5 comments about Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty.

1. This book is an amazing account of who true American "HERO's" are, not somebody from Hollywood or a music band. It saddens my heart that every year we lose more and more of these "HERO's" and nothing is said about them on the National News, but everytime a Pop-Music Icon or Hollywood actor who lived a questionable life anyways passes away from a drug overdose we glorify them for numerous years to come. Last time I checked the President of the United States of America is required to render a Salute to a "Medal of Honor" receipient not to someone who sold over a million copies of a record! The "Medal of Honor" is the pinnacle of the morals and standards that we use to teach our children, unfortunately the Welfare System is what we teach our children is the standard today. There is a difference in what America used to be and what we've allowed it to become today. Buy this book, sit down, read through it with your children and teach them what it means to be a "True American".



2. A great book to have. Each heroic story summorized with photos on two pages each. You can read for hours or for minutes at a time either way you are impressed with the courage these brave men had.



3. EVERY PRIOR SERVICE VETERAN SHOULD GET THIS BOOK AND READ ABOUT THESE TRUE HEROES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BOOK ARRIVED BEFORE DUE DATES



4. Great Book! Wonderful insight into the lives of some of our bravest fighting men



5. This was purchased for my Husband for his birthday. My 8 year old son asked, what is the Medal of Honor? And so the dialogue continues, with the most magnificent companion book that you could ask for. I recommend this book to all parents, but perhaps I am going out on a limb here, I recommend this to all Dad's who want to teach their kids about the meaning of bravery and honor. You won't regret it and they will never forget. Lest we forget.

5 comments about The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge: A Lakota Odyssey.

1. I found this book among a box of old books that were left behind in a basement. Because of my Cherokee heritage, I was compelled to read The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge. And now, I'm glad I did. It is heartbreaking to read how the white man treated the Indian and everything that was done to them. This book tells of events that took place and aren't at all very pretty, especially in the Viet Nam era. If The Trail of Tears was found to be an enjoyable read, then you must read this story about the Lakota Indians. I enjoyed every page.



2. While most readers who have read any books about the plight of the American Indians will find little that is surprising in this extended family history the book is still important as a reminder of the history of broken promises, terrible policies and callous, often brutal treatment that our government has subjected the Indians to over literally centuries. This personal history evokes the pain suffered by families forcably seperated, by children starved and cultural traditions trampled and in some cases even outlawed!



3. I have read countless family sagas and this is one of the best! I am surprised this novel did not receive more credit. Also liked the vintage photos and quotes.
   It begins with Chief Dull Knife, legendary leader of the northern Cheyenne, and tells of his time during the 600 mile Cheyenne Long Walk which absolutely brought me to tears. This section covers many of the Cheyenne and Lakota battles as well as Custer and Fetterman, and on into Wounded Knee. There are intriguing stories about Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and many others.
   The saga also covers Dull Knife's children and grandchildren who settled on the Pine Ridge rez or Lakota nation. George Dull Knife toured Europe with Buffalo Bill Cody and I loved the funny tales; the Sioux ride their first and last carnival ride, one warrior battles an ape, and the Lakota bet a buffalo can whip a royal bull. On the more serious side you learn the cruel truth about civilization; Indian schools, allotments, and how terrible life was and still is on the Pine Ridge Indian Rez.
   Many of Dull Knife's grandchildren served in American wars such a World War 1 and Vietnam; the stories revealed here are interesting and it is sad many Native American war tales are overlooked in schools, books, and movies.
   I recommend this book for anyone interested in history, Cheyenne and Lakota life, and family sagas. I found myself laughing at some of the stories but crying through many parts. The author really brought to life the hard ships the Cheyenne and Lakota faced but also the valiant pride these people long forgotten by many honored. It is really hard for someone now-a-days to understand and sad because pride is a thing of the past. Reading his work I could almost see brave warriors taking bullets so that their starving women and children might escape the soldier's cruelty.



4. Perhaps, one of the more intriguing ways to view history is through the sequential generations of family. With this device, history becomes personal, it has essence, it is more than places, dates, and outcomes. Joe Starita accomplishes exactly this with The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge. One can't help but be pulled into the story through the disarming capacity of empathy.
   
   Though tragic, it is also a story of perseverance and the unconditional commitment to freedom. It is the absolute refusal to lie down. The Lakota, like all Native Americans, were caught in the buzz saw of Manifest Destiny. A new nation, built on the concept of freedom, explicitly and categorically denied it to the people it found.
   
   Starita has chosen an exemplary family to share this history. They lived it and live it still. I don't agree with every author assumption and spotted a faulty premise or two, but this in no way changes the fact that The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge is required reading for anyone with an interest in the Native American story. It is a 5 star reading experience.



5. An outstanding narrative, exceptionally well written. Highly recommended to anyone interested in Native American history aswell as the challenges confronting reservation life.

5 comments about American Generalship: Character is Everything: The Art of Command.

1. Mr. Puryear wastes no time with fluff. He gets right to the heart of leadership in this wonderfully written book. He has done a superb job in researching and interviewing each of the men he writes about. So, the information you'll receive from this book is both accurate and personal. You can read it casually or blaze through it. Either way, I believe you will be pleased with the nuggets of leadership wisdom revealed by some of the world's finest military leaders.



2. As a career Air Force officer I have read many books on leadership and command. American Generalship stands out as the best I've ever read. The author highlights shared leadership traits held by several of great generals that he gleaned from personal interviews. I give this book to all the officers under my command to mentor them as leaders.



3. Outstanding book on leadership. It covers the dynamics of proven performers through the ages and gives the reader a strong foundation in personal assessment and grow. A must-have for anyone's professional library.



4. The first book assignment in my Strategic Leadership and Decision Making (SLDM) elective for Air War College was "American Generalship: Character Is Everything: The Art of Command" by Edgar F. Puryear Jr. The level of leadership this study aims at is very high indeed - the ranks of the general officers. The kind of strategy that leaders at this level create and conceptualize, during both peace and war, involves all of the nation's forces, and applies itself through large-scale, long-range planning and development, to ensure security or victory. This book deals exclusively with the sort of character, mentorship and values that a leader at this level must possess, and it does so with a tidal wave of good examples and meaningful quotes.
   
   The subtitle of the book, "Character is Everything: The Art of Command", defines the focus of this study in leadership. Although the leaders studied in this book are chosen from fairly narrow sections of time and from only one country (USA), those times are the greatest perils. Ike, Patton, MacArthur, and Clark are drawn from World War 2. Grant, Sherman, Lee, and Jackson are cited from the American Civil War. Extensive passages on Billy Mitchell's experience as well as that of his ardent supporters Hap Arnold and Tooey Spaatz. George Washington's contribution is discussed in detail. There is a far too small, albeit tasty, portion for more recent leaders, like Colin Powell, Schwarzkopf, Meyer, and Creech, who have had to deal with the today's hyperpolitics, scandal-centric journalism, perpetual war and a evaporating budgets.
   
   As good as "American Generalship: Character Is Everything: The Art of Command" is, some important details of the leadership experience are left in rather soft focus. The rationale behind Operation Market Garden (p288, listed in other references as "disastrous"), continued support for Wedemeyer (p318-9, a similar set of "circumstantial" charges against an officer today would certainly be career ending), and clearing the Hooverville shantytown built by "Bonus Army" marchers (p264-265, brutal tactics used and the unfortunate remarks made at the press conference that immediately followed). These details could have provided the all important context that framed these actions and decisions. Character is revealed through actions inside context.
   
   More examples could have been provided about leaders who did not read books. The book only lists one leader, the confederate Longstreet (p152-153), who did not read extensively. On the other hand, the narrative bogs down with mountains of evidence that reading books, particularly biographies and historical works, helps leaders think more broadly and learn from the timeless lessons of the past.
   
   All things considered, "American Generalship: Character Is Everything: The Art of Command" is certainly worth a read. It is a very good book that could have been great if only it had spent a little more time in the hands of an editor.



5. An easy, inspirational read. Clear concise and to point on every aspect of leadership. This should be stressed to be read by any inspiring officer or one on active duty for 20 years.
   
   Excellent application to the civilian world as well. Wish I'd have found this sooner!

5 comments about Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan.

1. I always find it fascinating when I reach a completely different conclusion than a noted awards organization like the Pulitzers. But after slogging through over half of Herbert Bix's book, "HIROHITO AND THE MAKING OF MODERN JAPAN," I cannot imagine how this book received much of any award.
   
   I guess at some level it is not a complete washout. The book is obviously meticulously researched. As a reference for academics, it will probably have real value. But in terms of simple readability, it is a disaster.
   
   For me, it seems Bix has been immersed in Japan and Japanese culture for way too long. Like a lot of experts, he tends to speak in a bit of a short hand without remembering that it makes it difficult for laymen to follow.
   
   For better or worse, most Americans are not terribly familiar with Japanese history and culture, especially as it relates to pre-WWII. So the huge cast of characters that Bix throws at you is overwhelming because most readers are not going to know who any of them are. His introductions to each of these characters tend to be very brief and there are so many of them (and so many names that are all alien to begin with) that it becomes almost dizzying. You are constantly flipping over to the index to figure out who someone is that hasn't been mentioned in 50 pages.
   
   Cabinets rise and fall with blinding speed and without much explanation for how or why. Japanese cultural points are raised without deep explanation and without reinforcement later in the text. And the prose itself is leaden. It is not a read so much as a slog. You endure it more than you enjoy it.
   
   More bothersome is that Bix has a clear agenda in the biography. His take? Hirohito was a conniving jerk who misled everyone about his role during the war. Other than being an upright family man, Bix's Hirohito is a Machiavellian slimeball constantly making poor choices and then finding ways to foist the consequences on others.
   
   Now for all I know, this may be totally accurate. But the text reads as almost seething in its anger. I have no issue with a writer presenting an opinion and a point of view. That is a role of the historian and the biographer--to interpret the facts and put them into context. But Bix never lets it go to simply tell the story of his subject. He is constantly slamming Hirohito. Again, his criticism may be sound. It probably is. But it so pervasive that at some point you begin to wonder whether or not Bix is presenting all the facts. Based on the enormous "notes" section of this book, he probably is, but at some point he just needed to tell the story. If the problems and hypocrisy in Hirohito's life are as pronounced as he says they are, that will likely come through to the reader without having to ham-handedly beat the man page after page. It reads less like a biography and more like a polemic.
   
   The only reason I am giving this any stars at all is because I feel I am obligated to give some credit to the sheer depth of research that is evident in the work. This is truly a scholarly effort in its research and I suspect the underlying source documents cited will make this a great reference for future scholars seeking information on the subject. But I found the writing itself to be bad and the Bix's anti-Hirohito agenda to just be overwhelming.
   
   This is an important story that needs to be told. But Bix's work is not the book that gets it done. Obviously, based on the accolades this book received from critics, other readers and Pulitzer committee puts me in the minority but I really am left wondering what book they read when they heaped their praise on this work.



2. My wife is Chinese, to this day there still exists a great deal of hate in China for Japan and her actions during the war. I say this to clarify I am no fan of Hirohito or Imperial japan.
   
   What I had hoped to get an objective review of Hirohito and his role before and during the war. Instead what I got from this book was a foaming at the mouth rabid attack Hirohito all in the first few pages. I really had thought people such as Bix might have grown out of fanatical Marxism.
   
   This is the only time I have thought about asking for a refund from Amazon for a book. I suppose I should have read the reviews of others before buying.



3. The author of this Pulitzer-winning bio of Emperor Hirohito had to work without most of the basic tools of his trade. The emperor had written a diary and letters to his family. Neither was open to the writer. Nor were the McArthur files in the US. Alas, this need to work around the center and without key access takes a toll: the sources are generally of the bureaucratic kind.
   Bix's main thesis is this: the emperor was a man who had much more influence than he later admitted. He was not the powerless figurehead that McArthur and he himself liked to describe for the benefit of world opinion. In real life, this emperor was an active player until the end of WW2. He became the figurehead that he claimed to have been only after the US occupation. It seems quite clear that he was much involved in the steady escalation of Japan's aggression against China and in the attack on the US and SE Asia.
   
   We follow H's education during turbulent times: his grandfather Meiji waged war against China and Russia, took Taiwan, Korea, and Sakhalin as colonies, and put a foot into Southern Manchuria (taking Port Arthur from Russia). Japan's later expansionism beyond the Meiji frontiers had been seeded in the minds of the militarist elite already during WW1. Expelling the Germans from their Chinese colony was not just a favor to the Brits. China was already targeted to become a Japanese protectorate, and the Russians needed to be pushed out of Manchuria entirely. Moving the Dutch out of their East Indies was another vision. This whole great concept was based on a racist theory according to which the Japanese as the supreme yellow man had to lead the fight against the white man. This required a sphere of dominance: Asian Monroeism.
   
   H was trained in a contradictory three-pronged way: he had a scientific training and inclination; he even became an amateur marine biologist. But he was also prepared for a role as spiritual leader and got an injection of a strong militarist spirit. Part of his official role was to be the supreme commander of Japan's military machine, and he was also going to be head of his religious cult, the Shinto. And more than that, he was to be a god.
   
   The 1920s were a messy period in most parts of the world. (Only the US, among the major places, had the good fortune to find a decent leadership out of their crisis.) In Japan, H's reign as the Showa Emperor brought a new level of exalted nationalism, including his own deification as the embodiment of the nation's racial community. It brought dictatorship, militarism, glorification of war. Though H was certainly no Fuehrer or Duce type, the term fascism seems justified from most perspectives.
   
   The new expansion of the empire starts in 1931 with the military move to annex the north eastern provinces of China. Manchukuo is set up as a pseudo independent state in 32. The occupation is step by step expanded from Manchuria into other provinces.
   H was not sitting on the sideline in all this, but actively involved on a daily basis.
   The invasion into the Chinese heartland starts in 37. It may be fair to say that the communist victory in the Chinese civil war was much helped by the Japanese focus on fighting Chiang kai-Shek's forces and leaving the communists comparatively undiminished.
   H was fully supporting the undeclared China war. He authorized military expansions, poison gas use, bombing raids, and annihilation campaigns, which killed millions of Chinese. POW protection under international law was not practiced by Japan.
   
   Japan was hesitant how to align internationally. When the Germans seemed to overrun Europe, and had a non-aggression treaty with the SU, Japan's rulers thought it was a good idea to ride piggyback and benefit from the collapse of the colonial empires of Britain, Holland and France. That would solve some of the raw material problems. The southern expansion was a part of the big chess came that Japan lost. It is plausible that the leaders did not really expect a victory over the US, but a German victory in Europe and a smashing defeat of America's European allies might have provided a basis for an advantageous draw.
   
   The build up of the decision to go for the attack on the US is one main subject of the book. So is the war phase with H as commander in chief - not a very good c-i-c. The next is H's role in the acknowledgement of defeat: he was a main engine of the `fight on' faction.
   The next subject is the post war process of cover up and reconstruction, led by McArthur. It all started from learned lessons after Versailles: one should not humiliate losers unnecessarily. Was the lesson carried too far in keeping the emperor in his job?
   
   Since I am not very familiar with the details of the Japanese ruling class, I can't judge the truthfulness of Bix's picture. The China related parts strike me as solid, equally the SE Asia parts as far as I am familiar with them. The book can't be the decisive biography as many key documents were not available. Will they ever be?



4. Hirohito, by Herbert Bix, is history but also a tract: Bix is
   convinced that Hirohito himself didn't take, or get,
   enough blame for events -- the scholars' debate since 1945 has been
   whether he was guilty or just a puppet victim like Pu Yi.
   
   Along the way, Bix carefully picks through all sorts of interesting
   East-West cultural misunderstandings, particularly regarding groupthink
   and peer pressures and reverence for elders & emperors, and weird
   Western ideas like "democracy". Some great choice situations get
   described, several of them famous: face-offs with generals, grand
   policy and wartime decisions.
   
   Yet when he gets to "guilt", Bix is relentlessly Western: he often
   attributes powers over other men to a very young Hirohito, in a society
   which reveres its elders -- interesting question whether Japanese
   elder statesmen & admirals & generals, or a young emperor, would have
   received the greater deference in such situations. Bix often asserts
   that Hirohito did dominate, then doesn't document it -- a Westerner is
   left with the feeling that the evidence for the hanging is somewhat
   circumstantial, here.
   
   The book is wonderfully complemented by a movie currently showing: "The Sun", by
   Alexander Sokurov -- "A meditation on Emperor Hirohito set at the time
   of Japan's World War II surrender, it takes place in a world almost
   totally sealed off from reality" --
   [...]



5. I first looked at this book to help me write a chapter in a textbook. Before long I had ordered my own copy and began the long process of digesting this tome! The chapters are long and the attention to detail can lead to frustration. However, this has corrected my understanding of Japan leading up to, during, and following World War II. I will use the information gleaned to correct every history textbook with which I come into contact that covers this period of history. This is a first-rate work and every history teacher should know something of its contents!

5 comments about Slaves in the Family.

1. By tracing the heritage of several slave decendants' back to the mid 1600s from New York to California, Ball has fulfilled something so profound for those families, almost no words can describe it. Most African Americans in this country are resigned to the fact that we'll never know who our great, great, grandparents were, where in Africa our ancestors once lived. This book will be hard to put down.



2. 
   Great reading. This is an important and interesting historical as well as family history book. This account of the slave trade, and South Carolina's pivotal role in it, is riveting.



3. When talking about America's original sin, it is inevitable that the discussion gets very complicated, very quickly. The historical fact of slavery and its implications are simply too much to wrap one's head around, and it's not unreasonable to ask whether there's anything else to learn and apply about the experience or whether it's just best to let sleeping dogs lie. Edward Ball's book is acutely aware of the question, and it doesn't completely come to a perfectly-formed conclusion on the matter, either. The book links the story of his white family with his attempts to investigate and connect with the descendants of the slaves whose names had earlier been unknown to his family, and whose voices had been unheard by history. The results are often electrifying, as Ball tries to wrestle the pencil away from the winners, as it were, and write another draft of history, despite some misgivings from the older members of his own family.
   
   Slaves in the Family feels more like reportage than narrative nonfiction, and Ball's effort is scrupulously balanced and seeks less to advance an argument than to merely explore the lasting effects of slavery on the descendants of that terrible institution. His interactions with those descendants--easily the best parts of the book--hit many notes, and they illustrate that, if nothing else, the ways in which blacks and whites have dealt with the knowledge of slavery are quite varied. The people who Ball interviews operate on a variety of different worldviews and assumptions--some, for example, think that things haven't really improved for blacks since civil rights and that the battle is hopeless, while others take the contrary view that the improvement has been incalculable--but nearly all are united in a desire to know more, to learn more, and to try to understand what happened. People who read this book looking for what "The Line" is these days when it comes to slavery and race relations are going to be disappointed, as the book seems to conclusively say that such things don't exist, that individuals have dealt with slavery's cruel inheritance by personalizing it in differing, idiosyncratic ways, and that to say that "black folks" or "white folks" feel a specific way about this history is simply not possible. There are, of course, constants that run through the discussions--guilt, anger, denial, sure, but also acceptance and a surprising amount of forgiveness--that present a difficult, nuanced, and rewarding trip through several centuries' worth of history.
   
   Truth be told, the book does drag just a little bit at parts, but I appreciated what Ball tries to do here. The book feels incomplete at times, but that's perhaps inevitable as it is the nature of the subject under analysis. What Ball does is to try to shine some light onto a broad subject, and he finds quite a bit of interest that's hidden in the darkness. The result might not be dazzling new thoughts on our racial inheritance, so much as a new way of thinking about that inheritance, one that disregards myth and pat sloganeering and that credits conversation and knowledge. It's a good message, and one that should be heard.



4. This is the second time I've read this book and I was as pleased with it this time as the first time. This is the story of the author's research into his family's past as slave owners and slave traders. Through painstaking research and wonderful storytelling Ball tracks down his ancestors, both white and black, and tells the story of slavery in this country from the point of view of one prominent family.
   
   We often think of slavery in terms of the Civil War. It's all Gone With The Wind and Mammy and Bette Davis in Jezebel sitting on the porch in hoop skirts listening to the slaves sing spirituals. These are all part of the story, but only part. The wonderful thing about this book is that this story starts with the arrival of the first Ball ancestor in the Americas in Charlestown (later Charleston) in the 1600's and follows the family up into the American Revolution and beyond. One of the Ball daughters was married to Henry Laurens, a delegate to the Second Continental Congress who succeeded John Adams as President of that body. He was also co-owner of a slave trading firm that was responsible for the sale of over 8,000 Africans during his lifetime.
   
   The American Revolution was a boon for many slaves who were able to escape their masters to the British side. A number of people were taken back to Britain where they were given their freedom and some were taken to Nova Scotia to start over - it was people from the Canadian group that founded Sierra Leone and one of them was a former Ball slave.
   
   The book takes us into the present day and brings together many disparate stories as the author struggles to come to terms with his family history and what it means to him. Along the way he meets many relatives he didn't know he had and is able to help some of these people piece together family trees as they trace their genealogy back through the records to their original slave ancestor.
   
   This is not a perfect book and I can understand why some members of the author's family would have preferred he left well enough alone, but I am glad he didn't. It is imperative that we all understand our history, acknowledge where we came from, and find the connections between us. They are closer than we think.



5. This is an interesting book. The author is from South Carolina, and though his own upbringing was middle-class (his dad was a clergyman) his family had in the past been quite wealthy, and owned a considerable number of slaves. We're talking thousands of people here, between the various plantations they owned, and the length of time involved. One of the plantations was only sold out of the family 15 years ago.
   
   So Mr. Ball, who has a journalism degree and writes a newspaper column for the Village Voice, decides to see if he can track down his relatives, and also the descendants of the slaves his family owned. As he works his way through various families in the book, he recounts the history of the Ball family, starting with the patriarch and working his way forward to the Civil War. This event, plus the advent of a female known in the family lore as "Buzzard Wing", impoverished most of the family. Ball also discusses the instances when he feels one of the slave-owners had children with their slaves, and what happened to the offspring of these liaisons.
   
   The whole thing is very interesting, from the all-white Charleston men's club he visits in one chapter to the various families of black people he visits and talks with. The author has a relatively intelligent sense of the history of the subject, and if I think he perhaps attaches too much importance to what his family did, relative to black people, well I suppose I'm not him. At one point he says he bears no responsibility for what happened, but there has to be justice, or something to that effect. It's an interesting concept.
   
   Slavery is a touchy subject in this country, still, and the author should be commended for taking it on. Of course when he does so, not everyone will agree with him. It's the way things are. Good book, though.

5 comments about Diary of Lady Murasaki (Penguin Classics).

1. First off, Although the book i s 91 pages long there is a 52 page introduction. The introduction by Bowring is very well done, especially for those who are unfamiliar with Heian era Japan, like me. Bowring gives adequate introductions to the architecture, dress, religion, and other things of culture at the time. Although the info he gives of Murasaki Shikibu is scant, he does give the reader all of the information that is known about the author of the Genji monogatari. The diary itself is a wonderful resource of Heian era Japan. Murasaki Shikibu gives wonderfully detailed descriptions of ceremonies, dress, and glimpses of daily lives of females in the court. Bowring adds wonderfully helpful footnotes to aid teh reader. Also the illustrations inb the book are wonderful for showing how the Heian lady dressed and how a Heian era mansion looked. Good little book.



2. And a companion piece ot the Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon. The world of courtiers and courtesans, intrigues, affairs.
   
   Daily soaps will never be exciting once you've read this book! WOW!



3. The Diary of Lady Murasaki is a very fine read, even by today's standards. Sadly short due to age, it still offers an amazing insight into court life of the time.
   
   The book's coverage of both important court events and the personal outlook of Murasaki herself on everything from fashion to her contemporaries is eye-opening to say the least. Great attention is paid to detail where she was able to remember any detail at all, and when she does not remember detail, she always made a note of why. Perhaps the most refreshing part of the book is the honesty in her observations. She seldom seems to mince words, which is not something that I would expect from anyone at all familiar with court politics.
   
   The book is especially valuable given the lack of other documents to come out of the period.



4. The diary of Lady Murasaki is the court diary of the author of the Tale of Genji - an 11th century masterpiece of japanese literature. Although Murasaki Shikibu has been dead for over 1000 years this diary brings to life Murasaki and the imperial court. It recounts an important period at court with the birth of Empress Shoshi's first son. We are given details into court ceremonies, life, fashion, and attitudes. Excellent read, especially if you're interested in Japan.



5. This penguin volume is the paperback and easily accessed translation of the 'Diary of Murasaki Shikibu', a fragmentary piece written by the author of the much more famous and inspired 'Tale of Genji'. As Genji is probably the best work in all the history of Japanese literature, and as we know so little about its author, this diary (which is a fragented remain of the possible original) has acquired a certain relevance it would otherwise lack from purely literary and quality arguments.
   
   The diary as said is a fragmented and patched-up remain of the original one that Murasaki Shikibu might have noted down. It mainly describes the events of 2 years when she was in the service of Empress Shoshi at the Tsuchimikado Palace. The main event in more than half of the book is the birth of Prince Atsunada, son of Shoshi and the reigning Emperor (Go-Ichijo) and grandson of Fujiwara no Michinaga (the all-powerful regent of that period of Heian Japan). The first 50 or so sections describe in detail the ceremonies held and gives a glimpse of courtier life of the times, so different from the idealized view that Murasaki would forge in the Genji. Here the courtiers tend to be rude, unsubtle and drunk, and the ladies (Murasaki included) bored, insecure and with a high tendency to gossip and critizising everyone else. The second part of the book includes some semblances of fellow-maids and courtiers, some of which were famous poets on their own (Ise no Taifu, Akazome Emon, Sei Shonagon), some ritual Gosechi Dances at the Imperial Palace and Murasaki's absence from the Courtly World. As in all Heian-era diaries, the events described are interspersed with poems written by Murasaki and others for the occasion. Heian courtiers were expected to produce them quite spontaneously as a matter of fact.
   
   Don't get me wrong: the diary as it is has its interest and its beauties. Some of the poems are very good, and some of the paragraphs have been clearly polished and noted down by a master writer, like the first scene of the book, describing the arrival of late autumn at the Tsuchimikado Palace and the lovely combination of the sight of the waters in the Palace lake with the sound of the chanting of the monks. Nevertheless, it is a work of marginal interest if you aren't extremely interested in Heian Japan, the court life of the eleventh century and/or Murasaki Shikibu. I consider it well worth the read, but definitely a minor, anecdotic text.
   
   As for this edition: it is inspired in a previous one, made by Richard Bowring in the 80s and published by Princeton. The old text (it can still be bought second-hand) is more academic (which isn't necessarily a virtue for the lay reader) but has the advantage over the penguin edition in that it also includes the 'poetic memoirs' of Murasaki (that is to say, a colection of a bit over 100 poems by the author, most with explanatory prefaces). It is a pity that the Penguin edition discarted these poems, and being a very small volume, there would have been no space troubles about it.

5 comments about The Last Muster: Images of the Revolutionary War Generation.

1. I got this book on Monday in the mail and have been devouring this ever since...simply amazing. Viewing these images and mini-biographies for each photo, along with my other book "American Insurgents, American Patriots", puts a whole new face (many faces, actually) to the birth of our nation - it wouldn't have happened without the ordinary man and woman...these unsung heroes are the true founding fathers and mothers!



2. I am totally mesmerized. I cannot stop looking into the faces of people who lived during the time of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. How unbelievable is it that photography was invented just in time to capture the faces of those who may have gazed upon the face of George Washington? It gives me chills and blows my mind!



3. I can't be too objective about this book because my 4G grandfather, John Langdon, is featured on pages 94-95. The daguerreotype reproduced there I have seen in the collection of the New England Historical Genealogical Society Library in Boston and it is very well reproduced considering its age and condition. I have been working on genealogy and my Langdon line for years, yet, in the short, one page write up, I found several facts or sources that were new for me. I love it.



4. A very interesting presentation of early photographs,history and genealogy. People who lived through the revolutionary war and their children, also alive at the time, are the subjects of the history. The photographs are amazingly clear and easy to see. The background information is well researched and presented in a readable format. I thought it was well worth the price.



5. Nowhere have I seen a table of contents. To help everyone out here it is:
   Molly Ferris Akin
   James Allen Jr
   Nathaniel Ames
   George Avery
   Anna Warner Bailey
   Daniel Frederick Bakeman
   Amos Baker
   Mary (Seeley) Batterson
   Hannah (Paxson) Betts
   Jesse Betts
   Josiah Brown
   Caesar
   Noah Callender
   Ezra Carpenter
   Chainbreaker
   Lemuel Cook
   Samuel Curtis
   George Washington Parke Custis
   Elizabeth Cutler
   Esther Damon
   Simon Dearborn
   Samuel Downing
   Pierre Etienne DuPonceau
   Ralph Farnham
   Sarah (Stevens) Fellows
   George Fishley
   Albert Gallatin
   John Gray
   Dr Ezra Green
   Josiah Walpole Hall
   Jonathan Harrington
   Conrad Heyer
   Ebenezer Hubbard
   Agrippa Hull
   Margaret Timbrooke Hull
   William Hutchings
   Andrew Jackson
   David Kinnison
   John Kitts
   Uzal Knapp
   John Langdon
   Enoch Leathers
   Dr Jonathan Leonard
   Morgan Lewis
   Dolley (Payne) Madison
   John McCrillis
   Alexander Milliner/Maroney
   Nikonah
   Tirzah (Whitney) Palmer
   Thomas Handasyd Perkins
   William Plumer
   Jeremiah Powell
   Isaac Rice
   Chief Sopiel Selmore
   Six Aged Citizens of Bennington Vermont
   Samuel Fay
   David Smiley (possibly)
   Isaac Snow
   Clark Stevens
   Flora Stewart
   Jabez Huntington Tomlinson
   Mary Hunt Palmer Tyler
   Nicholas G Veeder
   Nathan Walden Jr
   Daniel Waldo
   Abraham Wheelwright
   John Williams
   Huldah Welles Wolcott
   Joseph Wood Jr
   Sara "Sally" Sayward Barrell Keating Wood

5 comments about How to Do Everything Genealogy.

1. This is the best book I have seen for beginners. It covers all the basic information needed without talking down to the reader.



2. How to Do Everyhing Genealogy is an excellent title for this book - I found it helpful and informative in areas that I have previously researched and it provided an excellent introduction to areas that I had just discovered I needed to research. An excellent overview of the available records and a research book that I will continue to refer to for many years to come!



3. If you need a book that covers just about everything you need to learn in genealogy this is the one! I have met the author and his personality comes through in the writing of this book. Very easy to understand with lots of notes and tips.



4. 
   This book is going to be helpful to me as I embarque on a genealogical search. It was shipped promptly and was in excellent condition. Thank you.



5. As a relatively newcomer to genealogy searching, I found this book to be a worthwhile source of information in my quest to know more about my ancestry.

5 comments about The Life of Charlemagne (Ann Arbor Paperbacks).

1. Charlemagne's reign was a brief flash of light in the dark centuries that followed the collapse of the Roman empire. As king of the Franks, Charlemagne unified much of Western Europe - what today is northeastern Spain, all of France, and parts of Germany and Italy. He revived education and learning, repaired existing churches and built new ones, and helped strengthen the position of the Pope in Rome. In the year 800 Charlemagne was crowned Emperor Augustus, ruler of the new Roman empire.
   
   This new empire was short lived, but Charlemagne became legend. Einhard, a scholar in Charlemagne's court and author of this short biography, was faced with a difficult question: how does one write a balanced and honest biography of a revered king, a king that had become legendary in his own time?
   
   Einhard had few examples to follow. The religious biographies of saints were not entirely appropriate. He turned to a classical source, The Lives of the Caesars by the Roman historian Seutonius. Einhard devotes about half of his work to Charlemagne's extensive military campaigns, but his focus remains on Charlemagne the leader and Charlemagne the man, not on military tactics and strategy.
   
   The modern reader will find it helpful to read between the lines. Einhard obviously admired Charlemagne, and his criticisms are muted. Also, Einhard's writing reflects a world view very different from today.
   
   For example, Einhard in discussing the continual uprising of the Saxons says: he never allowed their faithless behavior to go unpunished, but either took the field against them in person, or sent his counts with an army to wreak vengeance and exact righteous satisfaction.
   
   Wreak vengeance? Exact righteous satisfaction? The editor's footnote explains that at the time of a revolt in 782 Charlemagne had 4,500 Saxons beheaded in one day at Verden. Similarly, after a formidable conspiracy in Germany was put down, "all the traitors were banished, some of them without mutilation, others after their eyes had been put out".
   
   Einhard provides many details of Charlemagne's character and private life. Charlemagne enjoyed the exhalations from natural hot springs. He often practiced swimming; few could surpass him in this sport. Einhard carefully describes the clothing worn by Charlemagne. He apparently disliked foreign costumes, and was most comfortable in the common dress of the Frankish people.
   
   He was temperate in eating, and especially drinking. He was particularly fond of roast meat prepared on a spit and disregarded medical advice to eat only boiled meat. He could speak Latin fluently. St. Augustine's The City of God was among his favorite books. He never developed proficiency at writing, although he practiced regularly during his later years.
   
   Einhard's biography was immensely popular and more than eighty manuscripts still exist today.
   
   My copy of The Life of Charlemagne was published by Ann Arbor Paperbacks, University of Michigan Press. The foreword by historian Sidney Painter was quite helpful in establishing the historical context. My copy includes a ninth century map of Europe, footnotes, and a genealogical table for the family of Charlemagne and Hildegard.



2. Written in the decade following Charlemagne's death, Einhard's biography is based on over twenty years of personal service to Charlemagne and gives readers a tightly-woven narrative of the sovereign's life, personal character, and military conquests. Although presenting an idealized version of events, the historical accuracy of most of the book's details have been largely confirmed by modern historians. The book's modern index reaffirms this conclusion by documenting less than ten minor factual errors.
   
   The biography was obviously written to honor Einhard's former patron, but the deeds and exploits chronicled in Einhard's book are nevertheless plausibly presented in a idealized manner reminiscent of patriotic middle school textbook renderings of George Washington or Theodore Roosevelt. The book's format is continuous, breaking only at the end of a four-page preface before continuing on with an unbroken string of pages which are presented without the benefit of chapter divisions. The style of Einhard's writing tends to be wooden and Spartan - the biography tells the reader of Charlemagne's accomplishments but makes scant mention of the difficulties he faced - and any criticism of Charlemagne is obviously muted by the author's attempt to balance the idealized expectations of his partisan audience with the Roman ideal of factual honesty.
   
   Einhard's biography starts with a concise outline of Charlemagne's lineage, beginning with a brief mention of his great-grandfather Pepin of Heristal, followed by three pages summarizing the exploits of grandfather Charles Martel and father Pepin the Short. Due to an admitted lack of source material, Einhard skips Charlemagne's childhood and proceeds directly to his first military undertaking; the Aqauitanian war begun by Pepin the Short. The rest of the book's sixty seven pages are essentially divided into two parts: the first half concisely presenting a chronological, episodic narration of Charlemagne's military campaigns (confining the focus to Charlemagne's motives and decisions while largely ignoring his tactics and strategy), before backtracking to conclude with a twenty seven page glimpse of the monarch's personal and family life.
   
   The author's purpose in writing the book, plainly stated by him in the book's preface, reveal an unmistakable admiration which borders on hero worship. Descriptive phrases like "most excellent," "justly renowned," and "a very great and distinguished man" clearly display Einhard's to write the book as tribute to the greatest man of his age. In this he succeeds; although the book's superficial and miserly accounting of its subject's exploits leave the reader hungry for more details.
   
   The book effectively chronicles the subject's glorious life and accomplishments from the point of view of a member of his court. Simultaneously, Einhard manages to shine some much-needed light onto Charlemagne's moral stature and political machinations, in addition to providing the reader with a general military history of the period.



3. This chronicle was commissioned at the request of Louis the Pious one of Charlemagne's successors, was written by Einhard, a monk, historian, and a dedicated servant of Charlemagne. His Life of Charlemagne, written between 817-830 is clearly in the vein of the famous Roman historian Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars (a text that existed at the monastery where the author worked). The work is brief, to the point, and for the most part does not include tangential information, and is biased. The bias is completely understandable and the introduction to the text points out where and why. His chronicle was written to make Louis the Pious' famous father look good. For example, one of the morally stained aspects of the Charlemagne's reign were the actions of his unmoral daughters, which Einhard carefully does not tell us about. Einhard, in short, sometimes deliberately obscures the truth. However, what is so appealing about Einhard's text is the fact that his most of his information was based off of 26 years as a servant of Charlemagne and his court, and information that he includes of actions before Charlemagne's reign most likely was gathered from sources and documents which he had access to. Lastly, Einhard's attempt at stringently following the model of Suetonius Twelve Caesars makes him connect the characteristics of great emperors such as Augustus to Charlemagne, obscuring Charlemagne's actual habits, personality etc...
   
   The introduction is ok but is mostly summary, the map is good, but the notes are scanty. A MUCH better addition would be the Penguin Classics text, Two Lives of Charlemagne, that also includes the equally interesting (although vastly different) De Carlo Magno written 70 years after Charlemagne's death.



4. King Charles the Great, more commonly known as Charlemagne, was the first truly great leader of France. His reign was one of great expansion as he created a French nation that controlled nearly all of Western Europe. Charlemagne was a great military commander and one who appreciated learning, he did a great deal to promote the relearning of so much that was lost with the fall of the Roman Empire.
   Einhard was one of the learned people that Charlemagne sponsored, and so in this book Einhard quite naturally praises the great king. Yet, it is historically accurate and written in 830 CE, it is contemporary to the life of the great king. Einhard's direct observation of the life of Charlemagne is a historical classic, one that should be read by all students of what we now call the Dark Ages. For Charlemagne was a rare glimmer of light during those times of meager learning and education.



5. This is an excellent book with great information. I used it for a research paper and made an A due to the extensive areas of his life that it covered.

5 comments about Japan at War: An Oral History.

1. Pacific War experiences related by those who lived it on the Japanese side. Excellent and moving accounts of what the disastrous war was like "on the other side." Helps us see that all people are human beings, not the caricatures and stereotypes portrayed in propaganda of either side.



2. How do I describe in words the emotion this book evokes. It simply can't be done. Of all the books I have read on this era of Japanese history, this one had the most impact by far. Oral histories are valuable because they reveal the side of history you don't hear about in dry history books, they reveal the human side of tragic events in this case. Anyone interested in learning about Wartime Japan must read this book.



3. I rarely go all in for history books of this type. As an academic it is not in my nature to suspend or withhold criticism. Oral histories typically suffer from a certain blindness to strategic considerations, and end up being little more than advocacy for personal preferences held by the author, disconnected from the reality of the people, places and times of historical events under examination. That is NOT the case with Haruko Taya Cook and Peter Cook's "Japan At War: An Oral History".
   
   In the case of the Cooks' "Japan At War: An Oral History," I have no criticism or suggestion for how it could have been made better, save for my lingering wish that there was more to read of it. The interviewees' stories of personal experiences during the war are well told, well edited, well organized and well chosen. At the same time, the authors preserve an overall context in the strategic picture of what was happening at that time and why.
   
   Without hesitation, I rank it as one of my all-time favorites, and whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone interested in history, World War II, Japan, the Far East, or human frailty, vice, cruelty and endurance.



4. This book will make you laugh out loud, angry, or simply awed by the twists of the human spirit- both good and evil. The stories are exceptional and I cannot praise the Cooks enough for creating this document! If you are a student of history, much less, a student of Japanese history, this book should be on your shelf.



5. This is an important book and will be a most rewarding reading experience for anyone who is interested in what life was like in Japan's miltitary, navy, police, and civilians during Japan's war with China from 1937 on through WWII. The underlying message is quite clear --- war is hell, to quote Kenneth Roberts (see his "Oliver Wiswell", 1940). After reading the Cook's book and Richard B. Frank's book "Downfall" I settled into the inescapable conclusion that ending the war quickly was, on international and personal scales, the kindest deed we could have done for the Japanese people (and also for the US). We can look back on it now as a period when the entire Japanese population, incuding its government, voluntarily held itself in the sway of emperor-god worship together with a belief in the omnipotence of fighting spirit. It is also clear that accused war criminals who pleaded that they had to kill innocents in obedience their superior should be allowed such a claim in their defense, whenever it could be shown that violating the order meant their own death, as was the usual case.
   
   This book has 77 narrations by 67 different contributors of oral history, each covering several pages or more. The contributions are grouped into 24 topics whose time-ordered succession ties the entire collection into a highly readable narrative. I especially appreciated the paragraphs written by the authors to give the background of the contributor and to provide some perspective on each topic. The accounts are not for the faint-of-heart --- expecially of those who worked in Unit 731, where they did medical experiments but were excused from war crimes trials.
   
   If you are looking for an example of a fighting spirit that overcomes the most formidable odds, read about the one-eyed Zero pilot Sakei Saburo. No Allied warrior that I know of came close.
   
   I just wish that the authors, who certainly found plenty, could have found a few more to tell their stories of front-line combat. But then, those soldiers were the most likely not to have survived the war.