Travels with Charley in Search of America

Book Description

Today, nearly forty years after his death, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures. Over the next year, his many works published as black-spine Penguin Classics for the first time and will feature eye-catching, newly commissioned art.

Penguin Classics is proud to present these seminal works to a new generation of readers—and to the many who revisit them again and again.

Customer Reviews:

Travels With Charley.......2007-09-27

A wonderful read..a glimpse of America through the eyes of Steinbeck while driving his pick-up/camper with his dog.

the hobo philosopher.......2007-09-10

Travels with Charley was one of the inspirational books that lead me to write "Hobo-ing America". I had always read travel books. Everybody from Mark Twain to George Orwell. But Travels with Charley (his dog) ranks right up there in the inspiration category for me. I had always longed to travel America but I could never afford to do it. Finally my wife Carol and I took off with about $2,400 and a van with a homemade bed in the rear and hit the road. We paid our way by picking fruits and vegetables and we stayed on the road living under bridges and equipment shelters for a number of years. Carol says that it was the best time of her life. I am still hoping that the best time hasn't come yet. Though my time is running low.
I guess that the whole point of this review is that it was books like Travels with Charley that made our adventure a reality. I still have a tattered copy of Travels with Charley on my library shelf.

"From start to finish, I found no strangers".......2007-08-06

In the autumn of 1960, author John Steinbeck (1902 - 1968) felt that he was writing on the fumes of experience. That and the wanderlust that usually passes with youth still itched at age 58. He bought a camper truck he christened "Rocinante" after Don Quixote's horse and with his 10-year-old poodle named Charley he set off to find America. His route largely rimmed the 48 contiguous states: from his summer home on Long Island, he headed up to Maine, across to upstate New York and down US Route 90, out to Chicago, through the Badlands to Montana, over to Spokane, down the Oregon coast, to his native Salinas in Central California, cutting across the Mojave to Texas, onward into the Deep South and then a straight shot home to New York City.

In 1960, Steinbeck stood on a cusp of history and what he reveals, especially as regarded 47 years later, is the country coming and going on itself. He finds cities ringed by huge garbage piles created by the rise of a disposable culture that had yet to discover recycling. He uses the new highway system as well as the old back roads, encountering a country adapting to a new mobility. The people he met were timeless characters, though many were in age-old circumstances that have since passed. Despite the Pulitzer Prize, bestselling books and media coverage, he is never recognized and finds people at their most candid. His accounts on the road are episodic, some comic, some fodder for philosophical rumination. When he hits the Deep South, however, he collides with the opening salvos of the modern Civil Rights movement and tangles with racists as he watches "The Cheerleaders," the gang of middle-aged "respectable" white women obscenely haranguing a tiny black child being escorted to school. He is sickened. It is time to go home.

The insights to the human condition and what it means to be American as divulged by the journey are priceless. The beautiful thing about Steinbeck is his persistent curiosity in life outside of himself. Though he comes to realize the journey is as much internal as it is external, his inspiration was not to find himself but to connect with others. He was a most generous soul.

Vendor is 100% honest... would recommend highly.......2007-08-01

Had a problem with this low cost used copy... not as described
BUT vendor 100% honest ---
No problem FIX.. they stood 100% behind what they sell.
Tks!

Another side of John Steinbeck.......2007-07-09

Travels with Charley to me is first of all a perfect story of a man and his dog.

One of the best stories, I have ever read.

Average customer rating:

The Hobo Philosopher
Pertinent and well written
A lesson for us all
Great classic/ but too expensive here
Mr. Thoreau's Work: Walden

Walden: (Writings of Henry D. Thoreau)
Henry David Thoreau
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Walking

ASIN: 0691096120

Book Description

Originally published in 1854, Walden, or Life in the Woods, is a vivid account of the time that Henry D. Thoreau lived alone in a secluded cabin at Walden Pond. It is one of the most influential and compelling books in American literature.

This new paperback edition--introduced by noted American writer John Updike--celebrates the 150th anniversary of this classic work. Much of Walden's material is derived from Thoreau's journals and contains such engaging pieces as "Reading" and "The Pond in the Winter." Other famous sections involve Thoreau's visits with a Canadian woodcutter and with an Irish family, a trip to Concord, and a description of his bean field. This is the complete and authoritative text of Walden--as close to Thoreau's original intention as all available evidence allows.

For the student and for the general reader, this is the ideal presentation of Thoreau's great document of social criticism and dissent.

Customer Reviews:

The Hobo Philosopher.......2007-09-24

My first copy of this book was indubitably from some other publisher. So I'm not commenting on this particular volume but the content of the work itself.
I have always loved this book but it wasn't until recent years that I realized what a controversial book this was. Thoreau published this book at his own expense and he sold very few copies. Later on he stored most of his unsold copies in an attic. He once claimed to have the largest collection of book published by Henry David Thoreau than anyone alive - and I'm sure he did.
But why didn't people buy this book? Well, for one thing it was critical of "the neighborhood". For another thing it was critical of "the values of his neighbors". For another thing it was critical of the values of his countrymen; it was critical of Capitalism; it was critical of modern life; it was critical of the "consumer mentality"; it was critical of the work ethic; it was critical of buying things; it was critical of "getting ahead" and "accumulating; it was critical of working for a living; it was critical of achieving; it was a critique on the civilization of the day - and it was not positive.
So why did it make me feel good to read it then and why does it have the same effect on me today?
I don't know but whenever I get lonely to go have a talk with an old friend I go to the book shelf and pick up Walden by Henry David Thoreau.

Pertinent and well written.......2007-09-17

Strangely surprising how pertinent many of Thoreau's perceptions, opinions and insights on habits and values are to modern day society and culture. And impressive how vehemently he professes these views in some sections. No sugar coating here. This is raw stuff, presented with language and skill we've lost over the years.

My favorite quote: "One generation abandons the enterprises of another like stranded vessels"

Thoreau is inspired and inspiring.

A lesson for us all.......2007-08-18

Imagine a man, living in the present time, who is fed up with life in our ever-changing electronic world. So, he goes to live in a hut he's re-built out by a gentle pond, reasonably away from civilization. He throws away his cell phone, computer, TV, radio, etc. and lives simply and quietly, observing naature with his eyes and a microscope. He's not a hermit, because he visits and is visited by, friends and neighbors. He examines his life in solitude and writes about the sights and sounds of the woods and the pond.
For two years living alone this way, he comes to know nature and himself intimately and when he returns to civilization, he is refreshed, spiritually, emotionally and mentally.

Now, imagine all this as done 160 years ago when technology consisted of things like the newly invented telegraph (which he disdained), railway system, and others. Thoreau, like many of us today, longed to live simply and in harmony with Nature. The inspiration for hundreds of hippies, eco-freaks, Luddites and anti-technologists, he showed us that we sometimes need to get back to simple and clean living with no one and nothing to intrude on our thoughts.

And by the time you've finished this little gem of a book, the weekend will be over, and it will be time to go back to the ugly, long commute to a place where technology and stress seemingly go hand in hand.

Great classic/ but too expensive here.......2007-07-16

I brought this book because I had a class that required it. I got it within 2 weeks so that wasn't bad but I hadn't realized that I paid more for the book here then I would have had I gone to a local store! The back of the book says it's only $2.50. The lowest price I could find on Amazon was $4. I guess that's why people don't have to pay for shipping when they purchase items that exceed $25! (The free mailing gets paid for (at least in this case), with higher book prices.
BTW I found out that this book is a free e-book via the web. Next time I'll make sure to check that avenue first.

Mr. Thoreau's Work: Walden.......2007-04-22

It looks like I rated it 4 stars. I can't seem to change that. I really meant to rate it a 3.

Fortunately, I read The Annotated Walden, annotated by Phillip Van Doren Stern. Thank goodness I chose it. Without Mr. Van Doren Stern's introduction, side bars, pictures and comments, I think I would have been thoroughly lost.

I have to agree with a few of the reviewers who stated how pompous Thoreau sounds; he does. He tries to act superior,only to have the side bar notations state something different; something that a friend mentioned. For example, he says he "could easily do without the post-office," yet a contemporary, Sanborne, is quoted off to the side of the annotated version as having said about this quote: "Few residents of Concord frequented the Post Office more punctually or read the newspapers more eagerly than Thoreau."

He contradicts himself constantly. He mocks people who don't read, and then says he barely read a few pages of one book in the two years he was at Walden pond. He could be vindictive; lashing out at Flint's Pond (and Mr. Flint) because Flint would not let him build a cabin on his pond. He comes off as a snob, saying most men learn to read only as a necessity; for work, to add up their profits. But *true* readers are hard to come by. "I aspire to be acquainted with wiser men than this Concord soil has produced.."

Yet, he also has some really great words of wisdom. He questions the wisdom in working so hard during the best part of your life (youth) only to spend the fruits of your labor "during the least valuable part of it." Enjoy life while you are young. Why work so hard when the endgame is death? He comments on things that are still true to this day; fashion and our obsession with appearance. Work to provide for yourself, not to overburden yourself and keep yourself in debt.

Someone reviewing this book on Amazon wrote that it was a failed experiment; that he meant to live in the woods as a hermit of sorts and failed miserably to do so. That was never the extent of his experiment. He never says he's going to lead a solitary life. He states he visited the village every day or two. "As I walked in the woods to see birds and squirrels, so I walked in the village to see men and boys."

I find myself having mixed feelings regarding this book. He is so contradictory, but then, so am I. He can be judgemental and then he can be spot-on. It was a difficult book to get through, Again, had I not had the annotated version, I would have been truly lost. He frustrated me at times. I was not reading literature. I was reading someone's diary that often went off-tangent (like this review). Is it Top 100 book worthy? My opinion: no. It was good at times, painful at others. I took 2 months to trudge through it, all the while reading 5 other books just to keep me going. I am glad I read it. I won't do it again though. Sorry, Mr. Thoroeau

Average customer rating:

Great Audio
Delighted
For any writer who loves Stephen King...
Inspiring
Book Review - ON WRITING by Stephen King

On Writing
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0684853523
Release Date: 2000-10-03

Amazon.com

Short and snappy as it is, Stephen King's On Writing really contains two books: a fondly sardonic autobiography and a tough-love lesson for aspiring novelists. The memoir is terrific stuff, a vivid description of how a writer grew out of a misbehaving kid. You're right there with the young author as he's tormented by poison ivy, gas-passing babysitters, uptight schoolmarms, and a laundry job nastier than Jack London's. It's a ripping yarn that casts a sharp light on his fiction. This was a child who dug Yvette Vickers from Attack of the Giant Leeches, not Sandra Dee. "I wanted monsters that ate whole cities, radioactive corpses that came out of the ocean and ate surfers, and girls in black bras who looked like trailer trash." But massive reading on all literary levels was a craving just as crucial, and soon King was the published author of "I Was a Teen-Age Graverobber." As a young adult raising a family in a trailer, King started a story inspired by his stint as a janitor cleaning a high-school girls locker room. He crumpled it up, but his writer wife retrieved it from the trash, and using her advice about the girl milieu and his own memories of two reviled teenage classmates who died young, he came up with Carrie. King gives us lots of revelations about his life and work. The kidnapper character in Misery, the mind-possessing monsters in The Tommyknockers, and the haunting of the blocked writer in The Shining symbolized his cocaine and booze addiction (overcome thanks to his wife's intervention, which he describes). "There's one novel, Cujo, that I barely remember writing."

King also evokes his college days and his recovery from the van crash that nearly killed him, but the focus is always on what it all means to the craft. He gives you a whole writer's "tool kit": a reading list, writing assignments, a corrected story, and nuts-and-bolts advice on dollars and cents, plot and character, the basic building block of the paragraph, and literary models. He shows what you can learn from H.P. Lovecraft's arcane vocabulary, Hemingway's leanness, Grisham's authenticity, Richard Dooling's artful obscenity, Jonathan Kellerman's sentence fragments. He explains why Hart's War is a great story marred by a tin ear for dialogue, and how Elmore Leonard's Be Cool could be the antidote.

King isn't just a writer, he's a true teacher. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

"If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write."

In 1999, Stephen King began to write about his craft -- and his life. By midyear, a widely reported accident jeopardized the survival of both. And in his months of recovery, the link between writing and living became more crucial than ever.

Rarely has a book on writing been so clear, so useful, and so revealing. On Writing begins with a mesmerizing account of King's childhood and his uncannily early focus on writing to tell a story. A series of vivid memories from adolescence, college, and the struggling years that led up to his first novel, Carrie, will afford readers a fresh and often very funny perspective on the formation of a writer. King next turns to the basic tools of his trade -- how to sharpen and multiply them through use, and how the writer must always have them close at hand. He takes the reader through crucial aspects of the writer's art and life, offering practical and inspiring advice on everything from plot and character development to work habits and rejection.

Serialized in the New Yorker to vivid acclaim, On Writing culminates with a profoundly moving account of how King's overwhelming need to write spurred him toward recovery, and brought him back to his life.

Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower -- and entertain -- everyone who reads it.

Download Description

For years I dreamed of having the sort of massive oak slab that would dominate a room.... In 1981 I got the one I wanted and placed it in the middle of a spacious, skylighted study in the rear of the house. For six years I sat behind that desk either drunk or wrecked out of my mind.... A year or two after I sobered up, I got rid of that monstrosity and put in a living-room suite where it had been....In the early nineties, before they moved on to their own lives, my kids sometimes came up in the evening to watch a basketball game or a movie and eat pizza....I got another desk -- it's handmade, beautiful, and half the size of the T. rex desk. I put it at the far west end of the office, in a corner under the eave....I'm sitting under it now, a fifty-three-year-old man with bad eyes, a gimp leg, and no hangover. I'm doing what I know how to do, and as well as I know how to do it. I came through all the stuff I told you about ... and now I'm going to tell you as much as I can about the job.... It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support-system for art. It's the other way around. --

Customer Reviews:

Great Audio.......2007-10-09

This was such a treat. I listened to the six, eight hour cassettes, and it was a thrill. Stephen King is such an eloquent speaker. He is frank and funny-like when he does other voices in reading from other literature.

I enjoyed the authors honest style. It is so refreshing to hear a candid and friendly voice who offers the pearls of wisdom from his years of experience as a published author.

His mother offered him some advice when she heard that he wanted to be a writer: She urged him to get his teaching credentials so that he would have something to fall back on. After college, he was able to get one teaching position. The job didn't pay well. His manuscript for "Carrie" saved he and his family from poverty-as well as made his dying mother proud.

His pay from writing was good luck because he writes because he loves it.
It does show in his work and in this non-fiction book. He also urges other would-be writer's also to love their work.

My first book is Dreams in August: Life, Love, and Cerebellar Ataxia

Delighted.......2007-10-09

The book arrived in a timely fashion and in excellent condition. I had read a library copy of the book and I enjoyed it so much that I purchased this book for my son who also found it a great read.

For any writer who loves Stephen King..........2007-10-09

If you enjoy Stephen King novels and his method of storytelling and are looking to do some writing on your own, this book is for you. King carefully and comically explains his pet peeves, suggestions for greatness, and ideas for writing anything in this book. His anecdotes make On Writing read like a narrative rather than a how-to book. King gives creative and straightforward advice for all writers (not just the newbies). Definitely a recommended read!

Inspiring.......2007-10-08

The book can be broken into two sections, an autobiographical section and Stephen King's thoughts and tips on what is important for good writing.

The autobiographical part is limited to the parts of his life that he feels shaped and influenced him as a writer. Interesting and relevant though it is, this section really plays second fiddle to the other, which contains gems of his knowledge right from the first few lines. While reading the first section, I found myself constantly wanting to get through it to get to the second section.

That section, On Writing, I found instantly more useful than any other single source of writing tips or advice.

King begins with grammar and a few of his pet peeves before progressing to the more subtle points of quality writing and then to editing your own work. It is by no means an A-Z, all encompassing encyclopedia of how to be a writer, but what he does provide is what he thinks are relavent, useful pointers on how to improve. Here he completely succeeds. What he says makes perfect sense, and gives the reader actual tools that can be put into place immediately.

He does not beat around the bush and add in superfluous material in order to make the book seem more complete, which adds to the reader's confidence (as if there should ever have been a doubt) that what King has written is truly worth taking in.

King has a no-nonsense approach to writing, and I found myself laughing at regular attacks on sub-par writing or examples of writer commitment. He comes down heavy anyone who might think they have a god-given talent to write well without putting in the work. Writing, for him, is a part of everyday life and he believes that for any true writer it must be that way.

Overall, I found the book to be not only a very useful reference, but an inspiring account of what it takes to succeed as a writer.

Book Review - ON WRITING by Stephen King .......2007-09-26

I picked up On Writing because you can't do it much bigger than Stephen King has. Most books on writing are by grammarmongers or literary types, and I was interested to get the perspective of a writer of popular fiction. Previously, I'd only skimmed through Terry Brooks's Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life, but I don't think Terry Brooks is a very good writer, so that was the end of that.

Half the book is King's autobiography, and he focuses on the points in his life that he feels helped shape him as a writer. I felt like I didn't need most of this, although it was nice to know even Stephen King worked at some terrible jobs before he made it big. Those reading this book just for the writing lesson, and who care not for Stephen King, can skip this whole section, although there are some interesting tidbits on the publishing process.

King's points are several. The two keys to good writing, he says, are mastery of the fundamentals and hard work. A good writer should write all the time and read all the time. I agree with this.

King's strategy for writing is this: to come up with a foundational situation, not worry about the plot, and make it up as you go. There certainly is something to be said for this kind of writing, and it has a very romantic ideal, but I think this also explains why quite a few of King's otherwise-amazing novels have lame, deus ex machina endings.

On Writing is written in King's distinctive, conversational, foul-mouthed style, which is just as engaging in non-fiction, although he runs a bit long-winded at times. The book is pretty short, though, and it's a fairly quick read.

I can't say I learned anything new about writing, but I did have some concepts reinforced (like don't use dialogue attributions), and it was nice to hear it from the most popular novelist of our time.

King says you can't make a good writer great, and you can't make a terrible writer competent, but you can make a competent writer good. If that's you, then to you this book might just be

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The Miss Dennis School of Writing: And Other Lessons from a Woman's Life
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This first book by Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Steinbach is an intimate, personal collection of essays, rememberances, and columns that follows in the creative non-fiction tradition of Anna Quindelen and Mary Sarton.

Customer Reviews:

A Book To Keep.......2007-07-12

I had read and liked her "Without Reservations" and "Educating Alice." This collection of her columns did not disappoint and I kept going back to re-read what I thought of as hidden gems or things to think about in regard to my own life.

Great Book!.......2006-08-18

Alice Steinbach is a great writer! I have enjoyed each one of her books and this was no exception.

A book to be shared.......2003-06-17

I purchased this book because I had enjoyed 'Without Reservations' so much. I often share books with my closest friend. By the time I had read the introduction and the first few pages, I knew it would not be enough to simply have her read it when I was done. I knew we had to read it together, taking turns reading it aloud (a new experience for us). Steinbach's musings on everyday life are insightful, laugh-out-loud funny, poignant, a true delight. I plan to buy several copies for Christmas gifts.

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Robeson is one of my favorite proponents of communism!
Give this man some due

Paul Robeson Speaks: Writings, Speeches, and Interviews, a Centennial Celebration
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Release Date: 1998-02-26

Book Description

Many remember Paul Robeson for his magnificent singing voice and acting ability. But how many are aware that Robeson wrote and spoke about African culture? Thirty years before "black is beautiful", he described his pride in being Negro. Paul Robeson Speaks is a stirring, illustrated collection of speeches, writings, interviews, and press reports by a man whose thoughts and writings contributed greatly to African culture and Black pride.

Customer Reviews:

Robeson is one of my favorite proponents of communism!.......2004-03-20

If you can't believe the websites of Rutgers and Princeton Univiersities, and just have to read it for yourself, this is the book for you. Just being able to read Mr. Robeson's beautiful ode to one of last century's most influential world leaders, Joe Stalin, is worth the price of the book! I'm tickled pink (or should I say "red") that the United States Postal Service has done their homework and honored Mr. Robeson with his own postage stamp!!

Give this man some due.......2003-02-01

What can I say? Paul Robeson put his money where his mouth is. He gave up millions for what he believed in and stood his ground. He fought for Black freedom and also took up the cause for poor whites and workers. Whether you agree with him or not, this man is one of America's greatest heroes! It is amazing how his life and contributions are overlooked. Buy this book and read about a great American hero.

On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894

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On The Way Home by Ana Clare S.
Different to the LIttle house books, a diary of an adult
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A Little Different
Cool!

On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894
Laura Ingalls Wilder
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Book Description

In 1894, Laura Ingalls Wilder, her husband, Almanzo, and their daughter, Rose, packed their belongings into their covered wagon and set out on a journey from De Smet, South Dakota, to Mansfield, Missouri. They heard that the soil there was rich and the crops were bountiful -- it was even called "the Land of the Big Red Apple." With hopes of beginning a new life, the Wilders made their way to the Ozarks of Missouri.

During their journey, Laura kept a detailed diary of events: the cities they passed through, the travelers they encountered on the way, the changing countryside and the trials of an often difficult voyage. Laura's words, preserved in this book, reveal her inner thoughts as she traveled with her family in search of a new home in Mansfield, where Rose would spend her childhood, where Laura would write her Little House books, and where she and Almanzo would remain all the rest of their happy days together.

Customer Reviews:

On The Way Home by Ana Clare S........2006-12-13

The Book, On The Way Home, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, is basically what it says it is. It is a Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894. This book was not that enjoyable just because it was just diary entries, like "today we ate meat." But other wise it was quite intriguing to discover the ways in which people traveled back in the day. In one part of the book it talks about how their covered wagon is not a covered wagon at all but that, "It had been a two-seated hack though now it only had the front seat." I also found it very enjoyable to read about the worth of money back then and compare it to now. It talks about how Laura had earned a whole one hundred dollars which today is like penny cash but back then was a fortune. In the beginning of the book there is a setting by Rose Wilder Lane, Laura's Daughter, which is a great piece of writing, it is like the rest of Laura's books in that it makes you want to read the rest of the book. I found this book interesting but a drag because of the slow pace in the book. If you would like to take a slow dip into history you should definitely read this book.

Different to the LIttle house books, a diary of an adult.......2006-07-02

I can see why Laura Ingalls was able to write such good books about her early life on the Prairie. Her diaries were packed full of information and detail which she could later draw on. This is one of her diaries, with notes and a setting by her only child, daughter Rose Wilder Lane who was just a girl during this trip.

Laura Ingalls Wilder is, of course, famous for her little House books describing her childhood growing up at the edge of American settling in the mid Nineteenth century. Constantly pushing to new territories and places Ingalls father lead them west into Indian territory and later to Dakota where they settled. Laura met and Married Almanzo Wilder in de Smet, Dakota (Those happy Golden Years, and First Four Years) however those books left a me feeling a bit downhearted. Especially teh First Four Years, in which Almanzo 'Manly' and Laura seemed to be struck with tragedy (the house burning down) etc.

I found this diary to be hugely uplifting. It is not the detailed stories of her childhood, or living in a wagon as an adult settler, but it is a great tale detail of a family moving, of finding something which they could call their own, but far away in the Ozarks.

The most interesting thing to me about it, was that while they were on the road they were constantly being passed by other settlers, some going north and others going south, but the number of people on the move was amazing. At one point Rose adds a note that she looked back while they were about to cross the 'muddy' and there was a stream of covered wagons behind them.

Little details of what life was like really draw this out - tomatoes 10c a bushel and so they bought 2c worth. Huge watermelons for 5 c, Almanzo selling fire mats (ASBESTOS!) and all those little everyday details about life for Laura.

While she did not put her stories down until many decades later, clearly she was a writer in the making right from the beginning. Rose, her daughter has provided much of the detail necessary in here, but it would be really nice to see an illustrated edition of this showing the place as it was and as it is now. It was interesting to use Google Earth to view some of the trail which you can see right now. It gives it a sense of scale which I will not be able to do myself unless I acutally visit.

The only reason this has four stars is it is not as gripping as Ingalls novels - it is still a great read and highly recommended.

I like Historical Diaries But This One Is Especially Meaningful.......2005-09-29

It's often said in tones of this-is-true-but-it's-also-heresy that Rose Wilder Lane, daughter of Laura and Almanzo Wilder, is the real unsung heroine in the Little House books, because while she let her mother have credit for the famous series, it was Rose, via her careful, invisible editing and re-writes, that turned cheery memoirs into beloved classics. I suspect that's true, but in the case of this book, it is beyond all doubt what happened. Rose took her mother's raw diary and prepared it for publication, and the product is the book On The Way Home, which tells of the journey Rose and her parents made in 1894, from DeSmet, South Dakota, setting for the final half of the Little House books, to the Ozark country, where the family would spend the next sixty years. The description is unsentimental, not glamorized (as it tends to be--for the sake of betterment--in the other books) and it paints a portrait of the difficult traveler's life on the by-then crowded prairie overrun with east-central European immigrants, many of whom being exactly the type portrayed in novels such as My Antonia. The Wilder family completes its draining re-location by covered wagon and arrives in Missouri, a state so much a promised land to them that a reader cannot help but share their relief when they safely arrive.

A Little Different.......2005-08-24

This book is written in a much different style than the other Little House books. Laura kept a journal of the trip and these are her day-to-day entries. It can sometimes be dry or confusing. I have been reading the series with my daughter and this one has been a little more difficult. We enjoyed it, but not as much as the others.

Cool!.......2005-04-19

This Is Another Little House Book Based On The Adventures Of Rose,Laura,and Almanzo!I Only Gave This Book 4 Stars Instead Of 5 Because It Is A Good Bit Confusing To Me.I Wish It Wasn`t.But Anyway,This Is Definately A Book Worth Reading And Buying,Especcialy If You`re A Little House Or Laura Ingalls Wilder Fan!

Southern Horrors and Other Writings; The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells, 1892-1900

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Powerful words
Raw But Real American History

Southern Horrors and Other Writings; The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells, 1892-1900
Jacqueline Jones Royster , and Ida B. Wells
Manufacturer: Bedford/St. Martin's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells (Negro American Biographies and Autobiographies)
At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America (Modern Library Paperbacks)
Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America
100 Years of Lynchings
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Dover Thrift Editions)

ASIN: 0312116950

Customer Reviews:

Powerful words.......2005-01-17

Ida B. Wells was an African-American woman of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. She was born and grew up in the South, born in Mississippi during the Civil War. It is significant the impact of the legacy of slavery on her life -- she recounts how her parents, who were married as slaves, remarried each other as free persons after the war. Wells was a determined and intelligent woman -- her parents died while she was young, yet old enough to be left with the responsibility of her younger brothers and sisters. At the age of 14 she found herself at the head of a household with five younger children.

She worked hard to make sure that her education did not suffer, and eventually (a rarity for women of any colour in America at the time) went to work for a newspaper.

In an incident that foreshadowed Rosa Parks, she was once removed from a train for sitting in the wrong section, despite her ownership of a valid ticket for the seat. She sued the railroad and won (newspaper headlines read 'Darky Damsel Gets Damages' without concern for the racist tone), but the judgment was overturned on appeal, and she later discovered her lawyers had been paid off by the railroads, and the appellate judges had thought she was just being uppity to pursue the matter.

Such was the state of the African-American community that none came to her assistance as she pursued this fight. This made her more determined to organise and fight.

Several of her newspaper partners and other friends in Memphis were lynched for these efforts, and Wells was threatened herself, and left the South, but did not give up her crusade. Where ever she went, through cities and towns in the North as well as over to Europe (where, she said, she felt like she was treated as a real human being equal with others for the first time) she decried the injustice of laws which dismissed charges or gave light sentences if victims were coloured, and prosecuted more strongly, gave out harsher sentences, or even resorted to lynch mobs if the defendant (who was often not guilty) was coloured.

She continued speaking and publishing up to her death in 1931. She was never afraid of making herself unpopular, and often upset the African-American community by being critical of their complacency (especially the upper and middle classes). She became unpopular by standing against the military service during World War I, because of prejudicial and discriminatory practices, and never quite recovered in popular esteem from that.

But Wells had courage and determination that is rare in persons, male or female, of any colour, of any time, to take on such a task as the exposition and combat of lynching in the South during the post-Civil War decades. Talking directly with governors and even a president, Wells made her voice heard, and it was a difficult hearing in a difficult time.

This book, edited and introduced by Jacqueline Jones Royster, includes three primary publications of Ida B. Wells:

Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases
A Red Record
Mob Rule in New Orleans

These three publications highlight the problem of lynching, something that continued well past Wells' death in 1931. Despite this, Wells' campaign made significant strides to bring media attention and organised resistance in different ways to the problem of this violence. Presented in the text, the reader gets to read the actual writing of Wells, as well as introductory and appendix information helping fill out the context and additional details.

This is hard reading, but necessary for understanding some of the more tragic parts of American history.

Raw But Real American History.......2001-06-23

Mrs. Ida B. Wells-Barnett should be as well known as Soujourner Truth or Rosa Parks. This was one revolutionary heroine! She was run out of Memphis for writing boldly about lynchings in the 1890s. She also did an in-depth study on lynching called "A Red Record" (included here) that told the truth about this practice on a national level. Another excellent segemnt teels the forgotten true tale of Robert Charles, who unsucessfully stood up to a New Orleans Lynch mob in 1900 using credible primary sources (see als William Ivy Hair's "Carnival of Fury" on that subject). This is the history you didn't get from your high-school teacher! READ it!

The Selected Writings of Mordecai Noah: (Contributions in American Studies)

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The Selected Writings of Mordecai Noah: (Contributions in American Studies)

Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Mordecai Noah, whose writings span from the 1800s to the 1840s, is the first important Jewish writer to appear on the American scene. In his own time, he was ranked with Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper as among the finest writers of the day. Noah is primarily known today as the visionary who proposed a Jewish homeland, to be called "Ararat" in upstate New York. But Noah also had a political career which was equally colorful. As American Consul to Tunis, Noah's plan to rescue American sailors held by the Barbary states nearly led to his own imprisonment and death. As Sheriff of New York, Noah freed all debtors when Yellow Fever broke out in the prisons, thereby becoming liable for a small fortune. This volume is the first modern selection of Noah's writings and includes not only some of Noah's better known works such as "She Would Be a Soldier" (1819), one of the most admired plays of its day, and "Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews" (1845), Noah's early plea for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the Middle East. This volume also includes the first complete modern edition of the "Ararat" proclamation and speech (1825), detailing Noah's utopian scheme for a Jewish homeland in New York; also printed for the first time since its original publication is Noah's recently discovered tract, "Address...to Aid in the Erection of the Temple at Jerusalem" (1849). Schuldiner and Kleinfeld provide discussions of Noah's life and context for his writings as well as a selected bibliography of key writings by and about Mordecai Noah.

The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow: The Mystical Nature Diary of Opal Whiteley

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An Odyssey in Nature
hoff Vs. beck
A Tender Heart
Astounding literature
Will change the way you see your own surroundings

The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow: The Mystical Nature Diary of Opal Whiteley
Opal Whiteley
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Opal: The Journal of an Understanding Heart
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ASIN: 0140237208

Customer Reviews:

An Odyssey in Nature .......2007-08-21

An incredibly beautiful journal written by a young child prodigy. It is lyrical and delightful. A wonderful book.

hoff Vs. beck.......2006-01-28

I'm a huge fan of Benjamin Hoff. Who is a spiritual writer that a guy like me (who doesn't keep "earth crystals" in pocket or wreak of Nag Champa) can get into. I could go on glowingly about the passion that Hoff applies while exploring his subject. I would be someone pointed out to me that Hoff had been discredited by Katherine Beck. So I'm kind of writing a dual review using Beck's book as a jumping off point.

Some facts about Beck's book:

1) Beck never really discredits Opal for writing the book when she claimed: she admits that:
a) Opal was incredibly bright as a teenager, bizzarely aware of the latin names of plants and animals. beck admits that by 15 or she was already a prodigy. But never attempts to explain how that related to possibly she could have been a brilliant writer as a child.
b) Beck claims in response to forensic information favorable to at least part of Opal's story, that Opal planned the hoax by saving old scraps of paper and crayons from her childhood for 10 or 15 years and moving with to multiple houses and states to write the diary, appearantly hedging against future forensic technology, then torn her work to shreds and left it in jeopardy in a place where it could have been destroyed just to really sell people on it's authenticity. Also as native of the Willamete Valley I've met people who can recreate her journeys, which would have been hard to fake from a distance. That's about as crazy as any claims Opal made about the book.
c) Beck gives examples of other child authors of the time who she feels were better writers, so why would be inconcievable to her that a substandard counterpart would exist? She doesn't even touch on it.
2) Beck doesn't like Opal at all, she doesn't like her writing, kind implies she was harlot and a racist, and worst of all for me personally; she's glib about Opal's crippling mental illness.
3) Beck seems affectionate for amatuer Opalites but seems to think people like Hoff and Nassif are nuts and paints Boulton as criminally Naive. She doesn't seem think Opal should be taught in schools, or at least thinks its screwball.
4) Beck takes no time to really examine the spiritual significance of the book, except to say she thinks it's pre-new age tripe. To Beck it was popular at the time because people were gulliable and if it's getting a comeback now it must be for the same reason.

Even being horder of Opal related history I got bored because reading someone's account of how much they dislike someone who was at worst kind of a liar and bad writer (remember it's not like Opal was dictator or anything) gets really, really tedious after about 50 pages. Also discrediting the most widely discredited author of the last 100 years is not an exciting read. I think the Seattle Times called it "Myopic" which it is, that and commendably thorough and also kind of spiteful. I've been trying to find people to disscuss the book with who aren't Opalites, who dispise Beck. I did talk to one guy who hates Opal and Opalites for very personal reasons but he was a little bored by the book and didn't finish it. The same man read Hoff and praised his writing but didn't see Opal's appeal.

Now, Hoff, by contrast, is over flowing with praise for Opal. Beck interestingly "uncovers" a fact printed in book. Hoff was in love Opal, or the concept of her. So we can't call him biased. He presents a rosy picture of the girl who obiviously had a darkside. At the same time I like Hoff because he comes to the most rational conclusion about the book: It was written by a highly functional abused little schitzophrenic girl, and likely futzed with later in her life. Opal is a tragic figure to anyone who sees beauty in her wierd prose and a non-sequitor for anyone who doesn't. Hoff isn't bias free but no one is biasless about Opal. Also his repackaging of the diary is in my opinion the definitive version. Hoff is a brilliant counterpart in the present day to Opal. Who is due for a looking over outside of the neigh-sayers and new-agers.

A Tender Heart.......2005-10-08

To say this is my favorite book of all time, my most treasured, the one I would grab in a housefire - that is just a beginning. Opal brings us into the innocence and wonder of childhood in a way that inspires us to reclaim that part of ourselves. There are haunting scenes that pull you to love her and precious glimpses into her imaginings that wake you up to the magic in life. As she trots around with critters in her pockets and on her shoulders with names inspired by the great writers, christens baby chicks in the barn and finds notes and ribbons left by the fairies in the woods, Opal delights us and opens our hearts to a more tender place.

Astounding literature.......2005-07-19

This book is the diary of a six-year-old girl named Opal Whiteley, who grew up in Oregon logging camps in the early 1900s. She loved nature and her writing style was inimitably beautiful.

Her diary was published first in 1920, but became the centre of a large controversy and was dismissed as a fraud. Mr Hoff discovered a copy of this book by chance in 1983, and was so fascinated by it that he spent years researching the life of Opal to determine the true story.

It most certainly is no fraud. Mr Hoff opens this book with a very well-researched, unbiased biography of Opal which proves beyond doubt that this really was her diary written at age six. He follows this up with the diary (or what exists of it), and ends with the tale of his story of trying to meet Opal personally.

The tone of the book, by the time you have read from beginning to end, is one of tragedy. However, like the lonely, brave tones of a bird chirping through the twilight its farewell to the setting sun and a day that shall never return, beauty sometimes IS bitter sweet; but the quiet love, the charming way Opal describes her surroundings, her pets, the people she meets, and the voices of the natural world which Opal understood so well balance out the sadness and make this book well worth reading and adding to your personal collection.

Opal's story is at once a sad commentary on the way one small hint of a rumour can snowball into the destruction of a person's life and a celebration of childhood and nature. It is mostly the latter.

This is a brief passage from the diary part of the book, to give you a sample of its simplistic yet profound loveliness.

"And all the times I was picking up potatoes, I did have conversations with them. Too, I did have thinks of all their growing days here in the ground, and all the things they did hear. Earth-voices are glad voices, and earth-songs come up from the ground through the plants; and in their flowering, and in the days before these days are come, they do tell the earth-songs to the wind. And the wind in her goings does whisper them to folks to print for other folks, so other folks do have knowing of earth's songs. When I grow up, I am going to write for children - and grownups that haven't grown up too much - all the earth-songs I now do hear."

Doesn't that just sound like such music?

Please read this book. Take it to heart.

And thank you, Mr Hoff, for your loving tribute to an amazing woman, and for the hard work you did to bring this masterpiece back into the public eye.

Will change the way you see your own surroundings.......2003-04-19

This beautiful, lyrical journal, written by a 6-year-old prodigy from the backwoods of Oregon, will have you gazing in wonder at fire hydrants and listening to the song of the subways. Opal has a direct relationship with every tree, horse, rat and blade of grass in her backyard, and is able to see every living thing as a gift from God.

The story behind the publication of the journal is a sad one, but the diary itself is timeless and transcendent. Opal may have died in obscurity but her lovely spirit lives on in her work.

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