Thomas Beatie

Becoming a Visible Man
$24.95
When I first entertained the idea of dating a FTM, I was slightly overwhelmed by the myriad of questions in my head. From everyday situations, to intimate matters, my mind was filled with wonder.

For me, education is key (that goes for everything) and I wanted to learn everything I could about the man I was falling in love with. Finding myself face-to-face with Jamison Green's Becoming a Visible Man had me mesmerized. I could not put this book down and in learning more about the transition process, found myself falling even more in love with my FTM.

I found this book easy to read, simple to understand and very helpful with all those burning questions swimming around in my head.

I learned `gender' and `sex' are two completely different matters. I learned that any person on their road to self-discovery and transition is not only brave, but the most honest a person can be. I also learned that when we accept the transgender community, we are enabling each of us to be the best of what is possible.

If only all of society would educate themselves about the transgender community; people would learn that your sexual organs do not make up who you are as a gender. Ignorance breeds hatred and unfair prejudice. Jamison's book helps teach us that we are all born human beings, and that the journey of a transgendered person is not by choice, but rather necessity.

I applaud Mr. Greene for sharing such intimate details of his personal story and anyone who is courageously transitioning.

So many passages resonated with me in this book, but I will close with one of my favorites:

"If we are concerned that others will perceive our physical differences as laughable deficiencies, the answer is not to dehumanize and desensitize ourselves so we can manage rejection, but to sensitize others to appreciate us, and to learn to manage our own self-doubts so that others will be able to see worthy partners in us".

THE ELEMENTARY COMMON SENSE OF THOMAS PAINE: An Interactive Adaptation for All Ages
$18.95
Although Thomas Paine's Common Sense is THE pivotal treatise leading to American independence, it has received relatively little readership outside the academic community and virtually none in elementary school classrooms. The language as well as the detailed, closely argued positions have relegated Paine's work to an 18th century pamphlet to be mentioned, but not read or studied. No longer. Wilensky's adaptation is a tour de force of scholarly and pedagogic expertise as he is both an historian of the American Revolution and an outstanding classroom teacher. It works on several levels and thus is truly accessible to readers of all ages; what might appear at times as oversimplification in fact reflects a rigorous understanding of the time and the man. Too often important historical publications are aimed at either the mature, informed reader or the elementary reader of all ages. Wilensky brilliantly bridges the extremes. Paine's assessment of the state of the colonies and their relationship with Great Britain as well as then tone of his writing are absolutely essential to understanding the coming of American independence. Thanks to Mark Wilensky, there is no reason for students and general readers not to appreciate and benefit from Paine's immortal work. There is a side benefit: Wilensky's adaptation will not only introduce students to Paine and his pamphlet, but also will help them generate a keen interest in history in general; that alone is no small achievement. As a professor who teaches and researches the history of Colonial America and the American Revolution at the University of Utah, I am mightily impressed by the quality of Wilensky's work and his contribution to the study of a critically important chapter in US history.

MARYLAND CAMPAIGN OF SEPTEMBER 1862, THE: Volume 1, South Mountain
$37.50
When Robert E. Lee marched his Army of Northern Virginia into Maryland in early September 1862, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan moved his reorganized and revitalized Army of the Potomac to meet him. The campaign included some of the bloodiest, most dramatic, and influential combat of the entire Civil War. Combined with Southern failures in the Western Theater, the fighting dashed the Confederacy's best hope for independence, convinced President Abraham Lincoln to announce the Emancipation Proclamation, and left America with what is still its bloodiest day in history.One of the campaign's participants was Ezra A. Carman, the colonel of the 13th New Jersey Infantry. Wounded earlier in the war, Carman would achieve brigade command and fight in more than twenty battles before being mustered out as a brevet brigadier general. After the horrific fighting of September 17, 1862, he recorded in his diary that he was preparing "a good map of the Antietam battle and a full account of the action." Unbeknownst to the young officer, the project would become the most significant work of his life.Appointed as the "Historical Expert" to the Antietam Battlefield Board in 1894, Carman and the other members solicited accounts from hundreds of veterans, scoured through thousands of letters and maps, and assimilated the material into the hundreds of cast iron tablets that still mark the field today. Carman also wrote an 1,800-page manuscript on the campaign, from its start in northern Virginia through McClellan's removal from command in November 1862. Although it remained unpublished for more than a century, many historians and students of the war consider it to be the best overall treatment of the campaign ever written.Dr. Thomas G. Clemens (editor), recognized internationally as one of the foremost historians of the Maryland Campaign, has spent more than two decades studying Antietam and editing and richly annotating Carman's exhaustively written manuscript. The result is 'The Maryland Campaign of September 1862', Carman's magisterial account published for the first time in two volumes. Jammed with firsthand accounts, personal anecdotes, maps, photos, a biographical dictionary, and a database of veterans' accounts of the fighting, this long-awaited study will be read and appreciated as battle history at its finest.About the Authors: Ezra Ayres Carman was born in Oak Tree, New Jersey, on February 27, 1834, and educated at Western Military Academy in Kentucky. He fought with New Jersey organizations throughout the Civil War, mustering out as a brevet brigadier general. He was appointed to the Antietam National Cemetery Board of Trustees and later to the Antietam Battlefield Board in 1894. Carman also served on the Chattanooga-Chickamauga Battlefield Commission. He died in 1909 on Christmas day and was buried just below the Custis-Lee mansion in Arlington Cemetery.Thomas G. Clemens earned his doctoral degree at George Mason University, where he studied under Maryland Campaign historian Dr. Joseph L. Harsh. Tom has published a wide variety of magazine articles and book reviews, has appeared in several documentary programs, and is a licensed tour guide at Antietam National Battlefield. An instructor at Hagerstown Community College, he also helped found and is the current president of Save Historic Antietam Foundation, Inc., a preservation group dedicated to saving historic properties.

Labor of Love: The Story of One Man's Extraordinary Pregnancy
$16.95
I just finished this book and I loved it. It was very interesting from beginning to end. He writes about his childhood, his family and on up until he has the baby. I can't believe what a bad childhood he had, but at the end, it made him who he was and now he'll be one of the best fathers out there. This book made me cry at times, and I don't usually cry that much. But knowing this is a true story, you can't help but feel for him.
I saw Thomas and Nancy on Oprah and People magazine. I always supported them and couldn't understand why people had such a problem with them wanting a baby. I am very happy for them and am very proud that they didn't let society's negativity stop them from fulfilling their dream of starting a family.
I highly recommend this book if you like true stories that are different and are about people facing huge obstacles, but somehow finding a way to get through them. Nancy and Thomas are so brave and I wish them nothing but the best.