Indiana Books

I purchased this book after having met Mr. Jacobs briefly on a couple of occasions. Listening to this man speak, I walked away awestruck by his charm, charisma, and integrity. I had to find out what experiences throughout Jacobs' life molded him into the politician he was. This book does not disappoint. Through his anecdotes, one gets a sense of why this Congressman was respected by not only Democrats, but Republicans as well.

Andy Jacobs, the congressman that did not take Pac monies and was an independent voice in congress,pens a book about national and Indiana politics. I voted for the guy for three decades and wish there were more like him. An independent voice.

This is an impressive piece of historical scholarship on the complex attitude of Quakers with respect to abolitionist movements from the 1830s to the 1860s. Ryan Jordan has found exciting new primary documents and has integrated them into a well-written narrative.

Ryan Jordan's work lucidly explores the intersections between social activism, religious conviction, slavery/abolition, and political involvement. The result is an exception work that should be read by all interested in abolitionism and religious attitudes towards slavery in the antebellum US.

Ernie Pyle, a nationally newspaper columnist for Washington, D.C. and New York City newspapers before the war became more famous for his Pulitzer Prize-winning work during World War II, especially in the European Theater. As one of the soldiers quoted in this biography said, "He was...our spokesman. It was not that his column told us things we did not know or feel, but the fact that we knew you folks at home could read it, and get to know and understand."

This book is printed by the Indiana Historical Society Press because Pyle was originally from the small town of Dana, Indiana, near Terre Haute. The Indiana Historical Society has access to literally millions of Indiana-related historical photographs and that library of pictures is put to good use in this biography. Most of the photos aren't just the standard posed shots, but they show Pyle interacting with his favorite soldiers - the G.I. (Infantry). You can see his relaxed style and his curiousity about everything - including looking down the business end of a 155 mm gun, cooking on a Coleman stove in France, walking among the rubble of the hotel that he was in when a German shell hit it, talking with nurses, officers, and even washing his feet in his own helmet.

The book is actually intended to be a biography for advanced middle school students or high school students to read, but it is excellent for any student of World War II history, no matter his or her age. At the end of the text, 3 of his complete, unedited columns are re-printed, including the sparse and moving "The Death of Captain Waskow".

Strongly recommended.

Written by award-winning author and historian Ray E. Boomhower, The Soldier's Friend: A Life of Ernie Pyle is a biography for young adults about Ernie Pyle, columnist who wrote about the rigors of combat endured by ordinary G.I.'s during World War II. For his skillful and accurate reporting of a "worm's-eye view" of the war, Pyle received journalism's highest honor - a Pulitzer Prize - in 1944. Chapters cover Pyle's childhood, personality, friends, and retirement, but the main focus is on his career as a reporter at the front. Vintage black-and-white photographs on almost every page illustrate this absorbing life story of a distinguished newsman, especially recommended for middle and secondary school library collections.

This book not only helps the part-time genealogist, but also gives the purpose of the free persons of color's move to this territory. It help the descendents of these people (such as myself) put a personality on the many names of people we've come to know and have pictures for.

It has spurred my family & I on to take the trip from NJ to IN to attend the 2000 Beech Homecoming & look forward to the Roberts Homcoming in 2001. I greatfully appreciate Stephen A. Vincent's labors.

The Beech and Roberts farming communities were composed of free blacks who came from North Carolina in the 1820s and 30s. They located near Quakers because they knew they would receive kindness and respect from them as well as fair dealings. The communities grew and prospered and an emphasis was placed upon education and spiritual development. Eventually, the settlements began to decline and farmers began to sell their land. Gradually, all the inhabitants moved away. Both communities left behind a proud heritage and continue to hold homecomings once a year.

(I chose the book because I live in Carthage, close to the site of the Beech Settlement and have an interest in its history.) I reviewed the book on April 11 at the Hancock County Library in Greenfield, Indiana. Following the review, the book club members came to my home. From there, our group of eighteen took a "field trip" out to the Beech. Accompanying us was Gladys Boatright, the granddaughter of Eli Archey who is pictured on the front of "Southern Seed, Northern Soil." We all enjoyed the book very much and enjoyed learning of the two fine communities the Beech and Roberts settlements.

An excellent guide for complete coverage of the many different types of projectile points found in this region. I have found this to be an invaluable field research reference in my work as a CRM archaeologist in this area of the Northwestern part of the Unites States.

Patricia L. Lyttle, B.S.
Research Archaeologist

This is a valuable reference material for anyone doing serious research on projectile points and cutting tools or for the collector/hobbyist.
The format is user friendly, the illustrations are excellent and the information is thorough.
This book is a great addition to any reference collection.

I think this book is a very good book,in that it is a counter to the typical "price guide" arrowhead books, this book does not go that route, and discusses the lithics in more of a professional manner, and is more for people who are interested in the cultures, and the lithics and not in what something is worth. The only critique I have is that the book trys to cover too large an area...i would prefer one that is aimed at specific states (even though the boundaries lap over state lines), and would prefer the author to stick with established nomenclature as to lumping points into various categories. I think the book is headed in the right direction but needs improvements.

excellant point type guide to arrowheads of the southwest. Much information on the cultures that made them and on how they were made.

This is an essential reference. Noel Justice has done an amazing job of gathering the references and synthesizing a very complex and diverse array of "spear and arrow points" in this volume. I can also recommend "Stone Age Spear and Arrow Points of California and the Great Basin". Well worth the rather high price.

My dad was a Studebaker dealer and I grew up reading everything I could about the company. Following them through the early to mid fifties was agony. This is a very detailed description of their rise, near demise, and eventual failure. Excellent history and nostalgia. Actually a bit sad but I could not put it down.

Explores the nature of the company rather than just the products. The insights are revealing and the style is engaging. The lessons from this study can be applied to the success and failures of the other American automotive manufacturers. It is valuable for both the automotive enthusiast as well as the student of management and business.

The Studio Book rewards with a cache of little wonders like fishes trekking home with you inside a box, biscuits in a basket, jewels on a tray. These wonders resemble - or rather, prefigure, I tell myself - the artist herself. The book's idea was born a treasure, and Lois guides it through the thicket to secure a useful, persuasive, pervasive, native manual of work and dreams, light and its concomitants, diligence (that is to say, humility) and its suzerainty. It's a damn beautiful book, every page used up and nothing wasted, its smallness huge and thoughtful, free, gutsy, never tricky; it admits no comparisons, indeed, ends up neither wishing nor inviting anything but its own promise and an open-hearted reader. Okay, even if the reader doesnt start off with heart opened, he will end with it not only opened but open-ended in a transfixion of the most amenable dimensions. There are many genial, and not a few generously great aspects of Templeton's art, but none greater than this: study the art of Lois Templeton, from the great canvases to the 'dinkies', and YOU WILL FIND NO CUNNING. Breathe that in, reader. You'll find no sarcasm, complaint, indifference, world-weariness, not a speck - all of which is to say you have located the bones and feathers, the silhouette, the manifestly whole transmission of centuries of Western art from the heart of a once-Midwestern woman deep into your own probably beleagured one. After that, you can stand up and fly. It's true, I've known Lois Templeton for more than thirty years, across miles ephemeral and trials that turn you homeward, against time, whose rough habits of diminution will burnish and furnish differing paths. Now, past the mid-point, I am clean to avow that I've not forsaken the kindness and trust she gave quickly, suddenly, knowingly to one who had known little enough of either - not only not forsaken it, but kept it close between my selves like a talisman, a treasure. So look toward awakening. Get this marvelous little book, go to Lois Templeton's beautiful website to find abundantly not only her remarkable paintings, but a rich and cozy chapter of the infinite possibilities of being human. Thank you, friend; may you paint for another thousand years. In the presence of your work, I'm chagrined to call myself an artist, of any kind.

I found this book to be a wonderful insight on how an artist works. The artist's candid thoughts are a rare treat. I thought the art that was selected for this book was incredible. After going through the book cover to cover, I was very curious to see more of her art and i found her website.

In truly democratic and revolutionary moments a richer tapestry of ideas is allowed to unfurl that is today folded into "the two sides" to every political debate. One of the most vital examples of such an opening was the 1871 Paris Commune. Carolyn Eichner, a professor at the University of South Florida, has captivatingly explored some of the key ideologies of the period as they surfaced behind the barricades of France's last revolutionary moment.

Eichner uses the biographies of three Communard women to explore the socialisms and feminisms of the period. This approach is compelling because it allows for a consideration of the ideas not just in the vacuum of the two-month flowering of the Parisian uprising but as organic projects rising out of the Revolution of 1789 onward. These projects were transformed by the Commune and rethought in response to its failure and the bloody repression by the Versailles government. Each of the women brought different ideas, backgrounds and activism to bear in the three phases. Hence, the ideas and actions are embodied rather than abstracted - making them all the more compelling. With these three dramatic narratives, Eichner also uses the characterizations of André Léo, Paule Mink, Elisabeth Dmitrieff and other Communardes by the state officials to present a picture of the gender and social relations of the period by unpacking their portrayal and condemnation of these women and socialists in official documents.

This is a well written and researched work that should be added to the shelf of anyone interested in 19th century France and, especially, the flowering of the left intellectually in the period.

I loved this book! It is really relevant to today's political times. It shows how people can organize and promote their beliefs, even when the situation seems hopeless. The book will help people understand the roots of some of the protests we see today. It's also a must for people who are interested in European history. I knew a little about the French Revolution, but I had never heard about the 1871 uprising called the Paris Commune. Carolyn Eichner tells the inspiring stories of three very different women who became leaders in the 1871 insurrection. Readers find out how they blended feminist and socialist ideas to try to improve their city. You'll get caught up in their daring ideas and actions!

Bop-bap-a-loopa-a-bop-bam-boom. You haven't rocked ALL the way around the clock until you've read this collection of rock and roll poetry by exceptional writers from across the nation. Get all shook up with Elvis or howl with Dylan. Trot down Memory Lane through vignettes of musicians living the good life or relive the heartbreak of rockers who left us too young and too soon. The music is in the words and in the memories that are crafted by these many artists, crafted in tones of reverence, of playfulness, and, mainly, of love for American rock and roll. This is a one-of-a-kind collection that should be part of everyone's library. It also makes a terrific text for use in the classroom.

Bop-bap-a-loopa-a-bop-bam-boom. You haven't rocked ALL the way around the clock until you've read this collection of rock and roll poetry by exceptional writers from across the nation. Get all shook up with Elvis or howl with Dylan. Trot down Memory Lane through vignettes of musicians living the good life or relive the heartbreak of rockers who left us too young and too soon. The music is in the words and in the memories that are crafted by these many artists, crafted in tones of reverence, of playfulness, and, mainly, of love for American rock and roll. This is a one-of-a-kind collection that should be part of everyone's library. It also makes a terrific collection for use in the classroom