Missouri Books

After having Dr. Lund as a professor in college, I saw his books on the shelf of our college bookstore and had to read them! I have read four of the books in his series so far, and ROUTE 66 KIDS is by far my favorite. They are all witty and charming, and I look forward to more!

Lund's second novel in the Route 66 series continues to impress--he takes up the teenage years of his protagonist Mark Landon with a great deal of sensitivity and insight, and lots of humor. As the last reviewer pointed out, even though this novel is very particularly set in the midwest of the 1950s, anyone who has gone through the teen years, or is going through them now I presume, will find connections with the story. Landon's narrative voice is particularly endearing: a bit self-conscious, always aware of the vagaries of memory, but always, too, trying to identify as exactly as possible how his world was shaped and why things turned out the way they did.

In Route 66 Kids, Michael Lund has done an outstanding job of capturing all of the nuances of maturity. As his protagonist, Mark Landon, continues to learn about sexuality through his experiences with his long-time object of affection, Marcia Terrell, he also makes other realizations that come with age. He sees his parents in a different light and he comes to recognize that small-town life is not always 'hunky-dory.' Because Lund treats these serious experiences with just the right amount of gentleness and humor, his second novel in the Route 66 series is delightful for readers of all ages. While some of Mark Landon's experiences may be particular to the 1950's Midwest, anyone who's been a teenager can relate to the sense of discovery that pervades the novel.

Dr. Raferty has done a wonderful job bringing together Henry Rowe Schoolcraft's journals of his adventure into the eastern and central Ozarks Region before major settlement. Schoolcraft's jouney begins at Potosi, Missouri on November 5, 1818 and proceeds southwest to the Arkansas border along the North Fork River. From there he travels northwest towards modern day Springfield and then back southeast into Arkansas along the White River to Batesville. From the Batesville area he proceeds northeast back towards Potosi arriving there on February 4, 1819.

Schoolcraft's descriptions of the unsettled land and its native plants and animals are wonderful. Prof. Raferty has added an appendix which provides a day by day account of Schoolcraft's journey and the modern reference points with amazing accuracy.

This is a great book for anyone with an interest in the history and geography of the Ozarks Region. Very well done!!

Schoolcraft's journal describing his expedition into the Missouri/Arkansas border area in the dead of an Ozarks winter is an entertaining read! He describes with great dignity how he fell into the icy cold river -not just once, but twice! He talks about the wildlife that roamed the area, many species of which are long gone from here now. He also talks about how clean and clear the rivers were then - a shame its not true today. Schoolcraft used an expansive vocabulary to describe his surroundings, which is almost more entertaining than the facts he's trying to relate. A common misconception is that Schoolcraft was exploring country that had never before been seen by white settlers. Not true! There were several hunters' families in small, isolated settlements in the area long before Schoolcraft arrived, and he stayed overnight with some of them. He saw himself as a bit of a lad, which is evidenced by his writings regarding the "greasy" women in the settlements. He once made some of his imported tea for a hunter's wife, who was used to drinking only sassafras tea. She told him his tea was the most bitter thing she'd ever tasted; a mark of how uncivilized she was, in Schoolcraft's opinion. He ends his journal abruptly, with no philosophical revelations about how 90 days of stomping through the brush and ice and greasy women has changed his life, etc., which is a bit of a let down, but all in all it's a fun read. In the back of the book Rafferty has inserted a table that relates the landmarks Schoolcraft described to the way the landscape looks/is used today. There are also several excellent maps marked with the dates and locations of Schoolcraft's movements. Rafferty's research, comments, and detailed maps, coupled with Schoolcraft's descriptive tales, earn this book a well-deserved Five Stars.

While not as famous as Lewis and Clark, Henry Schoolcraft conducted the first of his many expenditions with similar care and attention to detail. One needs to excuse some of the poetic descriptions. The book gives an excellent insight into the very early development of the region shortly after the Voyage of Discovery.

The author has considerable personal research with Schoolcraft's travels as a college professor leading field trips on portions of the expedition. The most helpful is the author's appendix which keys the days of travel to current day locations.

For anyone studying the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks, this is a must-have. It provides the only contemporary vision of this part of the United States prior to the rapid development in the years prior to the Civil War.

Really it deserves a 2.5, but that's not possible so I rounded up. I have read a number of books on the military history of the Civil War, and I bought this book as a brush up to keep my finger in it, one could say. The authors greatest error, in my eyes, was his tendency to make sweeping observations which were not always true. He claims that the South just had to hold out and keep holding out to win, whereas it has been the general opinion of many historians, as well as Robert E Lee, that the South had to win quickly, or be doomed to a gradual loss.

Alright, so maybe Hattaway did say that - it's only one thing, right? Well, it is always "The North," "The South," like everyone in those two areas thought about the war the same. Ok, so he was trying to keep his history short. And yes, he did keep it short, at the expense of misrepresentation. Many people generally regard the Civil War as a battle of generals, and I don't see a reason to disagree with that, and neither does Hattaway. So he mentions the generals, and this general, and that other general, and soon even I, someone who has studied the Civil War before, don't even know whether he's talking about a Confederate or Union general, never a good thing to be confused about.

I could recommend this book only as the most elementary introduction to the military history of the Civil War, someone interested in learning a little more about it and not having any prior knowledge. Otherwise, I would go for one that was a little less pro-North (as Hattaway has a very Northern point of view. I know, it's the timeless problem about writing about the Civil War - it's hard to keep objective. He just tends to tell the point of view of the Northern generals a lot more than the Southern generals. Except mentionning their names, of course, see above comment).

Hattaway's Shades of Blue and Gray is an excellent introduction to the military history of the Civil War. While brief enough for the amateur historian to enjoy, this book is also suitable for scholars and features many valuable insights into the period. Hattaway adequately explains many of the complicated and technical aspects of the war in a way other works have failed to do. Shades of Blue and Gray gets to the heart of the military science involved in the war, and relates the Civil War to the world-wide development of modern warfare. This book is also excellent for anyone interested in Confederate General Stephen D. Lee, one of Hattaway's specialties. For anyone interested in the way the war was fought, this book is a must.

Prof. Hattaway, a student of T. Harry Williams of LSU, has the most eloquent and clear style of writing that the concepts that he communicates are very easily understood. Having had Prof. Hattaway for Am. Hist. in college, I must say that his writing technique is truly genuine--he acts and reacts precisely in the way that he presents himself in the work. The work itself gives a very broad overview of the Civil War with enough detail to surpass elementary study but in moderation enough to keep easily distracted readers from finding it laborious. I highly recommend Prof. Hattaway and his works.

Devine finally confesses that he leaked a untrue story to Time Magazine and SI about how a crazed Packer fan had killed his dog. The real story was that he lived in rural Wisconsin and allowed his dog run loose. The dog was known to have been killing farm neighbor's ducks. He was warned several times and then one morning when the dog was attempting to kill more ducks the farmer shot the dog (not hanged, not skewered). In his confession he admits it was HIS FAULT for allowing the dog to continue to roam unsupervised.

You can't doubt his coaching success, but to allow this story to continue on for decades before coming clean sure leaves plenty of doubt about his character. As a former Notre Dame Alum and born and raised Packer fan, I still think he was one hell of a college coach. This is a very good book and I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of college football. I am glad that he ultimately came clean on that ugly story that tarnished the residents of Green Bay and the neighboring farm communities.

I picked up this book because I'm a Notre Dame fan and wanted some insight into the six season tenure of Coach Dan Devine. Not knowing much about his accomplishments in life I found his story to be an inspiring tale involving youthful hardships and exciting success due to hard work. At the college level, wherever he went, great things happened. Then when the NFL came calling he found himself struggling. This reminded me of his successor at Notre Dame, Gerry Faust, who himself had great success at one level (in his case, high school) only to find that success out of reach at the next level.

But Coach Devine takes us on his jounrey into the Army Air Corps, college, and his years at Arizona State, Missouri, and Notre Dame. He talks too briefly for my taste on decisions such as switching the Fighting Irish to green jerseys in 1977.

Nevertheless, I breezed through the book in no time because it was an enjoyable account of his life, which was certainly worthy of being published.

This is a great book of a great man who managed to coach and raise a wonderful family with the help of a wonderful wife. There should be more families like this.

This beautifully illustrated book explores the physical and ecological roots of Idaho's civilization by following its longest river from Henry's Fork, through desert landscapes, cutting deep through ancient rock formations flowing out through Hell's Canyon (deepest in North America)... (I may have stole part of this from some other review I read.) If I did I apologize!

An excellent book on the Snake River Plain from pre-historical archeological time through to critical water and people issues that confront not only that area but the world as a whole. The format, design and layout were excellent and the written content moves through beautifully. The pictures and insets greatly enhanced the message of the book.

Snake examines this unique region in southern Idaho from the perspectives of geology, history, anthropology and current politics. Snake combines excellent illustrations, graphics and photos with a very informative text. The book is a must buy for both natives and visitors who want to know more about the region.

Those familiar with this author's work will be pleased to find this addition adds to his balanced presentation of the facts as in previous volumes. In the final analysis, as he points out, the invasion of Italy was inevitable since leaving the troops scattered around the Mediterranean idle until Overlord was unthinkable in view of the deadly struggle in Russia as well as some sixteen German divisions in Italy would have been available in both France and Russia.
To understand Anzio, he begins with the invasion of Italy at the experience at Salerno. Under prodding from Churchill, the Anzio attack began with on shoestring with a too tight time schedule and lack of enthusiasm from the professional military leaders. Lucas, the commanding general, was pessimistic about the operation's chances. Mark Clark's direction was ambiguous. Adding to the pressure was frustration over the inability to crack the Gustav Line south of Anzio. The expectation was the Germans would bleed off some divisions from there to cope with this new development.
However, the Germans, with particular attention from Hitler, did the unexpected. They poured fresh divisions from northern Italy and other areas into the battle with the objective of driving the allies into the sea. Allied artillery and navel gunfire overwhelmed the German advantage in manpower. The infantry, despite heavy losses, endured.
The author concludes that the decision for the Anzio attack will probably remain controversial. What is clear to him is that the courage of the young people on both sides of the battle was outstanding. This book is a useful study of both the battle and the command issues, and represents a good addition to any military history library both for individuals and institutions. I recommend it.

John S.D. Eisenhower established himself as a historian of note decades ago when he penned "The Bitter Woods: The Battle of the Bulge" (1969). With "They Fought at Anzio" has added another solid effort to his cannon. As anyone who is familiar with Eisenhower's previous works would expect his research is thorough and fair (not nationalistically slanted). Eisenhower's writing style has changed little over the past four decades, and there's not really any reason for him to do so as his is a style of reader engagement that is not over cluttered with jargon or confusing language. The pacing of "They Fought at Anzio" extremely even, start to finish, and as such makes this a very enjoyable read.

Eisenhower focuses his prose less on details of combat action than on personalities of and relationships between commanders, and background events leading up to engagements. This approach lends much more humanity to the text than is often possible with detailed orders of battle and after-action reports. Eisenhower is also quite generous in his use of a multi-nationalistic approach to his subject, presented by Allied and German/Italian views of events. This latter component of "They Fought at Anzio" probably provides the most concrete connection, other than name, between John and his famous father, US President and Supreme Commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Most would agree that Gen. Eisenhower's greatest strength as a leader of men was as a great moderator and captain of allies who were comprised of many nations and military cultures.

The human side of the war in Italy is also brought to vivid life by Eisenhower's repeated use of memoirs of Lt. Avis Dagit (nurse w/ 56th Evacuation Hospital) [from Half An Acre of Hell] and Lt. Lloyd Wells (Co B, 2nd Bat, 6th Armd Inf, 1st Armd Div) [from Anzio to the Alps]. Such is Eisenhower's clear preference for these sources that readers will likely want to pick up copies of both of these books as well; strong tribute to an author's ability to capture his/her audience indeed.

All in all "They Fought at Anzio" is a solid book, expertly researched and presented, and fun to read. Should be of interest to serious and casual readers alike. 4 stars.

John S. D. Eisenhower is a historian with a number of books to his credit, and I was expecting something worthy of his past oeuvre.

This isn't it.

It's not a bad book, and if you haven't read anything on the Italian campaign it's a worthwhile introduction to Anzio, Cassino, and the surrounding war; if you have read anything, there's nothing new here. One glance at the footnotes tells the whole story: he quotes from a few memoirs (Allied Fifth Army commander Mark Clark's Calculated Risk, Truscott's Command Decisions, Audie Murphy's To Hell And Back, a few others), a couple of lower-level people he interviewed later on (good for the human interest story, I suppose).

There's almost no use of the detailed official histories, and very little of any scholarship on the Italian campaign later than the 1950's. (The single best book on the whole affair, Graham and Bidwell's Tug of War, doesn't even show up as far as I remember.)

That said, the book is well-written and the story is worth reading, but I don't think that this book adds anything to the literature on the Italian campaign.

New systematics (APG2) is complex and difficult to apprehend. This book provides a very helpful introduction to the topic. The pictures provided are a very good illustration of each of the families described.
I recommend the book to anyone interested in new botanical systematics.

I used this book to help with my Master's thesis. If you're a visual person, it really helps give you an idea of what the myriad angiosperm families look like, along with brief little descriptions. Also comes with a CD that has a PDF of the entire book.

This book is as close to perfection as a research reference for the upper elementary and middle school classroom as a plant book is likely to get. The hundreds of photographs are gorgeous and very well-chosen. Taking a photo of a plant is one thing, but taking one that clearly highlights a particular botanical characteristic can be a real challenge, and these photos are consistently excellent in that respect. The prose is characteristically crisp, down to earth, and always skillfully pared down to just those points that are most important to the educational audience being served. The book is structured for ease of use and includes an excellent index, glossary, and bibliography.

The production quality is high. The handsome pages are printed on heavy, glossy paper to make the photographs come alive. The paperback binding is good, although I have my doubts about durability in my upper elementary classroom, considering how much use this book is bound to get.

The book is organized according to the most recent phylogenetic (evolutionary) classification of the angiosperms, that of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group -- certainly a unique selling point. At last the classification of the angiosperms has settled down enough for such a book to be written!

Speaking as a Montessori elementary teacher, I think this book should be in every Montessori training center's model classroom and on the required reading list for Montessori elementary trainees. Although its retail price will put it at the upper limits of some families' book budgets, it would also be a nice addition to home libraries of families with budding researchers.

Do be aware that the book "only" covers the flowering plants and is intentionally biased toward species of North America, but the bibliography sends one to the right books for information about the non-flowering plants and those of other climes.

Dr. Spears, on behalf of the many thousands of children (and others) who will benefit from your labors, I thank you.

This mystery starts out good enough, with Trixie and the Bobwhites travelling to St. Louis and taking a boat trip down the Mississippi, but the plot requires Trixie and Honey to abandon their usual good sense, and some of the twists in the story are far-fetched. However, this book does have Dan taking part in the adventure, and it's a real treat to have him doing more than just staying home while the other BWG's have all the fun.

Very well written. It has all the elements of a good mystery. Trixie and Honey were always getting into scrapes, but this was by far their scariest. But, as usual it was the BWG's to the rescue. Great reading for kids.

This book is fabulous. This is one of my favorite Trixie Belden books

Not your typical history book. This one is full of stories about Nebraska starting in the mid 1800's and the stories show just how unlawful and savage this area could be. The pictures are wonderful. As a Nebraskan interested in history on my home state, I found this to be a very interesting book.

A great author captures the early frontier days as they were meant to be read, heard and told. In the days before Husker football (before the 1890's), Nebraska was in its infancy. Many towns popped up and law and order was not always to be found. Wayne Lee tells of these tales in the river towns, cattle drive towns and farming communities. This book is more interesting than you can imagine. Also, another great purchase is Wayne Lee's Bad Men and Bad Towns. If you buy these books, you not be unhappy.

Not your typical history book. This one is full of stories about Nebraska starting in the mid 1800's and the stories show just how unlawful and savage this area could be. The pictures are wonderful. As a Nebraskan interested in history on my home state, I found this to be a very interesting book.

When my son and his friend sat down to this book, I couldn't tear it away from them! They kept looking at the vivid pictures and reading over and over the text. They were really transfixed. I can't say how quiet the house was for about a half of an hour. They loved it!

Wow! It was interesting and exciting with lots of neat facts. Amazing to throw 5 TD passes in one game. Did not know that you could play 2 sports at a time in HighSchool.

Clinton Miller 8yrs. old Champaign, Il.