Missouri Books

SOME NERVE is a contemporary novel featuring Ann Roth. Honesty and integrity are not the tools for a celebrity journalist, and nice is not what her editor is looking for. When told to get a story on the most reclusive personality since Howard Hughes, Ann pulls out every creative trick in her arsenal. It isn't enough. She must face her paralyzing fear of heights. Physically unable to do so, she goes back to her magazine empty-handed. Fired, she returns home defeated. Taking on local fanfare of hair salon openings and the like, Ann is given a second chance when the man who cost her her job is admitted to the local hospital. Geared up, she is determined to get her job and her reputation back.

With great minor characters and no sluggish areas, this book was very easy to get into. Ann had a great voice and personality that I found endearing. (I did find it jarring with the number of parentheses the author used.) I could feel the anxiety as Ann tried to overcome her fear, get the story, and prove herself. In the middle of the book, the story took a sharp turn, almost with a feeling of being a different book. Although we see growth and change in the character, the amount that was shown seemed out of place with the style of the story up to this point. There were a few believability issues that I struggled with, and I thought the ending was predictable.

Overall, I'm glad I read it.

Carol A. Spradling, author
CarolASpradling.com

This book was definitely light entertainment. It was very predictable, but there were a few funny moments. There were a couple of plot lines I was hoping would get wrapped up that never did (the possible hospital corruption and Richard's involvement as well as her mom's progress). I think 3 out of 5 is very fair for this book and would recommend it for a quick easy read.

This is the first of Ms. Heller's books I've read but it certainly isn't the last. Her writing is witty, her characters realistic, and her plots keep the pace lively. I'll definitely be back for more!

I've read most of Jane Heller's books. I really liked her earlier ones, like "Cha Cha Cha" and "Sim Boom Bah", but I feel her newer ones are becoming a bit too predictable, like this one. But hey, us writer gals gotta stick together, so I say, "Go Jane!" I only hope that someday I'll be as well known for my writing!

Yes, this plot may not be that hard to figure out, but it's a lot of fun. Plus, it is an easy read that just flows. So if you're looking for something deep, this isn't it. If you are looking for a light, fun treat, this is it.

Others I like: Whitney Gaskell, Emily Giffin, & Janet Evanovich

My wife bought me two new books for Christmas. They are:

Petersen, Paul R -- Quantrill of Missouri : the making of a guerilla warrior : the man, the myth, the soldier; and

O'Flaherty, Daniel -- General Jo Shelby : undefeated rebel.

I just finished reading Petersen's book last night. I had heard a lot about the book before from Missouri Civil War online discussion groups to which I belong. Due to my family history, I have a very personal interest in Quantrill. Events in my life have led me to have a very emotional response to Petersen's book.

Before getting into my personal reaction to the book, I would like to say that it is very well written and very well researched. The only other book I have read about Quantrill was Edward E Leslie's: "The Devil Knows How to Ride : The True Story of William Clarke Quantrill and His Confederate Raiders." If one reads one of these books, it might be a good idea to read the other to get a more balanced view. If you haven't seen "Ride With the Devil", it might be worth your time to watch it.

Petersen gives much more detail then Leslie. He has clearly read many sources and accounts of the career of Captain Quantrill. Quantrill's career is surrounded by controversy. Petersen resolutely takes one side. I tend to believe that no one can ever know "the truth" about Quantrill.

I tend to doubt his claim that he had only been a Jayhawker to get revenge against Jayhawkers who had attacked him and killed his "brother." My view of Quantrill was that he was attracted to the life of a partisan, and the side made little difference. His story makes much more sense if it is seen as a way to gain the trust and confidence of the Bushwhackers he later joined and led. Petersen consistently refers to "Colonel" Quantrill, although that title is very much in question.

One of my reasons for reading this book was to get more information about the lives of my ancestors who lived through the events. My McFerrin and Porter ancestors lived in Cass County, about ten miles east of Harrisonville. The Porter's lived near Dayton, which was burnt by Jennison's Jayhawkers, led by Susan B Anthony's brother, early in The War. The McFerrin's lived on Eight Mile Creek. Three couples of McFerrin and Porter children married each other. They also lived in the area. Samuel Burton McFerrin, on whom my SCV membership is based, served first in the 8th Battalion Missouri Infantry (State Guard). He and his father were at Lone Jack. Burton later served in the 9th Missouri Confederate Infantry, against Banks on the Red River, and against Steele in the Camden Expedition.

My Deay and Vitt ancestors lived about fifty miles away in Eudora, Kansas, about seven miles west of Lawrence. Some of them enlisted in Kansas regiments after Quantrill's raid on Lawrence. During that raid, Quantrill sent a company to Eudora. The farmers in Eudora had heard the sounds of the battle. They were armed when Quantrill's raiders attacked, and turned them away. The children of William H Musick, on whom my SUV membership is based, married into the Deay and Vitt families. Members of William's regiment served under Steele in the Camden Expedition. My great-great-grandmother, Lena Vogel, was born in 1863 in Macon, Missouri, about thirty miles north of Centralia.

Due to these family connections, I have a very personal interest in the events of the Kansas/Missouri War. I received my Master of Divinity degree from Thomas Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California. This is a Unitarian Universalist seminary. Starr King was a Universalist. He is credited with keeping California in the Union. He was a colleague of Theodore Parker, the Unitarian minister who agitated for war against the South. Parker was a member of "The Secret Six" who raised money for John Brown. My deep personal feelings against Parker may be the main reason I did not pursue a Unitarian ministry.

Unlike Paul Petersen, I cannot make a hero of Quantrill or Bill Anderson. I place these two in the same group with James H Lane, Charles Jennison, and Theodore Parker. These are people who chose War and killing as a way to advance their personal agendas. I do not see any of these as being the "protectors" of either branch of my family. I see them as being the reason that my family's lives were terrorized. I very much blame both Quantrill and Jennison for the fact that my ancestors' homes were burnt to the ground, and that they were forced into exile or concentration camps.

If you want to know what William Clarke Quantrill was really like, then this is THE book for you. Petersen really did his homework, questioned all the assumptions closely and paid attention to the answers he got back. This is the story of the War Between the States from the Missouri Point of View. Quantrill is shown for the hero he was instead of the psychopath his detractors have painted him to be (without substantiation, I might add.)

The author seems bent on tipping the balance from the negative portrayal of previous biographers such as Connelly to the extreme opposite. Indeed, this weighty tome seems to be not much more than a response to Connelly's biography at the expense of objectivity. William Quantrill may not have been the devil incarnate but he was also no saint. The author seems to put a lot of stock into "God-fearing people" who followed Quantrill as if to impute their righteousness to him - instead of guilt by association it is the equally unjustified righteousness by association. In the end we are given not an historical biography but an idolatrous apologetic of the Confederate guerrilla leader.

As a biography, this portrayal in an attitude of deep reverance for the subject only perpetuates the neo-Confederate myth. The same fault makes it untrustworthy as a political or military history. Perhaps the value is in it's adoption and example of the Confederate apologetic method. Truly the Confederate side of the history has been vilified to an unfair degree outside the context of the times. But countering the vilification with the opposite extreme does not provide balance. It only makes the Confederate side seem ludicrous and makes one question the purpose for their fight altogether rather than explaining the background of the conflict.

The fact that the text seems a response only to anti-Confederate biographers is evidenced further by little mention of more balanced biographies such as _The Devil Knows How to Ride_ by Edward Leslie. I would highly recommend that book for a more balanced approach. I was pleased to find that many of the works of Mr. Donald Hale and Ms. Joanne Eakin are identified as sources since I have found their work very helpful in my own study of the guerrilla war in Missouri. Their research has led them to gather many of the primary and secondary sources into collections for publication into single volumes. It is a labor of love for them that will help current and future researchers immensely in this study.

In contrast to the portrayal given in the text, the photographs and maps provided are first rate and help to place the reader in the context of the time.

I have done extensive reading and research on this topic over the last decade and this is the most well researched, complete, and accurate account that exists today. If you are looking for a book that just re-enforces your already preconceived notions - then try something much shorter and less well done. Otherwise I would highly recommend it to those looking for a complete, accurate, and well researched account. It is probably much more of a neutral view than a souther view. Since most of the related history that I have found has been an extreme "slant" on history by Northen side of the war, who got to control how history was recorded, this may appear to be a southern view. If you have researched this topic as much as I have done, it will appear as probably one of the few attempts at accurately recording this most difficult time in the history of the mid-west.

From a woman's point of view this book was fascinating reading. Mr. Petersen's book is by far the best book yet written about William Clarke Quantrill. Not only his new insights but his understanding and experience as a combat veteran enables Petersen to give the reader a clear understanding why guerrillas fought so desperately. For the first time a complete account has been compiled written in a clear and easy-to-read style professionally edited and produced by a leading publisher. Reviews by critics who claim their self ascribed knowledge, is immaterial compared to someone who has done years of research and has tangible proof to show for it. Critics who once lamblasted Quantrill's men were labeled as unqualified and irresponsible. Modern reviewers lacking education or credentials are still critical of anything not demonizing Quantrill by showing their bitterness and mean-spiritness in what Petersen has expertly portrayed in his new book. One man with courage makes a majority and I'm glad Petersen had the determination and fortitude to see this work put into print. It should set a new standard for books about the border war in Missouri.

I have always been interested in the Second World War and especially the little known battles and actions of that war.
Lately; I have delved into the Italian part in this conflict and the tragic consequences to their brave soldiers.
"Few Returned", gives you a first hand glimpse of what it was like for man, pack animals and equipment, fighting and struggling to survive on the Eastern Front.
You will wonder how anyone returned from that winter retreat.
The author Eugenio Corti also gives the reader a good feel for the national differences between the Italians, Germans and Russians.
Combat is sporadic throughout the retreat, but again Corti gives you a good feel of how it was for all sides.

Corti who was a twenty-one year old artillery officer on the Stalingrad front, was part of the Eighth Italian Army that was cut off when Zhukov sent in the pincers that surrounded the Sixth German Army. His group was in a pocket northeast of Stalingrad that was made up of Italian and German soldiers.

Out of the 30 thousand Italians who held the front at the Don north of Stalingrad, less than four thousand made it out of the pocket and up to one thousand of those died from their wounds and exposure. Corti doesn't pull any punches as to what happened in the pocket or who was to blame.

Many of the Italians had just come to the front over the last two weeks. They were totally unprepared for what was going to become a retreat over one hundred kilometers while constantly under Russian fire. They had to walk most of the way in inadequate uniforms and boots while the Germans requestioned horse and mules and sleds for their own use.

Corti speaks of how the Germans were much better organized and kept their military lines-or-command intact, whereas the Italians in many cases became a mob without any reason or understanding of the situation. At times no one was in charge of taking care of the wounded or giving out provisions. While the German Luftwaffe dropped food and ammunition by parachute, the Italian Air Force was conspicuous by their absence.

The story is straight forward and brutal. Corti does not try to make excuses for anyone (including himself) in the treatment of fellow soldiers or of civilians. It was survive at any cost.

Zeb Kantrowitz

Above all, this book is a record of one man's experience as an Italian soldier fighting on the Eastern Front during World War II against Russia. More specifically, it is about a few horrible weeks of fighting and retreating. It is *not* a story or novel, really, but almost like an after action report. The book contains the author's feelings and some of what he saw, but you get the distinct sense while reading this book that he wrote it as a record of what he saw and did, and as an homage to his friends who never made it out of Russia, but not as an attempt to write a story. The author never really tries tying the events into a broader context or explaining the full experiences he had on the Eastern front; it is just a snap shot of a limited time frame, and only limited snapshots even within that time frame.

This book is not a blow by blow recitation of combat. While the author is clearly involved in a number of intense fights, both before and during the period covered in the book, we never really hear about it. It's almost as if he is trying NOT to make this a book about combat. If there is an engagement we hear of the troops forming up for it, a sentence or two about the fight, and then more pages about the aftermath - the wounds, the dead.

The most insightful and remarkable aspects of this book to me are: 1) the ability of the author to show us the horrors of war; 2) the brutality on both sides; and 3) how horrible the Nazis were even to their allies. I take each in turn.

1) This book makes very clear how much human suffering war brings with it. Through its dry, almost camera-like recitation of horror after horror (friends freezing to death in front of him, morter shells cutting people in two) we can almost imagine what it must be like to be walking through a combat zone strewn with bodies and wounded men and animals. We also see how war turns honorable, good men into self-interested beings centered only on survival. The author, for example, is clearly a brave, honorable, educated man and officer. We watch as his pride in being an officer and an Italian soldier slowly gives way to self-survival. We also watch as this man with deep loyalty to his unit and his friends gives way (as we all would, I'm sure) to self-interest. Fascinating.

2) Suffice it to say that the book makes clear how brutal all sides were in this war: Soviets and Nazis alike commit brutal, heartless acts.

3) The savagery and callousness of the Nazis towards their allies is stunning. While paying homage to the combat skills of the Nazis, the author shows clearly how the Nazies treated the Italians serving and dying in their cause only slightly better than their hated enemy the Soviets. For example, we read of a time when, during the retreat, the Nazis held up thousands of Italians, subjecting them to withering small arms and artillery fire from the Russians for hours, in order to clear mud off of German trucks. We see how Nazis failed to share food, information or shelter with their "allies." We see Germans shooting at wounded Italians (their allies, remember!) who dared to try and get a ride on a German vehicle.

This book is somewhat dry, somewhat repetititious, but worth a read for those wanting a sense of what the winter retreat was like for an Italian soldier serving in WW2's horribly grueling East Front.

This book is different from others in that it does not glorify War,it does not tend to over exaggerate what happened in battle, it does'nt even try to blow up the truth with nonsensical war heroics recounted ( like many german or British books, dare I say).
Its a straight forward recount in diary form of how onw Italian officer and his brave troops dared all to fight back the Russians, the bitter cold and the odds of making it back on foot without decent rations , heavyweapons or transportation which were rendered useless in battle or just plainly nevr had their ammo resupplied by the faster retreating better equiped self serving Nazis.
It si common for the uneducated armchair historian or plainly ignorant war hobbyist to brand the Italians as cowards, however when one delves deeper into the actualities of WW2 and gets to the events as they really happened unaltered by propaganda and rascist reporting then we really see that the Italians which were up against it from the start, put in as brave a performance as any fighting man could and beyond that in many a case.

I recommend this book to all for the honesty and open portrayal of the horrors of War and the true nature of men when faced with the harshness and desperation of survival.
Its not a novel as anyone who's half literate can plainly see, but a diary of man brave man and his troops that fought their way thru the russians, the elements and evn the Nazis cruelty to survive!
Enjoy the read! A must have for the war historian at heart.

.. I think that one of the "soldier view" of the whole Eastern Front history from axis side is "The Sergeant In The Snow" by Mario Rigoni Stern.

This was a fun read marred by an annoying and inexcusable flaw: The book's poorly edited. The author's often entertaining anecdotes are more often then not inserted into the story in ways that break up the already choppy narrative flow: a sin of using a word processor and being in too much of a hurry. In addition to mistaking the Phillies for the A's (which other reviewers have noted), Heidenry loses an out in an exhaustive recounting of Detroit's half of the third inning in the pivotal sixth game of the Series. In addition, the author quotes a columnist (a certain "Polner") on page 120 without any description of who he was. (A quick check of the index gives his full name as "Murray Polner"; anyone interested has to look elsewhere to find out who he was, something even a half decent editor would have caught). And was the long account of the 1934 All-Star game really necessary?
The book's strengths are its attempt to discover the origin of the sobriquet "Gashouse Gang," the description of Dizzy's and Branch Rickey's early life, and the account of the battle Dizzy waged for higher compensation for himself and his brother during the summer of '34. (By the way, the author might have mentioned the dramatic Minneapolis Teamsters strike led by Trotskyists that year which may have also inspired Dizzy in his efforts to stand up to the club's owner, general manager, and later the commissioner). In any event, what a brave guy Dizzy was! Will we ever see his like again on a ball field?

Baseball in times long passed was a very different game, but like today there were some really wild characters to mke the game all the more interesting. The 1934 Cardinals, "The Gashouse Gang" were an exciting, odd collection of great ball payers who played for the love of the game in a way we wish today's players did.

If you love baseball you won't be able to put this down, and even if you don't it will be too intriquing to stop reading once you start. Well written, well researched and as entertaining as anything I've read this season. Highly reccommended!

This book climbs to the top wrung of my baseball ladder. Rather than a statistical or play-by-play book so common in baseball pages, this features personality development of some of the wackiest players of all time. Learn that Ducky Joe should have been Mean Joe, that Leo the Lip couldn't handle relationships, or that Dizzy Dean was really Jerome or Jay or Hanna or Herman, maybe that he was from Arkansas or Oklahoma or Texas -- well, you get it.

This book captures the thrill of a season and the joy of a team effort. It really makes you think of the Oakland Athletics of the Catfish days.

Just one observation: John Heidenry missed the point of the moniker, "Gashouse Gang." He can't figure out where it came from. He even ponders how "Gas Tank" became "Gashouse." During that day, electricity was provided by manufactured gas plants, sometimes called "witch's brew." The main structure was known as the "gashouse." The working class fellows who toiled away in those dirty gashouses were known as "the gashouse gangs." They cursed, they played dirty and hilarious tricks on each other, they had great and sour dispositions -- necessary to get through the tough days, and yes, their clothes were always filthy. Sound like the beloved Gashouse Gang?

Snag this book, and you will enjoy several hours of quiet time, if you can block out your own laughter.

In baseball, 1934 was a year to remember, a year in which the Saint Louis Cardinals, a scruffy team of misfits and malcontents, came from almost the graveyard to win the National League pennant, and then the World Series. While we learn a tremendous amount about the Cardinals, and especially the Dean brothers, Dizzy and Paul, there are others about whom we receive thumbnail biographies. Most importantly, Branch Rickey is focused upon for much of the early part of the book, and just reading about this remarkable man is sufficient reason to study this book. Other famous players make cameo appearances: Babe Ruth, Mel Otto, Mickey Cochrane, Leo Durocher, and Pie Traynor, with whom I was once priviledged to have an extensive conversation about baseball when I was in college. I also remember listening to Dizzy on the television announcing(?) games and talking about all kinds of extraneous subjects other than the game he was supposed to be calling. Of course, Dizzy is the centerpiece of this book, and he strides through it like a colossus. He did things then that would not be tolerated by a basseball organization today, and perhaps we are the pooorer for not having men such as him (and Curt Flood)to challenge what is considered the "right" way to act as a porfessional ball player. He's gone, and so are all of those famous old-timers, and the world misses them!

When I was a boy, I used to watch Dizzy Dean and Buddy Blatner (later, Peewee Reese) on the "Game of the Week" every Saturday afternoon. I remember Ol' Diz driving the English teachers crazy with his fractured English.

The Ol' Diz in Heidenry's book isn't quite so loveable. He went on strike in the middle of the 1934 season, demanding a larger salary for him and his brother Paul; he was a braggart, and he laughed at Hank Greenberg's futility against his pitches in the World Series. I find that last example rather hard to believe since a hitter can always drag bunt and take it out on the pitcher at first base.

The title of Heidenry's book is somewhat misleading. Most of the book is about Dizzy, I would imagine because Heidenry had the most information about him and because Diz was the most colorful of the Gashouse Gang. Heidenry refers to Ducky Medwick as a solitary loaner who picked fights with his fellow Cardinals, but the only evidence he gives us is a fight with Paul Dean that Dean started. The second most talked about player is Leo Durocher. Heidenry details his many marriages, his pool hustling, and his bench jockeying capabilities, but there's not that much detail. Heidenry limits himself, for the most part, to play-by-play, especially in respect to the 1934 World Series. About the most interesting segment was Heidenry's explanation of how the Gashouse Gang got its name. Apparently they were named after a New York street gang from the gashouse district of New York, an especially depressed area of the city. They were generally unshaven and their uniforms were dirty and in need of repair.

We also get a brief look at Dizzy's childhood as a sharecropper and his time spent in the Army, which helped him get onto a semi-pro team, which in turn led to an eventual contract with the Cardinals. Dizzy also had an older brother named Elmer, whom Branch Rickey gave a job as a peanut vender at Sportsman's Park. Dizzy and his wife Pat were embarrassed and demanded an office job for Elmer. Rickey wouldn't relent and Elmer wound up back in Arkansas.

The epilogue also leaves quite a bit to be desired. Heidenry tells us Dizzy only had four good years in the majors because he got hurt, but he doesn't tell us how. Legend has it he was hit in the foot by a come backer, broke his toe, and came back too soon, damaging his arm. Heidenry also leaves out the beaning incident that ruined Ducky Medwick's career. He was able to play but he was never the same player.

If you're a baseball fan, there's enough in THE GASHOUSE GANG to keep you turning pages. There's an occasional tidbit I didn't know, such as the beaning Dizzy took when he tried to take out the second baseman during the World Series. That's where the famous quote, "They ex-rayed my head, but there was nothing there," came from. Heidenry also provides a bibliography that may provide some answers. Try St. Louis sportswriter J. Roy Stockton's THE GASHOUSE GANG AND A COUPLE OF OTHER GUYS. It was published in 1945, and Stockton was actually alive to see the Gashouse Gang play.

I hated the author's neverending whining through out this book. I only finished reading this book because I had already started it. He incessant selfishness makes me question why she was given the blessing of a precious baby girl from China. This book is not really about adoption but how the writer has been wronged through out her life. I really don't know why she titled the book "Meeting Sophie" because the book is not about her daughter but about listening to her about her misfortunes in life. I don't reccomend this book because you will just be irritated by her whining about her life.

I think that Nancy McCabe's memoir is so good that I order it for my students at the college where I teach as part of the required reading material in my literature class on cultural identity. I first picked it up a few years ago when I was reading everything I could get my hands on about Chinese adoptions before my husband and I adopted our daughter from China. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is a memoir about much more than international adoption. McCabe is writing about identity within the family, the myths that parents and other members of a family often create about one another, and the struggle of finding one's identity especially as a girl in America. I think that in many ways the book shows how much all women--in America, China, etc.--have in common when it comes to the dilemma of needing to be an individual yet wanting to be accepted. I think that the subtitle of this book (A Memoir of Adoption) needs to be omitted or changed and that the book needs to be marketed as a memoir about cultural identity, parenting, and self-discovery--as well as adoption.

I would recommend this book to any single person considering overseas adoption. It was easy to read and enjoyable but I found the author had some strange views. It was almost like she was very unprepared for motherhood and had some family issues of her own to deal with already.
It wasn't my favourite adoption book but I did enjoy it. To be honest, it made me feel a whole lot better about my own situation!

Although I completed reading this book from the first page to the last, I only did so because I thought for sure the author was going to have some big time, life changing, realization at the end of her story. Her tone throughout the book is negative. She talks often about her own childhood issues, employment issues, and doubts about the adoption (which we all have, but hers seemed unfair to her future daughter). I found myself thinking, "We all have problems in our life, suck it up" and "how is her daughter going to feel when she reads this as an adult?" I don't think this is an appropriate book to read if you are looking for information about the process of adoption (I don't think the author meant this book to be about the process anyway) or if you are looking for inspiring adoption stories. If you are, however, looking for the story of a single mother who feels mistreated by everyone (her family, her coworkers, society, other adoptive parents) then this book might be for you. I found that even the writing of this book made me wonder what her editor was thinking. She uses one or two metaphors a couple times throughout. At least, enough for me to realize that I had read that same line earlier in the book.

I can relate to McCabe on a number of levels. Far from expecting a dry "here's the adoption process" sort of missive, I was quite glad to hear McCabe's emotional thoughts as she pursued bringing her daughter home from China.

Ms. McCabe happens to be a single woman with a Ph.D. and a job in academia. I've begun my own doctoral studies this fall, and my husband and I are also considering adopting from China. If the adoption goes through, I'll be close to the end of my program before we travel to China. I don't think there will be a conflict, as I want to keep my hours minimal and flexible (and plan to coordinate with my advisors well in advance of any interruption of my studies), but I wonder what others will think about my priorities.

Nancy McCabe had this problem; she was denied tenure during her adoption pursuit. She found a job at another university, but sure had a stressful time of it for a while. I remember that while I pursued my Master's as a single mother, I was always telling my advisors that my family came first, and always telling my family that I needed some time to study. Neither group seemed entirely satisfied (particularly my advisors, although I made it through just fine).

I appreciate that McCabe's book addresses the issues surrounding becoming a mother (which apply to *anyone*, not just adoptive mothers), particularly mothers working in the academic world.

I could also relate to McCabe's experiences with well-meaning, well-loved parents who couldn't quite interact in ways that were completely supportive to her goals and feelings (they try, and the love is absolutely there, but they somehow manage to miss the mark). I understood the feeling of loss, both before and after her father died. I appreciated that she shared this aspect of her life, as well, as it makes the journey that much more real (life doesn't stop or become any more simple just because you're adopting a child).

Ultimately, I was very encouraged by McCabe's book, and came away thinking, "Well, if she can make it, I bet I can, too!" Thanks, Nancy.

I have mixed feelings about this book, because on one hand you can learn some neat stuff about the way things were in the early part of the XX century. On the other hand, this book would have greatly improved if an editor had removed the extra weight included in the story. I can see this being a very fascinating memoir for her family members, but once you take this to the general public, the array of names and places and the personal messages to all grandchildren at the end of the book become too much. Nonetheless, it was interesting to read about the trials and tribulations of this woman, married at 20 to an alcoholic. Why she continued having children (eight in total) after she discovered her husband was a drunk i'd never be able to comprehend. She tries to explain how she felt during those years, and at times she is successful and at times she cuts her thoughts short and does not go any further with her analyses. It's a pity because she does have some engaging, albeit sometimes bland, perspective on issues like alcohol, politics, the military, war, family, sex, etc. Don't expect big depths on this book, which by the way is a very easy and fast read.

I really enjoyed this book. I'm from Kansas and she talked about areas that I'm familiar with. I felt she did a very good job telling her story about the hell she went through with her alcoholic husband while raising her many children virtually by herself. I would like the opportunity to meet this wonderful woman.

Jessie Lee has, in the simplest of prose, given us a glimpse into the life of an "average" woman. Her life is not filled with exotic trips or dinners with Presidents, but with the struggles of everyday life. Her rocky marriage to an alcoholic will give inspiration to many young women of today. Her memory is incredible and details abound of a life that began at the beginning of this century...this is an interesting book to read as this century comes to an end.

Nobody who reads this book will ever feel overworked or under appreciated, in quite the same way again. We have it so much easier today; and complain MORE !! My Mother is nearing the age of this remarkable woman, and we are hoping to get her to write her memories for us too; before they fade from her mind. She has been reluctant to start, due to the fact that she is not a professional writer. For her birthday this year, Mom is getting a copy of this book; and an audio tape, to listen to, and hopefully get inspired. My Mother has been a Nanny, earned a Master's Degree in Education, driven a Taxi and Limos for Official at United States Steel(during WW II), made bombs in a munitions plant, ridden Harley-Davison motorcycles, served as a Missionary for her church (where she met and married my Father), taught elementary school, raised two daughters, and still babysits their various off spring, while making beautiful quilts. Please God, let Jessie Lee Brown Foveaux give her the courage to tell us all about her adventurous life, too!!

Jessie Lee's incredible memory and stoically poingnant style take us all back in time, beginning with her childhood which was poor in material possessions but rich in love. Through her eyes, we see not only her family history but the history of a burgeoning nation unfold. She meets life's difficulties head on, from the untimely death of her mother to a difficult marriage and single parenthood. Her words do not plead for sympathy, just straightforwardly relate her amazing life and times. This is a must read for scholars of the 20th century and for those with a bent for human interest stories. Jessie Lee's voice is one of the precious few left from her generation.

I quite enjoyed this narrative of the great Tri-state tornado of 1925. I found the straightforward linear presentation easy to follow and the background explanations of the storm's formation added to one's understanding of the weather systems that produced such a massive tornado.
The fact that the author is a survivor of the storm adds to the sense of immediacy and gives a human dimension to these events.
The one minor quibble I have with this book doesn't occur until the final page of the main text, in which the author states that the last single tornado with a death toll of over 100 took place in 1944. As anyone from my area knows, however, the Beecher tornado which struck the north part of Flint, MI on June 8, 1953 killed 116.
That aside, however, I found this book an interesting insight into a disaster which - as the book's title indicates - is largely forgotten.

I'm a total amateur concerning meteorological disasters but I enjoy reading about some of the major disasters in America's past. So I skipped some of the technical stuff because I wouldn't have understood it anyway. But the human stories are what I like to read and, considering how long ago it was, I found this book pretty well written. Of course, he would have to rely on newspaper reports and family stories since most of the survivors, adults who would have the most accurate memories, would be dead now. I was also touched that he was writing about his own family's experience. I would have loved to see more photos but I'm sure they are few and rare to find now. It's not like the disasters of today with total media coverage. Anyway, I thought Akin did a good job of telling the human stories.

I found an earlier book called "The Tri-State Tornado" to be a better telling of this tragic weather event.

At around 1:00 p.m., March 18, 1925, a tornado touched down in Reynolds Country, Missouri. But, this was no ordinary tornado. This was an F5 multivortex tornado that proceeded east-northeast across 219 miles, 13 counties and three states (Missouri, Illinois and Indiana). By the time the tornado dissipated, it had destroyed a number of small towns, erased a number of farms, and killed 695 people. This was the most deadly tornado in U.S. history, and this book tells its story.

This fascinating book was actually written by a survivor of the Tri-State Tornado. On March 18, 1925, Wallace Akin lived in the town of Murphysboro, Illinois, which was 40% destroyed by the tornado. Throughout this book, the author mixes person recollections with other eyewitness accounts to bring that fateful day back to life. As an added bonus, the book ends with an account of the fate of the area after the tornado (the Great Depression beginning a mere four years later), and then discusses the next four top killing tornadoes in U.S. history.

Overall, I found this to be a fascinating and highly informative book about a little known subject. If you are interested in tornadoes, then you simply must get this book about the granddaddy of them all! I highly recommend this book.

Akin is a survivor of the Tri State tornado. He was only 2 at the time, but his experiences resulted in him taking a lifelong interest in geography and weather. This book sets out to explain this March, 1925 tornado and its devastating effect on cities and communities in the three states of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.
I found this book entertaining and informative about tornadoes and this particular disaster. This is a summary read, since the book only explains the disaster and how tornadoes form. I think Akin does a great job in detailing tornadoes and the 1925 Tri State tornado. I have not seen any other books about this particular disaster, so I am unsure why some of the previous reviewers have been harsh on this particular book. I found this a great and interesting read. At a little over 150 pages, a good reader can read this entire book in five or six hours.

This is an interesting work on William Clark, of Lewis and Clark fame. Touched on only briefly in most histories, Clark was quite an enigmatic person who figured prominently in early American and early Missouri frontier history. The subtitle, Shaping of the West, is quite appropriate as Clark, as Indian Agent for Missouri, negotiated numerous treaties with the Osage, Missouri, Fox, Sac, Winnebago and other contemporary Indian tribes.

Landon Jones does not spend too much time on the epic, 1803-1806 transcontinental exploration, choosing instead to focus on the other aspects of Clark's life. Brother of General George Rogers Clark, William is intimately connected in the Trans Appalachian West's Indian wars with the Shawnee and various other Lake Country, Northwest Indian tribes which culminated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers. This start sets the tone for the rest of his life which was spent fighting, evaluating, negotiating and moving Indians as America's frontiers rapidly moved across the Eastern and Midwestern United States.

For 50 years Clark and his family are directly involved in the early stages of America's Manifest Destiny, in the sweep of American history from colonial Virginia to the conquest of the West. No one played a larger part in that accomplishment than William Clark.

Book came in timly manner as described. Would buy again.

Reads like a Time or People magazine story -- both politically correct and boring.

I highly recommend this book. William Clark is presented as a highly capable and effective leader. He comes across as a strong and determined soldier, an amazing traveler and explorer, and a friendly man. But his prejudices (like nearly everyone of his generation) against African and Native Americans are described in striking detail.

Lewis and Clark's Voyage of Discovery is only briefly described, and other books have told the full account of this story. Instead Jones concentrates the first half of the book on Clark's developmental years including his military service in various Indian conflicts prior to the expedition and his other preparation just growing up in the wilderness (I grew up in Kentucky, and Jones does a great job talking about Harrodsburg, Locust Grove, and Louisville). A sidelight story of his brother George Rogers Clark's campaigns against the Indians and his later struggles with managing the Northwest and with alcohol and poverty is fascinating. The last half of the book is informative and profoundly disturbing. Holding various administrative positions in Missouri, Clark was often the most powerful man in the West. He was responsible for the US's management of Indian affairs, and Clark signed more than 35 treaties with these tribes. There is a sameness to the ethnic cleansing that Clark helped perpetrate.

Jones kept me engaged throughout the book. Clark doesn't come off as a deep thinker or a complex man. Instead he is a creature of his times, and white Americans were extremely effective in our cruelty as we took control of the West . At times Clark rises above the rest - his treatment of Sacagawea and her son - but at times he is a cold hearted bastard - his relationship with his famous slave York.

Clark lived a long and full life. One particularly enjoyable (and very well done feature of this book) is Jones' willingness to digress as he discusses the many people whose life Clark touches . The list is long and I appreciated these brief descriptions of de Tocqueville, Anthony Wayne, Thomas Hart Benton, Lafayette, William Henry Harrison, Black Hawn, Tecumseh, and many others.

What impresses immediately about this biography is the fact that it's a FULL biography and is not just concerned with the famed Lewis & Clark Expedition (only one of the ten chapters deals with it). Clark was born in 1770 (one of his older brothers was George Rogers Clark, the "hero of Vincennes" during the Revolutionary War), and took part in the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 (it was on this campaign that he first met Meriwether Lewis). Resigning his commission from militia duty two years later, he retired to the family farm in Kentucky (near present-day Louisville). It was here that Lewis contacted Clark in 1803 proposing co-leadership roles in the expedition to the Pacific Ocean. Clark was the chief mapmaker on the journey, and also was preferred over Lewis as the one to negotiate with the Indians.

After the successful completion of this extraordinary exploring venture, Clark was named the principal Indian agent at St. Louis. He established Ft. Osage on the Missouri River and began dealing with Native American concerns, building a reputation as a fair, friendly, and compassionate (for his day) agent. He was present at Prairie du Chien during the late 1820s to help conclude major treaties with various tribes. He died in St. Louis in 1838.

Clark has been praised often as a brave and able explorer, and a successful Indian agent. He was human, though, and there were dark sides to Clark as well, which Jones is willing to point out. Once when he had "trouble" with one of his slaves, he paid a man 50 cents to whip him. Tens of thousands of Native Americans were forcibly removed from their lands while he was Indian agent, most notably the Cherokees, who were made to walk to Oklahoma from their lands in the southeastern US along what became know as the "Trail of Tears" because of the death and misery endured along it. Heroes, like everyone else, are not cut from a single cloth, and whether the reader thinks of Clark as a hero at all, Jones provides a balanced and fair account of Clark's life on which to decide.

Mr.Ned Wakefield teaches Jessica and Elizabeth,his twin daughters,a secret language called Ithig(The ..word?..ithig is placed between syllables).The two do their best to keep the language a secret but their friends start acting like brats,feeling hapless that the secret will not be shared with them.Soon,the language is all around school!!Uh-oh!

This book was pretty good.

I've seen better but it comes in pretty well

When Mr.Wakefield gets home from work,he teaches the twins Ithing[I don't understand it,myself] They are using it at Guidio's Pizza Palace,when Caroline Pierce walks in and wants to know what they are talking about.Mr.Wakefield informs her it is family matters.Jessica talks Ithing all over school and makes Lila[The Spoiled Brat of the Unicorns] cross. She is having a party and invites everyone,except the twins. Jessica spills Ithing,after Elizabeth and Jessica promised Mr.Wakefield not to tell the secret langauge.Even the new teacher picks it up.

In "Keeping Secrets", the Wakefield twins learn a secret new language called Ithig, which is similar to pig Latin, except the word "ithig" is placed between the syllables of each word, lithigike thithigis. It sounds pretty complicated, but Elizabeth and Jessica pick up on it within minutes--even featherbrained Jessica.

Elizabeth and Jessica promise to keep it a secret with their father as a fun game, but their loyalty is tried when the girls' best friends (Amy Sutton and Lila Fowler) demand to know their secret or else. The reaction to the twins' secrecy is a little over dramatic and immature, but then again this is middle school.

Lila even refuses to invite the twins to a big star-studded party unless they tell her everything. Jessica, of course, is the first to break her promise. Soon everybody at Sweet Valley Middle School starts talking "Ithig", mainly as a way to confuse their new teacher Ms. McDonald.

"Keeping Secrets" certainly isn't the best Sweet Valley Twins book I've read so far, but if you're into secret languages, you might like this one.

It looks like two books with the same title are being reviewed here, "The Orphan Train" and "Sweet Valley Twins." I'm going to review the Sweet Valley Twins book. In this story, Jessica and Elizabeth learn an artificial code language called "ithig." They promise to keep it a secret and not teach it to anyone, but they eventually bend and teach the whole school. Now the whole school knows the "ithig" language, and they plan to play a trick on a new teacher. And as always, Elizabeth comes to the rescue. I think it's a fun book to read, but it's not one of the best in the Sweet Valley Twins series. The story isn't very realistic, and the kids seem to catch on to the new language much too quickly. But it's fun, so I'll give it 3 stars.

This is a good book about a hotel owner, Justine Bryers, who was raped and had a son with a red mark on his face that was very angry and out for revenge against her. Her son was a real "snake." She was becoming paralyzed and people came to help her. I found it to be very interesting and it held my attention.

I really enjoyed this sweet romance from DG. In this story there is a lot going on.

Jill Jones is called a wildcat by the oilmen of Rainwater. This comes from her dumping water on a man who was tracking gunk onto her freshly washed porch of the hotel. Jill comes to Rainwater to help her Aunt whose health is failing. When her brother finds that she is in this wild western town all by herself he sends their close family friend Thad to watch out for her.

This is where a lot of the romance starts but there is also a murderer among them, long held secrets etc... to mention a few things. There is more than one romance happening in this story. I really enjoyed the development of the characters etc...

I only discovered Dorothy Garlock books about a month ago, and have already read four. I've been hitting used book stores for more! This book is set in a oil boom town with Jill sent there to take care of an ill Aunt. I like these books because they are an easy read with twist and turns and of course a spunky romace. I have family from the areas she writes about and can envision them as young vibrant people with hopes and dreams, it makes me want to research my family history more. A great read!

Typical Dorothy Garlock. Once I pick up a book by her I don't stop reading till the book is finished. Even though most of her story lines are similar, she adds just right amount of a twist to make it different. A good read for a lazy day.

The book had somewhat of a predictable plot, but it was an enjoyable book to read. It consists of love and mystery. At times it will make you laugh and then make you cry. I really enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it.