January 2011

LOVE IS ETERNAL THE LEATHERSTOCKING SAGA STORMY BEN BUTLER ABRAHAM LINCOLN THE WHITE AND THE GOLD LINCOLN AND THE PARTY DIVIDED THE REMARKABLE MR. JEROME BOHEMIAN BRIGADE THE JACKSONIANS THEY CALLED HIM STONEWALL BY THESE WORDS A DANGEROUS FREEDOM ADVENTURE IN FREEDOM THE STORY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE THE LIGHT OF DISTANT SKIES GLORY, GOD AND GOLD FURNITURE TREASURY THE TASTEMAKERS A Check List of New Books

by Irving Stone. Doubleday &: Company. 468 pp. $3.95.

Historians are inclined to dismiss the historical novel as having no positive value and, as a matter of fact, of contributing in a major way to the misunderstanding of history. Yet a great many readers of the biographical novels of Irving Stone would know nothing at all about Jessie and John Charles Fremont, Rachel and Andrew Jackson, and—currently—Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln, were it not for his books. Despite the liberties he has taken with his subject, the knowledge his readers have gained of American history is essentially accurate. In recording the events of history, he is meticulously careful; it is only when he introduces the thoughts and words of his characters that his biographical portraits are open to question.

by James Fenimore Cooper, edited by Allan Nevins, illustrated by Reginald Marsh. Pantheon Books. 833 pp. $8.50.

This book should help restore to his proper status as an artist in fiction a writer whose position in American literature has been considerably underestimated in recent years. At the very least, it will bring to the attention of the present generation one of the greatest of American authors.

With this in mind, Dr. Nevins has made one readable volume out of the five Cooper novels which portray the life of Leatherstocking from youth, through manhood, to death. Where material has been deleted—it is principally the passages dealing with romantic love and with “supposed humor,” which have always been considered the weakest parts of Cooper’s work—well-written connecting links have been supplied. No internal cuts have been made in the sections selected for printing.

The largest of the Navy's five systems commands, the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) engineers build and support America's Fleet of ships and combat systems. Accounting for nearly one-fifth of the Navy's budget, NAVSEA manages more than 150 acquisition programs and has more than 53,000 civilian and military employees at 33 activities in 16 states.

NAVSEA's Warfare Center Enterprise is comprised of the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC). With eight Surface Warfare and two Undersea Warfare sites across the United States, the Warfare Centers supply the technical operations, people, technology, engineering services and products needed to equip and support the fleet and meet the warfighters' needs. The Warfare Centers are the Navy's principal research, development, test and evaluation (RTD&E) assessment activity for surface ship and submarine systems and subsystems. In addition, the Warfare Centers provide depot maintenance and in-service engineering support to ensure the systems fielded today perform consistently and reliably in the future.

The Navy Art Collection contains over 15,000 paintings, prints, drawings, and sculpture which bring alive the history, legacy and traditions of the United States Navy. The Navy History and Heritage Command maintains it the historic Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.

The Art Collection contains depictions of naval ships, personnel, and action from all eras of U.S. naval history. Thanks to the Combat Art Program which began in 1941, the eras of World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, and Desert Shield/Storm are particularly well represented.

The Branch produces exhibits, loans artwork to museums and institutions, and provides research assistance on the art collection.