Washington Books

I recommend Folger's editions for Shakespeare for people like me who love to read Shakespeare, but need a little help. The left page notations on the text are helpful and well-placed for easy reading.

William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is arguably the most famous play ever written in the English language; it presents the world with questions and characters that have been the subject of thespian and scholarly debate ever since the Prince of Denmark's first appearance on the stage of London's Globe Theatre. Probably written and first performed in 1601 (estimates vary between 1600 and 1602), the play draws on Saxo Grammaticus's late 12th/early 13th century chronicle "Gesta Danorum," which includes a popular legend with a similar plot centering around a prince named Amleth; as well as several more contemporaneous sources, primarily Francois de Belleforest's "Histoires Tragiques, Extraicts des Oeuvres Italiennes de Bandel" (1559-1580), which expands on the story told in the "Gesta Danorum," and a lost play known as the "Ur-Hamlet" (i.e., original "Hamlet"), sometimes also attributed to Shakespeare, but equally likely written by a different author a few decades earlier. Another work frequently cited in this context is 16th century playwright Thomas Kyd's "Spanish Tragedie."

Pursuant to Shakespeare's wishes and like all of his works, "Hamlet" was not immediately published, and the original manuscript did not survive. However, in the absence of copyright laws or other forms of protection of what today would be called the playwright's intellectual property rights, first bootleg copies (so-called quartos) based on transcripts made during or after performances began to appear in 1603. Yet, it would not be until 1623 - seven years after Shakespeare's 1616 death - that his former fellow actors John Hemmings and Henry Condell published 36 of his plays (including this one) in a collection known as the First Folio.

As no print version of any of Shakespeare's plays has a bona fide claim to its author's first-hand blessings, ever since the Bard's death the world is left with numerous questions about his characters' motivations and psychological makeup; first and foremost, in this particular case: who is this Prince of Denmark anyway, and what's driving him - is he a reluctant suicide or reluctant avenger? A Renaissance man? Wrecked by Freudian guilt? Genuinely mad, or merely putting on a clever act of deception? Or is he someone else entirely? - Indeed, we're even left in doubt as to what exactly it was that Shakespeare meant his characters to say, with all attendant interpretative consequences: Does the Prince wish for his "too too sullied" or his "too too solid" flesh to "melt, thaw, and resolve itself into a dew" in his first major soliloquy (Act I, Scene 2)? Does he really contemplate "the stamp of [that] one defect" which may fatally taint the perception of a man's other virtues, "be they as pure as grace," before meeting his father's ghost (I, 4)? Does Polonius, when sending Reynaldo on a spying mission after Laertes, refer to his scheme as "a fetch of wit" or "a fetch of warrant" (II, 1)? Do Hamlet's musings in "To be, or not to be" (III, 1) concern "enterprises of great pith and moment" or "of great pitch and moment," whose "currents turn awry and lose the name of action" by his doubts? Does or doesn't the sight of the Norwegian army while Hamlet is on his way to England (IV, 4) prompt him, who has so far failed to carry out his purpose, to reflect "How all occasions do inform against me," and conclude his soliloquy with the vow "from this time forth my thoughts be bloody or be nothing worth"?

How you answer any of these questions, and how you consequently view the play's characters, depends in no small part on the text you read. Like all Folger Shakespeare editions, this one is based on what the editors have deemed the "best early printed version," while allowing the reader a unique direct comparison of the principal reliable versions by including a text essentially combining these versions, with unobtrusive markers characterizing those passages appearing only in one particular version. For "Hamlet," the editors eschewed the play's very first (1603) quarto, which was possibly compiled by a journeyman actor and whose inconsistencies with all subsequent versions (textually as well as plot-wise and even regarding character names) have caused it to be generally considered a "bad" quarto, in favor of the 1604 Second Quarto, which some even believe to be based on Shakespeare's own first draft of the play and which, in any event, while more extensive than the 1623 First Folio (in turn, thought to be closest to the version(s) actually produced on the Globe Theatre stage), boasts about as secure a claim of authenticity as the latter. In some instances, the text follows the Second Quarto (Q2) without visually alerting the reader to the differences vis-a-vis the First Folio (F1), thus compelling those more used to the latter version to seek out the extensive end notes to reassure themselves that (in the examples given above) it might indeed be "solid flesh," "warrant," and "pith and moment" (F1) instead of "sullied flesh," "wit," and "pitch and moment" (Q2). In other instances, however, the First Folio's language (clearly marked as such) is given preference over that of the Second Quarto; while crucially, the text also includes all those passages *only* contained in the latter, including the "stamp of one defect" and "bloody thoughts" monologues, whose interpretation has such a direct bearing on many a reader's understanding of Hamlet's character.

The text is amplified by illustrations and annotations for those unfamiliar with 16th century English, scene-by-scene plot summaries, a short biography of Shakespeare, and introductory and concluding essays on this and the Bard's other plays and on Shakespearean theatre, as well as extensive suggestions for further reading, and a key to the play's most famous lines. While it is unlikely that after 400 years of debate any one version, be it in print, on stage or on screen, will be able to generate unanimous acceptance as the "definitive" rendition of this complex play, this is an excellent starting point for an in-depth excursion into the Prince of Denmark's world.

Centuries of audience recognize the brilliance of Shakespeare's Hamlet. This review treats the editing, printing, binding, appendices, et cetera - work done by Folger Shakespeare Library. Overall, a great product.

*** PRINTING & BINDING ***
This new 8.5 x 5.5-inch format is fantastic! Print is much sharper and bigger. Margins are much bigger - excellent paper quality. Binding/cover has a nice slight plastic laminate - more durable. Copyright 1992. (total weight: 18 ounces)
From 15 years, we still have a copy of the old 6.75 x 4-inch format - page for page identical content (same Copyright), but very cramped and hard to read - small fuzzy print - cheap coarse paper - tiny cramped margins - distracting.
The new 8.5 x 5.5-inch format is a tremendous pleasure.

*** APPENDICES ***
The essay by Michael Neill is also brilliant - "Hamlet: A Modern Perspective"

***** EDITING *****
Almost all of the editor's explanatory notes (on facing page) are helpful in finding the original meaning. However, in some cases they've missed it. These occasional blunders may betray a tinge of naive, academic reluctance to plunge in and fathom the depths of Hamlet's profound sadness, sarcasm and gloom.
exempli gratia :

Act 5, Scene 2, line 237-38
-- "Since no man of aught he leaves knows, what is 't to leave betimes?"
Hamlet's meaning: Since no one knows when they will die, what is it to die early?

The editors have an embarrassing note:
"237-38. 'of aught he leaves knows' : knows anything about what he leaves behind"

Act 3.2.38
-- "I hope we have reformed that indifferently with us, sir."
Meaning: ... reformed our performance segments which were only average or mediocre ...

The editors misfire:
"38. 'indifferently' : pretty well"

Note: The word "indifferent" appears again in three more scenes. In all cases the meaning is: ordinary, unexceptional, somewhat, uninspired, tolerable, undistinguished, passable, average, mediocre, so-so ...
[see Act 2.2.245 / Act 3.1.132 / Act 5.2.110]

This really is "The Tragical History of Hamlet Prince of Denmark" and not only the Prince but his family. Not only his family but his friends. Not only his friends but all though that came before him and is told to those that came after him.

You can take time to scrutinize and pick apart many underlying themes or may of the phrases that now challenge Bible sayings in today's sound bites. But the real fun is in just reading the story and you will find that it is not as foreign as you may have thought.

A quick synopsis is that Old Hamlet conquered Old Fortinbras seizing his land. Now that Old Hamlet is dead, Young Fortinbras wants his land back and is willing to take it by force. Meanwhile back in Dänemark Young Hamlet who is excessively grieving for the loss of his father, gets a now insight from his fathers ghost. Looks like he was a victim of a "murder most foul"; it looks like his mother and uncle were in cahoots on the murder.

The story is about what each person felt and acted or did not act upon the situation.

You will find many movies and perverted imitations of the story but nothing will replace the original scripts that were intended to be watched.

Hanging Cpt. Gordon by Ron Soodalter was for me, an exceptional read. It's a non-fiction that reads like a novel, it's well written, and very fluid. The bulk of the books goes into the social and political sentiments of the mid 1800's especially as they related to slavery and the trafficking of slaves from the African continent to the Americas.

The author, I believe, pain stakingly and with great detail (20 pages of footnotes) painted a psychological picture of the major players, Cpt. Gordon, the prosecutor, the defense team (dream team of 1864) and of president Lincoln, and what motivated these men. We come to see Cpt. Morgan as an unfortunate but wretched soul, whose life and death had to be used as an example, that trafficking in slaves, along with slavery in the territories and new states would not be allowed.

From an historical stand point, it was interesting to see how New York and the other eastern seaboard states were heavily invested in the slave trafficking that was vital to the supply of slaves to the south. Slave trafficking florished during the 40 year period that anti trafficking laws were on the books as a capital offense. Trafficking florished and no one was hanged because of the involvement of New York financiers, insurers, ship builders, legal community and politicians.

This is not a feel good history book, but for those that want an accurate account of what took place in this country during the 1800's as it ralates to slavery, slave trafficking and slave laws, this is the book.

Hanging Captain Gordon is a good review of the slave trade and the majority attitudes that prevailed just before the start of the Civil War. The book arouses sympathy for Captain Gordon's widow and children, revulsion over the treatment of African captives, and horror at the crudeness of our entire justice system in the 18th and 19th centuries. It does not make me proud of my European ancestors. Anyone willing to critically evaluate American culture will benefit from reading this book.

The law on the books was quite clear in 1860. Any American convicted of engaging in the slave trade was subject to the death penalty. Surely Captain Nathanial Gordon from Portland, Maine had no reason to believe that this could ever happen to him as he sailed toward Africa on just such a mission in the Spring of 1860. For up until this time not a single American citizen had ever been sentenced to die for this most heinous of crimes. Yes, the slave trade was alive and well in the year before the American Civil War would commence and a great many Americans were still involved up to their ears. "Hanging Captain Gordon" is author Ron Soodalter's remarkable account of the life and death of one Captain Nathanial Gordon who would pay the ultimate price for essentially being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is a captivating book that recalls a series of events that history had largely forgotten. It is compelling reading.
Most Americans will be shocked and disgusted when they learn just how widespread slave trading was in the first six decades of the nineteenth century. And what is most disturbing is how complicit many Americans were in this practice. There was lots of money to be made in the slave trade. Here in the U.S. many "respected" businessmen participated as investors in such enterprises. They would outfit the vessels and make all of the other necessary arrangements to carry out the sordid mission. Many of the the most prominent businessmen in New York and other major northern cities were involved. Many other Americans were all too happy to work as officers and crew members on these ships. And just in case someone was caught in the act there were legions of corrupt politicians and judges to provide cover. And so in 1860 as a divided America prepared to face off on the question of slavery here at home a lively slave trade continued to flourish in ports such as Havana and Rio de Janiero. It was Captain Gordon's great misfortune to be nabbed by the American steamer USS Mohican as he sailed westward with some 897 slaves on board. They were packed below like so many sardines. Nathanial Gordon and his crew had been caught red-handed at a time when the political winds at home were shifting dramatically. For it would come to pass that Nathanial Gordon of Maine would be made an example of. History would demand that he pay the ultimate price.
I found "Hanging Captain Gordon" to be very thoroughly researched and particularly well written. This one held my interest from cover to cover. Ron Soodalter gives the reader a very thorough picture of all of the forces at work and players involved in the highly charged atmosphere surrounding the trial and conviction of Captain Gordon. In addition, Soodalter presents more compelling evidence at just how great a President Abraham Lincoln really was. As many in American bombarded the President with requests for a pardon for Captain Gordon Lincoln resisted. He saw the hanging of Captain Gordon as an opportunity to send a clear message to all that slave trading would no longer be tolerated. In the end Lincoln was correct. Slave trading would largely disappear for nearly a century.
Ron Soodhalter concludes "Hanging Captain Gordon" with a "Afterword" on how new forms of slave trading have begun to re-appear in recent years. His examples are surely food for thought. "Hanging Captain Gordon" is packed with material I had never seen anywhere else. This one is an absolute must for history buffs. Highly recommended!

Mr. Soodalter does an amazing job by taking a little known event and giving it life. His characters and events are so real and the lack of support to end slavery is shameful. Although there was legislation, the politicians did little to prevent slavery from continuing (they all had them) and Soodalter shows how little things have changed in the world in his final chapter. This is an adventure, a great story, told by an excellent historian and story-teller. This is a must read!!

I was very pleased with this retelling of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Donald Cook's illustrations will especially help in bringing the action to life for children. This book offers parents and children an opportunity to discuss the action and what they believe may have been the outcome based on the mysterious ending of the story. As other reviewers maintain, this is a great spooky story for kids.

My son LOVES this story, in all its many versions. Easy reading
(second grade) and lovely illustrations. A must have for those who love to be "spooked"!

This is a children's version of the Washington Irving ghost story. My 7-year-old son read it in one afternoon and loved it. This will get any child reading who is the least bit interested in scary stories. Especially recommended for kids who are a little too young for Goosebumps but desperately want to read them.

A classic, brilliantly written novel. A schoolmaster, and a little town in colonial New York, create a normal, sometimes humerous beginning to the novel. However, as the tale goes on, you hear of the Ledgend of the Headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow. This mysterious, classic thriller will have you sifting through the pages you'll never be prepared for the unexpected, climacting conclusion! A must read for any Halloween fan! Just a brilliant story, hands down.

What a great nutrition book. It covers everything. It's like having a session with your own personal dietician. The format is easy to follow, the layout is colorful and interesting and it inspires the reader to make sound nutritional changes in their diet and develop healthier habits in their life. I wish I'd read this book years ago.

I found this book lives up to its title. It is an all around, useful aid to get off the yo-yo diet track, and onto a lifestyle change. We all know that is easier said than done. I am using the journals, and finding all their suggestions to be realistic. I love the idea of pleasurable eating as well as healthy eating. It is wonderful to have a "guidebook" written by professionals who really know their subject-and their audience.

This book is fun and easy to read. It is a week to week guide book on getting healthy. The assignments are realistic and attainable, so I was encouraged right off the bat! It's a refreshing realistic look at diet and fitness. I highly recommend it!

We used the Healthy Habits for Life as our winter employee wellness promotion and it was an overwhelming success. Staff evaluated it highly and provided comments such as "it was the most common sense approach I've seen." "It was the kick-off to our family's lifestyle change." We plan to offer it to our employees every year.

Suspend all your usual stereotypes about insensitive or materialistic surgeons! Donald W Miller, a cardiac surgeon, is a most knowledgeable, sincere, and deep thinker who has contributed a monumental work of art to our human quest for understanding. Heart in Hand is a wonderful gift, especially in this Information Age where true meaning and personal significance are often lost to Moore's Law and the next Microsoft takeover. Miller's exhaustive reflections on the nature of life are backed by solid scientific evidence, intuition, and a passionate appreciation for philosophy (especially that of Arthur Schopenhauer), Woody Allen movies, classical music, biology, and mystical experience. Although it seems almost impossible to integrate these diverse resources into only 213 pages of text, Miller does it brilliantly, adhering to his own message in the book that simplicity is a virtue. Examples of simplicity he provides include the guileless but compassionate fool of Danny in Woody Allen's Broadway Danny Rose, and the ageless simplicity found in the immortal music of the Beatles and Theolonious Monk.

Heart in Hand helps us realize that we are all deeply interconnected. All matter in the universe is comprised of leptons and quarks, force is really the same as substance, and we are all products of the big bang. He advocates for scientific and analytical thinking, but admits to the limits of this approach and suggests a need for mysticism and intuitive understanding too. However, don't mistake Miller's openness to mysticism as an endorsement of Western religion. Probing questions about religion will raise many ecclesiastic eyebrows, and he may get tossed out of a few churches! For example, he doubts that we have souls if we evolved from bacteria, and describes the secret and cunning of priests as "pretending to possess the means to satisfy mans great metaphysical need by saying that the great riddle has reached them direct." His deep sincerity and honesty is evident, and his description of Schopenhauer's writings on morality is a good primer for many supposedly good religious folk who are actually more instrumental in separating the human race through judgemental thinking than encouraging true compassion.

This grand integration of multiple dimensions of science and art succeeds on many levels. This is a technical book with tons of useful information on biology, history, art, and even sex, and Miller shares many personal preferences for future reading and listening. This is also a very fun book that celebrates life while standing on the shoulders of many significant and creative minds. You may want to read Heart in Hand multiple times, and will surely come away with new insights and pleasure every time.

There are still many questions unanswered. What happened before the big bang? Could there still be a personal God? Is there a personal purpose for each person during this brief planetary residence? Miller by no means answers all these questions. There will always be more questions to ask. What Miller does offer are personal experiences, knowledge that is extensive and refined, and great insight. Heart in Hand will most surely enrich your life. The surgeon adequately satisfied this psychologists' desire for a great read! I'll refer to it often in my work with clients.

Dr Miller told me of his book, and as I was so impressed with him as a person and a surgeon, it was the first book I read during my recovery. Even though I was still on pain killers when I started, I couldn't put it down, staying awake longer than I should have each night.

I heartily agree with the first two reviews written before mine, and will let them stand as my views also.

To unwind from his work, Dr. Miller told me he that on Saturdays he frequently gets an intellectually stimulating book on tape, and then takes his dog for an all day hike in the Cascade Mountains (near Seattle) while he listens to the book. This gives me the thought that he really is a renaissance man.

Pain killers aside, I thought the whole theme falls together for you during the last few pages. You may wonder as you go along as to how it all falls together. He does not disappoint you at the end.

I felt it was one of the best books I have ever read.

If one has trepidations about mortality, then Dr. Donald Miller may assuage his and her misgivings. His book, Heart In Hand, however, is not just about death and dying, it is about life and living. Indeed, Dr. Miller traces the beginning of life to the one-celled amoeba and carries it forward to man in its highest form, most notably, as defined by Arthur Schopenhauer, Richard Wagner, and Woody Allen. He also makes several references to himself, his family, his friends, and his patients.

He no doubt has spent sleepless nights in Seattle as a heart surgeon, and in the process, has much time to think about six facets of life, each one represented by a chapter in his book. While it may be unusual for one to cross the divide between Schopenhauer and Allen, one sees where the two are not far apart, except by 147 years between birth, and the book is filled with quotations of both, which are treats, and saves one from the tedium of heavy reading, especially Schopenhauer; all of this in just 213 pages of text, with additional endnotes, reading and film selections.

Dr. Miller's explanation of evolution has condensed the so-called theory into very interesting and coherent facts, and could be a primer for teachers. There are also many other facts that could be described as interesting trivia. And his explanation of sex, and indeed, compassion, touches the sensibilities. His chapters, "Searching for God," and the "Metaphysics of Music" are engrossing. But the chapter "Confronting Death" should get to core of everyone's being. Of course, death is inevitable, and when one is born, every day he and she creeps one day closer. But knowing it doesn't help. And for many, it is a perplexing and often debilitating experience. Dr. Miller enlightens us with one quotation from Schopenhauer, "Where was I before my birth?" "For it is irrefutably certain that non-existence after death cannot be different from non-existence before birth..." If one is hesitant to confront any of the volumes that have been written to assuage our fear of death, this chapter is enough. It takes us there without cringing, and with a simple but plausible explanation.

It is Schopenhauer and Woody Allen who are the main players in this book. Unless one has read the older philosopher, probably in his most important work, "The World as Will and Representation," and "Essays and Aphorisms," a compilation selected and translated by R. J.. Hollingdale, much has been missed about his views about compassion, living and dying. Likewise, unless one has analyzed the films of Woody Allen, and assumes that he is more than a comedian, then Dr. Miller shows where he is a deep thinker, and very preoccupied with death, which is made light through his comedy, but has a very serious and obvious cognizance. Dr. Miller is generous in his observations about Schopenhauer, Allen, and finally Richard Wagner, who was immensely influenced by the philosopher and his above mentioned book, and his chapter, "The Metaphysics of Music" is one that will inspire all music lovers, especially Wagnerians. The good doctor again reminds us about the soothing effects of music on our health.

So here we have a small volume packed with much to think about. It is a quick read, engrossing, and one which the reader will no doubt absorb in one sitting, and feel good about it.

If you liked THE POWER OF MYTH, the PBS TV series/book of Joseph Campbell interviews by Bill Moyers, you will be captivated by HEART IN HAND. Joseph Campbell tells us how religions and myths from many cultures are, essentially, one variegated story of humankind's spiritual journey. Dr. Miller, in a most readable prose style, takes current knowledge from many scientific fields--medicine, astronomy, biology, quantum physics--and relates it to philopsophy, humor, religion, and the arts, particularly music.

When he describes his book as 'reflections on the nature of life,' don't jump out of your easy chair. This book is the opposite of pompous. In our so called Information Age, it is hard as hell to get a grip on what we are really doing on the planet at the end of this tumultuous century. This book helps. Dr. Miller offers the layman, like myself, a science lesson and then shows how the intricate facts of the physical world relate to the domain of the soul. For one who is uncertain about what evolution means, he gives a telling explanation in terms of genes--ours and those of our ancestors. He draws from his extensive personal interests--microbiology, sex, opera, jazz, Arthur Schopenhauer, conducting a symphony orchestra, Jack Kerouac, Richard Wagner, Thelonious Monk, compassion in the practice of medicine, Woody Allen, God, and death--and translates them into integral meditations about what it is to be alive. As he goes along, he connects things, a lot of things. Joseph Campbell describes our mythological exit from the Garden of Eden as moving from unity with God/Eternity into a world of opposites/duality, man/woman, and mortality. Microbiology informs us that single-cell bacteria clone asexually and keep reproducing ad-infinitum, as long as they have a favorable environment. Death, in evolutionary terms, is not part of the 'program' until these little bits of life evolve far enough to reproduce sexually. This eventually occurs in more advanced single-cell organisms called eukaryotes that exchange and commingle their genetic DNA to produce genetically new offspring. These ancient ancestors also reside East of Eden, genetically programmed to 'senescence and eventual death.'

This is a highly personal and diverse choice of subject matter. If it were not, he would have written a rather eccentric textbook. Because he cares deeply, and has cared for a long time, about what is beneath the surface of things, this is an exceptional and valuable book by an unusually curious man. Dr. Miller is a wonder in his ability to concisely reveal so much useful information in a little over two hundred pages. He is completely honest in telling us what science knows and does not know. From his practice of medicine he offers convincing evidence of how our emotions and moral choices profoundly influence our physical health. He neither preaches nor does he attempt to dispel the mystery of existence. To the contrary, the 'big picture' he gives us is, as the kids say... awesome. He quotes jazz pianist Bill Evans regarding the meaning of art. Bill said it's to enrich life. This book will enrich your life.

Anyone who wants to understand--or shape--the presidential election of 2008 should read this book. Ted Van Dyk's work will also endure long after we select our next president because he captures the soul of American politics as practiced in the last half of the 20th century. Van Dyk makes available to readers the same depth of analysis and plain old-fashioned story-telling ability that made him so influential for so long in Washington, DC. He loves politics at its best, and it comes through.

Ted Van Dyk vividly captures the turmoil, egos, and inspired (as well as uninspired) political leadership of the 1960s, 70s, and beyond. What makes this memoir qualitatively different from other insider accounts is Van Dyk's compelling, non-gossipy narrative style. No cheap shots, just a mix of analysis and anecdotes that illustrate the limits, hubris, and, yes, virtues of the political class.

There's a delightful consistency to Van Dyk's approach--the equivalent of throwing a Jesuit or a Greek scholar into the political maw. Take a Depression-era kid from the Northwest with values cut like glass and set him in the moral murk of Washington, DC. Opportunists and hypocrites beware! It's instructive, only occasionally grumpy, and altogether entertaining.

I recently reviewed this book in the Boston Phoenix (http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid57111.aspx). As I wrote there, "Van Dyk's recent work is . . . well worth the attention of political junkies, students of American history, or anyone else who wants to know how politics really worked in the glory days of the Democratic Party.

Too often our histories of politics are colored by political biases and attempts to shade the truth. To invoke an old cliché, Van Dyk tells it like it is. His memoir is a great read, a wonderful primer for those who might seek to enter politics themselves, and a terrific walk down memory lane. His idealism and honesty are reminders of what once made the Democratic Party great -- and could again."

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in Democratic politics in the last half of the 20th century. Ted Van Dyk grew up during the Great Depression, became a journalist and a dedicated Democrat, and eventually worked his way up to a high-powered consultant who worked in numerous presidential campaigns, from Hubert Humphrey in 1968 to Paul Tsongas in 1992. Van Dyk can tell you where the bodies are buried and how things really worked in high-level, high stakes political races of the past. He's also an astute and keen observer of the current national scene.

Van Dyk doesn't pull many punches in this book (your stomach may turn at his descriptions of how LBJ treated his vice-president, Humphrey, and his opinions of Carter and Clinton are pretty scathing). But overall, this memoir is very insightful and surprisingly fair. I appreciated Van Dyk's perspective on how the Democratic Party has lost its way since the days of the New Deal, and how it might fight its way back to a strong national constituency.

Excellent reference for genealogical research. A very broad collection of maps makes it useful for a wide rage of topics (religion, ethnic population distribution, politcal boundary shifts in a place where someone's always fighting over boundaries and control). A timeless reference....

Almost 5 stars!

This atlas gives exactly what it promises: The history of the lands between the German and Italian-speaking peoples in the West and the boundaries of the former Soviet Union in the East - in short: "East Central Europe". Not to be mistaken with "Eastern Europe", which can exactly be defined by the European area of the former Soviet Union, or Russia, Belorussia and Ukraine of today.
Beside East Central Europe, the atlas also covers the Balkans.

This is the best English-language atlas of it's kind at the moment.
Balanced history telling, which tries to present both sides of disputed topics, illustrated by beautiful - although sometimes rough - maps.
This work presents the finest of Anglo-Saxon mapmaking.
To be used together with the series "A History of East Central Europe", and to be compared with the "The Times Atlas of European History".

Review based on first paperback edition, 1995

From the Baltic to the Balkans and from 400 A.D. to 1992 A.D., this atlas colorfully covers the territory in the best possible way.

Researchers with Slavic, Germanic, Jewish, Greek or other ancestry from east central Europe will find this historical atlas invaluable.

It contains 89 wonderful maps which show useful details such as the Catholic diocese and archdiocese as they appeared in 1900, the tremendous populations movements from 1944 to 1948, Jewish settlement, and of course the ethnic composition of the region at various periods. Each map comes one or more pages of explanatory text as well.

I find this atlas to be a constant help in my struggle to understand the changing borders of the region throughout history. You can't understand family history if you don't have an understanding of the history of the family's place of origins. This atlas is an ideal way to better understand the history of east central Europe.

This cartographic history of Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans is essential for anyone attempting to understand the current crisis in Kosovo. Author Paul Robert Magocsi gives concise histories of the major ethnic groups, and their kingdoms, principalities, and national states occupying the territories between the German- and Italian-speaking peoples on the west and the political borders of Russia on the east. The book gives extensive treatment to the Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Romanians, Yugoslav peoples, Albanians, Bulgarians, and Greeks, others, including the Baltic peoples (Finns, Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians) are discussed, as are the Belorussians and Ukranians. While these histories are necessarily abbreviated to short summaries of principal events, the overall effect is one of cohesion that gives readers a clear picture of the historical forces at work. My sole criticism is that the text sometimes repeats itself. On the other hand, the maps and their accompanying text tell volumes about political and social conditions there. Additionally, 32 statistical tables give comparative data on ethnolinguistic and national compositions of the populations of those countries. One cannot hope to understand today's news without resources of the kind this volume so amply provides. University of Washington Press. Paperback Edition, 1995, 218 pages, index.

This book is a great tool to locate outdoor shelters available to the public. This is the new updated version which has the latest pricing info. and great comparison charts between locations. However, I think it could use more maps and directions. Also, the older version of this book gave much better photos to help you understand what really to expect at these locations.

Now in a newly updated and expanded second edition, How To Rent A Fire Lookout In The Pacific Northwest is the essential reference guide for anyone seeking to spend a weekend in a remote forest ranger lookout tower offering a bird's-eye view of the trees and clouds -- and an impressively memorable view of both sunrise and sunset. Covering a total of sixty-five cabins, guard stations, and fire lookouts available for rent in Oregon and Washington, the sites range from pleasant bungalows just off the road, to 60-foot towers deep in the wilderness. Travelers and vacationers can available themselves of lodging in these scenic, secluded and historic structures offering personal sanctuaries in private places. Information on rental procedures, cost, capacity, and dates of availability for all 65 locations are provided, along with website addresses for each property where available, detailed directions on finding them, tips on local attractions, cabin history, maps, and illustrations of each individual location. The collaborative work of Tish McFadden and Tom Foley, How To Rent A Fire Lookout In The Pacific Northwest is a unique, practical, and ideal planning resource.

How to Rent a Fire Lookout in the Pacific Northwest is a valuable tool for exploring the beautiful backcountry of the Northwest! Authors Tom Foley and Tish Steinfeld have given a great gift to those of us in search of outdoor adventure. As a seeker of Oregon Stories within the landscape, I am enjoying this book immensely. I will include it in preparation of future sauntering and discovery!

Just astounding! I have stayed at three of the lookout featured in the book, and they are every bit as wonderful as the book illustrates. This book is a must for the nature lover. I'm not much of a hiker or skier, so fortunately this book tells you how difficult it is to reach each lookout. And most all the lookouts are a mere $25-$40 a night! My lookout trips have been the best vacations I've ever had. Please, please pick up this book if you plan to be in Oregon for any length of time and love great scenery...

This book is well worth it, for those of you who are sparked by the idea of Hydroplane racing. It has some very in depth info as well as some great photographs. Enjoy

If you are an Unlimited Hydroplane fan you will love this book. Lots of great information, stories and pictures. You won't be disappointed!

To this day, the hydroplanes race on Lake Washington in early August, and the crowds still come, but it is not the same as it was in the glory days of the 50's and 60's. Back in those days, the crowds were enormous, the hydroplane drivers were household names, and the sport captivated the city in a way that no other sport has done, before or since.

During race week, all three local television stations showed hour after hour of qualification runs throughout the week, and all three stations covered the Sunday race from early morning till late afternoon. Children - I was one of them - spent their summers creating their own wooden hydroplanes and racing them through the streets either tied to their bicycles or pulled by hand. And after three popular drivers died on the Potomac River in 1966, it was never the same. Many of us trace the end of our youth, the loss of innocence, to that day.

"Hydroplane Racing in Seattle" brings back images and memories of those years, and of subsequent years all the way up to the mid-1980's. This is not a detailed history, more like a scrapbook, and the narrative is anecdotal rather than strictly chronological. The focus is on the biggest names - Stan Sayres, the auto dealer-sportsman who's Slo-Mo-Shun hydroplanes captured the city's imagination and started the whole hydroplane craze in 1950; builders/designers Ted Jones and Anchor Jenson; drivers Bill Muncey, Ron Musson, Rex Manchester, Mira Slovak, Dean Chenoweth, Don Wilson, and others; and the boats themselves - Slo-Mo-Shun IV, Miss Thriftway, Miss Bardahl, Miss Exide, and many others; and, finally, the accidents, the shattered hulls that caused so much pain and sorrow.

For those who were there, this will provide an evening of memories; for those who weren't there, it will not mean as much. Why not five stars? Mainly, because it's all black-and-white photography, and that is not quite good enough for such a colorful sport. Also, there is little if anything about some of the sport's more peripheral but colorful characters - Chuck Hickling, Norm Evans, Bob Gilliam, Jim McCormick, and Dallas Sartz come to mind. And also virtually nothing about the media figures who were such an integral part of that era - Bill O'Mara, Rod Belcher, Pat O'Day, Keith Jackson, Charles Herring, Mike Rhodes, and a host of others. Perhaps it was just a case of "space does not allow . . . "

"Hydroplane Racing in Seattle" tells the story of the explosive growth in popularity of Unlimited Hydroplane racing in Seattle during the 1950s and the subsequent changes in the sport. This book is well-written and professionally packaged in terms of photo selection and page layout. The 125 pages are populated with approximately 200 mostly excellent black and white photographs of the boats and the personalities that made them go. You can do the math; the book is rich in photographs, and maybe a little thin in text. The front cover contains a small, tantalizing color photo of the restored "Slo-mo-shun V".

The scope of the book is limited to Seattle-based boats and Seattle races from 1909 through 1984. This corresponds to the piston engine era; one may conclude that the "hair dryer boats" (turbines) are out of favor with the author, but actually he has chosen a good cut-off point.

The story of Stan Sayres and his legendary "Slo-mo-shun" boats is well told in Chapters One and Two. The ongoing controversy over who designed which parts of the "Slo-mo-shun IV" is examined. Not explored are the contributions of other designers and builders such as Rich Hallett and his client Paul Sawyer. Subsequent chapters focus on the heroes of the sport (Bill Muncey, Mira Slovak, Ron Musson, etc.) and the legendary boats (the "Miss Thriftways", the "Miss Bardahls", the "Hawaii Kai III", the "Pay N Paks", etc.)

The fanatical enthusiasm of the Seattle fans is alluded to but not examined in any detail. No mention is made of the kids towing miniature hydroplanes behind their bicycles. Very little mention is made of the sometimes freakish "dream boats" such as the "Miss Skyway", the 24 cylinder "Scooter too" aka "Adios" aka "Miss Moses Lake", "Miss University District", "Shanty II", "Zephyr-Fury", and the first "$ Bill". The remarkable boat building career of Bob Gilliam is also pretty much ignored. Some of the other things that were omitted were the competition between TV stations for audience share (the battle of the long lenses) and the competition between newspapers for reader share. The sometimes bitter rivalry between Seattle and Detroit is given adequate coverage, but it would be nice to have a photo or two of some of the Seattle camp's tormentors like the "Miss Pepsi" or the "Such Crust III". The most glaring error in a mostly error-free book is the assertion that the "Slo-mo-shun V" qualifying flip in 1955 occurred in the first lap; most accounts state that the blowover was on the back straightaway in the third and final qualifying lap. There are many photographs of flips, collisions, and the resulting wreckage. Even Detroit-based boats are included in the photographic record of incidents that make hydroplane racing a truly dangerous motor sport.

I was there for the fiftieth running of the Gold Cup on Lake Washington in 1957. Reading David Williams' book brought back memories of that race. I would recommend "Hydroplane Racing in Seattle" to anyone who thrills to the sights and sounds of Unlimited Hydroplane racing... the roostertails and the outrageous color schemes, a V-12 aircraft engine revving beyond its design limits and that deeper, ominous sound when the driver punches the nitrous oxide button.

Bob Foley

Life in the colony of Virginia in the 1730's and 1740's -- the time that George Washington was growing up -- is described in lively detail with wonderful watercolor illustrations! Food, clothing, work, games, education, news, fashion, medicine and more are all brought to life for young readers.

How wonderful for children to get an idea of what kind of childhood formed the mind of our first American President.

I have several of the "If You Grew Up...." titles in my free-reading area of my sixth grade classroom. The George Washington title is one of the most-often chosen titles--probably because they are curious about our first president. This title also gives a good description of what life was like for the gentry class of Virginia in the 1740s-1760s. Students have been able to use the information to write comparison pieces about GW's life and their own. I highly recommend this title and the others in the series for both the literature and social studies classroom. Weak readers have a high interest in the subject matter; strong readers enjoy a quick read.

Although I don't have all the books in this series ("if you..."), the six that I have are so fun and interesting, that I intend to get them all asap. My three children (3-8), my husband and I LOVE them.

Outstanding look backwards in time to discover what it would have been like to grow up with George Washington. The book answers lots of questions; What kind of clothes would you wear?, What about the bathroom?, What did children do to have fun?, What would you learn in school? How did people carry their tabacco around?, Who made the laws for the colony? and many more... Loads of cheery illustrations cover the pages.