Ohio Books

THE BOOK GAVE A GOOD PICTURE OF HIS LIFE BEFORE HIGH SCHOOL AND AFTER COLLEGE
IN SPITE OF EARLY STRUGGLES HE HAS EXCELLED IN THE BUSINESS WORLD

This is a beautiful collection of stories. The writing is luminous and witty. Each story is carefully crafted and stands up on its own, but when you read them all together, you really get a sense of this author's originality and her quirky and careful worldview. An unforgettable set of characters and stories!

If you're looking for good ghost stories, with the ring of authenticity and the flavor of Wisconsin, this is a great book. The stories work well out loud. They're good ghost stories, not violent or bloody, but suspenseful and mysterious. There's also a good section at the end on telling stories, as well as notes on where the stories come from.

I bought this book because I understood that a few of my ancestors were quoted in it; as a genealogist, I look for every mention of my ancestors possible! But this book brought home the staggering (to me, I never said I was smart) fact that not all conflict between settlers and Native Americans took place on the plains. Many, many conflicts took place right here in the midwest, in Ohio, Michigan, etc. And this book provides an excellent description of the people and events of this period of settlement. It adds a dimension to my research, and is an fascinating study.

My wife and I were given a copy of this pretty little book as a gift several years ago. We like it as much for the beautiful paintings and drawings (done by the author) as for the large amount of information it contains. The paintings are typically full page, colors well reproduced, and size large enough to show accurate details of the flower parts. These are really works of art.

This book doesn't cover all wildflowers, but does a great job helping us to identify and enjoy spring/early summer wildflowers in the northeast.

Judging by the Amazon ranking of sales of the book, it isn't particularly well known. That's understandable, given that it was published by a university press (Ohio University) 24 years ago. But in my opinion, it's one of those little gems to keep and pass on to your children. The price is very reasonable for a good quality hardcover book with this kind of content.

In a foreword to the book, the Director of the Denver Botanic Gardens refers to its "soundly scientific base". Sounds good to me. I'm not a botanist (I'm a retired engineer), but I do like the amount of information giveen on each plant. I especially like being given the origin of every one of those funny-sounding quasi-Latin names, along with pronunciation aids.

Because the written information is always on page facing the (usually) full page illustration of each flower, I don't have to thumb through the book looking for the picture. I do find myself having to refer often to the glossary of botanical terms at the back of the book, but that's relatively easy to do, and a fair price to pay for the extra information in the descriptions.

Boss Cox's Cincinnati: Urban Politics In The Progressive Era is a scholarly and meticulously researched examination of late nineteenth century big city politics as exemplified by the political structures of Cincinnati, Ohio under George B. Cox's political machine. Zane Miller (Charles Phelps Taft Professor Emeritus of American History at the University of Cincinnati) carefully explores both the nature and the significance of "bossism" and how it and municipal reform were both essential components of the political system in a the time of labor and ethnic unrest, election violence, rising crime rates, political innovation, and civic achievement. Boss Cox's Cincinnati is a highly recommended addition to political science reference collections and reading lists.

I first read this book years ago. I have always remembered the things I learned about American History. Why, for instance, the streets in most American cities run north/south, east/west. What a reward was given to veterans of the revolutionary war. It's a wonderful read. Wonderful characters, including the pigs! C

Former Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter/columnist Russell Schneider has penned a number of books on the history of the Cleveland Indians , a club he covered for the newspaper from 1964-1977, and this could be the grand-slam of the bunch.

Combining coverage from the magical 1948 season, with research that included interviews with a dozen players and legendary Tribe pitcher - and coach on that club - Mel Harder, Schneider brings the memories to life in a wild run to the American League pennant and World Series victory.

Flamboyant team owner Bill Veeck assembled a club that included five players who appeared in the All-Star Game - shortstop Lou Boudreau, third baseman Ken Keltner, second baseman Joe Gordon and pitchers Bob Lemon and Bob Feller - with Boudreau ultimately winning league MVP honors.

But it was the signing of perhaps the greatest pitcher ever on July 7 that made the difference. In 21 games as a reliever and starter, Satchel Paige turned in a 6-1 mark and 2.48 ERA in nearly 73 innings. The club defeated the Boston Red Sox in a one-game playoff for the league title and beat the pesky Boston Braves in six games for the world championship. In the three title games played in Cleveland, the attendance figures were 70,306; 81,897 and 86,288.

The foreward is written by former Plain Dealer sports editor and baseball historian Hal Lebovitz, which makes for a solid double play for fans living in northeast Ohio, though the coverage should be of interest to any fan of the "Grand Old Game."

Malina reads three very cool writers here -- Samuel Beckett, Christine Brooke-Rose, and Angela Carter. Their challenging novels grow more fascinating as Malina explores their uses of metalepsis.

(This is a very useful term from narrative theory. When the characters in the movie "Pleasantville" get sucked into the television and start living the lives of '50s sit-com characters -- that's metalepsis. They've left one narrative level and entered another.)

Malina shows that these writers have been playing sophisticated versions of this game for years. Metalepsis gives their novels uncanny power to invade a reader's life, and it raises wild questions about the political potential of fiction -- and the nature of reality itself.
Coolness, in short.

This book is full of great photos of Cleveland and tidbits of Cleveland history. Highly recommend for anyone interested in the history of Cleveland. The genealogist will find this a great addition to their collection. Great for putting that family history in context.