No comments about The Wisdom Of Thomas Jefferson (Philosophical Library).

4 comments about Jefferson Davis: Unconquerable Heart (Shades of Blue and Gray).

1. Since becoming interested in the 19th Century, and the oasis of information concerning that time period, I'm still baffled as to why the 21st Century historian cannot understand the greatness of men like Jefferson Davis. All the modern historian can do is point out cultural problems of times past (slavery: as if the South was the only place on earth that had them). After reading the standard review from Amazon, I had to chime in on this great book. I've read William J. Cooper's Jefferson Davis as well as Jefferson Davis himself. Is it not interesting that modern day Jefferson Davis antagonists' (Just read James Mcpherson's preface in 'The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government") can only talk of slavery, as if this is the only motivating factor which drove J. Davis to become a relunctant secessionist, while ignoring our own cultural problems that are far worse and grandiose in scope. Modern day/ post-modern historians cannot grasp the larger picture of history. Their worldview does not allow for such truth gazing. F. Allen does a supurb job of showing us a Davis who was triumphant, depressed,ultimately defeated, caring for Negros, and a dedicated Episcopalian who knew who his Saviour was. Many of J. Davis' associates supported gradual emancipation (Bishop Meade of Va and Bishop Leonidas Polk) as to help assimulate the Negro into society. The Northern invasion of the South precluded any such cultural assimilation to take place. Read this book- It is partisan, but isn't every historian coming to work the task of history with his/her presuppositions? F. Allen is not ashamed of this and her logical conclusions about the man and his times is as accurate as a historian can get. Cheers for independent scholars who have not abdicated the task of passing story to fellow countrymen!



2. What Mrs. Allen succeeds so brilliantly at is showing the human side of the man. I must admit that I was no fan of Jefferson Davis in his role as the President of the CSA. However, thanks to Mrs. Allen, I was able to see him in a much different light - as an American patriot and a human being. In the passions that colour anything dealing with the War of Northern Aggression, it is sometimes difficult to remember that everyone involved had a life before that tragic conflict. I can't help but be grateful for the way in which Mrs. Allen brought that point home in her book. While I will still take issue with many of his wartime decisions, I can't help but be proud that our nation produced a man like Jefferson Davis. Thanks for the insight and the education Mrs. Allen!



3. This is a good book to read for anyone wanting to see how a good man dealt with adversity. Allen places much emphasis upon Davis' Christian faith, and how it helped him to be the sort of man who can be worthily imitated. The book also contains a goodly amount of historical information which is not commonly known. It could have used some tighter editing, as there were a few points where I was not quite sure about whom Allen was writing, and had to go back and re-read the paragraph, but, all in all, I was both informed and edified by this book. About the review by Kirkus, I can only conclude that that reviewer is an anti-Christian, anti-Southern bigot, as he obviously had already decided about the book before reading it.



4. Felicity Allen's recent biography, Jefferson Davis, Unconquerable Heart, transcends mere history. Such a sensitive and comprehensive work, therefore, may perplex the hardened historian, who is often pleased only with cold chronological facts that fit comfortably into his own predispositions. Allen's intricately documented work has the touch of a true poet who deftly and profoundly reveals not only the heart and soul of a great (and often misunderstood) American but also a way of life gone forever.

   No scholar can fail to appreciate Allen's exhaustive research,, nor any layman fail to be amazed at her mass of fact and significant detail. But if fact is the body and bone of biography, truth is its revelation. And this is the outstanding accomplishment of Felicity Allen: she has recovered the heart and soul of an honorable and courageous American patriot who thought and fought and fell with his young nation.

   Oxford Stroud

5 comments about Billy the Kid, His Real Name Was .....

1. The author is not a historian or professional researcher. He has no bibliography. He got most of his info off the internet which you know is not usually too accurate. I also believe that he purposefully changes what Brushy Bill Roberts has said in order to make his case against him. He tells countless lies throughout the entire book. It is an absolute waste of time for those who are seeking the truth. It is not professional by any standard. I am open minded to Billy the Kid history and have read countless books on him. You will learn absolutely nothing from this book nor what his real name is as the author ends the book with the title. In other words he has no conclusion.



2. I have enjoyed reading this book, and the different perspective it offers as to the question of "who was Billy the Kid?". The only reason I could not give it a higher rating is that I did find in on occasion to be hard to follow at times. The main cause of this is that the author would some times drop off the last name of people involved at the start of a new section, making it hard to know at times which "Joe" or "John" they were reffering to. Other than that I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the legends of Billy the Kid.



3. This book is not a good read. I have researched Brushy Bill Roberts, and find this book to be full of misinformation. I would not recommend the serious reader buy this book. If you want a good laugh then please but it. I would loved to have known the truth about the book before I purchased it.



4. A good book if you want to learn the facts against Brushy Bill Roberts ridiculous claim. No other book gose into the detail against Brushy and Jim Miller's claims like this one. Otherwise, reads like what it is, a book by an amature author who paid to have it published, and the author makes some bizarre claims to boot. If you want to read the story of Billy and the Lincoln County War, you're better off with the works of Nolan, Utley, and others.



5. This book is definitely for those who have long wondered about the claims of various people that they were indeed the true Billy the Kid. The
   author has researched for years everything he could find about the characters in the book. He uses a nice format of plain print for theories
   about each and, if available, their own words, then in bold type the only conclusion to reach from all of that. At times it reads almost like a novel, at other times gets very technical so you realize the author knows about which he is "speaking." At the back of the book are quite a few certificates of births and marriages, further revealing how well researched this book is.

1 comments about Lincoln, the War President: The Gettysburg Lectures (Gettysburg Civil War Institute Books).

1. Although at times the essays in this do not always focus directly on Lincoln, in one he is compared to Bismark, they all reflect the greatness of the man and his post in the Amercan Civil War. This is a must have for those interested in political control of the military, nation building, and or Lincoln.

No comments about The Journal of John Woolman and a Plea for the Poor.

1 comments about Gideon Welles: Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy.

1. It was 34 years ago I first picked up this book and have been a fan of John Niven ever since. This book is the best in the distinguished list of Dr. Niven;s writings. Gideon Welles moves from editor to politician to powerful figure in the Lincoln administration and we follow him as fellow travelers on this voyage. This is one book well worth the price for your library.

1 comments about A World Turned Upside Down: The Palmers of South Santee, 1818-1881.

1. I purchased this book because it references several of my husband's ancestors. It is very fascinating to have an insight to how they lived and what other people thought of them as it is a compilation of letters written by real people. I recommend this book to anyone interested in real history and real life in those times.

No comments about Soldier Princess: The Life and Legend of Agnes Salm-Salm in North America, 1861-1867.

2 comments about The Heavens Are Weeping: The Diaries of George Richard Browder, 1852-1886.

1. WOW! This is an incredible book. Anyone would enjoy this book. It will appeal to anyone interested in a daily chronicle of life in the mid 19th century, the struggles, the hardships, the joys and the wonder.
   
   George Browder, an elder of the local church, responsible for a six county area in middle/western Kentucky registers a daily diary of his life from approx. 1840-1880.
   
   George was a neighbor of my ancestors, Nelson Hadley Waters. I couldn't have possibly gained so much insight as to life in Kentucky at that time. What an incredible insight!
   
   George also chronicles tidbits about life from the early 1800's in Kentucky when he talks about his father coming over from VA and MD.
   
   I especially enjoyed the insights into the terrible civil war. Kentucky was torn between North and South. Neighbors livestock stolen, houses burned, neighbors going into hiding. Even after the war neighbors were not safe. It was incredible to read about how quickly news traveled during the civil war, primarily due to the telegraph. Once was installed at Volney, which gave this small community access to daily events of the war and George provides many details of daily updates in his diary.
   
   I also enjoyed reading about George taking his family to the World's Fair and their trip to Niagra Falls, etc. This is quite the fete on a paron's salary!
   
   I also learned more about the importance of the railroads in the last half of the 1800's and how it changed their lives in gaining more mobility and access to distant places they otherwise wouldn't have had a chance to reach in such short time.
   
   This is great reading for genealogists, history buffs and general public interested in life through the 19th century.



2. This book is a miracle. No doubt about it. For years and years the diaries of Rev. George R. Browder lay tucked away passed down and read by the family.
   
   One day, in 1974, the manuscripts were introduced by my wife's best friend (a Browder Family descendant) to Dr. Richard L. Troutman, a professor at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. He fell in love with the remarkably rich and compelling writing style detailing not only major events (the Civil War, etc.), but ordinary every day events like working in tobacco, visiting the sick, and my favorite, the descriptions of Christmas Day.
   
   I love this book and highly recommend it to any student of the history of middle 1800's life on south-central Kentucky.

5 comments about Jack: A Life Like No Other.

1. Jack is a nice easy read but one tends to wonder where Perret got some of his ideas or if in fact he got them from anywhere but his own imagination. There are times when Perret seems to make up small insignificant happenings to forshadow the inevitable outcome of his life. That aside, Jack is a good book portraying a President so unique and so different than most ex-Presidents. This would be a good first Kennedy read.



2. The life of Jack Kennedy has been covered countless times in books, magazines and movies. Having made the transformation from assassinated president to tabloid favorite, one wonders if there is anything new to be learned about Kennedy, or if there is anything to be gained by buying Geoffrey Perret's book. If you're at all like me -- a fan of history, an admirer of JFK, but not too swayed by rose colored revisionism -- then this book will prove to be well worth the money. Perret starts at the beginning and fully explores the odd psychological uprbinging Kennedy experienced in a family that was extremely eccentric and neurotic -- quite a far cry from American royalty. He follows Kennedy through his pratfalls as a high school and college student, and laments on the never-ending health problems Kennedy ran into throughout his life. I, for one, never knew that our movie star president was often in a frail and precarious state. By the book's end, you walk away with a new appreciation for all of the complexities of Kennedy's character -- and there enough here to make Freud blink a few times -- and for the truly unique life that he led.



3. Mr. Perret somehow succeeded in writing an incredibly boring book about a man who lived an extrodinary life. The book is also marred by continuous misstatements of fact and poor research. To those looking for a good book on JFK, I advise you to take a look at Nigel Hamilton's "JFK: Reckless Youth" for illumination on his early life, Richard Reeves' "Profile in Power" for a broad look at his presidency, and Arthur Schlessinger Jr.'s "A Thousand Days" for an intimate look at his presidency that also gives you an excellent sense of who he was as a person. "Jack" isn't worth the time.



4. It's true that JFK lived a "life like no other," but the author completely missed his chance to tell the reader why. This is the same type of tabloid swill that's already been done to death in, for example, "JFK: Reckless Youth" and "A Question of Character." The themes of JFK's being obsessed with early death and his drive to live every day as if it were his last, are interesting ones, and could have been a good premise for this book. But this book adds absolutely nothing to what's already been written. No new ground is broken, despite promises to the contrary. Also detracting from his credibility are the author's gossipy references to such things as JFK's personal habits while having sex, how many cigarettes a day Jackie smoked (do I care?) and the homosexuality of friends like Lem Billings and Joe Alsop. Obviously JFK felt comfortable and confident enough in his own masculinity and heterosexuality, and valued the loyalty and friendship of these men enough, that he was neither concerned about nor felt threatened by their sexual orientation. Also detracting from the book's credibility is the sloppy research and annoying lack of fact-checking. For example, the author mentions several times that Bobby and Ethel were married in 1951. They were actually married in 1950. The book also states that Bobby and Ethel's first-born son was Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. In fact, he was their second-born son (he was born in 1954); Joseph P. Kennedy II (born in 1952) was the first. Also, Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy is mentioned several times as JFK's "eldest" sister, and is even misidentified as such (in place of Rosemary) in one of the book's photographs. Perhaps the author fell into Joe, Sr.'s spell of pretending that Rosemary, the actual first daughter and third child, never even existed. These are just a few examples.

   This book is a waste of time.




5. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Not for the research -- as many of the other reviewers and the footnotes section of the book attest, most of the information has been available to us in other forms. But for the insights and attitude. Perret seems intent on making Kennedy human, and he succeeds. Kennedy is at once a visionary legislator (one of the first advocates of abolishing the mandatory retirement age and an early friend to both labor and Israel) and a bored playboy/senator (if a bill didn't interest him, he couldn't be bothered with it). A reckless womanizer who didn't really care about the impact his escapades had on his wife or career, yet one of the first politicians to recognize the power of the women's vote. And perhaps it was his confidence in his own rampaging heterosexuality that made him so comfortable with homosexual men -- something not very common in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Most of all, Jack managed to balance overwhelming ambition and opportunism with a secret but very strong core of idealism and conscience. I wish Perret had been a bit more discerning in choosing his sources. (I mean, J. Randy Taraborelli and Seymour Hersh, for heaven's sake!) But this complaint did not detract from readability of the book. It left me feeling profoundly sad about what this nation lost nearly 40 years ago, and how different the world today would be if JFK, for all his myriad faults, had lived out his natural life.