N Books

Boot Means, photojournalist and man about Trenton, New Jersey was not having a very good life. Until now his assignments for the Trenton Record have been limited and said limited assignments are consigned to page 6...somewhere after the cat-up-a-tree-rescues. And now even his crumby job is in jeopardy because the economy is causing a rift between labor and management, as his co-workers fear more layoffs. To top it off, he's about to get evicted from his apartment and finds himself being railroaded into naming the wedding day when his control-freak girlfriend, Stacy decides it's time for them to get married.
But fear not, as we have all heard, Jesus Saves! Into Boot Means' puny life comes news that Jesus has been spotted in Trenton. And despite the negative attitude of expressed by one co-worker who spat, "There ain't no Jesus in Trenton." Mrs. Emily Phibbs has seen Him, clear as day, on a billboard advertising Smythe's Diner and she wants someone from the newspaper to let everyone know about it. When the editor offers the story to his quickly dwindling staff, no one wants it...no one except Boot Means. He sees it as a way to increase his visibility and perhaps even his earn a permanent position as a reporter who gets to write more than captions for his photos.
And sure enough, the billboard Jesus becomes an icon, drawing all sorts of people to Trenton who set up a Jesus Camp and begin promoting their own agendas.
There is the lovely tele van gelista, Melanie Dove with her adoring crew, and the rival OFJ, Open Faith for Jesus freaks in with their tattoos and purple buses. Then there is the mysterious mole, Travis LeBlay who seems to be trying to set everyone up against one another. But Boot Means sticks with the story, and sure enough his star begins to rise because "Quirky religious groups provided amusing copy." And books about people trying to exploit religion can be very amusing as well.
Christopher Klim has given us a slice of life complete with funny characters, amusing situations, yet with an underlying theme of melancholy that makes us want to hug this poor little orphan kid who just can't seem to grow up and get it together. The book can be enjoyed on many levels, metaphors and allegories abound and the irony revealed at the end allows the true believer a little smile and nod.

JESUS LIVES IN TRENTON is well-written and entertaining, a fast moving novel about what happens in the city of Trenton , New -Jersey, when citizens begin seeing Jesus on a billboard advertising biscuits and gravy.. The interesting characters, hilarious plot and believable but humorous dialogue keep the reader turning pages.
The main character, Boot Means, is a struggling photo-journalist working for a tabloid who uses this Jesus sighting to improve his career. He finds himself caught in the middle of two fanatical religious cults For a while it looks like he might even lose his life.
From the opening scene where Boot Means is attacked by two semi- naked women in a hotel lobby, through his discovery of the purple OPEN FAITH FOR JESUS school bus, to the final scene when he presses the doorbell of the man who claims to be his father author Klim has our complete attention. JESUS LIVES IN TRENTON is delightful.

(The Australian Coastal Book Council selects books for libraries, schools, and reading circles.) This quirky title had surfaced in discussion groups and on the Internet a number of times, and therefore we decided to give it a go at the main city branch. JESUS LIVES IN TRENTON was a pleasant surprise. I've never been to New Jersey, but the city of Trenton, although never portrayed as particularly lovely, has taken on mythical proportions in recent literature. No one seems better to deliver the goods than Christopher Klim. His portrayal of orphan-turned-photographer was particularly gratifying, and even though the storyline builds a maddening flow of consequences and happenings, the author manages to hold it all together for the stunning climax. We found the discussions that spun from this book ranged from the topics of religion and integrity to the morally bankrupt and the disposed members of the community. JESUS LIVES IN TRENTON gets our hearty approval.

The novel operates on two levels: first, it's a flat-out funny and enjoyable, and second, it's a dark comedy about self-importance and the fight for a higher state of being. This duality is difficult to grasp for some who become bogged down in the details, but even so, the book is sift-paced lending more than just a little insight into this new author's mind. Having thoroughly enjoyed his latest comic novel, The Winners Circle, it was interesting to see how Klim got his start, and as the American public is driven further and further into formulaic plots and repetitive gruel, it's refreshing to take on this read. Recommended.

I'm glad to see this title reissued. I'd first discovered this book and author in Europe during the summer 2002. I was homesick, and this satire of American culture--religion, politics, ambition, etc.--was just what the doctored order. I was caught laughing out loud on a bus in Paris, but Jesus Lives in Trenton is more than a guilty pleasure. It's the story of not-so-regular guy and photojournalist Boot Means (interesting name) and his drive to be noticed as a journalist. It all gets wrapped up in more plot and whacky but not so unrealistic characters than you can stand. It all boils down to a whole lot humanity that will make you cry as wkk as laugh.

Upon returning from European isolation, I've learned that Klim has become a cult favorite in the states, as his growing army of fans eagerly await his next novel, but if you want to see a 21st century novelist in the making, begin with Jesus Lives in Trenton or check out ChristopherKlim.com for loads of goodies and a terrific short story.

This book was in very good condition, and I would buy again from this seller.

The Lord has blessed everyone through Gayle Irwin as the Spirit of Jesus is displayed for us to view between the paper covers of this book.
Bill Bracken, Pastor Calvary Stanberry

This book outlines in clear and unwavering language what it truly means to be a servant. It was very apparent that what most Christians consider being Christ-like and a servant to mankind is off the mark. Gayle Erwin will point you in the right direction without any vacillating at all. There are several occasions where Mr. Erwin is critical of even himself and how he has behaved in his walk with God.

If you consider yourself a Christian, other than the Bible, this is one of the most important books you will ever read.

I was raised in a church organization that was cultlike in its legalism. We read the same Bible as everyone else but by the time I was 7 (about when I could read it myself), it was clear to me that the God being taught and the God of the Bible were two very different people. As the child of my parents, my mind believed what I was taught but as a child of God, my heart could never accept it. Jesus is the man that Gayle Erwin wrote about and the God who had been speaking to my heart for my whole life. I just had to get my head straight. The Jesus Style was the tool God used. Most people reviewing this book remark on its depiction of true Christianity. For me, it simply saved my life. I couldn't find the real Jesus anywhere and had begun to think that maybe that person about whom I was taught as a child was the real Jesus. I was ready to turn my back on God and walk away, my life had been so painful. In the pages of this book, Gayle Erwin described the Jesus my heart had always known and of course, backed it up with scripture. I cannot explain the joy I felt to have been so affirmed. I knew I wasn't crazy. I knew the Jesus I read was different and so did Gayle Erwin. This book is in its 40 somethingth printing now. I am sure hundreds of thousands of copies have gone out. But I believe that God inspired this work of Gayle Erwin to pull this girl out of the despair that legalism causes, to put my feet back on the path and get me moving again. A couple of years ago, it was my greatest happiness to drive to hear Gayle Erwin speak. I hoped I would have a chance to talk to him. I wanted to thank him and I did. Without any God in my life, I don't know where I would have ended up. God used this man and this book at that particular time to reach me. If you are reading this, it is entirely possible that Jesus is trying to reach you too. Do what Gayle Erwin did....Listen. You have no idea how your life could change.

If you have ever wondered what it truly means to follow Jesus, or if you have ever wondered "What Would Jesus Do?" then this book is a must read.

Written in plain language, this is an easy read. I found it to be an absolute joy to read it and gained some interesting insights in to the style of our Lord and Savior.

Truly a delightful, useful book, I recomend it to everyone.

This is one of my favorite Baldwin novels. Only someonle with Baldwin's background could so poignantly express who Arthur was and how he felt about his music. An excellent piece and a must read!

This book is the best book I have ever read in my life. Its emotionally naked grappling with what race and violence has done to our country is painfully acute and brutally honest. Every American should read this.

From the moment I read the first page, I have loved this novel. I have read it several times and each time the characters come to life and I find myself caring about them. Hall has to deal with so many issues--least of all, is Ruth the woman he truly loves or should he be with the evangelist? Arthur-the gay gospel singer who sometimes would just as well have a drink or a man than sing the gospel, but who sang it so well when he chose to. Then there are the complex lives of their friends and parents that seem so real and yet so tragic. Baldwin created a masterpiece!

Probably one of the more underappreciated novels in American literature. It is unfair to charecterize Baldwin as merely a social critic of the civil rights era. He stands alongside Dickens as one of the great writers of any era, with the ability to articualte an understanding of human nature that trancends any era and stands second to none.

This novel is a testament in a way, the testament of a man who has lived long and well, too much even and too hard, in the world. A testimony too. Every single event in this novel about a black man who became a gospel singer and then a blues singer is the crystalisation of the whole history of Afro-Americans in the USA, the whole history of each character that is living the event through, the whole past and future of a present that is both crooked and promising. That is the very dilemma of this book, a dilemma that we feel and sense everywhere, on every page. Each moment in the life of these characters is the condensation of the cosmic, historical and human past of the individual and the sublimation of all possible wishes, desires, potentialities that this individual has developed in his situation and with his heritage. The novel may appear as very pessimistic because one cannot evade their heritage. But it is tremendously optimistic because one can always choose to realize their dreams, even if the situation around limits the possibilities and the chances to succeed. The aim of life is not to succeed, but it is not to fail, hence to move forward a few steps, and that one can always do it, even if it entails a lot of suffering and a lot of pain. Baldwin is also very optimistic about the world, about human beings, about Afro-Americans because he believes and tries to demonstrate that this forward progress of the pilgrims we are is fuelled by the happiness one gets from life, and that happiness comes from one's effort to accept what may provide happiness, no matter what that is, and the first thing to accept is love, no matter what form it may take. Yet there is a limit for Afro-Americans, a limit and a contradiction : they have great difficulties thinking in other terms than racial terms. They have been the victims as a « race » of deportation, slavery, discrimination, in a word a holocaust, and they cannot differenciate between the whites who are responsible for that fate, those who have made a direct profit out of it, even if many others have been able to enjoy some improved conditions thanks to the exploitation of black slaves, and the whites who have no responsibility in this historical process. How can we put on the same level, in the same boat the slave owners, the slave traffickers on one side, and the serfs that could only survive between famines, and the workers who were exploited too in the factories, and still are ? How can we put in the same bag the pharmaceutical firms that let Africans die because they don't want generic drugs to be produced and the workers of these pharmaceutical firms who are exploited just the same, even if in another way : the research and the patents the bosses want the poor to pay at the highest price, and in this very case most of these firms are American in the world, have been produced by workers who should be considered as the owners of their work and are, too often, paid a pittance when compared with the riches their bosses get out of this work. That's James Baldwin's dilemma. He hardly can discriminate between the white corn and the white chaff, and the white chaff is the workers, those who create the riches of the white corn. Some chapters become extremely poignant when this issue is brought up here and there and when Black Arthur cannot accept to love and be loved by white Guy, just because Guy is white and considered by principle as an accomplice of what the lords of the white « race » have done in history. And one of James Baldwin's concluding thoughts is : « To undo the horror, we repeat it ». And not to repeat the horror of the killing of a black man by some whites (like Peanut for instance), Baldwin makes his Arthur die in London, in a pub where he is the only black man, and by falling in a state of amazed drunkness on the stairs leading to the restrooms in the basement, at a moment when love had been slightly roughened by life into a distance that could have been avoided if love had not gone through a storm in what appears like nothing but a glass of water, the glass of water of everyday life.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

After reading SECRET LIFE OF CEECEE WILKES, I went on to read BEFORE THE STORM and BAY AT MIDNIGHT. I loved these three novels so much that, based upon recommendations here and at Diane's blog, I purchased the KEEPER OF THE LIGHT trilogy. I am so glad I did. I love the characters and plots in these novels, and I especially love how there were always secrets to be learned in each book. My greatest hope is that Diane will continue this excellent series by writing a fourth...

In 1992, while browsing at the library I came across the book Keeper of the Light by Diane Chamberlain. At the time Ms. Chamberlain was an author I wasn't familiar with but one I was soon to become acquainted with not only through her books but also through an early online book group. I also had the pleasure of meeting with Ms. Chamberlain in person on several occasions. I can still remember vividly how I felt after I read Keeper of the Light and how I felt when I realized that a certain screen name was for the author who wrote one of my favorite books. Now eleven years later I reread Keeper of the Light, something I seldom do, in anticipation of reading the second book in a trilogy Ms. Chamberlain wrote about the people and area known as Kiss River, located in the Outer Banks. And as I hope my thoughts on a second reading of Keeper of the Light was that this book was just as good as the second time and I would be happy to reread it again and again.

Keeper of the Light begins on the Outer Banks on a winter's night in the shadow of an old and grand lighthouse when a woman is brought into a hospital with a bullet wound. Dr. Olivia Cole, new to the area tends to the woman's wound but her injuries are too extensive and the woman dies. Only later does Olivia find out that this woman was Annie O'Neill a stained glass artist, known to the locals as Saint Annie for her many good deeds. What Olivia is soon to learn is that her husband Paul Macelli has a history with Annie which after her death will impact on not only Paul and Olivia's life but Annie's husband and children. While there are many secrets at Kiss River between these two families, the key to what happened many years before and continuing to Annie's death has been held by the lighthouse keeper Mary Poor who has been like a mother to Annie all of these years.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this review I seldom if ever reread a book for fear that I may not enjoy the book as much the second time. In this case I think I enjoyed this book a bit more than the first time which I never thought possible. And the best part is that now I can look forward to reading the second book in the trilogy, Kiss River, and revisit the Outer Banks and find our more about characters I feel as though are part of my family.

This was an amazing story that quite literally gave me a lump in my throat from the very beginning to the very end - and I am not even a fan of contemporary novels! It starts with an emotional and intense opening as a woman is rushed into a small coastal emergency room suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. It was Christmas Eve as Dr. Olivia Chase was waiting to end her shift and go home to her husband. Sizing up the situation quickly, Olivia realized that there was only one possibility of saving the patient and that was to operate and try to stabilize her then rather than airlift her to a trauma center - travel time that the patient would never survive. It would be later that Olivia would realize that her patient was Annie O'Neill, the woman whom her husband, Paul Macelli, was obsessed with.

From the very first pages the author establishes and introduces you to a woman dubbed in her community as Saint Anne - paragon of virtue, kindness, and generosity of spirit. Annie O'Neill's death changed the course of so many lives, that night; Annie's husband Alec; her two children, Clay and Lacey; Dr. Olivia and her husband Paul. As they each become obsessed with the memory of this woman, they join together to save the lighthouse that she loved. As the months pass by, a complex triangle of passion, love, deceptions and lies begin to emerge into an explosive and emotional confrontation finally brought out into the open by the `keeper of the light'.

The descriptive emotional intensity of the writing by this author is totally awesome. I sincerely hope that any who read this review accept my word that this is an author to put on your list as an automatic buy, and rush out to get a copy of this unparalleled read.

I bought and read this book when it first came out, and I remember loving it. I must have, because I kept it on my bookshelf. When Kiss River, the sequel, came out I decided to re-read Keeper first, just to be up to date.

The second time was as wonderful as the first. The characters are multi-faceted, sympathetic, but still completely human. You'll be looking for them if you ever visit the Outer Banks, expecting to meet them on the dunes or in a sunset-flooded restaurant.

Now I have Kiss River to look forward to, as well as a second sequel coming out sometime in the near future. I'm so glad Diane Chamberlain decided to revisit these characters and this story. Bravo to her publisher, who made sure a new group of readers would have the chance to savor Keeper. I certainly did.

If you are wanting a quick and easy read, this is not the one for you. From the very beginning, the story starts off intense and is like that all the way through the book. A quick review of the story... Christmas night, Dr. Olivia Cole is about to finish up her shift on-duty when a woman is brought in with a fatal gunshot wound. Annie O'Neill was working in a woman's shelter serving supper along with her daughter when an upset husband came in threatening to shoot his estranged wife, shooting Annie instead. Realizing time is against them, Olivia makes the decision to operate, losing Annie on the operating table.

Annie O'Neill was a local stained-glass artist, married to Alec with 2 children, and well-loved through out her community due to her giving heart. When Olivia arrives home from the hospital and tells her husband, Paul of Annie's death, Paul becomes distraught and tells Olivia he has been living a lie and leaves her. Olivia becomes obsessed with wanting to findout what it was about Annie to draw Paul away from her. Through learning about Annie's life, Olivia discovers Paul and Annie went wayyyyyy back. Through her obsession, Olivia gets to know and become important to Alec and his children. There is definitely a triangle going on between Olivia, Paul, and Alec. Secrets come out that have been kept by the Keeper of the Lighthouse, Mary Poor whom Annie had become like a daughter to. Secrets you will never guess!

It's powerful, intense, and was emotional for me. My heart really went out to Olivia but also to Alec- you get to really know him as well. Through Olivia's search about Annie, she gets to really find herself! It is definitely a book to get and read! I highly recommend it. It was a keeper for me!

One of the greatest untold stories of modern history is that of Germany during the close of World War I. And Richard Watt, the author, tells this sweeping drama with a suberb style and in unprecedented detail. Watt covers every major event and intimately describes what went on behind closed doors during this extremely tumultuous time.

Despite its defeat at the hands of the Western Allies, the German armed forces continued to play a leading role (albeit in the form of independent freikorps units) during the Communist and Secessionist rebellions in late 1918/early 1919. During these desperate times, private armies of Communists, Socialists, and ideologically vague - but intensely violent - conservative battled it out, often to the death, on the streets of Germany's great cities. And all the while Germans everywhere were starved, threatened, and exhausted physically, financially, and morally. It should come as no great wonder then that anyone living through this period should desire order above all else. And this ultimately led into the hands of Nazi propagandists who turned it to their own advantage.

The book also covers some of the most fascinating episodes during this period - the Kiel Sailors' Mutiny, the Berlin Uprisings, the First Bavarian Revolution, the Second Bavarian Revolution, the amazingly amateurish diplomatic proceedings at Versailles, the birth of the 'Stab in the Back' legend by the 'undefeated' Germany Army, the birth of the Freikorps movement, the brief German fiefdoms in Latvia and Lithuania, the great scuttle at Scapa Flow (see The Grand Scuttle by Van Der Vat), the internal Weimar cabinet struggles regarding the Versailles Diktat, how the Allies agreed on particular frontier/reparations/guilt clauses, and how the German Army did ultimately lose the war.

Weimar Germany - and perhaps much of Eastern Europe - was irrevocably and horribly scarred by this devastating period of chaos, political assassinations, and utter financial ruin. Gone was the relatively staid, quiet time, and relative tolerance of the imperial monarchies. Henceforth, Europe would be murderously divided by Communist & Fascist ideologies running like an explosive fault line running through most European nations.

Besides an outstanding text, Watt includes a few photographs of the major personalities - including a rare few action shots taken during the Berlin Spartacist and Communist uprising. Watt's conclusion is that the ultimate right-wing victory was from the Social Democratic 'sell out' to the right-wing military establishment. The SD would never so much control affairs as preside over them. Key positions in the gov't - judges, military commands, and police officials - would remain occupied by right-wing elements until a suitable opportunity came to overthrow the hated Weimar Republic. What is amazing is that this [...], stepson of a republic managed to survive for over a decade despite the fact that almost all German political parties were unanimous in their hatred of it.

This is another outstanding book by the truly talented Richard M. Watt, and I highly recommend it!

Despite a less-compelling (to me) detour into German socialist unrest, this is a suspenseful, compelling, and very well-written work which brings out the full tragedy of the Paris Peace Conference and the treaty it produced.

This is a very fair, balanced, extremely readable history of the the last years of WW1, the various revolutions and mutinies in 1918 and 1919 (mainly in Germany, but also Hungary,etc.)and the grand finale of the Versailles Treaty. When reading this book, one cannot help but agree with the thoughts of Jan Christian Smuts, who very accurately predicted the great and horrible events of the next 25 years. Apparently, Pres. Wilson did not carry out his lofty ideals in the end, Lloyd George had serious second thoughts (persuaded in part by Smuts), and Clemenceau remained angry and adament. This is among the few books that I've read that tells about all sides of the story. The six weeks between the first Versailles meeting (on the 4th anniversary of the Lusitania attack), and the final signing are especially well done here. I never realized that the Allies were on the verge of attacking Germany if the Treaty was not signed ASAP. We also forget that the Allied naval blockade continued for about 6 months after the Armistice, resulting in the deaths of thousands of German children. It did not end until the final signing of the Versailles treaty.In short, a whale of a good book!

I would heartily recommend this to anyone with an interest in 20th century history. Superb history, the way it should be written.

The author sought books on the German Revolution of 1918-1919; finding none, he wrote this one. The failure of the German military to win the war by 1918 produced mutinies, revolution, and the end of their Second Empire by October 1918. A new republic was proclaimed, and the Armistice led to the treaty of Versailles. While the Kaiser fled to Holland, his military remained as a wanted burden to the new republic: it alone could suppress the revolutions breaking out all over Germany. This left them as the striking force fro a republic that they despised; eventually they came to support the Nazis (p.527) and a new European War. This seems like the inevitable result from the Allied failure to overthrow and purge the German ruling class, or divide the German Reich into separate nations, as was correctly done after World War II. Denazification and partition, plus grouping the small nations into large blocks, kept the peace for 50 years. But nothing lasts forever.

Woodrow Wilson gave many speeches on "Democracy", but he was appointed President of Princeton, Governor of NJ, then President of the US through his personal ambition. Pages 15-20 tell of the contradictions and complexities in his personality. His dictatorial rule at Princeton led to his firing. A personal friendship allowed him to be nominated as the Democratic candidate for Governor of NJ. He promised to work with the "organization", then reneged on his promises! He drafted a torrent of liberal legislation (as did Bismarck in the 1880s). He met Edward House, and insider and power broker in the national party. House's technique" get a clean candidate and let the party organization do its job; it still works today! Jim Marr's "Rule By Secrecy" tells how and why the 1912 election was fixed to create the private banking cartel that controls our economy. Running a third party candidate helped in 1980 and 1992.

Wilson's dictatorial personality abraded many in Congress; he lectured them, he didn't talk to them. His cabinet had few men of first caliber; it was as if he could only work with subordinates. But Edward House knew how to manipulate him (p.22).

Wilson declared war as a fight to make the world safe for democracy, an idealistic crusade that overlooks the fact that wars are waged for loot: markets, provinces, colonies, etc.

Perhaps Wilson's greatest fault was that everything was handed to him; he didn't have to claw his way to the top by competitive elections (p.27). Page 36 tallies the triumphs of Woodrow Wilson. Perhaps the "errors in judgment" were due to his pride and his refusal to take expert advice (p.37), complicated by his arteriosclerosis or some other disease ("megalomania"?). Wilson gained fame and recognition through his speeches; a rhetorician, not a manager.

I am both a photographer and a "train nut". This book is outstanding!

I'm not a railroad enthusiast per se, but I have to admit I was captivated by the photographic artwork of O. Winston Link. This book abounds with not only great photographs, but Mr. Link has definitely defined Americana of the 1950's through his photography. As a child of the 50's I can definitely relate to the steam locomotives, by the beautiful sounds they made not only at rest, but also by the rhythm of their wheels, and the melodic shrill of their whistles. O. Winston Link is without question one of the greatest photographers of our country, and his photography shows it. This is a great book, and I recommend it to anyone interested in a bygone era.

American steam railroading should go down in history as the most evocative and romantic aspect of the industrial age. Winston Link understood what was happening during the 1950s, and he took care of it. Times were changing, the cheapness of the airplane and automobile were replacing the steam railroad with its giant fire breathing behemoths--indeed the most 'human-like' machines, in my opinion. Link primarly photographed at night using indepedent flashbulbs and reflectors; this way he could control the lighting. This makes his images haunting, yet nastolgic and desirable.

My favorite shot in this book is titled "Highball for the Double Header", one of the last images Link photographed of the railroad, and one of the few in which he used color film at night. In it you witness his mastery for composition as well as symbolism: two articulated steam locomotives being given the all clear by a switchman's lantern, the man being dwarfed by the giant engines and their cloud of steam reaching far up into the night sky--all perfectly illuminated by Link's flashbulbs. A fitting end to Link's oeuvre.

Get this book, you won't be disappointed. Check out the new museum dedicated to his work in Roanoke: www.linkmuseum.org

O. Winston Link, in my opinion, was the best train photographer that ever lived. He knew where to aim the light, how much light to have, and the best places to take photos. Most of Link's photos are taken at night, which enhances view of the massive amount of pure white steam.

This book defines nostalgia more than clearly. Being a railroad and steam locomotive enthusiast myself, I dream about the living in pictures that Link took. In the book, Thomas Garver, one of Link's assistants, illustrates the sounds, details, and reasons for the trains being where they are in each photo.

The Norfolk & Western was the last major railroad in the U.S. to say "good-bye" to steam power. When Link heard of the inevitable decision, he immediately began to "document" the railroad as it was before steam was gone. From about 1955 to 1958, he spent countless hours taking thousands of photos of the steam engines on the N&W. "The Last Steam Railroad in America" brings out some of the best photos he ever took.

I like the photos in this book that pertain to the "Abingdon Branch" of the N&W. I used to live in Damascus, VA, a small town that was one of the major stops on this line. The railroad bed is now a bike trail and I have found every spot that Link stood at in order to take his photos of the Abingdon Branch.

I highly recommend "The Last Steam Railroad in America" to any train enthusiast, photographer, or anyone who has memories of a steam locomotive roaring by their home. It will always have a special place on my bookshelf.

While my major interest in photography has always been the early-20th-century Camera Pictorialists, I've always loved the photographs of the late Winston Link. With their tremendous detail and chiaroscuro, they have qualities few photos have - drama and mood. Link was actually trained as an engineer but made his living as an industrial photographer. Even his commercial photographs had a strong narrative drive; they told the story of his clients' products. Because of his tremendous mastery of technique, Link was able to compose photographs with great spatial depth, and through well-placed illumination, bring them off. Link was long interested in steam locomotives but when a commercial assignment brought him to Virginia, he began a five-year-long project to document the Norfolk and Western railroad, the last steam railroad in america. While he shot the trains of the N & W in daylight - in both black and white and color - it was his night scenes that made Link a cult favorite among photographers. To capture the tremendous size of the locomotives and their ever-present steam, Link carefully composed each shot, blocking in where the locomotive would arrive and placing syncronized flashbulbs along the track to capture a steam locomotive at full cry. Winston Link was an American original who answered to his own muse - the steam locomotive.

Much has been written about the late, great, Pennsylvania Station, and yet it can never be too much. This landmark should be standing today, with it's pink granite shinning in the sun, and being a becon in cloudy weather. In the 1960's, in many other cities their grand "Union Stations" were being sectioned off and abandonded, some are still standing as ruins today, this is part of the irony of Penn Station's demise, even in the 1960's there were hundreds of passenger trains using the facility daily, and this number has been climbing since.

The author gives us all the facts and figures about this station, from it's planning, short life, and needless destruction. However she also paints the human picture of this building, and in doing so lets us understand how the public allowed this building to slip away.

The opening of Penn Station was celebrated during the final years of the Gilded Age, acted as shelter to thousands during the Great Depression, and it served as a virtual military base during the WW II years.
To the multitudes of returning vets, and their famalies, the railroads and Penn Station represented the past, and times that they all would rather forget. Remember back then there was not the mental health counselling available to the returning soldiers, and one way they coped was to simply forget the past, and all that it contained.

In this book we see that the stations fate was sealed with VJ Day, and the social changes that started to take shape with WW II's end.
By the 1950's, Airplanes and Interstate Highways were in, Railroads were out. Yet at least in the NYC area, commuter trains still played an important role that never went away. The beautiful building was allowed to decay, and was altered by a private company without any accontability required to the public.

By the early 1960's some of the public finally woke up, and NYC's Landmark Preservation Committee was formed, by it was too late for the "Temple of Transportation".

This book also contains an excellent compliment of photos, including a number from the 4 year, yes, four year period it took to destroy the station.

Ken

Very good book which takes into account the historical background of why Penn Station was built in the first place right through to its destruction. A tragic loss not only for New Yorkers but for America and this book describes it well.

I was barely seven years old when old Penn Station was torn down, but I remember the sadness and outrage of my neighbors in Brooklyn. I had only been to the station once or twice but I was too young to remember. I didn't really understand the big fuss about its destruction. And after it was gone, I don't remember there being too much grieving.

Now looking back, through films and books, I understand what it was all about. "The Late, Great Pennsylvania Station" by Lorraine B. Diehl is the best book on the subject that I've come across. Her analysis of the rise and fall of McKim's great station is both awe-inspiring and heart-breaking. The smattering of beautiful photographs is a plus, as well. Penn Station's demise, of course, could be regarded solely as a loss for the city but, as Ms. Diehl explains, the real legacy of the destruction was the enormous preservation/conservation movement that followed. In the aftermath, so many other buildings were spared a similar fate.

There are those who say that the people behind Penn Station's demolition were justified (Ms. Diehl rightly avoids villifying anyone). The apologists for the destruction claim that Penn Station was too big, in the wrong place, and was in the red. The Empire State Building was erected ten blocks south of the midtown business area and three miles north of the Wall Street district. It was a very big building and rarely had over 50% occupancy until the 1950s, when it finally began earning money. Should it have been knocked down too?

Mr. Mark S. Jendrysik is from North Dakota. What in the world would he know or care about New York City? Judging by his past reviews, he is a big business apologist in a square state in the middle of nowhere.

A native New Yorker myself, I could not imagine my city without Grand Central, for instance, or SoHo, Central Park or the historic area of Chelsea and the West Village. Some things are worth preserving.

This book is facinating and so well written, I really could not put it down, the author has a real sence for the history and importance of the building, I agree it could have used more visuals, but that is a minor quibble and really does not take away from the merit of the book. I must take some exception to the review of Mr. Jendrysic, in all due respect he misses the point totally of perservation when he says the building was a white elephant that was in the wrong place and in the red, that may have all been true, but in those cases you find other uses for the building, like Paris did with the Orsay train station and the colossel Louvre as well as Versailles, I mean would you call for the pulling down of Versailles??? and the Orsey Museum is spectacular. This was not just any building, this was a masterpiece a true treasure, that could have been coverted to other uses, buildings of this quality should be persevered, period, not torn down like some 50's tract house. I highly recommend this book in everyway, if you have any interest in great buildings or just wonderful books quite frankly, then you will not be disappointed in this book, you are right about one think Mr. Jendrysic this book is first rate.

This book is great in that the part of warfare that all believers ever encounter is that it teaches you scripturally who you are in Christ. It covers your authority and what each part of the armour of God stands for.

After reading this book you realize scripturally there is no thing that the enemy can do as long as you stand. You have authority over the enemy!!!! A must read for those unsure of how to handle attacks and what scriptures you can stand behind.

This makes a great study whether you do this as a group or individually. I highly recommend this book for anyone. It helps keep you encouraged in the midst of a battle or if you are just looking to deepen your walk with the Lord. This book also makes a great gift & will bless others.

Kay Arthur is great at getting you into the Word. As you study and mark the Scriptures, they come to life and you start to see the truths, which challenges you to grow in the Lord.

I first went through this study 11 years ago, it was given to me as a graduation present. When I wanted to focus on spiritual warfare again and didn't have access to my old book, I purchased this. This book is an excellent way to sharpen your spiritual weapons and hone your armor. As I said before, the first time I read this was 11 years ago and I still remember snippets when I am going through rough times. I would highly reccomend this to anyone who is interested in learning how to conduct spiritual warfare. It is a very scriptural look at the battle we face and how to conquer our enemy.

The lessons in this book will teach you to STAND FIRM in the midst trials and turmoil, and will help you understand and apply spiritual truth. Ephesians is the focus of this study and Kay Arthur gives you an overview of the history of Ephesus and how the culture is no different than today's. Kay takes you through the scriptures so you can learn truth inductively and then she guides you in how to apply it. Learn to write your own personal prayers right from the scriptures and activate the power of God's word in your heart and life! It takes diligent study and you need to commit at least 20 minutes a day, but it is well worth the time and effort. You won't want to stop studying once you get into this! I am only on Lesson 4 and am doing this with a group of 7 people and God is already moving in powerful ways. I want to get up on the rooftop and shout the message that EVERYONE needs to do this study! This is a very effective tool for being equipped to do battle, and believe me everyone of us is in some kind of battle, whether we realize it or not. Get prepared!

In lords: Part One by N.L. Belardes the inner city corruption of Bakersfield California is personified by one man, Simon Sundale owner of the towns most read newspaper. Through it Sundale manipulates public opinion the way a potter shapes his works of art, while leading a decadent life of perverted homosexuality and homicide. Belardes weaves his tale of corrupt homosexual power and of its symbiotic secret affair with street-smart young male transvestites who are desperate for cash and all the pleasures it will buy, around several symbolic elements.

While Bakersfield with its inner city down town ghost like qualities, including Chinese tunnels running beneath it, stands at the center of the story, Hollywood--in terms of the lords interdependence with young, pretty boys to satisfy their perversions--is Bakersfield's back yard..

It's from there we follow Joey Minstrel, a young pretty faced boy, in the car of a lord bringing him to Bakersfield, much like a pet dog for Sundale to groom and "play" with like his personal toy.

The story climaxes with the murder of a dubious character by Sundale. A crime that, true to the timbre of the towns justice system--in which the police work hand in hand with Sundale--proves unsolvable. And while Joey Minstrel was part of a counter-plot to extort Sundale and could have been implicated in the murder, the powers that ruled Bakersfield surrounded him with an impenetrable defense and he does only six months in a juvenile home.

Upon his release, he doesn't know where he is headed. At this point among the entire cast of this noir narrative, only Joey Minstrel stands a chance of being morally redeemed. There is a moment of reflection in which he realizes he might be a free agent, but that freedom to choose depends on the presence of Karvac, an older boy who'd been his mentor back in Hollywood. In the absence of Karvac, he entertains a few adolescent pipe dreams of what might lie "out there" for him. In the meantime, however, he will cling to the only tangible dream at hand, to be needed and used in the most depraved way. After all, he was now a lord.

Belardes's prose is always detailed and to the point. One feels the journalist that he is in his writing. His feel for the inner city decay abandoned by the suburban tax base is like an index finger pressing hard on its main nerve. Moreover, from the predatory degenerates at the top to the scheming blackmailers at the bottom, his pen fleshes them out and makes them all believable. One is only left to wonder in lords: Part Two what Joey Minstrels future will bring; will he eventually be redeemed or inherit Simon Sundale's evil predatory throne?

N. L. Belardes is one Bakersfield author who welcomes controversy. He doesn't just write about historic wind storms of the Central Valley; he pushes into darker areas of his community's psyche, writing about the political and social storms--and murders--of the past. Anyone willing to write a graphic novel based on the Lords of Bakersfield scandals of the '70's is sure to open up a few old, festering wounds some feel best left alone. Read this book for a great literary ride.

Based on local legend, "Lords: Part One" is a crowning testimony of the exploited, innocent and simultaneously exalted lives slain by the local Lords - the budding business owners, conservative politicians, and the ancient college professors and police chiefs.

In what may become his magnum opus, the breakthrough novel is a cleverly satirical account of how the local media exploit public desperation through a carefully concocted balance between what is marketable and factually tangible. Throughout this novel the mystical fog shrouds truth, but Belardes employs it as a powerful metaphor, an omnipresence of what Bakersfield loves, hates and fears, and ultimately what Bakersfield holds to its moral canon.

Without a doubt, N.L. Belardes has in his hands one of the last remnants of literary classicism, a wonderful satire of the decadence of the coveted, antiquated elements of society. "Lords: Part One" is a masterful, captivating rendition of small town corruption and remains a stronghold of what substance Bakersfield has to offer.

NOTE: This is merely a selection of my review for the Blue & White, the Bakersfield High School newspaper. You may see the entire review in this year's issue three.

A greatly written novel, with imagery that will force you to see Bakersfield the way you never really wanted to. Once you pick in up, there is no way you can put it down.

My single favorite quality of this book was its texture. Here's what I mean. I was enthralled by the weather Belardes used so ably, almost in becoming another character in the story. In a place like Bakersfield where weather tends to be so singularly routine, the weather breathed its way into the story and I found myself I becoming more present to what was taking place as the characters lived and breathed the changing conditions.

First the fog enveloped everything, and I could feel the cold, damp isolationist feel as I imagine Minstrel felt it settling onto his skin and into his lungs.... And into his psyche.

The violence of an incredible valley dust storm foreshadowed destruction of a most insidious kind.

The power of the natural force of weather, strong and almighty like the power of evil that blows throughout the captivating chapters of "Lords: Part one" and... does it continue to blow, today, too?

Hmmm. Maybe there will be a "Lords, Two..."

I am a 29 year old that used to love to draw, and have wanted to get back into it, but needed a place to start, and some help along the way. I found this book, and it's one of the best books that I could find about drawing, and probably the best Manga drawing guide out there. It covers everything that you could ever imagine about the genre of manga art. It's detailed history on Manga, it's artists, and the step by step instructions are like nothing I have ran into. I plan on using it just for the fun of drawing again, and putting together my own graphic novel. If you're looking to improve your skills, want to know how to market yourself, or just want to brush up on your art skills while learning Manga at the same time, I highly reccommend this book.

I purchased this because I was a dummy with regards to drawing in general, and for some reason got a "wild hair" to try and draw manga. After looking at other how-to books, this seemed the most basic and I have learned to trust the dummies series.

In no time flat I was drawing faces and having fun. I spent my free time over the next few weeks going through the book advancing through the techniques. What I found is that nothing is impossible and I was able to draw Manga characters.

The author does a very good job at starting at ground zero, and giving very basic steps that you can replicate to produce decent results. He covers a wide array of topics that give you the tools you need.

Start with a head, then do eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and hair. Step by step you work through each of these either doing advanced drawing with a lot of detail or more cartoony features with less detail. After the head is done he moves to the body - first basic layout, then more detail to create a full body, and then add clothes. All of this in a patient step-by-step manner that makes it achievable - for a dummy like me!

Finally when you are able to draw a character, you have a lot more to consider: what other characters are there? How big is he compared to others? how do i draw landscapes, cities, or space ships? The author walks through these types of topics and more to give you a basic understanding of what you need to do if you want to draw a manga page.

In addition to all this, he covers the basics of drawing, for instance, what tools do you need to draw (a pencil and piece of paper), or ink, or draw a full manga page, or publish a full manga magazine.

I purchased this book based on experiance of using the " For Dummies Series" in the past. The book does a good job on creating heads, bodies, and the differences in male/female. I had great results with those lessons. It does get brief in the areas for eyes, noses (especially front view), and mouths. Overall this book is a great book and I would recommend it to anyone interested in learning the Manga style of drawing or to expand their current drawing abilities.

You may not be the greatest manga artist, but you WILL have the confidence to start.

I bought this book for my 17-year old stepson who always loves manga. He is very excited to have this book that can teach him Manga from very basic stuff to the leve he can draw himself.
Ths shipping is very fast although I chose free-shipping for order 25$, it arrived in a week.

I love Amazon!