U Books

This is a very readable, engaging, and concise look at the U.S. Civil war by Fletcher Pratt (1897-1956). This book first arrived in 1935, but don't worry about its antiquity. This is an excellent account of that tragic conflict, and you should enjoy it whether you are a Civil War buff or one with only a casual interest. Pratt concentrates heavily on the major battles and events, and tells the story of this bloody conflict in concise and readable detail. As one who has read superb in-depth accounts of specific campaigns or occurences by James McPherson and Bruce Catton, I'd recommend these two excellent authors for indepth reading. For a solid, concise, general history, Pratt has the ticket.

I have the new edition of this book, I bought it soon as I saw it sitting on a store shelf, despite already having 5 or 6 copies of the old pocketbook sized editions. I love this book. If you are going to read only one history of the civil war, make it this one. If you are going to spend the rest of your life reading histories of the civil war, start with this one.

It would take thousands of words to express the reasons I love this book. But somehow that wouldn't be appropriate. What I will say is this:

Bruce Canton could spend two pages discribing a muddy campaign, and you will come away knowing it was muddy and what a loggistical problem that was. Shelby Foote could spend a chapter on a muddy campaingn and you will come away knowing it was muddy and how much the troops complaigned about it and maybe a funny incident or two. Fletcher Pratt could spend a paragraph or two on that campaign, and when done you'll notice your leg's hurt. Why? Because you didn't want to get mud on your couch.

What can I say about this book? Well, how about in a lifetime of reading many books on the Civil War, both good and great, this one stands head and shoulders above them all. While more ink than the blood that was spilled has been used by many others to explain this terrible war, Pratt managed to capture the essence of the conflict in a short, brilliant book.
Pratt was a military historian of the first rank, but was also known for clever and exciting high fantasy stories. Perhaps it was this versatility that honed his storytelling ability to the sharp edge that we see here. While not missing a single important detail of politics, causes, battles, and personalities, he weaves an engrossing tale from start to finish, and creates a solidly researched history that is also a page-turner. This book is a joy to the student of the Civil War, but also appeals to those with no particular interest in that conflict, solely on the merit of Pratt's tight storytelling.
This book was written in 1935, and much new material on the Civil War has surfaced since then. Others, such as Shelby Foote, Bruce Catton and James McPherson have written much longer and more comprehensive works on the war that are excellent in their own right. Yet this little book still shines out as a gem among them. With its solid scholarship, sharp storytelling, and precise choice of details, it is the first rate Cliff Notes to the Civil War.

Theo Logos

I first read this book when I was about nine years old, having fished it out of my parents' bookcase to while away some idle hours. Eventually, I wore out its fragile binding and was left with a heap of pages until one day, on a visit to Washington DC, I was delighted to find a fresh copy in a second-hand bookstore. To this day, if I crave entertainment and inspiration, I take this book down from the shelf and open it at random. Whatever chapter - paragraph! - I choose is bound to shine.

Just how accurate or balanced Pratt's account of the Civil War is, I do not know. I have not read any other books about it. But he has made Grant, Lee, Lincoln, Stanton, Davis, McLellan, Hooker, Sherman, Sheridan, Bragg, Jackson, Stuart and dozens of others come alive for me.

Aged nine, I did not understand all the long words by any means. (What on earth was the "Dithyramb of Shiva", and what was an "Experiment in Tauromachy"?) But I loved them, and almost always figured out the meaning by the context.

In a way, Pratt made it possible for me to study history at university many years later. He inoculated me against the idea that history has to be boring, because I had such a stunning counter-example at the back of my mind. There are very few books of fiction that I have read that come anywhere near being so entertaining.

Anyone who hasn't read this book really ought to, if they have the slightest interest in military matters and delight in fine writing. Just one tip: if you can get hold of a hardback, it will last longer. The paperback gets fragile after a few readings, and the pages are apt to fall out unless you hold it very carefully.

This is, hands down, one of the best books on any topic I've ever read. Fletcher Pratt had a way with words that few equalled. But more important, he had a keen insight into the problem of getting us to understand the complexities of the events he discusses. After the fact, we often think that certain events were "inevitable" but Pratt does a wonderful job of showing us how contingent the Union victory was, even as late as Fall, 1864.

My favorite chapters are the early ones, where Pratt lays out the big picture of the war and discusses the lightning moves of diplomacy that kept Kentucky and Missouri in the Union and thereby gave the Union the strategic advantage. The Civil War was *the* time of decision for the USA--had things gone differently, our history and world history would have been very different. Pratt does a masterful job of bringing that to light.

I Just finished Slavery by Another Name. I had known about the black code for several years, but not the selling of free black people. I hate the Al Sharptons of the world or black people that defend criminals that blame their crime on racism. They disrespect all these ghosts of the past that suffered at the hands of brutal savage souls.

But one thing has changed for me: Although I never called anyone in my life a nigger, I thought it. After reading your book, I will never allow that thought to come to the surface again.

That photo of the man tied up on the ground felt his short life of suffering would have no meaning, but he was wrong, after 100 years we look at him and feel his pain and are influenced by his image forever. I wish I could embrace him and give him the love and respect every creature deserves.

I found this book to be very interesting but lacking in that there was no context provided for the problem. The author contends that in the period after the Civil War blacks were Re-Enslaved. He does a commendable job of showing how the black community was systematically stripped of its rights and abandoned by the government after the Civil War. He also does an exemplary job showing how abuses in the criminal justice system of the south allowed for blacks to be sentenced to virtual slavery.

Where the book fails though is in showing that this was an re-enslavement of civil war blacks. It ignores the wholesale black migration of blacks to the north in the years before and during WWI which would contradict the statements that blacks could be arrested for any crime an officer saw fit. The author ignores whites sentenced to similar terms in jail and conditions which was wide spread in the south. Worst of all, the book lacks any context. We are lead to believe that because it happened in these places, it happened everywhere.

A good book, just not a great one!

Excellent update to history that is rarely known. Should be in every school and public library.

Slavery By Another Name is painful to read. It is cleanly written, for the most part, but the continuation of virtual slavery in the US South that only began to recede with the advent of WW2 makes it grim slogging. But slog away, dear reader, because you need to know what is in this book, which , in my opinion, deserves and will receive a number of literary and historical awards this year.

This book is both profoundly factual, and at times, partially "un-factual," -- that is, reconstructed history. In instances where the ex-slaves could not speak for themselves, which were many, Mr. Blackmon deigns to speak for them himself. It is what can only be called "necessary historical extrapolation, in defense of the defenseless." Yet, somehow these noble stretches beyond the data do indeed conform to and confirm the same stories and results researched equally well by William B. Taylor in his "Down on Parchman Farm: The Great Prison in the Mississippi Delta," which covers the same period as this book does, but primarily from the Mississippi point of view rather than from Alabama's.

Altogether Blackmon taps into another important, under-reported yet very dark part of American history: The period of the Southern White "Redemption," after the freedman's Bureau had closed its tents down (literally) and moved back North, leaving the ex-slaves to fend for themselves for the next 100 years.

The most cold-blooded of the truths that he reveals is that the shaky white farms and plantations that managed to revive themselves in the aftermath of the Civil War, simply could not make it without black expertise. And here he does not mean just black manual labor, but more importantly, black farming and household management skills. As a result, of this white deficiency, and as is usual for the U.S. when it comes to race relations, the Southerners sought to re-enslave and re-colonize blacks by more novel and more interesting but equally brutal means: that is by legal and social fiat.

In almost every instance, these tactics had a patina of legalisms pasted over them (and the author spends too much examining them and churning them trying it seems to treat them as if they were legitimate defenses of all but indefensible practices) the overall effect was the same: that "Blacks had no legal protections whatsoever." Going through the legal motions was only a pretext for whites to continue doing what they had done during slavery and had planned to continue doing by any means necessary anyway, in order to continue "keeping blacks down" and re-enslaved.

While the book makes it seem that these tactic and stratagems for re-enslavement occurred only due to Southern industrial and domestic exigencies, hatred and mean-spirited chicanery, the author must be reminded that the brutal "Black Code Laws" upon which many of these pernicious Southern practices were patterned, began in the North before the Civil War, and were simply grafted on to the "redeemed southern way of life" as the new "Jim Crow" laws and practices.

I would have been much happier if the author had made an attempt to show the "all but linear (and very stable) connection" across time between the arrest and incarceration rates then -- which in Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama and Florida, constantly hovered around 25% -- and the almost exact NATIONAL rates today. This in my view (as well as that of a handful of sociologists) could not be only a mere coincident, but more likely due to deep structure social reasons and causes that did indeed grow out of America's culture of "structural racism," which inevitably, one way or another, gets mapped back to slavery.

The reasons for incarcerations then and now, are, of course different: Then, as the author so carefully elaborates, blacks were picked up and thrown in jail on almost any pretext whatsoever - from vagrancy to stealing a can of beans. Then, it was a conscious case of "coerced labor," pure and simple. Today it is due mostly to the Draconian and unfair 100 to 1 cocaine laws, and a host of other, mostly unconscious "race related social causes." The utter stability of these percentages in themselves, represents an untold story laying dormant in the subtext of American culture, all to itself.

Any excavation of American history this good, even with some limitations, cannot get less than five stars.

A friend gave me this book because I haven't been sleeping well lately. Since all that has happened in the world, it is so nice to find a book that can discuss tragedy and fear in such helpful and comforting manner. I highly recommend it.

This book has comforted me on nights when I just can't fall asleep. Although I still struggle somewhat with sleepless nights, it's nice to know there are others out there like me, and that it doesn't always have to be this way. It was comforting without lecturing me about my lifestyle or decisions, and was a good choice as an initial purchase to get me on the road to a full night's sleep.

"The Sleep Book, a bedside companion" is aptly named. From the cover and inside design, to the gentle color choice of the first page, to the easy flow of topics, this book is a comfort to have next to my bedside. The author is honest, humorous and compassionate, and peppers her own writing with a spectrum of quotes from all kinds of sources. Arranged in alphabetical order by topic (...imagination, pain, passion, ritual, try, yawn, zzzzz...), I haven't read it straight through. I open it up to a page and start reading, one thing leads to another and I find myself more relaxed. This book is easier than a cup of chamomile tea. Treat yourself or someone you love.

Aunt Laya author of the self help book for young adults, "You Don't Have to Learn Everything the Hard Way"

Unlike other 'self-help' or 'how to' books, THE SLEEP BOOK isn't preachy or patronizing. It just has practical information to teach me about, and help me to find, a good night's sleep. A refreshing take on an often frustrating task. I recommend it.

I came across this book in a bookstore right when I was complaining about my sleepless nights to my husband. The other books about sleep contained dated photos, charts and figures. We found "The Sleep Book" by Jody Grant-Gray, to be filled with entertaining information, and highly useful tips for sleep. The author seemed to understand why I wasn't sleeping! And then she told me how to get there. Useful, comforting, and entertaining. This book is a delight! My husband is happy I bought it, and that doesn't usually happen...

THIS SIMPLY LITTLE BOOK IS DIFFERENT & WE R GLAD WE HAVE IT! GREAT IDEA OF SHOWING HOW SOMETHING AS SMALL AS A SINGLE SNOWFLAKE CAN QUICKLY BECOME SO MUCH MORE!!!

This is a great book to read to students as the first snowfall is coming down. I have older students in ESOL but they are learning English and often come from other countries so reading an easy book is can be interesting and meaningful to them. This is a beautiful book they can practice reading on their own later after I have read it to the class. Many of my beginning students have never seen snow before so it is mysterious and very interesting to them. They love it!

We (our two boys and ourselves) have checked this book out from the library countless times. It's about time we had a copy for ourselves AND that I send a copy to my NYC dwelling, 45 year old big brother who still believes in the magic of snow that all children know. The boy in this story reminds me of him.
An all time favorite. Perfect in its simplicity.

A perfect review would be like the painting "White on White" a blank to consider as a metaphor for snow, which really that's what the book is constructing- a paper representation of a first snowfall. And it would fit Shulevitz to leave a blank for "Snow" , I think he might "get it". As a teacher, I have several of his books and each has a particular quality I like to call "space" , they are creations of places that seem frozen and afar, a kind of wonder always over takes me as I read these books to kids. The reader becomes superfluous somehow. It's a very hard thing to find words for, his stories connect in another place, beyond text, "in place". In general if you are a teacher, as I am, working on the construct of "setting" with young children his books will allow you to focus on this in a way where internal image can be discussed. 1st graders after reading always tell me they can "go inside" his spaces and find a "reality. Lately I have spent a great deal of time thinking about reality. Going inside of writing and images and finding a "reality" is a unique construct to work to build with students. It is the heart of literature, unique to talk about with students and this author allows you to go to a "there" . And the there is not a there of this earth, it is a there of literary creation. Also as a teacher of children in a second language I notice they connect to these books. Really connect. With "SNOW" they had me read it twice and insisted on writing poems. Insisted.

As for "Snow" it is the telling of adult and child perspectives. In snow. When I grew up in West Virginia as flakes fell my brother and I would go out to see, to see if they were sticking, praying of course for their layering our world.Mum and Dad praying to be left in peace.Their world of inconvenience so much a part of having to deal with it in traveling to work. Here in the story a boy, who remains just a boy, just watches the flakes and listens to the adults predict the possibility of getting a blanket of snow. For my students who live coastal in CA with no possibility of snow, despite the current snap of cold killing our beautiful tropical plants, these children need to read of this wondrous time in order to experience it. That is such a thing for me to create for them. It invites a teacher sharing of experience. I cannot overstate the beauty of the illustrations as they show the snows arrival to this world, he is, page by page unfolding this, this place "somewhere" which by "reading" the images grows into an internal space place. Ah....he is so good.

Snow is a purity so many forget, humans need this. It places us in the world, stills our power, reminds of nature, is other worldly. It is trans formative. And this text goes to that place. Children know weather. It is real to them in a way I like to call naive understanding. They are feeling "SNOW" like poets..

When reading this book I always fold and cut snowflakes with the kids. This year no child had ever done this before in my room. Not a single one. There is a champion book of snowflake cutting patterns in a Scholastic book. It's remarkable to cut snowflakes with 1st graders, study the crystal forms from internet images, look inside this text to see the images in "Snow" of snowflakes, gentle, beautiful forms to grace the classroom windows. I really can't imagine not using this book it is that much a part of my program with 1st graders here in Oxnard at Hathaway......
Snow comes. It transforms. It is the silence and white blanket.Beautifully celebrated here in his book.

Everything goes together in this book. The illustrations are simple and evocative, the text is minimal, you need to read it with weight to convey the mood; the gray, unremarkable city populated with gray, unremarkable adults is uninspiring. A little boy sees one snowflake (yes, it's there, look hard) and gets excited. Not so the adults: 'grandfather with beard', 'man with hat', and 'woman with umbrella' brush him off. The city is still gray. WE are gray, but the boy believes and indeed the snowflakes keep coming until they begin to build up on the street and buildings. The boy and his Mother Goose companions get happier and the illustrations get brighter. The dour adults are driven indoors, the boy dances with delight. Imagination, enthusiasm, and hope have triumphed.
With few words and understated illustrations the book is amazingly alive!
My only reservation is that many of the pictures are rather too small for a story group to really appreciate from a distance. In order for the children to take note of the details (such as one lone snowflake) it is necessary to bring the pages down to each child for a closer look. This does bleak the reading flow. A few unfolding pages when applicable (as in "Papa, Please Get The Moon For Me")would go a long way to making this story more visual. Aside from that little quibble I think this is a delightful book for children.

This book has provided hours of fantastic entertainment for the family. We love looking at the pictures, listening to the sounds and then trying to identify the crickets that we find.
This book should be in every family's library. Get your kids outside and play!

This book and included CD was the answer for learning all the insect sounds on my field recordings and nocturnal adventures. Good pictures for seeing what you heard really looks like, as well as good descriptions with the general range of each species noted. Excellent quality recordings on the CD.

I have long wanted to know what insects I am hearing every summer and now have a chance of knowing which ones they are. The imagery is fantastic. The range maps will be a blessing to my students as they try to determine what type of katydid or cicada and so on they have nabbed for their bug collection.

The audio CD is great too! The only drawback there is that the holding compartment in the back of the book is poor. Right after I got this book I was taking it to school and the brand new CD fell out of the pouch and onto the pavement. Now its scratched and I don't know what to do. I usually make a backup of all my CDs right away but failed to do so with this one!

This book came to my attention when I wrote in my blog about the microphone I positioned in my backyard. I use it to listen to crickets and lots of other creatures out back, sometimes all night long.

Gorgeous photos, tons of info, and a cd of insect songs as well. If you're at all interest in these critters this is a must have book. Who knew there were so many different kinds of crickets out there?

At the start of the attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean, at Disneyland in California, you board a boat that takes you through a replica of Midwestern river dock at dusk. The most realistic part of that ride that gets you into the mood to shift focus away from the mob scene outside onto the scenes about to be revealed within is the sound of a cricket. If I think about that ride, I can hear that cricket.

Whenever I hear insect sounds at dusk and in the evening, I always wonder what kind of insect is making the sounds. That's something I've wondered since I was a small boy. Until now, I had few clues except for the occasional cricket I had observed while singing. But regardless of where I am, those sounds help me relax and become more peaceful.

With The Songs of Insects, I've added exponentially to my ability to relax, identify insects, and explore new dimensions of the insect songs. I was very impressed with the combination of CD and book. I started by listening to the CD because I was so interested in hearing new songs and knowing which insect made which song. I noted down the familiar sounds of my neighborhood in the woods and was astounded to see that we have katydids in our area. Checking the maps in the books, I was pleased to see confirmation that it was reasonable to expect those katydids in our area.

Next, I dived into reading about the katydids, crickets, and cicadas that I had heard before. But it was hard to take my eyes off the stunning photographs of those insects, displayed both against a white and a natural background.

After that, I went back and read the whole book and found myself intrigued by the opportunity to keep crickets as pets to bring the singing indoors. I was pleasantly surprised to see the graphic representations of the songs in the book as sonagrams in terms of time and pitch. I was also interested to read how much we lose our ability to hear in the upper ranges of insects: That explained why I couldn't hear anything in six places on the CD. Oops! No wonder people think I'm getting hard of hearing. But at least I could see what I am missing.

Later, as dusk fell, I found that the chorus outdoors became more distinct in my mind. I'm sure it's always as loud as it was last night, but I normally don't notice it. I'm grateful for this book and CD bringing my local symphony into greater awareness.

The CD also has samples from a CD entitled Insect Concertos. Based on these samples, I highly recommend the idea of acquiring that CD as an invitation into relaxation whenever you need one.

I highly recommend you acquire this book and CD if you have any interest in insect song, insect identification, or relaxation.

You don't need to fully understand the military to understand and feel the power of this book. Lt. Cash, a chaplain serving with the Marines in Iraq, writes in an easy to read style. His words aren't always easy to read, but they are full of the power of God and the enormity of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I never realized the military was such a spiritual place--yet another reason to continually support our military! I was overwhelmed reading Cash's retelling of the First Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment's initial push into Baghdad and all the miracles that surrounded the horror of that night. It was like seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time: How could you not believe in God? After reading this book and the Marine's who experienced God's continual protection, He too is "always faithful," just like a Marine.

A Table in the Presence is a very good book. It is about how God still has a presence even in the chaos of the war in Iraq. The Marine who is telling the story is LT. Carey H. Cash, a Chaplain in the United States Marine Corps. He gives accounts of the trials and hardships that Marines encounter physically and spiritually. One of the main points in the book is how God seeks out the souls of the Marines even in the darkest and loneliest places of the world. Almost every one of the Marines in LT. Cashes unit experienced the protection and love that God offers for those who seek Him. Some stories are so amazing that you will just have to read them for yourself. A Table in the Presence is a very good read and will truly show you the power and deity of God. Buy this book!

A Table in the Presence: The Dramatic Account of How a U.S. Marine Battalion Experienced God's Presence in Iraq

I was so blessed to have had red this book. We do not see God work in such dramatic ways in the US. I believe are so blessed we think we do not need God and rely on ourselves. My faith was increased and I have purchased 4 other copies to give to family and friends.

Carol Savorn

Very good book with a look at what it is like in Iraq. If your loved one is being deployed this is a good book to read. It is a view through a chaplin's eyes.

An inspiring journey through war and back with one of the U.S. Navy's Chaplains assigned to the Fleet Marine Force (1/5, 1st MARDIV). Cash takes us from his initial call to ordained ministry, through seminary to his reporting for duty aboard 1/5. Especially fascinating is Cash's discovery of the sacraments (he is Southern Baptist) as essential to the Christian's life. The tales of heart ache and of thankfulness for God's abundent grace make this a great read. It certianly made me more aware of the the wonderful work of US Navy chaplains, particulary those with the FMF.

William James Murray hits the nail on the head when it comes to the American System and what has happened. To know and understand how and why our country was founded is the first step to discovering how it is we save our country from falling into the trap that so many before us have become ensnared. Murray teaches you what it truly means to be a real-American in easy to understand language, and easy to understand concepts. Though he can be repetetive in his writing, it is clearly methodically repetitive. There are concepts in this book that must be understood. I am going to teach American History and Government at the High School Level and I will fight to have this book be required reading in my classes.

If I was a rich person (which I'm not), I would buy a copy for every elected official in this country and make them read it. (Ahhh... wishful thinking)

Fantastic book - fantastic and easy to read. It has quite literally changed my life. Opened my eyes and made me rethink our form of "government" we know today.

There is still a knot in my throat from reading it and being so angry - even though I finished it last month!

Every taxpayer, every school kid, every parent, every voter should have a copy of this book.

Stated Simply, this book is the single best, easily comprehendable book on Americanism.

The author doesn't woo you with complex legal citings, boggle your mind with twists in logical and fanciful leaps.

In fact this book will help you indentify what kind of American you are, what kind of American you truely want to be, and how to recognize the difference between Real-Americans and those who claim or even think that they are being patriotic, but are are undermining the country we live in, mostly through confussion and inaction.

I wish I could afford to buy a copy for every person alive, it should be required reading for all Americans.

Simply put... the best book I have ever read. It will fill you with pride, anger and activism. You will read in awe of the courage of our founding fathers. You will read in horror about the beast that our government has become.

It's hard to disagree with the principles expressed in this book. I've bought 4 copies already to share with family and friends!

This is one of the single greatest books that I have ever had the privelage of reading. The writer describes in clear and concise terms the price of liberty, how we won it, and how we are losing it. You wont find this information in any government school or college.
Delightfully this book is an easy read. The author wrote this book with the common man in mind. Splendidly I tore through this book in no time at all without having to read a single sentence twice.
Patriots, students, and anybody dedicated to preseving liberty and economic freedom should definately read this masterpiece. Its amazing that the information in this book is surpressed from our schools. Everybody should read this book twice and buy copies for all your family and friends.

Eric Calonius has obviously done an immense amount of research and transformed it into a beautiful work of art. It is a very entertaining and INFORMATIVE novel. If history repeats itself, one can and should learn from his mistakes. This should be required reading for all poiticians!
Harold Markovitz

I enjoyed the book and am glad the author took the time to write the story down. It is worth reading.

Perhaps the author would consider writing about the schooner Clotilda which arrived in Mobile in 1860 with 110--116 captured Africans. The story is known locally so Mr. Calonius would not really have known about the Clotilda. The whole sorid affair was undertaken on a drinking bet. After the War, the former captives settled north of Mobile and named the area Africatown (Prichard, Alabama).

In the book The Wanderer: The Last American Slave Ship and the Conspiracy That Set Its Sails, one is first given a fine portrait of the genteel life of some of the South's more prosperous families. But that picture becomes clouded when business man Charles Lamar of Savannah, Georgia decides to import African slaves long after the trade has been made illegal in the fledgling United States. What ensues are lives turned upside down, deals gone awry, travesties of justice and the underpinnings of secession on the eve of the Civil War.

Erik Calonius has done his homework, quoting from articles from papers on both sides of the Mason Dixon line, as well as providing references to source documents regarding the ship building business of that time, agreements between the United States and Great Britain to patrol the high seas for human contraband and myriad other accounts of the politics of the day. This story has so many twists and turns that no writer of historical fiction could have bested it. But the sad truth is that it is not fiction. In fact this episode has probably not been presented in the average high school history class. I would hope that producers for the History or Discovery channels would bring it out as a documentary film in order to allow access to it in the popular media.

One side effect to reading this book is that I was taken to look back in my own genealogy when I found that one of the key players shared my surname. To my surprise, for better or for worse, I found that I indeed share ancestry with that individual.

A pleasant and heartwarming epilogue does await in the end when one finds oneself asking throughout the book, "Whatever happened to the Africans that were brought in illegally?" But don't skip to the end - you'll want to absorb every detail of this rich story, replete with colorful personalities, action and suspense. Truth is stranger than fiction.

Fascinating.

Some reactions from our book club: "How come I've never heard any of this before?" "Hmmm, looking back at this story helps me see just how bullying today can lead us astray on every level", and "...those Fire Eaters and the lives that were lost by so many who didn't understand the economic scheming that really got that war going."

The club is planning a trip to Savannah but the scenes painted by Eric Calonius are vivid enough without the tour.

A most readable, enjoyable and important book. We would recommend it to any book club ... it kept us reading and stimulated rich discussions.

Let me begin by saying that this is not a book that I would normally have any interest in reading. As a general rule, the topic of slavery is of almost no interest to me, and I tend to avoid the subject due to lack of interest. However, this particular book sounded like it might be interesting, so I decided to read it.

Erik Calonius is a career journalist who has had some plum assignments in his journalistic career. The Wanderer is his first book, and he should be very proud of it. The topic got his interest on a visit to Jekyll Island, outside Savannah, Georgia, when he saw an exhibit to the Wanderer. Intrigued, he started looking into it, and decided to tackle a modern telling of the story.

The slave trade was made illegal in the United States in 1820. However, some of the Southern firebrands who were pushing for secession also strongly favored reinstating the slave trade. Charles Lamar, a relative of L.Q.C. Lamar and of the second president of the Texas Republic, led the conspiracy. Lamar and his co-conspirators purchased the Wanderer, a magnificent yacht, and took her to Africa to bring back a load of slaves in 1858. His crew managed to evade the British and American naval vessels patrolling the coast of Africa and safely made it back to the United States.

Even though their purpose was a very poorly kept secret, Lamar and his co-conspirators managed to evade justice through a combination of corruption and bullying. They made witnesses disappear, tampered with evidence, and made it impossible for the government to convict them of piracy (the crime of importing slaves was designated an act of piracy, and carried the death penalty). In three separate trials in 1859, Lamar and his co-conspirators were all acquitted and escaped justice, in spite of the best efforts of the Buchanan administration to convict and execute them.

There was poetic justice: Lamar was killed in action during the Civil War, and the Wanderer, which was seized and sold by the government, ended up in Union service during the war.

The book is well-researched and very well-written, which I would expect of a senior journalist of Mr. Calonius' credentials. He has brought a topic which would normally not interest me to life with an engaging writing style that almost reads like a novel. The book does have one of my pet peeves: instead of providing specific end note references, they're lumped together at the end by page, which drives me crazy. If one were interested in further research, or reading the primary sources for oneself, this style of footnoting makes it virtually impossible to do so. I absolutely despise that footnoting style. I suspect that was the publisher's call-and not Mr. Calonius'-so I can't necessarily fault him for it.

What I liked best about this book was how it so accurately and amply used the microcosm of this single incident to demonstrate how the agenda of the fire eaters directly caused the Civil War, and how they paid the ultimate price for their calumny. It also demonstrates how the inertia and passivity of the Buchanan administration allowed events to come to a crisis situation. The inactivity of the administration permitted a few fire breathers to flaunt the law for their own purposes, and their actions in doing so directly triggered the Civil War. Ironically, the prosecution of Lamar and his co-conspirators was left in the hands of Buchanan's attorney general, Thomas Howell Cobb of Georgia, who later became a Confederate general.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, and can highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the causes of the Civil War.

Milford-Haven is my new favorite place, and it's filled with my new best friends!

As assistant director of the Mathews Memorial Library, I have made sure the Milford-Haven novels have been entered into our collection and they are now circulating. Patrons have enjoyed reading this series and we look forward to Mara Purl's next installment!

I read Mara Purl's What The Heart Knows at one sitting, and there appears to be no end to her talent. Her verbal imagery is very effective, and she draws her readers into the story easily. Good work!

I loved Mara Purl's "What The Heart Knows"! It was engrossing and terrific! How long do we have to wait for book two?

I have just read "What The Heart Knows" with great enjoyment. All Mara Purl's characters are vivid and each one is memorable. Although there are a lot of them, there's no confusing them. She has excellent control of each one and scatters her hints and clues which I look forward to having explained/ expanded upon as the series continues. This writer is well on her way to giving Danielle Steel a run for her money!

This is the book, in this format, my mother read to me 50-plus years ago, and it is still as good. I recently purchased four copies. One each for two adult friends who are very ill. Both responded with uplifted spirits. One each for two young women who will be welcoming new "Young" ones soon.
Please note "Disbobedience" was set to music in the '60s by, I believe, the Chad Mitchell Trio, and James James Morrison Morrison Weatherby George Dupree is still warning his mother "not to go down to the end of town unless you go down with me ..."
"Vespers", at the very end, not only brings back memories of your own and your children's innocent childhoods, but also contains a very important message, "Oh, I quite forgot/God bless me."
And God bless you and those with whom you share this book.

One day, I found one of these poems running around in my head 40 years after I first began reading them to my boys when they were very young. As my older son took possession of that copy some time back, I had to order a new one for my 67-year old self just to get the lines absolutely right. It was worth it. My only regret is that I have no grandchildren to drum them into. Charming, literate and comforting.

This is one very good book and can be enjoyed by people from 2 to 92. I've read it to senior citizens as well as my grandchildren. The subjects are universal. The rhyme and rhythm are delightful.

My copy of this book is 51 years old and has my grandmother's autograph. Talk about a lasting gift! I love books as gifts, and this is my all-time favorite.

I had to read this for a little while before I got to a poem I really liked. The first 10 or so poems just seemed incomplete to me. "Independence" caught my eye first. In very few words it pretty much tells us adults that our kids are going to do what they want, despite all the things we say. It's followed by the wonderful poem "Nursery Chairs" where a child pretends the chairs in his house are different things. Then after "Nursery Chairs" is another strong poem, "Market Square" where we learn that there are things all around us in nature that we don't need to get from the market.

"Disobedience" is another interesting poem. It's kind of a role-reversal story about a kid whose mother disobeys his orders to stay away from the end of town, and she gets lost as the result of her disobedience.

"Spring Morning" emphasizes the beauty of nature to us, saying, "It's awful fun to be born at all." Next is "The Island" which has a wonderful closing message that screams, "God made it all - FOR US!" to me.

And there are so many other joyous poems in this quick read too. There's "Jonathan Jo," "Rice Pudding," "The Wrong House," "The Dormouse and the Doctor" (which has some terrific rhythm), a very touching "Little Bo-Peep and Little Boy Blue," "The Invaders," "If I Were King," etc., etc.

But perhaps my favorite poem in the collection is "Halfway Down" which is about nothing more than sitting on stairs. Man, if someone can take such a simple act and make it so astoundingly wondrous, then that person truly must be one of the greatest writers ever.