Unfinished journey

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Richard F. Welch

"This is the first full-length account of one of the most aggressive, dynamic, and successful combat leaders produced by either side in the Civil War. Based heavily on primary source material, the work chronicles the transformation of the self-assured son of a broken Bosten Brahmin family from a young, militarily inexperienced lawyer into a formidable warrior.". "Born into the Unitarian-Transcendentalist circle, which dominated New England intellectual and cultural life before the Civil War, Barlow attended the school run by the famous Brook Farm commune. From an early age he was noted for fearlessness in both speech and action - two characteristics that marked his conduct and affected his later careers. Barlow's unquestioning sense of his own intellectual and moral superiority was the source of his success as a combat officer during the war. He trained and drove his men hard, and they became one of the army's elite units in the process. Barlow's steadfast belief in himself led him to command from the front, winning respect of his troops, recognition from his superiors, public acclaim, and, often, success for his cause. Possessing innate self-confidence and almost heedless bravery in equal measure, Barlow rose from private to major general. He was heavily engaged in almost all the major battles of the Army of the Potomac beginning as a regimental colonel on the Peninsula in 1862 and finishing his career as commander of the first division in the vaunted II Corps during Grant's campaigns against Richmond in 1864. Throughout his military career, Barlow carved out a record as a fighting man that few could match and none could excel.". "Twice wounded, first at Antietam and then Gettysburg, Barlow consistently took his men into the hottest spots in most pivotal actions during Grant's bloody campaign against Lee.". "After the war, Barlow alternated a legal career with service in New York State government. As New York's attorney general he initiated suits against the Tweed Ring and other corrupt malefactors. Barlow's unfiltered forthrightness and unyielding ethics placed him at a disadvantage in the rough-and-tumble democratic politics of the late nineteenth century. His candid report exposing corruption involved in the successful Republican campaign to win the White House for Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876 cost him whatever hopes he had for a further political career. Barlow returned to private life, pursued a successful legal career, and died relatively unknown in 1896."--BOOK JACKET.

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Eleanor Dienstag

Whose career comes first when a family moves? Does the one who earns the living have the ultimate power of decision? Forty percent of the population relocates once every four years. Whither Thou Goest is the inside story of the effects of moving on one family -- not just the packing, leave-taking, readjustment and search for new friends, but most important, the balance of power within marriage. When her lawyer husband was offered the job of a lifetime in Rochester, New York, Eleanor Dienstag, career mother and passionate Manhattanite, left her native turf to follow her spouse. Caught between traditional values and burgeoning feminism, she made the move from a Riverside Drive apartment and the joys of the city to a house in a quiet upstate town. The move broke their marriage open, revealing vital issues about sex roles, responsibility, independence and ambition. Then another trauma shook their marriage: the decline of the Stirling Homex Company -- one of the most spectacular business disasters of recent times -- the company for whom the Dienstags left New York. What happens to a wife who moves for the sake of her husband's career when that career explodes? How do you help an ambitious man admit a mistake? How do you strive for an equitable marriage when your husband's job is using all his energy? Whither Thou Goest is the honest story of one woman -- who could be any woman -- facing up to the moral demands of business, marriage and self, and confronting the seductive power of the American dream of upward mobility -- a dream that diminishes both men and women.

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Mary V. Dearborn

In this dazzling comprehensive biography of Louise Bryant, Mary V. Dearborn connects a constitutionally unconventional woman to an era of stunning transformations. Known to many as the wife of the radical journalist John Reed, Bryant was a pioneering foreign correspondent in her own right, a fervent crusader for social causes, and an unabashed champion of sexual freedom. Queen of Bohemia finally sets the record straight, bringing to exhilarating life the motivations and passions behind one of the century's most endearing radicals.

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Arthur Killer Kane

The New York Dolls, during and after their all-too brief existence, were a huge influence on numerous famous musicians. Their bassist Arthur “Killer” Kane died suddenly at age 55 in 2004, but he left behind not only the Dolls’ timeless music--and their many thousands of fans and friends--but this memoir of the Dolls’ early years.