Book Description
Far from a monolithic block of diehard slave states, the antebellum South was, in William Freehling's words, "a world so lushly various as to be a storyteller's dream." It was a world where Deep South cotton planters clashed with South Carolina rice growers, as Northern egalitarianism infiltrated border states already bitterly divided on key issues. It was the world of Jefferson Davis, John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson, and Thomas Jefferson, and also of Gullah Jack, Nat Turner, and Frederick Douglass. Now, in the first volume of his long awaited, monumental study of the South's road to disunion, historian William Freehling offers a sweeping political and social history of the antebellum South from 1776 to 1854. All the dramatic events leading to secession are here: the Missouri Compromise, the Nullification Controversy, the Gag Rule, the Annexation of Texas, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Vivid accounts of each crisis reveal the surprising extent to which slavery influenced national politics before 1850 and provide important reinterpretations of American republicanism, Jeffersonian states' rights, Jacksonian democracy, and the causes of the American Civil War. Freehling's brilliant historical insights illustrate a work of rich social observation. In the cities of the Antebellum South, in the big house of a typical plantation, we feel anew the tensions between the slaveowner and his family, poor whites and planters, the Old and New Souths, and most powerfully between slave and master. Freehling has evoked the Old South in all its color, cruelty, and diversity. It is a memorable portrait, certain to be a key analysis of this crucial era in American history.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent social and political history.......2007-09-20
Many good reviews have already been written so I am going to keep this short and sweet. If you want to read a good, in-depth look at the social and political history and ultimate causes of the Civil War, this is an excellent place to start. Freehling covers just about every conceivable topic in the years 1776-1854 that caused friction between the North and South, but also touches on many social and political topics that are sometimes overlooked. He also writes some great mini-biographies of the many differing players and you will walk away with an excellent working knowledge of many topics, such as Thomas Jefferson and his thoughts on slavery, the Missouri Compromise, Virginia's slavery debate of 1832, the Wilmot Proviso, Texas' Annexation, and much more.
The only potential negatives are that Freehling's writing style does take getting used to and the book is massive. For quick readers, not a big deal. For slower readers like me, plan on investing time in this book.
In the end, I would highly suggest this for any people looking to bone up on antebellum U.S. history and/or causes of the Civil War.
A Plow Through.......2007-07-05
I debated giving this one 3 stars but the information in it is very good. A thurough evaluation of the subject. If you want a detailed history, this is it.
On the downside, it is a dense read. It took me a while to plow through the entire book. Part of this is the density of info but much is due to writting style. I also found it to be a bit redundant in parts, particularly early on (especially Part II, which you might want to just skip). Another reviewer stated it helps to know the background prior to opening this tome and I agree.
For a much easier intro to the topic, try: "The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm, 1820-1861 (Voices of the Storm)" by Stephen B. Oates.
Beginning a Journey in American History.......2007-06-09
Visiting a bookshop in 1990 I faced a choice of two books to purchase: America in 1857 by Kenneth Stampp and The Road to Disunion Vol. I by Wm. Freehling. Having read Freehling's book on the nulification crisis, I very fortunately chose The Road to Disunion. One of the most important revelations in this book is the tracing of the secesson movement's seeds to the forming of the United States. To any one acquainted with Freehling's writing will not be surprised by the depth of his research and thought provoking text. His views are always overviews that narrow their scope to individual incidents.
I spent seveteen years badgering the author for the second volume of this work. Readers now who have not yet read this book are more fortunate because they have the benefit of seeing the complete work at once. This is a volume well worth reading on its own, but it is a much better read when followed by volume two.
Bill Freehling is without doubt the dean of 19th century American history, a great human being with an appreciation of human feeling and a strict code of research taking the author wherever it will. There are no preconcieved notions of how history should be percieved.
Fear and Loathing in the Antebellum South.......2007-02-08
After a long time, in which a combination of increased workload and diversified reading interests have kept me away, it is good to be back to the world of antebellum 19th century America. Meeting Thomas Jefferson, John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson and a dozen secondary characters feels a little like coming home. But as the saying goes, you can dip into the same river twice. William W. Freehling's antebellum South is both familiar and foreign. Freehling brings forward a provocative thesis, which throws a bright light on some elements of the period, but also blinds you to some vital aspects.
I have previously read Freehling's brilliant essay collection, The Reintegration of American History: Slavery and the Civil War. That was one of the best books about 19th century America I've ever read. Using cultural history, comparative studies, biography, and even autobiography, Freehling brought a provocative new thesis to the field of 19th century antebellum South.
According to Freehling, the South was torn between two conflicting, contradictory ideologies - Aristocratic Paternalism, the 18th century view that the enlightened rich should govern all others, black and white and female, and Jacksonian 'Herrenvolk Democracy' - the view that America is the republic of the free white male, where the color line separates the master race - the Herrenvolk - from the inferior black folk.
The idea that the clash between these two ideologies, and indeed, the fractions between the various, and very different, elements of the South, is Freehling's key argument. And it illuminates many things:
The clash between Paternalists and Herrenvolk Democrats was most evident during the struggles for control of the legislations of Southern states, particularly Virginia. There, the lines were drawn most sharply between aristocratic slaveholders and slaveless white folks.
Freehling's high concept is also a part of the explanation for episodes such as the Texas annexation and particularly the gag rule. Slavocrats insisted that antislavery petitions to the United States Congress would not only be ignored, but actively rejected, thus 'gagging' opposition to Slavery and making a mockery of the democratic process. The gag rule was designed and led by South Carolina extremists, the most radical faction of the aristocrats.
But the explanation works less well when describing the major sectional conflicts - as one approaches the 1850s, Paternalists and Democrats all but disappear, and the struggle becomes one between Free and Slave states, with the Upper South and the Lower North trapped between them. This is a familiar story, and while Freehling tells it well, he does not really add much to the description.
A major point that is scored is Freehling's description of Slavery's malcontents. There really was, particularly in Texas and in Kentucky, an antislavery undercurrent, and Freehling does a superb job of describing its protagonists and enemies. As long as the North left the South alone, Southern Slaveholders could probably squash such movements, but their existence helps explain Southern fear of the rise of the Republican party - a strong Northern ally that could help Southern fifth columnist destroy the Peculiar institution from within.
But for the most part, Freehling's book fails to meet expectations. The title is more than a little Misleading - The Road to Disunion does not really show a path that led to the irreconcilable conflict. Unlike the events of 1848-1860, when each event called for its successor - the Compromise of 1850 led to the destruction of the Whig party in the lower south, which led to the radicalization of the Southern Democratic Party, and to the Kansas-Nebraska act and so on, the earlier incidents were fairly disjoint. The Virginia Slavery debate, the Nullification crises, the Gag rule - all ended without any real increase in animosity. Nor do we see "secessionists at Bay" - with marginal exceptions, until the late 1840s, few major Southerners were bona fide disunionists. Rather, like John C. Calhoun, they wanted to weaken the Union in order to save it.
For all of its sophistication and scale, Freehling's account feels incomplete. Mainly, I think, because until the middle 1840s, the themes Freehling invokes (sectionalism, slavery, colonialism) were relatively minor elements of political scene, where the major issues were banks, Indian genocide, internal improvements and the fans and enemies of `King Andrew` Jackson.
Ultimately, I think the road to disunion was not paved by Southern extremists. Southerners tried mainly to preserve their way of life against a world that was rapidly changing - Industrial rather then Agricultural, increasingly National rather than Local, and yes, Democratic rather than aristocratic. For all their belligerency, the Slavepower was essentially passive and fearful, lashing out in desperation against a new, modern world where there was place neither for slaves nor for masters.
The social roots of politics.......2005-10-08
With a sharp eye and witty word for the setting, William Freehling delivers a sprawling and most satisfactory account of the antebellum South's queasy lurches towards secession. Contrary to the strained obfuscation of many histories bearing on the Civil War's causes, Freehling effortlessly restores slavery, and the social, cultural and political dilemmas it spawned, to the center of the story where it belongs. The second chapter is pure genius: the disjointed, patchwork nature of the antebellum South is vividly illustrated with an imagined overland journey from New Orleans to Charleston in the 1850s. Freehling describes the frustrating alternative routes one might have wished to take, the constant and comically inconvenient switches between independent railroads with incompatible gauges and timetables, their respective stations often miles apart. With an accomplished historian's power to simultaneously portray minute details and grand themes, the author sinks us into the setting--its pace, its weather, its sights and sounds. Gripped by this elegant evocation, we are then drawn into the book's purpose: an exploration of the uneasy social dynamics of different regions in the Old South, and how they bent and twisted its resulting ideologies and politics. How these, in turn, redounded upon each other and shaped the confrontations and compromises at the national level becomes the sturdy spine of the story, and Freehling never loses his keen appreciation for the place, people and material culture of the period.
Many here have disparaged his writing style, and I understand what they are saying. For instance, try and decode the sentence that begins Chapter 21: "The first plotter Ashbel Smith inflamed Abel P. Upshur by naming was no famous London schemer." Without having read the last sentence of Chapter 20, it seems to defy grammar. Time after time I found that certain sentences made sense only by repeating them with different stresses laid on different words. But after awhile, I found there was a sort of breezy conversational logic to it, and it occurred to me that if Freehling were reading his book aloud we would have no problem with his usage. But, of course, that is no way to write effectively, and I have taken a star off for an otherwise flawless slab of rich historiography.
Amazon.com
In An Army at Dawn,, a comprehensive look at the 1942-1943 Allied invasion of North Africa, author Rick Atkinson posits that the campaign was, along with the battles of Stalingrad and Midway, where the "Axis ... forever lost the initiative" and the "fable of 3rd Reich invincibility was dissolved." Additionally, it forestalled a premature and potentially disastrous cross-channel invasion of France and served as a grueling "testing ground" for an as-yet inexperienced American army. Lastly, by relegating Great Britain to what Atkinson calls the status of "junior partner" in the war effort, North Africa marked the beginning of American geopolitical hegemony. Although his prose is occasionally overwrought, Atkinson's account is a superior one, an agile, well-informed mix of informed strategic overview and intimate battlefield-and-barracks anecdotes. (Tobacco-starved soldiers took to smoking cigarettes made of toilet paper and eucalyptus leaves.) Especially interesting are Atkinson's straightforward accounts of the many "feuds, tiffs and spats" among British and American commanders, politicians, and strategists and his honest assessments of their--and their soldiers'--performance and behavior, for better and for worse. This is an engrossing, extremely accessible account of a grim and too-often overlooked military campaign. --H. O'Billovich
Book Description
The liberation of Europe and the destruction of the Third Reich is a story of miscalculation and incomparable courage, of calamity and enduring triumph. In this first volume of the Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson focuses on 1942 and 1943, showing how central the great drama that unfolded in North Africa was to the ultimate victory of the Allied powers, and to America's understanding of itself. Opening with the daring amphibious invasion in November 1942, An Army at Dawn follows the American and British armies as they fight the French in Morocco and Algiers, and then take on the Germans and Italians in Tunisia. Battle by battle, an inexperienced and often poorly led army gradually becomes a superb fighting force. Central to the tale are the extraordinary but flawed commanders who come to dominate the battlefield: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, and Rommel. Brilliantly researched, rich with new material and fresh insights, Atkinson's vivid narrative provides the definitive history of the war in North Africa.
Customer Reviews:
Awesome!.......2007-10-10
I'm simply putting my husband's 2 cents in because, well, he wouldn't come in here and do it. I bought the book for him and he absolutely loved it... passed it on to a friend.
He is tough to please on the literature end, but big on wars and history and he enjoyed every bit of this book :-)
One of the best.......2007-09-29
Suffice to say I've read a great deal of history over the years and this one is one of the best in terms of narrative, scope, personal insights and coverage of a little known and likely decisive campaign that should really rank up there with Gettysburg and Midway and Stalingrad as recent military turning points. If you like military history at all, you owe it to yourself to read this book. I'll be ordering the next volume on my next Amazon order.
Kilroy Arrives.......2007-09-23
Before D-Day, before Anzio, there was Operation Torch and the subsequent battle for North Africa, the first time American troops squared off against Nazi Germany and next to Burma World War II's most overlooked campaign. Rick Atkinson's 2002 "An Army At Dawn" redresses that with a vivacity and eloquence as suggestive of high art as history.
Atkinson's thesis, carefully restated and expanded upon often in a narrative of otherwise constant incident, was that the American fighting man came into the war needing not just experience but a taste for bloodshed, a willingness to endure punishment for the sake of inflicting it on one's enemy. This was particularly so for one American, the soldier who gets the most face time in Atkinson's book: Dwight Eisenhower, the commander of Torch and the Allied fight in North Africa.
"Deficient of experience and of limited ability" was British Gen. Alan Brooke's terse verdict of Ike going in, and he had a point. Eisenhower played shamelessly to his superiors to Washington and left his American troops under the dubious command of Lloyd Fredendall, whose idea of leadership was to sit far in the rear and tell a subordinate to go out "and pull a Stonewall Jackson". But over time, as Americans got beaten in places like Sidi Bou Zid and Kasserine Pass, both Ike and his men began to harden and sharpen into something worthy of the fight they were in.
Atkinson buttresses his points with strategic analysis that is both fine-tuned and accessible to the layman. He tells stories of combat that are tremendously exciting yet never blind to the death and the horror. And he writes with a wit and nuance that reminds me as much of Evelyn Waugh as any historian I've come across.
"The tanks turned toward Chouigui Pass," Atkinson writes about the aftermath of one early U.S. raid against a German airfield, surprisingly but misleadingly successful. "Behind them, to the east, a pale orange glow reflected off the belly of the clouds above Djedeida, like a false dawn."
In fact, a lot of hard work lay ahead for the G.I.s and their doughty leader before they could take their rightful place at the vanguard of the Western front. Until then, winning acceptance from the more battle-hardened Brits would take on the quality of comic opera - albeit with casualties.
Atkinson argues North Africa was not just a beginning of American combat-worthiness but the first step in inaugurating what would come to be known as "the American century." Frankly, that's one bolt of Atkinson's I think lands wide of the mark, as U.S. troops finish the campaign in his telling with considerably more competance but in a secondary capacity. That wouldn't begin to change until the next phase of the Western campaign, in Sicily.
But you can't begrudge Atkinson much. "An Army At Dawn" is not only a worthy Pulitzer Prize-winner but a history that takes its place beside the best of Tuchman and Catton for definitive storytelling. Atkinson's about to publish a sequel volume on the Italy campaign said to be even better; I'll believe it when I read it, which will be soon as possible!
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and deservedly so.......2007-08-11
World War II has always held a fascination for me: the global scale, the impact on world politics and powers of today, the coming of Age of the United States as a super power, the thoughts of what could have been had certain decisions or battles gone one way or the other (see Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle or many of the other alternative history novels to get your imagination going). Over the years, I have read many books, including the great John Keegan's, Cornelius Ryan's and a 25 volume Encyclopedia of WWII that my mom got me for Christmas as a kid (no, I am not kidding).
I received The Day of Battle (the 2nd in Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy) as an ARC at BEA, but wanted to read the series in order.
I am very glad that I did. Operation TORCH, the battles of Kasserine, Sidi Bou Zid, the taking of Bizerte and Tunis are told as stories from the perspectives of leaders and soldiers, based on meticulous research detailed in over 100 pages of notes. An Army At Dawn is a great representation of the grisly and personal nature of war, a fitting history of the men and women who fought in WWII.
"Memory, too, has transcendent power, even as we swiftly move toward the day when not a single participant remains alive to tell his tale, and the epic of World War II forever slips into national mythology. The author's task is to authenticate: to warrant that history and memory give integrity to the story, to aver that all this really happened."
The book is split into four chronological parts, with each part detailing not only what the leaders (Ike, Patton, Kesselring, Clark, Alexander, Rommel) said and did, but also with quotes from diaries, journals and letters from the infantrymen, artillerymen and others who participated.
Part I starts with the mostly joint decision by the Americans and Brits to invade North Africa first, vs. France or Italy. It goes through Operation TORCH (the invasion), the lack of experience that showed in the American invasion force, and the senseless waste of the battles with the Vichy French forces across Morocco and Algeria (including the destruction of Allied ships entering French controlled harbors):
"The fighting between Anglo-American invaders and Vichy French defenders would last just over three days; sometimes it was a matter of halfhearted potshots, but there were pitched firefights on a dozen battlefields across two countries. This little war between ancient friends - many Americans still could not believe they were fighting the French - was complicated by concomitant diplomatic maneuvers and the first attacks from Axis forces."
Part II goes into the first battles with the Germans, in which the Allies lack of experience and overall coordination results in many setbacks and lives and equipment losses. The Allies push in from the original landings in Morocco and Algiers to Tunisia, where they meet Italian and German forces, including the to-date invincible Panzer divisions. Their bravado and assumption of an easy victory to Tunis are quickly swept away by defeats at Boudj Toum and Longstop Hill.
"There would be no trapping of Rommel's rump army in Libya between Anderson's First Army and Bernard Montgomery's Eight Army, now lumbering westward out of Egypt. Rather than crushing the Axis forces in the jaws of a vise, the failed Allied strategy gave interior lines to the enemy and all but guaranteed that four armies - Anderson and Montgomery, Arnim and Rommel - would slug it out in a campaign of attrition not unlike that on the Western Front a quarter century before."
Part III reviews the Allied leaders meeting at Casablanca, showing the relationship between Churchill and Roosevelt and the political tactics that had the Americans thinking there were in charge with Eisenhower as Commander-in-Chief, but with three British officers underneath him given much leeway. The lack of coordination and experience continued to show as an Allied offensive to take Tunis was poorly planned and poorly executed, and the Germans, lead by Rommel, attacked. His Panzer divisions pushed through to Kasserine Pass and beyond, but then the Americans and British forces stiffened; even though their losses were high, it marked a turning point:
"Beyond the modest combined-arms showing, three bright gleams radiated from Kasserine's wreckage. First was the competence of American artillery at Sbiba, at Djebelel Hamra and at Thala. Second was the mettle under fire displayed by various American commanders, among them Irwin, Robinett, Andrus, Gardiner and Allen, and comparable mettle in British commanders. Third was the broad realization that even an adversary as formidable as Erwin Rommel was neither invincible nor infallible. He and his host could be beaten. This epiphany was not to be undervalued: he could be beaten. Amazingly, barely two months would elapse between the "handheadness" of Kasserine and the triumph of total victory in Tunisia."
Part IV marks the arrival of British Generals Alexander and Montgomery into the fray, Eisenhower starting to through his weight around, the Americans beginning to "hate the Germans" and fight like it, and the emergence of Patton. The final victory of Tunisia set the stage for the invasions of Italy, Normandy, and the rest of the war.
"At a price of 70,000 casualties "one continent had been redeemed", in Churchill's phrase. But more than territory could be claimed. The gains were most profound for the Americans, in their first campaign against the Wehrmacht. Four U.S. divisions now had combat experience in five variants of Euro-Mediterranean warfare: expeditionary, amphibious, mountain, desert and urban. Troops had learned the importance of terrain, of combined arms, of aggressive patrolling, of stealth, of massed armor. They now knew what it was like to be bombed, shelled, and machine-gunned, and to fight on. They provided Eisenhower with a blooded hundred thousand, "high-grade stock from which we must breed with the utmost rapidity", as one general urged."
The Allied eyes now turned toward Sicily and Italy, and I eagerly move to the next volume in the series.
This review originally was published on my website, www.duskbeforethedawn.net.
Truly a Masterpiece.......2007-08-08
Exquisite writing combined with exhaustive research. Atkinson pulls no punches in finding the truth regarding generals and armies and battles right down to the foot soldier. Probably the best written piece of history on WWII to date. I look forward to the next two volumes in the trilogy.An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy (The Liberation Trilogy)
Book Description
This is the first volume of distinguished historian Dumas Malone's Pulitzer Prize-winning six-volume work on the life and times of Thomas Jefferson. Based on vast sources, it covers Jefferson's ancestry, youth, education, and legal career; his marriage and the building of Monticello; the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the Notes on Virginia; his rich, fruitful legislative career; his highly controversial governorship; and his early services to the development of the West.
Customer Reviews:
Highly recommended.......2007-06-24
I am currently attempting to read a biography of every President. For Washington and Adams, I settled for one volume biographies, the latter which was fortunate enough to be the Pulitzer Prize winning effort of David McCullough. After researching the available biographies for Thomas Jefferson I decided to plunge into the six volume work of Dumas Malone, partly because I did not find a one volume effort which I felt adequately delved into all the aspects of Mr. Jefferson's life in which I was interested, but mostly because as a University of Virginia alumni and admitted Jefferson admirer I wanted to read the most comprehensive and definitive biography available.
Thankfully, I have not been disappointed. (Note: This critique refers only to the first volume, Jefferson The Virginian. I will review each volume separately as I complete it.) The book is surprisingly readable and written in a very straightforward and engaging prose. Surprisingly, this first volume, if anything, is less detailed than I would have wished, especially regarding Jefferson's early life. As Mr. Malone recounts, Jefferson's home at Shadwell burned in 1770 and many documents that would have shed more light on Jefferson's early life were lost.
The other notable quality of this work is, though ultimately encompassing more than 3000 pages of text, each chapter has a narrow and well organized focus limited to 10-20 pages. This allows for quick reads of short chapters, which makes the reading of this large work more manageable and also aids in better retention of information.
There is not much I can criticize of Mr. Malone's work, at least as it pertains to this volume. Obviously Mr. Malone is a Jefferson admirer, and that should be taken into account by the reader, although I can find no example where this is so pronounced as to circumvent a fair presentation of his exhaustive research, leaving the reader to ultimately decide for themselves. It should also be noted that this book was published in 1948, so obviously some scholarship since then may be missing (notably the children he fathered with his slave, Sally Hemings, which would not pertain to this volume in any event). Finally, it should be noted that Mr. Malone assumes a working knowledge of Revolutionary history. For example, the text mentions important events such as the Stamp Act, Townshend duties, and various battles, but makes no attempt to expound upon them in detail beyond what is required for the purpose of the biography.
In summary, I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in a thorough study of the life of Thomas Jefferson. While a vast and comprehensive work, it is so well written and organized as to be easily accessible to all.
Detailed account.......2003-10-31
VERY detailed account of Jefferson during the his life in Virginia. Although it had in depth description of the political structure, the people, and Jefferson's involvement in the politics of the United States and Virginia, it did not include a very detailed account of his personal life as is best depicted through letters. Surprisingly, despite Jefferson's extensive correspondence during the 41 years that the book covers, this correspondence was not used sufficiently to shed further light on Jefferson's personal life and intimate thoughts. Additionally, Dumas Malone did not focus enough on one of Thomas Jefferson's greatest contribution - the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.
One of the hallmarks of American scholarship.......2002-12-25
What can be said about this monument to Jefferson scholarship? I am sure that somewhere in universities around the United States there are "scholar squirrels who want to put down this invaluable resource in Jefferson studies. It is always the way that mice attempt to gnaw at lions. This is not a perfect work (and my remarks refer to all of the books in the series as a whole), there are somethings, namely Sally Hemmings references which are wrong and will not sit well with American 21st century mores. There is the issue of slavery which was handled much differently 50 years ago than it is now.
Jefferson is not worthy of our interest because of Sally Hemmings and because he kept slaves. Jefferson is great because of the Declaration of Independence and his fight for the rights of man. While it may have been hypocritical to preach liberty and keep slaves, it is doubtful that slavery ever would have been abolished if Jefferson had never gained the prominence that he did. This book and the others that follow show why we should continue to honor the public man even though his private side may have been wanting.
At the Threshold of Greatness.......2002-10-06
Malone, once called "the greatest Jeffersonian of them all", originally conceived this biography in four volumes. By the time he published the last book in 1982, at age 89, it had grown to six volumes. It remains the standard life of Jefferson, an indelible and important portrait of a great man, flaws and all, by a great scholar.
JEFFERSON THE VIRGINIAN begins things with Jefferson's birth into a family of much distinction. His father Peter was a noted surveyor and a man of inordinate physical strength who nevertheless died fairly young (in his fifties). The book covers Jefferon's education at William and Mary (at a time when formal education was not a widespread thing, even among the gentry), his law practice, his beginning the construction of Monticello (which would preoccupy him right up until the time of his death), his terms in the Virginia House of Burgesses (one of which was served after his governorship), his writing of the Declaration of Independence (his initial version, a scathing indictment of King George, had to be toned down by his compatriots), and his controversial governorship (in which he sustained much of the blame for the British army's inroads into the Old Dominion state). It ends with his appointment as an American ambassador to France.
Obviously this is no primer on Jefferson. Malone spares no detail. His prose is fastidious, elegant, and easy to read, although you may find yourself putting the book down from time to time to absorb what you have just read. Overall, Jefferson emerges here as a man naturally scholarly and reclusive, content to build his home, pursue his studies, and tend to his family, who is pushed into action by the obligations of his caste and by his own fervent patriotism.
Malone has been criticised for writing a virtual hagiography of Jefferson, ignoring the "darker" aspects of the man's personality. In other words, unlike Fawn Brodie, Malone did not reduce his subject to some psychological cripple and sex deviate. The charges are balderdash. Malone DOES recognize Jefferson's flaws (e.g., his lack of a sense of humor and his sometimes indecision in taking action). He simply refuses to turn Jefferson into a whipping boy for his own ideological preoccupations.
This is as complete a contemporary biography as we will probably ever get of this great man.
Jefferson: The Virginian.......2002-04-17
Jefferson: The Virginian by Dumas Malone is a masterful work on Thomas Jefferson's early years, from birth to being appointed as an ambassador to France.
This work is one of the first comprehensive biographies of Jefferson's life. This is the first of six in the complete set. Malone is a distinguished historian so you will read about Jefferson's ancestry, along with Jefferson's youth, education, legal career, his marriage, the construction of Monticello. Not that was enough for one man's life, but we see the writing of the Declaration of Independence and Jefferson's work on the "Notes on Virginia."
We get an insight as to how Jefferson conducted his highly successful legislative career and his governorship. But what we do NOT see is the soul of Jefferson... the man, the human being. We get facts and more facts about a very complex individual and a monumental man. But the richness of the breath of life is left out.
Nonetheless, the book is a very scholarly work, one of the first to complete a comphensive work on a mulitfarious man. I enjoyed reading this volume for its historical importance and significance. This volume lays the ground work on which all of the other volumes set.
This work being well documented is a good start into reading about the life and times of Thomas Jefferson. One fact the comes through loud and clear... Jefferson is a Virginian foremost and always... there is no mistaking that fact.
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Textbook of Syrian Semitic Inscriptions: Volume 1: Hebrew and Moabite Inscriptions (Textbook of Syrian Semitic Inscriptions Vol. 1)
John C. L. Gibson
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Book Description
Why is `blood thicker than water'? Are we innately violent or pacific? What is the best sex ratio? Why are plants and animals sexual? Why do we grow old and die? Over what do our chromosomes quarrel? Such questions have motivated the life-work of W. D. Hamilton, widely acknowledged as the most important theoretical biologist of the 20th century. His papers continue to exert an enormous influence and they are now being republished for the first time. Each one is introduced by an autobiographical essay written especially for this collection. This first volume contains all of Hamilton's publications prior to 1981, a set especially relevant to social behaviour, kinship theory, sociobiology, and the notion of `selfish genes'. It includes several of the most read and famous papers of modern biology. A forthcoming volume will be devoted to the second half of Hamilton's life's work, on sex and sexual selection. Narrow Roads of Gene Land will be welcomed by professionals, graduate students, and undergraduates from a variety of disciplines, including evolution, population genetics, animal behaviour, genetics, anthropology, and ecology. The essays are accessible to non-specialists and will fascinate and entertain general readers with an interest in evolution and behaviour.
Customer Reviews:
A real gem!.......2000-07-09
This is an outstanding collection of some of the most important papers in evolutionary ecology, and when one can get them with Hamilton's wry, insightful, and occasionally extremely funny commentary, all I can say is "BUY IT!" No, Hamilton's mathematics is not for the faint of heart, but even if the thought of equations gives you the willies, you will find valuable stuff about the nature of science and scientists in the "interlinear" that links each of the stand-alone papers. I look forward to Volume 2 with great excitement!
Product Description
In an ancient land in a time foretold by prophets, a babe was born beneath a shining star. Thirty years later, Jesus of Nazareth began teaching a message of hope, peace, and love. He claimed to be the Son of God, and his words - and his life - would change the world. In Fishers of Men, the first volume in the new series The Kingdom and the Crown, best-selling author Gerald N. Lund transports us to the days of Christ's mortal ministry and invites us to experience the emotions and events of those extraordinary times. Reports of Jesus of Nazareth have reached the ears of David ben Joseph, a merchant in Capernaum, who has waited and watched for the Messiah ever since a special, starlit night thirty years ago. He and his family decide to see for themselves whether or not the rumors are true and journey to hear Jesus. Though David is quick to accept Jesus as the Messiah, the rest of his family is more cautious. His wife, Deborah, and his son, Simeon, leaders in the rebellious Zealot movement, look for a Messiah that will crush the Romans with power and the sword, not one preaching a message of love and forgiveness. Meanwhile, reports of Jesus have reached into the very heart of Jerusalem, and both the powerful Sadducee Mordechai ben Uzziel and the Pharisee Azariah are growing uneasy with the news. Though they hold opposing political views, both agree that something must be done to stop this man from Nazareth before he gets out of hand. However, in Mordechai's own household the influence of the carpenter from Nazareth begins to create conflict. Fishers of Men is a sweeping epic filled with memorable characters who bring to life an extraordinary time in the history of the world. It is a story about the importance of family, the power of faith, the miracle of forgiveness, and the strength needed to follow your heart.
Customer Reviews:
Loved it!.......2007-09-08
I absolutely LOVE these series. I'm now reading them for the 4th time. I love how Lund breaks down the parables and teachings of Christ to make them easier to understand. I also love the historical accuracy. He brings you into the story as if you really are there. I highly recommend these books!
The Greatest Story Ever Told.......2006-02-18
I have heard people say that the story of Jesus is the greatest story ever told, but have wondered how that could be when I found the New Testament so difficult to understand when reading straight from beginning to end. Now having finished this series of books I add my vote that the story of Jesus Christ is really the greatest story ever told.
Upon finishing I have felt driven to explore the New Testament again. I recently purchased a version of the New Testament which attempts a chronological harmony of the four gospels. I am amazed at how closely Lund's series shadows the chronological harmony version of the King James Version of the New Testament. Lund's work has helped me attain a level of clarity regarding the Savior's ministry that I didn't even know I was missing. Lund also did a great job in helping me understand which characters in the book are really from the New Testament, and where he was favoring certain scriptural interpretations over others. The chapter endnotes were fantastic!
Having now finished the whole series that this book belongs to I realize that without the historical insights that Lund provides into the political, social, and cultural setting of the people who lived in that area of the world at that time, I would not fully understand the life and mission of Christ as the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. For me this series is now the standard for all other historical fiction that attempts to represent the ministry of Jesus Christ, or the origins of Christianity.
Fisher of Me..........2006-01-30
This book is amazing. It has truly enlightened me as to the true nature of Jesus Christ. On one hand, He seems very conservative, but on the other, He seems so liberal! What a paradox. Lund does a fantastic job of capturing just how complex our Lord is, but how loving and accepting He is, too. Truly, He is a higher form of life, and that essence is easily portrayed in the story. There is also a very interesting fictional plot unfolding all around Jesus with the story's main characters who are the Jews and Gentiles that chose to follow Him during His earthly ministry (some fictional, some historical). If you've ever wished you could get into a time-machine and go back to the time of Christ and see Him for yourself, this book will help you vividly paint this dream in your imagination better than anything else. Plus, you'll get schooled in the biblical Gospel that Jesus taught without feeling that it's preachy. It's just Jesus. Like Him, the author invites people of all religions, beliefs, and unbeliefs to partake of his words. There's nothing to fear. Jesus is SO cool, you'll definitely feel that way afterwards if you don't already!
Read this series in December!.......2005-12-06
I am now on the second book... the first book in this series is so wonderful. I takes you there to Jerusalem and Galilee. You feel as if you walk with Jesus and experience his miracles and teachings first hand. It is an ambitious achievement for the author. You learn and come to know Christ more deeply. At times it can get a bit preachy and I feel like I am in one of Lund's classrooms, but I dig it anyways (other people may not). But the story is well crafted.
I always hate it when authors take too much artistic license and try to guess what a real historical person is feeling or what their motivation is (when there isn't a written record of it anywhere and it is completely up to the interpretation of the author). I am grateful that Lund never attempts that, and for Heaven's sake, especially not with Jesus. All of the dialogue that is written for Jesus can be found directly out of the New Testament.
Read this book and come to know the Savior even more deeply than you have before.
Incredible book!.......2005-08-09
I am not much of a reader. In fact, this is the first novel I have read in about 30 years. (I never seem to have the time)
Boy, did I ever pick a winner on this one!
It immediately immerses you into the lives of a Roman soldier, a Galilean family, a Pharisee and a Sadducee.
It so masterfully intwines these folks into many of the gospel stories and places you into the crowds that are following Jesus. From the Birth of Jesus, to the cleansing of the Temple, the sermon on the mount and the feeding of the multitude.
It also puts in detail the difficulties of a family split between becoming followers of Jesus and denying him, and the melting of hardened hearts.
I could barely put this thing down.
Now I am ready to take on "Come Unto Me" (Kingdom and the Crown Vol 2.)
Book Description
On January 1, 1999, All Things Considered aired the first in a series of richly layered stories that trace the soundtrack of the 20th century. Broadcast weekly through 1999, continuing monthly through 2000, Lost & Found Sound chronicles, reflects, and celebrates the human experience in rare recordings and "sonic snapshots" submitted by listeners. Blending the historic with the everyday, the monumental with the personal, this is evocative, haunting, eclectic listening—endangered sounds, shifting accents, vanishing voices, home recordings, and audio artifacts that reveal a sense of place and mark the passage of time.
Contents:
• Tony Schwartz: 30,000 Recordings Later
• Quest for Sound: Gettysburg Eyewitness
• Fishman, Fishman Cigar Stories, narrated by Andy Garcia
• Carnival Talkers
• LBJ and the Helium-Filled Astronauts
• Listening to the Northern Lights
• West Virginia Steam Trains
• Tennessee Williams: The Pennyland Recordings
• Sound Restoration
• The Partridge Family Grand Tour
Customer Reviews:
Dazzling.......2004-07-14
From beginning to finish
I was struck by its simplicity and familiarity.
Heartbreaking voice of a little girl who will not live to reach adulthood.
The everyday neighborhood sounds brought back my own childhood.
The song by the 'coal girl' incredibly beautiful.
The role cigar workers played in employment improvements by having been read to while working by the literate and knowledgeable among them. Well done. A masterpiece.
I love this cassette and would not part with it for any price.
I found it in a local 'Dollar' Store.
I've gone online only looking for Volume two?
Apparently, all things were not considered.......2001-12-02
NPR's "Lost and found sound" features a robot voice, droning narratives, and strange fade-in/fade-out effects. And then there are the lost and found recordings themselves, none of them the type of audio artifact the majority of humans would find in their attic, basement, disc storage box, or the like. This is the collection's first cheat--that there is hardly any of the vernacular focus promised by the tone of the project. The second cheat is that the majority of recordings are presented in snippets, with voice-overs, or side by side with NPR's library of annoying effects (pounding, syncopated percussion and the like), so that the listener cannot always tell what is fabricated and what is authentic. Not that it matters much, because few of the artifacts are very compelling, save for an account of the Gettysburg Address read by an eye- and ear-witness and a fragment of an Edison recording that I hope I have the chance to hear sometime. Noah Adam's narration (the robot voice mentioned above) lacks the warmth of an average weather-cube forecast, and the various civilian (non-NPR) narrators are allowed to push the art of redundancy to its limit. "People talking about lost and found recordings" would have been a more accurate title, overall. Personally, I would feel royally taken in had I been one of the probably many people who answered NPR's call for home recordings, only to find that the vast majority of offerings never had a chance of being considered in the first place. "Audio snapshots" from the periphery of everyday experience hardly offer much of a picture of the previous century.
Well researched, well edited, bears repeated listening.......2001-10-31
Releases of this type always have to stand up to the "repeated listening" test, and this one certainly does. Lots of compelling stuff here to keep you coming back from time to time. Fans of this CD/radio series ought to seek out a couple similar releases from a few years back called "Lucas & Friends Discover A World Of Sounds" and "One Of One: Snapshots In Sound," both of which artfully document the world of home-made audio recordings, as found in thrift stores and garage sales.
My gift for the holidays.......2000-12-09
Quirky - odd - historical - rich - multi layered - surprising - intimate - sweet - intriguing......are words that come to mind when I listened to this collection of stories. Cigar Stories was incredible! Tennesse Williams - fun, funny, compelling - Someone recording the sound of Aurora borelais? how bizarre ! how fantastic ! The pitchmen in Carnival Talkers... LBJ and the helium filled astronaut ! - The Gettysburg eyewitness account... I found this a most amazing collection. Beautifully produced stories - great listening
Book Description
From constitutional documents, political theory, and philosophy to imaginative literature and social description, you'll find fascinating primary source material in SOURCES OF WORLD HISTORY VOLUME I. Each selection is included for its ability to raise a significant issue and includes works representative of major civilization complexes (Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Islamic world, and Western civilization).
Books:
- The Senator and the Socialite: The True Story of America's First Black Dynasty
- The Sight (Warriors: Power of Three, Book 1)
- The Silent Angel
- The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries That Defined America
- The Three Musketeers (Barnes & Noble Classics)
- The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion
- The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Fiction (Bantam Classics)
- The Twelve Caesars (Penguin Classics)
- The Twilight Lord (World of Hetar)
- The Wood Beyond (Dalziel and Pascoe Mysteries)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
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- Top Secret Recipes: Creating Kitchen Clones of America's Favorite Brand-Name Foods
- Standard Handbook of Broadcast Engineering
- Strangers Among Us
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- The Whelping and Rearing of Puppies: A Complete and Practical Guide
- Boston Red Sox 2005 Calendar
- South-Western Accounting for QuickBooks Pro 2005
- The Portland Jobbank
The Road to Disunion, Volume II: Secessionists Triumphant 1854-1861
Prelude to Civil War: The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina, 1816-1836
The Impending Crisis, 1848-1861
The South Vs. The South: How Anti-Confederate Southerners Shaped the Course of the Civil War
Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War (Nation Divided: New Studies in Civil War History)
