With a name like Henry Steele Commanger one would expect him to be a writer of history. And boy is he!! A whole section in my library is filled with his amazing works.

This one is a two Volume Set - with Volume 1 starting with the nomination of Abraham Lincoln as President of the US and follows the events to the bloody three-day battle of Gettysburg, the highwater mark of the Confederacy. Volume 2 takes us from the aftermath of Gettysburg and follows the war to Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

The works are surprisingly slim considering what it covers, so this is not an in-depth look at the War Between the States. It does however give a gold mine of details. For someone looking to understand the war, its causes and the people that fought it, this is a wonderful place to start.

Highly recommended for the beginning or intermediate Civil War Buff.

There are over 400 articles and over two-dozen illustrations reproduced in this notable collection which is subtitled "The Story of the Civil War as Told By Participants." These words are taken from speeches, letters, editorials, diaries, memoirs, poems, articles, reports, orders, and even the sheet music of the day. Henry Steele Commager, the legendary American historian, covers every aspect of the war in his chapters: the events and issues leading up to the war, the great battles and campaigns, life on the home front as well as on the front lines and in the prisons, even the songs of the soldiers on both sides. You will find not only Lincoln and Lee in their own words, but ordinary soldiers and former slaves, along with ambassadors to foreign nations and women trying to keep the home fires burning. As a collection of excerpts of primary documents this is first-rate volume that will surely add to your knowledge about the Civil War, bringing a more personal touch than you get even with the historical narratives of Catton and Foote.

Just the notes connecting the first person peices of these volumes make for a good history of the Civil War! They're short but good. But that is not the point. The accounts themselves are by soldiers (and sometimes civilians) written as they lived the adventure and tragedy of the Civil War. Cavalry raids come to life. Battles materialize before your eyes. Even the "dull" days of waiting are filled with a vibrance. All this is done, not by "authors" but by folks like you and me. And it is true from the begining to end. The descriptions of the very first shot of the war at Fort Sumpter are absolutely paralyzing! They are from Mary Boykin Chesnut. And there is the Indiana farm boy who got the news that the war had begun while husking corn with his father. His surprise and sense of excitment riveted me almost as though I hadn't known of the war myself before I read his account. From these beginnings to Appomatox, this two volume series is a ripping good read. Buy these books! --- Scott Brundage

My friend Henry Holden has written a book that provides excellent reading for both the Historian and the interested reader. The author has blended the history of the DC-3 into a readable book for everyone. The history,the stats,the humor and the insight of the major players makes this book a must--Thanks Henry for your efforts

In case that the Amazon information page does not currently show the scope and size of this book let me say that this book is very complete: a very readable tale of the legend and lore of the DC-3, as well as being a very accurate factual history. The book has 365 pages, 495 b/w illustrations.

A quote from Dr. Peggy Batty founder of _Women in Aviation International_ "Definately the best book ever written on the DC-3"

This book has wonderful photos and stories of DC-3s around the world. A must read for any "Gooney" lover.

A beautiful and important book that straddles with much success the two worlds of health care and soul. It is a rich potpourri of paradigm shifts - from mechanistic to holistic medicine; comtemporary management thought - the organization as organism and connectedness; new philosophical and spiritual directions - integration of yin and yang, masculine and feminine, rational and emotive; spiritual enrichment of the workplace - reclaiming soul; and recapturing community in organizationl thinking. To be read profitably by anyone, in any professional and managerial career, interested in the world of work and "staying alive." The choice of quotations and occasional poetry weave together in sure grace the many rich strands of this significant how-to offering.

Through the use of story, anecdote, and interviews the authors help understand what is meant by soul and provide guidelines on how to bring soul back into medicine. I loved the blend of presonal and professional in the writing. I feel challenged to be more aware and mindful that all my professional interactions are opportunities for soulful connections in addition to whatever else is needed. The authors have given us a much needed book.

Struggle For The Heartland: The Campaigns From Fort Henry To Corinth by Stephen D. Engle (Professor of History, Florida Atlantic University) relates the Civil War campaign that began in early 1862 with Union penetration under General Ulysses S. Grant into the Confederate held west that culminated with the Northern capture of the Southern defended town of Corinth, Mississippi. Historian Stephen Engle also examines how prewar economic relations formed in this region, how relationships between locality and loyalty were developed and expressed, the commanders on both sides of the conflict, as well as other civil and military authorities. Engle also describes the campaigns' significance within the larger theater of war and the post-war era of Reconstruction. The Struggle For The Heartland is an informed and informative contribution to Civil War Studies and an enthusiastically recommended contribution to academic reference collections, as well as Civil War buff reading lists.

Struggle For The Heartland: The Campaigns From Fort Henry To Corinth by Stephen Engle (professor of history, Florida Atlantic University) is the exhaustively researched, in-depth story about the military campaign that was the first significant Northern advance into the Confederate west. This campaign crushed all hopes the South had for avoiding a protracted battle, and set the stage for a grim and bloody war of attrition. Highly recommended for Civil War studies reading lists and reference collections, Struggle For The Heartland is an alternately fascinating and disturbing portrayal of a pivotal aspect of American military history.

In the preface to his "Life of Lincoln", William Herndon expounded that when writing the history of Lincoln's early life "the whole truth concerning him should be known" and there should be "nothing colored or suppressed." Having set the standard Herndon failed to follow it, for there were something's even Herndon must have felt should not be put into print. Scholars wishing to explore Lincoln's early life beyond the insights offered by Herndon's biography had to turn to examining the letters and notes collected for over a twenty year period by himself and his collaborator Jesse Weik. This often proved to be a daunting task. As the editor's in their introduction noted even though available on Micro roll film specific documents are "very hard to locate" and even if located are "very hard to read." To further complicate matters the index to the Herndon collection prepared by the Library of Congress is "neither accurate nor complete." What Editors Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis have done in their "Herndon's Informants" is to transcribe all of the known Herndon, Weik letters and notes into a readable and properly indexed Documentary Edition. What they have also done is create a masterpiece of scholarship that will be used by students of Lincoln for decades to come. "Herndon's Informants" offers the student the complete Herndon collection, unabridged and un-editorialized. To anyone who has a strong interest in learning more about Lincoln's early life this is just about all that is available and it simply must become a part of your personal library.

This book, first published in 1940 - long after Douglas' death - is based on Douglas' war-time journal and personal papers. Douglas began to assemble them into book form several times, but never had them published; his relatives did......What emerges are wonderful portraits of Douglas, Jackson (for whom Douglas was a staff officer) and many other well-known (and not so well-known) soldiers and civilians caught in the Civil War. Douglas is decidedly pro-Jackson, but Douglas also shows us the real Jackson: a man who could be cruel to the extreme and then gentle and kind a few moments later. The book is fill with humorous anecdotes, which make it a "fun read" - I could not put it down. Yet there is an underlying sadness in the book, as one watches Douglas' many friends being killed off, sees the homes of his family and civilian friends burned or otherwise destroyed. Douglas never explicitly states it, but the reader can feel the anguish that Douglas - and many others - experienced....... One thing Douglas did not do was go into great detail about each battle. He reasoned that later historians, with a better overall view of things, would do a much better job. What he does do is "put you there" - whether in battle, in camp, or on some small adventure. This is one fantastic book! Along with the memoirs of Gen. E.P. Alexander, these memoirs are about the best I have ever read. Simply a great book!

The Confederate story (written in the 1920's)as told by Mr. Henry is an evident detailed work, with easy readability that makes the going seamless.

This is a military literary work that starts with the shelling of Fort Sumter, and ends in early April of 1865 with the surrender of General Johnston to General Sherman. With every campaign talked about, there are regional illustrations so the reader can follow along quite easily (even me!). With these tellings he weaves interesting anecdotes; brothers fighting on opposite sides of the war, or my favorite: A union soldier stole across the Confederate lines dressed in civilian clothing to enjoy a night of dancing out "on the town" with the single ladies, to be back across to the Union side the next morning. The author accomplished quite successfully the "feeling" that permeated the war; from the exasperation of Washington with its generals to the long winter of 1864 - 1865, where Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was always hungry, at the point of starvation (often on 1/6 rations), and cold because of a lack of boots or shoes. Indecision; General Lee had a Union Army commission in which he took pride, but the loyalty to his home state of Virginia is what decided his allegiance after the beginning of the war.

As claimed on its jacket, this IS a complete one volume history of the short lived life of The Confederate States of America. For anyone looking to expand their knowledge on this period, I'd recommend this book to be a good start.

The book is very detailed. Seismic theory and practice is quite cogent and is the strongest area (about half the book). Strong descriptions are given on; Electrical Resistivity, Gravity, and Magnetics. IP, Spontaineous Potential, Magnetotelluric and Telluric and EM Surveying are barely mentioned. Not mentioned are; VLF, Ground Penetrating Radar, Remote Sensing and Radiometrics. I agree with the previous reviewer that it would be nice to have the Xcel spread sheets in both Mac & PC formats.

Excellent book for upper level undergraduate and graduate students in shallow geophysics. My only wish is that the disks could also be in IBM format and not only Mac format.

Although the authors are clearly very well versed in forensic anthropology, I was disappointed in the way they presented their material. The chapters weren't difficult to follow, but they read like memoirs of the authors' cases and I got the sense the authors were more interested in showing off than sharing knowledge with nonscientists. That made it tricky to isolate details, and frankly I've learned more from general crime scene books that devoted just one chapter to forensic anthropology. Bottom line: If you're looking for a solid reference book that you can turn to again and again, you'll probably find satisfaction only in the glossary at the end.

This is one of the most interesting books I've read in a long while. It's about forensic anthropology. If the title sounds boring, don't be mislead. Ubelaker has done a masterful job of interweaving the science of forensic anthropology with some really interesting detective stories. The result is a wonderful blend of story telling, murder mystery, and science rolled into one.

One of the first things I liked about this book is that Ubelaker talks to the reader using the same correct anatomical names of bones that you'd expect from one of the foremost experts in the field (which he is). That's not to say the text comes across stuffy or condescending. On the contrary. I got the feeling that even though I'm a complete novice in this area Ubelaker has treated me, the reader, with enough respect to speak to me in correct terms, while putting at my disposal the means to catch up with his vocabulary. For example, he put a glossary of terms at the end of the book, and a simple sketch of a human skeleton, so you can look up the funny sounding words and find out what they mean. The ulna and radius, for example, are the two bones in your forearm. The talus is one of the bones in your ankle. I always appreciate an author who educates me. Someone who makes me learn something new. But I especially appreciate that person when they make the learning process interesting and natural. Not all authors do that, and fewer still do it well.

You might expect a book on forensic anthropology to be laid out in topical chapters. One chapter might tell you all about the names of the bones. Another might discuss characteristic marks on bones from knives, etc. Still another might discuss the technical details of decomposition. Well, Ubelaker does all that, but he does it without you actually realizing that it's happening. He does it by constructing virtually the entire book out of case histories from his personal experience. These case histories are grouped, roughly, into chapters that each teaches a different concept. But he does not teach by recitation of fact and rot memorization. Instead, these case histories are laid out like miniature crime mysteries, with Ubelaker walking the reader through the story, showing how the bones hold the key to the mystery, and explaining how they tell their story.

This isn't a textbook, though I wouldn't be surprised to find it on a list of recommended reading for an anthropology class. Rather it is a book meant to introduce first-time readers to the subject in an interesting and informative manner. It's meant to both initiate interest in the subject as well as to inform.

I learned a lot of interesting things from Ubelaker's book. For example, I had no idea that anthropologists can tell different human groups apart from their skeletal remains. I'd always assumed that we look pretty much the same under our skins, but that's not the case. Telling men from women is pretty easy, and telling the difference between European, Mongoloid, and African origin is not too difficult, either. Little clues about which bones have fused together, the size of nasal openings, and the widths of certain bones allow anthropologists to make remarkably accurate determinations when they have a well-preserved full skeleton. And, depending on circumstances, they can even tell age with a pretty good level of confidence. Even when the amount of bone is very limited, I was surprised at some of his examples of the wealth of information that could be inferred.

Some of the case stories involve especially poignant human tragedies (every human death is a tragedy, but the stories of some of the victims tear at your heartstrings a little harder than do others). At first Ubelaker seems a little detached in his telling of some of these stories. But as I worked my way through the book it became clear that he is a first-rate professional, and that beneath the academic exterior there is a kind and compassionate heart that understands the human component of his work, and treats it with the utmost respect and dignity.

This book is about death, and the application of science in determining the cause of death based on examination of corpses. Some of the descriptions are graphic, and there are definitely some chapters you won't want to read during a meal. One of the questions that puzzled me during the beginning of the book was how scientists are able to determine, based on the degree of decomposition, how long a body had been dead. Science is based on experimentation, you know, and this area is no different than others. Make sure when you read that chapter you're not eating a sandwich.

The book has about 300 pages and it's illustrated with black and white drawings and a few black and white photographs. I found it very engaging. I picked it up at the Portland airport just before a trip to Boston. Five days later, when I returned to Oregon, I'd finished it. If you like a good mystery, practical applications of the scientific method, and if you have some interest in crime, forensics, or anthropology, I think you will be as fascinated by this book as I am.

As a graduate student in forensic science, I enjoyed this book. It had real case studies in forensic anthropology. If you are looking for a reliable source on the subject, Dr. Ubleker is a perfect candidate. He is the curator of the anthropology section at the Smithsonian, works on cases with the FBI and teaches a class in Forensic Anthropology at George Washington University. The book holds the readers interest and explains scientific methods/terminology in Forensic Anthropology.

Personally, I think this book is hilarious, but I HIGHLY WOULD NOT RECOMMEND IT TO TOLKIEN DIE-HARDS! I read the negative reviews of it, and really, you're asking for it if you're a "purist" and read this parody. Believe me, I love "The Lord of the Rings" and I've read it God knows how many times, but I found this book irresistable. The authors brilliantly ridicule the famous series, even skewering the Shakespearean language ("dead they were and yet not so ... their eyes shone like wet mushrooms"), characters (Tom Bombadil and Goldberry=Tim Benzedrine and Hashberry the druggies), the rhymes (O skinny wraith whose fingers are hypodermic needles!), tacky clothes (Gandalf in bellbottoms, Saruman in a red leotard and Glorfindel dressed in cheesecloth) and the names (Eorache daughter of Eorlobe; Benelux son of Electrolux) There is plenty of sharp and wickedly funny wit within this book. However, about 50% of it is a lot of dirty and crude humor that's pretty gross, and sometimes it gets so wild the plot is completely incoherent. Still, I read this so much I managed to memorize the Chant of the Green Toupees and drive my family crazy by reciting it over and over again. I'd recommend this book to casual LOTR fans, people who've read and know the book because otherwise you'll think the authors wrote it in an insane asylum, but definitely not purists and die-hards. If they want to get more Tolkien, they should read the Silmarillion and all of those history of Middle-Earth books.

In this outrageous parody of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, we get to follow the preposterous antics of an unbelievable group of misfits out to unmake a ring, and destroy an evil power. Goodgulf the wizard leads Frito, Spam, Moxie, Pepsi, Stomper the Ranger (he has many names), Bromosel, Gimlet the dwarf and Legolam the elf across Lower Middle Earth, as they dodge the evil pig-riding Nozdrul, foul Narcs and other baddies, on their way to dark Fordor.

As you can tell from the summary above, this book is not to be taken seriously! It is outrageously funny! Can a reader ever forget the four boggies meeting with the wild Tom Benzedrine and his magical lady Hashberry? No! Indeed, hardly a RPG session passes when one of us does not quote from this hilarious tome: "'Then we must head east,' said Goodgulf gesturing with his wand to where the sun was setting redly in a mass of sea-clouds."

This book is laugh-out-loud funny, and should be read by every fan of the great Tolkien. I recommend it wholeheartedly!

It was in order to read and enjoy this book that I first read "The Hobbit" and the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. One of my high school buddies, now a struggling author, was tossed out of English class for laughing out loud while reading this book during class. I read it in 1974, and remember laughing out loud frequently. [Unfortunately, LOTR and BOTR led to the Dungeons and Dragons(tm) role playing games, which cost me points off my GPA in college. ] Here it is, 25 years later, and rereading this book made me chuckle with delight. My kids want to read whatever it was that made Daddy laugh, so I have promised them that when they have finished Tolkein's books, which are good, clean heroic fantasy based on a variety of Western Literary archetypes, that they can read this short and humorous spoof.

The book has not aged as well as it might have, since it has many pop culture references from the late 1960's/early 1970's. Back then, drugs were "cool," writing dirty passages was a daring/shocking assault on the perceived prudery of American society, the anti-establishment theme was still a vibrant part of American culture, and National Lampoon was becoming a very funny (albeit sohpomoric) magazine. Cultural norms change, and some contextual humor will be lost to the current generation. All that notwithstanding, BOTR is a great spoof of LOTR and an integral part of any Tolkein collection.

For those of you offended by a spoof of JRR Tolkein's trilogy, including the indignant 8th grader, I challenge you to write a parody of the LOTR for Generation X. You will find that it takes great love for a work to spoof it successfully. Example: Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail movie, a spoof of the most beloved legendary figure of English culture. I suspect there are a lot of sharp wits out there who could equal, or even better, the original spoof and in so doing make a whole new generation laugh without losing their affection for the LOTR. I for one would love to see a Generation X spoof of Lord of the Rings.

Laughter is good for you. . . so read this book.