Pennsylvania Books

A fascinating look at the birth of the national pastime. It is paticularly interesting in the way the author finds the roots of the game in the in the growth of (a la Weber) leisure time among the growing middle class during the mid to late 19th century. The volume also does a terrific job in giving the reader a sense of what was expected of terms of players, fans, and umpires in the early days of the professional game. I have just purchased the second volume and look foprward to the third voulme as well. A must for any hardcore Baseball historians!

There's nothing like talking about the universe of the DeLillo. It's nice even uttering a few superficial lines about it. Let alone going fully crazy into the magnitude of textual depth that is possible, and even necessary, in a book-length rave.

I cannot say enough about DeLillo. Apparently, Osteen feels the same way. I would characterize the book as 'critical'. Not just abstractly critical, like 'this is some literary criticism'. But fully critical, like 'there are some extremely serious things happening, happened, will happen. And we need to talk, have talked, about them at a very serious level'. By serious I mean what DeLillo means when he says it took him a few books written to realize how serious we have to be about writing. Serious as in life-and-death struggle. There is nothing more important than life. The closer to consciousness things get, the more meaningful they are. We like to dive in to the flow of DeLillo-dreaming and let it wash over us as we bathe in it and drink it's revealing purity of intention/reality.

We're taking about DeLillo! For this we do not want un-inspire-ing people around. People who think his characters all talk the same, or his books aren't very emotion-causing. We simply want people like us, who-like-us, we want people, like I mean people whose visual resolution is high. Who can really see. Who are fully awake to what death has to take away. Yes, we'll be dead soon. Before then, please do not make me feel like I'm wasting my time. With the things you might say.

American Magic and Dread--a fairly suggestive title. Because DeLillo is american. That doesn't mean limited. It means the center, the solar furnace of the elements with which he designs life-forms, happens to be here, the richest nation ever, the nation at the swirling epic-center of the riskiest, most audacious project to control nature that people-kind has ever known. We're talking about total destruction, nukes on hair-trigger alert, never-ending. So, the apocalypse hasn't happened yet. Like the big media's haven't documented the literal hell-on-earth that is existence for most of the souls who live, animals trapped in the plot of human exploitation and abuse. Apparently DeLillo eats hamburgers. Maybe he's researching. He feels he needs to taste death in order to write books filled with torturers. Maybe he just doesn't care. Whatever the case, I'm not going to police his thoughts--I won't refuse to read him until he goes vegan. Zappa was a murderer. He smoked cigarettes. (Killing yourself is murder just as bad as killing someone else). And I listen to him whole-heartedly.

Smith says "Too much truth is a prescription for failure". He was talking about why DeLillo was not read as much as his total perfection of intelligent artistry called for with respect to size of readership. So, lots of people bought Underworld. But how many people read it? It's nice to imagine that there are multitudes of souls out there "real" enough to appreciate DeLillo. After all, if I can see his text's "burning light", why can't others? As Smith also says, "There is no such thing as a leaf--there are only leaves".

Osteen's work is the full deal. When reading it, I'll quit, becuase it's too good to read. Meaning, I can only integrate so much goodness at any one time. Sometimes I max out, and have to save stimuli for later. It's about how dense text is. How much meaning happens per alphabetic character. There has to be a limit. We know that DeLillo has flirted with this limit. Osteen does what he does fairly well. It may be wrong to say that fiction is better than criticism. Platonic. Ideals and whatnot. They're just things for different modes of you. Modes can be pretty demanding. Often I will be fully unable to deal w text. But like now i'll be textual. Lines will be life. Writing/reading will do it for me. I'll have things to say, I'll be willing to listen to writers' sayings. The question is, does Osteen do justice to D? Meaning D(eLillo) is so twisted and godly and surprising and new--does Osteen come close to whatever in the world kind of things we should be telling each other about D? With this book, do we reach conditions of remembrance of D-text that are equal more or less to the conditions we can reach in our own private ruminations? Does O let us trip? What is the quality of his dream-logic? Does he bring us down, or trip us out? Does he like it? Can he make his book sing? How far can he take us? Is it worth it, walking along with him for some of the times of our lives? With the things he might say? Text is drug. Is the drug mind-expanding? Is the book informational? Do we learn more reading it than we'd learn never reading it? In short, should we read American Magic and Dread? I wouldn't know. As Rilke says, "All critical intention is beyond me".

I just want to you to acquire some sensations feelings and thoughts. I care for you, because if I were you, I'd be you. I'd do what you're doing. I know you want to come and join in song. I know life is not long. It all depends, on how you'll make it through, the things you do, whether true, or too few. Please, give us a chance. Let us tell you things. Do not turn away--our song is not very long. You've come this far. Choose life, and not death. This may be a (difficult) problem. Or it may be effortless, like true love sometimes is. Only you can tell what's true. You shall decide what to let live. No matter what you do, the end will just be you. The life of love, it may take us far. Make your life reach the magic of love itself.

Rigal's book is a radically fresh reading of American federalism as a broad cultural phenomenon. It's far out, but far out in the very best sense--a creative and powerful revision.

An American Musical Dynasty: A Biography Of The Wolle Family Of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania by music historian and educator Paul S. Larson (Professor Emeritus, Moravian College, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) is a unique and fascinating historical examination and history of the Wolle family whose influential and enduring musical tradition was founded in the American colonial era of the 1700's. The rise of their music intertwined with the Moravian Church tells the history of the Moravian culture, as well as that of a very fine style of exquisite concert music. An American Musical Dynasty is a deftly written, thoroughly researched, and highly recommended biographical saga tracing family, music, faith, and way of life throughout centuries of American history.

This new edition of American Tradition in Painting covers the distinctly American aspects of painting, focussing on American qualities which appear among abstract painters, discussing early landscapes and genre painting, and revealing attributes unique to American artists. An outstanding presentation.

Set in Amish country, this story introduces a young Amish boy who takes care of the horses on his family's farm. "Ever since I was old enough to help with the chores, I've cared for our horses. Datt says that I have a special way with them." Written in the first person, our young Amish friend introduces the readers to the types of horses used on the farm and what their jobs are. He takes us along to a horse auction and gives us an insight into how a horse is chosen to join those already on the farm Patrick's vivid pastel illustrations bring the story to life. The realistic illustrations capture the image created by the text, whether its in the field planting or at the horse auction. Each illustration is framed by a red border. An Amish Quilt pattern border set in the same red frame sets off the text. The author has included a glossary of horse terms. As with his other stories featuring the Amish, the author has had the story read by Amish friends and the art examined for accuracy. This will be a valuable addition to a library's collection or for anyone who loves horses.

I can't help wondering if the author squabbled with his publishing company over the title of this book. "Amish Life" is really an examination of the customs, lifestyles, and history of the Amish, Old Order Mennonites and Hutterites, whom the author collectively refers to as 'the Plain people.' It's not just about the Amish, even though they might be the most recognizable.

The religion of the Plain people originates in sixteenth century Europe coincident with the beginning of the Protestant reformation. Zurich, Switzerland was the original home of the Anabaptists who disagreed with the 'mainstream' Protestants of the time over infant baptism. The Anabaptists believed that baptism should only be conferred on adults who were willing to following the disciplines of the new Church. They also renounced oaths, reveling and drunkenness, the use of force in war or civil government, and personal adornment.

These practices did not make them popular with their fellow Protestants or the local rulers, and the book "Martyr's Mirror" records the persecutions of this period. Gradually, the Anabaptists split apart into the Mennonites, Amish (mainly because of disagreements over the practice of shunning), and Hutterites and migrated to America and Canada. The Hutterites seem most at home on the Great Plains, where they can practice their communal style of life on the vast acreage it takes to grow grain crops. The Amish and Mennonites, who do not practice communal living seem more at ease with dairy and truck farming.

This book defines the Plain lifestyles both in photographs and words, right down to barn-raisings and favorite quilting patterns. There is even a recipe for shoo-fly pie. One of my favorite photographs shows the laundry drying on an Amish clothesline in the middle of a snowstorm. I can see the same type of laundry every time I take the back roads into town (except on Sunday). The author is right, though: the Amish have discovered polyester knit fabrics in a big way. Turquoise polyester turtlenecks are a big item on the Amish clotheslines in this area. It's charming to think that under all that black there lurks a spot of turquoise.

The author carefully differentiates between various sects of Plain folk such as the Stauffer fellowship Mennonites and the Noah Hoover group. For an outsider like me, reading about these distinctions is like looking at a fractal image. Viewed microscopically or macroscopically, the similarities are more evident than the differences.

Even though the Plain people don't make an effort to convert outsiders to their way of life, their numbers are increasing. When I was a child, I don't think there were any Amish in my county. Now every parking lot in town has at least one hitching post for horse-drawn vehicles. The Amish seem to be much more efficient at farming the land up here than the 'English' (that's the rest of us), and all I have to say about that is, 'Hurray for horse-power!'

Illustrated with full-color photographs on every page, Amish Quilts Of Lancaster County is a gorgeous showcase of its title. Brief text introductions ground the reader in Amish quiltmaking history and techniques, but the majority of Amish Quilts Of Lancaster County is effectively a textile artbook, showcasing the quilts themselves in all their bold color and down-to-earth patterns. Most sample quilts are shown in an overall photograph, a detail photograph, and a photograph of the quilt's back. A truly beautiful sampling, and a joy for avid quiltmakers and quilt aficionados to simply page through.

This is the greatest book I have read. If you are interested in the wonderful daily life of the amish people, this is the book for you! I have visited amish country many times and love to see their daily life first hand. If you need furniture, buy AMISH!

This book takes an in-depth and serious approach to a subject all too often either ridiculed or condemned by other authors. Intensely useful for the student (or just the curious) who would like to look at a language phenomenon without the immaturity so many people treat it with.