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Comets are always very impressive phenomena. Their appearances at
regular, but mostly irregular, times excite people who see them.
Astronomers have the obvious advantage of being able to see more of
comets, and to study them. Their enthusiasm is reflected in the 50
papers in this book, written by more than 90 experts. The reviews
in this book clearly describe a landmark in the history of cometary
studies. Knowledge gathered up to and including Comet Halley are
presented in two volumes. The first volume is about general aspects
of observing and studying comets, where they originate and how
their evolution develops. The second volume goes into the details
of what a comet is: the nucleus, the coma, cometary dust, plasmas
and magnetic fields. The book ends with a reflection by Fred
Whipple about Comets in the Post-Halley Era. The book discusses all
aspects of comets and is therefore suitable for use in graduate
level courses. All astronomers and geophysicists interested in
comets will find very useful and well-presented information in this
book.
Comets are always very impressive phenomena. Their appearances at
regular, but mostly irregular, times excite people who see them.
Astronomers have the obvious advantage of being able to see more of
comets, and to study them. Their enthusiasm is reflected in the 50
papers in this book, written by more than 90 experts. The reviews
in this book clearly describe a landmark in the history of cometary
studies. Knowledge gathered up to and including Comet Halley are
presented in two volumes. The first volume is about general aspects
of observing and studying comets, where they originate and how
their evolution develops. The second volume goes into the details
of what a comet is: the nucleus, the coma, cometary dust, plasmas
and magnetic fields. The book ends with a reflection by Fred
Whipple about Comets in the Post-Halley Era. The book discusses all
aspects of comets and is therefore suitable for use in graduate
level courses. All astronomers and geophysicists interested in
comets will find very useful and well-presented information in this
book.
This is the story of George H. Mahon, a man who went to Congress in
1935, when the House Committee on Appropriations still allocated a
small amount of money to buy military horses. Forty-four years
later, when Mahon retired as Chairman of that same committee, the
committee was debating funds to purchase a bomber capable of
traveling at 2,000 miles an hour. With a career spanning nearly a
half century-including almost the entire Cold War-Mahon grew from a
West Texas country lawyer to one of the most powerful men in the US
House of Representatives, serving twenty-two consecutive terms from
1935-1978. During his time in Congress, Mahon worked easily with
the giants of government, enjoying the friendship and confidence of
seven of the eight presidents with whom he served. He worked just
as comfortably with his constituents in the Nineteenth
Congressional District of Texas. Mahon served on several
Congressional committees, but it is through his service on the
House Appropriations Committee and the Subcommittee on Defense
Appropriations that he had the greatest national impact. He often
bragged that under his leadership the Subcommittee on Defense
Appropriations was the most non-partisan committee in Congress.
Mahon led the subcommittee with a strong but gentle hand that
earned him the respect of all who served with him.
Gathering eggs, planting crops, feeding hogs: firsthand experience
of these grows more distant with each new generation. From 1914 to
1964, however, a West Texas farmer named William G. DeLoach quietly
recorded this life-style. He described weather, plantings,
harvests, births, and deaths in his diary. In doing so, he not only
chronicled the life changes that everyone experiences but also kept
a record of the developments taking place across the country and
around the world.
The diary's editor, Janet Neugebauer, supplies interweaves
explanations to round out the picture that DeLoach offers in his
personal descriptions. Her history is a book unto itself that gives
the context of the farming experience on the Great Plains. She
explains the frustration farmers felt from overproduction, the
price-cost squeeze, the exodus of young people into the cities, and
the increasingly strong role the government played in what was
shifting from a family's way of life to a corporate industry.
Graceful and accurately detailed sketches by Charles Shaw provide
the visual backdrop for DeLoach's story.
This work provides an overview of fifty years of national and
international history as well as an intimate account of the life of
an ordinary man in a changing world. Few farmers had time or
inclination to keep a record of their day-to-day lives, but William
DeLoach's perseverance has left us with a rich history of one
family's triumphs and failures during half a century. For anyone
who ever lived on a farm or visited relatives' farms, as well as
for those interested in this aspect of our national history, this
book will prove a real treasure.
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