Michigan Books

I have an ancient copy of this book handed down from my great-great grandmother. My copy is dog-earred and so worn the cover cannot be deciphered, but I've always loved thumbing through to find remedies for various complaints. In addition, Dr. Chase knows when to plant crops, how to care for farm animals, how to make basic household conveniences such as soap, baskets, spinning, weaving, churning butter...you name it, he has it in this book. Some of the remedies for illnesses might seem like they're from the Inquisition, but even simple poultices can be used today with great results. I wouldn't recommend dosing your child with kreosote, but amid the obvious bad advice are gems to be used in today's world. This copy of the book is much easier to read than my over 100 years-old copy, but the language is quaint and the book is an entertaining piece of Americana.

Dr. Chase was a traveling physician who compiled this book of "recipes and information for everybody" including a wide array of information and home remedies for families. At the time it was published, individual receipes to cure a sick horse or sick child were quite expensive. Dr. Chase's book of 800 recipes for health remedies, drinks, livestock cures, etc. was a bargain and a mainstay in households across the continent.

Sections include:
Merchant and Grocer Department
Saloon Department
Medical Department
Tanner,Shoe, & Harness Maker Department
Painter Department
Blacksmith Department
Tinner Department
Gunsmith Department
Jeweler Department
Farrier Department
Cabinet-maker Department
Barber Department
Baker/Cooking Department
Domestic Department
Miscellaneous Department

The information included is wildly varied and fascinating! Dr. Chase even advocates humane treatment of animals (includes illustrations for saving injured horses), instructs young people in how they can be successful, etc. etc. etc.

Just a wonderful book of frontier/19th century wisdom! I have the 38th edition, which was published in 1866.

This little book is packed with great photos and excellent explanatory text. I live in Alaska, but can find many of these Michigan mosses and liverworts in my own area. Apparently, Michigan has bryophytes that are representative of temperate North America as well as other areas of the world.
The text and the beautiful color photographs (one or two on almost every page!) are very helpful. The small line drawings of elves and mosses introduce a playful note, but don't be fooled; this book is authoritative.
The author, Dr. Janice Glime, is a university professor and a bryologist with a lifetime of experience, having published over 100 papers on mosses, liverworts, and their ecology. She is the author of Bryophyte Ecology (available online), and Methods in Bryology (available from Hattori Botanical Laboratory in Japan).
She has a simple and entertaining style that is precise and occasionally technical, suitable for both beginners and experienced botanists. I own several large moss and liverwort floras covering North America and the British Isles and, while they are much more technical (and expensive) than Dr. Glimes' little manual, I always look at her book to see what light she has shed on a particular plant or habitat.
This book is a little jewel and a "must have" if you're into mosses!

This is helpful for the lay person because it groups Bryophites by their habitat, such as on stumps, rocks, forest types, stream banks, etc.

Ellery Schempp was not a troublemaker. He was sixteen years old in 1956, a junior in high school with fine grades and no disciplinary problems. And yet he went to school after the Thanksgiving holiday determined to call attention to himself and to what he saw as unfairness within the school. It worked, and it wound him up in the Supreme Court. _Ellery's Protest: How One Young Man Defied Tradition and Sparked the Battle over School Prayer_ (University of Michigan Press) by Stephen D. Solomon tells the story of how Ellery and his family conscientiously changed public policy, helping define how church and state were to be separated in American public schools. Solomon, who teaches First Amendment law, has not only told the story of the Schempp family and their protest and the legal ins and outs as their case went to different court levels, but also has given an account of church and state conflicts back through European history, and has summarized the challenges currently faced by a society and a Supreme Court that can never have a complete solution to what will always be an ongoing conflict. This is a great book bringing a vast subject into focus as its one particular court case plays out.

The Schempp name is not nearly as well known as that of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the fervent, loud-mouthed (and foul-mouthed) atheist whose similar suit was joined with that of the Schempps. They were not atheists, but Unitarians, who frequently discussed religious matters, especially the idea that government had no business supporting any particular religion or religious idea. The Abington school district instructed teachers that they were to comply with a Pennsylvania state law requiring that every day ten Bible verses be read without comment, and that this was to be followed by the reading of the Lord's Prayer. One morning, when it came time for the verses and prayer one morning, Ellery took out a Koran from his book bag, and began reading silently. He didn't stand for the Lord's Prayer. The homeroom teacher sent him to the principal's office. He wrote the ACLU to ask for help. Solomon describes an intricate process of the case threading its way to the Supreme Court, and the tactics used by the ACLU as well as by the school board and state government. It was not until 1963 that the court, by an eight to one majority that included three of its most conservative members, ruled that the schools as a government agency could not lead prayers.

Solomon's comprehensive account includes descriptions of what happened after the 1963 Supreme Court decision, which was extremely unpopular. The Abington school system itself had a model response: the superintendent explained that teachers should discuss with their students how the Supreme Court had interpreted the Constitution; thereupon Bibles were removed from classrooms and the devotionals stopped. Many other schools made no changes, and some states passed school prayer laws that were in flagrant noncompliance with the federal ruling. There was agreement from some religious bodies; the National Council of Churches registered agreement that public schools should never compel any specific religious practice, and that such teachings should come only from homes and from the churches themselves. Solomon's final chapter has to do with the future of the Schempp decision, and how some who favor school prayer are attempting to find ways to make it happen again. The history of that decision, and the history of church and state issues that led up to it, is given here with clarity and comprehensiveness; anyone interested in issues of church and state will find this book a rich resource.

With Ellery's Protest, Stephen Solomon has written a compelling and thoroughly engaging account of how one Abington family, with the help of the ACLU, made history by convincing the Supreme Court to strike down Bible readings in the public schools in 1962. Solomon not only tells us the story of how the Schempp family's protest within the Abington public schools made it all the way to the highest court in the land, but he also paints a much broader historic landscape. Solomon traces the evolution of religious freedom in the U.S. (so different from Europe's history of bloody intolerance) and shows how the inclusion of the free exercise of religion clause in the First Amendment gave rise to this country's defining belief in the separation of church and state.

The story Solomon tells is riveting, in large part because he takes the time to describe the colorful minor characters that populate this story - people like Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who sued the Baltimore schools and found herself and her son the target of vicious harassment and attack. (O'Hair's lawsuit reached the Supreme Court around the same time as the Schempp case and was considered along with it). Solomon vividly shows how such an historic decision hung on the leanings of one or two Supreme Court Justices, a timely reminder in an era when so many other civil liberties are at stake.

Excellent book, telling of a wealth of Detroit history that has seemingly been forgotten. A must have for anybody interested in Michigan history.

I loved the book. I lived in Detroit most of my life and wasn't aware of the history of Elmwood and the characters buried there. The pictures were wonderful! I do wish a complete list of all the graves were included in the book. Since family genealogy is so popular right now it would of been a real asset.

Eureka! I found the best English grammar book at last. The author successfully dissected and analyzed even the most confusing sentece structure.I have read and studied a lot of books to give me confidence in speaking English as my second language and none of them satisfied me like this book. I recommend it to everyone ! I am grateful for Mr. R. Krohn for sharing his knowledge.

This book has the upmost technique to explain and teach English as a second language from beginning levels to very advanced.

This book, which was written in the 19th century, is as vital and significant today as the Constitution-and perhaps more important to the modern reader because of changes mad within the court system (but not the legal system) in the past century.

This is a very short book, but covers a very important and neglected part of the limitations of Government power: the trial by jury.

Jury trial rights predate the foundation of the United States, beginning with the signing of the Magna Carta in England in 1215. So the principles of jury trial were long established in the British Common Law upon which US Federal Law and most states (all but Louisiana, which is based upon Napoleonic Law.)

"FOR more than six hundred years that is, since Magna Carta, in 1215 there has been no clearer principle of English or American constitutional law, than that, in criminal cases, it is not only the right and duty of juries to judge what are the facts, what is the law, and what was the moral intent of the accused; but that it is also their right, and their primary and paramount duty, to judge of the justice of the law, and to hold all laws invalid, that are, in their opinion, unjust or oppressive, and all persons guiltless in violating, or resisting the execution of, such laws."

The purpose of a selected jury is to represent the population or country as a whole to judge the defendant, who represents the rights of the people. (i.e. the people as a whole, represented by the jurors, decide whether or not they desire the freedom to perform whatever actions are on trial.)

The purpose of trial by jury, is to permit a "trial by country," opposed to a "trial by Government." Thus, in the final analysis, it is up to the people to determine which laws have been set by their Government they truly wish to obey, and not the Government'swill alone.

This is not the model, which they taught you in school, and it is at variance with the statements frequently made in court by judges. (Whose purpose in a jury trial is not to judge, but to provide order safety and advice.)

With an informed jury, no law may be enforced which the jury finds reprehensible, regardless of the opinions of the judges, legislators or police. Juries have the final say in whether or not a law is just and enforceable.

Truly, if this were otherwise, Tyranny is the result. If the Government declares the law, and the Government determines whether or not the law is valid, then the Peoiple have lost their freedom, and have only those freedoms left which the Government chooses to leave to them.

The legal mechanism is thus: The Legislature creates the law, the Executive puts the law into effect, and enforces the law, the Courts (in the form of the Jury, a randomly selected subset of the People,) determine if the law is valid. In our last hundred years, increasingly the function of the Courts, represented by the Jury, has come to be represented by the Judges, who are, of course, not a random selection of the People, but a selected part of the Government.

Our current Government has gone so far as to say that it will continue to hold (at least some) defendants, even if they are found innocent!

I highly recommend that all people subject to jury duty (adult citizens) read this book. Despite being written well over 100 years ago, it is quite clearly written, and being short and important to your liberty, will pay great dividends for the little time invested in reading. If you read one book this year, let this be the one.

To properly understand the reason for the system of trial by jury one can do no better than to read Spooner's essay. He covers the history of the concept and the proper role of the "judge" and the rights of the jury. The concept of Jury Nullification and the need for it become clear with a reading of his work. One reading of Spooner's essay and you will never view our judicial system in the same light.

the philosophy of religion

No one is safe from Berdyaev's wrecking ball. One minute, he is blasting communism and its repression of ideas and speech, and the next minute he is blasting the 1920's American system of unfettered capitalism. Berdyaev eventually settles on a middle ground that I would describe as a moderate religious socialism. He constantly works to defend the less fortunate, and reminds us that in America, totalitarian government is being replaced by totalitarian corporations. People are described as repressed by the wealthy and the elite, and forced to work harder than they should have to. This repression is similar to that encountered by people in communist states, only coming from a source other than the government. On the other end of the spectrum, Berdyaev criticises the communist forms of repression with equal vigor. It is refreshing to see a truly unbiased political theorist, who, instead of patriotically clinging to an established system is willing to point out drawbacks in all systems. By highlighting all of these drawbacks on both sides, Berdyaev prevents the political pendulum from swinging too far in either direction, and, guided by a religious ethical sensibility, steadies it somewhere in the middle.

The Federal Future of Europe describes the formation of the European Community and also its turning to a Union, particularly thoroughly. Professor Sidjanski convinces the reader that federalism is a solution to help lower nationalism in Europe.

I advise this book to all who are involved in the European Union and/or have developped an interest towards it as analysis of the European Community and the European Union. The book is illuminating and helpful for both students in science politics and for those working towards an improved Europe.

From the Introductory Note by Jacques Delors, former president of the European Commission: "Dusan Sidjanski's particularly opportune analysis in the framework of European federalism casts a clear light on one of the deepest and most permanent mainsprings of European action.

However, if this analysis is not a unique source of my reflection, it is certainly quite clear that it is one of the most illuminating and enriching analysis for the future of Europe which will doubtless be both difficult and exciting.

I wish English-speaking readers of this new edition the pleasure of discovering the major work in European integration".

From the Foreword by Harold K. Jacobson, Professor of International Relations, University of Michigan: "The Federal Future of Europe is a marvellous addition to the English literature on the European Union.

Curiously, given the United States own proud history of federalism, Americans have particularly ignored the federalist position. The English version of The Federal Future of Europe fills a major gap in the literature. It will stand with Haas-s and Moravcsik's works as a seminal statement about Europe.

The Federal Future of Europe was written with insight, knowledge, and passion. Readers will be informed and moved. I strongly commend it to everyone interested in Europe and to those more broadly interested in contemporary international affairs".

This major study of the development of the European project, informed by a thorough knowledge of the Community and Union over the years and by deep understanding of the relevant literatures in political science and political economy is important for all who study the European Union or work with it as officials and business people.

Statement by Ernst B. Haas, Robson Research Professor Emeritus of Government, University of California, Berkeley Dusan Sidjanski's The Federal Future of Europe is remarkable for two reasons. It offers a comprehensive but eminently readable summary and analysis of the institutions of the European Union and of its main policies. This is no mean feat, considering the complexity and sweep of both. But in addition, the discussion is placed in the context of an unwavering commitment to federalism and to a federal future for Europe. Even if we do not agree with the desirability or certainty of that outcome, it is vital that this vision remain on everyone's agenda along with other possible

options, and that it be intelligently defended. Sidjanski succeeds brilliantly in so doing.

Dusan Sidjanski is founder and Professor Emeritus of the Department of Political Science, University of Geneva and Professor emeritus, European Institute. He has authored numerous publications, most recently, The ECE in the Age of Change (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, United Nations), 1999.

Professor Sidjanski's main publications include: Fédéralisme amphictyonique,

Lausanne, 1956; Dimensions européennes de la science politique, Paris, 1963; L'Europe des affaires (with Jean Meynaud), Paris 1967; "Pressure Groups and the European Economic Community", (C. Cosgrove and K. J. Twitchett, Ed), The New International Actors, New York and London, 1970; Les groupes de pressions dans la Communauté européenne, (J. Meynaud), Brussels, 1971; "The Left, the Right, the Establishment and the Swiss Electorate" with R. Inglehart, Party Identification and Beyond, (I. Budge, et al., ed.), London, 1976; The Role of executive heads in regional economic integration, with H. K. Jacobson, Geneva, 1978; De la démocratie européenne, Paris, 1979; "Regional Patterns of Economic Cooperation", with H. Jacobson, Comparative Regional Systems, (W. J. Feld & G. Boyd, ed.), New York, 1980; The Emerging International Economic Order, H.K. Jacobson & D. Sidjanski, ed., London & Beverly Hills, 1982; L'Europe du Sud dans la Communauté européenne, (with U.

Ayberk et al.), Paris, 1990; Union ou désunion de l'Europe?, Geneva, 1991 and The ECE in the Age of Change, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, United Nations, New York and Geneva, 1998.

This is a truly fascinating first hand account of what the Civil War was actually like for the common solider, something you don't fully appreciate from academic accounts of battles and campaigns. It is accounts about soldier's day to day life as they are fleshed out in Haydon's journal that are really illuminating.

For many Civil War soldiers, as for all soldiers, day to day life is tedium and it is the small every day things that make up their daily life. Haydon almost daily notes what the weather is because it was of such great consequence to someone who slept and lived outdoors for the most part. He dwells more on the weather when it is rainy than when it is nice. He also frequently talks about the state of his belly. He often tells us what he ate that day and whether or not the rations are any good. Much of the time he spends complaining about the lack of quality and quantity of the food. He also, at one point, goes into great detail about the massive quantities of coffee he and the other soldiers drink and comments how quickly one gets used to strong, black coffee made with muddy water. He also admonishes the extreme lack of discipline in the men, the many fights, and the massive consumption of alcohol (he drinks in moderation). He laments that he can see many good men as "worthless drunkards" in five years at the rate they are going. He also comments on the stealing, giving some darkly humorous accounts of how the soldiers steal everything not nailed down or guarded. He humorously states that "If the men pursue the enemy as vigorously as they do the whores they will make very efficient soldiers." Sickness of the men is also prevalent, especially diarrhea and fatigue. All this is the life of one solider in the Civil War.

Hayden is also somewhat introspective. He talks of having given up a law career to join the Michigan 2nd and take up arms against the rebels, seeing it as his duty. After being in the rearguard at the first Battle of Bull Run he notes more frequently how he does not expect to live out the war and that his chances of coming out of it alive are less than fifty-fifty. He does not seem terribly troubled by the prospect and notes that he has taken to a soldiers life quite well (unlike some others). He seems somewhat resigned to his fate. Coming into Baltimore where sentiment there was positive sentiment for the rebels, tension was high and he notes that he "rammed his first load ever intended for a human mark" and leaves it at that. After his first "kill" he said he was surprised by how "cool I took it." He even talks about gazing at the stars and the enjoyment he gets out of it on a clear night. He is also fairly good at describing the land he's in. He noted that he was somewhat surprised at how he was able to adapt to living as a soldier with little sleep, sleeping outdoors, in rain, in leaky tents, in the cold and having gotten used to poor food.

Although there is poignant account about feeling otherworldly in the heat of battle and wondering about his own bravery once the shooting starts, he doesn't seem to be afraid of bullets or battle and says his heart pounded more during a Dress Parade in front of the general than when bullets go whizzing by. He also has a good sense of humor that pops up frequently and is surprising given his situation. He must have been fairly well respected because he became a 2nd Lt. in fairly short order.

A very interesting account of a solider's life.

This is as good a set of personal reflections as you will ever read. From his induction, training and initial taste of Army life Charles B. Haydon puts you on guard duty and allows you to experience boredom, nasty weather, and interminable marches. Along the way you will fight at Bull Run, participate in the Penninsula campaign, particularly the fight at Williamsburg, the fight at Fredericksburg and to top it off, the sieges of Vicksburg and Knoxville.

Haydon was a gifted writer who rises from the ranks to become a lieutenant colonel. Oddly, he dies in Cincinnati of pneumonia. His is a most unusual journal. He was very sincere about being a good soldier and performed flawlessly under intense, continuous combat. These are the personal reminiscences of a very good man, selflessly devoted to his men, his comrades and to his country.

You will not be disappointed.

Allan Seager is an incredibly under-rated writer. I came across one of his short stories in an issue of McSweeney's and have been trying to get my hands on as much of his stuff as I can (sometimes tough as all but this book have been out of print for quite some time). There is a tenderness and subtlety to Seager's writing that recalls the best writers of the last century. He has been compared to Hemmingway and Sherwood Anderson. A Frieze of Girls is memoir as fiction. "Time makes fiction out of our memories," Seager says in his preface. A beautiful and sad thought in its own right. "The feel of truth is very like the feel of fiction." This is a collection of stories about a young man's coming of age. It is Seager finding himself, finding the author, intellectual, and smartass that he would become. The stories are reminiscent of other authors who write of life as a well-off scholarly boy among other well-off scholarly boys. James Joyce, John Irving. Chronologically, A Frieze of Girls fits between the two. The history is different, but the themes of crossing the brink from boyhood to manhood never change. And Seager paints it as beautifully as any of the other masters who have written on the subject.

I was attracted to this book unconsciously and randomly one day, and it's stayed on my mind-the beautiful, understated writing with sharp observations both humorous and heartbreaking, testimony to the human experience, if I can make so preposterous a claim.