United States Books

I watched THE NANNY and I like her performance a lot then I read this I know that show is the real her.

Fran Drescher is obviously an extremely talented woman. Sharp and witty, she was not only the star and co-creator of the '90s show The Nanny, but also served as one of its producers, writers and directors. Her book Enter Whining is a funny, gossipy tale of her ascent to the stratosphere of Hollywood stardom, but we're not talking Kitty Kelley here. Readers who already love Drescher will adore this book, as it's full of sweet, happy stories and profiles about the author's adventures as a struggling actress and her eventual success.

Drescher comes across as being very down-to-earth, still the starstruck chick from Queens who probably still has to pinch herself now and then, unable to quite believe how far she's come. She writes pretty much the way she speaks, with her occasional Yiddishisms and the trademark, "Meanwhile..." She offers an especially moving chapter about the rape she suffered early in her career, and while she refrains from providing the details, it's a harrowing read all the same. It's the only time in the book where she moves away from the lighthearted tone she adopts elsewhere, but she manages to seamlessly integrate it into her story without indulging in self-pity.

There's a lot of backstory about the making and filming of The Nanny, but readers seeking lots of behind-the-scenes anecdotes will be disappointed. This is Drescher's story -- and a good one at that -- so we'll have to wait for another book on The Nanny show itself, hopefully to be written by Drescher and Jacobson.

By the way, everyone knows that Drescher and Jacobson separated and then divorced in the late '90s, a few years after this book was published, so it does leave a somewhat bittersweet taste in one's mouth in the end. Drescher writes affectionately and lovingly about her husband, their long courtship and marriage; it's obvious they were devoted to each other and considered each other soulmates.

A great, quick read and a must for any Drescher fan.

This 1995 book tells the story of how Fran Drescher made it to the top of the TV sitcom business. Her humor and kindness come through very well in a writing style that evokes her very unique voice. Perhaps not as frank as her 2003 book about fighting uterine cancer, it still provides a lot of insight into what makes this woman tick. You feel that you would really enjoy knowing her.

This book is all about Fran Drescher's extremely interesting and unique life up to 1996.In it, she writes in a humorous vein about almost everything that happened in her life, from the highs like meeting and later marrying her husband, creating and starring in the hit tv show "The Nanny" and later meeting "God's gift to all little Jewish girls in need of a leader", Babs herself, to the lows like discovering a growth in her body.But with the help of family and friends, she didn't let the negative things get her down.We should all be strong enough to follow her example. She also provides some interesting tidbits like how "The Nanny" was produced and about talk shows and their hosts.Sure, she goes on quite a bit on her worries about her weight and her looks, but she's just human like the rest of us and a lot of people have the same worries.The book has some nice black & white photos of her, her family and her friends in almost all the chapters.I enjoyed reading the book very much even though it's short.I can't recommend this book highly enough to not just the fans of her work, but to all fans of comedy.

The book Enter Whining, by Fran Drescher, is a biography. To me this book was very entertaining, it told all about her life and how she got from being a little child to where she is at today. The book also has many pictures in it so you can see and picture what she is talking about while you are reading. The way it is written is like she was writing to herself in her own diary, but towards the end she addresses it to her mother.
How the book starts out is when she was little and how she first got started being on television. Fran started when she was around ten, she was in commercials at first then she moved up to be in the background of some movies. When she got to be in the background for the movies she always thought that she was actually in the movie so she got really excited, but it ended up that she was just in the background.She was still happy to be in the background though, intill one day when she was the actual star of the movie and that changed her whole life because then she got to star in any movie that she got a chance to. Ever since that first time starring in a movie then she moved on to being in a television show called ''The Nanny''.
Throughout the biography she writes about this guy that she has been seeing for a while now and she doesn't really mention his name at all intill she starts getting into detail about him. His name is Dave which come to find out, is her husband. Fran has been with Dave for most of her life now, she states that it is hard for her to have a husband and be moving all of the time. To me Fran has a very fun filled life and is happy with what she does for a living.

I found this book difficult to start at first - it was not as engaging as I had hoped it would be. Not to spoil the storyline for anyone who is thinking of reading the book - but the change of heart by the lead character seemed to be too dramatic and/or happened to quickly and there was little explanation.

I bought the book because of the storyline - and did enjoy the read.

I couldn't put this book down. Kept me way past midnight several nights in a row. The plot and character development that takes place throughout the chapters is fascinating and spellbinding. This true story is better than science fiction. And, for those of you who have not eaten fiddlers at Dog Town or brain sandwiches at the Hill Top, it is worth the trip to Evansville just to do that. I visited LST 325 that is now moored in Evansville near the site of the old Navy shipyard that built the LSTs during the war and personally met Mike Whicker. He is a great guy to talk with, and I hope he writes another novel in the near future.

Maybe I'm biased because I grew up near Evansville, Indiana, and have seen first-hand many of the landmarks that provide the setting for this book, but I found this work an absolutely pleasant surprise. I didn't have high hopes simply because the trailers made it sound like a spy novel. It's a spy novel I couldn't put down. It also dives into the thought processes and propaganda machines of Nazi Germany, enlightening the reader as to why history turned out the way it did. This is one I won't forget for a while.

I am an avid reader and "Invitation To Valhalla" is one of the best reads I have come across in a long time. Being that I was born in Evansville and spent the war years there, this book took me back to places and times that were an important part of my youth. It is truly a book that you cannot put down once you start. A highly recommended read.

Gerald Hardig

It's great when you have one you can't put down. They don't come along often enough. By the time you are half-way through this book you might as well forget about going to bed.

What an unexpected sum-up - I had a blast comparing all the parallels - its very true to preppy life - almost eerily so. from the moment I started this book I could not put it down - I ended up reading it in two sittings (it got late - 2am - and I had to get to sleep for squash).

Growing up on the North Shore of Long Island; I found this book very accurate even though it was written almost ten years before I was born. I joked my mom about how her favorite drink is a bloody mary and how all of our vehicles meet the preppy color code. I look back at a preschool picture and while other kids are wearing Barney and Ninja Turtle shirts; I'm wearing khaki shorts, a polo, and I even have my hand in my pocket! Too funny! Preppy definitely starts at a young age and lasts a lifetime. Even if you're a prep and you don't meet all the stereotypes, you're sure to find a little bit of yourself throughout the pages.

Having grown up on Boston's South Shore, we lived the preppy lifestyle!
The original Talbot's store was one of my back-to-school shopping haunts (for Fair Isle sweaters and authentic Scottish kilts...worn with knee socks and Bass Weejuns of course!) I remember this book vividly and seriously hope it is published again. Although the preppy look has morphed
and updated itself..."classic" never goes out of style. If I hadn't put on weight over the last 30 years...I'd still be wearing a lot of my high school/college staples!

This is an amazing book. Even though it was published a little while ago, it is the toungue in cheek field guide! It stays true to the real prep!

This book is timeless. It was written before I was even born and much of it still holds true. Some of the references are dated, but most of the material is relevant and funny. It's a nice book to have out on your coffee table for guests to browse through for some light amusement.

I actually paid a little more for "nice" copy of the book. Perhaps it will be a collector's item someday. It is a perfect snapshot of the yuppie suburban family in the 1980's. Seeing as it was written in the EARLY 80's, the material was certainly ahead of its time. J.Crew is still selling madras today, and Lacoste polos are as ubiquitous as ever. The North Face has somewhat displaced LL Bean (mentioned a lot in the book as the "sporty" attire purchased for ski trips..etc). Also SUVs weren't yet on the scene when this book was published.

An eye opening look into homelessness and humanity. It confirmed some of my thoughts towards the homeless but softened my heart as well.

This book is awesome and it is for everyone. I considered myself to be a generally compassionate christian, but this book really made me do some deep soul searching. This is an amazing story and it is very well written. Don't pass this one up!

Awesome adventure. I respect these guys. Book is in the same spirit as Nickeled and Dimed, but these guys had a spiritual mission and they didn't cheat like the author of Nickeled and Dimed.

Anyone who tests their beliefs the way Mike and Sam do - by living on the streets for months - are truly sincere and courageous. Mike's descriptions of his pains, joys, and the quirky characters they met fascinated me. Mike didn't just talk about homelessness and the role of Christians - he experienced it. Anyone, religous or not, who has compassion for others and appreciates introspection can appreciate this book. Under The Overpass is in my personal "Hall of Fame".

I originally purchased this book over a year ago because I heard an interview with the author on a local radio station. I've given away my first copy and purchased this copy for my daughter to read, she could not put it down, just as I could not put it down when I first read it.

The book is truly inspiring, heartwarming and heart wrenching in places. After reading, I had a greater desire to see the world around me in the way Jesus sees it. I began to look for small, secretive ways; I could extend the love of our Savior to people. I was inspired to carry bags of food and water, with an encouraging note or religious pamphlet included, in my car to hand out to people who stand by the side of the highway with "will work for food" signs.

This book is well worth the price.

Seriously, this was an AWESOME BOOK. Reading the stories I was amazed at what kind of sh.. Mr. Pfarrer got himself into. From BUD/S to Beirut to Banana Republics to Cancer.. he's been at the front row of many key world events, as well as personal ones. (And I'm sure there's a few more that haven't been reported)

The book was very compelling. And he did a great job writing. I really had a tough time putting it down. I always wanted to read "just one more story".

I also enjoyed how it didn't glamorize, but also wasn't falsely modest. Chuck seems like a solid human being--and certainly went above and beyond in his service and in life. And he shares much of his experiences through the book.

Anyhow, thank you Mr. Pfarrer!

ps: and remember, it's "air-BORNE!!"

Now this was a great memoir/biography of a Navy SEAL, one that showed what the SEAL went through for selection, training and operations. Pfarrer is an accomplished screenwriter and his account of his SEAL exploits in Warrior Soul definitely make him an accomplished and more rounded writer. Through his writing we are given vivid images that allow us to put ourselves in his shoes and see and experience what he went through. We, of course, will never know how it truly feels and the pain and endurance that they go through, but we at least can understand.

Pfarrer does wonderfully in the beginning in describing what he went through as a SEAL in Team 4. He painted a picture of his childhood through his college years, letting us track his path in becoming such an elite soldier. We are treated to a brief operation in Latin America before spending the middle of the book on his exploits in Beirut. I for one was not aware of how bad Beirut was and Pfarrer did such a great job in describing his day to day life that I felt as though I could understand what was going on in that war torn city. Pfarrer spent a good deal of time on it, and rightly so, because of the profound affect it had on his life.

The latter few chapters were devoted to Pfarrer's stint as an officer of SEAL Team 6, the Black Op Team that was even more tough and hard to get in to and performed much more specific and dangerous tasks than the normal SEAL. Through this we get to see some of his training and what he went through before and after, as well as a decent section on some of the history behind Marcinko, Gormly and the formation of Team 6. We don't get to see too much of the action of Team 6 because of the nature of the missions, but we did get to see a few of the more publicized missions they went on, such as the hostage situation on the cruise ship Achille Lauro.

Despite not seeing too much of what went on in SEAL Team 6 we are treated to a great account of an officer in the SEALs. Where Marcinko's account had a lot of character from the way he wrote, Pfarrer's account is much more polished. I would definitely recommend Warrior Soul to anyone looking for a good military history.

5 stars.

An excellent account of SEAL training and operations. Chuck Pfarrer is a veteran of the Beirut war and a witness to the car bombing called the first act of terrorism by our current enemies. He is a combat veteran and a former Naval officer. His Navy experience is important because he recalls the beginning of the war on terror , namely the situation in Beirut. This is an important book.

I would never have guessed that this book was written by a purely military man and not an actual writer.

My son is a navy seal, and though I was in the Marines, I don't know too much about them, so I try to read everything I can when I get the chance to try and understand what they go through. Why a lot of them join, why they go through the training, why the training is they way it is. This book hit all those points spot on. Although I as well as everyone am aware there is nothing in the world like Navy seal training, this book does give us probably the most in depth view into the world that I've come across as of yet. It will leave you with a sense of awe at what a human is capable of physically, mentally and emotionally. These are men amongst men.

I really liked the style the author brought to the table. Sarcastic yet to the point and no bs. The knowledge Chuck has on the subject of SEALs is evident as he takes you though tours of "The Root", his last official jump from an airplane and many other great adventures and actions. I have read a handful of SEAL books and this one sticks out in my mind as being one of the best depictions of being in the teams in and around his timeframe. There is actually a great amount of history to be learned in this book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I was assigned to read this book for my 10th grade American History summer reading. I loved to read as a teen. I loved history -- I went on to get my degree in it. This book threatened to change all of that.
A ponderous piece of agonizing minutiae, this book brought me to the breaking point. I read it -- the whole thing. As a fifteen year old. I think it actually made me cry, I hated it so much. It's well researched, but seemed almost masturbatory in its envisioning of the motivations of frontiersmen. And excruciatingly long. Some people obviously enjoy this book. To each their own. But for the rest of you, it is okay to hate it. Really. You know you want to.

I first became acquainted with Mr. Eckert's books a few years ago while shopping for a gift for my son-in-law who loves local history and someone recommended one of his books. I took it home and while wrapping it, read a page. I was hooked, I went out and bought one for myself. We live in an area rich in history and his books cover our area extensively. I only wish all the history classes I took in high school and college had been this interesting. Our whole family now enjoys Mr. Eckert's books.

After picking up our pots in Seal Bay we ran over to Port Williams for a few days before continuing on around the northern tip of Afognak Is.We lay overnight at Bluefox Bay where my sister was then living.She lent me her copy of this book,of which,at the time,I thought to be rather a large chunk of reading.However,upon returning to town for more supplies,we were stuck there because our skipper ran over himself with a snowmachine.Now I had much time to read,and read I did! Non-stop.This is history as it should be presented.Real people.Red,white and foreign.Simon Kenton,the man who is the common thread throughout the book,is one man I had never heard of,in history or elsewhere.
The words "WOW!";"AWESOME!":"UNBELIEVABLE!" have lost their power in our current age from over-use,but their original applications do fit this book.
The above trip took place in early 1978 and from that time I have kept my eye out for this book.All inquiries were met with either "Out of Print" or exorbiant pricings of a collectors' item.While I was not looking for it this recent order,by long habit, the title matches for the search criteria were imprinted in my mind and the book is now part of my collection....CliffThe Frontiersmen: A Narrative

This is a book I've read, and re-read many times. That's how good it is.
I bought two this time and gave them as gifts.

Why bother with fiction when the facts, as told by this master historian and masterful storyteller, are so fascinating. After reading this book, you'll never look at those old westerns the same way again. I learned more about the period (the Revolution to the War of 1812), and especially the Native Americans who lived then, from this book than in all my previous life. I'm about to buy the next in the series, Wilderness Empire. If you liked Bernard De Voto's great book Across the Wide Missouri, you will love this as well. Kudos, Mr. Eckert!

If you're into the space program and what happened during this era, then I can't think of one reason why this shouldn't be in your library. It's one of my all-time favorite books.

This book was the basis for the movie Apollo 13. America had become complacent about our space shots by this time, which is something I still do not understand. But that may be because I worked so long at the Kennedy Space Center and always knew and still understand how dangerous each and every launch is. Apollo 13 was to have been the fifth mission to the moon. But two days into the trip, on April 13, 1970, the oxygen tank exploded in the command module, placing the three astronauts in grave danger. Lovell describes those terrifying days as astronauts, contractors, and Mission Controlled struggled to bring Apollo 13 safely back to earth. If you want to read what really happened by someone who was there...this is the book for you.

As someone who has been fascinated with space flight since childhood, and who well remembers the real Apollo 13 from his teenage years, I found this book a fascinating reminder of history. However, this book is about much more than the aborted flight of Apollo 13. It includes historical flashbacks that involved astronaut James Lovell. One chapter describes Lovell's teenage years as he launched homemade rockets. Another summarizes the early years of space exploration in the wake of Sputnik 1. Still another describes the selection of Lovell as an astronaut in late 1962. There is also a chapter on the Apollo 1 fire. Some of Lovell's closest friends perished in that needless tragedy. There is a fine description of the historical flight of Apollo 8, that Christmas lunar orbit in 1968. It included a reading from the Book of Genesis.

Now on to Apollo 13. In preparations for potential in-space emergencies, no one had imagined the simultaneous loss of both main oxygen tanks and all three fuel cells. This left the Odyssey itself with only a few hours of remaining oxygen, water, and electricity. Lovell and Kluge note that mission rules forbid a lunar landing if only one fuel cell becomes inoperable, even if nothing else is wrong. But the "Can the moon landing be saved?" quickly gave way to "Can the astronaut's lives be saved?"

The initial belief was that a meteoroid must have hit the ship. This later was discounted when the blown-open side of the service module became visible shortly after being jettisoned prior to re-entry. Clearly, the explosion must have originated from within the service module itself. Later investigation pointed to a confluence of factors, none decisive in and of themselves, that had combined to precipitate the near-tragedy. To begin with, the wrong-power fuses were being used within the oxygen tanks. When overloaded, they simply melted, allowing the overload of electricity to pass through. During assembly, the oxygen tank had been dropped, damaging an exit tube. During launch-pad exercises, the liquid oxygen was drained past the damaged exit tube by applying extra heat and driving the oxygen out another way. The sensor was not designed to warn of overheating above 80 F. Meanwhile, this procedure had unknowingly raised the temperatures to impossible levels, burning the insulation off much of the wire inside the oxygen tank. The first two times the stirring fan was turned on in space, there was no problem. But the third time, a spark must have flown and ignited the damaged insulation in the pure-oxygen environment, causing the explosion. The explosion itself damaged a tube connected to the second oxygen tank, thus draining it.

The book provides good detail about the dangers and challenges associated with the abort procedure itself. The decision was made not to attempt to fire the service module engine in order to reverse the flight direction in a deep-space abort, if only because the damaged service module might be unable to take the strain of the engine's thrust. The first critical burn of the lunar module's descent engine, done some six hours after the explosion and designed to change the hybrid trajectory back into a free-return trajectory, would have caused the Apollo 13 to crash into the far side of the moon if done incorrectly. Without the burn, however, Apollo 13 would be stuck in a 40,000 by 240,000 mile elliptical orbit around Earth. Thoughts were entertained about jettisoning the useless service module and using the lunar module's descent engine to accelerate the ship considerably--returning it from the vicinity of the moon to Earth in only some 36 hours. But this was not done out of fear that exposure of the command module's heat shield to the temperature extremes of space might damage it.

Everything on the ship had to be powered down--a strategy that worked, just barely. The severe cold aboard the ship, a secondary consequence of the powering down of all nonessential equipment, is described. The astronauts had a frosty breath. Some got urinary infections. They had a hard time getting comfortable enough to sleep.

The astronauts were slowly being poisoned by their own carbon dioxide. This was solved by the jury-rigging of the lithium hydroxide "scrubbers" of the command module to get them to fit into the circulation system of the lunar module. Just before re-entry, there were the challenges of successfully reviving the systems aboard the command module, and jettisoning both the service and lunar modules in a completely unconventional manner.

This well written book is a great time line of what really happened. I also enjoy the movie and this book fills in the gaps that were not covered in the movie. Also gives detailed accounts of nearly everyone involved in this mission.

Jim Lovell's dreams of landing on the moon were literally blown away in April 1970, when an oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13's service module exploded less than a day away from lunar orbit, forcing the crew to limp home under perilous circumstances. More than two decades after surviving that mission, Lovell (with his co-author Jeffrey Kluger) has written an excellent account of that ill-fated moon flight.

LOST MOON is one of the best of the Apollo books I've read, especially one concerning a single mission. This is also one of the best books about the work of mission control, who were the key figures behind the successful return of the crew. It is as complete a description of this mission as we are ever likely to see. The attention to detail is on a very high level, and the amount of transcripted dialogue is plentiful, well presented, and from a myriad of sources. There are a number of slightly testy exchanges between Lovell's crew and mission control, highlighting the tension of the situation in an honest and unapologetic manner. The examination of exactly how the accident happened, as told in the epilogue, is covered exceptionally well.

An aspect of the book that bothered me was the decision to use a third-person narrative throughout (which is defended unconvincingly in the author's notes). I had never before read any autobiographical account in which the central figure is treated in the third person. Basically, I was looking forward to reading Lovell's descriptions of events using his own voice and experience, and that didn't quite happen. To read Lovell -- one of the most engaging personalities of all the early astronauts -- diminished by such an impersonal, veiled perspective was disappointing. It adds nothing to the writing, and ultimately I felt it was a disservice to the book, though a minor one. If the authors had their doubts about mixing third-person and first-person perspectives successfully, they could have taken some cues from Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, who wrote two books in that style and who is regarded as perhaps the best writer among the former astronauts.

Despite its compromises in narrative style, LOST MOON (or APOLLO 13, depending on the format) is an outstanding biographical account of the failed 1970 moon flight. It is potentially a five-star book if the writing had been appropriately personal when it counted the most.

Primarily Lori Schiller and Amanda Bennett, but also Lori's family, Dr. Doller et al did an excellent work to open the window to the rest of us, socially acepted as "sane", to have a view into the mechanics of an actually "crazy" mind. I hadn't read a book like that for a long time, not a single sentence in this book is fluff! There is also an excellent movie in this book
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Lori, sweetheart, you are brave!!! Not only for fighting your sickness to a manageable state yourself, but also for being bravely honest to narrate your inner world despite "the voices"
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My son, also in his teens, started acting very weird and I thought he was just a spoiled brat, till my wife pointed out to me the obvious; "he wasn't OK" and he started to talk about "voices" and very similar things.
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I didn't really know what to do (he came from overseas to live with me, so I basically didn't know him). I fell like I had gone to a foreign country and would see signs I could not really comprehend. Lori helped me understand things better. I found clear answers to some very concrete questions I had myself about clinical craze
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Thank you Lori Schiller
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I loved this book's depiction of mental illness and have re-read it several times. I am going to push a question that has been alluded to in past reviews. This book was published 11 years ago. Does anyone have any updates as to how Lori has been doing since then? Thank you very much.

This is a unique and beautiful book. Any person with interests in Psychiatry or Mental Health issues must read it. It's the first time I experienced what a schizophrenic felt first hand. A must-read!

Schiller writes grippingly and insightfully of her experience of schizophrenia including the "cold wet packs" of ice water soaked sheets used to restrain and calm her psychotic outbursts and her times in hospital "quiet rooms". The writing style is journalistic and factual when dealing with intense emotions and experiences. She is wonderfully descriptive in explaining the reality of her delusions and hallucinations, the experiences of pychotherapy, suicide attempts, cocaine use, psychiatric hospitals and half way houses. Eventually clozaril helped (with psychotherapy) to bring her back from the abyss of severely disabling schizophrenia. Her full diagnosis is "schizoaffective" disorder as her illness includes a bipolar disorder component. The accounts by Schiller, her family members, doctors and friends lend insight to the course of her disease especially as experienced by her family. I was particularly struck by her parents' progress from denial and resentment of both her diagnosis and her doctors to growing insight into schizophrenia and eventual recognition of the illness in their family history. While the multiple accounts make the narrative more difficult to follow they also add greatly to the story. Highly recommended!

The Quiet Room is a powerful account of a woman lost in her illness of schizophrenia. I was amazed at how the author, Lori, hid her hallucinations from people for so long before getting treatment. I found myself angry at her parents for denying her illness for so long and delaying treatment which she very much needed years before it was received.

It's also amazing that Lori made it through her experience of schizophrenia and was able to tell her story. During the worst of her illness, she was extremely suicidal at times and thought nothing of it (for example, playing a game of crossing the street again and again with her eyes closed and walkman blaring so she couldn't hear the cars). She could have easily died at those times and not come through to tell her story.

This book was very well written and made me feel for Lori. I couldn't put this down once I started. Although, I did give it a five star review and found it to be one of the most interesting books I've read, I don't necessarily recommend it to everyone.

At times this book was too well written, too many details and caused parts of the book to be triggering for me. I'm not schizophrenic (never have been), but I've been in hospitals for depression and other things. Lori's details of the "quiet room" (seclusion in the hospitals) and what happened to her when she was out of control in the hospitals was disturbing to me, as I've been in different "quiet rooms" in hospitals and I found myself remembering my own experiences and getting upset. Just because this was triggering for me, doesn't mean it will be for others. I'm just saying, you've been warned.

As triggering as this book was, it remains a five star for me. It was gripping, intense, real --just the way a book should be-- and I loved it. I liked the way the story was told through family members as well. It helps the reader see the perspectives of those who loved Lori. It shows how her illness affected others.

Overall, The Quiet Room is a sad book. But it's inspiring and uplifting at the end. If Lori can make it through the horrors of schizophrenia, we can make it through our day-to-day lives of work, school, and dilemmas. This book gave me hope.

This is a great collection of brilliantly dark cartoons. Laugh out loud funny and very clever. The characters are excellent.

I'm telling you Red Meat comics are the most sick, twisted, disgusting, and preverse cartoons you'll ever lay eyes on and that means naturally I think their great. I laughed so hard I thought I'd piss my pants. The poltically incorrect humor had me thinking "this is just F'ing wrong" while I had to catch my breath. Its so different from anything out there and the comic humor isn't "Beetle Bailey or Peanuts" type humor to put you to sleep. This humor doesn't tap you on the shoulder it bludgeons your head till your brains spill out. Get this piece of garbage it is gold and you'll be a better person because laughing is what makes you that way.

This is laugh out loud hilarious if you have this kind of humor. Then you show it to some people and they are like "ok... yeah I guess thats your kind of humor" Well if your the type of person to enjoy newspaper comics, this will actually be funny so that is a hard transition to make. The genius is of it is that I could have written this stuff (and the 'drawings') but I didn't and He did and now he's probably making millions and millions of dollars. I remember making comic strips like while sitting in class. I would crack myself up back then too.

Like Gary Larson and Tom Tomorrow, people either "get" Max Cannon or they don't. If you "get" him, this collection is invaluable. If not, maybe there's a Mallard Filmore collection out there somewhere. The Family Circus is always good, too. For an anti-Family Circus, non-politically correct good time, Red Meat is a great read. Is it political? Everything's political. This is just a little something from the smartass anarchist lobby. :)

If you have any appreciation whatsoever for morbid humor, buy this man's books immediately. There's really nothing else to it.

It was shipped to me within 2 days, great service and great product.

I had to read this book for one of my Woman's Studies classes at Western Illinois University. I think this is a must read book for everyone (especially those who are in recovery or have been convicted of a violent crime of this nature). It is a bit graphic and I don't recomend that anyone under high school age read it. I had to set it down a couple of times due to that, but, it was nessessary to truely understand Ms. Raine's story. You don't truely understand what someone goes though after rape without going through it yourself.

A friend loaned this book to me but it is likely a book I will never forget. Nancy Venable Raine tells her important story in a very accessible way. As a nurse who took care of rape victims in the middle 80's and now a school nurse, I am aware that the secret of abuse and assault reverberates in too many lives. And while I would never say that my experiences as a young nurse were equivalent to those of my patients, I vividly remember hearing my victim-patients stories and identifying with them. Many of my victim-patients were not that different from me--young, single, living alone. During that time, I _usually_ slept with the lights on because I wanted to try to be able to identify my perpetrator, if that ever happened to me.

Raine shows us her story, how it echoes in her life. Coming back from and integrating the experience in life is not, cannot be easy but one cannot help but feel she is one of the minority of individuals who gets the needed help to do so.

Now, in year 2007, I was acutely aware that at times Raine paired the rape experience and the torture experience. It is a source of sadness to me that we, as a nation, are perpetuating that experience for so many. There is something profound about her description of the rape victim as a container for her perpetrator's anger. And that is far from the only profound idea.

Having also read "Lucky" by Alice Sebold, I would say they are both very important books but this book is a far better glimpse into the recovery aspect.

"Throw away the lights, the definitions
And say of what you see in the dark" - Wallace Stevens

"Speech is civilization itself. The word . . . preserves contact - it is silence which isolates." - Thomas Mann

Following her rape, this author became a completely different person, a person who lived "with sudden fear the way others live with cancer. The fear was always there." It took seven years before she could begin writing about her experience. She states that the anniversary of her rape "was more significant than my own birthday, and yet there was only silence . . . I had become, the one who marked her anniversaries in silence . . . Could I celebrate my survival in silence and alone? Not according to Webster's, which defines the verb "to celebrate" this way: "to perform (a sacrament or solemn ceremony) publicly and with appropriate rites" . . . It pained my family and friends to remember. To acknowledge my experience might bring up what they hoped I had forgotten . . . for me to remind them that I had not forgotten seemed unkind, even cruel, because I knew they needed to believe I had. Our rite was, therefore, silence."

"I thought about Wittgenstein's observation that the limits of language are the limits of reality. Was rape off limits to our most distinctly human attribute - language? . . . I could no longer consent to silence."

Another friend and rape victim asked her, "How do I tell people who don't know, people who might become close friends? If I don't tell them, it makes it a secret, like something to be ashamed of. When I do tell them, they make it worse. They never ask me about it. It'a a part of me, part of who I am now, but they don't want to know about it. It's no-win. Just no-win."

"But silence has the rusty taste of shame. The words 'shut up' are the most terrible words I know. I cannot hear them without feeling cold to the bone. The man who raped me spat those words out over and over during the hours of my attack - when I screamed when I tried to talk him out of what he was doing, when I protested . . . The real shame, as I have learned, is to consent to them."

So she wrote an essay "Returns of the Day" in The New York Times Magazine in 1994. In response "Without exception, all of the letters from survivors described the isolation of the aftermath of rape, its life-altering transfromations."

"The victims of rape must carry their memories with them for the rest of their lives. They must not also carry the burden of silence and shame."

If you have friend or family member dealing with these issues (and the odds are that you do), here are other books that are also excellent on this and related topics, "Lucky" & "The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold, & "Siolence" edited by Susan McMaster - all written by women. Rape victims and victims of relationship violence and abuse often hide their experiences and the behaviors of their abusers, feeling ashamed for even being involved with the abusive patterns. All of these books suggest women become more free and mentally at ease when they realize there is nothing to be ashamed of about being victimized. And they suggest the causes of our silences and the things we hide probably deserve more attention, new perspectives, and reconsideration.

Ms. Raine describes the trauma and recovery of rape in clear and helpful terms and I appreciate the references to other works about rape recovery and feminism. Raine's AFTER SILENCE inspired me to read another landmark TRAUMA AND RECOVERY by Judith Herman, MD. It is hard to find books about rape recovery and people who can and will talk calmly, rationally, compassionately (or at all) about this subject. Raine's AFTER SILENCE should be required reading in high school for both boys and girls! Rape is so widespread that it should be addressed more often by family and friends; local, state, national, and world leaders; educators and news media. Raine also references I NEVER CALLED IT RAPE by Robin Morgan, another excellent source for raising awareness of the frequency and extent of rape in society. My own childhood incest and young adult rape were not known to my parents, siblings and doctors for decades even though the symptoms were so obvious that I was hospitalized for months. Can't praise Raine's work enough. My heartfelt gratitude goes out to Raine and all those who made her work possible. Healing may be slow in coming, but it does come, after the silence, with the help of authors like Raine.