U Books

The Story of a Soldier 1940-1971: The Airborne Spirit and Recollections of Colonel Edward S. Mehosky (Ret.) U.S. Army, Infantry is a true story that begins right in the middle of the action. It is 1944, World War II, and a parachute jump into German-held France has gone terribly wrong.

Edward is, by any definition, a hero. The son of Polish immigrants, he grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania during the Great Depression. When a broken leg ended his baseball career, he joined the Army. Two years later he joined the 506th Parachute Regiment and went overseas with the 101st Airborne Division.

A natural-born leader, his career spanned three decades and three wars. He was a platoon leader during the night drop on Normandy on D-Day. He was a company commander at the Battle of the Bulge during the defense against numerically superior enemy forces at Bastogne.

During the Korean War, he volunteered for the 40th Infantry Division and commanded a rifle company on a steep, frozen ridge facing Chinese positions. With the 502nd Airborne in Germany, his men caused quite a stir by capturing a Green Beret unit. He also served in Vietnam, and retired in 1971.

The prewar portion of the book is probably more interesting to a fellow veteran than to this reader, but by letting us know how Edward Mehosky was raised and trained, it sets the stage for what follows. The story definitely picks up when it moves to Europe. Once that happens, it never lets up.

My advice is, go visit the website and read the first three chapters free. If, like me, you get hooked, you'll buy the book.

The Story of a Soldier is definately worth reading. Ivan Mehosky has written a fantasic book in the style of Stephen Ambrose. Once you start reading you won't want to put it down til the end. Covering the period from 1940 to 1971 with a major focus on World War 2 Paratroopers in action.

Mr. Mehosky has done an excellant job of telling the story of his father's military career as handed down to him from his father. As you read the book you can't help but think of Mr. Mehosky of the 506th P.I.R. as having alot in common with Major Dick Winters of "Band of Brothers" fame.

If you're looking for an excellant book on World War 2 Paratroopers....This is it!

A son has brought to light a father's deserved place in US military history! This book is a must read for anyone interested in the role of the Airborne in World War II or an interestingly detailed look at a successful military career from beginning training as an enlisted man to the rank of Colonel. The combination story lines of honor, country, bravery and love of family do not interfere with each other but instead compliment and come together in a book difficult to put down until the last page.

If you enjoyed Ambrose's Band of Brothers and Webster's Parachute Infantry, you'll certainly enjoy this one! It gives a neat insight to Camp Toccoa b/f the enlisted men got there. It inspires anyone to stay the course, no matter what. Col. Mehosky shows that honor, duty and courage are time-honored.

The Story Of A Soldier, by Ivan Paul Mehosky is a wonderful first person account of a heroic officer who knew how to fight and get the better of the enemy, and knew how to prepare men for war so they could fight as a team with the proper attitude, inflict great damage on the enemy, and have a chance to survive the hell of combat. Mehosky's creed, "you fight like you train, and repetition of tasks equal confidence," saw this echoed in his words countless times to his men, "in war, there is no simulation!" Like their leader, Mehosky's men were tough, motvated, confident, and smart, paratroop soldiers who were some of our best ever to fight in battle against well-trained foes. Some of the descriptions of his experiences and survival are astonishing as well as stirring and vivid. Lt. Mehosky's account of his heroic rescue of two wounded soldiers under intense enemy mortar and small arms fire in front of Carentan, France was bravery above and beyond the call of duty that truely merits our nation's highest honors. There are accounts I have never seen in other books, acounts I want to read again and again and ponder. This well written book should be read by all ages-young and old. It will stir your heart and imagination! You won't be disappointed.

~ I first read "Summons of the Trumpet" when it was published in 1978. Interestingly, in his preface, LTG Palmer states "There will be those who claim that history, true history, can't be written so soon after an event...they are correct. The definitive version of the Vietnam War will be published decades hence..." Well, a full thirty years later, it turns out this statement is the only thing he got wrong!

~ For me, this volume was and remains the definitive work on the Vietnam conflict. It is interesting, concise, understandable, and insightful. I continue to re-read it about every five years and just cracked it open again.

~ When I retired from my Army career (as an Infantry officer), I became a high school social studies teacher and I have used "Summons" as one of my main references when teaching my students about the Vietnam War, this time period, our society, and American government.

~ Russell Weigley, a noted historian who I also value, correctly called this book "by far the best synthesis of...the Vietnam War." Thank you, General Palmer, for letting the "Trumpet" sound!

As a Vietnam veteran, I am often surprised at the mythology that surrounds the Vietnam war to this day. This is "must reading" for anyone seeking fresh insight into that struggle. I found this book consistent with my own experiences and observations from my tour of duty in Vietnam (1968 to 1969). For this reason, I highly recommend it to any serious student of history.

This is one of the best books (if not the best) I have ever read on the Vietnam War. The author develops his arguments with such clarity and eloquence that the book is a real joy to read. Palmer does not describe many battles but only those which were characterized as turning points of the conflict, like Ap Bac (1963), Ia Drang (1965) and Tet (1968) but the depth of the political and military analysis is fantastic. I especially enjoyed the chapter on the military logistics of the US forces in Vietnam as well as the role of the air power in the conflict. It is astonishing to realize that the US actually defeated the insurgency in Vietnam and lost the war only because of the persistent commitment of numerous regular North Vietnamese divisions, which were also mauled badly in battle in many cases! The `Ahilles heel` of the US was the Vietnamization program which the communists didn't allow to mature. Very highly recommended!

Palmer's book was one on the first I have ever read on Vietnam, and remains one of the best. It is mostly concerned with overall strategy and campaigns; less with individual battles and operations. The book severely criticizes the Johnson Administration (with a particular venom for Robert McNamara) but is much more positive about Nixon. The author's attitude towards the South Vietnamese government and Army is critical but quite fair, and he gives the North Vietnamese their due. This is not really a book about American military performance, and does not really mention problems within the military, such as drug abuse, racial incidents, massacres, etc., but he does believe that any problems were a result of having a bankrupt political/military strategy. A few OK maps, no photographs or footnotes, but a nice bibliographical essay. All in all, a very good short introduction but certainly not a complete history of the war.

I was looking for a good overview book of the Vietnam War and this really fit the bill. The author put together a well thought out, easy to read and well-written book that does a good job of giving the reader the high points. The author was a solder in the combat and spent a number of years in the military so he has an authoritative position to speak from. He does a great job of keeping the book away from being overly laden with military jargon or the Rambo style of combat writing. The book is focused on the American effort and thus skims the pre U.S. troop entry into the war. If you are looking for a deeper history on the start of the war with the French or the overall American involvement in Asia then this book will disappoint.

The treatment he gave to the major battles was good. He presented an easy to follow account of the battle, what lead up to it and the outcome. He also touched on some of what was happening back home with the politics, but only briefly. I think the most interesting parts of the book for me was the details of the air war, more specifically how the bombing kept escalating and then the final bombing push by Nixon. My only complaint with the book is that it was an overview that was a bit too light on the facts for me. The book was only 270 pages long, and book size do not necessary determine quality, this book could have been a little bit more in-depth. It seemed to me that to get a better understanding a few more pages could have been added without the overview turning into a in depth study.

Divided into 12 monthly teachable values this book gives "lesson plans" for preschoolers and elementary age children along with a story (sometimes two or more), guidelines for parents, simple games and disussions that further illustrate the topic for the child/ren over the course of a month and guidelines for encouraging praise throughout the month as children begin to exhibit or model the desired trait.

Although major Christian values are covered, Christian parents may notice that God is not directly mentioned as this book was written generic traditional moral values(with no biblical reference) but there is room for you to add your religious belief and doctrine although you will have to do the footwork yourself (look up scripture reference and incorporate God into the little stories).

Values are divided into two categories: values of being (who we are) and Values of Giving (what we do). They include:
honesty, courage, peaceability, self-reliance, discipline, fidelity/chastity, loyalty, respect, unselfishness, kindless, and justice and mercy.

The authors raised NINE children with these concepts. Creative parents will find it a great launching point for them to expand on monthly while EXHAUSTED parents will find it a wonderfully easy "road map" to use when instructing their children that requires virtually no advance preparation and is easy to execute.

Parents of preschoolers will find that the preschool activities while geared to the younger set are NOT dumbed down which may make it a fun activitity to do with older siblings as well.

Teaching Your Children Values is one of those rare books that outgrows trends, critics, and what is currently popular in the way of teaching and parenting. This book, written by Linda and Richard Eyre, is full of stories, games, and activities that teach values, such as honesty, courage, love, self-discipline, respect, and unselfishness.
The Eyres draw from years of experience raising kids(nine), and being active in the national movement toward more conscientious parenting. Richard has served as Director of the White House Conference on Children and Parents, and they host their own radio and TV programs, geared toward helping parents to become better at instilling the same values they speak of in this most wonderful book, destined to become a classic.

This book is a must-have for parents who are worried about the effects of our increasingly values-less society on the well-being of their children. The authors present a number of important values and then provide strategies to teach these to children within the context of the family. I found the anecdotes from their personal experience--the authors are a married couple with nine(!) children--to be especially helpful and encouraging. I have read and re-read this book many times, and passed it on to anyone who will agree to read it!

This book is a must-have for parents who are worried about the effects of our increasingly values-less society on the well-being of their children. The authors present a number of important values and then provide strategies to teach these to children within the context of the family. I found the anecdotes from their personal experience--the authors are a married couple with nine(!) children--to be especially helpful and encouraging. I have read and re-read this book many times, and passed it on to anyone who will agree to read it!

I've read lots of parenting books (over 50 or so) and this is my second favorite. My first is by the same authors, 3 Steps to a Strong Family.

This book contains information on how to teach values to your children. We've just started using it but are having excellent results already. My kids are happier and are grasping concepts they've struggled with in the past. There is a calmer feeling in our home as we all work together to master a certain value.

I appreciate the personal experiences the authors share and the writing style is easy to understand and very well organized.

My two 6-year-olds enjoy the games and stories. They do not have any problems with them as an earlier reviewer mentioned would happen.

I highly recommend this book, but suggest you read 3 Steps to a Strong Family first. These books work and will make your home such a happier, calmer place.

I was half way through the first volume of Foote's epic 3 volume "The Civil War: a narrative" when I paused for a breather and read Catton's Hallowed Ground.

So, compared to Foote's 3 volume The Civil War, Catton's Hallowed Ground provides a good overview of all the major battles in the Civil War. He had also included quotes from letters soldiers had written to family which I thought was a nice touch as it provided a different view of the civil war and illustrated how tough things were for them. What I also liked about Catton is that he had referenced the quotes and pointed to other books if you were interested in that particular regiment or battle.

For someone new to the civil war, I would definitely recommend reading Catton's Hallowed Ground first then refer to Foote for more detailed description of the more interesting battles. However, as another reviewer here points out, there is a hint of bias in favour of the confederacy in Foote.

Bruce Catton is one of the best history writers of the Civil War. He writes in a fashion that is easy to read yet leaves no doubt what he is saying. Very good way to enjoy history. It is almost like reading a novel.

I have been a reader of Bruce Catton's Civil War histories for years (I own 10 of them). I agree with the reviewers about Catton's vast talent as a storyteller and as a narrator of events. It was through reading his works that I first became aware of some of the lesser known colorful characters of the time, such as Gen. Phillip Kearney, Gen. D.H. Hill, and Robert Toombs. In fact, it was the writing of Bruce Catton that first turned me into a Civil War buff.

I have a rather strong objection to the subtitle of this work, which the late historian would never have approved were he alive today. This book is not "the Union side" of the Civil War; it gives BOTH sides. In fact, the author is more sympathetic to men like Gen. Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis than I would have been. For many years, some influential historians have sought to label any history that seems to hint that the right side won the Civil War as biased. (Over four score and seven years, actually.) This work is a balanced account, and one of the best one-volume histories of the war ever written, both on the battle front and at the home fronts. It deserves to be thought of as such.

If you're interested in the Civil War enough to browse this book, go ahead and snag it. To get a grasp on this period of our history, you must read Catton. He tells the overall story in the style almost of a novel. He is accurate and factual. Never fear. But this isn't reading history as you might remember. Catton will get your attention, draw you in and help you to feel some of the myriad of emotions that coursed through our ancestors on both sides of this conflict. He made me understand that wherever they trod was indeed hallowed ground after their passing.

Of all the heartbreaking, sacrificial, and exhausting wars that the United States has encountered, the Civil War is the most upsetting of all. Bruce Catton, part of the last wave of a generation of romantic historians, paints a vivid portrait of the Union side of the conflict. Like all war historians, he is impressed by the elements that are found in the crucible of a long fight: the pageantry, brilliant tactical moves, feats of individual courage, and the inexhaustible source of stories. But on the other, he has enough judgment to temper his own writing with accounts of casualty lists and useless battles.

Catton's main thesis is that although the war did not begin over slavery, it became so through the force of the war's tide, and that the tide only became inexorable after a series of poor decisions on the Union side. He is especially adept at tracing the threads of the various campaigns - the Army of the Potomac's stalemated situation in Virginia, for instance, is contrasted with Grant's quick thinking out west with the Army of the Tennessee. As the title would imply, the book focuses on the to and fro movements of the Union side. Lincoln, Lee, and the particularities of the situation prior to the war are not dealt with in any depth.

Nor is this is a book with a list of laundry items for the typical soldier and a slew of footnotes, although it is well-researched and thorough. Catton is more interested in quickly sketching an army as they march through the heat of the Mississippi and the lush countryside of Georgia. He unabashedly plays favorites with his "cast of characters" - Grant and Lincoln are praised, McClellan is not - but in most cases his biases are justified.

One could argue Catton's taste for drama and humorous anecdote overrides his ability to assess rationally the Civil War, but perhaps his romantic/realistic view of history is more in keeping with the age it is describing. The Civil War was fought by stubborn men who refused to cede a tenet long past its due date - and that in itself is the true tragedy.

While reading this extraordinary and unique book it is obvious that Edwards put the time and effort into this project and Buchanan packaged it. Yet Buchanan seems to want all the credit. She alone is listed as the author, but what did she actually do? She wrote a distant and dry essay - well written no doubt, but what exactly is her relationship to this fascinating object called the Vietnam Zippo?

Judging from the lively discussion below on this page, Buchanan was, in fact, the publisher with the power to manipulate the crediting. It appears that Edwards' role was greatly diminished and he was relegated to the person who just provided the collection. Apparently another sad example of an artist being taken advantage of - there must be a back story here and it probably isn't pretty. What a shame this situation is considering what a finely crafted book it is.

The Vietnam War had many facets for those who served in that theatre of military combat from 1965 to 1973. One of the unique memorabilia associated with the conflict were the Zippo brand cigarette lighters that were ubiquitous among the American troops. Drawing from the collection of Bradford Edwards, Sherry Buchanan (an independent scholar, author, and expert on both Asian and Vietnamese contemporary art, history and culture) has created "Vietnam Zippos", a volume of images of Zippo brand lighters used and personalized by members of the American armed forces. Zippos lighters were visible associated with the burning of grass huts as part of search-and-destroy missions, they were used as engraved symbols of social protest, and often became a kind of talisman for American GIs during their hazardous tours of duty in that increasingly unpopular conflict. Beginning with a Timeline that begins in 1965 and ends in 1990 (when Vietnam Zippos were sold to tourists at Saigon Street Stalls), "Vietnam Zippos" is a fascinating and specialized military cultural history that is a unique and recommended contribution to the growing library of Vietnam War histories, biographies, and scholarly studies.

A touching compilation of soldiers who served in Vietnam and the history of Zippos in the Army. Full of color pictures: numerous Zippos dipictaing pictures, unit slogans, witty banter, and more. A must read for anyone who wants to connect with history.

It is a shame and a pity that such an impressive book should reflect such a travesty in crediting. What does Ms. Buchanan have to do with the Vietnam Zippo? There is ample evidnce that it was the focus of Mr. Edwards' attention for many years. Yet he is relegated to a minor participant in the book itself! Anyone who closely examines the book can see the truth - it is self-evident. Apparently, Ms. Buchanan's massive ego overshadowed her sense of justice - she, as the publisher in fact, decided to not even share the authorship with Mr. Edwards. Othewise, it a near perfect book - striking graphic design - highest quality photographs - excellent essays and thorough research. Life can be unfair.

My hippie Dad loved it! He is a history buff and had not heard of this practice!

If there is one important question that will affect your entire destiny it is, "How do I hear the Voice of God?" Written in a style that it more a personal counseling session that literature, this book will bring comfort to a confused heart.

One of the most important question you can ask that will affect your entire destiny it is, "How do I hear the Voice of God?" Written in a style that it more a personal counseling session that literature, this book will bring comfort to a confused heart.

In this practical and biblical examination of the gift of prophecy, Cindy Jacobs clearly defines what prophecy is and how it works. Attention is given to both personal prophecy and corporate prophecy.

This is probably the best book for those who are new to the Prophetic. It does an excellent job of outlining the history and basics of the gift of Prophecy (and Prophetic Intercession), teaching fundamentals that are needed to operate in ministry, and to recieve prophetic words more appropriately. More important than the information it provides is the fact that it motivates you to minister prophetically, and addresses much of the fear we have when we begin to operate in that realm. This book was not only packed full of information and encouragement, but Cindy Jacobs does an excellent job of making it an effortless read. In fact, it would have been easy to read in one sitting, had I not been so engrossed in the learning that I had to put it down each chapter and think and pray about each section. Overall I greatly recommend it for beginners who are just learning, and even the more seasoned ministers that need an encouragement boost.

Even though I have not finished reading this book, I have found it to be most helpful to me in regards to my prophetic ministry. I recommend this book to anyone who desires to know and understand the prophetic.

Thank you,
Betty J. Harris

This is a beautiful and interesting book. Peter Brown and Kent Haruf have resisted the simply pretty to go deeper with the images and text. The book conveys the beauty and emptiness that is really the great plains. It also shows the hardy people who still inhabit the land in spite of its challanges in an honest, but sympathetic way.

West of Last Chance
Kent Haruf has long been one of our favorite fiction writers, and we love Peter Brown's sensitive photography of the majesty of the West. In this book the two combine and show us the 'beauty', not necessarily the 'pretty' of the high plains.
Reading this book, prose and images, makes one want to go out there, get off the Interstate, and wander the back roads to also be able to see what they show. An America that we have feared lost to urban and exurban growth.
This book is a song to the West.

This book is about the interaction of man and land. It is simple and yet profoundly touching. The images show the stark beauty of the land, and how it has, at times, been abused by man. It is a storybook of what the land has witnessed throughout the years - events of use, misuse, and sometimes even crime. And, it tells you how a land can change a man by its harshness or its beauty.
In these pages the reader will see that Peter Brown, and Kent Haruf have created a beautiful, moving, and altogether unique book.

Like Kent Haruf I first came across photographer Peter Brown years ago through his excellent book 'On the Plains'. This latest book with 151 photos continues the theme with the same vigor and passion. I thought it was a wise choice to stick to the back roads of the Plains, so much more interesting visually than the cities. The photos really convey the hugeness of this area of the Nation though about a third of the photos are of small towns in Texas.

The photos that I think work best are of the buildings. Shot in the classic tradition stretching back to the FSA photos of the Depression: no-nonsense straight on at eye height and mostly they are framed in the composition, too. I would have been satisfied with the book with just the building photos. Brown's composition framing really does bring out the best in so many of the images. For instance there are a couple of wonderful shots taken in Buffalo, Wyoming (plates 118 and 119) that just grab when you turn over the page, full of shapes, color and what appeals to me: plenty of signage.

Throughout the book there are signs and lettering, again very reminiscent of the thirties FSA photos. Now, many photographers (in rather elitist thinking) would deliberately avoid photographing hand-made signs, billboards and commercial lettering but these seem such a part of America that I think it would be foolish to avoid them. Fortunately plenty of photographers go out of their way to capture this silent form of communication because of its visual appeal.

There was a possible interesting theme that could have made the book even more enjoyable: the center of town image. On page eighty-five Brown has positioned his camera in the middle of the main street in Apache, Oklahoma, to take a stunning shot looking to the horizon with the shops and other buildings diminishing into distance. To avoid the highway leaving a huge open space for a large part of the image there are a couple of vehicles filling up this area. I would have liked to have seen more of these in the book. In 'On the Plains' there was a similar wonderful photo but taken from the first floor of a building and looking down the center of Duncan, Oklahoma.

As with any book with over a hundred photos there bound to be some duds but surprisingly few I thought. The pork producing plant in Yuma, Colorado (page ninety-one) makes a nice horizontal shapes of sky, building and grass but lacks sparkle for repeat viewing, the same for the yellow marked road on page fifty-three.

The book's production, like 'On the Plains', follows the classic photo book style with large images (in 175dpi) centered on the page with generous margins. It does though, have the typical photo book annoyance of placing all the captions on a back page, so plenty of page turning to find out where some place is. This does seem so unnecessary because on many pages there is text by Kent Haruf and a one line caption centered under each photo would hardly spoil the editorial flow.

West of Last Chance does a wonderful job of capturing the Plains with photos as unique as the places.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Much more than another gorgeous coffee table book, West of Last Chance begs to be read again and again. As you begin to decipher Brown's images and Haruf's words a sense of what the high plains, and perhaps by inference, what this country is all about emerges. Clearly the product of two artists with both a passion and a calling.

As a landscape designer, this book is indispensable. It has only one major flaw, which I find extremely annoying: the binding is absolutely worthless. I've had the book for less than a year, and it's falling apart. Sections of it come out every time I take it off the shelf, and I'm about ready to rubber band it together. Otherwise, this is a must have for everyone in the horticulture industry this side of the midwest.

I use to own an older version of this book (soft cover) and lost it. I have truly missed it. I finally broke down and bought another. This is like the bible of garden books. Truly a must have!

this is an unusually complete reference book. my only complaint is is a somewhat brief treatment of deseases and pests which attack the plants listed and the treatments for them.

The book came in record time and was in perfect condition. only praises here.

This edition corrects some of the small things that bugged me with my older edition - for example, the lists of plants for special situations (shade plants, colorful plants etc) used to only have the botanical name, so you were forced to flip through the book to see what the heck they were talking about. Now the special situations section has been greatly expanded, and is much more user-friendly with the common name and page number where details of the plant can be found. Lots of marvelous color photos, plus the line drawings of the plants are now in color too. This book remains the gold standard for all garden books.

the type of reading material most grandparents search for to excite and encourage our youngsters' reading and interests.

I bought this book of poems while doing a them on Penguins. The children read Mr. Popper's Penguins and I used the Teachers printables for the unit. The poems were used during Writing to immerse the children in poems and cross theme with Penguins. This poem book and them can be used across all grades and guided reading levels. My 5 year old even loves it.

This book gives good basic information on penguins in a very fun format. The poems are catchy. I teach 3-6 year olds and I caught them repeating the phrases they liked the best. I highly recommend it for this age group.

I bought this book for my son since he is interested in penguins. Most penguin story books are promoted to toddlers or are penguin science books; not books for fictional reading for older children. Normally he doesn't choose to read but when he received this book for christmas, he immediately put down his other items and began to look through the book. Later that evening, before bedtime, he chose to read his book before going to sleep. He also liked that the book had poems; something he's been studying in school and hasn't seen how it could be fun to read. Now he likes them a little more. I'm glad it will help to promote more reading for him.

First of all, I love this book because I love penguins. However, as a piece of children's literature, it's so much more. This is an excellent example of how literature (poetry) and science can go hand and hand. There are some poems in this book that seem written just for fun, (e.g. "Be My Penguin"). However, most of the poems in this book are written about and around actual behaviors that penguins exhibit: from regurgiating their food to feed the young ("Regurgitate") to the motherly instincts of father penguins ("A Hatchling's Song" and "My Father's Feet") to poetic riddles about penguin predators (sea lion, killer whale). The book is charming, easy to read, and full of delightful penguin illustrations. A great gift for any child interesting in science or literature or anyone who (like me) just loves penguins.

I discovered Betty MacDonald when I was about twelve years old, after checking The Egg and I out of the Carmichael Branch library here in Sacramento, about 22 years after it was first published. My parents had mentioned that the egg ranch Betty lived on with her first husband in the 1920s, which she writes about in The Egg and I, was located some miles from the place where we lived in Washington state, in the late 1950s. Furthermore, they had actually taken a day trip with friends to look at the old place, sometime after the book and the movie of the same name came out in the 1940s.

This familial connection, however faint, to an old, famous book and the movies it inspired, piqued my childish mind, and I eagerly started reading about life on a chicken ranch on the Olympic Penninsula. I fell in love with Betty's easy, friendly, hysterically funny, down-to-earth yet somehow elegant prose, and immediately checked out her other autobiographical books: The Plague and I, Anybody Can Do Anything, and Onions In The Stew.

In all of her autobiographical books save Onions In The Stew, Betty uses the first chapter to presage her theme by describing her experiences as a child in a large, boisterous family, in loving and extremely funny detail. In Anybody Can Do Anything, Betty describes life with her family and her two young daughters, Anne and Joan, in Seattle after she has left her husband and the egg ranch behind. The Depression is on, and Betty, now a single mother, struggles with her large and interesting clan to make ends meet, somehow finding a lot of laughs and funny adventures, often with her exuberant sister Mary, the inspiration for the book, along the way. Anyone who is interested in what life was like in Seattle in the 1930s, in witty character descriptions, and in a personal glimpse of how families coped with the "Great Depression", will find this book fascinating, not to mention frequently hilarious.

Betty, I miss you and the way you used to make me laugh out loud--I was sad when I finished reading Onions In The Stew for the first time and then realized it was the last autobiographical book you wrote: the tuberculosis finally caught up with you in 1958, when I was only four years old, still living in Washington, not far from your home on Vashon Island. I re-read your books many times as I grew up, even visited Vashon Island, and often wished I could have met you and your family. It's silly, but I've always felt a sense of loss at never having known you, because I am sure you must have been a marvelous friend. Your sense of humor had a profound effect on me, and inspired me in my earliest writing attempts. It's been many years since I've read your books, but I've never forgotten your irrepressible, bona-fide funniness. Wherever you are, thank you!

My husband is one of Betty's nephews.All of the sisters had an incredible wit about them - probably because of their mother Sidney Bard. She did a wonderful job raising her children with out her beloved husband Darcy. It's too bad the children and grandchildren didn't learn lessons from Betty's books. She would be sad to see the way the family turned out.

It's just so heartening to know that others love Betty MacDonald's books as much as I do. I've been giving Anybody Can Do Anything as my female gift book of this year.

we get the story of what she and the children did with themselves.

Her father had been a mining engineer, and although he died fairly young he had been able to save quite a bit; her mother had come from a 'good' East Coast family--not REALLY rich, but apparently quite well off. Betty and her siblings had grown up in large houses with music and dance lessons. However, the Great Depression reduced the family's portfolio to wastepaper. The children had never been taught to actually *do* anything, and actually going out to work for a living was something that they (especially the daughters) had never thought that they would have to do.

The story of how they scrambled to make ends meet during the 1930s would have been grim, but the Bard family despises self-pity above all other faults, and Betty is able to find humor in any situation.

After women having to work to survive during the 1930s, and having to work in the 1940s when all the men were off to war, is it any wonder that the women of this generation and their daughters wanted to retreat into domesticity during the 1950s?

This book is hard to find, so if you get the chance, snap it up!
This is a hilarious account of the author's life post-"Egg & I."
Betty moves from the chicken ranch back to her family's home in Seattle.
Sister Mary, undaunted by the fact that Betty has no experience, eagerly launches Betty's business career and social life.
The mishaps that ensue are absolutely hilarious.
Skillfully written, this book makes the Depression a laugh riot.
BUY IT!
I only wish that Betty had written more books.