Ohio Books

"Painful Decisions, Positive Results" chronicles 85 years of caring through the United Way and its predecessor organizations in Cincinnati, Ohio. As a voluntary agency recognizing that government can't do it all, the United Way and its volunteers have faced tough decisions about where and how to spend the dollars its has raised over the years: "Prevent or remediate?" "Young people or the elderly?" "Urban or suburban?" "Individuals or groups?" "Neighborhoods, cities, counties or state?"

"In eighty-five years, there has never been enough money to meet all of the health and human service needs of the Greater Cincinnati region. For United Way & Community Chest, many decisions have been painful...but, nearly every result has been positive."

Perhaps Aft's greatest contribution is to use this survey of history and look into the future for United Ways and the charitable sector.

His recommendations for moving into the 21st Century include the following: "Celebrate the fact that your decisions make a difference every day...." and "Maintain the relentless determination...'to prevent and alleviate human suffering.'"

There have been few published histories of United Way: Aft's fills that gap in a very readable way.

Originally self published by H.M. Fogle in 1908, this 278 page softcover book provides human-interest stories of the incarceration and execution 59 of Ohio's murderers, with a detailed review of the incidents connected with each case. Each execution is described in graphic detail by Fogle, who was an official of the penitentiary. In addition, the book is profusely illustrated with pictures of the electric chair, death cage, execution scenes, and the executed men.

This book represents an exhaustive account of the changes that accompanied Michigan from the latter days of Jacksonian politics all the way to the Civil War. With lucid prose, Hershock chronicles the story of Michigan, representing a consummation of, rather than a contribution to, historical analysis.

A fascinating book, rich in innovative analysis and historical detail on rail and bus management strategies and tactics. It's essential for students of both railroad history and California history. The detail will interest railfans, and the analysis would let them escape from conspiricay theories about the decline of rail passenger service.

This was probably one of the best books I have ever read in regards to African social changes/history. The writing is dynamic and flows well. It brings an interesting perspective to the otherwise dry realm of historical non-fiction.

This is a nice collection of Chinese and Japanese poetry in English translation--not only haiku, but all the works are haiku-esque in their brevity and style. After an excellent introduction explaining the Zen aesthetic of suggestion rather than depiction come four sections of poetry in English translation: Chinese Poems of Enlightenment and Death; Poems of the Japanese Zen Masters; Japanese Haiku; and Shikichi Takahashi, Contemporary Japanese Master. The poems are complemented by 14 black and white reproductions of Eastern paintings also demonstating the Zen influence in which detail is suggested rather than portrayed.

One might quibble about what is missing--apparently nothing from China after the southern Sung dynasty, or about the proportions of Japanese to Chinese work, or the inclusion of so much by a single modern master. But to do so would be to miss the point, and certainly to fail to bring a Zen sensibility to the collection as a whole. And here the introduction is invaluable--not only in explaining the selection made, but more importantly discussing the sensibility required. Certainly, for many Westerners, Zen is at best inscrutable and at worst commonplace; and they may see a haiku like Onitsura's likewise: Autumn wind--/across the fields/faces. Lucien Stryk has a very nifty comparison of this haiku with a short poem of Ezra Pound's which reveals its immediacy, and suggests an approach of thought that is absolutely necessary to the understanding of this poetry. All in all, a very worthwhile product. ...

Centre for Critical and Cultural lecturer Julia Thomas presents Pictorial Victorians: The Inscription Of Values In World And Image, a succinct examination of the connection between key Victorian artworks and images, and the texts or cultural phenomena with which they are intertwined. Most of the images reproduced in Pictorial Victorians are black-and-white, though there is an inset collection of color plates. Illustrations from Victorian books and publications, narrative scenes from the walls of the Royal Academy, and more images reveal fascinating nuances of Victorian culture, lifestyle, and worldview. A fascinating tour of a historical period through its verbal and visual legacy.

"Pinehaven" by William G. Schmidt

William Schmidt and his parents bought an old home in 1986. During the next year, they named it Pinehaven. This is the story of life in rural Ohio, just west of Dayton, in the town of Farmersville. Old homes need work, tender loving care, are interesting to explore, and Pinehaven is no exception.

The book has two interesting photos of Pinehaven, the first from near 1900, the second (an aerial photo) from 1990. Nearly 300 pages long, there are 12 chapters telling of life at Pinehaven during each month of the year. You will find this to be more than a story about Pinehaven, though.

Pinehaven is a collection of short stories and one can read about Montgomery County and of William Schmidt and his family. You will find out how the name "Pinehaven" came about. Don't miss the first New Year's Eve, the daily walks down a country road with dad, the "Pipe Brigade", the "Bottle Farm", Schmidt's love of Michigan, diaries and journals, Comet Hale Bopp, the milkman, and William Schmidt's account of each season of the year as they come and go. William Schmidt is quite observant and shares his findings and opinions about mother nature, religion, government, and of life, too.

William Schmidt's writing is very descriptive and closely resembles that of Laura Ingalls Wilder in her "Little House on the Prairie" series. Those of you who are Laura Ingalls Wilder fans will find the "A Little House Sampler" to be quite similar as Laura and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, wrote similar stories of an earlier time.

Without waiting until the end to write an autobiography, I find "Pinehaven" a great way to describe life presently, tell your personal history, and share your thoughts and feelings. It is like visiting the author and listening to him talk to you.

"Pinehaven" is one of the best books that I have ever read. I strongly recommend "Pinehaven" for your reading pleasure.

This gorgeously rendered world of the grim and deadly Insane Asylum of the Fifties is a testament to the survival of its author.

Thank you Perry Aayr for finding and preserving this priceless treasure.

Dr. Wood is the quintessence of the philosopher who thinks the thoughts comtemporaneous to his own era and his personal "appearance" in history. At the same time, Wood engages the entire philosophic tradition, thereby exposing his Hegelian sensibility while concurrently flushing out the aesthetic perspective of the mainstays of that tradition. To one not tuned in to the aesthetic, Dr. Wood's "Placing Aesthetics" enlivens it and forces it into one's psyche. For those already aesthetically inclined, Wood's treatise repositions the aesthetic to its rightful place of centrality relative to Western speculative thought and to man's very existence. Wood's identification of the "heart" as the ground of the aesthetic, as that space between the Now of sensation and the inextricable reference to the Whole thru the notion of Being, cleanses the doors of one's aesthetic perception from Plato to Heidegger, and major thinkers in between. Wood's insistence that one attend to the Whole, while not neglecting the nature of each within the Whole, is a clarion call to all of us to strive harder, to pursue longer, to delve deeper into the meaning of It All. In the concluding section of "Placing Aesthetics", Wood surpasses Nietzsche's "woman's aesthetics" by incorporating an intriguing presentation and analysis of his own sculptural efforts in a critical yet illuminating fashion. Dr. Wood's "Placing Aesthetics" is a must read and re-read for both the professional Philosopher and the novice thinker.