Vermont Books

This slim volume serves as a nice introduction (or refresher) for middle-schoolers & older on the subject of Ethan Allen and/or the origins of the state of Vermont.

The chapter titles are as follows:

1. Who Was Ethan Allen?

2. A Connecticut Troublemaker

3. The Hampshire Grants

4. Trouble in the Grants

5. Green Mountain Outlaws

6. War with Great Britain

7. Making a State

8. Ethan Returns

9. The Independent Republic of Vermont

10. Ethan Settles Down

Raabe begins with an anecdote (c. 1778) about Allen that serves to establish his character and local reputation, then she gives a little prefatory material on what the rest of the book will be about. In the 2nd chapter, she jumps backward to 1764 with another anecdote about Allen before finally going back to his birth in 1738 and filling the reader in a bit on the Allen family. This seemed a slightly odd way of starting, but maybe that's just me. From there, the material progresses forward in a generally chronological format.

The book has good info on Allen's extended family, most of whom remained in the Hampshire Grants/Vermont and helped protect & govern it in those formative years. Allen's youth and education are only briefly touched on, as is the time he spent running an iron mine & furnace w/ his brothers. The meat of the story really begins when the Allens move into the Grants and conflict arises over who properly owns and governs the region. Then, of course, there is the American Revolution.... Raabe also briefly discusses Allen's post-war activities, including writing, farming, a second marriage, and continuing as unofficial spokesman & 'enforcer' for all Vermont.

The only problem I have with the book concerns a couple of inaccurate statements about Deism and our first three U.S. presidents. First, in speaking of Allen's religious beliefs, the book says that "He believed that God was a God of nature, and that people should not have to go to church or listen to preachers give sermons." (p. 87) A little later it states, "Ethan's religious beliefs fell under a branch of religious study known as Deism. Deism holds that God is everywhere in nature, and not outside the world at all." (p. 89) Technically, this description is more accurately described as Pantheism. From what I can tell, Allen did in fact hold to a pantheistic form of Deism (possibly influenced by the writings of John Toland). But, most deists hold to the idea of a transcendant 'God' who, contrary to the theistic teaching, does not operate within the world. So, that last sentence of Raabe's above would be incorrect for Deism writ large. On the other hand, this is probably not going to be of concern to the average reader.

Second, the author claims that "In fact, the first three presidents in the United States all were believers in Deism." (p. 89). But, while this is accurate for Thomas Jefferson (as well as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine), it is not so for the other two. It is true that the orthodoxy of George Washington's Christianity and the depth of his devotion are still debated, but it seems clear that he was at least a theist. (As Richard Brookhiser put it in his Founding Father (p. 146), "[Washington] had a warm and lively belief, repeatedly expressed in private and in public, in Providence. Washington's God was no watchmaker, who wound the world up and retired, but an active agent and force." Clearly not a deistic view.) John Adams, on the other hand, was most clearly a devoutly orthodox Christian, and this can be seen in his letters and other writings, as well.

Ms. Raabe writes in an easy, flowing style that is quite well-suited for her primary audience. There are a couple of small typos, but nothing terribly distracting or that would cause a confusion of facts - other than the abovementioned point, that is. As is typical for shorter and youth-oriented books, there are no end/footnotes. There is a 'Timeline' of Allen's life at the end of the book, as well as a helpful Glossary, a short list of 'Additional Resources', a Bibliography, and a brief index.

There are several photos and reproductions of paintings, documents, maps, etc. (many color, others B&W), which I really appreciated. There are a couple places where I thought the narrative would be better served by either reducing the pictures or replacing them altogether with more text. But, they still serve to familiarize young readers with people, places, & things from our history, which is usually a good thing.

Overall, well done. This is the 2nd volume in the series that I've read, and I plan to check out several more.


Content: 4
Style & Structure: 3.75
Average: 3.88, rounded up to 4

Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys are best remembered for capturing Fort Ticonderoga during the American Revolution without a single shot being fired. There is a famous hand-colored engraving by Alonzo Chappel showing Allen ordering the confused British commander to surrender the fort. That illustration appears as a two-page spread in this volume, which would make it the largest picture I have seen in any of The Library of American Lives and Times volumes to date. However, as Emily Raabe makes clear from the title of this book, "Ethan Allen: The Green Mountain Boys and Vermont's Path to Statehood," Allen is central to a larger story than that of the capture of a fort. Her opening chapter asks Who Was Ethan Allen? and makes it clear he was both a legendary figure, associated with tall tales similar to Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, but also a controversial figure where whether you thought of him as a hero or a villain depended on where you lived at that time.

What you have to remember is that Vermont was not one of the original thirteen colonies and on the eve of the Revolution it was called the Hampshire Grants by those looking at it from the east and New York by those to the west. There is a map in the third chapter of this book of New England and the other colonies that shows how the boundary between New York and New Hampshire was a controversial subject. This book tells the story of how Allen became involved in that controversy and played a substantial role in helping to make Vermont one of the new United States. Raabe introduces Allen in the second chapter as A Connecticut Troublemaker, opening with a scene of Allen being inoculated against smallpox in 1764 by his friend, Dr. Thomas Young, despite the church forbidding the practice as the devil's work, before going back and telling the story of his life from his birth in 1738 to first traveling to the Hampshire Grants, which is what the third chapter is about. Chapter 4, Trouble in the Grants, explains the problems that rose between the Granters and the (New) Yorkers and how Allen and the Green Mountain Boys were formed as a local militia (or army) to protect the Grants. Consequently, they were considered the Green Mountain Outlaws by the Yorkers, and the fifth chapter tells about some of their more famous exploits.

I would have thought that when we got to Chapter 6, War with Great Britain, that this would change priorities for Allen and his men, but while this chapter does cover the capture of Ticonderoga and other forts to give the Americans control of Lake Champlain, and Allen's plan to capture Montreal, it proved to be only a minor diverse from the question of Vermont's independence. Chapter 7, Making a State, actually begins with Allen being taken prisoner by the British, while back in Vermont the people wrote a declaration of independence for what they were going to call "New Connecticut," which was submitted to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Chapter 8, Ethan Returns, begins with Allen's release in 1778 and how his unique political power allowed him to keep Vermont at peace during the rest of the war.

Chapter 9, The Independent Republic of Vermont, informs young readers that Vermont was not part of the new nation and that the Green Mountain boys fought several battles against the Yorkers and not the British to maintain Vermont's autonomy. Ethan Settles Down, the final chapter, looks at the second family Allen began after the war and how he ended up dying two years before Congress finally accept Vermont into the Union in 1791. I wish there were a bit more details on how the latter finally came about given all the obstacles that were put in the way of Vermont statehood, but I suppose the life of Ethan Allen will be of more interest to younger readers than the whole issue of making Vermont a state. The back of the book includes a Timeline regarding Ethan Allen and Vermont, a Glossary of terms from "allegiance" to "yeoman," and a few books and websites that qualify as Additional Resources as well as a Bibliography.

The book is illustrated with historic etchings and maps, as well as a letter from George Washington talking about Allen and the title page from a book Allen wrote on philosophy and religion that earned him enemies in the church, which was something he apparently enjoyed. This is one of several titles in The Library of American Lives and Times devoted to the colonial period and the American Revolution. Others includes "Abigail Adams: A Revolutionary Woman," "Nathan Hale: Patriot and Martyr of the American Revolution," "Marquis de Lafayette: French Hero of the American Revolution," "Thomas Paine: 'Common Sense' and Revolutionary Pamphleteering," "Robert Rogers: Rogers' Rangers and the French and Indian War," and "Peter Stuyvesant: New Amsterdam and the Origins of New York." As you can tell from these titles, this series does not focus on the most famous Founding Fathers like Washington, Franklin and Jefferson (the sort who end up on money), but those who make up the next level of the pantheon.

Good source of information, but...has absolutely no photos! It's pretty hard to want to travel somewhere when you have no idea what the place looks like. Still, while traveling this book is quite useful.

i believe this book to be very useful. it not only gives you a variety of accomodations but many price ranges as well. the list of attractions is always accurate and explained very well. i recommend this book to anyone traveling anywhere! i have also used this good for Europe and it was fabulous. dates and times that sights were open was very accurate which made planning my trip very easy.

We have just returned from our trip to the 3 states and we found the guide helpful, more in the planning than in the actual trip itself. I would suggest this and one of the other guides, like Froemmer, as well as searching the net for options. One negative-the map that is included in not of a scale that is helpful to the driver. Too many missing roads. The maps in the sections, as well as the numbering system for attractions, are a plus. They also left a few note pages in the back, thoughtfully, so you may keep them with the book easily.

FODOR'S MAINE, VERMONT, NEW HAMPSHIRE, 10TH EDITION is a great book about New England's northern section. In addition to where the best lodging, shopping, and dining are, it also describes plenty of outdoor activity ideas for anyone trying to look good for their significant other and/or their favorite celebrity. If any of those things are important to you, you need this book.

a must book for history buffs living in new england. there were things happening in places outside of the mass. during the founding of our country. an excellent travel guide!

I didn't read this book per se, but did look at the illustrations which were very good. Relied on what Amazon said about it. Knew it was good and belonged in our Special Collections unit at the local college. They were very pleased to get it.

Any Environmental Educator or Scout Leader who has ever gone to a program like Geosphere, Project Wild, NatureQuest or Project Learning Tree will LOVE this book.

Everything is organized by lessons and activities that are coded to match certain skills like Predation, Plant Succession, etc.

I have used this book for years at Boy Scout Summer Camps and I know the American Camping Association recommends this book for anyone involved in teaching Environmental Skills & Nature at a camp setting.

Perhaps the only draw back is the plain colorless sketches of the book. A teacher would appreciate the book's content but I would not get this book for a kid. Having said that, this book is a great pick for any leader, summer camp, or school where teaching an understanding & appreciation of nature is a priority.

This Revised and Expanded Edition of Hands-On Nature is an engaging how-to activity book--for children and for anyone looking to bring them before nature, whether at home, school, camp, playground, hiking, a workshop, or other pursuit. Here is a practical guide for the environmental enthusiast. Page after page it exhibits a wide range of detailed illustrations in black and white, many that appear as works of art. The text is well-written and easy to follow and understand with keywords that are highlighted in bold type, easily directing the attention of the reader to an order of valuable terms and particulars on nature. The book is divided into chapters, namely: Adaptations, Habitats, Cycles, Designs of Nature, and Earth and Sky, with related subjects like birds, insects, plants, flowers, streams, earth, deer, logs, and clouds. The chapters are organized into two sections, starting with an informational essay to introduce each chapter, followed by an activity and experiment segment that may include a brief script for a puppet show or play, and a suggested reading list. This book was made possible with the help of a large group of teachers, professionals, students, and volunteers. It should be included in every family's collection of books to read and share.

This is a keenly drawn tale of a group of friends whose various relationships and connections are, at times, chancey. During one weekend, their post-collegiate get-together is alternately promising and precarious. The sweet main character, Walter, is a U. of Penn graduate who had to overcome a rough childhood with a manipulative mother. He narrates the tale of this weekend and reminisces about how he met this particular group. In college, he ended up living with a collection of undergrads who knew each other, including future-teacher Nancy, whom he ends up with but who tries (unsuccessfully) to hide her love for high school crush Dave. Both Nancy and Dave are on the weekend, as is Walter's first friend at school, Patrick; Dave's lusty young cousin Robin; and a host of former housemates. The emotions and situations are so real, and the characters so skillfully rendered, that it is hard to put this novel down.

Unlike some similar books in which a reader can't find anyone to like, we root for Walter but also fear for this idealistic young man who has been stepped on so many times before. I related to the alienation he felt in college until he finally met this group of housemates, but clearly, they had their own problems. Now, Walter must decide whether to strike out on his own or stay with a group that provides minimal support but threatens to burst at the seams at any time. Is there a point at which trusting other people allows too much manipulation? Will Walter, and should he, 'jump' away from the madness?

Disclaimer: Although I have since met the author (I'm a Penn grad and writer too), I read this before I knew who he was and always appreciated it and encouraged others to read it.

Highly recommended to any twentysomething out there who's in that post-college state of confusion and wondering. Imagaine Holden Caulfield graduates college and gets a girl. Our narrator finds himself surrounded by a circle of college friends that do nothing less than contribute to his fears and doubts. An excellent read, although I'm convinced the author's brainstorm was born in the 60's and not the 80's (when the story's set); a few less drug references wouldn't have hurt. Nonetheless, a well-told tale highly recommended to the college grad who hasn't quite found his or her place in the world just yet and looks back with fond memories to the college years.

This is simply the best Vermont guidebook for the hiker, outdoorsperson, and vacationer. It is organized by small geographical sections of the state and it covers each section thoroughly, providing clear driving directions to each site. It is well organized and carefully researched. I found it very helpful and so much easier than dealing with maps.

"Longstreet Highroad Guide to the Vermont Mountains" is an excellent resource for both Vermont mountain enthusiasts and Vermont residents who want to learn more about their beautiful state.

Nancy Bazilchuk and Rick Strimbeck provide more than 50 helpful and original maps, as well as detailed trail descriptions and extensive info on the natural history, geology, flora, and fauna of hundreds of gorgeous mountain sites.

The authors point out a multitude of terrific features, ranging from the Stowe Recreation Path (for cyclists, runners, walkers, and cross-country skiers) that has "glorious views of Mount Mansfield" to Breadloaf Wilderness--in Central Vermont--where "roads are nearly invisible, and the pale green pastels of pastureland melt into the rich emeralds of hilltop forests."

Dates, fees, facilities, and closest towns are a few of the many other items listed in this marvelous guide.

Don't read this book expecting any major philosphical revelations. Read it for what it is...a funny slice of dysfunctional rural Vermont where an unlikely and comical cast spend a summer. The letters to advice columnist, Cindi Coeur, alone are well worth the read. The ending gets a little too serious and too intent on providing some sort of life lesson but the vein of humor helps the reader get through to the finale.

I have been accused, I believe fairly, of being a misogynist, so it came as something of a surprise to find that I liked this satirical novel by one of our best female writers better than did the critics. In fact, I liked the book very much and think it belongs right up there with Bonfire of the Vanities and Bright Lights, Big City on the short list of really perceptive social novels of the 80's.

Hildon and Maureen are a quintessential yuppie couple who have moved to Vermont where Hildon publishes Country Daze, a sort of rustic Spy magazine for the New Yorkers who summer in the Green Mountains. Hildon has been carrying on an affair with Lucy Spenser since they were in college; Lucy now writes a spoof advice column for the magazine under the pseudonym of Cindi Coeur. Meanwhile, Lucy has just been jilted by her longtime lover, Les Whitehall, and now her 14 year old TV star niece, Nicole Nelson, has come for a visit while the mother runs off with a 24 year old tennis pro. Beattie spins a savage comedy of manners out of this material. It is both genuinely funny, here's one of Cindi Couer's columns:

Dear Cindi Couer, I understand that small children often exaggerate without thinking of it as a lie. My question is about my son, who has been complaining that his best friend has better lunches than he has. He says that instead of bringing tuna fish sandwiches to school, the boy has a whole tuna. I told him that this was not possible, because a real tuna fish would weigh hundreds of pounds. Nevertheless, my son refuses to eat tuna fish sandwiches anymore, and I feel that tuna sandwiches are better for him than the protein found in the only other sandwich he will eat - pork chop. I am also worried about his telling lies. He refuses to admit that he has made up the story about the tuna. I have questioned him in detail about how this would be possible, and he just continues the lie. He says the boy does not bring the sandwiches in a lunch box, but in a box the size of a bed. Should I discipline him, or just pack tuna sandwiches and insist that he face reality and eat them? A Worried Mom

Dear Worried, It seems to me that you have quite a few options. You could refuse to replace the tuna sandwiches with sandwiches made of pork chops, and substitute something such as quiche, which will get soggy and appeal to no child. You could also get a pig and put it in a cage, telling your son that this way he would have something to rival his friend's tuna fish, and that it is his problem to get it to school. You might also consider the possibility that the other boy is being forced to eat sardine sandwiches and is trying to compensate for his own embarrassment by insisting that they are tuna fish. You may want to ask yourself what your son is missing sat home that makes him have such a strong empathetic reaction with the other boy. You might also consider the possibility that one or both boys needs glasses.

and devastatingly accurate in its depiction of the emptiness behind the facade of modern love.

Everything is surfaces here. People assume roles and pass themselves off as something they are not, the New Yorkers have created a Potemkin Village version of Vermont so that they can pretend to be countrified, folks sign letters Love Always as if it meant Sincerely--and it turns out that it means little more than that for most of them. Everyone is so artificial and their lives so transient that they do not really love one another, not husbands and wives, not mothers and daughters, not longtime companions, not adulterous couples. Their lives are summed up in the title of Nicole's soap opera, "Passionate Intensity"--which is taken from William Butler Yeats' Second Coming: The best lack all conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity. Love has been replaced by passion; relationships have replaced true commitments.

And so ends the Baby Boomer generation, depthless, childess, loveless & artificial, they are completely atomized. And lest one hold out hope for the next generation, Nicole explains to her aunt that noone has friends anymore, that people sleep together because they are supposed to, and when her aunt asks if she has a "fave rave", responds that it's not cool to like a boy that much anymore. As Hildon says of her:

She needs an education. She ought to have a tutor or something. She's never learned anything.

She knows lyrics to songs and she knows what people are talking about if they say something dirty and she knows who's who on television. She doesn't know anything about the world.

Lucy's generation had, at least, been exposed to and then rejected Western Civilization, American ideals and Judeo-Christian morality. The generation to come is simply being raised in a moral and ethical vaccum and, since nature abhors a vaccum, mass media and pop culture are rushing in to fill the empty space. Beattie amply demonstrates the emptiness of the lives that these people lead and the malignancy of the culture that they have created.

Reading the book, I was struck by how hard it would be for someone to relate to much of it in thirty years. Many references are already dated: Betamax, Cabbage Patch Kids, Bess Myerson, etc., and hopefully, the people themselves will seem like artifacts by then. Having just read several of the great satires from earlier in the Century (Aldous Huxley's Point Counter Point, Anthony Powell's Dance to the Music of Time, Evelyn Waugh's Handful of Dust), it became obvious that, even if the authors had captured the Zeitgeist perfectly, it is very hard for the modern reader to pick up on all the in jokes and to feel the bite of the satire as their contemporaries must have felt it. But Beattie is writing about things that are all too familiar to us here and now and she writes about them with engaging wit and great perception. I highly recommend this one

GRADE: A

David Faris Cross did an exceptional job in researching and writing this book about the fine Vermont men in blue. The book is filled with excellent information. However sections of the book get bogged down in facts and minute details. You should treat the book as a cross between a reference book and a story, and read each section accordingly.

Well written and well researched. An excellent telling of the true story of men from Vermont, in a noble fight for their cause and ending up in a horrid place in the South trying to survive. A fine value for the money and a great effort by the author. A must have for the collection for those who have a keen interest in The Civil War.

This book keeps getting beaten up for not being science or pure sociology, and reviewers keep missing what is excellent about it--the intersection of the writer's own reflections, aspirations and ideas with the violent, dull, and endless world of incarcerated young men. Padnos's honesty about his own motives and feelings give this book a rare freshness. In his attempts to connect the books he loves to the real and brutal world of these men, he illuminates much about the struggles of growth, the uneven progress of our ambitions, and the enduring power of stories to shape all of our lives.

Jailhouse literature is a rising trend these days, and it is producing some of the toughest, most original, most disturbing nonfiction on the market. From the lost souls at Guantanamo Bay to the terrifying Aryan gangs that kill and terrorize from behind bars to the dread-soaked life of a Sing Sing guard, a composite portrait is emerging of the mostly invisible Hell that is the American prison system and the dehumanizing effects it has on inmates and their keepers alike.

Theo Padnos has made a quirky, but brilliant and unforgettable contribution to this literature. From his vantage point as a part-time English teacher in a gothic juvenile detention center in Vermont, Padnos draws us--almost against our will--into a collection of scary, wretched, lost young men who have been obliterated from the view of "respectable" society. In terse, electric, revelatory prose, sparing neither his subjects nor himself, he obliges us to see them for who they inescapably are: versions of ourselves, versions of an America drifting toward apocalypse.

This is a book that demands attention--more attention, by the way, than it received from the prissy, careless Publishers Weekly reviewer quoted above. In garbling the name of one of the chief characters in this book, Laird (not "Lance"!) Stanard, the PW scribe unwittingly represents the blindness and indifference of a society that is a lot more complacent about its incarcerated alter-egos than perhaps it can afford to be.