Washington University Books

Curated, with helpful annotations, by a leading expert, this is a beautifully produced exhibition catalog of the original art for American comic strips since 1896. Especially wonderful is the reproduction of cartoon originals in full color (not just black and white line art) so that preliminary blue pencil drawings, glue stains, and pasted-over changes are all clearly visible. (Copyright © by Roy R. Behrens from Ballast Quarterly Review, Vol. 14, No. 3, Spring 1999.)

Hard-core comics nerds might be familiar with the writing of Robert C. Harvey through his in-depth (and at times, fascinating) columns in The Comics Journal magazine. That style carries over well to this book. His commentary is refreshingly brief, preferring instead to let the work of a century's worth of creative genius speak for itself.

Rather than give us a straightforward, linear (hence boring) history of comics, Harvey treats them as the masterpieces of art they are--just as there are various fine art "movements" (Surrealism, Cubism, etc.) the same holds true for the comic strip. Harvey divides comic-strip history into five such movements--the formative years, standardization of genres, the adventure strip, the gag strip, and the socially conscious strips of today.

We learn some things that may seem surprising at first, but on reflection are perfectly logical. First, even the most talented 'toonists weren't perfect--we see the strips in their original form--pasteovers, glue stains, pencil marks, and blobs of white-out litter the work. It's akin to seeing an X-ray of a painting by a Renaissance master--even Leonardo and Michaelangelo made corrections, sometimes painting over whole figures.

Second, the supposed decline of the quality of comics (and the rise of artistically bankrupt strips like "Dilbert") isn't the fault of the artists or the syndicates. (Despite sentiments to the contrary by "Calvin and Hobbes" cartoonist Bill Watterson, whose scathing diatribe against modern comics is reprinted in the book). Paper shortages during the Second World War, Harvey tells us, forced editors to cut the size of newspaper pages to save newsprint, which in turn shrank the comic strip. The advent of television immediately afterward forced newspapers to stick to the wartime standard permanently--and they have shrunk even more since. Such developments spelled the end of the lavishly drawn adventure-continuity strips (the detail could no longer be seen) and paved the way for strips like "Peanuts". Harvey doesn't talk about the role of the computer in perhaps reversing this trend, which is one of this book's few flaws.

Harvey, like other fans, pleads for the acceptance of comics as a "legitimate" art form, but does so without attributing to them any more significance than they deserve. No overintellectualized Freudian interpretations about what the comics "mean"--to Harvey, they are a unique form of art, driven as much by commerce as aesthetics. They are a throwaway medium for the general public, but as he shows us, that's more than OK.

What is the temperature of "very hot" or "almost frozen"? How many inches of rain are in a "torrent"? Douglas Southall Freeman speaking in 1955 cited a need for detailed information on weather during the Civil War. With the exception of Joseph L. Harsh's, book "Sounding the Shallows"; no one has tried to address this subject. Harsh's book only considers weather during the month of September 1862 as part of his detailed study for the Antietam Campaign. Part of the problem is detailed weather records were not a government responsibility. The little detail we have is from amateur meteorologists and the families that preserved their work. The record have gaps, illegible entries and areas where no one kept records. All of these problems, taken together, make a detailed weather record spanning years a difficult undertaking. Robert Krick recognizes this by saying the Victorian title would be "Civil War Weather in Washington, D.C., and in the Virginia Theater of War, Encompassing Virginia and Maryland and Pennsylvania, including Weather Affecting Some Military Operations in what became West Virginia Halfway through the War." The current title is much easier to use but the Victorian title gives you a much better idea of what this book contains.

Each month from October 1860 to June 1865 is a one page. The monthly format is a few pages of contemporary observations about the weather and a daily table for the month. Table entries are date, day of the week, sunrise and sunset in Richmond and the DC temperature at 7 AM, 2 PM and 9 PM. Each day has a remarks entry for comments like overcast, amount of rain or an observation about the day. This may not seem to be much but it is invaluable in building a picture of the war. Using September to November 1861, as an example, I developed a real understanding of why sickness could become such a problem. The volunteers lived in tents and subjected to constant drilling suffered about a 30-degree drop in the 2 PM temperature coupled with 23 days of rain. Snow fell starting November 24 adding to their misery. The tables are clear, concise and very easy to use. The above took only a couple of minutes and presents a clear impression of weather during these months. The tables allow us to check contemporary accounts and help us understand what the writer thinks happened. Robert Krick observes that based on the readings, it is doubtful that bodies froze overnight at Fredericksburg. This will not cause us to reject the accounts but requires we understand other factors may have contributed to the memory. Gettysburg College maintained the 7 AM, 2 PM and 9 PM schedule for temperature readings and these are included for the battle.

This is not a "sit down n read" book. It is a much-needed book and the information will help complete our picture of the war. Only an author with the status of Robert Krick could have brought this book to the public. I thank the University of Alabama Press for publishing so valuable book and adding to the understanding of the war in Virginia. This type of technical reference is invaluable in gaining a fuller understanding of the conditions that the armies faced. This knowledge helps a student of the war to more fully understand those decisions on which battles and campaigns turn.

Bob Krick is the unquestioned authority on the Army of Northern Virginia and the Virginia theater. He is also my favorite historian and has been for a number of years. I have greatly enjoyed reading his many books and monographs. His most recent work, "Weather in Civil War Virginia," is an unusual study in that it is a subject so infrequently discussed or addressed in major campaign studies. Most historians give the weather only a passing remarks. This is a reference book, and as such will be invaluable when reading about marches or battles. The weather played a major role in battles and campaigns. Krick has done a wonderful job of putting together this data that documents the weather conditions on each day of the war in Virginia. He fleshes out the book by adding anecdotes and personal experiences from letters and journals of the men who endured some very harsh weather conditions at times. I now know how cold it really was during the Romeny campaign or how hot it was at the battle of Cedar mountain. The one major drawback to the book is the price. This is a small hardback book, only 177 pages, yet the price is close to forty dollars. Granted, a lot of research went into a work of this type, and the information can be very helpful. But it could have served the same purpose by being published in soft cover and priced under $20.00.

Lovely stories of growing up in British Columbia, of the native Americans and her efforts to capture their art of totem poles. Humorously told stories by a great Canadian artist of the boarding house she opened and ran to make a living. Simple language with lovely metaphors.

Emily Carr has been a most critisized and misunderstood woman of her day. Born in the late 1800's. She did not fit the mold of the Victorian woman. Instead of staying home, raising children, and attending social functions, she befriended the often shunned Native population of Canada, most notably the Queen Charlotte Islands. She traveled to remote places by way of canoe with the Natives of the land. There, she lived in their homes, sketched and eventually painted their totems, their people. She captured their spirit, both in her heart and on canvas. Emily's art was not acceptable to the Victorian art patrons as women were not "real" painters - it was a mere hobby. She was not taken seriously. She always heard and saw what most people could not. She inhaled the woods, the land, and the Native peoples. She followed her own mind and heart, which put her in a position of being called "difficult". Emily Carr is still a breath of fresh air, a maverick of her day. Her view of the world, and how she translates a forest into words and canvas is truly an amazing experience. Her books will give you a walk through the forest, her life as a child, and her views on people as well as her affinity with the Native population. Emily will open your world up into a new appreciation for life itself.

This book was in excellent condition, arrived quickly and was better
than the one the college offered. Will be buying next semester from
Amazon!

This is a great book. I had to purchase it for my intro to criminal justice class. It is very useful if you want to learn a great deal about the system. I read almost all the chapters in the book before i was supposed to.

This is for anyone really interested in the Crooked River country. Amazing details about even the smallest villages.

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.

This book is a comprehensive treatment of the East Central European region between the First and Second World Wars. The narrative is glib, fluid and thoroughly readable. The author provides copious tables and maps for easy reference, but this is not a "statistical" work. His inclusion of abbreviated studies of the Baltic states simultaneously widens the comparative cases (as these countries are a transitional zone between Central and Eastern Europe) and provides an elucidating contrast (as they did not regain nominal independence during the Cold War). His introduction isolates the key historical foci of the time and place, including class relations, peasantism, the Great Depression and Great Power penetration. The concluding cultural survey is brief but well-researched and offers a happy humanistic conclusion to the unavoidably tragic political and economic cases.

Overall, Rothschild's effort is hugely successful and a pleasure to read, though it is not without idiosyncrasies. Some cases receive far more space (e.g., Poland, Yugoslavia) than others (e.g., Bulgaria, Albania). Some pivotal states within the East Central and Baltic region (Austria, Greece and Finland) aren't given their own cases at all. Perhaps this is because of a conceptual conflation of "East Central Europe" with "Soviet satellites", a common simplification among historians during the Cold War. It is more forgivable than Rothschild's sparse mention of East Germany in his follow-up to this book, Return to Diversity.

Another noteworthy feature of the book is its hybrid method. When choosing between true country-specific cases and thematic cases (the latter used in Return to Diversity), Rothschild selects features of both. Yugoslavia is a case study of the politics of ethnic diversity, Romania of radical right movements, etc., and these features are given great weight in each respective narrative. This method allows the author to give comprehensive treatment to the major themes of the region within a relatively short amount of space, but at the cost of sacrificing truly equivalent comparisons across countries. To put it another way, the Hungarian Arrow Cross was just as much an example of rightist radicalism as the Romanian Iron Guard, but only the latter receives a full analysis.

In sum, I heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in the region, though please don't stop here.

This is an interesting text, rich in details, dates and stastical tables of each country, by chapter, in East-Central Europe. Focusing on the interwar period, it covers the events from an historical perspective with insight into the political and economic and social situations. The only main problem is that the writing style makes for rather difficult reading. However, if you need to understand the sequence of events, the underlying historical facts, or for research, this is an excellent text, volume IX in the series "A History of East Central Europe." The Introductory Survey is excellent as a stand-alone text for college or even advance high school courses. The countries covered by chapters are Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and one chapter on the Baltic States (Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia).

I enjoyed the book and support the author's work. But I want to make sure people who are just browsing do not mistaken the word Chinaman to be a general term like Englishman or Frenchman, of which the equivalent would be Chineseman, not the offensive Chinaman. Webster's defines "n-gger: a black person - usually taken to be offensive" and "Chinaman: Chinese - often taken to be offensive."

Jeffrey Paul Chan's fictional tale of Chris Columbus--Chinese American everyman-- and his richly idiosyncratic extended family, endows an already fascinating cultural history with the tangible tastiness of sex, drugs and fermented red bean. My senses were so taken with the novel's swirls of fish paste and fresh sweat that I almost missed the striking syntactic nuggets of social comment (i.e. "the bamboo curtain") fried up by the author.

One of my favorite things about the book is how much its structure mimics its central metaphor.  My relationship to the text, especially upon completion but also throughout, was the same I might have if presented with one of the fishy melanges described so beautifully within it. As I taste, I am not positive if I recognize cilantro or parsley -- is that a hint of ginger, even?  Rather, the flavors mingle in such a way as to blur my discrete understanding of each ingredient. Likewise, while I wouldn't trust my accuracy if asked to recreate a recipe from the Neon Moon to the commune, the soup tastes great.  Ultimately, I am thankful that I am not granted a clarity that Chris, the protagonist, himself doesn't have.  As the reader, I am offered the vicarious experience of displacement; I am dual, too; I am myself not always sure why I ended up West when I tried to go East.  And I don't think I'd want it any other way.

I never knew Father Hartke. My uncle, Louis Camuti Jr. attended Catholic University for BA in Drama (1949) and his graduate work in drama (1951). He was a member of tour group 3, the first group to go overseas. Group 3 went to Korea during the war to entertain the troops. My uncle was a most wonderful man, but died when I was 18 in 1970. Louie attended CU when he got back from the fighting during WWII. Louies' time at CU was probably his happiest, and the most wonder-filled of his life.

Mary Jo's book is so well written, that it allows me, in affect, to walk along side my Uncle and experience his world. Thank you for this gift, Dr. Santo Pietro. You've let me spend time with my Uncle... one more time.

This book attempts to accomplish two missions. One, it meets Father Hartke's requirement that it be a history of the Drama Department of Catholic University. In so doing it must necessarily also be a biography of one Gilbert V. Hartke. This is a huge and daunting assignment which Ms Santo Pietro takes on. That she succeeds as well as she does is an amazing achievement.

I never thought I would find Father Hartke captured within the confines of a book. I knew him as a teacher, director, administrator, priest and friend. His character was huge, and extremely difficult to depict on a printed page. He had so many qualities, and sometimes they conflicted. He loved his students, and his attempts to be tough on them once in awhile always fell flat. He put up a front of optimistic idealism, and yet he proved to me many times that he understood hard realities about people. He was a big ham, loved to be upfront of a laughing crowd, loved everything about the theatre except the heartbreak. He believed as a priest that he was filling in for God. Maybe so, but he was much kinder than God.

Congratulations Ms Santo Pietro on accomplishing the near impossible, and that is to dramatize goodness, by showing the human effects of that goodness. The scene between David Sabin, and David Merrick brought tears to my eyes. I could have wished for a little less history, and a few more such moments., but hey, you did a hell of a job!
For the record, the editing and page layouts are first rate. Inspired by her subject character, the author writes with the cool punch of a good novelist.
I can hear that gritty voice saying: Well done, kid!

Although there are any number of worthy books and articles on the ecological effects of fire (and of fire-suppression), Pyne's take on the ways in which humans have and still do use fire in manners which are as much conditioned by matters of tradition as well as those of rationality struck me as a novel way of looking at the subject.

As a child I gleefully participated in the annual raking of fallen tree leaves into piles and their subsequent destruction by fire. It seemed part of the natural order of things and was great fun. Although the community that I grew up in has long since banned the practice, it never occurred to me to reflect on the cultural norms behind the practice until I read this book. It is rather enlightening and humbling to see one's own behavior examined with the level of detachment and dispassion that an anthropologist might bring to some unfamiliar and seemingly bizarre practices of some isolated aboriginal tribe!

This book is no polemic, nor does it have any obvious agenda. I am unaware of any controversy over its contents. This is not to say that the author's views are not fresh and interesting.

The author is highly knowledgeable about his subject and previously published a highly acclaimed book about a tragic forest fire-fighting incident that resulted in the deaths of several fire-fighters. This book does not have the high drama of that work, but it is very well written and stimulating. A very good read, in my estimation.

This book is a must read for any person interested in the cutlural effect of wild and rural land fire. The book is accessible to everybody, it is well writen and light on technical jargon. Pyne undertook a momentous task by writing this book, nothing like it exisited like it when it was first published in 1984, (sorry to the one review that stated that his older books were better, this is the first one, his other books are great supliments in the cycle of fire.) A GREAT BOOK.

This book is a high-water mark in the study of the southeast Alaskan salmon fishery. David Arnold intelligently mixes rigorous research with colorful descriptions of Alaska's salmon fishery through ancient to modern times. Arnold explains, with dispassionate fairness, the many opposing factions in the region. By not overreaching his objectivity, Arnold not only educates the reader, but he puts these conflicting viewpoints into conversation.

Having grown up in a southeast Alaskan fishing family, I'm confident I can say Arnold captures many of the passions and concerns borne by those independent fishermen who make their living off the fishery. At the same time, the history of Alaska Natives, environmentalists, federal regulators, fish processors, international sea harvesters, and many others make this book a well-rounded study.

This is a beautiful book, with maps, graphs and pictures. It is a well-written history of the salmon industry in Alaska. The author has an impressive bibliography and historical footnotes that lend credibility to the environmental questions posed in this book.