ERA Reviews

Very beautiful pictures, but limited. Wish Florence has used a different format instead of listing by color. It would have been helpful if he had stated the colors and etchings available for each candlestick.

This book is a very colorful and well written book. However, I expected to see many more pictures of candlesticks than are offered in this book. There is 165 pages of candlesticks with 2 - 3 examples per page, which is probably around the amount made during the Depression Era. Florence gives the company name, the pattern, color, size and mint value. The photos are great and I believe this book is valuable to those just getting into collecting candlesticks from this era.

This book provides snapshots about the major successful Internet entrepreneurs of Europe. In particular the focus is on the UK. Sometimes the book verges on being a marketing promotion for the major European sites rather than any sort of subjective snapshot of the site and the entrepreneur behind it. Also, there is a total failure to acknowledge the other individuals that stand behind each successful entrepreneur. Without a close knit team in charge of all the various features of the web-business the Internet entrepreneur would be a zero. Obviously, the authors of the book missunderstand the real skill of the internet entrepreneur which lies in forming the team and keeping it together and building on its strengths. The idea that one single person can excel in all the functions of a company and be a mythical hero slaying the competition is just fantasy. The focus should also be on the team that realises the entrepreneurs vision. However, having said that the book is worth reading for the wide range of companies on the Internet who are doing many different things and being successful. The areas examined are B2C and B2B and the companies are predominantly European. Now and again in the interviews of the entrepreneurs there are interesting comments made about why the company has been successful on the web. On these occassions it is worth checking out the associated web-site to examine the company more closely.

I purchased this book during the dot-com boom and I strongly feel that this book should be on the shelf of any budding entreprenuer or decision-maker. Why?

This book is not only about the profile of dot-com visionaries; it is also about the passion of developing a unique business model that is accelerated by new economy tools to reach out to a global market. It is about filling a need.

As we enter the wireless age, this book is essential for students to understand the rules of business will not change. That business passion and risk taking is important in any era.

An important read and classic business textbook.

Unless you are truly interested in Lewis and Clark or the early travels out west, I would have to say to stay away from this one. This novel contains lots of information about the travels to the west and neighboring tribes along the way, but there was not as much adventure telling that I had thought would have been there. Sure, sometimes I was on the edge of my seat, but most of the time I was just trying to pass through the imcompetent nonsense that was written in the book.

This book is not a novel. This book is an excerpt of the version of the Lewis and Clark journals edited by Reuben Gold Thwaites in 1903-04. Thwaites's version was based on material from the paraphrased Biddle version of 1814. There is an excellent modern non-paraphrased 13-volume version of the journals edited by Dr. Gary Moulton based on original Lewis and Clark materials--also available through Amazon.com. I recommend this book and Dr. Moulton's books.

Bakeless chose entries that reflected the broad scope of Captain Meriwether Lewis's mission. Captain Lewis was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and Congress in 1803 to conduct an official army expedition across the North American continent to search for a practical trade route. He was to sail up the Missouri River, cross the Rocky Mountains, and sail down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. This feat had never been done before, and Lewis and his army detachment were the first citizens of the United States to cross all the way across from the land east of the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.

Bakeless's selection of journal entries gives the reader a very balanced sense of the expedition. We can appreciate the mundane day-to-day activities such as guard duties, court-martials, hunting expeditions, weather reports, as well as exciting entries such as when the men were chased by grizzly bears, nearly fell over cliffs, were nearly drowned, or when confronted by unfriendly westerners (only twice--most of the Native Americans were exceedingly helpful to the expedition and many times, the expeditionaries lives depended on the Native Americans help), and even when Meriwether Lewis was accidentally shot. We even find out which Captain liked to eat dog meat.

Considering the wealth of information that the Captains brought back from their journey, Bakeless did an excellent job of choosing what we should read to get a balanced picture of the enormous job those men undertook in one small volume.

This is an excellent "beginners" Lewis and Clark Journal. Once you read this book, you will feel compelled to read more. When you do, I recommend editor Dr. Gary Moulton's 12 volume set.

This book is not a "childrens" book. It is a nonfiction book for adults or young adults that can appreciate real life adventure.

The bottom line is, do you want to buy this book? Yes, you do.

The interesting point of the book is demonstrating how religious righteousness has manifested itself into the very core of American politics and self identity since its inception. An eye opener to see how racist our country has always been. However, the author's arrogance and pomposity makes for dense difficult reading and tends to distract from the message.

Manifest destiny is an all too often ignored subject in American history, if for any other reason than it rather vividly illustraits the paradoxes of American history.

Where this book's major aim is not expressedly moralizing (although this is not avoided), but rather an attempt to paint a history of the development of the concept and show how it has been carried through to the very near past, it does so in a way which is compact and concise. In short, only those very well versed in American political and philosophical thought will be able to understand the signifigance of even 50% of the subjects discussed. The total volume of information in this rather slim book is difficult to rate in terms of relavance without a deep understanding of even the most minute areas of the United State's past.

Does this mean the book is unreadable to a beginner to American history? Not at all. However without any guide regarding the signifigance of each passage and quote only the initiated will be able to determin whether the author is making an important statement, or simply adding on extra for effect.

The small size and extreemly condensed subject matter will be just the thing for neonates of American history looking to become well versed in the subject. The amount of sources and concepts drawn upon are many and fairly diverse.

Aside from the above strengths/weaknesses, there is one unfortunate oversight which is all too common in writing or discussion of the subject. That is, a broader grasp of the European origins of the fledgling "divine doctrine". The view of America as the "great experiment of man, provided by God for the faithful" is well known, but no attention was spent looking in to the already present philosophy of the "White Man's Burden", which had already blazed across South and East Asia for over a centry preceeding the full scale colonization of the New World. More attention to these origins would have been appreciated.

All in all, this will be an excelent book to start on unraveling the concept of manifest destiny as well as the overall framework of American history, if for any other reason than it will provide practice in determining the relavance and import of sources. For those sources which are almost beyond question, even to the average reader, this will serve more as an elementary introduction to an all-too-often ignored segment of the history of the United States.

James Abrahamson's book, The Men of Secession examines what can happen when the forces of radicalization overwhelm those of moderation. He deals with radicals on both sides, but concentrates on Southern radicals. These men, such as William L. Yancey and Robert Barnwell Rhett, worked hard during the 1850's to lay the groundwork of radicalization, then, in the Democratic Party Convention of 1860, they struck, splintering the Party and ensuring Lincoln's election.

As the publishing company's name suggests, this book is scholarly, but accessible for most readers. My main critique of the work is that Abrahamson devotes relatively little attention to Northern radicals. The book starts out addressing John Brown and Salmon Chase, then mostly drops further discussion of Northern radicalism. This present the impression that Southern radicalization occured in a vacuum. Northern approval of John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia and Northern State "Personal Liberty Laws" both weighed heavily on moderate Southern minds. Southern radicals played on this to get most Southerners off the fence and on their side.

Overall, a good effort and a good read. To get much detail on the Southern perspective, however, you will have to look elsewhere.

This book is an excellently written, and often insightfull accout of the men who convinced the south to rebel. It gives the basic backgroud on the radicals for both sides and then goes into the basic details of the election of 1860 and how the southern fire eaters assured a victory by Lincoln.

The book was easy to read; maintianing good detail without loseing the scope of the book. This is a great book for anyone who is interested in this topic. My only problem with the book is that its scope could have been a little wider, and the history placed more in context. I read this as supplemental reading to a collage history course, if that puts this review in a little more context.

One of the best works on Goliad available. It does show the world the signifigant role that Goliad played in the revolution of Texas.

Thorough, yet concise history of Goliad and the old Spanish mission, La Bahia. The Goliad Massacre has always been treated as less glamorous than the battles at the Alamo and San Jacinto. This book accurately identifies the importance of this event to the Texas Revolution and elevates it to its position of prominence. This is a chronical of memorable people caught up in the events leading up to the creation of the community of Goliad and the subsequent massacre.

The are pluses and minuses to Davis Thelen's biography on Wisconsin's "Fighting Bob" La Follette.

The biggest plus, it was short (211 pages) and to the point. Not filled with mindless babble about every little personal detail of the man's life, like you see some biographers write.

The book also shows, in Thelen's opinion, how La Follette was really out to be get re-elected, in the earliest years of his political life, rather than become the insurgent leader of the people. According to Thelen that came later, not from the onset.

The biggest minuses were that it focused way to much on the progressive insurgence movement. While this was a major part of La Follette's life it was not everything! Some of Thelen's views are also very controvesal and subject for much debate.

If your looking for a quick overview of progressivism, insurgency, and Robert La Follette then this is the book for you. If you are looking for details you will be disappointed.

I found this book to be an easily readable, rewarding biography of Wisconsin Senator Robert LaFollette. This book focuses on his political beginnings as a mainstream politician and then on his shift to the left and his leadership role in the rapidly growing progressive movement from the 1890s to the 1920s. The book is fast-moving and doesn't get bogged down in the details, yet it does give the reader an extensive look at his political career and influence. The section on LaFollette's opposition to World War I and the attempt to expel him from the Senate because of that is food for thought, and that dark period in U.S. history is well worth further study (see also the cases of the IWW and Eugene Debs, and James J. Martin's book "An American Adventure in Bookburning"). LaFollette was joined in this opposition by only a tiny handful of other elected officials, such as Senator George Norris of Nebraska, and he was probably the only one who stuck to his principles and continued to criticize the war even as it was being waged. Robert LaFollette's influence in politics can still be felt today, especially in his native Wisconsin. Overall this should be a fascinating book to anybody who is interested in the history of American populist and progressive politics.

With this book, Oakes brings to light the other side of the master/slave relationship in the south. The information presented is quite intriguing, and certainly interesting, but I think that Oakes missed whatever mark he was trying to make. The point that he attempts to drive home is murky, at best, concentrating on the differences between the "old" and the "new" slaveholding class. Oakes subscribes to Genovese's concept of paternalism in the slaveholding class, and effectively makes the argument that there was a difference between the parvenus of the class, and the old blood. Unfortunately, his comparison, although the details are interesting, ultimately turns out to be confusing and becomes instead just a collection of facts about the slave owning society in the South. Despite this weakness, however, the book is well worth reading for the new slant that it gives on the "master class," and their attitude about their slaves, the South, and their view of the world.

James Oakes' The Ruling Class is a history of American slaveholders that effectively dispels the image of the paternalistic plantation aristocrat as the definitive, or even typical, portrait of the average slaveholder. It was interesting to see how much the Southeners and the Northeners had in common in political and ecomonic outlook. The average slaveholder was a grasping capitilist continually on the move and trying to advance himself. Slaves were a commodity to be used in this regard, as were the slaveholders' democratic politics and the expansion south and westward in the United States. The paternalist image built up in mythology after the Civil War existed but it was not representative. This book is effective is demonstrating the ways in which the slaves were an active, often rebellious, factor in this capititist drama as they also rejected any paternalist notion of their enslavement and saw the truth of the picture. They were a commodity both for labour and commerce. The book is excellant in portraying a complicated picture of the slaveholding class that involved many people of different ethnic, religious, political, and economic backgrounds all bound up in a capitilist explotiation of the slaves as a source of upward mobility in a very fluid society. A good place to begin to learn about this period of history.

The narrative for the battle itself was very interesting and you get a good feel for the tension in the air in the days leading up to the battle; as well as the military genius of Wellington. There is a good overview of Wellington, his commanders and the political challenges the "Iron Duke" faced. The illustrations are also outstanding.

I was a little disappointed in the maps - not up to the usual quality of the Campaign Series. The French Commanders get very little write-up, so the reader doesn't have a good feel for what types of men they were, the challenges they were facing or even Napoleon's feelings towards the Penninsula War. The beginning of the book is also a somewhat choppy and is a little tough to follow.

Don't be mislead by my critisms. This is still a good book (I've read it 2 times to date), but falls short of this series high standard of excellance. It is none-the-less an enjoyable read and worthwhile for any Wellington or Napoleonic era buff

This book, while not really shedding any new light on the topic, goes into an in depth look at the battle. Detailed OOB's, photographs of the battlefield today, and excellent 3d maps make this an excellent read for the history buff and wargamer alike. The color plates are excellent, and really give a feel for the time period. My only qualm is that individual unit strengths are not given.

Neher provides a decent overview of Southeast Asia, but anyone with even a scant background in the area will find it to be wholly incomplete. Although not innacurate, Neher's treatemnt of the region and its history is cursory, its numerous deficiencies really are inexcusable for such an author.

Clark Neher, professor of political science and director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois University, presents a comprehensive view of Southeast Asia. Having lived in Thailand and the Philippines for seven years, Neher shows clear understanding of the present situations in the region. Neher points out that there is great diversity in the region. Other than geographical proximity and a colonial past, there is little that link the nations in this region to be seen as a coherent whole. The primary focus of the book deals mostly with the process of modernization especially within the twentieth century up to the time of his writing, and how the Southeast Asian countries fit in the New International Era. Thus the whole outlook of the book deals almost exclusively with political and economic developments since the World War II. After a brief introduction to the region and its emergent importance in the international scene, Neher gives an overview of each of the ten Southeast nations, namely, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Burma, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. However, the report on each nation was not evenly dealt with. I feel that a disproportionate coverage was given to Thailand and the Philippine compared to the other nations. His overview of these two nations took up almost 80 pages, whereas only 140 pages were given to the remaining eight nations. This does not reflect good scholarship when the author did not provide a reason for it, especially when one realizes that the author had actually resided in these two countries for seven years. Furthermore, although the third edition was published in 1999, most of the latest updates were given up to early 1998. Most of these additions were single-paragraph add-ons of news without further analysis. A reader seeking understanding of the latest development of the financial crisis finds little helpful understanding of the situation. One would expect better analysis of the situation since it has far reaching consequences in the global scene. This lack of coverage betrays the intent of the author to present Southeast Asia in the New International Era and the fact that it was revised in 1999. One serious mistake was the addition of a paragraph detailing political change in 1998 in Indonesia by mistake in the section that deals with Malaysia. Neher's presentation gives a lucid account on how each of the Southeast Asian countries grappled with democratization in the postwar era as each was trying to gain economic and political stability. For example in Thailand, the traditional culture of venerating the monarch gives it unique stability even in the face of numerous coups and military rule. The King intervened successfully in each case, thus was able to avert bloodshed even when the country went through many changes of government. In recent years, Southeast Asia has enjoyed relative peace and stability that brought economic boom to the region. Such economic success did not occur evenly in all the Southeast Asian countries. Burma, Laos, and Cambodia remained isolated; while Indonesia has its fare share of political unrest. However, as the author points out, most of the Southeast Asian nations are moving fast, though each at different pace, toward modernization.