Truman Books

Knowing the history of the exploration of this magnificent park makes me even more anxious to visit this beautiful country. After reading this book, when I visit YSNP, I will focus on a time long ago, when all the modern conveniences were not there. It is a great book to have read to get some of the background knowledge of this area, before you go out and explore yourself!

Today, being lost in Yellowstone National Park is as simple as turning on the wrong road after you lost your complimentary map or you can not locate the restroom in the Old Faithful complex. For Truman Everts, being lost in Yellowstone was a struggle between life and death. Everts's account details his 1870 adventure in Yellowstone after finding himself separated from his travelling companions. The separation began Everts's thirty-seven day struggle for survival in a pre-developed Yellowstone in which Everts had to find what little food and shelter he could just to survive. Readers will find this account to be a real-life struggle for survival reminiscent of Jack London's fictional work. The editor, Lee Whittlesey, does a superb job of editing Everts's story by providing the reader with additional information and the historical background of the book. The work is also illustrated with many early day photographs of Yellowstone which provides an stunning visual account of early-day Yellowstone National Park. This book will be appreciated by anyone looking for an exciting true-life adventure story as well as historians of the American West. People who have been "lost" recently in Yellowstone will also appreciate the book, even if their modern-day adventure pales in comparison to Evert's

Besides being one of those - Why haven't I heard of this story before? - adventure stories, this book offers a great opportunity to further enhance the Yellowstone experience.

I read this book while staying in a ranch outside Yellowstone National Park. As luck would have it, our first day of "touring" the park via automobile closely paralleled Truman's path, and I managed to read this story aloud to the kids later that night, in front of a big cast iron stove, while Clark's Fork gurgled 30 feet from the door. I'm not sure if it was the story or the setting, but they were captivated! They were able to tie Truman's adventures in with many of the places we had been earlier that day, and it gave them an entirely different perspective of the park. In addition to bringing the book to life (again - what a story!), it contributed immensely to their appreciation of Truman's ordeal, the magnitude of the park and the wilderness that lies 100 yards off the main roads... Highly recommended.

This book speaks to more audiences than any other I've recently read.

It is, as advertised, a story about what "welfare reform" means in one state (Illinois.) But its a lot more. It is the story of one man's late mid-life crisis and how he tries to make the world a better place. (Would that Steve Forbes read this book and decided to do something with a better chance of paying off than run for president.) Its a "true story of people in inner city" Chicago in the tradition of Alex Kotlowitz and Nick Lehmann. But its also the story of the people who make up the rules faced by those real people: the street level bureaucrats who make the rules into "yes" and "no" answers, the senior bureaucrats who are between the street level bureaucrats and the legislators who make the decisions.

I especially liked having a state-level perspective on "how our laws are made." I haven't seen a book from a personal perspective as good as this since Eric Redman's "The Dance of Legislation." And its the first time I've seen one from a state-level perspective. (It will remind you all over again of why there is the adage: "Two things you don't want to see being made -- sausage and legislation.")

One of the happy lessons of the national welfare reform experiment is that the interests of the poor and the business community need not be at odds. Both business leaders and business practices have much to offer the reform effort. Gary MacDougal is a business leader who traveled far and worked doggedly to make his own powerfully constructive offer - and to make it concrete. In doing so, MacDougal belied the myth perpetuated by those who fret that business leaders poking around social welfare programs will focus only on cutting costs and will leave the poor stranded at the doors of shuttered programs. But that was not MacDougal's vision - far from it.

In the midst of a successful business career, MacDougal went to Nepal and came down from the mountain with a desire to make a difference. After selling his business, he was free of all of the usual agendas -- whether of the left, right, party politics, turf, personal business interests, or a bureaucracy to defend, and he decided to make his contribution by offering a governor his help in leading a human services reform effort. The Governor said thanks, and MacDougal went on to challenge seven entrenched bureaucracies, the legislature, providers, and the unions. His good listening ear allowed him to hear fully from the clients of the system, as well as all the other players as they described (and often defended) the jumbled mess that called itself human services delivery. His heart told him there had to be a better way to serve families. And his business experience and acumen told him that the other way would have to be a customer first model that coordinated and redesigned the system based on the perspectives and needs of the communities to be served.

His plan was adopted by Illinois, where he focused his efforts. It puts families first. It insists on seamless service delivery of services in a now-consolidated human services agency that he helped create shape. And his plan is grounded in a from-the-ground-up local systems design intended to respond to the unique needs of each community where services are delivered. Now that most welfare families with the fewest personal and social problems are working, other states would do well to look at MacDougal's model of coordinated service delivery to address the far more complex needs of those families who remain on welfare.

-- This by an attorney who has represented the poor for twenty years.

Too often, discussions of our welfare system are in an ideological context - the left or the right. In this splendid and highly readable book, Gary MacDougal shows that perhaps the too-long neglected pragmatic perspective is the most important.

As a citizen-volunteer, Mr. MacDougal led the Governor's task force charged with fundamentally restructuring the Illinois welfare system, which administers a highly fragmented hodge-podge of state- and federally-funded programs. To this assignment he brought unique qualifications: He is an experienced and successful business executive. However, unlike many businessmen, he had enough political exposure to understand how things get done in the public sector. He is also a leader in the human services philanthropic sector. Finally, he took the time to go where few policy makers go, to meet the welfare "customers," and to learn first hand what happens at every level of the welfare system.

Make no mistake about it, what Mr. MacDougal and his Illinois task force accomplished is truly historic. Over many decades, in the face of widely recognized flaws and inefficiencies in our welfare system, no other state has been able to implement such a far-reaching, systemic reform. They say that legislation (and government organization studies) are like sausage - watching either one of them being made is not a pretty sight. However, this compelling book is an engaging, even at times heart-warming saga that brings to life the complexities of government in the real world. Hopefully some readers will want to step up to be part of similar initiatives in their own states.

In the end, one can't help but conclude that Mr. MacDougal's triumph was basically a tenacious exercise in common sense (albeit at the highest professional level!). Which raises the question, why doesn't the American electorate demand this level of common sense in other areas of public policy, rather than fifteen-second sound bites?

This book is a real eye-opener, especially about the German hyper-inflation of the early 1920s and the monster Stinnes. If we have any thoughts of timesizing the workweek to achieve full employment instead of downsizing the workforce while trying to create enough 40-hr/wk jobs (but never succeeding), we've got to learn the lessons of this book. Central bankers, left without accountability (like Greenspan today), can negate any progress toward fuller employment and closing the income gap by engineering any inflation rate they want. PS - the author's name is Shapiro, not Shapire

What a great book. A short trip down Memory Lane's more memorable Hyperinflations. There clearly is no "perfect" currency for all times and places.

Currency FeedBack Loop in a nutshell:

1. Leaders issue a Currency to make it easier to trade goods and services. Usually it starts out linked to a commondity of some kind (if the commodity isn't used directly, like gold for example).

3. The Leaders find they are going to run out of currency (many possible reasons). So they either a) Debase it (e.g. add other metals to gold coins), or b)they declare FIAT = the currency will float in value against commodities - but can no longer be redeemed for any commodity. In other words, now the currency is nothing more than promissory note whose value rests Solely on CONfidence of the public in the Lender (their government or some non-government entitiy the government "Trusts")..
.
4. The Leaders constantly give into the demands of the populace and in the end, the Leaders can't pay for all of their promises.

5. They Hyperinflate ... they make too many Promissory Notes and the public Loses CONfindence in the currency. Thereafter the notes are called "Promise-Sorry Notes."

5. The public and leaders go back to SOMETHING TANGIBLE for their currency (gold seems to usually be the default currency of Refugees of past civilizations).

7. Repeat the above cycle. Fiat seems to be favored in economic growth periods when Civilizations "get impatient" so to speak. That's when there seems to be enough Resources to fritter and waste away on empty Promisary Notes.

Mr. Shapiro does an excellent job of describing just how, and MOST importantly, WHY it happens. It isn't some uncontollable twist of nature that no one can do anything about. In every inflation, especially every hyper-inflation, there are people who profit enormously from it. When the people who profit from it can also control it, the entire world gets turned upside down.

As the author also shows, hyper-inflation wreaks havoc upon the society at large; if Germany had not experienced the post WWI hyperinflation, people would not have been so confused, and lost that the ravings of a lunatic would have captured their minds.

There IS a price to pay for inflation far beyond any monetary and fiscal effect. This should be required reading for everyone who runs for public office. Those that don't "get it" about should be barred from ever holding any public trust whatsoever. (or shot, but let's be nice, OK?)

Having met the author and experienced her loving heart, I discovered reading her work opened her loving heart to me, and enabled me to experience the humor, pathos, and everyday life of a remarkable community. I had to buy the book to share my experience with others.

Excellent collection for a Louisianaian or someone missing the Creole Culture of the state. Also, an easy trip for anyone -- learn the aspects of the Creoles in their Native Habitat.

Mona Lisa Saloy, formerly of New Orleans, tells a story of growing up in segregated New Orleans in her book of poetry, Red Beans and Ricely Yours. This is a slim volume packed with the flavors, sights and sounds of the author's beloved native city. Displaced by Hurricane Katrina, Saloy, a former professor at Dillard University previously resided in the Bay Area of California and recently won the Oakland Pen Award for poetry.

Written in sections with titles like Shotgun Life, Red Beans and Ricely Creole Quarters and Black Creole Love, the book yields poems that pay homage to her light, bright Creole father (My Creole Daddy) and her jet black mother (My Mother's the Daughter of a Slave), the real native foods and a way of life that are now far away memories, maybe gone forever. She humorously tells how she came by her name in Nat King Cole Babies and Black Mona Lisas and waxes philosophically about Catholic School in Parochial Product.

There is a glossary of terms at the end of the book as she uses a lot of Creole/French words and phrases and Louisiana language that is foreign to the rest of the U.S. You can taste the galait (fried bread) and beignets, smell the aroma of chicory coffee and visualize the Second Line parades as you take a journey through the Seventh Ward in an hour or less. Highly recommended even for those who do not normally read poetry.

Dera R. Williams
APOOO BookClub

The author has moved poetry into a new level of accessibility, using the medium to speak whole volumes in a few short lines. He helps the reader understand places we may not have been, and lets us feel old emotions all over again--or for the first time. This is a new and stirring take on life, lyrical and powerful, clear and mysterious.

Keplinger is a poet who writes deep, allusive poems. We are in the presence of a writer who has lived in two worlds who shows us his experiences. He shows us the world of love and alienation through poems that share moments of being. Sometimes we are in the room with him; other times it is as though we are listening in on a conversation just loud enough to hear--around the corner or outside the window.

Keplinger's poetic idiom is at once modernist and contemporary. He never uses imagery for its own sake, yet he does not shrink from providing his readers with startling figures. There is sadness here and the workings of a mature sensibility.

Contemporary American poetry has been stagnant for at least ten years now, suffering from what has become known as "the workshop poem." This can be characterized by some descriptive narrative lines followed by an easily foreseen and unearned pseudo-cathartic ending. Dave Keplinger is a major new voice in contemporary poetry, returning a lyricism and complexity to the crucial art of poetry. He is at once accessible and metaphysical, poignant and intellectually engaging, mysterious and clear. This book was a joy to find. If I had to recommend only one book to all my friends who love poetry -- this is the book I would beseech them to buy. It's simply that good. It is a gift to the living.

This is an incrediable book about the adventures of not only the ship herself but also her designers, Gibbs and Cox and her birth place Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock. It does not end there though, it also goes into famous passengers and even the ships last master, Commodore Alexanderson (with a brief history of his maritime life, including his journeys on the SS United States & the SS America.) Recommended reading for any United States Line buff, SS United States or SS America buff, or Ocean Liner enthusiast. The last ocean liner to grab the Hales Trophy lives on in this great book. Long live the S.S. United States.

Excellent detail will put you on board through her final days as the world's fastest and most technologically advanced luxury liner.

Still unanswered: What is next for this great ship?

This a great book to begin learning of the pride of the USA! It is not only about a ship, but the man who dreamed of building it. Follow the Big U from inception to being mothballed, her taking of the Blue Riband on the maiden voyage, and of how she served her country well. Now she sits on Packer Ave, Philadelphia, looking sad and stripped of her glory. A MUST read book! Next, follow up with an even more descriptive book, "The Big Ship" by Frank Braynard! These are two MUST OWN book!

This book gives a first person perspective on what the civil war meant to one union supporter who had a law office in St. Louis, but later left to avoid the conflicts in Missouri. Well done!

This book is an authentic, first person account of the Civil War situation in Missouri from 1861 to 1865. It is taken from the hand written journals of Franklin Archibald Dick, and compiled by his great,
great granddaughter, Gari Carter.

The journals are an amazing, new and primary source of information on the Civil War. They are his personal notes on the War, the U.S. economy and global politics of the era. He was a perceptive attorney and Union officer, and recorded his day-to-day experiences in the Troubled State Journals

If you want a close-up account of the Civil War story in the state of Missouri, directly from a man who was there, read this book.

Troubled State: Civil War Journals of Franklin Archibald Dick is a collection of private journals written by Franklin Archibald Dick, a St. Louis attorney, Union officer, and provost marshal general. Assiduously assembled by Franklin Dick's great-great-granddaughter Gari Carter, Troubled State offers a firsthand view of historical events such as the early Camp Jackson incident (during which he was Captain Lyon's assistant adjutant general). Dick was concerned about the slow progression and horrendous cost of the civil war; witnessing the divided city of St. Louis broke his heart, and journals reflect his progression from optimism to grave doubts about the future. Thoughtfully annotated and supplemented with brief biographies as well as a family genealogy and bibliography, Troubled State is a welcome addition to Civil War primary source shelves.

You know how some books go beyond interesting to become real charmers? Well, here's one! Buy several: Add one to the gift certificate you give to a great teacher at the end of the year, give one to the college student you know who is dithering over courses and majors, or just take one with on an afternoon at the beach.

In his little volume (6 x 4.5 inches, and 80 pages), Graber tackles a big question: Why do we treasure knowledge for its own sake? He starts, tongue in cheek, by defining liberal arts as "essentially those areas of knowledge in which practical-minded parents hope their children will not major." From this light beginning, Graber takes us on a historical journey to understand why we place such a high value on learning. We visit John Henry Cardinal Newman, who tells us that knowledge is "not only an instrument, but an end." In stark contrast, we encounter the eclectic and disagreeable Thorstein Veblen, who argued that "useless knowledge" was a form of "conspicuous consumption" (a phrase he coined) whose only value was to display the wealth required to waste such amounts of time.

Taking us even further back, all the way to ancient Greece, Graber tells us of the very, very serious conceptual split of "mind" and "matter", and why this understanding is of profound importance in understanding such issues as the persistence of slavery, the nature of the charges against Galileo, and the importance of the human hand in the reactions to Darwin.

Graber concludes with a view of how modern science re-integrates mind and matter, and establishes learning for its own sake as firmly in the realm of the most human of undertakings.

Enjoy this little treasure!

What do Aristotle, Charles Darwin, opposable thumbs, and sacred cows have in common? They each appear as important elements in Professor Graber's delightful and engaging essay on why liberal education solidly retains its mystique and value into the present era. By keeping the prose lively and brief, Graber has produced what may be the most approachable book on the topic. In fewer than eighty pages, this book provides a thorough introduction to the basic shape of the centuries-long debate regarding the relative value of humanistic education and places the question in the larger context of evolutionary anthropology.

The argument that ultimately emerges is appealingly simple, and goes well beyond the oft-repeated cliché that the value of a liberal arts education is that it teaches students to think clearly and independently. In fact, the book begins with a general admission that "it is difficult to see any way in which the study of logic or mathematics would be superior to that of electrical wiring or television repair." What parent does not inwardly groan (at some level, admit it) when their son or daughter declares a major in Art History or some such "humanity"? Graber finds the ultimate value in "useless knowledge" precisely in its definition as useless, and hence set apart for protection from our ancient evolutionary impulses to select and reproduce only that knowledge which has obvious, immediate, and practical application.

Whether or not Graber's readers come away agreeing with the thesis, Valuing Useless Knowledge is a gem of practicality. It should be required reading for students, faculty, and parents involved in any way with institutions of liberal learning. The argument is never heavy-handed and always stimulating. As Freshman Week begins to introduce students to the array of expectations and complexities in college life, a reading and discussion of this book might provide the best orientation of all: a common starting point on which to begin a rigorous reflection on all human endeavors, sacred and profane.

On a personal note, I first encountered this book while studying the liberal arts as an undergraduate. I recently reapproached it as I have been considering a return to the university for graduate study in law and social work. Each reading triggered a different but significant response, and revealed for me a lasting relevance in this compact book.

This book begins with a provacative thought: "The liberal arts may be defined -- impishly, but accurately nonetheless -- as essentially those areas of knowledge in which practical-minded parents hope their children will not major. 'But what are you going to do," they cry, "with a major in ______?'"In this well reasoned, eighty page treatise, Graber sets forth an argument for valuing a Liberal Arts and Sciences education in a material world of "get it all, get it now." For those who have read the Carnegie Foundation's Boyer Report you'll nod your head as Graber takes you to the importance of an education based on a broad appreciation of many disciplines and the ability to create, reason and communicate. He concludes that it is acqusition of the "tools" and their use more than the ever changing facts and knowledge that builds a strong foundation for life and work. This book made a significant impression on my son as he opted for a smaller, lessor known college focused on quality undergraduate education in the arts and sciences (Truman State University) rather than a half-dozen larger, comprehensive universities with huge reputations, impressive athletic teams, but invisible faculty and undergraduate indifference.

2007 Update - The premise of the book is supported by a recent poll conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities. 305 business executives and 510 recent graduates were surveyed. The San Antonio Express-News summarized the findings, including: "What employers want from college graduates... is the ability to work in teams, write and communicate, think on the spot and solve real-world puzzles. ...every student should get a liberal education - one that fosters a broad worldview and teaches critical thinking skills that cut across disciplines."

The two volume history, "When The Railroad leaves Town: American Communities In The Age Of Rail Line Abandonment" by Joseph P. Schwieterman (Associate Professor of Public Services management an Director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at De Paul University) is the history what happened in towns and villages across America when the nation's railroad systems began collectively eliminating more than 120,000 miles of routes (about half of their total mileage) beginning in 1916 and continuing down to the present day. Volume 1 covers the 'Eastern United States", with volume 2 covering the 'Western United States'. A work of impressive and seminal scholarship, Professor Schwieterman's informed and informative text is enhanced with the inclusion of maps and illustrations. "When The Railroad leaves Town: Volumes 1 & 2" is especially recommended for academic library American History, Social Issues, American Transportation Studies, and Urban-Planning reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

This is a collection of individual vignettes of the end of rail service to a group of Eastern US cities. The towns range from very small hamlets to medium to large metropolises, from rural to urban. In every case Mr Schwieterman outlines how the local railroad came to be, how it prospered for a time but eventually went away, and what happened when it left with emphasis on the surrounding citizens and infrastructure. These vignettes have a air of sadness and poignancy about them, as they describe in some cases how the community around the railroad more or less died as a result of the closing of rail service. This is a book like other reviewers have said, that can be put down and picked up from time to time without losing any continuity due to its unique layout. I have had this book for some time now, and feel compelled to review it now that I am awaiting the authors newest book about rail abandonments in the Western US. This is one of the best books I have ever read on railroads, but in my opinion just about anyone with a interest in modern US history and how cities in the Eastern US came to be would enjoy it equally as I do. Very well done.

The first time I cracked open the cover and read a few lines, I knew this book was a winner.

While there are literally thousands of books out there showing fantastic photos of trains present and past. And many railroads have had their histories chronicled, this book focuses on the towns the railroads touched. This angle is unique, refreshing and most of all mesmerizing.

The author obviously spent a great deal of time researching the topic. The background information he supplies is immense, this was NOT a topic that was superficially researched. The various photos showing abandon railroad grades and shots of once busy steel-rails covered over in asphalt are especially telling.

And while the folks looking for photos of coal-drags over tall mountains may be disappointed, anyone that wants to understand how the railroads REALLY affected towns across the eastern United States, then you need this book.

A good book that combines railroading with American history. It will cause the reader to think twice as they pass that abandon railroad grade or drive by that run-down station.

Carey and I have been friends and writers for sometime. I can't even begin to tell you how special he is as a man, husband, son, soldier, and retired police officer. It was his encouragement that I began my journey to finding home after I had been back from Vietnam over 32 years. We were both medics and also police officers. I value his work and his writing very much.
I read his first book and it was just the beginning of looking within to find the way home from pain, loss, hurt, to finding healing, love, and passion for life. As with his first book, his style of writing causes the reader to stop at the end of each page and reflect. The questions come to the reader that the reader must sit and think and find the answers.
This is Carey's second book and it is about his journey to the place that took away so much away from him as a young man. It is his completion of the circle to who Carey really is and what he became. His discoveries along the way also take the reader to find the same answers to lifes most difficult questions. It is not so important what the answers are but in asking the right questions and being open to accept the truth inside of one's self. This is another chapter in the life of a medic who left his childhood, and so much of his self in Vietnam. It is finding the right keys to unlock the door of your heart and soul of finding yourself once again. It is the beginning of a new journey with new hopes and dreams and a vision to help others.
Carey found many answers for himself and the reader will also find his own answers to the great questions of why this and why me, what did I have to go through this to learn. What value does it hold for me. I think the reader will find much of a wonderful journey on a path few have choosen to walk down. I think too, that this book should also be read by those who suffer from PTSD. It was like Carey held a mirror up to my soul as I read each page and reflected on finding what is to be for me. He was able to open the doors I had always feared to open and I have much to be thankful for as I can now have a better relationship with those who are important in my life without holding back. Carey has made 7 trips to Vietnam and is getting ready to go again, I wonder what he will find that will help us all discover in his next book.
Kerry "Doc" Pardue

Carey Spearman has added another great book to his name: 36 Years and a Wake-up: An American Returns to Vietnam. As a follow-up to his Vietnam Veterans' Homecoming: Crossing the Line this new book shows how he faced his fears and returned to Vietnam in August 2000 after not having been there since 1968!

His new book, written similarly to his first book, shows how Carey journalized his life since the war. I think this book is even better than the first! Carey's vignettes are one of the ways he is helping himself heal.

After Carey met a couple of special Vets he soon found himself enroute back to Vietnam. On the airplane's approach to landing Carey flashed back to seeing Tan Son Nhut Airport under siege. He was "still scared of something that happened over thirty years ago."

The Veterans were soon on their way to Tuy Hoa. Carey wanted to see his hospital-the 91st Evac. He recalled being near the beach and a guard tower. He saw Vietnamese men, women and children. One man told Carey that he was an ARVN soldier who was brought into a hospital near the beach. Carey was on his way to begin healing himself.

Carey soon found that no one there wanted to talk about the war itself. "They will not stay in the past." He realized that he had "become a walking, talking poster child for war."

He could still recall "the choppers coming in with patients. The floor covered in blood." The sounds "are in my head....I am still waiting for that last chopper to come in."

Carey wrote that during the war he had written a letter to his father who never responded. Now he knows that "It never entered my mind that you might not have known what to say. I'm sorry I hated you for all these years."

He stated he "never celebrated a birthday." He "wished I was never born." But he was beginning to feel better about himself. He likens himself as "Vietnam was my place of birth." He had returned to the US "a different person, and people couldn't understand why I had changed....I wasn't allowed to tell them about my pain, nightmares, or loneliness."

Carey remembered his football days and how the team was always "ready to play till the end." But in Vietnam he now knows that the soldiers wanted to be there "for the long haul...to win." But as he put it "the coach pulled us out...and the war was called." He thinks most people "believe we quit. We still haven't quit. We still fight that war in our heads every day, trying to win." That is quite an analogy!

He realizes that our soldiers were sent "to Vietnam supposedly to free the people." But Carey knows now that "they were already free" because "Freedom is a state of mind."

Ever since Carey left Vietnam in 1968 he has "had this anger in me...never too far from the surface." But being back in Vietnam this time around "I am not angry....I feel good here." He is hopeful that "I can take this peace back home with me."

Carey has returned to Vietnam several times since that trip in August 2000. He finds peace there now and tends to call it home. He knows that he "was loved and really needed" there by the men and women he worked with as well as the patients he treated. His mother and grandmother are gone now but his family consists of "a bunch of Veterans across the country and I am glad I have them. Life does not seem too lonely when I am with them."

I believe that Carey wrote this profound book to not only help himself but also other Vets. He hopes this will help them with their own emotions and feelings. He has found this way of writing to express himself and help others on the road to recovery from the war.

This is a must read book which should be in Vet Centers, libraries and bookstores everywhere. Maybe then people can understand what at least one Vet has gone through in his life dealing with his wartime service to our country. I think it will also be helpful to our newest batch of Veterans and their families and friends.