Maryland Books

I purchased this book for my father who patrolled the streets of Baltimore as a uniformed officer from 1950 to 1975. He knew several of the men honored in this book and found it to be a well written, interesting account of the lives and deaths of his friends who gave their lives for what they believed in.

as a member of the baltimore police department this was a must read . it really hits home since i have been on the department i have lost 13 brother and sister officers. this book helps me to better undrstand and to really get to know the brother and sister officers whom i have lost to various differant departmental incidents. it helps me to better understand the daily ins and outs of this taxing job and how fast we too can be taken. i think a little bit more before responding to each and every call and realize but hope it wont be my last as it was for all of the fallen heroes of the baltimore police department.

This is a well-researched and effective, heart-felt tribute to the officers who have died for Baltimore. Olson and Brown gracefully honor those who serve in a text that is as valuable to those who are interested in policing as to those who study our nation's history.

This book offers excellent accounts of the circumstances which led to the untimely deaths of men and women who patrolled the streets of Baltimore City (1808-2007). Having served with a few of those officers, I find this book to be a glowing tribute to their lives.

Some Gave All is a compelling read that makes you want to keep reading, the authors take historic information and some all make it impossible to put down. The authors of this book are respected active patrol officers in Baltimore city and perhaps that is what lends them the ability to heart fully convey the reality of lesson learned and not learned through the tragic history of Baltimore City's Finest Line of Duty Deaths.

For anyone interested in police history, Baltimore history, or police in general this book is a true must have.

Marcia Talley has outdone herself with Through the Darkness. The characters are well developed; the plot kept me turning pages. I loved Eva and hope to see her in future books.

The characters really came to life for me and there was never slow page. The dialogue and plot movement--everything worked. But the best was definitely the character development. Hannah Ives is a very real, human, engaging narrator.

Not your typical murder mystery--a baby disappears and a suspenseful drama begins, leading readers through a maze of police procedural activities and taut family emotions. I could not put this book down once the baby was gone. Marcia Talley's done it again! Well written and highly recommended.

Hannah Ives is delighted to have her daughter Emma, her son-in-law Dante and her three grandchildren move back to Maryland where they plan to open up Dante's Paradiso, a plush full service spa with a day care facility. Emma leaves Timmy by himself for a couple of minutes in the spa's nursery, but when she returns he is missing.

A through search of the premises prove that the infant is not there. The police and the FBI investigate, but no ransom demand is made leading the profiler to believe that the kidnapper plans to raise the child as theirs. As the days pass with no recovery in sight, the family loses hope; Emma and Dante drift apart as they both subconsciously hold her culpable. After an odd encounter at the mall, Hannah begins her new brand of inquiry that includes an audacious plan to bring her grandson home.

As usual Marcia Talley has written an entertaining who-done-it that pulsates with energy due to the interactivity of the beleaguered family members and several support players. Hannah, a strong willed individual, takes the necessary actions (at least as she sees it) because once she gets an idea in her head a nuclear bomb could not dissuade her. A subplot involving sexual predators targeting minors over the Internet adds a warning to parents as well as enhancing a tense trip THROUGH THE DARKNESS of human cruelty and desperation guided by the intrepid Hannah Ives, grandmotherly amateur sleuth and lioness.

Harriet Klausner

Marcia Talley has won the Agatha and Anthony Awards. Through the Darkness is the sixth Hannah Ives Mystery.

Hannah Ives is a six-year breast-cancer survivor. But the terror she felt fighting cancer is nothing to the terror she feels following the kidnapping of her one-year-old grandson, Tim.

Hannah's son-in-law Dante Shemansky would prefer to be known as simply Dante. He's a man with big dreams and he has a dream in the making. He's turning a former restaurant into a 20,000-square-foot day spa that is the epitome of luxury. It even boasts a day care center for children that is being readied by Emily, Hannah's daughter.

Right before the opening of the day spa, Hannah's grandson, goes missing from the day care center. Because there is no ransom note, it is believed that a monster has taken the child. Hannah won't rest until she finds her grandson, but her quest may be beyond dangerous.

I enjoy heroines that are middle-aged. It is proof (I knew) that women of a certain age are strong, smart and resourceful. Hannah is all that and more. I intend to read her previous novels.

Armchair Interviews says: Through the Darkness is a page-turner.

Wow! Another book that tells of the dread and horrors that the Civil War brought to the civilians, and it is done as perfectly as one could ever hope. It is written in a lively manner and was very hard to put down. Based totally on facts, using diary and journal accounts, the writer brings the reader right in to the middle of the Maryland conflict, from the trepidation the citizens felt weeks before the battle at Sharpsburg/Antietam as the Rebs entered their border state, through the battle itself, and finally how they dealt with the after affects of the worst one day battle ever fought on American soil.
We here in the 21st century cannot fathom what our ancestors went through - what they felt...the aptly titled "Too Afraid to Cry" will give the reader at least a tiny idea of what life was like for the folks living in Maryland in the early Fall of 1862.
Wow is right!

The book gives insight into a side of the war which is rarely covered - how towns and civilians survived and lived during the war. In short, this is a "must read" for civlian and military reenactors hoping to hone their first person impressions.

Seldom do we get a chance to read about civilians and their stories through out the Antietam Campaign. This book gives us a great look at just what the hardships Maryland civilians had to endure. Authors Kathleen Ernst and Ted Alexander have asembled an interesting book that features Confederate and Union early concentrations, skirmishes and battles around the Sharpsburg and Frederick areas that bring to life civilian response. Popular families such as the Prys, Pipers and Millers living in the area of Sharpsburg during the battle are covered along with many others that explain the ordeals and horrors these families faced while war was at their doorstep. Interesting and facinating the text explains the unknown hardships that civilians had to face while battles took place and how also many tried to survive after the bloody engagements. One can not just read about the battle and get a full perspective on the campaign without considering reading about the civilians and I highly recommend this book! 5 STARS!

Even the well read student or scholar of the Civil War can develop a slanted impression of the War in reading the bulk of the literature which concentrates on stategic and tactical details and the trials and hardships of the military personnel who fought it. In reading this very well written book of the experiences of the Western Maryland civilians who endured the conflict in this theater of the war, one gains a perspective of how total the horror of this war was for those who not only had to live through the actual battles, but remained to deal with the death and suffering in which they found themselves engulfed. These hardships (physical, emotional and economic) were endured repeatedly and for years after the actual battles and occupations.

I consider this a must read for any serious Civil War enthusiast.

The foreword notes that the Sharpsburg area was the first organized American community to suffer both from combat and the sustained presence of two opposing armies. The combat was, of course, the September 1862 battle of Antietam, well known as the bloodiest day in American history. Ernst says that her book is one of stories. In so doing she observes the trend to explain history through the eyes of common people, rather than those of the generals, presidents, kings and other eminencies who have fueled traditional historical narrative. Ernst has dug deep into the letters, diaries, I-was-there personal accounts and oral histories of the days immediately before and after Antietam, as well as during the carnage itself. Ample photographs give human form to the names encountered throughout the book. The result is a smoothly written work blending the military and civilian dimensions of Lee's invasion of Maryland that, on a golden September day, etched into national memory names such as the Dunker Church, the Cornfield, the Sunken Road and Burnside's Bridge. Some of these stories illuminate dark subjects. Ernst's discussion of slavery in Frederick and Washington Counties reminds us that it was more prevalent in Western Maryland than we realize-the 1860 census recorded over 4600 slaves in the area. That there were then still three slave-selling sites in Hagerstown suggests that this region was populated by more than unionist German immigrants who opposed slavery. Ernst might have cited the definitive work on 19th century Maryland slavery, Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground. The devastating psychological and economic impacts of the Antietam campaign on civilians are powerfully told through anecdote. The words of Allen Sparrow and Alexander Root convey their terror during the fighting in the passes of South Mountain, which preceded Antietam by several days. Ernst's vivid account of this battle sets the stage for the following days (including the tale of the soldier who shared a blanket with a comrade, only to learn at sunrise that he'd slept with a corpse). Maps showing topography and troop movements would have been helpful. The eighth chapter concludes movingly with accounts of area civilians coping with a landscape that had changed dramatically in the preceding two weeks. Their short-term travails included suspicious federal troops on the lookout for renegade rebels and anyone thought to be helping them; longer-term, of course, these folks faced years of rebuilding and, in some cases, economic ruin because of the battle. The last two chapters venture beyond the Antietam campaign. Lacking the depth of the first eight, they summarize the impact of the Confederate 1863 Gettysburg and 1864 Monocacy campaigns on the region. Chapter nine begins in 1863 with federal conscription in the region and Lee's move through the area on his way to Gettysburg, where the battle is touched upon through the eyes of several locals. Post-Gettysburg skirmishes in the area are mentioned, followed by the rebel retreat. Jubal Early's move through the area in July 1864, en route to his raid on Washington, concludes the chapter. The treatment of these latter campaigns seems a cursory afterthought given the compelling details surrounding Antietam that comprise the book's theme. Ernst returns to slavery in her last chapter. She describes the impact of the Antietam and Gettysburg campaigns on the "peculiar institution," and local reaction to Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. She relates how free blacks and slaves were recruited into the Union army. Harrowing extracts from the diary of Otho Nesbitt, a Clear Spring slaveowner and unionist, tell of kidnapped blacks taken south by retreating rebels. Though the Confederates are known to have done this at times (as in 1863, in Chambersburg, PA), Ernst has unearthed a compelling eyewitness account of black abductions by rebels during their three major sojourns into Maryland during the Civil War. Her account also prompts us to remember that pro-union did not always mean anti-slavery. Letters and diaries describe the unrelenting efforts of families rebuilding homes, farms and lives shattered by battle. Men return from soldiering to farm again; a few were lucky enough to marry the sweethearts they'd left behind. Plowers of fields unearth the bones of the dead, and legend claims that bloodstains in field and hearth mysteriously reappear for years. Poignant reunions of veterans and civilians include the account of Kate Rudy visiting the newly elected Rutherford B. Hayes, whose injured shoulder at South Mountain her family had nursed. To Afraid to Cry is poorly referenced in places. Ernst throughout cites secondary works that themselves cite original sources, but her notes frequently provide only the former. Worse are references improperly cited. On page 194, for example, the author refers to the relief civilians felt following the departure of the union army, and gives as her source pages 244-45 of an unpublished dissertation by Duncan. But those pages in Duncan do not contain that information. The same page mistakenly attributes Duncan's prose to that of an 1862 New York Times reporter. And Landscape Turned Red, perhaps the definitive work on Antietam, is improperly assigned a quotation-"the whole country forlorn and desolate" does not appear on page 34 of that book, as Ernst's page 194 says it does. Another problem appears on pages 45 and 50, where the author quotes William Owen of the Washington Artillery of New Orleans. She cites as her sources not Owen himself but The Gleam of Bayonets-while listing Owen in her own bibliography (albeit with incorrect title, publisher and publication year). There are also inconsistencies in the treatment of misspellings inside original quotations-on page 23 the author corrects the misspelling of "privilege," yet on page 45 she lets stand the misspelling, "permiscus." Kathleen Ernst has knit a splendid archival tapestry that enriches our grasp of the seamy underside of war-the suffering of everyday people caught in the crosshairs of America's bloodiest day. Many stories of Maryland's pivotal role in the Civil War await telling, and Too Afraid To Cry shows us how captivating they are coming straight from the mouths of Marylanders.

This book was a page turner. It's a true and interesting story that is well written. I'm very satisfied and looking for more books by this author.

I was not sure what to expect when I started my read. Within a few pages I felt like I was part of the 1930's. Len brings the reader through the time period as if you are traveling in a time capsule. Soon you are living the story. The historical facts, intertwined with the personal story of events, presents an educational history lesson of real life in 1930's Baltimore in an extremely entertaining fashion. Unlike "National Treasure" the movie this story is plausible and true. Excellent work Len!

Treasure in the Cellar is a real page turner and fascinating read. I was captivated by the story and drawn into the drama surrounding the coins. The smooth writing style and narrative account make the characters and the time period come alive. The author provides just enough detail and historical background to set the stage and to put the story into context without getting bogged down with too many obscure facts. The author does an excellent job of revealing how the effects of historical events such as the Civil War, the 1918 flu epidemic, and the Gold Recall Act along with treasure trove law impact the fate of the boys and the gold coins. A real gem of a book!

Treasure in the Cellar is a beautifully written true-life adventure. Len Augsburger's writing style makes you want to keep reading to uncover the next twist and turn as you root for these disadvantaged kids to keep their treasure. Meticulously researched, the book brings depression-era Baltimore and its characters to life.

Len does a terrific job weaving history, numismatics, law, and lore, backed by extensive research to spin a masterful tale. As the story goes, two poor boys find a sizable accumulation of gold coins from 1834 through 1856 (including the mega-coin, an 1856-O $20) in the basement of a slum in Baltimore in 1934. Naturally, the coins change their fortunes, along with those of their families, forever, but in ways which are not entirely expected. The book deals a lot with the legal challenges for ownership of the coin, which are indeed complex, but fascinating. There are twists and turns in the story line, and while you never know exactly what is going to happen in the end (and I am not going to tell you), a Hollywood ending never really seems in the cards.

Len has a polished, professional writing style that is very smooth and readable. The research goes deep and touches upon many aspects of the history of the City of Baltimore from the early 1800's through the Depression. Despite that the subject is relatively esoteric, anyone who enjoyed Tripp's Illegal Tender or Frankel's Double Eagle (both written about the 1933 Saint) would find this book to be equally pleasing.

After Chancellorsville: Letters From The Heart is a collection of the Civil War correspondences between Emma Randolph and Private Walter G. Gunn of the 11th New Jersey Infantry as Dunn. They began their exchange of letters when Walter went off to war and Emma was a young girl not yet twenty years of age. Water was carried from the bloody battlefield of Chancellorsville to a hospital in Baltimore. And it was their that he relayed to her the everyday events that comprise an intimate, eye-witness account representing a compelling and informative account of the hardships he endured while in the service of his country. Emma's letters were of the familiar things of home that Walter so badly needed to counter the horror that he lived through -- and almost died from. In time, the grew to love one another and planed a life together after the carnage and slaughter of war was ended. After Chancellorsville is an engaging and much appreciated contribution to the growing body of Civil War literature left in legacy for the benefit of future generations.

Among the thousands of Civil War books, only a few show us what life was like back home and the human longings and feelings of women at home and their men who were away for indeterminate time. Walter Dunn and Emily Randolph had corresponded from the war's beginning, but her letters to Walter were lost to a Rebel scavenger as Walter lay wounded on the field at Chancellorsville. Walter, gravely injured but healing, is transferred to duty as a medical orderly in Baltimore hospitals, just in time to help receive the flood of wounded from Gettysburg. The correspondence with Emma is renewed. We see Emma's community in wartime and the war from Walter's vantage point--including the rumors that swirled around Baltimore. Lincoln's reelection campaign, ice cream socials, church picnics, and the like fill Emma's days as she comes to love Walter. Emma is one of the most charming and intriguing characters of Civil War literature. Walter, the perfect Victorian gentleman, is overcome with love for Emma; together they plan a life after the war. This is a remarkable story of the war in terms of people who lived it.

After Chancellorsville: Letters From The Heart is a collection of the Civil War correspondences between Emma Randolph and Private Walter G. Gunn of the 11th New Jersey Infantry as Dunn. They began their exchange of letters when Walter went off to war and Emma was a young girl not yet twenty years of age. Water was carried from the bloody battlefield of Chancellorsville to a hospital in Baltimore. And it was their that he relayed to her the everyday events that comprise an intimate, eye-witness account representing a compelling and informative account of the hardships he endured while in the service of his country. Emma's letters were of the familiar things of home that Walter so badly needed to counter the horror that he lived through -- and almost died from. In time, the grew to love one another and planed a life together after the carnage and slaughter of war was ended. After Chancellorsville is an engaging and much appreciated contribution to the growing body of Civil War literature left in legacy for the benefit of future generations.

Among all the hundreds of books about the Civil war, very few show the human dimension of men away on duty and the folks back home. Here Private Walter Dunn of New Jersey, wounded at Chancellorsville and with a minie ball still in his shoulder, is sent to a hospital in Baltimore. He works as a medical orderly as the wounded stream in from Gettysburg. And he renews his correspondence with Emily Randolph back home in Plainfield, New Jersey ( he lost her letters to a Rebel scavenger on the battlefield) Emily is an unforgettable young woman, playful, optimistic, dutiful, and serious, a fine observer of the people and the activities at home (among them the Lincoln reelection campaign). Walter, in turn, is in a vantage point for interpreting the events of the war, particularly as Baltimore lies vulnerable to Confederate attack. There is an interesting love story here, but more than that, the book is outstanding in reaching daily life and customs during the war. A fine addition to Civil War literature.

this book tells the story of the battle in the soilders view through their letters and reports. The letters start off cheerfully with the Confederates marching through Frederick, MD followed by the Union army all accounts say things about how though they might be cheery now they know a large battle will soon happen. Then Sharpsburg becomes the meeting place of the two mighty armies and the soilders on both sides soon realize the great disaster they have front seat tickets to and through their letters they put you onto the battle field. this book is amazing

The books of this Time Life series are very important to anyone who wants to learn about the Civil War. The first series, the gray set, is a good starter, but this set is a great next step.

This particular volume is very moving and comsuming. I found it hard to leave, and I also found it somewhat haunting. Fortunately, I've been to Antietam many times, and know the ground pretty well, but the men's words change the ground into a hallowed field that will always be looked at differently.

There is in this book a cold matter-of-factness in the letters and writings of the participants that is unsettling. Death and human destruction are so common, that it matters not to the writer. To losely quote General W. T. Sherman, "I look at the lose of a few thousand men as a morning dash".

To read this book is to go back in time, to live as they did, and to feel what they felt. The editors did a fine job of material selection. Can not imporve on the contents at all. Well done to all.

When you read the book (and you better), try to prepare yourself for the final 2 pages, the article from the New York Times newspaper. Words like this do not come often in this life, and to miss these would be a loss. Events such as these deserve to be memoralized and remembered, or we are "doomed to relive them". A stunning book for all.

This volume in the TimeLife series, "Voices of the Civil War", is terrific! Using a combination of photos, maps, paintings, and impressive text drawn from the diaries, letters and writings of participants from both North and South--as well as civilians, the story of the entire September 1862 campaign of the Army of Northern Virginia comes alive.

I rated the volume an 8 out of a possible 10 score because: 1. some of the maps showing battle action can be a little confusing to follow; 2. the commentary prior to each section does not always give command ranks or first names consistently; 3. editing of some of the accounts, particularly that of Gordon's memoirs dealing with the Sunken Road, may have inadvertently left out some very important explanatory notes for actions taken by that person.

Despite this, I found the volume to be very well put together. The impact of reading the words of actual combatants who survived the bloodiest day of American history can not be easily described. There is humor in these pages; there is also profound tragedy, sadness and grief.

I recommend this volume to any one who wants to gain a more immediate understanding and appreciation for the Army of Northern Virginia's campaign into Maryland in September, 1862 culminating with the bloody Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862. This book is perhaps the next best thing to actually visiting the battlefield site itself.