3 comments about Edge Of The Sword: The Ordeal Of Carpetbagger Marshall H. Twitchell In The Civil War And Reconstruction.

1. How long have we heard from Southern apologists that if it hadn't been for the scalawags and carpetbaggers that Southern whites and {their} negroes would have gotten along just fine. Not that he had to but Tunnel goes along way in providing information that proves that the post Civil War South was viscious and violent place whose people preferred to use the bullet to the ballot. What a shame that President Grant and Hays did not have the courage to crush the White League and the KKK.



2. His life-and-death struggle with the notorious White League was started by a group of Pulaski lawyers and judges. It was not a part of the Confederacy at all, formed to protect Southerners from the Northern Carpetbaggers during reconstruction. We still need their protection, as a director of the Carpetbagger Theater hoodwinked $100,000 out of the City Council on false pretenses. She used her trained actress voice and acting abilities to pull one over on the cooperative group, with undercover help from those of her acquaintance who had the ability to hide the truth that she indeed was the owner of the condemned property in a bad neighborhood.
   
   His ordeal was nothing like today when the carpetbaggers have returned to the South 220 years later to rook the dumb Southerners. I was told by a Pulaski native about how the carpetbaggers had to be stopped and they were not only taking from the defeated but from the underlings as well. They were a group of vultures.



3. In recent decades, many historians of Reconstruction have been drawn to the story of Marshall H. Twitchell, an idealistic carpetbagger who braved ferocious reactionary violence in postbellum Louisiana. Honest, courageous, and committed, Twitchell was not the stereotypical northern opportunist of southern lore, and he has, as a result, surfaced in studies by Eric Foner, Lawrence Powell, George Rable and other historians who have revised the old Dunning-school interpretation of the carpetbaggers. Twitchell has, nevertheless, remained largely unknown to non-specialists because, until now, no one had written a full-length account of his life. With the publication of Ted Tunnell's superb biography, Edge of the Sword, Twitchell's extraordinary story should reach a wider audience.
   In recounting Twitchell's life, Tunnell tells "one of the great stories of Reconstruction."(p.4) Born in Vermont, Twitchell joined the Union Army at the start of the Civil War and fought in most of the major battles in the Virginia theater. Severely wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness when a minie ball entered his skull through his eye, he was left for dead by army surgeons. But after a miraculous recovery, Twitchell went on to be an officer for a black regiment comprised mainly of ex-slaves. Following Appomattox, he became an agent of the Freedmen's Bureau in Bienville Parish, Louisiana. While serving in this capacity, Twitchell met and married a southern woman, Adele Coleman, whom he hoped to someday bring home with him to Vermont. But when Adele refused to move North, Twitchell made the best of his situation, purchasing a modest cotton plantation, moving some of his relatives down from the Green Mountain state, and establishing a small "Yankee colony" in the town of Coushatta.
   In 1868 Twitchell entered local politics and, with the support of African-American voters, was elected as a Republican to the state senate where he successfully fought for funding to build black public schools. He also displayed remarkable courage in the face of repeated threats from the Knights of the White Camellia, Louisiana's version of the Ku Klux Klan. In one instance, Twitchell, having fallen asleep in his saddle, avoided assassination when his mule took the wrong road, thus circumnavigating the bushwhackers waiting in the woods ahead. Twitchell's brother Homer was not so lucky, however. In August 1874, while Marshall was away in New Orleans, conspirators killed his brother and six other Republicans in what became known as the "Coushatta Massacre." Undaunted, Twitchell returned to the town despite threats that he would be next. Refusing to be intimidated, he continued to defend the political and economic rights of blacks and poor whites. Finally, in May 1876, a disguised gunman rode into town and shot Twitchell six times with a rifle. Although Twitchell survived the attack, both of his arms had to be amputated. Only then did he leave the South for good.
   Throughout EDGE OF THE SWORD, Tunnell places Twitchell's life within the complex context of local and national politics and current historiographical debates. But he does so as part of an evocative narrative that skillfully recreates the dramatic events that make Twitchell's story so compelling. Thus, this work will be of interest to both historians and lay readers. Tunnell is to be commended for writing an important biography of a courageous man who truly believed he was fighting a righteous battle.

No comments about The Human Tradition in America between the Wars, 1920-1945 (Human Tradition in America).

1 comments about Out of Babylon: Ghosts of Grossinger's.

1. Grossinger, a teacher, writer, and publisher, opens the journey of his life to us in this huge, sprawling tangle of threads and tales. He is--and is not--of the Grossinger family that founded and lost the famed Catskills resort, and he writes compellingly of it rise and fall, rich with memories for New York Jews and others whose childhoods and families were inextricably bound to the resort. He writes of marriage, children, and university life in the `60s and `70s, painting a darker picture than some might remember but capturing its elusive, cannabis-scented texture. He chronicles his extended family and its enormous secrets and terrible demons, probing with relentless attention his haunted brother and, especially, his beautiful and quite monstrous mother. He does all of this more or less simultaneously, so the reader moves from one to another of these stories in wonder at their inevitable links and segues. It is rich in the evocation of New York and the Catskills in the '50s, New England and the Bay Area in the `60s and `70s, and amazement of watching your own children become people, and the sustaining pleasures of baseball, especially the Mets. Somehow it not only hangs together but is actually richer for is energy: one doesn't wish to deconstruct it into the many books it could have been. Exhausting, exhilarating, extraordinary. --GraceAnne A. DeCandido

No comments about Joseph II (Profiles in Power).

5 comments about Before Their Time: A Memoir.

1. ***POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT***
   
   I thought this book was going to be similar to Paul Fussell's books on World War II ... witty and cynical ... I was wrong.
   
   Fortunately, for us, the generation that fought World War II was full of so many people who chose to write about their experiences ... and write well. Kotlowitz' recollection of his World War II experience represents the nameless/faceless hundreds of thousands who probably shared the same or a similar experience. In his book, Kotlowitz' recounts his war experience from boot camp to old age ... it is a story of young, mostly innocent men/boys, hastily trained before being thrown into combat, only to have the journey violently end as soon as it begins.
   
   In vivid detail, he introduces us to the men (boys) who he will be forced to depend on in combat ... then, as you begin to get comfortable in knowing who these boys are, something terrible happens and they are all dead. It is such a depressing memoir, I actually envisioned his experiences in black and white.
   
   I finished the book realizing how quickly death came to so many in World War II and the survivor's guilt that probably plagued so many young men who returned home. I feel as though the book was a cathartic experience for Kotlowitz and it saddened me that it took over 50 years before he could finally achieve closure ... when he finally got together with the other survivor.



2. "Before Their Time" by Robert Kotlowitz. Subtitled: "A Memoir".
   Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. New York, 1997.
   
   In 1943, Robert Kotlowitz was in the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) at the University of Maine when mounting casualties in the European Theater of Operation (ETO) required fresh men for the war. General George Marshall ordered the termination of ASTP program so as to release some 175,000 young soldiers to the battlefields of Europe. So, this young man from Baltimore found himself on the liner, "Argentina", at the city of Cherbourg, "...the old Norman city" in France. The soldiers of the 26th division, the old Yankee Division, had to climb down rope ladders, hanging on the hull of the ship, into Higgins boats below. The details of this relatively unimportant event... i.e. disembarkation, fill many pages in this small book of memories written many years after the war. In this small section, the recounts how his contemporaries reacted to the requirement of climbing down rope cargo nets into the boats below, and by so writing, analyzes those young men of the Yankee Division.
   
   The author not only analyzes the men but also the 26th Division.
   On page 8, he writes ...
   "By 1944 there were no longer many true Yankees in the Yankee division. (O)ther ethnic and national groups had begun to infiltrate the roster:,, Italians, ... Armenians, Greeks" ... and so on. Then, Kotlowitz notes that there was "... a substantial cluster of despised WASPs, who didn't yet know that they were a symptom of the future, as well as a handful of isolated Jews, who were also despised; but the unlike the WASPs, the Jews were quite used to it".
   
   The writing continues in this analytical tone until the day when his regiment, the 104th, was ordered to advance against the German lines. Almost everyone was killed or wounded. Kotlowitz was one of the few physically unharmed survivors; he spent the entire day under the sights of the Germans. He did not move and played dead. This affected his outlook on the war and on the army and on his future life. After this single day of terrible combat, where so many casualties were caused by incompetence, Private Kotlowitz was assigned to rear-echelon job. Safe for the duration. So, unlike many World War II memoirs, this book is not a bang-bang, shoot `em story. Rather, it is a sensitive and subtle analysis of the experiences of one American soldier.



3. For those of you considering this book, look past several of the one star ratings that others gave. I have been studying World War Two, with an emphasis on the European Theatre for well over 25 years. I have read tons of books written on the strategic and tactical level. I have read biographies and memoirs as well. Studs Turkell called this war "The Good War" and a book that he penned several years ago bears this same title, excellent book but not a good war by any stretch of the imagination.
   
   As one of the victors of this global conflict we as Americans are so used to reading stories about a country gearing up for war, overcoming the odds and defeating the Axis powers and beating them back to within the borders of their own dark fascist countries. In the process of doing this, against popular belief, things did not always go well. Of the thousands of books available describing the chess game of men and machines that this war became, not many get deep into the platoon and squad levels or reveal the personalities and idiosyncrasies that existed. These subjects are often glossed over in favor of the "big picture". In the describing of strategic and tactical maneuverings of armies and equipment to achieve a planned objective the human element is usually absent.
   
   What many readers don't understand is that the story that Robert Kotlowtiz describes to us is the experience that many a soldier had, especially replacement troops that were new to a theatre of operations. They went through training, landed on the continent and depending on which Division, Corps or Army they were to be attached to may have been slowly incorporated into the war. Many did not last long in combat when they did arrive. They were either killed, wounded or captured on their first day or week in action.
   
   
   Unlike Dick Winters of the famed E Co., 506th P.I.R., 101st Airborne, Kotlowitz did not fight in Normandy or drop into Holland or endure the Ardennes or the Eagles Nest. He was in a green replacement division with no experience, and on his very first combat mission the world as he knew it came to an end. This story may seem tragic and unheard of and maybe a bit disappointing from a reader's point of view. But unless veterans like Robert Kotlowtiz tell their stories, we will never know what it was actually like. The official army "Green Back" histories although packed with detail and combat history writing do not describe the human emotion or personal mind-set of the individual combat soldier and the life that he had to endure.
   
   I personally found the book riveting and could not put it down. Sure, since Kotlowitz eventually became a writer it reads well and in some areas may be a bit over some reader's heads. But these stories need to be told even if it's not to the sound of trumpets or victory parades. It's still a tale of personal victory.



4. I never quite undestood what the author was trying to say. The more than half the book is about stateside training and meeting the other G.I.'s in his platoon but there is so little about combat. I was surprised that the time in combat was only about two or three days on the front line. I never did understand what happened to the author that took him out of combat. I understand there was some trauma from an intense day under fire. I never did figure out though why he was never sent back to the front. Many other G.I.'s went through days and weeks under fire and stayed up or returned to the front. I am compassionate to any front line soldier who fought in WWII but this book didn't seem to bring across to me what Mr. Kotlowitz went through.



5. This is a strange book. The author later went on to write novels so it isn't too surprising that this book is not really a memoir but a psychoanalytic, stream of conciousness paean to the life shattering memory of the author's one and only day in combat. The last 50 pages or so describe his slow re-discovery of himself after the trauma. Do not expect a literal description of Army life or battle. While there are some stunningly concrete details in this book they are almost always used to anchor a mental state or emotion the author says he was feeling. I am somewhat skeptical of the ability to remember how one would have felt a half a century ago but then again I didn't live through World War Two. This book falls in the camp of "Crossing the Sauer" and "Roll Me Over'. A work for meditation and introspection on memory. loss and World War II.

5 comments about Honor Denied: The Combat Memoirs of SS Radio Operator Karl Metzger.

1. I purchased and read this book based solely on the product description.
   
   Within a few pages, I was having doubts about its veracity. By a few chapters in, I was 100% sure it was fiction. I read the rest because it's like a train wreck - horrible, but I couldn't look away.
   
   To cite the Low Countries campaign only: The teenage SS radio operator is assigned as Rommel's personal signalman. No other staff of Rommel (a division commander!) are ever mentioned, nor other radiomen. Rommel gives "Metzger" personal orders about where to go, what vehicle to ride in, how to behave, etc. Also, "Metzger" is the sole channel to higher command (including direct to Berlin!) that Rommel has. He is the one man division signal unit for Rommel's unit! Rommel also assigns him to select unit deployment positions and issue appropriate orders. He is also the artillery and Luftwaffe liason. He also calls up supply, medical and MP units when needed.
   
   The German military in WWII was organized along modern lines with various staff functions to handle different areas. A division commander utilized all of these. I was in a US Army Infantry Battalion headquarters in the 1990's and even at that level (Battalions make up regiments or brigades, which make up divisions) there are staff officers and enlisted personnel to support the CO.
   
   Oh and also, at various times between all this when Rommel doesn't need him, Metzger also participates in close assaults and house clearing and kills three French soldiers. He's wounded by shrapnel in three places, is operated on, and returns to action immediately.
   
   I won't even get into all the equipment and weapon mistakes. Well - the one where the Belgians are using old guns from Napoleonic era (really, muzzle loading smoothbore cannons?!) is too good to pass up.
   
   Did I mention he understands at least 4 languages, which were taught to him by a rail signalman that he befriended as a child, since the signalman needed to know these languages to communicate with "foreign trains"? Including English?
   
   The rest of the book is full of stuff like this.
   
   DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS.



2. Ill keep this short & to the point.
   This book is fiction & nothing more.



3. A revisionist book, full of inaccuracies. He, the author states he is using a panzerfaust in 1940 during the invasion of France! Sorry, the Panzerfaust did not come into production until 1942, and really not even fielded until 1943. If he had been there, he would have known, without any doubts, that he could not even harm Soviet tanks in the 1941 scenarios he plays out using a panzerfaust. 37mm doorknockers is what he would have had available and many other improvised tank killers like tellar mines and hand grenade bundles. He acknowledges being an SS trooper (pre-1940) and denies any anti-semetic feelings or teachings. Rommel had a whole staff to take care of combined arms work, not just some young trooper. I have not finished the book, because he is like Sajer, full of inaccuracies, including where he was during Barbarossa. Wiking was in Army Group North, not south.



4. This so-called 'combat memoirs' would have made a better comic book than anything to be taken as history. The American author, Paul K. Harker and his publisher Outskirts Press obviously tried out several different 'story lines' on paper, then instead of editing the fiction to make the fakery seem more real, they just published the whole thing, stubs, flubs and all. Chummy supposed 'interactions'with Rommel by the low-ranking enlisted SS Man Metzer are stated mid-book as having ended forever, but then Rommel reappears at the end of the book like some ghost and tells Metzger to take care of himself. A Field Marshall hanging out with an enlisted man? Right......
   Many, many impossible-to-believe details, and numerous contradictions throughout, such as Metzger declaring himself over and over in the book to be a working-class peasant, then signing the book von Metzger. WTF???
   A complete waste of money.



5. As far as German memoirs go, this is the best I've read. It shows you that SS soldiers were human beings with families, careers and feelings instead of the mindless killing-machines we've been led to believe.
   
   This book contains things that only a real front line soldier could know and the way he expresses it with his words is incredible. There are passages that talk about National Socialism and its hold over Germany and Europe, and Metzger discusses it frankly. He doesn't pull any punches within his text. He tells his story in a way that makes you a fellow soldier in his unit. A very good book that deserves to be read by others.
   
   It's shameful that some detractors from the Axis History Forum and Feldgrau are on a campaign to muddy and tarnish not only this book, but Directive 19 and the authors and compiler. Read the comments under their reviews. You will see for yourself that these detractors, especially Axis History Forum's Michael D. Miller, thinks nothing about using foul language, slurs against a respected Rabbi, slurs against women and jokes about the handicapped in order to try to convince you not to read this book.
   
   Read this book. You deserve to.

2 comments about Evil Spirits: The Life of Oliver Reed.

1. For any avid Oliver Reed fan, this book doesn't contain anything new. However, for the cinema fan who admired Ollie's filmwork, it's a good intro to his life. When Ollie died, I was surprised to see that those of us in the American film industry viewed him more as a god of cinema, whereas the Brits viewed him as a god of debauchery. Since this book was written for the British audience, it focuses more on Reed's flamboyant side, but then Ollie was a one-of-a-kind rogue. Compared to the hypocritical stars of today, Ollie stands out as a true individual with a set standard of living. A great man, but the true story is still being written.



2. Although the writing and story in general did not flow particularly well and it seemed to be a bit jerky with respect to the sequence of events, just reading about the sheer audacity, madness, debauchery, depravity, and wickedness of Oliver Reed's life makes for an adventure well worth [the money]. The book in itself is not, nor will it ever be recognized as a literary pinnacle, however as a means to record several snap shots in the life of Oliver Reed, it is truly remarkable as simply a documentary writ of a life which was full of excess. This is the story of which legends are made, however despicable the behavior, and regardless of how one apply there respective terms of morals, no one remembers mediocrity or exemplary behavior. However, one seldom forgets tossing a chair through the pub window, or helping your friend off the side of a balcony, sexual advances and behavior of which most people fantasize about. In the great dichotomy of life one also is privy to a man who maintained his personal and emotional loyalty to friends and family of which few in this world can demonstrate, albeit left of center.

   Absolutely brilliant!!

5 comments about Bettie Page: The Life of a Pin-Up Legend.

1. This is an outstanding summary of Bettie's life and her impact on modeling, art, pin-up, photography, and those needing encouragement in overcoming obstacles. The book is a nice way to learn about Bettie Page and those individuals she worked with during her career and growing up. It stops short of telling about recent events, but gives one a good understanding of the lady. The information is factual and well written. Much speculation has been made about the time she walked away through the present, but this is a nice account with the facts that we know to be true without the speculation. The pictures within this book are amazing and many won't be seen anywhere else. The information about those individuals she touched, encountered was interesting as well. Good read.



2. I bought this book for my husband's birthday last year; he has always thought Bettie Page was great, and he is the one who enlightened me about her. As an artist, I was drawn to her style and unpretentiousness, and have drawn her twice so far.
   
   This book is well-written and leads the reader through Bettie's life; from her start and to her present day in a respectful and fascinating manner. I came away from this book understnanding the appeal she had to men, and wanting to draw her portraits over and over.



3. There was one another 50's icon who rivals Marilyn in popularity today--Bettie Page. True, she didn't make any A-movies, but like Marilyn, embodied that woman who drew a fine line between good girl/bad girl and crossed the lines as easily as one drank Coca-Cola. Unlike Marilyn, Bettie survived, but like Marilyn, her legend lives on for one simple reason: she dropped out of sight in 1957 following the fall of Irvin and Paula Klaw by the Kefauver Committee on indecency and pornography and refused to have herself be photographed as she is now. Thus, she is remembered as she was back then. And as her life has become simpler, she values her privacy. She says so as much in the hand-written foreword, at the same time surprised and honoured that so many people are interested in her.Karen Essex and James L. Swanson book is a great place to start for those curious about Bettie Page. Basically, it's a biography accompanied by lots and lots of colour and b&w photos, many of them topless. There are two of them which has her completely nude. She also posed for countless magazine covers and photographers. Art Amsie's photos are the best of the lot here. Bunny Yeager is touched on briefly, but that woman has a book on herself so... Looking at the early Bettie, before she became a pin-up from 1947, is also quite a revelation. She is still beautiful, but in an ordinary way, like a typical girl growing up in 1940's America.There is clearly a dualism going on here. There's the pretty wholesome girl in the bathing suit or maybe not, and then there's the darker leatherbound fetish girl, be she receiver or giver. That latter half led to her downfall. The point also was that she enjoyed her work, mainly the lighter beach stuff. You can see it in those twinkling eyes and smile of hers.The last section of the book features models who have been influenced by her, be they in clothes or just looking like her. Of the lookalikes, Eva Herzigova, Debi Mazar, and Janice Dickinson have got it down to the bangs, (it's the bangs that did it for Bettie, after all), long black hair, and prominent eyebrows.Apart from being one of fantasy artist Olivia's favourite subjects, Bettie's images appear on album covers by My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult and the David Lee Roth Band. Her three videos, Teaserama, where she acts opposite stripper legend Tempest Storm, Varietease, and Strip-O-Rama have come out. She'll live on, no doubt about it.Anyone interested in Bettie Page-start with this book. You won't be disappointed.



4. This is the ultimate book on Bettie Page. This book is for every true Bettie fan. Even contains an introduction from Bettie herself.

   If you really want to follow the history of legend, this is the ultimate book on Betty Mae Page!




5. So said one of her photographers. What a marvelous book. If you're like me, and have been a Bettie fan for years, you've been waiting for this book. For years one could find stuff on her only in comic shops and the like, dealing in old memorabilia from the Fifties, or in various "alternative" shops that sold her image on T shirts. As a teen that's where I learned about her, thanks to "The Rocketeer," the comic "The Bettie Pages," and psychobilly trash-punk band the Cramps, who for a short time had a bass player the spittin' image of our fair maiden. Now that we've finally opened our eyes, we can buy several books on her, this being by far the best. It is the ne plus ultra of Bettiebooks, of pin-up books in general. What a trend-setter; a humble, troubled, open and honest woman who was not exploited, who has not turned herself into a PC victim--she's idolized by smart, hip young women who see in her freedom, sexuality, playfullness, life itself. This book had better be reprinted--it's an absolute crime to be unavailable. Get this book by any means necessary!

No comments about The True Story of Kaluaikoolau.

4 comments about Hugh Glass.

1. It's a novel.
   
   Don't be fooled (like I was) into believing this is a non-fictional work.
   
   There is not one single footnote a reader can refer to to verify events. Long conversations take place, but only in the mind of the author. Events in the book are in the mind of the author (unless he provides footnotes, and he doesn't) and have no historical value.
   
   This book is fiction.
   
   I recommend that you buy the other book about Hugh Glass.



2. My husband and I enjoyed the story of Hugh Glass. We purchased the book as a result of seeing a program about him on the History Channel. Lots of those same things were in the book plus lots more. I feel the author took a considerable amount of artistic privilege with some of the items in the book but it was easy to detect the real facts and it all turned out to show that Hugh Glass was an amazingly adventurous, rugged, determined and versatile man. The author lets the reader know that he has taken some artistic license in the writing of the book . My husband and I liked the fact that Hugh Glass was portrayed as a man with a conscience. With all that in mind, I would highly recommend this book.



3. Enjoyable read. I have heard so much about Hugh Glass and knew of his name and some of his history, but not the full account. The man was a true man, with all of the colorful past that most Mountain Men had.
   
   I have a deep love of the mountains and part of this comes from reading books, such as this, about the mountains, men, animals and the forces of nature which is wild and will never be tamed.



4. I imagine few lives have contained so many varied life threatening experiences as Hugh Glass', and few more deserving of legendary status. As sailor, reluctant pirate, honorary Pawnee and fur trapper he time and again escapes death from pirates, cannibals, human sacrifice, Indian ambush, grizzly mauling and frozen wilderness. His fending for himself while dragging his torn broken body hundreds of miles after the grizzly mauling being the most miraculous. The author admittedly takes some liberties in creating a narrative that is much more readable than any recitation of the facts could be. But the essence and significant events are all based on well documented facts. It's a very readable telling of an amazing story.