Pennsylvania Books

From the first poem 'Snow Blind' in Amy Small-Mckinney's
arresting chapbook, you'll know you're in the hands of a ma-
ture poet--in this case one who is a wife and mother, one who
can transform the tragic, through the deft use of language,
into a lyrical hope:

How can I have begun as bone
Hard, unbroken, when I am soft
And layered with song.
-- Body of Surrender

Amy Small-Mckinney writes as powerfully on the injustices
of the world and the turmoils of the inner life, as she does
on her relationship with aged parents, her husband and es-
pecially with her daughter:

I love my life,
my mislaid child,
this century of tears,
life before life.
-- Voices

You have to pay attention to these poems, but you'll be rich-
ly rewarded for doing so. By the end, you'll find yourself
humming Small-McKinney's hard yet necessary tunes. Let her
have the last word--again from the poem 'Body of Surrender':

Refuse to die,
Fly on fire,
Resolve the irresolvable.
Because my song smoothes the world.

This is a handsomely produced chapbook and I have read these poems of Amy Small-McKinney's with delight many times and they DO repay re-reading, not always revealing their full essence the first time through. The poems are free verse, but finely rhythmic and written with a great love for and command of words and language. These are contemporary poems, about the world we live in now, but also ones where the poet writes about love, her husband and daughter, and which make connections and look beyond the obvious to touch on the mystical. There is much to admire and, indeed, envy in these pages and I can heartily recommend this book.

After centuries of Native American habitation, the Township of Bern was settled by German farmers and established by 1738. Initially encompassing most of north-central Berks County, the history of this area echos many of the historical themes in much of southeastern Pennsylvania.

This book delves into great detail on early families and taxables, historic architecture, the Schuylkill and Union Canals, mills, schools, and churches amoung other things. It also addresses the relatively newer aspects of the Reading Airport, Berks County properties, Blue Marsh Lake, and local business that were active during the first printing for the 250th year celebration of its founding. Now in its third edition, fully indexed, with additional maps, photos, and new format, this book provides an exceptional example of what a group of dedicated citizens can do who care about the special place that they live in.

I highly recommend this book not just to armchair enthusiasts, but to professional Historians who work in Southeastern Pennsylvania, Geneologists from around the country, and people interested in visiting the Schuylkill River State and National Heritage Area.

Review by: George Meiser IX
Historical Society of Berks County PA

"The Book of Bern, A History of Bern Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1738-1988" is again available!

This is a book of true substance. It's well indexed, has 325+ pages, and is handsomely hardbound. Moreover, it has been reformatted to make it more user friendly. Most of the views were rescanned to bring out detail in the photographs.
And best of all, you can actually read the maps.

Unlike some township histories that were prepared in years gone by, this is not a superficial overview of the area.
It contains a GREAT DEAL of depth---and illustrations of value.
Like the recently issued Muhlenberg Twp. history, those involved in the project really went digging, so that impressive quantities of fresh new material was unearthed for posterity.

These chapter titles give an idea of what is presented:
First occupants, early settlers, first taxables,
family histories:
(Baer/Barr/Bare....Blatt....Cullum....Epler....Herbein...Hiester....
Kauffman....Kissinger....Kramer....Kramer.... Leinbach....
Reeser/Rieser....Reichenbach...Rick....Stoudt)

historic homes, along the Schuylkill (good canal info and photos), along the Tulpehocken, early occupations, hotels, churches, schools, county properties, Reading Airport, ghosts, clubs and organizations, the township, soldiers of Bern, businesses, the Bern Song, maps, etc.

Content-wise, this volume ranks as one of the best township histories ever prepared.
Those really into local history will value the photographs, as there are some real gems interwoven within the text. The original Fairview Hotel and lock-tender's shanty at Buck's Lock come instantly to mind.

I first read about this book in the forward to another book by Christine De Pisan (Treasure of the City of Ladies.) I became wild to own several of her writings, and am glad to own this one. I find it interesting reading even though I am not really a scholar of military history, at least not in the usual sense.

As a member of an historical re-creation society I take particular enjoyment in this book, as I have stood on the sidelines of our "battles" and know a very little about field tactics from watching. As the organizer of our medieval version of the USO Canteen, I really, REALLY liked the parts about how to feed an army before battle!

This book from 1410 consists of two main parts. The first part deals with military strategy (mostly based on Vegetius), and the second (mostly based on Bonnet's tree of battles) with laws of war, and the concept of just war. I found this work much more enjoyable than Macchiavelli's Art of War, for one thing Christine doesn't dwell so much on the supposed superiority of the Romans in all things, and she adds some interesting original material, such as detailed lists of fortification and siege equipment (up to sizes and amounts of timber, nails, etc.). This book is unique, being the only military classic written by a female author. The translation to english is very readable.

I read this book from cover to cover and then went back to the beginning and read it again. I really enjoyed "The Cough" and "Migraine". I look forward to reading more of his work.

These are first-rate narratives, told by a beautiful poet. Their settings -- the anthracite coal region of the speaker's youth, or the PA countryside of his adulthood -- provide perfect backdrops for him to ruminate on the meaning of family life. Humes is a skillful poet, and these sometimes dark, but always tender narratives prove to be some of his best work to date. After reading them, one gets anxious to read his next collection, The Butterfly Effect, which is due out from Milkweed Editions as part of the National Poetry Series next year.

This book follows the experiences of five Civil War soldiers from southwestern Pennsylvania. Utilizing very articulate diary and letter accounts from these men Robert Eberly has woven a superb story of individual soldiers' lives within a carefully researched and superbly written historical narrative. The Pennsylvania Reserves saw ferocious combat and this book takes you onto the battlefield. Eberly skillfully weaves the first-person accounts of the individual soldiers with the overarching 'big picture'. Most importantly, he lets the soldiers tell THEIR stories. The reader sees the battlefield through THEIR eyes. This book would be an excellent addition to the library of any Civil War devotee. The Forward is written by Ed Bearss which is endorsement enough.

In Bouquets From The Cannon's Mouth: Soldiering With The Eighth Regiment Of The Pennsylvania Reserves, Robert Eberly pays meticulous attention to historical detail. Five ordinary soldiers give first-hand accounts of what it was like to be embroiled in our country's most domestically devastating conflict - the American Civil War. The primary testimonies are often brief, and supplemented with narration concerning the fates of individuals, regiments, leaders and followers. Written to be accessible to the lay reader, yet smoothly laying out primary sources in context for the serious historian's in-depth reference, Bouquets From The Canon's Mouth is especially recommended for American Civil War and history shelves.

Brady Malone is rushed to York General Hospital having suffered a heart attack following an argument with his wife Laura over a newspaper article that accused him of killing women and babies in Viet Nam; she felt he needed to explain his side to their children, eighteen year old Sean and fourteen year old Kat, but he does not want to talk about his horrific military nightmare.

Laura blames herself for Brady's heart attack as they agreed years ago never to speak of his Nam tour. They met at an anti-war protest in 1969, fell in love and when he came back from overseas she was there helping him heal. As he recuperates from his heart attack, she and their kids are there for him, but the guilt he suffers from Nam and from the SIDS of their child Jason is tearing apart his marriage.

THE BRACELET is a deep family drama that focuses on keeping dark secrets inside turn them into a cancer that harms relationships. Lauren and Brady are realistic characters who hide their guiltiest feelings and fears from one another. The two teenage children react in a plausible manner to the accusations about their father and his heart attack. Readers who appreciate a strong character study that centers on internally holding guilty feelings will appreciate Karen Rose Smith's intense tale.

Harriet Klausner

Laura and Brady met and fell head-over-heels. Then he shipped out to Vietnam. When he came home, he'd changed. They found a way back to each other, but now, years later Brady's past is tearing their family apart. Sometimes love isn't enough...and Laura's not sure they can find their way back to each other again.

Laura and Brady's story tore at my heart. Smith is a master storyteller!

Wait Wait Her mom's sick so she goes up in the mountains to see her aunt who even isn't there? Well at least she as her spook yeast. What is spook yeast you ask. And who helps her along the way. There is only one way to find out... so read this awesome book.

The first of the Robin Moore trilogy of Maggie, and her adventures in early Pennsylvania. The strong female character is a wonderful role model for adolescent girls. Yet, many boys in my class are avidly reading the sequel, when Maggie is captured by the Seneca Indians. An exciting story, where the characters have a real depth, beyond what is generally available in children's fiction.

The author visited our elementary school, did workshops for our students, and told them to write from what they knew. All of these events relate to his family's history, of growing up in this ten mile area. As an author, he respects children, and values their ideas. By never talking down to them, he has made the life of Maggie Callahan come alive with a richness of the English language.

It is rare that a book can make you visualize exactly what you are reading, and in such detail.

Yes, most of my fourth graders, who are also hooked on Harry Potter are now finding a parallel universe in the Bread Sister Trilogy.

I used this book as a reference for a term paper on two African American burial grounds in Philadelphia. Contains information on major and some obscure archaeological finds in Philadelphia. History of Philadelphia as well.

Mr John Cotter and Group have written a wonderful book. If you are into "digging up the past" this is the material you've been looking. Just the wonderful pencil sketchs of the long past "Slate Roof House" makes this a absolute read. The digging up of the historical area and the great "finds" that were discovered. I feel any true Philadelphian will enjoy something out of this manual.

Hugh Gaitskell is largely a forgotten presence in the Labour Party of today but as Brian Brivati (intentionally or otherwise) manages to convey to the reader, this neglect may have something to do with the fact that this former British Labour Party leader had a style and a substance that has rarely been seen since. Although clearly not as sympathetic towards his subject as Gaitskell's earlier biographer, Philip Williams, he still leaves us with an impression of a man who was much misunderstood and maligned by many at the time in his own party.

Hugh Gaitskell was a passionate orator who for much of his life, struggled with the twin impulses to on the one side conceal that passion in favour of reason and sense, and on the other, to realize that that same passion could be useful as a political weapon to disarm his opponents not just in his own party but also beyond in the Conservative and Liberal parties of his day. For much of his short political life, Brivati contends that when the former wasn't predominating, the latter could appear to disastrous party political consequences. The dispute over 'specs and false teeth' around the time of Gaitskell's one and only budget points to the stubbornness of a futile passion for the Atlanticist policies of the post war Attlee Government over what could have been a more reasonable accommodation with Nye Bevan as the Minister for Health and powerful ex-officio leader of the Left. Gaitskell then went on to foolishly support the expulsion of Nye Bevan for his controversial attempts to foist a left wing direction on the opposition when Labour left office in 1951. Brivati shows us that the always deeply complex and fascinating Gaitskell was at his most ineffective when his drive for what was `reasonable' could become a `passion' not justifiable by the facts that at other times he could be equally passionate to elicit both from himself and others.

However, another more effective and controlled passion dominates his years as leader of the Labour Party afte! r 1955. See in particular, Brivati's account of the 1956 Suez crisis, the defense debates/ of 1960-61 and the famous Common Market speech of 1962. These controversies contain some of Gaitskell's finest and most brilliant speeches, and with the proper access to the video and sound recordings, this would be self-evident to anyone who listened.

Brian Brivati has written a biography from the perspective of someone who likes distance from his subject - he wasn't born until two years after Gaitskell died. The ultimate achievement of this biography is that it is finely balanced between the 'hero' of Philip Williams'' richly documented 1978 biography, and the villain of Michael Foot's biography of his 'hero' Nye Bevan. Unlike Brivati, both Williams and Foot had the fortune or misfortune to have known Gaitskell personally. Where these two had been inspired to write dramatically diverse but equally passionate accounts, Brivati 's sense of balance leads him to weave a careful line in and around the two sides to Gaitskell's reputation - both then and subsequently. He therefore succeeds in dropping by at both camps. Unfortunately. this approach is likely to be infuriating to the supporters of both left and right for its seeming willingness to play the part of appreciative guest at both houses and to then show that what was offered was far from being the poisoned chalice that each side would like to claim of the other. As an admirer of Gaitskell to the point where I once lobbied hard to meet his first major biographer, Philip Williams, I have to admit to sharing in that infuriation whilst also rejoicing that by the end, the side Brivati chooses to leave us with, veers more conclusively towards the 'hero'. In the final analysis, it is his interpretation of the depressing years for the Labour Party subsequent to Gaitskell's death in 1963 which become their own justification for why it is still hard for some people to move beyond their fascination with Gaitskell's style, democratic socialist beliefs and rare ! sense of integrity. Brian Brivati is no less caught and trapped than Philip Williams and Michael Foot once were.....

Hugh Gaitskell was leader of the British Labour Party from 1955 till his tragic premature death in 1963. That period, in which Labour was continuously in opposition, was marked by internal strife between Right and Left within Labour's ranks, on such issues as nuclear disarmament, with Gaitskell representing the pro-Nato, Atlanticist wing of British social democracy.
Brivati's book is a model biography: balanced, historically-informed, and original. It portrays Gaitskell as a politician of immovable convictions about the proper end-state of a good society, and fewer fixed ideas about the means to achieve them. Most important, it relates Gaitskell's ideas to the changes in western society that have taken place since his death, and tries to assess his historical significance. And it compares him with his obvious successor, Tony Blair, who succeeded where Gaitskell failed in getting Labour to jettison its historic commitment to public ownership. Brivati sympathetically portrays Gaitskell's revisionism, which was 30 years ahead of its time; his irrevocable commitment to the values of western liberal democracy, an instinct that led to his courageous and historically vindicated stand opposing unilateral nuclear disarmament; and his insights into the political implications of what was then known as the Common Market. But Brivati also makes a telling point that Gaitskell's belief in equality and indicative planning has been rendered largely irrelevant by modern economic developments. There are still aspects of Gaitskell's political judgement that are timeless strengths and that stand out from this book. Brivati comments, "Gaitskell's revisionism offered a process of asking of each institution and relationship in our society: What is it for? Who [sic] does it benefit? Should it be changed?" That process of interrogation is an essential one for a healthy democracy, even if Gaitskell's criteria for answering those questions have been superseded by events. Moreover, Gaitskell, so far from his image of a dry technocrat, was a man of passion combined with a critical intellect. Though the collectivist ideology that informed his egalitarian principles has now (as Brivati again rightly comments) slipped into history, the wish for a more tolerant and gentle society has not. To that extent, Brivati's book is an inspiring as well as a scholarly and informative read.

This is a fascinating and erudite book that spans centuries of Hebrew printing. It would be worthwhile for the end-notes alone. It is a must read for anyone interested in the history of Jewish printing as well as anyone interested in the development and dynamic of censorship, both internal and self imposed.

This book is indeed first of its kind in its treatment of the history of books and book-culture in early modern Italy and Europe. Jewish-Christian dialogs and negotiations over questions of print and publishing are reviewed in a new and fresh light. The final outcome of what is otherwise simply viewed as a tool of coercion and persecution is surprising.