Category Archives: book reviews

Gotta love summertime reading lists – but first, I have to finish this:

which is a magnificent book. It’s 500 pages of narrative, 100 pages of appendices, and 200 pages of footnotes! The author is a brilliant writer. What has stood out for me though the book (I’m on about page 400) is the proximity in time and space of the French efforts with the English efforts – both somewhat belated attempts to find a foothold in the New World after a century of Spanish colonization. The French founded Port Royal in 1605, two years before Jamestown (although it was not continuously inhabited until after 1632) and Quebec in 1608, the year after. Also quite surprising was how small and precarious the French colonies were. The had fewer than 50 permanent residents for many years and only a few families. More on this later, when I’ve finished reading and draft a short bio of Champlain for the Famous Men of the 16th & 17th Century.

– Rob Shearer

book reviews, Homeschooling

Weapons of Mass Instruction

May 20, 2009 redhatrob Leave a comment

John Taylor Gatto has a new book out. That is cause for celebration. For those who are not familiar with him, a bit of his biography is in order. Gatto taught for 30 years in the public schools of New York City, specifically Community School District 3, Manhattan. He was named New York City Teacher of the year in 1989, 1990, and 1991, and New York State Teacher of the Year in 1991. In 1991 he quit his teaching job rather publicly, with an editorial in the Wall Street Journal which began thus:

Government schooling is the most radical adventure in history. It kills the family by monopolizing the best times of childhood and by teaching disrespect for home and parents.

You can read the rest of his provocative essay / editorial / resignation letter at his website: http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/prologue2.htm

In 1992, Gatto published a revolutionary book, Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. Seventeen years later, that book is still in print. Since 1992, he has been writing and speaking nationwide. Among other things he has been outspoken in his admiration for the modern homeschooling movement – though he didn’t homeschool his own children.

In 2001 he published The Underground History of American Education. Extensively researched, the book is, in some ways, Gatto’s magnum opus. In it, he documents in detail the movement begun in the late 19^th century to adopt the Prussian model of compulsory schooling in order to train docile factory workers and obedient soldiers. It is an eye-opening study. It can be ordered from Amazon, or read online at Gatto’s website.

And now we have his newest composition. In some important ways, I think it may be his best work. Many of the themes of his writing are repeated here, but they are more polished, more concise, more persuasively presented. And there are some provocative and startling new ideas here as well. Ideas that will (or should) make anyone involved in the education of children think.

The dedication opens poignantly:

I dedicate this book to the great and difficult art of family-building, and to its artists, the homeschoolers in particular . . .

From Gatto’s Prologue: Against School:

Do we really need school? I don’t mean education, just forced schooling: six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years. Is this deadly routine really necessary? And if so, for what? Don’t hide behind reading, writing, and arithmetic as a rationale, because 2 million happy homeschoolers have surly put that banal justification to rest.

A little later, Gatto quotes H.L. Mencken with approval:

The aim of public education is not to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. . . Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim. . . is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States. . . and that is its aim everywhere else.

In chapter one (Everything You Know about Schools is Wrong) Gatto summarizes the startling and alarming statistics on literacy, gathered from a large and impeccable source, US Army induction records. In the early 1930s, the literacy rate for young men was 98%. By 1944, it was 96%. But by 1951 it had fallen to 81% – a startling decline. By 1973, the tests on young men inducted into the military revealed that male literacy had fallen to 73%. All of this in spite of the increased attention in the 1950s and 1960s on education. Spending on education had skyrocketed. New teachers had been trained and hired. New methods had been developed and adopted. What went wrong? Gatto suggests that education was never the stated purpose of compulsory schooling – control and conditioning was. He has quotes from the founding documents of public schooling to back up his assertions.

In chapter two (Walkabout: London), Gatto celebrates the lives of successful men and women who have achieved remarkable things without formal “schooling” (which doesn’t mean they weren’t educated!). Sir Richard Branson, David Sarnoff, & Bill Gates are 3 of his more important examples but there are others with life-stories every bit as compelling.

In chapters three & four (Fat Stanley and the Lancaster Amish & David Sarnoff’s Classroom), Gatto continues his examples and contrasts those who have learned how to think with the stunting effects of twelve years of classroom confinement.

Chapter five (Hector Isn’t the Problem) tells the tragic story of a student with behavior problems who is labeled and kept in school’s version of “protective custody. In Chapter six (The Camino de Santiago) Gatto begins to lay out one of the guerilla techniques he developed to help his students really learn – by helping them to escape the artificial setting of the classroom and observe the real world. Chapter seven (Weapons of Mass Instruction) expands on this theme and gives more examples of what Gatto discovered really helps students and how schooling systematically stifles them.

Chapter eight, (What is Education?) is a thought experiment in which Gatto imagines what the goals and methods of a new school, a humane school would look like. No testing, flexible time commitments, no walled compound:

I know how odd this all sounds: first I tell you reading, writing, and arithmetic are easy to learn as long as they aren’t taught systematically, and now I tell you that the very “comprehensive” school institution which Harvard called for in the 1950s is ruining our children, not helping them. I know you’ve been told by experts that the complicated world of today requires more school time, longer school days, longer years, more testing, more labeling.

Well. . . you’ve been bamboozled, and I hope your own experience will confirm that by little reflection. How do you think millions of Americans learned to be literate on desktop computers, and all the rest of the paraphernalia of the information society? Not at school, that’s for sure.

Chapter 9 is a personal plea from Gatto entitled, “A Letter to My Granddaughter About Dartmouth.” In it, he advises her to take a few years off and work until she understands herself better. And then he gives her a frank appraisal of what she will, and won’t, learn at Dartmouth.

Chapter 10 (Incident at Highland High) was my favorite chapter in the book! Gatto relates two incidents. The first was the 2008 incident in Germany in which a sixteen-year-old girl was forcibly removed from her home by a group of fifteen policemen and city officials. Her crime – she was being homeschooled and did not want to attend the local public schools. Gatto reprints the letter he wrote to the German ambassador in the US. He also relates his own experience in dealing with official repression and over-reaction. In 2004, while giving a talk to the students at Highland High School in Rockland County, NY he was interrupted by three police officers who burst into the auditorium and announced (via bull-horn) that the assembly was over and all students were to return to their classrooms. The superintendent of schools had found Gatto’s talk to be so inflammatory that he called the police to stop it.

In his Afterword, Gatto announces, An Invitation to an Open Conspiracy: The Bartleby Project. Inspired by Herman Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener, a boycott of standardized testing:

Mass abstract testing, anonymously scored, is the torture centrifuge whirling away precious resources of time and money from productive use and routing it into the hands of testing magicians. It happens only because the tormented allow it. Here is the divide-and-conquer mechanism par excellence, the wizard-wand which establishes a bogus rank order among the schooled, inflicts prodigies of stress upon the unwary, causes suicides, family breakups, and grossly perverts the learning process – while producing no information of any genuine worth. Testing can’t predict who will become the best surgeon, college professor, or taxicab driver; it predicts nothing which would impel any sane human being to enquire after these scores. Standardized testing is very good evidence our national leadership is bankrupt and has been so for a very long time.

His solution? When the tests are handed out on test day, Gatto urges young people to write across the front of the test, “I would prefer not to take your test.” And don’t. “An old man’s prayers will be with you.”

Weapons of Mass Instruction is a hardback, 215 pages. It can be purchased directly from Greenleaf Press for $24.95 by clicking on any of the links in this review.

– Rob Shearer

book reviews, Modern History

Scrapbooks and Original Sources

May 11, 2009 redhatrob Leave a comment

There have been a number of innovative books for children and young adults in recent years which have used innovative artwork to transport readers back in time by presenting to them reproductions of original source material. There are excellent books on the year 1776 (1776: The Illustrated Edition) and the Titanic. There was an excellent book this year on Abraham Lincoln (The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary).

Two new examples of this intriguing category of books arrived recently and I can’t recommend them too highly.

The first is The French Revolution by Alistair Horne, published by Andre Deutsch/Carlton of the UK. The book is an elegant hardback which comes in its own hardboard slipcase. The text is a very readable recounting of the course of the French Revolution beginning with a summary of the reign of Louis XIV and then proceeding with profusely illustrated 2-page spreads on the summoning of the Estates-General in 1787, the Tennis Court Oath, the Storming of the Bastille, The Attack on the Clergy, the attempted Flight of the King, the Rule of Danton, Marat, & Robespierre, the executions of King Louis XVI & Queen Marie Antoinette, the Terror of 1793-1794; the overthrow of the Committee of Safety in the month of Thermidor (July), 1794; the arrival of Napoleon in Paris in 1795. The book concludes with a brief summary of the four years of rule by the Directory (1795-1799) and its eventual overthrow by Napoleon now a military hero for his victories over Austria in northern Italy, and in Egypt against the British.

What really distinguishes this book are its extensive use of contemporary images: paintings, engravings, newspaper cartoons, and eyewitness accounts. Not only are these images reproduced in full color on every page, but the book also includes 30 facsimile reproductions of important documents and artifacts. There is a hand-written extract from the Tennis Court Oath, the original text of the Declaration of the Rights of Man (which American ambassador Thomas Jefferson helped to draft), Marie-Antoinette’s last letter, and Napoleon’s notes from the Siege of Toulon. There is no better way to introduce students to the historical reality of the French revolution. The book is a feast for the eyes and a stunning visual evocation of the past.

I find the events of the French Revolution tragic in most respects, but its significance is immense. One cannot understand the modern world without coming to grips with it. The textbooks almost always compress it into an incomprehensible short set of paragraphs and suggest connections and continuity with the American Revolution. They tend to gloss over the excesses of the riots and mobs and the tragedy of the Terror and the Guillotine. Most of them completely miss the overt hostility to Christianity which marked the French Revolution. This book is an effective way to help students understand what those who lived through the times experienced. The text is written for high school students and up.

The French Revolution is a 64 page slip-cased hardback, with 30 facsimile documents enclosed. It can be ordered directly from Greenleaf Press for $45.00 by clicking on the links in this review.

The second book is a One Small Step: A Scrapbook. 2009 is the 40^th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. Each of the kids books I’ve reviewed has its own strengths. This one takes the original tack of being a scrap-book assembled by a contemporary 12-year-old, named Mike – after astronaut Michael Collins, one of the crew-members of Apollo 11. Mike’s mom works for NASA so he’s been able to collect a lot of unique items. This is not a 3-dimensional pop-up book, but the publisher has cleverly used different paper stocks and printing techniques so that photographs are on separate small glued-in backings. There are lots of flaps to lift for additional information. There’s a press pass taped in on the launch-day pages, and a metallic etched plate which reproduces the plaque placed on the lunar lander. The front page of the New York Times from July 21, 1969 is folder over and pasted in a few pages later. Each graphic or picture has its own extended caption. Each one explains a particular facet or event in the moon landing. The result is very much a you-were-there feel. The book seemed to me to effectively convey a much more real sense of what the events were really about and how they were experienced by those who lived through them.

One Small Step is an oversize hardback, 24 pages and available directly from Greenleaf Press for $24.95 by clicking on any of the links in this review.

Ancient history, book reviews, children's books

Pharaoh’s Boat

May 5, 2009 redhatrob Leave a comment

The importance of understanding Egyptian history and culture can hardly be over-estimated. Egypt is the country mentioned most often in the Old Testament. Israel’s prophets foretell the future not just for Israel, but for Egypt as well.

Abraham had dealings with Pharaoh, as did Jacob and Joseph. The founding of Israel as a nation is rooted in Moses’ struggle with Pharaoh. The kings of Israel & Judah wrestled with Egypt as a regional power and puzzled over whether to treat her as an ally or an enemy. Jeremiah goes into exile in Egypt rather than Babylon, where he loses his life. Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod.

In Roman history, it was Egypt which played a crucial role in the lives and fortunes of Julius Caesar and his nephew Octavian, better known as Caesar Augustus.

For all of these reasons, we have always made the study of Ancient Egypt a key part of our children’s introduction to history. It is a tremendous aid in understanding the Old Testament – and a study of the Ancient World which only touched the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome leaves much of ancient culture incomprehensible.

Among other things, Egypt is the archetypal example of the determining influence of geography on history. Ancient Egypt is really the civilization developed by a string of towns and villages up and down the Nile River – like pearls on a rope. The entire civilization is a narrow corridor, only a few miles wide on either side of the Nile. There is a sharp delineation between the green fertile fields, irrigated by the annual Nile flood and the desolate sands of the uninhabited desert, which begins within sight of the Nile.

So Pharaoh’s Boat (just published by Houghton Mifflin in May, 2009) is not a plaything or a diverting bit of aquatic recreation. The Nile is central to the existence of Egypt. Egyptians worship the Nile as the giver of life. One of Pharaoh’s most sacred duties was to intercede with the gods on behalf of Egypt to insure the annual flood which irrigates the fields on either side of the long valley. Cheops and the Great Pyramid of Giza which formed his tomb belong to the earliest period in Egyptian history. Perhaps as early as 2600 BC, in the Old Kingdom of Egypt 100,000 workers labored for 20 years to build a stone pyramid over 400 feet tall.

The first part of this delightful book tells the ancient story of how and why a boat was built for Cheops and buried in a pit on the river side of the Great Pyramid. The author and illustrator, David Weitzman, uses the flat 2-dimensional style of ancient Egyptian wall paintings to show/explain why boats were so important to the ancient Egyptians and to show the steps which were taken to build and bury two boats for Pharaoh Cheops. The twist is that the boats, after being designed and built by an ancient shipwright, were disassembled and the pieces placed in an orderly layered arrangement in the pits.

To tell the story of their discovery and re-assembly, Weitzman switches to a more modern 3-dimensional representational style. The story of the painstaking research that went into re-assembling the boat is as fascinating as the story of their original construction. It was a 3-dimensional jigsaw puzzle with 1,200+ pieces, and no pictures or instructions. Before the Egyptian archeologist, Ahmed Youssef Moustafa, chief of the Restoration Department of the Egyptian Antiquities Service was satisfied, the boat had been put together and taken apart five times. Each time, the team of archeologists learned something new. To solve several particularly difficult problems, Ahmed went to modern Egyptian boat-makers on the banks of the Nile and served as an apprentice, asking questions about the details of the techniques they used. It turns out that many things have stayed the same for over 4,000 years.

This book is a masterpiece. Although the publisher says that the target audience is children ages 9-12, my estimate is that students up through middle school will find the book quite interesting.

The book carries an endorsement by David Macaulay (and makes a great companion to his book, Pyramid):

“Pharaoh’s Boat is an immensely gratifying book as skillfully crafted and assembled as its subject. In this beautifully written and illustrated account, David Weitzman weaves past and present into a truly satisfying story of technology and discovery, scholarship and craft. While much of the art is done in the familiarly flat Egyptian style, the journey on which it take us is absolutely four dimensional.”

Pharaoh’s Boat is a hardback, 32 pages. It is available directly from Greenleaf Press for $18.00 by clicking on any of the links in this review.

– Rob Shearer, Publisher

book reviews, children's books, Colonial Period, Middle Ages

Revels and Shenanigans

April 27, 2009 redhatrob Leave a comment

Come to the Castle, by Linda Ashman, illuminated by S.D. Schindler

Tricking the Tallyman, by Jacqueline Davies, illustrated by S.D. Schindler

These two books have at least two things in common. They were both published in 2009, and they were both illustrated (illuminated) by S.D. Schindler. They’re also both entertaining and educational, each with its own wry, quirky sense of humor.

Come to the Castle is subtitled, “A Visit to a Castle in Thirteenth-Century England.” Too often, the authors of children’s books succumb to the temptation to romanticize the middle ages. This book is decidedly realistic (if not downright un-romantic). This is not a dry reference book, but rather begins as a rhymed tale of the Earl of Daftwood and his plan to relieve his tedium with a bit of merriment – a tournament!

Steward, plan a tournament!
Herald, find your horse!

This is the opportunity to introduce the many different servants who serve the Earl of Daftwood. Here is the Steward’s response:

Steward, plan a tournament?!
The Earl is surely daft!
Though he has countless servants,
I am vastly understaffed,
Overworked, and truly weary
Of his constant recreation
(Oh, how I’d love a nice massage
And several weeks’ vacation!).

As plans for the party progress, we are introduced to the Herald, the Lady, the Cook, the Cleaning Servant, the Gong Farmer, the Knight, the Squire, the Suitor, the Earl’s Daughter, the Jester, and the Doctor. Each of these has his or her own unique perspective on the role they play in the life of the castle and what a great feast will mean for them. The details are well researched – the author consulted several medieval historians to get all the details right. Schindler’s illustrations are delightfully detailed and entertaining. In addition to illuminated letters on each page, there are numerous small touches tucked away into nooks and corners that provide a rich visual picture of medieval life.

The publisher indicates that the text is pitched for ages 4-8, but older students up through 10 or so will also enjoy the story. This would definitely make a great read-aloud for a child sitting in a lap and gazing at the pictures.

Come to the Castle is a hardback, 40 pages and available directly from Greenleaf Press for $17.95

Tricking the Tallyman is subtitled, The Great Census Shenanigans of 1790. It is 1790, the year of the very first U.S. Census. Phineas Bump, Assistant Marshal of the United States rides into the Vermont town of Tunbridge in order to get an accurate count for the census. But a rumor has preceded him that the purpose of the census is to assess taxes and that the more people he counts, the more money the town will have to pay in taxes. The town resolves to trick the Tallyman. Phineas is told that most of the buildings in town are abandoned. He suspects he’s being tricked, but posts his results in the town square.

The townspeople now learn that the purpose of the census is to determine how many votes Vermont should have in the new Congress. More votes would mean a better chance for a road and a post office. The townspeople ask for a recount – and attempt to trick the Tallyman yet again. Everyone gets counted twice, at least!

Phineas posts the new results, grumbles “Tis a tally not worth the paper it is written on.”

Finally the townspeople figure out the truth: the census is for taxes AND for representation in the new Congress. Phineas is persuaded to count one more time.

“We’re the town that tricked the Tallyman – twice! But then, we decided ’twas better to be fair and true. And so we were. Entirely.”

The author’s note at the end includes the six questions asked at each household during the first US Census. 650 assistant marshals were employed by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State to President George Washington to determine the official population of each of the states.

Once again, Schindler’s illustrations are delightful. They show us what life in a small town in the Vermont woods looked like in the 1790s. The family scenes and facial expressions are delightful. One learns a lot about colonial life just by looking at the clothes, the houses, the furniture, the toys, and especially the town scenes.

Tricking the Tallyman is also targeted to children, ages 5-8, but like Come to the Castle, the story will be interesting for students up through age 10-12. Since next year (2010) is a census year, this book is very timely, and could be used as part of a study on US History and the US Congress. Should the number of congressman from your state change? How will we know? How will the government find out?

Tricking the Tallyman is a hardback, 40 pages and available from Greenleaf Press for $17.99

book reviews, National Politics

The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal

April 21, 2009 redhatrob Leave a comment

If deficit spending were truly stimulative, then why didn’t the Bush deficits stimulate the economy?

If World War II brought us out of the Great Depression, then shouldn’t the War in Iraq have stimulated the US economy?

These are just two of the provocative questions raised in the new Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal, by Robert P. Murphy, scheduled for release next month, but already shipping and available now from Greenleaf.

Murphy is eminently well-qualified for the topic. A Ph.D. economist, he was a professor at Hillsdale College and is now an adjunct scholar with the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

Here’s the most striking sentence in the book (in my humble opinion):

“Economies recover from recessions or depressions by reallocating labor and capital to their most efficient uses. Propping up ailing industries only delays that necessary process and thereby deepens the weaknesses of an economy and delays recovery.” page 66

The book is divided into eight sections:

Ch. 1 The Crisis
The Roaring Twenties; The Onset of the Great Depression; FDR and the New Deal; The 1937-38 “Depression Within the Depression;” Rosie the Riveter: Happy Times are Here Again; Just the Facts Ma’am? The Need for Interpretation; The Reason Why; If a Policy Failed in the 1930s, Why Would it Work Today?

Ch. 2 Big-Government Herbert Hoover Makes the Depression Great
Herbert Hoover: Consistent Critic of Capitalism; Hoover’s “New Economics;” Making the Depression Great, Step 1: Prop up Wages; Making the Depression Great, Step 2: Cripple International Trade; Making the Depression Great, Step 3: Tax-and-Spend Like a Democrat; Making the Depression Great, Step 4: Install a New Deal-Lite; Herbert Hoover: A Big Government Man

Ch. 3 Did the Tightwad Fed’s Deflation Cause the Great Depression?
Friedman: The Timid Fed and the Deflation in the 1930s; Who’s Afraid of Falling Prices?; Deflation: Historical Evidence; But Why Would the Fed Destroy Money?; Propping up Losers;

Ch. 4 Did Conservative Economic Policies Cause the Depression?
The Roaring ’20s; Andrew Mellon’s Incredible Tax Cuts; Was the Depression payback for the 1920s Boom?; How Did the Classical Gold Standard Work?; Did the Gold Standard Cause the Depression?; The Final Verdict on Gold

Ch. 5 The Failures of the New Deal
Continuing the Work of Hoover: Restricting Production and Raising Wages; The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Roosevelt Himself

Ch. 6 The Outrages of the New Deal
Roosevelt’s “Bank Holiday;” Going Off Gold; The National Recovery Administration: Big Government and Big Business Join Forces; How the New Deal Helped Poor People Go Hungry; Old Age insurance: Not Really Insurance, and Neither Social nor Secure

Ch. 7 The Myth of Wartime Prosperity
The Immortal Error: The Broken Window Fallacy; A Billion Wrongs Don’t Make a Right; Wartime Prosperity? Damned Lies and Statistics; Central Planning: Bad in Peacetime, Deadly in War; Postscript: Ways in which World War II Did Boost American Production

Ch. 8 The Great Depression: Lessons for Today
The Fed Caused the Housing Boom – and Bust; The Myth of Laissez-Faire George Bush; Is Barack Obama the New FDR?

Here are some other thought-provoking observations:

The creation of the FDIC may have created a moral hazard of banks. The existence of the FDIC actually induces banks to make risky loans, by insulating them from the risks, and thus preventing them from learning the consequences of making bad loans.

The “bank holidays” begun by various state governors and eventually instituted nationally by FDR actually introduced additional uncertainty into the banking system and may have contributed to the climate which caused “runs” on various banks.

The National Recovery Administration price codes resulted in such absurd tyrannies as the jailing and fining of a New Jersey tailor who insisted on charging 35 cents to press a suit of clothes when the NRA price code set the amount at 40 cents.

This is a VERY timely book. Highly recommended for high school students and up who want to understand the economic history of the US and how it is being mis-used in the current crisis.

The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Great Depression and the New Deal
is a paperback, 198 pages and is available from Greenleaf Press for $19.95.

book reviews, children's books, Homeschooling

Handwriting by George – Volume II

April 20, 2009 redhatrob Leave a comment

Some years ago, the Shearer children were practicing their handwriting in their handwriting workbooks – the kind with the nicely spaced ruled lines to help in keeping the letters equally sized – but were finding the standard sentences more than a bit boring.

Cyndy had just run across a reprint of one of George Washington’s own schoolbooks. When he was sixteen, he had begun copying maxims for polite behavior into his schoolbooks. The rules described the behavior of a gentleman, and many claim that they greatly influenced Washington’s attitudes and standards for his own behavior.

(Just an aside, I have just finished viewing the John Adams mini-series, produced by Tom Hanks & HBO last year, 7 episodes, 8 hours 20 minutes running time. I highly recommend it, not least for its remarkable portrayal of George Washington!)

Where was I? Oh yes, handwriting.

Cyndy and the children found that they were having some very interesting discussions based on Washington’s maxims. “Show nothing to your friend that might affright him” kicked off a discussion about no tormenting guests with scary insects, etc.

Other rules address issues involving putting others first and self last – and other ways to show respect to those around us.

In 2002, we published Volume I of Handwriting by George with the first 27 of his 110 rules. Today, I am very pleased to announce the publication of Volume II with rules 28 through 55. Volumes III & IV will become available in May, and June.

Each volume is printed on 8″x10″ ruled sheets with space to copy each rule at least once, and often 2 or 3 times. There is also a framed space on the facing page where children are encouraged to draw their own illustration for the rule. Drawing time makes a nice break from handwriting practice!

Handwriting by George, Volume I, paperback, 64 pages is still available for $6.95

Handwriting by George, Volume II, paperback, 62 pages is now available for $9.95

book reviews, Colonial Period

Rowdy Journalism

April 14, 2009 redhatrob 1 Comment

At times the abuse came in torrents, with the republican press referring to him variously as “a gambler, a cheapskate, a horsebeater, a dictator, and a most horrid swearer and blasphemer.” He was labeled “treacherous,” “mischievous,” and “inefficient.” He was said to favor “stately journeying through the American continent in search of personal incense” and to enjoy “ostentatious professions of piety.” he was, appearances notwithstanding, a “frail mortal”; no less was he “a spoiled child, despotic,” “a tyrannical monster.” It is a collection of terms that does not come readily to mind these days when the subject is George Washington.

A few months ago, Blue Collar Muse (aka Ken Marrero) recommended a book to me, Infamous Scribblers: The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism by Eric Burns. I’ve been dabbling with it off and on for several months. It is a fascinating story – or rather a number of fascinating stories. Burns book is aptly subtitled, “The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American journalism.” His book is divided into three parts and 21 chapters.

Part One is the history of the earliest colonial newspapers and includes an account of the founding of the 4th newspaper in colonies by James Franklin in Boston in 1721 (where his younger brother Benjamin later served as an apprentice) and the famous Zenger trial in 1735 in which the Royal Governor of New York attempted to suppress a newspaper which he found annoying and embarrassing.

Part Two traces the role of journalism in both forming, reporting, and inciting American opinion during the period 1750-1775, leading up to the rebellion of the colonies against the British government. There are fascinating stories about newspapermen and pamphleteers in Boston and New York, including Sam Adams (and his cousin, John – an attorney who occasionally wrote for the papers) and Thomas Paine.

Part Three (the Tumult of Peace) covers the violent, scurrilous, and rowdy period of American journalism from 1789 to 1800 when rival newspapers were founded and supported by Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. The newspapers were not used simply to promote the political ideas of their sponsors, but rapidly descended into character assassination and scandal-mongering. The scandals of Hamilton and Jefferson, though private, were quite real. Hamilton was caught in an adulterous affair, and Jefferson’s illegitmate children by his slave Sally Hemmings were a badly kept secret. The newspapermen were at first John Fenno (backed by Hamilton) and Philip Freneau (backed by Jefferson). They were succeeded by James Callender, Benjamin Franklin Bache (Ben’s grandson) and William Cobbett – all three scandal mongers who launched over-the-top attacks almost without ceasing.

The rowdy journalism of the 1790’s is what led to the Alien & Sedition laws and the prosecution and shuttering of newspapers by the Adams administration for “undermining the US government.” Adams later admitted it had been a huge mistake.

Burns’ subject is broad and he’s really telling multiple tales about three very different historical eras, but there is a great deal of commonality in the nature of journalism. Rowdy is an apt word. The book as a whole is a useful corrective to those who think the quality of American journalism has declined. Burns’ account shows that it has simply returned to its roots.

book reviews, Church History, The Reformation, The Renaissance

Voices of the Renaissance and Reformation

April 9, 2009 redhatrob Leave a comment

Greenleaf Press proudly announces the publication of Voices of the Renaissance and Reformation, edited by Robert G. Shearer. Voices includes 31 original source selections by 19 of the key figures from the Renaissance and Reformation.

The Renaissance selections include sonnets by Petrarch, a letter by Lorenzo de’ Medici, excerpts from the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, sermons by Savonarola, and excerpts from Machiavelli’s The Prince.

The Reformation selections include important writings from Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Knox including autobiographical accounts of their own conversions. Also included are The 67 Articles of Ulrich Zwingli, the Schleitheim Confession by Michael Sattler, and the Reply of John Wycliffe to his Summons by the Pope to come to Rome.

We are particularly pleased to be able to include in this collection several recently published texts from the Reformation, including two letters from Conrad Grebel (the leader of the Anabaptists in Zurich) to Thomas Müntzer, the leader of the Peasant Rebellion, written in 1525. The letters of Grebel are included by permission from Herald Press of Scottsdale, PA.

Also included in the collection is a lengthy selection from William Tyndale‘s An Answer Unto Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue in which Tyndale eloquently defends his translation of the New Testament into English and his use of the words congregation, elder, and love (rather than church, priest, & charity) which More had charged were serious errors.

The selections from Martin Luther include the complete text of The 95 Theses (1517), as well as lengthy selections from his three great essays of 1520:

Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation ( Aug 1520)
On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church ( Oct 1520)
On the Freedom of a Christian (Nov 1520)

The selections from John Calvin include The Geneva Confession of 1536 and his Reply to Cardinal Sadoleto, written in 1539.

Editor Robert Shearer observed, “Textbooks provide an overview of a time period. A biography helps us to understand the significance of a historical figure, but if you really want to know the people and the times, you must read what they wrote in their own words.”

The source collection should prove to be a valuable resource for students of all ages who wish to study the Renaissance and Reformation, particularly for high school and college students.

Voices of the Renaissance and Reformation is an 8″x10″ paperback, 194 pages and is available for $18.95 directly from Greenleaf Press.

book reviews, Modern History

The 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11

April 2, 2009 redhatrob Leave a comment

I was fourteen years old in the summer of 1969, the summer when we landed on the moon. I was at summer camp in Chattanooga when Apollo 11 touched down in the Sea of Tranquility. The astronauts weren’t scheduled to walk until an hour or so after “lights-out,” but everyone knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime moment of history. Those running the camp rigged up a TV for all the campers in the gym, perched on top of one of the basketball goals and with a crazy tangle of extension cords stretched out to power it.

The images we watched were in black & white, and fuzzy, but clear enough for us to be able to see the white space-suited form of Neil Armstrong as he climbed down the ladder of the lunar excursion module and stepped onto the surface of the moon. And we heard his words clearly: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Like thousands of other fourteen- year-old boys, I found NASA’s manned space program fascinating. I could rattle off all sorts of details about the rockets, the spacecraft, the astronauts, and their equipment.

This summer will be the fortieth anniversary of the first man on the moon. There are three very good books just published that tell the story for children very well. And it is a story worth telling them. It is one of the great accomplishments of the 20^th century and of American ingenuity and technical prowess. It took only eight years from John F. Kennedy’s announcement of the goal in May of 1961:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kza-iTe2100

The first of the three is Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca. Moonshot has wonderfully detailed, technical information on the front and back flyleaves, but the strength of this book is the simple, direct text, and clear illustrations that tell the story of the flight of Apollo 11 from the time the astronauts suit up until the time the splash down, back on earth, a week later.

The text of Moonshot is written so that children age 4-7 can easily understand the details of how we went to the moon. Interspersed among the illustrations that show what the astronauts are doing are pictures of a family intently watching the TV coverage. Here are a sampling of the interior pages:

This is a great book for younger readers. Although it pains me to admit my age, this is the perfect book for me to read to my grandson to introduce him to the Apollo program.

Moonshot is a large-format hardback (11.7″ x10.8″), 48 pages and is available for $17.99 directly from Greenleaf Press.

The second book is one of the pop-up books that I always find fascinating. When the paper engineering of a pop-up book is married to the story of the Moon Landing, you have a special kind of magic!

Moon Landing has six elaborate and fascinating pop-up scenes depicting key episodes from the race to the moon.

There is the Redstone rocket launching the first US manned flight, the Gemini flight and first spacewalk, a spectacular spherical moon, a detailed articulated space suit, and the lunar module on the surface of the moon. Booklets, flaps, and fold-out pages offer readers a additional intriguing facts, and a peek inside and behind the scenes.

Moon Landing is described by its publisher (Candlewick Press) as intended for ages 8 and up. It is a hardback and is available for $29.99 directly from Greenleaf Press.

The last of the three books is Team Moon, with the wonderful subtitle, “How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon.”

Team Moon opens, not with shots of the astronauts on the moon, but rather with pictures of hundreds of people gathered to watch the grainy black & white TV pictures beamed back live from the moon. There is a shot of several dozen workers at Grumman (who built the Lunar Lander) crowded around a TV. There is a shot of thousands of New Yorkers gathered in Central Park watching an outdoor TV screen. There is a crowd in Milan, Italy watching a TV on the sidewalk of a café – and there are the anxious faces of the team at mission control watching the coverage as well.

After a brief background on Kennedy’s announcement of the goal, the book begins a detailed account of the landing attempt and the six challenges (most unexpected) faced by the crew. The first challenge was an overloaded computer began failing and sounding alarms. The second challenge was that the landing area was littered with boulders and Armstrong had to fly the Lander past it to a safer spot. But there was very little margin in the fuel supply. In simulations, he had always landed with over 2 minutes reserve left. On the real landing attempt, the flight controllers called out the 120 second warning, then the 60 second warning, then the 30 second warning. Armstrong finally got the Lander down with only 18 seconds of fuel left in reserve. I won’t give away the other problems, but suffice it to say , that there was a lot of fancy footwork going on in Mission Control that was not reported at the time!

This is a great book for any kids who have an interest in the space program and the history of Apollo. The 80 pages are laid out with full page photography on every page – and a very engaging text.

Reading level is 5^th/6^th grade and up. Team Moon is a hardback, 80 pages, full color. The price is $19.95, direct from Greenleaf Press.

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