Kentucky Books

Muhlenberg County (KY) (Images of America) (Images of America (Arcadia Publishing))I recently purchased this book and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. This book has brought back so many fond memories of my early life in Muhlenberg County. It was amazing how many people I recognized and each had a story from "My Life Review". The book was compiled in a very systemic way which made it easier to recall the events for me personally. Thanks to Roberson & Anderson for all their hard work, please give us more.

This weekend, I read and finished two beautiful books, both fiction: Nancy Culpepper, by Bobby Ann Mason, and Forgetfulness, by Ward Just, both published in 2006.

Nancy Culpepper is a set of short stories about the protagonist, augmented by a novella about her parents, Spence + Lila (first published in the 80s --I loved when it first came out).

Nancy is from Kentucky. Her parents, Spence and Lila, are hard-scrabble farmers who eventually do better with a small dairy farm. Until her grandmother dies --the first forty-one years of their married life-- Spence and Lila live with or close to her grandmother, never traveling.

Nancy married an easterner, a photographer named Jack. They live in Cambridge MA and later somewhere rural in Pennsylvania. Later, when they separate, they move around.

The book is about Nancy's dance: between her country roots and her love of her parents on the one side and her eastern education (Radcliffe, I think --I don't want to hunt it up right now), tastes and manners.

The first three short stories, written in the 80s and early 90s, are wonderful. Spence + Lila is a gem --it narrates Lila's stay in the hospital for a mastectomy and an operation on one of her carotid arteries, but it's really about love, family, acceptance and spunk. It reminds you of feelings within your own family that you have but seldom or never articulate. It also reminds you that love doesn't have to be articulate to be felt.

The final short stories --there are two or three-- are good but not as good as the first ones. But it doesn't make a difference.

Mason's stories capture an engaging personality striving to make sense and gain pleasure from a life that has its share of stresses and disconnects but is ultimately self-affirming. Mason's view of life is intensely local and real, but ultimately benevolent. She writes about *connection. It's a lovely book.

(I reviewed Mason's Feather Crowns for Library Journal when it came out and loved it. Her collection of short stories, Shiloh, is superb. Her novel, In Country, evoked the best performance Bruce Willis ever gave when it was translated --fairly faithfully-- into a movie.)

David Keymer
Modesto, CA

This turns out to be an outstanding book and I'm very happy to have it. The text is pleasant to read, written in a friendly and personal way. The pictures are crisp and beautiful, and laid out nicely alongside the text for easy access while reading the description. One outstanding feature is the detailed habitat information based on the author's years of field experience in observing the habitats of each of these orchids. Another stand-out is that the author has done the photography himself, resulting in pictures that support and complement the text very well. I checked several books on orchids and wildflowers while trying to identify an orchid in my forest (which turns out to be a lily-leaved twayblade), and I found this book to be the best. In summary, I'm impressed with this book. I hope it will set a new standard for other books on regional wildflowers.

We bought a copy by reason of sheer vanity since you quoted a good part of our conversation verbatim. It's not vanity that keeps me coming back again and again to read a few more of your entries about various locations around the state. Each entry is a vivid word picture of the experience you had on the particular day you made your visit. That's a lot more than most travel guides offer and a whole lot more interesting.

I purchased this gift for a 94 year old friend who grew up in Newport, KY. She was thrilled with the gift, and phoned me to say how much she enjoyed remembering her early life as she read the book.

Got book fine from vendor, Very helpful and had some good maps also.

When I read the professional book review, I was disappointed, for the reviewer either does not understand the story told here or lacks certain cognitive ability....This is a great book, well researched and extremely well documented. This is not the story of some heathen band of farmers being puppeted by large land holders as the reviewer stumbles with. This is a document which validates the efforts of those farmers with enough foresight and guts to break the chains of slavery imposed by a monopolistic market place, controlled by "the trust", James B Duke, who was the American Tobacco Company (yes, same Duke as the University and Duke Power)who controlled all aspects of the tobacco market in the United States and Europe.(The reviewer mentions Missouri and Illinois which never in history have grown tobacco and do not enter into the picture in any frame here except that the author may have taught in Universities in those states.) And these undereducated farmers then took steps to enforce the fact that no farmer could benefit unjustly from the sacrifices made by all the member farmers of the Tobacco Association to bring about the end to the unjust enrichment of the Trust. This is the story of economic justice at the point of force, first of numbers and then the willingness to commit talk to action in defending the future of every farm family in Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee...with blood for blood if necessary. This is a story of economic and social action. It is an enduring story...which lasted into the new millenium...until today...
Only in the racial aspects attempted to be pulled into the frame of the picture does Waldrep venture into left field...it was never about race. Blacks were involved as association members and even as Night Riders...and although not in actions pivitol, they fought bravely for economic justice on their own terms. I am currently writing my book "The last Night Rider" which tells the story as it was lived by my family....my grandfather was the next door neighbor to Dr Dave Amoss, the Night Rider General....My four great uncles were all heavily involved in all of the raids and activities. I recommend the Waldrep book...it is very good reading....

_Normandy to Victory: The War Diary of General Courtney H. Hodges and the First US Army_ will no doubt be acclaimed as the best primary source contribution since Martin Blumenson's two-volume _The Patton Papers_. This daily log kept by Lt. Gen. Courtney H. Hodges' aide Major William Sylvan (& Capt. Francis G. Smith Jr.), is often noted as the Sylvan diary in countless histories from D-Day to VE-Day. From numerous volumes in the US Army official history in World War II (commonly called "The Green Books"), to seminal carvings by well known ETO historians like Martin Blumenson, Charles B. MacDonald, and Russell F. Weigley, the Sylvan diary has been indispensible for gaining insight into the operations of First US Army. Now, John T. Greenwood has transcribed and painstakingly edited this monumental source into book form, for serious researchers and interested readers alike. .

The original copy of the Sylvan diary is housed at the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas, with photo-copy versions at US Army Military History Institute at Carlisle, PA, and National Archives and records Administration (NARA) II at College Park, Maryland. Locating the latter copy versions has, at times, frustrated researchers when staff at Carlisle claims only NARA has it, and vice-versa.

Greenwood has done a marvelous job editing the Sylvan diary. In the Introduction, he states that the diary is "in edited form" but he is unclear if any portions have been edited out. The daily entries start on June 2, 1944 and end on May 7, 1945, indicating that it is most likely intact. He has arranged the daily logs into topical chapters covering every major campaign from D-Day, the breakout from Normandy, The Huertgen Forest, The Battle of the Bulge, the Remagen Bridge crossings of the Rhine River to the link-up with the Russian forces. Army headquarters were kept informed of the big picture of events taking place outside their sphere of operations, so news of Operations MARKET-GARDEN and The landings in southern France (ANVIL-DRAGOON), among others are also injected. As with all HQ documents the entries are often concise and cover the daily operations of corps, division, and sometimes regiments throughout the entire drive of First Army across Europe. The logs also give insight to Hodges daily activities, command style, and a full range of problems confronting an Army headquarters in the field. Surprisingly, in spite of the choppiness of the original writing style, the dairy entries are quite readable. Within the text, Greenwood corrects misspelled words and when only an individual's last name was used, provides the person's military rank and full name in brackets alongside the original. In copious endnotes, he adds factual information for clarity and a biographical sketch of nearly every person mentioned in the diary, but purposely leaves out opinions, arguments, historical debates and controversies. This tendency to provide only the facts, gives the biographical sketches a dull encyclopedia entry flavor which spills over into the short biography of Courtney H. Hodges that opens the book.

The book itself is handsomely bound utilizing high quality paper. There are about 298 pages of diary and with intro, Hodges bio, notes, bibliography, and index total about 575 pages. A few West Point style maps of the major campaigns and a high glossy photo section containing many photographs not usually seen in other ETO histories rounds out the book.

Military historians have long been aware that the role of General Hodges has remained hidden in the shadows of more flamboyant commanders like General Patton and British Field Marshal Montgomery. The accomplishments of First Army are certainly undeservingly over-shadowed by that of Patton's famous Third Army. This slanted view is beginning to change. In _A Command Post at War: First Army Headquarters in Europe 1943-1945_, David W. Hogan Jr. (2000) relies heavily on the Sylvan diary in his well researched tome. Now, thanks to John T. Greenwood the Sylvan diary and the role of Hodges and his First Army will reach a wider audience and the verdict of history may be overturned. The significance of this volume cannot be overstressed. Very highly recommended.

This is a nicely done overview of Northern Kentucky University's first 30+ years as an institution of higher learning. Since the school is so young, all of the pictures are contemporary and show the school and surrounding since its inception. One of my favorite images is an aerial view of the freshly cleared land from the intersection of US 27 and Nunn Drive. In the distance, Nunn hall is visible, but little else. In the foreground the Hiland Motel is still standing, and though the land has been cleared, nothing stands on the site of the eventual Thriftway store. This is a great series of books for anyone interested in local history.

This is a great book for kids (and adults!) to learn more about Kentucky's capitol building. It contains photos and information about the Rotunda, Legislature, Senate, Governor's office, and the Kentucky Supreme Court. There are photos of visitor favorites like the floral clock, the doll display, and Lincoln's statue. It also contains information about the Old Capitol and its famous floating staircase. It has tons of interesting tidbits and a glossary at the end. The book would be a great companion to a trip to Frankfort and the Capitol. It's well written and the photos are beautiful!