John Allen Boyd's Books

Emerson Avery, That Latin Teacher

By: John Allen Boyd

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Emerson Avery, That Latin Teacher

By: John Allen Boyd

Emerson Avery, That Latin Teacher is modern American literary fiction with a Southern flavor along with a few splashes of memoir. The core of the novel, covering about seven days, concerns Emerson Avery’s two trips into places of his past which clarify the source of his struggles with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and answers questions about his youth. Now at the coda of his life, he wants to achieve an existential understanding of himself. He is bright and fascinated with life around him – the human comedy – and he is devoted to his former pupils, family (some surrogate), and friends. The author, John Allen Boyd, has lived a life similar to that of Emerson, and, as such, the novel contains anecdotes that are partly memoir. Partly. But where is fiction purely fiction? As Emerson encounters those formative years and thinks about the present and the future, the novel moves like a person walking through a busy market place that stretches and detours for miles – stopping here and there for close inspection and possible purchases – moving quickly along at other places – observing people – leaving one display or another only to return later – always watching and listening and smelling and, sometimes, touching. There is quiet honey-soaked Southern life balanced with shocking horror and cruelty. There is the purity of man-wife love in contrast to depravity and perversity. Soaring intellect and dire ignorance. Trust and freedom and innocence teetering along side predation and indenture and insanity. Blind loyalty to tribalism against independence. Beauty and the hideous. Belief versus knowledge. Children and adults. And, throughout the novel, music, music, yes, music! What better way for a person to discover self. Its mystical power like walking naked under the rising sun or the full harvest moon. A reader may perceive the novel as a woven cloth, a fabric made from various threads that interweave and become visible again and again. Their warp and woof. There are numerous anecdotes and short stories that are ancillary to the main plot. And all of them are abstractions of the life of Emerson Avery. There are several themes that resound: Emerson is a part of all that he has met (Tennyson), people are more alike than different, and life among humans is not much of a departure from that of the lower animals considering our predatory acts on innocence and trust – our greed for things and lust for dominance. Also, we remain awash in primitive language as we attempt to translate our images into words – into any art form. He accepts that all art is translation. After all, he was a teacher of Latin. Likewise, Emerson sees us, as much today as any time in human history, swimming in the seas of mythology and superstition – especially the naïve and altruistic, whether urbane or rural. Ignorance is alive and abounding as are racism and tribalism, those perverse loyalties. People are funny, or is strange the better word? Emerson is a nurturer and finds self-worth in fostering young minds. Affirming their efforts to survive intelligently. He considers most human systems absurd and is an uncomfortable nihilist. Yet, in all of this, he is an optimist and usually calm in living his life in two houses – the place where he sleeps and in his classrooms. In his private life, he is intensely introspective and scholarly. In his classrooms and among friends he is extroverted, affable, and outgoing. His safety nets are music and reading, where he can sort it all out. While composing this novel, the author refused to write it in the manner of some of the dullest books he has ever read: linear narration – a plot trudging along from point A to point Z with the expected high points and low. Instead, he narrates his story using stories within stories within stories (Proust). He uses a variety of writing styles: straight narration, stream of conscious, fantasy, and other departures from the usual journalistic drivel. He has licen

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

493

Publisher

Xlibris Corporation

Published Date

ISBN 10

1469104482

ISBN 13

9781469104485

Congress at Your Fingertips

108th Congress: Standard Version

By: John E. Hanson

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Congress at Your Fingertips

108th Congress: Standard Version

By: John E. Hanson

A handbook for information about the 108th Congress and it's members including current photo's, phone numbers, biographical data, committee assignment, key staff information. White House Staff and selected editorial agencies

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

216

Publisher

Capitol Advantage

Published Date

ISBN 10

1879617625

ISBN 13

9781879617629

Confederate Casualties at Gettysburg

A Comprehensive Record

By: John W. Busey,Travis W. Busey

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Confederate Casualties at Gettysburg

A Comprehensive Record

By: John W. Busey,Travis W. Busey

This reference book provides information on 24,000 Confederate soldiers killed, wounded, captured or missing at the Battle of Gettysburg. Casualties are listed by state and unit, in many cases with specifics regarding wounds, circumstances of casualty, military service, genealogy and physical descriptions. Detailed casualty statistics are given in tables for each company, battalion and regiment, along with brief organizational information for many units. Appendices cover Confederate and Union hospitals that treated Southern wounded and Federal prisons where captured Confederates were interned after the battle. Original burial locations are provided for many Confederate dead, along with a record of disinterments in 1871 and burial locations in three of the larger cemeteries where remains were reinterred. A complete name index is included.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

2370

Publisher

McFarland

Published Date

ISBN 10

1476624364

ISBN 13

9781476624365

The Twilight of Social Conservatism

American Culture Wars in the Obama Era

By: John Dombrink

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Twilight of Social Conservatism

American Culture Wars in the Obama Era

By: John Dombrink

Despite many Americans’ triumphant proclamations that Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 elections signified a post-partisan, post-racial society, it seems that the United States is more divided than ever. From the rise of the Tea Party, to strident anti-immigration and anti-welfare movements, to the so-called “war on women”, the United States on its surface appears to be caught in the turmoil of a culture war that has not relented since the Reagan era. But, as John Dombrink writes in The Twilight of Social Conservatism, the conservative backlash seen during Obama’s presidency is indicative not of a rising social conservative force in society, but of a waning one. Drawing on demographic research, political polls, contemporary media, and internet commentary, Dombrink demonstrates that the vitality of major social conservative ideas from the culture war era has faded. Support for once-divisive wedge issues, like same-sex marriage and reproductive rights, has increased dramatically, and Americans, particularly young Americans, are less religious and more libertarian than ever before. As he traces the end of the culture wars and the “unwedging” of American politics over the last eight years, Dombrink is quick to caution that social conservatism has not disappeared entirely from view. Nevertheless, the once-prominent “Moral Majority” pushing for dominance in American culture is now reconsidering itself as a minority, and Dombrink argues that it is unlikely that social conservative forces will ever regain the power and potency they once held in American politics. A comprehensive and insightful work, The Twilight of Social Conservatism deftly analyzes the liberalizing trends that created the social and political culture America has today and that portend to the culture America will have in years to come.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

263

Publisher

NYU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0814738125

ISBN 13

9780814738122

The Challenge of Legislation

Bipartisanship in a Partisan World

By: John L. Hilley

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Challenge of Legislation

Bipartisanship in a Partisan World

By: John L. Hilley

In 1995, the budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans forced the federal government to shut down. Two years later, the parties joined forces to pass the first balanced budget in a generation. In The Challenge of Legislation, John Hilley, the Clinton administration's chief liaison to the Republican-controlled Congress, tells the inside story of this dramatic turnaround. Hilley weaves together a detailed narrative and vivid portraits of the key players—including then-Speaker Newt Gingrich, Senate Republican leader Trent Lott, and President Bill Clinton—in this comprehensive account of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Equally at home with the complexities of the legislative process and the realities of political combat, he offers unique insight into the highly charged relationship between party leaders and their rank-and-file, the interplay between elected officials and their professional staff, the delicate art of partisan negotiations, and the role of uncertainty and surprise. The result is a compelling look at how public policy is made, rich in enduring lessons for both policymakers and students of legislative politics. Ten years ago, bipartisanship triumphed against daunting odds. The Challenge of Legislation shows how it happened and what it will take for bipartisanship to succeed again.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

290

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

0815736568

ISBN 13

9780815736561

Obama on the Home Front

Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks

By: John D. Graham

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Obama on the Home Front

Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks

By: John D. Graham

“The best comprehensive review of the Obama administration’s policies available,” by the author of Bush on the Home Front (Daniel P. Franklin, author of Pitiful Giants: Presidents in their Final Term). Barack Obama came into office as the economy was careening into the worst downturn since the Great Depression. On the political front, he would be challenged by the same intense congressional polarization faced by Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, now exacerbated by the rise of the Tea Party movement. In this comprehensive assessment of domestic policymaking, John D. Graham considers what we may learn from the Obama presidency about how presidents can best implement their agendas when Congress is evenly divided. What did Obama pledge to do in domestic policy and what did he actually accomplish? Why did some initiatives succeed and others fail? Did Obama’s policies contribute to the losses experienced by the Democratic Party in 2010 and 2014? In carefully documented case studies of economic policy, health care reform, energy and environmental policy, and immigration reform, Graham asks whether Obama was effective at accomplishing his agenda. Counterfactuals are analyzed to suggest ways that Obama might have been even more effective than he was and at less political cost to his party. As with the author’s acclaimed Bush on the Home Front, this book elaborates and applies a theory of presidential effectiveness in a polarized political environment.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

488

Publisher

Indiana University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0253021154

ISBN 13

9780253021151

Thomas J. Comber

By: John Brown Myers

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Thomas J. Comber

By: John Brown Myers

Reprint of the original, first published in 1872. The publishing house Anatiposi publishes historical books as reprints. Due to their age, these books may have missing pages or inferior quality. Our aim is to preserve these books and make them available to the public so that they do not get lost.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

177

Publisher

BoD – Books on Demand

Published Date

ISBN 10

3382185725

ISBN 13

9783382185725

An LA Cop

From The Jungles Of Vietnam To The Streets Of Hollywood

By: John Bowermaster

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

An LA Cop

From The Jungles Of Vietnam To The Streets Of Hollywood

By: John Bowermaster

Vietnam, April 15, 1969. At first light, the air over Firebase Diamond III was full of dust from four hours of incoming artillery shells exploding around the perimeter. Alpha and Delta companies fought for their lives during the ground attack. The air was thick with the smell of napalm from the jet air strikes. The men sat behind their bunkers, staring blankly across the open rice paddies looking for remnants of the two battalions of NVA soldiers that hurled themselves at the firebase. The men would remember and talk about this fight for the rest of their lives. Los Angeles, May 17, 1974. Officers used buildings and vehicles along Fifty-Fourth Street for cover. Weapon fire was erupting from the small house. The officers learned there were four hundred officers at the scene. Nine thousand rounds of ammo were fired between the suspects and the police. Many officers ran out of ammunition in the first few minutes of the fight. The gunfight continued for two hours.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

285

Publisher

Fulton Books, Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1646542290

ISBN 13

9781646542291

The Civil War in Louisiana

By: John D. Winters

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Civil War in Louisiana

By: John D. Winters

This comprehensive history fills an important gap in the story of the Civil War. Too often the war waged west of the Mississippi River has been given short shrift by historians and scholars, who have tended to focus their attention on the great battles east of the river. This book looks in detail at the military operations that occurred in Louisiana—most of them minor skirmishes, but some of them battles and campaigns of major importance. The Civil War in Louisiana begins with the first talk of secession in the state and ends with the last tragic days of the war. John D. Winters describes with great fervor and detail such events as the fall of Confederate New Orleans and the burning of Alexandria. In addition to military action, Winters discusses the political, economic, and social aspects of the war in Louisiana. His accounts of battles and the men who waged them provide a fuller story of Louisiana in the Civil War than has ever before been told.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

564

Publisher

LSU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0807117250

ISBN 13

9780807117255

Book's by John Allen Boyd

Emerson Avery, That Latin Teacher

Emerson Avery, That Latin Teacher

Congress at Your Fingertips

Congress at Your Fingertips

Confederate Casualties at Gettysburg

Confederate Casualties at Gettysburg

The Twilight of Social Conservatism

The Twilight of Social Conservatism

The Challenge of Legislation

The Challenge of Legislation

Obama on the Home Front

Obama on the Home Front

Thomas J. Comber

Thomas J. Comber

An LA Cop

An LA Cop

The Civil War in Louisiana

The Civil War in Louisiana

Username

Password

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email