Illinois Books

An engrossing exploration of legal reform to address the problem
of domestic violence. Professor Lazarus-Black details domestic violence as impeded by everyday practices of law and courts. I found the individual case studies of battered women seeking legal protection most absorbing, especially in light of the pointed discussion of cultural and political change.

Though Mercado's book is accessible by anyone with an interest in music history, pianists will be at an advantage for the many musical examples throughout the book. Those familiar enough with Mozart's music to recognize the stylistic differences throughout his compositional career will gain a terrific sense of satisfaction at learning the background behind that development. Well-written, though a knowledge of music theory will help to move through the numerous examples and musical descriptions.

It has a nice listing of various types of exercises, strength, stretching, isometric, static holds for each bodypart that can be cone in an office enviorment in an inconspicious way. Line drawings nicely illustrate the exercies. You pick and choose what you want to do.

The latest volume in the acclaimed Illinois Poetry Series, "Expectation Days" (also available in a hardcover edition, 9780252032349, $40.00) is a showcased compendium of poetry by Sandra McPherson (Professor of English, University of California--Davis). The author of numerous previously published poetry collections, McPherson takes for her autobiographical themes in "Expectation Days" a variety of subjects ranging form movie-making to medical misadventures, and from meditation on widowhood to feminist protestations. Highly recommended as being both intellectually and emotionally satisfying, McPherson's free verse and prose poetry is always engaging, consistently interesting, and displays her consummate skills as both a word smith and a lyricist. 'Bereavement: 1919': Believing I am going to live,/I begin the war of nerves./When I need just a little calmative/I drink top milk at the creamery./But toward evening let me recommend/This, should you ever need it--/I hang a locket of asafetida around my neck./Works wonders.

This is an essential book for the student of Western exploration. The editors put together three hefty volumes about the expeditions of John Charles Fremont of which this is the first.

This volume includes Fremont's official reports of his first two expeditions to Wyoming's South Pass in 1842 and to California and Oregon in 1843-1844. In their day these accounts were best sellers and they made Fremont a national hero which led to him being the candidate for President of the new Republican party in 1856. Today, Fremont seems forgotten except by specialists -- and mostly scorned by them (Bernard de Voto called him "Childe Harold") -- and the fame of his mountain man guide, Kit Carson, as an American hero has eclipsed that of Fremont

The heart of this book is Fremont's accounts of his expeditions. He recorded the progress of his expeditions daily in the form of a diary and he was no novice at colorful writing. Possibly his wife Jessie Benton Fremont improved upon his prose before the accounts were published. Nor was he modest, but he gave credit where credit was due to his men, mostly French voyageurs, and especially Carson whose rise to prominence was due to Fremont. Fremont's writing is very readable to this day. Along with his dairy he also collected scientific and meteorological information which may be of interest to specialists. Fremont later blotted his copybook with a number of egotistical fiascos but on his first two expeditions he was an appealing young man.

Supplementing Fremont's diary are a large number of letters, vouchers, and other documents related to Fremont's career and the expeditions. You can learn for example that Fremont paid his French voyageurs as little as 62 1/2 cents per day wages, but Kit Carson earned $100 per month, a hefty salary in those days for an illiterate mountain man -- and Carson was worth it. The editors provide copious notes to amplify and clarify the text. They produced a top notch book of scholarship that's also fun to read.

Smallchief

This is an essential book for the student of Western exploration. The editors put together three hefty volumes about the expeditions of John Charles Fremont of which this is the third.

Volume one through three include Fremont's official reports of his first two expeditions to Wyoming's South Pass in 1842 and to California and Oregon in 1843-1844, his participation in the war with Mexico, and in Volume Three his later and less successful expeditions. In their day these accounts were best sellers and they made Fremont a national hero which led to him being the candidate for President of the new Republican party in 1856. Today, Fremont seems forgotten except by specialists -- and mostly scorned by them (Bernard de Voto called him "Childe Harold") -- and the fame of his mountain man guide, Kit Carson, as an American hero has eclipsed that of Fremont

The heart of this book is Fremont's accounts of his expeditions. He recorded the progress of his expeditions daily in the form of a diary and he was no novice at colorful writing. Possibly his wife Jessie Benton Fremont improved upon his prose before the accounts were published. Nor was he modest, but he gave credit where credit was due to his men, mostly French voyageurs, and especially Carson whose rise to prominence was due to Fremont. Fremont's writing is very readable to this day. Along with his dairy he also collected scientific and meteorological information which may be of interest to specialists. Fremont blotted his copybook with a number of egotistical fiascos but on his first two expeditions he was an appealing young man.

Supplementing Fremont's diary are a large number of letters, vouchers, and other documents related to Fremont's career and the expeditions. You can learn for example that Fremont paid his French voyageurs as little as 62 1/2 cents per day wages, but Kit Carson earned $100 per month, a hefty salary in those days for an illiterate mountain man -- and Carson was worth it. The editors provide copious notes to amplify and clarify the text. They produced a top notch multi-volume book of scholarship that's also fun to read.

Smallchief

This is an essential book for the student of Western exploration. The editors put together three hefty volumes about the expeditions of John Charles Fremont of which this is the first.

Volume one includes Fremont's official reports of his first two expeditions to Wyoming's South Pass in 1842 and to California and Oregon in 1843-1844; volume two details his participation in the war with Mexico, including his court martial; and in volume three he writes of his later and less successful expeditions. In their day these accounts were best sellers and they made Fremont a national hero which led to him being the candidate for President of the new Republican party in 1856. Today, Fremont seems forgotten except by specialists -- and mostly scorned by them (Bernard de Voto called him "Childe Harold") -- and the fame of his mountain man guide, Kit Carson, as an American hero has eclipsed that of Fremont

The heart of this book is Fremont's accounts of his expeditions. He recorded the progress of his expeditions daily in the form of a diary and he was no novice at colorful writing. Possibly his wife Jessie Benton Fremont improved upon his prose before the accounts were published. Nor was he modest, but he gave credit where credit was due to his men, mostly French voyageurs, and especially Carson whose rise to prominence was due to Fremont. Fremont's writing is very readable to this day. Along with his dairy he also collected scientific and meteorological information which may be of interest to specialists. Fremont blotted his copybook with a number of egotistical fiascos but on his first two expeditions he was an appealing young man.

Supplementing Fremont's diary are a large number of letters, vouchers, and other documents related to Fremont's career and the expeditions. You can learn for example that Fremont paid his French voyageurs as little as 62 1/2 cents per day wages, but Kit Carson earned $100 per month, a hefty salary in those days for an illiterate mountain man -- and Carson was worth it. The editors provide copious notes to amplify and clarify the text. They produced a top notch multi-volume book of scholarship that's also fun to read.

Smallchief

This is an essential book for the student of Western exploration. The editors put together three hefty volumes about the expeditions of John Charles Fremont of which this is the second.

Volume one includes Fremont's official reports of his first two expeditions to Wyoming's South Pass in 1842 and to California and Oregon in 1843-1844; Volume two details his participation in the war with Mexico, including his court martial; and in volume three he writes of his later and less successful expeditions. In their day these accounts were best sellers and they made Fremont a national hero which led to him being the candidate for President of the new Republican party in 1856. Today, Fremont seems forgotten except by specialists -- and mostly scorned by them (Bernard de Voto called him "Childe Harold") -- and the fame of his mountain man guide, Kit Carson, as an American hero has eclipsed that of Fremont

The heart of this book is Fremont's accounts of his expeditions. He recorded the progress of his expeditions daily in the form of a diary and he was no novice at colorful writing. Possibly his wife Jessie Benton Fremont improved upon his prose before the accounts were published. Nor was he modest, but he gave credit where credit was due to his men, mostly French voyageurs, and especially Carson whose rise to prominence was due to Fremont. Fremont's writing is very readable to this day. Along with his dairy he also collected scientific and meteorological information which may be of interest to specialists. Fremont blotted his copybook with a number of egotistical fiascos but on his first two expeditions he was an appealing young man.

Supplementing Fremont's diary are a large number of letters, vouchers, and other documents related to Fremont's career and the expeditions. You can learn for example that Fremont paid his French voyageurs as little as 62 1/2 cents per day wages, but Kit Carson earned $100 per month, a hefty salary in those days for an illiterate mountain man -- and Carson was worth it. The editors provide copious notes to amplify and clarify the text. They produced a top notch multi-volume book of scholarship that's also fun to read.

Smallchief

The problem with most academic writing isn't that the ideas are too complex for the general reader to grasp; the problem is that most of it's too poorly written for the general reader to grasp what's being written about. Academic Richard Peterson, however, has defied the odds and written a highly accessible collection of essays in which he analyzes baseball literature -- the baseball short story and baseball novel, in particular. The book opens with a personal essay about a trip to Cooperstown with his wife, and this sets the tone of the book, which is, even in the analytical parts, personal. Here is a man who clearly loves both literature AND baseball, and in an age when so many literature scholars seem to hate the literature that they write about, Peterson's love of both is one of the great pleasures of this book. If reading about the art of writing baseball interests you, I highly recommend EXTRA INNINGS.

I don't think I have ever read an autobiography of the day to day workings of a police officer, whether it be the Chicago police or anywhere else. This book is a keen insight to the Chicago police back in the late sixties early seventies. For those of you who remember the Democratic Presidential Convention of 1968, this story has a very familiar ring to it. Most police stories rely upon a single event or a series of related events building to a climax. This book has so many major events in it that they almost seem mundane after awhile. Ardolino's story goes so fast, it takes your breath away. You take one of these incidents today and you have a major police scandal.

Ardolino's Bio reads like an adventure novel. So much so, that I decided to investigate. By telephone, Internet and e-Mails I found out that if anything, he has omitted some of his other accomplishments. It is no wonder that this author writes well and holds a reader's interest. Especially in the way Extreme Cop is written. The Preface mentions that the book was done uncut and in the way that the author would tell it while it was happening. What I found out was that the typos, wild punctuation and terse prose are in there because the author transcribed from actual diaries, and napkin notes he kept during the incidents. Yes, there are some typos but, there are typos in The Sun Also Rises, The Odessa File and in My Wicked, Wicked Ways to name only a few of the hundreds of books with typos or sentences that lead to nowhere. In no way does the grittiness and uncut form [obviously purposely done] detract from the flow of the powerful narrative in Extreme Cop: Chicago PD. The sex scenes are explicit and will wake anybody up. The violence is to me, very real.

The cops back in the 1970's and before may have been a law onto themselves; however they kept the streets clean of petty street gangs and thugs. Now we are overrun by the lawless and the legal system. To prevent one innocent victim, we have a legal system that goes out of their way to protect the criminals in order to make sure there is not one innocent person among hundreds is convicted. I live in Tokyo and it reminds me of my Illinois home town back in the fifties and early sixties. The cops did not mess around back then and people were safer. Although the author may appear to be brash and unfeeling at times, I think he comes across as a very sincere and to-the-heart Chicago cop. Very entertaining.