New Jersey Books

While most authors of Tibetan art books confine themselves to the religious art of Tibet, there is another, fantastic, aspect of Tibetan material culture--the luxury goods for the clergy and nobility. Through the good fortune of having been selected as the recipient of a massive collection formed in the early part of the 20th century and augmented by various gifts and purchases over the intervening years, the Newark Museum of Art has accumulate a stunning collection of these kinds of materials. In her catalogue, the curator, Valrae Reynolds and her collaborators, have made a very impressive contribution to knowledge about these objects. Indeed, these objects that she illustrates make the whole Tibetan culture much more alive and vital. Tibetans did not sit around all day and discuss the best way to meditate on some deity or another. Rather, like people all over the world, they tended their herds or crops, traded (all over Central Asia) they even went on picnics using the tents of the type in the catalog. If the potential reader is interested in the whole of Tibetan culture and not just the religion, this book will make the traditional culture clearer and more understandable than any other previous contribution that I am aware of.

Raw Deal

Once in a while you read a book chock full of information you didn't know that you didn't know, or more importantly that you didn't know you needed to know. "The Fruits of Their Labor," by Cindy Hahamovitch, is such a book. The subtitle - Atlantic Coast Farmworkers and the Making of Migrant Poverty, 1870-1945 - only hints at the breadth of the subject matter, which stretches to include an economic and social history of agriculture in states from Maine to Florida and the Deep South. Though the author traces the changes in farming and truck-gardening that resulted from the partial mechanization of the 19th and early 20th Centuries, the focus of the book is on the conversion of traditional year-round farm-hands into seasonal laborers, and thus to the lowest-on-the-totem-pole migrants whose welfare was of minimal interest to ever-larger farm businessmen. More than half of the book deals with the twelve years of the New Deal and the Second World War, revealing how ineffective the "reformers" were in the face of opposition from racists and conservatives of both parties. It's no surprise to learn that FDR threw farm labor to the wolves, excluding it from the benefits of collective bargaining. Likewise, it's hardly shocking to realize how little understanding of rural realities the urban reformers of the era were, in their hopes that paternalism and a little health education would restore the agrarian paradise envisioned by Tom Jefferson. The value of this book comes from observing the mechanisms of interest groups - owners, to be blunt - in turning the efforts of government at all levels to the service of their selfish interests. It's also quite astonishing to observe how capitalistic farm-owners and government at all levels colluded, first in the callous exploitation of recent immigrants from Italy and then in the cultivation of the harvest of easily manipulated "undocumented" workers from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Asia, which the same people are still hypocritically ranting against. And finally, at the broadest level, this text is a study of the malfunctional interaction of federal and state governments at cross purposes, with the worst outcomes invariably befalling the humblest citizens.

I know something about the history of agriculture in the Far West, from the days of the Southern Pacific "Octopus" to the heroic struggles of Cesar Chavez and the UFW. I know it academically, but also personally. During my high school summers in California in the late 1950s, I was a "fruit picker" - trailer court white trash - with most of my earnings going to feed my family while my father blew his paychecks on another recent-model car. I picked string beans, hops, tomatoes, and prunes. It was filthy, fatiguing, and unhealthy work, and a source of shame when my classmates heard of it. The idea that bringing in the harvest is healthful and noble was and is cow flop; breathing dust and pesticides in the hot sun for ten or twelve hours a day is not a pleasant interlude. I finally looked old enough to get a job picking apples from a ladder, the cleanest and most profitable sort of field work, if not the safest. At age eighteen, I was legally old enough to work in the cannery. It was still back-breaking; as the freshest face, my task was to lift boxes of apple sauce from a conveyor belt to a palette, and I estimate that I handled as much as thirty thousand pounds of apple sauce a night. But it was a union cannery! For work that was if anything less skilled than picking, I got paid an hourly wage that was eight times higher than I ever earned on the ladder. It was the Teamsters' Union, by the way. I kept my membership all through my four years at Harvard College, where two of my classmates were Richard Darman, Bush I's budget director, and Boyden Gray, the Bush Family legal counsel.

The history of farm labor and thwarted unionization east of the Mississippi is, if anything, even more dastardly than that of the West Coast. It's not a story that makes for pleasant reading, though Ms. Hahamovitch writes clearly and unpretentiously. Perhaps the best way to capture your interest will be to offer a few snippets.

Page 165 - Discussing the market-place economics of farmer labor, she writes: If labor prices are taken as a measure of farm labor supply , then it is difficult to explain why truck farmers complained of labor shortages when they were apparently well supplied with labor. [This was in the years just before WW2.] However, the notion of a "labor market" that operates according to rules of supply and demand ignores the impact of custom and culture, of deeply held assumptions about what labor is "worth." [The assumptions she refers to are the racial and class prejudices which have shadowed every aspect of labor history in the Land of Equality.]
Page 178 - Discussing the WW2 importation of workers from the Caribbean and Mexico, managed by the federal government, she writes: The WFA was reluctant to include Puerto Ricans in the program because, as U.S, citizens, they could not be "repatriated" at the end of a contracted period. The solution...was to withhold a portion of each worker's pay and deposit in a Puerto Rican bank. The workers.... could not withdraw these funds until they returned home....
On the next page, she describes the use of POWs to oversupply the labor pool in order to keep workers from successfully demanding higher piece rates: POWs represented a particular challenge to federal authorities, because although enlisted men could be forced to work...they could hardly be fired or deported. They were in some ways in a position analogous to that of slaves, but unlike slaves they could neither be whipped nor sold.

Pow! Did you know that the USA used forced labor during WW2? Actually, that's not nearly as shocking as the laws passed in several Southern states that required men to work in the fields or be immediately drafted, and women to work in agriculture or be jailed. Black men and women, of course. There were also laws during both World Wars that required agricultural workers to remain in specific counties, and those laws were enforced by local authorities even when various federal agencies tried to recruit workers to save crops in truly labor-short areas.

To recount all of Ms. Hahamovitch's amazing revelations, I'd need to quote the whole book. One further thought: States' Rights was born as a tactic to defend slavery, and States' Rights has remained inextricable from racism ever since. If that thesis seems unpalatable to you, then you are one of those who don't yet know what you don't know, and you'd better start informing yourself by reading "The Fruits of Their Labor" before you denounce me as a spawn of liberalism.

I have used this book for about 6 months now and have found it to be very helpful and accurate. I keep one in my car and one at home.

I saw a copy of this book and wanted a copy....but at $48 for 24 pages, it's not very cost effective! I tried to order a copy on Amazon but got a NOT AVAILABLE reply 6 weeks later....Too bad. I'd really use it to teach my Earth Science class!

This book replaces all previous books as THE authoritative guide to locating ghost towns in the Pine Barrens of NJ. Not only does Solem-Stull give you a brief history of vanished towns, she also tells you in detail how to visit each site in person. This is not an easy task regarding certain ghosts buried deep in the barrens, but she's not scared off by remoteness and assumes the traveler will come prepared for the sandy terrain and other dangers (she lays out some of these dangers in the opening chapter).

Each of the subsequent 9 chapters covers a specific location in the Pines: the Atsion area, the Old Tuckerton Stage Road which cuts a near arrow-straight line across the midsection of the Pine Barrens, Harrisville and Martha, the Chatsworth area, the Lebanon State Forrest area, and the Mullica River area are some of them. Specific lost towns within these areas are then described and accompanied by driving directions (and maps in some cases) on how to get to them. Numerous photographs, many taken as late as 2003 are included (this is very helpful because some things change quickly in the Pines and previous guide books [most of the best are at least 30 years old] were becoming sorely outdated). A good bibliography follows each chapter, and there's a thorough index as well.

For anyone interested in exploring lost towns there's an infectious quality about this book that makes you want to get out in the woods as soon as possible. I have been to most, but not all, of the places Solem-Stull describes; a certain lack of confidence in where I was heading and a definite lack of specific information shied me away from those places I haven't seen yet. But no longer, not with this book in hand. Too bad there's snow on the ground as I write this or I'd probably be headed out right now.

If you're looking for a guide to haunted locations in New Jersey, written in a 'down to earth' style, this is the book for you! L'aura covers locations throughout the entire state. She narrows down the 'how to' aspect that most ghosthunting books bombard you with and gets right to the 'nitty-gritty', which makes for a great read. As Ghosthunting has taken over the media in recent years 'T.V. shows, movies, etc...', it's refreshing to read a book about this subject that has a personal touch and lets you feel involved. L'aura keeps the reader interested through each chapter with her investigations and location histories. For seasoned Ghosthunters and the novice alike. If you have an interest in Ghosthunting and happen to live in New Jersey, she provides the 'spark' for you to go out and investigate!

The town of Mount Holly has one of the richest histories in New Jersey. During the Revolutionary War battles were fought here and nearby, local Quakers hosted runaway slaves on the Underground Railroad, legends of witchcraft and the Jersey Devil abound, and the fire company is the oldest continually run in the country. A town with so much history is bound to have its share of ghost stories, and Jan Bastien has collected a lot of great ones in this book. There are stories from the local jail (now a museum), library, firehouse, and cemeteries, along with various haunted restaurants, shops, and private homes. A highly entertaining, colorfully written, and informative book.

I've just started this one, but I know it's going to be just as good as the other one.

This is a beautiful picture book showing many of the wonderful houses one would see on a tour of Cape May. The captions indicate their addresses and may give a very brief description of the architecture and some of the history of a house.

WOW! This book was my introduction to the Civil War and my only regret is that it could not be longer!! It is the story of the 7th New Jersey Regiment as told through the diaries of the men who experienced the civil war as part of this Regiment. Their opinions of the officers, the food (or lack of it)the death of comrades, the will to survive, and the heroic efforts by men of both the Union and Confederate Army, were brought right up close and I found myself caught up in their struggles.
This book is loaded with photographs of the men who served, great illustrations of actual events described in the book and maps of battles this Regiment fought in. For me this book was a real eye-opener as to the suffering and hardship these men endured. When you read what they wrote in their diaries as the Civil War was unfolding, it has infinite more meaning than reading a second hand account written decades after the war ended. I HIGHLY Recommend this book!!