Customer Reviews:
To the Best of My Recollection.......2000-05-19
I purchased this book for myself to do for my children and grandchildren after seeing the 'Share your life' series. It is 365 pages, one for each day of the year, that prompt your memory. Slightly different from the "Share" series it still jogs your memory with the questions on each page. This is a great gift for not only elderly relatives but for yourself.
To the best of my Recollection.......2000-01-18
This book makes a delightful gift for the senior members of the family. They can be prompted to reminisce about their youth, by question poised by the author, on a daily calendar. It is very thoughtful and thought-provoking. Initially there is some doubt that your memory will serve you well...but one by one you begin to put together a compilation of your activities and events during formative years. You by-pass the fear of sitting down and having to write a personal biography. It becomes a fun adventure, requires you to put on your thinking cap to recall many facets of growing up that you had overlooked over the many intervening years.
Book Description
Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) made prolific and lasting contributions to understanding "the life of the infinitely small." Widely thought of as the founder of neuroscience, Cajal made remarkable explorations into the organization and function of the nervous system. His work is still referred to more than that of any other scientist in the field.
W. Maxwell Cowan's foreword to this edition conveys the excitement and energy of Cajal's life and endeavors, the liveliness and flamboyance of his engagements with the microscope. Cowan surveys Cajal's salient discoveries, noting that almost every important conceptual issue in neurobiology was foreshadowed in Cajal's work: the initial description of the climbing fibers of the cerebellum, the discovery of the growth cone, the concept of the "dynamic polarity" of the neurom an anticipation of the later discovery of axonal transport, and the prediction that new synapses may be formed throughout life to serve as a physical basis for learning and memory.
W. Maxwell Cowen is Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting view on science in another age.......2002-02-20
This is an interesting but somewhat strange book. It provides a really amazing view of what it was like to do science in those days, in particular about the various political maneuvering that was required to navigate the old spanish academic system. It also provides interesting insight into the personality of one of the greatest pioneers of cell biology. Unfortunately, part of his personality involves telling us all how great he was, so sometimes I found the book a little tiresome to read. I was also kind of disappointed in that it took a long time before he got around to covering the time when he actually made his important contributions to science. Still, for anyone interested in cell or neurobiology, or in the history of science, I would recommend this book fairly strongly as something they will enjoy.
Excellent.......2000-06-18
This book contained many valuable insights into the life of one of the most influential neuroscientists ever. This book was an excellent read.
Average customer rating:
- Experiences of an army bride in the Arizona Territory.
- An unusual perspective on a very interesting time and place
- Life wasn't easy for Martha Summerhayes in frontier Arizona
- Must reading for biography lovers
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Vanished Arizona: Recollections of My Army Life
Martha Summerhayes
Manufacturer: Cosimo Classics
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1596055510 |
Book Description
The seventh day after the birth of the baby, a delegation of several squaws, wives of chiefs, came to pay me a formal visit. They brought me some finely woven baskets, and a beautiful papoose-basket or cradle, such as they carry their own babies in.... [I]t was their best work. I admired it, and tried to express to them my thanks... -from "Chapter 13: A New Recruit" Martha Summerhayes was a respectable Victorian lady when she left civilized society behind, in 1874, to follow her cavalry-officer husband West, to the Wyoming Territory and then to unknown and inaccessible Arizona. Written "at the urgent and ceaseless request" of her children and first published in 1908, this compulsively readable account of her life on the frontier is a unique document of the American exploration and settling of the West, offering a little-heard woman's perspective on an historical era that continues to echo in contemporary American society. From the deprivations of her kitchen-where she has no choice but to make do with army pots and pans designed for cooking for dozens-to terrifying encounters with wildlife, attacks by Indians, and the challenge of giving birth alone, Summerhayes' indomitable spirit and sense of adventure shines through. American writer MARTHA SUMMERHAYES (1846-1911) was born in Massachusetts and spent two years studying in Germany before her life on the American frontier.
Customer Reviews:
Experiences of an army bride in the Arizona Territory........2007-09-26
This is the autobiographical story of a young army bride who accompanies her husband to Fort Apache, one of the most remote frontier outposts in the Arizona Territory, in 1874. To accomodate to the vicissitudes of the transition from a sheltered New England home to the wilderness she must endure hardships in travel, hostile Apaches, lack of even basic amenities, and inhospitable climate. Her accounts of how she survived these problems and of her interactions with soldiers and civilians provide insight into the early history of the Arizona Territory as well as into life in the frontier army. The book is nicely annotated to provide extra detail on places and persons, and there is a good selection of additional references. It is well written and, in my opinion, a must read for those interested in this mostly forgotten part of our history.
An unusual perspective on a very interesting time and place.......2006-09-16
Part travelogue, part coming-of-age story, a bit of a sociological study, and entirely a memoir of a woman's encounter with the unknown, "Vanished Arizona" is an introduction to a world most of us only know from John Ford westerns. In 1874, new Army wife Martha Summerhayes made the unusual decision to head west with her husband to his post on the Wyoming frontier. Further travels take them south through Colorado, Arizona, and other parts of the West. Along the way, Martha becomes a mother, meets Apaches face-to-face, and leaves behind the prejudices and presuppositions of her New England upbringing. This is a remarkable chronicle of the American Southwest from an all-too-rare perspective. Nearly a century after it was first published, it holds up very well for the contemporary reader.
Life wasn't easy for Martha Summerhayes in frontier Arizona.......2006-08-22
Complain, complain, complain! Nantucket born and educated in Germany, Martha Dunham married John Summerhayes, a second lieutenant attached to the 8th Infantry, and in 1874 she accompanied him west to Fort D.A. Russell and then to Fort Apache in Arizona. This memoir recounts her experiences in the West (mainly in Arizona, but also including time spent in California, Nevada, Nebraska, Santa Fe, and Texas), and there is hardly a single positive thing she can say about her experiences. Forlorn, desolate, dreadful, unkempt, and disagreeable are adjectives often employed by Mrs. Summerhayes, and she is a constant complainer about the high temperatures, dusty conditions, poor living conditions, rattlesnakes, bugs, and just about every other inconvenience encountered on a western frontier military post in the 1870s.
Clothes are important to her: one of her first observations upon reaching Arizona is how old-fashioned the women are dressed, and one of the greatest tragedies confronting her was when a steamer carrying all her clothes burns to the waterline and she is left with only the clothes on her back. At one point she is so miserable that she questions whether marrying a soldier was wise for her, and she writes, "[I] decided then and there that young army wives should stay at home with their mothers and fathers, and not go into such wild and uncouth places." Her harsh opinions are somewhat tempered over time (and when her husband is assigned to "less primitive" posts such as Fort Niobrara in Nebraska), but it's clear her experiences were more an ordeal than an adventure. She must have been a pain, too, to others, with her demands about procuring good cooks and servants. Editor Dan Thrapp finds humor enough in her complaints (and in her "flexibility" in her responses to the complaints of others about her) that the reader "warms to her," but I found that not to be my response.
Interesting is Mrs. Summerhayes's decision not to write at all about the Indian campaigns or any other chiefly historical matters of her time and place. "I have given simply the impressions made upon the mind of a New England woman who left her comfortable home ... to follow a second lieutenant into the wildest encampments of the American army." Fortunately (for us, not her) her husband transferred frequently from one post to another, which gave the author different encampments and on-the-road experiences to relate. She paints quite a different picture than one would get in a military memoir, for example. And there's value to that, despite the negativity. Life was hard for the well-bred Mrs. Summerhayes, and she makes no bones about it in this memoir.
Must reading for biography lovers.......2006-04-29
I first read this many years ago and have recently re-read about Matha's adventures. Living in Arizona for the past 30 years, I was amazed at the changes since Martha's time.
But as to the book, she writes clearly, simply and fairly. She was obviously a woman ahead of her times. At a period of time when there was so much socail structure, her ability to accept everyone at face value was refreshing. She begins her story with her time in Germany and at first it is unclear why, but do read these chanpters. They give you a reference point for her previous life before she meets and marries her husband and sets forth on her adventure.
I would recomment this to history buffs, Arizonans, bioraphy buffs and anyone who likes to read about interesting people, Martha Summerhayes certainly is!
Book Description
More than a cookbook, My Mother's Bolivian Kitchen is a memoir of a Bolivian childhood. In addition to a comprehensive collection of Bolivian recipes, for everything from salteas (meat-filled pastries) and quinoa soup to picante de pollo (spicy chicken), Sánchez-H. shares many childhood memories. He takes the reader to his Aunt Nazarias sixty-ninth birthday party to feast on picante de pato con chuño (spicy duck with freeze-dried potatoes; to observe El Día de Todos Santos (All Saints Day) when bread is baked in honor of the deceased; and camping in the mountains where the memory of his mother's food leads him home. These memories, among others, demonstrate the importance of food in Bolivian culture.
Customer Reviews:
Unselfish Beauty.......2007-08-07
As a fellow Bolivia-born american, I treasure the gifts and wisdom that is shared in the pages of this magical book. It holds ageless, priceless recipes that have been shared through time and generations by our Bolivian families. Within these recipes, Jose also tells a story of the culture and beauty of our country, Bolivia, that is full of passion, flavor and richness, much like the food.
I am proud of this man for his unselfish desire to share this wealth of recipes and recollections with me and the world. I attribute this book and my final return to Bolivia after 20 years, with the start of my quest for a greater balance in my life. Thank you Jose!
Una aventura en la cocina Boliviana.......2006-04-03
Really enjoyed the family recollections. Brought back memories of my own upbringing. For my birthday, I prepared the banana squash soup. It was a great success. I was almost embarrassed with all of the compliments that were given. The apple flan is
delicious! (not to be eaten very often because of the eggs)
Overall, the book is a wonderful adventure in the kitchen.
the warm and inviting aroma of home-cooked food.......2005-12-09
A friend sent me "My Mother's Bolivian Kitchen," by Jose Sanchez as a Christmas present. What a wonderful book! I began to read it and I couldn't stop. The narrative is extremely captivating: a mix of history, anthropology and food recipes. It is written with great sensitivity and warmth inspired by the author's memories of his mother.
Memoir as cookbook.......2005-10-17
Jose Sanchez is a resident of Long Beach, California. He is originally from Bolivia. My Mother's Bolivian Kitchen is memoir as cookbook. In it Sanchez tells stories about his memories of his mother, who was hit by a drunk driver in the late 1990's, his memories of childhood, his memories of family and how all three are intimately connected with food. I found his memoir about being lost at age five in the cemetery during Todos Santos day particularly touching. It's like that memory of seeing Dumbo or Bambi for the first time as a little kid and seriously considering what it would be like not to see one's mother ever again. Or for me, how real that pain still is as an adult when a beloved one leaves us either through death or through mental disability. The theme of La Carne reminds me, with chuckles, of Rebecca Goldstein's essay Looking Back On Lot's Wife in the anthology Out of The Garden. In both an elementary age child is frightened by a misinterpretation of how sinful everyday child behavior might be.
On October 16, 2005 Sanchez gave a reading from My Mother's Bolivian Kitchen at the First Congregational Church of Long Beach. After the reading attendees were offered samples of recipes from the book cooked by congregants. The food was delicious. You can hear excerpts from that reading by listening to Episode 11 of Adreana In Long Beach, which can be found at www(dot)AdreanaInLongBeach(dot)Blogspot(dot)com.
Sanchez is a filmmaker, a scholar and a professor. He learned to cook Bolivian food after leaving Bolivia to study in Mexico at the age of eighteen. He is also the author of The Art & Politics of Bolivian Cinema. He has a doctorate from the University of Michigan and he is a professor at California State University Long Beach in the Film & Electronic Arts Department.
Dull.......2005-08-29
I was so disappointed in this cookbook. Bolivia gets overlooked, lumped into a group with Peru and Chile or misrepresented in so many South American cookbooks that I was anxiously awaiting this book devoted to Bolivian cooking. Bolivia is a colorful country, vibrant in culture and food I had hoped this cookbook would present this vibrancy. Instead, it is one of the dullest cookbooks I've bought. The stories are boring, the photos are black and white and of poor quality and the author makes no attempt to describe the uniqueness of some of the Bolivian ingredients nor does the author offer appropriate substitutions. I showed this cookbook to my Bolivian friends and they were also disappointed; they didn't even recognize many of the dishes this Sanchez included. I teach a South American cooking class and I do a better job of presenting Bolivian culture and food to my students than this cookbook did. Hippocrene should be ashamed of the product they published. The cover of the cookbook is in color and looks great so why didn't Hippocrene carry that into the interior of the book. I expected a better book from a native Bolivian.
Book Description
In Recollections of My Life as a Woman, Diane di Prima explores the first three decades of her extraordinary life. Born into a conservative Italian American family, di Prima grew up in Brooklyn but broke away from her roots to follow through on a lifelong commitment to become a poet, first made when she was in high school. Immersing herself in Manhattan's early 1950s Bohemia, di Prima quickly emerged as a renowned poet, an influential editor, and a single mother at a time when this was unheard of. Vividly chronicling the intense, creative cauldron of those years, she recounts her revolutionary relationships and sexuality, and how her experimentation led her to define herself as a woman. What emerges is a fascinating narrative about the courage and triumph of the imagination, and how one woman discovered her role in the world.
"This journey of a young Italian American girl, through the minefields of her childhood in Brooklyn to her breakthrough as a liberated female intellectual decades before the modern women's movement began, is never less than honest and resounds with authenticity." (The Washington Post)
"These 'Recollections' are full of light and wonder." (San Francisco Chronicle)
Customer Reviews:
The Real Thing!.......2002-12-16
This is a wonderful book, presenting a brilliant vibrant picture of a cultural movement and time, the Beats/Hippies, and a woman who embodied all the artistic and humanistic values in an incredibly pure form. To me, the book (and the woman) are inspiring in their dedication to the values of art, spontanaeity, love, and Zen naturalness. An invaluable read for women artists, especially, and also for artists in general, and people interested in a certain world view and life style.
quite the life.......2002-10-27
I found this book to be captivating. I felt as though I was right along side her on her journeys. The eras she lived through were so richly detailed. She had so much hope and energy. I never wanted this book to end.
Beat then and now.......2002-09-18
Diane di Prima is one of the most foremost and noteworthy female writers of the Beat generation and the 20th century. She has been affiliated with such writers as Jack Keroac, Allen Ginsburg and Robert Creeley. She wrote and inspired in a mans world bringing to life a new female perspective in the 1950's. She continues to write extraordinary poetry, essays, and amazing prose. Her writing style is original and still refreshing to read fifty years later. Diane in her latest book Recollections of My Life As a Woman : The New York Years, an autobiography, goes on to embrace all aspects of her life as a woman. It was an amazing book. I enjoyed it, and I think most will, even if your forte is not beat generation history. It's a good read for others who want to learn more about the beat generation, and it's a great book because of the excellent narrative, and the obvious love she has for writing as well as life it's self.
I Cried.......2002-05-31
At the end of the book I cried because it was over. That happened once before at age 10 when I finished Black Beauty. This book hit nerves in me that hadn't been touched since On the Road. DiPrima's brilliance, toughness, honesty and forays into the unknown make me want to find her phone number so I can talk to her... this rare woman!
More divine Di Prima.......2002-02-25
Di Prima is not really meant to be a novelist -- and that's the beauty of this volume. Whereas the backbone of "poetic" writers such as Anne Rice is brutally literary, Di Prima captures all of that grandeur without so much embellishment. It's her poetry all over again: gritty, surreal, heartbreaking, fluid, and ever returning to her theme of what it means to be a woman and how she sought to find that meaning. This is especially gripping in terms of being a bisexual street poet (and later a single mother) in 1950s America. In an era when "gray was the colour and vanilla the flavour" -- when any deviation in hemline or hair length labeled you a communist, her differences were painful. Even the New York beats had a male chauvanist hierarchy that considered themselves far too good for Diane's realism, street language, slang. It seems that every life lesson we have to learn is somehow couched in this book, even through experiences one would hope to never endure.
Average customer rating:
- Lots of history and a little myth
- Tall Tales
- Meet The Judge
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My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue
Samuel E. Chamberlain
Manufacturer: Texas State Historical Association
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Binding: Hardcover
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Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West
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The Sunset Limited
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No Country for Old Men
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The Road
ASIN: 0876111568 |
Customer Reviews:
Lots of history and a little myth.......2006-03-07
Sam Chamberlain is a rogue, all right, but not necessarily for the reasons that this book indicates. Chamberlain's accounts of daring-do sometimes read like the pulp fiction of his era. Some of what he relates bears the accuracy of an eye-witness to history and with good reason. He had, in fact, ridden throughout much of Northern Mexico during the United States' war with the country from 1846 to 1848 and was on hand to see the Battle of Buena Vista in 1847. But he's guilty of something not uncommon among writers of his era -- making first-hand accounts of events where he clearly was not involved. The best example of this is his description of American deserters (San Patricios) hanged during the last battles for Mexico City. His description does not match others exactly, because at the time of the hangings, Chamberlain was still hundreds of miles away, likely near Saltillo, Mexico. For a reality check, read the editors' footnotes; they do a pretty good job of separating Chamberlain's facts from his flights of fancy.
Tall Tales.......2001-11-18
For those interested the Mexican War, this is a "must read" book and has been used by historians as a primary source for years, but his crude paintings are also a treat for the scholar, because Camberlain captures many scenes which have escaped photographers and those who made lithographs, including the massacre of Mexican civilians by Arkansas troops in a cave in Northern Mexico.
Sam Camberlain was a 16 year old private from Boston who served in the elite 1st US Dragoons in Mexico and gives vivid descriptions with crude but animated paintings of Saltillo, Monterrey, and Northern Mexico. Although he was not at the savage fighting during the capture of Monterrey, he claims to have been there so the reader is left to wonder about his other claims and the accuracy of his paintings of the combat in which he lied about being involved. Perhaps he had contact with those who were actually there?
Sam Chamberlain was in the Mexican War and painted some interesting small glimpses of life & death. Reading his book is almost like listening to a veteran who seems to have been everywhere and done everything (especially with women). Sam Chamberlain relates deaths of soldiers to Mexican guerrillas and duty in the occupation but more often than not, Sam Chamberlain proclaims preposterous pick-ups with a host of women. The reader almost senses the author is bragging to fellow high schoolers in a locker room or to anyone who will listen in a bar, hence the title of the book is fitting "My Confessions: Recollections of a Rogue". This book would probably be disregarded as pure fantasy if it were not or the fact that sometimes he does detail military and daily life senarios which are proved by others.
Truth or Tall Tale? Read this book and you be the judge.
Meet The Judge.......1999-05-25
Read 'My Confession' for a first hand account of the War with Mexico, as well as an eyewitness report on the notorious Glanton party. This is one of the most controverisal stories in American and Mexican history, and the discovery of these papers in the 1950s brought out an event that was otherwise best 'swept under the rug' of history. Cormac McCarthy pointed a spotlight on this whole affair when he wrote Blood Meridian, and fans of McCarthy may want to read this to confirm that he wasn't making everything up in Blood Meridian:The Evening Redness in the West. The basic storyline of The Kid, Glanton and the Judge's scalp hunt as set forth in 'Blood Meridian' is related here by the man who lived thru it all, General Samuel Chamberlin. I for one was disturbed to find the Judge among the cast of real characters, I couldn't imagine that such a horrible figure actually existed. Read the book to find out what really happened to Glanton, the kid, as well as 'the judge'. And keep your powder very dry.
Average customer rating:
- This is an outstanding book!
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"I'll Never Fight Fire with My Bare Hands Again": Recollections of the First Forest Rangers of the Inland Northwest
Manufacturer: University Press of Kansas
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Fire in Their Eyes: Wildfires and the People Who Fight Them
ASIN: 0700606777 |
Book Description
"Got the fire under control. My knees have scabbed over and feel pretty good today, but my hands are in a hell of a shape. Damned if I'll ever fight fire with my bare hands again."
Typical of turn-of-the-century forest rangers in the Inland Northwest--northern Idaho, western Montana, and eastern Washington--this diarist faced fire and other tribulations far from civilization, often alone on foot or horseback, with little equipment and no means of communication.
In this engaging collection, Hal Rothman has selected and provided context for the best and most informative letters written by early foresters. Highly literate and perceptive, the writers illuminate how they were forced to balance the agency's regulatory impulses with the needs of rural communities that depended upon forests for their livelihood. They reveal much about the challenges they met--autonomous decision-making; fire fighting and prevention; opposition and pressure from local residents; occasional corruption or incompetence; and changing technology and agency expectations. Family life, isolation, and loneliness, they show, could also be challenging.
"It got so lonely my dog couldn't stand it," wrote Edward G. Stahl. "He went down to the Kootenai River and howled 'til the ferryman from Gateway came over and took him across to town."
Facing bitter cold and heavy snow in the winter and often flames in the summer (1,700 fires in 1910 alone blackened millions of acres and killed 80 fire fighters) foresters managed to persevere with limited resources, Rothman shows. They surveyed land, enforced regulations, evaluated homestead claims, inventoried resources, organized timber sales, let grazing permits, built infrastructure, and handled many unusual situations that came their way.
O. O. Lansdale became judge, jury, and undertaker upon finding two dead men on the trail. "It was up to me, acting as coroner, to hold an inquest and bury them. Being all alone, the inquest was easy--just a case of dispensation of Providence. The burial was not so easy. Digging two graves with a piece of cedar board; then, with a rope around their feet, dragging them to their graves with the rope around the saddle horse."
As the century progressed and technology advanced, the writers show, the Forest Service evolved. Locals, who constituted the early organization, were gradually replaced by college-trained foresters, and tourism became more prevalent as primitive conditions were overcome.
"My first realization of this change came one day when I was walking along the road toward the nursery," wrote David Olson. "A large black sedan drew up from behind and stopped. A liveried chauffeur asked if I wanted a ride. Looking into the car, I saw two elderly ladies sitting in rocking chairs. They smiled and one of them said they were seeing the wild West."
This book is part of the Development of Western Resources series.
Customer Reviews:
This is an outstanding book!.......1998-12-28
This is the type of book that should be read by all people lay and professional, because it is largely a first hand account of the Region One's forest rangers and their dedication to duty. Rothman as the editor does an outstanding job weaving the individual accounts together to give a clear view of the early development of the Forest Service in Region One. He does not step on the narratives, but rather provides clarification only when needed. When a reader can actually read about events that occurred by the participants it only enriches the understanding of the subject matter. A must read for all those interested in the early days of forest management.
Average customer rating:
- A delightful and personal account of historic New Orleans
- A look back at an adventurous life
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Social Life in Old New Orleans: Being Recollections of My Girlhood
Eliza Ripley
Manufacturer: Pelican Publishing Company
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1565544609 |
Customer Reviews:
A delightful and personal account of historic New Orleans.......2005-09-06
In light of the recent events of Hurricane Katrina, I discovered this book by accident when searching the internet for information on historic New Orleans. I found and read an html text version of this book, posted on the internet. The posting was complete with scanned in pictures of the original 1912 first edition, including all of the book's illustrations (which were engravings). I am waiting for a hardcover edition to be delivered to me.
This book has charmed me. If you love history, and are interested in a real historical perspective of old New Orleans, this is an excellent book to study. The story is author, Eliza Ripley's personal account of growing up in pre-civil war New Orleans, written in first person. Eliza Ripley wrote this at the turn of the 20th century, when she was an older woman.
The writing may appear to be a little dainty and sentimental to modern readers. However, like historic novels, it is important to remember the time in which it was written. The detailed descriptions and open frankness of this book are delightful. It is as if she were speaking to you directly, describing details of her personal life, which took place during an important time in history. With the recent events of Hurricane Katrina, I was especially moved. Eliza Ripley writes, "I feel I am, for the fun of the thing, dragging forth a few skeletons from closets, but I do not ticket them, so no harm is done."
A look back at an adventurous life.......2002-07-23
Eliza Chinn was born in Kentucky in 1832 and moved to New Orleans with her family in 1835. In 1852, she married James McHatton and lived at Arlington Plantation until Union gunboats arrived at their levee in 1862. They spent the rest of the War convoying cotton from Louisiana across Texas to the markets in Mexico. McHatton took his wife to Cuba in 1865, where they operated a large sugar plantation until his death, when Eliza returned to the States and married Dwight Ripley. The remainder of her life, she says succinctly, "was passed in the North." In 1887, she began publishing a series of reminiscences of her adventurous life which were first collected in book form shortly after her death in 1912. The chapters in this volume begin with Eliza's experiences as a boarding school girl in 1840s and stroll reflectively through social events and weddings, the music and songs of the mid-century, the celebrities her father (a judge) entertained, the astonishment of visiting Northerners on first encountering plantation hospitality, and what it was like being raised by a black "mammy." The author's style is relaxed and friendly, and you'll think you were being entertained in her parlor. The narrative is accompanied by some two dozen illustrations, many of them pen-and-ink sketches of high quality.
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