Delaware Books

Here's another pick for the college-level literary student; particularly those studying Charlotte Bronte's influence on North American writers. The focus is on 'marginalized maidens' from such writings and works by L.M. Montgomery, Louisa May Alcott, Kate Douglas Wiggin and more shows that Bronte's Gothic romance style in America was hard-hitting. It was Elizabeth Gaskill's biography of her author friend Charlotte which fueled much of the image of Bronte and attracted young readers in America - which in turn would inspire them to write novels to appeal to the same audience. An in-depth study reveals both literary and psychological influences.

Scranton Times-Tribune, July 31, 2007
by Libby Nelson

At first, Alan Sweeney's postcards were just something cheap to collect -- a quarter or two apiece, $5 if the card was really rare.

Now the Lackawanna Historical Society president has turned some of his 35-year-old collection into a book exploring the history of resorts in the Pocono Mountains.

The book, "Journey Along the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad," uses postcards dating from the 1880s through the 1930s to show the development of the region's resort industry.

"I like to do stories that people don't know a lot about," said Mr. Sweeney, who has co-written two other books about local history. "Very few people knew about the resort industry, how big it was at the time in the Poconos. Those are the stories that I like."

When Mr. Sweeney began his collection, he chose postcards from places that meant something to him: Lake George, where his family vacationed; Scranton and Lackawanna County; Moosic Lake, where they had a cottage. He chose Pocono Mountain cards because his first summer job had been at a resort there, he said.

He bought cards from estate sales and flea markets. At one point, he had more than 10,000 cards.

"I've sold of a lot of them because I didn't know what to do with them," Mr. Sweeney said.

He kept the cards from Moosic Lake, which he used for his 2005 book, "Gateway to the Clouds: The Story of a Short Line Railroad, the Scranton, Dunmore, Moosic Lake Railroad -- 1902-1926."

He also kept the cards from the Pocono Mountains and, after publishing "Gateway to the Clouds," Mr. Sweeney began considering a use for them as well.

He had begun researching Pocono Mountain resorts in the 1990s, but had never finished. After publishing "Gateway to the Clouds," he began the research again, using local libraries and historical societies.

The result was the story of a century of vacationing in the Pocono Mountains, beginning in the 1840s and continuing up to the beginning of World War II.

"We all heard about these inns, boarding houses and resorts, but we never actually saw the old ones," Mr. Sweeney said.

The book has sold about 400 of its initial 500 copies, he said.

"You don't make money on local books," Mr. Sweeney said. "You have 12 million copies of the Harry Potter book. We sell maybe 1,000 or 1,500."

Mr. Sweeney will be promoting the book through lectures and book signings throughout the region.

I had to do a research paper on Judy Johnson and was having troubles finding enough information. This book gave me all the information I needed and then some! Was very interesting and detailed. Great book! 5 stars

Professor Christmas brings Duck, Collier, & co. back to life in this important new work about a critically overlooked period in English literary history. Just in time for the holidays, too!

LEARNING FROM LYING: PARADOXES OF THE LITERARY MYSTIFICATION will appeal to college-level students of language and literature, exploring the concept of mystification as a literary form which seeks to enlighten through deception. From mystification's creation during the century of Enlightenment to its changing forms and distinctive style and use, chapters pair readings of works by major mystification authors to explore how it works. College-level students will find this complex, detailed and packed with literary examples.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Learning from Scant Beginnings: English Professor Expertise
Author: John V. Knapp

Although teaching is perhaps the central public activity of most university English professors, there is surprisingly little research in the specifics of expert professorial practice. Many previous studies describe, recipe-like, the end products of successful teaching, while others conflate expertise in this subject matter with pedagogical expertise. This study focuses on the moves the expert professor makes in a semester-long process of literary teaching----of a literature far removed in time and space from most undergraduates' experience----and discusses a day-to-day case study of an advanced undergraduate literature course in the writings of John Milton. By employing a "situated learning" model explaining the incremental growth of students' knowledge and critical skills, the author details how an expert professor teaches complex works to undergraduates with no previous exposure to an author's writings. This process is generalized to describe literary learning in its particulars and the paths students must take from possessing scant knowledge about an author or historical period to their developing mastery. John V. Knapp is professor of English at Northern Illinois University, and Editor of the literary journal, Style.

2008 ISBN: 978-0-87413-026-3

I was born and raised in SJ near the Delaware River, growing up we always went to the Jesey Shore but never to Cape May.As an adult a friend took me to Cape May & introduced me to Cape May Diamonds. About 5 years ago I moved to Florida and now I came home to NJ for vacation. Recently my sister & I took her daughter(3) & my granddaughter(6) to Cape May. While there we hunted Cape May Diamonds. I bought this book to commemorate our day at the shore. The book is a find and a should be put on your keeper shelf - beautifully written story & marvelous illastrations. I intend to give it as a gift to my adult friends who like me love Cape may & Cape May Diamonds.

Legends of the Delaware Indians and Picture Writing is beautifully amplified by Deborah Nichol's introduction and brief biography of Richard C. Adams(1864-1921), a self educated Delaware (Lenape) Indian who devoted 25 years of his life to the furtherance of causes of the many trialed Delaware tribe. The Legends are part of his scholarly and historical legacy. The tales teach homilies on desirable attributes such as pride, courage, promise-keeping, modesty and courtesy as well as courting customs, gambling games, and other pastimes. The picture writing and photographs enrich and complement the text as do the appendices of Lenape translations of several of the legends by Lucy Parks Blalock and Nora Thompson Deane. Legends Of The Delaware Indians And Picture Writing is a very valuable text both because of the enriched script of the tales but also because of the complex, condensed history of the persecutions suffered by the Delawares detailed in the introduction. The cover illustration gracing Legends of the Delaware Indians is a color painting reproduction of Delaware Women by Ruth Blalock Jones.

Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer

Written by one of the foremost authorities on the Lenape in New Jersey, the late Dr. Herbert Kraft, this book provides a very good introduction to the first New Jerseyans. Of course, a book of only 60 pages cannot cover everything, but for students, teachers, or anyone else interested in a quick, concise introduction to the Lenape, you cannot go wrong with this book. Dr. Kraft covers the history and the culture of the Lenape from the Early Archaic through the Woodland to the Contact periods. Topics discussed include medicine, religious practices, clothing, hunting and fishing, pottery, and warfare. There are appendices explaining Lenape words and placenames. The illustrations of Dr. Kraft's son, John, complement the text nicely; for more information on the work of John Kraft, building on his father's legacy, go to [...]. That site and this book are good places to begin to find out more about the Lenape or Delaware Indians.

In _The Library of John Montgomerie, Colonial Governor of New York and New Jersey_, Kevin J. Hayes reconstructs the contents of the governor's library based on a manuscript inventory that survives at the New York Public Library. The inventory includes a list of the titles in Montgomerie's library, a collection of over 1300 volumes. While Montgomerie's gubernatorial predecessors, Robert Hunter and William Burnet, had better reputations as men of letters and while both of their libraries probably excelled Montgomerie's, little information survives to detail their contents. The inventory of Montgomerie's library, on the other hand, provides enough detail to make it the largest known library in colonial New York before the 1770s when the library of William Smith, Sr., was catalogued. Enhancing the importance of the inventory of Montgomerie's library is the fact that most of the books are listed by purchaser. The list reads like a Who's Who of colonial New York and New Jersey. The group includes several men who would influence the two colonies for the next several decades: James Alexander, John Chambers, James DeLancey, Archibald Kennedy, Frederick Morris, Joseph Murray, Paul Richards, and William Smith, Sr. Though Montgomerie spent only a short time in New York and personally had little impact on either New York or New Jersey history, his books exerted a lasting impact on the thought of colonial New York's political and intellectual elite. While the manuscript inventory of Montgomerie's library has the potential to contribute to the intellectual history of New York and New Jersey, it lists only spine titles. None of the book titles mention dates or places of publication. Many do not list authors. Based on the surviving manuscript inventory, Hayes, the award-winning author of _The Library of William Byrd of Westover_, brilliantly reconstructs the library's contents. In a detailed introduction, Hayes situates the Montgomerie library within its intellectual and cultural milieu. A thorough index allows the titles to be accessed by author, title, subject, and owners. _The Library of John Montgomerie_ not only reconstructs the intellectual life of one colonial governor, it makes an important contribution to the intellectual history of New York and New Jersey. Combined with his earlier works, _The Library of William Byrd_ and _A Colonial Woman's Bookshelf_, _The Library of John Montgomerie_ solidifies Hayes's status as the leading historian of the book culture of colonial America.