North Carolina Books

This travel guide book is fantastic! It is full of great information on hotels, restaurants and places to see plus it's really fun to read. This writer is really humorous! He knows his Southern history, culture, and food. I highly recommend it!

This book came in handy on my recent trip to Charleston, SC. The recommendations the author made were excellent. I found the book to be entertaining as well. I also have the South Carolina Handbook and it's excellent too.

Mike Sigalas's guide to the coastal areas of North and South Carolina is a fascinating resource with maps, pictures, historical information, and an insider's knowledge of restaurants, accommodations and entertainment.

The book is written in a casual, friendly style and organized into sections about the region's history, climate, wildlife and plants; travel information such as activities, food, transportation and services; and in-depth chapters on Nags Head and the Outer Banks, New Bern and the Central Coast, Wilmington and the Southern North Carolina Coast, Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand, Charleston and Vicinity, and Beaufort and the Low Country. The book concludes with a listing and synopsis of books and films set in the area or about the area, and a very good index.

Having just returned from a stay in Charleston, I can say that the chapter on that area was well-written, informative and presented well. Museum and attraction listings include hours, fees and phone numbers. Accommodations described were traditional, B&Bs, rental homes and campgrounds. Restaurants are divided by cuisine and location; we tried four of them and were happy with the advice. Entertainment information is given for festivals, concert venues, clubs and bars, playhouses, movie theaters and coffee shops. Sports, recreation and shopping information proved reliable, and the transportation section addressed walking, tours, public transport and visitor centers. Several pages discuss places of interest in the Greater Charleston area.

This book was very helpful to us. Well done.

At last, a travel book that informs like a dusty tome of history, amuses and entertains like comedy, and that is as hard to put down as thriller fiction. This author has given us an overview of the Coastal Carolinas that is observant and accurate. He writes about the region with a non-deprecating irreverance born of loving familiarity...... his is a self-mocking humor, that is acceptable because it is obvious that this author is in love with this little bit of heaven. Well-done, Mr. Sigalas!

I loved this book! It made me laugh out loud! The writer is really funny and his restaurant recommendations were fantastic! The sites to see were also great. Sigalas really knows the South.

I enjoyed this book very much. Tarleton's deductive and vainglorious writings are very informative yet do not dwell on American victories but rather American humiliation. I would not recommend it if you are not altogether serious though.

A fascinating book, plainly and well written. It took a moment or so to get used to the vernacular but it's a smooth read. I was particularly interested in Tarleton's say on what happened during the Buford Massacre because he implies (in my opinion) that the slaughter of the American troops was not ordered by him but rather, a circumstance of war and the crazed emotional upheaval that accompanies the heat of battle. The book presents an interesting view of the American War of Independence from the "other side". Well worth it.

After over 113 years of being out of print, Banastre Tarleton once again speaks (at an affordable leavel no less) of his experiences and knowledge of the battles he and his British compatriots went through. Mind you, it is a bit of a dry read as that his legal style of writing shows through the whole thing. If you ever wanted insight as to the British side of the American Revolution,here's your book!

The style of the antique font is most appealing to devotees of British Militaria. It is though one is reading the dispatches from "Bloody Bana" himself. This is the point of view never learned in America. If you enjoyed "The Patriot" you will enjoy this book. Refers in the 1st part to Major Patrick Ferguson, the inventor of the Ferguson Breechloading Flintlock rifle. The descriptions of the terrain and hardships as well as surrender terms and stores captured are thoroughly detailed.

A very detailed history of the Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution. At times a little self serving. It is enjoyable in eighteenth century text. Detailed maps.

This is a very well written book that allows the reader to really get to know remarkable, young Hope through the eyes of her parents. I would highly recommend it.

It is a very engaging book, full of not only poignent moments, but funny ones as well. The story is inspiring on many levels and is a tremendous testament to what one person and one family can do.

While there are many families that face death with courage, there are fewer who use it as an opportunity to grow closer to God and to bring others closer to God as well. People who read this book will be made aware of what is really important.

I just moved to Charlotte in May 208 with my husband and sons. Not a week after moving here, I got the call quick to go to Houston...my dad had developed a terrible life threatening infection from stage 3 colon cancer surgery and asked me to come...in case he didn't make it. Over that two weeks, I paced Barnes N Noble and picked up a few books...ironicallly on June 23...a VERY important date in this book. I picked this book for the title and picture...didn't know anything about it and certainly did not know that it was in my new hometown and part of my new church community. I finally read on July 31st as I was pining over my dad. It's AMAZING! I'm sharing it with everyone I know...I can't wait for the whole world to know about this little gal...and her very neat and courageous family. Not to mention, a reason to show why we fell in love with Charlotte when we looked for houses in March...the people here are beautiful...on the inside especially. You have to read this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes it is so easy to get caught up in the "me, me" rat race of life that we forget about the "Big Picture" Mr. and Mrs. Stout and of course Hope Stout has taught me so much about the true meaning of life and the desires to help people, even though we may be faced with tragedy or serious illness. Never give up Hope and always strive to make the world a better place for those who are less fortunate then ourselves. Reading about a young girl going through so much pain and suffering and yet who still is thinking about how she can help other children in need and give up her gifts to help the other children is truly a amazing story of selfless love and sacrifice. This story of Hopes Wish truly has changed my life for the better and enabled me to put my heart and energy into volunteering my time and energy into helping those less fortunate. For that inspiration that this book and Hopes story has provided I owe the world to this wonderful family. Thank you so much Mr. and Mrs. Stout for sharing this story with us and may God Bless you and your family forever and ever. Hope's wish truly continues to keep on giving to the world and for that I am ever thankful.

Stuart and Shelby Stout have incredible faith in God and this story is proof thereof. It has times of laughter, times of tears, and shows how truly faithful some can be in God to bring you through trying times.
The wish that Hope requested from Make-A-Wish was so incredible that the media in Charlotte, NC picked it up and ran with it! One little red-head with cancer raising $1 million for those less fortunate than her is truly inspirational. And not to mention it was done in less than 2 months!!
The power of Hope's wish still lives on today through the friends and family of Shelby and Stuart. I am blessed that I was able to witness some of this journey with the Stouts.

I received my copy on April 7th, 2008, started reading it as soon as I opened it and never put it down until I was finished.
I really wished I could give EVERYBODY a copy to read. I will be asking all my family to read this wonderful story of faith, family, love and the power of prayer.

At first glance this regimental history of the 11th Regiment North Carolina Troops looks like one just for Civil War history buffs, but that is far from the case.
This history is painstakingly and thoroughly researched, and lovingly written. You feel you really get to know some of the ordinary troops involved and you connect strongly to them as the war, and their part in it, develops. The book is well-written and clear, and the battle descriptions easy-to-follow. It provides an insight into the lives of ordinary Confederate civil war soldiers, and what made them continue with their struggle until the very end.
This proud regiment was involved from the first battles of the civil war until the final surrender at Appomattox - this book does credit to that proud combat record.

A must-have book for anyone with ancestors who fought in this unit, the reporting is both academically complete and personal.

The book is well written, and quite informative. It is about North Carolina's most famous regiment in the Civil War. While this might seem like a book of narrow appeal, it offers a great deal about how the war was conducted and should be of interest to any Civil War buff. I bought the book because I had an ancestor that served in it. I learned far more than I had expected. As a former
Infantry Officer and a Physician, I was also interested in tactics, morale, supply, casualties and their handling, intelligence and care of the soldier from recriutment to the end (whether death or discharge). I found all of these and much more! The battles are well described, as well.
Expecting a regimental history, I found a greater comprehension of life in the South during the War, it's politics, it's problems and their solutions, and a great military overview of many areas. If you liked Gone With the Wind, or Cold Mountain, or Shelby Foote's volumes on the history, you will get some of each here. I highly recommend this surprising book to anyone interested in the Civil War.

While researching my genealogy last summer I came across this book. My great grandfather was Woodson Garrett who is mentioned in this book and who served in the Bethel Regiment. I visited several of the battlefields and the descriptions of the battles here are coherent and emotionally charged. Highly recommended.

Craig Chapman's book struck a chord here. As one who is very much interested in Gettysburg, and the Overland Campaign of 1864, I am glad I found this jewel of a book. The author writes the story very well, and the research that he has done is exceptional in this tale of the boys from the Tarheel state.

This regiment is not as well known as the the 26th NC, but their trevails at Gettysburg was just as horrible. It also illustrates how they were used in the Overland Campaign...and the perils and suffering that they went through in 1864.

I heartily recommend the book, and can confidently say if you read it, it will be tough to put down.

Souther journalist Susan Byrum Rountree does an admirable job of conveying the flavor of Nags Head--both the old Nags Head and the new. Before the bridge over the sound went in in the mid-20th century, Nags Head was a sleepy hamlet year-round with little to do other than swim and walk on the beach. Though it's now a booming vacation town (a little too booming for some folks' tastes!), it maintains much of the flavor of its younger self and Rountree does a terrific job of capturing the elusive charm of the area.

Nags Head, named after the old piratical practice of looping a lantern around the head of a nag to lure ships, is a thin slip of land on Bodie Island, off the eastern coast of North Carolina. Its year-round population has grown to thousands, if not tens of thousands, but it used to be quiet all year-round. The older families--the Midgetts, the Buchanans and others--have consistently come back generation after generation. This constancy and devotion are among the things which makes Nags Head so historical and so tempting to vacation-goers today. It's exciting to feel you're part of a continuum.

Covering everything from the pirate activities of yore to the sundry big hurricanes and nor'easters to the historic Wright Brothers aviation experiments at nearby Kitty Hawk, Rountree provides a rounded, well-developed taste of the whole area. She salts her narrative with wonderful old photographs and with first-person accounts of Nags Head stays. One of her fine accomplishments in this area is the inclusion of black Nags Headers--usually the maids, cooks and so on for the white families which came to spend the summer. One heartbreaking story has to do with a white Nags Head vacationer--an attractive young woman--who began to have trouble staying afloat in the ocean. Her family sent out the strongest swimmer--a young black man who worked for them. Unfortunately, the girl drowned anyway because the young man, justly afraid of being accused of improper behavior involving a white woman, tried to bring her to shore just holding her arm instead of looping his arm across her chest. With this story alone, Rountree shows the prejudices of the time and the dangers lurking in this seemingly idyllic place.

Rountree also gives her full attention to the well-known Unpainted Aristocracy, which is a few dozen oceanfront homes which have stayed in the same families for many generations. Self-taught architect and contractor S. J. Twine designed and built many of them and incorporated many ingenious design elements to help them withstand both the test of time and the year-round test of the weather and corrosive salt air. Her alive and vital portrayal of Twine, with all his genius and his idiosyncratic behaviors, is alone worth the price of the book. All in all, a job very, very well done.

On a recent trip to the Carolina Outer Banks, I saw a book called NAGS HEADERS and found myself asking "Who are these Nags Headers?" Since I have enjoyed reading about various New England sea coast people, I thought I would broaden my knowledge and extend it to the people of the North Carolina coast.

Nags Head is one of the vacation resort communities in the Carolina Outer Banks, near where the Wright Brothers had their first flight and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The book tells how this sandy peninsula went from what appeared to be wasteland to become a beloved vacation community. The history is told through the eyes of the first families who vacationed here and many whose decedents still continue to vacation in Nags Head. We hear about the strong characters with temperaments that would be just as at home in Maine or Cape Cod, but also have a char that is unique to Nags Head. We learn about people who weathered many of the nation's worst storms (the Outer Banks is a favorite place for hurricanes to hit land) and the bonds that developed between the families. We also get a glimpse of North Carolina history, including some civil rights history as it touched this community.

I am certain that people who have vacationed in Nags Head will enjoy this book, but it will also be of interest to people who enjoy local history, particularly since the author includes writing samples from actual people who are decedents of the first Nags Head families or people who worked for them.

Nags Headers is a combination of oral history and narrated storytelling that opens a window to the summer lives of the families who lived and loved in the Nags Headers beach cottages. These cottages, which are now a century old, lie next to the Atlantic Ocean and are also colloquially known as the "Unpainted Aristocracy." They have survived terrible hurricanes, yet they are now threatened by the unyielding sea itself. The stories in Nags Headers capture myriad slices of history, from settlement before the Civil War, to a luncheon hosted for President Franklin Roosevelt, to modern day efforts to preserve the cottages' historical legacy. Of special interest is an interview with Virginia Hall, the 100-year-old survivor of a 1933 hurricane. Warm and picturesque, Nags Headers makes past years come alive.

My family owns one of the cottages in the area this author writes about, and I've been going to Nags Head since I was just a few months old. Rountree accurately captures the flavor and feeling of the area as I remember it, and as my grandparents remembered it (my grandfather first went to Nags Head in the 1930s.)

The book is filled with many black and white photos from as early as 1900, and has interviews with many of the locals whose families were among the earliest settlers along the beach. There are stories told of names like the Midgett family, Rev. Drane, the Nixons, Ras Wescott, the Buchanans, the Rascoes, Carolista Baum, and of course, the cottage builder S.J. Twine.

This book would be a pleasure to own for any who remember the "good old days", when families traipsed down the sand from one cottage to another for a cocktail party every night; when mothers would come to the beach with the kids for the whole summer and fathers joined them on weekends; when Harris's grocery store was the best (and only!) place to buy your freshly ground hamburger; dancing at the Casino; driving Jeeps on Jockey's Ridge; pig picks and clambakes on the beach; the days before Nags Head was quite so filled with tourists and more populated by summer people. It's a real trip down memory lane, and I recommend it highly.

Great book for for getting the inside scoop from the people who were there. I enjoyed rehashing the stories from the book with my grandfather, 89, who still lives in Manteo; he first got to the OBX in the mid 1930s. I have lived on the OBX and also visited there my whole life so it was great to relate with the history and personal family narratives. I especially liked the Casino stories, and the exciting storm and war memories too. Good pictures.

This book not only gives history of barbecue, but also gives political and other historical notes.

bob garner is the man. no other person in history has captured the true spirit of n. carolina bbq. it is a must for anyone who enjoy's bbq. it is something that can be passed down to generations.

Though I only lived there two years, I've often yearned to go back to Carolina. This book made that yearning into a painful ache! How many cooking books do you read with the intensity of interest as a thrilling novel? I did this one. Warning: This is not a recipe book. Yes, of course it has recipes, from both eastern Carolina and western Carolina barbecue traditions, as well as some variations of both. But the stories and history of this book make it a treasure in my collection. This one is going into my library, far more worthy than to be consigned to the kitchen to collect dust under the microwave (a fate deservedly given to a certain book by Martha Stewart).

This book makes me more homesick than ever for my adopted home. If you have any glimmer of passion for Carolina style barbecue, you MUST get this book.

All native sons of the Tar Heel State, and those who wish they were, who love pork barbecue and always wondered about the history of that flavorful dish should check out "North Carolina Barbecue: Flavored by Time." Funny, insightful, and well-researched, author Bob Garner takes you first on a history lesson back to 17th Century Jamaica to the roots of barbecue, then covers the importance of barbecue to political and religious life in the state. His own life growing up is filled with barbecue-related stories, which he tells herein with wit and style. He also imparts two excellent barbecue recipes, one for pork shoulder, one for the "whole hog."

The last half of the book contains reviews of the state's better- and lesser-known barbecue establishments, and could serve as a good starting point for a state travel guide. Photographic coverage leaves something to be desired, varying from wonderful historic photos to those that are barely legible.

Although the book would likely appeal only to those readers from the South for whom barbecue in all its forms is a tradition, it is an excellent read nonetheless. The down side is that reading this book makes you hungry

A superb piece of work by a wonderful writer, this book gives you the history and background of NC bbq, plus all the information you need to either produce your own or get out and find it in NC. The man knows what he's talking about -- and he talks it so well.

Thesis: William Sherley "Old Bill" Williams, was one of the greatest mountain men and was not responsible for the failure of Fremont's 4th expedition in 1848 to California.

Content: After fighting in the Revolutionary War, Bill's father, Joseph Williams moved from the western mountains of North Carolina, across the Mississippi River to the area near St. Louis. There, Bill was raised near trading posts, becoming familiar with traders, mountain men and Indians, learning to live off of the land, hunt and trap. Early in adulthood he became a circuit preacher, becoming a self-appointed missionary to the near-by Osage tribe. The Osage, instead of being converted, did the converting and adopted Williams into the tribe where he married, and lived among them, as one of them. After his first wife died he and an old acquaintance, Paul Ballio, opened a trading post among the Osage. By the time this venture failed Williams had developed a reputation for understanding the native tribes, and more importantly, being trusted by them. He was recruited in 1825 to go on a government expedition to establish a trade route to Santa Fe from St. Louis. Arriving in Toas with the expedition, he was discharged from their services. Instead of returning to Missouri he stayed for many years in the Rocky Mountain west roaming from New Mexico as far north as what would become Idaho, Wyoming and Washington. During his time in the west he trapped and traded as a free trapper, never being employed by any of the fur companies of the period. Generally free-trappers worked in small groups through the trapping seasons of fall and early spring, coming to rendezvous in the summer, to sell their furs. Old Bill gained a reputation as a loner, earning the nickname of "Old Solitaire". He also worked from time to time leading trading expeditions to California and other destinations. As the fur trade became less lucrative Old Bill led trading expeditions more frequently. In August of 1845 John C. Fremont hired Old Bill to lead his Third Expedition to the Salt Lake country. In 1848 Fremont volunteered to locate a southerly route through the mountains for a railroad into California. Again, he hired Bill Williams to guide his expedition. On this trip, according to Favour, due to Fremont's ego and blind determination, of the thirty-two that entered the mountains that winter, only 21 came out alive. Most of the 11 dead either froze or starved. Those that survived were barely living when they walked out of the mountains. Shortly after surviving this debacle Old Bill was killed trying to retrieve goods abandoned on the expedition. He was 62. Fremont laid the blame for the failed expedition on Williams, who was dead by then and could not defend himself.

Critique: Favour is a sympathetic biographer going as far as to call Old Bill Williams the greatest mountain man. His sources are recorded in copious footnotes, but his arguments sound nostalgic, and many are family remembrances from then living descendants, giving the same credence to passed-down family legends as contemporary letters and diaries. Favour also seems to be guilty of creating dialogue, without citations, between characters, often containing details only an eyewitness would know.
B.L. Clark

My favorite book surrounding the history of the mountain men era was, up until this book, "Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West. Dale Morgan's book is a classic by any standard and contains a detailed discussion of all the events which were coinciding with the actions and events of Jed's life. One of the minor complaints with his book is that at times you can loose track of where and what Jed is attempting. Alpheus Favour's book is presented in a similar fashion (although printed about 20 years earlier than Dale's book). Alpheus, however, condenses the surrounding history and brings Old Bill Williams more to the forefront. It's a wonderful account of Old Bill's life. He was one of the many unsung heroes of the West. In other books, you will find only scant descriptions of him. These books also seem to perpetuate without any new references the common misconceptions about Old Bill (blame for Fremont disaster, smallpox bio-warfare, etc.). These accusations are hard to verify and likewise, hard to reject. However, I think that Alpheus presents enough data to bring these accusations under further scrutiny and possibly promote the idea that these accusations be dropped. The life of the mountain man was not as PC as our "civilized" life today and we should not read the accounts of the mountain man through PC goggles. They fought and killed Native Americans and at the same time they lived with and intermarried with Native Americans. Their work as it were led to the near destruction of beaver and Buffalo yet their knowledge of the terrain was crucial for the passage of Americans to Oregon and California. In our eyes of today, yes we see that these men lived a bittersweet life. Old Bill was one the best and most restless. He was born in the foothills of North Carolina and died in the headwaters of Wannamaker Creek in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. He was living proof that once the mountains enter your blood (Appalachian or Rockies), it is hard to get them out. Wandering spirits are never conquered.

Alpheus Favour is both accommodating and forthright in his treatise of Bill Williams' life and times. Since Williams did not leave behind any diaries or journals himself, the author extensively researches through other pertinent documentations of the day to establish his whereabouts and accomplishments. Examples would be:
Attempted preacher to the Osage Indians;
Guide to the Sibley Santa Fe road survey;
Trapper extraordinaire;
Friend to several Indian tribes;
With the 1833 Joseph Walker expedition to California;
Horse stealing adventures;
Indian battles;
Guide to Fremont's third and fourth expeditions.
A prominent figure of the early American West and oftentimes overlooked for his achievements.

The greatest tribute paid to a book of history is to reprint it several times; to honor its scholarship, judgment, and lasting contribution. Few books merit that tribute more than this one. Updated information may conflict with some of the author's details and certain of his generalizations, yet this work stands virtually unchallenged as the only true and complete biography of William Sherely Williams. Favour, an amateur historian, died in 1939, three years after the publication of Old Bill Williams, the only book he ever wrote. Favour can be proud of his achievement which ranks with the best of the fur trade books.

Williams was born in North Carolina in 1787, moved to the Missouri frontier, and began trapping while in his teens. He served in the War of 1812, was in Indian trader, an itinerant preacher, scout, explorer, and mountain man. Williams, as Favour points out, was the most noteworthy of the hundreds of mountain men in the Missouri River Country. Equally important is the revealing portrait of the mountain men and their lives. In Bill Williams, the author found those unique traits possessed by this singular group of men who led a young nation through uncharted lands to a rendezvous with the Pacific.

Bill Williams' image was unlike that of the typical hero. He was a study in contrasts. Williams was tall and redheaded, dirty and disheveled, had a knowledge of Greek, Latin, and comparative religion, and ate primitive frontier food including raw calf legs. Physical strength, ability to endure thirst, scanty rations, and fatigue counted for little unless a mountain man also had determination, courage, and fortitude. Williams and a few others possessed all of these traits yet the majority of mountain men, including Williams, died of disease, hunger, Indians, or exposure.

Williams emulated Indians in dress, deportment, speech, and conduct. If being taken for an Indian was the highest compliment a trapper could receive, it wasn't such for Old Bill Williams. Whether it was lifting a scalp, hunting buffalo, or stalking an enemy, Williams did it better than any Indian and was pround of his sobriquet - Master Trapper. Williams stood out from his contemporaries regardless of the method of comparison: bringing in the most fur, outfighting and outdrinking anyone, or simply living past his 61st birthday.

Williams' six decades of life spanned the fur trade era and through his eyes the author presents that adventurous time with clarity and understanding. Williams traversed the West, battled the Ute, Apache, and Blackfeet, wandered the great mountains and parks of Arizona and Colorado, and blazed new trails. His horse stealing excursions were a legitimate enterprise by fur trappers' standards. He excelled in this field and stole hundreds of horses from California to Mexico, including horses owned by unfriendly Indians.

As a guide to Fremont's fourth expedition, which sought a railroad route through the Southern Rockies. Williams' place in history is circumscribed. After this expedition, Fremont castigated Williams, blaming him for the failure to cross the Rockies in midwinter. Williams had warned Fremont that a crossing in winter was dangerous yet went with him anyway. Eleven men froze to death. Favour tends to whitewash Williams in this incident but any blame is needless as nature wouldn't permit a crossing by anyone that winter.

After that disaster, Williams continued to guide parties across the frontier. In March 1849, Williams and Benjamin Kern were murdered by Utes evidently seeking revenge for a previous attack on their village by a contingent of the U. S. Army. When the Utes discovered they had killed Old Bill, they gave him a chief's burial.

Old Bill's death was denied by many Indians. For years they told tales of a majestic mountain Elk, with a slash of red across its crown, serenely grazing in Colorado's South Park, stopping from time to time to gaze intently toward the Southwest - toward its namesake Arizona's Bill Williams Peak which stands alone on the skyline along the western boundary of a frontier long past.

Although never quite reaching the pantheon of Mountain Men, Old Bill Williams spent most of his life among the fur-trapping greats (including Jed Smith, Kit Carson, Tom Fitzpatrick, and Joseph Walker), traveling throughout most of the Rocky Mountain West from 1825-1849. He considered himself a master trapper, though his solitary ways limited what was known about him. Alpheus Favour's book on Williams was written 70 years ago and is still the only book-length study of his life; it's doubtful it could be improved upon.

Williams was born in North Carolina in 1787 but grew up near St. Louis. Unlike most Mountain Men he was educated and could read (a different source says he knew Greek and Latin, but Favour makes no mention of this) write, and keep accounts. A religious man, he first was an itinerant preacher and made an excursion to the Osage Indians to convert them, though they seem to have converted him. He lived and traded with them for a number of years, and then in 1825 served as an interpreter on the Sibley survey of the Santa Fe Trail. This was when his trapping days began and for the next two decades Williams trapped throughout the West, from the Yellowstone country to California to Taos, which might be considered his homebase, since it was the place he often returned to. He had a number of Indian wives and children by them, fought often with the Blackfeet, was a spectacle when drunk, went on horse-stealing expeditions, and cheated the Indians on occasion when trading with them. In other words, he was rather par-for-the-course as far as Mountain Man behavior went.

His most controversial act occurred in 1848 when John Fremont hired Williams to guide him across the Southern Rockies on his fourth expedition, conducted to find a railroad route through the mountains. It was a foolhardy dead-of-winter expedition, which everyone, including Williams, tried to talk Fremont out of attempting, but Williams went anyway. Why is a good question, though no answers are forthcoming. The expedition was a disaster, with huge snows and sub-zero temperatures, and 11 men died before the expedition escaped the mountains. Fremont, of course, blamed Williams. The charge was that Williams deliberately misguided the group, hoping to come back later to claim abandoned supplies for himself. A second charge against Williams was that he engaged in cannibalism when starvation threatened the party. Favour dismisses both charges. Shortly after Fremont and the remaining men made it back to Taos, Williams was sent with another member of the expedition, Dr. Benjamin Kern, back to the mountains to retrieve equipment left there; on their return they were attacked by Utes and killed.

Favour was a lawyer and a western enthusiast, and this was his only book (he also wrote a monograph on Arizona state laws). He has researched his subject deeply and writes with clarity and authority. He finds Williams appealing, but is not enamored by him. It's a good biography, a classic of the Old West.

My grandfather gave me a paperback edition of the "The Old Man and The Boy" when I was about twelve. I am thirty three now and this book has never left my side. I have since acquired "The Old Man's Boy Grows Older." This work has similiar flavour. For those sporting people who long for the days of ethics and morality in the field and in the home this book is a must read. You can virtually smell the campfire, hear the Quail calling and learn some important lessons on life and sport.

As a success in my field, I was questioned by my trade organization what management books I kept on my desk. Only one: The Old Man and the Boy.

My mother gave this to me to read when I was 8 or 9. I have since grown up to be an avid hunter with respect for my elders and the great outdoors. I now have a son who is approaching 19 who has also read the book. He has been fortunate to have an "Old Man" by his side.

My father and I have read this book over and over. Now that I live in a large city, reading "The Old Man and The Boy" reminds me of my childhood, life in a rural community and the satisfaction of learning proper etiquette in the outdoors from someone older and wiser than I.

I've owned this book for a number of years & I find it is DEFINITELY a "keeper". My wife can"t understand why I drag it out & re-read it every Fall. I'd read & enjoyed Ruark's fiction in my younger days, but when I stumbled across "The Old Man & The Boy" it reminded me of times in the woods & on the water with my own father & the life lessons I was taught at those times. Both books together are simply a double treasure.

"Collins shows how [Kahn] gave away money nearly as quickly as he earned it, his contributions to music, literature, theater, dance, painting and design establishing New York City as an international cultural mecca. . . . Essential details are expertly negotiated, and thornier questions on the reality of latent anti-Semitism among the heirs of the Gilded Age are explored in depth. . . . As Collins aptly demonstrates, this 'self-made aristocrat' mastered the East without losing his soul, and in the process, he ennobled the arts he loved."--Opera News

"a genuinely transnational biography and a model for those who wish to engage in that rapidly growing field of historical scholarship."(Michael Kammen, Cornell University)

"A considered and nuanced account of [the] early twentieth century American Medici. . . . Collins' accomplished biographical study profiles from the cinematic deftness with which she crosscuts facets of Kahn's life, an altogether appropriate technique in limning an existence so enamored of and beholden to modernity. Her use of the language of theater and film in interpretive contexts seamlessly brings his many worlds into a unified vision."--Aufbau

In his day, J.P. Morgan was the best-known head of an American financial house. But Otto Kahn was a close second. Today, Morgan enjoys immortality in the popular imagination, while Kahn is all but forgotten. Thankfully Theresa Collins ... has produced a biography of Kahn that illuminates his importance as a man who successfully combined modern business sensibilities with art patronage. (Review by Ian Drake, Philanthropy Magazine, May/June 2003)

In the early decades of the twentieth century, almost everyone in modern theater, literature, or film knew of Otto Kahn (1867-1934), and those who read the financial press or followed the news from Wall Street could scarcely have missed his name. A partner at one of America's premier private banks, he played a leading role in reorganizing the U.S. railroad system and supporting the Allied war effort in World War I. The German-Jewish Kahn was also perhaps the most influential patron of the arts the nation has ever seen: he helped finance the Metropolitan Opera, brought the Ballets Russes to America, and bankrolled such promising young talent as poet Hart Crane, the Provincetown Players, and the editors of the Little Review.

This book is the full-scale biography Kahn has long deserved. Theresa Collins chronicles Kahn's life and times and reveals his singular place at the intersection of capitalism and modernity. Drawing on research in private correspondence, congressional testimony, and other sources, she paints a fascinating portrait of the figure whose seemingly incongruous identities as benefactor and banker inspired the New York Times to dub him the "Man of Steel and Velvet."

"This rich and fascinating biography tells the remarkable story of a remarkable man who, combining the power of an international financier with the finesse of a patron of the arts, helped make New York City a world cultural capital."--Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

"Theresa Collins's Otto Kahn is a superb piece of biography and a major work of historical reclamation. This is history written in the grand manner--sweeping in scope, majestic in style. And it restores to us in all his grandeur and cultural consequence a remarkable figure from our past."--Martin Duberman, City University of New York

"This first full-length biography of Otto Kahn offers a compelling portrait of a major figure in the history of American finance and culture. The keen eye and vivid prose of Theresa Collins illuminate the many facets of this fascinating character and his world."--Maury Klein, University of Rhode Island

Review of A Place for Theodore by Prudence Steiner The writing of history is difficult. If you're writing about someone or something already well known you face a hoard of kibitzers who question every statement that doesn't fit their preconceptions of the case. If you're writing about something unknown, well, where do you begin? How do you know what to look for? How do you know you have found everything? And how do you know how to organize what you do have? George Williams, in A Place for Theodore, has confronted both problems. Well-known is Charles William Eliot, President of Harvard, notable New Englander from a notable family. Loyal Harvard alumni and conventional historians of higher education already "know" all about him. Virtually unknown is Theodore Parkman, chemist, soldier, who was killed and, literally, lost in a small and complicated Civil War battle at Whitehall, North Carolina in 1862. The intersection of these two lives, the process by which Williams has accounted for what is known to have happened, his speculations about what might have happened and why, form the substance of this paperback (Holly Two Leaves Paperback, ISBN 0-9656484-0-0). Don't expect a tidy narrative. That's not how historians work. Pieces--letters, photos, newspaper clippings, old bullets, public proclamations and private denials--swim into the net or are dredged up from murky corners in an unsystematic way. With each new piece, historians must revise their first ideas about what happened, their earlier interpretations of the causes. Most published histories appear after years of research and speculation have refined and polished them into coherence. Williams has chosen another method. For the most part the book brings us the raw materials in a very rough chronological order. Facing pages may include the author's narrative, original materials, photos or diagrams, in an assemblage of elements that is hard for the casual reader to follow but that accurately and vividly evokes the very process by which historians gather and sort out information. Williams' favorite typographical elements seem to be the question mark and the italic; hardly a page appears without several of both. Ordinarily these devices raise suspicion: how much of this book is true? Why is the writer so insistent? Is he right? But this is not an ordinary book; in the best sense, it is not even a finished book. Rather, it shows the process of writing history, and leaves us, the readers, with a sense of the materials and an eagerness to push on, to learn more about Theodore Parkman and why historians are still looking for him. As a former teacher of research techniques, I commend A Place for Theodore to other teachers as well as to Civil War buffs. You may be irritated, you may disagree with the author's tone and conclusions, but Williams's book will give you an unusual collection of materials as well as valuable insights into the slipperiness of "facts." 12 November 1997

Everyone is aware of friendly-fire and "collateral" deaths in war. The Mai Lai massacre in Viet Nam is the most famous. Incidents from the Gulf War are still in the news. Did a President of Harvard help cover-up the death of a Harvard student? Major George Williams has written an interesting tale using historical documents and the soldier's perspective of war. This book is a unique look at an overlooked incident during America's Civil War.

Everyone is aware of friendly-fire and "collateral" deaths in war. The Mai Lai massacre in Viet Nam is the most famous. Incidents from the Gulf War are still in the news. Did a President of Harvard help cover-up the death of a Harvard student? Major George Williams has written an interesting tale using historical documents and the soldier's perspective of war. This book is a unique look at an overlooked incident during America's Civil War.

A Place for Theodore won a Willie Parker Peace History Book Award from The North Carolina Society of Historians on Nov. 1, 1997. Mr. L.G. Williams also won two other awards for associated projects.

Very detailed description of this battle with very thorough documentation. All of the pages of this inexpensive book were used to the fullest. I felt like I had gotten my moneys worth.Just like being there and some thought provoking conclusions were presented.