Periods and Movements Books

This book is a series of diary entries made by Lt. Rankin Dilworth of the 1st US Infantry. The diary reads like letters which were intended to be sent home. The entires start at Jefferson Barracks(St. Louis Missouri) on April 28, 1846 and end with Dilworth just outside of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico on Sept 19, 1846. Lt. Rankin Dilworth was mortally wounded by a Mexican cannonball on Sept 21, 1846 during the intense assault on the city and died Sept 27, 1846.

There are 102 entries, with some being only a few words and others several paragraphs in length. There is one section of notes on flora & fauna written by Rankin Dilworth separate from the diary. Camp life in Texas, Matamoros, Reynosa, Camargo, and the route to Monterrey are covered with ancedotes about food, women, customs, and volunteers.-Lt. Dilworth, like many regular officers was not fond of the unruly volunteers and relates his experiences so the reader can empathize.

Editors Joseph Chance and Lawrence Clayton borrow heavily from Francis Heitman's Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army and George Cullum's Biographical Register of Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy to help identify officers mentioned in the entries. Since the US Army was so small during the era before the Mexican War and the officers seem to have been quite familiar, the helpful endnotes found on pages 73 to 114 are essential to determine who is who from the names/nicknames used by Lt. Dilworth.

The editors should also be credited with a 14 page introduction which helps those unfamiliar with the period understand the backround of the war. There are a few maps and sketches that also add to the book.

This is a good, quick read thanks to the diligent work of the editors. This book makes the reader drift into the time period.

The author looks at relations between the Polish government and right-wing Zionists (the Revisionists) in the 1930s. The author shows that, even though these relations were not extensive, they were not thereby negligible. There were some important consequences for the Zionists, notably with regard to the underground movement in Palestine. This book draws upon many Polish-language sources, and, as such, does an excellent service in bringing various documents, diaries, memoirs, and other literature into reach of an English-speaking audience.

This book is excellent in presenting the chameleon-like "nationalism" the peoples of North-Western Greece engaged in pre- and post-WWII. Survival was paramount and taking sides was the name of the game - politics and nationalism was the vehicle, not the end goal. Also worthwhile is the presentation of the full gamut of "ethnicities" that were (and can still be found) in the area - even though both Greek and Slavic protagonists deny the existance of each other, and a myriad of others. Overall, a well researched book, which will appeal to those readers interested in detailed facts specific to these particular prefectures found in Greece.

This book was very enlightening and insightful on the practice of law in the 40's, 50's and 60's. It brought to life an era of controversy and injustice within an evolving America. It helps to explain these disruptive years of anti-communism and racial injustice amid the political struggles of a partisan society.

_Strong In The Struggle_ chronicles the life and activities of Lee Brown, black labor activist. His interest in unions started with a railroad job in Arizona, where worker solidarity reinstated a worker who had been fired unfairly. On returning to Louisiana, he became a labor leader for the dockworkers there.

He strongly felt that a fairer society required three things: increased trade unionism, racial integration, and Communism. Of course, back then that got him no end of trouble with racists and Red-baiters of all stripes. (He did end up in prison for three years for violating the Taft-Hartley act, which prohibited members of the Communist party from involvement with labor unions). However, later he expressed frustration because of racism and apathy in the union ranks, as well as a Communist party that had become more "intellectual" and theoretical than "involved with the grass roots".

Co-author Robert L. Allen documents the famous trial in which Mr. Brown refuses to answer the prosecutors' questions.

Recommended for anyone interested in labor or African-American history.

The book is a bleak rendition of life in East Timor under 2 or 3 occupations. By the Japanese in World War 2. By the Portuguese and then by Indonesia. Of these, the Portuguese rule was the most benign, imperialistic though it was, and with more than a twinge of racial discrimination against the local Timorese.

The accounts from World War 2 depict the brutality of Japanese rule. Executions were routine, for trifling offenses. Some Timorese aided Allied servicemen fleeing the Japanese, at terrible risk to the Timorese if they were caught.

The relatings of Indonesian occupation are not quite as stark. Though the reader should be aware that still some hundred thousand are estimated to have died from 1975 to 1992, when the book came out.

In the early 1950s Rosa Parks became active in civil rights, and Martin Luther King Jr. fostered the yearlong Montgomery bus boycott which forced the end of segregation not just in transit but in the country in general. THEY WALKED TO FREEDOM; THE STORY OF THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT, 1955-56 tells of these efforts in this, the 50th anniversary of Parks' act of civil disobedience. Paired with stunning vintage archival photos from the Montgomery Advertiser and authored by the editor of the Advertiser's editorial page, THEY WALKED TO FREEDOM is truly a fitting tribute.

As literature, this novel (the source of "The Birth of a Nation", the first feature-length motion picture) is laughably dated by its flowery romanticism. As history, its twisted adoration of the Klan, highly-colored and cynical condemnation of Northern abolitionism, and even fallen-hero worship of Abraham Lincoln as the would-be savior of the defeated south is execrable. But as social history (and part of "The Novel as American Social History" series from the University of Kentucky Press) it is fascinating reading.

Dixon was no wild-eyed radical, either. He was born in Shelby, NC, graduated from Wake Forest University when it was actually in Wake Forest, NC, and rose to prominence in the Democratic Party, eventually being appointed a Federal judge in eastern NC and living and dieing in Raleigh. So his fictional insight into the mind of the white Southerner is frighteningly clear.

All white Southerners were heroic knights (Lincoln, when met by the mother of a Southern boy, was declared to be a Southerner because no Northern man could be so wise and gallant), all white Southern women were saints (never more so than when they were sewing 400,000 white sheets for the Klan in total secrecy!), and of course the villain of the piece is a Northern businessman and factory owner. Freed slaves are never more than pitiful, pitiable, ignorant, fawning pawns in his game, characterized as animals with yellow eyes and thick lips.

Given these characterizations, should it be surprising the positive light Dixon casts on the foundation of the Klan, and the rightness and righteousness of its purposes by any means?

In the end, given the constraints of the genre and the language prevalent at the time (1905) Dixon was writing, he actually did a serviceable job of weaving his twisted history into readable fiction. The introduction points out that the book had modest success that was fading and would have been forgotten had Dixon not been asked to write the script for his novel for what was to become the first feature length movie, and one of the most famous ever made.

You know, not many books can be said to have lead to have inspired people to commit or condone murder. "Mein Kampf" is certainly one such book, and "The Clansmen" is definitely on this (thankfully) short list. The racist horse excrement in this book helped to start a huge Klan revival in the early 20th century which lead to hundreds, if not thousands of black men and women to be hung. I suppose the book is useful as a way of understanding the madness and commonality of racist thought in the united states both past and, to some extent, present, but I have to say a turd like this really makes me reconsider my stance against book burning.

This book's history is all too well known. It indeed was the inspiration for D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation." Griffith's film was a masterpiece of cinematic brilliance, and at the same time, a disgusting excuse for the most virulent kind of racism. The latter can be said of Dixon's book. But the book does not have Griffith's artistic merits.

This book should be read as an historical artifact, to give the reader a sense how powerful people in the South thought when they turned Reconstruction on its ear. There were many things wrong with how the South was treated after the war (more so due to Lincoln's assassination). Its attempt to bring some sense of dignity and equality to the ex-slaves was not wrong. With the advent of Jim Crow laws, the South proved beyond a doubt that slavery played a major role in the Civil War, despite what some apologists of today say.

I think it is especially sad when I read reviews that equate this book with history. It is not history, it is not fact. It is an example of the type of thinking that went on when the South decided that once again African Americans were not to be considered equal. Separate But Equal always was a lie. And so is so much of what Dixon espoused in this book. As evidenced from some of the four and five star reviews for this book, racism is not dead.

... Not only is it a horribly misguided view of history, it doesn't even resemble anything that comes close to reasonable. Perhaps historical ignorance would be more appropriate. ...To consider its literary merits, I don't believe it has any. I dismiss any historical importance it may have as simply a relic of one huge problem in American culture. The film based off of it may be important in terms of cinematic history, but this book does not qualify the same way at all. I am certainly glad that this is not taught anywhere near schools, the history books they do use are messed up enough. Teaching this book would be truly tragic. Saying every Southener should read this is like saying every Jew should read Mein Kumf(sp?). It's nonsense. Not only were the reports of freed slave violence on the whites nearly non existent any incidents paled in comparison to what the Klu Klux Klan did to them. Their reign of terror is a plight on this civilization and romanticizing it is just plain deplorable. Perhaps I am biased. ... It just doesn't work for me. And saying that every southener should find meaning in this work, is a deep insult to anyone who has ever lived in the South.

I picked this book up out of curiosity. Although it has a slow start it soon has you hooked. I appreciated the author's use of historical fact to provide the backdrop for the story. Having watched numerous documentries on the whole reconstruction era as well as reading about it, I don't think the author took many liberties with documented facts. Having read all the other reviews, I am amused by the righteous indignation displayed by those who have had their warped view of history challenged.

This book was written 40 years after the war and even less time had passed since the end of reconstruction, so the accounts of this period were still fresh in peoples minds who had lived through this era, and I seriously doubt that it would have become as popular as it did had it been lies. The southerners were and still are a proud bunch and they would not have endorsed a fantasy as fact.

I have far more faith in the record of events as told in the novel than I do in revisionist ramblings of modern liberal historians who are bent on recreating history, 150 years removed from the events. The comments I have read prove how the modern American mind has been brainwashed into believing the dilusional revision of American history. Anyone who has any doubt about the behavior of the "freedmen" in this book need only look at Africa in 2007, and they will realise that if anything the author downplayed their behavior and actions.

The biggest problem that most of the reviewers have with this book, is that it wasn't written in a world ruled by the PC police, and it gets under their skin that there is nothing they can do about it.

Few have tackled the problem of atrocities on both sides of the Missouri-Kansas border disputes that preceded and continued through America's war between the states. For that reason alone, Mr. Fellman's work is worth careful study. It is a great resource for the historian but not an easy read for those who are not passionate about the subject. The content is invaluable and it is only the difficult reading that takes away from its overall rating. For depth of study, there are few like it and it is therefore very highly recommended for study.

The first book I have found that explains the whys and not just the hows of the slaughter that took place in Missouri during the Civil War. The author contends that, while most residents had pro-slavery sentiments, they were also pro-Union. Therefore, most of them were not pure enough ideologically for either side, and thus subject to punitive raids from both sides. I haven't finished it yet, but it is definitely the most incisive analysis I have read thus far.

This was a rather difficult book to read; not so much from any fault of the author, but rather resulting from an effort to comprehensivly cover a topic for which relatively little is known. I found this book provactive from an emotional point of view; the primary sources certainly make the reader appreciate the devastation that must have occured to the (not so?) innocent by-stander. However, the book suffers from a whopping lack of focus in areas, and becomes somewhat repetitive. In addition, the theses of particular sections are often obscure, as are the conclusions. Despite this, "Inside War" is a wonderful book to read, although I felt that it was stuck in a nether region between a descriptive listing of primary sources and a thesis driven examination.

I usually loathe any historical book which puts its subject on the couch, but this is a notable exception. Fellman infuses this book with his own spin on certain matters, but much of the interpretation is accurate! If you enjoy a "National Enquirer" approach to biography, then this is your bag, though a more intellectual, sobering and accurate analysis of events than a tabloid rag. Fellman delves deeply into Sherman's womanizing and the reasons behind it: Ellen, WTS's wife, was a passionless prig, obsessed with Catholicism and being the type of prim, straight-laced wife that Sherman would ultimately abhor. Can we blame him for repeatedly cheating on Ellen? Of course not.

There is a plethora of new information about Sherman's various affairs: he kept the handkerchief of one of his conquests after their rendezvous and wrote to thank her for the article. There are numerous excerpts from love letters to Sherman from his paramours and they make for some unintended hilarious reading.

Fellman is much weaker on the military end of the biography and his limitations show. There are numerous factual gaffes and the author is on safer ground when restricting himself to purely personal matters. This is hardly the definitive treatment of Sherman, try instead John Marszalek's biography (available on Amazon) for an exceptional and scholarly approach. But if you want a book focused primarily on the private life of Sherman, this nicely fits the bill.

This is a very interesting, useful study of mentalities in Civil War Missouri. It covers guerrillas (by which Fellman generally means Confederate guerrillas rather than Jayhawkers), civilians, and Union troops in all their various permutations.

I found Fellman's scholarship to be generally well-founded, though he is sometimes a little credulous of sources -- there's one case where he quotes an unsigned letter to a hostile newspaper as if it were good evidence for an event -- and he makes some mistakes with events outside his purview (misidentifying Early's raid on Washington as cavalry only). In general, though, I found the research credible.

What disappointed me here was the lack of conclusions. We have description, and some analysis, but the book seems short on results. Particularly in his analysis of the combatants' regular army and governmental reaction to guerrillas, Fellman seems to contradict himself: on the one hand he chastises the Confederates as elitist, perhaps prudish, for disapproving of guerrilla warfare, and on the other hand he makes every effort to show just how horrible such warfare really was. At times, he overanalyzes; I didn't find the characterization of Civil War Americans as "Manichaean" convincing. You don't need to be a Manichaean to dehumanize your enemies in a war.

Despite these quibbles, I found the book valuable, certainly worth looking at for the study of mentalities in a region where war was literally at every door.

Just finished reading it and loved it. Information on pre-colonial Africa is so hard to come by. Quality info that goes beyond the surface is even harder. John K Thornton always impresses. This is actually better than Warfare in Atlantic Africa. The best thing about this in my opinion (other than the narrative itself) is the use of footnotes rather than a clumsy reference page at the back. Anywayz, i highly recommend it.

John Thornton distills some of his prodigious research on Kongo and Angola to tell a coherent and exciting story. Dona Beatriz was a young woman who inspired a religious movement against the internal wars which overwhelmed the Kingdom of Kongo in the Atlantic slave trade era. Her charismatic leadership ran afoul of civil authorities and the Catholic Church and she was executed in 1706, but echoes of the movement endured for several decades both in West Central Africa and the New World. The author answers important questions on cultural syncretism, womens' political and spiritual roles, and the adaptation of world religions to indigenous settings. The main drawback is the welter of unfamiliar KiKongo place and personal names, which will frustrate some readers. A future edition could address this with more detailed maps, a glossary and list of main actors. Thornton skillfully provides more context in "Africa & Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World."

Informative, but very longwinded. He's managed to make an interesting subject very difficult to follow. Seems very conscious not to influence the readers judgement in any way, but the affect of this is ruined by the limited number of european sources available to him.
Its hard to follow the plot when you've not been allowed to get to know any of the characters.

I was required to read this book for a class, and I can say without a doubt that it is the worst book I've ever read. The author just keeps throwing out various names and babbles on and on about stuff that doesn't make any sense. Everyone in my class complained about how boring and hard to follow it was. I promise that you would have a better time reading an encyclopoedia - I only wish I could give it zero stars!

The Kongolese Saint Anthony is one of the best books on a pre-colonial African heroine that I have read. In an engaging drama of spirutuality and politics, John Thornton invites us to look at Africa in a way that makes Africa a part of the unfloding history of Christianity. Anyone interested in both Africa and chruch history would do well to read this throroughly authentic biography of Dona Beatrice.