Central America Books

The detailed review by Robin Friedman (below) gives a fair and ample account of this book's content and quality. I'm afraid Thomas Jefferson does not escape with his reputation intact, but I doubt that AFC Wallace intended to besmirch or belittle him for any political agenda. Jefferson was my hero in high school, but almost nothing I've learned about him since then has polished his image. John Quincy Adams, who knew him well, slowly came to regard him as hypocritical, cunning, self-absorbed, given to magnifying his own exploits... what today might be called "narcissistic". Wahington detested him in his later years and cut off communication. Obviously, Jefferson can't be blamed for the uses later generations have made of him to justify secession, states-rights conservatism, racist forms of populism, etc, but history does provide a lens for interpreting his ideologies and for finding that aside from the noble rhetoric of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson's legacy is mostly pernicious.
This is, however, a very well-written and readable book, superbly researched, and not at all tendentious. Don't read it alone! (Of course, if you read it at all, you've probably read other books on Jefferson and on the 18th C). Take a look at FORCED FOUNDERS as a counterweight.

While I found the book, on the whole, to be an interesting entry in a historical space that is lightly populated; meaning that few books are written about the Indian culture during Colonial times and the impact of expansionism on their culture, I felt there were aspects of the book that adversely affected its quality:

1. The detail surrounding the land, colonial speculation (including Jefferson's holdings) and the treaties to expand the colonies' territory to be excessive and ineffective in their attempt to connect Jefferson's said holdings with an overall strategic conspiracy.
2. The book's focus on Jefferson's interest and approach to the American Indian, while interesting and keeping with the title, limited the potential of the book which, I believe, would have been better served if the premise focused more on the colonies' overall perspective and dealings with the Indians. This would have included a more extensive overview of the interaction of the specific tribes, the impact of the six nations and how this interaction diluted or enhanced the Indian culture.
3. I don't believe that it is contradictory for a man of science (based on Jefferson's interest in language and culture correlations and origin), to suggest that certain tribes represented a real threat to the safety of citizens that were, technically, the responsibility of Virginia and,eventually,the United States. Decisions to support eradication of "bad" elements versus those tribes that were cooperative seems logical given the reports that were received and magnitude of the violence that was observed.

Having said that, the chapters regarding the tracking of language patterns, formulating questions that would uncover additional information about tribal history and Jefferson's desire and passion to explore the role of the Native American and determine whether there were connections with the Welsch were fascinating and were great reading.

Overall, while I enjoyed the book, I sensed too much intent to discredit Jefferson and too little effort to suggest the overall importance of Jefferson's desire and approach to collecting and preserving data on the American Indian.

Many works on early United States history tend to give Indian affairs less attention than it deserves. There are two recent books with which I am familiar that help correct this situation. The first is Robert Remini's study of Jacksonian American, "Andrew Jackson and his Indian Wars". The second is Professor Wallace's book on Jefferson's relationship to the Indians, which I am discussing here.

Remini's and Wallace's book can be read together because both tell parts of the same sad story. Expansionist pressures from settlers and the fear of the United States of Indian attacks, particularly when incited by hostile European nations led to a policy of land cessions, wars, and forced removal westward of the Indian tribes. The process culminated with Andrew Jackson's Indian wars and presidency, the subject of Remini's book, but it was effectively put in place by Thomas Jefferson, as shown by Wallace.

Jefferson and his Indian policy, however, seem to me to present a more complex case than Jackson. As Wallace's book shows, Jefferson was indeed a polymath, a scholar and intellectual as well as a, paradoxically, man of power and position. Jefferson took a genuine interest in Indian archaeology, culture and language and made himself or encouraged others to make, scholarly and enthnological contributions that are still important towards understanding the Indians.

Jefferson, even on Professor Wallace's account, had compassion for the Indian tribes and an interest in their well-being, even if this interest was overshadowed, as it was, by his desire to obtain Indian land for the new nation and even though his view of Indian interests was misguided and partial.

Wallace's book traces Jefferson's early relationship with Indians beginning before the revolution when Jefferson was a land speculator in the then Western United States. He explores in detail Jefferson's writing on Indians, particularly his writing on the Indian chief Logan in his "Notes on the State of Virginia." Jefferson's partial reading of the fate of this "Noble Savage", according to Wallace, shows the ambivalent character of Jefferson's approach to the Indians.

Wallace describes in detail Jefferson the politician approaching Indian affairs in the original United States territory and in the Louisiana purchase, which doubled the size of the United States. The announced goals of the policy were peace, land cessions and civilization for the Indians. Too often, these policies became simply the means for tribal destruction and deprivation and for the removal policy, for both the southern and the northern tribes, that culminated in the administration of Andrew Jackson. (again, see the Remini book.)

There are some fascinating quotations in the book that illustrate Wallace's points that are set aside and emphasized in blocked-type and quotes. It is a good way of gaining focus. The book has a wealth of documentation and is not simply a political history. As I indicated Jefferson was a complex individual and this book shows him, focusing on Indian affairs, in all his personal and political variety.

Wallace has a clear feeling for the tragedy of the American Indian. Yet his book is balanced in tone and does not degenerate into ideological or special pleading. His opinions are stated clearly and eloquently in his introduction and conclusion and in his discussions of the events described in the text. The book has the measure of a scholar and encourages the reader to reflect for him or herself on the record.

There are those who are skeptical of the public's recent interest in American History, as shown by the success of McCollough's John Adams as well as other popular historical works, on grounds that it is a new attempt to promote American exceptionalism and to avoid considering the tragedies of our past. I disagree. I think, this interest in history shows a renewed love and interest in our country with no desire to minimize its failings. Wallace's book to me shows both love of our country and a sense of one of its major tragedies.

I felt that this was an excellent book on Thomas Jefferson's views toward the native people of North America. It illuminated many parts of his feelings toward native people and their place in the "American Republic." I felt that it also raised many questions about his participation in early land speculation with Henry, Washington, and Franklin as well as his role in the eventual displacement of native people. Anyone interested in early colonial policy toward natives will surely love this book.

Part of the Jeffersonian fascination involves the many facets, ambiguities and paradoxes he presents: the libertarian who owned slaves; the budget-slashing, small-government advocate who was a personal spendthrift, perpetually teetering at the brink of financial ruin; the shy and ineffective public speaker who was one of the most ruthless and scheming of backroom political operatives; the reclusive scholar and intellectual who spent two hours a day on horseback, and apparently indulged surreptitious passions in the slave quarters. Professor Wallace gives us a little known side of Jefferson: the student of Native American culture, history and language, who took quite deliberate measures to destroy them. Jefferson, who apparently was sincerely fascinated with the Indians, and sympathetic to their plight as they vanished under the burdens of disease, debt, whiskey and the murderous encroachments of frontiersmen, did little to protect them and their way of life, which was incompatible with Jefferson's expansionist, egalitarian vision of a nation of white protestant yeoman farmers. At best, Jefferson hoped that the Indians could be assimilated into white society, as were the Cherokee before Jefferson's successors allowed them to be dispossessed. A fascinating book with some great sidelights (for example, I had no idea that Siouxian tribes at one time lived in Virginia).

Each chapter is an essay on some aspect of life in the Sand Hills, often connected to the author's trials with his university or other human institutions, often dam builders, stream diverters, highway folks, boaters, hunters. As usual, some chapters are much more interesting than the others. I liked the parts about curlews and malaria the best. He has a strong and distinctive voice that sounds like a lot of zoologists i have met. Botanists just don't have the same attitude, somehow.

John Janovy captures the excitement of biological field research in his "own back yard". This classic, "Keith County Journal", details the work he and his students did on parasitology in his home state of Nebraska; a state that does not immediately conjure up images of great scientific discovery. This is a great pity because many fundamental discoveries can be made without traveling to the Amazon or Antarctica. In fact a researcher can spend some very fruitful time in such places as mud holes and stock tanks, as well as others, such as agricultural fields. Barbara McClintock, for example, won a Nobel Prize by studying corn in her own research plots and Jean Henri Fabre wrote a whole series of very well-known books on the insect life found mostly on his home "harmas" of about one hectare.

While he and his students scrounge through ponds to look for snail and bird parasites, Janovy was also busy making drawings and paintings of birds. Not wonderful paintings, but certainly reasonable ones. In this he joins with a large number of natural scientists/naturalists/artists who have utilized art as a vehicle for observation. Indeed, Janovy makes a very good case for such observation as a basis for field biology.

This is not just a book for biology wonks, but will also give the general reader a taste of what field biology is all about. "Keith County Journal" is in fact a highly readable book and I recommend it and any other work by John Janovy without reservation.

There are books by scientists and nature writers that inspire an attitude of awe and wonder, and they do it with a graceful style of coolly elegant prose. This is not one of those books. Janovy, a University of Nebraska biologist specializing in parasitology, is often awestruck by nature, but his style is wonky and comically ironic, using the kind of classroom lecture technique meant to engage undergraduates by seeming to be anything but reverential about subjects he loves, enjoys, and deeply cares about.

Unscientifically, he personalizes and humanizes the species he discusses (termites, snails, fish, birds) and even the places where he and his students do their field work - the Platte River, the waters of man-made Lake McConaughy, the streams and marshes that feed into it, and the Nebraska Sandhills. And there are references as well to beer drinking, the Doors, and Waylon Jennings. He refers to himself sometimes in the third person and easily reveals his own embarrassments and frustrations as his attempts to unravel nature's mysteries are sometimes less than successful. Waxing philosophical at nearly every turn, he eventually reaches a state of mind he calls the "Ogallala blues."

Meanwhile, like a great teacher who inspires with his enthusiasms, he opens a world unknown to anyone unaware of the subtle and complex relationships between species. And he's able to do this by focusing on just a few life forms, including one-celled animals, in a small area of western Nebraska. Janovy invites you to take the nearest exit ramp within range of open fields and streams - even a patch of weeds - and just feast your senses on the flora and fauna. His book is full of fascinating material for the nonbiologist and a pleasure to read.

This story is very specific in its content, which is great for a biologist like myself, but because it is so specific it may appeal only to a limited audience. I especially enjoyed the field trips described and felt I was there, leaky waders and all, plus battles with barbed wire and seeking permission from land owwners to trespass their property.

The use of common names in addition to scientific names may have contributed to its readability. More illustrations would help too. I recommend this book to anyone interested in biology, particularly those over age 15.

This book is a quiet masterpiece. I am not a biologist, but I did not find the book too specific or too technical. Janovy sees lessons everywhere. He teases them from his subjects, his students, his experiences. When he wades into Whitetail Creek with his twenty biology students, he changes the lives of those that follow him, whether in the water or on the page. He writes of the Rock Wren, "Live in a place where you are not tested, and you are living in a place of inferior quality." True, the book is about parasites, and his treatment of parasites is fascinating. But the parasites are packed in among his observations about human being and place and the workings of the world. His writing style is graceful and enticing. I can't wait to read more.

This is one of the most user friendly information packed guides on the Maya Route I have found! the 3D style maps give a good indication of the kind of territory and the transport networks in the region.

I coupled this with Footprint's Central America and Mexico Handbook and lonely Planet's Guatemala, Belize and Yukatan guide and I reckon I am set! The other 10 or so guides will be relegated to the bookshelf or garbage!!

I love this book. Lots of wonderful pictures, history, and explanations of the Maya, their culture, the ruins, etc. Even if you don't plan a trip to the area, it is a beautiful book to look at.

I used this guide in 1998 while touring the Yucatan and its fantastic pyramids. While preparing for a spring trip to Guatemala, I re-discovered this guide and will use it throughout the Maya Highland areas of Guatemala. In addition, I use portions of this guide to teach my freshman-level anthropology students about Maya Traje. If you are a traveler and not a tourist, this is the guide for you! Of all of the guides I have used for Southern Mexico and Guatemala, this is the best.

This wonderfully illustrated portable guide is a wealth of information not normally seen in the regular travel guides. Such information as the geography, animals, different ethnic groups within the Maya, how the commuinities are structrured, festivals, musical instruments, furniture, food, and alot more. The format for the guide is 2 or more pages on each topic, lots of drawings, or paintings, or photos (new and old). The book uses lots of colour, is fascinating to go through even after you have read it. It has some helpful tourist information as to hotels, shops, restaurants, but is not a primary source for booking reservations information. If you have any interest in this area or these people, this is a great book to have for a really good price. It is a treat to look at.

Lots of informative text and splendid pictures make this portable guide well worth its relatively modest price. The book deals with almost every aspect of both ancient and modern-day Maya life, as well as with practical travel information. I have been through La Ruta Maya on five different trips and am a fan of travel literature on Central America, but I still learned many new things from this book, especially about present-day Maya practices. There are a few typos, but still, it's perfect for actual or armchair travel to La Ruta Maya.

I wasn't sure at first if I was going to enjoy this cookbook because I am not at all familiar with Latin dishes or ingredients. The recipes in "Latin American Cooking Across the USA" are very accessible, as I've read many of them I've thought to myself "that sounds really good", even ones with ingredient combinations and preparations completely unfamiliar. I am happy that this book dispels the notion that all Latin food is super-spicy, there are subtle and flavorful recipes in this book not just heat ( I think Americans have gone way overboard with hot spices and garlic as if that is a guarantee of good flavor, which it is not). It is also interesting to see how recipes have changed because of availability of ingredients in the US or because of change in tastes by later generations. I can't wait to try so many of these recipes!

This is a great cookbook. If you have any interest in cookbooks that are worth reading, as well as using to cook from, just buy it already. You will learn a lot about Latin American family traditions, too.

More than 10 years ago, while browsing cookbooks at the Strand bookstore in New York, I came across this book, and discovered Puerto Rican holiday recipes. "Why not try them this year?", I thought. So, I made Puerto Rican christmas that year, and ever since. A testament to how good/authentic these recipes are is that in that first year, the guests included my (Puerto Rican) mother-in-law and a family friend in from La Isla. The results we warmly greeted. "Eddie's Puerto Rican Roast Pork" is one of those recipes that is super easy, but will result in an indescribably good dish, and a beautiful centerpiece to your dinner. I have made many of the other dishes, too -- all to great acclaim.

Favorites inclue the "Arroz con Gandules", "Panama Canal Seviche", "Shrimp Seviche", both Flan recipes, and, of course, "Coquito", the yummy Puerto Rican version of eggnog, with rum and coconut.

The stories are as good as the recipes, so even if you don't cook, the book is a terrific read. But, be warned, it _will_ make you hungry.

THIS BOOK IS A KEEPER, FOREVER AND EVER. I FELT I WAS TRAVELING THE WHOLE HEMISPHERE WITHOUT LEAVING MY BED! NOT ONLY ARE THE RECIPES DIFFERENT, IMPRESSIVE AND EASY TO PREPARE, THIS BOOK IS A TREASURE OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY ABOUT THE MANY LATINO GROUPS WITHIN OUR OWN USA BORDERS. I LEARNED CULTURE AND GOT A FEW LAUGHS AND IMMEDIATELY TRIED SOME RECIPES THAT REALLY IMPRESSED MY FAMILY. IT'S THE BEST COOKBOOK I'VE EVER HAD. IF THE AUTHORS READ THIS, I'D LIKE TO REALLY CONGRATULATE THEM FROM MY HEART!

I tried the Jerk marinade recipe for chicken and curry goat (lamb) and both came out delicious. Even though the jerk recipe I have been following for a while now calls for green onions and brown sugar, both of which are omitted in the recipe from this book, the result (it uses ginger and garlic that I havent seen in other jerk rubs before) was delectable. Following the recommendation of the author, we recently visited Vernon's Jerk place in the Bronx and were very pleased with the food!! I have been dabbling in caribbean/cuban/spanish cuisine for a little while now and this book is a must have if you wanna prepare authentic latin american dishes! This book also has a huge dessert section. Colombian American Guava Bread, Pumpkin Flan and Coconut Bread Pudding all came out excellent! Happy cooking! I am sure this will be a book you'll keep coming back to every time you feel like whipping together something spicy and exotic!

This book features a wide variety of recipes from across the spectrum of Latin American cookery, including contributions by notables Celia Cruz, Cristina Saralegui and others.

Our favorites have been the "Latin from Manhattan" chicken soup, pork and rice, black bean soup, chicken fricasee *and* the Guatamelan coffee. And this Thanksgiving I will be making the wine-infused turkey! Other recipes include pasteles, chicken and beef dishes, milk shakes and desserts.

There are also interesting side articles such as "How Jamaican beef patties came to be sold in New York pizzerias" (I had always wondered about that!)

A great resource for the novice or experienced cook!

Overall I was pleased with Roszak's book. Most of the pieces i've read about the sixties and the "hippie" era focus only on the sex, the drugs, and the music. While Roszak did dicuss this, his book was quite different because it focused mainly on the politcal and social issues of the time. Roszak include everything from the Vietnam War to how the counter culture has affected the lifestyles of the typical American family. Although Roszk is clearly on the far left side of the political spectrum, it is obvious that he tries his best to be objective and is sure to back up most of his points and information with credible sources. What I admire most about Roszak's book is the tone he takes. In my experience, many adult pieces concerning this era in history and the taboo, radical things that went on are often full of criticism towards that particular generation. Roszak did not criticize the protestors or the acid droppers, like most do. In his book, he carefully explained and supported the motives for these people, suggestng his approval and admiration for those who weren't afraid to stand up for what they believed in, no matter how much society frowned upon it.

This book offers a highly detailed examination of the relationship of the late 1960's counterculture to cutting-edge intellectual ideas of the same era; Roszak discusses Herbert Marcuse and Norman Brown, among others, in great detail and shows very lucidly how their ideas influenced intellectual and political movements on college campuses in both America and Europe. Roszak's prescience here is amazing, considering that he wrote this book in 1967-68, while the phonemena he discusses were still unfolding! It would be interesting if Roszak were to write a response to his own book today, considering how the counterculture of the early 1990's has been so rapidly devoured by the mainstream--Roszak foresaw the possibility of this happening to the 1960's counterculture, but it took far longer then than it has now. Roszak's ruminations on the absurdity of the Alternative Nation would be welcome with this reader!

Roszak's "Making of a Counter Culture" defined an era and the youth society that composed it. A thrilling expose' of Counter Culture Philosophy and oreintation, this is where the discussion all began. His bent on analysis of cultural differences and tendency to omit much of the political implications necessitated the need for a library of text thereafter.
Timothy Fitzgerald

read this still inspiring report on the counterculture and own its potential for self-transformation in your own life and the life of our global society.

I read this book in 1979 and it helped me to make sense of the 60s landslide in my own life. Re-reading it many times over the years, together with Roszak's other very insightful work (Unfinished Animal, 1975) is always an inspiring reminder of the counterculture's deep potential for cultural renewal. Forty years after the Summer of Love, Roszak's insights are still right on.

This book is by far the most seminal book one can read in attempting to get an accurate and unvarnished understanding of the sixties counterculture; the social and historical reasons for its rise, its intellectual underpinnings, and the way in which its actions were informed and indeed propelled by its unique constellation of integrating values into a cultural ethos.

Recently the counterculture has been viciously attacked, intellectually trashed and intentionally trivialized by a series of books and articles by mainstream neoconservatives who wish to discredit the counterculture once and for all by blaming it and the "permissiveness" it spawned for the manifest ills the mainstream society has actually engendered through the evolution of its own corrupted, nonrepresentative, and nondemocratic political process. Many ignorant youthful authors have succumbed to attributing fallacious ideas and notions of this ethos in a way that is not only inaccurate and disingenuous, but which serves to trivialize the quite serious cultural critique it comprised.

All that is set aside here. Remember, this book was written more than 30 years ago, even as the counterculture was rising, so it is very much a observational history, one done at ground zero of the demonstrations, sit-ins, when the tumult and strident calls for radical new solutions rang clear, and the heady air of nascent social and intellectual revolution was in the air.

Here one finds the counterculture placed in its proper context, and not just discussed 'en passant' as the demonized triage of sex, drugs, and rock and roll'. One can hardly understand the sixties in such simplistic terms, and Roszak helps one to understand the complex welter of social, economic, and political factors that led to its emergence. In its essence the counterculture was a social and political reaction to the hypocrisy of the mainstream materialistic culture from which it sprang, and as sociologist Philp Slater has commented elsewhere, most of the individual elements of the value system of the counterculture stem from values the mainstream culture in fact claims to hold but actually does not practice and employ.

This, then, is book with remarkable insight, perspective, and historical verve. Rosazak nails quite accurately the tensions, problems and contradictions associated with the rise of the counterculture and the innate problems its continued existence eventually portended for the materialistic mainstream culture. Of course, as history shows us, the sixties ethos was flattened by the overwhelming onslaught of the establishment and the Ohio National Guard, and the political and social ethos of the counterculture melded into the domain of increasingly isolated private and personal philosphies of hippies being assimilated into the mainstream.

The fact that its ethos is now blamed for much of the discontent and confusion of contemporary America is a likely result of what happens when one tries to merge antagonistic ideas and notions into a cultural system that is inconsistent with its own. This is a wonderful book, and one needs to read before the victors of those fractious times so revise the official version of the history of the 1960s that those of us who were there will no longer recognize it.

If one wants to understand the debacle or "quagmire" know as the Vietnam War, look no further than this riveting account! In "The Making of a Quagmire," David Halberstam pin points all of the failures of the system years before the first official U.S. troops splash ashore at Danang, Vietnam. His account, a collection of observations about Vietnam under the Diem presidency, is refreshing while at the same time shocking in its findings. While many observers insisted that efforts in Vietnam were progressing so well from 1961-63, Halberstam sees the light. His expose of all the failings of the system includes candid words about the inept south Vietnamese leadership and the American advisors who grow increasingly frustrated with their mission. Most importantly though, Halberstam offers a glimpse into the life of a journalist caught in his own war of censorship.

Before reading this book, my knowledge of the Vietnam war was limited to the movies I had seen on the subject, until recently when a friend recommended this book to me after a brief discussion of the war, its political agenda and its intrigue. Making of a quagmire is an extensive and thourough account of the events in 1961 and 1962 that lead to the eventual full american involvemnt in Vietnam. Halberstam provides an unbeleivable and at times jaw-dropping first hand account of the political and military events of the period, and translates with remarkable skill the frustration of the vicious circle that was the american policy in Vietnam. A must read for any one with even a slight interest in the subject

Halberstam's work is a classic, outlining the dilemma that Vietnam posed to American policymakers in the early 1960s, and written in lucid, newspaper-reporting style. The author's perceptiveness is particularly striking when one considers that he wasn't even 30 years old when he covered Vietnam.

Unfortunately, this McGraw-Hill edition abridges Halberstam's masterpiece. Most of the essential pieces of the story remain, but much of the rich, colorful narrative, which makes this such a fascinating book, is lost. Hopefully, a complete version will return to print soon.

In the early 1960s, David Halberstam was a New York Times correspondent who initially viewed the U.S. political and military-advisory roles in South Viet Nam as a necessary stance against the Communist menace (as defined by Dwight Eisenhower's "domino theory" in Southeast Asia).

But his pessimism grew during tours of the nation, interviews with American military advisors and his concerns surrounding the corrupt South Vietnamese government of President Ngo Dinh Diem. His criticism became so much of a problem to the Kennedy Administration that the president himself lobbied NYT editors to have Halberstam yanked out of South Viet Nam if his reporting continued to run contrary to the government's optimistic pronoucements.

The abridged edition - to make the text more accessible to those not familiar with this history - is a classic retrospective on how Halberstam grew to question the policies of Diem and Kennedy. It also importantly takes the reader through a journey on how he had to walk gingerly through the web of censorship that is played out between the government & the news media.

I read this book when I was a Cadet at West Point. It changed the way I looked at U.S. policy.

Unlike many works that Alan Lomax had has hand in, this book is great reading, if nothing more. I am not known to be a fan of Alan Lomax and his father as my review of _The Land Where the Blues Began_ attests, but at least Lomax realized what a treasure Jelly Roll Morton was and interviewed him and also had Morton create hours and hours of singing and piano music.


This book offers a digest of hours and hours of interviews with Morton in the late 1930s when Morton was living in Washington. It is supplemented by some very useful interviews Lomax did with New Orleans musicians and their families in the late 1940s. The New Orleans interviews provide very useful direct source material about the social and culture and professional milieu that both Creole and Black musicians in New Orleans Sprang from. A recently written criticial review by a real scholar at the close of the book explains the great limitations of Lomax's selections and writngs here.


Lomax apparently knew little about the real history and processes of New Orleans jazz and life, so that a lot of questions that someone interest in Morton's impact on music are not asked, not just in what Lomax selected to put in this book, but in the larger transcripts of Lomax's interviews and in the monologues Morton dictated to a stenographer as part of this project. Lomax's tendency is to seek out non-musical issue his stereotypical images of Blues and Jazz musicians call forth. This is quite unfortunate because to the end of his life, Morton had a very sophsiticated and articulate understanding of music and was capable of serious discussion of jazz and blues in formal musical terminology. He was a person who seriously thought about music most of the time when he was not playing it.

Recently scholars with new information drawn from new discoveries of Morton's personal archives, correspondence, and musical library as well as the range of interviews with other musicians tend to verify much of what as thought of after these intervews as bragadoccio. Morton probably was the first person to produce written compositions that were Jazz as opposed to rag time. He was certainly playing and writing down blues compositions before Handy. Even the greatest of early Jazz Pianists like James P. Johnson affirmed that both in the days before WWI and in the 1920s Morton outplayed all the great Jazz Pianists.

The examination and performance of the music that Morton wrote in the late 1930s indicates that Morton had not only mastered composition and band arrangement in a style that would have surpassed the most surpassed swing of his day but had written orchestral pieces that prefigured the modal Jazz that Coltrane and others presented in the 1950s. These and other compositions indicate that whatever the fortunes of his public performances, Morton was a serious composer whose skills continued to advance even in his last years when his health collapsed.

Yet flagged by failing health, Morton was never able to organize an orchestra that could have played these pieces. He had been told that he could have lived ten or fifteen more years had he given up performing music, but he wanted to make his music more than he wanted to live.

Finally, Morton WAS cheated out of millions of dollars in royalties by the music industry, especially by the Melrose Brothers and by ASCAP. He was one of the first musicians to challange the way the Mafia-connected music publishers simply robbed musicians of their compositions or did not pay them. Unlike some musicians who suffered quietly or WC Handy who was one of the token Blacks ASCAP paraded around to hide its racism, Morton launched a public campaign in Downbeat and other Jazz magazines that exposed the crimes of ASCAP and music publishers like Melrose.

Until the mid 1940s, ASCAP which collected royalties for compositions from record producers, radio, night clubs, and other places where music was played had a racist setup. Few Black members were admitted although royalties were collected for their music. Morton carried out a public and legal campaign for years to be admitted to ASCAP even though it was collecting millions for the large number of his compositions that had become great hits in the swing era, like the King Porter Stomp that became a standard that any competent string band cut its teeth on.

Once inside ASCAP, he found ASCAP distributed its royalties not based on the money different songs brought royalties but on what a board of ASCAP leaders decided was the cultural worth of different kinds of music. Thus while Broadway and classical writers were getting hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalty payments, Morton received under 200 dollars each of the two years he was living and a member of ASCAP. Morton protested and exposed this publically in the last years of his life and attempted to gather other victims of this system in a law suit. While he was dying and unable to carry on this struggle, his protests and the information he gathered led to congressional investigations in the 1940s that forced an end to discrimination in ASCAP in regard to membership and forced it to distribute royalties based on the sales of the music, not on its "value."

The issue of braggadocio also comes here from the fact that Lomax supplied Morton with a bottle of whiskey for each Interview. Morton was not an alcholic, but those who have studied the transcripts have noted that Morton grew more inaccurate, abrasive, and unreliable longer into the interviews as the booze took effect.

This fits into Alan Lomax's consistent pattern of trying to make sources, particularly Black sources fit into the stereotypes he had about them. Lomax who took many photographs of his folk sources, for example, would force people who preferred being photographed in the Sunday Best, to appear in old work clothes. While Leadbelly actually favored the finest suits and imposed a dress code on Sonny Terry and Brownie MCGhee when they roomed at his New York Home (suits and ties as musicians are professionals and get a case, not a sack for the instrument) Lomax forced him to perform in prison garb or overalls. Lomax also created the fiction that singing and the intercession of his father John Lomax had some relationship with Leadbelly being released fromthe Louisiana penitentary when Leadbelly was released as part of program that automatically reduced prison sentences due to depression-caused cutbacks.

Lomax wanted precisely to convey a picture of Morton filled with whiskey, smokey rooms, and so forth, when Morton was one of the biggest stars of music between 1917 and 1930, performing in some of the most sophisticated venues and a particular favorite with Hollywood film stars of the period.

Despite these criticisms, I urge anyone interested in finding out not only about Jelly Roll Morton, but about the origins of Jazz in New Orleans and the entertainment industry in the earkly 20th Century to read this book. A good supplement, or perhaps a better place to start would be _Jelly's Blues: The Life, Music, and Redemption of Jelly Roll Morton_ by Howard Reich. This can be followed by _Dead Man Blues: Jelly Roll Morton Way Out West by Phil Pastras_.

In spite of Jelly's bragadocio and the author's lack of Jazz background (Lomax was a folklorist) it's a very interesting book. Jelly must have felt injusticed when, in the late thirties, Benny Goodman was earning lots of money with "King Porter's Stomp". But the truth is that, exactly like King Oliver, he was outpaced by the revolution started by Satchmo.

I have always been a fan of Jelly Roll Morton, and I've always looked for books about him. This is by far the best. I loved it. I wish they would re-issue it

Alan Lomax interviewed Jelly Roll while doing an extensive set of recordings shortly before Morton's death. He followed up with a number of interviews with people who knew Jelly Roll. Lomax did a fabulous job of keeping himself out of the way while letting the often colorful information from the interviews tell the story of Jelly's part in the birth of jazz, a story with triumphs, massive ego and ultimate decline. I read a library copy and am buying a copy for a present.

This is one of the rare books for it can be enjoyed by just about anyone who picks it up. Its the amazing account of the life of Jelly Roll Morton, one of the best jazz pianists of all time. Though a braggart and troubled man, he created some of the very best pieces of jazz. The book goes into his life from his childhood and his time working at Storyville to the very troubled end in the early forties. You learn about his family, his troubled relationships with Anita and Mabel and how he went from being wildly successful to dying virtually forgotten. Voodoo, New Orleans, jazz and Creole culture, its all here.

Written with flair and never boring, Mr. Jelly Roll is a book that you will read more than once. Its a look at a legend and a glimpse into a world we can only know of through books and music. Get this if you want a good read and a look at Mr. Morton's life. A true classic.

I interviewed Jacqueline Duheme when she was promoting this exquisite book, and one thing remains in my mind that she said about "The Grand Dame, Jacqueline" - that she could have been a painting woman!!!

As an ardent admirer of Mrs. Kennedy for the past 40 years, I have read every book on her that I could get my hands on. "Mrs. Kennedy Goes Abroad" is a refreshing change from the repetitive narratives and recycled photos that are the mainstay of so many other books about her life. Ms. Duheme's illustrations are elegant and sumptuous but also embrace a childlike purity and simplicity which capture the essence of Mrs. Kennedy's persona and mystique. The commentary has the simple charm of a beautifully written children's book. It is obvious why Mrs. Kennedy chose Ms. Duheme to accompany her on her more memorable trips abroad as First Lady. A truly enchanting book.

Mrs. Kennedy Goes Abroad is an adorable little book filled with colorful Fauvist-like illustrations. Anyone who likes Laura Stoddart's simple-chic illustrations for Kate Spade will probably enjoy it. Fans of the recent exhibition at the Met that highlighted Jackie's White House clothes may appreciate it too. The commentary is kept to a minimum and black and white photos from Mrs. Kennedy's travels are included, but the focus is on French artist Duheme's amusing miniature paintings that capture Jackie in all those great pink sleeveless dresses and crisp suits in Paris, India, London and Italy.

As a side note: Duheme and Jacqueline Kennedy became friends who shared similar painting styles, and Duheme was invited to Cape Cod to give the First Lady an art lesson.

This book has wonderful pictures that captures the "facts" from actual photographs and transforms them into scenes of "fantasy". I really enjoyed the background information that accompanies each picture. A real treat of Jackie fans.

"Mrs. Kennedy Goes Abroad" is a beautiful book. The illustrations are lovely to look at, and the book is fun to read. A good choice for anyone to add to their library; especially recommended for those interested in the Kennedys and Jackie in particular. Evokes the fun mood of Jackie's scrapbook written with her sister Lee, "One Special Summer".

Both my parents worked when I was kid. My younger sister and I used to stay at home and play. Every mid-afternoon we would stop playing and run to turn on MPT (PBS) and watch Reading Rainbow. We were never disappointed-- even the theme song pleased us and we would sing and dance to it. MY LITTLE ISLAND was one of my favorite episodes-- I have not read or seen this book in 12 years yet I remember so much from it: seeing the island overhead, looking exactly like a large swimming turtle, the market scene (the clothes and fruit compete with each other, both are so delicious to look at), and the night fishing. This is a beutiful book-- beautifully written, beautifully illustrated. Read it only once and I guarantee neither you or the one whom it is read to will forget it.

My Little Island is a delightful book which I first read to my daughter when she was 4 years old. The story is wonderful and the illustrations are captivating. We read it again and again many nights as it became one of our favorite books. Soon my daughter began reading it by herself. She is 6 years old now and still remembers the names of all the beautiful trees in the story. I would highly recommmend this book to the parents of any 4 to 6 year old child whom I am sure would enjoy this book as much as we do.

This book is absolutely beautiful. The illustrations are incredibly colorful and true to life in the islands. The volcano that has erupted and buried Montserrat is mentioned and show in the book, and though Monteserrat is now buried under ash and not at all like the paintings in the book, your child does not have to know the details. My three year old loves this story and pictures. He is familiar with Carnival and many of the "island" fruits and vegetables mentioned in the book. If you live outside the Caribbean, you could go to an island marketplace with your child and actually find and eat these delicacies. Overall, this is a wonderful story about a boy and his best friend who travel to Montserrat for an all-too-short vacation. Again, for you statesiders who have not been to the Caribbean with your kids, you will have to explain some of the pictures; however, this is what imaginations are for. Enjoy the book. Highly recommended.

I like the pictures in this book. The book made me wonder what goat-water stew and guavas are. I wonder if people still live on Montserrat since the volcano erupted. I wish I could go there to swim, fish, and visit the market. I am 6 1/2 years old.

It's important to note that recent events have added poignancy to Lessac's tribute to her home island. This charming book is a record of an island practically destroyed by a recent volcanic eruption. "My Little Island" is the island of Montserrat, three-quarters of which lies buried under layers of volcanic ash. All the colors and the activity of the people portrayed here are fond memories. What a wonderful opportunity to talk to children about the things they would cherish about their own homes. And what a joyous appreciation of a lifestyle also typical of other Leeward islands.

One of the better books on dealing with terrorism. I bought the book after seeing the author on one of the interview programs. I was impressed with his vision and ability to simplify portions of the problem. I started the book convinced it was worthy of a 5 star review. However, the loss of a star is the reflection of a persistent bias.

The author does a great job of dividing the threats into those which we must defend against and those which our best defense is preparation to deal with the consequences. The two examples used are bioterrorism and nuclear weapons.

He makes a great case that terrorists are not going to send their one and only , $250 million nuke into the country in a shipping container where they lose control. He misses an opportunity to bolster his argument with concept that the enemy of intelligence gathering is velocity. The time a ship takes to load then cross an ocean at 30 knots and unload ( or detonate in the harbor) is perhaps 20-40 times the time required to deliver the components via private jet. Further argument for an increased focus on aircraft and efforts to increase the care and rate at which intelligence data is analyzed.

To be successful the terrorist organization needs to obtain highly enriched uranium or other materials as they are very unlikely to be able to produce it. Once in possession of the materials the fabrication of a weapon becomes a far lesser challenge.

Bio weapons represent the opposite end of the scale with production well within the capabilities of a small organization using materials commercially available around the globe. Thus the challenge becomes the response to an attack.

Larsen's message that government is not the answer needs to be carried to the four corners of the country. People who would never think of allowing their health, life, car or pet insurance to lapse simply refuse to take the few essential steps which will greatly add to their family security in the event of a natural disaster or attack. He uses the example of people waiting in line for water just a few hours after a hurricane has passed in Florida. They are angry that the government has not yet provided them with water and yet they had 3 days warning of the approaching storm and probably left a home with 5 gallons of clean water in the toilet tanks and another 30 gallons in the water heater.

Larsen does a great job in taking the problem from the strategic issues down to what the individual citizen needs to do to prepare for something that is nearly as certain as death and taxes.

My sole reservation is that his bias shows up clearly in the way he describes problems or effective action, depending on which side of the political spectrum is involved.

With this slight lapse it remains a highly recommended read

"Our Own Worst Enemy is the single best thing that has been written on homeland security and, as Randy Larsen suggests, every American should read it. Straight talking, full of common sense and written in an entertaining style that makes it hard to put down, this book asks the right questions and provides concrete recommendations that government officials, corporate executives and every citizen need to understand and apply."

ADM Steve Abbot, USN (Ret)
Deputy Homeland Security Advisor to the President
2001-2003

"Larsen advocates a seldom used tool to fight terrorism--common sense."

Bob Schieffer, CBS News

"Larsen explains how to ask the right questions---from the Oval Office, to the front office, to your kitchen table."

Bruce vanVoorst,
former Senior Correspondent for National Security, TIME

"This book should be required reading for all who are concerned about national security--and that is everyone...An all-absorbing, page-by-page tableau, comprised of provocative ideas, eminently rational concepts, and well-skewered current ideas and initiatives."

Donald A. Henderson, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine
and Public Health, University of Pittsburgh,
Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Service Professor

"Post 9/11, there are now many experts on homeland security. But Randy Larsen is a pioneer...This is a pragmatic and valuable book for average Americans, not just experts."

John J. Hamre
President and CEO
Center for Strategic and International Studies

"This is a must read for at least one member of every American family. Larsen is an unparalleled expert and tells us all what really matters for our security in this age of lethal unpredictability."

Arnaud de Borchgrave, Director of Transnational Threats,
Center for Strategic and International Studies

This guy knows his stuff! I learned more about how we ARE and ARE NOT prepared for terrorism (as a country and as people) from reading this book than I have from about 2,000 hours watching news programs. He obliterates the sense of helplessness so many of us seem to feel about terrorism. I'd seen Larsen on TV and come to respect his sage opinions, so I bought the book. In it, he simplifies complicated political mumbling and sleight-of-hand into real language about what's going on and what we should do. His position makes great sense. His opinion on immigration, on controlling nuclear supplies and personal preparedness are so logical you'll be wondering how the whole topic ever looked overwhelming. He does it all without talking down to people who didn't spend their time at West Point. It's an immensely readable, deeply grounded, reassuring book. It takes a genius to distill a complicated subject so eloquently. I recommend it most highly.

This was an amazing book which pushes beyond the partisan struggle over policy making in homeland security. He discusses not only the problems, but also the successes and solutions that exist. It will entertain you, enlighten you, scare you, and reassure you. It is a must read for all Americans.

I just saw Randall Larsen on C-SPAN's Book TV and I am about to order his book. He puts a healthy emphasis on the fact that the government is not able to help citizens in every situation, nor is it the government's job. To show how far we have come from the self-reliance we need, he told of a well-dressed woman who 36 hours after Katrina was demanding the government supply her with drinking water. She knew Katrina was coming; couldn't she have filled her bathtub, or bought a supply of water?, he asked. How dependent and childish can you get?

He told the story of a sheriff in Texas who is in charge of a county a third the size of Delaware, with 27,000 people. How would he deal with a security emergency? "I'd posse up," he replied. That is, he has all the backup he needs in citizens trained to help in law-enforcement.

Larsen is telling us to "posse up." Become aware of how to keep our families safe, and get training to be a part of law enforcement when the government can't supply enough manpower for our needs. We need to take responsibility for our security and be prepared to act when there is a crisis, instead of expecting the government to take care of us in every situation.