20 November 2005

Sunday afternoon reads

Since I'm up to my eyeballs in Chapter Four (new title: "Such Shamefull Matches:" The Religious Impplications of Interracial Intimacy) and cannot write anything substantial today, here are some fun links to keep you busy:
* The New York Times proclaims that the Pen is Mightier than...other Pens.
* Verlyn Klinkenborg on the new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History. I'm told that no corporate sponsors could be found to bankroll the exhibit, and that the museum could certainly use donations to cover part of the cost.
* Novelist William T. Vollman on the implications of the Lewis and Clarke expedition.
* And from Crooked Timber, advice on finishing your dissertation (like I need more of that). I would add to this advice: write longhand with a fountain pen. Your dissertation will seem infinitely more elegant if you do.

And, this week's acquisitions:
1. Amy R.W. Meyers & Margaret Beck Pritchard, eds, Empire's Nature: Mark Catesby's New World Vision (UNC 1998). Acquired at Harvard Book Store's fabulous remainder table.
2. Max Savelle, rev. Robert Middlekauff, A History of Colonial America (Holt, Rinehart,& Winston, 1964). Acquired at Henry Adams Club Book Sale for two bucks. Great example of an old-fashioned textbook (all words, no pictures).
3. George C. Rable, Civil Wars: Women and the Crisis of Southern Nationalism (Illinois, 1989). Acquired for one buck at the aforementioned sale.
4. John B. Boles, The South Through Time: a History of an American Region (Prentice Hall, 2004). Also acquired for just one dollar.
5. James Reynolds, A World of Horses (1947) FREE. I have lots of horse books but I didn't have this one. I rather enjoyed reading it last night!

4 Comments:

At Monday, November 21, 2005 5:35:00 PM, Blogger grad student hack said...

Chapter 4 sounds interesting! Good luck with finishing it up.

 
At Tuesday, November 22, 2005 8:07:00 PM, Blogger Uncle Rameau said...

liking the sound of chapter four, too.

found you on library thing... we only share a few books.

what caught my eye was the Roberts compilation of journals of the Arnold expedition. been looking for one of those...

and then looking at your blog, I suspect you may be able to provide some info on Robert Sweat of Virginia, from whom I believe I descend.

scroll down to the sweats at
http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/Stringer-Talbot.htm
any more you can add without too much trouble?

trusting that this is no more than a trivial annoyance, good night and good luck...

 
At Tuesday, November 22, 2005 9:46:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Chapter 4 - hmmmm.

Ah, yes! - biblioholics unite. And whenever I reveal my true identity, I must always add defiantly that "I'm not in recovery." Rebecca, you have some acquisitions of interest to me. (My want list, updated.)

Vollman's Lewis & Clark commentary reminds me of a summer seminar I managed to attend a few summers back taught by James Ronda. His interpretive framework is about the Voyage of Discovery as like a floating communal island amidst a sea of Indian cultures. Ronda finds the Journals coming out of the previous centuries English Enligthenment scientific tradition - and so the inspiring confident optimism Vollman relates is no surprise. Reading them always repays with pleasure. (Ronda even spends a couple months at Oxford each summer.)

As for the touring National Bi-Centennial Exhibitition,
http://www.lewisandclarkexhibit.org/
I found the display of maps - including conceptual Indian maps - to be the most thoughfully riveting finds. So little survives the expedition because, ironically, most artifacts went down in the Potomac when Jefferson had them sent to Monticello in a boast mishap after having travelled thousands of miles to DC. (Is there a history lesson here?) The illustrations in the accompanying book gives plenty to see for those who miss the miserly five-city tour.

Lastly, a blogger raises a forbidden subject on the forefront of men's minds in a post devoted to Jane Austin and "The Importance of Being Bosomy"
http://clivedavis.blogs.com/clive/2005/11/the_importance_.html
Is it's absence in the new Pride and Prejudice reflecting Empire style that embraced it a mere cinematic detail - or socially significant?

Happy diversions to all for the Thanksgiving holiday!

-Orson

PS I don't yet know the reasons or wherefores, but I find the logging in process for typepad much easier than with blogger. (Otherwise I would not be so "Anonymous" here.) And the spam-blocking word verification step for commenting, likewise, since it often requires two tries in practice to pass it. Bureaucracy - love it or loath it?

 
At Monday, November 28, 2005 3:42:00 PM, Blogger Rebecca said...

Sluggo--I'm about to post what I know about Robert Sweat (which is unfortunately very little). I am sceptical of a connection between the Robert Sweat I know of and the Cornish family. It seems to tenuous to count on.

Orson--I don't care for Blogger's comment feature either, but it's all I've got! And although it's a pain I need to leave the anti-spam device turned on...otherwise I'd be flooded with spam comments, and I can't have that!

 

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