North of the Danube

This travel book of a visit to Czechoslovakia in 1939 is one of three books Erskine Caldwell and Margaret Bourke-White collaborated on. In this book she photographed and he wrote separately, and they combined their efforts although they did not attempt to match the text to the photos.

Czechoslovakia, which was formed in 1918 in the aftermath of the First World War out of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, was 20 years old and about to be divided up in 1939 between Nazi Germany, Poland and Hungary. Maybe the authors gave a geographic title North Of The Danube to their book because of the uncertainty of the continued existence of the nation.

Bourke-White's cameras capture beautiful portraits of the local people, landscapes and architecture in their last year of peace before the war, including a couple of photos showing the new Nazi presence. Photos used in this book are dated from April 1937 through August 1938 on the Life Magazine website

While Erskine Caldwell is a great writer, his lack of knowledge about the region is obvious. His text is full of vivid descriptions with very little context. As travel book it is good, but it lacks the depth of analysis he was able to bring to You Have Seen Their Faces which he wrote with Bourke-White about tenant farmers in the southern states of the USA. What is evident as they move towards Germany in the eight chapters of this book is the increasing Nazi influence that troubles the Czechs and Slovaks they meet.

They traveled from east to west starting in Uzhgorod which is now the capital of the Zakarpatskaya oblast of Ukraine and end their visit in Prague and Bohemia. At Uzhgorod they hire a chauffeur to drive them to a remote mountain village called Uzhok where years ago the peasants supposedly ate their seed wheat and have no bread, living on oat meal mush. Then they take a train across Slovakia from Kosice to Zilina where Caldwell reports on badly behaving German travelers. They visit almost every corner of this young country and Bourke-White's photos are a snapshot of the country in the two years before the war.

It is not obvious from the book itself how completely their travels were since there is no map and place names are often small towns and villages, some whose names have changed over time. This inspired me to write a Map Review of the book using Google Maps. You can see the completed map review here: http://dld.bz/NotDanube.

You Have Seen Their Faces

You Have Seen Their Faces, by Erskine Caldwell and Margaret Bourke-White
In the early years of the Great Depression, the author Erskine Caldwell and the photographer Margaret Bourke-White spent 18 months in the American Southern states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee interviewing and photographing tenant farmers, commonly known as sharecroppers. This book, published in 1935 is the result of their work. Caldwell wrote about sharecroppers barely scraping a living from land drained of all fertility, the landlords who kept 10 million Southerners in economic slavery to produce cotton, and the politicians and ministers who supported the system rather than reform it. While he interviewed, Bourke-White sat quietly with camera ready to photograph them. It includes 75 mostly, full-page pictures taken by her that portray the destitute life of the tenant farming families. This is an amazing depiction of Southern poverty in words and pictures that I found very moving in spite of its age.

Blood Done Sign My Name

This book is based on a racially-motivated murder in Oxford, NC in May of 1970. A white man and his two sons beat and shot a black man because they claimed he talked disrespectfully to the white wife of one of the sons. Despite eye-witnesses, the men were not convicted. Timothy Tyson was a friend of the younger brother of the murderers and the 10-year old son of a liberal white Oxford Methodist minister at the time of the shooting. He is now a professor in African-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He first told this story in his Duke University master's thesis: Burning for Freedom: White Terror and Plack Power in Oxford, North Carolina. This book is much more than the facts behind a murder. It lays out the events of the murder in two settings. The first is his one life as a son of a liberal minister growing up in North Carolina. The second is the context of race relations in the South since the beginning of slavery. White authors can only dimly understand the effects of racial prejudice on Black Southerners, but Dr. Tyson does a good job of laying out some of the events that created the segregated North Carolina that existed at the time of the Oxford murder. I found it a most profound statement of the effects of racism in North Carolina. One small incident stands out to me as a librarian in North Carolina. In researching his thesis and this book, Dr. Tyson sought out copies of the Oxford Public Ledger only to find the Oxford Public Library's microfilm copies for the era had mysteriously disappeared. The newspaper's own copies were also missing. He even claims that the North Carolina State Archives copies are missing and says: "Someone had gone to considerable lengths to destroy the paper trail" (Page 295).

The Age Of Revolution

The Age Of Revolution is volume seven of a ten volume series called The Illustrated History of the World which is based on Roberts' 1993 History of the World. The first volume covered the origins of the human race through the first civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt. The second volume in the series reviewed the early cultures of India and China and then moved on to discuss Greek civilization. The third volume covered the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, from 800 BCE to 600 CE. The fourth volume surveyed the rise of Islam, the Arab empires, the decline of the Byzantine Empire, and the beginnings of modern Europe. The fifth volume offered a first look at Japanese, African, and American cultures and also brings the stories of India, China, and Europe up to the 18th century. The sixth volume looked at the forces that formed the modern face of Europe and colonialism's effects on the whole world. This seventh volume is focused on Europe and North America. It starts with the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and Urbanization. Then it explores the French and American Revolutions, the Napoleonic reforms, and the nationalist revolutions of the mid-Nineteenth Century, and ends with the US Civil War and British political reform. Sadly, the rest of the world is left out, and no mention is given to the great struggle for women's rights. This is a book filled with beautiful color illustrations. Every page has at least one and most are photographs of artifacts, art works, or scenes. The text is well written and emphasizes brief summaries rather than scholarly examination. This makes it a good basic introduction and outline, but may be less useful to someone who wants to look at these subjects in greater depth. The lack of any bibliography of further readings is also a drawback for those wanting to seek more information. A two-page time chart of the period helps to put events in perspective. The chapter contents are confusingly placed at the end of the book, but they are well done and helpful for getting an overview of the author's approach. A two page listing of all the books in the series with their section and chapter titles helps to put the material into the broader view of all world history. All in all this is a great brief introduction to European and American 18th and 19th century history. However the emphasis is decidedly European and white male. The type face is large and the lines are amply spaced. Couple this with the copious illustrations and the book is actually a very quick read for its size and length. It is a few steps above the approach of Dorling Kindersley books that are predominately illustrations with supporting text. With Roberts, the text is the major part, but the illustrations are definitely more than an after thought. This is a good introduction for the general reader. It is not going to be a lasting reference book that you will turn to again and again.

The Lost Boy of Oz by Paul Dana

The Lost Boy of Oz is about a minor character named Button-Bright from L.Frank Baum's series of children's books on the land of Oz. He made his first appearance in Baum's fifth Oz book, The Road to Oz as a wandering boy with a penchant for getting lost. This story by Paul Dana is a sequel to his other book Time Travelers in Oz which is also available on the Internet.
In The Lost Boy of Oz, Button-Bright sets out to search for information about his family with surprising results. It will appeal to Ozophiles as it sticks to the established canon and extends it by providing the back story to this character in an amusing adventure. It can stand alone without first reading Time Travelers in Oz, but what fun is that?

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Kingsolver writes of a one-year family project to eat only locally grown food and to grow a lot of it themselves. Starting in March, each chapter is a month's summary of the project. She and her family moved from Tucson Arizona to a farm in the mountains of Virginia and decided to explore deeply the locavore (eating locally produced food) life. In addition to a review of what life is like in rhythm with the growth cycle of the year, she, with contributions from her husband and older daughter, talk about the economics, community & environmental impact, and personal growth of such a food choice.
While her family values organic food, vegetarianism is not important. So while they oppose eating factory and feedlot raised animals, be prepared for chapters on raising & preparing your own food animals. Several side trips to others in the movement add variety and a loose approach keeps this from being too preachy. They drink fair trade coffee and eat flour from beyond the local area, but draw the line at bananas, even organic ones. If you have a vested interest in the food industry, you will find this book subversive. But both Kingsolver and her husband are biologists and you will find their positions well-reasoned.
If you are interested in being a locavore or in supporting community agriculture this is a book for you.

The Story of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit

The Story of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit

Edith Nesbit is one of my favorite children's writers and this first novel from 1898 is one of three written about the six Bastable children. In this book their widowed father has lost all his money and the children, who are not in school for lack of tuition, seek to find a treasure to restore the family wealth. They are well-read and left on their own much of the day as they develop plans to find a fortune.

Related from the point of view of one of the children, the narrative explores the way children see the world and try to solve problems through games, fantasy and role play. So what could be a sad tale of neglect and poverty, if looked at objectively, becomes an adventure story where each chapter finds the characters digging for buried treasure, becoming highwaymen, seeking to marry a princess, trying to save a rich man, going into business, and devising other schemes designed to get rich quick.

Nesbit wrote over 60 books for children and The Story of the Treasure Seekers is one of her most influential and famous. It is populated by good-hearted people so no real danger threatens as the children confront a hard world with imagination and creativity.

Oz: Ozma of Oz

This is a graphic novelization of the 1907 book by L. Frank Baum. Eric Shanower sticks close to the original story and does a great job of turning it into comic format. What is brilliant about this and the other books in this Marvel series is the artwork of Skottie Young, who brings a fresh look to characters that are over 100 years old. His Ozma has range of emotions never before seen in her, and his Tik-Tok rises to new levels of Artificial Intelligence.

If you love the story, this will be a great way to revisit it. If it is new to you, then you are in for a treat as Dorothy returns to Oz in a convoluted manner that places most of the story outside the fairy land. Instead she is cast ashore in Ev, a neighboring land to Oz, when she falls overboard from a ship bound for Australia. There she meets Ozma for the first time. Ozma has raised an army and come to Ev to free the Evian royal family from the Nome King who has enslaved them in his underground kingdom. At first young Ozma and her top-heavy army (26 officers & 1 private) seem no match for the cunning nome king, but poultry power carries the day.

Time Travelers of Oz, by Paul Dana

Time Travelers of Oz is a book about some minor characters of the land of Oz and an adventure they take traveling back in time. The Munchkin boy Ojo and his friend Button Bright stumble across a grey dove who is the transformed Ugu the Shoemaker of L. Frank Baum's The Lost Princess of Oz.

Ugu has been looking for for the Ring of Time which would allow him to go back in time to persuade himself not to do evil. Out loud Button Bright wishes he could find it so he can go back to the day when the fairy queen Lurline turned Oz into a magical land, and then he disappears. He was sitting on the Ring of Time when he made his wish! So Ojo and Ugu wish to go back to that day also to find Button Bright and Ugu's former self.

Paul Dana creates a story of the first day of the magical land of Oz that is engaging and interesting to any loyal Oz fan. In addition to young Ugu and Lurline, he brings us to Mrs. Yoop's Yookahoo wedding. The adventure continues in a sequel called The Lost Boy of Oz.

Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross

Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross, by L. Frank Baum writing as Edith Van Dyne

Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross, first published in 1915, is the 10th and final volume of this series written by L. Frank Baum under the pseudonym of Edith Van Dyne. In this volume Uncle John and his two nieces Beth and Patsy are at home in New York when they are visited by two of their California friends A. Jones and Maud Stanton. Jones has just sailed his ship through the new Panama Canal and Maud is preparing to go to Europe to become a nurse to help wounded troops in World War I. Beth and Patsy want to help Maud and soon wealthy Uncle John and Mr. Jones, who is called Ajo, have converted Ajo's vessel into a hospital ship, hired a surgeon and outfitted two ambulances.

This is the most daring plot of the series, which usually has the cousins solving minor mysteries as they engage in some new project like running an election campaign or a newspaper, or vacationing in Italy, California, or upstate New York. Baum plunges his characters into the battle zone on the border of France and Belgium, and has them dodging shells as they scoop up wounded soldiers to treat on their boat. The book explores the true horrors of war in a book written for teenage girls at a time when women didn't yet have the right to vote.

Written before US involvement in the war, the book portrays the problems of a neutral hospital ship on the front line of battle. Both sides are suspicious of their intentions and they have a hard time staying impartial. The ship leaves abruptly after only three months, feeling that they are unable to fulfill their mission. The book portrays well the feelings of US citizens watching the European war. They want to help but are stymied on all sides by their neutrality. Baum revised the book after the US entered the war in 1917, rewriting the ending to show the group actively supporting the Allies and staying much longer.

Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West

Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West by L. Frank Baum writing as Edith Van Dyne

Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West is the 9th of a 10 volume series about Louise, Beth and Patsy, three cousins who meet in their teens through a visit to their Aunt Jane and become fast friends. They also meet their rich uncle John Merrick who realizes these three girls will one day inherit his financial empire and takes an interest in their upbringing. Written by L. Frank Baum, author of the Wizard of Oz series for young children, this series was marketed to teen age girls and written under the pseudonym Edith Van Dyne. Part informational and part detective novel, each volume of the series has the three young women exploring a new subject or place and finding a mystery there to solve with uncle John's help. It is sort of a Charlie's Angels for young girls at the beginning of the 20th century. In this volume Uncle John and the nieces spend the winter in Hollywood learning about the infant moving picture industry. This is a topic that Baum knew well since he had moved to Hollywood, and was just starting the Oz Film Manufacturing Company the same year this book was published. The informational content of the book is how Hollywood worked in its earliest years. They settle into a hotel in Hollywood and Louise's husband Arthur knows three of the guests: Maude and Flo Stanton and their aunt Jane, who are working for a moving picture company. The girls are actresses and their aunt is a script reader.

On an afternoon at the beach, Maude sees a drowning man and dives in to his rescue. Patsy and Arthur grab a boat and row out after her, pulling them out of the water. Uncle John drives the unconscious man to the hospital, where they learn he will recover. The next day the man shows up at the hotel to thank them. He is a man of mystery who seems to be extremely wealthy and, when the cousins decide to start a moving picture theater just for children, he offers to finance their endeavors. However he may not be who he seems to be and the mystery surrounding him continues to build. Finding out the truth about the stranger becomes the mystery part of the book. This is a pleasant novel that will appeal to Baum fans and people interested in early Hollywood.

Aunt Jane's Nieces on the Ranch

Aunt Jane's Nieces on the Ranch
by L. Frank Baum (writing as Edith Van Dyne)

This is the eight volume of a ten volume series that follows three cousins who are the only heirs to a rich industrialist Uncle John Merrick. He takes an interest in their upbringing so that they can be prepared to inherit his vast fortunes. In this volume, Louise, the oldest has married Arthur Weldon and they have moved to El Cajon, an orange and olive farm outside Escondido California that once belonged to a miserly Señor Cristoval who left a large farm, a ranch house and no heirs. The birth of their daughter Jane, named after the aunt who brought the cousins together and gives her name to the series, provides the impetus for Uncle John to take Beth and Patsy, the other two nieces, and Patsy's father Major Doyle on a visit to Louise and Arthur's ranch.
Hearing that baby Jane is being cared for by a Mexican girl, Uncle John is determined to bring a proper nurse from the East Coast to take care of the infant. Patsy suggests that he hire Mildred Travers, a young nurse she has met, who seems ideal and excited about the prospect of going to the Weldon's ranch. Trouble and mystery start when the party arrives at the ranch and Inez, the Mexican nurse, meets and distrusts Mildred. Mildred seems to know the ranch house from her youth but no one in the area remembers her. While Arthur and his friends are in Escondido for lunch, both nurses and baby Jane disappear, setting up the mystery to be solved.
Uncle John's classism and racial attitudes, while common at the time, are distasteful to the modern reader, but are offset by the ultimate good nature of Baum's characters. One interesting feature of this book is its treatment of turn of the century lace smuggling across the Mexican border.

The Enchanted Apples of Oz

The Enchanted Apples of Oz
by Eric Shanower

Eric Shanower is the best contemporary narrator of Oz and a worthy heir to authorship in the body of works started and defined by L. Frank Baum and John R. Neil. In this series of graphic novels Shanower is at his best! Others have done Oz comics with more edge and in a more contemporary style, but none have been truer to the spirit of Oz. His color illustrations bring the land and its characters to life as no other illustrator has ever done. This volume introduces the Ozophile to four new enchanting inhabitants of this magical land who are truly memorable: Valynn (the Guardian of the Enchanted Apples), Bortag (the love-struck but inept Magician), Drox (Bortag's friend the flying swordfish), and the Evil Witch of the South. How these four interact with other well-known inhabitants of Oz makes for an enchanting story. A special added treat is an introductory essay on the importance of Oz by the master fantasist Harlan Ellison. Get it today; you'll love it for the rest of your life.

Vampires in the Carpathians

Vampires in the Carpathians by Petr Bogatyrev

This book was originally published in French in 1929 with a title that translates as: Magical Acts, Rites, and Beliefs in Subcarpathian Rus'. The title Vampires in the Carpathians was added for this 1998 English translation and is really misleading. The last two chapters: "Funerals" and "Apparitions and Supernatural Beings" do make passing references to vampires, but focus mostly on other spirits. So if you are looking for a book on vampires, look elsewhere. What little is said about vampires will be only of interest to the serious scholar who needs to know every possible reference in the literature. The original title, which is the current subtitle, is a much more accurate description of what this book is about. However, Bogatyrev spends over 35 pages talking about his research methodology which he calls the synchronic method. Unless this is what you really want to learn about, I advise you skip the Introduction and Conclusion. His methodology is that he tells us what the ritual means to the people performing it at that time. He does not try to draw inferences back in time or determine origins. He just "tells it like it is" or, in this case, as it was back in the 1920's. What results is very unsatisfying. He tells you a ritual and what it means in village X, then tells you that in village Y they do the same thing, but have no idea why. Then, he relates that in village Z they don't do this at all. He goes through the whole religious calendar relating quaint old customs attached to each religious holiday, then does the same for rituals attached to births, weddings and funerals. We owe this author a debt of gratitude for documenting this snapshot of Carpathian village life. English-speaking folklore scholars will be glad to have access to this work and Americans of Rusyn descent may finally understand what crazy rituals and customs drove their grandparents to leave this rustic corner of Central Europe for the USA and Canada. On the plus side, this is an excellent translation and the biography of Bogatyrev is engaging. Not for any but the most dedicated readers.

The Cowboy Boot Book

The Cowboy Boot Book by Tyler Beard

This is a book that works on many levels making it a great introduction to the history, art, and craft of cowboy bootmaking. It quotes Jack Reed, the only owner of a one-man boot shop left in Texas, saying it takes 372 steps to make cowboy boots, but is not detailed enough to list them all. Until I read this book, I had no idea that there was a market in vintage cowboy boots. I found out that original ornate tops can be fitted with a replaced foot to bring old boots back to life. Jim Arndt's photographs of boots, bootmakers, and boot collectors are outstanding throughout and really bring the book to life. The beginning of the book does an admirable job tracing the history of cowboy boots back to the old Texas-to-Kansas cattle drives of the post-Civil War era. This is followed by a great A - Z directory of the various skins that have been used to make the boots including characteristics, care, and current availability. The next section is a great history of the major boot making factories and the people behind them with chapters on Justin, Nocona, Tony Lama, Lucchese, and Rocketbuster. The rest of the book covers the rest of the cowboy boot business and personalities. Included are descriptions of individual bootmakers and cowboy boot collectors. Each is lavishly illustrated with pictures of them and their boots. The author and photographer are avid collectors and their collections are covered in this section of the book. The book ends with an outline of the retail side of the industry. Major sellers of new and vintage boots are described and a state-by-state Store Guide is included. Of course, not every state has a custom bootmaker or a vintage cowboy boot store, but you can still find the nearest one if this book has convinced you that you are ready for the next step above looking in the Yellow Pages under Western Apparel. The only place where I felt this book went too far is when they say in the caption to a photograph: "the details of this pair of boots could be compared to a fine oil painting." But if you want a basic knowledge of cowboy boots, or love to look at cowboy boots either in a store or on other people's feet this is the book for you.

The Runaway in Oz

The Runaway in Oz by John R. Neill

When John R. Neill died in 1943 after writing three Oz books, the manuscript of this book was left without illustrations and unpublished. Preserved by Neill's family for over 50 years, Eric Shanower finally editing it and provided his own marvelous black-and-white drawings to bring it to press. At the time of his death, Neill had illustrated all but the first Oz book, and his illustrations have come to define the people and land of Oz to generations of readers. Shanower's illustrations follow in Neill's style, improving, if that is possible, on the work of the master. The story evolves around the theme of anger and its effects as Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, in a fit of anger decides to run away. Scraps is a living life-size doll that was introduced by L.Frank Baum in the novel The Patchwork Girl of Oz. She was created by Dr. Pipt with his amazing Elixir of Life that brings anything to life on which it is sprinkled, including the Wooden Sawhorse, Jack Pumpkinhead and the Gump. Originally designed to be obedient and submissive, Scraps brain was surreptitiously redesigned by Ojo. He felt it would be unfair for a living creature to only have a servile brain and he added lots of brain powders that made Scraps one of the most interesting beings in Oz. Upsetting many of the people she runs into, Scraps still manages to befriend Popla, the Power Plant, who is possibly the most unusual character in a land known for its strange inhabitants. Popla is the strongest plant in the world and grows alone on a windswept mountaintop. Scraps, finding a flowerpot, takes the Power Plant, who has never left the spot where she first sprouted, on a exciting and enjoyable journey. Together they travel on Scraps spoolicle, a bicycle with wooden spools for wheels, and through their adventures a lasting friendship is created that dissolves Scraps anger. Anyone who has ever enjoyed an Oz book will love this unique contribution to the Oz corpus.

Lourdes: Body and Spirit in the Secular Age

Lourdes: Body and Spirit in the Secular Age by Ruth Harris

Ms. Harris tells the story of the wonderous events in the small town of Lourdes, and relates them to the history of France in the second half of the 19th Century. Her approach is to tell the story of the events through the lives of the people involved. To do so she quotes from letters and diaries as well as official records. In order to write in such depth, she must have read everything ever written during this period about Lourdes. Between the Notes and the Bibliography at the end of the book is a three page Dramatis Personae listing all the major people associated with the shrine. Not just for Catholics, the book devotes many pages to the role of women in 19th Century France and will be of great interest to anyone wanting to know about women's rights in France. It is also a "must read" for people interested in French social history. She also looks into the relationaship of anti-Semitism to the Catholic piety of the time. People are never presented two-dimensionally to represent the ideals or concepts they championed. Ms. Harris treats the people she writes about with respect and intelligence. As for Bernadette's vision and the miracles, she tells what is known (and she knows a lot!) and the reactions they caused without taking a stand one way or the other herself. Truly a great work of historical writing.

Aphrodite Book 3 by Pierre Louys

Aphrodite Book 3 by Pierre Louys and illustrated by Claire Wendling

My copy of this book has a serious problem in pagination. The publisher messed up the order of pages 17 to 32, making this section impossible to read. Fortunately, I have the original text from which this was taken and can help you identify if you have a problem copy (I don't know if all copies were published with this problem) and tell you the proper order of the pages. The first sixteen pages are alright and page 17 is a full color plate. Turn to page 18. If it starts with the words: "She walked on following the street." your copy is defective. To read the text of a copy with this defect in its original order, read it as follows: pp. 1-16, 30, 26, 20-25, 19, 29, 18, 32-62. The pages between 16 and 32 not listed are full page illustrations. NOTE that this is a review of the defective copies and only deals with the defect, not the content of the work. Also Book 4 of this series was never released.

Aphrodite Book 2 by Pierre Louys

Aphrodite Book 2 by Pierre Louys

This book is beautiful in many ways, but is disappointing at times. The combination of Louys' text and Manara's art in volume 1 is a sure winner. Originally published in France with the original French text, this English version chooses an anonymous, but wonderful, translation from the 1920's. Following a long tradition of publishing this work with sensuous illustrations, Humanoids, a French publisher, took a 19th century erotic novel by Pierre Louys and divided it into four hardbound books, each illustrated by a different artist. This first volume contained 15 full-page watercolors by Milo Manara, an artist better known for his adult comics. Those expecting Manara to have converted Louys' sensual story into a graphic novel may be surprised that this is not the case. Where Manara shines as a comic artist, his watercolors are uneven. While some are outstanding, the painting of the statue of Aphrodite is a disappointment. The illustrated binding and layout is sumptuous. In Book One Demetrios, a famous sculptor of ancient Alexandria, met and was smitten by Chrysis, a temple prostitute he met. She challenges him to commit three specific crimes to win her love. As he ponders the situation the next day, we see him struggle between his emotions and his reason as he faces his challenging tasks. The overpowering desire is strong and he seeks to understand its hold over him. In Book Two the illustrator is Georges Bess. He is an excellent choice and his eighteen full-page color illustrations are exceptional at setting the mood for the sensual nature of the text. All are of women in various stages of arousal and done in shades of red and saffron. Unlike Manara's illustrations for Book One most of these do not illustrate particular scenes in the book, but rather illustrate the time period and the costume of ancient Alexandria. The Bess illustrations compliment the text and make this volume of the series a success. Louys' writing in this English translation from the 1920s captures well the pagan sensuality he wanted to portray. This promised to be a beautiful set with Claire Wendling slated to illustrate volume 3. It is wonderful to see Louys' work getting this lavish treatment. The text is still vibrant enough to take on the sensual artwork of these modern artists.

Aphrodite Book 1 by Pierre Louys

Aphrodite Book 1 by Pierre Louys with illustrations by Milo Manara

This book is beautiful in many ways, but is disappointing at times. The combination of Louys' text and Manara's art is a sure winner. Originally published in France with the original French text, this English version chooses an anonymous, but wonderful, translation from the 1920's. Following a long tradition of publishing this work with sensuous illustrations, the publisher has come up with a new approach. They will publish an original one volume novel in four volumes and illustrate each with the work of a different artist. This first volume contains 15 full-page watercolors by Milo Manara, an artist better known for his adult comics. Those expecting Manara to have converted Louys' sensual story into a graphic novel may be surprised that this is not the case. Where Manara shines as a comic artist, his watercolors are uneven. While some are outstanding, the painting of the statue of Aphrodite is a disappointment. The illustrated binding and layout is sumptuous. This promised to be a beautiful set with Georges Bess and Wendling slated to illustrate volumes 2 and 3. It is wonderful to see Louys' work getting this lavish treatment. The text is still vibrant enough to take on the sensual artwork of these modern artists.

Return to Ukraine

Return to Ukraine by Ania Savage

From the Carpathian Mountains to the Black Sea, a great description of independent Ukraine. Ania Savage has written a wonderful book describing her journey to Ukraine during the time Ukraine was gaining its independence from Russia. The story of her family fleeing Russian persecution when she was six years old and her growing up in the USA with her mother's fond memories of home adds depth to her visit to the towns of her youth. Her description of her visits to both Western and Eastern Ukraine gives the reader a great sense of the cultural and geographic differences in this large Eastern European country. She works in a urban university and a rural school and her descriptions of the people she meets are respectful but insightful. She provides a lot of historic background to the places she visits and her bibliography in the back of the book is a valuable resource for further reading. This is a great book to read if you want to find out about Ukraine at the moment this great country gained its independence. The last chapter tries to bring the reader up to date for the year 2000, but it is only able to update us on the characters. It only briefly covers events in the first eight years of Ukrainian democracy and left me yearning for more.

The Incomplete Amorist

The Incomplete Amorist by Edith Nesbit

Edith Nesbit was a social and political liberal who wrote some of my favorite children's novels. So I looked forward to reading this adult novel. It was published in 1906 and tells the story of naive Betty Desmond who, after her mother died, grew up with her unemotional vicar stepfather in a rural parish. Bored with country life and the chores of a parsonage, she is out drawing one day when she meets Mr. Vernon, a painter who courts women as a harmless game. Vernon also has little to do, and they start meeting with their art supplies in the forest. He paints her portrait and helps her with her artistic skills. Their attraction to each other alarms her prudish stepfather who sends her off to a French boarding school. Mr. Vernon and Betty meet again in Paris where a complex love quartet forms with a former lover of Vernon's and his best friend. Each of the four people think they are in love with the two people of the opposite sex and must make up their mind which is their true love. Intrigue, miscommunication, love, guilt, and jealousy all mix with Nesbit's charming writing style to produce enjoyable characters in a dilemma that kept this reader interested to the last page. The novel is a comedy of manners that relies more on charming characters than witty ones. The general good will gives the book an innocence that comes easily to an author who wrote primarily for children.

Lucky Bucky in Oz

Lucky Bucky in Oz by John R. Neill
I just finished rereading Lucky Bucky in Oz and found myself laughing throughout the text. Neill does not write as tight a story as L. Frank Baum, but he does create characters as delightful as any developed by Ruth Plumly Thompson. Davy Jones, the wooden whale who befriends Bucky Jones and starts him on his quest, is one of the best. As with all Oz stories, getting there is all the fun. Bucky and Davy have a great time and so will you. Neill was the illustrator of Oz books for 40 years and this book contains the last views that he gave us of this magical land. If you love reading Oz books, this one will not disappoint you. From the Volcano Bakery to the Emerald City, go along for the ride. You won't regret it.

Queen Salote of Tonga

Queen Salote of Tonga: The Story of an Era 1900-1965 by Elizabeth Wood-Ellem
Tonga is a unique place in being the only Polynesian kingdom to maintain its culture and government through the colonial period that brought down similar cultures in Hawaii and throughout the Pacific. Queen Salote adds to this uniqueness by being the ruling queen of Tonga in the first half of the Twentieth Century, an era dominated by male chauvenism. This story of her life and reign provides a wonderful view into the culture and history of this island kingdom. For papalangi (the Tongan word for people of Western society) this is not an easy book because there is a lot of Tongan names, geneology, and customs necessarily involved in the biography of their queen. Yet the very things that make it difficult also make it a rewarding book to read. What makes the book most enjoyable is the portrayal of this marvelous woman who ruled Tonga for almost 50 years. She ruled without use of force during a time of dissent from rival nobles and emerged one of the most revered leaders in Tongan history. She convinced her British advisors of her ability to rule and her island adversaries that their independence depended on her rule. I can recommend this book without reservation to anyone interested in women's studies, international biography, Polynesian history, or British colonial history.

The Song at the Scaffold by Gertrud Von Le Fort

The Song at the Scaffold by Gertrud Von Le Fort The story of 16 Carmelite nuns guillotined during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution. Olga Marx's 1933 translation does not hold up well to the passage of time making the book less accessible to the modern reader. A fine, but one-sided, portrayal of the nuns' story, their motivation, and faith. Interesting use of a fictional character, the nun Blanche, to contrast the fear an average person would feel in this situation with the conviction and courage of these historical martyrs.

Paris by Emile Zola

Paris by Emile Zola Paris is the third volume of The Three Cities Trilogy that began with Lourdes and continued with Rome. Published in 1898, Paris is Zola's summation of the 19th Century and his predictions and hopes for the 20th Century. In this work Zola gives a splendid portrayal of social life in Paris at the end of the century. He takes us into the lives of men and women of the upper classes, the working class, and even revolutionary Anarchists. This work is of particular interest to readers today who face the future of a new Milennium since Zola looks at the accomplishments of his century and projects his hopes for a new century ruled by Reason and Justice. We can see how the 20th Century has failed and succeeded in bringing Zola's vision of the future to life. Zola spent his career portraying 19th Century France through the lives of his characters. In this final work of the century, he uses his story telling powers to create a portrait of the end of the century (Fin de siècle) through the lives of his characters.

Rome

Rome by Emile Zola Rome is the second book of a trilogy that started with Lourdes and concludes with Paris. Often called The Three Cities Trilogy, the books could also be called Faith, Hope, and Charity. Rome picks up the story of a disillusioned priest as he goes to Rome to defend his book which is to be placed on the Index of Prohibited Books. The story explores his hope for a new Christianity that will meet the needs of modern society and his confrontation with a religious organization unable to change with the times. Zola's critical description of Papal bureaucracy will not endear this work to devout Catholics, but his description of the inner workings of the Vatican is informative and fascinating.

Bird Brains

Bird Brains: The Intelligence of Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and Jays by Candace Savage (Author) This is a wonderful summary of the latest findings and theories on Corvidae behavior and intelligence. I read the book because I wanted to find out why crows acted the way they do and have come away with a deep appreciation for this wonderful family of birds. In addition to the fabulous text, the book is filled with large, gorgeous pictures that are awesome. This must be read by anyone interested in birds.

Carpatho-Ukraine in the Twentieth Century: A Political and Legal History

Carpatho-Ukraine in the Twentieth Century: A Political and Legal History by Vincent Shandor Shandor tells the modern history of a section of Ukraine now known as the Zakarpatskaya Oblast. This is the fascinating story of a country that has been a part of five different nations in the 20th Century and whose people today live in six different countries. It was a part of the Hungarian Empire until the end of the First World War. After the war it was promised autonomy as Subcarpathian Ruthenia, the third part of Czechoslovakia, but this was never realized until the break-up of this country in 1938-39. Then for three days in March of 1939 it was the independent country of Carpatho-Ukraine, until the Hungarian Army crossed the border to reclaim it. In 1945 the Czechs and Russians agreed to make it part of the Ukraine without consulting its people. Shandor was the Ruthenian delegate in Prague between the two wars and has quite a tale to tell. Occasionally, the reader is swamped with names and details mentioned to prove Shandor's point of view. The presentation could have been more balanced, but overall it is fascinating reading.

Lourdes by Emile Zola

LOURDES tells the story of a four day pilgramage to the famous shrine in the late 19th century from the point of view of an abbe who has lost faith. He accompanies a childhood friend and her father as they seek a cure for her paralysis and pain. The abbe is no believer in miracles and his story is about the faith of those who have no where else to turn. Still powerful today, as many turn from a science-based medical establishment, when it offers no cures, to faith healings which heal, if not always the physical symptoms, the anguish and pain of hopelessness, this book explores the hearts and minds of the faithful with respect and insight. Zola's descriptions of trains and hospitals full of the diseased hopeful are overwhelming to read. His mixing of the political, the spiritual and the personal is well-balanced and provides a great tale. You will find the story of Bernadette and the Lady of Lourdes here, but if you are looking for inspirational reading about miraculous cures, you should look elsewhere. This book is about the very human side of a place usually known only for its miracles.

The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics by Denis Kitchen & Paul Buhle

The Art of Harvey Kurtzman: The Mad Genius of Comics
by Denis Kitchen & Paul Buhle

The Art of Harvey Kurtzman is a large-format well-illustrated overview of Harvey Kurtzman's work. The book is divided into 5 chronological chapters based on major periods in his life. Each chapter is illustrated with rough sketches from Kurtzman's personal archives and other half-finished pieces or sections, as well as at least one finished work from the period.

Chapter 1 is entitled "Hey Look! It's the '40s" and is an outline of his earliest work in cartooning. Included are six of the 150 "Hey Look!" one-page comics he did for Stan Lee's Marvel.

Chapter 2 reviews his work with Bill Gaines' E.C. Comics, mostly doing war comics. There is a 7 page section where his story "Corpse on the Imjin" (from Two-Fisted Tales #25, January 1952) is reproduced in black & white drawings.

Chapter 3 is the heart of the book and devoted to his pioneering work with MAD magazine. Over 30 MAD covers are reproduced as well as the complete "SUPERDUPERMAN!" comic (from MAD #4, April 1953).

Kurtzman left MAD after disagreements with Gaines; and Chapter 4 covers the period in Kurtzman's life when he put out three other magazines: Trump, Humbug and Help! Two Trump covers, 14 Humbug covers, and 15 Help! covers are included as well as a complete 11 page cartoon called "The Grasshopper and the Ant" (from Esquire, May 1960) featuring a beatnik grasshopper and a workaholic ant.

Chapter 5 is mostly about Kurtzman's 25 years producing "Little Annie Fanny" comics for Playboy. A three page "Little Annie Fanny" origin story, which traces her life from a childhood in Al Capp's Dogpatch, through her growing up in "Peanuts" and "Little Orphan Annie," and ending with one-panel affairs with "Dick Tracy," "Beetle Bailey," and "Mandrake the Magician," appears here for the first time. Also reproduced is the Little Annie Fanny "Americans in Paris" (from Playboy, August 1967) and two cartoons on Dracula and Women that he did for French alternative comics.

This book, with its cartoonist-at-work sketches, roughs and thumbnails, will appeal especially to readers interested in Kurtzman's creative process. It may not be the best introduction to Kurtzman, but its finished pieces will provide enough for someone new to Kurtzman to grasp the importance of the man to the 20th century comics industry.

Ten Nights In A Bar-Room, And What I Saw There

Ten Nights In A Bar-Room, And What I Saw There
by Timothy Shay Arthur
Having been raised myself in a bar next door to the author's home town of Fort Montgomery, I am fascinated to read what is called the best Temperance novel of the 19th century. Set in the 1850s, this morality tale portrays the evil of alcohol in the story of a mill owner who sells his mill to build a tavern in town. Told by a visitor to the town who stays at the tavern for ten days over a period of ten years, he shows how customers and owner are all too weak to resist the temptations of demon rum. An interesting look at pro-temperance literature of the 19th century.

The People From Nowhere: An Illustrated History of Carpatho-Rusyn

The People From Nowhere: An Illustrated History of Carpatho-Rusyns by Paul Robert Magocsi

Both my parents are from a small town near the Carpathian Mountains in what is now Western Ukraine. In the last 100 years this small town has been in the following countries: Austria-Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Carpatho-Ukraine (for one day on March 15, 1939), Hungary, USSR, and Ukraine. They speak a language (or dialect) they call Ponashemu (which I am told means "what we speak") but is officially called Rusyn, and they call themselves names like Rusyns, or Ruthenians, or Carpatho-Rusyns, or Slavish, or Byzantines, or the "ponashemu" people. They are what Paul Robert Magocsi calls in this book "The People From Nowhere."

The title comes from Andy Warhol (originally Warhola), a famous Rusyn-American, who often said he was from Nowhere. The place he was from is the Carpathian Mountains and his people are the Rusyns who are the subject of this book. Their homeland stretches through south east Poland, north east Slovakia, western Ukraine, eastern Hungary and northern Romania. Various voluntary and forced movements have created large communities in Serbia, Czech Republic, USA, Canada and Australia. I have found people with my mother's unusual maiden name in Brazil.

Dr. Magocsi is Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto and the leading expert on the Rusyn people. He has written many books both scholarly and popular about them. I have found this to be the most scholarly of his popular books with pictures on every page and a good survey of the history of this people and their land. It was published in Uzhhorod (or Uzhgorod), the major city of the region, simultaneously in three different language editions: English, Rusyn and Ukrainian. The book is chronological and focuses on major male figures and historic events. His mastery of the subject is evident and the pictures are well selected. While this will mostly be of interest to Rusyns, it is a good book for getting a brief overview of their history for anyone who wants to learn about them or this region.

The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King

The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King

Part of a series based on the retirement years of Sherlock Holmes and his young wife Mary Russell, this volume is the first of a two volume story that is completed in The God of the Hive.
Holmes and Russell come home from seven months abroad to find one of his bee hives has died out and that he is the father to a grown man. Waiting for them is young Surrealist artist Damian Adler, Holmes' son by Irene Adler, who was his opponent in Arthur Conan Doyle's story "A Scandal In Bohemia." Having outwitted Holmes in the Doyle short story, Laurie King creates this account based on the premise that Irene outsmarted Holmes a second time by keeping from him the existence of their love child Damian.
This first volume outlines the rocky beginnings of a relationship between the three unlikely family members, a retired detective, his young protégée and wife, and his war-scarred son. Damian needs his father's help and Mary gets drawn in to a family that keeps growing as we learn of Damian's wife Yolanda and 3 year old daughter Estelle. Yolanda's involvement in spiritual pursuits draws the newly united family into a confrontation with a religious leader whose penchant for human sacrifice threatens all their lives. Holmes brother Mycroft also plays a significant role in this family drama.
If you have followed the relationship between Holmes and Russell since their first meeting, this is a wonderful addition that adds depth to their characters and an exciting adventure that King fills with details of the time and place. Just be prepared to face the words "to be continued" as the story reaches a climax. The God of the Hive will be required reading for anyone who enjoys this book.

Aunt Jane's Nieces on Vacation

Aunt Jane's Nieces on Vacation by L. Frank Baum writing as Edith Van Dyne

Aunt Jane's Nieces on Vacation is the seventh of a ten volume series written under the pseudonym Edith Van Dyne by L. Frank Baum. The series chronicles the adventures of three young women who are all nieces to John Merrick, a rich childless industrialist. Uncle John takes an interest in their upbringing because they will be the heirs to his vast fortune, and the books chronicle his adventures with them.

In On Vacation, the three nieces, Louise, Elizabeth and Patsy, return for the summer to Uncle John's farm in the upstate New York village of Millville where they decide on a whim to start a newspaper. Rich Uncle John buys them all the equipment they will need, setting up a modern newspaper print shop in an empty building, and the three nieces learn what it is like to put out a daily paper.

The description of an early 20th century newspaper from set up to production makes this an interesting story. Add in some local intrigue with a new paper plant, immigrant workers and a local politician. Season with a talented Bohemian female artist and a mysterious vagabond with amnesia. Stir well with Baum's talent for positive prose, and you have a delightful tale for a young woman of 100 years ago.

While we today may marvel at Baum's depictions of the locals, foreign workers and the members of polite society, these archaic portrayals are useful in getting a view of social structure and perceptions in 1912 just before the start of World War I.

The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu

The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu: Being a Somewhat Detailed Account of the Amazing Adventures of Nayland Smith in His Trailing of the Sinister Chinaman
by Sax Rohmer

The first of a 13-volume series by Sax Rohmer, this is one of the most racist books I have ever read. Asians or Asia are always mentioned with a racist or pejorative adjective. An Amazon reviewer says of the Fu-Manchu series: "thematically, Rohmer serves as a literary bridge between Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories and Ian Fleming's James Bond." Complete with a doctor sidekick to chronicle the adventures, Rohmer tells the tale of Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. John Petrie as they struggle to oppose Dr. Fu-Manchu's exploits in London working for a shadowy Chinese organization whose goal is world domination. A brilliant scientist and leader of a band of devoted non-White slaves, Fu-Manchu's goal is to kill Western imperialists who stand in the way of Chinese advancement. The "seductively lovely" Kâramanèh, who is Fu-Manchu's Egyptian slave, provides a forbidden love interest when she becomes infatuated with Dr. Petrie. A rousing adventure, with Fu-Manchu killing people all over London as Smith and Petrie slowly come to grips with the powers they are up against, the book displays much of the European fear and misunderstanding of The East at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Pistols, Petticoats, & Poker. The Real Lottie Deno: No Lies or Alibis

Pistols, Petticoats, & Poker. The Real Lottie Deno: No Lies or Alibis
by Jan Devereaux

The sensational exploits of "Lottie Deno" have been well documented in The Story Of Lottie Deno: Her Life And Times by J. Marvin Hunter, and Lottie Deno: Gambling Queen of Hearts by Cynthia Rose. Jan Devereaux looks behind the legend to piece together the facts. Her research is impressive and her writing is relaxed. Not being a native of the Southwest, it took me a while to get used to her narrative style, but I was rewarded with what she calls in her subtitle "The Real Lottie Deno, No Lies or Alibis." Devereaux is an amateur historian like Hunter, and she is wise to not give up her day job in the healthcare field. She has excellent local credentials and her work, while lacking academic polish, shows thorough research.

The Rebel Girl: An Autobiography

The Rebel Girl: An Autobiography, My First Life (1906-1926) by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

The Rebel Girl is a memoir by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn of her early work as a Socialist labor organizer for the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World). The first chapter tells of her life growing up in an Irish-American family. Her mother was an Irish nationalist and a feminist while her father was a Socialist. When she was 16 Elizabeth gave her first speech at a New York Socialist meeting on the rights of women.

She was so good at public speaking that it became her life's work, traveling all over the US while still a teenager. Mining towns in the Rockies and Minnesota, lumber camps in the Northwest, textiles strikes in Massachusetts and New Jersey are all places she went to help workers fight for safe working conditions and living wages.

Later on she talks of ideological struggles within the IWW leadership, her two marriages and raising a child, World War I, and the oppressive atmosphere in the US after the war against the Left. The Rebel Girl ends with the trial and appeals for the two Italian anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti.

The book was meant to be the first volume of her autobiography covering 1906 to 1924, her years before joining the Communist Party, and was first published in 1955. She died before she could complete the second volume which was to cover the 35 years she spent as a Communist.

Flynn is a great writer and tells her story of the early 20th century labor movement well. As a first person account, it is full of detail and personal perspective. At times I longed for a more objective account of some events for balance and this book has encouraged me to read further about the events described.

Aunt Jane's Nieces in Society by Edith Van Dyne (L. Frank Baum)

Aunt Jane's Nieces in Society is the 5th in a series of 10 novels written by L. Frank Baum under the pseudonym Edith Van Dyne. The series is about 3 nieces of their rich uncle John: Louise, Beth and Patsy who met in the 1st novel of the series when they were invited to visit their dying Aunt Jane so she could decide which of them, who she had neglected all their lives, she would leave her fortune to. After her death, the nieces are cared for by their rich uncle John Merrick who, having retired from industry, takes them on various adventures which are detailed in the books of the series.

In this the 5th volume of the series, published 100 years ago in 1910, Baum contrasts the simple goodness of the nieces to the pretentiousness and artificial values of high society. Louise's social climbing mother asks John to see if he can use his connections to get the three nieces introduced to New York's fashionable society. John loans money to a prominent socialite and asks his help. This man's daughter Diana sees this as an opportunity to gain influence with the rich financier and takes the three girls under her wing. All goes well and the girls are accepted at their debut and a charity ball. However Diana's cousin Charles Mershone, a socialite sociopath and one of the darkest characters Baum ever created, is smitten by Louise. When Diana takes a shine to Louise's suitor Arthur, she plots with Charles to separate the naive Louise from her fiancé.

Baum creates a good adventure with a delightful new character while shining a light on the artifice of society. Today's reader will find interesting the limitations the three nieces had to work within as young women in the early 20th century.

Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy.
Looking Backward, while written over 120 years ago, is about what the author envisioned the 21st century could have been like if the USA had embraced Socialist principles. Very popular when it was written (right up there with Uncle Tom's Cabin and Ben Hur), it is about a young 19th century upper class white man's surprising re-introduction to society when he wakes up from a 113 year nap at the dawn of the 21st century. Similar to Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" and Woody Allen's Sleeper in plot structure but told without parody or humor, in Looking Backward the world has changed dramatically while our hero slept.

Bellamy's hero is awakened by a retired doctor and his wife and daughter when they find him sleeping in a chamber under their garden. This family slowly introduces him to the wonders of a modern Socialist state where the nation is the only employer and the people's army works for the common good. Each chapter explores a different aspect of this modern cooperative society. Chapter 15 describes Bellamy's vision of the future of publishing, 16 discusses art, 19 is devoted to law, and 20 to education. The ideas are mostly presented through dialogs with the doctor with few actual visits and interactions. Economic progress is stressed over technological change.

Written before the Great Depression, Communism, National Socialism, two World Wars and the Holocaust, Bellamy's book blames much of the world's problems on social inequality and the pursuit of personal gain. He envisions the United States leading the world into a just brotherhood where humans work together for the common good. It is interesting to read today Bellamy's vision of looking back from an alternative world that never came into being although fervently desired by many at the time. For Bellamy and his readers the enemy was Capitalism and salvation was to be had in Communism and National Socialism. He envisions a world where these ideas were embraced by the USA instead of Stalin and Hitler and led to a Utopian society.

The 1909 novel Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work by L. Frank Baum writing as Edith Van Dyne, is the fourth volume in the Aunt Jane's Nieces series. The three young women, Louise Merrick, Beth De Graf, and Patsy Doyle, met in the first volume of the series on the estate of their Aunt Jane, who was dying and trying to decide which niece would receive her inheritance.

In this fourth book of the series Kenneth Forbes, the young man who inherited Aunt Jane's estate, is now running for the state legislature, in what he thinks will be an easy election against a corrupt politician. He is the richest man in this poor district but inexperienced in the ways of the world. When he starts to have a rough time, and it looks like all hope is gone, his three cousins decide to go to work for his election They show up with their rich Uncle John and, even though women can't vote in 1909, they organize an effective campaign. This is an interesting story that describes the type of political maneuvering of 100 years ago. Baum's mother-in-law was the famous women's rights activist Matilda Joslyn Gage, and I feel she would have been proud of her son-in-law's characterization of these three young political women.

Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang

Yunte Huang was born in China, came to the US in 1991, and is now an English professor at UC Santa Barbara. Charlie Chan is a fictional Chinese police detective created by the White American author Earl Derr Biggers, who wrote six popular Charlie Chan mystery novels. Biggers based Charlie Chan on a real Honolulu Chinese detective named Chang Apana who was a respected member of the department. Hollywood made 47 Charlie Chan movies with White actors in "yellowface" makeup playing the Chinese detective. Many Chinese find these movies to be racist and offensive.

In this book the author looks at Chang Apana, and the literary and film versions of Charlie Chan, and puts them into the context of very negative American attitudes and perceptions of the Chinese over the past 150 years. This survey of America's troubled relationship with its Chinese population is what gives this book its broad value. It also sets into context the stereotyped Chan and the use of "yellowface" actors to portray him in the film industry. When seen against the much more negative images and attitudes that also existed at the time, the author makes Charlie Chan seem like a positive portrayal of the Chinese in American popular media.

This book leaves unasked an interesting question. Are the original Charlie Chan novels fatally flawed because they were written by a White American author? The White American author James Patterson writes novels about a Black Washington DC detective Alex Cross. His books have been made into movies with Morgan Freeman playing the lead. Could a Chinese actor play Charlie Chan in a way that would reflect the racial tensions of the 1920s?

Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville by L. Frank Baum writing as Edith Van Dyne is the third book in a series written for young girls. It was originally published in 1908. The three nieces are Louise Merrick, Elizabeth De Graf, and Patsy Doyle and in this book they go to a fictional upstate New York town called Millville for the summer with their rich uncle John who has gotten a farmhouse there as payment for a bad debt. Much of the novel deals with the vast cultural differences between the small town farmers of the town and the rich "nabobs" living in the summer house. Soon after moving in the three young women sense a mystery in the sudden death of the previous owner of the house, a seaman named Captain Wegg, and the disappearance of his fortune. Suspecting murder and theft, each of the nieces has her own theory as to what happened and who may be guilty. The plot develops nicely providing a pleasant mystery/detective book with a happy ending.

Austin and Mabel is an amazing record of 19th century adultery. Austin Dickinson was the older brother of Emily Dickinson and the chief financial officer of Amherst College, as well as a leading citizen of the town of Amherst, Massachusetts. He was married and had three children. When the college hired a new astronomy professor, David Todd, along with him came his lovely young wife Mabel Todd. She was an artist and loved socializing. Austin and Mabel fell in love and maintained an intimate relationship while both stayed married. This book tells their story and prints their 13 years of letters, providing a detailed history of their love. Through these letters we see Austin, who is 27 years older than Mabel, grow old and die, while Mabel matures into an accomplished writer, editor and lecturer. "No love story approaches it" Mabel said of their relationship. While reading over 200 pages of love letters can get repetitious at times, Mabel and Austin are both wonderful people and their story is impressive.

Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad by L. Frank Baum (writing as Edith Van Dyne)

With the fabulous success of his Wizard of Oz books, L. Frank Baum finally found himself financially well off. He and his wife Maud used their new wealth to take a trip overseas. On 7 April 1906 they were witnesses to a major eruption of Vesuvius. This experience becomes the background for Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad which takes the characters to this same event and makes the novel interesting reading.

Baum portrays the three young girls and their Uncle John as nationalistic Americans, extremely proud of their culture and values, who are always making comparisons with how much worse Europeans are in all they say and do. This adds humor to the story which is basically an adventure tale that centers around the mysterious men they meet in their travels. Filled with detail from Baum's own travels, the book ends up being a cautionary tale for Americans traveling abroad.

The Wish Express by Ruth Plumly Thompson

Originally serialized for the Philadelphia Public Ledger in 1916, Ruth Plumly Thompson's first novel The Wish Express starts when a boy named Berens, discontented with his math homework, wishes he was someone else somewhere else. The next thing he knows, a giant Discontented Bug with 19 arms and 17 legs has grabbed him and his dog Rags and is flying him to the wish trolley ... and Rags can talk! The trolley is filled with other discontented wishers, both human and animal who must make what Thompson calls "the perilous journey on a wish through Talktown and the State of Discontentment to the misty city of Somewhere Else" to have their wishes granted.

The publisher, Hungry Tiger Press, calls it "a tale of self-discovery, talking animals, amazing little towns, great new friends, and a happy ending!" The book definitely shows the delightful play of words and interesting characterization that Thompson will later display writing 21 novels as L. Frank Baum's successor to the title of The Royal Historian of Oz.

Never before printed in its entirety, the Hungry Tiger Press paperback features a flip-book Wish Express Trolley created by Eric Shanower that moves along the top of the pages as you read. If you flip through the pages you can watch it move. Also included are the original illustrations by Public Ledger artist James Hammon. The Wish Express is a delightful illustration of the proverb "Be careful what you wish for because it might come true" that has lost none of its charm in the 95 years since its first publication.