Despite being very close to several major clashes in the Civil War, the home of General Washington remained a site sacred to North and South alike. Muir draws heavily upon letters, military orders, and other period documents to tell this story of Mount Vernon in a very quick and lively manner, adding some interesting color to Civil War history and some insight into what day-to-day life was like for civilians near the USA-CSA border.

A decent biography of Barber although it was published when he was only 28. It's hard to imagine such a prolific climber fading away at such a young age, you don't hear about him much now-a-days. This book isn't really written in chronological order and each chapter really can almost stand alone. Details his trips to Austraila and Germany the best. Gives insight into the statement I hear often climbing, 'Oh, that's a Henry Barber route,' which mean that it was probably hard. A must read for any Northeast based climber.

This book is very truthful to the history of Britain and the British, even though it is a fictional book. It tells of the changes over time of this great Country, and how the people changed their ways. It tells stories of real people and their real experiences that took place during my lifetime and are recent enough to grapple peoples atention, without boring them to death. I loved the way the book was layed out and would consider this a trusty resorce for a thesus or some other younger aged report. The price is somewhat high, but not so much that it keeps thoes intrested from buying. On a scale of 1-5 I would rate it a 4. The information is high quality and from a trustworthy source, yet the fictional story keeps some facts from truely being exposed. Once again, the information checks out perfectly with all of the other sources I have looked into, yet the fiction is the one major downfall in the nearly unscathable outer shell. This one slight flaw, hardly noticable, can extreamly lessen the value (both cash value and educational value) of a book.

This biography explained the life of Civil War General Robert E. Lee. This book explains his life from birth and his family, to the marriage and his influence in the war. It explained how the general was the leader of the Confederacy. The book also explains the Civil War so that it is easy for the kids to understand. In the book there are also great pictures that mildly display war along with quotes ad images from that time period.
The author did a wonderful job displaying the war and allowing children to understand the concept on a very neutral level. I also liked the outline at the end of the book on his life. It helped children really visualize the order of events.
I like this book for all the above reasons also for the ease of reading. I found it so easy to understand and I think that this book will allow the children to gain interest into biographies and the war. Maybe even lead them into reading all Adler's other biographies.

This book is a very well written review of how most americanist archaeologists approached their subject during most of the 20th century, through the culture history model. The book is a throrough explanation of this model, its assumptions, procedures and consequences. Even if the authors tone can sometimes sound a bit arrogant (the confidence provided by hindsight) its better than the average archaeological theory book, written in a clear, jargon-free language. And whenever there is jargon, it is thoroughly explained. More archaeologists should write like this.

I very much enjoyed reading Tim McKinney's Civil War Chronicle "Robert E. Lee at Sewell Mountain". I read the book because several of my ancestors and their relatives were members of the 19th and 27th Brigades of The Virginia Militia (from Southern West Virginia). The book chronicles the conflict of Union and Confederate troops in West Virginia during August through October of 1861. The author provides a good description of the feud between Confederate generals Floyd and Wise - an important factor in the logistics of the Confederate retreat. The book emphasizes the cold rains, which nearly immobilized both Union and Confederate Armies. The author provides several good photographs and sketches to help document his chronicle. The book includes an extensive bibliography.

I bought a hardback edition of this at USC Film School in 1981 or so, and have kept it ever since. A clear, easy to follow walk-through of common film, theatrical and multimedia script formats (as of 1978, well before the advent of the Internet and digital media). I imagine the examples are now of historical interest, if any.

And in the center ring, standing somewhere between 5'8" and 5'11", Lee "The Assassin" Oswald!! And right there beside him, the man who has solved the Kennedy assassination more times than swiss cheese has holes, Robert "The Brain" Groden!! Now after a certain point, everyone feels that way. Bob Groden must be given his due: He has managed to squirrel away quite a collection of JFK visual materials, and the results are pretty stimulating. But the biggest problem comes in the text. Some of the sources and conclusions in this "definitive" text are open to quite a bit of speculation. Interpretation (this picture shows this, here we see Clay Shaw, and OHMYGoodness a Grassy Knoll shooter) could be easily contested.

This book is great for the coffee table as people WILL pick it up and WILL have great fun discussing it. Just be careful what kinds of words a picture can put into your mouth. Bob, I'd love to hear from you.

Second Manassas might have been Robert E. Lee's Greatest Victory as author John Langellier asserts, but it is often neglected in Civil War history as "the other" battle fought at Bull Run rather than as a seminal event. This addition to the Osprey Campaign series is a solid overview of the campaign of Lee versus Pope in the summer of 1862 in north-central Virginia. In accordance with the standard Osprey format, the book begins with a short section on the origins of the campaign and a campaign chronology.

In a welcome departure from the short-shrift methods of other recent Osprey campaign titles, Dr. Langellier actually puts some meat on the bone concerning opposing commanders. A full 9 excellent pages are spent discussing Generals Pope, Halleck, Banks, McDowell, Sigel, Lee, Longstreet, and Jackson. The section on opposing plans is a bit short at two pages, but adequate. Likewise, the section on opposing armies is somewhat brief at three pages, but covers aspects specific to the campaign, like Duryee's Zouaves and the Iron Brigade. The campaign narrative begins with two short chapters on the preliminary actions at Cedar Mountain and Brawner's Farm. The actual Battle of Second Manassas is covered in 25 pages, followed by a short postscript and notes on the battlefield today. An excellent order of battle is provided for both armies in the final appendix. There are five 2-D maps (Virginia in July 1862, the Battle of Cedar Mountain, the road to Second Manassas, the Battle of Groveton, and Lee's flanking movement to Chantilly) and three 3-D "Bird's Eye View" maps of the Battle of Second Manassas. Three battle scenes depict the truce at Cedar Mountain, the Iron Brigade at Brawner's Farm and the stand of Starke's Louisiana brigade at the Railroad cut. The photographs are decent - particularly if one likes portraits of civil war generals and scenes of torn-up railroads - but rather bland, given the level of civil war illustrations and artwork available.

Dr. Langellier's campaign narrative is solid and hits all the main points. Certainly, the inept performance of Union General John Pope was clearly the proximate cause of the Federal defeat at Second Manassas. There is no attempt at analysis in this account, although certainly not necessary from the command angle. In terms of the principles of war, the Confederates enjoyed the virtues of the offensive, maneuver, security and surprise, while the Union leaders seemed content to ignore the threat until too late. However, a bit more analysis on the role of supporting units, particularly artillery, would have been helpful. Overall, Second Manassas provides a decent overview of this often-neglected campaign.

Reading a play by Wendy Wasserstien is always a delight, but even though all of her writings are to be savored, The Sisters Rosensweig exhibits an important mark in the author's maturing style. In spite of this maturation, however, the story line never grows stale and Ms. Wasserstein never fails to draw from her reader a smile and a laugh, and give to give us a refreshed sense of the type of person we want to be--it's self-help through fiction!

The Sisters Rosensweig follows the reunion of three Jewish sisters who come together for a visit in Queen Anne's Gate, London, and the joys and struggles they share concerning romance, careers, childhood, and family--joys and struggles with which we all identify, not only as women but as human beings. Thank you, Ms. Wasserstien, for another delightful treat!