James Dean Books

As a lover of military history, and WWII in particular, I was eager to read another great sea story, so highly rated. The title, Ship of Ghosts, was most intriguing, suggesting the story of a warship that kept up a fight while out of all communications. Unfortunately, the title turned out to be misleading. The USS Houston was sunk rather quickly, in its second battle of the war, so the bulk of the book describes how the American POWs survived a brutal Japanese imprisonment. An interesting read in itself, but not what it represents to be. I note that out of 420 pages, only 80 are about the sea battles. Hornfischer is a fabulous writer (maybe too good - once in a while the prose seems to get in the way of the storyline)and the story moves along, so "Ship of Ghosts" is worth reading, but readers should expect a story of survival, less so of battle and tactics.

very realistic book about what really happened. my uncle was on this ship and was captured by the japanese and spent the rest of the war in prison camps. he had told me quite a lot about what happened and the book backed up what he said.

At 69, I have never shed so much tear as I did reading "Ship of Ghosts"! I walked away from reading only to wipe or hide my tears.

In a way, I took "comfort" that my father was spared of the ordeal and that "comfort" helps fill somewhat the hole in my heart of my life-long yearning for the father I never knew. The survivors survived, not only to tell the story of the Houston saga, but also to spare the agony of their family members who otherwise would be like me.

Other good books such as Winslow's offered much information about USS Houston and her crew where I first saw my father's name. This "Ship of Ghosts" offers added views from non-Houston survivors.

And lastly, it is well written.

Eric Lien

This was one of those "why not?" choices of reading.

I knew of the heavy cruiser Houston but this book filled in the story. James Hornfischer did a wonderful job accumulating stories to present a good picture of what happened to the men of the Houston in the early days of the war and what happened to them during the war.

The Houston and along with a "rag-tag" collection of ships were given the all but suicide mission to defend Java from the Imperial Navy and the approaching invasion force. Suicide in the fact they were going to a fight severely over gunned and with no air cover.

They tried but were beaten and eventually only the Houstan the and Australian Cruiser HMAS Perth remained. Trying to make a run to Australia, they stumble on the invasion forces even though they thought it was only the navy. The Perth is mortally wounded and the Houston learns she has stumbled on the invasion fleet and rushes in. Four Japanese ships are sunk by the Japanese trying to get the Houston. Eventually she is sunk.

The story reads like an adventure which are greatly added by the personal stories of the survivors. The ship cats of the Perth and Houston. The cat from the Houston runs into the jungle just before the final voyage when the ships stop to refuel. The cat from the Perth is caught 3 times and ordered to be clapped into irons(ie a fuel can with four holes). Poor kitty knew what was coming. The grizzled old marine Sargent who stays at his post firing his 50 calibers while the ship tower sinks into the water(he could not swim). The chaplin who gave up his life in the life boats so the younger men would have a better chance.

The men of both ships try to figure out what to do. Some are picked up but surprisingly many are left by the Japanese. Some unruly Australians cuss out Japanese that try to rescue them. It was commented that in a disaster it's best to be with Australians as they have the penchant to look at everything as an opportunity. One group for instance, made it to shore, made a ragtag ship and sail and were going to make a run for Australia. They were captured.

Next came the stories of the camps. The brutality and the diseases of life in the jungle as a P.O.W. You get to hear the about the amazing doctor who had knowledge of Jungle medicine and probably saved countless men. One thing was surprising was to read these men were involved with the bridge and train system that was told by the move "The Bridge on the River Kawi" I knew Hollywood tends to glamorize things but you will see the full story from this book. One of my favorite characters from this cast is the supreme scavenger named Mccone. The Japanese were scared of him because they thought he was crazy. He assembled a crew which he called the 40 thieves. One story that made me laugh was the arrival of a delivery truck. The thieves stripped it down to the frame in minutes and the tossed the frame next to the junk pile. The driver came back and was subsequently beaten by the guards for loosing the truck. The guards were beaten by the NCOs for the truck being lost and the NCOs were beaten by the commander for the guards loosing the truck. The prisoners had to work from laughing and dreaded what would have happened if the commander had put his hand on the still hot radiator as he looked through the junk pile.

An interesting aspect was the mix of brutality and the rare instances of compassion shown by the Japanese. Beatings were a constant thing but then there were moments of were they would do things. When it came to the Korean guards it was down right brutal.

One interesting side note was the fact the river Kwai was not the original name. It was later renamed after the movie came out.

All in all this is a good book for the historian and the general fan of the area. Numerous sources are listed for further research if so desired. There is also a website listed that keeps track of the survivers and men who died on that day.

The story of the loss of the heavy cruiser USS Houston off the coast of Indonesia on 1 March 1942 is a story which strikes right to the heart of naval traditions which go back beyond the creation of the United State of America itself. It is a story of danger and brave deeds, of gallant actions and bloody combat. Most of all it is a story of ship that went down fighting against insurmountable odds - a ship which never struck her colours and was still fighting when the sea finally claimed her.

Famous for being President F. D. Roosevelt's favourite ship, the Houston was trapped in the Far East immediately after the events of Pearl Harbour and the loss of the British Force Z (Battleships HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse) just a few days later. In company with HMAS Perth, the ships fought off, avoided and evaded overwhelming enemy forces until, low on ammunition, they colluded in the most courageous action now known as the Battle of Sunda Strait where both ships were finally lost.

This, however, is where Mr Hornfischer starts his story about this legendary "Ship of Ghosts."

It is because the Japanese were so very ruthless in their bid to conquer all before them, that prisoners were treated with utter contempt. Consequently, those who survived the sinking of the Houston began a journey that became the stuff of legend and it would be a full 3 years before anyone beyond those Japanese forces would learn what had happened to the ship and that some survivors were still alive - though, by now, far fewer in number.

There is no happy ending to such a story as this because there never can be. War is brutal and warships on both sides get sunk. What actually happened to the survivors of the USS Houston has taken this author right through and beyond the ordinary realms of research into an area of personal accounts, life in captivity and life in the jungle at the hands of a regime far more cruel than anything seen since the dark days of WW2.

And yet, he produces an account of personal achievement for those who possessed that indefinable quality that always meant they were going to survive.

I congratulate Mr Hornfischer on an excellent book, an excellent job of research and a most complete account. Most of all, I congratulate him on making it all so very readable.

NM

Please say this review is helpful to you. They told me that if I post another unhelpful review they're going to kill my ferret.

It was obvious to anyone who has known Peyser that something like this was bound to happen. I refer, of course, to Peyser's bout of aphasia during his freshman year at the College. Clearly this mysterious illness has returned in book-length, perhaps even a global, form. We may never really know what Peyser is up to in this book. Oh, for some Young and Champollion to decode this, the Rosetta Stone of post-modernism!

I don't usually tolerate so-called theory, but this was fun!

Don't let the title fool you--this is a down-to-earth, engaging work that deserves to be read by a much larger audience than the academic field it's probably relegated to.

This is a powerful, bleak book. None of the writers Peyser deals with is particularly optimistic. The possible exception is Howells but there is a dark undertow even to his work which Peyser makes sure we see. So a book about utopia is also a strangely, depressing read. 40 years or so after Brooke Farm, who would have thought things would have gotten so sad? Of course it was the turn the century and the best of the Western thinkers were thinking sad and pessimistic thoughts. And now here we are at the turn of another century and we have this powerful, bleak book. Have we come all that far after this century of bloodthirsty carnage? Is Utopia even further away than it was 100 years ago? Read Peyser's powerful, bleak book and see if you can answer some of these sad questions yourself. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

You know, this is not the sort of book I would normally read. But there it was, suddenly, on the coffee table one night. How it got there I have no idea. Just curious, I began to leaf through the pages, and the words began to resonate with me. Unable to sleep, I read it through in one sitting by candlelight. The next morning, I began to look at things around me differently. First, I removed several unessential appliances from the house in an effort to simplify my existence. Then it became time to de-clutter and I threw out several items I realized I had no more use for. Then, and this all seemed so logical in light of the things I'd read, I divorced the wife and sent her on her why. Sure, she cried a bit, but I knew I was doing the right thing. And I've never regretted it. This is, indeed, one of the best books I've read all year.

I received this book over twelve years ago by a relative when I was five years old, and it still remains a treasure on my bookshelf. There are some books that embody a sense of magic well beyond their words and after long putting this one down, the images, love of tales, and the pure passion of the myths stays with you. James C. Christensen's work very obviously could stand alone. The brilliant rich colors and original imagination very nearly breathe life into an eloquent, albeit essentially simple story. You end up `seeing' the adventure as it pans out, on the decks of the Basset as it goes sailing, looking for magic.

The story has always remained dear to me, having characters that not only do you empathize with and care for immensely but end up seeing little bits of yourself entwined in. I love the subtext with the science in a world where physics and rigid rationalities are not shunned out, but rather melded together in an appreciation of what an untamed imagination has to offer a world that works within rules and boundaries; an ideology that I have long since held with reverence and respect. That without the ingenuity and sparks of original thought, the very fuel and passion of science and humanity's natural need and compulsion to understand, would be left lackluster, without the same benefit, and without the very essence that makes us who we are.

It is a quiet little book that has interwoven themes in a light manner and stays in a genre all its own. Someone obviously cared deeply about the origins of the myths, tales, and creatures, and through the perspective of Professor Aisling you shall find footnotes telling of their backgrounds and stories. As a kid this is why I fell in love with reading, the type of thing that leaves a dreamlike quality in the waking hours and sends shivers down the spine.

As that child, I saw the excitement and adventure that often keeps a young one entertained, though also growing up through the last twelve years I have drawn depth out of it. Originating from someone young who cared little for the sensible, polite etiquette of today's society (Cassandra), to now someone who roots and thrives and builds their life off of the science of the world (Miranda), I can see myself in both daughters. I have been both daughters. The book has a story of loss in its pages, and contributes to how our dreaming and imaginative nature is often lost in light of trauma and death, and also how it can wither or steel over as we grow older; as we come to understand the world expects a certain sense of propriety out of us. The two girls here are the split halves of a sphere; the pure willingness to believe with the mind of a child, and the sensibility and maturity of a questioning nature. Neither science nor the imagination is on some level complete without the other, and here they are personified in two strong females rooted in the deep bond of family.

This will be a book to give a child that will most likely appeal to their tastes, though will always remain something accessible to those older, and something that one will never tire of picking up. It's the sort of thing that will always hold something new with each stage of life and therein lays my ardent affection for the mythology, calm wisdom, and art within its pages. A golden and heartfelt story awaits you on a neglected dock. Credendo vides, my friend.

I think that my favorite part of this book were the illustrations. Then again, I hesitate to call the pictures in this book illustration; they step into the realm of artwork. Christensen's artwork is beautiful! The colors are vivid and alive, and sometimes I couldn't turn the page because I wanted to soak in every detail. They were so real, that I had a hard time looking at Medusa's eyes because it almost seemed that they would turn me into stone if I looked.

I loved the way the story and art went hand in hand to tell the voyage of the professor and his two daughters. If you love daydreaming about fantastical journeys, this is the story for you! Everything from Greek Mythology to Mideival Legend is found by sailing with the crew of the Basset.

What great story would be complete without having an equally great message! The message of this book is as beautiful as the story and its artwork. For fear of spoiling anything, here it is in the latin: "cresendo vides!"

If you love fairy tales then this book is for you! with an excellent story and beautiful pictures, I open my book at least once a week! I highly recommened this book to all ages! A true classic!

This is my favorite book. I have read it so many times. The drawings are beautiful. The story is so interesting that you almost feel like you are in the book, that you are Cassandra. There are so many mythical creatures discribed and drawn out for you on every page. My favorite part is when they meet the Manticore and the Sphynx falls in love with him. It is a very cute book that reads easy.

A story about a family coping with heartache and struggling to pick back up the pieces of their torn lives. Full of whimsical illustrations and imagination. For kids and the kid at heart, the only thing you will regret is not going on this fantastic voyage of distant shores and mythical creatures.

Moe Prager, P. I. and wine shop owner, interesting, kind of like Sam Spade owning a gourmet cheese boutique or maybe Raymond Chandler a nice little French bakery.... But, Reed Coleman pulls it off and the James Deans won't disappoint even the most discriminating imbiber of classic P. I. Noir. Plus, I met Mr. Coleman on one of his tours and he's a nice guy. Buy this book!

An ex-cop turned successful wine merchant and sometime PI. A golden-haired politico wanting to be another "comeback-kid." An office intern who turned out to be a deadly researcher. These are the intriguing main characters in Reed Farrel Coleman's third Moe Prager mystery, The James Deans.

If you've got politicians in a story, then you know what the other elements will be--greed, betrayal, misuse of power, dishonesty, and in the wake of Monicagate and GaryCondit/Chandra Levy, sexual dallying will play a big part too.

Or will it? That's what's so intriguing about this specific mystery and the skill that author Reed Farrel Coleman brings to his stories--you think it's going to follow the path lead by headlines, then it veers off into uncharted territory, with roots laid deep and long ago. His style is lean and mean on one of its threads and spiraling with imagery on another. The combination makes his writing exciting and hard to forget.

The James Deans is a terrific page-turner, complicated with plenty of twists and made rich with believable, flawed characters. It's only a matter of time before Coleman and emerges from the pack and shines in the spotlight.

Moe is the refreshing antithesis of most characters being written today. He is a loving husband, father and brother, neither an alcoholic nor a drug user, but with secrets and burdens of his own. I still rave about "Walking the Perfect Square" as one of my favorite books. Coleman creates an environment that feels personal. But it's the writing that makes this book and series one I feel deserves attention and recognition. Highly recommended.

A pretty decent, fairly engaging mystery. The characters are pretty well fleshed out and the relationships, for the most part, are very believable and sympathetic.
The plot is a good mix of an old-fashioned Hammettesque detective story and modern day mystery.
My main problem is the observations, obviously from a post 9/11 perspective, of 1980's New York. I mean, come on, why would a 1983 detective be looking for the twin towers, thinking that "the skyline wouldn't look right without them?"
Over all, I enjoyed the characters enough to try another Moe Prager mystery. It's a decent, light read for a Saturday afternoon.

When he is cornered at an employee's wedding in 1983 New York, the last thing wine shop owner and private investigator Moe Prager is to work for a politician. A former cop who was forced on disability by a piece of carbon paper on a waxed floor, Moe has had enough of being manipulated and holds a secret that could destroy his marriage. However, a carrot and stick approach by the bride's father forces Moe into working for State Senator Steven Brightman and investigating the disappearance of his female intern in Reed Farrel Coleman's The James Deans (Plume)..

Moe soon makes headway into the case, but after coming to a conclusion that leaves everyone satisfied niggling doubts begin to force Moe into looking a little closer at a case that has been tidily resolved. Now, Moe must decide whether to open a can of worms that would leave the powerful and his own friends particularly unhappy with his actions. From the Senator down to the neighborhood bar owner, all are invested in the nicely wrapped package Moe has presented to the city. To continue investigating means that Moe risks sacrificing his career, his family, and his friends.

Moe Prager is a wonderfully down-to-earth detective who, although bored with his mundane life, would rather avoid a fight than wield his muscle. His love for his family makes him engagingly human, especially when he knows that a secret he shares with his father-in-law will one day explode and shatter his marriage (Walking the Perfect Square, 2001). Not overly bright but always quick with a quip yet never annoyingly so, it's his ethics and sense of honor that make Moe shine. Taking a turn at writing his version of the Chandra Levy/Gary Condit scandal, Coleman does an original twist with the plot as halfway through, just when you think the mystery has been solved, he boomerangs the story and leads Moe into making a decision that forces him to look deep into his soul and his sense of justice. While Coleman does make a few obvious references meant to give a wink and a nod to the present (a poetic look at the sturdy World Trade Center and jokes about a going-nowhere Arkansas Senator), he writes a riveting plot and creates a vivid portrait of eighties New York City. Always entertaining with a character who is never disappoints, Coleman continues a series that improves and expands on a truly unique character.

The focus of this book is the automobile crash that ended the life of actor James Dean. Dean only ever made three movies but those three had a huge impact on folks of that period.

In any case, the details given here will present you with a clearly defined account of why and how this youth noir-icon died.

He was on his way to a race, in a racecar, when a young man pulled out from an intersecting highway. So, the question arises, 'Was Dean's speed the cause of the spectacular crash or, was it carelessness on the young man's part who possibly failed to yield the right-of-way?' (HINT: Dean was just issued a speeding ticket about an hour or so before the crash!)

This book has plenty of nice illustrations and I found it a real page-turner of a mini-biography.

We invite you to learn more about James Dean and other Warren Beath titles at http://jamesdeanindeath.com/

I first read this book almost 15 years ago and lost the original paperback whilst at college.But I can still recall the creepy passages of Beath's descripton of Dean's death and Beath's veiled admission of his own descent into madness and obsession-the young man that Beath describes throughout the book IS the author himself because if you read his bibliography at the front,he lists NOTES ON DYING which is the thesis the character writes in the book.Bits that stick out are the Japanese business-man buying the hulk of the tow-truck that carried away the crumpled porshe after the crash and the author stealing a high-way cornice and storing it in his room,only to find it infested with hornets and flies.Quite superb.

I read this book when it first was published, so I am obviously not in the best position to critique it at least a couple years later. However, when it comes to James Dean I am an admitted addict and have read almost everything that has been published about him over the past 30 years. What makes this book a standout is that it concentrates on Dean's death as opposed to his life. It provides very detailed information re: his last ride and how his death and the subsequent hoopla surrounding it was handled. It also provides quite a lot of previously unpublished material in regard to the period immediately before and after his death. The author has saved us all a lot of pain and irritation by researching this material in a factual and precise manner.
What makes this book a positive departure from the other Dean book is that there is no psychological stuff about Dean's tortured youth or attempts to affix a death wish to him, just a lot of good hard facts. Joe Friday couldn't do a better job in that area.
The best part of this book? It sticks to the truth and makes for an interesting read.

Beath makes the death of James Dean a very personal experience for the reader. This is not a book one reads and forgets - the reader has participated in the author's passionate search for the substance behind the tragedy and the reader is changed. I'm ready for more from this author.

I love this band. I love their story. Their CD's are on my desert island list. Acquaint yourself and set a spell. You won't be sorry. Then get their music. Love it and laugh, and cry. And, Steven, if you are out there, "the ballad of 4 happy cats" is my favorite song ever. EVER!

It's Friday night in Goshen and I have just a few minutes to myself before I take off the volunteer at Goshen's homeless shelter . I finished "The Good Book", (I windexed the cover and whenever I pick it up I feel its shiny smooth surface :) ) As soon as Julian, my seventeen year old son finishes it, there's a whole line up of my fellow employees at Care At Home Services where I work (who were with us Saturday night at the Brew) who want to read it. I loved your music, the lyrics, the stories . . . it's like i figure, stories and music bring people together and make them forget about their preoccupation with beliefs and ideologies; if original sin can be thought of as separateness, (an idea from Matthew Fox's book-"Original Blessing" that I kind of like,) then art, music, dance and storytelling, etc., etc., are what can save us. I haven't set aside my miseries with such abandonment since I rode the Tilt-a-whirl at the Elkhart County Fair as I did at the Brew Saturday night.

Keep looking for the rainbow. Love, Carolyn

Y'ALL isn't so much a band as it is a world unto istelf: eight years of making music in a relationship has inspired the pair to metamorphose into an impressive home industry with its own product line (calendars, pamphlets, hand-painted rhinestone T-shirts and six albums with a seventh on the way); vocabulary (with words like "bedazzled" for their rhinestone fashion); original holiday recipes; and most impressive, a good back story, which is lovingly chronicled in a 300-page hardcover autobiography they just published.

"The Good Book: the true story of Y'ALL," a Product of Mr. Byrd's hyperactive imagination and boundless energy, tells the half-true story of Y'all's wacky preacher relatives, their fated meeting during a thunderstorm and the lucky green dress given to them by an uncle who advised, "You can't never tell what might happen to you if folks have a reason to stare."

Well, they said they were going to do it. And, with their undying sense of pluck, the simple country boys of Y'ALL have finally told their tale in a hardback book. And what a gorgeous production it is, too. The members of this backwoods cabaret act have always aspired to mixing their simple hillbilly tastes with the utmost professionalism. Anyone who writes about performers in this town is swamped with self-published projects, and it's only natural that Y'ALL gets it right. Even the actual writing is fabulous.

They're living in Nashville now, but Y'ALL occasionally returns to remind us that New York City's best gay act of the 1990s was all about a simple love story. James Dean Jay Byrd and Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer wasted too much time here trying to get attention with their touching songs and funny stories. Frankly, they deserved all the acclaim that ended up going to Hedwig and the Angry Inch. They never had a chance here, though. They refused to be decadent, and they didn't know how to be victims.

That's what makes The Good Book such an inspirational read. These two lovers come from a country background that isn't nearly as fantastical as it seems. The fictionalized history is still based on the special backwoods indulgence of eccentricity. Jay gets his lucky green dress from his crossdressing uncle, and Steven's grandmother--who crochets hotpants on the side--explains to the struggling musician why he was never meant to take over the family farm.

It's really a shame that a book this wonderful was rejected by so many publishing companies. But then, publishing companies rely on victimization to sell books. They wouldn't know what to do with a simple saga about determinedly happy gay men celebrating their family and heritage. Fortunately, there's an untapped audience out there--both straight and gay--who would love getting a gift this simple and sentimental.

Okay, I have to admit that when I started reading The Good Book getting the 'I Read the Good Book' bumpersticker was foremost in my thinking. I bought my copy at a release party, so I figured I'd be one of the first to read it, the first to write a report and the first to get a bumpersticker. Thing is, I got so into reading it I forgot all about getting the bumpersticker. (Later I forgot to write the report. So it turns out the only thing I managed with any amount of urgency was the reading -- but that I did quickly.)

I think what got me was the characters. Not Jay and Steven so much as the people they encountered: fun, funny people who seemed almost entirely not quite real. The people and the stories in The Good Book are like a good Texas yarn: outlandish and phoney, but also so real that you want to second-guess yourself. Who was Steven's phantasmal lover? An allegory or a real person? Did Jay really go from a tent revivalist child to winning rodeo beauty pageants? Did Jay's lucky green bedazzled dress really catch Steven's eye during a midwest thunderstorm? Why not? Who knows? As anyone who's been to a Y'all concert knows, trying to figure out what's truth and what's stretched is not nearly as engaging as just hearing the stories flow.

So, yes, I recommend The Good Book. It may not be quite as famous as that other 'Good Book', but it certainly has more men wearing dresses, and hey, that's something.

Having just visited Williamsburg, I read The River Where America Began. It brought to life all of which I had just seen, but in clear vivid and historically correct detail. I was instantly immersed into the culture and events of the time. Bob Deans writes beautifully and I can't wait to see whats next.

This history book was very informative. I was born in the area. Very detailed summary of landscape in early times. Well written from political and historical point of view. Easy to comprehend and fully factual. Good book to read more than once.

Hi,

I am reading this book right now and am on page 238 of 287. This is the most readable "history" book I have ever read. I would give it a 4 1/2 out of 5 really. He gets into the baptism of Pochohontas and gets a little sharp with the tongue. Don't pass up on this book though because of a few pages. Everyones opinion still matters. I do like how it's in a storybook format and I do like the authors opinion most of the time. I would say the book is 85% fact, %15 opinion.

Very knowledgable writer. A book that gives you the framework to be educated about American history in discussions with your friends. No thanksgiving story and they lived happily ever after. America was founded by immigrants and freedom fighters, criminals, slaves, and Native Americans obviously.

Thanks. God Bless.

Aaron.

If you didn't take or do well in early American history class, this book will go a long way to help. Bob Deans, informatively and entertainingly, chronicles the first foreign footprints on American soil. In doing so, he sympathetically gives the natives their due, while exploring with reportorial acumen, the inexorable march, good and bad, toward democracy, all of which started "along the James," in Dean's beloved state.

This is a wonderfully written, informative book that focuses on the history that happened on the James River from 1607 to 1865.

Like any good storyteller, Deans illuminates specific characters (John Smith, Pocahontas, Powhatan, Patrick Henry and Abraham Lincoln among them), to shed light on the whole. And the whole is this: That the two original sins of the American experiment -- our near-genocidal treatment of the Indians and our institution of black slavery -- began here, early in our formative years, on the banks of the James River in Virginia. At the very same time and in the very same place, began our very real belief in a democratic government of laws and not of men.

On this river was nurtured the the notion that all men were created equal, even as those who proclaimed liberty and equality denied it (and increasingly codified that denial) to a whole race of men and women.

That such schizophrenia of national psyche could not long endure seems obvious. And the fever that provided the cure finally broke here, too, on the banks of the James in April 1865.

This is a terrific book. However, the publisher, I believe, has let the writer down in two respects: It could use more maps. When Deans writes of someone rounding this point, exploring this tributary or inhabiting that island, I want to have a map close at hand to see for myself. There are a few maps, and they are good, but I would like more.

And here's a thing sure to rankle any West Virginian ex-copy editor: In the chapter on John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry (then Virginia, today West Virginia), it says he was hanged in nearby Charleston. As any Mountain Stater (and probably even some Virginians) know, Charleston, the state capital, is in the south central part of the state. Charles Town, where they have horse racing, is in the Eastern Panhandle. Charles Town is close to Harper's Ferry, not Charleston. (And as any newspaperman knows, Charleston, Charles Town is an AP Stylebook entry. I presume the error is an editor's and not Deans'.)

Old books are better than new books and this book is the best example I can think of. The author only had 8 yrs of education and yet it's better than any modern book I've read. It's shows the amazing guide hand of Divine Providence in the life Captain James Riley and the Arab that bought him upon the desert of the Saharah. After reading this book no liberal activist can claim that slavery only affected the black race or was only perpetrated by white people, nor could anyone deny the existence of God. From the beginning of this book to the very end God interceeded and guided James Riley back to his loved ones and into the safe arms of a Christian nation. This book should be required reading in public school and would make a wonderful supplement for home schoolers as well. The amazing sufferings upon the desert suffered by Riley and his crew are horrific and not for the squeamish, but it's hard to complain about your own minor sufferings in life after reading this book. If you only read one book in your life besides the King James Bible it should be this one.

Great and rapid service. Book was exactly as promised. We will definitely use this seller again.

As the previous reviewer already stated, Abraham Lincoln considered this book important and influential. Centuries later, and it has clearly stood the test of time, and should be considered a classic by any standard. James Riley's tale is one that has to be seen to be believed. Sold in to slavery, staved, Riley and his crew faced insurmountable odds, and beat every one of them. This is a must-read.

Travel back to the mindset of the early 19th century, when racism was the rule and God was thought to intercede on the behalf of white men shipwrecked in the midst of savage brown men. The first few chapters are hard to believe. However, if you assume that James Riley is honestly recounting what he believes happened to him, the story exposes the background of racist, Eurocentric, and religious bigotry that soaked American and European thought of that era.

Despite the difficult to swallow constant referrals to the general color of skin of each an every character Captain Riley encounters, as well as his unbelievable description of "savage" Africans as "orangutan-like" beasts, the book is a compelling read that you will not be able to put down. While Riley never overcomes his racism towards the darker Africans, the story reveals a transformation in his estimation of Arabs and Muslims which is instructive in our present era where Arabs and Muslims are denigrated and misunderstood.

If you love a book you cannot put down, this is the book for you.

I was surprised I'd never heard of this book, supposedly one of the books Abraham Lincoln considered influential. It is the true story of an American sea captain who is shipwrecked and taken prisoner, then enslaved, by Arabs. Through his ingenious bargaining and a leap of faith, he convinces and Arab trader to trade all of his goods for the captain and some companions from his ship. He convinces the trader to take them across the Sahara, which means not only braving heat, hunger and thirst, but fighting off would be thieves as well.

The captain promises that there is a reward, that there is someone willing to pay a ransom when they get across the Sahara. The problem is, this isn't true - the Captain knows no one in the city they are headed to. The Captain and trader have made a deal that if the ransom isn't paid, the crewman will be sold as slaves and the Captain will be killed. The Captain is a linguist and learns enough Arabic to converse and to learn. He relates the tale of what happened, which is a true page turner, and the stories he hears from the Arabs. While this is an old book with a few old expressions and some racial terms no longer in use, I think it's clear that the Captain is not at heart a racist; he saw people of all colors as people. While he didn't like slavery, it was the way things were, and he accepted his fate as a slave without railing against the institution itself. Rather, he documents what happens, and makes some observations. Overall, it's a very interesting read.

I didnt buy this book to learn about flash coding, or web development. I bought this book because I am interested in Software rendered graphics. That is, applications that dont utalize OpenGL or Direct 3D for rendering to the screen. I bought this book for the techniques it discusses in "faking" 3d, and also producing real 3d. So far it has done a perfect job in giving me ideas and techniques that I can use in my applications. For anybody interested in producing anything that is real time, and 3d, I would reccomend this book.

This is the best book I have read in years! If you know the basics of ActionScript and you know sine and cosine, this book opens up whole dimensions of possibilities for both games and business applications of Flash.

It is clearly written and reads more smoothly than most programming books. While it does assume a basic literacy with ActionScript, it does not leave you flailing with complex 3D concepts. You may have to pull out your definitions of sine and cosine, but beyond that, it is pretty light lifting.

The genious of the book is that it violates commmon assumptions, and this results in simple, elegant techniques that are also powerful for a wide range of problems. The common assumption is that Flash doesn't do 3D. Don't believe it anymore. If you are willing to use some basic limitations to your application (such as keeping your polygon count down), you can have some smoothly flowing, useful 3D applications with relatively little effort. And unless I'm mistaken, those applications will run equally well on a browser running on a Mac, Windows or Linux.

The solutions are simple and eclectic. The authors have created a variety of 3D engines - each optimized for a given purpose. The engines are simple enough that (in theory) you can take the source and enhance it to your needs. Each technique is backed up by source code that you can download from the publisher's web site. But don't shortchange yourself with only the sample code - the explanations in the text are worth the cost of the paper book.

Here are my favorite techniques:

* ch 8 (P 195) - Drawing API and Math for 3D - here they explain and provide a working polygon 3D engine. The demos work smoothly (at least 20-30 frames per second) on my cheap Dell laptop. The demos include a oragami bird and a rocket ship with at least 10-20 polgons each. It doesn't support bitmapped textures, but it does offer fill color and shading support.

* ch 9 - 3D Slice Engine - this is the more clever, powerful and non-obvious technique of the book. Check out "dad.swf" in the binary samples from the web site to get an idea of the power of this approach - the author has made a 3D talking head of his father from a photograph! The idea here is that if you can view your 3D world as a topographical map, then you can model it with a set of parallel planes, where each plane represents a certain cut through the entire 3D model. This approach, though not immediately intuitive, is extremely powerful in Flash because it plays on the strenghths of Flash. Each plane is represented by two "movieclip" objects, with one embedded in the other. The first one handles scaling, and the second handles rotation, within the scaled clip. The hidden surface problem is finessed because the planes are parallel - so you only reverse the rendering order once every 180 degrees of change in viewer angle. This enables you to handle full bitmap detail of your scenes, and the result is pretty dazzling! The basic rendering engine requires only about 50 lines of ActionScript!

* Ch 6 - Parallax Scrolling - This name is misleading - it really goes beyond a scrolling 2D game model. In the Wyvern's Claw" example, it explores the idea of building a 3D world like a movie set - with a set of strategically placed flat surfaces (like the fronts of buildings in the studio sets). Each surface is a movieclip, and your script manages the proper scaling and shading as the viewer moves through. The demo then shows an animated walk-through of a small town rendering in such a way. This seems very cool for a potential game.

I'm already using the Chapter 9 slice engine for a work-related project - multidimensional data browsing. So for me, the book was not only stimulating to read but valuable!

TOC:

Chapter 1 Introduction to Flash 3D
Chapter 2 Light and Shadow
Chapter 3 Scaling for 3D
Chapter 4 Isometric 3D
Chapter 5 Focus and Depth of Field
Chapter 6 Parallax Scrolling
Chapter 7 Text Effects in 3D Space
Chapter 8 Drawing API and Math for 3D
Chapter 9 3D Slice Engine
Chapter 10 Departure Lounge: Moving beyond Flash 3D

Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 10 don't require a trigonometry
background. One of Chapter 6 topics uses XML though.

The best chapters for me were 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6.

I gave the book 5 stars because it has something for everyone.
Some people use Flash to create digital art while others use it
for practical purposes. This book delivers to both people.
Unfortunately, I belong to the latter kind and some of the topics
aren't for me.

I also think that some chapters are impractical unless you're
really a math geek. For example, I think Chapter 8 - Drawing
API and Math for 3D -- is unnecessary because you can import
Swift 3D files.

Some of the authors also show you Actionscript without really
explaining what it does (I think they assume you do know trig).
I work for a software engineering firm (not as an engineer
though) but I do know that it's bad practice to embed magic
numbers -- literals that don't have apparent meaning -- in
any code. It's better to put them in constants.

One of the authors (the Chapter 4 author I think) said to get
a good book on trigo. I don't think I will because there are
plenty of free trigo tutorials on the web. I agree though that
to get the most out of Flash and this book, learning trigo is a
must.

This has to be about the best book I have ever seen. The 3D cheats in it are amazing -- and you surely wouldn't know you were cheating. There are some incredibly insightful techniques, and some more staple things if you're not quite steady on your feet yet.

I think I am, but this book showed me how much more there was to know!

Wow, this book just blew me way. I was not the kind of person who loved reading and read during my spare time. However, my friend introduced me to this book, and to date this is the best war book that I have ever read. I would recommend this book to people of all ages but mostly to people who are in high school. The detail given in this book is outstanding and it really makes you reflect upon your life and ponder the freedom that we have, and how it was gotten by thousands and thousands of americans that put there lives on the line every day.

I am an 88-year-old WW-11 naval officer who served in the Atlantic and Pacific war zones. I was transfixed not only by the experiences these heroes endured, but by the mater-off-fact tone of their narratives. At the end of each story, I instinctively turned back to the cover picture of the author and studied the photo trying to momorize the features....portraits of true American heroes.
I was especially impressed by the individual comments about the Iraqui people, revealing them as decent, caring individuals who we would be proud to have as neighbors.
This book should be required reading for every high school boy and girl senior prior to graduation. The overall tone of the book runs counter to the torrent of negative comment directed at us by the American media. The indivuals portrayed in this book make me proud to be an American and to have served my country when virtually every living American supported our military. This book served to lessen my sadness over the limited support for present day American male and female military personal.

Al Kayworth, Author
Abenaki Warrior
Legends of the Pond
The Scalp Hunters
Iceman to the Internet

Maj. Chuck Larson is to be commended for compiling the heart-wrenching, uplifting real-life accounts of our nation's heroes. I believe it will change the way most people view the men and women that sacrifice so much for America's freedom. It's real life... this is not fiction.

You will be amazed at the self-sacrifices, the heroism, the humility and the optimism. Forget what the media is telling you, read this book. This is where you find out what is REALLY happening in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As I read this book, I shed tears for the warriors who wrote the stories -and also shed tears for the ignorant people that will never know what these warriors have done for America and the world.

Do you want to be inspired? Do you want to be moved? Read this book.

HEROES AMONG US is an inspiring collection of first-hand combat accounts by 29 Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force servicemen awarded either the Silver Star, Navy Cross, Air Force Cross, Distinguished Service Cross or Medal of Honor for heroism in Afghanistan or Iraq. Over 1 1/2 million men and women have served in those beleaguered countries but fewer than 500 have been awarded the above decorations. The men in this book are some hardchargers!

The two dozen award winners who contributed accounts for this book range from line doggies to Marine Recon, truck drivers to Navy Corpsmen, Air Force F-15 backseaters to Army Rangers. The group includes career soldiers and reservists. There's even a set of identical twins, both of whom served in Army Engineer battalions who were awarded Silver Stars. Sadly several awards were posthumous.

Some of the battles described in this book were absolutely hellacious affairs, pitting U.S. troops against swarms of enemy soldiers and irregulars all too willing to die for Saddam Hussein and/or Allah. Yet the accounts themselves are related in a matter-of-fact tone, a reflection of each individual's professionalism in the face of ferocious combat. What comes across in these narratives is not only that spirit of professionalism but also the dedication and commitment of each individual to the mission and their buddies.

For a first-hand, unvarnished look at modern combat, HEROES AMONG US can't be beat! Highly recommended.