5 comments about Where Death and Glory Meet: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry.

1. Every Civil War buff (and many others, too, thanks to the movie "Glory") knows the story of the 54th Massachusetts, the black regiment commanded by the boy-colonel Robert Gould Shaw which attacked the Confederate Fort Wagner in July 1863.
   
   The story of the 54th is memorable for many reasons. The most obvious one--and the one usually focused on--is that Shaw and the 54th displayed extraordinary courage in the assault on Fort Wagner. Another less emotional reason is that the 54th proved to the nation that men of color could and would fight for the end of slavery. This was the shattering of an important color barrier and an important stage in the evolution of the conflict. By war's end, an incredible 74% of free Northern blacks of military age would enlist (p. 50).
   
   But a deeper, more significant reason why the history of the 54th is important--and one, moreover, that's usually missed--is that it invites reflection about the standards by which our culture, then and now, measures "manhood." W.E.B. Du Bois (quoted on p. 123) put it well: "How extraordinary...in the minds of most people...only murder makes men. The slave pleaded; he was humble; he protected the women of the South, and the world ignored him. The slave killed white men; and behold, he was a man." Prior to proving themselves in battle, both the North and the South looked at men of color as bumbling and cowardly half-wits. Except for the minority Abolitionists, most whites considered blacks subhuman, and there seemed little or nothing blacks could do to break through that conviction. But he moment they proved themselves skilled at killing other human beings, they were accepted (even if reluctantly) as "men."
   
   Duncan's Where Death and Glory Meet is a fascinating chapter in the history of how our culture determines manhood. Although a rather detached supporter of abolition, Shaw was skeptical about the fighting abilities of freedmen, and initially declined the command of the 54th. When he did accept, he was painfully aware that the eyes of the nation were on his regiment, and his training of them was relentless. But the 54th measured up by proving itself in battle.
   
   Moreover, Shaw is also representative of the cultural measure of manhood. In his private letters, he expresses great ambivalence about commanding the 54th and almost panicky fear about assaulting Fort Wagner--a task that he (correctly, as it turned out) thought rather hopeless. Just as th But Shaw, fully aware of what was expected of a "man," overcame both doubts and anxiety in order to perform his duty. Just as the ability to kill men made his black soldiers "men," so Shaw's willingness to die in battle also demonstrated his own "manhood," his final maturation from a boy-colonel to a seasoned warrior.
   
   What fascinating under-currents run through the Civil War. Too bad they're so often bypassed in favor of the surface stories of guns and glory. For more on our cultural conflation of manhood with battlefield courage, Margaret Creighton's magisterial The Colors of Courage is highly recommended.



2. HONOR THE MEMORY OF COLONEL ROBERT GOULD SHAW AND THE FIGHTING MASSACHUSETTS 54TH BLACK REGIMENT IN THE CIVIL WAR
   
   COMMENTARY
   
   FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH
   
   Those familiar with the critical role that the recruitment of black troops into the Union Armies in the American Civil War usually know about the famous Massachusetts 54th Regiment under Colonel Robert Gould Shaw which has received wide attention in book, film and sculpture. Those heroic black fighters and their fallen leader deserve those honors. Glory, indeed.
   
   Although Shaw was hesitate to take command of those troops after suffering wounds at Antietam when he accepted he took full charge of the training and discipline of the regiment. Moreover, as the regiment marched into Boston to cheering crowds before embarking on ships to take them South each trooper knew the score. Any blacks captured (or their white officers, for that matter) were subject to Southern `justice', summary execution. Not one trooper flinched. Arms in hands, they fought bravely at the defeat of Fort Wagner and other Deep South battles, taking many causalities.
   
   I have remarked elsewhere (in a review of William Styron's Confessions of Nat Turner)
   that while the slaves in the South, for a host of reasons, did not insurrect with the intensity or frequency of say Haiti, the other West Indian islands or Brazil that when the time came to show discipline, courage and honor under arms that blacks would prove not inferior to whites. And the history of the Massachusetts 54th is prima facie evidence for that position.
   
   I should also note that the Massachusetts 54th was made up primarily of better educated and skilled freedman and escaped slaves unlike the black troops recruited from the plantations in the Deep South in the 1st and 2nd South Carolina black regiments. Thus, one might have suspected that they would not be up to the rigors of Southern duty. Not so. After reading a number of books on the trials and tribulations of various Union regiments, including the famous Irish Brigade, the story of the 54th compares very favorably with those units.
   
   However, so as not to get carried away with the `liberalism' of the Union political and military commands in granting permission for black recruitment it is necessary to point out some of the retrograde racial attitudes of the time. It took a major propaganda thrust by Frederick Douglass and other revolutionary abolitionists to get Lincoln to even consider arming blacks for their own emancipation. Only after several severe military reversals was permission granted to recruit black troops, although some maverick generals were already using them, particularly General Hunter. As mentioned above there were qualms about the ability of blacks to fight in disciplined units. Moreover, until 1864 black troops were paid less than their white counterparts. The Massachusetts 54th is also rightly famous for refusing pay until that disparity was corrected.
   
   One should also not forget that the North in its own way was as deeply racist as the South (think of the treacherous role of the Southern-sympathying Northern Copperheads and the Irish-led anti-black Draft Riots in New York City, for examples). This reflected itself in the racial attitudes of some commanding officers and enlisted men and well as the general paternalism of even the best white commanding officers, including Colonel Higginson of the 2nd South Carolina. It was further reflected in the disproportionately few blacks that became officers in the Civil War, despite the crying need for officers in those black regiments and elsewhere. Yet, all of these negatives notwithstanding, every modern black liberation fighter takes his or her hat off to the gallant 54th, arms in hand, and its important role in the struggle for black liberation



3. Although Robert Gould Shaw was only 25 years old when he died, leading the 54th Massachusetts Infantry in a futile assault on Fort Wagner, he has become an object of interest in the past dozen years, especially since the release of the movie "Glory," which gave a somewhat fictionalized account of the 54th. This book by Russell Duncan is a good introduction to the life of Shaw, and gives an extensive bibliography for those who want to engage in further reading and research.

   In this book (which is an expanded version of the introduction to Shaw's collected letters that Duncan edited and published in the book "Blue Eyed Child of Fortune") Duncan gives a view of a life that one can truly say was tragically cut short by war. Robert Gould Shaw spent much of his short life trying to find his way and place in the world, something that many of us can identify with immediately. He had difficulty in accepting authority; he could not decide upon a career; he was the only son of well-known abolitionist parents, yet he had grave reservations about the abilities of black people. A "rebel" by nature, he could be rigid and unbending with others. He was dominated by his mother, only truly breaking away from her by marrying a lovely young woman against his mother's wishes. Married to a woman he apparently adored, he also engaged in a flirtation with a schoolmistress in South Carolina after accepting the command of the 54th. Shaw had found his calling in the military: he was brave, and able to inspire confidence within his men, yet he promised his future wife that he would not persue the military as a career once the war was over.

   This book is a good introducation to the brief life of Robert Gould Shaw. It contains some photographs of the Shaw family and Annie Haggarety, Shaw's wife. It also dispells some of the myths about the 54th that were present in the movie "Glory," chief among them the myth that the 54th was made up primarily of unlettered escaped slaves. From reading Duncan's book it appears many were literate freedmen of long standing. Also, the sergeant-major of the 54th was the son of Frederick Douglass, not the middle aged recruit as played by Morgan Freedman in the movie. I would recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the life of Robert Gould Shaw, or the history of the 54th, as a jumping off point for further reading.




4. This book serves as an important source of information regarding the birth of the 54th Massachusetts,black soldiers, politics, Shaw's personal and Civil War life. It is well written and places the reader at the start of northeastern politics and Shaw's upbringing. Shaw leads a pampered life of a wealthy family. He travels the world yet comes back to fight for the Union in the Civil War. His family is influencial in his military promotions and sets his promotion to Colonel with Governer Andrew's backing. Shaw becomes Colonel of the 54th and dares to take a risk at leading the first ever black regiment. His daring tale of being an outcast and a potential political target for his role in getting the 54th ready for battle is courageous and inspiring. The book covers the plights of the 54th in learning drill, military life and battle in chronological fashion. Much is covered in this short yet informative book on Shaw and the 54th. The definate "must read" for anyone looking to get an understanding of how the 54th and Colonel Shaw came together and fought!



5. Where Death And Glory Meet: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw And The 54th Massachusetts Infantry is the fascinating military biography of Civil War Colonel Robert Shaw who commanded an infantry unit composed of Negro soldiers, the North's first Black combat regiment. Russell Duncan presents a poignant portrait of an average young soldier struggling against his mother's indomitable will and thrust unexpectedly into the national limelight. Drawing upon Shaw's letters home before and during the war, Where Death And Glory Meet tells the story of the rebellious son of wealthy Boston abolitionists who never fully reconciled his own racial prejudices, yet went on to lead his black regiment into fierce and bloody battlefield conflicts where they performed with heroic distinction and scotched forever the notion that black soldiers would not or could not fight successfully against the Confederate forces. Where Death And Glory Meet is a superb contribution to Civil War studies and will prove of deep interest to students of Black history.

2 comments about Winfield Scott: The Quest for Military Glory.

1. This is a superlative bio of Scott, a man who spanned a considerable amount of time in the formulative years of the United States and its army. The events of the Civil War, and all its eccentric generals and characters have tended to overlook Scott, but his overall influence on the period can not be denied. Often eccentric, and certainly arrogant, Scott virtually created the modern US army. His regulations and drill manuels professionalized this nations army after its embarrassing and ameteur performance in the War of 1812. Scott, who fought prominently in that conflict at both Chipawa and Lundy's Lane drilled his brigade to a standard that no other American units reached in that war. He saw the need first hand to improve the army's standards and drill. Heavily influenced by French and European models, he standardized the US army and paved the ground for its development and vast improvement.

   Scott was a vain and arrogant individual, he was not called Old Fuss and Feathers for nothing. Found of gaudy uniforms, and pomp and ceremony these outward ego trips belied his inner genius. Many US Presidents disliked Scotts arrogance and his virtual control of the army. Scott in turn looked upon the likes of Jackson, Harrison and Tyler as the Dark Ages in American politics!

   Scott was an elitest, he was aristocratic in his outlook, and it is perhasps for this reason that he has often been overlooked in US History. To better understand the emergence of the US and the professionalism of its army, the need to understand Scott's contributions in that regard is paramount. The army he painstakingly created all through the first half of the 19th Century saw final fruition in the Mexican war of 1846. Here Scott's brilliant generalship and strategic outlook ensured his success against the Mexicans. The army he created not only could outmaneaver the enemy, but could outfight them as well. In every major action, the US Army inflicted two or three times the losses on the Mexicans, even while the latter were often defending in fixed positions. All the future greats of the Civil War, Grant, Lee, etc. acknowledged Scotts genius. The Mexican campaign was a model for all to follow. Sherman's march to the sea was certainly inspired by it. In order to have a greater undertanding of the Civil War, and antebellum American in general, we should not neglect the contributions of Winfield Scott.

   Timothy Johnson's biography is probably one of the most satisfying bios one can ever read. Unlike most bios it does not get bogged down with excessive details pertaining to an individuals life. Johnson keeps Scotts life and career moving at a comfortable pace, with ample time for reflection on the times he lived in. We see the great general in all his strengths and weaknesses. Johnson accomplishes this in a leisurely 240 odd pages, far more satisfying than many bios we encounter today which feel the need to be twice this length most of the time. In short, I cannot recommend this work highly enough for its depiction of the man, and the times he lived in.




2. It's ironic that after 60 years, two biographies of Winfield Scott appeared almost simultaneously. John Eisenhower's Agent of Destinyattracted more attention, but Johnson's book is by far the more satisfying of the two. A professional historian, Johnson places Scott within the context of his time, giving the reader a better appreciation of the general and his place in 19th century American history. I read both books, and I have to say I was surpised to be disappointed with the Eisenhower book as much as I was. I liked his book on the Mexican-American War "So Far From God", but I think he overreached with this one. He focuses on the man, while Johnson focuses on the man and his times. In doing so, it gives a more complete and ultimately more satisfying account. Highly recommended!

4 comments about Gods and Generals: The Paintings of Mort Künstler.

1. Never have I seen half as much life breathed into the Civil War as in the paintings in this book. It is a visual feast, and I savor every page every time I look at it. The appearances of the soldiers and civilians alike portrayed in this book are accurate, and the colors and poses and emotional expressions are captivating and hauntingly beautiful. This would make a great coffee-table book or a guide for an artist, Civil War buff, or student.



2. Gods and Generals: The Paintings of Mort Kunstler rivals its previous companion book to Gettysburg. Kunstler tells the story leading up to the battle of Gettysburg using his masterful brush to translate history into color paintings. The text and the paintings weave the tale of how America eventually tore itself asunder in the Civil War. Its an excellent collector's piece and great introduction into the Civil War.
   I also found Kunstler did not paint as many movie scenes in this book, instead capturing the actual historical looks of these "Gods and Generals" of the Civil War. Any lover of history or military art will appreciate his attention to detail and riviting scenes. Enjoy!



3. Mr. Kunstler has provided us with another book of his arrestingly beautiful paintings. Art, of course, is largely a matter of taste and proverbially in the eye of the beholder. Mr. Kunstler, however, even from as objective a standpoint as possible, has no peer as a chronicler of the Civil War. I have been interested in that period of history for about half a century, but it has been Mr. Kunstler's paintings over the past dozen or more years that have brought that war to life for me, and, I am sure, for many others. Although he is a prolific artist, he never compromises with quality, and the quality of his work is unsurpassed.
   
   The subjects of Mr. Kunstler's paintings are invariably interesting, and he does not like to paint scenes or events that have been done previously by other artists. This book is the companion to, and illustrative of, the events and people of the novel "Gods and Generals" by Jeff Shaara, soon to be made into a motion picture of the same name. It follows four exceptional soldiers through the first two years of the war: Robert E. Lee, Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, Winfield S. Hancock, and Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.
   
   In this book, there are many new paintings not yet published elsewhere, but whether you are an old Kunstler aficionado or newly introduced to his work, you will find this book unequaled. The reproductions of the paintings are eye-catching, displaying each painting in vibrant, striking colors, true to Mr. Kunstler's originals. I say above that his paintings are educational, and so they are. I urge you to look closely at every work of art. If you do, you will not only see an astonishing amount of detail, but also learn much about the people, the times, the objects people used, and the war. Again, we have Mr. Kunstler's constant striving for perfection to thank for paintings which are correct in every detail. He is the quintessential perfectionist, who painstakingly researches every detail, no matter how small, to provide his audience with true, as well as beautiful, depictions of people, places, and things. He consults with knowledgeable historians, such as Professor Robertson, who wrote the text for this book, on even such matters as the weather on the particular day that he wants to depict in a painting. All of the accouterments are true, as well as the animals, the uniforms, the weapons, the landscapes, the battlefield situations, the lighting -- everything. Rarely does one find, in one individual such as Mr. Kunstler, artistry to the point of genius coupled with an unceasing demand for perfection in all of the details of his art.

   I admit that I am no connoisseur of art and that I can claim no expertise or experience in art. Even someone such as I, however, can at least partially appreciate the artistic techniques used by Mr. Kunstler. His positioning of people, animals, buildings, and other objects to lead the observer's eye to the main subject of the painting, his extraordinary use of light to play on this or that subject in the picture in greater or lesser brilliance in order to accentuate or subordinate that subject, and his use of color, always precise, to delineate bright sunshine or dark shadow, or to emphasize or minimize, are all techniques that even such as I can note and admire. His paintings are so life-like as to defy the observer to differentiate them from photographs. But no photographs could depict such wonderful color and the precise instants in time which Mr. Kunstler so deftly chooses to picture.

   Mr. Kunstler has, with every book he has introduced, been able to obtain the very best in historians/commentators to draft the texts. He has obtained the services of, for example, Henry Steele Commager (for the book "The American Spirit: The Paintings of Mort Kunstler"), James I. Robertson, Jr. (for "Jackson and Lee: Legends in Gray," "The Confederate Spirit: Valor, Sacrifice and Honor," and the current work), James M. McPherson (for "Gettysburg"), and Dee Brown (for "Images of the Old West"). Dr. Robertson's text in "Gods and Generals: The Paintings of Mort Kunstler" is, as always, the perfect complement to the paintings. As with Mr. Kunstler's art, so also with Dr. Robertson's narrative, one can learn much, whether one is a novice or an experienced hand.

   Thus, whether you are a "Civil War buff" or simply interested in exceptional art and edifying prose, you will enjoy this book (and you would do well to consider obtaining Mr. Kunstler's previous books, named parenthetically above). You cannot go wrong with the team of Kunstler and Robertson.




4. This book is worth 5 stars!! My 8 year old son is just beginning to discover what it means to be born in the south. I want him to have an accurate picture of what the civil war was all about. It is hard to find civil war books with enough pictures to keep him interested. This book has plenty of high quality art for him to see and includes text that we can read together! I highly reccomend it based on those gorgeous paintings.

5 comments about Real Men: Ten Courageous Americans to Know and Admire.

1. R. Cort Kirkwood's Real Men: Ten Courageous Americans to Know and Admire, is a fine introduction to too few of America's genuine heroes. A fine compliment to your child's education, itself obsessed with the "pussification" of American men.
   
   I would recommend using the chapters as an introduction only in deciding which hero to expand upon. My biggest (and only) fault with the book is it is too short and contains too few heroes.



2. really is pointless. As a christian, the violent ethics of these men remind me only of the most terrible days of our faith. crusading with blind faith in mortal leaders.



3. An enjoyable read... However, I'd pick some others were i writing this... Not that Author Kirkwood's ten are not great, and REAL MEN: Rickenbacker, Francis Marion, Vince Lombardi, Rocky Versace, Hickok, Gehrig, Audie Murphy, Crockett, Andrew Jackson, and Robert E. Lee. I do not agree with including Robert E. Lee among the ten greatest American Real Men. After all, great as he was, he not only resigned his USA commission, he Fought Against the US. I would want to include George Washington (greatest of all), George S. Patton, and Abraham Lincoln, who held this country together. I'd also like to see two courageous men who helped Washington win our freedom in the first place: Paul Revere and Dr. Joseph Warren (hero of Bunker Hill). Of course, Patrick Henry ("Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!!) merits consideration. Booker T. Washington is another great Virgnian/West Virginian who overcame great odds... Alas, we really need a book that says "Real Men: Twenty Courageous Americans..." How about it, Author Kirkwood?



4. This book is sort of like a Cliff Notes for the biographies of these great men. I would hope that anyone who reads this book maybe inspired to read a full length version of the lives of these men. The book is a quick read and I believe is targeted for high school or young adults. I would hope that anyone over 45 knows most of these men. Most of the previous reviewers had a pretty much accurate description of the book. You can finish the book in a night or two. I agree with most of the slant the author puts on the book and these men are truly heroes in the truest sense. The book has a very conservative leaning and is not politically correct in many areas. Many people use these boards to espouse their political views, I will not. You can judge for yourself how much you enjoyed the book.



5. I bought this book specifically for several teen age boys I know. As I read it prior to giving it away, I liked the accounts and the readers style in relating them. As a voracious reader of historical books I really liked the fact that it did not pull punches about the setting and explained the context of the stories as they were. In America today it is important to provide both narration of great deeds and the context they occurred in. The education system today is sadly lacking in promoting hero's and role models for young men. I would recommend this to anyone who has a son from the middle teens on and for young adults wanting to see history in short bites.

5 comments about Herman Melville (Penguin Lives) (Penguin Lives).

1. Elizabeth Hardwick's entry in the Penguin "Brief Lives" series is a tremendous disappointment. Although the great figure of letters professed a deep affinity for Melville throughout her writing career, this short biography of the great 19th-century novelist (one of the last books she ever finished) is neither illuminating nor particularly helpful. Like several other of the biographers in the series, Hardwick affects a somewhat experimental style to pursue her subject that is meant to echo the subject's own writing. But whereas Edna O'Brien did something in her entry into the series "James Joyce" that helped the reader understand that Irish novelist by her vaguely Joycean style, Hardwick's pastiche of Melville here helps us understand almost nothing of the writer--it just seems like an oddly florid way to write. She does come through with a few choice phrases and sentences, but overall the whole thing seems all flair with no substance. Hardwick brings in discussions of Melville's famous novels and tales but mostly to summarize them rather than to interpret anything about them. Worst of all, you come away from the book with almost no sense of who Melville was, which should be the test of any biography, long or brief. It's a real let-down.



2. This book is appalling.
   
   Consider this: many people find Herman Melville--especially the Melville of "Moby Dick"--to be slow going and difficult to fathom. But in Hardwick's biography, the ONLY passages that are at all lucid are the Melville quoatations. This is, without a doubt, the worst biography I've ever read. Self-indulgent, obscure, boring... it's not really worth my time (or yours) for me to go on.
   
   Read Andrew Delbanco's "Melville" for a much more readable, penetrating insight into the man and his work.



3. The Penguin Lives series has been very good to me. It understands that I don't want to burn all the minutes left in my reading life on dry, styleless steamer trunk sized biographies that beleaguer with minutiae when I want to get acquainted with a historically or artistically significant figure. It also understands that I value good style and original thinking, to avoid a "Cliff's Notes" version of a life. To date it has not disappointed.
   
   That said, I found Elizabeth Hardwick's entry on Herman Melville to not be quite like the others in the series I've read, and it comes down to this: she is really using the occasion to do a critical essay on Melville, not so much a life. In fact, at some point she says, if you want life detail you can get it from reading the exhaustive biographies on him. That she skimps on his life's events can be frustrating when you realize that her treatment is far shorter than most of the Penguin Lives. She could have added 20 - 30 pages and still have been in the series' pagination comfort zone.
   
   That said, I enjoyed the rereading of my favorite Melville books and the introduction to those I'd not read--though be warned: she spoils all the plots. Her rationale for spending far more time on his output than his life is conceptually warranted: here is a man who very much lived in the creation of his books all the while toiling in a small, stressed household filled with extended family. In other words, she is saying the life he led was the books, so that's where she went looking for him. She spends considerable time on the late 20th century theme of his possible homosexuality, the only clues in what is now viewed by some as the employment of homoerotic imagery. However, she refuses to judge and leaves that as a mystery. Ultimately, she says, so much of Melville is "perhaps."
   
   I wish she had spent more time on his life as well as more time on the revival of Melville's reputation in the 1920's and its persistence. I'm not sorry I read this book at all--it is very well written in a fluent, vervy voice--but it wasn't what I'd hoped it to be.



4. I have always been interested in the man behind Moby Dick, one of the great works of literature, but this book gives very little insight into the man and more info about the various books he authored. If you want to know who Melville really was, skip this very limited biography and move to one that is better written and delves deeper into the life of this great author.



5. Having neither reading anything on or by Herman Melville, I found this book suitably interesting to whet my appitite for more; but overall, the narrative was not that great; Hardwick's writing is somewhat tedious and hampered by her apparent lack of expertise on the subject.

No comments about Families and Freedom: A Documentary History of African-American Kinship in the Civil War Era.

5 comments about The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln.

1. Let me state the obvious. Each of us is a product of our time - of all the people and events we encounter, and the values of the societies we live in. So was Lincoln. So was Tripp. Current Gay and Queer identities are 20th cent constructs and could not have been embraced by Lincoln, nor does Tripp claim this to have been the case. Nor does Tripp present a view that all Gay people will see as politically acceptable - his work helped build the current identity but he was, himself, a product of another era. However, as Robert Aldrich and others have demonstrated, homosexuality is as ancient as humanity and exists in many forms across societies. Tripp gives a good portrait of a remarkable man coping with homosexual urges in an emerging nation. Tenuous though some of his arguments may be, his critics are, in many cases subject to the academic biases of reliance on surviving documentation (often ignoring context and the nature of covert behaviour), lack understanding of the experience of being in a hidden minority and even, in a few cases, rely on arguments that make Tripp's weakest sound strong. The truth is that here is meticulously well researched book that presents a convincing arguement but shows evidence of the author not having survived to do the last few re-writes that would have bought it up to his usual high standard.



2. The world of Lincoln scholarship can be highly contentious, but controversy about this book relates to Tripp's use of evidence, not the topic he examines. My own specialty is Lincoln's pre-presidential life. Determining what happened in those years can involve surmise and supposition. I don't fault Tripp for lacking unobtainable proof. Even outright speculation can freshen thought.
   
   I am concerned, however, by Tripp seizing a kernel of evidence, extrapolating from it, and pronouncing the resultant structure to be proof of his contention. For example, he finds a unique statement from Bill Greene noting that Lincoln had well-developed thighs. Tripp then turns to the Duncan and Nichols biography of Mentor Graham, a source I consider so unreliable that I have never dared cite it as authority for anything. Relying on an undependable source and a single comment from Greene, Tripp claims to prove a homosexual relationship between Greene and Lincoln.
   
   Tripp extrapolates further and argues that because Greene became embarrassed when Lincoln introduced him to Secretary of State Seward as Lincoln's grammar teacher, that meant Greene was uneasy about his old homosexual relationship with Lincoln. Tripp considers and rejects the possibility that Greene said little during the meeting because he didn't want to reveal his poor grasp of grammar to Seward, thereby belying Lincoln's praise and humiliating himself. I find the possibility that Tripp rejects to be more plausible than the one he embraces.
   
   Another type of reasoning is illustrated by Tripp arguing for a homosexual relationship between Lincoln and Joshua Speed because (in part) when Lincoln moved into their sleeping quarters, Speed failed to say anything about his admiration of a Lincoln speech. Tripp here assumes that because Speed failed to mention this in his account of his conversation with Lincoln, that absence means no conversation about the speech occurred. Lincoln and Speed may have talked about many things that Speed didn't mention (weather, crops, politics). Tripp seems to think that if an account doesn't say something happened, then it didn't happen. That's invalid reasoning.
   
   Regarding Lincoln and Speed being bed mates, neither man was secretive about the arrangement, and some men Lincoln slept with had definite heterosexual orientation. Public comment about a politician's sex life was rare in that era, but I have seen examples in Illinois newspapers. If anyone had thought the Lincoln-Speed sleeping arrangement could be portrayed as homosexual, I think political opponents would have raised the issue regardless of whether they believed it.
   
   We can speculate all day about Lincoln's place on the sexual continuum between heterosexual and homosexual, and speculate reasonably, but speculation isn't proof. Still, the topic is worthy. For me, the big disappointment in Tripp's book was in finding him wrong again and again about things I know about. If it had been the other way around I would probably have found the book exciting rather than frustrating.



3. Most art, literature and history is studied from the straight, white, male perspective. If a famous man professed his undying devotion to a woman and slept with her for years, SWM academic theory would presume the couple was sexually involved and use that as proof of heterosexuality. C.A. Tripp simply looks at the facts of Lincoln's intimate life from the position of a queer theory scholar. Interpreting findings from a queer point of view takes this book beyond the genre of biography and helps us understand how all historical theory about any minority has been skewed to fit a mainstream mold, disregarding history as it most probably was.



4. What is it that propels peopel to reinterpret history? This book is so chock full of speculative flim flam. It is written by a person who is applying 21st century culture to 19th century culture. It was not uncommon for men to share quarters 200 years ago and ...GUESS WHAT? Not be gay.
   
   The irrational claim this author makes is based on this one single premise:
   
   "OOOH two men shared a room...they MUST have had gay sex!"
   In the military I slept in very close quarters to other men, and NOT ONCE did I have any inclination of homosexual conduct. What is wrong with leftists? Why must everything be centered around sex? Is there anything else to life for them, than fleshly gratification? Good grief.
   Lincoln had a close friend and shared a bedroom with him. AND? Does that AUTOMATICALLY mean he was gay? Cmon people!
   Can you not see the obvious fallacy? It is a false conclusion. It is a desperate attempt by the left to twist history into something that suits them. Its taking a *REPUBLICAN* president and trying to make him into a liberal!
   
   Hows this for the left? Lincoln advocated PRAYER in school. Next thing you know, the left will be trying to twist that around.



5. ...because that's all this erroneous piece of trash is. I'm not homophobic. I am against people trying to cash in on the name of a legendary historic figure simply to cause controversy, and thereby gain some extra dollars.
   
   Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Tom Cruise and others can sue the tabloids when they twist stories. Lincoln's dead. He can't.
   
   Just remember that.

5 comments about Timothy Leary: Outside Looking In: Appreciations, Castigations, and Reminiscences by Ram Dass, Andrew Weil, Allen Ginsberg, Winona Ryder, William Burroughs, ... Huston Smith, Hunter S. Thompson, and Others.

1. Regardless of one's personal opinions about Timothy Leary, one cannot really deny the fact that he was a great man; great in the sense that his thoughts and ideas influenced an entire generation (and continues to do so), and that A LOT of people had - and still have - A LOT of strong feelings about everything he stood for. Perhaps it's too early to figure out how extensive his influence actually was. Everything he talked about didn't revolve around LSD, even though many tend to think just that. What many don't know, for instance, is that he contributed greatly to the field of psychology and developed different tests that are still in use today.
   
   Robert Forte has edited a book, not about Leary's life, but more about people who met him, were familiar with him, were close to him, were affected and influenced by him, and all in all had some sort of relation to him. Some of these people are Winona Ryder (to whom Leary was godfather), Hunter S. Thompson, Albert Hofmann (the chemist who synthesized LSD in 1938), Ken Kesey (another "psychedelic pioneer"), Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Robert Anton Wilson, and many more.
   
   Some of the contributions consist of Forte simply interviewing the individual in question, while in other cases the contributor has written the piece him/herself. But it's not all about Leary all the time. Timothy Leary is more a book about the psychedelic revolution itself than about one of its leading advocates. Richard Nixon referred to him as "the most dangerous man in the world", and sure, a great deal of the content is about him, what he accomplished, different incidents in his life, and so on. However, another great deal is about the use and abuse of psychedelic drugs, how they shaped and changed society and individual consciousness, how dangers (or harmless) they actually are, what happens to people who choose to try them, and how these now criminalized drugs could be used beneficially in different sorts of therapies.
   
   It's not the best book on the market if you want to learn more about Timothy Leary's opinions and messages, but on the other hand, it's a great book if you want to know some of the influence and the affect he had on his surroundings. Furthermore, through its use of sensible discussions by and with well-informed and rational people, the book offers great knowledge about the absurd American "War on Drugs" and all the hypocrisy this futile and senseless war is built upon.



2. This is a rich and revealing book that I always recommend to anyone trying to grasp the contradictory figure that was Timothy Leary - not least because many of its subjects are still struggling to grasp exactly what hit them when Leary entered their lives. Highlights for me include the essays by Ram Dass, Robert Anton Wilson and Ralph Metzner, as well as William Burroughs' ability to use a few brief words so well. Winona Ryder's eulogy is also terrific -- it has since been included in Copeland's book on the greatest eulogies of our time, and I liked it so much I used it as the foreword to my own biography on Leary, 'I Have America Surrounded'.
   
   As Forte writes in his introduction, this is "not a biography of Leary, nor an in-depth study of his ideas", and as such the critical review on this page by R. Goldstein seems to have missed the point of the book. Forte is not attempting to be a 'cheerleader' or promote his 'thesis', as is claimed, but instead provides a forum where those who knew Leary could record their memories and reminiscences. True, the majority are positive and loving, but this is no reason to criticize the book. The fact is Leary was deeply loved by many - which is something that those who condemn his character find it convenient to overlook. For this reason the book is an important record, but perhaps more importantly it is those who knew him best who often have the most revealing insights - and this is why the book is so valuable.



3. This book is a source of comfort to anyone disgruntled by Robert Greenfield's less than appreciative bio of Timothy Leary. Editor Robert Forte calls his project a "festschrift," which, if my rusty German holds up, loosely means "celebration of writing." It is by no means balanced; its cover promises castigations but delivers only one, ironically from former outlaw chemist Owsley Stanley. There are polite rebukes of Leary's methods from Huston Smith and Myron Stolaroff, but the rest of the book is mainly a chorus of paeans, a love fest that gets sloppy in places.
   
   Part of Forte's thesis is that Leary will come to be vindicated and revered as another Socrates or Galileo. Inevitably the uptight world will recognize the transformational power of psychedelics and, grasping the keys to the missing link in evolution, start popping them like vitamin supplements. Why millions of grateful acid veterans haven't united to demand a change in the drug laws goes unexplained. Like a lot of other issues the book grazes. Why was Eldridge Cleaver not more supportive of Leary in Algeria? Why was Art Linkletter hostile to Leary? What happened to Leary's children? What was "The Brotherhood" that Forte cryptically refers to a couple of times? What about the charges that Leary betrayed friends, including the lawyers who helped him avoid lengthier prison time? Although Forte concedes that Leary failed "to confront his shadow," the negative aspects of his life, he left the shadowy particulars for Robert Greenfield to detail.
   
   There are other shortcomings. The correspondence between Aldous Huxley and Gerald Heard is vacuous, discussing where and when they plan to meet next. Albert Hofman's contribution is brief. Hunter Thompson's more caustic criticisms of Leary are absent, replaced by a short, all-is-forgiven comment. Some of the respondents use a pretentious argot prevalent in the `60s, reflecting the mindless blather of the drug-addled. And there are outrageous claims that transcendentalist philosophers Emerson and Thoreau took drugs, that psychedelics brought forth the computer revolution and the Internet. At least Forte didn't suggest that psychedelics are "the only visible hope for a race tottering on the brink of extinction." That claim was in a recent letter of complaint from the Leary estate to The New Yorker over the favorable review its critic gave to the Greenfield book.
   
   I don't blame Forte for being a cheerleader. He was only 11 years old during the '67 Summer of Love, so he didn't see the zombies walking down Haight Street and other hippie enclaves ingesting not only psychedelics but other wares sold by hierarchical criminal outfits (such as the Brotherhood?) engaged in the "democratization" of drug distribution. Gosh and golly, why would law enforcement ever consider LSD a gateway to heroin, methamphetamine and crack? Set and setting indeed.
   
   I thought I'd had enough of Leary after reading the Greenfield book, but I picked this one up after browsing its table of contents. It has limited appeal, so I give it three stars: one for the interview with Huston Smith, one for the interviews with Metzner & Stolaroff, and one for likening Leary to Huck Finn. Greenfield mistakenly linked him to Tom Sawyer.



4. Timothy Leary is a mythological figure. Almost everyone has an opinion of him, even if they have never read a word he wrote.
   Often opinions are second-hand filtered through this or that media source.

   The editor for this book, Robert Forte, one
   of Mircea Eliade's last students at the University of Chicago,
   does not provide us with second-hand information that he has digested, but instead, gathers an anthology of viewpoints from those who knew Timothy Leary. Not all are positive, and I was surprized to read the negative remarks of Owlsley Stanley in regards to Leary. Thanks to this compendium, we are allowed past the veil of the myth and get a glimpse of the human Timothy Leary.

   Robert Forte knew Timothy Leary personally and has edited another book, Entheogens and the Future of religion, that I highly recommend.

   Thomas Seay




5. Robert Forte is one of the most important living documentarians of psychedelic history and phenomonology. In this book, he's gathered a myriad voices of people who were really "there" when Leary was influencing people and who therefore have valuable commentary worth hearing -- both positive and negative. The folksy, chatty style of this book make it a pleasure to read. Along with his other book "Entheogens and the Future of Religion," Forte is performing an important informational and documentary service toward a fair assessment of the role that drugs have in society and also of the real-life figures who have affected this. This book is a must read for anyone interested in what Tim Leary (and for that matter, ...) were really like.

No comments about Marietta Wetherill: Life With the Navajos in Chaco Canyon.

2 comments about Confederate Colonel and Cherokee Chief: The Life of William Holland Thomas.

1. CONFEDERATE COLONEL AND CHEROKEE CHIEF is a truly laudable first published research effort on the life of Will Thomas. Though it lacks the multi-sourced documentation/research of Thomsen's REBEL CHIEF and at times seems to come across more as a dissertation overview rather than as a "readable biography" it is nonetheless a pioneering work of note.
   One only wishes that the edition was sturdier and more reader friendly in layout and typeset.



2. This research is often quoted by scholars, since Ms. Russell and Mr. Godbold, Jr. record numerous references and endnotes for their very balanced account of William Holland Thomas. They offer pictures, maps, and various views about the numerous subjects discussed; allowing the reader to grasp an unbiased account of this unique individual, Will Thomas. He is the only white man to be recognized as a "Cherokee Chief". (However, Godbold and Russell state, without one source or reference, that Thomas was declared insane. They also make an inference to syphilis).
   
   "Cherokee Chief, Confederate Colonel, Lawyer, Entrepreneur, and Politician: William Holland Thomas."
   
   William Holland Thomas never knew his father, was raised by a single mother in a lowly mountain home, lacked any formal education, but is one of the most prominent figures in Western North Carolina's history.
   
   William Holland Thomas is the only white man to serve as a Cherokee chief. As Indian agent, Will Thomas was in Washington during "The Treaty of New Echota" negotiations and he successfully lobbied for the right of a number of Cherokees to remain in North Carolina; these Cherokees are the present-day Eastern Band. He was very instrumental in the preservation of the Cherokees during their forced march west or "Trail of Tears" in 1838. His intervention provided safe haven for over 1000 Cherokees and, furthermore, it is noteworthy that Will Thomas's intervention is currently reflected with over 10,000 Cherokees residing in Western North Carolina. It is widely believed that without William Holland Thomas' intervention there would not be an Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
   
   To this day the Eastern Band of Cherokee bestows honor and gratitude to their great white chief.
   
   To study Will Thomas's Civil War service, consider "Storm in the mountains: Thomas' Confederate Legion of Cherokee Indians and Mountaineers" by Vernon H. Crow.
   To understand and fathom the sociopolitical and geopolitical "tone" of western North Carolina and the American Civil War, purchase "The Heart of Confederate Appalachia: Western North Carolina in the Civil War" by John C. Inscoe and Gordon B. McKinney.
   
   Matthew D. Parker