Tennessee Books

The book is not a stand-alone account of the battle Shiloh. The book examines some of the controversies and little know facts at the battle of Shiloh and traces the establishment and history of the National Military Park. The book consists of nine well constructed essays. You could read an essay a night making the book easy to read. I enjoyed the first five essays about aspects of the battle, but lost interest reading the many speeches given dedicating monuments on the battlefield park. Later essays on the development of the park were interesting. The author works at the Shiloh NMP and is very familiar with battle and its literature. The author made good use of period photographs especially of naval craft that helped his narrative. Few maps were used and these were reproduced from the Civil War Official Records and were too small and hard to read to be of any use in following the battle.

As a Civil War book, I found this very readable and enjoyable. It was meant to be an overview of the battle, the battlefield, and the times - which can get bogged down in needless detail. Smith was able to avoid that. I especially liked the essay on dedicatory speeches at the battlefield; contrasting present day regionalism with 19th century reconciliation. Quoting Smith, the difference is "breathtaking". In the speeches, you can feel the aftermath of the bloody conflict, what it REALLY meant to the survivors and their offspring. Today's "Lost Cause" revisionism lacks the understanding of why we put that all behind us - and why we never want to dredge up that kind of intensity again.
More pictures would have heightened the experience. Other than that it was a great effort.

This book covers more than just the battle and includes the creation of Shiloh National Military Park, and the attitudes of the people involved."

Written by Timothy B. Smith, a staff member at the Shiloh National Military Park, The Untold Story of Shiloh: The Battle and the Battlefield is a meticulous appraisal of history's understanding of the battle of Shiloh during the American Civil War. Seeking to fill in the gaps in chronicles of what actually took place, The Untold Story of Shiloh goes beyond the two days of battle, presenting a collection of essays - some previously published, some not - evaluating topics ranging from Shiloh's historiography, the myths created about the battle, and the mindsets established after the battle, to the stories behind memorializations of the battle after it had taken place, including Shiloh's cemetery, monument, and military park. A scholarly and serious-minded close evaluation written by and for serious Civil War historians and scholars.

The Battle of Shiloh was one of the pivotal encounters of the Civil War. Fought in a remote location in south central Tennessee, north of Corinth, Mississippi, the battle showed the nation that the Civil War would be long and difficult. The Battle of Shiloh opened up the western Confederacy to the Union invasion that would ultimately prove its undoing. And the battle resulted in the death of a high-ranking and charismatic Confederate leader, General Albert Sidney Johnston. I read this excellent collection of essays during the anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh, (April 6 -- 7, 1862), and it made me long to visit the Battlefield again.

Compared with other major Civil War battles, Shiloh has received little detailed attention and no collection of essays of which I am aware. This excellent collection of essays by Timothy B Smith helps to rectify the situation. Smith holds a PhD in history from Mississippi State University and is a former ranger at Shiloh National Military Park. He currently teaches at the University of Tennessee. Smith is the author of an earlier study of the establishment of Shiloh National Military Park, "This Great Battlefield of Shiloh." With this book of essays and another book, "Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862" soon to be published, Smith is establishing himself as an authority on Shiloh and its aftermath.

This collection consists of nine essays, most of which were published earlier, on various aspects of the Battle of Shiloh and its aftermath, Shiloh National Military Park, and the historiography of the battle. One of the earlier essays, "Oft-Repeated Campfire Stories" examines what Smith describes as the "Ten Greatest Myths of Shiloh." This essay is a good overview of the battle for those with some familiarity with it and with the controversies it has engendered. Other essays dealing with more specific aspects of the battle include an excellent study of the role of the Union Navy during the battle, "Gallant and Invaluable Service", a study of the frequently overlooked campaign against Corinth, Mississippi, which followed the battle, and a study of the role of Confederate General Alexander Stewart and his brigade in the chaos that was the Battle of Shiloh.

The remaining essays in the book deal with the historiography and the commemoration of the Battle of Shiloh. The first essay in the book, "Historians and the Battle of Shiloh" is an overview of the different ways historians have described the events of the battle. Smith identifies three separate views found in the literature before introducing his own view, which emphasizes the topography of the battlefield and which tends to downplay the importance previous historians have given to action at the Hornet's Nest and Sunken Road. Smith further explains his view of the battle in his soon to be published "Shiloh and the Western Campaign" which consists of the text of a PhD dissertation by Edward Cunningham setting out what is becoming an influential account of Shiloh.

Smith's essay "Shiloh Monument Dedication Speeches and the Rhetoric of Reunion" was, for me, the highlight of the collection. It it, Smith quotes extensively from speeches given by Northerners and Southerners at Shiloh from 1902 through the dedication of the Tennessee state monument in 2004. It is important to see this collection of speeches unearthed and explored. Smith emphasizes the themes of national unity and reconciliation that pervade these speeches. He points out that the United States of the present day has little of the spirit of unity that characterize these speeches and he offers thoughts on why that is the case. These speeches, and similar speeches at other Battlefields, deserve further study.

The remaining three essays in the book study the establishment and history of the Shiloh National Cemetry and the lives of two early superintendants at Shiloh: David Wilson Reed, the "Father of Shiloh National Military Park" who was responsible for the historically most influential account of the battle, and Reed's successor, DeLong Rice, whom Smith portrays as Shiloh's "Poet Preservationist".

Smith has written a thoughtful group of essays which will appeal to those readers with an interest in the Civil War and with a special fascination for the Battle of Shiloh.

Robin Friedman

I reviewed this book earlier and jumped on the authors and/or editors for a pretty significant photo error...... trying to pass off a photo of the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH, as The Pyramid, in Memphis..... pretty lame, I still say. But, having read the entire book, and having lived in Memphis all of my 45 years, I would like to say that, the above-mentioned goof notwithstanding, I really enjoyed the book, found it to be pretty accurate, and learned some things I didn't know. It's definitely worth reading.

This is the 2nd book I've reviewed on Amazon, and I've got the same gripe about it that I did about the 1st book I reviewed, Peter Guralnick's "Sweet Soul Music".... if you're going to author a non-fiction book, especially one that is supposed to be about places to see and things to do, or about historical facts, then at least get your facts right. I've lived in Memphis all 45 years of my life, but it doesn't take that to see a glaring error in this book. There are several pages of photos in the book, inserted between pages 96 and 97.... the pages containing the photos are not numbered. The authors included a photo of what is supposed to be The Pyramid in Memphis.... concert hall, boxing ring, home of the NBA Grizzlies and the U of Memphis Tigers..... what the authors included is a photo of the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame Hall of Fame & Museum, which is in CLEVELAND, OHIO, of all places!!!! Granted, that's a pyramid-shaped building, but who are they trying to fool? There's even a sign in front of the building in their photo that says "Rock & Roll Hall of Fame & Museum"...... and anyone with any sense of popular music knows that museum is in Cleveland, not Memphis. The authors do themselves no favors if they're trying to pass this photo off as the Pyramid in Memphis. If it was an honest mistake, then they need to fire their editor, who's supposed to catch stuff like this, right?

I haven't finished the book yet, but so far have found it fun to read and reasonably accurate except for the photo mentioned above. It does make me wonder though, if there's one error that little-old-me found, how many other errors and mistakes are there in this book???

A very enjoyable book, takes the reader on a musical joyride around Memphis, the Delta and mid-South in general. Full of brief interview tidbits with musical luminaries, many of whom live in relative obscurity in the area.
The book has a few minor errors I noticed, including labeling part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH incorrectly as the Pyramid Arena in downtown Memphis in the photo section. Other than very minor annoyances like that, I highly recommend this book to any fans of rock, r & b, blues or roots music in general. An engaging read about the music and performers and the city that literally changed the world.

A very enjoyable book, takes the reader on a musical joyride around Memphis, the Delta and mid-South in general. Full of brief interview tidbits with musical luminaries, many of whom live in relative obscurity in the area.
The book has a few minor errors I noticed, including labeling part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH incorrectly as the Pyramid Arena in downtown Memphis in the photo section. Other than very minor annoyances like that, I highly recommend this book to any fans of rock, r & b, blues or roots music in general. An engaging read about the music and performers and the city that literally changed the world.

If you have ever wanted to read a book that tells you all the cool spots in and around the Memphis area pick this one up. These are the places that are not on that cute tourist pack you get at the welcome center. These places are real and the authors writing about them understand their importance. I read the book in one sitting and I have only done that with about 3 books in my life. This puppy is jammed packed with wonderful recollections and people who are very active in southern and blues culture. As this book shows those who thought blues was dead are sadly mistaken. Great read!

On my scale of 10, I gave this book a rating as high as one (1) for the author's effort in searching for material and referencing it in extensive notes. As a history of the times, it rates a zero (0).
The author might have written the objectives of his book as:
"America did an abomination by building the atom bomb and killing brutally without compassion thousands of totally innocent Japanese. The instigator of this horror, American General Leslie Groves,had only one objective: to gain power over the most people he could, control them and maintain that control regardless of laws or ethics or safety. He recklessly endangered the entire planet and all of American culture solely for his own greed for power."
Then the author wrote the book in propagandese with distorting adjectives and selection of events to convince a reader that the author's view of "history" was The Truth .

The depiction of Groves as a monster begins early in the book.
"Groves's ascendance, his early success at forging a cooperative venture among government, military, and corporate entities, signaled a broader campaign of expansion and control, into labor relations, into social relations, even into language. This last area is perhaps the most surprising and significant example of the District's imperial tendencies. One of its earliest manifestations was the naming of the program."
A full page is then devoted to explaining that the choice of "Manhattan" for the organization was not simply to avoid hinting at its purpose. "For him [Groves], the single most important concern lay with "security" (Groves's term subsuming secrecy and control of information), and he envisioned language as a potent weapon for duplicity."
The portrayal of Groves as the supreme tyrant continues throughout the book. General Groves as a hard driving decision maker who forced the accomplishment of an almost impossible job does not appear. And the reasons such a drive was felt necessary by all of us, the dread of Germany's building a nuclear bomb before we could and then the horror of the continuing slaughters of both US and Japanese forces in the jungles of the South Pacific and the prospect of worse to come with invasion, was ignored totally.

Two examples of the writer's distortions represent his propagandizing technique:
"New workers entering these factories found them to be confusing and sometimes terrifying warrens of piping, walls of analog dials, valves, and knobs, marked with Bakelite labels in the arcane language of the engineer."
Big,yes; terrifying, no. New workers did not wander into a building without orientation and explanation of where he or she was to work, go to the bathroom, eat. What's confusing? Any new job for the first day or so. But of course walls of stuff with Bakelite labels must be dangerous, especially in arcane language with words like "open" and "closed" and "pressure" and "temperature".
The second example of such writing tries to use a picture of a control room, in which I worked at one time, to show manipulation by the tyrannical Manhattan Engineer District. Here is Hales' description of the picture as he tries to show distortions created by the Manhattan District use of language: [The first sentence refers to a different picture taken for record at a trailer park at Oak Ridge.]
"This particular photograph is, itself, a document that reinforces the District's grammar -- though the way this grammar is imbedded in visual form is clearer in another equally prosaic picture, also made by Du Pont's official site photographer, Ed Westcott, to illustrate the workings of the K-25 master control room (Fig. 36). [Du Pont was not one of the Oak Ridge contractors, but maybe Westcott was delegated to make pictures of Oak Ridge for the record. I won't argue the point.]
"Reading the photograph as a distinct document, one can recognize the District's extension of written grammar into visual grammar. Yet the brilliance of the method manifests itself in the way the picture seems not to tell but to show . Even though, to a careful eye, it's an obviously managed, set-up picture, still the impression persists that the result is natural. The obsessional orderliness of the workplace seems incontrovertible. It seems simply to show the control desk with its banks of switches and the supervisor's desk with its paperwork, with everything lined up parallel and neatly diagonal to the walls filled with their workstation graph-paper plotters and their own cruciform arrangements of gleaming lights. The people too, are nicely symmetrical -- two men, two women; two engrossed in tasks, two awaiting orders. The desks are orderly, reassuringly so. Underneath the details is a message. Everything's under control in the control room."
The following three paragraphs add more suppositions to the explanation of the evil and manipulative intent of this photograph. "... as a staff photographer following orders." "Westcott has manipulated the circumstances..." "... bland, even lighting." "Even Westcott's work isn't really his." and more and more.
Then the long paragraph with the ridiculous clincher at the end:
"Behind Westcott's professionalism lies the repertoire of conventions he learned as he mastered the job of staff photographer. So also with the conventions learned by the architect-engineers of the master control room and transmitted to their plans: that the control room should have even, revealing lighting, and that such lighting came best from multiple panels in the ceiling, that the plotters for each K-25 cubicle should properly be lined up in even rows where they could be easily seen ."
That's nice: clear statements of the requirements for an informative photograph and a good control room. Then Hales continues in the same paragraph:
"(This arrangement is orderly, but it isn't necessarily intelligent; looking at the control panel of the Hanford pile for the first time in the fall of 1991, I was struck with an immediate and palpable anxiety, for each of the control stations looked like each of the others -- in a crisis, how could the operators, assured by the law of comparmentalization that they would never know the logic that lay beneath the dials, distinguish between one dial and the next in a row of some too identical dials? Equally so with the dials and plotters in this master control room.)"
Hales ascribes ignorance of their job to the operators of the Hanford works and lack of intelligence to the designers of the control rooms because he never worked in a control room, didn't know anything about it, and doesn't know what he is talking about .
I worked the K-25 control room in this picture. To work there I had to know the meaning of each line on the graphs and each light; the "indistinguishable dials and plotters" were arranged in exactly the order in which material passed from one "cubicle" to the next so the process details were clear and easy to see.
All this and more to pretend that the Corps of Engineers had invented a "new grammar" to control the thinking of their employees!
I have a picture taken by my beloved father of my brother and me on our little wagon when we were five and three. Here is my guess at Hale's probable description of my memorial of fun on the little red wagon.
"These two small children, both apparently male, are obviously terrified of the photographer. This fear is easily apparent to the careful observer from the way their mouths are partly open and their eyes are wide and staring at the camera. The photograph must have been staged in an attempt to record the likenesses of the children in case of accident. Obviously the older boy was forced on top of the younger one in the tiny wagon which must have been so small as to make injury to at least one of them likely. Such an injury may have made him amenable to the enforced duties he performed years by later making material for the atomic bomb."

I found some sections of this book fascinating, and others quite slow and tedious, hence the three star rating.

Be prepared: this is not quick reading!

I like how this book glorifies no one. It also talks about many "forgotten" victims of the Manhattan PRoject; those who were evicted from their property, the "underclass" workers, those who lived near Alamogordo and sufferred from nuclear fallout. I learned information about Gen. Groves and how he oversaw the project. It spoke also about the scientists, but not just about the scientists. This isn't a book about the making of the bomb; it's a book about the culture. At times it was slow---I skimmed about 100 pages at the beginning, which I very rarely do--- but there should be something for you in this book if you're interested enough in the topic to read this review! I found especially interesting the medical testing (or lack thereof), the radiation safety protoocols (or lack thereof) and the fallout (literal and sociological) of the Alamogordo test. These areas were fascinating to me. Also, while I already knew about Feynman's battle with the censors, it's fun to read again!

We are constantly researching the Manhattan Project in an effort to locate surviving veterans. Mr. Hales' account of war-time life at Los Alamos, NM, Oak Ridge, TN, and Hanford, WA is first rate. I recommend it highly to anyone yearning for a full understanding of the circumstances surrounding the development of the atomic bomb. Michael Vickio, Exec. Dir. .............

Beautifully written and by turns restrained and emotionally charged, this moral history of the Manhattan Project takes on what the others never mention-- all the smaller worlds created, destroyed or utterly changed as we entered the atomic age. Engrossing, packed with information spirited out of classified archives or found in the bottom of boxes, this book deserves the prizes it has won. Even the pictures are striking and remain on my mind long after I have closed the book.

I have read literally a dozen or more books about the atomic projects both in the United States and Germany. Unlike most books on the subject, Atomic Spaces, glorifies no one. It tells the story like it really was. It goes into the social, economic, racial, and moral cost of the project. It puts into perspective the relationship between the military, the government, big buisness, and the American people for this last half of the twentieth century. In no uncertain terms it demonstrates the true cost of entering the atomic age.

Although the outcome was "successful," I wonder if the true price of the atomic age was worth it? It certainly came with a high price tag, much, much more than money.

This book is a must read in order to see the real Manhattan Project and not the glorified picture presented by so many other authors. This is a really great book, about a really great endeavour, done by the average man with his usual weakness.

I found this very useful. I have seven different Blue Ridge Pottery books that I used to identify over 1000 pieces I owned. Now I have dispursed my collection and have no use for my books so I will sell them.

This book is a wonderful follow-up to their first book! The pictures are clear; as are the names, descriptions and prices. What more could you ask for to assist you in making knowledgeable decisions about Blue Ridge Pottery? We have used this book and their previous book to help us price new pieces for our collection and have found them both to be invaluable! This book is especially good at showing some of the harder-to-find Blue Ridge pieces! Another "must-have" for any serious collector!

This book has been extremely helpful to me. I couldnt find half of the patterns in the other Blue Ridge book written by Betty and Bill Newbound. I buy and sell Blue Ridge so I am constantly looking for the names of patterns. Frances and John Ruffin are WONDERFUL people. When I cant find a pattern in their book, I email them with a picture and they tell me the pattern name. It cant get better than that! :))

I have every book published on the subject of Blue Ridge china & Southern Potteries. This is the one that my friends and I use on a daily basis, rarely looking at the others. This book is the first one that we pick up and the one we find the easiest to use and the most beneficial. The authors show hundreds of samples of Blue Ridge in an organized fashion that offers assistance with pattern names, shapes and pricing. The authors obviously used their own collection as well as photos from the collections of others. They have shown Blue Ridge as it is found today (many times with defects). It is a tremendous help to me and I could not do without it! I highly recommend that anyone interested in Blue Ridge dinnerware or china pieces purchase this book. You will not be sorry.

You would have thought that these authors with the resources at their disposal (collections they visited and chances to take picures of real good pieces)would not have used so many bad pictures. Teapots, candy boxes etc. with mismatched lids. Pattern names placed with wrong plates etc. Would not recommend this book!!!!!

I started reading this book as something I would look at a chapter at a time for few weeks, while I digested my lonely meals. However, the day I read it became the day I finished it. I couldn't put the book down, and amid the many tasks I had that Saturday, the one priority was to read this book. I didnt go out of the house all day, just got this book read.

What we have is an honest confrontation with family and family history. As someone who majored in writing memoir in Creative Writing School, I have come to find this genre usually divided between halcyon memories of a great childhood, a wonderful family, and a sacred past on one side, and the survival stories of folks who had tragic childhoods on the other hand. This book has none of that; it seems like the real thing right down the middle.

At the same time, the writer's ability to tell about herself, but keep the subject squarely on her family, and the larger spiritual quest that her search for her family put her own, was really interesting to me as somone who has attempted to write memoir.

What I learned in this book was about how family is an open and closed book but that book is about more than who did what when, but about history, not only the history in the books that tell us how slavery, reconstruction, desegregation etc. unfolded, but the history why one cousin smiles that way and another look that way, why one cousin I have who is in and out of jail walks and talks the same way that another cousin he has never met who is both a dean at a major university and a fanatical holiness believer.

If you are of my generation, 58 in 2005, you will settle in to some memories, although you will realize that you're somewhere between the author's parents and the author.

Besides all that, there is just some really good writing here. There are very tight metaphors that smack you into wondering why you didnt know what she is saying with them all your life. She is able to write quite sensitive, complex, and sophisticated things while being clear as a bell.

Best of all for memoir, this is a very accurate and honest book. Even if you don't share the spiritual beliefs that the experience leads the author to, you will find yourself never thinking about your family, and if you are African American, never thinking about our history the same way after you read this book.

Sometimes we discover who we are out of curiosity and other times life slaps us in the face and forces us to confront the reality of who we are. After the death of her father, Afi-Odelia E. Scruggs seemed to have found herself asking questions that she could not answer. These questions led her on a journey that would span over twenty years, and I suspect still continues today.

The book begins with a description of one of the authors few recollections of her father. This opening scene is a pleasant memory, yet it leaves you with a bittersweet feeling because even as the author is sharing this memory, you feel her sense of loss. Although it is clear that part of her loss is centered on the fact that her father has died, there is an even greater sense of regret at the loss of an opportunity to build a stronger relationship with him. She comes to the realization that even though she grew up with her father in her home, his quiet nature and her lack if interest kept her from really knowing him. Her now deceased father is a man that carried the story of his life to his grave.

The author then begins a journey. Her initial goal was to learn about the events that shaped her father into the man he became with the hopes that it would help her better understand him. What she found were just as many questions as answers, and what began as a desire to learn about her father's past turned into a full blown genealogical study of her paternal ancestry. As with many African Americans researching their genealogy, she found herself coming against roadblocks, such as poorly kept records from a time where African Americans were considered property instead of people. Additionally, she would encounter deeply protected family secrets, and the fact that much of the information she was seeking could only be retrieved from the few living relatives that were aware of it. But slowly, she was able to connect stories with what had previously been only a name of someone she had never met.

Claiming Kin is an emotional story that describes a project that was just as spiritual as it was analytical. As the author uncovers more and more of her family history, she also develops a better understanding of her own identity. Further, she is better able to understand how slavery shaped her ancestors. More importantly, she gained a deeper appreciation for the fact that her ancestors were more than just names that fit in boxes to make up her family tree. Claiming Kin is a touching and enjoyable read that will inspire anyone to dig deeper into their own family roots and to try and preserve not only the names, but also the stories from their past.

Reviewed by Stacey Seay

The author's journey is told in a straight-forward style nurtured by her journalistic background, but her search for connection to a spiritual past adds a lyricism that makes reading a delight.
It rings true. Although my Irish-Catholic upbringing was very different, the author and I were born in the same year in the same part of the country, and some of her memories were familiar, as were parts of the journey itself.
Best of all, the author manages to avoid false nostalgia, and neither sentimentalizes nor sanitizes her "characters".

I thoroughly enjoyed Scruggs' book. She truly possesses the gift of language. "Claiming Kin" is more than a found-my-roots book. Her own story -- changing her name, journeying far from her Tennessean roots and embracing a spirituality that spoke to her soul -- is just as compelling as discovering one's enslaved forebears. She interweaves all of these aspects, which lead back to her relationship with her father. The result is a gift to unborn Scrugges, as well as readers.

Sometimes we discover who we are out of curiosity and other times life slaps us in the face and forces us to confront the reality of who we are. After the death of her father, Afi-Odelia E. Scruggs seemed to have found herself asking questions that she could not answer. These questions led her on a journey that would span over twenty years, and I suspect still continues today.

The book begins with a description of one of the authors few recollections of her father. This opening scene is a pleasant memory, yet it leaves you with a bittersweet feeling because even as the author is sharing this memory, you feel her sense of loss. Although it is clear that part of her loss is centered on the fact that her father has died, there is an even greater sense of regret at the loss of an opportunity to build a stronger relationship with him. She comes to the realization that even though she grew up with her father in her home, his quiet nature and her lack if interest kept her from really knowing him. Her now deceased father is a man that carried the story of his life to his grave.

The author then begins a journey. Her initial goal was to learn about the events that shaped her father into the man he became with the hopes that it would help her better understand him. What she found were just as many questions as answers, and what began as a desire to learn about her father's past turned into a full blown genealogical study of her paternal ancestry. As with many African Americans researching their genealogy, she found herself coming against roadblocks, such as poorly kept records from a time where African Americans were considered property instead of people. Additionally, she would encounter deeply protected family secrets, and the fact that much of the information she was seeking could only be retrieved from the few living relatives that were aware of it. But slowly, she was able to connect stories with what had previously been only a name of someone she had never met.

Claiming Kin is an emotional story that describes a project that was just as spiritual as it was analytical. As the author uncovers more and more of her family history, she also develops a better understanding of her own identity. Further, she is better able to understand how slavery shaped her ancestors. More importantly, she gained a deeper appreciation for the fact that her ancestors were more than just names that fit in boxes to make up her family tree. Claiming Kin is a touching and enjoyable read that will inspire anyone to dig deeper into their own family roots and to try and preserve not only the names, but also the stories from their past...

When I was at University back in 1988, I first heard that there was an alternative to the official story that Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy (source: The Kentucky Fried Movie). As an immigrant, this was news to me, and it absolutely fascinated me. I headed for the library to read more, and amongst some rather dubious books, I discovered this gem. As a mathematician, my instinct was to try to find the out the truth, rather than confirm my own theories. This was the only book I could find where the author seemed to share my objective. I recall he presented all the facts he could find, even ones that may have supported the lone gunman theory, and debunked some ludicrous conspiracy theories as well. (I think that perhaps some of those really off the wall JFK conspiracy theories are hatched by the lone gunman support group to discredit conspiracy theorists in general.)

So after reading this book, you have all the information you need to see that Lee Harvey Oswald couldn't have been the lone gunman, and that the government and media didn't want you to know that. It won't tell you who killed JFK, you'll have to read "Plausible Denial" by Mark Lane to find that out, another excellent book based wholly on facts. OK, it was the CIA. I'm just waiting for a book that will tell me why.

I had the pleasure of having Mr. Kurtz as one of my Pre-Law professors, and like his teaching, this book is precise, informative and exact.

In this wonderful expose' on this crime, Mr. Kurtz takes the time to look at all subsequent angles and areas that have been questioned ever since the start. Every path and avenue is explored, leaving the reader more informed as to the time and events surrounding this horrific tragedy.

If you are looking for a book that will give you an unbiased and straightforward approach and singularly inform you to all that is needed to form your own theories, then this is the book to get.

Thank you Mr. Kurtz. You are a wonderful professor and historian, and the book is a treasure.

Drawing upon numerous books, scholarly articles, newspapers, magazine articles, and the few publically released primary documents, Dr. Kurtz does an excellent job analyzing the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He has his own theory as to who killed President Kennedy, but he points out that there is NOT ENOUGH evidence to say EXACTLY who masterminded and carried out the assassination. He tells the readers that there was DEFINITELY a conspiracy to kill President Kennedy. This book is a good starting point for people who want to learn about the Kennedy assassination. Kurtz's endnotes and bibliography will point serious Kennedy assassination students to other sources on this subject.

I've read a few dozen books on the assassination of JFK, and this isn't one of the better ones. Kurtz claims to be objective, but his treatment of the Warren Commission's conclusion smacks of excessive nitpicking. Just about any theory, no matter how sound, can be poked and prodded to death, and Kurtz uses this method to justify the conspiracy he sees behind the Kennedy murder. To be sure, the Warren Commission wasn't perfect either, but they did the best job they could under the constraints imposed on them. Kurtz simply takes certain facets from the Warren Commission and HSCA reports and criticizes them for what he perceives as sloppy work and the like. It's as if the only thing that would satisfy Kurtz is if some future JFK investigation looked into everything that occurred in Dealey Plaza, right down to the wind direction, sunspots, alignment of the planets, amount of ozone layer remaining, etc. In short, when your mind is set to find a conspiracy, nothing will convince you otherwise.

I feel that if Kurtz did see Oswald and Banister together that it would mean some relationship existed contrary to the Warren Commisions' findings.
Kurtz also claims that Oswald was with David Ferrie at the LSU campus and that Ferrie spoke out about Kennedy. I think that both of these examples are of importance and that I find it curious that Kurtz was never called before the Warren Commision. His book is one of the best on the assassination itself and is a great tool for studying the assassination.

I recently purchased DISCOVER! Volume 3 and I want more! Please send Volumes 2 and 3!

I recently purchased DISCOVER! Volume 3 and I want more! Please send Volumes 2 and 3!

While planning for yet another summer of rides on the motorcycle,
my wife and I had this book sent as part of our research.
We were very disappointed, it has 5 stars. So what is the problem?
For one thing it is not well written nor does it seem up to date.
We travel a lot, all over the USA and the world.
It is like asking about a good cafe, first you need to know the people who felt it was great. Do they know good food?

We know well done books and this is not one. I move it to the waste fill.

Rolling on the River.......... In a few weeks, it'll be road-trip weather, and we have some of the nation's prettiest highways at our fingertips--US Hwy 61 and several other state and county highways form the parkway known as AMERICA's Great River Road. Making that drive even easier is a new guide: "DISCOVER! AMERICA'S GREAT RIVER ROAD, Volume 1." This 240-page guide highlights the heritage, natural history and recreational activities available along the Mississippi River from St. Paul, Mn., to Dubuque, Iowa. It includes maps, historical and geological points of interest, bike trails, bird watching spots and short features on small towns, parks, and villages. ----STAR TRIBUNE, Minneapolis, Mn. April 1997

Having traveled and lived in the areas described in Vol.3, The Lower Mississippi, from St. Louis, Missouri to Memphis, Tennessee, and descended from a family of river rats, I can say that I've "Been there, done that, got the T-shirt."

Reading Pat's book is like traveling along with her as she explores the Great River Road along the mighty Mississippi River. I was especially impressed with the with the book's scope and readability. Pat has included personal insights from area inhabitants, collected geographical, historical and societal information and spread it all liberally throughout the travelogue. This is one hard book to put down, and if you ever decide to visit the area you'll have plenty of reference material to use. You will feel like you know the place already, and have gotten your own t-shirt.

Jim Pankey USN (Ret.)

I checked this book out of my local library and found it to be the most informative book on the AT. The sections of the AT that I have personally hiked were very well covered in this book.It is very difficult to find accurate maps with tons of land marks and information the terrain. As well as a well thought out itinerary so you may better gauge your time and enjoy the trail, rather than worrying about where you are going to find water and shelter. So now I'm on amazon.com to buy this book to use on my next visit to the AT.

I'm probably spoiled by the AMC guides for New England, but I found this book to be somewhat uninvting and lacking in some key areas. The maps weren't all that great they clearly aren't for a guy from the north east who's trying to find his way through the red dirt maze that is North Georgia. Directions to the trailheads could be markedly improved, as some (particularly the ones I used) use forest service roads that park rangers (let alone easily purchased maps) don't know well.

The copy and descriptions are good once I got to the trailhead, and organized linearly along the trail. I really enjoyed the plots of trail elevation over distance.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE are NOT 170 hikes in the book. The whole series must contain that many.

I own 3 books in this series. The Southern Appalachian, the Virginias, and the Mid-Atlantic States guide. I have found these books to be a great aid in planning hikes, especially 2-3 day backpacking trips. Since most of these hikes are either one-way or round trip (as opposed to circuit hikes) you either need to have two cars or plan on seeing the same sites twice. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but other books have better circuit hikes.

This series IS very informative, not only with regards to the actually hike, but also the history both natural and otherwise of the area you are hiking in.

I have not used this edition as much as I have the other 2 guides that I own in this series, but it did come in handy during a spur of the moment trip to NC/TENN. The maps could be a little better, as they are topographical maps with a green line for the trail.. They are adequate, but I've seen better.

All 45 hikes come with a description, a map, an elevation profile, and an itinerary, as well as various other information.

When planning for a hike I do tend to use this book in conjunction with other books, but I usually take this book (or copies of the pages) on the actual hike itself. The fact that the pages are so small allows for easier handling and storage of the laminated pages during the trip.

So if you enjoy hiking and are near the AT while in the 'Southern Appalchians', you may want to take a look at this book. It is well worth the money.

I used this book to plan my first trip to the AT with a group of Boy Scouts. It was extremely useful in selecting my route. Especially useful was the trail summary in the beginning of each chapter. Also equally useful was the hike itinerary, giving distances between significant points. I found, however, the linear trail profile to be slightly misleading on a few sections of the trail. (More useful was the profile found in The Appalachian Trail Official Map from the Appalachian Trail conference.) This day hike book was perfect for my 5 day trip because each hike begins where the other left off. This was vital in my planning and I would highly recommend it for anyone needing a detailed description of the trail. Oh, and don't forget your hand lens. :)

If you're planning to hike a small day or two-day section of the Appalachian trail in or around NC, this is the book for you. I wanted to hike a small section of the trail, but I only had two days and had to finish at a very specific point. I used the book to help me plan the hike and it was amazingly easy; none of the obstacles I expected caused problems. The hike went off without a hitch, thanks to the brilliantly organized hiking guide. Aside from the planning aspect, the topographical maps were priceless along the trail. I considered doing the hike without a planning book, but I'm thankful that I used such a quality source.

This book is an excellent account of a man who learned from his mistakes in his early life and used those experiences to control himself and attain recognition as one of the most accomplished men in history.

George Washington is probably a pretty tough person to write a biography about. He wasn't really an intellectual and there are not voluminous writings by Washington with insights into his personality like historians have for a Thomas Jefferson, or a James Madison.

This biography is very even and insightful about the personality and life of George Washington from his upbringing, his early military career, the Revolution, and of course his Presidency. Washington emerges as a somewhat vain man but one who, over time, appears to have gained wisdom with age and experience.

The primary quibbles I have with this biography is the author at times may make too many leaps of judgement about Washington's motivations and personality without enough evidence to support it. Secondly, there is not a lot of in-depth analysis about Washington's generalship or his decision making process as an army commander and President.

For example, did the wily Alexander Hamilton manipulate an overmatched President to get his way on economic policy, or was Washington, if not fully understanding Hamilton's scheme, fully in charge and in agreement with it? While the author seems to think it's the later-he doesn't really offer evidence to prove it.

Also at times it appears Washington was a bumbling over achiever who things ended up working out well for in then end, especially his early military career and early in the Revolutionary War (sometimes by Washington deflecting blame on to others). The same could be said about his Presidency. At the same time Washington appears to have become more mature and a better decision maker as he grew older and gained more experience. More could have been said on these matters.

But overall, this is a well done one-volume biography.

In an apparent attempt to present a balanced view of Washington, Ferling attempts to psychoanalyze the first president and goes far afield of the materials he has. Often his conclusions are pure conjecture and he frequently criticizes "other historians" for thier conclusions and then draws his own unsubstantiated conclusions.

Ferling does provide a nice historical accounting of events and details during Washington's life. However, he frequently tries to determine the mindset of Washington and here he repeately fails. Often these attempts are little more than cheap shots. He even criticizes the President for not writing his feelings in his diary when he found that a relative was dying, saying that Washington was afraid to appear "unmanly." This is little more than the insertion of 20th century thoughts and values into an 18th century mind. It does little to shed light on Washington and much to shed light on Ferling's mindset.

Undoubtedly there are biographies which are equally detailed without the repeated and distracting psychoanalysis.

This book was an assigned text in one of my college classes, and that's how I came to read it. I originally wanted to read Flexner's or Randall's biography of Washington, but Ferling's version didn't disappoint me.

What struck me about this biography is its objectivity. Ferling neither romanticizes about Washington as a demi-god, nor does he try to debase him. In the first hundred pages or so, I felt that Ferling was rather harshly critical of Washington, but by the end of the book, I felt that Ferling had highlighted many of Washington's good qualities as well. Ferling doesn't sugar-coat Washington's faults, but he doesn't ignore Washington's remarkable achievements, either. I liked how Ferling contrasts the brash young Washington of Fort Necessity with the mature Washington of Valley Forge. The father of our country certainly wasn't born with the dignity that later was his trademark, and it was interesting to see how Washington developed his character over the years. This gave me a more realistic admiration of Washington than I previously had.

An excellent biography about a tremendous historical figure.

Ferling writes a comprehensive story of one of the greatest persons in history. Although it is long (500 pages) it is well-written and very readable. He avoids the tendency in recent years to drag Washington down to a common level, and yet the author is honest with his subject's faults. The book contains a helpful index and not a few illustrations. This reviewer holds a graduate degree in history and currently teaches college history.

This book does what it's supposed to do. It tells you a lot about Flannery O'Connor, her likes and dislikes, her influences, how and where she spent her time. It's not meant to be a critical study. There are plenty of those. Most readers will find here details on a fascinating creative artist whose life was cut short by illness.

Flannery O'Connor is arguably one of the most important writers of the twentieth century. She was passionately Southern and passionately Catholic, dedicated to her craft and a consummate professional.

This is why I think she would have scorned her recent biography, written by Jean Cash.

Cash's work is merely competent. She has all the facts straight. The book is well-researched, and well documented. Cash has flipped over every O'Connor stone, but there are so few unpublished gems at this point, that the project seems to be simply one of repetition.

What makes Cash's biography especially defective is that she seems afraid to make qualitative judgments regarding O'Connor or her work. I suppose this can be good in other biographies of lesser-known literary figures. The biography falls short, in other words, precisely because of its attention to detail, and its lack of synthesis. There are times when it reads like a shopping list of O'Connor things, places, friends and relatives. Cash's prose falls lifeless into the annals of poorly-written biographies.

I only recall Cash voicing her opinion three times. She defends O'Connor's relationship with Maryat Lee as a perfectly heterosexual one. On another occasion, she defends O'Connor, who, throughout her life and private letters, made a few controversial statements regarding the Civil Rights movement: these have since tagged her as racist to some scholars. Cash also frequently asserts that O'Connor was not a reclusive person, a kind of 1950s Emily Dickenson. Of these assertions, only the second seems to have any direct bearing on her writing. It seems that her focus should have been directed to other facets of O'Connor's life.

Cash's thoughts often read like terse journal articles that have been assembled into a book as an afterthought. It is sometimes difficult to read her rather fibrous prose, which fails to synthesize multiple tellings of any particular O'Connor account into a single cohesive narrative.

Robert Fitzgerald's introduction to _Everything That Rises Must Converge_ accomplishes in about 25 pages what took Cash over 300. Besides, Fitzgerald's introduction was written by somebody who knew O'Connor, and who considered her family. But the best part about buying _Everything that Rises..._ is that instead of being forced to read a synthesis of quotes, the reader can actually look at 9 pieces of O'Connor's short fiction.

Cash's FLANNERY O'CONNOR: A LIFE is a noble attempt to define and to find the Southern Catholic writer Flannery O'Connor. However, though the biography is full of facts and details about O'Connor's studies and speaking tours and friendships, it is a book that features conclusions drawn from one or two events or incidents. This problem is particularly evident, it seems, in the opening chapters about O'Connor's early years.
Another nagging problem is the frequent errors in editing or writing: extra words, missing words, odd punctuation, and a strange abundance of parentheses when a simple revision would clarify the sentences. This reviewer wonders why such mistakes coat the book like red Georgia dust. If the book ever has another edition, it will need plenty of attention to bring it up to professional standards.
It's all too bad; the basics of a good biography are there, and the subject is fascinating.
Best advice: read O'Connor's works and save the biography for occasional filler if you have the interest.

This biography does what any good biography of a writer should: It invites you to run to the shelf to revisit the writer's work. As wickedly witty and charming as she was devout, Flannery O'Connor comes fully alive again in Jean Cash's careful detailing of her tragically brief life. Readers--including scholars and students--should welcome this rich portrait of the artist, particularly as it challenges some of the rampant misperceptions of O'Connor and her work.

Better than *Publisher's Weekly* suggests, Jean Cash's life of Flannery O'Connor still it isn't all it could be. Its strengths are its fidelity to the events of O'Connor's largely unexciting life as a practicing writer and Catholic and, in this age of the doorstop biography, its modest length. Cash mines *The Habit of Being,* Sally Fitzgerald's 1979 collection of letters, and the archives she dutifully has read through. O'Connor's brilliance, orneriness, intractibility, deadpan humor, courage, honor, talent (at least by repute), and doggedness come through. In some ways, that's enough--four stars. However, one who finishes this book may still want more.

What is missing? An extended understanding of the interplay the fiction and the life, for one. Why did Hazel Motes and Julian and Tarwater and Rayber come out in just that form? When Cash discusses the connections between O'Connor's mother, Regina Cline O'Connor, and Mrs. Hopewell (in "Good Country People"), her book takes on life. More, more! Again, without naming it or discussing it at any length Cash points to the self-loathing that was the other side of O'Connor's spirituality and selflessness. The presentation needs pointing up, development.

For another, a sense of O'Connor's achievement as an artist. The fiction, which is what counts or we wouldn't be reading the life, is almost not there. My own judgment is that the two novels matter much less than and are ungainly compared to half a dozen stories, in which form perfectly embodies vision--with humor, intellectual force, and the many-sidedness of a great writer. This text needs more engagement with O'Connor's text.

Finally, Edward F. O'Connor, the father. His death, when his daughter was fifteen, surely underlies what Cash describes as the "matriarchal" world of the fiction. If it bears on Flannery O'Connor's own atrophied love life and even for her choice of *What Maisie Knew* as the work of Henry James that most interests her, those connections should be made. Cash has the facts, but the figure in the carpet needs highlighting. Otherwise, one might as well read Sally Fitzgerald's nineteen page biographical sketch at the end of the Library of America volume on O'Connor.

It is unfair to blame the author for this, but the decorative peacock feather ovals make the page numbers hard to read!