As an avid collector of US Army cloth insignia from WWI to modern day,I had failed to do any research on branch insignia preferring the more colourful shoulder sleeve insignia.However as with all collecting one finds themselves the need for more information on all types of insignia worn on the uniform.This masterpiece of work fills this for all collectors of US Army insignia.This is a must have and an indispencible tool for the serious collector/historian.I personally rank William K Emerson's book along side that of Shelby L Stanton's order's of battle books for the amount of time, energy and finally the monumentous task of gathering and putting all this information together in one single volume. To this I must add the name of J Duncan Campbell listed in the preface.

I have been acquainted with the author for many years so when I heard this work was to be published I looked forward to acquiring it.
As I was scheduled to retire in January 1998, I went to the planners of my party and told them rather than perhaps giving me an inappropriate, useless or redundant gift (After all I have been collecting books for forty five years.) I would like a gift certificate from a book store. Well, I got enough to get this and a fine thing it is too.
Every place I looked where I knew somthing about the subject, especially the post Korea-pre Vietnam Cold War when I served, I had no quarrel with what Bill said. So you can depend on the nineteenth century material which is just as well researched.
This book is much improved by not just being a catalog of insignia but identifies the clothing upon which it was worn, thus facilitating its use for identification.
Every major research library should have this in its collection along with his other mighty work Chevrons.

This book would primarily appeal to collectors. It is extensive in its coverage of the history of insignias and it also is liberally illustrated. A definite must have for the collector.

This is a first for me, actually taking the time to review a book. We have spent every other annual vacation in Key West for the past twelve years, and we tend to follow the news from the Conch Republic, whenever we see any. At anyrate, when MURDER IN KEY WEST came out, I had to read it, and it is terrific. Great characters, brutal, twisted story, and the sex is [great].

Read it, you'll love it.

This is a murder mystery whose characters you come to love and identify with, one you wish would keep on reading, because you never want it to end. It is satisfying on every level.

A fabulous murder mystery unfolds in Key West, great cast of characters, delicious sex and a satisfying ending... what more is there to life?

Contains several writings by Ralph Waldo Emerson including Walden, Essay's 1: Art, Friendship, Self reliance Essay's 2: The Poet, Gifts, Nature, Politics, Nominalist and realist. It also contains his famous The American Scholar writing, The Trancendentalist, and the book of English Traits: Wealth, First Visit to England, Race, Manners, Charactor. Also includes info on non - conformity and several poems and society/ political protocal.

Emerson is sometimes belittled (sometimes fairly and sometimes unfairly [or, regarding the latter, sometimes even with dishonest and/or malicious motive.]) There need to be influences that can reach people all up and down the ladder. That Emerson is not Plato or Kant or [insert fashionable French philosopher...] is not an argument for not reading him. For what he is he inspires and can lead one on to ever higher influences - only Emerson's specialty is he is very good in leading one in a true, sunlit, direction which may explain some of the malice and snickering of some of his detractors and satirists. And by the way, the common criticism that Emerson had no understanding or vision of the darker side of life has never been true. That he didn't indulge in negativity may be true. It's always been a statement to make him seem a lightweight to those who have never read him said with the intent to keep those people (young people especially) from ever reading him. As another aside it's interesting when you read non-Americans writing on Emerson that it's obvious they would treasure his works as part of their national or cultural contribution to the world...

Emerson is quoted as often as any other writer or speaker. Not becausea few lines here and there are profound. Rather because he understands more about human beings and life. He is thought provoking and so deep its a joy to read the same essay several times. If people take the time to read it they will understand many things about life they can't get other places.I find it interesting we live in a period of time where civilization is far more advanced yet it appears Emerson knew many things society still doesn't get. There have probably only been a handfull of what people call Masters of life. Those people who had few equals. Without question Emerson is one of these people.If you haven't read the essay Compensation you are missing a very important classic which will speak to you like it was written today.

William Emerson's The Applegate Trail Of 1846: A Documented Guide To The Original Southern Emigrant Route To Oregon is a fascinating historical book, peppered with twelve illustrations, twelve maps, and thirty-five black-and-white photographs, of the first wagon train to follow the route through southern Oregon that would one day be known as the Applegate Trail. An exciting, involving true story made all the more compelling by the meticulous documentation, The Applegate Trail Of 1846 is enhanced with an appendix of names (which includes the other names for the Applegate Trail, names of the exploring party, the volunteer road party, emigrants on the first wagon train, names of the relief parties), a bibliography, and an extensive index. An amazing look into the trials and travails of settling the American West, The Applegate Trail Of 1846 is a recommended addition to school and community library western American history collections.

I found this a great read. It covers the history of Southern Oregan from the Hudson's Bay Trapping days to the early settlements. Emerson notes the early settlers by name and covers the blazing of the Applegate trail and the true history of this region.

There are few books about this place and time in history and this is by far the best I have ever read. He covers the topic in great detail, this book details how the other trails were used in forging this all important route for immigrants. The book is full of pictures and drawings of the area and settlers. It also includes detailed maps of the trails discussed. Anyone interested in the settlement of Southern Oregon and it's history will find this book a great and informative read.

This book gives solid and concrete advice on
how to be a good student. I recommend this book
and one more book: SURVEY OF 300 A+ STUDENTS.
You'll stay at the top of your classes with these two books.

When the time comes, I'll probably send my daughter off to college with Strunk and White's Elements of Style and this book. Although How to Study lacks the style and wit of the Elements of Style, it shares its brevity and concentration on the fundamentals of its topic.

The book is a revised version of an old study guide available to freshmen at the School of Business in the University of Chicago, and it covers an enormous amount of ground in its 55 pages. As advertised, the advice is gimmick free, stressing the need for the student's motivation, which should come from some larger goal for the student's life.

Despite its common sense approach, How to Study offers nuggets of solid information and tips in each chapter, such as writing down distractions before studying to free them from your mind, the proper uses of memorization, and test-taking strategies.

There are no miracles in this book, only basic information on how to go about studying, getting the most out of reading material, listening to a lecture, studying for an exam, and a constant insistence on active learning, all presented in a brief, no-nonsense manner. There are few books that offer this much good information for this price.

I have long had this work and everytime I consult it I am able to find what I am looking for.
Chevrons are strips of cloth worn on the upper sleeves by personnel of the Army, Marines, and Air Force to distinguish the various ranks (paygrades) and duty positions. The seemingly endless variety of them challenges the collector.
In the US services, chevrons are worn only by enlisted men while in many foreign armies they are also worn by officers. They present a variety of collectibility. Before WW I they were made in the same background colors as the uniforms on which they were worn and were colored the same as the branch piping on the dress blue coat, the cap band, and the cord on the campaign hat.
Army jargon also calls them stripes. This work covers only the U.S. Army. Up until partway into the WW I the Army used a variety of specialist marks and other devices worn in combination with the chevrons and often forming the central design in the insignia. In contrast to the US Navy which has a huge variety of marks, the Army ones were usually confined to the branch insignia or such trades and skills such as saddlers and gun pointers.
Army chevrons since WW I have had the same or no devices on the insignia of rank, the indication of special skills being shown by "ground badges" pinned to the chest over the left pocket as contrasted with flight badges.
This book is a must for the serious reference collection. It should be reprinted forthwith.

This is a meticulously researched and well written book about one of the most celebrated astronomers of the turn of the last century, who is unfortunately almost forgotten today. As was the case with many well known scientists of the 19th century, Barnard started life inauspiciously and came to science as a result of his considerable amateur achievements. Poor and virtually uneducated as a child in Nashville, he distinguished himself as a photographer's assistant, and developed a lifelong interest in the night sky. After becoming fairly well known as an amateur astronomer, he attracted the attention of the officials of what would eventually become Vanderbilt University. The regents were persuaded to build an observatory, and installed the young Barnard as its director, even though he had no college education (not even high school!). Barnard was aware of his limitations, particularly in mathematics, and began to audit courses at Vanderbilt in math, astronomy, and physics. When he finally left several years later to take a position at the new Lick Observatory in California, he had the equivalent of a bachelor's degree, though a degree was never officially conferred.

Barnard's life in astronomy is marked by greatness. Comets were his early passion and he discovered many, but he was equally please to make detailed observations of any comet, regardless if it was "his" or not. He was also a passionate observer of the planets. His discovery of Jupiter's fifth moon was the event for which posterity usually remembers him, but he also made ground breaking observations of Mars and Saturn. Though he never publicly said so, he was one of the earliest skeptics of his good friend Percival Lowell's "canal" observations of Mars. Barnard's sketches in the early 1890's revealed details of what would later be called Valles Marineris and the volcano calderas of Olympus Mons, Arsia Mons, and Ascraeus Mons, but showed no evidence of canals. Later, Barnard pioneered the use of wide field photography and made some of the earliest and best photographic studies of the Milky Way, and eventually authored the catalog of dark nebulae that bears his name. He also did considerable photographic work with comets and put forth some controversial (and mostly correct) theories about the nature of the mysterious coma and tails. His pioneering work in stereoscopic photography was done with comets as well, where a special viewer allowed the viewing of two sequential shots of a comet, making the comet stand out in relief against the background stars. Barnard's penchant for closely studying his photos was rewarded by his discovery of the great looping nebula in the constellation Orion that bears his name, as well as the faint star of fast proper motion in Ophiuchus (Barnard's star).

Sheehan's writing is marvelously clear and interesting, and his documentation is thorough. He lays bare Barnard's decade long quarrels with Lick director Edward S. Holden, and follows Barnard to Yerkes in Wisconsin where he spent over 20 years and eventually ended his career. Sheehan is a psychiatrist by training and makes an occasional conjecture regarding the psychology of various characters. I found this distracting at first but he never went overboard with it. By the end of the book, I found myself wishing he would be even more adventurous with his psychohistoriagraphy in the case of George Hale's well known struggles with mental illness, but Sheehan didn't take the bait beyond a few general comments.

Overall, I found this book virtually impossible to put down, and was almost depressed that it had to end. Dozens of wonderful pictures of Barnard and his companions, astrophotos, and sketches litter its pages. A detailed index is supplied making cross-referencing the many names and places easy.

E.E. Barnard was a pivotal figure in the history of astronomy, straddling the breach between observational work of the 19th century, and the "new" astronomy (astrophysics) of the 20th. Barnard never ceased being an observer to the end of his life, and in many ways it is his spirit that lives on in the form of amateur astronomy at the beginning of the 21st century.

I read this book as a nine-year=old. As I remember, Robert Frost, Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Joel Barlow were my favorites. I misplaced this book throughout my careless adolescence. If you can find the copy I had, it will have a blue cover. Happy Reading!

I purchase this book ten copies at a time and give them away.
I recently expressed to one of the authors, William Emerson, that if I could, I would get a megaphone and announce it from the rooftops. Remembering Our Home is a most gently written, beautifully illustrated book that invites the reader to reflect on the earliest and most impressionable moments of being human--in the womb. If at first this strikes you as improbable to do, consider the countless life dreams and aspirations you, or people you know have had, and somehow, someway fulfillment seems to be just out of reach. Remembering Our Home can help build bridges across the gaps to fulfillment by revealing potential blocks, that can form in our first experiences of feeling physically and emotionally. Some examples of causes of these blocks discussed in the book are being born early, or late, toxins like niccotine or drugs, and parents in a stressful environment. Throughout the book there are suggested processes and tools for accessing our earliest potentials. I was born with a disability, and working with this, and the ample additional referals in the book is transforming the quality of my daily life. I am learning from it to benefit myself and all the babies and children in my world.

A worthy finish to the series - makes you sad there won't be more Oakes books. The real events following the completion of the book (late 1993) don't really alter how Buckley painted 1994 and 1995. A great read.