A historical review of the CMH and several of those ...
926105
A historical review of the CMH and several of those heroes still alive tell their stories. There are likely thousands that deserve the metal whose stories will never be known so they act are ambassadors for all the unsung heroes who server daily. Their acts alone are unbelievable and you can see the pain they carry 50 years later.
4820778
It's no easy task to write deeply, and well, about the world's most 'closed' religious communities.  The CGC,M is such a group; of all anabaptist groups outside of the Old Order Amish, they practice excommunication and avoidance most consistently.  The CGC,M believes itself to be the "one true visible" church, in a line of succession from 'radical reformers' Menno Simons and Dirk Philips.  Hiebert lays out the genealogy of John Holdeman and the impoverished, German-speaking immigrant communities in Manitoba and Kansas who were influenced by his message of the 'decay' of the Mennonite churches of the late 19th century.  Hiebert then outlines the current positions and practices of the CGC,M as of 1973.

The book is now ~35 years old, and the author has passed away.  Of course  the text lacks an accounting of recent activity in Holdeman theology and practice.  Still, Hiebert's work remains the authoritative account of this Mennonite movement, now numbering 20,000 followers globally.

"The Holdeman People" was written with depth and sensitivity.  Highly recommended.
666061
If you are interested in the history of vehicle safety regulations in the United States or in the history of the American auto industry, this is a very worthwhile read.  The author presents a comprehensive and well-documented review.  The main drawback of the book is the author's tendency to launch into hostile criticism of the automakers right after explaining that the views the automakers held were the prevailing views in Congress and among the general public.  To his credit, all the information is there to allow the reader to draws his or her own conclusions, such that the attacks on the auto industry appear almost as something that was added to a late draft.  Nonetheless, the author has done a lot of work, writes well, and offers a significant contribution in an area of automotive history that has been largely overlooked.
4903078
This is a useful way to view history--parallel and simultaneous events in France, Russia, and the US, showing the similarities and interactions.  Winik has discovered tidbits of history which are left out in most history books.  I ran several of them down, and he's right!  Not quite infallible:  Marat's affliction was not scrofula, and I am not satisfied with the treatment of the Second Coalition.
3029326
Corkran exhausts the primary sources, at least in English, that pertain to events on the Creek Frontier although I was surprised he did not find more on the trade in deer skins. An extensive and fascinating trade was going on with the English, Spanish, and French during this period. The history makes it clear how the Creek developed into a power on an equal basis with the struggling Americans, so often weakened by the British.
Corkran sticks with historical documents so there is little in the way of ethnohistorical reconstruction from the material. It would be good to see a companion volume of sources for the years up to Removal.
ernestschusky.com
4159149
This is primarily a technical history of IBM's early computers. It begins with the successors to Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine -- punched card accounting machines -- and ends with the announcement of the IBM/360 series.

But in addition to a relatively detailed description of some of the engineering behind IBM's early computers, it also provides a view of how that engineering was affected by the politics of a large corporation and the needs of its customers.

The authors are all long-time staff of IBM and participants in this early history. To their credit (and IBM's), they show both the muddle and the genius involved: how IBM wound up both at the head of the pack and with a set of incompatible products by 1960.

The technologies involved are all 50 years or more out of date. However, if you plan to spend time working as an engineer or manager in a technical firm, then reading this book carefully, along with the works of Frederick Brooks, Samuel Florman, Robert Lucky, and Henry Petroski, might offer as good an education as many MBA programs.

(See our Amapedia article for details on publication history, author background, and content notes.)
3747932
There are a number of publishers offering this book.

In any of the publications, readers will find the main story of how journalist Elizabeth Cochran Seaman (pen name Nellie Bly) posed as an insane person in order to gain entry into Bellevue hospital on Blackwell's Island. This is a revealing look not only into how people were institutionalized 130 years ago, but also the lack of knowledge of medical doctors at that time. The book also includes two short articles on employment agencies and women working in paper box factories.

What makes this publication different than others? There are hand drawn illustrations throughout other publications depicting Ms. Seaman at various stages of her investigations. The backs of those books feature pictures of Ms. Seaman and a list of words that might not be well-known to modern readers. The Annotations section offers an overview of Blackwell's Island Lunatic Asylum as well as notes on Ms. Seaman's participation. Her other books are also listed. This publication offers the main story and the two articles, and nothing else.

Excellent book for those interested in history or just curious about this slice of life in New York over a century ago. Four stars.
2632129
Entertaining and informative.  Not a good instrument for research, as I found a number of errors in the indexing. A good read, though, and a good overview of the land preservation movement of the time.
2482154
The history of common place items is always of interest to me.  Things we take s for granted that nobody seems to know where they came from.
This book is a good introduction to the history of the common playing card, and I highly recommend it.

What struck me as odd, however, was the language of the book.  While it is listed here as published in 2013, I recognized the style as distinctly not of this century.  This is actually a reprint of a book originally written in the early 1900s.  While this did not diminish my appreciation for the book, nor does it diminish my recommendation of it, it should not be viewed as the most current scholarly study of the subject.  Its proclamations should be viewed with the understanding that they were made over a hundred years ago.  This should be a little more prominent in its listing as it may be important to someone looking for the latest research on the subject.  A lot can happen in 100 years.
2220097
I bought and read this book to learn the history of Denver, having moved to the metro Denver area in the last few months.  It was a successful purchase.  The book is composed of three main sections covering the years 1859-1900, 1900-1950, and 1950-1990. Each section is organized into topical chapters.  This leads to some repetition when individuals and events affect more than one topic, but it also permits reading chapters independently.  The book is encyclopedic, with its cast of literally thousands listed in the index.  It is difficult to know who is an important player and who is a walk-on.  The detail wasn't required for my purposes, but I picked up little tidbits I might never have otherwise known.  I did like the separate chapters on the surrounding counties.  One main complaint:  there are too few maps.  Explaining the spatial extent and growth of the city by referencing neighborhoods and streets which are not laid out on a map is extremely difficult to follow for someone who is not already familiar with Denver. The six maps in the book are too busy and their typeface is too small.

I sometimes disagree with the authors' perspectives.  For example, the authors argue for regional government, like a super county covering all the metropolitan area.  They see the many independent governments around Denver as wasteful and duplicative.  I think the residents of counties surrounding Denver have reason to be wary, to see metropolitan government as likely to result in growth, wealth and control becoming more centralized in Denver.  One current metro-wide government entity is the Regional Transportation District.  The authors supported RTD and its development of rail transit.  As it has turned out, the current and planned rail lines run radially outwards from downtown Denver (with one small circumferential spur).  A rail system that was serving the metro area well would have many circumferential routes as well as radial ones.  The system as planned is not a complex net but a starburst centered on downtown Denver.  After the system is complete, any rail trip between Arvada and Lakewood (and many other near-neighbor pairs) will require a trip through downtown.  Regardless of its intent, the RTD rail system will result in the enhancement of Denver compared to the rest of the metropolitan area, reason for voters and taxpayers outside Denver to be concerned about the likely results of other metropolitan governance.
4164680
An interesting book that I think provided a good timeline of major events.
264202
This is the book that completes my collection of all fourteen titles in the Modern World History series published by the University of Michigan Press.  I first began collecting books in this series in 1975 when I travelled to Canada and wanted to read and study the history of Canada.  At that time, I found Bartlett Brebner's "The Modern History of Canada" (1958) which was part of the Modern History series.  The books in this series all read with relatively the "same voice" despite the fact that each book in the series is written by a different historian.  This unity within the entire series, I credit to the general editor of the series--Pulitzer prize winning historian, Alan Nevins.
 .
This particular book on Latin America is also a 1958 rendering by the University of Michigan Press of Ann Arbor Michigan.  Thus, this book was actually among the first books published in that "Modern History" series.
220179
I have collected nearly all the books on the various railroad companies written by Tom Murray. I write articles on old farm tractors and machinery and the various small companies across the Midwest that made the tractors and machinery.  One of my favorite devices in these articles is describe in as much detail as possible the transfer of the tractors and machinery from the factory to a warehouse (sometimes called "blockhouse") and then to the local dealership. Since most of the farm machinery and tractors about which I write dates from the 1930s through the 1950s, I am interested in steam powered trains and the early diesel era.  Furthermore, I am interested in freight more than passenger trains and continually need more information on how freight was moved by rail during the steam and early diesel eras.  Toward this end, Tom Murray has never let me down.  I continually refer back to the appropriate book for more informtion as I write a particular article.

This particular book on the Chicago Northwestern Railway written by Tom Murray in 2008 was of particular interest to me, because I have referred to it so many times.  Many of the small towns in the Midwest where much of the "shortline" farm equipment(companies that made farm equipment without making farm tractors were referred to as shortline companies, e.g. the New Idea Company, the Owatonna Manufacturing Company) was made in towns served by the Chicago Northwestern Railway.

It is my continuing hope that Tom Murray will write more books on railways, especially a book on theu Soo Line.  This would be an apropriate book for him to write as, according to his biography, Tom Murray used to work for the Soo Line.

Brian Wayne Wells
3983831
This is the second half of a family history book originally published in hardcover in the 1920s. I find it to be pretty much a facsimile of the HC version, of which my family owns a copy (but another family member has it, so I wanted my own). If you're doing serious research in the Rives family and allied lines, this really is THE starting point; but you do need both volumes.
4641815
This is another great book from IH author and historian Ken Updike. I found the text engaging and informative without being overly dry which is easy to do. There are also lots of pictures and ads, almost all are vintage and many are in color, used throughout. Overall I'd highly recommend this book to anybody interested in IH.
3755515
Not only are the anecdotes interesting and informative, but there is a bibliography in the back so you can do further study on the subject being discussed.  Rigorous writing is definitely appreciated.
I did check up on the figure of 32% of the working population experiencing some form of mental illness; on page 94 of the paperback.  The Surgeon General's Report (1999 chapter 4) table 4.1 lists the total at 21% ([...])
However,this was for only one calendar year.
The other question I had was about the team dedicated only to doing hernia repairs.  The book indicated (I think) local anesthesia, and the patient could get up and walk away after a 4" incision.  I find this questionable; in my own case, my inguinal hernia reapair only had a 2" incision and I had to roll out of bed in the mornings for 4 or 5 days onto all fours and then stand up.
  Anyway, excellent book and lots of good information.
242454
From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry - by the time of its publication and writing of this comment - is the only book that is solely on history of software industry. As an academician, Mr. Campbell-Kelly builds a historical view using carefully collected data. The scope of the book is mostly software industry in USA and this point is explicitly phrased at the beginning of the book, with plausible reasons. Among with absence of non-USA part of the history, history of military software is also missing (except SAGE). But this should also be an expected result, since it is very hard to collect data about military systems.

Because of the scope issues, the book may not satisfy all expectations (which is the reason for 4 stars), but from the opposite point of view, I believe that a better book can hardly be composed in the same conditions. As Mr. Campbell-Kelly pointed out, there are a lot of data about success stories or the firms that managed to live until today, but a lot more data have been lost to history. In this regard, "From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry" is among the most valuable source about the history of software industry. Everybody, who works in software industry should read this book.

A last note: the book really makes to think about history. The interested reader may also read books about meaning of history, like E. Carr's "What is History".