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Trump orders Guantanamo detention center to stay open
Washington (Reuters): US President Donald Trump signed an order on Tuesday to keep open the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay after his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, tried unsuccessfully to close the prison that has drawn international condemnation.
In his first State of the Union address to Congress, Trump made clear he was fulfilling a campaign promise to keep operating the prison for foreign terrorism suspects at the US military base at Guantanamo, Cuba.
"I just signed, prior to walking in, an order directing (Defense) Secretary (Jim) Mattis ... to re-examine our military detention policy and to keep open the detention facilities in Guantanamo Bay," Trump said.
The executive order authorized the US military to add detainees and suggested the possibility that captured Islamic State militants could be sent there for the first time.
Obama signed an order on his first full day in office in 2009 ordering efforts to shutter Guantanamo within a year, but his plan was thwarted by mostly Republican opposition in Congress. Instead, his administration reduced the inmate population to 41 from 242 during his eight years in office.
The prison, which was opened by President George W. Bush to hold suspected militants captured overseas after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, came to symbolize harsh detention practices that opened the United States to accusations of torture.
As a presidential candidate, Trump vowed "to load it up with some bad dudes." Since he became president a year ago, there is no indication any new prisoners have arrived.
"In the past, we have foolishly released hundreds and hundreds of dangerous terrorists, only to meet them again on the battlefield - including the ISIS leader, (Abu Bakr) al-Baghdadi, who we captured, who we had, who we released," Trump said in the speech, referring to the Islamic State militant group.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in July that Baghdadi had been killed. Americans captured him in the beginning of the war in Iraq, and released him a year later, thinking he was a civilian agitator rather than a military threat.
Civil liberties groups immediately denounced the executive order, and the Center for Constitutional Rights said it would file a legal challenge.
"In trying to give new life to a prison that symbolizes America's descent into torture and unlawful indefinite detention, Trump will not make this country any safer," said Hina Shamsi, a director at the American Civil Liberties Union.
Tagged trump guantanamo detention
Donald Trump impeached by US House for abuse of power
Trump acknowledges Pakistan's efforts for release of Taliban ...
Trump's impeachment trial likely to begin next Tuesday


Stanislava Georgieva is a part of editorial team in BulgarianMilitary.com since June 2018 and covering news related to the Bulgarian and Rissian defence policy, Russian industry and category "Week in pictures". Georgieva has lived in Stara Zagora over the past few years. Georgieva is a graduate of the Veliko Tarnovo University "St. Cyril and Methodius" with bachelor's degrees in English Philology, linguistics.


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Drama/FILM AND TV/Horror and Thriller/TV and Streaming
Defending Jacob: Uncertainty, ostracism and perceived guilt
How far would you go to protect your child? and when does doubt begin to cloud the once perfect image you had of your son or daughter? These questions are of course nothing new in the crowded marketplace of crime drama. With a number of recent British shows having covered the same subject matter, from A Mothers Son to Born to Kill. However, Defending Jacob manages to transcend the familiarity of its story by dovetailing crime drama with a powerful and unrelenting ensemble character piece. Exuding both confidence and complexity as we witness a family face the ultimate challenge. One that places family ties of love, trust and security under the microscope.
Based on the novel by William Landay, Defending Jacob offers something rare in American television; a homage to the taut and dark crime drama's of Nordic TV. It's compact eight-episode run opting for a slow burn narrative. Allowing time for character development, while not rushing headlong into action or simple solutions. As the small town of Newton, Massachusetts is rocked by the grim discovery of a local teenagers body. The boys final horrific moments wrapped up in a sea of school, community and family secrets.
Step in family man, District Attorney and all-round nice guy Andy Barber (Chris Evans). His knowledge of both the town and its people seen as a strength in ensuring swift justice for a family grieving the violent loss of their son. However, as Andy's son Jacob (Jaeden Martell) becomes the prime suspect in the case, leading to his removal from the investigation. The Barber family find the tranquillity of their life cloaked in darkness. Both Andy and his wife Laurie (Michelle Dockery) forced to explore their deepest fears, as they strive to protect the son they have comforted, cared for and loved unconditionally.
However, within every marriage, untold secrets lay beneath the veneer of happiness. While within every teenager a hidden new life of adult experiences bubbles away unseen by parents. Ultimately leading to one defining question; can family life ever recover from either a verdict of guilt or the escape or innocence?
From the outset, Defending Jacob shines in its ability to pull the audience in, with each episode leaving you wanting more. As the personal and social waves of a murder build into a tsunami of confusion and doubt. However, it is within the complexity of its character studies that this drama truly stands out from the crowd. With Martell, Evans and Dockery providing performances that keep your eyes glued to the screen. As we witness the social, personal and community security of family life slowly unravel, in a sea of despair and love. Ultimately providing us with an outstanding and complex journey into belief and doubt, as one family face the demons of uncertainty and ostracism of perceived guilt.
Director: Morten Tyldum
Cast: Chris Evans, Michelle Dockery, Jaeden Martell, Cherry Jones, Pablo Schreiber, Betty Gabriel
You may also like Responsible Child
Jaeden Martell also appears in IT Chapter One and Two, The Lodge and Knives Out
Chris Evans also appears in Avengers Endgame, Knives Out and Comic Book Movies: The Essential Collection
Now Available to Stream of Buy – Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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HOME / FALL 2020, VOLUME 35 NUMBER 1 /
Archive Wars: The Politics of History in Saudi Arabia
By Rosie Bsheer
With this book, Rosie Bsheer explores the increasing secularization of the postwar Saudi state and how it manifested in assembling a national archive and reordering urban space in Riyadh and Mecca. The elites' project was rife with ironies: in Riyadh, they employed world-renowned experts to fashion an imagined history, while at the same time in Mecca they were overseeing the obliteration of a thousand-year-old topography and its replacement with commercial megaprojects. Archive Wars shows how the Saudi state's response to the challenges of the Gulf War served to historicize a national space, territorialize a national history, and ultimately refract both through new modes of capital accumulation. (Read more at Stanford University Press)
Weatherhead Center Faculty Associate Rosie Bsheer is an assistant professor of history at Harvard University.
Marijuana Boom: The Rise and Fall of Colombia's First Drug Paradise
By Lina Britto
Before Colombia became one of the world's largest producers of cocaine in the 1980s, traffickers from the Caribbean coast partnered with American buyers in the 1970s to make the South American country the main supplier of marijuana for a booming US drug market, fueled by the US hippie counterculture. How did Colombia become central to the creation of an international drug trafficking circuit? Marijuana Boom is the story of this forgotten history. Combining deep archival research with unprecedented oral history, Lina Britto deciphers a puzzle: Why did the Colombian coffee republic, a model of Latin American representative democracy and economic modernization, transform into a drug paradise, and at what cost? (Read more at University of California Press)
Former Academy Scholar Lina Britto is an associate professor of history at the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences, Northwestern University.
After Trump: Reconstructing the Presidency
By Bob Bauer and Jack L. Goldsmith
In After Trump: Reconstructing the Presidency, Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith provide a comprehensive roadmap for reform of the presidency in the post-Trump era—whether that comes in four months or four years. In fourteen chapters they offer more than fifty concrete proposals concerning presidential conflicts of interest, foreign influence on elections, pardon power abuse, assaults on the press, law enforcement independence, Special Counsel procedures, FBI investigations of presidents and presidential campaigns, the role of the White House Counsel, war powers, control of nuclear weapons, executive branch vacancies, domestic emergency powers, how one administration should examine possible crimes by the president of a prior administration, and more. Each set of reform proposals is preceded by rich descriptions of relevant presidential history, and relevant background law and norms, that place the proposed reforms in context. All of the proposals are prefaced by a chapter that explains how Trump—and, in some cases, his predecessors—conducted the presidency in ways that justify these reforms. After Trump will thus be essential reading for the coming debate on how to reconstruct the laws and norms that constitute and govern the world's most powerful office. (Read more at Amazon)
Weatherhead Center Faculty Associate Jack L. Goldsmith is the Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
Brand New Nation: Capitalist Dreams and Nationalist Designs in Twenty-First-Century India
By Ravinder Kaur
The early twenty-first century was an optimistic moment of global futures-making. The chief narrative was the emergence of the BRICS nations—leading stars in the great spectacle of capitalist growth stories, branded afresh as resource-rich hubs of untapped talent and potential, and newly opened up for foreign investments. The old third-world nations were rapidly embracing the script of unbridled capitalism in the hope of arriving on the world stage. If the tantalizing promise of economic growth invited entrepreneurs to invest in the nation's exciting futures, it offered utopian visions of "good times," and even restoration of lost national glory, to the nation's citizens. Brand New Nation reaches into the past and, inevitably, the future of this phenomenon as well as the fundamental shifts it has wrought in our understanding of the nation-state. It reveals the on-the-ground experience of the relentless transformation of the nation-state into an "attractive investment destination" for global capital. (Read more at Stanford University Press)
Ravinder Kaur is a Visiting Fellow at the Weatherhead Research Cluster on Global Transformations. She is also an associate professor of cross-cultural and regional studies at the University of Copenhagen.
Ruling by Other Means: State-Mobilized Movements
Edited by Grzegorz Ekiert, Elizabeth J. Perry, and Xiaojun Yan
What do states gain by sending citizens into the streets? Ruling by Other Means investigates this question through the lens of State-Mobilized Movements (SMMs), an umbrella concept that includes a range of (often covertly organized) collective actions intended to advance state interests. The SMMs research agenda departs significantly from that of classic social movement and contentious politics theory, focused on threats to the state from seemingly autonomous societal actors. Existing theories assume that the goal of popular protest is to voice societal grievances, represent oppressed groups, and challenge state authorities and other powerholders. The chapters in this volume show, however, that states themselves organize citizens (sometimes surreptitiously and even transnationally) to act collectively to advance state goals. Drawn from different historical periods and diverse geographical regions, these case studies expand and improve our understanding of social movements, civil society and state-society relations under authoritarian regimes. (Read more at Cambridge University Press)
Weatherhead Center Faculty Associate Grzegorz Ekiert is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Government at Harvard University.
Weatherhead Center Faculty Associate Elizabeth J. Perry is the Henry Rosovsky Professor of Government at Harvard University.
On Justice: Philosophy, History, Foundations
By Mathias Risse
Though much attention has been paid to different principles of justice, far less has been done reflecting on what the larger concern behind the notion is. In this work, Mathias Risse proposes that the perennial quest for justice is about ensuring that each individual has an appropriate place in what our uniquely human capacities permit us to build, produce, and maintain, and is appropriately respected for the capacity to hold such a place to begin with. Risse begins by investigating the role of political philosophers and exploring how to think about the global context where philosophical inquiry occurs. Next, he offers a quasi-historical narrative about how the notion of distributive justice identifies a genuinely human concern that arises independently of cultural context and has developed into the one we should adopt now. Finally, he investigates the core terms of this view, including stringency, moral value, ground and duties of justice. (Read more at Cambridge University Press)
Weatherhead Center Faculty Associate Mathias Risse is the Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Philosophy and Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School.
The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good?
By Michael J. Sandel
These are dangerous times for democracy. We live in an age of winners and losers, where the odds are stacked in favor of the already fortunate. Stalled social mobility and entrenched inequality give the lie to the American credo that "you can make it if you try." The consequence is a brew of anger and frustration that has fueled populist protest and extreme polarization, and led to deep distrust of both government and our fellow citizens—leaving us morally unprepared to face the profound challenges of our time.
World-renowned philosopher Michael J. Sandel argues that to overcome the crises that are upending our world, we must rethink the attitudes toward success and failure that have accompanied globalization and rising inequality. Sandel shows the hubris a meritocracy generates among the winners and the harsh judgement it imposes on those left behind, and traces the dire consequences across a wide swath of American life. He offers an alternative way of thinking about success--more attentive to the role of luck in human affairs, more conducive to an ethic of humility and solidarity, and more affirming of the dignity of work. The Tyranny of Merit points us toward a hopeful vision of a new politics of the common good. (Read more at Macmillan)
Weatherhead Center Faculty Associate Michael Sandel is the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government at Harvard University.
Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century, and Its Stumbles in the Twenty-First (Expanded Edition)
By Jeffry A. Frieden
An authoritative, insightful, and highly readable history of the twentieth-century global economy, updated with a new chapter on the early decades of the new century. Global Capitalism guides the reader from the globalization of the early twentieth century and its swift collapse in the crises of 1914–45, to the return to global integration at the end of the century, and the subsequent retreat in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008. (Read more at W.W. Norton)
Weatherhead Center Faculty Associate Jeffry A. Frieden is the Stanfield Professor of International Peace and chair of the Department of Government at Harvard University.
Politics for Profit: Business, Elections, and Policymaking in Russia
By David Szakonyi
Businesspeople run for and win elected office around the world, with roughly one-third of members of parliament and numerous heads of states coming directly from the private sector. Yet we know little about why these politicians choose to leave the private sector and what they actually do while in government. In Politics for Profit, David Szakonyi brings to bear sweeping quantitative and qualitative evidence from Putin-era Russia to shed light on why businesspeople contest elections and what the consequences are for their firms and for society when they win. The book develops an original theory of businessperson candidacy as a type of corporate political activity undertaken in response to both economic competition and weak political parties. Szakonyi's evidence then shows that businesspeople help their firms reap huge gains in revenue and profitability while prioritizing investments in public infrastructure over human capital. The book finally evaluates policies for combatting political corruption. (Read more at Cambridge University Press)
Former Academy Scholar David Szakonyi is an assistant professor of political science at the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, The George Washington University.
By Danielle F. Jung and Dara Kay Cohen
What are the social and political consequences of poor state governance and low state legitimacy? Under what conditions does lynching—lethal, extralegal group violence to punish offenses to the community—become an acceptable practice? We argue lynching emerges when neither the state nor its challengers have a monopoly over legitimate authority. When authority is contested or ambiguous, mass punishment for transgressions can emerge that is public, brutal, and requires broad participation. Using new cross-national data, we demonstrate lynching is a persistent problem in dozens of countries over the last four decades. Drawing on original survey and interview data from Haiti and South Africa, we show how lynching emerges and becomes accepted. Specifically, support for lynching most likely occurs in one of three conditions: when states fail to provide governance, when non-state actors provide social services, or when neighbors must rely on self-help. (Read more at Cambridge University Press)
Weatherhead Center Faculty Associate Dara Kay Cohen is the Ford Foundation Associate Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School.
Accountability in Global Governance
By Gisela Hirschmann
How can international organizations (IOs) like the United Nations (UN) and their implementing partners be held accountable if their actions and policies violate fundamental human rights? This book provides a new conceptual framework to study pluralist accountability, whereby third parties hold IOs and their implementing partners accountable for human rights violations.
Based on a rich study of UN-mandated operations in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo, the EU Troika's austerity policy, and Global Public-Private Health Partnerships in India, this book analyzes how competition and human rights vulnerability shape the evolution of pluralist accountability in response to diverse human rights violations, such as human trafficking, the violation of the rights of detainees, economic rights, and the right to consent in clinical trials. While highlighting the importance of alternative accountability mechanisms for legitimacy of IOs, this book also argues that pluralist accountability should not be regarded as a panacea for IOs' legitimacy problems, as it is often less legalized and might cause multiple accountability disorder. (Read more at Oxford University Press)
Former Visiting Scholar Gisela Hirschmann is an assistant professor of international relations at the Institute for Political Science, Leiden University.
Ours Once More: Folklore, Ideology, and the Making of Modern Greece (Expanded Edition)
By Michael Herzfeld
When this work—one that contributes to both the history and anthropology fields—first appeared in 1982, it was hailed as a landmark study of the role of folklore in nation-building. It has since been highly influential in reshaping the analysis of Greek and European cultural dynamics. In this expanded edition, a new introduction by the author and an epilogue by Sharon Macdonald document its importance for the emergence of serious anthropological interest in European culture and society and for current debates about Greece's often contested place in the complex politics of the European Union. (Read more at Berghahn Books)
Weatherhead Center Faculty Associate (emeritus) Michael Herzfeld is the Ernest E. Monrad Professor of the Social Sciences, Emeritus, at Harvard University.
China and Europe on the New Silk Road: Connecting Universities Across Eurasia
Edited by Marijk van der Wende, William C. Kirby, Nian Cai Liu, and Simon Marginson
The global order, based on international governance and multilateral trade mechanisms in the aftermath of the Second World War, is changing rapidly and creating waves of uncertainty. This is especially true in higher education, a field increasingly built on international cooperation and the free movement of students, academics, knowledge, and ideas. Meanwhile, China has announced its plans for a "New Silk Road" (NSR) and is developing its higher education and research systems at speed. In this book an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars from Europe, China, the USA, Russia, and Australia investigate how academic mobility and cooperation is taking shape along the New Silk Road and what difference it will make, if any, in the global higher education landscape. (Read more at Oxford University Press)
Weatherhead Center Faculty Associate William C. Kirby is the T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies and Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
Implementing Deeper Learning and 21st Education Reforms: Building an Education Renaissance After a Global Pandemic
Edited by Fernando M. Reimers
This open access book is a comparative analysis of recent large scale education reforms that broadened curriculum goals to better prepare students for the twenty-first century. The book examines what governments actually do when they broaden curriculum goals, with attention to the details of implementation. To this end, the book examines system level reforms in six countries at various levels of development. The study includes system level reforms in jurisdictions where students achieve high levels in international assessments of basic literacies, such as Singapore and Ontario, Canada, as well as in nations where students achieve much lower levels, such as Kenya, Mexico, Punjab-Pakistan and Zimbabwe. The chapters examine system-level reforms that focus on strengthening the capacity to teach the basics, as in Ontario and Pakistan, as well as reforms that aim at building the capacity to teach a much broader set of competencies and skills, such as Kenya, Mexico, Singapore and Zimbabwe. (Read more at Springer)
Weatherhead Center Faculty Associate Fernando M. Reimers is the Ford Foundation Professor of International Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education.
See also: Centerpiece: Fall 2020
Fall 2020, Volume 35 Number 1
Dispatches: Undergraduate Researchers in the Field
In Conversation with Timothy Colton and Meg Elizabeth Rithmire
Weatherhead Scholars Program: Director's Goodbye
Photo Gallery | Fall 2020 Centerpiece: Events
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WCFIA E-Newsletters:
Centerpiece: General Newsletter (2/year)
Epicenter: Research Newsletter (Monthly)
Centerpiece PDF Archive
Fall 2018 (1.2MB)
Spring 2018 (757KB)
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Winter 2006: Thomas Schelling Feature (929KB)
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The Library of Congress > Blogs > Inside Adams > 2020 > July
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Archive for July 2020 (5 posts)
Honoring African American Contributions: The Newspapers
July 22, 2020 by Ellen Terrell
This guest post was authored by 2020 Junior Fellow Sophia Southard, University of Kansas Graduate, B.A. in History. Sophia is starting the MLIS program at the University of Pittsburgh Online, Fall 2020. This is the fourth in a series looking at African Americans in the business and sciences.
African American boy selling The Washington Daily News, November 8, 1921. //www.loc.gov/item/2001706359/
While searching through the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, I came across several photos of African American newspaper boys from the early 20th century who were also known as "route boys" or even "newsies." These newspaper boys worked in cities across the United States, including Chicago, Newark, and the Harlem neighborhood. One boy in particular struck me because he was selling copies of The Chicago Defender, one of the largest African American newspapers during the 20th century, which still exists today in digital format. This led me to research the history of African American newspapers, and below I briefly discuss some of the most influential ones of their time.
The First African American Newspaper
Freedom's Journal, the first African American owned and operated newspaper, began circulating in 1827. In the first issue of Freedom's Journal, the newspaper editors, John Brown Russwurm and Samuel Cornish, wrote, "We wish to plead our case. Too long have others spoken for us." Published from 1827-1829, Freedom's Journal covered regional, national, and international news and addressed the issues of slavery and "colonization," which involved the repatriation of free African Americans to Africa. Freedom's Journal helped lead the way for other black-owned newspapers in the 19th century. By 1861, over 40 black-owned and operated newspapers circulated throughout the country.
The North star (Rochester, N.Y.), June 23, 1848
//www.loc.gov/item/sn84026365/1848-06-23/ed-1/
The North Star
"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." — Frederick Douglass
Born into slavery in 1818, Frederick Douglass escaped in 1838 at the age of twenty. Douglass worked tirelessly for the abolition of slavery in his various roles as activist, author, public speaker, and editor of various newspapers, including The North Star, Frederick Douglass' Paper, and New National Era, from the years 1847-1874. The North Star covered many issues, including the Mexican-American War, which lasted from 1846-1848, as well as slavery and the abolitionist movement.
On page 1 of the June 23, 1848, issue of The North Star, the newspaper carried an article titled, "Revolution of the Spindles: For the Overthrow of American Slavery." The writer stated, "Little dreamed the ingenious Eli Whitney, when riveting the teeth on his admirable invention, the cotton gin, that he was at the same time riveting the fetters on the slave, and the foulest of institutions on the framework of American society." The paper then included statistics correlating the cotton trade with the slave population, demonstrating the steady rise in cotton exports from 189,316 pounds in 1790 to 1,250,500,000 pounds in 1846, at the same time that the slave population rose from 657,437 in 1790 to 3,000,000 in 1846.
Chicago. Newsboy selling the Chicago Defender, Jack Delano, April 1942. From the Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information photograph collection. //www.loc.gov/item/2017829258/
In 1905, Robert Sengstacke Abbott founded The Chicago Defender, an African American newspaper that he began with 25 cents and a press run of 300 copies. In the South, The Chicago Defender faced heavy opposition. White distributors refused to circulate the newspaper and the Ku Klux Klan and other groups confiscated the newspaper before it could be distributed, resulting in the newspaper being smuggled into Southern states. Although Abbott began the newspaper with 25 cents, the equivalent of approximately $7.30 in 2020 adjusted for inflation, he became one of Chicago's first black millionaires. The newspaper vigorously covered the events of the Great Migration, a movement in which millions of African Americans left the South seeking opportunities in the North and West from approximately 1915 to 1970. Abbott, an ardent supporter of the movement, deemed it "The Second Emancipation."
The Chicago Bee
In 1926, Anthony Overton, an African American millionaire who made his fortune in banking and manufacturing, founded The Chicago Bee to compete with The Chicago Defender. Although The Chicago Bee never challenged The Defender's readership, it was a remarkable business as the staff was comprised of mainly women, with Olive M. Diggs acting as one of the newspaper's managing editors. Other female editors included Ida B. Wells, one of those who founded the civil rights organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
This is by no means a comprehensive list, but here are the names of some other African American newspapers:
Chicago. Mr. John Sengstacke, part owner and general manager of the Chicago Defender, Jack Delano, March 1942. From the Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information photograph collection. //www.loc.gov/item/2017829362/
Atlanta Daily World (1932-2003)
Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988)
Cleveland Call & Post (1934-1991)
Los Angeles Sentinel (1934-2005)
New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993)
The Norfolk Journal and Guide (1921-2003)
Philadelphia Tribune (1921-2001)
Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002)
For those interested in learning more about Douglass' life, Douglass wrote several autobiographies, including Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave, My Bondage and My Freedom, and Life and Times of Frederick Douglass.
For those interested in learning more about Robert Sengstacke Abbott or Anthony Overton, read Robert Sengstacke Abbott: A Man, a Paper, and a Parade or The Merchant Prince of Black Chicago: Anthony Overton and the Building of a Financial Empire.
For those interested in newsies, look at, Newsies: Topics in Chronicling America and search through the Newspaper Collection Frederick Douglass Newspapers, 1847 to 1874, Ida B. Wells: Topics in Chronicling America, and Chronicling America African American newspapers.
Please note that terminology in historical materials and in Library descriptions does not always match the language preferred by members of the communities depicted, and may include negative stereotypes or words some may consider offensive. The Library presents the historic captions because they can be important for understanding the context in which the images were created.
Posted in: African Americans, Business
July May be National Ice Cream Month, but Ice Cream is a Year-Round Treat
July is National Ice Cream Month and for those interested in studying the history and the industry, the Library of Congress has resources that can help.
Posted in: Advertising, Business
The Peripatetic U. S. Patent Office: Locations 1790 to Present
July 13, 2020 by Nate Smith
A history of the locations of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Posted in: Inventions, Washington and the Capitol
Honoring African American Contributions in Medicine: The Black Angels
July 8, 2020 by Ellen Terrell
Read about how tuberculosis affected the African American population during the 1940s and the nurses that helped to treat them – the Black Angels.
Posted in: African Americans, Women's History
Lessons from Dr. Seuss and the Library of Congress
2020 Junior Fellow Bailey Ward continues her journey learning about the Library of Congress collections as she starts her project on trade beads.
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Updated December 10, 2020 by Christopher Thomas
The 10 Best Internal Hard Drives
This wiki has been updated 11 times since it was first published in February of 2019. While magnetic hard drives may not be quite as fast as newer, solid-state storage devices, there are a few reasons you may opt for one. Primarily, they're significantly cheaper, and they offer much larger capacities than solid-state storage. If you're trying to extend the life of an old laptop or increase the number of movies and games you can retain internally, one of these should do the trick. When users buy our independently chosen editorial selections, we may earn commissions to help fund the Wiki. Skip to the best internal hard drive on Amazon.
This wiki has been updated 11 times since it was first published in February of 2019. While magnetic hard drives may not be quite as fast as newer, solid-state storage devices, there are a few reasons you may opt for one. Primarily, they're significantly cheaper, and they offer much larger capacities than solid-state storage. If you're trying to extend the life of an old laptop or increase the number of movies and games you can retain internally, one of these should do the trick. When users buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn commissions to help fund the Wiki. Skip to the best internal hard drive on Amazon.
10. Seagate Exos 7E8
Among the most sought-after by data centers, the Seagate Exos 7E8 (appx. $205) is a native 4K device that is also capable of emulated 512-byte operation. It's built for an epic 550-terabyte lifespan, many times more than the average desktop model.
Designed for constant use
Optimized for the largest workloads
Up to 2 million hours between faults
9. Western Digital Gold
The enterprise-grade Western Digital Gold (around $125) promises an average of 2.5 million hours mean time between failures, which is important to those organizations running 24/7 server operations. It's constructed to the highest standards in order to withstand 100% duty cycles.
Production quality control is good
Runs at reasonable temperatures
Well-priced for a commercial option
8. Seagate Skyhawk
While it is a bit costly, the Seagate Skyhawk's (appx. $390) 14 terabytes are sufficient to store quite a lot of surveillance footage with no need for any to be overwritten. It's built to write quickly and consistently without making any errors or dropping any frames.
Holds up to 14000 hrs of 4k video
Rated up to 180-terabytes-per-year
Built-in vibration sensors
7. Western Digital Red Pro
Intended specifically for network-attached storage systems, the Western Digital Red Pro (about $204) utilizes advanced technology to ensure a long life, and an extremely low failure rate. Each unit is individually tested to make sure that it's shipped without any intrinsic errors.
Proprietary nas-oriented protection
Relatively low price per gigabyte
6. Seagate IronWolf
The purpose-built Seagate IronWolf (about $240) is geared specifically for enterprise applications, and it's optimized for use in one of the various RAID configurations. It's highly reliable, and should last a long time, but has subpar random read and write speeds.
Ideal for plex media servers
More costly than consumer drives
Not recommended for everyday tasks
5. Western Digital Blue
The Western Digital Blue (about $25) is great for backups or storing photos and videos that you don't need to access very often. Although well-suited for archiving personal data, it is not the best option for tasks that require constant usage.
An economical choice
Cloning software can be downloaded
Not much cache included
4. Western Digital Black
The Western Digital Black (appx. $253) is an especially well-known model that is often selected by gamers who may need a lot of archival room for data-heavy titles. In addition, it features built-in protection against vibration damage and sector corruption.
Internal dual-core processor
Overpriced for its capacity
It can be noisy
3. Seagate IronWolf Pro
The Seagate IronWolf Pro (about $490) is among the most well-regarded professional units on the market, and it performs at just as high a level. It comes bundled with 2 years of data recovery services, and offers burst reading up to 6 gigabits per second.
Fast data rates
300-terabyte-per-year workload
Compatible with multi-bay nas setups
2. Seagate FireCuda Desktop
Combining the affordability of magnetic storage with the speed of solid-state memory, the Seagate FireCuda Desktop (around $110) offers exceptional throughput, at quite a reasonable price. Its 8-gigabyte flash chip works alongside standard discs to vastly improve system response.
One- and two-terabyte versions
Much faster than typical models
1. Seagate BarraCuda
For the best in reliability, without spending a ton of cash, consider the Seagate BarraCuda (around $140), which has long been seen as the finest all-mechanical option available. This 3.5-inch version is meant as an upgrade to home desktop PCs, and spins at a maximum of 7,200 RPM.
Minimal to no bad sectors reported
A particularly long-lasting choice
Good price-to-performance ratio
Hard disk drives haven't seen as much recent innovation as other forms of technology. This is due in part to the fact that hard disk drives, or HDDs, are rapidly being replaced by their faster and newer cousins, the solid-state drives, also known as SSDs. Although manufacturers have focused their research and development on the newer storage format, they continue to upgrade existing hard drive sizes and improve upon existing tech. Traditional HDDs continue to offer reliability, greater capacities, and a cost-to-storage size ratio that can't be beaten.
For this recent update, we've removed the MaxDigitalData 3272DVR and added the Western Digital Blue. The Western Digital Blue is an all-around solid performer and a cost-effective choice for backing up personal data. Just be aware, if you're looking for a device for high performance, such as servers or RAID configurations, then there are other options better suited for those roles.
We've updated the listing for the Seagate FireCuda Desktop, and the Western Digital Gold. Also, we've revised the ranking order of some of the models to reflect price changes and current reviews.
Maybe you're on a very limited budget, or just don't want to invest a ton in a new drive. Or maybe you're resistant to change. Most probably, if you're looking for a mechanical hard drive, you're outfitting a server or other enterprise-level computer. Whatever your intent, we won't judge you; in fact, there are some fantastic, fully mechanical, as well as hybrid solid-state/magnetic models out there. For everyday users of most types, it's almost impossible to beat Seagate's multiple offerings. Their FireCuda is as close as you can get to SSD performance without dropping a large amount of money, while their BarraCuda has been one of the most respected HDDs for a very long time. Western Digital has also been quite popular over the long term, although many people consider the Blacks to be overpriced. They're also pretty loud. If you're outfitting a server, large or small, the Seagate Ironwolf is almost certainly your best bet, although the WD Red Pro is a close second, and is less expensive. Whichever you decide upon, make sure to keep it regularly defragmented, as pretty much nothing is more frustrating than sitting around waiting for Windows to load.
See all computer accessories wikis »
Last updated on December 10, 2020 by Christopher Thomas
Building PCs, remodeling, and cooking since he was young, quasi-renowned trumpeter Christopher Thomas traveled the USA performing at and organizing shows from an early age. His work experiences led him to open a catering company, eventually becoming a sous chef in several fine LA restaurants. He enjoys all sorts of barely necessary gadgets, specialty computing, cutting-edge video games, and modern social policy. He has given talks on debunking pseudoscience, the Dunning-Kruger effect, culinary technique, and traveling. After two decades of product and market research, Chris has a keen sense of what people want to know and how to explain it clearly. He delights in parsing complex subjects for anyone who will listen -- because teaching is the best way to ensure that you understand things yourself.


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Home > Journey Journal > Uncategorized > ONE SOUL!: Matsumoto Yamaga FC Win First Ever J2 Title and Secure Promotion to J1
ONE SOUL!: Matsumoto Yamaga FC Win First Ever J2 Title and Secure Promotion to J1
November 21, 2018, Uncategorized, By: will habington
Most people associate Matsumoto with its famous castle and alpine location. For many locals, however, the city's most exiting aspect is its association football club, Matsumoto Yamaga FC. The past decade has seen what was once a small, provincial club climb divisions to become regular contenders in the second tier of Japanese football, once (and now once more) venturing as far as the top tier.
This past Saturday, after the long and nervy battle that was the 2018 J2 season, Yamaga won the league for the very first time, securing promotion to J1 in the process. In truth, the result was uncertain until the very end, with all of the clubs vying for promotion struggling to achieve much needed wins. Yamaga were no exception and their opponents on the day, Tokushima Vortis, weren't keen to ship any goals. The stand out chances went to Yamaga center-forward Takasaki Hiroyuki who saw a shot beat the keeper only to go agonizingly wide of the far post and who would later fail to capitalize on a free header. More frustration followed when creative midfielder Serghino had to be stretchered off for a first half injury, leaving his side slightly shorter on attacking options.
Yamaga's famous fans cheer their team on. (Photo: Tammy Akahane)
When the whistle finally sounded at full time plus four minutes, the scoreboard showed a prosaic 0-0 result. This score, however, did not tell the real story of the day. By then, everyone at Alwin Stadium knew that the second place club Oita Trinita had squandered an early lead to grind out a 1-1 draw with hosts Yamagata (no relation). This meant that Matsumoto's favorite sons only needed a draw or better to secure promotion and win the league. A few giddy moments followed as players and fans alike awaited the official announcement of what they all knew but only half believed: Yamaga were J2 champions for the first time ever.
Cards in the stands spell out the supporters' hopes for promotion to J1. (Photo: Tammy Akahane)
I lieu of a dramatic, decisive goal in Saturday's game, we can look back a week to the previous Sunday when Yamaga travelled to Tochigi to face a dogged home team fighting relegation. With the score locked at 0-0 and 15 minutes to go, another dour draw seemed inevitable. Then, in a must-score situation, veteran defender Tanaka Hayuma pounced on a loose ball in the opposition penalty area and tapped home what would prove to be the winning goal. Overcome by emotion, Tanaka collapsed to his knees as jubilant teammates swarmed around him. Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
Narrative aside, the three points gained in Tochigi meant that Yamaga were only one point clear of Oita at the top of the table when simultaneous kick-offs started the final round of matches on Saturday. The home support never stopped cheering and the team never stopped fighting for the all important result that would see them through. And after 90 plus minutes of shredded nerves, the stadium was suddenly all smiles. All whooping, jumping and cackling, to be fair. Three years of hurt had been chalked off and even the club's normally laconic manager Sorimachi Yasuharu could be seen beaming among his celebrating players. Again and again the stadium erupted, never more so than when the J2 Champions' shield was raised in victory.
The players celebrate winning the J2 league (Photo: screen capture, copyright DAZN, 2018)
Next year will bring stiffer competition, both at home and away, as Yamaga face some of Japan's top homegrown players along with a few familiar faces from international football. Once again, Gamba Osaka's tour bus will turn heads as it rumbles down Matsumoto streets, and world champions like Lukas Podolski and Andrés Iniesta may very well visit Alwin to try their luck against eleven plucky Ptarmigans. It's all terribly exciting.
Now, with the afterglow as yet undimmed, we extend our congratulations and heartfelt thanks to Matsumoto Yamaga's players, staff, and supporters. You've given us a thrilling season of football in J2 and we eagerly await your achievements in J1 next year.


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HIGH NOON FOR PARALYSIS CURE RESEARCH?
Three twenty-two AM.
Couple hours from now, and I will go to my son Roman's house. His 13-year-old son (Roman part two) has a baseball tournament in Temecula, so he and mom Terri are driving down as well as Kate my two year-old angel, certifiably most beautiful grand-daughter in the history of the world. (This must be true, as that fact is recorded in the official documents of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, because I announced it in the public comment portion of the meeting).
Roman senior and Jason (age six and with a school schedule plus Tae Quan Do practice) won't be going.
So Gloria will drop Jason off at school and I will help Roman get out of bed.
And then we will drive to Sacramento to fight paralysis.
High Noon.
Remember the classic Gary Cooper movie, where the bad guy and his evil buddies are coming to kill the good guy at 12:00 noon?
Twelve o'clock is when the Appropriations Committee hearing on Assembly Bill 190 (Wieckowski, D-Fremont) will decide if California will add on a small fine for traffic violations.
In the Gary Cooper movie, nobody helped the Sheriff, who stood alone. (At the very last minute, his Quaker girlfriend blew away the bad guy, but she was the only one.)
That is so NOT what happened with us.
Ever since the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act began, we have been helped not only by the disability, medical, and research community—but also by and the California political system itself—both sides of the aisle.
Now, I am proud to be a Democrat, and will be one till my dying day. I will trashtalk GOP policy till the cows come home, explaining in great detail why Pelosi is right and Boehner is wrong.
But not this day.
Because I remember two key votes on the renewal of the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act, in which we got every vote except one in the Capitol, on both sides of the aisle. (One person, Tom Campbell, voted against the RR Act in 1994, other than that, we got everybody's vote.)
Think of that. Every Republican, every Democrat. I remember the great Democrat John Burton, who fought so eloquently for us on the Senate Floor– and I also reember Sam Aanestadt, (R-Grass Valley) who supported us way back when—and suggested we should be part of the UC system, which we are.
(I hasten to add that when I say "our law", I mean that in the same way we say "our" America. There is a private foundation, the Roman Reed Foundation, which is basically Roman puts on golf tournaments and contributes every penny to research, primarily the Stanford Partnership for Spinal Cord Injury and repair. That has nothing to do with the State program.)
Our law was occasionally controversial– before Prop 71 made California the stem cell center of the world, Roman's law funded the first use of the Bush Presidentially-approved embryonic stem cells– but when push came to shove, it was still approved by both sides of the aisle.
That's why, when I see that beautiful Sacramento capitol building, there is always a moment when I feel like taking off my hat (if I had one) and saluting.
If we pass the committee today, we have a week to rally the entire assembly before the vote, and then we begin again on the Senate side.
And if we do not pass the committee?
First, I will go for ice cream. I found this wonderful gelato place on 10th street across from the Capitol, and they have spumoni like no other—swathes of chocolate fudge and just jammed with chunks of candied fruit and nuts—heaven in a dish.
There are three sizes; I will be getting the large one, which should come with its own wheelbarrow, there is so much.
I will stuff myself, gain a couple pounds- and get ready for next year.
Because whatever happens today, thumbs up or thumbs down, the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Act will go on.
The Roman Reed Act will never die. It exists now, voted into law in perpetuity.
There is just no money for it right now, in Sacramento. The UC system can and will fight for it, trying to find a little bit of money to keep it going, but that will be tough, considering they have cut to the bone.
Patient advocates and progressives in both parties will find a way to fund it. We asked for $3 a ticket, and if that is too much, we will take less—we have made clear we will walk back our request even to just a single dollar a ticket.
And if I have to come back next year and try again, just asking for fifty cents a ticket—I will do that, if that's what it takes.
Think of that—pocket change. What can you buy for a handful of pennies?
Maybe, paralysis cure?
That negligible fine increase would mean almost nothing to the violator, zero cost to the taxpayer—but it could mean everything to families with a paralyzed member.
So, think good thoughts for us today, at shining noon in Sacramento. I hope and expect that I will have good news to report to you next time.
But whatever happens, we will continue.
If we never give up, we can only win, or die. And everybody dies, so why not try?


The Tides Lodge is set on the idyllic, palm fringed and secluded Ushongo beach on the northern coastline of Tanzania near to Pangani. The beach is deserted with no other lodges or hotels close by, giving the guests the feeling of isolation, peace and exclusivity. Guests can walk for miles each way from the lodge along the deserted beach passing only the occasional friendly local fisherman.
The lodge itself is deliberately low key and relaxed, yet offering the best levels of service and cuisine. Our staff are all employed from the local villages and take great pride in their jobs.
There are many activities to occupy your time if that is what you like, including excellent snorkelling, SCUBA diving, cultural tours and softer activities such as kayaking and surf skiing. We can even arrange a day trip to the nearby Saadani National Park.
There are seven (all numbered in Swahili) individual cottages set among the palms that line the beach frontage. Each has a veranda overlooking the sea and a private secluded sunbathing area complete with rustic parasol. The rooms themselves are bright and breezy with a huge billowing mosquito net and plenty of windows allowing good airflow and natural light.
They have spacious en-suite bathrooms, with a large walk-in shower and hot water heated by solar power.
Perfect for families, Hibiscus is beach fronted and has 2 large double bedrooms, a central living area and a dining table for private dining at the house. Outside there is a large veranda and private beach area with parasols. The house can accommodate up to 6 people.
– Surrounded by palm trees the pool area is a real sanctuary.
– The resturant and bar are situated overlooking the Indian Ocean. Built entirely by our own carpenters they are constructed from locally sourced, natural materials. Special dietary requirements can be catered for. Please just notify us in advance of your arrival.
– An array of activities are available, including snorkelling, scuba diving, fishing and kayaking.
– The Tides Lodge has a 24 hour reception desk facility.
– Our shop has many offerings including clothes, bikinis, T-shirts, carvings and paintings. There is also a book-swap facility with books in various languages.
– This is available in the public areas.
– We offer an on-site laundry service for your convenience. All clothes are washed by hand, ironed and returned to your room.


US— A team of students from MIT's Media Lab has won a competition to see how long it would take people using social networking sites to determine the locations of 10 weather balloons released around the country.
The competition was run by the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency to see how social media could be used to solve problems on a national scale. It involved participants using sites like Twitter and Facebook to find and submit the co-ordinates of the 10 balloons, which had been placed at secret locations around the country, in exchange for a $40,000 prize.
More than 4,000 individuals and teams entered, but the MIT entry found all 10 balloons in just under nine hours using a pyramid scheme where each balloon was worth $4,000. The first person to spot the balloon would be given $2,000, while the people that referred them to the team would be given a smaller amount. This incentive system allowed them to get around problems of individuals who had seen the balloons not wanting to share the information with others.
Riley Crane, a postdoctoral research fellow at MIT's Media Lab, led the team, and he told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was "less interested in the monetary prize than in the potential for social research".
Crane suggested that the methods used during the competition could have other uses, such as an alert system to help police find missing children or a redesigned incentive structure for police rewards.


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Video thumbnails are very important. It is your video's chance to make a first impression. Sometimes using the right video thumbnail can make a huge difference in the amount of views the video will have. how to add email inbox on outlook 2016 Use your brand's colors and fonts to customize the thumbnail for your video. Changing the fonts, backgrounds, and shapes is easy in the thumbnail maker. Changing the fonts, backgrounds, and shapes is easy in the thumbnail maker.
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Use your brand's colors and fonts to customize the thumbnail for your video. Changing the fonts, backgrounds, and shapes is easy in the thumbnail maker. Changing the fonts, backgrounds, and shapes is easy in the thumbnail maker.
8/08/2010 · I uploaded a video on YouTube, and I don't like the thumbnail that shows up to represent the video. I want to know if there is anyway I could choose any still image from the video, or if it has to be one of the 3 thumbnail options they gives me.
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Industrial machines are designed to do one job well. Built for stamina and speed these Brother S - 72200A/B -403 straight stitch machines simply sew forwards and backwards. 3/4 (24) of our straight stitch machines are these new Brother models which have a very useful automatic back tack and cut off function, programmable using the digital display shown here. We also have three Zig Zag stitch machines, two machines set up to sew sheer/fine fabrics, three more machines that sew heavy fabrics such as denim and leather as well as a Twin Needle, a folding edge Binding Machine and a Blind Hemmer.
Our machinery is serviced and PAT tested annually to maintain high safety and operational standards.
We have a strict Health & Safety policy which must be adhered to at all times when using any electrical or mechanical equipment in the workshop area.
The sewing workshops at UWE house nine industrial Overlock Machines which are designed to edge and cut off simultaneously. We have one Fine Edge Finisher, four Coverseam Machines which hem a folded edge or stitch on a stretch binding, but don't cut. We also have two Chain Stitchers for sewing stretch fabrics without neatening the edge.
We are lucky to have just aquired a brand new Brother HE800A Shirt Buttonhole machine. This can create 99 programmable buttonholes through many different thicknesses of fabric. We have a separate Reece machine for keyhole buttonholes.
For pressing, We have a new Comel industrial fusing press and four Stirovap pressure boilers attached to eight industrial steam irons complete with vacuum tables across the 2 rooms.
We are fortunate to have recently purchased a 15 thread industrial Tajima digital embroidery machine which stitches an area of 360mm x 1200mm. We also have 2 Brother PR 650 digital embroidery machines. For designing we use Wilcom's Industrial standard software Embroidery Studio with 3 copies in situ and a further 9 copies in the Magenta Suite in the Epi Centre. Available for use are also 10 Bernina domestic machines for freehand embroidery and other embellishment techniques.


Led Chip Bridgelux, Cree, Epistar, San'an. Different Chip different price.
Anti glare and anti fog.
Environmental lamp, no radiation, protect your eyes better.
Different watts and size for selection.
Aluminum materail easy for heat radiation.
Input voltage AC85-265V, can be used in every country.
COB chip selectable from CREE, BRIDGELUX, EPISTAR, SAN'AN.
Can replace 200w incandescent lamp or 80w to 100w fluorescent lamp.
Recessed led lights installation, very easy.
Cut a hole on the board and then put the lamp into the hole.


Marriott Hotels, the signature brand of Marriott International, has added the Sopot Marriott Resort & Spa to its portfolio in Poland. The new resort is the brand's second property in the country after the Warsaw Marriott Hotel and one of the largest spa hotels in Poland, offering 35 treatment rooms and four swimming pools, including an outdoor rooftop infinity pool at the SPA & Wellness Zone.
Located in the maritime town of 'Sopot' on the Baltic Sea, the Sopot Marriott Resort & Spa offers 145 refurbished rooms to meet the needs of today's traveller and two restaurants (Brasserie – International cusines and Pescatore – Italian cuisines).
The hotel, which sits around 30 minutes drive from Gdansk airport (GDN) and 25 minutes from the main railway station, is within walking distance of some of the city's poular attractions such as the Sopot Pier, the longest wooden pier in Europe, and Monte Cassino street, one of the most well-known streets in Poland.
The Sopot Marriott Resort & Spa also offers up to 2,422 square feet of event space, three event rooms and spacious foyer with a stunning view to cater to all manner of events.
Tagged Marriott Hotels, Marriott International, Monte Cassino, Monte Cassino street, Poland, Sopot, Sopot Marriott Resort & Spa, Sopot Pier, SPA & Wellness Zone. Bookmark the permalink.


Le Cirque was one of the most famous and fancy restaurants in New York City and it finally moved to a new location and was then called Le Cirque 2000. That made Sottha Khunn a very busy man. He had been a chef at Le Cirque for more than ten years.
Khunn was born in Cambodia. He doesn't like to talk about his childhood. "That was a very long time ago," he says sadly. Khunn's family was torn apart when he was very young.
But this sad story has a happy ending. Khunn emigrated to France in 1974 to study classical French cooking. Ten years later, a very famous chef, Daniel Boulud, invited Khunn to come to New York. Boulud wanted Khunn to be his sous-chef (the assistant to the top chef) at his Le Regence restaurant. Khunn accepted his offer, and came to the United States in 1984. Two years later, Khunn and Boulud left Le Regence and started working at Le Cirque. Boulud left Le Cirque a few years later, but Khunn stayed. Today he is the restaurant's top chef.
Khunn calls New York City his home now. He's been here for a long time and he doesn't even think of ever leaving that exciting city.


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John Halifax, Gentleman: Epitome of an Age
Sally Mitchell, Professor of English, Temple University
[Victorian Web Home —> Authors —> Diana Mulock Craik —> Nexy]
Chapter One. A Woman's Image: The Writer and Her Public
Chapter Two. Finding the Popular Audience
Chapter Three. John Halifax, Gentleman: Epitome of an Age
Chapter Four. Women's Thoughts and Women's Novels
Chapter Five. Books for Children
Chapter Six. Other Works
Chapter Seven. Dinah Craik and the Feminine Tradition
Chapter Eight. Conclusion: Critical Response and Evaluation
Notes for this WWW Version
Dinah Mulock Craik, which Twayne published in 1983, appears in the Victorian web with the kind permission of the author, who of course retains copyright.
Numbers in brackets indicate page breaks in the print edition and thus allow users of VW to cite or locate the original page numbers.
Where possible, bibliographical information appears in the form of in-text citations, which refer to items in the bibliography at the end of each document.
Non-bibliographic notes appears as text links.
Adrian Kang, Chew Yong Jack, and April Ang Meiling of the University Scholars Program, National University of Singapore, created the HTML version, converting footnotes, and adding links under the supervision of George P. Landow, who in August 2007 reformatted the book in this CSS design.
"The Author of John Halifax", in British Quarterly Review, 44 (1866).
Colby, Robert A. Fiction with a Purpose. Bloomington: 1967.
James, Henry. Notes and Reviews. 1921; reprinted. Freeport, N.Y.: Books for Libraries Press, 1968.
John Halifax, Gentleman. London: Dent, 1961.
Martin, Frances. "Mrs. Craik", Athenaeum. 22 Oct. 1887.
Showalter, Elaine. "Dinah Mulock Craik and the Tactics of Sentiment: A Case Study in Victorian Female Authorship." in Feminist Studies. 2 (1975):5�23.
Smiles, Samuel. Self-Help. London: Sphere, 1968.
Walker, Hugh. The Literature of the Victorian Era. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1910.
raik distilled the ideals of the new commercial and industrial middle class in John Halifax, Gentleman (1856), the archetypal story of a poor boy who makes good through honesty, initiative, and hard work. The book echoed the mood of the 1851 Great Exhibition with its celebration of British technology, industry, and commerce. It was one of the first novels to have a tradesman as hero. It confirms the Protestant ethic by showing that the virtues that lead to heaven also bring success on earth. The book helped to overcome the resistance to fiction among nonconformists, who were in a majority among the artisans, shopkeepers, clerks, and small manufacturers of the expanding middle class. The exemplary life of John Halifax could be read both as a story and as a practical guide to virtue and prosperity.
When the book opens in 1794 John Halifax is a fourteen-year-old orphan who has been supporting himself as a farm laborer. The first words that he speaks are, "Sir, I want work; may I earn a penny?" (John Halifax, Gentleman, chap. 1) Abel Fletcher, a Quaker tanner, pays John to help his invalid son Phineas back to the house. Phineas Fletcher, who is the book's narrator, immediately adores John's independence, gentleness, and good spirits.
John goes to work for Abel Fletcher in the least desirable tanyard job, driving a cart around to collect stinking animal hides. He lives in an attic, teaches himself to write and figure (Phineas supplies books, including Robinson Crusoe and The Pilgrim's Progress), and in his spare time makes models of machinery. Once he is literate, John is promoted to a more responsible position as clerk. He has enough initiative and forethought to keep watch on the tanyard one night [39/40] during a flood; afterwards, since his action shows that he identifies with propertied interests, he is allowed to be Phineas Fletcher's friend as well as Abel Fletcher's employee. When there are food riots during the Napoleonic Wars, John Halifax saves his master's life from a hungry mob. Fletcher takes John as apprentice and promises to make him a partner when he turns twenty-one.
In the following summer John goes with Phineas to spend a month in the countryside near Enderley. Another invalid — a gentleman, Mr. March, a former governor in the West Indies — lodges in the other half of the cottage. John falls in love with March's daughter Ursula. He also sees an old cloth mill and starts thinking about the machines he could devise to make the mill productive. Mr. March dies. John makes himself tactfully useful and earns Ursula's respect, but it is impossible for a tradesman's apprentice to court a gentleman's heiress. John falls ill and thinks about emigrating. However, Phineas goes to Ursula, who proves that she is self-sufficient enough to ignore convention and ask John Halifax to stay in England.
Ursula's trustee, Squire Brithwood, disapproves of the marriage and withholds the money that Ursula had inherited from her father. Ursula and John live in domestic content on rather narrow means. They have some sorrows: their eldest child is born blind, the tan-yard's prosperity declines, the dream of mechanizing the cloth mill remains unrealized. Then Lord Luxmore, owner of the Enderley property, offers John the lease on the mill and forces Brithwood to pay Ursula's inheritance so that John has the capital he needs. Luxmore expects in return to be sure of the voters in Kingswell. But honest John Halifax encourages his tenants to vote freely, and thus he keeps Luxmore's corrupt nominee out of Parliament.
Luxmore retaliates by diverting a stream that crosses his estate so there is no longer water enough to turn the millwheel. Faced by financial ruin, John Halifax turns adversity into golden opportunity. He devises a way to run his machinery with steam, calls in mechanics from Manchester to build the engines, wins the trust of the workers, and peacefully brings the Industrial Revolution to Enderley.
The last quarter of the book shows John Halifax accepting the responsibilities that come with wealth. The mill prospers in the expanding postwar economy. John and Ursula are reluctant to leave the modest house where their children grew up and their private life was restricted to their family. John, however, decides that duty requires him to move to an imposing gentleman's residence. Beechwood [40/41] Hall signifies his position and allows him to exercise power and influence in his community. He becomes a magistrate; he props up the local bank during a financial panic; he decreases unrest among the lower orders; he refuses nomination to Parliament only because of declining health. On the last pages John Halifax makes a good end: he and Ursula both die quietly in the fullness of life within hours of each other and without any fear or pain.
The Historical Allegory
John Halifax, Gentleman is precisely dated. The hero is born in 1780, when enclosure was erasing the last traces of medieval agriculture and Boulton and Watt were working on the rotary drive that would make steam engines useful for something besides pumping out mines. The book begins in 1794, when English aristocrats watched their counterparts across the Channel vanish amid the Reign of Terror. It ends in 1834, two years after the Reform Bill abolished pocket boroughs and gave the vote to most middle-class men. The achievements and experiences of John Halifax correspond allegorically to the events that transferred power from the aristocracy to the middle class.
The foundation stones are literacy, technology, and what Samuel Smiles, author of the 1859 best seller Self-Help, would call the "art of seizing opportunities" (Samuel Smiles, Self-Help, p. 86). John Halifax, like the class that he symbolizes, rises from a subordinate position by learning to read, by tinkering with machinery, and by taking the risks needed to introduce the factory system and the steam engine. His life encompasses the origins of the industrial middle class; he evolves from farm laborer to manual laborer to clerk to apprentice to tradesman to inventor-capitalist-manufacturer. The stages of his rise relative to the old class hierarchy are indicated by two marriages: John Halifax marries the daughter of a gentleman; thirty-three years later their daughter Maud is united to an aristocrat.
The aristocracy's conservative intransigence, however, creates the conditions that make it necessary and possible for the middle class to seize power. After the Kingswell election the Earl of Luxmore realizes that his way of life is endangered; the manufacturer has enough influence to keep the aristocrat from controlling parliamentary representation. Luxmore tries to turn back the clock by diverting the stream and thereby abolishing the factory and its [41/42] machines. At that point, John Halifax is able to tip the balance in favor of the new class. Introducing steam to run the machines does not merely supply a more efficient means of production; it alters the source of economic power. For centuries landowners had controlled natural resources and the supply of energy. But with the coming of steam, manufacturers no longer depended on the land and its streams. Economic power passed from the owners of land to the makers of goods.
The book's political events show the new power at work. John Halifax not only keeps the aristocrat from controlling elections, he also becomes a magistrate, and he has enough money to prop up the economy and prevent a bank failure. In other words, John Halifax exercises political power even before he and his class have a formal role in government. The invitation to run for a seat in Commons after 1832 shows that the Reform Bill simply ratified the transfer of real power which had already taken place.
The story's minor details reflect other transformations within the half-century. John Halifax vaccinates his children against smallpox. The status of the old trades (like tanning) declines. Religious disabilities are removed: early in the story the militia will not protect Abel Fletcher's property because he is a Quaker, and Luxmore's Catholic son is not eligible to sit in Parliament. The railroad links London to the provinces as the Halifax children reach adulthood. Intemperance declines. Social control is transferred from the hands of careless justices of the peace like Squire Brithwood to responsible magistrates like John Halifax. Public order is established — by the end of the book John Halifax no longer goes about armed when he has to carry large sums of money, although in the last years of the eighteenth century even the Quaker Abel Fletcher kept a pistol by his cash box.
The social values are reinforced by emblematic characters. Squire Brithwood and the Earl of Luxmore represent the failings of the upper classes. Luxmore is a caricature dissolute aristocrat; he is more at home in France than England and is symbolically destroying his own country by cutting down the trees on his estate to pay his debts. Brithwood is an eighteenth-century survival: the coarse, corpulent, drinking, fox-hunting squire. He allies himself with aristocratic decay by marrying Luxmore's Frenchified daughter Lady Caroline. [42/43]
Sir Ralph Oldtower stands for the good old English values. He is identified with knightliness, public duty, and plain living. He resides on his property, has an exemplary family life, and looks after his tenants' welfare. He is also democratic enough to offer friendship to John Halifax.
Other admirable characters represent traditional middle-class professions: the banker, the doctor and his wife the governess. These characters function as a bridge; they value John Halifax for his hard work and his moral worth, and their social recognition helps integrate the rising tradesman into the middle class. The wrong kind of class interaction is seen in the thoughtless (and French) egalité of Lady Caroline, who patronizes John Halifax as a romantically idealized "man of the people." The xenophobic reference indicates that her attitude is wrong because it destroys the established order instead of changing it gradually, and because mindless equalitarianism fails to measure the difference in worth between one man and another.
Lady Caroline Brithwood's appearances in the novel graph the decline of the aristocracy and the ascent of middle-class moral values. Early in the story she is a focus of attention and admiration; her marriage from Lady Hamilton's house links Norton Bury to stirring national events. At this point John Halifax is a tanyard laborer and is too low even to be recognized; when he saves Squire Brithwood from drowning, the Squire tosses him half a crown instead of thanking him.
By mid-book Admiral Nelson's death has revealed the details of his extramarital liaison with Lady Hamilton and given dubious overtones to Caroline Brithwood's connection with the Hamilton circle. Both John and Ursula Halifax are morally uncomfortable when Lady Caroline — who now treats them as equals — pays a social visit. At the book's end she is a crazy over-rouged adulteress wandering the streets of Norton Bury. Ursula Halifax exercises admirable charity by taking her in and nursing her until she dies.
The story of Luxmore's son indicates the aristocracy's adaptation to middle-class values. John Halifax at first refuses to allow Lord Ravenel to court his daughter Maud, not because of the difference in station but because Ravenel has been idle. He redeems himself by going off to America and working as a clerk. When he inherits the estate, he sells it to pay his father's debts and becomes plain William Ravenel, a partner in the Halifax family firm and a good bourgeois husband for Maud. Thus although the marriages of John [43/44] Halifax and his daughter Maud lend the sanction of aristocratic legitimacy to the new middle class, they do not simply absorb newcomers into the old class structure, but rather incorporate the aristocracy into a middle-class value system.
Yet clearly it is important that John Halifax be shown achieving the marriages and the big house and the social acceptance. For many readers, the democratic idealism of the book is further marred by another inconsistency. The British Quarterly Review called it an "artistic and intellectual blunder — the characteristic irresolution of this writer" ("The Author of John Halifax," p. 42). John Halifax has one possession inherited from his father — a Greek Testament inscribed "Guy Halifax, Gentleman." The inscription and the language indicate that although John did not have the social and material advantages gentlemen could give to their sons, he was in fact, by blood, a representative of the class born to property and education and, furthermore, that he was aware of it. Did that advantage — which, perhaps, predisposed him to intelligence and gave him self-confidence — account for his rise? If so, the premise of the book is virtually negated, and Craik (like many other presumably democratic Victorians, including Dickens) is seen to be unwilling to accept social mobility unless it can be accounted for by a history of "good blood." On the other hand, Frances Martin, who was close to Craik and helped read proof for the book, insisted that the Greek Testament was a symbol, and that the inscription "Gentleman" was "the inalienable possession of every human being" (p. 539).
Gentlemanliness, Craik believed, was a sense of honor, fidelity, and obligation. The strength of the middle class came from its inclusiveness and its position in the middle — or at the center — of society. John Halifax preserves the nation by standing between an aristocracy that has abandoned social responsibility and the poor who are too shortsighted to rule. The book shares the Dickensian mood of humanitarian benevolence. Craik's mobs do not have the political sophistication to identify the source of their discomfort nor are they well organized enough to be really threatening. The middle-class solution to social problems is meliorist. The poor cause troubles because they are hungry, and John Halifax offers the immediate domestic solution of a good dinner instead of stopping to analyze the cause of their hunger. During the food riots the authoritarian Abel Fletcher throws his grain in the river rather than give in to the force of the mob. They respond — naturally enough — by threatening to burn his house. Because John Halifax stands in the middle [45/46] he understands both hunger and property; he saves the house by giving all the food in it to the rioters. This approach to social problems seems — even for the mid-nineteenth century — extraordinarily shallow. Nevertheless, it reflects a confident assumption of moral inclusiveness. The middle class — as Craik and her readers believed — could understand the feelings and needs of both upper and lower classes, and were thus the best rulers in an age of progress and change.
The Reader's Voice
John Halifax, Gentleman is unusual because it so thoroughly celebrates its central character and its society. Novelists who write with a social purpose in mind almost invariably do so by showing examples of the evils that need to be corrected. Craik, instead, provided a model to emulate, a vision of the world that should be. She made the book appeal to the reading public by reinforcing their own values, by making an ordinary man into a hero of epic proportions, and by using literary techniques that shape and guide the reader's emotional response.
John Halifax himself is a compendium of middle-class virtues. He embodies the holy trinity of economic individualism: self-help, self-denial, and self-control. He is so patently honest that occasions that might put him to the test need not arise. Drink never appears in his presence. He is thrifty enough to go on living in an attic even after he is manager of the tanyard. Cleanliness sets him apart from the mass of poor boys when he first appears. Study allows him to rise above manual labor. He uses leisure constructively by making models; much later, he plans to give a course of public lectures after he retires from the mill. Initiative and duty lead him always to do more than is required. Economic prudence keeps him from risking his money in speculation after he is rich, and thus gives him the bags of gold to save the bank. Sexual morality exists without effort; he never thinks about women until he sees Ursula. He wastes no time on superficial society; his private life is entirely family-centered. He has enough courage to rescue March and Brithwood from a river and face a mob unarmed, but he does not take unnecessary risks; introducing steam to the mill is the chief indication of his "thoroughly English quality of daring" (chap. 27).
The hero's struggles and failings — if any — have almost no place in the book. The story, however, is not told by an omniscient [46/47] author — it is narrated by a man who admires John Halifax. Only the barest hints of internal conflict indicate that John exercises willpower in order to become such an admirable person. Once at twenty he confesses to Phineas that
"many wrong things are pleasant — just now, instead of rising to-morrow, and going into the little dark counting-house, and scratching paper from eight to six, shouldn't I like to break away! — dash out into the world, take to all sorts of wild freaks, do all sorts of grand things, and perhaps never come back to the tanning any more." [chap. 5]
John's one very small patch of wild oats — a trip to the theater — is immediately and drastically punished. Craik's general plan, however, was to encourage rather than frighten. She assumed that people were basically good and that they would admire the same traits she admired. Thus she wrote scenes that show John Halifax earning respect and love from people in all ranks of society.
The character of Ursula Halifax is constructed on the same principle: a model woman to match a model man. She is, however, not so central nor so richly detailed. By mid-book she becomes a stereotype; she is generally called simply "the mother," and the limitations in her character reveal that Craik could not so wholeheartedly accept the role as an encompassing expression of ideal womanhood.
Ursula March, unmarried, is an attractive heroine. In the opening scene she struggles to exercise charity and heroically suffers a wound for her cause; she is cut by the bread-knife when a servant tries to keep her from giving a slice from the loaf to a hungry working boy. She is well educated, devoted to her father, energetic, fresh, healthy, and not at all ethereal. She is self-sufficient enough to move out of her trustee's house when she begins to suspect that Lady Caroline Brithwood is an unsuitable companion. And she disregards conventions to love John Halifax.
Ursula Halifax retains some of these virtues. She startles the neighbors when she offers refuge to Lady Caroline. After John becomes master of the Enderley mill Ursula is said to have " 'half-a-dozen plans on foot'" (chap. 24) for doing good to the men and women who work for her husband.
The public duties of Ursula Halifax, however, remain merely words — we never see her exercising them. Her life in the novel is enclosed by her role, and total absorption in motherhood has some [47/48] negative reverberations. Worry about her children makes Ursula angry when Mary Baines brings smallpox into the house; John has to remind her that the golden rule forbids her to force a sick baby out into the cold. The intellectual abilities she had as a girl are trivialized; Phineas tells us that Ursula Halifax is an invaluable moral influence for her daughters but an inadequate teacher of ordinary lessons. She is jealous and petty when a governess comes into the household. In fact, she is too much "the mother"; she loves her children too utterly and cannot survive beyond the end of the role. When her eldest son Guy leaves home, Ursula Halifax slips into the physical decline that leads to her death.
The haze of sentiment draped around "the mother" fails to cloak the ways that Ursula Halifax dwindles inside the confinement of the role. "The mother," however, is only one aspect of the woman. The book explores others in disguised fashion. As one early reviewer remarked, "it is difficult to suppress a fear that Phineas Fletcher will fall hopelessly in love with John Halifax, so hard is it to remember that Phineas is of the male sex" (R. H. Hutton, p. 475). Phineas is passive, helpless, admiring, a disappointment to his father because he will never be able to take over the business and carry on the name, a listener to others' schemes, a writer of notes, hearer of lessons, and avid spectator to events in which he can take no part. These traits might well be admirable in a woman; the man who has them is crippled.
Finally, critics have often called John Halifax himself a "woman's man." In context, the words imply that Craik, like other Victorian female writers, did not have enough experience and intelligence to create a whole man from the inside out, and therefore generalized the surface features that she could observe. Modern criticism gives the phrase another dimension. Elaine Showalter's "Dinah Mulock Craik and the Tactics of Sentiment: A Case Study in Victorian Female Authorship" suggests that characters like John Halifax allowed Craik to project "her own ambitions and struggles onto male heroes who could more appropriately embody her ideals" ("Dinah Mulock Craik and the Tactics of Sentiment", p. 18). John Halifax can be honest about his ambition and be praised for his achievements; a woman, even a competitive professional writer, could not do so without being suspected of unwomanliness.
John Halifax struggles to make his own way in the world and yet do no harm to those he encounters. He may indeed be "a woman in trousers" — that is, an idealization of Craik's beliefs about how [48/49] women would behave and what women could achieve if they had the freedom and independence that were granted to a male, even a male outsider. Some of John Halifax's virtues raise traditional feminine traits to heroic stature: he meets the rioters with persuasion instead of force; he quells anger with food. He avoids going to law for the money Brithwood owes, just as a woman could not go to law for justice in her own name. Even the gentleness, the nurturing, the deep love for the blind, most helpless of his children seem more admirable in a man because voluntary.
The narrative tactics of John Halifax, Gentleman enlist the reader's emotional response by tapping sources of sentiment and encouraging identification. The invalid narrator bridges the separate spheres of woman and man; he has a feminine viewpoint yet he can share a man's life and thoughts. Craik makes him a namesake and descendant of the historical Phineas Fletcher, a Jacobean scholar, clergyman, and pastoral poet. The pastoral tradition supplies a model for the paradoxical mix of pretended distance and actual subjectivity created by the narrator; the pastoral poet, wearing his shepherd's mask, could introduce personal emotion into his verse while pretending to write objectively about an invented world. Fletcher's major work, The Purple Island (which is mentioned several times in the novel) is, like John Halifax, Gentleman, a Christian epic with the ordinary citizen as hero.
Phineas Fletcher's primary function, however, is to admire John Halifax. He unabashedly loves his friend; he can dwell on John's character, praise his strengths, and approve of his actions in a way that would be impossible for an omniscient author. Thus he controls the emotional response; his personal mediation gives the reader permission to feel and supplies the emotions that Craik wants to elicit about her central character.
Phineas's narration also provides a recursive tension that makes the part of the story devoted to John Halifax's success more interesting than it might otherwise be. For example, late in the book, while John Halifax is winning the gratitude of both high and low by depositing his bags of gold in the bank, Phineas Fletcher walks outside the banker's house remembering how he once came to Ursula in the same garden when the tanner's apprentice was too poor to declare his love. The emotional overlay not only allows us to reexperience the earlier pleasure of tension aroused and satisfied but also [49/50] re-creates the original tension in order to heighten the effect of the later scene.
The book's essential anachronism supplies a similar emotional reward. The central character appears threatened by the opinions and behavior of the world he lives in. John Halifax, however, is simply ahead of his time. By the time Craik wrote, most people approved of the things John Halifax espoused. Thus the tension aroused when the hero comes in conflict with social norms creates a pleasurable irony; the readers' own opinions appear to be under attack and the emotional identification leads to a delicious satisfaction when — as history makes inevitable — John Halifax and the reader are vindicated.
Not all readers, however, could be involved in events of the wide world. Despite the broad canvas of the historical allegory, Craik ensured the widest degree of reader identification by confining the scenes primarily to the domestic circle. Because the invalid narrator controls the story by reporting only what he knows, the woman novelist need not follow John Halifax into the tanyard or factory nor understand the details of his inventions. In fact, domestic virtues impinge even on the factory world; one reason the workers accept the steam engine so easily is that the mill women are touched by the master's love for his blind daughter. The only real threats to the novel's perfect world are threats that strike at the family: the illness and death of children, the hurt and dissention when two bothers fall in love with the same woman.
The problem of the next generation is one implicit irony in the self-help story. Guy Halifax is briefly tainted by his father's wealth; he yearns for ballrooms and fox hunts and gets into a fight when he has too much to drink. Guy is redeemed by shipwreck, privation, and hard work in America where he too is classless and fatherless, thus comforting every reader with the demonstration that the only advantages worth having are the ones earned by individual effort.
Incidental material reflects other prejudices of the mass audience: anti-French feeling, rural nostalgia, wholehearted provincialism, a mild pacifism, and distrust of the military. Craik manages not to offend any reader's religious sentiments. Lord Ravenel's fall into temporary skepticism may reflect the fear of Roman influence aroused by Newman's conversion in 1845, but old Catholics are treated sympathetically. The hero's faith is carefully nonspecific. There is no clergyman among the characters. A last-minute crisis forces Phineas [50/51] to stay home from the book's featured wedding, so we have no description of the church or the ceremony. The only religious observance that we see is family Bible-reading, which both Anglicans and dissenters could approve.
The Response
John Halifax, Gentleman was an enormously successful book. Hurst and Blackett were kept busy resetting the type; four sets of plates had been used by 1858. The first cheap edition was illustrated with a steel engraving by Pre-Raphaelite painter J. E. Millais. An 1863 listing of the era's most popular books put John Halifax, Gentleman just behind Uncle Tom's Cabin. And the sales continued for the next fifty years. There were copies from eleven separate English publishers in 1898; American pirates (ranging from the big New York and Philadelphia houses to the Chicago Union School Furnishing Company) produced at least forty-five different editions before 1900. In the twentieth century the book has been abridged, retold, published as a supplemental reader, included in sets of mail-order imitation-leather-bound classics, and offered on thin paper to go into soldiers' pockets. It has also been a television serial.
Craik sometimes introduced her essays with the modest disclaimer that she did not strive for original thought, but only hoped she might be able to put into words ideas that had occurred, perhaps half-consciously, to a great many people. John Halifax, clearly, hit exactly the right note. It gave a dramatic form to the heroic myth of the middle class, made it accessible with the domestic setting, and added the emotional attractions of love and pathos. The book satisfied readers' needs and desires, reflected their own beliefs, and gave them the dignity of literary significance. It expressed faith in continued progress, offered respect to business, said that poverty was not a disgrace but rather a necessary spur to industry and that economic success was a laudable goal. It showed the rewards of hard work and self-help and proclaimed that any practical occupation was valuable.
Besides expressing the reader's sentiments, the book supplied the psychic reward of identification with the major characters. The glow of approving admiration surrounded not only the successful John Halifax but also the domestic Ursula and the onlooker Phineas. Readers were personally involved. The characters took on the independent [51/52] existence that blurs the distinction between life and literature; tourists flocked to Tewkesbury to see the places where John Halifax had lived. For some readers the book became a kind of testament, a personal gospel to be compared with The Pilgrim's Progress and the Imitation of Christ.
The literary establishment did not provide quite the same approval. The first reviewers said the book was Craik's best to date, but they did not foresee its enormous success. They found things to criticize: the story was too idealized; an industrious lad might get rich but he was not likely to become polished enough to enter good society. Some reviewers found the friendship between Phineas and John absurd, though others were touched, and wondered why novels did not more often describe the emotions of masculine friendship. Intellectuals had a tendency to scoff. William de Morgan and Edward Burne-Jones did a lampoon of Ursula and Muriel Halifax; George Eliot may have been thinking of John Halifax when she insisted that Tom Tulliver in The Mill on the Floss was not "moulded on the spoony type of the Industrious Apprentice" (See Colby, p. 219).
To an extent, the book's very popularity put it beyond the reach of literary criticism and harmed Craik's reputation among serious writers. "There is something almost awful," wrote Henry James,
in the thought of a writer undertaking to give a detailed picture of the actions of a perfectly virtuous being. . . . We cannot but think that, if Miss Muloch {sic} had weighed her task more fairly, she would have shrunk from it in dismay. But neither before nor after his successful incarnation was John Halifax to be weighed or measured. We know of no scales that will hold him, and of no unit of length with which to compare him. He is infinite; he outlasts time; he is enshrined in a million innocent breasts; and before his awful perfection and his eternal durability we respectfully lower our lance. [Henry James, Notes and Reviews, pp. 167-68]
By the end of the century critics found it hard to consider the book literature at all. Those who believed in it elevated it to the status of a social force, which had helped to change the nation by sweeping away old habits and conventions and creating a climate of respect for democratic equality and the dignity of work. Those who were not affected described it as a tract. As the pendulum swung against Victorianism and Victorian values, the book was rather typically labeled "altogether harmless, and faultlessly proper, and irredeemably commonplace" (Walker, p. 748.) [51/52]
John Halifax, Gentleman remains the best known of Craik's novels. Modern literary scholars appreciate — though they may not approve — the author's celebration of middle-class values and find the book useful as an artifact of social history. Craik's knowledge of the reading public, her own experience as a self-made professional, and her emotional involvement with the characters give the book authority and conviction.
M. Craik


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