Memorials Books

Haven't seen this product specifically but can say that Prof Robertson was by far the most interesting lecturer in any college class that I've attended. I thank him for introducing me to a different perspective of the civil war that of the soldier. His stories of a soldier's life lent a very human view of this brutal war. I guess the greatest testament I can give to his skills as a lecturer is that he was one of the few professors that I eagerly drug my usually hungover butt out of bed to trundle across a typically frozen Virginia Tech campus at 8 am in the morning and say it was well worth it. I also thank him for giving me the gift of a lifelong hobby in following the Civil War. Again I can't speak for this particular product but if they even come close to capturing his passion for the history of the Civil War they would be well worth it to any Civil War buff

If you are in search of an outstanding book on the steam engine and of course James Watt, this is the book. It has anything you may need to know about his life starting from childhood through his retirement. It highlights the relationshop between Boulton and Watt and the steam engine which he made practical. The book not only tells about Watt, but about the way in which a steam engine operates and how his did operate. This invention was without a doubt a major turning point in history.

Peterson's book captures snapshots of how Americans have viewed Thomas Jefferson throughout our history. On July 4, 1826, Thomas Jefferson died, and this is where the Jefferson image begins to take shape. The thesis concerns "the composite representation of the historic personage and of the ideas and ideals, policies and sentiments, habitually identified with him" (Preface). We watch how his image is refashioned and molded by various politicians over the course of one hundred and fifty years that this book covers. We are led by a great historian who has written eight books on Thomas Jefferson. It is a stimulating, whirlwind journey. The intellectual beginnings of the strains about slavery start with the Jefferson image. Ambiguity seems to sum up his points in his writings. It became possible for abolitionists to point to the Declaration of Independence and his comments on the Missouri Compromise, "it was like a fire-bell in the night" sounding "the knell of the Union" (189). The pro-slavery side could use Jefferson's and Madison's Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798 and cloak the issue as states' rights. To make this jump, however, the states' rights supporters had to change the interpretation of nullification from a consortium of states to a single state. These issues made for a gigantic loggerhead that would only be solved by a Civil War. Peterson shows us with great clarity how both sides claimed they were the true heirs of the Jefferson mind. Alleged sexual relations of a president are not only in twentieth century politics. Jefferson's affair with Sally Hemings is described and refuted by the author. Peterson pulls out three possible roots for these "rumors." They are all very interesting arguments; however, it has been proven true by DNA tests. Abraham Lincoln shines in this account as the person capable of synthesizing the conflicting ideas of Jefferson into one whole. I would argue that it is Lincoln's portrayal of Jefferson that we all have come to accept as our standard. Lincoln combined "the work of Alexander Hamilton, on the basis of the principles of Jefferson; and thus united...the two strands of political philosophy..." (220). This was Lincoln's genius as a leader, to bring a powerful government together with the ideals of the Declaration. This has made the image of Jefferson and Lincoln interconnected in the American mind. Jefferson falls into disrepute after the Civil War because of his intellectual dilemmas that helped shape it; consequently, there was a resurgence of popularity of the Federalists and particularly of Hamilton, Jefferson's nemesis. The twentieth century ushers in a new era over the Jefferson image. Differing policies and presidents resurrect Jefferson in the Progressive movement, the Wilsonian New Freedom, and Theodore Roosevelt's New Nationalism (331). This leads us to the same conflicts that Hamilton and Jefferson had, especially concerning the role of the federal government. It is, however, a changing country that will soon no longer be the agrarian dream that Jefferson would have liked. The U.S. had become an industrial and political powerhouse in the world, and there was no going back. The image changes to fit the times as the New Deal comes. Franklin D. Roosevelt uses Jefferson to provide a symbol to rally around, but it also seriously undermines and revises Jefferson's ideals. A big government program like the New Deal would not have been a priority according to strict Jeffersonian principles. Peterson writes that the Jefferson Memorial which was built in 1943 during FDR's administration "testifies to the artistry with which the New Deal combined reverence for the symbol and freedom of revision" (333). The book concludes in 1943 with the completion of the Jefferson Memorial and his birthday centennial. What are we left with at the end? We can quote a variety of different aspects to the Jeffersonian image depending on whose interpretation you prefer. You can quote Jefferson, "the anti-statist, states' righter, isolationist, agrarian, rationalist, civil libertarian, and constitutional democrat" (445). This division of the mind of the Sage of Monticello has created a boon for historians and politicians. We can all find something about Jefferson to argue and point to as a support for our position. Peterson has written a wonderful guide book though American thought on a very enigmatic figure in our history. Occasionally, the book gets bogged down in little details. It mostly provides extremely clear arguments concerning the historical disputes over who is the heir to the Jeffersonian image. Merrill Peterson has made an important contribution to the interpretation of a complex American figure. After consulting recent bibliographies, no one has written a similar work. Only the author himself could have improved on this book. The book has been republished and it currently available.

The Rum Rebellion on Australia Day, 1808 was the outcome of the head-on collision between two of the most determined personalities in Australian history. One was Captain William Bligh R.N., Governor of the Penal Colony of New South Wales: the other was John Macarthur, at one time an officer in the infamous New South Wales Corps, and later a very wealthy and influential merchant and pastoralist.

That the penal colony was established on 26 January, 1788 was a direct result of the American War of Independence, for it would thereafter not be possible for people sentenced to penal servitude in Britain to be sent into exile in the Colonies of New England.

The beginnings of the first European settlement in Australia were therefore altogether inauspicious. Those who arrived in the First Fleet were either convicted felons or the soldiers of the New South Wales Corps who were to be their jailers. The King of England and his government were represented in the Colony by the Governor, Captain Arthur Phillip, R.N..

In the absence of any free settlers and in particular of anything resembling a merchant class, the officers of the Corps were able to control the distribution of all kinds of commodities, including food, that were brought into the colony.

Of particular historical importnce among those commodities was rum: rum which was so generally sought after in the colony that the Corps officers, by their illegal trafficking, were able to establish it as a de facto currency.In rum, wages were paid, other goods were bought and sold and contractual obligations discharged.

No one profited from this ruinous commerce more than John Macarthur who, by virtue of his dominant personality, became the acknowledged leader and spokesman of the officers as well as others, including some emancipated convicts, engaged in the rum trade.

It was only natural then that, when Governor William Bligh arrived in the colony in August, 1806 under instructions to pursue a policy favourable to the small farmers of the Hawkesbury Valley and unfavourable to the interests of the rum traffickers in Sydney, these latter should look to Macarthur to lead their challenge against the Governor and lawful authority.

In large part the conflict between the rum traffickers and the proper authority of the governor manifested itself in a series of legal actions brought by Macarthur against anyone who seemed to threaten his previously unfettered monopoly, and found expression in formal reports by the Governor to the Colonial Office in London as well as in less formal despatches from Macarthur to influential members of the English aristocracy whom he considered likely to support his cause.

The crisis came on 26 January, 1808, exactly twenty years after the establishment of the settlement in Sydney Cove. On that day, the officers of the Corps led their soldiers - most of them emboldened be liberal quantities of rum - in a march upon the Governor's residence. It was, as Evatt wrote "... an organised attack, not only in military array, but by officers and soldiers with loaded guns, fixed bayonets and all the panoply of war."

Governor Bligh was arrested and supplanted in executive control of the colony by a junta of military officers and John Macarthur.

It is one of the more bitter ironies of Australian history that this treasonous outrage occurred on the very day upon which, every year since Federation in 1901, Australians celebrate their nationhood.

Bligh has been much maligned by popular history both in Australia and elsewhere, and Evatt's book did much to set the record straight. It brought to bear upon the events and relationships narrated the objectivity of analysis and the fair-mindedness one would hope should characterise an author of such eminence. Dr. Evatt has, in addition, performed the estimable service of making otherwise cloudy legal vistas clear and accessible to any interested lay reader.

A distinguished jurist, Dr. Evatt was, at various times, a Justice of the High Court of Australia, Attorney-General and Foreign Minister and, in 1948-49, the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organisation.

. Why did all but one squadron (VT-8) from the USS Hornet fail to find the Japanese carriers during the Battle of Midway while planes from the Enterprise, the Yorktown, and from Midway Atoll had no such problem? Bowen Weisheit, a U.S. Marine aviator and experienced navigator, presents the answer in this fascinating study, culminating in a detailed chart showing the actual track of each Hornet squadron. If your only view of where the Hornet air group flew during the battle comes from the official record written by the USS Hornet's skipper RADM Marc Mitscher, and as related by Samuel Elliott Morison and other respected authors, this book will be a stunning revelation.
. Weisheit's book should not be dismissed as simply more revisionist history about World War II. It definitely is not mere conjecture based on personal opinion and isolated anecdotes, like some of the revisionist works seen in recent years, especially in connection with the Pearl Harbor attack. In "The Last Flight..." the author's conclusions are supported by solid evidence and especially by in-person interviews with USS Hornet pilots themselves. (As a side note, a key element in Weisheit's findings--that Torpedo Squadron 8 broke away from the Hornet air group in the OPPOSITE direction indicated in Mitscher's official after-action report, was personally verified to this reviewer by another Hornet aircrew veteran who Weisheit did not interview. As you will see in the book, that seemingly minor detail is crucial to the author's basic thesis.)
. "The Last Flight..." clearly reveals that the generally accepted account of the Hornet air group at the Battle of Midway has been fundamentally wrong for over 60 years. It's a book that any student preparing a report on the battle MUST include in his or her research, and it's one that those interested in the battle for other reasons will want in their collections. (Reviewed by R. W. Russell, Battle of Midway Roundtable, www.midway42.org)

I came to know Leslie Scarman, quite fortuitously, by being a neighbour in a small courtyard where he lived, in Kent, during his retirement.

It wasn't until some years later, after I'd moved away from the area that I began to read up about his life and career. I knew his name mainly from the report that followed the public inquiry into the riots in Brixton during April 1981. He'd done a similar report into public disorder in Red Lion Square, seven years earlier.

An important phase of his career, of course, was as first chairman of the English Law Commission and he numbers among the great, enlightened statutes which first saw the light in the chambers of this body 'The Unfair Contract Terms Act'.

For me, this typifies the kind of guy that Leslie Scarman seemed to be. Somebody that had an intuitive understanding of what 'fair' means. Like an elephant, it's hard to define. But once you know what it is, you recognise it - wherever it is to be found.

This law reform book grows out of that body of work which he oversaw at The Law Commission. Jawaharlal Nehru was an influential political leader of the republic of India, whose father was a barrister.

This book is a sort of wish list, really. It's about how a society might grow forward by a steady process of reform. Both Nehru and Scarman were, in their own epoch, inspiring reformers.

The author gave me this book as a gift - so it is obviously full of things that were close his heart. Not being a lawyer, I may have only understood it to a limited extent but I gave it as a gift to a young Indian man who was in his final year at law school.. and wondering what direction his future career might take.

I was only four years old when Rabbi Manuel Laderman returned his soul to his Creator in 1989. A beloved spiritual leader and Torah scholar, he tirelessly served and led the Denver Jewish community for decades. Although I was too young to remember him, the man has affected my life nontheless through his writings and family stories. He was cherished and revered by my grandparents, parents, and aunts and uncles, a never ending source of comfort, guidance, and inspiration to my entire family. This collection of letters was discovered by the rabbi's son Paul during the week of mourning for his father and was published shortly thereafter, posthumously, in 1991, with a foreword by Rabbi Laderman's successor, Rabbi Daniel Goldberger (may G-d grant him a rapid and complete recovery), and a short biography of Rabbi Laderman. The diversity of the letters' "recipients" testify to the rabbi's immense love for the Jewish people and humanity at large and his unique ability to relate with people from all walks of life. His writings in this book are insightful and wise without being preachy. These letters are hauntingly beautiful. They will enrich your life.

It is so hard to find quality non-fiction books for my kindergarten students. These books are excellent! The photos are incredible and the text is just the right amount for young learners. I highly reccomend these books for all lower primary teachers and parents of young children.

The only English in this text is the introduction so if you are not a Persian speaker I would not recomend this book.

This book is a biography of the great Chaghatay poet Ali Shir Navai'i d1501 who was one of the great poets of his day. Navai'i made a remarkable contribution to the translation of Persian text to the Turkic Chaghatay language and increased the Islamisation of the Mongol and Turkic people and culture of Central Asia. His works were popular in Ottoman Turkey especially after the Tanzimat period when Ottomans slowly became under the infulence of Pan Turkism but most of all he is remembered as a great poet and scholar of Central Asia.

Well worth buying but only if you speak Persian.

This little Jewel of a book is one of the few published so far (2000) on the Tokyo International Forum. It is a simple read from a Vinoly Lecture and punctuated with some fascinating black and white "project" photos (I especially like the shots of the GIANT structural model). The fact that this project cost in excess of $1.65 Billion and is probably the most technically breathtaking work of Architecture in the modern era is clear. What is not so clear is why more has not been written on Rafael's "underdog" competition entry. I have an extensive collection of Architectural books but this very inexpensive book is one of my very favorites.