Pitt Books

This book gives an excellent account of the events that took place at the University Pitt Club during the period 1835-1935. It also provided an interesting insight into the early relationship between the U.P.C. and the local Conservative party. Up until the 1870's the U.P.C. was a political society for fellow Tories to debate the issues of the time. From the 1870's onwards the club became 'apolitical' (although members were virtually always Conservative in their views) and served as a 'gentleman's club' in much the same way as White's, Brooks etc.

Interestingly, the U.P.C. was founded at a time i.e. 1835 when most Pitt Clubs were being closed down. Walter Morley-Fletcher didn't try to explain why this was the case; it would be good if a second edition were to be published that an explanation for this be sought.

All in all I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of the U.P.C.

Rev. Pitts, in a powerful sermon before Congress (1857), presents convincing evidence that the United States of America is the providential "great nation" to arise in the latter days, possessing the "only true religion, and a divinely sanctioned form of civil government." He explains that this land, according to Scripture, must be a vast land, able to accommodate the multitudes of Israelites that would be regathered here (Deut.32:8; Isa. 49:19-23; Isa. 54:1-3,4-8, etc). He clearly points out that God had a divine destination, an appointed land (America), where His people would form a nation with a divine mission to be "a city set on a hill" (witness of Christ to the world). He further reveals that this nation would not be perfect, (example, kingdom parable of Matt. 13, the tares among the wheat), as ancient Israel was imperfect, but would eventually be cleansed at the end of this age. Pastor F.E. Pitts, along with additional commentary by E. Raymond Capt, present a wealth of evidence from Scripture confirming that America alone possesses the identifying marks of Israel in the latter days. If readers would be interested in another book on this subject, I would recommend Stone Kingdom, a recently published book by E. Raymond Capt, in which he demonstrates that America is the fifth and final kingdom of Daniel, chapter 2.

Mackesy has helped open up a hitherto largely mysterious period in the life of Pitt the Younger. He has traced motives, actions and events using sources and determination and presented a largely convincing case for his account of why Pitt resigned and what happened in the immediate months following. It will lead historians to reconsider the accepted opinion regarding Pitt's resignation and the accession of Addington et al.

This volume investigates what in 1992 was, and today remains, a vexing issue: Are computers likely to make us more or less literate. Part of the answer (as any reader of A PREFACE to LITERACY might anticipate) depends on how one defines literacy, with the new proviso here, that computer technology is actively reshaping that very understanding. WORD PERFECT attempts to recount a grand struggle between two competing models of literacy--one grounded in deep, silent reading of industrial culture and an much more interactive, at times frenetic literacy grounded in the latest, graphic-based information technology. While much of the text is cautionary, especially when it comes to the utopian idealism of so many advocates of the new, the final chapter, "Imagining the Future," weighs just what we may gain as well as loose in this struggle, noting in detail the real limits of the best literacy practices of the recent past. Despite the hype for the new, mostly from pedagogic radicals, the future may not promise perfection; but traditionalists also need to face up to the limits of reading and writing practices that are deeply, if unknowingly, implicated in limits of industrial culture itself.

I own all six of the books in this series and find them to be extremely useful and effective. My students ask for these lessons. The books range from Beginner, Book 1 to Advanced, Book 6. I like the fact that at the beginning of each unit there is a word chart that gives all the forms of each base word studied. For instance,if the word, "effect" is being studied, "effective", "effectively", and "effectiveness" are also included. Each word is defined and an example given, and followed with exercises. I often assign these lessons as pair work.

This was the first of the Time-Life series for me and, in retrospect after about 18 volumes, still the best.

Included are the usual Time-Life collection of hundreds of photographs, illustrations, wonderful color artwork, and maps that supplement clear and interesting narratives.

Amazon has this volume listed quite a few different times so finding a bargain is easy.

Collaboratively edited by Cynthia Simmons (Associate Professor of Slavic Studies, Boston College) and Nina Perlina (Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Indiana University - and herself a child survivor of the Siege of Leningrad), Writing The Siege Of Leningrad: Women's Diaries, Memoirs, And Documentary Prose is an impressive compilation of writings by Russian women who struggled and suffered during Siege of Leningrad by German and Finnish troops during World War II. Focusing on the civilian experience from the women's perspective, experiences which ranged from replacing the men who died in industrial labor, to somehow keeping families together, and weathering immense casualties due to bloodshed, starvation and a bitter winter, Writing The Siege Of Leningrad is an profoundly important, deeply moving, insightful collection of human experience and a strongly recommended addition to Russian History, European Studies, and Women's Studies supplemental reading lists and academic reference collections.

This collection of Tocqueville's essays concerning the colonization of Algeria and slavery are useful in forming a historical analysis of North Africa and for civil rights analysis, but I found it to be very insightful in regards to modern policy analysis, too.

Tocqueville very articulate about his desires for France's occupation of Algeria. Although he begins steadfastly in favor of colonization and never totally abandons that position, the nature of France's method of occupation heavily criticized. At one point, Tocqueville paints a strangely accurate picture of the state of the region after colonization. The description ends with "we have made Muslim society much more miserable, more disordered, more ignorant, and more barbarous than it had been before knowing us."

By describing colonial Algeria in terms of its utility to France, Tocqueville reminds us that misuing other nations still impacts our own welfare. By pointing out French abuses of themselves, he reminds us that our own welfare is not the only important goal. In the end, the lesson he teaches is that we are interconnected. No one empire can pay attention only to local issues.

It is true that Tocqueville was not for granting equal rights, or even citizenship, to natives...nor was he in favor of ending colonialism in any way. Rather, his comments worked within the system to encourage a more tolerant, more effective, means of working with natives. His plan did not succeed. Frances heavy-handed ways ultimately ended in a violent overthrow of the French regime. Algeria, like many Muslim colonies, is more barbaric and less educated now than before European rule.

With the US attacks on Afghanistan and continued military presence in Saudi Arabia, one hopes that we may learn the lessons offered by Tocqueville more readily than did the French.

I am a friend of the author, but I wouldn't read a book that didn't hold my interest and shed some light on the Yucatec Maya. This book did both.

The 19th century Maya are every bit as fascinating as were their ancient ancestors and the million of so Maya who live today. Weren't aware of that? That's a shame because the Maya saga continues to unfold and Sullivan is a person who understands it intimately.

An Irish-American hacienda owner is murdered at his remote plantation in northern Yucatan, not far from present-day Cancun.
Sullivan knows how he was killed and who killed him, rebellious Maya who lived (and still live) in the region south of Cancun.

But why was Stephens killed? This is the task Sullivan sets for himself. The intrigues, political and economic, are complex and twisted. They rise from the level of regional Yucatan squabbles right up to the United States' president, Ulysses Grant.

Sullivan documents his information with care (his notes are good reading themselves), but this book reads like a thriller. To know something about the Maya and their history is to gain a better grasp of how people and their culture evolve. I recommend this book.

Ehrman covers the time of The French Wars from the point of view of Pitt and the domestic scene in Britain. The times and troubles of the emerging Industrial nation are captured as are Pitt's fears and concerns. The chapters are thorough and well written, a mass of detail and scholarly work. A recommended work on the period.