University of Nebraska Books

This book is written from a very interesting perspective--by a Soviet officer commanding British Matildas and US Shermans in the Red Army. Loza covers many very interesting facets of the fighting on the Russian front from a Russian perspective:
--what the Russian tankers liked & disliked about their British and US tanks;
--being ordered to fire on Russian infantry that was pulling back without orders;
--female Russian anti-tank gunners;
--armored advance through Mongolia in Summer 1945; etc.

Although this book has alot of fresh, interesting information, I only gave it four stars because:
--generally I don't think that the book is very well written;
--I didn't like the organization very much--the book is essentially a collection of stand-alone chapters on discrete topics or engagements; there is no narrative flow and the book is not intended as a coherent chronological account of the author's experiences in the war. Indeed, many of the accounts are jumbled chronologically for some reason. Finally, while many of the included accounts were quite interesting, as described above, some of the others, such as "Graves Registration" and "Home Leave" polices were less so (at least to me); and
--perhaps understandably as a participant of the war, the author does not come across as an objective commenator on the Red Army.

Col. Loza is a Hero of the Soviet Union. He commanded Lend Lease Matildas and Shermans during the Great Patriotic War. James Gebhardt is a US veteran whose military background and command of the Russian language has enabled him to produce the most accessible book on the Eastern Front I have read. The clear explanations of Russian military terms and slang are worth the price of the book by themselves. Col. Loza explains his experience in all aspects and in depth. If you have questions about food, Lend Lease,tactical orginization, Soviet medal laws, or tank useage, this is the place to start.

John Fremont's life reads like a Shakespearean tragedy. Starting in poverty and successively riding waves of amazing success only to be followed by equally amazing blunders, Fremont's life is a study in how to be one's own worst enemy. One of the subsequent followers of Lewis and Clark in exploring the American West, he makes three separate explorations that in total really puts the original 1803 expedition to shame. First Republican Presidential Candidate, California's first U.S. Senator, a multimillionaire during the California Gold Rush and a ranking Union general at the outbreak of the Civil War, he is also dragged home after the war with Mexico from California in chains, is responsible for the annihilation of one of his Western expeditions, is relieved of command by Lincoln after ignoring a Presidential directive and dies alone in comparative poverty after begging Congress for a pension.

This is a fascinating life and Nevins does a remarkable job of very unbiased research. You will either love Fremont or hate him or, more likely, simply feel sorry for him.

John Charles Fremont (1813-1890) was an American explorere, soldier and first Republican presidential candidate. This book is the classic biography and encyclopedia reference for "further reading," originally published in 1939 as a two-volume set. It is excelled only by Fremont's actual journals and maps, available in four volumes from large city and college libraries: Spence, Mary Lee & David Jackson, "The Expeditions of John Charles Fremont." Nevins tells of a 1926 interview with Major Frank P. Fremont and his experience extracting notes from the few remaining original journals that weren't destroyed by a warehouse fire. I've researched Fremont histories since 1980 and have visited many of the sites that are accurately described in this book. This is the best. Steve Stumph, Salt Lake City, 9-Jan-1999

There are certainly not enough autobiographies of Native Americans, and few that can compare with Eastman's story and journey to find civilization. As Eastman follows Christianity and the White Man's Civilization, he finds himself realizing the paradox of the two worlds. Upon returning to a more civilized world, he gives a captivating look at how Jesus was an Indian and how different the White world and Native American world was during his life. A perfect self-enlightenment book.

If you have read the writings of Ohiyesa (Charles Alexander Eastman); I HIGHLY recommend this book to you.

It helped me understand the forces that shaped this man.

My favorite areas are

The assorted photos of his father "Many Lightnings", his wife, his son Ohiyesa at the age of 5.

Events that occured while he was attending school in the East, and the bigotry he encountered from "SOME" white people.

Events where he served as a medical doctor on the Pine Ridge reservation, and caring for the survivors of the Wounded Knee masacre in 1890.

Events where he traveled among various indian nations to get items used by indians for museums.

Events where he worked with the Boy Scouts and Campfire Girls.

And much more.

If this book is your introduction to the writings of Ohiyesa; I would recommend that your next purchase would be "The Soul Of The Indian".

Wah doh Ogedoda (We give thanks Great Spirit)

Today we think of baseball as almost a gentleman's sport, with only occasional outbursts over disputed calls. In the late 19th century, however, the Baltimore Orioles epitomized the rough and tumble aspect of the game, and turned it from "baseball " into "basebrawl".The life of an umpire in that era was a very stressful one, with only one man assigned to cover the entire field, and be subjected to scorn and abuse, and often physical danger, from not only the players, but from the "cranks" (that's what fans were called then, and perhaps it's a very apt name). This well-written book tells the story of the 1897 season, that came down to a fight for the pennant between the "outlaw" Orioles, and the "gentlemanly" Boston Beaneaters. There is an almost day-by-day account of the season, and it's quite captivating to the reader. Once the main tale is finished, the author gives some brief summaries of the further careers and lives of a few of the participants. Some went on to further acclaim and eventual enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame, and some died suddenly and tragically, often by their own hands. This is a story of a bygone era when the "sport" of baseball was more of a war than a game. It's fascinating reading, and I highly recommend it.

This book covers the 1897 pennant race between the Boston Beaneaters and the Baltimore Orioles, or the Bostons vs. the Baltimores. Baseball at this time in its history was, indeed, a game of brawl. Players fought on the field, there was rowdiness among fans, umpires exchanged punches with players, oftentimes without penalty, and teams took turns seeing who could invent new profanities to hurl at one another. Games often had only one umpire, two if it was of special significance, and players took advantage by cutting corners while running bases while the lone umpire wasn't watching. With a runner on base an umpire would position himself behind the pitcher to better make calls on the bases. Games were played on ill-kept infields, and players literally kept their eye on a ball and suffered injury. Treatment for a swollen closed eye was leeches to draw out the blood. Boston sent their Royal Rooters contingent to Baltimore to cheer on their heroes, chief among them, John Francis Fitzgerald, better known as "Honey Fitz", grandfather of our late President Kennedy. The book primarily covers the 1897 pennant race between the Beaneaters and Orioles, won by Boston. The top two teams then faced off in the Temple Cup series since there was no World Series at the time. The final section of the book covers what happened to several of the participants, many of which ended up in Baseball's Hall of Fame. Some died from consumption (tuberculosis), Chick Stahl and Patsy Tebeau were suicides, while Marty Bergen murdered his family and then slit his own throat. One drawback for me in the book was too much of a play-by-play from one game to the next as the season is covered. The game of baseball was going through a chaotic time during this period with ineffective leadership in the league, and a thorough cleansing was necessary. If you are interested in this period of the game's history I would recommend this book to you.

This history offers an in-depth look at a midwestern city that is growing in both scale and importance. It does so in a very approachable manner, and it does so without boring readers with unnecessary specificity.

As a newer Nebraskan and someone who is even newer to Omaha, I very much appreciated having a text to fall back upon as a means of learning about Nebraska's largest city. It was a worthwhile read for anyone interested in how Omaha came to be and a worthwhile companion for anyone interested in the urban midwest.

As a born-and-raised Omahan, I'm biased.. but this book is great. As some of the reviews mention, it does a great job of tying local events in Omaha's history into the national goings-on of the time.

This is a wonderful book about the incredible history of Omaha.

If read for the wrong reasons, it is possible to come away from this book with the wrong impressions. It may further codify and substantiate the stereotypical understanding of "Indianness" that an inexperienced reader may bring.

Yet, it is a valuable, well written collection of stories, ringing truer than anything in Silko's "Storyteller."

Sneve's "The Medicine Bag" alone tells more about contemporary Indian life than anything written by Alexie and without his extraneous sexual references.

When I first read the title of the book I thought it was going to be boring...I was wrong! This book is very interesting and wonderful.

Although George A. Forsyth participated in 88 engagements as a soldier in the Civil War and later was in many fights with the Indians on the Plains, it was for one encounter with the Cheyenne and Sioux that he is remembered: the Battle of Beecher Island, where he and a small force held off 750 besieging Indians on a small island in the Arickaree Fork of the Republican River in present-day Colorado for six days before help arrived. David Dixon relates this famous battle in full detail, but he also tells us the rest of Forsyth's life, which is pretty full and interesting.

Forsyth was born in 1837 in Pennsylvania and entered the army in the spring of 1861. He rose in rank from private to brigadier general in various cavalry units in the Civil War before being made chief of staff for Gen. Philip Sheridan.

After the war Forsyth was put in charge of an operation against the Cheyenne. It was in September 1868 that he had his famous fight on Beecher Island (named after Lt. Frederick Beecher who was killed there by the Indians). Forsyth was wounded three times. One strategic outcome of the action on Beecher Island was that Sheridan from this time on would utilize only large-scale campaigns against the Indians (Forsyth had been in charge of a small ranger-like force).

Once again on Sheridan's staff, Forsyth was on the 1874 Custer expedition to the Black Hills, during which he kept a diary that was later published. In 1875-76 he was sent by Washington on an inspection tour of various armies in Europe and Asia. In the 1880s he was in the southwest campaigning against the Apaches and commanded Ft. Huachuca, AZ. It was here that Forsyth was court-martialed on money mismanagement charges, found guilty, and formally reprimanded. In 1890 he retired from the army. He authored two books which were published in 1900 and died in Rockport, MA, in 1915.

Dixon is an excellent writer, scholarly but not dry and overly academic. He is obviously impressed with Forsyth's accomplishments, but not to the point of hero-worship. He relates his subject's story in detail, but keeps it interesting. The chapter on the Beecher Island fight unfolds dramatically in Dixon's hands. Those who are interested in army life in the Old West will find much to like about his biography of the "hero of Beecher Island."

The "hero" in the title of David Dixon's Hero of Beecher Island is George A. Forsyth, an Army officer and Renaissance man who, Zelig-like, seemed to be involved with every matter of import in turn of the century America. Friend of Custer and Bill Cody, enabler of railroad expansion, renowned Indian fighter, shaper of US Army Policy, explorer of Yellowstone, world traveler, enforcer of Reconstruction, and popular author, Dixon paints a picture of a Da Vinci with a Sharps rifle.
There is much information contained within the book about the changing face of the US Army in which Forsyth served and later commanded. Dixon carefully details Forsyth's military experience. We begin to get a sense of what changes were going on in the Army during Forsyth's life. The evolution of the calvary under Forsyth's mentor Phil Sheridan is documented in chapter three "You Have Got A Bully Fight on Hand" (52). Dixon continues delving into this military biographia in chapter four, "I'll Shoot Down Any Man" (61). Although this chapter is mostly about the tense struggle of Beecher Island, the centerpiece of the book, it's what leads Forsyth to Beecher Island that stands as most interesting. Dixon brings out the idea that the railroad and the military were hand in glove in the old West, providing a late twentieth century reader to reflect on similarities between this paradigm of the Old West and the military-industrial complex of the Cold War era. Dixon infers a similar parallel at the beginning of chapter six, "The Armies of Asia and Europe" with the quote that the U.S. Army was, ". . . comparatively unknown, least appreciated, persistently misunderstood, and, for political effect, frequently misrepresented and occasionally even recklessly maligned in our national legislative hall" (122). The parallels to today's military are unmistakable.
In "I'll Shoot Down Any Man," Dixon relates the battle of Beecher Island well, describing Forstyth as an incredibly brave, capable, and stoic commander; the glue that kept his Army irregulars together under withering Indian attack. It's a story as old as the Greeks, but Dixon handles its retelling with a light touch, drawing the reader into the tension filled atmosphere.
Related in chapter eight,"To the Scandal of the Service" (168), Forsyth's fall from grace, brought about by shady business deals, is jarring. Forsyth's character needed to be more fully rounded out before the introduction of his court martial. Up to this chapter, there had been no mention of possible improperties. Indeed, Forsyth had seemed squeaky clean, a devoted father, husband and officer. Worse, there's no discussion of how prevalent economic speculation was in the time period. Questions arise. Was it primarily a military crime? Was it a civilian problem as well? How was it seen in the "elite social classes"(169) that Army officers traveled in as second-class citizens? Dixon attempts to make the claim that Forsyth's head wound, sustained in the Beecher Island battle, had caused an insanity that made him mismanage his money. It seems odd, however, that the only way that this "madness" manifested itself was through bad business sense. Although Dixon writes, ". . . there is little doubt that Forsyth was. . . seriously afflicted with some mental disorder. . ." (186), from the evidence presented, the only mental disorder applicable seems to be greed and poor business sense.
Readers of Beecher Island are expected to have a good knowledge of turn of the century world history before picking up the book. Educated readers will be rewarded. Dixon tells a lucid story that is gripping at points and presented in a traditionally tragic style. Forsyth is portrayed as a great hero whose hubris eventually brings him low. However, a non-historian audience is bound to have problems. The book lacks contextualization of what was going on elsewhere in the world while Forsyth was shaping American culture. There's no sense of connectedness outside the biography, no asides that explain how Forsyth's opinion of the calvary compare to that of the calvary's place in the First World War. There's no sense of contradiction that a man helping to work for racial equality for Blacks in Reconstruction-era Louisiana could also help devise the Army's genocidal Indian policy. Dixon tosses around phrases like "The Burnt-Over District" (99) without defining them for the casual reader. He also has a tendency to not completely explain issues. In the chapter entitled, "The Armies of Asia and Europe," he mentions that Forsyth said that the Japanese army was 20 years ahead of anything in America but fails to explain why Forsyth thought so. (128) And finally, there's not enough convincing evidence to allow madness to explain the shoddy business speculation that brings Forsyth to end his life in shame. True, the book is a biography not a sociological study, but a man who was such a turn stone in such a far-reaching, influential part of American culture like the Old West, needs to be explored further for the non-professional historian.
Dixon accomplishes what he sets out to do in the title: explicating the life and military career of an important man. Perhaps with a different title, signifying a different focus, the book would have appealed to a wider audience. All of Forsyth's exploits are summed up in the words of an unidentified member of Forsyth's Yellowstone expedition. After Forsyth foolhardily attempted to ford a raging river and had to be pulled from it, someone said, "The colonel must have had a charmed life" (140). It is this charmed life, mated with Dixon's attention to detail and capable writing that could produce a Forsyth book that would appeal to both historian and casual reader alike.

The traditional King Lear (Arden Shakespeare) adequately presents the scholarship, in three different editions stretching back a century. I admit I have not seen the latest third edition, but find the second very helpful.

As mentioned briefly in the other review here, Oxford provides a welcome supplement to the Arden. For one thing the typescript may be found to be more clear. The Arden in the second edition may be found rather busy upon the page, with under a half page of play, a busy band of textual variations and then several footnotes upon each page. Here the script is presented very clearly and openly, a great reading copy when eye ease is the main concern.

Each page of script contains similar information to the Arden, but the script itself has a much larger font than the textual variant and the footnotes.

You will discover effective and comprehensive information in its place, and find the critical essays excellent and helpful as well. Oxford has long been noted as the essential and traditional academic center of the English speaking peoples, and here we receive the fruits of that long tradition of careful, objective and exacting scholarship, particular in this field of the highest fruit of British literature, a tragedy so powerful and true to human nature as to inform our present condition today.

The text is based upon the early 1608 Quarto, avoiding the mix of compromises and guesses in the Arden, while providing in the notes an indication of variance. An interesting Ballad of King Lear, composed at about the time of the play's original presentation and serving as a sort of movie trailer of the time, is included in the ample appendices. The introduction includes consideration of composition, sources, performances,and evolving critical appreciations of this tragic play. The academic nature of this critical review leaves little room for the kind of ideological slant which certain very recent and usurping 'critical editions' eagerly allege as part of their sales campaign. A concise yet comprehensive review of the history of readings of this play is given without any ax to grind. If mentioning the full spectrum of possible and traditional readings gives confusion to some students, study harder.


For the visual learner and unlike many such critical editions, ilustrations of productions and related art accompany the introduction. This edition is also beautifully and durably bound and can take any manner of reading, on the train on the beach, in bed.

Overall an excellent reading copy of this play for our lost times.

The OXFORD is a great source. What the ARDEN'S may not touch on, these do, and thus, shed more light on the subject at hand.

This is the second book of Carolina Maria De Jesus's life. She was a black woman writer living in the slums of Brazil in the 1950's. A reporter discovered her & made her famous. You really need to read the first book, "Child of the Dark" to enjoy & understand this one. The book is written like a diary; I devoured the pages in this book, eager to learn more about her life. After Carolina becomes famous & moves out of the slums she encounters different problems but all & all she's much happier. It was great to read about her eating in restaurants, buying & cooking food for her children, not having to be hungry anymore. I cheered for her as she took her first shower, her first car ride, plane ride, her first stay in a hotel. She buys clothes & jewelry for herself & I'm so happy for her I could burst. This woman went from being a scavenger to being a guest at governor's mansions, appearing on TV shows, and doing tons of book signings all across Brazil and many other South American countries. The relationship between Carolina & Audolio Dantes (the reporter who discovered her & made her famous) is also explored and adds interesting aspects to the story. For example, she can't cash checks or withdraw money without him. This diary only covers one year of her life so be sure to read the "Afterword". It explains what happened to Carolina after this book was written. She is an amazing, amazing woman who deserves much admiration.

Many readers know Carolina de Jesus's memior "Child of the Dark" but few knew that she wrote a second book about her bitter journey from her favela shack to the brick house of her dreams. There, she was treated just as badly as she had been when she was a scavenger for garbage in the favela. As a former Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil (too many years ago!!) I loved this book. It is riveting, unexpected, and filled with insights about how Carolina de Jesus saw the world. The editor's background description and analysis is excellent, too.

Enos Mills moved from Kansas to near Estes Park, Colorado, as a young man and became an important spokesman for conservation issues during Teddy Roosevelt's administration. He relished the outdoors and studied nature, especially beavers and bears. This autobiography is fairly entertaining and interesting. He was your typical outsoors character, robust and very sure of himself. This latter characteristic apparently led to a dark side: he ran Long's Peak Inn for years in Estes Park and had a totalitarian personality that made many enemies, even of his once friends. His younger brother Joe followed in his footsteps to a degree and also published reminiscences. Enos Mills is considered the "Father of Rocky Mountain National Park."

I first came across this book while serving as a Park Ranger at Acadia National Park in Maine. I had befriended a family of beaver and was curious to learn more about these delightful creatures. I was discouraged by the lack of informative and interesting literature that was available. Luckily, a fellow ranger pointed me towards this book, and I quickly devoured it.

Orginially published in 1913 (and subsequently often hard to find), Enos Mills's comprehensive observations of beaver behavior and lifestyle continues to serve as an authoritative depiction of the "Original Conservationists," as beaver are sometimes called. The famed naturalist and father of Rocky Mountain National Park writes with a tender eloquence that reveals his admiration for this noble animal.

This book is not a collection of scientific facts about beaver, but rather a series poetic essay about the world of the beaver, their contributions to the opening of the western frontier, their better-than-human conservation of natural resources, and their present tenuous foothold in the shrinking wild places of North America. It is extremely informative and provides a thourough investigation of the lifestyle and habits of the beaver and the many myths that surround this curious creature. It is a book you will want to read from cover to cover. Even those who have never had the pleasure of meeting a beaver will enjoy this book.