Pennsylvania Books

Great book, but an interesting offering here as the title is renamed differently than the paperback version that's available and has been available for years (which is widely known as "Consuelo"). Odd when publishers change the name of her books. "The Master Pipers" is also available as "The Bagpipers" for instance (though the translation is a bit different). I'm not sure, but isn't "Consuelo" the given name of the novel? Odd.

But ... nonetheless ... it's a great story and they are right in saying it's her masterpiece.

I had been wanting to read this book for years, as it was sited in a truly amizing number of articles, essays, lectures and books. It was quite difficult to come by but was worth the wait! I found that when I was able to settle into the voice of the author, it was a fascinating and satisfying. I wish there were more out there like this! This is not, however, Oprah-fuzzy reading. It is a very academic book and has high expectations of its readers. How refreshing.

Creole America: The West Indies And The Formation Of Literature And Culture In The New Republic by Sean X. Goudie (English Department, Vanderbilt University) explores how literary culture in the New Republic era became framed amid a background of both expansionist desires of the North American continent and a push for commercial empire along the routes of West Indian trades. George Washington's Secretary of the Treasury and West Indian immigrant Alexander Hamilton came to personify the unease felt by Americans about the relations between the slave colonies of the West Indies and the supposedly free and democratic states of the independent mainland, a state of mind that Goudie terms the "creole complex". Chapters scrutinize the resulting repercussions on literary expression and daily culture in the annals of history. A serious, college-level scholarly dissection of cross-cultural dynamics.

People need to take a real good look and see what the primary function of our Children and Youth Services is. It seems that they operate in such a way to fit their own needs and not the needs of the children. I rate this book a five star. Why should we be held responsible for what we do while they bury their mistakes within the system. It is about time these so called Social Workers started be held accountable for destroying people's lives.

This book collects 37 first-hand accounts of travelers across the western part of Pennsylvania in the years 1720-1829. Journal and diary excerpts of important personages - Conrad Weiser, Washington, Christian Post, Peter Muhlenberg, Joshua Gilpin, to name a few, as well as many obscure figures, are presented as they describe their travels - the difficulties in crossing the Allegheny Mountains, the roadside taverns, the merchants and fellow travelers encountered, the tiny settlements, Fort Pitt and later Pittsburgh - all giving a revealing glimpse of early life in western Pennsylvania. Each entry is introduced by Harpster, and he also includes a lengthy bibliography of travel and description in western Pennsylvania. The book is an excellent source book, with the accounts being well-chosen ones in terms of their interest and information. First published in 1938, the book is still an important collection of contemporary writing about early western Pennsylvania.

I must confess I purchased this paperback expecting a cheesy mystery story. Was I ever surprised! Albert is a terrific writer. Although this is clearly a formula novel, he constructs everything perfectly. I loved his strategy of having Dave Garrett, the PI protagonist, go for 4 days without sleep, which does not leave the reader a convenient place to put the book down. It is non-stop action! Also I should mention that I experimented with Fastin diet pills to stay awake while studying for college exams, and I thought it was great that an author would incorporate such a powerful energizing substance in a story. Good job, Albert

Nowadays men and women take up gardening, landscaping, and natural science. But this wasn't always so. In ancient times, particularly in Rome, women grew and sold flowers. But it wasn't considered the best of jobs. It was in fact a job that gave a girl a bad reputation. She didn't just sell flowers. She also sold herself.

However, over time, growing flowers came to be considered as o.k. as growing fruit, medicinal and vegetable gardens. Monks grew them at monasteries. Nobles had them grown around their castles. So too then did wives in their respected capacities as supervisors of households. Men worked also with plants, but as part of their jobs as doctor, guild member, pharmacist. Some women worked, outside the household, with plants. But this only happened if they were the wives or widows of guild members.

However, flower gardening slipped out of women's hands for a time during the 17th and 18th centuries. How did that happen? And how did women once again become respected flower gardeners?

Men took over, because flowers became a commercial success and a political symbol, on a large scale. This might not have happened, if people had taken the advice of Olivier de Serres. De Serres wrote le theatre d'agriculture et mesnage des champs in 1600. He advised the French to grow well-known and wild flowers that needed little money, care and attention. He particularly pushed growing chamomile, daisies, hyssop, marjoram, mint, sage, thyme, and violets.

However, anyone making decisions about large-scale flower plantings chose what became known as florists' flowers. These flowers needed money, care and attention. These flowers dominatd gardening for the next two centuries, despite de Serres' good advice. These flowers were the demanding, exotic and expensive anemones, carnations, hyacinths, irises, narcissi, ranunculi, and tulips. But in France, these flowers meant money and influence for any with the CULTIVATED POWER to grow them.

French King Louis XIV's properties were known for their gardens and their flowers. Flowers were also the subjects of the carpets, embroidered seats, paintings, and tapestries he owned. Because flowers were in such demand outside the household, men took over the growing and selling of flowers.

The consequences were longlasting in many regards. Exotic flowers, such as tulips, became widely grown and known. Gardening was perfected as a science and art, with accurate and clear recordkeeping. Ancient knowledge wasn't lost. What grew naturally in France was considered less interesting and profitable than what had been grown in ancient Greece and Rome.

The flower trade brought the world together in a marketplace. What grew naturally in France was considered less interesting and profitable than what was being grown outside Europe. The flower trade helped bring about economic and political stability, after many years of bloody civil and religious wars. Flowers, such as the fleur-de-lys, united people around the central figure of the king. The noble and royal gardens also brought in admiring and important visitors, royalty, and diplomats.

But this was all part of the centralizing rule of the sun king, Louis XIV le grand. It was all part of trying to pull the different regions together so that all would recognize Paris as the capital and the king as the final power. But the next kings, Louis XV and particularly Louis XVI, couldn't keep up the pace. People might have put up with beautifully kept up and sometimes edible flowers planted on top of good crop land. They couldn't accept good crop land turned to gardens falling into disrepair. Exotics had become familiar. Flowers were no longer symbols of a clever monarch. The French revolution turned the country in a more practical direction: everyone should have beloved King Henri IV's promised chicken in every pot, grow plants that had always grown naturally in the region, and eat their own bread.

After the late 18th century, women once again took up gardening, landscaping, and natural science. In our day, there's probably not such a seesaw between men and women in those fields. There's also probably not such a seesaw between exotics and natives. Plenty of people would listen to a modern-day de Serres' advice. But also plenty of people would try for gardens balanced between native and non-native plants.

Concerned both with theory and methodology, this volume represents the essence of Professor Hallowell's point of view in cultural anthropology and furnishes a rich collection of examples of his methods. He has made extensive use of Rorschach and TAT tests in his field work, and he has particularly drawn upon psychological concepts to analyze his data. Because it provides a wealth of material on both the similarities and differences in personality structure in contrasting primitive and civilized societies, Culture And Experience should be of the greatest interest not only to the anthropologist, but also to the practicing psychologist and the student engaged in research throughout the social sciences.
--- form book's back cover

The theory behind this important collection of essays is that "the history of medieval power is to be sought in microcosms." These essays demonstrate quite effectively that it can be found there as well. Each essay focuses on a facet of the shifting power relationships in twelfth and thirteenth century Europe. At issue in each are the questions of what or who held the power to command or punish, and how that power was obtained, kept and manifested. This is a truly enlightening book. Of particular interest are the essays on holding power over the truth, as well as those dealing the formation of the nobility into a self-consciously chivalric warrior class. However, all the essays are intelligent and useful explorations into the very nature and meaning of power. Ultimately, this book must be considered essential for any serious student of history, casual or academic.

How does one convey the sense of what it means to write poetry? Read "Your Card Read 'Poet-Mechanic'" in this volume to understand the power of Alice Fulton's work. How can one conceivably write a poem about dust? Read "Toward Clairvoyance" to appreciate her brilliance. This book is a work that grabs your instinct and won't let go.