Duncan Long Books

It is often said that the quintessential English novel is about adultery in Hampstead. I have never, in fact, read a novel which has this precise combination of geographical location and subject-matter, but "A Long Walk in Wintertime", which is about adultery and is set in the neighbouring North London district of Camden, comes close. Daniel McDonald, a lecturer in philosophy at London University, has a brief affair with Lisha, a nineteen-year-old student. Daniel hopes to keep the affair secret, but when Lisha's parents learn that their daughter has had an abortion they write to the University authorities to complain about his behaviour. Faced with losing his job, Daniel is forced to confess to his wife Alice. He resigns from his position and takes a new job at the University of East Anglia, leaving the family home in London to live in lodgings in Norwich.

Unlike many studies of adultery, the book concentrates less on the adulterous affair itself than on the effect that it has on Daniel's family; the relationship is already over when the story opens, and Lisha only plays a minor part in the ensuing developments. Alice, who has lost her own job at around the same time, is left wondering whether she can forgive her husband. The person who seems to have been most deeply affected, however, is their twelve-year old son, Jamie. Already unhappy at his comprehensive school where he is doing badly, Jamie is upset by the separation between his parents and goes missing while on a train journey to visit his father. Most of the rest of the book is concerned with Alice's search for him in the bleak Norfolk countryside.

Perhaps unusually for a novel of the nineties, there is a strongly Christian (often specifically Catholic) atmosphere. One of the most important characters is Daniel's godmother Violet, a devout Catholic, and there is a sub-plot involving Violet's friendship with Geoffrey, a retired Army officer, with whom as a young woman she had a wartime affair despite the fact that he was married at the time. The themes of forgiveness, of making amends for past wrongs, particularly sexual wrongdoing, and of reconciliation are present throughout. In the book's opening scene, Alice and Daniel visit the opera; it is significant that the work they choose to see, Verdi's "Stiffelio", is about a husband who forgives his unfaithful wife. There is an attempt to contrast Catholic and Protestant attitudes to forgiveness; in Ms Purves's thesis, Catholicism places more stress upon release from guilt through confession, whereas Protestantism, at least in its evangelical form, is more concerned with making amends for the harm one has caused. It must be said that the plot itself does not always support this analysis; the Catholic Violet, for example, finds it difficult to forgive herself for her past sins, despite presumably having confessed them and received absolution.

The novel is critical of certain aspects of modern British society, particularly the education of the young. Although Jamie is not academically gifted, he has strong artistic talents which his school has failed to recognise. (There is a contrast with his older and more confident sister Clementine, who attends an independent boarding school which is able to nurture both her academic and her sporting talents). During his wanderings in Norfolk, Jamie comes across a traditional steam-driven travelling funfair and, through a misunderstanding, is allowed to help with the task of repainting the horses on the merry-go-round, a task which enables him to make use of his artistic and creative gifts. It seemed to me that Ms Purves was challenging the British state school system to abandon its central ideal of a grammar-school academic education for every child and to do what many independent schools have done, namely to acknowledge that some children's talents lie in different directions. The funfair also acts as a symbol of an idealised past, a past where children's entertainment was more innocent than it is today. The innocent thrills of the funfair are contrasted with modern computer games, obsessed with violence and death. Jamie has been playing truant from school in order to take part in a war game called "Battlezone", which involves the use of laser guns to kill imaginary enemies.

Although her view of the past seems a rather conservative one, Ms Purves tries to take the standard politically correct liberal line on matters such as feminism and homosexuality. I say "tries to take" because she is not always convincing in these areas. One of the weaknesses of the book is the way in which the minor characters are often seen in stereotypical terms. We might conclude, for example, from Alice's gay friends Simon and Stevie that gays are warm-hearted, spontaneous, creative, artistic and sensitive but also over-emotional, effeminate and (in Simon's case) wildly promiscuous. Quite. To complete this seventies sitcom picture, they even address people by such terms of endearment as "sweetie" or "ducky". (Ducky? I thought that one died with the Carry On films). Alice's other close friends are a snobbish, upwardly-mobile couple and Yasmin, a ruthless and embittered career woman with no time for serous relationships or family life. Yasmin comes across as so unpleasant that I was surprised that she was the best friend of anyone, let alone of a woman as different from her as the artistic, bohemian Alice.

The title "A Long Walk in Wintertime" is perhaps misleading, for two reasons. First, the action actually takes place in autumn rather than winter. More importantly, the title tends to suggest a book that is both leisurely and sombre, but in fact the narrative moves at a brisk pace, and the tone, particularly of the ending, is optimistic. Despite its weaknesses, this is an interesting, if unfashionable, attempt to analyse modern family life in Christian terms.

This book is a good intro. to sniper rifles; although it doesn't go into enough detail to make it anything remotely like a field/training manual, it does give the reader a little info. on many different rifles in many different cals. etc. If you'd like to purchase an accurate rifle with sniping accuracy (.5 MOA) and you don't want to spend the big bucks to do it, give this book a read. It will also give you a brief history lesson on various rifles. It's an easy read, and well worth buying.

This manual is okay, just nothing spectacular. Dated information (1993). Standard descriptions of firearms you could probably write yourself. I'd get Mel Tappans book instead. It was a much better read and although written alot earlier, I thought it was a much better book. Save your money, this one is kind of a disappointment.

My husband thought this was really neat. It's not really what I was looking for, but I would buy it again.

I'll make this short and sweet. This is a good book for learning how to make your own ammunition, but is not for the true beginner. This book does have some useful tips, but there are much easier ways to re-load than is processed here. Over-all, however, it is a well written book.

Yet again we are confronted with a book that is Long on BS and short of useful info, much like every other Duncan Long book. The book is worthless for anything except starting a fire and is typical of the trash put out by Duncan Long.

It tells you how to make improvized gunpowder (like you didn't already know), but no instructions on how to make brass cases, without which, there is nothing to reload or cache and there is no point owning anything other than musket...I bet the gun/ammo grabbers are quaking in their boots !

This book gives some good basic information but leaves a little to be desired for detailed info. Like sources for kits.

Book is of no use to the novice builder the way it is laid out. Information on one page pertains to information or picture on another. Can not follow instruction with any continuity. A waste of money, would not recomend to anyone.

I received this book entirely by mistake! I had ordered a different book by Steve Kehaya on the SKS. When I contacted the seller about the mix-up, he graciously apologized, and refunded my purchase, saying to do with this book as I wish (since the price of shipping is so high compared to the value of the book).

Now that I have the two books to compare side by side, it's glaringly obvious how lacking this book is in depth and objectivity. While it does provide accurate basic information on a few common varieties, it doesn't even try to cover the many variations on the SKS, nor does it give much detail into the workings of the gun's parts.

If you're on a *very* tight budget and just want a basic guide to your SKS carbine, try to pick this up for under ten bucks (including postage). Otherwise, for just a few more dollars, treat yourself to the Steve Kehaya book. Really. It's about twice as long, better written, much better researched, and much better illustrated.

To be fair, this book contains a large amount of information about the SKS rifle, its history, its operation, accessories, and maintenance. I have two complaints, one relatively minor, one that has me strongly considering shipping it back for a full refund.

The minor complaint: Duncan Long's use of English is less than polished compared to what I'm used to. I hate grammar nazis more than most people, but there were too many sentences in this book that I had to reread because they just didn't quite flow. The language is not too technical and is easy to read...but one or two more trips across the editor's desk could have smoothed some rough edges in the writing.

The major complaint: Duncan Long, as far too many gun enthusiasts I've run into tend to do, falls into the trap of assuming that his knowledge about firearms translates into a kind of moral authority regarding the 2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. His regular lapses into tangents pontificating about the rights and wrongs of gun regulation is quite tiresome, unless you're a proud follower of the N.R.A.'s "Cold Dead Hands" propaganda. Anyone who remembers that the Bill of Rights was written to be vague, to necessitate continual reflection on how those Rights are best understood in changing times, stands a good chance of being as irritated by Duncan Long's unnecessary sermons as I was.

Not a bad book but lacking much info on the 44 Carbines. I have gleaned more info and pics from the Ruger advertising brochures I have here at home !!! :-(
Book could have included more photos of the various models of both 10/22 and 44 carbine.

If u want complete info on the Ruger 10/22 and the .44 mag Carbine this book comes up way short. The info it provides is stilted, out dated and sometimes totally inaccurate. The book u want is The Ruger 10/22 by William Workman. It contains much more complete up to date and accurate info (as well as MUCH better pictures)

Mister Long is a technical writer whose specialty is modern military firearms. From perusing this well-illustrated text, it soon became painfully obvious that the subject matter was well outside his field of expertise and he was relying more upon research of what others had written rather than his own personal experience. I noted several significant technical errors that an individual with extensive knowledge of the items in question would not have made -- but said errors are not too terribly important, and would go unnoticed by most -- hadta deduct a star for it, though. Another complaint is that many of the knives listed are no longer available (i.e., several selections from Blackjack Knives), but to be fair, this text is about a decade old.

As for the anonymous reviewer who thought the concept of using a short sword in the modern age for defense was "ridiculous", I need to disagree very strongly. A weapon such as a gladius, wakisashi, or qama is an excellent choice for home defense -- especially in areas where firearms are prohibited or danger to others via overpenetration is a factor -- nearly every respected self defense authority (i.e., MacYoung, Mashiro, Jahn, Sockut, etc.) is in agreement on this particular point.

A revised edition would be nice. . .

The author claims to be expert in combat blades. Having read his book, I must doubt this claim. I think his neither understands much of knifes nor of knive fighting. Beside some useful hints and stories that you may also find in other books on the subject, the all over impression of this book is disappointing. Trying to sell replicas of antique swords - such as the gladius or the rapier - as modern means of self defense is simply ridiculous. This is the 21st century and not the age of Spartacus or D'Artagnan! Moreover his evaluation criteria for the blades are very inconsistant and vary in the different chapters of the book. The book is full of statements (for example: the western art of fencing is superior to asian traditions) that seem to be subjective judgements. The author would have done well in using scrutinized facts instead. If you are interested in bying a good guide on combat blades you should rather try 'Battle blades' by Greg Walker.

I recieved this book as a gift from a relative who meant well, but was not very gun savvy...

This book sufers from the 'need to put out another title syndrome.' In effect, nothing in this book is of value- the modifications are flights of fancy or hack job work. Basic searching on the internet will teach you more about building or upgrading the AR-15 platform than this book. Additionally, it is rife with inaccuracies and/or bad techniques to do modifications to the AR-15.

Morevover, this book is at least a decade and a half out of date. Many of the companies listed as parts sources (Rhino Systems for example) have been out of business for a decade, and it doesn't even address the A3 flattop configuartion that is the standard these days. It is obvious that the book is just a reprint of something from circa 1987 with no re-editing ro re-writing.

Finally, many of the chapters just read as one big advertisement for this company or that product, much like the current articles in many gun magazines. It is obvious Duncan Long gave glowing reviews of products in exchange for free samples of those products.

In short, this book is a waste of money. If not for the fact it was a present I would probably toss it out. If you want to learn about the AR-15 there are many far better sources in print and on the web.