Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America: A Biography

Book Description

While the heart of the book focuses on the Civil War, Gienapp begins with a finely etched portrait of Lincoln's early life, from pioneer farm boy, to politician and lawyer in Springfield, to his stunning election as sixteenth president of the United States. We see how Lincoln grew during his years in office, how he developed a keen aptitude for military strategy and displayed enormous skill in dealing with his generals, and also how his strategy evolved from a desire to preserve the Union into one of emancipation and total war. A former backwoodsman and country lawyer, Abraham Lincoln rose to become one of America's greatest presidents. The biography offers a vivid account of Lincoln's dramatic ascension to the pinnacle of American history.

Customer Reviews:

Gienapp Let-Down.......2006-11-08

Bill Gienapp was a brilliant historian, and his work "The Origins of the Republican Party, 1852-1856" is a pillar of American political history. Unfortunately, his final work, "Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America," is a tremendous let-down. It is perhaps one of the worst examinations of Lincoln's life, and has almost nothing to do with "Civil War America." Essentially, it is an unqualified love poem to Lincoln, and strives only to prove his greatness -- there is no critical analysis at all. Lincoln is given credit for every political and military success 1861-1865 and is absolved from blame for all his mistakes. In reality, Lincoln was a complex personality and his public career was much more tumultuous than Gienapp proposes. It is disappointing that Gienapp, a man who dedicated his life to exhaustive, nearly flawless historical research would resort to such frivolous, uncritical "pop history" at the end of his tragically short life. Skip Gienapp's Lincoln and, instead, read Stephen Oates's "With Malice Toward None" or Don Fehrenbacher's "Prelude to Greatness: Lincoln in the 1850s."

magnificent!.......2006-06-27

A short, but very well biography of Lincoln. It counts only 250 pages, but it gives an excellent overwiew and superb analyse of the life of AL. The bibliography is also very interesting. One of the best books about the 16th president. A must for a Lincolnhistorian.

My Captain!.......2005-04-04

A good short, solid political biography. While Lincoln and the Civil War is its focus, by no means is this a battle history: Gettysburg is described in one paragraph.

Professor Gienapp has written a book that will introduce one to, or remind one of, the long and trying path traveled by Abraham Lincoln toward ultimate greatness.

Abraham Lincoln And Civil War America.......2002-03-23

William Gienapp's Abraham Lincoln and Civil War America answers a longstanding need for a biography of Lincoln manageable in size, accessible in style, and wise and balanced in content. Lincoln appers on every page of the book and is never lost sight of in the welter of events. He emerges from the text a real believable person, an individual and persuasive assessment of Lincoln's leadership abilities, the finest such appraisal avilable anywhere.

Abraham Lincoln in one slim volume........2002-03-10

This book is a welcome addition ot the already crowded Lincolnia bookself. The author is the presumed successor to the retired David Herbert Donald at Harvard University. Gienapp has produced a highly readable and concise version of a Lincoln biography that can be completed on a moderately long airplane trip(and it's quite portable unlike most hardcover books). While relatively short,this book is a sufficiently thorough treatment of the Civil War Lincoln. I especially enjoyed the author's analysis of the politician Lincoln who mastered his rivals, both Republican and Democrat. This a good book for either a new Lincoln /Civil War "buff" or a good refresher for a scholar of the times.

Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America

Average customer rating:

Leave now, or die
Goosebumps, Passing Darkness, Wish to See Light
Uncovering Hidden Treasures
DEEPLY MOVING AND FACTUAL

Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America
Elliot Jaspin
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0465036368

Book Description

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist exposes the secret history of racial cleansing in America

"Leave now, or die!"
From the heart of the Midwest to the Deep South, from the mountains of North Carolina to the Texas frontier, words like these have echoed through more than a century of American history. The call heralded not a tornado or a hurricane, but a very unnatural disaster--a manmade wave of racial cleansing that purged black populations from counties across the nation.

We have long known about horrific episodes of lynching in the South, but the story of widespread racial cleansingabove and below the Mason-Dixon line--has remained almost entirely unknown. Time after time, in the period between Reconstruction and the 1920s, whites banded together to drive out the blacks in their midst. They burned and killed indiscriminately and drove thousands from their homes, sweeping entire counties clear of blacks to make them racially "pure." The expulsions were swift-in many cases, it took no more than twenty-four hours to eliminate an entire African-American population. Shockingly, these areas remain virtually all-white to this day.

Based on nearly a decade of painstaking research in archives and census records, Buried in the Bitter Waters provides irrefutable evidence that racial cleansing occurred again and again on American soil, and fundamentally reshaped the geography of race. In this groundbreaking book, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Elliot Jaspin has rewritten American history as we know it.

Customer Reviews:

Leave now, or die.......2007-10-13

Elliot Jaspin does a superb job of uncovering the hidden history of about a dozen American counties where the white citizens used violence and the threat of violence to force their black neighbors to move out of the county. It's ugly history that many white people might be reluctant to hear about, which is why it's been hidden for so long. But Jaspin tells the stories with a compelling and passionate voice that makes for very accessible and important reading for anyone who cares about the American history of race.

However, this book is not only about history. In his final chapter, Jaspin, who researched this history for both this book and a series of newspaper articles, recounts the struggles over the publication of the newspaper articles. This chapter shows that the impulse to keep the hidden history hidden is still strong -- for example, by resisting the term "racial cleansing" and holding to the legend (that Jaspin refutes) that the black people were generally compensated for their loss of land and property. This final chapter ends on a hopeful note with a story of truth and reconciliation that shows that the truth can lead to healing.

I encourage anyone interested in the American history of race to read this important book.

Goosebumps, Passing Darkness, Wish to See Light.......2007-06-27

I wish I could say that I cried over this book, but the truth is that I am so accustomed to America's legacy of genocide, social injustice, and external fraud, regime change, and invasion that I simply sighed and thought, "wow, about time this came to light."

This is a stunning book that should be read by every American of every race, creed, and class.

I previously reviewed a book today that discussed how white supremacy views were one of the causes of the downfall of democracy after the Civil War. I believe this. As a Marine, I learned there are only Marines, some dark green, some light green. That lesson has NOT been learned by all Americans, and that is one reason I favor a restoration of universal national service (including two years for any immigrant granted citizenship, at any age), with the option of armed, peace, or homeland service.

I am Latino by culture, white by race, intelligent by design (pun intended). I believe that America genocided the native Americans, genocided the people of color, and is now in the process of disenfranchising the Latinos while making commons cause with the Asians. None of this bodes well for a Republic that is supposed to offer Liberty & Justice for all as the foundation for collective intelligence and the sovereign We the People.

The Constitution has been trashed by Dick Cheney and his neo-conservative and Christo-fascist supporters, and it is high time someone stood up and said ENOUGH--we must make common cause with the people of color, embrace their leaders, both self-selected and elected, and MOVE ON beyond the corporate socialism and the corrupt political party environments that have broken the middle class and impoverished the working ppor--which the author of the book by that title points out, should be but is not an oxymoron.

This is an important book. I hope it shames some, causes dispair in others, and that overall, it rises to be a liberation manifesto, a starting point for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission within America, to reveal, curse, and forgive all that has been done to the people of color on the assumption, the grotesque assumption, of white supremacy.

I share Martin Luther King's dream, and I am committed to seeing it fulfilled.

Semper Fidelis,
Robert Steele

Bonhoeffer
Improper behavior
The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America (Galaxy Books)
Al On America
Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency
American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America
The Color of Fascism: Lawrence Dennis, Racial Passing, and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism in the United States

Uncovering Hidden Treasures.......2007-04-10

Jaspin should be commended for telling the stories of these towns, even when the information concerning these incidents is scant. Buried in the Bitter Waters serves as a reminder to its readers that racial cleansing in America took place throughout the country, not just the Deep South. It also reminds us that much of the history of our country has yet to be told. Selma, Birmingham, Memphis, and Montgomery are familiar names in the history of race in America. Jaspin shines the light on towns like Corbin and Commanche, not to disparage them but to remind us that the racial clensing in America was widespread.

DEEPLY MOVING AND FACTUAL.......2007-03-06

Regrettably, there is a great deal in our country's history of which we are now ashamed. Surely the years between 1874 and the 1920s in America saw some of the most deplorable events. During that period of time racial cleansing took place over a wide geographical area. This was cruel, senseless and more to our disgrace these actions were condoned at the time and glossed over today.

Author Jaspin is twice a Pulitzer Prize winner, and is a reporter for Cox Newspapers. Years of prodigious research were poured into his book which presents clear evidence of what took place. Yet we hear of what was an apparent whitewash by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Editors ignored clear conflicts of interest while editing the racial cleansing series. Procedures designed to protect the integrity of the reporting process were dispensed with. And finally the head of the company's newspaper division overrode the judgment of editors in Austin and Washington and ordered that a different term be substituted for 'racial cleansings.' It is a cautionary tale about the lingering shame that trumps honest discussion of the full history of America's racial cleansings."

How sad that racial cleansing did occur - sadder yet that some will not acknowledge our misdeeds.

The apt title for Jaspin's book comes from the pen of Zora Neale Hurston: "Ah done died in grief and been buried in de bitter waters, and Ah done rose agin from de dead lak Lazarus. " For those who heard "Leave now, or die!" their lives were overturned in mere hours as they fled carrying what possessions they could. Those were the lucky ones - countless others were killed, their homes burned as blacks were driven from entire counties. Thus, even today some of these areas are still "lily-white."

According to the courts blacks were not considered citizens. Thus, it was quite literally leave or die. Jaspin bases his information on countless interviews, census records, and archives. It is a tragic story but a true one.

Actor Don Leslie offers an accomplished reading of Buried in the Bitter Waters, clearly stating facts and movingly relating the words of those interviewed.

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke

The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914

Average customer rating:

Great book about an amazing story
Another Excellent Historical Piece by Mccullough
The Path Between the SeasVery interesting
Panama Visitor
The building of the Panama Canal

The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
David McCullough
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0671244094

Book Description

The Path Between the Seas tells the story of the men and women who fought against all odds to fulfill the 400-year-old dream of constructing an aquatic passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a story of astonishing engineering feats, tremendous medical accomplishments, political power plays, heroic successes, and tragic failures. Applying his remarkable gift for writing lucid, lively exposition, McCullough weaves the many strands of the momentous event into a comprehensive and captivating tale.

Winner of the National Book Award for history, the Francis Parkman Prize, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award, and the Cornelius Ryan Award (for the best book of the year on international affairs), The Path Between the Seas is a must-read for anyone interested in American history, the history of technology, international intrigue, and human drama.

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From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Truman, here is the national bestselling epic chronicle of the creation of the Panama Canal. In The Path Between the Seas, acclaimed historian David McCullough delivers a first-rate drama of the sweeping human undertaking that led to the creation of this grand enterprise. The Path Between the Seas tells the story of the men and women who fought against all odds to fulfill the 400-year-old dream of constructing an aquatic passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is a story of astonishing engineering feats, tremendous medical accomplishments, political power plays, heroic successes, and tragic failures. Applying his remarkable gift for writing lucid, lively exposition, McCullough weaves the many strands of the momentous event into a comprehensive and captivating tale. Winner of the National Book Award for history, the Francis Parkman Prize, the Samuel Eliot Morison Award, and the Cornelius Ryan Award (for the best book of the year on international affairs), The Path Between the Seas is a must-read for anyone interested in American history, the history of technology, international intrigue, and human drama.

Amazon.com

On December 31, 1999, after nearly a century of rule, the United States officially ceded ownership of the Panama Canal to the nation of Panama. That nation did not exist when, in the mid-19th century, Europeans first began to explore the possibilities of creating a link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the narrow but mountainous isthmus; Panama was then a remote and overlooked part of Colombia.

All that changed, writes David McCullough in his magisterial history of the Canal, in 1848, when prospectors struck gold in California. A wave of fortune seekers descended on Panama from Europe and the eastern United States, seeking quick passage on California-bound ships in the Pacific, and the Panama Railroad, built to serve that traffic, was soon the highest-priced stock listed on the New York Exchange. To build a 51-mile-long ship canal to replace that railroad seemed an easy matter to some investors. But, as McCullough notes, the construction project came to involve the efforts of thousands of workers from many nations over four decades; eventually those workers, laboring in oppressive heat in a vast malarial swamp, removed enough soil and rock to build a pyramid a mile high. In the early years, they toiled under the direction of French entrepreneur Ferdinand de Lesseps, who went bankrupt while pursuing his dream of extending France's empire in the Americas. The United States then entered the picture, with President Theodore Roosevelt orchestrating the purchase of the canal--but not before helping foment a revolution that removed Panama from Colombian rule and placed it squarely in the American camp.

The story of the Panama Canal is complex, full of heroes, villains, and victims. McCullough's long, richly detailed, and eminently literate book pays homage to an immense undertaking. --Gregory McNamee

Customer Reviews:

Great book about an amazing story.......2007-10-19

I really enjoyed the history of the canal especially the way it is presented
in this book.

Another Excellent Historical Piece by Mccullough.......2007-10-03

Very well researched. Good narrative and excellent voice on the audio version. Not a boring moment combined with excellent history. Perfect audiobook, especially for long trips.

The Path Between the SeasVery interesting .......2007-10-01

Very interesting and detailed history. Since I plan on visiting the Panama Canal soon, this book has greatly enlightened me as to all the engineering, building and political problems that went into and preceeded it's construction. I expect it will increase my enjoyment of the canal.

Panama Visitor.......2007-09-07

I am getting ready for my second Panama Canal Cruise. I wanted to read this this book before my first Panama Cruise but didn't get to it. This is a hard read, as there are so many people to keep track of, especially during the French attempt to dig a canal. This is a very interesting part of U S and World History as told in vivid detail by David McCollugh.

The building of the Panama Canal.......2007-07-19

David McCullough's book of the history of the Panama Canal is a well written and researched document on all aspects of the building of the canal, beginning with the French and completed by the United States. One gets a detailed understanding of the political, economic, and social conditions of France and the United States during these years and the people responsible for this engineering feat. McCullough vividly describes the jungles of Panama and the diseases and hardships endured by the workers. He gives great detail on the design and methods used to build the canal. This book offers history at its best.

The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche

Average customer rating:

Great historical perspective of a forgotten catastrophe...
A good story told well
The White Cascade and our genealogy library
A Wonderful book
White Cascade

The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America's Deadliest Avalanche
Gary Krist
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Transportation | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0805077057
Release Date: 2007-02-06

Book Description

The never-before-told story of one of the worst rail disasters in U.S. history in which two trains full of people, trapped high in the Cascade Mountains, are hit by a devastating avalanche

In February 1910, a monstrous blizzard centered on Washington State hit the Northwest, breaking records. The world stopped—but nowhere was the danger more terrifying than near a tiny town called Wellington, perched high in the Cascade Mountains, where a desperate situation evolved minute by minute: two trainloads of cold, hungry passengers and their crews found themselves marooned without escape, their railcars gradually being buried in the rising drifts. For days, an army of the Great Northern Railroad’s most dedicated men—led by the line’s legendarily courageous superintendent, James O’Neill—worked round-the-clock to rescue the trains. But the storm was unrelenting, and to the passenger’s great anxiety, the railcars—their only shelter—were parked precariously on the edge of a steep ravine. As the days passed, food and coal supplies dwindled. Panic and rage set in as snow accumulated deeper and deeper on the cliffs overhanging the trains. Finally, just when escape seemed possible, the unthinkable occurred: the earth shifted and a colossal avalanche tumbled from the high pinnacles, sweeping the trains and their sleeping passengers over the steep slope and down the mountainside.

Centered on the astonishing spectacle of our nation’s deadliest avalanche, The White Cascade is the masterfully told story of a supremely dramatic and never-before-documented American tragedy. An adventure saga filled with colorful and engaging history, this is epic narrative storytelling at its finest.

Customer Reviews:

Great historical perspective of a forgotten catastrophe..........2007-06-25

Don't know why I was prompted to pick this book up...my husband is in a search and rescue group, so that was partly the reason. I read the info given on the back of the book, and having grown up in Northern CA and being a voracious reader, I thought I should have heard about this one transportation disaster. My father was born up in Washington, but somehow this one has faded from national consciousness.

What really struck me about this book is the straightforward writing of the author, Krist. He doesn't sensationalize, as some other books on disasters tend to do. He is honest and reflective, gives the reader all the information on both sides, and lets them draw their own conclusion. I especially enjoyed the information about the court trials and the aftermaths. We can dislike the typical corporate image that continues to run big companies (only now they are the pharmaceuticals who could care less...), but we also recognize that the men who dealt at the closest part of the railway with this disaster most probably did as good a job that could have been done. Unlike the Titanic, where there were some very dismaying behavior by many who were at the helm of the boat and the company, most of the rail workers, especially the superintendant who oversaw the whole week of work around this avalanche were hardworking and gallant, who did make a few mistakes but nothing overt.

By showing us how the courts handled this particular case, plus the information that came from the newspapers that did sensationalize this happening, Krist lets us see why we have come full circle to another place that if this case were tried today, it would have ended very differently for the company. Krist makes a good case for why the ending verdict was probably right (but probably would not have been reached in this era of lawsuits we are currently in). However, he also points out the impact that this case and other transportation disasters of that time had on labor and safety laws in this country. He draws a good diagram for the reader for why this trainwreck led to our current safety requirements and the change in attitudes of people towards corporations that were in control during that time period. Now we need to turn our eyes to the corporations that are currently out of control in ours...perhaps Krist would like to take some of them on?

Karen Sadler

A good story told well.......2007-05-13

This is non-fiction at its finest. As the story unfolds, you almost wish you could get a warning to the poor passengers whose fate is all but inevitable. The author expertly weaves together the series of events that led to the disaster, providing insight into the decisions that were made from those in charge. As the snow continues to fall, adding layer on top of layer, the many characters in this story slowly become individuals with whom you can sympathize.

The story takes place in 1910 at the peak of the railroad era. The automobile and airplane are introduced as only bit players. All of the background information is perfectly balanced with the drama that unfolds atop the mountain.

There is no single mistake that led to the accident, but Superintendent James O'Neil is guilty of two mistakes that might have made a difference: His refusal to meet with the passengers and his refusal to negotiate with the laborers involved in snow removal.

This is a fast read made even more so by the author's clever use of cliff-hanging chapter endings. I highly recommend the book.

The White Cascade and our genealogy library.......2007-05-13

I ordered this book at the request of one of our genealogy society members. It came soon after I ordered it and I have not had time to read it myself because some of our patrons are waiting to read it. The woman who requested that I order it said it was the best of any of the books ever written about that disaster. We have several other books about the disaster as it happened in our area but it appears this one is the very best as it has been well researched and is well written, keeping the reader's interest to the very end. It is particularly interesting to genealogists searching this area.

A Wonderful book.......2007-05-07

This book had if all and I have purchased several as gifts. I wish it could have gone on forever. I learded more about the West, Ameican econimy what life was like back then, values and morays of the time and of course the history of the railroads. It was all brilliantly woven togther with the stories of the people involved. It was never dull very easy to read yet covered some very complex issues. It got you totally involved and it was as if you where there experiencing the cold, the danger, nature and the wonder of how it would all end.

White Cascade.......2007-04-12

Great insight into the thinking of the man responsible for keeping this train route open through incredibility bad winter snow conditions. Lots of insight on how the railroads operated back then. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this exciting account of the railway disaster.

Civil War II: The Coming Breakup of America

Average customer rating:

Chittums predictions are coming true
Very Good Book
Buy This Book. Your Life May Depend Upon It.
A glimpse of the present and the future
Dont buy this book unless you are ready for some startleing revelation's

Civil War II: The Coming Breakup of America
Thomas W. Chittum
Manufacturer: American Eagle Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0929408179

Customer Reviews:

Chittums predictions are coming true.......2007-03-26

One look at what's happening with our porous southwestern border, the throng of illegals streaming across it, and our ineffectual government's refusal to seal and protect it makes this important analysis a must read for those who know the score concerning the looming national disaster that the evening news refuses to cover.

Very Good Book.......2007-02-26

Chittum talks about phases of Civil War II: 1. Tribalization, or the undermining of the concept of citizenship. 2. The creeping loss of democracy to private, governmental institutions and international bodies. 3. Gradually falling wages. 4. The slow decay of infrastructure in our cities and the abandonment by Americans and their replacement by minorities wedded to welfare and affirmative action. 5. Growing legal and illegal immigration to transform America into a typical Third World country. 6. Massive drive for gun control to cripple military potential from the working class. 7. Cooperation of the mass media to dumb down the population.

Near the end of the book he makes projections that you can see happening right now:

1.Shrinking hourly wage. 2. More immigrants than Americans. 3. Foreigners hold most Federal Debt. 4. Twenty million Third World slums on our borders known as `colonias'. 5. Manufacturing jobs moved out of the USA making it impossible for us to make or sell anything to the world. 6. Republican and Democratic politicians refusing to deal with the immigration crisis. Worse, both parties aid and abet it. 7. Growing power of advocates of Aztlan or the reconquest of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas by Mexico.

Buy This Book. Your Life May Depend Upon It........2007-02-01

I moved cross country because of this book. I spent months doing my own research, trying to refute the claims by this author and couldn't. Multicultural nations are filled with animosity, fear, distrust and ultimately do not survive. Even the liberal Harvard researcher Robert Putnam (author of "Bowling Alone") reluctantly admitted that people "hunker down" in diverse neighborhoods and don't trust either people who look like them and amazingly, people who do look like them. According to Putnam, Los Angeles had the lowest levels of trust of any city, while Chittum stated that Los Angeles would be ground zero for the coming civil war. Putnam was so distressed by his findings that he said "we must create a new us." Only an intellectual could come up with something so foolish.

The best part of the book is that he provides a geographical map of where the new nations are likely to be. He even maps out the white enclave areas in Texas, Georgia etc. and shows you the lack of viability and logistical problems of remaining in these spots.

The checklist will make a believer out of you. Some of these trends were somewhat apparent in 1996, but the vast majority were not. This man either had a crystal ball, or he knows what he's talking about. I gladly paid over $50 for this book, but now you can buy it for much less, so what are you waiting for? I literally have hundreds of books in my personal library, but if I were only allowed to keep one, it would be Civil War II.

A glimpse of the present and the future.......2007-01-30

Great book!! The chapter titled Civil War Checklist is especially disturbing because many things he mentions have already come to pass.

The breakup of America is inevitable. The chaos and bloodshed will make the Balkans and our first civil war look like some sort of game.

Dont buy this book unless you are ready for some startleing revelation's.......2007-01-10

This book written about ten year's ago is unfolding like the daily newspaper.SO many truths that are being shown so many lies being unvealed for people who are ready for a life changeing reality check here it is if this dont get you you motivated nothing will.

Talons of the Eagle: Dynamics of U.S.-Latin American Relations, 2nd Edition

Average customer rating:

Very solid analysis
First rate interdisciplinary approach to history.

Talons of the Eagle: Dynamics of U.S.-Latin American Relations, 2nd Edition
Peter H. Smith
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0195129989

Book Description

Talons of the Eagle offers a vivid portrayal of the last two hundred years of U.S.-Latin American relations, casting new light on issues such as economic integration, environmental protection, drug trafficking, and undocumented migration. Rather than concentrating only on US policy, as many texts do, it addresses the structural relationships of both regions. Focusing on international systems, the distribution of power, and the perception and pursuit of national interests, Smith uncovers recurrent regularities in the interaction between the U.S. and Latin America and offers a compelling analysis of the continuity and change in their relations, as well as provocative insights into the possible future of these relations. With an entirely new introduction and thorough revisions of the last four chapters and conclusion, as well as completely updated bibliography, this continues to be the ideal text for students in general courses on Latin American history and politics as well as courses on U.S. and inter-American foreign relations.

Customer Reviews:

Very solid analysis.......2007-09-19

Very good analysis. Well written. An excellent read whether you are a beginner or somewhat versed in LatAm and US relations. It serves as a great review of history as well.

First rate interdisciplinary approach to history........1998-09-15

In this very readable historiacl survey of U.S.-Latin American realations, Smith develops a template which demonstrates the logic of U.S. policy and Latin American response within the context of the global situation. To accomplish this, he breaks history into three general time periods: 1790s-Cold War, The Cold War, and the post-Cold War. In each of these periods, Smith develops the global context or "rules of the game", then moves on to the resulting U.S. policy. He finishes each historical era with an incisive analysis of Latin American options for response. This book is a must for students of Latin America and certainly for those individuals whose activities, whether they be commercial or official in nature, are shaping the book's next chapter.

Travels with Charley in Search of America

Average customer rating:

Travels With Charley
the hobo philosopher
"From start to finish, I found no strangers"
Vendor is 100% honest... would recommend highly
Another side of John Steinbeck

Travels with Charley in Search of America
John Steinbeck
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140053204

Book Description

Today, nearly forty years after his death, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures. Over the next year, his many works published as black-spine Penguin Classics for the first time and will feature eye-catching, newly commissioned art.

Penguin Classics is proud to present these seminal works to a new generation of readers—and to the many who revisit them again and again.

Customer Reviews:

Travels With Charley.......2007-09-27

A wonderful read..a glimpse of America through the eyes of Steinbeck while driving his pick-up/camper with his dog.

the hobo philosopher.......2007-09-10

Travels with Charley was one of the inspirational books that lead me to write "Hobo-ing America". I had always read travel books. Everybody from Mark Twain to George Orwell. But Travels with Charley (his dog) ranks right up there in the inspiration category for me. I had always longed to travel America but I could never afford to do it. Finally my wife Carol and I took off with about $2,400 and a van with a homemade bed in the rear and hit the road. We paid our way by picking fruits and vegetables and we stayed on the road living under bridges and equipment shelters for a number of years. Carol says that it was the best time of her life. I am still hoping that the best time hasn't come yet. Though my time is running low.
I guess that the whole point of this review is that it was books like Travels with Charley that made our adventure a reality. I still have a tattered copy of Travels with Charley on my library shelf.

"From start to finish, I found no strangers".......2007-08-06

In the autumn of 1960, author John Steinbeck (1902 - 1968) felt that he was writing on the fumes of experience. That and the wanderlust that usually passes with youth still itched at age 58. He bought a camper truck he christened "Rocinante" after Don Quixote's horse and with his 10-year-old poodle named Charley he set off to find America. His route largely rimmed the 48 contiguous states: from his summer home on Long Island, he headed up to Maine, across to upstate New York and down US Route 90, out to Chicago, through the Badlands to Montana, over to Spokane, down the Oregon coast, to his native Salinas in Central California, cutting across the Mojave to Texas, onward into the Deep South and then a straight shot home to New York City.

In 1960, Steinbeck stood on a cusp of history and what he reveals, especially as regarded 47 years later, is the country coming and going on itself. He finds cities ringed by huge garbage piles created by the rise of a disposable culture that had yet to discover recycling. He uses the new highway system as well as the old back roads, encountering a country adapting to a new mobility. The people he met were timeless characters, though many were in age-old circumstances that have since passed. Despite the Pulitzer Prize, bestselling books and media coverage, he is never recognized and finds people at their most candid. His accounts on the road are episodic, some comic, some fodder for philosophical rumination. When he hits the Deep South, however, he collides with the opening salvos of the modern Civil Rights movement and tangles with racists as he watches "The Cheerleaders," the gang of middle-aged "respectable" white women obscenely haranguing a tiny black child being escorted to school. He is sickened. It is time to go home.

The insights to the human condition and what it means to be American as divulged by the journey are priceless. The beautiful thing about Steinbeck is his persistent curiosity in life outside of himself. Though he comes to realize the journey is as much internal as it is external, his inspiration was not to find himself but to connect with others. He was a most generous soul.

Vendor is 100% honest... would recommend highly.......2007-08-01

Had a problem with this low cost used copy... not as described
BUT vendor 100% honest ---
No problem FIX.. they stood 100% behind what they sell.
Tks!

Another side of John Steinbeck.......2007-07-09

Travels with Charley to me is first of all a perfect story of a man and his dog.

One of the best stories, I have ever read.

Shop America: Midcentury Storefront Design 1938-1950

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disappointing
American Business Embraces Modernism
Streamline meets Atomic on Main

Shop America: Midcentury Storefront Design 1938-1950
Steven Heller
Manufacturer: Taschen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3822842699

Book Description

Window shopping

In postwar America, everything pointed to a bright, shiny future. Sheer optimism and opulence informed everything from automobile design to architecture, infusing design with larger-than-life planes and curves. Storefront design of the era is particularly indicative of this phenomenon, incarnated here in an extensive collection of hand-illustrated shop window designs from 1938 to 1950. These spectacular, often grandiose plans for grocery stores, shoe shops, beauty salons, bakeries, and more are reminders of a time when stores were sacred shrines for the congregation of American shoppers--impressive and even slightly intimidating, just like the future itself. Collected for this unique book, the designs viewed in retrospect reveal the mindset of a unique period in history. In addition to an extensive selection of drawings are historical black and white photographs of actual shops built in a similar style. Shop America offers a rare look at mid-century commercial America as it pictured itself.

Customer Reviews:

disappointing.......2007-06-16

I was disappointed in this book. The best picture is the one on the cover. Inside, each selection is pretty much the same. "Style suggestion for a florist shop," "Style suggestion for a shoe store," etc. Has diagrams and font types, window measurements, etc. All tech stuff that's not really interesting to me. I would have returned it, but didn't want to mess with the shipping. Sigh.

American Business Embraces Modernism.......2007-04-29

In the midst of the Great Depression, American Business adopted an American form of modernism that heralded a new age of technology and progress. This period of design history is sometimes called, "Machine Age", "Streamline Modern" or "Midcentury Modern." This belief in the spirit of progress can be seen in almost all American design of this period.

"Shop America" adds to our understanding of the time by focusing on store front design. American glass companies produced beautifully illustrated catalogs that promoted the use of glass and modern building materials. These catalogs inspired architects and small business owners to create store fronts that embraced the progressive spirit of modernism.

When many of us think of the 1940's and 1950's, we think of a conformist age best understood by old television shows like Ozzie and Harriet and Father Knows Best. However, a book like "Shop America" also demonstrates that American business and consumers of the time were willing to adopt a bold modernist vision. Although the designs in these books are 50-60 years old, they are still very fresh and exciting.

This book was produced by the German Publisher, Taschen. Like all Taschen books it is a very good value. It is a large format book with very high production values. This book is a must purchase for all enthusiasts of the period as well as for contemporary architects and designers. Highly recommended.

Streamline meets Atomic on Main.......2007-03-18

Turn the pages of this fascinating book and you're window shopping on Main Street in the late forties, plenty of consumer goods are just a touch away thanks to large glass windows. The essence of the book is more than ninety ideas for storefronts created by the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. Each has an artists rendering, sometimes a technical detail or floor plan and technical information about the glass used.

It is the exuberant artwork that makes the book come alive. They capture a mid-century of elegant shoppers seduced by Carrara glass and Aluminum. Virtually every store has an overall streamline design frequently mixing atomic motifs and the final individual touch is the name in a modern sans type or a casual script for a ladies retail unit. Strangely there is no actual reference to the Pittsburgh PGC or the artists though E A Lundberg has his signature on many of the illustrations.

This is a large book (handsomely designed and printed) that fortunately makes all the wonderful renderings large too. In the first few pages Steve Heller contributes an overview of storefront design illustrated with black and white photos of real stores in large American cities. Predictably few of them are as flamboyant as the concept artwork in the glass-makers sales material.

*** FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Average customer rating:

Superb analysis of democracy in America and elsewhere
If only everyone would read this book . . .
Not an easy read, but worth the effort
Inspiring books
Intuitive political observations that read like a travel-log

Democracy in America (Penguin Classics)
Alexis de Tocqueville
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140447601
Release Date: 2003-07-01

Book Description

In 1831 Alexis de Tocqueville, a young French aristocrat and ambitious civil servant, made a nine-month journey throughout America. The result was Democracy in America, a monumental study of the life and institutions of the evolving nation. Tocqueville looked to the flourishing democratic system in America as a possible model for post-revolutionary France, believing that the egalitarian ideals it enshrined reflected the spirit of the age and even divine will. His insightful work has become one of the most influential political texts ever written on America and an indispensable authority on democracy.

This new edition is the only one that contains all Tocqueville's writings on America, including the rarely-translated Two Weeks in the Wilderness, an account of Tocqueville's travels in Michigan among the Iroquois, and Excursion to Lake Oneida.

Customer Reviews:

Superb analysis of democracy in America and elsewhere.......2007-10-22

As a sat to write this review I randomly opened my copy of Democracy in a page with this quote that I had highlighted: "When the taste for physical gratifications among [democratic people] has grown more rapidly than their education and their experience of free institutions, the time will come when men are carried away and lose all self-restraint at the sight of the new possessions they are about to obtain. In their intense and exclusive anxiety to make a fortune they lose sight of the close connection that exists between the private fortune of each and the prosperity of all. It is not necessary to do violence to such a people in order to strip them of the rights they enjoy; they themselves willingly loosen their hold. The discharge of political duties appears to them to be a troublesome impediment which diverts them from their occupations and business. [...] These people think they are following the principle of self-interest, but the idea they entertain of that principle is a very crude one; and the better to look after what they call their own business, they neglect their chief business, which is to remain their own masters". This is a small sample of what you find in Democracy... It is a superb book, with timeless truths about America and about democracy in general. I read the Everyman's Library edition by Knopf, and utterly enjoyed it: good quality paper, print, translation (based on Francis Bowen's), index. Don't rely on what others tell you about the contents of this marvelous book--dive in with a pencil handy to highlight the many good quotes and enjoy!

If only everyone would read this book . . ........2007-07-15

If you have any doubts about buying this book, stop thinking and buy it. It will take you a while to read it, but it is worth the effort. The first volume is the best half. As it turns out, De Tocqueville was the Nostradamus of democracy and American politics. So much of what this man wrote in the 1830's is still relevant to our modern politicial system. It is small wonder that you see him quoted regularly. After seeing him referred to repeatedly, I felt compelled to read the book for myself. Keep a pencil with you when you read because you will want to mark material that is quoteworthy for you. If you have hesitations about reading something that is a translation, put them aside. The book is easy to read.

Here's just a kernel of what you can find (p.229) "It is a permanent feature of the present day that the most outstanding men in the United States are rarely summoned to public office and one is forced to acknowledge that things have been like that as democracy has gone beyond its previous limits. The race of American statemen has strangely shrunk in size in the last half-century." This man was writing about George Bush 170 years ago! You will also marvel at the tremendous insight he had in extracting his observations by travels and interviews in America. I do this sort of thing for business clients sometimes and I deeply admire the unique talent De Tocqueville displays. If he were still alive, I would shake this man's hand!

You will come away with a keener appreciation of what makes democracy strong and at the same time fragile. You can apply DeT's observations to current world affairs, (esp. Iraq) and understand better why you cannot simply export a system of governance because it is "good." You will recognize that democracy requires a cultural and social foundation interwoven with legal safeguards for things such as private property. If I thought it would help, I would mail my copy to the white house. Maybe the first lady could read it to George at night before bedtime.

You will be dismayed by the current state of American politics after you read this book, but you will be heartened with a belief that democracy works so long as the population participates. You will be energized. I will leave you with this quote from DeT on p. 771: "Only a passion for freedom which has become ingrained can carry the day against a deep-set passion for personal comfort. I can imagine no better preparation for conquest after a defeat than a democratic nation without free institutions." And now, on to the Patriot Act . . .

Not an easy read, but worth the effort.......2007-02-23

I can't say anything new about a book this famous, so I will just give my peronal opinion about why and how to read it. Why: because it is a timeless description of how American democracy works, in both theory and practice. As to how to read it, I have this book sitting next to the Bible on my bedside bookshelf, and I read in the same way. I have been reading Democracy in America in a piecemeal way over several decades, in small installments, with time in between to think and ponder and question what I have just read. It's a book that doesn't give you a straightforward narrative that's easy to follow. Rather, each section has its own character and focuses on one facet of the rough-cut jewel we call democracy. You could read Democracy in America all the way through, but that would be an endurance test, not necessarily a way to understand the wealth of ideas it contains. Some parts of the book are dry and technical, as when de Tocqueville describes township goverment in microscopic detail. He was a serious student of political theory who took those matters very seriously, so he gave his readers all the data they might need in order to form a clear idea of how American intitutions operated. But he was also very good at lively observations of the social scene and the natural wonders he encountered in America. These are the parts of the book that really spring to life and make this book much more than a political science text.

To go back to the Bible/de Tocqueville analogy, Democracy in America is a book in which any reader can find a quotation (or misquotation) to support any point of view. However, it's only by sitting down and actually reading de Tocqueville's words in their proper context that you will understand the real greatness of this book.

Inspiring books.......2007-01-12

I pick up this book just in accident. I would like to gain some knowledge in the democracy here and fortunately I get the right book.
The book in detail explains what was the social situation before America was built. From different aspects, the author told and justified "how and why" on the political/law/administration systems in America.
The author's comments on the regional democracy (in locality) is very true.

Intuitive political observations that read like a travel-log.......2006-10-17

A wonderful study that reminds us of what America was meant to be while entertaining us with insightful, balanced, often prophetic, and provocative observations of our shortcomings. It is a record that reminds us of our better angels and calls us back to the high ideals that made America great. A reminder of a simpler but nobler time like a time-traveller's log of America's seedling ideals of a democratic-republic. Mr. de Tocqueville will help you regain your inner American and restore your faith in what America can be when she is cognizant of her founding principles.

Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World

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WHAT YOU NEVER LEARNED IN SCHOOL IN THE SOUTH
Dr. Davis' Opus
Great Research, Bulky Read
Read and Enjoy
Interesting

Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World
David Brion Davis
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195140737

Book Description

David Brion Davis has long been recognized as the leading authority on slavery in the Western World. His books have won every major history award--including the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award--and he has been universally praised for his prodigious research, his brilliant analytical skill, and his rich and powerful prose. Now, in Inhuman Bondage, Davis sums up a lifetime of insight in what Stanley L. Engerman calls "a monumental and magisterial book, the essential work on New World slavery for several decades to come." Davis begins with the dramatic Amistad case, which vividly highlights the international character of the Atlantic slave trade and the roles of the American judiciary, the presidency, the media, and of both black and white abolitionists. The heart of the book looks at slavery in the American South, describing black slaveholding planters, the rise of the Cotton Kingdom, the daily life of ordinary slaves, the highly destructive internal, long-distance slave trade, the sexual exploitation of slaves, the emergence of an African-American culture, and much more. But though centered on the United States, the book offers a global perspective spanning four continents. It is the only study of American slavery that reaches back to ancient foundations (discussing the classical and biblical justifications for chattel bondage) and also traces the long evolution of anti-black racism (as in the writings of David Hume and Immanuel Kant, among many others). Equally important, it combines the subjects of slavery and abolitionism as very few books do, and it illuminates the meaning of nineteenth-century slave conspiracies and revolts, with a detailed comparison with 3 major revolts in the British Caribbean. It connects the actual life of slaves with the crucial place of slavery in American politics and stresses that slavery was integral to America's success as a nation--not a marginal enterprise. A definitive history by a writer deeply immersed in the subject, Inhuman Bondage offers a compelling narrative that links together the profits of slavery, the pain of the enslaved, and the legacy of racism. It is the ultimate portrait of the dark side of the American dream. Yet it offers an inspiring example as well--the story of how abolitionists, barely a fringe group in the 1770s, successfully fought, in the space of a hundred years, to defeat one of human history's greatest evils.

Customer Reviews:

WHAT YOU NEVER LEARNED IN SCHOOL IN THE SOUTH.......2007-05-09

If you are over 60 and did not self-educate on slavery,you need to read this book. Believe me, slavery was a barely mentioned topic in elementary school through college. I know this is true for Blacks in the South and probably is true for other races as well.

This book is a must read for those non-academics who want to have a better understanding of slavery in America and the Americas. The sexual exploitation and psychological impact of slavery is generally known. This book, however, allows one to get the full picture of slavery from a global, economic and political perspective. There is nothing better for a painful subject like this than finding a reliable (well documented) and easy to read source by a respected author.

A great gift for your friends, no matter what race!

Dr. Davis' Opus.......2007-03-24

Readers of "Inhuman Bondage" have the privilege of entering the mind of one of the greatest living scholars of American slavery. In what truly may be his opus, Dr. David Brion Davis writes not simply a book, but composes a symphony. Like all great composers, Davis blends seemingly disparate notes into beautiful harmony.

Wide-ranging, even sprawling in coverage, Davis tells the epic story of the inhuman bondage of human enslavement. Laying the foundation with a captivating and accurate portrayal of the history and philosophy of ancient slavery, the author then moves into the modern era of slavery, first in the "New World" then in America more specifically.

"Inhuman Bondage" masterfully weaves together these larger socio-political realities with the very specific psychological realities of groups (such as the Amistad) and individuals. The clear message resonates: even inhuman treatment cannot dehumanize the human soul. In their rebellion (sometimes overt, other times, by necessity, covert and even internal), enslaved African Americans displayed their full humanity.

For a brilliantly written, in-depth, comprehensive, captivating narrative of new world slavery, look no further than "Inhuman Bondage."

Reviewer: Robert W. Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction, Soul Physicians: A Theology of Soul Care And Spiritual Direction, and Spiritual Friends: A Methodology of Soul Care And Spiritual Direction.

Great Research, Bulky Read.......2006-08-12

In under 350 pages, David Brion Davis presents a wealth of information for those exploring the history of slavery for the first time or for readers seeking additional information to supplement past books and articles.

Unfortunately, it reads like a choppy college lecture, with the flow of material marred oftentimes by the circular exploration of material. A topic may be introduced, then discussed in depth later and then reintroduced for concluding remarks many pages later.

Davis utilizes numerous resources from contemporary historians and it is appreciated that he introduces the author and the work to the reader while quoting from the material.

Inhuman Bondage is an important work in the growing number of books covering the sordid past that has been "conveniently" ignored or flippantly tossed aside in past historical writings.

By coming to terms with the past and acknowledging the damage it has done is the only way the words from Davis and others will truly have full meaning.

Read and Enjoy.......2006-06-12

This is an altogether splendid book. It is skillfully written such that it is difficult to put down; the notes are voluminous, the maps helpful, the range of information brought together and organized successfully impressive, the opinions of the author clearly expressed, and acknowledgement and credit to other historians generous. Despite this, one does wonder for whom the book was written, surely not the hypothetical general reader. Much more information than the lawyerly standard of what everyone knows is frequently called for. To give just one example, on pp. 265-66, a free black is shown worrying about the effects on him of the Fugitive Slave Law. One drops immediately to how Anthony Burns was hauled through the streets of Boston on his way to Virginia. Is one to infer that Burns was a free black erroneously seized or an escaped slave? And although Davis details how important the religious motivation was in abolitionist thought, nowhere was there any explanation of how this Biblically based thinking, which at this time was largely literal, coped with or was able to get around the clear Biblical acceptance of slavery. And one could wish, particularly in view of their extent and comprehension of various aspects of the subject, that the citations in the notes had been compiled into a bibliography. Nevertheless, I would recommend to anyone who is at all interested in slavery, the Civil War, racism, and a host of associated topics, that they do themselves a favour and read Inhuman Bondage.

Interesting.......2006-04-29

This book contributes to recent studies on slavery in Brazil and the French west indies, a wide study ot Slavery in the new world, explainings its origins, terrors, history and final liberations and conflicts. One wonders however how much the subjects needs a companion on Slavery in the Old World, and why there is no discussion of how pre-European enslavement of Africans by Arabs led to the formation of slave empires in Zanzibar and west africa that fueled the European slave trade. Imainge if these scholars dared to prick the bubble and reveal the fact that Slavery did not originate among Europeans and tha tin fact a study must be done on the rise and fall of slavery in the old world.

Seth J. Frantzman

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