4 comments about Matthew B. Ridgway: Soldier, Statesman, Scholar, Citizen.

1. Of all the great American military leaders the last century produced, from Black Jack Pershing to the World War Two icons- Dwight D, Eisenhower, Chester Nimitz, George Patton, Omar Bradley, George Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, through Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf, perhaps the greatest of them all, militarily speaking, was General Matthew Bunker Ridgway, the man who took over from MacArthur after Big Mac was dismissed by President Harry S. Truman during the Korean War. It was Ridgway, Commander of the U.S. Eighth Army, who rallied the UN Forces from nearly being pushed into the sea by the North Koreans, Russians, and Chinese, and forced what has been an over half century long stalemate. Because of things as this, General Marshall, in fact, called Ridgway, `the finest soldier I have known.' General called it `the greatest feat of personal leadership in the history of the Army.'
   
   Yet, the book Matthew B. Ridgway: Soldier, Statesman, Scholar, Citizen, rereleased in 2002 by Stackpole Books (231 pages, $15.95), and penned by George C. Mitchell, does little to expand on the essence of the man. His personal life is a virtual cipher, which renders his son's accidental death, years before his own death, a mere fact, with no pathos nor gravitas given to it, for we hardly know the boy, nor his relationship with his father, to care that much over the loss. At best, this book is a straightforward rendering of the four aspects of the man its subtitle claims. While this makes for a good encyclopedia entry, as a book, it makes for rough reading. Especially odd is that this rather dry rendering was written by Dr. George C. Mitchell, a well known journalist, diplomat, and educator who had the advantage of knowing his subject before his death before his July 26, 1993, death at the age of 98. Yet, he never exploits this fact to his reader's benefits, with personal anecdotes nor reminiscences of the great man in his dotage. There is no play with form nor stretching of the medium. Of course, given its subject, the book could not be bad, for even an A to B to C journey through the life of such as man as Matthew B. Ridgway is informative and enlightening. Yet, the book never makes a claim for putting its subject on a par with his contemporaries, as MacArthur nor Patton.... I just hope that a book like this will serve as a spur to a future military historian who feels that Matthew B. Ridgway deserves better and deeper treatment. Often it takes a third or fourth stab at a biography of a historical figure to get the true historical significance of a man. Perhaps someone like a David McCullough, if he ever decides to turn his attention to more recent times, will take a stab at Ridgway before he, too, leaves this earth. The only other book to really even deal with Ridgway in any extended manner was Clay Blair's The Forgotten War: America In Korea, 1950-1953, but that only did so in a few sections about the larger war. Ridgway, of course, won many honors, such as a Distinguished Service Cross, a Silver Star, a Distinguished Service Medal, a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, and a Medal of Freedom, as well as a Combat Infantryman Badge- rarely given to officers, and he was also decorated by many other nations. Would that these words held the same regard for him and the time reading this book would be a good way to be entertained while learning. As it is, even a stroll through the factual online mess that is Wikipedia can satisfy the casual fact hunter as well as this book can. It will also save your fingers the burden of turning pages, although it may not ease you into sleep as well. Such tradeoffs are what military men endure in life, and what some leave after their deaths.



2. Through correspondence and telephone calls, Matt Ridgway and I became friends. I attended his 85th birthday party in Pittsburgh, with all of his old General-staff from WWII and Korea. he was still 'flint' at 85. Matt talked Ike out of entering Vietnam (IndoChina) in '54, and convinced JFK that it could not be won. this is a wonderful book about a man who lost his beloved son, Mattie (age 20) and rather emotionally imploded after that. Incidentally, I presented him with 'the book' that saved his life in Korea. It was a paperback, with a 50-caliber shell sticking about 3" out either side. Matt is beside me in the photo and howling. "Penny, I know you want this book that brought Matt home to you." It was title: "Hot Army Nurses". The room went up in laughter. Great man...great book....Marshall called him "the finest soldier who ever wore the uniform'. davegwinn@aol.com



3. I have to respectfully disagree with the previous reviewer's take on this book. While the book is choppy at times in the way that it is formatted, it is still a very good biography.
   
   The previous reviewer stated that it was disappointing because it did not compare to Carlo D'Este's biography of George Patton ( A Genius for War). However I do not feel that this is a fair comparison. How many military biographies can compare to this classic?
   
   I think that this book should be judged on its merits and in my opinion; the author does a good job of telling the life story of this great American General.
   
   Each chapter is dedicated to a certain section of Ridgeway's life; Korea, Joint Chiefs of Staff, etc and while at times this does make the book seem choppy, it still is a pretty good book if you want to learn about Matthew Ridgeway.
   
   One last note about the book, to his credit the author George C. Mitchell does manage to accomplish something very important when writing a biography. It left me wanting to know more about the subject and read more about Ridgeway's life.
   
   I definitely recommend it if you are looking for a good introduction into Ridgeway's career and life.



4. First of all I can say that I am a great admirer of Matt Ridgeway. The book is overall exceptional well written but lacks the personal sense that Carlo D'Este put into Patton: Genius for War. It seemed that the author has a title for each chapter then expanded this based on topic. A chronological order to Ridgeway's history would have made the book more substantial.

5 comments about Nixon's Shadow: The History of the Image.

1. Interesting recap of the various images of Nixon, some self-crafted, some imposed by friendly or critical onlookers to his long and winding career. The chapter titles serve as a valid sketch of the images:
   
   1. The Califonia Conservatives: Nixon as Populist
   2. The Fifties Liberals: Nixon as Tricky Dick
   3. The New Left Radicals: Nixon as Conspirator
   4. The Washington Press Corps: Nixon as News Manager
   5. The Loyalists: Nixon as Victim
   6. The Psychobiographers: Nixon as Madman
   7. The Foreign Policy Establishment: Nixon as Statesman
   8. The Historians: Nixon as Liberal
   
   Greenberg makes the point that the images layered and overlapped over time, and also makes the point that at this stage of presidential politics, partly as a result of Nixon's imagecrafting, we cynically expect politicians to be in the business of crafting their image, not presenting their true persona or policies.



2. I was intrigued about this book when I heard it praised in a lecture by Walter Macdougall, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian. He published his lecture and what he said was, "What image will posterity nurture of Nixon? The best analysis is David Greenberg's Nixon's Shadow, published last year. Greenberg describes five Richard Nixons that beguile and perplex the American people."
   
   But after reading it, I agree. Greenberg is younger than other historians who have written about Nixon and so he is, arguably, more objective. This book gives each point of view its due - those who hate Nixon, those who think he's an elder statesman, those who think he is a nutcase. It is as much a book about American political and social life and all of its strife and controversy in the years 1946-1974 (and after) as it is about Nixon himself. It doesn't just praise or bash Nixon - it explains WHY people praised or bashed Nixon.
   
   Greenberg has really invented a new genre of history here. You might call it Rashomon Plus. He shows you Nixon from different perspective but then goes on to unpack these different images of Nixon and explain why they have all taken root in our political mindset.
   
   A couple of the other posts apparently don't like Greenberg because he is liberal. That may be true, but this is not a liberal attack on Nixon, in fact he is more critical in many places of Nixon's critics than he is of Nixon. The "liberals" who came up with Tricky Dick are faulted for sneering at the middle class. And the radical left that attacked Nixon on Vietnam are faulted for being in the grip of conspiracy theories at times. The book gives Nixon's supporters more than their due. (In fact Walter Macdougall is a Conservative.) This is a highly orginal work of history.



3. Greenberg is a good chronicler of events and few occasions in Nixon's life, however incidental, is missed here. The book is long on details relating to the professional side of Nixon, but I was disappointed that there was a lack of personal anecdote within the covers of the book. Of course RN was an inscrutable, moody, paranoid and ultimately unknowable man, but I would have liked more material on Pat Nixon, as well as Tricia and Julie. Greenberg quotes copiously of Nixon's own self-serving memoirs but doesn't include much primary source material on Nixon as a human being.

   The strong points are the chapters on Watergate and the gradual demise and destruction of RN as President. The ancillary characters of Watergate all get their just due: Halderman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Dean are described in sometimes sympathetic but occasionally, brutal detail. Reeves shows masterfully that Nixon dissembled and lied to the bitter end, not to the American people, but most disturbingly, to himself. It's well-written and full of detail, just don't expect much on Nixon the man. Otherwise, an enthusiastic thumbs up.




4. Greenberg's work is the first I have read that expores the relationship between image and history in an interesting and inviting manner. I think one of the reasons that Nixon invites so much controversy was that he was a complex and contradictory man. He just does not seem to fit. Watergate destroyed him, but you have conservatives railing against him and liberals saying he did good work and vice versa. Greenberg attempts an overview of all these competing images and it is surprising how often the image being projected says more about the writer than Nixon himself. A very interesting book that deserve patient study.



5. Here we go again.... It's become a "right of passage"
   in the leftist community: if you want to be invited
   to the best wine and sleeze... I mean cheese parties,
   write a book smearing Nixon. Richard Nixon was
   a complex human being, with both good and bad
   sides to him, just like you and me. He had an
   indelable impact on the development of the nation,
   in both positive and negative ways. He is far too
   much damned for his flaws, and far too little praised
   for his successes. This book is just another stale
   hatchet job, written by a hack who will be forgotten
   as quickly as yesterday's toast; just another necrophiliac
   having his way with a dead man. It's easier to
   regurgitate leftist party hate speech than to actually
   research the man's life and be honest about it.
   Don't waste your money on this drek; it isn't
   even good for toilet paper.

3 comments about Once There Was a Farm: A Country Childhood Remembered (Virginia Bookshelf).

1. Just as the reviewer before me, this is absolutely one of my all time favorite books! I am currently reading it for the 4th time in about 8 years. Each time I read it I find something different that strikes me. It is a beautifully written book, each word carefully chosen for maximum impact. It is a nostalgic read that will make you long for the simpler, but not uncomplicated, times of the past. Buy this book and enjoy it many times throughout the years to come! Mrs. Dabney will become like an old friend...



2. this is simply put, a wonderful honest read. this is one of my all time favorite books. i am currently reading it for the third time in about 8 years. it is a pleasure to read EACH time. i know that this will not be my last time in reading it!



3. A beautfiul, poignant memoir of growing up in a less-than-perfect family (who didn't? But how many of us will admit it?) in a now vanished America (the rural South of the pre-World War II years). Dabney's clear-eyed reflections on her childhood memories will strike a chord with anyone who has looked back at their youth across the experience of years. This is no sweetly sentimental reminiscing; Dabney pulls few punches when relating her parents strengths and their failings, as well as her own sometimes less-than-lovable younger self. The pitfalls and prejudices of life in segregated Virginia are clearly spelled out, also. Yet, this is a poetic, moving book, delighting in the slower pace and rich detail of a life lived close to the soil and the seasons, with much beauty to enrich the spirit of an artistic person like the author. Painful episodes like the difficult marriage and premature death of her beautiful older sister are disclosed with grace and sympathy. As the author herself states, this is a book that truly took a lifetime to write, and every page sings with truth, beauty, and the joy and pain of life!

4 comments about Tumult in the Clouds.

1. "I've read aviation books for well over 30 years and when I read Goodson, was amazed by it. Before joining the USAF, Goodson piloted Spitfires in the RAF. While Goodson's narrative is chronologically ordered, he breaks off at points and discusses individual pilots with whom he's flown. Humor, terror and tragedy and finally redemption rolls off his pen as he pays tributes to his fallen comrades. Goodson's score of 32 kills puts him among the highest of Allied fighter pilots but as the Strafing King, his try at a Me163 rocket fighter sitting on an airfield brings an end to his career as a fighter pilot and the begining of his career as a kreige (PoW slang for prisoner of war). Only his wits keeps him alive since Goodson was to be shot by the Gestapo as a terror-fleiger. A masterful story teller, Goodson's book belongs on your shelf."



2. One of the best fighter pilot biographies ever written. Fast paced, touching, emotionally written but not corny.
   
   They are all there: Gentile, Godfrey, Blakeslee, Clark, Beeson. The fighting sequences are breathtaking without looking exaggerated.
   
   I recommend this one without doubts.



3. This book is really another great book for all that love books about combat aviation! Major Goodson takes you on a journey from being on a torpedoed sinking ship, flying with the Eagle Squadron during the Battle of Britain, to flying with the 4th Fighter Group under the command of Colonel Don Blakeslee,then eventually ending after being shot down and becoming a POW.
   
   Not only does this book portray the extraordinary life of Major James Goodson it also gives accounts of the bravest men he served with who are no longer with us today. He goes in to the greatest detail of these men from thier sense of humor, thier lucky clothing items they wore,and sadly how brave and how young they died. Read this book! You will not be disappointed.



4. Maj. James "Goody" Goodson was one of the top American aces of WWII and served with two legendary outfits: the RAF's Eagle Squadron and, of course, the 4th Fighter Group in the USAAF. This book is more than just the story of Goodson's service in WWII. Each chapter focuses on one or more member of the 4th. It's basically a fighter pilots' hall of fame. Gentile, Godfrey, Blakeslee, Hofer and more. These are stories of incredible heroism, and heartbreaking loss. Goodson writes in a straight-forward, easy-to-read style, that effectively portrays life in a fighter squadron. He talks about the aircraft they flew, including the Spitfire, P-47 and their beloved P-51 Mustangs. One of my favorite stories that dealt with the bond these men had for their fellow pilots, tells of the group returning from a draining strafing mission. Some had to be literally lifted out of their cockpits. But when they were told that the Air, Sea Rescue team hadn't located one of their comrades who had ditched in the North Sea, they got back in their planes and went to look for him. It's too bad they can't make a film about these guys. Unfortunately, there are no actors alive today that could carry it off. If you enjoy books about WWII's air war, you'll like this one.

3 comments about The Memoirs of Jean Laffite.

1. If you are a Lafitte scholar, researcher or a historical buff you probably own this work. If you are a casual reader, don't be mislead by the title. This is a scholarly translation of a 150 year old codex that was originally believed to be written by Jean Lafitte, in French. Researchers now believe it was written by a contemporary. It is a puzzling dicument. The original consists of 257 pages. The Gene Marshall translation runs 193 pages with a comprehensive preliminary analysis and explamatory end-notes. It is not a fake or a forgery, but the authorship is still a subject of controversy and investigation. This translation replaces an older (1958) translation that was inferior. Be sure to read the explanatory introduction first.



2. Assuming that the text is authentically the work of Jean Laffite, then this is a great case study of how people resort to denial and self-delusion on a fantastic scale if they are engaged in crime. I understand the criticisms of the text based on handwriting analyses and so forth, but handwriting samples of a given person can change at different times over a person's life and to me the criticism voiced in other reviews here of this text are inconclusive.

   The thing that makes the text ring true as the voice of Jean Laffite here is the identification of the pirates' brother Pierre as the illustrious Dominique You. This has never been corroborated, but the claim makes sense.

   So, if this is Jean Laffite, then the fellow was a certifiable, vainglorious crackpot of a headcase. The author expresses throughout an irrational condemnation of the British and Spanish, whom he lumps together and condemns as the neferious villains he fought against all his life, as a "privateer" first in the service of revolutionary France and then the adolescent United States. He seems blissfully unaware that when he claims he began attacking and robbing Spanish ships in 1801 the French government he claimed then to be in the service of was at that time an ally of Spain! He denigrates the Spanish nation further throughout the book, villafying them as the arch enemy of freedom and liberty, but seems oblivious to the fact the from 1820 to 1823 Spain founded, and attempted to make a go of it as a republic. Laffite's (or the author's) ignorance is even more astonishing when one considers that this "First Spanish Republic" of the 1820s was destroyed by a military invasion from Laffite's beloved holy-land: France!

   Laffite, (or the author makes the claim for him) also seems to take credit for saving the United States (from which he claims bitter dishonor due to lack of compensation from said government) from British aggression at the Battle of New Orleans. Yes, we are given to understand ol' Jean and Pierre (as Dominique You) and their band of "privateers" saved the fate of the U.S. from destruction at the hands of the British at N.O. that day in January 1815! Never mind that what the Laffite's actually contributed was but a minor fraction of the total manpower and arms supply of Jackson's forces! Laffite saved the day, and the U.S. has him to thank for it, and according to him that thanks never came (at least not in the form he wanted it in, cold hard cash or silver or gold or, yes indeed - slaves!)

   That brings me to the next thing- while Laffite cries melodramatically throughout on the oppression of poor peoples everywhere by evil powers like Britain and Spain, he casually admits, as if all about it were normal and acceptable, that he often stole slaves- Africans- from British and Spanish slave ships and sold said slaves to customers of his own choosing and pocketed the cash! LAffite exhibits no problem of conscience whatsoever when he says this.

   Laffite also denies vehemantly that he was a "pirate." He insists on calling himself "privateer." He claims he always carried registration papers from the French government or some lesser organization of doubtfull validity varifying his status as a professional privateer. Never mind that his claim of privateer in the service of France while he was attacking Spain, an ally of France by Treaty of San Ildefonso in the early 1800s would seem to suggest he, at the very least, tended to abuse his privateer status.

   Whether the text is authentic or not, it is a fascinating confession (or conscienable evasion) of a scoundrel!

   Also, be aware, the syntax of this translation is atrocious. Given that it was translated from the French by a university professor (who himself, in a disclaimer at the front of the book, acknowledges the constant non-sequiturs and general non-sensicals of many passages in the original) an added conclusion can be made: that Laffite (or his hoaxer) was an illiterate!




3. I first read this piece of rubbish at a local library several years ago. It was purported to be the "real diary" of the notorious pirate Jean Laffite. But, several experts in handwriting and historical documents pronounced it a fake. (I too had examined the "real diary" first hand.) Back many years ago, John Laflin was passing himself off as a direct descendant of the "Terror of the Gulf" but it turns out he was a notorious forger. He forged this item and a handful of photographs as well. He managed to make a nice sum selling this trash. What's even more amusing is how Price Daniel Sr. the former governor and a collector of Texana was duped into buying this hoax. Now my dear reader, I just hope YOU won't be duped into buying this nonsense.

5 comments about We Are Lincoln Men : Abraham Lincoln and His Friends.

1. This was an interesting book. Every historian has a favorite story about one of the greatest American presidents-Abraham Lincoln. He talked plain, told funny stories, and acted like a relative of the family. However, Lincoln had few friends in his life. You can actually count the number on a pair of hands. The reason was Lincoln's upbringing in very isolated areas of Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. The death of his mother at an early age also stunted his development. Except for two individuals (Speed and Herndon), Lincoln had few long term friends.
   
   Professor Donald goes into all the close friends Lincoln had. He examines the relationship with Speed, and lays the fact that Lincoln had a really close relationship with Speed.
   He also examines his relationship with Browning, Herndon, Seward, his two presidential aides, and a bodyguard. Many others may have known Lincoln, but few knew him in a personal way. Lincoln was a very lonely man with plenty of burdens on him. It is a wonder he managed to guide the country through the Civil War without many personal relationships.
   
   Donald examines all of Lincoln's close personal relationships. He disputes the present accusations that Lincoln was gay with good historical facts. This is a good read for those interested in the Civil War.



2. Donald's book "Lincoln" is incredible. So maybe I was unfairly expecting too much.
   
   But I didn't learn much from this book. He makes the point that Lincoln did not have any very close friends and therefore there was no one that could truly speak of what Lincoln was thinking.
   
   Much of this book discusses the relationship Lincoln had with each of the people involved. And it then talks some (not a lot) about that those people wrote or said.
   
   But to me, Lincoln did not come out of what was said. I didn't find myself seeing anything new.
   
   Get his book "Lincoln" instead.



3. David's confusion about Lincoln's sexuality is shown by his going back and forth on the question of whether Abe was in love with Anne Rutledge. At present he seems to deny the legend, which he endorsed a few years ago when Douglas Wilson revived it, having previously followed his mentor J. G. Randall in denying it. Talk about Senator Kerry-like flip-flopping. David, to all appearance a Kinsey "O," is obviously even more at sea about homosexuality. He quoted the obnoxious remark made by Charles B. Strozier (a type who would have fascinated Cesare Lombroso) that a homosexual (or bisexual, in the case of Lincoln) couldn't have led the war or even gone into politics. Have they forgotten Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar? Did they never hear about their bisexuality? But Donald did for a time acknowledge a homoerotic bond between Abe and Joshua; though he has made the outrageous claim to me that no single American president ever had sex with another male.
   When I put C.A. Tripp in contact with David Donald, whom I described to Tripp as the leading Lincoln scholar, I warned him that however much he might learn from David, he could not even hope that David would accept the thesis that Abe had homosexual experiences, and I predicted that David would write a preemptive strike. It duly appeared: We Are Lincoln Men: Abraham Lincoln and His Friends.
   John Lauritsen, an aesthete of unrivaled sensitivity, tells me that in We Are Lincoln Men David writes on two levels: one for the public ("the great unwashed"), who couldn't bear to learn that some presidents were gay; and on another for the initiates, when he describes the banter between Abe and his hardened male secretaries, which borders on camp. At any rate, David certainly notes the electric homoeroticism.



4. David Herbert Donald has produced an interesting portrait of Abraham Lincoln through the eyes of those who can claim to have known him best. By taking a "friend's eye" view of our sixteenth President, Donald peels back some of the mystery surrounding this very private and guarded man. Some, but not all. As Donald demonstrates, Lincoln was unusually adept of shielding much of his inner self even from most of his close associates. Whether by insecurity at his humble origins and self-taught manner or, (as I am more prone to think), by the design of a very focused ambition which was early on and constantly navigating his life's journey, Lincoln only let those he knew intimately get so close.
   
   The friends (some early life companions, young adulthood companion Joshua Speed, law partner William Herndon, some-time political ally Orville Browning, rival and then acolyte Secretary of State William Seward, and private secretaries John Hay and John Nicolay), give portrayal of Lincoln at every stage of his life. Most give testimony to Lincoln's ultimate reserve, but all have insights, shared thoughts and anecdotes that provide a great depth of understanding at what formed the man and to some extent what made him tick.
   
   Although Donald has a minor psychological theme of motherless-children (Lincoln's mother died at an early age; he benefited from a loving step-mother who he gave great credit to), and the nature of friendships running through the book, most of this is good, solid history. I personally thought the psychological stream could have been left out of this book, but it only occasionally intrudes and never surfaces enough to dominate any chapter of Lincoln's life.
   
   It is instructive to view Lincoln through the lens of those who know Lincoln best, particularly those who knew Lincoln before he was great. Donald has added another valuable work on this most significant and interesting of Americans.



5. Luckily, I was able to find the Large Print edition at the public library. Written in the modern history style, forming opinions instead of using factual information, he even changes his mind from his earlier writings, LINCOLN'S HERNDON (his law partner), saying he has grown "skeptical" about what he had passed on as facts. Feelings don't matter in factual history.
   
   He intimates that Abraham Lincolnn had "questionable" relationships with Joshua Speed with whom he boarded and shared a room and Ann Rutledge, though Lincoln seemed to have avoided becoming involved with women. He quotes Stephen Ambrose whose opinion was that presidents need a confidant "who can be trusted absolutely never to divulge a secret."
   
   These six spotlighted as "intimate friends" to Lincoln all divulged the letters and confidences they were trusted to keep secure! They profited from the assassination by writing books. His personal secretaries, the two Johns: Hay and Nicolay were no exceptions.
   
   For a private, "close-mouthed," self-educated, diversive president, he had no real friends as a youth, nor as President. He enjoyed his sons, playing on the White House lawn with goats and other farm animals. You can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy. Did Mark Twain say that?
   
   Since his orations were considered on a par with Shakespeare, I am wondering if they had speech writers for the presidents back in the 1800s. Are those really his words and beliefs? Did JFK really come up with the "Ask not what your country can do for you" or was that also phrased by some speechwriter? Lincoln was a good actor, sought public influence with his Civil War addresses.
   
   Mr. Donald has won two Pulitzer prizes for his earlier books about Lincoln and many concerning aspects of the Civil War. But I would not call him an expert like Geoffrey C. Ward or William Davis. He is a good researcher.

4 comments about The Illustrated Life and Times of Wyatt Earp (4th Ed.).

1. I just got back from Tombstone, Arizona where they celebrated the 125th Anniversary of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
   On Thursday afternoon, October 26th at about 2:20 p.m., "the walk" was recreated by men dressed as Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan Earp along with a Doc Holliday (there were four sets of them in Tombstone that week), covered by all the local media and hundreds of tourists' cameras from all over the world.
   They marched from Allen Street down Fourth Street and made a left on Fremont to meet in the alley behind the O.K. Corral.
   
   If you read Bob Boze Bell's books on the subject, you'll find out a lot of fascinating facts about the legends and myths of this and other stories of the American West.
   Like Myth Number One: the gunfight at the O.K. Corral didn't happen in the O.K. Corral. As Mr. Bell points out, "'The gunfight in the alley behind the O.K. Corral' just doesn't has the same ring to it."
   
   Chock full of old photographs and Mr. Bell's paintings (Arizonans have known what a great artist he's been for years), these books are great editions to anyone's library of Western history and literature (I can also rave about his books on Doc Holliday and Billy the Kid as well). Facts are presented--whenever possible--and usually with a sense of humor.
   
   Mr. Bell has recently revived "True West" magazine as its Senior Editor and you might have seen his segments between films on the Western Channel. I got a chance to talk to him in Tombstone and thanked him for everything he's done to preserve Western history.
   
   It's a rich and vibrant history and, thanks to these books, one that will endure for decades and centuries to come.



2. I say this book is "unfortunately" the best book on Wyatt Earp because it's really a popular coffee table kind of thing and not a serious work of scholarship but at least it attempts to be objective, gets most of the facts right and is a lot of fun.



3. Bob Boze Bell has created a book that anyone would enjoy. Chock full of factual blurbs in chronological detail, Mr. Bell not only gives the reader a complete overview of the life of this incredible gunfighter, but also his place in the West's historical time-line. A visual feast for the eye as well; the book is loaded with photos and illustrations. The few minor facts I checked were accurate; his first marrriage and her subsequent death, for instance, although he attributes it to childbirth, and that has never been confirmed. All in all, this book is a keeper.



4. The mystique surrounding Wyatt Earp,Doc Holiday, John Ringo, and the other "heros" of the town of Tombstone, Az.is as captivating now as ever before. The previous books about Wyatt ("Wyatt Earp,Frontier Marshall", "Tombstone", "I Married Wyatt Earp" etc.) were usually based on conjecture and subjectivity. The truth is that even though Wyatt Earp is an American idol of epic porportions, known to almost everybody, only small amounts of his life are varified by historical fact. This includes "The Gunfight At The OK Corral" With this book Mr. Bell not only gives you a sense of the times with many extraordinary photos and paintings but also tells us what is known for sure and what may or may not be the truth. He also discusses the movies (and there are a lot) about not only the gunfight and the people involved but also those on which Wyatt may have been a consultant. I have never read anything that left me with such a through understanding of the gunfight and the aftermath.Also, I have not until now ever really understood why Wyatt was famous in the first place. This is a great book to read first before you watch any of the movies or read any the other books. This along with "The Illustrated Life and Times of Doc Holliday" also by Bob Boze Bell form a solid and totally entertaining foundation from which to evaluate, understand, and enjoy the many, many versions available of the "Earp Legend".

5 comments about The Earp Brothers of Tombstone: The Story of Mrs. Virgil Earp.

1. I liked the fact of the amount of history in the book. The way the writer describes some of the scenery, it feels like you are there. Allie did not like Wyatt....she was a little snip. I would have like to have known what happened to Morg's wife and some of the others. And somethings she would not tell..... Overall I found it very interesting.



2. Reading this tripe, you can see why Virgil Earp's widow, Allie, threatened to shoot Frank Waters on sight. For the enlightenment of the three people who don't know the story, Waters paid court to Allie Earp, pumping her for information. Allie had a bone to pick with Wyatt Earp and Waters ran with it. This collection of distortion and outright lies is the result. Waters no doubt gleaned the balance of his (mis)information from the Tombstone Nugget's pages or, most likely out of his own prejudices. Do bear in mind that the book was written during the height of the revisionist movement in the history of the "old west", and hatchet jobs on the notables of the time were common. The Earps were certainly not a bunch of altar boys, but they were definitely not the murdering pimps Waters makes them out to be. Maybe he was hired by the descendants of the McLowreys, some of whom still hold a grudge.
   This book would make good fire starter.
   
   Dennis Hanisch



3. I find Fred Waters to be like so many other writers who try to make a name for themselves (as well as a buck) by taking cheap shots at and writing tawdry yellow sheet propaganda about an American icons.
   
   These hacks take the easy but foul route when writing so called histories of the famous. It's easy to slander an icon (especially a dead one) by taking an opposite slant on the person's accepted character. (Accepted by those who knew him personally, that is). In this way you not only get attention to yourself (some people are like vultures and want to hear dirt), and it diminishes someone whose height and fame you will never achieve. All the while making a living off the fame of the person you are destroying. Dead icons cannot defend themselves, so it is also an act of cowardice. These people are literary leeches of the worst kind.
   
   Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp has been a life long study of mine (60 years now). I have read just about every book, article and slanderous rag that has his name in it. I find most to be trash, worthy of nothing more than tossing into the garbage heap. Most are not worth the time or effort to read. Fred Waters book is such a book. Fiction is fiction. If a library decides to stock this book they should put it in the fiction section.
   
   Wyatt Earp was a man, a real man, a man's man. He was neither saint nor demon. He was a man of his times when real men were men and they did things they had to do. Things that few men today would have neither the stomach nor the nerve to do. They sometimes made friends along the way and they sometimes made enemies along the way. It is to be expected that the friends would aggrandize Wyatt while his enemies would play him down. However few of them then or now would have had the guts to face him down.
   
   Any student of Wyatt Earp should stick to writers who tell the story as it was told by people who knew the man. One such writer is Glenn G. Boyer. While I have never met this man face to face, his works have been the most trustworthy and envied of all the works about Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp. Mr. Boyer tells the good when Wyatt done good and he tells the bad when Wyatt done bad. One thing for certain Fred Waters would not have had the nerve to let Wyatt read the first draft of his book had Wyatt been alive at the time he wrote it.



4. 
   "Aunt Allie" was a dead-honest original, and didn't deserve to have Frank Waters misuse the authority of her name to unload on an unsuspecting public this duplicitous melange of lies about her life, especially that part lived with the Earps.
   
   Allie denounced this book in her own inimitable profane manner. In my possession are the letters of Hildreth Halliwell, Aunt Allie's grand niece, saying only that Allie threatened to "sue" Waters. (She actually threatened to kill him.) As Hildreth went on to say, "I get so mad every time I think of what Frank Waters wrote after spending hours with Aunt Allie I go berserk . . . he published a lot of lies . . . "
   
   I make that clear in my Epilogue to I MARRIED WYATT EARP and did on two other occasions while Waters was still alive, thus giving him an opportunity to sue me for libel if he chose. Naturally he didn't.
   
   Before Frank realized what I knew for sure, I visited him when he was writer-in-residence at Colorado State U. at Ft. Collins, in 1966, ten years before my I MARRIED WYATT EARP was published. I asked him what Aunt Allie had said about his book. He said, "She said it was the truth." I still have extensive notes from that meeting." He naturally said that, but it wasn't true, of course.
   
   This book certainly is a "travesty" as Bruce Trinque comments in an adjoining review, and it is far worse than that. Of course Bruce is referring to Frank Waters' initial title, TOMBSTONE TRAVESTY. Travesty is mild, however, this book is an outrage. It is my opinion that principle requires that it no longer be published.
   
   In sum, Waters' book is garbage, although many passages are pure gold. The book's value is as a source for the more knowledgeable to attempt to separate the gold from the garbage. It certainly is a curiosity. But it isn't a dependable memoir.



5. The author must have had a no-so-hidden agenda to debunk the man and the myth of Wyatt Earp. I have read a number of books on the Earp brothers, especially the Tombstone days. I have also read the transcript or at least what is reported to be the transcript of Judge Spicer's ruling on the murder charges brought against the Earps as a result of THE gunfight. The author in my opinion has badly and intentionally distorted the facts. I threw away my copy of this book.

5 comments about The Growing Seasons: An American Boyhood Before the War.

1. I was hooked from line one of this book. Hynes' simple and direct style of writing quickly whisks you back 70-plus years and tells you -shows you - how it was. And it wasn't easy for Sam Hynes either, orphaned at an early age and moving from place to place, being farmed out and coping with a step-mother. But in spite of all this, you also get a sense of the fun of being a boy in the midwest during the depression. Kids don't always know when they're poor; they're too busy learning and experiencing things and trying to get the most out of every day. The sequel to The Growing Seasons is equally good: Flights of Passage. I wish Sam would continue his personal story and tell us what happened after he came home from the war. I do know from talking with him that he was back in the Marines during Korea. There's gotta be another great story in there somewhere. If you're from the midwest and love good storytelling, read this book. Hell, you don't have to be midwestern. It's just darn good writing. - Tim Bazzett, author of Soldier Boy: At Play in the ASA



2. First of all, this is a very enjoyable book. I wanted to read this because my Father grew up in the Midwest during this time frame in a similar city. While he did grow up under very different financial circumstances, I was interested in exploring the every day experiences that a young boy would live through.
   The book is excellently written and vividly tracks a boys life in a world few can ever understand if you did not live during the Depression Era of the '30's. This being said, the book left me with many questions.
   
   His brother Chuck is hardly mentioned at all. Why? Dr. Hynes does not really go into how well, or badly he did at school. That would have been interesting. What happend to the boy that ran the girl over with his car. His friends were not the kind of kids I would want my children hanging around with. It is amazing he did not do some time in reform school. I also would have liked to have known at the end, what happened to his Father and Stepmother as well as his Stepsisters.
   
   Anyway, it was fun to read and I surely learned more about this time than I ever did in History classes.
   
   I hope that you will enjoy it.



3. The now storied "Greatest Generation" did not come full-blown into glory. It evolved from childhood, and Samuel Hynes' gentle, understated and illuminating memoir, "The Growing Seasons," assists in our understanding of how the generation that fought and won World War II came to be. Fiercely independent, perpetually inquisitive and unabashedly self-conscious, Samuel Hynes comes of age in America's heartland during the Great Depression. His story, crafted with gentle humor and exquisite detail, gains transcendence and slowly emerges as a representation of millions of youngsters grappling with the age-old obligation of developing an identity, but doing so in an era of frayed innocence and material dispossession.

   Loss and impermanence permeate Hynes' childhood. His father stoically accepts the death of his wife, unemployment as a result of a contracting economy and his own inability to serve the nation he so deeply loves. This unspoken patriotism and sense of place nurture the young Hynes, who never overcomes the gaping wound of losing his mother to a premature death. Motherloss uproots the Hynes' family; the father swallows prejudice and remarries a Catholic and Samuel begins the process of healing and carrying on with life.

   While his father settles into his second family, Hynes spends a summer on a farm. The city boy discovers new cadences to life, a different pattern to work. Most importantly, Samuel gains a sense of his own past. "For one season I had been one, like my father...and all those other country people in our family." With solemn pride, Hynes announces, "I had been my ancestors." With this knowledge of self, Hynes is better able to comprehend the modernizing influences besetting his altered family in Minneapolis during the 1930s.

   There, he observes his father's deep ambivalence over labor violence. A Shell oil salesman, the father is a rock-ribbed Republican who extols the virtue of independence and responsibility. Yet, the father "despised the upper-class ways" of the elite. Samuel watches his father's despair increase. "Whoever won this war, something he believed in would lose. It was sad, losing like that, and I felt his sadness."

   Tempering Samuel's growing awareness of the world is his evolving relationship with his step-mother. Hynes respects, admires and even likes her -- her purposeful energy, her zeal for order, her enthusiasm for life and work -- but never loves her. Even his thirteen-year-old autobiography excludes mention of her, and when his father coerces Samuel to include her, Samuel does so with a "chilled heart." Frugal and despeate to keep her family afloat, his step-mother sells a forgotten but cherished model train set. Awash in the economic misery of the Great Depression, where even wanting something unneeded is considered unworthy, the sale reminds the still-growing Samuel of the transitory nature of life, that "anything could be taken."

   Yet, "The Growing Seasons" is far from grim. Warmth abounds in the memoir, ranging from an excused absence from school due to a housekeeper's inability to close her mouth to the supreme satisfaction to Hynes' deep satisfaction at being able to finally don long pants to school instead of the dreaded knickers. The evolution to adulthood, the absoption of what it means to be a man, the quiet knowledge of the necessity of standing alone -- these benchmarks of maturation -- bespeak a person truly in touch with his own personality and his own potential.

   As Hynes becomes a man, with his attendant alienation from public school and his fascination with sex, he carries with him the formative experiences of childhood. Chafing at his relative youth, longing to experience the formative fires of war, Hynes' restlessness symbolizes an American energy, a robust transformative power that rings true in this instructive and engaging memoir.




4. One of the keys to this charming book is how many BAD things Sam and his friends do, that prove to be so interesting to read about! His style is understated, self-effacing. Flat, almost, but in a good way, all the cards on the table. I spent four years in Iowa and at the time someone told me that the adjective for Midwesterners wasn't "innocent" or anything like that, but "uncomplicated." You're used to seeing everything around you, all the way to the horizon. So maybe you lack a layer of artifice.

   I'll illustrate. His mother dies when Sam is a young boy, and his father (a stern but wonderfully forgiving fellow) remarries. Sam never figures out what to call his stepmother, so he avoids the issue completely. Permanently! This is remarkable. My wife had the same problem vis-à-vis my parents. It was kind of comical and kind of embarrassing on all fronts, but she figured it out a few days into our first extended visit with them. Sam never manages, yet seems to think nothing of it. Apart from remarking on the fact, he just goes on with things. Some readers may find this lack of navel-gazing a flaw, but I kind of liked it. It's more neutral, one might say scientific, and draws you in to the story. You can interpret things for yourself. He may answer that question of mine in his other books, or he may not, but with his winning style I know it will be fine reading right through it and around it.

   Another example comes near the end, pages 241-242, springtime of Sam's senior year in high school, World War Two looming, when he ponders the nature of women, and convertible automobiles, and describes how a guy a year or two older reveals to him and his friends an important secret about women, and sex. I read this long passage to my wife, and Hynes's wonderful deadpan style had us convulsing in laughter.

   Hynes is my parents' generation (and J.D. Salinger's), so I read it through that prism. My father and I grew up in suburban New York, my mother in El Paso (but I think maybe this is a guys' book), whereas Hynes is from Minneapolis (with a memorable summer on a farm). But it all connects. The eternal summertime of youth.




5. This is a prequel to the author's great war memoir, Flights of Passage, which I read with much appreciation 23 May 2001. If you have not read that book, by all means read this one first, then read it. This book is an account of a not extraordinary boyhood, but it is told in a poignant, if a bit mocking, way. When I finished it, I found myself much impressed by the way he told the story. It maybe helped that Hynes is only a few years older than I am, and that his account of a single summer doing farm work in Minnesota was filled with things I remember from my youth on an Iowa farm. It was another world and a time now irretrievably past, and I think this is an elegantly told growing up story I enjoyed as much as I did Russell Baker's memorable classic (Growing Up, read 11 Apr 1986) and Jimmy Carter's An Hour Before Daylight (read 11 Mar 2001).

5 comments about The Tale of the Devil: The Biography of Devil Anse Hatfield.

1. A collaborative effort of Coleman C. Hatfield and Robert Y. Spence, The Tale of The Devil purports to be a biography of Anderson Hatfield, more commonly known as Devil Anse Hatfield, of Hatfield and McCoy fame, but it's more than that. Assisted by original manuscripts from Coleman A. Hatfield, a grandson of Devil Anse, the authors describe several significant members of the Hatfield family in their changing mileaus.
   Not intended as an account of the infamous Appalachian feud, The Tale of The Devil nevertheless describes the issues surrounding the feud from an insider's perspective, admittedly from the vantage point of a Hatfield, yet respectful of the McCoys, and written with an awareness of the existence another point of view.
   
   "Geography explains people." The story goes on, beyond this opening statement in the forward to prove the truth of it, including a description of the geography in which the events will take place, and of the people who lived there, in the area along the Appalachian mountain chain, near the Kentucky border in what is now known as Logan County, West Virginia.
   
   The authors depend heavily upon research conducted by Coleman Alderson Hatfield, the son of William Anderson (Cap) Hatfield, and the eldest surviving grandson of the legendary Devil Anse Hatfield. Coleman A. Hatfield was a lawyer with a photographic memory and a passion for the truth of his heritage, even when it wasn't pretty.
   
   Chapter one begins where you might expect, with the birth of Anse Hatfield in a log cabin on the Straight Fork of Mate Creek, a tributary of the Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River which marked the border of western Virginia, now known as West Virginia, and Kentucky.
   
   Then the authors back up briefly, introducing the reader to the lives of Ephraim (Big Eph) and Nancy Hatfield, the Devil's parents, and describing the importance of the land to the people who lived there.
   
   While we know Anse Hatfield as the leader of the Hatfield family during its feud with the McCoys, the Devil would rather have been known for what he enjoyed most, bear hunting. His first bear hunt took place in the fall of 1854, when he was fifteen years of age. Out of bullets, the bear treed, he determined to stick it out. That he did, for two days, until his brother finally found him, and went to get some bullets. Anse Hatfield was to kill many more bear during his long life.
   
   While the book is a biography of the Devil Anse Hatfield, the reader is invited into what is known of the lives of many of the people around him, including the first Ephraim (Eph-of-All) Hatfield, his great-grandfather, who died when Anse was sixteen years old.
   
   A great deal of space is devoted to effectively describing the setting in which the Hatfield family lived, so that the reader can understand decisions that have so often been misinterpreted.
   
   Other Hatfield family members, friends, and allies that you will learn of include Abner Vance, Anse's great-grandfather on his mother's side of the family, who was executed in 1819 for the murder of a man who had taken advantage of his daughter.
   
   Other significant Hatfields appearing in these pages are Anse Hatfield's eldest children, Johnse and Cap Hatfield, both of whom were born during the Civil War. Often described by feud authors as being the meanest of the Hatfields, Cap Hatfield is given a human face by the authors, although not excused for all of his actions.
   
   Cap's older brother, Johnse, was popular with women and had frequent love affairs, including one with Roseanna McCoy, the daughter of Randal McCoy, which many authors have cited as the cause of the Hatfield-McCoy feud. The authors dismiss this theory, pointing out that Johnse's first wife was Nancy McCoy, the daughter of Harmon McCoy.
   
   Around 1870, Anse Hatfield took in a young man by the name of Dan Christian, who became like a brother to Johnse and Cap. During the later feud years, Dan was to save the life of Cap and his stepson, Joseph Glenn.
   
   Readers of this book will learn about James Nighbert and Henry Clay Ragland, both of whom were to have a lot to do with the changing economic landscape of Logan County.
   
   While various authors have traced the beginning of the Hatfield and McCoy feud to the Civil War, and the fact that the Hatfields were mostly in the area of southwestern Virginia, a Confederate state, while the McCoys resided in Kentucky, a Union state, the authors of The Tale of The Devil point out that many of the McCoys fought on the side of the Confederacy, and that Anse Hatfield and Randal McCoy were together involved in the killing of General Bill France, an action that was indirectly connected to the feud only because of events later in the war and by the impact it had on the lives of the two men.
   
   While Randal McCoy was a Confederate, his brother, Asa Harmon McCoy was a northern sympathizer and close friend of General France.
   
   Learning that Asa Harmon McCoy was was seeking revenge against Anse Hatfield for the killing of France, Jim Vance, Anse's uncle on his mother's side, took preventative action, capturing McCoy and, perhaps accidentally, killing him.
   
   The authors cite, as the beginning of the Hatfield-McCoy feud, the week of August 7, 1882, when Ellison Hatfield, Anse's younger brother, was shot in the back and killed by a group which included Tolbert, Pharmer, and Randal McCoy, Jr., the sons of Randal McCoy.
   
   That night, someone took the McCoy brothers across the Tug where they bound them to pawpaw bushes and shot them dead. Devil Anse Hatfield was suspected of the crime, but was never convicted of murdering the McCoys.
   
   And the feud was on. The authors follow its progress, describing the roles played by several other family members, friends, and others.
   
   The book doesn't end with a conclusion to the feud, however. The end, in fact, is gradual and uncertain, while the reader shares in the changing times and politics of Appalachia, the birth and actions of other Hatfields who were to have an impact on their worlds.
   
   The Tale of the Devil includes a mixture of humor, darkness, and insight, told with a sense of reality that can only result from familiarity.
   
   Anyone with an interest in American history will enjoy this book, and those who desire to learn more about a tale of which so much has been written will appreciate learning the truth about the Devil Anse Hatfield.



2. I grew up around the tales of Devil Anse Hatfield because Dr. Hatfield happens to be my grandfather as well. They way he told them to me when I used to sit on his lap is exactly as they are portrayed in this book. I was reluctant at first to read it, because his storytelling is so vivd and I didn't think the page would capture that. It has, and I'm proud to see such a meticulously researched account of my ancestors being praised as it should. My grandfather put an infinite amount of work into this account, history buffs enjoy!



3. I read this hardback book, and I have to candidly admit this biography is great! I love pioneer and American history, and this work vivedly portrays the mountain life of Appalachia in the 1840s through the turn of the century. These Hatfield family members were tough hombres, and the McCoys were hardheaded as well. The thing that makes this a real unusual story for its time is the inter-state rivalry, the WV Hatfields and the KY McCoys. For instance, Cap Hatfield, the son of Devil Anse, spent the rest of his life worried about being deported to the Kentucky side of the Tug River. The time period is expertly displayed through Dr. Hatfield's prose, and the words of Robert Spence. In all, this is a magnificent biography of historical proportions. Although I suppose the chances are slim, I still hope that this work earns literary accolades and a solid place in the library of great American biographies. I recommend this book for everyone who wants to know more about this country and its people.



4. I never knew about this side of American history, and I would suspect that these types of feuds were fairly common during the time period. However, this family-feud seems extremely excessive and horrorific; and there were inner-state complications after the gunfire ended which left feud survivors with extreme anxiety of being carted off across the border to face the gallows. I believe Coleman Hatfield should be honored for bringing this story to light.



5. This book takes away the old stereotypes of barefoot, bibbed-overhauled, corncob pipe smokin', hayseed idiots who walk with a limp due to climing the rugged mountain terrain. Instead, we get to read about a Civil War confederate soldier who who eventually went AWOL so that he could head back to his West Virginia home along the Tug River. Though a Hatfield and McCoy once fought as comrades in the same troop, they eventually became mortal enemies and through the account there was a Logan County bloodbath.

   If I were to pick a book for any of my history buff-buddies, I would certainly choose The Tale of the Devil.

   Buy it, own it and cherish it -- then pass it down to the grandkids. This is good history.