Morrison Books

You know a book's worth when you read the last few pages very slowly hoping it will never end and just go on and on. Dr. Robert Morrison's book inspired me, like I try to do with my students, to always strive to be the "best you can". Even if you fall short sometimes, it's the striving that counts. Dr. Bob is truly an inspiration to millions of people with poor vision and especially contact lens wearers. The bottom line is, HE CARES. About the poor people in undeveloped nations, the royalty around the globe and the common person who has a vision problem and needs help from a master. I will never forget this book, and more importantly the man, Dr. Bob, who strived and succeeded in " making a difference " in life. I pray everyday that my high school students become the Jane Goodalls and Bob Morrisons of the future and straighten out some wrinkles in a troubled earth. Read this book.

Who is this guy? Why is he important? George Ernest Morrison is best known as the Peking correspondent for the Times of London during the fast changing early years of the 20th Century.

From an historical perspective, perhaps the most useful part of this book is the section that describes the relationship between Morrison and Yuan Shikai after Morrison became a consultant to the Chinese government, which basically made him a special assistant to Yuan.

But the writers of this book are not historians. History is not their strong point. They are journalists, so their strength, really, is in telling stories. Sometimes, though, the stories exist in isolation, because the authors do not have a good grasp of the historical context. For example, they talk about how the missionaries preached a message that was antithetical to Chinese culture (God sending his only Son to be killed), and quote Morrison on the futility of the missionaries' efforts:

"Poor thing, it made me sad to talk to her. In England she lived in a bright and happy home with brothers and sisters in a charming climate. She was always well and full of life and vigor, surrounded by all that can make life worth living. In China she is never well; she is anemic and apprehensive; she has nervous headaches and neuralgia; her only relaxation is taking her temperature; her only diversion a prayer meeting...Her lover, a refined English gentleman who is also in the mission, lives a week's journey away in Chungking. In England he was full of strength and vigor, fond of boating and a good lawn tennis player. In China he is always ill, anemic, wasted and dyspeptic. But more agonizing than his bad health is the horrible reality of the unavailing sacrifice he is making--no converts but 'outcasts subsidized to forsake their family altars.' No man with a healthy brain can discern 'blessing' in the work of these two missionaries."

For Morrison, a man who was not particularly religious, to conclude that the work of the missionaries was futile, is at least understandable. But the authors should have the benefit of history (or would if they knew it). David Aikman, former Beijing bureau chief for Time Magazine, estimates the number of Christians to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 million. Official government estimates are lower, because they only tabulate members of government approved churches, but most Christians in China meet informally in "family churches." Christianity is literally exploding in China, growing significantly faster than in the West. Clearly, the short term sacrifice endured by 19 Century missionaries produced a long term gain beyond what even they could have imagined. Morrison perhaps lived too close to the time to see it, but the authors of the book have no such excuse. This is not to take away from their skill as reporters. They are good story tellers, but the sloppiness of their history is distracting. These guys have obviously read a lot of books about Morrison, but they don't know that much about China.

Nevertheless, as mentioned previously, the end of the book does provide some insight into the relationship between Morrison and Yuan Shikai, which means that we learn something of the personal life and foibles of Yuan, who was the pivotal figure in the transition from monarchy to republic--a transition of which he was the all too reluctant and conflicted facilitator.

Yuan Shikai had been a general officer under the Empress dowager, but went along with the 1911 revolution presumably because he believed in the reform it promised, but possibly because he saw it as means for realizing his own power ambitions. Although Sun Yat-sen is often referred to as the first president of China, his service was never more than provisional (which is probably a good thing). His provisional term of office (three months) was prescribed an agreed to before he ever took office.

But the strongest indication that Yuan Shikai was not a true reformer was that he himself actually tried to restore the empire with himself as emperor. It lasted for 83 days, and so disgusted the people, that it proved to be the last desperate self-destructive act of a man destined for oblivion. His ill-fated attempt is exemplified by the arrangement of himself and his concubines on the thrones of empire. Morrison describes the pathetic scene:

"Yuan sitting with his crown; three crowns at his side for the first, second and third wives on descending levels. First wife came in arrayed; kowtowed; took her proper seat. Long delay and second wife (the Korean wife) failed to come. Send for peremptorily. She came in but refused to take her seat saying Yuan has promised her a throne on the same level as the Number One. Hearing this, Number One jumped down from the throne and went for Number Two with her fingers. The Master of Ceremonies, Wang Kan-nien was supervising the Enthronement but he could not lay impious hands on the struggling Empresses, whereupon Yuan waddled down from the throne and tried to separate the two combatants. Order was finally restored but the rehearsal was postponed."

As this book is limited in scope, it could be somewhat confusing if you have never read anything about the Minguo period. But if you are somewhat familiar with the time and events, the book does add insight into the character of Yuan, and to a lesser extent, Sun Yat-sen, and the way they were viewed by their contemporaries.

I puchased this book for some research I am doing on my family. It was a surprisingly well written and at time very humorous. There is an intro by Morrison on Heth's life (pronounced Heath in Virginia) followed by the Memoir. The first part is about his youth and his years at West Point. I found myself laughing as Heth told of the pranks and highjinks he was involed in. How he did not get expelled is amazing. He gives a behind the scenes view of famous Generals such as Burnside, Hancock, and Grant with quite a few funny stories.
After graduation he goes to Mexico in the tail end of the Mexican War and has little use for the people of Mexico, but loves the country. Later he is assigned to the frontier and some great tales of his exploits there. He is involved in the Morman War and has a low opinion of them too.
Much of the book concerns the Civil War, as one would imagine. Early in the War, in 1861 he is assigned to the brigade of Gen. John Floyd who Heth gives one of the great jabs of the war,"He is as incapacitated for command as I am to lead an Italian Opera". He does gloss over his failures, as many do and gives the famous reason for going into Gettysburg that no one has ever given-shoes.
At Appomattox, he is summoned to see Grant and they talk about old times. After the war he rekindles his friendships with Burnsides, Hancock and others. All in all it is a gem of a book and worth reading for the personel sides of some famous people, usually in a amusing context.

Van Morrison is a great artist with many talents. His songs are deeply composed and the lyrics puts you at ease, it relaxes you and encourages thought about the world around us. The beauty of our world and the enviroment in which we live in is precious

...by a master expositor. They are heavily edited, but still the gospel power shines thru from this book.
Morrison was well known in his age. Virtually unknown today. Warren Weirsby wrote highly of him.

Morrison wrote a very excellent introductory text on multivariate analysis. I read the version that was published in the 1980s. As with many general books it does not cover all topics in depth. Also any book from the 1980s misses out on some of the more recent developments and new approaches. As this is the fourth edition published in 2004 it probably is more up to date then the version I have. Duxbury is a new publisher for this book and the fact that it has reached a fourth edition is a sign that it is a very popular book. I believe McGraw Hill was the original publisher.

This is a fairly comprehensive look at one of the most prolific product designers today. The conceptual drive of Naoto Fukasawa's work is incredibly inspiring and seeing his projects and prototypes displayed in a, roughly, 9 by 10 inch format is great for visual reference.

This was a great book. I think it's very impportant for many to read this book at come time. Milkman learned many important life lessons that we all need to learn. I enjoyed her style of writing, she is a great author. She used many excellent writing techniques, such as, the motif of "flying" to create symbolism and imagery.

In *Origins of the New South*, his famous history of the transformation of the American South after reconstruction, C. Vann Woodward briefly mentions the rebellion of Tennessee coal miners against the use of convict labor, largely African-Americans, by mine owners. These miners, many of them recently arrived from tiny rural farms elsewhere in Tennessee and Kentucky, were an unsung constituency of the populist movement that roiled tensions between capital and labor during the Gilded Age.

In her fascinating new book, Karin Shapiro has answered Woodward's call and written a comprehensive study of this nineteenth-century miner's revolt. It is a story--this in itself is one of the book's most appealing features--of how the miners of Coal Creek, in Anderson County, Tennessee, fashioned a revolt based on ideals of rights and solidarity.

The book's themes are unusually rich. The relations some white miners were able to establish with black convict laborers are explored. The Tennessee strikers were committed to obtaining justice through non-violent, political means. Most important, the coal miners were able to win many immediate battles but not achieve their ultimate goal. They wanted to participate in a new industrial order without abandoning their Jacksonian ambition of becoming independent property owners and therefore truly "free" men. Like populists elsewhere, their seemingly radical demands were rooted in conservative beliefs. Their ideas were enormously powerful for sustaining a local uprising but less successful in holding back the emerging corporate organization of capital.

Thanks to its clear prose, moving narrative, and glimpses of the human cost of these strikes, Shapiro's book will engage the general reader as well as the serious historian. Southern, labor, economic, and African-American historians will want to add the book to their collections. Both experts and lay readers with a deep interest in the South are greatly in Shapiro's debt.

Robert Morrison's edition of de Quincey's various essays on murder is in keeping with the tradition of Oxford classics one of the best available - the text, as far as I can determine, is accurate and the footnotes informative. The major flaw is that Morrison, in his introductory materials as well as footnotes, consistently treats the guilt of John Williams in the Ratcliffe Highway murders and his "suicide" at Newgate as matters of proven fact. In their 1990 book "The Maul and the Pear Tree," the most recent historical look at the murders. P.D. James and T.A. Critchley make a strong case that Williams was in fact as much an innocent victim as those murdered and that his convenient "suicide" was a murder carried out by incompetent, corrupt local police (remember, this was well before the days of Scotland Yard) who were worried that if WIlliams got a chance in court to recuse the "confession" into which he had been bullied, public outrage over the murders would turn against them instead (James and Critchley suggest the real killer may have been "Long Billy" Amplas, a merchant sailor of criminal habits and homicidal temper known to have been in the vicinity of both crimes, but admit that at this point the trail is too cold to be sure). Morrison was aware of "The Maul and the Peartree," since he quotes it in a footnote, but apparently ignored its carefully-reasoned conclusions, possibly because it would have been less compelling to present de Quincey's work while noting that it may have been based on a blatant miscarriage of justice.