United States Books

I held a Fancy Nancy party for my granddaughter for her 6th birthday. We made a Fancy Nancy cake and the ultimate was when she opened all her Fancy Nancy books that she received as gifts. Just adorable writing and illustrations. Thanks.

I loved this book...it is so sweet and my own grandbaby "Fancy Nancy" will love it!!

I have been reading the Fancy Nancy books to my daughter since she was a year old. She loves them. She asks for Nancy every night and at nap time too! She now is the proud owner of a Fancy Nancy doll.

This book is a feast for the eyes. Beautifully illustrated and with a very nice lesson about love and family, this book is a favorite of mine(and my three year old loves it as well). Nancy lives in her own little fancy world, but she is loved for who she is. This book is a great read. Adults and children will be happy to sit down and read this one

I have a four-year-old daughter, and this is the perfect book (and series) for her and her age set. The girls can all relate to how fancy Nancy appears all the time, and I love all the great new vocabulary words my daughter has picked up from Nancy's "fancy" words. Great (and clever) illustrations, too. I now buy this book as a birthday gift for any of my daughter's friends who don't yet have it, and it's an instant hit. This is a can't miss book! I only wish I had it when I was their age!

Very nice set--I purchased it for a gift and am very pleased with it :)

Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder is a whole series of books about a girl named Laura Ingalls Wilder. The books talk about some of the hardships Laura and her family faced. These books also tell about every thing that happened in her life from Wisconsin all the way to Kansas. The story of her life starts as a young girl and talks about her getting married as a young lady. The books tell how she changed and some of the places she went and even some of the people she met.
I like these books because the way these books were written because they were written so you fell like you are actually there. I also like these books because they tell what people had to go through in the 1800's. I read all these books and I liked them. If you read them you will like them too.

"They're an inspirational source of literature that celebrates the turn of the century, the struggle of the American family and the bonds that held them together."

These books are straight garbage, a friend got them for me and they stink...I could totally pWn Pa Ingall's IRL.

Fantastic set. My daughter was very excited to receive the set and continue her reading journey. The quality of the set was very good and will last a long time.

I purchased these books for my eight year old daughter. We read all of them already. She loved them, and so did I. I was a little disappointed that there were no pictures at all. In the older version, there were some very beautiful pictures that helped bring understanding to some of the concepts of being a pioneer. Overall, this was a great purchase.

I've got to admit, I was quite impressed with this book and I also found it to be very interesting reading... in fact, I find it so interesting that I end up reading it over and over again. Heck, I might even start reading it again tonight. This book has all interesting facts about Nick Carter (even if some of it is outdated). It has everything about from how his parents decided to name Nick as well as who they named him after, and where he stands in the music business today as a Backstreet Boy. Like I said, this book goes back to 1998 but that is ok, because I like books that go back in time (history, biographies, etc). Anyway, I highly recommend this book (who figure?). KTBSPA

If you thought you knew all there is to know about Nick Carter, think again! Jane Carter tells us some stuff about her son that only she and the rest of Nick's family know about. This is a very nice book, beautifully written by Jane. It is full of secrets and anecdotes about Nick's childhood and rise to superstardom. However, the information about Nick's career may seem kind of old, now, since this book was published in 1998. Perhaps Jane should have waited a couple of years before writing a book about her son, because God knows she would have plenty of things to say : she could give her opinion on Nick's arrest, his solo career, the trials and tribulations that the Backstreet Boys have been through, Nick's relationship with Willa Ford (yeah right, like Nick would let her write about that!!), etc. Nick's been through a lot of things since 1998, and I believe that if Jane decided to write another book about Nick, it would have a lot more substance and depth than this one. But don't get me wrong! It's a great read, as pleasant as a fairytale. Because, in many ways, that's what Nick's life is! And seeing it through his mother's eyes really gives it a whole new dimension.

You shouldn't buy it i've had it for four years and ive only read the first ten pages I'm selling it because it is pointless!

I have got the book and I like the writing style and to know the facts as a BSB fan. I kinda think it's wrong to get money out of someone else his succes, but on the other hand it ain't lies and Nick knew of and agreed with it, so as not such a big fan anymore (NO I didn't become a hater) I would suggest it, but not too much.

I'll be completely honest:

If I weren't such an obsessed Backstreet Boys fan, I would consider this book (bad).

It's not well-written, it wanders and meanders to the point it doesn't make sense, and it's very self-serving.

However, being an obsessed Backstreet Boys/Nick Carter fan, I love the book.

The first few chapters are the best, because they read more like a story than a biography. Plus, they told me the most about Nick that I didn't already know.

Near the end, however, it turns into a "How to Turn Your Kid Into a Star" how-to manual. BORING!

BOTTOM LINE: LOVE Nick Carter? Buy the book. LIKE Nick Carter? Borrow it from a friend or the library. COULDN'T CARE LESS about Nick Carter? Avoid this book like the plague.

There is a great divide in America between those in the military and those who are not. Nowhere is that divide more total than in the elite universities, where virtually no one knows anyone in the military or has any sympathy for it. This book is a very rare bridge between those two worlds. Fick graduated from Dartmouth in 1998, became an elite Marine officer, fought in Afghanistan and Iraq and then went back to graduate school. This is his memoir.

The primary subject of the book is the training that a Marine officer goes through, the transformation from an ordinary person into a warrior. It is extremely well written. The pace is relatively slow, and the reader is able to go along with Fick on his emotional journey from Ivy League student to Marine officer.

Fick happened to finish his training as an officer, just as 9/11 was happening. He thus jointed the military, when we were still at peace, and was a very junior officer, just as the war was starting. He gives an excellent account of some of the early fighting -- and early mistakes -- in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was rotated out of Iraq, just after Saddam fell, however, so his account is limited to the early war, before the counter-insurgency started. In short, a very valuable, well worth reading for many reasons, but very out of date, for those wanting to understand the Iraq War.

This is a great read for those concerned with how we train our Marine Corps officers. An added bonus: an inside view on the early US incursion in Afghanistan and how we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the early days in Bagdad. I've bought at least a dozen copies for interested friends.

Captain Fick has done the Corps and the American public a great service with this insightful and well written book. In it, he explores what it means to be a platoon commander, responsible for many young lives while leading them into battle. Fick does not hold back in either detail or in exploring his own emotions, giving the reader the best possible sense of what it is like to be a small unit leader in the US Marine Corps.

Fick begins by detailing the process of becoming a Marine officer: Officer Candidate School, The Basic School, and the Infantry Officer's Course. He discusses the difficult and often frustrating training that he is put through, and the resulting transformation that he undergoes from young man into lean, tough Marine.

Then, through the lens of his deployments to Afghanistan with the 1st Marines and Iraq with 2nd Recon, he gives the reader a firsthand sense of the boredom, fear, and excitement of combat, the pride in seeing his platoons perform well in the most dangerous situations, and the incredible frustration at being led by weak and incompetent officers.

One Bullet Away, together with Generation Kill, the companion book written by Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright about young enlisted Marines in the same Recon platoon, is easily the best book available on the first part of the war in Iraq. It does not give a clear picture of the overall strategy or the way that the war played out on a macro-level. It is not intended to. Rather, One Bullet Away is meant to put the reader into the mind of a young Marine officer at war. For its ability to give the reader a sense of the lives of individual Marines on the ground in combat, this book is unsurpassed.

This is a no frills account of a marine officer in the making four years before the invasion of Iraq in 2003. U.S. Marine captain Nathaniel Fick qualified for Marine Officer Candidates School (OCS) in Quantico, Virginia, by completing a three mile run in under 18 minutes, twenty dead-hang pull-ups followed by one hundred crunches in under two minutes.

Following a combat tour in Afghanistan, Mr. Fick joined the elite Recon Marine division, a feat accomplished by only one percent of marines. At the conclusion of his training, he led a force of twenty two marines in the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion to war at the opening bell of combat in Iraq.

Mr. Fick ended his stint in the military upon his return from Iraq because he was too deeply affected by the collateral damage inflicted on the innocent during war. Fick was eager for combat, and killing the enemy was of little consequence to him for a short period, but he had become a reluctant warrior. He couldn't stomach a career in killing people or witnessing the killing of the men he was in charge of.

Nathaniel Fick is currently an MBA candidate at the Harvard School of Business, proving himself again as one of the few, the proud.

"One Bullet Away" lacks the climactic battles in David Bellavia's "House to House" and Marcus Luttrell's "Lone Survivor", but it more than makes up for it with depth. Mr. Fick's story resembles less the breakneck speed battles of "Saving Private Ryan", and more the slow, methodical and philosophical approach of "The Thin Red Line".

Captain Fick is refreshingtly candid about his experience in the military, and provides a well balanced view of life in the Marine Corps before, during and after combat.

One Bullet Away is Fick's memoir of his time after joining the Marine Corp in the summer of 1998 up through 9/11 his units deployment to Afghanistan and then Iraq.

If you ever wanted to know what it takes to be a leader, Fick tells you in no uncertain terms. It isn't candy coated or prettied up, he is honest and straightforward. Qualities it takes to be a truly effective leader. As he finds out on the first day: "Honor, courage, and commitment are the Marines' core values. [...] If you can't be honest at OCS, how can the Corps trust you to lead men in combat?"

And lead men Captain Fick does, as a Weapon's Platoon Lieutenant on his first day in the Fleets and into Afghanistan after 9/11 and then in Recon where he leads his men into Iraq on invasion day. Fick's accounts are gritty and honest. You can feel the frustration that only military life can bring out in someone and at the same time you can feel the immense pride that comes with accomplishing something important.

In the end, Fick leaves the Corp he feels he was destined to belong to and concludes:



In June, one year after coming home from Iraq, I dragged a childhood friend to the Civil War battlefield in Antietam in western Maryland. I wanted to walk the ground. Among the split-rail fences and restored cannons, I saw RPGs and fedayeen. Where would I have put my machine guns to defend the Cornfield? How would Hitman two have assaulted the Bloody Lane?

The sun was warm on my arms, and bees buzzed through the tall grass as we meandered towards Burnside Bridge. There, on the afternoon of America's bloodiest day, troops made three unsuccessful attempts to cross Antietam Creek under withering fire. We stood at the center of the span with our hands on the stones.

"Was it a waste?" I asked.

"No," she replied. "They won, and Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. They freed the slaves, the way you freed the Afghans."

I didn't answer.

"Think about the women under the Taliban and the poor Iraqis under Saddam," she continued seizing a chance to change the subject. "You helped do so much good for so many people. Why can't you take comfort in that?"

Staring down at the water, I measured my words, running through a justification I'd given myself a thousand times before. The good was abstract. The good didn't feel as good as the bad felt bad. It wasn't the good that kept me up at night.

"You sound so unprincipled," she said, shaking her head. "Why can't you find peace in what you and your men sacrificed so much to do? Why can't you be proud?"

I took sixty-five men to war and brought sixty-four home. I gave them everything I had. Together, we passed the test. Fear didn't beat us. I hope life improves for the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, but that's not why we did it. We fought for each other.

I am proud.

And proud you should be Captain Fick.

This is the complete Vince Lombardi book. The author has left no stone unturned it seems and goes into great depth in looking at what made Lombardi tick.

It is not a shrine to the greatness of Lombardi book, the author does write about the Coach's flaws (lack of attention to family) but it is so engrossing that I was upset when the final chapters on Lombardi's death were being read.

Maybe the book is a smidgen too long, there were times that it seemed to drag a little but all in all, a great book.

Presidential biographer David Maraniss ("First in His Class") turned his attentions away from Washington, D.C., and towards Lambeau Field in this remarkable book. His subject was Coach Vince Lombardi, who took over a losing program and turned Green Bay, Wisconsin, the smallest market in professional sports, into "Title Town, U.S.A."

Immediately prior to Lombardi's acceptance of the head coaching position, the Packers managed to win only a single game in an entire season. In short order, Lombardi made Green Bay synonymous with victory. The trophy given to the team that wins the Super Bowl is now named for Lombardi. The Packers won the inaugural Super Bowl and repeated the following year under their celebrated head coach.

Lombardi was a star player for Fordham when that university still had a football program. He developed and refined his coaching abilities at the high school level and he was promoted to assistant coaching positions at the United States Military Academy (West Point) and with the New York Giants of the NFL.

As Maraniss demonstrates, Lombardi enjoyed influence throughout the country during the Sixties: he became a much sought after business conference speaker and Richard M. Nixon even contemplated offering him a place on the political ticket of the Republican Party for a brief time.

This is a superior biography and a document of a time that now has gone.

This is the best sports biography that I've ever read, and is the gold standard by which I rate every other sports bio. I originally read the book when it was published in 1999 and decided to read it again. I didn't realize that I had forgotten so many details. Many of the games discussed I remember like it was yesterday. If you were a Packer's or NFL fan from the 60s this is a must read book.

I'm very skeptical of Amazon's public reviews as I find 80% +++ of the reviewers are too easily impressed (especially business/investment books). Most grossly overrate books. With such skepticism, I did scan through a page or two of the now 138 reviews to see why anybody would give this book < 5. Two compliants said it had too much minutia and wrote too much about Vince's early life. I find that most if not all biographies talk too much about the person's early life and the person's lineage. I usually scan the early chapters of a biography until I get into the person's adult years. On my second reading of this book I picked it up around Vince's time at West Point.

One last point about the author. I've also read First in His Class & his book about Roberto Clemente. Both were excellent books. However, Maraniss did co-author a book with a younger woman, who's title I forget. It was obvious from the reading that the woman had written most of the book and Maraniss wrote little of the book. His name may have been listed as a co-author to sell books.

I couldn't help feeling that I was right there in frozen Green Bay, in the 1960s, at one of the Lombardis' Sunday post-game cocktail parties, and everywhere else Vince Lombardi went in his life, while reading this great book.
It's a great read, very vivid, about a great coach and (as Maraniss illustrates) not the greatest father in the world. In other words, a portrait of a human being who did great things with his work, but who had foibles like everybody else.

I picked up this book after hearing a strong recommendation. I knew next to nothing about Vince Lombardi, other than that he was an excellent football coach. Very glad I bought the book as this was a particularly engrossing biography.

The author was very thorough in his research and traces Lombardi's life in detail for his full nearly 60 years. He provides a lot of detail on Lombardi's strengths and weaknesses. At times I wanted to slug him and tell him to quit being so intense about football and pay more attention to his family. Other times, I found myself admiring the daylights out of him. It is astonishing to think he could take the most losing team in football and turn them into major winners in just one season.

There's a lot of food for thought in this biography. Is winning really so important that you should sacrifice your family and your health? Is success really success if you never enjoy it? As a recovering perfectionist, I saw many powerful examples from Lombardi's life about why I DON'T want to be a perfectionist! Nothing is ever good enough, and you never, ever get to be happy. That is one lesson in Lombardi's life that really comes blasting out of every story.

If you like biographies, you will really enjoy this one. Glad I decided to pick it up.

Jan Dahlin Geiger, author of "Get Your Assets in Gear! Smart Money Strategies" Get Your Assets in Gear! Smart Money Strategies

I was initially intimiated about the prospect of launching into just one volume of Foote's narrative and so I made the mistake of buying only the first book -- I should have bought all three volumes at the start! It takes about 50 - 100 pages to get into Foote's style of writing, and at times he turns a quirky phrase from the '60's (1860's), but this is enjoyable reading, bar none. If there was ever a way to learn the history of the American Civil War, this would be the way to do it.

I've spent nearly a year making my way through the three volumes, sometimes on airplanes, some of it as 5 - 6 pages before going to sleep. My biggest regret is there is no Vol. 4. I will miss Mr. Foote. The richness of detail and the descriptive character achieved by Foote makes you feel as though he lived in the period and knew many of the characters personally. You will come away with vivid and lasting impressions of Lincoln, Grant, Davis, Lee, Johnson, Jackson, McClelland, Custer, Semmes, Porter, Sherman, Sheridan, and countless others who defined these years. The series is not a dry recitation of facts and figures, but a storytelling of the war with enough statistics to provide a sense of scale.

Imagine the year is 1899 and you are a young man or lady of 12 or 13, sitting with your aging uncle who had lived and fought through the major battles of a war on the verge of being forgotten. He shares with you his remembrances and vast knowledge of what happened on the major battlefields and political stage (and behind it) during the war. He is a master story teller. You are enthralled and look forward to each evening's session. That's what Foote offers to the reader.

The books have some flaws -- a lack of maps, no program of players, ambiguous chapterization, shifting time lines and locations. While there are large scale maps inside the covers to convey the flow of the entire war, there are not enough maps for the individual battles. You must dog ear those map pages for reference. I'm not a history buff, so I constantly had to keep asking myself "who was that general?" as Foote leaves one theater of the war and then returns to it several chapters later. A suggestion -- get an index card and each time you meet a major player, write the name, side, title and use the card as a book mark. The problem with shifting time lines and locations is unavoidable in such a vast work. Foote generally does a good job to tying overlapping periods to each other, but you need to keep alert on our own.

There are few books I would ever consider reading again, but these will stay on my bookshelf for just that possibility.

There are two types of reviewers for this trilogy. Those who rate it five stars and those who have no soul.

I am about half way through and find these volumes excellent. They not only address the battles fought, but also address the political climate how people from the North and the South felt about the war, their leaders etc. It is interesting to be made aware of the annimosity that existed toward the "press." It is also interesting to hear how the press on either side was willing to print information that may prove detrimental to military activity and probably help to contribute to the many deaths experienced on both sides. And I mean the southern press printing about the movements of southern forces and the northern press printing about troop movements of the northern armies. Also, it comes across to me that Foote presents a relatively fair and unbaised narrative of both the North and the South. Excellent reading especailly for you history buffs. However, be ready to have fun trying to keep track of all the different generals etc. It is a little like alphabet soup.

I found this a very through account of a momentous part of American history full of detail and knowlegeable details.For any student or some like me curious about the history of the American Civil War I recommend these books.

I wanted an objective account of the civil war and an objective description of the battles, but Foote's three volume books is anything but objective. He is an engaging writer and, as another reviewer points out, brings the characters back to life, but Foote makes confederate thugs like Stonewall Jackson look like lovable, eccentric and courageous heroes. He portrays the confederate soldiers as poor, under-equipped soldiers full of valour, but then paints the union soldiers as over-equipped soldiers, lacking in courage and drive, who are there only for the experience and who pillage civilian homes when they go into southern towns (see the battle at Federicksburg for an example).

I note another reviewer commenting that Foote's view is not apparent in the books, but to me it is very clear he is rooting for the confederates. For example, on page 19 of the second volume, he writes "Texas was decontaminated" and the only bluecoats were Magruder's prisoner (this was about Magruder winning the battle at Galveston for the confederates). Only those in support of the confederate would say that Texas was decontaminated when Magruder won. If the writer was objective, that phrase "Texas was decontaminated" would not have been inserted. It's not even necessary!!

There is also a little too much detail. I can do without how many men are in each division and how many men were killed, wounded or captured.

I do not intend to read all three volumes because of his pro-confederate tone. It was a struggle to finish the first volume without wanting to throw the book at something (I am not pro-union, just anti-confederate). I am reading the second volume only so I can read about Stonewall Jackson's death. I am not sure how Foote has portrayed his death, but I'm sure with his pro-confederate feeling, it will be a glorious death!!! To me, Stonewall is a hypocritical thug and murderer and I will delight in reading about his death, however, glorious it might be to Foote.

Paul Rieckhoff's new book CHASING GHOSTS is a must read for every citizen of the United States--and for those who cannot read, a family member of friend should read it to them. It is not simply Rieckhoff's stunningly honest telling of his experience as a soldier in Iraq, it is among the finest reports yet written on that highly unnecessary conflict for which we Americans are ultimately responsible. Get and read this book at your earliest opportunity! If you do, you will quickly find out what being patriotic actually means. In addition to the joy you will feel from the way this is written with such daring honesty, simplicity, passion, responsibility, uncomplicated intelligence, insight and vision--you will be stunned, shocked, amazed, thrilled, and you will weep, laugh and be frightened for this book contains real, raw truth. But the unexpected surprise will probably be your own renewed desire to be a much better human being and American. This might be the finest book yet written in our new century--by a young man who is genuinely human and humane and wishes to share his profound observations and thoughts with all of us. CHASING GHOSTS is as good as it gets.--Wayne Adams, NYC

"Chasing Ghosts" is a hard hitting book which reveals the ugly truths about the invasion and fouled up occupation of Iraq from a soldier's point of view. What are those ugly truths? Civilians still living without basic necessities such as electricity, running water or food. Illogical decisions such as disbanding the Iraqi army and leaving a small numbers of American troops to guard large sections of Baghdad (which led to the growth of the current insurgency). Anyone who wants to know what really went on in Iraq during the 2003 invasion should turn off FoxNews and read this book instead.

Written with truth, honesty and passion, Paul Rieckhoff unveils the ugly face of the war in Iraq. "Chasing Ghosts" is a true eye-opener for anyone who supports or doesn't support the war. This book surpasses any media reporting of the war as it tastefully criticizes the war and President Bush. Rieckhoff writes from the heart with a clear head and good conscience, resulting in a brilliant recollection of his time serving as a First Lieutenant and Infantry Platoon Leader for the U.S. Army National Guard during the first year of the war in Iraq.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, regardless if you come from a military background,or not, consider yourself a political guru or not. This book opens your eyes and gives you insight into what is really going on with our government and may also give you insight into yourself and your ability to trust, sacrafice, and honor the people you surround yourself with.
pick up a copy, you wont be dissapointed!

Chasing Ghosts is a gripping first hand account of the horror of Iraq from a Lieutenant who has served, honorably with sacrifice and true heroism. After reading his grueling account of Bagdad and the complete failure of our President and his so called leaders to understand the complexities of this war, I know this war is wrong. Rieckoff does an excellent job in helping the reader understand the complexities of a nation that is battered from years of torture, and embraces the reality that it will take generations of peace before these people can emerge from the abuse. Our presence does nothing but contain the pain and heighten the fear.
Not only does Reickoff so successfully capture the tragic feeling of war from all sided, he presents a bipartisan account of the failures of our government in its mission there. He paints a weary account of John Kerry's reluctance to listen to Veterans, the President's incredible stupididy, and the medias insensitivity to the soldiers who risk their lives every day.
I saw Paul Rieckoff on Tavis Smiley's PBS show and was impressed with him there, so I knew I had to purchase this book. It was well worth the price of admission.

I got this book for Christmas and i finished it that day. It's a book you just can't put down. It's about Jemima(Jem)Emmerson, who's 15 when the story starts. The war becomes reality when her brother joins the millitia and her mother starts writing letters under a psudonym to a local newspaper asking for supplies for the army. These letters end up making something very bad happen to the family. When her father employs a tutor for her that is a tory she hates him nd treats her very badly. Then Jemima finds a coded message that tells her that John Reid(her tutor)is a spy for Washington then she gets to know him and falls in love with him. Then her younger brother goes away to the army too, and she and her mother are left home and worrying. This is a really good book. I don't really like that Jemima sort of looses the spirit she has at the begining; sassy, fun, and willed. But it's still really good.

Jem is probably my favorite character out of all the Ann Rinaldi books!! She's stubborn and high spirited , I reread this book every chance I get and never tire of it. I don't know which Ann Rinaldi books are my favorite the Revoultionary or the Civil War? But I do know that I Love them all!!!

Romance, tragedy, and life lessons are all wonderfully displayed in this novel, set during the period of the Revolutionary War. TIME ENOUGH FOR DRUMS, by Ann Rinaldi, is the story of Jem, a rebellious Patriot teenage girl, whose family is torn apart by the war. Her father is persecuted for not selling tea, her mother has a war "secret" of her own, the war beckons both of her brothers, and on top of all that, she clashes with her Tory tutor. Through the ups and downs of her life, Jem learns some important life lessons the hard way but comes out on top, and learns that people are not always what they seem. The reader learns that there is always, "time enough for drums." This novel keeps you wanting to know more and more about Jem and what is going to happen next in her life. It is also an additional bonus, how Ann Rinaldi uses accurate historical events, to base her book upon. If you love to be entertained while you read, than this book is definitely for you!

Romance, tragedy, and life lessons are all wonderfully displayed in this novel, set during the period of the Revolutionary War. TIME ENOUGH FOR DRUMS, by Ann Rinaldi, is the story of Jem, a rebellious Patriot teenage girl, whose family is torn apart by the war. Her father is persecuted for not selling tea, her mother has a war "secret" of her own, the war beckons both of her brothers, and on top of all that, she clashes with her Tory tutor. Through the ups and downs of her life, Jem learns some important life lessons the hard way but comes out on top, and learns that people are not always what they seem. The reader learns that there is always, "time enough for drums." This novel keeps you wanting to know more and more about Jem and what is going to happen next in her life. It is also an additional bonus, how Ann Rinaldi uses accurate historical events, to base her book upon. If you love to be entertained while you read, than this book is definitely for you!

This is the best of all Ann Rinaldis books (I have read all of them). This book has the most interesting characters and a great plot. Everyone will enjoy Jem and her tutor and what happens between them. I have read this book probably 15 times and never get tired of it. The hints of romance and interest to this book. It teaches you about history without making you ever feel like you were in history class.

I have just started reading "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors", but the more I read the more I want to read. When finished it will be taken to the next reunion of the USS SOLEY (DD707) for use as a raffle item for another Tin Can Sailor to enjoy.

Totally amazing story. A good "history" lesson on WW II in the Pacific and the Japanese mentality.

This is an incredible story of true courage by the men of the U.S. Navy fighting in the Pacific during World War II. Words are not equal to the valor shown by the Tin Can Sailors who battled the best ships of the Japanese Navy and turned certain destruction into an unbelieveable victory. I dread to think that our nation may one day forget the courage and sacrifice of these men. The Tin Can Sailors are a shining examples of this nation's best. Highly recommend this book.

As a former Tin Can sailor it brought back a lot of good memories. I was lucky enough to come along after the second World War but as a sailor serving on Destroyers I new I was a member of a very exclusive club. Mr Hornfischer tells this story in such away that you just don't want to put the book down. We have had influx of books written on the "Greatest Generation" and this is a story that belongs with what has been written and what will be written about them.

A couple of years ago, I read "Shattered Sword" (about the Battle of Midway) and proclaimed it the best WWII account of Pacific Theatre Naval history to date. I now have to say THE LAST STAND OF THE TIN CAN SAILORS by James Hornfischer ranks right beside it.

This is a brilliantly presented accounting of Halsey's folly when he let his enormous ego get in the way of following orders. The result is the death of some of the Navy's finest tin can sailors and the birth of legends in Naval history. Had Halsey been in position with the 3rd Fleet to guard San Bernardino Straits, it is quite possible that even more American lives would have been lost in the ensuing battle, but it is also quite probably that the Japanese Center Force would have also been dismantled piecemeal just as the Japanese Southern Force had been destroyed the day before.

But, as history has shown, Halsey couldn't contain his ego and went chasing after his own legacy, leaving the Straits to be guarded by the "little guys" a tiny group of escort carriers and accompanying destroyers and destroyer escorts. Hornfischer deftly tells the tale of the men of these greatly overmatched tin cans who faced down the Imperial giants. Many of them eventually paid the ultimate sacrifice.

This incredibly well researched story will have you glued to every page. The details are accurate to a flaw and riveting like no other account I have ever read. This is superbly written and also includes several pages of photos as well as maps of ship positioning during the battle. This is one of the best Naval warfare history books you will ever read.

Susan is growing up during the Civil War. She helps the Confederate Cause by collecting silk dresses for a balloon to spy on the Union army. She also struggles with her mother, who takes out her anger on Susan. But when she meets her brother Lucien, who was shunned from the family and has anti-Confederate views, her loyalties are tested. Can she do what she thinks is right, without hurting the people she love?

I love this book. I read it years ago and wanted to read it again, so I bought it.

The Last Silk Dress is one of the Best Ann Rinaldi books I have read ( and I have read many). The way Ms Rinaldi discribes the occurances takes you back and makes you feel like you were there. This was actualy the first Rinaldi book I read and now I own at least 7 of her books. The author and the book are wonderful and I suggest anyone who is into historical fiction or just needs a good book to bye this one or check it out of the library.

I thought that this book was well writen and I could really relate to Susen the main character. She is the old version of a todays rebels. It is a very good book and I recomend it to anyone who loves history and fiction.

The Last Silk Dress was an excellent book. The author, Ms. Ann Rinaldi, wrote the story in first person format. The story truly showed what the main character, Susan Chilmark was thinking and feeling. Ann Rinaldi wrote with so much detail that one could picture each and every scene that she described. I felt present in each part of the story.
The book is not part of series. This book is not a journal, but it shows how Susan thought and felt when she was overcoming the challenges her brother, Lucien, set for her. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially people who like historical fiction.