Pennsylvania Books

I really liked this book in that it layed the foundation of how Pittsburgh is what it is today.

The Earnests have given us a very readable and gloriously illustrated book with attention to all the recognized fraktur types and many of the most desirable artists. This survey will delight anyone who has an interest in folk art.

Don Hoffman's book gives and accurate description of how this magnificent home came into being from its inception to completion. It discusses how the sketches evolved due to the environmental considerations of the landscape showing how Kentuck Knob was build to coordinate the house and the hill upon which it was built into one organic structure.

It explains Wright's architectural philosophy as to why he makes the decisions he did when building this house.

Visually the book itself is elegantly designed with excellent photographs giving a true feel for the nature of the house and providing some insignt to the wise, artistically minded people whom conceived of and lived in Kentuck Knob so happily and with such a great respect for the environment which the house occupies.

As a child I spent a great deal of time in this house, being close family friends with the original owners, so I would know if there were any inconsistancies with the book and reality and find it most accurately written.

This would be a great gift for anyone interested in architecture, environmnetalism or whom is a particular fan of Frank Llyod Wright's architecture. Also it is so beautifully done that it would just be a pretty coffee table book to keep for yourself or for in a guest room.

This is a book for everybody. The people featured in the short biographies are outstanding human beings who happened to be women, some white, some African American, Native American. Their accomplishments are stunning. Their underlying common ground is the formidable road they had to take to accomplish their destiny, easier for men than women. University of Pennsylvania can be proud of these "daughters" and the role it played in their education. Be prepared, their disciplines are varied and exciting. The author's style is lively, captivating.
This book is an inspiration for all.

This reading of the inner life of Emerson reveals that behind the public face of the simple great optimist, was a complex personality with a real sense of the tragic side of life. Whicher reads Emerson's life and work with great sympathy and understanding. This work is a good introduction to the thought of one of America's most important thinkers.

"Freedom Seeker" is an excellent introduction to the man whose seeking set him on a long journey of faith. In his youth he became a "convinced" member of the Quaker faith. These beliefs and practices made him extremely unpopular with the ruling majority in Britain, including his father. (Happily, they were reconciled before the elder's death.) William Penn suffered much for justice & civil liberties.

Readers will learn that Penn was imprisoned time & again in disease-ridden and rat-infested jails. But these experiences did not scar him as the small pox of his childhood did. He is revealed as a disciplined person who would be a good role model for young readers.

Penn later followed his quest to set aside land in America for other freedom-loving people. He helped the Lenni Lenape natives as well as emigrating Pennsylvanians. While establishment of the Pennsylvania colony was his great achievement, he was able to live there for only a short time.

There will doubtless be some adults reading this book, who use it & the well-chosen bibliography as a 'starting place' for quests of their own. The basic truths of Penn's life and faith are depicted honestly for a wide audience. Some criticism is printed above but does not include a letter refuting it, as printed by SLJ. As for an opinion that "blotchy illustrations detract" we should all take to heart this quote from the late Richard F. Ericson, phD: "We cannot make value judgments for other people" !

FREEDOM IS ELUSIVE. Learning about the sacrifices made for faith will make us cherish our own more; and hopefully, help us better understand the beliefs of others. Reviewer mcHAIKU gives FIVE STARS to the author AND to the students who learn from the life of William Penn.

My research has led me to take freedom seriously. I ordered this book as relevant, but I had doubts about the word "embrace" in the title. I was suspicious that the embrace had to do with some form of sentimentalism. Now that I have begun to read the book, I am delighted to find it is incisive and objective.

An excerpt from the preface (page xiv)--

"In this book, I attempt a radical reexamination of freedom. I rethink the idea of freedom from the ground up, in a fresh and independent inquiry that draws upon the long tradition of philosophical discussion of these issues without drowning the reader in historical erudition or technical philosophical discourse. The book begins with a closer look at some perennial and recalcitrant philosophical debates about human freedom. It seeks to break out of those disputes by showing how they arise from fragmentary conceptions of freedom and from convictions about ourselves and our world that may seem innocent enough but only create confusions that have trapped modern thought in an impasse that seems inescapable. Closer analysis shows that those convictions depend upon assumptions that are both unnecessary and untenable and that each of the partical conceptions of freedom that have long muddled debate has a legitmate place within a more comprehensive understanding of what it means to be free. In the process, the contradiction between freedom and necessity gives way to a discovery of the necessary conditions of freedom.

"Once we understand the necessities of freedom, we must reconceive the relation between freedom and necessity. That means rethinking both the place of necessity in science and the place of freedom in nature. We must confront the neglected question of animal freedom and recognize that freedom is not a peculiarly human privilege. Still, human freedom does differ from animal freedom in ways reflected by the difference between natural evolution and humna history. Symbolism and culture vastly expand the range of alternatives available for human choice. They raise human freedom from the level of immediate options to the level of strategies, norms, and rules. They also lead, eventually, to a self-awareness of freedom that seems lacking in animals. Only human being seem able to establish freeedom as an ideal."

Finding a philosopher who writes about freedom as it is actually experienced, instead of free will versus determinism, is rare. Finding one who writes to human audiences in clear and friendly language is a real delight.

This book is a gem. I stumbled upon it in a supermarket and bought it as used.I can not believe this is Jeanne Mackin's first book! The book takes you back to eighteenth century France as if it had been written during the French revolution! I love it!!!

This very short book is an affectionate retelling of a father's bicycle trip across the country in 1923. Starting in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and ending in Los Angeles, the narrative follows the young Frank Kolbe as he sets out to see the world for the first time. The simple, straight-forward writing reflects the author's sincere desire to elevate the memory of his father and his adventures. Light reading, but fun.

End 1942 Allen Dulles gets in Switzerland, sent by OSS to set up an office in Berne. Soon after, the invasion of North africa by allies provoqued the invasion of southern France by german troops, and Allen Dulles was isolated in Switzerland, free to accomplish his mission. He began to open talks with german intelligence services - wich ended by building the famous Gehlen org. There is very little doubt that these talks were usefull to save the nazi organisation as well as nazi gold in Switzerland after war. Allen Dulles had no difficulties to get friendly with the nazis, being himself a nazi since before the war, serving german interests as a lawyer in Wall Street, with his brother Foster. What realy were saying Dulles reports to his superiors in the US is clearly interesting to understand at what degree he was building up his own policy or executing the policy of the american government. It is obvious that such documents may appear after being censored. But in any case, they are necessary to get the complete picture of that very important moment of modern history : when the nazis, in fact, won the war.