Washington University Books

This book provides a riveting account of America's first great compromise: the location of the capital. I could not put it down, marveling at how many times the capital was almost here or almost there, fascinated by the leaders involved in the debate. There is much to learn and understand well beyond how the capital came to be located in WDC: the embryonic and fragile balance of new states and regional interests, the other issues pressing on the country, such as assumption of state war debts, the economic interests and prospects of various factions, visions of how America's economy would blossom, the kernals of the Civil War, and especially, a deep insight and understanding of our country's early leaders, above all, George Washington, James Madison, and several Lees of Virginia. This is a must read not only for DC residents like me, but for anyone fascinated by our country's early days. This book made me want to be a fly on the wall at many of the pivotal proceedings and secret meetings that decided the location of our now beautiful capital city.

One can't help but come away from reading this autobiography of Chief G.W. Grayson with a deep sense of pride in character for this good and brave man. Chief Grayson's dignity, not only with regard to his Creek people, but especially in himself, from his exalted writing style to his modest, but declared nevertheless, mention of accomplishments is remarkable to behold. Elected to go to Washington on many delegations representing his people, he declares, "I have always been proud of the fact that I was never elected a member of any delegation of which I was member through any persistent electioneering on my part as was done by others," as if electioneering might be a taint on his image. "I seemed always to have been put on these delegations for service that I was supposed to be competent to do and not for the mere accommodation either of myself or anyone else." Writing this only a few years before his death in 1920, having served as the official chief of the Creeks after the last elected chief had died (appointed by Woodrow Wilson), one can imagine the self-respect and stateliness that guided his pen as he did so. Yet Chief Grayson can also tell a good story on himself, as he does when relating how cows had come up to his cabin after a snowstorm, frightening him to wits end because at the time he had quite a bit of "public money" in the cabin and was fearful of attack.

Grayson was born of metis (mixed blood) parents of the Creek Nation, southern branch, in Oklahoma in 1843. His branch associated with the Confederacy during the Civil War, and Grayson fought in a number of engagements in Indian Territory. An educated man (Arkansas College), he built up a successful business practice and became an active participant in tribal affairs. His dealings with Washington were numerous. In telling his own story he also tells the story of the passing of his own tribe; it's not a handsome story but Grayson will not stoop to its debasement. It's fitting that he decided to end the book not exactly chronologically, but by describing an act of congress from 1884 that would have taken away self-government from the Indians on Indian lands, and to make this indictment: "Here we, a people who had been a self-governing people for hundreds and possibly a thousand years, who had a government and administered its affairs ages before such an entity as the United States was ever dreamed of, are asked and admonished that we must give up all idea of local government ... Why? ... simply because regardless of the plain dictates of justice and a Christian conscience, the ruthless restless white man demanded it." Ah, yes. Read it and weep. It's a powerful book, a great autobiography, a noble account of a man's own life. And it's superbly edited by W. David Baird.

I first learned of Richard Fry through his reprinted articles on Cougfan.com. His writing and sense of history were so sharp, I took a chance and bought this book. What a find! Fry paints a vivid portrait of WSU Cougar athletics spanning 100 years. I couldn't put it down.

In the early nineteenth century, Chief Paulina proved to be the fiercest human enemy the early settlers of the west ever encountered killing unknown amounts of them, just one of the many stories from the Oregon of the old west. "Crooked River County: Wranglers, Rogues, and Barons" is a non-fiction tale of Oregon's wild past focusing on twenty eight years starting with 1825. Reading like fiction, author David Braly insists it's a true story, and the wild exploits and actions one will read about are just crazy enough to be just that. Thoroughly researched, scholarly, but still intriguing straight through, "Crooked River County: Wranglers, Rogues, and Barons" is enthusiastically recommended to anyone with an interest in the old west, and deserves a spot on community library American history shelves.

The book is a very useful collection of essays by various American academics on Cuba's relations with other countries. William LeoGrande writes about Cuba's relations with the USA, Nicola Miller about relations with Russia, Chris McGillion about relations with Europe and Japan, Peter McKenna and John Kirk about relations with Canada, Morris Morley about relations with Latin America and Michael Erisman about relations with China and Africa.

The most important, because most threatening, of Cuba's relationships is with the US state, a relationship that reveals the US state's true nature. Ever since the Cuban revolution, the US state, whether staffed by the Republican or the Democrat wing of the capitalist party, has tried to enforce counter-revolution. It has used terror tactics - the USA still harbours the terrorists who have launched their murderous attacks on Cuba from the USA, killing 3,478 Cubans in total. And Bush's appointee to the UN, John Bolton, has said that Cuba "remains a terrorist and BW [biological weapons] threat to the United States" and such states, he said, "can expect to become our targets."

The US state has also used sanctions - it maintains its severest sanctions, including on medicines and food, against Cuba. Blair's crony Clinton signed the 1996 Helms-Burton act into law, an illegal imposition of US domestic law onto non-US countries and companies.

It has also used its allies. In April 2003 the EU condemned Cuba for imprisoning 75 dissidents for receiving US support. EU leaders were acting as Washington's pawns, as Castro said. British citizens who in World War Two accepted financial and other support from Hitler got short shrift too.

But all the US state's efforts to isolate Cuba have backfired - it is the USA that is isolated, thus its unilateralism, its contempt for international law and treaties, its illegal threats of force, and its failed efforts to implicate Cuba in the `axis of evil'. By contrast, Cuba has been elected to chair the 115-member Non-Aligned Movement for 2006, where it will continue to wage its battle of ideas, for nations' sovereignty and independence, against empire.

Food history has a unique set of documents - cookbooks and recipes - but no canon or methodology by which they can be interpreted. A number of recent books, however, have attempted to redress this deficit. Danish Cookbooks is an account of the emergence of a Danish national cuisine. Gold does not think Danish national cuisine somehow bubbled up from the people, but rather it was imposed by nationalist elites of the early 19th century, the same class as issued the first dictionaries and began to identify national themes of folklore. The key chapter here is a brilliant account of how potatoes - a new world crop--came to become the lynchpin of a Danish national cuisine and enshrined national identity. In her analysis of cookbooks, Gold detects a shift, documented by other food historians too, in the mid-19th century from descriptive recipes aimed at chefs of the aristocracy to prescriptive reifies aimed at women. Prescriptive cookbooks, both standardized recipes and made it possible for anyone to cook. recipes document the literacy of ordinary women. Then as urban women learned to cook from books, technological innovations increased their capacity to cook at home. The enclosed stove of the late 19th--century, for example. made it possible both to bake at home and to increase the scope of roasting. This book is innovative and enjoyable, which addresses food history at its sources.

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This is one of those books readers might dismiss as too specialized. That would be a mistake. Kurk Dorsey is one of the first American diplomatic historians to treat relations with Canada. Beyond that he sees how transborder issues raised by wildlife treaties run into conflicting national agendas. The Canadian-American wildlife treaties anticipate more recent efforts to negotiate environmental issues. The writing in this book makes it an engaging read.

This book chronicles the events leading up to and the deaf president now revolution at Gallaudet University. As the world's only university for deaf and hard-of-hearing studentsm Gallaudet had revolutionary potential from inception.

When Dr. Jerry C. Lee announced that he was leaving the university, many students and faculty felt that this would be their year. Because the Gallaudet administration had consisted mainly of hearing people, these dissenters felt that they were being condescended to.

Not only was the sole hearing candidate Elizabeth Zinser picked, but critical snafus undercut her very brief administration. Then-board chair Jane Spilman allegedly said that 'deaf people are not able to function in a hearing world' ironically reinforcing the protestor cause. Zinser's academic training in rehabilitative sciences hinted at the 'medical model' of disability which many of the students found outmoded and problematic.

The students recieved national media attention, alumni (including the use of the alumni house as an organizing space) and Congressional support. He had initially given his own support to Zinser in an attempt to forge campus unity, but the other presidential candidate, I. King Jordan (then Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences) withdrew his support. Zinser subsequently announced her resignation. Jordan became Gallaudet's first deaf president.

The DPN is an inspiring saga for anybody (particularly college students attempting to create their own campus chage). The actions of Gallaudet students later inspired me to challenge patronizing assumptions being made about my own community.

Deaf Way II: An International Celebration presents 250 full-color photographs with captions and brief essays that superbly capture a July, 2002 event in which more than 9,700 deaf people from around the world met in Washington, D.C. to share arts, research, and languages in a cultural festival. An amazingly vivid portrayal of people enjoying and exhanging highlights of life, experience, and art, Deaf Way II is truly breathtaking, from its glamorous images of the "Thousand Hand Bodhisattva" dance as portrayed bye the China Disabled People's Performing Arts Troupe to behind-the-scenes glimpses from the tireless individuals who worked so hard to make the gathering such a grand success. A treasury and wondrous giftbook that embraces a positive message of living life to the fullest.

The Deathbed Playboy is a wonderful read. Dacey's tonal range is wide. The poems are smart, tender, and often funny. Smart, but not pedantic. Tender, but not gooey and manipulative. Funny, but not frivolous. The title poem, "The Deathbed Playboy," is a stunner. The tension between the humor and grief is palpable, and the funny and frantic reflections of the speaker are heartbreaking.

So many contemporary books of poetry sound like they were all ghost-written by one glib Writing Workshop star. Dacey has a distinctive voice. It's generous, sly, comic and wonderfully accessible. This one goes on my gift-giving list