Washington University Books

As an experienced clinician I was appalled to see a Death Note written by a medical student using the guide in this book. He titled it "Celestial Dischage"-- just as it is noted in the book. It was his first time, and he thought that was acceptable to put in a patient's chart.

If you expect to use a reference when you are either inexperienced, 3/4 brain dead after call, or both, don't risk your professional reputation on "cute."

I thought that the book is very helpful on the wards and for my ER rotation. The book is concise and a quick read so it is best to read the book before the rotation starts. I read it so quickly that I wonder why the price is so steep.

This book is very helpful for starting intern year and gives you really good advice for things to do on call. It also has good examples for admit notes, discharge summaries, common calls and common drugs. Great book!

This book is all about overnight call situations that interns face. I'm an intern this year and I keep it in my pocket along with 2 other books: Sanford Guide and Pocket Medicine by Sabatine. There are plenty of books out there if you want to learn about disease processes and the physiology behind it all, but this is the only one I've found that has *practical* information. For example, tables of common prn meds, and how to approach cross cover issues. Great death note sample also.

Yeah I just wanned to say that this book is dope. I mean for real, I had hella questions about all this medical stuff and this book was straight up dealing! Damn, so I'm an intern and when I be up at like 4:30 in the AM I be tired as HELL!! This book easy to use and helps me out when I'm all foggy minded. Damn, homie, 80 hours like what? But anyway, this thing has got my IV fluids and them dang arterial blood gases locked down from the top down!

For realz!

Aight yo I'm out

HOLLA!

Dr. Kadar has a good writing style. He gives good information. However, he seems a little "old" to be writing a book for a college freshman. Shouldn't a book like this, be written by someone with a recent college experience. It is hard to find fault with most of his advice. However, if you want to give someone a full taste of college, you'll need to balance it with a book written from a student's point of view. Remember, students often see things differently than faculty. When I was an undergrad, I saw the school's bureaucracy as the enemy. I'd recommend accompanying this book with something like College 101: The Book Your College Does Not Want You to Read

I am a longtime friend of Dr. Kadar and a math teacher at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles.
I enjoyed the book immensely primarily because of its readability. Dr. Kadar has a real gift for communicating about topics on which others frequently just lecture . His candid, lucid style make this work approachable for his target audience: high school seniors, many of whom abhor reading anything. I can't think of anyone who would not benefit from the wit and wisdom contained in this book. The straightforward, yet whimsical approach to academics, campus social life, the trials and joys of this coming of age period--make this tome a pleasure to recommend to all.

This book is clever, entertaining, and an overall informative read that every college freshman should relish. Dr. Kadar arms one with the knowledge in order to make educated decisions during the first year and beyond. The invaluable advice contained in this book will propel one to succeed both inside and outside the classroom. Upon reading this book one will be at a significant advantage upon entering freshman year!

Hello. I am the author of College Life 102. I started writing this book for my son, Kenny, as he went off to college. I wanted to share with him knowledge and insights from my eleven years of post-secondary education and over a quarter century of teaching college and medical students. I wanted to help him make a smooth transition to college and to thrive there from the start.
College Life 102 contains insights on how to study smarter instead of harder. It includes strategies I've not seen described anywhere else, such as technique for dodging the stress of deadlines that I call the "pre-deadline deadline."
One section of the book consists of science based information to enable students to make wiser decisions about their diet, alcohol consumption and other health related topics. As a medical doctor and educator, I feel particularly qualified to discuss these issues. My goal in these chapters is to be accurate and therefore credible, to neither exaggerate nor minimize the risks that students face.
Kenny shared the book with his friends and later with students at the University of Washington, when he became an instructor in their freshman orientation program. I received lots of useful and encouraging feedback. I added sections and modified others to update the book. Kenny graduated in four years, cum laude with distinction.
College Life 102, The No-Bull Guide to a Great Freshman Year, contains information I wish I had before I started college. Why 102 instead of 101? This is a more advanced course. It teaches students not to survive but to thrive. Carpe diem!

Yet another student life book written by an old man out of touch with the reality of the contemporary college experience. I mean come on, who are these grey-haired authors kidding? Are we really to expect anything more than superficial advice from someone who graduated from college twenty-five years ago? Sure, some things never change. But there are many things that have changed over the years, and unless you lived it, you can't accurately explain it to people. If you want to read a book that offers more than generic student advice, then read Goat: A Memoir or COLLEGE LIFE EXTREME: Lies, Sex, Drugs and Violence. Both these books are memoirs from students who attended big party schools and have crazy-true stories to share.

I've heard so much of Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow over the years that this is the reason I purchased the book. I'm working up in the Catsilll Mountains at the moment and wanted to read something that related to the area. This book is far more than the Catskill Mountains as it discusses many of his ventures in England. I found this book to be engaging and heartfelt. I'm happy to finally know more about Washington Irving and his experiences.

I must admit I bought this book solely out of a desire to read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," probably the work Irving is most well-known for today. Every year on Halloween, when I was growing up, a small group of friends and I would watch the old Disney cartoon version of the story while we sorted through our candy. More recently, I fell in love with the 1999 live action adaptation "Sleepy Hollow" starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci. I figured it was about time I read the original story to see how these two films stack up in comparison. The rest of the material in the book was of secondary interest to me in making my purchase, but having now read it I can say that, while it wasn't quite what I expected, it was well worthwhile.

The title is both apt and misleading by turns: "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and other stories in the Sketch Book." The use of the term "other stories" led me to believe that it would be just that - a collection of short fiction stories. Not so. There are three pieces in the book which would fit this description - "Rip Van Winkle," "The Specter Bridegroom," and the aforementioned "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" - but the rest is a conglomeration of various other types of writing. The title "Sketch Book" is very appropriate. Irving has, in essence, provided us with a series of short, literary "sketches" on a variety of subjects and in a variety of styles. The topics vary, but they are also arranged in such a way that one usually flows smoothly into the next, lending a sense of continuity despite the variability of material covered.

A large percentage of the book is devoted to the author's observations on life in England, himself, though an American, having spent 17 years there. Some are purely observational, and some have elements of fiction and imagination woven in, as is the case with "The Mutability of Literature," an interesting little piece in which Irving imagines a conversation between himself and an old book. Irving also occasionally ventures into the realm of satire. Other topics he explores include the differences between America and England, the role of women, English funeral traditions, Christmas, love, etc. He also did travel pieces, including the interesting "Stratford on Avon," which tells of his exploration of places connected with the life of William Shakespeare. Toward the end there are two pieces discussing the lot of Native Americans - not politically correct by today's standards, but offering an interesting insight on the mindsets of the time.

I should probably take a little time to discuss "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" itself, since it was my primary motivation for purchasing the book and, I suspect, will be what draws most other modern readers to it as well. If you've only seen the 1999 movie version, do NOT expect anything remotely similar. The old Disney cartoon is much more accurate. It is actually a very short story - about 32 pages in length. Ichabod Crane is a schoolmaster (not an investigator as in the 1999 movie) in the town of Sleepy Hollow, and falls for the young and lovely Katrina Van Tassel. Katrina, however, is also being courted by a rival suitor, Brom Van Brunt. Following a town "quilting frolic" at which many tales of local superstition are told, including that of the Headless Horesman, Ichabod sets out into the night alone, is beset by a headless rider before he reaches is destination, and is never seen in Sleepy Hollow again. It is left up to the reader to determine what happens to him.

The language of the book is antiquated, to be sure, having been composed in 1820, but it is not difficult to read. Irving's writing is very warm and inviting. He does tend to paint things rather romantically, and the England he shares with us is not the England of the Industrial Revolution during which the book was written, but this almost makes it more appealing as it opens up room for imagination. One must also remember that Irving wrote the pieces in "The Sketch Book" largely to combat his own depression, a condition he suffered from greatly, and he probably needed a cheerful outlet to distract him. We do, nevertheless, get a glimpse of his more melancholy thoughts in pieces like "The Widow and Her Son," "Rural Funerals," and "The Pride of the Village," all of which deal with death.

The last chapter of the book, "L'Envoi," is a closing piece that was included at the end of the second volume of the London edition. It is an interesting collection of the author's thoughts on and explanations for his own work. He makes an interesting note on the ecclectic nature of the book: "His [the author's] work being miscellaneous, and written for different humors, it could not be expected that anyone would be pleased with the whole, but that if it should contain something to suit each reader, his end would be completely answered. Few guests sit down to a varied table with an equal appetite for every dish" (362). Also included is an Afterword by Perry Miller, which offers observations and insights on Irving's life and career.

Washington Irving's "Sketch Book" is an eccentric mongrel of literary types that mingles travel writing, literary reflections, and tales (fiction and historical); it is most famous for "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." In 1931, the literary critic Henry Seidel Canby remarked that "without the two Dutch stories, however, 'The Sketch Book' would not have worn so well. They are perfect examples of what Irving loved to do, and naturally he did them well."

Indeed, few readers ever encounter any of the other selections, except perhaps "The Spectre Bridegroom"--a comic tale of mystery and suspense. What may surprise many readers, however, is that nearly all of the book's remaining entries are about England--mostly about rural life and the landed gentry outside London, or (as described by William Cullen Bryant) "warm and cheerful pictures of English life."

Under the pen name of Geoffrey Crayon, Irving details his sea voyage to England, a comical fishing trip inspired by "The Compleat Angler," a walking excursion through Little Britain (a London neighborhood), and a visit to the library at the British Museum, where he "soon found that the library was a kind of literary 'preserve,' subject to game laws, and that no one must presume to hunt there without special license and permission." He attends a rural church service (during which he pays more attention to the congregants than the rites) and even crashes a funeral party. There are two essays on Shakespeare, a sequence of articles describing English Christmas customs, a biographical account of King James I of Scotland, and a tour of the tombs in Westminster Abbey.

From the safe distance of his exile in England, Irving hurls two essays describing sympathetically "the characters and habits of the North American savage." The phrase is jarring to 21st-century ears, but, while Irving repeatedly uses the unfortunate term, he simultaneously condemns that the "the appellations of savage and pagan were deemed sufficient to sanction the hostilities of both [colonists and writers]." Regardless of its bipolar sensitivity to language, the first essay is a rousing defense of Native Americans: "They cannot but be sensible that the white men are the usurpers of their ancient dominion, the cause of their degradation, and the gradual destroyers of their race." The second essay is a portrait of King Philip, or Metamocet of Pokanoket, the 17th-century chief of the Wampanoag tribe whose conflict with the New England settlers resulted in the near-eradication of his people.

Irving has a tendency to dilute his delight with an abundance of detail, but his mastery of the quip and his sarcasm--so abundant in his "History of New York"--is still on display throughout "The Sketch Book." Its unevenness, ponderousness, and lack of thematic coherence can be challenging, however, and those looking for fiction rather than "sketches" may prefer (as I did) Irving's "Tales of a Traveller," which is comprised entirely of ghost stories, pirate adventures, and tall tales.

My memories of reading ' The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' and ' Rip Van Winkle ' in school are memories of vague misunderstanding, a haze of wondering what they were all about. This is especially true in regard the story of Rip Van Winkle.But there was nonetheless in the atmosphere of the stories, something of the feeling of old America, the Dutch- English America so present in the Renssaeleer County I grew up in. Later in life returning to Irving's work I read some of the Alhambra Tales and sketches. All the writing seemed to me to come of ' another world and time' a world and time much more leisurely and slow than the America which was to follow. It is hard to believe but it is little more than thirty- years between Washington Irving's gentelmanly meanderings, and the American Renaissance of Melville, Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau and Whitman. Irving is the first American writer known to the world, but he does not really presage the great American creative outburst that is to follow him.
One more point. There is a story from the Talmud about Honi ha- Maagel who goes to sleep for a generation. And when he wakes up finds a wholly new world. He makes then the famous remarks ' Death is preferable to living without friends'. Perhaps Washington Irving too had a sense of being somewhere back in the past, far out of the time of present everyday America. And thus perhaps he suggests that if you sleep too long when you wake up your world is lost and it as if you are dead . i.e. it is as if you have not woken up at all.
Irving in this sense as a writer seems more some one read as a relic than one who gives the kind of inspiring fire his great American successors will provide.

Not to be read quickly and to be savored like fine wine, Washington Irving's "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon" is a matchless classic in American Literature. Written in 1820 and destined to become a true American literary pantheon (along with his preceeding work "Diedrich Knickerboker's History of New York), Irving introduces us to timeless observations and wit that ultimately become enduring discources defining early American Literature.

Irving's mantra with this work is a set of observations, indeed "sketches" of his many travels and musings while roaming through England and his home in upstate New York along the Hudson River. The eternal figures of Rip Van Winkle and Ichabod Crane are evoked in this tome and set a literary standard that others aspire to, but one that Irving effortlessly achieves time and again. Not only does this volume frame these two classics, "The Sketch Book" also contains other literary giants such as "The Angler", "John Bull", "Philip of Pokanoket", "The Specter Bridegroom", "The Mutability of Literature" and "The Art of Bookmaking" wherein the essence of Irving's literary style is neatly conveyed in the following:

"Being now in possesion of the secert, I sat down in a corner and watched the process of this book manufactory. I noticed one lean, bilious-looking wight, who sought none but the worst worm-eaten volumes, printed in black letter. He was evidentley constructing some work of profound erudition that would be purchased by every man who wished to be thought learned, placed upon a conspicuous shelf of his library, or laid upon his table, but never read. I observed him, now and then, draw a large fragment of biscuit out of his his pocket and gnaw; whether it was his dinner, or whether he was endeavoring to keep off that exhaustion of the stomach produced by much pondering over dry works, I leave to harder students than myself to determine."

With a style that has emitted diverse emotions (Lord Byron "unashamedly wept" over the melancholy pieces "The Broken Heart", "The Widow and her Son" and "The Rural Funerals") and having enjoyed over a century and a half of eminent popularity, Washington Irving's "aim in life is to escape 'from the commonplace realities of the present' and to lose himself 'among the shadowy grandeurs of the past' ". Readers tuned in to this philosophy continue to enjoy Irving's literary prose (by buying and re-reading his works), and also, by buying and reading, secure his reputation as a master in American Literature. When one has digested "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon" and "Diedrich Knickerboker's History of New York", one has embraced the essential works of Washington Irving and most would then assuredly join me in saying that he rates eminately in American Literary standing.

Great book. Classic first person narrative of the times surrounding Japanese-American "relocation" (internment) in the Seattle area during WWII by a young girl turned young woman. The book is well-balanced with humor and seriousness. Many books of this Coming of Age genre are often boring ramblings of someone's traumatic teen age years. This book is much different. It provides a good balance of eyewitness accounts and personal musings. Not only it is a must read for anyone interested in the period or topic, it is on the short list pertaining to the Pacific Northwest in general.

I was required to read this book for My History of the American West course, and I enjoyed the book as it was a great story written by someone who experienced the internment, but after reading Strawberry Days by David A. Newiwert, I realized that Sone left out the true feelings of the War World II time period. She only briefly touches upon the racism and the hatred towards the Japanese during that time, and the injustices that they suffered. Still I did take into consideration the time period that the book was published, and the sentiments still being felt at that time. So I would highly recommend this book but I would also suggest to do any further reading of the topic to get a true feeling of the Japanese Internment.

As a real Japanese daughter in Tokyo of Today, I very much enjoyed Ms. Sone's narrative. This is a story about prewar Seattle and the life of Japanese-Americans, as well as her identity struggle during the war time.
With the eyes of an observant Nisei girl, Ms. Sone tells us about people around her, and school life, both local and Japanese, in a positive (somewhat humorous, sometimes sappy..) way.
This is amazing. No one told me such an interesting story like this. Travel guide books only show us lovely views or baseball stadiums. Japanese school textbooks NEVER mention Japanese-American history and heritage. What a waste. We could share their feelings...
I could have been a Nikkei(JA) daughter if my great-grand parents had emmigrated to the West Coast. (Actually, they once lived in Manchuria instead.)
Since I found this book, I also have searched my heart and wondered where I had come from... It's so stimulating.
ARIGATO, KAZUKO-san ! Seattle does not only mean Ichiro Suzuki.

Part of Nisei Daughter's charm is the way Sone is able to weave entertaining anecdotes throughout her tale, a story which is essentially about what being Japanese American in the time around wartime America meant to her. Specifically, her position as a Nisei daughter -- child of first generation Japanese Americans -- is the focus of this tale.

The disappointing thing about this book is how obviously self-censored the book is. Sone very briefly reveals deeply felt rage and resentment at intervals during the book, only to shake them off and quickly change to a more light-hearted topic. Granted, there is an ironic tone to many of her comments and situations, and again granted, she is writing for a post-war audience that probably would not be receptive to outspoken criticism of the Internment, but still Sone seems to sugar coat the experience just a bit too much for my tastes. By the end, with the patriotic speeches that make it sound like the Internment was as much the fault of the Japanese Americans as it was the government, I was getting a little tired of Sone's carefree and apologetic tone, especially after the highly charged preface. In the book, Sone all but thanks the government for interning her and her family and giving them this character-building experience.

If you are truly interested in the internment and the impact it had on the Japanese Americans, try a book like Joy Kogawa's "Obasan." It's written about the Japanese Canadian experience, which was even more extreme than the Japanese American one. Kogawa also experienced internment first hand, but "Obasan" is written far enough after the fact that Kogawa is able to give the story more perspective and is able to put a more honest face on what really happened.

Nisei Daughter is not a bad book by any means ... but it did not live up to my expectations either. Sone's self-conscious editing makes the story seem much more like a novel than the autobiography that it supposedly is. I kept wishing she would drop the mask she was wearing and let the reader see what she was really thinking!

Very nice memoir about being a first-generation Japanese American ("Nisei"). My biggest criticism is that the flow is not quite right. I attribute that to the fact that the author is not a writer by trade. The very extensive details that pepper the story detract to the overall flow of it, but nonetheless, this book is very interesting. Monica Sone explores the dichotomy that many "hybrid" people experience: the contradictions of culture, the generational gap made even deeper because of the cultural differences. In her case, these differences were quite extreme: from the demurred and modest Japanese ways to the boisterous, assertive American. She describes many examples of where these differences were patent, and does a very god job in the process. Another excellent area of the book is her analysis of the conflicting emotions she experienced. Here she is, feeling very American, and sent to a concentration camp, labeled as "the enemy". She and her fellow camp-mates experience a collective rage, but it is during these years and after her release that she finally comes to terms with her at times contradictory cultural heritage. The end has very patriotic overtones which I thought were quite sappy, given her circumstances. I wish she could have gone further into describing her family life after camp, and the reassimilation of Japanese into American society post WWII.

Well the book itself appears as though it would have been a definite keeper - even a great small gift idea. However my copy is missing 16 pages - and along with them, 22 of the "rules" - toward the center of the volume. The following pages are blank and missing these rules:

Pages: 28, 29, 32, 33, 35, 36, 40, 41, 44, 45, 48, 49, 52, 53, 56, and 57.

Rules: 3, 4, 5, 12, 13, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 37, 43, 44, and 45.

Needless to say, the book shall be returned. And no one at Amazon can assure me that the defective lot has been caught and removed from its stock, nor that the next one will be any better. So I must decline to get another one.

This enjoyable short book has within it, a serious message about our first president. The character of the man and how he quite deliberately constituted himself for the challenges of his life, is quite enthralling. He was self reflective enough, without a great formal education, to have required of himself a set of high, and somtimes challenging, personal standards...based upon the cardinal virutes set form in a little Jesuit reader, meant as a guide to leaders. To meditate upon, and require such precepts of personal conduct, turned out to be a prescient insight into what was essential to his very public life.....the life of the irreplaceable leader, of the early days of the American republic.

It says much about the man, who worked ever diligently to improve himself in such a way. Nothing could be more helpful in considering the personal qualities of character that we Americans should expect, for all of our leaders.

In addition, the compiler/author's commentary is often quite entertaining, and always right on the mark.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Initially, I started reading it because I had liked Brookhiser's biography on Hamilton and was looking for something else by the same author. The occasional asides that Brookhiser included helped to bring some of the antiquated rules into the 21st century. While reading this book, at first I found myself making notes as to which person should hear about a particular rule. After a while, however, I began to be aware of some of my behaviors that should change. I have since passed this book on to a young friend very concerned about character. And...I try not to roll my eyes any more. Recommended - but I suggest also reading Washington's Farewell Address as a way to better understand the man's character.

If I win the lottery I am buying the entire supply and handing them out on the street corners. Our society would be a lot more tolerable if everyone followed these simple rules of manners and courtesy. What would Washington have written about inconsiderate cell phone use? A must read for everyone. Buy this as a gift for your teenager or college student. Start your own revolution against boorish behavior.

I bought this book about six years ago because I had been told that George Washington had used these rules of civility to guide his own life and actions. I cherish this book. There are a few rules that are dated, but they are entertaining. The rest is pure gold and timeless.

A few examples:

5. If you cough, sneeze, sigh, or yawn, do it not loud but privately; and speak not in your yawning, but put your hankerchief or hand before your face and turn aside.

65. Speak not injurious words neither in jest nor earnest; scoff at none although they give occasion.

82. Undertake not what you cannot perform but be careful to keep your promise.

If you can't figure out what to give that new graduate who already has everything, I highly recommend this book. I recommend it for everyone.

While the book is a "good read" and "thought provoking," I have serious contentions with Holton's interpretation and analysis on many levels, not the least of which center on his lack of understanding and/or misinterpretation of the military and Indian issues which he attempts to cite as supporting his thesis, and which in turn causes me to question his other conclusions in "Forced Founders."

First, he apparently does not know the difference between the provincial militia of the royal colony, the independent militia formed at the resolution of the First Virginia Convention (and Continental Association after the First Continental Congress), or the Virginia militia as constituted by Virginia's revolutionary government, the Virginia Minutemen (as different from common militia) formed by the state in response to a resolution by the Second Continental Congress, the formation of Virginia State Troops or the establishment of the Virginia Continentals. To him, all those organizational concepts seem to be interchangeable.

Second, it is true that Virginia's last royal governor, John Murray, the Fourth Earl of Dunmore, formed his "Ethiopian Regiment" by offering freedom to the military age male slaves of rebel masters (not all slaves), but Holton's explanation leads the reader to believe that the project was an overwhelming success. The primary source documents show that it was never accepted into Provincial service, and with less than 100 "effective" men present for duty, and about 60 sick on board hospital ships in May 1776, the regiment was disbanded. Furthermore, they were not Dunmore's only available troops. So how their presence forced slaveholders to support the revolution is questionable.

Holton also neglects to mention Dunmore's raising of the Queen's Own Loyal Regiment of Virginia, which was composed of white Loyalists. It too, like the Ethiopian Regiment, never amounted to much and was disbanded in 1776. But Holton doesn't mention them at all!

Third he mentions the battle of Kemp's Landing (a skirmish, actually) in November 1775, in which Dunmore's "army" (not just the black troops) drove Virginia militia from the field. He says nothing about the December 1775 battle (actually a larger skirmish) of Great Bridge that was a decisive American victory and forced the British to evacuate Norfolk (and Virginia until 1780).

Furthermore, Dunmore's army was about 600 strong, including the white Loyalist regiment, all the Loyalist militia he could muster, plus British sailors and marines, as well as the Ethiopian Regiment. Therefore, it is unlikely that the Ethiopian Regiment ever neared full "establishment" strength of 800 men, so I believe Holton overstates their influence. Also, the American force included Continentals, State troops, minutemen from Fauquier, Augusta and Culpepper Counties (from the western part of the Colony), as well as volunteers from Princess Anne and Norfolk Counties, including one company of "gentleman volunteers," and 250 North Carolina men.

Nor does Holton say much about those slaves who chose to stay with their masters, and how their action influenced decisions to support independence.

As for the founder's being forced by fear of the Indians, his argument on that score is also weak.

First, does he consider the Treaty of Camp Charlotte, which Dunmore negotiated with the Shawnee, Mingo and western Delaware nations in October 1774, when they conceded defeat in "Dunmore's War"? After his flight from Williamsburg in June 1775, the terms of that treaty were finalized between Continental and (Revolutionary) Virginia Indian Commissioners and the same Indian nations in the Treaty of Fort Pitt in October 1775. The two treaties essentially kept the peace on Virginia's frontier (including in Kentucky) from 1774 until 1777 (after independence was declared!). So, Holton's claim that fear of the Indians forced the founders into supporting independence seems to be a weak one to me.

Second, Dunmore did plot to solicit the Ohio Indian nations to attack settlements on the Virginia frontier, unless its inhabitants affirmed their loyalty. However, the party of three Provincial officers he dispatched to put the plan into action (led by John Connolly), were captured by Maryland minutemen in the town of Hagers Town (Hagerstown) in November 1775, and Connolly was subsequently imprisoned in Philadelphia. The abortive plot was discovered when incriminating papers were found in Connolly's baggage, which was the source of Jefferson's indictment in the Declaration of Independence that king was "inciting the savages."

Third, Holton apparently also does not understand the operation of the Indian polities. He fails to mention that the Six Nations of Iroquois, who considered the nations in the Ohio country their "dependents" by right of conquest and "spoke for" them, were trying to maintain their neutrality early in the war. After being convinced by the officers of the British Indian Department (operating from Fort Niagara and Fort Detroit, not Virginia) that it was in their best interest to support the king against "the Bostonians," most of the Six Nations (the Onondaga, Cayuga, Mohawk and Seneca) and their "dependents," (Wyandot, western Delaware, Shawnee, Mingo and others) did finally come into the war in early 1777, when they struck backcountry settlements, according to British Indian Department officers, "from Fort Stanwix (at the head of the Mohawk Valley in New York) to the Ohio" and that the American backcountry "From the Susquehanna to the Kiskismenitas Creek upon the Ohio, and from thence down to the Kankawa [Kanawha] River is now nothing but an heap of ashes."

Finally, I don't believe Holton ever makes a convincing argument that tenants exerted influence to force their aristocratic landlords into supporting independence, and his argument about debtors falls short of being conclusive.

In Forced Founders, Woody Holton writes about five non-elite groups in pre-Revolutionary America who struggled for relief from a long list of economic and political imperial burdens. Small landholders, merchants, debtors and even Native Americans and slaves in Virginia were affected by a global depression in which the price of tobacco had fallen close to its lowest historical levels, prices of other commodities had plummeted and the credit market had collapsed. Elite, wealthy Virginia gentlemen farmers like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry felt the squeeze but for Virginia's non-elites, the confluence of adverse economic factors became an overwhelming millstone. Everyone in Virginia suffered the effects of the Navigation Acts that restricted colonial trade only to Britain. Everyone was forced to adjust to the boycott of Britain passed by the Continental Congress. Virginia's economy staggered when small businesses and landowners defaulted on their debt, faced foreclosure of their assets and sunk into economic ruin. Holton's thesis is that well-to-do colonial Virginia leaders were pushed to choose rebellion against Britain by these non-elite groups whose meager resources made them defenseless against this toxic brew of imperial oppression and negative global economic conditions.

Perhaps the most powerful force behind the fight for independence was the paralyzing debt incurred by Virginia's growers. It was held primarily by their British merchant counterparts who bought their tobacco, sold them supplies and lent them money. The Virginians' debt was even more overwhelming because it landed on their balance sheets during one of the worst recessions of the colonial era. Virginian Arthur Lee wrote in 1764 that American colonists owed British merchants ₤6 million and British mercantilist policies drained an additional ₤500,000 a year from the tobacco colonies. Virginia's small landholders and business people - and no doubt, their counterparts in other colonies - realized British commercial, monetary and immigration policies favored the mercantilist-creditors back in London. Thus it was that debtors in Virginia became unrelenting critics of British policy, making them a persistent political force in favor of independence.

Virginia land speculators thwarted by British governance were another perpetual burr under the saddles of the colony's leadership, not least because of the unrest and threat of attack they created among Native Americans. Although the Indians ultimately lost the commercial, legal and military battles they fought in defense of their land, their efforts through tribal coalitions to enlist British support were irritatingly effective. One of the unintentional results of the Indians' occasional success against the white land speculators was pressure from them on Virginia's leadership. Independence from Britain would permit Virginia land speculators to move against the Indians, unimpeded by imperial interference.

Like all whites in pre-Emancipation America, colonial Virginians considered black Africans a serious threat to their security. Their fear boiled over when Virginia slaves began to negotiate in 1775 for their freedom with British Governor Dunmore in exchange for military assistance to help control civil unrest. White Virginians who'd been independence-neutral or British loyalists became overnight patriots. For them, the only way to restore order, preserve ownership and protect property was to escape British governance and begin a new governmental regime. It was ironic the slaves' ploy for personal freedom frightened Virginia's elites to support the fight for American independence.

Holton guides readers of Forced Founders through an intriguing but occasionally awkward review of the influence of non-elite groups on Virginia's road to Revolution. Its virtue is its point-of-view; its burden is its less-than-focused scope. In the end, it appears he does too little with too much.

However Holton is to be commended for thinking outside the box. He uses primary sources from the gentry to study Virginia's economically and politically important "non-gentlemen" because, says Holton, their records reveal the gentlemen as powerfully influenced by the actions of smallholders, slaves and Native Americans. Working top down and one class removed, he shows the American Revolution was not just a rich man's war. Historians are well-advised to incorporate such 360-degree-point-of-view thinking in all their examination of primary sources. As they pursue this method, however, they must focus their theses and remain alert to the dangers of scope creep.

Woody Holton, in his book Forced Founders Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia argues that Americans weaned on the stories of the Virginia elite, who for ideological purposes decided a revolution was needed, are misinformed. Desperation was the true reason that Virginia, and the likes of Jefferson and Washington and the other privileged gentry, moved towards declaring independence from British rule. Their desperation was in response to growing pressures placed on the gentry class by other segments of society. Forced Founders is divided into four parts covering three time periods. The first two parts cover the time period that is essentially the decade after the Great War for Empire, from 1763-1774. The third part covers the years 1774-1775. The fourth and final part covers the year of 1776. In all four parts Holton looks at the Virginia elite and their relations to various parties during that time period. The two parts Holton breaks the first time period down into are the problems that the gentry faced, and the solutions they came up with for those problems.
In Holton's thesis, he states "that the Independence movement was powerfully influenced by British merchants and three groups...Indians, farmers and slaves." (206) Holton uses letters and papers from contemporaries of the time. He also uses secondary sources to fill in the gaps. These sources he uses to good effect. Unfortunately, he only scratches the surface of the pressure these groups placed on the gentry class. One weakness of his research is that he has not found new sources,
but uses existing sources of the gentry class, to explain their relation to the other classes. Even though Holton acknowledges the bias of the elite, he says he was able to get the other groups' perspective. (xxi) While Holton's goal is to show that the revolution was not just a tax revolt, but also a class conflict (206), the book focuses mainly on the economic reasons that these groups were able to affect Virginia's elite society. This focus changes the typical perception that most Americans have of the founding fathers; it makes them seem less principled and god like. They are more identifiably human, as they are shown to be looking out for themselves. The examples that Holton uses are supportive of his thesis, but due to the breadth of the issues associated with these groups, his examples only scratch the surface of the importance these groups played. A second problem is that the Virginia gentry are still the primary focus of the book. Those groups that exert pressure on the founding fathers continue to be relegated to the second tier in importance. A better title might have been Virginia's Founding Fathers: The Economic Pressures That Drove Them to Revolution since most parts of the book deal with the economic effects each of the groups had on the Virginia founding fathers. Besides economic concerns, Holton alludes that another reason for the drive to independence was the founding fathers fear of losing their preferred position in society.
I felt that Forced Founders was a good read though it suffered from its brevity. A more in depth look at other pressures besides economic ones placed by these groups on the gentry would have strengthened his thesis. In addition, despite offering a slightly different perspective on the social elite of Virginia, Forced Founders still has them as the primary focus, continuing to foster the second-class status of other groups, thus perpetuating historians' tendency to consign them to its back page.

Ours is an age when we worry about consumer debt (and consumer confidence), terrorists, and an energy crisis. In other words, when we feel our society a little wobbly it is great to read Woody Holton's book and find similar concerns in pre-revolutionary Virginia. Virginians were caught up in a "web" that included a debt crisis, fear of indian raids, slave uprisings, and class struggle. "Although no one can deny their importance [great leaders], the thesis of this book has been that the Independence movement was also powerfully influenced by British merchants and by three groups that today would be called grassroots: Indians, farmers, and slaves." (p. 206)How we relate to Holton's thesis probably depends on how we feel present day worries influence voting (thinking) patterns.
While the specific subject of this book is pressures that resulted in revolution, the facts presented here could be used to make a wider case about the "web" that every generation finds itself in. What will our consumer crisis, energy shortage, fear of terrorists lead to?
Holton writes well and is to be commended for his presentation.

One of the most common misconceptions of Americans today centers around the revolutionary war, specifically the fact that this war was caused by colonist unrest due to excessive taxation, chiefly in Massachusetts. Fortunately, Holton is able to modify this fallacy, as he presents towards massive strife in the Virginia colony that can be linked as a direct cause of the revolutionary war.
By presenting tension between everyone from debtors and creditors to oppressed minorities (slaves and Native Americans) and the Anglo Saxon majority, Holton is able to paint a much more realistic picture of the times. Readers will be shocked by evidence presented; especially notable is the substantiation of rich landowners actually wanting to exterminate the slave trade prior to the war, almost akin to a sumptuary law, to preserve social boundaries. Also notable is the documentation of how close battle came to breaking out in Virginia as a result of Dunmore's actions, far prior to any serious action in Lexington, Concord, or even Boston.
Although this book makes an interesting read in correcting some of the misunderstandings more than two centuries of time have created, it also works well in conjunction with a study of the rest of the war. When Dunmore's actions are viewed as a precursor to those of Cornwallis, Tarleton, and Clinton, an even more worthwhile and in depth study of the era can be begun.
Thus, whether the reader is just has an interest in the time period or is a scholar striving to make connections, Holton's work is an excellent read. One can only hope that Holton or others can help paint a more realistic picture for the other twelve colonies.

Amazon made me wait for a month! Then informed me that afterall this book was not in stock.

Peter Bacho beautifully articulates the emotional worlds of the deterritorialized Filipino American. With Fr. Ben Lucero's spiritual reconstruction, Bacho constantly explores and mediates between the warm comforts and cold mysteries of Philippine culture. In doing so, Bacho provides an intimate look into the distant, brash, and passionate demeanor of the Filipino psyche... If you believe 'home' stretches across the Pacific, then Cebu is a must-read.

Peter Bacho beautifully articulates the emotional worlds of the deterritorialized Filipino American. With Fr. Ben Lucero's spiritual reconstruction, Bacho constantly explores and mediates between the warm comforts and cold mysteries of Philippine culture. In doing so, Bacho provides an intimate look into the distant, brash, and passionate demeanor of the Filipino psyche... If you believe 'home' stretches across the Pacific, then Cebu is a must-read.

Enjoyed reading this book. It does capture aspects of the Cebu and the Philippines which are very true. Having grown up in Cebu; and lived in Los Angeles for quite some time now, this book showed the big contrasts that exists. The book has a section describing the Road to Toledo; having taken that road in the 1960's, it brought back memories of how dangerous the road is. Loved the book. I highly recommend it.

This book captured my imagination and at the same time, reaffirmed my awe for older generations who have experienced and survived the bitterness of war. Having spent all of the first 18 years of my life in Cebu, I could say it captured its essence very well. Now, three years later after I left that Xanadu, I read "CEBU" and relive the memories of how most people attempted treading on that blurry line dividing blind faith and instinctive practicality without seeming to break a sweat, quite a feat for most people raised here in the U.S. This balance is especially captured by Aunt Clara, notably the most powerful character in the story, literally and figuratively. I would recommend it to almost anyone, the book gives you the freedom to relate to at least one character. Very intriguing.

Okay. I don't like reading history books. But this is one book that you really need to check out. It isn't boring and if you are like me -- a Hmong American (of the newer generation obviously) and oblivious to the old generation and lacking in appreciation or knowledge of your background (if you are hmong) this is one awesome book that will set the records straight.

As for those who are just really interested.. well! This will reveal what most of the population don't know about the hmong; their brief history of where they are originally believed to be from up to their involvement in the vietnam war as to where they are now and some cultural background, too. This is a really awesome book compared to most books written about the hmong people that i've gone through.

Highly Recommended.

It is unfortunate that there is no good history of the Hmong published in any Western language. Keith Quincy must be commended on his effort, but it is disappointing. He is not a professional historian. The first chapter in particular, ostensibly dealing with the Hmong experience in China, shows his unfamiliarity with Chinese history and inability to use Chinese sources. (The story of the "Hmong" king's defeat by China actually concerns the conquest of the Jinchuan people, who were not Hmong.) Quincy uncritically uses an unreliable account by F. Savina, _Histoire des Miao_ (Hong Kong, 1924). For a better study of Hmong in China see Robert Jenks, _Insurgency and Social Disorder in Guizhou_ (University of Hawaii Press, 1994). The rest of the book is a little better, but must be read with caution and cross-checked with other sources.

As time passes I learn more and more about SE Asia and the US involvement there over the past many years. My daughter in law (daughter) is Hmong. This book revealed a great deal for me and opens my mind to questions regarding the Hmong,Laos, and the US. This book is well written, an easy read, but shares a great deal of information in its few pages. I recommend this book to anyone interested in SE Asia and the folk who live there.

Like all the books about the Hmong, there will be at times glaring inaccuracies and mistakes in the material, and Quincy has taken a lot of heat over the years for his attempts to help the Hmong reconstruct their history, most of which was lost during the 4,000 years between their roots in ancient China and the 20th century.

Considered by most to be one of the less reliable texts to work from, I nevertheless found many interesting elements within it, that, when combined with additional research, yields some fine and fun reading.

It should definitely not be taken on its own- one should try and double check statements by using other materials, but most people who read this will feel inspired to study and learn more about the Hmong and their true histories, and that's not such a bad thing.

Mr. Quincy did an excellent job on putting this book together. I have not yet read a book by anyone who would have gone as far back as Mr. Quincy did with this book. As a little Hmong girl growing up, I have always been curious of where Hmong people really existed from. My father tried his best to educate me on who we- the Hmong people were. Many of what he taught me seemed to be unreal, until I read Hmong: History of A People. It really shocked me that what my father was telling me was actually in print! My suggestion to all the Hmong people out there is that EVERYONE should read this book. There is not a doubt in my mind that you will not gain a better understanding of where you came from. After I had finished reading the book, I was shocked to know that my Great-great-great-great Grandfather was the "Hmong King"- Nhia Vue Lee. My appreciation goes to Mr. Quincy and his desire in wanting to have a better understanding of our culture.

While not the most logically arranged book, the contents of this amazing book are worth the hunt. It is far and away the single most comprehensive resource I've found for anyone wishing to introduce NW native plants into their garden.

This is a "must-have" for anyone interested in PNW native plants. (As is Pojar & McKinnon's book, which is more like an encyclopedia with colored photos). The author knows his stuff -- the only frustration is that he sometimes sings the praises of plants that are extremely difficult to find in the nursery trade (except maybe at his wife's own nursery.)

Of the books I own on NW native plant gardening, this book is my most often referenced. It is full of detailed information about a vast array of NW native plants. Dr. Kruckeberg's enthusiasm for the propogation and stewardship of NW natives shines throughout the book. However, this is not a book about landscaping or effective planting combinations; it is a scholarly work that may be useful to a homeowner interested in native plants and their care, or to the professional landscaper in need of detailed reference information. I am impressed by the breadth of the author's knowledge.

A nice introduction (and more) to native plants of the Pacific Northwest. My only criticism about it is that it doesn't have great photos. I bought this book to give me an intro to plants in that area, as I'm designing a garden for a friend. This book doesn't give much sense of what the plants look like in a garden. I'll have to go there. It's comparable to Judith Phillip's book Southwestern Landscaping with Native Plants (for, obviously, a different part of the country).

I was very disappointed to see the lack of color photos in the book. There are color photos on the cover and back and also a section in the middle but most of the book contained black and white photos and black and white drawings.
Other than that, the book seems very informative.

If you're reading this, you're interested in art, either in making it or in experiencing it or both. How about animal behavior? Better still, biological anthropology? This the book for you, as it was for me. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say it was life-changing, in that so many things are now clear that didn't quite make sense or made no sense at all before I read it. This is definitely a book for those committed to Darwin. If you think the world, complete with cave paintings, was created 9000 years ago more or less as it stands now, this won't help you. But, if you would like to know about the profound survival value in "making special", this is fascinating. If you have been uncomfortable with some of the current rather rarified explanations for what "art" is, you will be relieved. It's a wonderful book on its own or in preparation for her most recent book, ART AND INTIMACY.

Homo Aestheticus is a great attempt by Ellen Dissanayke to find the biological/physiological connection between humans and art or art making. She begins by discussing Darwin and invites us to accept that she has considered some scientific connection between the evolution of humans and why we included art/art making in our evolution. The devise to use science is intriguing and maybe somewhat convincing, but for those of us who require scholarship in research, Ms. Dissanayake misses all the marks.

To write an essay of your own observations relieves the writer from the obligation of proving anything. Just write and hope someone cares. But to write about scientific fact, psychological studies, and human behavior, the writer is obligated to avoid such phrases as "Everyone knows," "It follows that," etc. Another problematic phrase when trying to prove a point of fact is "Research findings indicate" (154). If the goal is to convince me, then site the study. Her phrase "Making Special" just isn't scientific enough for me.

This is the most unscholarly philosophy book I have ever encountered. I wouldn't be complaining about the book if it was billed as an easy-reading-personal-point-of-view thing, but when I must trudge through thick, factual material to get to the point of a thesis, I want my money's worth. I want to come away from the text feeling that I have just earned all those aches and pains from a great cerebral workout. If you want that kind of experience, it's not here in Home Aestheticus. You would more likely come closer to that kind of workout by chatting with someone at the gym than by reading this book.

I just finished this book, and... for the record, there are over 40 pages of footnotes and references in the back of the book. I'm not a expert in the field, but Homo Aestheticus feels like a graduate level text, and is certainly more "scholarly" than most books you'll find in a bookstore.

That said, I found Homo Aestheticus to be one of the most unique and insightful books I've read. A few spots were quite detailed and dry, but overall I found myself underlining interesting points like a madman. The concluding chapter was mindblowing. The author somehow cohesively pulled together such topics as human experience, modernism and postmoderism, literacy and writing, oral tradition, language, symbols, and thought, meaning and reality, human and culture evolution, and, of course, aesthetics and art. Certainly, it will have a lasting impact on my thinking about "art." Very much recommended for interdisciplinary thinkers.

Dissanayake marshals an eclectic hodgepodge of research, ideas, data, theories, and counter-theories to advance the simple claim that the aesthetic experience is fundamentally and innately a biological act born out of human adaptationism along the Darwinian struggle for survival. She grants that the adaptationist mechanisms may have subsided in more recent times, but the imprinting over eons of evolution still motivate us, and are still at the core of our aesthetic esperience. While entirely sympathetic to her objectives, I believe her excesses defeat her purposes.

Her core problem is wishing to remain with the 19th C. Tradition of "aesthetics" as the legacy of European Idealism while also appealing to more primitive understandings of "art." To straddle these disparate, indeed contradictory, traditions, one senses a desperation in throwing everything "including the kitchen sink" to defend her thesis. And yet, two primary resources she either does not know, or she choose to ignore, could have simplified her project immensely. But before adopting Aristotle and empirical empathy to her project, she would have to exclude the entire "aesthetic" tradition, which stands in opposition to it. She's unprepared to make that final leap, and that lack of daring in the end sabotages her project.

"Aesthetics" is a recent concept born of late-18th C. German Idealism that has made artistic behavior elitist, metaphysical, and quasi-supernatural, which as long as she accepts that model, she'll never reconcile her thesis to a more primitive biological model that has firmer and much older roots in classical Greek thought. Prior to modern aesthetics, art was simply art, which was "making" and/or "crafting" that stood in contrast to "doing," a very elementary notion prevalent in the works of Aristotle and his lineage of intellectual thought, of which Dissanayake shows no cognizance (yet, she cites Platonic Forms of beauty with relish and frequency, which is precisely the heritage of the German Aesthetic Movement).

When she thus appropriates "empathy" as a late-19th C. German Idealist heuristic device, again she ignores a richer, older, and empirical tradition prevalent in the 18th C. Scottish Enlightenment (i.e., Hutcheson, Hume, Smith, and Reid), which, unlike the German metaphysical version remains a viable, indeed prominent, biological model. Had she been aware/used either older tradition, she could have obviated much confusion and obfuscation, not to mention endlessly marginal studies to tinker with the Aesthetic Paradigm. She would not have needed to appeal to any and every alternative hypothesis, evidence, study, research, etc. to modify, refine, and thus, reform the Aesthetic Model in an unwieldy, untenable, and ultimately unsuccessful effort.

In the end, the irreconcilable tension between opposing traditions remains unresolved, and instead of resolution, she simply adds nuance after nuance of qualification and refinement to tweak the Aesthetic Tradition towards a more Darwinian inclination. Then, in a odd move, she tries to deal with postmodernism, but on its terms, which already puts her behind the proverbial 8-ball. Yet, in her defense, she was a pioneer in her own field of aesthetics, and was stabbing at everything to get a foothold on a better conception of why humans make things. But as long as "aesthetics" figures into her overall conception, she straddles two opposing worlds that cannot be reconciled. She even appeals to the "ontological" in another context, but then fails to see her own problem as itself a deeply ontological one, as the biological and metaphysical ontologies are simply unbridgeable. And demonstrating this difficulty, even if unintentional, is its own rewarding reason to peruse this book.

Tracing evolutionary roots to human creativity is a risky endeavour. The Romantic Era dismissal of "nature red in tooth and claw" misapplied to humans has its adherents even today. In more modern terms, the "postmodernist school" attributes human creativity solely to cultural environment. Dissanayake takes up the challenge and responds to these allegations from widely spread scholarship sources. She makes a solid case for human universals in many areas of expression, from graphic art through music and dance to poetry and prose. Even spoken language is addressed with an eye to derivations and commonalties.

She presents her support for a Darwinian basis for art and expression with flair and enthusiasm. There's no hesitation in offering new terms or definitions as means of breaking the bonds of tradition or rigid thinking. Acknowledging that some of her ideas are ironic, or even heretical, she intends to builds a new framework for where art truly sits in our lives. Among other "heresies", the author roundly denounces the notion that "art" is a separate or fleeting aspect of human existence. Instead, she contends, art is integrated with religion and other human social conditions. Some aspect of art is as necessary as eating or sleeping to our species. Dissanayake contends that art must be raised in importance when considering what is valuable to us.

Perhaps, Dissanayake suggests, in order to break the bonds restricting our view of "art" we need a new term. She coins "making special" for various objects or activities we now call "art". The "special" relates to the common means all organisms have in separating the mundane from the unexpected - the "extra-ordinary". If something extraordinary can promote emotions of delight, we can recreate it as something "special" and pleasurable. It might be removed from the mundane aspects of life, but the mundane may become art. A pot is made for storage or cooking, but if it's decorated in ways that bring a sense of "good" or of "pleasure", elevating it to art isn't a false promotion. Noting that both Nature and artefacts can be beautiful, only the beautiful that is created can be considered art. Much of Nature is beautiful, but only humans can create beauty. Hence, she declares that considerations of art must be "species-centred" or "bioevolutionary". Species-centrism, she warns, must not be misconstrued as detaching us from the rest of Nature. Indeed, as part of our evolutionary heritage, "species-centrism" is essential to understanding who we are. And what we can achieve.

In her final analysis, Dissanayake notes that a radical idea arose toward the end of the Enlightenment. Art was placed in a realm where only the few educated in its precepts could comprehend it. The "critic" became a mediator between the artist and the observer. The too-common expression, "I don't know about art, but I know what I like" represents this break. Later, the "French philosophers", known as the postmodernists, insisted that everything should be reduced to text. This concept has further widened the Enlightenment detachment of art from the beholder. She scorns this notion, reminding us that for nearly all of Homo sapiens' existence, none could read nor write, but art flourished. In contending with the postmodernists, the author hails the work of linguists who seek evidence of a Primordial Language [PL]. PL is another indication of the unity of expression among early humanity that was disrupted only by time and distance.

Dissanayake's analysis, which has been enhanced but not supplanted, has been strangely overlooked. The attitude of art as "outside" reality or only a distant adjunct to daily life apparently has an even stronger hold on our thinking than she suggests. Although she hasn't updated the book with recent work in cognitive studies, which can provide further insight, others have taken up the challenge [see "The Mind In The Cave" by David Lewis-Williams for an innovative example], this comprehensive work is an excellent starting point for understanding why our view of "art", or "making special" needs reconsideration. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]