Rhode Island Books

I really enjoyed the book. It brought 17th century New England to life for me. I thank the authur for writing this and including history on other Cornells. I just bought a book about Sarah Cornell.

At the end of the book, the author wonders why there was not more in history written about this important event. However, she fails to convince me that this was an important event. If she had intended this book to be about trends in history, it might have lived up to its purpose. However, as a story of the death of Rebecca Cornnell, it fails to accomplish little. I learned nothing new from reading this book, and in fact found it irritating at times when the author guessed at what might have happened, with very little basis to back up her guesses. She also did little to convince me of the relevance of the connection with possible future generations that she tacked on at the end.

I didn't particularly like the book, and if the person who died hadn't been an ancestor, I don't think I would have finished reading the book. I don't think the author proved anything.

But for family genealogists who have Rebecca Cornell in their lineage, the book is a must. The book provides good background and color of the time period, including many family facts that can be used in expanding your knowledge of the Cornell and related families. I was able to add lots of additional information to my Family Maker. So as a family genealogist, it provided a wealth of little known information and was worth the price---but as an analysis of a killing---I felt it was pure conjecture.

This book dares to be called an historical work. It should be deemed a fantasy. Rarely does the author clearly articulate reasons for her sweeping and farcical assumptions. When she describes Lizzie Borden as proof positive that the Cornells were genetically disposed to get angry enough to kill, she clearly crosses the line. Ms. Crane thanks her husband for his help by stating that he was her partner in crime. It's truly a crime that this book was ever published.

Killed Strangely: The Death of Rebecca Cornell is a fascinating true murder mystery by a Fordham University professor of history, chock full of early American criminal legends that from a less qualified source one might chalk up as fiction. In a single volume, she touches on two of New England's most infamous murder cases, and a third, the title case, which was strangely forgotten.

At center stage in this gem of a book by Elaine Forman Crane is "one of New England's darker moments,"the death of the elderly Sarah Cornell in colonial Rhode Island in 1673. Weeks later, Thomas Cornell, her middle-aged son, was accused of her murder. But was she murdered at all? Sarah Cornell was an English settler and once was a follower and next-door neighbor of Anne Hutchinson when Hutchinson and family were massacred by Natives. How small was the colonial world. Mrs. Cornell escaped the slaughter - only to be cut down by her son years later. Or such was the verdict.

Was old Sarah stabbed in her room, her body set on fire? Or did she die accidentally? One hopes it was indeed a case of murder since Thomas was hanged for it. The author lays out the evidence point by point and wrestles with the vagueness in the records, searching for answers, the final one elusive, but the exercise an enjoyable one. She did manage to unearth many fascinating depositions and transcripts from the case still in existence today, 340 years later, and they reveal the most intimate abuses and private aggressions in the Cornell family (which, much later, through more illustrious offspring, would found Cornell University). Thomas Cornell treated his mother very poorly, and the people who knew him very well, his friends and neighbors who judged him, determined that he killed her. How much weight should the guilty verdict be afforded? Who's to say?

The legal process used to bring Thomas Cornell to the gallows was fascinating unto itself. The colonial court allowed a witness to testify that the dead woman's ghost visited him in a dream and made some vague allusion to her questioned death. Hearsay -- from a ghost. There is also a description of the "ordeal by touch," a quasi-legal procedure by which the accused was compelled to be in the presence of the deceased, and in a case of murder, bleeding from the corpse would give it away. And yet, despite these curious features of the law, Cornell was permitted an attorney and was not compelled to confess or testify against himself.

Until this book came out, the story "languished in the shadows of historical obscurity," the author says. Amazingly, there was never a broadside, ballad, pamphlet, sermon, or other written record of the case beyond the legal papers. "The literary stillness," Crane says, "is all the more surprising since New Englanders enjoyed a good execution sermon or thrilling murder story."

This book is what Id call popular criminology, a la the recent Science of Sherlock Holmes, though the academics would call it "microhistory". Either way you slice it, it deserves to belong to any respectable collection of historic true crime, and it also commands a spot on the shelf of the complete Lizzie Borden library.

How's that? Lizzie Borden? It seems Thomas Cornell was the great, great, great, great, great grandfather of murderess Lizzie Andrew Borden, who was acquitted of patricide in 1893, 220 years after her ancestor was hanged for matricide. Lizzie Borden directly descended from Thomas Cornell's posthumous daughter "Innocent."

And there's more. Many well read true crime buffs will also recognize the infamous case of a young pregnant girl from Fall River, Mass. named Sarah Cornell who was found hanged from a haystack - the victim of Reverend Ephraim Avery (though he was acquitted in her death, and it was probably suicide). The author briefly explores that branch of the family tree as well.

But what I found most interesting about Killed Strangely was the author's brief foray into an uncommon crime. "Matricide was and is extremely rare," the author remarks. "No other fully documented cases have been uncovered in colonial America, and even today the infrequency of the crime hinders sustained research into the motivations for such violence." Some 20th-century studies of matricidal adolescents are mined for fascinating potential implications for the Cornell murder case. Needless to say, I found much to like about this book.

Unfortunately, not all academics, and not all general readers, like criminology, even when it's called "microhistory." The review of the book in Publishers Weekly was downright mean, calling the passages about Lizzie Borden, Sarah Cornell, matricide, etc. "bizarre aside." It goes on: "Without clear answers to whodunit or why, [the author's] proven scholarly track record could have been put to better use."

Well! A book is no good without clear answers to whodunit? Whatever you do, dont repeat that to the Ripperologists. I frankly like some of my mysteries to be mysterious. It's the mystery that abides: Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, the Lindbergh baby... this long-ago matricide in colonial New England, brought to light for the first time in these pages. We may never know, and we rather like them that way, thank you.

You might enjoy the book. The first chapter was so full of similes that it almost made me sick - as if this was the writing element being practiced at the moment. And yet I continued on - tortured - just to discover who did it.

This tale opens from the third person perspective of Stanley Parker, a diehard, leathery old man who's feeling, yet not succumbing to deterioration in every skeletal line, angle, and joint, as he inches painfully toward his motorbike. The pivotal character for the story, this spicy, elderly man grows rapidly in the reader's mind. He alternates between the fading sunlight of Genia's view of him, and the spotlights on shadows he has forced into the opinions of others, as various characters expose facets of this archetypal paragon of, is it elemental evil or situational good ...

Cross generational perspectives are drawn with amazing realism here, especially as exposed in the relationships between Jason, a teenage male, and Parker; and in the same complex kid's exchanges with Genia (his aunt), parents, friends, towns people. In fact this plot has a fairly large collection of characters with multiple-unique-relationships; each connection has fluid depth, with bonus intrigue in unanticipated, fluky foibles.

Nancy Pickard seems to have the knack which Virginia Rich had and instilled into Genia, of exposing the flickering nuances between the bright spots and dark alleys in any persona. I continued wondering, throughout the novel, "Is this a good or bad guy? If he's a bad guy, he's not too far off the edge of redemption."

In this uncanny awareness of the fluctuating shift of good and evil, Pickard fertilizes another of the captivating qualities of Genia, a generous wisdom, which Pickard has weeded and pruned around Virginia Rich's rooted and sprouted character seeds. It's intriguing indeed to observe close up the fleshing out by a younger female author a character and setting initiated by an older female author who has passed on, through her own death, a fictional character strong enough to be worthy of continuance.

A theme of this type of character continuance seems to be rooting and flourishing beyond Eugenia Potter, considering the current situations of Archy McNally, and Nero Wolfe, at least. Isn't it interesting that each of these diehard, fictional characters has been inspired, allowed, even encouraged, to jazz up their plots by wallowing in the sensual ambiance of culinary persuasions?

Is food in a novel akin to food for the soul; does this nurturing on paper feed a fictional persona well enough to survive, develop, and sell long past his creator's passage?

Does this budding concept (now flowering and fruiting) somehow expose the secret ingredient for cooking up the creme of the gourmet in fiction, handing readers a silver platter of solved mysteries of life and death? Fresh fruit and creme, with a few edible flower blossoms tanging the "soup"; that would be one of my favorite desserts.

Returning to the reality of reading, I'll report that in Nancy Pickard's SECRET INGREDIENT MURDERS' the fast paced build up to denouement was intensely satisfying and insightful (especially for an old lady romping realistically to the rescue, then being caught dead-handed, then delayed into an unwelcome exchange with the culprit). The conclusion and wind down were inspiring as well.

Read it and reek of delicate-snow-fall drifting on peach blossoms.

Read it and reap the essence of springtime cracking the chrysalis of winter.

Writing with a contented, Chess-Cat-grin, gardening a ten-ton Wish List at Amazon.com, possibly knowing something you don't, but soon will,

Linda G. Shelnutt

I thought this was a good book. It starts out with a missing man who is then found dead. Who killed him.? There were many who hated him.

The book totally keeps you guessing and the ending is great.

It did not deserve only one star. It was a good book.

I wouldn't go so far as to compare Eugenia Potter with Jessica Fletcher. Potter is too laid back for that. But I do think that for a rather leasurely Cozy, this book is a fine read. Enjoy it for what it is and move on to the next title on your reading list. If you don't feel like spending money on this novel check it out at the local public library. You will still like reading it.

Ignore the rating of other critics. It is a wonderful read. Eugenia Potter is sympathetic and you just want to read the book in one sitting.

This book is great in what it does: teach you the Pascal programming language.

The authors explain everything clearly and in a friendly language - it's actually FUN to read each chapter. The order in which all the concepts are introduced is just plain perfect.

I think this is the BEST Pascal-learning book ever written.

I have used this course to teach hundreds of students. Most have found it very helpful. As a professor, I found it to be a great tool. The book is intended for people who are going to become computer science majors, but has a sense of humor (unlike many "major-oriented" books). I would guess that reviews with fewer than three stars come from disgruntled students. (Not one of mine, of course :-)).

I learnt my Pascal programming skills by dutifully working through the chapters in my spare time. I haven't seen a better book for beginners - it is thorough but humorous. Many examples use numbers and mathematics, and a reader must be prepared to think about the material being presented. It does not give masses of code for you to copy and try out, but tries to develop an understanding of the Pascal language.

If you are a Pascal programmer, the most powerlful and easy to understand book you need is Oh! Pascal!. I have read a friend's Oh! Pascal!(Second Edition), and I was surprised of the easy-to-understand way Cooper wrote it. But now, with the Third Edition, I have learned everything I wanted about Pascal. Trust me, you will love Oh! Pascal! (third edition).

I used this book to teach myself the basics of Pascal before taking it as a college class. It had been recommended by programmer friends I'd known going back several years. I was delighted to find it was also used as the text for the programming class I took. Probably one of the best things the professor did was choose this text. It's not an easy book, it requires you to work *and* think about what you're learning, but it has served me well. I am not a professional programmer, tho I have worked among them, and the basic programming skills I learned from Oh! Pascal helped me speak their 'language' and understand what sort of work they were doing, and enabled me to 'translate' computerese to my other coworkers, that the programmers often didn't have the time (or inclination) to do. Again, worth the effort the book expects of it's user, not simply to learn to program pascal, but to learn to think, and understand the discipline of programming: two thumbs up.

Everyone knows that "Josh" obviously works for one of the following competitors to College Prowler:

1. Princeton Review
2. US News
3. The Fiske Guide

These corporate giants can't handle students taking over the college guidebook industry.

At first, I hesitated, because I'm a bargain shopper. This book is priced a couple of dollars more than the Princeton Review and Fiske Guide. Could it be that much better?

Well, let me tell you this, if I was comparing it to the Princeton Review or Fiske Guide, I would have paid hundreds of dollars for this book.

Simply put, my daughter was not excited about the college selection process. When I brought home the Fiske and PR guides ... I found them in a closet with our old phone books.

I then heard about College Prowler from the NY Times, and immediately bought the guide to New England, as well as some of their single-school guides ... I'm in love with the single-school ones, but this guide to New England was the perfect book for my daughter to begin the college selection process.

When she flipped open to the middle of the book, and read a student testimonial about how attractive guys are on campus at Northeastern, but to watch out for players ... she was hooked.

The book sits at our dining table, and she blurts out random student reviews from different schools ... we get quite a laugh. Not only is the book tremendously funny, but it dissects the campus culture at each school. You get a feel what students are actually like, and where you'll fit in best. The new way to choose a college, is to choose one that's right for you, eventually, these College Prowler guides will be the industry standard, if they aren't already.

Sadatay.

I would like to recommend College Prowler's New England Colleges book to all sr. high school students. I'm from the Pacific Northwest, but was accepted into 4 elite schools, 3 of which are on the East Coast (Brown, Wesleyan, and BC). Fortunately for me, I ran across this guide in a local bookstore, and just a quick glance though its pages gave me the impression that this was no ordinary college resource, pamphlet, or biased review that I've been encountering in my extremely difficult task of evaluating which school is right for me. The most impressive aspect of this book is that it lets the students-from each individual college-tell their stories about what they really think about their school. There are a ton of student quotes on each school on just about every factor that a student like myself would be interested in: safety of campus, campus facilities, campus parties and organizations, local bars and restaurants, and more.

When I met with my academic advisor to discuss the college guide books I had been reading, she warned me that College Prowler is considered a reputable source of information by neither her nor any of her colleagues in academe.

Sure enough, when I came to Amazon just now to sell my two used College Prowler books, I noticed that shortly after each book had been published, a single person had submitted a five-star review for both books. In one review, he stated he's "from the East Coast," and in the other review he stated he's "from the Pacific Northwest."

It looks like my academic advisor was correct about College Prowler.

Let me start by saying that other reviewers seem to be in the process of choosing a college, so they do not realize how inaccurate these guides are. I am a junior in college, and when I saw my little brother reading this guide I decided to see what it said about my school. Not a single one of the categories was even close to the truth. And I'm not just complaining that my school got too many poor remarks, it got graded high in areas it shouldn't have and vice versa. Being from the New England area, I have friends that go to many of the colleges listed, and most of them say that their school is wrongly represented as well. There are a lot of other (cheaper) guides out there that are way better and that list more schools.

I thought buying a book on hauntings would be a bit bone chilling. This book was written like an encyclopedia. This book is short stories about famous hauntings in rhode island. Honestly I read 80% of the stories on-line. I wish i didn't buy this book.

What an interesting read! If you didn't know, 20 percent of the country's historic landmarks are located in Rhode Island (Rhode Islander's love old things) and as it turns out many of the historic residents are lingering in Rhode Island too. Buy this book for the illuminating and fascinating info that it contains, and then come visit the places it describes!

An excellent book about the haunted happeneings in RI. Once I picked it up I could not put it down. Look forward to more!

As a lifelong resident of Rhode Island, I have always been interested in our colorful history. The stories in this book bring the reader into dark corners of the ocean state, that most history books don't dare to mention. Mr. D'Agostino has written an incredibly compelling book that not only aims to entertain, but also to challenge the reader. By not only re-writing famous ghost stories but sharing his own experiences with these stories, D'Agostino encourages the readers to investigate the legends for themselves and come up with their own conclusions. By doing so, he has certainly set the bar higher for other authors of this genre. I certainly look forward to any other books Mr. D'Agostino has up his sleeve!

This was one of the most difficult books I have ever attempted to read. It is filled with misplaced modifiers, misused words, tense confusion, poor sentence structure, too-short sentences, repetition, dangling participles, and misspelled proper names, e.g., Edgar ALLAN Poe (not ALLEN as the author misspells it), interspersed with foolishness about orbs, EVP and EMF readings. Throughout the book, the author also confuses the words HISTORIC and HISTORICAL, misusing both.

I kept having to read, and reread, paragraphs to figure out what the author was trying to say. Pure and simple, Mr. d'Agostino cannot write. Following is a sample of the author's prose (and believe me, I use the term loosely) taken directly from the book:

The Sprague Manor is arguably one of the most haunted houses in the state of Rhode Island. Many tragedies have unfolded in this eighteenth century homestead. These tragedies have left vexes in the passing of time that now and forever reside in the former estate of the prominent yet tragic family. (Vexes? What the heck are vexes? Vexes, as everyone knows [well, everyone except the author] is a verb and verbs cannot be left in the passing of time or anywhere else. My 12-year-old niece can write better than this.)

Another puzzling sentence:

Nellie Vaughn's tomb is not the only landmark on the premises that has a peculiar allegation. (How can a landmark have an ALLEGATION? Another misused word. Mr. d'Agnostino is in desperate need of a dictionary!)

In another story, he claims it is the only time in American history in which a spirit of the dead provided evidence in a murder trial. Obviously, Mr. d'Agostino is unfamiliar with a similar case in Greenbrier, West Virginia. Not surprising because he seems to be unfamiliar with just about everything.

In another passage from the book, the author is at his amateurish worst, writing:

In the Dexter House, the residents say many spirits roam the halls and basement. They are not frightening, just seemingly lost (the residents or the spirits?). This would seem more apt as the building was once a morgue. Maybe the entities do not know they are dead. (Maybe Mr. d'Agostino does not know he cannot write.)

Mr. d'Agostino, who claims he has been investigating the paranormal for 23 years, drones on for approximately 155 pages (some pages aren't numbered), yet, omits one of Rhode Island's most intriguing ghost stories, and another associated with what is arguably one of the most recognizable houses in the US.

An interesting read on how the law was used to keep a vicious predator in jail. Emotionally, I sided with the community and the state authories, however, the legal methods used to provide justice could easily be seen as railroading. While the crime committed by this young man was beyond brutal, and his guilt beyond doubt, given other circumstances an innocent person could be treated the same way and then it would be considered unjust and tragic. Chilling how a community and state were determined to protect others. This book is not about a typical juvenile killer.

As a fairly avid reader of true crime, I am used to the formula of "crime discovered - background of players - investigation/confession - court case - aftermath" so this was a different formula. The horrific, senseless slaughter of two women and a family by a kid barely in his teens is just the beginning as cop Ken Collins and his community mount a campaign to change the circumstances of how juvenile offenders are treated in Rhode Island. Released at age eighteen! Interesting is the side story of Collins' deterioration in his private life as he becomes consumed by his obsession to try and make it right for the memories of the victims. I also would have liked to have had a better sense of the victims themselves instead of the extensive description of the slayer and his life. The book is methodical and factual, not a "keep you up biting your nails and checking the locks" kind of read and occasionally becomes rather plodding at times. yet the story deserves to be told and I did finish it. I gave the book three stars, yet I give the town and the participants who worked toward keeping a killer behind bars a solid five.

I was very surprised to see this book in a local book store. To my knowledge it is the first, and only, book written about the tragic murders committed by Craig Price in Warwick, RI when he was in his early teens. Mr. Price brutally murdered two young women and two young girls for no apparent reason(s). This book describes the brutality or "overkill" inflicted by Mr. Price, but focuses primarily on the efforts of the Rhode Island legal system to keep him in prison past his 18th birthday, as he was a juvenile when he perpetrated these totally hideous murders. I found the book a bit slow moving even though I am very familiar with the Price case. It is not the type of book that grabs one and keeps one reading into the wee hours. At times it tends to drag, in fact. Was the system manipulated in order to keep Mr. Price imprisoned? Without question, in my mind. Was this justified? Again, without any doubts. Mr. Price is a textbook anti-social personality disorder. To my knowledge as a mental health professional with 20+ years experience in the field, there is no treatment or "rehabilitation" for people like Mr. Price. At least no empirical evidence to support such a claim. Mr. Price could be the "poster child" for supporting the death penalty -- certainly he should never, ever be paroled as it is a given that he will once again engage in violent behavior. He deserves life without any possibility whatsoever of parole. Ms. Lang does an admiral job of outlining the positions of both sides, but her writing style can become "boring". Nevertheless she is to be commended for writing about this serial murder case and how it has influenced other states to enact legislation regarding juveniles who committ such horrific crimes. Mr. Price is scheduled to come up for parole in 2005, I believe, although his sentence, based on subsequent convictions for other offenses "should" keep him behind bars until 2018, when he will be approximately 44 years old. A frightening and sobering thought, one that all Rhode Islanders must never, ever forget about.

I highly recommend this guide to anyone who will be traveling in the Northeast as well as Canada. This guide gives you everything from upcoming events for the year to where to stay & eat. The maps are easy to read and follow. I have been a reader of the Mobil Guide for many years and it is continuing to give the most accurate, up-to-date travel information. This is the MUST-HAVE for the Northeast traveler.

The book gives a good overview of the areas with many addresses. Anyhow I found it a bit too black and white. It gives useful maps, but no coloured pictures from the areas, which would make it a bit more pleasant to read.

This was one of my favorite childhood books, so much so I pestered my parents into buying me a hardcover copy that I still own, over 30 years later.

Phyllis Whitney was my favorite children's mystery writer. This story, set in Greece, had all the elements of of a good mystery. Exotic locale, mysterious people, hidden treasures, and bumps in the night.

I'm looking forward to having my sons read it, but I think I'll let them only borrow my copy, because I'm not ready to give it up yet!

I did not like the book becase it was not exciting. The book was not funny.

This is a well-written and entertaining article, but beware--it sometimes plays loose with the facts. For example, it says that "Yosemite" means "some of them are killers". This is a unsupported myth that was started in 1977 by an untrained Ethnologist in the park. "Yosemite" really means "they are killers" and it was what the surrounding tribes referred to the people in Yosemite. The Yosemite people called themselves "Ahwahneechee" or "People of Ahwahnee". Ahwahnee means "gaping bear's mouth," after the gaping shape of the valley walls.

I noticed someone has used your article about the name, definition or meaning of Yosemite in Wikapedia. The definition of Yosemite IS NOT "Some of them are killers". That is false. That definition was created in 1978, by one writer working in Yosemite to explain why the Miwoks were afraid of the Yosemite Indians. That definition is not correct. I am a Yosemite Indian and I know that definition is incorrect. The real meaning is "They are killers" or "Grizzlies", not "Some of them are killers".

I've read dozens of books about great hockey teams, coaches, and players and there is tremendous variety in their quality. I actually found Pride on the Mount to be very enjoyable to read with a good amount of action and personal information. What I found disappointing, though, is how old this material was. Written in 97/98 you can almost hear the threatening phone calls from Gillooly's publisher to get this thing finished seven years later! If you thought those seven years were spent proofreading and checking facts, you would be very wrong. The typos and grammatical errors are the worst I've seen in print since spell-check became available. As others have pointed out, there are also a lot of technical errors.

Still, though, I thought the book was worth reading and certainly recommend it for anyone involved in amateur hockey. I don't understand the concerns expressed here by a Mount parent as I thought the account was overall pretty positive. Anyone in youth hockey knows that even the most storied programs have warts. I frankly would have been turned off if the book hadn't addressed them. I'd be thrilled if my kid could participate in the program I read about!

As a Woonsocket native living away for almost 30 years, I enjoyed the book because it brought back memories of the WHS-MSC rivalries of the 60's, and of playing hockey on the rinks at Cass Park growing up.

I found the constant degradation of the City of Woonsocket as pretty crass.

I was extremely dissapointed with the number of typos contained in the book. Numerous words stuck in sentences where they did not belong, misspelled words, words used in improper context, etc. They became a distraction in reading the book.

I am a parent of one of the 1998 MOUNY hockey team menbers. I have written a detailed letter to John Gillooly which expresses my anger for what he has done to the glory years of my son and his teammtes. For purposes of edification and space limitations for this review, here are my closing two paragraph which sum up my feelings, as well as the feelings of many other parents and players, of that great year in MOUNT hockey.
"It was my son's intention to give me a copy of MOUNT PRIDE, autographed by coaches Bill and Dave, as a Christmas present, However, after he read many of the misquotations and inaccurate information about himself and his teammates, he asked my wife not to ever let me get my hands on the book. He knows how passionate I am about his years at the MOUNT and could foresee my discontent if I were to ever read it. I imagine that someday I will calm down and read it but, as for now, all I feel is that you have taken the glory years from a great group of high school kids and tarnished them all with misinformation and misquotations, using statements and events out of context, your own anti-MOUNT perceptions and opinions and, in my estimatiion, filled 302 pages with yellow journalism bordering on libel, the mortal sin of any writer.
I am certain that each opposing player, every parent of those players, and every ex-MOUNTIE who transferred because he couldn't endure the pain for gain MOUNT mentality, will gloat over reading this book. For us MOUNTIES, Mr. Gillooly, you have done us a grave injustice. You took a rare, behind the scenes opportunity to truly glorify MOUNT hockey and turned your findings into a supermarket scandal sheet filled with page after page of misinformation and personal opinion. Shame on you."

I greatly enjoyed Mr. Gillooly's portrayal of Mt. St. Charles hockey. I am a teacher and high school coach, and I can relate to much of the story. As an American of French-Canadian descent, I appreciated the demographic information he shared. Despite my overall positive reaction to this book, I found numerous errors that proved distracting. For example, Gillooly misspelled the names of at least two people , the Minnesota North Stars' Lou Nanne and NHL forward Mike Grier. In addition, he referred to the New England Independent Schools League as a league of older players. In fact, as a teacher/coach in the ISL, I know that these schools do not have PGs. He referred to Belmont Hill School as "Belmont High" and "Belmont Hill Prep", and St. Sebastian's as "St. Sebastian's Prep". Also, regarding Catholic Memorial, Mr. Gillooly states that the school is located in West Roxbury, a "suburb of Boston". In fact, West Roxbury is part of Boston. In addition, in the epilogue he refers to JFK Jr.'s death in the summer of 2000 when it actually was a year earlier.

A great read about how a coach has motivated a generation of young players to give 100 percent every day, not just on game-day. It's a book every high school sports coach should read. I'm using it for my sports psychology class.
There's also an interesting sub-story on how the parents of a high school superstar, who are concerned about their son's education, deal with professional agents who want the kid to turn pro right out of high school.