North Carolina Books

Although the author was clearly writing for an audience in their teens, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a quick read for an adult. The text is large and the sentence structure simple. The plot is easy to follow. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the story of Roanoak Island and the mystery of the vanishing villagers who made friends with the Croatoan Indians off the Outer Banks. I would not, however, assume that this author is a historical expert on the subject. Nor would I assume that her perspective is necessarily the only possible explanation for the disappearance of these settlers.

The book is an excellent tale! I recommend it highly!

Ive read all of the books so far except for the last one which i cant wait to read. I can assure myself that it will be great and its better since I know the illustrators daughter in my school and i tell u i couldnt wait to get the fourth one i searched everywhere every library i could go to and when i got it I was amazed once more my frends like them to but this book was stuck in my mind for weeks until i found the fourth one but before then i couldnt get it out of my mind i was just so hooked on the book its like my life depended on the book i definitely think this book deserves a 5 stars i advise all kids to read this book ill definitely look for more of miss Steiners books, they're just the best. if i new when the final one was coming out it would be great(...)

M. L. Stainer is a wonderful writer. The Lyon's Roar tells the story of Jessabel Archarde and her family, who travel to the New World in 1587 and get stranded on Roanoke Island. The characters are believable and there's a lot of action. Everyone should read this book!

Highly palettable presentation of a reasonable explanation for the disappearance of the first colonists in America, on Roanoak Island off Virginia. They were stranded there in 1587 (a year before the Spanish Armada distracted Queen Elizabeth's attention from exploration and colonization of the New World). Related in the first person by 14-year-old Jess, this book reads swiftly, thanks to many short chapters and extensive dialogue. The author includes non-judgmental references to native religion and medicine, while offering a viable alternative to the theory that the entire colony was brutally wiped out by hostile Idians.

But this is no boring history book; rather it is more a coming-of-age tale with some gentle romance. Jess confides her dreams and fears, her doubts and plans, as her family emigrates to the Chesapeake Bay--to found a city called Ralegh. We suffer with her on the ghastly ocean voyage; we observe life in that island colony which has since disappeared into the misty myth of time. Jess shares the gradual dawning of her womanhood--both physical and emotional--as she writes in her diary. This young protagonist is torn between George, her first crush, and the allure of the forbidden "savage"--the son of one of the camp's two native guides.

Being blond was something special even back then, as this daring girl matures from selfish child to compassionate young woman, pursuing her private quest for love, while remaining steadfast in her family loyalty. Excellent for middle school, partiuclarly girls; it will stimulate discussion about the fate of the Roanoak colonists. Well-researched, the LYON Saga will entertain and hold the interest young readers. History made Human!

More people need to learn about this book. It's a really great story, full of adventure, first love and coming of age. The time period is America's early colonial history, with few people realizing the Lost Colony was here long before the Pilgrims. Only they vanished without a trace. As a new teacher, I would recommend this book to all literature and history classes in the middle schools.

This book has brought even closer than before to the realization that men of the South, especically the 26th North Carolina, sacrificed so much for what they believed in. This book follows this unit from beginning to end, sharing all that they did during the War, but hilighting Gettysburg and the tremendous toll it took on this great unit. I was especially enthralled by the personal side that the author shared, delving into personal history of various members of the unit, especially its Boy Colonel. A great read for those who want to know more about the men and units who made up Lee's great Army.

I'm pretty new to reading about the Civil War, but so far it seems that Regimental History books are my favorite. While other books try to do too much and cover many battles, generals and focus on troop movements, etc., Regimental History books focus on people and individuals.

Covered with Glory was particularly enlightening, as it sheds some light how Confederates felt about the war.

It is a very focused and straight forward read. Don't expect this to be a comprehensive book on the Civil War, but to experience a "little piece" of it, this is a great book.

An outstanding read! The author does not spend a great amount of time dealing with the formation and early days of the regiment. Instead and pleasantly so, he provides the reader with just enough information to get a feel for the regiment and its officers and concentrates on Gettysburg.

Additionally, the book is in simple and plain english allowing the reader to easily navigate troop movements, etc.. I especially enjoyed the "what happened to" part of the book, something which is missing from too many volumes.

Overall an excellent book about one of the ANV's best regiments -BUY IT!!!!!!

goes to Mr Gragg for his excellent book on the 26th NC Regiment. As a long time Union County resident in the "Old North State", I have often times looked at the Confederate Memorial located on the old courthouse lawn in Monroe listing all the various units which volunteered to do battle from this area. Units such as Co B, 15th NC Reg/ Co F, 35th NC Reg/ Co D, 37th NC Reg/ Co B, 43rd NC Reg/ Co A,E,F and I, 48th NC Reg/ Co I, 53rd NC Reg/ Co C, 10th Bat, NC Artillery/ Co F, 2nd Reg, NC Artillery (Jr Reserves) and of course ... Co B, 26th NC Regiment.

Who were these men, what were they like, what battles did they participate in, how many made it home and what were their lives like when they returned. Political Correctness has taken it's toll in the South, demonizing all those who participated in the Confederacy as extremists and traitors to the United States and so ... from the very towns and villages and hamlets where these men came from, little is known or even spoken of concerning these men today. Indeed, more roadside historical markers of the exploits of Gen Sherman exist today in this area than tributes to the men who defended their homeland.

It is true that the cause may have been all wrong ... men fighting for their own liberty and independence while denying the same to an entire race of people is hard to justify. I do suppose that "States Rights" must fit somewhere in the total picture of the war, but I am convinced that slavery was still the main cause of the war ... so in the end, I guess that we are only left with the devotion to duty, the courage and valor with which they performed that duty and the truly horrendous losses they sustained in trying to achieve their ends. But I do not judge men who lived so long ago by the standards of today and slavery was truly a world wide phenomona not so very long ago ... yes, the South held on to it a little longer than other sections of our country ... and it has paid a price for it ever since.

But Mr Gragg has put a face on those men of so long ago for me, one which I can put in my heart ... that of Col Lane ... who spoke at the 40th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. If Mr Gragg would permit me I would love to quote from his book.

"When Lane spoke, the croud hushed. Looking down into the faces of his audience, he saw many who had witnessed the excitment, tragedy and horror of those unforgetable fields of fire. There too were many who could never imagine what he described; they were a new generation for whom those three days were merely history. "I was once a soldier ...", he began, and then spoke at length ... an old man telling a young man's story of smoke and fire and death. He tried to tell them about the shouts and volleys, about brave enemies in Black hats, about dressed lines and fallen color-bearers. He tried to tell them about the courage and confusion, about McCreery and Wilcox and Honeycutt ... and about Colonel Burgwyn, down and dying. He tried to tell them what it was like to look into the face of a twenty-one-year-old when the boyish light in his eyes was fading. He spoke of exhillerating victory and searing losses. "On the third day," he told them, "the remnant with colors flying stepped out, with hearts of oak, to take part in that memorable third day's charge." He gave them brutal numbers and awful statistics of bloody subtraction: 800 young and healthy men with homes and families and futures reduced to so few and then reduced again to nearly nothing.

Always, he came back to his men."Your valor is coming to be regarded as the common heritage of the American nation," he told them. "It no longer belongs to your State alone; it no longer belongs to the South; it is the high-water mark of what Americans have done and can do." He wept. In front of everyone and without apology, the old warrior looked at the tiny, aged remnant of the 26th North Carolina and he wept. "I give you the highest tribute," he told them, " ... a comrade's tears." A blue uniformed band of Pennsylvania veterans then broke into a spirited rendition of "Dixie," and the audience ... Northerners, Southerners, Americans all ... erupted in cheers.

Thank you Mr Gragg for pouring so much of yourself into this book, for in so doing you have given something priceless back to those of us who claim the Southern heritage. I can now look at that memorial in the courthouse lawn and feel a sense of pride for in the end ... the question is not what a man can scorn or disparage or find fault with, but what he can love and value and appreciate.

The narrow focus of what the 26th is most famous for is wonderful because it allows for many details. For those that don't know, they took atrocious casulaties over a 48 hour period, basically 8 out of 10 men went down. Their action is legendary, lining up against the Union's most famous, Iron Brigade, and also being the unit that could claim the farthest penetration into enemy territory on day 3.

As always, a couple of more maps would have been extremely helpful, but that being said, the ones there are well done.

Day 1 is treated extremely well with intense description of the action, almost minute by minute as far the 26th was concerned. The reading is smooth however, and most won't get lost in the details.

Day 3 has some of the best coverage that I have read because the author expands the focus for the Picket-Pettigrew-Trimble Charge to cover many of the other units involved. Of course, the 26th still gets the lions share of the commentary.

This book isn't for novices, but at the same time, you don't need to be a hardcore student to get it. I think a simple 2 or 3 page synopses of the battle will help so you don't get bogged down with some of the names, but more so you understand the importance of the battle in an overall perspective.

Again, the focus is the 26th at Gettysburg with a very brief prelude and wrap up to their other action. Highly recommended for the ACW afficionada and casual reader.

My only little quibble is with the quality of paper and tiny font for the paperback. Come on publishers, put the better works on better paper so they'll last longer.

A self-described "working class intellectual" with a passion for collecting jazz records and a "flunky gig" as a file clerk in a VA hospital, Harvey Pekar pioneered the literary comic genre. His long-running series American Splendor portrays not caped superheroes with bulging muscles, but the everyday life of an ordinary guy in Cleveland. Pekar's autobiographical vignettes are introspective, honest, and often funny, candidly revealing his flaws and failures as he pushes on heroically in pursuit of love, companionship, and creative fulfillment.

Pekar's realistic dialogue (the characters speak in different dialects, which helps you "hear" them in your head) accompanies a wide range of art styles by a number of comic artists, from the quirkiness of R. Crumb to the stark realism of Greg Budgett and Gary Dumm and the meticulous, photographic detail of Gerry Shamray.

For me, this book was a great introduction to an addictive series. Chock full of amusing anecdotes and musings on everything from race relations in Cleveland to the joy of a good pair of shoes, it's a slice of life in comic book form.

I've been a fan of Harvey Pekar's work for over fifteen years. The first time I ever read his self-published comix, American Splendor, I was impressed by its examination of everyday life. His self-effacing humor grows on those who want more than mainstream comics starring spandex-clad teens with superpowers. Compared with Pekar, Spidey has it easy.

I was happy when this movie tie-in release of his early collected work was published. The everyday brilliance of the real life interactions between Pekar and his friends, co-workers and loved ones merit more attention by discerning readers. It would behoove anyone who cares about the comix medium to claim a copy for their personal reading enjoyment. This volume is not for collectors, but for fans of alternative graphic literature who want more meat and potatoes rather than the visual eye candy of more mainstream publishers.

Pekar has been described as a "working class intellectual" (The Comics Journal), and this label is respectfully accurate. He comes from a generation who grew up devouring a culture that had more respect for intelligence than is common today. Instead of just mourning this trend, Pekar rebels from it in true beatnik fashion. His long-time association with R. Crumb (who drew the very first American Splendor story, "The Harvey Pekar Name Story") attracted other artists within Cleveland as well as from other locations as the series has progressed.

The everyday heroism of Pekar working a civil service job in order to create his vision of the potential of graphic literature comes through in every page of this collection. I am glad that there are other collections and issues of American Splendor that are available. It would be grand if future generations of comix fans could gravitate around the work that Pekar has never tired from creating. Even at the worst of his lymphoma and chemo treatments, he has never quit observing and relating the drama of everyday life.

i own i think every american splendor collection book there is, and this one is my favorite. there's a few in particular that really blow me away (the one with pekar wondering around a park, reflecting on his past marriage, his present, and whether there is a God is spectacular). there are a wide variety of artists, from the goofy robert crumb drawings to more serious ones. there are certainly weak points IMO, but not as much as in the other collections. while "the quitter" is his most consistent i've read so far, there's no replacement for finding a really cool comic collection like this and reading through it, finding a bunch of random pekar stories and seeing which ones you enjoy best.

American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar is the largest published collection of the comic series, containing the complete text of American Splendor and More American Splendor. With an introduction by R. Crumb and art by Kevin Brown, Gregory Budgett, Sean Carroll, Sue Cavey, R. Crumb, Gary Drumm, Val Materick, and Gerry Shamray this is 320 pages of a classic American comic.

Pekar's work is a cerebral approach to the comic medium. Many of the panels have no dialog and only illustrate the external while the text reveals the thought stream of Pekar's mind. His ability to portray the inner workings of his thoughts, in a humorous and sympathetic manner, is the key to the success of his writings. The comic is a working class version of Seinfeld with a populist self-made intellectual as the leading character. Yet there is a Existentialist angst to this work that puts it in a class by itself.

This collection of Pekar writings from the 1970s and 80s was issued on the heels of the film "American Splendor," and it collects some of the best of Pekar's earlier work. Although not exclusively chronological, the presentation of the material gives a good idea of Pekar's life from his post-high school days through his meeting and marrying Joyce Brabner. (For a strictly chronological memoir, see Pekar's recent The Quitter.)

In the later Pekar work, the centerpiece of much of it is Pekar's obsessive-compulsive anxiety. But a lot of this work focuses on what might be described as Pekar's existential anxiety: his terrible loneliness, his anger and alienation, his dark reflections on the meaning of life, his desire for recognition, his regret over wasted opportunities and adolescent hubris, and his worries about future contingencies (financial security, illness and death, old age). The Pekar who comes through in these pages isn't the lovable crank of the film. Rather, the person who comes through is the outsider, a self-educated man, extremely knowledgeable in literature and music, who disdains a "normal" lifestyle and seeks freedom through nonconformity. Perhaps the finest single piece Pekar has ever written, "I'll be Forty-three on Friday (How I'm Living Now)" speaks to all this. The collection's lead story, "The Harvey Pekar Name Story," in which Pekar winds up asking "Who IS Harvey Pekar?" is a perfect set-up.

Of course, there are also lighter moments in this collection. Mr. Boats (wonderfully illustrated by R. Crumb) appears here a couple of times, and he's always good for a bit of gently funny homespun wisdom. "Mrs. Roosevelt and the Young Queen of Greece" and "On the Corner: A Sequel, June 1976" are touching pieces about the bittersweetness of memory. And the penultimate story in the collection, "Common Sense," would make even a dyed-in-the-wool misanthrope love humanity.

Highly recommended.

I'm planning a photographic trip to NC to do waterfalls. This book has more falls than I can possibly photograph. Book is well organized. Gives helps with travel, times to photography, best locations. It's all in this book. Hikers will also find it beneficial.

This is an essential guide for anyone who loves waterfalls and lives/travels to North Carolina. The photo tips are very helpful. This is a great update to the original, as access points and property ownership change. The author has even changed his mind about some of his initial beauty ratings -- some up; some down -- so you know he's done his research as well as the footwork.
I also recommend Kevin's book on Virginia/West Virginia waterfalls and North Carolina wildflowers.

Excellent book for locating waterfalls. Very good directions. Is a good book for those just wanting to look for waterfalls, but not much for a regular hiker as most of the trails are either very short, or there is a need to bushwack.

A good reference, but I found the directions confusing at times. You need to drive slowly and read carefully.

I am an amatuer nature photographer so I am always on the look-out for books to know where to go to shoot. This book may be the best photography guide I have ever had. He tells you where the waterfalls are, and how to photograph them. Best of all he has the guts to rate the quality of each waterfall on a scale of 1 to 10. There are so many waterfalls that I can't visit them all. With this book I can go only to the highly rated ones and know they will be knock-outs. When I get there he will help me to know how to shoot it. This is a great book!

Ralph Ellison is still alive. This novel is a typical continuation of his themes. One black man entirely locked up Underneath or Below, in the Subway maze of corridors, tracks and blind rooms is the storyteller. He is also locked up in his lost memory that he is going to recapture little by little. And what will come out of it ? A brilliant black woman, Agatha will reveal her mystery. She is the granddaughter of a black minister in North Carolina, but she is the daughter of a white man and her mother was beaten to death by the grandfather of this white man. She will deliver her child in the hands of the brother of this white man. The minister will get a tooth for a tooth, a child for a child, and the brother of the white man, Agatha's uncle, will look after her and then what was to happen will happen, even if it is a blind alley and a dead end. The white man, Agatha's father, will go away and have another child from another woman, this time white. She will die and then the father will die and the child will be entrusted to his grandmother who will come back to the father's town to find his relatives, but she ignores his real name. Fate will bring the white boy and Agatha, brother and sister, together, and the other boy, the black boy Agatha is taking care of and who is our storyteller, will become the friend of the white boy. White and black are so entangled together that they cannot be separated. The whole story takes place in the Civil Rights Movements era and the Ku Klux Klan is all-powerful in this small town of Edene, the badly-named Edene. This will dictate the events and Agatha, her white brother and her black child will get swallowed up in the hatred that goes along with KKK and the emerging Civil Rights Movement. The end will be tragic. Both boys will manage to go to New York and get lost in the Big Apple, the white one successful and the black one rejected or rather dropping out. They will also manage to reestablish a connection, communication and memory, coming back to the black boy, who is now over forty, a door will reopen of a new relation between the two boys, Mikey and Tony. The stuff is heavy, pungent and strong. The novel is interesting and quite easy to read and follow. It shows how guilt, desire and hatred are all twisted out of shape and embedded in all loving postures. Yet something sounds and feels awkward if not out of pace. It is bleak enough to be true, and yet the divided personalities, loyalties and lives are rather well shown on the black side but remain kind of schematic on the white side. The wall standing between the two communities is well rooted in white fear and hatred, but it is insufficiently rooted in the same feelings on the black side. The author seems to be overprudent to describe the hatred, not the fear, the Blacks feel in front of white injustice or rather social and historical injustice. Relations with people from the other side was just as much rejected on the white side as on the black side. This latter rejection is not entirely felt and depicted : it is too much seen as a response to the stimulus of white hatred. It is not only that : the concept of difference, uncrossable difference existed and still exists on both sides, blocking the possibility for America to see that all it represents and it has invented is the result of a constant give-and-take process between the two communities, the result of a cooperation that nearly no one has the courage to show and assume, except maybe Ralph Ellison in the most recent half century. We do not reach the concept of democratic diversity that is emerging at that very period of time (1960s and 1970s) in Ralph Ellisons's writings and thinking. A great book that deals with memory that blocks history in its loss and that unblocks life in its recovery.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

I could not put this book down: it is stunning -
beautiful, disturbing, frightening: brilliant and should have won prizes. The language is rich and urgent, the characters and settings compelling, the messages about good and evil and humanity are ones that we all should heed. Read it.

Orange laughter will stay with you long after you've read the last page. Ms. Ross's journey into the main character's deranged mind is riveting. The journey down the tragic road of the segregated south turns out to be a surprising love story that I simply could not get out of my head for days...

This is a wonderful and moving book. I read an extract from it once, and made a point of getting it...and I'm glad I did! The characters are all so unique and intruiging and the writer brings you right into their world. My favourite character would probably be Mikey, the young, overweight friend to the main character Tony, due minly to his innocence and kindly ways.The story takes you round many different corners and back again without leaving anyone behind. And as with many great books, the secrets unravelled throughout will no doubt bring a smile to your face or tears to your eyes.
Thank you Leone Ross for this chapter in my life of books...

I just finished Orange Laughter. I can't explain why, but something abut the book edified my soul, haunted me, made me want to write, made what I know seem real ... If that makes sense...

As one reviewer notes, Robert Williams name is not noted in other books about this era. This is a great loss to history. Also reading "Blood Done Sign My Name" will give readers a more complete picture of life for Blacks in the South in the 60's & early 70's.
However, as Timothy Tyson told me in February, "desegregation is not complete". "Blood Done Sign My Name", is in production as a major movie at this time. It is being filmed entirely in North Carolina.

A compelling look at a fascinating figure of the modern American civil rights movement whose story continues to be relevant. Particularly interesting is the nuanced and thoughtful treatment of the complex dialogue and tension between "nonviolence" and "self-defense" in the history of the Black freedom struggle in the US.

The period of Williams's life following his exile is only very tersely outlined (as the author himself admits), giving the book a bit of an abrupt end. More analysis of Williams's decision to renounce public life, of his scepticism about the later direction of the "Black Power" movement that had claimed him as one of its icons, and of his decision to seek an "understanding" with the US gov't enabling his return from exile, would probably make for most interesting reading.

Mainstream history seemingly gets real nervous about who is carrying a loaded weapon and who one associates with. Combine the two and it will take an outstanding historian like Timothy B. Tyson to bring to life the tireless work and controversies surrounding civil-rights activist Robert F. Williams.

Williams brought the element of armed self-defense in seeking equal rights, especially in his hometown of Monroe, N.C. Though Williams, a military veteran, stressed that the specter of self-defense was necessary - and proven successful in confronting the KKK and other racists - his stance drew the ire of the NAACP's national office, the FBI and other government agencies & those in the civil rights movement who stressed non-violent actions no matter what the situation.

The book is more than a biography on Williams. It shows how his demands for equal rights meant something different to various individuals and groups, though Williams would not politically "fall in line" with any movement. It was the perceived idealism that drew many to Williams, but it was such a coalition - including Malcolm X and the Socialist Workers Party - that made him particularly dangerous in the eyes of federal officials.

While in exile from the U.S. after being erroneously charged for violating several federal laws, Williams was in Cuba after the revolution, North Viet Nam during the war, China as the Cultural Revolution caught fire and travelled to Africa. His independent thinking got him in trouble in Cuba; a radio show he conducted to the U.S., Radio Free Dixie, along with public comments he made, found Williams facing the wrath of Cuban government officials and ultimately led him to China.

The book also shows how his wife, Mabel and women in Monroe & in other cities not only demanded civil rights, but were willing to defend themselves and their families from violent attacks through the barrel of a gun. Mabel Williams was also an important person in the writing, editing and publishing of a newsletter that gained national and international attention.

Williams was an important catalyst for Huey Newton and the Deacons for Defense in their quests to skillfully confront the haters on the streets. In yet again another example on why we must continue to look past the history as it is written in textbooks, Robert F. Williams showed what can be accomplished when the intimidators become the intimidated while trying to perpetuate the myth of white supremacy.

The civil rights movement was not created by, lead by, or moved forward by the dozen or so media heros whose names we all now know. The civil rights movement succeed because so many ordinary people decided that they could no longer stand to live in the midst of injustice, and decided to step out of their daily lives and do something about it.

Robert Williams did just that. An ordinary working class guy, he used his people skills to form a network of working class black people who did not have the patience of the old line leaders of the local NAACP chapter in his hometown. He got himself elected president of the chapter, and backed by dozens of local people, formed one of the most activist chapters in the country. The national NAACP never was comfortable with Williams or the work of his chapter, and at best held them at arms length.

Inevitably, Williams' hard pressure on local structures of racism lead to a backlash. When he was attacked and his family threatened with death, the local police did nothing. When he and his community defended themselves, by taking up arms to combat the armed violence of the white racists, he was charged with murder, and became the subject of a massive FBI hunt. Escaping to Cuba, he operated a radio station, beaming the "truth" along with progressive jazz and blues which would never be played on corporate radio in the south, to Dixie.

Ultimately, Williams' stance of self-defense was taken up by Stokley Carmichael in the South, and by the Black Panther Party in Oakland, and is now well known as the "Black Power" movement. But at the time, it was simply a slightly more hardline version of the NAACP. Local chapters of the NAACP, building on long traditions of mutual support in black communities throughout the south, supported by thousands of ordinary people, formed the backbone of the civil rights movement. Anyone who thinks otherwise should read the statements by Bob Moses and the other SNCC organizers, who readily admitted that they could never have accomplished anything at all if not for the decades of groundwork done by the local NAACP chapters throughout the south.

Great book, which everyone interested in the history of the Civil Rights movement, or just interested in the way social changes really happen, should read.

Ultimately, the notion of white supremacy and the so-called glory of the Lost Cause always devolved to the use of violence and intimidation against black people and any one who sided with them. Williams' is an amazing story of courage and determination as he challenged the KKK and assorted white rabble of rural North Carolina in the 1940s through the 1960s in his quest for racial justice.

Williams, a soldier during WW2, came back to Monroe, NC after the war and took on the clowns and goons of the KKK and the local and state white government. When they fired on his home, he shot back, upsetting the applecart of segregation.

Tyson's book is a powerful portrayal of a man quite willing to die for his rights, a man fed up with the violence degradation inflicted on him by southern society, and a man willing to kill to protect his property, his person and his family.

Tyson's realistic and entertaining portrayal of the stupid and inane actions of white southern racists in North Carolina is another reason to read this book. The local thuggery is almost comical, until one remembers they are well armed and prone to alcholism and violence. Tyson goes into great detail about a 1958 case where two black boys, 10 and 8 were BEATEN and IMPRISONED for kissing a white girl.

Williams and his wife are not well known heroes of the Civil Rights struggle. This book gave me a greater appreciation of the vicious hatred, violence, and stupidity they were fighting, and how disciplined and determined the Civil Rights struggle had to be in the face of overwhelming white resistance.

This is a regional cozy mystery, set in a small South Carolina town in the foothills of the Appalachians. The main character is Avery Andrews, recently fired from a big city law firm when she starts to attack her own witness (who is perjuring himself). She goes back home to Dacus and moves into her grandfather's summer cabin (not very warm in November). She ends up taking whatever work comes her way, which involves the low life charged with minor crimes and work that comes her way from people who know her and her family. One of her clients owns a factory under investigation by the EPA. In the meantime, a rusted out old car with a body in it brings to light a murder. Does it have anything to do with the EPA case?

This mystery has a lot of Southern small town characters, but with a little more depth than the stereotypes in so many "southern" mysteries. There was some light humor, but I wouldn't call it laugh out loud funny.

I thought this book shows a lot of talent but I didn't feel it was a five-star book -- although I think this author is capable of writing a five-star book. I actually think the book would have been improved if some of the attempts at humor had been taken out and the author had simply written a small town Southern mystery.

Avery Andrews has recently returned to Dacus, SC, after working in a large law firm in Columbia, SC. She was fired, so she's trying to decide what to do next. In the meantime she's living in the family cabin and doing some legal work in town.

Her client, Donlee Griggs, is accused of murder. While they're dragging the lake for his victim's body, they find a car with a skeleton in it. This has nothing to do with the crime he is accused of. Soon Avery realizes that Donlee has told everyone he is in love with her and makes many spectacular suicide attempts to get her attention.

She is hired by Harrison Garnett, owner of Garnett Mills a local furniture plant, related to environmental concerns. Not long after the environmental investigator arrives in town to check out the plant, there is a fire at the plant destroying records. Now the environmental investigator is back with the feds along. Avery wonders what they're after.

Her other client is Melvin Bertram. He'd left town amidst scandal years ago when his wife went missing. He is back visiting his brother for the holidays. The car found in the lake was his wife's, and he fears the skeleton was her, too. He asks Avery's advice and has her accompany him for questioning.

Can Avery figure out who killed Melvin's wife and who torched Garnett Mills without putting herself in danger?

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading many more adventures with Avery. She is such a likeable character. Very down to earth, but a smart lawyer as well. I like the dilemma she's having with staying in her hometown or going to a bigger city again. It really gives us a glimpse of the character and not just her sleuthing skills.

I like all the quirky smalltown characters. They really add to the story.

I highly recommend this book.

I keep looking for cozy mysteries that make me laugh like the Stephanie Plue series does. This is the second book that I ordered based on reviews that it was laugh out loud funny. I didn't think so.
That said, this is a good story and Avery is a likable character. I'd enjoy getting to know her in future books.

What a delightful little mystery this is, with authentic dialogue, just the right amount of humor, vivid characters who come from all socioeconomic levels, and a very satisfying conclusion. But it did leave me concerned about Avery Andrews eating habits.

Avery Andrews, fired by her law firm after exploding at her own witness, returns home in disgrace. However, she soon gets involved in legal problems of the locals, which begin trivially but soon find her dealing with arson and murder. Avery deals with a colorful cast of characters, most of whom date back to her own high school days, as she solves her legal cases and realizes she just be stumbling onto a second, unexpected career.

I gave this book five stars because it delivers just what's promised: a small-town regional cozy. If you liked the Maggody series, you'll probably like Southern Fried, although Maggody's characters are so broad they come close to parody. Here they're just this side of southern plausible.

As other reviewers noted, Southern Fried is remarkably professional for a first novel. Dialogue is crisp and believable. Pickens maintains a brisk pace. Transitions are smooth and settings described economically.

As a career consultant, I have to say that I did raise an eyebrow about the heroine's past and future. The only lines that didn't ring true were Avery's musings over being unemployable. It's hard to find a more marketable field than law. Avery was fired but not disbarred. She could do free lance legal research or hang out her shingle anywhere she could pass the bar exam. She could teach business law.

But that's a mere quibble, and Avery's fiery exit from her law firm seems to fit the mood of the book. I hope to read more from this author .

George Perkovich has produced a seminal work on India's nuclear weapons program. He analyzes the political, economic, security issues that have contributed to India's decision-making regarding the bomb. George has correctly identified India as being caught in a dilemma for a long time over nuclear weapons testing. India also provides the only example of a nuclear weapons program that was openly debated in a democratic society. This debate (which ranked often very low on the priorities of successive prime ministers who correctly placed socio-economic development as a higher priority) has led to India shifting its position over time -- one from being the first proponent of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty to opposing it due to is discriminatory nature today. It describes how India's opposition to nuclear weapons in the '50s which was perceived as being moralizing in the West, has now changed to embrace weapons since the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty permanently endorsed the nuclear weapons status of the five declared nuclear powers without any comprehensive, binding time-table for destroying all nuclear weapons -- a position that India objects to as being discriminatory.

A must-read for anyone interested in nuclear weapons proliferation and arms control negotiations today.

Less to do with the bomb per se, but a scholarly history of the Indian nuclear program. This is a work that will be quoted again and again.

This is easily one of the best books I have read about my own country. Very informative.

Note to editorial Reviewers: India entered the nuclear club in May 1974 and not in May 1998 as suggested by some of your reviews.

Some highlights of the book.

* The term nuclear "haves" and "have-nots" was coined by Homi Bhabha initially and used by others and till date has been central to putting forth our country's opposition to NPT and CTBT.

* University of Chicago's late Prof. Chandrasekhar's refusal to head the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) after the death of patriot Dr. Homi Bhabha.

* One of my disappointment is the author's avoidance in the discussion of the cause of the death of Dr. Homi Bhabha, even though such an incident is beyond the scope of this book. Since Bhabha provided the impetus and leadership during the nuclear program's infancy, I expected the author to throw some light on this issue.

* Vikram Sarabhai's hatred for Nuclear tests is news, especially since he was heading the Atomic Energy commision. As a spaceman it is surprising that he headed the organization in the first place.

* Indira Gandhi's refusal to allow more nuclear tests after 1974 stemmed from her abhorence for anything nuclear after her post-Pokhran I experiences. This is contrary to the popular belief - international pressure.

* Most sections of the book has an objective view of the Indian nuclear scenario except the last few chapters where the author seems to bend towards India signing the CTBT and the NPT. Or atleast implying that India's moral stand on nuclear issue was defeated after the May 98 tests.

* BJP (and its predecessor Jana Sangh) has been the only political party to openly campaign for Nuclear power.

It is time that India and Pakistan get the respect they deserve as nuclear powers. Why is it that France, Germany, Israel, the U.S., Russia, and South Africa (now supposedly non-nuclear) have been able to garner the respect that China, India and Pakistan are alluded by? Is it becuase they are not white Europeans? Nontheless, a well researched book.

As an Indian immensely proud of his country's accomplishments and having had to enter multiple debates with other non-Indians in May 1998, I gained a great amount from the book. It is immaculately researched and it seems that Perkovich has left no stone unturned. It goes into such depth and understanding of the Indian polity's psyche as previously unseen from a non-Indian author. Perkovich is not merely narrating a set of events which led to the testing but defending a theory that goes against current understandings of international relations and nuclear non-profileration by setting India as an example. I enjoyed every chapter of the book and hope that current policy makers in the field learn from it. A must read for every Indian interested it their country's policies and others making policy for the rest of the world.

When this book arrived in my mailbox and I read the back cover, I added it to my "to read pile" without a whole lot of enthusiasm. According to the back cover, this one was about a divorce lawyer in Dallas who is faced with someone from his past who makes things in his present day life get a little disconcerting. Nothing I read on that back cover excited me or made me think, "wow, this one sounds good.."

Domestic Relations begins in a suburb of Dallas, as we follow the main character, Norman, through much of his childhood. He lives within a community of like minded families in a housing development, complete with its own cul-de-sac. Throughout the first part of the novel, we come to know not only Norman, but also his family, his friends and their families. Included in these folks is Norman's closest childhood friend, Lisa.

Soon Norman is all grown up and a law school graduate. He gets married, has a daughter and leads a content and happy life. Next, Lisa re-enters his life after a many year absence and things in Norman's world quickly start to change. Boundaries become foggy, relationships become strained, and morals become questionable.

The story itself is nothing earth shatteringly new, but at the same time, i really did enjoy it. The author writes with an almost sarcastic, borderline cynical wit that really appealed to my sense of humor. I've heard it said that sarcasm is the lowest form of humor. My theory on that is that whomever said that, wasn't intelligent enough to understand, or "get" the point of the sarcasm. The use of humor in this book, albeit sarcasm, is often used to drive home Norman's thoughts and feelings -- and it works well. The humor in the story was what made it for me. While the plot wasn't mind blowing, the style was rather engaging, and as a result, I enjoyed the story I read.

Before picking up this book, I can honestly say I knew a grand total of nothing about the lives of divorce lawyers; especially divorce lawyers of the upscale, wealthy members of society. In reading Domestic Relations, I was transported into their lives for a while, right into the middle of the scandals and deceit. While I wouldn't call it a soap opera, it did present me with that same feeling of guilty pleasure as I read through. Beyond that though, there is more to the book-- the questions of values, ethics and morals that are posed to the reader being one of the primary aspects here.

Overall, its a good read. Will it become a classic piece of literature? Probably not. Would I recommend you read it? Absolutely...its a good way to escape from reality for a while, and you'll probably laugh out loud a few dozen times while you're doing it.

I am really enjoying this book. Geilich has a unique writing style that keeps the reader entertained. Intriguing and humorous all in one. Can't put it down!

Domestic Relations is a great read! Norman is fascinating, real, funny, sweet, sarcastic and most of all - engaging. This book is an easy read, yet it is deep in content and absolutely will make you smile, chuckle, and at times, even laugh that good, down to your soul, outloud laugh that makes you feel really good all over. It's the perfect book to always have with you .....on the plane, on the beach, in the Big Apple or simply on your bed stand to pick up every night. I would highly recommend it and can't wait to see where Norman goes from here....

The story is riveting and heart-warming. Mr. Geilich puts many of life's indescribable characteristics and thoughts into words. Geilich's thought-provoking style of writing through the characters and events is not only highly entertaining, but intimately powerful on the deepest of human levels. This book is one you will not want to put down. I found myself wanting more and hated for it to end. "Domestic Relations" is one of those rare books - once you have read it, your life will never be the same.

I loved this book...it was laugh-out-loud funny in many parts, yet also had many poignant, thoughtful moments throughout, as well as some very creative phrasing. Throw in some suspense, which Mr. Geilich did, and you have a perfect read! Although I picked up this book hoping for some juicy stories about the seedier side of Dallas divorce law, what I got instead was a novel about Mr. Norman Spiczek and his fascinating struggles with marriage, adultery, parenting, family, work, and childhood issues (with plenty of seedy Dallas divorce law thrown in for good measure). I hope to meet up with Mr. Spiczek again...You would never know that this is Mr. Geilich's first novel!

This is an eye-opening, honest, and thoughtful examination of the role the military plays in our society. It is obvious that Lutz has thoroughly and carefully studied Fayetteville, NC, and she has delivered a powerfully written document of the effects an army base has had on the community. What makes this a brilliant work is that it invites the reader to consider the many arenas of our culture which have been influenced, even created, by the military complex we have embraced as our defense. Homefront is an extremely important book.

Residents of Fayetteville, North Carolina awoke one morning in April of 1954 to find the front page of their local paper carrying news of a nuclear attack downtown; they were informed that sixty-four thousand soldiers were being deployed to amend the situation, aided by six tons of maps and forty-six chaplains. The attack, of course, was a fiction, but the soldiers and their simulated nuclear reaction mission (Exercise Flash Burn) were very real. Catherine Lutz demonstrates in Homefront: A Military City that the life of Fayetteville cannot disentangle itself from the life of Fort Bragg, the nation's largest military base. This study by the renowned anthropologist from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is both as specific as a city history and as broad as a national story. Though Lutz uses Fayetteville as a zooming-in point, her argument-that the dichotomies of military and civilian, war-time and peace-time, are collapsing-is applicable to the country as a whole.
Fayetteville, a city of one hundred thousand semi-affectionately known as "Fayettenam," was chosen as the centerpiece for this project because of its long and bittersweet relationship with Fort Bragg. Lutz traces this history from 1918 (when the city's founding fathers first lured the lucrative industry to the collective pocketbook of the townsfolk), through the patriotism and turmoil of the World Wars and the bitter clashes of the Vietnam War, to the present-day Hot Peace. Relations between the base and the city are both interdependent and strained so that, upon the close inspection Lutz conducts, it becomes unclear where the line between the two is drawn, if indeed it can be drawn at all. Lutz describes Fayetteville's economy as engineered to serve the needs of soldiers on paydays. While other North Carolina cities chose technology industries as their major source of income, Fayetteville cast its lot with the base and the retail sales it would create. This plan has had the two-fold effect of making the few who own the businesses quite rich and the many who work in them, merely touching the money as it passes from soldier to civilian businessman, rather poor. The question of who is serving whom (soldiers training to protect the lives of civilians while civilians tend to soldiers' needs) becomes blurred, as does the question of whom is actually receiving the government paychecks. Further blurring the dichotomy between military and civilian are the many civilians whose presence in Fayetteville is attributable to the military-for instance, the refugees who have come from all over the world, and the "war brides" who moved to Fayetteville with their soldier husbands and settled down. Lutz posits that the draft further lessened the gap between military and civilian by presenting a difficulty in readily distinguishing between the two; the idea that soldiers were lower-class, uneducated, and crass was prominent prior to the World Wars, but suddenly college boys from good families were moving into the base, and some soldiers were the type of boys by whom local upper-middle-class families might want their daughters courted. Another assumed intrinsic difference between soldiers and civilians-that soldiers always see war as the right course of action whereas civilians are more peace-loving-fell during the Vietnam War, when thousands of soldiers protested the United States' involvement and eventually brought about the military's departure from Vietnam. As the differences between soldiers and civilians have become blurred, so have the differences between formerly binary options of war and peace.
Though hegemonic history usually describes time as a series of wars and their interstices, Lutz finds the concepts of war-time and peace-time becoming ever more complicated. While war was formerly viewed as an interference upon the normal state of peace, the periods between war are now filled with preparedness for war, making war the natural state. War games are one, often bizarre, aspect of this war readiness. Obscuring not only the distinctions between war and peace but also those between Fayetteville and Fort Bragg, homefront and battlefield, are the situations in which Fort Bragg's training missions take them into the city in the acting out of a war situation. Though Fayetteville's civilians are notified when the soldiers will be rehearsing for nuclear holocaust or an invasion of "Pineland" (the imaginary country in which Fayetteville lies during war games), such realm-blending upsets traditional ideas of what war is and where it takes place. The Cold War also called into question the nature of war, since only recently has it been true that one can exist in which no blood is shed. Lutz contrasts this state with the current one of Hot Peace-even when the United States is not technically at war, the military is active on peace-keeping missions internationally, assisting insurgents or established governments in the protection of America's best interests.
Homefront is meticulously researched in all manner of sources. Largely ethnographic, Lutz's research consists largely of interviews conducted with eighty residents of Fayetteville over a six year period. Lutz's interviewees include not only the traditional writers of history, but also those whose stories are often left to fall silent-the result is a less favorable military history than the red, white, and blue ones usually heard. The recounts of these interviews have an informal feel to them, occasionally interjected with questions from Lutz and usually accompanied by the interviewees' actual names and personal, unposed photographs. This very human approach should not be seen as a substitute for heavily researched scholarship-Lutz is adept at providing both. Also cited are records from Fort Bragg itself, as well as reports found in the National Archives, local newspaper accounts from the turn of the century, and history books of North Carolina. Lutz allows her subjectivity to shine through the text-though raised in a military family, her horror at the effects of war on all involved are apparent, and it is clear with whom her sympathies lie. With such a well-researched argument, however, Lutz's agenda is incapable of falling through the cracks of substantiation. In the end, Lutz presents a compelling picture of Fayetteville/Fort Bragg as one town, under a base, indivisible.

Catherine Lutz has once again taken us beneath the surface to get a first hand look at the powerful forces shaping America's psyche, forces so interwined in our lives that they have become almost invisble. But with the anthropologist's trained eye, Professor Lutz helps us to see that in this time of calls for military protection for every parade and football game across the country, a call which many are ready to support, we will be paying a bill on many dimensions. Her careful and thoughtful analysis in the works long before the tragic events of 9/11, is more important than ever in helping us understand the larger consequences of our reponse. It is not easy to ask unpopular questions, but I am thankful for the skill and rigor Lutz brought to the task

While President Eisenhower warned about the Military Industrial Complex in the United States, one could argue that what is more troubling is the military cultural complexion of the United States. Catherine Lutz makes this argument forcibly in Homefront: A Military City and the American 2oth Century.
Lutz uses Fayetteville, North Carolina as a microcosm to examine the quotidian and epochal influences arising from America's military in times or war and peace. Homefront is the result of intensive data collection and wide ranging interviews. Lutz masterfully combines the two to tell a story of the city and its people that are always interconnected with the ever-widening influence of the U.S. military in the past century.6.
Using the prisms of race, class, and gender, Lutz deconstructs the image of the military as the defender of the American Way. She inverts the paradigm to show that often the presence of the military reinforces existing divisions. Fayetteville is an army town. Throughout the last century it was also a town that experienced Jim Crow, increased domestic violence, hate crimes, and a widening gap between the haves and the underclass. Lutz also documents that the spit-shine image of the Army often camouflages environmental degradation resulting from base operations. Homefront tells the story of the costs-both quantifiable and hidden-to the United States of becoming and remaining the planet's only superpower.
Lutz sets each of her six chapters within an identifiable era for Fayetteville and the U.S. military. The book begins with the opening of Fort Bragg in 1918. This period is, as David Blight argues in Race and Reunion, formed by the previous half century of American mythmaking that raises both the soldier and the South to places of honor in the national psyche. Homefront details how the perception of heroism often conflicts with the local experience of oppression. As Lutz herself writes, when recounting the history of former slave John Nichols-who refused to leave the land that was to become Fort Bragg, "[T]his story is structured around the time's stereotypes." Indeed, throughout the book the presence of the Army is often described by Fayetteville's residents in archetypal terms.
Lutz calls Fayetteville a company town. Because the army is the base for economic activity, the long-time residents of Fayetteville both love and fear it. Lutz describes how already well-off whites have reaped great wealth from the development that Fort Bragg created. She also describes how the city's inability to broaden its industrial base has left poor whites and most blacks working retail jobs with some of the lowest pay scales in North Carolina. In addition, the presence of thousands of young men has created another economy-where sex is the commodity. Sex workers represent the underside of the military culture that envelops a military town. Homefront is direct in examining that underside.
Lutz's voice is clear throughout the book (even when examining the negative effects of World War II-"the good war"). And her critique resonates strongly in the current climate. As Lutz states several places in her book, a military definition of the situation is essential to the military project. The military and its supporters thrive on an us versus them paradigm. Most of the public embraces this paradigm.
Two letters to the editor in the August 28, 2002 Wall Street Journal excoriated the subject of a story who resisted operations at a nearby military base because he thought the base was a detriment to his neighborhood. One letter-writer accused the subject of being more concerned with his lifestyle than his fellow countrymen's security. A letter published in the September 1, 2002 Raleigh News and Observer went even further. In response to someone who questioned the presence of the Junior ROTC on a local high school campus, the letter writer commented: "What's wrong with our children having the same values as, say, George Washington . . . Ulysses S. Grant . . . or Dwight D. Eisenhower." Lutz warns that such conflating of all things military with heroism and leadership is exactly the problem with the cultural complexion that looks back at most Americans in our national mirror. And though Lutz book was finished before 9-11, her research helps explain much of the reaction and rhetoric that has met anyone who questions our current policy in the war on terror or toward removing Saddam Hussein.
My own critiques of Lutz's book are mainly on two fronts. First, her work seems to intentionally avoid the role of religion in Fayetteville and in the broader national discussion. Early on she quotes a minister who states in 1923: "It is a pleasure to record that the relationship between the church and the government as represented in the authorities at Fort Bragg has been most cordial." But aside from the arrival of a Quaker House during the Vietnam years, Lutz does not detail the ebb and flow of the relationship. It seems a dramatic lacuna. The relationship of religion to the military, especially in the South, was pivotal during much of the 20th Century. In fact, I remember that Fayetteville was a regular venue for evangelical gatherings-often Billy Graham-in the 60s and 70s.
Second, the scope of Lutz's work occasionally confuses issues. Because she is focusing on both individual anecdotal evidence and metalanguage, the arguments do not always match. For instance, her work in Fayetteville convinces her that "civilian is the majority, dominant category," but there is "widespread acceptance of a military definition of the situation." For those of us accustomed to identifying the dominant category by determining who has the power to define the situation, these two explanations seem mutually exclusive.
However, my complaints pale in comparison to my admiration. Catherine Lutz has given me-and I believe this will be true for all readers-a new prism through which to view our national military culture. In Fayetteville and throughout the United States, we have met the enemy and they are us.

Homefront is brilliant, incisive and chilling. Catherine Lutz is among the finest of story-tellers and ethnographers of contemporary America. With an anthropologist's eye for detail in the everyday, to a social theorist's eye for the big picture, Homefront is written with passion and intelligence. This book goes a long way in enhancing the readers' understanding of the culture of militarism that is so integral to the present moment. This is definitely a must-read!