Washington Books

With a format that reminds of Bram Stocker's milestone, The Gelwick Faxes is, to some extent, an updated version of the classic, as Jonathan Harker's sense of dread once again takes center stage, now in the form of journalist in the wrong (or right) place, Allan Gelwick.

Though at first giving the impression of a screenplay, the payoff comes swiftly, heralded by the sense that you are really there during this hotel ballrom siege. As well, one of the terrorists, "The Colonel," a female, has a thing or two to say about the DC culture.

You know a writer has done something right when he expeditiously exctracts Stockholm Syndrome-like feelings from the male reader regarding said Colonel.

In the end, we are left with a great thriller, and an interesting tour of Washington. Recommended.

A brillaint book with some loose ends some great characters some not so good .
All in all a real great book.A Must Read .

The Gelwick Faxes was a compelling page turner. I found myself reading it in one sitting, far past the bedtime I had intended. The unique storytelling idea of faxing to interested parties outside of an ongoing hostage situation was innovative. The faxes to obscure parties made this story more realistic and gave the main character many layers. I found myself recognizing characters, trying to guess their next move, and then being surprised by the next plot twist. The author has some very insightful observations that can be frightening if one thinks this fiction probably has a ring of truth to it.

I must confess that when I heard about a book with a story line composed exclusively of faxes and e-mails, I had my doubts about it. After reading it, however, I must confess that the author has hit upon a unique manner of presenting his tale. Of course, this type of scenario won't work in a lot of situations, but this work concerns a hostage crisis, so the fax idea is perfect. The suspense and excitement builds throughout the book, until the somewhat unexpected climax. Once or twice I found some faxes which were not necessary to advance the story (they were, in fact, distracting), but on the whole this is a work, short as it is, well worth reading.

Most school-age children grow up learning about George Washington Carver, and about all his wonderful inventions with peanuts. In fact, because of these inventions, he became known as "The Peanut Man," an identity that George Washington Carver wanted to shed.

George was born to a slave woman in southern Missouri, but when he was young his mother was kidnapped and he never saw her again. George and his brother Jim were raised by the farm owners, and treated as their own kids. In fact, Mr. and Mrs. Carver encouraged George to further his education when they realized how talented he was with plants.

George went on to go to school and colleges, eventually earning his master's degree in Iowa before being called to Alabama to work. When he first arrived there, he was shocked by the poverty and devastation. He quickly developed the motto "Make grass grow"-and he promptly did just that, made grass grow on the campus, and then in the agriculture department that he directed.

There are some facts that are misrepresented about George in public education--for instance, I always heard that George Washington Carver invented peanut butter. According to this book, he didn't, but did come up with several other imaginative uses for it.

I read the book in one sitting out loud to my 12- and 6-year-old daughters. I appreciated how educational it was, but it was a bit hard to read all at once. It didn't hold my six-year-olds attention long either. My older daughter, on the other hand, was fascinated by the story as this was more information than she'd ever seen on this interesting historical character.

George Washington Carver is highly recommended for public school teachers, and home school students alike. Stock full of information, your child (and you!) are sure to go away with little known tidbits about this wonderful inventor.

Armchair Interviews says: Most interesting and educational.

Books about George Washington Carver are typically written for an older age range, so it's refreshing to find a picturebook biography on the subject complete with color illustration and vintage black and white photos throughout. Kids in grades 3-5 will find it most accessible, following his early life as a slave and orphan, his college achievement as the first Afro-American to attend Iowa State, and to his work in conservation. An outstanding coverage, not to be missed!

Bolden, Tonya. George Washington Carver. Abrams Books for Young Readers. 2008.

This very handsomely designed book chronicles the life of an extraordinary man. His story unfolds in clear informative text and fascinating archival photographs and other visuals including Carver's own scientific drawings and artistic paintings. It documents his heroic persistence to obtain a college education in a country laced with racism and then describes his impressive career as a researcher and educator. Carver taught and modeled a "waste not, want no" philosophy, believed that "every human need could be met by things that grow" and when he could no longer teach funded the creation of a foundation that would benefit students in the future. We need a teacher like him even more in the early twenty-first century. This absorbing, respectful and inspiring biography belongs on every library shelf.

In New York City, the early months of the year are known for two things: Cheek chilling winds of a bitter nature, and assigned biographies of famous people. All around the city children and their parents scramble to find something ANYTHING on their assigned subjects. And in February's Black History Month some familiar names start to crop up. "Harriet Tubman. Do you have ANY Harriet Tubman books?" "Jackie Robinson. I'll take whatever you have." "I'm sorry, but do you have any books on," glances down at paper, "George Washington Carver?" It's funny, but a librarian can start to get a little picky about the biographies they're handing out after a while. We have a couple George Washington Carver books on our shelves. There's Aliki's A Weed Is a Flower and of course David Adler's A Picture Book of George Washington Carver. You'll find some books for older kids as well, but these are usually either too complex for the fourth graders who need them, or too dull. So imagine my delight when I heard that Tonya Bolden not only had a new biography coming out, but that it was also going to be on George Washington Carver! My personal philosophy when it comes to biographies is that you can never have too many on one subject or another, and to my mind no children's author has ever done this man justice. Now, with eye-popping visuals and a great deal of research, Bolden presents a man who accomplished much more than merely finding a use or two for the peanut.

Born during the Civil War, George was raised by a couple that had owned his mother before him. Quick to learn, if a bit sickly, George had an affinity for the natural world around him and was as interested in art as he was in working with plants. He got his schooling at the Neosho school and after a variety of jobs he attended college and became the first black professor at what is now Iowa State University. Booker T. Washington was quick to pick up on George's skills and convinced him to come to the Tuskegee Institute. There, Washington did everything he could to teach others about revering and respecting nature. He helped farmers learn how to yield better crops and make the most from their land. He found infinite uses for the peanut and the soybean. In 1943 he died, but his legacy of caring for the earth and its products lives on and is more important now than ever.

As I read through this book, it became pretty clear that I knew next to nothing about Carver aside from his peanut-related accomplishments. Right from the start Bolden sucks you into his strange and interesting story. Born during the Civil War, George and his mother were kidnapped by raiders when he was a baby. George was rescued. His mother was not and he never saw her again. I also didn't know that his notoriety as "the Peanut Man" was around even during his lifetime and that he had to fight against it, to some extent. I was particularly grateful for Bolden's Afterword too, which is not afraid to bring up criticisms of Washington that he was a "non-threatening Negro" because he did not openly protest segregation. I respect any children's book which isn't afraid to show a little of its subject matter's complexity. To me, this Afterword fits the bill.

If Tonya Bolden is known for anything, it may be for her remarkable ability to write visually stimulating, interesting biographies without a lot of photographic elements on hand. Her Maritcha: A Nineteenth-Century American Girl was an excellent example of this. With Carver she has had a slightly easier time of it. Somehow she was able to find great photos of many of the important people in Carver's life as well as images of him as young as thirteen or so. The book is designed to resemble a photo album both in its paper and in the lovely little corners that look as if they are holding each photograph in place. I also found it interesting that Bolden would sometimes, perhaps with space in mind, put interesting tidbits in her photo captions and not the proper text. For example, George was raised by Susan and Moses Carver who were opposed to slavery. Says the caption next to their photographs, "Some suggest that George's mother was a mercy purchase, but it is unclear why she was not therefore immediately freed."

Sometimes it's a lot easier to write a biography about a firecracker. Writing one about a quiet man who enjoyed painting flowers is heads and tails more difficult, but no less important. In one section Bolden says, "If he had had the temperament of a Frederick Douglass or an Ida B. Wells, he might have packed away that microscope and raised rallies for equality of opportunity and against night riders and lynch mobs. Carver was no magician, no Douglass, no Wells. He was his own unique self with much to offer flowing from his innate and studied insights into nature's ways and gifts." As such, I've read few biographies of quiet scientific people that quite compare to Bolden's beautiful 41-page title. She shows how our contributions to the world hinge upon the gifts we choose to use.

I openned this book expecting to read a story about a house and how it was built. I was surprised, and impressed, to discover that what went on as Mt. Vernon took form was far more interesting than I had expected. This is not so much a book about a house as it is the story of how George Washington related to the slaves on whom he relied to execute his architecture. In other words, the story here reverberates far beyond the boundaries of the plantation. It went to the heart of the republic, and it goes to the heart of this nation. Slavery is encoded in our national DNA (sorry, Jefferson). The Dalzells make it clear that it is also mortared in the wood and plaster (cut and painted to look like stone) of our national edifice. Are you tormented, or at least intrigued, that a slaveowner could style himself father of a republic dedicated to freedom? Maybe Washington was, too. Find out. Visit Mt. Vernon, and do it by reading this book.

Knowing Professor Dalzell and Mrs. Dalzell personally, I was incredibly curious to see how they blended the two seemingly connected but perhaps contrasting topics of George Washington and his home. Essentially, they were connected very successfully. The entire history of the home itself is told vividly with photographs, anecdotes, and objective descriptions of its development. Following, Washington's own personal, military, and political history is told in light of the times, and in the book's shining ability, in relation to the home itself. The Dalzell's cleverly-melded arguments and discussions leads the reader to a full knowledge of Mt. Vernon and its inspiring owner.

For an Architect practicing in any era since Monticello was built, it has always been easy to enter into Jefferson's process--to commune with the models and the methods he sat down with as he designed (time and again) the house that he built as a monument to his ideas and his place in history. In part, this has been because he planned and drew much as we do today. We have the drawings. We know (and can quickly avert our eyes from) the form of labor. We can hold these two-dimensional maps up to the brilliant artifact, and be satisfied, with ourselves, that we have made a connection to the past. Mount Vernon, however, has had to wait for the Dalzells to read, for us, the full and fully three-dimensional process of its becoming. This beautifully written book brings to George Washington's home, a context of meaning and National symbolism that time and distance had almost obliterated. The book is a restoration project: and as such, it is a key compliment to the preservation work so ably executed over the years by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association. I heartily recommend this book to architects (amateur and professional), their clients (who may find comfort in learning that building has always been a trial), architectural historians, or anyone at all who is curious about the faithfulness of our democracy to the designs of one of its primary draftsmen.

Mount Vernon was both architecturally innovative and a true mirror of Washington's feelings and mind. He never wrote an autobiography and his diaries consist largely of farm accounts, but in Mount Vernon, the authors write, "he produced a text from which it is possible to coax a remarkably full sense of his political convictions and of how, over time, they changed." The book, George Washington's Mount Vernon, combines the public and the private sides of his life and uses the combination to enrich our understanding of both.

This is by far the best and most definitive biography of George Washington to date. Meticulously researched with extensive and interesting footnotes, it is a must for anyone looking for an accurate account of this amazing man's life. I have read hundreds of books on Washington and this one is at the top of my list. The author won a Pulitzer Prize for this one and it is well deserved.

THE definitive biography of our first president. Freeman can only be faulted for providing too much detail. If you really desire to find out about George Washington, read this book. It should be required study material for contemporary, so called historians.

Ok well I read this book for the first time, and I can say confidently that Freeman must've known Washington personally. The detail in which Freeman goes into does not leave the reader questioning anything about Washington. Everything is there in the book!! A must read for the lovers of history!

Volumes 3, 4, & 5 are the essential bedrock of any respectable American's library -- the starting point from which any serious investigation of the American Revolution commences -- there is only one word to describe Freeman's achievement -- SUPERB -- to fault Freeman for his detail suggests the mind of an adolescent seeking easy crib notes for a school paper -- the footnotes (relegated to back pages of less scholarly histories) tempt the reader down little-trodden paths of historical investigation leading to new & fascinating insights -- it is the detail and Freeman's lean transcendent prose that make the difference in comparison to the abridgement -- for any American with an interest in our history -- how independence was wrested from defeat by the sheer will perserverence & determination of one man -- a man who refused to be cowed or mentally defeated by the world's great superpower or by even more insidious enemies -- those selfish conservatives who wished to find common cause with Britain to return to the status quo & maintain their perogatives without risk of loss -- how Washington overcame all odds despite the obstinate stupidity of Congress -- the incompetence of state legislatures & governors (including Jefferson) as well as the greedy selfishness & studied indifference of the propertied classes -- these volumes describe Washington's monumental achievement -- but the biography does not concern itself solely with the man himself but also with that dedicated band of true-believers inspired by his example -- some of modest talents -- some of great -- and some who proved unable to keep the faith -- but most important of all it descibes the achievements possible what a great leader can achieve with an army of starving ragamuffins & scarecrow refugees, the refuse of colonial society, unmarried men of small means representing all races, nations, & ages (& not a few women as well) bound together by hope for a better future (based on promises Congress failed to keep) and their undying love & respect for Washington -- volumes 3, 4, 5 represent the essential core of classical American history -- books I'd want along if I were marooned on a desert island -- these volumes are nothing less than the prose outline of an AMERICAN ILIAD.

Frank Grizzard has created the definitive biographical reference about George Washington that manages to grip the reader's attention from start to finish. Grizzard breaks the dry, disjointed bonds of the A to Z format by constructing a vivid portal through time in which the man, the players in his world, and the events of his age are brought to life in vivid, fascinating detail. George Washington: A Biographical Companion is accessible, compelling reading for most ages, and _the_ place to start before delving into the Washington biographies and collections of letters.

Frank Grizzard, associate editor of the Washington Papers, has written an invaluable research tool and a much-needed, single source of reliable information on the life and times of George Washington. The book contains about 200 informative essays on a variety of diverse topics related to Washington. Each essay is interesting, concisely written, and is chock full of information on the subject. In addition to being an outstanding reference book, it is also a great "read," and the browser will come away with a new appreciation for the character and achievements of the Father of Our Country. Highly recommend.

Frank E Grizzard Jr, the senior associate editor of the "Papers of George Washington" at the University of Virginia, covers all aspects of the great Virginian's life in this superb book. Based for the most part on primary sources which are easily assessable at the end of each entry, the book has complete cross references and alphabetical table of contents. More than 200 entries are topped off at the end with 29 selected writings from Washington's papers that are arranged chronologically.

Here is a historian in complete command of primary sources and the literature of the period; indeed, the reader is in the hands of a master who knows his craft and his subject. If you have ANY interest in George Washington, this book is a must for your library.

Painstakingly compiled by Frank E. Grizzard, Jr. (Senior Associate Editor at the Papers of George Washington Editorial Project at the University of Virginia) George Washington: A Biographical Companion is a seminal and comprehensive reference. Written as a detailed supplement to straightforward biographies of America's first President, this impressive compendium contains numerous entries arranged in alphabetical order of the people places, and things that were important in Washington's life and times. Each entry presents a careful assessment of facts and history, and how they related to George Washington himself. George Washington: A Biographical Companion is first-rate, strongly recommended supplement to academic and community library American History reference collections.

I have returned to Vietnam many times...I speak the language and have known about the atrocities that occured after April 30, 1975. I have read and re-read this work and I compare it to another great book...Decent Interval by Frank Snepp. The stories are unique yet the same, reeking of betrayal and abandonment by a "friend".
The author reveals arduous research and the ability to place these anecdotes onto paper without losing emotion and perhaps color. As a previous reviewer has stated...better late than never. My congradulations and thanks to the author.
I would give this book more stars if possible.
I am the author of ...Eye of the Tiger and Thoughts Etched in Jade.

In this book, Dr. McKelvey wrote a detailed and intimate account of the South Vietnamese military officers' fates after the end of the Vietnam War.

The message is troublesome but not surprising: the military personnel were rounded into re-education camps and suffered untold tragedies from humiliation, torture, mental degradation to physical impoverishment within a communist prison system. The majority of the officers were jailed from ten to fifteen years; one officer was detained for a total of 22 years.

While 70,000 former political inmates and their families were allowed to immigrate to the U.S. through the ODP (Orderly Departure Program), many more are still living on the fringes of the Vietnamese communist society. A former major drives a pedicab for a living. In this McKelvey's book, we heard the voices of a doctor, a tailor, a politician, an engineer, a spy, a pilot, and a teacher. They all endured "grueling and unforgiving ordeals that only the strongest would have survived." Family members were ostracized for being related to the political prisoners; their wives suffered uncounted financial, emotional, physical hardships, their children barred from a decent education.

The book is one of the few that deal with the long-term psychological effects of the incarceration on the inmates and the sufferings of their relatives.

The author concludes that: 1) War does not end when peace treaties are signed because the negative rippling effects of war and destruction affect many generations to come. 2) The U.S. should be very careful about intervening militarily in any part of the World. 3) The U.S., if it does go to war, cannot simply abandon friends and allies to the mercies of common enemies.

McKelvey, a Marine veteran of Vietnam, penned a marvelous oral history of former reeducation camp survivors. The Introduction is personal and touching. The book contains four major sections dealing with interviews with former prisoners: a doctor, an engineer, a tailor, a pilot and a spy. Families of prisoners give their stories of carrying on while their loved ones were in captivity.

The author probes deeply into the postwar lives of these former public servants and officers of South Vietnam. From the initial reporting date in June 1975 until their release, the interviewees recall the brutal details of the camps, their captors and the communist indoctrination--basically hard labor and starvation. "Reeducation" is a misnomer.

Nixon and Kissinger's "Peace with Honor" never materialized. Ford took care of the refugees in the U.S. but didn't/couldn't intervene. Carter, well...he was busy with pardoning draft dodgers and Iran. The U.N. and Amnesty International finally took notice in 1979 when it was too late for the majority of those who had perished.

I give this book four stars only because it reeks of academia, its format of Q&A rather than an arcing narrative. It should be included in every Vietnam class, especially those professors and students who care to learn about America's defeated and abandoned allies.

I am a student from Vietnam and now studying in the U.S. I chanced to read this book in our university library. Thanks the AUTHOR for an insightful book.

In fact, my family background was 'clean' in the eyes of our government because my parents were not involved in any military service for the former government. But I have friends whose family situations were exactly the same as those portrayed in the book. I must say those are incredible human sufferings, and not only for one generation. I am glad some of those stories are now heard, perhaps a bit late but still, better than never.

Here's a life-time lesson for me (and perhaps some others): no matter how and what communists tell you, don't hastily believe them. Just look at what and how they do, and you'll see it for yourself. For many of them, human dignity and lives are trivial and cheap.

Rousing and familiar, full of insight into our mind and a look into a human essence we should all posses. "Observe with eyes of color, listen with ears of sensitivity" I will take that with me from now on. Dr. Pedro Suarez, beautiful story. Barbara

I read this book through a cloud of tears. This book is a testimony to the beauty of loving, being loved and the courage of holding on to hope. Knowing personally what it means to have a "special angel" in one's life made it all that more moving. A must read, especially for those who can't appreciate the beauty in their life. :)

From the first chapter to the last word of the last page, this book holds your attention until you have finished reading the entire story. A truly outstanding work of fiction that every young teenager should read. As a teacher, I found this to be an easy, but sophisticated tale that covers many of the problems, conflicts, and consequences that our younger generation face. What a remarkable tool to use to help open up debates and discussions among different peer groups. I highly recommend "The Giving of Hope" to both parents and young adults. I can't wait for another book by Mr. Suarez.

This Young-Adult book was a breath of fresh air considering the material that is out there. The message contained within this book gives compassion, love, and the humanity and reverence that so many of us lack or forget. It is a must read...you will be a better person because of it.

I recommend Folger's editions for Shakespeare for people like me who love to read Shakespeare, but need a little help. The left page notations on the text are helpful and well-placed for easy reading.

William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is arguably the most famous play ever written in the English language; it presents the world with questions and characters that have been the subject of thespian and scholarly debate ever since the Prince of Denmark's first appearance on the stage of London's Globe Theatre. Probably written and first performed in 1601 (estimates vary between 1600 and 1602), the play draws on Saxo Grammaticus's late 12th/early 13th century chronicle "Gesta Danorum," which includes a popular legend with a similar plot centering around a prince named Amleth; as well as several more contemporaneous sources, primarily Francois de Belleforest's "Histoires Tragiques, Extraicts des Oeuvres Italiennes de Bandel" (1559-1580), which expands on the story told in the "Gesta Danorum," and a lost play known as the "Ur-Hamlet" (i.e., original "Hamlet"), sometimes also attributed to Shakespeare, but equally likely written by a different author a few decades earlier. Another work frequently cited in this context is 16th century playwright Thomas Kyd's "Spanish Tragedie."

Pursuant to Shakespeare's wishes and like all of his works, "Hamlet" was not immediately published, and the original manuscript did not survive. However, in the absence of copyright laws or other forms of protection of what today would be called the playwright's intellectual property rights, first bootleg copies (so-called quartos) based on transcripts made during or after performances began to appear in 1603. Yet, it would not be until 1623 - seven years after Shakespeare's 1616 death - that his former fellow actors John Hemmings and Henry Condell published 36 of his plays (including this one) in a collection known as the First Folio.

As no print version of any of Shakespeare's plays has a bona fide claim to its author's first-hand blessings, ever since the Bard's death the world is left with numerous questions about his characters' motivations and psychological makeup; first and foremost, in this particular case: who is this Prince of Denmark anyway, and what's driving him - is he a reluctant suicide or reluctant avenger? A Renaissance man? Wrecked by Freudian guilt? Genuinely mad, or merely putting on a clever act of deception? Or is he someone else entirely? - Indeed, we're even left in doubt as to what exactly it was that Shakespeare meant his characters to say, with all attendant interpretative consequences: Does the Prince wish for his "too too sullied" or his "too too solid" flesh to "melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew" in his first major soliloquy (Act I, Scene 2)? Does he really contemplate "the stamp of [that] one defect" which may fatally taint the perception of a man's other virtues, "be they as pure as grace," before meeting his father's ghost (I, 4)? Does Polonius, when sending Reynaldo on a spying mission after Laertes, refer to his scheme as "a fetch of wit" or "a fetch of warrant" (II, 1)? Do Hamlet's musings in "To be, or not to be" (III, 1) concern "enterprises of great pith and moment" or "of great pitch and moment," whose "currents turn awry and lose the name of action" by his doubts? Does or doesn't the sight of the Norwegian army while Hamlet is on his way to England (IV, 4) prompt him, who has so far failed to carry out his purpose, to reflect "How all occasions do inform against me," and conclude his soliloquy with the vow "from this time forth my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth"?

How you answer any of these questions, and how you consequently view the play's characters, depends in no small part on the text you read. Like all Folger Shakespeare editions, this one is based on what the editors have deemed the "best early printed version," while allowing the reader a unique direct comparison of the principal reliable versions by including a text essentially combining these versions, with unobtrusive markers characterizing those passages appearing only in one particular version. For "Hamlet," the editors eschewed the play's very first (1603) quarto, which was possibly compiled by a journeyman actor and whose inconsistencies with all subsequent versions (textually as well as plot-wise and even regarding character names) have caused it to be generally considered a "bad" quarto, in favor of the 1604 Second Quarto, which some even believe to be based on Shakespeare's own first draft of the play and which, in any event, while more extensive than the 1623 First Folio (in turn, thought to be closest to the version(s) actually produced on the Globe Theatre stage), boasts about as secure a claim of authenticity as the latter. In some instances, the text follows the Second Quarto (Q2) without visually alerting the reader to the differences vis-a-vis the First Folio (F1), thus compelling those more used to the latter version to seek out the extensive end notes to reassure themselves that (in the examples given above) it might indeed be "solid flesh," "warrant," and "pith and moment" (F1) instead of "sullied flesh," "wit," and "pitch and moment" (Q2). In other instances, however, the First Folio's language (clearly marked as such) is given preference over that of the Second Quarto; while crucially, the text also includes all those passages *only* contained in the latter, including the "stamp of one defect" and "bloody thoughts" monologues, whose interpretation has such a direct bearing on many a reader's understanding of Hamlet's character.

The text is amplified by illustrations and annotations for those unfamiliar with 16th century English, scene-by-scene plot summaries, a short biography of Shakespeare, and introductory and concluding essays on this and the Bard's other plays and on Shakespearean theatre, as well as extensive suggestions for further reading, and a key to the play's most famous lines. While it is unlikely that after 400 years of debate any one version, be it in print, on stage or on screen, will be able to generate unanimous acceptance as the "definitive" rendition of this complex play, this is an excellent starting point for an in-depth excursion into the Prince of Denmark's world.

Centuries of audience recognize the brilliance of Shakespeare's Hamlet. This review treats the editing, printing, binding, appendices, et cetera - work done by Folger Shakespeare Library. Overall, a great product.

*** PRINTING & BINDING ***
This new 8.5 x 5.5-inch format is fantastic! Print is much sharper and bigger. Margins are much bigger - excellent paper quality. Binding/cover has a nice slight plastic laminate - more durable. Copyright 1992. (total weight: 18 ounces)
From 15 years, we still have a copy of the old 6.75 x 4-inch format - page for page identical content (same Copyright), but very cramped and hard to read - small fuzzy print - cheap coarse paper - tiny cramped margins - distracting.
The new 8.5 x 5.5-inch format is a tremendous pleasure.

*** APPENDICES ***
The essay by Michael Neill is also brilliant - "Hamlet: A Modern Perspective"

***** EDITING *****
Almost all of the editor's explanatory notes (on facing page) are helpful in finding the original meaning. However, in some cases they've missed it. These occasional blunders may betray a tinge of naive, academic reluctance to plunge in and fathom the depths of Hamlet's profound sadness, sarcasm and gloom.
exempli gratia :

Act 5, Scene 2, line 237-38
-- "Since no man of aught he leaves knows, what is 't to leave betimes?"
Hamlet's meaning: Since no one knows when they will die, what is it to die early?

The editors have an embarrassing note:
"237-38. 'of aught he leaves knows' : knows anything about what he leaves behind"

Act 3.2.38
-- "I hope we have reformed that indifferently with us, sir."
Meaning: ... reformed our performance segments which were only average or mediocre ...

The editors misfire:
"38. 'indifferently' : pretty well"

Note: The word "indifferent" appears again in three more scenes. In all cases the meaning is: ordinary, unexceptional, somewhat, uninspired, tolerable, undistinguished, passable, average, mediocre, so-so ...
[see Act 2.2.245 / Act 3.1.132 / Act 5.2.110]

This really is "The Tragical History of Hamlet Prince of Denmark" and not only the Prince but his family. Not only his family but his friends. Not only his friends but all though that came before him and is told to those that came after him.

You can take time to scrutinize and pick apart many underlying themes or may of the phrases that now challenge Bible sayings in today's sound bites. But the real fun is in just reading the story and you will find that it is not as foreign as you may have thought.

A quick synopsis is that Old Hamlet conquered Old Fortinbras seizing his land. Now that Old Hamlet is dead, Young Fortinbras wants his land back and is willing to take it by force. Meanwhile back in Dänemark Young Hamlet who is excessively grieving for the loss of his father, gets a now insight from his fathers ghost. Looks like he was a victim of a "murder most foul"; it looks like his mother and uncle were in cahoots on the murder.

The story is about what each person felt and acted or did not act upon the situation.

You will find many movies and perverted imitations of the story but nothing will replace the original scripts that were intended to be watched.

Hanging Cpt. Gordon by Ron Soodalter was for me, an exceptional read. It's a non-fiction that reads like a novel, it's well written, and very fluid. The bulk of the books goes into the social and political sentiments of the mid 1800's especially as they related to slavery and the trafficking of slaves from the African continent to the Americas.

The author, I believe, pain stakingly and with great detail (20 pages of footnotes) painted a psychological picture of the major players, Cpt. Gordon, the prosecutor, the defense team (dream team of 1864) and of president Lincoln, and what motivated these men. We come to see Cpt. Morgan as an unfortunate but wretched soul, whose life and death had to be used as an example, that trafficking in slaves, along with slavery in the territories and new states would not be allowed.

From an historical stand point, it was interesting to see how New York and the other eastern seaboard states were heavily invested in the slave trafficking that was vital to the supply of slaves to the south. Slave trafficking florished during the 40 year period that anti trafficking laws were on the books as a capital offense. Trafficking florished and no one was hanged because of the involvement of New York financiers, insurers, ship builders, legal community and politicians.

This is not a feel good history book, but for those that want an accurate account of what took place in this country during the 1800's as it ralates to slavery, slave trafficking and slave laws, this is the book.

Hanging Captain Gordon is a good review of the slave trade and the majority attitudes that prevailed just before the start of the Civil War. The book arouses sympathy for Captain Gordon's widow and children, revulsion over the treatment of African captives, and horror at the crudeness of our entire justice system in the 18th and 19th centuries. It does not make me proud of my European ancestors. Anyone willing to critically evaluate American culture will benefit from reading this book.

The law on the books was quite clear in 1860. Any American convicted of engaging in the slave trade was subject to the death penalty. Surely Captain Nathanial Gordon from Portland, Maine had no reason to believe that this could ever happen to him as he sailed toward Africa on just such a mission in the Spring of 1860. For up until this time not a single American citizen had ever been sentenced to die for this most heinous of crimes. Yes, the slave trade was alive and well in the year before the American Civil War would commence and a great many Americans were still involved up to their ears. "Hanging Captain Gordon" is author Ron Soodalter's remarkable account of the life and death of one Captain Nathanial Gordon who would pay the ultimate price for essentially being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is a captivating book that recalls a series of events that history had largely forgotten. It is compelling reading.
Most Americans will be shocked and disgusted when they learn just how widespread slave trading was in the first six decades of the nineteenth century. And what is most disturbing is how complicit many Americans were in this practice. There was lots of money to be made in the slave trade. Here in the U.S. many "respected" businessmen participated as investors in such enterprises. They would outfit the vessels and make all of the other necessary arrangements to carry out the sordid mission. Many of the the most prominent businessmen in New York and other major northern cities were involved. Many other Americans were all too happy to work as officers and crew members on these ships. And just in case someone was caught in the act there were legions of corrupt politicians and judges to provide cover. And so in 1860 as a divided America prepared to face off on the question of slavery here at home a lively slave trade continued to flourish in ports such as Havana and Rio de Janiero. It was Captain Gordon's great misfortune to be nabbed by the American steamer USS Mohican as he sailed westward with some 897 slaves on board. They were packed below like so many sardines. Nathanial Gordon and his crew had been caught red-handed at a time when the political winds at home were shifting dramatically. For it would come to pass that Nathanial Gordon of Maine would be made an example of. History would demand that he pay the ultimate price.
I found "Hanging Captain Gordon" to be very thoroughly researched and particularly well written. This one held my interest from cover to cover. Ron Soodalter gives the reader a very thorough picture of all of the forces at work and players involved in the highly charged atmosphere surrounding the trial and conviction of Captain Gordon. In addition, Soodalter presents more compelling evidence at just how great a President Abraham Lincoln really was. As many in American bombarded the President with requests for a pardon for Captain Gordon Lincoln resisted. He saw the hanging of Captain Gordon as an opportunity to send a clear message to all that slave trading would no longer be tolerated. In the end Lincoln was correct. Slave trading would largely disappear for nearly a century.
Ron Soodhalter concludes "Hanging Captain Gordon" with a "Afterword" on how new forms of slave trading have begun to re-appear in recent years. His examples are surely food for thought. "Hanging Captain Gordon" is packed with material I had never seen anywhere else. This one is an absolute must for history buffs. Highly recommended!

Mr. Soodalter does an amazing job by taking a little known event and giving it life. His characters and events are so real and the lack of support to end slavery is shameful. Although there was legislation, the politicians did little to prevent slavery from continuing (they all had them) and Soodalter shows how little things have changed in the world in his final chapter. This is an adventure, a great story, told by an excellent historian and story-teller. This is a must read!!

I was very pleased with this retelling of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Donald Cook's illustrations will especially help in bringing the action to life for children. This book offers parents and children an opportunity to discuss the action and what they believe may have been the outcome based on the mysterious ending of the story. As other reviewers maintain, this is a great spooky story for kids.

My son LOVES this story, in all its many versions. Easy reading
(second grade) and lovely illustrations. A must have for those who love to be "spooked"!

This is a children's version of the Washington Irving ghost story. My 7-year-old son read it in one afternoon and loved it. This will get any child reading who is the least bit interested in scary stories. Especially recommended for kids who are a little too young for Goosebumps but desperately want to read them.

A classic, brilliantly written novel. A schoolmaster, and a little town in colonial New York, create a normal, sometimes humerous beginning to the novel. However, as the tale goes on, you hear of the Ledgend of the Headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow. This mysterious, classic thriller will have you sifting through the pages you'll never be prepared for the unexpected, climacting conclusion! A must read for any Halloween fan! Just a brilliant story, hands down.