"Slim" Lewis loved the "bad boys" of the zoo and circus: the elephants that no one else could handle, the most dangerous and unpredicatable creatures in captivity. Elephants are uncanny animals, sometimes gentle and compassionate, sometimes dangerous and cunning; very like humans in ways good AND bad. Circus life can be brutal to humans and non-humans alike. But even so, most animal handlers like Mr. Lewis truly cared for (yes, loved) their charges (hence the decision to work with them in the first place). As a former zoo keeper myself, and having worked with Asian Elephants in a limited capacity, I find this book refreshingly honest and insightful. My (ex) husband (and former zoo keeper as well) had met Mr. Lewis at a zoo keepers conference and had his treasured copy of this book signed by him. What a piece of history this book is! You will be drawn instantly into a captivating auto-biographical memoir full of nostalgia, lore, Americana, and adventure. Parts will amuse you, parts will shock you, and parts will make you cry. This is REAL experience from a pro elephant trainer. His perspectives are often brutally honest and heartfelt. His love of Elephants is undeniable. Even if you have no interest in the circus or in elephants, the wealth of history here makes compelling reading. The photos alone are priceless. My hope is that this book (an enhanced and expanded version of the earlier "Elephant Tramp") will be published again and remain in print for years to come. You will want to share this book with your friends. In fact, I have just ordered my own copy to replace the one I left behind.

In The Footsteps Of George Washington by William G. Clotworthy is combines a brief and unusual biography with a travel guide to some 300 publicly accessible sites associated with the life of America's first president. From his birthplace and childhood home, to sites associated with his business, military, and political achievements, In The Footsteps Of George Washington is a unique compendium which is especially appropriate for vacationers seeking to get in touch with the personalities, events, and places most closely associated with the founding and development of the American nation. Indeed, the travels of George Washington took him from a frontier settlement in the Potomac Valley where he worked as a surveyor, to his military battles up and down the Atlantic seaboard. George Washington visited more of what was the united States during the years of his presidency, than did any subsequent American president during the 19th century. It was only with the technological improvements in transportation that 20th century presidents would match the travel accomplishments of our Founding Father. Also very highly recommended is William Clotworthy's other book: Homes And Libraries Of The Presidents: Second Edition and Presidential Sites: A Directory Of Places Associated With Presidents Of The United States

I thought this book was well laid out by it's author, who happens to be a descendant from the subject's family. The historical content is excellent, and provides some good insight for history buffs and reenactors alike on the personal opinions and emotions of a soldier in the 7th Wisconsin of the Iron Brigade. I would recommend this book to anyone who desires to know more about the men of the legendary Black Hats! In all, a total of 27 letters are published here from George Washington Partridge, Jr. to his sisters, giving the reader a first-hand account of the Civil War through the eyes of a Union soldier.

This is the only Washington biography written by a contemporary who knew him and served with him in the Army. Certainly the longest Presidential biography I know of written by a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. According to Senator Beveridge's later biography of John Marshall, Marshall wrote it in installments, and sold it through the U.S. Post Offic distribution network, to make enough money to pay off his massive Virginia land purchsse which in turn enabled Marshall's children to live out their lives free of the need to write books or make land deals. And it worked that way. But that's not all this is.

The first entire volume says little about Washington, because Marshall felt he needed to set the stage with a condensed history of the colonies prior to Washington. Few of Washington's later biographers went to such subsequent introductory lengths, but then Marshall's law practice ended up acquainting him with the early pre-history of the deeds and conveyances of Virginia, the further elaboration of which can be interpreted as enveloping the rest of the colonies.

This is also a history of the U.S. Army, and how it fought and starved in successive cycles which are described in minute detail exceeding most other accounts. Some of this covers organized military campaigns preceding the declaration of independence, the scope of which I had not heretofore realized by undergoing annual waves of pilgrim-study in "My Early Education."

Leading and embodying this story of land and armies, and ideas, Marshall gives us Washington, illuminated most clearly by excerpts from Washington's own letters. Marshall also gives us Marshall, distilling out of military examples and instances of weak government preceding 1789, potent arguments for increased federal power to do the things our federal government has since done quite well: raise armies, raise taxes, subdue the Indians, kick out the European powers, build a strong navy, and take no back talk from smallish tyrants resentful of centralized governmental power directly and simultaneously exercised on each citizen, and on each state.

When Hamilton wrote that we need "energy in the Executive" he had to have been thinking of Washington, and Marshall catalogs this energy with meticulous documentation of each British officer leading campaigns against us, each subordinate officer on our side under Washinton's command, and how the constant maneuver of armies up and down the length of our seaboard was accomplished--usually without many shoes and without much dry powder.

So Marshall knowing Washington probably insulated him from too much disconnected iconography, and his writing is free of modern fixations on negative or unseemly personal or pychographic tidbits of trivia. Modern readers are left to cling to factual reporting of how Washington handled this British Lord or that recalcitrant congress.

There's a lot here in all five volumes, and the flow of the over-written parts isn't that bad once you get used to it. When one man had such a central role in all of the key events of our country's founding, and rode out the formation into its institutional phase, thereafter to die in bed at home, Marshall may not have been able to write it any other way than to go over all of the events, to catch the essence of the man.

Neat discovery: LaFayette was only 24 years old while commanding the French at the battle of Yorktown. Marshall quotes from the letters of Cornwallis (or maybe it was Sir Henry Clinton) who refers to LaFayette as "the boy." This is the same boy who later presented Washington with the key to the Bastille, which today hangs on the wall of the stairway of Mount Vernon going up to the second floor.

My seven year old son loved this book. As a beginning reader, he never balked when told to sit and read. It provided a great springboard for discussions for bringing history to life and encouraged a love for history and reading!

The entire "A picture book of..." biography series byDavid Adler is outstanding. Perfect for lower elementary studentsdoing their first real report. Makes a great read-aloud for non-readers as they are easily completed in one sitting. The cute cartoon-like pictures are kid friendly. But most importantly, they are loaded with information including a timeline of important events.

A goober is the old name for peanuts and A POCKETFUL OF GOOBERS is a biography about George Washington Carver, the scientist who made peanuts famous. To be completely honest, I didn't know much about Carver and therefore found this children's book entertaining, educational, and informative. For instance, I learned that Carver was a gifted artist as well as a scientist and that later in life he became good friends with Henry Ford. The biography is written in a simple style that elementary students will find easy to read and Carver's life is so interesting they should find the book interesting.

This is the first short history of the Washington presidency to appear in almost thirty years. The last, by Forrest MacDonald, argued that Washington was a figurehead president and that Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson actually dominated the administration. Warren - formerly an editor of the presidential series of The Papers of George Washington - takes the opposite position. He successfully argues that Washington was the central figure of his presidency. The book takes up each of Washington's major accomplishments as president: the creation of the presidency, the settlement of the nation's financial crisis, the opening of the West, the estblishment of the capital city, and the preservation of peace at a time when the Western World was being consumed by war. This is one of the most thoughtful, beautifully-written books on Washington I have read. This would be an ideal book for a college or advanced high school class to read, and should interest any reader of American history.

I thought this might be a tabliod type expose, but to my delight, it really is a thorough, factual work. Each and every president is covered and the historic research is evident. Many sections are dry and boring only because those presidents weren't particularly sex driven men. But the notable exceptions like Lyndon "Bull Nuts" Johnson, Jack Kennedy and others make this an eye opening and shocking account of what our presidents really are doing behind closed doors. After reading this book, you want to give this country back to King George! 5 stars to Nigel for his tireless research and fact finding.

My son and I read this book this summer for his summer reading program. Not only did my son, who was 7, enjoy the book but I couldn't wait to learn more from our readings. We read the book in two days. I am suggesting this book to his 2nd Grade teacher this year. This is a must to read book!!!