Ohio Books

This climax to a four book series makes the entire journey worthwhile.

Here a man achieves sanity, enlightenment and a real life after traveling through the interior hell of mental illness and the exterior hell of a grim and deadly Fifties Insane Aslum.

What more can we ask of a great book or, indeed, of great literature?

Sharing this experience I count as one my life's great and absolute pleasures.

Note: This book was originally published in hardcover under the title AMERICAN ECCLESIASTES. Why the title was changed for the paperback edition is unclear.

James Pattie is remembered solely for a book he published in 1831 entitled THE PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF JAMES O. PATTIE. The book recounted his experiences as a trapper and wanderer in the Far West between 1825 and 1830, experiences he shared with his traveling companion, his father Sylvester. After trapping throughout New Mexico and Arizona, the men journeyed to California where Sylvester died in [1828]. After continuing on to San Francisco, James boarded a ship for Mexico, across which he walked by way of Mexico City, and then boarded another ship on the Gulf for New Orleans. Destitute, he was able to borrow $40 from Senator Josiah Johnston, a family friend, to pay for passage aboard a steamboat to Cincinnati. It was there that he met publisher Timothy Flint, who published Pattie's narrative.

Since the book was first published it has held the attention of historians and others interested in first-hand accounts of the early West. Often it has been disparaged as a work filled with inaccuracies, half-truths, and tall tales; it was even claimed that Pattie, with Flint's help, made the whole thing up. Richard Batman has taken a fine-toothed comb to the Narrative with the purpose of separating fact from fiction wherever possible. He is able to show that quite a bit of what Pattie wrote is indeed based in fact. His descriptions of the geography he traveled over are often remarkably accurate. Batman wonders if Pattie kept a diary of some kind, since certain details (a rainstorm, for example, that can be verified from other journals that cite the event) are too specifically drawn to be recalled years later from memory. Where he errs the most is in his depictions of his own actions and responses. Zelig-like, Pattie blended in with the background scenery, rarely if ever making an impression on those he encountered (one trapper who spent time with him remembered his horse but not him). Yet in the Narrative he puts himself in the forefront and gives himself all kinds of heroic (at least "manly") qualities. Many of these incidents occurred in California where Pattie felt he was treated with great indignities; Batman is quick to point out where they might have been figments of his imagination. He also fills out Pattie's life, making the book a biography of the man. Unfortunately, but typically it seems, Pattie vanishes from the scene shortly after his book was published, never heard from again. Batman has done a great service with this book, not only helping to clarify a major historical record, but through his own researches adding much information about Pattie and life in the Far West at the end of the 1820s. Highly recommended for anyone interested in this period in American history.

This book Su

Marcus Spiegel may have been atypical in that he was Jewish, but his experiences in the war are much more universal. This is a great book for highlighting the changing views of the purpose of the war, and the personal struggles many Union soldiers went through--in particular those who were northern Democrats--as the aims of the wat changed from restoration of the Union to also include ending the institution of slavery. Spiegel's story is the story of a loyal Democract--a Democrat who is loyal to his commander-in-chief, Republican Abraham Lincoln, and wh serves his country faithfully nonetheless. His story also highlights his slow transformation in his own wordl view. At the outset Spiegel shared the racist views of most of his white neighbors, and disliked abolitionists. By the end of the war, however, he considers himself an abolitionist of a sort. If you want to begin to understand the complexity of northern attitudes toward slaves and slavery, this is a good place to start.

This is a great book. I had never read about this sector of the economy. It shows that capitalism is alive and well at the grass roots level. Lets hope that the economic system allows it to prosper in the future.

This book is a thoroughly enjoyable homespun tale of Amish life. I think it's based in fact, but some the author seems to like to embellish a little as well. We actually have a signed copy of this book, having gone to a little get-together at our local library to hear Mr. Beachy speak. Our book, however, had an unfortunate meeting with our toilet today, so we are going to buy another one. This is a book keeps you interested and if you're interested in real Amish life with laughs thrown in, this book is for you.

These guides really give you a feel for what all aspects of a school are like. It's not really stuff you could find easily on your own either, like what the local area is like, where are the best places to get food and/or drinks around town, the quality of the dorms and dorm food, etc. I really would recommend picking up a few before choosing a school - especially if you can't afford to visit each place in person.

This is an easy-to-read book which gets the harder to understand the more you want to make sense of it. I guess the crucial thing is to understand Shestov's challenge, which is to say something that is unutterable.

So perhaps the best place to start is the effacement of time. And when time stands still, cause and effect lose their significance too. But we humans like cause and effect! They give a meaning to our actions: if we act in this way, we get that result.

However, we are fooling ourselves. We have this childish need to be rewarded for our good actions and to be punished for the bad. So we make up good and bad, cause and effect, in our minds, because that has been the human condition ever since the Fall.

You won't necessarily understand Kierkegaard much better after reading Shestov's interpretation of him. For instance, Shestov never mentions the different levels of existence, which are normally regarded as the key to understanding Kierkegaard. However, after I had finished reading this book, I noticed that I could finally make sense of -- Nietzsche! I guess the book has its shortcomings, but still, it must be the best book I have read (no joke).

This is an excellent book for those educators interested in the history of preschool education and the theories involved in this field from the early beginnings. It should be required reading matter for future preschool and kindergarten teachers. The fact that this book was originally published years is not a factor in it's relevance today.

This book is an excellent adjunct to the more commonly seenMary Frank Gaston's Encyclopedia. Kearn's book contains over 150photos of Knowles, Taylor, Knowles pottery, with a strong focus on the famous Lotus Ware (sometimes referred to as American Belleek), and Meredith and other jugs.

Kearns went straight to the source, the Ohio Ceramics Museum in East Liverpool, Ohio, for information about this pottery's wares. He gives us a history of the company and the different types of pottery it created when it ran, and tonnes of photos of the various pieces still available to the collector today. His prices do not reflect the impact that online auctions have had on the collectables market, but that is a common problem with reference works today, and should not deter you from buying this book.