2 comments about Lee's Maverick General: Daniel Harvey Hill.

1. Sometimes a person's personality really hurts their career. Lee and many others called D.H. Hill a malcontent etc... because he questioned the ANV's strategy, found many of his fellow officers wanting in even basic military skills and wondered how the south could win with poor arms and ammunition. People always say it was too bad Jackson wasn't at Gettysburg but there was nothing to do about it. DH Hill was in exile at that time when Lee's army was saddled with many incompetent commanders like Pickett and Heth.



2. Daniel Harvey Hill had two key faults. First, he was a very perceptive officer. Second, he always spoke his mind. D.H. Hill was not the only general officer to find himself on the outs with Jefferson Davis during the Civil War but he was one of the very few who was consistently shunned after his fall from grace.

   Hot tempered and unusually outspoken, he stormed his way through the Civil War, fearlessly leading Confederate soldiers at Malvern Hill and Antietam while continuously stepping on the toes of his superiors. Ultimately, he was made the scapegoat for the mutiny of almost all the general officers serving under Braxton Bragg after the confusing victory of the Army of Tennessee at the Battle of Chickamauga. This mutiny was so pervasive that Jeff Davis was required to leave Richmond and visit the battlefield in order to put down the revolt against Bragg, a Davis favorite. Amazingly, Davis retains Bragg against the wishes of almost every general officer who participated in this engagement.

   This is a very interesting book, providing insight into why the Confederacy ultimately lost middle Tennessee, thereby opening the way for the Federal advance on Atlanta.

2 comments about Unveiling Kate Chopin.

1. I hope this is a good biography of Kate Chopin, an author whose work I admire. However, if you read this book, I suggest you be very careful of trusting any conclusions the author reaches based on anything less than complete evidence.
   
   Emily Toth makes many assumptions and interpretations which are shaky at best. For example:
   
   Bud Aiken is a representation of Albert Sampite because they share an initial (A). That's weak at best.
   
   Alcee Arobin is a representation of Albert Sampite because the first and last pieces of Albert Sampite's name make Alcee, thus: Al---- -----e becomes Alcee ... say what?
   
   Early on, Toth says evidence suggests that Oscar Chopin helped his mother escape from her husband's (his father's) house. Most of her evidence is based on her interpretation of Oscar's character and what he would have done. Later in the book, she states Oscar's assistance to his mother as an established fact!
   
   I could go on and on but that's enough to give you the idea.
   
   Also, Toth's writing is overblown and florid, especially at the ends of paragraphs where she states her conclusions.
   
   Probably Toth's underlying research and scholarship are sound. It's a pity she marred the book with conclusions she seems to want to be true, and writing that doesn't serve the subjecct.



2. Emily Toth wrote Unveiling Kate Chopin after the remarkable recent discovery of Chopin's diaries and manuscripts. This intimate perspective paints a whole new picture of her life and work. Throughout this biography, Toth draws parallels between actual experiences from Chopin's life to characters and incidents in her writing. Suddenly, her stories have new depth of meaning. Toth begins her saga when sixteen-year-old Eliza Faris, a genuine Creole, married thirty-nine-year-old Thomas O'Flaherty, a wealthy businessman in St. Louis. A domineering patriarch, O'Flaherty sent his daughter Kate away to boarding school at age five. Although the reason why is unknown, Toth suggests "a dark family drama triggered sending Kate away." Shortly after this, Thomas O'Flaherty died in a tragic train wreck, and Kate came home to stay. This incident of her father's death closely parallels Chopin's "The Story of an Hour," with a different twist at the end. Toth describes Chopin's childhood as a paradise dominated by women. Life bloomed until the Civil War brought the invasion of the Union army to St. Louis. Speaking out against the Union, Kate herself narrowly escaped imprisonment. Union soldiers intruded the family's home, committing, what Toth refers to as, an "outrage." Chopin married a sensitive and wealthy young Louisiana Frenchman, Oscar Chopin. A non-conformist, Kate never quite fit in with his people, displaying such radical behavior as smoking, walking alone, riding bareback and astride, and lifting her skirts to provocatively show her ankles. It is no wonder that she felt like an outsider, similar to Edna Pontellier in The Awakening. After her husband's death, Kate began developing as a professional writer, following the classic rule of "Write about what you know," and submitting her stories to newspapers and magazines. She learned that as long as her heroines never triumphed over their men, they were accepted. Her passion was for exposing the realism of social problems women faced in a world where men wrote the rules. Audiences embraced her book Bayou Folk, yet they looked past the courageous qualities of the women characters, seeing only the quaint local color. In April, 1899 Chopin published her finest work, The Awakening. The crushing reviews of her masterpiece labeled it "morbid," "unhealthy," "not wholesome," "shocking," "crude" and "sex fiction." Thus the novel modern audiences celebrate Kate Chopin for writing, brought her career to a scandalous end. Like Edna in The Awakening, naked and unveiled to the world, she had swum out too far. Chopin died a few years later in 1904. Toth portrays Chopin as a brilliant creative woman with the courage to brave the controversy against conventional traditions of Victorian America. She captures the sensitive world where Chopin bloomed and relates how it cultivated the genius who wrote of subjects nearly a century ahead of her time.

2 comments about Journal of a Mountain Man (Classics of the Fur Trade).

1. We should be grateful that there were such men as Clyman to write down history as they saw it in the early to mid 1800's. Not many mountain men/frontiersmen were literate, and if this wasn't written down back then, it would have just been heresay. Clyman came out with Jedediah Smith in the 1820's as a fur trapper. He records what went on at that time. These couple of chapters are a fascinating read. Then in the early 1840's, he came out with the Oregon Trail emigrants. He was a very observant individual, describing not only the climate, but also geology, flora, fauna, agriculture, etc. along the way. There was a section in the book where he talks about "time and space" which really surprised me about how deep a thinker the man was...he was very intelligent, also writting poetry and prose. If you want to know what it was like then, read this book...it's a good one!



2. This is one of my favorite books. I just bought one for my cousin and decided to submit a review. If you're looking for a literary masterpiece, go buy Finnegan's Wake. This book is written by a pretty illiterate guy who spent his life exploring the West, back when it was all indians and a few couple white men. The author hiked naked over a thousand miles after he ripped a hole in the back of the Indian tent where he was being held captive, attacked, killed and ate a badger with his bare hands, and was generally the toughest, meanest SOB I've ever encountered. If you're intrigued by the old West, but you're sick of reading and viewing the lightweight fluff, get this book. Its the Real Thing.

5 comments about Pudd'Nhead Wilson.

1. It is a shame and an irony that really, really good writers end up with their books becoming required reading in school, a fact that, naturally, makes students avoid them like the plague, "them" referring to both the writers and their books. Happily, though, PUDD'NHEAD WILSON is pretty slim for a novel, the edition I have weighing in at only 149 pages, so it might actually attract some reader other than a poor, benighted student on whose bowed shoulders yet another inscrutable assignment has been laid. Such a reader will be greatly rewarded for having picked up this book, for it fairly bursts with Twain's ironic humor, biting social commentary, and fascinating character studies.
   
   Now, I have no idea as to why Twain chose to title this tale as he did, for "Pudd'nhead" Wilson is hardly more major a character than many of the others who populate the story, and is perhaps even less so than some. Roxy--slave, freed woman, and slave again--is more of a catalyst for much of the action than is Wilson. Tom Driscoll, not the real Thomas a Becket Driscoll, but Valet de Chambre, who grows up believing himself to be Tom, is another nominee for the role of principal protagonist. Wilson's receipt of his nickname, it is true, gives us one of Twain's first commentaries in the book on people who cannot distinguish sarcasm from literal fact, and, yes, it is Wilson's acumen that saves two innocent men from hanging and brings to light the web of deception that Roxy began spinning years before. Still, had I written such a story, I do not believe that choosing the name of that particular character as the title would have occurred to me, but perhaps that is Twain's genius. The nickname is assuredly ironic, and this story is full of ironies.
   
   Also curious is the presence of the twin Italians, Luigi and Angelo. Their part in the story is clear enough, of course, for their treatment by the townspeople is a powerful indictment of a society that can revere an idol on one day, only to cast the infidel down into the mire the next, thanks solely to rumor, innuendo and erroneous appearance. Still, this could have been accomplished with a single foreign visitor to the town, and Twain's choice to present us with twins is perplexing, particularly since Luigi consistently overshadows Angelo in the story line. Twain's own preface to the story is not to be taken as an explanation here, for he is being as witty and non-literal is the preface as he is in the story proper. Thus far, I can find no satisfactory explanation for the use of twins, although I have no doubt that Twain could give one were he so inclined (and still able to communicate in the mortal world).
   
   Conventional analysis of PUDD'NHEAD WILSON makes much of Twain's condemnation of slavery, and such examples as Chambers' inability to rejoin white society successfully after his true identity as Tom Driscoll is made known clearly show the demeaning and destructive nature of slavery. Yet, I feel that Twain goes far beyond the institution of slavery in his commentary on universal human nature--and that commentary is anything but an affirmation of positive aspects of humanity. Can any son sink so low as Chambers in deceiving his own mother and selling her back into slavery "down" the river? For that matter, could any mother sink so low as to ensure that both her son and the babe entrusted to her care both grew to sordid manhood through living a lie? Pudd'nhead Wilson, Luigi and Angelo may be the only fully honorable characters in the story--and the twins hightail it back to Europe as quickly as they can, leaving the sordidness of society in Dawson's Landing as far behind them as possible.
   
   Inasmuch as comprehending a novel such as this hinges on both the writer's creativity and the reader's skill in interpreting the creation, and because the reader's skill has much to do with his knowledge of the society that the writer is depicting, I do find myself wondering whether a reader who is intimately familiar with the culture of the "Deep South" may understand and, therefore, enjoy Twain more fully than one who is not. Will a reader from, say, the Midwest, who may never have listened to speech along the southern reaches of the Mississippi River fully appreciate the phonetic spellings of Roxy's discourses? Will every reader understand equally the significance of Roxy's reaction when she realizes that Chambers has sold her DOWN the river rather than up? These are neither criticisms of the book nor weaknesses in it; they are merely cautions that not every reader may find PUDD'NHEAD WILSON as meaningful as others may.
   
   For my part, I suggest that this tale is both fascinating reading and accurate commentary on a large segment of society in the U.S. I also suggest that the society described in the story did not entirely vanish at the end of the 19th century and that Twain's depictions of many of the flaws in that society are as valid today as when they were set to paper. In short, I can think of no reason whatsoever not to read PUDD'NHEAD WILSON. It is thought-provoking but in a most enjoyable way.



2. While this isn't Twain's strongest work, he delivers another literary treasure in this book. This is a rustic, grassroots novel where Twain again shows his gift for capturing the lighter side of life while offering some thought-provoking observations about human nature. This isn't as memorable as Tom Sawyer or as strong as Huck Finn, but it is still well worth your time. While I don't recommend this book as a starting point if you haven't read Twain (Tom Sawyer is the place to begin), this is a great read that all Twain fans should enjoy.



3. Mark Twain might have been a sad, grim man with the bleakest conceivable outlook on life, but the man could turn a phrase like nobody's business.
   
   Pudd'nhead Wilson is a fairly short novel, but there's a lot going on. There's a white baby switched at birth with an identical-looking 1/32nd black baby (who is therefore a slave). There are political and financial machinations all around.
   
   Most interesting is Twain's use of fingerprinting as a crime-solving device. He was, in fact, ahead of his time, as governmental police agencies were only beginning to use fingerprinting to identify criminals a few years after this book was published. What seems to us now to be rather common sense and everyday must have been cutting edge, CSI type stuff to Twain's original audience.
   
   Twain uses his trademark distinct, vivid and real vernaculars when writing dialogue, including the heavy use of the N-word, which ignorant people have been fussing about for generations.
   
   We also get a very vivid idea of exactly what it means to be "sold down the river" in its original sense.
   
   My copy of the novel has an introduction by Langston Hughes, which I recommend first-time readers skip until they have completed the novel, because he basically walks the reader through the book's plot in five pages.
   
   Pudd'nhead Wilson is a fast, engaging novel, combining mystery with Twain's typical biting social commentary.
   
   RECOMMENDED



4. Twain's Puddn'head Wilson is typical of his other works in that we see many of the same exploits and devices--satire and witticisms, boys dressing up as girls, slave dialect and southern slang, mistaken identities. Perhaps this short novel goes out a little more so than others in that it not only is a comical portrayal of stereotypes and the problems that they cause, but it has elements of both drama and mystery as well.
   
   The story begins with Puddn'head Wilson, a man named so because many of the people don't understand his eccentric ideals, coming to Dawson's Landing to establish his career as a lawyer. He has an unusual habit of collecting fingerprints, which most in the southern town don't give much credence to--however, this is great foreshadowing for the final climactic courtroom scene. Roxy, a slave, makes a decision to switch her baby with that of her master's in order to try to give her child a better station in life. After successfully doing this, many years pass without anyone suspecting what she has done. Thus, Chambers is actually Tom, and vice versa, and they go about this way in life.
   
   One of the interesting aspects of the book is the title. Pudd'nhead Wilson comes to be the most important character by the novel's end, but he is not the focus of the book. Tom is the major focus, and we see him find out who his real mom is, as well as his real identity, his actual history. There are times when Tom appears to be on the verge of changing from an arrogant, self-centered person to someone better, but his "true" self always seems to get the better of him and he never makes that change. We can see that the way he treats his mother as well as Wilson.
   
   Twain's point interposed in the storyline is the devastating effects slavery has on society. While he uses several scenes to highlight this, perhaps one of the most moving is Roxy's willingness to be sold "down the river" to help out Tom out of a jam, something that Tom doesn't even truly appreciate. This is a moment of complete and utter self-sacrifice; Tom's reaction to his mother's cries seemingly is parallel with society's indifference about the harshness of slavery.
   
   Still, while Twain is able to make a point about slavery and take serious views on its ill effects, he is also able to maintain his humorous edge and then take the novel into an interesting direction--leading to a final murder mystery. In this scene, Wilson is able to use some of his fingerprinting tactics to successfully prove who the real murderer was.
   
   This novel does have its problems, and seems a bit disproportioned at times. For instance, while we follow Tom throughout his early childhood and beginning adulthood, we never really follow Chambers, the one who he is switched with at the beginning. Also, there is only a scattering of focus on Roxy, Tom's mother, within the novel.
   
   Over all, this is typical Twain, but maybe not with the same impact of Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer. Still, this is a quick, fun read.



5. Pudd'nhead Wilson is classic Twain: it manages to be as fun and as funny as it is disturbing and bleak. The entertainment results from both the comedy inherent in mistaken identity and the straightforward detective story that frames the narrative. The tragedy arises from Twain's complicated treatment of social hypocrisy, slavery, racial identity, and the debate between the influences of one's heredity and one's environment.
   
   The novel, like Twain's earlier "The Prince and the Pauper," features switched-at-birth boys: Tom, who is born to Judge Percy Driscoll, and Chambers, who is born to a slave named Roxy and is 1/32 black. Roxy exchanges the babies to keep hers from being "sold down the river," and the two change names--and races. They later become rivals when the new Tom lords his authority over the new Chambers. A second pair of boys, the dashing Luigi and Angelo, are former vaudevillian actors who arrive in town and become implicated in a murder. (In an early draft of the novel, the two were conjoined twins--and Twain didn't quite excise or revise all the relevant passages.) The amateur investigator and accidental detective, David "Puddn'nead" Wilson, is a lawyer who has become the town outcast and who pursues the mystery to expose the townsfolk's self-importance and self-deception.
   
   If you're looking for a detective thriller, this one is a bit far-fetched. (There is a subplot involving Wilson's dabbling in the new "science" of fingerprint identification that is fascinating.) But the plot is incidental to Twain's humor and, especially, his themes.
   
   There has been on ongoing debate between critics of this book that will never be resolved: between readers who condemn Twain, for implying that Tom's wickedness and indolence result because of his genetic make-up (i.e., because he was "born" black), and readers who defend Twain, who feel that he was arguing that Tom's faults resulted from his family and the society (i.e., because he was "raised" white). Similarly, Roxy's portrayal is alternately troubling (she is devious, wicked, and mad) and sympathetic (she is quite intelligent and will do anything for her child). I tend to side with those who defend Twain, because it's clear that Twain doesn't much care for the traditions and principles of (white) society, which is why an outcast like Wilson must become the hero. But I also feel that Twain, deliberately choosing ambiguity over pedantry, was investigating the nature versus nurture debate without definitively answering the question--and the fact that readers seem split on the verdict hints to me that he succeeded. Twain dares to ask the question: What is race, and does it really exist?
   
   In spite of its occasional profundity, the novel as a whole, which is quite short, is really an exercise in absurdity that perhaps only Twain could make work. (Most young readers who know Twain through his early works won't cotton on to "Pudd'nhead Wilson.") The book has an unfinished, first-draft feel, and it feels almost patched together from various stories and plots (which it is). But fans of Twain's other works would be making a mistake not to read it.

5 comments about Theodosia Burr Alston: Portrait of a Prodigy.

1. 
   I first heard about Theodosia Burr while visiting Charleston, SC, earlier this year. The tour guide mentioned she was Aaron Burr's daughter, a woman educated like a man and raised to be future Empress of Mexico, who disappeared at sea and was rumored to be stolen away by pirates. I was fascinated and determined to learn more. When I looked up Theodosia on Amazon, Richard N. Cote's book came up. I bought it immediately.
   
   I was not disappointed. The biography "Theodosia Burr Alston: Portrait of a Prodigy" by Richard N. Cote was a fun ride through history. While the book could use more editing, the story itself was intriguing. A Revolutionary War hero and infamous duelist, Aaron Burr raised his only child to be female version of himself: a sophisticated, intelligent, free-thinking prodigy who socialized with French nobility, Native American Chiefs, and quite a few famous Americans, including President George Washington and Dolly Madison.
   
   What I discovered reading this, however, was that Theodosia herself did not interest me as much as her father. In fact, something about her turned me off. I found myself skimming sections about her to learn more about her charismatic father, Aaron Burr, whose mercurial career in politics and wild scheme to conquer Mexico made for a much more interesting story.
   
   All in all, "Theodosia" was a great book in terms of history. I learned quite a bit about our Founding Fathers and what life was like after the War in the newly formed US. I also enjoyed satisfying my curiosity about Theodosia's education and death, as it is an interesting footnote in history. But more importantly to me, I was pleased to learn so much about Aaron Burr, the third Vice President of the US. He is the true hero of this book.



2. I entirely disagree with the reader below me. (Everyone owned slaves back then, except for, notably, Alexander Hamilton, who hated slavery, and yes, he wasn't the only one. But still, the focus of the book was Theodosia, not Aaron.)

   I came across Theodosia while I was watching the PBS Home Video "The Duel" (which I recommend if you are interested in Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, the duel itself, or politics in that time period). I wanted to know more about her and purchased this book. I'm glad I did! This biography seems more like a novel because of the incredible, fast-paced journey it leads you on into the past. I especially liked the last few chapters, when the author explored Theodosia's possible fates and the "mystery of the Nag's Head portrait." This whole book never had a boring moment, so if you are interested in this great yet unknown woman or her infamous father, read this book ASAP!




3. I hate to rain on the parade of all these glowing reviews, but this book is a product of shoddy, lazy, amateurish research. A full 59% of the footnotes are based on secondary sources, & a full 25% of those are from one source alone which the author himself admits is unreliable. The section on Aaron Burr's mother is based on a "source" well-known for decades to be [untrue]. The discussion of Burr as a "slave-owner" is totally misleading, based on assumptions for which there is no evidence, & completely overlooks Burr's well known anti-slavery record. I could go on & on, but you get the picture. The book is full of factual errors, misleading assumptions, & faulty logic. Theodosia Burr Alston needs a good biography, but this isn't it.



4. What an in depth and at times riveting account of Theodosia, the beautiful and very gifted daughter of Vice President and scheming traitor, Aaron Burr. This is a story that has been told before but never brilliantly as in Mr. Cote's sweeping tale. The author brings to life the romantic and tragic heroine, Theodosia, so vividly that the reader truly feels her joys and pain. From her privileged upbringing by a father who was a brilliant but flawed man to her marriage into South Carolina's wealthiest family and eventually to her mysterious death at age 28, this is a story that carries us through the ballrooms and political intrigue of the 18th and early 19th Century. Theodosia, the most well educated woman of her time, was destined by her ambitious father to be empress of Mexico in a scheme both treasonous and ultimately ruinous. Theodosia vanished at sea in 1812 leaving behind a haunting portrait that washed up on a North Carolina beach and a story so intriguing that it lingers in the heart and mind long after the book is finished.



5. There is little doubt that Vice President Aaron Burr was the single, most important person in the world to this young, and impressionable young woman: and why not? He was, after all, her father, the person most likely to offer her his best nurturing protection, validate her worth, and interpret the world as he would like her to see it, educating her for what he perceived it to be, in its complexity as well as its simplicity. As his most unconditional admirer, she apparently did the same for him, and as his trusted confidant, the author spectacularly preserves and presents their special relationship of father and daughter with reasonable success despite the number of rumors, accusations, and hype that usually accompanies infamous figures in history, allowing us to appreciate the complexities of political environments, personal relations, and complex events in a very readable and eloquent fashion, in today's conjecture of thought and reason as best he can from a 200 year old antique history. An insightful account of a very colorful period of American history. While certain presumptions may well be far fetched, certainly the inquiry is a valuable contribution to what can only be called one of the very few accounts of the importance of females in the lives of historical figures.

4 comments about More Generals in Gray.

1. I was uncertain about the merit of this title before I purchased, but I need not have been. Author Bruce Allardice has created a worthy supplement to Ezra Warner's "Generals in Gray."
   
   The presentation format of "More Generals in Gray" is very close to that of Warner's classic reference works, but in single column vs. two columns for Warner's books. For most of the 137 entries a photograph, sketch, painting of the person is provided, except where ones were not available. The author provides background information including birthdate, state, parents, education as well as prewar occupation. Following this is a description or relevant military career, ranks achieved, commands, postwar life and death. Allardice closes each biography with a description of what sources led to the inclusion of the particular figure as a general. Notes and sources are provided after each entry as well.
   
   One caveat is that the reader should not expect to find a large list of generals overlooked by Warner, that is not the direction of this work. Instead, Mr. Allardice has cast a wider net to include those who would be legitimately rejected by the earlier criteria. He carefully provides detailed criteria and explanation for his additions. Most names here are men who were either never really promoted/confirmed or who were generals in state service or appointed in the Trans-Mississippi by E. Kirby Smith.
   
   This brings us to the strength of the study: the inclusion of men acting as generals who were either appointed by Kirby Smith or who led state forces as generals in actual campaigns. Both of these are indeed generals in the true sense of the word. Those studying the Trans-Mississippi will definitely find the backgrounds provided here beneficial.
   
   The less exciting entries for the reader are those appointed very late in the war (e.g. March 1865 or later) but never confirmed and really never served in the capacity of general. In addition, there were those referred to as generals in various Confederate post-war histories, but whom the author demonstrates did not really achieve the rank. Though it is perhaps a thankless task, the author is to be commended for setting the record straight with regards to these men.
   
   As a bonus, in an appendix Mr. Allardice lists another ~135 individuals sometimes referred to as generals by less authoritative sources. In one or two sentences for each he explains the reasons for excluding them.
   
   "More Generals in Gray" is a well-written and organized supplement to Warner's work. This volume will appeal the most to a narrower group of civil war enthusiasts and particularly those studying more obscure engagements. Note that now is a good time to obtain inexpensive remaindered copies.



2. Ezra Warner's classic 1959 volume tells us the stories of the 425 Confederate General Officers about whom we can't argue as to whether they were, in fact, a General; this volume tells the stories of several about whom we CAN argue. Warner gives the criteria, and this book does, too; a man had to be nominated to General Officer rank by President Davis, AND confirmed by Congress.
   
   The reasons to be here, not in Warner's book, are several; most commonly, a man could be a General of state militia, nominated by the Governor, confirmed by the legislature, not a General of the Confederacy. [President Jefferson Davis makes this book that way]. These militia officers can be seen as the equivalent of modern National Guard Officers. In some cases, there was a disconnect between the President and Congress, in others, there is doubt as to who appointed the man, and when. Thus we have the first Hispanic General, Santos Benavides--some records have him as a Colonel, others as a late appointment to Brigadier General. [The first American Indian General is in Warner's book--no doubts about Stand Watie].
   
   A special case is that of nine officers appointed to Brigadier General by General Edmund Kirby Smith using his expanded powers as Commander of The Transmississippi Department. Communication between Richmond and the West was most difficult after the fall of Vicksburg in July, 1863; Smith was, thus, in a situation unique in American history. These nine men are but a small part of a most complicated story; Warner lists them in an appendix; here they get full honors.
   
   In these reviews, I try to differentiate between books for the general reader, and those for "people like me". This book falls, I think, somewhere in between. It is superbly done, well written, well illustrated; a most respectful account of men deserving full respect, even if they aren't a "big name". For those poor folks who are like me, this book is, indeed, essential. You know who you are....



3. I have owned and used Mr. Warner's classics Generals in Blue and Generals in Gray for over 40 years. Mr Allardice shows us the men appointed General by the various Southern States. This book proves the point the Government of the Confederacy was still having growing pains; the point being the generals from the Trans-Mississippi not being confirmed by the CSA Senate, in Richmond, Va. This is a great book for the Civil War Buff. It is a must need in your War Between the States Library.



4. A tome devoted to biographical sketches of 137 men united only by their arguable status as Confederate generals sounds like one of the ultimate Civil War "buff books". It is a pleasant surprise to open its pages and discover no dreary catalogue of minutiae. Instead, the author has condensed years of research into a series of sparkling capsule lives that reflect the wide range of characters and events in America's bitterest conflict.

   Each of the subjects has some claim to having held the rank of general in the Confederate military but not enough of one to have earned listing in Ezra J. Warner's authoritative "Generals in Gray". However solid or dubious their entitlement to the highest rank, however, they form a cross-section of important and interesting Southern officers and citizens. They came from a variety of backgrounds. Ten were born in the North, nine in Border States, nine abroad (including one veteran of Napoleon's Grande Armee, whose unit's performance in the defense of New Orleans fell short of Napoleonic standards). Not all had embraced independence eagerly. Michael Jefferson Bulger, for instance, voted "no" in the Alabama secession convention but nonetheless enlisted in the 47th Alabama Regiment. At Cedar Mountain, he suffered wounds to his arm and leg, binding the latter with corncobs and suspenders. At Gettysburg, he was captured after being left for dead. Following such mishaps, he ended up living to age 94, enjoying a placid post-war career as a farmer and occasional politician.

   In contrast to the indestructible Bulger, Edward Gantt was a fire-eating secessionist who resigned his seat in the first Confederate Congress to raise a regiment in Arkansas. After being captured with the garrison of Island No. 10, he returned home on parole but then experienced an astonishing change of heart. In late 1863, the formerly rabid states-righter slipped across the Yankee lines and spent the rest of the war urging his former countrymen to lay down their arms.

   Many more such tales are told here. The author has a keen eye for incisive facts and quotations, and his writing wastes few words. For the serious student of the Civil War, this work is a valuable reference. For everyone else, it offers hours of fascinating browsing.

2 comments about Fighting for Home: The Story of Alfred K. Oates & the 5th Regiment.

1. Steeped in the historical context of antebellum America. Oates brings candor and genuine emotion to the struggle for American ideals. Rarely does one come upon a work with such vivid imagery and historical conviction. Overall a masterpiece with hopefully many more to come.



2. Gripping narrative that will keep you glued to your seat until the final page. A truly unique historical account from a young genius.

4 comments about Cardozo.

1. Professor Kaufman worked on this impressive biography of Benjamin Nathan Cardozo for over 35 years. There were times when one began to wonder if it would ever appear. Well, it did and it was worth the wait. This is a long book, running some 700 pages including notes. At times, it seems almost too detailed--but it is a wonderful resource for anyone interested in Cardozo, the development of American law, and the Supreme Court. Kaufman strikes a nice balance between BNC's private and public lives, his 18 year service on the New York Court of Appeals and his 5 or so terms on the Supreme Court, the biographical details one expects and the legal doctrines and opinions that he authored. Along the way, the author covers BNC's significant books; his involvement with the ALI; his work in developing key contract and tort concepts on the Court of Appeals; his long period as Chief Judge there; and his methods of working and drafting opinions while on the New York court.
   
   It is generally conceded that Cardozo's greatest contributions to the development of American law occurred on the CA and not during his service on the Supreme Court--he was the master common law judge rather than constitutional expert. So Kaufman devotes around 300 pages to Cardozo's service on that court. By contrast, around 100 pages are devoted to the Supreme Court and BNC's period in Washington. In fact, BNC does not get appointed until page 455. Cardozo found the Supremes a much less collegial body than the NY Court, in part because the justices were still doing the bulk of their work at home. Cardozo's views of state regulatory power and taxation, national regulatory power, court packing, and some civil liberties cases (such as Palko) are well addressed. Cardozo must have found it difficult to deal with colleagues such as Justice McReynolds and the other "four horsemen," but nonetheless he opposed FDR's court packing scheme.
   
   While Richard Polenberg's "World of Benjamin Cardozo" (also published by Harvard University Press) is itself a fine contribution, this is the most exhaustive study of Cardozo that we are likely ever to see. It is a masterful work, but one that requires persistence to get through. It is the book that BNC deserves.



2. Andrew Kaufman has written an engrossing account of the life of Benjamin Cardozo, a judicial hero of the first third of the century. This book should prove especially useful for first-year law students, who read many of Cardozo's most important decisions in their contracts and torts classes. But even non-lawyers with an interest in the legal system will find it highly readable and informative.



3. Professor Kaufman presents his subject, first, as a man, establishing the personal background that shaped Cardozo's work as a judge. Kaufman then offers an insightful examination of the judicial work of Judge and Justice Cardozo, analyzing the development and maturation of Cardozo's thinking regarding the many legal principles which have become mainstays of American jurisprudence. The biography is well suited to lawyer and non-lawyer, and provides an extraordinary social history of the shaping of the American common law that governs our lives and liability today. This biography is a must-read primer for all soon-to-be law students, who will find in it an invaluable guide to the principles they are preparing to study. Professor Kaufman's honest analysis of the talents and faults of his subject is much to be commended.



4. This is a book for laypeople and lawyers, rare in judicial biography. It is written in a clear and lucid prose, eschewing much of the current academic jargon. The author's years of work include many interviews with people now dead (and thus unavailable!), providing invaluable insights and perspectives into Cardozo's life and judicial influence. This work will be interesting to social historians, as well, for its treatment of the Nathan and Cardozo families' experiences in an evolving America.

2 comments about Jesse and Frank James: The Family History.

1. I am being charitable to have given this book a 1 rating. If you want a reliable book, try to find BACKGROUND OF A BANDIT: THE ANCESTRY OF JESSE JAMES by Joan M. Beamis and William E. Pullen. Otherwise this will have to do. Steele's book has a chapter on the "Tennessee James Family" that should be taken with a barrel of salt. There are plenty of James families scattered across the country, but it's a subject of question as to whether there is any relationship with Jesse James of Missouri. I have heard that the errata in this particular book would be substantial.



2. This is an execellent resource book for James family researchers. All background information appears in order. Very detailed and full of family knowledge. A book worth investing in for any James Family historian.

5 comments about The Life of Daniel Boone.

1. Occasionally a book that has been available for a while deserves another look just because of its intrinsic value. In 1998 a book was published that combined the names of two legendary individuals who will be associated forever with the history of the American backwoods-Daniel Boone, the famous adventurer, and Lyman C. Draper, the renowned nineteenth-century interviewer and collector. It was only through the painstaking efforts of editor Ted Franklin Belue that Draper's highly significant tome on Boone finally came into being a century and a half after it was started. Before the ink was dry on the printed page, this book had become a backcountry classic. It instantly went to the front rank of Boone biographies. For the previous hundred years few but the serious historian had been drawing from Draper's handwritten manuscript on Boone; now even the casual reader would have the material readily available in print. Despite the fact that Draper never finished writing the biography and didn't take Boone's exploits beyond 1778, The Life of Daniel Boone (596 pages hardcover, $39.95, Stackpole Books) has proven to be well worth the long wait.
   The book is a treasure trove of information about Boone, including such highlights as: his early years in Pennsylvania and North Carolina; activities during the French and Indian War; hunting in the Appalachian region; long hunting in Kentucky; adventures in Dunmore's War; the establishment of Boonesborough; and the first half of the Revolutionary War in Kentucky. While perusing these pages, the reader will be reminded constantly of Draper's monumental research that involved extensive travel to obtain interviews with people who had known Boone personally or with relatives and friends of such individuals. He also endeavored to collect important documents before they disappeared. His efforts were literally a race against time. Belue sets a standard for excellence with his very interesting preface as well as his editor's note (following the preface) that explains how the book finally came into being. The outstanding notes at the end of each chapter by both Draper and Belue are a further wealth of information. Draper's 44-page appendix provides a Boone genealogy and biographical sketches of many other frontier figures.
   From Smoke & Fire News, November 2004, by Bob Holden



2. I have to say this book is just wonderful! It is great as a casual read as well as excellent for the researcher and/or family historian! It helped me to fill some gaps in my families history (Daniel's sister, Sarah Boone) and gave other avenues in which to reasearch.



3. 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.



4. Wanted to read this book as a celebration of Daniels life Yet I found it to be long statements made directly following his death It is told that none ventured into writing of this man during his life I guess that makes it appealing The man had big family and was known to beat the Indians at there own gam that I found Admirable the book on a whole was simply a bore due to the accounts of how Boone tryed to purchase this or that But to those who want to build homesteads in the 1800s It will be to your liking



5. Lyman Draper wrote the single best account of the life of Daniel Boone. This source, while not well known, has been mined by virtually every biographer of Boone since 1850. This book and the biography of John Bakeless are the best two volumes ever to appear about the life of Daniel Boone. Also the Memoirs of Nathan Boone and his wife are of extreme value. These books provide the basis for the study of early Kentucky history.