Hart Books

This book ought to be on the shelves of every high school and college student in America. Barring a reprint, I recommend purchasing a used copy as soon as one comes available. Hart reconstructs for the reader the American experience and explains events of history as they interceded with people of faith (and those whose faith has been in doubt or discredited). Hart understands, as our founders did, that character is in fact important in both the life of a laborer and the lives of those holding the public trust, and he uses uncanny insight to relay how that faith affected the actions of our forefathers. From Plymouth Rock and Jamestown to the Salem Witch Trials, the Declaration of Independence and beyond, Hart honestly tells the tale of America, and perhaps unknowingly provides the keys to rediscovering the qualities that made this nation at one time the most envied culture in the world.

This is a lovely publication on hand fans. It gives a concise and accurate history of fans - including some new information. It concentrates on European fans up to the early 20th century and is beautifully illustrated with examples from the Victoria and Albert musuem in London. If you are interested in fans either as a costume accessory, or because you collect them this book is worth adding to your collection.

I first read this as a grade-schooler, as the condensed version in Reader's Digest, and later found the full edition at a book fair. It is one of the most fascinating, and frightening, books I have ever read.

Paul Ehrlich's "The Population Bomb" postulated a worldwide pandemic of this disease which killed off 1/4 of the earth's population a la "The Stand", but it would not happen this way; the virus mutates and weakens too readily.

Some other updates on key players in this book:

Rose and Lily "Penny" Pinneo are retired and live together in Sebring, Florida.
Dr. John Hamer and his wife, Elsie, live in Fort Wayne, Indiana and recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
Dr. Wilbur Downs died a few years ago.
The author, John Fuller, died in 1991.
I was unable to find Dr. Sonja Buckley online. (Edit, 3/2/06: Dr. Buckley died in 2005.)
Jos, Nigeria is in the throes of civil war. Nigeria has not been affected by AIDS as profoundly as other African countries, but it is a significant problem.

The book is a relatively quick and easy read. Although it is out of print, it is not hard to find.

Most especially that of my mother, Victoria Givotovsky, in my totally unbiased, scholarly and fully substantiated estimation. It was standing room only at her last reading, and then they stayed to ask questions. Give it a read, poetry people! Then write the kind of real review that it fully deserves!

The story of a young slave girl, who was left to be raised by her grandmother, wants to find her mother more than anything in the world. The mystery of why her mother left her and the joys and tribulations of newly found freedom, make this book riveting! I cried while I read this book. I would highly recommend this book to all readers, not just 9-12 year olds.

Without Captain FitzRoy, there would have been no voyage of HMS Beagle to take Charles Darwin around the world in the 1830s and launch Darwin's career as a first-rate naturalist.

Darwin's scientific career eclipsed FitzRoy's soon after their joint publication of the <> following the voyage, and decades later Darwin's masterpiece <> would revolutionize biology in 1859.

But in 1831, it was FitzRoy's insistence that he would fulfill his solemn promise to return three Fuegian natives to Tierra del Fuego, even if it meant taking leave from the Royal Navy and spending his entire personal fortune to fund the voyage, that led the Admiralty to commission a second surveying voyage to Patagonia and the Straits of Magellan, with FitzRoy again in command. It was also FitzRoy's idea to bring a Cambridge-educated naturalist on the voyage to enhance its scientific value.

And it was young (Note 1) Captain FitzRoy's extreme competence as a master mariner, navigator, surveyor, and meteorologist that enabled the Beagle's safe return from months of intense surveying in the treacherous tides, mercurial weather and brutal storms that haunt the tip of South America. A lesser--or laxer--seaman could easily have sailed Darwin to his doom in a watery grave.

But--as this excellent biography shows clearly--the very strengths of character that made FitzRoy the ideal captain for the Beagle voyage proved time and again to be his Achilles heel in his later assignments. For example, the same decisiveness, independence of action, rigid discipline and unbending sense of personal honor that had served him so well aboard the Beagle tripped him up when his career moved into the political world as Governor-General of New Zealand in the 1840s. There, the sensible--though controversial--actions he took on his own authority in difficult situations gave his party's political enemies the excuse they needed to have him recalled to England and replaced with a less independent officer.

If you want to understand the man who gave Darwin his biggest break, or if you're already a fan of Magellan, Drake, Cook and other great explorers from the Age of Sail, then you won't want to miss this magnificent, sensitive biography of a too-often-slighted man of science and action.

Note 1: Charles Darwin (1809-1882) and Robert FitzRoy (1805-1861) were both still in their twenties at the start of the famous voyage. In 1831, Darwin was 22, having just graduated from Cambridge University. Captain FitzRoy was a 26-year-old aristocrat who had graduated with high honors from the new Royal Naval College and had excelled in his previous assignments as a naval officer.

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..."Born at Ampton Hall, Euston, Suffolk on July 5, 1805, Robert FitzRoy was a fourth-great grandson of Charles II. Graduating with great distinction from the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, he entered the Royal Navy on 19 October 1819 and was commissioned on 7 September 1824. On a voyage to South America he was given command of the Beagle on the suicide of its captain, completed the surveying mission and returned to England.

His request for a second surveying mission to the region was eventually granted in 1831 by the Naval Hydrographer, Francis Beaufort, who used his connections to obtain a companion for FitzRoy on the voyage, Charles Darwin.

"The Beagle was heavily instrumented for the voyage, including several chronometers. The ship also carried barometers, which FitzRoy used to good effect in short term weather forecasting. It was the first voyage with sailing orders that wind observations should be taken using the Beaufort wind scale.

"The voyage, completed in October 1836 after a global ircumnavigation, was highly successful for its surveying. Look on a map for the Beagle Channel and FitzRoy Range. Darwin's findings are well nown...

"[FitzRoy] served as a Member of Parliament for Durham in 1841, and as Governor General of New Zealand. In 1854 he was appointed to head a new department that became the British Meteorological Office. ..."

I recently had the opportunity to read a wonderful book called Flandari's Heirs by D. Hart St. Martin. The story of how the Novice Ann must assume a new life, all of her trials and tribulations along the way, as well as the other very interesting characters involved, pulled me right in and held my interest from start to finish. The time, place, and characters were all fascinating and filled with action throughout this beautifully written book. I think D. Hart St. Martin has found her voice and am very happy that she shared it with her readers. Flandari's Heirs is well worth reading. St. Martin opened up a fascinating new world for me and I eagerly await this authors next book.

I have read a number of different books on where to fish in the Virginia area and loved the coverage here. I typically do not go back to the same place in the same season in order to spread the pressure. David's book provided a large number of options that allow the reader to go to a new place each week and still have places left over for the next season. He includes hatch charts, directions as well as local references on hotels and restaurants. The info is up to date with the 2006 revision. Good work!

This book is a brilliant burst of poetic prose, with some sentences having such remarkable images that I had to copy them down to keep for life. It retells the period from 1969-1971 in Kate Millett's life, when she was roughly treated as the cover subject of Time on Aug. 31, 1970. It details the early feminist movement and its opposition by the reactionary male right.
It also speaks graphically of her sexual encounters with both men and women, but always poetically and tastefully. I think it's one of the best books of the last half of the twentieth century. I would recommend it to anyone, but I'll never lend out my copy: That stays in my house forever for frequent future reference.

This is a unique book with 3-dimensional illustrations of children's stories. It is easy for any teacher to master. Marj Hart has two new books out from Grace Publications, which also have clever 3-dimensional paper crafts: "Bible Stories, Crafts and More", and "Old Testament and New Testament." Helpful and fun for Sunday School teachers.