Chaining Oregon
Kay Atwood
The McDonald & Woodard Publishing Company
431-B E. College Street, Granville, Ohio 43023
9780939923205, $27.95 www (dot) mwpubco (dot) com

Chaining Oregon: Surveying the Public Lands of the Pacific Northwest,
1851-1855 is a scholarly, in-depth history of the early federal
surveyors of the Pacific Northwest, who labored for the US General
Land Office between 1851 and 1855, and the impact their work had on
America's overall work to settle the valleys and mountains of what
would eventually become the states of Oregon and Washington. A handful
of black-and-white images, including reproductions of early surveyor
maps, enhance this amazing look into the lives and struggles of these
unsung pioneers. Highly recommended, especially for college library
American History shelves.

Navigating the Missouri
William E. Lass
Arthur H. Clark Company
2800 Venture Drive, Norman, OK 73069
9780576023554, $45.00 www (dot) ahclark (dot) com

NAVIGATING THE MISSOURI: STEAMBOATING ON NATURE'S HIGHWAY 1819-1935
offers a complete history of steamboating for any interested in
American history and transportation. From migration routes and the
economics and politics of early Missouri steamboating to individual
steamboat operator, this in-depth survey offers plenty of detail and
insights for any college-level library interested in Missouri history
in general and American transit systems in particular.

Buffalo Bill on Stage
Sandra K. Sagala
University of New Mexico Press
MSC04 2820, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 97131-0001
9780826356274, $29.95 www (dot) unmpress (dot) com

Before he became famous as a performer in his Wild West Show, Buffalo
Bill was a household name just from leading a troupe of traveling
actors across the country performing frontier melodramas. Biographies
of Cody and his career often gloss over the fourteen years he spent
producing his Combination Show melodramas, so it's refreshing to see
an in-depth coverage suitable for any college-level library strong in
American history and biography, or even stage history. Chapters survey
his early years with a newfound attention to the rise of melodrama in
general, following his trail across the country. College-level
collections will find it an excellent survey.

Let Us Build Us a City
Donald Harington
The Toby Press
PO Box 8531, New Milford, CT 06776-8531
9781592642038, $14.95 www (dot) tobypress (dot) com

Award-winning author Donald Harington originally published Let Us
Build Us a City in 1986; now in a beautiful new edition, this
thoughtful collection of stories about eleven forgotten small towns in
Arkansas remains a pristine glimpse into history. Some of the
forgotten towns gradually dwindled and declined to little more than a
church, a post office, a general store, a gas station, and a handful
of residents; other overlooked towns were never terribly memorable to
begin with. Donald Harington learned of these towns' stories through
his connection with a researcher named Kim, and eventually Harrington
and Kim fell in love. Let Us Build a City is a contemplative look at
the joy and wonder to be discovered in hidden Arkansas history, and as
enjoyable to read today as it was over twenty years ago.

Jiffy: A Family Tradition
Cynthia Furlong Reynolds
University of Michigan Press
839 Greene Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-3209
9780980232608, $24.95, www (dot) press (dot) umich (dot) edu

The "Jiffy" brand is a familiar brand to every housewife in America.
What began almost 80 years ago in the kitchen of Mabel Holmes as she
set about creating a biscuit mix so easy that even 'a man could do
it', grew into a multi-million dollar commercial enterprise based on
America's first packaged and prepared baking mix. "Jiffy: A Family
Tradition - Mixing Business and Old-Fashioned Values" is the story of
this American success story, as well as how the Holmes family went on
to survive two World Wars, the Great Depression, personal tragedies,
and the rapidly changing food industry. All this while maintaining
their private and public integrity while engaged in enormous
marketplace competition with food industry giants. Superbly researched
and written by journalist Cynthia Furlong Reynolds and an inherently
fascinating read, "Jiffy: A Family Tradition" is an informed and
informative history of an American family and an American company that
could well serve as a real-life example and inspiration for the
entrepreneurs of today -- and tomorrow!

Life of the Marlows
Robert K. DeArment, editor and annotator
William Rathmell, revisor
University of North Texas Press
PO Box 311336, Denton, TX 76203-1336
9781574412536, $14.95 www (dot) tamu (dot) edu/upress 1-800-826-8911

Life of the Marlows: A True Story of Frontier Life of Early Days is a
true tale of the American West, now back in print and featuring expert
annotation by historian Robert K. DeArment, chronicling the lives of
the five Marlow brothers and their downfall in Young County, Texas.
After one Marlow brother killed a well-liked sheriff and was
subsequently slaughtered by bounty hunters, the other four brothers
were arrested as accessories and jailed. When a mob of furious
citizens ambushed the Marlows during a transfer to another town, two
of the brothers were shot and killed, the other two were badly
wounded, and three of the mob members died. The debacle would
eventually inspire the classic John Wayne movie, "The Sons of Katie
Elder". A riveting account of crime and law, love and hate, justice
and injustice in the late 1800's, Life of the Marlows captivates the
reader from first page to last and is a worthy addition to any western
history collection.

The Founders' Second Amendment
Stephen P. Halbrook
Ivan R. Dee
1332 North Halsted Street, Chicago, IL 60622-2694
1566637929, $28.95 www (dot) ivanrdee (dot) com

THE FOUNDERS' SECOND AMENDMENT: ORIGINS OF THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS
considers the history of the constitutional rights of Americans to
bear arms in early America from 1768 to 1826, offering up the first
book-length account of these origins based on the Founders' own
statements from newspapers, debates, and legislative resolutions. The
depth and detail added to source material quotes makes this a fine
pick for both college and high school collections strong in American
history and politics.

1758
William R. Nester
State University of New York Press (SUNY)
194 Washington Ave., Suite 305, Albany, NY 12210-2384
9780791473214, $65.50, www (dot) sunypress (dot) edu

The Bloodiest battle in the entire French and Indian War. "1758: The
Epic Battles for Ticonderoga" takes a look at the year of 1758 amidst
the key battles in this conflict. An in-depth military history
covering the conflicts throughout the year on both sides through the
minds of their leaders and the blunders that led to that fateful day
where almost an entire two thousand British men lost their lives or
were injured. With a focus on British General James Abercromby and his
unfortunate military blunder, it stays on the failed campaign that was
a precursor to the return attempt where Britain finally claimed the
land as its own. Enhanced with a bibliography, index, and other
appendixes, "1758: The Epic Battles for Ticonderoga" is highly
recommended to community library history collections.

Basins of Silver
Eric Twitty
Western Reflections Publishing Company
PO Box 1149, Lake City, CO 81235
9781932738445, $32.95 www (dot) westernreflectionspub (dot) com
970-994-0110

Basins of Silver: The Story of Silverton, Colorado's Las Animas Mining
District is a detailed and methodical yet thoroughly accessible
history of one of Colorado's richest and longest-worked mining areas,
one of the first places in which the economies of scale in mining and
milling low-grade ore were practiced and refined. The resulting
techniques would forever transform the mining industry. Meticulously
distinguishing history from folklore, Basins of Silver covers booms
and busts, from The Great Silver Crash of 1983 to the demand surge
caused by World War I to the devastating impact of the Great
Depression and the end to Silverton's mining era. A handful of black-
and-white photographs illustrate this thoughtful, balanced, and
extensive account. A welcome addition to Colorado state history
shelves.

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