To tell my own story is to tell that of my famous husband; General John A. Logan; explains Mary S. Logan in the preface to her autobiography. Married to John A. Logan for thirty-one years; Mary Logan shared in her distinguished husband’s career as a prosecutor in southern Illinois; as a Civil War general; and as a senator from Illinois. She observed firsthand the extraordinary events before; during; and after the Civil War; and she knew personally those world leaders who held the power to shape history. After the death of her husband; she maintained her influence in Washington; D.C. "Under the brightest and darkest skies;" she explains; "I have passed than a half-century at the national capital." Born in 1838; Logan writes of her early days growing up in southern Illinois through 1913; when this book was first published. A skillful observer; she recounts events that are personal; regional; and national in scope. In charming detail; she shares her courtship and subsequent marriage to a young prosecutor from Jackson County and the births of their children. She writes proudly of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858 and her husband’s election to the Thirty-seventh Congress that same year. Logan tells of the coming of the Civil War and of her husband—formerly a Democrat and an enemy of Lincoln—casting his fate with the Union and raising a regiment in southern Illinois. She poignantly describes her brother’s defection to the Confederate Army; her life in war-torn Cairo; Illinois; and her horror at her husband’s severe war wounds. She recounts the battles; the political campaigns; and Lincoln’s reelection and subsequent assassination from her point of view—and; as the wife of a politician and general; hers is a decidedly privileged perspective. In a position to observe and to participate in events ranging from momentous to minute throughout the latter half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; she reports the essential episodes of history with the flair of journalism; a career she in fact embraced after the death of her husband. She writes movingly of a wounded captain on the road to recovery who suddenly died when the minié shifted next to his lung; amusingly of the excuses soldiers invented to wrangle a pass to town; and elegantly of her trips to Europe and of the pomp and circumstance of the parties attended by the great men and women of the time. Drawing on events grand and small; she re-creates history as only a skillful writer who was in the right place at the right time could.
#539309 in Books 1982-08-01Original language:GreekPDF # 1 9.25 x .75 x 6.25l; .67 #File Name: 0809124475192 pages
Review
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful. Great book; just missing a few thingsBy AnonymousI have only one complaint with this translation: some parts were taken out. Here; an excerpt from the Foreword:"I have taken the liberty of occasionally eliminating passagesthat are of purely rhetorical and polemical nature; and such ommissions are indicated in our text by ellepsis point."This saddened me while I read this; as many times when it was indicated there was an ommission at interesting points; of which would have been nice to know all of what he wished to say; regardless of what others think of how important it is. So; besides the somewhat frequent ommissions; it is a good book and I would recommend it to all who are interested in Christian Theology; specifically of the Orthodox.6 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Words and rules to appreciate the subtle messages of hesychasmBy PtrIoannisThroughout "The Triads" from the 14th-century; St. Gregory Palamas is caught in a conundrum of apophatic silence and apodictic experiential observations. On the one hand; Palamas must describe the ineffible energy of the divine presence as manifest in a monk's hesychasm. By the same token; Palamas must avoid scholastic formulations about hesychasm; which were promulgated by Latin immigrees in Athos; chief among whom was one Latin monk Barlaam. Scholastic reasoning was formulaic and required every manifestation of God to fit into conditional sentences and quid-pro-quo logic.This 110-page translation of "The Triads" gathers pastoral; theological didactic; and spiritual counsels to ascertain the major obstacles to knowing God according to Barlaam and his Calabrian brothers (from Italy). Liberal treatment of earlier hesychasts and iconodoules in this text; such as St. Maximos the Confessor; provide evidence that Palamas considered the task at hand not his alone; but instead the task of the collective Orthodox communion.On a more practical side; Palamas and Barlaam go head to head with differences about planned insensibilities. Deprivations such as fasting from food and sleep; according to Palamas and the hesychasts; provide occasions for God to unfold his loving plans for us; Barlaam discredits these occasions as outside the realm of God's grace.But for the Hesychast; the effort is to remove distractions from mind and body; such as comfort level; and instead focus all attention on the heart; awaiting the day when the Lord will restore the heart in divine grace. After having restored the heart in divine grace; Palamas quotes from the Apostle; "God has given His Spirit to cry in our hearts; Abba; Father (Gal. 4:6).The "Classics of Western Spirituality" (Paulist Press) have gone far to bring eastern and western spiritual classics to a wide audience since the mid-to-late 1970's. Publications in the series now outnumber 50. This volume; although recent; bears witness to the mark that at least two team members left Western jurisdictions right around the time that this volume was released. Two publication-team members; a renowned Lutheran Reformation historian; Jaroslav Pelikan and wife; and the Jesuit-mystical theologian; George Maloney; S.J. were received into Holy Orthodoxy by chrismation.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Meyendorff's introduction is very rich to enter into Palamas' TheologyBy Izabel M. L. JáveraJohn Meyendorff gives here a very interesting view of the historical theological battle between Palamas and his opponents that helps the saint to develop his theories and affirm them in a very personal and authentic manner.God bless him!
