I think that this is a great book for anybody who lives in Caldwell. It shows a lot of the towns history. The book also contains great photos of the town in the early 1900's.

In this unofficial treatise for the homeschooling movement, John Holt, longtime private school teacher, maintains that the traditional classroom model no longer works and may, in fact, ruin kids for learning. He exhorts parents to challenge the conventional wisdom and be their children's teachers. You don't need to be a homeschooler to benefit from Holt's books; you simply need to care about children and education and to have uttered, if only once, "There's got to be a better way."

If you will only read one book on education, make it this one. In this book Holt makes a convincing case for homeschooling, explains how to go about it and shares some of his wonderful insights about learning. The book is filled with real life stories of homeschoolers, which makes everything much more tangible.

A wonderful book about teaching young children the basics; reading, writing and math. Where "How Children Learn" and "How Children Fail" developed a philosophy of education, this volumn details how Mr. Holt put his philosophy to work in the classroom. Full of descriptions of actual exercises you can try with kids, either in school or at home, that encourage learning without sacrificing creativity or future problem solving abilities. If you're looking for more theory on education, pass this one up for now. But if you're ready to apply some of the insights of a brilliant thinker and observer of children, read this book, and be prepared to take notes.

There is no doubt that Dr. Lee Cheek is a brilliant author whose command of the English language is indeed impressive as displayed throughout this discourse. As a new student to understanding the political thought motivating early Americana, this book serves as a highly evolved analytical treatise to the Calhounian theories between the role of State v. 'general' government, majoritarianism, constitutionality, popular rule of society and much more. Many of Calhoun's cognitive exploits are excerpted from his original Papers and his two major works, i.e., the Disquisition and the Discourse. Although this work clearly stipulates many views of substantive Calhoun detractors, the author tends to discount the majority of their missives by stating that those detractors have often misunderstood Calhoun's more contemplative meanings on many issues. It would seem that given the numerous footnotes referencing other authors on Calhoun throughout this work, there is much more to the Man than is portrayed in this volume; certainly, it must be entertained that those discussions may fall well outside the scope of this volume. Calhoun's experiences and writings have given rise to a great deal of debate about the Man and his objectives. Even today, 152 years after his death, he remains an enigma of political discourse. To more fully appreciate this work by Dr. Cheek, it would behoove a student interested in pursuing a more indepth look into Calhounian thought to digest the unabridged texts of his Disquisition and his Discourse, and perhaps, many of his Papers.

Dr. Lee Cheek is a fabulous author, he takes advantage of every sentence. Every thought is loaded with political genius from a true student of politics. Dr. Cheek has a love and energy for politics that is pure and refreshing. He brings a new perspective to a often misunderstood historical politician. Cheek brings Calhoun back to life and shows that his thoughts and political theories are still relevent in the modern America. It is fabulous and I would highly recommend it for anyone who wants a good read in American Political Thought.

After reading this biography of John Calhoun, I had completed reading about the lives of the "Great Triumvirate" of Webster, Clay and Calhoun who, as Representatives, Senators and Secretaries of State were the most dominant non-Presidents in early-19th Century America.

Each of the Triumvirate had their assets and their flaws. As this biography illustrates, Calhoun's great assets were his integrity and his intellect; his great flaws included his inflexibility and his adherence to promoting and continuing slavery.

As a biography goes, this one is good but not great. It is a generally well-written work, but Bartlett has a tendency to speculate as to what Calhoun and others were thinking at particular moments and let a pro-Calhoun bias sometimes remove the objectivity from his work. Despite this, I still did not feel I could really relate to Calhoun, who comes off kind of remote.

Overall, there is more good than bad in this book, however, and as an introduction to an important historical figure, this is a worthwhile read.

John Calhoun is probably one of the most interesting Americans to ever serve his country. A member of the American troika that included Clay and Webster, Calhoun was a staunch states right and slavery advocate. This book begins by examining Calhoun's youth and how his father Patrick instilled his virtues in his son. Calhoun went to Yale and later law school in Connecticut. Calhoun was then elected to the U.S. House of Representatives at the time of the 1812 disagreements with Britain. Calhoun was to remain in politics until his death almost 40 years later. Calhoun served as a Representative, Vice-president, Senator, and Secretary of War and State. The book is at its best when it details Calhoun attacking the status quo, something he did often. In fact, with todays sell-outs that we call politicians, it's nice to see that someone once stood up for what he believed in. Bartlett spends some time pointing out Calhoun's ironies--one of which was that as great a man as he was, his kids were spoiled brats. Only one of his children was up to his immense intellect, and that was his daughter Anna. Since women didn't have careers in the 19th century, she couldn't follow him into politics. Try and find this book at the library if Amazon doesn't get it in stock.

This is classic Aslett -- it will have you pitching half the papers on your desk in no time. Aslett has some good ideas on how to begin to conquer the clutter of accumulated paper, and ideas that can be used in discrete time increments. Of all the clutter / office organization books I've read, his are the only ones that actually make me eager to get to work.

Two reasons I gave this book four stars rather than five, are (1) because of Aslett's gratuitous name-dropping & boasting (when my coimpany was cleaning AT&T, when I was consulting with the top executives of IBM, when I was making one of my many TV appearances with Regis & Kahie Lee . . . ); and (2) because Aslett seems to consider himself an expert on all things rather than sticking to what he knows best. Of course, I've read most of his books, and there is some redundancy, as if they're just regurgitations of former material. If you haven't read his other books, you might not have this perception. Nonetheless, every time I read one of his books I can manage to throw out several boxes of stuff, and after reading this, my office at work no longer has any hidden stacks of papers waiting to be dealt with.

I don't work in an office. I work in a classroom. However, I found that much of what is said in this book applies to me.

I teach science, and have worked in 2 different schools where I inherited the previous teacher's mess. In the first one, I applied many of Aslett's principles without even realizing it. There was so much junk that I couldn't even work. I did almost no labs my first year because I couldn't find anything!

At my new school, started by organizing. Recently, I read this book and was inspired. I went through my storage area and threw out every broken piece of equipment. I also snuck out a few pieces of equipment that I knew I would never use.

It has been a wonderful feeling. I now have room to have a sort of "office" in my storage room. I can find equipment quickly, making me more likely to do labs, and I have created room for the equipment I plan to order that I will use.

I see no obvious connection, but I now get my work done a lot faster. I write a lot of my own material. Before I did my decluttering I was working until midnight or later. Now I'm going home for supper, and coming back and working only a few more hours.

His book is not so big on specifics. That is why I did not give it a fifth star. A few more specific ideas on organizing papers and the clutter I'm required to have would have helped. Overall, however, he covers the general principles of clutter removal and organization, he is inspiring, and, most important, this book is a help.

Honestly, this book made me a better teacher!

When I was the secretary and the executive assistant, I was the best and most organized person any boss could want. When I became the boss, I became buried in meetings, interruptions, customer service and problems, no one to delegate to, and fear of losing something important. In the past 7 years I have bought many "organizational" books - some I even bought twice because they never got through to me (didn't even impress me enough to remember I had bought them before!) to help me tackle the piles of paper. I pretty much shuffled stacks around until I bought Don's book. I started reading it yesterday, and after being out sick for one week, I went in today (Saturday) and in 4 hours, cleaned out 3 years of paper. I didn't just clean - I got rid of. I looked at everything with new eyes. Don has a way of putting all that paper into clear perspective - you can look at paper and see if it should go or stay. It was incredible. Now my mind is decluttered too - just like he said. I would recommend this to anyone who has a lot of paper (and facts) to deal with. His common-sense approach helps you make it your own - there's nothing to learn - he just puts it all in perspective so you can know how YOU want to deal with it. I've never written a review before - but couldn't wait to write this one. I hope this helps some other person tackle their paper. I accomplished more today than I can remember in one day - and know this will help me stay organized and cut back on the 70 hr weeks I normally put in. My employees respect me, but I always felt out of control with all that paper staring me (and everyone else) in the face. Now my office looks like I am in control! Thanks, Don!

How difficult is it to attempt something very imposing at later years? Holt writes of this experience of taking up the cello at fifty and his resultant joys and journey.

A lifelong student, Holt is his own person. Learning from himself and his world, and everything in them that will help him achieve. He makes good points about fear and disappointment building barriers to improvement. The battle between competing voices of critique and edification, of between differing interests, e.g. Holt's musician vs. writer.

All this is comforting and inspiring for the adult learner in each of us. Attempting to pick up the oboe in my fifties, having abandoned it at 14, understand much of what Holt communicates so well. However, his issues of tuning and fret memory are replaced for the double reedist by the ever trying reed dilemma.

I did not profit from the lengthy recall of his music past.

This touching and useful sharing of music growth will stimulate and inspire aspiring musicians of all levels. Learning to be a learner is a wonderful thematic gift of this work.

John Caldwell Holt, like Ivan Illych, was a long-time rebel educator who felt that the general public education system could sometimes do more harm than good when it comes to instilling in children a life-long love for learning. But in this particular book, Holt is sending a message to those in their golden years who think they've passed the prime of learning. Taking up the cello at an advanced age, then putting it down due to work and travel pressures, then taking it up again into his 50s and beyond, Holt wants to show by example that getting older doesn't mean you can't pursue your dreams.

Like Wayne Booth's book on the love of amateur cello playing, Holt's book shows how the pursuit of amateur cello playing is available to almost anyone with the drive to put in the requisite practice hours and gather with likeminded people to practice their craft.

If you put down your childhood instrument decades ago, or never picked one up in the first place, Holt can inspire you through his example to consider taking it up.

If you've regret giving up violin lessons back in sixth grade, think "if only I had stuck with it" when you hear Yo Yo Ma play, and you think fondly of the neglected instrument collecting dust in the attic, this book may be for you, providing a jump start to get you back into music. Holt is passionate about his cello, about music, about improving. He inspires courage -- the courage to start something new and work through the frustrations of being a older beginner (whose skills are surpassed by a Suzuki-trained child, no doubt). Holt dives in to his instrument with a seriousness and commitment that I doubt most adult learners would have (hours of practice, playing in community orchestras) -- but it's an inspiring read, nonetheless.

This play is great! I've always liked Shakespearean comedy and tragic romance, and I didn't want to read this play at first, but when I did--it got me.

For those who want to read a play full of word play, appearance and reality in the world and for you, irony and Christian innuendoes, Macbeth is for you. The word play, especially the surprising comparison of murder with "Tarquin's ravishing", and the really effective ones like ambition with drunkeness, will make you read it again and again. There is a haunting soliloquy in Act 5 that Macbeth gives about life--it's famous and most would have heard of it, but nothing beats reading it together with the play.

Behind every successful man there is a woman, and behind every tragic hero there should be a tragic heroine. Lady Macbeth will repulse you and gain your pity. Don't despise her, folks, she just squashed her femininity thinking it was the best thing to do. She wouldn't have to ask evil forces to take away her human compassion if she didn't have any to begin with.

A must-read, and must-savour.

"Macbeth," the play by William Shakespeare, is definitely one literary classic that still holds its own as a vital and engaging piece of art. Despite being a stage play, it also works superbly as a reader's text apart from a theatrical setting.

The plot begins thus: Scottish warrior Macbeth is told by three witches that he is destined to ascend the throne. This fateful prophecy sets in motion a plot full of murder, deceit, warfare, and psychological drama.

Despite being a lean play, "Macbeth" is densely layered and offers the careful reader rewards on many levels. Woven into the violent and suspenseful story are a host of compelling issues: gender identity, the paranormal, leadership, guilt, etc. In one sense, the play is all about reading and misreading (i.e. with regard to Macbeth's "reading" of the witches' prophecies), so at this level the play has a rich metatextual aspect.

Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's most unforgettable tragic characters. His story is told using some of English literature's richest and most stunning language.

While I was basically familiar with Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth, I have only recently actually read the bard's brilliant play. The drama is quite dark and moody, but this atmosphere serves Shakespeare's purposes well. In Macbeth, we delve deeply into the heart of a true fiend, a man who would betray the king, who showers honors upon him, in a vainglorious snatch at power. Yet Macbeth is not 100% evil, nor is he a truly brave soul. He waxes and wanes over the execution of his nefarious plans, and he thereafter finds himself haunted by the blood on his own hands and by the ethereal spirits of the innocent men he has had murdered. On his own, Macbeth is much too cowardly to act so traitorously to his kind and his country. The source of true evil in these pages is the cold and calculating Lady Macbeth; it is she who plots the ultimate betrayal, forcefully pushes her husband to perform the dreadful acts, and cleans up after him when he loses his nerve. This extraordinary woman is the lynchpin of man's eternal fascination with this drama. I find her behavior a little hard to account for in the closing act, but she looms over every single male character we meet here, be he king, loyalist, nobleman, courtier, or soldier. Lady Macbeth is one of the most complicated, fascinating, unforgettable female characters in all of literature.

The plot does not seem to move along as well as Shakespeare's other most popular dramas, but I believe this is a result of the writer's intense focus on the human heart rather than the secondary activity that surrounds the related royal events. It is fascinating if sometimes rather disjointed reading. One problem I had with this play in particular was one of keeping up with each of the many characters that appear in the tale; the English of Shakespeare's time makes it difficult for me to form lasting impressions of the secondary characters, of whom there are many. Overall, though, Macbeth has just about everything a great drama needs: evil deeds, betrayal, murder, fighting, ghosts, omens, cowardice, heroism, love, and, as a delightful bonus, mysterious witches. Very many of Shakespeare's more famous quotes are also to be found in these pages, making it an important cultural resource for literary types. The play doesn't grab your attention and absorb you into its world the way Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet does, but this voyage deep into the heart of evil, jealousy, selfishness, and pride forces you to consider the state of your own deep-seated wishes and dreams, and for that reason there are as many interpretations of the essence of the tragedy as there are readers of this Shakespearean masterpiece. No man's fall can rival that of Macbeth's, and there is a great object lesson to be found in this drama. You cannot analyze Macbeth without analyzing yourself to some degree, and that goes a long way toward accounting for the Tragedy of Macbeth's literary importance and longevity.

In Tobacco Road, Erskine Caldwell tells the humorous yet incredibly detestable tale of an extremely poor southern family during the Great Depression. Their amazingly ignorant, destructive, and immoral behavior is almost painful to read about at times but is somehow strangely amusing.

The story begins with Jeeter Lester stealing a sack of turnips from his son-in-law who has walked all day to buy them. After hearing the description of the family's living conditions, however, the reader almost feels he is justified in taking them to feed his starving children, wife, and mother. Any sympathy quickly vanishes when Jeeter runs off into the woods to stuff himself with turnips before he returns to give the little that is left to his family. It should come as no surprise that nearly all of his children ran away from home as soon as they could and never return home to visit. One of his two children that is still at home when the book begins is Dude, Jeeter's sixteen-year-old son. Soon Dude gets married to a traveling preacher woman named Bessie who was born without a nose. Bessie lures Dude into the marriage with the promise of a new car for Dude despite the fact that they are twenty-five years apart in age. After running over and killing a black man, an event which does not bother any of the Lesters, and other such calamities, the car is quickly rendered into a piece of junk by the destructive hands of Dude and Jeeter. When Bessie complains about their rough treatment of the car, Jeeter kicks her off his land and starts hitting her with sticks. In her rush to get away, Bessie runs over Jeeter's mother, but she does not even stop to see if she is alright. The amazing thing is that Jeeter does not go check on her either, and his mother suffers a slow, agonizing death as she attempts to crawl to the house.

The characters in the book are not developed much beyond the fact that they are incredibly ignorant and immoral, but the reader gets the impression that that is because there is really not much more to the Lester family than those qualities. Any potential redeeming qualities are quickly obscured by a flood of more and more horrendous characteristics. An example of this is Jeeter's love of the land, which could be seen as a positive attribute. Quickly, however, the reader realizes that this love of the land is the root of the Lesters' poverty, because Jeeter cannot afford seeds to plant but will not leave the land to work in the city. This also serves to display the theme of the book which is man's often irrational refusal to accept changes in life.

The style of the book, although plain, contains very well written dialog and the setting is excellently portrayed as well. If there is one problem in the book, it is the extremity to which the depravity of the characters is taken. This can make it nearly impossible to relate to or sympathize with the characters in any way. Although this can detract slightly from the story, overall the book was very entertaining.

Tobacco Road documents the last days in the lives of Jeeter and Ada Lester, poverty-stricken and permanently befuddled sharecroppers living in rural Georgia during the Great Depression. Both a comedy and a tragedy, the book, almost a folk carnival of sorts, is hilarious and strangely uplifting from beginning to end. The tragic element, barely discernable but slowly advancing throughout the course of the book, strikes sharply and rapidly at the characters and the reader in quick lunges before vanishing again beneath the brilliant comic surface.

The novel has a archetypal framework: Patriarch Jeeter, dispossessed of his ancestral land, upon which nothing will now grow but broom sedge and scrub oak, perpetually dreams of bringing his dead and depleted soil to new life. While musing on his farm's infertility and future, and when not lusting after the women around him, Jeeter--father of twelve--is simultaneously preoccupied with ending his own ability to reproduce via self-castration. Like the Hanged Man of the Tarot, habitually procrastinating Jeeter is continually hamstrung and locked in the stupefying moment.

Caldwell is particularly cruel in drawing his female characters: simple-minded and otherwise beautiful daughter Ellie May has a disfiguring harelip; man-crazy, self-appointed preacher Bessie has a good figure but no nose (the other characters are fascinated with trying to see how far down her open-holed nostrils they can peer), the unnamed, silent grandmother is starved out by the other family members who will no longer acknowledge her; struggling, hungry and forward-looking wife Ada, who has not always been faithful, dreams only of having a dress of correct length and current style to be buried in; and twelve year-old child bride Pearl has lost the will to speak and sleeps on a pallet on the floor to avoid her adult husband's sexual advances. In contrast, Jeeter and handsome teenage son Dude are merely imbecilic, gullible, and grossly but unknowingly selfish.

All of the characters are God-fearing and largely well-intentioned towards one another, though uneducated and of extremely limited consciousness. Therefore, they are guiltless of malice if not of responsibility. In a scene which may offend some of today's readers, newlyweds Dude and Bessie accidently kill a black man and think nothing of it. But this blank, spontaneous indifference to reality and the reality of other people is what makes the book funny. The ancient grandmother meets a painful and grueling death through another careless accident with the car; Jeeter rudely discusses Ellie May's disfigurement with her without the slightest awareness of her emotional reaction; Bessie, perpetually in heat, nearly rapes unwilling, unresponsive, 16 year-old Dude; car salesmen gather to stare down Bessie's nostril holes and insult her; Jeeter attacks his son-in-law and steals the bag of turnips he walked has seven miles to buy; Ellie May masturbates openly in the front yard; the whole family gathers, tribe-like, to watch Dude and Bessie make awkward love on their wedding day; then communally destroy a new (and totem-like symbol of the modern, productive, urbanized world they will never be a part of) automobile within a few days due to recklessness and the family curse of being unable to respect and maintain anything.

Like many of the characters in Muriel Spark's novels, the cast of Tobacco Road are only vaguely aware, if aware at all, of themselves as moral, spiritual or ethical beings, despite the flimsy religious trappings around them. This lack of moral awareness "and the comedy that arises from it" is what fuels Tobacco Road. Caldwell has written the lightest of black comedies, and it is to his credit that he is capable of making the reader embrace and enjoy these occasionally vigorous lost souls, even as the reader senses there will be only grief ahead for all.

The universal success of Tobacco Road in 1932 (the novel was made into a long-running Broadway play, and a toned-down John Ford film) gave new, 20th-Century life to the country bumpkin genre, which in turn gave birth to the Ma And Pa Kettle films, the Li'l Abner comic strip, some of Tennessee William's short stories and plays, and classic American television series the Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres and Petticoat Junction.

Despite the many ways in which sexual intentions go awry in the book, it has a natural, healthy approach to sexuality, as did Caldwell's next novel, God's Little Acre. In our age of political correctness and sexual lockdown, the book's vibrant, sexuality-as-a-given attitude is stirring.

Some Southerners, at the time of its publication and continuing through to the present, have objected to the book as an indictment of Southern culture and an insult to its people. This charge is groundless, as the book is clearly a soulful high comedy, and its characters strictly caricatures, which could easily be converted into present-day, inner-city poor, Californian migrant workers, Alaskan trappers, or a suburban blue-collar family with the same results, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or age. Ultimately, Tobacco Road is a novel which seductively illuminates and instructs while it seamlessly entertains.

Hats off to the University of Georgia Press for courageously rescuing Caldwell from oblivion, understanding his work in context, and bringing the best of his work to the public in these handsome volumes.

Written during the depression era, this southern classic uncovers the ugly side of southern culture steeped in poverty. Come along on Tobacco Road and view Jeeter Lester and his dysfunctional family. Jeeter, the patriarch of this poor excuse of humanity brings out the worst qualities that a man can possess. His ignorance, selfishness and stupidity are magnified to the highest degrees as he attempts to survive in a world that has long gone.

Erskine Caldwell has introduced us to a life of absurdity in the backwoods of the south. His characters are stereotypical charactures of poor southern whites. Some of them are grotesque in their appearance, greedy, selfish and totally shiftless. As much as you would want to sympathize with them, you can't. They are people who won't take responsibility for themselves and will put the blame on others. Jeeter and his son Dude are great examples of this mentality.

How then can this book be so good if it describes people so bad? In telling the story of Tobacco Road, we see another side of southern culture exposed. It is not pretty, genteel or noble. You see the ugly for what it is and affirm that this too is a part of life when people are reduced to extreme poverty. There is also humor in the story. The characters are not totally one dimensional but their naivite draws you to tears of laughter and maybe sorrow. Look into this world of southern culture where people cling to dreams long dead and allow themselves to remain stagnate on Tobacco Road. This is an excellent southern classic of a people long forgotten.