Ohio Books

The book begins with an excellent demographic background of Cincinnati and the surrounding area and gives the reader a true feeling of the baseball climate in SW Ohio, in 1869 and now. I found the interviews with Sparky Anderson, Buddy Bell, Johnny Bench, Brooks Robinson, Bernie Stowe, Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, and a host of others insightful and enlightening. This is no typical historical biography of the Big Red Machine. This is an indepth look at what made the Machine tick and how it accomplished the amazing feats it did. This book is a must for the true Reds fan and baseball lover.

The author of Cincinnati and the Big Red Machine is one of the world's greatest writers and my father. He is Robert H. Walker; not Robert Martin Walker as per the above interview. I'm sure that Robert Martin Walker is a talented author as well, but I think an interview with my Dad would be much more interesting on this subject. He has a great sense of humor too. It's a great book and I'm glad to see it listed.

Nature educators have a way of getting young people to look more intently at the natural world. They place a circle of string -- or even a hula hoop -- on the ground, and ask students to inventory just that enclosed part of the yard. The lesson is that even such a small patch will reveal more life than one might expect, and that what one finds there is a symbolic microcosm of Earth's entire environment. In "The Cincinnati Arch," John Tallmadge has thrown an invisible hula hoop around a city that he never expected to call home and one where he never expected to find Nature or the wild. He takes to heart Thoreau's admonition that "In Wildness is the preservation of the world," and he's surprised to find wildness in this new urban setting. It's not the wild of Minnesota's Boundary Waters or John Muir's Yosemite, of course, but it is Nature unleashed, albeit in small parcels.

What he discovers can be translated to any other urban or suburban environment. After a brief treatise on civilization's focus on time, money, and work, Tallmadge gets down to the dichotomies of nature study: indoor life and outdoor life; wildness and wilderness "out there" and "right here;" stewardship / husbandry and dominion; wildness and landscape restoration; old growth and succession; night and day; water and pollution; war and peace; and our relationship with nature and with other human beings. His observations include such succinct statements as "My backyard is still wilder than most of Europe," (p. 62), and "[W]e are the preeminent alien species." (p. 109) In typical Thoreauvian fashion, Tallmadge sometimes dissects words in order to study their original meanings, before we attached diluted definitions to them. In some discussions, he deftly includes both biblical legends and scientific explanations (like evolution), thus seamlessly covering both camps without favoring or insulting either one. He even approaches the idea of an afterlife, concluding that "One day we may wake up to discover that we have been living in heaven all along." (p. 215) In Cincinnati? Who knew?

In the middle of the book, Tallmadge interrupts his city study to take a side trip with a class of adult students to the Escalante region of Utah. The western canyonland is about as far as you can get from the concrete streets of Cincinnati, and the diversion offers a respite for the readers as well. We and the travelers have time to think about the concepts of beauty, our connectedness to the earth, and what it takes to really KNOW a place. Good lessons, all.

Another side trip is in the offing when Tallmadge visits his family-owned 40-acre woodlot in New Hampshire, intending to make the big decision: to keep it and preserve it, or to sell its resources to a logging company. His commitment to a place of his ancestral roots is admirable, as is his verdict: "[W]hat we do with the land always matters, even if we merely let it alone. We cannot escape playing a part in the story. All we can do is try to understand our choices and then choose as wisely and as responsibly as we can." (p. 182) That sentiment should be sent to every legislator and politician in America today.

I began reading a library copy of this book but soon realized I would have to buy my own so I could underline and savor the best passages. The writings of John Tallmadge belong on the natural history shelves between those of Gary Snyder and Henry David Thoreau. Or if you're filing books by title, put "The Cincinnati Arch" right next to "Desert Solitaire." This volume deserves more attention than it's gotten. Share it with your environmental friends and every nature-blind city-dweller you know.

John Tallmadge is one of the country's finest writers, widely acclaimed for his work on the wilderness. This new book creates a long-overdue synthesis between the natural world and what we ordinarily view as the artificial world of the city. Read it and understand your environment (and your humanity)in a startlingly new light.

This is a wonderful combination of recipes (both current and historical) and Cincinnati drawings and history. I grew up in Cincinnati in the 50's and 60's. This book brings back so many memories and yet provides lots of good cooking. You will truly enjoy this cookbook/travel guide--

After seeing my brother's copy of this wonderful cookbook, I just had to order one for myself. Living in Minnesota now, I can't buy things such as Cincinnati Chili and Goetta, but now I will be able to make a taste of home myself. Flipping through the pages actually brought a tear to my eye because this collection is much more than authentic recipes --- it's a trip down memory lane. Thanks for the memories!

John Beatty intended to speak from the grave to future generations and did so with clarity, humility and with a poignant reminder of the failings of politics and those in power. The magnetic pull of the romance of war and adventure for young men soon morphed into campside remembrances of home and hearth. The diary format made it an easy read quickly drawing you into the life of that period.You can almost smell the adrenalin of the young untried soldiers chomping at the bit to get into a skirmish. Later to sense their fear,hurt,shock and ultimately their inexperience with the harshness of war...after seeing friends disembowled and crying for help...The political passions of that period were at a fever pitch which makes it all the more remarkable given the abscence of CNN and other 24/7 news channels beating the political drums...150 years later and we seemingly have devolved..."Civil War"? the ultimate oxymoron...how can any war be "Civil"...John Beatty scrapes it close to the bone in his revelations about the inefficieny of war...a worthy and very interesting visit to the past!

This soldier's journal from the American Civil War is a delight to read, beautifully written and insightful throughout. John Beatty was sensitive to the horror of war, but also to the humor of it. History has been kind to an author who, in writing this book, was very kind to history.

I bought this book for my father, who grew up riding the Cleveland streetcars. He enjoyed the many pictures, and said the book did a good job of depicting all of the different lines. It brought back a lot of good memories for him.

I found the book excellent with good pictures and a condensed history, but most accurate. I lived in Cleveland during those years and remember much of the information first hand.

This is a great book for any Cleveland Indians fan! I just Wish Lindy Powers would do more books on other sports teams as well! Would love to see some hockey teams do a book like this. Really awesome shots of the players and their families.

This is a great addition to any baseball fans library. Just wish there were more teams that would put out a book like this.

I am a native Clevelander. This book has made me stop and take a real interest in Cleveland's Cultural Gems - The Metroparks. This book has the history, culture and beauty that makes The Metroparks such a special place for all of us. I enjoyed seeing pictures that I have never seen before. I enjoyed learning about the people and places that shaped the parks. And most of all, it made me get out and explore the parks on my own!

This is an excellent chronicle of the past and present of a beautiful place -- the Cleveland Metroparks. Although I now live in California, I grew up in Cleveland and spent untold hours exploring the Metroparks. This superb book -- which tells its story through well-chosen old and new photographs, and concise and elegant explanatory text -- brings this very special place to life for the reader. Through the book, I revisited places within the Metroparks that I already knew well, and also discovered new ones. A must for any fan (either existing or prospective) of the Metroparks. FIVE STARS.

As a die hard member of the dawg pound, this book will always have a special place in my heart. It describes in rich detail the influence and impact Cleveland Stadium had on the city. I'd highly recommend it - Go Browns!

This book is amazing, truly an inspiration! The author pours his heart and soul to depict the legacy that was Cleveland Stadium. A must read for any Indians or Browns fan!

Neva's daughter -- I saw a lovely set of Harker dishes at a shop, but I don't know the pattern. Would you help me identify it? Contact me at kdavis@cir2.com

OK, I'm biased. My mother wrote this one. Many of the pieces featured in the book are part of my collection. But it's still the ONLY book on Harker Pottery, America's Oldest Pottery. This book not only includes beautiful pictures of Harkerware, but also includes a price guide and some history of the pottery industry of the Ohio Valley. Harker is a contemporary of many currently collectible potteries such as Hall and Homer Laughlin. While not as valuable currently as Autumn Leaf or Fiestaware, Harker's Cameoware is becoming increasingly popular. Harker is also the only manufacturer of ceramic serving forks and spoons as well as beautiful ceramic rolling pins

This was a great history book of football and of my great-uncle's life in football. It means a lot to me.
Emmett

Frank Nesser was my grandfather. I don't remember him; but, reading about him was very nice. Charles Nesser was my uncle and I have many fond memories of him. If you want to know about football's roots and the people who really lived and breathed football at the turn of the last century, read and enjoy this book. They were real people and I grew up hearing all about my grandfather and his brother's and their love of the sport...this book made it all come alive for me. Thank you Chris Willis for all your hard work and dedication to this endeavor. June 11, 2008