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REVIEW NOTICES
Indiana Political Heroes
By Geoff Paddock
(Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society Press, 2008. Pp. xv, 176. Illustrations, index. $12.95.)
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| The author offers brief profiles of eight Hoosiers who played significant roles in both state and national politics during the 1960s through the 1980s. The sketches will introduce younger readers and non-Hoosiers to some of the state's important political figures of the last decades, although the persons missing in this list—including, but not limited to, Richard Lugar and Otis Bowen—may lead readers to question why a longer volume could not have been offered. |
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Leafy Rivers
By Jessamyn West
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009. Pp. 310. Paperbound, $14.95.)
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| Halfway through Jessamyn West's prolific career she wrote the novel Leafy Rivers (1967). Like much of West's fiction, the work is set in the Midwest during the early nineteenth century and is centered on the life of a female protagonist of Quaker origins, named Mary Pratt Converse Rivers (aka Leafy). As a young bride, Leafy wonders whether she will ever live a life of genuine fulfillment. To aid Leafy in this process, West writes a rich cast of characters including Leafy's incompetent husband, Reno; Simon Yanders, a man whose previous suffering causes him to recognize the power of goodwill; and the eccentric Cashie Wade. With their help, Leafy faces the challenges of raising a family in an uncultivated land. |
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Uncle
My Journey with John Purdue
By Irena McCammon Scott
(West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 2008. Pp. xi, 248. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. Paperbound, $19.95.)
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| This biography looks to answer the question, "What was John Purdue, founding benefactor of Purdue University, really like?" Told from the perspective of Purdue's great-great- grandniece, Irena Scott, the work provides a living history of "the mysterious relative known in her family as 'Uncle'." Starting in the small Pennsylvania log cabin where Purdue was born, Scott describes his family's move to Ohio, led by his strong-willed mother, Mary. The family's journey became indicative of the perseverance Purdue would embody throughout his life. Using personal correspondence, business ledgers, and family oral history, Scott tells the story of a man, born into poverty, who went on to found one of our nation's outstanding academic institutions. |
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19 Stars of Indiana
Exceptional Hoosier Women
By Michael S. Maurer
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009. Pp. xv, 219. Illustrations. $24.95.)
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| Michael S. Maurer, the namesake of Indiana University's Maurer School of Law, has written an excellent tribute to nineteen of Indiana's most influential women. Maurer singles out that number to symbolize the nineteen stars of the Indiana flag, as each woman's life exemplifies dedication to the state's academic, artistic, economic, and social growth. The work features brief, affecting biographies of Sarah Evans Barker, Mary Bolk, Angela M. Brown, Alecia A. DeCoudreaux, Christel DeHaan, Nancy Shepherd Fitzgerald, Eva Mozes Kor, Jeanette Lee, Sylvia McNair, Patricia R. Miller, Nancy Noël, Mercy Okanemeh Obeime, Jane Blaffer Owen, Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, Ernestine Raclin, Sharon Rivenbark, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, Becky Skillman, and Carolyn Y. Woo. For anyone interested in learning about the lives and impacts of Indiana's contemporary female leaders, this book is a must read. |
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The Indiana Dunes Revealed
The Art of Frank V. Dudley
Edited by James R. Dabbert.
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2006. Pp. xiv, 239. Illustrations, notes. Paperbound, $29.95.). . . |
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