Washington's Crossing (Pivotal Moments in American History)

Book Description

Six months after the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution was all but lost. A powerful British force had routed the Americans at New York, occupied three colonies, and advanced within sight of Philadelphia. Yet, as David Hackett Fischer recounts in this riveting history, George Washington--and many other Americans--refused to let the Revolution die. On Christmas night, as a howling nor'easter struck the Delaware Valley, he led his men across the river and attacked the exhausted Hessian garrison at Trenton, killing or capturing nearly a thousand men. A second battle of Trenton followed within days. The Americans held off a counterattack by Lord Cornwallis's best troops, then were almost trapped by the British force. Under cover of night, Washington's men stole behind the enemy and struck them again, defeating a brigade at Princeton. The British were badly shaken. In twelve weeks of winter fighting, their army suffered severe damage, their hold on New Jersey was broken, and their strategy was ruined. Fischer's richly textured narrative reveals the crucial role of contingency in these events. We see how the campaign unfolded in a sequence of difficult choices by many actors, from generals to civilians, on both sides. While British and German forces remained rigid and hierarchical, Americans evolved an open and flexible system that was fundamental to their success. The startling success of Washington and his compatriots not only saved the faltering American Revolution, but helped to give it new meaning.

Customer Reviews:

Where is a ghost writer when you need one?.......2007-08-21

I believe it was easier to cross the Delaware in winter than to get through this book. I just read 1776 by David McCullough, loved it, and was interested in reading more. Fischer is one of the dullest writers I've read. It is painfully obvious that being a successful academic and a successful writer are not necessarily connected.

Top-Notch history from a Top-Notch historian.......2007-06-24

This is probably about as well organized and detailed as any book on a single historical event can get. That it does so without loosing pace or drying out is commendable. While the title may lead one to believe that this book is only about the famous "midnight" crossing, the actual event serves as the centerpiece for the story with the painting by Emanuel Leutze as its starting point. In fact, "Washington's Crossing" deals as much with the events leading up to and afterwards as it does the actual crossing. It is also about more then just the famous crossing with which we are all familiar. Several other Delaware River crossings are detailed including the initial retreat from the ensuing British, the return from the battle of Trenton, and the advance back into New Jersey shortly thereafter. The book is also a detailed biography of George Washington's years just before and into the fist several months of the American Revolution. Appropriately enough this book is also, at times, about the Delaware River itself.

Davis Hackett Fischer deserves five stars on his writing style alone. This book flows like a well written story, which is appropriate in that history is human drama. The book starts with a description and history of the famous painting of Washington crossing the Delaware and then discusses the recent arguments over the painting's accuracy. It seems to have become the fashion lately to debunk this painting over various, some rather trivial details, such as time of day, type of boats used, and even how chunks of ice depicted in the painting, Fischer staunchly defends the painting based on what and who it represents, and most importantly the spirit that is represented. One appreciates Fisher's references throughout this book that American history is not something that needs an apology.

The first three chapters provide a thorough background on all of the major players, the American rebels, the British regulars, and the Hessian mercenaries. Fischer maintains a sense of objectivity in his accounts. Although the acts of rape, pillage, and violence towards the colonies are not ignored, The British and the Hessians are not merely described as the villains of the story just as the Colonials are not by default "good guys." This book is sympathetic to the American cause, but that does not prevent it from describing the people and nations as what they were. One example is General Cornwallis, who is frequently described the pompous and arrogant buffoon who lost the colonies. Fischer however devotes a fair amount of time to Cornwallis's standing in the British military and career as a whole. The depiction is that of an accomplished military career by all standards and that of a person with his own mind who was well respected by all ranks.

The rest of the book can be divided into three sections starting with the seemingly endless series of disasters that the continental army incurred after the British regulars arrived, including the fall of New York, the execution of Nathan Hale, and the loss of Fort Washington, probably the lowest point for George Washington during the entire revolution. The second, as the book's chronology makes its way towards November and December of 1776, deals with the places and events leading up to and including the Battle of Trenton. There is some good history in this section, particularly the river raiding parties out of Pennsylvania that routinely harassed the British encampments along the Delaware River's banks in New Jersey and numerous contributions they made to the attack on Trenton. This section also details Alexander Hamilton's artillery division, one of the few bright spots for Washington's young army. The final section deals with events following the Battle of Trenton, including post celebration war cabinets trying to decide what to do next, the subsequent trip back across the Delaware, and the Battle of Princeton. Again, there are some great gems of history to be found here. Most notably is Fischer's detailing of the lesser known, but probably more important events unofficially known as the Second Battle of Trenton in which Washington's forces held their ground at Assunpink Creek and turned back Cornwallis's larger and superior forces.

Fischer closes the book with a refreshing and necessary summary and conclusion. While the main body of the book completes in fewer than 400 pages, they are dense with information, which leave one feeling that they have actually completed a much longer book. Additionally, there are numerous appendices detailing all sorts of interesting facts and statistics and a section devoted to the Historiography of Washington's Crossing. This is a formidable book, but it is also a top-notch one that should delight fans of History, the American Revolution, and certainly of George Washington. Newcomers to history should probably work their way through a couple of easier books before tacking this one, but they should still consider putting this one on their shelves for future reading.

What can I say that hasn't been said.......2007-06-03

As an avid early American Historian, I place this book in my top three. This is must reading. The facts are told as they were, through the primary characters and you are there during the end of the mini ice age crossing the Delaware. Like MJ's last shot against Utah, if it didn't really happen, we would all just chalk it up to a Hollywood fairytale.

I read McCullough's 1776 after this and there is no comparison.

This book is so vivid and palpable that I felt obligated to go follow the trail of those early warriors. Amazing!

My other two favorites are Chernow's Hamilton and Gotham.

Excellent work .......2007-05-30

Fischer's Washington's Crossing is detailed account of the New Jersey campaign of 1776-1777, specifically focusing on the battles of Trenton and Princetion. Fischer does a great job of showing the differences between the leadership of Washington and Cornwallis and the effects that the battles of Trenton and Princeton had on the soldiers from both sides. While the book does get bogged down in too much detail in some points and not enough in others, this is a great book.

Excellent.......2007-03-20

This is a wonderful book. Now I want to read all of Mr. Fischer's work.

Average customer rating:

The Power of Living in the Now

Crossing The River (Fireside)
Ramtha
Manufacturer: JZK Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1578730635

Book Description

Part of Ramtha's Fireside Series collection library on the topic of living in the present and understanding the mind of a master.

Customer Reviews:

The Power of Living in the Now.......2004-10-16

Each book in the Ramtha's Fireside Collection revolves around one central topic. The topic of this book deals with the importance of living in the now and the fact that one won't be going spiritually anywhere fast without willingness to let go of the past and be fully present in the moment.

The book deals with some truths that are presented at much greater length in A Course in Miracles - as the entire training manual from A Course in Miracles guides the person through the process of realizing that his mind is preoccupied with past thoughts, helping the person to let go of them and live fully in the present.

Holding onto the past, emotionally, keeps the individual's energy locked in the past and prevents the individual from accomplishing effortlessly many wonderful things which the individual could accomplish in the present moment.

A simple act of forgiveness and just letting go of whatever has happened in the past has helped numerous individuals experience instant healings.

Any conflict that anyone can ever experience is based upon dragging something from the past into the present moment - upon
comparing and judging, instead of just being fully present in the moment.

By living in the present one moves into a timeless zone - his entire energy available to flow freely to create desired reality now, without any obstructions - affording the individual to experience in the outer world even instant manifestations. One moment you think a thought, the next moment it is manifested in your outer experience.

That's why some people, like Jung, would say that you know you are moving forward along your spiritual path when you are experiencing increased number of synchronicities. Synchronicities are simply instant manifestation of one's thoughts which are possible because the individual has become a "clear" channel and is free of any obstructions and encumbrances from the past.

There is yet another wonderful side-effect of being fully present in the moment - as anyone who has wholeheartedly worked with A Course in Miracles can attest to - you begin to feel more vibrantly alive than you ever felt before, you also begin to experience boundless joy, happiness and power.

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River Crossings: Memories of a Journey
Hemchand Gossai
Manufacturer: Wipf & Stock Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 159752591X

Average customer rating:

A wonderful premise, but...
"First person narratives told from varied points of view"
These are human stories not race stories
Excellent
Desperately heartbreaking vignettes of the African diaspora

Crossing the River
Caryl Phillips
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679757945
Release Date: 1995-01-15

Book Description

From the acclaimed author of Cambridge comes an ambitious, formally inventive, and intensely moving evocation of the scattered offspring of Africa. It begins in a year of failing crops and desperate foolishness, which forces a father to sell his three children into slavery. Employing a brilliant range of voices and narrative techniques, Caryl Phillips folows these exiles across the river that separates continents and centuries.

Phillips's characters include a freed slave who journeys to Liberia as a missionary in the 1830s; a pioneer woman seeking refuge from the white man's justice on the Colorado frontier; and an African-American G.I. who falls in love with a white Englishwoman during World War II. Together these voices make up a "many-tongued chorus" of common memory—and one of the most stunning works of fiction ever to address the lives of black people severed from their homeland.

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful premise, but..........2005-02-14

I think this book has amazing potential- the plot lines are intriguing, and the characters are interesting- but it falls far short of what I anticipated. Phillips' prose simply does not draw the reader in. Instead, it is dry and boring, and it becomes incredibly difficult to get through the long, uninteresting passages to find the good parts. While I think that many readers will enjoy this book because of the powerful plot line, it seemed to me as though the book relied too much on plot and not enough on quality writing.

"First person narratives told from varied points of view".......2004-09-02

This book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1993, Britain's equivalent to the Pulitzer. Phillips was born in the West Indies but raised in England, and the book is a series of first person narratives and stories told from a variety of points of view: an African father who sells his children into slavery, a freed slave in the South, an African-American GI in World War II. It moves from 1830s to 1960s in a sweeping look at the African Diaspora caused by slavery.

These are human stories not race stories.......2003-06-01

Eventhough the book is composed by four different unrelated stories, of a black evaegelist in Liberia, a black woman heading for a new life in California during the pilgrimage of the XIX century, the Captain of a slaves trading vessel, and a G.I in England during the II World War; for me there is a phrase that encompass most of the sadness and despair that goes with a life that other persons have damaged and limited due to the shade of your skin and not because of your actions and omissions.

"The young evangelist preached with all his might, but Marta could not find solace in religion, and was unable to sympathize with the sufferings of the sun of God when set against her own private misery".

Excellent.......2002-07-20

I love Phillips' writing style in this historical fiction. I read it ten years ago, and it is still one of my favorites that I lend out to friends with positive response.

Desperately heartbreaking vignettes of the African diaspora.......2002-01-04

Caryl Phillips' Booker Prize shortlisted "Crossing The River" (CTR) about the emergence of an African diaspora arising from the slave trade with the African colonies is a collection of seemingly unrelated vignettes spanning over 100 years which share the same emotional core. Each of the four segments making up CTR is a cry from the soul, which poignantly if not bitterly captures the essence of the cultural dislocation suffered by those sold to foreign lands. Some, like Nash in "Pagan Coast", imbibe the Christian values of their colonial masters but experience the pull of their native calling when they are set free and returned as missionaries. Others like Martha, from "West", suffer the misery, indignity and hopelessness that only chattels should know. Phillips isn't out to demonise the white man. He leaves it to us to judge. How do we doubt do-gooder Edward's sincerity in making Nash into a new man ? But then there is also skipper James Hamilton's indifference to the cruelty meted out to slaves in the title segment. The final segment "Somewhere in England" doesn't seem to belong but it does. The strong emotional resonance that these stories evoke is what binds them together. Phillips also displays his literary genius and stylistic versatility in using different styles for the different segments. His Conrad-influenced prose in "Pagan Coast" boasts some of the most beautiful and fluent writing ever. On "Somewhere in England", he comes across like a contemporary novelist using prose punctuated by thought fragments. "CTR" brings four separate but all desperately heartrending stories together. The names of the three children - 2 boys and a girl - sold to slavery by their father in an act of desperate foolishness and named Nash, Martha and Taylor, all make their appearances. They are the countless nameless who consititute the African diaspora today. CTR is a brilliantly constructed and devastatingly powerful piece of work. Nobody interested in serious literature should miss it !

Crossing Jhordan's River (Lift Every Voice)

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must read
Forgiveness is the rule, not the exception
Absolutely Beautiful
Crossing Jordan's River
Crossing Jhordan

Crossing Jhordan's River (Lift Every Voice)
Kendra Norman-Bellamy
Manufacturer: Lift Every Voice
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0802412556

Book Description

Jhordan was only a boy when he witnessed his mother's suicide. At first, the pain of his loss weighed on him, but the pain soon festered into a deep-seated mistrust of women. Failed relationships abound, and now his marriage to Kelli has brought him to a crossroad. His cold heart may finally chase Kelli into the arms of another man.

Customer Reviews:

must read .......2007-09-24

This book is very good. It keeps your mind wondering what's going to happen next, so you have to make yourself stop and start later.I felt like I was in the book. Great book!!!! Glad I bought it!!!!

Forgiveness is the rule, not the exception.......2006-04-03

Anything worth having is worth fighting for, but how hard is it supposed to be? Kelli Adams knew that marrying Jhordan, the love of her life, wouldn't always be perfect, but she never expected to be completely rejected after less than a year of marriage. Surely, a wife could expect love and affection from her husband on the regular. Crossing Jhordan's River is more than Christian fiction, or romantic fiction, or chick lit, or all the other labels we may try to put on it. It's a story that could be about any one of us, trying to live with the choices we've made without beating ourselves up over things we can't change. Jhordan and Kelli learn lessons of forgiveness in different ways. Jhordan let his past take center stage in his present. Kelli, not knowing Jhordan's motivation for doing so, allowed herself to become enamored of a man while she was at her weakest point: trying to make her husband love her completely again. Jhordan's "river of guilt" became a chasm of distrust in their marriage. As unfair as it was to Kelli, Jhordan held his love for her hostage in an effort to protect his heart. Kelli, on the other hand, seemed to hurriedly jump ship toward another man, despite warnings from friends and family. The passion, the strength, the pain, and the love could be felt on every page. Wonderful job, Kendra!

Absolutely Beautiful.......2006-04-01

This book was beautifully written. I fell in love with all of the characters and I truly enjoyed it. My heart went out to Jhordan and all that he went through. Kelli and Jhordan were truly amazing and had alot of obstacles against them.

Keep up the good work.

Crossing Jordan's River.......2006-03-16

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. I found that I could not put the book down. The characters were refreshing and easy to relate to. There was a great spiritual component as well.

Crossing Jhordan.......2006-03-16

I was one of the best love stories I ever read, I'm married and this story really touches home with any married person. A must read for anyone......

Crossing the River: Daily Meditations for Women

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This book offers inspiration, human experience, creativity.

Crossing the River: Daily Meditations for Women
Carol Gura
Manufacturer: Thomas More Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0883473992

Customer Reviews:

This book offers inspiration, human experience, creativity........1999-01-06

This attractive spiritual women's daybook provides daily reflections for the year. There is something for everyone, including scripture, excerpts from well-known writers, poetry and writing of the author and other women, and input on hidden as well as well-known women saints. One wonderful aspect of the book is it is written in a dialogical fashion, inviting readers to not only take in what is written, but to their own creative way of reflecting on their related life experience. As such, this book is a helpful tool for a wide variety of women who desire day to day assistance and inspiration in their own spiritual journey. The attractiveness of the layout of the book makes it inviting, readable, and heartening. Though the book has daily reflections, it is not "year specific", so this book would make an outstanding gift at any time of year for a woman interested in her spiritual journey.

Crossing the River with Dogs: Problem Solving for College Students

Average customer rating:

Great text!
Rehash

Crossing the River with Dogs: Problem Solving for College Students
Ken Johnson , Ted Herr , and Judy Kysh
Manufacturer: Key College
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The IMO Compendium: A Collection of Problems Suggested for The International Mathematical Olympiads: 1959-2004 (Problem Books in Mathematics)
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Trigonometry

ASIN: 1931914141

Book Description

Students who often complain when faced with challenging word problems will be engaged as they acquire essential problem solving skills that are applicable beyond the math classroom. The authors of Crossing the River with Dogs: Problem Solving for College Students:

- Use the popular approach of explaining strategies through dialogs from fictitious students

- Present all the classic and numerous non-traditional problem solving strategies (from drawing diagrams to matrix logic, and finite differences)

- Provide a text suitable for students in quantitative reasoning, developmental mathematics, mathematics education, and all courses in between

- Challenge students with interesting, yet concise problem sets that include classic problems at the end of each chapter

With Crossing the River with Dogs, students will enjoy reading their text and will take with them skills they will use for a lifetime.

Customer Reviews:

Great text!.......2007-09-17

This book is a great text book. My professor loves it and I really like it too. The way it makes you think is so different than other concepts in the math realm. This book makes you think and I recommed incorporating Sodoku puzzles into your curriculum if you teach a problem solving class. I'm only a student, but they really make you think.

Rehash.......2007-05-18

This is identical to ISBN 1559533706, Problem Solving Strategies. The authors have repackaged it with a new cover. There is no new material covered in this book.

Crossing the River: A Memoir of the American Left, the Cold War, and Life in East Germany

Average customer rating:

A Unique Account of an Escape To The GDR
An excellent and objective read
Fills a historical void

Crossing the River: A Memoir of the American Left, the Cold War, and Life in East Germany
Victor Grossman
Manufacturer: University of Massachusetts Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1558493859

Book Description

What could possibly impel a relatively privileged twenty-four-year-old American—serving in the U.S. Army in Germany in 1952—to swim across the Danube River to what was then referred to as the Soviet Zone? How are we to understand his decision to forsake the land of his birth and build a new life in the still young German Democratic Republic? These are the questions at the core of this memoir by Victor Grossman, who was born Stephen Wechsler but changed his name after defecting to the GDR.

A child of the Depression, Grossman witnessed firsthand the dislocations wrought by the collapse of the U.S. economy during the 1930s. Widespread unemployment and poverty, CIO sit-down strikes, and the fight to save Republican Spain from fascism—all made an indelible impression as he grew up in an environment that nurtured a commitment to left-wing causes. He continued his involvement with communist activities as a student at Harvard in the late 1940s and after graduation, when he took jobs in two factories in Buffalo, New York, and tried to organize their workers.

Fleeing McCarthyite America and potential prosecution, Grossman worked in the GDR with other Western defectors and eventually became, as he notes, the "only person in the world to attend Harvard and Karl Marx universities." Later, he was able to establish himself as a freelance journalist, lecturer, and author. Traveling throughout East Germany, he evaluated the failures as well as the successes of the GDR's "socialist experiment." He also recorded his experiences, observations, and judgments of life in East Berlin after reunification, which failed to bring about the post-Communist paradise so many had expected.

Written with humor as well as candor, "Crossing the River" provides a rare look at the Cold War from the other side of the ideological divide.

Mark Solomon, a distinguished historian of the American left, provides a historical afterword that places Grossman's experiences in a larger Cold War context.

Customer Reviews:

A Unique Account of an Escape To The GDR.......2005-03-06

Between the end of World War II and the erection of the Berlin Wall, millions of eastern Germans escaped to what was, or would become, West Germany. There was a lot less traffic in the other direction. This is the story of one man who fled the West and wound up "behind the Iron Curtain" in East Germany. American-born Victor Grossman (né Stephen Wechsler) was literally a card-carrying Communist until he was drafted into the US Army -- a fact he did not disclose on a form asking whether he had ever belonged to any subversive organizations. In 1952, as an American soldier stationed in West Germany, Grossman received a letter requiring him to answer charges that he had lied under oath. Instead, Grossman went to then-occupied Austria and swam across the Danube into the Soviet zone. After being detained by Soviet intelligence, Grossman was given a new life and identity in the "German Democratic Republic."

Grossman was, is and remains a true believer in Communism. Grossman tells us that he got a thrill when he saw his first Soviet soldier, with the red star on his hat. Grossman justifies the building of the Berlin Wall and minimizes the wrongs of the Stasi, who except for dissidents were "unpleasant but less frightening than now portrayed." The book is written from a Communist perspective, which again and again minimizes the wrongs of the GDR and magnifies the wrongs of the United States. Yet, Grossman's argument that German communism did not necessarily preclude democracy collapses upon closer examination. A big problem for the GDR is that it had to live cheek by jowl with a free-market economy. If, as Grossman claims, the Berlin Wall was necessary to prevent GDR-educated professionals from fleeing and GDR-subsidized goods from being sold in West Germany at higher prices, then the GDR would have to remain a closed state to function. And that meant that GDR residents would not have the ultimate freedom to "vote with their feet" and leave. Grossman voluntarily chose to live under communism -- other East Germans did not have that choice. Their "revolution," such as it was, was imposed by the Soviet Union.

Nonetheless, even someone like me, whose political views are 180 degrees opposite from Grossman's, found the book engaging. One reason is that Grossman's story is so unusual. Very few American servicemen fled to East Germany and fewer probably met or interacted with as wide a range of people, including foreign celebrities like Jane Fonda. Additionally, there are very few memoirs written by Communists who came of age in the 1940s: most are written by those from the "popular front" era of the 1930s or the New Left of the 1960s. This book takes the reader to factory life in Buffalo, concerts by Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger, and all over the GDR. And the book is well-written: Grossman makes the most persuasive case possible for the benefits of his adopted country.

My personal opinion is this: As an American, I'm frankly glad that Victor Grossman left the country. Anyone who dislikes the American system as much as he does, and goes AWOL from the US Army to East Germany at the height of the Cold War, should live elsewhere. As a reader, however, I'm glad to have been able to read his book. While the author's views are (in my opinion) wrongheaded, the book never fails to be fascinating.

An excellent and objective read.......2003-12-11

This is an excellent and unique work. It will not bore you in the least bit. Grossman presents a very human and objective picture of life in the first German socialist state. This is a very informative and interesting account and should be read not only by those interested in the GDR, but also by those interested in history in general, and those who enjoy a fascinating story. This work paints a very different picture of the GDR than the usual Western "totalitarian nightmare" type books. Highly reccomended.

Fills a historical void.......2003-08-31

This engrossing autobiography relates, first hand, what happened post WWII with the diehard leftists in the eastern blocs when their dreams of socialism came crushing down around them .

The author fled his native USA while in the army and swam the Danube to seek a better world.

Book Description

After years of passionate labor, Sam Hamill has translated both familiar and little-known Chinese poems from three millennia (330 BC to the 16th century) to compile the most comprehensive collection of its kind. Crossing the Yellow River:Three Hundred Poems from the Chinese represents a "lifetime's devotion to the classic originals," in the words of W. S. Merwin, begun when Hamill was introduced to classical Chinese by Kenneth Rexroth and the Beat poets of the late 1950s.

Unlike earlier translators of Chinese and Japanese poetry, Hamill attempts to bring the poems into English with their directness and simplicity intact, at the same time attempting to remain true to the poet's orginal message. Hamill includes the rarely-translated social poems of Tu Fu, the poems and songs of Tzu Yeh and Li Ch'ing-Chao, and lyrical selections from Li Po, Shih Ching, Wang Wei, Su Tung-p'o and others. Hamill's introduction provides the most definitive overview to date of aesthetic impulses propelling Chinese poetry and reveals his own reasons for his "lifetime's devotion." "I sit at the feet of the great old masters of my tradition not only to be in a position to pass on their many wonderful gifts," Hamill says, "but to pay homage while in the very act of nourishing, sustaining and enhancing my own life."

Sam Hamill's celebrated translations include The Art of Writing: Lu Chi's Wen Fu; The Essential Chuang Tza; The Essential Basho; The Spring of My Life & Selected Haiku by Kobayashii Issa and Only Companion: Japanese Poems of Love & Longing. He is the author of a dozen volumes of original poety and three collections of essays. He is Founding Editor of Copper Canyon Press, director of the Port Townsend Writers' Conference and contributing editor at The American Poetry Review. He lives in Port Townsend, Washington.

Customer Reviews:

An Embarassment of Riches.......2001-06-09

Here are 270 pages of the most sublimely beautiful poems in English that I have ever read. Sam Hamill has brought us one step closer to the music of an ancient and culturally distant aesthetic that, until the modernist revolution of the last century, was closed to English speaking readers and writers.

It is difficult to overestimate the impact that Chinese poetry in translation had on modern poetry in English. Arthur Waley's *170 Chinese Poems* and Ezra Pound's enormously important adaptions in *Cathay* are cornerstones of modernism. Kenneth Rexroth's translations, starting with *100 Poems from the Chinese*, were equally as important to the last quarter of the 20th century. Moreover, the interest that these translations produced sparked an interest in world poetry, that completely transformed poetry in English during the last 50 years. The obvious issue that is always before the reader of poetry in translation is authenticity. Octavio Paz said all poetry is translation. Still, as a reader, it's impossible to know what distance is really spanned in the journey from Tu Fu's mouth to my ears.

I think this book goes a long way toward settling, if not answering some of these concerns. I don't read classical Chinese, so I don't know exactly how accurate these translations are. Nevertheless, Sam Hamill's informative (though somewhat loopy) introduction makes a strong case for thier reliability. By showing his method, he inspires confidence that not only are you reading beautiful English poems, but that what you're reading is speaking to over the bridge of centuries and cultures.

The center 100 pages of this amazing book contains probably the finest translations to date of China's great 8th century poets, Li Po, Wang Wei, and Tu Fu (who is, according to K. Rexroth, the greatest non-epic, non-dramatic poet in any language in the history of the world). These treasures are surrounded by a generous selection of poems dating from the 1st century BCE to the 16th century CE.

Whether you already love poetry or you want to start loving it, don't pass up the enrichment that these poems can bring to your life.

One of the best.......2001-04-27

The first book, after Rexroth, of Chinese poems I ever read from cover to cover in one sitting, for the pure joy of it, was Sam Hamill's first book of translations. Crossing the Yellow River is simply more and better, as far as I'm concerned. Great reading.

Problem Solving Strategies: Crossing the River with Dogs and Other Mathematical Adventures (2nd Edition)

Average customer rating:

Great for problem solvers -- good and bad
From a Beginning Math Teacher
Wit and Wisdom in a Math Book? Imposimous!
Problem Solving Strategies: Crossing the River with Dogs an

Problem Solving Strategies: Crossing the River with Dogs and Other Mathematical Adventures (2nd Edition)
Ted Herr , and Ken Johnson
Manufacturer: Key Curriculum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1559533706

Book Description

Problem Solving Strategies Crossing the River with Dogs and Other Mathematical Adventures Why Teach a Course in Problem Solving? The NCTM Principles andStandards state that problem solving should be integrated throughout all courses and grade levels. For example, guess-and-check is a natural strategy to apply in algebra. Advanced math students often use finite differences to study functions and sequences. And drawing a diagram and using physical representations are commonly employed strategies in many contexts. However, many students never encounter valuable strategies such as matrix logic or unit analysis. And in content-crowded math classes, few students get the concentrated practice or time necessary to fully develop their problem-solving skills. By taking a semester course in problem solving, students can master a multitude of strategies while developing confidence in their problem-solving abilities. Your students will be better prepared to meet the challenges of school and life by taking this course.

Customer Reviews:

Great for problem solvers -- good and bad.......2002-01-24

This book taught me one thing I didn't know (finite differences -a lot less strain on me to find formulas and equations) and gave me challenging problems.

From a Beginning Math Teacher.......2001-11-26

I borrowed this resource from another teacher during my student teaching as a math teacher. Now I am in my first year teaching full time and looking to buy my own copy--I don't know what to do without it! It is a great resource for problems for many age and ability levels. The problems are interesting, use a variety of well-established strategies, and make problem solving fun! A great book.

Wit and Wisdom in a Math Book? Imposimous!.......2001-03-08

Six years ago I actually took Problem Solving from Ken Johnson, one of the authors, at Sierra College. Problem solving became a whole new and exciting recreation from then on. I would have to credit that miracle to the class's amazing teacher and the book he wrote. I have had hundreds of teachers in my life, and am a teacher myself, yet I have never met any teacher that was as gifted as Ken Johnson. His talent is clearly evident in his written work as well. (PS, how many people would it take to give this book 396 thumbs up?)

Problem Solving Strategies: Crossing the River with Dogs an.......2001-01-13

I had to purchase this book for a Class I was taking at Sam Houston State University. It is an excellent book to help learn problem solving strategies. Although, I am an elementary education major with a math specialization and had to take this class, I would recommend this book to anyone who is planning to teach grades 1 through 12. This book was designed for middle school grades, but could be adapted to any grade level. Problem solving is so important in mathematics.

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