University of Nebraska Books

Though BENT'S FORT was published in hardcover by Doubleday back in 1954, this book can yet be used as a great introduction and study to both the Bent family and their fort on the Arkansas River. Neither Fort Union nor Fort Pierre, two of the largest centers of the mountain and plains fur trade, could come close to meeting its elegance. The fort was so impregnable that no Indian tribe in its right mind would ever try to attack it, and anyone inside its walls either stayed peaceable or they stayed outside.

Situated at it was, the fort was convenient to both the Southern Cheyenne tribe but also to the weary travlers involved with the Santa Fe wagon trade. Among others who visited the fort were trappers and traders from as far away as the Rocky Mountains, and many other persons either lodged at the fort, worked at the fort or just generally hung around the fort.

The fort's location has been re-established in recent years and a replica now stands where the original once stood. A sentinel of the prairie, the fort still stands forth drawing numerous visitors each year just as in the days of Ceran St. Vrain the Bents.

Up to 200 men and 400 animals could easily be garrisoned within Bent's Fort, there were small rooms available for lodging, food available, even a blacksmith shop, and an odd assortment of tribes also: beside the Cheyenne who were kin to the Bents, could be found Arapahoe, Kiowa, Comanche, Osage, Ute, Gros Ventres, and mingled among these were also trappers, traders, bull whackers, Frenchmen from both St. Louis and as far away as Canada. This fort was the largest gathering point west of the last Missouri settlement. A settlement behind impregnable walls 14 feet high and 4 feet thick, that was self sufficient, one that dealt fairly and honestly with all traders, white or otherwise, and one especially trusted by the Indians, and a settlement that also made money for its owners.

Though this study by David Lavender is indeed half century old the general historical perspective offered here is still valid and enjoyable. And in its inexpensive trade edition from The University of Nebraska Press a bargain for western readers interested in either the fort, the trappers-traders, the Indians, and/or Santa Fe trade wagons. So dig in and enjoy learning about this bastion of the plains. One of the more unique buildings of that era lasting up until 1849.

Semper Fi.

I am glad to see thi book is still available. It is a marvelous read and great for introducing an intelligent readership to the elements that made Manifest Destiny possible. The Bents were an important influence in this era and did as much as J. J. Astor to move the country west to the Pacific from their mid-continent location. Very much recommended for any American History library.

This work is an outstanding introduction to the overall narrative of the early Southwest. It taught me how much the early West was connected by trade and about the often overlooked period in between the high-water mark of the fur trade and the Civil War.

Despite at least one reviewer's condescending attitude toward Lavender's writing, I found that he portrayed his main characters as morally mixed. The Bents come off as mainly good and noble, but even they are portrayed as having faults. The Indians are treated with respect, even while being described as apparently suffering from a 19th century form of ADD. The cruelty of whites and Indians is criticized, as it should be.

My main criticisms of the books are (1) its length and (2)Lavender's historical method. The book probably could have been shorter. Lavender goes into way too much detail about things not directly tied to the Bents and their trade. Even so, the book is not terribly longer than it should have been. Perhaps 10 - 20% could have been cut.

The other troubling aspect of the book is that it's hard to tell where direct documentary evidence ends and where Lavender's storytelling begins. Endnotes are far and few between and aren't always so helpful.

Nevertheless, the story flows, and is interesting to read. How nice it would be if all recent historical writing was this readable!

For a book written in 1954, I was surprised at the thoughtfulness and consideration given the Indians. Over and over Lavender brings to the fore the emotional lives of the Indians, he makes clear how these immigrant whites mixed with Indians and Mexicans in a rather ho-hum no-big-deal, she's-my-wife manner, and he skewers those whites in power who brought the Sand Creek Massacre about. However he does not shrink from portraying Indian lives as more Hobbesian than many of us, steeped as we have been for decades in the "noble savage" myth, would like to admit was true, and pulls no punches in using the language of the time. My! how horrible for our own history to be given to us straight and unfiltered. Essential for Coloradoans; the names of many of the people in this book are now forever attached to the creeks, mesas, rivers, and mountains around us. Difficult to imagine that the border of Mexico was the south bank of the Arkansas River until 1848. Bent's Fort was rebuilt in the 70's, it's just east of La Junta. I have liked everything Lavender has written so far - this is another excellent entry in the list.

Despite all we read, this is the first book that made me realize that there were two Old Wests. The first really starts with the fur trade; the second starts with the flood tide of white immigration. Somewhere along this continuum, Native Americans effectively disappear as economic units and as cultures. The focus of this book is on the first West, including its transition into the second.

This then is the story of the early west, when the first white emigration was necessarily in balance not only with the aboriginal inhabitants but also with the valid claims of Spain, Mexico, Great Britain and Russia. It is a story of intense competition, the story of a hugely successful commercial empire that really opened this vast section of the American West. It is the story of the Santa Fe Trail, the main route of commerce between St. Louis and Santa Fe, and the people who sought to control it. It is the story of men and women, of the lives and fortunes of those who developed and experienced this commercial thoroughfare.

As a history it is mesmerizing. As a yarn it is eye popping. As a series of events it is unbelievable. A critical part of the Nation's Manifest Destiny, it is the story of human endurance, of culture clash, war, survival, success and failure. But mostly it is the story of a very logical, continual development, a transition, one that will make you proud to be an American.

but I would not hesitate to write a book about a church that condones the death of children and adults and causes untold emotional suffering and insanity. Period!

More recent scolarship has shown this biography to be a polemic not a biography. See more scholarly work by Gillian Gill especially her comments on page 563 about Milmine's work.

It seems that all the reviews here show a bias that was held before this particular book was read. If one had a a prejudice agains Christian Science, they thought the book was wonderful. If one was in favor of Christian Science, they thought the book was terrible.

My feeling is, that at least in the US where we treasure religious freedon, to write a book that trashes another's belief is despicable. Everyone should be able to follow their beliefs without someone trashing them.

I am not Catholic, but I am not going to write a book denouncing the pope.

Dennis R.

In 1906 Georgine Milmine, a newspaperwoman who had spent years assembling an enormous collection of material about Mary Baker Eddy but doubted her own ability to write on the subject, sold it to McClures Magazine. Interest in Christian Science was at its height at the time, and McClure's turned the project over to Willa Cather, who was 32 years old and had 32 published short stories to her credit, but whose days as a great novelist still lay in the future.

Although Ms. Cather publicly disclaimed credit for the resulting series of articles which form the basis of this book, the editors provide convincing proof that she wrote it.

In addition to being a highly entertaining account of the rise of one of the more fascinating characters in American religious history and the church she founded, the book provides extensive factual detail to anyone seriously interested in the history of either. While it is critical of Mrs. Eddy, it is also complimentary. Factually accurate and extensively documented., it is perhaps the most objective account available of a truly remarkable woman and her church.

Although the book was the subject of favorable reviews when it was published in 1910, the response of the church was, predictably, less enthusiastic. According to the afterword, even before it was published, "three spokesmen for the Christian Science church visited the McClure's office and tried to suppress the series of articles. Christian Scientists were said to have later bought and destroyed most copies of the book, and library copies were said to be kept out of general circulation through constant borrowings by church members... The copyright for the Milmine book was purchased by a friend of Christian Science, the plates from which the book was printed were destroyed, and the manuscript also acquired. That this happened is supported by the fact that the manuscripts for the 'Milmine' book are held in the Archives and Library of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston." (pp. 497-498)

Perhaps the most important contribution that this book makes is to present Mrs. Eddy and her church in the context of their time. There is a tendency today to present her as an early oppressed feminist. That interpretation should be compared with Ms. Cather's hard-nosed assessment:: "The result of Mrs. Eddy's planning and training and pruning is that she has built up the largest and most powerful organization ever founded by any woman in America. Probably no other woman so handicapped-so limited in intellect, so uncertain in conduct, so tortured by hatred and hampered by petty animosities-has ever risen from a state of helplessness and dependence to a position of such power and authority... The growth of her power has been extensive as well as intensive." (p. 480)

In fact, the only complaint in an otherwise favorable review by a student of nervous disorders in the American Historical Review (Vol 15, July 1910), was that the author did "not do enough to explain the abnormal psychology of the founder of Christian Science-the record of hysteria, hypochondria, and the delusion of persecution." (p.498)

Well worth reading

December 2007 The Mary Baker Eddy Library has the real and whole story. I think that it must have been built to make everything available to everybody. Before you get lopsided on this book, better visit or call MBE Library for the Betterment of Humanity.
The real test of all this is to read her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. When you feel the change that comes over your whole life you'll be in a better position to write a review. And, it doesn't matter if you are an atheist, a Mormon, catholic or anything in between.

Theda Perdue's book, "Cherokee Women" is an intelligent, well written work on the history of the Cherokee prior to their removal in the late 1830s to what is today Oklahoma. Far from being a book that simply high-lights certain Cherokee women or certain moments where Cherokee women influenced their people's history, Perdue sets about providing an excellent account of the Cherokee past. She skillfully demonstrates that women were an integral part of the story. Indeed, after reading her book one sees that the history of the Cherokee can not be fully told without the perspective that Perdue provides.

In three parts, Perdue describes how women shaped and defined Cherokee culture from pre-contact with Europeans, during the initial contact period, and through the "civilization" efforts of European Americans. She points out the cultural differences between women of Cherokee and Anglo-American societies, and adds a new dimension of thought to these subjects. This book is highly recommended as an important contribution to Cherokee History and to History in general for its illuminating ideas about the roles of women.

Thea Perdue adds an excellent addition to the Indians of the Southeast series by giving a new perspective on the role of women in Cherokee society. There are very few books that assess how women were affected by European invaders in a traditional society. The women existed in a matrilineal world where they controlled trade and social functions which are retold expertly here. Perdue recounts how war, diplomacy, and economics changed the roles of women and how the European viewpoints were dominant. The book ends with a look at the supposed Renaissance that occurred when missionaries from the Moravians began to work on a language and develop societal roles in Cherokee tribes.

The literature on Indians of the Southeast, and Indians in general, is growing quickly and this will become a staple within the historiography. For those who want to look at the history of the Cherokee this is an invaluable source. Furthermore for those who want to look at matrilineal roles and how they affected European and Indian relations than this is a great way to study them.

In her well-written Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835, historian Theda Perdue argues that "the story of most Cherokee women is not cultural transformation...but remarkable cultural persistence." This is not to say, she argues, that these women did not experience significant changes in their status and condition, especially if one looks at the "decline" of Native Americans only in terms of land losses and military defeats. If, however, historians looks at "other indices of cultural change, including production, reproduction, religion, and perceptions of self, as well as political and economic institutions," then a different image emerges of Cherokee women over time: one of cultural persistence. Perdue does not deny that contact with Europeans had a profound, and ultimately negative, impact on the lives and well being of native peoples, including women of the seven Cherokee clans. She is particularly lucid in describing how the deer skin trade, military alliances and the insistence by whites of negotiating only with males in treaty making and land deals diminished much of the influence women had in terms of trade, material possessions and political status.
Perdue interprets the changes in Cherokee life for men and women, beginning in the 18th century, as a cultural retooling, in which men became predominantly involved in external affairs of the tribe (war, military alliances, commercial enterprises, treaties) and women maintained internal power and status within the tribe. "While women became dependent on men in some respects," she notes, "men also relied increasingly on women to plant corn, perpetuate lineages, and maintain village life." She goes on to state that the deerskin trade may actually have enhanced the power of women within their Cherokee communities "by removing men for much of the year." Additionally, for most of their yearly sustenance, male hunters still relied on the bounty of agricultural production, which remained almost exclusively the domain of females. Finally, Perdue argues that despite the encroachment of whites, the male takeover of tribal political leadership and institutions by the late 18th century, and relocation to the west by 1839, "a distinct culture survived removal, rebuilding, civil war, reconstruction, allotment and Oklahoma statehood." As proof of the survival and persistence of this culture, Perdue briefly points to the continuing significant role of women at the end of the 20th century. Thus, she concludes that the fate of Cherokee women has not been one of cultural declension, but one of "persistence and change, conservatism and adaptation, tragedy and survival."
Much of Perdue's interpretation of persistence and survival of women's culture within the Cherokee clans is quite persuasive. However, her treatment of the growing external role of men with regard to leadership and war and the corresponding decline in female power and influence on tribal matters of extreme (and ultimately devastating) importance to the Cherokees is problematic. By arguing that the male takeover of political power and control of land allowed women to consolidate internal, domestic power within the tribes seems to make a virtue out of an inescapable necessity. This is not to refute Perdue's recognition of the important spheres women continued to control; nevertheless, her contention that the external pressures of the U.S. government's "civilization program," land sessions, wars and eventual removal did not result in "declining status and lost culture" may be significantly overstated. For example, she asserts that although men dominated most aspects of commercial relations with whites, "women did occupy one position that had long-term implications for the Cherokees-they became wives of traders." While marriage to whites may in fact have been an effective method of survival and adaptation for Cherokee women, Perdue's use of this trend as evidence of cultural persistence is questionable. Similarly, Perdue argues that when Cherokee wives of British soldiers at the besieged Ft. Loudoun in 1760 provided supplies and intelligence to their husbands, they "acted according to long-established standards of behavior for married women." These women saw themselves not as part of "an abstract Cherokee nation," but as "members of clans and lineages," of whom their red-coated husbands were part. This assertion refutes her earlier statement that husbands were not kinsmen of their wives, they were outsiders to her clan. Furthermore, the fact that these native women were willing to defy their own people in a time of war in order to help the enemies of the tribe may also be seen as evidence of waning tribal cohesion.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Ms. Perdue's book about the Cherokee Women. It is a well researched volume. It opened my eyes to a lot about the life of the Cherokees, both men and women. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Native American cultures.

Ms. Perdue makes what could be a boring subject into a great read. The book held my attention and piqued my interest in the lives of Native Amercian women from the past and today.

CHEROKEE WOMEN, Gender and Culture Change 1700 to 1835. Theda Perdue
University of Nebraska Press 1998




Although this book is eight years old it is a good one and deserves a new review. We used this book in teaching the workshop to the Chiefs in July of this year.

The book is constructed of three major sections. The first is called a Woman's World and has two sub-sections on Constructing Gender and Defining Community.

These are exceptionally well done and show how Cherokee women were equal in the world to men as they were of the Earth medicine while the men were of the Sun. It shows how this balance, much as in the story at the beginning of the Newsletter, was achieved and maintained.

This was not a shallow equality under the law but a deep spiritual one with each group having their own power that made the other powerless without it.

It no more represented slavery to stereotype than being a Soprano or a Bass does to the opposite gender. The Creator gave the place and so their job was, again like the singer, to fulfill it completely.

The community and the ceremonials in the community all pointed the way to the achievement of the goals of significance by each Kituwah person. For they were all followers of the Kituwah faith at that time.

In the second section she traces the beginnings of the breakdown of Cherokee equality as the Men, through hunting and trade start to assume political power.

This is like the Sun coming too close to the earth and killing the plants and that is what happened. Agricultural technology withered as the women lost power and they became enslaved to the exotic trade goods that were largely inferior to their hand made original articles. To counter the men, the women married traders and even soldiers to gain back the lost power.

This led to the section on War. It is a well trod trail and yet Perdue still has some insights to offer.

In this second section however, I believe she falls to the aggravating factor that makes so many of these stories predictable and lacking in insight. At the root is an inability to assign quality without romance to Native forms. Did Indians have science, technology, law, and the arts? How about economics? Well yes. If that is so then how were they different earlier and how did they change later? Were they as successful?

In the third section on Civilization she tries to deal with this but again doesn't succeed in really drawing out the full adult lives of the individuals involved. It is a depressing often told story.

I have been surprised in my own research to find such full rich lives in our ancestors when they are so often depicted as being without a deep psychological and spiritual life. Although this is now being explored it will take many more books before we can explore the egg tempera of Cherokee artists working with bird yokes and berry dyes on woodplanks. The few extant are exquisite.

How about the Agricultural technology? And where is the music? The rhythmic complexity of real Southern drumming is both powerful dance and powerful art. Where are the scholars to study, preserve and develop that?

In Selu meets Eve, Perdue almost brings this to life but the "gift" is missing. An energy exchange (economics) exists in all cultures and is one of the crucial elements of human communication. It need not be money but an exchange does happen. It can be a payment or it can be a gift. Either way it has rules.

I would and have encouraged Dr. Perdue to look into this in another book. I hope she will for she writes wonderfully and is a first rate scholar.


Ray Evans Harrell (written for the nuyagi keetoowah newsletter sept 2005)

An important story and a modern tragedy, told in a highly readable manner. As a big fan of Pete Rose in his playing days, I initially thought James Reston was unfairly biased against Rose through many parts of the book. After finishing it, I think he probably struck the right balance, as there is simply no excuse for much of what Rose did off the field. Reston almost but did not quite fall into the trap of deifying Giamatti; he was, after all an extraordinary commissioner unlike baseball had ever seen. But Reston correctly pointed out that Giamatti bungled the investigation of Rose from a due process and fairness point of view, and if the matter had gone to trial Giamatti would have had a very difficult time on the stand.

The real point is that Giamatti did investigate, and he did take action. Even with the "settlement" that did not answer the question of whether Rose bet on baseball, Giamatti felt no constraint against offering his own opinion as to Rose and his betting on baseball. And Rose did bet on baseball. We can learn from Giamatti. How refreshing it would be to have a commissioner who would take on the steroids scandal which has made a mockery of home run records and likely changed the outcome of far more games and pennant races than gambling ever did. Where is the courage to have a thorough investigation, and a commissioner who would speak the truth?

Unfortunately, baseball has been a silent partner in the steroids scandal, happily banking the proceeds of increased attendance pursuant to amazing and superhuman home run derbys. I don't think Bart Giamatti would approve, and I would like to think he would acted to protect the integrity of baseball.

Finally, I agree with Reston's take on the Hall of Fame issue. Let the sportswriters vote. If they say yes to Rose, tell Rose's story in a display at the hall, the good and the bad. Especially the bad. And do the same for those whose steroid-enhanced records make them "worthy" of consideration in the future.

Interesting idea but ultimately the book fails. The contrast between Giamatti, a man of ideas, and Rose, a man of action -- both flawed in different ways should have made a fascinating read. Instead, the book plods along until the final 50 pages when it begins to redeem itself.
Giamatti's life was just not that compelling and the ponderous quotes from his writings makes one wonder if anyone actually understood Giamatti's abstruse points.
Rose, by contrast, had a more one-dimensional life but emerges as the more interesting person.
It would have been better if Reston had focused on the years of conflict between the two and flashed back to past biographical events to explain how the actions taken by the principals were shaped by those past events. Had Reston examined why Rose handled the pressure better than Giamatti would have been a shorter, tighter and punchier book. Writing chronologically slowed the book down and I was glad to have reached the end and be done with it.
The author's reseach is quite good although trivial errors (Dick Cavett's wife is Carrie Nye, Whitey Ford coined the nickname "Charley Hustle"), are annoying.
I expected more.

The book is an interesting biography of two very different people.

Pete Rose is a real jerk. The guy could play baseball, but that's it.

As a person, he is a jerk.

As least he will never get into the baseball hall of fame. If Pete Rose got into that sacred place, it would be a shame.

I never finished it. I wanted to read a story of Pete Rose's suspension from baseball and instead got a history of Giamatti's life.

If you aren't a diehard, you may want to give this one a miss.

An excellent profile of two persons striving to be outstanding in their field (no pun intended). It shows how talented players who were friends of Rose melted into other professions, lacking the single-minded drive that he had.

I want my daughter to read it because it's also an excellent profile of eastern private schools and the politics of getting admitted, being a student and professor. Reston believes that both men at their peak represented the best of their profession. (I can't tell my daughter that's the other side that she'd find interesting because it would be as well-received as a lecture.)

The book goes through the childhood of both men and their professional development. The details on Rose's gambling are convincing: you literally see how Pete self-destructed. I think that it was a cab driver who sums up how Pete could have saved himself right up to the end (the paraphrasing is mine: "apologize, indicate that he'd never bet for or against Cincinnati, and gotten away from gamblers") but was so ego-centric that he was self-destructive. As for betting on the Reds, it's clear that he did.

A well-told story, but Reston is not as crisp a writer as his father. His transitions are often awkward, leaving you wondering what topic he's on. And there's a factual error so glaring that I wondered how a sportswriter or editor could let it get by -- he refers to the Chicago Cubs as the "Southsiders."

Many accused THE COUNTRY WIFE of gross obscenity when it debuted in 1675; nonetheless, it remained an audience favorite for more than seventy five years. In 1753, however, bluenose killjoys at last convinced the public that the play was completely unacceptable and successfully banned it from the stage. It was not staged again until 1924--and when it was, the play became an audience favorite all over again.

Author William Wycherley (1640-1715) drew upon sources that included French comedy and Shakespearean structure, but the end result was of his own creation: an outrageously bawdy type of sex farce in which few, if any, of the characters can be described as innocent of evil intent. In THE COUNTRY WIFE, Horner allows society to believe he is impotent, and as such husbands entrust him with their wives. But Horner is anything but impotent, and before long he is bedding a host of bored, foolish, and incredibly horny women--including the young, silly Margery, an ignorant country girl recently wed to an elderly man.

THE COUNTRY WIFE is particularly famous, or infamous, for the so-called "China Scene." Horner claims to have extensive knowledge of the china collected by fashionable ladies, and this provides them with an excuse to visit his rooms to discuss china. And discuss it they do indeed, so much so that the very word "china" becomes funnier with every repetition. But this is far from the only notable moment the play has to offer; from carousing housewives to hysterical husbands, THE COUNTRY WIFE is lewd, lacivious, and almost unbearably funny.

Like many early Restoration plays, THE COUNTRY WIFE has been accused of being "cold," for does not really provide the viewer/reader with a sympathetic hero or heroine, nor does it punish the wrong-doers at the end, a fact which later censors found particularly outrageous. Well, let the killjoys china themselves; this is a play that simply goes on and on, and although it may not be most artful comedy the Restoration produced, it is certainly the most popular. Strongly recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

I recently reread this play for the third time and taught it in a British Literature survey at the University of Texas. Not only do I find it more entertaining and more brilliant with every reading, but I was shocked to find that the vast majority of my students really enjoyed it and preferred Wycherley to Shakespeare. If you want a smart, hilarious, and dark comedy that plumbs the depths of jealousy and sexual possession, this is a must-read play. If you're easily offended or have a hard time following complicated plots and catching bawdy puns, you'll certainly want to avoid it.

The eighteen-year closure of the English stage under the Puritans ended in 1660 with the Restoration of the monarchy. The restored theatre was controversial from the beginning for its sexual content. William Wycherley's comedy, The Country Wife (1675), involves two intertwined plots: 1) Mr. Horner, a noted rake, pretends impotence to gain access more easily to married women and 2) a young, inexperienced wife from a rural area is immediately fascinated by London life, especially its more lewd aspects.

Wycherley's plot is further complicated by another romance, one that is more conventional. Horner's friend, Harcourt, becomes enamored with a young woman engaged to a foppish, self-centered character. This romance is more virtuous, and perhaps functions as a counterbalance to the lewd and bawdy activities centered about Mr. Horner, the ladies of London, and the "inexperienced" country wife.

As social attitudes again became more conservative, The Country Wife gradually lost favor. It disappeared from the stage in 1753, and was not again seen until 1924. It was first produced in the US in 1931. In recent decades The Country Wife has gained considerable popularity, and is now among the best known play from the Restoration period.

Interestingly, women appeared on the English stage (rather than young boys dressed as women) for the first time in the Restoration period. When Mr. Pinchwife disguised his young country wife as a boy, the audience was treated to the scandalous view of a woman in tight fitting breeches. This, in addition to the offstage implied sexual activity, must have made The Country Wife a memorable event.

The Country Wife compares favorably with the best comedies of the next hundred years, including The Man of Mode, The Way of the World, and The School for Scandal. All four plays "are comedies of about men and women who live in London, care for sex and money, and make fools of one another if not of themselves". This quote is from the Norton Critical edition, Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Comedy.

The Country Wife is available in a New Mermaids edition as well as in various anthologies such as the Norton edition and the Oxford World Classics edition titled The Country Wife and Other Plays (all by Wycherley).

No, I haven't read the book. I saw the play put on by The Shakespeare Theater in Washington. Tessa Auberjonois was an absolute darling in the title role; you couldn't help but feel glad for Margery's odd-but-happy ending.

If Wycherley was no Shakespeare, he did this sort of play better than the Bard. Nothing is quotable, the characters are one dimensional and only the "China" scene got real laughs. But Wycherley did a neat and nasty take on Restoration mores and made it enjoyable, too.

Far from being a silly comedy, The Country Wife is a work aimed at lashing Seventeenth Century loose morals. We laugh, of course, but through the alluring yet disturbing character of Horner, we perceive that something must be done if Restoration society wants to survive.

Wicherley presents us with unhappy wives and brutal or indifferent husbands who are utlimately fooled by Horner, the man who knows how to exploit the misery produced by mercenary unions. Poor Margery Pinchwife, the heroine of the piece, eventually brings tears in our eyes when we realize that she shall never be free from a violent man that considers marriage a cheaper substitute for keeping a mistress. Margery is the victim of both her husband and her careless lover. She is looking for love, but she keeps on coming across men who are interested in sex only. They can see her body; they can't see her delicate, naif soul.

However, Whycherley (who, we must remember, was the spiritual son of the great moralists Graciàn, Larochefoucault and so on, whose maxims are easily detected in the whole bulk of Wycherley's works) is able to see a way out in the honest, disintrested love between Alithea, Margery's brilliant sister-in-law, and Harcourt, Horner's dashing best friend. (these characters' names symbolize the perfection of their union: her name means "truth", while his name is significantly "Frank".)

This comedy is at its best when performed; however, it is well worth reading, especially if you have a lively imagination. don't miss the notorious "china scene": fifteen minutes of laughter that will make your sides ache.

Be careful: The Country Wife merely "looks" like a stupid, shallow comedy, but it is in fact a deep reflection on society, marriage and, why not?, even the situation of Seventeenth-Century English women.

I was really excited to learn more about such an important figure in baseball history. This in an unexciting story about a man of fire. It is sad that there is not more energy from this book.

If you are, like me, a serious student of baseball history who never tires of reading about the "old days", you will enjoy this book. If you are a casual baseball fan looking for light baseball reading, this is probably not the book for you.

I think most of the other reviews posted here are on the mark: a lot of factual and interesting research into the life and times of the great John McGraw. People like me love this kind of stuff. But at times it can be bland, uninspired writing that would likely bore the casual baseball fan.

I suppose I should be grateful to Alexander for doing some original research but it's hard to get excited about a book that has no enthusiasm for it's subject and some how makes a fascinating man dull. I recommend the great Frank Graham's McGraw of the Giants. It's out of print but readily available at used book stores. Graham covered McGraw for years, knew him well and, more importantly, knew countless sports writers who covered McGraw from his days in Baltimore. Graham examines his controversial subject with a critical entusiasm that brings this great but very flawed man to life. As Graham skillfully shows, McGraw's edge was sometimes so sharp as to be repellant but he was an innovative genius at baseball marketing, administration, selecting and motivating players as well as on the field strategy. If you're a baseball fan, he's worth studying.

Born in 1873, John McGraw grew up brawling and playing baseball like he was brawling. And he was very good at it. As the scrappy third baseman and manager of the Baltimore Orioles in the 1890s, he gained fame and not a little fortune as an innovative, autocratic field manager whose teams clawed and fought to championship after championship. His teams represented the epitome of the "dead ball era" of baseball, where speed, defense, and aggressive play on the base paths carried the day. He is credited with inventing the "suicide squeeze" and the "Baltimore chop." He moved from Baltimore to New York in 1902 and during 31 years leading the New York Giants, he won 10 pennants and three World Series. Additionally, under his direction the Giants finished second 11 times. As a legendary manager, h entered the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937.

This is the story told in this superb biography by Ohio University professor Charles C. Alexander, whose baseball biographies of Ty Cobb and Rogers Hornsby rank as some of the best ever in the developing field of serious baseball history. Alexander's study is in-depth, thoughtful, and engaging. It is a superb work. Enjoy.

This is the first book I have read from the many that Charles Alexander has written about turn of the century baseball players and I have to say that Mr. Alexander is a voracious researcher as he has facts and events of McGraw's life down to every little detail. For this, he is to be commended as he has certainly put to paper, atleast to this point, the definitive book on John McGraw.
However, this is not a short or an entertaining read by any stretch of the imagination as Alexander's book is decidedly bland in its detailed accounts of seasons past. After detailing McGraw's many outbursts on and off the field, Alexander chronicles McGraw's gambling misdeeds and even possible corruption (to the degree of the 1919 Black Sox). But Alexander does not write with a lot of imagination. His work reads exactly like you might expect a chronological account might: vanilla.
Although I enjoyed reading this book and appreciated all of the facts and research Alexander did on McGraw, I cannot say that this is one of the better baseball books I have read. Still, it remains the only book of any substance on McGraw, so if you want to learn about one of the most important men in the history of baseball, this is your book.

'The Changeling' is a play with an extremely complex structure- the plot seems to start off with the potential to develop it's dark themes but becomes preoccupied with the use of coup de theatre; such as the potion and the grisly deaths. Beatrice is shown in the first scene to understand innuendo and is able to respond in kind to Alsemero, but is later naive to De Flores' demands. THIS PLAY IS UNBELIEVABLE AND STUPID!

The editor George Walton Williams considers The Changeling by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley to be a singularly successful collaborative effort. My copy of The Changeling has collected dust on my bookshelf for some years. I was largely unacquainted with Middleton and Rowley and I had assumed that The Changeling was a comedy about "an infant exchanged by fairies for another infant". I was unprepared for deception, lust, and murder.

Middleton and Rowley contributed equal shares to this play. Middleton authored the tragic plot while Rowley created the comic scenes. What makes The Changeling unique is the tight coupling of the comic and tragic story lines. The two plots occasionally intersect, but more importantly Rowley's comic plot echoes and reinforces Middleton's tragic story. The Changeling is a well-integrated, entertaining play.

Williams explains in his excellent introduction that a "changeling" in the Jacobean period had nothing to do with fairies. A changeling was a waverer or fickle person, one without a moral compass. The Dramatis Personae indicates that Antonio, a love-struck fellow that imitated a fool to gain admittance to an asylum to become close to the young wife of an older doctor, was the changeling. And yet, even a cursory reading reveals that the actual changeling was Beatrice, a beautiful young woman that becomes involved in murder and adultery (the order is correct, murder first and adultery later).

The Regents Renaissance Drama Series is a great source for the more significant plays of the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline theater. This series has introduced me to playwrights that would have otherwise remained strangers. The introduction, editing, and footnotes by George Walton Williams for The Changeling are excellent.

'The Changeling' is a play with an extremely complex structure- the plot seems to start off with the potential to develop it's dark themes but becomes preoccupied with the use of coup de theatre; such as the potion and the grisly deaths. Beatrice is shown in the first scene to understand innuendo and is able to respond in kind to Alsemero, but is later naive to De Flores' demands. THIS PLAY IS UNBELIEVABLE AND STUPID!

Firstly, thanks to Joost Daadler for his stunning introduction to the edition I read of 'The Changeling'. The in-depth analysis of the psychological disturbances and functions that exist within the play (such as the ID and the unconscious dropping of the glove, etc.), help expand 'The Changeling' into a lot more than just (though this would be no bad thing!) a morality play where an orthodox Christian message runs predominant. I have never read a play that reduces the human to the bestial in such an intense and forceful manner, not shying away from the painful and somewhat humiliating view that human kind are more or less governed by their instincts; sexual impulse being one such motivating factor that can rid a human of any intellect ot reason that is supposed to constitute 'humanity' in the first place. This ia must read and not just a moral, didactic play either. It is not condemning sexuality but pleading with us that it must be understood. Overall, it is a tragedy that really challenges its reader into thinking hard about whether certain characters (e.g. Beatrice) can be more sympathised with than maybe one thought upon first reading. Read it!

Anyone who thinks centuries-old tragedies aren't relevant to modern times should read "The Changeling." With a few very minor adjustments, the plot and characters in this play could come right out of a modern crime novel, or even a modern true-crime story.

This is one of those plays where you read because you're more interested about what happens to the bad guy (and the bad gal) than what happens to the good guys. (Alsemero who! ) I envy the performers who get to play DeFlores and Beatrice-Joanna.

A lot of scholarly treatises about the play criticized the humorous subplot, claiming that it had no relevance and no connection to the main plot. My response is, "Hell-o! Is anybody home?" OK, that wasn't a scholarly response, but any scholar who can't see the thematic connection (characters who mask their true natures versus characters in disguise) doesn't deserve a scholarly response.

Anne M. Marble All About Romance

Popular Futurism in the vein of Alvin Toffler, but even more journalistic and accessible. The title is the theme of the book as well as its own powerful metaphor of what is happening in the globalized world. His thesis is encapsulated in the subtitle of the book: "The Bigger the World Economy, The More Powerful Its Smallest Players". The ever-increasing speed of change provides ever smaller economic entities - businesses and countries - with greater opportunities given the flexibility inherent in being smaller. Pink talks about this in "Free Agent Nation". Naisbitt relates it to countries. It was this idea that inspired me (in my book "The Optimistic Jew") to think of Israel as a disproportionate (to its size) driving force in the world economy and to aspire to the highest median income in the world by 2030.

1. The European Community will not adopt a common currency-not in this century and beyond-because our money, both paper and coin, which we imprint with national symbols and national heroes, is the one thing that distinguishes us from others.
2. World trends point overwhelmingly toward political independence and self rule and economic alliances
3. The bigger the world economy, the more powerful its smaller players: virtual corporations, smaller the components, communication interconnection, global commerce, the demise of the nation-state, and self-rule of individuals are transforming corporations and countries. The entrepreneur will emerge as the powerhouse of global productivity. Over 50 percent of global GDP is produced by small entrepreneurs with less than 19 employees or fewer employees. The entrepreneur is the most important player in the building of the global economy.
4. Downsizing, reengineering, creating networking organizations, virtual corporation's results in dismantling bureaucracies to survive. Economies of scale are giving way to economies of scope, finding the right size for synergy, market flexibility, and not above all, speed. Jack Welch says, "What we are trying relentlessly to do is to get that small-company soul-and small company speed-inside our big company." With following results: employee reduction of 100,000 over 11 years to 268,000; sales have gone from $27 billion to $62 billion and income from $1.5 to $4.7 billion. "We are trying to get the small-company benefits of quickness in time to market, decision-making and the elimination of bureaucratic activities."
5. As the world integrates economically, the component parts are becoming more numerous and smaller and more important. The bigger and more open the world economy, the more small and middle size companies will dominate. The more choice, the more discrimination in choice, the more appetite for additional options and the more we integrate the more we differentiate.
6. Tribes have returned. Democracy greatly magnifies and multiples the assertiveness of tribes. Email is a tribe-maker. Electronics makes us more tribal at the same time it globalizes us. Think locally and act globally. In the future most armed conflict will be ethnically or tribally motivated, rather than politically or economically motivated.
7. Asians are learning to become affluent: Ferragamo-designed shirts, Rolex, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, BMW, Giorgio Armani, Christian Dior, Nia Ricci, Estee Lauder, Bruno Magli, Tiffiny, and Sony. Paris-based Cartier opened its first China outlet with annual sales of $1.5 billion. Vietnam's most popular band sings Bruce Springsteen songs. At any time the top 10 films in any major city in the world are American made; the American movie industry has $4 billion trade balance, and earns more than 40 percent of its revenues from abroad.
8. China has 56 different nationalities and five of China's 30 provinces are autonomous.
9. Kenichi Ohmae has proposed breaking up homogeneous Japan into nine or ten autonomous regions. Ichiro Ozawa advocates breaking Japan into 300 autonomous regions, "Plans to rebuild Japan"
10. Computers allow us to organize and keep track of complexity, the complexity of having many small units-for companies and for the world. The breakup of countries into national or tribal entities is surely as beneficial as breakup of companies. It eliminates duplication and waste, reduces bureaucracy and promotes motivation and accountability, and results in self-rule. If the world is going to be a single-market world, the parts have to be smaller. The shift will be from 200 to 600 countries to million hosts of networks that are all tied together.
11. The 88 republics and regions in Russia are semi-autonomous.
12. Many people of the new tribalism want self-rule. The nation-state is dead. The revolution in telecommunication move towards self-rule. Modern telecommunication encourages extraordinary cooperation among people, companies, and countries. The world today is about the individual and not the state. Companies that endure over the next few decades will exist to meet the communications needs of individuals.
13. Individuals decide the value of currency. Approximately 22,000 currency trader determine relative value of their countries currency and buy and sell millions of dollars with their clients money and their money.
14. 2001 there were 1.5 billion internet users in the world.
15. Politics will reemerge as the engine of individualism.
16. People are less afraid to travel; many have been unable to travel because of oppressive government and with their new found freedom, they want to travel; in the US the population of people over 55 will rise from 21 to 27 percent by 2010 and their impact on travel will be greater than their numbers; this group will be well-educated and well traveled and relatively prosperious and will be looking for greater travel experiences.
17. Between 1985 and 1990, travel from America to Europe grew by 25 percent. By 1985, 27 percent of American travelers had traveled to more than three European countries.
18. In 1992, an estimated 1.5 million Americans spent close to $100 million to plunge from an extended crane or bridge overhang only to bounce back up in the air. Adventure travels has increased. "Many people feel their lives are out of control, and they turn to recreation because it something they can exert control over. Their recreation choices are a way for them to make statements about who they are. If a person is underemployed and bored on the job, he or she may have a greater tendency to engage in reckless activities as a way to compensate for what they are not achieving professionally." "There is increasing demand for tourism in which visitors are permitted to observe and participate in local events and life-styles in a non artificial manner" (Ectotourism).
19. People throughout the world want the Americanized experience, they want the image of being American, and they want the recreation brands made by Americans.
20. In 1991, tourism earned developing countries $312 billion in foreign currency. Americans want to visit Russia, China, India and eventually Iraq and Iran.
21. One in six jobs in the Caribbean is related to travel and tourism, 15.8 percent of all jobs. By 1994, the WTTC reports that travel and tourism is expected to reach 24.5 percent to the economies of the Caribbean.
22. The cruise industry into the US sector has experienced increases in both passengers and number of sales. The fastest growing sector is for passengers between the age of 25 to 40. Families with children booked 28 percent of all cruise vacations. The Caribbean remains the most popular cruise and Mexico and Alaska run as second. By the year 2000, 10 million people will cruise annually. There are 160 ships that represent the world's cruise fleet.
23. In Australia, where tourism accounts for 12.5 percent of the countries employment, 987,000 workers and $11.6 billion in tax revenues rapid development of roads is under construction.
24. We now face new era of greatly increased international communications, more freedom to travel, more international trade, and more investing across international borders. "Suddenly, there are 430 million, mostly well-educated citizens of Eastern Europe and old Soviet Union, who are now free to travel after having been locked up from more than 50 years."
25. The switch from centralized economies to free-market economies in China and India will be big, these economies account for 38 percent of the world's population. The removal of border controls between the 12 nations of the European Community; the creation of the world's largest free-trade area of Canada, Mexico, and the United States encompasses 370 million consumers having a total output of $7 trillion. Travel is now considered a basic human right.
26. Between 1978 and 1992, the yuan feel from 1.7 to the dollar to 5.5 to the dollar.
27. By using PPP, the IMF found China had produced $1.7 trillion in goods and services.
28. China boasts a million millionaires, almost all of whom come from the ranks of its 18 million entrepreneurs. China's goal is to grow 10 percent a year for the rest of the century, doubling every seven years. China's foreign trade grew to around $170 billion by 1992. In the first six years of economic reform, China raised half out of poverty.
29. In 1978, China, approximately 700 products passed through the central planning system. By 1991, the number had dropped to 20. By 1992, the market distributed almost 60 percent of coal, 55 percent of steel, and 90 percent of cement. In 1992, the government approved the establishment of 47,000 new enterprises based on foreign investment, investing $57.5 billion.
30. China wants to have 100 million telephone lines by 2000. China 1986-1990 wants increase power capacity by 35,000 megawatts. America Express has 3,000 establishments in 130 cities and the amount charged has been increasing by an average of 40 percent a year since 1988.
31. Foreign investors start with a small investment, learn the market, develop relationships with Chinese partners, let each experience make them a little stronger.

Narrative is indeed the most salient feature of this book, and apparently there is nothing too exciting about it-- in any rate, that was the my impression when I first read it some ten years ago.

This time, it really amazed me: the predictions made some ten years ago are so correct, particularly the part concerning Asia and China where I live. Furthermore, when the author quoted, he epitomized.... I don't know much about Futurism, but I am not sure if analysis or theories could contribute much in a book of this nature. Anyway, had I paid better attention to this book, I could have an extra edge in my investment portfolio particularly in Greater China... And so, I will waste no time in checking out his other books.

Paradoxes surround us in the big/little, global/local, corporate/personal, and public/private contexts. You can find here insights for the emergence of the post-industrial global culture and economy. Because of the global integration, small businesses have even more hope of becoming successful in the future. Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
--A famous paradox in architecture that has served the profession well is "Less is more," meaning that the less you clutter a building with embellishments, the more elegant it can be, the greater a work of architecture it can be.
--The entrepreneur is also the most important player in the building of the global economy. So much so that big companies are decentralizing and reconstituting themselves as networks of entrepreneurs.
--The principle of the global paradox--the bigger the world economy, the more powerful its smallest players--applies especially to business. Huge companies like IBM, Philips, and GM must break up to become confederations of small, autonomous, entrepreneurial companies if they are to survive. Big companies and "economies of scale" succeeded in the comparatively slow-moving world of the four decades to the mid-1980s. But now, only small and medium-sized companies--or big companies that have restyled themselves as networks of entrepreneurs--will survive to be viable when we turn the corner o f the next century. Already 50 percent of U.S. exports are created by companies with 19 or fewer employees; the same is true of Germany. --Economies of scale are giving way to economies of scope, finding the right size for synergy, market flexibility, and above all, speed. ...What is going on in American corporations today is the "ODD effect" : outsourcing, de-layering, and deconstruction.
--In the years ahead all big companies will find it increasingly difficult to compete with--and in general will perform more poorly than--smaller, speedier, more innovative companies.

Create a niche brand for yourself, and win!

Naisbitt has happened upon an important topic which could have been explored by a stronger intellect to make an important contribution to academics, policy makers, and managers understanding the emerging world structure. Unfortunately, Naisbitt lacks the intellectual firepower and personal gravitas to pull it off. As a previous reviewers suggests, he substitutes trite anecdotes in place of even the simplist forms of empiricism. His thinking is simplistic and demonstrates a profound lack of understanding of the true complexity of globalization, the working of international trade, and the development of intellectual property. This work is 'People' magazine journalism trying unsuccessfully to masquerade as public intellectualism. Obviously, I am advising against reading this book if your interest in the future of globalization is at all serious.

I am not all the way through this book yet, but so far it has been very interesting. Coming from a person who is not a big reader, it has definitely kept me interested whenever I get a chance to read at night. It is not the best-written book I have ever seen, which makes sense being a diary of a college football player, but as a die-hard Husker fan, it's very intriguing to see all of the behind-the-scenes accounts that I never knew about.

I enjoyed this book. I have 2 nephews entering college in the athletics program - this was eye popping and interesting. I met the author at a bookstore months ago and just finished the book (I don't have much time for reading, but I do try). I felt like this was a glimpse into the life of a football player, I cried a couple of times, laughed quite a few times and generally enjoyed a very nice read. Thanks for this unique look into the strange world of college football. I'll give this book to my dad, a lifelong Cornhusker fan.

I bought this book hoping to get a unique insiders insight into some of the major issues happening during a topsy turvy time in Husker Football. What I got was many items that were very lightly covered and some hot topics which were not even mentioned at all. A perfect example is the quarterback controversy between Eric Crouch and Bobby Newcombe that was only mentioned in the Forward by Crouch where he makes a half-hearted effort at patting himself on the back. The diary did provide a glimpse into the life of the average non-scholarship Husker football player. For this reason I gave the book a 3-star, however I feel the author missed several chances to provide an in-depth and cutting edge look at a team in turmoil. Reading the book you learn more about the per-diem paid to the athletes and what kind of meals they ate but less about more pertinent topics. I feel the author was afraid to bring real issues to the forefront.

David Kolowski breaks new ground with this book, not really a sports book, not even really a football book, but a book that looks into the life of a young man faced with the challenges and potential glories of big-time college football. This was obviously written while in the thick of the action, in the heat of the moment and David's reporting of the days events quickly evolve into a behind-the-scenes introspective that strips the seemingly hubristic facade off of Husker football and shows fans what really happened during these five up and down years, directly from the perspective of a player. This unique look into the glory, the pain, the pride, and the sacrifices that these young men face is a must read for every fan, every player, every coach, and every parent.

Redshirt long snapper Dave Kolowski's Diary of a Husker is one man's chronicle of what life was like in the hectic world of collegiate football. Beginning with the winter of his high school senior year, Kolowski walks us through the process of how he got into the Husker program as a Red Shirt, and, over time, he chronicles his rise to a starter.

This did not give us any real insight into the raw emotions of what a player must feel. Gary Shaw's expose' of Texas Longhorns football "Meat on the Hoof" although written in the spirit of bitterness, did give the reader a better vantage point of what life was like on the inside. Kolowski's narrative was, at times, sterile and somewhat juvenile. His random parenthetical explanations were a little more insightful than his journal entries. Otherwise the book wound up being a C- work in the end.

When a Civil War historian names his son Nathan you would expect a one sided biased account. However, Woodworth is surprisingly even handed in his treatment of the six armies that fought over Chattanooga. He is at his best in describing the backbiting in the southern leadership and the incompetence of Longstreet. This is a thin book. Perhaps too thin for those who would like a little more detail. We still await an indepth look at the Tennesseans who fought for the north.

Woodworth is a first-rate writer with an impressive command of the material. The campaign is complicated one and he deals with it well, although not in the detail that Peter Cozzens offers in his landmark books. I have two quibbles: There is no map with the Chickamauga chapter, a battle of mind-bending complexity. Also, Woodworth deals very lightly with Gen. John B. Turchin, surely one of the war's most colorful characters

I found the book to be a very good depiction of the characters of the leaders and of the politics that affected their decisions. However, the major events did not stand out from the details, leaving me wondering about the outcome and significance of the individual encounters. The book constantly changes from north to south with very little indications that a change has taken place, making it very difficult to follow the action. The few maps were very helpful, but there were not nearly enough. this book would be enjoyed more by someone who was already familiar with the terrain and the battles.

A very good and easy read. This book is written for anyone intrested in the Civil War. A good over view of the thoughts, actions and concepts of each side in this conflict over Tennessee.

I stumbled upon this title by accident, when I was looking for Civil War books about Tennessee. I am very happy that I did. The book was an easy read, but not so easy that I flew through it without learning anything.
One of the best things about the book was Woodworth's writting style. He wrote it in such away that I felt I was there, living these events with the generals and the soldiers from both sides. Having hiked the regions that the events took place in helped too, but even if you have not the descriptions are very strong. He never writes over your head like he expects you to be a Civil War historian, nor does he dumb it down to a fifth grade level.
The transitions from the North's side to the South's side of the conflict was brilliantly done. Nothing was left out in going from one side to the other. If events were taking place at the same time Woodworth let you know. When he talked of the battles they were well layed out as to who was doing what,where and when.

The thing that I learned most from this book was the internal bickering in the South's upper chain of command. No one was doing what they were suppose to do when they were suppose to do it. It would seem to me,after reading this book, if the generals under Bragg's command would have done as they were told the outcome would have been totally different and maybe even the outcome of the Civil war itself.
If you are from Chattanooga or Knoxville, I highly recommend reading this book. If you just like reading Civil War histories this is a must.