Alabama Books

Summary: This story is about a man named William Bromley who is an architect, and recently built a ship named the 290 that he fell in love with at the very beginning. Unexpectedly, on the opening day for the 290, it was taken over, and brought out to sea. William decided to sail with the crew, and the trip was on!
Throughout the book, William and the other sailors on the 290 are sailing about the sea, and taking over different countries ships. During the time out at sea, William discovers that since he had left home many years ago, his father had been working as a slave trader in Port-au-Prince. He deceived the men there into thinking he had spoken with his father's partner and stowed away 250 slaves on his ship. He then left them in the Canary Islands so that they could live a happy life without being given orders. This book has action and sorrow, but to find out what happens next, you need to get this book, and read it.

This book told the story of the CSS Alabama and the USS Kearsarge. I read it growing up and have never been able to find it since. If you can find it, read it--it is a good read and a good history lesson on the naval tactics employed during the Civil War.

I really like this book, though I was a little disappointed there weren't more native plants. She does specifically call out the natives, though. She gives clear, concise advice on when and where to plant, plus care and maintanance. My only other disappointment was the two to three times yearly mulching, fertilizing, and composting she recommends - I know some plants need it, but going native is supposed to make things easy!

Overall, a great book, and a definite plus to anyone with a garden in Alabama.

I was so happy that several friends recommended this book! It was so nice to have someone knowledgeable about the peculiarities of gardening in Alabama tell her secrets. There is lots of valuable information in here. I use it constantly in tandem with my Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening book.

After finishing her graduate degree at Loyola Marymount University in production, Carla Thompson decided to launch her career in Los Angeles. She managed to land low-level positions in Los Angeles production houses. She also had a lot of car trouble and maxed out her credit cards attempting to make her own videos but somehow, she wasn't making it big time as she had planned. Her mother, retired from the post office after 32 years, invited her to come stay with her in Montgomery until Carla could get on her feet. Although Carla had been raised in Harlem, her family was originally from Alabama and she had memories of not so pleasant summers spent with her grandparents there when her northern accent and Catholic religion made her an outsider. Carla didn't have high hopes for her new home in Montgomery. After accepting teaching positions in two local universities, she was pleasantly surprised at the "New South." It was not at all what she expected. She noted that blacks and whites have managed to create and maintain a peaceful coexistence and she didn't feel like that out-of-place person as she did when she was younger.

Carla Thompson has penned a delightful memoir. She describes her trip from Harlem to Los Angeles to Alabama in a funny, witty way that is sure to win the hearts of those who have made similar journeys and those who wish they had. It is an honest assessment of life as she views it. BEARING WITNESS is a pleasant book for a quick, enjoyable read.

Reviewed by alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

What's a black, female, academic doing in a place like this? Going crazy? Growing. The book is a poignant perspective of a 21st century town that still embraces much of the post-civil rights thinking.

Having lived on both sides of the Mason-Dixon I could identify with many of the experiences. But what's great is if you haven't lived on both sides, it's okay. Carla will take you there. You'll be easily drawn into not only the time and place, but the author. I was left wanting more.

Jeremy Bryan Jones wants to be remembered as the Red Neck Ted Bundy, he was well on his way until he got caught after the brutal, rape, murder, and arson of Lisa Nichols, a forty something attractive divorced mother and grandmother. It was after he obtained a false identity as John David Chapman by befriending the man's mother. Chapman is in prison for lesser crimes. Jones was up on charges of sexual assault. His life and background was all in preparation to be a career criminal. After Hurricane Ivan occurred in 2004, Lisa Nichols' murder was discovered in a trailer park. Sadly, we don't hear much about people who live in mobile homes except on Jerry Springer. Anyway, they are decent and normal people like everybody else. Mobile homes provide a better alternative to renting anyway. Jones is psychopath or sociopath or both but he is got a lot of the characteristics. He used people without a conscience like garbage when he was done. He left a trail of murder along the way in several states. Once he was arrested, he confessed to crimes that some he committed including killing the Freeman family of three and a childhood friend of their daughters. He killed without conscience or guilt or remorse. His drug use is not an excuse for his crimes. There are several drug addicts who commit crime but don't rape and murder women and kill men, women and children. They rob to get drugs. I can't stand Jones using his drug usage as an excuse for his crimes. I think he did it without the drugs but uses excuses. Jones has a broken home but that's no excuse. His supporters like his girlfriend and mother are your typical deniers.

In this latest release from Sheila Johnson, readers are introduced to Jeremy Bryan Jones: a young, southern drifter who claims to have killed numerous people all across the southern states. Yet, as of today, he remains convicted of only one murder and charged with two others. Many of the crimes he confessed to just couldn't be linked to him for a variety of reasons.

This is a well written account of Jones' crimes. Unfortunately, Johnson provided hardly any detail about his childhood, which, to true crime readers, can be a very important part of the book. Johnson plainly states that she didn't intend to make this a story of his life and therefore didn't go back to Jones' roots and ask the all important questions. For me, this was a major disappointment.

And, as journalist turned book writers are prone to do, Johnson repeats many of the details over and over. I found myself skimming through the repeats as well as lesson on Meth found later in the book.

Overall, it is a good read. I would recommend it to those who enjoy the true crime genre.

Braxton Bragg doesn't have the good press that Lee, Jackson, or Forrest had, but he was one of the Confederacy's better generals. This biography covers his life through the end of 1862, and it illustrates much about how the Confederate Armies went wrong.

Bragg again and again planned good actions against the Union forces, only to see them fall apart as his subordinates just ignored his orders. Particularly bad was Leonidas Polk, who was a bad enough general to singlehandedly doom the Confederacy, but there were other offenders.

A military genius might have overcome this. Bragg was merely above average for a Confederate commander, and thus he never had a chance.

Very interesting, and the maps are outstanding, among the best I've ever seen in a history.

Read it to see how a bad culture can foul up a good army with a good commander.

It is hard to believe that a head of state would keep a totally incompetent general in office and indeed promote him because of misplaced loyalty. Jefferson Davis was a leader who placed great importance on loyalty of his underlings. Your loyalty to him covered a multitude of sins of incompetence. The rise of Braxton Bragg is a perfect example of this. In every function of Bragg's meteoric career he failed miserably but maintained the high positions because Davis needed him to prop his ego.

The author does a remarkable job in presenting Bragg in as impartially as is possible with such an unlikable subject. Grady McWhiney was so disenchanted with his subject that he was unable/unwilling to complete the biography. The second volume was very ably completed by Judith Lee Hallock.

Bragg held a number of positions from the beginning of the war. He "led" armies in both the eastern and western theatres. He served as confidant of Jefferson Davis, and was rewarded with command of the very valuable port of Wilmington which ensured its loss to the Confederacy. The history of Bragg and Davis as portrayed very well by the two volumes of this biography is almost mirrored by the personnel mistakes of a recent administration.

If the subject were someone other than Braxton Bragg I could give this book five stars.

This book derives from a conference about the Confederados and it occasionally suffers from the attempt to edit together a group of papers that frequently overlap. With this one caveat, I must say that The Confederados is fascinating. Despite the occasionally kludgey back and forth references to other essays and chapters (and the repetition of material), the Dawsey's have assembled a fine book that examines the impact and legacy of post-Civil War immigrants from the U.S. South to Brazil; it also points out the contributions of other immigrants from the North and Europe who came to Brazil at roughly the same time. Especially interesting is the memoir of a Confederada, written late in her life, but rich in details about her childhood exodus from Alabama and the difficulties in getting to and starting a new life in Brazil. Also interesting is the study of the preservation of Southern dialect by the Confederados.

Neither an historian nor a scholar, but as a fluent Portuguese speaking American (born in Portugal) who spent half a century, both as a long time resident in Brazil and the southern United States, collecting data and contacting descendents of the Confederate migration to Brazil after the Civil War, I find this book the first real scholarly effort on an interesting, rather forgotten epic, though minor, of American history. Factually it appears correct to what I know of the people involved, then and now, from 1865 up to 1974 when I last left Brazil. However, as as academic production I find it lacks a certain feel for the "humanity" of those involved: the happiness and the tragedy, the bits and pieces of human interest that history (as do descendents changing actuality to pleasanter visions!} prefers not to speak of. There was as much sadness in the migration as there was happiness, as much failure as there was success. The human feeling, I find, is missing. Otherwise, this is a tremendous and most commendable effort. on a subject long forgotten. Perhaps, though small, one of the largest planned emigrations from the United States in its history.

Some readers will appreciate this concise work about Mobile, Alabama in the Civil War. Others will be disappointed by Art Bergeron's overview style text. If you are the sort of reader that delved deeply into detailed works like Wise's "Gate of Hell, Campaign for Charleston Harbor 1863," Brennan's "Secessionville: Assault on Charleston", Fonvielle's "The Wilmington Campaign", or Dufour's or Hearn's books about New Orleans then you will find "Confederate Mobile" decidedly light. (Fortunately, there is another volume available by Jack Friend that covers the decisive naval action at Mobile in depth.)

"Confederate Mobile" is written largely in a campaign summary format. The writing appears mostly objective with only a slight Southern political bias, and the bibliography indicates deep research; but the book fails to deliver the fruits of the research in a complete or entertaining manner. It does not drill down deeply enough into each subject to give the reader mastery of the topic. Too often the author leaves the rest of the story frustratingly untold, even in the notes.

Maps, tables, and orders of battle are mostly absent. The asterisk is that the Official Records maps are reproduced, but in a reduced grayscale format that blurs text illegibly and clips sections. Some detailed maps of the fortifications are a necessity in this type of work. In this case, even those with the O.R. Atlas will find the material somewhat lacking for Mobile's forts. Other secondary works will be needed to fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle.

The coverage of the Battle of Mobile Bay and subsequent surrenders of each of the forts defending the passes is presented in a scant 14 pages. This is a pity as there are many interesting stories to pursue in this action. There is no list of ships with specifications, gun emplacements, orders of battle, or author's maps.

The blockade running chapter generated only 11 pages. It contained a few insights, but in several ways Wise' book about blockade running covers this in more detail, including tabular lists of vessels arriving and departing from Mobile.

This isn't a bad book, but it isn't very compelling either, so I can't recommend it. Its stinginess with details and maps mean that it does not succeed as a detailed reference.

This is third book of Dr. Bergeron's I added to my large collection of Civil War books. A must have for any serious scholar and the most comprehensive book I've seen on the subject of Mobile during the WBTS. Very fine research job! Bravo.

One of the BEST reference books on Wedgwood yet. This book is basically a pictorial inventory of all the items that are part of the Beeson Collection located at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the largest single collection of Wedgwood outside of the UK. A wonderful book with lots of superb color and black and white photos, and descriptions of all the major categories of ware, including Jasperware, Basalt, Caneware etc.

As an avid collector, I rely on seeing the actual identification marks (the curve of the impressions, the case, etc.), not just a description, for each piece. Otherwise I would have rated the book 5 stars. I do think the authors could have provided more photographs of the identification marks, including all the variations.

I purchased this book at a magnificent Wedgwood show at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. This is a wonderful reference for anyone interested in Wedgwood as art. There are several interesting articles on how the company was established and how they developed their craft in pottery. The articles include discussion of major pieces made by the company, and their various types of pottery.

The second half of the book is a catalog of over a thousand works. They have a black & white photograph, a description, provenance, marks, and more on each of the pieces.

If you want to get into understanding Wedgwood in a serious way this is an essential resource in your education.

I bought the book because the table of contents showed that the book covered the topics comprehensively. However, there is a serious lack of depth. I think the book is good for students who are just learning about linux and embedded systems, but not as useful for the more serious and experienced developer.

I take this opportunity to congratulate authors on the job WELL DONE. This book emphasizes on "programming" aspect of embedded Linux which is missing from earlier books like one from karim yaghmour. The topics such as MTD, real time, embedded graphics, uclinux are presented very clearly and in detailed manner. Overall, it's GOOD.

Walk into any bookstore or library and you will find shelves upon shelves of books devoted to the American Civil War. It was this country's greatest catharsis, and we're still haunted by it. Most of the Civil War research and writing understandably concerns the land battles. The naval side of the war is dominated by discussion of ironclads and blockade runners. Robert M. Browning has filled a gaping hole with his detailed examination of the North Atlantic Blockade Squadron, an important but ignored area of Civil War history.

The Squadron grew out of Union General Winfield Scott's celebrated "Anaconda Plan," intended to choke the South by controlling the Mississippi River and blockading the southern coast, which would cut off commerce to the Confederacy. President Lincoln announced the blockade only six days after the fall of Fort Sumter. Originally the "Atlantic Blockade Squadron," it was later divided into a northern and southern blockade, with the more important northern blockade falling under command of three different commanders during the course of the war.

Mr. Browning, who serves as the chief historian for the U.S. Coast Guard, utilized original records in the Library of Congress and National Archives to present a detailed portrait of this crucial tool of the Union navy. The wealth of official correspondence between officers during the war is tremendous, and Browning makes ample use of it, particularly the letters of Rear Admiral S.P. Lee. Lee was the second commander of the Squadron, between Louis M. Goldsborough and David Porter, and Browning offers a sober and dispassionate assessment of his value to the navy during his arduous tenure as commander. He also emphasizes the importance of the U.S. army's cooperation in implementing military strategy, and the lack of such cooperation often hampered the Squadron's efforts. Browning covers logistics, supplies, the importance of coal, blockade running in both coastal and interior waterways, and culminates his study with the dramatic capture of Wilmington, the last Confederate port.

I usually read popular histories, since they're informative yet easy to digest. I bought this book because my ancestor was acting master on one of the smaller ships in the Squadron. "From Cape Charles to Cape Fear" isn't a "popular" history, it's an academic study targeted toward scholars and historians, and the reading can be demanding. But this is undoubtedly the definitive work on the subject, and I recommend it to any serious student of the either the Civil War or U.S. naval history.

A complete and thorough 453 page history of the events along the coast and inland water ways of North Carolina and Virginia during the American Civil War. Browning provides an in-depth discussion of the logistics, tactics and strategy of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, which played a very important and often overlooked role during the Civil War. Its successes benefitted the efforts of the Union's Army of the Potomac and adversely affected the operations of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. There is also a succinct explanation of the campaign to capture Wilmington, North Carolina and the broader effects that campaign had on Lee's army. Eight maps, fourteen illustrations and over a hundred pages of notes and bibliography augment the text.