Nebraska Books

I subscribe to The Forward and enjoy the columns and book reviews by Ilan Stavans. His style is potent. He makes accessible very difficult writers and topics, like Walter Benjamin, George Steiner, and Elias Canetti. Most of his columns are in this book. The theme of the Jewish cannon has been discussed lately but Stavans does it in a way that is open and democratic. An excellent read, worth every minute of it. Stavans is the type of writer of essays that will be read in the future.

Professor Robinson has contributed a refreshing new look to a much confused aspect of the Battle of Gettysburg. Jeb Stuart was, and remains, a controversial figure--a love `em or hate `em sort of guy. And that's the rub. Over the past 140 years much has been written about his role in the Battle of Gettysburg, and unfortunately it has been written with an emotional pen. The facts have been buried and lost under mountains of hyperbole and replaced by contorted logic and strained reasoning.

Is Jeb Stuart to blame for the Confederate loss at Gettysburg? Did he follow Robert E. Lee's orders or was he the innocent victim of vague and flawed command direction?

Professor Robinson's book recalibrates the past through an objective analysis that's steeped in a clear and easy to follow writing style. He has meticulously combed the record, presented the unvarnished facts, and drawn the common sense conclusions that inevitably follow.

Gettysburg was a defining chapter in American history, and it continues to capture the passions of many. Serious students and casual tourists will greatly benefit from this well written book. It is more than a new look at much written cavalry subject; it is a framework to better understand this pivotal battle of the Civil War.

Marcus Spiegel may have been atypical in that he was Jewish, but his experiences in the war are much more universal. This is a great book for highlighting the changing views of the purpose of the war, and the personal struggles many Union soldiers went through--in particular those who were northern Democrats--as the aims of the wat changed from restoration of the Union to also include ending the institution of slavery. Spiegel's story is the story of a loyal Democract--a Democrat who is loyal to his commander-in-chief, Republican Abraham Lincoln, and wh serves his country faithfully nonetheless. His story also highlights his slow transformation in his own wordl view. At the outset Spiegel shared the racist views of most of his white neighbors, and disliked abolitionists. By the end of the war, however, he considers himself an abolitionist of a sort. If you want to begin to understand the complexity of northern attitudes toward slaves and slavery, this is a good place to start.

A great read for anyone interested in the innerworkings of the Army of the Potomac. Dyer served closely with Gens. Hancock, Gibbon, Hooker, and Howard, giving pesonal insight to these men. He also goes into the lives to the fighing soldier in great detail. Being a top-notch surgeon, the men are always on the forefront of his mind. Dyer works tirelessly for the care and well being of the men. He is especially interested in making sure the men get vegetables, as Dyer is recognized as the first to realize that scurvy is a major problem in the Army. Perfect for anyone interested in how the medical corp oppereated from battlefield care, to the ambulence corp, to division hospitals up to to the large hospitals of the north. Tactfully edited by Chesson.

This book is best read in conjunction with Larpenteur's FORTY YEARS A FUR TRADER,and Denig's FIVE INDIAN TRIBES OF THE UPPER MISSOURI,& ASSINABOINE to fully appreciate the cultural specifics & interrelationships between white traders,Indians,& Metis peoples in mid 19th century Dakota & Montana territories.Unlike present day politically correct/"sensitive" accounts, Kurz was a Swiss artist who lived with & sketched the Indian tribes of the upper & lower Missouri River from 1846-1852 as he found them. Dispite overall sympathy for the plight of their rapidly changing cultures,he depicts various tribes in brutally accurate & often unflattering accounts. History with all its bumps & warts is a phenomena sadly lacking today particularly with regard to Native American/White relations on the frontier. It's a humanizing account-acknowledging the endemic savage violence Indians were capable of directing toward each other. The lethal depridations of Smallpox,Influenza, & Cholera, on native populations are also described with disturbing directness. I would recommend this & the other titles mentioned for any reader who is interested in historical accuracy with often upsetting bluntness.

To cite Meriwether Lewis as Editor of this and other volumes of this University of Nebraska Press edition, edited by Moulton, is an injustice to Moulton. Lewis' efforts never got beyond a pros- pectus. Further, to list Clark as merely a con- tributor, is unforgiveable.

Number twelve in a distinguished, and, multivolume effort by Dr. Gary Moulton, The University of Nebraska, The "Herbarium" volume of "The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition" is the most comprehensive, edited botanical reference of the known plant specimens of the Corps of Discovery, 1803-1806.

As an impressive culmination to the Journals, the herbarium collection finalizes the extensive botanical scholarship contained in the notes produced by Dr. Moulton in the previous eleven volumes, published periodically over the past twenty years. The product of extensive research into the known world repositories of the extent plant specimens, this volume contains only one known error in terms of inclusion of a plant specimen that cannot be attributed to the expedition's collection. This one specimen at the Charleston Museum has been discounted since publication.

Nevertheless, this volume contains relatively high-quality image reproductions of the known 238 specimens in the Lewis and Clark Herbarium, in addition to a clear introduction to the history of the Herbarium collection and the scholarship behind its most recent publication. 227 specimens are currently housed in the Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia, and the remaining 11 are housed in the Kew Gardens, London. Of this list, 177 are distinct, individual specimens.

In the future, it is more than likely, despite this exhaustive effort on the part of Moulton, that a few new specimens will emerge from the depths of the American Philosophical Society, The Academy of Natural Sciences, and Kew.

Until such a time, this volume is an absolute necessity for anyone seriously interested in understanding the natural history ramifications of the expedition, the study of Lewis and Clark, and, for that matter, America's landscape legacy. One wonders how many more specimens would have been added to this collection if Lewis' early collections for the lower-Missouri had not been lost to decay during the expedition itself.

"Volume 12, Herbarium of the Lewis and Clark Expedition," Gary E. Moulton, Editor, The University of Nebraska Press, completes a fantastic series and must be added to complete one's collection of the first eleven volumes of the truly great American literary epic.

The only wish of this author would be the publication of high-resolution, color digital images of the Herbarium on CD or DVD, as a compendium to this volume. Perhaps in this way, we could all experience more clearly the wonder of viewing this most valuable treasure.

Dr. Gary Moulton should be congratulated for a job very well-done.

Alex Philp The University of Montana

The Lewis & Clark-edition by the University of Nebraska is milestone not only for the US historiography, but also for booklovers, wether if the are Americans or not!

A fascinating guide written to encourage emigration to the Kansas Territory. This was evidently the first book ever written specifically about Kansas, and it was aimed especially at northerners who were opposed to slavery. With an interesting account of a steamboat trip up the Smoky Hill River in 1854. This book includes an up-to-date folding map of the region entitled "Map of Kansas and Nebraska form the latest surveys".

From the Preface: "The history of two territories whose first governors have as yet never seen their dominions, - in which, indeed, there is not yet a single town, - may seem to be easily written. When however, my attention was directed to the study of the various researches which have been made in the regions now known as Kanzas and Nebraska, I knew that I had a wide range before me. I have followed up, as carefully as I could, the memoirs of the early French travellers who first opened to the civilized world the valley of the Missouri. Of more use, in the view in which that valley is now regarded, are the more recent travels of our own countrymen, a body of official reports which deserve very height praise for the skill and gallantry displayed in exploration, and the care with which their history has been written. I have made such use as I could of the travels of Lewis and Clarke, Capt. Pike, Col. Long, Mr. Breckenridge, Maj. Bonneville, Col. Fremont, Col. Emory, Lieut Abert, Mr. Parkman, Maj. Cross, Capt. Stansbury, Capt. Gunnison, Gov. Stevens, Lieut, Williamson, and others.

"I have used some recent letters published in newspapers, and have been favored with personal narratives of agents of the Emigrant Aid Company. The Interest which is now sending into these territories a large and well-trained populations has been roused by the interest flet in their political condition. I have, therefore, given such a sketch of their political history as the size of the volume admitted. I have drawn my materials for a history of the great Missouri debate from the copious contemporary files in the library of the Antiquarian Society. The memoranda of other political passages in the history of a region, of which the civilized government has not yet begun, are from official documents. So few people have read 'the Nebraska Act,' of which so many have talked, that I have thought it desirable to publish an accurate copy of it, as the constitution of the new states..."

Contents include: Discovery of these regions; Native tribes; The Dahcotah or Sioux race; Pawnees; Arapahoes; Rapids; Blackfeet; Emigrant Indians form the East; Aboriginal Indians; Population and customs of Knistineaux or Crees, Ojibwas, Assineboins, Gros-Ventres, Manadans, Sioux, Crows, Puncas, Omahas, Ottoes, etc; Rivers; Valleys; Projected cities in Nebraska and Kanzas; Routes of travel; The Pacific Railroad; Navigable Rivers; Political History; Indian legislation; An act to organize the territories of Nebraska and Kanzas; Emigration to Kanzas; The Emigrant Aid Companies; etc.

This book takes you away and literally makes you feel as if you are "making it" in the plains of Nebraska, 1800's. I fell in love with the adventure that Stephanie Grace Whitson has pictured for us. The characters in 'Karyn's Memory Box' will stick with you long after reading the last page - by far, this is one of the best Christian novels that I have ever read.