This book covers Joseph Smith's personal, political, and religious life. When you are finished reading it, you cannot deny that Joseph Smith was an honest man.

A nice anthology of stories. The stories sound historical, but how much is based on fact and how much is myth is questionable. The stories are written in a folksy style, like oral histories. The tales mostly cover the time period of just before and after the Revolutionary War. Mostly the stories deal with skirmishes between the Tories and Indians with the Whigs. All together interesting reading if you're curious about the area, the time period and like folk stories.

In my research on eugenics on the deaf, of course many of the deaf were placed undert the generic name 'feeble-minded' especially if they did not know they were deaf. This was the favorite catch-all psychological and social term from the 1850's to at least the 1940's. In their quest to prove that feeble-mindedness was inherited Davenport and Goddard in the United States 'found' a family who they thought illustrated their beliefs in the finest way. In the process they denigrated a family history on the basis of a pseudo-science which used no scientific methodology but rather labeled an entire family based on their perception of this family's looks and abilities.

What is even more sad is that the woman who ended up in Goddard's institution for the feeble-minded for her entire and long life, was actually a beautiful and given the environment she was placed in, accomplished person. And she was placed there because the step-father of her family did not want children in the household who were not his.

This book was written by Smith to shred the evidence that the eugenists used to black-ball this family. He wrote a short rehistory of the family, and did research which showed that the eugenists went so far as to retouch pictures to make the family look worse. He also did a fine job of showing the completely unscientific methodology used to prove the eugenic theory of inherited poverty, feeble-mindedness, and criminality. Smith finally clears the name of this family by proving Goddard as what he was--a prejudiced charlatan with no thought except for his own fame.

With the near completion of the family genome, and the specter of eugenicism raising its ugly head again, it should be considered by the publishers to reprint this book as a reminder of how social attitudes affect science. I think it is also needed to once again continue to clear this family's history (even though the names are made up) because so much was written to denigrate them.

Karen Sadler, Science Education, University of Pittsburgh

This introductory textbook gives a balanced (neither overly conservative nor overly liberal) introduction to all of the classical interpretive questions. Unfortunately, many proofreading errors found in the previous edition have not been corrected in this edition. Some of these errors are substantive, such as putting all of the prophetic books under the heading "former prophets" on p.18 and putting Jerusalem instead of Samaria as the city conquered by the Assyrians in 722 (in the glossary under "transcolonization"). However, an alert teacher can compensate for these types of flaws in an otherwise very competent presentation of the contents and interpretative issues of Hebrew Bible.

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If you love the Tudors, and you already have your basic facts down, you'll really enjoy this orignial look at Henry VIII. Profesor Smith allows a look at Henry VIII as a person, revealing a personality that may have belonged to this great King. Definately worth the read.

More than four centuries after his death, Henry VIII remains one of the most fascinating monarchs in English history. As a result, numerous biographies have been written about him - and his equally famous six wives. But only Lacey Baldwin Smith's biography does justice to both subject and reader. He avoids the easy trap of portraying Henry as a misogynistic tyrant who twisted religion and politics in the pursuit of personal gratification. Such a treatment, sadly popular in current biographies, is an insult to any student of history. Instead, Smith brings Henry alive in the context of the turbulent sixteenth-century; he is seen as both man and king, troubled soul and tyrannical monarch. When you have finished this brilliant and learned work, you will have a new and profound understanding of Reformation England - and its contradictory leader.

When I began to read "The Turn Of The Screw" by Henry James, I made the assumption this book would be different from all other books which I have read. I thought it would be different because it is considered an American literature classic. Although Henry James is among many great authors, he is without a doubt, a one of a kind.
In this book his unique writing style has me wondering why such thoughts went through his mind. His wordy and elaborate writing style presented his strange subject matter in a style that could be accepted in his time. While it is sometimes difficult to follow the story it allowed James to express what would have been a controversial topic.
At times in this story you become anxious and excited, while at other times you are left picking and choosing what you think is going on, and when you least expect something to happen you become surprised, and become more interested in the book.
The ending surprised me. What I thought was going to be a happy ending turned into a perverse finale and a total tragedy. From beginning to end, Henry James wrote a book that is different from all other books.

I've heard a great deal of criticism directed both at this novel and at Henry James himself. "The Turn of the Screw" has been derided as dull and uneventful, while James's writing is scornfully dismissed because of its complexity. I found myself quite surprised at this negative perspective - "The Turn of the Screw" is fascinating and remarkably entertaining.

The story itself is fairly simplistic on the surface. In the hands of a lesser writer, it would have been a simple "things that go bump in the night" ghost story of no consequence. However, the ambiguity of the narration brings the story a great deal of depth. Are we to trust the governess's story, or is the entire plot merely a figment of her imagination or a neurotic response to her sexuality? The brilliance here is in the wide range of interpretation. The entire novel can be taken either way (or both ways at once) equally well, which is fascinating.

Many reviewers have (unfavorably) commented on the writing style of Henry James, noting its complexity and verbosity. While his prose can be difficult to master (I had to read several sentences multiple times to decipher them), the complex language does not merely use extra words for the sake of making the story longer. Instead, every bit of detail in the sentences modifies and elaborates on the text, helping greatly to create the haziness that permeates "The Turn of the Screw." I thoroughly enjoyed the style of writing here, and this is coming from somebody who criticized the language in "Wuthering Heights" and "Tess of the D'Urbervilles." The complexity enhances the novel, rather than weakening it.

All in all, I was astonished by the great quality of "The Turn of the Screw." One last note - I highly recommend the Norton Critical Edition, featuring authorial commentary, reviews, and criticism. An excellent choice.

This book begins with a retelling of a sinister tale from the past: a young woman in Victorian age England securing a job as governess to two orphan children. As she arrives at her new post, she feels uneasy even though all seems well and the future looks bright. Despite attempts at optimism, the presence of evil continues until the governess begins to experience regular and terrifying sightings. The horror rapidly grows when the reason behind these visitations is realized.

Although this book is short, its impact is nevertheless profound. The story's setting is surrealistic, leaving many factors open to speculation and debate. The end is at the same time chilling and mysterious. The enigmatic nature of the story adds to the mystery and terror and this book is sure not to disappoint any reader looking for a haunting and unforgettable story.

If you are really interested in what happened between Turks and Armenians in 1915,i can suggest you to read Heath Lowry's The Story Behind Ambassador Morgenthau's Story.Professor Heath Lowry is a well-known historian in Princeton University and in his book,he proves Ambassador Morgenthau's Story wrong scientifically,shows how the book is based on rumors.A must to read for those who are interested in this matter...

The book is advisable only when one reads it with Heath W. Lowry' s "The Story Behind Ambassador Morgenthau' s Story", published by ISIS Press, Istanbul in 1990. As Dr. Lowry describes:

"The answer is simple and relates to the fact that Morgenthau was writing a piece of wartime propaganda with the expressly stated purpose of mobilising support for President Wilson's war effort. He consciously down played the close relationships he enjoyed with the Young Turk leadership throughout his sojourn in Constantinople and sacrificed truth for the greater good of helping to generate anti-Turkish sentiment which would transform itself into pro-war sentiment."

Unfortunately the American public opinion during that time was based on such sources as the services of Dragaman (translators) between the officials of the Ottoman Empire and the American Ambassador. And these dragaman were not Ottoman Turks but Ottoman Armenians and Ottoman Greeks both were in conflict with the Ottoman Empire. Ambassador Morgenthau used two of them, two Armenians, namely Hagop S. Andonian (personal secretary) and Arshag K. Schmavonian (legal assistant). The printed copy however went through severe war time propaganda editing by the US Secretary of State, Robert Lensing and Pulitzer award winning author, Burton J. Hendrick.

One of the most dramatic incidents and the diversion of the facts were about the life insurance benefits of the deceased Armenian insurers of an American Insurance company. The book claims that Talaat, the Ottoman Interior Minister, made a request to him that the Ambassador should help to facilitate payment the insurance benefits to the Ottoman Treasury, as there were no heirs to the insurers! However, Dr. Lowry proved that after reading the actual dated letters, the request of the Ottoman Minister was to stop the American Insurance Company from transferring their capital funds from Ottoman Empire to France, and thereby preserving sufficient capitalization for any benefits claims. Such diversion of the facts is extremely dangerous.

It is therefore an important document about the wartime journalism and subsequent unfortunate diversions of the facts to base Armenian claims of 1915. We could only be grateful to Dr. Lowry that he shed light into the story with his review of the original letters stored in FDR Library and in the National Achieves.

Ambassador Morgenthau has always been one of the most reliable sources on the Armenian Genocide. No surprise that so many attempts have been made to tarnish his image, or to question his testimonies on the terrible crime committed by the Ottoman Empire against its Christian Armenian subjects. Yet, the Morgenthau version of the 1915 events is abslutely irrefutable, and I strongly recommend this book to those interested in finding out what has really happened during the agony of the "ill man of Europe".

I was quite looking forward to this "star-spanning, swashbuckling, epic adventure" which hinted at being a lovely combination of space opera and Rafael Sabatini. Unfortunately it's not much more than a tepid tale of betrayal and revenge with hardly any swashbuckling and little action. Too many tongue-twisting names, titles, and unnecessary tweaking of everyday words to make them more alien to the reader. Blah. Read "Captain Blood" instead.

A slow, slow start as befitting the swashbuckling influences that Smith cites in his dedication. But once it gets going the action builds to a fun and satisfying ending. Archaic language that takes a while to muddle through will be charming to some, offputting to others. Also be prepared for some scenes that are shocking in the description of their violence.

If you are looking for Wrestling-like literature, turn elsewhere. This is a wide-sweeping adventure which is vastly entertaining on several levels. Mr. Smith has managed to create a universe which seems far-removed from our own, but which turns out to be amazingly similar at it's core. An inspiring story about a young lad who loses his home and family, but creates a life which inspires others. Like many of Mr. Smith's novels, this one has masterful character development and creates dramatic visual images. Would make an excellent film.

This book is designed to create a bleak,desolate tone (a la Wuthering Heights), and it does so by describing the heroine's graduallyincreasing suffering and oppression. The novel, like so many of Arthur Conan Doyle's SherlockHomes stories, exposes the vices that can flourish in the lonely, isolated British manor. The hero'ssufferings come as a blast of fresh air and relief in the novel: Orlando goes to fight on the Britishside in the American revolution and ends up wounded with several Indians in a rather inaccuratelydescribed American landscape. There is a sort of sequel, The Wanderings of Warwick, which tells what happens to two of the characters who disappear for a huge portion of the novel. The heroine is rather pathetic for a good deal of the novel, but she gets a burst of feminist courage at the end of the novel as she sets out on her own and finds a job.

An adaptation of Smith's dissertation, this academic volume finds and interprets many incidents of walking found in Henry David Thoreau's writings, from his journal to his essays, from his poetry to his books. One can't help but wonder why.


The author advances his topic through general themes and the various ways in which Thoreau used walking: as the perfect transcendental physical and mental exercise; as the investigation of nature and the wider landscape; as a way to rid the mind and body of civilization in order to think straight; as a way to exhibit nonconformity and individuality; as a way to inspire writing or garnish income by surveying. I find it particularly curious that only two pages are devoted to surveying, which was one of Thoreau's primary means of support and which got him travelling around his town, learning the nooks and crannies of Concord properties, providing the walking experience while allowing him to unearth natural discoveries along the way. Surely that part of his life deserves more than a mere two pages of coverage, especially when he had to walk to do the job.


Perhaps the casual Thoreauvian will pluck this book off a shelf because the title sounds as though it might be a guidebook for applying Thoreau's philosophies to our lives today. Well, that gentle reader will be disappointed. By changing one word in the title, the author could have given us a better expectation of the content. If the subtitle instead read: "Thoreau and HIS search for self," then we would know that it's all about the famous naturalist's physical and introspective journeys, and not a model for our own. Smith sticks only to literary analysis. If he had gone that one step further -- both literally and figuratively -- and shown how Thoreau's experience can apply to our own search for self today, a person would have a real reason to pick up this book.


For it is painfully obvious that Smith has most likely never seen the places Thoreau visited. While Thoreau could claim, "I have traveled much in Concord," the reader gets the impression that Smith can't say the same. He sticks to literary analysis and never puts himself into the picture. In a passage on page 106, Thoreau is quoted as having earlier traversed "a rocky hillside where the sweet-fern grows for a mile." The casual reader might be interested in knowing that sweet-fern still grows on the northern rocky shore of Walden Pond; and when you squeeze a leaf between your fingertips, a lovely spicy scent stays with you for the rest of your walk. But Smith probably doesn't know that. Instead he spends four pages of the final chapter mentioning articles and books written by those who actually HAVE attempted to walk in Thoreau's footsteps. Thus this book appears to be written by someone who has READ quite a bit but has not DONE. And yet Thoreau is quoted on page 182: "The forcible writer stands bodily behind his words with his experience. He does not make books out of books, but he has been *there* in person." Evidently Smith read and copied those words but did not heed their admonishment.


The text itself saunters along. It isn't broken by subheadings for emphasis or for easy reference, and no index is included, so its academic usefulness is limited. This book is not designed in a way to be accessible to scholars, and it's not written with contemporary lifestyle application in mind. So the question on the reader's mind is: Why should we care? Or, Why am I reading this? Hmmm. Why, indeed.


I should mention that I found Smith's list of sources moderately useful. Some interesting titles about walking or about Thoreau appear in the bibliography, and they are worthy of further investigation. So my investment in purchasing this volume was not a total loss.


Here's the coup de grace: A lovely ethereal photo of the North Bridge graces the cover, providing yet another temptation for the casual reader to believe that held within are the secrets of how we can use Henry David Thoreau's writings in order to live our lives today. For of course the savvy Thoreauvian knows that while the North Bridge is indeed an historical symbol of Concord, Massachusetts, no bridge existed in that spot from 1793 to 1875. Thoreau (1817-1862) would not have and could not have walked its expanse. Ah, the irony.