This is one I've been searching for, for several years. If you want a good, one volume work on the role played by the army during the pre-Civil War years, buy this book. One major item that is brought out is that troops on the frontier were used as laborers building roads more than actual military service. The conflicts among the officers as well as the politicians are covered as well. The bibliography is a gold mine of first hand sources

Tench Coxe is one person very few school children read about...and for good reason. A Philadelphia merchant during the citical period of the 1760's through the 1820's, Coxe is a case study in switching political affiliation. As the Revolutionary War rages on, Coxe is a Loyalist and even attends the lavish Philadelphia balls with the British officers. When the war is over, however, Coxe switches his alliances, emerging at the forefront of those fighting for ratification of the new Constitution. He is rewarded with a job in George Washington's Treasury Department. However, Coxe becomes disillusioned with the Federalist Party as he begins to campaign for the Democratic-Republican, Thomas Jefferson. In his later years, Coxe spends much time campaigning in Pennsylvania for various political candidates, trying to manage his extensive land holdings and begging, usually fruitlessly, for a patronage job. The author attempts to show how Coxe, although running the gauntlet of political affiliations, has never let go of his core beliefs. He does not quite convince this reader, but he does make an intersting case. Even more important than Cooke's historical interpretation of Coxe's life is the fact that reading this fine biography helps one to more fully understand and appreciate the work that political underlings do, especially as it relates to early American political intrigues. One criticism I have of this book, and I admit it is more of a matter of personal preference, is that the author chronologically jumps around too much. In my opinion, this leaves the reader somewhat confused with regards to how some aspects of the subject's life interact with other aspects. Cooke does this especially with regards to Coxe's land speculation. It takes away from the overall quality of the book when Cooke describes Coxe's buying and selling of land in the Carolinas and I'm spending time trying to figure out what else is going on in Coxe's life. This is not a book written for curling up next to the fire, but rather for those who fancy themselves scholars.

Among the final groups of immigrants to come to American shores and face the prospect of acculturation during America's early history were radical political refugees from the British Isles. These exiles fled jail, impending execution, or banishment as a result of their military, political or social activities in England, Scotland or Ireland, and are described in Michael Durey's comprehensive study "Transatlantic Radicals and the Early American Republic." "Many radicals," Durey states, "experienced severe culture shock in the first months after their arrival." (176) and had to adjust to the reality that naïve images they had of America before fleeing their homeland were often untrue. For many, he suggests, coming to America meant treading a difficult path, politically and socially, which eventually led to marginalization. These men had to find work quickly, and many became teachers and newspapermen in the process of adjusting to new lives. Durey concludes that a large number of refugees began fresh careers in "one general area, the creation and dissemination of knowledge, cultural, political, pedagogical, and scientific." (200) Those of religious faith in the former lands latched on to their church in America as a way of gaining a foothold and acclimating to a new country. The most profound divergence of acculturation took place among the radicals with regard to slavery, Durey finds. Most if not all exiles had been anti-slavery while in Britain and Ireland; "no such unanimity can be found in their reactions to slavery after their emigration," for as a practical problem, the issue divided them once in the United States. (289) "The acculturation of the exiles to the regions in which they settled," he concludes, played a large role in how the émigrés responded to the abolition question, i.e., they adopted the predominat views of the states in which they settled. (283.)
It is notable that with the possible exception of the late 18th century radical émigrés from the British Isles, no group of immigrants discussed above came upon these shores to a veritable Eden, or an unoccupied, virgin land waiting to be conquered or "developed." Seventeenth century Englishmen encountered native tribes upon arrival in America; slaves faced a rigid, white-mastered plantation system firmly established. Congregation members in Puritan New England reacted to an entrenched, privileged clergy; Ulster Scots faced hostile frontier natives and more established, "English-like" elites of the settled East. These encounters with predecessors necessitated acculturation by those peoples who came to America, willingly, reluctantly or against their will. Some of these groups triumphed-rich sugar planters, Virginia land speculators-while others struggled to survive-slaves, dirt poor Scotch-Irish on the frontier, and political radicals. Yet regardless of their destinies, each of these groups underwent the necessary and inevitable process of change-adaptation-which profoundly shaped their lives and societies in ways in their new land, and helped to create what we call American culture today.

I loved the book because of how creative one can become with it. I am going to read it to my son's 2nd grade class and have them participate to bring the animals to life.

This is a very intense compilation of the facts, and circumstances of one unbelievably cruel dictatorship, and the conditions that helped perpetuate it. As a Dominican born after the Trujillo's Era, I'm very glad and thankful that someone (in this case Mr. Bernard Diederich) having been in such a prominent position (Reporter in the Caribbean during the Trujillo's regime), decided to put together all the information that he had access to. This book is an amazing source of information for those who wonder why such a cruel dictatorship lasted so long, and why so many atrocities went unpunished until after the death of the dictator.

If you are a fan of the films of Milos Forman then you owe it to yourself to read his memoirs. This book offers fascinating insight into his childhood tragedies and subsequent journeys into Eastern European and Western filmmaking.

I won my copy of this book at a silent auction midway through the filming of Forman's "The People Vs. Larry Flynt", and Mister Forman was kind enough to personalize and autograph it for me. What a great guy!

Not everyone's life would make for an interesting set of memoirs. Probably not yours, and certainly not mine. But Forman's does. Grab it, read it, enjoy it.

These two stories are lovely, and a bit different from the Rilke works to which we English-speakers are exposed. They are very interesting for those enchanted with Prague, as Rilke mentions many landmarks within the city (buildings, graveyards, and such that still exist), and the translator does a very nice job footnoting all the locations mentioned. Both these stories deal with the relationship between the Germans and the Czechs in Prague when Rilke lived there, which is fascinating, since this is no longer the situation at present. The stories are both romantic, but <> is the better one, being a more convincing picture of reality and less muddled.

There are many books available on the history of Venice, but there is probably no book as beautifully illustrated as this one. It contains many beautiful prints of paintings, sculptures, etc. as well as excellent photographs of the city. The book also provides a very good general overview of the history of Venice. The author is somewhat biased, by his own admission, about the "glory" of Venice and its history, and, thus, some degree of objectivity may have been lost in the telling of the history. Nevertheless, for anyone who is interested in Venice and its history, this book will provide many rewards.

Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the best general of the English Civil War, had a British mother (Elizabeth Stuart, the Winter Queen), but was raised a German prince. Having fought gallantly for the Protestant cause in the Thirty Years War, he came to England to defend his uncle, King Charles I, against the Parliamentary uprising. Through his dazzling performance as head of the Cavalier horse, he continued the royal tradition first established by King Harold (and centuries later embodied by Prince Albert): the foreign prince who, through his exertions wins the awe and respect of the locals. Despite Charles' execution, he prosecuted the Royalist cause well into the 1650s as a naval privateer and commerce raider, and, after the Restoration, became one of King Charles II's admirals. (Indeed it could be argued that his naval career was his most remarkable achievement.)

George Malcolm Thompson, a former journalist, relates Rupert's story with verve - then again, Rupert's vigorous life is a story that really tells itself. A fine portrait of a great hero.

The book is short enough to be read in one sitting yet it is not simplistic. The humor keeps the narrative going and the insights into Polish life are from one who obviously knows the people yet has an outsider's (English)grasp of 'foreigners' habits and ways. Excellent book and I have subsequently read some others in the series and they too were high quality!