Pennsylvania Books

It was a really good book.My favorite part was when she finally becomes friends with the indians.Although recommend it to older kids becuase of the violence.

INDIANS EVERY WERE





Catty gets kidnapped by Indians,
Thomas gets sick,
Will Catty marry Snow Hunter?



In the book, Standing in the Light Catty's family respects the Indians.
They leave their doors unlocked and windows open to show the Indians
They are not afraid. But one night the Indians swoop throw the window
And kidnap Catty and Thomas.

My favorite part is when Catty's Indian Grandmother tells her
Indian mother that Catty and snow hunter are probley going to get
Married. I like this part because it is sweet and unsuspecting and
Catty is so surprised

I think the authors main idea is you can go from HOME to HOME
And will always be loved.

I would recommend this because it is surprising and you won't want
To stop!!!!!
By:Lauren

Standing in the Light was an excellent book. Caty and her brother Thomas are kidnapped by the Lenape on their way home from school. At first Caty feels they'll be killed but instead they return to the Lenape village where she and her brother are separated and giving to two new families. This was the first time I'd ever heard of the Lenape and the author painted a vivid picture of what these Native Americans were like. I loved the transformation as Caty goes from fearing her captives, to loving them especially one in particular Snow Hunter.

I absolutly loved this book. It made my stomach have butterflies. It feels like you are actually in the book. It was interesting and sad. I almost cried for some parts. LOL I would recomend this book to any kid who loves excitement, and history.

I love reading books in diary form and the "Dear America" series of books for younger readers are not only beautifully bound, but each individual story is truly engaging, transporting readers into a bygone era with its entailing adventures.

The heroines are typically young girls who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances - and having to display immense courage in trying times. "Standing in the Light" is the diary of Catharine Carey Logan, a Quaker who lived in the Delaware Valley in Pennsylvania c 1763. Her diary is an account of her experiences growing up in the valley and also about her capture by the Lenape Indians. It is a sad yet very engrossing read.

Another highlight of the book is the author's historical note on life in America during the time [1763] - there are also illustrations and drawings of Quakers and Lenape Indians engaged in their respective pursuits, and highlights the cultural differences between the two groups. In conclusion - an engaging historical read!

I read this book subsequent to seeing the excellent Charles Guggenheim Academy Award winning 1/2 hour film that was expanded to One Hour and shown on TV as part of the excellent 'American Experience' series of documentary films.
This is the first book ever written by David Mc Cullough.
The Johnstown Flood is the single best, most enlightening, and accurate account of the scandalous, and trajic American Disaster that occured back on the last day in May 1889, and its aftermath, which speaks volumes about the generous nature, and wonder that are the American people. After the dismal disgrace of New Orleans after Katrina, this book is an account of how far we have declined as a nation in responding to our fellow Americans when they are desperate. I became a david mc Cullough fan after reading this, and any student of history will almost certainly feel the same after absorbing this book. I have recommended it to many freinds, and every single one thanked me profusely for having done so.

This book was very much enjoyed by the recipient. He really enjoyed reading about the area where members of his family grew up - tho a few years after the flood.

The Johnstown Flood

The book dramatically describes how unusually heavy rains collapsed a poorly maintained earthen dam, releasing a massive flow of debris-filled water which literally destroyed everything in its path, including most of the city, and kllled over 2,000 of its people. McCullough starkly recounts the personal trials of many survivors, and the unprecedented outpouring of spontaneous relief efforts from across a horror-stricken mid-19th century America. A masterfully told tale, hard to put down before finishing.

There is a saying, not original to me, that events are of record, but reality is a construct. McCullough does the research necessary to state the essential facts of this historical event. This is no mean task, given all the disinformation and misinformation in the historical record. But what is even more impressive is McCullough's ability to show why there is so much inaccuracy in the writing about this event.

The power of the new media, the insatiable appetite of Americans for a story, and the raw class tensions and social issues of the time combine to create all sorts of varied efforts to construct a reality to explain the Johnstown events. Those constructs often tell us more about ourselves than they do about what really happened in Johnstown.

The early constructions magnified the death toll tenfold and seized upon all sorts of fantastic survivor stories that were patently untrue. Some shades of 9/11 here. Then the focus turned to the responsiblity of the owners of the resort on top of the dam that had rebuilt the dam. This was the class card -- rich guys who had nothing better than to do than pursue leisure (a novel concept at the time) and isolate themselves from other Americans (tapping into ancient American attitudes against elites) running a poorly built dam doomed to fail and to kill the groundlings below. This story resonated with Americans.

McCullough is exceptionally balanced and thoughtful of his treatment of the issue, and picks apart the crudest and most inaccurate attacks against the dam owners. In the end, however, there is some core truth to the theme that the rich owners' neglect contributed to the tragedy. The dam had been originally built by the State, but the reconstruction job by the resort owners was poorly engineered. The biggest flaw was the lack of any way to control the level of the dam with outlets at the bottom of the dam to let out some water. Screens at the top to keep the fish in that led to a blockage and contributed to the problems, while the most strikingly callous measure (they cared more about fish than human life), probably was a minor matter in the whole tragedy.

What's also fascinating is that the rich were not brought to account. Tort and corporate law at the time allowed the rich owners to shield personal liability behind a shell owner of the facility and difficult issues of causality rendered all the lawsuits unwinnable. Today, there would be a different result, as McCullough points out. Those decrying the "flood" of litigation in modern days may do well to consider the real floods that fear of liablity (and the concomitant insurance, risk prevention, government regulation, and professional reviews such fears engender to prevent tragedy from occurring in the first place) has prevented. The failure of the press (who were owned by some of these rich guys) and the legal system to call the owners to account tells us a lot about the entrenched power the ruled the country at the time.

McCollough tells the tale of the flood vividly, corrects the record to tell events truthfully, and then deals with the larger social issues raised by the event. This is a extraordinarily good book

I have to admit, I'd never heard of the Johnstown Flood and found this book recommended by Amazon when I was reading the reviews for "John Adams", also by David McCullough. "The Johnstown Flood" is well researched, easy to read and a real page turner. I highly recommend this to all history buffs.

There are two sides to every story, and Regina Leininger experienced the conflicts between Indians and white settlers from both perspectives. In I am Regina (Philomel Books, 1991), author Sally M. Keehn presents a fictionalized account of one girl's Indian captivity based on the true story of Regina Leininger. Ten-year-old Regina's journey begins on her family farm in Pennsylvania in 1755. She lives a comfortable life, but the threat of attacking Indians constantly looms in Regina's mind. She takes comfort in the safety and security offered by her family, by the big Bible that Father reads from, and by the hymns Mother sings. Then one day, two Indians come to the family's home. The Indians kill Regina's father and one of her brothers and take Regina and her sister, Barbara, as prisoners. Regina is soon parted from her sister, but finds companionship in another prisoner, a toddler she names Sarah. Taking on the role of parent to the little girl, Regina sings Mother's hymns and tells stories from Father's Bible to the little girl during their hard journey to Ohio. Their Indian captor, Tiger Claw, takes them to his village, where both girls are adopted into the community and into Tiger Claw's family. Living is hard in the Indian village, but as the years pass, Regina adjusts to her new way of life. As conditions worsen for her Indian community, Regina's loyalties are torn between the life she once knew and the community of Indian villagers she has come to appreciate.

Told in beautifully descriptive language, I am Regina paints a portrait of life among white settlers and Native Americans that portrays kindness and cruelty on both sides. Regina reaches no easy conclusions about her dual citizenship in the two cultures. I am Regina is the story of one girl's struggles to fit in to a new culture without losing her identity, but it is also the story of the demise of one native community in the rise of a new country.

German immigrant Regina and her family have settled into Pennsylvania in 1755 in Sally M. Keehn's, I Am Regina. Regina finds herself orphaned after Indians attack and kill her brother and father after her mother and other brother have gone to the mill. She and her sister, Barbara are kidnapped from their home, along with the other children from their village, so that the Indians can adopt them. The two sisters are separated and Regina, along with a little girl she has named Sarah, are forced to follow the cruel Tiger Claw to his village. Once there, the girls are reassigned new names and punished if they act in a way in what the tribe views as white. Regina, now referred to as "Tskinnak", and Sarah, who becomes "Quetit," slowly become a part of their tribe until one day the lines become blurred, and Tskinnak can no longer remember who she once was.

Though Regina's father and brother are killed within the opening scenes of the novel, the story is a bit slow to start as Regina merely recounts the events in a journalistic fashion. Rough transitions from flashback to present once they are captured also hinder the flow of the story, but everything picks up a fourth of the way into the novel when Barbara attempts to save everyone. A few of the important events are also glossed over, such as Regina becoming fluent in a new language and Regina's emotions after her father and brother's deaths reads almost mechanical.

Readers interested in Native American culture will be particularly impressed with this novel, as Keehn has done her research and manages to present both sides of the struggle between the Indians and the English. Ultimately, I am Regina is about a young girl who loses her identity, gains a new one in a different culture, and is then forced to reclaim her childhood, which all makes for an engaging story.

I Am Regina by Sally M. Keehn (Puffin, 1991) begins in 1755 Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, where young Regina is a happy, normal girl living with her sister, brothers, mother and father. Her world is turned upside down when Indians enter their home and kill her brother and father. The Indians kidnap Regina and her sister Barbara. Only her brother John and her mother are safe, for they have gone off to town. They are soon separated, and Regina is dragged off to an impoverished Indian camp. At first, Regina resists, angry and full of hatred for the people who killed her father and brother. Regina is renamed Tskinnak and treated like a slave. She struggles to hold on to her memories of home and forget the gruesome murders of her father and brother. As she becomes more accustomed to the Indian ways, she must force herself to remember passages from the Bible. Eventually, Tskinnak can no longer recall her past life or speak English. She is an Indian, a daughter to an Indian woman and a sister to Quetit, a young girl kidnapped at the same time she was. So, when the French Indian war ends and they are taken back to meet their families, Tskinnak is torn between her Indian family and a mother she can barely remember from her past. Who will Tskinnak chose?

Based on the true story of 10-year-old Regina Leininger, this book is historically accurate and sensitive. It makes great reading material for middle-schoolers interested in history. Although the novel can be slow at times, getting to the end is worth the wait, as Tskinnak's story is completed and the reader will be satisfied with the conclusion.

I picked up this book when I was 12/13 (for some reason I want to say I was younger) on one of my family's trips to Barnes and Noble. Once a week I'd pick out a new book to read and from the time I picked up this book it has been one of my all time favorites. I'm 21 now and still love it, I have reread it numerous times. Some of the other reviewers on here seem to think it's increadibly graphic for the age group but when most families live in different rooms with each a tv I think I would much rather have my child read a book with an inspiring storyline than a gory cop show or playing shootem up video games! Most young adult novels now adays share adult themes. When I was 15 I watched the Grapes of Wrath in a History class and I KNOW that is an adult book. People need to give their children more credit and realize that reading this book is just preparing their children for reading mature intelligent books.

In I am Regina, Sally M. Keehn tells the story of a ten-year-old girl who is taken captive by Native Americans after they brutally kill her brother and father. In their village, Regina is given a new name, Tskinnak, and slowly adapts her new way of life. This young adult novel is well-crafted in terms of structure; it has a sound arc of conflict sustained by a strong narrator and cast of fascinating supporting characters that all possess individual goals and desires. Keehn masterfully juxtaposes Native American culture and the ways of the "white man" through the eyes of Regina/Tskinnak, her innocent narrator. As time progresses in the book, so does Regina/Tskinnak's understanding and acceptance of Native American culture. Though this transformation occurs slowly, the soul of her very being is forever altered. She is able to see the war amongst white men and Native Americans from both sides, and finds herself questioning where she truly belongs, a question that resonates in the minds of children and young adults of today. The only inconsistency in the book occurs during shifts in time. Keehn shifts in "moons" and at times it is confusing to judge how much or how little time has passed since the last scene. Keehn began the story using short choppy sentences, but as the book progresses, it outgrows this simplistic structure and evolves into a well-written text. I am Regina is a powerful and moving story that will captivate readers right down to the final sentence.

I read this wonderfully written and deeply felt book a few years ago, after my mother succumbed to biliary cancer and long before I triumphed over my own cancer (prostate). During my year of cancer and recovery, I often thought of Remoff's book -- a gem that created a resonance I still feel today -- of her resilience and love of life. Familiar with the setting, Eagle's Mere (a quaint, old Victorian village set atop a picturesque mountain, frequented by folks of means throughout much of the 20th century), I'd say she had ample opportunity to commune with the seasons. But the beauty of her love letter lies in its human light. We see an engaging, luminous spirit that will not yield to the dark, nefarious work of cancer, a woman deeply connected to family, friends and community. Her dog Chuckles, her running, her ruminations, her alternative healthcare approaches, her strong yet sensitive husband -- all give her reason to live. This book should be mandatory reading for anyone whose life has been affected by cancer. This book is life, fully lived, soulfully rendered, teeming with laughter and foolishness amid the fear and pain of facing one's inescapable mortality.

As a book about nature and going through a life threatening disease, this is a lovely portrayal.

If one is looking for indepth personal perspective and insight into (ovarian) cancer and accompanying surgerys and treatments, it is rather weak.

I wasn't moved, at a time when I am easily moved.

While facing a deadly disease, Heather Remoff shows wonderful insight, honesty, and humor. Also, the book is the perfect length and is very readable.

"I'm locked up for a crime I didn't commit," says Remoff, pacing hospital corridors after ovarian cancer surgery. This restless woman describes her greatest adventure, a dance with death in her 54th year. It's not surprising that she despises being cooped up. She lives on a crystal clear lake in small-town Pennsylvania. She adores the outdoors and describest it tenderly -- its changes through the months of that year. In September she pays attention to the Crows and their wisdom. "Crows break my heart in the same way September does," she discloses. In January we see her on the frozen lake to help townsfolk harvest 250-lb ice blocks to build a high and dangerous toboggan slide, a ritual since 1904. She's in chemotherapy, wearing mittens, scarves, boots. She gets too cold and must give up. Feeling guilty, she won't attend the bean feed afterward. Chemotherapy doesn't stop her from running, though, even on dark winter mornings. She's only dissappointed that she must cut her speed as she weakens. This is a strong woman, physically and mentally fit. She flirts with the mystical. A lost pendant is mysteriously found by strangers and delivered to her door. A white light surrounds her one morning in bed -- healing and supporting her immediately before her follow-up diagnosis, one that ultimately finds no trace of tumor. There's much to the body-mind connection that we have yet to learn. This is an educated woman, a researcher who questions issues of economic theories. I wondered, then, why she did not question, as I did, what allowed cancer to enter her strong and active body. Do we remember our grandmothers attending funerals of friends dying from breast or ovarian cancer in their fifties? Or forties? Or thirties? This lovely book is bereft of her probing heart in dealing with these issues with her doctors. Today, some health care professionals and their patients actually take time to track childhood exposure to DDT, toxic waste dumps, farm pesticides and polluted w! ater. I wish she had.

In this brief book, Heather Remoff shows herself to be a funny, gutsy, caring and sensitive woman. She also turns out to be one tough cookie. This memoir of her new life in a remote Pennsylvania village, and of the cancer that nearly ended that life, is well worth reading just for the skill of her writing. But even more, it is a fascinating self-portrait of a whole person, fully engaged in the serious and crazily unpredictable business of life.

Travis Hunter knows how to keep his readers engaged and interested in his books. I felt like I was right there with Jermaine as he walked out of his old life and created a new one. His issues with his father may not be the same as mine, but the fact that we had that in common gave me more reason to see how the end of the book would be. I would recommend this book to any young man who thinks he can't get out of the streets and live a respectable life. Travis showed America that not all thugs desire to be thugs they're whole life.

"Outstanding Read". My niece is 15 and enjoyed reading all of Travis Hunter's books. They are very realistic and extremely interesting--"page turners"!!! I've read A Family Sin and thoroughly enjoyed it myself!!!
Keep up the great work!!!

This book was excellent from the beginning to the end. It was easy to read and to understand. I felt like I was there with the characters. I could not put it down and would highly recommend purchasing his books.

Once I read the first chapter I was hooked. This story had a lot of real life issues and once I read the first few pages I had to see what was going to happen next. Jermaine was a good bad boy who saw the need to change and found a way to do just that. He made some good decisions and also found a way to forgive those who wronged him in the past. This book just made my heart swim with emotion and I can not wait until Travis Hunter writes his next story.

I really enjoyed looking into the lives and struggles of the hood and also of african american men. Jermaine is a dude that has never worked and always hustled to make ends meet. He has a son of his own and decides that he doesn't want to let his son down and be the type of father he had. Jermaine's father Calvin was never in his life besides sending money. So Jermaine was left for the streets to raise him. Everyone has to deal with the decisions they make in life. Mr. Hunter displays that alot. People having to deal with their life's decisions in the end rather good or bad. But this is a powerful story the tells stories on so many levels other than what I have written here. Read it, you won't be disappointed.

This book is amazing in its scope. Mr. Toker has researched the Kaufmanns, Pittsburgh, Fallingwater, Wright, and American culture with incredible depth and breadth. As a fan (but layperson) of architecture, I found the insights into the design and construction fascinating. Of particular interest was the information about the overall architectural milieu into which Fallingwater was inserted by Wright(or inserted itself). I also enjoyed the sections of the book that reconstructed the commercial history of Pittsburgh.

That said, I hesitate to give a universal accolade to this book. Toker occasionally belabors his arguments and stretches his scholarship to its limits. Particularly tedious are his chapters on the literary representations of Fallingwater, the press coverage of the completed house, and the interminable lists of objects d'arte found in the house (either currently or in the past). I also found the lack of illustrations of many of the referenced architectural works (of Wright and others) bothersome. Certainly I can look many of them up on the internet, but I shouldn't have to, especially since Toker insists that these works are so important to any understanding of Fallingwater and Wright's conception of it.

Finally, the binding on the paperback edition is atrocious! Less than a third of the way into my reading, the book fell apart. I am not that hard on my texts! I see that others have had the same problem. This is not the fault of the author, but it does detract from the reading experience.

Overall, if you are a fan of Wright or Fallingwater, or if you want a better sense of the American architectural scene of the period, give this book a read. You will come away with a much better understanding of all of these than if you merely read a picture book or general guide to the house.

The binding on my paperback copy also fell apart half-way through the book. While I found some of the writing less than crisp and the organization sometimes left me confused as to sequences of events, overall it's a wonderfully detailed history of how a great house came to be. I wish I had read it before I visited Fallingwater; it would have greatly increased my enjoyment of the house.

I have now read FALLINGWATER RISING twice, and I think it is one of the most well-written, readable, and engrossing books about any subject. What I like most about it is that even though Fallingwater is an inanimate object, we feel that it is a living thing; this is our emotional response to it. This book makes it clear that people made the building happen. People with all of their strengths, foibles, desires and aspirations. Each of these people come to life on the page, and Toker's delightful spirit of inquiry illuminates the writing and makes it sing.

Every "thing" you could ever want to know about Fallingwater is contained in this book -- and then some. It is an enjoyable, insightful book about an extraordinary house. The writing is convincing, intelligent and clear, covering a wide range of complex and contentious topics without ever seeming either simplistic or academic. For my tastes there was too much detail on some peripheral subjects -- such as Ayn Rand's book The Fountainhead and the PR campaigns relating to Fallingwater. I didn't really need to be given lists of all the doo dads and art objects that were put on various walls and shelves at one time or another, but some of these matters are easily skimmed over. Despite its encyclopedic scope and thorough research and analysis, the book ironically fails to really get at the essence of the creative process that resulted in Fallingwater -- especially the contributions of EJ Kaufmann. How is it that EJ Kaufmann built Fallingwater and the Palm Springs Nuetra house -- two of the most extraordinary houses of the 20th century? In the end the essential mystery of Fallingwater remains.

I must say that as an architect who has been practicing for over 25 years, I have not read any book quite like this before that reaches so deeply into the creation of a master work such as Fallingwater. I have always "appreciated" FLW work but only recently have more fully understood what he has accomplished and created in built architectural works that to me borders on magical and genius at the same time. The glossy pictures alone only begins to reflect him as the gifted craftsman he represented. Living in Chicago I get to enjoy much of his work all the time. I'm still enjoying the book and must say your work here is amazing and a fitting tribute to an increbible individual and architect. Thanks for the experience. Jack Svaicer

As a person who abhors ignorance, especially that based upon religion this book was terrifying. The quote from the presiding judge is appropos.

The book is accurate and provides rich details concerning the lead up and the pitch-the play by play of what happened in Dover. And, most especially, how many Christians in that community were outraged by the high handed actions of the School Board.

Hint: Being a Christian, even one who professes to be fundamentalist, is not a priori evidence of one's being a brain dead zombie. Science is science and religion is religion and many of the devout can tell the difference ( and participated as plaintiffs in the case ).

So read the book if you want to understand what happened in Dover. Yes, many fundamentalist Christians don't see the line between religion and science and , indeed, most or at least many don't comprehend the intent of the first amendment.

But that first amendment gives them the right to speak their convicions openly. The Bill of Rights also gives them the right to organize and campaign politically to have their ( wrong ) ideas and objectives cast into law. That's what courts are for....to apply the Constitution to errant acts of both citizens and government.

So, let us not forget the inherent rights of the villians in this tale.

But I have a problem. I am not a true believer in the full platform of either the extreme right or left. I'm not partisan and don't belong to a political party. On some issues such as this one......the truth of evolution....I am hard left. On other issues I am hard right. So I have to watch my tongue lest I be attacked when among lefties or righties. Why argue? Most adults settle their core beliefs by age 18 anyway and most won't back down. It's a waste of time. Closedmindedness is, I firmly believe, a basic human trait. Not that I profess to be open minded. It's just that somehow my "core" beliefs are all over the map politically.

But, as Steven J. Gould frequently said, it's a sad thing that humans have to have it either all one way or all the other.....because, frequently the truth lies at neither extreme. ( to paraphrase his comments that humans naturally dichotomize issues-which, I think, is to save energy having to think for yourself.

I found the underlying tone in this accurate and insightful book to be partisan left. That's OK. The author tried to place this particular issue and the trial in the larger context of core beliefs of a portion of the populace ( of which I am not a part incidentally ). However, I think it's much more complicated than she comprehends.

I found highly partisan comments related to presidential elections, presidential politics, international affairs and other areas such as abortion rights that she believes are directly related to the mindset of the no nothing morons of the anti evolution crowd.

Hello, it's more complicated than your book makes it out to be and you would have been well advised to stick to the topic at hand. I suppose that these gratuitous comments add a certain luster to hard lefties ( Did I mention I am more intelligent to believe that one side or the other has a monopoly on the truth? ) view of this book. We can tell that the author is a true believer in the one side that has a 100% monopoly on the real facts.

But, aside from the partisan undertone, the book is excellent.

Remember, by definition, half the population has a less than average IQ. Most people in this literate nation or any other literate nation, could not even begin to form a coherent description of how the process of evolution works even if they cared in the least.

Remember also, that while Christian fundamentalists are capable and willing ( in the name of God of course as Christian soldiers etc ) to usurp the rights of others there are religions on this earth whose abuses of basic human rights are much worse. Anyone from New York City should be well aware of this as he nurtures his hatred of fundamentalist Christians on the grounds of their evil acts. It's a very bad thing to force your religious view upon others in the guise of science. However, this is a small thing compared to many other heinous acts humans commit in the name of their gods and religions.

If you've never met a true believer in intelligent design or creationism you have missed a illuminating experience. You ask them if they believe in evolution and they say of course not. You ask them if they have ever studied the subject of evolution or know anything about it. They tell you they would never study such godless lies and are proud they know nothing of that evil theory. They will tell you that there is no reason to study or understand something that they know to be totally wrong in advance. Yes, it's scary. To be ignorant is one thing but to be proud of it and offer it as a badge of honor and belief is quite another.

I remember in my childhood and youth being advised to check the first pages of any book I was interested in reading for the latin phrase "nihil obstat" . Pardon me if this is remembered incorrectly after 50 years. It means that the book has been reviewed by the keepers of the faith and that they find "no objection" to faith or morals in the pages within.

Keeping a faith pure from adulteration and change is important in the minds of the firmly orthodox. No doubt the fervent fundamentalist protestant would recoil at the idea of Latin words as a preface to their approved reading list. However, they would certainly agree with the idea. It was these two Latin words, though, that taught me one of life's most important lessons, think for yourself, and that drove me from the very religion that was trying to keep me safe from heresy.

Out of the handful of books written about the Dover "intelligent design" trial, "Devil in Dover" is the only one written by a local Dover resident. Lauri Lebo's book is different from the others in several ways, nonetheleast of which is the author's ability to give us a feeling for what Dover was like before intelligent design came to town, and an insider's view of what it will be like after it never shows its face again.

When the "theory" of intelligent design was first tossed around as a "supplement" to Dover High's biology curriculum, Lauri Lebo was there, and there she remained as a staff writer for the York Daily Record. She was there not only for the ensuing trial, but for all the local grumblings at cantankerous school board meetings. Her book is a reflection of this; she is an insider and is able to paint a picture as only an insider can.

Devil in Dover is not only a beautifully written account of Dover v. Kitzmiller et. al., but also a journalist's deep reflection on the nature of her craft. Lebo's dilemma through the whole trial, which she recounts here, was to balance the journalistic maxim of neutrality and impartiality with the idea of telling the truth. If the evolutionists had the stronger case (they did), then how does one produce a piece of journalism that professes neutrality towards both "sides?" If intelligent design is premised on disingenousness and/or ignorance (it is), then should one avoid saying so in journalism just to remain neutral?

In the end, Lebo took sides. While watching the trial unfold, Lebo concluded, quite rightly, that ID is a fraud, that the schoolboard lied in their intentions (which were religious rather than educational), and that and intelligent design is little more than a subterfuge. We the readers are able to watch Lebo's change from an impartial journalist who was uneducated about science, to an impassioned journalist who learned enough to know that ID is junk science. And she does a good job at expaining why.

While Lebo's book is not the best blow-by-blow JOURNALISTIC account of the trial (that may be Humes's "Monkey Girl," or Sack's "Battle Over the Meaning of Everything), it is probably the most thought-provoking. Lebo treats us not only to a first-hand account of the trial (though not in as much detail as the two aforementioned), but gives us a lot to think about: what is the nature and obligation of journalistic objectivity? what does it mean to be a Christian? Why did a school-board turn the author's home town into a laughing stock? etc.

As and end to the review, I have read all the books about Dover v. Kitzmiller by now (including the Discovery Institute's own "Traipsing Into Evolution"). Lebo's book is the first that really got me thinking that not only did ID deservedly lose, but that this trial was truly the worst possible thing that could happen to ID. It lost the case, was made to look duplicitous thanks to an inempt school-board, was lambasted by a REPUBLICAN judge in a 100+ page opinion, and was squarely trounced in EVERY DETAIL in the courtroom. This book, perhaps more than others, makes the reader very aware that not only did ID lose, but it got creamed.

Lauri Lebo was witness to a pivotal moment in American History, although most people still do not know how important that trial in Dover was. Her first hand knowledge of the people involved in the case since they were from the same small town of Dover gave her unique insight. She was able to follow the histories of the various participants and the relation of those people with the places and culture that defined that area since she herself was a part of it since her own childhood.

With her insight she was able to see how the national battle of the religious right to invade science education caused divisions among neighbors and within families that never existed before. She saw and documented these effects in a way that an outside journalist could not. Her story was able to tie in the motivations, strategies, and on going battles occurring at the national level between those who want to further the aims of the fundamentalist Christians and those who defend our civil rights as well as scientific integrity to the very tactics used by the foot soldiers in this war.

I highly recommend this book as it provides the reader up close and personal accounts of the battles going on to defend our rights. It provides the reader with a good description of the casualties resulting from this battle. And it provides inspiration to the readers to take a stand against those people who desire power over the way our country thinks, those who cloak themselves in false credentials, false patriotism, and false piety.

Every week, one of the evangelical Christians who supported the teaching of Intelligent Design in Dover, PA schools drove to the nearest maximum security penitentiary to `bear witness' to the inmates. On their release, he would find them jobs and homes. One - not strong enough yet to live alone - lived with him for months after his release. They became `best buddies' as the Americans have it. This same man still supported the Dover Area School Board when its members - to a man and woman - perjured themselves in court, telling Judge John E Jones that they had never discussed creationism at Board meetings. This despite the fact that Fox News had television footage of one member doing just that. The man who supported the liars and visited the penitentiary was Lauri Lebo's father. He died there, in the midst of visiting an inmate who needed his help.

Lauri Lebo covered the Dover intelligent design case (Kitzmiller v Dover Area School District) and finished up so disenchanted with Christianity by the end of it she got a tattoo of the Flying Spaghetti Monster just above her butt. What set her apart from other journalists who converged on the Harrisburg, PA courtroom when the Area school board tried to insert Intelligent Design into the science curriculum was the fact that she was a local (she worked for the York Daily Record). She knew most of the plaintiffs and most of the defendants. Her father - the prison visitor - ran the local Christian Radio station, one of a plethora of `talk radio' outfits that blossomed across the US after 1987, when the Federal Communications Commission rolled the `Fairness Doctrine`.

Forced by geography to be scrupulously fair, her book on the case, The Devil in Dover, is one of the best lay accounts of a complex and controversial trial I've ever read. That apart, she doesn't write off people she knows as `wingnuts' and `nutjobs', because she knows they aren't. But she also doesn't let them off the hook when they lie for Jesus.

Somehow, this book manages to rise above politics, skewering the comfortable notions of `Red' and `Blue' that have become part of the world's political vocabulary thanks to the 2000-2004-2008 US election cycles. Her skill at noting the telling detail is particularly effective: one of the plaintiffs seems like a boiler-plate anti-affirmative action, gun-totin' small-town Republican who cheerfully drinks in a pub 20 feet over the county border because, ahem, Dover is a Dry County. But he's also a science teacher who knows the difference between science and religion. One of the defendants, an upstanding member of the Board and successful local businessman turns up and chews gum throughout both examination-in-chief and cross-examination (no, it doesn't bear thinking about. Lebo's description is both hilarious and nauseating). This is quite apart, of course, from lying under oath.

Then there's the George W. Bush appointed judge who the defendants are completely confidant they have in their pocket (they don't, and his judgment is both a model of judicial reasoning and a textbook account of just why we have the separation of powers).

Best of all are the pen-portraits of the various lawyers, from the ACLU and the Thomas More Law Centre, both circling for a test case. The image of a lawyer engaging in a version of champerty (Thomas More's counsel encouraging the Board to change the school curriculum `and we'll defend you when you get sued') or putting full-page ads in local papers in order to drag in potential plaintiffs (the ACLU) certainly gives one pause, especially for those lawyers trained in Australia or the UK.

Comics (and others) on all sides of politics have had great mileage out of portraying the other side as `liberal wieners' or `right-wing nut jobs', without imagining just what or who is behind those words. This is particularly the case in the creation v evolution battle. It is possible to make a strong case for some socially conservative positions (particularly on Roe v Wade, in part because the ruling took the decision away from the legislature, thereby producing serious democratic deficit). Creationism, by contrast (even in its muted `intelligent design' form) simply invites mockery. Not just `unscientific', it's a ludicrous form of anti-science. In fact, Charles Johnson memorably described the newly-opened `Creation Museum' in Kentucky as an `Anti-Museum'. Instead of disseminating information, it actively obfuscates it - a visual version of `if your baby does not like spinach, try boiling it in milk'.

Lebo's book is not particularly optimistic; at one point she laments `we're never going to fix this'. She then comments:

"My father will leave this world believing he will never again wrap his arms around his daughter, that despite eternal life (eternity? Oh God, what a concept), we will never be reunited. Rather, he believes that I will exist in a place `where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched'.

If you believe this, truly believe this, then how could anything else matter? The First Amendment, scientific reality, the truth? All this would mean nothing. I grasped this. And for those of us who don't believe, can't believe, we have to bear the weight of this fear."

Imagining our enemy's honour is likely the most difficult thing one has do, and yet liberal democracy demands it of us. In ages past, we fought against and killed those who disagreed with us. Now we contest alternative visions at the ballot box, and try to be gracious winners and honorable losers. Lauri Lebo's book is a fine exercise in that tradition. I cannot recommend it too highly.

Written from an insider's perspective, this book exposes the emotional part of the Dover incident much better than Monkey Girl was able to. Both books need to be read to understand the dishonesty of the right-wing, anti-science crazies in our society. Why, when enjoying the benefits of science (antibiotics, microwave oven, cell phones, agriculture, just to name a few), they want to retreat to the Dark Ages is beyond understanding. Read this book and re-read it.

I read this book as part of a book club and i was suprised to see how much I liked it. This book brings religion and romance together in a cute story. I found it hard to get into the book at first but its well worth sticking with it.

Although the heroine of this story was distinctly unlikable in the beginning of the book and made some choices I felt were not actually true to the character as written, Liz did a fairly good job at showing "the new man" God can create when our lives are turned over to him. This love story is multi-layered and heartening and definitely worth the read.

This book was so much fun! It's not very often I sit and literally laugh out loud, but this book had me giggling! It's funny, inspirational and charming.

I just finished reading Bookends and was very impressed. It's the first Higgs book I have read (although I read and love her column in TCW). I will definitely be reading more of her literature. This was a warm, funny book with a bit of mystery in it. It wasn't predictable in my opinion, which was a nice change from most romantic fiction. I loved the quirky characters(including the golden retriever) and loved how realisitc it was. I had never heard of the Moravian denomination and am now more curious about it. This is defintely a cozy read and would make a good gift for a close friend.

"Bookends" reveals a talent of the author, Liz Curtiz Higgs, that is nice to find in Christian Romance Novels. The characters are engaging and entertaning. Best of all, you do not have to wait till the end of the story for the main characters to have fun together! In this book the stroyline is creatively weaved with humor, seriousness, and romance, from begining to end. I highly recomend it to those who enjoy quality, intelligent, romance/comedy novels.

Recommended by a friend, this book has jumped to the top of my list of favorites. The play by play picture painted about the battle of Gettysburg will teach you more about the event than ever taught in High School. More importantly, it's a human story of leadership, failure and triumph. In the end, you'll be left with only one thought, "Wow!"

KILLER ANGELS is one of those books I've always wanted to read but for some reason I just never got around to it. It is my favorite genre(historical fiction) and one of my favorite periods in American history(Civil War), I've lost count of the number of people who recommended it to me. So one fine summer July day in the year 2008 I see it on the shelf in my local library and with no hesitation I pluck it off the shelf. I get home and begin to read this gem of a book. I've read no finer book on the Civil War. There are plenty of reviews here and there to give you all the details you need so there is very little I can add to those reviews. But when you read a book that is so heavily anticipated (it won a Pulitzer for Pete's sake!) and the book so easily surpasses those expectations then it indeed it is a special book. When a writer writes with so much empathy and understanding for his characters and story line as Michael Shaara does then it is a book that you will never forget. This is one of those rare gems that forever will stay with you. Very few books reach that level as far as I'm concerned. A work of passion, intelligence, compassion and wisdom. My only problem is that I wanted more. I didn't want it to end, luckily for us Mr Shaara left us an equally talented son to carry on his work.

This was a major battle (Gettysburg, PA) between the Norhern VA massive group of 70,000 and the indomnable Union fighters that fateful day in one of the bloodiest fights of that war. Antienam in Maryland was the bloodiest with Atlanta's "fallen" depicted in 'Gone With the Wind' and Shiloh not far behind in numbers of casualties.

This fictional account of the Gettysburg massacre on both sides won a Pulitzer prize for Michael Shaara who uses the liberties of creative writing to make these men and their families "real." The most real of them all was the spy, Harrison, who reported to General Lee while JEB Stuart was out about town living it up and getting all of the attention. If you read enough about the U.S. Civil War, you'll realize right away that the truth, though mired in the mud of dissession and cow pastures from one end of the small country as it was in June, 1862, to the East Coast.

It was not the most dramatic confrontation (my choide would be Shiloh, which I drove to many times to meander around the large battlefield on many occasions), as much or more than our yearly trips to Gettysburg (not far from Westminster where Evelyn lived) which received more notice because of Abraham Lincoln's moving address. He had a way with words for a self-educated Kentuckian. But Shiloh, in Tennessee, endured more detailed plans for combat and Johnston met his destiny.

When we read what the scholars chose as the most important, we miss the human part of war (as we are doing now in that God-forsaken, medieval place in the Middle East, and are presented with statistics to prove their choices. Every Civil War encounter has the spy (like young Sam Davis of Smyrna) who met his demise on a lonely hill in Pulaski, TN. Without spies, the generals and their staff are left with maps but that's about all. The spies made the war come alive. Instead of a far flung field or stream far away from home, the spies kept the action going by risking their lives to get important information and plans to the leaders. 'The Killer Anmgels' were on Robert E. Lee's left shoulder but his melancholia wore him down emotionally. Without his generals (Nathan Bedford Forrest being his very best), there would have been no war. The spy Harrison blew cigar smoke "puffing exuberantly like a happy furnace."

"Why do there have to be men like that, men who enjoy another man's misery?" Reading about factual (as far as the staticians knew or could figure) war atrocities can be dry and not very interesting to the average person. It has been de-personalized. Stephen Crane followed his heart and instincts in 'The Red Badge of Courage' to bring the participants to life on paper and not merely a statistic. He inspired Michael Shaara to do much of the same. "The interpretation of character is my own," he wrote. At all times, especially in times of danger to one's life, you must keep one's sense of humor. I thought Mark had one but apparently I was mistaken. This book was written 34 years ago, the year Justin was born. Always the rebel, like his mom, he could not have been a spy. Brave, smart, something of an actor (like John Wilkes Booth), like Jeff could quote Shakespeare from memory, lucky and strong. "It has been my pleasure, sir, to have served such a man...God bless you, sir. Now, it is all in God's hands."

I had been always interested in Americas' Civil War and had read some excellent books on the subject such as A Brotherhood Of Valor: The Common Soldiers Of The Stonewall Brigade C S A And The Iron Brigade U S A, Through Blood and Fire at Gettysburg and Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford History of the United States) but "The Killer Angels" is a very special one.

Late Michael Shaara has performed an excellent research on the private papers of the battle protagonist. Based on this material he produce a griping story, presenting the men that march to the tragic encounter, with their ideals, memories, sorrows, doubts & hopes.

He follows Generals Lee and Longstreet and Colonel Chamberlain amongst others, penetrating their most intimate thoughts in such a way that the reader can't avoid wondering how this is possible.
Mr. Shaara does not pick sides, he presents the reader with the confronting "Cause", which every man into the field believes to be just, and for which is willing to shed his blood. The valor and self sacrifice these men deploy, is reflected in each page of this incredible good book.

Enough maps are shown enabling the reader to follow the displacement of the armies in the field.

For readers interested in Civil War, Michael's son, Jeff, has written Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure telling the events preceding and following this crucial struggle.

A great stuff to be read by history buffs or casual readers. Enjoy!!!.

Reviewed by Max Yofre.

The compelling novel of Gettysburg that Laura Hillenbrand remarked was her model for "Seabiscuit". The times and events are different but the sylistic similarities are palpable. Short chapters. Short sentences, mostly. Extremely visual--concrete, up-close, detailed scenes, always with a dramatic tension. Superbly structured--makes the Battle of Gettysburg, one of the most confusing battles of the 19th Century, sparklingly clear. Accomplished by shifitng the viewpoint from one key character to another, from chapter to chapter (mainly Longstreet and Chamberlain, also Buford, Armistead, and Lee). This is art, and is not easy; the product of intense hard work, with the reader's welfare always paramount. Above all, a human story of real people under stress, striving, where the stakes matter. At the same time, Shaara manages to explicate the larger causes of the war, and in the mouths of his characters he ably argues both the National and the Rebel viewpoints. A masterpiece.

Essential reading for all rail enthusiasts, not just PRR. A great historical overview of the life and times of a railroad engineer in Central Pennsylvania, from the turn of the century to WWII.

As I read this book I could almost feel the track clicking below the engine, hear the chuffing of the engine as it labored to pull the cars, listen to the lonesome sound of the whistle as the engineer arrived at the crossing and feel the power as the fireman put the coal to the firebox and the engineer pulled the Johnson bar. All in all a great read and a book that anyone interested in the steam era would read with relish.

One of the most compelling railroad books I've read - the narrative is compelling because of Orr's consistent, insightful commitment to doing his job well and discovering the most efficient way to get his train over the road. Of course hardcore railfans will enjoy this book, but I think students of industrial history and those interested in the way people go about their jobs (a la Studs Terkel/working) will get something out of this book as well.

Set Up Running is simply the VERY BEST railroad related book which I have EVER read! If you don't have it GET IT! PERIOD! (PS: I have NO financial interest in this book or any organization/company which sells it). I'm doing YOU a favor by rating this book and advising YOU to get it!)

ceh

The detailed descriptions in "Set Up Running" will have you smelling coal smoke. Even though I have been a rail fan for all of my 65 years, was an NYC-PC employee, and I'm a native of Pennsylvania, I learned something new on nearly every page and thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Although "Set Up Running" deals almost exclusively with operations on a PRR branch line, ferroequinologists (students of the iron horse) everywhere will love this book. It has the unique quality of making you wish it would go on forever.