Central America Books

Since the day after the first battle of Bull Run it was common knowledge that the U. S. Marine battalion was the first to cut and run from the battlefield, thereby causing the rout of the Union forces by the rebels. After 20 years of research that has uncovered new sources, David M. Sullivan proves that this stain on the battle flag of the Marines was a myth. Even the 90 day volunteer units had more training than the Marines, most of whom were recruited in the three weeks prior to the battle. They were essentially trained enroute to Manassas Junction. The young Marines were pushed back, four times, by superior and fresh forces. They rallied three of those times and re-entered the battle (equaling the record of any unit on the field that day).

This account is just one of dozens of similar stories that will give the Marine Corps the honor it deserves during the Civil War. Year by year, using official records, personal accounts and a myriad of sources he sets the record straight.

This is an epoch work by an outstanding researcher and a competent story teller. Must reading for all Marines, all friends of Marines and everyone that the Marines defend.

Wahlgren explains very well some of the hoaxes and misinterpretations of "evidence" of the Vikings in numerous areas of North America. He delves into the controversy over the Kensington Stone (a stone with a runic inscription found in Minnesota), and with his linguistic background expertly debunks it.

I particularly enjoy Wahlgren's very readable style, full of cute little asides, while remaining scholarly. His personality and wit really shine through.

For students of the American West or Lewis & Clark, this as a "must read".

He downplays the significance of Sacagewea. For the most part she was little used on this voyage. Her one major contribution was helping to secure horses for the great fording of the Bitteroot Mountains. Still, Lavender lavishes much attention on her and her son, which it seems that William Clark did as well. Her presence seemed to secure safe passage during their final leg down the Columbia River, as it made the expedition team seem less war-like.

Lavender also provides the background for the voyage, detailing President Jefferson's dream to establish an American Northwest Passage, linking one ocean to another. Lavender probes the seemingly paternal relationship between Jefferson and Lewis, and how Jefferson was able to win Congress over to a third attempt to cross the continent, despite questions regarding Lewis' qualifications. Jefferson personally trained Lewis for the expedition and provided added tutelage in the form of the leading lights of American science. Like a devoted son, Lewis made every effort to carry out the mission, which Jefferson sponsored, even when it seemed foolhardy to do so.

For those who haven't travelled this route before, you will be in good hands with David Lavender. For those who have, I think you will marvel at how masterful a job Lavender does in recording the events, giving the best rounded version of the "voyage of discovery" that I have read.

Holmes was merely the first in a long line of legal thinkers to ignore his own advice (in his 30-year judicial career, he did basically nothing to advance any serious interdisciplinary study of law).

In her new book, Abigail Saguy demonstrates how a rigorous sociological investigation of a now-common legal concept from a comparative perspective can yield all sorts of insights into the nature of the politics of law.

Saguy compares the concepts of sexual harrassment as they have been developed by the American and French legal systems. Part of the book's value is how it reminds us that what now seems like a central concept of American, and to a much lesser extent, French, law, was something that literally did not even exist 30 years ago. She traces the genesis of the concept in the feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and describes how the concept has taken significantly different forms in France and America.

Her interviews with numerous prominent legal and political actors in both countries are fascinating, as is her analysis of the factors that have led to sexual harrassment being framed as a form of sex discrimination in America, and a crime of violence (albeit a widely ignored one) in France.

While Saguy's methods are markedly empirical, she does not overwhelm the reader with statistics. Rather, she weaves an engrossing narrative, that will interest lawyers, legal scholars, especially those with interests in comparative law, employment law, and gender politics, sociologists, political activists, and anyone else who is concerned with the use and abuse of sexual power in the workplace. (Among the many taken-for-granted issues Saguy helps clarify is the apparent arbitrariness ivolved in limiting the concept of sexual harrassment to workplace interactions).

This is a terrific book. If the academy produced more work like this, we wouldn't be suffering our current embarrassment of being able to read "The Path of the Law" 103 years after its publication with such a distinct sense of plus ca change . . .