Pennsylvania Books

A Fascinating Historic Glimpse of Civil War Sacrifice, August 11, 2003
Reviewer: ndrsn1 from Moline, IL
This book captured my attention from start to end. It is informative as well as entertaining. It examines the sacrifices of going to war at a time when war was a line 'em up face-to-face endeavor. And it provides the regular soldier's insights as to why they were willing to fight that war. It also takes a good look at the Irish immigrant to this country and the internal conflicts within that immigrant community regarding the Civil War. Fascinating to read. Only negative - too many composition errors that should have been corrected prior to publication. But the story line carries the book past this irritating problem.

A gripping story!, March 17, 2003
Reviewer: A reader from MESA, AZ United States
My father grew up in the Philadelphia/Manyunk area where the story takes place. He gave me the book to read since I was familiar with the neighborhood. I sat down to read it, thinking this was going to be another stuffy history book that I was going to skim through. From the very beginning of the book, I was intrigued, and sat up all night to finish it. The writing style was very readable, and immediately I was taken into Keenan's life. I knew that most immigrants had a hard time when they arrived in America, but I had no idea they were treated just as badly as the blacks. This book gave me a new perspective on what the Irish went through, as well as the soldiers' sufferings in the Civil War. I saw how Keenan and his fellow Irishmen tried to get work or start a new life, but were greeted by competition for jobs at the factory, and signs in store windows that would not allow Irishmen inside. As Keenan and his friend went off to fight the Civil War, they thought things would change for the better. Instead they found out the cruel, harsh realities of war. Disentary, disease, starvation, frostbite, limbs blown off, and ears or eyes destroyed from battle. Both men in the story spent time in POW camps, if you could call them that, under horrible conditions. Death seemed imminent in these camps. When the war miraculously ended, Keenan finally returned to his wife and hometown expecting a hero's welcome. I won't ruin everything by telling you the ending, but it is a worthwhile read. A perfect read for St Patrick's Day.

The Debt Has Been Repaid, September 7, 2002
Reviewer: Dottie Wiegand from Atco, New Jersey
Within the realm of formal education, the Civil War has essentially been presented as a timeline of dates, battles, notable victories,and crushing defeats for both armies.Mr.Sudell modifies all of that. Through the introduction of authentic characters and veterans of that era,he colors that same timeline with such depth and dimension that the reader lives with the characters and endures their fears and fervor, their agonies and jubilations. John Keenan, Mr. Sudell's great, great-uncle and a Civil War veteran, relates his battle and prisoner-of-war experiences, and, while horrified by the indignities suffered, we are reassured by the indestuctible will of the human spirit and the unwavering sense of patriotism.The title,Though All The World Betrays Thee, provides a clue as to the manner in which we did not repay the debt of gratitude owed.It remained outstanding until the arrival of Mr. Sudell's book. I believe that he has repaid that debt in full. Thank you.

A labor of love, a pleasure to read!, June 28, 2002
Reviewer: A reader from Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, TX United States
I've tried over the past few months to write an elegant review for "Though All The World Betrays Thee" which grasps the reader's attention and effective conveys the struggle of the "second-class citizens" during the American Civil War. I have failed. Fortunately for us, in his novel Mr. Sudell has not. It's a very good book, labor of love and a pleasure to read.

I've tried over the past few months to write an elegant review for "Though All The World Betrays Thee" which grasps the reader's attention and effective conveys the struggle of the "second-class citizens" during the American Civil War. I have failed. Fortunately for us, in his novel Mr. Sudell has not. It's a very good book, labor of love and a pleasure to read.

This book captured my attention from start to end. It is informative as well as entertaining. It examines the sacrifices of going to war at a time when war was a line 'em up face-to-face endeavor. And it provides the regular soldier's insights as to why they were willing to fight that war. It also takes a good look at the Irish immigrant to this country and the internal conflicts within that immigrant community regarding the Civil War. Fascinating to read. Only negative - too many composition errors that should have been corrected prior to publication. But the story line carries the book past this irritating problem.

My father grew up in the Philadelphia/Manyunk area where the story takes place. He gave me the book to read since I was familiar with the neighborhood. I sat down to read it, thinking this was going to be another stuffy history book that I was going to skim through. From the very beginning of the book, I was intrigued, and sat up all night to finish it. The writing style was very readable, and immediately I was taken into Keenan's life. I knew that most immigrants had a hard time when they arrived in America, but I had no idea they were treated just as badly as the blacks. This book gave me a new perspective on what the Irish went through, as well as the soldiers' sufferings in the Civil War. I saw how Keenan and his fellow Irishmen tried to get work or start a new life, but were greeted by competition for jobs at the factory, and signs in store windows that would not allow Irishmen inside. As Keenan and his friend went off to fight the Civil War, they thought things would change for the better. Instead they found out the cruel, harsh realities of war. Disentary, disease, starvation, frostbite, limbs blown off, and ears or eyes destroyed from battle. Both men in the story spent time in POW camps, if you could call them that, under horrible conditions. Death seemed imminent in these camps. When the war miraculously ended, Keenan finally returned to his wife and hometown expecting a hero's welcome. I won't ruin everything by telling you the ending, but it is a worthwhile read. A perfect read for St Patrick's Day.

Within the realm of formal education, the Civil War has essentially been presented as a timeline of dates, battles, notable victories,and crushing defeats for both armies.Mr.Sudell modifies all of that. Through the introduction of authentic characters and veterans of that era,he colors that same timeline with such depth and dimension that the reader lives with the characters and endures their fears and fervor, their agonies and jubilations. John Keenan, Mr. Sudell's great, great-uncle and a Civil War veteran, relates his battle and prisoner-of-war experiences, and, while horrified by the indignities suffered, we are reassured by the indestuctible will of the human spirit and the unwavering sense of patriotism.The title,Though All The World Betrays Thee, provides a clue as to the manner in which we did not repay the debt of gratitude owed.It remained outstanding until the arrival of Mr. Sudell's book. I believe that he has repaid that debt in full. Thank you.

THIS IS A GREAT ENDING TO THIS SERIES. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ABOUT THE AMISH LIFESTYLE AND HOW GREAT THE PEOPLE ARE PLEASE READ THIS SERIES.

Great purchase, came extremely fast. Would buy from seller again. Wonderful condition and transaction.

It was too far between books to see how it all ended, but the book was great. I really enjoyed it.

I love all of Wanda Brunstetter's books. The books make you feel as if you are a part of them. Hard to put down.

Again this is a fabulous book by Wanda Brunstetter. She always has a great story line and I can't put them down. I think I have them all and I love to share them with other readers. You won't be disappointed in any of her story lines.

"Chief Bender's Burden" by Tom Swift is a great story, well written about a Native American baseball player turn of the century into the middle teens of the 20th century. He played for Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics and they were world champions for a number of years. Bender was a big game,money pitcher who was at his best in pivotal late season and post season games, ie ( Lew Burdette, Milwaukee Braves; Curt Schilling Arizona d-backs, Boston Red Sox). Baseball was truly a national pastime then, where every community with enough people to field a team, had one. Swift does a great job trying to be accurate in every detail. However, it was the era of Grantland Rice and other great writers whose descriptions were the only reports, other than box scores, of the games. Swift includes fantastic examples of their writings. A compelling read about baseball and society during that time in our country.

This book was a delight to read. It is both informative and entertaining. Although it is a work of history it is a very easy and interesting read. Tom Swift has done his homework as the book is filled with many details describing the life and times of this hall of famer. I recommend it to all fans of baseball history and eagerly look forward to his future works.

A great book on an early 20th Century forgotten Baseball pitcher who is in the Hall of Fame. "Chief" Bender was one of the mainstays of those early great Philadelphia A's teams. This is a about a native American player who excelled in Major League Baseball in spite of all the racial comments, taunts and low expectations of Native Americans. There is information about his days at the Carlisle School. Tom Swift also uses the racially charged quotes from the papers of those years to demonstrate what he had to live with. His real name was Charles and like Baseball in those days everyone had a nickname some weren't too flattering like "Chief", "Rube" and "Dummy" While this is not a movie where the character has flashbacks of his past, Tom Swift starts with the 1914 World Series game 1 in which the "Chief" lost and continues to go back to that game leading off of many of the chapters of the events surrounding that game. I don't understand by discussing all the racial sterotypes on the man why then does the author keep going back to that same unsuccessful game? To me it is slamning the man all over again. If you can get past this stupid movie technique then the book is a worth while read.

This is the best biography I have read. It provides important details about an player important in baseball history, and also illuminates the history of many Native Americans and how they were assimilated into society in the late 19th early 20th centuries. This is one to purchase and keep.

When I saw there was a new biography of the great Chief Bender, I grabbed it up. Tom Swift has done a great service by bringing the life of Charles Bender to print. He is one of the all-time greats and should not be overlooked.

Swift also lets the reader get to know the man behind the legend, and the Chief was a Hall-of-Famer in nearly every aspect of his life. He was a great man and a great pitcher. Connie Mack said that if he had to win one big game, there is no one he'd rather have on the mound. And Connie Mack saw them all, from the 1880s to the 1950s -- from Cy Young to Walter Johnson to Lefty Grove to Whitey Ford.

There are a few problems with the book, which keeps it, at least in my mind, from meriting five stars. Swift begins his book with the opening game of the 1914 World Series, and then he keeps coming back to it throughout. This doesn't work for a number of reasons, especially since this is the "big game" the Chief lost (the A's were swept in the series by the "Miracle" Boston Braves). There are also occasional problems with Swift's prose. He uses sentence fragments to good effect in some cases, but in most instances, they just confuse the issue and make it seem as though he doesn't realize that a fragment is not a complete sentence. I also felt that many of his similes were weak.

Lastly, a book about a baseball star should include that player's career statistics, but this Swift fails to do. I found myself going to a web site to view the Chief's stats.

Overall, however, I enjoyed getting to know the great Charles Bender a little better.

Mary Shafer's "Devastation on the Delaware" is an engrossing account of the tragic Delaware Valley flood of 1955, created by Hurricanes Connie and Diane. Told as a narrative timeline of events, this book introduces us to the people and communities overcome by the wrathful waters of the Delaware and its tributaries. It reads like historical fiction rather than documentary, with many amazing and touching stories uncovered by the author's interviewing diligence. I couldn't put this book down and highly recommend it as a full and varied account of an unbelievable event and its effect on the Delaware Valley.

Mary Shafer has approached a detailed account of a tragic flood with unusual thoroughness, compassion, continuity, and research. It is a non-fiction book like no other, holding the reader spellbound throughout. One cannot help but become emotionally involved with those who suffered through this event, and one cannot help but admire Shafer for her accomplishment. Obviously, Shafer was passionate about her subject; it shows in throughout this book.

An excellent portrayal of the effects on the entire Delaware Valley interwoven with stories of personal impacts and tragedies. Masterful research. Reads like a first person report at the time of the event.

Mary Shafer's book Devastation on the Delaware is the amazing result of years of research and emotional commitment. Written to commemorate the August, 1955, Delaware River Valley Flood, the book takes the reader on a "roller-coaster ride" through those days of death and "devastation." Ms. Shafer describes in detail the Flood as experienced in all the areas of the Delaware Valley during August 18-20.

Her professional commitment to her "craft" and her personal commitment to the survivors and victims of the Flood are extraordinary. The survivors' stories (remembered in minute detail 50 years later) are heart-wrenching. The graphic details are horrifying.

The author is an exceptional writer, one who weaves historical and scientific facts into a compelling "story." The fascinating history of the Delaware River and its tributaries, general information about hurricanes (and Hurricanes Connie and Diane in particular) and the status of weather reporting in the mid-1950's and the abandoned plans to dam the River after the Flood all become part of the drama of one of our country's worst natural disasters. This book will hold everyone's interest. It is a great "read."

For those of us who lived through the Flood, it is also a priceless gift. Many people waited over 50 years for the kind of closure only Ms. Shafer's book has given them.

Although I was born after the flood, I visited all the high-water markers in my hometown in the Pocono Mountains and listened intently to the haunting stories told by teachers, neighbors, and family friends. I believe the author of this book has done a marvelous job recounting the days and hours leading up to the region's greatest disastser, mostly through the eyes of those who witnessed the terrible events of August 1955.
--Ben Gelber, author of "The Pennsylvania Weather Book"

This book will grab your interest right from the prologue as in Claudia's own words she recounts the camping trip and the horror that followed. Claudia's vernacular "chosen family" etc. will ring a bell with those in the community. I felt as if I was listening to a friend speak of a terrible tragedy.
Claudia's wild trek out of the woods after the shooting, her vivid descriptions of it all made me ache..for her and Rebecca. Even though I knew the outcome I was still hoping that somehow it would be different......
I didnt' feel that Claudia was emotionless at all in the telling The very fact that she could speak of it, could put down in words that unbelievable tragedy speaks of her own courage and strength.
I found the book easy to read and the small breaks of the third person are actually a welcome respite from the terror.You can breathe a bit more before Claudia comes back to tell her story.
This is a page turner, real people that you come to care for and pray for and hope for a different ending.
I have never been camping and after reading this......I never will be!
Thank you Claudia for the strength to tell your story! Rebecca lives on!

Hey, I haven't read this book, giving it a five anyways and I will read it someday, but I would like to inform all who actually read this book to read "The Whole Truth? A Case Murder on the Appalachian Trail" by H. L. Pohlman. It's a book on the same case, but in an unbiased and legal view. This book is meant to show the legal workings, but it also gives you a middle perspective of what actually happened, leaving you the decision of what actually happened.

This book was a heart wrenching read. I could identify and feel for the characters. This is one find that all lesbians should have on their shelves, and that all people alike should read. The only complaint I have is that at times it seems like the main character is a little emotionless in her writing. Other than that, I would highly recommend this book.

I read this book several years ago for the very first time. Since then I've browsed through it over the years to remember how lucky I am that I was able to read it and live an activist life full of efforts to iradicate this type of violence. It was a quick read in some ways, because I didn't want to put it down; but then in some ways, it took a while to get through because I HAD to put it down. It shook me to tears. It's an emotionally charged piece of writing that is so descriptive, that I lost all concept of space and time once I started reading. I am currently a teacher at the 12th grade level and have included Brenner's story on my course syllabus in an effort to outrage and organize a new generation of peace-mongers. I hope that Claudia's story will touch them as deeply as it's touched me.

American society has the rather unfortunate tendency to shun hate crimes legislation on the grounds that it would restrict an individual's right to freedom of expression and trivialize the First Amendment. Both assertions are clearly absurd, but the nasty allegations continue. In the greatest of ironies, the "pro-family" "pro-life" relgious right will oppose this legislation because it supposedly interferes with their political activities.

I challenge anybody to read this book and then still believe the lies and distortions popularized by the right wing.Hate crimes are meant to stigmatize both the indiviuals affected and the larger marginalized group of which they are members of. Supporters of hate crimes laws are not well-heeled elitists, they are (quite litterally) the most vunerable members of society who fear for their lives.

Brenner describes how she and her lover were enjoying a wonderful day in the mountains when the later was gunned down by a homophobic peeping tom. Although she survived and the physical injuries eventually healed, I could tell that it was still very emotionally hard for her. I applaud her for comming forward and retelling her story in the hopes that future generations of Americans will never have to personally experience the same fate.

Not supprisingly, Brenner became an anti-violence activist following this incident and has appeared before Congress urging passage of federal hate crimes measures. While her story did not recceive as much publicity as the later murder of Wyoming's Matthew Shepard, she helped personalize the face of hate crime victims.

Although it was her lover who was gunned down, Brenner realized that the day after that it could be somebody else's and the ugly pattern would continue until people of all sexualities started demanding an end to anti-gay violence and taught respect for different groups.

Florence Nightingale greatly influenced modern nursing, to focus on the needs of the patient and establish nursing as a profession requiring assessment skills as well as caring presence. This brief, well-written & clearly understandable book is a must for the personal library of any nurse or nursing student. It is amazing to realize how advanced Nightingale's thinking was in her era; her lessons remain essential today and provide a basis for understanding why we do the things we do. A great read for anyone interested in nursing!

I received the book within a few days of the order and it was in perferct condition.

A book for true Nightingales! I enjoyed this book a great deal, some parts had me laughing out loud. It is an excellent gift book for nurses!

This makes a wonderful gift for a nursing student who is graduating, a nurse who is retiring or one who is being promoted. It is fascinating reading from a historical aspect will be relevant until the end of time.

Nursing is a vocation; not "just a job." Miss Nightingale knew this, and this book reflects this philosophy. Nursing-schools, many years ago, designed the curriculum--and educated the aspiring nurses--with this in mind. Sadly, many present-day nurses (and nursing-schools) have lost this ideal...and the state of affairs in nursing bears this out.

If you're seriously considering nursing--or are a nurse who is "burned out," read this book. It will enlighten and edify you.

This is a very thorough complilation of works by many well known or slightly known painters of mostly Eastern PA. There is ample reading and explanations of their influences, theories, and philosophies on art. It was interesting reading about how interconnected so many of them were. And ,oh yes, the pictures were very nice too.

This book has many, good-sized, excellent color reproductions of work with an interesting history of the New Hope artists. There are also succinct biographies of each of the major artists of this regional school plus a list with images of many of the lesser known people.
The last chapter of the book discusses the framemakers in the New Hope region who were part of the arts and crafts movement which is an interesting piece of art history in itself.
Mention is made of the "Pennsylvania 10", a group of the prominent women artists in this area, and a chapter could have been created to feature them, but they are worth a book unto themselves.
For anyone interested in American art, American Impressionism, and that period during the first half of the twentieth century as art moved from representational concepts to abstract and non-objective concepts, this book is worth having.
For artists who are working in this representational manner, they will find a wealth of ideas from these painters in terms of technique, design, and concepts.

Pennsylvania Impressionism opens with an introduction explaining the origins of painting in the area, followed by a somewhat pensive and personal mediation on art both, by Brian H Peterson; followed by two further discussions of art in Pennsylvania by Sylvia Yount and William H Gerdts respectively. Then comes the main colour plates section along with the artists' biographies. This is followed with entries for other associated artists and comprises brief descriptions accompanied by a representative thumb-nail illustration of each artist's work. The book concludes with two bibliographies and other lists.

This is a beautifully illustrated volume, the introductory chapters are illustrated, the colour plates section amounts to nearly two hundred pages, and along with the concluding section the full colour illustrations number three hundred and sixty nine. In the colour plates section they are arranged one and sometime two to a page and the standard is good, often revealing the quality and texture of the paint. However it should be noted that even the full page illustrations in fact rarely occupy more than half of the total page area, leaving the image surrounded by a lot of white space.

This is an attractively laid out and beautifully illustrated book, and the paintings themselves are absolutely superb.

This book provides a thorough survey of the Bucks County "Impressionist" painters. Plenty of good quality visuals, excellent as a resource. Particularly of interest to people in the Bucks Co, PA area.

Excellent history of an important period in American art. Outstanding production - paper, color plates and binding. Efficient processing from Amazon.

I liked this book.It shows the conflict of opposing cultures but also the way to work things out.It was good. Nadia Rehmani author of Sharper Than A Two Edged Sword-my own true story that is about opposing cultures. Read mine

Everything was as stated and book arrived promptly. Would buy again from this seller.

All of Wanda Brunstetter books are wonderful. This book was fun to read because the main character was not Amish but fell in love with an Amish man. It is about her converting to the Amish ways. It is informative and yet tells a story you can't put down.

Reviewed by Linda Benninghoff for Reader Views (6/07)

If marriage meant forsaking the only way of life one had known, doing without conveniences such as electricity and modern plumbing, and even losing contact with one's parents, how many people would ever get married?

In "Plain & Fancy," when Laura, a young woman studying design in Lancaster, Pennsylvania meets Eli, a young Amish farmer, it is just such sacrifices that are being called into play. In this compelling novel by Wanda Brunstetter, love is never easy and its rewards are not always obvious.

Eli does not want to become "fancy;" he does not want to leave the Amish community where he grew up and where he worships God in the style in which he is accustomed. Laura, not particularly religious, but head-over-heels in love with Eli, must also think about giving things up.

The novel explores whether or not such a love can work. Brunstetter's characters are deftly drawn. I get a sense for Laura and Eli and their families, and the conflicts that arise between the young couple and these families. Importantly, the book delves into what happens after marriage--and this time in life is also realistically portrayed,

Brunstetter has done a marvelous job painting a picture of two lifestyles--and the difficult place where they intersect. The novel held my interest throughout. The romance was not idealized and the issues it brought up were thoroughly addressed. The Amish lifestyle is something the author has personal knowledge about and it is vividly imagined. "Plain & Fancy" is an excellent and informative tale.

Great book. Had a hard time putting this one down. Really a feel good book and brought you right into Amish life.

This well-written book has added facts to my fears about the impact of an exaggerated emphasis on football. At some institutions it has had a negative impact on education of college students. It is definitely worth reading if you are afraid it could be happening at your alma mater.

Dowling, a Rutgers English professor, argues that commercialized division 1a athletics negatively effect the intellectual rigor and atmosphere of the colleges and universities that are involved in them.

In the book, Dowling states that he has witnessed the following in his 20+ years at Rutgers:
1) much larger classes
2) an explosion in the cost of tuition
3) classrooms in an ever-increasing state of disrepair
4) decreasing morale among the faculty
5) the elimination of a number of non-revenue sports, including men's swimming and the crew teams
6) at least 100 million dollars spent on the football and basketball teams (scholarships, coaches, perks, facilities, etc...)

Dowling inspired a number of undergraduate students to create Rutgers1000 in the early 1990's. The goal of Rutgers1000 was to remove Rutgers from division 1a sports and to make Rutgers a non-athletic scholarship university. While the students, faculty and alumni all had branches of Rutgers1000, Dowling focuses on the student and alumni groups in his book.

Dowling details some of Rutgers1000's explanations that are listed on their website in his chapter "Warriors on the Web":
1)most Div 1a football teams lose money - the few programs that make money put the money right back into the football program
2)there is a big difference between exposure (Miami, Nebraska) and reputation (Berkeley, Harvard) - big-time athletics result in exposure, not reputation
3)if Freshmen go to a school because of a final four or bowl game appearance, these are not the kind of students that a college or university wants
4)Michigan is one of the few examples of a good academic school that also has a good Div 1a sports program - supporters of big time athletics often cite Michigan; this is false logic, as Michigan is an exception rather than the norm

Dowling details a number of scandals that have rocked colleges and universities over the last 30 years. He explains that there is a common pattern in the way they are usually handled:
1)college officials express shock
2)an investigative committee is established
3)there is a protest that the scandal does not truly represent the university
4)there is an announcement that "nothing like this will ever happen again"

This timely and riveting book beautifully describes what happens when big-time college sports, in this case football, take precedent over the quality of education at an Eastern university (Rutgers). The author, a professor of English at Rutgers, describes the valiant student-led effort to return college sports at Rutgers to the era when football players were indeed student athletes (emphasis on student) and the opponents were Princeton, and the rest of the Ivy League, Bucknell, Colgate and other private eastern schools with colonial roots. He describes how funds are stripped from non-revenue sports (crew, fencing) to build "professional" sports facilities for the football team at the expense of resources for the non-athetlic student body. The role of the New Jersey legislature, the Rutgers Admmissions office and the Rutger's Board in enabling the diminution of the intellectual quality of a great university for a few apearances on ESPN is especially sad

To put my cards on the table at the first opportunity: I have recently retired from Rutgers, New Brunswick after 37 years on the Math faculty. For several years, I worked with Bill Dowling and the Rutgers 1000 to try to find a way of diverting the university from the cesspool that is big-time Div 1-A football. I am mentioned in the book in one or two places.

That said, I have to say that I don't miss teaching very much and that the atmosphere created by the dominant jockocracy, especially now that the "program" is a "winner", is an important factor in my indifference. Div 1A football is pure poison when one longs for an atmosphere where serious students predominate and their genuine intllectual curiosity flourishes. I have had such students, of course, and met quite a few of them in the defunct Honors Program, which Dowling accurately describes. These days, they seem like remnants of a doomed race.

Note that it's not jocks, as such, who now flourish in New Brunswick? The best and brightest of them--those who participate in the "non-revenue" sports as free individuals motivated only by their enthusiasm--have, in most cases, been victims of a wholesale purge (unreported in Dowling's book, alas, though it is the saddest and most ironic aspect of the moral rot that concerns him). Fencing, Crew, and Men's Tennis and Swimming have vanished without a trace, despite intense lobbying from outraged parents and alumni and universal bewilderment among undergrads. Why? The pretext is that they are "too expensive". But this happens as more and more cash is poured into a bloated and self-indulgent football program, in the form of luxury accommodations to entice recruits and astronomical pay-scales for coaches and administrators. If you need further reasons, such wholesale aboliton of varsity teams is a cheap and cynical way of "satisfying" Title IX requirements, so that there is no legal obstacle to providing the football team with all the cannon fodder it claims to need.

Likewise, the roster of listed courses continues to decline across the board, especially the small specialized courses that give undergrads access to serious scholarship and research as opposed to once-over-lightly survey courses. The physical plant is ill-maintained. Even the newest buildings, poorly designed to begin with, are allowed to decay in short order. The Banks of the Old Raritan are now tilted so that all the loose cash flows directly into the football program's coffers, with a bit diverted to basketball. The univeristy boasts of the academic success rates of its "student athletes"; funnny thing, though: I've never seen one in any of my classes and I strongly suspect that that if transcripts were on the public record, there would be little sign of anything that deserves to be called higher education.

Alas, the same is true of all too many ordinary students. The student culture has simply plunged into "party school" mode, which is why, as a previous evaluator notes, its a pretty rag-tag bunch, academically, despite the continued presence of a first class faculty. [By the way, to address another point brought up in the previous post, the reason Rutgers outranks such schools as Nebraska is purely a matter of faculty quality; there are still departments at the school that outshine anything in the Ivies. My own department has been consistently listed among the top 15 or so for decades (from a research point of view, of course).] But even the most loyal faculty get pretty disgusted at seeing some lunkhead of a football coach who is making ten times what they are (salary alone, excluding all the little side-deals that fill a coach's pockets when his minions do what they're supposed to and knock their brains out to get a bowl invitation without ever seeing serious money themselves). I know of a few cases where top scholars have gone on to other venues after long Rutgers careers, and I don't think the jockocracy can be let off the hook.

I think Dowling leaves some other factors in the decline of Rutgers (and universities in general) unvisited, since his focus is exclusively on the depradations of the Div 1A program. The snottiness, cynicism, and off-the-shelf nihilism of what may be called the postmodern turn in the humanities convinced many students that their teachers were self-indulgent and out of touch, blind to their own gullibility. So, too, the heavy emphasis on "identity politics" and all the machinery of mandatory righteousness (usually called "political correctness") that came with the package. Academic quirkiness of this kind drove off far more students than it recruited, so far as the life of the mind is concerned.

Equal blame goes to the ethos of pure utilitarianism that colonized much of the academic world utterly indifferent to the vapors of postmodernism. Too many programs and departments, along with their students, came to view their function as credentializing bureaucrats, technocrats, and corporate functionaries, without any concern for deeper cultural values unconcerned with the generation of high incomes and vocational perks.

But, still, there is something about the omniverous football culture that dwarfs everything else in determining the ethics and values that are commonly understood to characterize a campus. If you have a big-time program, you know damned well that sooner or later some high-ranking administrator is going to be caught cheating and lying on a grand scale, and that it will be the chief goal of the top dogs to paper the whole busines over and get back to business as usual. Meanwhile, the program will pass tons of meat on the hoof through the system every year, chewing most of it up past the point of usefulness, and sending the poor kids who signed up for football glory out into the world with no real education and a host of joint problems that will grow worse over the years.

As Dowling points out, the people responsible for this meltdown at Rutgers were for the most part local businessmen and politicians for whom access to a skybox at the stadium of a ranked team is the summum bonum of existence. President Bloustein, who might have known better, wasn't able to hold them off (I think Dowling treats Bloustein too generously, by the way). Presidents Lawrence and McCormick were in their pocket from the getgo. How a decent academic, like McCormick, decays into that forlorn state, I do not know. It's the American version of "Die Blaue Engel", I suppose.

In any case, Dowling has said what needed to be said. The jock-sniffers will howl, either because they are emotional cripples, or because they are cynical parasites who thrive on the crumbs that are dropped from the table of big-time NCAA sports. To hell with them.

Ever since it joined the Big East football conference under former president Francis Lawrence, Rutgers' rankings and admission standards have moved downwards. William Dowling here describes the battles of the Rutgers 1000 group (to which he belonged) against the corruption and cynicism of 'big time' athletics at Rutgers, and details the harm done by 'booster culture' to the intellectual and academic tradititons of America's 8th-oldest university.

For those who believe that universities exist primarily for the transmission of knowledge and free intellectual enquiry, this is not a pretty story. It details how, under a weak president chosen by a board of govenors concerned foremost with 'making it big' in sports, Rutgers withdrew from over a century of competition with schools like Princeton and Cornell and modelled its sports program on institutions like Virginia Tech and Miami. The consequences - including the flight of many of the brightest students, and a run down, crowded, shabby campus offset against the first-class athletic facilities provided for 'student athletes' are well documented in the book.

As a Rutgers student, it angers me that my university has thrown away at least $150 million over the past 15 years on football alone - money that could otherwise have gone into scholarships, new buildings, and facilities for ALL students. In these days of hype and hooplah over a 'winning' football program at Rutgers, it is worth remembering the price Rutgers has paid and continues to pay for such 'success'. I salute Professor Dowling for detailing the numerous reasons why many of us at Rutgers view div 1A football as an expensive sham that does far more harm than good to this great university.

this is an excellent book written by an ordinary man about ordinary people - profound, spiritual and challenging.

I never met Mr. Crane personally but I have had dealings with him on somewhat of a political and personal nature. I found Mr.Crane very helpful on both an informational and a personal level. I have had many problems and he always gave me inspiration to drive forward. He told me he was writing a book, and the first thing I thought was that everyone in the world is writing a book nowadays. Since Mr. Crane was so kind as to give me guidance in times I needed it, I first felt like I owed it to him to give his book a read, after all, the only thing I seem to read nowadays is legislative briefs that are filled with legal mumbo-jumbo that would put any normal person to sleep. I started his book late one evening, and I can honestly say, for the first time in my life, I read a book front to back without stopping. I have tried to read other books, but soon got board with the endless fluff some writers use just to fill pages. This is not the case with Mr. Crane's book. It is totally fascinating because it was such an easy read, that I did not even realize that I read the whole book before I put it down. I highly urge everyone to pick up a copy, and I can rest assured that anyone that does read Green Is The Valley, Blue Are The Hills, will probably have the same impression that I did. It is a hidden treat that I hope many others will enjoy. What I read was out of a since that I owed him that much, but after I did read it, I was glad I did. You will feel like you are walking side by side with him on his journey. It took my mind off the many problems I have.

Thomas Crane initially commenced upon a genealogical search of his family. This search eventually resulted in an emotional journey to his forefathers' roots in Ireland.

As many who have ventured on a genealogical search will testify, a genealogical search is no small task. The task is especially hard for a family of modest background, as was his.

Mr. Crane's meticulous research and persevering endeavors for answers to his questions are tributes to his dedication as a family historian and genealogist. In creating his journal, he has written an emotional and personal story of his search for his family origins. Additionally, his poems lend a poignant emphasis to elements of his story.

I recommend this book very highly to everyone who has even a remote interest in genealogy. I would also recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the social history of America's 19th and early 20th centuries.

Wonderful book full of feeling and emotion, as the writer Thomas Crane, takes you with him on his journey, in his quest to find his family roots.

Tom Crane has written a heart-warming tale of his search for his ancestors. This book is not only a wonderful, personal, journal of his search for his family history, but a great guide for anyone interested in doing the same. His poems are poignant, the personal photos bring a connection to the characters within the pages. This book is a must have for everyone, casual reader or family historian!