Reviews for History of Paraguay, with Notes of Personal Observations, and Reminiscences of Diplomacy und...

The average rating for History of Paraguay, with Notes of Personal Observations, and Reminiscences of Diplomacy und... based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-07-23 00:00:00 Kelly Hill Being as this story happened practically in my backyard nearly 200 years ago, I wanted to read this little book. This was actually a reprint, or should I say photocopied page by page edition of a book from 1915. The author did interview some folks who remembered the event from their youth. What happened is that the Indians signed a treaty, which is included, with the settlers over some land. The treaty, which even to me looks like it is full of loopholes, much like that my old union agreed to with our company, was signed by young drunken braves. One thing led to another until one idiot put a dam across a creek where the Indians used to fish. That was the last straw, and instead of battling it out in court, the Indians did the only logical thing, and that was to go on the warpath. After all, the Indians needed to eat. Going on the warpath meant killing the settlers, all of them. This included bashing in the head of an infant on a tree stump. Two teenage girls, who were a prize possession much like a good pony, were taken away. Two young boys escaped the massacre and made their way to a fort in Ottawa, Illinois. There they raised the alarm and the story continued. It was an interesting read and, although no maps were included, I knew the areas they were talking about. It is hard to imagine such a wild and natural setting this was 200 years ago. I have visited some places and graves. The fort in Ottawa is long gone but at least the Fox River is still there! Before closing I would like to mention one Indian in particular. His name was pronounced and spelled various ways, but I will stick with Shabona. This fine man was a real friend to the settlers and helped them over and over again. In recognition for his deeds he was given land by the government. This land was eventually stolen by other settlers. Some old friends did give him some land and a nice cabin, which he used for storage as he lived all his life in a tent!

Review # 2 was written on 2014-08-26 00:00:00 Michele Winstead It would be hard to find a more virtuous hero than Henry Esmond: finding out that he's not the bastard child he thought he was, but in fact the true heir of a title and fortune, he declines to claim his title and property, leaving it to a sillier, younger man. Or is Henry the less silly man? He moons and mopes over the beautiful Beatrix (his foster-sister) for ten years, declining to see her assholish, power-hungry ways, until he is finally so put off by her flirtations with the horny James Stuart, the royal Pretender, that he decides instead to marry her mother (who was his own foster mother), now in her "autumn" years. (Well, yes.) Though old-ish, his new wife is "as pure as virgins in their spring" (whatever!) and bears him a child. They move to a Virginia plantation and he sells the diamonds he had once given Beatrix to buy "negroes" who are "the happiest and merriest, I think, in all this country..." Oof. I'm leaving a lot out. Henry goes to Cambridge, finds out who his mother is, finds out who his stepmother is, engages in much Tory politicking and Jacobitism, makes friends with Richard Steele and Joseph Addison, fights in the War of the Spanish Succession, spends time in prison for his part in a duel, annoys Jonathan Swift, does a lot of switching between Protestantism and Catholicism, writes a play that fails, and hatches a plot to restore James Stuart (who would be James III) to the throne. I was perplexed by the constant switching between past and present tense, and would like an explanation from Thackeray.