Maryland Books

The Japanese recognize those people who acheive "cult" status in their country by making them National Treasures. This book, written by Lem Ward's daughter Ida Linton is truly a biter-sweet trip through the making of one of America's truly great carved waterfowl painters. Along with his brother Steven who was primarily a carver, the Ward Brothers made a major impact on the world of waterfowl counterfits. As Ida tells the story, you live along with Lem from his hair cutting days, through the depression, and into the later years of his life, with all of it's trials and tribulations. It seems that these things shape a man, as I am sure they, with his faith in God, shaped him. If you like waterfowl carvings as I do I am sure you will be touched with this story of the Ward's legacy.

David Hein, a Professor of Religion at Hood College in Maryland, has found gold in the mine of his state's Civil War archives, in this collection of letters written by members of a prominent Maryland family on the eve of and during the war. Hein's book immerses us in civilian life as civil war approached, fiercely as a wind-driven wildfire, personified by the Montgomery County family of Allen Bowie Davis, a prosperous gentleman farmer/legislator from Rockville, then a village north of Washington.

Davis and his wife, Hester, in time became unionists who feared the consequences of a Maryland secession for their state and family. "We may not like the present administration, nor endorse its acts-but-`we had better bear the ills we have than to fly to others that we know not of,'" wrote Hester to her daughter, Rebecca, late in May of 1861. "Let Maryland remain neutral and she may ride out safely this awful storm...I fear this secession element. It would be certain ruin to all our hopes as a family, in this world."

Their son, William Wilkins Davis, was a student at St. James College, a prestigious Episcopal boy's school near Hagerstown, in western Maryland. St. James had the misfortune to lie between opposing armies that tramped incessantly through the region and staged America's bloodiest day on a battlefield a mere seven miles distant, along Antietam Creek. The boys of St. James spent Sunday afternoons in the spring of 1861 not in the library but visiting nearby union and confederate camps. Fearful parents began withdrawing their sons as tensions grew. In the spring of 1861, with the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor and Baltimoreans clashing with northern troops marching through their city, young Wilkins became an impassioned sympathizer for the southern cause. Letters heretofore about food, studies and illness became angry diatribes against Lincoln, Maryland Governor Thomas Hicks, and others perceived to have a foot on the jugular of southern state's rights. "I hereby announce myself, henceforth, a straight out `Southern Rights' man, and want nothing to do with Lincoln, his party or anything connected with him, or it, unless it is to help thrash him," he wrote to sister Rebecca on May 21, 1861. "I can no longer support a man whose avowed intention is to subjugate the South...and our contemptible, cowardly, lying governor winks at every thing [he] does without the lest compunction." Such words remind us that 19th century political discourse could also be ugly and coarse.

Both young Wilkins and St. James fared poorly in the cauldron of conflict. The boy took ill early in the war and, despite periods of good health, he died in 1866. The college closed its doors in 1864, an educational casualty of war.

Hein's book captures the complexity of the Civil War in a state of abolitionists, pro-slavery unionists, anti-slavery southern sympathizers and non-slaveholding secessionists. We see a pivotal Maryland through the eyes of adults and children, and the consequences of war for familial relationships, religious values and educational institutions. Hein's crisp editorial commentary knits these letters chronologically, supplying time and place for the Davis family to tell of life in the tumultuous middle of the nineteenth century. We are in the debt of this slender volume, for reminding us that a history replete with leaders and battles is incomplete absent the insights of sons and daughters, and mothers and fathers.

This book is part of a trilogy. They are all 3 wonderful books. I have all 3 in my private collection. If you like horses, you'll enjoy every minute.

Tales from the Orioles Dugout features reminiscences from thirty-five players and one manager. Players from different eras in the Orioles' history are showcased, though admittedly I read the chapters detailing the team under Earl Weaver's stewardship with the most relish. There is a collective sense that, though the pint-sized manager may have been prickly to deal with, the players in retrospect respect both him and what they were able to accomplish together. There are a number of humorous stories that I, a longtime fan, nevertheless found myself reading for the first time. There is also a touching sense of what it meant to work together as a team, rather than a collection of individuals. The book does not have any interviews with some of the greatest figures in the team's history, such as Eddie Murray and Frank Robinson, but O's fans are fully aware that while both gentlemen were great players, they sometimes were not willing to deal with the media. Regardless, accounts by Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson, Cal Ripken, Ken Singleton and a host of others make for pleasurable reading indeed. (The only puzzler is why Tippy Martinez couldn't remember that it was Joe Altobelli, not Weaver, who was his manager the game he picked three runners off first in one inning!) Overall, this book is warmly recommended.

Fun Chinese stories for kids to read--"The Cricket", "The Girl in Green", more. Good book for raising cultural awareness.

Authors Debbie Nunley and Karen Jane Elliot have been on a quest to find those who are passionate about both fine dining and historic preservation, and Maryland provided them with the best opportunities to visit restaurants steeped in both fine food and rich history. A Taste Of Maryland History: A Guide To Historic Eateries And Their Recipes thus serves two distinct purposes: as a survey of Maryland historic establishments it provides would-be travelers with a guide to fine historic eating houses across the state, providing an entire page of history to compliment the authors' descriptions of the atmosphere and offerings they experienced today. And as a cookbook, it provides a fine collection of these signature dishes, selecting several from each establishment which have been adapted to home cook proportions. Enjoy Pan-Roasted Scallops with Ginger and Lemon Grass or Buffalo-Style Pizza in a fine gathering. Highly recommended both for Maryland history buffs, cooks, and armchair travelers alike.

This is a good recap of the dream season the Terps went through. The pictures are clear and the articles are pretty interesting.. but the best part is page 120 where front and center with red-painted face and mouth wide open is.... ME! I'm famous now. You should buy this so I can get some royalty checks or something.

Set in a Maryland fishing village in the early 1930's, This Child's Gonna Live by Sarah E. Wright is the harshly candid story of Mariah Upshur, the African-American wife of a poor oysterman, and who is struggling to keep her family together despite smothering press of poverty and despair. This Child's Gonna Live is the superbly written and heartrending tale of a monumental effort for family survival under the harsh realities of rural poverty. Of special interest in this Feminist Press edition of an African-American literary classic is the inclusion of the Sarah E. Wright's essay, "The Writer's Responsibility".

This book is rich in history and accurate in detail. A very good read for anyone interested in the Patuxent River or Chesapeake Bay region. Good photographs and accounts of underwater archeology.

To Save Her Dream is the most "reader-friendly" book I've had the pleasure to read. The author supplements his very readable account of his struggle to preserve a friend's historic horse farm from urban sprawl with a website that provides voluminous background material and updates on the continuing battle. This makes it easy to delve into additional material or pass on it at the reader's desire, and it helps answers every reader's question about every true story, "I wonder what happened after the book ends?"
At its simplest level it is tale of friendship between a younger man and an older woman who join forces to preserve a romantic piece of land against the forces that would rape it. On a more sophisticated level it details the complicated legal dance forced upon the man who just wouldn't say "uncle" to government pressure and urban development. Far from being a victim, the author mounts a serious challenge after the woman's death to the government's reliance on the power of eminent domain to take away the private property of a devoted naturalist. The legal challenges this non-lawyer mounts to the statutes of fraud and limitations are written in very understandable fashion that make these dry laws comprehenisble to the reader.
This fascinating account of a modern-day David standing up to the government Goliath will inspire both environmentalists and proponents of individual rights. This description of a non-lawyer fighting through the courts to preserve history from development will hearten the reader on some pages and sadden her on others.
The author gives the reader one last gift with his musings at the end of the book on a path not taken. This makes it especially fun to consider the possibilities for the farm, the author, and his friend had the author made few different decisions earlier in life.