An excellent retrospective of the work of John Wilde as he achieves his eightieth year.Ranking as one of Wisconsins, and indeed the Nations major artists, Wilde has always commanded respect among a fervid group of collectors and artists.The book is handsomely illustrated with 104 full page color plates dating from his earliest years to the present. Wildes forte of Magic Realism done with perfect draughtsmanship shows that there are no old masters, only masters.For all who enjoy nature and nudes, astounding juxtapositions and above all, fine art meticulously done, the book will be a pleasant surprise. A large book, well made, well illustrated and a welcome addition to the art lovers library.

Roosevelt does quite well to capture the essence of what went on during the period when the colonists began westward. The point made by the editor that it is indeed a wonder that this work was ever created at all is well taken when one considers Roosevelt's involvement with so much else in his life while he produced what, for the time, was a very scholarly opus.

One must be patient with the narrative; it tends to be choppy. One must also be patient with, or at least understanding of, TR's view of the world and especially his notion of upon whom the greater glory of the westward expansion rests.

All in all, it is seemingly a must read (as is the entire series) for anyone having either an interest in the history of this time, or an interest in TR and his works.

Before Roosevelt begins sensationalizing in the second volume, he describes the utter wilderness of the region and characterizes both the individual settlers and Indians who would play decisive roles in the settlement and migration of whites westward, and also gives sweeping portraits of the Indian nations encountered during our westward expansion. The hardships of the settlers due to the ruggedness of their new mountain home, their self-reliance, the cold winters, the need to fell forest for pasture and tillage, the daily peril of Indian attacks, and the distant relations with their origins to the east complete this wonderfully written and diversified study of early American frontier life.

Theodore's Roosevelt's "The Winning of The West" volume one is unlike most modern histories. His is a story of the founding of the American Republic West of the Original 13. This volume is of the late Colonial Period. He is unafraid to make very harsh judgements, attacking both the American Indians and the Pioneers, although it is clear who he favours. He does have many prejudices, but, to be honest, most Historians do. President Roosevelt's were just of the less respected, today at least, kind. The whole series is very much worth reading, and is a worthy investment of capital and time. Ryan M.

This is an excellent book that should be read by every person with any serious interest in the Civil War. It is generally clear and informative, frequently funny or witty, and generally well written. My only objection to it is the author's very heavy pro-Union bias. If you get this book, be sure and get a Southern account to balance it.

One of the most famous regiments of the Civil War was the 20th Regiment of Maine Volunteers. Fromed in 1862, the regiment saw action in some of the fiercest campaigns and battles of the war; Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Petersburg, Peebles Farm and Five Forks. It also was present at Antietam, Chancellorsville, Mine Run, North Anna, Bethesda Church, Gravelly Run and Appomattox, where it had the distinct honor of being of the regiments to formally receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. Originally commanded by Colonel Adelbert Ames, leadership of the regiment soon fell upon the shoulders of the most famous civilian soldier of the war--Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. At Gettysburg, Chamberlain and the 20th Maine anchored the Union line on Little Round Top and helped to save the day, and the battle, for the Federal cause. The regiment fought with excellence in several later campaigns but will always be known for its brilliant and gallant performance at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863. After the war only one veteran of the unit attempted to chronicle the exploits of the 20th Maine Infantry. In 1882, Reverend Theodore Gerrish published "Army Life". Although there are brief, scattered accounts written by other veterans of the unit's wartime exploits, this remains the only full-length book, purposely published by a 20th Maine veteran.

It is common knowledge among baseball historians that Eddie waitkus provided the basis for "The Natural", a short story and film success.

The true story of Waitkus is far more tragic than the fictional version. This book successfully portrays the life of this somewhat obscure ballplayer. John Theodore does a fine job of researching Waitkus' life and career.

He also does a fine job of covering the little known details surrounding the woman who shot Waitkus on that fateful evening at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago in 1949. Her name is Ruth Steinhagen and her semi-successful reentry into society after release from an Illinois mental institution is chronicled.

It is one of the saddest stories ever in the world of sports.

Waitkus, who survived 2 years of intense combat in the South Pacific during WWII, returns from the war to resume a baseball career which sees him headed for superstardom, only to fall to a crazed females obsession with him.

Waitkus played in 1946,'47 and'48 with the Chicago Cubs. He was an All-Star and .300 hitter. Many considered him the best fielding first baseman in the game.

His trade to the Phillies for the 1949 season was considered a coup for the Phils. He was exactly what the youthful "Whiz Kids" needed; a quality veteran who could hit, field and lend class to the organization. He was hitting over .300 and leading the All-Star balloting in the National League when disaster struck in early June.

His subsequent recovery and contribution to the Phillies pennant winning 1950 team was the "feelgood" story of 1950. It wasn't to last however.

Waitkus was pursued by the residual demons of the shooting and latent WWII memories. He slumped in 1951 and, always a drinker, began to smoke and drink more heavily. Even marriage and a subsequent family which he loved dearly failed to assuage his demons. His physical skills reduced by the shooting, his continued late hour drinking contributing to his weakened condition, Waitkus never was able to fulfill his potential and by 1955 he was out of baseball.

Then the serious problems began.

Unable to find a job that satisfied him, he drifted from one job to another, finally ending up living in a rooming house near Harvard University and working the summers at what he knew best; an instructor at Ted Williams baseball camps. The end came suddenly in 1972 when a weakend Waitkus died from lung cancer at age 52.

In spite of the tragic aspects of Waitkus' life, Theodore successfully highlights the fact that Waitkus was a genuinely good guy; highly respected by all of his teammates, his family and Ted Williams. And most of all, the young campers he taught baseball to in the final years of his life. Many of them did not know he had played in the majors. They just knew that he knew a lot about baseball and that he loved working with them.

Theodore can be faulted only in failing to provide a good bibliography...otherwise this is an excellent biography and an important contribution to baseball history

When Bernard Malamud set out to write his infamous baseball book "The Natural", he took a major piece of inspiration from the real life consequences suffered by Eddie Waitkus. Unlike the Roy Hobbs character portrayed in Malamud's book however, Eddie was a tremendously different person.

Eddie Waitkus was born to be a baseball player. Playing the game since he was little, Eddie was devout to the sport, perfecting his fielding abilities and batting eye. Signed by the Chicago Cubs, Eddie came up through their minor league ranks quickly, impressing everyone with his capable hitting, and outstanding glove at first base. Beginning his career with a brief stint on the 1941 team, Eddie soon found the reality of World War II to be the calling for his full time employment.
Serving his country through the Army, Eddie found the Pacific Ocean front his new home, fighting in some of the fiercest battles of the war against the Japanese. A place where death and deprivation quickly surfaced on a daily basis. When he finally returned stateside after the war, Eddie went back to what he did best, baseball. Reemerging with the 1946 Cubs team, Eddie was known as a very fluid player, that was dependable on the diamond in every manner.
For three years, Eddie established himself with the Cubs as one of the finest first sackers in the league. Wrought with losing though, as the Cubs so often were in those days, Waitkus was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies, a team that would come to define his life.
In just his first year with the Fighten' Phils, Eddie and company made a trip into Chicago for a set against his old mates. After one summer game, Eddie and teammates returned to their hotel, were Eddie found himself to be the recipient of a note. A young lady wanted to talk to him the note read, it was urgent..and she needed Eddie's help. Not one to keep a friend waiting, a classy Eddie Waitkus made a trip to the room indicated on the note. Alike the scene in Malamud's book, Eddie could only mutter a few sentances once in the room with his newly found assailant..Ruth Steinhagan..a girl 19 years of age. The conversation was over almost as soon as it started..Steinhagan had shot Waitkus..and left him for dead.
The victim of a psychotic and deadly young baseball adorer and fan, Eddie's life began to take a turn for the surreal. After fighting in the toughest battles in the Pacific Ocean against the Japanese Empire, he never could have dreamt this possibe fate.
Eddie took a year to heal, and in this journey, met his wife to be. Over the next five seasons, Eddie established himself repeatedly as a highly proficient hitter, and fielder extrordinaire. His tenure with the Philadelphia Phillies included a national league pennant for the much reknowned "Wiz Kids"..and several productive seasons at first base. Rounding out his career, Eddie began to suffer the consequences of his shooting however, physically and most noticeably....mentally.
Eddie's years follwoing the end of his baseball career where spent away from his family as the result of a divorce, and in a downward spiral of personal self defeat. Bouncing around for 15+ years in job to job, Eddie's life was a blur of quiet misunderstanding.
Eddie's life is one of courage, heroism, persistance, and class. Summed up in one word by his peers, Eddie lived his life with "class". From his teamates to his friends to strangers and fans, Eddie left a persona of the utmost class on everyone. Holding himself with great dignity and looking the part as well, Eddie's life thrived on bettering those around him. A life challenged by the reality of his past, Eddie let the deamons of war and his mid-life shooting alter his thinking. Although an upbeat man to those around him, Eddie let his past haunt him privately..and to no end until his death in 1972.
This is one of the best baseball books I've ever read. A courageous text with a very sad end, the story of a real American "Natural" is found here.

The book should read to "Letters by Theo. Goldin" to and from various different people, E.A. Brinistool, Albert Johnson, Phillip Cole, Fred Dustin and eventually Capt Frederick Benteen. Most of the letters were written when Goldin was very old and blind. Interesting insight into Benteen and a scathing by Benteen of Custer and his preported "conduct". Worth the reading if you truely "understand" what happened on June 25th 1876. Not for the first time reader... you'll be lost within a matter of pages unless you understand the "who, what and where" of different people.

This book is the printing with minimal commentary of letters between Goldin and Benteen. Frederick Benteen was an officer and Goldin an enlisted man in the Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Correspondence between officer and enlisted man is unique in itself. In the case of first hand participants their direct insights into events is always fascinating. This book does not answer any outstanding questions but it does add insights especially relative to Benteen. Anyone interested in the history of the Seventh Cavalry and the personality of Frederick Benteen, a major participant in the Little Big Horn scenario will be interested in this book.

As a liberal arts major, I desperately needed to familiarize myself with business finance concepts during the year prior to my MBA program (I'll start B-School in Fall 2001), and turned to "The Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting" for help due to the "best in class" reputation of the series. Though not entirely disappointed, I really do not feel this book lived up to its top billing.

I found a lot of the sections unclear, mostly because the authors skimp on the necessary math, trying to describe numeric concepts with words; Sort of like "using a screwdriver to carve roast beef," as Tom Robbins once quipped. Additionally, the Portable MBA series' format, with different authors each writing a chapter, detracts from the book's cohesiveness. A book by one author (or several edited into one continuous voice) tends to hold together better. For example, I got more out of the briefer introduction to fiscal management, "Finance and Accounting for the Non-Financial Manager" by Steven Finkler due to its one-voice cohesiveness than I did from the Portable MBA.

On the up side, the first chapter is a brilliant exposition on how day-to-day business activities translate into the standard accounting reports. This section also illustrates how a manager can use spreadsheets to observe how changing prices or costs affect the "bottom line," and how financials can be used to build a strategy. I also found the chapter on budgeting quite helpful. However, when the book delves into finance, the lack of math really begins to take its toll. If it weren't for the Finkler book, I doubt I would have the faintest idea what capital budgeting was all about. All things considered, "The PMBA in F&A" is a decent but flawed book. However, when it is on, it is brilliant.

This book has what you will need in a portable MBA. It is selective, has scope and completeness and is fast paced. You will need to be very focused to read it but that is only expected.

I liked the way the book didn't get bogged down in too much math. The capital budgeting chapters were clear, much more to the point than the textbooks I tried to read.

Dreiser describes the psyche and actions of Carrie Meeber, a young woman trying to succeed in the late nineteenth century in America, and others she meets to show the struggle of young women trying to succeed in the newly industrialized America. When Dreiser first published Sister Carrie, his publisher censored the book due to its shocking content. Dreiser unfortunately has a tendency to ramble about some topics. Although Dreiser uses lengthy descriptions at times, he still manages to get across the horrible injustices that befell many Americans during this time. The book seems to revolve around chance. Although Dreiser shows the inevitability in the characters' lives and that everything led to death, he also shows that much of the events occurred by chance. The characters meet each other by chance, and the events that lead to Carrie's downfall happened by chance. Dreiser shows the world he lived in to the reader. Everything in the book is not random chance. It accurately displays life at that time in America. Dreiser took his story from Horatio Alger. Alger told of virtuous and ambitious men, however. Dreiser took a woman and allowed her to succeed. This added to the shock value of the novel. Another novel of shock value during this industrialization period is The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. This novel showed the horrors of the meat-packing industry. Sister Carrie spent some time exploiting sweat shops although that was not the primary focus of the novel. However, if one likes Sister Carrie, The Jungle would be a good book to read to learn more of the lives of the working class during the industrialization period in American history.

This novel hooked me from the first page - who can forget the opening scene where the young Caroline Meeber is "spotted" by the travelling salesman Charles Drouet on the Chicago-bound train? We follow in this novel two seemingly irreversible life flows: Carrie uses her beauty and ambition to rise in life, and Hurstwood falls from his secure position of middle-aged, upper-middle-class success to utter failure, all for the love of a woman half his age. It's the stuff of melodrama to some, but not when handled by Dreiser, who takes the reader into a vividly realized urban world with well-drawn characters whose virtues and vices are equally on display. You leave the book feeling that Carrie and Hurtstwood could very easily have stepped out of the pages of today's newspapers, such is the zone of uncomfortable truth inhabited by the denizens of this brilliant novel.

I found this novel very intriguing and moving. The symbols and representations are very analytical. "Sister Carrie" causes one to think twice about oneself, and to reconsider one's own definition of true happiness and success. It shows one how society can influence one to think in the manner in which one does. The characters face good times and bad times and experience true tests of strength and survival. The results are both well developed and interesting to discover. It is difficult to put the book down. When reading this novel one must understand the sybolism and look deep into the context to acquire the meanings of it. Another interesting fact about this novel is that Theodore Dreiser actually wrote the novel in the year 1900. I am a junior in high school and I strongly recomend the reading of this novel to anyone.

Perhaps the spookiest "prediction" of McPhee's book is the discussion about how to flatten the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center (WTC) with a small atomic device. This is the first reference, fact or fiction--as far as I can find--that mentions the two 110-story towers as a possible terrorist target. Ironic, eh? All the more ironic, because all it took were two suicide jets to do the job--no atomic explosive needed. But you can't help but wonder if the terrorists of Sept. 11, 2001 (and the first WTC bombing planners) were inspired by this book. In which case, the author must be haunted by the fact that he may have started a "chain reaction" of idea events which led to a prophesy fullfilled?

A slightly over-scientific profile of Ted Taylor, a wunderkind physicist who started out at the Manhattan Project, got interested in nuclear-fueled space travel, and ended up obsessed with the idea that atom bombs wouldn't be that difficult for a terrorist to produce. Often repetitive and lacking a clear organizing structure, it's not one of McPhee's highlights (like Levels of the Game, Encounters with Archdruid, etc.). Certainly weighty subject matter, but seems quaint when, 20 years after the fact, the ominous portents have come to nothing in particular.

One of the best and brightest, through Mr. McPhee's able penmanship, Mr. Taylor gives a guided tour of the (then) current state-of-the-art. Chock full of facts, figures and references, all verifiable. With the current glut of so-called 'expert' writers in this field, this book is one of the better uses of a tree on this subject ;O). I guarantee that any person interested in the nuclear weapons stockpile-to-target sequence will find the book an EXCELLENT buy.

Although I agree with the criticisma made by other readers, I still loves "Shadows On The Hudson" and consider it a worthwhile and engrossing book.

Singer writes about a small group of exciles who survived the Holocaust be fleeing to New York City and creating a community in the shadows of the Hudson river. It was here that they contemplated their devastaing past and doubious future.

The characters are intelleigent and intense, anguished by their expulsion from their homeland and the collapse of their cultural and religious values.

This is a long, deep novel that deals with some of the fundamental problems of human existence. More than any other writer, Singer (at least in this book) reminds me of Dostoyevsky, whose characters were constantly in existentialist turmoil over questions such as good vs. evil and whether or not there is a God (and if there is, is He good, evil or indifferent?) Of course, while Dostoyevsky was a Christian, all of the characters in Shadows on the Hudson are Jewish holocaust survivors who have recently emigrated to New York from Europe shortly after World War ll. This is something that none of them can forget, even for a day, as many barely escaped while their loved ones perished. Beyond this confrontation with evil and death, the novel is largely about the philosophical war between religious orthodoxy and hedonistic modern life. Contemporary readers who do not come from a strongly religious background may have some difficulty appreciating this dilemma. The mass culture that Singer found vulgar and amoral in the 50s has now all but taken over in America, leaving many people no frame of reference for any other type of existence. While there is much philosophizing, Singer succeeds in creating flesh and blood characters whose moral anguish is not simply abstract, but put to the test in daily life. The character we spend the most time with is Hertz Grein, a middle-aged man whose religious yearnings are in stark contrast to his lifestyle. He is a married man who has had a long affair with another woman. As the novel opens, he is preparing to run off with yet another woman. Grein's behavior through most of this book is both irrational and indefensible. He lies to all three women, and makes all his decisions on the whim of the moment. At the same time, he is hardly without a conscience. On the contrary, he is deeply ashamed of the pain he causes others and desperately wants to redeem himself. Reading Shadows on the Hudson, I got the feeling that Singer himself, as he wrote the book, was struggling with the very issues faced by Grein and his other, equally fascinating and conflicted characters. The central problem posed by the book is the paradox of faith. On the one hand, there is no evidence that God exists. Indeed, the prevalence of suffering and evil suggests an indifferent universe. On the other hand, life without faith is unbearable and leads to a world without meaning or values. Does this mean that we should, even in the absence of evidence, embrace a strict moral code? Although the conclusion of Shadows on the Hudson is somewhat ambiguous, Singer seems to answer this question tentatively in the affirmative. Whether or not you agree (I actually don't), the question is an extremely important one and this book gets to the core of it.

Shadows on the Hudson is one of the best novels I've ever read. The people are real--and thank god, they're deeply sexual and deeply intelligent. Some readers are irked by the one, some by the other characteristic; by me a novel flops if the people are too dumb, or too free from the driving burdens and blessings of relentless sexuality. This more or less simultaneous wrestling with sex, faith and its lack, and the problem of theodicy (why God permits evil) is Singer's forte. Only Tolstoy does it better, but there is more real flesh in Singer, while the religious issues are at least as alive as those of Tolstoy's stellar episode toward the end of Anna Karenina, in which Levin successfully struggles toward theism. Singer's characters know what Tolstoy's don't: that 6 million Jews and 20 million Russians are gone who should not be gone. This novel is art, and monumental art; not another pleasure cruise for the beach umbrella.

This is a collection of essays by various historians on alternate military outcomes in history, arranged in chronological order from Ancient times to 1983. Although there are some interesting essays on the American Revolution and a few other areas, the book is very disappointing. The "big name" historians provide the worst-written essays, almost afterthoughts. The essay by John Keegan on what if Hitler had pursued a Mediterranean strategy in 1941-2 totally ignores logistics and Nazi political objectives. Stephen Ambrose's essay on what if D-Day had failed rests on non-military reasoning and is ridiculous (as if the Allies would have abandoned D-Day because of bad weather). In light of Peter Tsouras' excellent "Disaster at D-Day", Ambrose's essay appears pathetic. Other essays are rather pedestrian, like several on what if the South had won the Civil War. Yawn. How many times is this going to be passed around? Many interesting and almost situations, like Operation Sealion, or what if Iraq had invaded Saudi Arabia in 1990 are ignored. None of the essays do a very good job on strategic analysis and assume too much about single win/loss results (e.g. a Southern victory at Gettysburg was unlikely to have won the war, since the North had already lost several battles without any real reduction in its will to win). This book is a collection of not-very original quasi-historical fluff.

For anyone who likes history, this book is an uneven, but overall excellent and very enjoyable, series of exercises in "counterfactual" history. Not the silly, frivolous, or nonsensical kind, where Robert E. Lee all of a sudden is given a nuclear bomb, but instead serious, meaty (even highly PROBABLE) ones, like what would have happened if there hadn't been a mysterious plague outside the walls of Jerusalem, or if there had been a Persian victory at Salamis, or if Genghis Khan's drunken third son (Ogadai)had not died just as his hordes were poised to conquer (and probably annhilate) Europe, or if Cortes had been killed or been captured Tenochtitlan, etc.

The major flaw with this book is that the essays are of somewhat uneven interest level, style, and quality. Personally, for instance, I found the essay on the Mongols to be fascinating, sending chills down my spine! "D Day Fails" by Stephen Ambrose, on the other hand, didn't do much for me at all, nor did "Funeral in Berlin." In general, I would say that the essays covering earlier periods in human history tend to be better than ones covering more recent history. Possibly this is in part because the later periods have been covered to death. I mean, how many "counterfactuals" on the US Civil War can there be before we get sick of them? But a well-written, tightly-reasoned counterfactual which, based on events hundreds or even thousands of years ago, quite plausibly leads to a result where there is no Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, or Western culture at all, is absolutely fascinating in my opinion. If nothing else, books like "What If?" show how important CHANCE is in human history, as well as the importance of the INDIVIDUAL, as opposed to some Hegelian/Marxist-Leninist historical "inevitability." The bottom line is that it is rare that anything is truly "inevitable", and the aptly titled "What If?" gives us some excellent case studies.

Heard the taped version of WHAT IF?: THE WORLD'S FOREMOST
MILITARY HISTORIANS IMAGINE WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN, edited
by Robert Cowley . . . I often speculate about lots of things, and so do the contributors to this book--including Stephen E. Ambrose, John Keegan, David McCollough, and James M. McPherson (to name just a few).

For example, what if:
George Washington had never made his miraculous escape
from the British on Long Island in the early dawn of August 29, 1776?

a Confederate aide hadn't accidentally lost General Robert E. Lee's plans for invading the North?

the Allied invasion on D Day had failed?

These and a whole host of other questions are considered . . . the resultant answers are often fun, but at the same time, sometimes frightening . . . as in, Hitler's case . . . had he not attacked Russia when he did, he might have moved into the Middle East and secured the oil supplies the Third Reich so badly needed, thus helping it retain its power in Europe . . . can you just imagine the present-day implications for that scenario?

If you're a history buff, this is a MUST read . . . but methinks
that others will enjoy it and become much more interested
in the subject as a result . . . I know that I'm now looking
forward to Coweley's follow-up effort, WHAT IF? 2.