North America Books

This book is for people looking for the meaning of life, a meaning to be found only in the search for God. It explains the quest of Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science at the end of the 20th century, a new Christian denomination, but also a way of thinking and living. Very scholarly, very interesting for people who feel concerned by "the new paradigm".Rolling Away the Stone: Mary Baker Eddy's Challenge to Materialism (Religion in North America)

Steve Gottschalk has done another thorough job of research into the life and times of Mary Baker Eddy. His careful analysis is greatly appreciated.

For those who remember Stephen's articles for the Christian Science periodicals, this is classic Gottschalk. In other words, it is highly detailed, well researched, well thought out, and tends to be much more theologically based than the writings that come out of the Publishing Society. He also has a marked tendency to drift from his focus on occasion, and to get side-tracked onto peripheral lines of thought. In general, a candid and thorough look at the later years of a remarkable life. More analytical and less folksy, this book belongs alongside the biography by Gillian Gill - as both a supplement to it, and as an effective insider's look from someone who truly understands Christian Science theology perhaps even better than many at The Mother Church.

Stephen Gottchalk's writing is articulate and illuminating. A fascinating book which I could hardly put down. Very inspiring and enlighening at times. He thoroughly understood his subject and brings forth his vast and detailed understanding to the reader in a way that is easy to comprehend. It clears up fallacies and inaccuracies . It is an important book for sincere readers.

Very few books make me want to read to the end. This one did. Someone could actually use this to deepen and widen their faith of God as taught
through Christian Science. I could return to book and reread it. As Mrs. Eddy said to understand her was to understand Christian Science. So I
highly recommend this work. This is not light reading it more like a textbook. But I like that if its well done. Deep thinkers well enjoy this
read.

I read this book many years ago and then lost my copy of it, so I ordered another one on Amazon. This is the most moving book I have ever read. If you're into non-fiction westerns, this is the book for you. I found the first half a tad slow but the second half was fantastic. To this day, when I think about it, it almost brings tears to my eyes. The story was written from the memoirs of Andrew Garcia, a scout for Custer and tells of his adventures traveling through the west with his native american wives. I loaned this book to a friend and he shares my enthusiasm for it.

I purchased this book for my husband. He enjoyed it and passed it on to other readers.

Stepping Off the Edge: Learning & Living Spiritual Practice
This book's handwritten manuscript was found in a dynamite box in its author's Montana cabin after his death at age 88. Garcia was an original Western settler, arriving in Montana in 1878, one year after the famous Nez Perce Chief Joseph's surrender. If you want authentic Old West, here it is. Garcia tells it like he saw it, favoring neither Native Americans or Europeans. He marries three Indian women (sequentially) and leaves his past world behind. This book has romance, beauty, humor, deadly adventure. Danger. Thrillers come nowhere near this true story. Most of all, Andrew Garcia's soul shines through his writing. What a dear, good man. I wish I could have met him.

A Spanish-Texan quits his job wrangling for the Army in Montana to set out trapping and trading with the Indians. His stories - full of grandeur, intrigue, death and romance - never cease to have a ring of truth.
In Garcia's accounts he is never the hero, but rather the hapless greenhorn who escapes by the skin of his teeth and a generous apportionment of luck.
Written in true trapper/trader/rancher dialect, this book is a joy to read and a pity to finish. I love his insights and Tom Sawyer wisdom, self deprecation, and observations about life with the Indians (and life with whites).

this is a great story from one who lived with the indians during the time before their decline. this book is hard to put down.

Walking With Grandfather: The Wisdom of Lakota Elders
This is a very special book, in my opinion.It sets out to address the myths that have been propagated because of fear and predudice surrounding the history of the white incursion into what was the territory and traditional way of life of the nomadic and deeply spiritual peoples of the plains of North America.It is a gentle reminder of the imperialsm and arrogance that still pervades in people in the mainstream western society today ,who in the main believe the spiritual life of the native peoples is inferior to that of the white traditions.The indian peoples of the plains are extremely family minded , and have a rich culture of traditional beliefs and are commited ,even in this age, to encourage their children to learn the ethical and moral way of life that encompasses the belief that all inhabitants of the earth should be treated with respect and honour.Joseph Marshall is particularly advocating respect for older people who have gained wisdom and insight purely by living life with all its challenges and also its joys.

Brilliant author with another fascinating piece of work! "Walking with Grandfather" is another example of how the dominant Euro-American culture is lacking its appreciation for the 'study of our ghosts.' Marshall provides a wonderful example of how we must reconnect to our history, our culture and our heritage. He is to be commended for a great book.

In this book, Mr. Marshall takes the reader into a world of wisdom and insight, a world in which he passes along the lessons learned from Lakota elders, including his own grandparents. These stories and lessons are especially important in today's society, where "honor" and "respect" are becoming words with no meaning, and things are considered better just because they are new. Mr. Marshall writes in a way that makes you feel like he's talking to you, maybe around a campfire at the end of a summer day, and the stories he is telling should be taken to heart by every thinking person.

Joseph Marshall speakes to a part of us that lies buried under the workings of modern society. I love his stories and wisdom teachings. They make me feel human.

I have now become a great fan of Joseph M. Marshall recently ordering other books as well as cd's. Even his written word, you can almost hear him speaking to you. A very easy way to learn about the Lakota traditions, its a pleasant journey.

It's hard to believe that Louise Rich's "We Took to the Woods" is decades old.

Absolutely charming and totally original, Rich is the sort of author you wish you could meet in person. Her observations are fascinating, her writing is wonderfully engaging, and her point of view goes far beyond the usual country folksiness found in most books of this type. Most importantly, Rich doesn't preach. The book is simply a well written, entertaining account of her life in the Northwoods with her family. The writing is so timeless, I rarely remember that I am reading about a family from 60 years ago.

I enjoyed "Woodswoman" books, and thought that in so specific a genre, I would find little else of quality. However, after reading this book, I realize that Rich is the original item, and the standard to which "I want to live in a cabin" books should be judged. It's just plain excellent.

Louise Dickinson Rich is a star! A truly wonderful and gifted writer. You can't put her books down.

"We Took to the Woods" is as charming and delightful a book as you will ever find. It's the story of a city woman living on a remote Maine river with her husband and children. She's not poor, nor a rube, nor does she display the eccentricities one associates with people who flee to the wilderness. Rather, she seems happy, well-adjusted, and full of sympathetic tales about the few -- very few -- people she comes into contact with in the course of her daily life. And she really did live in the woods --the nearest store was a long boat ride away and she didn't go "outside" for a four year stretch. Her township of Upton had a population of 182.

The book is set up in chapters that answer questions: "Isn't housekeeping difficult?" or "Aren't you ever frightened." One of the better stories in the chapter, "Aren't the Children a Problem" tells about her husband delivering the author's baby in the dead of winter -- and greasing it with olive oil which he kept to dress his trout flies. The new parents discuss what they are supposed to do with the hot water always called for when a baby is being born -- and they decide to make coffee.

For the modern reader, the highlights of the book are probably tales of the trials of living without conveniences. The Rich houses -- they had a winter and summer house -- had no plumbing. Heating and cooking were with wood. What you needed for groceries was delivered by boat once a month; the Sears catalog supplied the rest. For anyone who has ever thought wistfully of fleeing civilization, this is a humorous primer of both the rewards and hardships of such a life. It deserves a permanent place on the short shelf of Americana classics.

Smallchief

A friend gave me this book when I was at a very low point in my life. My wife and I read it together, over a long weekend, and packed the car Monday morning. By Wednesday we had our old house listed and Friday we put in an offer on 40 acres with an old farm. We haven't looked back since; but we have given copies of this book to all of our old friends for Christmas.

This book is a great read for anyone who's ever had the desire to just chuck it all and head for the woods (a desire that seems to wax and wane like the tides, popular one decade [1970s, for example], totally passe the next). Today taking to the woods for many means building a $500,000 "rustic retreat" with pool, hot tub, and wine cellar included. For Louise Rich, back in the 1930s (the book was published in 1942), things were much different.

For one thing, her house had no plumbing. Water had to be hauled to the house in buckets. Supplies and the mail came by boat. Life was no picnic for her and her family. But, of course, there were trade offs. The beauty of the place, for one. The living as one with nature. The need to be resourceful, and the feeling of pride and accomplishment that goes with it. Trade offs worth the hardships, Rich makes perfectly clear.

Rich captures the flavor of her idyllic spot in the Maine woods a few miles east of Upton along the Rapid River (the swiftest river east of the Mississippi, even though it is only about four miles long). She describes what life is like there, how the busy summers are a prelude to the slow, long winters. She talks about her neighbors, the loggers, the animals they encounter, how one endures and enjoys life in the woods. She describes the effects of the hurricane of 1938 and the havoc is caused even there, so far inland. Her prose style is clear and direct, and she truly makes the reader jealous of her situation rather than sympathetic. It's an excellent book, one that I've read a number of times, always with an I-wish-I-was-there enthusiasm. Highly recommended.

For over 200 years the Iroquois were a force to be reckoned with. They constituted one leg of a three legged stool which balanced French and English interests on the North American Continent. This was a most profitable position for the Iroquois and they knew it: In this position they were the gate keepers between the English and French trading establishments and all other non Iroquois, native North Americans. With a home in upstate New York they waged war and demanded tribute as far North as Hudson's Bay, as far South as Georgia and the Carolinas and as far West as the Western Great Lakes and Minnesota. Because of this dominance in the economic and political interests in the eastern half of the US and Canada they provided a buffer zone between Indian and White, between French and English interests. Simply stated, they had to be dealt with.

Wilderness Empire is the story of the Iroquois during the apex of their influence and power, the French and Indian War. Struggling to maintain the status quo and their preeminent position, this Confederation of six tribes fails in its attempt to balance its competing interests, splitting along French and English lines of allegiance. Resulting in an Iroquois Civil War, the Confederation is ultimately destroyed.

This is a quite detailed, yet smooth flowing, description of the destruction of the Iroquois Confederation during the French and Indian War and it comes complete with an all star cast of characters: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, King George, Montcalm, William Johnson, Pontiac, George Crogan, George Clinton, Wolfe, Charles Langlade and Bougainville, just to name a few. Fought all across the East Central US and Canada, this war stretch from Detroit and the Michigan Peninsula to Albany, Niagara, the Mohawk Valley, New York, Montreal and Lake Champlain, the sweep of the story line, the savagery of the battles, the intrigue and betrayals will leave you stunned.

Second in his Winning of America Series, this page turner may be Eckert's best.

This is one of the weaker books in Eckert's series, but it was still a good read. I'd recommend it for any Eckert fan, or any other American-History fan. You should definately read the other books in the series!!!

The best book I have ever read on the French and Indian War. It is utterly amazing how Eckert makes characters from the past come so alive. You really get the feeling that you not only learned about events that happened in the past, but that you get to know the people who experienced them.

Though published in 1969, when attitudes toward Native Americans were just beginning to recover after centuries of demonization, "Wilderness Empire" paints a very balanced picture of the complexities of the American frontier during the period of the French and Indian War. Comprising the formative years of George Washington, Ben Franklin and many of other actors on the American historical stage, this often-ignored historical period was the foundation for the Revolutionary War years that immediately followed. What happened in the 1740s and 50s cemented the reputations and formed the attitudes of those who forged America in the 1770s and 80s.

Eckert does a fascinating job of writing a "semi-fictional" work that relies heavily on the letters and other documents of the players themselves. He claims not to have invented conversations, but to have dramatized them based on the evidence in the primary sources. Of course, this cannot extend to Eckert's descriptions of his characters' state of mind, but he seems to take care to add proper emotional expression to the dry facts where appropriate.

Eckert's tale includes hundreds of characters, but he focuses on the exploits of a few notable ones. William Johnson, the young Irish adventurer become military leader, is at the center of the tale. Johnson seems one of only a few Americans who took the Indians seriously and was subsequently adopted by them. His incredible double life - as a white subject of the crown and as the Indian Warraghiyagey - showed him to be a man of intelligence, subtlety, heart and strength. Other characters - the exquisite French Marquis de Montcalm, a young and inexperienced George Washington, the Mohawk Chief Tiyanoga and New Hampshire's Robert Rogers of Ranger fame - are also featured prominently. This is not due to their later fame as much as to the fact that these were men of great valor and valiant action in their day. Eckert does feature women in his tale, but often they are love partners, slaves or victims. One wonders whether he might have made more of them had he written the book ten years later, when feminist scholarship and sensitivity urged writers to take a closer look at female contributions.

In any event, Eckert's tale is very bloody. Indian atrocities -- including scalping, dismemberment, ritual torture and cannibalism -- get more than their fair share of space. Cannonballs cut men in two and musket fire pierces brains and bodies and leaves men screaming in agony. Eckert does not pass judgment on these actions, though his French and especially his English characters do. At least he attempts to see these practices with native eyes, as the just spoils of warfare, as much due to the victors as the powder and food of the vanquished. But for the reader, the burnings, killings and mutilations do seem to pile up after a while. On the positive side, this gives the reader a chance to appreciate the tenuous nature of life on the New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia frontier. There's enough brutality on all sides to make one glad to live in more peaceful times.

I found "Wilderness Empire" to be a fascinating, if slow, read. The vast array of characters, the difficult Indian names and places, and the complex and convoluted nature of the events makes it difficult to read for pleasure. But in the end, the book was well worth the effort. I now feel I have filled a long-standing lacuna in my historical understanding - the period the led to the American Revolution and set the stage for the white expansion across the continent.

Wow! What a book! For anyone interested in studying the French and Indian War period, this is a must read. Although it's not a "textbook" account it's still a lot of fun. I would read this book alongside Francis Parkman's "Montcalm and Wolfe" and Anderson's "Crucible of War". Probably Mr. Eckert's best work. It's really great for younger children or anyone who has forgotten about good old-fashioned American folklore. Fantastic!

If I could, I would thank Winonah LaDuke in person for writing such an important, informative and engaging book on the travesty that is the North American government's view of native land and those who inhabit it. The numerous tribes who make the land their home are forced to co-exist with the insensitive, selfish and literally toxic decisions made by government and corporations who dump tons upon tons of toxic pesticides in their water and on "abandoned" land. These lands are also subject to divebombings from military jets. These are illegal decibel levels that drive those within hearing range to points of mental instability, as well as potential hearing loss.

One of the most important quotes from this book that I remember (since I read this book a couple of years ago in a Native/African-American Women's Studies course) was from a Seminole leader who said, "Selling your land for a price is like selling a piece of your mother." [I paraphrase this.] I couldn't agree more. When I remember that quote, I think about all of the animals, vegetation and tribes (consisting of families and friends) who have lived off of the land of the United States, as well as Canada. How can one possibly put a price on something that can't truly be owned by anyone and is its own autonomous entity. Even if people have the illusion that they can occupy land as territory (because of treaties, as an example) does not mean that it is ever their to keep. LaDuke makes several strong examples of this in the book. We can't continue to pollute, abuse and neglect land without paying a price environmentally or in terms of human quality of life and mortaiity. I believe everyone should read this book, regardless of occupation, national origin or territorial location. We need to face the damage done before more of it goes unacknowledged. Thank you, Winonah.

Spoon-fed news by large media corps, few were aware that Winona LaDuke ran for the vice presidency under Ralph Nader in the 2000 elections. Even fewer know that she is also a Native American eco-philosopher with a critical perspective on the health and future prosperity of America. All Our Relations is particularly instructive, in that LaDuke surveys the entire American landscape (and by landscape, I am not merely referring to the political landscape), showing the deep connections that exist between local cultures, their environments, and the corporate-governmental giants that often compromise their health. Although LaDuke has specifically focused on Native American communities, the stories are engaging and instructive for Americans in general. Informative, powerful, and transformative, LaDuke here provides an antidote for our increasing alienation from the land and biota that sustain us. A must read for any conscious American.

ALL OUR RELATIONS by Indigenous Activist Winona LaDuke is a must read for everyone who cares about our earth. LaDuke presents the state of the environment focusing on several land, treaty rights and toxic exposure struggles on reservations across North America and in Hawaii. Since I met Winona when she was an economics student at Harvard, she has been at the heart of struggles and gains made by indigenous communities, always bringing a keen intellect, diligent research, unswerving commitment, and a broad vision of the whole circle to community and tribal issues.
Because I've known many of the people involved in the essential work LaDuke describes in ALL OUR RELATIONS, it was a personal pleasure to read this book and catch up with what Susannah Santos and her cousins are doing on the Columbia River, be updated on Luana Busby and Melani Trask and the Hawaiian indigenous movement and to get the inside details of the complex political fight Winona's son's father and his people are up aqainst at St. James Bay. But this book will fascinate anyone who cares about our earth, families and communities. It is one to read from end to end, then keep around to re-read again and again.
LaDuke calls the work these tribal communities do to protect their people and landbase from pollution and corporate greed, "soul-retrieval." It is work that we all need to do whatever our ethnic background, since as LaDuke's reportage on the presence of PCBs in mother's breastmilk in the Northeast attests, everyone is affected by what we are doing to the earth. Winona is a mother who has no illusions about how the choices we make as consumers affect the earth and our communities' health. What is most inpiring about LaDuke's writing and life is that she offers solutions. Each chapter not only outlines the problem, but it talks about solutions that are being implemented and suggests others that should be employed. Winona walks her talk. LaDuke has been a strong proponent of wind energy and has worked to engage major corporations like Ben & Jerry in developing wind energy projects on Indian Reservations in South Dakota. Native Harvest and White Earth Land Recovery Project have reclaimed White Earth land and developed sustainable reservation businesses that employ and train White Earth tribal members. Winona LaDuke would be a great President because she is the only public figure who has a sensible plan for economic self-sufficiency, the clarity to explain it to the American people, and the discipline and steadfastness to enact it.

Winona Laduke ran as vice president alongside Ralph Nader. It would be truly amazing if this woman had become our vice president (for many reasons). It is my hope that some day she will be our vice president (or president). Her views on the environment and its effect upon animals and people (particularly babies, children and pregnant/nursing mothers) are exactly how I feel. She expresses these views eloquently in these quotes by Lil'wat grandmother Loretta Pascal, "Where did you get your right to destroy these forests? How does your right supercede my rights? These are our forests, these are our ancestors."(p.5), by Ted Strong, "If this nation has a long way to go before all of our people are truly created equally without regard to race, religion, or national origin, it has even further to go before achieving anything that remotely resembles equal treatment for other creatures who called this land home before humans ever set foot upon it...."(p.5), and by Katsi Cook, "Why is it we must change our lives, our way of life, to accommodate the corporations, and they are allowed to continue without changing any of their behavior?"(p.12). Reading this book you will feel sorrow, and be inspired to action. Most of what was said in this book I already knew a little about, but through this book I understood the depth and complexity of all the factors. I can not recommend this book enough. She tells the truth of our world with a powerful clarity. She tells the stories of many Native American Tribes throughout North America (Canada and the United States, including a chapter on Hawaii). She ends the book with the optimism that it is possible for us to make change, but it is up to us.

To think this woman could be our Vice President today. Most people don't even know that Winona LaDuke ran for Vice President on Ralph Nader's ticket. An articulate and passionate writer, LaDuke presents an awareness of the plight of America unsurpassed by any other. She knows what's wrong. She knows what needs to be done. She knows who is doing the work, how and why. She presents her advocacy as human, heartfelt and real. I learned things about what is happening to this country that I would never have known otherwise. You certainly don't see it in the news, and you don't learn about it in school. We're in trouble, folks, and it's not too late to do something about it. With more power she could have made such a difference! But she continues to work on the issues, and it is so important that more people are aware of her work. Please, please, please read this book. It is the most important book you will read all year.

I like this road atlas because of its spiral binding. It lies flat when open -- a real plus when you're trying to manipulate it with one hand while (heaven forbid!) driving. Otherwise, it's pretty similar to most other road atlases with state and city maps, distance charts, an index, and national park maps. The colors are vivid and the maps are pretty and easy to read.

Smallchief

THis is a pretty good looking road atlas. The spiral binder makes it less likely to end up like the glued and stapled atlases. The large scale maps are easy to read, even across the cab so you can see what she is telling you.

This is the best Road Atlas that I've have ever seen.
Great product!! Great Price!! and you can't beat Amazon's Great service!!

Without a doubt the best road atlas you can buy. Spiral binding makes it so much easier to handle without destroying it.

Exceptional detail on State, County and other secondary roads. Larger size and scale provide much improved readability when you're on the move (of course I never try to read the map while driving). Excellent detail on city maps and way more notation of landmarks and points of interest than the other brand.

Why waste your money on Rand McNally when this is available?

Most atlases have entire states on only one page. Consequently, many smaller towns are omitted. Most states in this atlas are on two (if not more) pages. Larger print. Easy to use.

Childs has created a beautifully written book about animals and journeys into their abodes. He lashes a poet's equipoise to an adventurer's rugged wagon and traverses stories that are breathtaking both in their raw facts and in their telling. A wonderful book.

I have greatly enjoyed reading this naturalist's account of personal encounters he has had with animals in the wild. He demonstrates a respect, as well as a healthy fear, of the big predators such as mountain lions, bears, and jaguars. Intertwined with the adventures, Craig Childs provides details and meaningful information on creatures as diverse as mosquitos and Blue Sharks. It is a personal account which is accurate and does not romanticize the animals he describes.

I purchased "The Secret Knowledge of Water" by Craig Childs, and picked up the "Animal Dialogues" at the same time. After reading both books, I will buy more by this author. Vivid descriptions of places and happenings make his experiences come alive. The short chapters on each species give his own story and some scientific information on the animal as the story unfolds. I have learned much, and enjoy his take on the face to face encounters with some of the animals. We can identify with the cat and mouse tales in the Tipi. The Mountain Lion encounters were incredibly intense. This will really make me be more aware of where I am and what is around me when walking up the slot canyons and in the river wash. The footprints we find will be a little more of a wake up call, then just 'Oh neat! A fresh Mountain Lion foot print!"

This book tops my list of favorites. Childs' skillful use of languge not only brings his encounters to life, but revels in the mystical aspects of the wilderness. It is as close to poetry as prose can get; it's simply stunning.

This book was very well written from a naturist's point of view. At times you would feel as if you were right beside the writer as these encounters occur. After living in CO for 15 years I really could appreciate the stories. Great read for a cold winter night.

I became a fan of Leonard Pitts after reading his column in the Miami Herald while visiting Florida. I like his style of writing and thinking and after reading this book, I now purchase it for young black men who have just become a father.

Written by Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Leonard Pitts Jr., Becoming Dad is a discussion of the need for black fathers to step up and become positive male role models in African-American society today. Pitts recounts both his personal life (he grew up with an abusive father) and vignettes from dozens of men that he interviewed across the nation. Becoming Dad blends both personal experience and journalistic cross-examination into a powerful whole that embraces the joy of truly being a father and caretaker. A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrate this highly recommended tribute.

After watching Mr. Pitts interview on Tony Brown Journal. I became one of the first people to order his book on Amazon.com.
I would like this book place on the recommended reading list at predominately Black High Schools, colleges and universities. It would be nice to also see a few copies available in prisons, church libraries and military PX stores. Mr. Pitts, "Becoming Dad" offers God-send messages to Black Men seeking answers, However, others can benefit from this book. In conclusion, I would like "Becoming Dad" in every conscious-seeking Black man's library.

I was first drawn to this book after watching a television interview of Leonard Pitts, Jr. as he discussed the book. What an interview! What a book!

I once heard a person say, "Real Men don't have to prove it." This certainly speaks of Leonard Pitts, Jr. He doesn't have to ask anyone's permission to be who he is and he doesn't have to prove to anyone else that he is a man. He is able to be vulnerable and strong at the same time. Those whose stories he writes are equally brave and candid. He is a man with straight-shooting, hard-hitting advice for a new generation of African American men, and some advice for women as well. His frustration with men who blindly accept the stereotypes placed on them by a thoughtless society comes through loud and strong. Men do have a choice. And women do have have a choice as to where they place their standards.

Because this book is aimed at African American culture, it will not have as strong of an emotional impact with those who are in a different culture. Pity, because strip away the cultural references and his message is one that needs to be heard by everyone.

I read this book back in January and thought about how different a life I had compared to Leonard Pitts Jr. Pitts spoke about how his father held the family a gunpoint twice and about how he beat his mother and siblings whenever the father became intoxicated. Pitts basically stated how once his father died of cancer he was basically forgotten about, but never forgiven for the things he had done to make their lives so complicated for his family.

Pitts speaks to other men in a focus group setting about their relationships with their children and the mother of their children. Some of the relationships seemed as if the father really did not know what to say or do with the children and some of the children felt who is the mystery man? My heart went out to so many of the men, women and children who never got acquainted or tried and failed. I believe that so many men make children and probably fallout with the mother of their children. So many men see the "baby mama" as an obstacle who makes them feel inadequate or uncomfortable.

I had a friend who fathered a child with a woman and had not seen the child in the tweleve years that the child has been on earth except for the day he was born. My friend received a letter one day from his son wanting to see him and my friend wanted to go out and buy everything in the mall for his son. I explained to my friend that money can't buy love and I said that the most valuable gift you can give to your son is history. I explained to my friend that he should tell his son where he came from, his family, and take the boy on a trip to see where his father grew up. The boy is curious to know about his father, but also about himself and so often we lose sight of that by purchasing expensive that could never fill the void of family history.

Some books teach you something new. Some books have you look at things in a different light. This book does both. Before reading this expansive historical work, I viewed the 1863 New York riots as a reaction to the draft. This book shows that it was that and a lot more. Schecter's book analyzes the social-political situation in the United States at the time of the riots and shows how much racial relations and fears, and those who preyed on both, played a role.

This book teaches on so many levels. It serves as a 1) an complete account of the civil disturbance in New York City in 1863, 2) an overview of race relations in the United States during the Civil War and Reconstruction, and 3) a history of New York city in this pivotal time frame. It even includes a travel guide for New York, which includes all the sites related to the narrative. Well written and superbly researched, this book is a great precursor to Eric Foner's works on Reconstruction.

This is the best historical work I have read in the last few years.

Thank heavens for independent scholars!

Barnet Schecter is rapidly becoming one of the best chroniclers of New York's history. His previous book, "The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution", was an eye-opening revelation at how this city was the true "heart" of our separation from England, and how we (and Boston, as well) were that country's main target for conquest in 1776. Utilizing the same narrative style of writing, Barnet Schecter tackles the week-long convulsion in New York City four score and seven years later.

"The Devil's Own Work: The Civil War Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America" fills a void in most histories of the Civil War: the fighting that took place OFF the battlefields of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, etc. These were the wars that were waged in newspapers, city halls, and, ultimately, the streets of major cities across America. Mr. Schecter is careful to explain that the New York City draft riots were not the only anti-war, anti-emancipation riots during the Civil War. But it was the largest. It was the worst. (While most New York historians claim that around 100 people were killed during the riots, Mr. Schecter rightfully, I believe, puts the number at 500, at the very least.)

The actual riots occupy only the middle one hundred or so pages of the book. Mr. Schecter devotes an appropriate amount of time to examining the roots of the riots: the racism, the class animosities, the mistrust between Nativists and immigrants, and so on. In the weeks and months immediately before the cataclysm, we see battle lines being drawn: Greeley vs. Marble, Democrats vs. Republicans, poor whites vs. poor blacks; in fact, it seems like it was almost everyone vs. the beseiged African-American population. When the five days of rioting are discussed, the sense of prevailing confusion and chaos--the near anarchy--are as expertly conveyed as the awful scenes of violence. The final third of the book is, in many ways, more tragic than the uprising. It is here where Mr. Schecter discusses the aftermath of the riots over the next two decades. Basically, the reconstruction of America fails. The North and the South do not fully unify. The working class does not get the respect it deserves. (Instead, it is treated with more brutality and unfairness.) Worst of all, African-Americans are not truly emancipated. The enmity and violence visited upon them, because they are never addressed, just worsens. And why were they never addressed? Mr. Barnet just comes out and says it: because most people never really wanted to. Therefore, it would takes decades before America would heal or truly reconstruct.

"The Devil's Own Work: The Civil War Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America" is a sobering book, true, but it holds our fascination. The details about the quirky politicians, newspapermen, observers and participants breathe life into people who have been dead for almost 150 years. The maps and generous sprinkling of illustrations help us see the people and places more clearly. This is a monumental book for which Barnet Schecter deserves our appreciation.

Also recommended: Iver Bernstein's "The New York Civil War Draft Riots". Although not written in a narrative style, it contains valuable information about the causes of the riots. For a fictional treatment, Peter Quinn's novel, "Banished Children of Eve" is the best I have ever read.

Schecter's book is a great read that clearly explains the New York City draft riots and the political and ethnic issues that simmered to the point where in July 1863 Irish immigrants protested and rebelled against what they saw as an unfair draft system that had been put in place allowing $300 commutation fees and a recent Emancipation Proclamation which caused them to fear the loss of their jobs to newly freed slaves coming from the south.
It's an excellent book about a rarely discussed topic in our nation's history.

This is a good book that seeks to help desanitize and demythologize American history. Racism is and always has been an American problem, and not relegated to one region, or for that matter, one race. I think a good book to read with this one is Tom DiLorenzo's brave THE REAL LINCOLN, now available in paperback. It does something to show Lincoln's virulent racism and should act as a supplement to THE DEVIL'S OWN WORK.

Barnet Schecter's magisterial study of the five day insurrection that erupted in New York City, "The Devil's Own Work: The Civil War Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America", is one of those historical accounts that illuminate more than just the times the work is set in. By providing a multilayered analysis to the issues that marked this breakdown of social order, and through a deft, perfect-pitch, use of basic sources, Mr. Schecter lets the contemporary voices of those living through these events and, at times, driving them, speak for themselves. The result is a tableau of compelling immediacy that is rarely seen in a historical study. Some of the expected characters are here: Lincoln, Seward and Lee, etc. but it is the less well-known characters of that era that permit the real force of the book to be felt. By knitting together and contrasting the recorded dialogue of the restive ferment of the slums of New York and Boston with the tense interchanges originating in the mahoganied board-rooms of these same cities Mr. Schecter recreates the social tensions of these turbulent times. With what seems to be an unerring sense of how the character of a subject will define for him the peculiar social reality that he may act in, we meet figures who by virtue of the author's skill and sympathy are never rendered as simple, one-dimensional heroes or villains. Landmark works in any field of study require that a sense of scope, sensitivity and balance be observed throughout the effort. But such traits alone cannot mark it as memorable. For this the electricity of personal exchanges in statehouses, boardrooms and back alleys must be captured in their raw force and then be woven in into a narrative that flows with seeming effortlessness, from it its own momentum. This is what Mr. Schecter has accomplished.