Kentucky Books

Here it is in all it shamefull glory. This is a study about the enormous profits made by the military Industrial complex at war time. In a democracy, wars have nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with economics. The corporations who produce war goods make billions of dollars in the war and those corporations that don't make war goods make billions of dollars after the war when their markets are expanded into foreign lands. This, I'm sorry to say, is the backbone of capitalism. How are corporations to increase profits continuously, even after the home turf is saturated, if not by war? This is a common thread that runs throughout the book, Don't Weep for Me, America: How Democracy in America Became the Prince (While We Slept), as well.

"Warhogs" defines the "Merchants of Death" theory as "that defense contractors aided and abetted the outbreak of war in search of profit".

"Support for increased naval spending came from 'a combination of very wicked persons who stand to profit from a big navy'".

"...millionaire munitions executives were 'agitating' for a larger defense in search of profit".

And finally, "war...was the worst enemy of progress".

This book also contains the cold hard facts of just how much money the defense contractors profited.

So when you are contemplating the wisdom of the Iraq War, forget about "Democracy" and "Liberating the people", and "Removing the Evil Dictator". Instead consider the no-bid contracts given to Halliburton and other Cheney and Bush administration cronies. Because, unfortunately, war is all about profits and economics, and has nothing to do with...politics...

Stuart D. Brandes has written an engaging book, "Warhogs, A History of War Profits in America." In this work, the retired history professor discusses inter alia profiteering, privateering, ransom, defense contracting, executive compensation, tax policy, and the role of government in providing for the needs of the nation's military especially in time of war. The book covers the period of US history from the colonial era to the conclusion of World War II.

Among the key figures discussed at length are: George Washington, who questioned both the virtue and patriotism of profiteers during the Revolution; Abraham Lincoln, whose administration wrestled with the rates that northern railroads were billing the government in transporting troops and materiel during the Civil War; Woodrow "He kept us out of war" Wilson who, three months after his reelection, went before Congress asking for a declaration of war; FDR and his long-serving Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr., together they struggled to pull the nation out of the Depression and later set in place policies and a bureaucratic apparatus to award military contracts to manufacturers while overseeing those same contractors in terms of: output capacity, plant building and expansion, quality of goods, the amount of profit deemed sufficient, tax rates, salaries, etc.

Evenhandedness is a hallmark of this book; those who might read this work expecting an anti-corporate jeremiad will be disappointed, as will those who believe that the federal government is mostly inept or worse. Rather, companies, businessmen, and government officials are either criticized or praised based on the evidence that Prof. Brandes cites; the documentation is ample and derived from government tax records, congressional committee testimony, memoirs, diaries, contemporaneous newspapers and periodicals, biographies, and the works of other historians. Some businessmen who were producing goods for the country's wartime while drawing exorbitant salaries are named, while others are noted for being dollar-a-year-men during armed conflict. Some companies boosted profits by reducing the quality of, for example, weaponry or uniforms. Army quartermasters did a commendable job in obtaining the necessary military supplies at a fair cost to taxpayers, although some personally profited financially--either legally or not. Some companies did not profit excessively during the war, yet benefited greatly during peacetime when the federal government looked to shed its unneeded assets. A short but poignant section of the book (p. 349) discusses FDR's misapprehension of tax policy and economics, despite the Harvard-educated president having majored in economics. And according to Secretary Morgenthau's presidential diary (p. 253), "The [p]resident doesn't devote more than two days a week to the war....I have been up to Shangri-La three times and he sits there playing with his stamps....[War Production Board Chairman Donald] Nelson never gets to see him." (Such a characterization of FDR by one of his ablest cabinet members would irk New Deal historian/hagiographer Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.)

The author states (p. 355): "No previous book that has come to my attention deals expressly with the topic presently considered." This reviewer concurs. It is a well-written book in part because such topics as amortization and facility depreciation are discussed without getting into the tall grass of accounting/tax law or causing the average reader's eyes to glaze over. Moral and ethical issues over war profits are raised without pedantry. Some will have some quibbles with portions of the book--quibbles too few and too minor to detract from it at all; isn't debate part of the fun of reading history? This reviewer looks forward to Dr. Brandes' future historical efforts.

Occasionally, long held beliefs are shaken by a bold new look at old theories.

While many feel that all possible causes for the Civil War have already been proffered and dissected, a new voice is refuting principles that some Civil War scholars assumed were absolute.
Daly argues that there were no sharp moral differences between North and South. He finds the causes of the war were identical, differing only in the perspectives of a widely separated people hampered by insufficient communication.

With myth-shredding clarity, When Slavery Was Called Freedom suggests that the virtue claimed by North and South stemmed from the same evangelical thought. Both sides appealed to the power of God to prove them victorious, and above all, morally superior.

A Northerner by birth and a Southerner by assimilation, Daly takes an objective look at the economy, religious thought and passions of the times that drove a great nation asunder and launched the bloodiest of all wars.

Rather than a backward South peopled by cruel slave owners, Daly presents sound evidence that the South was much the same as the North when it came to commerce and morality. Common to both was the idea that riches were God's way of rewarding good people. Many believed the end result of accumulated wealth was a higher moral plane.

Virtue equaled wealth and wealth equaled power. Although the power of the South was bolstered by slavery, Southerners theorized that slavery was an integral part of the American System and the genius of American commerce.

Concerning religion, Dally offers an example of thwarted Northern idealism involving God's own representatives. Evangelical ministers from the North clad in the armour of righteousness arrived at Southern plantations as if at the gates of Hell only to find the same sort of people they knew back home.

Bound to do battle with the evils of slavery, it was a short skirmish. Although the ministers recognized some evils, many found that slaves were regarded as "laborers" under the protection of Christian gentlemen. They met forward-thinking Southerners who were certain that slavery would gradually dissipate into a laboring class of free men. Slaveholders were quick to point out that under the Southern system , even in its present form, slaves were better treated than workers in Northern sweatshops.

These same ministers who came to reform, found plantation life pleasant and Southern women charming. Some married the heiresses to plantations and changed their views, allowing that it was just for good people to own slaves.

While Daly's research is not likely to completely displace the idea that a division in ideology and morality brought about the War, an excursion into his Virtue as Power theory is worth taking.

Focusing on the similarities of thought held by both sides preceding the War, Daly leaves the reader wondering if more Northerners and Southerners had discovered their commonality before 1860, perhaps secession and the Civil War would never have occurred.

Still, one question looms large: without the Civil War, would slavery have dissolved of its own accord?

By Anne Battle

This interesting snapshot of pre-bellum Southern evangelicalism struck me as less controversial than advertised and, in any case, a telling portrait of the 'actuals' of religion in American history. The parallel appearance of abolitionism and pro-slavery evangelical apologia is a difficult dialectic to reconcile, and the historical image refresh rate is essential for an archaeologist of ideology. One need not undergo a paradigm shift to find this a useful angle on a multidimensional subject, and a shadowy one at that.

In her most recent book of poems, Where There Is No Shore, Vivian Shipley displays a polymath's familiarity with the natural world while at the same time telling marvelous stories that render the subtleties of human emotion in splendidly revealing ways. The poems explore a diverse range of subjects and employ a rich variety of voices: from Jim Quillen at a reunion of Alcatraz inmates, to Martha Stewart offering advice for the proper responses to snow; from Bronislawa Wajs, the great gypsy poet, to a colonial judge as he counsels a woman before sentencing her to hang for adultery, after she has refused to kill the child she and the judge produced. Many of the books poems reflect the book title's metaphor and provide a sense of how we try to find our way in a world that defies comprehension: one poem reflects on TWA Flight 800, and concludes that for the relatives of those who perished, there has been "No reason from TWA, no word from God." Other poems celebrate life's simpler pleasures--particularly food. Even the humble artichoke inspires the speaker "to write poems that explore...woman's fall from grace." Like her previous volumes, this book contains beautifully made poems that are accessible, yet which reward each successive reading with fresh insights and new delisghts in the poet's mastery of language. I enjoyed this book immensely. To read it is to put yourself in the hands of a gifted storyteller, a mature poet whose work continues to enrich and reward.

Vivian Shipley's latest book "When There Is No Shore" is a revelation. Her poetry is a statement of soul. Time binds each poem to the next creating a gorgeous rhythm that wraps you around and won't let go. This is not a book that you can flip through. Every poem is linked to the preceding one and there is no escape from the logic of where she is going and why. Whether she is describing the family farm, Harlan County or the blues running on Long Island Sound, she makes no settlement. "If you're dead you were dead" This toughness often brutal and relentless in its honesty still maintains humor, love and a memorable beauty. Both death and love hold the reader by the hand and won't let go. An entire life undulates through the pages of this book unselfconsciously and you feel yourself swept along with Shipley as she attaches herself to you. Even though our backgrounds are totally different, she is a southern product, a refugee from farm life, hard work and poverty, and I come from a family of Russian Jewish immigrants who ran from the tsar and his pograms, our connection is poweful and inescapable. I suspect it happens to everyone who reads this book. Using rich, auditory images, she lashes us together and creates a relationship, a deep understanding and tolerance for each other. We are both colored in earth tones. Tradition plays an important role in our lives even in the preparation of food, in our simple language and the myths we create.

I have to agree with the first reviewer. My 11 year old is a reluctant reader, and he was totally engaged by this book. (My 8 year old advanced, voracious reader loved it,too!) It was just very accessible in the way it was written, and the friendly black and white illustrations on many of the pages create an inviting appearance. There are timelines of Boone's life and concurrent world history in the back, which I appreciate as a home educator. I will definitely be checking out some of the other biographies in this series.

My daughter (age 10) is a reluctant reader. I have a hard time getting her to read anything. She LOVED this book! She wouldn't put it down until she was finished! I think the illustrations really held her attention. I will definately be getting other books in this series!

There are, inevitably, some sources of popular culture not included- the drinking den, from gin palace to wine bar, for instance.
But the tensions between what the upper classes think is proper culture ("you have to be THIS smart to go on this ride" still applies to the visual arts - the less there truly is to it, as most ideas expressed in art could be found in a paperback novel, the most snooty the claims made about it. It's all about shifting luxury goods ands flattering the monied that they have "taste")) and what The People really like (Fox, Murdoch help us) are exposed as constant over three centuries.
I am a rock music obsessessive, and learned stuff about Elvis I never knew - what a social-sexual rebel he really was, with his Tony Curtis style eye makeup. I took this fattie on vocation, as opposed to my usual Stephen King, and read every page, and the indexes!!!)

A central image to Ashby's description of the nature of popular culture is the circus, with its large acts meant for mass consumption and its sideshows that satisfy some darker human curiosities. Through the course of the book, he shows how popular sideshow acts eventually achieve acceptance in the "big tent." The book covers many types of popular culture, from minstrel shows to boxing to hip hop. Many interesting details, written in an academic but entertaining style.

Of course, the people who have lived through the experience of triumph in the kentucky derby say that it cannot simply be described in words. But this book comes awfully close. Panelists of The Blood-Horse were polled to see which Derby was the most memorable. Of course, it is true with what D. Wayne Lukas said in the forward, "They're all special." But the panelists picked their top ten: Secretariat, and who wouldn't pick him? He was a superhorse that finished the derby in under two minutes! What a freak! Canonero the second, now this was a story I did not know of, but this one about the venuezuelan horse that won the derby and preakness at impeccible odds deserves a novel of it's own. Iron Leige's derby triumph was pretty ironic, what with the fact that Shoemaker, on Gallant Man, was warned not to stand up in his stirrups during the race and that is exactly what happened! Affirmed and Alydar, of course, carry a rivalry that goes unmatched. Citation, the Calumet iron horse, was a magnificent freak of nature, always fun to read that story. Brokers Tip, Black Gold and Regret, stories of derbies long in the past, were fascinating for their way of bringing history back to you in such a vivid way. Alysheba's incredible journey around the turn was enough to start off a remarkable career. and last but not least, Calumet's other triple crown star, Whirlaway. All of them bring back the days of wine and roses, on one of the most historic days that has been celebrated over 100 years. It is impossible to pick the best Kentucky Derby, but these 10 are just enough to get you in high Derby spirits.

Be sure that you do not overlook this meca of manufacturing. the japanese sure did not. A rare and precious jewel.

No office is complete without this directory that will lead you to success. Use it to your good prosperity. Almost any page is worth the purchase price.

French and Spanish Records of Louisiana is an essential research tool for anyone studying colonial Louisiana. This scholarly publication provides a history of the various record types, information about the circumstances relating to their generation, and detailed information about their location today. There is a bibliography of mauscript sources, books, and articles.

There are many obvious lessons to be learned here. Anyone who thinks they are interested in the school system, or alternatives, should look this over. It could help you out quite a bit.