Wang Books

Reconstruction is so often taught and remembered as something Southern; New York in this era is usually thought of in terms of Northern industrialization and Gilded Age values. What David Quigley does is nothing less than force us to rethink this entire period of American history and see New York as the center of our modern political order. Essential reading--this is a book that will eventually reshape the way this period is taught.

We naturally associate the Mason-Dixon line with the obvious divisions of ideology, and yet the case of none other than New York City is not so simple. This history of New York during the Civil War and Reconstruction shows a side we easily forget, from the infamous Draft riots to the age of Tilden and the end of reconstruction. In fact the struggle for racial tolerance nearly failed as the tide of Reconstruction past and the anti-democratic elites of the Gilded Age created the status quo that endured until the twentieth century.

Dr. Quigley launches his first work as if he were a veteran. Second Founding relays insight into the reconstruction of this country that is often overlooked and most times forgotten. However, the decisions made in the decade following the Civil War still maintain a powerful presence to this day. Quigley offers some very original insight into the events of New York City and how they ran parallel with and often shaped and formed the political events of the rest of the country. After reading this book, no one can question the reality of New York's leadership in national politics then and now. This book reads as smooth as a novel with the depth of a textbook. A must read!

I'd read Quigley & Gellman's JIM CROW NEW YORK and liked it. This book builds off of the last sections of that book and tells the New York side of the civil war and reconstruction. Quigley does a good job explaining the city's ugly racial history by looking at the years after the draft riots. I really liked the chapter on election day in 1870 and the way federal troops were deployed. The final section on Grant's tomb makes you think about how reconstyruction continued, or maybe continues.

The problem with this book is that reading it is rather like watching a baseball game through a crack in the ballpark's fence. What you see is fairly clear, but you realize that you're missing a lot of the action that takes place outside the available field of vision. Just for one example, there are at least four pages devoted to Samuel Tilden's positions during the 1876 presidential campaign but barely a word about the campaign views of his successful opponent, Rutherford Hayes, or of the Republican party. Did the latter's stands offer a meaningful alternative regarding the issues raised by the Democrats? What impact did the results of Hayes's victory have on the "democracy that emerged at Reconstruction's end", to use a phrase from the Preface? Of the three elements of the book's subtitle, the book offers a great deal about "New York City" but little of the broader context of "Reconstruction" and "American Democracy".

Don't get me wrong. I think this is a great book. But why, why do we need this kind of book? people ought to be able to love and earn love without learning to do so, right? I am very disappointed with this world!

I read this book. The preface is extremely inspiring. the author has probably the best intention for our society. but why people can not naturally be the way he described in the book?

"May God bless those who dares to love!"

This is definitely a great book! This is the only book I wish I had read earlier. Other than that, nothing else to say.

Overall, the author integrated social psychology and clinical psychology beautifully. The part I like the most is that there is no manipulation and exploitation of others' weakness. The author tried to help you become a chef instead of simply tell you how to prepare a dinner. The chapter "women's game" made me a bit uncomfortable (I am a feminist). However, as a psychologist, I can accept the author's analysis. Impressively concise and profound.

I was very disappointed after I received and read this book.
There were only 90 pages - large space between lines. It was filled with mispelled words.
The worst part is that there was no "thread" - it was spaced-out in thought and content. There was no clear beginning and end. In fact, I got to the end of this book and wondered, "Is that IT?"
I saw no practical advice within the pages.

This is an exellent book to understand love and romance. It also provides guidance for pursuing love and romance. It has definitely given me a new world. Highly recommended.

I completely disagree. with galwaygirl's review I am just an amateur student of history, with no considerable prior knowledge of this period or Germany in general, and I found Peukert's book very understandable, concise and informative. Yes, it is dense, as any detailed history book has to be to do justice to its subject. As a reader, I did find I had to stop periodically and work to consolidated my thoughts to retain comprehension, but of course that's to be expected. Bottom line, I learned alot, and did not lose patience with the writing, and I am not the most patient fellow on earth.

Also, it is correct that this book focuses alot on social-economic conditions, but its discussion of politics is by no means destitute. Perhaps the reviewer meant that Peukert doesn't discuss personal politics and party politics in minutia, which is true, but the discussion of general political trends, their causes and effects is excellent.

A masterly translation of a remarkable book! The radical shifts of Peukert's thought are lucidly rendered in an English as limpid as it is urgent.

Unless you are doing graduate-level work on the Weimar era (which I am), stay far away from this book as an intro. It is not for the timid reader. I'm trying to get my hands on the original German edition, but whether it is the writing or the translation, Peukert's book reads as if it were authored by the illegitimate, illiterate love-child of James Joyce and Henry James. Contentwise, it has very little to do with the popular perception of "Weimar Culture;" for that, check out Peter Gay. This book deals primarily with social and economic conditions, and hardly ever mentions politics, and even more rarely, art. If you like charts and graphs and figures though, this is full of them. That said, this is the preeminent book on Weimar Germany. It helps to have a philosophy degree to read it, though. Anthony Heilbut's excellent Exiles in Paradise is more than worth checking out if you're interested in the mass emigration of German artists and intellectuals to the US.

I'm doing some research into the years immediately prior to WW2 and needed a good recap of Weimar for context. This book was superb for the purpose. Not long after starting it I concluded that I might as well save my yellow hi-lighter and simply dip the whole book in florescent yellow ink. There is hardly a page that is not a superbly concise rendering of an important point. Peukert, who died at age 39, was a star of German history of the 20th century, and this book, intended as both a primer and a summary, shows why. Excellent grasp and presentation of both statistics and economics. Few if any hacknied answers to banal questions, but rather a probing for new questions as well as new answers. A willingness to say "I don't know" when that is the proper thing to say. Peukert's intellectual honesty shines through, and all his traits inspire confidence. This book is not, however, a delightful read, being so thoroughly boiled-down to its essence. It contains very little in the way of flowing narrative, witty vignette, or deft portraiture -- mostly it sticks pretty close to what might, with a wink and a nod, be called the "objective facts" of Weimar. It is nonetheless well written, crammed with information, and free of jargon (this last point not to be taken for granted in academic writing of the 70s and 80s) -- and apparently well-translated. A very good job of what it sets out to do. That said, I got very little in the way of the "flavors" of Weimar from it, and now feel the need to read something else for that -- perhaps Doblin's "Berlin Alexanderplatz" will provide that.

Detlev Peukert's analysis of Weimar Germany exceeds any other in breadth and readability. His book not only examines the experiment of Weimar democracy from social, economic, political, and cultural angles, but provides an interesting thesis for why Weimar democracy failed, namely that Weimar Germany epitomized the crisis of classical modernity. I have read many books on Weimar Germany, most of which focus on one particular aspect. Peukert synthesizes all of the most important aspects into one, offering a clear account of why Hitler happened.

I read this book on a trip. I downloaded it on my ipod from itunes. I finished it in less then two days!!! It was and awesome book and now I've read four Mark Twain Anonami books!!!

This is a good light read. It never did say why Archer came to the different time period however I would still recommend this for fun. This book isn't extremely exciting but good enough to keep your interest.

Kevin is a young boy, Korean-American, who is just following his normal routine of doing his homework--his boring, irrelevant history homework--when history comes to visit him in a quite unlikely way. His baseball hat is quite literally lifted off his head by an arrow of a strange visitor who insists that he just fell off a tiger's back. Unsure whether to call 911 or assume it's a bizarre dream, Kevin goes along with the odd man's requests. As he begins to explain modern life--glass windows break when you try to shoot arrows through them--he determines that the only way to make his life return to normal is to figure out WHO this guy is and WHY he's suddenly in his room. This leads him to do research both online and in person.

The 'quest' is to find a way to send him back to his proper time. The solution--critical thinking skills, communication, math, and cultural research.

While ARCHER'S QUEST is not my favorite Linda Sue Park novel. I think this modern-fantasy tale may prove interesting to some young readers.

I just cannot for the life of me figure out what to do with Linda Sue Park. Some authors write books that are spot-on gold all the time. Others can't churn out a decent title no matter how hard they try. Then there's Linda Sue Park. Garnering a coveted Newbery award early in her career, Park has had the unenviable job of showing the world that she remains worthy of that honor with every subsequent book she writes. I liked "A Single Shard", but somewhere in the back of my brain was the niggling suspicion that since I'm twenty-seven-years-old my response probably would have been different had I been a ten-year-old who had to read it in school. Ditto my response to "The Mulberry Project", in which silkworms, rather than pottery, were the name of the game. As if hearing my silent plea, Park has now come out with the far more kid friendly (but still darned informative) "Archer's Quest". The set-up is good, the story interesting, and the book a short sweet ride. You'd think I'd be in seventh heaven. Instead, I'm torn. On the one hand, it's difficult to criticize an author who takes as much time and attention as Ms. Park does with her work. On the other hand, something about "Archer's Quest" failed to grab me right from the get-go. Maybe it's the fact that Park has written a story found in so many other children's books. Maybe it's the low-key action. Whatever the case, "Archer's Quest" makes for a mighty fine read. It just didn't have that extra little oomph it needed to make it beloved.

You think your day's been crummy? You've got nothing on Kevin. Sure, today was a half-day at school, but is he able to appreciate it? Not a chance. The year is 1999 and Kevin is bored out of his skull with only a bouncy ball to keep him company. Next thing you know Kevin's cap is hanging from an arrow sticking straight out of the wall. The arrow, in turn, belongs to a very oddly dressed man who is eyeing Kevin suspiciously and has his next arrow aimed at the boy in question. Turns out that the man is the great Korean historical figure Koh Chu-mong. Part Robin Hood part King Arthur, Chu-mong has somehow landed smack dab in Archie's bedroom some 2,054 years into the future. Kevin, may be of Korean descent, but he doesn't sufficiently know his Korean history to know enough about Chu-mong (who requests that he be called Archer, shortened by Kevin to "Archie") to help him back to his own time. Together the two must discover everything they can about Korean history, magic, the Chinese Zodiac, and some basic math before the year of the Tiger is up. And the year ends that very night!

In a way, "Archer's Quest" is a historical novel. Sure it takes place in 1999, but that still places it firmly in the past. Park starts with a particularly interesting situation. You're in your bedroom, bored, and suddenly a hero from the past is looking to put an arrow in your heart. A great start, but a difficult one. Since the story must take place in the course of a single day, and since Kevin is such a realistic character that Park's afraid to ever put him into too much trouble, the story's action is downplayed. The most we get is an encounter with a real tiger, a race from a negligible enemy, and a run across a highway when the traffic has already been stopped. Her "villain" isn't even that villainous. Just misguided. Of course, limiting the action is Park's style. Therefore, if you've a kid who really got into "A Single Shard" or (more logically) "Project Mulberry", they are bound to enjoy this story just as much, if not more.

The concept of a historical or fictional figure bumming around the present isn't new, of course. Everything from "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" to "Inkheart" has used it to their advantage. Where Park diverges from the ordinary is in making her hero a Korean folk-hero. Kids who've never had the opportunity to learn of the adventures of Chu-mong will find much to learn about here. In this way, the book pairs nicely with another recent historical-man-to-whom-folk-tales-have-been-attached character, Dick Whittington, in Alan Armstrong's, "Whittington".

Ever attentive to supporting her stories with fact, Park includes a section on math in this story, while another attends to details involving Chu-mong, tigers, and RIT, and a bit on the zodiac. A Chinese Zodiac is located at the end of the book, and here I had a real problem with the book. Some children's books that discuss the Zodiac do what "Archer's Quest" did here and include each year with the dates ascribed to that year. For example, "The Rooster's Antlers: A Story of the Chinese Zodiac" by Eric A. Kimmel, includes a bunch of dates that fall within different animal years. The book is useful because these dates go a decade or two into the future. "Archer's Quest" on the other hand, stops at February 4, 2000. That's all well and good if the kiddies want to know what animal is ascribed to the year of their birth, but does absolutely no good if they want to know what the current year in the zodiac is. Obviously it stops around 1999 because that's when the story takes place. However, it would be heads and tales more interesting if it bothered to go a little bit into the future. Even if it were just a decade.

None of this is to say that the book doesn't make for a good read. Linda Sue Park is first and foremost a premier children's book author and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I just wish that this book had gotten a little more work done on it. It reads beautifully and will give a lot of enjoyment to some kids with the whole time-travel aspect. For others it will start out well, then peter off into the dull. A nice title but not my favorite Park accomplishment.

That possibility is to deliver dialogue that not only seems realistic, but candid and this is the first play I ever read that felt that way at times. Wilson achieves this with having so many characters just taking the way they do everyday. What's interesting is that each of the characters reads differently even though they all do the same thing, more or less. He achieves in intimacy with these characters and their scene while providing an understanding look into their lives. It's not uplifting, but still a spirtual journey into the lives of people who many think to be spiritually dead, when they're just hurting and hopeless.

This is a play that begins as a jumble and ends as a eulogy and round for the lost souls of urban streets. Here are two dozen characters, junkies, hustlers, prostitutes, pimps, dealers, in a swarm of common addiction and stricture, craving, wandering, over and over in a cycle of highs and hopes.
From the jumble of multiple conversations at once, comes the heart of the story, Darlene and Joe, who meet at the cafe where everything takes place, learn about each other, he an old hand in the neighborhood looking to riase himself, she a new girl in town, already down on her luck and looking for contact. Their story is the point of the play, along with the purposely repetative behavior and dialogue of those around them.
While reading this isn't that easy, because Wilson intertwines three and four dialogues together, there is a sense for the mayhem and chaos that surrounds all these people. In the end, through song and a chorus of understanding, the hope for a Balm in Gilead remains.
This also features several incredible monologues, from Dopey, Rake and Darlene, each expressing the harshness and wonder of urban life.

Balm in Gilead was confusing at first but then I just couldn't put the book down. Then Ludlow fair this is hilarious and now i'm doing a scene from it in my drama class. And home free was interesting.

Honest is the only way to describe Lanford Wilson's Balm in Gilead. The title refering to the biblical verse about a balm to heal the mortal souls of sinners only scratches the surface of the lost individuals one finds in this funny, heart wrenching balad of street life. You will never pass by the homeless, prostitutes, and drug addicts and see them in the same way. You will identify.

This book was so much fun to read. It's amazing to take time to delve into the history of so many little things we take for granted but use each and every day. If you've ever stopped cleaning an "owie" to wonder who invented the band-aid, (a man whose wife was very clumsy in the kitchen), or wondered if dental floss would make an effective tourniquet, (yes, it would) then this book is for you. Or, perhaps if you just like cool books that are easy to pick up for a few minutes whenever you're in the mood for fun little bits of info and trivia and that also happen to be full of great photos, then it's for you too!

This is the kind of book that would make a great house-warming gift or a gift for that person who is simply impossible to buy for. You can't go wrong with neat little bits of things we use everyday but don't give much thought to...that is, until we're suddenly out of it or left it at home when we packed for camping. Then is when we truly realize how important all these little trivial things are to our daily lives and supreme comfort! ... Oh, by the way, did you know that the Bayer company put off the introduction of aspirin because they were too busy marketing another new item...heroin!

what a nifty book! Never knew there was so much history lying around my bathroom!

Featuring 60 household items, from lipstick to dental floss to diapers, Holman Wang takes the reader on a remarkable trip through our bathroom. Although we spend a significant amount of our lives in the bathroom, most of us are quite unfamiliar with the history of daily items like perfume and razors. Bathroom Stuff shows the history of all the bathroom stuff we use daily and adds a load of remarkable facts and trivia.

Each item is concisely covered on two pages and is accompanied by a set of originals photographs. It all looks very stylish and enjoyable. One criticism would be that certain items have clearly a lot more things to dwell on, which was not possible due to the very strict format of the book. It would certainly not have hurt to extend the book by another 100 pages.

But all in all it stays an enjoyable book to take with you when you visit that smallest place in the house: the toilet (also described in Bathroom Stuff).

This is an ingenious book! It's for anyone who's ever wondered about the origins of things in their bathroom. There are sixty chapters on everything from aspirin to toothpaste. Each chapter includes original photographs, a short history of the subject, and a number of "pop-up" facts ranging from the curious to the amazing (who would've guessed that there's a Lip Balm Anonymous in San Francisco for those addicted to lip balm!) This book is not only a tribute to many twentieth century marvels, but also a chronicle of the bathroom in many cultures throughout history, from the ancient Egyptians to the Aztecs. The book is witty, stylish, and fun to read, and it reminds us of just how much we take the bathroom for granted. Something unique is that there are four different covers to chose from. Perfect, of course, for bathroom reading!

La Carreta is a great read, second in the jungle series. The first five books set the stage and the book, "General from the Jungle" is the climax. Each book stands alone well enough, however, by reading the entire series, preferrebly in order, a greater understanding of what created the conditions for revolution can be garnered. Characters from previous books have cameo appearances in later books, so some previous knowledge of them makes it more interesting. Tierra y Libertad!

Sixty years ago, Traven wrote books that taught you everything you needed to know about what Mexico and, indirectly, America were doing to Mexico's indigenous populations. Though often translated awkwardly from his original German into English, Traven's prose sings. As a leftist who fled a death sentence issued by the post-World War freikorps of Bavaria, he sympathized with the Indians of Mexico, learned their language, and told their story in such a compelling way that it will change the way you see the world. Traven is best known for writing "The Treasure of Sierra Madre," but his so-called jungle books, like "The Carreta," are perhaps his real masterpieces.

The Carreta, the second of B Traven's Jungle Series,is the tale of a young Indian peon, Andres. The story shows the way the Indian people of Mexico became serfs or peons to the wealthy Hispanic landowners. The corrrupt government of Porfirio Dias allowed for over half of the Mexican population to live as virtual debt slaves, always toiling for the landowners. Andres's family, like all peon families, must work in the fields for the rich and get further and further in debt. Eventually he is traded in a poker game by his master. He then leaves his family and becomes a carreta driver. These folks drove simple oxen carts across the Mexican frontier, carrying goods from village to village. During one of the trips, he meets a homeless displaced Indian girl of around 15 and they become man and wife.

Traven paints a picture of economic and social oppression, fueled by racism and illiteracy, and ripe for socialist revolution. He tells us of a nation that is rotten from the President on down, living like parasites on the toil and sweat of the poor. A simple story in many ways, the focus of Traven is frequently in the details and explanations of the economic conditions rather than on character to character interactions. These interactions interest him most when there is injustice.

This book was not as oriented toward teaching the reader the economic system of oppression that Traven's first book, Government, exemplifies. However, it is a good read.

B. Traven, a German leftist who fled the chaos of post World War I Bavaria for the New World, wrote many novels of Mexico, including the movie immortalized by Bogart, "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre". This is the first one I've read, so don't put me on your list of Traven experts. I have learned that this novel, THE CARRETA, is part of a series. I hope that the characters continue from novel to novel, but have no idea if this is true. If they do not, then this book is a very slight effort, in terms of a story and sequence of events. A young Indian man, a peon on a hacienda, is traded off by his patrón during a card game. His new boss runs a cartage company---the workers are on the road all their lives, and due to an extreme system of debt slavery, can never escape their hard existence. Andrés, the young man, finds a young woman at a fiesta and makes her his wife. They love, but must part when Andrés learns that his father, back on the plantation, has been sold to a timber cutting firm deep in the jungles, a fate that nearly nobody can survive. This is the entire plot of the book. What makes the book interesting is the great amount of detail the author gives on Mexican life in the time of Porfirio Dias, the dictator who was overthrown in 1910. The land, the lives of the simple people, Indian legends, the details of work are all depicted in beautiful prose interspersed with considerable irony on the cruelties and injustices of the whole system. Some people might find the political slant not to their taste, but how could you ignore or accept a system that kept more than half of the Mexican people in virtual slavery all their lives ? If you read this book, which is set in the southern state of Chiapas, and wonder how the Revolution changed everything, think about what has been taking place in that very state during the 1990s. The Indians are still in a state of armed revolt against the landlords, who still think that the native peoples are theirs to use and discard. If you link the times described by Traven and the news of today, you will find that his novel remains entirely relevant to our times.

I got this book for my youngest grandson who loves the Itsy bitsy spider song and he loves this book.

If you like ladybugs and monkeys this one is also good. Not quite as good, but a great option when you're ready to read something else.

My son is only 16 months old, so he likes to have things read to him over and over again. He really enjoyed this book because it had music to go along with the story.

I saw this book, and it reminded me of my mother singing the same little 'Eency Weency Spider' or 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' song, and having fun getting tickled with the spider crawling up my leg. I thought it would make quite a nice gift birthday gift for my 2 year old niece along with the Little Tyke xylophone.

Her mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa can read, sing, and share the story of a slow spider that keeps getting left behind when the other spiders go up a waterspout through a variety of engaging activites like by dancing like a ballerina or flying by airplane, etc. The eency weency spider keeps trying her best all the way through to a surprise ending.

In addition to the kid-friendly illustrations, there are cute little 3D spiders glued onto the pages that can be seen through a series of holes drilled into the book. Each time the page is turned the number of spiders decreases until there is only one left, which should be useful in teaching counting skills.

It is neat to me still at the age of 31, reminding me of the endearing Very Hungry Caterpillar book by Eric Carle. There is also a little button which plays the 'Eency Weency Spider' tune, so you can easily learn the melody to sing to your little one. At some point the battery will give out and your memory will have to suffice, though. (it will!)

This one is a classic, whether your child is a future entymologist, squirms at the sight of anything with 6 or 8 legs, or is somewhere in between.

This project was designed as an introductory text for Barthes' students. It assumes almost no prior knowledge of semiology or critical theory, and introduces the vocabulary of semiotics to the general reader. Barthes is one of the few theorists who writes without an extensive bibliography and notes. However, unlike his other books, Elements of Semiology, for ease of use and reference, includes an index and bibliography. Not exactly beach reading, but great for students of literature and cultural studies.

There is no reason to inflict this text on yourself. If you are looking for a primer, or at least a solid piercing of the semiological membrane, there are far superior works, such as the wonderful Semiology: The Basics by Daniel Chandler or Structural Poetics by Culler. This book, it seems to me, was meant as a fast and loose refrence for a class or a seminar: it rarely defines its terms, it seems disorganized and it is very dry, just listing method without any reason why one should be interested. The other two books, in particular Basics, were written long after Elements and thus are much more incompassing, including theory and practice, and Basics by Chandler even has a glossary at the back. Bartes may be the man, but this is definitly not the book; but, if your a Bartes completist, already well initiated into the world of Semiology and Structuralism, then by all means pick it up. Anyone else, steer clear.

Semiology had its birth with Saussure and the publication of his lecture notes by students in 1916, entitled Course in General Linguistics. Semiology was to be a general science of signs, of which linguistics would be one part. However, over time it has become clear that there exist no complex systems of symbols completely removed from language. Semioticians have recognized, then, that "linguistics is not a part of the general science of signs, but rather it is semiology which is a part of linguistics".

In this clearly written work, Barthes thus undertakes this task of semiolgy, under four main headings borrowed from structural anthropology (Claude Levi-Strauss) and clearly reliant on Saussure:

I. Language and Speech. (Saussure's langue and parole) II. Signified and Signifier. III. Syntagm and System. IV. Denotation and Connotation.

This book is written in a dense and terse style, and dates from 1964. For an introductory text, therefore, I would suggest instead Umberto Eco's "Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language". Yet for those who are set on studying Barthes, a very important figure in this field, then this book can be recommended.

This text, as with all pure critical theory, is certainly dense--there is no getting around that. Barthes brilliantly strings together a concise and well-defined basis of semiology from its roots in Saussure's dyadic model for a more structuralist, synchronic form of linguistics to Hjelmslev's proposal of a second-order system. Contrary to what another reviewer has asserted, Barthes does rigorously elucidate fundamental, complex terms. This text will provide every reader with a solid semiological foundation upon which to build a more specific or extensive knowledge of structuralism, linguistics, or semiology. As such, it is a wonderful place to begin for one who wishes to grasp these essential elements.

Chaffin did a heroic job of researching the scraps of evidence that exists in regard to the developers of the Hunley, but alas!(Chaffin's favorite interjection)If one is looking for new and cutting edge archaeological evidence, there just isn't anything new. That book is yet to be published, and it may be a decade before it is possible since the archaeology of the vessel may take that long. I bought the book without examining it closely--anticipating that the archaeology aspect would be a large part of the story--but it was not.

Tom Chaffin is that welcome fellow among academic historians. A meticulous and determined scholar who's never at a loss for fresh perceptions, he can also make a narrative move like the wind.

The story of the H.L. Hunley bristles with historic significance -- the vessel was the first submarine ever to sink an enemy ship. But the story also resonates with a sense of awe -- at the mechanical audacity of the submarine's design and at the bravery of the men who took it down.

Chaffin has worked hard to bring truth to a subject that over time, in his words, "had become encrusted with the barnacles of accumulated lore." The rigor of his labor is apparent in the 25 pages of notes that follow the narrative. It's a superb and convincing job.

In biblical scholarship we speak of the search for the historical Jesus. We humans tend to create legends and myths around important people, places and events. Someone must have the keen scholarship, the healthy skepticism, and the painstaking research to carefully separate fact from fiction, legend from history. Dr. Tom Chaffin has marvelously demonstrated this ability in his new book on the Hunley. I feel indebted to Dr. Chaffin in helping me better understand Horace Hunley from a psychological perspective. This is very important to me as a blood relative of Horace. I am fascinated not only by the submarine but also by the man for whom the submarine is named. Not since the Ruth Duncan book, "The Captain and Submarine CSS H L Hunley" printed in 1965, has any author devoted as much research on Horace Hunley himself, including his sister Volumnia Hunley Barrow and her wealthy husband, Robert Ruffin Barrow. Their intimate connections with Horace Hunley are often overlooked in how they shaped him as a man. Dr. Chaffin's breadth of scholarship is applied like a sharp scalpel to every detail of the Hunley story, separating cherished myths from the raw facts. He does this not only with Horace Hunley, but also with George Dixon and Queenie Bennett, along with the story of the blue light said to have been seen from the shore. Having shared Hunley genealogy with Dr. Chaffin from my old Hunley family bible, I am grateful for the opportunity to get to know this historian on a personal level. I have deep respect for his intellect and self-discipline in overcoming a severe struggle with his health as he researched and wrote. As a Sherlock Holmes scrutinizing every detail of an investigation, Dr. Chaffin used a vast variety of resources in writing this fine book. I especially enjoyed the primary sources he consulted and the carefully documented footnotes for any reader who wants to pursue an item of interest even further. I have no doubt that this book will be the authoritative guide and the definitive work for many years on Horace Hunley and the submarine that changed naval history.

The past few decades have seen an unprecedented flourishing of exploration and retrieval of sunken vessels and their cargo. There are richer wrecks than that of the _H. L. Hunley_, but few of such technological and historical interest. The _Hunley_ was a submarine serving the Confederate forces in the Civil War, and it was the first submarine to sink an enemy ship. It didn't last long thereafter, and it wasn't until World War I that submarines became practical machines of war, but the _Hunley_ was an important step in submarine evolution. After it was raised in 2000, it was available for examination by engineers and historians, and has begun to divulge some of its secrets. In _The H. L. Hunley: The Secret Hope of the Confederacy_ (Hill and Wang), historian Tom Chaffin has told about the raising of the vessel and its recent evaluation by experts, but has given a full history of its development, its creators, and its activity during the Civil War. Chaffin also wrote _Sea of Gray_, an exciting history of the Confederate raider Shenandoah, and has again presented a smoothly narrated and comprehensive story of a lost ship in a lost cause. This time, however, the ship represented the best inventiveness and high-tech accomplishment of its age, and Chaffin has placed the ship, its inventors, and the doomed men who sailed on it within a military, technological, and historical context.

There were submarines before; Leonardo da Vinci himself said he had designed one, but uncharacteristically did not show anyone else the design, he said, "because of the evil nature of men who would practice assassinations at the bottom of the sea..." Chaffin reviews the history of submarines, with the _Hunley_ being far more advanced than any that had gone before. Horace Lawson Hunley was a lawyer and customs officer in New Orleans, and met with his friends inventor James McClintock and Baxter Watson who both owned a machine shop; they conceived the idea of a submarine boat. Their third prototype, created in Mobile, Alabama, was shipped to Charleston in 1863. It was forty feet long, designed for a crew of eight, one commander and seven men to turn the zigzag crankshaft that operated the propeller; there were also hand pumps for shifting ballast. At Charleston, the _Hunley_ sank twice, drowning the two crews, the second commanded by Hunley himself. It may be an illustration of the desperation of the Confederates that the _Hunley_ was re-floated for a third attempt, and crewmen were found to man it. On the night of 17 - 18 February 1864, it was deployed with a mine on a spar, and sank the USS _Housatonic_. Something subsequently went wrong with the _Hunley_, as it sank with all hands. There is evidence that the submarine did not go down in the blast that she gave the _Housatonic_, and there are confused stories of lantern signals and countersignals possibly given by the _Hunley_ after the attack. Of course, the cause of the sinking is one of the interests of researchers who are examining the raised vessel, as are different questions about its manufacture and technical capacity. Of more human interest is that the remains of the third crew were given a stately funeral through the streets of Charleston in 2004. Horse-drawn caissons and Civil War reenactors participated in the procession, which ended in Magnolia Cemetery, the burial place for the men of the first and second crews as well.

The historic sinking of a ship by a submarine did not affect the war's outcome, but _Hunley_ has an important place in the history of how submarines became standard weapons. When the Germans employed submarines in World War I, they used vessels and weapons far beyond anything Horace Hunley and his fellow entrepreneurs could have thought possible. Chaffin explains that the Germans, like the Confederates, practiced commerce raiding, destroying civilian vessels as well as military, bringing to the seas the sort of total war doctrinally propounded by Union general William Tecumseh Sherman. Now, of course, we have submarines ready to deliver enormous destruction, and we take for granted that they are out there ready to do far more than the assassinations Leonardo fretted about. There isn't any way to read about advancements in warfare without some regret, but Chaffin's final chapters, about the curiosity of those who have brought the ship back and are devoted to answering the many mysteries of its creation and operation, contain plenty of optimism and admiration for simple human curiosity, as well as demonstrating once again how strong a hold the Civil War has on the imaginations of those who make it their chief historical interest.