U Books

My favorite part was when Jack and Annie figured out that the book they had was written by Slim Cooley.

This was a very great book, because it was a good story.

Annie & Jack find out that there's a rattlesnake in a ghost town and they have to hide from some people. And they find a piano that's playing all by itself. And we don't know what ...was playing it. It's a surprise for you, because you might find out. And I might find out too, because I have it at home. I have a lot of Magic Tree House books at my house. ...

My 1st grader hates to put it down, he would rather read Magic Tree House books, than play video games. He even reads them to his class and explains the story for show and tell. In his kindergarten class the teacher would also let him read the Magic Tree House books out loud, not to give her a break, but to promote reading out loud. Great books!

I'm a children's reading specialist and author (Teaching Kids To Read for Dummies). I use these books with kids who are really starting to take off with their reading and consistently get great feedback. Kids love the Magic Tree House series so if you're looking for great gifts or a bunch of books to keep your reader hooked, buy the lot.

The book where Jack and Annie are warped in Wild West and sees a ghost!

The great Florida hurricane of 1935 came as no surprise - in Key West Ernest Hemingway had enough warning to secure his boat and house against the storm - yet superintendents in three nearby government work camps did almost nothing to evacuate the men in their charge. Phil Scott details these days of calamity when the Keys were hit by one of the most powerful hurricane to hit the U.S: Hemingway's Hurricane: The Great Florida Keys Storm Of 1935 uses eyewitness accounts to detail these days of calamity and reconstruct the events in each camp as the hurricane made landfall. The probe of the underlying problems involved in evacuation procedures holds plenty of drama and meaning for today's residents.

The hurricane that hit the Florida Keys in 1935 is still listed as the most intense hurricane to make landfall in the US. It is estimated to have had 200 mph winds and although it's eye was not large, the power of this storm surpassed anything imagined.
The victims numbered 423 known dead, 259 of them were veterans of World War I. These men had been "employed" to build a highway connecting the Keys all the way through to Key West. It was a "make work" program seemingly designed to remove the veterans from the spotlight in Washington D.C., like a splinter in the FDR political eye. The veterans had been marching on Washington and camping there demanding pay bonuses that had been promised to them. Many were in desperate situations with the Depression in full form. Sending them far away to the Keys to work and make money must have seemed like the answer to everyone's desires. Tragedy was to unfold.
In September of 1935, as the veterans labored on, the Weather Bureau was tracking a tropical storm that would become the most intense hurricane in US history. Due to a lack of coverage in many areas, the path of the storm had to be projected, leaving room for error. Even so, warnings were put out to the Keys and while locals begin to make preparations, the veterans had no prior experience with hurricanes. They depended on their camp director and other in charge to make the evacuation decisions, which was to include sending a train to remove them from the path of danger. Decisions were either made to late or not made at all and the train would not arrive in time. The train itself, would be washed off the tracks and nearly washed out to sea. 259 veterans would loose their lives.
While there are amazing parallels between this storm of 1935 and Katrina, there are also striking differences. The forecasters urgently warned about Katrina, a more direct and well broadcast warning than in 1935. In both storms people waited to be evacuated by others for a variety of reasons. While the reasons are varied, the reality is that government is not all powerful nor is it capable of dealing with huge scale evacuations. When individuals give up their personal responsibility, the results will be haphazard and even deadly as is proven true in both these hurricanes. When those directly in charge fail to take reasonable steps to protect the very lives they are charged with protecting, the result will be disastrous. In this case the camp director in 1935 and the Mayor of New Orleans seem to have a lot in common.
This is a vivid account of the 1935 hurricane. The stories of the victims and survivors as their island is virtually swept clean, inundated by the storm surge is intense and electrifying. These are stories that have a depth of emotion that was not expected from men who had become inured to hardship and death in WWI. The attempted downplaying of the disaster for political reasons is stunning. While the role of Ernest Hemingway seems nearly minute, he did draw attention to the plight of the veterans.
Phil Scott has written a clear and vivid account of a disaster in the making and the lives that were battered and destroyed. The politics and the human faces of the intrepid veterans combine to form a story well worth the reading.

I found this book to be a wonderful blend; part history lesson, part Political overview and to a large part, tragedy.

Phil Scott concisely provides the necessary background for a complex period in American history, and deftly sets the stage for the main event.

The "Back story" he tells of the forming of the Veterans Bonus Army, the March on Washington DC, and their dispatched to the Florida Keys as much to get them out of the way as to build a Highway across the Keys, is a story in itself. Once we understand the circumstances of their situation, it almost seems inevitable that they will be abandoned in their time of need.

The author does a marvelous job of introducing us to a variety of characters, from many of the imperiled vets, to the seemingly clueless men responsible for their safety, and the locals, like Ernest Hemingway who were forever changed by this tragedy.

While there certainly are parallels with the mistakes made during Hurricane Katrina, I believe this story is compelling, and stands well on its own merit. And while the Gulf Coast in 2005 had advanced knowledge of the terribly destructive force bearing down on it, the hundreds of veterans in their "temporary" housing on the Keys had very little warning of the Category 5 hurricane that would send hundreds of them to their deaths.

I heartily recommend this book to readers with an interest in the History of this period, Hurricane's as a force in nature, or anyone simply looking for a gripping,highly readable and true story of how quickly things can go wrong.

I've never had an interest in visiting the Florida Keys, nor truly understood the plight of post World War I veterans -- even though my grandfather had been one -- but with the publishing of Hemingway's Hurricane by Phil Scott, I found myself caring. I now want to visit the Keys and explore, where this amazing tragedy took place, and to see first-hand just what it meant to span approximately 130 miles of water and islands by both train track and roadway. Scott's book provides both the necessary exposition to pave the way, while building suspense for the pending storm, much like those of us in television land find ourselves checking cable channels for updates on where and when storms will hit in the present day. From the building of a rail line as early as 1912 (the year the Titanic sank), known as Flagler's Folly, all the way to Key West to the semi-permanent Hooverville encampments and Bonus Marches near the White House during the Depression years, which encompasses public dissatisfaction with the federal government
(long before the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam Anti-War activities occupied our nation's attention), this book truly prepares the reader for nature's destructive force. Scott also manages to draw the reader in long before Ernest Hemingway enters the picture, but the Hemingway angle helps make a timely connection between gross
negligence in 1935 and the equally unexpected results of 2005's Hurricane Katrina
and the combined slow response from today's federal, state, and local governments.
I always expect my high school English and journalism students to "extend the text" to seek connections and meaning outside of the printed pages. For this reason, I highly recommend this book to anyone who cares about how our government operates. There are lessons to be learned here, even if the events took place 70 years ago. And although the book moves quickly, I find myself stopping to check one or both of the two maps detailing both the Florida Keys and placement of the work camps, plus I find myself delving into the internet to pursue further inquiry. I do this because Scott's narrative and depth of information has given me reason to care and explore further this fascinating true story.

Phil Scott's book, "Hemingway's Hurricane" is a quick and good read about the century's most powerful hurricane....the category 5 storm that smashed into the Florida Keys over Labor Day weekend in 1935. Finished before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, Scott's book takes on a narrative with some unintended consequences and supreme ironies.

Set as a timeline, the author briefs the reader well with his background of the Bonus Army of World War I veterans, their 1932 march on Washington D.C. and the veterans' subsequent detour to the Florida Keys, courtesy of Franklin D. Roosevelt, to give them low-paying jobs. "Hemingway's Hurricane" centers around these hundreds of veterans, their work in the Keys (much of it building roads) and the misfortune they had at being directly in the path of the hurricane. Scott relates all of this in a nicely paced way. Yet two things stand out in his book....there's very little to do with Ernest Hemingway....he makes not much more than a minor appearance at the beginning and at the end, so the title of the book is confusing. The author also provides too many cameo appearances by others who were part of the storm and the recovery. Fewer characters with more time spent with them would have increased my enjoyment of Scott's work.

Yet it is the comparison to Katrina, not mentioned in "Hemingway's Hurricane" that makes for the unintended attraction. The 1935 storm had its own version of FEMA (FERA) and a major player, Fred Ghent, the director of the veteran's camps, who was the Michael Brown of his day. His decision not to get a relief train down in time to evacuate the veterans was one of the worst miscalculations of the storm. It's almost as if we can hear FDR saying, "Ghentie, you're doin' a heckuva job!" Perhaps the oddest and saddest comparison is that Katrina, hitting Louisiana almost seventy years to the day after the Keys hurricane, underscores that government hasn't come all that far in preparedness, rescue and recovery.

"Hemingway's Hurricane" is a good book but not a great one. However, Scott's attention to detail make it worth the read and the story is one that has needed to be told.

Isn't it strange that having lived up with Hem's books and later with all the student's stuff on him - every book and most writers take you back to those early day's good feeling which you had after having read his shortstory stuff?? And having read almost everything which is written about Hem until today, this is still one of my absolute favourites. I like his style and I appreciate the accuracy and all the work that is behind every project he publish on Hem. I recommend this book.

Here's the thing with most biographies...they're biographies. I'm a lover of fiction, the crafted tale, the sculpted language. There is a certain freedom of the word that seems to only exist in the "made up" story. A freedom almost never captured in the strict confines of an accurate and truthful biography. Enter Michael Reynolds. He tells the tale of Hemingway's Paris years with so much fluidity and grace you'd swear he fabricated this Hemingway guy out of his own gorgeous imagination. This reads like a novel and a damn good one. It's peppered with minute historical facts ie: the value of the dollar, the franc, the German mark, the pound, at any given time. Political unrest, social change, fashion, food, and most importantly...the state of literature at that point in time. All of this swirls around the incredibly multi dimensional main character. You'll read it three times.

Ah, this is one of those books that a reader savors. This is one of the most enjoyable books for the student of Hemingway or for those writing prose fiction in general. Many, many of Hemingway's techniques are explained here. Also, for those of us who have been putting up a good fight--writing short stories and novels all these years--it helps seeing what a beating Hemingway took when he started. This is a fabulous book and the only thing that mitigated its conclusion was the knowledge that Michael Reynolds wrote another three more books in this series. They too are great but this is the best one.

This is an engrossing book that makes you feel like you are actually walking alongside Hemingway during his early years in Paris. I could feel the cold that he felt on his cheek, I could see the smile that Hadley gave him every time he walked into their dark little apartment after a hard day of writing in the cafes. This is due to Michael Reynolds superb, painstaking research, the photographs, and the copies of original manuscript that he included in this biography. I cannot stress enough how unlike an usual biography this is...Hemingway literally leaps out at you from the first sentence and pulls you into his world, lets you experience his poverty and first marriage in Paris, the birth of his son, the arrival of his first mistress, and the amazing literary scene in Paris that has now apparently died for good. Hemingway has amazing quotes on writing, life, living through your failures, and it was a pleasure to get to read the library list of every book he checked out during this time period. This is an amazing book, and the best biography I have EVER read in my life.

I've been trying to read two other books, on top of The Paris Years, but put them both down yesterday so that I could finish this one. The biggest thing that stands out about it is the excellence of Michael Reynolds' prose. He has the rare skills which enable readers to successfully jettison themselves back in time.

This is the perfect companion to A Moveable Feast and elucidates the historical nature of the characters present in The Sun Also Rises as well. Reynolds, although sometimes pretending to do otherwise, is a psychologizing narrator. The good news is that most of his observations have the ring of truth. The biographer seems to understand his subject which is of great benefit to the rest of us. Hemingway's first marriage is discussed extensively and the coming of Pauline Pfeiffer is also elucidated at the very end. Hemingway had Ford and Pound as his philandering role models, and, eventually, he proves to be a most capable student.

What I liked best about the book was the way in which Reynolds lets us know what Hemingway's writing process was; the daily habits he undertook which allowed him to excel at his craft. He struggled mightily to master the short story and, throughout this work, his emergence as a novelist is far from certain. The scenes in Pamplona are vivid as is the depiction of the cafe life in Paris. You may well want to go back and tour it as badly as I do by the time you're done. Ah, the past. Anyway, it is unfortunate that more on F. Scott Fitzgerald was not included, but you'll understand Ford Maddox Ford almost as well as Hemingway once the last page is turned. Overall, it was simply outstanding, I may well read the other editions of the biography now based on what I discovered here.

I love the writing in this series, it's such a pleasure to read, I wonder why are so many other textbooks so boring?

I'd love to give it five stars, except that there are recurring themes I find grating - some of her "fan club for the US government" stuff is just in totally inappropriate places. For instance, "American slavery was a horror. We should never pretend it was anything else. But the American system of government lets us correct mistakes. When you study history you see we usually do. Of that we can be proud." Gag me with a spoon, slavery was not abolished until more than 240 years after the first slave was delivered in 1619! Hakim does such a great job of fairly telling the story, why ruin it?

Another place I found disappointing was the perpetuation of the myth that the first settlers at Plymouth were called "Pilgrims" and that the Europeans started Thanksgiving. She has a box on Thanksgiving saying the story of the first Thanksgiving is a "real turkey", lists some other European Thanksgiving celebrations, and then neglects to mention that the Indians had been conducting Thanksgiving celebrations at harvest time for generations. I'd love to see someone do such a great job TELLING the story, who could also not perpetuate those irritating little false stories that schoolchildren are always taught.

Gosh, this doesn't sound like the positive review I inteded, but I see others have already told the good stuff. It's wonderfully well written!

This book is very fun and imformative. It gives us information, but in a fun way...I recomend this book to anyone under the age of 13, and who enjoys history...if you get this book in school, dont be scared it is fun!

I just borrowed this book from the library and now plan to buy the whole set. As a home schooling parent, I am always struggling to find quality materials and this series is just that. Hakim's books are easy to read and comprehend. Most importantly, they give a realistic view of history, not the politically correct one so often taught.

As I teach my children U.S. history, I want them to know that, yes, the white people were sometimes violent and unfair to the Native Americans, but some Native Americans were that way too. Before the Europeans came, they kidnapped and killed each other. I want my kids to know the whole truth and these books are very fair. No matter what the race, some people are good and some are not.

I highly recommend these books for teaching history to children and even adults.

"Making Thirteen Colonies: 1600-1740" is the second volume in Joy Hakim's "A History of US." The first volume covered how the first Americans crossed over from Asia to become Indians and the first Europeans, mainly the Spanish but also the French and English, began settling the New World. This volume focuses on the narrow string of settlements established by the English that became the thirteen colonies whose people began moving westward and who also started to question the relationship they had with England (there is a small amount of overlap between this and the next volume, which covers period of American history from 1735-1791).

Hakim begins with a preface that looks at the vast mixture of ideas that were brought over from the Mediterranean world and took root in the Americas. Along with the first chapter, which talks about the comet that appeared in 1607 as a portent of great changes for the world, this preface sets up several key themes that will be revisited throughout this and future volumes. "Making Thirteen Colonies" has 42 chapters and it the book is divided into five main sections. The first (chapters 2-12) tells how English settlers came to stay by establishing the first permanent colony in Jamestown, Virginia. The second (chapters 13-23) looks primarily at the Puritans arriving in New England, although Hakim also touches on what was happening between the Indians and the Spanish in the southwest. The third section (chapters 24-30) tells about the mid-Atlantic colonies, most notably New Amsterdam/York and Pennsylvania. The fourth section (chapter 31-39) returns to the South, looking at not only Ole Virginny but also the two Carolinas and Georgia. This unit also looks at the Triangle Trade and other considerations that united the four southern and nine northern colonies. The final section (chapters 40-42) is a transitional unit, that looks at how the colonists began to move westward and the stage was set for the period of history that would make those thirteen colonies into a new nation.

One of the great advantages to writing a ten-volume history of the United States is that unlike most standard American history textbooks "A History of US" is able to clearly establish the unique identities of each of those original thirteen colonies. I recently finished reading an excellent series of books, each of which was devoted to an individual colony, and Hakim ends up being closer to those volumes than she does the standard textbook. Consequently, in addition to the traditional stories about Pocahontas and John Smith in Jamestown, William Penn and the Quakers of Pennsylvania, the Salem witch trials, Ben Franklin as the quintessential American, and Daniel Boone finding routes through the mountains, Hakim establishes an individual identity for each colony.

However, the main strength of this series is how Hakim engages young readers, the same way you would expect a "real" teacher to do in a "real" classroom. This shows up primarily in her ability to anticipate and answer questions that students might have (e.g., why the Indians were not enslaved). I can easily see why this series is popular with parents who are home schooling their children. The book is richly illustrated with dozens and dozens of historic paintings, etchings, drawings, maps, engravings, and assorted reproductions. The margins are crammed with interesting facts, definitions, and quotations, and features on topics such as Land Green and Africa: The Unknown Continent are sprinkled throughout the book. The After Words this time around are devoted to cartography and has some superb examples of 16h- and 17th-century maps. It is easily to see why this series has impressed so many people and why Hakim is able to get such good responses from young students who are used to getting their information from computers and the Internet.

"Making Thirteen Colonies: 1600-1740" is the second volume in Joy Hakim's "A History of US." The first volume covered how the first Americans crossed over from Asia to become Indians and the first Europeans, mainly the Spanish but also the French and English, began settling the New World. This volume focuses on the narrow string of settlements established by the English that became the thirteen colonies whose people began moving westward and who also started to question the relationship they had with England (there is a small amount of overlap between this and the next volume, which covers period of American history from 1735-1791).

Hakim begins with a preface that looks at the vast mixture of ideas that were brought over from the Mediterranean world and took root in the Americas. Along with the first chapter, which talks about the comet that appeared in 1607 as a portent of great changes for the world, this preface sets up several key themes that will be revisited throughout this and future volumes. "Making Thirteen Colonies" has 42 chapters and it the book is divided into five main sections. The first (chapters 2-12) tells how English settlers came to stay by establishing the first permanent colony in Jamestown, Virginia. The second (chapters 13-23) looks primarily at the Puritans arriving in New England, although Hakim also touches on what was happening between the Indians and the Spanish in the southwest. The third section (chapters 24-30) tells about the mid-Atlantic colonies, most notably New Amsterdam/York and Pennsylvania. The fourth section (chapter 31-39) returns to the South, looking at not only Ole Virginny but also the two Carolinas and Georgia. This unit also looks at the Triangle Trade and other considerations that united the four southern and nine northern colonies. The final section (chapters 40-42) is a transitional unit, that looks at how the colonists began to move westward and the stage was set for the period of history that would make those thirteen colonies into a new nation.

One of the great advantages to writing a ten-volume history of the United States is that unlike most standard American history textbooks "A History of US" is able to clearly establish the unique identities of each of those original thirteen colonies. I recently finished reading an excellent series of books, each of which was devoted to an individual colony, and Hakim ends up being closer to those volumes than she does the standard textbook. Consequently, in addition to the traditional stories about Pocahontas and John Smith in Jamestown, William Penn and the Quakers of Pennsylvania, the Salem witch trials, Ben Franklin as the quintessential American, and Daniel Boone finding routes through the mountains, Hakim establishes an individual identity for each colony.

However, the main strength of this series is how Hakim engages young readers, the same way you would expect a "real" teacher to do in a "real" classroom. This shows up primarily in her ability to anticipate and answer questions that students might have (e.g., why the Indians were not enslaved). I can easily see why this series is popular with parents who are home schooling their children. The book is richly illustrated with dozens and dozens of historic paintings, etchings, drawings, maps, engravings, and assorted reproductions. The margins are crammed with interesting facts, definitions, and quotations, and features on topics such as Land Green and Africa: The Unknown Continent are sprinkled throughout the book. The After Words this time around are devoted to cartography and has some superb examples of 16th- and 17th-century maps. It is easily to see why this series has impressed so many people and why Hakim is able to get such good responses from young students who are used to getting their information from computers and the Internet.

I'm heading to Bali this month and this book provided a great intro to the customs and nature of this island. I'm even more excited to get there after reading it.

I am Balinese and live in Ubud, about 10 minutes walk from where Colin McPhee stayed, when he came to Bali in 1931. My aunt worked for him.

He heard a record of gamelan music in New York and couldn't wait to get to Bali to listen to the real thing.

He stayed in Bali for almost 8 years and set about documenting gamelan music. Much of his research was carried out in a village near Ubud where my Villas are. There are still old people in the village who remember him.

His book is beautifully written and tells stories of his adventures and life in the village and his encounters with the local Balinese. It's not necessary to understand technical music matters to enjoy this book - it is totally accessible.

Highly recommended.

Even as the art & tradition of classical gamelan music fades in Java, gamelans are built & organized in America & Europe, the music is studied & taught in universities. This has occurred since the 70's, when recordings of gamelan music became widely available, particularly in a major series on Nonesuch Explorer. For many people, hearing gamelan for the first time is not only a delightfully exotic experience, the music unlike anything one has heard, but there is often also a strange shock of recognition, as if one somehow already knew the music, although where & how remains a mystery. Perhaps this is what happened to Colin McPhee. For McPhee in 1930, as for so many western musicians since, hearing gamelan inspired something like a religious conversion.

I was given an old copy of this book shortly after I heard gamelan for the first time, & so I was able to follow McPhee on his great adventure to find where the music came from. When he arrived in Bali, he discovered that although the culture was vibrantly alive, much of music was in danger of being lost. He met, befriended, & studied with some greatly talented Balinese musicians, old masters & several younger composers & leaders, including Wayan Lotring & Made Lebah. They set about restoring a Semar Pegulingan gamelan. The task of bringing this music back to life is the "plot" of the "A House In Bali." McPhee quickly realized that his western musical training was of limited value, because the "values" of music - technically & culturally - in Bali were so different. Music had popular, ritual, & concert functions, as in the West. But the music was inseparable from the instruments, & each collection of instruments - each gamelan, was unique. Compositions were learned by rote, in phrases, with the gamelan functioning as a kind of all-ages social club for men. McPhee had to become, as best he could, a person of Bali, a villager, someone with a place & a role in the life of the community. He recounts his immersion in Balinese life, As strange as Bali was for McPhee, he was the "stranger," the outsider, & he remained one, oddly indifferent to what the Balinese thought of his lifestyle. Most inexplicably, he seems not to have become a gamelan musician. One wonders not only how he resisted this experience, but also why?

McPhee later attempted to translate Balinese music into a western idiom using pianos & a symphony orchestra, with beautiful results, but losing what he had learned in the process, Sadly, when he returned home, he had left the most important stuff behind.

I first heard Gamelan was coming out of the oldest temple on the Island of Bali, near Ubud, and was reading this book at the time. I purchased the book at the Jakarta airport and was hooked by the first paragraph. I think that this is a wonderful, insight into the island, the music, it's people and culture. If you have a love for exotic music and or artform, this historical work is a captivating read. My only regret is that Colin McPhee never went back to his beloved Bali.

It's a very interesting book in regards to what I have actually read. It seems to have accounts on Balinese culture. I found it enjoyable and interesting to read because it not only talks about Balinese culture but about the conflict and clashes within the village like the little dancer named Sampih and his dance teacher Nyoman Kaler.

Colin McPhee conveys many interesting things like when bad luck happened in his home in Sayan and how they had to do a purification ceremony in regards to dispel the demons, witches and evil spirits. His wanderings in Bali to record music and study their music like the rare gamelan angklung and gamelan selonding from Tenganan who were the Bali Aga. Colin McPhee was drawn to the scintallinating sounds and metallic shimmer from the gamelan. At times there are humours accounts of what goes on between him and his friends that happen in the village or when they are touring around Bali. I found it enjoyable because, he seemed to have fitted in well with the Balinese people without too much problems compared with other writers before them spoke of barbarity and the animal like behaviour of the Balinese at certain functions. He writes with passion about what goes on and how things have changed with the colonial rule of the Dutch. The loss of autonomy by the Rajas who were reduced to poverty at times and how their obessions with cockfighting led to their ruin. Yet in times of despair and hardship they are always humble to him.

Overall the book contains a few photographs of his friends and colleagues. I found it wonderful and intriguing and as well as captiviting at times which he covers so many topics like the temple functions like Galungan, Wayang Kulit (Shadow Plays), the music club etc... This book you will grow to love like the book written by Miguel Corrovabias "Island of Bali".

This book gave me a ton of new material for my humor emails to my neocon pals. Kurtzman totally nailed it when it comes to a fresh look at the political craziness that divides us. I especially liked the "Know Your Enemy" chapter, where he comes up with some clever new names for various liberal types (every time I think about "Hillary Krishnas," I crack up). All in all, this book is a thoroughly entertaining read. It's also loaded with practical advice that works. I love being able to zing my progressive pals, without first having to remove all the sharp objects from the room. I only wish the GOP presidential candidates themselves would read this book and lighten up, already!

Even though I am what would traditionally be seen as a Liberal, I have to say that I found this book quite amusing. I just worry that some people take some of these viewpoints a little too seriously.

Daniel Kurtzman takes all of the traditional jibes and cliches about liberals and turns it into a hilarious charicature that people of any political persuasion can enjoy. Perhaps the most enjoyable part of this miniature book is the 'Liberal Hall Of Shame'. It's packed full of deviants, miscreants and perverts alike and offers an amusing digression on the misdemeanours that are hidden in the liberal closet.

I have yet to read Kurtzman's companion book 'How To Win A Fight With A Conservative', but if it's as good as this one I'm sure it will be a worthwhile purchase.

My husband does not read for pleasure. I bought this for him for Christmas and he actually is **reading** it! Haven't heard any complaints, just a snicker or laughter now and then, while he's entranced in it. It's a miracle I tell you! He's enjoying it in spite of himself..

If I'd have known sooner that this book was so good, I'd have purchased it sooner! It doesn't matter if you read it start to finish or jump around, it just isn't possible to read more than a page without laughing.
And in a world that awards Nobel Prizes to people without any comprehension of weather patterns, it's great to be reminded that there is indeed a lot to laugh at when the topic is liberals.

When you can't stand to see any more of Hillary's sleazy grin on TV, pick up this concise little book. You'll be glad you did!

While the Liberals are selling out America, destroying the Christian faith, denying the existance of God and praying for defeat in Iraq, there is nothing to laugh at. America is the best place to live, the only country with freedom of religion and freedom of speech. If Liberals find Christianity is so hateful and if they can't stop complaining, we should show them the door...not giggle at their antics. Funny books about Liberals may be cute, but not taking our country's enemies seriously is a dangerous trap. We shouldn't be lulled into thinking Liberals are harmless kooks and tree huggers, or we'll wake up one morning to find that we have turned into Secular Progressives. How do you win an argument with a Liberal? Send him to Iran where he can join people who feel the same way about America.

I initially purchased this book because the subject matter interested me, but lo and behold,subsequently it was the required text for a college history course I was enrolled in. It is a unique and fascinating look at 400 years of childhood in America. Mintz does a great job of explicating the changes that childhood underwent over the years and centuries. For instance: adolescence is a 20th century creation! Also, the Puritans viewed children as little adults and made no exceptions for their age. In the colonial period American Indian children(especially boys) lived such a carefree existence that frequently abducted colonist children refused to be reunited with their white biological parents mainly due to the life of ardous drudgery which constituted childhood in 18th century New England.

This fine work is filled with fascinating bits of information as the aforementioned. It spans the period between the 17th century up to the period of the Columbine massacre, showing the myriad changes which accompanied childhood in America. Great reading and great history, highly recommended. If you have an interest in this subject matter you will not be disappointed. READ IT!!!

THIS BOOK CAME IN PERFECT CONDITION! NOT A MARK ON IT! I LOVED THE CONTENT TOO... THIS BOOK OPENED MY EYES TO THE UNIQUENESS OF AMERICAN CHILDHOOD, AND ITS HISTORY! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!

I overheard an interview with the author of this book on NPR, and I sensed he attributed much of the malaise of modern youth to this same thing that bothers me -- basically a lack of space and flexibility. He ends his book with these sentences. "Who would envy Huck's battered childhood? Yet he enjoyed something too many children are denied and which adults can provide: opportunities to undertake odysseys of self-discovery outside the goal-driven, overstructured realities of contemporary childhood." Hence the title of the book, Huck's Raft, what Mintz regards as the solution to Columbine -- a space where children can drift down a river without being cordoned off into an artifical universe, a place where they can interact meaningfully and creatively in the great, wide world.

However, lest I mislead, the book is first and foremost an excellent history. The discussion of Columbine and the hysteria of modern overprotectionism does feel like the culmination of the book, but it occupies only a few pages in the final chapters. The bulk of the book provides a perspective on the modern situation, by relating how it has been, how exactly we have evolved to where we are now. This is an incredibly valuable service. Sometimes I felt he made childhood in America sound overly negative, but on the whole, the book provided a very well researched and balanced account of how life for children has evolved.

Especially various facts that he cites stick with me. In the 17th Century in the Chesapeake, over 2/3 of children lost a parent before the age of 21. And as late as the early 20th Century, most parents experienced the death of a child. In the 1600s 2/3 of all immigrants of all races arrived in some form of unfreedom, though black slaves certainly had the worst of it, and the longest and saddest chapter in the book is devoted to children of African descent in bondage. I was surprised to learn that only 4% of slaves brought to the New World were brought to the United States. He traces our gradual attempts to right the wrongs, to introduce children's rights and end their exploitation. But in the process we have lost something as well. Huck in his artificially safe, commercialized, hypersexualized universe has lost touch with his raft.

Delving into the complete history of childhood in America is a huge undertaking, and for the most part Mintz handles the difficulties with detailed aplomb. Surveying the culture of childhood as lived by children and as represented and mythologized by current or later society, Mintz moves from pre-colonial times to the very-near present.
With so much to cover, not just chronologically but socially as well (after all, "childhood" isn't the same for all at any given time--race, class, ethnicity, etc. all create separate spheres of childhood rather than an all-conclusive web), one might expect some problems. Luckily, the strongest parts of the book are also those which will probably be most insightful and new to readers.
The sections that deal with pre-colonial and colonial times are especially detailed. Richly vivid, they open up a world most people are unfamiliar with or, if they are familiar with it, are so through less-than-accurate myth or romanticism, the kind of "history" we all "know" to be true.
As the book progresses, it becomes more and more difficult to keep that level of detail and richness as the topic literally grows larger and larger. Slavery, war, immigration, race, class, economics all force Mintz to deal with different subsets of childhood as well as with the relatively simple chronological changes and so some detail is shed, some richness lost, and the book begins to feel a bit scattershot, a bit unwieldy. By the time we get to the last 20-30 years, one feels Mintz is running to keep in place. The sections are more generalized, the conclusions not so deeply explored. But as nothing really new comes up in these sections in comparison to what one has read in recent articles or books dealing with just this time period, it isn't really much of a loss.
It's hard to imagine a longer work, or one more fully documented. And while I personally would have wished the same length but with a narrower focus on the pre-1900's, I can't really fault Mintz for not deciding to write several volumes, say one for each century. So the negatives aren't really much to complain about and are more than overshadowed by the scope of the book as a whole and the depth of the first half. Stylistically, the book is clearly written, if at times dense, and the more personal, anecdotal stories focusing on a single historical individual do a nice job not only of conveying the more academic arguments, but of breaking up some of the factual density. Strongly recommended, especially for its early history sections.

I used "Huck's Raft" in a senior seminar I taught in the fall 2005 semester on Children's Health, Education & Welfare, and it was one of my students' favorites. It works especially well as a first book in a course, because it is so comprehensive and engrossing. Seldom do academic books read as well as this one. It is literally hard to put it down and, at the same time, one learns so from it much chapter after chapter. For a history of childhood in the U.S., this is probably the best book available. I cannot recommend it more highly.

I am far more used to academic works and prefer them, rarely read fiction and have little use for "creative" esoteric historial approaches offered by trade presses, wanting the real thing, not its 2nd cousin, nor some romanticized faldoral.

Well...on a hunch I bought this HUNTERS OF KY after seeing long-haired, bolo-tyed Belue the author on THE HISTORY CHANNEL, and bought HUNTERS not so much of his tv delivery, which was a little rambling though often jocular and witty--mostly due to his inexperience, one might think, giving him the benefit of the doubt--but because of the strength of such venerable subject matter.

Well, I have no idea who TFB is, but he is, first, one hell of a writer (yet undiscovered, and will of course most likely remain that way); and, second, after twice reading HUNTERS concur with my fellow reviewers that his is a singular talent exhibiting scholarship blended with literary art, and, finally, his book a fine book that takes a reader out of the classroom and into the woods.

Heartily commended and a signal contribution to the Kentucky frontier destined to stand the test of time. His research and interpretion thereof,incidentally, is impeccable, though some of the words he uses I can't find in the dictionary. If you are a student of pre-statehood Kentucky, buy this book, and his first three titles. Dr. Ed Clark

First, this is a singularly different American frontier book than any ofher KY book out there, bar none. Belue takes an inconoclastic approach, much no doubt to the dismay of pendant critics/academics who revel in the predictable, the mundain, the banal, prosaic, lockstep line up with the 18th century living-histry clones bedecked in walnut dyed. Belue writes like a vigorous Abbey, Twain (see Interlude V), and Mattheissen, all though distilled and rendered through Belue's rather novel sense pf vision. Like any artist, he writes for the grave, knowing its own inherent good, not giving a damn though if anyone agrees. Often every paragraph takes the form of a sonnet, with impressive voice switches between Belue's chapters and interludes. Belue is a concise, eonomic writer and purely American--pure bones, sinew, muscle, sans fat and gristle, but roughed up prose where needs be --and so his writing (rather retro, and I mean that in a good +way)--hearkens more to the old masters (Steinbeck, EH), rather than the deconstructionist ideologes currently in vogue that can criticize EH with impunity, but can't write three words sequentially like him. But Belue can and does so routinely.

Ted Franklin Belue is that rare mix, both scholar and wordsmith, with an artist's eye for the beauty of America and the legacy of the past.

In the preface, he acknowledges Win Blevins's narrative, GIVE YOUR HEART TO THE HAWKS, as a model for his own narrative of the eastern woodsmen. It belongs beside that one but, in this researchers opinion, this book surpasses it.

The text is equally involving, compelling, inspiring. But Belue has packed his own book with much more, including the marvelous illustrations of frontiersmen and Shawnees, well drawn maps and charts, mini-biographies of interesting characters.

Also, Belue supplies notes and appendages which will prove invaluable to the legion of historians and genealogists doing their own research into the frontier era, looking for more.

This book has already been praised to the heavens by such renown authors as Dr. Thomas Clark and Allan Eckert, but you don't have to be well read in frontier lore to appreciate it. In fact, this book will likely inspire others to great works, just as Blevins's GIVE YOUR HEART TO THE HAWKS inspired Belue to eventually write the landmark work you see before you.

Ted Franklin Belue knows well the colorful history of the Trans-Appalachian region, a fact that is fully evident in his recently published The Hunters of Kentucky, (Stackpole Books, 315 pages, $29.95). This excellent book will be of interest to a wide spectrum of readers. Those not familiar with the Kentucky backcountry will learn a lot. Those already knowledgeable about the facts will come away with a heightened appreciation for the unique character of the Kentucky frontier. Belue's approach differs from the usual form of narrative employed by most historians. Rather than include all the players and events in the drama, the author has selected certain personalities and subjects to emphasize, weaving an intriguing tapestry of the Kentucky frontier-in effect a backwoods mood piece. By employing this technique, Belue exhibits a much more distinctive style of writing than was evident in his equally valuable earlier book, The Long Hunt.
Following a prologue, The Hunters of Kentucky is divided into ten chapters. Each chapter is followed by a shorter exposition, termed an interlude. Among the major figures featured are Dr. Thomas Walker, Christopher Gist, Thomas Bullitt, Daniel Boone, Nicholas Cresswell, Daniel Trabue, James Estill, Pompey, George Michael Bedinger, and Spencer Records. Subjects covered include exploration, surveying, warfare, buffalo, clothing, long hunters, and weapons. A helpful chronology appears in an appendix. The maps and illustrations are first-rate .
One of the most interesting sections of The Hunters of Kentucky describes how the long rifle came to be identified specifically with Kentucky. When readers finish this segment, they will feel as if they were actually in the New Orleans audience as Noah Ludlow first sang the newly written ballad, "The Hunters of Kentucky" one night in May 1822. Only seven years earlier, Kentuckians had joined Andrew Jackson's other backwoodsmen to devastatingly defeat the British forces attempting to invade New Orleans. Many of the half-drunken frontier rivermen in the audience that May evening had been with Jackson at that incredible triumph, which became instant hallowed history. Dressed in a hastily acquired backwoodsman's outfit, with a long rifle by his side, Ludlow launched into the first verse ending with "O Kentucky, the Hunters of Kentucky; O Kentucky, the hunters of Kentucky!" The crowd showed great excitement. As he finished the second verse that referred to Kentuckians as a "hardy freeborn race" and "alligator horses," the audience was losing control. Ludlow sang the third verse, "But Jackson he was wide-awake, And wasn't scared at trifles, For well he knew what aim we'd take With our Kentucky rifles; So he marched us down to Cypress Swamp, The ground was low and mucky, There stood John Bull in martial pomp, But here was old Kentucky." Ludlow immediately dropped to one knee, leveled his rifle, and took imaginary aim. Then it happened. Pandemonium reigned. The ballad, "The Hunters of Kentucky," had captured the essence of the Kentucky backwoods ethos. Two centuries later Belue has done it again with his book, The Hunters of Kentucky.

Get ready to head down the trail towards to cane breaks!
Ted Belue's 4th offering "The Hunters Of Kentucky" will
set you directly in the middle of the wilds of that unexplored
hunters paradise called KANTA-KE! Belue's "Hunters" is a fantastic
read, chronicling the early exploration of Kentucky, including
the original native inhabitants, gentlemen explorers, itinerant hunters,
and the early settlers who dared to make this wooded eden their home.

Belue neatly and expertly seperates mythic fact and romance from meaty fact,
delivering up the rich and detailed history of the Kanta-Ke territory. From the
migration of the "Shawanoe" peoplesto the impact of the beaver wars between
the French & English as they grapple control of a continent away from
the Spanish and Dutch. Included are narratives and biographic sketches
of some of the early explorers, traders and hunters. Follow Dr, Thomas Walkers
four month, 1750 exploration of the Kentucky country, as well as Christopher
Gist's and Nicholas Cresswell's tour of the of the Kentucky lands.
Belue details the incurssion of the of the buckskin clad "shirtmen" who
came following the red deer, foreshadowing the first tendrils of an
unstoppable tide of settlers, and the resultant decades of war and strife between the anglo invaders and the native peoples, including the brutal
aftermath of frontier warfare and an end to a way of life for the native peoples.
Belue weaves a rich colorful tapestry of mostly forgotten frontier personalities
including Andrew Montour, Monk Estill and pompey the black Shawnee, as
well as the more well known personalities of Boone, Kenton, Girty and others.
"Hunters Of Kentucky" is lavishly illustrated with photos and art, and is set
off by an extensive appendix and chronology of events.
In the end, "Hunters of Kentucky" will definately leave you wanting more.
A must have book!<

I absolutely love this story. It was perfect for my son who at the time was a challenge at bedtime. I stillsometimes read this to him (now 5) but almost nightly to my daughter who is now 3.
The story is captivating enough to keep the little ones interestwith just the right number of words per page so that you are turning pages frequently. It is also educational in that kids learn number ordinance, and different animals. This book is a great find. It is a book you will definately read for years to come, my copy is already five years old !

This is a great bedtime book! I read it often to the kids, ages 3-10, at the daycare where I work when we are putting them to bed at night. In fact I've read it so often that I have it nearly memorized. The repeatizeness is comforting and the story is somthing they can identify with! I whole heartedly recommend it!

I have two young sons who are 3 & 4 years old. Everynight before bedtime, they get to pick out six books for us to read before they get tucked in, and everynight, this book is one they want to hear!

We've gotten into the habit of me pointing at them when it's time and they get to say, "I don't want to go to bed!"

Wonderful book! I highly recommend it to all children! Not only is it a great message, but it allows the youngsters to become involved in the story.

I don't want to go to bed is a great example of a perfect children's story. It has all the elements that are required for a children's story. These are, funny characters, good illistrations, the ability to relate to kids, and teaches them a lesson. It also has some much needed humor. It has all the elements and it isnt long and drug out and boring like many other children's storys. In conclusion, it is a great book and I would recomend it to any kids.

This book was a easy reading and totally enjoyable. All young readers having a bad time going to bed should read this book. This book is also really great for babysitters to read to thier children, whom they put kids to bed and which this is a really great bed time story book. I personally like this book because of it's beautiful pictures and kids get a kick out of this book.

Keillor is probably best known in the Midwest where his tales of the imaginary town of Lake Wobegon are heard on many radio stations in that region. This book is set in a variety of real Minnesota towns and depicts life in the rural Midwest. Those from these stomping grounds will easily relate to the short stories contained in this book. But even if you dwell in a California metropolis you will still find a warmth, perhaps uncommon, yet very appreciated. Take, for example, the following exerpt quoted from The Notebooks of Carl Krebsbach:
"It was the annual January thaw, nature's way of arousing false hopes and tempting the good people of Lake Wobegon to let lown their guard and not wear a scarf so that nature can kill them. A form of natural selection to reduce the optimist population and promote the survival of embittered stoics who believe that fate is against them. Which it is.
The thaw means that snow on the roof melts and freezes on the overhang of the eaves, forming a dam to back up the water so it can get under the shingles and freeze and gradually rip our house apart, which is nature's goal, to obliterate us. Nature is not benevolent towards us, it wants us out of here. It's good to know this. In summer, you can almost believe otherwise.
Luckily, summer is soon over. As it turns cold, our mood improves. we're excited. Cold is a stimulant. So is danger. It's good to have nature to deal with. That's why self-pity declines in the fall. People don't sit around and anguish over what to do with their lives. Instinct tells you. You're a mammal. Stay warm. Stay close to the food supply. Shovel the roof. Make babies. Make a few extra in case the wolves get one. And then on a cold night in January, you walk out in the moon light and agsinst all reason, beyodn all expectation, you're utterly happy."

In addition to Keillor's down-to-earth story telling this book contains wonderful photography by Richard Olsenius. I actually bought this book because I am a fan of photojounalistic photograghy. Great writing and great photography, a bookshelf is incomplete without this volume.

I was what you would call a "Noobie" to all of Garrison's work until recently. I picked up this book at a college library after speaking to my mother about the Minnesota author project I was recently assigned. She was familiar with his work and suggested that I look into it....so I did. I never thought that this would open up such big can of worms, and I mean this in a good sense. After reading the book from cover to cover, I went on the internet to find out more about Garrison's work and turned up some very interesting search results. I then read it again and now I guess you could say that I'm hooked on the Lake Wobegon saga and I am planning on picking up a couple of his earlier writings related to Lake Wobegon.
I really enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend this book to anyone who has vast, little, or no knowledge of Lake Wobegon.

I was what you would call a "Noobie" to all of Garrison's work until recently. I picked up this book at a college library after speaking to my mother about the Minnesota author project I was recently assigned. She was familiar with his work and suggested that I look into it....so I did. I never thought that this would open up such big can of worms, and I mean this in a good sense. After reading the book from cover to cover, I went on the internet to find out more about Garrison's work and turned up some very interesting search results. I then read it again and now I guess you could say that I'm hooked on the Lake Wobegon saga and I am planning on picking up a couple of his earlier writings related to Lake Wobegon.
I really enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend this book to anyone who has vast, little, or no knowledge of Lake Wobegon.

Fans of Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" are already an imaginative sort. We know what Arlene Bunsen looks like, or Pastor Inquist. We've got a good idea how Roger Hedlund has been rotating his crops, and the main goings on on Main Street. We don't need pictures of this area because we already know it by heart--we've seen it on the radio. This book does exactly what it should...it doesn't dispel our images of Lake Wobegon, but gives us pictures of its neighbors and people living their lives in rural Minnesota. All the images are sepia toned. With a few exceptions, the subjects are unposed and candid, getting ready for the prom, or readying the field for corn.

The composition of the shots are superb. The short prologue gives a first person retelling of how Keillor invented the town that "time forgot and the decades cannot improve." That introduction, however, is so short that it's almost unfair to say that this is a Garrison Keillor book. He essentially wrote the foreword (although it's not titled that way), and the pictures tell the real story.

My only disappointment is that there isn't any color. Certainly sepia tones give us nostalgia the way we'd like to remember it, but sunset on a farm is something you can't appreciate in shades of brown. Rural life has its monochromatic moments, to be sure, but there's enough color and life to help us remember that not everything is nostalgia.

This gripe doesn't detract from the beauty of this book, though. Thankfully we never see Lake Wobegon, only hints and shadows. It allows us to preserve our preconceptions, but gives us a deeper feeling of connection with the area. If you're a fan of APHC, you probably already own this book (or you should). If not, take a look at a lifestyle that might be foreign to you.

From the Central Minnesota prairie, in beautiful black and white pictures and picturesque prose, here is the Genesis of Garrison Keilor's magical mythical Lake Wobegon, site of "A Prairie Home Companion." Here we get to *see* the strong women, good-looking men, and above average children of and for whom he speaks on Saturday nights. Accompanying Richard Olsenius' stunning photography (how can the viewer not be deeply moved by the picture of the veterans at the St. Wendell cemetery on Memorial Day?) are excerpts from the Radio Show, interviews with inhabitants, and essays and musings from Keilor - like this:

"Culture isn't decor, it's what you know before you're twelve. It sticks with you all your born days. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. You can try to wrestle free of it, like those geese who trail the V-formation, trying to look as if they aren't part of this bunch, as if flying south were a personal decision on their part, but your feint towards independence only makes it clearer who you really are. Some people like hot dish better if it's called cassoulet, or pot roast if it's pot-au-feu. Fine. Suit yourself. Same difference."

Whatever you call those culinary delights, you'll like this book. Come see Father Kleinschmidt's Annual Blessing of the Snowmobiles. Ja, you betcha! Reviewed by TundraVision.