Bertha Books

This is truly a classic book, full of timeless wisdom, and incredible breadth and depth. What Bertha Reynolds wrote in this book in 1942, is still so fresh and offers so much to social work practitioners and educators today. I think it is a gem.

Very useful and honest book. The story of a ordinary old Cheyenne woman, good singer, good beadworker, good grandmother, and good human being. The reader can learn about the contemporary life of the Cheyenne people even surviving traditions. The score of the Cheyenne songs and the follow-up CD make this book still more valuable.

Eleanor Dwight's The Letters of Pauline Palmer: A Great Lady of Chicago's First Family appears at first glance as a series of homey letters from a daughter to her mother who both lived the leisurely upper-class life of Chicago's elite. We follow Pauline Palmer from 1908 until 1926, and are given an intimate portrait of travel, society and home life. To illustrate this life Ms. Dwight has gathered together a remarkable array of photographs to take the reader back to Chicago's Gilded Age and has also included a beautifully illustrated essay on the Palmer art collections.

Dwight has, in addition, made an important addition to cultural history. Pauline's warm humane presence, her concerned and often amusing reflections, her reactions to the events of her time ("At Soissons it was terrible," wrote Pauline in 1920 after World War I, "the Cathedral in frightful ruins, but the people hard at work rebuilding!") (p. 168) create a vibrant window on a way of life and on attitudes that were the very fabric of American life at the time. The cheerful optimism of this correspondence reflects a certain honor and resoluteness that underlies all the detail of fashion, jewelry and parties: this is the American spirit resilient in many women, women who have throughout our history created values and families that are classless and timeless.

I highly recommend this book. A must read!

If you love dogs, this will make you cry. It is a lovely story but so very sad. And it is true. Everyone I know who has read this book thinks it is a classic and they admit also to shedding a tear or two....

This is a fine example of how women have influenced Republican politics through the mid-to-late 20th Century. Dr. Helmes' is a noted historian and professor emeritus of History at Salisbury University, Maryland.

This is an amazing biography of the family of the man who wrote the beloved hymn "It Is Well With My Soul," written by one of his daughters. It is one of the best books I've read - easy to read, interesting and hard to put down. It is also one of the most inspiring. I'm not going to try to retell the story here - only to recommend this book to everyone. I don't know why this book isn't still in circulation and I don't know why they haven't made a movie about it yet. I just want to find out all I can about the Spafford family and I'm grateful I got my hands on a copy of Ms. Vester's autobiography!

This is a book any one can enjoy. It is loaded with wonderful black and white photographs of a unique way of life in Iowa in the early 20th century. These are beautifully detailed photos reprinted from old glass plate negatives that you will pour over and come back to time and again. Schambaugh was a talented artist and a pioneer in early photography.
Foerstner has not only presented us with a book of unique photos, but has included a well-written documentary of Shambaugh and the life of photographers of her day. I think readers will also enjoy her insight into the Amana Colonies and their history. Most people only know the Amanas as a tourist mecca of shops and confuse them with the Amish. Just as Shambaugh was allowed a unique opportunity to enter and share an almost closed society - now readers can also share in the lives of a group of people that leave you reevaluating your life.

This hard to find, out of print title is an essential reference work on the art and craft of rake and/or loom knitting. Patterns/items shown are dated to the title's publication, but the techniques are required reading for practicioners of this once-lost art. History of the craft as therapy for patients in institutions and hospital rehab centers is interesting reading; good diagrams and detailed patterns. If you can find it--buy it!

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. The author captures the mood and feelings of the nation over a tumultous 40 year period and highlights the intelligence, dedication and compassion required to be a nurse.

This would be a wonderful read for anyone considering a career in nursing.

Written by a Scandinavian woman missionary, this book shows the power and beauty of Christianity as it was being revived during the early 20th century. The writer starts by telling of her desolate childhood, which is a little hard to press through, but through this description you understand how she came to such a beautiful reliance on the Lord as her loving Father in later years. One chapter, in which she recounts her first message in a church to the Lapps to whom she'd gone to be a missionary, is a wonderful, faith-filled message that will encourage any Christian in taking the Lord at His word for any need, including healing.

I wish many such books were still available to help raise the standard of Christianity in modern churches. Too bad this book is only found at such a high price--I bought it two years ago for probably about $30, and it is now around $150.