Nebraska Books

This was an excellent book! It is a vivid, comprehensive and sweeping biography of a most important and influential man of the early American West. At the age of twenty four, Thomas Fitzpatrick started out with Ashley's expedition of 1823 as a fur trapper going up the Missouri River. The following year he discovered South Pass, then was part owner of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. After the fur trade declined, he guided the first wagon train west over the Oregon Trail, then acted as guide to Fremont, Kearny and Abert on their expeditions. Later,he was appointed as an Indian Agent for the government and in this position he was most significant in facilitating relations with the Plains Indians. Leroy Hafen's writing is to be commended. He was an excellent author/historian. This is an easy book to read, and there is so much history to this remarkable man, Thomas Fitzpatrick.

This book is the result of a historian's dissertation on this little known now, but once well-known figure in the expansion of the west. Fitzpatrick discovered the Southern Pass, mentored Kit Carson, and is buried in the Congressional Cemetary in Washington DC. I'm not a fan of historical novels, or much of a student of history. But, this book described the way of life of the great western explorers of the 19th century in fascinating detail. Chock full of facts that I never learned in school history, this book sheds light on a poorly represented but important part of US history by tracing Fitzpatrick's life as reconstructed from historical documents and interviews with surviving ancestors. I highly recommend this book.

Most historians of the fur trade period of the old West regard Thomas Fitzpatrick as perhaps the greatest of all the Mountain Men, certainly among the top three or four along with Jedediah Smith and Jim Bridger, or perhaps Joseph Walker or Kit Carson. Hafen thinks of him as almost a god and writes glowingly of his exploits and character.

Fitzpatrick was born in Ireland (quite a few Mountain Men came from Irish or Scots-Irish descent) in 1799. He came to America by the age of 17 and was a member of Ashley's first venture up the Missouri in 1823. As a trapper he led parties into every region of the Rocky Mountain west, returning frequently at the end of the trapping season to St. Louis with that year's catch, only to return again a short time later with the supply trains for the designated rendezvous. He was owner for a while of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, which he later sold to the American Fur Company. When the fur trade fell victim to a change in hat styles, Fitzpatrick became a guide for emigrant wagon trains and in the trade that existed along the Santa Fe Trail. He injured his hand (so the story goes, Fitzpatrick never gave a full account himself) in an encounter with the Blackfeet in 1836, and it was by the name Broken Hand that the Indians ever after called him. In 1843 he was guide with Fremont on his second expedition to Oregon and California, and guided Kearny to Socorro, NM, at the beginning of the Mexican War the following year. He became Indian Agent for the Central Plains tribes and organized many councils with them (including the famous Ft. Laramie council of 1851). He died in Washington, DC, there on Indian affairs business, in 1854.

Leroy Hafen was one of the greatest of the "old school" historical writers of the old West. He was an "on sight" researcher, tramping the same ground his subjects did, seeing what they saw. His footnotes, which often identify locations of vague references found in trapper journals or clarify and correct old diary entries, are often as fascinating as the text itself. He is a thorough and careful historian; nothing gets by him without the greatest of scrutiny. His admiration for Fitzpatrick comes through loud and clear: he calls him "an epic figure - unique and incomparable." Hafen is out of the old school of narrative historians (Parkman and Lossing come to mind), and he is a joy to read. History is never so enjoyable as in the hands of these writers. It's an excellent book, informative and entertaining. Highly recommended.

This book was perfect. My son is using it as an ambassador gift for his trip overseas! It details Nebraska and all the great things about living here! I loved it!

What a wonderful book! Rajean writes this book on several levels, for youngsters to adults! Even though I am a Nebraska native, I have learned many new things about my state from this book! Sandy's illustrations are sweet and simple, with lovely color tones. I have given this book as a baby gift as well as a gift to our elderly friends in England. It has been enjoyed by all and will be treasured for years!

This is a wonderful book for children (and the young at heart). In writing one of a series about the states, Rajean Shepherd has done a masterful job of looking at Nebraska from lots of angles and putting these together into this book. From the Cornhuskers to Nebraska fossils to Native Americans to the pioneers she goes from Nebraska "A" to Nebraska "Z". The illustrations, that fit so well with the text, are outstanding by Sandy Appleoff. This book would be a great Christmas gift for you, your children, or your grandchildren.

This book reads more like oral history or narrative, than 'native american studies' as it says on the back cover. Margot Liberty has added just the right academic footnotes to explain and clarify, without getting in the way. There aren't any books by a Native and an anthropologist that I know of that are as enjoyable, entertaining, and informative as this one. It is the perfect accurate, objective, in-depth, real counterpoint to much of the cotton candy fluff one finds about native ways and history in the New Age, and the dead, ponderous, dry, over-intellectual tomes that usually come out an institution as prestigious as the Yale University Press. I have rarely learned so much, and enjoyed doing it. I could hardly put it down.

The Cheyenne was undoubtably one of the most remarkable tribes of the Great Plains. Now you can have a very convenient one volume tribal history of them by John Stands In Timber with the help of anthropologist Margot Liberty. Stands In Timber,an old time Cheyenne, in his whole life collected the memories of his elders about the history of their Nation and he succeeded in editing it to a narrative from the creation to the reservation times. The effort of the author is of a rare kind and the result is also a rare one: you can learn the history of a native nation from the inside.

John Stands in Timber is my daughter's great-grandfather on her father's side. I am purchasing this book to let her know the history she shares as a Northern Cheyenne and to show her how much her great-grandfather cared about his people. I have read the book previously and appreciated the sense of cultural awareness John portrayed through his words. It is a lesson for us all to remember where we came from and appreciate how we got where we are now. I would recommend reading this book, to learn the history of the people and to appreciate that he wasn't just a historian, but a father, a grandfather, and a great-grandfather and also a good person.

buy this book. it's brilliant. brilliant. hear me? brilliant!

Robert Vivian's prose is so creatively lush, unexpected and unpredictable, you can hardly believe the "stories" he relates (he calls them essays) are based wholly on personal experiences. They read more like poetic fictions, and yet the style is quite accessible -- nothing self-consciously obscure or tediously "literary." If this is how he treats non-fiction, I can only imagine the delight of reading his fictions.

Robert Vivian has taken the personal essay to new heights, expanding poetic language into a deeply inspirational journey into the human experience. If ever you believed the essay genre to be dull and pedantic, Vivian will change your mind forever with his gorgeous language and important insights. The essay is boring no longer

I just want to share summaries with other costomers

I just want to share summaries with other costomers

Published six months after Custer's death, Frederick Whittaker's "A Complete Life of General George A. Custer" traces the American icon's life from his boyhood in Ohio through his cadet years at West Point, his Civil War exploits, his impressive rise to the rank of Major General of cavalry in the Army of the Potomac and his transition to the peacetime army. All the foundation elements of the Custer story are stated in Vol. I of Whittaker's book. They are supported by the first person accounts of Custer and other of his peers, and in my opinion, clearly define the reasons for Custer being rightfully considered a genuine, homegrown American hero based on his Civil War exploits alone! [See also: "Custer Victorious"/Urwin; "Custer and His Wolverines"/Longacre; "Touched by Fire"/Barnett] My reading of this book was enriched by the fact that, as a Custer contemporary, Whittaker was not only in touch with the the 19th century ambience, but that he had the added advantages of active service as a trooper in the 6th New York Cavalry and access to Custer's papers, Civil War memoirs and personal anecdotes through his collaboration with Custer's widow, Elizabeth. As a result, the book is replete with knowledgeable commentaries on the customs, mores and military standards of the times. Of special interest to me were the final three chapters devoted to Custer's transition from the wartime to the peacetime army [Book Six, Chapters 1-3]. In these chapters Whittaker gives a clear and perceptive overview of the postwar military structure; the social psychology of the men Custer would come to command; the negative public perception of the postwar enlistee; the deficiencies in the formation of the 7th Cavalry; and the intense political intrigues which seem to surround and infect the military, particularly in peacetime. [For a contemporary example, see "Patton: A Genius for War"/D'Este]. In a clear and interesting fashion Whittaker enunciates the undercurrents which produced the "four D's" (demoralization; disobedience; dipsomania; desertion) which Custer had no part in creating but over which he was expected to exert appropriate control. Whittaker makes it clear that it was Custer's efforts in this direction, coupled with his own naivete, that set the stage for many of his future difficulties with the command structure. Whittaker's "A Complete Life of General George A. Custer" is the spiritual and intellectual great granddaddy of most subsequent writings on the subject. I found that, in spite of its venerability, the book is still productive of provocative thought pieces. As an example, it contains perhaps the first published mention of Custer having been offered a full colonelcy in the 9th Cavalry, a black regiment, which he allegedly refused , ". . .preferring a lower step to a lower grade of service. . ." One may speculate as to how the acceptance of that command might have influenced Custer's subsequent career. In this regard, it is interesting to note that the acceptance of command of a black regiment (the 94th Massachusetts) provided an upward step for Col. Robert Gould Shaw, and Gen. John J. Pershing's early command experience with the all-black 10th Cavalry Regiment (and the resulting sobriquet "Black Jack") may well have called attention to this officer and advanced his career. In spite of Whittaker's lapses into florid prose and blatant hero-worship, I found Volume I of his complete biography of Custer to be emminently readable and informative. I would highly recommend this as a "must-read" for both Custerophile and casual history reader alike.

True life exploits of Charles Roy Siringo in the old west bringing many fugitives to justive while enduring hard ships!

This is a great book if you're into the American West, The Wild Bunch, or just a detective fan.
Charlie Siringo must have been one of the toughest men who ever lived...15 years in the saddle as a cowboy, followed by 22 years as a Pinkerton detective!
Charlie writes as a detective would...mostly, it's just the facts. He writes in an easy to read style that seems to flow from him in a natural manner. His stories are amazing, and he was surely a 'walking national treasure'in terms of his first hand knowledge of the American West 1865-1900.
I can't believe he is so 'forgotten' as one of the west's real and true heroes. A terrific insight into the times and the man.

Charles Siringo was the real deal, the rare 1870's cowboy who experienced the trail rides of the Wild West, but also felt the need and had the desire to put his experiences in writing. The stories in his books seem to be honest and legit, not inflated or self-indulgent. He was a man of great courage and resoursefulness, and the stories in this book are full of real-life examples. I have read several of Siringo's writings, and have found this book to be the most enjoyable and fascinating of them all.

This book provides a unique analysis of the Creek trading economy up through the American Revolution. There have been many books on the creek that try to capture who they are as a tribe. This book seeks to understand the trading patterns that occurred and in doing provides a unique and never before seen approach to the Muscogee nation. The book is quick and easy to read and concisely covers the information relevant to trading in Creek towns. The reader not only hears about volume of trade which is seldom talked about but also a reconstruction of life in Creek towns. The book also presents what life as a trader was like in the Indian towns which are only a recent vein of scholarship still being developed. Finally this book comes closer to understanding how large the Creek Nation was based on the trading figures. Overall an excellent addition to the literature.

In "Deerskins and Duffels", Kathryn Holland Braund provides a scholarly and easily readable study of the dynamics of the trade relationship between the English and the Creek Indian Nation.

Braund delivers a good overview of the history of the Anglo-Creek trade; from its introduction in the late 17th century, its triumph against its competitors - France and Spain - in the 18th century, and its conclusion in the early 19th century with the removal of the Creeks by the American government.

Importantly, the book shows how that both the British and the Creeks benefitted from their trade relationship. South Carolina and Georgia owe their colony's success to the economic windfall from the trade. Meanwhile, the trade enabled the Creeks to become the preeminent Indian nation of the Southeast at the, sometimes catastrophic, cost of neighboring tribes.

"Deerskins and Duffels" gives an interesting look into the life and business activities of the frontier Indian trader. However, the book's greatest value is its well-researched examination of the Creeks as consumers and how their Nation's demand for goods caused them to create a massive commercial deer harvesting enterprise.

Braund has written a fully documented textbook on the subject of Anglo-Creek trade; but, she has relayed the information in such a way that both the scholar and the casual reader will be well satisfied for having read it.

In "Deerskins and Duffels", Kathryn Holland Braund provides a scholarly and easily readable study of the dynamics of the trade relationship between the English and the Creek Indian Nation. Braund delivers a good overview of the history of the Anglo-Creek trade; from its introduction in the late 17th century, how it triumphed against its competitors France and Spain in the 18th century, and its conclusion in the early 19th century with the removal of the Creeks by the American government. Importantly, the book shows how that both the British and the Creeks benefitted from their trade relationship. South Carolina and Georgia owe their colony's success to the economic windfall of the trade. The trade enabled the Creeks to become the preeminent Indian nation of the Southeast at the, sometimes, catastrophic cost of neighboring tribes. "Deerskins and Duffels" gives an interesting look into the life and activities of the frontier indian trader. However, he book's greatest value is its well-researched examination of the Creeks as consumers and how the Nation's demand for trade goods caused them to create a massive commercial deer harvesting enterprise. Braund has written a fully documented textbook on the subject of Anglo-Creek trade, but she has relayed the information in such a way that both the scholar and the casual reader will be well satisfied for having read it.

This is an excellent first hand account of the original discovery of what was to be the Oregon Trail (in reverse). Robert Stuart originally left New York on the ship the Tonquin, funded by John Jacob Astor, and sailed around the tip of South America and then eventually up to the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon to establish a trading post. Stuart then proceeded to head back east to report to Astor about the state of affairs of the trading fort. With only a handful of men, they went by canoe, horseback and mostly by foot, from the mouth of the Columbia to St. Louis, then eventually to New York. This historical narrative is beyond words. They faced the hardships of hunger, fatigue, Indians, weather, and about everything else one can think of. It is truly a fascinating portrayal of day to day survival in the 1812 wilderness written from the hand of the man who was there. What I also enjoyed about the book was the Appendix on Wilson Price Hunt who, also working for Astor, took an expedition by land from St. Louis to Oregon at about the same time. His written account is also mind-blowing and puts the whole book into perspective. There is also an excellent forward by Rollins which gives you a background on what you are about to read.

This book represents a major achievement in the annals of western exploration, and deserves a prominent spot on anyone's American history shelf. In 1810, Robert Stuart, a partner with John Jacob Astor, shipped to the mouth of the Columbia River, where he helped establish Astoria. But troubles at the post with the British during the War of 1812 impelled Stuart with six other men to make an overland winter journey over the Rockies to St. Louis. Throughout the journey Stuart kept a journal, in which he recorded everything encountered along the way: the precise route taken, various Indian tribes, flora and fauna, perspective trapping grounds - and their own personal hardships, which included, near starvation, freezing weather, and hostile Indians. He gave the journal to Astor, who sent it to President James Madison. Stuart then wrote a more formal version of the journey, which was published in France. The original journal made its way back to the Stuart family, where it remained forgotten until it was discovered in a cupboard and finally published in 1935.

This book publishes both the original journal and the French rewrite, known as the "Traveling Memoranda." Both are meticulously edited by Philip Ashton Rollins, which is the key that makes this edition not only definitive but a masterwork. With Rollin's notes it's possible to follow Stuart's route precisely. He is especially detailed where the men crossed South Pass, the first known whites to do so, though their "discovery" would go unrecognized (Jedediah Smith is credited with making the first "recorded" crossing of the Pass in 1824.) In addition to these works, there is a 70-page Forward that summarizes events and puts the Narratives into perspective and a detailed Biographical Note on Stuart's family history.

The book indeed is a major accomplishment. Anyone interested in the early exploration of the West must read this book. Highly recommended.

Robert Stuart, a partner of John Jacob Astor, was sent by ship to Oregon on company business, and returned cross country by horseback, canoe and foot. Along the way he kept a journal, written in berry juice, which is reprinted here. Washington Irving also wrote "Astoria" based on this journal.

Our whole country should be grateful to Robert Stuart for his discovery of the Oregon Trail and his courage against unbelievable odds in making such a tortuous journey. This book was first printed in 1935 and the original copies are scarce and valuable. So I was thrilled to discover that Amazon not only sold it but that it was now in paperback! When the word gets around to the rest of his descendants, we will have this book on the best seller list, where it belongs. So take that, Lewis & Clark!

An interesting book. The first section describes the gradual tightening of legal restrictions on the Jewish people of Germany. Each decree gradually stripping another layer of civil protection by defining them as second class citizens. The final legal step was to define what a Jew was, and how they no longer qualified even as a second class citizen.

The second part of the book tells the story of the same process in Poland. Each step was carefully calculated as part of the final solution of the "Jewish problem." Interesting is Heydrichs order in 1939 where it is obvious that extermination was the final goal. Also interesting, at least for me, was how clearly Hitler considered Jews and Communists one and the same. Rather, you could be a communist without being a Jew, but all communists took orders from the international Jewish conspiracy.

The final section describes the events in the Soviet Union where the Holocaust operated without any restraints. This book is about the destruction of the Jewish population so you will not find any reference to the deaths of millions of Poles, Ukranians, etc.

An interesting book. If you have minimal knowledge of the Holocaust this would give the reader a starting point. Please remember this not going to read like a novel although in its own way it is a narrative. A narrative of the destruction of the Jewish people.

This series of legal documents, decrees, orders, instructions or live accounts describes better than any litterary form the progression in horror which our Jewish parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, and nevews had to suffer from April fools' day of 1933 when waring the David star was enforced to this community until the end of the second world war in mid 1945.

As a Christian I was surprised to discover that the trauma resulting from the horrifying murders is so deep in the Jewish community that, for most, its members if they do know about the holocaust, actually don't have a real view of it. Naturally the massive and sadistic aggresion against the Jewish people screens, in this book, the fate of the ones who shared their fate for having protected them or for having fought the Nazis.
After all Jewish people suffered between two third and three quarter of the enormous human non-military losses under surrealistically inhuman conditions.

This book should be handled with the respect normally due to religious books: it represents the steps of the martyrdom of the Jewish families under Nazi madness.

The content of the book should be remembered in details by every western culture including Israel's right wing (after all "Nazi" represents the danger of mixing nationalism and socialism...) Americans should learn from this book that being more powerful doesn't mean being better. Europeans could find in it how non elected "public servants" laugh at democratically elected representatives (elected ones disappear over the time, bureaucrats remain and never have to respond for diffused results).

For the content of this book to be fully meaningful, it should be enlightened by Milgram's explanation of how "Obedience to authority" made it possible for these horror to happen.

A major book which supplies everything Jewish and non Jewish need to know. A reedition with a lot of proper photographs of the murders by the Einsatzgruppen, of the Gettos and of the concentration camps conditions would be welcome.

This series of legal documents, decrees, orders, instructions or live accounts describes better than any litterary form the progression in horror which our Jewish parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, and nevews had to suffer from April fools' day of 1933 when waring the David star was enforced to this community until the end of the second world war in mid 1945.

As a Christian I was surprised to discover that the trauma resulting from the horrifying murders is so deep in the Jewish community that, for most, its members if they do know about the holocaust, actually don't have a real view of it. Naturally the massive and sadistic aggresion against the Jewish people screens, in this book, the fate of the ones who shared their fate for having protected them or for having fought the Nazis.
After all Jewish people suffered between two third and three quarter of the enormous human non-military losses under surrealistically inhuman conditions.

This book should be handled with the respect normally due to religious books: it represents the steps of the martyrdom of the Jewish families under Nazi madness.

The content of the book should be remembered in details by every western culture including Israel's right wing (after all "Nazi" represents the danger of mixing nationalism and socialism...) Americans should learn from this book that being more powerful doesn't mean being better. Europeans could find in it how non elected "public servants" laugh at democratically elected representatives (elected ones disappear over the time, bureaucrats remain and never have to respond for diffused results).

For the content of this book to be fully meaningful, it should be enlightened by Milgram's explanation of how "Obedience to authority" made it possible for these horror to happen.

A major book which supplies everything Jewish and non Jewish need to know. A reedition with a lot of proper photographs of the murders by the Einsatzgruppen, of the Gettos and of the concentration camps conditions would be welcome.

This book is based on a diary which the author began in 1927, when she was 15 and a farm girl in North Dakota, and covers the years from 1927 ro 1937. She worked very hard and lived in grinding poverty. She went to college and then taught school and fended off marriage proposals, and never in the book says a good word for the man she married--who was courting her thru the last years she was keeping her diary. This I found to be quite a book, unpretentious as it holds itself out to be. A most moving account of a time and place one seldom hears about. I recommend it unreservedly.

I absolutely adored this book. It was powerful for me because it gave me an honest, often humorous, but vivid account of a reality I craved knowing more about...the depression years in the Great Plains states. I think I know more about my mother, who grew up a poor tenant farmer's daughter, just a little better. I look forward passing it on to others, and even using it as a wonderful book to read to some of my older friends.

Wonderful narrative of a difficult time in America. Such perspective of events from close to home. I recommend this to anyone who appreciates history unrevised and truthful.
T. Addison