5 comments about Black Titan: A.G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire.

1. So much of our American history is not taught in our schools, so when we become adults, we must self-study especially contributions of Black Americans. This account of A. G. Gaston's life by his niece and grand-niece is well-paced and informative. Gaston took advantage of every opportunity made available to him and his suberb work ethic allowed him to flourish in many business enterprises. Many of us know a lot about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but how many of us know A.G. Gaston was the man who bailed MLK Jr. and others out of the Birmingham jail? This is a must read. I've already ordered copies for my parents and my local library. Enjoy!



2. This book is not a civil rights manual and its not guide to getting rich. This book offer a glimpse into the life of a man that was successful in business when Black folk in business was virtually unheard of especially at the level that he operated. If you keep an open mind and read this book you will learn something about the civil rights movement and getting rich.



3. This book is AWESOME and a MUST Read! The authors definitely did their research not only about their grandfather, but also about the history/activities that took place during that era. I was so happy that my mentor, recommended this book to our book club. I am a black woman and I NEVER heard about Mr. Gaston. I didn't even know that we had any millionaires and influencers during this time. This book should be a supplement to African American literature, as well as business courses. The Black Titan should be right next to those books written about J. D. Rockerfeller, J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Sam Walton, etc.



4. Actually most of the information from this book was taken from Green Power ( written by the man himself) and the rest was stretched. Actually, I know the authors. Neither of them truly new him and as far being related, they were nieces only by marriage. I just think they are trying to make a quick buck on something that they know nothing about.



5. As a child I participated in and won the A.G. Gaston spelling bee on the state level two years in a row (1957-1958). It was a stepping stone for me and enabled me to go on and do more rewarding things as an adult. I remember staying in his motel in Birmingham with my sponsor and god mother, Mrs Tempie Horton. This is a piece of history that I share with my grand kids. My name is (maiden) Lois Jean Scott and I attended Calvary Jr. high school in Huntsville, Alabama. I am grateful for Mr Gaston and his wife, whom I met on several occasions, for giving me this opportunity.

5 comments about The West of Billy the Kid.

1. Several years ago while at work, it became evident that at least for several weeks Billy Joels'well known song, "The Ballad Of Billy The Kid" was getting airplay at the same time each week. We could almost predict it and kind of expected it.I had heard it before but never really listened to it closely.Now, I was paying attention to every line as others may have,and took it for fact.This was right up until I heard a well known disc jockey discount the song and state that much of what was in the song was not fact at all but just made up ,fabricated and just literal allusion. At first I was taken aback, a little annoyed, but then I realized that Mr. Joel had to rhyme his words and possibly used what worked and to hell with the facts,which of course, was his prerogative.In doing so however, he did Billy The Kid a great injustice.Now I became curious for real facts about Billy and I did some searching and boy was I astounded at what I found.His life was nothing at all like the song or even what I had thought Billy the Kid was like based on my general knowledge of him picked up along the way.I envisioned a killer cowboy,a bank robbing,train robbing outlaw terrorizing the early west.Well,I have since developed an enduring respect for him after reading a very accurate and truthful history of him as written by Frederick Nolan.This book reads like a Russian novel.There are so many characters and people involved in the Kids world it boggles the mind.This book is completely filled with photos,maps,references and mini histories, one doesn't know where to begin. It does get jumpy at times where I felt lost in all the action but each chapter ends well seemingly tying up all the loose ends.How these guys did it and why anybody would go west is beyond me.But go they did and it was less than placid. The early west was a dry, dusty violent place and the Kid was right in the middle of it.His beginnings were confusing from a historical point of view due to lack of information and it seems he rarely experienced any lengthy periods of true peace.He always had to scrape for an existence,fight for scraps and he did defend himself as any respectable person would.He killed when absolutely necessary and was not the sociopathic killer history's tall tales have made him out to be.He had emotion,compassion and youthful exuberance and was well liked among his peers and was respected as well for his sense of fair play and justice.This it seems, was all for nought for his death was both tragic and violent at the hand of Pat Garrett who has his own version to tell and did for profit.He lived his life as best he could under the circumstances and remains a tragically misunderstood chapter of our midwest history. Just a blip on the radar, but a person who stood fast for his rights and was cheated out of a fair shake on more than one occasion. Nolan reflects that and is honest in his assessment of just what is truth and what is fiction.He attempts to dispell the myths and report the events down to their absolute truths without using dramatic,theatrical scenes.I did alot of research on Billy and boiled down the real books on his life.This book glared like a beacon for its honest assessment of just who and what Billy Antrum,and then Billy Bonney and then who became finally, Billy The Kid, was and what his life was from its mysterious beginings to its abrupt yet vague end.If Billy the Kid is a source of mystery that needs to be cleared then Nolans book is it.It is clearly evident that he did his research and would not fabricate facts to enhance the history.I recommend this book to Mr. Billy Joel.Perhaps he could compose a second edition more accurate to poor Billy Bonney to give him proper justice.As a book about the man and his times I highly recommend it.It is an arduous but fun read and when you hear the above noted song you will smile to yourself and know better and perhaps hold a place in your heart for the young man that history crucified perhaps a bit prematurely.The book is tops if you need or want to know Billy the Kid.



2. Nolan does a great job in describing the events of Billy the Kids life. One of the best historians out there. i would recommend this book for all who are interested in Billy The Kid. Unlike the book written by Jim Johnson this book is full of facts.



3. Fred Nolan is one of the most recognized and popular historians of the old west, but where he makes many of his mistakes is by repeating too many things written by previous authors without sufficient evidence. I find most of his statements impossible to prove incorrect, but there are a few problems in his writing. Also, the editing of his book has a few flaws in that there are many glowing contradictions within the book. But, if you can figure out where the errors were made, the rest of the book is interesting and appears to be factual. In comparison to the other books currently on the market on Billy, this is one of the better ones, especially if like good pictures..



4. Frederick Nolan has established a book on "Billy the Kid," which out does most before and after it's initial publication in 1999. An easy to follow book for all readers that tells the true story based on documentation and "real" proof to the life and death of "Billy the Kid." Bye far the best out there on this subject matter. Purchase it!!!
   
   Mike Koch, Author of "The Kimes Gang."



5. What lacks in this describtion in the life og Billy the Kid, is a bit more detail in the last chapters. Clearly Frederick Nolan is most interestet in the Lincoln County War - thats why I give the book 4 stars and not 5.
   
   Having said that I must hurry to make clear that this book probaly is the best biografy to read about Billy the Kid if you are just af normal human being knowning nothing first hand of the old west.
   I am such a person, and when I started reading the book, Frederick Nolan unfolded the true old west before my eyes in a manner I have never imagined anyone would be able to. He writes in a nice easy-to-read way even for a guy like me who hasn't got english as my first language. He mannages to tell all the details of the story in such a way, that it is easy to understand what was going on, and why people were acting as the were - and that is a very big accevement as some subjekts in the book - for exampel the Lincoln County War - is af very complicated affair involving many different persons.
   
   Frederik Nolans mission with this book is to show us the kid as he were in the old west as it was in the late 1870ties. And he succedes. He shows us a young man with a difficult childhood who has driftet from one bad area to another only to end up in the lions cave - Lincoln County - where a great cattle-war is about to break. And from their on his fate is seeled. Being the one he is with the past he has - he has no chance of avoiding bekomming a part of the war, and in the end one of the most feared - and wanted - outlaws in the territorry.

2 comments about Sisters: The Lives of America's Suffragists.

1. This book was very thought and emotion provoking. A must read for all women. Women must never forget the gargantuan struggle our foremothers endured to gain something so powerful---the right to vote. You'll be appalled at the night of terror these women, up to 70 years of age, endured by hostile cruel men.
   
   The vote is only the beginning of equality, however. Without actually voting, the right to vote serves no purpose.
   
   Last note is that this extremely well-documented book is very open about the uncomfortable topic of the sexual proclivities of some of these suffragists. It was disturbing to me that some of these very Christian women could have lesbian tendencies, but apparently these accounts come directly from letters they wrote to others. Thankfully, it is not a book that argues for or against lesbianism; it just documents the part it played, if any, in these women's lives. God does say in the Bible that women may be the physically weaker sex, but they ARE EQUAL to men in God's sight.



2. Before reading this book, I had basically no idea about anything dealing with the Suffrage movement, except that it was Susan B. Anthony who was on a coin (and this was even after taking a college-level US History course). This book is a MUST for any person who wants to get a general overview not only about five of the most influential women in the Suffrage Movement, but also of the movement overall. It doesn't have any "boring" parts, and is all information that everyone should know. I can't recommend it enough!

4 comments about Kerouac: Selected Letters: Volume 2: 1957-1969.

1. First, the recommendation is to read the companion book, and predecessor, Selected Letters: 1940 - 1956, before starting this one. Both books are really two volumes of the same story.
   Those familiar with Kerouac's writing will recognize the characters, scenes and events from the letters as the basis for his groundbreaking novels. Via his letters, you get the unvarnished versions of the later quasi-fictional accounts (and the legend aside, Kerouac's novels were quite polished in their own way - no syllable written by accident). However, these letters (and the excellent non-intrusive editing/comments by Ann Charters) serve as the best biography (auto-biography) written about Kerouac (and I've read them all). Perhaps no person in literature experienced as many self-inflicted highs and lows as Jack Kerouac. He could go from the highest peaks to the deepest vallies from one letter to the next. In addition, the ceaseless restlessness that gripped him his entire life has never been documented any better, or with more frustrating clarity, than in these letters. One day, Kerouac thrills at the prospect of a cabin in the woods in utter isolation(to get away from the partying New York scene); the next day he has plans to live on a commune type ranch with all his friends - or move to Mexico, or Colorado or San Francisco or any number of addresses on Long Island or Florida. Many of these moves he actually followed through on only to find, in very short order, that his urge to wander had returned. At these times you notice Kerouac dropping lines to friends outlining why his new paradise has been destroyed and how perfect the next paradise is going to be. Such was his self destructive path and, in reading these incredibly personal letters, one feels the end approaching as the America Kerouac immortalized dies a slow death, only to be reborn as an entity Kerouac is given partial credit for creating - a credit he had no interest in claiming. When all is said and done, however, the tragedy of Kerouac pales in comparison to his renowned love of life and his obsessive need to document the beauty (and ugliness) that surrounded him. These letters reflect a time when people - a great many people - got excited about poetry, literature, art and just being alive. A time before pseudo-hip irony made it impossible to get excited about anything. KEROUAC LIVES!



2. Ann did interview Jack & takes part in many literary forums..."beat'.The last great living 'Beat' hipster is...L. Ferlinghetti. The last,best bio on J.K. will be Doug Brinkley's..he has full access to archives,Sampas controlled estate,in Lowell, MA.



3. An excellent survey of the writer Jack Kerouac and recommended picks for any collection strong in Kerouac presentations. Ann Charters edits Jack Kerouac: Selected Letters 1957-1969 presenting his late letters. her first volume contributed to a new understanding of Kerouac and his work: this volume also includes the same attention to notes and detail, furthering her goal of presenting his life via his writings.



4. Good book. I knew that Jack had his problems later in his life but this book really shows that he got off track in the late 50's rather than the 60's. This book reads real fast in that you can't put it down. It reveals the relationships that Jack had with the other Beat Poets among other people. I recommend this book to all interested in Kerouac and the Beat Generation.

2 comments about Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma: The American Portraits Series (American Portraits).

1. I have finally come to the end of this fine book and am delighted to share my views. Unlike the one other reviewer here at Amazon (Mohroy), I found the book to be richly rewarding on every possible level. Camilla Townsend's academic background is well known and she is highly respected in her field. Her ability to write a compelling narative is smartly coupled with a rich list of footnotes, so many of which come from original documents. In some cases highly academic books can be a bother when you are flipping back to the footnotes; not with this book. Each note was worth the attention and always added a deeper dimension. When you consider that Townsend was building a picture of these people that was not always the mainstream her reliance on her reseach more than convinced me of her perspective.
   
   What is the overall impression of the story she paints? I'll tell you, that when I first discovered this story, through the lens of the very emotionally moving movie, "The New World", I had very little knowledge of the real story. In following up on my initial reactions to the movie I endeavored to read what modern historians have to say. I read one book which I can also highly recommend and then I found Townsend. The first was "Captain John Smith: Jamestown and the birth of the American Dream" by Thomas and Dorothy Hoobler, November 2005, published by Wiley. This was a sensational revelation and spurred me on to know more. Townsend has filled in the missing pieces and is essential in my view for anyone who wants to know the story shed of all of it's mythology.
   
   "The New World" is a fine movie and entertainment and I will always treausre it. But, it is about 50% fiction, which is a shame, because Malick had all of this material available just about the time he wrote the script. Oh well. The real people, the real story is so very much more tragic, depressing, sad and dark. The first successful European settlers to the East Coast of the USA signalled the beginning of the destruction of much of Native America. Those that did not die of disease brought by Europeans that they had no immunity to, died as a result of wars with the Europeans. Townsend's insight into this is interesting to consider. The much longer development of farming among Indo/Europeans had better prepared them on a technological level to successfully take America away from Natives. She attributes this line of thought to the book "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond. It is worth consideration; the Powhatan natives took too long to realize that the founders of Jamestown had outgunned and out-equipped them by many factors. When Uttamatomakkin came back from his trip to London with Pocahontas and he reported that it was hopeless to fight the white man he was scorned and ignored by his fellows. This resistance to reality lasted far too long before they were finally demolished in several devastating wars.
   
   The real Pocahontas? Much younger at her introduction to Smith than all films or other books portray. Probably had not reached puberty yet. She was so young that when in the Jamestown fort would do hand cartwheels revealing her naked torso for all to see. When she had reached puberty that would have stopped completely. Did she have a romantic relationship with Smith? Not a chance, it would seem. Even more, she had already been married off to a native from another village; nothing much is known of his demise and it is assumed that he died after only a few years of marriage. It is also not known if she had born a child by him, though Townsend thinks it less likely. Pocahontas was no fool and knew that she was being used by her father in a delicate series of political chess, some of which were with the English, some with other native communities. She learned rudimentary English and carried herself with the dignity she felt the English were expecting of her; they viewed her as the daughter of a King and she accepted the role as princess. Townend scores an important point by showing us clearly how little we really know of this woman; someone who did not leave a word of her own in any manner. We imply and infer and guess based on so little. She cautions us throughout the book about this tendency.
   
   What of her father, Powhatan? Already experienced with other white men from Europe before John Smith lands, he already knows that they are dangerous but makes one tragic blunder: he underestimates their resolve to make a permanent place in America until it is too late. He sees the colonies start up and then watch as the ill equipped Europeans fall sick and die, time after time. He sees Smith and company as just another botched attempt at racial transplanting and is not too worried. He is wrong and his people eventually pay the price. What could he have done instead? The hot heads among his people urged him to kill all the white people in Smith's group before they turned against them. He refused. From the native perspective it was a mistake. From the European perspective it would only have bought time and would have enraged them more. In due course, white Europeans were going to come and that was that.
   
   John Smith is both given his proper respectful acknowledgment and is also taken to task as a teller of tall tales. Smith embelleshed for his English audience and without a live Pocahontas to ask whether this or that fact was true, Smith got away with the story he painted. Were the main facts of his being saved by a nubile Pocahontas beliveable? Probably not, given the place of young girls in the presence of adults in her society. It is not impossible but much more improbable than Smith tells us.
   
   This is a book that strips away layer after layer of myth, poor or incomplete research and hasty or prejudiced conclusions. Her work is constantly referred back to urtext sources and where she does not know something she says so right up front. If the real story of Pocahontas is so much fuller, complicated and sadder, it is a story that is entirely integral at the dawn of white society in America. It is also integral to the beginning of the end of native people across the same landscape. A tremendous scholarly achievement, not to be missed.



2. A brief history of Jamestown and a very sketchy and alomst contentless discussion of Powhatan and the Powhatan Confederacy from the "perspective" (scare quotes intentional) of Pocahontas.
   
   I learned a couple of new facts from this but on the whole I can't reccomed this book. The author tries to get in the head of the legendary Indian Princess but the authors very poitically correct assumptions of what Pocahontas would feel are far from convincing, interestingly enough I had never previously believed in the John Smith-Pocahontas love story at all until I read this, but her disavowal of it was so unconvincing I am now not nearly so sure... The same can be said of several of her other psychological insights which have a very shallow basis, that seem to reflect the author's own feelings without any appearance of critical reflection.
   
   On the positive side it is nice to see such a sympathetic view of John Rolfe, who the author seems quite taken with, but by this point I was rather weary of the whole thing. Luckily it was very short, and even though I actually spent a fair amount of time checking endnotes and even checking a couple of sources, reading the book took only a few hours. I bought it at lunch and went out to dinner that night having finished it.

5 comments about Behind the Scenes: or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House (Penguin Classics).

1. This book was wonderful! I read it straight through on a recent trip. Hated to put it down. Very, very interesting to see another side of some great historic happenings. I felt as if I were a there, watching and developed a better understanding of several historic events. I think everyone should read it. As a background for American histroy. I am buying another copy for my daughter, as I do not want to part with mine.



2. Although this volume comes from the memories of someone familiar with the Lincoln White House and who became a close friend of Mary Todd Lincoln, it must be read cautiously. For example, despite the book's basic authenticity I find its account of Stephen Douglas's love for young Mary Todd and her jilting of Lincoln implausible despite Keckley's claim that she got the story directly from Mary Todd Lincoln and Anson Henry (a close friend of Abraham and Mary, who was a matchmaker encouraging their romance). Possibly some errors might be attributed to one or more literary assistants who helped compile the book. If a reader needs to be certain a about a particular statement, comparison with other sources is wise. Still, the volume will be valuable to anyone interested in firsthand impressions of the Lincoln White House.



3. I got this little book so that I could learn more about the Lincolns and their home life at the White House. It does an excellent job of telling the story of Elizabeth and Mary's friendship, which I wish could have continued, but alas, it didn't. I would recommend this book to all readers interested in US history, not matter what their age or gender, so that they can get an intimate view of the Lincoln's family life. Elizabeth was a strong and proud woman with a high moral and ethical character...if she were alive today, she would be swamped with interview requests and book deals!



4. In 1868, three years after the War Between the States ended and Abraham Lincoln was murdered, Elizabeth Keckley sat down to write a partial history of her life as a slave and modiste (dressmaker) for Mary Todd Lincoln at the White House. If readers judge "Behind the Scenes" by the standards of modern biographies, they won't do the book justice.
   
   "Lizzie" Keckley was a slave who insisted on buying her freedom, even after being offered it for nothing. In modern terms, she was an "Aunt Tom" for validating the notion that any human being can be bought and sold for a price. By her own standards, she was affirming her value to society. It's impossible to judge such a person in contemporary terms.
   
   Lizzie's dressmaking skill attracted the attention of Mary Todd Lincoln in 1861. Mrs. Lincoln was quite addicted to clothes, and hired "Dear Lizzie" as her private modiste. Their association solidified into a deep friendship after the death in 1862 of Willie Lincoln (in the White House); Lizzie offered warmth and solicitude, badly needed by an erratic First Lady whose intemperate ways and harsh tongue had made her perhaps the most disliked person in Washington. The friendship persisted after Lincoln's assassination, when Lizzie aided Mrs. Lincoln in purging her monstrous debts (she owed $70,000 to department stores) by trying to sell off old dresses and jewelry.
   
   "Behind the Scenes" ended the friendship. After its publication Mary Lincoln, her pride wounded, dropped "Dear Lizzie" and referred to Mrs. Keckley as "that colored historian."
   
   For students of the assassination Mrs. Keckley's reminiscences are especially helpful. Several weeks after April 14, 1865, while Mrs. Lincoln was still in mourning inside the White House, Lizzie told her "the new messenger" (not identified by name in the book, unfortunately) was on watch, he being the same man who had abandoned his post outside Lincoln's box at Ford's Theater. Mrs. Lincoln excoriated the "new messenger" and accused him of complicity in the assassination. The messenger admitted his carelessness but denied complicity, insisting he had simply taken a seat where he could better watch the play.
   
   Except for the ambiguous word "messenger," this account conforms precisely to the convential wisdom that prevailed until about 25 years ago, i.e. that John F. Parker, a Metropolitan Police officer assigned to White House duty, was responsible for guarding Lincoln's box on the night of the assassination, but left his post and allowed John Wilkes Booth clear entry (and how would Booth have known the coast would be clear?). Post-modern historians, possibly seizing on Keckley's use of "messenger" to describe Parker, contrived a theory that Parker's duties never included protecting Lincoln...which idea begs the obvious question, "Why would Mrs. Lincoln have been so angry at someone who wasn't responsible in the first place?" And, since Parker supposedly went on trial for negligence (the records were mysteriously destroyed), "Why would anyone have been put on trial for neglecting Lincoln at Ford's Theater if he had been only a White House functionary all along?"



5. This is a memior written by a woman who started life as a slave, then managed to buy her freedom, and later set up a successful living as a seamstress, eventually going to work for Mrs. Lincoln in the White House. As such, it is a bit rambling. There are two chapters about her early life as a slave, but the author knows that what is most interesting to the readers is her life in the white house, and so she skips ahead to that period, giving us her personal "insider account" of daily vignettes with Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln. These vignettes include an eyewitness account of Lincoln's second inauguration address, the death of Willie Lincoln, and events immediately after Lincoln's assasination. The author then goes on to describe her post-white house associations with Mrs. Lincoln, who became a personal friend, as Mrs. Lincoln deals with post-presidency debts. The book continues with an in-depth account of how Mrs. Keckley assisted Mrs. Lincoln with attempting to sell her personal effects (dresses) to raise money. This must have been of great interest to readers when the book was first published in the 1860's, but has limited appeal to modern readers.
   
   Overall, however, the book is a very interesting glimpse into the daily life of a slave, an independent businesswoman in the 1860's, of someone who worked in the white house during the civil war, and of someone in the close confidence of the Lincolns. It is well-written and engaging.

3 comments about Days and Nights of Love and War.

1. is as Galeano define "Days and Nights of Love and War". The author open the memory box and let escape the pain and the love, the sadness and the joy. That is not only his box, it's my box too, all latinoamericans' box. So, when we open it we live.



2. The personal testimony of one of Latin America's foremost contemporary political writers, Eduardo Galeano's Days And Nights Of Love And War blends memoir journaling with an eloquent history to record the lives and struggles of the Latin American people under two decades of unimaginable violence and extreme repression. Galeano combines straight-forward reportage with personal vignettes, interviews, travelogues, and folklore with an impressive and engaging emotional enrichment that includes anger, irony, sadness, and humor. Days And Nights Of Love And War is very highly recommended for students of late 20th century Latin American political history and culture.



3. This book is for anyone immersed in the human condition, waging a war internally and silently stuggling externally. Galeano's collection of thoughts and essays and stories stirs the emotions of the reader and forces them to consider the entirety of the Latin American canon of literature as a formidable one. It encompasses genres such as autobiography, biography, testimony, prose, and short story. This is poetry of the soul for the soul, and shouldn't be limited to those obscure literature classes dealing with oppression

5 comments about Nothing to Do But Stay.

1. It often happens that our own stories are intimately entwined with someone else's story, and that to understand who we are, we have to tell another person's story first. This is true for Carrie Young, who has written a marvelous memoir of her mother.
   
   This warm, hopeful testament to a woman's courage tells the story of Carrine Gafkjen, who--all alone, and with the single-minded, strong-hearted independence that is often obscured in men's stories about women--homesteaded 160 acres of North Dakota prairie. That was in 1904, and Carrine Gafjken spent the next eight years working for money in the winter and returning to her homestead in the summer. By the time she was thirty, she owned 320 acres of productive land. In 1912 she married Sever Berg. They sold his homestead and took up residence on hers, and over the next decade she bore six healthy children, the last of whom has told us her story in a style that is as strong, clear, and direct as Carrine herself. This is story with no frills or fancy lace, a story of hard work and tough times, but through it all runs hope and love for the land and a firm belief that perseverance will win out in the end.
   
   To my mind, the best books are like this one, valuable in ways too many to count. I not only learned important things about life on the Dakota prairie, but I learned some very good ways to tell a story, to give voice to someone who can no longer speak for herself and who must live--if she continues to live--chiefly in the words of a writer and the heart of a reader. Carrie Young is a fine teacher for any aspiring writer, and her stories about her mother's life are instructive examples of story-telling at its best.
   
   by Susan Wittig Albert
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   www.storycirclebookreviews.org
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



2. There's no plot here and certainly no white knuckle drama. The book is a series of essays, each chapter relating an event or way of life experienced by the author as a child growing up on the North Dakota plains during tbe early 1900s. From education to farm life to holidays, each was covered with love and humor. I felt like I was getting to know my own grandmother as a child. My only wish was that there were more photographs, but considering the time period it was wonderful to have a few.



3. I stumbled on this book in a used book store. It is the amazing story of the author's parents and their life in rural North Dakota. The book has adventures, anecdotes, and gives the reader a real sense of how families existed in the early 20th century. This was a very entertaining story, although perhaps you can't tell from this review. None of us who have read it could put it down, from my 78 year old mom to my sister who is reading it to her 7 year old daughter.



4. I loved this book. Its a compendium of short pieces about the author's mother, who was a frontier woman with a wonderful outlook on life. I also loved the descriptions of her husband, who had to drive the children through snow, to get to their respective schools, and the descriptions about how the kids were settled in the schoolhouse overnight, while wild mustangs banged against the door. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I would send my children to a schoolhouse way far away, with food for a week. Can you imagine what they did after school let out... all by themselves? I wanted to hear more about this. The descriptions of quilting are wonderful.It is a great book if you are in the mood to feel cold, hungry, and in North Dakota with the snow beating down upon you. Also if you enjoy descriptions of sumptuous meals at holidays, replete with Norwegian recipes!



5. The author is the youngest of six children of hard-working Norwegian-speaking parents, and the account of the struggles her parents went thru is awesome. Sometimes I thought the author indulged in hyperbole, and I would have appreciated a little more exactitude, but it no doubt is true that life during the twenties and thirties in northwestern North Dakota was a hard and demanding one. The first part of this book is the best, as the author relates the fantastic efforts necessary for the kids to be educated. There is a lot of discussion of Norwegian food, and those of you who are of Norwegian descent will gobble that talk up, but for me I could not get too interested in how her mother went to extraordinary lengths to prepare, under primitive conditions, the food she was so good at concocting. There is less talk of the interesting political events during the time than I would have liked. Appam, North Dakota, which was apparently a home town to the family during these years, has, according to my 1958 atlas, a population of 18. I would like to have learned whether it was a bigger place when the author was a child. But the upbeat attitude to her childhood was a real plus for this book--not the dreary catalog of hardship one sometimes gets from depression sagas. I liked this book.

5 comments about Edison Inventing the Century.

1. I cannot recommend this book. The writing style was so boring and dry that I could not finish the book. You would think that the life of someone like Thomas Edison would be a naturally exciting read but Neil Baldwin somehow found a way of making the story boring. In contrast, I found the biography about Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow to be first-rate writing - Chernow's writing style immerses the reader into Hamilton's life - anything written by Ron Chernow is highly recommended. Unfortunately, when it comes to writing style, Neil Baldwin is no Ron Chernow



2. Marge Simpson (tired of Homer's endless prattling about Edison): I bet Thomas Edison didn't talk about Thomas Edison all day.
   Homer: Oh, that's not true Marge. He was a shameless self-promoter!
   
   This is a mammoth book that seeks to provide the entire story of the world's most famous inventor. Baldwin takes us from Edison's birth to his deathbed, with equal parts of attention being paid to his personal life and his professional life.
   
   Some people might be disappointed by the fact that Baldwin doesn't fawn over Edison the man, but I appreciated the objectivity. While Edison's famous work ethic and engineering genius earned him the mythic status that he holds in the public imagination, his home life was troubled, unsurprising for anyone who is at the top of their field. Bringing some of the less savory aspects of Edison into the light de-mythologizes him somewhat, but this is done in the service of truth, and I generally find that this makes for a better biography.
   
   I notice that other reviewers have criticized Baldwin's lack of science credentials, but I didn't find that to be a problem, either. Edison wasn't a scientist himself, in the sense that a nuclear physicist or a chemist is a scientist. Edison was an inventor. He made things, and the basis of his creations was generally not an abstract scientific concept that would be difficult for laymen to grasp. That being said, I do wish that there were some diagrams and sketches, which would have given us a more clear picture of the nuts and bolts of Edison's work.
   
   I was actually surprised to see the simplicity of most of Edison's inventions. It seemed that his real genius lay more in tinkering with an existing idea until the dream of a working practical application became reality.
   
   Another big surprise to me was how much of Edison's role depended on his ability to market himself. He and the media collaborated to give him an extremely high profile. While I don't want to belittle his amazing acheivements, his profile is much higher than others who, it can be argued, made equal or even greater contributions to society.
   
   My biggest problem with this work was that it was kind of boring. Baldwin has found some fascinating anecdotes and facts about Edison, but they are mixed in with too many dull details. The writing itself is generally quite dry, with more of a textbook atmosphere than some other successful modern nonfiction works.
   
   Despite this, there are some fascinating and bizarre aspects of Edison that Baldwin gives their due. For example, in Edison's old age, when his hearing went, his wife used to keep him up to date on the dinner conversation by tapping morse code onto his thigh. He also lived on almost nothing but milk and the occasional bit of bread for the last two years of his life.
   
   Overall, I would recommend this book to the person who is serious about getting the real story of Thomas Edison. If you're looking for a more entertaining read, or one which treads lightly around his mythic status, go elsewhere.



3. In this biography of the great inventor, Neil Baldwin chooses to emphasize Edison the person rather than focusing on the inventions, as some earlier biographers had done. Perhaps for this reason, though the book is thorough, it reads somewhat shallow. Of all the inventions of Edison, Baldwin writes in detail only about 2 of them: the phonograph and motion pictures. He also spends a great deal of space covering Edison's work in the iron ore mine he owned in Ogdensburg, NJ, and his experiments with rubber, both of which produced negligible results. I found Matthew Josephson's 1959 biography on Edison to be much better.



4. If this is your first look into Thomas Edison, find a different book. It was a constant struggle to finish this one, I had to force myself to go on. A cure for insomnia



5. I stopped reading this book after about 150 pages, and resolved to find a better Edison biography. I had two problems with the book:

   1. The writing is a bit muddled. For example, we find Edison at age 23 running an "invention factory" with 50 or so employees housed in a four story building in Newark. There is almost no explaination of how he got the backing to set up such an enterprise.

   2. The author does not seem to have much understanding of the science behind Edison's work. He makes no attempt to explain how any of Edison's inventions operated - no diagrams or drawings, and he seems confused about the difference between electricty and magnetism.

   The author's background is in poetry. At the risk of sounding mean-spirited, I think that an Edison biography is not a good fit for him.

5 comments about Faith of Our Sons: A Father's Wartime Diary.

1. We have just had the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Yet except for a handful of protesters the war is off the radar screen for most Americans and that is a shame. To the thousands of loved ones and family members of those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan what goes on there is on their minds 24/7.
   
   Frank Schaeffer tells it like it is, the gut wrenching anguish that families go through day in and day out praying that they will not receive that fearful knock on the door. He also shares the joy that comes when that family member is out of harm's way. Schaeffer shoots straight to the heart when he writes about those who so casually take for granted our way of life, libery and personal freedom, not willing to invest a damn thing to ensure that these precious gifts will be passed on to future generations.
   
   Wake up America!!!! Get off your backside and thank God for those like Frank Schaeffer's son who give up so much and who are truly giving their all so that you can sleep in on Sunday morning, secure and safe.
   
   I am taking my copy of this book to church to share with a family whose son is in Iraq and who has volunteered for a second tour. It is the least I can do. So America you don't have to agree that what our government has committed us to in Iraq is right. You should however pray everyday for those serving there and in other troubled places in the world for their safe return. You should not pass up any oppportunity to do something positive for those on the front line. The first being to read this book and open your eyes, your hearts and your minds.



2. Reading this book pulls you into the Schaeffer home, and makes you feel like part of the family. The emotional rollercoaster experienced by Frank and Genie Schaeffer is probably typical of what all military families go through as their loved ones take on the enemy for their country. It was fortunate for the Schaeffers that their son John came home unscathed. However, Frank Schaeffer does not limit this book to the narrow scope of his own family: The book has stories about other military personnel where the ending was the most feared scenario, and Frank Schaeffer is at his most sympathetic in his writing about this. He gives voice to the families of lost loved ones. The usual wisdom of Frank Schaeffer is to be found in this book.



3. An amazing book. A book every liberal should read. It will clearly test every liberals theology and create ground for their head to be turned back toward what is real and those principals that really make a country & individual. Lets save our country--start the draft!



4. My uncles have told me this is a good book, but i have not read it. I am reviewing it because my uncle told me it was good and true, since i have cousins who were marines, from 1985 to 1998. My uncle also served but not in the marines, and was surprised at this story of faith.



5. Frank Schaeffer is a fantastic author and an excellant speaker. I met Mr.Schaeffer at a convention in Indy and he's very passionate about our military! This books lets the reader feel what it's like to send a son off to war. It's a must-read for everyone today whether you have a family member serving our country or not. We all know someone serving.