Ohio Books

This book gives a look into the day by day life and training of the soldiers that went to the Great War. Their positive outlook, their sense of adventure, and their courage, from the time of their recruitment to the shores of France and across the battle fields and finally home. Here is the men who inspired the Greatest Generation. Includes their letters and their forward outlook. Don't miss reading this book!

"Overland to California in 1859: A Guide for Wagon Train Travelers", editted and complied by Lou Bloch is a breezy redaction of guides published at the time of the California Gold Rush. You capture the feeling of venturing west, subject to all the pitfalls you might encounter along the way.

The discussion covers the selection of wagonmasters, provisions, friendly and unfriendly Indians to be found along the way, encounters and business dealing with Mormons. Supplemental to this is a discussion of the growth of San Franscisco from a rump port town to a major city in just 10 years.

The book has illustrations of camping gear, maps, and advertisements from the era further immersing the reader in the times. It was digitally reset and source document rescanned for the most recently publication in 2002. Previous versions has been composed with galley photo-type, PMTs and imposition negatives.

The engaging photos in this book are irresistible thanks to Elliott's strong narrative voice; she will lure browsers to their nearest armchairs and turn them into time machines. Elliott will entice, by the merest suggestion in a caption, even the least romantic peruser of this book into a thousand daydreams. Some will awake and go on with their lives, but others will be more securely hooked; they will be prompted to find out more about something only glimpsed, to visit a library, to visit Oxford, to read a novel, or write one. This book is as much a gift to the creative spirit as to the history buff. Those interested in Victoriana and particularly in recreating rooms with some authenticity will find the college interiors circa 1900 themselves worth the price of the book. Among these rare perspectives are the dorm room with its curtained, pillowed alcove and its rocking chairs and the reading room with its tablecloths each anchored by an attractive potted plant. The book concludes with a tantalizing look at ten "notable residents of Oxford" among whom are the infamous Moon sisters, journalist Whitelaw Reid and composer Edgar Stillman Kelley. This is the sort of book you will want to share with friends; for that reason, serious collectors will want to buy two.

"Painful Decisions, Positive Results" chronicles 85 years of caring through the United Way and its predecessor organizations in Cincinnati, Ohio. As a voluntary agency recognizing that government can't do it all, the United Way and its volunteers have faced tough decisions about where and how to spend the dollars its has raised over the years: "Prevent or remediate?" "Young people or the elderly?" "Urban or suburban?" "Individuals or groups?" "Neighborhoods, cities, counties or state?"

"In eighty-five years, there has never been enough money to meet all of the health and human service needs of the Greater Cincinnati region. For United Way & Community Chest, many decisions have been painful...but, nearly every result has been positive."

Perhaps Aft's greatest contribution is to use this survey of history and look into the future for United Ways and the charitable sector.

His recommendations for moving into the 21st Century include the following: "Celebrate the fact that your decisions make a difference every day...." and "Maintain the relentless determination...'to prevent and alleviate human suffering.'"

There have been few published histories of United Way: Aft's fills that gap in a very readable way.

Originally self published by H.M. Fogle in 1908, this 278 page softcover book provides human-interest stories of the incarceration and execution 59 of Ohio's murderers, with a detailed review of the incidents connected with each case. Each execution is described in graphic detail by Fogle, who was an official of the penitentiary. In addition, the book is profusely illustrated with pictures of the electric chair, death cage, execution scenes, and the executed men.

This book represents an exhaustive account of the changes that accompanied Michigan from the latter days of Jacksonian politics all the way to the Civil War. With lucid prose, Hershock chronicles the story of Michigan, representing a consummation of, rather than a contribution to, historical analysis.

A fascinating book, rich in innovative analysis and historical detail on rail and bus management strategies and tactics. It's essential for students of both railroad history and California history. The detail will interest railfans, and the analysis would let them escape from conspiricay theories about the decline of rail passenger service.

This was probably one of the best books I have ever read in regards to African social changes/history. The writing is dynamic and flows well. It brings an interesting perspective to the otherwise dry realm of historical non-fiction.

This is a nice collection of Chinese and Japanese poetry in English translation--not only haiku, but all the works are haiku-esque in their brevity and style. After an excellent introduction explaining the Zen aesthetic of suggestion rather than depiction come four sections of poetry in English translation: Chinese Poems of Enlightenment and Death; Poems of the Japanese Zen Masters; Japanese Haiku; and Shikichi Takahashi, Contemporary Japanese Master. The poems are complemented by 14 black and white reproductions of Eastern paintings also demonstating the Zen influence in which detail is suggested rather than portrayed.

One might quibble about what is missing--apparently nothing from China after the southern Sung dynasty, or about the proportions of Japanese to Chinese work, or the inclusion of so much by a single modern master. But to do so would be to miss the point, and certainly to fail to bring a Zen sensibility to the collection as a whole. And here the introduction is invaluable--not only in explaining the selection made, but more importantly discussing the sensibility required. Certainly, for many Westerners, Zen is at best inscrutable and at worst commonplace; and they may see a haiku like Onitsura's likewise: Autumn wind--/across the fields/faces. Lucien Stryk has a very nifty comparison of this haiku with a short poem of Ezra Pound's which reveals its immediacy, and suggests an approach of thought that is absolutely necessary to the understanding of this poetry. All in all, a very worthwhile product. ...

Centre for Critical and Cultural lecturer Julia Thomas presents Pictorial Victorians: The Inscription Of Values In World And Image, a succinct examination of the connection between key Victorian artworks and images, and the texts or cultural phenomena with which they are intertwined. Most of the images reproduced in Pictorial Victorians are black-and-white, though there is an inset collection of color plates. Illustrations from Victorian books and publications, narrative scenes from the walls of the Royal Academy, and more images reveal fascinating nuances of Victorian culture, lifestyle, and worldview. A fascinating tour of a historical period through its verbal and visual legacy.