"Your Affectionate Daughter, Isabella" is a very entertaining book - the kind of book I always slow down on reading, towards the end, because I don't want it to be over - but also a fascinating look into the world of the Antebellum South. Most of us have a picture of plantation owners as Clark Gables and Scarlett O'Haras in silks and brocades; the Torrances' plantation in North Carolina is a reasonably prosperous but serious working plantation, whose owners do care about their slaves - apparently the only information we now have about them comes from annual summaries James Torrance writes up - and who would probably free their slaves, except that "Then, where would we get workers for the Plantation?" A good summary of much of the prewar Southern situation.
The basis of the book is an extensive collection of letters written by Isabella and various other family members, all interwoven with just enough history and background so that it all makes an absorbing story. The Torrance plantation - in western North Carolina - prospers and exemplifies the good life, sure enough; various sons and daughters, including Isabella, go off elsewhere to find their fortunes, mostly with indifferent success, and often as not drift back to the old homestead. This is life as it was lived by a group of attractive but fairly ordinary people, in a world in which the vagaries of the weather, the agonizingly high rate of infant and adult mortality and the price of cotton, year by year, were far more important than far-off Abolitionists and Fire-eaters.
As a part-time Civil-War buff, I found this a fascinating insight into the people on the Other Side, who are of course now Us. It's part of the magic of Your Affectionate Daughter that you really want to know how they all came out - the book tells us all the letters know, but I found myself wanting more. And, if making you really care about the characters isn't a measure of a book's narrative power, what is?

p.s. Well, yes, I am a brother-in-law of the Author. But it's still a really good book.

"Your Affectionate Daughter, Isabella" is particularly noteworthy as Ms. Williams has avoided the trap that most authors who base their work on a collection of letters fall into... her narrative carries the story, using the letters only to support the text.. rather than the reverse.

She accomplishes this with an impressive working knowledge of the post 1800 south and plantation lifestyles, presented to us with both a flair for writing and a skillful turn of phrase that, when combined, turn this work into a charming story that will find favor with anyone who enjoys well written and educational history. I hope we'll see more of Ms. William's work.

What a wonderful book! A good read, a touching story, and accurate history. Isabella Torrance was a strong woman who suffered much, and accomplished much, growing up in North Carolina and Mississippi in the early part of the 19th Century.

This story is set in the early 1800s in the American South and is totally based on existing letters from the period. The Torrance family of North Carolina must have kept every piece of paper they ever got. It follows Isabella from the age of 7 when she was sent off to boarding school (Salem College, North Carolina), to coming home at the age of nine to a new mother and growing up on a large farm which was turning into a plantation. She married early and pioneered with her husband and baby in Mississippi - the edge of the wilderness at that time. After much suffering on the frontier, and the death of her husband, she returned to North Carolina to more adventures and a full life.

The story is told through family letters, using the actual letters and other family records, plus enough imagined dialog to keep the story moving along. Ms. Williams seems to have done her research well and all of the details, from the largest to the most minute, ring true. I really enjoyed reading the book as a story, plus the added value of finding out what life was really like in the American South and on the frontier in the period just before the Civil War.

"An American Postal Portrait" is a visually engrossing cultural history of the postal service. My father, a letter carrier in Kansas, was fascinated. It renewed the pride he feels in his job. It was a positive reminder that despite our techno age's slurs against "snail mail," the image of the letter carrier remains a powerful cultural--human--image. The book is a reminder that "technological advances" are poor substitutes for the power of human interaction. This book would be the perfect gift for anyone you know who proudly labors to ensure that our country's mail will be delivered despite rain, or sleet, or snow....

This is a wonderful book that reflects society and postal history on a parallel through time. Check out the section on the dog that was a mascot and traveled all across the world via airplane and earned his own medals! I learned a lot about our postal system and the photos were great. This was purchased for my husband who collects stamps. He really enjoyed reading about the "other" side of stamps.

I am a former Russian journalist and a documentary filmmaker who has also worked at NASA in the US.

"The Anatomy of Russian Defense Conversion" touches on many more subjects then just Russian Defense Industry. This is a very thorough, informative and important work that analyses the history of US and Russian Defense Industries, weapons exports and conversion, and possibilities of transformation from a militarized to a civilian economy in the new millenium.

The book also reflects on the current state of defense industries in the US and Russia, and "brain drain", or loss of intellectual capital in Russia and other countries after the Cold War.

I found reflections in Arkady Yarovsky's chapter "From the Culture of War to the Culture of Peace" very contemporary, especially in the light of recent events in the Middle East:

"Our time is unfortunately still characterized as "the culture of war." The culture of war is evident first and foremost in the hostilities between people and states, between nations and faiths, and in the inability to solve conflicts by peaceful means... Humanity has made it into the third millenium because the lust for power has been restrained by fear of nuclear war, but this restraint is not to be counted on permanently... The danger hidden in the separateness of people of different countries, unfortunately, remains a legacy for the next century... If humanity renounces the legacy of the culture of war, it can start down the road of cooperation, peaceful creation, and enlightenment. This is the only road leading to the culture of peace."

One can imagine that I, as a small child living in San Antonio, Texas, next to three Air Force bases and an Army base, living through the Cuban missile crisis, thought about the threat of the Russian military. I also met my parents' wonderful emigre' friends, and to this day have had warm relations with Russian people.

This book tells of the enormous cost to the Russian people of building and maintaining their war industry for so many years, a militarized economy where people got second best. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, defense industry just about shut down, but civilian industry has not grown great enough to support the population. There are horrendous unemployment, and terrible health and social problems. There is some danger that the path of least resistance for Russia, if we neglect the situation, could be to re-start weapons production, for export at first.

In my opinion, the United States also, to a lesser degree, has neglected the manufacture of quality consumer goods, importing them instead, and has let its physical economy deteriorate, despite much activity in the financial sector. We, too, have been insufficiently careful of the environment. This book provides some idea of what these trends could lead to, if carried to extremes.

Perhaps the involvement of United States companies in Russia, could lead to more of a recognition here, of the importance of the physical economy. Hopefully, both countries could also work to put industry on a healthy environmental footing as well.

There is awareness of the problem of Russian defense conversion, at high levels of our government. I hope this book helps educate people and sustain that interest.

I have read bethesda handbook of oncology. It is a well written, user friendly book with many pictures, algorithms, tables and charts. I use it regularly as a quick bedside reference. I will recommend this book for anybody in clinical oncology. Moreover it is written by some of the well known names in the field. Many of authors have written chapters in the famous oncology text book written by Devita also.

The Bethesda Handbook of Clinical Oncology by Jame Abraham, MD, and Carmen J. Allegra, MD, comprehensively reviews the clinical features, current management & etio-pathology of all common malignancies. The chapters on supportive care, oncological emergencies and therapeutic procedures in medical oncology though brief are quite precise and informative. The best part of the book is its tables, flow charts and algorithms, which are a ready reference for uptodate information. It truly provides a quick access to information on most common practical problems encountered by clinicians in their daily practice and their solutions .The field of oncology is ever changing and new information is added each year. This handbook would certainly be of great help as an affordable ready reckoner for physicians practicing oncology in remote areas without much access to latest literature. However there are a few suggestions for improvement: (1) inclusion of a chapter on gestational trophoblastic tumors (2) inclusion of a basic chapter on cell cycle and (3) a more detailed description on anti cancer drugs

The Busines of May Next is easily the best book I have ever read on James Madison's intellectual journey from his dismay over the ineffectiveness of the Articles of Confederation to his draft of the Virginia Plan, which was the underlying foundation of our Constitution.

The title is taken from a letter Madison wrote in which he discussed the "business" of the upcoming Constitutional Convention (in May of 1789), of which Madison--along with Alexander Hamiltion--was the prime mover.

Miller's book expertly and eloquently explores the influences on Madison's thinking, from his reading of David Hume's essays on the ideal conditions for a republic, to his correspondence with Washington, Jefferson and many others in which he fleshed out his ideas of how to turn the weak, ineffectual Articles into a government that had both power and staying power.

As Miller points out, Madison's genius was his understanding of human behavior, and his awareness that any government must be shaped in ways that take advantage of the "better angels of our nature," but also (more important) minimize, or at least accommodate, the darker side of our nature.

By fashioning a government with limited and shared powers; by holding frequent elections in which the leaders are held accountable; by ensuring that the people possess certain rights that no government can threaten (on pain of being altered or abolished), Madison was the first among equals in the creation of a truly representative government that has lasted more than 200 years and shows no signs of dying out.

Miller himself is one of the few (William Manchester is another) historians whose thorough research is matched by his delightful writing style. I have two copies of the book--a hardcopy for reading and a paperback for underlining.

This is a very good discussion of Madison's role in the development of the Consitution. Very readabl

At the end of the book, is offered to buy the floppy disks with the code.

I like to buy them, but I like to contact the author first. I need his E-mail.

Regards,

Valentin

Excellent Book. But, I need to contact with the author

Absolutely the most challenging book I have read this year! It has made me evaluate how I look at the things around me and how I interpret events in my life. I have been more transformed into the image of Christ because of this book and I highly reccommend it to anyone who is serious about dying to flesh and living for Christ.

John Newton, who wrote the famous hymn Amazing Grace, said that Gurnall's original volume would be the one book he would want in addition to his Bible. Bell's devotional edition captures some of the best illustations and insights of Gurnall in a way that is enoyable and that will introduce you to the writings of this great Puritan Pastor. His understanding on Spiritual warfare is soundly Biblical and contrary to a lot of current titles that purport to be Biblical but are based on experience. Gurnall will Bless You!

This book is a useful mix of theory and specific strategies, of reports on current research and examples of best practices. After reading it I think I understand better the dynamics of conflict in the classroom, and I also have some new things to try in crisis situations. It is a huge and ovewhelming book which most teachers would avoid, so I cut it apart into five sections. I handed the sections to teachers, who read them enthusiastically when they would never have tackled the whole book. It can be read like that, in sections, and not necessarily in order. The content is highly recommended but the format must be made teacher friendly!

Long and Morse have written and collected a panorama of articles which collectively define the state of the art in aproaches to troubled and troubling students. This book goes beyond the traditonal to the truly insightful interventions which focus holistically on the child or youth and his struggles within systems. Strategies for regular education and special education teachers are clearly described, and a list of resources in areas from sexual abuse to grief are inculuded. The book begins with a collection of short stories from contemporary literature in an intoduction to the reader into the minds and lives of children who are emotionally disturbed. Conflict in the Classroom has been a classic in the field for 30 years, and this 1996 edition is as worthy of the same honor as its fine earlier editions

I first read this book as a 7th grade student in 1972, and it made a very deep impression on me. The human story of this tragedy is vividly portrayed by the authors. The technical side of coast defense artillery, while somewhat sparsely treated, is none the less quite informative. As I read my newly aquired copy now, over fifty years after the events, I still feel for the men and women of Bataan and the Fortified Islands as the authors and the nation must have felt in those dark days of early 1942. All the mistakes made in the planning and construction of the defenses, in the planning and execution of the war plans can still make your blood boil and cause you to mutter phrases like "the fools!" and "those poor bastards!". The bravery of the men and women under fire and extreme conditons is still an inspiration to all people. This book is a powerful testimony to the price of freedom and liberty, and a warning about the perils of refusing to prepare adequately to meet the needs of national defense, a lesson the miltary leadership, their Executive branch overseers and their Congressional paymasters have yet to learn.

Except for the name "Calumpit Dam" which should be "Calumpan Dam", everthing was excellent. I don't know if they made the correction in the 1984 publication (The copy I have is the 1967 edition)but nevertheless, it was fascinating. The Belote brothers did their work well and it became the "pre-requisite" reading material to readers and researchers who were seeking information about the famous American Bastion in the east. Up to this day, their work is still the basis of a lot of explorers who visit the island in order to re-live the saga that befell the island during the grim and dark days of the Second World War.

This is the kind of book cherished by all lovers of frontier history--historical researchers and genealogists, as well as those who simply love to read about it. Not just a book of letters, but a lusciously annotated treasure chest of biographical information, and not just on the Clarks, but on the frame of frontier history which surrounded them.

The insights on William Clark and York are indeed interesting, but biographical sketches in the notes reveal arcane facts on Daniel Boone, General James Wilkinson, Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and many others less known but equally interesting. Mr. Holmberg sometimes indulges in speculation and tentative assertions, but the demarcation between fact and inference is always clear.

The work is handsomely constructed, the font easy to read, the notes easy to follow. A complete bibliography is provided along with a complete index. All and all, a pleasure to peruse, a delight to own.

Mr. Holmberg's new forthcoming edition of letters discovered
in an old Louisville, Kentucky estate some two decades ago
will shed new light on many long unanswered questions regarding the life of William Clark, of Lewis and Clark Expedition fame.
Aside from being an archivist at Kentucky's prestigious Filson
Club which holds its own substantial William Clark collection,
Holmberg is himself an expert Lewis and Clark enthusiast who brings passion, intelligence, clarity and understanding to interpretation of these significant letters. I have been privileged to hear the lectures of Mr. Holmberg at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Lewis and Clark Training Academies, and without a doubt this book and its letters give valuable
insight into the life of York, William Clark's slave and
fellow expedition member, the winter at Fort Mandan, William Clark's relationship with his wife, Julia, and his ongoing honest and open, although often grossly misspelled, literary discourse with his brother Jonathan. Readers of Ambrose's UNDAUNTED COURAGE will revel in this book as it gives further insight into the character of William Clark, who often gets
far less press coverage than the colorful figure of
Meriwether Lewis. Every Lewis and Clark enthusiast should
be sitting on the front porch swing awaiting the VERY MOMENT when the mailman delivers this upcoming Amazon offering. The fact that these unknown letters survived AT ALL is amazing. The added scholarship and editing added to the project by
one so respected in the field as Jim Holmberg makes the prospect of this literary work almost too grand to imagine.

Discovery of the letters of William Clark is as significant
as finding an undiscovered portrait of Lincoln. We knew the
man before the discovery, but now we will know him better!