Indiana Books

After reading this very creditable biography I donated it to the local public library.

I recall many rather cryptic remarks made by my grandmother years ago during Sunday trips to Cleveland about the Public Square and the Terminal Tower. She remembered the Mall project and other aspects of Cleveland that were obscure even in the fifties. These rather hazy recollections have now been re-examined inder the considerable light that Mr. Harwood has brought to the Van Sweringen brothers who were averse to publicity, even though they figured so much in the development of Cleveland in the 20th century. And their reach went far beyond that--these facts were not widely known. Excellent source.

I read a lot of books on train history. Once I started this one I could not put it down. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in railroad history during the glory days.

I grew up on the border of Cleveland Heights/Shaker Heights off Fairmount Blvd.A gradeschool classmate was Bernie Bernet. As a boy I rode my bicycle over to Shaker Blvd. to watch the Rapids go by. AtCWRU a colleague was Ian Haberman and my fellow members of NORM are Tolman and Wayne Hayes. I walked the East Cleveland Rapid line when it still stood empty. I was making notes for this history in about 1950. Except for the buying and selling of the various railroads, this book is a part of my life. I know every inch of it and except for a very few very tiny slips (in the maps mostly)it is a masterpiece. And the very book itself, without the contents, is a first class production.

I LOVED this book! I would not have expected that enough people would be interested in Gennett Records to warrant such a publication, but obviously (and delightfully) I'm wrong! Recommended reading for any record collector, but especially those of early jazz.

Any collector of old 78s knows about the Gennett label. Gennett was the first independent label to have a serious impact on the recording industry, and in part helped to launch the careers of many early jazz legends. King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael, Earl Hines, and others made their first records in Gennett's hot, cramped studio by the side of railroad tracks in Richmond, Indiana. Today, those original 78s are highly-prized collectors items, fetching hundreds or thousands of dollars at auction.

In years of collecting 78s, I have come across dozens of Gennett records, but until I read this book, I knew little about them or the company that made them (outside of tidbits here and there from reissue liner notes or chats with other collectors). Rick Kennedy has written a book that is filled not only with entertaining anecdotes, but a wealth of information. Reading about Bix's sessions with the Wolverines is almost like being there, and listening to the records afterwards gives the recordings a whole new meaning. Kennedy introduces us to the people who made Gennett records happen--the musicians, the sound engineers, the businessmen, and the distributors. The book traces Gennett Records from its beginning in the Starr Piano Company, through its legal struggle to continue (ultimately defeating Victor's patent for the right to make lateral recordings), to its glory days in the 1920s, and its demise with the onset of the Great Depression. Along the way, the book answers questions about how the records were made, how they were distributed, and what happened to the recorded masters (which is an interesting story in itself!). Gennett's relationship with the infamous KKK records is explained (basically, they were "custom" records that Gennett made solely for the extra profit, turning a blind eye to the content).

Gennett recorded some of the most creative and lasting jazz, blues, and "old-time" music in the 1920s and the label's story is a fascinating one. Lovers of jazz, old records, or American history in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in general will enjoy reading this book. It is well-written and very "readable" (I went through it in about three sessions). It also serves as a handy reference to answer questions that may arise among 78 or jazz collectors. Highly recommended!

In this eminently readable book, Kennedy manages to provide the reader with an overview of the early history of the whole recording industry while also providing a view of successful Midwestern entrepreneurship---and that is just the background laid for this fascinating topic.

I had heard about those "incredible Gennett sides" for many years, and acquired several samples of Gennett records around 15 years ago. In many cases the unknown or obscurely known artists turned in amazing performances that anticipated where jazz and popular music would be several years in the future---in the later 30's and 1940's. I often wondered how these performances failed to come to the attention of the larger American listening audience. After reading this book, I feel that I have an understanding.

Learning the history of the company that pioneered recorded jazz was the enjoyable and enlightening result of reading this book. The incredible history of this American popular music form and its legitimacy as a recorded music encompasses the entire history of the Midwestern and Southern United States during the first quarter of the 20th century. Kennedy's book will soon have you absorbed in that history.

While the topic is certainly the genesis of Jazz music recording, the reader will soon discover there is much more to it. Highly recommended to anyone interested in American cultural history!

Since Luciano Anceschi's lessons at the University of Bologna (a town in Italy, not the American imitation of "mortadella" meat), the questions about "what is art" and "which interpretations of a work of art are acceptable and which are not" has arisen with the power and the consistence of a flood. "Anything" - some scholars and critics claimed - "can be considered art, if it is presented as art: a piece of newspaper glued to a wall can be a poem..." But can it be a good poem? Chaos followed. As open minded as usual - and ever so clear despite the French intellectual franzy fashion of his collegues (say hello do Derrida, Greimas, Bataillle, Kristeva and all the nice company) - Eco tryies a sort of "coming back to the book". A lot of interpretations are possible, but not ANY interpretation. Clever, illuminating, wisely fun in his choice of examples... Bel colpo Umberto! Ci vediamo in via Zamboni!

Well, not exactly. But Umberto Eco argues forcefully that there are a limited number of reasonable interpretations of any given text in the Limits of Interpretation. The collected essays within examine the problems with many critical philosophers' arguments that meaning is necessarily entirely subjective. The book, overall, makes a good reply.

In it, Eco takes on the alternate worlds view, as well as Derrida and Foucualt. He further describes some ways that signs can be created to constrain interpretations and criticizes the meaninglessness created by total subjectivity in terpretation.

In my opinion, Eco is strongest as a writer when he is an essayist and he is excellent here...

Well, not exactly. But Umberto Eco argues forcefully that there are a limited number of reasonable interpretations of any given text in the Limits of Interpretation. The collected essays within examine the problems with many critical philosophers' arguments that meaning is necessarily entirely subjective. The book, overall, makes a good reply.

In it, Eco takes on the alternate worlds view, as well as Derrida and Foucualt. He further describes some ways that signs can be created to constrain interpretations and criticizes the meaninglessness created by total subjectivity in terpretation.

In my opinion, Eco is strongest as a writer when he is an essayist and he is excellent here. However, it is not a large book and the price... is pretty high, especially since these essays have mostly been published elsewhere. Unfortunately, that was mostly in Italian. Look for a used copy if you can find one.

Lincoln Finds a General - A Military Study of the Civil War is a 5 volume
masterpiece in the old style. Kenneth P. Williams is not afraid to take all the time he thinks necessary to explain the military side of the war to his satisfaction and he is forward enough to state his opinion on the participants competency, honesty and sense of honor. Things not normally found in a modern history. If you can't get your hands on the entire set, try picking up the first volume. And believe me, if you are a Civil War enthusiast, you will end up getting the entire collection.

(This pertains just to Volume I) We have had three Presidents who conducted a major war: Lincoln, Wilson, and Franklin Roosevelt. Wilson had John J. Pershing; Roosevelt had George C. Marshall. Lincoln had none; his greatest prospect was Robert E. Lee. So the very title of this book conveys a task for Lincoln that had to be done, if the Union were to survive. And so, Professor Williams starts out telling us in no uncertain terms that the beginning of the war showed no generals likely to be able to do the job . . . he completes Volume One with McClellan--who is not the general Lincoln wants. And we are anxious for subsequent volume(s) for Professor Williams takes us to Sam Grant--the general Lincoln finally found. This book moves along, and as it does, we fairly ache with the disappointment Lincoln suffered time and time again.

Excellent analysis of beginning of Civil War and McClellan's rise/beginning of his fall. William's easily readable, yet thorough analysis of the political and military goings-on just prior to the fall of Fort Sumter through Antietam makes one anxious to read the complete set of Lincoln Finds a General. Obviously no fan of McCellan, Kenneth Williams makes an eloquent case against "the redoubtable McC" and gives a clear picture of the difficulties he made for Lincoln by his hesitancy and obtuseness. In this volume, Williams paves the way for other volumes illustrating the further trials of Linclon in his search for a military man who could help him save the nation-one who was not overawed by Bobby Lee. One can imagine his thankfulness and relief when he found Grant: "I can't spare this man--he fights!" As a Civil War buff of 40 years, I was enchanted by this book and have spent over 10 years searching for the complete set--I found it once in an antique book store in Columbia, SC for $350 (first edition set of the complete original volumes) at a time when that seemed a fortune to me. I wish I had gotten that set as I have never seen it again, but I have re-read this little volume so many times that it is greatly worn--proof of its readabiliy and texture. A real treat for any Civil War buff.

Burnham's Managerial Revolution was published in 1940, almost 20 years before J.K. Galbraith's more famous The New Industrial State (1958), but contains most of the important ideas concerning the rise of a managerial class with loyalties more to its own class than to the owners of the enterprise (capital, shareholders), which later made Galbraith famous. Other than the fact that Burnham (once a leftist philosophy professor who broke with the left over Stalin's crimes) was a conservative, there is no rational explanation why this is not the famous book and Galbraith an epigonal footnote. Dated of course, but Burham was insightful and prescient. Especially in view of recent evidence of members of the new managerial class looting their companies despite attempts to align their interests more closely with the owners (stockholders) through stock incentive schemes. Read Burnham!

James Burnham's THE MANAGERIAL REVOLUTION was the inspiration for George Orwell's famous novel 1984, and despite a number of errors owing to the author's Marxist bias, it is a brilliant book. Writing at the outset of World War II, Burnham maintained that that war represented a revolution away from both capitalism and parliamentary democracy as we knew them to a totally new form of society. His errors themselves actually support this thesis. For instance, he is wrong when he asserts that total war cannot end unemployment. In fact it did, and the new bureaucratic elite liked that solution so much that it decided to keep America on a permanent war footing by creating the National Security State. He is wrong when he asserts that the managers of industry, who know better than the owners how to coordinate all the varied and complex functions of a high-tech corporation, will dominate the bureaucrats, to whom Congress has surrendered most of its sovereignty. But the two groups now have enough in common to work together for sinister ends, in contrast to the old capitalists and the old parliamentary democracy, which so often found themselves in conflict. What Burnham does not say, though it is an obvious conclusion to be drawn from his book, is that in this new, high-tech form of society, BOTH POWER AND WEALTH STEM FROM THE POSSESSION NOT OF THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION, BUT OF INFORMATION, ESPECIALLY INFORMATION WHICH HAS ANY MILITARY APPLICATION.

Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the way that American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) has allowed its facilities to be used by the National Security Agency (NSA). AT&T is specifically mentioned by Burnham as the classic example of the management-run corporation (p. 88). In 2006 a man named Mark Klein, who had worked for that corporation as a technician for some 22 years, made public his discovery that it was electronically "splitting off" records of the activities of private individuals on the net-- e-mails, websearches, and reviews such as this one-- and sending them to the NSA. As he said, "This potential spying appears to be applied wholesale to all sorts of internet communications of countless citizens." He took his allegations to the Electronic Frontiers Foundation, which filed suit against AT&T, as did the ACLU. So far the results of these suits have been inconclusive. But even if they succeed, one must remember that intelligence agencies have consistently refused to subordinate themselves to the rule of law. If a method exists for doing what they want to do they will do it, regardless of whether it is legal or not.

Meanwhile, the man who was in charge of this program, a despotic bureaucrat of Orwellian stamp, was making progress in his career. General Michael Hayden was director of the NSA from 1999 to 2005. During this time, he developed a strategy to increase the government's use of private industry for domestic surveillance. By the end of his tenure in that office, the government had collected enough information from the internet to nip in the bud any organized protest against drastic new measures, such as the use of weapons of mass destruction against Iran, or the declaration of martial law. And for such dangerous work, he has been amply rewarded, being made Director the CIA, America's premier intelligence agency and the chief promoter of terrorism and lawlessness throughout the world. It is impossible not to think that the repressive methods it has been perfecting-- including torture-- will not be used against the dissidents whose names have been collected through the NSA-AT&T collusion. When one contemplates the horror that the new bureaucratic-managerial elite has unleashed upon our society, it seems very appropriate that the CIA-run PHOENIX program in Vietnam called electrical torture "The Bell Telephone Hour".

Burnham begins seemingly in a rational, fair, and balanced way. He explores the rise of managers as a group of skilled individuals, meeting the growing need for organization in a complex society as well as in increasingly complex businesses. It seems perfectly appropriate that people specially trained to organize business and government, should have access to information that lets them do the job well, and also should be paid enough to attract additional people to that difficult set of tasks: the tasks of guiding, administering, managing, directing and organizing the processes of production or service delivery.

Soon, however, Burnham's voice becomes more sincere: In the "drive for social dominance, for power and privilege, for the position of ruling class, by the social group or class of the managers.... This drive will be successful ... against the masses, who, obscurely, are a social force tending against oppression and class rule of any kind." [The mechanism is] "propaganda and ideologies, all under a bewildering variety of slogans and ostensible motivations" (Burnham, p. 166, 1941):

"The managers, the ruling class of the new society, will for their own purposes require at least a limited democracy. When the ruling group becomes more and more liable to miscalculate, a certain measure of democracy makes it easier for the ruling class to get more, and more accurate, information. Second, experience shows that a certain measure of democracy is an excellent way to enable opponents and the masses to let off steam without endangering the foundations of the social fabric. Democracy, freedom for public minority political expression within a class society, must be so limited as not to interfere with the basic social relations whereby the ruling class maintains its position of power and privilege.

"When the vote has been extended to wide sections of the population, including a majority that is not members of the ruling class, that problem is more difficult. In spite of the wider democracy, however, control by the ruling class can be assured ... when major social institutions upholding the position of the ruling class are firmly consolidated, when ideologies contributing to the maintenance of these institutions are generally accepted, when the instruments of education and propaganda are primarily available to the ruling class...." (Burnham, p. 168, 1941).

This is an important book to read and share because it reveals, plainly spoken, the contempt business managers have, and are taught to have, for the citizens of our nation and the world, as well as the strategies they use to control our actions and even our thoughts.

This is the first and only study that gives a solid account of the life and work of this important early 19th century African-American writer. Stewart was a radical abolitionist, a feminist activist and a powerful public speaker. She was the first American-born woman of any race to lecture in public on political themes and leave extant copies of her texts. She preceded the better known Grimke sisters by five years. Before Frederick Douglass, before Sojourner Truth, Stewart, who lived in Boston in the 1830s, was arguing for black rights, North, and South. Her collected lectures are published here for the first time in this century, along with fascinating research on the life and career of this extraordinary woman.

Maria Stewart was not as well-remembered as Harriet Tubman or Frederick Douglass, but she is an important person nonetheless. Fortunately, she left behind a lot of written materials of her own life and there also exist other accounts form her contemporaries. There are all well edited by Marilyn Richardson into a concise volume that tells a pretty good story of Maria Stewart and what she was all about. Great job and an inspiring read.

The life and writings of Maria W. Stewart are a testament to the power of faith. Against all odds and against all cultural probability, Maria Stewart arose to become the first women, Black or White, to address a mixed gendered crowd on a political topic.

The essays and sketches, introduced and edited by Marilyn Richardson, provide firsthand accounts of Stewart's wisdom and courage. Given the era in which Stewart spoke and wrote, it is remarkable that a young (age 28), black woman could so lucidly and bravely address both Whites and Blacks.

Though addressed to people living under very different conditions, her words still speak courage and confrontation to all readers today. Thus this book is well worth reading both for its historical insights as well as for its modern implications.

Reviewer: Dr. Robert W. Kellemen is the author of "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction." He has also authored "Soul Physicians" and "Spiritual Friends."

This is a facinating autobiography. You get a good sense of the times and the horrors of the French revolution. I read it on line, but I hope to find it on paper, also.

I read the 1903 edition of Vigee-LeBrun's memoirs (translated by Lionel Strachey), and had no idea how much had been left out. If you're interested in Vigee-LeBrun, this is the book to get! (Too bad it's out of print!) Her life was fascinating, and she tells it best. Travel with her from Revolutionary France to the court of Catherine the Great. Evans' translation is very fluid. Don't miss the "pen portraits" at the back of the book--they describe the artist's famous friends and acquaintances, such as Jacques-Louis David and Benjamin Franklin.

I initially read this book to provide me with information about Mme. Vigee-Lebrun, my favorite woman artist, for a paper I was writing about her. As I read the book, I began to find it painful to put it down to take notes because I had become so engrossed in its content. In addition to providing hours of fascination, this book will prove to be an asset to those interested in knowing more about Vigee-Lebrun.

Despite the deceptively simple title, this book only covers dinosaurs (although there is a mention of mammal tracks in the chapters on ichnology). Further, the 33 individual papers (except for the last one on Dinosaurs in Fiction) are for advanced students and professionals. It would behoove you to have already read A.S. Romer's Osteology of the Reptiles and The Vertebrate Body as well as E.H. Colbert's Evolution of the Vertebrates and Michael Benton's Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution before embarking on this book.
Still, if you already have the equivalent of a good undergraduate grounding in the field of paleontology, you will find this book a fascinating read. Well worth the money as long as you know what you're getting.

The title is misleading. If you're looking for information on pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, or Mesozoic crocs, this book probably isn't for you. However, if you want to get the skinny on Tyrannosaurus arm movement and what they were used for (yeah, amazing, eh?), new dinosaurs, and generally good information on dinosaurs, this is a good book to consider. Heavy on the second half of the Mesozoic, the book none the less manages to have a good variety of papers about various aspects of dinosaurian paleobiology, phylogeny, and behavior. A great volume.

Mesozoic Vertebrate Life Edited By Darren H. Tanke and Kenneth Carpenter with Michael W. Skrepnick as the art editor is a new research inspired by the paleontology of Philip J. Currie is an excellent book... a book for the advanced dinosaur enthusiast. This book goes into detail about Theropods, Sauropods, Ornithischians, Dinosaurian Faunas, Paleopathologies, Ichnology, and Dinosaurs and Human History.

This book has a whole host of contributors(46 to be exact). All of the men and women are tops in their respective fields, so this book is like reading a medical book with all of the resplendent medical terms. Ah, but doen't give up, there are some very excellent drawings that help explain what the author is talking about, so your not left in the dust choking on the dust. I've noticed that the best dinosaur book on detail are written in this style where a collaboration of many authors that are expert and on the cutting edge with break throughs are written this way.

I would say this, the fossil record is telling the finder something... the finder has to study what he has found and make a determination and conclusion as to what he has found. All of this takes education, trial and error, and luck. So, you have the best guesses written here... things may stay as they were presented or they may change with insight, only time will tell.

If you are more than just a casual dinosaur devotee, than this is the book for you. It is light on the early Mesozoic, but it makes up for it in the late Mesozoic. The book is mainly composed of North American Mesozoic, but there is representation in China, and South America included.

There are excellent references included with there abstracts. This s not a book for children, this is an advanced case study of the dinosaura of the Mesozoic time. Those wishing for a book that compares jaws and endocarnial anatomy will relish this book. There is even an abstract on "The Impact of Sedimentology on Vertebrate Track Studies" which I found fascinating. I didn't know they went to that much detail, in models of track formation show clearly that the layer upon which the foot descends retains the most information of the impactor. Stresses are distributed radially away from the impact site and decrease exponentially with distance.

If you want detail this book has it. There are seven sections as I mentioned above, and they are divided into 33 chapters. This took a while to read and digest the information. This would make an interesting additions to a home library.

My aunt gave me this as a present. I have loved every recipe made from this book. Last night I made the Savory Sweet Potato Puff (as I am trying to cut down our sugar, I didn't want the traditional brown sugar/marshmallow sweet yams). It was delicious! I wanted to just put the whole casserole on my plate and eat only that! Last week we made Herbed Spinach Rice Bake and both my 2 year old and 5 year old ate it all up and didn't complain about leftovers the next day. Wonderful book. If you live (or have your heart) in the midwest and want some diffent yet not high brown complicated dishes, this is the book for you.

This afternoon I checked A Midwest Gardener's Cookbook by Marian K. Towne out from the local library. I will most definetly be adding it to my personal library. In the interest of full disclosure I should say that I have not yet used any of the recipes but I am completely charmed by the book after spending a over 90 minutes exploring the book.

The 294 page book is divided into four sections with one for each season. Each section focuses on commonly grown as well as less common and wild ingredients which reach their peak during that specific season. The inclusion of the less common and wild foods is one of the many ways that the book appeals to me.

Spring focuses on asparagus, chard, chives, dandelions, lettuce, mint, mulberries, parsley, peapods, peas, radishes, rhubarb, spinach, strawberries and violets.

Summer focuses on basil, beans, beet greens, blackberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, cherries, chokecherries, collards, corn, cucumbers, currants, daikon radish, daylilies, dill, eggplant, elderberries, gooseberries, grape leaves, ground cherries, kohlrabi, mesclun, mustard greens, nasturtiums, okra, peaches, raspberries, summer savory, summer squash, tomatoes, watermelon, zucchini

Autumn focuses on apples, beets, broccoflower, broccoli, broccoli rabe, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, garlic, grapes, horseradish, kiwi fruit, lima beans, onions, pawpaws, pears, peppers, persimmons, plums, popcorn, potatoes, pumpkins, tomatoes (green), turnips, winter squash, yams (sweet potatoes).

Winter focuses on herbs that can be grown in pots (marjoram, oregano, rose geranium, rosemary, sage, tarragon, thyme), kale, leeks, maple syrup, parsnips, rutabagas, soybeans, sprouts, and watercress.

The entry for individual items generally begins with a few paragraphs of general information (e.g., nutritional value, uses, and preparation) and some also include personal anecdotes and memories related to the item. The recipes include both the basics (e.g., steaming asparagus in the microwave) to the innovative (e.g., asparagus shortcake). The entries for a given item often wrap up with a list of additional ideas for use. Some items such as parsley offer suggestions for preserving a surplus. The book's charm is further spiced by the illustrations provided by Ellen Walsh. As a final selling point, the book includes an exhaustive index and a modest list of resources ranging from books to seeds to kitchen equipment.

This is possibly one of the best kept secrets on cooking out of your garden. The recipes are delicious and most of the ingredients are already in your kitchen. The seasonal format simplfies finding a recipe (and there is an alphabetical listing included also). The author has included throughout the book priceless pieces of history and wonderful bits of humor. "Mrs. Maendl's Dill Pickles" is a recipe that is "as much fun to read" as the pickles "good to eat"! When people ask me about them, I HAVE to tell them I made them exactly as the recipe states. Read it and you'll understand! Marian Towne has come up with the perfect solutions for all those fresh fruits and veggies we painstakingly grow. I even managed to use up a considerable amount of zucchini without my children noticing! Even if you are not a gardener, you'll want to run to the next Farmer's Market after seeing this book.

This is a classic bibliographic work of folklore scholarship by one of the founders of the academic discipline. Even though other scholars went on to put together similar regional reference, no other volume has the scope of this one. It was and is one of the basic necessities for any academic reference library.

In its original incarnation, the "Motif Index" was a set of multiple volumes, each one more unwieldy than the next. A single search might easily require shuffling back and forth between several volumes. It's good to see that all these volumes have been combined onto one CD. That should make using the Index a much easier process.

Thompson's 'Motif Index" (multi volume set)is a classic in folklore scholarship. Every student of folklore studies necessarily needs to handle this reference sources which catalogues and categorizes folk tales, legends and other "narratives" in terms of "motifs". One folktale can have many motifs. The study of motifs is important to trace the "history" of the tale and its variants. SRS/PR

This set of books classify all known myths and folk tales, in terms of both story and motif. Invariably, any book analyzing myths will simply use Thompson's notation (Aa ###) whenever placing the myths discussed in a multi-cultural or syncretic context. For an understanding of Thompson's work rather than referencing the literally encyclopedic result, see _Types_of_the_Folktale_.