Nebraska Books

This is the first volume of the trilogy, and covers Bryan's life to late 1908. The account of the Cross of Gold speech on July 9, 1896, is as riveting account of that most momentous speech in American political history as I have ever read. I was also surprised by how interesting the account of the 1904 Democratic Convention was--I had never heretofore felt the 1904 polical events of much interest. Coletta writes balanced history and does not hesitate to point out Bryan's faults, showing he was not a great thinker, was very stubborn and sure of his rightness, having little interest in history or literature. But the role he played was crucial in making the modern Democratic Party. If you like political history you will enjoy this volume.

Paolo Coletta's biography, the first of three volumes, covers the life of the agrarian champion and three-time presidential candidate from his early years to his final run for the White House in 1908. Growing up in Illinois, Bryan moved to Nebraska at the age of 22 soon after earning his law degree. Though successful as an attorney in the growing town of Lincoln his true passion was politics, and he won a seat in the House of Representatives in 1890. There he became a strong supporter of agrarian issues and a fervent advocate of tariff reform, the establishment of an income tax, and - most importantly - the free and unlimited coinage of silver. Increasingly at odds with the Cleveland administration, he turned down reelection in 1894 in favor of bids for governor and senator, both of which he lost.

By 1895, Bryan was active among silver circles, using his considerable skills as an orator to advocate silver coinage. Such efforts enhanced his national image and made him a contender for the 1896 Democratic presidential nomination. With the support of many Midwestern and Southern states - where Bryan spoke extensively during his speaking tours - he was a legitimate candidate for the nomination even before he gave his famous "cross of gold" speech that won the national party convention to his cause. His selection at the age of 36 made him the youngest nominee of any major political party in the nation's history.

After facing defeat in spite of a strenuous campaign, Bryan continued his political activism. He maintained his support for silver and advocated Cuban independence when the subject arose, even enlisting to serve when America went to war against Spain in 1898. Though defeated again in the election of 1900, Bryan continued his political activism in a series of speaking tours (which were extremely profitable) and in the pages of "The Commoner," a weekly journal of agrarian political issues and Jeffersonian principles. Coletta sees Bryan in this period as a prophet of progressivism, supporting the rise of a new political mood that many of his own campaigns had paved the way for. The excesses of capitalism prompted Bryan's third run for the presidency, a campaign that ended in a frustrating and perplexing defeat by William Howard Taft.

In recounting Bryan's life, Coletta uses both primary and secondary sources in a thorough and critical manner, providing a sympathetic treatment while keeping his limitations in mind. Though the Nebraska politician occasionally comes across more as a symbol than an individual and Coletta's effort to make the case for Bryan as a supporter of both agrarian causes and progressive reforms doesn't always ring true, there is no better work on the early life of this pivotal political figure.

This is a book one reads, as one does with Adam Phillips's books, wishing one could be analyzed by the author. Nothing earth-shattering here for theory freaks; Windows is a delightful excursion through Pontalis's light-hearted musings about pain and meaning. Discursive, curt, perfectly appointed, each brief chapter moves you towards compassion, calm, understanding. Seemingly more inspired by philosophy -- I believe the author studied with Sartre -- than psychoanalysis. The metapsychology here is buried in the dirt, though the garden we see is gorgeous.

Beautifully translated as well.

This is a book one reads, as one does with Adam Phillips's books, wishing one could be analyzed by the author. Nothing earth-shattering here for theory freaks; Windows is a delightful excursion through Pontalis's light-hearted musings about pain and meaning. Discursive, curt, perfectly appointed, each brief chapter moves you towards compassion, calm, understanding. Seemingly more inspired by philosophy -- I believe the author studied with Sartre -- than psychoanalysis. The metapsychology here is below the surface, though the garden we see is gorgeous.

Beautifully translated as well.

First-person historical accounts can be a lot of fun for the frequent reader of history. Details that did not make their way into the books that summarize campaigns (or the entire war) pop up like Easter eggs. When you read a particularly outstanding account, like this one, there's also the pleasure in reading often-quoted descriptions in their original context.

This collection of a Union staff officer's letters to his wife is a primary source of detail about the Grant versus Lee period of the American Civil War (1864-5). The author, Theodore Lyman, was on Meade's staff for roughly the last 18 months of the war and his letters give us an insider's view from the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac.

A Civil War buff interested in this period of the war will find this book not only very interesting, but a fun read as well.

Lyman, a biologist, met Meade, an engineer, in Florida, where Lyman was collecting specimens and Meade was building a lighthouse. They remained friends and during the war, after one of Meade's promotions before Gettysburg, he offered Lyman a position on his staff. Lyman joined immediately before the Mine Run campaign. His letters comment on the period of the Army of the Potomac's impotency in the months after Gettysburg to Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. He writes about Grant's arrival, the Wilderness campaign, Petersburg and the Appomattox campaign.

Lyman, well educated and well traveled, makes many interesting observations and passing references that add color to the reader's knowledge of the period. I was under the impression that "doughboy" originated in WWI, but Lyman uses it in 1863: "There was a piercing cold wind, the roads were frozen, and ice was on the pools; but the night was beautiful, with a lovely moon, that rose over the pine trees, and really seemed to me to be laughing derisively at our poor doughboys."

Lyman's extensive travels with his wife before the war led to his making many interesting comparisons. For example: "Our people are very different from the Europeans in their care for the dead, and mark each grave with its name; even in the heat of battle."

Most enjoyable for me is Lyman's clever and often amusing phrases, such as this reference to Shakespeare's MacBeth: "...so I was up at 4:30 - rain pitchforks! Dark as a box - everything but `enter three witches.'"

Lyman's letters are sprinkled with mentions of secondary Civil War figures such as this of the man who later teamed with his father to build the Brooklyn Bridge: "Captain Roebling, from General Warren's staff, galloped up. He is the most immovable of men, but had, at that moment, rather a troubled air. He handed a scrap of paper. General Meade opened it and his face changed. `My God!' he said, `General Warren has half my army!' Roebling shrugged his shoulders."

Lyman's descriptions give a lot of color to the war. Here are two more examples of what you can expect from this book:

"The houses that have not actually burnt usually look almost worse than those that have: so dreary are they with their windows without sashes, and their open doors, and their walls half stripped of boards."

"Headed by General Webb, we gave three cheers, and three more for General Meade. Then he mounted and rode through the 2d and 6th Corps. Such a scene followed as I can never see again. The soldiers rushed, perfectly crazy, to the roadside, and there crowding in dense masses, shouted, screamed, yelled, threw up their hats and hopped madly up and down! The batteries were run out and began firing, the bands played the flags waved. The noise of the cheering was such that my ears rang. And there was General Meade galloping about and waving his cap with the best of them! Poor old Robert Lee!"

Lyman's letters have been a gold mine for historians. Someone well read in civil war histories will recognize at least a few some of his descriptions, such as this one of Grant: "He habitually wears an expression as if he had determined to drive his head through a brick wall, and was about to do it." His description of Custer is also memorable: "This officer is one of the funniest looking beings you ever saw, and looks like a circus rider gone mad! He wears a huzzar jacket and tight trousers, of faded black velvet trimmed with tarnished gold lace."

Its very difficult to find the perfect gift for the fanatic. After all, what could you get a fanatic that he doesn't already have? When I am buying a gift for a Civil War buff who has not yet discovered first-person accounts, this is my first choice. I am writing this review in the hopes that someone will give this book (sections of which I've reread many times) to that hard-to-buy-for Civil War buff on their gift list.

petervtamas@mail.com

This is an outstanding book that details the service of Grant and Meade towards the end of the Civil War. The story is told by the right hand man for both Grand and Meade. Lyman served both generals as their closest assistant. Much of the story comes from letters Lyman sent to his wife during the course of the war. The author's insight on both men is great. Several times in the book, he tells the "real" story of what happened at a certain point in the war that differs from what history says happened. It's like getting the inside scoop on what really happened.

I BOUGHT THIS AS A PRESENT FOR A FRIEND HAVE READ IT AS IT IS ABOUT MY MOTHER. ENJOYED AS HAS ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE READ IT.

Bunny McBride has written a rare and special book - a book that takes you in a heretofore unexamined aspect of Native American culture - the lives of Indian women. "Women of the Dawn" tells the story of four women whose lives span the entire history of contact with European. Yet, it is far more than a well-documented anthroplogical tome. By taking a bit of literary license and mixing it with imagination and historical fact, Ms. McBride has painted a vivid poirtrait of these women's lives that in a way is perhaps a far more true and accurate retelling of their lives than a dry litany of facts. This is a book that will take you to four different times and let you look out at the world through the eyes of four remarkable native American women. A real triumph.

This book really gives all the information you need to knowabout Tupac Amaru. It's a great book. If you are a fan of Tupac, thisbook is highly recommended...

I read this book for a course I am taking in Atlantic Civilizations. Stavig goes in depth in creating a picture of the life of the desendents of the Inca's in Peru. Even though many sources are from the Spanish colonial records, there are ample references to native sources. It was eye-opening information about a culture that has my fullest admiration. Only towards the end that all the background history is linked and tied to Tupac Amaru. Study the glossary at the end of the book first to help you understand the text, since Stavig prefers to use the original term instead of the translation. Excellent reading!

To rate this book is to do its author a disservice. I might as well have given the text one star, for it makes no 'sense'. It is a multiple work, in the spirit of Nietzsche's aphoristic style, that attempts to lend a few scents to the reader. These scents might lead one to a space of silence in which the artist or writer relates with the source of his or her law, the inactive voice of reason. Can silence be rated? Our mistake is thinking that it can be rated and adhered to, giving rise to the disaster. The disaster is always already past; it is embedded in the way we read, the way we write, and the way we relate to texts. The disaster is something like the silencing of silence, and Blanchot's project attempts to rimind us to forget what we've read, as a historical community, and remember that which gives us pleasure in creating attempts to communicate with others.

In my opinion, this book is a purified example of what theory should be, how theory should be written. Granted that I've not read the original in French; but even through this darkened glass, there's enough light that breaks through. Enough to blind one.
In reading Blanchot, I think, you must never be "one". There is no Unity in the Disaster of Writing. "Just" Ethics. Blanchot's writing, to me, echoes that of Nietzsche (and also the later Wittgenstein): both are written in - so called - aphorisms, short phrases, unconnected by language's rules or direct meanings. No longer a detailed/derailed "Treatise" that's going to "make it all understood"; I view the Levinassian heritage - prominent in Blanchot's thought (he was good friends with Emmanuel Levinas) - as an "Ethics of Deconstruction" (to quote Critchley's wonderful book of Levinas and Derrida), as a fragmentation rather than unification. This fragmentation, this disintegration, this death - - allow the only Ethical standpoint available to a mortal facing the world: an infinite responsibility toward the Other.
That's why Blanchot - and also Derrida, in my opinion - is an Ethical Philosopher: his Writing of the disaster is always aware of the catastrophe the Other brings upon any "Unity" - whether Political (Totalitarianism) or psychological (what Lacan called "Ego Psychology") - and our Ethical obligation toward the Other as an infinite responsibility, one that does not have an "end", one that doesn't end.
In Blanchot, Form adheres to content, and therefore that's what makes his writing - again, in my eyes - Ethical. Writing ABOUT Ethics is one thing (and a pretty dead-end thing at that); But Writing Ethics, The Writing of the Disaster - is what Blanchot's book is all about.
One of the closing/opening remarks of His is "learn to Think in Pain". this is how I understand Ethics, if at all.

This is an excellent resource for anyone studying Native American history, culture, or art. Covering the history of this calendar-like art form, and following with year-by-year images and descriptions from each winter count, the book ends with a modern interpretation of the winter count concept by Emil Her Many Horses.

It is very interesting to compare which events are covered by each winter count keeper. It is also fascinating to see how the Lakota depicted other tribes as well as soldiers. The book and the data in it give us a peek into a window of a culture that had no written language.

This book contains pricless pieces of history. Be aware that the up-close individual pictures are black and white. If you wish to view the winter counts in full color you can just visit the smithsonian website. Even though I have spent countless hours viewing these wintercounts online, there is something about having a copy of your own that you can easily flip through. One of the best parts of this book is that upon reading the descriptions of idividual pictures, you will see that the authors are not so bold as to hold their descriptions as absolute, but rather the best information they could compile from the families and indirect sources of these wintercounts.

I was iffy about this, because of the other photos. Luckily, this product has exceeded my expectations. I don't know why there are "other views" of this calendar, they aren't from this product. Wish you could see the back!

Some of the other posters, besides the front, are Nebraska - Pittsburgh from 1928, Oregon State vs. Nebraska from 1947, Arizona - Nebraska from 1967, etc. The calendar is spiral bound and states that it is archival quality. Lots of neat artwork. I am buying it for a big Husker fan and think the posters will make nice framed art for his football room.

Adam's Diary is a brilliant work of art & a very entertaining book. In it, the "modern Adam" is a composite of thief, dog & prisoner. It's interesting that the composites are not merely psycological aspects of 3 different men, but they're actually what the men involved have become in reality. The book is broken up into 3 "diaries" for each man, & they all revolve around their relationship to one woman. Each portion is an interesting blend of "stream of consciousness" and psycological drama. The book becomes more & more compelling as you read on. Faldbakken is a guy hardly anybody in America has heard about, let alone read, & that's a real shame. He's a first-class writer & worthy blood-brother to Dostoyevsky. Get this!

Big-Foot Wallace is a true Texas icon. He was on the famous Miers Expedition which explored West Texas. He also served as one of the original Texas Rangers. The reader does't know if what he reads in the story actually happend. Much of if did, but Duval added some stories to make it a better yarn. The humor is dry and understated fitting with typical West Texas sensiblity.