Periods and Movements Books

Having just finished Chambers's "Witness," I was pleased (mostly) that Tanenhaus tells much of the same story breezily, though still in more than 500 pages. He is at his best during the hearings and trials, tautly rattling off questions and responses, cutting through the fog of Chambers's too-close account, making the more arcane controversies intelligible.

In Chambers's early life, Tanenhaus sticks to the evidence and refrains from speculating about Chambers's motives for joining the Communist Party, for example. I was somewhat disappointed that he didn't provide more in the way of interpretation, but by the time of Witness's publication, Tanenhaus begins to satisfy this craving for critique.

Most important, Tanenhaus succeeds in making his subject sympathetic in all his flawed humanity. His story has become central (in an odd way) to America's story of the first half of the 20th century--and beyond. But he continues to fascinate because he was so unlikelyy, an American original.

Chambers's life is characterized by a constant effort to combine some kind of religious faith with social messianism. His trouble came from not being able to achieve what is not possible. He took in as much from Spengler's The Decline of the West as from Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God is Within You, and he made a mess of them. He did not heed Jesus' words in Matthew 16:24 recommending to deny oneself first, then to pick up each one's cross and follow Him. Chambers ignored the first part. Neither did he understand what it meant by giving God what is God's and Caesar's what is Caesar's. He mingled all, he messed it all. The man had a terrible and frustrated life: full of unbridled passions, carnal as much as intellectual while a communist; and after his defection he led a resigned (to what, the author doesn't say) life, a sort of Christian mediocritas, in peace with himself, seemingly, and looking for understanding amid the new conserative movement he had inspired.

I found much more interesting the first 100 pages or so that deal with his personal and family life. A more sad and frustrated life is hard to find. He found in communism that valve to let out his anger and resentment against social and personal misery. His view on life is similar to his suicidal brother, only he took it on promiscuous sex and politics. His brother took it on alcohol and finally suicide. Instead of looking at the evil around, in their family and society, a look at themselves might have induced them to start working from within.

The rest of the 400+ pages is a total brick. I had to scan through the pages and so practise my fast-read technique. It is so full of irrelevant minute detail, information that the general reader cannot care for. The author does not offer a summary of a life here; he pours all his data collected as a lawyer would. Browsable but not enjoyable.

I grew up under the cultural shadow of Alger Hiss, stupidly thinking the term "commie" was a funny way to mock anyone concerned about the threat of Communism.

But, being a victim of bad education, I knew nothing of the epic, mid-twentieth century showdown between Hiss (now known to have been a communist spy and traitor, though still, ludicrously revered as innocent by left intelligentsia) and Whittaker Chambers, the moral lodestone of the twentieth century ,who offered up his own life as a sacrifice of sorts to unmask and quell the poison tentacles of communist Russia that reached high into the U.S. Government of the New Deal era. And Chambers was not only a former communist spy himself, but a burgeoning literary icon. This is the history of a clash of ideas, submerged in the clash between two men caught up in the rush of modern history. The truth, as always, is right in front of us. Only ideological dogma can prevent one from pretending not to see it.

Read this for graduate American history course. There are a few rare instances in American history when a court case grips the passions of its citizens and serves to define people's political or social beliefs based on which side they believed was in the right. The Sacco and Vanzetti case of the 1920's, the Rosenberg espionage trials of the 1950's, and the O. J. Simpson case of the 1990's were to some extent examples of this phenomena. However, the Hiss perjury trials of 1949-50 were the epitome of this phenomenon, and helped to create a divide between liberals and conservatives in American politics that is still evident to this day. During the Cold War era, one could easily identify the political persuasion of a person simply by asking them whether Hiss or Chambers had told the truth. Simply put, the innocence of Alger Hiss was embraced by liberals. If Hiss, a well respected New Deal advocate and important Roosevelt administration member, had actually been an American Communist spying for the Soviets since the 1930's, then a whole mass of conservative accusations would gain legitimacy, and all of FDR's New Deal programs and his foreign policy decisions at the Yalta Conference would become suspect. In addition, Hiss' guilt would call into question security breaches in the Truman administration, which was already being besieged by questions of "Who lost China." It is against this historical backdrop, that Sam Tanenhaus wrote Whittaker Chambers: A Biography; whose purpose was to make the first serious examination of the life and motivations of one of America's most contentious figures in the last half of the twentieth-century, Whittaker Chambers.

Tanenhaus' description of Chambers' early life is an excellent insight into his psychological profile. Born Vivian Jay Chambers on April 1, 1901, (April Fools Day), he came from a middle-class family of meager means. Add to the mix a father who was bisexual and spent much time away from home, a mother who was paranoid, a grandmother who was insane, and his brother Richard who committed suicide, it is no wonder that you have the formula for a man who developed into a tormented soul and was generally estranged from the world and the people around him. In fact, throughout the book, Tanenhaus illuminates his theme, which is to examine Chamber's tormented life at key junctures; such as, when he joined and left the Communist party, when he became a reluctant informer against Alger Hiss and when he distanced himself from the political right near the end of his life. Chambers, who attended Long Island's South Side High School, showed himself to be academically brilliant and an exceptional writer. His parents had big dreams for their son's future. Chambers had dreams too but they did not involve college. Being too young to fight in World War Two, he decided to run away with a friend to see the world. They bummed around and worked their way to New Orleans--a city he fell in love with. "Chambers had discovered life as Hugo described it, a kind of prison, harsh and cruel, but lit from within by tender sentiment and from without by sudden shafts of illumination" (18). After a few months of life on the seedy side and running out of money, he returned home and changed his name to Charles Whittaker but went by Whittaker, and within six months entered Columbia University.

A new world was opened to Chambers at Columbia with which he became enamored. He took English composition with Mark Van Doren, who later in life became a Pulitzer Prize winning poet. Van Doren quickly saw in Chambers a very talented writer and later remarked that he was the best writer among his undergraduate students in the 1920's. Chambers especially enjoyed the friendship of fellow students, mostly Jewish, whom he found brilliant such as Lionel Trilling, Meyer Schapiro, and Mortimer J. Adler to name a few. "It was the ernste Menschen" (serious men) "who shaped Chamber's idea, never altered, of the intellectual life" (22). However, academic bliss was not to be for Chambers. He ran afoul of the school administration for a play that he wrote which was deemed profane, and thus became despondent and quit going to class--eventually dropping out and never finishing his university education. He tried to travel to the Soviet Union to help build a new nation on the advice of Van Doren, but he only made it to Germany before returning home. He took a job at the New York Public Library which fed his autodidactic nature, and he started to consort with many women. It is at this stage in Chambers' life in 1925, that he joined the 16,000 member Communist Party of the United States, (CPUSA). "So much the better. He was used to being outnumbered. He had at last found his church" (46).

Tanenhaus paints a portrait of a man who dove into his new life as a Communist with a religious fervor. Chambers became a much-respected writer for several party newspapers, which brought him to the attention of party apparatchiks in 1932. Chambers also met Esther Shemitz a Socialist, and they married in 1931. It was after his marriage that he accepted an assignment to go underground and actively spy for the Party. He was made the courier of the "Ware cell" in Washington D.C., whose mission was to pass sensitive information from Communist party members who had infiltrated various departments of the U. S. government to Boris Bykov, a Soviet intelligence agent. One of the best-placed spies in the "Ware cell" who provided information to Chambers, then using the alias George Crosley, was Alger Hiss. However, Chambers became so disillusioned by Stalin's purges and his nonaggression pact with Hitler, that in 1938, he quit the party. Fearing for his life and his family's safety, Chambers turned informer and confessed all of his activities to Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle, Jr., who forwarded his notes of the meeting to the FBI, which did not follow up on the case until several years later. In addition, an old friend recommended Chambers for a job at Time magazine, which he was elated to have since he was broke. Tanenhaus once again shows that Chambers' literary acumen and zeal for any new project he took on, propelled him to become one of Time's top editors in the 1940's. The magazine's owner Henry Luce said, "Chambers was the best writer Time ever employed" (165). While a writer and editor at Time, Chambers became a most vociferous anti-Communist.

Soon after Stalin reneged on his Yalta Conference promises, a conference that Alger Hiss played a key role in for the State Department, the U. S. government finally moved to ferret out Communist infiltrators in the government. The FBI finally conducted extensive interviews with Chambers. This led to Chambers becoming a government informant in one of America's most dramatic congressional hearings and court cases of the twentieth-century. Tanenhaus' research shows Chambers' denouncement of Alger Hiss was a stinging indictment of the Roosevelt and Truman administrations, since it cast doubt on American liberals' willingness to conduct espionage investigations during the war years. The contrast between Hiss and Chambers could not be starker. Hiss was a Harvard graduate with impeccable looks and a sterling reputation as a government servant. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. His character references included Justice Felix Frankfurter, and John Foster Dulles, who was to become Secretary of State in the Eisenhower administration. Chambers was an overweight plain looking man who did not dress well, a self-confessed Communist and government informant. Tanenhaus did not write about the relationship between Hiss and Chambers until he wrote about the Hiss perjury case, near the end of the book, which made the book a bit awkward to read. However, Tanenhaus does a good job of retelling the facts of the perjury case and Chambers' testimony to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), as well as his extensive cooperation and long and friendly relationship with Richard Nixon. One finds that Chambers was much more revealing of his own motivations in his critically acclaimed autobiography Witness, which was written in 1952 after the Hiss perjury trial. It was also disappointing that Tanenhaus did not cover more of Chambers' writings and views about Stalinism and his very prescient views of the Soviet-American confrontation that led to the Cold War. Tanenhaus' research does agree with other historians work. John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr, in their book Early Cold War Spies: The Espionage Trials That Shaped American Politics, written some ten years after this book, proved that their was a preponderance of evidence showing that Hiss was a Communist and did commit espionage against the U. S. government. Hiss was not charged with espionage because the statute of limitations protected him. The first Hiss perjury case ended in a hung jury. The second ended on January 20, 1950 with his conviction on two counts of perjury and a sentence to serve five years in jail--he only served forty-four months. Hiss went to his grave denying the charges against him. Haynes and Klehr wrote that he gained much sympathy with the political left again in the wake of the Watergate scandal claiming, "that a government conspiracy had forged evidence and coerced false testimony against him."

Although Chambers was vindicated by Hiss's conviction, Tanenhaus showed that Chambers entered into a self-imposed exile on his farm in Maryland. However, for the rest of his life Chambers was visited by a small coterie of friends with whom he enjoyed lengthy discussions about world affairs. "Still convinced he had left the winning side for the losing one, Chambers foretold a global Communist victory. Gloomy as his predictions sounded, he was not devoid of hope" (450). He believed that the primary way the West could defeat Communism was with morality and religion and not militarily. Needing to earn money, Chambers went back to what he did best. He wrote his autobiography Witness, which occupied the top of the New York Times best seller list for several months in 1952, and gave him the financial security he desired. More importantly, Witness was an anti-Communist manifesto that for Chambers described, "a struggle between the force of two irreconcilable faiths--Communism and Christianity." Witness was a powerful exposé of Communist activity in America and changed the life of one future president, Ronald Reagan. Reagan remarked that Witness was his favorite book and pointed to, "Witness as the book that would shape his political outlook." In 1984, President Reagan posthumously awarded Chambers the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The other person of note that Witness made a huge impression on was William F. Buckley, Jr., who befriended Chambers and offered him the position of senior editor of his fledgling conservative magazine National Review. Both men maintained a very friendly relationship up to Chamber's death in 1961. Though Chambers would write articles for the National Review, he turned Buckley's offer down due to his poor health and his growing reluctance of the tactics that the political right was using--especially those of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Near the end of his life, Chambers became friendly with another former Communist and imminent writer, Arthur Koestler. Koestler wrote of Chambers upon receiving news of his death: "I always felt that Whittaker was the most misunderstood person of our time. When he testified he knowingly committed moral suicide to atone for the guilt of our generation. The witness is gone, the testimony will stand."

In all, Sam Tanenhaus did an excellent job using primary and secondary sources, trial transcripts, and personal interviews to write an engaging biography of Whittaker Chambers. In his book, he provides informative notes and a thorough index; all of which helped to provide readers with a better understanding of the political mood in the country at the time of the Hiss-- Chambers case. The book would have been better organized had Tanenhaus placed the Chambers Hiss relationship information in its proper chronology and not moved it from the 1930's into the Hiss trial period of the 1950's. That small criticism aside, Tanenhaus' biography of Chambers is an important scholarly work for anyone wishing to gain a better understanding of CPUSA activities in U. S., the work of HUAC, and especially its star member, Richard Nixon, and the political left/right divide that was at the center of the Cold War era.

As a graduate student in philosophy and history, I recommended this book for anyone interested in American history, foreign policy, Cold War history.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough for understanding the state of American politics, past, present and future. The inner turmoil of Whittaker Chambers is revealed to the world, leaving the reader without a shadow of a doubt as to his courage and greatness. His bitter childhood, his years as a Communist spy, his homosexual inclination, and ultimately his redemptive love for his wife and family, all lead to the climax of Chambers' courageous stance against Communism, which he wins despite all odds. This book fills in the gaps of Chambers' remarkable autobiography, "Witness," which I also recommend as essential political and moral reading.

Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama: The Climatic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution is a definitive study of the Civil Rights Movement that occurred in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. Pulitzer Prize winning Journalist Diane McWhorter brings this particular history alive for her, the people that lived during this era, and those who are now trying to understand this difficult period in American history that involved segregation and unconstitutional Jim Crow laws. Although McWhorter is not a historian, she divulges detailed facts within the book, which may be overwhelming to some readers. McWhorter writes as an investigative journalist, and at times sensationalizes particular situations in order to get her point across, which appear repetitious. On the other hand, it is effective in conjuring the emotions of the period as it occurred from both sides of the conflict. Her narrative attempts to lock each quote from each person within the context of the past, which may disturb and shock present day readers.

McWhorter argues that this particular conflict emerged from the effects that the New Deal had in Birmingham upon its arrival. She presents a complex history that involved the Southern elite, which included her father, Martin McWhorter. One of the interesting aspects of the book is McWhorter's emphasis of the New Deal's ties with the labor movement, and labor workers who resisted the transition belonged to the infamous Ku Klux Klan. When describing the events that led to the conflict in Birmingham, McWhorter shows readers how the Ku Klux Klan mentally and violently inflicted pain on Blacks, which she compares to that of the Nazis in Germany and what they did to the Jewish people during the late 1930s and 1940s. And ironically, this particular history is not at all too distant in the past because what happened in Birmingham in 1963, if comparing twentieth century history to nineteenth century history, did not occur hundreds of years in the past, and this "Revolution" still rears fresh in so many minds.

McWhorter attempts to achieve objectivity with this riveting event in history. She accomplishes in providing the reader with an eyeful of names and places that are chronologically placed. The most compelling aspect of the book is the acknowledgment of the numerous wrongdoers who attempted to roadblock integration, and the unsung heroes that helped to achieve civil rights in the South and the entire United States. Lastly, McWhorter shows much empathy and respect for the four young girls who lost their lives at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church who were coincidently about the same age as she was at the time.

Carry Me Home is yet another important account in understanding the Civil Rights Movement as well American history during the twentieth century. This is a definite must read.

This is simply a necessary book for anyone who wants to understand the Civil Rights Movement, the city of Birmingham, Alabama, the relations between big business and racism and fascism in this society, and Amercian politics , not only in the historical period covered by the book, but in general. The significant weakness of this book is that McWhorter's focus is chiefly on two groups of while people: Birmingham's industrial and commercial ruling class and the variety of fascists, racists, and terrorists that they employed to maintain the dominant order.

While she does document enough about the civil rights movement in Alabama to make the book understandable, she has little concern for how the lives of everyday Black people in Birmingham were changed by what she talks about. Moreover, McWhorter focuses not on the issue of real integration of the life of Birmingham, but on the formal agreements between white business leaders and the civil rights movement in 1963 and early 1964, which even at the time that her book closes were not being carried out by the white business leaders and the local governments. So we are left at the end of the book curious as to how de facto desegregation took place. Of course, no American city, including Birmingham, has been truly desegregated in regard to housing, employment, and schools.

McWhorter gives a good picture about how big Northern-owned industry that dominated Birmingham economically and politically was responsible for the severe racism of the city. She shows how big business nourished the Klan and other violent organizations against Black people, during its battles with workers trying to unionize steel, coal, and other industries starting at the turn of the century.

The lineage of the fascist and Klan groups fed by the big business leaders during those years continued in the series of murders and bombings that shook Birmingham in the 1950s, and led to down to the individuals who bombed the 16th St. Baptist Church in 1963. For example, Hitler-loving fascist and antiSemite, Ace Carter who began in the 1930s became one of George Wallace's main speech writers in the 1960s.

That is the important part of this book: Southern racism was at the service of big capitalism nationally, not a product of something Southern, but something capitalist.

McWhorter shows how the power structure in the 1950s and 1960s resisted the civil rights movement, came to support the renewed racism represented by George Wallace, and had long before put Bull Connor into a position where his job as police commission largely involved coordinating terorism against Black people along with the Klan and neo-nazis.

She also does picture the civil rights movement in Birmingham starting with the movements that began as part of the labor radicalism in the 1930s and 1940s. She is best when she is talking about the tension between Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a militant Birmingham leader who eventually moved to Cincinatti but continued to function in Birmingham's movement, and more conservative leaders like Martin Luther King.

Toward the end, she notes that the rebellions that met Birmingham's police after the bombings in the 1960s, though condemned by the civil rights leaders, had a very strong impact on creating the fear that brought about concessions.

She does note that the Kennedy administration considered all direct action civil rights activities, like the marches that force Birmingham's rulers to make concessions, "poorly timed."


McWhorter overglorifies the white business leaders who made small concessions on integrating lunch counters and dressing rooms in stores, and hiring a few black clerks in the stores and other demands is a bit disconcerting. She tends to picture them as leaders in the effort to create integration, as opposed to the last guard of realistic resistance against real Black rights. Moreover, history, and even she shows that they backed off from their agreements for years. Again, it would have been more satisfying if she discussed how these and other concessions were won in the years after her book closes.

McWhorter has a fascination with historical and personal details of members of the white elite. We find out who was whose cousin, who was at whose wedding, who did what in 1920, 1930, 1940, 1957, and she presents hundreds of individuals and their details. Sometimes, she gets carried away and her details don't really contribute to understanding the central theme of the book, the civil rights battles in Birmingham.

Unfortunately, true after the 1963 Church bombing McWhorter concentrates almost totally on the details of the Klan and fascist terrorists suspected of the bombing, while leaving out what happened in Birmingham or the civil rights movement.

The civil rights movement in Birmingham did not end in 1963. Many of its battles remain to be fought there and throughout the country. With all of its weaknesses, Carry Me Home helps us understand the fight then and the fight now.

One of the best books I have ever read. I did not know the hatred of the white south against the balcks until I read this book. It was like reading Nazi Germany

Last fall, I had two hours to spare in the city of Birmingham. Someone suggested that I visit the Civil Rights Institute. It was on the corner across the street from the famous 16th Street Baptist Church. Walking through the various exhibits touched me deeply. I wanted to know more about a part of American history I knew so little about. So I turned to Diane McWhorter's book Carry Me Home. It is a gripping account of the civil rights movement. And it accurately reveals the struggles, the complexities, the personalities and internal conflicts of both sides of the movement. Some of it in unimaginable.

Although the book is comprehensive and detailed, it still flows. McWhorter is an excellent writter and she builds and maintains the tension right up to that explosive Sunday morning. I never got bogged down. The history is indeed complex. There is more to the struggle than meets the eye. And there are more heros than just Martin Luther King. Fred Shuttleworth is one of the many unsung heros who probably does not get the accolades he deserves. And the women played a vital role on the front lines. Great sacrifice and determination was spent, which increassed my admiration and respect toward the key players in the movement.

This book isn't for everyone but for me it was a tremendous learning experience.

The book "Carry Me Home," chock full of fascinating anecdotes and factual information, reveals the guilt of a Southern, white girl...who feels a deep force inside of her to expose her ancestors' shortcomings concerning their premise for white supremacy. Torn between her family and the truth, this book is a tell-all that reveals the McWhorters' role in the opposition to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s that altered Alabama's perception of the world drastically.

A must for any textile designer.

This beautiful book is divided into textile themes and offers an amazing range of style, colour and subject.
A great source of inspiration for any surface designer or illustrator.

This is a great book to have as a go-to book for anything in the textile design catagory; shapes, colors, period pieces, etc. My only disappointment was each reproduction of designs are somewhat small. None the less, there is a LOT to be found in this.

This book is an essential resource for anyone wanting to reproduce historical clothing - use it to train your perception, use it as a dictionary of style names, use it as a quick, well organized reference. I love it and make my studio help and design interns study it.

Finally a book that has everything I needed about fabrics.... lots of history and images to die for!!!! NICE WORK!!!! For its price, I would never of thought its contents was going to be so valuable!!!! I would buy this book OVER AND OVER AGAIN!!

I've already known this book, because of this I've bought it!
It's really great ideia to have one if you are a Fashion and Patern Design!

There is a lot of interesting nuggets here: how the western states might have broken away as well; the feelings of those doing the fighting and the dying(again and again the Cooperheads failed to understand that the soldiers wanted to fight through to completion and would never support them); and how the Cooperheads never did grasp that the Confederacy wanted not peace but independence. The most interesting chapter with the best writing , "Lincoln's Summer of Discontent" on the summer of 1864 and his belief that all might be lost and its turnaround. The first three or four chapters though have little structure , go on about what we already know, and fail to deliver much scholarship. She makes up for it in the latter half of the book.

Fantastic book and amazing for its relevance today. Even the exact words used by people over a hundred years ago seemed like they are ripped from today's headlines. History really does repeat itself. Sometimes verbatim.

Lincoln could very well have been defeated in 1864. The military victories of the summer of 1864 resulted in victory not only for the Union military but also a continuation of the Lincoln Presidency. His opponents in the 1864 election were the Democrats with a large peace faction. This peace faction were called the Butternuts or Copperheads, and they basically wanted peace at any price. Lincoln faced these opponents and stood his ground. Slavery would be ended, and the Union reunited. This book is about his 1864 opponents and how their slavish devotion to peace at any price basically cost the Democratic Party fifty years of losing Presidential elections.

This is a valued addition to the history collection. The author shows how the Copperheads were both a military and political threat to the Union. Lincoln managed to out manuever this movement, and reunite the country.

Copperheads were those anti-war Democrats in the North who, throughout the war, were Lincoln's most vocal critics. Though it is generally accepted these days that no account of any war is complete without a thorough discussion of the strength of political opposition, the Copperheads have received very limited attention in the historiography of the Civil War. Though the Copperheads are usually mentioned in books concerning the Civil War, a comprehensive examination of their origins and their effect on the war effort and public life is almost always missing. Weber fills this void very nicely.

The most important thing about this book, then, is that it shows you in the first place that the void is there. That is, before reading a full account of the Copperheads it is hard to conceptualize the reality of the wartime North. Copperheads lived and worked throughout the North, and thus every Northerner who wasn't a Copperhead certainly knew some and had their life affected by them. After getting one's head around the notion that there was a visible anti-war population in the North and that this population effected life throughout the entire country (including the South), one is then able to learn exactly what the reality of Northern life during the war was like.

Weber does an excellent job of laying out for the reader exactly how Copperheads effected not only life in the North, but also the war effort in general. Without this accounting one's understanding of public life in the North during the war is incomplete. Weber shows how the Copperheads related to their neighbors, how they changed the political scene, how they hindered the war effort, and how they encouraged the Confederates. These are important themes without which our understanding of the Civil War is incomplete, and due to the lack of similar literature, Weber's book is an important addition to any Civil War historian's library.

This book is well written and the content is very accessible when considering the relative obscurity of the topic. People with only a basic knowledge of the Civil War will still take plenty away from this read, and this book would make a great part of either a high school or college history class syllabus. At just over 200 pages, Weber focuses mostly on how the Copperheads interacted with the population at large, including the Confederates, while referring to more central Civil War events such as battles only when those events help explain the changing dynamics of the Copperhead movement. Thus, this makes a great supplement to a more comprehensive Civil War book (I recommend Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era ) in which the Civil War itself is the center of attention. All said, this is a great book and I highly recommend it; it will really enhance your understanding of life in the Civil War North.

Weber has done her homework. The early part of the book, in particular, shows wide ranging new sources: letters, diaries, small town newspapers. This is the most important part of the book because it brings together new information and provides a basis for further scholars.

Examples from all of the northern states (or so I think, I didn't count) show how widespread the movement was. The nature of the anecdotal material does not demonstrate how deep it was. It appears to be deep in some communities and families, but the only polling data of the time, the elections of 1862 and 1864 do not reflect that depth. Weber points out the circumstantial nature of these elections and how the Copperheads' fortunes rose and fell with success on the battlefield. I held back a star, though, because in the MANY stories of people, towns and politicians I did not find a central overview.

The later part of McClellan's nomination and the election that follows while not so rich in new material, for me, it was an excellent read. Weber documents and explains how a "War" candidate and a "Peace" candidate came to be nominated in the same convention. She goes on to explain Lincoln's landslide.

The description demise of the Copperheads is brief. Maybe this is all that is merited, but it would have been good to have some examples here, especially of the aforementioned communities where the Copperheads caused loss of life and property damage.

Weber sticks with history and does not draw parallels for today. Since it is mentioned by other reviewers, I will note Weber's observation that this peace movement was one of the conservative faction of the Democratic party. Today's peace movement has its origins in the liberal faction of today's Democratic party. It seems that the only thing Copperheads have in common with those against the operation is Iraqi is being against "a" war. Weber clearly shows how racism fueled the Copperheads. This issue is not at all present in the current peace movement.

This book is a good contribution to Civil War research. Its substance and sources will surely be used for future material.

Ann Hagedorn offers the reader a captivating perspective on America's struggle with slavery in her work, "Beyond the River." The uniqueness of her work eminates from two particular aspects of her work, both of which begin with the way she takes her subject out of the macro world of politics and economics into the smaller world of the lives of the people effected by the souths 'peculiar institution.' Looking slavery through the eyes of individuals, the reader gains a far greater appreciation of the suffering, torment, and most of all, the fear generated by those who stood in opposition.

Interesting also is the location the author focuses on, the Ohio River where on one side men are free and on the other live in chains. Most texts present slavery at great distances, like The Carolinas an and New York. Here we see just how intimate the slavery and the abolitionist could be and the blood spilled by both sides.

Most importantly, Hagedorn writes in a cool clear voice that is enjoyable and informative. She delivers facts and passion in the same sentence without ever becoming melodramatic or shrill. Readers who enjoy this fictional work may also want to look at "Cloudsplitter," Richard Bank's novel on The Brown family's war on slavery.

This is a great read, suspenseful and thoughtful, one of the best page-turners I have read in a long while. I strongly recommend the book to anyone, of any race, of any religion, and from any part of the U.S. It has made me reflect on what 'weak' creatures most of us are when it comes to moral risk-taking, and how courageous other Americans in the past have been. This is a book that will make you feel very humble about how 'morally righteous' you really are.

Unlike one of the other reviewers, I have enjoyed reading the 'large blocks of text'--the original written voice of the people livng at the time, and their [lists of] names make the events very real. These folks were a whole lot more articulate than myself--read this book!

Author Ann Hagedorn, who moved "on location" to complete her research and add inspiration to her writing, offers a rarely seen individual account of the underground railroad. Most other books on the topic take a view from 50,000 feet. Hagedorn focuses in on one river (the Ohio), two states (Ohio and Kentucky), and one man (John Rankin). The abolitionist work of this Presbyterian minister (whose letters about abolition are a crucial primary source) serves as the backdrop and foreground for Hagedorn's exposition. Though focused on Rankin, the author does not fail to provide compelling real-life stories of many other "key players" both slave and free. For a compelling, unique read of the courageous men and women conducting the underground railroad, "Beyond the River" is the book to read.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction , Spiritual Friends, and Soul Physicians.

Beyond the River was just named one of the American Library Association's Notable Books for 2004. The annual list is highly regarded and identifies 25 very good, very readable and very important books.

This is a tremendous honor for Beyond the River and one that is richly deserved; this book lovingly weaves together tales of the abolitionist heroes in the town of Ripley, Ohio in the years leading up to the Civil War.

So you think you know all about the Underground Railroad, the secret network that fugitive slaves used to escape bondage? Try this quiz:

1. Once they reached one station of the UGRR, how did fugitives reach the next station?

2. What role did women and children play in the UGRR?

3. What religious group do you associate with the UGRR?

So those questions are easy? Try these:

4. What connection did Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, have with Ripley?

5. How many years did the citizens of tiny Ripley, Ohio serve as major players in the Underground Railroad?

Ann Hagedorn answers all these questions and more in Beyond the River. In her skillful hands, a century and a half fades away and the people of Ripley spring to life. By day, they live a surprisingly civilized life-- none of those rustic log cabins and barefooted trips to the outhouse that you read about in many attempts to bring history alive. By night, the sophisticated network of friends and neighbors bands together for one purpose: "a solemn promise to fight slavery until it is dead or the Lord calls me home."

As a girl in the 1960's, I traveled through Ripley, Ohio a couple of times a year to visit my grandparents. I knew a little about the Rankin family and the Underground Railroad from reading the historical marker near Rankin House, but until Ann Hagedorn's book, the story of Ripley was lost history. Read Beyond the River the first time for the gripping story, the second time for the historical accuracy, and the third time for the inspiration to make our world a better place.

At a time when the Mexican-US border is rife with contention, one needs some inspiration for unity and dialogue. The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farm Workers Movement by Susan Ferriss and Ricardo Sandoval provides that inspiration. The book chronicles how Chavez, over almost a half-century of activism, used nonviolent tactics to promote unity among and justice for California's, and eventually the nation's, oppressed farm workers. Through his crusade, Chavez secured unionization for the US's farm workers and began the movement for Chicano rights. Although the book has its shortcomings, it offers a wonderful and inspiring picture of the farm worker's movement in the United States and Cesar Chavez's leading role.
Cesar Chavez's origins and experiences illuminate his later call to lead a nationwide movement. He was born Cesar Estrada Chavez on March 21, 1927 on his family's farm in Yuma, Arizona. There he lived an idyllic life learning the teachings of Catholicism until 1938 when the Great Depression forced the Chavez family to sell their land and move to California. There, Chavez experienced first-hand the brutal work, meager wages, and destitute conditions suffered by nonunionized migrant farm workers as well as the intense discrimination suffered by Chicanos. Chavez married Helen Fabela in 1948 and eventually settled in the impoverished barrio Sal Si Puedes ("Leave if you can.") in San Jose. In Sal Si Puedes, Chavez met two men who would become his greatest role models. Father Donald McDonnell taught Chavez the doctrines of Catholic Social Teaching, especially the labor-related encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII. Fred Ross recruited Chavez to work advocating for Chicano rights with the Community Service Organization. In 1962, however, Chavez left CSO to devote himself to a lifelong dream inspired by his time as a farm laborer: unionizing migrant farm workers.
In 1962, shortly after leaving CSO, Chavez and his family moved to Delano, California, where built the National Farm Worker's Association from the ground up. In 1965, after three years of slowly collecting membership, the association voted to join members of the Agricultural Worker's Organizing Committee in a strike of California vineyards. Soon Chavez, most famously under the banner of the United Farm Workers Union (a merger of the NFWA and AWOC), became the leader of la causa, a nationwide movement for farm worker's rights. He, along with activists like Dolores Huerta, organized migrant farm workers in initiatives like the famous nationwide California table grape boycott of the late 1960's, the lettuce strikes of the 1970's, and the anti-pesticide grape boycott of the 1980's. Throughout his organizing, Chavez, still a devout Catholic strengthened by his family's and Father McDonnell's teachings, remained staunchly nonviolent, fasting whenever violence crept into picket lines. A proponent of creative nonviolent action, Chavez, well-trained by Fred Ross, organized ingenious tactics like praying where picketing was forbidden, holding mass perigrinaciones (pilgrimages) and even mailing squashed grapes to prominent politicians. Chavez also devoted time to political activism, securing the creation of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board in 1976. Further, inspired by the discrimination he faced as a child, he promoted Chicano culture (while always promoting unity among different farm worker nationalities) establishing newspapers like the Malcriado and theater initiatives like Teatro Campesino. Chavez was remembered fondly upon his death in 1993 as the focal point of the Chicano farm worker's movement.
Fight in the Fields, the companion volume to a television series of the same name, paints a wonderfully creative picture of Chavez's life and legacy. The narrative thoroughly details Chavez's life, from birth to untimely death. The book features hundreds of photographs from Chavez's life that provide a useful visual reference for readers and illuminate the suffering and challenges faced during la causa. The volume also features several insets that consist of actual documents and articles authored by people active in la causa, whether on Chavez's or the opposing side. They provide a firsthand look into the visceral feelings and opinions of those involved in the farm worker's movement and are interesting reads for history buffs, like myself, who are fascinated by contextual documents.
Fight in the Fields further succeeds by emphasizing the people in Chavez's life. Often, accounts of larger-than-life figures like Chavez focus on the figure him or herself and his or her magnanimous deeds. Little attention is paid to his or her influences or influence on others. Fight in the Fields features quotes from interviews with dozens of figures close to Chavez. The interviews of those who influenced Chavez really get to the heart of what drove him to action. In addition, the book profiles over a dozen organizers Chavez took under his wing. He loved to find young, poorly educated (though possessed of infinite creativity and potential) farm workers and presenting them with seemingly impossible challenges (as Ross had done for him). I thoroughly enjoyed the book's emphasis on these young organizers because it demonstrates that, with a little training and hard work, all can advocate for nonviolent change.
Despite its excellent qualities, Fight in the Fields has shortcomings. The narrative is often repetitive and almost always confusing. However, the book's content more than makes up for its poorly written narrative. Furthermore, the book leaves the reader on a negative note. The last quarter of the volume is entirely devoted to the difficulties the UFW experienced in the years before Chavez's death. Almost all of the young organizers Chavez honed left the union which itself faced many defeats in the late 1980's and early 1990's. The book emphasizes these defeats with a negative and dispiriting tone. I would rather have read more about the UFW's triumphs during this time or read the setbacks presented in a more positive tone.
Fight in the Fields left me with two conflicting emotions: inspiration and discouragement. The story of Chavez's ability to single-handedly build a union among transitory, oppressed workers who had no sense of their rights was inspiring. Chavez's story provided me with an example of success amongst impossible odds to look to when I encounter trouble with my initiatives on my college campus. My job is exponentially easier than Chavez's and his creativity and passion (along with the specific logistics of his organizing detailed in the book) motivated me. Furthermore, with the rift between white Americans and Chicanos and Mexican immigrants dug larger every day by contentious issues such as bilingual education and illegal immigration, learning about a movement that united Americans from all backgrounds to work on behalf of minority rights offered me a sense of hope. All should remember Cesar and his commitment to unity rather than division, friendship rather than hate, and dialogue rather than stony anger. However, the near-dissolution of the UFW before Chavez's death left me discouraged. The mass movement a charismatic leader devoted his life to creating easily began fragmented. How on earth can something I build in my spare time survive? The book has certainly led me to want to learn more about la causa and what went wrong at the end.
Fight in the Fields is, all and all, a good read for the aspiring activist. It provides creative inspiration in the story of Cesar Chavez, the man who turned his life's dream into la causa. If you are already interested in Chavez or, like I did, know nothing about him, this book paints a great picture of his life. However, beware the discouragement presented at the end.

"the fight in the fields" is an excellent biographical account of cesar chavez and the farmworkers movement. it's a must read for anyone interested in making a difference.

This is a well written book and is fun to read.

"The Fight in the Fields" compelled me to recognize that Cesar Chavez is arguably the greatest humanitarian in US history. He tirelessly and peacefully campaigned on behalf of underpaid and overworked farmworkers and migrants who were forced to toil amidst toxic insecticides and pesticides. Chavez was profoundly influenced by Gandhi, Martin Luther King and St. Francis of Assisi. He was an environmentalist, a vegetarian and animal welfare advocate who denounced dogfighting, bullfighting, cockfighting, slaughterhouses and rodeos because they are all rooted in inhumane violence. Cesar Chavez had reverence for all life and was a paragon of compassion. He was known as America's Catholic Ghandi of the Fields. The United States should have a national Holiday for Cesar Chavez's birthday, specifically, March 31.

The authors did a great job of detailing the early childhood that shaped the future leader of the farm workers movement. They also do a great job of highlighting the trails, ups and downs of Cesar Chavez and the farm workers movement. One gets a good idea of just how bad conditions were before the movement and how much improvement has been made since the inception of the movement. It also touches the heart with the human aspect of the lives that were shackled in the old system and changed for the good with the reforms that were won. Cesar Chavez is a true humanitarian that should be mentioned with the likes of Martin Luther King and Gandhi. This is truly a must read.

This very interesting book takes an in-depth look at Virginia history and how migration from Virginia affected the states west of Virginia. It's of particular interest to Virginians and to anyone studying the spread of attitudes in the USA.

Although the book began as a catalog for an exhibition, it expanded into a rich social history. The authors argue that long-accepted theories put forth by Frederick Jackson Turner on freedom and the frontier are not compatible with the facts of Virginia history.

The story of the spread of slavery presents some fascinating "what-ifs." Large numbers of Virginians who were uncomfortable with slavery left the state for areas where that unjust institution was not accepted, making it difficult for a series of anti-slavery proposals to pass. Imagine how different the American Civil War would have been if Virginia had eliminated slavery. The state might not voted to secede; Lee might not have fought against the Union.

My only criticism is that the argument with Turner gets a bit tiresome by the concluding chapter, but on the whole, this is an extremely interesting work. There are numerous footnotes which are well-organized.

This book is an professional historian's view of the culture of the poor Scots exodus from their provety in Scotland through Ireland and onwards to America. The book replaces myths and folk tales with historical facts and a professional's interpretation of the meaning of this mass migration.

I found it enlightening background for why my ancestors from Scotland left to seek the good life in the wilderness of West Augusta County, Virginia.

Bound Away by Brandeis University History Professor David Hackett Fischer and James C. Kelley of the Virginia Historical Society is the history of three migrations: to Virginia, within Virginia, and from Virginia.

The first of these migrations, to Virginia from Britain, summarizes Fischer's earlier book, Albion's Seed (see my review) which describes the settlement of Virginia by Anglican-Royalist-Cavaliers from the south and west of England during the period of Cromwell's Puritan Protectorate (1649-1660). This migration pattern continued after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 under the guidance of Sir William Berkley, the governor of Virginia who actively recruited members of this aristocratic group and worked to purge Virginia of Puritans, Quakers and other dissenting groups.

Migration within Virginia resulted in the emergence of the distinctive subcultures of Virginia's regions: the original Tidewater settlements which expanded to the Northern Neck (between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers), Southside (the south-central area bordering on North Carolina), the Eastern Shore (across the Chesapeake Bay), Hampton Roads (the maritime region at the mouth of the Chesapeake), the Piedmont (from the fall line to the Blue Ridge mountains), and the Shenandoah Valley. This period was characterized by increased diversity in the population brought on in part by the Toleration Act in Britain which extended toleration (but not public office) to religious dissenters. Prominent among the Virginians were the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and various German protestant sects.

Migration from Virginia was already well underway at the time of Virginia ascendancy as first among equal states, the Virginia "Dynasty" of presidents from Jefferson through Monroe, 1801- 1825. Virginia's economy was largely dependent on agriculture, especially tobacco and corn. As the soil became exhausted and other states developed into competitors for these products, Virginia became an exporter of people. Free whites who chose to emigrate to the new southern states, the southern parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and even farther west. Black slaves were sold to plantations throughout the South while the small number of free blacks emigrated to northern states. Both these migrations dispersed elements of Virginia's cultural traditions throughout significant parts of the country, excepting the northern tier of states.

Throughout the book, a recurring theme is the reevaluation of historian Frederick Jackson Turner's Frontier Thesis. In 1893, Jackson first suggested that the American frontier was a major determining factor in the development of the United States. He proposed that the availability of free land on the frontier promoted the development of freedom and openness in government and society. In addition, he cited the frontier as a melting pot of different cultures in which a new and unique American culture was created by the merging of old cultures in a new environment. Fischer and Kelly take issue with this thesis, pointing out the major influence of cultural continuity in the western migration of Virginians. They also cite the work of other historians, notably the Russian V. O. Kliuchevsky, who cited the availability of free land at the frontier of Tsarist Russia as a factor contributing to the development of governmental and social institutions that were neither free nor open.

Bound Away was particularly interesting to me as a person who has lived most of his life in Virginia, but might not have the same appeal to others. For that reason, I'd recommend Fischer's Albion's Seed as a starting point for exploring migration and cultural continuity in America.

I didn't think Bound Away was that good. The topic sounded interesting and David Hackett Fischer (who subsequently wrote Washington's Crossing) was one of the two authors, so I thought I'd give it a try.

There were several sections that I did like, such as the section on the beginnings of the Virginia colony and how it changed from a dysfunctional colony to a colony run by elites and William Berkeley. The section on the early differences between the sections within Virginia was OK (but not great), as was the section on the rapid decline within Virginia that started in 1770, which caused a steady exodus of people from the once most populous and powerful state over the next 80 years.

It was interesting to appreciate how the immigrants took Virginia culture with them into their new home states, but not fascinating, though I did appreciate the section on slavery, comparing slavery in Virginia and the south and what affect the exodus had on the institution

Things got really tedious when the book delved (several times) into lists of families in Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, etc, that had their origins in Virginia. Perhaps, I thought, if I were from Virginia I'd be interested in this, but, alas, I'm not. Another reviewer below says that the book reads like a museum catalogue (in many places), and that about sums it up for me, too.

Fischer wrote _Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America,_ which is one of the best works published in several decades in comparative and local U.S. history, and in many ways this is a continuation of the "Virginia" section of that book. Which is a bit surprising, since the author is a New Englander and previously showed considerable preference for the folkways of Massachusetts over those in the South. Since I have numerous forebears in Virginia, I was particularly interested in the first three chapters: "Migration to Virginia," "Migration in Virginia," and "Migration beyond Virginia." All of those apply to my people and Fischer's coverage of the in-through-and-out process is first-rate. As before, he's an old-fashioned historian, spending a lot of time describing the concrete experiences of particular individuals and families, not spinning out historiographical theory. This is a must-read for anyone interested in Virginia's first couple of centuries.

Book review in Palestine Times No.86 August 1998

"This important book deepens our understanding of the influence of contemporary Islamism by providing the first definitive history of the meteoric rise of the mother organization of all modern Islamist movements, the Society of the Muslim Brothers.

Founded in 1928 by a young primary school teacher, Hasan al-Banna, the society rose to become the largest mass movement in modern Egyptian history in less than two decades, clashing with the ruling elite on a wide range of issues.

Brynjar Lia examines the socio-economic and cultural factors which facilitated the movement's expansion and analyses the keys to its success- its organization, internal structure, modes of action and recruitment techniques as well as its ideological and class appeal.

Drawing on a wealth of new sources which include British War Office and Foreign Office files, security files from the Egyptian National Archives and the Society's newspapers and internal publications from the 1930s and early 1940s, this book also makes extensive use of the memories and personal letters of Muslim Brother veterans. The author has spent many years in Egypt interviewing old and younger members of this influential society."

Palestine Times No.86 August 1998

The best known study of Egypt's foremost fundamentalist Islamic movement, Richard Mitchell's Society of the Muslim Brothers (1969), portrayed the organization as a reactionary response to Westernization mounted by those left in its wake. And, indeed, this was the general interpretation of fundamentalist Islam by most writers on the subject before 1990 or so. Now, however, a thoroughly different (and much improved) interpretation rules, one that sees the Muslim Brothers and like movements as a facet of modernization. Their personnel are urbanites dealing with the cutting edge of modern problems; their ideas, methods, and goals all incorporate modern ways; and they show far more willingness to learn from the West than was hitherto realized.

In a very impressive research effort into the early years of the Muslim Brothers, Lia (a Norwegian scholar) relies on new sources and deep knowledge of his subject to show convincingly just how well that movement does fit the new interpretation. He establishes that it organized in ways novel for Egypt and mobilized elements of the population hitherto neglected. But its greatest importance lay in developing an answer to the rampant European ideologies of the 1930s: in this, the Muslim Brothers began "a lasting process of renewal . . . in which religion was related to the modern age and all aspects of modern life." With justification, Lia concludes that the Muslim Brothers' "reinterpretation of Islam will remain the most far-reaching Islamic renewal this century."

Middle East Quarterly, June 1999

Book review in Jerusalem Post

"Lia's book provides a fresh reassessment of the growth of the Muslim Brothers. He does so by drawing on a wealth of recently discovered documents, including the Society's own internal publications from the 1930s and '40s, British intelligence reports and al-Banna's personal letters.

While touching on issues of ideology and anti imperialism, Lia places great emphasis on the Society's structure and its activities within Egypt to explain its early phenomenal growth. Rather than a reaction to modernity, he argues that the Society itself was a modern organization, open to new technologies and ideas. (..)

The violence and radicalism within the organization prove to be among the thorniest issues in the book. While the Muslim Brothers provided the organizational model for today's radical Islamic groups, to some extent they also provided the template of violence. Lia argues that the Society, while calling for an all-Islamic "struggle" on various occasions, was not inherently violent. The Muslim Brothers did have a military wing, the so-called Special Section, but this, he says, was a way to channel the radical energies of the more energetic younger members. This element of violence can be traced back to a split within the Muslim Brothers in 1939. As a reaction to al-Banna's accommodationist political activity, a group calling itself the Society of Our Master Muhammad's Youth split off from the main organization. Throughout the next decades, this group would continue to splinter, creating the network of violent Islamic groups which plagued Egypt today (..) Lia argues that the growing radicalism resulted from government efforts to shut these Islamic groups out of the Egyptian political system. Lacking a legitimate outlet for their energies, he argues, these groups can easily turn to the option of terrorism.

"The Society of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt 1928-1942" is an important contribution to our understanding. If any complaint can be leveled it is at the circumscription of the book's time frame. Lia limits his study from the beginning of the Society until 1942 (..)Numerous issues of interst arose in the Society's history after this period from the involvement of the Muslim Brothers in the 1948 war against Israel to the 1949 assassination of al-Banna and Nasser's eventual outlawing of the Society. A wider study would further consider the development of violence within the Muslim Brothers and its splinter groups and offshots. One can only hope that Lia has plans for a companion volume"

Book review by Shai Tsur in Jerusalem Post December 1998

Hassam al Banna never approved the assassination of Noukrashi Pasha (Egypt's Prime Minister during the life and rein of King Farouk I), it was the military arm of the Movement that decided and carried it out, without Banna's explicit approval.
Banna was as shocked as the King.
Latest interviews with contemporary ex-members of the Brotherhood in Egypt who were close to Banna testified that the `Morshed' - Guider - had never `ruled' as an autocrat; at times he was ruled by his strong-willed military `wing' who had been morbidly suspicious of the Palace/PM intentions towards the Muslim Brotherhood.
Under the urging of Banna who was anxious to have `his men' come to terms with the PM, the attempt was postponed two times. But old antagonisms were so strong (because of the war in Palestine, and the decision made by the PM to purge the Army of all members of the Muslim Brotherhood).
The Palace ordered the assassination of Al Banna in retaliation to the killing of Noukrashi Pasha.

Al-Banna's successor, Hodehbie sought to improve relations with the Palace. A personal touch of friendliness with the King was considered to widen Brotherhood's sphere of influence as a `balancing factor' against the ever-present popular el- Wafd Party. After al Banna, King Farouk I regarded the Brotherhood movement as his own sphere of influence and tried by clever approaches (like to subsidize the financing of their newspaper) to woo them out of any alliances with the Wafd.
While al Banna maxim was `keep friends with the masses', his successor's was `keep friends with the King'

This is a solid work of scholarship, and serves a nice supplement to Mitchell's more expanded work. However, given that the new information handled by B. Lia offers merely a refinement of our understanding of the Brotherhood rather than a radical revision, one is recommended to rather begin with Mitchell-whose book is available in paperback, is more established, and is a fraction of the cost. Contrary to D. Pipes' and others' reviews, Mitchell's work does not portray the Muslim Brotherhood as reactionary. This rhetorical device of point, counter-point does considerable injustice to Mitchell's work.

Standing on its own, this work is well written and easy to follow. Lia is able to delve into the mechanics of the organization on a social and political level in order to reveal just how it reached the amount heights of success that it did. The result is a picture that explains well why it was a model so extensively copied and exported throughout the Muslim world. If there is any comparison to be made to Mitchell's work, this would certainly be the proper feature to focus on. Overall, Lia gives a much more lucid, detailed account of the Muslim Brother as a social organization and makes a convincing case for the organization being the first grass-roots political movement in Egypt with its origins and leadership from the poorer classes [unlike the Wafd]. What is lost, however, is comprehensive picture of the whole-and this due partly to the limited time frame of the study-wherein the Brotherhood's other distinguishing features [e.g., its religiosity, transformation during political persecution, etc.] are obfuscated.

Kars' work is an extremely well-argued and well-defended book that offers through look into the larger trends behind the North Carolina Regulator Movement in the 1760s and 1770s. Her analysis and through research give, what historians call "agency," to the Piedmont farmers and their families. She demonstrates that they were not passive or simple reactionary entities, but in fact, were deeply involved and active capitalists and political entities. This is a prime example of social history, and a easy read, especially for those interested in Southern or North Carolina History. As Kars argues near the end of her work, the themes discussed in the book are essential to understanding similar movements throughout the Southern and Western states for the next 200 years, particularly in the Antebellum period in the south.

Incredible portrayal of true activisism and a better understanding of
Pre-Revolutionary history in North Carolina and the Regulator movement.
I truly believe that this was definitely the first Revolutionary War uprising and history should accept it as what it was.
What devoted people Herman Husband and the Regulators were who truly believed in wanting their fair rights and to have all the people recognized not just those privileged few at the top.
This book really helped open my eyes as to what just a few, who believe in truth and justice, can do.

The only reason I bought this book was because it is required for one of my classes taught by Dr. Bouton, who is mentioned in the acknowledgements. Dr. Kars is a professor, here at UMBC.

Had to read this book for my Founding of an American Nation history class, its actually not boring and is interesting. If anyone is wondering why so many farmers were pissed off and what fueled the revolutionary idea's, then this is a good book for you :)

The "War" of the Regulation in NC has long cried out for an in-depth history, one that avoids the romanticism (First Battle of the Revolution!) and the innacuracies (Regulators vs. the British!).

The truth of the matter is that neither side in the conflict wore white hats. While the colonial government, like all British-styled colonial governments, supported "court house rings" and was not responsive to the justifiable complaints of its under-represented citizenry, the Regulators were, by any standard, insurrectionists. They took up arms against their governnment, destroyed property, endagered public officials and threatened to march on the capitol at New Bern. It is difficult to imagine any government threatened by such a situation not taking up arms to curtail it. There was much blame due each side.

Ms. Kars comes down early on the side of Regulators, missing the balance that such a history deserves. She gives far too much weight to her belief that the dissent in the backcountry was linked to a religious upswelling, ignoring that the Carolina backcountry was noted by many sources as being nearly totally irreligious.

Her work does contain an accounting of the period and its major events; but the reader should consider that the account she presents is slanted toward the Regulators.

Every University and college library in the United States should have a copy of this important book. Building off of the pioneering work of scholars such as Leonard Dinnerstein and Mark Bauman, Clive Webb's _Fight Against Fear_ is a major contribution to our understanding of both Jewish history and race relations in the United States. His footnotes and bibliography reveal an immense amount of research. He has visited at least twenty archives in numerous states. His analysis is as impressive as his research. Throughout the text, he portrays Jews in the South in all of their complexity. Some were outright racists who defended segregation vociferously. Others were brave citizens who fought for black civil rights even in the face of terrorism and personal danger. Still others negotiated a delicate balance between both extremes because of their uncertain place within the Southern social order. Southern Jewish life during the Civil Rights movement has never been so fully and so richly portrayed. This nuanced portrait also helps expand our understanding of race in the United States. Historians of the American South have longed envisioned their region in black and white. Professor Webb reveals that ethnicity among "whites" is an important category of analysis below the Mason-Dixon line. Those interested in Jewish history, the American South, and race relations in the twentieth century will want to buy this book.