Missouri Books

This book is a thoughtful and thorough review of the issues facing teachers in the humanities. It is especially useful for the wide range of sources that it uses to trace the history of the current crisis. My sense is that the book is perhaps too focused on an academic audience; the issues here are important for the society as a whole. I would recommend this book to anyone who is trying to get a grip on both practical and theoretical dimensions of rescuing the humanities from contemporary social, political and academic trends.

In FUTURE WITHOUT A PAST Russo makes a case for why, in this age of technology, we need literary language now more than ever. Russo suggests that because literary language is the very stuff a culture is made on any civilization that ceases to value and practice literature is not simply a civilization that is no longer cultured but a civilization that has ceased to be fully human. Drawing on a long tradition of humanist thinkers who have also contemplated the longterm negative effects of technological dependence, and presenting his own contribution to that tradition with the humbling caveat, 'it is a fairly well-known constant that books on the future have a terribly short shelf life' (4), Russo, nonetheless, offers his own assessment of the state of the humanities in the technological age as well as a somewhat grim prognosis for their chances to outlive the current crisis. What Russo sees is a world that is fascinated more by how we do things than why we do them, and this book, among other things, is an attempt to inject some common sense into a civilization that is awed by every new technological gadget that comes onto the marketplace. Surrounded by technological marvels it is impossible to forget all that technology can do, Russo, however, provides us with a reminder of the many things that it cannot do. When it comes to the gathering of information, for instance, technology has proven to be an invaluable research device but when it comes to sitting down and assessing that information technology, which has yet to simulate the fine discrimination required to make evaluative judgements, ceases to be of much use. Furthermore, technology has not yet been able to replicate the subtleties and nuances of art and argument. Technology may provide us with access to the art and arguments created by others but it does not instruct us how to create art or formulate our own arguments, nor does it provide us with any rationale for valuing such activity. In many ways technology teaches us to be, even mentally conditions us to be, passive consumers (existing in a perpetual state of cyber-distraction/ mental torpor)instead of active producers of our social and political worlds and ourselves, and thus technology, though it can be an asset, always poses a potential threat to the quality of both public and private life. Russo sounds a note of caution here, warning that we must learn to manage our technologies instead of allowing them to manage us. This book will strike a chord with readers of all kinds because although Russo is a consummate scholar versed in all things academic he is interested not just in the health of our learning institutions (which, instead of standing at a critical distance from, have, in many ways marched hand in hand with technology and have adapted themselves to the technological age's valorization, even fetishization, of method and technique) but in the health of our entire way of life. It is Russo's contention that it is only by forging a lifelong connection with the rich humanist archive of history, philosophy and literature that individuals are able to fully inhabit themselves and manage their civilization; literary language, according to Russo, is the most refined instrument we have to know and to express what we have been and the most refined instrument we have to imagine and to shape what we might become.

Russo is one of a vanishing breed of scholars who has never sold the humanities out to any of the reductive (post-)humanist "technologies" that have been all the rage since the coming of New Criticism and its various theoretical offspring; and one of an even rarer breed who has never lost sight of nor ever lost faith in the civilizing mission of the humanities as they have been conceived and practiced by humanist thinkers from Petrarch to Lionel Trilling.

A rare treat for the learned and the wise and a great compendium of knowledge for those aspiring to learning and wisdom. This book offers the best argument I've yet read for the continued, and increasing, relevance and necessity for humanist thought in the technological age.

When my mother's cousin, Sylvia, called to tell her that Bill Holtz had written a book about our family, I was surprised. I had no idea anyone in the family was a college professor, let alone an author. Initially I was offended by what on the surface appeared to be a shabby treatment of family I had always loved or felt I knew through stories. However, after further reflection, I realized that the author was telling a painful story of his own struggles as he grew into adulthood.

Granted, I am biased, this being a book about my family. Nonetheless, this is an outstanding treatment of an individuals struggles growing up with an impoverished immigrant family.

William Holtz takes a risk in this moving memoir of growing up during the Depression, inviting his readers along as he explores his childhood from the vantage point of roughly fifty years. He candidly discusses the people he loved, and whom he would one day deliberately leave behind, a family plagued with serious problems including poverty, alcholism and depression.

Even as he describes his youthful rejection, Holtz's expressive and loving treatment of his characters--and his eventual acceptance and appreciation of them for who they are--is a lasting tribute and an excellent read.

This is a solid collection of stories by an experienced author. Francis's voice is quirky and a bit obstinate, recalling that of Faulkner. The sentences echo hauntingly and are often lovely. One of the finest stories is "The Boulders" which discusses a woman confronting heinous acts comitted by her son. The change in this story is graceful and daring.
The book deals with loss, death, memory...it's intellectually hefty...which explains why, in America, it's so unknown.

More powerful short stories by H.E. Francis (Winner of the G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction selected by Diane Glancy) are gathered in his newest book, I'LL NEVER LEAVE YOU. Mr. Francis pulls secret after secret from the depths in this superb collection.
Beaches off Long Island Sound stretch story to story, season to season. Here we live in characters such as the mother of a serial killer in "The Boulders" or the worried parents of children in "The Playground" or the lonely "Lib", surrounded by another's big family. The rhythms in these excellent stories move, rise, swell and crest in unexpected waves. In addition to stories already mentioned, I particulary liked "Watching Marie" and "Minor Matters". Each of the nine stories is finely sealed, an exquisite vessel in a bottle, clear for the reader to see and experience. When Mr. Francis writes of "september sun down the maple" or "the rich perfume of music", his descriptive symbolism ripples throughout the story. His is a fragrance of words, leading the reader into belief.
Please read and explore the vast waters of H.E. Francis. His stories will stay and never leave.

The Chapmans paint a well-structured picture of the pre-history of Missouri. They discuss the different eras of early midwestern civilization (for instance: Early, Middle and Late Woodland), the tribes, and the influences on those tribes. The book has many excellent photographs and drawings of sites and artifacts. The Chapmans realize that there is more to Missouri pre-history than just the Mississippi Valley settlements; they include a lot of information about ancient tribes and mound builders of the Ozarks region as well. It is well written and an easy read. I devoured it in three days, did a lot of underlining, and refer back to sections of it frequently. I even shared it with friends, one of whom liked it enough to buy her own copy. The only down side to the book is that it is not indexed.

This book was written by two of the pioneers of archaeology in Missouri. It contains simple but informative information on different phases of occupation within the state.

This is truly a wonderful book. I have always maintained an interest in civil military relations, but until I read this book, I never truly understood the importance of this topic. I am currently a student in a Graduate degree program, and I can't express how often this book touches on our day to day studies. In fact, I can pull something from this book on almost any topic. In fact, I think I'll recommed that our professor make it mandatory reading. I hope he'll agree!!
Dan Saumur, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

John Schofield was one of those young men who managed to graduate from West Point just before the start of the Civil War. When the war began, like many others, he quickly became a general officer. Unlike many others, he retained this rank for the rest of his very long career. He held administrative and battlefield commands during the war, was Secretary of War, superintended West Point, and eventually became commanding general. Yet, he is almost unknown outside the circle of civil war experts and even within that group is not a major subject of research. This book will fill that gap. It is copiously detailed and covers every aspect of Schofield's career. The book centers on Schofield's negotiation of the politics of the military life. However, the author provides an opbjective and appropriately critical discussion of Schofield's role in the Atlanta/Franklin/Nashville campaigns. Schofield's personal virtues and flaws are also analyzed. As the book deals with army administration, army/congressional relationships, and politics, it is not a quick read. However, if you are willing to devote the time needed to carefully read this book, you will come away with a good understanding of the role of this interesting and important officer.

"Knut Hamsun Remembers America" is about the 10th book by this Norwegian author that I have read. I was fascinated by his work ever since I read "Growth of the Soil". In "Knut Hamsun Remembers America" we get 13 seperate stories/essays about America and/or his observation of life in America. I was particularly interested in the accounts of his time spent on a bonanza farm in North Dakota, my state of residence for over 25 years now. Hamsun isn't above complaining about a variety of the aspects of American life. He especially seems bothered by the extent of our work ethic (at least in the last 15 years of the 19th Century). His thoughts on the subject are that we do not take sufficient time for relaxation, arts, and literature. It was an interesting insight to the European perspective of American culture that is largely still true in the 21st Century.

The best part of "Knut Hamsun Remembers America" is to be found in the middle of the book amongst his semi-autobiographical fiction about life in the Upper Midwest. Several of these stories were part of the collection found in Hamsun's "Tales of Love and Loss". The stories display the talent of Hamsun as he engrosses us in stories that lack much flair but convey an atmosphere worth experiencing. His final story is another fine example of that style. I enjoyed it yet had to admit that it concerned a recollection hardly worth sharing. Hamsun has always been a shrewd observor of people around him. Unfortunately, his observations during WWII left him without much support as an author in later life. Enjoy the man for what he wrote rather than what he was and you'll see why he won the Nobel Prize for Literature back in 1920 or so.

Written by Knut Hamsun (1920 Nobel Prize winner for his novel "The Growth of the Soil", and who later became infamous for betraying his country of Norway to support the Nazis even as Vidkun Quisling did), Knut Hamsun Remembers America: Essays And Stories 1885-1949 is inherently interesting presentation of thirteen essays and stories based on Hamsun's experiences during the four years he spent in the United States when he was a young man. Translated into English and edited for a contemporary readership by Richard Nelson Current, these individual pieces reflect the negative side of "Yankeeland" all too well, though they are not unilaterally anti-American, and some even recall fond images. Knut Hamsun Remembers America is recommended for its gripping and absorbing perspectives on American civilization, while reflecting Hamsun's anti-Americanism in his perceptions and writings.

The author gracefully narrates his past as a black man living during civil rights movements, race riots, unequal oportunities, war, the Kennedy assination, and urban sprawl. It was at this time in history that Clifton Taulbert, the author, migrated from the agrigarian community of Greenville, MS to the industrial St. Louis, only to fulfill his destiny.

It's very interesting how much he accomplished in 5 to 6 years during the 60's, and despite the odds against him and black people in general, he triumphed in many ways. This autobiographical recount conveys a warm message of hope and family tradition. Read it to believe it.

This is a great book to sit down with on a cold weekend. Just grab a quilt and let yourself be taken to the South where the author writes about his life. Not one of them boring autobiographies but a good story.

Del Montgomery's boss is very demanding. His latest challenge for Del
is to bring him the Unruh Pig. If Del brings this legendary pottery
pig back from Missouri, she will be given a permanent job as auctioneer
at the prestigious Porter Auctions. Unfortunately Del doesn't have
much of a lead on where to locate the missing pig. But the sooner Del
locates the pig, the sooner she can head back to Chicago. So, when she
finds local auctioneer Sam Samson, she decides to hire him to help her
in the search. Except, he can't know she is an auctioneer herself and
he especially can't find out she is searching for the Unruh Pig.

When Sam meets Del, he is immediately attracted to her. She keeps him
on his toes. Because although he finds her enticing, there is
something not quite right about her story. Sam can sense she isn't
being completely honest with him. Del gives herself away every time
she tells a lie and she's been telling some big ones! But Sam's not
just interested in figuring out Del's secrets, he's interested in
everything about this tempting, secretive city girl!

Lori Devoti has written a charming novel with Love Is All You Need! I
was amused and delighted by Del and Sam's love story. Del's sassy
attitude and Sam's good humor left me grinning throughout this book. I
especially loved the way Sam could so completely read Del and the way
he never let her overtake him. They were very well-matched and their
romance a joy to read.

This book has it all! Filled with pig humor, it is laugh out loud
funny. The mystery of the Unruh Pig and the ensuing treasure hunt kept
the pace fast and intriguing. Add in an engaging romance and Love Is
All You Need is a fun and romantic read!

Annabelle
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

This is a contemporary which is also set in the Ozarks near Daisy Creek (the setting of Love is All Around) and gives us a pleasing glimpse of the life of some of the characters in her first book.

But Love is All You Need takes all the heartwarming sweetness and humor of Love is All Around and kicks it up several notches into something even better than her first novel (which I loved as well).

Love is All You Need is a wonderful romance. It's hot with great sexual tension beween Del and the super sexy Sam but there's a great connection between these two very unlikely characters. There's also a lot of humor between them.

Devoti gives us an HEA but not in a straight line. It's a crooked road but just like her characters and their surroundings, unconventional works.

Lots of folks know about the Metis people of the North, the people sprung from the mixing of French and Indian peoples in Canada and the Dakotas, but this book fills an important gap....that the same process occurred on the lower Missouri as well. There are a few facts and conclusions I do not agree with, but the book is very important, nonetheless. As one of the descendants of these people, with Ioway, Otoe, Omaha, Sauk, Menominee, and Dakota bloodlines, I recommend this book highly. From the University of Missouri Press:

"The Many Hands of My Relations is a study of kinship networks among French Creoles and Central Siouan tribes and the influence of those networks on social, political, and economic development along the lower Missouri River from the late prehistoric period to the removal era in the 1870s. The book's primary focus is on the economic relations and intermarriages between French fur traders and native people of the Central Siouan tribes and the consequences for intergroup relationships as three imperial powers (France, then Spain, and then the United States) vied for political control and commercial supremacy.

Arguing that cultural and biological hybridization is an underappreciated aspect of the historical development of this region, Tanis Thorne focuses much of her analysis on French-Indian mixed-bloods of the lower Missouri River region. She examines their economic roles as intermediaries in the fur and liquor trade, their attempts to form communities, and their political loyalties and cultural orientations. Of special importance is Thorne's examination of the French-Indian borderlands people, not as isolated individuals, but as members of family networks set in a social and historical context. The study concludes with an assessment of how persons of mixed ancestry influenced tribal politics in the era of white settlement and Indian removal.

This significant work helps dispel stereotypes regarding "half-breeds" and shows how kinship between culturally different groups served as a means of accommodation and coexistence in America's multiethnic panorama. Filling a major gap in the literature on the fur trade, The Many Hands of My Relations also yields important new insights into the history of native peoples of the Midwest and their relations with European newcomers."

Tanis C. Thorne is Adjunct Assistant Professor of History at the University of California in Irvine.

"Many Hands of My Relations" is an outstanding academic history of the French, Indians, and mixed bloods on the middle border of the United States. The author opens with a pre-history of the Indian tribes on the Great Plains border from Oklahoma to Iowa: the Osage, Kansa or Kaw, Omaha, Ponca, Missouri, Oto, and Iowa. He describes the coming of the French in the 18th century and the cultural and racial mixing between the Indians and French to create a new people, neither French nor Indian, and believed by Anglos to incorporate the worst of both peoples, the "mixed bloods." (The common term of the day, "half breed," is deemed derogatory by the author.)

The fact that French and French/Indian mixed bloods preceded the Anglos in discovering most of the United States is ignored in most histories. Lewis and Clark found French traders as far west as the Mandan villages of North Dakota; early fur trading brigades in the Rocky Mountains included many French and Indians; and as late as the 1840s travelers such as Francis Parkman and John Charles Fremont relied on French and mixed blood guides and helpers. We just don't hear of the French and Indians as we do of such well-know American heroes as Jim Bridger, "Broken Hand" Fitzpatrick, and others.

The mixed bloods began to disappear about 1850, integrating into either White or Indian society -- although neither received them enthusiastically. The membership rolls of Indian tribes are dotted with their names today: Pappan, Roy, Revard, Bellmard, Denoya, and many others. The only Vice President of the United States with Indian blood, Charles Curtis, came out of this culture. His mother's maiden name was Pappan and she was the granddaughter of the Kaw chief, White Plume.

Thorne does an thorough and excellent job in telling the story of the 18th and 19th century French and Indians living on the lower Missouri River. It's a sad story as the Indians and their French relatives were plowed under by the waves of advancing Anglos. The author's research is impeccable; his bibiography runs to 27 pages and includes numerous eye-witness and primary sources dug out of dusty archives. The Indian tribes on the Middle Border and the French/Indian mixed bloods are pretty much forgotten today, and the work of scholars such as Thorne in recovering memories of them is welcome.

Smallchief

I was led to this book via Partickane's list of contemporary Irish literature on .... Partially a memoir, partially a meditation on language and history, and not quite like anything I have ever read before. Carson's prose style is lyrical, melodic and absolutely engaging without being in the least showy.

As unlikely as the link may seem, Cairan Carson is to Belfast and traditional Irish music what Nathanial Mackey is to California and jazz.

Carson's memoire of life as an adolescent in Belfast is ripe ground for etymological meanderings in an out of English and Irish. He dally's with Catholic dogma and sources whose only connective thread is his passing interest in them.

The Star Factory is an internal play of language, image and memory that gives spunk to the genre and good craic to the reader.