Posts tagged ‘american’
New Government Report: Bank Mergers and Banking Structure in the United States, 1980-98
Bank Mergers and Banking Structure in the United States, 1980-98
by Stephen A. Rhoades
Paperback, 33 pages, 2000, $25.00
ISBN: 9781437933659
After 1980, the U.S. banking industry experienced a sustained and unprecedented level of merger activity that has substantially affected banking structure.
From 1980 through 1998, there were approximately 8,000 mergers, involving about $2.4 trillion in acquired assets. From 1990 to 1999 several mergers occurred that, at the time of occurrence, were the largest bank mergers in U.S. history.
This report describes various facets of bank merger activity and some of the changes in U.S. banking structure that occurred from 1980 through 1998. A primary force underlying the sustained merger movement in banking since 1980 was the gradual removal of state and federal restrictions on geographic expansion in banking. Charts and tables.
American Photographic Patents 1840-1880: The Daguerreotype and Wet Plate Era (ISBN: 1887694218)
Read more about our selection of books on 19th century photography. >>
American Photographic Patents 1840-1880:
The Daguerreotype and Wet Plate Era (ISBN: 0871699729)
by Janice G. Schimmelman (Paperback, 119 pages, 2002, $25.00)
Identifies all of the nearly 1,000 United States patents related to photography during the wet plate era. To be included in this list the patent had to have direct application to photography or its application had to be recognized and indicated by the applicant.
Read this book on 
before you purchase it.
There is no easy way to identify 19th century patents by one simple subject heading, instead photographic patents appear in the official records under such headings as album, albumen, ambrotype, camera, carte de visite, collodion, daguerreotype, ferrotype, magic lantern, multiplying camera, picture card holder, plate holder, portable camera, solar camera and stereoscope, and photograph or photographic.
Patent for Improvement in Stereoscopes, 1876. American Photographic Patents, p.100
Contents: List by Title, Patentee, Residence and Date for Invention, Reissued Invention, and Design Patents. Illustrations.
Maureen Taylor on Family Tree Magazine‘s Photo Detective blog recommends this book to learn more about photographic patents and “clamps around a person’s waist or head to keep him still for the long exposure time.”
Purchase this book for $25.00:
Read more about our selection of books on 19th century photography. >>
Magnetic Fever: Global Imperialism and Empiricism in the Nineteenth Century (American Philosophical Society Transaction 99-4, ISBN: 9781606189948)
Magnetic Fever: Global Imperialism and Empiricism in the Nineteenth Century
(American Philosophical Society Transaction 99-4, ISBN: 9781606189948)
by Christopher Carter (Paperback, 168 pages, 2009, $35.00)
Explores the links between science and empire in the 19th century, focusing on the mutual interactions of British imperialism and geophysical empiricism.
The 19th century was a time when science was becoming global, in part due to European colonial and imperial expansion. Colonies became not just propagation points for European science, but also collection points for geophysical investigations that could be carried out on a worldwide scale.
Just as European politics influenced the expansion of scientific projects, these “colonial observatories” influenced the type of science that could be done. Comparing the development of British and American geomagnetic research during this period shows the dependency between the two influences. Both the scientific theories and the geopolitical realities played a role in creating the tool for studying global science still in use today.
“Carter (history of science, Duke U.) argues that the British Empire provided a broad setting where universal sciences such as geomagnetism and meteorology could be practiced and legitimized, both helping to overcome the inherited problems of the inductive method, and setting up a system by which scientists could study interconnected phenomena on a global scale,” writes Book News in a review.
“Central to his story are the efforts and successes of John Herschel (1792-1871) in convincing the government to support far-flung scientific endeavors. He covers a fitting enterprise of a maritime people, the knowledge of many attainable by one, worthy of a great national undertaking, Britains contributing their mite, an ample harvest of precious facts, and knowledge and philanthropy among the nations of the earth.”
Memorial Day Book Special: Rakkasans: The Combat History of the 187th Airborne Infantry (ISBN: 0891416048)
Weekly Book Special: May 18th-May 24th
Memorial Day, on May 31st, commemorates American soldiers who died while in service. In commemoration, this week’s special is:
The Rakkasans:
The Combat History of the 187th Airborne Infantry
By E.M. Flanagan, Jr. (Hardcover, 392 pages, 1997, $25.00)
This is the complete account of one of the most remarkable regiments in the history of the U.S. Army, written by a retired lieutenant general who served with airborne outfits during World War II and the Korean War.
The 187th Infantry Regiment, known as “Rakkasans,” have fought in every major American military conflict from World War II to Afghanistan and Iraq.
They were chosen by Gen. Douglas MacArthur to be the first wave of troops to occupy Japan, were the only airborne unit in the Korean War, made history at the Vietnam War’s Hamburger Hill, and made a grueling helicopter assault during Operation Desert Storm. Includes 30 rarely-published photos.
Here’s a 60-second video of the Rakkasans preparing for deployment:
“The Rakkasans is important military history,” writes Kirkus Reviews. “It is well researched and articulated for both the student of military history and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in military history.”
Purchase this book for $28.00:
Children’s Book Week Special: Lane Smith’s John, Paul, George and Ben, New York Times Best Seller and Best Illustrated Book of 2006
Weekly Book Special: May 11th-May 17th
This week is Children’s Book Week, a nationwide celebration of reading. To commemorate, this week’s special is:
John, Paul, George and Ben
By Lane Smith (Hardcover, 38 pages, 2006, $17.00)
“Witty text and full-color illustrations bring new life to a few old chestnuts, depicting the Fab Four of the American Revolution — John Hancock, Paul Revere, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin — through the founding myths we know them by,” writes The New York Times.
“Early American typefaces, parchment grounds, and vestiges of 18th-century life evoke a sense of the time,” writes Library Journal. “A true-and-false section in the back separates fact from fiction. While children will love the off-the-wall humor, there is plenty for adult readers to enjoy.”
Author Lane Smith, who also wrote “The Stinky Cheese Man,” won more than 20 awards for this New York Times bestseller, including The Times’ Best Illustrated Book of 2006. Reinforced library binding makes the book able to be read many times. Exercise your freedom to pick this one up!
Purchase this book for $17.00:
Mark Twain Biography from Ken Burns PBS Documentary; Novels: Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
Acclaimed American author, humorist and former newsman Mark Twain, born Samuel Clemens, died 100 years ago today in his last home in Redding, Connecticut. We offer two books related to Mark Twain:
Mark Twain: An Illustrated Biography
by Geoffrey C. Ward and Dayton Duncan, with a foreword by Ken Burns
(Hardcover, 269 pages, 2001)
Mark Twain was the most famous American of his day, and remains the most revered American writer. The book — an essential companion to Ken Burns’ PBS documentary “Mark Twain” — examines not merely his famous novels, stories, travelogues, and lectures, but also his diaries, letters, and 275 illustrations from throughout his life.
This biography takes us from his boyhood in Hannibal, Missouri, to his time as a riverboat worker — when he adopted the sobriquet “Mark Twain” — to his varied careers as a newspaperman, printer and author. Follows him from the home he built in Hartford, Connecticut, to his travels across Europe, the Middle East and the U.S.
With essays by Russell Jocelyn Chadwick, Ron Powers and John Boyer, and an interview with frequent Twain portrayer Hal Holbrook, this book provides a rich portrayal of the first figure of American letters. Beautifully designed!
“This is more than a lavishly illustrated companion book to the Mark Twain PBS series. National Book Critics Circle Award winner Geoffrey C. Ward, Dayton Duncan, and Ken Burns have produced a cogent, colorful portrait of the man who forged our national identity in the sentences he spun,” writes Amazon.com.
“Excellent though the brisk narrative may be, the book’s greatest pleasures are the extensive Twain quotations; no one has topped his description of the Mississippi River, and he had a salty remark for every occasion (charged an outrageous fee for a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, he cracked, “Do you wonder now that Christ walked?”).
“Gracefully synthesizing current scholarship, this warmhearted biography provides the perfect introduction to Mark Twain.”
Great Novels of Mark Twain: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, & the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain (Hardcover, 438 pages, 2000)
Mark Twain (1835-1910) has achieved fame and a literary following throughout the world for his irreverent humor, realistic depiction of life on the Mississippi River and memorable characters and scenes from mid-19th century America. Beginning life as an apprentice printer, he became a journeyman printer and then a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi until the Civil War brought an end to travel on the river.
After serving briefly as a volunteer soldier and a short stint of work in a silver mine and as a reporter, he began to write and travel. His famous novel “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” comes from his own boyhood experiences in a town on the Mississippi. Its sequel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is considered to be his masterpiece. This is a facsimile of the 1899/1910 edition. Illustrations.
Baseball Book Special: Spalding’s World Tour: The Epic Adventure That Took Baseball Around The Globe and Made It America’s Game
Weekly Book Special: April 5th-April 11th
The beginning of the 2010 baseball season is at hand. To commemorate, this week’s special is:
Spalding’s World Tour: The Epic Adventure That Took Baseball Around The Globe — and Made It America’s Game
by Mark Lamster (Paperback, 341 pages, 2006, $15.00)
Albert Spalding — baseball star, sporting-goods magnate, promotional genius — departed with two baseball teams on a 6-month global barnstorming trip in 1888.
These cultural ambassadors played before Kings and Queens, visited the Coliseum and Eiffel Tower, and hit home runs in front of the Great Sphinx in Egypt. When they returned, Teddy Roosevelt and Mark Twain hailed as heroes.
Sports Illustrated awarded this as one of the Best Baseball Books of 2006. Includes more than 30 historical photos and a map.
Our favorite photo is of a souvenir menu from the tour (click to enlarge):
“This engagingly written history of Spalding’s 1988 baseball world tour is both evocative and entertaining,” writes Alex Belth of Sports Illustrated.
“I’m not generally drawn in by 19th century history, but this book had me hooked from start to finish.”
The Campaign for the American Reader blog has additional capsule reviews from national publications.
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