1 comments about A Soldier's Story : The Double Life of a Confederate Spy (Civil War Chronicles).

1. This is a well written book - part of the Civil War Chronicles
   series. It is based on letters written by Major Isaac N Smith
   of the 22nd Virginia Infantry, who was involved in fighting the
   Union forces in Western Virginia. He makes very scathing comments on General John B Floyd and suggests that the efforts of Robert E Lee to get Floyd and General Wise to co-operate
   caused his (Lee's) hair to go grey!
   I found all this very interesting as actions in W Virginia seem
   to receive liitle mention in general histories I have read.
   The final chapter deals with his work in the Confederate Secret
   Service after he resigned from the army.
   The book has some good photos and paintings and also detailed
   maps covering the battles mentioned.

1 comments about The Sammy Davis, Jr. Reader.

1. If you're interested enough in Sammy to have read "Yes I Can" and "Why Me?" (or at least the compiled "Sammy: an Autobiography"), then this book is an absolute must. Any autobiography is bound to have a flattering slant, but this collection tilts the balance back to level.

   Editor Gerald Early offers a lengthy foreward which, at first, I thought a bit self-indulgent until I began to grasp the depth of affection he feels for his subject. Don't skip this foreward; it gets better in the later sections.

   The writings in the collection are taken from various autobiographies and other texts about the era, and are insightfully organized. This book is not thoughtlessly thrown together; this is clearly a labor of love. In the first 50 pages alone I had enough of my personal Sammy myths dispelled to recommend the book. I can't help but think how I would have felt had I been the editor. The book certainly doesn't try to slam Sammy, but it does offer the bad along with the good, and it can't have been a painless decision to include some of this material. The excerpt from his daughter's book is particularly revealing, and the bit from Linda Lovelace's autobiography is nothing short of disturbing.

   Sammy's own tellings of his life story are far from entirely flattering, but this excellent book brings the legend down from even that level, down to where we all live. Sammy was not a perfect man. He was a masterful entertainer. He was a lousy father. He had a heart of gold. He was into some horrifyingly self-destructive behavior. If you love Sammy the artist as much as I do, you owe it to yourself (after reading the autobiography, I think) to read this volume. It's a real eye-opener. And despite the ugly reality it sometimes offers, it hasn't diminished my love and respect for Sammy one bit. Quite the opposite.

1 comments about They Followed the Plume: The Story of J.E.B. Stuart and His Staff.

1. This is a very useful book for those who need this book, which isn't going to be a majority of people. I found it quite helpful.

   They Followed the Plume is primarily composed of a series of brief biographies of Stuart's aides, adjutants, scouts and other staff members, including famous individuals such as Farley the Scout, Esten Cooke, McClellan, and Pelham (who wasn't staff, but is included). Also included is information on what exact tasks these men performed, which I haven't found elsewhere and which was useful.

   Little overall synthesis, and only limited discussion of Stuart himself, is included. I did find it fascinating to see how Stuart cared for the careers of his staffers, who in most cases clearly were also friends. Many of the biographies quote letters of recommendation and show the general's efforts to help his staff, even when that meant helping them to promotion away from their duties with him.

   Quotes from some sources that are not easily available in libraries liven the book up. Many studies ignore the fascinating deeds of couriers and scouts, and this book helps to rectify that. However, its format leads to a certain amount of dryness, maybe too much for the casual reader.

No comments about Campaign in Western Virginia.

3 comments about Eudora Welty.

1. Interpretations of books may differ, but most readers agree that an author's lot in life is to unlock diaries, tell secrets, and share the intimate thoughts of their characters. But when it comes to sharing their lives, some authors are more willing to bare their pasts and share their inspiration than others. Eudora Welty did not embrace the notion of her life populating pages of a biography, yet Ann Waldron portrays the author in EUDORA: A Writer's Life in a way that will surely prompt a renewed interest in her works.

   Waldron employs a stark style of writing that is at times dry, listing dates and events with little commentary, but her simplicity allows the richness of her content to shine. A book that promises to enthrall readers whose literary interests have led to Welty's novels, EUDORA: A Writer's Life will undoubtedly serve as a useful reference.

   Those whose interest in Welty precedes her novels should be prepared for a sneak peek into the author's development of characters and the personal experiences that may have molded them in her mind. Using quotes from interviews and snippets from correspondence, Waldron is able to project Welty's voice in a way that allows readers to hear Welty as though she were in the same room. Writers will especially appreciate one quote from Welty, in which she explains the way she discovered one character's role in several short stories. "All I had to do was put two and two together, him and my little group, and I had him by the tail," she said.

   While Waldron shares some of Welty's inner thoughts, as documented in letters and such, she does not presume to analyze the meaning behind Welty's stories or the motivation of her characters, a practice that Welty openly disparaged. In one chapter, Welty comments on letters she received from readers wanting to know whether a character's choice of an apple in "A Visit of Charity" is a reference to the Garden of Eden. Welty, whose impatience resonates in her quote said of the question, "The things some people teach! She was just eating that [an apple] the way you would a Hershey bar --- or anything else you'd saved for a reward after an ordeal. I used to visit the old ladies. They scared me. I couldn't wait to leave."

   This quote and others help to draw a picture of Welty, often called "Eudo" by family and friends and loved unilaterally by colleagues, friends, family, and audiences around the world. She was not, however, a woman who enjoyed the social life of the times. Her looks are described by some as ugly, off-putting, and odd; but such descriptions are always followed by praise of her character, her zest for life, and her talent as a writer. Welty's looks may have prevented a slightly less creative girl from achieving similar heights, but she seemed to channel both the negative and the positives of her life into her work. She was able to transcend the superficiality of the times, which put a staggering amount of importance on looks, and is remembered by colleagues as a woman before her time.

   The book, which spans 340 pages, also delves into the network of literary giants that Welty cultivated. From her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi to New York City and abroad Welty toured, spoke, and nurtured a growing base of loyal friends and fans. She was called approachable by students who attended her lectures and lovable by friends who shared intimate moments and memories with her. Well respected and revered by writers, editors, and publishers, Welty was a multifaceted woman who first tested creative waters as a photographer who was known to walk into less fortunate neighborhoods and take pictures of people from all walks of life.

   Welty identified her dream to be a writer in the early 20s and her determination led her from the society pages of a daily Mississippi newspaper to becoming junior publicist for the Works Progress Administration; and, later, a novelist whose life is of interest to readers around the world.

   After reading about her life, I find myself recalling characters that at one point or another find themselves in similar circumstances or places that Eudora experienced, and have already put her autobiography titled ONE WRITER'S BEGINNINGS on my literary wish list.

   --- Reviewed by Heather Grimshaw




2. I spent most of the weekend immersed in this book--and becoming enchanted with Eudora Welty. Monday I was at the library getting several of her works. I wanted to start at the beginning, so I read her first short story--Death of a Traveling Salesman. It was as gripping and powerful as I had hoped. This biography is respectful and insightful. It provides you with a strong sense of a gentle, talented southern lady who was absolutely true to herself and the world in which she spent her life and nurtured her talents. I am looking forward to reading everything Eudora Welty wrote and getting to know her. And it all began with this biography.



3. This is a terrible, mean-spirited attack against our greatest living writer, attacking her looks, her private life, etc. Eudora Welty has said throughout her life that she didn't want a biography written about her. This woman obviously does not respect her or she would respect her wishes. And why do such a book at this late date, with Miss Welty about to turn 90?? The author coyly pretends to be an admirer and then makes endless lurid allusions to a lady who basically has devoted her whole life to cultivating her art. Our most gifted writer is dismissed as a homely, unwanted "fag hag." (Judging by the photo of the dust jacket, Miss Waldron is no Hedy Lamarr herself). What would Edna Earle say about such a woman!! Don't buy this garbage. Buy another copy of one of Miss Eudora's books instead. You'll love it and it won't upset your stomach. To think some poor trees had to be slaughtered for this trash!! By the way, Happy 90th Birthday to Miss Eudora Welty who will certainly survive such a infantile attack as this. And someday an HONORABLE biography about her no will doubt be written.

1 comments about Blue-Eyed Child of Fortune: The Civil War Letters of Col. Robert Gould Shaw.

1. Russell Duncan has done us a favor by making available, and editing meticulously, Colonel Shaw's letters. The problem lies with his bias: it's fashionable today to read the biographies of old-time heros with suspicion, running any plaudits they may have amassed through filters of class, race, politics, gender, and so on. The result usually debunks the hero, which is fashionable, too. This "hermeneutic of suspicion" can introduce a real Rob Shaw beneath all the canonization piled onto him, but here it has blended into what's called "presentism," whereby a historian judges the subject's classism, racism, politics, gendered outlook--or whatever--according to today's baseline. I have a problem with this approach, found in the preface and several footnotes (the adjective "gentlemanlike" seems to give Duncan a special problem whenever he meets it; he needs to find out what it meant, and didn't mean, in the 1860's). Further, his analysis of why Shaw decided to leave his beloved 2nd Massachusetts seems way off-base. Duncan seeks to present to us a hapless young man who "never understood,or fully dedicated himself to" the abolition of slavery. It seems Shaw braved ridicule from his friends and death from the enemy if captured, taking on the labors of raising, training, and leading something new, a black regiment, before dying in the middle of it to ensure its work would be recognized and other black soldiers appreciated by racists North and South, all this only because his mother's apron strings still held him tight. Meanwhile we need to notice that Duncan has left out letters which don't support these appraisals, for example Shaw's letters protesting the iniquitous pay decisions coming out of Washington (cutting the 54th's pay below the standards they had signed on to receive), or the letter in which he rebuffs his mother's plans for a "show wedding." I also disagree with Duncan's analysis of the Shaw family dynamic, because he seems unaware that gender and family norms then are different from ours now. These seem like serious problems for a serious historian; most are found in the biography and some footnotes. Otherwise Duncan lets Shaw speak for himself (in the letters he offers us)and Shaw does so articulately and often eloquently when given the chance. Buy the book for the letters, thank Duncan for making them accessible, and take his commentary with a grain of salt.

No comments about Neither True Nor Divine.

1 comments about Etta Place: Her Life and Times With Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Women of the West).

1. "Etta Place: Her Life and Times With Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" by Gail Drago is a great overview of information concerning not only Etta, but also Butch and Sundance. The author has done her research well, citing the most current information known to date of these colorful outlaws. While she cannot really tell us who Etta Place is, she give us some food for thought on her character.
   I would suggest this book to any fan of Etta, Butch, and Sundance. It is a great review of information that is solid.

No comments about Anthony Wayne: Soldier of the Early Republic.

No comments about Behind Enemy Lines: Civil War Spies, Raiders, and Guerillas.