5 comments about The Education of Henry Adams.

1. It took me a few months to grind my way through this, and I must conclude that unless you are a serious student of history--a professor or grad student, or highly-motivated undergrad--you are not going to get much out of this book.
   
   I've got undergraduate and masters degrees (in computer science), am fairly widely read, and have a pretty good knowledge of history. Nevertheless, I usually could not figure out what Adams was getting at in his overly poetic abstractions. As other reviewers have pointed out, Adams can never simply describe concretely what he sees, but instead has to formulate some sort of generalization, as when the "dynamo"--a machine he sees at a World's Fair--becomes a symbol for the sweeping forces of mechanization and industrialization. That sounds insightful, but did he really need an entire chapter to describe how it upheaved his soul?
   
   Adams wrote this book for his close circle of friends, not the general public. This manifests when he casually tosses around the names of obscure people without explaining who they are, as if we are just supposed to know. I often kept Wikipedia open as I read.
   
   Unless you are already an expert on 19th-century U.S. history, be prepared for a hard slog and, I regret to predict, a lack of fulfillment.



2. "The Education of Henry Adams" is a difficult book to review. But be forewarned: "The Education" will not appeal to many readers. It is hardly a book you'd bring to the beach or try to read for leisure. I first came across the book in a foreign policy seminar I took in college. While my professor took great pains to tell us how important "The Education" was -- it was named by Modern Library as the greatest non-fiction book written in the 20th Century -- the book was just boring to a 19-year, and almost certainly beyond my limited means and interest. Recently inspired by a blog series on the New York Times web site about "The Education", I decided to dust off my old copy, hoping that a few years wiser, I would be able to get through the whole thing, and even more importantly, have a better appreciation for Adams' book. After finally finishing it -- including the many detailed footnotes in the Samuel' edition -- I can safely say that while several parts of the book were very interesting, I would not recommend "The Education" to everyone.
   
   "The Education of Henry Adams" is for all intents and purposes, a very unusual autobiography of Adams -- though I am sure Adams would disagree with that label -- told in the third person, chronicling the interesting life of a man born into an extraordinary family history, who led a fascinating life, but who never quite fit into the changing America as the 20th Century began to dawn. Henry Adams was a historian and one-time professor of history at Harvard. Born in 1838, Adams was the great-grandson of John Adams, the grandson of John Quincy Adams, and the son of Charles Francis Adams, the esteemed Minster to England during the Civil War. The book is written in such a manner that each chapter covers a year or series of years in Adams' life, beginning in 1838 and ending in 1905 (though Adams himself died in 1918, he ended the book in 1905; further, the book does not cover the 20-year period of his marriage to Marion "Clover" Hooper, who tragically killed herself in 1885 following a long depression).
   
   Part of what makes "The Education" so compelling -- at least to me, is that the book serves as an eyewitness account of some of the most important events and periods of American history between 1840 and 1900. Adams offers very insightful and sharp observations of many of the great events of his time; though, it is important to note that Adams was in Britain for the entire Civil War, serving as a private secretary to his father, so Adams does not offer great analysis of what was going on in America during the Civil War. Perhaps not coincidentally, some of the most boring chapters in "The Education" are those covering the years 1860 to 1870.
   
   More than anything else, however, "The Education" is a story of a man who felt out of place in the fast-changing America of the late-19th and early 20th Century. From Adams' perspective, the book is a tale of his pursuit of an "education" in life that would help him adapt to, understand, and live in the new America. Throughout the book, Adams laments his abject failure in accomplishing this objective, and generally considered himself a failure unable to live in the United States as it entered onto the world stage as a super power. Reading the book, it was very interesting to me how Adams conceived himself as a man of the 18th Century, and I think his inability to live up to the political successes of his ancestors -- who could?! -- was hugely depressing to him as he went through life.
   
   "The Education" has several chapters on numerous recurring themes which Adams well examines and often lampoons, such as American politics and the U.S. Senate (his chapters on the pitiful Grant Administration and the state of U.S. politics are extremely funny and pretty much on-the-mark, even 130 years later), the conduct of diplomacy (given Adams' family history and his own interests, he had a tremendous background in diplomatic issues, and was best friends with Secretary of State John Hay), and the rise of technology and its affect on the United States (his chapters on the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and the 1900 Paris Exposition are two of the best chapters in the book). Regarding the latter area, Adams was both intrigued by and terrified of emerging technologies like the faster locomotives, cars, and other devices, which he called the "dynamo". In several passages, he predicted that while new technologies would advance civilization and America's standing, they would also reap devastating results for the world. Given the birth of the Atomic Age and what has happened since, one could argue that Adams was incredibly prescient.
   
   Despite the book's many pluses, it is not without its considerable flaws. Perhaps I am just not educated enough myself, but the book is extremely hard to read today. First written by Adams around 1903, "The Education" does not all translate well to 2008, and I had to read many of the passages and pages multiple times to understand what Adams was trying to say. Further, while Adams' wit and self-deprecating humor are amusing at first, it becomes very grating as Adams seems to refer to himself as a failure on every single page. Finally, there are certain periods of Adams' life -- particularly his lack of service during the Civil War and his marriage (which he does not mention once in the book) -- which he disappointingly did not discuss much at all.
   
   As I mentioned at the beginning of my review, "The Education" is not a book for everyone. It takes a good deal of time to fully read and digest, and its themes are fairly nuanced and not always terribly exciting. That being said, if you're a student of history and interested in learning about American development between 1840 and 1900 from one of the 19th Century's great historians (Adams wrote a nine-volume history of the U.S. during the Jefferson and Madison Administrations, which, to this day are considered the gold standard in early American history books), you should consider checking the book out. If you do want to read "The Education", I strongly recommend that you purchase Ernest Samuel's edition. Samuels wrote a three-volume biography of Adams, and knew more about Henry Adams than anybody else. Samuels also included a wealth of detailed footnotes throughout the pages; while many people like to avoid footnotes, they are quite valuable with a book like this where Adams is constantly referencing old German words and 15th Century French figures as if his readers were all supposed to know them! So, the Samuels edition (the one with the green cover and published by Riverside Editions) is the edition you want.
   
   I liked "The Education" and I would like very much to read his forgotten histories of the Jefferson and Madison years, but I have to admit that I don't know if I could ever make it through them considering Adams' writing style!
   
   Three stars.



3. This book wasn't the greatest book I've ever read, but I had huge expectations for it because the only reason I read it was because the "Modern Library" list ranked it #1, but I still thought the book was very good. I wasn't familiar with Henry Adams and didn't know why I should care what he did during his life, but the further I got into the book the more interesting it became. I've been traveling through Europe for a year and thought that Adams and I shared similar opinions about traveling and other things about Europe, so that was interesting due to the large time gap. But I enjoyed the story because I thought it was an interesting depiction of America, Europe and how one has difficulty understanding the world and the challenges one experiences during life. A book worth reading.



4. I had heard of the importance, and significance of "The Education of Henry Adams" for a long time. I finally determined I needed to read it.
   
   I acutally read it twice, and found less in it the second time than the first.
   
   I am sorry I missed the greatness of this book. I am sure there was something wrong with me, but I found it to be incredibly unimpressive.
   
   Perhaps this came from the fact that Henry Adams was not a likeable man. He was famous for holding court in his home near the White House, and making caustic and negative comments about every President who lived there.
   
   Granted, he lived in Washington at a time when there were plenty of second-rate occupants of the White House. But the thought of people wasting their time trying to please a blue-blooded snob like Adams depresses me. Why did anyone bother? He lived in an atmosphere of snobbery, sharp-tongues, clever remarks, and brilliant conversation. The world went on without him, truth be told, and he contributed less than the people who walked by his house each day.
   
   He was a very good historian in his time. But who reads his books now? Not very many. In short, his own work was not as long-lasting as he would have wanted it to be. Maybe the influence of some of the Presidents he mocked lasted longer than the published and purchased work of Henry Adams.
   
   "The Education of Henry Adams" does not have much real information. He got education in one place, none in others. Surely, the suicide of his wife provided some very painful education for Henry--but he wrote nothing about it in his book.
   
   When Eric Sevareid wrote "Not So Wild a Dream," it was compared to "The Education of Henry Adams." That was meant as a compliment. Oddly, I think Sevareid's book is much, much better. Sevareid wrote of America, the common man, the war, and what it all meant to him. Adams needed to get out more. He did not see America--not the America built by the common citizen who put it all together, and defended it. I gained a trememdous amount from Sevareid. I cannot say the same for the work of Henry Adams.
   
   Again, a lot of this might be me. Perhaps I read the book at a bad time. Maybe I needed to read it a third time. I do not know. I do know I do not think this is a great American classic. Forgive, please, my ignorance.



5. In 1885, Adams wife Marion committed suicide. Upon her death, Adams took up a restless life in trotting around the globe and travelling extensively. For years, he spent summers in Paris and winters in Washington, DC. In 1907 he pubished this Pulitzer Prize winning autobiography. This work contains the birth of forces that Adams saw as replacing Chrisianity and has the reputation of being the the most important non-fiction work of the 20th century and I am hard pressed to disagree!

5 comments about Steel Drivin' Man: John Henry: the Untold Story of an American Legend.

1. As someone interested in history, the South, civil rights, and folk songs, I loved this book. The author starts by tracking down evidence to propose a candidate for the original John Henry who inspired the song. The author then fills in the details of what John Henry's life after arrest was probably like based on court, prison, and railroad records. Certainly, this part is speculative, as some reviewers have complained, but there is no reason a priori to expect that John Henry's experiences were significantly different from the norm. Besides, the discussion of the horrifying conditions the railroad builders and workers endured is eye-opening. Much of the latter portion of the book discusses how the song spread and the meaning it had at different times and to different groups. The author obviously did extensive research and creates a fascinating portrait of how a song mutates to suit current times.



2. Although I am a Civil War aficionado, I have rarely read about what happened directly after the war. However, this book has changed my reading habits!!
   
   From the time I was a child, I had a special affection for the John Henry songs and "legends". Well, I had no idea he was REAL-- flesh and blood! This book not only brought him alive for me, but the research and presentation was EXQUISITE. Dr Nelson -- in my eyes you have done a tremendous job of bringing alive not only JH, but the terrible wrongs done to thousands of African-American freedmen (and women) in Richmond, by the corrupt "Freedman's Bureau".
   
   By reading this book, in my mind's eye AND ear, I could see the men and women who toiled in the often brutal conditions, to dig tunnels and build track. I could almost hear the weird and wonderful chants that helped lay the track and ease the brutal conditions and physical pain that these people, mostly (wrongfully convicted in many cases) convicts endured, usually until they dropped dead from the years of toil and/or silicosis.
   
   Could that photograph of a John Henry (page 46) in Bealton VA (not that far from Richmond) really be him? Truth is stranger than fiction - perhaps we ARE looking into his smiling face. And one question I have-- how does the Smithsonian REALLY know which bones are his? (maybe I missed something)
   
   The author's narrative, interspersed with highly pertinent photographs AND song verse kept me riveted to this very complex and highly interesting book.
   
   The book's narrative gives great detail to that era in Richmond that John Henry lived, as wel as the "white house" by the tracks (Federal Penitentiary where so many of these Freedmen were wrongfully incarcerated) and as it winds past John Henry the individual, it reveals the highly pertinent correlation with those railroad songs handed down by word-of-mouth and then collected and sung by the like of people such as Carl Sandburg, folk singer as well as poet, Pete Seeger, Burl Ives.
   
   The book then shows how the John Henry story and ballads found their way into art, and life as well - expressed in the artwork and subject matter in Marvel Comix; expressed in the song and art of striking workers, the WPA, Karl Marx, the Communists and Socialists in America in the 1930's, the "radical and liberals of the 1940's", the Black Worker Protest Songs -- and more.
   
   Of great interest also was the way the South incorporated (and the way it did NOT incorporate) black history regarding John Henry and other related Afro-American folk heroes and song into its school textbooks and library books back in the 40's and 50's.
   
   I borrowed this book from the library -- but I was so impressed with it that I bought one for myself. I want to do my own research (in fact I'm playing some CD samples from Amazon right now, having to do with John Henry and word of mouth folk songs) on these ballads, and those who sang them as well as those who still sing them today.
   
   I cannot find any fault with this book. The fact that I am now hooked on the John Henry ballad and all the history (past AND present) that goes with it is proof enough of this book's influence.
   
   Does Dr. Nelson have a web site that relates to this book? I guess that's one more bit of research that I will undertake!! (I hope he does!)
   
   PS- the "Gandy Dancer's Gal" on page 131 is a tremendous summation on canvas, of the strength and hardships, as well as the joys that were part of these track workers' lives.



3. Race relations are a complex issue, this book was an interesting survey of the issue, following an American Legend how it was molded and re-molded to fit the view of the teller at the time.
   
   The book isn't a novel, and possible starts a little slow but I felt picked up really well by the middle of the book.
   
   Overall a great history book that looks at history in a interesting way.



4. If you're looking for a validated, historical account of John Henry, well, Mr. Nelson could be correct - or maybe not. He has found an arrest record for a 5' 1-1/4", black male by the name of John Henry, who was arrested for stealing, sent to prison, and was loaned out by the scalawags to build a railroad. This would make a fine magazine article, not a book.
   
   This history of a John Henry, then, is layered into the history of the building of the railroad, and of the many different John Henry songs (using the songs as a base for history). It is somewhat plausable.
   
   Unfortunately, Mr. Nelson also adds much of his left-leaning political opinions, interwoven throughout the book - tolerable on heavier political subjects - not on what I assumed was to be a biography. In fairness, it is a biography - of a song, not a man. And Mr. Nelson also seems to think that capitalism is evil, while American communists were wonderfully warm and fuzzy (except for supporting Stalin's terror and genocide).



5. This book offers a great introduction into what and how a real historian does history. Who would guess that an old dump can be more informative than a documentary movie? The 'truth' about the real John Henry is only a hook for demonstrating the confusion, guess work, and desire to tell an acceptable story that is history. This very readable little book could go along way to breaking the belief of many that all you need to understand history is a good textbook.

5 comments about I Married Wyatt Earp: The Recollections of Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp.

1. I recently went to Tombstone, AZ. for the 1st time in my life even though I'm an AZ native. I loved it so much I have been 2 times in a month. I learned there about Wyatt Earp and Josephine and their love romance. It had me wanting to know more. I got the book and started reading and couldn't put it down. I loved hearing of all the adventures Josephine and Wyatt went on together through out their whole life together. What an amazing couple they were. I highly recommend reading this book. Lots of history and how the old times were.



2. The so-called controversy around this book has been discussed to exhaustion in my opinion. For those who cant seem to understand the how and why of this book, I offer this suggestion: Move on and let it go. There's no need for me to defend a book that needs no defense. For those seeking to learn some truths about Wyatt Earp and to view his life from the angle of someone close to him, this is an excellent source. Not only is the book informative, it is a good read. A great chance for the historically interested mind to find out more about the Earp's life, before, during, and after Tombstone. If you read this, don't miss out on the interesting notes in the back of the book. You may wish to go back and look at them at the end of the chapter later to avoid disrupting the flow of the story, or you may read them as you go. Either way, some interesting footnotes and commentary by the author, Glenn Boyer. I am awaiting one of his other books, "Tombstone Vendetta" and am looking forward to reading it. Highly recommended, a must for any student of Earp history. D. Lindley



3. I found this book very interesting, due to the fact that I have always been interested about the life and times of the Wild West. Reading this book has helped my research for a story that I am working on. Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp was a women before her time. I found her as a strong spirit, intelligent, and fascinating. Her recollections of her life and time with Wyatt Earp as her true soul mate that one can share and find in a life time.I imagine her life with out him was a great loss. Wyatt Earp was a true man of his time, who dodge bullets and live to see the turn of the century. And also very handsome.



4. I was glued to this book. I even read all of the research notes. This was truly a remarkable work of history and a great perspective on an event that has been over dramatized and blown out of such proportion by Hollywood.



5. Josephine Earp, Wyatt's wife, looks back on her life in her later years, and the time spent with her husband.

5 comments about With Malice Toward None: A Life of Abraham Lincoln.

1. Will anyone dare to write an accurate assessment of the 16th President or are the myths that surround him just to strong to penetrate? I await a writer willing to discuss the wholesale destruction of property in the South that left thousands of civilians to starve, destruction sanctioned by Lincoln. I await a discussion on the hostage taking and the indiscriminate killing of Southern civilians. I await a thorough discussion of the Dahlgren Raid and its implications, I await a real assessment of the Lincoln/Seward relationship, and I await a real judgement on Lincoln's lack of religious belief. This book, like all the others ignores anything that might be the slightest cotroversial and that might dent the aura surrounding Abraham Lincoln.
   Alan Lowe. BA. Manchester Metropolitan University.



2. This book generated controversy among Lincoln scholars. The general reading public, however, will probably enjoy both the book's prose and its story. Regardless of whether there is much, or anything, new in the volume, its account of Lincoln is told with flair. Points that disturbed some Lincoln scholars will probably not be noticed by general readers. I read the book before I knew about the dispute, and found the volume enchanting.



3. Consider the great biographies of Lincoln: Nicolay and Hay,[10 volumes] his secretaries, Carl Sandburg's Abraham Licoln [6 volumes], Benjamin's single volume and all those that preceed and follow this, you must conclude this is the best single volume biography of Abraham Lincoln, indeeed the best general biography of the President and the man. The closest rival is Carwardine's Lincoln which deals in depth in one aspect of his life. WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE IS THE BEST INTRODUCTION TO THAT COMPLEX MAN AND HIS TIME AND ACHEIVEMENTS THAT WE HAVE TO DATE.



4. Professor Oates in my opinion did an outstanding job in the biography he did on Lincoln. While it is not as verbose as Donald's, it was well written and to be honest I could not set the book down. For anyone who does not have the time to read a larger volumn on Lincoln I suggest Oates. If you have time then I suggest you read both and also read "Team of Rivals. They are all outstanding volumns. This biography though is articulate, a good length and at times you can see the great passions in Lincoln the boy from Kentucky, the youth in Illnois and the 16 President of the United States. I give it a 5 stars a must read for any history student and I think a must for every American.



5. In this work, Oates succeeds in illuminating the political and personal life of Abraham Lincoln. For readers interested in the psychological and social nature of the man, this may not be the best selection. However, Oates does an excellent job portraying how Lincoln worked his fingers to the bone while developing his standing as a lawyer and politician. His description of Lincoln as a rough and tumble political longshot made 16th President of the United States in the election of 1861 is vivid and memorable. Much information is also included on how Lincoln and his administration struggled with the issue that would become his legacy: slavery in America. That said, Oates neglects to discuss in any great detail the economic influence of the nation's cotton industry on the political and social conditions of the era.

5 comments about Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance.

1. The rhetoric of the other reviews aside, Prison Writings would make for a compelling story had Peltier included some truth to support his allegations surrounding the events of June 26, 1975 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota.
   
   By way of a brief background, Peltier was represented by capable and experienced counsel and during his trial the jury heard that FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams were following who they thought was another wanted person. They actually followed Peltier and two teenagers who began shooting at the agents who were then trapped and exposed in an open area. Peltier was joined by several others, including Dino Butler and Robert Robideau who also fired on the agents from another direction. Both Coler and Williams were severely wounded and unable to defend themselves. Peltier's jury heard that Peltier, Robideau and Butler went down to the wounded agents and shot them both in the face at point-blank range with a high powered rife. The jury believed the testimony they heard and Peltier was convicted for, among other things, aiding and abetting and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. He later received an additional seven year consecutive sentence for an armed escape from Lompoc federal penitentiary. (In a separate and earlier trial, Dino Butler and Robert Robideau were acquitted of the murders. However, this review relates specifically to how Peltier portrays the facts surrounding these events in Prison Writings. There is much more to the entire saga.)
   
   It's important to place Prison Writings in its proper chronological context. Prison Writings was published in 1999. An important related book touted by Peltier and the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC) that "immortalizes Leonard Peltier," In The Spirit of Crazy Horse (ITSOCH) by Peter Matthiessen was first published in 1983 and in 1992. A film, Incident at Oglala (Incident), narrated by Robert Redford was released in 1992. Collectively, these sources, in addition to the many public statements made by Peltier, Butler and Robideau, demonstrate that Peltier is not only fabricating the history of his own case but knowingly lies about certain events.
   
   There are many more, but for example:
   
   The scene:
   Peltier initially claimed he was in the AIM camp to the south of the Jumping Bull property, heard shots, responded and "I fired off a few shots above their heads, trying not to hit anything (p.125)." And also "I didn't see their agents die, had no hand in it..." (p.127). Yet in a CNN interview in October, 1999 Peltier admitted being there and told interviewer Mark Potter "I don't know, just two people laying there. I mean, the car door--the car door open and stuff."
   
   The alibi:
   For the better part of nearly two decades Peltier had offered only one alibi about who was responsible for the final killing shots to the agents' faces. He claimed that someone they all knew but would not identify (Mr. X), had driven to the reservation that day in a red pickup truck to deliver dynamite and that it was Mr. X who engaged the agents initially and then, once wounded and unable to defend themselves, killed the agents and drove off. In Incident Robideau is filmed pointing to the area where Mr. X murdered the agents and drove off in the red pickup truck. This claim was so far-fetched that not even Peltier's trial lawyers wanted to go near it, but they did their best to create confusion with the jury over the alleged red pickup truck. Matthiessen, although skeptical himself, spent a great deal of time on Mr. X in ITSOCH. However, in a 1995 interview with News from Indian Country, one of the three participants, Dino Butler, publicly said that the Mr. X story was a lie; "Well, there is no Mr. X. There was no man coming to our camp that day bringing dynamite." "To create this lie to show that someone else pulled the trigger." " That is totally false. Totally untrue. That never happened."
   
   It should come as no surprise that Mr. X. and the red pickup are never mentioned in Prison Writings.
   
   Aiding and abetting:
   Peltier tries to convince the reader that the "vague crime of aiding and abetting" (p162) was somehow later added to the charge of murdering the agents. Yet, during one of the many appeals (one dealing with this specific issue in 1993), the appeals court stated that "Peltier's arguments fail because their underlying premises are fatally flawed. (A) the government tried the case on the alternative theories; it asserted that Peltier personally killed the agents at point blank range, but that if he had not done so, then he was equally guilty of the murder as an aider and abettor."
   
   Preplanned assault:
   Peltier lays the groundwork for claiming that according to a document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the government "...had been gathering in the area for a preplanned paramilitary assault on the Pine Ridge reservation," (p.129) comprised of "...dozens, maybe hundreds..." (p.127) of law-enforcement personnel. The document (dated April 24, 1975) he refers to (the noted "sanctioned memo") says nothing of the kind and related to the 1973 takeover by AIM of Wounded Knee. Ironically this memo was still being circulated around FBI headquarters in Washington D.C. even after the murders of agents Coler and Williams with a date at the bottom of the memo of August 11, 1975. This memo is not even in the same universe as Peltier claims. This assertion was so outrageous even Matthiessen shied away from it by claiming after all his research that the initial shooting at the agents was spontaneous, neither a pre-planned government event nor premeditated ambush of the two agents. "...if there is another persuasive explanation of the location and position of their cars, I cannot find it." (ITSOCH p.544).
   
   Further, it was well documented that when the agents were first pinned down in the open field, Agent Williams made desperate calls for help and assistance over his FBI radio. These transmissions were overheard by a number of individuals who all confirmed how quickly the shooting started, and ended, and that the nearest agent was about twelve miles away. That FBI agent, Gary Adams, responded with a BIA officer, the first two to even reach close to the scene. They were also shot at and had to back away to Highway 18 and await more assistance. In the meantime, Coler and Williams were murdered and Peltier and the others escaped.
   
   Robideau:
   Robert Robideau who has been assimilated and rejected by the Peltier organization several times over the years has made damning admissions. Robideau stated publicly on numerous occasions, and in emails to this reviewer, that he's the one who actually killed the agents:
   
   "As far as I have ever been concerned the killing of the agents was justified..." "They were shot in the head at close range..." "I have no remorse..." "I am "Mr X" (which is no lie) and I did kill them with honor befitting a warrior, but they died like worms." "I thought I already told you that I killed the agents."
   
   Of course Robideau has the constitutional protection against double-jeopardy, but this reviewer believes he is even too much of a coward to shoot two severely wounded and incapacitated human beings. But whether he killed the agents himself is immaterial; the Peltier jury heard and accepted the testimony that the three older Indians, Robideau, Butler and Peltier went down to the wounded agents and murdered them by shooting them both in the face.
   
   Of course, Prison Writings suggests none of this but hides behind fabrications and outright lies to further the folklore surrounding Peltier and perpetuating The Myth.
   
   What it does do however is firmly establish that Peltier did not remove himself from the scene of the crime.
   
   Prison Writings is self-serving drivel and should not be used to document in any fashion what happened that June day at Pine Ridge. Anyone interested in going beyond The Myth should spend some time reviewing the very detailed appeals that cover every aspect of this case.
   
   [...]



2. After all is said and done, just read the thousands of pages that the U.S. government, through the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's office and court records, was forced to release about this case. It is their own words about their own deliberate withholding of evidence, fabrication of evidence, deliberate perjured testimony and numerous other violations of U.S. law, rules of evidence, and other assorted felonies.



3. Leonard Peltier, United States Prisoner 89637-132, has been imprisoned since 1977 for the deaths of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation of the Lakota Indians during the 1973 siege at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Most likely the scapegoat for the deaths during a blundered surveillance attempt, Peltier has been a cause celeb during the final throws of every president since Jimmy Carter as many supporters - including the U.S. Prosecutor that put him in jail in the first place - come together to call for his parden.
   
   There are other sources for an in-depth understanding of the events that led to his imprisonment such as Peter Mathiesson's *In the Spirit of Crazy Horse* and the Robert Redford film *Incident at Oglala*. But Prison Writings is a must read in any study of not only the Wounded Knee incident, but the American Indian Movement as a whole and native issues throughout the country.
   
   This book weaves Peltier's life as a prisoner in the U.S. prison system with his account of the events of 1973 and his views on the state of affairs for Native Americans as a whole. Peltier's life evolved from an aimless youth on the reservation to a political activist, and at times it seems that his life sentence is a natural extension of this progression - as if his destiny was to suffer for the cause.
   
   When you look at the evidence of all that transpired at Wounded Knee in 1973 and the years that followed, including what happened to other activists such as Annie Mae Aquash, and the now revealed manipulation of evidence by the FBI and the all-out war against Native American activism in the 1970s, Leonard Peltier's *Prison Writings* become somewhat of a manifesto and call for a better future.



4. This is a true story of an Indian who is in prison
   just because he's an Indian. I real eye opener and
   interesting facts about the Indians here today.



5. Words fail me when I try to describe this book, just as words fail me when I try to describe my feelings about this man, Leonard Peltier.
   
   This is a moving, touching, powerful book that will evoke emotion in the coldest of hearts. I still wonder why it took me so long to finally read it. I'm so glad I did.
   
   Suzanne Whitaker

5 comments about Eleni.

1. There are few books on the Greek Civil war that erupted after 1945 between Communists and the rest of Greece. During the war some 158,000 or more people died, many at the hands of the Communists. Yet most books on the subject in English are still sympathetic to the Communists (seeRed Acropolis, Black Terror: The Greek Civil War And The Origins Of The Soviet-american Rivalry,1943-1949) and refuse to condemn the red terror and the mass killings. This book goes a slight way towards setting the record strait if only because it shows the story of one peasant woman in a small village known as Lia in the mountans of northern Greece. But the story of how the vilagers were used as slave labourers by the COmmunists, starved and finally tortured and murdered is a story of what befel all northern Greeks during the Communist insurgency. Westerners present this insurgency as 'romantic' as only westerners can present genocide as 'romantic'. But this sad and disgusting train of thought is finally shattered by this excellent and daring book that tells the story not only of Lia but of the peasants who lived there and Eleni and of course her son who survived and who has lived to return to Greece to tell the story.
   
   Seth J. Frantzman



2. I have owned this book for over 10 years. Every time I read it I thought of my maternal grandmother (that was her generation) and all the other brave Greek mothers before her and cried like a baby. I passed it onto my second husband who is not of Greek descent. He loved it and really liked the name Eleni. That was about 5 years ago (we've been together over 6).
   Our second daughter was just baptised Eleni in the Greek Orthodox church. It was the only name we could agree upon. My aunt & uncle came from Greece and told me a story of when my uncle was a little boy. He was injured by an unexploded bomb and was taken to a hospital in Athens. His grandmother went to visit him. She had been born and raised in Athens, although now living about an hour outside of the city, so she knew the short-cuts to the hospital. On her way to see her beloved grandson she was shot dead, mistaken for a man in disguise. This was at the beginning of the civil war. I had not heard this story before, and had no idea who my paternal grandmother was. Apparently, her name was Eleni. I wonder if this is why I was steered to this book and so moved by it? Ain't life funny?



3. Author Nicholas Gage tells the story of the Greek civil war and how it personally affected him and his family. Most notably this book describes how politics, fear, greed, and desperation combined to culminate in the brutal torture and execution of his mother, Eleni, for the crime of merely saving her children from starvation or forced separation.
   
   My brother highly recommended this book to me. I was a little put off by its length and the obscurity of its subject (I had never even heard about the Greek civil war), but as the story unfolded I found myself completely engrossed in it. The first 100 or so pages were just a little difficult absorb because of the necessary build-up of the scenario and the characters. I also struggled throughout the book to get a grasp of the numerous greek names of people and places. However, these were minor inconveniences to pay for the huge reward of learning about this incredible and disturbing experience.
   
   Nicholas Gage very eloquently describes the cruelty and injustice that war tends to inflict on so many innocent victims. Everyone could benefit from learning about this story that he has so vividly portrayed in Eleni.



4. This is a very good book written by the son of a woman murdered while trying to escape to freedom with her children from a corrupt government. He wrote about it as an adult investigating what happened and including his memories. He is forgiving as his mother was desiring to do as she would have wished with no retaliating to those who had part in persecuting her.



5. This book is written well, but it is a hard read. I didn't think it really grabbed me until about 244 pages in. It is worth it in the end, but you have to want to finish it (or in my case, be required to) in order to enjoy.

5 comments about The Coldest War: A Memoir of Korea.

1. The author recounts his time in Korea where he served as a Marine rifle platoon leader during the "Forgotten War". A very intriguing narrative about a war which claimed in 3 years almost as many American lives as the Vietnam war did in ten years.



2. I found this book to a fine novel of the Korean War.Written from the perspective of a young Marine Lt.It had grit and also some light moments.I recommend it.



3. I served in Korea with 3/7, USMC from Nov 1951 to Nov 1952.
   This was a vivid reminder of that cold inhospitable place. The authot invoked many memories and for a moment I felt the bone numbing cold even in my warm home.
   Although Brady was an officer and I an enlistem man we share the honor of being awarded the Title Unites States Marine.
   Every Marine will appreciate this book



4. In "The Coldest War: A Memoir of Korea," author James Brady vividly describes what it was like to be a junior officer in the Marine Corps during the Korean War. Brady notes the irony of his decision to sign up for a Marine Corps officer training program: "I'd joined up to dodge the draft and ended up being sent to war." He gives many insights into the positions he held: platoon leader, company executive officer, and battalion intelligence officer. His narrative also illuminates the culture and organization of the U.S. Marine Corps.
   
   Brady's story is rich in details of life in the Korean war zone. He discusses food, clothing, recreation, relationships among the Marines, and encounters with Korean civilians. The text is also full of fascinating technical details about the tactics and hardware of war; I was particularly interested in his passages about the mortarman's deadly art and the usefulness of the Browning Automatic Rifle. Brady makes the story come to life with his evocative descriptions of sounds of different weapons, the sizzle of hot brass hitting the snow, and other realities of wartime. He doesn't shy away from discussing the real down-and-dirty details of his service. He vividly describes the personal hygiene aspect of front-line duty; I found a dry humor to his graphic discourse on one of the unpleasant side effects of not bathing for a long time.
   
   Brady's story includes vivid anecdotes about revelry at a British officers' mess, a visit to the relative luxury of a hospital ship, and more. He also recalls the punishingly cold weather, and includes some gripping accounts of combat. He presents the violence, death, and destruction of war without flinching. The text is enhanced by several black-and-white photos showing Brady, his fellow Marines, and the environment in which they lived and fought. The Korean conflict has been called a "forgotten war"; this makes Brady's thoughtful, well-written personal account even more valuable. It's both an important historical document and a powerful piece of literature.



5. I do not know James Brady and hae no connection to him. I know him mostly from his good writing in Crain's New York Business. His Memoir of Korea was simply a great and compelling read. It was like being in front of a fire with a vintage port wine, a Cuban cigar and a friend who finally decides to tell you his story. That the friend is a master racounteur (sp?) helps and that James Brady has one hell of story to tell also helps. Thanks Mr. Brady. Here's to you and your buddies who sacrificed so much. May all your nights be warm.

5 comments about Crazy Horse (second edition): The Strange Man of the Oglalas (50th Anniversary Edition).

1. I had never read Mari Sandoz so I can't compare this to her other books. The writing style is unique and pleasant. It is a very interesting, and unfortunately sad story about Indian life on the great plains. The book seems very well researched and therefore more interesting to read since it is about history. The Indians suffered strategically from a lack of organization, but their whole life style was about independence and in fact a much more pure form of democracy in selecting and de-selecting their leaders. In reading the story with regard to the lies and deceipt of the white men it reminded me that world politics and war is no different today than then. Crazy Horse had attributes that leaders should aspire to, he wanted to help his people and he was not vain about himself as leader. In the end he was tricked into surrender by his own people.
   
   I thought it was one of the best books of Indian life and history that I have read.



2. Little is known about Crazy Horse in comparison to other legendary chiefs, warriors and heroes due to the quiet-spoken and solitude-seeking nature he possessed. Indeed, Crazy Horse was considered "strange" due to standing true to his ideals and who he really was, instead of the conventional ways of others no matter how traditional. Born of lighter hair and skin, young Curly stood out as different from the beginning of his days. Most humble and purely strong and good-hearted, Crazy Horse grew to be the truest and most brilliant leader of the Lakotas. Self-sacrificing even to the bitter end, Crazy Horse earned his place of honor as a hero to be respected.
   
   Combining interview information of Eleanor Hinman with survivors who knew Crazy Horse, with Mari Sandoz's meticulous research, gives "Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of The Oglalas" clout in accuracy of detail and fact in the day and time of Crazy Horse. I very highly recommend this book.



3. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and couldn't recommend it more. If you are a Native American history buff, or have any interest at all in the so-called Indian wars of the Great Plains, this book is a must-read. It is written in the vernacular of a Native American who speaks English tolerably well, and I believe this adds a great deal of character to the writing. The story of Crazy Horse's life is a sad one filled with the mistrust and back-stabbing deeds of his own people, along with the well known deeds committed by the American settlers and soldiers. Crazy Horse's ultimate downfall was aided by the restraining hands of his own people, as foretold by his vision. A sad ending to his life indeed, but Sandoz's re-telling provides a fascinating work of history. One word of advice to the reader: A much better understanding of the events that occur in this book can be had by "pre-reading" a good, concise history such as Indian Wars by Utley and Washburn.



4. The strange man of the Lakotas made very little contact with the "white man" and remains a mysterious character of native American culture. Not much is known about him, his birth, his death, his burial.
   
   Sandoz attempts to document as much history is known about this man, and she puts it in the form of a novel. It is easy to read and entertaining. Yet it includes historical facts, events and characters. While it is difficult to pen a biography about someone who so little is known about, Sandoz documents all that is known about him in this book. Many of the facts were taken from interviews with people who knew him and lived with him. Those people are all long gone. The only comprehensive memory of Crazy Horse is this book.



5. This is a highly unique biography and is a well-deserved classic in the world of literature. Sandoz did not write the standard Native American story from the point of view of the outsider (that is, the white conquerors), but created a book that feels as if it was written by the Indians from their own world view. Sandoz had the great advantage, in the 1930s, of interviewing still-living oldtimers who really knew Crazy Horse, and her combination of first-hand Indian accounts and meticulously well-crafted prose makes for an extremely compelling story of the last years of Indian freedom. In fact, this is not so much a biography of Crazy Horse, but a much larger story of the Lakota (Sioux) people in which he is the central character. The book does not include much historical detail, as that would be the white man's method of writing, so for such information on late Sioux history you would have to look elsewhere (such as *Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee* by Dee Brown).

   However, we do get a book full of beautiful and poetic prose such as "there was a star with a long white tail to speak of good things," and consistent use of Indian terminology such as "burning cup" for whiskey or "soldier chief" for army officers. This style of writing does make the reading of this book stiff and long-winded in places, but Sandoz must be commended for her very unique and moving methods. In the end, Crazy Horse himself comes across as a troubled loner among his people, a bit manic-depressive but a strong leader and warrior, and he remains as dark and mysterious to us as he was to his friends and enemies. And as usual for Native American histories from this period, the end of the story gives us the depressing loss of the people's freedom and the noble but hopeless efforts of a great leader to save his people. Concerning the special 50th anniversary edition of the book, you can ignore the rather sycophantic introduction by Stephen B. Oates, but the stunning cover painting by Ed Lindlof is almost worth the price of admission alone. [~doomsdayer520~]

5 comments about Samuel Adams: Father of the American Revolution.

1. Strong statement to be sure. Read this book to find out why it is true.
   
   It is a mystery to me why most historians seem to attach little more than a few footnotes to Samuel Adams. Noyone worked more steadfastly to both educate and organize the colonists. In spite of having a wealthy father and a Harvard education, Sam chose a life close to poverty so he could dedicate his considerable talents to the Revolution.
   
   The Declaration of Independence is essentially a rewrite of a 1774 position paper that Sam authored.
   
   This book also makes a valiant effort to present a British perspective on why they believed that taxation (without representation) was viable.
   
   Your knowledge of the revolution is incomplete without an education on Samuel Adams, the father of the American revolution.



2. Compared to the other fundamental founders, hardly any primary sources remain of Adams since he wasn't preoccupied with his place in history and didn't save documents and correspondence. As such, Samuel Adams: Father of the American Revolution is a short read, but is a relatively concise and well-written account of his political life. Adams himself was extraordinary, and after reading this book, it's easy to see that he is exceedingly underappreciated as one of the greatest American revolutionaries. Adams is a testament to the ability of one man to change the political landscape for the better, and he is inspirational as a one-man harbinger of liberty.



3. No one has articulated it any better than Mark Puls when he states in his concluding remarks that " Americans of his generation came to view Samuel Adams as the spirit of liberty and the patriarch of liberty". Jefferson may have written about the ideals of independence more eloquently; Washington may have acted upon those ideals more directly; and, Franklin may have translated those ideals more concretely abroad to our French allies; however, no one of our founding fathers wrote more frequently, acted more fervently, or lived more fully and focused on the prize of separation and independence than Samuel Adams.
   
   Maybe it's because Adams shunned the spotlight and the attention that others of his era sought so impassionately to grasp, or perhaps, he was content to simply see from the background the ultimate fruits of his prodigious labors. Whatever the reason, Adams emerged as the leading patriot strategist,politician as well as most influential writer in America. The author has truly captured the essence of the man who deservedly is called the Father of the American Revolution. It is a well-witten, if not long overdue, tribute to the mastermind behind the War of independence.



4. Give the author an "A" for producing a very interesting and informative look at an Adams family member who has not received the attention from history he deserves. Give the publisher "F" for not being interested enough to have a proofreader correct the numerous grammatical errors before printing it.



5. When you read about most revolutionary war figures - Washington, Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson or Madison - their stories more or less start with the American Revolution. Even Ben Franklin, a member of an earlier generation, did not jump on the Independence wagon very early or very easily. Samuel Adams, however, was the most important figure in the early Independence movement and quite rightfully deserves the title Father of the American Revolution.
   
   Mark Puls brief (less than 250 pages of text) biography shows how important Adams was. From an early age, Adams started thinking of independence from England. In 1764, he unsuccessfully opposed the Sugar Act, but laid the foundation for his battle against the 1765 Stamp Act. Showing both good organizational ability and political savvy, he was able to successfully organize a boycott that forced Parliament to repeal the measure. Although it would take a decade to take root, this was really the first blow for independence; it began harder and harder for the British to deal with colonial unrest.
   
   Eventually, after acts like the Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party, the rift widened and reconciliation, though attempted, was clearly impossible. During the Revolutionary War, Adams played key roles behind the scenes. Although not an author of the Declaration of Independence, his ideas permeated the document; he also helped construct the Articles of Confederation. After the war, however, other figures moved into the spotlight, a role he was fine with giving up.
   
   In ways Samuel Adams was an idealist, willing to sacrifice his health and financial well-being to accomplish his objectives. He was also, however, a pragmatist, able to work behind the scenes to meet his goals. Reading his biography, however, is also a lesson on how we determine who are our "heroes." In certain ways, Adams is little different from John Calhoun, who also felt he was opposing an oppressive government. Adams, however, is generally looked on favorably, while Calhoun - a major proponent of slavery and one who helped start the secession movement - has, at best, a mixed reputation.
   
   Puls biography is a positive one that never really discusses his subject's flaws, but doesn't descend into the cloying sweetness of hagiography. Well-written, this book is readable and informative, providing insight into one of the lesser-known figures of the era. For those who enjoy learning about this period, or who seem to only know Samuel Adams from the beer that bears his name, this book will be a good read.

3 comments about Eudora Welty : Stories, Essays & Memoir (Library of America, 102).

1. Each new volume from The Library of America, the non-profit publisher that has become the de facto literary hall of fame, is a cause for celebration. Its goal of preserving in an enduring format the best fiction and non-fiction is a significant bulwark against the encroaching tides of cultural relativism that attempts to render any value judgments meaningless, as well as a consumer society that insists that if it ain't new, it ain't good.
   
   In the case of Eudora Welty, we're given two volumes: a collection of five novels ("The Robber Bridegroom," "Delta Wedding," "The Ponder Heart," "Losing Battles" and the Pulitzer-winning "The Optimist's Daughter"), and another of her essays, her memoir "One Writer's Beginnings" and her short stories. From her first published short stories, "Lily Daw and the Three Ladies" in 1937, to her last novel in 1972, Welty captures with her highly readable style and sharp eye and ear the varieties and eccentricities of Southern life.
   
   But while the South claims Welty as one of its own, she may not necessarily return the favor. Teh cause is both geographic and a matter of choice. Although she was born in Jackson, Miss., in 1909 and lived there all her life, her father was from Ohio and her mother from West Virginia, a state created by the Civil War that went for the Union. This isn't Margaret Mitchell we're talking about here.
   
   Then, in her essay "Place in Fiction," she stresses that while it is important for a writer to capture the feeling of an area, it is not the paramount goal in fiction:
   
   "It is through place that we put out roots ... but where those roots reach toward ... is the deep and running vein, eternal and consistent and everywhere purely itself, that feeds and is fed by the human understanding."
   
   But what pedigree does not provide, her environment probably did, for her work contains those elements poularly associated with Southern fiction. "Delta Wedding" celebrates the Southern family through the sprawling Fairchild clan and its passel of sons, daughters, cousins, aunts, great-aunts, nieces and nephews, all involved in each others' lives to a degree rarely seen today.
   
   Many of her stories revolve around characters marginalized by society, struggling to exist and reach out to others: the simple Lily Daw who tries to evade the determination of the town's ladies to either marry her off or send her to the asylum; the generous, slightly retarded Daniel Ponder who would give away everything he has at the drop of a hat; the demented Clytie in "A Curtain of Green," who rushes about looking in people's faces until, seeing her reflection in a barrel of rainwater, dives in and drowns.
   
   Eudora Welty was a sharp, perceptive writer, and her enshrinement by the Library of America is most welcome.



2. "Listening," "Learning to See" and "Finding a Voice," Eudora Welty entitled the three chapters of her autobiography "One Writer's Beginnings," the concluding entry in this collection, one of the two Library of America compilations dedicated to her work. And while these may be steps that most writers will undergo at some point, Welty's compact autobiography is notable both because it allows a rare glimpse into the celebrated writer's otherwise fiercely protected private life and it illustrates the roots from which sprang such extraordinary protagonists as "The Ponder Heart"'s Edna Earle and Daniel Ponder, Miss Eckhart and the Morgana families in "The Golden Apples" and, of course, the anti-heroes of her Pulitzer Prize winning novel "The Optimist's Daughter," Judge McKelva, his second wife Fay and (most importantly) his daughter Laurel.

   A native and - with minimal exceptions - lifelong resident of Jackson, Mississippi, Welty received her first introduction to storytelling as a listener; and early on, learned to sharpen her ears not only to a story's contents but also to its narrator and its protagonists' individual nature: "[T]here [never was] a line read that I didn't hear," and "any room ... at any time of day, was there to read in, or to be read to," she notes in "One Writer's Beginnings," adding that the discovery that all those stories had been written by someone, not come into existence of their own, not only surprised but also severely disappointed her. Equally importantly, family visits to relatives brought out the born observer in her; each trip providing its own lessons and revelations, each a story onto itself - the seed from which later grew the literary creations collected in this compilation and its companion volume. At the same time, her father's interest in technology introduced her to photography as a means of capturing visual impressions, one moment at a time; and when traveling around Mississippi as an agent for a state agency (her first job) she learned to use that camera as "a hand-held auxiliary of wanting-to-know" and discovered that "to be able to capture transience, by being ready to click the shutter at the crucial moment, was [then] the greatest need I had" ("One Writer's Beginnings:" Not surprisingly, her photography was published in several collections which have found much acclaim of their own.)

   Thus, from early childhood on, Eudora Welty not only had a keen sense of the world around her but also, of words as such: of their existence as much as the interrelation between their sound, physical appearance and the things they stand for. Encouraged by her mother, a teacher, and over her father's worries (he considered fiction writing an occupation of dubitable financial promise and, worse, inferior to fact because it was "not true") Welty embarked on a writer's path which would lead her to award-winning heights and to a reputation as one of the South's finest writers, with as abounding as obvious comparisons to fellow Mississippian William Faulkner in particular; a literary debt she acknowledged when she wrote that "his work, though it can't increase in itself, increases us" and "[w]hat is written in the South from now on is going to be taken into account by Faulkner's work" ("Must the Novelist Crusade?", 1965). The Library of America dedicated two volumes to her work; one containing her novels, the other - this one - her short stories, essays (some, like her autobiography, based on a series of lectures) and her autobiography.

   An approach that Welty developed early on was to consider the publication of her stories in periodicals merely a step towards each story's final shape, and she generally revised her stories before including them in collections. This compilation brings together all her short stories in the versions intended to be final by Welty herself: the 1941 edition of "A Curtain of Green and Other Stories" (her first short story collection), the 1943 edition of "The Wide Net and Other Stories" and the 1949 edition of "The Golden Apples" - each collection suffered substantial editorial revisions in subsequent publications. Included are also two stand-alone short stories ("Where is This Voice Coming From?" and "The Demonstrators"), the first one inspired by the 1963 murder of Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers and revised by Welty over the telephone after having been accepted by "The New Yorker," to avoid a potentially prejudicial effect of its original ending on the then-impending trial.

   A keen observer, Welty was also a writer endowed with a sharp sense of humor and satire, and with the gift to brilliantly use location, localisms, accents, patterns of speech and customs to make a point. Not a single word is wasted: "Marrying must have been some of his showing off - like man never married at all till *he* flung in," we're told about King MacLain in the opening story of "The Golden Apples," "Shower of Gold." And you don't have to learn anything more about the man, do you? Equally as instructive on Welty's writing are the eight essays included in this collection, all taken from the 1978 compilation "The Eye of the Story" and dealing with particular aspects of her own fiction as much as, more generally, with "Place in Fiction" (1954) and the fiction writer's role ("Writing and Analyzing a Story," originally published in 1955 under the title "How I Write" and substantially revised for its inclusion in "The Eye of the Story" and "Must the Novelist Crusade?").

   "There is no explanation outside fiction for what its writer is learning to do," Eudora Welty maintained in "Writing and Analyzing a Story;" explaining that each story references only the writer's vision at the moment of the creation of that story, and the creative process itself: nothing that can be "mapped and plotted" but a product taking shape in the process of creation itself, giving each story a unique identity of its own. And while her fiction, alas, can no longer grow any more than Faulkner's, she has left us enough of those unique creations to cherish for a long time to come.




3. At the time of her death, Eudora Welty was widely regarded as America's single greatest living author. Although she produced several critically acclaimed novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning THE OPTIMIST'S DAUGHTER, Welty achieved her greatest fame through mastery of that most difficult of all literary forms, the short story.

   Welty's skill with short stories is amazing, for she possessed a talent that combined a remarkable ear for the spoken word, meticulous observation of physical world, and the truly mysterious ability to slip almost effortlessly into the very marrow of the characters she depicts. Her comic stories are perhaps best known to the public in general, but she is equally at home with provocative and unsettling material, and although her tales are most often firmly rooted in America's deep south they have a sense of humanity that transcends the limitations of purely regional literature.

   In addition to stories previously collected under the titles A CURTAIN OF GREEN, THE WIDE NET, THE GOLDEN APPLES, and THE BRIDE OF THE INNISFALLEN, this Library of America publication also includes the independently published stories "Where Is the Voice Coming From?" and "The Demonstrators," nine selected essays, and Welty's memoir ONE WRITER'S BEGINNINGS. A chronology of Welty's life up to 1996, textual notes, and general notes (including Katherine Anne Porter's introduction for A CURTAIN OF GREEN) are also included. This book (and its Library of America) companion, EUDORA WELTY: COMPLETE NOVELS) are essentials for any one who admires Welty's work and wishes to possess it in handy, collected form; those who have had limited exposure to Welty's work, however, might be better served by smaller collections.