Delaware Books

This fine book is a concisely brief photographic
history of eighteenth and nineteenth century colonial
homes in Odessa, Delaware. It contains many fine photos.
I was particularly attracted to this book because
the man who was the original creator of my ancestral
Lister family died in 1819 on his wheat farm around
Odessa, Delaware in New Castle County. His name was
Joshua Lister. He was married to Nancy Hartshorne.
They had a daughter named Mary who married Hezekiah Masten.
They also had sons named James, Henry, Joshua and Timothy.
Almost all individuals with the last name of Lister
who have resided in Caroline, Talbot and Queen Anne's
counties in Maryland are members of this same Lister
family. There have been only a very few exceptions to this
general rule.

I am extremely impressed with Taylor's book, which explores the real and imagined consequences of the Civil War on families in border states, where the question of secession was the most complicated and the most fraught. This book not only documents (in writing that rises to the level of great literary writing -- a rarity in young historians) the actual occurrence of split families and what they had to say for themselves, but also the psychological, moral, and political implications of families at odds with each other. That is, this book gets beyond the idea of "the brother's war" as merely a curiosity or a sentimental metaphor, and shows how the state of the society -- the relations between men and women, white and black -- itself is revealed in the experience of these families, observed in extremis.

The writing, again, is extraordinary. Fans of Doris Kearn Goodwin or David McCullough will love this book, and will be pleased to know that Taylor is of the new generation of historians and likely to be around and writing for a very long time.

For years I have driven through the state of Delaware on the way to somewhere else thinking what a pretty little state, but oblivious to the wonderful parks my canine hiking buddies and I would be welcomed.

So far we have visited five of the parks mentioned in this book and I feel like we have discovered a secret garden. My dogs love the water, the rivers and the woods that they can run freely in and this book has opened a new adventure closer to home for all of us!

On top of all that we are even learning quite a bit of history about the land and its founders as the author offers up great tidbits in every chapter.

Great book for those looking for a guide to discovering the "wilds" of Delaware.

A thoroughly enjoyable book, especially for those familiar with Ocean City, MD and the Delaware beaches. Every summer these beaches swell to the sizes of large cities with visitors looking for sun and relaxation by the Atlantic. "Down the Ocean" takes you back, in picture postcards, to a time when these beaches were just gaining their popularity. Early hotels are shown in their heyday. There are views of the Boardwalks and of people in the sun bathing outfits of the early 1900's. I had so much fun with this book I finished it in one sitting and would highly recommend it to others!

Following in the tradition of Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels," the English novelist, essayist, and iconoclast Samuel Butler published "Erewhon" privately in 1872. The title is an anagram of "Nowhere," which is the literal translation of the word "Utopia," the title by which Thomas More's 1516 work has commonly become known. "Erewhon" is arguably the first anti-utopian or dystopian novel, anticipating the later and better known works such as Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" and George Orwell's "1984." Whereas More and other utopianists are primarily interested in attacking society's ills and making the world a better place, the anti-utopians engage primarily in either satire of the society in which they live or in making dire predictions about the dismal fate that awaits humanity. Butler is most decidedly in the former category, since he proves in not only "Erewhon" but also his more famous work, the semi-autobiographical novel, "The Way of All Flesh," that his main concern is in attacking the complacency and hypocrisy he saw infecting Victorian society.

Like More's island of Utopia, Butler's Erewhon is a remote kingdom, not to be found on any map, which is discovered by the narrator of the novel (biographers of Butler have assumed it is modeled on a part of New Zealand, which anyone who has viewed the "Lord of the Rings" movies can attest has some spectacular landscapes). Cut off from the rest of the world, the citizens of Erewhon lives according to their own rules and dictates. Butler breaks from the tradition of creating an idealized world that goes back from More to Plato in favor of a more realistic society. In Butler's world there is still money, and both the rich and the poor still exist; there is even a monarchy in charge. It is when we notice strong parallels between Erewhon and the members of Victorian society that we start to see Butler's true purpose.

Hypocrisy is rampant in Erewhom, where citizens think nothing of agreeing with things they do not believe in and their friends know that they are doing so. While the citizens pretend to worship deities that are the personification of lofty human qualities such as love, justice, and hope, they really worship a goddess, Ydrgun, and the Church of England is transformed into the sytem of "Musical Banks." As Butler hits his stride in this novel he creates a topsy-turvy world where illness is treated as a crime (there are no physicians in the country) and criminal behavior, such as theft, are seen as minor weaknesses in character.

Unlike Francis Bacon's utopian work "The New Atlantis," where science was seen as the salvation of humanity that would correct all ills and provide all necessities, Butler's world has outlawed machinery because they might one day become the masters rather than the servants of humanity. Clearly Butler was no more enamored of the Industrial Revolution than he was of Victorian society. In many ways this is the section of "Erewhom" where Butler makes his most cogent arguments. It is also the point where the book's narrator, whose initial attitude of admiration turns to one of surprise, now beocmes one of condemnation as the eccentricities of the citizens of Erewhon are fully revealed. Ultimately, the shortcomings Butler sees in them are the same of which he accuses British society, politics, and religion.

Because Butler is satirizing Victorian society his value to modern readers remains inferior to that of Huxley and Orwell, not to mention Edward Bellamy ("Looking Backward 2000-1887") and Yevgeny Zamyatin ("We"). However, in many ways "Erewhon" is a pivotal novel in the history of utopian literature, not only because of how it follows and breaks away from More's original work and how it sets the stage for what other forgotten writers of dystopian fiction, such as Alexander Bogdanov ("Red Star") and even Jack London ("The Iron Heel"). "Erewhon" remains one of those novels where its historical significance outweighs its literary appeal.

This book is one of the best all around fishing books I have ever read. Don't worry about the fact that you don't fish in Delaware or Maryland, buy the book and gain the knowledge and techniques which are presented here.

The book is written in an easy to understand format. Capt Andy goes over all of the proven basic methods of catching fish, a real refreshing approach compared to others that get hung up on special products or their special interests.

I have fished with Capt Andy and find him to be one of the best fishing guides I have ever had the pleasure of wetting a line with.

Bernard Moss of the Institue of European Studies at the University of London and author of several works on French history has called this book "the best history" of the socialists during the 1980s (see p. 140, footnote 3 of Moss's article in Martin Schain (ed.), A Century of Organized Labor in France) while Jean Charlot of the University of Paris has declared it to be one of the half dozen most important books on the history of French socialism in the twentieth century (see his review in the July 1993 issue of French Studies).

Professor Gail K. Hart presents Friedrich Schiller: Crime, Aesthetics, and the Poetics of Punishment, a scholarly exploration of eighteenth-century writer, dramatist, and philosopher Friedrich Schiller's views upon punishment to crime, whether as state-sponsored retribution or simply as a means to prevent the criminal from repeating his offenses. Though Schiller's fascination with crime and criminals has bee previously explored at length, his views concerning punishment have received comparatively less scrutiny in the past; Crime, Aesthetics, and the Poetics of Punishment remedies the omission, exploring how Schiller consciously discredited retribution, his question of whether murder can ever be constructed to be "good", and the expression of Schillers thoughts and points of debate through his famous plays including "Maria Stuart", "Wilhelm Tell", and "The Maid of Orleans". A final chapter explores Schiller's intertextuality in the twentieth century, as well as the persistence of his ideals of freedom and aesthetic education in modern permutations, notably Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange" novel and movie. A welcome contribution to close analysis of philosophy and cultural expression, recommended for college library and literary studies shelves.

New Castle Army Air Base was built during WW II for the Air Transport Command. After the war the Deaware Air Guard operated first fighters and then transports to locations world-wide. The book also describes civilian aviation at New Castle County Airport. There is a day by day of the All-Woman Transcontinental Air Race, aka as the Powder Puff Derby which ended at New Castle, Delaware in 1976. There are over 250 illustrations in this attractive, hard cover book by pilot/author Jan Churchill.

If you want to know what attractions, special events, motels, and restaurants are in an area before you plan your trip, this is the guide book for you. It includes maps, short narratives about the area, pricing, and complete information so you can call or e-mail ahead. Also, there are sections for travelers with special interests or needs. It is the best -- comprehensive, well-organized, and helpful!