University of Missouri Books

Joan Gilbert is a fascinatingly realistic writer who thoroughly researches her subjects and knows the history and background. Her book on the Trail of Tears should be recommended reading for all who regret the loss of the Amerindian heritage in this Country. It should also be studied in Social Studies Classes in every school in the land. If you don't know anything about this heart- breaking piece of history, and the MO State Park that marks one of the forced-march stops - it will open your eyes to reality!

This book covers the changing of the guard in American politics, when authority was no longer unquestioned and citizens were learning how to organize and exert their positions. In hindsight, it is amazing that such an ill conceived idea as transporting 800,000 cubic yards of water over 100 miles to irrigate land inherently unsuited to irrigation could have held sway for three decades before being exposed as impractical. The fact that this feat was accomplished by a handful of citizens, against the united desires of the press and business and political leaders, makes it even more interesting reading.

During the period that this drama was being acted out, I served as a Special Assistant to the Governor of South Dakota, and I was impressed by the clear, interesting and straightforward telling of this story. While I would dispute some of the details, to a reader that did not live out this drama, these are of a minor consequence. As the staff member that authorized funding of the study of transporting Missouri River water to Wyoming, I can assure the readers that this study was done solely to determine the impact of providing clean, fresh water to ranches and small communities in western South Dakota and was completely unrelated to the Oahe project. Governor Kneip quickly distanced himself from this study when objections arose from our political base in eastern South Dakota. This study, however, documented the importance of clean water supplies to the public health and the raising of livestock. The rural water systems that were created in the wake of Oahe addressed this need and as the author noted, this was the lasting legacy of the Oahe Project.

There is a natural tendency in books like this to paint the good guys as pure and the establishment as universally bad. In this case as part of the establishment, there were major differences of opinion within the Kneip administration on the feasibility and desirability of the Oahe Project. The decision to "leak" and make public a wide array of documents that were destined to aid the opponents was thoroughly debated and I admire Governor Kneip's tolerance of those that prevailed in providing the public the truth.

The lesson that citizens can overcome incredible odds in fighting proposed developments is a fascinating story that deserved telling.

This book has a wonderful review and information about plants in the Missouri River Region of the United States, and a bunch of information as to how some of the tribes in the local area used them traditionally. My only beef with the book is that the authors did not do another one for at least one other region of the US - wish they would!

Veneer is a collection of nine short stories, eight of which have previously been published in various literary periodicals, and it is another winning effort by Steve Yarbrough. The bulk of his previously published work, two collections of short stories and the fantastic novel Oxygen Man, have been set in Mississippi where Yarbrough grew up. Some of the stories in this collection are set there as well, but he also branches his settings to California.

What he shows us in his writing is that setting only matters in terms of background material. The human condition is the same in Mississippi as it is in California, and one suspects we'd find it the same if Mr. Yarbrough set his next collection in Cuba, Russia, or Canada. We are flawed individuals with needs, wants, and varying levels of the confidences necessary to acquire those needs and wants.

As in his past work, decisions and actions make up a great deal of explanation for results. The title story should have more than one previously published listing, as there couldn't have been more than 10 stories this good whichever year it was originally published. It has the narrator and his friend, Emily, dining in a window seat of a café. He is married with two children, but away from his family as the Fourth of July is approaching as they are visiting his wife's relatives in Prague. There is some great foreshadowing early in the story when Emily asks him if he isn't worried about being seen together, won't people see them as having an affair. He says he only worries about reality, not appearances.

The story has him telling her the story of his worst Fourth of July ever. It involves cooking steaks on a grill for his mom, dad and grandmother. It involves disappointments for each of them. It also gets into the relationship between his mother and father. The story comes alive between the narrator and Emily and he ends the story with a thought that this will be his daughter's worst Fourth of July as reality and appearances are about to converge.

The story does not hit you over the head with the similarities between the various relationships. It also brings fourth small decisions throughout that the reader sees leading to the final results. As is typical in Yarbrough's fiction, the characters are well aware that they are making these decisions at the time they do so.

While this is the best story of the collection, there are at least five others that are just barely a notch below. These could have been mentioned at the back of an anthology the year they were published as just misses to being added to the collections. None of the stories seems unfinished; each has been refined to the best possible version they could be. They are all written with the skill and subtlety of the title story.

Yarbrough doesn't nearly have the readership he deserves. Do yourself a favor and pick up this 4.5 star effort.

This book is about the 1830s era steamer YELLOW STONE which during this early part of the age of steamer ventured from Louisville Kentucky to points north like North Dakota a considerable feat! this vessel a sidewheeler, having propelling wheels with rectangular boards attached to the wheels outward perimeter near the middle of its hull and housing as opposed to a sternwheeler which had large wide paddlewheel at its "stern" or back end played an important role in the Texas revolution although there are no plans of the YELLOW STONE in the book or anywhere for that matter very few plans exist of steamers of the early age of steam and not a great many exist for any later day vessels, there are drawings of the YELLOW STONE and a superb watercolor of this steamer by pioneer artist Karl Bodmer and a transcript of the original contract in its quaint english describing the dimensions of the parts of the steamer hull

This book will appeal only to people who have a keen interest in the University. Alumni, parents, students... that sort of thing. Dr. Morrow, who for years was an important professor and dean at the University, does an excellent job presenting the minutiae of university finances, governance and development. While this can be expected to be tedious for a general audience, it's good stuff if you're a prospective university president or dean! That said, student and faculty life get the short end of the stick. You'll learn all about what William Eliot, Robert Brookings and Arthur Compton did for Wash U, but you'll not get much exposure to what the students or general public made of the place.

Since it was essentially a commuter college for 100 years, the history of this university largely mirrors that of St. Louis. It saw its best days when the city was thriving, namely, after the Civil War and during the Progressive Era (aka from about 1910 to 1930). The first few chapters in which Morrow weaves together the founding and early history of the University with that of the young and booming city are the best in the book.

In the history of famous authors, the Bronte sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, stand out. Firstly, that three siblings would prove to be so gifted in the same field. For example, we can only wonder what if Charles Dickens had had two such siblings?

Then, of course, there is the obvious factor that all three Brontes were female. At a time when wealthy British women had such circumscribed career choices. Ever since their lifetimes, many have thusly commented.

But apparently few have focused on how the Brontes depicted families in their fiction, and how these tied in with their own familial situation and the Victorian ethos of family. In retrospect, this is one of those analyses whose idea is stunningly obvious. But for some reason, a priori to this book, it has been little (none?) touched on.

Most interestingly, Lamonica suggests that while the Brontes never actually denied the prospect of a woman being content through her family, they never made this out to be the only choice. A very contemporary stance.

I stumbled across this collection of stories in the library one day -- I'm always on the lookout for new authors to experience -- and what a nice find it was. Joan Connor's stories are intelligently written portraits that draw the reader into their world almost immediately. The characters that populate them are not necessarily extraordinary at first glance -- and not necessarily likable as we get to know them -- much like the people we meet in our everyday lives. Their thoughts, and the choices they make -- the way they view their world and the people around them with whom they interact -- these things make them stand as unique individuals. It is Connor's skill at developing these characters -- almost without us realizing that she is doing it -- that allows me to feel that I know them on a much deeper level. Even in the shortest tales in this collection leave me with the feeling that I have learned much.

Also impressive are the author's descriptive skills when applied to the natural surroundings in which these stories take place -- the islands, hills, forests and small towns of New England. She has a way of applying human feelings and attributes to nature that evokes a soul and personality that is there in our environment that many people miss by looking too quickly. For example, take this short but effective passage from the story 'October': 'A few golden leaves drift idly down. October strips itself down to an essential solitude, the bare rough branches of a maple tree raised, pleading.'

My favorite selections here are 'The thief of flowers', in which the young narrator learns a lesson about giving and love; 'Ursa Major in Vermont', a rather mystical tale of a bear being repeatedly sighted in and around a small community; 'The Bowlville Cemetery', a wryly humorous tale about a man who is so mean that he won't stay buried; 'Summer girls', a touching recounting of a life-long torch carried by a man for a woman he knew he would never have; and 'Second nature', which I think is my favorite, revealing great unknown depth of character in someone generally regarded as a rustic, eccentric hillbilly.

A couple of the works here left me with a deep sense of strangeness, as if I had dreamt them. 'Bluebeard's first wife' is written as a fairy-tale allegory --- it starts out simply and winds up giving the mind quite a spin. 'The last native' also has this dream-like quality to it, but in a more hallucinatory sense.

The characters -- and their lives -- in many of these stories are dark, some suffering from alcoholism and depression. These feelings are well-depicted by Connor, but she never allows herself (or her characters) to wallow in them. The feelings are there, and are a part of them -- they are viewed, they affect their lives. I didn't come away from any of these stories with the feeling that I had been subjected to listening to someone bemoaning their fate.

I see from the notes on the author that there is another volume of short stories available by Joan Connor, HERE ON OLD ROUTE 7 -- I look forward to experiencing it as well.

[For readers who enjoy well-written fiction set in this part of the country, I can also highly recommend works by Howard Frank Mosher, Russell Banks and Ruth Moore.]

I live and cave in the Ozarks and when I saw this book I just had to have a copy. It's not well known even in its hometown. It does an excellent job of portraying the wonderful beauty of the Ozarks' underground. I have seen man y of these places and unlike my descriptions this book does do them justice. If you have ever visited an Ozark cave or may I would highly recommend this exquisite book.

Many Polish, German and Bohemian Jewish settlers traveled to St. Louis in the 1800's because of the growing community of Jews there, and the ease of travel over major rivers. The community developed from around 1810 on through the end of the 19th century and continues today.

This book documents the history of large numbers of Jewish families and synagogues, schools and business in the St. Louis area. Using newspapers, city and county records, published works and genealogy studies Ehrlich has provided a valuable resource for students and historians alike.