Oklahoma Books

John Lubetkins literary genious is always very well transferred to his books. I highly recommend all of his books. He puts lots of research into his books and it really shows in the quality and the details. You wont regret picking up any of his books.

Jay Cooke's Gamble covers important background into the North pacific Railroad's history. It does not focus much on the actual railroad operations, but rather the financing and surveying behind the scenes. The author writes in a very readable style and does his subject justice.

The reader will be transported to a time when railroads determined settlement of the American interior. But before the roads could be built, the land had to be surveyed, and in this case the land was also still occupied by natives who wished to preserve their traditional way of life. The reader will encounter a cast of characters ranging from the venerable Jay Cooke himself, to General Geoerge Armstrong Custer, and all the important NP company engineers and surveyors in between. Some were drunkards (the author appears to have a strong bias against alcohol), some prone to mismanagement, and some, like Cooke, never set foot in the land where the action took place. All of this makes for a very entertaining and informative read. One statistic does stand out as being a possible typo: the author on page 274 states land in Bismarck, Dakota was selling for as much as $8000/acre. That figure appears high.

But this is a very good book. One hopes the author will continue on and write the history of the railroad after Cooke's demise and the Northern Pacific's ultimate completion and beyond to its eventual merger with the Great Northern and CB&Q.

This is one of those special books that is virtually impossible to put down once you start reading. Written in a highly readable, narrative style that puts the reader in the time and place being depicted, this book is the story of Jay Cooke's attempt to build a second transcontinental railroad, known as the Northern Pacific. Present readers may recognize its successor, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad that just happens to be the largest private landholder in the United States. An integral part of the story is the creation of Yellowstone National Park, the forced Canadian-British effort to build the Canadian Pacific transcontinental railroad, the Panic of 1873, the instigation of the Great Sioux War, and most interestingly, the link between Cooke and George Armstrong Custer that brought him back from the South and, as is said, the rest is history. This is a worthy addition to both national and regional history.

Mr. Lubetkin's work is well researched and well written. He's able to weave a narrative together that brings the beginning of the Gilded Age to the Indian Wars and railroad construction... frankly, I had never made the connection between the Northern Pacific and Sitting Bull until I read this book.
However, the final conclusions made me question the depth of the research. Lubetkin identifies the completion of the Northern Pacific several years later, and its competition with the Great Northern, whose surveyors "found" Marias Pass. There is no mention of the railroads' cooperation and attempted merger, nor the landmark Sumpreme Court case concerning Northern Securities and the creation of the ICC. Oh yes, and with reference to the previous review of the map quality, it would have been nice had the book included a larger map or two of the entire proposed routes.
I still believe Pierre Berton's The Last Spike (Canadian Pacific) to be the standard against all railroad construction history books should be measured. If Berton rates a 10, this book is an 8.

Author John Lubetkin has done an excellent job pulling together a widely diverse stockpile of sources and developing in-depth and unique look at the ill-fated attempt to construct the Northern Pacific Railroad in the early 1870s as America's second transcontinental rail link. Other books in the past have extracted the best-known portion of the series of events that constitute this story, namely Custer's 1873 Yellowstone Expedition as recounted in biographies of Custer and Sitting Bull as well as works from the late Larry Frost and John Carroll. The strength of Lubetkin's work lies in its all inconclusive disection of Jay Cooke and his Northern Plains Railroad dream which in no ways detracts from the military events that many of us find so compelling.

In the late 1860s, Cooke had reached the apex of America's banking world, having financed the Union war effort in the Civil War, funding that was crucial in the ultimate victory. He backed the dream, dormant since its 1864 charter, of creating the Northern Pacific Railroad running from Duluth, Minnesota across Dakota Territory, through Montana, Idaho, and ending in the Pacific Northwest.

The author's engaging style and in-depth research combine as he takes us back in time to the full context of the Gilded Age. We witness the brilliant Cooke as he ably finances his dream through repeated bond sales but the reality of what was being paid for soon begins to take its toil--poor management, gross overspending and corruption by those under Cooke, the unanticipated engineering challenges of laying a railroad through Minnesota's boggy, swampy terrain and, ultimately, the will of the the Lakota in resisting the railroad through their prime hunting grounds.

History is fortunate that former Confederate General Tom Rosser was the chief engineer on the 1871 Whistler Expedition and the 1872 Rosser-Stanley Eastern Yellowstone Expedition as well as served at the start of the 1873 Expedition where he was reunited with former West Point classmate, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. The author has delved deep into Rosser's diaries and correspondence from the manuscript repository holdings of the University of Virginia. For those like myself with an interest in the Indian Wars, the large section of this book devoted to these expeditions will prove compelling. An entire chapter is devoted to the 1872 Battle of Poker Flats and is absoluelty fascinating, especially the description of Sitting Bull's calculated act of courage of sitting on the ground, smoking his pipe as soldier's bullets failed to hit him as the battle concluded.

All of this culminates with the 1873 Expedition which proved necessary since staunch Lakota resistance prevented the 1872 foray from completing the survey. The author argues that Eastern newspaper coverage of the intractable Lakotas begin to slowly but surely unnerve Eastern investors who became more and more concerned over the feasiblity of a railroad through hostile territory, a concern that would explode in September 1873 with the worst possible results. The military responded to the 1872 difficulties by sending Custer's 7th Cavalry to the Northern Plains, thus giving the 1873 survey an offensive capability lacking in the infantry companies. This act also placed Custer and his regiment into the heart of the most untamed portion of the country where Custer's 1876 demise would carry him and the 7th Cavalry beyond the realm of history and into legend. Separate chapters on Custer's August 4, 1873 battle near the Yellowstone/Tongue River confluence and the larger battle a week later near the Big Horn/Yellowstone junction do full justice to these events as well as ably demonstrate Custer's ability in Indian warfare. Readers will be somewhat surprised as well as enlightened by the more positive picture of General David Stanley, Custer's superior on the expedition, as he has generally been written off as a hopeless drunk. As this book reveals though, he was able to command effectively when the situation demanded and there is far more to him than my previous knowledge had encompassed.

The book concludes with the return of the 1873 Expedition, the final survey complete but its results of little use until the end of the decade when the railroad was finally completed by a Northern Pacific under different management. For in September 1873, judgement day arrived for both Jay Cooke and Company as well as the U.S. economy as a "Panic" was unleashed on Wall Street, numerous banks, including Cooke's, failed and work on the Northern Pacific ground to a halt, dragging the nation into the depths of a depression that at least one economic historian has judged as second only to the 1929-1932 Great Depression. The author makes the argument that the reports of Custer's two battles, despite their small size and the success of Custer and his regiment, were the last straw in undermining investor confidence in the safety of the area that the railroad was trying to cross.

Excellent and numerous maps by Vicki Trego Hill are included throughout this book and their quality is such that even the most difficult to please cartographer will be satisfied. If there is anything that the author can be faulted on, it is for not including more of the William Pywell photographs from the 1873 expedition but I have to remind myself that this book is on the entire Northern Pacific Railroad effort, not just the Custer expedition. For those wishing to view these photographs as well as gain additional, in-depth, excellent insight into the 1873 Expedition, see Lawrence Frost's CUSTER'S 7TH CAVALRY AND THE CAMPAIGN OF 1873, out of print but available wherever fine rare books are sold, including Amazon as of this writing.

As a 19th century woman, her five children, and a mostly absent husband struggle to scratch out an existence on the windswept plains of Oklahoma, every manner of hardship tests their will to find happiness. The book often made me laugh out loud, and softly sob more often than I would admit. "Mama Grace" is filled with many great stories, the kind passed down from generation to generation. The most poignant of which were surviving too much, then too little water, mama chopping railroad ties to free a wagon wheel, saved from a wildfire by an Indian and the "Pride of Kansas" showing from beneath a singed dress, selling milk at $.01 per quart, a chaw does in a threatening rattlesnake, a youngster lends nature a helping arm during the birth of piglets, and it's deeply moving depiction of the age old struggle between the sexes. Written with perhaps a bit too much drifting dialog at times, and with a heart wrenching ending, "Mama Grace" is a good story told well. We see life may not have a happy ending, but the journey is certainly worth the effort.

Ms. Bagshaw has written a moving story about the hardships and joys experienced by a mother and her young family as they took all their remaining possessions over rough prairie country at the turn of the century. Brushes with Indians, desperados, and the hostilities of nature make for an enjoyable read. Their experiences make modern life sound terribly dull by comparison.

I can barely wait for the sequel Ms. Bagshaw promises!

I read Mama Grace because it was given to me, not because I would normally choose to read a non-fiction historical account of a woman's difficult life. I was so surprised by the book: the moving account of Mama Grace's journey, the beautiful relationships that give the story depth, and the amazing courage of one woman when faced with incredible challenges. The author's style is warm and draws you into the story. You get a sense that the author really values the historical account of her family, and wants her readers to imagine what it would be like to live in Mama Grace's world: as a genuine and unassuming woman who is at times desperate and lonely, but also hopeful and content. The courage and bravery of Mama Grace helps empower us to look at our own lives differently, examine our own challenges, and learn from the small wonders that are all around us.

After a flood demolishes their home in Oklahoma in 1907, Mama Grace packs up her five children and her treasured Majestic cookstove into a covered wagon and travels -- minus Papa -- to her father's homestead. A hundred years on I have revised this story, based on the life of my great-grandmother and first penned by my grandmother, for the 2007 celebration of the Oklahoma Centennial.

Sandra Olson of the Oklahoma Historical Society championed the book's publication, describing Grace as "a courageous woman, a true pioneer who braves the unknown, an entrepreneur, and a wife who longingly watches the road for her husband's promised coming."

The book includes a photo section of historical and current photos showing the Oklahoma prairie and its people.

Dana Bagshaw's personal involvement with the story that she has written is as gripping as the story itself. One can only hope that Ms. Bagshaw will let her own role unfold as she continues to write.

The author's account of an authentic pioneer family is told with an economy of words, both concise and yet, giving details, precious details. Her love for her subjects cannot be concealed, and the kinships are described with the care and gentleness that they deserve.

Ms. Bagshaw's tale revolves around the title character, Mama Grace, who was, in fact, Ms. Bagshaw's great grandmother. The qualities demonstrated by this woman are almost beyond comprehension, for none of the readers of the adventures Mama Grace will know anyone, today, who could do what this woman accomplished, and these feats of hers went on for a good many years. Yet, the well-chosen words constantly reveal the inner strengths of this woman, and she is pure platinum: genuine to the core. One never doubts that she did exactly what is described.

The author does not neglect the several children of Mama Grace. Carefully-drawn, as large as life, the children come to enter the conciousness of the reader in a way that next-door neighbors' children can do, in the best interpretation of those friendships.

The daily adventures--dangers and joys--of Mama Grace and her brood, as the main trip is made, almost gives the reader the comfortable framework of a journal. Since there were journals, letters and other records behind the finished novel, it is refreshing that these shadowy writings are still quietly present in the words that Ms. Bagshaw spins into a story with lyrical tones.

I agree with other reviewers/readers: that there is more to come, from Dana Bagshaw, and again focusing on the Barnet Family, is a promise of another tasty morsel of reading nourishment.

Lorna Stokenbury Pryor
University of Arkansas, College of Business Administration
Ph. D. in Economics (retired)
Fort Smith AR, USA

THIS WAS BOUGHT AS A PRESENT. I HAVE READ IS AS IT IS ABOUT MY MOTHER. EVERYONE WHO READ IT HAS THOROUGHLY ENJOYED IT. JEAN A MOORE. MAINE

The first 30 years of Molly's life are a fascinating story, but this writer was not the one to tell it. The awkward and amateurish quality of the writing detracts from an inherently interesting tale. The prose is particularly cringe-worthy when the writer attempts to summarize history or wax lyrical about complete strangers' guessed-at emotional states. The book needed a good copy editor, too - it has far too many errors.
Molly deserved a biographer (and perhaps an editor to work with the writer) who could shape a well written account of her life.

This is a beautifully-written biography of a young Penobscot woman from Indian Island, Maine. She danced in vaudeville, Wild West shows, and even went topless in New York before dancing before royalty in Europe. She had a passionate but tragic love affair with a French journalist, and fled with her daughter from the Nazis. Molly suffered greatly in her lifetime but shone among her people as a strong matriarch with dazzling basketweaving skills and musical talents. She deserves to have her story told at last.

As a middle school librarian in a county with two tribes, I am always looking for books that will model exellence for our young men and women. This is a fascinating read about a native American young woman in the early days of Hollywood. We can't afford this book yet, but it is one of three that top my list for next year's order. We have 180 feet of empty shelves.

This is a wonderfully lyrical account of the life of a Penobscot woman who against great odds overcomes poverty and illness through her intelligence, love of beauty and dance and her connection to her Native American heritage. Her romance with a French Resistance-member journalist and her escape over the Alps with her infant daughter during World War II is spell-binding. I loved this book!

This is a wonderful book relating to the history of the Oklahoma City Police Department. It has great pictures and would make an excellent reference book for those interested in law enforcement history in this great city.

This is an excellent book. If you are a police officer anywhere in the world, and espcially in Oklahoma, this is a must read. This book is great reading, and has lots that will keep you entertained if you have a "Cops sense of humor".

While it would be a stretch to regard Ron Owens' book as a "serious" history book (for example, while it does contain a bibliography, it contains no footnotes citing to references, and, for one interested in research, no index). That said, and while it would be tough to "test" the author's factual renderings from time to time as a researcher might want to do, it is obvious that the writer has spent countless hours in researching the history of the OCPD from territorial days through the Murrah Bombing, and/or/but, perhaps best of all, he doesn't "sound like" an academician - the phrasing is straightforward, very readable and pleasurable as he takes the reader through 100+ years of OCPD history, often with a tongue-in-cheek flair.

To illustrate what I mean, at page 12 a description of a gent named "Rip Rowser Bill" appears. He is described as "an armed drunk" who announced his summer 1889 presence in Oklahoma City with the prophesy, "My name is Rip Rowser Bill and I've come to Oklahoma City to start a graveyard." For many days, he swaggered around menacingly, but, eventually, a local group called the "Knights of the Cottonwood" had enough after Mr. Bill shot a few holes in a tent some of its members were occupying. According to Owens, they "decided that the man's manners better suited him for residence in Texas," they tied him up and planned to put him on the midnight trip to Texas. As it happened, and accompanied by "some local officers", they learned that the midnight train was going to be 3 hours late. The "local officers" left, "deciding that the intervening time could be better spent elsewhere", and Rip Rowser was left at the depot to be attended to by the Cottonwood group, sitting under a cottonwood tree with Mr. Bill. "When the officers returned at the appointed time to load him on the train, they found Bill swinging from a limb of the cottonwood. Locating and questing the committee members, they contended they had left Bill secured to a lim of the cottonwood tree and had limited his wanderings by means of a rope around his neck. A rapidly assembled jury agreed with the men's contention that the rope had shrunk during the night's dampness, raising Bill off the ground and causing his death. The next morning, Bill was buried on the banks of the North Canadian River just south of the Military Reserve section now known as the Bricktown area. Thus he fulfilled his prophesy about 'starting a graveyard in Oklahoma City'. But not before he was fined $3.30, the amount found in his pockets, for carrying a concealed weapon."

Sources? None cited. A great read? For sure. All 336 pages may not be as entertaining, particularly when the closer-to-home Murrah Bombing is discussed, but it's a fascinating and engaging story through and through about the OCPD, and I highly recommend it.

A well written history of a big city police department. One can tell the author put a a lot of work into this project.If you like history or just enjoy well-told cop stories you will eat this book up with a # 9 spoon.

As an OCPD officer myself I found this book to be entertaining and educational. Naturally there were a few stories I thought should have been included that weren't, but for a single book history this book does a very good job of covering the history of the OCPD from its inception right up to the Federal Building Bombing in 1995. It's a must-have for anyone with an interest in the history of Oklahoma City.

This is an amazing book. I have a new look at families with children that have special needs. It also gives you an inspiration for life and God and a renewed love for your own children.

What a great book! Makes other challenges in life seem a little smaller. This is the best "read" I have had in a long time. Seems like the only thing on the media anymore is negative. What a breath of fresh air! A Must read for everyone!

No matter what is going on in your life, this book will keep you going.
What a special boy to be in this world for such a short time, we all can only hope to make as much of an impact in our lifetime!

If you want to touch others, give them a copy. This book was such a blessing. I felt like I knew the family after reading about Zach and I wanted to know more. I laughed and I cried. You can't help but fall in love with him. I can make no excuses for myself after getting to know Zach through his father. The person who taught me the most about love and acceptance had Progeria. A beautiful, loving and inspirational story. Thank you for sharing it with us.

This book was such an inspiration to me. It's so different than your ordinary Christian books because it talks about a true life struggle. It's the struggle of a father and a family dealing with a disease that kills. It's also the story of a little boy who brought so much love and pure joy to those he came in contact with. This book is both heartwarming and heartwrenching. The end is the best because of the hope that it brings.

After CatullusÕ early experiments, Gallus was the first to borrow directly from the Alexandrians whose poets, more than a century earlier, had introduced a new sensibility and the conflict between urbanity and the urban concept of nature - preferably in a bucolic setting, as in Theocritus idylls. An innovation, to which even a Hebrew poet - perhaps a rabbiÕs daughter - made a contribution with the ÒSong of Solomon,Ó which is not just ostentatious poetry, but a bit of a rabbinic crossword puzzle: how many allusions and direct quotes from the Bible, would a reader recognize?

The undisputed Doyen of Hellenistic poetry was Callimachos, a scholar employed by the library in Alexandria. He had experimented with new prosodic patterns, wrote hymns, epigrams, court poetry, and especially etiological works. Catullus created for himself a pedigree by translating CallimachosÕ ÒLock of Berenice.Ó But it was Cornelius Gallus who began imitating the bucolic urbanity we find echoed in Vergil's Eclogues. We know that Vergil admired Gallus. Eclogue X addresses him directly. Then came Propertius and claimed Mimnermos as his literary pedigree; he adapted the Greek poet's meter, but in a vastly different tone.

Gaius Sextus PropertiusÕ data are very uncertain: born sometime between 54-47, he died sometime between 15-02 BC. All we know of PropertiusÕ life is that he had grown up near Perugia, that his familyÕs estate, like Vergil's, had been confiscated for AugustusÕ veterans, but that unlike Virgil he was able to subsist on his own means. In his poems he obsesses over a woman he called Cynthia. The emotion is intense, the expression refined, and full of the aroma of daily life. He is aware that he is an innovator. His poems ripple with a confusingly complex sensitivity.

And that exactly is the problem for a modern reader! Propertius prided himself on being learned. He often used versions of myths obscure even to erudite Romans. A reader without a grip on the lore of Antiquity, is simply lost if he tries to appreciate in detail all the hints, innuendos, and references. But who, in our days, has such a grasp? My own edition uses 160 generously spaced pages for the actual poetry and 320 pages for a tightly packed index of personal names, biographical notes and all the mythological and geographical references. Reading these poems is an experience surprisingly similar to reading certain modern authors - surprising for the degree of intellectual kinship and modernity that bridges a gap of 2,000 years.

Unlike Ovid, who was a favorite of the Elizabethans, Metaphysicians, and practically everybody ever since, Propertius came to light rather late. In the English speaking world, it was A.E. Housman, the English poet and self-taught Latinist, who was the first to champion PropertiusÕ technical brilliance in a series of articles. But before Ezra PoundÕs ÒHomage To Sextus Propertius,Ó there was barely any awareness of PropertiusÕ existence in the reading public. The simple fact remains: Propertius is a poetÕs poet. Not for trying to be difficult, but for following a convention that has practically vanished from our historical awareness.

We still use mythological patterns and characters to typify human behavior, even so for most people it is biblical mythology that has replaced the pagan paradigm. However the correlative changes in the underpinning concepts of man and his purpose has led to inevitable losses in sentiment and reference. For instance the only positive example for pederasty in the Bible is the story of Jonathan and David. Pagan mythology on the other hand offers hundreds of references and developed a code of romantic love entirely based on pederasty.

In poem No. 20 we can compare PropertiusÕ method with two of his Alexandrian models. In his epic on the Argonauts, Apollonios of Rhodes tells the tale of the drowning of HerculesÕ boyfriend Hylas. Hylas has left the camp to fetch some water. The water nymphs see him, fall in love, and drag him under. Hylas screams, but sadly Hercules arrives too late, and fails to rescue his beloved. Theocritus tells the same tale, but focusses more on the erotic intensity between the lovers and the story of the drowning itself. Theocritus addressed his poem to his own boyfriend, Nikias. Propertius found yet another angle to the same myth.

The essential difference is in PropertiusÕ depiction of Hylas. Theocritus simply makes him a youth who went to fetch water and was kidnapped. Propertius paints Hylas as a youth of indolence - who is not at all coy to signal his sexual availability. In addition, we also see Hylas from the nymphsÕ perspective. So he warns his friend Gallus to keep a close eye on his little lover, lest he loses him to rabid nymphs, as Hercules lost Hylas. This poem is a good example for PropertiusÕ use of multiple perspectives. But his poems must be read in their designated context.

Especially the first book of the collection betrays an immense effort to interlink the poems to a cycle of exploration. Elegiac poetry got its name from the metrical unit - the elegiac couplet. It is composed of alternating lines of verse in dactylic hexameter followed by a pentameter. Dactylic hexameter is the meter used in epic poetry but by combining it with a pentameter, the poetry is constantly deflated, because for every bold, frontal statement in the first line, there follows a second line lacking in metrical grandeur. Propertius is recognized as metrical genius, the equal of Vergil.

Propertius cycle of poems is a story of grace and possessive addiction. Granny NatureÕs sly way to make her creatures go is clearly recognized for what it is and how it creates a conflict with acceptable conduct in polite society. But unlike Rousseau and the Romantics, Propertius does not romanticize the savage in us, nor condemn culture as an evil. Love is a divine gift, but it has a destructive side to it. And where Ovid laughs away the pains of love as a mere party game, PropertiusÕ darker temperament wrestles with a profoundly troubling affliction.

Sextus Propertius was born in a northern Italian family in 60 BC. In his early childhood he would have heard reports of Caesar's conquest of northern Gaul. In his teen years he would have watched the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, and by the time of his death c. 10 BC, he had seen Octavianus found the Roman Empire and declare himself Augustus.

Propertius himself, for all the eventful happenings of his fifty year life,was a man of little importance. He held no important goverment offices, nor did he ever serve in the military. He was basically a Roman middle class 'guy-on-the-street'. It was with his talent as a poet, however, that he gained recognition amongst at least some of the literary elite of his day. Propertius' poems are translated and made to rhyme in English in this great title by Penguin Classics.

Propertius' best poems came from the early years of his life, when he was infatuated with a girl named Cynthia. Most of his poems, and all his best ones, are odes to Cynthia, in which he praises her beauty but condemns her fickle and contrary behavior. Though the content of some of these poems would seem almost 'kinky' to modern ears (at least to modern ears unfamiliar with Propertius's contemporary Ovidus), and his devotion to Cynthia sometimes seems rather pitiful, the poems have not lost their luster after 2000 years and are enough to take your breath away. Propertius also wrote poems on mythology and on the countryside of his beloved Italia, and these are enjoyable as well.

For me personally, one of the neatest things about Propertius' poems is how they offer a first-hand look at the life of a middle class inhabitant of Rome-he is neither wealthy nor poor, he leads a fairly comfortable but obscure existence, and is thus his day's version of many of us. To me this can make some of his writings, even on the mudane situations of his day, seem profound.

In short, though Propertius was not the best, much less the most famous of his day's writers, he provides us with a unique look at the changing Republic in which he was born and at love and sexuality for the common man in the Roman world, and this Penguin translation offers it in a well-organized and readable fashion.

Propertius' political poetry is entirely superfluous; he is at his best when writing odes to Cynthia. Of course, like all love-elegists, he is highly indebted to Catullus, but still he manages to have a charm and lyricism all his own.

Shepherd's translations suffer from persistent flatness; there is little poetry to be found in them. While footnotes explaining obscure mythological references serve a purpose, you know the translator is having trouble when footnotes are also used to explain substantive meanings within the translations. The overall feeling one gets is that Shepherd managed to translate the poems from Latin into English, but failed to take the further step of rendering them back into poetry.

I found this a fine and useful translation to read along side the Latin text of Propertius in the Loeb Classical Library (where the facing translation has as its prime aim to help the reader understand the latin; it gets a little dry). Unfortunately, this Oxford World Classics edition does not contain a facing Latin text, like the Oxford World's Classics edition of Catullus (also translated by Guy Lee). Nonetheless, Lee's introduction has to be one of the most interesting and absorbing introductions around, a far cry from the usual jargon-laden tedium that passes for an intro to most paperback classics nowadays. Lee is good on Propertius life and times, and on what he himself is trying to accomplish in the translation - basically, stay as close to the Latin as possible yet still preserve some style to the English. Lee's translations are always elegant on their own and helpful to the "mature student" teaching himself Latin. Try Guy Lee's translations of the Eclogues (Penguin - with facing Latin) and his Catullus (Oxford World Classics - with facing Latin). For a wonderful, well-written account of Propertius and the other great poets of the Augustan era (Virgil, Horace, etc), seek out Jasper Griffin's Latin Poets and Roman Life; like Guy Lee's introduction, Professer Griffin's book is jargon-free, well-written and extremely absorbing - concentrating all the time on the poetry itself and what it has to say (rather than literay theories, etc).

"I think the government can do no less than to give these remains decent burial, by putting them in coffins, and remove them to some suitable place....It is hard for me to understand how the remains of the officers could be in condition for removal....while those of privates and non-commissioned officers had become food for wolves....I want to secure the body of my son."
Samuel E. Staples' letter to Congressman William W. Rice (Rep-Mass.)
November 9, 1877

The pain and suffering from Mr. Staple's words leap out at you and hit you directly in the face. His son was Corporal Samuel F. Staples who died with Company I along battle ridge. These words from a father who lost his son at the Battle of the Little Bighorn would have a direct effect on the establishment of the Custer Battlefield as a national cemetery. One man can make a difference.

The story of Staple's father is just one of many new finds discussed in Jerome Greene's Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn Since 1876. The history of Custer Battlefield can be more fascinating than the battle itself:

* What to do with the remains of Custer, his officers, and his soldiers
* Should the grounds be designated a national cemetery
* Should the grounds be groomed or left to nature to maintain
* Should the extra soldier markers be removed
* Should the Indian warriors be memorialized
* How should the National Park Service (NPS) interpret the battle
* Custer buffs and their battles against the NPS created fireworks over the many decades; what were their outcomes
* Should there be an Indian Memorial

These are some of the questions answered. Every student fascinated with this place must understand its past to better understand it today, and to help protect it forever. Jerome Greene masters all of this in his magnum opus.

Stricken Field evolved from Mr. Greene's official 2005 report to the NPS at the request of former Superintendent Neil Mangum, current Superintendent Darrell Cook, and Chief Historian John Doerner. A study such as this was desperately needed. The only other history was written by past Chief Historian Don Rickey, Jr but it covered only the first 80 years. It was time to make it current.

Mr. Greene opens with an overview of the Custer Battle. The purpose of this book is not to rehash the battle in detail and Greene sticks to that purpose; his narrative on what happened to Custer and the 7th Cavalry is short and to the point. There is too much ground to cover after June 25-26, 1876, and Mr. Greene accomplishes that with depth and clarity.

Mr. Greene takes a complex subject (just keeping track of all the name changes at Custer Battlefield is difficult enough in itself) and helps us to more easily understand those complexities. Here you will discover the different government agencies that were responsible for the battlefield, how they saw their role in managing the place, the actions they implemented to accomplish their mission, and the people involved.

The different monuments and burials are covered: what happened to the Custer dead and the difficulties that followed in administering the national cemetery; how and why the remains from Ft. Phil Kearny were reinterred on Last Stand Hill and what happened to them afterwards; the placement of the 7th Cavalry Monument; the repositioning of the Ft. C.F. Smith monument and the Reno Monument; and the soldier and warrior markers. What about the visitor center and the Stone House as well as the other structures on the battlefield? The answers are shared in vast detail by Mr. Greene.

For me, one of the most fascinating segments of Stricken Field is the chapter regarding interpretation. During the War Department's administration, its primary focus was the many reinterments from the various western forts and maintaining the national cemetery. Interpretation was not their mission. That was furnished by Crow tribal members who accompanied visitors. Interpretation did not really begin until management of the battlefield was transferred from the War Department to the NPS in 1940. Reading how research and interpretation flourished at the battlefield is inspiring. All of us can be thankful for the vision that the first NPS superintendent Edward Luce and second NPS park historian Don Rickey, Jr. dreamed up in this endeavor. Their work still has an impact on the battlefield with the placement of red granite markers for fallen warriors.

Mr. Greene does not shy away from the many contentious battles waged against the NPS by the Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association (CBHMA), and Little Big Horn Associates (LBHA) respectively. Few battles benefited the battlefield as in the case against the partnership between NPS and North Shield Ventures; however, once we see all these clashes laid out before us, we realize even more so how most of them were fought more for personal needs rather than enhancement of the battlefield. Many of the younger generation interested in this battle are not even aware that the CBHMA was once a cooperating association with the NPS and managed the visitor center bookstore. Mr. Greene clearly covers the many successes the CBHMA achieved when cooperating with the NPS, as well as its tragic downfall from it becoming extremely adversarial.

What is completely absorbing is another discovery by Mr. Greene in a letter written by Walter Camp to General Godfrey on November 6, 1920. In this very lengthy, never-before-published letter, Camp offers in-depth complaints about incorrect placement of soldier markers and the reinterment of the Ft. Phil Kearny dead on Last Stand Hill. These very same arguments can be heard at the battlefield or made against the NPS today.

Mr. Greene concludes the book with a chapter about the Indian Memorial and the battles fought by American Indian groups and individuals to honor their fallen warriors. Because of Mr. Greene's extensive research, we wholly comprehend the failures of the War Department and NPS in not listening to the needs of these Americans. But we also appreciate the achievements of the Indian Memorial and warrior markers that eventually took place because the NPS finally listened. Those successes began from bold initiatives set by the first American Indian superintendents, Barbara Booher and Gerard Baker. Their efforts began the building blocks of trust between the NPS and the Indian community. Immediately afterwards and during Superintendent Neil Mangum's administration, he harbored that trust and did not take it lightly; the consequence was dramatic change to the face of the battlefield for the better and forever. Mr. Greene documents Mr. Mangum's fight to finally have the Indian Memorial constructed. It is during the Indian Memorial dedication at the battlefield on June 25, 2003 that Mr. Greene ends this story.

Stricken Field leaves one breathless for its complete annals of the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument and its transformation from a small national cemetery without an official name to a magnificent Monument where all Americans now feel welcomed. What changes will we witness at Little Bighorn over the next 50 years? Who can say, but I envy the next generation that will experience that change.

Please visit the Friends of the Little Bighorn Battlefield website to see some of the photos from Stricken Field and read an extensive interview with Jerome Greene where he discusses his new book, his career as a historian, and the Little Bighorn Battlefield today. Select "Site Map" at the bottom of every page to easily find these specific pages.

The Custer National Battlefield still holds a special aura in the history of the American lexicon. Even after 132 years since the battle, the tragedy that unfolded there on June 25, 1876 captures our imagination, and it begs more questions than answers. Perhaps that's as it should be. Stricken Field is a history of the Custer National Battlefield, and the efforts of so many people over the years to make this piece of ground a sacred, historical, and beautiful spot in our country. The book is very well detailed, thoughtfully and intelligently written to make the history of all the efforts required to make and keep the battlefield a pleasant spot to visit, reflect, and admire. I strongly urge any person interested in western history to read this book, as well as the book A Terrible Glory by James Donovan.

For someone who has yet to browse this book, think of it as a biography of a battlefield. But not just any battlefield, THE battlefield, which for those of us who are entranced with the study of the events of June 25-26, 1876, can only mean one place--the Little Bighorn. As with all of his Indian Wars books, Jerry Greene does a first-rate job in marshaling sources to give us a highly detailed and readable history of the battlefield. The level of detail extends right down to a discussion of even the flora and fauna found there. In only that regard, the book may suffer at times from the inclusion of details that may not be that terribly interesting but it is necessary for them to be provided so that we can have a complete a picture of the place as possible.

Just as his book on the Washita battle supplanted Stan Hoig's "best of the bunch" book on that battle, so too this book supercedes the late Don Rickey's 1960s era history of the Custer battlefield as the book to turn to for a recounting of all that has happened at that southeast Montana field of engagement. This statement in no way denigrates Don Rickey whose book preceded much of the change that has visited the battlefield in recent years. Mr. Greene builds on the excellent foundation Mr. Rickey placed. In recounting the events of the 1980s(battlefield archaeology), the 1990s (the name change from Custer battlefield to Little Bighorn, the placement of the first markers for the places where Indian warriors fell) and this decade (the 2003 dedication of the Indian Memorial on Last Stand Hill), Greene helps us realize that this and, to a lesser degree, all battlefields are "living" places that evolve over time and reflect our nation in each of those decades, just as the battle itself tells us much about America in 1876.

In addition to gaining much insight into the past of the Little Bighorn, there are a number of areas of this book that are highly entertaining. I especially enjoyed reading about an old soldier named White who superintended the battlefield cemetery in the early 20th century. Imagine having him show you around, for he had first visited Little Bighorn as a young trooper with the Second Cavalry, serving under Alfred Terry, just a few days after the battle itself, and thus saw this stricken field as none of us ever can and conveyed his impressions to visitors.

This is an excellent update to many other published books about the Lettle Big Horn Battle Field. The author spends a lot of time dicussing the many problems that friendly organizations. Many of these organizations have had their differences with management of the battle field but most I believe had the interest of the history in heart. It's amazing to me that after so many years the argument of who did what to whom continues. Now the park wants to do ever more harm to it's self with more expansion. The author discusses this in detail. This is a must have book for anyone who loves the history to this wonderful historical place.

Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn Since 1876 by Jerome Greene is, for aficionados of the battle, a must own, must read. As a student of the battle, Gen. G. A. Custer and other major characters of the era, and the Native Americans they fought, the addition of the history and background of the battlefield and subsequent national monument is information one must have. I will admit the some of the minutia included became tedious after a while, but most of what is included is important.

The politics behind the formation of the national cemetery in partnership with the battlefield is also interesting to read. I also found quite interesting the point of view of the Crow residents of the area in thwarting the expansion of the battlefield proper; an aspect I never thought about before.

Greene spends little time with the battle itself. Almost anyone who would be interested in Stricken Field knows more about the battle than Greene included. What is of paramount value is the detail provided dealing with the history of the area including the geological information. I also found interesting the information provided about each of the superintendents and thought the inclusion of their photographs in the appendix was a nice touch. Certainly the information included about Edward S. Luce who headed up the facility between 1941 and 1956 was interesting. I never knew, for example, that Luce served in the 7th Cavalry in the early part of the twentieth century. That explains much about his commitment to the area. As a reader of the Notes section, the information provided there is most interesting and in some cases more interesting than the information in the chapter they relate to. Example, Notes for Chapter 2, #15, pp 267-268, and #21, pp 268-269. If these won't grab you, nothing will.

Jerome Greene is even handed and extremely fair in discussing the major groups that have an interest in the battlefield. I thought his treatment of the installation of the Indian Memorial to be both informative and evenhanded. Chapter Ten, in some ways, is the most important in the book.

Stricken Field is not a book that will be read by the masses. But for anyone who has been bitten by the events surrounding June 25, 1876, Stricken Field will provide a treasure trove of information that is interesting and important.

Peace always

I'm very pleased with this book. I haven't read it all, but it is well written and definitely keeps my attention. I'm planning to give it to my brother when I have finished reading it. He lives close to where Verne Sankey's ranch was in S.D. so I'm sure he'll find it even more interesting then I am.

"Verne Sankey: America's First Public Enemy" is an exciting and interesting look at the Depression-era Midwest complete with bootleggers, gangsters and kidnappers. Judge Bjorkman does an excellent job of unraveling the story of Verne Sankey, an ordinary kid who wanted to make it big, and finally does so by becoming "America's Public Enemy # 1". The book provides excellent insight into the twisted logic of the criminal mind.

Sandy Murphy

I enjoyed every page of this biography that reads like a novel with clever foreshadowing and unique character development that is accomplished by giving the reader a thorough understanding of the setting in which Verne Sankey became Public Enemy No. 1. Mr. Bjorkman takes us on a bumpy ride through rural South Dakota in the early days of the Great Depression as well as a look into J. Edgar Hoover's early years in the Bureau. It's a good read.

Timothy Bjorkman captured the mood of both impoverished South Dakota and the wealthy of Denver in the 30s. It is a great read that is well documented and gives the reader an understanding of the players as well as the times.

I am in this book

The book All but the Waltz is something you should read if you are interested in learning some things about Montana life from the 1880's on. You should only read this book if you have patience because it skips around a lot. The book is a lot of stories put together and don't really ever tie together. If that bothers you then you shouldn't read this book but if it doesn't then I think that you would like this book.

This fine book is a collection of essays that weave together remarkable accounts of four generations of the author's ancestors, from their settlement in central Montana in the 19th century to the latter years of the 20th. Pioneers of strong fortitude, originating in Pennsylvania, her father's family, the Hogelands, are among the first settlers along the headwaters of the Judith River.

Good years, wise management, and a faith in the rewards of hard work serve them well - until the early death of the author's grandfather, followed by a decade of severe drought and then the Great Depression. While half of the homesteaders around them go broke and move on, her family continues to scrape a living from the land, the women on her mother's side of the family supplementing their incomes with teaching in remote one-room country schools.

Reconstructing her family's story, the author brings vividly to life her father and mother, grandmothers, aunts, and her great-grandparents. She deciphers and transcribes the writings of her great-grandfather Abraham, interviews living relatives, and studies family photographs, many of which are included in her book. While the primary theme of the book is the survival of her family, she also has much to say about the role of women, focusing on the circumstances that invariably compromised their hopes and aspirations.

There is her father's mother, Grammy, who does the work of a man while providing home and shelter for a live-in hired man without benefit of clergy. There's her mother's mother, who teaches school into her seventies to support her family and pay for her husband's care in a nursing home. There's the author's aunt Imogen, who remains unmarried and also teaches school. There's the author's mother, who marries a handsome cowboy and then struggles to make a place for herself in her husband's domineering family.

Meanwhile, the men in her stories make equally interesting studies, especially her strong-willed father, Jack, who's a natural horseman and top hand; her mother's father, who cannot withstand the pressures of a lonely, hard life on the prairie; and a husband in later years, a wildcat oilman who is in complete denial that he is dying of pulmonary fibrosis.

I highly recommend this well-written, absorbing and sometimes harrowing book that renders such a vivid picture of Montana homesteaders and the extremes of rural life. Thanks to the University of Oklahoma Press for keeping it in print. Readers of this book will also like Judy Blunt's memoir of growing up on a Montana ranch, "Breaking Clean."

While I enjoyed this book - it made me aware of just how fragmented my own family history is. How I wish my ancestors had written (or kept) diaries and especially wish they had written on the backs of all those old photos to know what states, counties, cities, villages they were in at the time of the photograph and what was the event or celebration, etc. Thanks for a good read, Ms. Blew

I was glad to get the product I ordered but I did not order the second shipment of the same. Hwever you charged me fullprice to return the 2nd book. I did not think that fair, since it was your mistake for sending 2.

Angie really tells it like it was. She uncovered all of the horrable truths from the basement of the Interior. This book tells all about what they wouldn't teach in school, and the government cover-ups. I recommend this book to everyone who is interested in the truth.

I have read this book twice--one around 1990 and again a year or so ago. It's not an easy read as the text is a bit dry and pedantic. (I think her later books are easier to read.)

Debo's conclusions, based on extensive research, are at times sweeping and fleeting--at least in the sense of trying to assess how widespread or damaging a practice was.

That said, Debo's book is without peer in chronicling the theft of Indian land, coal, oil, and timber by mostly white citizens. Most despicable was the taking from the children and the very elderly--the first lacking majority and the second, literacy.

Debo frequently hits on federal vs. state rights and responsibilities. The feds were unhappy with the seemingly small amount of protection being afforded the Indians. The leaders of Oklahoma, a new state, said the state could take care of the so-called "Indian problem." And the state did. But the solution promised bore little resemblance to the solution delivered.

In part due to her documentation of these leaders and what they did, the University of Oklahoma Press refused to print the book, a job that, as best as I can recall, migrated east to Princeton University.

Angie Debo, now recognized as one of the finest historians of Native Americans, was inducted into the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame in 1993 for her outstanding work, five years after her death. This recognition, however, came after a long career in which Debo initially struggled against the establishment in her efforts to bring to light the plight of Native Americans in the West, particularly with regard to the ill treatment they received from land and resource hungry settlers. And Still the Waters Run, her study of the Five Civilized Nations in Oklahoma in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, provoked controversy among her colleagues and critics, and was published not by the University of Oklahoma Press, which refused to honor its agreement to print it, but by Princeton. This tale of the machinations of whites to defraud Native Americans and the theft of Indian property, with the many difficulties it engendered, is still in print six decades later.
Simply put, And Still the Waters Run is the story of the process by which whites, in the forms of government officials and individuals hungry for land, oil and coal, dispossessed Native Americans in Oklahoma of their wealth "by the legislative enactment and court decree...and the lease, mortgage and deed of the land shark." (vii) This method, begun in the late 1880s, contrasted with former battles between the United States and the Indians, in which military might typically concluded all conflicts in the American West. Instead, Debo argues that Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles and Creeks lost their land, minerals, coal and oil through broken treaties, allotment and fraud.
Depo depicts the Five Tribes in Oklahoma in the late nineteenth century as being firmly established in the new territory after the trauma of the 1830s removals. The Indians were determined to resist further encroachments and contentions with whites, particularly with regard to land ownership. This was not meant to be. Debo describes a process by which whites forced treaties and congressional legislation (especially the Dawes Act of 1887) upon the various tribes in order to facilitate the expropriation of Indian lands and associated natural resources. Loss of land was accompanied by "the surrender of tribal institutions," (31) namely collective land holding and native councils. Tribal regimes, Debo contends, were liquidated to facilitate the division of land among Indians, which in turn eased the process by which whites were able to purchase it. Although she concedes that many government officials genuinely attempted to protect individual Indian allottees, "the general effect of allotment was an orgy of plunder and exploitation probably unparalled in American history." (91)
Debo goes on to detail the ineffectual government guardianship of Indian assets, and the immense graft on the part of "a horde of despoilers." (92) This period brought poverty and abject despair to Native peoples in Oklahoma, victims of swindlers and government bureaucrats alike. Some relief was realized upon Oklahoma statehood and various federal laws in the early 20th century, as well as through "a tangle of litigation." (203) Nevertheless, Debo paints a bleak picture of the rapaciousness of whites, ineptitude among civil leaders responsible for Indian protection and helplessness of overpowered Indians.
And Still the Waters Run is remarkable for the depth of its research, no less so because it was written in the 1930s by a woman without an academic position. It is well-documented with a variety of sources including government papers, personal interviews, newspapers and manuscripts. Nevertheless, despite the passion Debo felt for the injustices done to her subject tribes, her book suffers from dry prose and a plodding narrative. Debo seems to describe every rule and regulation imposed on the tribes, and describes complex litigation in such detail that readers can easily lose sight of her overall theme. Her painstaking trek through years of Indian misfortunes, while important to our understanding of western U.S. history, is unfortunately regrettably monotonous.