Presents a biography of James Buchanan's niece who was the White House hostess during her uncle's presidency, helped create the National Gallery of Art, and started the first pediatrics hospital.
"When historian Alfred "Alf" Clayton is invited by an academic journal to record his impressions of the Gerald R. Ford Administration (1974-77), he recalls not the political events of the time but rather a turbulent period of his own sexual past. Alf's highly idiosyncratic contribution to Retrospect consists not only of reams of unbuttoned personal history but also of pages from an unpublished project of the time, a chronicle of the presidency of James Buchanan (1857-61). The alternating texts mirror each other and tell a story in counterpoint, a frequently hilarious comedy of manners contrasting the erotic etiquette and social dictions of antebellum Washington with those of late-twentieth-century southern New Hampshire. Alf's style is Nabokovian. His obsessions are vintage Updike. " [from Amazon.com]
Reprint. Published by arrangement with Houghton Mifflin.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 103-106) and index.
Summary
Includes diary entries, personal letters, and archival photographs to describe the experiences of boys, sixteen years old or younger, who fought in the Civil War.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-251) and index.
Contents
Dorothy's world: toys 100 years ago -- Machine-made toys -- Indoor toys and changing play -- Model kits -- Tournament toys and organized play -- Fad toys, marketing, and invention -- Toys that relive the past -- Tops -- Marbles -- Propellor toys -- Noisemakers I, II -- Hoops -- Dolls -- Shooters -- Blocks.
Summary
Considers how toys changed over the centuries in America as a rural society was gradually urbanized.
Covers the manufacture of iron, the life of ironworkers, and the use of iron implements in colonial times and includes a variety of related activities and a mystery story.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [287]-300) and index.
Summary
"One of the most controversial figures in nineteenth-century American history, Thaddeus Stevens is best remembered for his role as congressional leader of the radical Republicans and as a chief architect of Reconstruction. Long painted by historians as a vindictive 'dictator of Congress,' out to punish the South at the behest of big business and his own ego, Stevens receives a more balanced treatment in Hans L. Trefousse's biography, which portrays him as an impassioned orator and a leader in the struggle against slavery. Trefousse traces Stevens's career through its major phases: from his days in the Pennsylvania state legislature, when he antagonized Freemasons, slaveholders, and Jacksonian Democrats, to his political involvement during Reconstruction, when he helped author the Fourteenth Amendment and spurred on the passage of the Reconstruction Acts and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Throughout, Trefousse explores the motivations for Stevens's lifelong commitment to racial equality, thus furnishing a fuller portrait of the man whose fervent opposition to slavery helped move his more moderate congressional colleagues toward the implementation of egalitarian policies."
Includes bibliographical references (p. 46) and index.
Summary
Describes the crafts of Pennsylvania Dutch living in a rural atmosphere. Includes making quilts, pottery, and tin and tole ware. "Eva Costabel introduces the reader to the life of a typical Pennsylvania Dutch farming family of the colony and to the many crafts produced by the German settlers htere, including quilting, pottery-making, tombstone-carving, woodworking, calligraphy, glass-blowing, and gunsmithing, among others. Her full-color drawings, reflecting the style of the Pennsylvania Dutch, illustrate their many contributions to American life, art, and crafts." [dust jacket]
Anna's day begins -- School -- Jacob Ammann -- Back to school -- Pennsylvania Dutch -- The rest of the school day -- Home -- Amish foods -- Evening -- Church -- Sundays when they don't have church -- Spring -- School picnic -- Summer -- Autumn -- Winter.
Summary
Focuses on the homes, work, and schooling of a Pennsylvania Dutch community to depict the Amish way of life.
