George Books

What a delightful rendering of General George B. McLellan from Ethan Rafuse. I don't know if this treatment will restore Little Mac from the severe wounds history has inflicted on him but it does help us understand why he behaved the way he did. Politicians always slather thick layers of patriotic ardor over the stark brutality of modern war in order to get the hostilities underway; the attendant death & destruction is never full anticipated & always pitifully underestimated. The radical Republicans wanted to unleash the dogs of war right at the Secesh throat not realising the South had hounds of their own. McLellan with his gentile family background & his Whig- Democratic political leanings & his West Point education got in the way. He was mauled nearly to death.

This is an account of the life & generalship of McLellan from his triumphant processional into Washington & anointing up until his dismissal from command after Antietam (& the Emancipation Proclamation) in November, 1862. Rafuse focuses on the moderate political opposition to the radicals who ran Congress after the Whig party had been splintered into oblivion & the Southern Democrats had left the Republicans in a lopsided majority after Lincoln's election. This moderation is McLellan's raison d'etre.

McLellan thought reasonable, unemotional (not radical) professionals should run the war. A decisive set-piece battle & then some mopping up would bring the South back to the Union with their traditions & way of life, including their peculiar institution, intact. Treat the Southerners in a conciliatory sort of way & they would reject the fire-eating slaveholders who brought on the war & return to the fold. How wrong he was. Six hundred thousand dead later & the Union was victorious & slavery was abolished. Victorious Grant became President & McLellan who had presidential aspirations of his own paled into obscurity, the anachronism he was. Little consolation that his scientific way of war with its fortifications & artillery abundance might have strangled the Confederacy in its cradle far quicker than Scott's Anaconda plan eventually did. His hamstrung Peninsula Campaign failed & the radicals took control. Conciliation was dead.

Rafuse's account is a fine one indeed. The prose is a bit turgid to start but get McLellan on the Peninsula & the tale starts to flow. Maps are the windows into military history. The ones included are great. I never understood what McLellan's Urbanna plan was all about until I saw one of the maps & read again of Joseph E. Johnston's pull back from Manassas. All of the maps are pertinent, well done & , behold, contain all the place names mentioned in the text, a rare treat indeed.

Abraham Lincoln comes across as the bewildered military neophyte he was at this stage of the war. McLellan has more spine with little emphasis on the sniveling he did about his estimation of the great multitude of the horde opposing him. He does get credit for his great organizational skills, training ability, & charisma. The Army of the Potomac was the instrument he created but never learned how to wield. Clausewitz was correct: the object of war is not to nick your opponent but to whack him so hard he won't get up again.

George Brinton McClellan's legacy since the Civil War has been largely criticized by historians and the general public. Hundreds of books generated notions that the Union high command prior to U.S. Grant's arrival was full of generals who could not win battles or take the initiative in destroying Robert E. Lee's army. McClellan served as the primary victim of these rants because he held the longest tenure as commander of the Army of Potomac. Even though McClellan had earned the respect of his men, he certainly did not get that same respect from Washington or from future historians. Thankfully, that has changed.

Rafuse's book showcases a lot of the author's abilities as a historian and as a writer. Though military book in nature, Rafuse's insight into McClellan's political influence largely explains the behavior attributed on the battlefield. Perhaps no Civil War biographer has detailed his subject's political connections as Rafuse has shown. In the Civil War field, Rafuse is considered as one of the up and coming military historians of this generation. This only makes sense as Rafuse's advisor was the distinguished historian Herman Hattaway, whose book "How the North Was Won" is still considered a standard in this profession. Certainly, Rafuse has a bright career as a scholar, teacher, and writer.

Finally, this biography explains the political influence that troubled the Union generals throughout the War. Recently, scholars have argued that Lincoln and his cabinet caused much of the disappointment in the war's first two years because of their inability to let the generals lead on their own. Certainly, it can be questioned that if McClellan was given the same freedoms as Robert E. Lee in the South, the "young Napoleon" may have ended this war a lot sooner.

Sailing around the world, U.S. Grant sighed that George McClellan was one of the chief enigmas of the war. A century and a half later, most Civil War buffs would agree. McClellan's biographers either considered him a hero or, in the case of say Stephen Sears, a delusioned man who flirted with mental illness. Taking a page from the likes of Daniel Walker Howe, Ethan Rafuse argues that the key to understanding Little Mac is viewing him as an old line Whig of the Clay and Webster tradition who believed in self control, gentility, education and discipline. Rafuse goes into McClellan's prewar career and education and other influences (most importantly, Rafuse stresses how McClellan's jewel of a wife shaped his religious sentiments) and how they shaped his Civil War tenure. Readers may still view McClellan as a failed commander once they read Rafuse but at least they understand where he was coming from. As opposed to being plagued by psychological problems as Sears would have us believe, Rafuse shows that McClellan was man of his times who failed, in many ways, to grow with them. While Rafuse fails to provide a traditional narrative of military history, he provides an excellent political history of McClellan in 1861 and 1862. One wishes that Rafuse had taken his account to the 1864 election and McClellan's rather underappreciated political career after the war. Still, no other book truly offers such an interesting and insightful portrait of McClellan. If you want to understand the Union effort in the Civil War, you have to understand George McClellan's roller coaster ride in the high command. No other book does that as well as Rafuse's splendid "McClellan's War."

Finding a general in American history with as bad a reputation as George B. McClellan is not an easy task. Few Civil War books have anything good to say about him, fewer still defend his actions in the field. His victory at Antietam is often listed as a draw or even a Confederate victory. This "victory" is because McClellan should have destroyed the Army of Northern Virginia and their survival is a "victory" for them. His problems with military intelligence and the chronic over estimation of numbers is a "character defect" that he used to keep from fighting the army he created and loved to much to use. When pressed, even his harshest critics, will admit that McClellan created the Army of the Potomac and that it was the premier Union army during the war. Finally, they will acknowledge that McClellan always obeyed orders from Washington, even when he disagreed with them and felt they hurt his army.
This book covers McClellan's background and actions up to being removed from command for the last time in 1861. While not taking a position, each incident is completely covered and footnoted. This allows the reader to both check the author and to draw well founded conclusions from the text. For this reason, "McClellan's War" should become an important milestone in the evolving debate about his service. The amount of information packed into this book is staggering. While the book is so well written that, it reads like a good novel. The combination produces a very enjoyable and dynamic learning experience.
Everything is here. All the questions about relations with Congress, Lincoln and Scott, are examined and both sides presented. Coverage of the question about reinforcements during the Peninsula Campaign is complete with attention to the critical sequence of events. McClellan's feelings about and support of Pope are fair and well documented as are his difficulties with Stanton. The Antietam Campaign is a major item in the book and very well covered. What McClellan did and did not do, how it influenced R.E. Lee's plans, and the subsequent events is very well done. The condition of McClellan's army, the problems he faced and the effect they have on the battle of Antietam is a revelation.
The author takes the time to explain the theory of Conciliation and the political exchanges between its' supporters and the Abolitionist. The lucid discussion of the development of both these ideas and the background of the people that supported them is an important contribution to ACW this book makes. After reading this, I gained a much better understanding of the early war and how the policies developed as the war progressed.
Over all stands Lincoln, literally towering over McClellan. The book details the pressure Lincoln is under and the changes in his attitude towards, the South, McClellan and the war in the first 18 months of the war. In addition, we come to understand how the two men, wanting the same victory, were unable to bridge the widening gulf between them. McClellan, with his background and beliefs, was unable to understand or respond to Lincoln's problems. Lincoln, forced to respond to pressure and discarding the policy of Conciliation, could not give McClellan the time and resources he needed. The strength of the book is we understand both sides and have sympathy for both men.
In the emerging debate on McClellan, Ethan S. refuse has written his name along side Joseph L. Harsh as authors of "must read" books on the subject.

I thoroughly enjoyed this work. Prominent scholars examine the importance and sanctity of traditional marriage with respect to their fields- philosophy, economics, law, etc. If you are concerned with the current state of marriage in this society, this is a must read!

Given recent court decisions there is a clear and present danger that the Supreme Court of the United States, following the lead of the Massachusetts State Court and the Federal District Court of Nebraska, will strike down all laws limiting marriage to the union of one man and one woman. Alarmed over this possibility, eleven states have overwhelmingly approved defense of marriage initiatives. In this context The Meaning of Marriage is making its debut.

In the form of eleven scholarly essays The Meaning of Marriage is an anthology of variations on the theme that marriage is foundational for civilization and as marriage goes, so goes the family, and so goes society. Marriage, it is argued, has been severely destabilized by fifty years of disastrous experiments including: legal sanction for unilateral divorce; legal sanction for unrestricted access to contraception; and, legalization of unrestricted abortion. This produced among other problems a divorce rate of fifty percent, an out of wedlock birthrate equal to one third of all children (two thirds of all black children), and a dramatic rise in poverty among women and children. Nevertheless, our public policy blithely promotes these remedies for the good of society. Promoters and defenders of these policies are taken to task in the essays with reasoned arguments and impeccable research. Yet, the concern of the essays as a whole is not just to stop the bleeding, but also to sound a clarion call to a threat more destructive to marriage than all previous experiments combined, - the unintended consequences of legalized same sex marriage. Unlike predecessor experiments, advocates of same sex marriage seek a redefinition of marriage. This, it is argued, effectively abolishes marriage, and along with it, the possibility of any coherent alternative social standard for sexual behavior.

Roger Scruton and Robbie George offer two philosophical analyses of marriage. Dan Browning and Elizabeth Marquardt elaborate on `kin altruism' as a family benefit to society. Economic historian Harold James highlights how harmonious continuity of economic activity across generations and time spans is ensured by family businesses. Jennifer Roback Morse and Siena Segrue in separate essays contend with social libertarians who contradict themselves by supporting unilateral divorce and same sex marriage respectively. Both require government meddling with the family, which violates libertarian principles. David F. Forte argues that the Founding Fathers understood the family, as a school of virtue, to be indispensable to republican government. Hadley Arkes and Katherine Shaw Spaht in separate essays unpack the legal philosophy and the recent legal history contributing to the unraveling of marriage and family law. Maggie Gallagher debunks much of the phony social science under girding our contemporary social engineering projects. Last but not least, W. Bradford Wilcox, shows how contraception and abortion have undermined the common good and visited disproportionate harm to the poor by trifling with traditional concepts of marriage.

The Meaning of Marriage is an excellent primer on our contemporary culture crisis. It provides philosophical, legal, psychological, political, and economic perspectives and includes a helpful topical index. I highly recommend this outstanding and timely study for serious, and particularly for complacent, Americans.

There's no denying that the movement to grant legal recognition to same-sex unions has recently brought the subject of marriage back to the forefront of public debate. But while many involved in this debate are quick to voice their opinions on the subject, few take the time to consider marriage's significance in careful detail. The authors of these essays, however, do just that. Uninterested in cliched talking points or partisan claptrap, they engage in a serious consideration of marriage's meaning and importance. The resulting product is a careful analysis of the significance of marriage for the individual, for the family and for political society.

Roger Scruton reminds us in the book's first essay that institutions, including marriage, may be viewed externally or internally, from third-person or first-person perspectives. Skillfully weaving together literature, history and the phenomenology of personal experience, Scruton argues that marriage's full importance can only be comprehended through considerations from both perspectives. This essay is an appropriate choice to precede what follows, because in subsequent essays, the authors approach the topic mindful of the differences inherent in these two perspectives and determined to examine marriage from every angle imaginable. Furthermore, they are remarkably capable of engaging in this challenging task, experts as they are in a variety of fields ranging from law and public policy, philosophy, sociology, economics, history and political science. Though the authors are among today's leading academics and scholars - from Princeton, Amherst, U Chicago, Stanford, UVA, and so on - this book is quite accessible to the lay reader. In the end, the readers will be left more greatly aware of the breadth of issues implicated in contemporary marriage debates and more capable of participating in civil discourse through evaluating common arguments and advancing his or her own arguments as well.

But this is not to say that the average reader will find each essay in this book extremely rewarding. The essays are all very well written, but unavoidably a reader's own interests will dictate that he or she will find some of these essays more approachable or interesting than others. This is simply the downside of the fact that this book seeks to leave no facet of marriage's significance out of the discussion. Yet the upshot of this same fact is that there is a great deal in this book that will be of value and appeal to everyone with any interest in considering the meaning of marriage.

The Essays:

Foreward by Jean Bethke Elshtain, Laura Spellman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics at the University of Chicago and the Thomas and Dorothy Leavy Chair in the Foundations of American Freedom at Georgetown University

1 - "Sacrilege and Sacrament," by Roger Scruton, professor of philosophy at the University of Buckingham

2 - "What About the Children? Liberal Cautions on Same- Sex Marriage," by Don Browning, Alexander Campbell Professor Emeritus of Religious Ethics and the Social Sociences at the University of Chicago Divinity School and Elizabeth Marquardt, affiliate scholar at the Institute for American Values

3 - "Changing Dynamics of the Family in Recent European History," by Harold James, professor of history at Princeton University

4 - "Why Unilateral Divorce Has No Place in a Free Society," by Jennifer Roback Morse, research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University

5 - "The Framers' Idea of Marriage and Family," by David F. Forte, Charles R. Emrick Jr.-Calfee, Halter & Griswold Endowed Professor of Law at Cleveland State University

6 - "The Family and the Laws," by Hadley Arkes, Edward N. Ney Professor of Jurisprudence and American Institutions at Amherst College

7 - "What's Sex Got to do with It? Marriage, Morality, and Rationality," by Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University

8 - "Soft Despotism and Same-Sex Marriage," by Seana Sugrue, associate professor and chairman of the department of political science at Ave Maria University

9 - "(How) Does Marriage Protect Child Well-Being?" by Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy

10 - "The Current Crisis in Marriage Law, Its Origins, and Its Impact," by Katherine Shaw Spaht, Jules F. and Frances L. Landry Professor of Law at Louisiana State University

11 - "Suffer the Little Children: Marriage the Poor, and the Commonweal" by W. Bradford Wilcox, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Virginia

Dr. George has assmebled an excellent group of contributors to the eponymous subject of the book. The authors answer the question, "how does the marriage of two people of the same sex affect me?" (the "me" being a heterosexual married person) by detailing the major principles on which marriage is based - permanence, fidelity, child-rearing, personal growth - and how same-sex marriage cannot meet them. Apparently the public feels the same way in its overwhelming support of defining marriage to be the union of a man and a woman. The challenge of same-sex marriage has one benefit - that is the stimulation of thoughtful and informed persons to speak out as they do in this collection of essays and bring clarity of answers to questions not previously asked. It should be in the library of every thoughtful citizen.

If you care about the language, you'll find this book invaluable. I like it better than any English grammar book I've seen. Dr. Arnold's book is a remarkably strong, easy-to-understand book. It's a book I always turn to when I am in a crunch with my own writing.

I was a student of Dr. Arnold's at Marshall University, so I'm not completely unbiased. With that said, however, this book, the author aside, is always the first or second book I consult for journalism problems, questions or concerns. Completely different than the AP Stylebook, which focuses more on getting names/places/things correctly identified (read: how to correctly spell and hyphenate "Band-Aid"), this book is a wonderful source for basic English refreshers, such as noun-pronoun agreement, prepositions and sentences and syntax; punctuation, including how and when to use and not use periods, question marks, etc.; and, it includes a terrific "Quick Reference" section detaiing words that are frequently confused and misspelled, such as "over" and "more than," and a section on wordiness and trite expressions, such as not using "first annual." I am still working out of my 1996 edition, and find there are many days I wouldn't make it through without it! Thank you, Dr. Arnold, for your instruction and this wonderful book I'll carry with me throughout my career. (I may even have to update to a more current version?)

I've used Arnold's book since 1997, when I purchased it for a journalism course at Marshall University. If I had known what a valuable resource this book would prove to be, I would have bought several. As a writer, I turn to this book on a regular basis. The pages are worn, the metal binding is bent, but I will never stop using this book. Media Writer's Handbook is a great source for writers and editors in all genres.

Dr. Arnold's book should sit next to any journalist's AP Stylebook. That says a lot about the number of times I've pulled it off my shelf to double-check the use of a verb or just to make sure I'm using the correct word or punctuation for the writing situation at hand.

It's quick, it's easy and it's also a reminder that despite the number of years I've been writing in journalistic style, there's an awful lot of ways to foul up. This book helps make sure I don't embarrass myself.

This is a lovely book. Calligraphy is outstanding.

There really are no words adequate to describe this book. As Handel's music lifts the spirit of the text, Timothy Bott's use of lettering, size, color and placement of words on the page in the description of the text is unique in my experience, in its ability to touch the soul. This is a book you will want to keep close by all year long, to be touched again and again by its inspiring and deeply meaningful expression of the Christmas/Resurrection story.

For those who know and love Handel's immortal oratorio Messiah, this beautifully-designed book is like a heavenly Godsend from above. The calligraphy that Timothy Botts adopts for the different sections of the text is tasteful and appropriate to the Biblical text and the nuances of Handel's music as well. What strikes the reader is that the calligraphy so graphically depicts the words of the oratorio that you don't need to be a Messiah lover to appreciate the calligraphy of the text.
Every page is a feast for the eyes and Botts copes with the demands of the text and the music admirably. For example, in the pages of the Hallelujah Chorus, Botts includes the phrase "For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth" exactly five times, just like in the musical text as we hear it. Also, he uses more florid lettering for the "Rejoice greatly" section of the soprano's aria, with serious lettering for the middle section, "He is the righteous Saviour", just as it should be in the actual oratorio. And in the "For unto us" chorus, you have the cries of "Wonderful Counsellor" in big, bold and flashy letterings at the bottom of the page, with the first part of the chorus building up to those exclamatory declamations. I could go on and on about the examples, but then there are too many to fit into one review. In short, all the different calligraphic styles integrate themselves into the whole work very nicely for a cohesive whole.
The helpful thing about this book is that in addition to the visual feast that Botts provides for us with his tasteful calligraphy, he also has notes on the side of the word-pictures to explain how each different calligraphic style works in relation to the text and the music. Reading these notes, you can see how much thought he put into the word-paintings of this book, so that they matched not only the words but Handel's glorious music as well. The only point of note is that there is a slight inaccuracy in the "Trumpet shall sound" passage, because Botts illustrates the words "For this corruptible must put on incorruptible..." rather than "...must put on incorruption...", but this word-painting still comes across as an effective calligraphic pictorial representation of this verse.
Overall, though, this is an absolutely divine and heavenly Messiah book that can exist both as a companion to Handel's oratorio and as an independent book of its own. It's sad to know that it is out of print, for it could put CD librettos to shame before long. I strongly recommend this otherwise cherishable book to everyone who loves the Handel Messiah, and urge everyone to find a copy to accompany their existing recordings, including Pinnock, Gardiner and Solti.

I am very impressed with this book. Knowing the musical work, it is interesting how he portrays the music into pieces of art other than notes, instruments, and voices. Each and every piece can stand on it's own, and putting them all together is very meaningful. I shared this with my own children to appreciate Handel's work as they listened and looked. I have this out right after Thanksgiving, and leave it out until Easter. Often it is picked up by visitors and becomes a great subject of conversation. It would be a great addition to any home library, as well as a perfect memorial book for a church.

I had this book when I was a wee girl. I bought it for my cousin who is pregnant with the first child of the next generation in our family. This is just the precursor to this kid being spoiled for ever.

My kids grew up with this, and other, George Suyeoka books but Momotaro was by far their favorite. Just the fact that a kid can come from a big fat ripe peach is fun not to mention the talking animals that help out hero Momotaro along the way. A wonderful way to teach respect for ones elders and responsibility for ones community without being too preachy.

This is a classic Japanese story, brightly brought to life by illustrator George Suyeoka.

Momotaro, the Peach Boy, comes into the lives of a childless, elderly couple. They raise Momotaro into a young man and he sets off on a journey to protect the family and village he loves from...well, I'll let you read it (or other reviews).

Young readers will as captivated by the story of good versus evil, just as I was as a young reader. Now, please pass the kibi dango!

This is one of a series of books produced by Island Heritage for the Bank of Hawaii's 75th anniversary in the early 1970's. I got most of the series and they became extremely popular with my young children. To this day they remember them as their favorite books. They are now being read to my grandchildren. If fact one of my children quietly slipped them out of my house recently hoping to gain possesion of them before the siblings became aware thinking no one would miss them. Well, another sibling showed up and wanted to read one of them to her young daughter and they were gone missing. It raised a bit of a stir. They have been returned but I think now I am going to buy them for each of the children for their children. The art work is wonderful and the stories are based on originals tales from Hawaii, Japan and China. The appeal is timeless. Absolutely worth having. Others in the series that you should get include, Seven Magic Orders (very popular) Pua Pua Lena Lena, Momotaro, Issunoboshi, Kama Pua'a.

The book 'more math into Latex' is a good tool which helps somebody without experience in Latex to start using it as soon as possible and reach an adequate level for simple enough articles very fast. I would not be able to judge this book for difficult Latex applications.

I am a LaTeX programmer and instructor. This weekend, I finally had time to read Part I of this book, Short Course, and paged through the other parts.

What a pleasure! Grätzer has an amazing talent to say exactly what is important, without putting in extras that will distract a reader.

You'd think that by this time I'd know enough LaTeX to, at least, get through the Short Course without learning anything new; but instead I ran into trick after trick that I didn't know. I use Beamer but I didn't know FoilTeX, the presentation package used in the Short Course. It's a great idea to let tell users very early on how to make a presentation from their papers, and then leave Beamer for full treatment later.

I very much like Appendix A, holding the reader's hand as LaTeX is installed. Then the three "productivity tools" are introduced, explaining how to use these tools on both platforms, and leaving the rest of the user interface for later, leisurely exploration, making it really quick for users to start using LaTeX.

Very early in the introduction, Grätzer talks about "the three layers" (TeX, LaTeX, and the AMS packages) and, from the beginning, use all three seamlessly. This is a radical new idea. It will substantially reduce the learning curve -- my students will appreciate it. The wonderful foreword by Rainer Schöpf (one of the two lead programmers of AMS-LaTeX) makes the role of the AMS packages clear in the historical development of modern LaTeX.

I really like the way you got to "Lines too wide" so early in the Short Course, explaining to the user the cause of the problem and solutions. Why do most books postpone this?

I better not go on and on. Just wanted to write these few lines about my enjoyment as I read this wonderful material.

I was a graduate student in math and faced the daunting task of typing my thesis. It was bad enough that I was inexperienced in writing math, but I was also a novice in LaTeX.

I tried two well-known books. In one, there is a Part I, Basics. This is for me, I thought. Unfortunately, it is 200 pages long and does not cover such elementary topics as the "cases" structure. For that, I had to go to page 288. The other book had "cases" hidden on page 238, under the title "Matrix like environments". Not very helpful.

What a relief it was when I came across this book. It helped me set up LaTeX on my Dell notebook (why do other books assume that you already have a LaTeX installation?). Then I downloaded the sample files as instructed and read the really easy 60 page Part I (Short Course). I worked through the text and examples in less than a day. Then I started writing my thesis.

In my spare time, I gave the rest of the book a cursory reading. Occasionally, I need to go beyond what is covered in the Short Course. For instance, as an analyst, I need complicated integrals not covered in Part I. (They are easy to find: in Part II, in the chapter on typing math.) And when the time came to give a presentation on my thesis, I went beyond the Short Course's section on presentations to Chapter 14, and I used Beamer!

Everybody was impressed.

Now I am Jim Whitby Ph.D. Thank you George for the help.

If you are a beginner, this is the your book.

What new can I write about a book that is in its fourth edition, and has served the LaTeX community for almost two decades?

There is a new chapter on presentations and an appendix on installing LaTeX on a PC and on a Mac, so you get help from the get go. Also, for the first time, this book merges TeX, LaTeX, and the AMS packages into one, smoothing the learning curve for beginner and advanced user alike.

If you are new to this book, I should start by pointing out that you get two for the price of one. A sixty page Short Course gets you ready to type your first article in an afternoon or two. The plentiful sample files help you get started fast.

The rest of the book presents a detailed survey of LaTeX: how to type text and math, document structure, presentations, customization, and long documents.

Gratzer teaches by example: each new concept is introduced with examples and sample documents, so you learn by doing.

Multiline math formulas is the most difficult topic of LaTeX. This is the only LaTeX book that dedicates 40 pages to this topic, trying to make it accessible with a Visual Guide and a verbal guide of how these multiline structures can be classified and understood.

Gratzer teaches by distilling the most important information you need. For instance, Beamer, the presentation class he presents, has hundreds of commands and its documentation runs to hundreds of pages. The Beamer chapter selects twenty commands, so you should be on your way writing your first presentation in hours not weeks.

This book has served me well when I started, and it is my constant companion, placed next to my computer when I type LaTeX.

The first time I read Feifer's book, I was 14 years old. I read it again this summer, after I had returned from Russia, a trip that "Moscow Farewell" helped inspire. The book is so brilliant, so accurate, so timeless that some 30+ years later, the paralells between his life in Moscow and mine in St. Petersburg are eerie. It is a story that lives in your imagination and your heart, and I often find myself wondering about George and his life after the book ends...

Fantastic, I have been in moscow for 5 years and been working, meeting people and got the street-pulse. George Feifer's book is showing the russian's mentality with happiness and large respect. The russian people is a proud people who has been through some hard times and Mr Feifer lets you know how they got by. Today Soviet is Russia, but a lot is still the same, still true...The book is very up lifting, I lift my hat off to you George...

I think this book is great. Plus, George Feifer is awesome. He's a friend of the family and he's definitely one of the coolest guys I know. And coming from a teenager, that's a lot. Well, anyways, everyone should definitely read this book. You won't regret it.

This fantastic book offers a wonderful view of a young man experiencing life to its fullest--in Soviet Moscow. Extremely well-written, funny, and insightful, it shares its best qualities with those in Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye," Roth's "Portnoy's Complaint," and Kerouac's "On the Road." Reading this book will make you feel good. It is a book for everyone.

I just read this book yesterday. I thought it was both cute and interesting. I have always found that books involving people caring for animals in trouble are good and this one is great for younger kids.

Warmly written, based on fact, beautiful art, great for girls

This is the story of Helen Martini, the first woman zookeeper. Helen and her husband (an employee of the Bronx Zoo), took in tiger cubs to care for them. This led to Helen opening the first animal nursery in a zoo. She is credited with raising 27 cubs, when no cubs had successfully been raised in a zoo before. This book is easy for students to connect with, because children of all ages have prior knowledge with animals and zoos. The author's illustrations depict animals bringing joy and color to the character's lives to fill the void of their not being able to have children. This book would be a great addition to a theme unit on women's history.

This remarkable book tells the story of Helen Martini, founder of the Bronx Zoo's animal nursery in 1944 and its first woman zookeeper. Helen and her husband, Fred really wanted children. They lost their first child and Helen couldn't have any more. They began to fill their lives with pets. Fred found a job in the Bronx Zoo. He often took home some baby tigers and Helen cared for them just like she would care for a human baby. This lead to her setting up a nursery at the zoo to care for lots of baby animals. This story will be adored by both children and adults.

I read these books as a child, I loved them, am saving them for X-mas for my grandson.

These stories have quickly become a bed-time necessity in our house for my 4 year old who now requests them by character. The only draw back is the excessive number of typos in the copy - reddy fox becomes reddy fix, etc. Once you've read them as much as I have, they are quickly overlooked, but the warning is nice to have!

Mother West Wind's Children introduces you to the inhabitants of the world - the meadow, forest and stream - that Thornton W. Burgess created for children. He wrote a number of books, telling the adventures of each character separately, with most of the others appearing in each book. I was thrilled to find that this world enchants today's youngsters. I cannot recommend this book, and, really, all of Thornton W. Burgess' books too highly. If you give them or read them to a child, they will be left with warm memories of all these animals for a lifetime, as well as getting the life lessons that are woven into all real literature, which this is.

This book of short stories is an easy read for an upper elementary school child who will not even realize the life-lessons he is learning as he reads of the adventures of Peter Rabbit, Bobby Coon, the Merry Little Breezes, and the rest of the gang. My eleven year old son read it and enjoyed it.

For a read aloud, this book could be read to children as young as a mature three-year-old and certainly would be enjoyed by four to six-year-olds and older children. Since the stories are short and there are a few pictures, and since the action is happening to and by the animals, these stories have no trouble holding a young child's attention. My almost four year old was able to follow along.

Have your child dictate to you or write his own "meadow story" after being inspired by these and you have an excellent learning resource.

Summary: I enjoyed these stories even more than the original, _Old Mother West Wind_. I recommend _Mother West Wind's Children_ be added to your home library.

I remember my librairian reading this and the other west wind books at my elementary school library around 1971-73. Even though we were the children of the Flintstones, Fat Albert, Sesame Street, and the Electric Company, we had a great love for these gentle and moving stories. In particular, my favorite of the west wind tales appear in this book, "The Most beautiful Thing In the World." This was where the animals gathered in a rush to see "the most beautiful thing in the world" which was in a nearby field. What was it? Read this book and you'll see.

My dad read all of Thornton W. Burgess books to me as a child and now I read them to my daughter she loves them and I still love them myself. You cant go wrong reading any of his work. Wish there were more books like this today.

After 40 year, I just reread the series. By todays standards, the books are a little old fashioned, but manners & obedience never go out of style. Besides, kids learn alot about how different wild animals live.

My dad read all of Thornton W. Burgess books to me as a child and now I read them to my daughter she loves them and I still love them myself. You cant go wrong reading any of his work. Wish there were more books like this today.