5 comments about John Barleycorn: "Alcoholic Memoirs" (Oxford World's Classics).

1. This book is fascinating as a time-capsule of the understanding of alcoholism in the era before Bill W's discovery of the nature of the disease, as well as London's own understanding. London's constantly describes wit and clarity his binges, yet his twisted understanding of his own drinking leaves him no choice but to find his ability to leave the booze alone for months at a time evidence that he was not a born alkie. If you can get around the urge to go back in time and shake some sense into him his incomplete journey of self-discovery is full of profound episodes.
   
   Pete Hamill's introduction is useful for its biographical details but his discounting of how this memoir has been used to support the theory that London's issues were around his conflicted sexuality does not ring true. He describes London's slighting sexual and romantic descriptions in his memoir yet attributes that to London's mother-a possible but not convincing answer when there is so much other evidence before us. It is impossible today to read the passages in which London insists that he drank only to spend more intimate time with the manly men who attracted him from the perspective of today without understanding that the drink allowed more than blustery conversation.



2. Jack London is the author that I admire the most among the American authors and this memoir, like his other works I read, gave me great reading pleasure. His life started in poverty, he lived a life of struggle and adventure, alcohol was always present as he grew up, and he felt obliged to drink to fit in the macho social environment, eventually developing a heavy drinking habit. In John Barleycorn he tells his story honestly, he describes the surroundings and characters around him beautifully, and especially his psychological descriptions are superb. In one part, while he was drunk and going by himself on a sloop at night, he falls in the water and he describes how all of a sudden he found himself thinking about committing suicide:
   
   "Thoughts of suicide had never entered my head. And now that they entered, I thought it fine, a splendid culmination, a perfect rounding off of my short but exciting career. I, who had never known a girl's love, nor woman's love, nor the love of children; who had never played in the wide joy-fields of art, nor climbed the star-cool heights of philosophy, nor seen with my eyes more than a pin-point's surface of the gorgeous world; I decided that this was all, that I had seen all, lived all, been all, that was worth while, and that now was the time to cease.....The water was delicious. It was a man's way to die. It was a hero's death, and by the hero's own hand and will."
   
   Such is the depth of his character descriptions, such is the way he reflects the mood beautifully. A "must read".



3. `John Barleycorn' is the so-called "Alcoholic memoirs" of American literary icon Jack London. John Barleycorn was London's nickname for booze, and his relationship with Mr. Barleycorn is one of love/hate. In spite of the sub-title, London persists throughout this drunken autobiography that he is not an alcoholic. Nevertheless, he eloquently chronicles his tumultuous drinking career with the goal of demonstrating the enormous toll that alcohol can take on the mind, body, and spirit. At times, he glorifies his drinking, but for the most part he seems to resent this seductive destroyer of men, and claims that the only reason he drinks so much is because it is everywhere. He sees drinking as sort of a social obligation, a manly thing to do around other men. Not only does he resent it, but he concludes that prohibition is the only way to stop the destructive force of alcohol.
   
   `John Barleycorn' is not only a story about the effects of alcohol on one man's life, but it is also an adventurous tale of one of America's first celebrities rise from rags to riches. The narrative begins with London's poverty-stricken childhood in San Francisco, continues through his teenage years as a brawling oyster pirate, and on into his adult years as a celebrated writer and passionate socialist. The prose is magnificent, and although `John Barleycorn" was highly entertaining, there is also a sense of sadness for me because I know first-hand how agonizing this type of life can be. With that said, this is a fantastic piece of American literature.



4. I was tempted into reading this book after finishing London's "Martin Eden", a somewhat autobiographical work of fiction. "John Barleycorn" purports to be more a striaght autobiography that focuses on the role of alcohol in London's life from his first tentative introduction at the age of five to his millde-career as a celebrity author.
   
   Since it is autobiographical and there is no "plot", per se, it was a bit less interesting than "Martin Eden", in that I wasn't quite compelled to turn the page to see what happened next. However, he end of the book makes the intial effort worthwhile. London confronts "death" as a character, having philosophocal discussions with it. These conversations are dark and intellectauly compelling. Turns out that, for London, alcohol was a force promoting death and the contemplation of death.
   
   If you're interested in getting inside the head of one of America's classic authors, John barleycorn is your ticket there.



5. _John Barleycorn_ by American writer Jack London is a semi-autobiographical novel which deals with Jack London's experiences with alcohol, nicknamed "John Barleycorn" throughout this novel. Jack London was a rugged adventurer who was born into poverty and only became wealthy after his success as a novelist. His early experiences, which he writes about in this novel, were particularly important in the shaping of his thought and writings. London was a very thoughtful writer and all of his writings are philosophical in nature. Philosophically London was influenced by such thinkers as Charles Darwin (and his notion of the "survival of the fittest"), Friedrich Nietzsche (whose superman ideal is seen in London's ultra-masculine heroic characters), and William James (whose psychological theories regarding religion play an important part in the writing of this book). London was a devout socialist (he had been born into poverty and witnessed firsthand the oppression of the working class and the poor by the capitalists); however, his socialism is highly idiosyncratic in that all of his heroes are rugged individualists. London also recognized the harm that alcohol had done to himself and to youth of his generation which led him to believe that Prohibition was necessary (although he continued to drink). While London insists that he is not an alcoholic or dipsomaniac, his experiences with alcohol show the harmful effects that it had upon him.
   
   _John Barleycorn_ began as a suggestion from London's second wife, Charmian, that he write about his experiences with alcohol. London, who had originally opposed woman's suffrage, had just voted for a bill that would give women the vote because he believed that women would vote for Prohibition. Indeed, the novel _John Barleycorn_ became popular with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and the Prohibition Party which actively campaigned for Prohibition. While London could not have foreseen some of the more disastrous consequences of Prohibition, such as the formation of the mob and organized crime, he certainly understood the dangers that alcohol posed because he had experienced them firsthand.
   
   _John Barleycorn_ relates the adventures of the young Jack London beginning with his earliest experiences with alcohol as a young lad of only five years old. London had been born into poverty and forced to work in a cannery. London, being an adventurous sort with an active mind, grew dissatisfied with his life of toil, and eventually became an oyster pirate. It was at this point where his first real encounters with alcohol and saloon life began. London describes his adventures as an oyster pirate along with his experiences at the saloons and the subtle rules that accompanied the drinking game. Eventually London returned to steady work; however, he quickly experienced the immoralities of the capitalist system when he was asked to shovel coal and made to work the job of two men. London relates further adventures in which he became an unemployed vagrant and was arrested for vagrancy and a gold prospector in the Yukon. London also shows how "John Barleycorn" came to play an important role in his life, as a means for easing social relationships. London also describes his experiences with school and how he attained his education (including a year at the university level) through extreme efforts. London makes use of Viking imagery throughout many of his descriptive passages showing his love for adventure and Nordic folklore. Eventually London was to make his way in the world as an author and he became very wealthy doing so. Later when London had achieved both wealth and fame he was to take a series of voyages to Hawaii, the Tropics, and the South Seas which served as an impetus for new stories. During this time, London became "sun sick" and took to drink to ease his troubles brought on by the tropical climate and the diseases that accompanied it. When London returned home he continued drinking heavily. London describes his encounters with "the White Logic", a gloomy depression brought on by drink, his alcoholic reveries and philosophical musings, and his encounters with death ("the Noseless One"). Indeed, the thought of suicide was to plague London for much of his life. At one point London decided that he would stop drinking; however, he eventually realized that he was unable to do so and decides that he will continue to drink in moderation. However, he came to believe that Prohibition was necessary to prevent the harmful effects of alcohol on the youth. While London argues that he is not an alcoholic, it is clear however that alcohol has had a profound effect on his constitution and mind.
   
   _John Barleycorn_ is a fascinating adventure novel which traces Jack London's life from the time he was a young boy into his adult years as a famous writer. The novel also shows the harmful effects of alcohol on London and shows the need for restraint. Like a great deal of London's work, this novel reveals London's defining social conscience which framed so much of his thinking. In addition, it provides for a fascinating read and is a great source of entertainment.

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3 comments about Pulling Leather: Being the Early Recollections of a Cowboy on the Wyoming Range, 1884-1889.

1. Among the many cowboy memoirs, this is another good one. Seems like every old-time cowboy remembers it in a different way, and thus our picture of that time takes on new depth. Cowboying in Wyoming in the 1880s, Reuben Mullins was an almost exact contemporary of Owen Wister ("The Virginian"). Each saw the rawness of life in the frontier towns, loved the beauty of the open ranges, enjoyed the company of working men and admired those whose courage, stoicism and valor made them top hands. Like Wister, Mullins subscribed to the he-man mystique celebrated by Theodore Roosevelt. Both men were also disturbed by the prevalence of mob violence and lynching on the frontier.
   
   Each lamented the passing of the Old West, and while Wister returned East to become famous as a writer, Mullins went to med school and practiced medicine in Nebraska, first as a doctor and then as a dentist. He didn't write his memoir of cowboying until the 1920s, when he was in his 60s. He died in 1935, his memoir unpublished. It wasn't discovered until the 1980s and was published then by western scholars.
   
   In his short career as a young cowboy, Mullins was known first as a blacksmith, a skill he had learned in Iowa before going out West. He also supplemented his income with coal mining during the winter months. For a time he ran a goods store in Douglas, Wyoming. Neither a drinker nor gambler, he saved his money and counted among his friends future bankers, senators, and governors. He regarded cowboying as an irresistible "addiction" even while his memories are often of being unhappy - the weather being too wet, too hot or cold, the days too long, the down time dispiriting, the foreman too seldom granting him the appreciation Mullins felt he deserved.
   
   A reader will find the usual accounts of roundups, cattle drives, good and bad horses, accidents, the cook's food, and pranks played on greenhorns. Interesting are descriptions of bunkhouse pastimes, including boxing, foot races, and games. There's also a curious exchange of letters with women back East interested in marrying a cowboy. (On a return trip to Iowa, Mullins actually looks up the girl he's written to.) We witness the impact of a respectable woman's presence at the ranch; Mullins also reports a sighting of Calamity Jane, sleeping off what he assumes to be a drunk.
   
   The book includes five period photographs, two of them of the author. It's an excellent companion to Teddy Blue Abbott's "We Pointed Them North" and Ike Blasingame's "Dakota Cowboy."



2. What a great book! I grew up in that area and know all the places and have seen them for myself. What a great experience to hear a voice from the late 1800's tellin' it like it was.

   The book is a fast read with footnotes at the end of the chapters explaining terms and items used by the people of that era who laid claim to the land in an effort to tame the old west.

   There is a fascinating prologue explaining how this book almost didn't come to be and how it was rushed into print in an effort to make it in time for Wyoming's Centennial.

   Come visit the Old West today!




3. This is a great book if you grew up in the West and love historical onfo. about the cowboy life. It is a true story. My uncle had it read in about 2 days!!!

No comments about Woodrow Wilson: Princeton to the Presidency.

5 comments about Horses Don't Fly: A Memoir of World War I.

1. One of the wittiest memoirs of any era I have ever read. An often bust your gut funny read from a true turn of the century Forrest Gump who grows up to be a war hero. My most common thoughts as I read this wonderful prose was "I wish I had been born back then." Family, courage, honesty, loyalty, and right from wrong all mattered; and all issues were black and white. Libby goes from cowboy private to fighter ace, endures the utter stupidity that is WWI, yet keeps a sense of humor and fast becomes someone you wish you had personally known and called a friend. Do you think Uncle Sam would let you "trial run" an aerial combat mission today to see if you have the "right stuff" to be a pilot or aerial observer?



2. Frederick Libby's HORSES DON'T FLY is the author's autobiographical account of his life from his birth in 1892 to 1918. His mother having died shortly before his fourth birthday, Libby was raised on his father's Colorado ranch with an older brother. Fred became a "cowboy" in the most authentic sense of the word, working on his family's ranch as well as others in the Southwest. Training wild horses to become cow ponies was his much sought after specialty. Then, tiring of hard life on the range at age twenty, he has the vague notion of settling in a warm and more lazy environment, such as Tahiti. However, he gets sidetracked to Canada where, at the outbreak of World War I, he's seduced into enlisting into a motor transport unit of the Canadian Army with the promise of travel and regular pay. By the end of 1917, Libby is a commissioned officer in Britain's Royal Flying Corps, having logged more than 350 hours of combat flight time over the trenches of the Western Front, and with 24 confirmed downed enemy planes to his credit.

   The book contains no indication when Libby penned his memoirs. The style indicates somewhat of a detached perspective, which is perhaps evidence that the author wrote many years after the fact when memory had smoothed over the emotional highs and lows of his early years. But, no matter. Libby comes across as that sort of young hero that most Americans, I trust, would like to see representing their country overseas, or anywhere. He's conscientious, unflappable, brave, modest, hard working, honest, honorable and loyal. Indeed, his only vices seem to have been, as a cowboy, foolish gambling, and, while as an RFC pilot, a weakness for the British Army's regular rum ration. Girls are only mentioned as reserving their best for the lads in uniform. I suspect that Libby's wilder youthful indiscretions became lost in the retelling. In any case, the chief attraction of HORSES DON'T FLY, besides the personality of Libby himself, are the insights the reader gains into the hard life of a cowboy, and the early years of military aviation when warplanes could be either "pushers" (rear-mounted propeller) or "tractors" (front-mounted propeller), and both pilots and observer-gunners were exposed to the elements and the enemy in open cockpits with neither seatbelts nor those little packages of salted peanuts. Libby himself was personally awarded the Military Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace for gallantry in action.

   To Captain Frederick Libby, long dead since 1970, honor is due.




3. Libby's story does not compare to the biography of Eddie Richenbacher, "Fighting the Flying Circus." You really get a sense of what the fight was like from Richenbacer, while so many of the details are glossed over by Libby. Libby's story starts out very slowly, picks up when he becomes an observer and pilot, and just peters out when he rejoins the United States military. We are left with lots of unanswered questions--why did he survive so long when most died in a couple of weeks, what did he think when his squadren was literally completely replaced every few weeks, etc. There is no introspection--no emotional side to this book. We do know that he likes to drink, but he is not a deep thinker--loyality and friendship are important driving components of how he makes his decisions. There is a feel to the book like it has been rewritten and the juicy (emotional) parts removed. The book was interesting but very limited if you are looking for information about that time. Read Richenbacher's book for a much better understanding of that time.



4. The other reviewers have it right--a very good book. There is a slow start when we learn about his youth, and he masters the family business of horses. The story really picks up when he joins the Canadian military and then the Royal Flying Corps in France. Frederick Libby is not a deep thinker--he believes in friendship and loyality--he doesn't spend much time worrying about the why of war. He is spontaneous in his response to situations rather than thinking things through. His clear writing gives us a sense of what life was like, but I do not understand why he survived and most of the aviators did not. If I liked this book, then why did I give it only 3-stars? The book has been over-edited and has a feel as though a lot of the life has been rewritten out of it. I want to know more about Libby's experiences, and I feel a bit cheated. Another reason for 3-stars is that the story starts slow, peaks in the middle, and goes back to a slow and finally a disjointed end when he returns to the United States and health problems end his military career. Libby lives for another 50 years, and we are given a very simplified version by his granddaughter which grabs my interest but doesn't deliver more than generalities. A search of the internet does not find any more information about Libby's life. This book whets your appetite for more knowledge about this time when aviators believed they were knights, and the internet has a huge amount of information on this subject.



5. This story is not about horses, or flying. It's about one thing: character. In Frederick Libby's autobiography the reader sees the story of a young man born in Colorado before the turn of the last century. He grows up learning the family business, mainly horse breaking and cattle ranching. The early chapters are a bit juvenile in their telling but this is only a reflection of his retelling of childhood events. The narration becomes more sophisticated as he recounts later years, but always maintains a simple frontier charm.

   While a young man traveling through Canada in 1914 he volunteers for the Canadian army when war breaks out in Europe. He joins as a truck driver even though he has never driven a car before. He ships out to france and spends a cold wet year ferrying supplies to the frontlines. But through it all he maintains a positive outlook and high admiration of the boys in the trenches. After a year of driving he volunteers for the Royal Flying Corps as a observer (gunner). So this American who volunteered with the Canadians ends up with British flying as an observer/gunner/photographer against the deadly German flyers. He later earns his pilot rating and ends up as a squad leader. The desciptions of battles, some of the only first person accounts of the flying war, are intense but not sensationalized. He never glorifies war and tries to give some account of the hardship experienced by the men in the trenches.

   The entire narrative shows Captain Libby as a man devoted to those he works with. Whether it is cattle hands in the American west or the officers of the RFC he shows that once he is committed to something he stays with it. The fact that he was barely twenty years old when this started shows how the youth of the time rose to the challenge of the day. Several time during the book He says that he does not know what they are fighting for. However, a man who gives his word to a group of men and sees it through to the end knows exactly what he is fighting for.

No comments about Abraham Lincoln's Extraordinary Era: The Man and His Times.

No comments about The Inspired Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: How Faith Shaped an American President -- and Changed the Course of a Nation.

5 comments about Trying to Get to Heaven: Opinions of a Tennessee Talker.

1. I got this because I love Designing Women, but I was disappointed.
   
   This book is poorly written. A lot of the sentences are tortured and long winded, with lots of extra adjectives and adverbs, etc.
   
   The other problem I had is that there was very little about designing women and its making. Major parts are about her childhood, etc. which was of no interest to me. Much of the book are her opinions on things that are of little importance, and her ideas on everything are very old fashioned. My guess is that the only women who will like this book are in the 65 plus range.
   
   The one part of the book I liked was that she copped to having 2 facial cosmetic surgeries to be on Designing Women.
   
   You would do better to just talk to any older woman over 60 and ask what her childhood was like, and save your money on this book.
   
   If you are interested in Designing Women stuff, the Delta Burke book has more info on that.



2. This book has had a lasting influence on me, and I've admired Dixie Carter every since I first read it. She really has a gift for writing with warmth, humor, and a heart full of down-to-earth wisdom. As a woman, her book made me feel "normal" again, and for that I'll always be grateful! Dixie has a knack for writing with vibrance and her stories are so interesting you don't want the book to end. I so hope that she will come out with another book.



3. always on the lookout for "bargain" books in bookstores, i chanced upon dixie's book being closed out. liking her anyway in "designing women", i knew i would enjoy her book, but i was not prepared for my fascination. by the time i was finished reading the book, i felt i knew her--she was someone i could drop in on for coffee. she echoed my own sentiments of missing the people being polite to each other, and of loving discipline seldom taught to children today and more than once made me nostolgic for the rich childhood she had--the things that are possible for children and which every child deserves. she writes the way she speaks which is a joy. the book is never dull and in truth, you do not want it to end. i hope she determines to write another book. i want the first copy.



4. After I started reading this book I could not put it down. Dixie covers almost every subject, from beauty tips to romance. Her Southern charm adds so much to this book. I highly recommend this to everyone.



5. I do not think that Dixie Carter has ever been one of *People* magazine's "Fifty Most Beautiful People in the World", and it is a crying shame. Carter has in spades what gets people on that list: all-encompassing beauty. In *Trying to Get to Heaven* she, in a sense, shares that beauty with us. She tells us about the people who have inspired her, instructs us on behavior(such as yoga and decorating), reveals to us some of her most heartfelt memories, and articulates her beliefs about beauty. Beauty, to her, is the guiding principle by which life is well-lived. By showing us how beautiful her life has been, and by doing it in such a lyrical, richly-detailed, entertaining, and, sometimes, humorous way, she sets an excellent example.

4 comments about Doo-dah!: Stephen Foster And The Rise Of American Popular Culture.

1. Those desiring a biography of Stephen Foster will be much disappointed by this book, which allots scarcely a quarter of its length to Foster, and introduces very little new material. Even popular music is given short shrift; most of the book consists of a bitter, irrelevant diatribe against 19th century American racism.
   
   This racism was real enough; the vast majority of whites, including for example Lincoln, assumed the racial inferiority of blacks (and indeed all non-whites) as a matter of common sense, and were horrified by miscenegation - at least in theory. Indeed, in many respects Yankees were more aggressively racist than Southerners, and much of the appeal of the Republican Party was not due to any espousal of abolition, which was never part of its platform until Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, but to Yankee whites' distaste for Negroes, and dislike for Southerners, who "tolerated them in their midst". The author pitches a tantrum every time he is confronted with such facts, so disagreeable to modern sensibilities.
   
   Given the usual modern assumption of absolute racial equality in all public discourse - an equality that many leftists now wish to extend even to children and animals - this is understandable, but he is so bitter and rancorous, sometimes straying even into a kind of black racism or separatism, that I am afraid this book will do black people little good. The historical pattern is that any race with the power to do so, tends to oppress minority races, especially where the racial differences are extreme. In modern South Africa it is now blacks who are oppressing whites, but left-wing fanatics like this Emerson are strangely silent about such matters. So long as their egalitarian obsessions are flattered, they could care less for the bitter consequences of their crusades. It is such people who have given liberalism a bad name, and opened the door to elitist domination of our politics. Indeed, if anything can revive outright fascism, it is the attempt to enforce equality on nature, where there is no equality. This indeed is the great curse of the modern democratic West, and leads to a morbid counter-reaction: without such egalitarianism run amok, a Hitler or Stalin would have been impossible. Paradoxically we become exercised over racial inequality, when it is above all economic inequality that is increasing, as the tiny minority who own city property extract ever higher rents.
   
   Furthermore, the author appears to believe that Foster in particular hated blacks. This is quite unfair. The gentle, dreamy, but at times boisterous Foster frequented slaves in his youth, apparently for the pleasure of their company, and probably did more than any other songwriter has ever done to excite sympathy and good-feeling toward Negroes, in a world which regarded them with very little sympathy. It is ironic that Foster of all people should have been chosen as Emerson's whipping-boy. That Foster was a Democrat - the libertarian party of that age - and mistrusted the statist Republicans puts him in very good company indeed.
   
   Emerson cannot even report Foster's lonely suicide without dragging in racism, noting that his cut neck was sewn up with black not white thread. This is in very bad taste, to say the least, and betrays the fanatic. His racial agenda even infects his ability to appreciate Foster's inimitable musical genius, and his treatment of Foster's songs is sullen and perfunctory.
   
   For those desiring to read a genuine biography of Foster, and not a vulgar polemic, John Tasker Howard's _America's Troubadour_ is still the best, although by no means ideal. This bio is less than candid about Foster's alcoholism and suicide. And being written in the 1930s, it makes no mention whatever of his homosexuality, although it does rather ingenuously report that Foster was entirely uninterested in women, preferring to carouse with his mates. His marriage was episodic, and he so adored his mother that he could not bear to leave her for more than a few weeks. The world still awaits a modern scholarly bio of Foster that will treat his life with both candor and respect.



2. I guess I'm the type person referenced in the one guy's review where he stated that those people who are looking for a Point A to Point Z type of biography will be disappointed with the book "Doo-Dah : Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture." Since a Point A to Point Z biography of Stephen Foster was/is exactly what I sought, I've found reading this particular book (in which music plays the lead role and Foster is sadly oftentimes little more than a secondary player) an endurance contest! Don't get me wrong: it's a well written book; just not what I was hoping for.



3. If you haven't read Doo Dah, buy it today!!!! Doo Dah was the best book that I have ever read in my entire life. Unfortunately, the book is not as good as the writer is handsome, and if it was it would be on the best seller list, and I know because he is my uncle. So, show your support of American culture and buy this stupendous biography, by the Master writer, the all time best, the one and only Ken Emerson.



4. This is another boonie dog book review from Wolfie and Kansas. Ken Emerson's book "Doo-dah! Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture" is well-written and informative. This is a "life and times" book, rather than a narrowly focused biography. However, the times of Stephen Foster, and the social and cultural history which Emerson discusses, are, like Foster's music, generally more interesting than the sometimes racist and alcoholic Foster himself.

   Our one complaint about "Doo-dah!" is the short shrift Mr. Emerson gives to one of Stephen Foster's biggest hits in 1857, a song entitled "Old Dog Tray". We would have like to have learned more about this song. Foster's minstrel songs were performed by white men in blackface. Was "Old Dog Tray" performed by humans in dogface?

4 comments about Blood, Tears, & Glory: How Ohioans Won the Civil War.

1. This is an excellent Civil War book from a narrative standpoint. It is one of the best and most compelling I have read. It digs out great story nuggets about Ohioans in the Civil War, and admirably presents the thesis that the war was first one in the West. Recommended to anyone.



2. I'm not much of a Civil War buff, but I got a copy of this book as a gift right before Thanksgiving and it was a quick, wonderful experience. General Sherman was right . . . WAR IS HELL! The details on how bloody this Civil War was and what led up to this dramatic cross-roads in our nation's history makes it very valuable reading. Ohioans and those from the midwest (called the West then) played the pivotal roles in this war. Being the "smartest" wasn't always the best when it came to picking the right Generals and planning a good strategy. Sounds like some recent history in America! Lincoln had his struggles in this war. There are lots of good details on the personalities and styles to make things very interesting as well as informative. Suggest it highly if you like American history.



3. I have at least four ancestors who fought in Ohio regiments, so I was excited to pick up this book. It provides a wonderful overview of the people (military, civilian, politician) and places that became important before, during, and after the Civil War. The book covers a lot of ground so there are no in-depth descriptions, but I enjoyed it nevertheless. It has many citatations from newspapers, diaries, first-person accounts, and other original sources. I appreciate the Web page references that end chapters. It has lots of illustrations and an easy-reading style. It's 600 pages but the text is large and widely-spaced.
   
   It suffers problems that I'll attribute to lackluster editing from the small publisher. I found some page numbers missing... not the text, just the page numbers (page 90 has no number, and there are no pages marked 91 and 92). An island in the Mississippi is called "Island Number Tenth" and then later "Island Number Ten," and isn't listed in the index at all. The brief phrases used to tag various people are often repeated, sometimes in separate chapters and sometimes on the next page. For example, page 347, "with Meade only nominally in charge..." and page 348, "Meade would remain head--nominally--of the army..."
   
   In spite of these issues, I'm enjoying this book and I'm glad to have it.



4. This is a superb, work -- in league with the best historical writers of our day in both substance and style. Bissland has done his homework in crafting a spell-binding glimpse of Ohio's significant role in the Civil War.
   
   I found his character descriptions to be most insightful and colorful. The depictions of Grant, Steedman, Rosecrans, and John Brown were especially riveting. His short bios of the main players were rich with detail and fresh anecdotes. They were never dry and plain -- always juicy and enticing. I loved the alliterative description of Brown as " an avenging angel on assignment from God. I didn't wanting to stop reading in the midst of any new character description.
   
   The author is almost poetic in his economical painting of snippets, often catching the reader off guard, e.g., "small conflicts flickered on the horizon like heat lightening" and my favorite: depicting Foote's gunboats as "enormous Hostess Twinkies with quills."
   
   The work is well-researched and appropriately documented, using an array of fascinating primary sources, including many diaries and early newpaper accounts. While the book subtitle suggests a narrow geographic view, I highly recommend this book to those beyond the midwest.