There is nothing more refreshing than to stumble upon old books written before the 1960's, written in a wonderfully Eurocentric Weltanschaung. Nothing mattered more to us then than the various groups' heritage from different parts of Europe - Swedes, Norwegians, Irish, and Italians. That WAS America, and it is the America most of us still secretly long for as we face each working day in a sea of alien faces and nonEuropean tongues.

Ms. Shippen's book was a chance find, and yielded a most amazing ing result: I read Chapter 8 on the Irish potato famine to a friend from my Catholic high school days, complete with my brogue. She could not stop laughing and had to take a break to go to the bathroom, for the writing was so charmingly simplistic, condescending and self-congratulatory that the effect was hilarious. She recommended I read it thus outloud at the next Bardathon here at St. Patrick's Day. I did so, against stiff competition from many professional actors, who had brought books of real Irish literature and poetry with them.

My "Sr. Annunciata" style had them rolling in the aisles, and so I won the Best Bad Brogue award. Many people came up later offering to buy this precious book. Looking up the author later, I see that she wrote prolifically for children on history.

This sheer basic children's style is just my level.

I recommend it to all of us in 2001 melting-pot madness.