Maine Antique Digest May 2015

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16-D Maine Antique Digest, May 2015
- FEATURE -
Books
Received
by M.A.D. Staff
These are brief reviews of books
recently sent to have included
ordering information for publishers
that accept mail, phone, or online orders.
For other publishers, your local bookstore
or a mail-order house is the place to look.
• • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Masterpieces of the American Longrifle: The Joe Kindig, Jr.
Collection by Patrick Hornberger and Joe Kindig, III (Eastwind
Publishing, 2015, 160 pp., hardbound, $70 plus S/H from East-
wind Publishing, > or [410] 476-4445).
Sixty longrifles from the collection of Joe Kindig Jr. (1898-
1971) were on display from May to September 2014 at the
Reading (Pennsylvania) Public Museum. This catalog of the
exhibition illustrates each of the rifles, identifies the makers, and
provides references to other books and exhibitions in which each
has been featured. Detailed closeup photos show the intricate
carving and embellishments that explain why, as Kindig did, so
many view these rifles as works of artistic expression and not
just as guns.
The catalog begins with a biography of Kindig, a bearded,
long-haired, vegetarian, Quaker antiques dealer and collector
who never wore socks and was known as “an outrageous charac-
ter.” It was said, for example, that “If Kindig didn’t like you, you
couldn’t buy from him at any price.” Patrick Hornberger writes
that Kindig “appreciated the power and importance of art, and
he devoted his life to it with a fervor often misunderstood by the
less appreciative. Perhaps he wrote his own legacy when he said:
‘Whatever you find beauty in, you should devote time to. To my
way of thinking, nothing in this world is as important as beauty.
Nothing is as neglected. Yet we need it in our lives if we’re to
grow. I don’t give a damn what you find it in—art or chicken pot
pie. Stay with it. Don’t neglect it.’”
As the authors point out in the foreword, numerous resources
already exist that tell the history of the American longrifle. This
book focuses instead on the artistic merits of the longrifle by
showing examples of creativity and beauty. The catalog serves
as a fine tribute to Joe Kindig Jr.’s passion and his legacy.
Homegrown Terror: Benedict Arnold
and the Burning of New London by Eric
D. Lehman (Wesleyan University Press,
2014, 266 pp., hardbound, $30 plus S/H
from Wesleyan University Press, [www.
]).
“Reconciling Arnold’s treason with his
former heroism has always been difficult
for Americans…” reads the caption under
a photograph of a monument to Benedict
Arnold’s wounded leg at the Battle of Sara-
toga. Eric D. Lehman, a creative writing
professor and author of many articles and
eight other books, has written an intrigu-
ing history that recognizes the mixed feel-
ings Americans have about the infamous
Arnold, the military hero turned traitor.
Lehman brilliantly retells the rise
and fall of the keen military leader who
proved untrustworthy in the patriot cause
using “letters, memoirs, and diaries to get
to the root of problems” and “to under-
stand the words and reactions of key play-
ers….” He continues with the fallout of
the treason and how it affected the deci-
sions of George Washington and other
leaders when faced with various crises in
the new nation.
Easy to read, fast-paced, and filled with
historical detail and well-documented
sources, this look at Arnold will interest
historians of the American Revolution as
well as those with an interest in Connecti-
cut history. This book is a 2014 Driftless
Connecticut Series selection, which rec-
ognizes an “outstanding book in any field
on a Connecticut topic or written by a
Connecticut author.”
Coins & Collectors: Golden Anniversary
Edition by Q. David Bowers (Whitman
Publishing, LLC, 2014, 416 pp., hard-
bound, $29.95 from Whitman Publish-
ing, LLC, ] or [800]
546-2995).
In this book’s foreword, Joel J. Orosz
writes about being “gobsmacked” in 1966
by the first edition of Q. David Bowers’s
Coins and Collectors, a book that did not
answer “What is this coin?” or “What
is it worth?” but instead asked “What is
fascinating about this coin?” and “Why is
it worth collecting?” Fifty years later, in
this second edition, Bowers reprises a few
favorite tales from books and articles he
has written since 1964 but offers mostly
new stories.
In 51 chapters with extensive illus-
trations, Bowers recounts tales about a
wide range of coins, medals, and tokens,
famous and obscure, including the 1792
silver half disme, the Randall hoard,
the 1955 doubled die cent, the great St.
Albans raid, and the 1933 double eagle.
Among the collectors he writes about
are Louis Eliasberg, Alden Scott Boyer,
Thomas L. Elder, and Emery May Holden
Norweb. The index at the back of the book
will help if you are looking for a partic-
ular character, and an appendix offers
brief tips on market value related to each
chapter. Our copy of the book arrived
with its covers attached upside down, but
the book’s pages seem to be fully intact.
This entertaining volume should appeal
to numismatists who want to know more
than the value of their collection.
Visual Art and the Urban Evolution of
the New South by Deborah C. Pollack
(The University of South Carolina Press,
2015, 366 pp., hardbound, $59.95 plus
S/H from University of South Carolina
Press, ] or [800]
768-2500).
In 2010 Zane L. Miller, a retired pro-
fessor of history from the University of
Cincinnati, suggested that art historian
Deborah Pollack tackle the subject of art
and southern cities. Miller and Pollack
selected six cities to explore, and Pol-
lack began her research. The resulting
book examines the impact that artists and
arts supporters had on “urban evolution,
social change, historic preservation, and
tourism” in Atlanta, Charleston, New
Orleans, Louisville, Austin, and Miami
between 1865 and 1950.
In contrast to art history writing that
has focused “largely upon sultry, moss-
adorned landscapes of romantic bayous,
rural farms, and gardens,” this study
explores art that belongs to city “parks,
plazas, wharves, marketplaces, indus-
trial areas, expositions, mansions, gar-
dens, universities, and business hubs.” In
exploring the “realms of creative urban
humanity” that have shaped modern
southern cities, Pollack closely exam-
ines economic, political, gender, and race
issues. Her well-illustrated study focuses
on painters, sculptors, illustrators, and
photographers and includes notes, an
extensive bibliography, and an index.
In her concluding chapter Pollack
notes that “opportunity, achievement,
and optimism were foremost for those
who developed and modernized the entire
New South. These attributes were com-
plemented by aestheticism, gumption,
generosity, and devotion.” She concludes
with her hope that readers who are not
already active arts supporters will become
so, to “help ensure an economically and
aesthetically successful future for urban
environments throughout our nation.”
Indian Basketry of the Northeastern
Woodlands by Sarah Peabody Turnbaugh
and William A. Turnbaugh (Schiffer Pub-
lishing Ltd., 2014, 176 pp., hardbound,
$49.99 from Schiffer Publishing, [www.
] or [610] 593-1777).
This book is an overview of Northeast
Woodlands baskets beginning with a his-
tory of basketry in the region, a discussion
of techniques, and an explanation of how
Native Americans began to make baskets
to sell or barter with Colonial settlers and
later to sell to tourists. The authors dis-
cuss the specific regional characteristics
of baskets from four regions of the North-
east with plenty of color pictures.
According to the Turnbaughs, the bas-
kets of the Northeast Woodlands largely
have been ignored by serious basket
collectors, but they are still available,
“tucked away in attics, closets, trunks,
chests, and sheds.” They are utilitarian
but still boast decorative and “fancy” bas-
kets among them. A large segment called
“Glooskap’s Gallery” pictures baskets of
different types or uses. “Setting” sidebars
feature a description of a fictional setting
that represents how baskets were used and
their importance around the region, from
fish weirs to a town home or a crafts fair.
“Focus” sidebars feature various aspects
of basketry, such as decoration.
An introduction to the newest genera-
tion of basket makers features their work.
Basket collectors will enjoy this book
focusing on the history and background
of the underappreciated everyday baskets
of the Northeast Woodlands.
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