The Story of the Underground Railroad (Cornerstones of Freedom)

Customer Reviews:

This book tells you what women did to help shape the west.......1999-04-04

I pleased to know that people care to write about women in such great ways. Everyone should know that it was not only men who shaped teh west they needed us ladies.

The Titanic (Cornerstones of Freedom. Second Series)

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A good account of the tragedy for strong readers (kids).

The Titanic (Cornerstones of Freedom. Second Series)
Deborah Kent
Manufacturer: Children's Press (CT)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0516066722

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A good account of the tragedy for strong readers (kids)........1998-03-17

This book gave an accurate account of the tragedy in 1912. Young children who are beginners will have difficulty reading this story. I feel it is geared towards experienced readers in grades 2, 3, and 4 at least. It is a hot commodity in my school! The photos are excellent. I recommend it!

The Trail of Tears (Cornerstones of Freedom)

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Most Excellent
My history teacher never mentioned this...
The Cherokee Nation is forced to walk The Trail of Tears

The Trail of Tears (Cornerstones of Freedom)
R. Conrad Stein
Manufacturer: Children's Press (CT)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0516466666

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Most Excellent.......2007-03-10

The book is an excellent choice for those of a younger age wanting to understand an unsettling portion of American history. Well written and illustrated.

My history teacher never mentioned this..........2005-07-28

This is a nice, brief retelling of what the Trail of Tears was, who was involved, and how terrible it was. It all began with the discovery of gold on the Cherokee lands in Georgia, which had been granted to them by treaty with the United States government. The state of Georgia wanted the land and the gold. As one of the "Five Civilized Tribes," the Cherokees tried to fight for their rights through the legal system. They brought a lawsuit to the Georgia state court, which ruled against them. They appealed the ruling and their case was taken all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in 1832 that the US government had to honor its treaty and white people were to stay out of Cherokee lands. But even with the Supreme Court supporting them, President Jackson refused to help. Instead, he put through the Indian Removal Act, which started the forced removal of all Native Americans living east of the Mississippi River. The Cherokees were forced to march 800 miles from their homes in Georgia all the way to Oklahoma Territory. Along the Trail of Tears, hundreds died. The Cherokee and other tribes were promised a permanent home in Oklahoma Territory. But in what proved to be the ultimate slap in the face, within thirty years the Federal government opened Oklahoma to white people for settlement. This is one of the most shameful epidsodes in United States history....

The book is bright and colorful, filled with period photographs and art, as well as original drawings showing the hardships of the Trail. The text is easy reading at about a fourth grade level. It makes an excellent supplement to history class, and it opens the door to critically thinking about several issues:

The role and authority of the Supreme Court
The authority and responsibility of the President
How well the US government honors/dishonors its treaties
Treatment of Native Americans in the past and today

The Cherokee Nation is forced to walk The Trail of Tears.......2002-04-28

As is often the case with these informative volumes in the Cornerstones of Freedom series, "The Trail of Tears" is about more than the forced exodus of the Cherokee nation from Georgia to Oklahoma. R. Conrad Stein spends as much time teaching young readers about the culture of the Cherokees as he does discussing the Indian Removal plan to settle all Indians east of the Mississippi River finally implemented by President Andrew Jackson. Although the focus is primarily on the Cherokee nation, Stein touches on the other members of the "Five Civilized Tribes," the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole, albeit to a lesser degree. As would be the case with the Plains War of the 1870s, the spark for this fatal encounter would be the discovery of gold in the heart of Cherokee territory. The Cherokees went to court to have their treaty rights enforced, but Jackson ignored the ruling of the Supreme Court and Chief Justice John Marshall. Simply by presenting the facts of the matter, Jackson clearly becomes the villain of this tale, which saw one in four Cherokees die on the Trail of Tears. Stein ends his story with the defiance of Tsali, a legendary Cherokee whose last words were "It is sweet to die in one's own country." This book, illustrated with both historic paintings and etchings as well as more contemporary artwork of the tragic trek westward, gives students and teachers considerably more information about the treatment of Indians by the American government and the Trail of Tears than they will ever get in an American History textbook. There is not a better supplemental source of historical information for secondary History classes than this series.

The Jamestown Colony (Cornerstones of Freedom)

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The Jamestown Colony
The troubled history of the first permanent English colony
The First colony of America

The Jamestown Colony (Cornerstones of Freedom)
Gail Sakurai
Manufacturer: Children's Press (CT)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 051626138X

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The Jamestown Colony.......2007-03-28

The book was well received by school children visiting Jamestown and Williamsburg on the 400th anniversary of the landing by the British colonists in Virginia.

The troubled history of the first permanent English colony.......2002-03-14

"The Jamestown Colony" was the third attempt by the English to establish a colony in the New World. In 1606 three small ships arrived at the mouth of a broad river that emptied in Chesapeake Bay. The colonists named it the James River in honor of the King who had granted their charger. The area was settled by nearly 10,000 Indians of the Powhatan Confederacy, not all of whom were friendly, which required the colonists to find a secure location to build a fort and harbor their ships. The site was called Jamestown and Gail Sakurai tells the story of the first permanent English colony in the Americas, although by the end of the century it was abandoned.

Sakurai goes well beyond what young readers are going to find in their American History textbooks. We learn about why more than half the settlers died by the end of their first summer, the true story of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas, the arrival of the first women at Jamestown, the brutal winter known as the "Starving Time," and the arrival of the new governor, Lord Delaware, who stopped the settlers from abandoning the colony in 1610. Ironically, we learn that this famous colony was an economic failure, which explains why the last part of the book talks more about the impact Pocahontas made on her visit to England than what was happening at Jamestown, where slavery was introduced but massacres, diseases, fires and other disasters decimated the colony, which was burned to the ground following an unsuccessful revolt. Thousands of new settlers came to Virginia, but not to Jamestown, which was replaced as capital of the colony by Williamsburg.

Teachers and students alike will find this story interesting and ample proof that colonizing America was not an easy task. Other Cornerstones of Freedom titles on related subjects include "The Pilgrims," "Williamsburg," and "African-Americans in the Thirteen Colonies." These books remain an excellent first place to look for detailed information about various facets of American History.

The First colony of America.......2000-06-22

The story, The Jamestown Colony, is about the first colony in the United States. It describes why the settlers left and what difficulties they arrived at. A smart buy for anyone wishing to learn more about our countries early colonial times.

The Transcontinental Railroad (Cornerstones of Freedom)

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The Transcontinental Railroad (Cornerstones of Freedom)
Peter Anderson
Manufacturer: Children's Press (CT)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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ASIN: 0516066358

The Library of Congress (Cornerstones of Freedom. Second Series)

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The Library of Congress (Cornerstones of Freedom. Second Series)
Mary Collins , and Gail Sakurai
Manufacturer: Children's Press (CT)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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The California Gold Rush (Cornerstones of Freedom)

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Excellent resource for the subject

The California Gold Rush (Cornerstones of Freedom)
R. Conrad Stein
Manufacturer: Childrens Press Chicago
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0516466917

Customer Reviews:

Excellent resource for the subject.......2000-08-24

Teachers and Homeschoolers, these are wonderful chapters of history. The style is like a history book, but not the material. The photos certainly aren't any I've ever seen and they seem to be chosen for thier personal feeling. The text is great reading, easily comprehended and leaving room for a childs imagination. Of the series, Cornerstones of Freedom, this one and The Great Depression, were my favorites. 2-3weeks on the lesson plan is all you need.

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An excellent look at immigration through Ellis Island...

Ellis Island (Cornerstones of Freedom)
R. Conrad Stein
Manufacturer: Children's Press (CT)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0516466534

Customer Reviews:

An excellent look at immigration through Ellis Island..........2003-04-20

Using this kids'book as a reader for adult literacy classes is
great! It reveals many things that most have not heard nor realized. I found it shocking the way that illnesses were tracked. A huge H written on ones' coat meant they were a heart patient, Sc meant scalp problems, etc. The most dreaded was a large X which indicated a mental patient. They were asked personal questions such as how much money they had and if they could read or had ever been in prison. Sometimes all but one member would be accepted and the family had to decide what to do.

Obviously, most came looking for a better life but the trip over the ocean was dangerous, long and uncomfortable, since there were three classes on the voyage and most immigrants could only afford the cheap, bottom of the boat cramped quarters. Many got ill and died. Varied languages caused further loneliness.

Families were often split up forever, it was not an easy thing to decide to come to America. Most would never be able to visit their motherland again..ever. Around 2% of the total were sent back home and this fear was with each immigrant that made it alive to Ellis Island.

They were told NOT to tell anyone they had a job waiting, for this was against the international laws and they would be punished. If all went well, their stay on Ellis Island was about 5 hours.

Since most immigrants were poor and had no money to get further than New York City, it quickly became a melting pot for Italians, Germans, Irish, Jewish and Polish. It was said one could tell where you were in the city just by opening your window at mealtime and smelling the spices and dishes from each country.

Learning English and integrating into American life came easier for children than adults. Most adults clumped together in small areas according to language and heritage, shopping at familiar stores and cooking and eating familiar foods.

Ellis Island was eventually shut down, then reopened and restored and is now a museum. For many, the most important letters they saw were those on the door that said "PUSH TO NEW YORK CITY" and they did.

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The Story of Booker T. Washington (Cornerstones of Freedom)

The Story of Booker T. Washington (Cornerstones of Freedom. Second Series)
Pat McKissack , and Fredrick McKissack
Manufacturer: Children's Press (CT)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

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Daily Life in a Victorian House (Picture Puffin Books)

Andrew Carnegie: Builder of Libraries (Community Builders)

The Spanish-American War (Cornerstones of Freedom)

At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England

Beautiful Land: A Story of the Oklahoma Land Rush (Once Upon America)

ASIN: 0516047582

Customer Reviews:

The Story of Booker T. Washington (Cornerstones of Freedom).......2000-04-11

This was an excellent work overviewing the major achievements of Booker T. Washington. Concentrating on his years at Tuskegee Institute, the authors do a good job portraying Washington's beliefs while explaining the political climate at the time. Washington's critics of the time were also acknowledged and their views represented. The book also explains what a great example Tuskegee Institute and Washington's educational ideas were for others establishing similar institutions.

Amazon.com

It's often said there's nothing certain in life except death and taxes. According to two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalists Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, however, the latter part of that adage is now decidedly in dispute. The Great American Tax Dodge, the pair's latest examination of U.S. systems gone awry, spells out exactly how massive tax fraud is currently costing the nation enough to provide health care for its 44 million uninsured citizens--and precisely why the problem will continue to grow at virtually all economic levels unless remedial measures are immediately employed. In their fully detailed but always readable style, Barlett and Steele authoritatively discuss multimillionaires who never file tax returns, Internet sites that can link anyone to shady tax havens, the use of "phantom children" and "invisible employees" to illegitimately shelter income, and evasive techniques like offshore accounts and holding companies that illegally keep money from reaching the government agencies to which it is owed. But the problem cannot exclusively be blamed on those individuals who choose to shirk their civic responsibility, the authors note. Congress, which regularly looks the other way, and the IRS itself, which consistently fails to enforce its own rules, also share much of the blame. Packed with specific examples and unsettling particulars, the book will frustrate everyone who dutifully files a tax return each April and expects their fellow Americans to do the same. Fortunately, it also includes a simple yet plausible proposal for turning the situation around. --Howard Rothman

Book Description

In The Great American Tax Dodge, a book that should infuriate and galvanize citizens everywhere, the best-selling authors of America: What Went Wrong? expose the millions of Americans who are dodging their income taxes at every honest taxpayer's expense. With the clarity, insight, and readability that earned them two Pulitzer Prizes, Donald Barlett and James Steele explain how Americans are cheating as never before, and why most are getting away with it.
The authors relate the stories of a Manhattan couple who spent $1 million a month to maintain their lifestyle yet never paid income tax, a California couple who provided sport utility vehicles for their children at taxpayers' expense, an entrepreneur in Costa Rica who shows Americans how to hide their money in clandestine accounts offshore, and computer technicians at America's largest corporations who live tax-free.
Barlett and Steele describe how the Internet has democratized tax cheating, as proliferating Web sites and their often mysterious operators offer every service imaginable to escape taxes. They discuss the double standard the IRS employs in tax audits--one for the rich and well-connected and another for everyone else--and how the Justice Department tries to jail powerless citizens accused of tax law violations while allowing the wealthy and influential to go free. This book also documents how Congress is deliberately undermining the income tax in order to replace it with a system that will provide the largest windfall ever for the richest Americans--and increase the burden on everyone else. And it spells out how executives like Kenneth L. Lay bankrolled campaigns to institute such a tax system, based on accounting principles eerily similar to those employed at Lay's Enron Corporation. Finally, the authors consider our chances for reestablishing what was once the fairest tax system in the world.

Customer Reviews:

The Essence of the Argument is There..........2003-12-24

While there are some short-comings with this book, the overall general idea rings true, and their evidence supports the claim. The book does not aim to be a fix-all for the numerous troubles that ail american democracy. Rather, it simply aims to expose yet another example of class preference in American society.

Like the legal system, the tax code works more to one's advantage the more money one has. That is the simple premise of the book - not government gridlock, not class jealousy, and certainly not socialism. The authors argue from the simple point of showing how wealthy individuals take great advantage of our tax code. And while it does suggest a certain conclusion, I would argue that it is common sense and logic that they use to arrive at the fact that this is but one more way the wealthy absolve themselves of any responsibility in society.

In the end, it is an informative read, but should not be taken by itself. It should be read in conjunction with other works on the tax code, gov't spending, and other problems that plague American society and allow the wealthy to keep distancing themselves, and avoid responsibility.

Informative but unhelpful.......2001-09-04

The major portion of the book confirms our suspicions of the massive tax avoidance and evasion that is extant in the U.S. today. I found much of the material to be revealing of the methodology used by rich and poor to escape the responsibility of paying ones dues.
The authors lost me in their attack on VAT ( National Sales Tax ) which has worked successfully in tne United Kingdom and in Canada. These countries are way ahead of us in Social Services. Any tax plan will have its defects, but this is one way to avoid the off shore plans, and the refusal to even submit the 1040 form.
The final chapter devoted to the authors' solution to the problem is a joke. If you take one suggestion after another it is clear that our economy will not tolerate their badly constructed cure. I think that they were just in a hurry to close out the book and had really ill considered, ( or no ), advice from seasoned economists. These two chapters left me with a feeling of let down and disappointment. I had hoped to find some well constructed answers to a pernicious problem. But they offered none.

Terrific Book.......2001-04-13

Barlett and Steel won two Pulitzer prices for journalism so you know their work is high quality. This book will offend some readers, especially the devious rich and the gray-area almost-crooks. But I hope it will anger the hard working stiffs in the middle class who still believe paying taxes is the price of having a good society. The authors make a convincing case that Congress does not care to make the system just or fair and that America is in danger of moving toward the Banana Republic and some-European-countries model where if you pay your taxes honestly you are considered a fool. How bad it has gotten can be seen in the case of our famous former president, who managed to leave his presidency in such a sleazy way. The book came out last fall and maybe Bubba read the pages on Marc Rich, who could be described as a crook and an enemy of America. But that didn't stop our president from granting him a pardon. Could a $450,000 donation to the Clinton library and some $150,000 donated to Hilary's senate campaign have anything to do with that? Of course not. I give this book five stars because it is well researched and well written, fascinating from beginning to end. See what a boon the Internet has become for tax cheats. See how venerable Swiss banks are only too happy to help you hide your undeclared income. See how Congress crippled the IRS. We now have the best government and representatives money can buy and nobody cares. Almost nobody. A man like Sen. McCain is a miracle, because he is one of the solutions. Read this book. It's terrific.

As long as I don't get caught, it's okay........2000-11-14

Before I read the book, I had the (mistaken) belief that all income tax evaders had an equal chance of an IRS Audit. I now see that the IRS is set-up to audit citizens that can't afford lawyers--the book has good evidence for that, the kind you can find for yourself.

Unfortunately, the book isn't totally solid. It rightly points out that the current tax system is unfair for the un-wealthy, and I think the authors provide fairly good evidence that this unfairness is largely due to a congress that has created a behemoth tax code while simultaneously stripping the IRS of its ability to enforce it. Unfortunately, though, there were times that some claims went un-referenced (e.g., past tax code), which left me wondering about what was "factual."

The book is biased towards blaming the wealthy for lobbying congress while dumping billions into tax shelters (this bias, nonetheless, seems well supported), but the book isn't about wealth bashing--it is about the notion that in our country, to some extent, we are all our neighbor's helper, and to cheat taxes is morally incomprehensible and consequential. They point to the ills of society fostering an environment for cheaters of all kinds...from tax evaders to cheating college freshman, as evidence for the cheater's mentality. In this regard, the book has a pessimistic view of a human nature that always reduces itself to the "lowest common denominator" (i.e., if the wealthy cheat on taxes, why shouldn't I?). The authors pose good arguments against flat taxes and sales taxes, while supporting a progressive tax such as our current tax structure. They argue that the current tax code is too complicated and should be simplified. This complication is largely do to the history of special interest groups successfully lobbying for tax loopholes. Overall, I know more about taxes (and tax evasion) than I had before the book.

Read this before you vote!.......2000-11-03

Just read the last two chapters, "How Congress plans to increase your Taxes" and the final chapter on their solution. These authors show how Congress is crippling the enforcement of tax cheats by the rich, even granting them loopholes so they pay even less than they should. The flat tax and national sales tax are shown to be the shams they are, the rich will get very rich and the poor and middle class will take the burden of the lost taxes from the rich. Don't believe me, read the book. Why did Warren Buffett endorse Gore saying he (Buffett) pays less taxes than his secretary? Because this is all true, Congress has always made the tax laws favor the rich, hiding it in complex regulations that only the rich can afford the lawyers and accountants to figure out. They pay less taxes and now the Republicans want to make the income tax so difficult that the rest of the country can be sold a bill of goods that repealing the income tax and putting in a flat tax will help the middle class instead of the truth that it will devastate the middle class. Buy the book, get the book from the library, but read the book before you vote!

The Great American Tax Dodge: How Spiraling Fraud and Avoidance Are Killing Fairness, Destroying the Income Tax, and Costing You

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The Great American Tax Dodge: How Spiraling Fraud and Avoidance Are Killing Fairness, Destroying the Income Tax, and Costing You
James B. Steele
Manufacturer: Little, Brown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OUACF4

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