Semper Fi?: The Marine Motto, Does It Really Work?
Gallagher Rule
Rule Books
619 North Walnut, Newkirk, OK 74647
ISBN 1589610547, $16.95, (c) 1994, Revised 2002, 336 Pages, www.amazon.com
Thomas R. Keith, Jr.
oletom@cableone.net
Gallagher Rule was born into the great depression as the grandson of Oklahoma pioneers. He
inclined toward the classics and his heroes became Erasmus, Rembrandt, Mozart, and those
Marines who won WWII. There, he enlisted underage and trained as an electronic technician.
Later, he took an undergraduate degree in science, the ethics and philosophy of Aristotle,
German, and English literature at Marquette University. He worked in a dozen European
countries as an electronic and mechanical engineer retiring with several dozen copyrights and
patents.
This is a book for Marines, wives and families of Marines, and everybody that ever knew a
Marine. It tries to explain the United States Marine Corps Motto, "Semper Fidelis", and what it
really means to Marines. Having been a Marine Sergeant, I felt like an insider while reading the
book. I know the meaning, and feeling, of Semper Fi, and don't believe you can get the true grasp
of Semper Fi by reading a book. However, this book comes closer to conveying that meaning than
anything else I've ever read. The story stays with you long after the book has been put down.
Unidentified Flying Objects: Starcraft
Der Voron
PublishAmerica
PO Box 151, Frederick, MD 21705-0151
ISBN: 1591297389, $19.95, http://www.publishamerica.com
Joseph Trainor, editor of UFO RoundUp publication
http://www.ufoinfo.com/roundup/
c/o Der Voron
der-voron@linkeseite.zzn.com
UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS: STARCRAFT by Der Voron opens with a little-known
close encounter of the pre-Roswell era. During the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, Lt. Gennadi
Zhalaginov of the Soviet Red Army spotted "a dark egg-shaped object that appeared above our
(artillery) battery" and "rushed by at great speed; its middle part pulsated." Der discusses some of
the best-known UFO incidents and spends some time on "the UFO crashes," notably the Kalahari
Desert event of 1989 and the capture of the seven aliens at Varginha, Minas Gerais state, Brazil
on January 20, 1996.
In Chapter 4, Der identifies and provides drawings of 31 models of extraterrestrial (ET)
"starcraft," including classic saucers, spherical objects, egg-shaped objects, elongated cylinders,
Saturn- shaped objects, toy-like tops and even a vimana straight out of the Hindu Mahabharata. In
Chapter 5, he outlines theories of what constitutes a UFO "powerplant" -- portable fusion
reactors and energy capacitors. Der's book is very well-written and has the unique quality of
appealing to both the first-time reader and the long- time "saucer buff." This is a very handy book
to have, if ever you spot an unusual object in the daytime sky and want to find out what it is.
Hotspur
Rita Mae Brown
Ballantine Books
1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036
ISBN: 0345428226, $24.95, 1-800-726-0600
Terry Mathews
Reviewer
While I love Rita Mae Brown's ability to co-mingle the animal and human experience, I found her
detailing of the incredible complexity of the fox hunting set to be just too much information than I
need to read a mystery.
I love Jane "Sister" Arnold, the 71 year-old Master of the Hunt and her friends/hounds/horses, but
the details in this book would appeal to only the most dedicated hunt fan. I did learn one good
thing, however. Americans only hunt the fox to its den, not like their brutal British cousins who
hunt to the death.
HOTSPUR's murder mystery takes a second -- or sometimes third -- seat to the machinations of
the hunt season, the old money, the social climbers and all the ins and outs of hunt life. I suppose
if you're a member of that set, these details and the constant fretting over your horse, your
wardrobe and your standing in your club would make for good reading.
It just doesn't play in Peoria....or a small town in east Texas.
I'll continue to read Rita Mae Brown and hope she realizes she's exhausted the hunt and it's time
to move on to other prey.
Visions of Eden
Anthony Hernandez
NovelBooks Inc.
PO Box 661, Douglas, MA 01516
http://www.novelbooksinc.com
ISBN: 1591050499; (trade paper); 1591050243 (ebook); Price: $14.95 (trade Paper); $5.50
(ebook)
Ed Teja, Reviewer
edteja@cybermesa.com
More ambitious than a book, Visions of Eden's subtitle proclaims it as "Book One of The
Earther's Biography." Such declarations always leave me with mixed feelings, for while (assuming
I like the characters) it is good to know that there will be more to read in the future, it worries me
that there might be no satisfying conclusion to this particular volume. Fortunately, Mr. Hernandez
doesn't go in for cliff hanging suspense at the end of the book and is content to plant those seeds
of uncertainty and impending trouble that lead naturally to sequels.
The construction of the book itself helps. It is episodic in the manner that characterizes the fiction
of writers who grew up with as many models from television and movie screens as from books.
Whereas sagas such as Dune stay rooted in the broad landscapes of traditional epic telling,
interweaving action with a careful building of the interactions of society, technology and human
failings, Visions of Eden depends for its forward motion far more on the action, both of the
creatures and of their carefully-postulated technologies. Mr. Hernandez is a technologist and has
owned a flight school, so his descriptions of general technology and flying in particular are
compelling. However, as with many of Larry Niven's stories, technology is nearly itself a character
in the book.
This doesn't mean that Mr. Herenandez's fictional worlds are superficial; the various societies we
encounter are elicited as the product of the technologies they develop and embrace, but even
more, the author contends that the attitudes of the people toward the resources they have, defines
them-their ethics, their sense of what it means to progress. This gives Mr. Hernandez a chance to
make our own race look a bit shabby in comparison to his fictional heroes, who appreciate their
creator-bestowed resources much better.
These sociological factors are merely the subtext of the book. The storytelling focuses on the
primary chase-how can a poor kid from backward Earth become an intergalactic hero in another
part of the universe? Despite the broad, nearly Homeric, sweep of events in just the first book,
whether or not you enjoy the book might hinge a great deal on whether or not you like David
Johnson. He is the focus; it is his biography. It's hard to see how it could be otherwise. I would
have liked to see a few stronger support characters however. The few we encounter, and some of
them promise to be interesting, are abandoned too quickly. This is largely a result of the fast pace
of the storyline, but the result is that while the setting is in other times and other places, the
emphasis on the derring-do of the main character brings the hero of Top Gun more to mind than
Captain Kirk. It's a spare story, with side excursions rather than subplots, giving it a structure that
is deviously linear, making it imminently suitable for the big screen.
That rapid pace is also the book's strength. Throughout, the action keeps you turning the pages,
and Mr. Hernandez has a good sense of how to keep the reader wondering just how the heck they
gonna get out of this one. And the answers are neither trite nor predictable.
A Turn in the South
V.S. Naipaul
Picador, Macmillan
ISBN: 0330487183, A$22.00, paperback, 307 pages
Vintage Books
ISBN: 0679724885, $14.00, paperback, 307 pages
Ann Skea, Reviewer
http://ann.skea.com
Every once in a while you read a book which alters your view of the world. A Turn in the South,
V.S. Naipaul's record of his exploration of the Southern States of America was, for me, such a
book.
Quite early in the book I began to be surprised by the continuing close presence of slave history
and the American Civil War in the psyche of Southerners. I suppose I was surprised that things
which I had always thought of as part of the distant past were still so much part of the everyday
lives of the people Naipaul met and talked to. Clearly my view of America has been distorted by
the books I have read, the films I have seen, and by other media presentations. And my few brief
visits to the US of A have never been long enough to get below the glossy, air-conditioned,
modern-day surface. It is easy for an outsider to think that The Big Apple, Silicon Valley and
Hawaii are representative of the whole, which of course, if you think about it at all, can't possibly
be true.
So, I began this book by being surprised. And I finished it full of admiration for Naipaul's ability
to get below the surface, to really listen to what people were saying, and to let their input change
and guide his journey so that, as he puts it, "the chapter in hand was continually changed by
accidents on the way". This in no way led to a rambling, unfocussed peregrination around the
country, rather, it refined Naipaul's focus and offered greater insight into the lives of people in the
various States he visited.
Naipaul rightly describes himself as a discoverer, not a traveller. He wants to do more than say
"This is me here"; and "this is me doing this; this is me doing that". He is not interested in
presenting amusing incidents, amusing characters or (as is more often the case in popular
travel-writing) caricatures. He is not interested, in short, in amusing the reader: he wants to
understand the people and the society, and he want to pass on to the reader some of that
understanding. In no way does this mean that his writing is dull and boring: quite the contrary.
But it does mean that this book is not for readers who want travel-writing which is focused on the
author and his or her funny encounters with the strange customs of an alien society.
Naipaul's approach, as he says, is to define a theme and to allow it to develop. And his theme in
this case began with a book he knew from his own Trinidad childhood, Up from Slavery, by
Booker T Washington. His discoveries began with him accompanying two friends to the home of
one of them in a small town called Bowen. "Home" - the identification of "one patch of the earth"
as home - is something Naipaul says he does not have, although he frequently refers in this book
to the Trinidad of his early life, and to its customs and history.
In Bowen, Hetty, his friend's mother, daughter of a black sharecropper, surprised Naipaul with
her way of seeing her town: "her special way of looking: her chant, as we had driven through the
countryside had been, "Black people, black people, white people, black people. All this side white
people, all that side black people". Hers was one kind of past, a sharecropper's past, the gloom of
which made her cry. And her son, with quite a different present, working as a designer and
lettering artist in New York, also remembered a past in which he'd had black resin-stained hands
from picking tobacco in the school holidays.
Others, like the poet James Applewhite (whose poetry I am glad to have been introduced to by
this book) knew the tobacco culture of North Carolina from the growers' side. He grew up in an
old tobacco family, and his home had been a wooden house in a patch of woodland in a vast area
of countryside which, for his grandfather, had been a ten mile buggy ride from the nearest county
centre: a day's journey. He knew the labour the crop required, the narcotic dangers of it, but he
also knew that it had given his childhood and the region in which he grew up its special
character.
Naipaul meets and listens to people from all parts of the community, old and young, radical and
liberal, religious and atheistic, black and white. His voyage of discovery takes him (to quote
chapter headings) to Atlanta, Charleston, Tallahassee, Tuskegee, Jackson - Mississippi, Nashville
and Chapel Hill.
He is delighted by the description of rednecks given to him by a man named Campbell. "It might
have been an updated version of something from Elizabethan low-life writing", he notes, "or John
Earle's Microcosmography, or something from Sir Thomas Overbury". It was a comprehensive,
lyrical, detailed description of a group ("a tribe", as it seems to Naipaul) and he reproduces it for
the reader from his notes. "Art hallows, creates, makes one see", Naipaul writes at this point, and
Campbell's description made him see and understand something about a group with its own
special code of thought, dress and customs, people he came to think of as "unlikely descendants
of the frontiersman".
In other encounters, Naipaul hears from Eudora Welty about the sense of richness and continuity
which she feels comes from living in a frontier state like Mississippi, where origins are important,
change is slow, and you get to know the generations. He is intrigued by the artistic methods of
country-music songwriter Bob McDill; and by the insight into the Memphis music business which
he gets from producer Allen Reynolds. He visits Elvis Presley's birthplace, and is prompted to
muse on the power of "a man of the people" who makes good: it is something which he
recognizes from the success of local politicians in Trinidad.
But A Turn in the South is not all about music and writing. The Civil War and its lingering effects
on loyalties and ways of thinking; the importance of religion and the sense of community it
fosters; the Civil Rights movement, its results and its continuing struggles; and the pervasive
awareness of colour, race, and family history; all these are an important part of Naipaul's book.
He seems to tap into a pervasive sense of loss for the old community values, but this is not,
perhaps, as peculiar to the Southern States of America as his encounters suggest. Rather, it seems
to be common to most societies where the rapidity of change in the past fifty years has meant that
new patterns of living and working have broken up the old, close-knit families and
communities.
Often Naipaul finds links between the Southern States and the West Indies. And he discovers
parallels between their histories and notes the differences which slavery and eventual freedom
from slavery have made in the two areas. Naipaul's memories of his own culture and its history
add footnotes to the stories he is told but, more than anything, it is the people Naipaul meets and
their thoughts and ideas which make this book so interesting and valuable. One hears just a little
of Naipaul's own trials with his health, with pollen-pollution and air-conditioning, but for him
these things serve mostly as reminders of the harsh conditions in which the early settlers,
sharecroppers and slaves, lived and worked. His focus, almost constantly, is on others and on the
events and ideas which shaped, and still shape, the Southern States of America.
Altogether, this is a rich, absorbing and penetrating book, written by a remarkably open-minded,
humane man who well deserves his Nobel Prize for Literature.
Tentacles of God
Dr. N. Bhaskara Acharya
neramballi1@sify.com
J. Shriyan, Editor/Reviewer
"Issues & Concerns" (An English monthly magazine published in India)
Friends on the dais and off the dais. Its indeed a pleasure to be with you all this afternoon to
deliberate on the book, "Tentacles of God". At the outset, my most sincere thanks to Smt Sharada
Bhat for inviting me to give this critical talk. Since the time is of essence to all of us, I go straight
in to the subject on hand.
I have divided my talk into 4 parts.
1. Prelude:
First of all I must confess that this is my first assignment of critical appraisal of any book. My
credentials simply do not make me a good candidate as a literary critic, although some exposure
to the world of letters I do have. However, it is a measure of the confidence that Smt. Sharada
Bhat had on my ability to do justice to this job. I am indebted to her for this gesture. I do hope to
live upto her trust in me. Another point I have to make is that the subject dealt in this book in
question TENTACLES OF GOD centres round the Mutt and the pulls and pressure generated
therein. I am not even remotely connected with this, even socially.
2. Every effort has two sides, the positive and the negative. So shall take the POSITIVE SIDE:
On the positive side, we must congratulate Dr. Bhaskara Acharya for his bold attempt in trying to
highlight the going s on within the precincts of Mutts so also within the portals of medical
learning. For an uninitiated reader, its an eye opener.Its indeed a a commendable effort. The
attempts of the administrator of the Mutt to tighten his vice like grip on the Mutt, the sexual baits
he throws on the pontiffs of the Mutt are well conceived and presented. The dilemmas of the
senior pontiffs are brought out credibly. As for the junior pontiffs' internal turmoil the fight to
remain man and wanting to become saint the bestial and the spiritual aspects of the evolution of
the pontiff and the role of the administrator in all these, has been brought out vividly. The final
realisation on the part of the junior pontiff that it was a battle, which he was not able to win, and a
war, which was lost forever, is indeed poignant and thought provoking. Shri Acharya has been
very realistic in his treatment and presentation of this SHESHA PRASHNE aspect of the whole
issue the deep rooted malaise within the system IS BEYOND REDEMPTION?
3. THE NEGATIVE SIDE: Now coming to the negative aspect of the book, I must say, ther have
been many. If I am permitted to take liberty with the author's prerogative I must say that the
author has looked at the problems discussed in the book as a material for a novel rather than an
ISSUE of contemporary relevance. Effort should have been to highlight as Prof. Nagaraj says in
his introduction the sanctimonious humbug prevailing within the portals of learning and
religious centres of our time, without these descriptive escapades / sexapades of the characters of
this book. For a book, which could have been a straightforward narrative, is replete with details
which, on the face of it, were completely avoidable. Thus the novel could have been reduced to
say 200 pages, without compromising the seriousness of the subject dealt with therein. To give an
example, the experience of Dinakar, the protagonist in the novel, inside the theatre, in the
company of his friends, both girls and boys, was described in minute details like "who puts hands
where" were totally irrelevant in an ostensibly serious book like "Tentacles of God", and there are
far too many instances like these. Not only these details have not improved its quality but it also
exposes a concealed hypocrisy in trying to portray Dinakar as a lotus in a cesspool. The
seriousness of the issues raised and these details to pander the base emotions of the reader, does
not get well.
The author, through Dinakar, tries to prescribe a certain standard of morality and ethics, whether
in his personal life or as a would be medical practitioner. When an individual is a part, passively or
actively of of an event which violates values dear to him, he will go through serious emotional
turmoil. Thus although the writer raises pertinent questions, he fails to carry conviction and
therefore the book lacks credibility.
3. VALUE EVALUATION: The issue of the "Other side of the Mutt morality" is a subject of
discussion since a long time. It's not new. Although was quitetaken aback when a respected
Senior journalist mentioned about a septuagenarian or may be octogenarian "Seer" of a well
known Mutt of being involved in something similar to what Dr. Acharya is writing about Godmen
of all kinds, from Vatican to Varanasi, are human beings first and all else is secondary. Therefore
attendant problems and issues involving humans cut across any sectarian barrier and not confined
to Mutts alone. In recent days, American press has been little vitriolic on the Roman Catholic
priests for their misadventure in the forbidden world. It's another matter that Indian press and the
Indian writers in their secular agenda only like to expose goings on in Mutts and temples.
However, the point is we should not try to create God out of men, by forcing on them taboos
which are against human nature per se. Yes, we must create venerable gentlemen of eminence,
venerable for their learning, for their commitment, for their upliftment of humanty, for their
value-based living both in theory and practice. Yes, we do need models. Being celibate is
certainly not one of the qualities a human being should aspire for. Best way to do away with a
desire is to yield to it. Assuming hypothetically one is successful in conquering oneself in terms of
celibacy, what's the big deal, what's so great about it? I would think in my limited thinking, the
person who has experienced every dimension of which flesh is heir to, but has not sold himself off
and has remained within control of himself is far more venerated that one who never experienced
the multi dimensional physical taste buds and he is the "Maryada Purushotham" Rt. Honourable
gentlemen. Jo peeya hi nahee, usey kya patha nasha kya cheez hai.
Therefore friends, the societal imposition of codes for swamies of a Hindu Mutt or Catholic
priests, right upto the pontiffs at Vatican, should be more realistic than idealistic. Like the rishis of
the yore, they should a life of Grahastha. I would think, the section of society concerned with
Mutts should debate this probability. If truth is God, its important that men in Mutts and even in
catholic churches have to live an open life.
There are few other questions to be answered. The role of Administrators, whether in Mutts or in
any other religious or charity service organization, management of money, men and material,
transcends sectarian limit. It's the human avarice everywhere, whether its power or money. Thus if
the Mutt seers are married then these machinations by administrators can be eliminated. Thus
removal of the celibacy code becomes more important.
Then the author talks about the difficultiesin getting converted into Hinduism, without discussing,
the caste implication which is of far more important in terms of reforms. If a Christian girl marries
a Brahmin boy, will she become Brahmin? Or if the girl happens to be a Hindu but from a lower
caste, would she get elevated to Brahmin caste, by virtue of marrying a Brahmin boy? Besides, the
author never discusses the possibility of Man & wife living together still practicing their respective
religion, and why not?
Again, medical ethics, this too is an issue of human nature, the greed, the avarice. It's the same
story. But what's happening in medical field is a crime against humanity, inviting strict
punishments rather than debate as is the case with Mutts or Churches. In one, you exploit the
ignorant, and in the other, you exploit the poor and the helpless therefore more heinous? Yes,
basically man has to change and if that happens, we shall have a much better society and therefore
less problems.
Dr. Acharya mentions about Mysore Medical College happenings to be true, of course without
names, but about Mutts he does not make such a statement. A forthright statement would have
enlightened the readers about the veracity that the events discussed therein are not fictitious.
In the end, while there is certainly scope for rounded improvements, its enlightening all the same.
Besides the title should have been "Tentacles of Godmen", instead of involving God where he has
no role.
The Guide to Identity Theft Prevention
Johnny R. May
1st Books Library
2595 West Vernal Pike, Bloomington, IN 47404-2782
0759647623, $14.95 8/2001 revised, 137 Pgs., 1-800-839-8640, www.1stbooks.com
Sarah Lee Marks
Reviewer
Identity theft is the largest and fastest growing menace to our national security.
Consumers have a far greater chance of becoming victims of credit fraud than getting hit by a car.
Yet most people view the risk of either occurrence happening to them with minimal concern.
Enter Johnny May, a corporate security consultant, trainer and author of The Guide to Identity
Theft Prevention. This well written handbook takes the reader through the obvious and sublime
tricks used by scam artists. From Computer technology to Dumpster diving, Mr. May addresses
the motive, techniques and information thieves utilize and how they obtain it. Beyond the
celebrated "identity theft" stories involving celebrities and public figures, this book provides a
glimpse into the dark side of a business that legally obtains and sells information on you to anyone
inquiring. " an online information broker was recently sued by the parents of a young woman
slain by an Internet stalker. The suit alleges that for $ 109, the broker had sold personal
information that led the killer to the victim's place of employment. He then ambushed her as she
got into her car after leaving work."
The guide includes reproducible forms and letters for the individual concerned about errors on
credit reports; Letter of Dispute or worse, known fraudulent activities; Affidavit of Fraud.
Website addresses for the major credit reporting agencies, government clearinghouses and
consumer affairs offices are included along with a complete list of State Statutes regarding
Identity Theft. May has resourced this material in a professional manner making this a quick
How-to for the average credit card holder and required reading for those pursuing a law
enforcement or personal security career.
The Kiss
Kathryn Harrison
4th Estate: A Division of HarperCollins Publishers
6 Salem Rd London W2 4BU
ISBN 0-00765-904-0, 207pp, 1997, 7.99 UK cover price, http://www.4thestate.com
Pogo, Reviewer
pogomcl@authorsden.com
Shadows of Max Frisch's Homo Faber cross your mind as you enter the haunting tale of the
socially taboo relationship between father and daughter.
"It begins when I'm twenty. it begins with a visit and afterward my mother and I disagree whose
idea it was to invite him. My mother says that it was mine. I think it was hers." (p32)
The beginning is innocuous and evolves into a life of clandestine meetings between the minister of
a Christian organization and his neglected daughter. The parents once met in a foyer of a theater
one evening. The relationship blossomed passionately as they became infatuated with one another
and an unwanted pregnancy was legitimized through marriage, followed shortly thereafter by
divorce. The daughter was left with her mother in a child's world split into halves like an apple
shared between strangers at life's crowded banquet. She was raised in the cool shadow of her
mother as her philandering father grew roots elsewhere with a second family.
She didn't know him until the fateful visit and it began with a kiss that lingered for years in her
tortured secret life.
"Twenty years old. My life is that of a fugitive. I'm always in an airline terminal, trudging after him
over expanses of stained carpet and dull linoleum. The walls around us warn of illegal transport.
Arrows point to baggage claims and taxi stands...
Our protracted good-byes are consumed along with magazines and junk food by the weary, bored
travelers who surround us, slumped in molded plastic chairs.
Do we resemble each other enough that people suspect that we're father and daughter? Do we sit
too close to one another? Does his hand on my arm betray his intent? And why do we cling so, as
if our parting will be as final as death?" (p23-24)
The author's haunting voice echoes in mind long after the book is closed. Incest like the hiss of an
poisonous snake not only warns us, but also freezes our instincts to move. We feel the
helplessness and the paralysis of the author's confusion. We sympathisize as we trace the complex
thoughts of an entangled relationship. Slowly the pages turn and we follow mesmerized by the
tormented voice, ever wary of the eventual conflict and confrontation of the two women, mother
and daughter regarding their relationships with the same man. And his argument is as insidious as
the serpent's hiss:
"There are rules that apply to most people," says my father, "and there are people who are outside
of those rules. People who are"
"How can you know that you that we are exceptions?"
"I just do," he says. "You'll have to trust me."
My father and I argue about the nature of love and its expressions. These conversations begin like
academic papers with suffocating theories, Latin and Greek words from divinity school: agape,
caritas. Not eros. But then abruptly they devolve into the personal. how can he help the way he
feels for me? It's the way God made him.
"God gave you to me," he says. (p108)
Although the subject matter lends itself to sexual titillation and could be exploited for lascivious
descriptions and screaming headlines in cheap tabloids, the author explores the intense conflicts
within the personal relationships. We gain a glimpse of the psychological stress that is involved
and the masks worn within the public place and the hardship born as a consequence. The writer
lays out the elaborate stage on which the story is performed; the actors' speech is carefully set and
every nuance is rehearsed and polished until it unfolds like a Greek tragedy within modern society.
We see the characters develop, the conflict build and the inner tension increase as each enter and
take their leave through life's drama.
Intensely personal, moving, haunting, the memoir reminds one of Hardy's, The Beloved of Frisch's
Homo Faber as we enter that shadowy land where ficiton reads as nonfiction and nonfiction,
fiction. Where the stairs lead or end is the eternal question of an Escher drawing in a world where
illusion is perceived as reality.
The Little Friend
Donna Tartt
Alfred A. Knopf
c/o Random House
1745 Broadway, 17th floor, New York, NY 10019
ISBN: 0679439382, $26.00, 555 pages, 1-800-726-0600
Diane Payne
Reviewer
When I opened the mail and found The Little Friend in the package, I thought, "Oh, no. Not this
week." I had been waiting for this book to arrive, but had hoped it'd come long before Finals.
First I was going to wait until the semester was over, but once I started reading it, I couldn't put
the book down. Every page is enticing. It's rare I think a book of this length is necessary. Usually
I wish I had a scissors and could cut out the extraneous pages, hoping to improve it for the next
reader. But not in this case. Every word made the story move.
Like our twelve-year-old main character Harriet, I, too, wanted to know who was responsible for
her brother's hanging twelve years earlier. Harriet's obsession for revenge became my obsession. It
seemed a bit uncanny that Harriet's mother was so oblivious to her daughters' lives, but after the
death of her young son, she may not have been able to grow any closer to her young daughters.
We don't know what their family life was like prior to this death, but we sense Robin's death
changed the family dramatically. Not only did the father move to Nashville, and just return for
brief holiday visits, though they remained married, but after Robin's death, the mother let
newspapers accumulate in piles throughout the house, never allowing the maid to throw any of
them away.
While the mother stayed in bed blaming herself for changing the Mother's Day meal to six instead
of noon, the factor she believed that caused her son's death on that fatal day, Harriet took on a
mission to figure out how he ended up dead, hanging in a tree. She was an infant out in the yard
when the death occurred, and her sister was four, but never answered any questions about what
had happened, though everyone believes they both saw everything. Like her mother, her sister
resorted to a protective silence. Harriet blamed the demise of her family on the death of her
brother and researched newspapers, interrogated neighbors, and determined Danny Ratliff, a drug
addict from a deranged family, was responsible for this death.
Like everyone in Harriet's family, Danny Ratliff was also plagued by this death, and never
understood why Robin's younger sister was pursuing him, placing her life and his in perpetual
danger. The dangers involved in this story would seem unbelievable from a less talented writer,
but Tartt makes every scene incredibly realistic.
This story takes place in a small town in the deeply rooted state of Mississippi. Even though the
characters appear generic- the black maid, the intimate sisters, the rednecks, the southern caste
system- each and every person in this book has a vivid personality and will linger with the reader
long after the book is finished. I couldn't put this book down at night because I was so eager to
find out what would happen next. I regretted reading the final page, knowing there'd be no more.
It's no wonder there is so much hype for this novel. It's a great book.
Steffi's Club finds writer D.A. Blyler, author of the infamous Salon.com satire The 7 Vices of
Highly Creative People, at the top of his game. Blyler is a keen and humorous observer of
kitsch-laden sensibilities and he exploits them to their full extent in his protagonist Daniel Fischer.
An American without a mission on the cobblestone streets of the Czech Republic, Daniel receives
more than he bargains for when he accepts a job teaching flirtatious English to the girls at Steffi's
Club, one of the town's most exclusive brothels. In less sure hands, the novel might simply be
passed off as a pulpish expatriate novel of love, murder, and redemption, but Blyler kicks up dust
outside such terrain to offer us a generational statement of those thirty-somethings who have
fallen through the cracks of parental, academic, and worldly expectations--a generation that has
long been waiting for a voice.
Four Blind Mice
James Patterson
Little, Brown & Company
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0316693006, $27.95, 1-800-759-0190
Lisa Polisar, Reviewer
www.lisapolisar.com.
James Patterson's thrillers should be called "cutters" for the amount of paper cuts caused by
turning their pages too quickly. And his latest, Four Blind Mice, is no exception. After twenty-one
national bestsellers, James Patterson has evolved into this country's pre-eminent rule-breaker. You
want specifics? Since when do seven paragraphs constitute a chapter? And since when does a
prologue have two chapters? A first and third person point of view is another typical
Patterson-enigma and one of his stylistic trademarks, where he narrates the Alex Cross mythology
in the first person, but switches to third person narrative to take us into the heads of his killers.
Whether established by himself or his publisher, the effect gives intimacy and distance to an
otherwise confusing tactic.
The story opens like many other thrillers - a main character, in this case Alex Cross, caught in the
purgatorial wormhole between two worlds - past and future. Alex Cross is seconds from
retirement when his best friend, John Sampson, is presented a life dilemma - an old friend on
death row for a crime he didn't commit. The old duo sets off to prove the man's innocence and, in
so doing, entangles themselves in a web of silence and denial.
In Four Blind Mice, Patterson manages to serve up what people most want to read: crime and
punishment. Sin and redemption is a variation on this theme, but the idea of sin is based on a
consciousness of a crime. His killers, a/k/a Three Blind Mice, have a sadistic hunger for killing
young women and, afterward, decorating their corpses with red, white and blue paint. The grisly
trio includes highly trained, military rednecks with a twist of bloodlust and a notable lack of either
guilt or awareness of their crimes. Through their escapades, Patterson delivers his formula of
good versus evil right away. His books are not traditional whodunits by any stretch. Instead,
they're an all out hunt for killers you'd like to kill with your own hands. Alex Cross's dialogue
reads a little stiff, but the killers speak as naturally as the author's own voice. Patterson has seen
evil in his life - this is obvious. He knows it, describes it, yanks you under its massive rubber
wheels and pins you there till you stop breathing. And that's just the first chapter.
Following the painstaking discovery of the origins of Three Blind Mice is the certainty of a lethal
genius directing their acts of violence. Identifying this fourth blind mice draws Alex into the upper
most echelons of the United States Army and puts him closer to danger than any prior
investigation ever has. But he must succeed. Everything depends on it, including his own life and
future.
And just when you've lost all faith in human nature, you find yourself reading a romance novel.
Both Alex Cross and John Sampson find the most profound love of their lives in this book, and
only a writer like Patterson could marble such a horrific tale with an element like hope. Patterson's
stories are the barbecue of American literary consumption. They're all at once hot, sweet, spicy,
and nostalgic enough to transport you into his seamy underworld. They appeal to men and women
of every class and color, because his characters are authentic, flawed, and profoundly human. In
Alex Cross, Patterson has constructed a lineage of hope, family, and new beginnings.
Prisoners of Hope: The Story of Our Captivity and Freedom in Afghanistan
Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer, with Stacy Mattingly
Doubleday & Company
1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036
ISBN: 0385507836, $19.99
WaterBrook Press
2375 Telstar Drive, Suite, 160, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80920
ISBN: 1578566452, $19.99
Kimberley L. Toynes
Reviewer
Walking in the trenches to seek out the indigent, illustrates the love of Jesus by His servants on
earth. Continuous labor and expressions of hope through songs, prayers, and giving of themselves
exemplifies Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry's life.
Their risky journey, "In a land where every man carries a gun.from Peshawar with an Afghan
driver and an armed Pakistani guard.to the Afghan border" necessitates imminent prayers of
restoration and prosperity in a destitute land.
A depiction of their human side aiding the depraved, ill, and homeless moves the reader to prayer.
In spite of their incarceration Heather and Dayna glorified the Lord in an Afghanistan criminal
holding facility. The words on the pages are reminiscent of a Pauline epistle by relating
instructions to other missionaries.
Prisoners of Hope is a must read for age groups as young as teenagers to learn and contemplate
the message that Jesus' love knows no boundaries even amidst threats and hatred. Before
completing the first chapter I was on my knees praying and crying out to God. I purchased an
additional copy of the book for a friend.
The Paperboy's Winter
Tim Bowling
Penguin Books Canada
ISBN: 0143012282; $24.00; 278 pages, www.amazon.com
Kathy McNinch
Reviewer
Tim Bowling has four poetry collections and another novel to his credit. The Paperboy's Winter is
his latest effort and it will not disappoint his poetry or fiction fans. He deftly combines a
coming-of-age tale with the changing of a culture.
Callum Taylor has been barely functioning since his father died. His trip to his hometown triggers
memories about events of the winter when he had a paper route. He was a naive ten year-old and
he endured the bullies at the paper shack, a borderline psychotic school principal and needy
customers on his route.
One man who fascinated Callum and his friends was Ezra Hemsworth. He lived an unconventional
life and his actions often crossed over into violence. He was secretive and seemingly needed no
contact with other people.
Callum and his friend become convinced that Ezra is hiding something and they are determined to
uncover the truth. They don't understand why adults accept lies when no one wants to see the
truth. They are leaving the security and innocence of childhood and moving into the adult
world.
Tim Bowling uses the rugged British Columbia coast as his setting for the story. He captures the
harsh beauty of this area and it defines the reality faced by the characters. They are sometimes
forced into poor choices just to survive.
Bowling shows the emotional growth of Callum over the winter. He can sense his interests
becoming different from those of his best friend. Callum no longer wants to ditch school just to
hang out and he doesn't know why. Bowling uses this to parallel the changing lifestyle of the
coastal communities as they became more modernized.
Ezra's character is an example of the clash of the old and modern ways. When Callum comes
across him 20 years later, Ezra is just as eccentric but he is not tolerated the way he was in earlier
times. He is treated like an outcast.
Bowling is an award-winning Canadian poet and his mastery of language makes this novel a
pleasure to read. By blending tragic elements with the comic, he has given us a story with many
layers.
Divinely Inspired: Spiritual Awakening of a Soul
Jerry J. Pollock Ph.D.
White Tulip
P.O. Box 644 Nesconset, NY 11767-0644
ISBN: 0972386602 , $18.95, Paperback, 224 pages, http://www.divinelyinspire.com
Jennifer M. Hollowell, Reviewer
http://www.geocities.com/jmhcreativesolutions
Despite the many different cultures, opinions and faiths of humanity, there's still one underlying
constant among us all: the necessity to find a path, to find our way. This is true for all walks of
life, both believing and non-believing individuals. What is it about this truth that sends so many
reeling into disaster? There need not be disaster if we face the reality of giving credit where credit
is due: to our Creator.
"I have written this book to share my experiences, feelings and spiritual insights with individuals
whose sad lives have been damaged by the ravages of their upbringing or mental illness. I will
always be a member of that group."
- Pollack, p. 20
That's the underlining theme for author Jerry Pollack's book, Divinely Inspired: Awakening of a
Soul. He describes his journey from childhood into his present adult relationship with God. His
path leads him through experiences with bipolar disorder, mania, manic depression, hallucinations,
clinical depression, ahedonia (loss of interest in activities), psychosis and neurosis among others. I
name each diagnosis separately, despite their often times happening simultaneously, as he did in
his writings.
In today's society, stepping out on one's beliefs is very challenging. Particularly when this
individual is met with endless scrutiny and judgements both from people who don't understand
and don't believe. However, when people are able voice these beliefs with strong supporting facts,
as Pollack has done, it is quite a different story.
I found this to be true for Pollack's book. He presents the acquiring of his beliefs through the
many experiences leading up to them. His insights are supported by what he went through while
achieving them. There's no room for controversy because in no way is it evident that he had prior
inclinations or a childhood upraising filled with spirituality or religion. At the same time, it must
be pointed out that Pollack's understanding of faith and God was always there. Understanding
these principals and applying them are two very different things. This is a strong lesson taught
throughout the course of the book.
Courage, wisdom, strength and the unrelenting desire to teach rather than preach are what this
author arms himself with. The support of his wife, Marcia, is also of particular interest. When the
phrase "for better or for worse" comes into play, Marcia Pollack provides a stunning example of
how to live under these circumstances. Without her love, as pointed out in the book, who knows
where Jerry Pollack would be today? More often than not, statistics show a marriage breaking up
quicker than staying intact when facing the challenges this couple have. Although separation was
discussed at one point, the true commitment between this married couple beat those odds.
Anxiety is covered quite well both in definitive terms and descriptions of the author's experiences.
Readers can easily relate to the challenges this man faced while trekking through the various
symptoms and medical remedies. One fact I found of particular interest was his proclamation that
those who suffer from anxiety are less likely able to be treated through use of prescription
medications due to the high tolerances they build up. This certainly explains a lot to me on a
personal level through the experiences I've had both myself and with my family.
Pollack delves into his treatments through use of ECT (electric shock) treatments and Primal
Therapy. Both these forms of treatments aren't common knowledge for me, so I found this to be
quite a learning experience as he described his experiences with these alternatives. Upon
completion of the book, I found it necessary to investigate these options further only to learn ECT
treatments are met with great controversy. This is something pointed out statistically in Pollack's
book, but he used this form of treatment nonetheless. I think, after enduring the trials this man has
gone through, I would consider the same option. The fact remains, however, that Pollack's newly
gained spirituality has lifted him from any need to seek such treatments again. This is refreshing to
both his readers and himself. What a relief it must have been for him to climb out of the darkness
to find well-ness and contentment.
At one point throughout the reading, Pollack describes his encounter with a cult while attempting
to remedy himself. When those are faces with desperate feelings, more often than not sensory
radar is disabled. This is the case with this author as he found himself almost engulfed in the
teachings and the ways of "The Fourth Way." Before he realized what was happening, his life
went from receiving an herbal dietary program to being exposed to this group's philosophies.
While I'm not read in this area, I won't dive into this group or this topic any further than Pollack
did in his own writings.
I'm closing this dialog (reveiw) with the following thoughts and insights excerpted directly from
Jerry Pollack's book. These among many others opened my eyes as I continued on my own
journey toward inner peace:
". . . with God's help, I'll never have to fight an unseen challenge again." - p. 164
"Faith is an integral part of one's spirituality." - p. 172
"Your soul is worth all the riches in the world." - p. 210 (from a fortune cookie)
Ponder these for a moment as you begin or continue on your own spiritual journey. This book has
had a profound affect on me, so sharing these truths has become an integral part of my own
spiritual walk and work. I'm not only considering what is written among these pages as a
description of experiences, I'm considering it a handbook for those seeking to get on the right
path. Gather these seeds of knowledge and wisdom, plant and harvest them and watch them grow
and flourish as a result of God's work. Live for today don't get lost in the past, embrace truth and
love for they shall always last.
Ambulance Girl: How I Saved My Life by Becoming an EMT
Jane Stern
Crown
299 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10171
ISBN 140004832X, $23.00, 1-800-726-0600, www.amazon.com
Mark Henricks
Reviewer
The roads are choked with laid-off dot-commers driving catering company vans, unindicted chief
financial officers bicycling back to college for fine arts degrees, and the like. Among them
(figuratively speaking) is a lone ambulance loaded with a best-selling pop culture writer who
morphed herself at mid-life into an emergency medical technician.
That newly minted EMT is Jane Stern, Gourmet magazine columnist, National Public Radio
commentator, co-author of a score of popular books about cooking and Americana. Five years
ago, she was also a neurotic mired in a numbing depression, a hypochondriac, a
quasi-agoraphobic, a person liable to faint at the thought of blood or germs or vomit. Ambulance
Girl (Crown, $23) is the story of how these traits propel her through the grueling training required
to be a volunteer EMT in her small Connecticut town and what happens there and at the scene of
health incidents both trivial and tragic.
This is a funny book, with the chummy and lighthearted style familiar to readers of Dog Eat Dog,
a 1997 look at dog shows, or any of the other books authored by Jane and Michael Stern. Stern's
nutty behaviors, such as her utter unwillingness to ride on buses or in the back seat of a private
vehicle driven by anyone but her husband, are told in a way that inspires comradely amusement
more than condescending pity. Likewise, you'll laugh with, not at, her descriptions of emergency
missions to an elderly caller who sat naked on a cat following an episode of incontinence and an
effeminate homeowner who dialed 9-1-1 when his "baby" -- a massive hound -- drowned in the
backyard pool.
This is also often a quite serious book. The depression Stern dragged herself out of, by the sounds
of it, could have ended worse. The majority of the health emergencies she responds to as an EMT
are genuinely life threatening. Her first encounter with a corpse and mission to an AIDS hospice
are presented with appropriate sobriety. Other anecdotes mix somber and silly, such as the time an
EMT instructor warned them against giving CPR to a severed head.
Ambulance Girl, like the Sterns' 1977 celebration of diner fare, Roadfood, is a story about
journeys. The central trek is Stern's odyssey from apathy into engagement, with side visits to go
to class, minister to accident victims, and occasionally descend back into near-depression. She
gets there, but not without difficulty. In the process of shedding the blue bathrobe she lives in at
the story's start for the worn jacket with "EMT" label she proudly puts on by the end, she
staunchly meets and overcomes many obstacles. Not the least is the reaction to her career change,
ranging from amazement and incredulity to hostility and harassment, by family, friends, firefighters
and domineering EMT trainers. Personal growth, it seems, can be a long, strange and lonely
trip.
At almost every stop, Stern loses emotional baggage and acquires useful skills. Learning to back a
massive fire engine up a twisting driveway at night is just one of the times she beats her fears and
wins an almost grudging self-respect. That adventure, like others she relates, is not for readers to
attempt at home. You'll be chilled when she single-handedly copes with a massive, psychotic
karate expert in a hospital emergency room. You'll also realize that she is lucky as well as
plucky.
Despite the peaks of fear and joy that populate many moments in Ambulance Girl, it's also a
celebration of the mundane. In this, it's reminiscent of Diane Ackerman's account of becoming a
crisis hotline volunteer, related in 1997's A Slender Thread (Random House). Much of
Ackerman's story revolved around the long episodes of boredom and the many calls from the
merely lonely that characterize the hotline volunteer's labor. Similarly, for every obstructed airway
Stern unblocks and personal phobia she triumphs over, there is a chronicle of firehouse politics,
note on classroom conniving or complaint about her uniform pants being too short.
That's not a bad thing, because everyday life is, after all, largely about being happy and calm and
well enough to be upset by inconsequential things. In that sense, Stern's latest work is an
extension of the care she provides in the back of that ambulance. Ambulance Girl takes us, the
walking wounded, to a place where healing is possible and deposits us, refreshed and renewed,
back home.
Reviewer Mark Henricks' latest book is Not Just a Living: The Complete Guide to Creating a
Business That Gives You a Life (Perseus, 2002). He lives in Austin, Texas.
The Man From Shenandoah
Marsha Ward.
Writers Club Press
c/o iUniverse.com, Inc.
2021 Pine Lake Road, #100, Lincoln, NE 68512
0595263089, $14.95, Paperback, 248 pages, www.iuniverse.com
Donna L. Davis
lupis1dld@earthlink.net
I was born 120 years too late.
Ms. Ward paints vivid night skies for gazing, the warm sun on your face and makes you wish you
could lie down to contemplate the clouds in a meadow surrounded by quakies. (Aspen trees to
those not native to the Rockies). Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Arizona have been my
playgrounds all my life, making this journey into past memories achingly sweet. Ellen, our
heroine, threw her arms up over her head, whirled around in a meadow full of wildflowers and
cried "I love you, Colorado, you're beautiful." This Colorado girl was so homesick she cried
tears.
I had nearly given up on reading Westerns. The newer ones I own are written with a very
contemporary feel, right down to the sex and dialogue. These folks are either very stiff or teasing
about the earthy, subtle sensuality that is gently touched on. Ms. Ward uses the language of the
class and region effectively to make The Man from Shenandoah shine as a true western. Our
characters work 'danged hard', cuss, ride horses hell-bent, and hate to drive critters. They love,
blush, build homes with their own sweaty labor, and fight outlaws. But best of all, they 'holler at
the kids to go down to the crick' to get water. Arizonans give me such strange looks when I talk
about the dry cricks here.
The book gives our characters joyous times but doesn't pass lightly over their hardships. The
author draws her characters with human warmth and depth ensuring that the reader has no trouble
recognizing each individual and his or her significance in the tale . We have paroled Johnny Reb,
Carl Owen, not a hero, but just an all-around likeable guy who can be counted on when needed.
There is his father Rod, a controlling parent who comfortably believes that he knows what is best
for his entire family forever. He brooks no arguments about his decisions. Mother Julia Owen gets
a little testy at his attitude., but true to the norm for the time, falls in with whatever his life plans
are. Often a western (especially with romance included) sketchily portrays the family if at all.
I love the style that eases us into seeing through Carl Owens' eyes. His thoughts and words flow
so clearly that we come to know him intimately. Carl is not given to flowery speeches. He can be
complex; at times makes some pretty humorous mistakes and he doesn't like to apologize for
them. But then, he's pretty good at laughing at his own foibles and sometimes holds conversations
with himself.
Carl's values and his honor cause him no end of conflict with family members, particularly his
younger brother James. Rod has decreed that each son be promised to a local girl in return for her
family's agreement to join the train on the way west. As life has a way of going, neither Carl nor
James was assigned the girl that they fell in love with. Carl wanted James' girl Ellen Bates while
his own Ida wanted a rich Englishman. Rod had made James leave his girl in Virginia. I imagine
we may be hearing more about James and his Jessica.
I enjoyed this novel because the main character is not the typical hero, a 'silent loner with no
family to teach him love and values'. He is, as are most of the characters, members of warm,
loving, laughing, arguing and sometimes flawed families. Feisty women, taciturn or rather
controlling men - they all enjoy a sense of community and deep friendship. It was a joy to get to
know them.
Well, human nature being what it is, there were people I loved and people I could do without but
loved to hate. I was a bit humbled by the women, who reminded me of my great-grandmother.
She was a bit like Ellen Bates. Now give us our sequel - it's so hard to wait!
I can't leave you without also mentioning that the cover is to die for. Yummy!
Nickel And Dimed
Barbara Ehrenreich
Owl Books
c/o Henry Holt & Company
115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011
ISBN: 0805063897 $13.00 Paperback: 240 pages, 1-888-330-8477
Alyice Edrich, Reviewer
http://thedabblingmum.com
I believe one of the books our political leaders should be required to read, when getting in public
office, or while in office, is Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich.
One of the main reasons I feel our political leaders should read this book, is so that they can get a
true account of what goes on in our society, aside from the impersonal "statistics" that make many
Americans seem more like a number and less like a human being.
It is easy to keep a distance and not fully understand the pains, turmoils, and conditions of the
lower working class when one is sitting in an air conditioned office, driving luxury cars, and
spending their days reading documents and implementing laws based on those documents.
Nickel and Dimed is the true account of what many Americans face on a daily basis hard
working, under-educated, under-paid, under-insured, low income families working anywhere from
one to three jobs, just to keep a roof over their families' heads and food on the table.
Nickel and Dimed takes a realistic look at what goes on when a person doesn't have the skills to
maintain a decent living wage. It showcases the truth behind the reality that while our country is
one of the best places to live and raise a family, our minimum wage standard does not meet
standard living expenses.
In reading Nickel and Dimed, the reader is transformed from their cushy-lifestyle, and taken into a
time and place that just doesn't seem to fit our ideals of "Living the American Dream." The reader
will get a first-hand feel of what it means to not have enough money to feed your family, but make
too much to get the proper assistance one needs. The reader will see what it is like to work hard
and have enough to pay for a small apartment, but instead have to live in a motel because there
isn't enough money to come up with the required deposit and first month's rent. And the reader
will get a feel for how low income persons are treated and viewed by the upper (richer) class.
Nickel and Dimed is a book that should be read by every political leader, as well as every political
person on the rise to the top. While the Declaration of Independence gives each American the
right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that road is often paved by many hard-working
people who need to be reminded, every once in a while, that just because one is poor, doesn't
mean one is less! And it most definitely doesn't mean that one is seeking the easy way out, or
asking for a "hand-out." It is time our political leaders take a stand in this country and offer more
in the way of better working conditions, wages, and health benefits for those working their way
from the bottom up!
Jazz and Death: Medical Profiles of Jazz Greats
Frederick J. Spencer, M.D.
University Press of Mississippi
3825 Ridgewood Road, Jackson, MS 39211-6492
1578064538, $35.00, 311 pages, 1-800-737-7788
Harold V. Cordry
Reviewer
Kansas City bandleader Benny Moten died in 1935--before, during, or after a tonsillectomy. To
this extent jazz writers agree.
For the specific cause of his death, however, the writers generally have relied on rumor and
uninformed speculation by Moten's contemporaries. Several said he might have bled to death;
several mention a slip of the scalpel.
Of 12 sources quoted by Dr. Frederick J. Spencer in Jazz and Death, not one cites information
drawn from Moten's autopsy. In contrast with the punctilious reporting of band performances and
personnel that has become almost routine in recent years, reports concerning cause of death
continue to reflect little effort in pursuit of fact.
A professor and dean emeritus of the Virginia College of Medicine, Spencer happens to be also a
jazz fan with a respect for historiography. So following the example of John O'Shea's Music and
Death (Dent 1990), which dealt with 18th-century composers, Spencer hacked his way through
the dense overgrowth of myth and legend to discover extant medical records and to salvage
whatever facts resided there.
Moten's autopsy, Spencer says, lists the principal cause of death and related causes as coronary
sclerosis (hardening of the coronary arteries), chronic fibrous myocarditis (chronic inflammation
of the heart muscle), and acute pulmonary edema (watery congestion of the lungs).
Given these facts, he explains the various catastrophic scenarios to which they might have led,
never venturing far from what is known. All that can be safely concluded from the records, he
says, is that Bennie Moten died of "circulatory and respiratory collapse that was directly related to
chronic arterial and cardiac disease, quite possibly exacerbated by an operative hazard."
Although several of the contemporaneous accounts center on excessive bleeding as the cause of
death, Spencer finds nothing in the records to suggest that excessive bleeding had occurred.
Another jazz musician who built an early reputation in Kansas City was the tenor saxophonist
Lester Young, on whom his soul mate Billie Holiday conferred the title "Prez."
Young played with Moten, Walter Page, Andy Kirk, and finally, at the legendary Reno Club, with
Count Basie, before the Basie band, with Young firmly established in the sax section, decamped
for New York City in 1936.
It was only 23 years later that Young played his last gig, at the Blue Note in Paris. It ended
prematurely, after he became ill and decided to go home.
Young's physician, who met his plane in New York, reported that he had "bled all the way across
the Atlantic." Spencer discredits the physician's belief that Young was bleeding profusely from his
larnyx as a result of severe alcoholism," observing that no correlation exists between severe
alcoholism and laryngeal bleeding, and he concludes that the source of the bleeding was not the
larynx but the esophagus. He also disputes the assertion that Young died of cardiac arrest caused
by malnutrition and cirrhosis of the liver, saying that if he had suffered a heart attack, it was
probably precipitated by coronary thrombosis (blockage caused by blood clotting in a coronary
artery).
Some observers of the jazz scene are inclined to attribute deaths generally to the lifestyle of
indulgences and excesses that they presume to be typical, saying in effect that jazz musicians die
as a result of being jazz musicians. Spencer frequently cites chronic alcoholism or heavy drug use
as contributing causes of death but not as the cause from which death resulted directly. He even
dismisses the commonplace that jazz musicians tend to die early deaths, as Spencer puts it, "from
drink, drugs, women, and overwork," a truism for which he says there is no statistical basis.
There is often a triteness about death, compounded by the dry, factual accounting of stark medical
details concerning principal and contributing causes. But dying, if not death itself, is yet a part of
life, and ought to have a place in any biography whose subject is deceased. But scores of jazz
biographers have chosen to neglect it, either providing a date of death and little more or simply
reporting hearsay regarding the cause. Spencer's book is thus a valuable supplement to the
growing library of jazz biographies and even to some larger and more substantial reference works
that exhibit the same shortcomings.
Bella's Bookshelf
Dreams To Grow On
Christine Hurley Deriso, Illustrated by Matthew Archambault
Illumination Arts Publishing Company, Inc.
P.O. Box 1865, Bellevue, WA 98009
ISBN 0-9701-9072-7, $15.95, 30 pages, www.illumin.com
A little girl, having dreamt about growing up, decides to "practice" different professions,
imagining what it would be like to be a mother, an architect, a baker, a scientist, a trapeze artist, a
farmer, a pilot, a doctor, a sea captain, an actress, an artist, a teacher, and a writer. The story is
written in rhyme, and has a soothing, musical quality, which my six-year-old daughter enjoyed,
but I wanted more precise, poetic language to accompany these rich, imaginative oil painting
illustrations. Each profession occupies a two-page spread one side showing the girl exploring
one possibility for her future, and the other showing her supposed grown-up self. This creates a
magical sense of time, as well as the feeling that whatever can be imagined may become real. A
girl playing with a doll may one day become a woman holding her baby by the hands as she takes
her first tentative step. A girl building a house out of blocks may one day build it out of lumber. A
girl forming mud into pies may eventually use fresh whipping cream. A girl studying butterfly
wings may, in time, conduct laboratory experiments. Climbing the monkey bars is good training
for a trapeze artist, and so forth. The book ends with these words: "There are so many things to
be. My heart will lead the way, no matter what I choose to do. Great things are sure to happen as
I make my dreams come true." Illumination Arts publishes beautiful books with glossy images and
thoughtful, inspiring messages. This one is no exception, despite one or two Saccharine
moments.
One Smile
Cindy McKinley, Illustrated by Mary Gregg Byrne
Illumination Arts Publishing Company, Inc.
P.O. Box 1865, Bellevue, WA 98009
ISBN 0-9356-9923-6, $15.95, 28 pages, www.illumin.com
On her way to the bus stop, young Katie pauses to smile at a sad, twenty-something man who has
lost his job. Her smile creates a domino effect in a story about the power of kindness; one
warm-hearted act leads to another. The young man helps a woman whose car has broken down
on her way to an important meeting. That woman, still grateful, leaves her waitress a big tip at
lunchtime. The waitress uses the extra tip money to buy her sons the soccer ball they've been
wanting, and to buy groceries for a picnic. One of the waitress's sons suggests they invite the new
neighbors. The new neighbors' daughter, sad, because she left her old pals and hadn't found any
new playmates, gets along great with the waitress's sons, and begins to think moving wasn't such
a bad idea, after all. She calls her grandmother, who is happy to hear that her granddaughter has
made friends, and out of gratitude and joy, she sends stickers to each of her grandchildren. One of
them shares his stickers with a frightened girl at the doctor's office. The girl's dad later gives a
young man a job. The story comes full circle because this newly employed fellow is the same
twenty-something man from the beginning of the story. Working as a mechanic, he fixes Katie's
mother's car. Now they can drive to Grandpa's house to wish him a happy birthday. This book
made me feel good, and it reminded me how important and powerful acts of kindness are
especially now when so many people feel powerless in the face of global atrocities.
Bella Mahaya Carter
Reviewer
David's Bookshelf
Voyage of the Shadowmoon
Sean McMullen
Tor Books
1403 Flatiron Building
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
ISBN 0765306093, $15.00, 496 pages, 1-888-330-8477, www.amazon.com
I first ran across the Australian author Sean McMullen years ago when I read his Voices in the
Light and Mirrorsun Rising (as the original Australian publisher called the first and second
volumes of his Greatwinter Trilogy). These were science fiction stories bordering on the fantasy
but straight enough then to keep me interested. However the third volume was a long time
coming but eventually emerged from a U.S. publisher, Tor Books, and was, I think, written for a
younger less mature U.S. audience.
Voyage of the Shadowmoon is McMullen's latest novel but for me, alas, he has moved across
from the science fiction to the fully fantasy genre interlaced with slapstick. Not only that, he has
added a heavy sexual content that I found repugnant. However if you are a fantasy fan and can
stand the teenage innuendo then you may be satisfied with this book.
The story revolves around ten voyages of a sailing vessel cum island trader cum submersible that
involve vampires, magical weapons, spells, wizards, war lords, princesses, priests and priestesses
of strange esoteric 'religions'. It starts with the use of a magical weapon that various groups of
people then try to steal or neutralise. Classic goodies versus baddies fodder. The ship
'Shadowmoon' moves these people from mainland port to island to mainland port, managing most
of the time to avoid the marauding armies of a megalomaniac bent on world domination. However
for a lot of the time I found it quite difficult to follow where the ship was sailing to, who were on
board and why they were there. A map inside the end pages would have been a great help.
On top of this is the frequent sexual fantasy, either a castrated ex-king trying to regain his virility
(he has the lost items in a jar pickled in vinegar) or the exploits of some of the more sexually
adventurous and, of course, the coarse jokes surrounding these.
There are also the vampires with descriptions of their many meals of unfortunate bullies,
obnoxious citizens and wastrels.
Oh, and a kidnapped princess who struggles to keep her virginity. Happily she is rescued in
time.
I read an article once that said that there were only nine basic storylines and that the film
'Casablanca' contained all of them. Well, I think the same can be said of Voyage of the
Shadowmoon - that is, if you can sort them out from each other and the slapstick as well.
Voyage of the Shadowmoon
Sean McMullen Published
Tor Books
1403 Flatiron Building
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
ISBN 0765306093, $15.00, 496 pages, 1-888-330-8477, www.amazon.com
I first ran across the Australian author Sean McMullen years ago when I read his Voices in the
Light and Mirrorsun Rising (as the original Australian publisher called the first and second
volumes of his Greatwinter Trilogy). These were science fiction stories bordering on the fantasy
but straight enough then to keep me interested. However the third volume was a long time
coming but eventually emerged from a U.S. publisher, Tor Books, and was, I think, written for a
younger less mature U.S. audience.
Voyage of the Shadowmoon is McMullen's latest novel but for me, alas, he has moved across
from the science fiction to the fully fantasy genre interlaced with slapstick. Not only that, he has
added a heavy sexual content that I found repugnant. However if you are a fantasy fan and can
stand the teenage innuendo then you may be satisfied with this book.
The story revolves around ten voyages of a sailing vessel cum island trader cum submersible that
involve vampires, magical weapons, spells, wizards, war lords, princesses, priests and priestesses
of strange esoteric 'religions'. It starts with the use of a magical weapon that various groups of
people then try to steal or neutralise. Classic goodies versus baddies fodder. The ship
'Shadowmoon' moves these people from mainland port to island to mainland port, managing most
of the time to avoid the marauding armies of a megalomaniac bent on world domination. However
for a lot of the time I found it quite difficult to follow where the ship was sailing to, who were on
board and why they were there. A map inside the end pages would have been a great help.
On top of this is the frequent sexual fantasy, either a castrated ex-king trying to regain his virility
(he has the lost items in a jar pickled in vinegar) or the exploits of some of the more sexually
adventurous and, of course, the coarse jokes surrounding these.
There are also the vampires with descriptions of their many meals of unfortunate bullies,
obnoxious citizens and wastrels.
Oh, and a kidnapped princess who struggles to keep her virginity. Happily she is rescued in
time.
I read an article once that said that there were only nine basic storylines and that the film
'Casablanca' contained all of them. Well, I think the same can be said of Voyage of the
Shadowmoon - that is, if you can sort them out from each other and the slapstick as well.
David Skea
Reviewer
Denise's Bookshelf
Gilded
Catherine Karp
Coachlight Press
1704 Craig's Store Rd., Afton, VA 22920
ISBN: 0971679002, 312 pps, $14.95
This turn-of-the-century novel is a combination romance/suspense, but not in the terms many have
come to expect. It's the tale of one woman's struggle against a male-dominated society, spousal
abuse, and the growing movement for women's rights.
Emma Brandenberg is married to a much older man, Philip, mayor of their town of Hollybrook,
Massachusetts in 1897. She's desperately unhappy with her marriage, but is at a loss what she can
do about it. until the arrival of a woman's hat maker named Freddy Ash. It is his arrival in town
and the opening of Ash's Fine Parisian Millinery that sets the town on its ear and shows not only
Emily but the other women in town, that times are changing and the men folk better just get used
to it.
Ms. Karp has written an exquisitely plotted tale of female angst with her portrayal of Victorian
expectations and morals, and sometimes-backward logic. In Emma, Ms. Karp has put her finger
on the pulse of every woman's desire since the beginning of time to be cherished and respected.
Her characterizations jump off the page and become real, three-dimensional friends who dwell in
the mind for days after the last page is turned and illustrates that women have indeed come a long
way.
The Home Inspection Business from A to Z
Guy Cozzi
Nemmar Educational Training
ISBN: 1887450041, $34.95, 230 pps, www.amazon.com
Home inspectors are here to stay, and their services are not only needed, but are also desired in
today's fluctuating economy. Home inspectors check out a home before purchase by prospective
buyers to help determine the existing conditions of a home - they can also tell the prospective
home buyer what repairs and upgrades might be needed.
These problem spotters, and solvers, earn hundreds of dollars for their expertise, and can help
save potential homebuyers thousands of dollars on repairs and upgrades. A home inspector
performs a visual inspection - he identifies potential problems in a wealth of areas. He can spot
trouble in septic and well water systems, and with gas and water connections, among dozens of
others, including heating, air conditioning, and electrical and plumbing systems.
Author Cozzi, in a step-by-step, vastly illustrated guide shows the reader, homeowner, or
potential home inspector, exactly what to look for, both on the exterior of a home and its interior.
He shows the prospective inspector how to properly fill out reports, how to handle clients, and
how to maintain accurate reports and records.
Using his vast knowledge and experience, Mr. Cozzi has the uncanny ability to take what is
thought to be a convoluted process and simplify it with his easy writing style, one which entertains
as it instructs, which with most 'how-to' books, is no easy feat. His narrative is extremely
reader-friendly and amazingly informative at the same time, guiding the reader along on a
discourse of everything that is expected of a home inspector.
Mr. Cozzi has appeared in local and national newspapers, offering real estate advice. And it's easy
to see why. He's the expert. This book should be required reading for every homeowner.
Real Estate Appraising from A to Z
Guy Cozzi
Nemmar Educational Training
ISBN: 1887450025, 225 pps. $19.95
Real estate appraisers are in demand these days, and get paid hundreds of dollars for their
services. The best thing about becoming an appraiser is that you don't need a Master's Degree or
any special schooling to become one. What you do need, however, is knowledge. In his
extensively researched and illustrated Real Estate Appraising from A to Z, author Cozzi sets out
to give anyone interested in moving into this quickly growing field the tools he or she will need,
not only to do the job, but to do it right.
Mr. Cozzi starts with the very basics. For instance, the purpose, benefits and explanation of what
an appraiser is, what he does and how to become a certified appraiser. From there, he guides the
reader step by step through what appraisers look for when inspecting homes, both their exteriors
and interiors. He explains how to determine home values of not only single-dwelling homes, but
condominiums as well.
But Mr. Cozzi doesn't stop there. In basic, easily understood terms, he explains such topics as
depreciation, the different types of home mortgages and appraisal accounts such as original home
loan and refinance loan appraisals and foreclosure appraisals.
Real Estate Appraising from A to Z is just what the title implies. Mr. Cozzi's ability to instruct
without 'talking down' to his audience is a plus and a rare treat - even for those who know
absolutely nothing about the 'home' business. Homeowners would do well to have a copy of this
book on hand before obtaining an appraisal, and use Cozzi's inspection guidelines within the
actual appraising section of the book to obtain the most favorable value for their homes. Mr.
Cozzi's easy to read, friendly writing style offers expert and timely advice and instruction for both
homeowners and aspiring appraisers. If you want to work for yourself, earn extra money, or
increase the value of your home, this edition is a definite must.
Divinely Inspired: Spiritual Awakening of a Soul
Jerry Pollock
White Tulip Press
ISBN: 0972386602, 224 pps. $18.95
This touching, informative and spiritually strengthening book by author Jerry Pollock tells of one
man's effort to resolve some personal and emotional issues in his life. On the way to doing so, the
author claims one-on-one encounters with God, encounters that helped him to overcome these
struggles and enabled him to move forward toward peace and contentment.
In 'Divinely Inspired', the author believes, and rightly so, that the original Ten Commandments are
not only to maintain order in a chaotic world, but that they are also, in their essence, the source
for any human efforts at self improvement.
Author Pollock bares not only his personal history, but also his soul in this autobiographical
account of how his journey toward faith and God altered the course of his life. He proves that it is
never too late to find God. The author's honesty in dealing with his difficult past and emotional
handicaps results in a touching narrative that reaches out to the reader.
A thoroughly engrossing narrative style and almost conversational tone makes this an easy, fast
and extremely satisfying read, yet one that leaves the impact of a gentle, loving wallop, if there is
such a thing.
Better make sure the kids are in school, the cleaning's done and the errands are finished before
delving into this first novel by newcomer Shannon Greenland, for Discovering Veronica is a
triumphant example of style, plotting and fast reading excitement.
Hoping to start a new life for herself on Amelia Island in Florida, Veronica Burns has taken a
position as an Instructional Technologist at the prestigious Amelia Academy, a private institution
created Rico DeAngelo, her new boss. Rico is immediately attracted and drawn to vivacious yet
cautious Veronica, until he finds out she's been hired without his knowledge and approval.
Determined to succeed in her new position, Veronica can't understand his sudden coolness toward
her, but strives for perfection. To make matters worse, Rico is certain that she's just like all the
other women he's come to know over the last few years; selfish, insincere and completely
uninterested in his young daughter, Maria, who has just started school at the Academy.
But Maria proves Rico wrong on all counts and despite his attempt to ignore the compelling
attraction he feels for her, he is nevertheless brought to the conclusion that he's been behaving
badly. And finally admits it. But just when he makes amends, things start happening in Veronica's
personal life that do not bode well for their new relationship. A man is stalking her, and while
Veronica is determined to take care of herself, it is her very stubbornness that may lead to
disaster; not only for her, but Rico's precious daughter Maria, as well.
This tale of suspense is definitely a page-turner, filled with great characters and a thoroughly
disturbing subplot that puts the story head and shoulders above many others that are similar, but
not nearly so satisfying. The early tension and development of Rico and Veronica's relationship
offers the main story, while the stalker haunting her brings a very real threat to their happiness.
And while Veronica grows, so too does the story line, both keeping pace with one another.
This is an excellent first book for author Greenland, and this reviewer, for one, can't wait to read
more from this exciting and supremely gifted new author.
Denise M. Clark, Reviewer
http://www.denisemclark.com
Fortenberry's Bookshelf
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece
Sean Sheehan
Getty Publications
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 500, Los Angeles, California 90049-1682
ISBN: 0892366672, $19.95, 160 pp., www.getty.edu
The Illustrated History of Ancient Greece is without a doubt a beautiful collection. True to its
title, astounding images and paintings of Greek culture leap off each page, usually several per
page. The production of this oversized hardback is not cheap or shoddy; you will not find black
and white, blurry, or lackluster reproductions on any of these glossy pages. It has vibrant,
high-quality photography and only the best images are chosen to highlight large, easy-to-read
texts. This is an art book masquerading as a text, which is exactly what you would expect in a
book printed by a museum.
It is also, naturally, where one might find fault with this encyclopedia. Though it does indeed
cover a large amount of information (Achilles to Zeus, literally), of historic and mythic topics of
ancient Greece, the entries were surprisingly brief and too cursory for my taste (this review, for
instance, is longer than virtually every entry in the encyclopedia). The average entry is only two
paragraphs long, and this is, as noted above, using large font text. Thus we have only a few
sentences offered per topic. In my opinion, unless the purpose of this book is simply to be a coffee
table art book or conversation piece (which it admirably does), then it utterly fails at the
encyclopedic end of the deal. In contrast, I recently reviewed a similarly sized and high-quality
produced book on the Japanese samurai and it was packed with more information than a dozen
university courses. Perhaps this encyclopedia is meant to be lightweight and aimed at children. I
know that Sheehan has written many educational works for children, so I must presume that is the
purpose here. But, the book doesn't specific state that and I think it should. A little clarity of title
would do the trick. However, I think here we have an example of the publisher trying to balance
the promotion or appeal of the book and make it attractive to every age reader.
At any rate, despite the mild complaint of an armchair historian, this book does cover a lot of
ground. Not content to play with the Olympians, Sheehan also makes mention of most of Greek
civilization, from its philosophers and scientists, to its cities, leaders, money, weapons, armor,
clothing, food, games, technologies (mining, weaving, etc), painting, music, etc. In this sense it
provides a nice overview of ancient Greece. So, to make the distinction: for young readers this
book is an amazing wellspring of accessible and valuable information; for adults it is a beautiful
albeit cautionary tale of how to decorate your coffee table.
Samurai: The Weapons and Spirit of the Japanese Warrior
Clive Sinclaire
The Lyons Press
P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437
ISBN: 1585742821, $29.95, 144 pp., 1-800-836-0510
Clive Sinclaire has written an amazingly complete, riveting history of the Japanese samurai, their
culture, and weapons. The book is a welcome surprise. Though an oversized hardback filled with
glorious photographs and paintings, it is nothing like a typical lightweight coffee-table book (all
glory, no guts). Samurai: The Weapons and Spirit of the Japanese Warrior is the most detailed
study I have yet read, which includes some massive, dusty old tomes. Sinclaire is absolute master
of his subject, as not only an author of many relevant studies and editor of Nihon-to, plus a
martial artist and lifelong student of the Orient, but more so as a champion of the historic
preservation of ancient Japanese culture. He is a longtime member of both the To-Ken Society of
Great Britain and the Nihon Bijutsu To-Ken Hozon Kyokai preservation society of Japan
dedicated to preserving artifacts of and documenting the Samurai era. His close ties over the
decades with Japanese scholars, artisans, and masters of the craft has benefitted us all, as this
book is packed to the gills with extremely detailed, very in-depth knowledge and rare first-hand
experience. However, though he pulls no punches and uses Japanese names and phrases at every
turn, Sinclaire never leaves his readers in the dust and always explains himself thoroughly with an
easy, accessible style. This is one of those rare books that forces the reader to learn something in
each and every sentence, yet does so in an enjoyable and fascinating way.
The sword is thought to be the highest form of this practical art expression. Its beautiful lines, the
exquisite forging patterns and the intricate patterns (hataraki) found in its hamon or quenched and
hardened edge, combined with its deadly efficiency, make it poetry sculpted in steel... (42)
You could say the same thing for Sinclaire's text. While an immense amount of information is
passed along to the reader -- for instance, you don't merely learn about a samurai sword, but
rather about its era, type, metal, forging, swordsmith, lineage or history, its point (kissaki), back
(mune), curvature (zori), shape and form (sugata), pattern of the body (jihada), hardened egde
(hamon), carvings (horimono), tang (nakago), inscriptions (suriage), pattern of the file marks
(yasuri), etc. -- it is done in a simply yet graceful manner. The detail is simply staggering. But he
does not lose control of his text and meander muddily through mountains of information and leave
the reader abandoned somewhere in the dark beneath the hills. His text is clean, concise and
packed with genius.
Samurai starts gently with a general overview of the history of Japan, the rise and rule of the
samurai, and their fall. My poetry sculpted in steel metaphor: like a samurai sword, this book is
exhibited, slowly drawn, then swung in a sharp, perfectly aimed arc. It slowly builds momentum,
flashes and spins out speeding details, and then cuts deep into its subject -- just like a perfectly
swung sword, it cuts to the bone and exposes its subject thoroughly, yet is held and honored with
the deepest respect. Samurai is thorough and covers the samurai and their armor, long and short
swords, daggers, spears and polearms (yari, naginata, and nagamaki), bows and arrows and
archery techniques, horses, and also guns. Each type of weapon is thoroughly explained with
numerous pictures and drawings to explain the techniques of forging or handle wrappings or edge
type or gilding, etc., as well as careful notes on the etiquette, study, appraisal, and care for all
these types of artifacts. This book is designed to be read and enjoyed by an amateur aficionado or
casual reader, yet explicit and knowledgeable enough to be used by a master collector. Samurai is
a brilliant study of a noble and important era in human history.
Thomas Fortenberry
Reviewer
Frank's Bookshelf
The Barbarians Speak: How the Conquered Peoples Shaped Roman Europe.
Peter S. Wells
Princeton University Press.
41 William St., Princeton, New Jersey 08540.
ISBN: 0691058717, $17.95, 335pp., 1-800-777-4726
The author is a professor of anthropology at the University of Minnesota and an expert in the
archaeolgy of southern Germany. This book has 45 black and white illustrations and maps, some
of them overly simple, and two overly brief chronologies. It also has an index, a short glossary
and list of Greek and Roman authors, and a very good bibliographic essay and bibliography. The
focus of Professor Wells's work is the various Celtic and Germanic tribes that lived and worked
north of the Roman Empire. They have left no written but a wealth of material records many of
which have only recently been discovered and studied. Most of the early accounts of these
peoples, whom the Romans called "barbarians," were written by Greeks and Romans. Wells
argues that after studying the physical remains of these peoples' cultures and settlements new
interpretations are warranted that show them to be much more interesting and worthy than the
written records by their conquerers have reported them to be. His investigation starts with Jullius
Caesar's conquest of the Gauls bewtween 58 and 51 BC, which he questionably calls the start of
European history north of the Mediterranean (p. ix), and the Romans' first humiliating and
important defeat by the barbarians in the Teutoburg Forest in northern Germany in AD 9. It ends
with the decline of Roman military and administrative power in northern Europe during the 3rd
century AD as they repeatedly were attacked by bands and tribes of various Goths, Alamanni,
Franks, Saxons, Burgundians, Langobards, Celts, and other groups. To this reviewer the most
fascinating parts of this book deal with the discussions of the lives and cultures of the urbanized,
Iron Age, indigenous peoples of Europe shortly before the Roman conqests, the descriptions of
their settlements called oppida which could be found scattered from France to Eastern Europe,
the culture and lives of people who lived in the early Roman frontier zones, and, of course, the
crises of the 3rd century which saw the "barbarians" starting to get their own way. This is
something of a specialist book filled with all kinds of interesting discussions of coins, monuments,
tools, settlement planning, and many other topics, but serious general readers and motivated
college and university students should be able to find it in their libraries.
A Concise History of China
J.A.G. Roberts
Harvard University Press
79 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
ISBN: 0674000757, $11.87, 341pp., 1-800-448-2242
The author, a historian at Huddersfield University in the United Kingdom, has published four
other histories of China. This one is comprehensive, well researched, and clearly written. It
includes 10 simple black and white maps, endnotes, a list of books on China in English, and an
index. Dr. Roberts states in the introduction that this book is "presented as being in no
fundamental way different from the history of any other nation or society." (p.xiii). He argues,
quite rightly, in his interpretation that traditional histories of China have placed far too much
emphasis on periodization and neat dynastic cycles. He touches on the prehistory of China but
starts his work seriously with the Xia (2205 BC to 1750 BC) and Shang (1766-1122 BC)
dynasties. He ends his work, which emphasizes economic, political, and military affairs, with a
discussion of the regime of Deng Xiaoping who died on 19 February 1997. All of the major
periods in China's long and complex history receive balanced coverage. Possibly the greatest
strength of this useful book is the efficient, concise manner of its presentation. It is indeed a
worthwhile source for general readers and high school-university students.
Southeast Asia: A Concise History
Mary Somers Heidhues
Thames & Hudson
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
ISBN: 0500251177, $10.00, 192 pp., 1-800-233-4830
This highly informative and attractive survey of the island, maritime, and mainland region that
stretches from Burma/Myanmar and Sumatra in the West to Irian Jaya in the West includes the
nations of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei
Darussalam, and the Philippines. It has a glossary, bibliography, an index, and 131 exceptionally
fine black and white illustrations, mainly photographs, and 11 excellent black and white maps. It
covers the period from prehistory to the late 1990s. Some of the topics covered are art, ecology,
economics, ethnic groups, languages, political-military-regional-foreign affairs, religions,
resources, and weather. This very successful book seems well suited to the needs and interests of
general readers and students from middle schools to universities.
Frank P. King
www.kingfr@earthlink.net
Frederick's Bookshelf
The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold
Little, Brown & Company
1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
0316666343, 330 pp., 2002, $21.95, 1-800-759-0190
After more than half a year on the New York Times Best Sellers List, The Lovely Bones is doing
well, not only with the public, but with critics too. The intended audience seems to just a general
audience, though perhaps a little leaning towards teenagers. This is Sebold's first attempt at novel
writing and the subjects she delves into are not ones for unseasoned writers. The title of this novel
refers to those she loves, friends and family. The topics of her book include serial murder, rape,
death, heaven, love, and life after the untimely loss of a loved one. The book begins with a
shocking confession, but then what follows is an inane narrative.
Susie Salmon is a fourteen year old girl lured into an underground death trap by her neighbor.
After suffering rape, her neighbor then kills and dismembers her. We learn of this after the fact
through Susie's first person narrative from "heaven". The rest of the story is simply what happens
to Susie's family and a select few friends as a result of her death in the years after her death. Her
father suspects the next door neighbor, but lack of evidence prevents his arrest. The long
unsolved murder and parental polarity about how to procede with the investigation eventually
causes the Abigail, Susie's mother, to abandon her family, her husband, her daughter Lynn, and
her son, Buckley. She first moves to the East Coast, then to California, sending postcards to her
children along the way. Abigail is intelligent and loves esoteric authors, Sarte, Moliere, Proust,
and Flaubert. But her characterization is flat at best with no believable reasons for her actions, her
being, or her lack of dialogue. The narrative continues until these people live their lives without
constantly thinking about Susie's unsolved murder.
Of the many issues that Sebold's novel addresses, her depictions of love, heaven, death, and
female characterization call for exploration. Since this is Susie's narrative, what is important to
understand is this story is from a teenager's perspective, supposedly. Given that she died at
fourteen, what follows in the narrative belies her age. At times she is omniscient and then she is
not. She can explain things with adult acumen, but she cannot understand that she is dead and no
longer among the living. She is not omnipresent, but can visit her family and friends at will just to
watch their lives, and she even watches her murderer's life, Mr. Harvey. In 'heaven' she watches
events on earth like people watch television here, occasionally switching channels in search of
something more interesting, which in this case is someone who is thinking about Susie. She is in
heaven, but is this heaven?
Love for Susie is very pragmatic. Since she is only fourteen at her death, she laments that she has
only one kiss prior to being raped and killed. This lamentation fills the pages of this novel and as
she watches her friends and siblings age, the curious idea that having sex fulfills Susie's notion that
they are growing up (157). When she watches Ray, the only boy who kissed her, she cannot help
but to fantasize about kissing him more. But her spectatorship does not end there. In fact, she
observes her sister's first sexual experience, her murderer's sexual experiences, and even her
mother's repeated infidelity that she describes as "merciful adultery" (197). Susie wants to have
sex with Ray, the exotic intelligent Indian boy who first kissed her and because she wants it so
bad, it comes true, rather predictably. Ruth, Susie's classmate, is a loner and weird. Ruth
establishes a friendship with Ray as a result of Susie's death and the two spend a lot of time
together. It is during Mr. Harvey's return to his neighborhood to settle things with Susie's sister
Lindsey--she broke into Mr. Harvey's house looking for evidence that he was the murder and thus
necessitating his departure from the neighborhood and flight from the law--that Ruth and Susie
trade places.
On the day Susie enters her heaven, she passes by and touches (all souls want to stay and try to
do so by touching someone before they depart) Ruth. Ruth is a strange loner and intelligent. Ruth
is also clairvoyant. She senses the death of women and girls where ever she goes. During one
scene, Ruth's clairvoyance is so overwhelming that she faints, leaves her body, and goes to
heaven. At that very second, Susie inhabits Ruth's body. Prior to this, Susie desparately wanted to
warn Lindsey about Mr. Harvey, but now that she is in a real body, all she can think about is
having sex with Ray. Ray runs to Ruth's aid since she has fainted, but he cannot tell who she is
since all she wants is for him to kiss her (and since Ruth was leaning to lesbianism, this is
confusing to Ray). Then she tells him that she is not Ruth, but Susie. That is when they go visit a
friend's bike shop and Ray decides to shower, Susie who is now in Ruth's body joins him and the
spend the most of the evening in sexual activity. As the night comes to an end, Susie, realizing
that her time is nearly over, then tries to phone her sister, but her brother answers and he cannot
hear her. She fades away into her heaven once more and Ruth re-enters her body. The scene is
disturbing for numerous reasons, but mainly that even though her sister's life is in danger, Susie
(in Ruth's body), prioritizes sex over the life of her sister.
The depiction of heaven in this novel is most bizarre. Two aspects require comment. There is a
complete absence of God, angels, Jesus Christ, or anything remotely related to traditional
concepts of heaven. Instead, this heaven is a place Susie finds herself after death and is escorted
to her eternal dwelling place after seemingly minor adjustments to the new surroundings. Susie
notices that heaven is similar to places on earth. Upon her third day there (apparently this heaven
functions with solar time, similar to the earth), she meets a girl in her yard on the swing set. Holly,
who becomes her friend, has only been there three days as well. After a little small talk, Susie asks
Holly "Do you like it here?" and the response is quite unexpected as she answers "No." Susie then
explains "we had been given, in our heavens, our simplest dreams" (18). Franny, her "intake
counsellor" explains that heaven is anything you desire, that "all you have to do is desire it, and if
you desire it enough and understand why,-really know-it will come" (19). Thus, the desire plays
an important role in the ever expanding parameters of the heavens. I pluralize the term because
each person has their own version of heaven, and sometimes the heavens intersect with the other
inhabitants' versions of heaven. When the heavens do not intersect, Susie is simply by herself.
The second aspect concerns the contrast of Sebold's heaven with Biblical or even Dantean
accounts of heaven. When God or Christ is mentioned, it is as a curse or mockery. No reverence,
but simply taking God's name in vain. Since there are too many depctions to address, a random
sampling here offers the contrasts. Susie first describes heaven as a place where "There wasn't a
lot of bullshit ..." (8). Though there was no "bullshit", Susie's heavenly air often smelled like
skunk, "just a hint of it" because "It was a smell she had always loved on earth" (40). Susie's
heaven is not necessarily permanent either. In fact, Susie repeatedly visits earth, once in her
friends' body while her friend visited heaven (the aforementioned trading-places event). Since it
was a place of realizing her desire, and she loved animals, especially dogs, she has all kinds of
dogs running around in the park outside her window. Her own dog eventually joins her. Finally,
when people die, Susie can see their souls leaving earth, souls that physically touch people as they
exit earth's realm.
Death in this novel is problematic. It happens for various reasons, most of them quite violent, but
the reason for death is secondary to being in heaven. Death is a transition, though painful
momentarily, it suggests that the quality of your life here does not impose on the quality of life in
heaven. In fact, there is no reason not believe that when Mr. Harvey dies, he will not be in heaven
as well. Why not? There certainly is no reason for him to be condemned. The novel draws no
distinction of what is right or wrong, just that desire is the ultimate guide. Therefore, Mr. Harvey
should have quite a nice heaven as well since he is merely driven by desire. But what is most
disturbing is that death and mourning are situations that these characters cannot cope with and
seek to avoid. Accepting the fact of death is most difficult, especially for Susie who is dead.
The depiction of females in the novel is most problematic, especially of motherhood. Of the four
mothers, Susie's Mother (Abigail), Abigail's mother, Lynn; Mr. Harvey's mother; and Ray Singh's
mother, Ruana, not one is simply normal. Abigail is lost in her own eyes, trying to find some
reason to live other than being a mother. Lynn, Susie's grandmother is alchoholic and driven to
vanity. Mr. Harvey's mom teaches him about murder and how to turn his heart "off an on" as
necessary. And finally, Ruana is an exotic foreigner who smokes Dunhill cigarettes living in a
marriage that is second to her husband's career. No mother is normal in this book, though perhaps
the end of the novel has a bit of hope that Lindsey will be normal as he has her first girl (she
decides to be a therapist as a result of constantly helping her father, brother, and even her mother
make it through during the difficult times). No mother is respected for being a mother, and after
her long separation, Abigail rejoins her family due to her husband's heart attack. In the car on the
way to the hospital, the only words her son has for her are two expletive rejections. Her departure
is unsettling since there is no real character development to explain why she has to leave besides
her loss of ability to put on a front, and her return is just as mysterious.
The depiction of the younger girls fares worse. Lindsey is a brilliant weirdo with the added stigma
of being the sister of the murdered girl. Susie's highly intelligent acquaintance, Ruth, suffers from
delusions which reveal to her gory deaths of other girls and women, seeing "sometimes only
bright flashes...and at other times it was as if an entire scenario spun out in her head in just the
amount of time it took for the girl or woman to die" (251). Intelligence and being female do not
seem to be normal qualities. If a girl is intelligent, there is often something unusual if not just plain
freaky as part of the girl's characterization.
This novel is not so much about heaven, but about not wanting to be there, about wanting to be
with family and with friends. That might simply be normal. But this novel is only about having
sex. Unprotected. Adulterous. Fornication. Since America is experiencing such a tremendous
surge in STD's, the overwhelming adultery, voyerism, and unprotected sex send a potent message
that engaging in such activities is okay; there are no consequences. Look hard to find any in this
novel. For example, Susie's voyeuristic propensity to watch her friends and family includes
observing her own mother's adultery where she state's " I felt the kisses as they came down my
mother's neck" (196). This is not normal, a fourteen year old daughter being a spectator of her
mother's adultery void of moral implication.
I wonder how lovely the bones would be if she lived a normal life. She certainly would not enjoy
such voyeuristic access to her friends and family's sexual activity. Perhaps she would not care
because by not being in heaven, she could not access everyone's presence. Since she had nothing
to do in heaven but watch them anyways, by not going to heaven, she might have ultimately lived
her life here without a predisposition to activities that most normal people would be arrested for if
caught.
The recent disappearances of young teen girls spark a great interest in this book. But, if there is
any relevance in the book, I find no comfort in knowing that victimized girls are in heaven
wanting to come back so then can "grow up" like everyone else, engaging in unprotected
premarital sexual activity. If Sebold's depiction of heaven is true, I find little healing in the notion
that their existence in heaven is merely whatever they desire it to be. It is a disturbing novel that
exemplifies and promotes prurient activity void of consequences and avoids the reality of death
altogether. As a result, most disturbing is that with the nature of heaven advanced in this novel, it
is just a place to go when you die, Mr. Harvey will also be there.
Frederick White
Reviewer
Gorden's Bookshelf
Cryptonomicon
Neal Stephenson
Avon Books
10 East 53rd Street New York, NY 10022
ISBN: 0060512806, $7.99, paperback, 1139 pages
Stephenson has written a massive complex novel of two intertwined stories separated by 50 years
in 'Cryptonomicon.' The stories are engaging and interesting but Stephenson likes words. Long
passages are unnecessarily complex and hard to follow as he fills them with sentences built for the
usage of words and not the telling of a story. If you love the play of words, you will love this
novel. If you like storytelling, you will wish there was a condensed version of the book.
'Cryptonomicon' is a story that follows two family lines, the Shaftoes and the Waterhouses, from
just before World War II to today. Cryptonomicon is a name given to a compilation of cryptology
techniques and methodology during World War II and is the thread that holds the story together.
The Waterhouses supply the brains to the tale while the Shaftoes the brawn. Stolen gold, spying,
encryption, war, death are all blended into a richly detailed action novel with a mystery twist.
If you like high tech action mysteries that require a lot of thinking, 'Cryptonomicon' is a good
story. The blending of action with a technical storyline is done flawlessly. If you can handle the
overuse of words, you will enjoy it. 'Crytonomicon' is good story that could be a great one if it
was under a thousand pages.
1st To Die
James Patterson
Warner Books, Inc.
1271 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0446610038,$7.99, paperback, 462 pages
Patterson has written a fast easy reading action/detective mystery in '1st To Die.' Patterson is well
known as a detective mystery writer with a few of his stories made into movies. I do not read
many of Patterson's novels but 1st is a straight forward mystery with a final surprise twist.
Lindsay Boxer is a San Francisco homicide detective who gets called to a luxury hotel for a
gruesome murder of high society newlyweds on the same day she finds out she has a lethal form
of anemia. The murders and her illness threaten to overwhelm her. When the murders continue,
she decides to bring her friends together to help solve the case, Claire a medical examiner, Cindy a
crime reporter for the 'Chronicle,' and Jill an assistant DA. The Women's Murder Club is
started.
'1st To Die' is a satisfying mystery with a rich cast of characters. There is some weakness to the
story at the end but this is a solid tale. Patterson is at his best and the story is well worth
reading.
To The Max: Revenue Maximization
Randy Browning and Sameer Kumar
PricewaterhouseCoopers
1177 Ave. of the Americas, New York, NY 10036
ISBN: 1931684065 $29.95 Pages: 248
"To The Max" is an insightful guide to the problem of revenue leakage. With growth rates so
much lower than they were in the early nineties, businesses have increased the focus on
maximizing the revenue stream. The authors are partners at PricewaterhouseCoopers and have
extensive experience in the trenches with the telecom industry. While their advice is current and
highly practical it is most appropriate for industries the have a great deal of transactions on a
regular basis such as telecoms, hospitals and similar organizations.
The areas covered include facts about revenue leakage, causes of revenue leaks, what some
companies are doing now, how to get a revenue maximization initiative going within your
organization, day-to-day processes, key automated tools, quantifiable monitoring mechanisms,
and the future of revenue maximization. While the authors focus on an approach they call
identify-quantify-capture, it is obvious that they have dealt in the real world. One of the places this
shows though most clearly is in the section where they discuss the problems of getting an
organization to commit to a program. It includes detailed discussion of some of the various
commitment phases and the process of moving through those phases on the path to commitment.
"To the Max" is a recommended read for anyone in business for their self or at the head of a large
department or corporation. It is a highly recommended read if that business is involved in a highly
detailed transactional business where thousands of transactions are detailed daily.
The Lonely Queue: The Forgotten History of the Courageous Chinese Americans in Los
Angeles
Icy Smith
East West Discovery Press
PO Box 2393, Gardena, CA 90247
ISBN: 0970165412 $39.95 Pages: 195
"The Lonely Queue" is a high quality, oversized book about the history of Chinese Americans in
Los Angeles. The text starts with 1850 when there were only two Chinese male house servants
recorded in the census and continues through the 1990s. The primary divisions are: Early
Settlement in Los Angeles, Chinese Exclusion Act Years in Old Chinatown, Social Conditions in
Old Chinatown, The Birth of China City, Chinese Americans in World War II, Postwar Years in
New Chinatown, Chinatown Troubles, The Development of Suburban Chinatown, The
Emergence of the San Gabriel Valley Chinese Communities, New Roles of Chinese Americans,
and The Future.
The book is filled with so many pictures and illustrations from the various time periods that it
appears more space is dedicated to the pictures than to the words. While this might not be
appropriate in other books, I have always found it to be wonderful in historical texts. Nothing
takes you back in time and gives you a feel for the period as well as a period photograph or
illustration. This is a highly recommended and very valuable book for anyone interested in the
history of Chinese Americans in Los Angeles.
Swords for Hire
Will Allen
CenterPunch Press
PO Box 43151, Cincinnati, OH 45243
ISBN: 0972488200 $6.95 Pages: 168
"Swords for Hire" is a humorous and exciting medieval adventure. Inspired by "The Princess
Bride", the style is similar enough that anyone who enjoyed that book should enjoy this one.
Although it is written for the juvenile market (age 9 or so and older) it is still a delightful read for
anyone. For a younger person the first thirty pages are somewhat slow but required in order to lay
the foundation for the rest of the book. On the other hand, once you get to the section on "The
Oddball" it picks up speed, the two primary characters become well developed and the book takes
off. After that it is hard to put the book down and you may find yourself sitting up to finish it.
"Swords for Hire" is a highly recommended and enjoyable read.
Money Working for You
Robert S. Bacarella
Monetta Educational Foundation
1776-A South Naperville Rd., Wheaton, IL 60187
ISBN: 0972367411 $24.95 Pages: 130
"Money Working for You" is a basic guide to the world of Finance and Investment. It is written
for the high school market but would be valuable to anyone who has had no formal education in
the area of finance. The text starts by defining money and its use as a medium of exchange, then
proceeds through earning, saving, simple and compound interest, investments, stocks and stock
charts, bonds, mutual funds, real estate and commodities.
Each area is covered in appropriate detail to provide a basic understanding. Coverage includes
such things as the rule of 72, reading stock market charts, basic rules of investing, understanding
risk, and volatility. The author, Robert S. Bacarella has been an investment professional for over
26 years and is currently the president and director of the Monetta Family of No-load Mutual
Funds. He is to be commended for producing a text that covers the basics of finance in an easy to
understand way and is entirely appropriate for the high school market.
"Money Working for You" is a highly recommended purchase for those wanting a good
introduction to finance. A supplemental guide with lesson plans is also available for those who
would want to use it in a scholastic environment.
Gestapo USA: When Justice Was Blindfolded
William E. Winterstein, Sr.
Lt. Colonel (Ret.)
Robert D. Reed Publishers
750 La Playa, Suite 647, San Francisco, CA 94121
ISBN: 1931741131 $25.95 Pages: 208
Gestapo USA examines the historical events of the German rocket team that developed the
technology that eventually sent satellites into space and men onto the moon. While it looks at
several historical curiosities such as how the team had the technology to send a satellite into space
before Sputnik but was held at bay for political reasons, the majority of the book examines the
case of Arthur Rudolph. Arthur Rudolph was one of the German scientists involved in U.S. rocket
research. After completing the majority of his research and developing the technology he was
suddenly accused of Nazi war crimes and deported.
The author, William E. Winterstein, is in an excellent position to walk the reader through the case.
He is a retired military officer and was intimately involved in the rocket research project. As he
gets into the details of the Rudolph case it appears at first to be just a case of a person trying to
clear the name of a good friend. But further reading shows that he is not only determined to clear
his friend's name but has a great deal of clear and convincing evidence that the Federal
investigators had an ulterior motive for deporting Rudolph. What that motive might be is never
clear, but Mr. Winterstein includes copies of letters, and other evidence that clearly points to a
governmental conspiracy. He presents much of the evidence in a voluminous series of appendices
to the text.
People who are interested in conspiracy theories will enjoy the book as it definitely opens a lot of
questions and leaves them unanswered. If you are interested in history, rocket science, political
science, conspiracy theories, or just want to know what the government is capable of doing to the
innocent this will be one of your favorite books. The title Gestapo USA may be a little overboard,
but the subtitle When Justice was Blindfolded is a perfect description of the situation. This is a
highly recommended read and sure to become a favorite for those interested in historical
truth.
Teleworking and Telecommuting
Jeffery D. Zbar
Made E-Z Products
384 S. Military Trail, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442
ISBN: 1563825198 $14.95 Pages: 239
To put it succinctly "Teleworking and Telecommuting" is a must-have guide to anyone
considering either of these working paradigms. The author provides and extensive analysis of all
the benefits and pitfalls of working from home. He covers the personal characteristics necessary
for successfully working from home, home office furnishings, balancing problems with family life
and work life when at home, strategies for getting the employer to accept the proposition of
working from home, and many other things that are critical to your success but often overlooked
when considering working from home. The book ends with four appendices that provide a
teleworker aptitude test and three sample contracts. I've been involved in teleworking for some
time where I spend some time at the office and some time elsewhere providing work product.
This is the most comprehensive book on the subject that I have read and so is a highly
recommended read for anyone who is thinking of changing their work style to a teleworking
paradigm or who is thinking of taking a job where teleworking is required or an option.
Entrepreneurship
Mel Chasen
Made E-Z Products
384 S. Military Trail, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442
ISBN: 156382521X, $14.95 Pages: 220
"Entrepreneurship" discusses what an entrepreneur is and what makes a successful one. While all
of the advice is sound, this is a common subject for books and there is a lot of competition for
market share. All of them cover common problems of the entrepreneur, mistakes to avoid,
important steps and strategies to take, etc. Most also contain motivational stories and information.
So, why should you consider this book over other similar titles? Well it is the only one that I have
read that includes some very important factors to personal success. These important factors
include one that is left out of most lists. That factor is forgiveness. It is critical for success that
you be able to forgive not only employees that make errors but also errors that you make. I have
seen many businesses fail because the head made a mistake in judgment that they then spent all of
their time trying to recover instead of just forgetting it and moving on. A truly successful
entrepreneur has two personality characteristics that are not mentioned in most business books.
One is that they can forgive themselves and others and move on. The other is that they can't be
too personally attached to their ideas. If they try something and it fails then try it different, change
it, or try something entirely different, but don't be so personally attached to the idea that you have
to make it work just the way it was originally conceived. While the author does not come out and
express this as one of his top factors, the idea is embedded within the pages of the book. This
recognition that the successful entrepreneur must be able to forgive, adapt, and move on is what
makes this book different from most. The rest of them are sound business books for the
entrepreneur and some of them will still be required (such as a book that includes information on
the business form you might want to take - corporation, partnership, sole-proprietor, etc.) but this
book should be the beginning point. Use this book to determine whether you have what it takes to
be an entrepreneur or not. It is a recommended read for anyone thinking about going in business
for their self.
The Emotional Energy Factor: The Secrets High-Energy People Use to Beat Emotional
Fatigue
Mira Kirshenbaum
Delacorte Press/The Bantam Dell Publishing Group
1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036
ISBN: 0385336098 $23.95 Pages: 260
In The Emotional Energy Factor author Mira Kirshenbaum has produced a seminal work on why
we feel tired and what we can do about it. She explains that physical energy is only one factor of
our total energy formula, emotional energy is the larger and more important factor.
The book dedicates a chapter to each of several emotional drains and what needs to be done to
stop the draining and start the energy flow. The writing is skillfully done with a direct and to the
point style. Well researched and easy to understand, this book is sure to bring hope to millions
who suffer under emotionally draining circumstances and don't realize why they are so fatigued.
The Emotional Energy Factor is a highly recommended purchase.
The Devil Himself: The Mutiny of 1800
Dudley Pope
McBooks Press, Inc.
520 N. Meadow St., Ithaca, NY 14850
ISBN: 1590130359, $14.95 Pages: 201
Author Dudley Pope has pieced together the factual events of the Mutiny of 1800 and put them
into an easy to read story. Why is this particular mutiny significant? It is the only British mutiny to
occur during wartime where the mutineers actually delivered the ship to the enemy.
Written in a narrative style, "The Devil Himself" clearly illustrates the naval conditions of the time.
Seamen were often impressed into the naval service against their will, advancement was difficult
but often given for political reasons as much as talent, flogging was common, and in the case of
the Danae the quarters were small and the ceilings so low that you could not stand up at all.
A sleek ship, the Danae could overtake just about anything else on the water. What would cause
the ship's crew to mutiny? Why would a mutinous crew actually deliver their ship to the enemy?
Other mutinies had occurred but they resulted in better conditions for sailors, why was this one so
different?
This is a fascinating read for anyone interested in historical events. Put together from the British
and French Naval archives, where it is in a folder labeled Le Diable Lui-meme - The Devil
Himself, it is a recommended read.
Abandoned on Bataan
Oliver Allen (as told to Mildred Allen)
Crimson Horse Entertainment & Publishing Co.
103C Parkway, Boerne, TX 78006
ISBN: 0971318417, $18.95, Pages: 230
"Abandoned on Bataan"; is the detailed memoirs of Oliver Allen, one of may American soldiers
left behind on the Bataan peninsula during World War II. Most people with even a basic
knowledge of the history of the war in the Pacific know of the Bataan death march and the
condition of the people when they were rescued from camps in China and Japan. What we
generally don't know much about is what happened between those events. Oliver Allen's story fills
in that detail with his personal experiences. He details the treatment received (including the rare
instances of kindness shown by individual soldiers), the daily life in the camp, the work details, the
health conditions, and the eventual liberation. It is a story of strength in the darkest hours of
human travesty, it is a story of surviving, and it is a story of winning against all odds. For those
with an interest in history and in particular an interest in Bataan or the war in the Pacific in general
it is a highly recommended read.
Good Morning, Sun
Jenny Kochersperger
Beyond Borders Books
420 E 120th Ave, B-2 #206, Northglenn, CO 80234<
