Richard Books

Fantastic collection of important works and thoughts. Intelligent and insightful commentary explains background and significance of each entry.

What a breath of fresh air, in these times of alt.med. vitalistic spiritistic woo, to hear an actual scientist state how nonscientific vitalism and dualism actually are, and I quote:

"life is the execution of programs written using a small digital alphabet in a single, universal machine language. This realization was the hammer blow that knocked the last nail in the coffin of vitalism and, by extension, of dualism. The hammer was wielded, with undisguised youthful relish, by James Watson and Francis Crick [p.030...] for me, the greatest achievement of Watson and Crick was to turn genetics from a branch of wet and squishy physiology into a branch of information technology, in the process slaying, as I suggested above, the ghost of vitalism [p.226]."

-r.c.

Richard Dawkins has become something of an institution with his interest in biology, atheism, evolution, creationism, and religion. Its a great joy to review one of his books without having to worry about offending the proponents of creationism and intelligent design.

Dawkins has put together a wonderful collection of short essays on various aspects of science by a wide range of people known primarily as practicing scientists rather than writers on science.

This collection requires a bit of scientific knowledge. Like most collections, you may not enjoy all the essays. But it is a great joy to read an essay or two, and save the rest for later.

Robert C. Ross 2008

This book is a must read for every science lover. Moreover for every person who is truly interested about the wonders, mysteries and surprises of science. A book of intellectual honesty that should belong to any private or public library.

Folks often wonder where the scientists draw the energy to spend all those hours studying descriptive models and terminology about the natural world. The answer is in this book!

Personally, I believe we are all born curious investegators. why and how are facinating topics. But about some time in middle school, we enounter science out of the context of spirited, enjoyable curiosity. The education system serves us a bitter dish for this delightful subject of science. Most agree, it's hard to learn something you don't care for. People lose the care, thus losing the affinity for it and then they grow up looking at a scientist as elitist overacheivers.

This book aims to open your eyes and remind you of that spirited curiosity, that maybe science might become a bigger part of your life..because unadulterated curiosity is the key to learning science.

I have purchased many books on web site design and usability, most of them more expensive than this one, and yet this book is the one with worn pages because I go back to it again and again. Many "how to" books give you plenty of tips but never tell you what to do with them. Not this one! This book gives you sound, no-nonsense advice about what works on web sites and what doesn't. Part 1 clearly explains the "hows and whys" of crucial web site elements, while Part 2 tells you how to put what you learned in action. And as if that's not enough, you also get real life examples of how it all comes together, whether you're selling products, are a one-person show working out of a home office, or a large corporation. I was so impressed with the level of knowledge demonstrated in this book that I recently participated in Marcia Yudkin's (the author's) Web Marketing Makeover mentoring program. If you want your web site to bring in business you should read this book and religiously apply what you learn.

There are so many books on designing websites available today that it is easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume. Among these it is rare to find one that really stands out from the crowd. Marcia Yudkin's "Website Marketing Makeover" is an exception to this rule. She avoids a lot of the fluff that tends to be in other books and gets right down to the nitty-gritty of website design. One of the things that I particularly liked about the book is that she not only provides advice but also provides the means to actually accomplish the goal. For example, most of the website design books discus the need to see what your website looks like using different browsers. Marcia's book also makes this very important point. However, she not only makes the point but also points the reader to software and websites that can help determine what your website looks like in different browsers. When other books are saying what to do without telling you how to do it, Marcia is showing you how.

From beginning to end, Marcia lucidly explains what works, what doesn't work, and why. Although it is predominantly focused on how to "turn visitors into buyers" and so is most appropriate for a site that sells something, there is a lot of information that is also appropriate for any site including purely informational ones. "Poor Richard's Website Marketing Makeover" is a highly recommended read for anyone looking to create or improve their website.

I don't normally do reviews or read work-related books, so this has been an interesting process. After all, I sweated through college, marketing qualifications and I've run an internet business for three years, so why do I need to read what some American who I've never heard of thinks - after all, its not really relevant to a UK-based business... Wrong!

What a great book - I had to keep putting it down to make notes on changes needed for my sites. Marcia thinks about this stuff all the time, whereas most of us don't, and she really takes apart the whole site and marketing process. It's all about the detail, about how the site visitor sees our offer, one that we are over-familiar with but so often fail to get over in a few seconds. It is when you realise how massively you could increase the return on your objectives by making simple changes (what are the objectives of your website, by the way?) that you realise the power of this book.

Marcia takes you though all the elements of your site, step by step - why you have one, what you want it to do, the copy, design, style and real nuts-and-bolts stuff. Throughout she illustrates her point with screen shots of hundreds of sites - and there are some very well known ones in there that still fail to fully exploit the opportunity. Plus, a selection of make-overs - some seem minor, but have documented results, for example, $24,000 of extra sales in one month. Her style is very open, non-technical and moves at a pace that doesn't make assumptions on acronyms, jargon and your physical location - so often US books seem irrelevant to overseas readers. There are also lots of references to further reading, for example, on copy-writing, too many sites just lift pre-approved copy from printed brochures that fails in a new medium.

So, who should read it? Me, again, for a start. With specialist sections or even whole chapters for professional practices, membership or charitable organisations, local small businesses like B&Bs, organisations selling single or multiple products, there really is something for everyone. If you're the owner of a business, or the person that's directly responsible for websites in a business, you'll find it a useful read. Why not buy it for a colleague to read and report back on if you can't spare the time yourself? And the key point is change will not cost big money, so you really can see a return on modest spending - a couple of hundred pounds will make a difference to most sites. Perhaps that's the acid test of the book: whether you actually do anything after reading it that in turn actually pays off. If you don't do anything at all, then I think you've missed the point.

One thing that may put you off is the legend `Poor Richard's' across the top of the book and the cover style - I've no idea who Richard is, nor his pecuniary standing and the folksy cover may suggest the book's audience is low-budget, but this does it a disservice. Its also not expensive - ...

So, in summary, the chapters that make up 200 pages of readable and thought-provoking writing, are organised in two parts - site elements and then implementation. I make no apologies for including the chapter headings as they help illustrate the breadth and relevance of this book: Elements: the name plate; navigation/on-site searches; copy; who are we?; building trust; content as bait; gathering leads/members/subscribers; order forms/customer service and graphics/layout. Putting it all together: single product sales; multi-product sales; solo service provider; professional firm; advocacy organisation; event reservations; local businesses and internet services. This is followed by a makeover checklist and pages of further resources in print and online. Go on, read it, implement it and reap the rewards - and tell me if I'm wrong!

Mark Wibberley ...

I have been procrastinating in upgrading our website so I figured I'd read a few books... a great way to procrastinate some more. Well Marcia writes in a step by step practical way, creating a marketing foundation first then getting to the beef. I'm now educated and inspired, have a notebook full of notes and ideas that I'm actually implementing. It's getting done. I'm actually recommending this book to friends who are redoing their marketing message since the first two chapters do that so well... great book, not heavy, beefy info.

My mind is spinning; this book is awesome! I have been successfully selling on the web for 2 years and have even paid some "big names" to critique my site, but I have found TONS of ideas and changes I need to implement as soon as possible. Ms. Yudkin writes in a specific, down-to-earth manner; her suggestions make SENSE and she includes many before-and-after examples. The advice in this book will undoubtedly save me time and increase my sales.

My mother just loves Egypt stuff and this was bought as a mother's day gift. I previewed it (just to see) and it is beautiful. I even caught myself reading it, as it was full of information and details. I've never seen an Egyption book like this before, and don't think I will ever come across one again.

If you want a succint and fascinating guide to understanding Egyptian art then this is for you. Arranged in a most unique style, Wilkinson's book captivates the reader and moves him into a richer understanding of Egypt's language and art. Richly illustrated, this masterpiece for the layman traces the impact that the Egyptian language had upon the ancient forms of art. It provides the reader with some basic information as well as specifics which will assist the layman in understanding and appreciating this great civilization. It moved me to purchase the companion volume which I cannot wait to read. Having been to Egypt twice, I can only say that this book is a MUST for anyone who is planning to travel there. I only wish that I had discovered this book before I went there! The only thing better would be if the author himself led you on a tour to this enchanting land!

Art language, the signs by which we interpret the meaning of art, is a specialized study. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to approach Egyptian art on a deeper level than a simple visual feast. Prof. Wilkinson has explained many of the common themes used by ancient Egyptian artists in simple terms, so that anyone who cares to read will be able to understand and appreciate the work in depth. I have found this book invaluable. The book is richly illustrated and the line drawings by Troy Sagillo are exquisite. Wilkinson has opened a path for me that I knew was there, but could not find.

Wilkinson is a professor at the University of Arizona (or was) and I believe may still be directing that institution's work in the Valley of the Kings. As he points out in this volume, one of the things often missed in regards to Egyptian art is that it is intended to be "read". Even paintings and objects in the round are often constructed using hieroglyphs. The author gives a well written, organized overview of the rudiments of learning to see into Egyptian art more of what the artist intended the viewer to see. Very nicely illustrated with an excellent selection of examples.

What a wonderful book!

The author takes 100 of the hieroglyphs used in writing Egyptian, and used in Egyptian art. (Symbols are identified by the Gardiner code number.) He dedicates 2 pages to each symbol - the right-hand page gives an analysis of the meaning and uses of the symbol, and the left-hand page, through line drawings and photographs, illustrates how the symbol is used.

Whether you study it page by page, or just dip in and browse, this book can be used, with profit, by anyone interested in the language or art of ancient Egypt.

Are you someone who buys for the art of the book as much for the art of the contents? If so, you can't do better than any of the stellar titles from the Library Of America series of books... This splendid collection of Frost will not dissapoint...One of the many treats of this volume as is virtually true with all of the Library Of America volumes is the ease with which you can hold it comfortably in your hand...Exclusively thin acid free paper is the secret and this volume packs in a two inch thick volume what normal paper would weigh you down with five or six inches of...

What nice unedited and thorough Frost you get here!...Speaking of editing, the true Frost afficionado will want to be sure to avoid items edited by an Edward Latham...This edition is Latham free and contains Frost's work as he originally wrote it...Unfortunately, from the late sixties on, several editions of Frost went forward with unnecessary "clean up" editing by this very punctuation weilding word meister...He added to many editions extra commas and punctuation in places Frost never originally put it...If you'd like to read a much more thorough analysis of this than I can describe here, be sure to pick up a copy of writer Donald Hall's " Breakfast Served Anytime" and read the article he wrote exposing Latham and his added cleansing of Frost's work...This Library Of America edition captures Frost unedited and at his purest and best...

The reader can choose here from a smorgasbord of outstanding selections and offerings...Poetry, prose, plays...there is quite a variety of choice fare offered here...

In the words of Mr. Frost.." I'm going up to the meadow to check the newborn calf,...I shan't be long...You come too!"

For most of us most poets live through a few poems of theirs we have read in anthologies. It may be that in the case of a poet we especially love we have gone and read most of their poetry.
This volume presents a wonderful opportunity for the devotees of Frost to have in one book the work of a lifetime.
For me Frost is "The Road Not Taken" and "Birches" and "Mending Wall" and a host of scattered lines, " Good fences make good neighbors" and " The land was ours, before we were the land's".
Frost is also however, I must admit , for me the poet whose life casts a shadow on his work. Unfortunately perhaps I long ago read parts of the Thompson biography of Frost the central theme of which was his inveterate cruelty to all those around him.
All this has left me, you will excuse this, a bit 'cool toward Frost' and I personally prefer the more musical metrics of Wallace Stevens to the canny, often pithily wise lines of Frost.

Robert Frost is a unique American voice that many people love. A few reject him, but the majority of those whom he was writing for still love and admire his poetry. His fans always have favorites and can quote lines and whole poems from memory. When a poet gets into people's memories and hearts it is not a sure sign of greatness, but it is a good indicator of something special.

In some ways his works have aged because they are about an America that has passed. One poem that I think catches a lot of the issues surround Frost is "The Literate Farmer and the Planet Venus". This piece is about the electrification of rural America and the strangeness of it all. It talks about the speeding up of life and wonders if the future will simply do away with beds because there won't be time to sleep. The poem is set in 1926, but was published in 1942 as part of "A Witness Tree". I don't know when it was written, but if it was written around the Second World War its nostalgia seems a bit more cynical to me (which I suspect to be the case). However, if it was written back in the late 1920s then it has more whimsy and an earnest wonder.

This poet does have a capacity for irony and bite as well as humor and whimsy. His words are more conversational than lyric and that is fine. They have less music, but a great deal of color and subtle observation. It really doesn't matter what any critic says about Frost. He will outlast all of them. What matters is what he says to you. He is certainly a more worthwhile read than most of what gets published nowadays, just expect to have to deal with some words and references to an America from a century ago.

This volume from the Library of America is terrific. The table of contents in the front refers to the whole volume. The Collected Poems is the reprint that takes up most of the book and has its own table of contents as well. There is also a chronology of Frost's life, notes on sources, and many very helpful notes that can help you understand certain references. There is an index of titles and first lines, and an index of prose titles.

I always feel grateful to the Library of America whenever I get a chance to read their volumes. Heck, they are simply great to hold and flip through!

I took a class last semester on Robert Frost, and it was quite an experience. Frost was truly a wonderful poet who deserves every bit of praise he gets (and who is unfairly ignored in academia it seems). His words are so often true and lifechanging and beautiful and honest. Nobody is fully educated until they have read Frost's classics: "The Death of the Hired Man," "Mending Wall," "Birches," "After Apple-Picking," "Storm Fear," "Meeting and Passing," etc. There are so many good ones.

The Library of America edition is a great way to be exposed to Frost's poetry. It's true that there are a lot of pretty bad poems since everything, good and bad, is included in the volume; the uncollected poems here were meant to stay uncollected. Nevertheless, that everything is here is really a great strength to the book. It's great being able to place a single poem in Frost's entire oevre. I also liked seeing how his command of the language and the forms of poetry. Seeing everything also helped to see how his conception of his role changed. Most importantly, I loved that Frost's prose and his plays were included here. There are a number of gems to be found there. I particularly enjoyed the "'Sermon' at the Rock Avenue Temple" and Frost's children's stories. The ability to read Frost's prose alongside his poetry really enhances the reading of both.

Overall, Frost was a magnificant poet who cannot be given less than five stars, and by reading everything in this edition, one can certainly gain a greater appreciation of the poet at his finest.

Very attractive, solid and sturdy, materials are very well organized. Not the cheapest, but well worth it -- especially at the discount Amazon provides... And then there's the content -- top notch stuff, perfect.

I highly recommend this title along with all the other SEO titles available at www.Lynda.com. I have an annual subscription that lets me watch this and hundreds of other training tutorials. This is a GREAT company. You should subscribe to the site if you want the best deal in town.

I just finished this training and have to say it is wonderful. SEO is such a hot topic, and the trainer, Richard John Jenkins, does a wonderful job in covering the topic in fine detail. The foundation of what is obtained from this training can be used to drastically improve a website's ranking in the major search engines using ethical methods, without resorting to "black hat" tactics.

This video explains not only SEO processes and sources, but also how to go about the thought processes and the also the correct way (white hat) to go about performing SEO services for your site and your customers if you are in the business. I thoroughly enjoyed Richards cavalier and no nonces approach in this video. If you want a quick jump start into the SEO world, I recommend this video.

I have gone through a few other tutorials and the only thing they had in common was that they were BORING. This is not the case with Richard Jenkins' SEO videos. He is able to present vital information in a way that is very easy to understand and his scense of humor makes the video series very enjoyable to watch. I would recommend this tutorial series to anyone who wants to understand search engine optimization.

This resource is a must for anyone who has anything to do with a website...whether it be design, marketing, analysis...anything. Richard Jenkins and Lynda.com deliver a thorough review of Search Engine Optimization that is highly watchable, insightful and inspiring. From beginning to end, Richard Jenkins addresses important strategies for ranking with search engines, driving site traffic, important web design considerations, meta descriptions and tags, and much more. He also introduces the viewer to many tools that will ensure SEO success. This resource is well worth the investment of time and money.

As a work of science fiction, the story is imaginative and fascinating. There are moments of dazzling beauty and compelling imagery. Unfortunately these moments are too few and far between. The book is written as a first person narrative, and the protagonist is somewhat shallow. I had a hard time identifying with him, or caring much about what happened to him.

The spiritual material in the book mostly comes from the The Urantia Book, and I found it interesting. A ton of material is covered, often in a very dry lecture style. Many of the concepts were presented as an overview, and didn't have much depth. The story bogs down in this material, and as a result the book was not a real page turner for me. I would read a chapter or two and need a break.

It's tough for me to give a final rating, I liked it more than spiritual fiction books that I gave three stars, and less than the books I gave 4 stars. Too bad Amazon will not let me give it 3.5 stars.

Entertainment: 3 Stars
Enlightenment: 4 Stars
Overall: 3.5 Stars

One of the best books I have ever read. I have given several copies away as gifts and every one who started the book finished it.

This book captivates a spiritual cadence so deep and profound I could not put it down. A brilliant participator in a futuristic world where light emerges so graciously on a baby soul of sorts. I recommend this read for all interested in an evolutionary experience beyond the scope of most science fiction...

This was one of the most original, creative and imaginative books I've read in quite a while! My compliments to the author for having such far-seeing vision - a vision written in a very practical, matter-of-fact based reality that seems more than believable. I look forward to his next work and can't wait to re-read the book the book from which this work stems (The Urantia Book).

I enjoyed the story and the action, but also the lessons taught through the experiences of the characters. The concept that minaturization could create devices to provide humans with whatever they desire is, actually, quickly becoming reality. Still, until I read this book I didn't consider the implications of such technology. I also found it interesting how people living on earth 50,000 years from now would view the people of today (basically, as animals with uncontrollable tempers and ego). In short, this is a good read with an excellent series of messages that many people who are otherwise not interested in spiritual matters will find intrigueing. I highly recommend it.

I'm trying to get some of my more frenetic atheist friends to read it to see what they think.

I'd be interested to read something similar for other aspects of religion; putting a human face on such things makes them so much more understandable and palatable.

This book tells the story of Jesus' life from a fresh perspective, that of someone familiar with the art of magic tricks, which should prove stimulating and illuminating for most readers. The author demystifies the Gospel events of the life of Jesus, which increases the impact of Jesus' new message.

THE SINS OF JESUS, by Richard A. Muller

In this novel Prof. Muller attempts to rescue the "true" Jesus from the confusion of the miracles that interweave his life. Whether Muller succeeds depends entirely upon the attitude of the reader. The novel is sure to deeply offend the "true believer". To a "seeker" like myself, however, Muller brought valuable and compelling insights -- granted, they are fictional -- into the early life of "the greatest man who ever lived", as Muller characterizes Jesus to his children.

In all religions there are two basic aspects: morality, and ritual or symbology. Because of our flawed human nature, the morality aspect does not seem to be able to propagate by itself. It must ride on the back of rituals and symbols. The result is religious poetry, as found in the Bible, consisting of half truth and half inspired imagination.

There is no doubt in my mind that Muller conceives Jesus as a morally sound person whose deepest and most challenging desire is to spread God's message as he received it, and to learn to love his enemies. To Muller, Jesus' "sins" consist in his resorting to sham and falsehood as a last resort in order to get this message across. The question is posed throughout the novel: Is it justifiable to use deception to propagate truth?

The miracles associated with Jesus are dealt with one by one, beginning with turning water into wine, including walking on water, and ending with the crucifixion. For the most part Muller's plausible explanations underlying the miracles are clearly and cleverly wrought.

My great debt to, and respect for, the author arises from his imaginative and captivating insights into the formation of the character and personality of Jesus in his early years. To me Muller's insights are perceptive, reasonable, and compelling. They consolidate, expand, and stimulate my personal understanding of Jesus. The early miracles are described by Muller as misunderstandings, which Jesus tried unsuccessfully to correct. However, they were interpreted as miraculous by people who desperately wanted to believe they had witnessed a miracle.

Muller portrays Joseph, Jesus' father, as the source of much of Jesus' understanding of morality. And indeed, it is unlikely that the view of God as a wise and loving father could have come to Jesus without he himself having experienced a wise and loving father in his life. I have always felt that Joseph is the forgotten man of the Bible, having been symbolically replaced by God as the father of Jesus.

Throughout the reading of this book I felt Jesus' frustration as he tried to explain the miracles of everyday existence to an audience unwilling or incapable of understanding. On his death bed Muller has Jesus say: "In truth lies our greatest hope. Teach them that the only miracles of God are those that we see every day, the ordinary ones, whose true mystery lies in the fact that such wondrous things are considered ordinary. Teach them to find God not in temples and sacrifices, but in their own souls, and in the souls of others. Teach them to worship the Lord not with rules and rituals, but in spirit and in truth." What a stunning summing-up of Jesus' philosophy!

But it is counter to the general theme of this novel.

I eventually had to part ways with Muller. Judging from the fine character built up in his early days, I feel Jesus would not ultimately succumb to the temptation to get his message across by fakery and sham. To me, Jesus would reject this temptation as he did those of the devil in the wilderness.

In spite of this basic divergence, this book remains in my highest regard. Technically it is written in a very interesting and professional style. I am especially drawn to it because like me the author has a scientific background. To me the early experiences of Jesus portrayed by Muller enhance his life and teaching. Overall, this book has considerably enriched my spiritual life.

I loved this book. As a non-Christian, it has been hard for me to understand and appreciate Jesus and his impact on the Christian world. This book portrays Jesus as a real man; a person that was not perfect but one who was loving and giving. I believe that this book will become a classic.

This book has changed my conception of Christianity and of religion in general. Despite the controversial depiction of Jesus, for the first time in my life I am tempted to even become Christian! "The Sins of Jesus" is powerful because it is both inspirational and believable. See for yourself, this is a book not to be missed!

I agree with those below who consider this Brautigran's best work. I'll add that SO THE WIND is among my favorite books of all time, fiction or nonfiction. It does take you to an absolutely singular emotional/geographic landscape. Each sentence feels like it's reeling you further and further into the truth. I first read the book when I was 23, on the advice of a friend. It blew me away. :) Still does.

he takes you in into his heart in this one. the lost that he feels innocense blown away the ache in its place. Its a very ERRIE placeBrautigan walks us through a vanishing america wistfuly he must recover a past thats alreay extinct. HE THINKS THRU BACKWARDS PLACE METAPHORS AND SYMBOLS OF REGRET.places like tombstones on his path to escape an unfortunate act.AS always theres the random wonder in .

he takes you in into his heart in this one. the lost that he feels innocense blown away the ache in its place. Its a very ERRIE placeBrautigan walks us through a vanishing america wistfuly he must recover a past thats alreay extinct. HE THINKS THRU BACKWARDS PLACE METAPHORS AND SYMBOLS OF REGRET.places like tombstones on his path to escape an unfortunate act.AS always theres the random wonder in .

From a survey of reviews of Brautigan's work here at Amazon, it seems he is lost to Gen X or whatever they're calling "youth" these days. They don't "get" him, but maybe they should avoid "Trout Fishing in America" which is supposed to be his all-time classic. The three that truly deserve a place in the canon are "The Hawkline Monster," "Willard and his Bowling Trophies" (both written while Brautigan was in the ascendant) and this one, "So the Wind Won't Blow it All Away," his semi-autobiographical elegy to a lost America; not sentimental or maudlin, but mournful and challenging. I have never forgotten the scene of Brautigan and another soaking-wet ragamuffin shooting apples with .22s in an abandoned orchard, while the rain poured. "We were Pacific Northwest kids!" he shouts with defiant joy. The terminal scene, with the couple who take their couch with them fishing, teaches that living one's dreams necessarily entails exhibiting one's "eccenctricity" (actually authenticity). Brautigan did away with himself in his 40s due to a wife who fled, along with a career on the skids and alcohol (allegedly), but readers of this book know there was more to it than those merely contributing factors. Brautigan didn't want to pick up the pieces of his self after it had been homogenized and processed as we are now, in an age where we spend so much time staring at TV sets and video screens, and being stared at in return by "security" cameras. Suicide is a terrible wrong, but this little volume shows that Brautigan did not wish to endure the torments of a 21st century-style modernity, for fear of how he would be diminished by it. I liked him for many disparate and "crazy" reasons, including the fact that he was a true Oregonian westerner, Montana transplant and disparager of everything for which Woody Allen stands. Bruatigan and Keoruac could only have been Americans...The wind has blown a lot of it away, but maybe not all.

Richard Brautigan's story of a young boy whose life is forever changed by the decision not to eat a hamburger is simultaneously sweetly amusing and heartbreakingly tragic. That this novel is out of print, especially in light of his death in 1984, is equally tragic. If you read no other Brautigan work, read this novel.

Steal Away Home is a book that I think everyone would enjoy. The book has adventure combined with mystery and teaches the reader about our country�s past history. It is actually two stories combined in one. The present day story is about Dana finding out who the skeleton is in the boarded room. The past history story describes the life of the Weaver family in pre-Civil War times and its part in The Underground Railroad. The story goes back and forth in history as Dana reads the journal of Mrs. Weaver. The journal describes the comings and goings of black people on their run for freedom and pieces of the life of one of those slaves, Miss Lizbet Charles. The book makes the reader more aware of the difficult lives of runaway slaves. The story is informative and interesting. As the pieces of the mystery of the skeleton fall into place, Dana learns about her house�s history and her town.

I just finished reading steal away home moments ago. It was a nail-biter to the end, with so much invested in the characters. Clem Sheutz is a street smart kid from a 50's Cincinnati neighborhood of German Immigrants. In the main story line, he is in his 20's fighting in the Cuban revolution - just because he's nothing else to do. After witnessing a brutal hanging of a woman, he loses touch with reality. He tries to grasp onto some sense of self by reconnecting with his past. Meibers effectively uses flashbacks to critical moments of Clem's life, that shed light on his unexpected reactions to those he's reunited with from his past. You see an otherwise hopeless life mature into a character that you want to see come out for the better on the other side. This maturation is frustrated by many of those who he's reunited with. An enjoyable read. Great characters and fine details that immerse the reader in story.

Steal Away Home is a richly literate first novel that grabbed me with the opening line, "the scream sounded...", pulled me deeper into the story through powerful images and tactile metaphors, and left me reeling from the smells and sounds of a great adventure with people I knew from..."somewhere". Mr. Meiber's work made me laugh, cry, scared, exhilarated. In other words, I felt as I read. This is not a man's or a woman's book, it is for everyone. Scheutz is a sort of everyman and his experiences are ours; it is the journey we all travel towards self-acceptance and identifying our place in the universe.

Bravo Richard Meibers!

"Steal Away Home" is my kind of book. Richard Meibers tells his story in a direct, uncomplicated style that leads us through the events of his tale in the emotional and sensual manner in which we actually experience events. Meibers avoids the pitfall of intellectualizing, but in the simple telling of his story, he evokes from the reader's imagination some profound questions. I found myself empathizing with Clem Scheutz and feeling his effort and longing to find his way out of the maze of insanity and pain into which he was born. This is an excellent first novel, and I'm looking forward to hearing more from Mr. Meibers.

"Steal Away Home" is my kind of book. Richard Meibers tells his story in a direct, uncomplicated style that leads us through the events of his tale in the emotional and sensual manner in which we actually experience events. Meibers avoids the pitfall of intellectualizing, but in the simple telling of his story he evokes from the reader's imagination some profound questions. I found myself empathizing with Clem Scheutz and feeling his effort and longing to find his way out of the maze of insanity and pain into which he was born. This is an excellent first novel, and I'm looking forward to hearing more from Mr. Meibers.

C. Vann Woodward's "The Strange Career of Jim Crow" was the first major effort to analyze the segregation system in the American South. Appearing in 1955, the author's treatment of this institution refuted contemporary statements made by several public figures who argued that racial separation was an ancient phenomenon that would last indefinitely. Not so, argued Woodward, as he proceeded to prove that the South experienced a time after the Civil War when the two races often intermingled without widespread hostility on the part of southern whites. Woodward's book expresses the heartfelt belief that since segregation was a recent development, the possibility existed for the South to reject its separatist doctrine and eventually embrace integrationist principles. The first chapters deal with the period during and after Reconstruction, what Woodward refers to as the First Reconstruction, when the South grudgingly accepted conditions forced upon it by the North. The author argues that blacks in southern urban areas often lived side by side with white citizens, as well as rode in the same streetcars and dined in many of the same restaurants. There were exceptions to these incidents, but overall monolithic, legalized segregation measures simply did not exist.

One of the reasons for this lack of overarching segregation policies concerned southern politics in the post-Civil War South. The author outlines three political philosophies during the 1880s and 1890s that worked to capitalize upon black support. Southern liberalism went nowhere with its arguments that all citizens must have equal rights in all social spheres. Conservative southerners took a position between liberals and radical racists, arguing that in every society there existed superior and inferior elements. Obviously, conservatives claimed, blacks occupied an inferior position to whites. This did not mean that blacks should be treated harshly or denied privileges. The conservatives were paternalists and used the goodwill they earned from blacks to capture elective offices from the Redeemers. The conservative political philosophy collapsed when widespread corruption swept its proponents from office. The Populists, the last southern political structure Woodward discusses, also attempted an alliance with blacks. The movement was short lived, and with external pressures of the 1880s and 1890s such as economic depression and northern indifference to blacks, southerners blamed blacks for their social ills. Moreover, southern politicians weary of the years of malicious infighting decided to seek a measure of unification, and they achieved this fusion by blaming black voters for economic and political discord. It is at this time, writes the author, when segregation laws blossomed across the South.

The second section of the book deals with the emergence and consequences of what Woodward calls the Second Reconstruction. Starting during the Second World War and emerging fully during the 1950s and 1960s, this era of race relations saw increasing waves of attacks directed against Jim Crow in the South. The first maneuvers came from the White House, with Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman launching several initiatives aimed at integrating defense jobs and the armed services. The second wave came with a series of Supreme Court actions seeking to integrate the school systems. With action came reaction as the segregationists finally launched an offensive against Brown vs. The Board of Education when lower court judges in the South upheld the higher court's ruling. The resulting attempts to undercut the judgment by southern state governments coupled with periodic outbreaks of violence led to even more civil rights initiatives from the federal government. Kennedy proposed and Johnson pushed through Congress measures aimed at accelerating integration and restoring the black vote in the South. The Second Reconstruction ended after the riots of the 1960s in northern cities caused civil rights organizations to shift from a role of non-violence to militant black nationalism. Woodward's book concludes on a rather pessimistic note when he observes that black-white relations seem to be reverting to a new form of racial separation.

It is difficult to find problems with "The Strange Career of Jim Crow." The book was the first work to sum up the civil rights movement in the United States. Moreover, the author wrote a book broad enough to give historians plenty of material for further research, something scholars always appreciate. Even the form of the book, with its lack of footnotes and energetic style, is more of a plus than a minus. By writing a friendly, accessible treatment of the issue, Woodward managed to reach beyond the walls of academia and find a wide public audience. It is not difficult to imagine that many of the young people registering black voters or going on freedom rides could cite this book as a major influence in their decision to make a stand against segregation. As the afterword shows, even Martin Luther King, Jr read and quoted Woodward on occasion. Finally, the fact that this book has never gone out of print underscores its seminal influence on the country at large.

No book is immune to criticism, however. Woodward often fails to incorporate into his narrative what actions blacks took in response to segregation. This critique is not always valid: the author does cite a black newspaperman who toured the South in the late 1800s, along with several members of the Black Panther Party. But in several places the book needs some description of black agency, especially the chapter concerning southern politics. Woodward presents the black population in the 1880s and 1890s as a passive force palmed off from one white political faction to another. Are we to assume that black voters simply bowed their heads and acted the role of dupes to savvy white politicians? Perhaps many did due to a lack of education and a lingering submissiveness from the days of slavery, but there were people who attempted to participate in the system in order to earn their rights.

The most fascinating thing about this book is not just the particular events in history, or the misconceptions and myths that Woodward discusses, but rather how truly complex the issue of race is in America. Since emancipation, there has always been a struggle between and among whites and blacks to figure out how to understand each other and themselves, and how to occupy the same place. This history is indeed strange, and to have an idea of why race is still such an issue today, it helps to know how racism, segregation, and civil rights changed over time.

Woodward's book cautions us against taking simplified views that the South was always racist, and the North was not, and he begins by describing various accounts of life in the South right after the Civil War. According to Woodward, the venomous prejudice that sustained the Jim Crow laws decades later wasn't foreseeable at that time. Much of his explanation of the racist sentiment that so desired segregation is framed in the context of politics, and he tries to analyze many of the events he discusses in terms of political and economic pressures, as well as in terms of reactions to preceding actions.

If the Civil War is to be seen as a war for racial equality (and there are many other ways of seeing it), then it can easily be argued that it continues to this day. It is often most comforting to think of the wiping out of Native Americans, and then the enslavement of Africans as hideous scars that America carries in the past, while believing that America today is a different, tolerant place. But Jim Crow laws were a product of the twentieth century, and the racial tensions still exist in a very real way. Woodward's book, first published in 1955, and last revised in 1974, is still immensely relevant today, and reading it can only enhance your sense of American history.

I have the 1957 edition of the book, and so can't comment on the new chapter.
This is a fascinating book which should be read by anyone interested in racial issues, US history, or US politics.
The major surprise to me is Woodward's description, complete with many contemporary quotes, of a time in the late 1800's post-Reconstruction South where African Americans were treated largely equally with regard to public accomodations and voting. Segregation, then, was considered to be a "lower-class white attitude."
It wasn't until approximately 1900 that a very segregationist attitude came about in the South, largely as the result of the interplay of Republican, Democratic, and Progressive politics.
This is course gives the lie to assertion through much of the 1900's that de jure racial segregation was a time-honored part of Southern life, and there was no possible alternative.
Woodward then goes on to describe the depths to which Jim Crow legislation sank, describing the effect of African American migration within the country, World War II, how our segregationist policies hurt the US image abroad, and on to the beginnings of the civil rights movement, ending shortly after _Brown v. Board of Education_, well before the major civil rights events and legislation.
Fairly quick read, and a great book!

C. Vann Woodward's The Strange Career of Jim Crow is not only a fine introduction to its topic -- the segregationist period in the South -- but one of the most significant and influential books of its time.

Originally published in 1955 (by Oxford University Press), Professor Woodward's tome kicked off the Civil Rights era with a bang, debunking the ludicrous myth (and mantra among segregationists) that separation of the races had always existed in Southern life, and generally dissecting an ugly monstrosity which had come to be accepted simply as "the way things are." Ten years later, in a second revision which came just as the legal battle against segregation was almost won, Woodward added a wealth of information which helped finish the job of winning the people's hearts and minds: in the words of Robert Penn Warren, Woodward's work was "a witty, learned, and unsettling book. The depth of the unsettling becomes more obvious day by day; which is a way of saying that it is a book of permanent significance." And ten years later still, in this -- the third and final revision -- Woodward capped off the era with an examination of the more violent, less integrationist movements which arose after Watts, with leaders like Huey Newton, Eldridge Cleaver and Bobby Seale.

Woodward is an equal-opportunity myth-exploder. On the one hand, he demonstrates at great length that segregation was not a mere expression of racism, but in fact a complex and corrupt outworking of many political and economic interests in the impoverished, post-Reconstruction South. On the other hand, he also shows conclusively that segregation took time to develop: it was not, as its supporters claimed, the way things had always been, or even the way things had come to be immediately following the war, but had actually arisen thirty and even forty years later, with the removal of Northern troops, the disintegration of Republican influence, a national "taking up of the white man's burden" with regard to "colored" peoples abroad, and increasing economic distress which allowed successive Populists and Democrats to consolidate power by limiting white exposure to the threat of competing (and competitive) blacks. These things, combined with a series of Supreme Court rulings sanctioning segregation, produced a wicked stew which more modern readers found extremely unpalatable upon Woodward's closer examination.

Beyond these things, Woodward's treatment of the Jim Crow era itself, as well its demise, were and are excellent, and were especially provocative at the time of their writing. Based on a series of lectures delivered at the University of Virginia in 1954, the book is not annotated, and even in a third edition remains quite brief; yet it is thorough and engaging, and suffers only a bit for these points. In all, it remains not only an excellent history -- produced by one of America's finest scholars -- but also a key source document of its era, and is a very good read as well. It continues to be vital to a proper understanding of the South, as well as the whole misbegotten concept of "separate but equal."

C. Vann Woodward's "The Strange Career of Jim Crow" remains one of the most important books written about post-Reconstruction Southern America. In the space of very few pages, Woodward brings to us the proposal that the assumptions we have all been making about Jim Crow laws and the development of segregation were all wrong from the very beginning. We are taught the lie from grade school forward that "that's just the way it always has been in the South." Not so, according to Woodward.

We learn very quickly when reading this book that not only were there three or four decades following the Civil War wherein there was virtually no major segregation in the South - but the conditions with regards to segregation and equal rights in the South were actually better than in the North for several decades as well.

The lies of a racist South and a desperate North (desperate to make a moral issue of something that they too were guilty of in trying to keep blacks from having equal rights) somehow stuck in the Southern psyche, and all along we've been thinking that people were racist because "that's all they knew." Woodward blows this theory out of the water, and exposes the truth about the post-Reconstruction South.

Not only was segregation not popular in the South in much of the late 19th Century, but blacks voted often. There was very good participation - enough to put a lot of blacks and Republicans in public office in the South - for a time. It was not until the 1870s that a gradual change began in the South. That change brought about the Jim Crow laws - changes that were unwelcome to all of humanity. Booker T. Washington believed that the South could not advance and still leave the blacks behind: Woodward came about a few decades later and showed us all just how right Washington really was.