Iowa Books

The best book of an age is a brave new form of imagination and wisdom. "Danube" is a post-generic transcendence of art and vision to an unknown zodiac of meaning. When a book is a leap of creativity, it is an honor to be a reader.

A majestic book of 401 pages and 170 chapters, "Danube" follows a mighty river(of 2,888km) from beginning to end as a journey of knowledge--of time, space, history and fate--to find not only where the river ends but also where time, space, history and fate end: in "God's plans." To know anything fully from beginning to end in an absolute feat of knowledge--the way Magris knows the Danube from the Black Forest to the Black Sea--is to know everything.

At the heart of "Danube" is a visionary outlook on time as a vastness of centuries of meaning that resides like a cosmos in a nutshell in any moment or place of our lives. Every place along the Danube is "a corner in which a vanished enchantment has taken refuge." In a memorable metaphor, Magris sees the countless years of time and history that have "mysteriously disappeared forever" as "fallen leaves" that accumulate like "humus" in the places where we live and in whose unknown depths lie the roots of who we are. For Magris, history settles as geography. With a preternatural vision of "wave after wave" of history--from the dim ancient days of the eighth century B.C. of the Thracians, Cimmerians and Scythians through the Holy Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Hapsburgs to the 1981 Nobel Prize for Literature to Elias Canetti--"superimposed and deposited one upon another in layer after layer" as "the multiple, composite substratum" of Danubian landscapes and lives, Magris unpacks history out of geography or time out of space. In following a river from place to place across a continent, "Danube" is a mythic descent into buried lives and races, dynasties and empires, ideologies and movements and epochs and civilizations that becomes a miracle of ascent to an ageless meaning untouched by "the incalculable loss of things."

Written out of encyclopedic learning radiant with moral lustre and unrestricted by the contracting conventions of a particular genre, "Danube" is free and "abundant" as a travelogue, a collection of essays, a handbook of biographies, a journal of meditations, a treatise of human geography, a history of "Mitteleuropa," a volume of literary criticism and a book of books all bound with artistic accessories of imagination of the craft of fiction into a post-generic "confederation" of writing and reality.

In "Danube," Magris has re-invented the book as a signifying expression and experience. Magris's book brings to mind the history of the book as a form of expression and a structure of experience and strikes us as beyond comparison with any other book.

An immaculate unity of heart, mind and spirit as a dignity of truth and beauty in words and a profound composition of selfless surrender to "the ultimate and essential things" in which a book becomes a state of being, "Danube" is simply the best book of our time. A soaring act of writing and a sublime structure of wisdom, "Danube" is an omega of solace. With an epic solidarity with everything from beginning to end in a chorus of faculties of awareness of unknown intellectual, emotional, aesthetic and spiritual synthesis, Claudio Magris is writer as hero of wisdom.

This book records one man's journey, but because this man is so many, it's more like the record of a migration.

Claudi Magris's work is simply the best travelogue that I have ever read: it is a work of imagination, erudition, and deeply-felt culture, and has been beautifully translated: I have never encountered English prose that better captures the cadence and rhythm of Italian!

Throughout history, the Danube has meant many different things to many different people: a highway, a playground, a barrier against the Turks, a symbol of eternal life or of life's melancholy. Magris structures this book as a travelogue, following the Danube from its source(s) in Germany through its debouchment into the Black Sea in Rumania. But in every place he visits, from a humble bench on the riverbank to the major cities of Vienna and Bucharest, he paints a vivid picture not only of the place itself, but of the people who have shaped its character and history.

I already knew that this region (for which he uses the shorthand term Mitteleuropa) had a complicated history, but I didn't realize how incredibly complicated it was until I read this book. Magris doesn't always untangle the complexities clearly enough for a non-European (and, from living briefly in the region as well as having family roots there, I'm probably better informed than most). On the other hand, his portraits of the people he meets are vivid and memorable -- from the old woman who presides over the 18th-century farmhouse where the Danube (possibly) rises, to the fisher-folk who live at the mouths of the river, to the functionaries and innkeepers who punctuate his journey and the friends who accompany him for parts of it. Writers, living and dead, are evoked as much as politicians and historians; one persistent theme of the book is how literature has reacted to, preserved, and in some instances shaped the history of Mitteleuropa.

All in all, the book is a magnificent achievement and well worth reading, even if some of Magris' observations have been rendered obsolete by the breakup of the Soviet Union. The translation is generally fluid and readable, although one can quibble with it here and there (I found a few minor inaccuracies in the sections that describe places I'm familiar with). And, as for the complaint that the regions traversed by the Danube are "too different" to be treated in one book, that difference *is* part of the story.

In this fascinating journey, Magris takes us from the very -and much disputed- sources of the Danube in the Black Forest, in Southern Germany, to the mouth of the river in the Black Sea, in Romanian territory. Along the way, Magris recreates the legends, stories and historical moments of every village and city he visits. The Danube area is, of course, full of history, since most peoples who ever set foot in Europe seem to have crossed it one way or another. Princes, wars, writers, lovers, many interesting and even fascinating stories illuminate for the reader the waters of the Danube. It really makes you want to make the same trip.

It would be interesting to read an update by Magris, especially about those places who were then under Soviet rule, now that almost 20 years have passed since the publication of the book. Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia all pass before your eyes like a dream.

Every town and story motivates in Magris deep reflections on history, memory, the passage of time, politics, and many other subjects. Magris's prose is dense in the best sense of the term: it is rich and deep, with a poetic quality to it. Very much recommended, it discovers for us many writers from that area who seem worth to read.

This book presents a tremendous amount of detail about Stalag Luft III. So many arcane details are presented! This includes such topics as the mental health of prisoners, religious and cultural activities of the prisoners, and even the heartbreak of POWs whose fianc?s had left them as a result of their captivity, and told them so in "Dear John" letters.

The well-publicized escapes from the camp (and also some not so well publicized ones) are relegated to only a relatively small part of the book. It is easy to see that the murder of 50 of the 73 recaptured POWs following the Great Escape did exert a chilling effect on future escapes, precisely as the Germans wanted. However, some tunnels (Margaret and George) were subsequently prepared in case the Germans attempted to kill all the prisoners in the end. A desperate revolt was also planned by the Stalag Luft III inmates in the event of such a German order. Much detail is also presented about the evacuation of the POWs from Stalag Luft III on the heels of the advancing Red Army.

When it comes to German treatment of its POWs, Stalag Luft III stands out as an exception in a very positive direction. However, there is no way of verifying the claim that the POWs in Stalag Luft III, despite their meager food rations, were nevertheless fed no worse than the frontline German soldiers.

The author Durand focuses on the common mistreatment of POWs by Germans in camps other than Stalag Luft III. For example, some erstwhile American POWs claim that their treatment was little different form that of concentration camp victims, except that the latter were likely to die of shootings or gassings. Even so, Durand gives a detailed but incomplete picture of the German treatment of POWs. He mentions some killings of American POWs and dwells on the numerous Soviet POWs murdered by the Germans. However, he fails to mention the fact that the widespread killing of POWs by Germans dates back to the very first days of the war, when Germans murdered thousands of Polish troops that had surrendered to them (not to mention civilians).

Duran quotes extensively from Kommandant von Lindeiner's memoirs. In it is mentioned the characteristics of different nationalities of POWs at Stalag Luft III. For example, von Lindeiner mentions the Poles as ones who worried about the future of Poland regardless of the outcome of the war. In view of the sellout of Poland at Yalta, and the ensuing Soviet Communist puppet state, these fears proved well founded.

I did not do my research when buying this book, but luckily, it ended up having very good value. I was more interested in reading about "The Great Escape," which is covered in this book since it took place at the camp. However, it is only mentioned in a chapter or two.

Nonetheless, the book covers the span of most of WWII. There are great tales of prisoner life. Very detailed with regards to the German POW system and how Allied prisoners lived.

It reads more like a term paper and not so much like an adventure story. Sort of like you're watching a history channel special on "German POW camps." So if you're looking for a story, I don't think you'll be happy with this. It's more a research piece. The author gives you glimpses into the procedures, day to day life, etc.

Every facet of camp life is covered and for that, he gets excellent marks. Details about food, contraband, holidays, leisure activities, building the camps, administration of the camps, etc. etc. It's all here. There are some tales about the actual prisoners. But I don't think this is the book's strong point. It excels in the nuts and bolts of POW camps and POW life, however does not delve too deeply into their stories.

For the record, my father was interned at this camp as an Army Air Corp prisoner. He is no longer living and passed away in 1973 at the age of 54. I was only 18 at the time. He was not very open about his experience however what he did tell me about the camp was often repeated and brought back to life "in detail" in this book. This is a must read for those interested in our military when the soldiers fought a much different battle and served for a great purpose.

Stalag Luft III is well known to fans of the movie "The Great Escape" as the German prison camp from which 76 Allied prisoners of war escaped in March 1944. That movie was based primarily on Paul Brickhill's short but extemely well-written memoir. This much longer book by Arthur Durand is, in a sense, the rest of the story of life in Stalag Luft III.

Durand takes the long view of the experience of the Allied POWs incarcerated in Stalag Luft III. His narrative describes how some of the more memorable personalities were captured and how they came to be held at Stalage Luft III, how the camp was administered by the respective German and Allied chains of command, and how the prisoners survived the austere conditions in the camp. The digging of a series of escape tunnels, the "Great Escape", and its aftermath are a central portion of the story, but so are the mundane day-to-day details of survival for years in captivity.

Durand explores the difficult relationship between the Allied POWs and their German captors. The POWs saw it as their duty to escape, a duty the Germans essentially understood but were obviously eager to prevent. It appears that for the most part, the German Air Force staff of Stalag Luft III and the captured Allied fliers were operating from a largely shared set of assumptions about how each should behave. The Commandant of Stalag Luft III appears to have been as sympathetic as he was portrayed in the movie. At the same time, there were limits to what the German Government would tolerate; the execution of fifty escapees from the "Great Escape" was a chilling example of how dangerous it was to exceed those limits.

Durand has included a small but illustrative selection of photographs of the camp. In an appendix, he provides a short history of prisoners of war. An excellent bibliography points to the way to additional documentation for interested readers.

This book is highly recommended to fans of "The Great Escape" and to students of the POW experience. They will find Durand's account to be close to exhaustive on Stalage Luft III.

This is a fascinating book about life in a certain POW camp in Germany during World War II. Its authenticity is unquestioned, as it is based upon a diary of events that was written down at the time, rather than later, after memories faded. The book is as detailed a look at life behind barbed wire as one could want. This is a very comprehensive book.

Stalag Luft 3, the camp, is where the actual "Great Escape" occurred, but that is only a small part of this book, which concentrates on detailing the POW experience from capture and interrogation to the war's end.

The interesting thing that I derived from the book was that although the Germans were not completely scrupulous about living up to their obligations under the Geneva convention, they at least paid attention to these rules, and most allied POWs who made it alive to a camp did make it home alive after the war. That is more than can be said, by a wide margin, for those American and Allied soldiers who were POWs of the Japanese. Part of this, the book speculates, is because the Luftwaffe held these POWs (this was a camp for airmen POWs) and it knew that England was holding large numbers of shot-down Luftwaffe pilots. Both sides wanted their men to be treated well. It is probably accurate to say that most of the outrages that the Germans committed against allied soldiers occurred before the captured soldiers reached the German camp system. The massacre of American GIs at Malmady comes to mind. Also, when escaped POWs fell into the hands of the Gestapo, this was never good.

Despite this, however, the book makes clear the shortcomings of the German treatment of the men. The food ration amounted to slow-motion starvation, unless the men supplemented their rations in various ways including the famous "Red Cross parcels." Sanitation was rudimentary until the POWs themselves took a hand in designing a latrine system. On the other hand, the book also makes clear that the German staff of the camp got pretty lean rations too--the fact appears to be that Germany was having a hard time as the war progressed feeding anyone, let alone POWs.

The most fascinating part of the story, to me at least, was the interaction between the POWs and the German camp staff. There were collaborators on both sides, and many of the German staff evidently felt that Germany was likely to lose the war, and this appears to have encouraged some collaboration. Pretty interesting.

Another fascinating facet of the book is how the POWs at Stalag Luft III organized what amounted to a college, which actually conferred credit hours which, after the war, were accepted by many British and American universities as good credit towards a degree. Courage and hope amidst adversity! Good for them!

The degree of detail in this book is startling, and may be more than some readers want to know about camp life, but I found that this detail gave a gritty and realistic comprehenstion to the reader about what camp life was like.

An excellent piece of history that retains its relevance to the present day.

A superbly written book. Here in Omaha, our many neighborhoods were like a dozen Ames, Iowa towns. It's history now, but at least we can re-experience some of the pleasant memories by reading this story.

This is the most interesting book I have ever read about growing up in the Nifty Fifties. Nothing can compare to that era, even though I am younger. Times since then have been terribly stressful in this nation. It's a joy to re-read the book, and drift back to peacefulness. Gosh, the author is age 60 this year of 2000 ! Time flies by too fast. Ames, Iowa has been blessed to remain a smaller city, and has a great past.

Once I began reading this great book, it was hard to take a break for even mealtimes. When I was growing up here in Ohio during the 1950s, it was quite a bit like in the author's story. Not perfect, but a very good life!

It's a refreshing Step Back In Time reading. Difficult to believe such an era ever existed. Today's readers will learn a lot about how to live a simpler, equally enjoyable life.

Susan Allen Toth first appeared on my radar screen with her three volumes of travel essays on England (My Love Affair with England: A Traveler's Memoir, England for All Seasons, England as You Like It). She's a soul mate. In BLOOMING, penned in the late 70s, Ms. Toth shares coming-of-age memories as delightful as those from another of my favorite authors, Laura Shaine Cunningham (Sleeping Arrangements, A PLACE IN THE COUNTRY).

Susan was born in 1940, and BLOOMING is her account of life in Ames, Iowa until she went East to college in 1957. The ability to relate will increase to the degree that the reader's background shares commonality with the following: maturing in the late 40s and 50s, living in a Midwest plains state, being female. I can only claim identity with the first, but that limited coincidence didn't affect my ability to thoroughly enjoy this volume.

Toth's remarkable memory of her childhood and teenage years could serve as the source for Norman Rockwell paintings as she remembers swimming pools, boyfriends, girlfriends, science classes, the public library, parties, summer jobs, the traditional holidays, and yearly trips to the Minnesota lake where relatives owned a cabin. She was unusually reticent about her immediate family. We learn only that her father died when she was in the third grade, and she and her sister were raised by their mother, a teacher. This absence of familial information is somewhat disappointing as it's perhaps a gold mine of stories not told. For instance, Susan writes about her sister, one year older:

"My sister and I, who fought most of the time, declared an unspoken truce on Christmas morning and hugged awkwardly as we exchanged gifts. For those brief moments, we really wanted to please each other." So, what did they fight over? Boys? Clothes? Maternal attention?

The realist might point out that most of the world's children, and many in America, didn't live formative years as idyllic as depicted in BLOOMING. True enough. But I lived the male version in Southern California, and Toth's was sufficiently similar in rhythm to remind me of those Good Ol' Days when I didn't know how good I had it. Thank you, Susan.

...

Ever since I saw the movie "It's a wonderful life" 9 years ago, I have been captivated by this truly amazing woman! Since then I have purchase many items about Donna Reed Mullenger, her biography (In seach of Donna Reed, which was truly a work of art, and I sure can relate to the feeling Mr.Fultz has for her!) also many movies staring this wonderful creature. I only wish I would have known her personnally...
Anyway, I sure would like to see more DVD movies available to the public, staring the beautiful Miss Reed.

Not a typical Hollywood "tell all", this book is really geared towards fans of Donna Reed. Though very informational, the writing lacks professional polish that perhaps a more experienced biographer would've been able to use to spark it up a little.

I rediscovered Donna Reed less than a month ago. I had forgotten just how good she was in It's a Wonderful Life. The more I saw, the more I looked. The more I looked, the more I realized just how far the public perception of her is from reality. I found a copy of Jay Fultz's "In Search Of Donna Reed" online and ordered it. By the time it arrived I had become immersed in IAWL facts and all I could find out about this woman who had seemed to appear and shine so brilliantly for a moment and then disappear. My only memory of her show was that it seemed loved and hated-I never saw it, so you can guess where my dad stood. Soon I would learn that, for some strange reason she was, and still is, the undeserving victim of a very determined slander campaign. I picked up the book and met Miss Mullenger. She was the sweetest little girl who just seemed to get better with age. Her performance in It's a Wonderful Life is so much like the Donnabelle Mullenger I met in this book-bringing the sense of quality that, I think is one of the reasons it endures. She is the reason Mr. Stewart's anguish is real, because I can see it reflected on the very real face of Donna's Mary. The hurt she felt at his hands two years later was one answer I was seeking, they had such perfect "chemistry" in IAWL, why is this the only film they both star in? According to Jay, she would say to "ask Miss Allyson."

Two days after I met her, I felt as if a near and dear relative was at death's door. Even though I KNEW that twenty years had passed, reading (at work) Mr. Fultz's account of the death of this remarkable woman awakened in me a sense of loss so powerful that I had to finish reading it in my car...

While looking for a way to contact Mr. Fultz, I came across what was called a review of this book in a popular magazine (I won't say it's name, but it covers the movie and TV industry) . The hate in it for Donna and for anyone who would praise her was simply appalling. They didn't even try to discredit the research, but rather selected biased facts from her life and even lied in a subtle way to attempt to trivialize her contributions. I now realize that those who don't like Donna Reed are almost always those who don't know her. They mock her TV show as "bland" but never say how many thousands of troubled children must have found refuge in her "home" each week, as evident by the letters she received from a tiny fraction of the 35 million plus viewers at her peak. We see a Donna Reed who fought studio and sponsor desires to maintain the stereotype she fought against in the movie industry, and that her fight for women's rights cost her more than many who have gotten better press at far less personal cost. In Search of Donna Reed is backed by over twenty five pages of detailed notes of sources: interviews, documents, letters, an amazing amount of material that show Mr. Fultz to be a dedicated researcher fully capable of producing an honest account that is worthy of the memory of Donna Reed, even if it is a labor of love-or perhaps because it is.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading along as Jay Fultz sought out Donna Reed. Did it answer all my questions about her? No. But that was part of the guilty-pleasure appeal of this book. I learned things about Donna herself and her life and career than I previously knew, and it was a pleasing experience to just sit back and enjoy the ride without becoming a backseat driver. Fultz's respectful excitement in the process of "discovery" comes across in every chapter. A charming, intelligent retrospective worthy of Miss Reed's memory.

A biography of a truly beautiful woman! Some celebrities went trough life with everything handed to them on a silver plate, not Donna Reed, she realy had to work for everything she stood for back then and today, not only has a superstar but also as a human being. From her early years in Denison Iowa to her movie and televison career to her activist days to being a devoted mother and wife, get to know about some of her life struggules and pleasures in Jay Fultz's A-1 bio of a wonderfully private person that didn't let fame get the best of her. Under that star image is a down-to-earth extremely intoxicating person with a very charitable heart and giving nature.

In my heart she definataly was one of the greatest woman that ever walked God's green earth and is the closest thing to human perfection!.....Rob J.

this was good book.you can learn a lot.some of it is hard to remember,such as which type bonnet etc.but it was good.she could have even went into more detail of the mistreatment she felt she received from her family,but its the amish way not to offend.nadia rehmani -authoor of sharper than a two edged sword-one woman's walk into Islam and out.thats my story

This is the true story of how one woman made the change and left the Amish lifestyle. It tells of the personal struggles of leaving family and lifetime friends all behind to adventure into a new life and follow one's own convictions. Very well written and informative. You can almost feel the pain this lady went through to start her new way of life!
I feel that all books are over-priced and for that reason I give this book only four stars!

It was so enlighting. It really was interesting to me to actually read about the Amish communitity.

Timely shipment and in great condition. I was very pleased with order.

This was an interesting book. However, the content was, in my opinion, limited. It was more like an outline with a few details. Information was interesting; but seemed to skim the surface of everyday Amish life.

I first became aware of Dr. Gastel's book when she was quoted in an e book on medical writing written by one of her former students who has done quite well in the profession. As a disabled physician interested in developing my writing skills I felt that this might just be the information source I needed. I couldn't have been more correct. Her writing style is easy to follow and understand and the topics chosen for this book fully encompass the various areas that even a seasoned writer might find useful. She has also included numerous helpful websites. There aren't a lot of books available on this subject but there doesn't need to be when one such as this has been written. Thanks Dr. Gastel!!

Gives you lots of relevant contact info that you could choose from depending on the type of article you plan to write. Good for beginners but I see it as useful for advanced writers as well. Makes excellent points on what goes into writing a riveting and relevant article. Overall, I recommend it.

Barbara Gastel's Health Writer's Handbook is one of the most useful guides I have ever owned. It is well written and to the point. Although I am a seasoned professional writer, I am relatively new to the health beat. This book saved me hours of investigational research. Thank you Barbara Gastel.

Gastel covers all the basics and not-so-basics of health writing. I got this book as an introduction to health writing, but I find that the advice Gastel offers applies to all good writing. She includes a very in-depth chapter about how to find information (research, research, research!). There are also chapters on Preparing the Piece, Exploring Areas and Issues, and Pursuing a Career. All of the chapters are broken down into logical, easy-to-follow sub-headings such as Ethical Issues, Sensitivity and Style, Professional Organizations, Genres of Health Writing, etc.

I think the greatest thing about this book is Gastel's writing style. The writing is fluid and concise without being condescending (sorry to say that the same isn't true of many other "how-to" books on writing). Great cartoons illustrate the text but do not overwhelm or distract. This is, quite simply, a great little book that has provided me with so much valuable information. Bravo!

Although targeted toward the writing professional, Health Writer's Handbook is a good source for the non-writer in this age of one scientific study telling you not to eat fiber and another saying you must eat forty bowls of it. The book is arranged in order of how one would go about researching and writing an article or book in the health field. The first section, "Finding Topics and Information," identifies where to locate information to help you formulate a piece. One particular helpful category is "Tips on Interviewing." Some of the more useful ones include, remember to be prepared before the interview, but do not appear to be a know-it-all on the subject, review notes immediately after an interview and double check with the source on any material on which you may be unclear. E-mail communication is a great way to do this.

One of the best sections of the book is "Evaluating Information" found under Part II, "Preparing the Piece." There are ten key items to evaluate, such as the source, study design, averages, etc. Gastel, also, presents an overview of good writing techniques, which might be rudimentary for someone with experience, but she adds specific examples of health-writing style which would probably not be found in regular style books. The last section has information on career options, professional organizations, and educational opportunities. While these are easily found elsewhere, it is convenient to have them in one source.

As I read this remarkable volume I felt I was being transported back to those Civil War days, telling me how it was both in the war zone and back home in Iowa. Jacob Ritner is a remarkable figure, inspiring admiration and eminently worthy of emulation. His accounts of the battles he was in are vivid and immediate, and the editor of this volume has performed a most worthwhile service in resurrecting from the buried past this correspondence to inspire all who value patriotism and fidelity to duty and to one's marriage vow. One cannot but be enriched by following Captain Ritner and his wife thru those perilous years from 1861 thru 1865.

What a splendid work of Civil War history! Hats off to Charles F.Larimer. I couldn't have imagined there was so much historical data in intimate letters. The details are all here. What trials and tribulations our forefathers and mothers went through to perserve our nation. I now find myself becoming a Civil War buff after reading this book, and it only took me three days! As I read on, I found myself in my great-great grandfather's shoes fighting along the side of Cpt.Jacob Ritner and the boys from the 25th. How involved you become. I enjoyed the little jousting that Jacob and Crane had. Buy it today and enjoy a sentimental piece of Civil War history..........

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book!. Some times, historical correspondance can be dry. However, these letter are not! They are very readable, offering a interesting insight into the real lives of people during the turbulent era of the Civil War. Charles Larimer has done excellent research and his annotations add to the context of when the letters were written. Highly recommended. I look forward to reading his Scottish Stories from Loch Ness.

I am not a reader of books nor a student of the civil war. However, I found this book to be fascinating. The horrors of war and the loneliness of soldiers are universal, and the insights into this particular war and historical era are compelling. It is very easy to read, and is both educational and entertaining. Please give me more by this writer!

As an amateur war historian, I find that all too rarely do we see the war on both sides. The hardships of everyday Americans during the Civil War were not only occurring on the battlefield, but in the homes left behind in the cornfields of Iowa. This unique perspective is presented in the heartfelt correspondence between Jacob and Emeline. A rare opportunity to behold the searching meditations of a man gripped by both love, and patriotism.

Make way for Mark Brazaitis, a new voice, a new awareness in American letters. Not that he pushes his way onto stage center, understand. On the contrary this diffident artist masks his considerable art and talent in gentleness. His collection of stories, "The River of Lost Voices," taps deeply into the experience and sensitivity of Guatemala, and, through this country into a larger Latin American landscape. In literary terms, the vein is known as magic realism, a well-spring of Latin reality. But he does so as an U.S. American, and because of this serves us all as guide into its mysteries. His understanding of female psychology is wonderful to behold. In contrast, García Márquez and Vargas Llosa, the reigning gods of magic realism, approach their women with characteristic macho bravado. Not so Brazaitis. His insight here is uncanny. Here's a man after woman's heart.

This is a beautiful collection of stories. The writing is vivid, the character portrayal rich with detail and emotional depth. I remain haunted by what I read in this book: the unsettling images, the keen insight into a town on the other side of the globe, the energy of the characters. This ranks among the best-written books of short stories that I have read, and I heartily recommend it.

Mark Brazaitis has done a wonderful job of capturing the human experience in this terrific collection. I found myself being drawn into each of the stories and falling in love with the characters. His use of magical realism captures the spirit of Latin American literature perfectly. I highly recommend this collection and look forward to reading future works by this extremely talented new writer.

This is an extraordinary look at what may seem like an ordinary town. The stories here vary from the horrific ("Jose Del Rio") to the mournful ("The Whale") to the humorous ("How They Healed") to the epic ("Bathwater"). Throughout the collection, the author shows immense compassion for his characters.

Although, I enjoyed some of the short stories, and they provided some insight on situation faced by the people of Guatemala, I was disappointed in this book for 2 reasons. First, I understood, that the book was a voice of a Guatemalan writer. It turns out, however, that the author is a native of Washington D.C., who spent 4 years in Guatemala with the Peace Corps. He does not write of the experience of an expatriate in Guatemala, but rather writes from a first person psychological perspective of the Guatemalans themselves, especially the indigenous people. While an outsider often can have penetrating insight into a culture, especially one's own, they remain an outsider with an outsider perspectives and values. My second grounds for disappointment, and I believe related to the first, is that a predominant theme in most of the stories concerned the sexual experience of the principle characters. While human sexuality is no doubt a riveting part of human experience, and much written about in contemporary serious literature, I was disappointed that other themes more central to the people of Guatemala were not more deeply explored.

I found this book at the local library and picked it up on a whim. It's very good, and I highly recommend it if you can find a copy. Like another reviewers said, it doesn't include details about how air traffic control is done, but instead paints a picture about what it's like to BE a controller, particularly in the 80s before and after PATCO's strike. There are some great near-miss stories and tales about eccentric controllers that are some of my favorite parts of the book.

Actually 3 1/2 stars...I was a little disappointed in this because I was expecting more technical explanation of ATC practices versus a kind of memoir on Brenlove's life in ATC. There were some definite interesting parts and this book isn't bad at all, just know what you'll be reading when you get it. That being said, I'd probably still buy this book because, as I mentioned before, there is some value here and makes for entertaining reading, just don't expect to gain any real insight into ATC processes.

This book is very insightful in the fact that it gives the reader a good idea of the types of people air traffic controllers are. Furthermore, it has real life examples of airplane "conflicts" and definately shows why this job has been rated as the most stressful in the world.

This book is so down-to-earth filled with hair-raising and hilarious tales. He explains technical things in layman's terms.

Excellent!

It's like sitting around in his living room, as he recounts story after story about personalities and the ups and downs of being an air traffic controller. While giving some very interesting information about how air traffic is controlled, the book is more about people; the people that succeed and fail as air traffic controllers. Of particular interest are the sections devoted to the 1981 PATCO strike, and the acrimony leading up to it. Of less interest appeared to be the stories about what a great guy X was, or what a jerk Y was, but in retrospect, these stories serve as useful pieces in the overall picture of what it is like to work as a controller.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in gaining an understanding of a very special job and the people that do it. If you are interested in learning the nitty gritty of how controllers do their work, or in riveting prose, then you had best look elsewhere.

I truly enjoyed this book. I heartly recommend it to anyone interested in the prarie.

I honestly think this is one of the best books I've ever read. The anecdotal style, combined with Madson's love and respect for the prairie, make it a very informative and entertaining read. I've read other books by Madson, and it all came together for him in this one. I hitch-hiked from Wisconsin to the far edge of South Dakota in my 20's, sleeping under the stars on the prairie, and this book helped explain the connection I felt.

The late John Madson was the equivalent of a later day Aldo Leopold. He was gifted in writing about the natural world and drawing a connection to mankind. This book does that for man and the tallgrass prairie. In this book, Madson examines man's relationship with the prairie and the creatures that call the prairie home. Madson presents a narative that is both insightful and entertaining and makes a strong case for why the tallgrass prairie should be preserved and restored.

I once got lost with John Madson in the Great Batchtown Swamp, but I never got stuck in any of his books -- he is a great outdoorsman and writer, who always takes your imagination somewhere interesting (and often useful). He wrote the best book ever on The Pheasant, a wee paperback that he dashed off in a couple of weeks but which has never been bettered. It must be natural talent, but as Lee Trevino said, I had to hit a million practice balls before my natural talent began to show through. Willy Newlands (Scotland)

As a kid growing up in post-war Chicago suburbia, I got to see farmlands give way to housing tracts. The question I asked was "What was here before the farms?" Madson has the answer--prairie. Practically a million square miles of prairie and the first European settlers never had an idea that a vast expanse of grassland stretched roughly from the eastern border of Illinois to the Rocky Mountains.

Madson takes you to the prairie from an historical, personal, anecdotal, and geological perspective. You can practically see the prairie flora, feel the prairie air on your face, hear the prairie fauna calling you in this excellently written and touching book. Enjoy!