Maryland Books

When I finished reading The Model Maker I felt like Uncle Bill was now my Uncle Bill. Brett Webber's simple yet clear and engaging text drew me into Uncle Bill's WWII experiences as well as his present purpose in making the model airplanes. As a retired elementary school teacher and reading specialist I can see that Model Maker as a useful tool to help children understand a significant yet often ignored time in American history. The glossory also makes this a useful book for children learning how to do research and write reports. Eileen Slifer's illustrations and color choices bring Uncle Bill to life. The black and white images of the WWII flashbacks give young readers visual clues that these pages are a story within a story. My dad is also a WWII veteran and I intend to give him this book as a gift.

The Model Maker is an incredible synthesis of art and history. Weber's lucid writing is brought to life by Slifer's innovative and lifelike watercolor illustrations which establish a powerful mood on the first page that continues through the entire book.. The book gives a straight forward history of the Battle of the Bulge that is easily within the grasp of school age children.

The story is told from the perspective of a veteran looking back on the events that shaped his life and altered the course of history. Way beyond just history, the book is a personal, inviting the reader into the confidence into the home of the narrator.

The simple writing style and full page illustrations work together to create a book that is at once inspiring and informative.

This book is a must for all working moms and moms in general. It's all about the day to day trials of motherhood and will have you alternately laughing and crying. I first read it years ago when initially published and have recently bought copies for all of my female relatives. You won't regret reading and will probably go back and re-read it several times.

Susan Reimer has an incredible way of letting you know that your "so called crazy & hectic life" is normal. I read this book in two days (could have been one had I not started reading at 8 p.m.). From one topic to the next I saw myself and my children and, yes, even my husband! I laughed and I cried......only someone who lived through "motherhood" and all its wonderful stages could have written this book! Kudos to Ms. Reimer for writing about everyday events and making me feel like we're ok because someone else has been there too!

this book proved more fun than i had expected,bringing back many memories of fun times in and around Baltimore. I did not realize the number of neighborhood theaters there were.

I found this book virtually by accident and, when it arrived, instantly neglected everything else for several hours as I dipped and flipped through its delightful pages. This book is a thorough history of all the movie theatres that ever were in Baltimore and, since I grew up there and spent (or misspent) most of my youth in seeing nearly every film that came to town, this was a wonderful wallow in nostalgia as well as an education of the "Gee, I didn't know that" variety. As the book's unfortunately dry title implies, it traces the history of motion picture exhibition in Charm City from 1895 to 2004. The first part of the book is an era-by-era general history. But the second, and more fascinating, part gives a description and history of each individual theatre from the lowly Howard to the mighty Stanley. Arranged alphabetically, it was easy to look up my old favorites and, along the way, find others that I once knew but had totally forgotten about.

It has been more than twenty years since I left Baltimore so I was surprised and a tad shocked to discover how many theatres - both neighborhood and downtown first-runs - no longer exist. There are a number of nice black and photos (of course, in a book like this, there are never enough photos) and information on the architecture and size and seating capacity, as well as the highlights of each theatre's existence. Some entries are, understandably, more detailed than others. If I were to nitpick, it would be to say that the writing style is sometimes a bit too academic. There are occasional anecdotes that give the book a more personal touch and more of these would have been welcome. I certainly re-discovered a wealth of fond memories that were brought back while paging through the book. I expect it will be a book that I will be frequently picking up for a casual browse that will turn into a more extended re-read.

Of course, because I am from Baltimore and knew many of the theatres from personal experience, I find the book fascinating. How much interest there will be for non-Baltimoreans is hard to say. The history of movies theatres in Baltimore is probably similar to that in most large American cities. But, for myself, I am grateful to Robert Headley for all his research, hard work, and obvious love for the subject. It almost makes me want to book a flight back to Baltimore just so I can spend another enchanted evening in the magical darkness of the Senator.

This small volume is nostalgic and informative about the history of schooling in America. The information in the chapter on small schools vs. the larger "factory" schools is insightful, backed by easily digested research, and rather surprising in its revelations. The reader can sense the empathy the author has with the students and the challenges of their learning, and his antagonism against bureaucracy. The section of quaint, old-timey pictures (the school, its teachers and students) is especially enjoyable. I find the book engaging and well worth the price.

While reading,at times,I had a warm feeling come over me. I especially enjoyed the old photographs.Herein is documented alot of history that probably would have been lost.The book left me longing for more stories from the students that attended Mt. Horeb school.I only hope the author had as much joy writing this, as I experienced when reading by lantern or candlelight---as befits the words.

It's great! It tells a Civil War story of my Great-Great Grand-father and
Great-Great Grand-mother (William and Sophia Jeffries). Jerre Garrett did a wonderful job in researching and telling the story of how the Civil War affected so many lives.

This book provides an insightful and detailed look at how life unfolded in the northern-most county of the northern-most broder state, Maryland, during the years of the Civil War. For those interested in the War or Maryland history, this book does an excellent job. You can see precisely how the war affected residents in this rural, slave-holding county and how, eventually, citizens recovered from the war. It's an unusual view (the local perspective in a unique region of the country, one with southern & northern ties), in an area where there are many books -- the civil war.

Was a Negro lynched for a heinous murder of a family of four on Maryland's Eastern Shore in 1931 or did justice prevail through the legal system despite the active involvement of the Communist Party? Moore has interwoven meticulously researched information about the murders and trial with his own legal expertise to produce a fascinating perspective of this tragic event that occurred in a peaceful rural town in the America of the 1930's. He has objectively portrayed the wide-reaching and long-lived interest in this fascinating case which involved not only the Green Davis family and Euel Lee but the Communist Party, the outspoken defense attorney Bernard Ades, and the involvement of a cast of 'minor characters' as diverse as H.L. Mencken and a young Thurgood Marshall. This book is not only a 'good read' but a must for anyone who is interested in events that form the history of small town America during the early part of the 20th century. This book captured my interest from the beginning and made me want to finish it in one sitting!

Normally, the terms "page-turner" and "non-fiction" aren't found in the same sentence; one or two exceptions, such as Walter Lord's WW2 books come to mind. But this fascinating true-crime story of an actual "Murder on Maryland's Eastern Shore" is unique in its presentment of the facts of the case and its rich, authoritative description of rural Maryland life during the Depression.
Because the murderer was black and the victims white, one may readily (and rightly) assume that race will be a central issue in this story of the deaths of a family of four at the hands of a just-fired employee at their small farm on the rural Eastern Shore. Just as it is today, the "race card" was waiting to be played in the trial of the accused killer. And don't think for a moment that the sensational "trial of the century" media-frenzy was invented when O.J. Simpson was on trial...the American press has always loved a juicy murder and this one, albeit absent the celebrity angle, was as juicy as they got back then.
The author, Joe Moore, is a particularly able attorney (and an even abler writer) in Ocean City, MD, who became aware of this case in the 1970s when he was a State's Attorney in Worcester County. Few remembered it and even fewer outside the legal community knew about it. But the basic facts were these: One Euel Lee (AKA Orphan Jones) was arrested for the murder of all four members of the Davis family in their farmhouse between Ocean City and Berlin, MD one October night in 1931. He confessed (no doubt encouraged to do so by at least one police-administered beating) after many items of evidence were discovered in his dwelling and on his person. A Baltimore attorney for the communist International Labor Defense came forward and insisted on representing Lee, then demanded (and got)a change of venue. Two Baltimore trials with all-white juries later, Lee was convicted, his appeals denied, and he was hanged in the Maryland Penitentiary. Admittedly, it doesn't sound like the most high-profile case. But add to the mix that the defense attorney was a communist (no, really...he was a member of the Communist Party, and if that doesn't make somebody a communist, I don't know what does!), H.L.Mencken's anti-Delmarva diatribes and two lynchings on the 'Shore, plus extra-legal maneuverings and some mob violence, and you get a very clear picture of what the justice system was like three decades before Miranda.
Although Lee's guilt was proven beyond a reasonable doubt, this was the last trial in Maryland in which blacks were systematically excluded from jury service, and Lee's first conviction was thrown out on those grounds alone.
I loved this book primarily because I live on the 'Shore and I know every place Joe Moore talks about in this fascinating story. It's scholarly, but not dry; clear, but not stark; lawyerly, but not legal; to-the-point, but not terse. The best parts are the ironies played out after the fact, and the lives of those involved in their later years. It's been said that "Murder will out," and at the very end of this outstanding read, the truth is out, too.

This is truly a 'keeper'. It was not only very funny to read about the family's adventures, it was also a 'How-to' book for living 'off-the-land'. The author shared memorable awe-inspiring moments that let you understand why someone would want to leave the city but at the same time he let you see reality of what the experience would require of you as he gives you a wealth of good self-help information that will be useful. He did the 'trial run' for the reader and left me smiling.

although dated, this book is a must for anyone who wants to live with alternative power or lifestyles. a must for anyone who is a homesteader or "back to the land" person!

This was a delightful read recounting the adventures of a lady whose exuberence and delight in everything around her lifts our spirits and gives us a new perspective on everyday experiences. Nothing escapes her keen sensitivity and she expresses it with exuberant abandon. The recipes are delicious but, one soon forgets that it is a cookbook. Or is it? The best recipe in the book is the one Ms. Gamble gives us for living life every moment.

Every chapter in this delightful book is a small treasure; a happy and reassuring reminder in these hectic times that life's many little pleasures are all around us, just waiting for discovery. Elizabeth Gamble's adventures, as the book's title indicates, take us across continents and oceans -- and we lucky readers are always in wonderful company, and wherever we are, never far from hearth and home. So settle in to an easy chair and enjoy a sunny and optmistic read, then head for the kitchen with family and friends, try out a couple of the wonderful recipes, and thank Ms. Gamble for inviting us all along for a perfectly lovely time.

this book was so good and the author was so smart too, she knew altituff about stuff like history andyster boats and twins and friendship and family brother-sister love, even though MY brother is really annoying and not so cool as the one in the book, I guess I love him, too, like the girl in the book

I thought that Oyster Moon is a great book because I had no idea that the people on the drudger boats could be so cruel. In fact, I had no idea about this whole topic. It is an educational book without the reader realizing it. I would reccomend Oyster Moon to any reader, young or old.

I loved it. The stories about the village of Oysterback are a joy. Any time I drive past Red Toad Road in the future I will think of her delightful stories. I started her second compilation right after finishing this one, and all I can say is that I wish she would come out with more.

Helen Chappell's great genius is in her characters and her sense of magical realism.