Pacific University Books

After reading this book, Roman history seems much more - real. It covers many aspects of the private life of a Roman citizen: The Family, The Name, Marriage and the position of Women, Children and Education, Dependents: Slaves and Clients, The House and Its Furniture, Dress and Personal Ornaments, Food and Meals, Amusements, Travel and Correspondence, Sources of Income and Means of Living, Burial Places and Funeral Ceremonies. Under each of these chapter headings is a list of specific sections and their paragraph numbers. (In the text, the paragraph numbers are placed on the outer edge of the page, so it is easily visible.) There are many illustrations (205, to be exact), which are very helpful, and it is not at all difficult reading.

Harold W. Johnston wrote an easy-to-read survey text on daily Roman life. Particularly suited to students in high school and introductory level college courses, the book clearly and succinctly covers many aspects of Roman civilization. The title is somewhat misleading, as most people would not consider the subject matter "private." The 16 chapters present an overview of family structure, nomenclature/epigraphy, marriage, children and education, slavery, the host-client relationship, the house and its furnishings, clothing, food and meals, games and other amusements, travel and correspondence, occupations, country life, death, religion, and the water supply. Only the chapter on religion is disappointing (and books on Roman religion are not difficult to find). Helpful woodcuts, line drawings, and black and white photographs illustrate the subject matter throughout. Though Johnston introduces many Latin (and a few Greek) terms, his writing remains clear so that even those with no training in the Classics will find the terminology augments rather than detracts from his work.

Scholarship in recent decades has proved some of Johnston's information inaccurate but, on the whole, it still stands. For a more recent review of Roman life, I recommend Leslie and Roy Adkins' Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome (1998).

Despite being decades old, Private Life of the Romans remains a leading source for daily life and customs questions at Latin competitions around the United States, which is probably why it's often on backorder so grab a copy whenever you can!

the seven that were hanged tells a story of seven people about to be executed. what they are doing, thinking. strangely superficial to be Andreyev, I think. the red laugh is a masterpiece. the red laugh is kind of the laughter of despair, strife, death. the story is harder to read than the first. it is about how people deal with the terrors of war (or can't). in war times, and after their service. hardly outdated. Andrejev's greatest skill i think, is how he makes the descriptions of what people see, match how they feel inside.

'The Seven that Were Hanged' and 'The Red Laugh,' also included in this book, are two of Andreyev's best stories and are both brilliant psychological explorations of the nature of death and war, respectively. Andreyev is largely ignored by the English reading public and few of Andreyev's plays or stories are translated and even fewer are in print. While achieving a small measure of fame in Russia early in his writing career for his short stories, esp. 'Lazarus', Andreyev's later writings, among which these two stories figure, were largely ignored. This is a reprint of a 1918 edition of Andreyev's works with the original and informative introduction by Thomas Seltzer which strangely neglects to analyze 'The Red Laugh.' These two stories are essential and will only leave you hungering for more of Andreyev's amazing writings.

This is the story of an expedition that began in July 1853, in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and ended seven months later in Los Angeles (population then 3,000) on the coast of California. The distance traveled (per the distance measuring device on a carretella) was 1,845.27 miles.

The goal was to investigate the feasibility of a railroad to the Pacific coast along the 35th parallel. There was a similar expedition along the 32nd parallel, and two further north. Then Secretary of War Jefferson Davis was predisposed to the southernmost route as would be duly reflected in the report submitted to Congress.

The commander of the 35th parallel expedition was Lieutenant Amiel Weeks Whipple (my great, great grandfather). Another key participant (he joined en route with a contingent of support troops) was Lieutenant John Tidball (a distant relative of the author).

The book skillfully places the expedition in its historical context, including many details of the experiences of key participants before and after the expedition. It also paints a vivid picture of events along the way - including illness, hunger, rough and largely unknown terrain (Tidball et al. made some stunning sketches), and at times friendly, at other times tense interactions with the Indian tribes encountered - based on personal journals and notes (of Tidball and Whipple, among others) as well as the official report.

Most of the men made it through, but the mules had a higher attrition rate and one wagon after another had to be abandoned until only one carretella was left.

This and the other expeditions did not establish where the first railroad to the Pacific should be built (in the event, it would be considerably north of the 35th parallel). However, they did contribute a great deal to knowledge of vast unexplored areas of the United States, much as the Lewis and Clark expedition had done 50 years earlier, including not only the terrain, but also the flora, the fauna, and the native inhabitants.

Our family has a number of volumes of the official report to Congress on the 35th parallel expedition, musty and over-sized volumes that I truthfully never felt the inclination to peruse. This book served as an excellent substitute, and I would recommend it to others with an interest in the expedition and/or the history of the southwest.

Founded on the high tide of the Enlightenment during the last quarter of the 18th Century by armed revolution, the United States was, by the middle of the 19th Century, riding the great waveof the industrial revolution of which there is perhaps no better exemplification than steam locomotion.

Although a transcontinental railroad was first proposed in 1844, the United States did not then have clear title to lands west of the Rockies nor any title at all to the lands it subsequently acquired by annexation of Texas, the Mexican cession, and the Gadsden Purchase. But by 1853
the situation had changed dramatically and serious interest in building a transcontinental line had developed as had sharp disagreement in Congress and elsewhere about its location.

In terms of climate and terrain there was much to recommend the southern or 32nd parallel route running from Shreveport to San Diego advocated by Southern interests, including Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War. Undertaking to finesse the fact that Congress would not agree to a particular route, it was decided to survey all feasible routes and let science make the decision.

Four parties were sent into the field in 1853 to reconnoiter the routes that had dominated congressional debate: a northern route from St. Paul to Seattle, a central route from Kansas City
through the central West to California, a route along the 35th parallel from Fort Smith, Arkansas to Los Angeles, and the southern route along the 32nd parallel from Shreveport, Louisiana across Texas to San Diego.

"Soldier-Artist of the Great Reconnaissance" is the story of the survey along the 35th parallel as told by Eugene Tidball's distant relative, John C. Tidball, in his memoirs, diary, and marginal notes in his copy of the official report of the survey, augmented by the official and private journals
of Lt. Amiel Weeks Whipple, the leader of the expedition, the journals of certain other members, and the official report of the survey. John Tidball had then recently been promoted to First Lieutenant, married in the East, and stationed sans bride at Fort Defiance in New Mexico Territory.

The 35th parallel expedition pushed off from Fort Smith in July 1853. It comprised 110 men,including four commissioned officers, a dozen civilian scientists, enlisted escorts, herders, teamsters, drivers, packers, cooks, and orderlies, but not including Tidball who was then with his company at Fort Defiance, the most isolated post of the United States Army.

The progress of the expedition was relatively swift and uneventful over the flatlands from Fort Smith to Albuquerque, where it arrived on October 5. In Albuquerque Whipple heard unsettling stories about the territory ahead and requested an additional escort of 25 calvary. He was notified
that he could not have dragoons but could have mule-mounted infantrymen instead. The expedition moved on to Zuni which proved to be in the grip of an epidemic of smallpox. When it
left Zuni on November 29 several of its members were infected. The contagion afflicted members of the party for a time but appears to have run its course without serious consequences and is not mentioned in the official report of the expedition.

Lt. Tidball left Fort Defiance on December 3 with 25 infantrymen mounted on mules and a packer and caught up with the expedition on December 12 on the Little Colorado River east of San Francisco Mountain. The remainder of the trek from the Little Colorado to Los Angeles was considerably more arduous than had been the earlier part from Fort Smith. The expedition was now in uncharted hard-scrabble mountains in winter. Nevertheless, often on short rations, without water, and concerned about Indians, the members continued to do what they were there to do. They continued to study and sketch the flora, fauna, and geology, to collect specimens and to scout, measure, and sketch the way for a railroad. Balduin Mollhausen, the official artist of the expedition, was joined in the production of sketches and illustrations by Albert Campbell, engineer and surveyor, and by Tidball. Although most of the illustrations appearing in the official report are Mollhausen's, some are Campbell's and some are Tidball's, neither of whom was charged to produce art but both of whom were arguably better artists than Mollhausen.

Because its location was so poorly described, the expedition had difficulty finding the Bill William's Fork that it proposed to follow to the Colorado River. When the Colorado was finally
reached the rank and file of the party were extremely disappointed as they had been led to believe that California was a land of milk and honey and now the California side of the river appeared just as bleak, barren, and inhospitable as the New Mexico Territory side. But the prospect improved
remarkably the nearer they drew to Los Angeles.

Tidball left the expedition on the eastern side of the coast range and proceeded to the Army post at San Diego where he turned in his equipment and mules and from which he returned via Panama to the East Coast and his wife of less than a year. After an extended furlough, he was six days out from Fort Leavenworth, this time with his wife, on his way back to Fort Defiance when he received orders seconding him to the Coastal Survey. He spent the next five years on the East Coast during which time his company was reassigned, relieving Tidball of the anxiety of having to return to Fort Defiance.

The 35th parallel survey party, which had left Fort Smith with 110 men, 13 wagons, two carretellas, and 245 mules, having traversed 1,845 miles and lost but one man, arrived in Los
Angeles on March 21, 1854, with no wagons and one carretella but still with many of the mules.

Eugene Tidball poses the question whether the Pacific railroad surveys were a success. He points out that, while they found all the routes feasible (and robbed the southern route of its claim of peculiar suitability to the chagrin of Jeff Davis and company), they did not immediately result in the construction of a transcontinental railroad nor in allaying controversy about the appropriate route. The first transcontinental line was not finished until 1869, roughly on what was styled the
central route in 1853. Much later, the 35th parallel route became the Rock Island line from Memphis to Tucumcari, New Mexico, and westward from there the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa
Fe Railway to Los Angeles. But the success of the undertaking, Tidball asserts, is the reports of the surveys published in 12 volumes composing a lavishly illustrated encyclopedic compendium of western geography, geology, botany, zoology, archeology, and ethnology.

"Soldier-Artist of the Great Reconnaissance" is a valuable addition to the history of an undertaking that rivals in importance the explorations earlier in the century of the Corps of Discovery to our understanding of the American West in the 19th century. A great story of adventure, duty, dedication, and endurance.

This book exposes clearly what happened in land operations in the second part of Eastern front war. Rates in the Erickson's league, probably not in detail but with more clear maps.

Ziemke's work, although based primarily on German sources, it still the most accurate general history of the Eastern Front. For example, it is the only general history that does not repeat the myth of the Battle of Prokhorovka. Recommended as the starting point for studying the Eastern Front.

Gorky has been somewhat ignored as a literary figure of recent times. Probably because of his status as a Bolshevik writer. His subsequent voluntary 'exile' to Italy and his return to the Soviet Union have always raised eyebrows. Gorky had a complicated relationship with Stalin and was all too often played like a fiddle by Stalin to add literary and intellectual credibility to Stalin's various imperial schemes. For example, it was Gorky who was sent on a tour of the Gulags and returned writing praise of the conditions he found there, whilst it is obvious that there was the heavy hand of the sensor here, there remains the suspicion that Gorky was keen to retain his status as a writer in the Soviet Union with the privilages and Dachas that came with it. However, it is easy to sit in democratic London and pass judgement on such situations, Stalin, was not a man to be trifled with.

This collection of short stories show Gorky at his best. The character of the worker/peasant shines through the complexities and traumas of Russian life. The characters are vivaciaous and real and the stories are a very good read.

Yet another criminally ignored writer. While Chekhov isn't exactly "well-known," he's at least widely recognized, and relatively inexpensive editions of some of his works are available from the likes of Penguin Classics. No such luck for Maksim Gorkii, despite his being one of the best authors of all time. This is, in fact, the first time I have seen an English translation of "Through Russia." For the intents and purposes of this review, I'll assume that this is the same "Through Russia" as the one I read - a collection of Gorkii's short stories. Okay, then.

Gorkii is perhaps the spiritually strongest human being to ever have lived. His three-part autobiography will reveal that he did not grow up in a very happy family, and that's putting it very lightly. Then, before he even entered his teenage years, he was already "among the people," working like the others, and face-to-face with the most grim, banal and disgusting aspects of modern life. But he didn't break under it. Not a chance. Instead of succumbing, he not only managed to maintain his personal honour, grace and dignity, but also sought and fought for something more than the world offered, which he found in the form of books. Surrounded by ignorance and apathy, he nonetheless managed to retain his love of books and of truth - and took it with him to the road. Far from trying to escape life, Gorkii took it on head-to-head, and won. He travelled all over Russia, saw all sorts of people, worked at all kinds of jobs, and saw more in his lifetime than most people ever will, and this book is the result. It is a series of sketches and stories, all of which were directly recorded from his experiences. And what a book it is.

Gorkii's books are life. They're not even Naturalistic - Naturalists researched life, but didn't necessarily record it exactly. Gorkii's books _are_ life. What you're reading is what happened. And it's absolutely amazing. There are unbearable amounts of apathy, dirt and indignity in life, but there are the people, few and far between, who redeem all of it, who rise above their surroundings and shine. Gorkii was such a person, and others are present in this book. Perhaps that ultimately life-affirming reassurance, the knowledge that there are people who know the true value of the world, that makes Gorkii's books so powerful, and what made their author capable of beating life.

Not all of the stories are overwhelmingly powerful. In the middle, the book drags somewhat, apparently retreading the territory of other Gorkii works such as "Okurov Town." But some of these are literally some of the best stories ever written. I can only try to describe them; you'll have to read them. First we have "Birth of a Man," which basically summarizes Gorkii's major theme in fifteen pages. More powerful, however, is "Woman." I don't think I'll ever be able to forget the title character. But the real force of the book comes in the last three stories. First we have one with an untranslatable title, about an encounter the author has with the utter dregs of society, rejected even by the drunks and the freaks, a story about poverty, humanity, and survival. Then we shift gears completely for the odd, almost surreal story of an encounter with a decrepit old farm and its inhabitants in some desert. (I swear, I -heard- the woman sing...) And last is another desert story, wistful and melancholy with a violent conclusion. Its title character's sort of nonchalant fatalism is also not easy to forget. "First I'm here, then I have to leave. At home I have a friend, I leave and he betrays me. When spirits laugh, people cry. That's the way things are..."

I realize I haven't exactly done a good job of describing what these are about, but it's something one has to experience for themselves. Think nothing of the price and buy this book. I hope to hell that the translation is at least competent.

This book provides a thourough set of the features and attractions you will see on a drive through the Sierra Nevada. Most guides cover Highway 49 and some cover US395, but this guide also covers the far southern and far northern ends of the mountain range.

An exhaustive guide might be 1000 pages long, but in the 300 pages here, Koehler lovingly covers the highlights as well as some hidden gems in the area.

When I recently planned a trip to the Sierra I browsed through many books on the region. It wasn't until I saw Koehler's new title that I knew I had struck Sierra gold. This book is not just a timely overview of the region that is one of the nation's true scenic wonders--it is impressively well-written. Koehler threads her own experience into a beautifully-rendered survey of every destination you would probably consider visiting, whether by foot, snowshoes or car.

This is a good book if you are interested in a brief synopsis or precis of the Lewis and Clark Journals. The Introduction is informative and accurate. There is a note on the text detailing the editing process, and the constraints the author was confined to. All in all, it is a good, quick summary of the journals. It should be noted that the first entry is for May 13, 1804, so any earlier history of the expedition is ommitted. Additionally, the entries end on September 24, 1806. Basically stated, for the price it is a good value. If you are interested in a beginning primer on the expedition of Lewis and Clark, you cannot go wrong by starting here.

Historians and enthusiasts of U.S. exploration are very fortunate that these journals of Jedediah Smith have survived so that we have a better understanding as to past events and life as it was so long ago. The book begins with a short but enlightening autobiography from Smith himself on how and why he entered the fur trade. The following chapter is the finale of his epic 1826-1827 ramble across the Great Basin from California where he and his two men nearly perished. The focus of the book is on his second California expedition to California in 1827-1828, then up to Oregon and Washington. While the second expedition was disastrous in the loss of ten men to the Mohave Indians along the Colorado River and fifteen men lost to the Umpqua Indians in Oregon, it was monumental in exploration and cartography for the United States. Sandwiched between these two massacres were confrontations with Mexican officials. Also included are letters from HBC Chief Trader McLeod on his journey with Smith back to the Umpqua River in order to recover what was stolen from Smith and his party by these marauding Indians. A very historic book because of the journals and Sullivan's thorough editing. The precursor to these journals would be the book "The Southwest Expedition of Jedediah S. Smith: His Personal Account of the Journey to California, 1826-1827", edited by George R. Brooks.

Witi Ihimaera is on of my favourite authors and this book does not disappoint. OK, so perhaps it is a little sterotypical and a little dramatic in places but it grips you. Sam and Cliff are vibrant characters and I empathize with them completely. The backdrop of the Vietnam war is a fitting context and the battle scences detailed. I really enjoyed this book, Witi Ihimaera is a master storyteller.
If you liked this, you may wnat to read "Nights in the Garden on Spain" also by Witi. Also very very good.

The opening pages of Uncle's Story suggest a twist that the reader may guess.. but after the first few pages, all bets are off... as Witi Ihimaera takes the reader on a wild and action-packed ride of plot twists and character development. Similar to Whale Rider, in that it's a coming of age (coming out of the closet?) story of a young Maori fighting against the bias and proud traditions of one's tribal family. Uncle's Story has additional drama with it's backdrop being the Vietnam War.

If you saw the movie Whale Rider and loved it, then you owe it to yourself to read Uncle's Story. You won't be disappointed!!!

Ann Fielding has put together an informative book that is very useful for snorkeling.

This book is packed with SPECTACULAR photos of fishes, corals and inverts found in Hawaiian waters. It includes a common name, scientific name, Hawaiian name (if applicable), and description with each photo. It is a good guide in helping to identify and learn more about these marine animals.

The history of food fascinates me, and early american history is no exception. This is a very good recounting of early cooking and preservation methods in the pacific northwest. Note some people who glimpsed it on my desk were disappointed, thinking it a cookbook. It isn't intended to be one. It is, however, a very good review of how people ate given the times in which they lived. Some basic information about early preservation, pickling, flour processing and sugar. Let's just say that we should all be really glad our modern staples are regulated by the government somewhat!

I quite enjoyed it. Even if you don't typically like history books, if food fascinates you, give this a whirl. It's full of tasty trivia.

Jackie Williams is a friend of ours, a fellow collector of spud-abilia and appreciator of the potato, who has written several cookbooks as well as a fine food history work, Wagon Wheel Kitchens, Food on the Oregon Trail. Happily we can say that her newest book is a superb sequel, looking in on the pioneers once they reached their new home bases. Jackie has researched this subject down to the last eggless cake and translates all her findings into pleasing prose.

Starting with all-essential water, then moving from early kitchens--every woman wanted a proper cookstove, but many made do with Dutch ovens over hot coals--to the perils of pickling , Jackie Williams paints an engaging picture of the improvisational skills of early settlers and their appreciation for the bounty of the land when it came their way.