S Books

Lee: The Last Years

This is a wonderful book about a wonderful man. Although Robert E. Lee is most remembered as a General, for most of his adult life, he was an engineer and educator (although in the army). Mr. Lee could have become very wealthy after the war by simply allowing his name to be used commercially. However, he wanted to make a contribution and did so by accepting the position as President of Washington College. He seldom spoke of the war and brought no military flavor to the College.

There is an argument that Robert E. Lee is responsible for more American dead than any other single individual. The difficult part of this book is tying to tie that Robert E. Lee to the man he was in his last five (5) years. He played Santa at Christmas, broke up a lynching, stroked the ego of his horse Traveller, was a good family man, looked out for the under dog and took care of his students, even when they were in trouble. How he handled all these situations, often minor by standards of the war, brings out the essence of the man including his character, values, wit and subtle humor.

I have read/studied history and biography for 40 years. I have spent more time on Robert E. Lee than any other individual and this book someway brings all my study of Mr. Lee together and puts it in perspective. I highly recommend this book to anyone with any interest in American History. Thanks Mr. Flood.

Outstanding biography of the man. Much has been written about the general, this book brings the humble father, husband and Christian man to life.

I've long considered myself a student of Southern history and the Civil War. Heck, I've been a historian at museums so I think I have a pretty good knowledge of the Civil War era. Furthermore, I live in Virginia and have been to the campus of Washington and Lee University. However, nearly every page of Charles Bracelen Flood's work on Robert E. Lee's post-war years is full of information I've never heard about. Flood has used many differing sources to pull together a wonderful, highly readable account of Lee's years after the war, how he came to be President of Washington College, and his role in the reconstruction of this country. What jumps out off the pages is that for as much as Lee has been studied and idolized for his exploits on the battlefield, his postwar years as President of the college should get just as much press. While Lee did not think defending his native state was wrong, he did wish for both North and South to reconcile as quickly as possible. After reading the book, I still do not think Lee is the god that some people hold him up to be, but he does stand out as a good man who wanted to bring the nation back together while also helping his fellow Southerners get back on their feet. While Flood's writing can be unimaginative at times and I thought he threw in little stories and vignettes that he didn't need too, the book is excellent overall and should be a must read for anyone interested in Lee. However, the book is such an easy, good read that I think almost anyone should pick it up.

Bracelen Flood clearly does extensive research in order to render this intimate and engrossing portrayal of Lee.

Lee: The Last Years was well worth reading. A must for anyone who wants to know a little more of the Rest of The Story about a fine American, though much misunderstood.

In our household, we were "bread and buttered" listening to the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. The 33-1/3 rpm Columbia records were scratched and worn from overuse. We would play the records on family occasions and holidays. We would play favorite songs in the mornings during breakfast and as we made ready for school. In hindsight, I am surprised that the neighbors never complained or called the police.

Tommy Makem died last summer. The two eldest members of the quartet, Tom and Pat Clancy predeceased him. Liam Clancy is the sole surviving member of the recording group. This book is a sketchy and incomplete attempt at an autobiography, but it is as good as we are likely to get from this Clancy. Its strengths far outweigh its deficiencies. Readers should count themselves fortunate that Liam remembered anything at all after so many long nights and sexual misadventures. Perhaps, Tommy Makem, who abstained from drinking for most of his life, should have been taking notes for him (Makem wrote some wonderful essays, but I do not know if he ever published a full length book).

Liam Clancy was the youngest of eleven children. One of his problems when the recording group was formed in the USA was that his two much older brothers scarcely knew their youngest sibling at all. They had to introduce themselves to him when he arrived in New York. The Irish ballads and rebel songs (the Irish rebellions always seemed more successful in song than in reality) that the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem performed proved to be immensely popular. In addition the Irish diaspora, the authentic songs gained wide acceptance among fans of the Greenwich Village Folk Music scene. Liam Clancy became a fast friend of Bob Dylan.

There is a lovely story of how Clancy dropped his given Christian name while working as an actor in an Irish theatre company. A fellow actor chided him for answering to Willie, telling him that it was an "English" sounding name. He adopted the Gaelicized form and has been "Liam" ever since.

Pour yourself a drink and enjoy this book. Be thankful that the next generation of Clancy and Makem family members have taken up the songs that their fathers helped popularize internationally. Imagine how quiet our homes would have been if Clancy had kept up his father's plans and became an insurance agent!

Liam Clancy's has great literary talent. His bio is a tribute to his family and to his native land. Catholic schools greatly contributed to his native talent for the stage----I am not sure why he makes a critical remark of the Church.

The Clancy Brothers albums opened by ears to traditional celtic music in the 60s, so it was a treat for me to read Liam Clancy's account of how the group evolved. The family background and his personal development as an student, actor and musician were very enjoyable reading.
If you liked Angela's Ashes, this will certainly appeal.

First of all,there are 17 other reviews;most of them excellent and all deserve to be read.I read a fair bit of modern Irish Writing.The McCourts,Roddy Doyle,Brendan Behan,Morgan Llywelyn,Brendan O'Carroll,just to name a few.What I really like about these writers is their magical use of language.Although I have been a fan of Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers for at least 30 years,I have never read anything about them.I had no idea of how much they were involved in acting;let alone that any of them had such gifted writing skills.What a surprise;Liam's skills are as good as his musical talents.
Though not a Clancy,I heard Tommy Makem perform here in Toronto at an intimate club a few months ago.He did "Oh, me name is Dick Darby,I'm a cobbler.";mentioned on page 102.That had to be the best recitation I ever witnessed.
I would like to quote something Liam wrote about his experience in North Carolina in 1956 and he was writing about it nearly 50 years after the fact.
From page 170....
"South Carolina in the spring was seductive with scents of growing things,of magnolias and hibiscus,the air heavy with noontime heat and the swampy buzz of katydids and flying critters.The nights there belonged to the frogs and bats and flying beetles and the countless mingled smells of a land at rest after a burgeoning day's work fermenting life." Imagine the thoughts of a 21 year old,written 50 years later.
I also had no idea of Clancy's involvment with the people like Oscar Brand,Bob Dylan,Woody Guthrie,Pete Seeger,Odetta,Barbara Streisand,Lenny Bruce,Jean Ritchie,Ramblin' Jack Elliot,Brendan Behan,Diane (Guggenheim),Josh White,Alan Lomax,Mary O'Hara and on and on.
Liam gives a great insight into the world of acting and folk music of the 50's and the 60's. Now that I have read the book,I am looking forward to listening to the tape.
I also have no idea if Liam has a second book planned to cover the last 40 years.I am sure it would be a great follow up.How about it Liam,you're only 70 ,and you must still have lots to tell us.
Thanks.

I never heard Liam Clancy sing until a couple of months ago, when I found a copy of an album called "The Lark in the Morning" that looked interesting, given its cover and its date of the mid-50s. Growing up, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were heard of but not heard by me--I associated them with Aran knit sweaters, hearty shour-an'-begorra singalongs,novelty tunes, and the kind of kitsch that the previous generation had listened to complacently before the revival in the 70s of a tougher trad scene out of Ireland shook it all up again.

Well, I heard the tracks on "Lark" in the car without knowing who was who since I could not see the CD case listings. But when I finished it, I noticed that the songs that had stood out from the rest were all by Liam C. Impressed, I read the liner notes about one Diane Hamilton, who I had never heard of, and Tradition Records, the label for which "Lark" was the debut issue. But the whole story was not clear, given the brief notes, until I read "Women of the Mountain."

From the title, I expected a tale of lusty drunken couplings and riotuous escapades from the "Folksmen"/"Kingston Trio" era. Instead, an evocative tale of growing up eating mortar and chalk for nutrition during WWII, poverty, clerical abuse, and hardscrabble small-town life in Waterford's Carrick-on-Suir unfolded smoothly and eloquently. Sure, the blarney sometimes is laid on a bit too thick for less glib me, but the stage Irishman tendencies are kept mercifully in check by realism: the death of a sibling, the estrangement from mother and Church, the entanglement with Diane H. (who turns out to be a Guggenheim nearly as neurotic as her relative Peggy G. did for Beckett!), and the adventures on the road, in theatre, and on stage.

One surprise and a reason for four stars is the lopsided nature of the book: the singing takes decididly second fiddle to the stage in the dramatic sense. This was fascinating for me, but it misleads the reader perhaps who by the back photo of the group harmonizing might expect far more about Clancy's musical experience. He mentions, for example, as if offhandedly that he learned the tin whistle. Yes, but how? As a musician, did he find it easy after the guitar? How did it help his reportoire? Did he learn it so the group could expand its range? How does it sound to him? How does he play it? Here, music as enacted comes rather late in the book, in not a lot of detail, and seems rather superficially treated as opposed to other incidents and events.

I do commend Clancy on his delicacy with relating his own romantic and emotional engagements with women and men--he reminds us of the fragility we all possess and the need to recognize humanity in each other. And he makes his point after having earned the right to say so after his own checkered past. He comes off wise without sounding pious, intelligent without acting snobbish, and flawed without playing it up as maudlin. He handles people and places with stamina and wit, and his own coming-of-age here, while cut off while he's not even thirty yet, needs however fuller exposition than is given here. The New York Greenwich Village years deserve more depth than they're given here; the book's unbalanced in favoring much more from his pre-NYC years (nothing wrong with that) and again this may mislead misinformed readers as to its actual coverage of many more early situations predating the group's rise to fame. I also got little sense of how he got along with his fellow group members--granted that two are his brothers--but how the three Clancys got along with Makem who was from Keady in the north and from a different region, musical tradition, and political regime seemed like the sort of detail that could have enriched the book.

I guess a sequel is in the works. Like recent Irish memoirs by Frank McCourt and Hugo Hamilton, the autobiographical account stops suddently, at the height of a self-realization by the author in his formative years. I do not know if this book would have been published if McCourt had not led the way, but resilient Clancy's tale too deserves a wide readership for dispelling (as do McC and HH in their accounts--also see John McGahern's memoir) the myths of recent Irish life, while advocating a return to the more durable and more feminine myths that inspired Yeats, Behan, Synge, Joyce, and the Slieve-na-mBan/Sleivenamon that gives its rounded breasted mountain shape to the landscape that rose above Clancy's hometown.

I am an avid reader of the paranormal. I head a paranormal book of the month club due to my ever-expanding library. When I started reading this book, I found I couldn't put it down. It's very captivating and well written. It's not just about the Salem Witch Trials at all, which is scarcely talked about in this book. This book goes indepth about stories and tales you have never heard about before. I loved it! I highly recommend this book to any lover of the paranormal.

You can tell that this book is something special just by looking at the quirky artwork on the front cover. I must admit that I've never visited that part of the world before, but was surprised to find out that New England has such a rich history of folklore and creepy tales. I love the informative way in which all the stories are presented. They have depth and the author usually always offers a theory as to why the (mostly) supernatural events have occurred. My most favourite story in the collection was "Beyond the Dark Entry". It discusses the demise of a small hamlet by the name of Dudleytown. This story was genuinely creepy. I also loved "From the Mountains of Madness" which details some of the eerie experiences various people have had on the top of Mount Washington. Another thing I liked about this book was that even though some of the subject matter or folklore may have stretched the truth a little over the years, they never fall into the trap of being so far-fetched that you feel like you're being taken for a ride. This was a thoroughly entertaining book and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in this genre. I consider this to be one of my most favourite reads ever!!

Another collection of the incredibly bizarre and truly creepifying true tales of New England from Joe Citro. Not only are these tales so weird, so full of the Yankee spirit, so very scary, but Citro imbues them with the clever, dry-wit of the twinkle-eyed New England storyteller. This book was fantastic. Part of it might be that these places are very familiar to me and it isn't hard to imagine these weird, magical, creepy things occurring in the depths of old New England. Also, these tales are so absolutely bizarre that not even New England's best storytellers (from Nathaniel Hawthorne to Steven King) could have imagined them. I couldn't put this book down, and yet, I couldn't read it at night. Wonderful, scary, and fascinating collection. Grade: A+

What you'll love about this book is that Citro spins a good yarn. His storytelling style reads well, and your eyes effotlessly flow over the words. As for whether these stories are true, he includes some fantastically compelling reasons why they could possible be more than simple legend or folklore. Documentation, methodical investigations by qualified skeptics, law enforcement sightings, journalists, and witness-upon-witnesses, all shared in a non-overbearing fashion. He's not trying to prove anything, he's just tickling our thoughts -- and it works!

The stories themselves are either interesting, quirky, terrifying (or all of the above), and all of them -- I mean all of them -- are utterly unique. Just stuff you couldn't have made up on your own even if you were using hallucinogens!

If you're a skeptic it will challenge you. If you're a person of faith it will make you rethink your pre-assumed theologies. But ultimately this book succeeds because at its heart they're just well-told stories that will chill you to the bone and make you think at the same time.

From the title of this book, I was expecting mostly ghost stories. However, this book is unique in its genre, and I was very pleasantly surprised! Although this book has much legend and lore, of which I am not usually a fan, this author's ability as a raconteur quickly overcomes the boundaries of time. These tales are superbly told by a master at his game. Joseph Citro, in his own words, claims to be an "anthologizer." That is exactly what he does here, and he does it well.

The author's ability to narrate a captivating tale is the epitome of the classic New England story-teller, wry humor included. His prose breathes invigorating life into these stories, most of which are "off the beaten path." He will at times make you shiver, and at other times scratch your head. Gathered for your inspection are some of the most creepy, bizarre, and, in some cases, well-documented strange happenings from across the region. Joseph Citro has set himself apart as a top-notch investigator of odd history and unsolved mysteries, a true "Bard of the Bizarre." I am especially a fan of the stories about the sightings of the "Yankee Bigfoot." There were some pages I couldn't turn fast enough.

This collection peeks into lots of New England's nooks and crannies, and should be included in any ghost story, folklore, or mystery-filled library. These strange tales are engrossing, well varied, and unique. I would love to sit down with the author over a roaring campfire, late at night, with only the forest winds howling . . .

A friend maintains that "very few conspiracies don't get found out".. this is definitely true in this case, but how many other experiments have been done on children, perhaps wards of the state in numerous states using private agencies subcontracting with state child care agencies that we might never hear about?

Of particular interest is the Fernald school chapter, where MIT researchers befriended vulnerable kids and traded "friendship" and "caring" for doses of irradiated milk the kids were made to drink without their knowledge or consent in Massachusetts.

The release of Eileen Welsome's book "THE PLUTONIUM FILES- America's Secret Medical Experiments in the Cold War" in paperback will hopefully make this important book more accessible to the general public.

Detailing the effort of the US government to test the effects of Plutonium and other radioactive substances on people, the book outlines first the creation and evolution of the nuclear program that created the need for such testing, and then the US government's attempt to conduct such testing on its own citizens without their knowledge or informed consent. On strictly a superficial level there is much here which will attract the "x-files" crowd: Super-secret installations, eccentric scientists and far-fetched experiments on unsuspecting citizens. The kind of information that makes conspiracy theorists sit back from their computers in darkened little rooms, pump their fist in the air and utter that now-hackneyed phrase: "The truth is out there"

Fortunately for the reader, Welsome assiduously avoids such sensationalism and instead draws a largely compassionate picture of the US government's program and of the people who perpetrated it and who participated in it. Welsome's well structured and organized account of the growth of the plutonium testing programs involving critically ill persons across America during the Cold War years teems with information and insight, yet it manages to treat victim and perpetrator alike with a measure of respect and empathy that places this book well above the level of the standard "Shocking Expose". To her great credit Welsome goes beyond merely packaging the results of her extensive research and alarming discoveries in a "tell-all" book.

Certainly, THE PLUTONIUM FILES introduces information which, by its nature is bound to shock and disturb many, but the book also addresses the too-often forgotten issue of context: Was what happened acceptable by the standards of the time in which it occurred? In addressing this question Welsome probes more deeply into her subject, examining the duality, the moral dichotomy, inherent in the decision to implement this program. In a time when the world was still dealing with the results of a devastating world war and the possibility of another seemed likely the need for answers had an immediacy which could be ignored only at the world's peril. Hard decisions had to be made and extraordinary measures taken; Welsome is clearly cognizant of this as she assess each program and as she examines and balances the need against the action and its end result, the author treats the reader to some of her best analysis.

The Plutonium Files- America's Secret Medical Experiments in the Cold War is certainly an important book; one which adds a significant chapter to the recorded history of the growth of atomic science. Despite its scientific topic and exhaustive sourcing the books narrative is direct and engaging, its organization straightforward and its conclusions informed and objective. A book that is well worth its price, Welsome's book would be a great Christmas present for everyone from an avid historian to the omni-present x-files fan; who will find much in here to confirm their most exotic fears. Overall an excellent book for which the author has received two much deserved awards.

This book was completely amazing.

First, you want to be appalled {as well you should} with the amount and type of experiments that were carried out {radioactive cocktails for pregnant women!!}. How could anyone do this to another person??

Then, you think of the people in your own life who have gotten bone marrow transplants, or radiation treatment for cancer. It gets harder to hold the original doctors as evil monsters. Don't misunderstand me - informed consent is a must. How do you inform them of outcomes that are absolutely unknown - how do you start to know?

I thought a lot about this book as I read it, and continue to think about it now that I'm done. I'm sure there must be a middle ground between what they did, and what needed to be done. It is riveting and amazing.

This book has been haunting me since I finished it almost a year ago. How could we justify human experimentation? In the name of national security in the time of war? In the name of national pride in the age of nuclear arm race? Or, simply for the sake of personal career advancement? The answer is: WE CANNOT. What strikes me is that some of the scientists in question were building their career and reputation by conducting these secret experimentation. They were enjoying their fame and success while their victims and many generations after (if the victims still managed to have children) continued to suffer. What disgusts me the most is that even in the final moment of their life some of these scientists still denied any wrong-doing. When I read to that part, my heart ached and I could not hold back my tears, for I was a scientist too. Now a year later, I am still haunted by those stories. But more so I have come to realize a new question: If those experiments were done on other animals instead of human, would the book still raised the same controversy and interest?

This book is scary to say the least. It is well researched and details what is a practice probably still going on today in experiements we do not know about. I was particularly troubled by the Fernald school, where unwanted kids were befriended by MIT researchers who took them on trips and gave them presents in return for the kids drinking radioactive milkshakes. Was some of this done to generate data for use in bringing the first commercial microwave to market by Raytheon?

I was a guinea pig of sorts growing up in state child care and years later was confronted in an interview with what i suspect was a NSA employee as to whether i knew what " a controlled experiment is". As a young child, a former Pentagon official befriended me and tracked me,keeping files for research purposes over a 20+ year period.

Whitey Bulger is alleged to have been a participant in the MK Ultra experiments involving LSD.

I strongly recommend this and Jonathan Harr's "A Civil Action" to anyone!

Rattrap is an excellent book. Because of events like the Kobe Bryant case, one might think that the plot would be straightforward and predictable. It is anything but predictable. Ms Hamilton takes the characters through series of highly charged emotional events that are thought provoking in their presentation. The raw power of life comes through in many of its varieties and is dealt with in ways that leave the reader wondering about life and people in general. While some may feel that these unabashed displays of life are offensive, I find them refreshing. The characters are real and the ways that they deal with life are real.
More importantly, the book is enjoyable. I highly recommend this book and look forward to more offerings from Ms Hamilton.

Great character line it has all the good stuff! The story line is very believable it has a driving movement or action in it. The characters are very news worthy, it has drama,guns,sex,murder,drugs,and it keeps you wondering what happens next. Very good story line very good first book with great imagination, well thought out, Great effort to keep it real. Good job! Ed Abner

"In order to defeat evil, you must understand the nature of evil." This is a profound and demanding statement that occurs several times in Sarah's first novel. In many important ways it is a summary of the novel. Over the course of the novel, the reader is given the chance (choice?) to understand not only the `greater evil' of the main villain, but also the `lesser evils' of the various characters in the novel. The novel also wrestles with the idea that perception creates reality.

RATTRAP as a story can be read on many levels, from the erotic novel to a philosophic discourse on the nature of evil and thus should appeal to a very diverse audience. The novel also contains many vignettes that will amuse, arouse, disgust, enlighten, and entertain.

This one of the most intense and believable novels I've read in a very long time. I look forward to reading Sarah's next novel!

Sarah, I thought this book was fantastic. Read every word cover to cover. Graphic, but not offensive, and I think you displayed a wide array of knowledge and familiarity with sports, pop culture, history, art and so much more. It took me a while to get through all the book, but it was well worth it. A job well done and best of luck in the future.

Jose Romero
Seattle Times Seahawks writer

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed Sarah's stories online I couldn't resist trying her first book, despite the fact that I read very few novels, don't care for violence, and have no particular interest in sports. But it was like getting on a wild carnival ride, once you got into this story, there was no way you were leaving until the ride was over. Be prepared for twists and turns and bumps in the road. Sarah will keep you guessing with her rapid fire short chapter style.
And be prepared to meet some larger than life characters along the way. There are enough bad guys to populate three novels. But for those of us that have witnessed examples of celebrity "justice" in action in recent history, this book will land a little close to home. Sex, professional sports, the criminal justice system, race, gangs, there doesn't seem to be a topic that Sarah is afraid to tackle head on. Where one so young gets the knowledge and confidence to do so and make the book believable and real is beyond me but more power to her. I know that Sarah's goal is to be a full time writer and I think she's well on her way. What a great first book. She's almost converted me to become a novel reader; at least when her second book comes out and I hope that's soon. Bravo Sarah, I just hope you will still have some time to titillate your online story fans as well.

My husband died suddenly in 2005 and I've done a lot of grief work using all tools available-counseling, guided imagery dvd's, bereavement groups, journaling and LOTS of reading. This is by far the best resource and guide for anyone experiencing such a loss. I've recommended it several times and have given it to friends who have lost spouses. Don't hesitate to buy it.

I gave this as a gift to my cousin's husband after she died. He'd read a number of books on the topic and said this book included helpful information that he'd never read before. He gave it to his step daughters to read next since he felt they could benefit from it as well.

Harper Neeld's book is an incredibly detailed compilation of the author's personal experiences in the sudden loss of her young husband, interviews with other widows/widowers, and discussions of phases of the grieving process. I would rate this book highly, along with one of my favorite grief authors, thanatologist Alan Wolfelt (e.g. Understanding Your Grief books). Harper Neeld seamlessly combines her painful, personal story with factual, helpful guidelines to create one of the best written boooks I have read on widowhood. I used the introspective questions with my grief therapist, who liked the book so much that she borrowed it and used it for a class she taught.

After my husband died suddenly, I was beside myself. My aunt insisted on placing this book in my hands. It has been a lifeline to me. I have purchased well over 20 copies of it for friends and continue to haunt my local bookstore when they don't have it on the shelf for immediate purchase. Having read almost every grief book out there, don't waste your money, just buy this one and learn to live again.

My friends keep telling me I should write a book about my grief, but I think that what Elizabeth Harper Neeld has written is better than anything I could produce. This book is so readable and covers every aspect of grief. My husband died four months ago, and I have found this book exceedingly helpful. Elixabeth put the most important step first "To experience and express grief fully." There are hundreds of ways to run away from grief, but it is necessary "to feel it to heal it." I was given the best advice by a friend who said to "lean into the pain." The second choice "To endure with patience," has helped me be more patient and compassionate with myself. Thank you, Elizabeth for this beautiful book. I will buy it for everyone I know who loses someone dear.

have a problem with using words like "brilliant", "masterful" and "intelligent." But willing apply all words to this brilliant book, masterfully research and intelligently told.

The author gives a very full and complete treatise on Brown versus the Board of Education, but of greater interest, he writes of all the history that lead up to the ruling.

An exceptional book chronicling an extremely important issue in our country's history.

This is certainly the best book ever written -- the best book that ever will be written -- about race, law and American society. It is a remarkably insightful history and one of the most stunning existing examples of narrative journalism. It is a masterpiece.

I'm a fan of nonfiction works and this easily moved to my top 5 favorite books. When I was growing up there were no courses on the contributions blacks made to America. There was no black history month. And I was cheated. I'm a 50+ white woman who lived through desegregation and had no clue that it was a struggle. I honestly don't remember a time when my elementary classes were all white but they must have been. I do remember clearly when my elementary class stopped being all white. That was when Richard Harris became my Batman buddy. On the aftenoons following the show we would go to the neighborhood soda shop and have a coke and discuss all the action of the previous evening's show and check for new Batman bubble gum cards with the intensity that only 5th graders can bring to such an important endeavor. It felt normal to chat Batman with Richard; and I'm so sorry for all the children that had such a dumb practice as segregation rob them of those moments.

This book read like a thiriller for me. Couldn't put it down. Underlined and highlighted parts. Read other sections out loud to my husband and to some friends at work. This is American history. Everyone should have the opportunity to learn about the value of education, the value of varied experiences and the perseverance to acquire the rights that should never have been denied to the black people. It's made me hungry to know more and I'll be keeping my eye out for other works by Kluger. Excellent author.

I just finished this book, A Simple Justice, and it is fantastic. It's the story of Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, which is the landmark Supreme Court case that desegregated compulsory public schools in America. But it's so much more than that. After reading this book, I felt almost ashamed of my previous ignorance to the struggles and condition of black america at the hands of almost everyone else in the country. It is comprehensive in its scope and perspicacious in its analysis, sparing no feelings on either (or rather, any) side. I believe myself to be, for the most part, a judicious man when it comes to philosophical or sociological observations, but Kluger was able to open my eyes to angles I had previously missed on issues I thought I had resolved long ago. So if you're not too scared of big books, this one's worth the time.

Long a mainstay of every 1L's pre-law school summer reading list, SIMPLE JUSTICE is more than a retelling of the tortured history of the landmark cases now known collectively as Brown v. Board of Ed. It is more than a retelling of the agonizing struggles of both gifted and ordinary people---black and white and every other---to reverse the four centuries of racial disparagement that make up the ugliest of all underpinnings of the American Experiment. What SIMPLE JUSTICE is, is an exhaustive sociological history of race relations in the United States to the 1950s.

It is a book every American should read. The endemic quality of racism in the American psyche is so overwhelming that it is easy to lose the human element. SIMPLE JUSTICE restores that element with sensitive, intelligent writing, exhaustive and documented research, and a tone which is pitch perfect, strident when need be, reasoned and thoughtful throughout. Ultimately optimistic, SIMPLE JUSTICE will renew your belief in the American system even while tempering it.

In it's retelling of nightmarish incident after nightmarish incident (the explosive and hideous lynchings are often easier to understand than the equally hideous and more subtle segregation and caricaturing that endured for, it seems, ever), SIMPLE JUSTICE shows us an America riven by its view of itself as a noble nation being eaten by the canker in its soul.

Although many Americans now consider race discrimination passe, it is not so hard to see the continuation of a pattern of violence toward blacks and the denigration of the black experience, even today. And yet, there is more, for not only are Black Americans denigrated, but White Americans as well, both suffering because this nation is only a fraction of what it might othewise be.

SIMPLE JUSTICE is a crucial Civics lesson. Read it to learn. Read it to know. Read it. Read it again.

I have to add my 5 stars for this informative resource. It was my textbook for two courses. However, even after my classes ended I found myself referring back to the loads of information provided within the pages of this book. It is extremely comprehensive and well worth the investment.

*If you are not a student required to purchase a newer edition, I recommend looking at an earlier edition - I know that you'll get the same great information, just at a much discounted price.

Book was exactly as described. Brand new and in shrink wrap. Very happy with purchase!

This is a great book, it's easy to read, it has excellent, detalied and graphic photographs. I highly recomend this book as a text or reference book.

This a must read & a book to hold on to for reference.

All the information you need for death investigation...has a couple extra chapters in the new edition that were not in the last one...

A most comprehensive source of information on this tragedy. Well written and well organized. Nicely stocked with period photographs.

A must have for any library on this subject.

This is the most outstanding book I have ever read. The pictures, the information, it could not have been written better. Anyone would love this book. Those who are in search of unique pictures would find this book invaluable, likewise those who are in search of information, facts, nowhere else seen loss of property claims would too find this book invaluable. Upon seeing this book in the book shop (I did not buy it here) I gave it absolutely no second thought and regardless of price bought it. I am a Titanic historian and I'm picky about the books I buy, and this book is just about the best book in my collection. Don't hesitate, buy it, you will not regret it.

I found this book in my local library and took it out to read. However as soon as I got it home and looked through it I was enthralled by the pictures. The text was fairly standard fare although some of the earlier chapters had interesting info concerning the planning and construction of Titanic. The pictures steal the show and they made up my mind to buy this book for myself as such pictures need to be looked at and digested over months and years rather than the few weeks one has with a library book. If you have any interest in Titanic - BUY IT.

John P. Eaton and Charles A. Haas already known for their very involved Titanic research and dives in Nautile (IFREMER's Titanic submersible} have done a beautiful Titanic book describing stateroom's the voyage building and sinking in a beautiful 352 pages have put together a book which in itself is as good as Titanic: An Illustrated History. Gives insurance claims Philadelphia first class passenger mrs. Cardeza filed for 18 suitcaces , 3 trunks and a medicine kit . A book which many experts (Myself included ) Love . Excellent for any Titanic Buff!

I must say this is the most comprehensive book on the Titanic I have yet seen. Every facet of the liner's history from its origins to the wreck exploration is covered. Each chapter includes pictures of everything connected to the ship. Anyone with any interest in Titanic at all should have a copy.

I did think the authors could have done better with their chapter on the sinking itself though. As it is they wrote little text and tell the story through picture captions! It is as if a book on the Kennedy assassination covered details of the flight to Dallas and then said little about the shooting itself. I also feel the authors were a bit too soft on Lord of the Californian.

Harriet Backus chronicles her everyday life with a riveting narrative of her experiences in the early 20th century mining camps of the west. One cannot help but marvel at how our ancestors dealt with the harshness of life without the creature comforts we now all enjoy. But of course they knew no other way, so therefore accepted the hardships as they lived their lives. The author's marvelous way with words enables her history to come alive, making the reader feel like a companion sharing her joys, griefs and wonders of the world she encountered.

I rarely read a book more than once but this one is worth the time to do that. What a life the bride lived.

Since so many have commented on the story, I'll skip repeating all the wonderful things others have already said. Here's what I have to say:

I bought this book in 2001 when my wife and I got married at Alred's in Telluride (we were the FIRST couple to be married there). It wasn't until last month that I "found" this book on my shelf and decided to read it...I couldn't put it down!

This book should be mandatory reading for all high school kids for several reasons: they can learn what life was like back then, and to show that life doesn't own you a thing! You have to earn what you want and take the good with the bad.

Mrs. Backus was an incredible woman that lived through some incredibly difficult times, all the while never giving up or having a bad thing to say.

I would rank this book right up there with "Narrative of the Slave"; it's easy to read, extremely fascinating and leaves you with lump in your throat when it's over.

This book would make an incredible movie (just don't let them "Hollywood-ize" it. Keep it true to the story.

My son gave me this book as a gift and once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. It is a wonderful story of a young girl who marries and moves to a mining town in Colorado with her mining engineer husband in the early 1900s. As you turn the pages, you live day by day with Harriet and can actually experience the hardships of living in such remote areas.

It is one of the best written books I have ever read and I recommend it to everyone.
Brenda Ritter

Fantastic book. Well written with humor and sorrow. I picked this book up on a whim at a $1 book sale. Best dollar I have ever spent. I couldn't put this book down. Really a great read for anyone interested in mining life esp. what it was like from a womans point of view.