Kansas Books

Great book on the history of the presidency by the inimitable Professor McDonald. The book begins with how the framers were influenced by English law and the history of the executive (ie king and prime minister) up to that point in history. Realize that had there been no George Washington, the framers would have been reluctant to create an executive position that is now known as the presidency.

Professor McDonald marginally develops the intellectual foundation for the presidency and produces soundly researched insights into the presidencies of Washington and Jefferson, but the book cascades into a morass of arbitrary research and shallow analysis in the second half.

His treatment of early philosophical underpinnings for a presidential-type leader is overly long is not well-connected with the actual thoughts and writings of the founders, but his attempt is admirable. The book reaches its height in the examination of the presidencies of Washington and Jefferson, particularly with regard to Jefferson. McDonald describes Jefferson as an astute molder of presidential authority, especially in relation to a quasi-legislative role with Congress and with regard to international relations.

In the last half of the book, however, McDonald turns rather cavalier in his research and arbitrary in his conclusions. Mostly secondary research is selectively presented and arguments are developed with little depth. Most alarmingly for a seasoned and well-regarded historian, his partisanship is scarcely veiled. He defends Nixon as a sympathetic foreign affairs wizard who tried to reign in an irresponsible Congress, but fell prey to a shallow and vindictive press. While a full treatment of Nixon is hardly within the boundaries of this book, Nixon's self-induced problems and serious attempts at Constitutional disruption are embarrassingly not discussed. Additionally, his unabashed admiration for Reagan, while blaming Congress for huge budget deficits and while indicting both a partisan Congress and the press for exaggerating the Iran-Contra affair, displays a lack of judicious and rigorous analysis.

Not a waste of time, but not satisfactory either.

The American Presidency is like no other institution in the world and as evolved precariously from its heyday in 1787. Forrest McDonald focuses on the first few years of the Presidency. he then correlates modern developments and the expansion of the executive state coupled with the rise of the so called fourth branch of government, the bureaucracy. McDonald is somewhat of a conservative, but often withholds judgment on , though refrains from the enthusiastic lust for power and centralization that liberal historians like Arthur Schlesinger seem to have. (I give this book a 3.5/5.0 rating.) I recommend purchasing this book in tandem with _Reassessing the Presidency : The Rise of the Executive State and the Decline of Freedom_ from the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

Mr. McDonald, in his excellent book, traces the theory and practice of the presidency from Washington to Clinton. The theme is a comparison of constitutional writings and the framers' intent, an area in which McDonald is expert, compared with the actual events on the ground. The oval-office push for ever increasing amounts of power, dubbed the "Imperial Presidency" during the Nixon administration, is behavior that did not originate with 20th century presidents. McDonald argues that congress bears much if not most of the responsibility in that it has, decade by decade, abdicated its constitutional responsibilities in many areas, creating a partial vacuum into which the presidency has stepped. McDonald points out the large number of undeclared wars presidents, stretching back to Jefferson, have begun with no objection from congress. Lest we have forgotten, the ability to declare war was vested in congress to prevent presidents from "expeditioning" abroad.

The book is heavily footnoted, but that is not a distraction. The bulk of the focus is on the first decades of this country's existence and the historic background to the creation of the office of "President." Much effort has gone into detailing the philosophy considered by the framers. Our constitution was, after all, written during the "Age of Reason." This background is, at least in part, the reason the book is subtitled "An Intellectual History."

The difficulties in defining the role of the president are part of why most democracies opt for a parliamentary style government. Another huge issue, as Lincoln demonstrated by completely ignoring the constitution he claimed to be upholding in the Civil War, is that if the troops remain loyal to the president, the American system of checks and balances can be destroyed much more easily (at least in theory) than in parliament in which the prime minister's coalition could remove him from power.

This book is another of Professor McDonald's carefully researched and well-written series on the foundations of our nation and our government. It is truly a "must read."

The American Presidency: An Intellectual History written by Forrest McDonald is a book with incisive analysis of political ideas which are found in the characteristics involving the Presidency of the United States. This book is well founded in the history and is solid in early hystory.

The presidency is given a thorough thought-provoking, with historical review, going over... leaving the reader with insight into the institution of the presidency. We are guided with a shrewd sense of political reality, making us understand what the presidency is all about. Reading this book will open up and give us an erudite exanination of the roots of the American presidency... so much so, that you'll feel history come alive and jump right in your lap.

I particularly found the writing on the Washington and Jefferson presidencies to be of great value as the author shows us how these men distinguished the office and made important contributions to our constitutional history. The reader finds out about the awesome responsibilities combined with unique opportunities to persuade others to do their bidding.

In truth, presidentual power is complex and ambiguous, traits that stem from the constitutional provisions for the office... the executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States according to Article 2 of the Constitution... unequivocally. This book is well documented and is written in a masterful narritive, but is easily understood. I found that the early work to be indispensable as the ground work is set and the office is determined. Though the restraints and limits are necessary, they are not, in the nature of things, susceptible to delineation and definition.

As the book progresses on in the life of the presidency we see the individual personallities of the men who served in to office begin to shape the outcome of the office. Making scupulous adherence to written law, self-preservation, and the safety of the nation all interplay in the balance of power between the different branches of the constitutional government.

If you really want to know more about the presidency, look no further as this books gives the reader an illuminating insight with theoretical background of the presidency. this is a very informative and fascinating book.

This was a pretty good book about American Indians and the whole boarding school experience. David Adams really brought the experience to life. The only downside to this book is that I think he tried to cover too much. He covered a great span of time and the book was pretty long and got a little slow at times.

I read this for a class and enjoyed it very much. It is one of the best I have read for Native Studies. There are many facts and other pieces of information that I had not found in other books.

A fascinating -- and heartbreaking -- look at the cultural devastation ensuing from the efforts of many well-meaning educators intent on "civilizing" Native Americans. Beautifully written, thoughtful, and thought-provoking, this book is a splendid and welcome examination of one of our contry's most shameful episodes.

This all too true account of the reeducation process which American government officials euphemistically had Indian children go through is very chilling. It is maddening to believe there were people in Washington who actually considered such treatment of kids to be 'good policy'.

While reading through this book, I was gennuinely driven to tears. The tactics which were used on the kids were what was 'savage'. Ethnocentrism and racism kept the United States government and its representatives from seeing the Indians as a civilized and advanced society.

The primary and secondary sources which David Wallace Adams cites emphasize that the 'pupils' were not naive and passive victims of these abuses. Predating the American Indian Movement of the 1960's and 1970's, they resisted the 'education' which these schools were trying to shove down their own throats.

This book was recommended to me by my academic advisor, as it is considered an important and influential treatise on the subject of Native American education. David Wallace Adams, in his groundbreaking book, "Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875-1928," shows how the case for education was made. First, Euro-Americans believed that the older generation of Indians was incapable of becoming civilized and were too attached to their old ways to change. The youthfulness of Indian children meant they could still be saved.

Secondly, education quickened the process of cultural evolution from savagism to civilization. Isolating the children, many felt, would help to reduce the influence of their tribes and their traditional cultures. Lastly, education helped prepare the Indians for self-sufficiency.

I really enjoy this book as it is extremely well written. Adams, unlike some historians, did not use too many jargons and his writing is easy to understand. Adams also provided background information for readers who are not proficient in this subject matter. In addition, "Education for Extinction" was heavily researched and well-documented.

The Kansas Connection "Dugout" block is simply a square with two smaller squares sewn diagonally on opposite sides, pressed open, to reveal two triangle units. Very simple to make, but with so many possibilities! Using different color variations and layouts, the designs you can make are almost limitless. Like her book, "It's Okay If You Sit On My Quilt," Mary Ellen uses grids to show her blocks and quilts, which makes it easy to understand where the units are. However, like all of her books, this is not a "how-to" book with detailed instructions. It's a workbook that encourages the reader how to use his/her own creative imagination.

I think the book you would need is "Connecting Up" also
by Mary Ellen.

Get ready quilters because this pattern is addictive. There is so much you can do with it. Mary Ellen's instructions are very easy to follow and just by twisting and turning one square you can have several different turn-outs. She also shows ways to make the prettiest stars by using the Kansas Dugouts. I don't think anyone should be without this book in their collection. It's an adventure every time you open the book.

This is another excellent "how to," easy to follow guide for the beginner who has made at least one block, and a seasoned quilter looking for inspiration. It's full of color graphs, encouragement, and innumerable variations on one quilt block pattern. You are limited only by your own imagination. One reviewer mentioned the block "Mississippi," also known as the "Friendship Star." It's shown on page 22. (The pattern appears also in Hopkins' earlier work, "It's Okay If You Sit On My Quilt," as graph No. 194, page 61.) I'm a self-taught quilter of over 20 years and still learning. Mary Ellen Hopkins is one of my favorites - she can make the basics seem new. And I like her attitude!

if you ordered this book after seeing Ms Hopkins recently on "Simply Quilts" and seeing her demonstrate the "Kansas Dugout" block and the "Mississippi" block and quilt (supposedly based on the Dugout block and this book). The book came today, and guess what? No pattern, picture, or diagram of the block or quilt "Mississippi"! There are plenty of colored diagrams of her designs, but (as is true of many of her other books) woefully little in the way of instructions, sizes, yardages, etc. This is mainly a 47 page combination coloring book for her designs...and a "new" design for "Barn Raising". It is not, I believe, worth the price.

The telling of "Machine Gun Kelly's Last Stand" is at once fast-paced, eerie and suspenseful. Stanley Hamilton's eccentric characters are plucked from the pages of history to recreate their nefarious deeds. Truth really is stranger than fiction, and Hamilton fills every keystroke with tension.

I wrote my masters thesis on the Urschel kidnapping case and spent a year reading thousands of related books, articles, historic documents and public records. Hamilton's book was by far the most exhaustive and most accurate account. The few errors in the book are errors that actually exist in the public record (Kathryn Kelly's eyes were green, not hazel; her middle name was not Mae, and a few other minor facts.)

In addition to being accurate and complete, it was also well-written and interesting to read. It's novel-like qualities included excellent character development and conclusions about each player that helped "close" the story. If you want to know the Machine Gun Kelly story, this is the book to read.

BTW: A few interesting facts were not included in the book, such as: 1)the Urschel kidnapping trials were the first in U.S. history to be recorded on moving camera; 2) the Kelly trials were the ONLY federal criminal trial EVER to have news cameras in the courtroom; and 3)Kelly's accomplices were the first criminal suspects ever transported by airplane.

Stanley Hamilton's account of the Urschel kidnapping is very good in this book. He has some new information on George "Machine Gun" Kelly, which has not be published previously. This book is good reading and should be in your library of crime books. A great job!

Mike Koch, author of "The Kimes Gang."

Stan Hamilton has written a great narrative history in which there are surprises, odd twists and unexpected heroes. It is a fine well-written book in which neither Kelly nor his foil, J. Edgar Hoover, are the most fascinating charcters' but rather that role is reserved for the smartest of victims, Charles Urchel, and the powerful, conniving Kathryn Kelly. I will not give this one away, but will tell you that this book delivers one first rate couple of evenings of reading which not only tells a strong story but gives an insight into the world of 1933 --gangsters and bootleg gin. You will love this book!!!!

Having read many books on gangsters you come across some real turkeys but Stanley Hamilton's account of Machine Gun Kelly's crimes was very well written without the usual padding out that some writers tend to use.

It is a very informative account of the kidnapping and aftermath which kept me gripped until the end.

The book's ending was, for once, a surprise and I would recommend this title to readers who like True Crime to be based on facts and not the fiction.

This is a lovely endearingly funny book. I read it in just an evening but I'm sure it's a book I'll go back to in the future.

This book was a disappointment to me. Although it is only a slight volume I found it to be heavy going and very uninteresting. Avoid.

I don't know anyone in the Trillin family personnally, but I recognize them very well. I learned something I didn't know--that Jews landed some place other than Ellis Island. As a father myself, I appreciate what Abe did for his son. So did Calvin.

Such is Calvin Trillin's caliber of work you don't realize how good he is, and he is really good. This book touched me deeply; Mr. Trillinsky was not an emotional man and given to the touchy feely sort of stuff so espoused these days, but he gave his son everything he would need to have a fulfilling life, one of the main components being a deep, abiding and unconditional love; how lucky Mr. Trillin was.

My father was an evil and stupid man who never learned from his mistakes and is now reaping the whirlwind; I believe Mr. Trillinsky would have I.D.'d him in five minutes flat, and would have had mercy on him, much more than I can manage now. If you are raising a child, or trying to figure out what in God's green earth happened to you during your childhood, read this book. Mr. Trillin's artistry is a delicious extra.

I have read "Remembering Denny" and it has seared a place in my mind since. It explained so much to me. This is another book that is going to go on my mental bookshelf, probably till the end of me.

Humorist, journalist, food maven, the author of numerous books and a writer for The New Yorker, Trillin brings his blend of self-deprecating humor and thoughtful observation to this affectionate memoir of his father.

Abram Trilinsky emigrated to St. Joseph, Missouri, from Russia at the age of two. When his wife hinted at a trip to Europe, his terse response was, "I've been." He was resolutely a mid-western American, a man who changed his name to Abe Trillin, and at the end of his life exhibitted the only prejudice his son ever observed - an impatience with "refugees," by which he meant people who clung to the language and customs of their country of origin.

He was a stubborn man, like most of his family, described by his wife as "Mules!" "I sometimes imagined my father as swearing off things just to keep in practice," his son observes.

He never swore although he collected colorful curses - "May you have an injury that's not covered by workman's compensation." His honesty was absolute - when a child turned 12 he paid full price at the movies even if he looked 9.

He was unassuming. When Calvin was in high school, his father opened a restaurant and took to wearing yellow ties. "He said something about how most people don't stand out from the crowd, and how it helped to have a sort of signature." This seemed embarrasing to his adolescent son. "What was so great about having someone say, 'Oh, yes, Abe Trillin - the guy with the yellow ties'?" But years later at Abe's funeral, he's touched by how many friends asked for a yellow tie as a remembrance.

His father was not a talker. One of his favorite jokes concerned a Jewish actor who finally gets a real part playing a Jewish father. The actor asks his father why he seems disappointed. " 'Of course I'm proud of you son,' " the father says, " 'But we were hoping you'd get a speaking part.' "

Calvin writes, "What strikes me as odd now is how much my father managed to get across without those heart-to-hearts that I've read about fathers and sons having." Without it being talked about, Calvin knew his father was ambitious for him. "It was a given in our family that my father was a grocer so that I wouldn't have to be."

One of their biggest arguments concerned Calvin's joining the Boy Scouts. He hated Boy Scouts but Abe regarded it as essential to American boyhood, a necessary step on the way to Yale, Trillin senior's university of choice, an idea he'd gotten from a novel read as a boy - Stover At Yale.

Calvin went to Yale. Yale launched him out of Kansas City, never to return (also as Abe expected). The grocer's son would never be a grocer.

In one (somewhat unrealistically) ingenuous chapter Trillin goes to a dinner of prominent writers and realizes that they all went to Ivy League schools as he did. Was there a connection? (Puleeeeze). "For the first time, I realized that my father's vision of how all of this was supposed to work out might not have been as simplistic as I had always assumed."

This slim volume is deeply captivating and affecting. His father emerges as a man of indomitable will, will so strong he imposed it simply by being. He was a man who could afford to be easy going and funny, all the while adhering to a plan of grand ambition which embraced cross country automobile trips to broaden the horizons of his children and simple pronouncements: "You might as well be a mensch." Much of the book's power lies in the author's recognition of himself as his father's ambition fulfilled - a successful American who does his best to "be a mensch," a real human being.

So many of us are in search of the "fountain of youth." I think Waldo found it in simple living and healthy choices. Great book, with a simple message. Easy to listen to and enjoyable to hear. Quaint. Thanks for sharing your interesting and fascinating life with us.

Wow! Wish I could do some of the things Waldo is doing now! And I'm only 52! Just shows what you can do if you stay close to God. For another good read & to see what a man can do if he stays close to God; try this short book out to experience romance, adventure, and excitement at the End-Days! "Eva-Christ" by myself Mark Foster and availble her on Amazon.com Thanks!
Eva-Christ

To be honest, I have not received this item yet. I saw this man and his book featuered on a Television news show. Accordign to it, he personally signs and mails each copy. This gentleman is over 100 years old and still goes to work every day. I cant wait to get his book.

Mr. McBurney's life has been a long and interesting one. I was especially impressed with the fact that his father lived 40+ years after his first stroke in part because of his doctor who was ahead of his time in his treatment. The author was wise at a young age to see that it might work for him, too. Faith, exercise, fresh fruits and vegetables, with a bit of honey - it's really quite simple. Why don't more of us follow that path? I listened to the audio book and while a professional actor's voice might have been stronger with more inflection, Mr. McBurney's own voice lent an authenticity to the reading that could not be duplicated.

R. Waldo McBurney definitely has a great sense of humor and healthy habits that we should all look at today. I read this brief book and thought it was really great. I initially discovered McBurney as one of the oldest working Americans during a news interview while surfing the 'net. The author's quick wit and solid upbringing, as well as his perseverence to continue to lead an active lifestyle is reflected in this book. Many of the same things he said during his interview were also in this book, but the book provides much more detail into his thoughts.
If I live to his age, I hope to write another follow-up to his book to reflect its validity.

As an ex-CIA polygraph examiner who served for four years in Vietnam, John Sullivan traveled throughout much of Indochina while performing lie detector tests in support of the US war effort. Over a quarter of a century later, Sullivan's memoirs tell the story of a man who, trained by a spy agency to unearth deceit, embarks upon a mission to a Cold War hotspot where he discovers deception and incompetence to be as perennial as the grass in the Vietnamese countryside.

While Sullivan makes it clear from the beginning that he did serve with a number of good men in Vietnam, he expresses astonishment at the degree of operational ineffectiveness (or just plain irresponsibility) on the part of many CIA personnel in Saigon Station and outer lying regions, which strangely enough became a backwater for 'problem' officers despite the country's exceptional strategic importance to US policy makers.

In reference to the author's tradecraft, Sullivan makes three worthwhile points about polygraph testing:

1) "Polygraph is about 92 percent art and 8 percent science."
2) "The fact that intangibles cannot be quantified or scientifically measured challenges the claim that polygraph is a science. I do not believe that it is possible to put a percentage on the reliability of polygraph testing, but under optimal conditions, it is very reliable."
3) Even if a subject registers as being deceptive on a polygraph, "unless an admission is obtained, the final determination is frequently what we refer to as a scientific wild-ass guess (SWAG)."

Although I would have enjoyed hearing more detailed discussions of Sullivan's expertise, I understand that there are limits as to how much can be openly discussed regarding his specialty. Nonetheless, this book scores a high mark in that it enables readers to walk away with a better understanding of both the Vietnam War as well as polygraph testing.

The book starts out one story at a time and some times the thought is "why tell me about a broken desk cover" but at the end you know more about what it was really like in Laos and Vietnam. John was known as the man who would tell the truth to those in power. Now he shares it with the rest of us.

As we see the formulation of a new "homeland security agency" it is a reminder to us that the best way to get good results is pay attention to every step of the process. Our Vietnam operation had great support and many poor operations with the information results (even the good information) seeming to get lost on the way to those who needed it. The lesson I see is that all of the details are important. Bottle necks can kill.

As a history major who took courses on the Cold War in college, I can say with certainty that this book would be invaluable and highly instructive to anyone who reads it.

As an Intelligence Analyst I have come to appreciate the work case officers like John Sullivan have done in service of their country. This book should be required reading for all polygraphers and case officers.

As an officer in the military, I have come to realize that many of the lessons learned from Vietnam have been applied in today's armed services. The book points out low-points in the CIA that can be used to improve (if not already) current operations.

His style of writing makes it easy to follow, and allows the reader to get a good glimpse of CIA operations in Vietnam through the eyes of an honest, hard working, dutiful man.

Anyone who has any interest in Vietnam, whether for school, occupation, or hobby, must read this book to get the full picture.

Many of the stories in the book are very light accounts of annoying conversations: personality conflicts. The author is apparently a real straight arrow and he has endless accounts of turns of phrase and trivial happenstances that annoyed him. Like the guy who switched his cracked desk glass for John's good one. Who cares, I mean literally? There is very little insight given to the interrogation process proper, which I was expecting because that is, after all, the author's specialty. In the end you have a sense that Vietnam was fill of corrupt, drunk spooks, and one lone shiny penny -- the author.

John Sullivan's "Of Spies and Lies" is a fascinating account of wartime CIA intelligence operations in Vietnam that should be required reading not only for students of the Vietnam War, but also for anyone interested in the current war on terror. John's discussions of the difficulties an intelligence agency faces in recruiting penetrations of a difficult and dangerous enemy organization and his descriptions of problems caused by the shortage of officers with the requisite language and area knowledge bear disturbing similarities to headlines we see in the press every day. It is another illustration of the old saw that "those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
John's book provides a unique window into life in the CIA's Saigon Station. His description of Agency operations in Vietnam ranges from the controversy surrounding our best penetration of the Viet Cong leadership to the polygraphing of local employees over the disappearance of a few slices of ham at a party (an incident I remember quite well). John also gives unprecedented insights into the important role the Agency's requirement for polygraph vetting plays in keeping case officers, who work daily in the murky waters of spies, fabricators, and con-men, on the straight and narrow road of the pursuit of the truth. CIA polygraphers like John helped lead the way in the development of a systematic vetting process for use in the conduct of clandestine intelligence collection operations. The book illustrates how that process works and how, when the process is ignored or distorted, the entire system can quickly break down.
I served with John in Saigon Station and know his reputation as one of the Agency's best. As a former Saigon Station officer, some of his criticisms of personnel and procedures in Southeast Asia are painful, but their accuracy is incontrovertible. I highly recommend this book.

So writes Pennsylvanian Jacob Heffelfinger after his first battle in the Civil War. Heffelfinger is one of the dozens of veterans whose letters and memoirs Hess examined to write this study of the Union soldier under fire. His chapters examine the visual, auditory, olfactory, and tactile experience of battle; strategies for coping with battle-fear before, during, and after the shooting; and the ways in which combat veterans in the Civil War remembered their experiences (this, in the final chapter, may be the book's single most important contribution).

Unhappily, the book is fundamentally flawed by Hess' strange claim that the Civil War veteran was a victor over his dreadful experiences rather than a victim, and so he seems to appreciate neither the poignancy of the firsthand accounts he cites or the horrific post-war psychological and physical damage endured by the veterans. A book published the same year Hess's appeared, Eric T. Dean's _Shook Over Hell: Post-Traumatic Stress, Vietnam, and the Civil War_, is a more sensitive study, as is Gerald Linderman's _Embattled Courage: The Experience of Combat in the American Civil War_ (1987), a deservedly classic treatment with which Hess explicitly disagrees. In short, Hess deserves our gratitude for the wealth of firsthand testimony he cites. But his analysis of its significance falls short.

Earl J. Hess's book "The Union Soldier in Battle: Enduring the Ordeal of Combat" is a lucid and convincing account of the Union soldier's adjustment to the harrowing experience of combat. Hess's straightforward use of soldiers' correspondence and memoirs presents the reader with an illustrative candor which boldly challenges any romantic depiction of Civil War combat. Before the Union soldier first "saw the elephant", he was often infused by a sense of idealistic patriotism; a romantic notion of war which inspired him to enlist. Hess posits that these soldiers adjusted well to combat, however, and used their common bond with other soldiers to control their fear of both combat and dying. Sure, they retreated at the first sight of combat but Hess tends do defend this by factoring in human nature. We all get scared. In fact, Hess points out that retreating was also used as a strategic motivator. The author's rather humanistic portrayal of the Union soldier suggests that he was not perfect but, at the same time, he knew that he had a job to do and to live up to his part of the bargain. Hess's portrayal of the Union soldier as a pragmatic yet idealistic fighter is most interesting. The grim descriptions of the battlefield given by soldier accounts vividly bring the Union soldier's transformation from civilian to soldier alive. I found this book to be a refreshing read in the sense that it presented a side of the Union soldier that needs to be examined further. It is a needed accompaniment to Bell Wiley's "Billy Yank". In this era of post-Vietnam scholarship on the effects of combat on soldiers, this is a welcome book. The primary research was detailed and the presentation was clear. The only thing preventing me from giving it "5 stars" was that I feel the author may have covered the effects of the Emancipation Proclamation on the ideology of the Union soldier and his reasons for fighting the war. Overall, a great book.

Author Earl Hess has defined the Union soldier in this interesting book covering many topics. Hess has taken a fresh look at soldiering and has brought the psychology of the soldier mind together with insightful material. Topics facing soldiers such as enlisting, fighting battles, defining courage, knowing war, memories and the daily grind of war has been presented in a great format. Hess adds quotes from soldiers that enhance the chapters and bring things to a closer personal level. Hess also explains how soldiers coped after the war and how they filtered back into society. This an excellent book that gets into the psychological mind set of the Union soldier and is not a book like Hardtack Coffee that covers more material topics. To understand the Union soldier this a great reference tool that helps get inside of the minds of these fighting men. 5 STARS!

In this rather short book, Earl Hess goes into detail about what combat was like for the Northern Solier in the American Civil War. Using mainly letters written by veterans, the book explains why most Northern soldiers were able to endure the horrors of Civil War combat, and how this experience shaped their perspective of the conflict.

I found the book fascinating. It really gets into the personal history of the war, as seen through the eyes of thos who fought it. If you are looking for a glimpse into the intensity of Civil War fighting, this book will open your eyes to what it may have been like. The only reason I did not give this book five stars is that the writing is rather dry, and merely factual during certain chapters.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about the Civil War combat experience of the Northern Soldier. It was gruesome, noisy, confusing, exhilirating, and harrowing. How so many were able to endure this hardship and keep fighting until the war was won still remains somewhat of a mystery to me.

This is the sort of historical writing that I really find interesting: the study of mentalities among a group of people engaged in highly stressful activity. Hess does wonderfully at describing what battle was like and setting forth the ways in which it challenged men's courage. I found, however, that some of his analysis seemed forced. He makes statements which are not really supported by his sources. For example, he makes the claim that veteran soldiers were more likely to call truces with the enemy to trade coffee and tobacco and so on because they felt more self-confident than new recruits. But in fact, other sources I have read indicate that such truces were more common early in the war, before the soldiers got to taking it all so seriously. In other places, too, Hess makes claims about what was going through the soldiers' minds without really supporting these claims with quotes. He gives an interesting analysis of postwar viewpoints and the way veterans psychologically justified the hell they had gone through. I do wish that he or a colleague would write a similar study of Confederate soldiers, particularly on postwar viewpoints, since that would seem to be where they would differ the most.

Very informative to learn why we don't understand the whys and where all our personal problems came from. Good counseling to help in unlocking our wounded pasts and how they have by our natural make-up set in motion body functions that have to be re-wired to correct and live freely productive and prosperous lives. How traumas really affect us physically, mentally, emotionally as well as spiritually.

Book received in good condition and delivery was received in a timely manner

This book provides an excellent complement to Paul's previous book on domestic violence. "Broken Children", reaches deeper into the hearts and minds of those who abuse and the people who find themselves living with abusers. Victims can identify with the helper and rescuer discussions and find motivation for change. Abusers can discover the root of their problems and address the shame vs. guilt thinking that motivates their behavior.

This is another wonderful effort by Dr. Paul Hegstrom that gives answers to some of life's toughest problems.

This is a great read for anyone who is an abuse survivor or someone who lives or works with an abuse victim. It is easy to read and explains so much that other books on this topic don't. It is not full of psycho mumbo jumbo and written in lay mans terms. Highly recommended.

It was Dr. Paul Hegstrom's teaching that changed our lives forever. In 1994, we were struggling in a ten year marriage that had lots of problems including abuse and adultery.

Dr. Hegstrom's teachings began the miracle that we needed in our life and marriage. The next ten years of our marriage were so wonderful that in 2004, we wrote our first book on marriage, "The Man of Her Dreams/The Woman of His!" Dr. Hegstrom wrote the Preface to the book.

Let Dr. Hegstrom's teachings change your life and while you are at it, click on the following link and get a double blessing! The Man of Her Dreams The Woman of His!

If you like The Man of Her Dreams/The Woman of His! - then you will also want to check out The Man of Her Dreams The Woman of His 2 - Livin' It and Lovin' It! (Volume 2)


Joel and Kathy Davisson

I am very disappointed in this book. I really don't appreciate some of the unsavory words that are found throughout its pages. This is my first Nancy Pickard book and I must say that if the rest are this bad, forget it. I recently bought several of her selections and I hope the next will be better, otherwise, I am getting rid of them fast.

Good mystery. I sort of had it figured out but its resolution was still satisfying. The only problem I have with the book is the cover. The cover is a composite of a couple of events that happened in the book, but one of them is definitely in the last quarter of the book and I kept wondering when it was going to happen (I won't tell you so as not to spoil it for you as well).

I loved this book. It's one of the first mysteries that got me interested in mysteries. I've read all of Nancy Pickard's books and wish she would write more often or faster. I love her style of writing!

In this wonderful mystery, the author, Nancy Pickard, gives the reader a "Bum Steer" in figuring out the killer in this book. The plot is interesting and well developed. But when the reader gets to the end, the question is, "How did I miss all the clues? I was tricked! I was given a "Bum Steer."

This was the final book by Nancy that I had to read, and I think that it was by far the best one! As she's getting involved in yet another situation, our murder-prone heroin struggles with some deeply personal issues. She had me intrigued to the very surprising ending! Note: The language in this book is a lot stronger than in any of her others.