Maryland Books

Anne Yentsch has made an important contribution to the history of eighteenth century Chesapeake and the Calvert family (English nobles) who lived at 58 State Circle in Annapolis, Maryland. This monograph represents only a fraction of publications on the historical archaeology of the Chesapeake.

Charles Calvert, the Fifth Lord Baltimore, sent his young cousin, Captain Charles Calvert to govern the colony in 1720. Captain Calvert purchased the property in 1728, not as a townhouse for his immediate family but as an extended Calvert family site. He made improvements and purchased additional lots to expand the site. His tenure as Governor ended with his replacement by Benedict Leonard Calvert, one of the Lord's younger brothers. Edward Henry Calvert, another brother, came as an assistant. Governor Benedict Leonard Calvert made extensive improvements during the early 1730s. Credit is given to Benedict Leonard Calvert for making the site a showplace and powerful statement. Benedict Leonard enjoyed classicism, its architecture and its gardens.

The occupation of the Calverts would be short lived. Edward Henry Calvert died in 1730 and his widow returned to England. Benedict Leonard resigned his post in 1731, set sail for England, and died enroute. Captain Charles Calvert died in 1734, followed by his wife Rebecca. The home was left in the hands of five-year-old Elizabeth Calvert, the only living child of Captain Charles and Rebecca Calvert. Elizabeth was left in the care of a minor Venetian nobleman, Onorio Razolini, and his wife. About the same time, Lord Baltimore's illegitimate son, Benedict Swingate (Calvert), came to live in Annapolis. In 1748 he and Elizabeth Calvert would marry and occupy the house on State Circle. The site would undergo substantial renovations in the 1770s including a complete reorientation of the house and the demolition of the orangerie (structures wealthy men built to house tropical plants) and hypocast.

The book is primarily an archaeological case study supplemented with historical documents. The history of early Maryland is presented from a material culture perspective. For Yentsch, historical archaeology's location is "at the interface of history and anthropology" (p. 316). She uses material culture to interpret outward from the site to the complex culture of eighteenth century Maryland. Drawing on archival and pictorial evidence, historical and ethnographic literature, material culture studies and artifacts, Yentsch merges standard regional histories with ethnohistory, folklore, symbolic anthropology, and feminist theory. Typical of preservation-oriented excavations, her study was undertaken under the threat of redevelopment.

Yentsch uses the first and major portion of the text to establish the eighteenth century Chesapeake's cultural parameters. To this end, she describes the Calvert family's use of their social and economic resources to negotiate a New World power base. She explores the symbolic role of gardening and orangeries, which reflected the desire to dominate nature and people poorer than they.

In the second part, Yentsch relates the practices of the Calverts' African and African American slaves. Almost nothing is recovered in the way of artifacts. She draws upon comparative data from diverse regions and periods concerning West African and African-American values and traditions. The data comes from eighteenth century South Carolina, nineteenth century Georgia, and twentieth century Africa. Yentsch devotes several chapters to food, from its production and procurement to its serving and social meaning. Food was an important social, cultural, and economic indicator setting apart rich from poor, Anglo from African. For the most part, the chapters about the slaves leave the reader asking for more. The majority of the data comes from Captain Charles Calvert's inventory in 1734 showing 31 slaves of whom 19 were children.

In the final chapters, Yentsch proposes a multidisciplinary and multicultural orientation towards more humanistic interpretations in historical archaeology. Her explanations are more anecdotal than analytical. She fails to explain why and how the community assumed the appearance it did - the complex processes involving ethnic, racial, and social contributions to how and why colonial Marylanders changed.

A Chesapeake Family has few flaws. There are some grammatical and editorial errors. The book is accessible to both general and scholarly audiences. For the non-archaeologists, it is a good primer with a glossary of technical terms. However, archaeologists will not find statistical comparison of the evidence. Yentsch admits, this "is not so much about archaeology as about the ways one can use the historical record and knowledge about anthropology to supplement traditional artifact interpretation" (p. xxii). This book is a good example of what archaeology can offer to historians and others with an interest in the American past.

Ms. Yentsch has obviously done a great deal of research on the Calvert site--and everything else even remotely related to it. If one is interested in the archaeology of the Calvert home and the story of the family and the slaves who lived there--as suggested by the title--he will have to sift through a great deal of peripheral material. And then he will have several questions still unanswered, especially about the Calvert slaves. It would be unreasonable to expect every archaeologist or historian to write with the wit and flowing style of Ivor Noel Hume, but we have a right to expect better than the pompous verbiage used in this volume. Following is a one sentence example--selected at random--about the privy near the State House:

"While the replication of style may have been a political act of appropriation (symbolically inverting the prior order), or the emulation and use of a newly fashionalbe form, in terms of the positional relationships it set up on the State Circle landscape, an opposition between the octagonal forecourt at the Calvert house and the outhouse was clearly set in place." (p. 274, 275)

I have always been curious about the Chesapeake Wetlands. They are so beautiful and mysterious. The Great Marsh took me on a wonderful tour. I have a new appreciation for the ecological importance of the Chesapeake Wetlands, and for the potential danger of attempting to navigate them as a novice. This is a great coffee table book as well. The photos are beautiful.

Many exquisite photos grace this volume, as well as some interesting facts. However, the excessive references (both in photos and text) to trapping, fishing, and hunting frequently intrude upon what could otherwise have been an enjoyable and informative coffee-table-type introduction to the marsh habitat. Those who love the marsh for its beauty and for non-violent enjoyment of its wildlife might want to look for a more wildlife-friendly book. The graphic descriptions of skinning animals are especially offensive and unnecessary.

A few of these stories are redeaming. The one in which a girl pretends to be a lesbian, and the man learning how to fly-fish. The rest of them are downright terrible and should be avoided like the plague. The editor, Edward Faine, has the worst story among the bunch. It reads like it was written by a 16 year old high school student. Don't waste your money.

Great Writers Great Stories is an eclectic collection featuring work from 27 Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. authors. Hats off to editor Ed Faine for presenting work that covers diverse subjects, yet maintains a common thread, making for a smoother read than in many anthologies. While there is a delicate balance of poetic language and subtle imagery, there is also a vivid, often harsh look at reality throughout the collection.

A quote from Barbara Westwood Diehl's "Sparrows in Rain" shows this balance well - "Then bottles hit the sidewalk and rain glass into the street. I worry about my car, and hope the patch of impatiens I planted around the tree out front will be all right." The reader simply has no choice. The scene is real, the characters are alive, and so the reader cares about the outcome. She cares about the fragile relationship of mother and daughter in "Marble Sandcastles" by Lalita Noronha, and the protagonist and her sick dog in R.R. Angell's "It Could Be Worse" and indeed, about every character in every story in Great Writers Great Stories.

For consistently presenting stories that linger on the reader's mind long after putting the book down, care given to language, and characters and situations worth caring about, not to mention the coffee table quality cover of spring scenes at the U.S. National Arboretum, Great Writers Great Stories deserves 5 stars.

I ordered this item because I didn't know how to identify the birds I was seeing in my neighborhood. Initially, I thought it was a bound book and I noted in another review, that it was a fold out, which is important, and should be mentioned in the description, but for me, a fold out suited just fine. You can easily find the bird you want to identify, by unfolding the book and seeing them all at once, instead of trying to thumb through a thick bird guide or index. I've lost patience trying to find birds that way, in other books I've bought, though the more complete volumes certainly have their use for detailed research. This one gives you a good starting reference and is also limited to the local birds that you might actually encounter, on a regular basis.

I thought it was a book, it's not. It's just a fold. I'd send it back, but with shipping cost it's not worth it.

In The Maryland 400 in the Battle of Long Island, 1776, author Linda Reno calls much needed attention to the important role her native Maryland played in the American Revolution. Too long ignored as an unremarkable little state, Maryland is, to the contrary, a little state with a giant history. But few Americans know that history, and too many transplant revisionists with political axes to grind, in addition to having culturally cleansed Maryland, have reduced her tumultuous past to a dull fiction. The Marylanders who fought at the Battle of Long Island in the summer of 1776, as Walt Whitman once observed, were "the flower of some of the finest families of the South." Beautifully attired in scarlet and buff uniforms or robust hunting shirts, their courage unmatched, they, as one participant in the battle wrote, "shamed" the Northern troops, many of whom displayed cowardice and fled the British and their barbarous hirelings, the Hessians. The Marylanders valiantly held their ground against superior numbers who, in the main, fully intended to give no quarter to the Americans.

In this lively account of the battle that almost cost the colonies their freedom, Ms. Reno emphasizes that "much work remains to be done" to determine just who the Maryland 400 were. Presenting, company by company, her findings to date, she offers the caveat that "the search continues." What is certain is that a group of young Marylanders un-wavering in the face of unspeakable butchery took their stand at the Old Stone House in Brooklyn, New York on August 27, 1776, winning the affection and gratitude of General George Washington and a nascent American Republic that would have died aborning were it not for their heart-breaking sacrifice.

Unfortunately, despite the author's honorable intentions, this book is completely inaccurate and should not be taken as a reliable account of the "Maryland 400." It appears to be based entirely on sources found online rather than on original 18th-century documents.

Reno's list of the officers, men, and companies of the Maryland Battalion is all wrong - she relies mostly on a single muster roll she found in the Internet that reflects the composition of the regiment in early 1776, *not* in the late summer when it was at New York and had undergone major reorganization. She misidentifies 3 out of the 5 companies that formed the "400," as well as most of the officer corps. She also gets the casualties wrong (repeatedly), as well as the important details of the battle.

There are many, many original documents in the Maryland State Archives in Annapolis, the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore, etc. that give an accurate picture, but apparently Ms. Reno did not consult them, relying instead on a few incomplete and misleading sources that she found online.

In fact, if you read the book carefully, you will find that it is full of internal contradictions caused by this misunderstanding of the sources. A few weeks of actual archival research would have set the record straight.

Overall, this book is an example of the kind of history that can result when an author relies on "Google" research rather than hard work in the actual archives. It is sad to think that it may end up on the shelves of reputable libraries to mislead students, historians, and genealogists for generations to come. Rather than illuminating the true history of the "Maryland 400," as the author intended to do, she has succeeded only in obscuring it still further.

There are many things in this book that are outdated... for example, 6 Flags is referred to as Adventure World. I wou
ld definitly pass on buying this book.

Maryland trivia compiler Shirley Menendez and others have performed a very worthwhile service with this excellent book. It encompasses a broad spectrum of topics. You will be amazed by some obscure facts you never knew existed.
The history chapter of this book by accident omits a significant event in the history of Baltimore. My great-grandfather was a German immigrant named Boston Fear. He created Walbrook: Baltimore's very first suburb. Walbrook was originally named Fearville in honor of Boston Fear. The movie industry's very first superstar, Francis X. Bushman, was given his very first job in life by Boston Fear.
Few books have ever been written pertaining to the subject of Maryland trivia. I highly suggest you own a copy of this book!

I really enjoyed this book. Not enough Governors pen their memoirs. If you like a first-hand account of being Maryland Governor, you'll enjoy this book.

Do not waste your time or money! Just make a donation to the state archives. This reckless work attempts to rewrite history using false and libelous depictions. The only discernible purpose of the author, an all-but-forgotten politician who accepts awards for having protecting what remains a notoriously polluted bay, is shameful self-promotion in an attempt to keep his name alive. Harry Hughes unsuccessfully tries to take credit for a campaign success that was in truth a monumental and heroic victory for the pro-life movement in this politically liberal state. The true story of honesty, ethics and public service is the story of the young and hopeful Lieutenant Governor, Samuel Walter Bogley III, and his brave and beautiful young wife, (both defamed by Hughes in his book) who together gave a voice to thousands of pro-life voters and the innocent unborn children they joyfully defended. Hughes would have better served history by writing a confessional and crediting the courageous young man who inspired the movement that made him governor. Hughes would have remained "a lost ball in tall grass" if not for Bogley's supporters that kicked him through the goal to the governor's house.

Sudden Fury never received the praise it deserved and it is probably out of print, but it's still a good read overall, and quite a heartbreaking true crime story. Leslie handles the investigative aspects of the case well, and presents a clear picture. There's no suspense here, of course, but it's such a well known story. I reread this recently, and was surprised to find I found it quite engaging.

Larry Swartz grew up to be a wonderful human being that touched many lives. Married with a daughter, he recently died suddenly at age 38 of heart attack. It is known by few that all the Swartz neighbors new of the obuse that went on in this house and never did anything to help the children, then when Larry snapped, becasue of their guilt they all created a hugh cover up to SAVE themselves not Larry, and he took this secret with him to the grave because he did not want to hurt anyone else.

Anyone who has read this book may wonder, as did a reviewer here on Amazon.com, how this book could have been so poorly edited. There is a good explanation.

The publisher assigned one editor to work with me on the book. After I submitted the manuscript, the editor was to review it, and return a copy for my approval. The publisher never sent the edited manuscript to me before it was submitted for publication. I noticed the editing changes when I first saw the book in its published form. I can not adequately express my disappointment when I viewed the finished product. Text was moved, removed and rewritten drastically compared to how it was submitted. In one case, a fragmented sentence appears in the middle of a page.

After I expressed my strong disatisfaction with the final product to the pubisher, they told me the editor was fired soon after I submitted the manuscript. The publisher made no attempt to tell me of the editor's firing during the editing process. They also showed no interest in removing the initial print run from distribution. These developments were a tremendous disappointment

As a former Terp student-athlete, I was very excited to work on this book. I thoroughly enjoyed compiling and writing the material. And despite its blemishes, it was listed as a best-seller in the sports non-fiction category within months of its release.

I hope anyone who purchases this book or has purchased the book can read beyond the mistakes to enjoy it for what it provides--a fun reflection on a storied and proud sports program. If they can not, I understand.

I did write a second Maryland book with the publisher, "Legends of Maryland Basketball", and I am happy to report the editor I worked with was very professional and a pleasure to work with. And, to my knowledge, the editing was superb. But to this author, one out of two is not good enough.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Dave Ungrady
Author, "Tales from the Maryland Terrapins"

As a two-time graduate of the University of Maryland and a rabid Terrapin fan for 25 years, I desperately wanted to enjoy this book. It does contain lots of information about the development of athletics at UM from the beginning to the present. But it needs a thorough editing/proofing. There are far too many repetitions, lapses, confusing passages, and grammatical errors for a book that made it to print--enough that they detracted from my reading experience. For example, the author sometimes refers to individuals by last name long before ever identifying them by full name and role, leading to the question of "Who is THAT?" All-in-all, this one was disappointing. Go Terps!

I bought this book for a research project I was working on for my history class, and I never found a book more tedious than this one. Kulikoff focuses his research on economic and demographic statistics explained in very long, boring paragraphs. In addition to that he highlights the statistics with MANY charts and graphs. For a reader wanting to know the social history on Tobacco and Slaves in the early Chesapeake, this book is NOT for you. If you're looking for numbers and dates and charts, look no further.

Tobacco and Slaves is a synthesis that attempts to trace the development of culture in Maryland and Virginia. He approaches this task in three parts; the first is a very detailed survey of demographic and economic development, while the second and third parts analyze the formation of white and black societies. A materialist/New Left framework shapes Kulikoff's interpretations in that he acknowledges that "this work is predicated upon a form of historical materialism that gives material conditions (demography and the economy in particular) a privileged role in the formation of ideologies, classes, and cultures" (16). Additionally, the book's theme centers on the development and relationship of economic classes. Yet, Kulikoff seems to be consciously avoiding a "bottom-up" approach to history that tends to shape much of the work produced by the New Left. Instead, he attempts, sometime awkwardly, to show the whole of Chesapeake society, black and white, as it developed over one hundred twenty years.

There is much to praise in this book, the scope of material presented and researched is impressive, and Kulikoff's survey of slave families is quite valuable. One drawback is that his insistence on materialistic causation minimizes human agency and gives short-shrift to the complexities of human motivations and behaviors. Indeed, the materialist model is not entirely satisfactory, but the reader does not need to accept all of Kulikoff's conclusions to appreciate the complexities of Chesapeake society that he so ably presents.