Lincoln Books

This mid to upper elementary book may be particularly interesting to immigrants from Mexico. During current immigration discussion, one sometimes hears about the western lands having belonged to Mexico. This book will help students to understand that period of US history. The beautiful artwork and maps illustrate the text.

In An Honest Calling attorney Mark E. Steiner makes good use of his professional training and years spent in helping to compile Lincoln's legal papers.

Study of Lincoln's law career has long been hampered by the scattered nature of Lincoln's court documents throughout Illinois and the Midwest. Now they are gathered together, and Steiner has made a fine presentation of what they reveal about Lincoln's "day job," which may have consumed as much of his time as politics did. Steiner deals with Lincoln's law practice in general and with some individual cases revealing Lincoln's handling of particular issues (including slavery and railroad corporations). Civil and criminal practices are covered.

This is an excellent introduction to Lincoln's law practice, and will also interest persons seeking information about the influence of attorneys on the Western frontier.

Reviewed by Ellen Hogan for Reader Views (3/06)
Mrs. Abbott's book gives us a glimpse at life on the farm from the early 1900's until the late 1980's. The book is based on her memories and stories told to her by other farm families. She tells of traveling salesmen who stopped to peddle their wares. Of people stranded and looking for a place to rest their head and a good meal. It was a kinder, gentler life. The big events were barn raisings and corn carnivals, when rural families got together to help one another or celebrate.

Life on the farm then and now is very different. Each task has been improved by better farm equipment or just the addition of air conditioning so the house doesn't get too hot from canning.

Anyone who ever lived on a farm would be interested in this book. Its simple stories will touch the heart of many a country folk.

Not the usual type of counting book, this title combines traditional counting activities with a simple "I Spy" flair on each double page spread. Each spread features a different scene, from kitchen to playground to bedroom, in which different numbers of animals frolic in fun. A child in each picture encourages the reader to "count the animals and put your finger on the number" found in a list on the right side of the page. Four different types of animals in various numbers appear in each spread, prompting the reader in a column on the left. Once prereaders are comfortable with the basic mechanics of counting, the book is simple enough to be read alone as a seek and count activity. Enforcing number concepts playfully, this counting book will have more reading mileage as children become comfortable with counting and number recognition. Zero, often neglected in counting books, is also introduced. There might be two sharks in the bathtub, but no octopuses on the towel rail!

This book is wonderful for teaching number concept to toddlers and preschoolers, but not recommended for large storytime groups with its interactive format.

Highly recommended.

This book would work in a Civil War unit. This book is another fascinating book in the series. There are historical facts, photos, and the drawing, which will actively engage students. The drawing may be appropriate for students with limited written English, enabling them to express curricular content through drawing and prompting them to discuss concepts orally.

Essays and case studies consider why and how urban places can be made greener for those who live there, packing in a 22-minute film on DVD to accompany text examples of how more humane metropolises are built. College-level collections strong in urban studies will find this perfect for classroom discussion, assignment, and for college-level contemporary social issues reference libraries.

Like Alcibiades arriving late and drunk to the Symposium, I seek not so much to offer a sober oration, but rather an impromptu and heartfelt encomium praising the life and works of Professor Hazel Barnes.

At the age of twenty-one, I first discovered a tattered 1959 edition of Hazel Barnes's Humanistic Existentialism: The Literature of Possibility in a small Connecticut bookstore. The binding was creased; the pages were already beginning to separate from the spine--but like Alcibiades comparing his homely master Socrates to a statue of Silenus, I glimpsed things inside the book's covers "so godlike--so bright and beautiful, so utterly amazing--that I no longer had a choice." Like Socrates' tragic student, I had no choice except to take up the moral, philosophical, and aesthetic challenges posed by Barnes's interpretation of the existential tradition.

And just what is existentialism? It is, as Walter Kaufmann points out in his own Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre, "a label for several widely different revolts against traditional philosophy.... Existentialism is a timeless sensibility that can be discerned here and there in the past; but it is only in recent times that it has hardened into a sustained protest and preoccupation" (11-12). And in her Humanistic Existentialism, Hazel does a peerless job presenting the sustained protest of these often misunderstood philosophers, especially the post-WWII French existentialists Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Simone de Beauvior.

Existentialism is not synonymous with radical nihilism or immature hedonism. Rather, existentialism is in fact a deeply ethical philosophy that demands extreme personal responsibility. If according to Sartre "existence" does indeed "precede essence," then you as a conscious individual are free to decide what it means to exist and be human. Because an essential self is an illusion, an existentialist cannot make excuses for his or her behavior by saying, "I can't help it. It is in my nature to lie, cheat, steal, kill, etc." According to this philosophical system, a person's self is the sum of his or her actions. You are what you do. You exist in this world as a conscious individual, and it is your free will that will choose at each moment how to act or not to act without resorting to someone else's standards. However, this does not give you license for narcissism or criminality. Just as you value your free will, you must also value and protect the free will of other conscious minds. To treat someone as an object (being-in-itself) rather than a free, willing human being (being-for-itself) is to live in existential Bad Faith.

Some existentialists were atheists; some were believers--but all were so overwhelmed by the horror of human suffering that they had no choice but to rebel against this metaphysical injustice. Existentialism is frightening, heady stuff. It asks hard questions of both man and God, questions few have ever dared to ask.

When I discovered the works of Hazel Barnes, I was in a deep crisis of faith--a true existential crisis. If everything happens for a reason, how can a supposedly rational and benevolent universe allow so much suffering, especially the suffering of innocent children? Even though Ms. Barnes draws much of her interpretation of existentialism from Sartrean ethics (indeed, she was the first English translator of Being and Nothingness), she also has a deep understanding of existentialism's roots in Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Fyodor Dostoevsky, author of the most important novel ever written: The Brothers Karamazov. (Don't believe me? I dare any great-souled man or women to read The Brothers Karamazov and not come away profoundly changed and shaken.) In truth, Hazel Barnes was the first person to guide me toward the peerless Dostoevsky, who to this day stands as my spiritual guide and master.

Professor Barnes, you opened the doorways of the philosophic life for me, and I owe you a great debt. I have never sat in your classroom, but I consider myself one of your students. Your life's work serves as an inspiration to us all--a life lived with integrity and courage. A life lived in existential Good Faith.

With respect,
James B. Pepe

References:

Kaufmann, Walter. Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. Cleveland: World Publishing, 1956.

Huskers Handbook: Stories, Stats and Stuff About Nebraska Football By Eric Nelson, Chris Jenson

In the interest of full disclosure, I have a couple of fan stories in the book, and I'm referenced as one of the many fans who were interviewed. The author is a friend and former roommate.

"Huskerville" asks the questions pondered by many Nebraskan fans, particularly those of us who've left the state but still call it home. Why does Husker football mean so much to Nebraskans? Why is the connection between Nebraskans and Husker football so strong? Is this connection unique?

Aden provides the answers, referencing countless Husker fans, and a fair amount of Nebraska history along the way. It's a good read. It's heavier than your average sports book, but Aden treats the subject seriously while throwing in some fun.

The Nicene Creed is a basic statement of faith for many Christians, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant, all around the world. It is recited in almost every language on earth every week as Christians individually and collectively perform the regular rituals of worship celebration and reaffirmation of faith. Even those denominations and communities that try to steer clear of precise creeds and such formulations still give historical authority to the Nicene Creed as one of the shapers of modern Christianity.

This book, illustrated by Pauline Baynes, is really short on text -- it is, quite simply, the Nicene Creed. There is no commentary, there is no opening essay, there is no credit apart from a brief, one-page historical sketch near the backplate of the book. The statement of faith in the Nicene Creed essentially stands by itself in verbal form.

However, the real glory beyond the creed and faith contained therein is in the illustrations, which, if this were a medieval book, would be more appropriately termed illuminations. Pauline Baynes is the same artist who did the original line illustrations for J.R.R. Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' and C.S. Lewis' 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'. She has won numerous prizes for her illustrations, a talent which she puts to extraordinary use to highlight the diffent lines of the creed.

Her illustrations are both modern and medieval at the same time, as the subjects are often reminiscent in dress and drawn action of medieval manuscripts, with more modern colour schemes; animals grace the borders of the pages, as human characters act out the various gospel and biblical scenes which inspired the lines of the creed.

This is not a study book, but it could be a devotional book, and makes an excellent gift. It is a great book for the coffee table of any creed-based Christian, and a nice gift to anyone who longs for the days of the illuminated manuscript.