Kansas Books

After having read Jack Purcel's book on the "Adams Diggins", it made me want to rig up the ole backpack and hit the hills. Jack weaves the different versions of the stories together in a way that makes sense out of the obscure and dim trails of the Adams party and those who sought the riches that lay in a mysterious New Mexico canyon. It's more than a "Lost Treasure Story". Jack's meticulous research of the persons and places gives us a view of the early history on New Mexico and those hardy folks who risked life and limb on the dangerous frontier. I believe that the Lost Adam's Diggins does exist and Jack Purcel knows more about it than any other person and he shares his insight and knowledge with clarity and humor. I recommend this book to all those who think beyond the asphalt!

Sit back, close your eyes and imagine for a moment, if you will, what it would be like to be on the trail of a gold field. You know it's out there, waiting. And it's within your reach, maybe. Okay, you can open your eyes. The gold's there, but that maybe I mentioned is a real big one, because to get the gold, you're going to have to make some drastic changes in your life. You're going to have to give up all your creature comforts. You're going to have to live hard off the land, desert land. Okay, so maybe that gold isn't just within reach, but there are men, real men, who took a chance, gave up everything, threw themselves into the search of gold, found it, lost it and tried to find it again. This book is there story.

First off, the book asks the question, did the Lost Adams Diggings ever exist at all and concludes that they probably did. Then we follow the search for the gold in Adams' own words. We see how he and his partners found the gold, how most of them were murdered by Indians. How he got away.

We follow along with Adams as he tries to refind the field. And we follow along with those that came after him. The gold, these men believe, is out there, waiting to be discovered again.

So, if you're interested in reading about the Old West, the desert, Indians or even if you're hankering to invest in a pick and a shovel, this book is for you.

I must admit that I read The Lost Adams Diggings because the author sent me a copy to review. Normally this isn't my cup of tea, because I'm a city girl. That said, I've got to admit that after I got used to the way these Nineteenth Century miners wrote, I got sucked into their stories, their dream. These were men.

This isn't the kind of book you'll read in one sitting, but it is the kind of book that you'll tell your friends about. I know, because it's sparked a lot of conversations around my house. I just can't get these dream chasers out of my mind.

Review submitted by Katie Osborne

I haven't read this book, but it seems like a travellers tall tale, aka. tour-guide history to amuse city slickers. Better to rent City Slickers.

Some facts to ponder:

--gold in the natural state, as in free Au nuggets, was depleted by prehistoric man. So if gold nuggets exist, why didn't the Apache themselves pick it up? Do we really need crusty old miners? That said, if you're talking sluicing gold using heavy industrial equipment, including mercury/ quicksilver, that's a different story. But the idea of old english-speaking miners finding gold nuggets lying around is ludicrous

--if there's gold in them thar hills, somebody would have found it, not unlike Suiter Mill (CA '49ers); Virginia City (Ag), NV; Klondyke gold fields, even (and especially) South Africa, where the gold is a mile below the surface. Point being: real gold is like money, it attacts real people. "Lost gold" only attracts readers (gullible readers) and tourists.

I give the book two stars since the author knows what he is talking about: spinning a yarn, even a plausible yarn. For that he gets credit.

The last reviewer found the book to be 'bunkum' without reading it. Causes me to wonder why he bothered to review a book he hasn't read.

He/she chose my book to provide an uneducated opinion of the entire concept of lost gold mines and gold that hasn't been found yet. He/she might be right, though a(n increasingly small) number of people believe he's wrong. Technology has allowed a lot of the 'lost' ones to be found over the past few years.

Meanwhile, interest in chasing that sort of dream has certainly waned. The chances are slight that unlocated mines will be the source of any heart attacks for the few geezers left tromping into the canyons to search.

This book would certainly give new leads someone who wants to search for the Adams. Most of the surviving searchers have already bought it. However, that's only a piece of what the book is about.

The Lost Adams Diggings - Myth, Mystery and Madness is a study of a legend and the men who believed in it at a time when men were still inclined to believe in such things, just as the name suggests. It's a study of how the legend began, how it slid through a century-and-a-half, how it was transformed by lies in the beginning and information that wasn't available until much later (and even then not available to everyone who searched).

The book inevitably follows a lot of trails through the Civil War years of New Mexico and Arizona. It's the time when it all began.

I don't recommend that anyone search for the Lost Adams Diggings unless you just need an adventure in your life. If you buy this book I hope you'll do it because you want to learn some history, puzzle over some mystery, shake your head over the things men give their lives for.

I gave a couple of decades of mine in this search. That story is part of the book. I don't care if you choose to believe the legend is bunkum after you've read it, but I do hope you enjoy the read.

I am amazed and delighted in the way Jack Purcell brings his well documented history and legend of the `Adams Diggings' to life. The historical accounts of people and times involved throughout this book and the unique way Mr. Purcell tells the whole story. He definitely brings the Wild West back alive through time. As a reader, you will enjoy the stories told of the tragedies, dreams, and personal lives, of Jacob Snively, Adams, and Brewer. You will read about many others who found their fortune in gold, searched their whole lives for it in vain, or knew where it was and told no one keeping it safe for themselves; all taking place in the trecherous regions of the South West. Pack your trail bag, because you will learn the secrets of where to look for the Adams Diggings, and where they aren't. Adventure, and the American Spirit of Freedom are not for the weak of heart, please read this book with caution.
Gayle Adams Peterson
Shipwreck hunter, and Author of :
Safe Harbor : One Girls Dream of Freedom.

"Cares melt away...when you kneel in your garden" begins a book just out about 19th century red and green appliqué quilts. Nancy Hornback and Terry Clothier Thompson have joined their passions for appliqué quilts and put together a visually terrific book with historical information about the makers and the ten quilts this book features. The quilts are from various personal collections and historical societies in Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Kansas, and Illinois, and have seldom been viewed in public. They are unique and wonderful!! Most are varieties of smaller repeated block styles, some with a central focus and two in the four-block style, and another is a large five-block on point that fools the eye completely.

This book is great for information about my new passion..red and green quilts. It helps a great deal in my pursuit of additions to my new collection.

I have always been drawn to red and green quilts since visiting my grandparents victorian home in upstate NY. This book has a lovely variety of red/green quilts, their history, and modernized patterns. I am not only anxious to use some of these patterns, but can hardly wait until Thompson's next red/green quilt book.

if you love applique and like to read a bit about the known history behind quilts....then this is a book that you would enjoy.

I saw a quilt that was made using the patterns in this book and was blown away. The book is VERY well written, the instructions are very clear, and I can't wait to get started on my quilt.

I hadn't expected this book to be so engaging. It's provocative, but the provocation isn't planted by the author but is inherent in the material he reveals. After years in public school reciting the Pledge, I knew little about its history. Until now, although I've read of legal challenges involving the Pledge, I had little idea of the long history of court of its challenges.

How Ellis was able to present so much history, including legal issues, in a way suitable to a lay reader such as myself, I don't know. That's his gift.

One surprise was that the flag salute so resembled the Nazi "Heil Hitler" salute that it was modified in the 1940's. Having read of recent issues with nontheists objecting to the Pledge, it was a surprise to learn that strong objections to the Pledge and had come from religious people who considered the pledge and salute to be idolatry. This led to not only violence but also, for the children, explusion from school. It was these religion objections, not those of nontheists, that led to the court decision that the pledge and salute be voluntary in 1943. Nontheists wouldn't have been likely to object at this time because it wasn't until 1954 that the words "under God" were added to the Pledge. Legal objection to that addition came not only from atheists but also from Buddhist organizations and the Unitarian Ministers Association.

Some key players in the Pledge story that Ellis cites are the ACLU, George Bush Sr, George W Bush, and Jesse Ventura. Jesse has one of the most astute comments about the Pledge I've ever heard. George Bush Sr seemed to have forgotten the "for all" portion of the Pledge when he said (quoted elsewhere): "I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." Compare Jesse Ventura's inclusive observation that "The United State of America exist because people wanted to be free to choose."

Ellis presents many positions, expressing his concern that we distinguish between true patriotism and manipulation of our Pledge. This book is likely to get you thinking about what our country stands for and how patriotism is best learned and expressed. Wisely, Ellis doesn't spout conclusions but rather raises question that may linger with you a long while after you finish your first reading of "To The Flag". Books like this keep America strong.

Anxiety has eclipsed the American people again-but what's new? Richard J. Ellis's to the Flag presents the anxiety of the American people in parallel to the Pledge of Allegiance. When I first read the book I thought it would be about the whole controversy regarding the words "under God" and how unconstitutional they are. I was wrong. Chapter 5 covers that controversy but the book is about the whole Pledge and the contradicting nature of the democracy that America has incorporated into its infrastructure.
The beginning of the book was undoubtedly one of the most intriguing parts of the book as a whole. The propaganda used to spread patriotism was so utterly important in penetrating solidarity amongst the American people in light of an enormous influx of immigrants to the country. The magazine owned by Daniel Sharp Ford called the Youth's Companion's success relied on premiums. Those premiums, as Ellis later unravels, is making flags available to subscribers for purchase. The magazine set out to encourage people to decorate their houses and schools with flags to promote "patriotism". The author points out the importance of media in sustaining the life of the Pledge. I had trouble with his criticism of promoting patriotism. I do not see the problem of promoting Patriotism especially in a country that is founded on immigrants who have previous allegiances. Politicians obviously manipulate situations to encourage Patriotism when they need it to be present in the political life of a country. However, the underlining truth is that patriotism is a good thing at times. We're not talking about fanaticism; the patriotism instilled in the American people with the first induction of the Pledge was a positive thing. America is a democracy that advocates free speech yet, as Ellis states, "democracies generally do not require their school children to pledge allegiance to the nation on a daily or even regular basis... the rote recitation of loyalty to a nation is something we generally associate more with authoritarian regimes than liberal democracies." (210). The "Under God" issue aside, the Pledge is a statement that declares a complete surrender to American values. It may contradict the foundation of American values but, in the end, no real democracy exists in the world and if one of America's break away from democracy is the Pledge then that is one of the smaller actions America has taken in the name of democracy that contradicts democracy.
And now, back to my main interest in the book. What of the "Under God" issue? When God was to be introduced in the Pledge it was due to an immense campaign that plastered God everywhere in the American social, as well as political, system. "In God We Trust" was added to paper money, stamps and was used by Eisenhower to release religion into the public atmosphere. It wasn't merely something that came into being from nothing. Ellis states "the absence of any reference to God in Bellamy's spare twenty-three-word pledge had little if anything to do with a desire to keep religion out of the public schools... Bellamy's program called for an "Acknowledgment of God" either through "prayer or scripture" so even if God were absent in the actual words of the Pledge, Bellamy made sure it was sandwiched between explicit appeals to the Almighty." (122) Thus, God was not completely excluded from the initial Pledge. It was a different time; it was a time where the United States was thought of as Christian country and hence God obviously played a role in the structures of the country.
But what the book centers on is the anxiety America feels that requires the rejuvenation of the Pledge. There are three main events that, according to Ellis, have given legitimacy to the Pledge. The first one, of course, was the xenophobic notion felt by many Americans who were overwhelmed by the increase in immigrants. The second one took place in the 1950s when "under God" was introduced in the Pledge because of anti-communist sentiments; those who rallied for this introduction wanted to present America in a light of a country with a religion. Politicians, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, used the word "under God" more frequently after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Harry Truman was "the first President to rely heavily on the phrase...particularly after the Cold War heated up." (125) And the third event is unquestionably September 11th 2001. "Our "enemies," the President pointed out, "hate the words" of the Pledge of Allegiance. In fact those enemies "want to erase them," which is why "we're determined to stand fro these words, and live them out in our lives." (G.W. Bush at a school in Nashville, Tennessee, September 2002) The word "enemies" was used to refer to the terrorists and at the same time create fear amongst the Americans who oppose the Pledge by ultimately placing them on the same pedestal as the terrorists.
Ellis does a formidable job in generating the social and political atmosphere of the time and the significance of the Pledge. There are a lot of factual remarks and examinations by Ellis. I found that this reading contained too much detail; we go from one event to another to another with extreme details and a lot of repetition. It felt like reading court case of some sort that listed all evidence with all essential details. The vast majority of the book is facts and cases. But what is the author's opinion about all this? We get a taste of what he believes in the very last page of the book: Ellis claims the true problem of the pledge is that the true patriots are the ones want to get rid of it because they have faith in the power of America. This claim should have been made earlier on in the book since it is one of the most relevant and most important observation made by the author.

I should have been the youngest revolutionary leader in the world. At age five I could have organized everyone I knew-my family, church members, Cookie and all her brothers and sisters, and everyone in my first grade class. Together, we could have objected to reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. We could have written the President using the extra large pencils or crayons, marched on Washington (if our parents did the driving) and objected to a marketing plan set in place since the 1880s by two innovative writers, turned community activists. The truth of the matter, however, is that I didn't mind or even think seriously about the Pledge as I learned it in first grade. Heck, I wasn't even saying the pledge, given my limitations with multi-syllabic words. Now, as an adult, having read Richard J. Ellis' To The Flag: The Unlikely History of the Pledge of Allegiance, I am now aware of the rich origins of the Pledge of Allegiance. As the author shares in his introduction, "I found that although there were some revealing accounts of aspects of the history of the Pledge of Allegiance, nobody had written an in-depth history of it." (pg. xvi) Ellis offers a much needed, albeit exclusionary at times, encyclopedic reference about the Pledge of Allegiance.
Ellis develops an amazing account of how two men, Colonel George Balch and Francis Bellamy, devised a marketing plan to increase subscriptions for "The Youth's Companion." Ultimately, their efforts resulted in the Boston-based magazine becoming, "one of the country's best known and most loved periodicals." (p. 5) As Ellis reveals, their initiative evolved from a number of anxieties surrounding "immigrants, materialism, radicalism, communism and the freedoms awarded American citizens." (pgs.xi-xiii) How these two men shaped early American history and even contemporary legislative and political atmosphere is the challenge that Ellis aptly delivered to his readers. An in-depth survey of the Pledge's history from the late 1800s until 2003, Ellis proves his research skills, and most readers will find his book easy to start.
There are, however, distractions. It's unfathomable, given the millions of enslaved African and African Americans on American soil and the subsequent, pervasive racial tensions between black and white Americans that Ellis fails to discuss the possible impact of those relationships and the perceived need for an oath of allegiance. Even in the context of immigration, Africans, as pseudo-immigrants, made an inedible mark on American history and thus should rate a more prominent placement in Ellis' book. The tumultuous rage of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 could easily provide an added dimension to his discourse. He eloquently includes the perspective of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the ACLU, and Jehovah's Witnesses with only a cursory mention of race and its implications when implementing the Pledge. Ellis, as the Mark O. Hatfield Professor of Politics at Willamette University in Oregon, appears to skirt the challenging issue of Blacks' role in America. On the other hand, he skillfully cites other controversies, particularly those relating to school children. He writes, much too late in the book, "The refusals in the 1930s and 1940s had been largely rooted in religious objections rather than in any specific protest against the US government policy, but the refusals in the 1960s were grounded in political protest, particularly against racial discrimination." (p.155) During the campaign to place American Flags over every school house, where any Black schools included? Ellis leaves an obvious void by not addressing Black Americans in his discussion.
During the latter half of his book, Ellis' discourse details the 1954 addition of "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. He explains how the Supreme Court "intended the words "under God" to convey that America is a religious nation unlike the Communist nations." (p. 216). Full of ethical and legislative rigor, the amendment sets the scene for interesting reading. At times Ellis provides more detail than palatable for an average reader. The weightiness of such detail, near the end of the book, could easily leave some readers breathing a sigh of accomplishment with just having waded through it, rather than anticipating another chapter or a future discussions.
Ultimately, Ellis provides an invaluable tool for those curious about the history of our national oath. And while he discounts people of color, he makes each of us aware that Balch and Bellamy knew their constituents. School children and their parents- did not object to the Pledge of Allegiance because, as Ellis reveals, Balch and Bellamy knew that indoctrination was best served to those youthful in age or education

As hard as it is to remember my education as a child, I do remember reciting the Pledge of Allegiance each morning in elementary school. Standing tall next to my fellow classmates, we spoke the words that ostensibly represented our country of America. Year after year this salute became ingrained in my head - not as a poem that reminded me of my patronage, but as a boring and irrelevant chore that I never thought to question. Today the Pledge of Allegiance is no longer mandated in schools, but it continues to be a controversial debate in politics. This topic is the subject of Richard Ellis' To the Flag: The Unlikely History of the Pledge of Allegiance.
At first glance, you might assume that this novel is solely a political scientist's objective articulation of history, and after reading the first five or six chapters, of facts regarding the Pledge. However, as Ellis begins to dive into the controversy surrounding the Pledge, he uncovers the significance of its success as a symbol of American identity, the changes it went through and why, and what it represents for citizens today. His historical style effectively traces the original Pledge, written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, to the 2004 Supreme Court decision that made the thirty-one word oath unconstitutional.
For over a century, especially in the aftermath of mass immigration, World War II, the Cold War, and 9/11, the Pledge of Allegiance has played an important role in defining the American identity. The natural tendency of citizens is to unify against the current conflict, forcing them to justify their Americanness and allegiance to their country. Those who seem less patriotic are perceived as traitors. At these crucial times in history, nothing seemed to express more gratitude and respect than the salute to the flag while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Before the turn of the 20th century, there was a deep feeling of anxiety as America experienced an influx of foreigners immigrating into the schools, the work force, and the social communities. This sparked a movement to "Americanize" the immigrant children, and "create a `new man' from the mixture of different nationalities (pg 38)." The first step in Americanizing immigrants begins with the understanding of the American identity. The United States has no distinct religion, race, culture, or heritage, and this diversity is what truly represents America. Ellis posits, "For most peoples, national identity is the product of a long process of historical evolution involving common ancestors, common experiences, and common ethnic backgrounds (pg 213)." Therefore, the American identity is a myth that our nation has persistently attempted to construct. There was a strong effort made to subdue the anxiety of immigration by federally funding the placement of the American flag in schools, and requiring the Pledge of Allegiance to be recited everyday. Soon the Pledge became the prime symbol of American patriotism, and with its success came resistance and disapproval. Many worried that "the flag salute, the singing, the national self-glorification will result in a nation of swashbucklers, not of patriots (pg.82)." Students who protested or refused to recite the Pledge were suspended from school, whipped by teachers, arrested, and in some cases imprisoned. Furthermore, some students who opposed the Pledge refrained from protesting, simply to avoid the embarrassment of being ostracized in front of their peers.
Those who opposed the Pledge faced even more insurmountable hurdles as the Cold War initiated a "fight against a common enemy: atheistic Communism (pg 130)." During this religious revival, many supported the movement to add the words `Under God' in the Pledge - further emphasizing the nation's religious identity of the time. Ellis states that "the strength of the United States, in the view of many, was its religious faith. And it was faith in God that distinguished the United States from the godless Communists (pg 127)." The addition of these two words may have distinguished our country from the Communists, but it excluded many people that either believed in more than one God or none at all. Moreover, it overrides the Constitutional Principles of the separation of church and state. Former President George H.W. Bush makes it clear in his response regarding atheists: "I don't know that Atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God (pg 218)."
It is obvious that the Pledge had good intentions when it was first written in 1892. Aside from being a nation under God, the words represent what our nation as a whole strives to symbolize. To the Flag clarifies the irony of the rhetoric in the Pledge, `a nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all.' In schools, our youth have been forced to recite the Pledge, and ironically this mocked the liberties they pledged. The notion that we live in a nation of indivisibility is completely false. Issues of class, race, gender, and religion have divided this nation for hundreds of years and continue to smear the image of equality. The Pledge does not represent the American identity; it simplifies and distorts the reality of our society and excludes so many individuals who constitute our nation. Ellis says it best when he reveals the true paradox of the Pledge: "backers of the Pledge are often cast as true patriots, but it is arguably those who would dispense a daily Pledge who harbor the greatest faith in the enduring power and strength of American institutions and American ideals (pg 222)." Ellis subtly reveals this important paradox to allow advocates of the Pledge to measure their own true spirit as Americans. Through this realization, they may begin to understand the reality of our nation, with or without a God, striving for indivisibility, liberty, and justice for all.

With new challenges to the Pledge of Allegiance taking place in modern times, it's important to understand the origins of the Pledge, and To The Flag: The Unlikely History Of The Pledge Of Allegiance provides this background, examining its original writing in 1892 and various challenges to its authority and style up to present times. From the schoolhouse flag movement and first use of the Pledge to its modern meaning to new immigrants, To The Flag should be on the shelves of any high school or public library strong in American history.

This book was recommended to me by a friend. And since reading the book, both she and I have recommended it to everyone we know. All that was left was for me to write a review here and to start recommending it to strangers. I fear though that I cannot do this particular book justice with my meager reviewing abilities. The book is the most enjoyable scholarly biography I have ever read. It is both profound and laugh-out-loud funny. It deftly leads the reader through the complexities of Franklin's philosophy, helping one arrive at a new and deeper respect for one of this country's worthiest heroes. And it allows one a comical glimpse at the whimsical workings of a genius's mind. I'm currently rearranging a course I'm planning to teach in order to make room for this fascinating contribution to the study of our forefathers.

I have read a great many books on the founders-including several on Franklin-and this stands head-and-shoulders above the rest. Weinberger combines historical knowledge with political insight and philosophic depth in a way that I've never seen. The resulting interpetation was a revelation, changing not only how I view Franklin, but how I view the world. If you've never encountered a book of this sort, you owe it to yourself to read it. It's a rare treat to find one first-rate mind exploring and exhibiting the labyrinthian delights to be found in another. Bonus: the book is also extremely funny, perhaps the funniest political biography ever written.

This book presents Franklin in a novel and truly compelling light. The style is lucid and witty, the content is persuasive and intriguing. A first-rate tour de force.

Jerry Weinberger has truly revealed the real Franklin behind the masks. First, this book is truly hilarious...Franklin's scatalogical humor, his idea to create sweet-smelling flatulence, or his advice to bed older women who will be more grateful, makes reading this also-serious work a laugh riot!!

Second, Weinberger has taken Franklin more seriously than anyone else to date and lays bare the real intent behind his though. The review by "Dave" here completely misses the point of the book. Franklin mocked everything and everyone, including himself, so one has to look beyond the words written to the true meaning, which is revealed by Weinberger to lie in numerous contradictions, confusing language and re-worded poems. For example, the "contradiction" that "Dave" fails to see is that Franklin at one point in his Autobiography mentions that he never stopped believing in god; something that completely contradicts an earlier claim by Franklin that he did indeed stop believing, only to return to religion later in life. As Weinberger mentions, is it believable or possible that a religious person could forget that he once did not believe, or forget the very moment at which he became a believer? Hardly. Weinberger's task is to unravel this mystery...and he does so masterfully.

If you want to know Benjamin Franklin beyond what is presented in the biographies (and I have read those by Brands and Isaacson) to see the true depth and power of his thoughts, Weinberger's book is excellent!!!

I am interested in comparing the 5 best biographies of Benjamin Franklin that have been written (thus far) in the new millennia, emphasizing Weinberger's account.

THE BEST 5 BIOGRAPHIES ARE (in order of publication date)
Edmund S. Morgan's Benjamin Franklin (Yale Nota Bene S.)
H. W. Brands's The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin
Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Gordon S. Wood's The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin
Jerry Weinberger's Benjamin Franklin Unmasked: On the Unity of His Moral, Religious, and Political Thought (American Political Thought)


The first 4 of these biographies are presented as in the typical historically (and chronologically) biographical approach. There are 24 pictures in Morgan's book, no pictures in Brands's book, 32 pictures in Isaacson's book, 25 pictures in Wood's book, and no pictures in Weinberger's book.
I am not going to write about how great Franklin was or what he did (he was great and he did so much). I want to write primarily about how each of these authors portrays Franklin's character differently by highlighting different aspects of his life.

In London (1725) Franklin wrote "A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain," which seemed to show that Franklin was a young radical Deist. In the pamphlet, he denied free will, denied the existence of vice and virtue and merit, and rejected particular providence. Later, when the pamphlet was reprinted in Boston, Franklin became a social outcast of sorts and he wrote that he was "inclined to leave Boston" because people were calling him "an infidel or atheist." When Franklin fled Boston he was 17 years old. He later wrote about that pamphlet that Ï began to suspect that this doctrine, though it might be true, was not very useful."
Later, after becoming rich from his printing presses, writings, and scientific discoveries, Franklin became a statesman, diplomat, Founding Father, and icon.
At the end of his life he wrote his "Autobiography," where Franklin said that he "never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity, that he made the world, and governed it by his Providence; that the most acceptable service to God was the doing of good to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished and virtue rewarded either here or hereafter; these I esteemed the essentials of every religion".

If you've read Leo Strauss's "Persecution and the Art of Writing" then you'll be familiar with Weinberger's hermeneutic. Weinberger sees a contradiction: Franklin seriously doubted as a young man what he says to have never doubted as an old man (compare the 1725 pamphlet to the aforementioned quote from the "Autobiography"). Weinberger notes, "...to my knowledge, this flat contradiction has remained unnoticed by everyone who has written..." on Franklin (pg. 49). According to Weinberger, Franklin's treatment in Boston and his belief that George Whitfield should not have written anything that would leave him open to attack, created a Franklin who wrote subtly for those who take the time to peal back the shades of meaning in his own texts. Indicators are contradictions and contradictions are dissolvable when we find something deeper which ties things together.
Franklin is a "radical skeptic" according to Weinberger. The philosophical Franklin is hidden behind his humor (often debauched). Weinberger's Franklin is a true anomaly among the other historians. He attacks Isaacson's pragmatist-Franklin as "always look[ing] on the bright side of things because they are not really pragmatists" (pg. 289; my brackets). He attacks Wood in a 2 and ½ page footnote, where Wood's presentation of an "angry Franklin" is (somehow) incompatible with Franklin's proposed skepticism (pg. 314-317). Weinberger says that as a philosopher Franklin could not have sustained anger as a part of his political motivations because the skeptical Franklin would be "able to reflect philosophically on the perfect irrationality of anger as the wellspring of moral and political commitments" (pg. 223, see also pg. 288). In fact, Brands might agree, he said that Franklin was a skeptic by temperament (Brands, pg. 94). However, Weinberger sees Franklin's skepticism as "even more radical and more thoughtfully grounded..." (pg. xiii). Because Franklin is supposedly a skeptic he could not agree with Spinoza and Hobbes who appear as dogmatic as the religious leaders (begin with materialist assumptions and end with their conclusions and visa versa for spiritualists...see pg. 75-59 and 277). However, Franklin does follow Hobbes insofar as Hobbes was the protégé of Francis Bacon. Weinberger calls Franklin's politics "political Baconianism: the view that politics is an artful game aimed at getting things to work right and not a matter of setting things `right' in the sense of justice" (pg. 234-235). Hobbes "outlined the most powerful version of political Baconianism" (pg. 235). Yet Franklin could not follow Hobbes all the way because Hobbes became a materialist-dogmatist and Franklin remained a skeptic. Franklin, in a sense, tried to take on Socratic Ignorance, Franklin was "first the careful, dialectical philosopher..." (pg. 290). The historians, on the other hand, who follow loosely Morgan's notion that "charity" was the "guiding principle of Franklin's life" (Morgan, pg. 24) continue along with Wood who says Franklin "came to realize that science and philosophy could never take the place of service in government" (Wood, pg. 66).

One of Weinberger's best summaries of Franklin's quasi-political machinations may be that "for all his real efforts to foster his minimalist `creed' that would not `shock the professors of any religion,' he always included divine punishment in that creed and was quite willing both to shock believers and to side with enthusiasts, whichever prudence required. Franklin's concrete religious politics could be well described as inclined towards `managed enthusiasm'" (pg. 279).

This is the first book I've read by this author (although I read a lot of mysteries), and I liked it so well I intend to read all the books in the series. I started in the middle of the series, so I'll have to go back to the first book and start reading them in order. I don't think you have to, however -- nothing seemed to refer back to something you'd need to know.

I'd classify this book as a cozy police procedural -- cozy because it takes place in a small college town in Kansas (we never learn quite how small, but the college has 10,000 students). The story begins with a divorced mother struggling to keep going to work (she's a church organist) despite a case of the flu. She arrives home feeling wretched to discover that the furnace in her old house has broken -- during a particularly bad cold spell. She calls a repairman, who turns out to be a pretty scary looking guy. Is he dangerous? Not long after this, her young daughter discovers a corpse in the basement -- is it the furnace guy? His face is unrecognizable. Why would he end up dead in her basement? And then there's her ex-husband -- we don't really trust him. Is he up to something? Something criminal? Is he connected to the murdered man?

The chief of police, Susan Wren, struggles to discover who killed the man. She's very short-handed because of a flu epidemic in town. The man she wishes were there is home sick in bed with the flu, as are many of her police force. In order to find the killer, she has to discover who the murdered man is, why he was killed, and why in this woman's house.

This mystery has a very vivid sense of place -- you can practically feel the cold as you read it, and you can imagine yourself there and imagine all the characters, although little description is given of their appearance. It was the kind of book you could hardly wait to get back to reading. The ending was a complete surprise, but if I had to fault the book, it would be that I had a hard time believing that this person committed the murder and for the reasons stated. Others might not have that problem, however. And it is fairly typical of mysteries that unlike murders in real life, where the killer is either a total stranger (serial killer) or someone fairly obvious (like someone close to the victim or a drug dealer), in mysteries the author has to make it not so obvious or else it wouldn't be any fun at all. Another minor problem involves an odd happening early in the book that never really gets explained. I guess it was simply a red herring.

This is the first Susan Wren mystery I've read, though it isn't the first in the series. Charlotte Weir proves herself to be a very good writer. She writes very clearly, and is an interesting and pleasant read. Characters are varied and very well constructed. There were a couple cases where I thought she phrased something strange (like the cold ripping her face off, or something akin to that). That would take my concentration away from my reading. I think she crafted her plot very well. But I think in this book she used too many characters. I was losing track who was who. I was setting the book down a lot and not getting back to it for maybe a week at a time. Maybe the character confusion came because of my slowness in reading it. I'll buy another and try it.

Caley James has a few problems as the holiday push down on her. When things are bad, the can get worse. Her furnace goes bonkers, then her youngest child discovers the repairman dead.
Police Chief Susan Wren answers the call for help in the frigid weather, the coldest on record for Hampstead, KA. This novel is packed with great characters you'll meet on the street in any small town. At times, the story wanders from the murder and its investigation, but in the end they come together for a great conclusion.
Wrap up in a down comforter when you read A COLD CHRISTMAS.
Nash Black, author of TRAVELERS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.

Hamstead, Kansas had rarely seen a never-ending cold snap like this one. With Christmas a few days away, wind chills put the temperature at about 30 below, townfolk were dropping like flies from the flu, and there just wasn't much holiday spirit in the air. That was certainly true at Caley James' house. She had caught the bug, big time, the house was falling apart, her ex was no help at all, her three kids were living in front of the television eating cold cereal, and that's when the furnace decided to die. Life had definitely hit rock bottom, and just when she figures things couldn't get worse, her four year old daughter finds the furnace repairman, Tim Holiday, dead and badly burned in the basement. Police Chief, Susan Wren, missing more than half her force to the flu, takes on this case herself, but immediately hits a brick wall. Nothing about this murder makes sense. Who was Tim Holiday, and why did he seem to be trying to keep his identity a secret? Though she claims she'd never seen him before, what is his connection to Caley? And why would anyone want him dead? Add to that, two more possibly related murders, and Chief Wren has her hands full with a whole town full of suspects and too many unanswered questions..... Charlene Weir is back with another installment of her Susan Wren mysteries and A Cold Christmas is definitely her best book so far. This is a short, fast-paced, very readable novel full of atmosphere, smart, crisp writing, strong and engaging characters, riveting scenes, and enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing to the end. Ms Weir does not skimp on the secondary story lines, and at times the plot veers off in too many directions and becomes somewhat confusing, but she pulls it all together and ties up the loose ends neatly with a cliff-hanger ending that will leave fans waiting and wondering. So put up your feet and get comfortable, A Cold Christmas is an entertaining mystery you'll have to finish in one sitting.

Susan Wren is Chief of Police in Hampstead, Kansas. Caley James, organist in the Lutheran church, slumps over while playing for choir practice. She has a high fever. Dr. Baylis Cunningham determines she has the flu. Chief Susan helps her home. Caley has three children - Zach, Adam and Bonnie. Zach is old enough to watch the Littles as Susan calls the younger two.

Caley's furnace quits in the dead of winter. Tim Holiday comes to repair it. Caley almost doesn't let him in as he's creepy. But, he gets the furnace working. Later he has to come back because the blower won't turn off and now the house is too hot. Caley has sent the three children with her mother-in-law Ettie Trowbridge. Her ex-Mat shows up. What else could go wrong.

Well, Tim Holiday is later found dead with his head and arms in her furnace. He actually died of a gun shot wound.

Her neighbor across the street, Pauline Frankens, told Chief Susan that she saw Tim Holiday coming and going from Caley's house probably five or six times. Caley had told Susan he was only there twice.

This book is small-town life in all it's glory. Ida Ruth from the Lutheran church was trying to get Caley fired as she didn't think a divorced worman should be playing the organ.

Chief Susan starts investigating Tim's murder. More deaths begin to happen. Some appear to possibly be accidents, but Susan begins to wonder what is going on.

I like this series and really like Chief Susan. She is unsure of whether she should stay in Hampstead or go back to San Francisco. Her husband of four weeks died some time ago and Susan is still trying to put her life together.

The dispatcher Hazel and officer Luke Demarco play big roles in the police department in this book because most everyone else is out with the flu.

The author has done a fabulous job setting up the story as well as the setting and characters. I am looking forward to reading many more books in this series.

I highly recommend this book.

My mother recently died and I finally started digging into the past that she could never speak about. Although painful to the reader, I am glad that someone was able to collect these witnessed accounts. The little I learned from my mother over the many years was exactly as the accounts I have read.

Forgotten Survivors tells the chilling, moving stories of Polish people who suffered at the hands of the Nazis, who were taking over their country. The people in these pages come to life as you learn where they were at the time they, or their family members, were seized by the SS and taken to concentration camps. You learn how some managed to stay under the Nazi radar, how others tried to escape, how they survived to tell their incredible stories. I couldn't put it down. The author has done a tremendous job compiling their stories and presenting them with each one's individual voice. It's an important contribution to the history of the Holocaust.

This book is a collection of gripping accounts of what real people experienced during this horrific chapter in history. There's the story of Jan Komski, who tried to escape from a concentration camp with a friend dressed in an SS uniform but failed. . .the story of Lilka Trzcinska-Croydon, who describes in detail what it was like to be transported in a cattle car and then transformed into a camp prisoner with a number branded on her arm. . .stories of families separated, children plucked out of their daily lives and sent off into a world of terror where they were confronted with endless harsh realities, where survival was the only goal. This book brings the Holocaust to life with sometimes moving, sometimes chilling, realism and honesty. The author takes great care to let each individual voice be heard. And each story is filled with such suspense, made even greater because each story is true. Though I'd always heard about the atrocities people endured during the Holocaust, this book gives a voice to some of those people who managed to survive against incredible odds. I highly recommend it.

First things first: buy this book. Read it. Give it to friends. Require, before anyone talk to you about Nazism, about Polish-Jewish relations - or, for that matter, about heroism or human suffering - that they read it. Demand that lecturers, students and journalists know it before they attempt to speak with authority on World War II. If they aren't familiar with it, acquaint them. You may want to carry a copy for that purpose.

Many of us have sat around a dying fire, or an emptying bottle of vodka, while Polish loved ones recounted their WW II experiences. We've wanted others to hear these sagas before being quick to judge. We've used these narratives to inspire ourselves: "If he could survive that, I can get through this." Now such stories are available in book format. It's high time. What took us so long?

"Forgotten Survivors" presents twenty-eight, first-person accounts of Poles who lived through WW II. Now-and-then photographs illustrate each account; there are also fifteen Jan Komski drawings of concentration camp scenes. Tellers include former camp inmates, slave laborers, underground fighters, and Zegota members.

As much as I appreciate this book, and that is very much, there are aspects of it that either troubled me or will trouble others, or at least deserve comment here. First, of course, there is the title. These stories are powerful, and they are transcendent. They are valuable today, and they will be valuable as long as human beings face life-and-death challenges.

The polemical title does not best serve these accounts and their authors. The word "forgotten" implies that important audiences have ignored Polish suffering. Another way of understanding post-war discourse is to acknowledge that Jews have done an admirable job of broadcasting and canonizing their story, and Polish non-Jews have, for whatever reason, been less successful at this.

Our best strategy is to honor our own story, not blame others for honoring theirs. "Heroic Polish Survivors," would have honored the narrators in this book, without positioning them as a rebuke in a feud whose importance - unlike the stories themselves - is transitory.

"Christians" is also problematical. Some Poles were neither Jewish nor Christian, and suffered under Nazism; some were openly hostile to organized religion. Many Polish Socialists were not Christian and were heroic in their resistance to Nazism.

These Poles do not deserve to be "forgotten" any more than their Christian fellow nationals do. The term "non-Jewish" - one Lukas does occasionally use - acknowledges the impact of Nazi racial policy without eliminating the stories of non-religious Poles.

Readers concerned with ethnographic technique will be frustrated by Lukas' omission of his transcription method. The accounts do bear many of the hallmarks of oral personal experience narratives, including colloquial language and lacunae where readers expect orienting details.

But some editing surely took place; there are none of the pauses or repetitions found in raw transcripts. Too, two separate accounts use the rare words "hegira" and "leggings." One wonders if Lukas didn't insert those words into the accounts while editing.

With the exception of Irena Sendler, all narrators emigrated to Canada, England, or the US. An ethnographer will want to know how survivor accounts told by Polish emigres differ from accounts told by survivors who remained in Poland.

Most narrators are highly placed, white-collar workers: college professors and engineers, for example. These narrators are not representational of a nation whose wartime population was majority agricultural. I wondered, as I read, have we become so intimidated by negative images of Poles that every Pole who survives WW II must be shown to be a high status, model citizen?

In the United States, piety is observed in discussions of the Holocaust, as many Jewish writers have protested. Some readers will be shocked to read Poles who lived through the Holocaust speak of their Jewish neighbors less than reverentially; others may welcome the frank humanity in these accounts. At least two Polish survivors recount being slapped or beaten by Jewish police or capos. One survivor who risked her life to help Jews reports being annoyed by "those hands stroking their beards" during a tense meeting.

"Non-Jewish Poles were just as likely as Jews to suffer at the hands of the Nazis," reads the book jacket. Page one of Lukas' introduction implies that Poles as a group and Jews as a group "shared" - a word he uses twice - equal fates. They did not, and histories of the Nazi era in Poland must state that clearly.

It must be stated clearly because it is true, and it must be stated clearly because there have been attempts by the Soviets and by government and popular culture entities in the US to dejudaize the Holocaust. Irena Sendler's account acknowledges the difference in scale: "Hitler created hell for all of us in Poland. But the kind of hell he made for the Jews was even greater" (166).

Like others interested in the Holocaust, I have pored over hundreds of photos of Polish-Jewish victims, both those who perished, and those who survived. I've often thought to myself, "He looks Polish; I could never differentiate this person from a Polish non-Jew by their facial features alone."

Gazing at the Poles in Lucas's book, I didn't encounter a population completely alien to the Jews in other books; I saw heart-wrenching sameness. One Polish narrator reports that he "looked Jewish," and he exploited this in his underground work helping Jews.

He's not the only Polish non-Jew in "Forgotten Survivors" who looks very like the Polish-Jewish portraits of innocence, endurance, and courage in other volumes. Wordlessly, these photos testify: Poles and Jews are not so separate as many would insist.

In the end, it is the power of the stories that matter, and these stories are among the most powerful you will ever read. Not only Poles, or students of Nazism, but anyone interested in examining cruelty, heroism, and simple, blind, fate, will find this book rewarding, fascinating, and humbling.

Owing to obvious misunderstandings, the very title of this book needs clarification. The concept of "forgotten", not elaborated by Lukas, goes far beyond which side has done a better job of presenting its sufferings to the American public. It goes right to the heart of (1). Which side has the power and influence to get its message out, (2). Which side is in a position to control the very language of the debate, and (3). Which side has the political clout to have its sufferings enshrined in American educational law. As for (1), American Jew Novick pointed out in his book, THE HOLOCAUST IN AMERICAN LIFE, that Poles "never had the political, cultural, or financial resources to press their case." As for (2), George Orwell noted that those who control the language control the debate. Note contemporary Newspeak, in which there is no generally-recognized term for prejudices against Poles, only Jews (anti-Semitism), no special term for a massacre of Poles, only Jews (the pogrom), and no special term in existence for the German genocide of Poles, only Jews (the Holocaust). In this review, I use the term Holocaust (sensu Universal) to include ALL victims of Germany, including Poles. As for (3), are we supposed to believe that it is by accident that American children are required, in many US states, to learn about the murder of 5-6 million Jews in appreciable detail, as if it were something higher than the sufferings of others in WWII? Finally, the fact that Jewish spokesman have forcefully opposed the teaching about the 2-3 million murdered Poles alongside that of the 5-6 million murdered Jews (except perhaps as a footnote in order to deflect the argument) should serve as crowning proof that "forgotten" is FAR more than simply a matter of which side has done a better job of communicating its sufferings to the general public.

Lukas has done a great deal of commendable work to counter the foregoing trends. This book is an anthology of Polish survivors of German Nazi persecution, a persecution that cost the lives of 2-3 million Poles, including over half of Poland's prewar intelligentsia. WARNING: The descriptions of German methods throughout this book are often graphic, and may upset the sensitive reader. The content focuses on the September 1939 German conquest and five-plus years of occupation, the unrelenting German terror, the mass executions, Gestapo methods, the hellish German concentration camps, Jan Komski's paintings of Auschwitz (pp. 58-on), the atrocious treatment of Polish forced laborers (2 million of them), Zegota, the betrayed Warsaw Uprising, and the "liberation" of Poland by a new occupant (the USSR).

The 5-year survival rate for Poles at Mauthausen Concentration Camp was only 8 out of 200 (Antoni Palmowski, p. 109), and the several-month survival rate for Poles incarcerated at Auschwitz, following the foredoomed Warsaw Uprising, was still a small 300 out of 3,000 (Stanley J. Sagan, p. 163). Such was the starvation in the work camps of Flossenburg concentration camp that Polish inmates killed and ate a German shepherd guard dog that belonged to one of the SS men (Paul Zenon Wos, p. 217).

Some seldom-discussed German barbarities are mentioned throughout this anthology, including the bleeding of Polish children for blood transfusions to wounded German soldiers (Bozenna Urbanowicz-Gilbride, p. 198), and the sterilization of Polish forced laborers (Katherine Graczyk, p. 34; Bozenna Urbanowicz-Gilbride, p. 197). No one mentions the KL Warschau extermination camp, where some 200,000 gentile Poles were gassed and cremated Auschwitz-Birkenau-style.

Various incidental details, while not intended for this purpose, help rebut common Polonophobic mischaracterizations. For example, the well-worn tale of Polish cavalry charging German tanks, originating from wartime German propaganda, is once again refuted (Notes, p. 212). And, contrary to accusations, Polish Jews were actually walled off into ghettos by the conquering Germans (Barbara Makuch, p. 85), not by the prewar Poles. The shortage of food in the countryside (Jan Porembski, p. 134), caused by German confiscations, enables the reader to understand why some Poles did not help fugitive Jews, and even betrayed or killed Jews who stole food from them. Against the claim that the German-appointed Polish police were collaborationists as such, it turns out that 90% of them were involved in the Polish Underground (Paul Zenon Wos, p. 214). The Jews of Torczyn (near Warsaw) were initially trusting of the German conquerors (Halina Martin, p. 91, 99), adding rebuttal to the argument that Polish Jews immediately feared Germans, and that this (imagined) fear is what drove the widespread Jewish-Soviet collaboration in eastern Poland that occurred in the first stages of WWII. The actions of incarcerated Poles against incarcerated Jews, simplistically blamed on anti-Semitism, must be balanced by the actions of incarcerated Jews against incarcerated Poles (Dr. Stanley Garstka, p. 26).

Finally, consider the "All Jews Were Victims of the Nazis" argument, a common rationalization for the primacy of Jewish sufferings in American social studies classes. Antoni Palmowski (p. 113) describes the fate of Jews brought to Mauthausen Concentration Camp: "Early in 1945, new transports, mostly from Auschwitz, arrived...What was unusual was that the Jews were clean, blue and gray striped prisoner uniforms....The Germans began to treat Jewish prisoners much better than before. They even increased their rations. We joked that the Germans `smelled' the end of the war, which they realized by now they could not win." It is obvious that not all known Jews were slated for extermination, even among already-apprehended Jews, and the killing of every last possible Jew was clearly NOT a priority of the dying Third Reich.

Great boook published by the Kansas City Star newspaper. There are plenty of new copies all over town at every chain book seller. Put the cash you would spend on a used edition toward a plane ticket, fly here and eat some GREAT barbecue. During your stay, buy the book at the corner bookstore. Or go to www.thekansascitystore.com, the Kansas City Star's online gift shop.

When most authors sit down to pen a book on barbecue their purpose is to share with the reader what a taste of barbecue food is like. When Doug Worgul authored The Grand Barbecue, it wasn't just the food he wanted to share but a taste of the entire barbecue world of Kansas City. And he does such a complete job of relating the entire experience that I swore I could smell a slight hint of sweet barbecue smoke when I finally put his book down.

In The Grand Barbecue, Worgul has assembled the ultimate book on one of the major regions of barbecue ­ Kansas City. Hours of painstaking research show through, beginning with the thorough recount of barbecue history in the first chapter where he traces the roots back to the days of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and then follows its spread until it reaches Kansas City. In Chapter Two, he introduces the icons of Kansas City barbecue like Henry Perry, Ollie Gates, Arthur Bryant and Rich Davis, and adds to that tales about the city's great restaurants like Fiorella's Jack Stack, Lil' Jake's Eat It and Beat It, L.C.'s and Oklahoma Joe's.

Chapter Three is titled "The Barbecue Life" and it is here that the uninitiated get a feel for what makes barbecue a passion for many rather than a label for a food style. It's here that we get to meet three people who made barbecue a lifestyle ­ Carolyn Wells, Ardie Davis, and Paul Kirk. He ends the chapter with a look at the three main Kansas-City area barbecue cookoffs ­ the American Royal, the Great Lenexa Barbeque Battle, and the Blue Springs Blaze Off ­ and the local tradition of tailgating at Arrowhead Stadium.

Worgul finishes with a pair of obligatory chapters - "Barbecue for Backyard Beginners" and "Barbecue Nation" ­ which are handled well. The former is a fairly complete chapter on the basics of barbecue and the latter a brief acknowledgement of the other barbecue regions.

If you've ever had the pleasure of experiencing Kansas City barbecue, you will truly love this book, and the [money] price tag probably won't bother you a bit. If you're curious about the subject, this book communicates all that goes into making Kansas City the great barbecue city it is. You'll have to tolerate some tub thumping about Kansas City being the barbecue capitol of the world (please, I cannot take sides here), but I still know you will enjoy it.

This book has been out over a year now, but I had not really heard anyone talking about it. Recently, while on a trip to Kansas City, I saw the book on a shelf in Oklahoma Joe's BBQ.

What a FUN read. This is definitely not your typical BBQ book. Those would be the one's full of recipes and nothing else. This is a book - book. It's full of people, tales, facts, information and fun about BBQ in general.

If you're a fan of Q, this should be on your shelf. If you're just getting into Q, I might recommend a couple of other books first, but I would come back and buy this.

This would be one of those "table top" book. Put it out and let your friends browse through it. The photos and articles are very, very well done.

Thanks to the author, Doug Worgul, for a magnificent read

I dropped this book off to a friend of 25 years around 7pm one evening on a work night. He called me the next day and said he was up till 3am reading it & it was awesome. He couldn't put it down & was very impressed with the many venues: history, how-to, competions & dates, ect. I went out and bought one for myself after hearing this & could not agree more. I WAS SO IMPRESSED I BOUGHT 9 MORE & HAD THE AUTHOR SIGN THEM & I GIVE THEM AWAY AS GIFTS. A great coffee table book or convesation piece for the bar-b-q enthusiast, rookie or kc native!

I loved the book: a great assemblage of ephemera and lore, very well done. Worgul's work is worthy of comparison to Lolis Elie's Smokestack Lightning, though the former is a proudly provincial book while the latter surveys the greater barbecue world. The Grand Barbecue has earned a place of honor on my shelf.

Intriguing, enlightening, excruciatingly detailed...if you have a passion for mlb history you will not be able to quit this exhaustive analysis.
It exposes how, nothing less than corruption was overlooked for the benefit of the continued success of the Bronx Bombers. Jeff Katz is a baseball scholar that has written an exposé that captures all the details while keeping you captive for more!

"The Wrong Half of the Yankees" is about the bizarre relationship between the New York Yankees and Kansas City Athletics in the years 1955-1960. The principal characters are A's owner Arnold Johnson and Yankees co-owners Del Webb and Dan Topping. The 3 had deep interests in the Automatic Canteen Company and Topping/Webb sold Yankee Stadium to Johnson. The Yanks main farm team was in KC. Del and Dan just happened to include in the Stadium deal the sale of the Kansas City ballpark to Johnson as well! Moreover, Del and Dan then strong-armed the American League to rubber stamp Johnson's purchase of the moribund Philadelphia A's and to approve the franchise shift from Philly to KC. This, despite the fact that higher offers were on the table, with at least one from interests that might have kept the A's in Philly. Once Johnson was safely ensconced in KC, the teams engaged in some 20 trades, nearly all favoring the Yankees. The fodder for a fine baseball story is all here but author Katz takes far too pages to tell it. Included in the text are a history of the Philly franchise and infighting twixt various members of the Mack family, who had controlled the A's for decades. The result is an almost deadening load of information which might have been fascinating had it only been served in smaller portions. WHY is one of those works which cry out for that proverbial stern editor with a sharp blue pencil to trim down the text. Not until Chapter 11 does Katz cover the good stuff: those trades. These encompass the period when this reviewer was just a kid- and a Yankee fan. Even a boy could smell a rat at some of these transactions. Most may cavil at the lopsided deal for Roger Maris but this observer recalls the round trip trades for pitcher Ralph Terry. A young RT plainly needed seasoning and wasn't going to get it in the Bronx bull pen, so he was farmed to the A's in 1957 (the Billy Martin trade). In 1959, the by then seasoned Terry was back in pinstripes! Even a 12 year old Yankees fan smelled something fishy. A nice inclusion is the images of 78 trading cards for many players. Included are 4 of Harry "Suitcase" Simpson and the '57 card of pitcher Art Ditmar listed as a Yankee -but plainly in an A's uniform! The back of that card actually acknowledged the misprint The bottom line: Insufficient space is given to the trades, far too much to kvetching about franchise shifts, stadium deals and Mack family squabbling. One suspects that some of the text qualifies as mere filler. A scaled down WHY would be excellent as a feature article in a magazine. As a full length, 200 page book it falls short.

I grew up as a Yankee fan in the 1950s and it was obvious that this was going on. Kansas City never had a good ball club but whenever they got talent they traded the player to the Yankees for very little in return. Sometimes it was just cash. The biggest gain was when KC got Roger Maris from Cleveland and after one strong year with KC he was tradedf to the Yankees where he hit 39 home runs in 1960 and 61 in 1961. The As were essentially a farm system of the Yankees but instead of being sent down to the minors a Yankee who needed seasoning was traded to KC where he could face major leaguers including the Yankees. When the Yankees thought the player was ready they brought him back. Here are some of the Yankees that went back and forth: Norm Siebern, Bob Cerv, Irv Noren Marv Throneberry, Hector Lopez. The Yankees got Bud Daley and Bobby Shantz in addition to Maris from the KC As. Billy Martin was traded to KC but only because the Yankees thought he was a bad influence on Mantle. They didn't plan to ever bring Martin back.

Of course the Commissioner ignored the obvious as he let the iwners do whatever they wanted. I never could understand why Kansas City wuld do this. This book explains it all as the KC owner seemed to share outside business interests with Topping and Webb, the Yankee owners.

If even half this well-researched, well-written, and well-argued volume is true, then-Commissioner Ford ("It's a league matter") Frick, who seemed to spend more time jerryrigging the obstruction of any attempts to break Babe Ruth's records than he did shepherding baseball, was derelict in his duties as the steward of the game. And, an awful lot of baseball fans---in New York, Philadelphia, and Kansas City alike---were had.

The incestuous relationship between Arnold Johnson and Del Webb should have been one of baseball's most grotesque scandals, enough to make the dubious manner in which the eventual Yankee sale to CBS went down (reference Bill Veeck, "The Hustler's Handbook") resemble a gentleman's agreement. Baseball government's apparent silence/inaction during the height of that relationship (although, to his rare credit, then-Cleveland Indians general manager Frank Lane did harrumph to anyone who'd listen---unlikely, considering Lane's own dubious ways of running the Tribe in those years---that, if he'd known his prime young right fielder Roger Maris would end up a Yankee, he wouldn't have swapped Maris to the A's himself) should be considered at least as much a stain on the great and glorious game as were such affairs as the gambling scandals of the 1910s-1920s, the Pete Rose contretemps, and today's contretemps over actual or alleged performance-enhancing drugs.

Yankee haters won't like this, but the shameful story of the 1950s Yankee administration viz the Kansas City Athletics makes the worst excercises of the Steinbrenner era seem tame aberrations. I'd thought for a long time that a good book needed to be written about that story, and here it is.

Kansas City is certainly not up to date. The city's citizens are constantly being made the patsies in any deal, whether it involves the organized crime of the Pendergast era, the attempt to stop light rail in the city or the building of its baseball/football complex out in Independence. Author Jeff Katz shines a bright light on baseball's cold-war era, focussing on the horrific collusion scandal of the 1950s, whereby the hated New York Yankees swiped all of KC's good baseball players under a secrecy that rivals today's steroid cover-up.

Of course, the citizens of KC always knew what was going on but couldn't stop it. Organized crime flourished and KC was appalled. Did they do anything about it? No, not for years.

The citizens knew a ball park belonged in KC's downtown, but they couldn't stop the building of two stadiums in Independence. Now, KC is in deep doo-doo trying to revive its downtown, after once again refusing the chance to move the stadiums there and with the "great" Sprint Center for basketball and hockey way behind schedule.

Katz, in his poorly-titled book, uses mostly contemporary 1950s newspaper articles to build his case against the Yankees during a time when they were using the Kansas City A's as a "minor-league" outlet for fire-sale bargains. Maris, Lopez, Maas, Trucks, Dickson and many more good KC players became Yankees because the Yankees controlled the KC team and Commissioner Ford Frick and even the United States Congress allowed it to go on illegally for years. And the KC fans? They let it happen too, just as they might let a great light rail plan be emasculated by the city's so-called power brokers here in 2007.

I feel very sad for Kansas City fans. They get dumped on so easily, but they always seem to smile and forget. Maybe that's what makes this city so easy to fool. Maybe being the perfect patsy makes KC great in some, warped, crazy-little-woman way.

by Larry Rochelle, author of TEN MILE CREEK, DEATH AND DEVOTION, CRACKED CRYSTALS and BLUE ICE

As an amateur military historian I found this book very enlightening and informative. It has provided me with a more balanced view of the Luftwaffe than I had previously. In a couple of instances I felt that he glossed over the downside to some of the Luftwaffe's interwar decision making, but otherwise found the book balanced and interesting. I plan on reading more of Corum's books.

James S. Corum has written a scholarly study of German air power ideas and operational doctrine in a well-researched history of the German air power from 1918-1940. In addition, the text provides an understanding of the human dimension in the development of the Luftwaffe beyond the usual stories of Herman Goring and the Nazis.

The author notes, "In the years immediately following World War I, it looked to the world as if Germany had been completely disarmed as an air power. On the surface, this was so. Yet, in the long-term view, the Allied powers failed miserably in their effort to disarm Germany." While their air power was disarmed, the Germans could not be stopped from thinking and studying. The text narrates how "General Hans von Seeckt and his small group of airmen succeeded in keeping air power as a central aspect of warfare." After WWI, a select group of German officers made a detailed analyzed of WWI army and air power experience. Foreign air power developments and doctrine were also studied with foreign articles and manuscripts on air power translated into German.

Corum notes "Although Germany was denied an air force, it was not denied civil aviation or aviation technology by the Versailles Treaty. This gave the Germans an inherent advantage in the air, for Germany in the interwar period was a world leader in aircraft design and technology."

By 1925 German air power operational doctrine was well advanced so that aircrew training and aircraft developed was needed. Most interesting was the text's description of the formation of the "Shadow Luftwaffe." In 1925, under a 1922 treaty with Russia, a German air base was built at Lipetsk, Russia. From 1929-1933, several hundred officers, NCOs, and civilian employees were there as students, instructors, ground staff and test pilots. Airmen at Lipetsk would test tactics and doctrine by dropping live bombs on simulated targets. Fifty modern fighter aircraft were smuggled in from the Fokker factory in Holland. The text notes that an advantage of the Shadow Luftwaffe was the close and effective cooperation between those who developed doctrine for the aerial war, those who developed and built weapons and prototypes and finally the actual producers of the weaponry.

When the Nazi party came to power on 30 January 1933 and rearmament openly began, the text notes, "a new group of air leaders came to the fore" and inheriting "a sound foundation and built on it." The author states, "the years 1933-1936 were of foundation-building. Several major personalities dominated the Luftwaffe organization and played vital roles in creating new concepts of air power..."

The text narrates the discussions of air power philosophy and doctrine. By 1934 an effective operational doctrine for a small to medium-sized German air force was developed. Contrary to Post-WWII Allied historians, the Luftwaffe was not limited to being "merely a tactical air force geared to army support operations." On page-139, the author states "Regaining control of the air by defeating the enemy air forces was the primary objective" and Lieutenant-General Wever, Luftwaffe chief of staff, stated "Only the nation with strong bomber forces at its disposal can expect decisive action by its air force."

Lack of a German air force in the 1920s pushed "German military personnel and civilians to seriously consider how one might conduct a passive defense that would minimize the effect of a strategic bombing campaign..." As WWII Allied bomber crews would sadly learn, flak would "become the core of German homeland defense". Effective flak artillery was developed with flak battalions placed under Luftwaffe command. Civil defense was also a part of air defense doctrine with civil defense drills being conducted as early as 1936. However, the core of the Luftwaffe's air defense doctrine remained an offensive air campaign in order that home defenses would not be put to the test.

The book's account of the Luftwaffe's 1936-1939 involvement in the Spanish Civil War is fascinating noting "For a relatively modest investment, the German high command reaped some substantial strategic gains from its involvement in Spain." For example, they learned that even in circumstances of general air superiority bombers must be escorted by fighters; a lesson that the Eight Air Force learned at great cost in 1942-1943. Also in Spain, "Air power strategy, tactics and doctrine were tested and corrected so that when WWII began, the Luftwaffe was better prepared for war than any other major air force. Interestingly, while widely covered and reported in the press, France, Britain and America paid little attention to the lessons Germany was learning in Spain.

The book states in the early years, "Goring let the seasoned professionals do their job, while he provided an inexhaustible supply of fund." However, in the late 1930s politics became prevalent resulting in some poor appointments such as Jeschonnek, 1939-1943 air chief of staff, who overemphasized the dive-bomber at the expense of developing the heavy bomber and strategic air warfare. Equally disastrous was the appointment of Ernest Udet chief of the Luftwaffe Technical Office and who was totally unqualified for his position.

Author Corum notes "Rather than being a weakness, the Luftwaffe's doctrine of war developed painstakingly during the interwar period was one of the strengths of the Wehrmacht." The text closes stating "Despite the failure to develop a naval air doctrine and the poor guidance of Hans Jeschonnek, the Germans were able to gain the aerial advantage over the Allied powers in the first years of the World War II not because they had overwhelming numbers of aircraft, but because their conception of a future air war and the training and equipment required for such a war was far more accurate than their opponents' air power vision."

Students of military history will enjoy the text. However, today's military planners should consider the basis lessons from how the Luftwaffe was developed 1918-1940.

Another outstanding contribution to 20th Century military history by the Univ. of Kansas Press. God bless them, they publish some great monographs. Proessors Corum and Muller of the School of Advanced Airpower Studies at Mawell A.F.B. know more about the Luftwaffe than any people in the world, except maybe Horst Boog in Germany. And since all you can get by Boog is the incredibly expensive volume he worked on in the WWII history they are writing in Germany, I am very happy with Profs. Corum & Muller. I wonder if they are happy at Maxwell A.F.B. or would rather be at some Big 10 school writing their stuff? Anyway, Corum's book is an excellent look at how the German operational air war was created. Quite readable, it has flat out some of the best general discussion on the Spanish Civil War I have ever read, going beyond just air operations. Corum understands that air operations necessarily include strategic, tactical, and naval operations, and goes into German naval air operations even while the Kriegsmarine itself put so little effort into a fleet air arm. Good discussions of all of the key characters, and this is another book that makes it clear that someone has to get around to writing a book on Manfred von Richtofen. This book is not for the casual WWII reader, and coming to it with some knowledge of German air types is helpful. All in all I enjoyed the book, and would recommend it to students of the Luftwaffe or WWII air operations in general.

In a severely overcrowded field of books on WW2, this book is a shining jewel. Revolutionary, concise, and clear, this book explodes the commonly accepted myths about the Luftwaffe, while revealing the truly innovative minds at work in the Reich Luftministerium and the General staff in the interwar years. Thought provoking and generally excellent scholarship abounds in this single volume about the critically important doctrinal development of air-power theory, not only in Germany, but in all major combatant nations before world war two. One way to understand this books's value is that by reading this one book anyone can clearly understand the basics of air-power doctrine and the way it evolved in the Luftwaffe. I eagerly anticipate reading the necessary follow-up volume from J. Corum which will complete the groundbreaking work begun in this book.

The focus of this book is on the interwar development of German air operational doctrine. Corum demonstrates that the Luftwaffe was not just a ground support air force but capable of strategic operations, including air transport (Franco's troops in 1936) and airborne assaults. In fact, he points out that Anglo-American obsession with strategic bombardment hindered their operational doctrines until 1942-3. Corum points out the biggest German deficiencies as lack of a true naval air arm that could have been decisive in fighting Britain, Udet's obsession with dive-bombers that delayed the deployment of the He-177 and the Ju-88 and strategic misdirection from Goering/Hitler. There are two interesting chapters on lessons from the First World War and the Spanish Civil War. Also interesting is discussion of how the Germans were able to develop not only doctrine, but new fighter and bomber designs under the noses of the Allied occupation forces. The one area in which the Allies succeeded in inhibiting the Luftwaffe was in limiting the German civil aviation industry's engine development programs; when the Luftwaffe went public there were very few engines to choose from and these were less-advanced than Allied models. Weak engines plagued a number of German aircraft designs. There are no maps.

As a mother of a toddler and a brandnew baby, you know it's important when I've squeezed out a few minutes to review this book. This is my new favorite gift for baby showers. Not only did Barbara help me regain my sanity, she has also affirmed my motherhood, inspired me to be the best mother I can be, and given me a set of tools and a direction to go in. I also highly suggest the other books of hers I've read...Mommy Manual and Lord, Please Meet Me in the Laundry Room. I've been telling all my friends about these books. They are written by a very wise woman!

Lately, I've read a lot of mommy-type manuals, but this is by far my favorite.

I'd call this a "girlfriend's guide" to being a mommy, except that other "girlfriend guides" tend to be catty and bitchy...and Curtis' guide definitely is not. But if you've ever wanted friendly advice from a mom who's been there and done that, then The Mommy Survival Guide is for you.

I giggled, cried, and dog-eared my way through this book. (In fact, so many pages are dog-eared, I've made the book twice as thick as it was originally!) I found truly practical tips for raising happy children, and lots and lots of advice for hanging in there when the going gets tough.

I disagree that The Mommy Survival Guide is just for Christians. Yes, Curtis is a Christian and she speaks freely about Christianity. But she's also lived on the other end of the spectrum, as an addict and as a New Age seeker. This is just one more area where readers can benefit from Curtis' experience. So unless you feel true hatred toward Christians, I think you'll enjoy this book.

I highly recommend The Mommy Survival Guide; it has become my new favorite to give away at baby showers!

"This book by self-proclaimed megamommy of 12 children is a breath of fresh air for those used to reading parenting books based on guilt. So many times, I read the most well-meaning "how-to" book on parenting and feels so overwhelmed, I never get around to implementing any of it.

The chapters are short, and easily read. Interspersed with the chapters dealing with the practical, humorous and philosophical sides of raising children are witty or profound quotes and suggestions to other books and resources.

This book reads like a collection of magazine editorials or blog entries. It isn't so much a system of parenting as it is an inspiration to parents, particularly moms. While the tone of the book is encouraging and inspirational, it is spared the treacly sweetness of say a Chicken Soup book by the author's reality, humor, and guidance.

The book manages to explore topics not often found in Christian parenting books: post partum depression; not controlling, but guiding your children; and letting go of the need to be perfect, or your children to be perfect. And then it hits on a few topics you don't see discussed in too many secular parenting books either: the clear and easily seen differences between boys and girls; the need for a healthy competition; and ways to point your child to Christ .

The last part of the book alone is probably worth the purchase price if you struggle with being a parent. There are several chapters on what to do after you realize your inadequacy as a parent; how not to beat yourself up; how to acquire new skills (the author used to watch other mothers at a playground, and try to emulate them); and the permission to start over, every day if you have to.

This is a nice book to read as part of a devotional; while waiting in the school pick-up lane; or anywhere else you want to read a few brisk and helpful words about your job as a mother."

This book is a delight to read and would make an excellent gift for mothers in all stages, from mothers of babies to mothers of slightly older kids, and it is one that mothers will want to keep and reread as their kids grow older and the mothering quandaries change, since Barbara talks about struggles and experiences with her adult children, too.

Barbara includes tips for handling toddlers and helping them reach their full potential, tips for mothers who feel lost or like they aren't living up to their own potential as mothers, and Barbara shares her philosophies and personal stories about gender roles, prodigal children, instilling moral values, and above all, she encourages mothers to place themselves and their children in God's hands.

This is very definitely a Christian book, and while I think non-Christians would enjoy a lot of the essays ands information in this book - it isn't the first book of Barbara's I'd recommend for a non-Christian. Try The Mommy Manual instead of you are not a Christian. Chapters such as "What They Really Need Is Jesus" will probably not be helpful to non-Christians.

Overall, this is a great introduction to Barbara's philosophies and her personable writing style - when I read her books I really feel as though I am sitting down for a nice cup of tea with her, and I think mothers will really enjoy her warmth and her frank style of writing.

My only complaint about this book is that because I have read her other published books, and enjoy reading her blog regularly [], I have already seen nearly all of this material in some form or another. So as a regular reader, this was like a compilation book in which I got to enjoy some of Barbara's best essays, revamped a bit. For that reason, I'd say this would be the best of all of her books to give as a gift, but for fans of her writing that have been reading for a while, I might instead wait for Mommy, Teach Me!, out later in 2007, which promises a wealth of practical information about raising little ones.

Motherhood is full of difficulties. We mommies have good days and not-so-good days. On the good days, I praise God and give myself a little pat on the back. However, it is on those not-so-good days that I need a friend to come along side to encourage me, help me find a solution, and/or offer some much-needed perspective on a situation. Barbara Curtis does just that in her latest "mommy" book, The Mommy Survival Guide: Making the Most of the Mommy Years (MSG).

Curtis writes as only a real mommy can. I connected with her from the opening page:
"Once upon a time I was a pretty normal mom. But that was before I ended up with 12 kids. When did I begin to change? Was it with Number 3? Number 4? Maybe Number 5? I don't know. For a while, with babies arriving every 15 to 20 months, it all became a blur. And yet at the same time it all became clear, as though I could finally see what was the important part of being a mommy. So many things I thought really mattered turned out not to matter at all. And so many things I hadn't thought of turned out to be the most important things of all."

MSG is divided into six sections:
* The sooner you surrender, the better.
* Kids will be kids--let them.
* A little bit of Mommy goes a long way.
* Less is more--really.
* When the going gets tough, just keep going.
* Anything can happen, but God will be there too.

One of my favorite aspects of Curtis' writing is her honesty regarding motherhood. Curtis understands its demands. She has struggled through relinquishing her rights in order to be a better mother. This makes MSG stand apart from other popular mommy books. Curtis never advocates taking a "mommy vacation." Rather, she is honest about the sacrifice and selflessness it takes to become a great mother with great kids. She shares a bit of her own journey in surrendering to motherhood. For example, she writes of how her frustrations diminished after she changed her attitudes regarding sleep. She explains, "So, yes, motherhood will change you--if you let it. And believe me, you do want to let it change you, because when you've refined the art of not thinking of yourself, you will very much like the person you become."

MSG is also incredibly practical. Curtis writes about those topics that weigh heavily on most mommies' minds: sibling rivalry, teaching self-control, television use, simplifying life, and much more. Each chapter has some nugget of wisdom or advice or a simple tip that a mommy can use. In addition to sharing her family's stories and experiences, the end of each chapter includes a list of ideas, fun stuff, things you need to know, or a helpful resource to check out. Not only is she a mother to 12, Curtis also homeschooled her children and is a trained Montessori instructor. She has years of experience from which she shares her thoughts on child training and teaching. She offers advice for saving time, having fun with the whole family, and helping kids through tough times, to name a few.

Ms. Curtis is also a born-again Christian who is not ashamed of the gospel. About midway through the book, Curtis shares her testimony and how she came to know Jesus as her personal Lord and Savior. She shares how she gently guides her children to know Jesus. Scripture is sprinkled throughout the book. It is the last portion of the book, however, that Curtis shares how a Christian mommy can use the gospel every day. Curtis does not gloss over sin, but she offers hope to the mother who sins against her children. She encourages moms to apologize, ask God for forgiveness, and receive a fresh start. She writes, "Parenthood is really a matter between you and God anyway, because it's part of our stewardship. Our children are not our childre