Reds Books

Growing up with the author, l always knew she had it rough. But never knew how rough, until l read this book. She handled it all with grace and a smile. I couldn't put it down. A great read.

I enjoyed this book. It left me with a good feeling. It reminded me of the era in which I grew up. Some of my friends, led similar lives as children. From all the hard times Alice lived with, she found within herself a strength of character and a love for family and friends. I will read more books by this author. I will read this book again.

I found this book very easy to read and it kept my interest. It gave some insight into how things are not always what they seem and you never know what goes on behind closed doors. Looking forward to the next one.

As a child that grew up in the 50's and 60's era, I must say this book is acurate. What happened within a family stayed within a family. The events in this book are, in some ways, extreme compared to other families at the time. But, what happened at home, stayed at home.
As I have not seen anything before written by this author, I will look for more books by her.

This book is well written and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. It gives you insight of what many people, then children, had to endure growing up. This book has it's twists and turns, it's happy moments, and sad. This is a must read book by a new author. I expect that there will be more coming from this author.

Harvey Arden has once again written a superb piece of work. Along with several of his other works, Arden continues the tradition that he, along with Steve Wall, began many moons ago; a tradition of listening and learning. Arden has stimulated my own path and for that, I am truly grateful. I also highly recommend his book, "Have you thought of Leonard Peltier Lately." A sad episode in U.S. history to make the ultimate understatement. Brother Arden, Keep Hope Alive!

Very good and truly authentic..

This is one of the best books written about Native American spirituality. It is a book I shall treasure always. My one regret this that I was not able to meet and talk with Mr. King (Noble Red Man).

This book enlightened me with the wisdom of the original Americans. It's hard to believe the Christians were trying to convert a people most likely much closer to God than themselves. Several Indians performed acts that would be considered miracles by those of other faiths. Wonderful book.

"We Lakota people have our giveaways. When something important happens we celebrate by sharing what we have," said the late Chief Mathew King, known as Noble Red Man in Indian Country. "Even the poorest among us share what we have....The more you share the more you're given to share."

Which is precisely what editor Harvey Arden has accomplished with his passion for keeping alive the wisdom of the American Indian. In this book, Arden, a former senior editor for National Geographic, has compiled a comprehensive volume of the thoughts, philosophy, humor and spirit of the great Oglala Lakota (Sioux) chief.

Noble Red Man was born Mathew King in 1902 in Grass Creek, S.D., a small community of Indians from different bands. He died in 1989. In the long stretch of time in between, he absorbed knowledge, wisdom and experiences that molded him into a sage and respected leader.

After three years in military school, his parents enrolled him in the Springfield Indian Seminary to become an ordained Episcopal minister. Hunger, more than faith, was his motivation.

"If you converted you ate better," said Noble Red Man. "To help feed the starving Lakota my father and uncles became missionaries." During training, he concluded that - despite being very spiritual - that the clergy was not his calling. He had misgivings over Christian theology. "I have always believed in the Great Spirit and worshipped Him in my own way," he said. "These people don't seem to want to change my belief in the Great Spirit, but to change my way of talking to Him."

Instead, Noble Red Man set out to do the Great Spirit's work by teaching Indians to "earn their bread by the sweat of their brow," finding work and securing labor rights for thousands of Indians over the years. He became a voice not only for the Lakota people, but American Indians everywhere, taking their case to court, before Congress and even overseas. His passion was fighting to regain South Dakota's Black Hills, sacred land promised the Lakota by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, but swindled from them five years later when gold was discovered.

The federal government belittled the Indians' claim to this revered land in the 1970s by offering them $100 million. Noble Red Man retorted: "The Black Hills aren't for sale. What if we offered you a hundred million dollars for the Vatican, for Jerusalem?" The money still sits in escrow, unclaimed.

Arden first met Noble Red Man in 1983, on the 10th anniversary of the Lakota occupation of Wounded Knee, S.D., a reservation hamlet that was the site of the American Indians' last stand in 1890, as federal troops massacred over 350 Indians. The 1973 occupation - which was met with an FBI siege for 71days - was staged by the American Indian Movement (AIM) in protest over the government's harsh treatment of Indians. He and venerated Chief Frank Fools Crow provided moral support to the occupiers, while placating armed FBI agents.

As Arden attempted to explain to Noble Red Man why he'd come to Pine Ridge, the chief shot back: "I know why you're here! White Man came to this country and forgot his original Instructions. We Indians have never forgotten our Instructions.... I can't tell you what those were, but maybe there are some things that I can explain...."

That is what Arden has done. Culled from his interview notes and tapes, Arden felt that he didn't have enough material to compile the book that was Noble Red Man's unrealized dream. After the chief's death, Arden visited his daughter, Lavon King, who had kept her father's old reel-to-reel tapes in a trunk. In a labor of love, by 1994 Arden finished the job he began 11 years earlier. With this book, he has put into print Noble Red Man's credo, reflections, recollections and hopes.

There is even a good measure of humor, which captures Noble Red Man's keen sense of irony. My favorite anecdote was how he became a smoker at age four (!) by rolling cigarettes for his grandmother, Cane Woman. She "was blind, and I had to guide her around with her cane. People really laughed when they saw us....We must have been quite a sight, the two of us, both smoking Bull Durham cigarettes while I led her around by the elbow."

Reading his words, I was struck by how senseless the gulf between American Indians and the Americans occupying their land is, for they aspire freedom in the truest sense. However, more than any other people, American Indians have been systematically denied that freedom.

Yet, Noble Red Man kept optimistic. He counseled his fellow Indians to stay true to their heritage.

"Only one thing's sadder than remembering you once were free, and that's forgetting you once were free. That would be the saddest thing of all. That's one thing we Indians will never do."

If you're new to the subject of old time radio, this collection is a great place to start; find out about particular interests (e.g., westerns, mysteries, etc) and seek out new ones. P.S. "The Whistler" and "Bergen and Mccarthy" are the best of OTR, hands down!

A very good deal, especially for those who are not sure which shows may be of interest to them. The booklet is excellant and contributes to the enjoyment of the programs. Many hours of entertainment for a very small investment.

Old Time Radio's Greatest Shows clearly and fully lives up to its title as it showcases sixty of the finest radio program series to constitute the "Golden Age" of radio broadcasting. Ranging from Burns And Allen; The Lone Ranger; Dragnet; and Dimension X; to The Screen Director's Assignment; The Green Hornet; The Quiz Kids; and Songs By Sinatra; the 30 hours of programming in this magnificently presented anthology covers all of the diverse genres of popular radio programing from comedies, mysteries, and dramas, to science fiction, westerns, and variety shows. This superbly presented sampler is enhanced with a sturdy album case and a booklet which includes details and history for each show. A perfect introduction for new generations of listeners (as well as appreciative nostalgic old-timers!), Old Time Radio's Greatest Shows is very highly recommended for personal and community library audiobook collections.

Just what it says: episodes from 60 of radio's greatest half-hour shows. Benny, Hope, Fibber & Molly, X-One, Suspense, Escape, even Quiz Kids! All top quality sound, with dates and magazine-sized "liner notes"! The best collection available; great for nostalgic listening or introducing latecomers to the magic of radio. Twenty cassettes, thirty hours.

If you're looking to get your feet wet in collecting recordings of American old-time radio, this is an excellent place to start. Every genre of '30s and '40s radio (except possibly news) is represented in this well-done collection. A great place to start what can become a lifelong hobby.

Want to learn a lot in a short period of time about one of the most under-publicized campaigns of the Civil War? Read "One Damn Blunder From Beginning to End - The Red River Campaign of 1864", by Gary D. Joiner. In this volume, Joiner combines his knowledge of the Civil War and his home of Louisiana, his talents as a cartographer, and his experience as an educator to create a very readable history of this event. Whether you are a long term Civil War buff, or just beginning your odyssey into this period of American history, or somewhere in between, you
will gain an understanding of what happened, why it happened, and, in some ways most important, why the history books devote so little print to this Union disaster.

This is an excellent companion to the classic study of the Red River Campaign- Red River Campaign, Politics and Cotton in the Civil war by Ludwell H. Johnson.
The book doesn't go into great details about the battles but keeps it informative and interesting. The author does an excellent job setting up the battles and defenses of the campaign. Readable maps are provided which aid understanding of the battles, routes and terrain. I especially appreciate locations and descriptions of the smaller actions. I plan to visit all sites connected to the campaign in Louisana and Arkansas.
Scholars will need to read Ludwell H. Johnson's Red River Campaign for a complete understanding of the campaign. One Damn Blunder will aid this understanding and entertain.
The Yankees found the road to Texas a hard one to travel.

With so many Civil War books, anthologies, and videos out there, it's difficult for anyone who is not an expert on the subject to find a consistently reliable source of information about it. The American Crisis Series, for my taste, is that reliable source. And "One Damn Blunder from Beginning to End: The Red River Campaign of 1864" is just another shining example of this series' remarkable and unique dependability.

Gary Dillard Joiner has given us a spectacular and comprehensive account of the extraordinary events in the spring of 1864, when thousands of Union troops and a mass of Union ships attempted to split and conquer the confederacy's troops along the Louisiana and Texas border. The resulting Union calamity and its implications for the war are painstakingly researched. But like other books in the series, this research is presented in a very readable way. I recommend this highly to anyone interested in the Civil War era.

This book proves that silly ideas, misunderstandings, stupidity and political expediency are not limited to our times. Mixing in a good deal of greed, a chance to capture large amounts of cotton, called white gold, can move along just about anything along. The Red River Campaign of 1864 qualifies for one of the best examples of this. The idea was to deal the CSA in the Trans-Mississippi a deathblow and drive them from northern Louisiana. 40,000 Union soldiers and 60 ships are to converge of the CSA forces at Shreveport. Lack of cooperation between the army and navy, poor communications and worse leadership resulted in a resounding defeat for the Union. The book shows that a resolute leader can succeed over odds, even if his superiors are not helpful.

This is a well-written book with maps in the right places. The author expects the reader to know nothing about the campaign and keeps us fully in the picture. This is an excellent campaign history and a good addition to your library.

One Damn Blunder From Beginning To End: The Red River Campaign Of 1864 by Gary Dillard Joiner (Louisiana State University - Shreveport) is an intense and focused study of the largest Union armed forces collaborative operation in the Civil War which took place in the spring of 1864 west of the Mississippi river against entrenched Confederate forces and involved between the 40,000 Union Army troops and 60 Union Naval vessels. The purpose of the engagement was to capture the capital city of Shreveport as part of the campaign to wrest Louisiana and Texas from Confederate control. Relating all of the critical aspects of the campaign including the rather spectacular errors made within it by the Union, One Damn Blunder From Beginning To End showcases a single campaign of the war that tore America in two. One Damn Blunder From Beginning To End is a work of superb scholarship and an important contribution to personal and academic Civil War Studies with its informative and informative treatment of an often overlooked but significant campaign.

By directly comparing great principles from the scriptures of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, "One God, Shared Hope" shows that these religions have shared goals of peace among nations and cultures. In turbulent times, this message of unity is indeed welcome, and should be shared with family and friends.

The book is unique and valuable on another level, as well. The principles expressed are the basis for personal spiritual growth and well-being. We can never have enough inspiration in this direction. A quiet reading of this book can do wonders for the soul.

This book affirms the truth of oneness by comparing holy scripture texts on different Universal Truths. Comparison is made between the Talmud, the Koran and the Bible. Specific texts are notated for further study, if desired.

The book's division into three parts; principles concerning god, principles concerning others, and principles concerning self, make it easy to pick up and use as needed. For example, Principles Concerning Self includes the threads: Cultivate wisdom, Practice self-control, Develop your character, Remain humble, Admit your mistakes, and Be a peacemaker.

Another extraordinary aspect of the book is the final section: "resources for further study." Included is a list of books, magazines, software, organizations, websites and scripture references useful in further study for comparision of religions.

I definately recommend this little gem of a book for devotional use and reference! It is so affirming to realize the similarities between major beliefs and each of the holy scripture texts. Wow!

As a person researching and forming new opinions around my sprititual beliefs this book came into my life at a time when I needed it most. As an adult who walked away from all forms of organized religion I recently began to feel that something was missing.

"One God, Shared Hope" reminded me that Faith is the key I was missing. The common principles relating to God, Others, and Self embrace the fact that we are all here to honor and love one another and live a life of Faith filled freedom.

We are a descendants of a shared vision. Reading this book allowed me to see the commonality that exists in the World relating to our morals and values.

For me, a novice to World Religions, this book is an easy read that allows the reader to grasp the knowledge being imparted in a manner that can be taken in right to the Soul. Even if I were more experienced the ease with which this book represents the themes makes it is a treasure find that I will share with friends and family and highly recommend to people I encounter.

"One God, Shared Hope" invites us to share a thoughtful, from the heart conversation about what it means to be a person of faith, and how that meaning resonates and echoes among Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The desire to do good, to know and love God, to be faithful and to flow love from our hearts for all of God's creation is universal.

The more we think we are different, the more we are really the same. The similarities in the scriptures of our faiths vividly affirm how alike we really are.

The book is easily read from beginning to end, or better yet, can be used as a starting point for personal meditation upon any one of the twenty "threads" Oman Shannon uses to weave this luminous cloth. There are even threads within the threads. When brought together, the depth of color and texture invites one back again and again, each time something a little bit different allowing itself to be seen.

I've read other books about the unifying themes of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. They seemed over-arching in theme and somewhat abstract. Oman Shannon speaks to me, as one person of faith to another, inspiring and encouraging me along the way, so that I may also inspire and encourage.

And isn't that what it's all about?

My heart literally beats with more lightness and vibrance as I read this enlightening book.

A student of "Oneness" between spiritual traditions, I was delighted to read this new offering. Maggie Oman Shannon introduces scripture selections with artful prose which mirrors and calls forth the scripture and principals in question.

I can see myself suggesting this book to many people who have yet to realize our many "likenesses" between the descendents of Abraham.

In fact, the book reminds me that we are ALL unified... whether our beliefs come from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam or any other faith. Our hearts connect us just as this book connected me so surely with its message.

I am a big fan of Israel Regardie and have most of his books. I feel this one is a good addition to the others, in particular, The Middle Pillar, but on it's own would be a little confusing. There is alot of assumed knowledge but I would definitely recommend it along with other writings of his.

I have a few hesitations abt this book: I think some of th relaxation and body awareness exercises can mess you up, all the while that they make you feel good for a time. Exercises where you try to sense all the minute sensations in your body, can be destructive. The body needs to be aware of itself to some extent, yet awakening too much awareness sensitises nerves which in the long run, are best left not too overly sensitised. Messing with the unconscious in this fashion, isnt the safest thing to do. Yet this is till a useful book.

Also, the exercise where one viualises the body, in a relaxed state, as ' full of holes' may, in the long run, create some real physical problems, as far as I can see. Far better to heed Crowley's advice, and regard or visulaize the body as primarily functioning silently with 'perfect frictionless ease,' each indidividual organ doing its respective task in unison with all the others.

Heed the works of Emma Curtis Hopkins, if you would to learn more on this. Dont be put off by her pollyannish style: the proper spiritualising of the body can do wonders for some people.

In a nutshell: the simple breathing and relaxation exercises set forth in this book are wprth the price of the book alone. and are as good as many such exercises you may find elsewhere.

This little volume is, quite simply, one of the best brief health books one could possibly own.

Embraced within Regardie's intelligent perspective, are a few chapters on breathing, relaxation, and body 'awareness'(you'll have to read the book to find out how useful this is, and how its done,) that are the best little, astute guides to health practices outside of diet, exercise, and advice from a regular, reputable physician.

The care and precision with which Regardie pursues his ideas, contribute to the overall personal sense of intelligent caution that readers should have towards their own health matters in general. Regardie conveys this necessary attitude admirably to the reader.

To top it all off, Regardie includes an excellent, concise version and guide to the basic meditation he utilizes in his highly useful book, "The Art of True Healing," currently available in an inexpensive edition, but little modified from its original form, by Marc Allen. I won't even bother to go into how supremely useful this little essay is: just go read the Amazon.com reviews yourself, and you'll see.

Anyone looking to do well with Regardie's "Art of True Healing" would be wise also, to procure his "One-Year Manual." The tips in it on breathing, relaxation, etc., should greatly augment and enhance the "True Healing" meditation technique for many.

Add Ramacharaka's "Science of Breath," and Rama Prasads' " Nature's Finer Forces," and you will be adding even more of Regardie's fave resources to gain perspective from.

(New Falcon Press also markets useful recordings - of Regardie himself ! - that assist in the performance of the breathing, 'middle pillar,' body awareness, and relaxation exercises that he pursues in "The One Year Manual."

Regardie was a chiropractic by profession, and no doubt utilized many of the simple techniques ofered up in the "The One Year Manual" with his clients. He also gave lectures and such on relaxation.

The title is really a reference to the fact, that any unified technique or set of techniques designed to improve health and life, generally take about a year to fully master.

The only area this volume falls short, perhaps, is in the value of psychotherapy for both physical, as well as mental health. Regardie elswewhere is a great believer in such, for the beginning occultist, facing the stress of 'alternative' practices.

(I would go further, and add that anyone serious about their physical health, would do well to invest time and resources in some suitable counseling/therapy, as well as pursue physical practices, nutrition, exercise, and meditation.)

I won't even go into how excellently Regardie's methods have come to make me feel, or how they have improved my entire life. I will leave it to you to imagine ...

Regardie's intelligent perspective? Yes - twenty-plus years experience with Regardie's techniques, have shown me that Regardie was even smarter than I thought he was.

There are other Regardie books ("Lazy Mans Guide to Relaxation," "(Healing) Energy Prayer and Relaxation," ) by Aquarian Press and New Falcon, that are also useful for health/meditation purposes. However, they are currently out of print. No doubt they will be re-released soon.

Even the Golden Dawn large volume, by Llewellyn or Falcon Press, has some breathing/relaxation exercises that those in good health, and cautious, could use to some advantage.

It is my understanding that Weiser/Red Wheel will be re-releasing the "One-Year Manual" for its current catalog.

I have only read the first two chapters of this book, but I wanted to put some feedback where there is none. The book is written for you to read one chapter with its specific exercize per month. Isreal Regardie is usually very WORDY as was typical for the time period and being a serious occult writer, BUT this book is not wordy at all. This book is a small quick and from what I can tell excellent place to start actually practicing the occult. For instance the first chapter and exercise is to just sit/lay and work on being sensitive with what your feeling. The second exercize is on breathing. The rest of the book seems to be very practical and from what I can tell I would recommend to any student on spiritual practices. This book is written not to exclude anyone with any particular religious belief but only to start a practical approach to spiritual practice.

...but it's important enough to me to reiterate a point, that I'm willing to repeat words previously stated. If you are a "student" of magic/k, the occult, esoterica, the Western Mystery Tradition or whatever other term you may care to you, and you would like to make the transition into be a PRACTITIONER of the arts, this is the book for you! This book is exactly what the title claims it to be: a manual. Devoid of a lot of theoretical considerations, it moves directly into what to DO over the course of a year to get a firm footing into higher practices. Regardie's "The One Year Manual" was recommended to me by my guide, and I feel just as comfortable making this commendation.

a nifty and powerful little work that will assist you in increasing your powers of imagination and visualization. Great to load up in the backpack for a hike.

This is the story of a girl from Mississippi who comes of age during the 1960s after her mother, a well-known local blues singer, is murdered. Jubilee moves to California to attend Berkeley and join the hippie movement. Along the way, she learns that she is revered as "real" by her new California friends. Eventually, she comes to appreciate where she came from and her background as she begins to learn the truth of her mother's murder.

Kay Sloan is a relatively new writer, but she has an easy style and her writing is fluid and original. Some of the settings bordered on stereotype, but I think she will blossom as an interesting new writer. I recommend giving this book a try and look forward to seeing more from her in the future.

This is a marvelous second novel, by the author of Worry Beads (1991). Set in Biloxi, Mississipi, during the early 1960s, when the Beatles were building their American audience and Elvis was beginning to step aside, Kay Sloan's Patron Saint is a novel that follows the coming of age of the novel's young protagonist and narrator, Jubilee Starling. Out of the horrific circumstances of her mother's murder, Jubilee negotiates a crew of characters, including her family, who seem to have walked right out of the red dust and swamps of the delta. Along the way she learns about the Klan, young love, anti-semitism, and madness, and catches the powerful fever of moving out and away from there that marks so much of great American literature. Yet for all that she leaves behind, she takes with her that beat up old red chevy and the legacy of the old south that hangs on like a recurrent dream. When she winds up on the West coast, at college, she becomes something of the "real thing," for suburban California wannabees who have heard about Mississipi blues but never lived it like Jubilee has. This is a novel drenched in music, with a fresh take on the rock and roll that once made the period seem new, at every turn a surprise that could change everything-prejudice, bigotry, envy and despair. And that's what makes this novel so fun and great, the imagination that insists, that well, it could be different - everything.

Murder and touches of Faulkner-Welty Southern Gothic intrigue haunt the pages of Kay Sloan's long-awaited second novel. In The Patron Saint of Red Chevys the author of Worry Beads (1991) has upped the horsepower of her plot, which careens along like an unstoppable vintage pickup truck. Then, too, Sloan's characters in this taut new book -- especially the narrator, Jubilee Starling, whose very name is wonderfully suggestive (and whose given name pays homage to Sloan's fellow Mississippian Margaret Walker's celebrated novel) -- are drawn with more complexity and finesse than ever. Sloan's unerring yet offbeat depiction of the Magnolia State during the segregated 60s; her rendition of blues songs and jazzy trumpet solos belted out in Biloxi and Berkeley, CA; her sentences which are terrifically vivid and arresting, right from the start, "I'm going to kill you" -- all this, for me, plus innumerable other goodies have made The Patron Saint of Red Chevys a coming-of-age page-turner worth waiting for.

The title of this fine first novel quotes the young narrator's warm, flamboyant mother, referring to the bouncy hula girl on the dashboard of her vintage red Chevy pick-up truck. Bernice Starling dies in that truck, stabbed to death early one morning in 1963 in her own driveway in Biloxi, Mississippi, while her daughter is inside putting on mascara and her father is urging her to hurry or she'll be late for school.

Jubilee Starling, motherless at 13, has vehement loyalties. The police, of course, suspect her father. Even her older sister, Charlene, wonders if he did it. But Jubilee, who knows her father had reason to be jealous, never wavers.

Bernice was a colorful, vibrant woman with a rich, soulful singing voice. Her love of music had taken her deeper into the black community than most Mississippians approved and, in those turbulent times, Bernice was quick to speak her mind. She'd been called an "agitator" and in Biloxi in 1963, you could hardly be called anything worse.

Things do get worse, though, when another death is connected to Bernice's murder. Levi Litvak, the Jewish TV weatherman from Up North wrapped his sporty convertible around a tree shortly after Bernice was killed. It's only a coincidence until his secretary, Loretta Holliday (soprano at the Catholic church, singing student of Bernice's and abused wife) finds a letter in his desk, proclaiming his love for Bernice and swearing if he couldn't have her, nobody could.

"Imagining ways to find the killer couldn't save me anymore," mourns Jubilee, who knows the story of an affair is true. When the police release her mother's 1948 truck, she begs her father to let her have it. While other people, including her sister, find it morbid, even ghoulish to drive that truck, Jubilee makes it her own while keeping her mother with her. The truck is her freedom and her link to the past. Jubilee is always asking herself what Mama would say, what Mama would think.

The sisters have very different ways of coping with grief and the fact of motherless ness. Jubilee has inherited her mother's musical talent and in addition to the standout voice she plays a mean, bluesy trumpet. Music keeps her company in her solitary rambles. Charlene dislikes the noisy trumpet, and as Jubilee turns off the narrow path of their segregationist church, Charlene clings to it, looking for love. The church provides the social structure and public face she needs and she grows increasingly impatient with Jubilee's anti-social tendencies. Jubilee works at keeping her mother's spirit alive, always asking herself what mama would think or say or do.

Yet it's Charlene who flat-out resents Marilyn, the young stepmother who enters their lives four years later. " `Why don't you wait a couple of weeks, till the anniversary of Mama's death?'" she snaps at her father when he makes his announcement. But the girls are growing up, and their sad, sensitive father is lonely. Marilyn is timid, conventional, and not too bright. But she tries hard, and she needs him.

The sisters are on the brink of adulthood as the turbulent 60s explode in anti-war protests and the killings of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. Jubilee's killing remains a subject of gossip as well as family grief. There are rumors that Levi Litvak never died and Jubilee still keeps a woman's scarf she found in the garage.

Charlene turns her back on all that `60s upheaval, preferring her personal brand of anger and hope. Jubilee gets a scholarship to Berkeley, much to everyone's dismay. From her father to her boyfriend, everyone is sure she'll be ruined for Biloxi. And Jubilee hopes they're right. But, certain she will find the acceptance she longs for in the urban expansiveness of Berkeley, she is dismayed to discover a different version of the same mean-spirited small-mindedness she left behind. Along with just the sort of education her friends and family feared. And a new story to go with her mother's death.

Sloan captures the unattractive smugness of 60s radicals as precisely as she does the acid in the sugar of the Deep South, a place where the announcement of President Kennedy's assassination brings cheers in school. Jubilee's beguiling voice is yearning, and a little lost. She has flashes of anger and sass, but mostly she takes everything in, weighing it all against her mother's voice.

Sloan's prose is deceptively simple, drawing subtleties and complex emotions from Jubilee's straightforward accounts of events in her life - inadvertently attending the fair on Colored night, playing a dangerous prank on Halloween, overheard gossip in the Piggly Wiggly, first love, second love. Sloan's portrayal of the South seethes. Like many Southern writers she has a love-hate relationship with the place and there's a mournful feel to the racial hatred that pervades the story, and a melancholy to the soft nights and whispered confidences.

This is a debut with the emotional charge and atmospheric richness particular to Southern writers. Sloan has struck all the right notes in her portrayal of coming of age motherless in the turbulence of Mississippi in the 60s.

The Patron Saint of Red Chevys was wonderful. I was really engrossed and I thought is was a great story about two teenagers, although I can't say I am that much like them, they are really believable characters. I would give it a 5

Priestess shouted to me in a whisper to pursue my life long goal--to enter the priestesshood!!!

In her highly cerebral style, Eakins once again explores the events of all ages that bear so heavily on our culture. We need to know what has been and what will be if we are to enter the next millenium with confidence. She caters to this fundamental need magnificantly!!!

This book is a powerful journey through time and space; an exploration of Truth and Spirit that takes the reader through history and into the future. The writing is deeply thought-provoking. So many books of this genre can be pretty mindless pap, but not this one. A Spiritual journey is full of joy, terror, pain and pleasure -- and so is this book. If you are looking for an in depth exploration of alternative spirituality, this book is highly recommended by me.

This book shows the potential for the all-but-lost Priestess within each of us (regardless of gender) to be reborn by REMEMBERING who we are at very deep spiritual levels. It reads like a good novel, but it brings forth deep truth. A Must Read for everyone becoming spirtually conscious.....Bill Mayo

I was amazed at the detail in this fabulous work by Pamela Eakins. She is an extraordinary writer with a fabulous talent for storytelling. If you are interested in the history of women as celebrants of the sacred, you will definitely want to read this. A read you will never forget.

"Welcome to a new way to cope with the demands of a too-busy life. Welcome to a way that requires no difficult skills, adds no new burdens, and accommodates all spiritual systems and life-styles. Welcome to all who want to do nothing-more often, more creatively, with joy, and without guilt. Welcome to one-minute retreats that can be yours at any time of the day or night." - From the book

According to author David Kundtz, a mindful posture centered from the quiet state of your being is *crucial* for any undertaking. In fact, he asserts, if we do not take the time to pause with purpose, disappointment and failure awaits us.

In his book Quiet Mind, Kundtz invites us to do nothing-but to "do" it with purpose, meaning, and value. That is, to take time for ourselves, to rest, to find peace, to awaken, to remember, and to find ways to recognize what we may have forgotten, and how not to forget again.

At 370-pages, Quiet Mind: One-Minute Retreats from a Busy World is brimming with dozens of meditations designed to promote thoughtfulness, calm, and quietude. The mini-retreats, one and a half to two pages long, feature a sage quote and Kundtz's wise and gentle commentary. At the end of each, the author offers one-sentence encouragement, inviting readers to observe life and apply the wisdom found in the meditation.

Kundtz has organized these meditations under fourteen general categories, including:

* Making Room for Life
* Creating Opportunities for Serenity
* Defining Your Values
* Finding Peace at Work
* Knowing Thyself
* Awakening to Wonder
* Giving Back to the World

Under the category Finding Peace at Work, for example, is a meditation about Weariness. Beginning with a quote from Eric Hoff saying, "Our greatest weariness comes from work not done", Kundtz observes:

"...what tires us most is not work, but the anticipation of work still to do. Here is a time when living in the present moment is vital. The past is gone, the future is a just a concept and a projection of our minds. All you have is now. It's all you need..."

In the section Making Room for Life, a meditation called What's Going on Here begins with a quote by George Wilson: "Things are seldom about what they seem to be about." Kundtz notes that all too often we narrowly focus on accomplishing a particular task that we overlook the obvious cause of pain and distress in those around us. He relates the story of a frustrated mother bringing her son to him for counseling. The boy refused to go to school, and neither the son nor the mother was very communicative as to possible causes. Kundtz couldn't figure out what was at the heart of the problem! When he suggested they come back next week the mother replied that they could not come back next week because they were moving across the country. Aha! At last, a window into the boy's world: he was grieving the loss of his friends and all things familiar.

Quiet Mind by David Kundtz is a delightful book, providing a much-needed respite from overloaded senses, cluttered thoughts, and hurried lives.

Quiet Mind is such a thought provoking book. It points out issues that, in our ridiculously busy lives, we forget to even think about. Kundtz challenges the reader to be introspective and to take the time to notice, consider, be, and most importantly, look inward to determine what is really important in our lives.

The quick, two-page bursts of thought are perfect. They really are one-minute retreats.

One criticism, though, is that there are some editing problems. Being a grammar instructor and freelance proofreader, I can't help but find these things where they exist. It's the curse on my life.

This is a great little book that reminds us to stop and breathe to clear the mind. It helps us to manage some peace among our crazy lives. Thanks!

I originally picked up this book because of the title, figuring it would have some nice observations about existing in our "busy" world. I was surprised that not only did it have some pithy, and relevant thoughts about our lives, but that they were insightful and thought provoking as well. The short one or two page comments are just enough to read quickly, but deep enough that I found myself thinking about them at various times throughout the day. I have enjoyed this book so much, that I bought four more for Christmas gifts. One of those incidental purchases that turned into a real find.

This book is a miracle of mindfulness! In short segments that can be read in less than 10 minutes, Kundtz manages to distill the philospohy of Christian, Buddhist, and other religous traditions in a way that is refreshingly non-sectarian. The exercises that conclude each segment can easily be remembered and conducted throught the day and, taken together, form a transformational course in mindfulness for the everday person. My only complaint about the book is that I wish it weighed less, so it could more easily be tossed into a briefcase or purse.

When I was a graduate student in Philosophy the academic line was that Engels's writings on dialectical materialsim were of purely historical interest. His examples of the dialectical nature of material reality reflected the limits of scientific knowledge of the late-19th century, at best. Well, Ted Grant and Alan Woods have written a book that not only makes the basic "laws of the dialectic" intelligible to any reader, but grapples with the most current developments in the sciences from "punctuated equilibrium" in evolution, to chaos theory in physics, the big bang and relativity in cosmology, to an excellent chapter on the Human Genome Project. As nonacademics, Grant and Woods's style is straightforward, lucid, and unencumbered by the referential shadows of the "current discourses." As long-time revolutionary Marxists in the tradition of British Trotskyism, Woods and Grant have been through the wars (in Grant's case since the '30s). They are the rare working-class autodidacts who manage through sheer guts and fortitude to cut through the prevailing rubbish, get to the essence of things, and make abstruse ideas clear without watering them down. In fact they both challenge and excite the reader. This is the most exciting book I've read since I encountered Marx and Engels thirty-five years ago. I think I get it now.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in socialism, science or why capitalism is in such decay.

i first read this work in one sitting off a computer screen
A clear and unmudled view of reality is a necessary component for any one seeking to bring about true and profound change for the benefit of all mankind. Reason in revolt openly defends the gains of humanitys attemts and successes at further understanding this world (universe) agianst those forces capitulating to conservitism and reaction with in the various branches of science its self, however as any marxist knows these atacks of mysticism are only but a deeper reflection on currantly prevailing economic/productive relations between men.
Alan Woods and Ted Grant in the great traditions of Marx, Engels,Lenin,Trostky... keep on the fight for a society based on "each from his own abilities, to each from his own need" in a scientific fashion dealing with concrete realistic terms, dialectics defended in this book is a most necessary tool to not only understand the world but to actualy change it through conscious activity.
i recomend this book to anyone how seeks to join in the fight for a truely better society.

This book is probobly the most important work ever published within the last 50 years. Grant and Woods lucidly explain from the most recent discoveries of science and technology what humanity's possibilities are, but also what present day restrictions will ultimately impede real progress. A must read for anyone either concerned with the current quasi-religious direction of scientific endeavor or about the state of the world in general today. Again, it would be completely valid to say that Reason in Revolt is one of the most important contributions to science since the publication of Engel's 'The Role Played by Labor in the Transition from Ape to Man.'

Ted Grant and Alan Woods have created yet another masterpiece! The book is dense, yet very readable and highly illuminating. If you're like me you'll find that you have to keep putting the book down to think about the concepts. I'm a philosophy major and this book has made me rethink all of my old ideas. Break free from metaphysics, the dialectic is much more accurate. I'd recomend this book to anyone.