This is the first volume of Philip Foner's massive history of the Labor movement in the United States. In my opinion it is the best and most complete work of its kind in existence. Fonor did an extrordinary job of researching the original documents from the earliest era of American Labor and succedes in providing an emense amount of factual information while still telling a good story. If you want a detailed study of American Labor this is the only place to go. If you have a more casual interest I would recommend Labor's Untold Story by Richard Boyer, Herbert Morais.

I found it very good and interesting Very useful for research, particularly printing trade unionism during a very fractious time for unions of any nature. This one being in the forefront of battling a hostile government.

Reviewed by Johanna Granville, Clemson University, Clemson, SC USA

James Forsyth's History of the Peoples of Siberia: Russia's North Asian Colony, 1581-1990 is a much needed addition to the extant literature on Soviet history. The policies of glasnost and end of censorship after the 1991 Soviet collapse have led to greater interest in the history of non-Russian nationalities. The dearth of reliable historical information on Russia east of the Urals is becoming increasingly clear as Siberia and the Russian Pacific littoral develop into a significant geopolitical and economic entity. Russia's expansion eastward may have been as defining for Russian society as was the United States' advance westward for American society. Thus, it is surprising that historians are just beginning to concentrate on this vast landscape. This is not to say that Western scholarship has completely overlooked Asiatic Russia, but there is still much work to do. In this ethnohistory of Siberia, Forsyth attempts to "narrate and interpret the stages in the conquest and exploitation of Siberia" (defined as "everything lying east of 60 degrees E and 50 degrees N") and "the place of this process in Russian and world history." Forsyth's narrative tends to emphasize the role of ordinary people--the inhabitants of Siberia--rather than of prominent decision makers. He raises several questions about the indigenous peoples of Siberia (e.g. Buryat Mongols, Yakuts, Tatars, Samoyeds, Tunguses, and Chukchis). What was the role of the native peoples, who up to the 18th century, inhabited Siberia? Who were they, and how did they live before the Russian invasion? How did the Russian invasion affect their lives? Has the fate of the Siberian natives been similar to that of the Indians and Eskimos of North America? Forsyth's main argument is fairly simple: despite the Leninist rhetoric that the Russian occupation of Siberia was a peaceful process and that it brought the indigenous peoples into contact with a "higher culture," the Siberian peoples in reality suffered a great deal from collectivization, "denomadisation," and the consequent destruction of their traditional cultures and occupations. The book is particularly strong on the early Russian conquest of Siberia after 1456 and the folk heroes like Yermak Timofeyevich who emerged in the process. Forsyth attributes the Russian success in subjugating the indigenous tribes to a number of factors: demanding tribute, trading ruthlessly for furs, dominating by superior numbers, spreading disease (especially smallpox), exploiting intra-tribal conflict, and employing superior firepower. For centuries after taking control of a certain Siberian tribes' land, the Russians would exploit that tribe by requiring them to pay "yasak" (a Turkic word meaning tribute). Yasak was often collected in the form of furs, such as sable, fox, and marten---as precious to the Russians as gold to the Spanish conquistadors in Mexico and Peru. Russian Marxist historians have made Yermak and the Cossacks into folk heroes comparable to the pioneers of the American West. (Just as the Soviet media routinely sanitized news about Soviet society, so historians also self-servingly rewrote history.) However, the actual record of the Cossacks and "voyevodys" may be closer to the genocidal campaigns of the Nazis in the occupied regions of Belarus and the Ukraine. According to Forsyth, these interlopers were "courageous but ruthless men-of-action, mainly belonging to the petty nobility." Both tsarist and Soviet regimes abused the Siberian territory and its aborigines. Whereas the tsarist regimes extracted yasak, furs, and minerals, the Soviet regimes built vast projects in the region that disrupted the environment and local way of life. Gold dredging threatened rivers, industrial pollution affected Lake Baikal, and projects such as the Baikal/Amur railway (BAM) caused ecological damage, while the KGB harrassed local people who complained. Overall, the book is grim on the future of Siberia. The native ethnic groups are still minorities in their own land. Forsyth believes that some communities may resort to creating reservations akin to the ones for Indians in Canada and the United States. The book is solid, but not flawless. Although it synthesizes multivolume ethnographic and historical works of German, imperial Russian, and Soviet scholars in one volume, the extensive bibliography will not benefit those who read neither Russian nor German. Moreover, Forsyth apparently has not worked with recently declassified archival documents, and his balance is skewed a bit toward the seventeenth century. Readers may also find the beginning section on geography extremely dry, and the multitude of ethnic groups confusing. Nevertheless, since the scope of this finely produced book is vast, and its subject very timely, it will indeed benefit both nonspecialists and general readers. It contains twelve useful historical maps of the Siberian region and fifteen illustrations.

Johanna Granville, Clemson University

This book is likely to be the best you can get if you want to know a significant part of the history of the UP in general and about Cheyenne specifically. VERY highly recommended!

LC's Poetry and her column transports you back to cozier,homier, more childlike times.

Her poem "The Steeplejack"is reminescent of Longfellow's "The Sea Captain's Daughter".It somehow calls up memories of older books written in the early1900's that you'd find in a small town public library.

The fairhaired girl in Steeplejack wants to climb the steeple only to be metwith tragedy. LC's description brings you back to the days of bookswith Art Nouveau covers.

Although her poems involve an innocentingenue's flirtation with danger or a young woman's dance with aghost, her columns are playful and rambunctious, like Chip and Dale -the Disney chipmunks.

This book was the result of a graduate thesis project done in collaberation with Gary Trudeau (Doonsberry). The book was published shortly after the two authors graduated from their prospective graduate schools at Yale University. The story is a fictionalized acount of Hitlers troops moving east into the Russian steppes during WWII. Levinthal employs model soldiers in a realistic manner to convey the horrors of war and reveal the nature of play. Levinthal, having no direct experience with war, literally played with the soldiers in setting up the scenes. In doing so the only knowledge he used was his education from war movies, television series and magazine stories about war. This work with toys was seminal to the way Levinthal works up to this day.

This work is an incredible help in tracking down resources concerning the Russo-German War (1941-45). Not only do Muller and Ueberschar list thousands of works in English, German, and Russian, but they walk the reader through the trends of the literature in the past five decades. It is definitely not an accessible book for the layperson, but if you plan to do scholarly work in the field of WWII studies, this work is a must.

As a woman married to an unbeliever I have learned that for too many years the Lord has been left out of my marriage. On page 2 of this book the author says "a church without His presence means sin is in the camp." This book has revealed that very thing in my own marriage and I am a believer. These books reveal the truth of real pain, hurts and bondages that God's people are really in. I'm so pleased to see there is a Pastor that is not ashamed to teach and illustrate about the body God has so wonderfully and masterfully designed so that a man and woman can enjoy God's blessed gift of martial union. This is the most educational book on marriage and sexual love I have have ever read on the market. When my daughters are preparing for marriage they will be given a full teaching with the help of these books to prepare them for the wonderful gift of marriage. There are so many amazing truths and mysteries that have been revealed. I never knew how beautifully and wonderfully I have been designed to meet my husbands needs and desires, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. I have wasted alot of time. I shed many a tears as the truth of bondage in my own life were revealed by the powerful and moving testimonies of so many people that have been set free by the power of the Holy Spirit in this book and those who have been set free after reading this book. The wisdom and understanding of the author has astonished me. He has answered so many questions I dare never asked about sexual union and the misconceptions that surround it. This book is a must read and a blessed treasure in my marriage. Each chapter is a bible study in itself. Nothing has been hidden...Nothing!

I read this astonishing book awhile back, but it stands out in my mind as a lucid, insightful account of the destruction of an entire generation of intellectual life and how this stunts the psyche of the following generation. If I achieve even a small measure of the insight in my old age that Nadezdha Mandelstam displays in hers I will feel blessed. You won't take your intellectual freedoms for granted after reading this one. If you are a devotee of the poetry of Anna Akhmatova you will like this book. Her life and Ms. Mandelstam's were intertwined.

This is by far the most moving book I have ever read. It is an extremely detailed and vivid portrayal of life in a well to do (but not aristocratic) Russian family.

The early parts of the book give a detailed and fascinating histroy of the authors relatives prior to her birth. Then in an gripping and extremely colourful narrative she describes her childhood at the start of this century until the family is forced to flee Russia shortly after the Russian revolution.

This book stirs up such strong images that it is almost like watching a film, and only one I know of is so evocatice. Schindlers List.

There are two other books by Eugenie Fraser. I have not read the second about her life in India after the Second World War , but have been told it is a little disappointing. However her final book 'The Dvina remains' is again a gripping and slightly harrowing account of her return to Archangel and her correspondance with relatives who remained in Russia. Also well worth a read.