N Books

Michael Shapiro does a superb job not only of capturing the excitement of the Brooklyn Dodgers' last pennant-winning season but also of explaining just what the Dodgers meant to so many Brooklynites. Set against the background of the Walter O'Malley-Robert Moses negotiations that would determine the fate of the Dodgers, Shapiro provides logical proof that it was not O'Malley's intention to move the ballclub but that Moses kept making a fool of him to the point where remaining in Brooklyn would have been rather humiliating for O'Malley.

Though never elected to any office, Robert Moses was the most powerful official in New York City in the late 1950s. His power was further enhanced by the fact that the Mayor at that time, Robert F. Wagner Jr. was both lazy and indifferent, and would not have gone far in politics except for the fact that his namesake father was a very popular U.S. senator. If O'Malley was going to get the land and permits to build a new ballpark, he was going to have to go through Moses and Moses couldn't have cared less as to what became of the Dodgers.

O'Malley tired desperately to be taken seriously by Moses and the NYC politicians to where he even had the Dodgers play seven "home" games in Jersey City in 1956. In the end, the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, not because O'Malley plotted to take them there but because L.A. politicians eagerly and actively courted O'Malley to move to their city while their New York counterparts, especially Moses, gave him the brush-off.

O'Malley wanted to build a ballpark at the junction of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues, where multiple subway lines and the Long Island Railroad converge. Moses at first wanted O'Malley to build a ballpark in a hard-to-reach part of Bedford-Stuyvesant and later proposed having the city build a ballpark on the site of what is now Shea Stadium. Anyone familiar with Brooklyn knows that if you're riding the subway, it's easier to get to Yankee Stadium from Brooklyn than to go out to Flushing Meadows, where Shea Stadium is.

In any case Los Angeles made O'malley an offer he couldn't refuse--300 acres in the heart of the city, where multiple freeways converge. New York officials made no effort to compete as Brooklyn didn't count for much in their eyes. When the Mets were created a few years later there was no question in their minds that they should represent New York and use the orange "NY" logo formerly used by the New York Giants, rather than the Brooklyn Dodgers' "B."

50 years have now passed since the Dodgers moved, and Walter O'Malley has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The ballpark he built and paid for (which opened in 1962) remains one of the most beautiful and popular in major league baseball. Shea Stadium, on the other hand, built by Robert Moses with taxpayers' money and opened in 1964, will soon be torn down. What is more, New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner is currently trying to arrange to move his NBA basketball team to that same junction in Brooklyn that O'Malley originally wanted.

Michael Shapiro is an excellent writer and his book is highly recommended!

This book probably doesn't get the sales or the attention it deserves, because the title and the cover make it look as if it's intended just for baseball junkies. But it's far more than that. In just 332 pages, Shapiro tells four stories:

1. The story of the National League pennant race in 1956.
2. The story of why the Dodgers (and therefore the Giants as well) decided to move to California in 1958.
3. The social, demographic, and economic changes that Brooklyn (and, by extension, much of urban America) experienced in the post-World War II era.
4. Thumbnail sketches of the personal lives of the core players in the Brooklyn Dodger lineup from 1947 through 1956.

None of these four themes is given short shrift. Furthermore, Shapiro has organized this book beautifully. He seems to have done a perfect job in choosing exactly where to break the narrative of the Dodgers' wins and losses, and insert a section about the changing character of a neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Not only that, but Shapiro's writing is superb. Here is his account of the last pitch of the last Dodger game of the regular season - a game they had to win in order to clinch the championship, with Dodger Don Bessent pitching to Pittsburgh's Hank Foiles:

*****
Don Bessent went into his windup. The last thing he thought before releasing the ball was, he later said, "Tight, keep it tight."

Hank Foiles swung. The next thing he heard was the thud of the ball in Roy Campanella's mitt.
*****

You don't have to be a baseball fan to enjoy this book. You just have to enjoy good writing and a wonderful story, wonderfully told.

I have long been interested in the old Brooklyn Dodgers, having read multiple books on the subject. This is among the best. First of all, it is an excellent read. There is plenty of baseball included in its pages, and the Dodgers teams of the 50s were always interesting. But I learned much more than I expected from this book about the politics that led to the team's move to California. It's too bad the franchise couldn't have remained in Brooklyn, but the reasons they left were different than I would have imagined. The book also paints the picture of a post-World War II New York that was rapidly changing. As a lover of baseball, history and baseball history, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Wow. First let me say that I'm not a Brooklyn resident or a Dodger fan and picked this book up without knowing anything about it. The book turned out to be one of the best baseball books I've read in quite some time.

I was drawn into the book immediately. It is clear in the Prologue that Shapiro is a very good writer and that the book is as much about the fifties and Brooklyn as it is about a pennant race. The book is enjoyable on both fronts.

Shapiro does a great job of weaving a portrait of the changes going on in Brooklyn in the mid-fifties and giving younger readers a good idea of what it was like to grow up in that era. It is clear that Shapiro has done quite a bit of research and I think the reader really gets a good look into the personalities of the players and other characters in the story.

Any fan of baseball history will do himself a favor in buying this book. It truly deserves more acclaim than it has received.

THE LAST GOOD SEASON, by Michael Shapiro, earns itself a provisional rating of FIVE STARS in my mind, based primarily on the quality of the writing (which is uniformly excellent) and the depth of the research (which, within limits, is exhaustive). Yet the book deserves, like Roger Maris' "61*", to be only a qualified ***(**) success.

Much of that qualification comes from Shapiro's heavily touted and slanted thesis that Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley was not responsible for the Dodgers' departure from Brooklyn in 1957, after Robert Moses refused to build a replacement for the aging Ebbets Field.

Shapiro's grasp of the facts regarding Brooklyn is somewhat fuzzy. He says, "Jews went to Midwood [High School], poor blacks to Jefferson." Yet in the Dodger era, Brownsville was predominantly (70%) Jewish. It was not until later that Brownsville became a black neighborhood. Shapiro waxes rhapsodic about Midwood (his childhood home?) but slights the rest of Brooklyn. He admits that by the time he became aware of the Dodgers they were gone. Ironically enough, even while granting O'Malley absolution in absentia he makes and supports every argument as to why the man did not deserve it.

Shapiro blames, among other things, "white flight" for the Dodgers' relocation, but then argues that fans come in all colors. It's as if, in pardoning O'Malley, he is trying to convince us of something he really doesn't believe himself.

According to Shapiro, "Robert Moses is the bad guy in this story." This is an incredibly strong statement, particularly since Shapiro admits in many places that O'Malley was mendacious, that he was arrogant, that his plans for a new Buckminster Fuller-styled stadium seemed, at best, to be for public consumption only (O'Malley stole the scale model from the actual designer, Billy Kleinsasser, and used it without permission or recompense at public events), that he dealt with player and staff salaries in increments of hundreds and thousands of dollars not hundreds OF thousands of dollars (i.e., star pitcher Preacher Roe claims his highest Dodger salary was a paltry $28,000.00 in 1955), that he did not understand the "Little People" who were Dodger fans, that he once (as a youngster) traded a stack of Dodger baseball cards for one Giants' Christy Mathewson, that he fined employees who mentioned Branch Rickey's name in his presence, and, in short, that he was not really a fan of the team he owned.

Shapiro wants to paint horns on Robert Moses' head, and in some sense they do belong there, but not necessarily in the sense that Shapiro would prefer. Like the Master Builders of Ancient Egypt he had virtually unlimited power in his sphere. The ironically-named Moses was a man with a vision for New York, and he set about creating that vision of shining, rising buildings (such as Lincoln Center), vast bridges (the Throgs Neck, the Whitestone, The Triborough, and the frighteningly huge Verrazano are all his), and endless parkways (as a sampling, the Cross Island, the Belt, the Northern State, the Southern State, the Meadowbrook and the Wantagh) linking New York City and its expanding suburbs in a net of urban development. Yet this visionary had pathological flaws. Monomaniacal in his sphere, he had no compunction about unilaterally razing hundreds of city blocks, evicting tens of thousands, and altering the neighborhoods and neighborhood patterns of New York without a thought. Such changes brought other, unanticipated changes---the "through" expressways of The Bronx relegated it to a kind of backwater status accelerating its descent into slum conditions, and Moses' chopping up of neighborhoods in Brooklyn balkanized the Borough into a patchwork of disconnected rich and poor enclaves. Moses was more successful on sparsely-settled Long Island and in Westchester, where his road network created rather than changed demographic patterns.

When these two prima donnas met head-to-head, they treated each other with barely-concealed contempt. Although Moses was at first favorably disposed to a new stadium in downtown Brooklyn, this agreement soured within days. Without access to O'Malley's papers (which he was refused by the O'Malley family), the reason for this sudden souring is unknown, and ripe for speculation. Moses pressed, at first, for a new stadium in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a declining neighborhood; O'Malley refused. Moses promised him a new stadium in Flushing Meadow, Queens (the future Shea); again, O'Malley refused, declaring that the team was to remain in Brooklyn---he countered with an offer to build in Brooklyn, on the site of a ramshackle meat market. Moses refused to condemn the property (a first for him).

This bickering was never about questions of civic-mindedness, fan appreciation, nor humanitarianism. This was strictly a personal issue between the two men that affected millions of people.

While this was going on, the 1956 Dodgers struggled successfully through their World Champion season. Shapiro's snapshot of the team is far more detailed than his portrait of the politics, and is a joy to read. Shapiro is at his best as he describes the dynamic tensions that existed between the various Dodgers, the great negotiator of personalities, Pee Wee Reese, and their fanbase. It is clear that Ebbets Field was no longer a suitable home, at least without major modifications. Parking was very poor, a serious concern in the emerging era of the suburban commuter fan; the stadium itself needed to be revamped, the plumbing fixed, the seating rearranged. Still, Ebbets Field was only 45 years old, and was a solid structure, despite its flaws.

If O'Malley was indeed "desperate to stay in Brooklyn" as Shapiro posits, then why weren't his efforts directed toward staying? Why was he engaged in a stalemated battle of wills with Moses over a new stadium? Perhaps O'Malley simply wasn't "desperate" enough. Certainly, Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park still stand in less than desirable locations, but they draw dedicated fans nonetheless. Had O'Malley spent a part of his considerable fortune buying up some surrounding properties and building a parking complex, and then incrementally improved Ebbets Field with better seating and new amenities, the Dodger fanbase would have continued to travel to Flatbush.

O'Malley did not do this. He wanted land, and a lot of it, on the cheap---had Moses condemned the meat market, O'Malley would have bought the property for pennies on the dollar, a very attractive possibility to a man who squeezed a penny hard enough to put a permanent wave in Lincoln's beard. Los Angeles offered him that and he jumped, literally across a continent, to get it, taking his team about as far from Brooklyn as it was possible to go in his desperation to stay. Yet, if he'd REALLY wanted to stay, Flushing Meadow beckoned. And despite the fact that Flushing is not Brooklyn, the New York football Giants play in New Jersey's Meadowlands and still remain a New York team (the O'Malley-inspired move of the baseball Giants from Manhattan to San Francisco is another issue). In 1957, many of Brooklyn's fans were Long Island transplants, and more would be as time passed. Queens, while not the best of all possible worlds, would have been a convenient waypoint for fans from the old and new neighborhoods.

For that matter, had either O'Malley or Moses given a damn about Brooklyn, they would have cooperated in building a new stadium and reinvigorating Brooklyn. Neither cared to.

"Walter O'Malley was not a bad man. He was devoted to his wife and his children loved him," Shapiro points out. That's nice to know. But O'Malley was also an S.O.B. in business. The two are not mutually exclusive. "Only a sentimental man," Shapiro writes, "would have stayed." Maybe so. But the Dodgers and the Dodger fanbase needed a sentimental man, they needed a fellow fan, they needed a man who loved the team and who loved Brooklyn. What they had was Walter O'Malley, who saw the team merely as a moneymaking concern. O'Malley's actions speak for themselves, regardless of Shapiro's revisionism. And if O'Malley was "not unique" among team owners but merely "so obvious" about his profit motives, the blame is still his for eroding the spirit of The Game, and beginning the slide to where we are today in baseball with its overly mobile nonentity franchises, bloated payrolls, stars on steroids, cupidity and stupidity, and fan disinterest.

In the face of necessity, sentiment oft-times does not serve. But in circumstances of choice, such as faced by the Dodgers, sentiment can be a hedge against callousness.

What O'Malley (and Moses) failed to grasp is that a ball team is more than an agglomeration of men in uniform standing around in an open field. He (they) failed to grasp that a baseball game is more than just nine innings and a cold toting of runs, hits, and errors. It is a conversation at a water cooler, a friendly argument over lunch, an invitation to meet at the ballpark on Saturday afternoon for dogs and beer and a chance to see The Duke of Flatbush. It is a sense of neighborliness, a sense of pride, and was---still is---an important part of Brooklyn's special identity.

As Roger Kahn says in The Boys of Summer, "In the best of all possible worlds the Dodgers would be in Brooklyn and Los Angeles would have the Mets."

That's as it should have been.

Very good book. It gives a look at the way marriage should be, with God first.

This is a really incredible book! I have enjoyed reading real-life love stories for a long time, but most of them were short online articles. This is a wonderful BOOK! I was so excited when I heard about it that I immediately requested it at our library.
I was a little uncomfortable with the beginning of the book, which is the reason that I gave this incredible book only four stars. I guess I'm pretty sheltered from the world --- the references to having sex/love-making and the locker-talk were just... uncomfortable for me. I enjoyed the book, though, and would recommend it to anyone! It's incredible to see the way God works in the lives of Eric and Leslie. I can't wait to find a copy of this book within my price range so that I can add it to my personal shelf!

I've shared the Ludy's book with my own three teens and with the teens of my friends. The story stands in stark opposition to what our culture teaches and gives hope and a vision of an honorable love affair that can last forever. My own children watched as friends became lovers, broke up, had babies, and were alone, or went from one tragic relationship to the next. This book showed them that it is realistic to hold out for something better and they were rewarded for doing so. Our culture needs to know there are other options and that the way to true love and happiness does not begin in the bedroom. One of the best parts of this true story is that it involves two people who went the wrong way first. This mom says, save your children's marriages before it's even an issue, get this book and give them a vision of something wonderful that's worth waiting and trusting God for.

My 15 yo daughter just finished the book. She didn't particularly want to read it, but it's a great story and once she started, she needed no more prodding. Besides providing a "vision," the story works as a "dating manual" for those committed to Jesus Christ. The reader sees how the young lovers come to fall in love, identify their feelings for one another, but manage to take the high road of abstinence and trust God that His way is truly best. When they finally marry, they've already proved their love for one another in the way they have put the other one's well-being above their own. A beautiful story for everyone.

This is not a book with directions on "the way" to do things. It is simply the very honest story of how God worked in the Ludys' lives to bring them together. Eric and Leslie take turns writing chapters throughout this book. They begin by describing their childhoods, their adolescences, and how they lost their innocence. They tell of different relationships they went through and left them hurt and feeling dirty and defiled. I thought they were rather too descriptive for young people without the same experiences, but then the beauty at the end is more beautiful when compared to the beginning. Also, I think their story would be encouraging for those who have had the same kind of adolescence and disillusionment regarding true love.

They explain how they came to know the Lord and how their relationship with Him changed their life. They finally gave their entire life to Him, including their love life, committing not to date another person except the one they will marry.

Their meeting is described, at the time when Eric was 21 and Leslie, 16. They tell how they struggled with their relationship, trying to keep it at just friends, yet with the Lord drawing them closer. They came to the conclusion that they were meant for each other, but that they weren't ready yet for marriage, rather like Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. They continue to grow and mature in their spiritual lives, as well as their love for each other. When they decided it was time for them to become engaged and get married, they committed to save their first kiss for their wedding.

The last pages of the book tell of their wedding. Eric tells of his tears as he waits for his bride. Leslie writes of her nervousness before the wedding, and the peace and happiness that came over her as she walked down the aisle to Eric. It was so familiar; I don't know how many brides feel that way, but I know I did. They told how their first kiss was so special because they had saved it for marriage.

I thought their book was a sweet story of how God can change lives, and how His plan for us is the best and most beautiful. For those who have similar backgrounds, it may be helpful in their own lives. Those who have grown up with and held to a higher standard of purity in relationships will not find much to apply to their lives. The Ludys have seen God do amazing and wonderful things through the surrender in their lives, but those how have kept themselves to their ideals, to physical and emotional purity, and to a relationships with a greater parental involvement, will have a sweeter story to tell.

I've made a point of avoiding Christian-aimed relationship books because so many of them are either condescending or unrealistic. But everything the Ludys have written blows that idea completely out of the water. They break the mold by being honest and open. This book is a treat to read; Eric and Leslie tell their story as if you were sitting in a living room with them. It's bold to be truthful, and it's daring to do it in our culture. I hope every young woman looking for a good romance reads this and takes it's message to heart. I wish I had read it years ago.

Bad

A. The narrative pace is just awful. I don't know what it is about this book I almost didn't make it past the first 40 pages because the begining moves so slowly.
B. The idiotic "conspiracy theory" idea regarding the Texas Revolution. Someday right minded people everywhere will be able to laugh conspiracy nuts right off the street.
Good

The book has a great deal of information regarding the beginnings of an organized abolitionist movement in this country. Garrison was the focal point for this when the movement started to move beyond isolated groups of idealists and Quakers and started to be taken seriously as a genuine force for social change.

Overall-Once you get into the book it is amazing, but you have to be in the right mood to do so.

This is the last and probably the best book completed by the late Henry Mayer.

Mayer admired Garrison, the most important leader of the abolitionist movement. In this book, he succeeds in renovating the reputation of a great reformer and activist who has often been neglected or written off as a crank.

Garrison and the abolitionists were originally hardly more popular in the North than in the South. They were seen as disrupting the Union and were regarded with suspicion for their pro-black beliefs - public opinion in the North was only marginally less racist than in Dixie. Garrison's courage and consistent refusal to trim his convictions for popular acceptance led to a career with an outsized share of controversy, oppobrium, and in several cases physical danger.

Some reviewers have felt the book is too long, and it is hefty. But the length is necessary for Mayer to give a full portrait, which shows not only the man, but also the era he lived in. In particular, Mayer writes extensively about abolitionism as a movement. Abolitionists, and Garrison himself, struggled with many problems - whether to compromise by supporting politicians whose platforms called for less than full abolition, evolving from a paternalist movement of mostly privileged whites to a movement in which free blacks and escaped slaves could play a meaningful role, and reconciling the pacifist leanings of many to their role in a war against slaveholders - that will be of interest to contemporary political activists. Mayer also shows how, after abolition was accomplished, former abolitionists seeking new causes worked for other advances, including the first stirrings of the women's suffrage movement.

Now a book that shows two sides of slavery that all white people were not all for slavery .Like Dr.martin luther king was saying that slavery was not about black against white ,but justice againt injustice.Because if all men and women are not free then we are all in chains.Books like this one has giving us a balance look at one of america darkest sides. But men like Garrison showed us that their were men and women that were a light of hope that all men are created equal . And being a black man I must say thank you to all the blackmen and women and white men and women of the past for fighting a fight that many of us still fight for today .And that is for an opportunity to live as we were when God created us in the beginnig as, a human being thank you.

Let's just get the obvious criticisms out of they way. First, the author pretty much flat out states that The Civil War was fought only because of slavery--and in the preface! Yawn. Will I ever be able to find a Northerner who can write a book that examines both sides of the conflict? I mean southern writers do it all the time. The second problem is the assertion that the Texas Revolution was some kind of government conspiracy--from Pres. Jackson on down to Sam Houston--to perpetuate slavery and continue manifest destiny. While I'm sure some men fought for those reasons, this moronic conspiracy theory about secret government shenanigans has no basis whatsoever. In fact, I would recommend the wonderful biography, Sam Houston, by James Haley. It expertly destroys that awful line of thinking that has somehow survived all these years.

But, being from Texas, I tend to be sensitive to such things. For most people it won't matter.

I still highley recommend All On Fire, though. It is very well written and researched. But most of all, it is the only real biography on Garrison worth reading. And say what you want about the author's biases, he can't muddle the fact that Garrison was one of this country's great patriots, willing to stand up to anyone to free his fellow man. He dedicated his entire life to this noble cause--and except for a few references in some Civil War books--is largely forgotten. What a shame.

William Lloyd Garrison was a man ahead of his time. Not by years or even decades, but centuries. In the 1830s he was an outspoken proponent of not just the abolition of slavery (many advocated various ways to deal with the South's "peculiar institution"), but called for the immediate abolition of slavery with complete and full civil rights for African-Americans. He dreamed of a time when a black woman might succeed a black man as Secretary of State a decade before the Supreme Court ruled that blacks were something less than human in the infamous Dredd Scott decision. He was also an early advocate of women's rights, labor reform, temperance and civil disobedience, as well as an outspoken critic of organized religion (Garrison was what we might today call a fundamentalist "born again Christian" who recognized no formal church other than Christ's teachings).

Given Garrison's role as founding father of the abolitionist movement, his passion for the cause, longevity in leadership and terminal impact on the greatest political issue of the nineteenth century it is puzzling that he has left such an obscure historical legacy. As author Herbert Mayer notes, Martin Luther King Jr. cited Gandhi, Thoreau and the Gospel as his inspiration and motivation in the Civil Rights movement with no reference to the man whose peaceful agitation did more to eradicate bondage than any other -- and who in turn may very well have been Thoreau's inspiration in writing "Civil Disobedience."

So why the obscurity? Mayer's biography does little to address this paradox. In fact, his book makes Garrison's general absence from the mainstream of American history all the more tenebrous. The man that emerges from the pages of "All on Fire" is a moral giant, a crusader in the purest and best sense of the word, who risked -- indeed, welcomed -- verbal and physical abuse, a life of indigence and scorn, all in pursuit of a truly noble cause. Garrison grew up in New England and never traveled further south than Baltimore until after the Civil War, yet he dedicated his life to the abolition of slavery with an intensity and zeal that surpassed dissident southern whites (such as the Grimke sisters) and even some blacks that had escaped from bondage themselves. Because of his central role in establishing and leading the cause, "All on Fire" is, as the full title suggests, as much a history of the entire abolitionist movement as it is a biography of its leading agitator.

However, a close reading of "All on Fire" also reveals a hidden side of William Lloyd Garrison that Mayer, unfortunately, never fully explores: a man of extreme ambition, vanity, and conceit. Garrison fought tenaciously to keep himself at the front-and-center of the moral movement he came to regard as his own. One senses that the fame and notoriety he gained by his agitation came to mean quite a lot to him. In this sense, Garrison reminds one of a contemporary political gadfly increasingly enamored of his high-profile image: Michael Moore. Perhaps Garrison's attraction to celebrity never fully outweighed his commitment to the ultimate prize of freeing three million humans from bondage, but it certainly meant more than the pious Christian in him would have liked to admit -- and certainly more than biographer Mayer is willing to concede. Again and again throughout the narrative Garrison experiences a painful and personal falling out with some of his closest friends and coadjutors: Frederick Douglas, Wendell Phillips, the Tappan brothers, etc. And time after time Mayer attributes the rift to simple misunderstandings or the result of the stress and pressure of the times. That Garrison might have been something less than the Galahad on ante-bellum America is left unexplored.

Nevertheless, for anyone with a desire to know more about America and especially to learn about a man that was once one of the most controversial and well-known figures of his century, only to sink to near anonymity, this National Book Award finalist can be highly recommended.

I just re-read this book. I absolutely loved it and put it up there with the best wrestling books out there. You feel connected to Eddie just like you did when you saw him on tv or dvd or in person. His charisma showed through the ups and downs of this book.

I was left wondering what caused a lot of his demons though. He didn't fully explain the things that haunted him. Like his problems with his wife Vickie, he didn't really go into detail which left me wondering what she did wrong. Cheating? Their fights? Also I got the feeling there was more to his demons than he let on. It just left me curious. I'd like to see a book written by Vickie that might shed some light on things left unanswered in this book.

Eddie was honest. Brutally honest. He didn't back off from saying who he liked and disliked. He was very upfront about his drinking, drugs (though never mentioned steriods whether he used or didn't use them), and his problems. He never acted like a saint, but obviously wanted to be a good person. Thankfully he beat the addictions and enjoyed some time with his loved ones before he passed on tragically.

This book brought me to tears even in the second reading. It made me realize that life is a fragile thing and we got to respect and love people and show it while we can. Given Eddie's many brushes with death he was fortunate to be sober and drug-free for 4 years before his untimely death. Unfortunately, he paid the price for his past mistakes, but he got to patch things up with his wife and daughters, and reach new heights with his fans and ultimately becoming the World Champ!

Highest recommendation possible,(right up there with Mick Foley's Have A Nice Day!) buy this book and quit reading this review!

This is a book that my fours sons have all read recently, and they were all moved to tears. My 18yo has wanted to read this book for some time now, but we had trouble finding it for sale, as it sold out quickly.
I got this for him for Christmas. A book to keep. A great gift for any wrestling fan

from the begining to the end this book is so well written and told,its just awesome. No words can describe how GREAT this book is. Eddie lived a wild and rough life and you get to read alll about it in this tell all book. From his start to the end. There are some eerie things he writes about that kinda creep you out because the man has passed but none the less THE BEST BOOK WWE or any other WRESTLER have put out.
READ IT AND YOU WONT BE ABLE TO DROP THE BOOK.
From his wild drunken stories with the nasty boys to his tag team woith the great Art Barr and to his family life and struggles with his wife to THe end where he finds peace makes everything awesome in his life its truly an astonishing story.
After you read this book you will see Eddie in a whole diffrent lighht and appreciate the man that he was and still IS.

R.I.P my man.

Wrestling has always been a guilty pleasure for me. I grew up watching the likes of Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan and the Bruiser with my dad. Now I watch with my son. There's nothing I enjoy more than watching grown men make complete fools of themselves. I like the pranksters best--guys like DegenerationX (Triple H and Shawn Michaels), John Cena and, of course, Eddie Guerrero. He brought a lot of laughter into our living room every week. But more than that, Eddie was--and is--an inspiration. He had a lot to overcome, and he did--and this tough guy wasn't afraid to proudly proclaim his faith in God and Jesus Christ. He gave credit where it was due, always. Viva la Raza, Eddie! You still live in Heaven--and through those of us who love and respect you!

Now that I got your attention... I just finished the book minutes ago, and it was very inspirational to say the least.

Now at first, I was hesitant getting his book, even after he passed away. I had the impression that the book will be mostly somber, due to his infamous demons, but I gave it a shot and bought it anyway, still expecting a better book from Edge. But after reading it, I can say that this is way better(not saying that Edge's book is not good, its still great). Yes, it is somber in some ways, but its also inspirational, fun, and got some very funny parts! Funnier than Edge's book I dare say.

His life is a good example of overcoming hardships in life, and even though his past still sucker punched him in the end, with this book along with his popularity as a wrestler, still won the day for him. What he wants is to set as an example, and though this isnt what all of us expected, in some strange ways, it did the job.

Aside from that, this book talks about his family, which even to someone like me who dislikes reading that side of an autobiography, finds it entertaining. From his tough dad; to his problems with his brothers; down to his beloved Vicky. Wrestling is all throughout this book, its his life from birth to the end. The book tells his time in Mexico, Japan, then to US with ECW, WCW, and finally WWE.

If there is a fault I can say about this book, its how it summarizes certain events first, then without warning goes back to the start of those events and tell it one by one, which in a way confused me a little... It made me think, "hey didnt he say he did it before? Why say this is the first time?... Oh"... Again, nothing serious.

I suggest you get this book now if youre a fan of wrestling, and know of Eddie(whether you like him or not)! Eddie, you should be proud, even if things didnt work out how you wanted it to be(how we want it to be), you still inspired and touched us all!

I really do like the book because it shows a lot about math and what you can do with lines.If I could purchase this book I would take them and give them out to people for them to read it.This book is so amazing to me,it make me want to learn more.

I was given this book as a teenager, and never forgot it. I used to ask other people if they knew about it, but few seemed to have ever heard of it. I am an artist, and in spite of the use of 'math' in the title, thought this book was about art.
I missed ALL the math info and puns. (It was interesting reading the reviews of the math and science readers.) I can only tell you that the cleaver drawings tell stories that are universal. They work as well for art and life as they seem to work for math.
I have now given this book to many people. Every one of them has thanked me.
This is my favorite gift to give away for Valentine's day.

I purchased this book as a companion to the same named academy award winning animated short (1966?) by Chuck Jones. It was out of print until now. The short was recently released as a bonus feature on the DVD release of the Glass bottom boat. Bought the DVD, never have even looked at the main movie. It's enjoyable to watch a clever book come to life and be even more unforgetable then the written word.

I was given this book in 1980 by a college friend when it was in print in a smaller format. I am so pleased to see it again. If I could only own 100 books, this would be one of them.

Norton Juster wove more than puns and visual gags into this short book. Not to take an ounce away from those fantastic double entendres ("drawn and on edge").

There are references to social commentary "they all look the same anyhow," "freedom is not a license for anarchy," "why don't you find a nice line and settle down." There is amazing (for kids) vocabulary: quintessence, vector, potent, paralleliped. If you want to go there, there is also out of date vocabulary "Oh, what a head!" This book is rich.

Most of my high school math classes read "The Dot and the Line" at some point during the year, often as a read-aloud before a holiday. We find the puns, I explain the jokes, we discuss (briefly the social commentary), someone looks up the hard words, and they read a little boy-girl love story. It's the best kind of learning, the kind that happens when they think they are having fun!

Great book! I grew up with it, and rediscovered it just now. Wonderful!!

This is my favorite book. I purchased it when I was 18, and loved black and white photography. I am now 65, and still see the same basic beauty in the photographs. It's not about the 1950's, or showing American culture. It shows how universal and similiar all people of all races and cultures are. It shows young children playing, people falling in love, weddings, births, hard work, wars, death, grieving, and even hope from various people and countries from our planet Earth. One family. One people. This is a collection of love, not about a specific time, or place, or our differences. This is a book that shows our skin colors, clothes, and countries may change; but we are all the same.

I am so glad Family of Man is still available. I would also suggest that in conjunction with this book, you offer Family of Women, and Family of Children.

I first found this book at Foyle's in London, about 35 years ago, and it struck me. Since then, I bought five copies of the Family of Man, but no one remained in my home, because ever I felt the need to give this book to someone I loved or trusted.
What is making this book so precious to me?
First the idea itself of collecting pictures from the whole world (remember, when Steichen launched his project, the Cold War and the related hysteria was at its peak). This to demonstrate that all the human beings have to pass through the same events in their life: birth, growth, education, emotions, work, love, children, reflection, death. This apparently trivial concept leads to a conclusion by far less trivial: we all do belong to one family, our species, the humans (by the way, this thinking had not so great success in the past, nor the present seems to be more benevolent).
The Family of Man is exactly the visual demonstration of such a concept, by comparing the same events as viewed from different geographic and cultural perspectives, by means of photos from renowned or unknown photographers (of course, the pictures from the US are prevailing in numbers for logistics and statistical reasons: it was by far more simple for an US photographer to even simply receive the news of the Steichen project than for a photographer in Rwanda or in the USSR).
Steichen and his assistants made an impressive selection, shortlisting 503 pictures from the over 2 million they received. By the way, Steichen was a photographer, and his selection also considered the aesthetic side of the question: most of the pictures selected simply are wonderful.
The result is this book. I think no one on this planet can miss it, because The Family of Man is representative of a large part of our culture and on our very nature.
To give an example, in my opinion this book is at the same emotional and rational level as Homer's Odyssey, Dante's Divine Comedy, Melville's Moby Dick, primo Levi's If this is a Man, or the ancient Greek lyrics, to quote some comparisons.
I hope it will continue to be published; we, the humans, desperately need it.

I've always thought of THE FAMILY OF MAN as a magic book, ever since discovering it on the family bookshelves when I was a young child. The thing was (above and beyond the book's excellence and power to move anyone with a heart), for many years it seemed that every time I would delve into this book, there would be at least one new picture, one I could swear I'd never seen before. I still sometimes have that experience (although nowadays I tend to attribute it to an aging mind). I do remember at first being most impressed and guiltily fascinated by the powerful pictures of birth, which my siblings, our friends and I would look at, giggling in horrified wonder, and by those "nasty" (actually, beautiful) pictures of breastfeeding. I still remember our mom explaining that there was nothing "nasty" about any of those pictures, that they were true and lovely. That was only one of many life lessons she taught us, using images from this book.

Each image is a whole story, a world, unto itself, and the beauty is the connection of each one to all the others, just as we are all connected to each other in the family of man (as well as to all that the world comprises, like it or not). As others have written, I have given numerous copies of this book as gifts over the years. (That was not so successful when I gave it to my brother and sister-in-law as part of their wedding present. My brother had grown up with it, but his bride had never seen it before, and was somewhat horrified and disgusted by it; unfathomable to me. I don't think it lasted long in their home, if it ever made it there at all.)

Sometime in the mid-'90s I bought a new copy in a bookstore, and was upset and very disappointed to discover how it had been changed and messed up in that edition (which was, I believe, put out under the aegis of Disney's Buena Vista Entertainment). The look and feel of the paper were wrong, to begin with: too bright white and thick. Pictures had been cropped differently and (I think I'm remembering correctly on this), in some cases, laid out somewhat differently. I recommend avoiding such copies (I don't know what is being published now in that regard, or if the book is out of print, or if they've gone back to the original look and feel); the differences, though subtle, really are jarring and very much diminish the quality. This 'brightened' version came in the wake of a spate of "Family of..." books (Women, Children, and I think maybe a couple of others), that always seemed opportunistic, a little crass, and pitiful in their inability to approach the fundamental, universal, inevitable feeling of the original. Not that these others were without merit, but almost always, an original will far overshadow any sequels or copies that come after it. That's certainly the case here.

According to perpetual social and political critic James Bovard, the power inherent in government is alive and well; unfortunately, as he reminds us, they are not always necessarily accomplishing the people's will. Thus we find ourselves in circumstances in which governments are both larger and more powerful than ever before, while the individual citizen's ability to control and influence the course of his or her own life and liberty is becoming more and more problematic. In this stirring expose, the author explores how the federal government increasingly poses a threat to destroy individual rights and liberties in an attempt to preserve the fiction of government as superceding the citizen. Bovard wonders along with us how this state of affairs has managed to occur, and takes a thoughtful and impressive tour of the history of government control over individual liberties in an attempt to better understand it, and the future it presents for our cogitation.

Long before it was either fashionable or popular, conservative author Bovard was railing against the accumulating power and privilege of the crony-based capitalists who now seem to control the country. Here he draws blood from a dissection of the notion of state sovereignty, which he contends amounts to nothing so much as a glossy justification for the power elite's lust for ever-increasing power and privilege. Especially egregious in the author's view is the way the doctrine is being used to justify the behavior of others, to limit their rights to protect themselves, or to keep the fruit of their own labor. Indeed, all of this is food for thought. Moreover, Bovard is an interesting and quite eclectic scholar, someone who accomplishes both meticulous research and establishes the substantiation for his claims as he proceeds, and does so quite convincingly. He also seems to be profoundly well read, based on his wide use of quotations from such luminaries as Marx, Hegel, Rousseau, and Thomas Hobbes.

Thus, he manages to raise some thought provoking issues regarding our seeming need to regulate many aspects of private behavior (such as the use of pot) that we can neither effective enforce nor usefully demonstrate to be evil for the individual. Bovard argues quite convincingly regarding the potential dangers of allowing others to regulate our Constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties according to their own moral prerogatives. Bovard reserves special scorn for the so-called "Peter Pan" theory of government as the benevolent and paternalistic defender of the commonweal, and actively guides the reader through a critical review of the two hundred year history on the subject, a history he finds rife with examples through which government has repeatedly used its power to thwart rather than support the will and civil liberties of the majority. This is a splendidly researched book that reads well and which has some disturbing thoughts regarding the state of our polity. It is also one I highly recommend. Enjoy!

James Bovard is a bestselling libertarian author and lecturer, whose political commentary targets examples of governmental waste, failures, and abuses of power.
His Books:
The Fair Trade Fraud (1992)
Lost Rights (1995)
Shakedown (1996)
FREEDOM IN CHAINS: THE RISE OF THE STATE AND THE DEMISE OF THE CITIZEN (2000) Just finished this book and it is filled with examples of the "Statist" (politicians and bureaucrats) extorting money to facilitate their appetite for power and thus controlling as many aspects of life in these "United States"(separation into red and blue states does not make much difference). The research is excellent and the sources of "wisdom" are unrivaled. The EEOC and EPA appear to be the most outrageous of bureaus but closely followed by HUD and others; however, the Supreme Court clearly wins the "stuck on stupid" award between the three branches and the Senate is a clear choice in the Congress. Much of what Mr. Bovard relates is probably well known by the average political savvy reader, but his ability to back up his message with research, i.e. facts and sagacious quotes makes for an excellent read. Still, as one other reader stated, "What exactly can be done with the current apathy and addiction to the Welfare State by so many voters?".
Feeling Your Pain (2001)
Terrorism and Tyranny (2003)
The Bush Betrayal (2004)
Quotes:
"Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner." (1994). This is my favorite and another version could be a jackass (Dems) and an elephant (Republicans) fighting over "hay" (tax receipts) that does not belong to them. They then give some back to the "original owners" (taxpayers) after eating their "fill" (outrageous retirements, perks, etc.) and providing some to their "herd" (special interests). THIS ITEM WAS EDITED--From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia--LOG ON http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." John F. Kennedy

"Your government knows your mind, and you know your government's mind." -Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -George W. Bush (sometimes it is more honest to deviate from the script and speak from the gut!)

One would hope that a political tome written 7 years ago would become outdated; that politics might have changed since then. Sadly, James Bovard's "Freedom in Chains," is more relevant now than it was then. Despite a republican president (and congress) which, at one point, professed a "small government" platform, the size of the government has grown to unprecedented heights.

Bovard's "Freedom in Chains" not only documents the incursion of government into the people's liberty, but tries to dissect how this began. Not suprisingly, his first chapter points largely (but not exclusively) to FDR. With a careful eye, Bovard analyzes FDR's shifty rhetoric, which was able to effectively redefine the word "freedom": a word that used to mean "absence of coercion by the state," was now morphed to mean "safety provided by the state." Where we used to talk of freedom to buy and sell as one pleased, now we heard talk of freedom to buy and sell at "fair" prices as dictated by government. FDR (and others) were soon able to tell the citizenry with a straight face that freedom meant the ability of the government to take care of them via legislation.

From there, Bovard spends chapter after chapter highlighting examples of this paternalism run amok. "Cagekeepers and Caretakers" highlights how politicians use the idea that they were democratically elected to justify incursions into liberty under the guise that "that's what the people wanted." (And witness in 2004 the argument from the GW Bush camp that the president has a "mandate" from the people!)

In what might be the best chapter, "The Moral Glorification of Leviathan," Bovard documents how government has claimed for itself such things as: the right to tell farmers how much of what they can sell and at what price, the right to tell landlords that they may not discriminate by refusing to rent to drug addicts addicts (or any other group the government happens to like), and the right to tell companies what numbers of which "groups" they can hire. (A particularly great example was the government's failed attempt to mandate that Hooters employ as many male waiters as female waitresses!)

From here, we read documented accounts of government officials exempting themselves from laws the public is expected to obey (e.g. while it is illegal to lie to the police, the police may lie to obtain a confession!), etc. I confess that at this point, the book does become a bit monotanous. While an advantage to Bovard's "laundrey list" approach is its thoroughness in documenting claims, a disadvantage is that after so many examples, each one begins to lose its bite. (I must admit that after a while, I began to skim rather than read, as so many paragraphs began looking like ones I'd read before.)

Another small criticism is that I do not think that supporters of government's growth will be convinced by this book. In other words, this is not a book that argues forcefully that government growth is a bad thing in itself; rather, it documents the growth of government and assumes that the readers' symapthies will be against such trends. (For books actually arguing against statism, read Freidrich Hayek, Richard Epstein, or anything coming out of the CATO institute).

For all this, I must still give this book four stars. Bovard does an admirable job documenting abuses of government power and attempting to alarm an appallingly unalarmed public that a government unchallenged translates to a people unfree.

If you still labor under the delusion that the United States Government is here for your benefit, read this book. Mr. Bovard puts paid to that myth. Americans are now subject to such an unrealistic array of laws and statutes that every one of us is ripe for picking by some bureucrat looking to "get his numbers up". America has truly gone from a government "for the people" to one "against the people". Our constitutional protections are not worth the paper they are written on. If you manage to go through life without running afoul of some government functionary, you are indeed a luck individual. Read this book

I read this book when it was first published and as I was reading was half the time wanting to throw the book across the room. It was the frustration making me do that.

I re-read this book again and after 3 1/2 years of Bush I found Bovard to be very prophetic. What he said is even more true today than when he wrote it.

If you are concerned for that state of this country, don't just read this book, but think about and act on it.

Bovard is the anti- Micheal Moore.

Read this for a view of whats really happening.

Oh yes, DON'T throw the book.

Collins gets it. Baseball people have a certain way about them, and Collins obviously is one of them; he also knows how to write about them. This book--an in-depth and endearing look at the 2002 Chatham A's of the Cape Cod Baseball League--shines with the polish of good baseball writing about a great baseball subject. The players and team staff come to life, as does the ebb and flow of a summer on the cape. The poignancy of this moment in time, in these specific lives and in this specific baseball season, got me a little misty-eyed at the end. These are the kinds of dreams everyone should have, at least once in awhile, even when they have to come to an end.

This is such a big part of why I love baseball.

This is a terrific book for any fan of baseball. The book discusses three main characters in how they came to baseball how they played growing up and in college and then how the fare in the Cape League. I've passed the book on to several others who have loved it as well. A must for any baseball fan.

This book offers excellent insight into what collegiate players will do to make it to the big leagues. The glimpses of small town fans are also interesting. The reader is exposed to a part of baseball few know much about. Informative and fun to read.

Simply a fantastic book. Well-researched, intriguing, personal, etc. Shows why baseball is unique as compared to all other sports. There are so many nuances always to explore. The Central Illinois League, another amateur summer league, is a good example of a smaller version of the Cape Cod League as well. Either way, this book was an easy read on a long plane ride. No other sport could have produced a book's topic/story like this. Well done, Mr. Collins. Well done, baseball, as always.

If you like decent writing and/or, you are a baseball fan, just read it. I thought about the book long after I had finished reading it.

As a former Outward Bound instructor who loves adventure, I found this book riveting. As a business coach I know that learning occurs when we are on the edge, in a little less familiar place. This story supplements the narratives about Shackleton because Perkins takes the story and applies it to leadership. Hence, it becomes contemporary. I liked some of his points so much that I referenced him in my book. I strongly encourage you to read this book. Doug Gray, PCC, author of [ASIN:0975884158 Passionate Action: 5 Steps to Extraordinary Success in Life and Work]]sionate Action.

Perkins uses Shackleton's Antarctic expedition of the early 1900's to identify ten leadership strategies. These stategies have proven useful for me in both military and civilian business settings. Perkins uses real-life examples form the Shackleton expedition in Part One to identify the strategies. In Part Two he uses recent (from when the book was written) business example to demonstrate how these strategies can be applied. This is an easy read and the stories of the Shackleton expedition helped keep my focus on the people that we lead while keeping the ultimate goal in sight. The title of this book applies whether you are leading at the edge of the world, the edge of survival, or at the edge of competition.
"Fortitudine Vincimus"!

This book is a "must read" for everyone aspiring to become a leader. The different life and death situations that Shackleton and his men faced, and how they overcame the obstacles in their way, is an example for all to follow.

The book is written masterfully, allowing the reader to reflect on how different leadership techniques were applied and how to apply the techniques to the situations particular to the reader.

Outstanding Work!

A fantastic text based on an epic journey. The history of Shackleton's ill-fated expedition is a sharp contrast to the modern view which epitomizes personal liberty as the highest virtue.

This book features vignettes from an expedition faced with nearly insurmountable odds that highlight the difficult choices faced by Shackleton and his men. In the face of adversity, they managed to endure, though not without cost. Perhaps the most moving part of the narrative is knowing that, after he and a few of his men made it (barely) to the safety of a remote whaling outpost, he insisted on mounting numerous rescue attempts for his other stranded crew-mates until they were successfully extracted.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, whether or not you are involved in business management. As a father, I found many of the examples and stories inspirational, and I have shared them with my children to teach them the virtues of perseverence and the responsibilities of leadership.

The author, Dennis N. T. Perkins, shows extraordinary insight in leadership with 10 clearly stated principles. Based in strong part on Shackelton's expedition, these 10 principles are not only clearly stated, but truly make a difference. It is obvious that Perkins understands leadership. The book is easy to read, but takes plenty of mental energy. This book should be read by any manager, and should be considered a classic.

Can you imagine my surprise when I encountered this book on Amazon.com!

I am 18 years old and I read "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters" in elementary school and I was enamored with the story then! And I still am. This "African Cinderella" is sure to resonate with young girls and make them curious about Africa.

It is the story of an African King who has two beautiful daughters, only one of them, Manyara, is mean, nasty, and "haughty" (this book is where I learned that word!) while Nyasha is sweet, compassionate and kind. When their father learns that a ruler of another kingdom is to take a wife, he decides that both of his beautiful daughters should go. However, Manyara arrogantly leaves alone to get there before her sister, ever so certain that she will be chosen.

On the way both her and her sister encounter a series of tasks and through these, their true characters are tested.

Other than a great story, the illustration is absolutely beautiful! They are artwork unto themselves. Love this book! I can't wait to purchase this for the little girls in my life! Or, i just may buy it to reminisce!

Wonderful book about Manyara and Nyasha, daughters of an African King. This books shows that beauty comes from within. Manyara is a selfish sister and wants nothing more than to be queen and she will stop at nothing to be it. Nyasha is kind and loving and only wants to be happy. She sees the beauty in nature and people. A king from the neighboring town is searching for a wife and immediately Manyara wants to be queen. Manyara gets up early and sneaks to the village of the King but she is met by a little boy who wants food, and a elderly woman whom she is told to be kind too. She doesnt give the boy food and is verbally mean to the old woman. Nyasha goes through the forest and finds the same people but this time she gives food to the little boy. She is met by a woman who points the way to the city and she is kind to her and gives her sunflower seeds. As they approach the city, Manyara runs out and crying saying that she saw a snake with 5 heads and was telling her how rotten of a person she is. Nyasha is brave and walks in only to a find a simple snake for whom she was friends with. He tells her that he is the king and the elderly woman and little boy in the forest. He then asks her to be his queen because she is the most beautiful and kindhearted of them all.

The illustrations are breathtaking. The story emphasizes the true ugliness of getting to the top no matter what, while at the same time showing the beauty of compassion, empathy, and taking the time to make true connections with others and embracing their essence. These are values that we must instill within our children. I read this story to my own beautiful daughters over and over and it opens the door for deep discussions about the nature of their special bond as sisters and the need to not face one another as competitors, but as lifetime companions and support for one another.

This book is about these two sisters Manyara and Nyasha father of Mufaro. Manyara is the rude sister. Nyasha is the warm loving sister. One of them would be getting married to a king and the other will be their servant. Manyara well she wanted to get a jump start on things so when she was going to find the king she seen a boy (that was in need for food) that she refused to give food to, then she came apon a old lady she didn't listen to, she also met up with some trees that laughed at her and she laughed back at, and last she came upon a guy with his head in his arm.
So if you really think people that are rude won't get far and their rudeness will just catch up with them later as they go threw life. This book has inspired me to be a better person in many ways. This book is an amazing book it not only expresses the persons outside feelings but it expresses the persons inside feelings.

This story is based on an African tale that is similar in nature to Cinderella. In this story a man named Mufaro had two beautiful daughters, one named Manyara, and one named Nyasha. Manyara is rude to Nyasha, who just calmly bears it. When a call comes saying the Great King wants a wife, Mufaro plans to take his daughters to the palace the next day. Manyara decides to leave in the night to make she is chosen to be Queen. During the journey she is rude to a number of people, who turn out to be the King himself, shape-shifted into those forms as well as the form of a garden snake well-known to Nyasha. When Nyasha passes the next day, she is kind where her sister was rude. Needless to say the King picks Nyasha, and they live happily.

The story is told well, and the language used is wonderful, though not quite as wonderful as the illustrations. They almost look more life-like than photographs. The way lighting is used is amazing, and they are just stunning pictures. Everything about this book is wonderful, with nothing to detract from it.

Loggie-log-log-log