Missouri Books

ES un muy buen trabajo del Sr Pearson, constituye un especial y detallado aporte al conocimiento de este gran chilenísimo autor, para los lectores angloparlantes

The stories of K. A. Longstreet's NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS provide everything I want in a collection: a distinctive voice, on the one hand, and, on the other, a wide spectrum of experience. Her subjects include, among others, an obsessive admirer of the art of Van Gogh, who dyes his beard ginger in honor of his idol; a savvy Serbian war criminal and his American interviewer, himself guiltily conscious of having participated in a long-ago gang rape; a Jewish boy sheltered by a young Dutch woman during World War II; a dying old woman remembering her first meeting with her husband-to-be on a ferry through the Greek isles. Locales range from Paris to Minneapolis to Hiroshima to Switzerland, and the tone is variously lyric, comic, even farcical, and tragic. But NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS offers something more: it's one of those books that alters a reader's world. As Longstreet's theme is the power of imagination to save, to complicate, and sometimes to entrap the lives of people in circumstances dire or mundane, so her book embodies that same imaginative force. She makes us aware of the secret riches of our lives, the tragedies and raptures of those whom we brush unknowingly, the miracles waiting to be unfolded in the ignored, the forgotten, the bypassed. I'll never look at paintings the same way again, now that Longstreet has made me aware that a thin line can be seen crossing the brush strokes of WHEAT FIELD AT AUVERS, indicating the passing of a blade of grass across the canvas when it was still wet--proof that the painter was chewing a blade of grass as he applied those famous blobs. Similarly, you will never see the world in the same way after encountering these transforming fictions.

This is a fine piece of literary magic. Dabney does an excellent job with character development, scene descriptions, and mood settings, throughout these 5 shorts.

Very profound, somewhat morbid with explicit sexuality, round out his unique story lines. He brings to life words I had no idea existed, and his ability to jump into the future and from character to character is uncany. A great NYC subway read! Loose Ends One Good Turn 47 The Egg Lady 115 Bed and Breakfast 167 No Visible Means of Support 187

A comprehensive and excellent reference manual for anyone interested in finding hiking and biking trails in North Missouri. .

I discovered this book when I was living in San Francisco, and it convinced me to move back home to the Midwest. Le Sueur is an earthy, populist writer. This is a history of Minnesota, but its doesn't trouble itself with governors and generals. Le Sueur writes about Indians, farmers, cornhuskers, pioneers, the ordinary people who built the Midwest. And her descriptions of nature and weather are beautiful. She loved people, she loved her native country. If you're from the Midwest, buy this book. You'll either get homesick, or you'll be glad you never left home.

I happen to be part of one of the families discussed in this book. I found it to be quite nice. I wasn't mentioned in the book but my mother, grandma, granpa etc. was. I think Geta did a fabulous job in making this book a success! It took a lot of time to archive this information about my family, and through this book, I am able to know where my ancestors came from and pass the book on to my children in the years to come. thank You.

Sincerely, Sommer Hayes

John Edwards(author}possibly the best of his books. A flowery excerpt of his writings of guerrilla warfare in Missouri during the Civil War. Good source for finding the men that rode with Quantrell,Anderson,Todd,Poole and Clements. Edwards was there and tells it well. Later to become Jo Shelby's Adjuctant and spokeman for the James Boys. One of a kind . We here in Missouri call it the "BIBLE of GUERRILLAS".

I had the good fortune to have Professor Sullivan as instructor in two English classes at Vanderbilt. He was one of the kindest and wisest professors I have ever known.

His autobiography reveals how much Walter Sullivan enjoyed his profession. The picture he gives of his academic career is one of fun and hearty good fellowship with most of his colleagues. I had not been aware how much southern English professors enjoyed their cocktails, but it appears it was rather a lot.

The sad part of this autobiography is the chronicling of a decline in humanistic learning at Vanderbilt which the author observed during the last decades of his career. The study of literature based around close reading of the text was replaced by the ideological rantings of the post moderns. Aristotelian logic gave way to the studied illogicalities of the Frankfurt School and all those who sailed in it. The Department of English at Vanderbilt was one of the humanistic glories of the nation. No longer.

I entered the university teaching profession long after the hires had already been made which would transform departments of History, English and foreign literatures into the hopeless morass of twisted ideologies we currently enjoy. Accordingly, I have spent a fair amount of time building levees against a tide already set in motion in the heyday of people like Walter Sullivan.

Like the nobility of the early eighteenth century, Professor Sullivan and southern academics of his viewpoint, had a jolly good time without noticing or wanting to notice that there was a concerted gathering of barbarians not simply circling around the city but actually passing through the gates into the city. How I wish that some of the energy spent in innocent enjoyment of the academic life had been spent by Sullivan and his colleagues in identifying and stopping the incursion. It is clear from this autobiography that Walter Sullivan felt that it was all due to a random change of fashion. It never occurred to Sullivan and his associates that there was any planning in the sea change which would ultimately swamp humanistic learning in the American academy. With such a careless inattention to what was going on, how could the post moderns not have won?

We mourn the passing of Walter Sullivan. We shall not see his like in the younger generation of "humanities" professors, for people with his views are no longer hireable.

Collected Works Of Langston Hughes V. 4 is a college-level critical examination presenting Hughes' novels Not Without Laughter and Tambourines To Glory, and is recommended reading for any studying the body of Hughes' works. Dolan Hubbard edits these two short novels, which are recommended reading for any in-depth study of Hughes' achievements.

Rod Kessler has a way of putting the reader very close to the character. When reading one of his stories, you might feel like you have been dropped into someone's private life, to watch over their shoulder. It might even make you feel uncomfortable, in some cases, as if you shouldn't be intruding.

My favorite story in this collection is "The Death of Rodney Snee", a story which captures the thoughts and attitudes of a kid in grade school better than I've seen before or since. I come back to that story again and again to remind myself how to make the reader identify with the character.

If you like short stories, and in particular, short stories which give little insights into the human condition, read this collection.