2 comments about Alexander William Doniphan: Portrait of a Missouri Moderate (Missouri Biography Series).

1. Alexander Doniphan is one of those great characters from history who learned from his mistakes about the role of government. He is one who rebelled against the demogoguery of American politics to become a true independent having experienced first-hand the results of policies he had helped push through at one time. A warrior who came to know the horrors of war and so came to realize its utter futility and underlying causes of greed and self-aggrandizement. He, like Smedly Butler in the century that followed, came to see war as a racket for a few at the expense of the majority. Doniphan's integrity in the Mormon wars shines through in a world gone mad with hate. His life is so full of examples for us it is sad that he, once a household name, has become virtually unknown to us now. He truly was a great American hero and we would do well to honor his life and work. The book is wonderfully well written and complemented with black and white photos and drawings from the Doniphan's life. It is a must have for the serious student of mid-19th century American politics.



2. Alexander William Doniphan was one of the most significant and popular figures in Missouri from the 1830s through the 1870s. He excelled as an orator above all but was also an extremely successful attorney (he defended 188 clients on murder charges with most being found innocent and none receiving the death penalty), military leader, politician and businessman and an influential educator and farmer. Doniphan's most famous exploit, the conquest of New Mexico and Chihuahua and the creation of a law code to govern the first area, was chronicalled several times in the 19th century but this is the first full biography to be published about this important man. I have studied most of the available primary and secondary sources on Doniphan and find this biography to be both balanced and complete. Anyone who is interested in Mormon, Missouri or Western History should find this book worth reading.

No comments about The Boys from Rockville: Civil War Narratives of Sgt. Benjamin Hirst, Company D, 14th Connecticut Volunteers (Voices of the Civil War).

2 comments about Grand Coulee: Harnessing a Dream.

1. This 500 page book by historian Paul Pitzer provides an in depth look at the Grand Coulee Dam in north-central Washington state and the politics and decsions which made the dam what it is today. The book is very thoroughly researched with an extensive bibliography and over 100 pages of endnotes. Anyone who is interested in Grand Coulee Dam or the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project needs to read this book!
   
   The back cover reads:
   
   "The Eighth Wonder of the World"
   
   "The Largest Reclamation Project Ever Undertaken"
   
   Those were among the accolades frequently lavished on Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project. They hightlight a monumental construction effort that spanned the 1930s through the 1980s. Now, for the first time, the story of this gigantic undertaking is told in this definitive, spirited history.
   
   When completed, the huge monolith at Grand Coulee on the Columbia River in north-central Washington became the biggest single block of concrete ever laid. One of the largest energy-producing stations in the world, it also supports one of the world's largest irrigation projects.
   
   In the capable hands of Paul Pitzer, the fight for Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Project is a vital, animated saga of people strving for dazzling goals and then working to build something spectacular.



2. This 500 page book provides an in depth look at the Grand Coulee Dam in north-central Washington state and the politics and decsions which made the dam what it is today. The book is very thoroughly researched with an extensive bibliography and over 100 pages of endnotes. Anyone who is interested in Grand Coulee Dam or the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project needs to read this book!

   The back cover reads:
   

   "The Eighth Wonder of the World"

   "The Largest Reclamation Project Ever Undertaken"

   Those were among the accolades frequently lavished on Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project. They hightlight a monumental construction effort that spanned the 1930s through the 1980s. Now, for the first time, the story of this gigantic undertaking is told in this definitive, spirited history.

   When completed, the huge monolith at Grand Coulee on the Columbia River in north-central Washington became the biggest single block of concrete ever laid. One of the largest energy-producing stations in the world, it also supports one of the world's largest irrigation projects.

   In the capable hands of Paul Pitzer, the fight for Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Project is a vital, animated saga of people strving for dazzling goals and then working to build something spectacular.

4 comments about Uncommon Valor: A Story of Race, Patriotism, and Glory in the Final Battles of the Civil War.

1. Melvin Claxton and Mark Puls have written an uncommonly fascinating book about the uncommon valor of African-American soldiers during the Civil War. In the battle of New Market Heights fourteen Medals of Honor were awarded to the incredibly brave "colored " troops " who fought it. They demonstrated that the notion that black troops would not fight was a racist slander. Claxton and Puls tell a compelling and important tale of a battle even more significant than the more celebrated effort of the 54th Massachusetts before Fort Wagner portrayed in the film " Glory ".They provide new insight into an important topic and will keep you turning the pages until the early hours. This book is a must for not only Civil War buffs, but all those interested in American history - especially those untold chapters of the black contribution to the making of this nation.



2. Uncommon Valor provides a unique perspective for the reader that truly brings history alive. The flow of the book allows the reader to accompany Christian Fleetwood through his individual Civil War experience while being supplemented with interesting and relevant historical fact. Uncommon valor prompts the reader to develop a profound appreciation for the courageous contributions of African American Civil War soldiers in the face of extreme prejudice. This book is a goldmine of information for the student of African American and Civil War history.



3. "`Uncommon Valor' is a good introduction to the black warriors of the war...Claxton and Puls do an excellent job following Fleetwood through battles in North Carolina and Virginia, allowing him to speak through his diary and letters." Linda Wheeler, Washington Post, 2-12-2006
   
   "The book debunks the notion that freedom from slavery was somehow handed to black Americans. Out of one battle at New Market Heights...came 14 medals of honor for black soldiers -- more than black soldiers ever received on any one day, in any war."
   Shaun A. Pennington, St. Thomas Source, 2-10-2006
   
   "At last we're getting the real story of how black soldiers helped the Union win the Civil War." William Steif, The State, 2-05-2006



4. This book shows why Melvin Claxton is the finest investigative reporter working today. He does two things in this book. First, he tells a bigger and far more important story than "Glory" when he tells how 14 black soldiers received the Medal of Honor for their extraordinary valor in the Battle of New Market Heights. This obscure battle, during the last days of the Civil War, forever laid to rest the then-popular notion that black soldiers were cowards; that they would cut and run in the heat of combat.
   Almost 900 black soldiers died at New Market Heights. And they died charging wave after wave into Confederate gunfire. It would be almost 100 years before President Truman desegregated the U.S. military. But black Americans soldiered on because of their legacy from this battle.
   Black troops at New Market Heights won respect and honor, not only for themselves, but for black troops who later would die charging Japanese positions in the Pacific or German strongholds in Europe. They won honor for black troops who fought in the frozen hell of Korea or in the steamy jungles of Vietnam.
   This is more than a military book. It is a book about how when America was tearing itself apart, a few valiant black soldiers were putting the country together.

5 comments about A Degree of Mastery: A Journey Through Book Arts Apprenticeship.

1. This was a strange read, because the author continually expresses her surprise for certain techniques and methods of the book conservators craft as she discovers them during her early learning and apprenticeship. I find this odd, as I've done a bit of self-taught bookbinding, and have encountered most of this knowledge through reading, and that the author purports to be a reader and decent student.
   
   An element I found annoying was the typesetting of the book. In general, I'm tolerant of these things, but, as this is a book on book arts and the author worked as a typesetter for some time, one would think that more attention would be paid to this. Specifically, there is only a word space (1/5 em) between sentences, not the age-old standard of 1/3 em (or even the 2 spaces that is acceptable giving 2/5 em). Also, the excerpts are set in too small a font, which contrasts poorly with the main text face. This detracts from the pleasure of reading a book, and should have been more carefully considered. I suspect the publisher is to blame, not the author.
   
   The book also seems to lack a broadness to the characters; their personalities, life, and interests are confined to the conservation department. Although the book is clearly a loving tribute to a master book conservator, one doesn't really learn about the man (nor much about the author).



2. Wilcox artfully narrates her experience as an apprentice for Bill Anthony, a famous book binder and conservator. She artfully interspeses observations about books she is restoring with phases of her life as an apprentice and other texts. She evokes the spirit of craftmanship, of taking many years, much time, and much patience to develop mastery of her craft. Great for book art students, art students, or those considering an apprenticeship of any kind. Of particular interest to those who've made books before, because they will understand vividly the technical descriptions of her project (thought these are accessible to the lay person as well).



3. Someone who knew that I was in the Interdisciplinary Book and Paper MFA program at Columbia College Chicago gave this memoir to me. It's a really nice read---especially since the bookbinding world is a small one, and everyone in it knows everyone else, as people travel around the country giving workshops. Always interesting to read about people who you've had as teachers. I found it very well written, an evocative and accurate depiction of an obscure art/craft/lifestyle choice, an illuminated window into a small, specialized world.



4. A practical person can read this book as an extended essay on how to approach an apprenticeship, and how to bind conservation texts. A spiritual person can add layers to the stories and extrapolate life lessons. Either way, the main character/author is extremely sympathetic character. Her teacher had amazing gifts, both as a conservator and as a teacher.

   The book is deceptively short. Looks like a quick read, but was so meaty and detailed, I found myself reading it for several weeks in order to digest all the material carefully.

   If your taste runs to the obscure, the "sleeper," I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.




5. A Degree of Mastery tells the story of one woman's journey through the education and apprenticeship necessary to become a book preservationist. Annie Wilcox, a bright woman with an impressive past in the field of English and writing, begins to take an evening class in bookbinding at the University of Iowa taught by a world-reknowned preservationist, William Anthony. Little does she know that not more than two years later she will become the first female apprentice ever to study under the direct supervision and teaching of Bill Anthony, an honored position granted only to six others before her. Through her apprenticeship, Wilcox learns the art of preservation and the dire need for conservation in every library, but especially those libraries that house an archives, manuscript or rare books collection. Through Wilcox's autobiography, the reader learns the basic process and means by which book preservation becomes possible as well as the importance and value of conservation in today's libraries. It is a wonderful piece of literature well-worth your time.

1 comments about Virginia's General: Robert E. Lee and the Civil War.

1. As if often the case with any examination of the life and military career of Robert E. Lee, author Albert Marrin begins "Virginia's General" with the pivotal date of April 18, 1861, when Lee rejected taking battlefield command of the United States Army. Lee is the most revered general in American History, mainly because of the inherent nobility in fighting brilliantly for a lost cause, an effect that can be traced back to Homer's "Iliad" and Hector, breaker of horses. One of the inevitable questions in studying his life is what his reputation would have been in the American history books if he had accepted that offer instead. Would he have led the Federal forces to a quick victory thereby saving hundreds of thousands of lives? Would the abolition of slavery have gone "better" if the South had not been devastated by the war? However, as interesting as these questions are to pursue, they are just idle speculation and Marrin's task is to understand Robert E. Lee as both a person and a solider, setting him in his own time.

   Marrin devotes his first chapter to Lee's life and military career through John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, where Lee led the marines who retook the arsenal. The rest of the book divides Lee's actions during the Civil War into distinct periods defined by various tasks and battles (e.g., Savior of Richmond deals with Lee taking command of the Confederate Army after General Joseph E. Johnston was wounded and Lee's Masterpiece is about the Battle of Chancellorsville). What is revealed is the portrait of a young officer who graduated West Point without receiving a single demerit and whose loyalty to his native Virginia convinced him to serve the Confederacy. But Marrin also describes the battles in such a way that young readers can appreciate Lee as a military strategist, both in terms of his many successes and his final defeats.

   "Virginia's General: Robert E. Lee and the Civil War" is illustrated with historic photographs and paintings, as well as small maps of each of the major battles of the war. Marrin provides an engaging narrative that covers a lot of information and works in a lot of quotations to maintain the effect that this is an interesting story and not just a history book. I also appreciate that Marrin covers the entire Civil War, since what was happening in the West affected Lee's decisions as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. Consequently, this is not the first book that a young reader would turn to for an introduction to Lee, but it for a more in-depth examination of his Civil War career this is a solid choice.

No comments about My Passage at the New Orleans Tribune : A Memoir of the Civil War Era.

No comments about The Magnificent Moisants : Champions of Early Flight.

No comments about Jane Addams: A Biography (Greenwood Biographies).

5 comments about Freedom's Child: The Life of a Confederate General's Black Daughter.

1. Freedom's Child is an excellent read but I would not call it an academic read in any sense of the word. This is one woman's personal history, she is the grand-daughter of White Confederate General who openly acknowledged his mixed-race offspring but who also lived quite happily in the violent segreated world of the deep South of the time and who was not willing to stand up for his own children's rights much less anyone elses.
   
   Carrie Allen McCray endeavours to look at her maternal grandfather in a neutral light, she is after all of mixed heritage herself but in the end she is forced to admit that he was as much a secret to her as he was to the rest of their family, even her own mother didn't talk much about him, other than he was her father and he was white.
   
   I enjoyed Freedom's Child but it is not as good as say The Sweeter the Juice, Finding Grace and Life on the Color Line, Dear Senator mainly because I think that the author tries to hard to explain why her Grandfather was possibly the way he was whilst trying to stay true to her own mixed race background.
   
   All the same it is a good read and I am happy to give it five out of five because it adds to the subject of passing, mixed heritage, the aftermath of slavery and the legacy that has been passed down to many families throughout the USA.



2. In Freedom's Child : The Life of a Confederate General's Black Daughter by Carrie Allen McCray, the author relates how her maternal grandfather, a former Confederate general, was a very affectionate and responsible father to his mixed-race children. When the children married, however, their black-identified spouses were vehemently opposed to hearing any fond recollections of Papa, nor did they want the grandchildren to think of a white man as Grandpa. The author herself discovered her grandfather's relationship to her mother and uncles through research. He was not talked about in family circles.
   
   The general's daughter was a very white mulatto and not "black." There was a strange family need to divorce themselves from their white ancestry while prizing the genes those ancestors bequeathed.
   
   Passing for Who You Really Are



3. This is an amazing true story of one woman's searh for her past. Not only does she find it, but her pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was, at first, a mixed blessing. Carrie Allen McCray was forced to face her own prejudices when she discovered that her grandfather was not only a white man but he was a Confederate General in the Civil War. But he also played a major role in the life of his Black daughter. That daughter became a powerful civil rights leader and she was Carrie's mother. FREEDOM'S CHILD is wonderfully written and absorbing from the first page. I HIGHLY recommend it. It is not just the story of a Black family's history, it really is a story of America's history and how we are all truly linked.. like it or not. IT WOULD MAKE A WONDERFUL MOVIE!!!!



4. It seems to me that this book, along with Edward Ball's Slaves in the Family, offers a new and important look at the history of race relations in America. Both of them deal with situations that were not unique, but carefully swept under the rug. I applaud both authors for their work, and since Mrs. McCray has said she's writing another book, there is at least one reader, here in the nation's oldest city, who is anxiously awaiting it.



5. The description of Mrs. Mary McCray as an adult in Montclair, New Jersey and her struggles for "full freedom" are truly inspiring. I felt as if I was sitting in that kitchen listening to the anecdotes as they were told. I found the early part of the book, however, to read like a research paper with the footnotes included.