Massachusetts Books

Verner Mitchell's book is long overdue. Helene Johnson was a brilliant, up and coming poet of the Harlem Renaissance when she left the poetry circuit to make a living. Langston Hughes, among others, praised her poetry. Mitchell's book gives us previously unpublished poetry as well as further insight into her life. I highly recommend this book to one and all.

"This Waiting for Love: Helene Johnson, Poet of the Harlem Renaissance" is an anthology of Johnson's work with a rich collection of supplementary materials. The book is edited with an introduction by Verner D. Mitchell.

This book includes the following: a foreword by scholar Cheryl Wall; 65 pages of Johnson's poems; a chronology; black-and-white photos of Johnson and her literary and personal circle; a selection of letters by Johnson and members of her circle (Zora Neale Hurston, Dorothy West, etc.); an afterword by Johnson's daughter Abigail McGrath, and a 2-page bibliography.

All the supplemental material is fascinating, and helps to put Johnson's life and work in historical and cultural context. But the centerpiece of this book is her marvelous body of poetry. Publication data is given for each poem; included are a number of previously unpublished pieces. Johnson was a true technical master of poetry, skilled at using rhyme, meter, and alliteration. She is as effective with a sonnet as with free verse.

Her work is passionate, witty, and bold. She is a keen observer and has some poems that really appeal to the senses. She is adept with vernacular language, as well as with more traditionally literary language. These poems cover an impressive range of subject matter: nature, religion, oppression, Black pride, urban life, war, growing old, etc.

I fell in love with Johnson's amazing voice years ago when I encountered her work in an anthology. I am glad to see a volume devoted to her legacy; I highly recommend this book for individual reading, classroom use, and book clubs.

I just ordered this book and waiting for it to arrive. I have no clue as to what kinnda stuff this book deals with but i cant wait to see Dr. Walmsley's work. This guy is a genious and has a great sense of humour. I have a History test tomorrow in his class which I am definatley going to fail. Ahh i wish i would've studied.

This is a great book for anyone who is interested in a more dynamic view of politics in pre-revolutionary Boston. Walmsley demonstrates, in interesting and readable prose, how previous assessments of Hutchinson have too often been influenced by the biased and facile rhetoric of his Bostonian peers. Dr. Walmsley successfully portrays Hutchinson as a political and social actor and victim of the tumultuous Boston scene. Through his writing we are able to conceive of Hutchinson as a man who acted for both personal and political reasons. Hutchinson cannot be so easily characterized as simply a placeman for the British. Neither was he a villain who delighted in crushing Boston's radical crowd. Rather, Walmsley shows that Hutchinson was a very human figure who often found himself caught between the intransigence of British colonial policy and the self-serving rhetoric of the Boston radical elite. I recommend this book to both laymen and professionals alike.

This book and its illustrations will bring back memories of childhood summer vacations and will make your children excited to go on their own summer trips. The illustrations are beautiful and detailed -- your children will love to read and re-read this book as they try to pick out all of the interesting details.

My boys absolutely loved this book. The illustrations really caught their eyes. They pointed out many things that I didn't even notice at first glance. Although the boys have not personally taken the Downeaster, they have been on a train and related well to the book. Rebecca Harrison Reed is a highly talented children's book artist! I look forward to her next book.

Like the other Grayson books, this is a true delight to curl up with. I first "discovered" these books when I accidentally purchased the entire first edition set in a box of books at an auction. It was the best dollar I ever spent. Mr Grayson takes us to a day and time that we have overlooked. His keen observations are as valid today as they were when the author first published. I value these books as they give yet another lens to view life through thereby making life much richer. Recommend this work, and Grayson's other works highly.

In a world of turmoil and carking care, where every headline shrieks of battle and suffering, David Grayson's books, with their deeply felt appreciation of the joys of nature and of the simple life, have a real place.Mr. grayson has evolved a philosophy of life and an attitude toward the world which will give solace and encouragement to those of us who need a therapeutic escape from the grim realties of life today.You will enjoy sitting under David Grayson's stately old Elm....The illustrations by David Hendrickson make it a true beauty.

This book is a model for a relatively concise but thorough biography of an under-appreciated historical figure. The writing is skillful, and the text benefits immensely from extensive quotations from Wright's voluminous letters. Wright's voice is lively and witty and she makes very good company for the 7 or 8 hours required to read this book.

In the eyes of history, Wright has been overshadowed by her older sister Lucretia Mott and her contemporaries Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. But her central participation in both the woman's rights and anti-slavery causes secures her a place as one of the giants of the mid-19th century. Wright believed strongly in the benefits of free expression and complete tolerance even of shocking views expressed by others. She thus anticipated many intellectual currents of the late 20th century.

This book is very much worth reading.

I am a descendent of Martha Coffin Wright and I had not know about her illustrious history before I read this book. I felt compelled to educate myself about her and her daughter Ellen who is my great grandmother. I had received a call from the National Park Service to ask me how I felt about being a relative of Martha Coffin Wright and did I know about the National Monument at Seneca Falls, New York and that then Mrs. Clinton would speak at the official celebration of the signing of the Women's Rights Manefesto. I was ignorant of the association of my family with the signers of the Document as I had been blinded by the weight of my patriarchal lineage from the Garrison side. I was thrilled to learn of the depth of the involvement of Martha Wright and Lucretia Coffin Mott, her older sister, and her daughter Ellen and their many adventures with the Underground Railway, especially through their deep connection with Sojourner Truth.
I have since met James Livingston and connected with him about our relationship and I enjoy being open to a whole new aspect of my family history.

I concur that this is indeed the best edition of Walden. The editing by Mr Cramer is superb, as well as his Afterword. The format of the book is better than any other I have seen. I am glad I bought it. You will not be sorry you did.

Beautiful, affordable, and edited by an undisputed expert on Thoreau's writings, this is by far the best edition available of this classic work. I cannot recommend it too highly, especially to anyone who, like me, re-reads WALDEN on a regular basis. Good size to fit into a bag or purse yet large enough for ease of reading, Cramer's scholarship is worn lightly so that the beauty of the words can shine through. This will be the standard edition for years to come. Buy plenty of copies--one to keep for yourself, the others to give as gifts.

This is the best book that the United States of America has produced. America has failed to the extent that it has fallen beneath the level of these practical ideals. But it is never too late to put them into practice.

Thoreau masterfully analyzes his in its purest form, he does away his all superfluous details. He forces the read to question his own existence. He forces the reader to imagine life without technology, commotion and anything unnecessary. Besides his analysis in Walden, he takes a stand for the maverick, for the individual, for the non-conformist. Lastly his social commentary especially about slavery shows how wrong our coutry had been.

I took the author's course on land making at Harvard Extension School and have read her book on the sane subject. This easily portable book is full of salient facts and diagrams which neatly summarize the history of the area in which the walk takes place and does so in a very easily understood way. For anyone interested in this suject or someone who enjoys walking and learning the history of the area in which they are walking I would highly recommend this guide. The book is well organized and is a bargain at the price

Boston is a city with an extremely rich history; Baedeker's 1909 United States Guide called it "the city with the greatest amount of historical interest in North America." Almost one hundred years later, Nancy Seasholes has performed the city a tremendous service with her illuminating, entertaining, and informative guide to Boston's made land.

Unique among American cities, Boston is a city with so much "made land" (i.e. landfill or artificial land) that a guide to made land essentially constitutes a guide to the city itself. Readers of Seasholes' book will find the history and buildings of familiar districts like the waterfront, Faneuil Hall, Beacon Hill, and Back Bay described as they have never been before- as constructed pieces of the Boston cityscape- as well as equally interesting (and beautiful) areas like Charlestown, the Leather District, and Bay Village that are a bit further from the tourist trail. The section on the South End, in particular, is rich in detail and provides an entirely new perspective on this urbane and diverse area of the city.

Not since the AIA Guide to Boston, published in the 1980s, has the cityscape and urban design of Boston received such an informative and entertaining treatment. Those interested in the built history of Boston, and in the city's ever-changing relationship with its waterfront and rivers, will find no better guide than Seasholes' book. Best of all are the puzzled looks you will get from passers-by as you examine a seemingly innocuous rowhouse or section of wall that once absorbed the waves of Boston Harbor or the Charles River a hundred or more years ago.

Jack Driscoll, Wanting Only to Be Heard

reviewed by David LeGault

Jack Driscoll has painted a dark, isolated landscape that his readers can not help but become engulfed in. Throughout his 1991 award winning short story collection, Wanting Only to be Heard, Driscoll manages to paint the desolate scene of northern Michigan, a region with a harsh climate matched only by the reality of its inhabitants' lives. Whether it is the cold and lonely winters or the intensity of baseball season, Driscoll has shown us that northern Michigan life can be brutal, although morbidly fascinating.
Wanting Only to be Heard primarily deals with the tense relationships between fathers and sons. Although this theme may seem limiting when you consider that there are eighteen stories in the book, Driscoll manages to keep every scenario fresh and poignant. In one story, Driscoll writes about a father's violent reaction to being stood up on a date, his son witnessing the entire scene: "I felt the whole house shake and thought then of passionate killing, my father's phrase for the quick and merciful execution of what we had raised in the sties and coops of the farm." Although the single parent and child connection is very apparent in that story, the theme is better hidden in some of the other stories-such as "The Wilderness State"-where a community college professor who is frustrated with life chooses to sleep with one of his students in the hope of getting fired. From early childhood to midlife crisis, Driscoll captures the troubles of fatherhood brilliantly.
Although the collection is fixated upon the troubles of single fatherhood, it subtly touches on many other recurring problems of northern Michigan, particularly substance abuse. Driscoll does an excellent job of capturing not only the sadness and desperation of alcoholism, but also the informality-practically acceptance-of it in the Upper Peninsula. In his story, "Wish Pennies," Driscoll writes: "'Slow down,' Howard had his last beer between his legs, and he kept straddling the broken white lines, drifting into the opposite lane." The narrator is simply concerned with the car's speed-not the drinking-when Howard drives them around, driving drunk because there's nothing better to do. As a native of the region, I caught myself relating characters like Howard to people from my own childhood: neighbors, drunk drivers from the police bulletin in the newspaper, and classmates. As regrettable as this behavior can be, it shows that Driscoll has made the alcohol in his work-whether it be in drunk driving or parental indifference to their children's experimentation-a believable and essential part of the northern Michigan story.
Growing up in the region, I have always been quick to dismiss Upper Michigan writing for its stereotypical portrayal of our lifestyle as a natural wonderland full of simple minded hunters, fishers, and miners. However, Jack Driscoll's work has captured everything about the culture-the obsession with weather, the alcoholism, the search for a better existence-in a way that was unique and, more importantly, credible. He currently lives in northern Michigan himself, and his experience with the region definitely comes out in this and his other books. Even when he does touch on the commonly used themes of Upper Michigan writing (such as hunting), as he does in "Flea to Jesus," he writes it in a way that shows us so much more, particularly poverty, escapism, and parallels to a father's life that a son would never want to follow: "'Spare none of them,' Angus McCoskey had said that first evening, and I, a disbeliever in greed, had returned in the name of Money, that newest god my father trusted would deliver me from the graceless routines of this small town, its small minded teachings."
Finally, Driscoll's stylistic voice is spot-on throughout the collection. Although he takes on many characters throughout the collection, his balance of description and action makes for a perfectly paced reading experience. Although there are some definite standouts-particularly the short story for which the collection is named-the book as a whole is joyously entertaining and painfully thought provoking. Whether you're looking for a book on northern Michigan life or an in-depth look into the pains of single parenthood and substance abuse, Wanting Only to be Heard should be your answer.

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David LeGault is from Gladstone, Michigan, and is an undergraduate in the Writing Department at Grand Valley State University.

These stories capture the essence of real life in middle America. At the heart of each story are human beings--plain 'ol, flawed human beings. The people you meet in Wanting Only to Be Heard are the people you might meet at an Upper Peninsula (Michigan) tavern on a Friday night. You won't find a trace of a cliche anywhere in this book, not an ounce of phoniness.

Ryder Gerard fell in love with Emily Sayer sixteen years ago, his brother Hallam knew it. Hallam got Emily drank and raped her. When he found out she was pregnant Hallam tried to get Emily to get an abortion.
She refused, Hallam got killed in an accident while looking over his shoulder as he cursed Emily.
Emily's family were hard core religious nuts, Tough love was the only love they knew. when they found out Emily was pregnant, they kicked her out with only the clothes she was standing in.
Emily went to a cave to live. Ryder found her and proposed marriage to her, she refused.
Sixteen years later Emily's son Josh, is getting into trouble, he wants to know who his father is.
Ryder knows, he goes to Emily and again proposals to her, this time it is for her son's sake.They Marry.
Emily learns to trust Ryder, but when she finds out he has an unusual gift he thinks she will run away screaming.
Instead she finds she remembers the times he kept her from getting hurt.
And Ryder used his gift to stop Josh from getting hurt.
Her love for him grows to match his, as it always been for her.

I was wondering what the next ability was and who would display it.

We now learn more of Emily Sayer's life and what lead up to her becoming an outcast from her family. What a feud.

Josh learns from his mother who his father is and Ryder Gerard asks Emily, a second time, to marry him.
Emily, who has supported herself and Josh for sixteen years and is thirty three, is hard headed and independant. [Oh, these dumb women] but it makes the story work.

She does not have any love for the Gerard family but soon finds out that she at least owes them some gratitude. [puts her nose out of joint] Josh is immediately taken with his uncle and wants his mother to try to get along with his fathers' relations.

She is surprised to find out that grandpa and great-grandpa do not have any special powers but boy, wait until Josh get into trouble, a life threatening situation. Boy, was I surprised at Ryder's thoughts of the situation. Fantastic story!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED -- of course Emily marries Ryder for Josh's sake and Josh is in for a surprise on learning a few facts that Ryder knew about her when she was younger.