History Books

This is a very important book for everyone to read. Tallamy has been an incrediable influence in Northen Michigan to take action in planting native plants. We also now have the research that he has shared in his book to give concrete reasons why to plant native plants.

Bugs are good! That's the takeaway message of this book. Tallamy is an entomologist so his affection for insects is not surprising, and he clearly admires them for their aesthetic beauty and clever evolutionary adaptations. But he also argues, persuasively and passionately, that there are sound ecological reasons for welcoming insects into our landscapes with open arms--and a smorgasbord of native plants.
Healthy insect populations are essential to sustainable ecosystems that support the birds, butterflies, mammals, reptiles and other "charismatic megafauna" we cherish. Birds, especially, rely on insects and their larvae to feed their young. In the areas we humans have disturbed with our roadways and infrastructure, commercial buildings, residential developments, and agricultural plantations, we have wiped out the native plant diversity that supports wildlife. Tallamy estimates that perhaps only 3% to 5% of the United States remains as undisturbed, natural land, and much of that is composed of "ecological islands" that preclude immigration, making both plant and animal species vulnerable to local extinctions. So unless all of us actively work to convert human-disturbed lands--including our suburban gardens--for the preservation of wild creatures, we will no longer have the opportunity to observe nature on a daily basis. We will have to travel to outlying preserves to visit the few remaining species that survive.
So, what's the connection to native plants? All plants convert the sun's energy into organic matter usable by life. They are the first "trophic level." Insect herbivores eat plants and, in turn, provide food for all the other animals in higher trophic levels: insect carnivores, birds, mammals, reptiles, etc. But insects are often specialists, able only to eat those plants they have evolved with. And in our residential landscapes and agricultural plantings, we have systematically chosen exotic plants or created plant cultivars that are distasteful to our native insects. We have done this to protect our valuable food crops and because we
view our landscapes as mere decoration, wanting them to be aesthetically perfect and unmarred by chewed leaves. But deliberately excluding insect herbivores in this way deprives our ecosystems of a vital link in the food web. And introduced exotics are doubly problematic because these "pest-free" species escape our grasp and themselves become pests, precisely because they are distasteful to the insect herbivores that keep native plants in check. Our native plants, by contrast, are tasty insect food, and insects provide the basis for all the other animals.
To help us choose plants that are insect-friendly, the chapter "What Should I Plant?" identifies and describes those plant genera that have demonstrated the greatest ability to support butterfly and moth larvae. This criterion was chosen because Lepidoptera comprise over 50% of all insect herbivores in the US, because caterpillars are important components of many vertebrate diets, and because there is more published data about host plant
use by butterflies and moths than there is for other insects. Tallamy's plant descriptions are interesting both for his suggestions for landscape applications and his knowledge about which caterpillars make use of each plant group.
The cleverly-titled chapter "What Does Bird Food Look Like?" describes various insect families, including but not limited to Lepidoptera. Tallamy tells us what plants these insects eat, what eats them, and describes interesting or curious facets of their life histories. (Initially I was tempted to skip this chapter but was glad I didn't because I found it fascinating.)
The book is illustrated throughout with wonderful color photographs of plants and insects, and has useful appendices: a list of native plant species that have both wildlife value and desirable landscaping attributes (sorted by region and plant type), a checklist of host plants of butterflies and showy moths, and a summary of Tallamy's survey data that demonstrates his thesis. I enjoyed this book immensely and highly recommend it to anyone who wants to make landscape choices that are more likely to attract birds, butterflies and other creatures. Whether you read the book or not, when you see insects dining on your
landscape, rejoice!

This is a very important book. I reluctantly purchased it after hearing several people that I admire recommend it very highly. I am not much into gardening but am interested in birds, biodiversity and restoring natural habitats. I have read hundreds of books on biology and the environment over the years and have been to hundreds of meetings and conferences regarding solutions to the many problems that beset our natural environment. It is not often that I hear of a very simple solution to a ubiquitous problem, that of a decline in the overall population of birds and mammals and the increase in the ravages of diseases affecting our forests, grasslands and deserts.

In addition to offering a novel solution to major problems the outlook of the book is optimistic and the reading is interesting and pleasurable. Dr. Tallamy is a fine writer and also furnishes fascinating descriptions of the plants, insects, mammals and birds that he has studied. One that I remember from the chapter on insects was the defensive strategy of some insects called leafhoppers that are preyed upon by wasps. The mother protects her offspring that are feeding on the stem above by intercepting attackers from below. If a wasp starts an attack from above her young drum out a distress message that vibrates through the stem to her so she can rush up and try to kick the wasp away. Another insect, a tree-boring beetle, flies to the top of mountain ridges to scan for forest fires with infrared vision to locate trees weakened by fire that are prime targets for feeding and breeding locations.

In addition to these insights into the world of insects and plants the book gives you an understanding of the significant danger from the spread of alien plant species. I agree with all the high recommendations for this book. Everyone that reads this will have a new outlook on nature and even the gardeners will enjoy it.

This book is a must read for all. It highlights and informs about the small steps we can each take to create a better world in our own back yards.

I thought this book was great, and now I'm "sold" on only using native plants in my garden. And for those who say that not all alien plants are bad, and that this book doesn't tell the whole story or whatever, I would retort "well why NOT use native plants only?" To me there's something more "right" about using plants that are native to the very land you are on.

The back of the book contains a terrific appendix that lists good native plants to grow by U.S. region. I was very disappointed however that there was no index for the Northeast region(which is where I live)...

I grew up with Vinnie, I lived on Stockholm Btw Wyckoff and Irving my grandfather from Menfi was a shoemaker on Wyckoff across from Wyckoff Heights Hospital. We both went to St Joseph's and belonged to the sea-cadets. Growing up Sicilian brought back so many memories reading his book, have never read a Thousand and One Nights still trying to get that one. Vincent will be missed, he was such a great writer and actor.

Charlie Mule'

Reading this book brings back alot of memories of growing up in an Italian family from NYC. We are from Staten Island but wherever us Italians go we bring our unique and loved culture-especially food. And this book not only has Authentic recipes but Authentic stories about growing up in the very tight-knit italian community. This book is a must read/buy for all Italian Americans, especially the youth who are being driven away, daily, by the disgusting MTV generation. Wheather you are an experienced cook or not, Italian or Sicilian just buy this book and smile all the way through, and then at the end wish for more. And then you will, if your lucky enough, start to recall your own Italian-American experience. By the way this is not your typical "MERIGAN" Italian cookbook It is the real deal!

I grew up in this neighborhood during the time he speaks about, and it was exactly as he describes it. The S.A.C.'s, the gangs, the feasts, the recipes, the stores on Knickerbocker Avenue, the way our family members spoke - I still talk Brooklynese! It's a great book. Brings back so many memories.....if you had any connection to this Bushwick neighborhood during the 50's and 60's, you must read this book.

I saw this book and needed to read it. After all, I am also Sicilian and born and raised in Brooklyn (though a good many years after Mr. Schiavelli.) His memories brought back a great deal of my own; often ones I had forgotten. I thank him for this. From the street vendors with their horses to the people sharing stories on their stoops to the men's only clubs and the strega exorcising the evil eye - It is all as I remember it, too. If anyone says that this book isn't true to Brooklynites and to Italians, they must not be either.
Enjoy it, it is true treasure!

I read this book with one arm. I had just broken my elbow in late 1998, and this book took me into another, happier world and literally eased my pain. You'll love the stories of a bygone era told with with love.

Thanks, Vincent, for easing my pain with your wonderful book.

This was required reading for a graduate course in the history of the French Revolution. For Thomas Paine, the eighteenth century was the Age of Enlightenment because for the first time humankind was throwing off the millstones of religious dogmatism and political despotism. Paine essentially believed that the rights of man encompassed, "...all the intellectual rights, or rights of the mind, and also all those rights of acting as an individual for his own comfort and happiness, which are not injurious to the natural rights of others" (Paine, 68).

Paine's Rights of Man was an eloquent yet blistering rebuttal to Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France. Paine got right to the crux of the disagreement he had with Burke when he admonished him for his argument that governmental enactments of previous generations had the force and authority to bind citizens for all time. An example that Burke used was the English Parliament of 1688, which he praised as a model of the type of reform French citizens should emulate. Paine's answer was swift and cutting "Radical Enlightenment" reason. "Every age and generation must be as free to act for itself, in all cases, as the ages and generations which preceded it. The vanity and presumption of governing beyond the grave, is the most ridiculous and insolent of all tyrannies" (41-42). Paine also took Burke to task for his narrow understanding of French socio-political and economic problems leading up to 1789. Unlike Burke, Paine understood that the French Revolution, unlike the others that took place in Europe, was not just a revolt against the king. "Between the monarchy, the parliament, and the church, there was a rivalship of despotism, besides the feudal despotism operating locally, and the ministerial despotism operating everywhere" (48). Thus, what Paine witnessed, Alexis de Tocqueville and Georges Lefebvre observed, agreed with, and commented on, in their history's years later. The institutions that Burke defended in his Reflections, such as the nobility, Church, and monarchial rule, all became "fodder" for Paine's "grist mill" in his defense of France's new constitution.

Paine abhorred the institution of nobility and supported its dissolution for several reasons.
"Because the idea of hereditary legislation is as inconsistent...and absurd as an hereditary mathematician....Because it is continuing the uncivilized principle of governments founded in conquest, and the base idea of man having property over man, and governing him by personal right" (83). No friend to tradition, Paine took Burke to task for defending the notion of, "...hereditary rights, and hereditary succession, and that a Nation has not a right to form a Government for itself" (Paine, 116). Paine defended the French constitution's eradication of tithes to the Catholic Church and it "...hath abolished or renounced Toleration, and Intolerance also, hath established UNIVERSAL RIGHT OF CONSCIENCE" (85). Finally, Paine unleashed a most scathing attack against Burke's suggestion that France should reform its absolutist monarchy into a benign form of constitutional monarchy similar to what Britain enjoyed. "All hereditary government is in its nature tyranny" (172). "It occasionally puts children over men, and the conceits of nonage over wisdom and experience. In short, we cannot conceive a more ridiculous figure of government, than hereditary succession" (173).

Thus, Paine's Radical Enlightenment polemic, which sold more than 200,000 copies throughout Europe, was his reasoned and articulate project towards developing a better world. Consequently, there is no doubt that Paine, whose Radical Enlightenment pen proved to be "mightier than the sword" of despotism both in the American and French Revolutions, understood the importance of the nurturing relationship that Enlightenment philosophes had on the French Revolution. "But all those writings and many others had their weight; and by the different manner in which they treated the subject of government...by their moral maxims and systems of economy, readers of every class met with something to their taste" (Paine, 94).

Recommended reading for anyone interested in political philosophy, enlightenment history, and the French Revolution.

My fourteen year old actually finds these essays humorous in light of what is currently going on within our society. While I realize that common sense is not something that is highly valued within our education system, it is highly necessary for running a government. Thumbs up. Share these ideals and thoughts with your children!

Thomas Paine is the Main Man who started the two Revolutionary Wars, first America which took 7 years then afterwards France starts her own Revolution with Thomas Paine's help but hers is won almost overnight. Thomas Paine not only started these Revolutions but he participated in both. This book is a real page turner that you won't be able to put down!

I have read much on the history of our beautiful country and also of other countries as well.

This book by Thomas Paine "COMMON SENSE AND THE RIGHTS OF MAN" is an extraordinary out line of how man should form his government and live in harmony with his fellow man in this world. Thomas Paine, one of our founding fathers, is a man that saw the rights of man being trampled on by England. His writing is plain common sense, of which many of us fail to utilize, about what a government should be and should not be. Our founding fathers gave us a Republic, if we could keep it. So far we have taken the declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights completly our of context. We are nowhere near the government our founding fathers gave us.

Those who wish to find the truth are compelled to read this book. Those who are satisified with the status quo will continue to be so. Read one of the best books ever written on the Rights of Man and then make your decision whether you want to live free men or langour in slavery.

Thomas Eby......

This little paperback is conveniently sized and conveniently priced. Were it not for the bothersome introduction, I would have gladly given it five stars. As it stands, however, I could do without radical leftist Sidney Hook's presumptuous introduction, wherein he arrogantly dictates to me precisely how I should read Thomas Paine, and in what manner Mr. Paine is correct and incorrect in his reasoning. Ripping out the introduction or going over it line-by-line with a black sharpie would be a marked improvement to this volume.

The book is concise, covers a wide range of topics and is entertaining while describing a complicated religion. An enjoyable read, very informative and filled with fascinating facts, thoughts, history and possible future of Judaism. I would recommend this for anyone wanting to start learning about Judaism and the fascinating culture, traditions and religions.

This book is in no form an "Idiot's" guide. Rabbi Benjamin Blech does an absolute brilliant job articulating some of the most difficult concepts in Jewish thought and Judaism today. Based on his book "Understaing Judaism" published by Jason Aronson, Blech touches on almost every aspect of Jewish life and for the right amount of time. Not too little, yet not too boring.

After reading this book I realized that after years of study, I am still an "idiot".

They need to remove the "Complete Idiot's Guide" from the title. I feel that this cheapens or insults the wonderful message and body of work inside this marvelous book. G-d's message and word should not be down played as this title implies.

With that said the Rabbi's message is very articulate and insightful. He is able to blend ancient teachings with modern analogies wonderfully. I highly recommend this book!!

This book provides an accurate basic account of the Jewish faith for all who are interested. It also adds amusing references to pop culture and real-life sitations.

This is a great book for a non Jew to get an overall appreciation for the beliefs, practices and customs of the Jewish religion. I am a Christian who wanted to get a better understanding and appreciation for Judaism. In Jan. 2007 I spent two weeks in the Holy Land and when I came back I wanted to get a fuller appreciation for Judaism. This book gave me that.

You can take all the faux adventure movies cobbled together with computer graphics and franchise action stars, roll them into a wad, and chuck them out the window. This simple book remains one of the most gripping, heart-in-your-mouth adventures ever written. It's history, but it's pure fiction.

The historical part is straightforward. A band of marauding Spaniards conquered the New World for the greater glory of money, slaves, the queen, and god, in that order. They fought off superior numbers, disease, incessant war, mutiny, plots, and desperate odds to subdue and enslave an entire continent. They rammed their foreign gods down the throats of the natives on the point of a sword, and by their victory turned Spain into one of the world's greatest powers.

The fiction is more astounding, of course, than the history. Bernal Diaz truly believes, at least in his old age, that murder, rapine, and enslavement were acts of fealty to Christ. He sees the treachery of Cortes as being more than offset by the horrific practices of human sacrifice practiced by the Aztecs. He sees the subjugation of the New World as the very just price of European progress and civilization.

Between the historical reality of Cortes's military victory and the fictional account that justifies the war and its atrocities lies a gripping narrative that will shock and astound you with its simple prose and matter of fact description of battles won, lives lost, and a continent brought under force of Spanish arms. This is both the best historical work I've ever read and one of the finest tales of pure fancy and imagination in Western literature.

I purchased this book intending to get an unbiased view of the Spanish exploration of the New World. That is a difficult task given the nature of 20th & 21st Century academia.

This text, an eye witness account of what happened on real explorations, more than satisfies my objective. What's more, it's as exciting as can be... kind of like Star Wars... exploring new worlds, defeating the bad guys and establishing new alliances.

Excellent work.

If I could rate this work greater than five stars, I would. Not that it's the most erudite of tales but simply because it is the truth as Bernal Diaz experienced it. Almost certainly, it isn't one hundred percent accurate for Diaz' experiences are necessarily modified by the years separating his experiences from his writing of it. Nor was he, or any other member of the Cortez' expedition, an anthropologist, ethnographesr, scientist or even a particularly accurate observer. They were simple men--brave men, brutal men, trapped men--bent on plunder.

Still the Bernal Diaz memoirs are as good as it gets regarding the Conquest of Mexico and, as such, is an invaluable account. I find his account so important that I used it as my primary source in researching my novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Conquest of Mexico. I loved it when Diaz remarks towards the end of his account that, even in his old age, he wasn't able to sleep the night through. He "had to get up and look around." It's fascinating to note that basic human nature doesn't really change. Bernal Diaz del Castillo was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder induced by the fearful events of his two year battle in Mexico. Also, I loved it when he commented--also toward the end of his tale--that "although we robbed the Indiains, Cortez robbed his soldiers even more."

Cortez, for all his brillianace, luck and perseveranace, was, at the end, nothing more than a common thief.

Ron Braithwaite

When I first read the 1800 English translation, I could not put it down. Here are the first lines--a real grabbers! "In the year 1514, I left Castile (Spain) in company with Pedro Arias de Avila, who was then appointed governor of Tierra Firma (east Panama)...but afterwards suspicious that his son-in-law had an intention of revolting, he caused him to be beheaded."

Bernal's description of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan is amazing: "To many of us it appeared doubtful whether we were asleep of awake; nor is the manner in which I express myself to be wondered at, for it must be considered, that never yet did man see, hear or dream of anything equal to the spectacle which appeared to our eyes on this day."

And how about this magnificent line: "And now, let who can, tell me, where are men in this world to be found, except ourselves, who would have hazarded such an attempt."

And here is the horrific vision the Spaniards beheld when they climbed to the top of the great Aztec temple-pyramid. Remember that nearby, and looming up like a nightmare, was the stupendous "tzompantli," or skull rack. By careful Spanish count, it contained the grinning remains of 136,000 human beings.

"In this place they had a drum of most enormous size, the head of which was made of the skins of large serpents: this instrument when struck resounded with a noise that could be heard to the distance of two leagues, and so doleful that it deserved to be named the music of the infernal regions; and with their horrible sounding horns and trumpets, their great knives for sacrifice, their human victims, and their blood besprinkled altars, I devoted them, and all their wickedness to God's vengeance, and thought that the time would never arrive, that I should escape from this scene of human butchery, horrible smells, and more detestable sights."

The Conquest takes on a different color when seen through the eyes of the Spanish. Yes, they were greedy and cruel, but the scale of human sacrifice practiced by the Aztecs was beyond imagination. It is said that some twenty thousand people were sacrificed for the dedication of the Temple of the Sun. The Aztec priests worked for hours on end cutting out human hearts. They worked until they collapsed from exhaustion.

Bernal's history is also interesting for another entirely different reason. Joseph Smith (born 1805), the Mormon prophet, came of age during the period of English translations of Spanish histories (Bernal's in 1800 in London, and 1803 in the US, and Clevigero's "History of Mexico" in 1806 in Virginia and 1817 in Philadelphia).

Therefore, the golden splendor of the Spanish conquests of Mexico and Peru was fresh on everyone's mind, especially because the Spanish colony of Florida had become an American state (1821).

Thus, any notion that Americans were unaware of the great civilizations of ancient America is without foundation in real history. Ancient civilizations in America were so on the mind of people that in 1816, Solomon Spaulding wrote a history about a white and dark race in ancient America. His novel, "Manuscript Found," had the white race of mound builders destroyed by a darker-skin race.

Read my review of Robert Silverberg's magnificent book, "The Mound Builders of Ancient America: The Archaeology of a Myth." A must-read for anyone interested in the archaeology and myths about ancient America. Click here: Mound Builders

Diaz was one of the soldiers who accompanied Cortez to invade the Aztec Empire. His account is one of the best we have of the whole affair. It is not written with much bias and was written to discount historical myths after the invasion had taken place. It is very analytical at times and his analysis of what happened is given added authority since he was present at the events. If you want to understand what happened this is a great book to read.

I have been working in polymer for 37 years as an amature and decided it was time to get some professional tips. This book is full of great ideas and easy to read. The illustrations are numerous and very helpful. Even if your polymer art is very different I would recommend this book.

This book is clear & concise for any level of clayer. Katherine has the amazing ability to relay to the sculpter what is needed to bring the sculpt to life while expounding on the importance of a solid foundation.
My only critisim would be that I wanted even more animal examples & will be the first in line to purchase a follow up book should she decide to do one.

Katherine Dewey is a wonderful artist. I already own her book, "Creating Life-Like Figures in Polymer Clay" so I knew that "Creating Life-Like Animals in Polymer Clay" would be great. I wasn't disappointed! The only project I have finished is the fawn and it is adorable. I'm looking forward to my next project from the book but I can't decide which one to create because I love them all.

I'm not near this good yet, but it definately gives me the inspiration to keep trying. Great detail and instructions from a fantastic artist.
I bought this as a used book and was very, very pleased with the seller and the condition of the book.

This book gives detailed explanations and has great pictures, it is helpful and inspirational : it allows you to expand your skills beyond the book's examples. A must for fimo-maniacs. Katherine Dewey is probably the most gifted polymer clay artist in the world but is able to use pedagogy to share her knowledge.
I do not recommend it for beginners or children though, as some of the creations are detailed and might require some anatomy basics to be sculpted successfully.

This book is a very readable, yet detailed and comprehensive description of a little-known, pivotal campaign in the Civil War. It is accurate, fast-moving and combines personal details, battlefield experiences and the engagement overview with political ramifications. It should be on the shelf of even the casual reader of Civil War history.

This is a great book, it is a fast read. If you love civil war history you must read this book. This is a little written about battle.

...to the high drama that unfolded on the ground I have traversed for the past half-century, all the while only peripherally aware of the desperate struggle that occurred at Monocacy. Marc Leepson has created a vivid expose of a little-known battle that had far-reaching ramifications for this entire country. I am no expert in the Civil War and yet I thoroughly enjoyed the captivating portraits of the main personalities and the solid research and voluminous details that helped me understand how pivotal this battle truly was. Never again will I cross the Monocacy River on that humpback bridge, cross the Potomac on the ferry named the Jubal Early, pass by at 60 mph on I-270, or even walk the streets of DC without being keenly aware of the brave souls who, in the very same spot over a century ago, experienced the most critical moments of their lives and shaped the country I live in today. The wrap-up at the end, describing what happened to the key characters, was an interesting and unusual touch. I highly recommend this well-researched book!

Marc has done a superb job of using very personal first hand accounts and weaving them into a detailed close up picture of a Confederate action aimed at Washington, D.C. The dedication of the soldiers, and their miseries, bring home the realities of War. That they almost succeeded is to their everlasting credit.

The battle at Monocacy Junction in July, 1864 is not as well known as other engagements during the Civil War. But it may well have been as important, at least, as some better known battles. "Desperate Engagement" describes the context for the battle, its actual occurrence, and then the aftermath and a series of reflections.

In short, Jubal Early and the 2nd Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia were sent to the Shenandoah, to clear it of Northern troops, as Generals Sigel, Hunter, and Crook had been attacking the area. And, if the opportunity arose, to advance on Washington, D. C. itself, to (perhaps) free Confederate prisoners, to force General U. S. Grant to divert soldiers from his siege in Virginia to relieve pressure on the Capitol, maybe to even occupy parts of the city.

This book outlines why Early was given this assignment and how he carried it out. Incompetent generalship by Generals Sigel and Hunter allowed Early to cross the Potomac and head toward Washington in summer, 1864. The threat was real, but the Unions forces in Washington, D. C. were few in number and poor in quality. Many were recovering from wounds suffered on the battlefields of the East; others were brand new troops without any real training; others were simply subprime in one way or another. The center of government was surrounded by powerful forts--but there weren't the troops to make these forts formidable obstacles to the Confederates.

General Lew Wallace had pretty much a desk job; he had been shelved as a battlefield commander after Shiloh (and one could argue that his poor response was as much due to Grant's bad staff work as to Wallace's own ineptitude on that occasion). This was long before he penned "Ben-Hur"! Seeing the danger to Washington, D. C., he pulled together a scratch force--nowhere large enough to defeat Early's oncoming troops, but, he hoped, enough to slow the Confederate forces down until Union regulars arrived from Virginia. Indeed, Grant was forwarding the 6th Corps and elements from yet another Corps to relieve the Capitol. The first division to arrive from Virginia, Ricketts' Division of the 6th Corps, was called to Monocacy Junction by Wallace.

There, they fought a battle against the Confederate forces, badly outnumbered, until a flanking attack by the southern troops made his position untenable. Wallace's battered forces withdrew, leaving the road open to Washington, DC. However, by some accounts, it took so much time to defeat Wallace's troops that the Union forces of the 6th Corps arrived before Early could take advantage of the defensive weaknesses of the Capitol.

There follows an engaging discussion of the differing perspectives by actors and historians about the battle at Monocacy Junction. All in all, a nice book, crisply written, on a battle worth knowing something about.

An English major's best friend. What did I do without it? It's fun to pick up and read snippets but mostly it comes to the rescue when I have literary term questions or am stuck on a poetry problem. I ordered it from Amazon since it beat campus prices.

I've had this book for almost a month now, and I have to say that I am very impressed. I bought it because it was suggested as an extra source of information in my English Literature class. I am still waiting for the recommended text (Abram's 'A Glossary of Literary Terms'), so this one has definitely come in handy. Each time I look in it, I find new words and phrases to learn about (including the ones I 'have' to look up), and it is a delight. My mother used to tell us that her mother's frequent recommendation was 'Make a friend of your dictionary!'and I have. I like knowing which 'big' words I can use to truly express myself, and Cuddon's 'Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory'(published by Penguin in 1999 and revised by CE Preston), is going to be a very good 'friend' indeed! In my opinion, it is on a par with Abram's text, in fact it might be more accurate to say that they complement each other. I definitely recommend it to anyone studying English Literature, and anyone who just likes to read.

This book is an excellent and indispensable resource. I've used it quite often to look up and correctly apply different terms when writing essays and looking up references. However, it's also a fun book to look through and to pick out random entries in learning more about the wide range of literary terms, concepts, and histories that are comprehensively covered in this text.

This is a handy inexpensive reference book with much more than a dictionary on some interesting items but less on lots of other things, so it is very specific to literary purposes giving special help in history of literary terms. Since it works more like a history of those terms it gives J.A. Cuddon a wonderful opportunity to display his research skills and demonstrate interesting connections that otherwise would be missed. It works well as a required text for entrance level literature classes in the undergraduate level.

As an author, have you been guilty of "log-rolling?" According to "The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literay Theory" complied by J. A. Cuddon, this literary term is: "The practice by which authors review each other's books. Vulgarly known as "back-scratching." Being retired tree farmers we have a different concept for the term.
Extensive, forthright annotations and great essays take the browser on a delightful tour of the literary arena. From Abby Theater to Zhdanovshchina, Cuddin uses both irreverence and erudition to teach us that the words and phrases we use seldom mean what we believe.
An excellent reference for the writer's bookshelf.
Nash Black, author of "Qualifying Laps" and "Taxes, Stumbling Blocks & Pitfalls for Authors 2007."

This book sets out what Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies does, but in a less original way. It basicaly sets up a straw man by claiming that most people think Europeans conquered the New World and Oceania through weapons but in fact they were 'biologically' programmed to win. This thesis begins in the 10th century A.D. But here the author misses something. The Vikings that landed in Labrador and in Greenland were unsuccessful. They dwindled and died out. SO if they were biologically programmed to suceed then why didn't they. Inferior weaponry?

Then we jump ahead to the 16th century. Now the book misses another important point. Only in North America and Australia were the natives completely decimated by disease. In Mexico and New Zealand many of the native Aztecs and Maoris and Mayas survived. In Mexico today most people are descended from them. It was the sparsely populated natives that succombed to disease and this 'biological' issue. The conquest of Mexico and the mixing of peoples has a parellel in the Arab conquest of North Africa or the Turkish conquest of Anatolia. It is not simply a matter of disease and biology.

Thus this book falls short on several points. It is not an original thesis. It also suffers from severe problems of history, in trying to curve the data to fit the idea.

Seth J. Frantzman

"Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion Of Europe, 900-1900"
by Alfred W. Crosby. Cambridge University Press, 1986.
The implication of this book's theory is that the Europeans succeeded in the "New" World due to the imperialistic strength of European flora and fauna. European cattle and European horses conquered the plains of both North America and Argentina, making them "neo-Europes". When Columbus introduced the pig, (either inadvertently or consciously), he knew that that the porcine animal species would "conquer" their local environment. The author's excellent writing follows this theme throughout his book, but, in my opinion, he spends too much time on New Zealand ... pages 217 to 268.

Yet, if the author's thesis is correct, the book becomes a disparaging comment on human efforts. For example, compare the Pilgrims' landing in 1620 with the landing of Hernando De Cortez (1485-1547) at Vera Cruz in 1519. The Pilgrims snuck ashore, onto that Rock in Plymouth, on a cold winter's day. There was no one to meet them, as the locals (or "indigenes" as Crosby likes to call them) had all been killed off by strange and new diseases. The diseases were probably brought over by Englishmen; otherwise where did Squanto, the Indian chief, learn his rudimentary English? (Just as my aside, if the Scots, who first settled in Ulster, Ireland and then came to North America, are known as Scots-Irish, why weren't the Pilgrims known as "Anglo-Dutch"?)

In February 1519, more than a century before the Pilgrims, Hernando De Cortez landed at the Rich Villa of the Holy Cross, Vera Cruz, with some 500-600 men, to face not thousands, but hundreds of thousands. To instill courage in his men, Cortez burnt his boats. The Spanish had to go forward and they conquered an empire. On the other hand the Pilgrims occupied a dead village. In both cases, European diseases were the deciding factor, but the achievement of either group was entirely different. Crosby's book treats them as if they were equal.

I believe that Alfred W. Crosby has hit on something that bears further investigation. In the late summer of 2004, I attended a wedding in Slovenia. As we drove through Germany, I noticed goldenrod by the sides of the corn fields. I asked and I was told that goldenrod was introduced as a flowering plant but was not doing so well in Europe. I wonder if Crosby's thesis was borne out by the lack of success of goldenrod ...and other American plants? Don't get me wrong: since I am allergic to goldenrod, I am happy it was NOT successful in German farm fields, but why?

The most impressive and pleasant aspect of this new approach to world history is the non-anthropocentric perspective Crosby adopts. He tells the story of the expansion of a tightly connected group of European organisms, which includes humans alongside with other domesticated animals, crops, weeds, viruses and bacteria.

The book shows that humans were the leading elements in this great expansion beyond Europe and across the oceans - but they would not have managed to successfully invade, occupy and dominate vast areas of the planet such as America, Australia and New Zealand if they had not been supported by a powerful combination of fauna, flora and germs. In fact, often enough these supporting organisms even took the lead in making the "new-found" territories hospitable for Europeans. Once they had arrived to faraway lands with similar climatic conditions as Europe - but with much less people, germs, domesticated animals and plants - the horses, pigs, cows, sheep, bees, rats, weeds and endemic diseases carried by European vessels began spreading quickly in these totally unexposed areas, and thrived mainly by destroying the native organisms.

Another important point developed by Crosby is that this apparently aggressive invasion and occupation of other continents was actually the consequence of a long process started many thousands of generations before, and of which Europeans were totally unaware. They were simply the ones most prepared and willing to cross unknown oceans (in fact, for centuries they had to painfully learn all about winds and currents - for which many a vessel with all its human and non-human crew had to be sacrificed) and settle down many 1000 of kilometres away from their original home, because the "old continent" had become overpopulated, deforested and overgrazed. Their "ecological imperialism" was in the end part of their struggle to survive and reproduce (to the disadvantage of other human and non-human organisms).

Thus, Crosby urges his readers to think of this propagation of certain humans and their accompanying flora, fauna and germs in detriment of others as a natural phenomenon. In fact, he often compares the European ecological expansion with an "avalanche" or a "bursting dam", i.e., something that had to inevitably happen given the circumstances. In this scenario, it becomes clear that these organisms were vehicles for a great "biological revolution" (in the words of the author), where humans were the spearhead of the movement - but hardly the all-knowing, dominant, free agents they mostly imagine(d) themselves to be.

Book Review: "Ecological Imperialism"
In his book, Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900, Alfred W. Crosby investigates the roots of European domination over the western world. He calls the places where early Europeans settled "Neo-Europes" with special emphasis on North and South America , Australia , and New Zealand . In his prologue he ponders whether Europeans dominated their environment and other cultures because of their technology, or whether the consistent "success of European imperialism has a biological, [and] an ecological, component.". Crosby 's thesis is that Europeans were successful imperialists because wherever they went their agriculture and animals thrived; and the indigenous populations and local ecosystems collapsed under their biological advance.
Crosby begins at the beginning, discussing the one big continent, Pangaea, supposed to have existed in pre-history and the slow development of life forms other than reptilian, in particular Homo sapiens. The break up of Pangaea (this hypothetical super-continent) caused the "the decentralization of the process of evolution," that is, when the land cracked apart flora and fauna were spilt between the newly created continents. That continental split is the reason similar species are found in Europe and North America.
Eventually Crosby brings the reader up to the end of the Ice Age. Ten thousand years ago humans were exploring the islands of the Eastern Atlantic including Australia . Once on these islands humans domesticated plants, piled up mounds of garbage, spread disease, and hunted animals into extinction. Normally the despoilment of indigenous flora and fauna occurs over tens of thousands of years. In locations where humans arrived with mature hunting skills a sudden extinction of local plant and animal life occurred. These sudden prehistoric, or Pleistocene, overkills were the first concentrated impact humans had on virgin ecosystems.
The virgin ecosystem of Porto Santo Island was the destination of Portuguese settlers during the 1400s. Porto Santo Island was completely uninhabited and filled with untouched flora and fauna. One Portuguese ship captain brought a mother rabbit and her babies to the island. The rabbits loved Porto Santo and thrived in the island environment. So much so that soon the settlers were blasting away at the rabbits in an attempt to exterminate the entire local rabbit population. It seems the rabbits could not determine the difference between the crops meant for human consumption and the crops meant for bunny consumption. The rabbits won in this instance and for a time the settlers moved elsewhere, "defeated by their own ecological ignorance."
The experience of Spanish invaders in the Canaries showed them that no matter where they went, even if they could not out-fight their opponents, Europeans could dominate their enemies anyway. "In all these [new] places, the newcomers would conquer the human populations and Europeanize entire ecosystems." The Spanish learned from their experiences in the Canaries that their livestock and crops would succeed in these new environments; they also learned they could easily defeat the local natives without traditional warfare. The various "plagues" and "sleeping sicknesses," which the Spanish called peste and modorra, killed off and weakened natives who had no natural immunity to ailments common to the Spanish. In essence, sore throats and colds were the winning weapons of the conquerors; it was the flu that subjugated the Canaries.
The unfortunate natives of the Canary Islands , the Guanches, did not survive their meeting with the Spanish sailors. These previously isolated people died rapidly from dysentery, pneumonia, and venereal disease. According to Crosby "few experiences are as dangerous to a people's survival as the passage from isolation to membership in the worldwide community that included European sailors, soldiers, and settlers." When the Spanish conquered the Canaries the Guanches lost their land and therefore their livelihood. Some Guanches joined the Spanish army and went to fight in the Americas ; the Spanish sold others into slavery. The majority of Guanches however died of disease and the entire population became extinct.
Unlike the Guanches of the Canaries, the Maoris of New Zealand did survive despite great odds. When invaded by Europeans the Maoris assumed they would become extinct. European rats annihilated the Maori rat, an animal that was a food staple for the natives. The Maori fly might have help ward off the incursion of sheep that quickly destroyed the local flora, but invading European houseflies wiped out the local flies. Clover took over where ferns had been, and the Maori waited for their own extinction. The Maori population hit bottom in 1890 but then began a mysterious recovery and 280,000 people claim to be Maori by 1981.
In the 1500s Europeans arrived in the Americas with horses, technology (weapons), domesticated plants (crops), farm animals, germs, insects, diseases, weeds, and varmints. The garbage piled up by farmers encouraged varmint populations (mainly mice and rats) which spread disease and attacked human food supplies. Crosby devoted an entire chapter to the spread of weeds around the world. Weeds are not specific plants. "Weed" is a general term applied to a plant that spreads rapidly and encroaches on other plants. The study of where specific weeds appeared and when, aids in tracking population movements. The weeds brought by Europeans were actually another unintentional imperial victory. Weeds repaired damaged top soils and provided feed for livestock. " Rye and oats were once weeds." "Weeds are the Red Cross of the plant world; they deal with ecological emergencies." "Weeds thrive on radical change, not stability. That, in the abstract, is the reason for the triumph of European weeds in the Neo-Europes..." Weeds were resilient and thrived in soils laid bare by European plows, and damaged by drastically altered ecosystems.
European populations exploded in the Americas and Australia . What distinguished these Neo-Europes were the large food surpluses they generated. Neo-Europes led the world in food production "relative to the amount locally consumed." Other cultures actually produced more food per capita and per hectare, but the Neo-Europes exported more food than any other society. Especially successful exports from Neo-Europes were wheat, soybeans, pig products, and beef. Europeans consistently chose to settle in temperate climates where their animals and crops thrived. This was prudent and logical, it would have made no sense for Europeans to settle in torrid climates where their livestock would have suffered, and their favorite crops could not be grown.
The wind also aided European imperialists. When faced with strong winds the Portuguese marinheiros, true sailors, did not turn around and go home or sit sail-less in the water until the winds changed. Marinheiros would "sail around the wind." Sailors would tack close enough to the contrary wind to keep moving and then find a wind that they could use to continue their course. The Portuguese who perfected this "crabwise slide" called it the volta do mar, literally "going back to the sea." This understanding of winds allowed marinheiros to sail out on trade winds and back home on the westerlies.
Smallpox was the big killer of the Aztecs and the Incas in Peru ; the Huron and Iroquois in Mexico ; and the Amerindians of the United States . Crosby claims the victories of the Conquistadors over the Amerindians were "in large part the triumphs of the virus of smallpox." Besides smallpox Europeans brought dysentery and influenza; those epidemics killed almost the whole indigenous population of North America . In effect, the domination over ecology and culture by European invaders was more of a biological accident, than a well-executed military takeover.
Virgin soil epidemics spread through populations who had no prior contact with European diseases. These populations had no immunity to protect them. Virgin soil epidemics had many dramatic consequences. First, the epidemics effectively committed genocide, killing entire populations of native people around the world. Second, certain diseases (measles, influenza, tuberculosis) effected people fifteen to forty years of age more than others. These young adults were responsible for most of the labor involved in supplying food, procreation, raising children, and defending the society. The third and fourth effects of virgin soil epidemics were cultural optimism on the part of the conquerors, and cultural fatalism on the part of the conquered. When Europeans arrived and slew their rivals without raising a sword they believed that God must be on their side and this belief affirmed the rightness of their imperialistic actions. When the indigenous people died by the hoard from mysterious ailments they developed a fatalistic view of their own destiny and supposed the white man's Gods were the more powerful.
Ecological Imperialism is interesting, occasionally humorous, and easy to read. Crosby accomplishes his goal of writing a big book. This author presents a convincing and encompassing explanation for the incredible success of European imperialists. The book leaves the reader with more questions. How aggressively imperialistic were the original conquerors if all they had to do was show up and their opponents fell to the wayside? Crosby argues convincingly that Europeans were triumphant because the places they chose to conquer had ecosystems and indigenous populations that surrendered to the biology of the invaders.

Alfred Crosby is widely credited for popularising the ecological dimension of the history of imperial expansion. For this reason, and perhaps this reason alone, his book is worth a read.

The book, first published in 1986, revolutionised the way we think about European imperial expansion into the New World. How a few hundred disoriented Europeans armed with spears and misfiring guns managed to overwhelm entire Inca and Aztec civilisations in the early sixteenth century, for example. Crosby convincingly casts aside traditional political or military explanations by attributing the astonishing Portuguese and Spanish victories to bacteriology: how diseases such as smallpox and measles that the Europeans unwittingly carried with them wiped out thousands of New World inhabitants, severely crippling their defences.

The larger point that Crosby drives across is a profound one. Historical events - in this case, European expansion and imperialism - can be explained predominantly by ecological factors. In the clash of `biotas' between the Old and the New World, the Old World won. Convincingly. Hence the presence not just of Europeans in the Americas, but also of pigs and dandelions. According to this thesis, ecology shaped European expansion; creating `Neo-Europes' in the New World that facilitated European migration, precipitating the `Caucasian wave' from the 1820s to the 1930s. Unlike in most other histories, in Crosby's ecological history, humans form the backdrop and inexorable ecological forces take centre-stage.

Refreshing as this perspective is, the way that Crosby has rendered it is problematic in on a number of accounts. By excluding humans from the picture; or at best relegating human developments to the sidelines, Crosby emerges with a dangerously reductive picture of historical development. Deterministic ecological explanations cannot alone account for European expansion - after all, we must not forget that the first European transoceanic voyages were motivated by curiosity rather than necessity. More problematic is the book's implicit assumption that ecological influence was unidirectional. In concentrating on explicating the Old World's ecological victory over the New, Crosby neglects to examine the influence that New World ecology had on the Old.

Nonetheless, Crosby's work remains a landmark study that deserves a read. Moreover, it packs a punch as a piece of writing - its lucid narratives and provocative assertions laid out with the bold and elegant strokes of a master-artist. Yet Crosby's work is also increasingly a dated study that has been qualified over and over by new works in the field, or in the related field of environmental history. Those interested in the subject should by no means stop at Crosby's book.

I read Emily of Deep Valley before I knew it was a Besty-Tacy book. After reading the entire series I went back and read Emily again and found the references to Betsy and Tacy along with other friends in the series. I would suggest reading this book after the one where Betsy graduates from High School, just to put them in chronological order.

This book is great for children and teens. They will learn about life in the early 1900s in a very readable and enjoyable way.

While this book is not necessarily a "Betsy-Tacy" book, it does (IMHO) rank up there with the best of the Lovelace series, especially as it appeals to an adult looking for recreational reading. Not that younger readers (the vast majority of the "B-T Fan club") couldn't enjoy it, but Lovelace tackles some social as well as adult emotional issues in this book that are lacking in the "B-T" books, or are arrived at more blithely, precisely because the characters (Betsy vs Emily) are so vastly different, tempermentally. As a man, I'd say that this book has far less saccharine in it, than the B-T books.

Don't get me wrong! I 'found' these books when my children came of 'reading to' age, and, since we HS, we all enjoyed them immensely. Especially as we live near enough to "Deep Valley," to make a pilgrimage to see where "Betsy and Tacy really lived." That was a field trip I'll long remember, and so will the kids!

What appeals to me in this book, is the female protagonist, and her mix of compassion and strength. She is determined, strong of character, no-nonsense, and yet loving, needing to be loved, and eventually finding love. She (dare I say it?) embodied characteristics of a typical Minnesota woman, and reminded me of both my mother and my wife..which is high praise, in my book! 'Emily of Deep Valley' was one of those moments in life, when a work of literature actually embodies human emotion, causes you to identify, makes you remember your own life lived, and simply, truly moves one.

I am surprised that (as an actor/singer) no one has made a film or concocted a children's musical/opera of any of these books. They embody the best of American humanity [prior to a multicultural age] I have read in a long time. I can say honestly, I will return to visit Emily another spring, to enjoy her story all over again, and will encourage my daughter to do the same, when she becomes a teenager.

Okay, my secret is out--I'm an addict. These books have entranced me my whole life with their warmth and their wonderful characters. This is how I've learned much of my early-20th century history, as a matter of fact. Much as I adore all of the Betsy books, Emily is my favorite, I think. Her painful shyness and lack of self confidence are overcome by sheer determination and a focus on others rather than herself--a lesson of worth for young girls. However, the book is never preachy or dry; it is a rich, delightful story that engages the reader and delivers its messages gently.

I love the Betsy-Tacy books, and was extremely sad because of the ending of the series of the books. One day, my mother brought home 'Emily of Deep Valley', and I wasn't exactly excited. I refused to read it, and said I liked Betsy-Tacy better, although I hadn't seen a word of 'Emily of Deep Valley'. And though I said that I didn't want to read it, I couldn't resist looking at 'Emily of Deep Valley'. Soon I became enthralled with it, with everybody in the book. I've always loved the Betsy-Tacy books, but this book has something the Betsy books doesn't. Maud Hart made everything perfect, but it didn't seem like a corny fairytale. I recommend this book to those who are looking for more classics and Betsy-Tacy books.