Anthology Sources Books

There are many indelible words and images in this groundbreaking book that looks at how American editorial writers have handled the big issues: race, death, freedoms, politics, and more. Consider the angry screed written in 1961 by segregationist Jimmy Ward, editor of the Jackson (MS) Daily News, calling the freedom riders "puppets" and "riot-inciting professionals." It appears next to a close-up photo of a badly beaten freedom rider, his eyes swollen shut. Or the 122-word verdict on the "worthless" life of murderer Leonard Edwards that ran in the Philadelphia Daily News in 1975, ending with the curt demand: "Fry him." Or the lyrical, heartbreaking editorial that William Allen White of The Emporia (KS) Daily Gazette wrote when his 16-year-old daughter was killed in a riding accident.
"Outrage, Passion & Uncommon Sense" is full of excellent writing, evocative photographs, forgotten history, and well-remembered history, recalled in a fresh way with original editorials that ran within hours or days of the event. It's a wonder that no one has attempted such a book before. What a useful book for journalism students or any student of American history!

"History must be told through the eyes of people that have experienced it..." wrote Vine Deloria, Jr., American Indian author, in his 1972 book Of Utmost Good Faith.

Taking a similar documentary approach in his new book A RACE AT BAY, journalist Robert G. Hays looks to the past for some answers to understanding the cultural conflicts between the Native American Indians and the ever-expanding population of white settlers in America during the late nineteenth century.

Using well-selected editorials from the New York Times between 1860 and 1900, Hays skillfully focuses the reader's attention on the role of the press in defining and influencing public opinion on what the editorial writers called the "Indian problem."

But what was the Indian problem? To most non-Indians of that time, particularly economic opportunists and frontier settlers, the American Indian simply was in the way of national expansion and progress. Indians were either to be contai! ned or exterminated if efforts to "civilize" them failed. And civilization, as Hays amply illustrates, "was defined in the whites' terms."

Many Americans in the "civilized" eastern states of that time held the belief of the nineteenth century historian John Fiske that the race of aboriginal Americans could be identified by three cultural classifications: "barbarous," "savage," and "half-civilized." As Robert Hays points out the Times editorial writers also were not immune to these popular xenophobic expressions and added a few of their own like "greasy red men," "dusky savages," and "Lo." It is not surprising, therefore, that the editors of the Times used the typical "we/they" attitude in their otherwise critical reporting of the treatment of the American Indians.

A RACE AT BAY is well organized in eleven short chapters each presenting a topic that can be read in or out of s! equence of the others. Hays begins each of his chapters wit! h an insightful overview of his selected editorials. At the end of the book is a complete index that should prove particularly useful to readers who want to focus on selected issues within the same thread of discussion.

In one of his longest chapters Robert Hays covers the contentious topic on Indian policy--as debated and (re)defined by the U.S. Congress, as implemented by the Department of Interior, as discharged by the Department of War, and as defended or ridiculed by the New York Times as in the following editorial excerpt from May 22, 1870:

"There is a white problem to be dealt with along the whole of our vast frontier, in order even to get at our Indian problem...why the Russians and French and English have always succeeded better with the Indians than we have, is, not that they are more humane or more just than we are, or have more tenderness for the red race than we have, but that their system of governing the white race is different...they do not permit t! he sparse and half-civilized communities which collect on their frontier to govern themselves as we do under our Territorial system."

A clear, consistent, and equitable national policy for the American Indians was never realized then, and remains just as elusive today, as a Times editorial writer on October 7, 1879, admonishes with the question "What has Congress ever done to define the course of conduct which should be pursued toward the Indians?"

Perhaps the enigmatic answer lies in an old Indian quote: "The only promise that the Government kept with the Indian was the promise to take the Indians' land, and it did."

This is an excellent translation of the "Jinsilu," the classic statement of Neo-Confucian philosophy by its chief proponent Zhu Xi (Chu Hsi) with a little help from Lu Zuqian. Before Zhu Xi's "Reflections" here, the new ideas and interpretations of the Confucian tradition then being developed by various thinkers were unsystematically contained in a scattered and vastly growing body of difficult texts. Zhu Xi, feeling that a short, comprehensive introduction to this "Neo-Confucianism" (as we call it today) was much needed, thus compiled "Reflections on Things at Hand" to get it all together, especially as an aid to the beginning student. It has remained an influential classic in East Asian cultures ever since, making this book pretty much required reading for anyone really interested in the intellectual history of China, Japan, and/or Korea.

The text itself includes selections mainly from four prior Neo-Confucian thinkers: Zhou Dunyi, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, and Zhang Zai. Another major Neo-Confucian thinker, Shao Yong, was excluded by Zhu Xi for being in his opinion too "Daoist" in orientation. Zhu also edited out a quote from the Daoist commentator Wang Bi found in one of the passages by Cheng Yi. Otherwise Zhu is usually highly fair and objective in his presentation of the four thinkers, including their statements even when he disagreed with them or with their interpretations of passages from older texts.

Wing-tsit Chan really went all out in this volume, including all kinds of useful material in addition to the translation itself (for which alone he deserves an award). The introduction puts Zhu Xi and "Reflections" in context, describes Neo-Confucian philosophy in overview, and discusses the text's later reception across East Asia. At the end there is a handy appendix detailing the sources from which the passages in "Reflections" were excerpted, a discussion of the many commentaries later written on "Reflections" and a pretty exhaustive listing of these along with quick descriptions, and a consideration of the issues involved in translating Chinese philosophical terms into English. This is good old-fashioned meticulous scholarship at its best...Zhu Xi would be proud.

If anybody asked me--describe St. Louis--I can now just hand them a copy of this book. Beginning with Pere Jacques Marquette and concluding with Gerald Early, 300 plus years of St. Louis are illustrated through various memoirs, stories, poems, essays and plays as told by St. Louisans (both well known and lesser known).

Not just mere public relations ad campaign for the region, the collection also confronts issues head-on that have plagued the region for quite some time. However many selections also remind us how many great aspects there are in this region to offer its citizens.

The introductions and bios for the individual authors also provide great context and insight to the pieces, as well as including many interesting tibits of information that even the most knowledgable St. Louisian wouldn't know. Kudos to Lee Ann Sandweiss and everyone at the Missouri Historical Society for assembling an anthology very worthy of anyone who "seeks St. Louis."

Mary Astell is one of the first European females to write directly on issues of philosophy, politics, and rhetoric; like other women writers she also writes about religion and morality, as she proposes the foundation of an educational/religious institution for single ladies. This book has complete editions of both books 1 and 2 of Astell's A Serious Proposal to the Ladies (1694, 1697), with facsimiles of the original title pages, extensive footnotes, an excellent introduction, bibliography, and an index at the back. The introduction is an excellent overview of Astell's political and philosophical context. Of particular interest is Springborg's coverage of Astell's debates with John Locke, and Astell's use of Descartes and the Port-Royal Logic. Springborg also draws connections between Astell and Daniel Defoe, Richard Steele, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Samuel Richardson, and others. This book is a must for anyone interested in women's contributions to philosophy, education, religion, or politics in the English enlightenment.

I have been looking for a teaching anthology for a 17th-century poetry course that would be well annotated and lively. This fits the bill! I also think the general reader might enjoy it. This is certainly the best 17th century poetry anthology on the market!

"Shakespeare and Joyce" will open your eyes! Did you know that "riverrun" is the first Shakespeare reference in "Finnegans Wake"? You'll know this and hundreds of other choyce titbits after reading this excellent, fun, and well-written book on the author who most impressed Joyce (Dante was second to the Englishman).

Simple Solutions for Planet Earth is a must read for many if for no other reason than that its author, Patrick Takahashi, is a now retired PhD in Chemical Engineering who has spent his entire career in renewable energy. Among many other things, it explains in clear terms how the release of methane, a greenhouse gas 20 to 62 times worse than carbon-dioxide, from the continental shelf and arctic tundra could turn the earth's atmosphere into the 460 degree centigrade hell like the planet Venus that once had an atmosphere like Earth's. (By the way, the book notes that when Steven Hawking was asked his thoughts on the environment, he stated it was that the Earth "might end up like Venus, at 250 degrees centigrade and raining sulfuric acid.")

Simple Solutions is a sometimes stream of consciousness personal narrative with frequent gems of insight from analysis of the post peak oil energy alternatives and their relative potential for actually being implemented. It is also a practical treatise on the national and international politics of getting science done. This book is a "must read" for any investor, policymaker, CEO, aspiring CEO or business student. Every citizen in a democracy should also read it. Alas, that's not likely to happen. You will read it now but find yourself referring to its gems of insight, history and fact for years to come (I finished it 2 months ago and already my copy has more dog-ears than a mid-sized kennel). Its informal and personal style makes its high science accessible to everyone including those who might think a logarithm is something you find in a forest. The book does need an index but its strengths in facts and science far outweigh anything a copy editor could do for it.

I found this book in my mother's house in Ballycastle, looking for something to read on the plane back to Santa Monica. I did not realise I had picked up one of the most incredible treasures of inspiration and joy that I have ever read. This book is packed full of the deepest and most wonderful delights. I have since bought 4 used copies to give to friends, the book seems to be out of print. One friend marked up his copy with the treasures he found, and I copied all these "arrows" to share with others and re-read myself.

Reading these southern pamphlets leaves no doubt concerning the true cause of the American Civil War. The rebellious Southern States of the Confederacy wanted to build a vast slave Empire from the Atlantic to the Pacific by the acquisition of all the rich resources of Mexico and Central America. According to a newspaper of the Southern press : "all territory to the Isthmus must be ours; Cuba afterwards, either by negotiation or conquest". Quite obviously, the "Lost Cause" was a "Wrong Cause" and has nothing to do with the myths built by the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Serge Noirsain, Belgian historian, author of "La Confédération sudiste, mythes et réalités" and "La Flotte européenne de la Confédération sudiste".