3 comments about The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family.

1. This book is a fascinating look at a famous and influential family in a time and place I happen to find among the most interesting in all American history: Virginia from its founding until 1870. Within a few decades of the founding of Jamestown in 1607, the first Lee arrived in the Tidewater. For the next three centuries, more or less, the Lees were at or near the center of Virginia's -- and later America's -- history. For readers familiar only with Robert E. Lee, it may come as a shock to realize just how important his family was before and during the Revolution. But even for those for whom that's not a surprise, Paul Nagel's work is still richly rewarding.
   
   That's because "The Lees of Virginia" isn't really a composite biography of each individual member of the vast Lee family. Many of them do receive pretty thorough portraits, of course. But Nagel's main purpose is to chart the connections and relationships within the family, and to explore the influence of the family *as a* family.
   
   In so doing, he paints a fascinating picture of how characteristics and traits passed from generation to generation -- and how, just as importantly, subsequent generations learned from, and tried to do things differently than, their forebears. Perhaps the most interesting contrast here is between the erratic and debt-ridden "Light-Horse Harry" Lee and his son Robert Edward. R.E. Lee, in this analysis, comes across, frankly, as something of a moralistic prig, and one who more or less chained his daughters to their invalid mother's bedside. Nowadays, it's not uncommon to say about someone, "Well, he came from a messed-up family." I have more appreciation for Robert E. Lee's greatness, as well as his human failings, for seeing that he, too, came from a messed-up family.
   
   If I do have a complaint about this book, it might be that ending the narrative at R.E. Lee's death in 1870 seems a little arbitrary. Certainly, General Lee could be seen as the last truly great or influential member of the family. But as Nagel himself mentions, the General's sons and nephews continued to play relatively important roles in the history of Virginia, including service in Congress and as governor of the Commonwealth. Families wax and wane in their influence, as Nagel's book on the Adamses also proved. But I would have been willing to follow Nagel's reporting for another generation or two, just to see what happened.
   
   That aside, though, this is a fine book about an interesting family in interesting times. There are several members of the family I hope to find out more about -- especially Francis Lightfoot Lee, signer of the Declaration of Independence, whose relatively reclusive personality -- at least as contrasted to his more attention-seeking brothers -- was especially intriguing to me. I've always thought one sign of a good book is how much it makes you want to explore related topics, and "The Lees of Virginia" delivers in that regard too.



2. "The Lees" tells the story of a remarkable American family from its establishment in Virginia to General Robert E. Lee. It gives us a glimpse into their lives and the stages on which they played.

   One theme which runs through the book was that this family had many failures. Although there were shining lights, such as Richard Henry Lee and Robert E. Lee, the more typical Lee was R.E. Lee's father, Gen. Lighthorse Harry Lee, who squandered his wealth, spent time in debtor's prison and ended his life in flight from his creditors.

   The two leading figures of the family are Richard Henry Lee and Robert E. Lee.

   Richard Henry was one of the leaders of the call for American Independence. As the sponsor of the Independence Resolution, he would have been a natural for the Committee to draft the Declaration. His opponents in the Virginia delegation blocked his appointment, insisting on the conservative Benjamin Harrison. Less conservative delegates blocked Harrison, with Thomas Jefferson being the compromise choice. Oh, how history could have been different! Richard Henry had a long and, on the balance, distinguished career during which he led the "Lee Party" consisting of himself, his brothers and other Lee relatives.

   The coverage of Robert E. Lee amounts to a biography lite, with an emphasis on his involvement in family matters. There are better sources to learn about him.

   Much of the book consists of quotations from letters and the provisions of wills of many people who would have never been mentioned in a book had they not been related to Richard Henry Lee and Robert E. Lee. This makes portions of the book rather boring.

   I picked up two ideas which emerged from this book. One is the tremendous importance of inheritance for the Lees. This may have been exaggerated because wills are documents which survive, but many people's destiny seems to have been dependent on the inheritance of a farm or a plantation. The other is that it seems that, but for a few government positions, few of them ever aspired to any job other than to manage their farms. This may reflect the nature of the economy and may also reflect the social limitations on their class.

   Overall this book has some merit. One could read biographies of Richard Henry Lee and Robert E. Lee and forget the rest, but then the reader would miss the story of how this family worked together over the centuries. Make you own choice.




3. This was a very enlightning book about the Lees history. Some very fascinating stories about the lees and their roots

4 comments about Battles and Leaders of the Civil War.

1. Be careful what edition of this book you get. The original edition was a large, useful collection of primary sources. However, another edition was put out which, while still a collection of primary documents, was much shorter and could not be considered definitive at all. The latter was the one I wound up with, and I didn't get much use out of it.



2. This compendium of battle studies and reports was written by commanders of all levels: Grant, Sherman, Lee and Longstreet down to lieutenants commanding companies for points of clarification on minor skirmishes or segments of the battlefield.The accounts were set down when the war was still fresh in their memories, yet when enough time had passed for reflection.

   The fact that several viewpoints, some conflicting, are given for each major battle and campaign adds immeasurably to the value of this work. Of course recent "scholarship" has eclipsed and corrected many of these accounts. However, you get the immediacy and vigor of the post-war controversies and the finger-pointing --- the first early exposition of the rift between Longstreet and the Jubal Early faction for example.

   Battles and Leaders was for a long time THE source for the early critical historians of the war such as John Codman Ropes, W. Henderson (the pre-eminent biographer of Stonewall Jackson) as well as the generals themselves who wanted to cross-check their accounts. This was the case until well after the release of the Offical Records some ten years later.

   There were inevitable lapses of style and critical ability in the original multi-volume edition; these for the most part have been weeded out from this accessible one-volume version.

   The great part about this book for me is that one can get the flavor of the passions still raging, even though the writers attempted a detached and clinical tone for credibility's sake.

   Johnson and Buell made a concerted effort to elicit a well-rounded picture for battles and episodes which were the subject of intense debate.

   If you have any interest in the Civil War, and lack the time to sift through the voluminous post-war memoirs of the commanders, you'll want to keep Battles and Leaders handy.




3. This book is a veritable dictionary of the civil war. It holds everything one ever wished to know about the war and its leaders. I recommend it!



4. This book is a veritable dictionary of the civil war. It holds everything one ever wished to know about the war and its leaders. I recommend it!

3 comments about A Year in the South: Four Lives in 1865.

1. Stephen Ash takes you into four entirely different lives in the South during early reconstruction. You will not leave this book without actually feeling the despair, sadness,panic and even rebellion that many southern folks felt immediately after their defeat.
   Read about the devastation that ultimately comes out of war. A must for any Civil War library.



2. A worm's-eye view of 1865 in the South as the Civil War grinds to a halt and social instability (verging on chaos) sets in. This is an excellent counterbalance to the big picture studies of Reconstruction which are too much policy and too little impact on daily life. Four well-written biographies woven together; a book you will enjoy reading even if you start with no interest in the Civil War or the South.



3. Try this one, it has four!!

   Steve Ash brings four lives so alive that one feels one can reach back 135 years and touch them. So too with the details of their daily lives. The author does a great job capturing what life was really like back in 1865.

   His style of writing makes it even more fun to read as the characters' stories "leapfrog" with the seasons, which spurs the reader on and on!

   A great, must read!

   Ellen Cumming

5 comments about An Echo in My Blood: The Search for My Family's Hidden Past.

1. Weisman is a good writer, with an amazing true story to tell. A journalist traveling to the Ukraine to investigate the Chernobyl disaster (an amazing story in its own right), he decides to visit his ancestral town of Elizavetgrad (Yelisavethgrad). This takes him on an unexpected odyssey of self-discovery and family history.

   His insights into Jewish life (in Chicago and Russia) are especially engaging. Some readers will tire of his sometimes relentless left-wing agenda, but I was glad I didn't let that distract from the really fine cultural portrait he has composed.




2. I surpsed myself and finished this
   book as I was going to stop on several
   ocassions. His vinettes of imprtant
   history(the Russian civil war,the Chicago
   convention,the Unamerican Committee) were
   incredible. I take issue with the extent
   of his family history which was confusing
   and tiring.



3. How deeply moved my wife and I have been by this momentous, beautiful book, which both of us have found to be truly unforgettable. Echo in the blood, indeed. Weisman has found a way to widen a story that is essentially "personal" and familial by ramifying that story in multiple dimensions -- geo-politically, ecologically, historically and racially (the euphemism is "culturally," but this is a book that is unabashedly concerned with the complex meanings of racial inheritance). Most staggering to me are the book's accounts of visiting the weirdly transformed Ukrainian landscape around Chernobyl, the passages that combine the author's father's letters from combat in World-War-Two-era Europe with descriptions of the ongoing lives of relatives at home in Minnesota, and the chapters detailing (with intricate, agonizing subtlety) the deaths of his parents, one then the other. My wife's strongest response was a whole-body recognition of a certain truth, in which the book immerses its reader: As a people, as a species, we are making war on each other and on the living earth. Every one of us carries the burden and the damage of that war into our future. This is extraordinary writing, extraordinarily difficult to make sing, and Alan Weisman has brought it to song.



4. I am a descendent of the family that Mr Weisman writes about. How ironic, that I discovered this book through a distant relative who knew I was looking for information on my great grandparents, on my mother's side. I am named for Bess Goldman, a relative of Mr. Weisman. I asked hundreds of questions about my family while my grandparents were alive, and most were stonewalled. After resigning myself to never knowing the truth, I read this book, and many mysteries are finally solved. I am now 56 and for most of my life the story of my family was concealed from me, I never knew why. In those days, living in denial saved you from the truth. I must be a distant cousin to Mr. Weisman, I had many relatives my grandparents would never tell me about, I never knew why they fled the Ukraine. this book has provided answers to lingering questions, echos, so to speak. I will be sending each my two children this book and will share it with remaining family members. Mr. Weisman's research is inspiring. I admire his tenacity in delving into the past with such enthusiasm. This book could be anybody's family, it is a microcosm of our journey from elsewhere to America. Pamela Price Lechtman



5. This book goes far beyond conventional memoir. The author's story shows how our world today is tangled with the past, and that we drag the past along with us, whether we know it or not. Through vivid personal stories, the writer shows how events as disparate as the Jewish pogroms in Russia, the McCarthy blacklist, and the current environmental crisis are all connected. He reminds us that we all share the inherited pain of immigration. A beautifully written, sad and funny, important book.

2 comments about The Last Cowboy: The Personal Story of a Vanishing Cowboy.

1. Davis Ford has compiled a labor of love, this by capturing the thoughts, ideas and personas of an era that is quickly leaving us. Just as Tom Brokow has referred to those who participated in WWII as members of a great generation, so are those whom Dr. Ford memoralizes in his book. You can almost hear the campfire crackle as the cowboys discuss their lives in a time soon to be remembered only by the false pictures generated by Hollywood of men who are truely of the ages. Everyone who has even sat astride of a horse, or watched John Wayne in action, needs to read this book to hear the true story of the American west and the men who made history, and won a country, in their own quiet way. This book will be read 100 years from now by those who want to know the true story of the American west and those that left their own personal brand on our country.



2. In his excellent book, The Last Cowboy, Davis Ford creates a colorful mosaic not only of Leroy Webb but also of many other authentic cowboys - as well as the development of an entire region. The format of the book enhances the story with quotes encased in barbed wire, action pictures, regional maps and appropriate quotations interspersed in the text. The Last Cowboy is an outstanding chronology of an era told through ancestral history, geographical details and economic facts woven into telling the life story of Webb. It is a pleasure to read this well-researched and well-crafted history, augmented by humorous anecdotes and the personal observations of the author.

2 comments about A Private Life of Henry James: Two Women and His Art.

1. Lyndall Gordon's "A Private Life of Henry James" is a very interesting and readable book.The author argues that we can come to an understanding of what made Henry James tick by a close examination of 2 significant females in his life.These are his cousin,Minny Temple, and a contemporary American female novelist,Constance Fenimore Woolson.Gordon argues quite convincingly that Minny Temple,who died tragically very young was the model for Milly Theale,in "The Wings of the Dove" and probably also influenced other Jamesian character portraits,such as Isabel Archer in "The Portrait of a Lady".There has to be some truth in this,since the similarities are fairly obvious.Constance Fenimore Woolson was a successful writer who came to understand that Henry James was going to become one of the Greats of Literature and went to great lengths to be around him and to get close to him.She and James spent a year living together in a house in Italy,contrary to anyone's idea at the time of correct behaviour.What happened between them is the central subject of the book,which begins with the striking image of James,in a gondola in Venice,way out on the lagoon,tipping Constance's clothes into the water after her death,trying to ensure that the clothes all disappeared beneath the water.Added to this mystery is the question of how Connie died:did she fall from a balcony or did she take her own life?Was rejection by James part of the mystery?
   Gordon writes plausibly and her documentation is impressive.Whether we would want to go all the way with her is another question.Did James USE his cousin and his writer friend in his efforts to get "inside the heads" of the women of his day?What,if anything,did James feel about these two?
   Was he just cynically trolling for good ideas to put into his writings.James' sexuality is certainly an area of interest to anyone who reads and loves his books.What were his real feelings for these two remarkable women in his life?



2. This absorbing book tells the story of Henry Jamesý friendships with Minnie Temple and Constance Fenimore Woolson. Minnie inspired James to create the characters of Isabel Archer, the heroine of The Portrait of a Lady, and of Milly Theale, the heroine of The Wings of the Dove.

   Both Minnie and Constance looked to James for more than he was prepared to give. He drew them into communion, then left them exposed when he withdrew into the sanctuary of his writing. Minnie died of tuberculosis in 1870 at the age of 25, after James rejected her pleas for a closer relationship; her consequent loss of morale accelerated her death. After fifteen years of friendship with James, Constance killed herself in 1894 at the age of 52. Their tragic deaths spurred his creativity.

   Jamesý greatest achievements depended on their generosity: the idea of the solitary genius is just a myth: genius cannot emerge in a void. He paid them the supreme artistic tribute of portraying them forever as heroines, but he paid them too little attention as real women. He rejected what few but he knew that they offered. He understood the claims that they made on life, but would not, could not, meet them. Jamesý visionary moralism was born of his ýmerciless clairvoyanceý.

   These two wonderful independent-minded women provoked Jamesý creative attention; they figured for him creative possibilities that he celebrated in his greatest fiction. They enabled him to understand a womanýs point of view, a perspective that became central to his art. Like George Eliot and Charles Dickens, James exposed the social corruption and moral bankruptcy of the bourgeois men and women of his time. But only James and Eliot, with Dorothea Brooke in Middlemarch and Gwendolen Harleth in Daniel Deronda, created heroines who transcended the limits of their society. In each of these novels, the heroineýs integrity and altruism rise above the bullying interference and interests of others.

5 comments about Robert E. Lee: A Life (Penguin Lives Biographies).

1. Obviously, to get a REALLY good idea of who someone was, one must read more than one biography, but Roy Blount, Jr.'s "Robert E. Lee: A Life" is a pretty good start for anyone who has slight trouble wading through the heavy stuff. It keeps a lighthearted air while still managing to be extremely informative. I learned some little things about Lee, which I hadn't heard anywhere else before, and it was presented in such an enjoyable fashion. I already have two people asking to borrow this book, and I'm confident that they will come out of it with no complaints, just as I have. Enjoy. There's no way you can regret this purchase.



2. This book fails Gen. Robert E. Lee.
   
   It's noble in intent and confused in reality; like the Confederate army, half of which deserted, it greatly misses its full potential; like Lee's ability to overawe Northern generals, the topic seems to have overawed Blount; and like the Confederacy itself, it's a sadly flawed effort in defence of a doomed cause. In other words, it's a fitting portrayal of the Slave-ocracy itself, all smoke and mirrors and little substance. People who live off the labour of others are rarely noble, decent, competent or useful; that is why the Confederacy failed, not due to the shortcomings of General Lee or any of his soldiers.
   
   Again and again, Blount approaches fatal flaws in Lee's character and comes away uninspired; he writes "Lee was a great defensive general but on offense he got away with murder." It's an astute assessment. But he doesn't suggest the outcome had Lee fought a solely defensive war instead of wasting his best troops in futile attacks.
   
   Even his assessment of Lee as a "great defensive general" can be questioned. At the start of his long retreat to Appomattox Courthouse, Lee had 64,000 troops. He inflicted 63,000 casualties on Union forces; but, at Appomattox, his army was less than 10,000. Lee lost 53,000 men, or 83 percent of his army. Had the Germans lost the same proportion in Normandy in 1944, World War II would have ended by Thanksgiving.
   
   Blount touches major issues again and again, then retreats without a single thought. He spends more time psychobabbling about Lee's shoe size, a 4 1/2 C, than discussing Gettysburg. Surely, in a 206-page book about one of the great flawed figures of American history, there is more intellectual depth than to report, "We have no evidence that Lee and his wife, Mary, ever massaged each other's feet."
   
   "No one has ascribed any psychological significance to this socks fixation," Blount writes later about Lee's complaint that his wife sent only 64 pairs of socks, instead of 67 pairs. Although his soldiers often subsisted on mule meat and green corn, Blount can't find any psychobabble to explain Lee's order to have a soldier at Antietam shot for carrying a "stolen" pig. But he explains in great detail Lee's murder of a Canadian "snake" early in his career.
   
   When it comes to pure babble, Blount says Lee's joining the Confederacy "is one of the most famous American decisions." So, he compares it to the purely fictional decision by Huck Finn to help Jim, a runaway slave, to escape. Such insight is surely equivalent to saying Roosevelt's action after Pearl Harbour was inspired by Superman's decision to save Gotham. This is history? Or is it Blount's sense of humour, testing the acumen of readers hoping for anything more serious.
   
   Having wrapped up Lee's life in 163 pages, perhaps the strangest element is three Appendix afterthoughts that fill up the otherwise blank space from page 165 to the end. Maybe those pages should have been left blank for readers to fill in their own notes, observations and ideas. Or he could have psychobabbled about 'General Lee', the Dukes of Hazard car.
   
   Regardless of anyone's opinion of him, Lee deserves better.



3. I came away from this biography of Robert E. Lee feeling that the author didn't like his subject very much. It was almost like he wanted to prove that General Lee was just another man with more than his share of faults. He kept trying to pick Lee's personality apart and gave meaning to every gesture and casual comment that Lee had ever made. I felt that the historic facts in this book seemed accurate as far as I could remember from other things that I had read, but I also felt that there was not enough information given to substantiate some of the negative comments. He painted Lee as somewhat of a flirt, ignoring his wife, and being a cold and indifferent father to his children.
   
   If you want to read about General Lee, there are better biographies available.
   
   



4. In the pantheon of American history, few figures are as elusive and unknowable as Robert E. Lee, the commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia and the principal Confederate military leader in the Civil War. To try and encapsulate his life into one small, concise little book is pretty much impossible, but Roy Blount Jr. tries his best. And for that, he is to be applauded.
   
   Over the course of less than 200 pages, Blount examines Lee's life from his troubled past (Light-Horse Harry Lee, his Revolutionary War hero of a father, abandons the family and leaves his mother to raise their children), to his early military career (including brave missions for Winfield Scott during the Mexican-American War), up through his Civil War generalship and subsequent retirement to a small college to live out his last years. And Blount does it with the charm and wit that make him one of America's (and the South's) most treasured writers.
   
   Robert E. Lee, more a marble giant than a man in most other biographers' attempts, is fleshed out by Blount as a stoic, almost Calvinist man with some unusual attributes that make him more attractive than before. Blount does not try to apologize for Lee's decision to side with his state over the Federal Government, he also tries to illuminate Lee's human side with interactions with his children and various ladies other than his wife over the course of his life. The Robert E. Lee that emerges is a man who had a hard life, with little hope for more than a passing whiff of happiness, who saw his duty to his state and his class overreaching that of the nation he served so gallantly before. And he paid the price for that in the end.
   
   Blount is at his best when describing Lee's human side (such as his flirtations with other women, his relationships with his children, his care of pupils while in charge of West Point), and also in showing that Lee's military record during the Civil War was less than perfect. Indeed, the book focuses on what Blount calls Lee's "instinctive" generalship and how his inability to communicate with his subordinates cost him victory at Gettysburg. Lee's war is not a success in the end, but his image as a fatherly leader of his men helps to cement the postwar elevation to Godlike status among the defeated Southerners who clung to the ideals of the Confederacy.
   
   Robert E. Lee is too complex a figure to be summed up in the space of 200 pages, but what Blount does is provide a quick survey of his life and infuse it with enough detail to make for a great brief appreciation. In appendices to the main book, Blount also discusses Lee's humor (his fondness for a certain, almost obscene phrase a highlight) and his attitudes to slavery (Lee was sadly a product of his times, no matter how "kind" he may have been to his own slaves). Blount, a southerner himself, takes pains to show Lee in real terms, not as the demigod he has been promoted to in the wake of postwar nostalgia. Robert E. Lee was not an easy man to know, and Blount makes no attempt to act as if his is the "definitive" study. But through clever and interesting sidetracks into Lee's personality, Blount comes as close as anyone yet to getting a handle on the man behind the curtain, the real Robert E. Lee and not the myth.
   
   Roy Blount Jr., through the auspices of Penguin's Brief Lives series, gives us a portrait of Robert E. Lee than transcends the myth and looks at the facts behind the myth. The result is a man that emerges as a troubled and complicated leader of men whose failings had as much to do with his legend as his successes. Blount makes Lee human, something that other more esteemed historians seem to miss. For that, he should be commended. The Marble Giant comes alive, however briefly, and fans and detractors alike can find something to treasure in Roy Blount's honest appraisal of his life and times.



5. I like the Penquin series of short biographies but this one was too much of a strange psychohistory. As other reviewers have pointed out, author Roy Blount seems to have a need to go into details 9at fairly great legnth) such as Lee's small feet and that he liked to play games with his children where they tickled his feet. First of all, I knew this because as a Civil way buff, I have read a lot about Lee so I come across such material. However, someone who knows less about Lee who is reading a very short biography would want to know more substance and less psycho nonsense in those few pages.
   
   There is not a lot of military history but, then again, this is a short book. Still, military history is basic to an initial understanding of Lee, therefore, perhaps Blount should have been more carefully in allocating scarce page space in this short book. In general, I have enjoyed reading short biographies of historical figures I am familiar with. I have read several biographies of Grant, for example, and I found two short biographies to be worthwhile in that in the few pages, they added insights. I suppose this book is OK for someone who knows nothing about Lee but it would be better to include more of the military and political facts. However, I found that it didn't really add much to my personal understanding of Lee.

5 comments about America's Bishop: The Life and Times of Fulton J. Sheen.

1. A superb biography about one of America's most talented personalities. The book is a milestone in the annals of Americana. We will never see his likes again. The author has done a most splendid and complete job in his portrayal. Best bio I have read in years.
   jw
   nyc



2. I really enjoyed this book. I thought that it did a number of things well. For one it helped me to get to know Fulton J. Sheen, a name I had heard about from the past and brief mentions from my parents, but had never known except the author of one book on my shelf ("The Life of Christ"). I felt that I not only got to know who he was, but also about the times he lived in. Reeves seamlessly blends the historical reality of Sheen's time with Sheen's actions as well as his thoughts.
   I felt that Reeves had presented Sheen as entirely human, he did not try to portray him as a distant saint, nor try to deconstruct him in a voyeuristic way. He attempted to accurately present the man and his message. Based on his liberal number of interviews and sources I think he did a good job. He stated that there was simply a lack of a good biography on Archbishop Sheen and I think that he filled it.
   I appreciated Reeves working in numerous quotations from Sheen's writings and talks which sent me to Amazon.com to see if many of these books were still in print. However, many are not, which seems a shame, because Sheen seems to me (as a 26-year-old) to have much to say about the current age.



3. Fulton J. Sheen will never be canonized a saint in the Roman Catholic Church for two obvious reasons: his sins are bright scarlet and we know them too well. Sheen established a television intimacy with the American public in the 1950's that only a few individuals have achieved-Walter Cronkite and Johnny Carson come to mind-through his apostolic use of that explosive new video medium. I was a lad in Catholic elementary school when Sheen delivered his prime time homilies from 1952 through 1957. While I remember little of the content of those shows, I was captivated by the style. Sheen, I noticed, paused to let the audience think. None of my local priests did that, nor did they have Skippy the angel to erase the blackboard.
   
   Thomas Reeves is to be commended for the manner in which he tells the truth, the whole truth, about Sheen without defacing the Bishop's many good works and his positive influence upon a wide and diverse American public. Sheen's life was indeed a message "written with crooked lines" and one is reminded of Christ's words to the penitent woman, "her sins, many as they are, will be forgiven because of her great love." Though haunted by the pride and ambition that would seem to stalk nearly all television evangelists who followed, in the final analysis Sheen did love his God, though he himself ran a close second.
   
   Born in 1895 on a farm in rural Illinois, the youthful Peter John Sheen was devout, smart, and disdainful of manual labor and farming. He was hardly the first country boy to see the cloth as a step up from shoveling manure. We forget that he was originally a priest of the Peoria, Illinois, diocese, possibly because of his distinguished academic record at the Louvain.
   
   There is an air of mystery about Sheen's academic status, though. Desperate to escape a life in Peoria, Sheen joined the philosophy faculty of Catholic University in 1926 but never became "one of the boys" of the staff. In fact, tenure was denied him for some years, in part because the young priest was away from the campus three days a week for his growing number of speaking engagements. [In 1928 he hired a clipping service to track his press notices.] Catholic University itself was in academic, political, and organizational disarray. The school was frankly under-funded and underachieving. Perhaps to ease himself out of the philosophy department and into theology, Sheen invented for himself a second doctorate, an S.T.D. that suddenly appeared after his name in 1928 and which remained on his letterhead as late as 1966. Reeves speculates that Sheen got away with this massive deception precisely because it was so audacious and no one would have expected it of him.
   
   Reeves wonders if Sheen is under-appreciated today as a scholastic. Although brilliant and prolific, Sheen was not original, and added nothing of substance to twentieth century philosophy. Sheen's strength was apologetics: the presentation of Catholic faith and devotion in simple, straightforward, and yet cosmopolitan ways. For about forty years, from 1928 through 1966, Sheen was arguably the best preacher in the United States, dividing his time between public appearances, radio and television, prodigious devotional writing, and fundraising for the Society of the Propagation of the Faith [and, surprisingly, acting as an "observer" of sorts for J. Edgar Hoover, who admired his fierce anti-communism.] His work for the Society earned him the title bishop, appointed auxiliary to Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York in 1951. Reeves finds that Sheen was a holy priest who made a daily holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament and spent hours personally instructing converts, including numerous celebrities of the entertainment and publishing industries.
   
   Having said that, it cannot be denied that Sheen shocked his clerical brethren with a champagne lifestyle. While a faculty member at CU Sheen built a magnificent home in NW D.C.and entertained frequently and graciously. As a fund-raiser, millions of dollars passed through his hands, though there is no whiff of impropriety. Reeves does comment upon Sheen's total absence of fiscal management skill, his arrogance and petulance that insulated him from sound advice, his unfettered cash charity, and his pride of bestowal, so to speak. These factors, coupled with Spellman's own devils, led to an estrangement between the two that produced one of the strangest episcopal appointments of our lifetime.
   
   In October 1966 Fulton Sheen was appointed bishop of Rochester, NY. To church observers it was clear that Spellman had orchestrated the transfer for ultimate humiliation effect. In public, at least, Sheen put the best face on things, explaining that his tenure would be an experiment with the reforms of the recently concluded Vatican II. In truth, Sheen was a pre-Vatican II autocrat who alienated nearly every local constituency. His unilateral decision making cost him his priests, and his explicit criticisms of racial policies at Kodak the support of the city's largest employer. He was deeply wounded that Rochester did not recognize the celebrity in its midst, and within three years "America's best preacher" withered into retirement.
   
   If the Rochester years were his crucifixion, they also brought Sheen into communion with his best self. In retirement he publicly regretted his earlier opulence and vanity. He became less dogmatic and more open to philosophical systems other than that of St. Thomas Aquinas. Although not entirely shedding his theatrical instincts, he lived the last of his 84 years with an optimistic piety that belied the sufferings of multiple illnesses. Appropriately, he was found dead in his private chapel. Throughout this remarkable life, with its graces and glosses, Sheen's prayers were always sincere. His arrogance and sense of self-importance are perhaps the less desirable fruits of his utter certainty in the truth and goodness of God and the holiness of the Roman Catholic Church.



4. Thomas Reeves deserves kudos and credit for a very fine biography of a man much admired by millions. The high points of this book are as follows: the meticulous gathering of much information simply unknown by his admirers; the careful balancing of sanctity and human frailty of Sheen's character; the fascinating recreation of the Golden Age of Catholicism in America; the personal relationship between Cardinal Spellman and Bishop Sheen; a superb ability to synthesize and bring new insight from the wide variety of materials cited; a great bibliography and excellent notes. The weaknesses are minor: a tendency to repeat some stories, and the maddening tendency of Sheen himself to destroy and misplace correspondence or simply not document his personal life. Despite these minor drawbacks in the book, I was deeply moved by much of this biography and, indeed, brought to tears by the account of the last years of Sheen's life, his meeting with Pope John Paul II, and his funeral. Few will be disappointed in this book; it is a true accomplishment. Many thanks to Professor Reeves for this profound and necessary commentary on the life of a truly great person of the 20th century.



5. This is a book that has been ignored by the media which does not want to hear about good Catholic clergy. The media only wants to know about scandal in the church - because the Catholic Church and that which it really stands for(as contrasted with the deeds
   of the fallible priests,and lay Catholics that can be found within it) is the mortal enemy to secular humanism, sexual license, abortion and the "if it FEELS right, do it" philosopy that is held so dear by much of the media.
   The book is a great inspiration because Bishop Sheen, with all his human failings, is an inspiration to us all.

5 comments about The Life and Times of Cotton Mather.

1. I can't imagine too many Christians wading through a 400+ page biography about a man that most of them have never heard about, but they should. If nothing else, they would gain tremendous insight about life in early America, especially the Boston society. Along the way they would learn much about one of the most interesting and prominent characters of the colonial times.
   
   Mather came from incredible stock; the uniting of the most honored families in early New England, the Cottons and the Mathers - both grandfathers being famous Puritan preachers in early colonial history. Cotton, obviously named after both grandfathers may seem like a strange name until you know that his own father, also a well-known minister was named Increase (Cotton named one of his sons Increase, and later had a grandson by the same name; how did such a name fall out of favor?). Cotton lived from 1663 to 1728 and few have crammed so much into a lifetime. He preached hour-and-a-half long sermons (and on at least one occasion his pastoral prayer lasted two hours) at Boston's largest church, North Church. He studied medicine and science, fulfilled the full complement of the pastorate, often dabbled in politics, wrote almost 400 books and numerous articles and pamphlets. All of this while battling various illnesses, a stuttering problem, burying 13 of his 15 children and marrying three times.
   
   With all of this production nevertheless Mather is best known for his role in the Salem witch trials and executions, a role that has been somewhat exaggerated. The bigger picture of his life would reveal that in addition to his ecclesiastical achievements he also wrote the definitive history of colonial living in America, was the first to use inoculations (smallpox) and may have actually been the first to discover the germ theory of disease.
   
   Still, Cotton Mather was an odd man for a Puritan pastor. He communed with angels, received "Particular Faiths" (words of knowledge), often doubted his own salvation and flirted for a time with Arianism. In addition, he battled for many years with debt, and more seriously with his last wife, who left him for a time. What a life!
   
   The Life and Times of Cotton Mather is an interesting read. I am glad I took the time.



2. Religion, next to poor economic conditions, was primarily responsible for the foundation of the colonies. It too was the backbone for its evolvement. And one of the chief leaders in that unfolding was the noted Congregational minister Cotton Mather, who, as author, theologian, science-minded neophyte and sometimes political insider, helped to lead the way before the likes of Washington, Franklin, Paine and Jefferson came into the underdeveloped social, religious and political scene. Though often cited as the one who added fuel to the fire in the Salem witch trials by giving a sense of legitmacy to the ideas and beliefs of spectral evidence, he was also openly criticized by his harshest critic and dogged nemesis Robert Calef, who mocked him for his blatant inaction and for his uttering of dated apocalyptic pronouncements when primitive superstition took a firm hold of the Salem villagers: "Robert Calef, Mather's angriest and most dogged critic, charged that by being "the most active and forward of any minister in the country" in the Goodwin case, and by printing his account of it, Mather "conduced much to the kindling of those flames" at Salem that "threatened the destruction of this country." P.87. There were those who saw the trials for what they were-a farce. And Mather-as a "learned" man-was not in the league of those who possessed clear comprehension. Hence, his name, over time, became stigmatized with that dark period of early colonial history.
   
   As people are sometimes granted a second chance, Cotton Mather, after the tragic witch fiasco, took the opportunity to do only good-even in exchange for the bad-which he received from his enemies, a Biblical offering of the "other" cheek. The latter was the way of German Pietism, an approach that appealed to Mather, for it had: "...its emphasis on pastoral work and involvement in community life, its far-flung missionary work, perhaps especially its ecumenical attempt to reduce dogma to essentials." P. 231. But more than that, Cotton Mather seemed to try to go beyond himself, to try to outdue past accomplishments, because there was always this psychological manifestation of the stammerer he used to be, coupled with the stress of his prominent family lineage. It seemed to be pressure coupled atop pressure, forceful and expected success at all costs. In trying to be God's warrior and live up to perfection, he paid many costs: bankruptcy, the death of 13 of his 15 children, intellectual belittlement, to scores of other misfortunes. Yet, through his voluminous religious, economic, social, science, political and medical writings, he refined the colonies to a crest that it had never been at before. He, by his sermons, writings, insight, gave the colonies a caliber of legitmacy that it sorely needed in the eyes of the mother country, England. In a way, he gave the colonies respect by immersing himself in the lives of those who sought his council: academics, doctors, politicians to a bevy of others. He, in effect, taught himself and become knowledgeable-sometimes even an expert-in the career fields of the very individuals who sought him out. And thus, he was past being well-rounded and effective. But that also brought about jealousy and contempt. But prayer, introspection and conformity to theology (though it was a heavy struggle) gave him the necessary framework to do what he had to do. And upon his death, the respect that he so yearned for while alive, was heaped upon him in abundance.
   
   Kenneth Silverman's The Life and Times of Cotton Mather is quite simply a stunning work of early colonial history and biography; he delves deeply into age-old diaries, hymnals, political documentation, to a whole pool of sources, and he makes them come to vivid life by his crisp and tight writing style. He brings a bygone era and all its conceivable joys, sufferings and anger to the forefront, illustrating with scholarly and literary certitude that the problems of our times have not differed in any extremity to previous generations. The evolution just becomes more pronounced. In the Life and Times of Cotton Mather, readers will be exposed to wharves, perriwigs, flickering candles and towering Congregational steeples that loom over a fledging city trying to form its own identity, history and truth. The book is a resounding achievement.



3. This is one of the best historical biographies I have ever read. If sterotypes and simple categorizations are the junk food of the mind, here is well-prepared dish to feast on. The author's wealth of research and evident grasp of the period and the person permeate the pages. Here is a wonderful opportunity to visit a transitional time between the middle ages and the modern scientific age and to get to know an influential, enigmatic and represtative player of the period. Whether you are drawn toward biographies in general or history in particular, this masterful book will make a forceful impact on your view of the Puritans.



4. If I had to describe this book in one word it would be: Excellent. I thought I knew a great deal about Cotton Mather, but after reading this book I realized I really didn't. I always believed Cotton was much more involved in the Salem witch trials than he actually was. I also didn't know someone tried to kill Cotton because of his support of small pox inoculation. And I didn't realize how involved he was not only in religion, but also in science and politics. After reading this book I find I think I know more about Cotton Mather than I know about my own neighbors today. This is a very detailed book.
   In this book we see both the great talents of Cotton Mather and his faults. Not only are we given information on what he did, but also we find out why he did it. His life is covered from birth to death. We find out how his father and even his grandfather influenced his life. We find out how his quest for fame and struggles with that quest affected his life. We see the struggles he had with three wives and a multitude of children.
   Not only do we learn about Cotton Mather, we learn about what was going on around him, and so we are shown a slice of how society operated at that time.
   There is a tremendous amount of information in this book. In fact, in my opinion, there was too much information. For example, in the early part of the book, we learn about Cotton's stuttering problem--which is good, because we learn how this affects Cotton's life at that time, but this goes on and on and on for many pages. I didn't need to know that much. But, on the other hand, none of this information is useless, and for anyone wanting a greater understanding of Cotton Mather, it is probably welcome. This is true throughout the book. The writing is engaging and easy to read, but to me the book at times becomes somewhat tedious. Not because it ever gets boring, but simply because I wasn't looking for such a detailed study of Cotton Mather's life. In fact, I found myself at times skimming through paragraphs to get to something new. Again, this is not a statement about the book as much as a statement that maybe for some people-like me--there is just too much detail for what we wanted to read.
   But even then, this book is one of the best biographies of any I have ever read from this time period. As a comparison, I will relate this to a very popular book from a few years ago-John Adams by David McCullough (yes, I know this is later time period). In the Adams book, we are given only a slice of history of Adams life, starting from early on in the American Revolution forward. In the Mather book, we learn nearly everything from his birth to his death. The Adams book is distorted in that the writer tries to make a hero of Adams, never pointing out his weaknesses, but only stressing his strengths. In Cotton Mather we are given everything-both strengths and weaknesses. In Adams we are given just a string of events in the life of Adams. In Mather we are given not only the events, but are given information to understand just why Cotton Mather reacted to them and influenced them as he did. I know I am in a minority, but I thought "John Adams" by McCullough was not a great biography. Cotton Mather is-even though I also thought it was too detailed for my tastes. In fact, I think if this book were edited to half its length, I believe it would find a much larger audience. But then, it would offer only half the information. A definite dilemma for any author.
   In the end, however, this is a tremendous book offering a great deal of information. It is well written and easy to read. I have read other accounts of Cotton Mather's life, but this one has to be the best, offering the most, I have ever read. As a book in general I would rate it only a three, just because, as I said before, sometimes I found it tedious because of the tremendous amount of information.
   The book is well-written but not the best written book I have ever read. It is engaging, but sometimes tedious (if that makes sense). It is a good book to read, but it isn't one of my favorite books of all time by a long shot, so rating this book is a bit of a struggle. So to make things easy, I have decided to simply judge the book by its cover, and its cover says, "The Life and Times of Cotton Mather." Judging the book on how the author justified the title, I couldn't not give it a 5 star rating...well, okay a 4. I'll save the 5 star ratings for books I just can't put down.
   In any case, if your desire is to learn about the life and times of Cotton Mather, I know of no better book than this one.



5. The Last Puritan
   By Peter Clifford, Esq.

   "The New England conscience...does not stop you from doing what you shouldn't - it just stops you from enjoying it." Cleveland Amory

   There are few things as perplexing as the study of the "New England conscience." Our thinking is, or should be, rooted in this ethical tradition.

   Are we, like Thoreau and Emerson, at the forefront of philosophical thinking? Or are we dullards, living in a philosophical backwater? Have our values changed over the centuries, or have they been constant?

   New Englanders typically flatter themselves by taking credit for the American Revolution, the Romantic and Transcendental movements, the abolition of slavery, philosophical pragmatism, even the creation of sliced bread. Those from other parts of the country see us as obnoxious, cranky, hypocritical, and cheap.

   The truth lies somewhere in between. There are two dominant themes that emerge from a study of New England thinking: The rejection of Puritanism, and a resulting spirit of inventiveness.

   New England inventiveness is personified by one of my personal heroes. Chester Greenwood, the legendary inventor of the earmuff, was an Oxford County native, His brilliance saved literally millions of cold and raw ears from frostbite. However, his story must wait for another day.

   Today, we look at Puritanism, specifically the "Last Puritan," Cotton Mather. In The Life and Times of Cotton Mather, Kenneth Silverman examines Mather's complex life, and the resulting history of New England. This important book compares the history of early New England with the subsequent history of revolutionary New England. The comparison shows how we transformed from a land of faith and tyranny into a land of reason, commerce and science.

   During the first hundred years, New Englanders rejected the idea of political freedom, and the idea of commercial society. Puritans saw human nature as, (not to mince words), evil. To paraphrase, life stunk. For all but a tiny minority of saints, after this lousy life, we die. Although it is difficult to understand how this appealing philosophy died out, we must try.

   Like other philosophical pessimists, such as Hobbes, Machiavelli, and Freud, Puritans believed human nature was unchangeable. Puritans tried to eliminate natural desires for power and aggression. They suppressed all efforts at rebellion. The Puritans' solution was strict conformity, based on rigid moral codes. These codes were enforced by an all-powerful theocratic ministry.

   New Englanders, like sassy children, have never liked theocratic ministries. They didn't like them in 1650, and they don't like them now. We like to argue, backstab, and criticize.

   Eventually, Puritanism was overthrown in New England. Since this overthrow, we have never gone back. We have held firm to democracy, and the spirit of the Declaration of Independence.

   Why did we reject Puritanism, and its leader, Cotton Mather? Have we retained any of our Puritan heritage? Why have we held true to our resulting democratic roots?

   Three words: Salem Witch Trials.

   In 1692, Mather, Boston's leading Puritan Minister, wrote an article to warn the faithful. The pamphlet was called Memorable Providences. It described the story of several Boston adolescents who experienced "strange fits."

   Mather came to believe that Goody Glover, an "ignorant and scandalous old woman," somehow caused the fits. His reasoning seemed natural enough: whenever the kids were near Goody, they started acting up. Goody liked to curse. She also liked to play with dolls - voodoo dolls, with pins in them. Based on this overwhelming evidence, and a series of lengthy interviews with the victims, Mather ultimately concluded that Goody was a witch.

   After Mather's article began to circulate in New England, preachers started warning the faithful about witches. Other young girls, and a few boys, began to experience similar fits. These fits usually occurred when the youngsters were near powerless women. Eventually, a group of girls in Salem accused three women of being witches: a slave, an old woman, and a beggar, Sarah Good. They were quickly tried.

   The judges at the witch trials, took their lead from Mather,. Based on his analysis, they allowed proof of witchcraft through the use of "spectral evidence." Spectral evidence consisted of the accuser's testimony that he or she saw ghostlike images of the accused haunting the accuser. (You'll be happy to note that since the Daubert and Kumho rulings. spectral evidence is no longer allowed in Maine courtrooms.)

   Tragically, several hundred people were either accused or jailed as witches. On one day alone, eight of nine accused witches were hanged. Over the course of that terrible year, 19 men and women were executed.

   Silverman has a powerful explanation for both the fits and the hysteria of the witch trials:

   "When read in the context of a society that demanded utter submission from the young, Cotton Mather's account of the Goodwin children becomes a tale of sassy adolescents who loathed washing their hands, going to bed or doing their chores. ... "

   (Ironically, the author's children do not like washing their hands, going to bed, or doing their chores).

   Puritan religious life angered these children. Rebellion was, however, not permitted.

   Reforms enacted after the trials took away much of the power of the ministry. This rebellious generation of New Englanders, led by Franklin, John Adams, Sam Adams, and John Hancock, eventually became the revolutionary generation. Based on the recent events in New England, they insisted on separation of church and state, a free press, freedom from arbitrary arrest, and freedom of expression. Freed from theocracy, and conformity, the founding fathers believed that human society would steadily improve, so long as it was free and well educated. Ironically, these same Founding Fathers accepted the moral teachings of Mather, so long as they could do so voluntarily, on their own terms.
   If there is a historical positive resulting from our Puritan heritage, it is that religious and intellectual freedom became essential. The liberties of America were enacted in response to the religious horrors of Europe and America in the seventeenth century.

   Those horrors still exist. Repression will not work. It never has.

No comments about The Papers of John Marshall: Volume IX: Correspondence, Papers, and Selected Judicial Opinions, January 1820-December 1823 (Papers of John Marshall).