Ohio Books

Few people are aware that Cleveland was America's first "Motor City" long before Detroit claimed that title. In Golden Wheels, Richard Wager tells the largely unknown story of early American automobiles from Northeast Ohio. This includes venerable names like Winton, Stearns, Peerless, Chandler, Templar, and Jordan. In all, Golden Wheels tells the stories of 80 different automobile marques from the classic era.

Every true automobile enthusiast should know the stories in this book.

Like I mentioned in his other reviews ~~ I cannot put his books down. I will be honest ~~ when I bought these books, I didn't think I was going to enjoy them as much as I do!! In fact, once I read his Civil War book, I knew that the books on the Black Swamp history will be impossible to put down. I was right. I didn't do anything for two days ~~ till I could finish these books!

Mollenkopf writes with passion and with beauty as he puts forth old stories that speaks volume of our ancestors that once trodded upon these paths in the Black Swamps. He shares many interesting stories ~~ from anti-slavery (Laura Haviland and her abolitionist views), to the first time a Steam Locomotive came into the area, to the last day of the Canal days. Yes, we Ohioans are famous for going to festivals (Canal Days anyone? The Grand Rapid Apple Butter Festival?) ~~ and yes, we put on historic stages to remember the past ~~ but these books are really wonderful for bringing the stories alive even more.

If I was an Ohio History teacher, I would definitely encourage my students to read these books! The stories are short enough to keep anyone's attention and long enough to inspire you to read more on the topic. These books are not huge historical volumes ~~ but they're truly a gem!! I am definitely going to encourage my boys to read these books when they're old enough ~~ and I hope to visit all those landmarks that he has mentioned!

10-12-05

I was using this book for a resource in my English class. It proved to be what I needed to get an A+ for my research paper. Totman knows his stuff and the reading was quite easy. I'd recommend any of his books for the college student working on Pre-Modern Japan.

Being born and bred in the area detailed in this history, I naturally enjoyed it. I have referred to it countless times, both recreationally and in times when I needed to secure certain facts. It has a layout unlike those found in today's reference books, but one not unusual for the time in which it was written. Included are several wonderful pictures of life in the 1800's of Xenia, Beavercreek, Spring Valley, etc. The pictures range from storefronts, main streets, grain elevators, trains, schools, and churches to historical markers and countryside scenes. Descriptions and dates are given for nearly all the illustrations, which adds to the value of this historical book. Anyone interested in Greene County, Ohio for personal and/or research reasons would benefit greatly from the reading of Greene County, 1803-1908.

A lot of times you'll find these little animals at Antique Shows and Flea Markets with high prices but ask the dealer and he/she will have no information about them at all. At long last, the information is finally at hand. This is a great reference book about a little known subject.

This book is an excellent collection of photos and historical facts about Grove City, Ohio from 1848 thru the centennial year 1952. The two authors, Janet Shailer and Laura Lanese, worked together gathering photos and interviewing residents to present a picture of the small town growing into a booming one following WWII. The book was instrumental in getting an 83 year old man who has Alzeimers desease to speak again after weeks of silence. He remembered things of the past and spoke of them. It is important to know this can happen. The book is published by Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC.

This wonderful book is so needed in this era of immigrant-bashing.
I discovered "Growing Season" after a segment of it was excerpted in "The Sun" magazine. It's such a pleasure to hear the stories of people from Latin America and those who work with them, and how the so-called "problem" or "invasion" of immigrants has actually provided benefits for countless people on both sides of the border.
Citizens of the US, the world's superpower, should also keep in mind that it is policies that emanate from Wall Street and the Pentagon that have forced so many people to come here in the first place. We owe our Latin American brothers and sisters a warm welcome, even an apology, for the generations of exploiting their labor and resources (see books like "The Annexation of Mexico" by John Ross or "Turning the Tide" by Noam Chomsky").
I'm going to buy an extra copy of this book and send it to Representative Tom Tancredo, one of this nation's leading demagogues on the issue of immigration.

In a rare display of the ability to bridge two worlds that are so strikingly different, Mr. Cooper has the gift of being able to invite the reader into the world of Conservative Quakerism, without making him feel as if he has just been preached to. Mr. Cooper is quite unusual in that he seems to be able to appreciate (and therefore communicate with) both worlds, both the modern secular world we find ourselves in today, and also the rarified (but perhaps just as valid) world of Conservative Quakerism which is apparently structured around a belief that the ideals of "simplicity" and the "peace of the indwelling spirit" are still two very real and attainable virtues and are not merely two more sad casualties along the side of our modern information superhighway.

Guarding The Overland Trails: The Eleventh Ohio Cavalry In The Civil War is the fascinating true story of the Eleventh Ohio Cavalry, which enlisted to fight Confederates during the Civil War yet were assigned to a task that was just as important, even though its historical significance was deeply overshadowed by the greater clash between North and South. The Eleventh Ohio Cavalry were tasked with protecting the overland roads of the west, particularly those leading to the valuable new states of California and Oregon, and the emigrants who traveled along them. Often strung out along roads in small detachments, charged with building and rebuilding tiny stations and other posts, the Eleventh Ohio Cavalry rarely served as one unit yet braved deadly conflict with Native American tribes and lethal winters. Often the diaries of enlisted men are quoted at length, describing their service, in this welcome addition to American Civil War history and reference.

Ohio Univ. Press has finally released the long awaited edited, annotated volume of Mencken's literary reviews and essays dating generally from 1910 to 1930, most having never been reprinted before now, and it is a wonderful collection.
In addition to being a renowned newspaper reporter, editorial wirter, and drama critic for both the Baltimore Herald and Baltimore Evening Sun, Mencken worked as a book reviewer for both the Smaart Set and American Mercury magazines. From 1908 to the mid 30's he wrote thousands of reviews and essays and became one of the most trusted, and feared, literary critics of the twentieth century.
Trying to review this collection is a bit like sitting down to a gourmet Thanksgiving dinner. It's sometimes difficult to decide where to begin given the wonderful selection available. Mencken stated his motives in writing reviews was "...principally to clear the ground of moldering rubbish, to chase away old ghosts, to help set the artist free. The work of erecting new structure belongs primarily to the artist as creator, not to me as critic." To that end he reviewed most if not all of the important writers of the early twentieth century and his sometimes tart, provocative, always entertaining opinions are a delight to read. He considered Mark Twain to be the"...largest figure that ever reared itself out of the flat, damp prairie of American literature." Indeed, Twain was believed by Mencken to be "...the noblest literary artist who ever set pen to paper on American soil..." He found Ambrose Bierce to be "...a good deal damaged by the excessive praises of his partisans..." but ultimately a worthy writer that was capable of producing in The Devil's Dictionary "...the most brilliant stuff, first and last, that America has ever produced." Not in a class with Twain but a worthy contributor to American literature. The anecdote about Mencken's first reading, in galley proofs, of Main Street by Sinclair Lewis is a pure delight. "That idiot has written a masterpiece" must surely go down as a classic quote in literary history. Space does not permit the in-depth review this book deserves. Suffice it to say that such authors as Willa Cather, Ernest Hemingway, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald and dozens of other legendary literary figures were subjected to the scrutiny of Mencken and some, but by no means all, were considered worthy of his praise. Some for very different reasons than the reader might expect but rest assured all make for good reading.
This is a must book for readers, students, scholars and writers of all persuasions that are interested in great writing by a literary giant in his own right that is gone but surely,with the publication of this book, not forgotten. This is a prime example of quality publications typically offered by university presses and Ohio University Press is to be commended for the effort.