Thomas Frank Books

Despite having an accurate title and being the most recent biography of George H. Thomas this book was the pits. The author relies too much on primary sources and battle reports and thus takes the exciting story of a Virginian who fought for the Union during the Civil War into an unreadable mess. I am glad to see books written on Thomas, however this one is a major disappointment.

George Henry Thomas won lasting fame as "The Rock of Chickamauga" for his action in holding the Union's unsupported right wing during the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, 1863, a success that placed him in command of the Army of the Cumberland. Thomas was a leader known for his eccentricities, but also for the esteem his men held for him, and Palumbo's detailed (in some cases too detailed) account of Thomas's life and career relates his story well.

A Virginian and West Point graduate, Thomas fought the Seminoles in Florida in the early 1840s and then in the Mexican War where he was made a major at Buena Vista. He led the Second Cavalry in Texas in the 1850s under Albert S. Johnston, when he was wounded by arrows to the face in a fight with Commanches.

When the Civil War broke out, he was one of the few Virginian officers to remain with the Union, taking command of the Army of the Ohio in January 1862. He was at Shiloh and Corinth, and at Stones River in early January 1863 where he showed his mettle as a fighting general. Then came the brilliant success at Chickamauga, which was followed two months later by gallant behavior on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge near Chattanooga. He was with Sherman on his Atlanta campaign, and then went to Nashville where he eventually shattered Hood's army. After the war he commanded the Division of the Pacific and died in San Francisco in 1870.

Thomas was a methodical, deliberate planner, a trait that almost got him sacked by Grant at Nashville. (It is questionable that his slowness against the enemy was the result of his being a Virginian by birth, as charged by some.) Once on the battlefield, however, he was a tough and steady leader. Palumbo's account of Thomas is also deliberate and studious. He quotes freely and often from Thomas's letters and includes lengthy excerpts from the OFFICIAL RECORDS, but I didn't see that as a major hindrance in this biography, though it dampened interest and enthusiasm at times. Palumbo presents a very full reading of Thomas's life and career - a worthy enough book to assume a spot on one's Civil War library shelf.

If you have any common sense, you don't need this book. You can definitely learn what Bunton writes about elsewhere. It didn't offer any practical advice. It was poorly written. It didn't offer good examples and provided poor instructions.

I have opted to use this book in a course on newswriting for various distribution channels but I am not as pleased with it as I anticipated. One of the first disappointments is that the accompanying classroom material promoted in the text is simply not available, and the publisher is not willing to say if it ever will be. The material included a video of some of the footage discussed in the text, and a promised web site, which was to keep current examples of good and bad writing available, with other goodies hinted at. Both promised to be great classroom tools to enhance understanding, but now I find myself having to try to explain why referenced examples in the text do not exist. The book, however, does a very solid job of providing an overview of several valuable concepts - most notably the idea that good writing is still at the core of communications, with delivery systems helping aim at specific audiences with specific interests and needs. The emphasis on content and accuracy, regardless of delivery, is strong throughout the book. The authors use two major news stories as illustrations across the chapters, which is nice to follow, but also a little confusing, since we don't have the video clips to support the discussions. The material is not damaged, though, and the principles are still communicated. It's not very detailed and I would like to have seen more specific advice given involving the distinctions between the writing styles themselves. The material is touched on, but not heavily addressed. That, however, would have lengthened the 225-page book and made it more intimitating that it needs to be. Perhaps in this era of exploring this issue of writing across the media, this brevity is the right approach. I know I'll have more success getting students to make it through this book than I do requiring them to wade through some other heftier texts I've tried. In all, it's a great first step. Now it's time for more detail and analysis. Who's game?

This is not a good book for people who want to understand the basic idea of fuzzy cluster analysis in a short time.

This book is ridiculous. It has too many unnecessary and, even worse, unclear definitions. It never gives us the meanings of the strange symbols in those absurd definitions. If you want to understand fuzzy cluster analysis in a relatively short time and do not want to suffer, please do not buy this book.

Previous reviews are correct, this is not a book for beginners. This is an advanced text for specialists in the area of fuzzy clustering, and as such it is an excellent work. Standard fuzzy c-means, Gustafson-Kessel c-means and Gath-Geva c-means are drawn together in a single modeling framework for near-arbitrary cluster shapes. The cluster validity problem is examined in depth, and experimental results in image analysis are used to illustrate the theoretical material. An excellent monograph.

This book has been reprinted many times since it was first published in 1908. Unlike many 'potted' clan histories, there is an attempt to describe the history, law and society of Gaelic Scotland (the Scottish Highlands). Like others of its kind, the focus is on the elite, the chiefs, precedence, and the decisions of the Lyon Court. The nineteenth century clearances are barely mentioned. However, much information, such as the chief's household men, plant badges, and satellite clans, is rarely found in other sources.

The tensions caused by the imposition of feudalism on a society based on kinship are better understood by authors such as Hugh Cheape and I. F. Grant (Periods in Highland History). An excellent history of the transformation of the clans is T.M. Devine's 'Clanship to Crofters' War: The Social Transformation of the Scottish Highlands'.

Adam's mentions the controversy about clan tartans, but doesn't clarify the issue. Tartans were named for clans after the 'clan system' had developed into the 'crofting system'--after 1780. The best books on tartan and Highland dress are Telfer Dunbar's 'History of Highland Dress' and his contribution to H.F. McClintock's 'Old Irish and Highland Dress'.

This is a reprint of the third edition .... the latest is the eighth edition. Be very careful when ordering from Amazon!!! This is the second time I have ordered a book and received an old edition.

As far as I understand, this is the European edition of Thomas Frank's book "What's the matter with Kansas?". Since this is the edition I've read, I'll review it rather than the US edition. But I suspect both editions are pretty similar.

The author Thomas Frank attempts to explain two things. First, why do American workers and other low-income people vote Republican rather than Democrat? Indeed, the most extreme Republicans are usually more plebeian than the moderate ones. Second, how come that US radicalism, which was usually left-wing, become right-wing during the Reagan years?

These are two very interesting, indeed decisive issues. However, the author never explains them. He cannot say what's wrong with America. Or Kansas for that matter.

True, the book is entertaining in a sense. The author describes his childhood as a low-income earner in a upper class neighborhood. He gives the bratpack a couple of verbal lashes. I don't doubt that they deserve it. The author also heckles conservative columnists who stereotype "blue staters" and "red staters", pointing out how these stereotypes fly in the face of reality. Frank interviews politicans and activists in Kansas, describes the situation of both native and Mexican workers, and even interviews a strange cult that claims to have elected an anti-Pope.

While all this is funny, it doesn't really explain what the hells wrong with the US of A. When all the chips are down, Frank has simply written a mostly-liberal lamentation over his home state.

Another publisher has a much better done edition of this book at roughly half this price. It's newly typeset rather than a facsimile and contains some additional material about their journey.

Across Asia on a Bicycle: The Journey of Two American Students from Constantinople to Peking

I would not recommend this book; I really could not find anything worth the time it took to read it. I only got half way through it and that was about 100 pages too much. There are too many good books out there.

This book's stories are very slow to get into, and most of them are not set in the present day and age. Most of the stories use language of the early 1900's and so it is very hard to read and understand. Definately not something to read to the kids!

The standard of quality set by the works of Mr. Heinz is very low. Avoid this book.

This book does not do a good job of explaining concepts. It trys to hard to explain theory. Any book would be better than this book.