Virginia Books

This book is called, The Warlord's Puzzle by, Nicolas Debon.

Once there was a warlord who ruled china. One day an artist gave the warlord a one of a kind beautiful blue tile. But then. . . The artist broke it. Then the warlord said that the artist should get a punishment. The artist says that whoever solves the puzzle of the blue tile will get a huge reward. Then the warlord agrees with the artist. Later on, everyone knew about the big reward and how to get it. While everyone in line were waiting for their turn, the artist secretly searched for clever people in line. At the very end of the line, a poor peasant and his poor son were fishing for some tasty yummy supper. "What are all you honorable people doing?" asked the peasant. "We are waiting to solve a puzzle for the warlord," answered the scholar. Then the peasant and his son joined the line with the others. When they got to the palace, there were two giant pillars with dragons on it, but the poor little boy got frightened. "Enough!" roared the warlord "Artist, these two offend me more than all the rest. They will share your punishment. It was the peasant and the little boy's turn. While the little boy was trying to solve the puzzle, he was singing a thoughtful riddle. Then the warlord shouted with happiness. They solved the puzzle at last!

This book shows that no matter how poor you are you can still be smart. All of the rich people came to the palace, but they didn't solve the puzzle. The person who solved the puzzle wasn't any of the rich people. The person who solved the puzzle was the peasant's poor son.

I think the warlord should have tried to solve the puzzle by himself. He is forcing his land to solve the puzzle. The warlord is being very selfish. He just wants the puzzle to be solved for himself. If the warlord kept on trying he could have solved the puzzle by himself.

I liked the way the little boy was brave and gave it a shot to solve the puzzle even though he could've gotten a punishment.

By Valerie

Fine color drawings by Nicholas Debon bring the Chinese topics to life. Warlord's Puzzle tells of a fierce warlord in China who receives a ceramic tile as a gift, but sentences the man to punishment when it's shattered. The artist poses an unusual contest as the solution for the problem.

The Warlordýs Puzzle is a traditional Chinese tale that proves you do not have to have money or power to have intelligence. An artist gives a warlord a gift of a blue tile, and then drops it on the ground and breaks it into seven pieces. A contest is held that will reward anyone who can fix the tile, and the one who ends up solving the problem will surprise readers. The book has a mathematical twist because the pieces break in the shape of a tangram puzzle.

The author has found many ways to capture the interest of readers in this unique story. First, the characters of the book come alive through the beautiful pictures. Each page is rich in color and shows the emotions of the characters throughout the story. The words on each page are also arranged in unique ways to help give emphasis to the text and interest readers. Some of the phrasing of the sentences is difficult for young readers to understand, so some explanations may need to be given while reading. Overall, this is a very interesting and creative book that could lead into many different types of discussions.

A Chinese warlord receives a ceramic tile as a gift and promptly sentences the artist who made it to death when the title is shattered into seven pieces. The desperate artist proposes that a contest be held. Whoever is clever enough to put the tile fragments back together will be asked to live in the warlord's palace -- and his own life would be spared. After an enormous multitude of people fail at the task, a little peasant boy figures out a novel and unexpected solution. Virginia Pilegard's The Warlord's Puzzle is a delightful, highly recommended picturebook story that is gorgeously illustrated with the full color, museum quality artwork of Nicholas Debon.

I can highly recommend this book to parents and teachers. It's well-written with characters that come alive through some of the nicest children's book art work I've seen this year.

We used the tanagram puzzle pattern at the end of the book, and went on to make up our own, too. I think it's an excellent introduction to geometry.

Plus we talked about ancient China vs. China today.

You hear a lot about "math across the curriculum" and this book is such a great example of how that can work well for kids.

Outside of the classroom, my son wants to read this book at bedtime, too!

Written by: Alan Madison
Published by: Little, Brown and Company
Reviewed by: Stephanie Rollins and J.T. Rollins (age 10) for ReviewYourBook.com 8/2008
ISBN: 978-0-316-113540
"A Must-Read for All Pre-teen Military Kids" 5 stars
We have a saying around our house--"We are a military family, so we have to be tougher than most." This is a big responsibility for the kids. They have extra chores. They have to conform to a strict daily routine. They have to have fewer sleepovers and etc....
This book touches upon the toughness of military kids. I have not seen a book about this topic written for pre-teens. The characters are well-developed. The situations are real.
J.T. does not like to read, but I made him read this because of his Dad's upcoming deployment. He enjoyed the book (he read it five pages at a time), and he recommends it to other military kids. When I asked him if it demonstrated how family life is when his Dad is gone, he agreed that it did.
Madison is right on target with this book. I am going to recommend this to other military families that I know. Go get a copy for your child or a military child that you know.

Esmerelda, perceptive beyond her years is the daughter of a third generation career Army Sergeant. After living in three other countries before she's 8, her family returns to live in "The good `ol U.S. of A." Dad McArthur who gently but firmly instills Army conduct, manners and rules is sent overseas on a secret tour of duty in the desert for 100 days and 99 nights. Many of her classmates have family members serving, and her teacher kindly attempts to have them view the time as mathematically shorter. They know when a life is at stake, it's just not possible to see it quite that way.

As Mom, Esme and younger brother Ike experience the feelings associated with military separation, Esme bravely tries to fill her Dad's shoes at home, while struggling with her own war related issues and anxieties. How one copes, as well as clings to their hopes, underscores the relevant themes in this book.

Told through Esme's authentic voice, often with interesting, age-appropriate word plays, she alerts the reader to her concerns and those who inhabit her world. A knee-jerk emotion flashes through anyone who learns that kids in her school are more fearful of the Principal coming to take a child out of class and sending them home, than coming because one has misbehaved. Esme's impressive creativity and perseverance fills the reader with hope when she initiates efforts with friends to actually do something on "the home front," after being told by a school official that there is nothing that can be done.

The light pencil illustrations provide an important element to the text, as does the format of the chapters, which are unique and effectively lead the reader through Esme's inner and outer world. This book packs a powerful punch using clean communication that a 5th-8th grader will clearly understand. It is not an "in your face book," which is refreshing and compelling. Mr. Madison does an excellent job in his debut fiction portrayal of current day military families facing multiple tours of duty.

Esme's father is a sergeant in the United States Army. Her family has lived in locations like Korea, Kenya, and Germany. Now they are settled in the United States and they enjoy spending time together as a family.

During one of those happy times her father announces that he must leave for duty. 100 days and 99 nights is a long time, but he knows that Esme will do her best to help her mother. Esme sends her treasured baby blanket along with him.

Daddy is never far from Esme's thoughts. He misses things like her class play and soccer games, but Esme has the hardest time when he's not there to tuck her in at night or make breakfast on Saturday mornings. Grandpa tries to fill in but it's not the same.

At school the students discuss what they can do to help the soldiers. They want to plant a victory garden but that will have to wait until spring. They collect scrap metal and Esme is featured in a newspaper article showcasing their efforts. Daddy is so proud!

100 days and 99 nights is a long time, especially when things don't go so well. Esme becomes angry when daddy's not around. She knows he's a strong, brave person who is doing a great job, but she's counting the days until he comes home!

This is a poignant book about the impact of war on those who are left behind that even younger children will be able to relate to.

Reviewed by: hoopsielv

My husband is overseas in the military and for periods longer than 100 days. I read this as a read aloud for my children. The issues the children deal with in the story and things they are missing about dad and family routines hit home with my boys. This book opened up discussions for us. There is a part in the book where the brother gets in trouble for fighting and his principal seems very understanding and my son wished his had been like her. In the book, the school staff seem very supportive, but there are many classmates that have parents away for the war too.
I think this is a must read for teachers of children that have a parent away in the war- would open eyes up if they aren't.

This is a wonderful, thoughtful book. Alan Madison is a master storyteller. My kids loved reading this book. They loved the characters, the story and all the ideas behind the story.

I just bought this book based upon the previous reviews and would like to set some of the facts straight. A reviewer stated that in this book, especially on the section about Putnam County, there is a large section about Jack Whitaker and even a map to his house in Hurricane. There is NO SUCH THING! First, Mr. Whitaker won the lottery in 2002...this book was published in 1998!!! To clarify this inept review, there is NO MENTION of Mr. Whitaker winning the lottery in any part of this book. Otherwise, this is a great factual representation of West Virginia.

By the author, E. Lee North (north444@aol.com).... West Virginians are the friendliest people in the country, and it was a pleasure interviewing and dealing with Mountaineers. This is my third book on West Virginia and it really is an incredible state. Just think --Wheeling is the only city to have been the capital of two different states and not now a capital of any; it was also the site of the last battle of the Amer. Revolution (Ft. Henry). These facts are well covered in "The 55."

Part of WV is N of part of NY state, part is W of Pt. Huron, Michigan, part S of Richmond, and it extends E to within 39 mi of Wash., DC. So it might be called a northern, midwestern, southern, or eastern state! (And has been.)We present just about everything you'd want to know about the Mountain State, including tables showing each county's percentage of women, minorities, income, home values, etc., and "Notables" for each county. There's a map of the whole state, and maps of every county.Actually, this book is probably the first popular history of all the counties of a state.

The Notables are quite interesting -- from Governor Cecil Underwood (imagine, elected WV's youngest governor in 1956, and her oldest in 1996) and Senators like Robert Byrd, Jay Rockefeller, and Jennings Randolph to sports stars like Jerry West and Sam Snead, writers Pearl Buck, Alberta Hannum, and Mary Lee Settle; military leaders Stonewall Jackson, Jesse Reno (Nevada's city of Reno is named for him)... well I'm just scratching the surface here. We do have a comprehensive index...

I owe a lot to our wonderful relatives down in Wheeling, and to Ye Olde Alpha tavern, our perennial gathering trough. And to the good folks at West Virginia University Press and Library.

By the author, E. Lee North (north444@aol.com).... West Virginians are the friendliest people in the country, and it was a pleasure interviewing and dealing with Mountaineers. This is my third book on West Virginia and it really is an incredible state. Just think --Wheeling is the only city to have been the capital of two different states and not now a capital of any; it was also the site of the last battle of the Amer. Revolution (Ft. Henry). These facts are well covered in "The 55."

Part of WV is N of part of NY state, part is W of Pt. Huron, Michigan, part S of Richmond, and it extends E to within 39 mi of Wash., DC. So it might be called a northern, midwestern, southern, or eastern state! (And has been.)We present just about everything you'd want to know about the Mountain State, including tables showing each county's percentage of women, minorities, income, home values, etc., and "Notables" for each county. There's a map of the whole state, and maps of every county.Actually, this book is probably the first popular history of all the counties of a state.

The Notables are quite interesting -- from Governor Cecil Underwood (imagine, elected WV's youngest governor in 1956, and her oldest in 1996) and Senators like Robert Byrd, Jay Rockefeller, and Jennings Randolph to sports stars like Jerry West and Sam Snead, writers Pearl Buck, Alberta Hannum, and Mary Lee Settle; military leaders Stonewall Jackson, Jesse Reno (Nevada's city of Reno is named for him)... well I'm just scratching the surface here. We do have a comprehensive index...

I owe a lot to our wonderful relatives down in Wheeling, and to Ye Olde Alpha tavern, our perennial gathering trough. And to the good folks at West Virginia University Press and Library.

WVU Press has re-issued this book in 1998, an expanded history with latest information on every county's vital stats -- pct minorities, ages, income, et al. Very complete, even listing several "notable persons" for each county. Complete with maps and photos.

There's plenty about Putnam County, including the map showing Hurricane and the home area of Jack Whitaker, who won the biggest one-winner Powerball prize on Christmas Day 2002 ($314.9 million)... just the tax on Whitaker's winnings paid off one-third of the Mountain State debt for that year.

"The Fifty-Five"is the bible for West Virginia's counties.

"There's a land of rolling mountains, where the sky is blue above." After coming to West Virginia four years ago for college, I not only became attached to "Country Roads" and being a Mountaineer, but I truly fell in love with the state and everything wholesome its heritage represents. Just as I enjoy waking up every morning to turn a new page in my Bed and Breakfast daily calendar, or curling up on a snowy evening with a cup of hot cocoa and a book on family owned gourmet restaurants, I've enjoyed leafing through the pages of "55 West Virginias", full of state history and statistics. A perfect book for those as in love with the state as I, the weekend traveler, or the world traveler, I think you, too, will find E. Lee North's Guide to West Virginia's State Counties as charming as you will the state itself.

This remarkable collection demonstrates once again how Ballard is one of literature's best kept secrets. Fourteen intelligent, intense and vividly written short stories challenge our theories of the recent future. It is one of the mysteries of our own time that someone casting as long a shadow as does Ballard, is virtually unknown in his native England, let alone America. This book, with its visions of dystopia, contains some very intriguing ideas: A middle east guerrilla has an idea for ending the fighting there, only to discover that the UN has a quite different agenda. World War III is played out against the larger concerns of President Reagan's health problems. The index from an unknown and perhaps suppressed autobiography provides tantalizing details to the life and times of one of this century's most anonymous titans. Ballard shines brightest in the short form; these stories are no exception. Enjoy!

I'll let the scholarly types explain all the deep insight contained in these stories. All I can say is this is the collection I hand out to people who want to explore Ballard's work. Some great stories in there.

These are some of the most creative short stories I've read. Ever. A sailor wrecks his chemical-laden ship on a remote Caribbean island, and the island environment reacts surprisingly well. A young assassin escapes an English mental institution and begins targeting astronauts. A man locks himself in his house and locks the rest of the world out...forever. Intelligently written, well-researched, and ever fascinating, these stories represent Ballard at his visionary best. I couldn't put it down!

J.G. Ballard is a rare find, a dystopian with a very, very dry sense of humor. The future isn't the bestiality of "1984" or the state mandated hedonism of Huxley's vision. Rather it comes from the constant tidal pressure of creeping suburbia puncuated with moments of surreal violence sputtered out of a TV set. Kind of like life. I recommend it highly

Ballard novels have never really impressed me - they seem too unfocused and convoluted. I am a big fan, however, of his short stories - generally well-written, interestingly plotted, and providing just the right amount of alienation, making even a mundane situation seem like an otherworldly experience. "The Best Short Stories of..." is a great place to start, with many fiction and sci-fi classics, a great representation of the short story form. "War Fever" is a worthy follow-up. I don't know why it took me so long to try these stories, but they are definitely worth it. Here, he doesn't really go out of his way to write in any established genre (sci-fi, horror), but his stories seem to drift that way ever so slightly, as if trying to just tread the edge of such. He uses some interesting variations with form as well, seeing what the reader will accept as a story: a questionnaire? An index? Both are equally valid, and Ballard uses them to great effect. Give this collection a try and see how well the stories hold up to his more classic works. I think you'll find that his output from the mid to late '80s was just as good.

Writing about race, specifically about the black race, in American entertainment is a dicey business--at best.

Then, not unlike a latter-day Alexis de Tocqueville or even Gunnar Myrdal, along comes Melvin Patrick Ely. Mr. Ely has written a well researched, passionately dispassionate analysis of the origins of the entertainment industry's racial miasma.

He takes us back to minstrelsy; on to the advent of radio before networks; then into the networks' formative years when an iconic show ruled the ether: "Amos'n'Andy". He informs us that even in 1930 blacks vigorously, if ineffectually, protested the show.

Mr. Ely has deconstructed more than a few of the racial myths that even today swirl around the "Amos 'n' Andy" radio program. He has eloquently put into context the television episodes and the NAACP's reaction to them.

He is objective and he is clear. Be forewarned, however, that this is not a coffee table book. It is written at 2nd to 3rd year undergraduate level, ie the book is not unlike a history text book, and all that that implies.

But it is, above all, lucid. And highly recommended.

History, well-researched and engagingly written, is as fascinating as the greatest fiction, if not more so. Melvin Ely combines a professor's concern for factualness with thorough, ground-breaking research and a novelist's way with narrative into an unfailingly entertaining work that is also of great and lasting academic, social and cultural importance. Ely has delivered a fascinating show business yarn with absorbing insight into human nature, sometimes noble, often naive, and occasionally downright repugnant. While not afraid to add an edge of attitude or a clear point of view when he chooses, the author still eschews easy answers and the predictable pedantics and prejudice of an ideologue of any political persuasion. With subtle surety, and never a trace of condescension, Ely ultimately shows us ourselves--good, bad and ugly--in an absorbing saga of American life and culture.

At a basic level, this book is a detailed, well-researched history of America's longest running (1929-1960 on both radio and television) comedy show. Ely does a fine job of describing the factors that led to the show's great popularity and the successful efforts of its creators, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, to maintain that popularity.

At a more sophisticated level, however, the book provides an intimate view of one of the great political events of this century, the American Civil Rights movement. Because Amos `N Andy was the only nationally popular series prior to 1960 featuring black characters, and because its creators and principal actors were both white, the show repeatedly drew both praise and criticism from the press and various organizations seeking to promote their own political agendas.

Ely describes in detail how Gosden and Correll went to great lengths to keep the show from being viewed as racist, yet in the long run they failed. As he points out,! that failure may have caused the major networks to shy away from shows featuring black performers and delay their introduction into television for another 20 years.

Having listened to Amos `N Andy on the radio as a child and subsequently watched it on TV, I like many other white Americans, was dumbfounded when the NAACP decided to attack it for being racist. For me at least, Gosden and Correll succeeded in their objective of establishing their characters as human types, not racial types. Sapphire was the spitting image of my best friend's mother, and Algonquin J. Calhoun came to typify every crooked lawyer (Is that redundant?) I later had the misfortune to meet.

Unfortunately, Ely touches only peripherally on the black sitcoms of the 80s and 90s (e.g., "The Jeffersons" and "In Living Color") which I (and many other Americans) personally found to be racist.

Despite dealing with a highly emotional topic, Ely has produced a lucid, objective and thought-provoking work! . His shortcomings consist of his failure to take into consideration the effects of the other great events of the period (the Great Depression, World War II, etc.) and his seeming assumption that all Americans cared about the Civil Rights movement. In fact, I think that more people (both black and white) cared more about putting food on the table and raising their families well.

There are few phrases in the English language as divisive as "Amos 'n' Andy." It is frequently a euphamism for humor at its most racist and simplistic. Yet could a program based on little more than a handful of stereotypes be able to thrive on radio for more than 30 years? This book answers that question by putting "Amos 'n' Andy" into perspective, through the evolution of the program, its roots in the minstrel shows, and its context within its own time. Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, the white creators of the program, are portrayed quite fairly in this book, and their motives are also presented in a fair way. Their goal was not to offend, though inevitably they did, but rather to entertain. This book shows how the core characters were portrayed in their own circle, the mythical Mystic Knights of the Sea lodge, and how they were portrayed beyond that inner circle, as the characters would intermingle with other blacks, and also whites. Also worth reading is the efforts by the Pittsburgh Courier and a few other black newspapers to boycott the show as early as 1931. More interesting, is how those attempts stalled, only to regain momentum 20 years later, with the advent of the television version. The phenomenon of "Amos 'n' Andy" is more complex than it would seem, as it tells us more about American society and racial relations than perhaps any othe program ever. This book is not just about "Amos 'n' Andy," but rather about ourselves. And for that, it should be a must-read. I was able to finish this book in two days it was so engrossing.

As the title indicates Ely's work is frankly a work of social history, not a performance biography, and is less interested in exploring "Amos 'n' Andy's" significant impact on the broadcasting medium than in viewing it as window into mid-20th Century American racial attitudes. Analysis of the program's content focuses on that perspective to the exclusion of all others, and detailed examination of the original scripts is confined primarily to the first two years of "Amos 'n' Andy."

Ely therefore fails to discuss in any detail the evolution of the characters and their relationships beyond 1929 -- and this is perhaps the book's greatest flaw, given that the characterizations and the dramatic sophistication of the program evolved substantially between 1929 and the mid-1930s It's unfortunate that Ely shortchanges this period of the program's history, as it in fact coincided with the peak of the program's popularity, and in my view an understanding of the evolution of the characters during the 1929-35 period is essential to an understanding of the series' appeal. (I have, in fact, read all of the scripts for the first decade of the series as part of my own research into "Amos 'n' Andy's" history.)

While Ely occasionally draws conclusions regarding the program's content that are contradicted by a detailed reading of the original 1930s scripts, and sometimes tends to over-interpret in his examination of public reaction to the program, in general his account is balanced and thoughtful, and his research into the African-American response to "Amos 'n' Andy" presents the definitive study of this aspect of the series.

Ely also deserves much praise for avoiding the self-indulgent deconstructionist jargon which tends to dominate current academic studies of popular culture -- his book is a rare example of an academic work which is both scholarly and extremely well-written. I'm very pleased to see the book is back in print.

Sensibly organized, this book was a terrific guide for a new grower like me. Though I've long been a gardening fan, I've rarely grown flowers for cutting and never with a plan. This helped make it managable and fun.

An American Cutting Garden provides in depth information for anyone interested in growing his own cut flowers. Whether you are a novice or a pro, this book offers practical advice that gardeners of all experience levels will enjoy. You'll no longer have to pour through book after book to decide what to grow and how to grow it. Everything you need to know about a cutting garden is contained in these pages.

So many garden books so little time! Yet take time for McIntire's hands on common sense. McIntire has spent 14 years experimenting and learning. It's as if your friend had decided to help you get started. And she can write. No matter where you are gardening, McIntire's got tips to get you started and to increase your expertise if you have already begun. If you are a real novice get a copy of the American Horticultural Society A to Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants (ISBN 8789419432) which has all the pictures of all the plants. But, if you want to learn what to plant under what conditions and how to succeed no matter how small, how shaded, how unfavorable your conditions might be, McIntire will, with writing which approaches the garden writing greats in style, lead you in the right direction. Skill is not the secret. But McIntire will provide you with the skills she has developed and the love for the process of gardening that nurtures every gardener, new or old. Best of all she will not send you out to buy 18 irises at $18.00 each. You can start with packets of seed. She follows in the footsteps of Henry Mitchel and Elenor Perenyi. Yet she provides simple access. Any latin or common name can be found in her Index of Plants. If you wonder how to coordinate various plants so that you have things in bloom over the season, there is a Sequence of Bloom for all the plants mentioned. Now the paperback has 28 color pictures (buy the A to Z). Gardening is much more than the photos in books and catalogues. We don't have Vita Sackville West's gardeners. We don't live at White Flower Farm. We have a small plot of mediocre soil and hope. Suzanne McIntire will provide you with both the knowledge and the intangible sprit to produce a cutting garden with flowers you will love and cherish. Try it. Try it. You will see!

The new paperback has 28 new color photos with loads of different flowers in them, all identified in the captions and mentioned in the text!

Finally a book that helps me navigate through the garden with a bit of information that is useful.I had great success using this text as a tool to prepare my beds for spring and summer. My garden looked beautiful. I experimented with new plants well.

Like another reviewer, I've had a copy of this book since the 80s. As a kid, I practically memorized this book, and I still think it's finest field guide I own. This book coverage of the most common species is quite thorough. The style and presentation are also excellent, so aspiring field guide writers should take notice.

I am the Grand daughter of Bernard Martof!!!! I have liiked a the book. It has beautiful photographs. Great facts too!! If you need a reptile question answered you should look at this book!!! If I ever do a reptile study I think I will look in this book. I like the frog on the cover too!

Excellent book! It's a little more detailed that a typical field guide but what I like most about it is that its specific to our area. So, while I have a larger field guide (for the region) I also really love having this one because it's more focused. In the beginning of the book there's an introduction to habitat with great pictures showing what the habitats look like. The book then goes into the specific species - I was particularly interested in the salamanders and amphibians but the sections on snakes, turtles and lizards are super too. The pictures are great, descriptions cover approx. size, colors/patterns, species that they could be confused with, habitats, and egg laying (timing, incubation etc). Great book to have on hand.

I've had and used this book since it came out in 1980. I always recommend it to all of the classes and seminars I give on reptiles and amphibians and to all of the people who ask for a good field guide because, for the size and cost, there are none better for this part of the country. Well worth the money if a handy, accurate, well-done field guide with great photos and range maps is what you want.

I love this book. We see a snake in the woods, and take note of as many characteristics as we can, then look it up later to learn more about it. Same with frogs, toads, lizards, skinks! The actual information provided for each reptile is slim but very interesting. This is a great book to have if you spend any time in the wild in Virginia.

Coke works at Hazelwood closing chapter on demise on steel in entire region. Read also: Homestead, with new forward by author, best one-town summary

I read this years ago, and I thought it was an excellent analysis of the collapse of the steel industry in Pittsburgh, filled with compelling tales of individual people.

The books feels like a Greek tragedy, in which the protagonists are doomed to a slow slide towards the edge of a cliff. Institutionalized conflict overcomes the efforts of people from both labor and maangement to halt, or at least slow the inevitable slide.

For people who think that the current dot.com crash is a serious downturn, this book offers a very good counter-perspective. When an area loses 100K jobs in 10 years, and whole towns essentially close, that's a *real* downturn.

On the other hand, there's always hope. Pittsburgh has bounced back, and has a much more diversified economy. The last time I visited, I could see the sky, which was more difficult in the steel days. To grasp those days, either see the early Tom Cruise movie "All The Right Moves", or for depth, read this book.

This is an excellent book for anyone who wants to learn about what went wrong in this basic industry. Not only a study of the collapse of the steel industry in the Mon Valley, the book is also a study of the pain of postindustrialization that swept the country in the 1980's. Esentially, the author is writing about a national trend, but focuses on the Pittsburgh area, which is really a microcosm. It is also a good look at what happens when unions and management can't get their acts together.

This is a detailed and heartbreaking story of the failure and collapse of the American steel industry. Sometimes the details are more than one needs to know, but this book will serve as an excellent case history on the underlying reasons for the transfer of the "rust-belt" jobs overseas, and now America's reliance of foreigners to produce the goods we use, in return for pieces of paper (Bonds) giving them claims on American wealth.

Mr. Hoerr tries to write a dispassionate history, but it is difficult in the face of such monumental stupidity and greed. "A vibrant forty-six mile stretch of river valley, providing primary jobs for over thirty-five thousand steel employees... would be devastated and expunged from economic memory in less than five years." "After that, the opportunities are limitless... from here to there where McDonald's needs someone to serve the one-trillionth burger." (p12-13).

The author was a reporter during this period, and apportions blame to both the steel company management and the unions, but clearly reserves his primary animus for management. They saw labor as an undifferentiated mass of dumb "hunkies", the pejorative term for people of Slavic origins, who only needed to take orders. That attitude was repaid, as Mr. Hoerr says: "I have known only two major corporations that actually engendered feelings of hatred among their employees, GM and US Steel." (p206) Management eventually acquiesced to the form, but not the substance of labor participation by forming "Labor-Management Participation Teams," but usually ignored their recommendations. There was also a willful neglect in spending the capital to modernize the operations - USX finally proposed building the first continuous caster plant in the Mon Valley in 1986! - at the very end. (p550) Instead it infuriated the labor force by spending its capital in buying Marathon Oil.

The author had access, and draws telling portraits of the principal actors involved, from the USW's I.W. Abel, Lloyd McBride, Lynn Williams, Bernard Kleiman and Edmund Ayoub. On the management side there was David M. Roderick, Thomas Graham and David Hoag.

I worked in US Steel's Homestead Works for two summers during my college years - '65 and '66. At the time I thought this work was the most "real", and those mills would be eternal - America would always need steel, and would obviously need to produce it. Fortunately the avenging angel passed me by, as I decided this work was not for me. Once again another "wolf" has finally come to America - this time high (and higher still) gas prices, which will force more economic dislocations that prudent planning could have avoided. Will American society be able to organize its economy prudently, to truly meet the real needs of its citizens, and minimize massive dislocations? This book is an excellent story of previous follies - can we learn from them?

My dad - who died a couple of years ago - published this book. He was very proud of it, and I think he would have been very pleased to see that Amazon customers are responding to it favorably.

This incisive work illuminates Virginia's colonial history in personal detail: legal procedures, community structures, and economic and political relationships. Researching primary sources, Professor Pagan brings the narrative to life with persuasive insights into decisions and events as the participants must have planned them: their ambitions, fears, successes, and failures. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in social or legal history.

Prof. John Ruston Pagan has plucked a young 17th Century woman from deepest obscurity to become the subject of his book: Anne Orthwood's Bastard : Sex and Law in Early Virginia. This is a scholarly effort - it is heavily footnoted and supported by a large bibliography - and a first-rate work of investigation and authorship. Central to Anne Orthwood's detailed history was the availability of original records from the earliest days of English settlement in America. These records are preserved in an old courthouse on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Dating from 1632, they are said to be the oldest English-language court records in America.

First a word about "bastard." Today, it is little more than a curse word. As recently as the 1930s, however, it was still imprinted on birth certificates and, as in 1632, described a child born out of wedlock. In 1632, however, bastardy was considered a serious breach of morals, as well, and was deeply resented for the costs it might impose on taxpayers and church parishioners. Caring for bastards was provided for in detail by church and state law. Someone must pay for the midwife, lying-in expenses, wet nurse, etc. and fund the child's early years. That person was the putative father, if he could be discovered, and if he had any money. Failing that, the church and state stepped in. Punishment, too, must be portioned out upon the mother and father for their immoral behavior - and shame would burden the blameless child.

Anne is, herself, born out of wedlock. Rather than bear the humiliating penance the church imposes, Anne's mother escapes to the city of Bristol. That city just happens to be England's western port and the jumping-off point for the New World. Hoping to escape the stain of her origins and her mind filled with exaggerated stories of abundant potential husbands there, Anne indentures herself to a colony-bound sea-captain. He, in turn, sails to the Eastern Shore and sells her services - her indenture - to William Kendall, an upright, uptight, and upwardly-striving plantation owner.

When Anne gets too friendly with Kendall's nephew, John, she is sold off to another land-owner who sells her to yet a third. In the meantime, however, she has become pregnant by John. There can be no marriage, however, because John must "marry up." Conviction for fornication is out, too, since it would tarnish the uncle's reputation. Anne's joyless life comes to an end, when, in the midst of childbirth, she is forced to reveal the father's name, following which she dies. In death, even her honesty is impugned. Anne's son is a healthy baby. With only eight months between conception and birth, a healthy baby is not possible - so testifies the ignorant midwife.

Anne's son, Jasper, lives and is quickly indentured (under English law) for the first 24 years of his life. Anne's third indenturer sues to recover what he paid for Anne's unfulfilled service. Caveat venditor prevails over caveat emptor. A series of suits deal with who is the father - John Kendall is named - what he must pay, and what morals charge he might be stuck with. John pays the bills, but thanks to the machinations of Uncle William, he is found innocent of fornication.

This is an American story - it has a happy ending. Jasper sues for his freedom at the age of 22. The English Poor Law of 1601 specified emancipation at 24. However, in 1672, when Jasper was nine years old, the Virginia Assembly voted to lower the age to 21. Would the court agree that the Virginia law could take precedence over English law and that it could do so retroactively also? Yes! Jasper wins! He wins, in part, because of the quiet intercession of his guilty great uncle, William Kendall, who, incredibly, is now Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Dr. Pagan is a law professor and a scholar with a law degree from Harvard and a PhD. from Oxford. His purpose in writing the book is to show how English common law, rigid and steeped in precedent, was gradually and ever so gingerly adjusted by parvenu JPs and magistrates to meet the special needs of the colony. The sad life and death of Anne Orthwood and the freedom of her son, generating no less than four court cases and, spanning 22 years, serve as an armature around which to wind American legal development. It also makes for a great story. I have to agree with Dr. Pagan: Anne's story is the stuff of great opera. Where is her Verdi or Puccini?

Excellent, well-writen and very entertaining! Mr. Pagan's book covers a lot of ground, detailing a series of related trials that define the foundations of American justice. A++++

I just finished reading John Pagan's amazing true story of life in colonial Virginia and it reveals so much about life during a period that is little understood in our nation's history. After giving us the facts in the introduction, he unveils the history and its implications as each chapter focuses on one individual who was crucial to the events and the four legal actions which resulted from these events. The detective work has been done for you by the author who spent his summer researching every minute detail that exists--you just sit back and enjoy the tale! It is a great read and an astute portrait of a slice of Virginia life in the 1660s to 1680s--and gives us much to think about as the colonies began to establish a unique American legal system adapted from English law. It also gives us a sense of how "sex" was regulated by government at that time, and how legal decisions relate to social and economic realities of life. It is amazing that this little vignette of forgotten lives is so interesting to read about today and brings up issues of privacy, government regulation, and how courts consider society's social and economic goals--issues that resonate with judicial decisions that are being made today. So please read and enjoy and think about Anne and her son Jasper Orthwood. I think they would be very pleasantly surprised to know that their story is being retold in 21st Century America!

This scholarly work of legal history comes in a surprising package -- a gripping tale of early Virginia families and early colonial life and the economy. What a great way to learn about the development of American laws and their foundations!! It is so well written that I didn't want it to end.

Ms. Adair was a mentor of mine some years ago. I like her work so much and find her poems to be like magic boxes: one opens them and finds treasures.
Brava, Virginia Adair!

One of the best books of poetry I've read in years, and I go through hundreds of them to find the good ones. What a discovery! She is simply marvelous! Charles Sullivan

Virginia Hamilton Adair (1913-2004) was raised in an environment which seemed truly perfect for a (budding) poet. She was born as the daughter of Robert Browning Hamilton (a poet himself). Her parents suffused her with poetry and gave her loving encouragement. After having published some of her works in the first decades of the former century, but because of several private reasons she did not publish for a long stretch of time, she only began to publish again in her eighties.

And I for one am very glad to have discovered her! Mrs. Adair does not mince words and speaks in a direct, assured and clear voice, so no mannerisms here. She takes a refreshing and intelligent look at things. I do love her fine and wicked humour.

These poems cover a wide range of subjects. The experience of a long life is distilled here. Heartwrenching are many of the poems in the Exit Amor section, because in 1968 her husband committed suicide. Her grief and despair found their voice in her poetry (One Ordinary Evening, Dark Lines, The Ruin, Exit Amor, The Year After or Coronach).

So try out Ants on the Melon and you will discover a wonderful poet!

It's always unfair to compare one writer to another, but if you love Emily Dickinson, then Adair's book is for you. Succinct, masterful use of the language. I loved this collection. Buy it!

I'm a literary dilletante and I admit it. I picked up this book because of its swell cover and title.

Upon skimming it in the bookstore, I was hooked. Poems about life, without sappy metaphor or tricky construction. Good earthy, practical poetry. Such breadth of matter, such depth of understanding. I felt that I'd met a poet of substance.

Let's leave it at this, Adair nudged me into reading more poetry, more often.