No comments about The Correspondence of Ezra Pound and Senator William Borah.

1 comments about Hot Rod Pioneers: The Creators of the Fastest Sport on Wheels.

1. Wow, did this book take me back. If you consider yourself a hot rod guru, how can you not have this book on your shelf. Ed Almquist (to whom the industry owes a great debt of gratitude) gives a first-hand account of the men and events that shaped hot rod history. Big Daddy Don Garlits writes a great Intro. And I noticed it was published by the Society of Automotive Engineers -- who better to publish a hot rod book?

   It only took me about a week or two to get (even though it said something like four weeks). Hundreds of photos of the most memorable rods in American history. You should really see for yourself and let me know what you think.

No comments about Adventures of a Frontier Naturalist: The Life and Times of Dr. Gideon Lincecum.

5 comments about Skylark: The Life, Lies, and Inventions of Harry Atwood.

1. I would have given 5 stars if only..........the Author had given us even more details about Atwood's flying, inventions and more documentation (patent records, court records, stock market records, etc.) to support his research. It is anyway a great book considering also how difficult it must have been to find material about such an interesting and "slippery" character. Being an aircraft builder myself, I would have also liked to learn more about the process he used in the construction of his "composite" airplanes and if any artifact has survived the inventor. Buy the book, you won't regret it.



2. Mansfield does a great job on this book and since Harry Atwood was my grandfather I have some knowledge of Harry's background. A well done, informative publication.



3. A tour de force of research and provocative writing. This how history should read and be taught. Among the supposed saints and heroes there is plenty room for the occasional showman and rogue. That's what Harry Atwood was. Thanks Mr. Mansfield for a real pleasure of a biography.



4. The story of Harry Atwood is a fascinating one. Mansfield tells tales of Atwoods adventures during the early days of aviation in a way that really takes you back to a different time. The meticulous research Mansfield did to write this book really shows in his liberal use of reports from local newspapers, living relatives, etc. If you enjoy flying, inventors or learning about interesting and eccentric people, read this book...you won't be disappointed!



5. Harry Atwood is a character for the ages! If you want to see how to push new technology in a technologically naive age, with all of its outrageous successes and failures, this is the book to read. Harry is a consumate inventor along the lines and times of Edison and Ford, inventing some ingeneous laminate materials and an airplane for the rest of us. However he is also hardheaded, an expert in flim-flam, and an absolute failure in business. Yet despite his failures, he is ultimately a success! Good reading--save an afternoon to read it through.

No comments about Dean Rusk: Defending the American Mission Abroad (Biographies in American Foreign Policy).

1 comments about History of My Own Times (Documents in American Social History).

1. "History of My Own Times" explodes the notion we have genteel craftsmen in the early republic working with thrift, sobriety and industry to build the nation. The autobiography of Bill Otter, an Englishmen in early America, this book shows a far darker side of the working class than we may have believed. Otter is a cheat, bully, and bigot, dedicated as much to playing tricks on people as he is to working. HIs story is told in his own words and the jarring difference between the image of the "good guy" he tries to project and the reality of the rough and tumble brawler he really was is a revelation. Richard Stott, the editor, takes Otter's story and deftly ties it into relatively unknown facet of our social history. This is one of the best books on early American life I've read in many years.

5 comments about May Sarton: A Biography.

1. If you've read her series of journals, this one pretty much de-bunks the "Myth of May"; I divide her life into pre-Judy and post-Judy (Peters makes clear that there wasn't really a whole lot of "ongoing Judy").
   First half for me wasn't as interesting, detailing May's social climbing; with the possible exception of Eva Le Gallienne, the rest of her celebs meant nothing to me. Foreshadows May's predatory nature, along with background of her dysfunctional childhood. For the second part, I'm assuming readers are familiar with her journals, and I'll try to keep spoilers to an absolute minimum ...
   Point #1: May and Judy were a couple only briefly (if really at all), May's continuous displays of concern in the journals notwithstanding, I'd chalk her efforts at including Judy up to guilt. (Same holds true for her "dear" Eleanor Blair, whom she used and discarded by the time the journals really got going.)
   Point #2: I read "Plant Dreaming Deep" (essays on Nelson) after the many daily journals. From that book, one would assume that May stayed in Nelson, chugging away at her writing day-after-day, during that period. Actually, she was there well under half the time, and carried out several (torrid) affairs.
   Point #3: "Journal of a Solitude" is the story of a middle-aged writer in rural NH, devoted to her animals and garden. May expresses a desire to move on from that location, her new home in Maine coming into play by the end of the book. Behind-the-scenes her life would've made a National Enquirer editor sit up and take notice! The townsfolk by then were relieved to be free of the drama, although the move to Maine almost falls through at one point.
   Point #4: Regarding her time in York as a whole -- it's hardly surprising her intestines acted up constantly, and her heart gave out, those "drinks" to which she refers were often doubles, and several at a go! Her personal life continued at a fevered pitch; several of the "friends" mentioned were either women hopelessly attracted to her (whom she enjoyed using) or ones she went after.
   One point I was hoping would be clarified: the role of her "protege" Susan - victim or predator? There's evidence of both.
   Peters makes a reasonable case that Norton eventually stopped editing altogether, shoving the submitted "final draft" straight into bookstores to meet deadlines, figuring her fans would buy anything by May Sarton, as long the stuff kept appearing. May does come to understand by the end that they were doing her no favors in the long run, royalties or not.
   To some fans all these salacious details are un-necessary, if downright mean. However, May made quite a bit of money portraying herself as a kindly, concerned old(er) lady, who could be a bit cranky due to age and illness; true in a sense, as she could be quite generous with her money, and helpful to some admirers. However, almost every single person figuring in her journals in a positive (or neutral) light came to realize how "expendable" they really were in her eyes; she'd led them into a false sense of security, though most were well aware of how other "friends" had fared.
   Towards the end, Peters quotes a reader of the journals: "May Sarton - lobsters and loneliness, diverticulitis and champagne."
   And here I thought it was only me!



2. I have to say, having read this book years ago, one effect has stayed with me: my shock at the author's gratuitous criticism of Sarton's closest associate and protege at the end of her life "acting" so grief-stricken at the funeral.
   No kidding. No class.
   It seemed to me to be a clue that the bitter tone of the book may have had its root in jealousy.



3. I've read all of May Sarton's journals, many of her novels, and a few of her books of poetry over the years, so I had these as a backdrop before delving into Margot Peter's biography. I had also been forewarned that as a biographer, Peters was purported to be less than kind. Even so, I was unprepared for what another reviewer rightly called the "sniping" and "potshots" she took at Sarton throughout the entirety of the book. There's no doubt that May Sarton had a complicated and sometimes ugly past, but Peters seems to go out of her way to characterize her subject negatively in nearly all accounts--the reason for which is not clear, unles she was hoping for a rather sensational best-seller. It is clear that she did quite a bit of research for this work, which is all the more disappointing in the end result. Overall, the writing itself is good but the biography is seriously marred by a style that is both intrusive and unecessarily harsh. Perhaps in the future there will be enough interest for a more thoroughly disinterested and academic work.



4. May Sarton's last journal "At Eighty-Two" was a rare view into the poignant grappling with the old age of a self-styled female curmudgeon, and in it she made cryptic references to the woman she had unwittingly agreed to allow as her biographer.
   
   So I read this book. I was not a Sarton fan, but a fan of journals and biographies. Peters' indifferent treatment of major characters and events, with loose ends and peculiar focus made me constantly wonder what possessed her to choose a subject she was so bored by and disdainful of. I was jarred by the casual sniping and potshots. Her theme throughout, although only haphazardly adhered to, was "she's not so hot, see, look at this..." Reading the book was like trying to have a cogent conversation with someone in an altered state. Unless you are similarly impaired, the lurches in logic, the disconnects, and the occasional random intensities make the experience unrewarding.
   
   In the prologue Ms. Peters warns coquettishly that the book is "strong medicine" not to be "taken internally" (whatever that means) by Sarton's fans. The warning is all in caps, no less, seemingly to emphasize just how amazing an expose she thinks she has written. Had she read any of Sarton's journals carefully, she would realize that the feet of clay, the raging and tears, the temperament that estranged people, were all much more clearly evoked by Sarton herself. Peters seems to have an ax to grind, the source of which she doesn't reveal, although she should, considering that she was the one who proposed the project, and considering that she does insert herself into the narrative. In one example, she says that she visited May in the spring of 1995 and noted that she had added a chair lift to her stairway (stifled yawn implied). In contrast, many months earlier an 82-year-old Sarton wrote an interesting commentary on the installation and use of that very device and what it meant to her.
   
   Peters' attempt to deflect criticism of her book as coming from blind fans of Sarton is transparent, and the book itself is so clumsily written it is embarrassing to read, like watching a drunk person stumble around a room.



5. Margot Peters' biography of May Sarton is a mess of facile psycho-babble and Harlequin romance narration. She reduces the details of this very complex life to pat conclusions ("May compulsively punished those who dared love her.") and achingly bad narrative ("Secretly, like a primrose opening in her heart, there was the thought that if she got abroad, Grace must join her."). Read this book to get a basic sense of the chronology of May Sarton's life, if you must, but do not let Peters' neat conclusions stand as the last word on the subject. Sarton's life and work, troubled as they both were, deserve more careful attention. She did herself a disservice (when she was quite old and ill) by choosing Peters as her "official" biographer.

1 comments about Old Bill Miner: Last of the Famous Western Bandits.

1. My grandpa did an excellent job writing this book. When he republished it I was hired to do the type-setting for the book. Once I got going I could not stop. It was a good book. Way to go grandpa. Read his others. They are all the same

2 comments about Ulysses S. Grant (Let Freedom Ring).

1. This is one of the best school age books writtern about General Grant. Gives an overview of his whole life, not just his life during the civil war. Nice illustrations and black and white photographs of his later life add a nice touch.



2. Susan Gregson has written a well-researched book about a complex Civil War figure. This colorful, heavily illustrated overview of the famous general will appeal to children and adults alike. Well-known Grant scholar John Y. Simon consulted on the book, assuring the book's accuracy.

2 comments about Into the Air: The Story of the Wright Brothers' First Flight.

1. INTO THE AIR The Story of the Wright Brothers First Flight is a comic book style biography. We learn lots of neat things about the Wright Brothers in this book. We learn that the brother first started out inventing bikes and later learned of gliders. They wanted to make a flying machine. Learn about all of their trials and triumphs in this neat book.
   
   
   
   I like that the book was written in a comic book style. Sometimes kids feel like biography are boring. This format spices things up a bit making them enjoy the reading. The illustations are also interesting to look at as they read.
   
   
   I would recommend this book to reader ages 8-11. The books tells just enough about the Wright Brothers without overwhelming the reader with details. It would make a great book to read during a unit on flight.



2. My son loves to read, but has recently gotten into the "comic book" stage. This book satisfies his desire for reading comic books, without the cartoonish characters that I detest. And to top it off - it's educational!

   It tells just enough about the Wright brothers without overwhelming the reader with details. A great book, with wonderful illustrations at a fantastic price.

   I purchased this book for my son from the Smithsonian Air and Space Musuem and he really loves it. A+ book! (I'm currently looking for other historical books of this nature!)