Missouri Books

An effective state legislator is one who is aware of and reflects a district's thinking and concerns and maintains good communications with organized groups represeting that district, according to this author. The author followed 12 state legislators in search of what made them effective legislators and has produced this book as a result of his research.

The book analyzes previous research and theories regarding legislative representation. Michael A. Smith concludes there is no universal definition of how to define representation, noting that even legislators are dynamically redefining how they consider their own styles of representation as circumstances change.

This book provides great insight based on actual observations. Michael A. Smith discusses how legislators from lower or moderate income urban areas tended to be the strongest advocates for their districts and often take the lead in advancing causes that help their constituents. Legislators from wealthier districts who face tougher reelection campaigns tend to more passively wait for constituents to bring issues to them before advocating such issues. Legislators who wish to run for office tend to be outspoken advocates. Legislators with little or no ambition for higher office tend to try to come across as more level-headed.

While the author concludes there is no "grand theory" on describing how legislators behanve, these observations and categorizaitons are very useful. It is helpful to read disucssions of theory with actual observations.

This North Carolina poet writes powerful poetry with a clear sense of place and highly compressed imagery. If Janet Frame and Fred Chappell collaborated, the poetry might come out like this.I highly recommend it.Indeed, I am ordering a new copy because I keep lending mine to friends and can't seem to get it back!

I was a little skeptical at first because I thought everything that could have been written about the Younger Brothers has already been done. A few pages into the book told me this was not the case!!
Mr Koblas has done an excellent job in his research and of shedding new light on an already well-known subject.
Not only does he offer an excellent biography of Cole Younger but provides an in-depth description of the what the times were like and what factors (political, social and economical) were involved in shaping the later years of the Younger Brothers.
Can't go wrong with this one! - Roger Ashton

THIS BOOK IS ABOUT SOME OF THE FORMER PLAYERS FOR THE ST LOUIS CARDINALS. AMONG THE PLAYERS INTERVIEWED ARE JACK CLARK, RICK WISE, DICK GROTE AND TED SIMMONS. EACH PLAYER IS GIVEN 4-6 PAGES COVERAGE. THEY TELL US A BIT ABOUT THEIR CAREER WITH THE CARDS AND WHAT THEY ARE DOING NOW. I AM NOT EVEN A CARDS FAN BUT FOUND THIS BOOK TO BE INTERESTING AND NOSTALGIC. I RECOMMEND IT FOR ALL BASEBALL FANS.

The study of Peruvian flora have been the theme for several complex and broad studies as well as expeditions since Bentham & Hooker and Ruiz & Pavon in the eighteen century, untill McBride in 1936. Dozens of outstanding botanists have made contributions to the knowledge of this flora which is still incomplete: McBride, Weberbauer, Weddell, Ferreyra, Cuatrecasas, Smith and Gentry among others. The outcome of this is a huge amount of information and classification which is always not so easy to deal with.

The merit of this book is try to compile all the knowledge of the peruvian plants in a catalogue sorted by families, genera, location, synonimia, and holotype information (mainly herbaria availability). Actually the Brako's effort is the best one until now, to ordering all the information about peruvian flora, becoming as an excellent tool for herbarium and plant material management and as a good support for researchers not only of peruvian flora, but South American flora too.

This contribution is not only this at all. The authors Brako and Zarucchi gift us with a short overview study about peruvian flora, its distribution and composition by Alwyn Gentry, which is an excellent material for all of us who are related with teaching and education.

Surely, The Catalogue of the Flowering Plants and Gymnosperms of Peru, is not that kind of book who someone expect to read complete, but the kind who everyone interested of peruvian flora would like to have. Its objetive is not make a full description of peruvian plants, families and orders, neither give us excellent pictures and illustrations. Its objetive is make the complete checklist about what we know now. And certainly, it does.

Catfish, Fiddles, Mules, And More: Missouri's State Symbols by John C. Fisher is part of the "Missouri Heritage Readers" series and a truly fascinating introduction to Missouri's state symbols and the history behind each of them. Black-and-white photographs nicely illustrate this detailed and involving "tour through time". A highly accessible and recommended addition to Americana shelves in general and Missouri Regional History collections in particular, Catfish, Fiddles, Mules, And More also serves as an excellent template for the creation of other state symbol books.

In this well-written and comprehensive volume on Catholic writing in the United States, Ross Labrie focuses on works that meet three criteria: high intellectual and artistic achievement, authorship by a practicing Roman Catholic, and a focus on Catholic themes. Labrie begins with a discussion of the Catholic imagination and sensibility and considers the relationship between art and Catholic theology and philosophy.
Central to Catholic belief is the doctrine of the Incarnation, wherein human experience and the natural world are perceived as both flawed and redeemed. This doctrine can be seen as the axis on which Catholic American literature in general rests and from which variances by particular authors can be measured. The optimism implied in this doctrine, together with an inherited American political consciousness, allowed a number of Catholic authors, from a culture otherwise perceived as outside the American mainstream, to identify with a political idealism that granted dignity to the individual.
Counterpointing this emphasis on the individual, though, is the doctrine of the church as an intermediary between God and humanity and the belief in the community of saints. In concert with the doctrine of the Incarnation, these teachings gave Catholic writing a communal and prophetic dimension aimed at the whole of American society.
Separate chapters are included for each of the writers considered so that the distinctiveness of their works is elucidated, as well as the unity and the rich diversity of Catholic American writing in general. Some of the authors considered are Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, Allen Tate, Robert Lowell, Thomas Merton, and Mary Gordon.
A concluding chapter examines the significance of the corpus of Catholic American writing in the years 1940 to 1980, considering it parallel in substance to the body of Jewish American literature of the same period. The Catholic Imagination in American Literature fills a distinctive place in the study of American literature.

The Catholic Tradition by Thomas Langan (University of Missouri Press)
"This is a remarkable work. There are few who possess Langan's historical knowledge and philosophical depth. His reading of the past is informative, insightful, and provocative, all at once. . . . Anyone who wishes to know what Catholicism is, friend, foe, or uninformed Catholic, will find this volume a veritable treasure."--Jude P. Dougherty
In his Tradition and Authenticity in the Search for Ecumenic Wisdom, Thomas Langan argued that the close interaction of traditions in today's society calls for methodical critical appropriation of the beliefs fostered by the principal traditions. He also promised to demonstrate by example how such appropriation could be accomplished. In The Catholic Tradition, Langan successfully fulfills that vow by showing how a tradition--the Catholic--has shaped his own outlook.
In this comprehensive study, Langan examines the history of the Catholic Church and the origins of its teachings since the Church's conception. Although committed to the Catholic religion, Langan does not obscure the Church's failings as he lays out the fundamentals of the Catholic faith.
He provides insight into the great Christological councils, discusses the differences in the spiritualities of East and West, and portrays the crucial roles that the pope and bishops played during the Middle Ages. He incorporates the thought of Augustine, Aquinas, and medieval Catholicism as he traces the rise and decline of Christian Europe, the great issues raised by the reform: priesthood, the Eucharist, spirituality, and Church structure.
Satan has no greater triumph, Langan asserts, than when Catholics, who are recipients of the Good News of God's universal love, allow selections from their tradition to be turned into sectarianism and ideology. This balanced history of the Church as human reality faces such perversions squarely. But despite betrayals by its own across the centuries, the Catholic tradition, with its origin at Sinai, remains the oldest and largest extant religious institution.
In a last section Langan offers a unique overview of the church's present situation, its strengths and weaknesses, the new movement and the challenge of the "new evangelization."

Chance Sharpe is still in the Dakota wilds, trying to reach the Missouri and then link up with his riverboat. But things don't go to plan and Chance soon finds himself two new trailmates, survivors of a tribal massacre. These two are a white woman and her son. They've been captives of Shadow Killer, a fierce Sioux warchief - and he wants them back. As the manhunt closes in on Chance, the gambler realizes the odds just maybe against him this time...

Clay Tanner presents the reader with a book that starts slowly and gently builds to it's violent and crushing - for Chance - ending.

The first part deals with the building relationship between Chance and the white woman who won't look at him, never mind speak to him. When Chance finds out just who she is he refuses to accept that Shadow Killer will come after them. Slowly he cannot ignore the facts and he has to take on about 30 warriors alone.

The fight with the Sioux covers most of the second half of the book and is quiet gruesome at times. The author really sets out to test his hero with seemingly impossible odds and how he takes them on proves to be exciting reading.

This series is one I'd recommend to anyone who likes their westerns tough.

This is a terrific book for advanced recorder players. It has 180 pages of exercises and studies for both C and F recorders (including 16 bass recorder studies). It also includes duos for many different combinations of recorders. Spiral bound and easy to use. A real treasure!