Living History Books

Great collection, many thought provoking essays. Although it was written long ago, they don't age.

This is my second copy, I read it many years ago and decided to buy another copy to re-read it.

Here once again we have a fine book written by the biophysicist / biochemist / molecular biologist Harold Morowitz of Yale university. His books rank among the finest science books I've ever read, and the present one is no exception.

THE WINE OF LIFE is another set of essays written by Morowitz, loosely grouped into general categories. The essays were originally written as articles for HOSPITAL PRACTICE, which is a magazine primarily geared towards physicians. Despite this professional intended audience, however, the writings contained in this book are accessible to both the scientist and layman alike.

Contained in this book are discussions of an extraordinarily wide range of topics - far too many to list here. However, some of the highlights are: the real worth of man (biologically / materially speaking), mysteries of science, the implications of genetic research, the (unnecessary) politics of funding scientific endeavors, common tactics used in the polemics of science and much more. Thrown in for amusement, the great scientist critiques the veracity of nutritionists and questions exactly what we know, specifically, about the topic. Morowitz concludes the book with a debate that he had with his hairdresser over the efficacy of various materials contained in his shampoo.

Perhaps the single most important essay is called DRINKING HEMLOCK AND OTHER NUTRITIONAL MATTERS. In this piece, Morowitz comments on how lacking the US educational system is on the topic of epistemology. Rather than something that should be laid aside for graduate students in philosophy and science, he postulates that it should be something that is taught from day 1. I, for one, agree with him. This essay alone is worth the price of the book.

If you want a book that covers everything from thermodynamics to the legitimacy of medical school entrance credentials, this book is for you. If you want essays that are brief but edifying, this is the book to read. I would highly recommend this book to scientists, philosophers and scholars of all topics.

I think that this book was a wonderful story, very good put together, about a boy who's dream pony becomes his and a broken family who slowly begins to grow as one. I love how Walt Morey makes having the pony, just a fantasy, but a dream comes true and it made me smile when the boy finally gets to grasp his dream upon all the hard times he was facing. Together, Chris and his pony, Lucifer, help out the family. Once you get within it's pages, you can't put it down. Another great horse story by Walt Morey!

This book is very boring in the begining, but beleive me, it is worth reading to the end. It's about a boy who dreams of owning one of Sam Flecher's ponys, but that dream is quickly demolished because his father is accidently killed by a man named Frank Chase. Now, his widdowed mother had to try to rais the farm and family by herself, but finds it too hard and turns to her husband's accidenlal killer. After a few months of living with his new step father, who isn't that bad of a guy, Frank finds out about Chris's dream of owning the pony and gets it for him. Altho the horse is wild, Chris still trys to tame and break Lucifer , the pony, in and succeeds. Christmas falls and Chris is sent to get a present from town for his sister when on the way back gets lost and it is up to Lucifer to get them home. After they get home, Lucifer becomes very ill. Chris, Frank, and Mable (Chris's mom) stay up all night trying to make Lucifer better.Finally, after hard work and some home remidys, Lucifer is all better! Now, instead of being two familys who live together, they are like a family.

I bought two books for Columbus Day for my 5 year old. I really love this one however it is bit advanced for us right now. It has lots of captions and very busy. It's very cute and will be fun to use in a year or two! I am glad I got it but would recommend it for a 6-8 year old. We will definitely get good use out of it in the future!

This book really got my son,7, interested in History. He remembers about every detail from it. The character animations are great! I recommend these books especially for probably 7 -10 yr old boys. I think they could get the most out of them.

When it comes to American history books for young adults, there are very few books that cover the period from the end of the Revolutionary War to the beginning of the Civil War. Sadly, the Jacksonian Age is all but ignored. Into this vacumm stepped Edwin Tunis, one of the great illustrators and authors of young adult, non-fiction books.

"The Young United States" traces the development of material culture of the country as its people pushed west from the Eastern Seaboard into the the North American interior. Tunis is fascinated by the such mundane but important things as changes in fashion, sailing ships, coaches, roads, and agricultural machinery. Fortunately, not only does Tunis write very well but his pencil illustrations are extraordinary. In my opinion, Tunis was on the great American illustrators of the Twentieth Century.

"The Young United States" is a great book and it will fascinate both adults and teenagers. For those who like his emphasis on material culture, I would also recommend that they check out the work of another American master illustrator, Eric Sloane. Any book by Edwin Tunis and Eric Sloane deserve only the highest praise.

This volume in Tunis's trilogy of social histories (the others are "Colonial Living" and "Frontier Living") focuses on an era that tends not to be as closely studied by most people as are the Revolutionary era and the 19th Century, which means that books about it are thin on the ground. But if, by some chance, it's one of your interests, "The Young United States" is a book you must definitely add to your collection. With Tunis's trademark highly detailed pen-and-ink illo's and clear, well-written commentary, it provides an excellent overview of how all levels of society lived during the 40-odd years under consideration. I found it indispensable in determining how the father of one of my fictional characters--a veteran of the War of 1812--would have grown up and what his surroundings would have been like in Federal America. Adult researchers should not fail to consult it.

I very much enjoyed this book. It is well organized, clearly and simply written and serves as a springboard for further inquiry if you are so inclined. Anders takes each area of Concern, explains and reveals christian principals ina light and anecdotal manner, gives your scriptural references and additional bibliography. You can get to the meat of the matter quickly, but if so inspired, he points you in the direction of further detail. I would say everyone out there would benefit from reading this book Christian or not. I find he reminds me very much of Norman Vincent Peale in his approach. GOOD READ!

In a chapter named Vulnerabilities, Aaron Hass quotes an unnamed Holocaust survivor who asks, "What did the world learn from the Holocaust? What the world learned from the Holocaust is that you can kill six million Jews and no one will care."

This comment like many others in this superb book reverberates to the bone.

Hass answers a need not only of the dwindling community of survivors, but of those who, while neither survivors nor children of survivors, are nevertheless heirs to horrific pain--those Jewish children born in the shadow of the Holocaust and dressed by its memories, engulfed by a pervasive sense of loss and the need to reaffirm Jewish life.

"Survivors are people, not a phenomenon," Hass writes. Their feelings endure. Given my own feelings, I suspect that these are echoed by the feelings of the Jewish people, which is only now, after a generation, beginning to comprehend the enormity of what occurred.

"To refer to the Holocaust as 'monstrous, inhuman event' is to miss the point," Hass concludes. "The Holocaust was imposed by men and women on other human beings. 'It was a time when there were people, not only the Germans, but the others too, what wanted to kill all the Jewish people."

Unfortunately, such sentiments are still published broadly in parts of the world, without note, much less consequence. The press considers them just as unimportant now as it did in the 1930s.

Hass writes, "And so most Holocaust survivors believe that it could happen again." I sadly confess, so do I. Alyssa A. Lappen

This workbook is an excellent introduction to the culture of the Inuit people of Alaska. It starts with a short description of their location, traditions, and a folk tale. This is followed by a set of stencils depicting the creatures of the Inuit mythology. They can be removed from the book and used to make trace drawings. It ends with a series of projects involving the making of traditional Inuit items.
An ideal workbook for social studies classes teaching the diversity of world cultures, I strongly recommend it for late elementary and middle schools. It can also be used by children who just want to learn more about the Inuit.

This is the only book of its kind written by an observer of the Amana Colonies during the era when the people lived under religious communism.

Mrs. Shambaugh made repeated trips to the Amanas and became a lifelong friend of the Amana people. This rare book tells of life in the Amana Colonies at the turn of the century.

The Amana people voted in 1932 to live under free enterprise, incorporating their land and businesses as the Amana Society and establishing a separate Amana Church Society. The people brought their own homes and many opened small businesses. With their traditional German family style restaurants, the Amanas today are Iowa's premier tourist attraction.

The book is the best review of the facts surrounding the beginning as well as the undertaking of The Great War also known as World War I. The pictures alone make the book oustanding, but the objectiveness of the way the material was handled make this book a must read for historical buffs and those desiring to know everything about this war. No type of mistake is covered up and no hero, including Alvin York is overlooked. The coverage of the officers from that day who became the next war's generals is superb.

This book is awesome. It's informative, accessible, and interesting. Ripper's innovative approach of presenting historical events through the stories of important people makes his textbook read more like a novel - one that I looked forward to getting back to.

Ripper brings history to life with vivid descriptions like the following: "As if heavy drinking and heavy clothes were not enough to bring the lords and ladies to their knees, at night they slept with the shutters closed, part of a medical regimen based on the notion that nighttime breezes brought swampy vapors - believed to be a major cause of disease. Unable to cool off, unable to properly sweat, they lay in their chamber tombs waiting for the morning's first drink."

The biographies pulse with life, and Ripper expertly connects them to the larger world to give us both specific images of real lives and also a general picture of current events: "John's and Abigail's early letters to each other and to their acquaintances reflect a stable world and an interest in friends, family, and local matters. The Stamp Act changed all that."

Ripper adds commentary to make us think as he portrays historical facts from unbiased angles. For example, he suggests that "Pocohontas and Smith could as easily be called a traitor and a thief as a pair of heroes... Perhaps it makes more sense not to call anyone a hero. And maybe at its best, history can help us see events from more than one perspective. One man's friend is another man's enemy."

In giving us a broader perspective of history, Ripper presents the stories of women and minorities as much as the well-known white guys we've all heard of. As he says, "Without [Abigail Adams] and her American sisters, there would be no United States."

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn history by reading stories about the people who made this country what it is today.