Pennsylvania Books

How does one convey the sense of what it means to write poetry? Read "Your Card Read 'Poet-Mechanic'" in this volume to understand the power of Alice Fulton's work. How can one conceivably write a poem about dust? Read "Toward Clairvoyance" to appreciate her brilliance. This book is a work that grabs your instinct and won't let go.

This book was great! It deals with a woman, recently moved to the United States, trying to incorporate into a different culture; dealing with the loss of her husband; and gaining confidence in her writing and life. She deals with family all the while being surprised by who they have become. The writing is descriptive and flowing. Daphne's Seasons

my only complaint with this otherwise excellant book is that it should have been a hardcover, it is sure to be regular referance and inspiration to any artist, or normal person in possession of it, and $55.00 for a softie is a little stiff! after grappling with that, get dis thing...it is super to see his actual inspirational clippins from mags and papers of his time...this is so much like Francis Bacon's routine it's scary, he relied on arcane flotsam much like dis guy, it really is beautiful and extensively illustrated and ,as a collector myself, I assure you, once out of print it is sure to become a valuable item, fettching way over it's cover price...so dont bend the covers, while you pour over Redons world , a definite must have.

David Walker was born in the late 1700s, in the newly-formed nation of the United States, shortly after ratification of the Constitution, into a society which on the one hand was celebrating a victory for freedom from oppression, but which also was still oppressive of a significant number of its own people.

Walker grew impatient with the pace and tone of the Abolitionist movement, of which he was a part, beginning in New England. Slave rebellions such as that of Denmark Vesey seemed to be an answer to the slowness. Injustice was being committed at this very moment -- action was therefore required immediately. This was the tone with which Walker's 'Appeal' was infused. His message was rather shocking to white Americans, and Walker found ways to reach his own people in the South with this message. Vesey and others had used religious meetings as a means of gathering and organising; likewise, they found the Bible rich in material to support their cause. Walker did likewise, seizing upon biblical ideas of deliverance and justice.

Walker found himself becoming unpopular for his outspoken views. Many in the Abolitionist movement purposefully discouraged talk of rebellion, lawbreaking and violence. However, Walker was not convinced that this kind of change was the best in the situation -- he felt strongly that the Black people had to unite and fight, with the full support of God.

Walker further was mistrustful of white people's effort on the behalf of blacks, and doubtful that Southern white men would ever be willing to give up their position of power. Walker noted that even men like Jefferson believed in the racial idea of white superiority. Even in those placed where African-Americans would live as 'free' persons, they seemed forever destined to be in the eyes of the white majority second-class citizens. This to Walker clearly was not right. 'Are we men!! - I ask you, O my brethren! are we men? Did our Creator make us to be slaves to dust and ashes like ourselves?'

Walker began to view whites as the only Americans. He felt the sins of racism and slavery were so intrinsically American that it would be a contradiction for any black person to be an American. This racist sin permeated even through to the churches, which Walker held in contempt for their seeming complacency in the face of on-going injustice.

And yet, one of the key elements throughout Walker's 'Appeal', for all its radical viewpoints, which no other Abolitionists seemed to have picked up after Walker's death in 1830, is hope. 'I verily believe that God has something in reserve for us, which, when he shall have poured it out upon us, will repay us for all our suffering and miseries.' Walker had no qualms about allowing that he wanted to destroy the status quo in society; however, he was not an advocate of wanton violence and bloodshed. He said that is was incorrect to assume that he was asking for civil war of any kind, but that he was simply asking for basic human rights to be enforced for all people.

This calls for rights and justice, the very basic call to recognise the humanity in all people, is a primary element of Walker's 'Appeal'. The time to rise up and take back humanity which had been stripped away by the white slave traders was, to Walker, clearly at hand.

Like the biblical prophets, Walker understood that what he was doing was dangerous. However, Walker saw his writing as a call from God, a call that could not be put away. The call to justice, the call to right the wrongs in society, the call to action against an evil oppressor, are reminiscent of the Hebrew prophets.

Although Walker's call and prophecy never took the shape he himself might have imagined it, his words inspired many and discomfited more. Some forms of injustice take many voices, many martyrs, before they are addressed. Walker was one of these.

Growing up in Philadelphia, James Forton was the son of free black parents. His father made sails for the ships. After his father's death, James has some exciting and frightening adventures during the Revolution! In 1784, he fulfills his dream of becoming an apprentice sailmaker and then a foreman who later was able to own the shop. James Forton became on of the richest men in Philadelphia. He never neglected his own people, and used his own home as a hiding place for escaped slaves.

The process of sailmaking is described with numerous illustrations and photographs. This is accurate history, entertainingly presented with a website for further study.

Like many, I've lived in / around NYC for a long time, but other than activities in the city, knew only a couple of places to go outside the city as a beautiful drive / day trip / overnight trip.

This books fills that gap. Gives you distances, places to see, how to get there, and helps you decide where to go with brief reviews of places. Will be using it this summer to make a trip along the Hudson valley, which previously wouldn't have known how to plan.

I live in the Phila. area, and can tell you that this is an excellent source of ideas for visiting the area. I borrowed a copy when a visitor was coming from England, and then decided to buy it because it was so helpful. I plan to use it when my family and I are looking for places to go for the day. There's helpful itineraries and maps, along with ratings for special places. I highly recommend this book!

Altick has been long acknowledged as acclaimed scholar who recreates the vivid views of lifestyle in Victorian era, and in this book he again shows his expertise as a professional. "Deadly Encounters" records two incidents that shocked and even grabbed the mind of Victorians in 1861, and according to Altick's view, became the epitome of the literary trend that flourished during the 1860s and after, namely, sensation novels, which includes Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon.

The two incidents, or "deadly encounters" are about the cases, one of which involved a retired major shot severely in a seedy room in London, later known as "the Northumberland Street Affair." The other incident is about a French nobleman who attempted to murder his son in order to, it was supposed, to get the latter's inheritance. But what is facinating about Altick's book is not the description of those cases themselve; it is the proceedings of the trials and the reaction of the excited press that Altick skillfully traces with detailed records and footnotes, and he never lets his readers bored all through the book. The cases themselves may not be as interesting as many other stories you might have heard -- such as William Palmer, Constance Kent, Madeline Smith, and other more notorious cases -- and some part of the both incidents are left unsolved even today, but still, the authentic look of Victorian life displayed by the pen of the author is simply gripping. What is interesting most to me is the extraordinary development of the trial, which can be found in Dickens and Collins' novels. In the Northumberland Street case, a mistress shows up in court to testify among the curious spectators; in French nobleman's case, the only eyewitness became suddenly unable to testify, because he happened to be fatally sick just before the trial began. These incredible things happened in reality, and Altick relates minutely them along with the eager response on the press's (and public's) side.

The book is, therefore, more about the sociological analysis on the growing interest of the public in those sensational events, and Altick devotes about 130 pages of the book to it. The remaining 25 pages are study about the trend of literature after the incidents, mainly about comtemporary popular dramas and novels. The latter part of the book also proves how the writers (both for drama and novel) used the immediate topic of "sensation" before the craze of the public. On this score, this book may help you understand some aspects of sensation novelists such as Collins and Braddon.

Skillfully written, and always convincing, "Deadly Encounters" will be an amusing reading experience for anyone interested in Victorian period. It's not only about crimes of passion, but also those middle-class, "respectable" people who avidly devoured their sordid flavor, just like us living in modern times.

"Death Seem'd to Stare" marks Joseph Lee Boyle's third book honoring the identities of the heroes of the six-month encampment at Valley Forge in 1777-1778. His previous volumes, "Fire Cake and Water" and "What Can't Brave Americans Endure?" identify the Connecticut and New Jersey soldiers, respectively, who were among the 30,000 individuals whose names appear on the National Archives muster and payroll records of the beleaguered Valley Forge encampment. Boyle's latest volume examines the New Hampshire and Rhode Island contingents.

Mr. Boyle's informative Introduction traces the service of the New Hampshire and Rhode Island regiments before and after they joined General Washington in November 1777. The New Hampshire units, for example, fought opposite portions of General Burgoyne's army at Hubbardton, Vermont; and, later, under General Benedict Arnold at the Battle of Freeman's Farm. For their part, the Rhode Island regiments participated in the American defeat of a Hessian assault on Fort Mercer, New Jersey, in October of the same year. During the Valley Forge winter of 1778, however, "virtually half the New Hampshire units were destitute of any kind of shoes or stockings to their feet." Their Rhode Island counterparts "at this Sevear Season of the year, are, the greatest part of them almost Stark naked, Destitute of Every necessary of life...." Despite these privations, the New Hampshire regiments would later fight victoriously at the Battle of Newtown in 1779. At the Battle of Rhode Island, in August 1778, "The first Rhode Island distinguished itself, and the bravery of the Black soldiers was praised by a number of officers."

Like the other two books, the core of "Death Seem'd to Stare" consists of an alphabetical list in excess of 2,500 New Hampshire and Rhode Island soldiers abstracted from Revolutionary War muster and payrolls. Each patriot is identified by name, rank, date, and term of enlistment or commission, names of regiment and company, and a variety of supporting details, such as date of furlough or discharge, when wounded, when and where promoted, etc. In support of the abstracts, the author has prepared a detailed glossary of terms found in the rosters, an explanatory list of locations referred to in the entries, and a lengthy, up-to-date bibliography.

Like its predecessors, "Death Seem'd to Stare" is a significant contribution to our understanding of one of the most critical moments in the American past.

This is one fine book about the furniture. You won't believe the action in the story.