Pennsylvania Books

The story of Nate and Miriam's life together in an Amish community is enchanting.

This wonderful cookbook has so many recipes I have been using for the past 25 years! My Mom gave it to me and my sisters when she worked in Philadelphia with my Dad. Favorite recipes: Chicken in Champagne sauce, Glazed Baked Ham, Elegant Chocolate Mouse cake with Lady Fingers and Veal Stew. The recipes are arranged in menu style for suggested occasions. It also contains wonderful pictures of historic buildings in our area.

Justice for All is the first of three works written by MAYO on the Pennsylvania State Police, the first uniformed state police department in the United States. This work concerns the need for the Force's creation and the efforts at its inception. These three works were presented by President Theodore ROOSEVELT to each member of the New York state assembly to illustrate the need for a state police force in that state. President ROOSEVELT was an ardent supporter of the Pennsylvania State Police. Those with an affection for either Pennsylvania or law enforcement history will enjoy this title.

A must have for anyone who is interested in taking a walk down memory lane in Kennett Square. I bought this for my grandmother who has spent most of her life living there and she has really enjoyed seeing the photos of old. Kennett Square has changed so much over the years, it is great to be able to see how it looked years ago.

There is a bit of a paradox in Kierkegaard studies in the English speaking world: there has been a vast number of studies on Kierkegaard produced in English, but the overwhelming majority has proven to be simply awful. I would argue that no major intellectual figure of the past few hundred years has been subjected to so few good books and yet such a deluge of bad ones. Kierkegaard himself was worried about his fate at the hands of "the professors," but the non-professors have hardly been any better writing about him (see the essays by John Updike on Kierkegaard if I am doubted). There have been a few good books, but only a few. Three that leap to mind are Bruce Kirmmse's KIERKEGAARD IN GOLDEN AGE DENMARK, Anthony Rudd's KIERKEGAARD AND THE LIMITS OF THE ETHICAL, and David Gouwen's KIERKEGAARD AS A RELIGIOUS THINKER.

Luckily, Louis Mackey's KIERKEGAARD: A KIND OF POET is another superb book, despite his central thesis being both uninteresting and unhelpful in reading Kierkegaard. As the title implies, Mackey views Kierkegaard as being fundamentally a poet, a notion that really does very little work in enlightening any would-be or actual reader of Kierkegaard. And in reading the book, very little light is shed on Kierkegaard by this notion of his being a poet. So given the paucity of the central interpretative tool in Mackey's book, why do I insist that it is a great book? Because at every other point Mackey possesses a profound and acute understanding of Kierkegaard's work. It is as if Mackey really understood Kierkegaard, but couldn't be content with a superb analysis of his work, but had to bring in some extraneous gimmick to give the book more interest.

Kierkegaard's works can largely be divided into his Pseudonymous Authorship (what Kierkegaard himself calls "My Authorship" and his later works that are sometimes called, following a suggestion by Robert L. Perkins, his Second Literature. The Second Literature is marked by Kierkegaard's writing his works usually in his own name, by the subject matter almost always being explicitly religious in nature, and in often having social or political overtones as well. The Pseudonymous literature comprises almost all of Kierkegaard's best-known works. These books were all written using Pseudonyms. These Pseudonymous authors would not necessarily (and in fact usually did not) represent Kierkegaard's own point of view. Some of these works dealt with aesthetical themes, some with ethics, and some with religious themes. The fundamental goal in these works was to demonstrate the shortcomings in the lives of individuals who lived lives determined by aesthetic or ethical principles, and the possibility of a religious existence that would go beyond these and yet fulfill them. Mackey writes almost exclusively about this Pseudonymous literature in this book. This is, in fact, the finest introduction to the Pseudonymous literature that exists in English.

A word of warning: Mackey has published a second book on Kierkegaard, POINTS OF VIEW: READINGS OF KIERKEGAARD. There are a couple of good essays in this book, mainly ones written about the time or before he wrote KIERKEGAARD: A KIND OF POET. Tragically, however, the further Mackey went in his career as a Kierkegaard scholar, the more enamored of postmodernist criticism he became, and he grew less and less intelligible as he went on. I find his second collection to be of virtually no interest at all. But that doesn't mitigate the tremendous value of the earlier book.

Movie fans ought to note that Mackey has managed a small but notable appearance in motion pictures. University of Texas (where Mackey taught) graduate student Richard Linklater (most recently the director of box office smash THE SCHOOL OF ROCK) has cast Mackey two of his films. In his breakout film SLACKER, Linklater cast Mackey in the role of The Old Anarchist (for those who have seen the film, the older man who caught a young person attempting to rob his house, but who he engages in conversation, telling him about his days in the Spanish Civil War, though his granddaughter later explains that he never did). And in the magnificent animated film WAKING LIFE, Linklater uses Mackey to more or less play himself for a small bit.

What a great book. It's full of pictures of area's in King Of Prussia that will boggle your mind. To see what used to be and compare it to what it is now in the township is wild. Though I thought a place or two was left out, Mr. Morrison did a great job with the book. A must have if you enjoy local history.

Ably translated from the original Italian by R. Burr Litchfield (Professor of History, Brown University), The King's Body: Sacred Rituals Of Power In Medieval And Early Modern Europe by Sergio Bertelli (Professor of History, University of Florence) presents an amazing and scholarly focus on a critical piece of European history: the nature and meaning of the sacred rituals associated with kingship. From the Vandal kings of Spain to the long succession of kings in England and France, The King's Body explores the multiple significance of rituals from birth to crowning and death. Very highly recommended for anyone with a keen interest in the history of the European monarchies, the black-and-white illustrations of classical artwork enhance this scholarly and serious historical analysis.

A fascinating and little-known story of the Frenchman Charles Mayrena, who enters Vietnam in the French colonial period and proclaims himself 'king' of the Sedang Tribe in central Vietnam. It's the old story of the westerner trying to make his fortune in an Asian culture, the n'er-do-well bum who gets caught up in the fantasies of his own self-styled importance. Of particular interest is the timing of the publication of this book in comparison to the publication of "Bright Shining Lie." Hickey's book came first, but should have gotten as much attention as "Lie." Hickey is a noted and much published ethnologist. Here he spins a tale of which movies are made, as the adventurer Mayrena gets deeper and deeper into political trouble in a hostile environment, and ends up dying of a suspicious snake-bite in Indonesia. It's all true. A very good read for the serious Vietnam history collector.

Raymond Van Dam by means of patristics has taken Cappadocia for his own with this excellent history. From the beginning Van Dam cites the need for scholars of early Christain fathers to push their knowledge and utility beyond the theological realm and into the arena of social history. In most of the chapters, Van Dam is able to narrate in impressive detail the battle of cultures and creeds in this province during the fourth century. He also reveals information on the quality of life of the Cappadocian lower classes by reading closely the petitions of Basil and Gregory of Nyssa. Each chapter does not always find fluid integration in the next, but the book as a whole expresses marvellous insight and understanding of the life in a border province, the fortification of a Christian ethical world, and the complex relations of Christian fathers with Roman emperors sharing varying degrees of Greek Culture. This volume stands as the first of three in what seems to be an refined and thoughtful historical enterprise.

Dr. Penn's work here truly breaks new ground. His observations on ritual and christinaity have immediate implications for today's world and the relationships that we build under the aegis of modern day faith communities. I wouldn't be surprised to see some radical changes throughout the field stemming from the work presented in "Kissing Christians".