No comments about The Making and Unmaking of A Revolutionary Family: The Tuckers of Virginia, 1752-1830 (Jeffersonian America).

5 comments about Where Valor Rests: Arlington National Cemetery.

1. Coming from a military family with blood spilled in every American conflict since and including the Civil War -- Winston's who were killed in the Battle of Atlanta, Pvt. Frank Scott who went down with hundreds of other American soldiers on the HMS Otranto in 1918, "Cousin Bob" who was a Colonel and later Brig. Gen. Robert Lee Scott who was an ace with the Army Air Corps version of the Flying Tigers and is now buried in Arlington, my own father, wounded as a young Marine on Iwo Jima -- I am often skeptical of politicians, the Press and organizations who profess to "honor America's war heroes." However, I can say, with no misgivings whatsoever, that the National Geographic Society "got it right," when they published this richly photographed and beautifully written volume.
   
   Six writers and nine photographers with more than ten Pulitzer Prizes among them, provide readers with a keepsake volume covering the history, people, ceremony, services, and other photographic and narrative views of this sad and beautifully sacred place. 300,000 of America'a fallen lie at rest here and this book captures the spirit of their sacrifice.
   
   With photographs of the grounds during each season, details of how the cemetery came to be established, the influence of John F. Kennedy's funeral on the growth and significance of the cemetery, photographic essays of traditions, funerals, families and the soldiers and sailors behind the scenes, this book serves very aptly serves as an "Encyclopedia of Arlington Cemetery."
   
   Modestly priced at $30.00, this volume belongs in every school, college, military and public library. In addition, it would make a wonderful gift to the veterans of the family on Memorial Day.
   
   R. Neil Scott
   Middle Tennessee State University



2. Bought this for my wife after a visit to DC, inc Arlington. This is one fine piece of work, and the photography is excellent.



3. I've only bought these books for other people who have a personal interest in Arlington Nat'l Cemetery. I've looked at the book and find it well written, well organized, and visually striking. For many people, this will be a book of surprising interest.



4. This book wonderfully depicts the type of people we should be talking about. It shows Arlington through the seasons, showing the beauty of such a hallowed place, it showed the care and compassion of the ordinary people who work there, and it showed the honor with which the military honors those who rest there. The most heartbreaking scenes are those showing family and friends saying goodbye. I wish to salute those who rest there, their families, and those who take care of such a sacred ground. Thanks to all military members and their families



5. I sent this to my dad, a Korean war vet, for his birthday. He really liked it.

3 comments about Virginia: The New Dominion, A History from 1607 to the Present.

1. Despite recent publications timed to coincide with 400 years of permanent English settlement, this is the most complete, insightful and well-written history of Virginia available. Don't be put off by the fact that it's somewhat dated. Dabney covers Virginia like the morning dew, with particular attention to biographical details of important men and women from Virginia's past. Also, Dabney balances politics, economics and culture well in this book, treating each with careful attention. One minor infraction: His attention to the Virginia upstate, west of the Blue Ridge, is somewhat arbitrary, a common problem among Virginia scholars. Hopefully historians take up this issue in due time.



2. Arrived in condition expected! Serves purpose which was to get the book I needed for class without paying what college bookstore wanted! Got the book from here for about 75% less than bookstore.



3. I have been wanting a GREAT book on Virginia history for years! I had one of the best books on Va History in 7th grade. When I had a family of my own I lived in Pennsylvania and of course my kids had NO Virginia history.
   
   My youngest was in 3rd grade when the school held a play on U S History. They made 2 white kids use black face, had a Lincoln and they stated on stage: "We are sooo grateful for the Civil War that gave us slaves FREEDOM!"
   
   I was shocked! I stood in the auditorium and stopped the play. I stated the Civil War was over STATES RIGHTS and slavery only became an issue in 1864 when Lincoln was being re-elected. The princial stated that the history book did NOT state that fact. I ask to see the book. It was PRINTED IN CANADA and already edited and that was in 1990!
   
   I am a DAR and I have gone to many schools now to preach on EVERY STATE teaching CORRECT STATE History. Va History is one of the best and this book is one of the best! It's informative, easy to read and has history that school books don't have anymore. Sad, our kids do NOT know correct history of their states or this country.
   
   For those wanting CORRECT Virginia history, this is a good one! GET INVOLVED PARENTS and make sure your child knows THEIR STATES HISTORY!

No comments about Biography of a Tenement House in New York City: An Architectural History of 97 Orchard Street.

5 comments about The Lees of Virginia: Seven Generations of an American Family.

1. "The Lees" tells the story of a remarkable American family from its establishment in Virginia to General Robert E. Lee. It gives us a glimpse into their lives and the stages on which they played.

   One theme which runs through the book was that this family had many failures. Although there were shining lights, such as Richard Henry Lee and Robert E. Lee, the more typical Lee was R.E. Lee's father, Gen. Lighthorse Harry Lee, who squandered his wealth, spent time in debtor's prison and ended his life in flight from his creditors.

   The two leading figures of the family are Richard Henry Lee and Robert E. Lee.

   Richard Henry was one of the leaders of the call for American Independence. As the sponsor of the Independence Resolution, he would have been a natural for the Committee to draft the Declaration. His opponents in the Virginia delegation blocked his appointment, insisting on the conservative Benjamin Harrison. Less conservative delegates blocked Harrison, with Thomas Jefferson being the compromise choice. Oh, how history could have been different! Richard Henry had a long and, on the balance, distinguished career during which he led the "Lee Party" consisting of himself, his brothers and other Lee relatives.

   The coverage of Robert E. Lee amounts to a biography lite, with an emphasis on his involvement in family matters. There are better sources to learn about him.

   Much of the book consists of quotations from letters and the provisions of wills of many people who would have never been mentioned in a book had they not been related to Richard Henry Lee and Robert E. Lee. This makes portions of the book rather boring.

   I picked up two ideas which emerged from this book. One is the tremendous importance of inheritance for the Lees. This may have been exaggerated because wills are documents which survive, but many people's destiny seems to have been dependent on the inheritance of a farm or a plantation. The other is that it seems that, but for a few government positions, few of them ever aspired to any job other than to manage their farms. This may reflect the nature of the economy and may also reflect the social limitations on their class.

   Overall this book has some merit. One could read biographies of Richard Henry Lee and Robert E. Lee and forget the rest, but then the reader would miss the story of how this family worked together over the centuries. Make you own choice.




2. This book is a fascinating look at a famous and influential family in a time and place I happen to find among the most interesting in all American history: Virginia from its founding until 1870. Within a few decades of the founding of Jamestown in 1607, the first Lee arrived in the Tidewater. For the next three centuries, more or less, the Lees were at or near the center of Virginia's -- and later America's -- history. For readers familiar only with Robert E. Lee, it may come as a shock to realize just how important his family was before and during the Revolution. But even for those for whom that's not a surprise, Paul Nagel's work is still richly rewarding.
   
   That's because "The Lees of Virginia" isn't really a composite biography of each individual member of the vast Lee family. Many of them do receive pretty thorough portraits, of course. But Nagel's main purpose is to chart the connections and relationships within the family, and to explore the influence of the family *as a* family.
   
   In so doing, he paints a fascinating picture of how characteristics and traits passed from generation to generation -- and how, just as importantly, subsequent generations learned from, and tried to do things differently than, their forebears. Perhaps the most interesting contrast here is between the erratic and debt-ridden "Light-Horse Harry" Lee and his son Robert Edward. R.E. Lee, in this analysis, comes across, frankly, as something of a moralistic prig, and one who more or less chained his daughters to their invalid mother's bedside. Nowadays, it's not uncommon to say about someone, "Well, he came from a messed-up family." I have more appreciation for Robert E. Lee's greatness, as well as his human failings, for seeing that he, too, came from a messed-up family.
   
   If I do have a complaint about this book, it might be that ending the narrative at R.E. Lee's death in 1870 seems a little arbitrary. Certainly, General Lee could be seen as the last truly great or influential member of the family. But as Nagel himself mentions, the General's sons and nephews continued to play relatively important roles in the history of Virginia, including service in Congress and as governor of the Commonwealth. Families wax and wane in their influence, as Nagel's book on the Adamses also proved. But I would have been willing to follow Nagel's reporting for another generation or two, just to see what happened.
   
   That aside, though, this is a fine book about an interesting family in interesting times. There are several members of the family I hope to find out more about -- especially Francis Lightfoot Lee, signer of the Declaration of Independence, whose relatively reclusive personality -- at least as contrasted to his more attention-seeking brothers -- was especially intriguing to me. I've always thought one sign of a good book is how much it makes you want to explore related topics, and "The Lees of Virginia" delivers in that regard too.



3. The Lees were instrumental in many of the events that have shaped American History. The Lees, under Thomas Lee, helped form the Ohio Company, which ultimately helped provoke the French and Indian War. Richard Henry Lee led the charge against George Mercer, the Stamp Tax Collector, and led the fierce opposition against the Parliamentary tax (even though he himself had sought out the collector position, losing to Mercer, his rival). RH and his four brothers played a huge role in the American Revolution. Arthur Lee was a diplomat with Benjamin Franklin in England and Paris, even though Lee opposed Franklin in many of his views and ways to gain the loyalty of the French. And, of course, there is Robert E. Lee as leading and influential General of the Civil War. Simply stated, the Lees helped shape America.
   
   On a whole the Lees of Virginia has enough to make for an interesting book, one that has plenty of ammo to keep the read interesting. The problem came in that the book was too long as Nagel wrote on a lot of issues that helped to portray the Lees in their day to day life interaction with one another. I would find myself becoming bored and then, all of a sudden, an interesting story in history would suddenly come up, such as Richard Henry parading an effigy of Mercer towards his execution.
   
   Ultimately, Nagel set out to accomplish what he wanted, which was to not be a history of America, but rather how the Lees interacted with one another, with the history sidelines thrown in. Unfortunately, it was the sidelines that made this book at all interesting, and I wish Nagels would have condensed the book more and stuck to the extremely action packed and interesting impact that the Lees of Virginia had on America, rather than what they wore, where they lived and how they furnished their houses.
   
   The four chapters on Robert E. Lee did a lot on turning the book around and making it a recommend. Learning about the life he was born into, the cards that Light Horse Harry dealt him, and we can see how and why he became the man that he did. I would recommend, if you don't mind a dry, factual account of a family, more so than an individual.
   
   3.5 stars.



4. I was quite disappointed in this book when it arrived. It states that Richard the Immigrant had a son William, aka Col. William C. Lee, that never married. Not true. He married Alice Felton in 1675 in Manchester, Hillsborough, New Hampshire, and had four children. 1) Richard Lee born abt. 1677 at Surry Co., VA. 2) Mary Lee 3) William Lee 4) John Lee. Our family comes from Richard Lee, son of Col. William C. Lee and Alice Felton. This information comes from multiple sources with slightly differing data, so it is not from all a single source, and easy to obtain. Alice died in 1675, and is possibly the daughter of Thomas Felton. I had hoped the history of the Lees of Virginia in this book is researched better than this, but maybe not. I probably will not trust it entirely. I certainly hope the rest of the history of the Lees is accurate in this book.
   
   Other sources state two other wives for William C. Lee as Ann and Mary. No children listed with those.



5. The Lees genealogy is very good and their history is outstanding. I was very happy to receive this book for my personal library collection. Others who like history should read this book. And those who have Lees in their genealogy should also read this book. Thank You.
   
   Karen Kay Ullom

No comments about Adventurers of Purse and Person Virginia 1607-1624/5: Families G-P (Volume Two).

5 comments about Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers: A Biographical Dictionary, 1607-1635.

1. This book is wonderful. It had bios of the early settlers in Jamestown, including one of my ancestors.



2. Arrived on time as agreed. Once you get the hang of the way this is written, it becomes a very useful genealogical tool. While the book is aimed at the genealogist, there are gems of information contained inside well worth the reading by the general public. An example would be the woman who died aboard ship on the way to Jamestowne and what became of her possessions.



3. A wealth of info if you want to search for ancesrtors or just love history!



4. Wonderful genealogical resource!! Even met Ms. McCartney at a seminar where she was speaking and she signed my book. She is a fountain of genealogical information, she is an excellent researcher, you can depend on the information she give as true and accurate. One note, the information she gives are short snippets on each person so further research on each person may be desired.



5. This book is a wonderful book for finding information on the earliest European settlers of Virginia. Anyone who has researched their ancestry back to Jamestown will find this book invaluable. It is well researched and corrects some mistakes that have crept in to some genealogies and provides basic information and sources for many settlers. Like all big books, it is bound to have a few minor errors, such as the one I found where it suggested a settler named Collins who had killed his wife was executed by hanging him from his thumbs. I have read elsewhere that this was the torture they inflicted upon him until he confessed. Still, anyone interested in Jamestown or early Virginia history would find this book worth while as well.

5 comments about Jamestowne Ancestors, 1607-1699. Commemoration of the 400th Anniversary of the Landing at James Towne, 1607-2007.

1. "The year 2007 marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in America. From its tentative start as a small fort on an island in the James River, with scarcely more than 150 inhabitants, Jamestown became a model for the colonization of the New World. Its founders--planters and indentured servants alike--established a formula for immigration and settlement, and laid the foundation for the leap­frog expansion into the hinterland. Because of its unchallenged position in American history, the 400th anniversary of Jamestown is a milestone, and celebrations are planned throughout 2007.
   
   For our part as publishers we are offering several books in commemoration of the founding of Jamestown, and the one announced here, Jamestowne Ancestors 1607-1699, by noted Virginia genealogist Virginia Lee Hutcheson Davis, reveals the names of the very people who established the colony, first under the auspices of the Virginia Company of London and then under King James I and the later Stuart kings of England.
   
   Thus Jamestowne Ancestors is a list of approximately 1,000 persons who are known to have owned land or resided on Jamestown Island between 1607 and 1699. They are listed here alphabetically along with their known dates of residence in Jamestown, their official position in the colony (landowner, burgess, etc.), and their place of origin or county of residence. In addition, the book contains details concerning the settlement of the island, a brief history of Jamestown plantations and hundreds and their evolution into the early counties of Virginia, and pen and ink drawings, together with maps of the fort and city of Jamestown.
   
   The 1608 map of James Fort and the diagram of the site show the original settlement and the progression of present-day archaeological work undertaken there. Other maps show the growth of the colony beyond Jamestown Island throughout the seventeenth century, first as shires, then as plantations and hundreds. From this you can determine the areas where the early settlers selected their home sites and plantations. Together with other facts assembled here, this information can be used as a starting point in establishing eligibility for membership in a number of hereditary societies that require proof of descent from an early Virginia ancestor."



2. This is an attractive edition, and I'm glad it is the
   400 year Anniversary Edition. I already knew what was in the book,
   just wanted an additional proven source for my genealogy works.



3. Arrived on time as agreed. Intersting book but not as useful as I had thought it might be. Still, for Virginia genealogists, put it on the shelf; you might have use for it from time to time.



4. A hansome package with well presented material. The benefit is limited to "old" information,i.e. previously published information, and did not include new information on the many who landed at Jamestowne and moved across the river to establish themselves and secure our nation. It was disappointing in that aspect. Such a work is needed and there is plenty of accounts regarding these people that cries out for collection and publication. These too were Jamestowne "settlers and ancestors". George A. Williams



5. If you know your lineage, this is a great source to help you find any qualifying ancestors for the Jamestown Society, or just for your own knowledge.

1 comments about West Virginia: A History.

1. A long read, and a true history of the state. Whatever your background, If you like West Virginia, then this book is for you.

2 comments about New Orleans: The Making of an Urban Landscape.

1. New Orleans is an "inevitable city on an impossible
   site" is what Pierce Lewis said in his book Making Of An Urban Landscape.
   
   I would add to that "an inevitable party on an impossible site by illicite and illogical people.'
   
   Most of what is there now was not there prior to WWII. The early settlers (1699) understood the land and built appropriately.
   
   If anyone is to blame it is the French! But it is a most wonderful book about the growth and development of a wonderful city.



2. If only there was a book like this written for every major city. This book covers all of the contexts of the city; geological, topographical, sociological, and economical. It is wonderful to know how this precious city developed and struggled since its birth. Pierce Lewis writes wih a sense of humor that makes this read easy and enjoyable.