United States Books

While Mick Foley may have set a bar, he doesn't have nearly the experience and lifetime of Superstar Billy Graham. Ric Flair's book is good but it spends a great deal of time praising the WWE. Dusty Rhodes tale was bland and lacked details, a huge dissapointment.

Billy Graham's story raised the bar beyond Foley's book when he penned his memoirs. A few great elements of this book consist of him being frank about drug abuse, including steroids and doesn't attempt to dismiss their deadly long lasting effects. I think Graham realized while he was writing this book the impact he made on professional wrestling. He was the first to jam on the mic and knew how to work a crowd-pure showman and that is the necessary part in being a successful pro wrestling. Before Hogan, The American Dream and The Nature Boy-there was Superstar!

The story is bitter sweet and sad. A Superstar of a performer that nearly died multiple times. I just hope his new life as a minister is a much easy and equally satisfying journey. Thanks Superstar for all the TV memories.

This book was outstanding from page 1, to the very last page.

Outstanding job and life story!

Superstar, a man ahead of all times!!

It's a cliche', but what a page turner. First let me say, I was a HUGE Billy Graham "mark" when I was a kid. He was the first guy that drew me in. He had such charisma. So cool. Anyway, this book is just him 100% totally pouring out his soul. He holds back nothing. Tells you absolutely everything about everyone and mostly - himself.

The stories are more heartbreaking with each page. Everything from him hearing he may only have 30 days to live when he was waiting for his kidney transplant to embarassing moments like when he ditched a cab outside of the Georgia wrestling TV studio because he didn't have the money - only for the guy to come in looking for him and then Dusty Rhodes flips out a $50 bill in front of others to Billy telling him to "pay the taxi".

What's most amazing is that he tells much of his story without heavy bitterness or anger except during his attacks on the WWF and Vince during the steroid trial - which he admits he only did to try to get some hush money from Vince since he really had NO money. It was that he really should have done more and that drugs really did wreck his life.

Wow - I could go on and on and still not give up everything in this book. It really is great. God bless the man of the hour, the man with the power - too sweet to be sour!

THIS IS THE STORY OF FORMER PRO WRESTLER SUPERSTAR BILLY GRAHAM. HIS STORY IS TRULY AMAZING. THE AMAZING PART IS THAT HE IS STILL ALIVE. HE TELLS US OF HIS BODY BUILDING, EVANGELIST, BOUNCER AND PRO FOOTBALL CAREERS ALONG WITH HIS WRESTLING DAYS AND ADDICION TO DRUGS AND STEROIDS. I FOUND HIS STORY TO BE INTERESTING, TERRIFYING, HUMOROUS AND ABSOLUTLY RIVOTING. I HAVE READ MANY BOOKS ABOUT PRO WRESTLING AND THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST. SUPERSTAR CERTAINLY DOES A GREAT JOB TELLING US HIS STORY. HE DELIVERS A POWERFUL MESSAGE ABOUT STEROIDS AND HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS WIFE AND GOD. A MUST READ.

A refreshingly honest and insightful biography. Superstar's life has had plenty of ups and downs, and you go through the entire ride. Lots of great stuff on the inside world of pro wrestling as well.

Bad

A. The narrative pace is just awful. I don't know what it is about this book I almost didn't make it past the first 40 pages because the begining moves so slowly.
B. The idiotic "conspiracy theory" idea regarding the Texas Revolution. Someday right minded people everywhere will be able to laugh conspiracy nuts right off the street.
Good

The book has a great deal of information regarding the beginnings of an organized abolitionist movement in this country. Garrison was the focal point for this when the movement started to move beyond isolated groups of idealists and Quakers and started to be taken seriously as a genuine force for social change.

Overall-Once you get into the book it is amazing, but you have to be in the right mood to do so.

Now a book that shows two sides of slavery that all white people were not all for slavery .Like Dr.martin luther king was saying that slavery was not about black against white ,but justice againt injustice.Because if all men and women are not free then we are all in chains.Books like this one has giving us a balance look at one of america darkest sides. But men like Garrison showed us that their were men and women that were a light of hope that all men are created equal . And being a black man I must say thank you to all the blackmen and women and white men and women of the past for fighting a fight that many of us still fight for today .And that is for an opportunity to live as we were when God created us in the beginnig as, a human being thank you.

This is the last and probably the best book completed by the late Henry Mayer.

Mayer admired Garrison, the most important leader of the abolitionist movement. In this book, he succeeds in renovating the reputation of a great reformer and activist who has often been neglected or written off as a crank.

Garrison and the abolitionists were originally hardly more popular in the North than in the South. They were seen as disrupting the Union and were regarded with suspicion for their pro-black beliefs - public opinion in the North was only marginally less racist than in Dixie. Garrison's courage and consistent refusal to trim his convictions for popular acceptance led to a career with an outsized share of controversy, oppobrium, and in several cases physical danger.

Some reviewers have felt the book is too long, and it is hefty. But the length is necessary for Mayer to give a full portrait, which shows not only the man, but also the era he lived in. In particular, Mayer writes extensively about abolitionism as a movement. Abolitionists, and Garrison himself, struggled with many problems - whether to compromise by supporting politicians whose platforms called for less than full abolition, evolving from a paternalist movement of mostly privileged whites to a movement in which free blacks and escaped slaves could play a meaningful role, and reconciling the pacifist leanings of many to their role in a war against slaveholders - that will be of interest to contemporary political activists. Mayer also shows how, after abolition was accomplished, former abolitionists seeking new causes worked for other advances, including the first stirrings of the women's suffrage movement.

Let's just get the obvious criticisms out of they way. First, the author pretty much flat out states that The Civil War was fought only because of slavery--and in the preface! Yawn. Will I ever be able to find a Northerner who can write a book that examines both sides of the conflict? I mean southern writers do it all the time. The second problem is the assertion that the Texas Revolution was some kind of government conspiracy--from Pres. Jackson on down to Sam Houston--to perpetuate slavery and continue manifest destiny. While I'm sure some men fought for those reasons, this moronic conspiracy theory about secret government shenanigans has no basis whatsoever. In fact, I would recommend the wonderful biography, Sam Houston, by James Haley. It expertly destroys that awful line of thinking that has somehow survived all these years.

But, being from Texas, I tend to be sensitive to such things. For most people it won't matter.

I still highley recommend All On Fire, though. It is very well written and researched. But most of all, it is the only real biography on Garrison worth reading. And say what you want about the author's biases, he can't muddle the fact that Garrison was one of this country's great patriots, willing to stand up to anyone to free his fellow man. He dedicated his entire life to this noble cause--and except for a few references in some Civil War books--is largely forgotten. What a shame.

William Lloyd Garrison was a man ahead of his time. Not by years or even decades, but centuries. In the 1830s he was an outspoken proponent of not just the abolition of slavery (many advocated various ways to deal with the South's "peculiar institution"), but called for the immediate abolition of slavery with complete and full civil rights for African-Americans. He dreamed of a time when a black woman might succeed a black man as Secretary of State a decade before the Supreme Court ruled that blacks were something less than human in the infamous Dredd Scott decision. He was also an early advocate of women's rights, labor reform, temperance and civil disobedience, as well as an outspoken critic of organized religion (Garrison was what we might today call a fundamentalist "born again Christian" who recognized no formal church other than Christ's teachings).

Given Garrison's role as founding father of the abolitionist movement, his passion for the cause, longevity in leadership and terminal impact on the greatest political issue of the nineteenth century it is puzzling that he has left such an obscure historical legacy. As author Herbert Mayer notes, Martin Luther King Jr. cited Gandhi, Thoreau and the Gospel as his inspiration and motivation in the Civil Rights movement with no reference to the man whose peaceful agitation did more to eradicate bondage than any other -- and who in turn may very well have been Thoreau's inspiration in writing "Civil Disobedience."

So why the obscurity? Mayer's biography does little to address this paradox. In fact, his book makes Garrison's general absence from the mainstream of American history all the more tenebrous. The man that emerges from the pages of "All on Fire" is a moral giant, a crusader in the purest and best sense of the word, who risked -- indeed, welcomed -- verbal and physical abuse, a life of indigence and scorn, all in pursuit of a truly noble cause. Garrison grew up in New England and never traveled further south than Baltimore until after the Civil War, yet he dedicated his life to the abolition of slavery with an intensity and zeal that surpassed dissident southern whites (such as the Grimke sisters) and even some blacks that had escaped from bondage themselves. Because of his central role in establishing and leading the cause, "All on Fire" is, as the full title suggests, as much a history of the entire abolitionist movement as it is a biography of its leading agitator.

However, a close reading of "All on Fire" also reveals a hidden side of William Lloyd Garrison that Mayer, unfortunately, never fully explores: a man of extreme ambition, vanity, and conceit. Garrison fought tenaciously to keep himself at the front-and-center of the moral movement he came to regard as his own. One senses that the fame and notoriety he gained by his agitation came to mean quite a lot to him. In this sense, Garrison reminds one of a contemporary political gadfly increasingly enamored of his high-profile image: Michael Moore. Perhaps Garrison's attraction to celebrity never fully outweighed his commitment to the ultimate prize of freeing three million humans from bondage, but it certainly meant more than the pious Christian in him would have liked to admit -- and certainly more than biographer Mayer is willing to concede. Again and again throughout the narrative Garrison experiences a painful and personal falling out with some of his closest friends and coadjutors: Frederick Douglas, Wendell Phillips, the Tappan brothers, etc. And time after time Mayer attributes the rift to simple misunderstandings or the result of the stress and pressure of the times. That Garrison might have been something less than the Galahad on ante-bellum America is left unexplored.

Nevertheless, for anyone with a desire to know more about America and especially to learn about a man that was once one of the most controversial and well-known figures of his century, only to sink to near anonymity, this National Book Award finalist can be highly recommended.

Mr. Bennett has a gift for making history come alive. It is very interesting and enjoyable to read.

Hi I highly recommend reading these american history books to ANYONE! The books are well written naratives of the United States unique and special place in history. While not bashing America as the great satan they at the same time the remain accurate in pointing out this nations flaws, which for the most part seem to consistently get righted. Evil flourishes when good men do nothing. ENJOY!!!

This series of texts should be required reading for all American children of high school age.
The writing is first class and the entire presentation flows in a professional, polished way. An excellent read.

I just finished Volume 1 and am amazed at the history I was never taught in public school. It gives a balanced view of facts and tells stories in an engaging way and shows the good while not hiding the poor choices that we made as a nation becoming. The characters were presented as real people wise and not so wise. We do live in the greatest nation on earth and can learn much from the deeds and misdeeds of those who gave much that we can enjoy the liberties of today. May we never forget and always be. Thank you Mr. Bennett. Looking forward to beginning Volume II.

America the Last Best Hope is the best book of U.S. history that I have read. It is well worth re-reading. Great reference book. Should be a required reading. D PurdyAmerica: The Last Best Hope (Volume I): From the Age of Discovery to a World at War

Now that my mother needs others to cook for her, I look for ways that I can prepare a meal ahead that will bring back memories of the "Good Old Days". I still follow her dietary guidelines, but re-introducing recipes from her hey-day makes her smile, and gives her a welcome change of pace. One of her favorites from this cookbook has been Johnny Marzetti, but I use Baby Portabela mushrooms instead of white mushrooms, and my mother wants double the amount of mushrooms. For my mushroom-hating mother-in-law and cheddar-averse sister-in-law, I remove the mushrooms and saute red and green bell peppers instead and switch to colby cheese. For DH, I increase the extra lean ground beef and use pepper jack cheese. These variations are economical, not too spicy, but tasty. They bring a smile, and take some of the pressure off my mother's care-givers. This cookbook lets me recreate the "Good Old Days." As always, it is my prerogative to update to meet dietary needs.

I love to cook and eat. I have loads of cookbooks. This is the best book I have seen that captures what my parents and grandparents ate and taught me to eat. Beyond that, is chronicle of the food that became available and why and where they originated.
It should be considered a history od 20th century foods a s well as a cookbook. Loads of comfort recipes, as well as those that are now considered classics, never to be deleted. Worth purchasing if you are a baby boomer, you will love it.
DOC

It is a good book to find popular American recipes. Cookies and quickbreads are delicious, and my husband likes the casserole chapter. As I was born and raised outside the U.S., the tidbits about American culinary history in the book are very fascinating. I had to try exotics like soup mongole (a Campbell combination soup), and I admit it is pretty good. The ethnic recipes that entered American mainstream are often Americanized, but it should not be surprising because it is the American Century Cookbook after all.

This book is a treasury of true American cooking, with the recipes our mothers and grandmothers loved,and that make fond memories for us. Some are still favorites for family and entertaining (Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Stroganoff Casserole), others beg to be rediscovered (Imagine! Coca-Cola Salad), all provide fascinating reading, with their accompanying histories, orginal ads and illustrations. "American Century" has rapidly become one of my favorite cookbooks, both for browsing and for adding to my collection of recipes that please and amaze.

I use this book as a reference guide for my high school American History and African American Studies classes. Everything in the world seems to be here including an old favorite from the 1960s, 'Puree Mongole.' This cookbook is easy to read and most recipes are simple to follow. The best part for me, as a Social Studies teacher, is the gem of the history lessons and time lines associated with all the food preparations. A real pleasure and a book that is priceless if you like the history of American cuisine.

This book probably presents every scenario you can think of if you want to protect your estate. Reading this book will provide you with intelligent questions while you discuss your estate planning with your attorney.

The book is not only informative, but also entertaining and easy to read. No legaleez to wade through. I highly recommend it.

I felt the book was easy to read. Not one to be read in one sitting, however. I have done extensive estate planning, will preparation, and will updates. However, this book presented some options that I am considering. It also showed me a couple of loopholes that I thought I had closed, that I probably don't. Well worth the money and time to read. I expect to go back to this book several times. I will be taking it with me to an attorney appointment.

Estate planning is so important if you don't want your son in law running off with half your estate in the event of your kid's divorce. This book was a great asset to me ... and a real eyeopener as to what can happen at the reading of your will if you haven't equalized everything. the author even gives you his phone number that readers can call and ask questions free. The book is so good I bought 4 extra copies for friends.

Only estate book I've seen written in an easy-to-read, mini-case-study format. Very practical and thought-provoking advice. Tends to focus on little worst-case scenarios in an attempt to get people to plan properly for all the things that can go wrong in an estate.

For what it's worth, I thought the book was generally best-suited for estates with $100,000 to about $2,000,000 in assets. Don't get me wrong, there's something in here for all estate sizes - especially for people just starting the process of developing a plan. However, don't buy this book looking for technical discussions of advanced tax-minimizing strategies. If you or your clients have estates over this $2MM mark, this book can be a great thought-provoker, but some of the advice isn't really suitable for larger estates.

I have several estate planning books...the "how to" type and they are great. This is the book you need to read before you start filling in the blanks. I wish my parents had read this book. It would have saved my family relationships. This book gives you the basic information you need before drawing up your trust. Protect your beneficiaries and prevent family conflict by reading this book!

Every public and school library should have a copy of this excellent resource. The research that Judy Freeman did to create this compendium of quality read aloud books is well worth the investment.

Ever wished you could keep up all the great children's books and pick the best ones to read aloud and recommend to your students? Need inspiration to liven up your lessons on library skills? Looking for more effective ways to collaborate with teachers? This book has it all!

Targeted at grades K - 6, the first 100+ pages include wide-ranging information about children's books and ways to use them. Topics include: how to be a great school librarian, evaluating children's books, read aloud and booktalking suggestions, fun library learning games, storytelling, creative drama, reader's theater, etc.

The next 600 pages contain wonderful annotated read-aloud lists divided by Easy Fiction/Picture books, Fiction, Folk & Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends, Poetry, Nonsense and Language Oriented non-fiction, Biography, and Non-fiction. In addition to standard information (author, summary, etc.) each of the 1,705 annotations includes grade level, related titles, subjects, and a "Germ." "Germs" are small, practical, do-able ideas to interject into lesson plans including ideas for sharing the books with children and incorporating comprehension, creativity, library skills, and cross-curricular ties, etc. Pick one book on the list and turn it into a great lesson plan!

The final 200 pages include a professional bibliography and 3 handy indices: Author/Illustrator Index, Title Index, and the index I find most helpful - the Subject Index including grade level of each book. Subject you can think of is covered - from Aardvarks to Bullying to Hispanic Americans to Zoos!

I cannot recommend a book more highly! It's not just for school librarians - teachers, homeschoolers, parents, and public librarians will also love it! I also recommend previous editions - Books Kids Will Sit Still For and More Books Kids Will Sit Still For - both have different hints on how to be a great librarian and annotated lists of older books. I use all three Judy Freeman's books almost daily to help me work with teachers and plan great library lessons.

I stumbled across this wonderful book while working my way through our library's books about books in search of more wonderful picture books to share with my toddler (who is nearly 19 months). It was mis-shelved in the local branch (took 4 tries for the librarian to find it) and since no one had noticed in the 6 months or so since the book came in, my friendly librarian slapped a due date sticker on it and let me check it out. I found myself immersed in it during the daughter's afternoon nap and checked to see if either of the previous volumes was available to check out. Alas no, although I found a cheap ex-library copy of the previous volume, More Books Kids Will Sit Still For: A Read-Aloud Guide (2nd Edition), which when it arrived looked like it had never been touched. I don't pretend to understand that - I think this is a treasure trove of ideas and books to share with young (and not so young) children. Although it's aimed at elementary educators, there's a huge amount to offer a parent or other caregiver...ideas for activities related to the books as well as related titles.

As the parent of a toddler, I confess that I prefer the overlapping mini-sections by age found in More Books Kids Will Sit Still For: A Read-Aloud Guide (2nd Edition) and Books Kids Will Sit Still For: A Read-Aloud Guide Second Edition (Books Kids Will Sit Still for) because it's easier to sift through a couple hundred titles than 800 for books short enough for a toddler to sit through, but that's more of a quibble, especially since the expanded entries offer so many ideas for making (or keeping) books interesting.

How does she do it? Another winner from Judy Freeman! More tips, annotations, bibliographies, storytelling, reader's theater etc.. The amount of material is superb and the format is clear and precise. She is marvelous at what she does and can help any media specialist or teacher sharpen their book skills.
A must buy for all elementary educators!

I've had the pleasure in the past week to read Judy Freeman's Newbery committee experience in her latest "Books Kids will sit still for 3" (c. 2006). She had to take the Librarian Oath, probably with a ceremonial blood letting to seal it, that she and the other members would never tell the secrets of the Committee dealings with the individual books. Ooooooh, that makes me want to be on the Committee even more!

I thought the listings alone in the book would be worth the book's weight in gold (which is substantial, with more than 900 pages), but it pales in comparison with the first 100+ pages of the book in which she shares her passion for reading, books, libraries, and children. What a treat! Reward yourselves soon by allowing time to read this.

Thanks, Judy! You made my day!

Liz Frame
Librarian
San Antonio Christian Elementary School

HE TELLS WHAT HOLLYWOOD IS ALLBOUT. HE WRITES GREAT AND TELLS WHAT HIS LIFES ALBOUT.

This book is a great journey of someone's life. Skip E. Lowe is a true show business character--as much a part of the town as the Holllywood Sign and the billboards of Angelyne. His life is filled with pathos and happiness. From cover to cover the book is a pure joy. You'll find yourself wondering who could possibly play Mr. Lowe in the movie that undoubtedly will come from this fabulous life memoir.

Okay, I'll admit it. I bought Skip E. Lowe's memoir with the idea that it would be a horrendous hack-job full of celebrity groveler and rampant name-dropping. Needless to say, I was floored when The Boy with the Betty Grable Legs turned out to be a compelling autobiography written with panache and a good deal of humility.

Lowe's book is difficult to put down. Lowe does well to balance his personal tragedies (Lowe seemed to attract molestation the way flowers attract bees) with his career as an entertainer. While his brief mention of his part in BLACK SHAMPOO is akin to Orson Welles skipping over CITIZEN KANE, Lowe's book manages to stand tall on its own shapely legs. (ISBN: 0964963582)

LOVE THIS BOOK IT TAKES YOU EVERY ALL OVER THE WORLD AND FEEL LIKE I WAS THERE.ITS SO GOOD LOVE IT THANKS FOR THE JOURNEY .. WHAT A LIFE.

I picked up Skip E. Lowe's book on the recommendation of a friend, but had no idea that I was in for such an amazing read. In addition to having some unforgettable stories to tell, he is able to share them with complete emotional honesty, which provides surprisingly human insight into this larger-than-life world in which he has lived. I recommend this as a "must read" to all who are interested in learning about the Golden Days of Hollywood, the truly fascinating character once known as Sammy Labella, and the ups and downs of an unconventional life. By relating his madcap adventures and the lessons he has learned, Skippy does the best job I've ever seen at creating a road map for the road less travelled.

I just re-read this book. I absolutely loved it and put it up there with the best wrestling books out there. You feel connected to Eddie just like you did when you saw him on tv or dvd or in person. His charisma showed through the ups and downs of this book.

I was left wondering what caused a lot of his demons though. He didn't fully explain the things that haunted him. Like his problems with his wife Vickie, he didn't really go into detail which left me wondering what she did wrong. Cheating? Their fights? Also I got the feeling there was more to his demons than he let on. It just left me curious. I'd like to see a book written by Vickie that might shed some light on things left unanswered in this book.

Eddie was honest. Brutally honest. He didn't back off from saying who he liked and disliked. He was very upfront about his drinking, drugs (though never mentioned steriods whether he used or didn't use them), and his problems. He never acted like a saint, but obviously wanted to be a good person. Thankfully he beat the addictions and enjoyed some time with his loved ones before he passed on tragically.

This book brought me to tears even in the second reading. It made me realize that life is a fragile thing and we got to respect and love people and show it while we can. Given Eddie's many brushes with death he was fortunate to be sober and drug-free for 4 years before his untimely death. Unfortunately, he paid the price for his past mistakes, but he got to patch things up with his wife and daughters, and reach new heights with his fans and ultimately becoming the World Champ!

Highest recommendation possible,(right up there with Mick Foley's Have A Nice Day!) buy this book and quit reading this review!

This is a book that my fours sons have all read recently, and they were all moved to tears. My 18yo has wanted to read this book for some time now, but we had trouble finding it for sale, as it sold out quickly.
I got this for him for Christmas. A book to keep. A great gift for any wrestling fan

from the begining to the end this book is so well written and told,its just awesome. No words can describe how GREAT this book is. Eddie lived a wild and rough life and you get to read alll about it in this tell all book. From his start to the end. There are some eerie things he writes about that kinda creep you out because the man has passed but none the less THE BEST BOOK WWE or any other WRESTLER have put out.
READ IT AND YOU WONT BE ABLE TO DROP THE BOOK.
From his wild drunken stories with the nasty boys to his tag team woith the great Art Barr and to his family life and struggles with his wife to THe end where he finds peace makes everything awesome in his life its truly an astonishing story.
After you read this book you will see Eddie in a whole diffrent lighht and appreciate the man that he was and still IS.

R.I.P my man.

Wrestling has always been a guilty pleasure for me. I grew up watching the likes of Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan and the Bruiser with my dad. Now I watch with my son. There's nothing I enjoy more than watching grown men make complete fools of themselves. I like the pranksters best--guys like DegenerationX (Triple H and Shawn Michaels), John Cena and, of course, Eddie Guerrero. He brought a lot of laughter into our living room every week. But more than that, Eddie was--and is--an inspiration. He had a lot to overcome, and he did--and this tough guy wasn't afraid to proudly proclaim his faith in God and Jesus Christ. He gave credit where it was due, always. Viva la Raza, Eddie! You still live in Heaven--and through those of us who love and respect you!

Now that I got your attention... I just finished the book minutes ago, and it was very inspirational to say the least.

Now at first, I was hesitant getting his book, even after he passed away. I had the impression that the book will be mostly somber, due to his infamous demons, but I gave it a shot and bought it anyway, still expecting a better book from Edge. But after reading it, I can say that this is way better(not saying that Edge's book is not good, its still great). Yes, it is somber in some ways, but its also inspirational, fun, and got some very funny parts! Funnier than Edge's book I dare say.

His life is a good example of overcoming hardships in life, and even though his past still sucker punched him in the end, with this book along with his popularity as a wrestler, still won the day for him. What he wants is to set as an example, and though this isnt what all of us expected, in some strange ways, it did the job.

Aside from that, this book talks about his family, which even to someone like me who dislikes reading that side of an autobiography, finds it entertaining. From his tough dad; to his problems with his brothers; down to his beloved Vicky. Wrestling is all throughout this book, its his life from birth to the end. The book tells his time in Mexico, Japan, then to US with ECW, WCW, and finally WWE.

If there is a fault I can say about this book, its how it summarizes certain events first, then without warning goes back to the start of those events and tell it one by one, which in a way confused me a little... It made me think, "hey didnt he say he did it before? Why say this is the first time?... Oh"... Again, nothing serious.

I suggest you get this book now if youre a fan of wrestling, and know of Eddie(whether you like him or not)! Eddie, you should be proud, even if things didnt work out how you wanted it to be(how we want it to be), you still inspired and touched us all!

I actually didn't know quite what to expect when I picked up this book. But I found myself laughing out loud many times. And I never laugh out loud while reading a book. Dan's PETA work is merely the background to his wild and crazy life. He's never preachy, so don't let that stop you from enjoying his crazy antics. His comic timing in his writing is impeccable, and I can't recommend this book enough.

If you'd like to understand PETA a bit better, this is a good book to read. I've always had some issues with PETA, even though I'm a member myself, this sort of educated me a bit.

And Dan is pretty funny, which always makes a book fun to read.

This book was simply fantastic! Funnier than David Sedaris, and a story that draws you in. You don't have to like PETA to love this book, by the way. My non-PETA friends are all enjoying it as much as I did. It's entertaining in its own right - a fabulous read. I honestly couldn't put it down. Highly, HIGHLY recommend it.

Major kudos to Dan for writing such an entertaining, honest (but not at all "in your face") and mind-shifting book about the suffering of the non-human animals that we share this planet with. I read Committed in one day. I loved it. This book proves that humor, compassion, optimism and love can change the world. If I was not a vegan before reading this book (I went vegan 5 years ago at age 37 and have never regretted it) I surely would have changed my ways after reading it.

From his early punk rocker days to carvorting with todays biggest celebrities, Dan Mathews spins a hilarious web of globe trotting adventures sprinkled with a dash a seriousness that brings light to an important subject matter; animal cruelty. From humble beginnings, success and notoriety certainly haven't changed his life long goals or sparkling personality. If you like Augusten Burroughs style of writing, grab this book and be prepared to laugh out loud. If I ever end up in a jail cell somewhere, I hope Dan is sitting next to me.

This book was given to me when I was nine, and is a long-standing favorite. I'm now in my late teens, but every November I read it again for old time's sake around Thanksgiving, and every year I love it. It speaks many truths about life in general, and Constance is an engaging and highly relatable character. I looked online out of interest to see if it was as widely read as I thought it should be, and thankfully it appears to be. This book would make an excellent gift for a young girl; it is gaurenteed to be a book she will read over and over again and always hold a special place in her heart.

I picked up "Constance" somewhere - I have no idea where, but my copy is old and yellowed and falling apart. I read it and fell in love with it. I must say - my old copy has a fantastic cover and I much prefer it to the one depicted here. But that's by the by... =)

I'm teaching my (7th grade) son the 1600-1850 time period this year and was able to pull "Constance" off the shelf and introduce him to its delights. It has been the ONLY book he has begged me to continue to read to him outside of planned school reading times. WOO HOO! It warms the cockles of this mother's heart. We've laughed at the funny bits, sobbed our hearts out at the sad bits, and marveled how these people, with their numbers decimated that very first spring, worked together to make a successful community.

We'll be finishing the book tomorrow. I drove him bananas by reading the first sentence of tomorrow's reading, telling him WHO proposed but NOT what the answer or consequence was. He says I'm an evil mother. =D I laughed with joy at his enthusiasm for the book.

This is one of the books that stays in your heart. I first read this some 30 years ago, loved it, re-read it several times, lost track of it, found it again a couple of years ago, and -- surprisingly enough, since I certainly can't say this about all the books I loved when I was in my early teens -- I still loved it. Constance, as she is written in this story, is a very real person to me. I don't know if the real Constance Hopkins was anything like the one in this book, and I don't really care, but Patricia Clapp has done an excellent job here of making two-dimensional history come to life.

I got this book on a trip to the East Coast when I was ten years old and fell in love. It was my favorite book during all of my early teen years; and though I haven't read it in years, I think it will always hold the place in my heart as my favorite book.

I read this long before I knew a key fact about Constance Hopkins, and I thought it was terrific. Of course, I still do. The tone of high spirits forced into apparent submission is perfect. I do think the cover illustration on the Beech Tree edition is awful; the cover on the Dell edition is far better.

Key fact: she is my nine-times-great-grandmother. (Patricia Clapp, the author, is also descended from Constance.) I have dug around in other books and on-line sources about Plimouth Plantation, and the historical facts are dead-on. I don't at the moment remember whether "Constance" mentions that her father was not a Puritan, Dissenter, Separatist; he came not for religious reasons but because he wanted his own farm. Constance, her husband Nicholas, and her brother Giles left Plymouth for the same reason in 1644 -- and also because they were fed up with the Puritan oligarchy in Plymouth.

So her family represents, in many ways, the American quest for independence and farmland -- the Jeffersonian ideal of the free citizen. (Constance's descendants were still farming as late as 1940, though my father left the farm in 1921, finding farming a new form of tyranny.)