"History has given Mary Custis Lee a bad rap," writes John Perry in the opening sentence of LADY OF ARLINGTON: THE LIFE OF MRS. ROBERT E. LEE. "I'm out to change that."

And change that he does. Perry rehabilitates Mary Custis Lee from a whining, neurotic invalid whose weakness and selfishness made everybody around her miserable and demonstrates that she was, in fact, a charming, attractive woman who turned heads in the Supreme Court chamber as a teenager and who almost certainly received a marriage proposal by no less a man than Sam Houston.

"Over her sixty-five years," writes Perry, "friends, relatives, and perfect strangers consistently described her as cheerful, smiling, welcoming, and industrious. She read Latin and Greek, and when she ordered a copy of LES MISERABLES, she wrote the bookseller to send it in either English or French, whichever was more readily available."

True, had not her great-grandfather been George Washington, and had she not have married Robert Edward Lee, the greatest of Confederate generals, we probably would never have heard of Mary Anne Custis. But Perry shows that she was a fascinating and inspiring woman in her own right.

Mary Custis Lee was an excellent painter, a published author, a legendary hostess, a tireless fund-raiser for charities, a devout Christian, staunch patriot, the mother who cared for seven children when their father was away from home for years at a time, and a devoted wife who nurtured her beloved husband's career even as arthritis crippled her body and the ravages of the Civil War drove her from the only home she had ever known.

Through diligent and dedicated research, John Perry has tracked down false rumors, half-truths, and conflicting claims about his subject and, by bringing the real Mary Custis Lee into the light, has set the record straight.

"Certainly the most exciting discover was Mary's prayer journal at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond," writes the author. "As far as I can learn, none of it has ever been published or even examined before. Filled with her innermost thoughts, hopes, and fears, it casts new light on every word we have from her."

Was the discovery of Mary's prayer journal a blessing or a curse? Although some readers may rejoice in Mary's expression of religious emotions (concerning which Perry puzzlingly writes, "No one would ever read this"), others may find her diary to be overwrought, tedious, repetitious, and ultimately boring.

Be that as it may, Perry's diligent and dedicated research has tracked down false rumors, half-truths, and conflicting claims, and, by bringing the real Mary Custis Lee into the light, has set the record straight.

3.5 Stars

I was attracted to this book as a result of reading, "April 1865". I found General Robert E. Lee to be a particularly fascinating person, both militarily and in his personal life, and so a biography of his wife seemed to be an appropriate progression. I had never read material on this historical figure, so this books promise of the inclusion of her diary for the first time was also an attraction. The book was less than I had hoped for, while Mrs. Lee certainly held a unique place as a result of The Civil War and her relationship to George Washington, this book did not seem to justify its necessity.

Mrs. Lee like many women of the southern wealthy families lost virtually everything she ever called her own as the result of the war. She also was a beneficiary of the provision of a new home, and a more rapid return to a form of normalcy due to her husband's appointments, and then her son taking his father's place as a college president after the war. This was a return that was measurably longer for other families. The transition she did not make with her husband was the progressive acceptance of what had happened, and acknowledging the new reality that post war America would offer to those of the losing side of the conflict.

Mrs. Lee came from a family that was very progressive with regard to abolition and many other issues typically credited to The North. Unfortunately these thoughts did not carry through the war, and when compounded by her illness and the confiscation of the family homestead, she spent the balance of her life growing progressively angry. The US Government did return the title to her Arlington home after her death, and after it had thoroughly been destroyed as a family home. This home was also the site of many of George Washington's belongings, including the bed he had passed away in, his carriage, silver, literally rooms of possessions. This estate that had been the calling place of successive presidents and dignitaries like Lafayette was turned into a deforested piece of land, a squatter's village numbering several thousand people, and a national cemetery that encroached to the edge of her families graves.

The offerings from the diary are fairly slim in their variety and information they share. They are deeply personal notes of a devout Christian woman, however they do not offer great and original insight to her life.

This book is about much more than Mrs. Lee; it could have been called, The Families of Arlington. There is much that is of interest regarding her relations, and details of General Lee's correspondence, however she alone does not fill this book. Other work has been written about Mrs. Lee, and has received high praise; a reader might be better served to read other work prior to setting out with this offering by Mr. Perry.

I love everything about this book. They way it traces Mrs. Mary Custis Lee's family all the way back to George Washington and takes it forward from their. The way it describes the acquisition of Arlington. I have never seen a biography written better and keep my attention word for word till the end prior to this book.

What through the subject list appears to be a book on the power of the mind and how to harness it is simply the authors religious ideas spattered with quotes and misquotes from the bible.

This book is best reviewed in the audio section of Amazon.com. Simply put, the content is a stroke of genius. Don't put this on your MUST READ list...simply buy it and read it and get the audio while you're at it. It'll get you through those dark days - and propel you into a new thought pattern.

Anyone picking up this book should know from the start that this is as about as unobjective a biography as one is bound to find. Henry Adams has multiple scores to settle, on behalf of John Adams and John Quincy Adams (his great-grandfather and grandfather, respectively), with John Randolph of Roanoke (who never had a kind word for either of the Adams presidents). The reader would be strongly advised to read both the introduction by Robert McColley, as well as the notes on the text (located at the end of the book) which deals with specific matters of interpretation in the book.

Adams uses this book to savage Randolph at every opportunity. The bulk of the book follows Randolph in his congressional career up through 1806, when he broke with the Jefferson administration over the administration's attempt to pay France two million dollars to secure Western Florida from Spain. Up until 1806, as Adams puts it, Randolph was the "spoiled child of his party and recognised mouthpiece of the administration." (p. 118) Randolph was in the thick of things up to that point, including the Louisiana Purchase, the approval of which he helped shephard through the House of Representatives. He was also given the responsibility for the February 1805 impeachment of Samuel Chase, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. At that point in history, the question of the Executive Branch's authority over the Judicial Branch was far from settled. A successful prosecution of Justice Chase might well have changed the history of Executive-Judicial relations, but Randolph botched the job thoroughly. Adams can barely contain his glee when describing how unequal to the task Randolph was.

The bungled Chase impeachment increasingly made Randolph an embarrassment to the Jefferson administration. Randolph's political prospects were damaged beyond repair after 1806, and from that point on, as he became increasingly erratic, was on the periphery of the American political scene. He quarrelled, at one point or another, with every administration from Jefferson to Andrew Jackson. Adams devotes only 70 pages to Randolph's life from 1806 until his death in 1833. It is evident at this point that Adams is more interested in directing criticism at Jefferson and his successors in the Virginia Dynasty than he is at studying the life of Randolph.

Adams does make good points in his book, especially regarding the notions of states' rights. Coventional wisdom holds that Randolph was one the early advocates of the states' rights philosophy that John C. Calhoun subsequently embraced, but Adams argues persuasively that actions such as the Louisiana Purchase and the protection by the federal government of slavery (such as the Fugitive Slave Act) were in themselves encroachments on the rights of individual states and helped further the centralization of government in the United States. Far from being a traditional states' rights advocate, Adams contends, Randolph did a great deal to undermine the notion of states' rights as it existed in 1789.

Despite the rather venomous nature of the book, it is none the less a wonderful piece of literature that is worth reading. Adams' skills as a writer are evident throughout. The three stars represents a dual rating: 5 stars for the quality of the writing, 1 star for the utter lack of objectivity...although what could the reader seriously expect anyway?

Most of those now negatively described as hackers are in their teens. Relatively unskilled in both the computer and personal areas, they use simplistic means to break into systems and are often caught. Frequently as a result of bragging about their exploits. In vying for attention, they fail to understand that the computer equivalent of joyriding is a very serious crime. No one knows how much the latest outbreak of a computer virus cost, but some estimates are in the hundred of millions of dollars.
This book is written for teens and is designed to give them fair warning concerning the consequences to both themselves and society if they choose to follow the hacker path. The point is to get the reader to understand where the ethical and legal bounds of computer use are. In that sense, the point is good, but it is not effectively executed. Very little time is actually spent in the gray areas of computing. No one can dispute that disabling an air traffic control system is dangerous behavior. How about middle ground such as playing a joke on another by using their e-mail address without their knowledge? Such more likely situations are not adequately covered.
The purpose of this book is an honorable and necessary one. However, it is written more for the pre-teen age and more ink should have been used setting down the limits of hacking. The user sophisticated enough to be able to hack would find the explanations in this book too simplistic to be of interest.

The book is to-the-point, it answered some of the questions that I had, it is a quick read for an adult. I recommend it for children.

This book is an excellent guide for my students. It explains many complex subjects in an simple manner. This book will stay a fundamental part of my schedule. I strongly recommend it for 4-6th graders, it provides a reference while keeping reading interesting. Way above any other book on this subject for this grade level. If you are unhappy with it, you are probably too old to be reading it in the first place.

I've seen Peter Belesis' work around, and it is way too confusing and buggy to get any real use out of it. His Hierarchical menus are beautiful, but you never get to see one on your own site because it is so convoluted and screwy!

The book appears very comprehensive, but really needs a quick reference guide on all the elements of dynamic HTML (including scripts and HTML itself).

Dynamic Html Unleashed is a once of great DHTML books. But this is clearly not a introduction book. You should have a good HTML and javascript knowladge .

People in Richmond, VA love it. If you know anything about Richmond....well, an open mind would be an endangered species there. Perhaps I have said enough on that subject. More specifically, if you are looking for a book based in historical facts, look somewhere else.

If the Kennedys are indeed, driving you crazy, you will enjoy this book, although you may consider consulting a specialist to discover why one family that isn't your own is actually chipping away at your sanity. If you are looking for a partisan work, you will enjoy this book. And finally, if are you are interested in hearing any guy's opposing side to Camelot, this one will be a keeper for your library. If, however, you are more of a historical reader and interested in dissecting the Kennedy story and comparing notated facts to make your decision, this is not the book for you. True the author uses actual sources and notates his bibliography but if you delve into said footnotes and care enough to look them up, they read like a movie review. Say Rex Reed writes "This film is the most fabulous flop..." You will probably see that quote on the one sheet in the theatre lobby "Rex Reed says this film is the most fabulous..." The commentary about Ted Kennedy's record in Mass. is incomplete at best. But it is one long rant and rave and fans of rants may dig it. All in all, I think that while the Kennedys may be driving Mr. Parker crazy, most people will have more concrete reasons for their stand on La Familia Kennedy than this particular book.

I enjoyed this book. It was very interesting. Perhaps the truth?