This was a pioneer work--the first book-length history of the Supreme Court during the Civil War. More than 45 years after its first publication, it remains the only such history. I am not sure why the subject hasn't received more attention. Thousands of volumes have focused on the executive and legislative branches of the government in that crisis, and the Supreme Court--in theory, if not in actual practice--is one of the three co-equal branches of the government. It was, in fact, deeply involved in the struggle, as it was in events that led up to it. Silver's book is based on extensive research in original sources, and it adequately covers the basic elements of the story. Yet readers may find its analysis of constitutional issues a bit thin, and wish the author had conveyed more of the personal drama that drove events in the Court (the relationship between Lincoln and Taney had an almost Shakespearean quality to it). Finally, it should be noted that the title is somewhat misleading. The Supreme Court has never belonged to any president, Lincoln or otherwise. It was the United States Supreme Court during the war, as it has always been, and it remained independent throughout the conflict. Notwithstanding all of this, the University of Illinois Press is to be commended for making this book available once again in a digital reprint.

"The Living Lincoln" is a work consisting of the recorded words of Abraham Lincoln, beginning with his first recorded words during his New Salem era in the 1830 and concluding with his last correspondence before leaving the White House for Ford's Theatre.

Lincoln's words are supplemented with explanatory material which places the quotations in context. The quotations are drawn from his speeches and correspondence. Some contain well known phrases, such as the Gettysburg Address or the Second Inaugural. Others are drawn from correspondence, originally significant only to the writer and the addressee, but which are now provide windows into Lincoln's soul.

As I read through this book, I kept notes of significant quotes which I thought merited rereading.

Those entries which are not so memorable do provide insights into issues confronting Lincoln during his career in the Illinois Legislature, Congress, the practice of Law and in the White House. His correspondence to military and political leaders provide interesting views into particular issues of the conflict.

There are several quotations which I found to be of particular interest for their historical significance, their sound advise or just for their entertainment value.

One of his early quotations in which I found lasting wisdom concerned the source of a threat to our national existence. Lincoln asked:
"Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in atrial of a thousand years.
At what point the is the approach of danger to be expected?...If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

As a lawyer, I find his advise given to a member of our profession in 1850 still ring true today:
"Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can....
There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. I say vague, because when we consider to what extent confidence and honors are reposed in and conferred upon lawyers by the people, it appears improbable that their impression of dishonesty is very distinct and vivid."

As an historical matter, I find his assessment of the Know-Nothing Movement of the 1840s to be interesting:
"I am not a Know-Nothing. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of Negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people?...As a nation we began by declaring that "all men are created equal." We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except Negroes." When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except Negroes and foreigners, and Catholics." When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty-to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy."

The final example of a quote which I will give is one which is relevant to our current calls for cultural diversity. Lincoln tells us that those Americans who have no blood ties to the signers of the Declaration of Independence are their heirs because:
"They feel that the moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their relation to those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and that they have a right to claim it as thought they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote the Declaration...That is the electric cord in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men throughout the world."

This is a book which I kept in my car for several years to read on overnight trips. It is excellent for this purpose. The entries are sufficiently independent to permit the book to be read in increments separate by weeks at a time. Overall this book is a worthwhile read.

This excellent, well written ,thoroughly researched book is an interesting and compelling read. My husband bought it for me following one of his regular sojourns to Hay-on-Wye where he searches for fishing books and the likes. I had started to collect books on the Blues to compliment my small collection of Albums,C.Ds even a few 78s. and so considered this biography an aside to the mainstream of my type of music. How wrong some of your assumptions can be! Collier dissects the man his music and the age in which he lived -dispelling many of the myths and giving factual credence to certain claims made by Armstrong and others alike. So,having picked up the book,out of politeness and consideration to my dear husband (!) I starting to flick through reading an odd passage here and there and then found that I had gone back to the very begining and was hooked 'line and sinker 'on the narrative. I am in awe of the depth of research /detective work the author has made on a man whom he obviously enjoyed researching with out any hint of hero worship or sycophancy, but! when it came to the technical abilities of his subject on his cornet playing well- there the author did leave me in ignorance (and boredom)- as not being in the least musically talented I found the discriptive passages on such matters way over my head and, I imgine, that of other readers with similar omissions in their musical education!! The author surmises that some Jazz enthusiasts may denigrate Armstrongs' later performances to that of genial buffoon, all round entertainer and despise this career change for what they take to be a sell out to white entertainment. But Collier can ,having made a thorough study of the man, make assumptions based on fact and not on personal fancy or nebulous notions as some do,that Armstrong fullfilled his ambition of becoming an entertainer which he set out to become but on route became one of the most innovative and influential and skilled exponents of Jazz that the world has ever seen. As Armstrongs' popularity and adulation grew among the general public so it waned on the Jazz circuit as purists disliked the way Armstrong courted popularity. Elitists often think the artist should suffer for his art form and saw Armstrong as a traitor to this. But, when, as you do here, see the history of the man his music, his suffering , etc., all put into the context of the social backdrop that Collier does so expertly you are leftin no doubt of the sincerity of both biographer and subject matter. A great piece of literature!

This is a collection of drawings & photos of models for the design of the Emory Centre For The Arts by Eisenman. It's arranged in order from "Conceptial Diagrams" to "Texts" To "Drawings (Plans/Elevations)" to COnstruction Drawings. Basically, lots of line & 3d drawings, photos of models & site. And Eisenman explains his design theories in the middle. Instesting, for those interested in Folding Methods in design and wonder how to deal with difficult issues like construction details, materials etc, and also the design strategies. Good reference!

A fantastic detailed overview of Jazz from its origins to the mid-sixties. Combines historical, social, academic musical,literary, entertainment, and psychological perspectives in which all components 'swing'. One caveat-too much deference accorded to psychiatrists in explaining the human behavior of Jazz musicians!

I have been using Bloomfield and Moulton's Managing International Conflict, and the associated CASCON software for several years teaching both undergraduate and graduate students. It embodies a lot of generalized wisdom about international and domestic conflicts since 1945. The Bloomfield-Leiss "life cycle" model of conflict phases, which is the basis for the coding of 85 multi-phase conflicts, is a classic contribution. The discussion of conflict threats in the contemporary world is excellent; the teaching manual is really accessible. The analysis routines offerred do a good job of highlighting the most suggestive of the 170 or so specific factors judged by experts to have exacerbated or diminished the liklihood/magnitude of violence in the first 3 phases of the historical cases included in the institutional memory that the CASCON system provides. My students are putting in the current Kosovo crisis this week, while it is happening; we hope that the precedent-searching and generalizing options within the software will help us see new dimensions in the management of this (and similar) cases. Unfortunately, the Dayton agreement is not a case already coded into CASCON, so we may have to include it too to get a more historically accurate rendition of the reasoning going on in Holbrook's mind. The pragmatic, policy-oriented way of using history is certainly more relevant to public-policy training in this area than the more statistically oriented treatments of contemporary conflicts that one finds in much of the "scientific" international relations literature. On the other hand, the coded details available from CASCON concerning past, "relevant" management cases of a similar sort, is really rich, but tantalizingly brief. I have found it necessary to find longer accounts of key precedentially relevant cases in some uses of the CASCON system. Users wanting an informed, but accessible introduction to sophisticated and historically informed practical thinking about international crisis management will get an unparalleled introduction throught the use of this book and it's associated CASCON software. Experts will get new ideas how to design policy-relevant information support systems.

Ms. Radford has allowed us the opportunity to peak in on intimate meetings of individuals with President Lincoln. From statesmen to soldiers, widows to young boys, Americans who had the opportunity to speak firsthand with Abraham Lincoln while he served as President share a common experience. Each felt as if he had the president's undivided attention and utmost respect. If you're looking for a hero, America still has one in Honest Abe. This book is a treat for history buffs.

Given the polarization of American politics since the end of World War II it seems strange to have Christopher & James Lincoln Collier entitle this volume in The Drama of American History series "The Middle Road: American Politics, 1945-2000." Especially since the major metaphor and argumentative structure of this volume has to do with a pendulum swinging back and forth between the liberal policies of the Democrats and the conservative agenda of the Republicans. Consequently, instead of arguing that this period of American politics represented a shift away from the extremes towards the middle, this volume looks at the major swings of the pendulum.

The Colliers divide the volume into six chapters: (1) A New President Confronts the Peace begins with a description of the basic political differences between the Democrats and Republicans, then covers how President Truman's attempts to push through liberal policies were stopped by the Southern Democrats; (2) McCarthyism looks at how the Republicans hoped President Eisenhower would roll back FDR's "New Deal" but instead the nation had to deal with the extremism of the Red Witch hunts; (3) The Drama of the 1960s reduces the Kennedy and Johnson administrations to dealings with Communists in Cuba and Vietnam while the domestic situation dealt with Civil Rights and assassinations; (4) President Nixon and Watergate looks at the end of the Vietnam War and the biggest political scandal of the 20th century; (5) The Pendulum Swings Again deals with the decidedly different ways in which Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan wanted to revamp the federal government in the wake of Watergate; and (6) The Middle Ground Triumphant manages to equate the failure of the George Bush to be elected after decisively winning Desert Storm and the failure of Bill Clinton to keep his personal life out of the headlines. From such a perspective the victory of George W. Bush over Al Gore, which necessitates an explanation of the Electoral College, probably seems a fitting capstone to American politics in the 20th century.

I think the Colliers could have made a case that the political arc of the swinging pendulum is reduced each time around, so that there is a definite movement towards the middle ground, but that is something that would have to be set up from the start in this volume. Of course, there is also a sense in which this period represents the failure of both conservatives and liberals to turn electoral victories into political reform. The volume on "The United States in the Cold War, 1945-1989" provides the most important element of the post World-War II period. This volume, along with "The Changing Face of American Society, 1945-2000," catches young students up on the last half of the 20th century in terms of everything else in America. One of the strengths of the series is how it is able to focus on the past in terms of how it impacts the present. However, at this point we really do not have the appropriate perspective to be able to look at what will turn out to be the key aspects of American politics during this period. In that regard, this volume is one of the lesser volumes in this excellent series, which focuses on the "central core" of American history.

I liked the story very much. It was fast paced and interesting. The plot had lots of twists and cliff hangers. I particularly liked the use of Abe Lincoln as a supporting character. This is the Lincoln we don't hear much about, the pre-presidential guy.

The book would be interesting for any lover of the "Indiana Jones" adventure genre but is particularly suited for boys. They will readily identify with the hijinks of the two main characters Jack and Finnigan.

I will be looking for more books from this author. Could this be the beginning of a series?