Arkansas Books

Outstanding effort by one of the best poets using rhyme and meter today. Comparing Mr.Steele to Gjertrud Schnackenberg,Dana Gioia,Robert Mezey,Greg Williamson,et al shows him in an extremely bright light and good company. The rhythm of his poetry moves and the impassioned messages are moving as well. Here is a sampling to whet the appetite:

'We enter life and thus inherit/The Kingdom of the human voice./ The Word is Word because we share it./Wonder encourages our choice/To sort out life's conflicting data,/To come to terms with its traumata,/To shape ourselves to nothing less/Than reasoned self-forgetfulness./For years we've traded rhyme and measure,/And if our poems are books today,/It is in hopes that others may/Take from them solace,sense,or pleasure,/ Though years pass with accustomed speed/And though the times we shared recede.'

Another favorite is about Luther at Wartburg,1521-22 (excerpt) 'Odd,how his genius courts expectancy,/And views life as a text it's read./Yet others,seeking God in all they see,/Not finding Him,will claim He's dead,/Or will descry false gods when history slips/Into a fraudulent Apocalypse.'

A great epigram that clinches the book for any reader/reviewer: 'Beethoven's 9th at the Hollywood Bowl': The chorus sings, musicians play,/ But on a stage so far away,/ It is as if we strain to hear/ The 1824 premiere.

Get your hands on anything by Mr. Steele, such as Color Wheel and his prose explanation of meter and verse 'All the Fun's In How You Say a Thing'. Enjoy!

Timothy Steele, in terms of his command of meter and rhyme, wit and irony, powers of observation and restraint, is the finest of the New Formalist poets. My only complaint with his work is that I get a strong sense of deja vu when reading it -- sometimes I think I'm reading Richard Wilbur instead. (Of course, Richard Wilbur is hardly a bad model.) Steele writes almost entirely in meter and rhyme and is the most competent poet featured in the "Rebel Angels" anthology.

Sapphics and Uncertainties contains Tim Steele's first two collections of Poetry, "Sapphics against Anger and Other Poems" and "Uncertainties and Rest." It's a slim volume of intelligent poetry written in meter and form. This collection, much like the lates one "Color Wheel", shows why Steele is considered one of the best poets writing formal verse. Every line, every word is well thought out. Steele is one of the poets that should be on your shelf.

I live here iin Dutch Harbor Alaska, and found some war paper from a veteran
here, and wanted to know more about the men that were station out here during those hard winters and bad weather, and fined out more about the history and the forgten men that were here on the inlands. great book. thanks

Marty

I enjoyed this book. As someone who served on the island of Adak with the Marine Corps during the Cold War, it was great to read a book about a place I know very well. It gave wonderful look at what life was like during WW2 in the aleutians. You come away with an appreciation of how harsh it was to live and fight under the extreme conditions of the aleutian islands.

Collaboratively researched and written by Donald M. Goldstein (a veteran of the United States Airforce and Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh) and Katherine V. Dillon (U.S. Airforce, Retired), The Williwaw War: The Arkansas National Guard In the Aleutians In World War II is a fascinating and informative history of the 206th Coast Artillery Regiment of the Arkansas National Guard in 1941, when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor changed their lives forever and plunged America into a global war. Deftly following the travails and experiences of these brave servicemen who struggled with boredom, extreme weather conditions, and life-or-death battles, The Williwaw War reveals a time of danger, death, and pride in the regiment. The Williwaw War is an appreciated and commended contribution to academic Military Studies collections in general, and World War II military history buff reading lists in particular.

FIRE AND SWORD, ARKANSAS, 1861-74 (Horrors of War and Peace.)

Sadly, this is a "typical" story of the post-Civil-War hardships that overtook the South in the aftermath of the Lost Cause. Hardship hardly covers the matter of living with starvation always at the door and suffering marauding by lawless bands of the scum of the earth willing, often eager, to kill in order to rob, mobs that the close of the fighting inevitably turned loose in Arkansas and most other defeated states. Compounded with this mere criminal element were the murdering bands out for revenge on each other over wartime differences and incursions. Life was secure for no one. This is as good a primer on that as will be found in Civil War literature, and prospers as so many new histories do from digging into the micro-records of personal recollections, contemporary letters, news articles and other minute examinations of what life was like.

You get a feel for the time and place, the people and their most intimate beliefs. Names of historical characters seldom heard of pop up with frequency, and of course during the war there is the stock cast of military with whom Civil War Buffs are familiar.

The period prior to the Civil War set the stage for much of what happened as it did throughout the South. Arkansas was divided between rich planters of the east, southeast and south, in the river-bottom low lands, and primarily non-slave-holding small farmers of the uplands of the northwest. It is significant that cotton doesn't prosper above an elevation of 1,000 ft. above sea level, which accounted for most of the enclaves of pro-Unionism among many throughout the south. (In the most extreme example, West Virginia seceded from Virginia and formed a new state.) The red-hot secessionists were slave owners with an economic stake in the peculiar institution. The poor subsistence farmers owed nothing to the rich slave owners, who almost always managed to control politics. This had violent repercussions when the loss of the war temporarily put an end to the aristocracy's power. As events proved, there was little over which they would hesitate in order to regain it.

I will wager that few today think about the terrible - truly devastating - effects of our past domestic wars directly upon millions and millions of our forebears, and those who do so reflect, simply can't shrug into the garments of those long-gone Americans, and come close to appreciating the degree of their fear, apprehension, suffering and sacrifice.

The sense of bewilderment by those who lost everything, as the Tories in the Revolution, and the South after the Civil War, must have been overwhelming. Three wars were primarily on our own soil. The Revolution, upon which the nation was founded, the War of 1812, which could be considered a continuation of that war, and the Civil War (which in a sense of who the contestants were is often likened to a continuation of the English Civil War - Cavaliers against Round Heads, or as was said of the Civil War, the Chivalry against the Shovelry.).

All three of those wars were recognizably between brothers. The Americans who went into the Revolution considered themselves Englishmen who had been deprived of their rights. The War of 1812, between nations who spoke the same language and had the same common customs, was avoidable, but on the English side reflected a desire to rub the noses of their former minions in the gravel and teach them a lesson. But the grandaddy of the three was The War Between Brothers; our Civil War.

On the surface it appears like an avoidable tragedy, but was in fact, as William Seward dubbed it, "an irrepressible conflict." The moral and economic differences between North and South simply became too strained. Arkansas, and other states of the Confederacy were to be the principal victims.

Arkansas had a lot of Unionists, but almost all of them were Unionist with a couple of provisos: that the North keep their (should we say cottonpickin') hands off slavery, and that in the event some Southern states did secede, the North would make no effort to coerce them back into the Union. It was the latter proviso on which Arkansas finally passed an ordnance of Secession after it became obvious that Lincoln's government did, indeed, intend to coerce.

Arkansas had been a state only since 1836, only 25 years, when the war broke out. It had produced not a single famous name to be found in history books of the magnitude of Jefferson Davis, Roberts Toombs or Lincoln, or Seward and Stephen A. Douglas. Nor did it produce a lot of cotton compared to the other cotton states. Its population wasn't large enough to contribute mighty armies. Why did it get caught as it did in constant fighting back and forth if such was the case? Because it was "literally in the middle," as the saying goes. It was bordered on the north by Missouri where the Union had its principal military center in the West, St. Louis. Early the Southern government tried to hold Missouri and make it a state of the Confederacy. That didn't work. The Union by rapid action held St. Louis first of all, and ran the confederate government of Gov. Claiborne Jackson up the pike. Former Missouri governor, Sterling Price, until then a Union man, changed his mind and took a commission as General of the Missouri militia. He defeated Union General Nathaniel Lyon at Wilson's Creek in Aug. 1861, assisted by the Arkansas and Texas troops of Gen. McCullough.

Following Wilson's Creek, McCullough returned to Arkansas, and Price after raiding in Missouri, retreated to southwest Missouri and went into a winter encampment at Springfield. But he was determined to advance again and take Missouri for the Confederacy. This threat determined that Arkansas would "end up in the middle" for the whole period of the war.

The Union struck back with an army under Gen. Samuel Curtis, who ran Price out of Springfield, followed him into Arkansas, and defeated Price's forces, united with those of Gen. McCullough, both under the command of a joke of a Gen. Earle Van Dorn at Pea Ridge in March of 1862, A rematch occurred later that year at Prairie Grove, also a Confederate defeat. The Confederacy never mounted a serious threat to Missouri afterward. But Arkansas caught it because the Union wanted to neutralize and occupy it permanently to assure that the South didn't try another invasion from that base. They were reminded of this need, when Price wasn't saber rattling over a return to Missouri by raids by his subordinate Missourian generals, Jo Shelby and Marmaduke. (Both later to be elected governors of Missouri.) Price made one final stab at retaking his home state in late 1864 and lost his army after a comic opera campaign fizzled out. (For example, duelist Marmaduke was captured wearing a pair of overalls, and nursing a broken arm sustained in a fall with his horse)

The movements of both armies during the war kept the countryside denuded of supplies as they foraged for whatever they could find in the line of food for man and beast. It must have been a helluva time for a lone woman with children to feed, and her husband gone off to war. In fact it is unimaginable how they managed to survive.

The problem didn't abate with the end of the war. The land and its primarily agricultural economy were in a state of ruin. The slaves, now freed, were taken care of by the Union Freedman's Bureau, but were a tremendous problem in every way. They had no idea how to manage for themselves and it was necessary for the former slave owners to effect a means of now employing them to attempt to reestablish plantations and farms. The effort, in view of its insurmountable appearing obstacles was in time remarkably successful. The result was what we know as "share cropping," but it took experimentation to find this solution. In view of the lack of money to pay wages, such a system was probably inevitable.

The state, meaning its people collectively, was faced with another complication. The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified Dec. 6, 1865, freed the slaves, but that was only the start of the problem. The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified on July 9, 1868, in effect, deprived anyone who had participated in the Rebellion, of the right to vote. This, coupled with the Fifteenth Amendment, which guaranteed Negro voting rights gave birth to what became known as Carpetbagging. In Arkansas, the prohibition of the right to vote of those who had participated in the Rebellions had already given the state a former Yankee general as governor. And what a hell of a governor he turned out to be. A man who controlled Arkansas politics until his 1914 death. Who was he? I'll bet not one in a hundred Civil War buffs can name this fellow who is characterized as one of the Union's most-successful cavalry generals. Read the book. The situation that enabled such a man to be elected governor, was what gave rise to the Ku Klux Klan, which this governor successfully opposed as far as its initial purposes were concerned, often by using black militia. (One can imagine how popular that was, and at least one attempt was made to assassinate the governor.)

You meet a cast of similar wildly improbable characters of whom you've never heard much, if anything. General Thomas Hindman who was so effective in making slackers measure up that even Arkansas petitioned the Confederate government in Richmond to send him elsewhere, which they did. He returned after the war and entered Arkansas politics with his customary pugnacity and effectiveness and was rewarded by being shot one night through the window of his home and killed. (You know why; the bastards that did it were afraid to face him from the front in broad daylight?) We also had Gen. Marmaduke who killed a fellow general in a duel. [No singular event, by the way; Union General, Jefferson Davis (no relation to the Confederate president) who was a significant participant at Pea Ridge shot and killed his commanding officer and walked.] And, of course Gen. Jo Shelby, a Southern tradition and later governor of Missouri, a general who welcomed into his ranks such stalwarts as Frank and Jesse James.

One thing that you gain from author Thomas A. DeBlack's research and writing is a feel for the time and place, such as you get from Mark Twain's Huck Finn as he traveled through this country. This was the land of personal honor where, as in Huck, an aristocrat shot down a mudsill for repeatedly "blackguarding" him.

You can also almost smell the `taters' frying, after they got some `taters' that someone didn't steal from them. It was a rustic, homey place, at root, and still is in the rural areas that haven't changed all that much.

A great book all around, complete with many good, pertinent photos of the people and places, plus a solid bibliography and index.

Thoughtfully written by Thomas A. DeBlack (Associate Professor of History, Arkansas Tech University), With Fire And Sword: Arkansas, 1861-1874 provides a scholarly examination of just how the events of the Civil War and the Reconstruction so heavily devastated the state of Arkansas, its population and its economy, that this southern state was never to fully regained the level of prosperity it had enjoyed prior to the war. A candid and detailed retracing of crucial decisions, their interplay, and their lasting legacy, With Fire And Sword is a welcome contribution to the growing library of Civil War literature and Reconstruction Era reference collections and reading lists.

At first look, "With Fire and Sword: Arkansas, 1861-1874" appears to be an update to the 1994 Department of Arkansas Heritage project, "Rugged & Sublime: The Civil War in Arkansas", to which Dr. DeBlack was a major contributor.

WITH FIRE AND SWORD follows much the same outline and material as "Rugged & Sublime," and adds some new information and personal stories drawn from recent works on Arkansas and its role in the Civil War. Where WITH FIRE AND SWORD stands out, however, is in the extension of its coverage beyond the War years to the recovery of the state and its citizens after the War and the role played by Presidential and Congressional Reconstruction as well as local politics, leading up to the local "Militia Wars" and the "Brooks-Baxter War." These instances have not been addressed in readily available works in the past decade.

WITH FIRE AND SWORD stands as an excellent first reader or introduction to antebellum conditions, the Civil War, and Reconstruction in Arkansas; and provides not only an overview of events but also footnotes, lead-ins, and references to additional research for the reader who wants to look deeper under the surface in this fascinating area.

This is a very progressive book. I have read it in 1974 and found it to reflect the true picture of beirut at that time which society tried to hide behind traditional roles and responsibilities.

THIS AMAZING WORK OF LITERATURE THAT DEFINES THE HUMAN NATURE, ITS NEEDS, SINS AND PORTRAYS HOW PEOPLE IN THEIR PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS MIGHT JUST LEAVE IT BEHIND IN THEIR HASTE TO FIND IT. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS NOVEL FOR ANYONE WITH AN INTEREST IN ARABIC LITERATURE OR THAT OF ANY PSYCHOLOGICAL GENRE. SAMMAN'S TECHNIQUE IS JUST WAY TOO SOPHISTICATED IN THIS WORK.

I gave this book as a gift and was pleased with it when it arrived. The person who received it as a gift likes it and has successfully tried several recipes already. It's a specialty item but fit the occasion and the circumstances perfectly. Anyone who enjoys good, Southern, down home cooking would appreciate this collection.

Being from Arkansas, naturally I was drawn to this book. I also collect cookbooks so I have learned to weed out the ones that tend to be too extravagant for my everyday meals. This cookbook has all the wonderful, Southern-style, home-made recipes I grew up enjoying. It is a compilation of the best recipes from fifty-four different cookbooks from my home state. Historic pictures and interesting tid-bits about Arkansas are scattered through out this collection of tried and true recipes. I know I will enjoy using this cookbook for many years to come and it has already become one of my favorites when I am looking for something yummy to cook!

If you are interested in learning about the trails, river, people, geology and biology of the Buffalo River . . . this is the place to start. No one knows the Buffalo River country better than Ken Smith. It has been his passion for more than 40 years. An earlier book he wrote, Buffalo River Country, played a key role in the creation of America's first national river. He knows the Buffalo River trail as no one else can. He laid it out and supervised its construction. He is actively involved today in the extention of it from Hwy 65 to Hwy 14. This trail will ultimately make it possible for a hiker to travel by trail from St Louis, Missouri to near Ft. Smith Arkansas.

Buffalo River Handbook easily rates five stars for anyone going to the Buffalo. I would also buy the Trails Illustrated maps of the Buffalo which he also edited and which go hand in hand with the Buffalo River Handbook.

Admittedly, it is difficult to be comprehensive and remain a "handbook," meaning something that you could take with you and refer to while on the trail or the river. If you are looking for specific maps for trails, I would recommend books by Tim Ernst, or if you are looking for details on running the river, A Canoeing & Kayaking Guide to the Ozarks are both superior for their individual information. This said, if you want something to refer to in general with historical as well as geological information along with talk of the flora and fauna with generalized information on trails and the river this book is outstanding. Excellent color and black and white pictures, and a searchable index.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! This collection of short stories is by far one of the most engaging I've ever read! It's the sort of thing you'll want to read many times over!!!

You don't have to be an Arab American to appreciate this collection of short stories. Some of the voices may not be familiar, but many of the stories are. At times heartbreaking, at times hilarious, each story represents a facet of the human experience. If you consider yourself to be a literary adventurer, add this anthology to your "to do" list.

Thomas Nuttall traveled through Arkansas on the White river and described what he saw in great detail. He actually named many of the plants that he found on the trip. The drawings in the book depict landscapes that anyone from Arkansas would recognize yet devoid of all the manmade features.

This is the journal of Thomas Nuttall who, in 1819, with $200 and a residual case of malaria,traveled from Philadelphia down the Ohio and the Mississippi to the Arkansas River and various of its tributaries. His journey extended as far west as the current site of Oklahoma City. His account of the plant and animal life, the geology and the streams of Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma are accurate, jargon-free and, in many cases, still definitive. His portrayals of the European and Native Americans he met are objective, unsentimental and unprejudiced. Througout the considerable dangers and difficulties he faced, he maintained, and conveyed, a refreshing sense of wonder at the natural world he explored, an attitude of realistic compassion for the people he encountered and a sense of the historical significance of what he witnessed. The journals are well-edited by Prof. Lottinville whose notes identify sites described by Mr. Nuttall with their current names and provide historical context for various events discussed in the book. This book is a great find for anyone interested in the land, history and people of Arkansas and Oklahoma.

A hard-to-get and must-to-read for those who need an objective account of China's painstaking movement to enhance liberal democracy in socialistic reform. This book offers abundant daily reports and photographs to give a panorama of a nation's struggle to order vs. development in its early days into "globalization".

Tells the story of the uprising and the massacre, along with color and black + white photographs. This book did a great job of explaining the events that took place in an easy to understand fashion.

It was a fun book. A great way to learn about the history of a state.

This book is absolutely delightful. I love the illustrations. Reading this book is a great way to discover all the wonderful things about the great state of Arkansas.