will make your mind expand into a new realm. Trust me.

"My Name's Friday" tells the story of producer-director-actor-writer Jack Webb. Fans of "Dragnet" will be surprised by the sheer volume of Webb's work in radio, television, and motion pictures. The scope of Michael Hayde's engrossing book goes beyond "Dragnet" and discusses all things Webb, with plenty of color and numerous "exhibits": first-person recollections by those involved in production, radio and TV episode guides, dozens of photos, transcripts of Webb's most memorable on-air speeches, even samples of "Dragnet" merchandise from the 1950s. The author takes pains to show the various facets of Webb's personality: intense workaholic, perceptive critic, enthusiastic jazz aficionado, loyal friend. Best of all for curious readers, the author has done a terrific research job, admirably placing the "Dragnet" phenomenon in its proper historical context. A fine book: Sgt. Friday would salute this one.

WOW! What a treat to read! This is THE book about DRAGNET that I was waiting for! If you're a fan of either the radio or TV version you MUST get this book!! It's not a biography of Jack Webb, but has enough background on his formative years to understand where he came from, so to speak. It goes into much detail about the DRAGNET industry that Webb created. Michael, it was well worth the long wait....an EXCELLENT job! Thanks!

Great,great,great that's all that can be said about this book on ol' Jack Webb. Definately recommend that you get it,causes it's truly Dragnet A to Z. Buy it and remember when T.V. was new.

Simply put, Vincent Cronin's Napoleon is the best biography of Napoleon I have ever read. As a student of Napoleonic history, I have read many biographies of the great man, but none has struck home like this one. Cronin presents Napoleon as the man he was, not the myth, not the legend, not the "Anti-Christ." Napoleon's fascinating life from birth to death reads like a novel. It is hard to put down.
Unlike other authors, Cronin does not appear to take sides. He presents Napoleon's accomplishments as well as his faults. If you were to chose one biography of Napoleon, this should be the one!

This biography keeps the reader's interest. While I remember little about Napoleon from high school history class, this book highlights Napoleon in an interesting way. Cronin writes well and picks out enough information to give you a good overview of Napoleon.

Easily, a biography on Napoleon can run volumes and they do. Cronin, however, presents Napoleon's early days on Corsica, his French military school days, his significant battles in Italy and Egypt, his reign in France, his march on Russia, his exile to Elba, his return to France and his final bannashment to the Island of St Helena, in an easy going manner.

According to Cronin, Napoleon is either loved or hated by biographers. While a reader doesn't need to know this, Cronin provides an analysis at the end of his book on primary sources about Napoleon and which, in his view, are credible. Based on this, Cronin appears to present a balanced view of Napoleon.

Napoleon is reported to have said this, and it is true. In this magnificent biography of the Corsican, Cronin has written the life of Napoleon from the inside: who the man really was. It is not only circunscribed to battles and politics, but especially the intimate life and anecdotes of Napoleon. It changed my vision about this man. The information and research are exhaustive, yet the book reads like a novel. That is the true art of biography.

Napoleon has been one of the most controversial characters in History, and deservedly so. Cronin does not take sides, but he clearly rejects the portrait of Napoleon as an overambitious monster, always trying to get more and more territories for France. Undoubtedly, ambition was the driving force for this man, but we have to consider that he was constantly harassed by other powers who feared that his influence would destroy the old European regimes. Undoubtedly, his coronation as Emperor was a big disappointment to all those who believed he would be the leader of Republicanism. Beethoven, for instance, dedicated his Third Symphony to him, but after the coronation he erased the dedicatory, writing instead: "To the memory of a great man". However, we have to judge historical figures by the standards of their times, not ours.

All in all, this is probably the best biography of Napoleon. At least it is the best among the three or four I have read. It is a shame that it is out of print.

The book is all about the life and struggles of Abe Lincoln, on how he led a life of poverty to presidency. The book goes into not the history of the time but the relationships he created to the common everyday person he dealt with. I read the book and just devoured it. For people many times just see the person and not the struggles that created that persona for who we know and well loved.

I read this book 5 years ago and was inspired by the courage, humility & vision possessed by Lincoln that was so well described by Dale Carnegie. An inspiration for all people, founded on principle's and morals that society seems to be lacking today. If anyone has a copy for sale, please let me know!! Kevin Appleb

I recieved this book (which is "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" in one edition) as a gift from a Dale Carnegie Instructor (Thanks again Ron!). This has been quite possible the greatest gift anyone has given me. I recommend this book to anybody and everybody. Reading this book will increase your confidence and your skills incredibly. Not reading it would be a punishment to yourself, and you deserve better.

Of all the books that profess to take you behind the scenes of a typical race team, this is the most engaging and interesting. As a die-hard fan of the sport, I have read most such books and they are generally either written by writers who aren't fans or fans who aren't writers, whereas this writer clearly is both. He manages to make the mundane interesting; perhaps the most dramatic part of the book is the second round qualifying attempt.

I lived in the South all my life, always aware of NASCAR, watching races every now and then. Even so, I haven't tuned into to a NASCAR race in probably 25 years. Because of this book, I will when the next season starts.

One can truly begin to understand the mystique of NASCAR after reading A Little Bit Sideways. Scott Huler's obvious love for the material really shines through. His writing transforms what, in lesser hands, could have been a dry and boring recitation of minute details into an interesting and compelling human interest story.

Read it. You won't be disappointed.

and now I feel like I could drive it. This is the book that lays it all out in a logical order, explains the terms, the rules and the strategies while taking you on an emotional rollercoaster ride. Will the car qualify for the race? You can feel the tension because for that week Huler lived it. This isn't a book full of old stories that drivers told a writer - this is an observation, full of detail - it's good old particaptory journalism like Plimpton wrote, talking to (and about) everyone from the owners and spnsors to the fans and the scalpers. What a great book!

Newbery Award winning author Lois Lowry offers her fans a creative look into her life. Using photographs, Lowry spins vignettes of memories triggered by each photo. Each chapter opens with a quotation from one of Lowry's books. From the vignettes, we learn how her life has influenced her writing. This autobiography is a very personal and intimate conversation between friends. It will appeal to both adults and children.

If you are a child, parent, teacher, librarian, or just plain human - you will love this book. Especially if you have enjoyed the books of Lois Lowry, you will appreciate seeing how her own life experiences have shaped her later fiction. Not really an autobiography, not really a memoir, "Looking Back" is more a visit with a friend who tells wonderful stories and makes you feel very much at home. And the photographs are incredible. A great gift!

How do writers create the characters for their books? Writer Lois Lowry answers this question in this beautiful book of memories. Each individual memory with accompanying black and white photograph illustrates an important event in the author's life. Together they weave a story that is impossible to put down and leaves the reader wanting more. There is humor reminiscent of Erma Bombeck and sadness that makes you want to weep. Lois Lowry includes quotes from characters in her books echoing experiences that are provided in the memories. The death of her sister is found in Number The Stars, her grandparent's house is in Autumn Street, and her son and his horse in The Giver, and she herself in books like Anastasia Krupnik and The One Hundredth Thing about Caroline. Read this book to learn more about a new friend or to find a new one.

"Mr. Lincoln's Army" is the first volume in Bruce Catton's celebrated trilogy chronicling the history of the Army of the Potomac during the Civil War, one of the most exciting war narratives in literature. Catton had grown up in Michigan around men who had served in that Army and these books were his attempt "to find out about the things which the veterans never discussed." Catton relies on a host of source material to weave his tales, from autobiographies of Generals McClellan and Howard, to the correspondence of Generals Sedgwick and Meade, to dozens of soldiers' reminiscences and regimental histories, to military histories relating to specific battles, campaign, military tactics and weapons. As you read these books you are always feel that you are dealing with living literature rather than dead history. This is because Catton privileges "The Diary of an Enlisted Man" by Lawrence Van Alstyne and the history of "The 27th Indiana Volunteer Infantry in the War of the Rebellion" more than he does "McClellan's Own Story."

"Mr. Lincoln's Army" covers the Army of the Potomac from its creation to the Battle of Antietam. Despite the title the central figure in the book is General George B. McClellan, the war's most paradoxical figure who gave this Army the training it needed to become a first rate military unit and who then refused to use the great army he had created. There are 6 sections to the book: (1) "Picture-Book War" actually covers the events in 1862 that led to McClellan being placed back in charge of the Army of the Potomac, setting up a rather ironic perspective for what happens both before and after that decision; (2) "The Young General" provides the background on McClellan and details his formation of the Army; (3) "The Era of Suspicion" covers the ill-fated Peninsula Campaign; (4) "An Army on the March" centers on the Second Battle of Manassas/Bull Run when the Army was under John Pope; (5) "Opportunity Knocks Three Times" begins with the great intelligence coup of the Civil War, the discovery of Lee's Special Order No. 191 and establishes how the upcoming battle was handed to McClellan on a silver plate; (6) "Never Call Retreat" tells the story of how McClellan snatched defeat--or at least a bloody tie--from the jaws of victory.

Bruce Catton's books on the Civil War are eminently readable, and with his History of the Army of the Potomac he finds his perfect level, writing about the men who were the common soldiers as much if not more than he does about the generals and politicians. You certainly get the feeling his heart was in these volumes more than it was in his larger histories of the Civil War. For those who are well versed in the grand details of the war, these books provide a more intimate perspective on those great battles.

Around the time of the Civil War's Centennial celebration, Bruce Catton dominated Civil War writing in this country. His books still speak to the reader in a literary style that brings the feeling of the war and its participants very much alive.

"Mr. Lincoln's Army" is the first of his three-part trilogy on the Army of the Potomac. Catton traces the tragic evolution of this army -- always a superb fighting force in the ranks -- from a misused and abused weapon to the anvil that finally broke the rebellion.

In this book, Catton focuses on one of America's few men of Destiny -- at least until he had the opportunity to confront destiny in the face -- General George B. McClellan. McClellan picked up the pieces of the Army of the Potomac twice. First, after its inauspicious start at the First Battle of Bull Run and again after the army's route following the second tussle with the Confederacy near that same small battlefield.

McClellan was good at everything in which a general had to excel except fighting. An outstanding organizer and moral builder, "Little Mac" trained the army to a professional level and instilled in it an esprit de corps that helped sustain it through disappointment and disaster.

The one thing McClellan could not do, as Catton illustrates through his focus on the Peninsula Campaign and the Battle of Antietam, was use this superbly honed weapon decisively in battle. Always thinking he was outnumbered when in fact he held the advantage in forces, and lacking the inner confidence to take even good battle risks, he wasted multiple opportunities to end the war (or at least the existence of the Army of Northern Virginia) and save years of conflict and hundreds of thousands of lives. McClellan ends up as the ultimate in tragic figures, outwardly seeming so perfect for the job and bearing the loftiest of expectations as a savior, but inwardly cowed by fears and suspicions that he wasn't up to it.

This book is a wonderful and evocative portrait of the spirit of the Army of the Potomac in the McClellan era. Catton's great strength is the use of anecdotes to draw the big picture and sniff out "what was in the air" at different points in time. Thus his books are not exhaustive campaign and battle portraits and are short on troop movements and deployments of particular units. He seeks to demonstrate what was actually happening when all the personalities and actors of a moment are factored together. It is a big picture look at his subject buttressed by observations, iconic stories and the unusual that allows the reader to understand the feeling that surrounded events.

Thus, Catton focuses mightily on the relationship between McClellan and Lincoln's administration, his relationship and the performance of senior officers and in deciphering the motives, mindsets and chess game that seemed to envelope significant figures in the Army of the Potomac to a much greater degree than any other Union or Confederate army engaged in the conflict.

As all of Catton's writings on the Civil War are, this one is a classic.

What a wonderful book. I was so lucky to be able to pick up a great condition trilogy of the AOP (Mr. Lincoln's Army, Glory Road, and Stillness at Appomatox).

Catton's style is so amazing. You get the broad strokes of tactical movement, political wranglings, down in the ditch tales, camp life, and of course the human equation.

Excellent. Excellent. Excellent.

I must say, I'm glad I had a little working knowledge of the ACW before reading. He does have a tendency to just start up. For instance, Lincoln's Army starts in the middle of 2nd Manassas, then kind of works back into a flash back and fills in some of the bios. This may be a little confusing for an un-informed reader. You may want to read a very general, one volume sort of history before moving on to Catton.

The good thing though is the book is suitable for a beginner and yet I think the more you know about the ACW, the more you will enjoy it. There are so many great little stories about politicians, soldiers, officers, etc.

Highly recommended.

Mary Elizabeth Anderson's LINK ACROSS AMERICA is an informative and entertaining way for young and old alike to learn about the Lincoln Highway. The book combines facts, photos and entertaining Burma Shave jingle signs to help keep children interested in the topic while they read.

The history reflected makes you appreciate the roads we travel, instead of just taking them for granted. I must admit that I attended Seedling Mile School in Grand Island, Nebraska for 3 years and only recently learned why it was called such when I read Ms. Anderson's book. I had no idea the struggles made by so many to put together this road that I travel so often.

I highly recommend LINK ACROSS AMERICA to anyone with an interest in American history.

I thought the book LINK ACROSS AMERICA by Mary Elizabeth Anderson was excellent. I have lived by the Lincoln Highway most of my life but I was never aware of the histroy behind it. It is a fun book for children to read, and also learn at the same time. The book makes us appreciate what we have and also recognize the efforts of the people who gave us the first coast to coast highway.

My husband and I are getting ready to make a trip from the West Coast to the Midwest, and I remembered reading the book, "Link Across America". This book taught me a lot about the highway. I decided to re-read the book and thought I'd like to share it with other readers. So, please, research this book if you are planning a trip down the Lincoln Highway.

In 1856, the eminent historian, Lyman C. Draper, temporarily laid aside the 800 handwritten page biography of Daniel Boone that he had just recently completed. So far, Draper had documented the famous American frontiersman's life only through the year, 1778, and he fully intended to renew the project one day to cover the forty-two additional years of Boone's life. But that day never came, Draper went to his grave in 1891, and his unfinished manuscript was filed away and largely forgotten in the collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. One day in 1990, Ted Franklin Belue, a history professor at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky, was studying Draper's manuscript on microfilm. Here, according to Belue's own words, was a national treasure, "known only to a few, filled with tales of Boone, frontier lore, Long Hunters, Indians, wild exploits, hunters' skills, genealogical data, descriptions of native flora and fauna, miscellaneous Americana, trans-Appalachian history, and much more." It took Belue eight years to transcribe, edit, and annotate the monumental manuscript. The result is an equally monumental book. More than 600 fact-filled pages tell the story of Boone from his birth in Pennsylvania in 1734 to his residence forty-four years later in Kentucky. Draper's original biography is much enhanced by Belue's interesting preface, his own extensive notes which shed a great deal of additional information on Boone in light of modern-day research, a chronology of Boone's life, a fine selection of period illustrations and maps, and an index. The Life of Daniel Boone is a book that anyone interested in America's "first West" will read with relish and appreciation. It is a testimonial to a man whose name-even today, nearly two hundred years after his death-is one of the country's most recognizable. But, beyond its tribute to Boone, the volume presents a gold mine of information about everyday life on the trans-Appalachian frontier, the mores and lifestyles of the region's first Anglo settlers, and a number of mini-biographical sketches about some of the key players of the times. --James A. Crutchfield

When he died in 1891, historian Draper left unfinished this massive biography of legendary Kentucky frontier hero Daniel Boone (1734-1820). Now Belue, who teaches history at Murray State University in Kentucky, has transcribed and annotated Draper's rambling manuscript, whose florid, hagiographic prose should not deter readers from some real merits. First, Draper, an indefatigable researcher, drew upon thousands of documents as well as interviews with white, Native American and black frontier dwellers to re-create Boone's colorful exploits, including his blazing of a trail through the Cumberland Gap; his construction of Boonesborough, the first permanent settlement in the "Far West"; and his dramatic rescue of his daughter Jemima and two other girls from Indians. Second, Draper's tome is a treasure trove of early Americana, covering Indian-Anglo wars and relations, the fur trade, the British presence and trans-Appalachian life, flora, and fauna. Third, the 76 period drawings, engravings, photographs and maps offer revealing glimpses of both whites and Native Americans. And finally, Belue's entertaining and informative chapter notes diligently correct Draper's romanticization, offering instead a lifelong wanderer from home and family, a failed land speculator, an adventurer who watched his son tortured to death by Cherokees but who still sought accomodation with the Indians. Regrettably, Draper's text breaks off in 1778, but a chronology, epilogue, and appendix sketch Boone's later exploits.--Publishers Weekly, September 14, 1998

This is the one to get. This one, and John Mack Faragher's BOONE biography (Henry Holt, 1992). Anything by Belue is worth getting; he is precise to the point of obsession, and his works--four thus far--will stand the test of time.