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i loooove this book.. it was simple and sweet and i could really feel the connection between the two characters.. unlike bilson's first book, "simply irresistible", i can't figure out how the two characters found each other except for pure lust and physical attraction. but this book has more depth and at the end of the day, what makes them come together are simple things which i think is beliavable and sweet. i would recommend this book to anyone who wants depth in romance stories..

I really loved this book! But I love almost all of Rachel Gibson's books.

This is the story of Hope Spencer, a tabloid reporter with writers block, and Sheriff Dylan Taber, a single father of little boy. Hope comes to Gospel when she experiences a lack of inspiration for her tabloid stories she writes for the Weekly World News. She meets Dylan as soon as she hits town when she stops to ask for directions to her rented house. Hope keeps her actual job a secret because most people just don't understand it. Dylan hates reporters since he's got a secret he wants kept. His sons mother is a tv star and the public has no idea she's a mother. When someone leaks info about his son to the press, Dylan believes Hope is responsible.
This is a good book and the only part I don't quite like is that Dylan doesn't end up having to grovel to get Hope back. But there is lots of humor with the town being full of crazy people and the stories Hope makes up about them.

This is early Rachel Gibson and was a cute story. It wasn't my favorite Gibson novel but still better than most. Hope Spencer works for one of the trashing magazines where she writes about Aliens and other weird stuff. She taks a working vacation to Gospel, Idaho. She finds lots of characters for her articles in in the small town and one hot secretative Sheriff Dylan Taber. My favorite Gibson so far are: The Trouble With Valentine's Day,See Jane Score and Sex,Lies,and Online Dating. I can't wait for her new book I'm In No Mood For Love -- coming October 2006.

Hope Spencer is a writer of "The Weekly News of the Universe". Sound weird? Well, that is because "The Weekly News of the Universe" DOES weird. Hope wants some quiet time, time for normality. She gets a lease for a place in Gospel, Idaho, and begins to settle in.

It is not long before Hope realizes that Gospel is anything but normal. However, there IS a bright side. His name is Dylan Taber and he is the local sheriff. To say Hope is attracted to Dylan is an understatement. When she hears that Dylan's life is somehow mixed up with a Hollywood actress, her reporter senses kick in.

***** This story will keep you grinning from beginning to end. I found myself chuckling often, which only made this great book even better to me. Author Rachel Gibson blends humor and romance together to give readers one sassy read. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Tabloid reporter Hope Spencer has fled to the mountains of Idaho for a little R&R after being stalked by one of her subjects. She wants to keep her identity a secret, but finds herself attracted to Dylan, the sexy town sheriff who seems just as attracted, but is keeping secrets of his own. As she enjoys her days spending time with Dylan and his son Adam, her reporters instincts kick in when she discovers that Dylan shares a past with an infamous actress who Hope has crossed paths with, and finds herself having to make a decision between love and the advancement of her career. Which will she choose?

Set in Truly, Idaho, Gibson's fictional town populated with eclectic and endearing citizens, this is one of her shining moments as a novelist, as plot, character development, romance, and humor collide to make a near-perfect story.

I've read four of these get-started-freelancing books and most were very helpful. Renegade provides a lot of tips from not only the very experienced authors but from other veteran and beginning freelancers and editors, including snappy query letters, tips on getting along with editors and getting paid, and getting paid better.

The advice isn't as renegade as the title indicates. Every suggestion comes under a heading of ``Break this rule:'', which is a good idea for a book. But in reality, in almost all cases, what the authors really mean (and they seem to acknowledge this) is that there are occasional exceptions to these rules. You'd be an idiot to pull a George Costanza and do the opposite of these rules to change your luck.

A minor peccadillo: The writing style sometimes is overly flip, in a ``Freelancing for Dummies'' sort of way. Here's an imaginary example, because I don't have time to reread the book right now to find real ones: ``If you don't hear back about your query in two weeks, don't go setting yourself on fire and jumping off a cliff.'' For me, it sometimes distracts from the message, but I know others will find it friendly and comforting.

I'd like to suggest something I haven't seen in any of the books I've read. Why not have a hand-holding, get-started kick in the pants for procrastinators -- perhaps a step-by-step work session that would tell them to come up with a story idea in a certain field, let's say arthritis treatment, and then list a few websites or other sources for research and some experts in the field on that narrow topic. The exercise would walk the writer through finding actual magazines that would use stories about arthritis and judging which pay the best and are most writer-friendly, and would name the contact people and their emails. Next, a template query on an arthritis story, which of course the hopeful freelancer would rewrite to his/her specific story idea. I think many who are just getting into freelancing can find the whole thing overwhelming. A lesson like that could break the ice.

I have to say I'm pretty happy with it, overall. Probably not the sort of book you'd want to cosy up in bed with and read cover to cover, as it's really a book full of tips and references for freelancers, but it had a lot of good stuff.
I thought for a while it was a little self-contradictory, but then I re-thunk that. I think it's more a question of them giving you different points of view on how to tackle the same issue. It was written by two women, after all. They're bound to have differing opinions from time to time.
But the tone was folksy, if a little forcedly so; sometimes they sounded like chirpy little squirrels. But it gave a very clear idea of what the freelance writing life would be like, so it was worth the read.

These ladies cut through the bull to tell new freelancers what works and what doesn't work. In some situations it is all based on the comfort level of the beginning freelance writer on which "rules" to break but the authors offer their own experiences.

The tone of the book is conversational like you're having lunch or a cup of coffee with them. For beginning freelancers who have very few mentors this is an excellent book to give them a peek into successful freelancing.

Yes, this book is full of facts that seasoned freelancers already know. But for a beginner, this is a great book. One thing to keep in mind, though: you need to KNOW the rules before you break them. The authors do a good job of explaining why certain rules are in place and when they should or shouldn't be broken, but new writers need to use their common sense as far as what they are comfortable with.

The chatty tone makes this an easy to read, un-intimidating intro to the craft of selling yourself as a freelance writer. I highly recommend it for newbies.

I have read just about every book I've come across on freelance writing and I find this by far to be the best. Most of the others re-hash all the same old outdated information time and again. This one takes a fresh approach and gives you something to think about. I even break their rules! If you are interesting in freelancing this book is one worth reading.

I never return books. But after reading the first two chapters of The Successful Writer's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles, I dug the packaging box back out of the recycling bin. After skimming through the rest of the book, I was rummaging through the trash for the packing slip. The writer may have good advice but I just couldn't get past the dull, flat writing and the disorganized content to find it. As another reviewer commented, it's inspiring to know that if the author of this book could get published, there's hope for the rest of us. Disappointing to say the least.

I wanted to like this book. I really wanted to like this book. Eva Shaw has written good books; as an example, check out "Writing the Nonfiction Book". That one was tight, polished, and useful. The Successful Writer's Guide to... I can't even finish typing the title; the book is just that bad. The content is in the book, but so inaccessible. Dr. Shaw knows her business, and her approach to success will likely work for the aspiring writer. The sad reality is that this book makes the reader work for every bit of useful information, and not in the way that is productively challenging. Rather, the book presents constant obstacles in the form of comma splices, sentence fragments, and incoherent verbal trips around the block that had this reader constantly going back to the chapter title and headings to find orientation. This book reads as though Dr. Shaw typed it in a stream-of-consciousness drive to finish it over a weekend. To think that an editor saw this book before publication strains credulity and insults the editorial profession. Another reviewer wrote that these liabilities are inexcusable in a book about writing, and I agree wholeheartedly.

Eva Shaw knows how to write. She also knows how to be successful in the writing business. Readers new to her books would benefit from reading one other than this as an introduction to her work. The Successful Writer's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles proves the thesis that anyone can succeed at writing and get published, but uses itself as its own shoddy proof of the low barriers to entry in the business.

Even after reading previous reviews about the sloppiness of this book, I purchased it anyway because the reviewers found the content very helpful. But when I opened the book, I couldn't get past page 10-- no matter what gems of wisdom lay within, the mass of typos and incoherence make it impossible to justify finding those gems. The fact alone that Dr. Shaw has managed to sell thousands of articles convinces me that I can break into this field. The reviews at the front of the book laud her enthusiastic teaching style, which she may very well have in person, but on the page she just stinks. Even her examples of "queries that sold" contained weak and redundant sentences, such as "Please consider this topic, and thank you for your consideration." Wha? There are so many books on this topic, I recommend skipping this one. Any good advice is probably found elsewhere.

As a former on-line student of Eva's, I couldn't wait to get this book, and I was not disappointed. Less than two weeks after completing her class and the book, I have already had two essays published. Eva's help and guidance was invaluable and I strongly recommend both her books and her courses.

Others have noted the sloppy editing, and I agree. But the info here is invaluable for someone who already know how to write for magazines, but needs to be more savvy with the marketing.

As a freelance journalist I can assure you that she tells you like it is. The key is to know thy markets and to be savvy about your skills, and Eva Shaw gives good suggestions on both topics.

I have followed her advice and it has definitely improved my sales.

Reading The Onion 'newspaper' as it comes out should be a part of the regular education of anyone who can read English, as it is consistently and outrageously funny. The Onion has issued a series of what are mostly reprints in book form, of which this is one. It's not quite as good the second time around, especially if you remember the stories from when you first read them - but if a friend of yours has never seen them in the original, this is a great gift or coffee table book or whatever to shove their way.

The book is technically broken down by chapters, each of which has a lead-in article or editorial by the centenarian 'editor' Zweibel, which for reasons unknown are basically very, very lame attempts at humor, by far the weakest part (and only original part) of the book. Oh well.

The rest of the articles are a jumble of stuff, much of it hysterically funny, some of it not so much, depending on your taste. If you like the Onion but only see it once in a while, you should have this book. Maybe leave it in your bathroom or at bedside or something; best read one or two pages at a time, after that the recommended adult dosage may be exceeded.

I enjoyed this book. It was funny, not their best but still good.

This is yet another great example of brilliant and witty writing on the part of the Onion's writers. From GM introducing "new, instant-win airbags" to Saddam Hussein stepping down because of a sex scandal and a local child destroying an ant colony, the writing is better than ever. The writers' ribald and vulgar sense of humor is sharper than ever, too, as Monica Lewinsky gets subpoenaed to "re-blow Clinton on Senate floor." It's tough to pick a favorite Onion book, but this one is right up there. Even the offensive ones are somehow funny. Get it, read it, and laugh again and again. Makes a great coffee table book.

I stumbled upon the Onion while in New York where I came upon a bunch of free copies. It was hilarious. This was the first book from the Onion that I got. The articles aren't in chronological order but are instead bits and pieces from many different issues; a "best of" collection I guess. Anyway, as for "The Onion," there's nothing really like it in the world today. It is a satirical newspaper that has humorous headlines such as "Richard Simmons Fighting for Life in Estrogen Tent" as well as community voices with titles like "Those Motherf*cking Robins are on Thin Ice" in which an old man tells about how robins have caused him so much trouble (It's funnier if you read the article I guess). Some other funny stories include how Civil War enthusiasts march on Atlanta and emancipate the NFL Falcons team as well as an article entitled "Tibet Freedom Fighters Seize Yak. 'Whatever' say Chinese." Like I said, if you appreciate political humor and satire, this is definitely for you. There is some bad language, but if you can handle this, you will be crying by time you are finished because it is so funny.

I discovered The Onion (its website) by accident, one day while searching on the Internet. And I was instantly hooked. The site is incredibly funny, and satirical and points the right amount of fun and directed political commentary at the key issues making the headlines. This is is simply important reading. While it is important to keep abreast of the serious journals and commnetary, its important to remember that satire and comedy are often as illustrative and explanatory than the serious stuff. Highly recommended.

This book embraced important issues about life-decisions very well. Marrage is business - ask an attorney or anyone in or near divorce.

Single or married, HAPPY PEOPLE DO NOT WANT YOU TO BE UNHAPPY. Most miserable people are so mixed up that they tend to follow nature's law of "like attracts like". Many insist that you join "their ranks", no matter what your personal feelings or costs will be. Truely happy and healthy people want you happy and making the best life-decisions for YOU.

I'm a medical clinician and have taken many very private personal histories over the years. Candidly, MANY married friends or aquaintences (a wife or husband - without their spouses present)have stepped up to the plate and have told me point blank in private HOW LUCKY I AM TO BE SINGLE. These stories happen over and over, year after year. I hear them from all levels - all the way up to professionally degreed ladies and gentlemen. They couldn't believe what they traded and gave up, wishing more than anything that they could get out of their marrages.

I was married once briefly and very happy then, too. Unfortunatley, she abandoned our plans of dual professioanl incomes, saving and investing. We were retiring early together to travel to follow a "lets have fun together following our instincts and interests" lifestyle. She wanted to retire THEN. I was loaded with all financial responsibilities with my new, irresponsible, yet loving (in her ways) wife. Six months after we married, a short gentleman's discussion cleared any misunderstandings that I may have had about our plans. We thoroughly discussed our marrage GOALS. I NEEDED to be sure she changed. Three days later, my divorce was on the way and I felt a tremendous sense of relief. One of my most happiest and most productive days was the day the judge signed my divorce. It felt I, MY ONE CHANCE IN LIFE, was born anew with a fresh start every morning.

As a happy single, I have to make up my own mind based on my true feelings. "Marrage pushers" grasp at holding "spouse power cards" - typically, the non-worker party (yes, they're having a party). The longer someone stays in a clear misadventure with wrong parties, the potential of great emotional and financial losses skyrocket.

Today, many younger first generation immigrants entering the U.S. refuse to get a U.S. marrage. They feelit's too risky for hard workers trying to embrace dreams of a new life. Their solution? They adopt or parent their children overseas and raise them in the U.S. independently. I've read through U.S. BLOG sites where ladies have "Divorce Showers" BEFORE saying vows. These groups plot and plan to take their husbands for everything, BEFORE the wedding day. The typical execution takes 1 to 3 years plus the pleasant divorce.

Need to valadate a potential spouse? Look at their Real World ADULT Report Cards: Family history, read their credit ratings, lifetime social security earning statements, financial records, and validate REAL Monthly Cash Flow. Are they "true" or are they taking monthly cash advances (your future debt, so get ready) to snow-job everyone concerned with your well-being and appear more attractive as a valuable mate?

Gravitating towards a variety of happy people who stay busy with socially healthy, personally challanging activities is probably the best choice. Validate their Adult Report Cards. Someone who loves you and looking out for your best interests, too, will discuss everything with you willingly and openly.

Of course, you can smile, date, go out, and just stay happily single. Spend that dough on you and protect your future!

I wish I could put a finger on it -- but this book has probably done more to convince me that there's something wrong with my single state than anything. It seems to suggest that there's no natural desire for a mate, that if it weren't for the marriage agenda we'd all be happily single, and it just seems to fly in the face of common sense and overstretch too often. I would prefer to stay single after a bad marriage but find it difficult to accept, and was hoping this book would give me more to support that choice. Instead I find myself going, "well, maybe it's not really all that natural for a married couple to invite a single to a social function in this or that circumstance...." Being single isn't about doing things alone (humans are social animals), and I think she misses that point often. That's not to say that there isn't plenty to ponder, but I don't agree with her conclusions too often. It's an interesting read.

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"I do wish married people would understand that a lot of singles actually WANT to be single. Why does that bother you?...It is like the story my (happily married) friend...likes to tell about meeting the late Ann Landers, who said, `You tell that Richard Roeper to figure out what's keeping him from getting married and to fix it!'""

The above is found in this meticulously well-researched book by social psychologist Dr. Bella DePaulo (who is unmarried herself). (Specifically, the above quotation comes from an essay written by movie critic (of TV's "At the Movies with Ebert & Roeper") and columnist Richard Roeper's reaction to two married friends who wanted Roeper to get married.)

I think it's important for people to know what social psychology is: it is that branch of psychology that concentrates on any and all aspects of human behaviour that involve persons and their relationships to other persons, groups, social institutions, and to society as a whole. Social psychology exchanges freely ideas, models, and methods with other social sciences, particularly sociology.

This is why I chose this book. It's based on an objective social science (or, at least, it tries to be) and not on subjective opinions. This book is not a "diatribe" or a rant.

The best chapter in this book, in my opinion, has the title, "Science and the Single Person." Here, DePaulo looks at data and their numbers with regard to different kinds of people (single, married, divorced, etc.). She then interprets the data. The final conclusions are eye-opening and completely unexpected.

Then we proceed to examine the myths of being single that form the core of this book. Here are the myths that each form an independent chapter for analysis:

Myth #1: Marrieds (that is, married couples) know best.
Myth #2: You are just interested in one thing--getting coupled.
Myth #3: You are miserable and lonely and your life is tragic.
Myth #4: Like a child, you are self-centered and immature and your time isn't worth anything since you have nothing to do but play.
Myth #5: (For single women). Your work won't love you back and your eggs will dry up. Also, you don't get any, and your promiscuous.
Myth #6: (For single men). You are horny, slovenly, and irresponsible, and you are the scary criminals. Or, you are sexy, fastidious. frivolous, and gay.
Myth #7: (For single parents). Your kids are doomed.
Myth #8: You don't have anyone and you don't have a life.
Myth #9: You will grow old alone and you will die in a room by yourself where no one will find you for weeks.
Myth #10: (Regarding the term "family values"). Let's give all the perks, benefits, gifts, and cash to couples and call it family values.

In all chapters, Depaulo delves into history, tells us true stories, and logically analyzes arguments.

Finally, you would expect a book like this to be overly harsh on married people or couples. Actually, it's not. The book tries to be fair and balanced.

In conclusion, this book is an intriguing cultural study that gives a complicated subject the attention and respect it deserves. I leave you with other quotations regarding marriage and the single life (the title of this review is actually a quotation uttered by Mae West):

(i) Marriage is like a besieged fortress. Everyone outside wants to get in, and everyone inside wants to get out. (Quitard)
(ii) My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met. (comedian Rodney Dangerfield)
(iii) People think I'm gay because I'm single, slim, and neat. (comedian Jerry Seinfeld in the sitcom "Seinfeld")

(First published late 2007; 15 chapters; main narrative 260 pages; notes; bibliography; acknowledgements; index)

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A very selective review of the literature on singlehood. DePaulo has a good point--alone does not equal lonely, and our society should be aware and open to that. However, she protests too much--and misinterprets a lot of other people's meaningful words in very negative ways.

I know some people are marriage-obsessed and I've certainly experienced one of the main questions at a family gathering being, "So, do you have a boyfriend?"; still, I've never realized the extent of discrimination against singles. (And yes, Bella DePaulo is very aware that singles do not face the discrimination many other groups must survive.) Sometimes she seems to be digging too deep into a frankly benign situation, but other times she uncovers surprising truths. The tone rarely contains bitterness - yes, there is some, but DePaulo approaches her subject matter with humor. Each chapter focuses on a different subject singlehood in a fairly self-contained manner. She concisely debunks most of the popular myths about singlism.

In one of the concluding chapters, DePaulo writes, "I think that most Americans - including most single Americans - want the marital mythology to be true. They passionately want to believe that if only they find their soulmate, they will live happily ever after." My friends and I talk all the time about this concept, and we do want it to be true. We grew up in an age of high divorce rates, but we still hold the Disney dream close - jaded, cynical teenagers who still believe one day we'll find the one. Maybe we will, maybe we won't. Who cares? We'll be just fine on our own, whether Prince Charming arrives on the scene or not.

Don't be put off by the non-fiction aspect. SINGLED OUT is a fascinating read. It may not change your paradigm, but it will open your eyes to various injustices.

Excerpted from In Bed With Books.

One of my favorite Miss Marple novels so far. She really is a sweet old dear, but amazingly shrewd. The plot was complex, suspenseful, and interesting. I had no idea who the murderer was until the end. The whole plot is attention grabbing and creepy - I like that.

What "improvements" have been made for the Signet edition? There are already major differences in punctuation, word choices, and scene breaks between the original Collins and Dodd Mead editions of this novel. There are further differences between the Dodd Mead editions republished by Random House/Avenel and the Dodd Mead editions republished by Simon & Shuster/Pocket. There are further additions still in the Bantam, Berkley, and Black Dog & Leventhal editions. For every publishing house putting out her works, there seem to be a new batch of editors altering Agatha Christie's words and the sound of her voice. What's the matter with these publishers? Whose voice do they think we want to hear when we sit down to a novel by Agatha Christie? And what will she sound like twenty years from now? It's frightening that her estate has failed to see the importance of guarding her words as she wrote them. Please tell me I'm not the only one here who senses that a crime has been committed.

Just when you think you knew who did it then wham! A curveball comes in to reveal the true killer. A great read!

When a personal item in the Chipping Cleghorne Gazette invites people to a murder at the home of Miss Blacklock, they show up to be part of the excitement. However, when a young man suddenly springs in on them with a revolver, and then quickly ends up dead, the party turns out to be anything but entertaining. The police are baffled as to what happened and why, and that leaves only one person who can unravel this mystery - Miss Jane Marple!

Jane Marple was the literary creation of that most famous of English mystery writers, Agatha Christie (1890-1976). For those of you unfamiliar with Miss Marple, she was your stereotypical elderly spinster-lady, who loves to gossip and grow her flowers. But, even more, she has a razor-sharp mind that she uses to solve mysteries, using her own brand of lateral thinking that allows her see clearer than anyone else around her.

This is actually Agatha Christie's fourth Miss Marple novel, written in 1950. (The first one was The Murder at the Vicarage (1930), and the second one was Sleeping Murder, which was written in 1940 but locked away to be published after Ms. Christie's death in 1976.) Overall, I found this to be a fascinating read. If you love a good mystery, then get this book - it is a great mystery, one of the best ones ever written. I give this book my highest recommendations!

This was my first Miss Marple mystery but by no means my first Christie book. I have enjoyed the different way in which the sharp mind worked over Hercule Poirot's genius but truth be told, Miss Marple as good as she was didn't appear in the book too often. This was also the time I figured out who the murderer was, more likely because I have read a lot of Agatha and knew her to be a trickster when it came to fooling the reader but also partially due to clues given out fairly this time. The final answer made total sense and there were a few things that were twisted and few truths were new to me but overall it all came together , so those who pay attention can figure it out.

Murder is announced - in deed it is, in a local Gazette that everyone reads in Chipping Cleghorn. When everyone assumes it's some sort of a party they get a huge surprise that a murder does take place and one of the attendees is somehow responsible. I will not give anything else away but the story has a great setting and there are tons of clues. I felt like a grand detective reading all the accounts and enjoyed the old-fashioned talk and mannerisms. The house of Letitia Blacklock has been violated and her closest friends, neighbors and family members are the only ones who could have dipped their fingers in the dark pool of death. Miss Marple enters the book and shines some light on interesting family relations and past that wants to be forgotten with a few unlucky turns for some of the members of the party. When more deaths happen the police know they must act quickly or there won't be anyone left.

The only problem I had with the book was the amount of characters; my head was spinning and I was dizzy trying to gather them all up in my mind. The names were also similar and long some making me a bit batty but overall I enjoyed the book and loved the cozy setting marred with chilling death hiding in the dark corridors of the Blacklock house. I do recommend this but it left me with a bit of a headache at the end and I was anticipating the ending to finally come and bring my brain some relief. Murder is nasty business and Christie knew how to work it to her advantage.

- Kasia S.

Can historical source material make for an exciting and engaging read? This book answers that question in the extreme affirmative. It contains documents mainly from the 18th century, but it reads like a political thriller. It also provides valuable peeks into the formation of the United States as we know it today. Magma hot controversy surrounded that formation. The press on all sides fervently spewed accusations that seem nearly heretical even today. Did John Adams want to be king? Was George Washington a bumbling and incompetent general? Did the French win the revolution for us, thanks to the diplomatic powers of Benjamin Franklin? Was Thomas Jefferson an atheistical French sympathizer? In light of these claims, Who is really the "father of our country?" Many unconventional opinions see light in this book. Some cherished political figures get shredded to bits, sometimes by their own words and sometimes by the words of others. In the end, no one is safe from abuse. Not even Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. Shocking claims await on almost every page.

The drama begins in the city of Philadelphia in 1798. At this time it served as the capital for the very young United States (the government moved to Washington in 1800). John Adams holds the presidency. George Washington still has a year to live. Benjamin Franklin has been dead for eight years. His grandson, Benjamin Franklin Bache runs a newspaper called the Aurora General Advertiser (or just "The Aurora"). For reporting on certain congressmen's less than professional behavior (spitting, insults, etc), congress bars the paper from the floor of both houses. The Aurora gets shoved into the balconies of congress, far above the whispers of congressman that Bache so often reported on without approval from the House Speaker. Congress marks the Aurora as a troublemaker. This begins the first section of the book, where the Aurora accuses president Adams of wanting to be king of the United States. More than mere conjecture or metaphor spurned this accusation. Adams presented his idea of "titles" to Congress on May 9, 1789. He suggested a verbose title for the president: "His Highness, the President of the United States of America and Protector of the Rights of the Same." Along with this, he proposed that the president and all senators should hold their offices for life. These ideas deeply disturbed Bache, and the exposure of Adams' goals became a predominant goal of his paper. In addition, Bache accused the Adams administration of purposefully alienating France. The Aurora and other news sources of 1789 reported on the terrifying prospect of a French invasion of the United States. It never happened, and Bache yelled foul from his printing press. The more he yelled the more the Adams administration responded. The Sedition Act, supposedly created to silence the Aurora, came before Congress and passed in 1789. On top of that the the Alien Bill also passed, which enabled the president to deport any illegal alien without trial. Bache argued the unconstitutionality of both Acts. The inevitable arrest came soon after. Bache posted bail for trial for indictment under the Sedition Act. The yellow fever epidemic of the same year altered the proceedings. Other arrests and trials of newspaper editors continued. Many were convicted, spent time in prison, and paid heavy fines.

Part Two of the book goes back in time to before the American Revolution. This section will raise the most eyebrows. It begins with an accusation that George Washington started the French Indian War of 1756. The section goes on to argue that Washington bungled the Revolutionary war so badly that Benjamin Franklin had to go to France and beg for help. Surprising letters from Washington's Generals and other government officials dot the entire section. Other revelations include Alexander Hamilton's avowal that monarchy best suits the new constitution's checks and balances, Adams' ideas behind a two house legislature, Benjamin Franklin's support of a unicameral legislature, and the alleged flouting of the French Treaty of 1778 under the Washington administration. Washington in particular fares badly in this section.

The Third and final section returns to 1798. William Duane now heads up the Aurora (you can guess what happened). He continues the fight against the Adams administration's policies, particularly in the critical election year of 1800. The government arrests Duane under the Sedition Act, and even the United States Senate arrests Duane for "breach of privilege". Duane spends much of this section in hiding. This section also sheds some light on the origins of the Second Amendment concerning the subject of standing armies. Much, much more gets coverage in this section. Far too much to summarize here, but the election of 1800 (Adams vs. Jefferson) receives more than ample coverage.

Throughout, the reader gets more perspectives than just the Aurora's. The Federalists (Adams' party) also get plenty of space. Numerous passages from the Gazette of the United States and Porcupine's Gazette (both Federalist papers of Philadelphia) provide vitriolic responses to Bache's and Duane's Democratic-Republican claims. Candor was not something practiced by the press of the time. Articles sometimes resulted in personal assaults on editors with opposing papers cheering on the abusers. Rough times indeed.

Though the book provides many perspectives, the book mainly argues that Bache and Duane's Aurora saved the United States from monarchy (even Thomas Jefferson made this claim in 1823), and that freedom of the press provided the means. The book takes a decidedly anti-Federalist stance.

Engaging and powerful, this book will provide at least another perspective on the founding of the United States and its major personalities. It accomplishes this mostly through excerpts from newspapers, The Annals of Congress, and personal letters of the time (the book contains over 2000 direct citations). At times it feels close to time travel. A long and arduous but ultimately extremely rewarding read.

It's hard to imagine how a twenty-fifth 5-star review can do any more to convince anyone to read this book... But I will try!

I HATED history in school, and rarely read history as an adult. Nevertheless, I was engrossed by this book and could hardly put it down, notwithstanding 900+ pages! It has revived my interest in (accurate) history, and might do the same for you.

If you like your history shined-up with the polyurethane glow of hero-sweat, don't go near this book; unless, that is, you would like to actually learn something and enjoy the learning along the way. In the end you might discover a hero or two, but mostly you will come away quite convinced that the "popular" history of our own nation is seemingly as intent as that of the old USSR on covering-up and inverting the facts. Imagine that!

Say "Alien and Sedition Act" to most people who have not completely blocked their recall of high school US history and you will see the whites of their eyes - rolling up into a coma! This could be the single most boring and meaningless datum we were required to remember, no?

But now, on reading "American Aurora", I find that the "act" was slammed through Congress as a way of shipping as many as possible of the troublesome new Irish immigrants off-shore as possible - before the election of 1800 where they were expected to cause electoral trouble for the Federalists. Imagine that !

For that matter, say "Federalist" to most folks and you can clear the room... a few desperate souls mumbling about "Marbury and Madison". But, WHEN you read this book (it cannot be an "if"), you'll realize how fundamental the rift was and how vicious the political battle was that constructed the foundations of our political structure.. So many of our history teachers wished that we would understand the "fundamental" part - but that we would somehow accept that anything so important was settled by a bunch of powdered wigs (or was it whigs?) in grand public session - that it was all neatly sewn up, somehow, after Cornwallis's band played "The World Turned Upside Down." The true story reads more like Capone's Chicago and the "settling" of the issue was a messy, decade-long business.

In style the book frightened me. Really! It is peppered with original documents of the era - letters and the like. That sort of "authenticity" often seems to just introduce confufing fyntax and fpelling that drives me away. Well, consider a quote from a letter from Thomas Paine to Washington. "You slept away your time in the field till the finances of the country were completely exhausted, and you have little share in the glory of the final event. It is time, sir, to speak the undisguised language of historical truth.". Sheesh! We realize that even Paine, usually cast as a firebrand only in the `liberty or death' category, was outspoken in other ways, which have not echoed down the halls of official history. Imagine that!

Ultimately the mixture of original source documents and well-crafted storytelling is a knock-your-socks-off combination. This is absolutely compelling history and a great read to boot.

It pains me to give American Aurora a relatively negative review, as the book was entertaining and well-prepared. I must do so, however, because the book offers only part of the story. James Thomas Callendar is one of the most amusing characters of early American history -- the forefather of folks like Walter Winchell and Matt Drudge, the first American "scandalmonger," as William Safire calls him. But he was motivated by money and personal pique, embracing and denouncing Washington, Adams, and Jefferson in turn to sell papers and whenever he felt one had slighted his ambitions. American Aurora focuses only on the period of the Alien and Sedition Acts and Callendar's campaign against Adams. The book makes Callendar out to be a John Peter Zenger-caliber hero of free expression, ignoring the fact that Callendar once praised Adams, and would later tarnish Jefferson -- Callendar's hero in American Aurora -- and breaking the story of Sally Hemings. This is a fun read. Too bad it's not the whole truth.

This is an amazing book. Pure and simple. The book is a compilation of letters, newspaper articles, and journal excerpts from historical figures in, and witnesses of, the dramatic early days of the United States. The author also uses some dramatic license to flesh out events that are mentioned in the articles and letters.

The book focuses on the leading newspaper of the United States from the founding of the U.S.A. to Thomas Jefferson's inaugration as president. The tales told are things that are usually only mentioned in passing in typical history books, this is the political infighting, scandals and events that shaped our country in the early days. Current politicians, commentators and anyone who thinks politics right now are bad has to read this book.

It is amazing to read this novel and see what the founders and early leaders of the U.S. did and compare it to current political fighting and scandals. Once you realize this it makes you wonder how amused these earlier figures would be at what we now consider scandalous behavior by politicians. There was duels, embezzlement, private use of public funds (in huge amounts,) actual physical fighting, suspension of the bill of rights and other things that politicians did in the nascent beginning of the U.S. that make all of the current political battles, scandals, and criticism pale by comparison.

A must read for any lover of history, politics, or just U.S. citizens.

Interestingly, I had never heard of American Aurora before coming upon it in a half-price book store. Leafing through it and realizing what a find it was, I snatched it up without hesitation. What I had found was history as I have rarely seen it: in the form of letters and newspaper clippings dating from the early years of the American Revolution to the election of 1800. The collective mass of them all exceeds 800 pages, but I was never sorrier to be done with a large book as I was with this one.

Rosenfeld uses source documents to highlight the philosphical underpinnings of the American Revolution from the conservative men of property who sought to overthow the British for the sake of personal aggrandizement to the radical philosophers seeking a true government of the people. The conflicts between these two groups in US history has been so underplayed and muted as to be tragic. For--and it took this book to make me realize it--that conflict was the precursor to the ongoing battle of plebianism and doctrinaire authoritarianism, between the right to expression and the need for state secrets, between states rights advocates and national cohesion, between agrarian interests and the trappings of the industrial caste, and between the working class and the landed socialites implied in America's modern day political conflicts. So much of what went on between those groups in our early history directly affects us today. In fact the conflicts between the leaders who fought for our independence and penned our Constitution is in fact embedded in that founding document.

For the average reader, the contrasts of behavior and argument between our nations founders will come as a shock to say the least. What has traditionally been presented to us as a homogenous movement of the American people for their independence has been shattered for me in the pages of American Aurora. What is left is a study in contrasts and a much clearer and realistic understanding of the personalities and policies that shaped American history, and for that matter, the entire world's history thereafter.

This is history at its finest. Rosenfeld, instead of relying on a string of historians for his narrative, lets Jefferson, Adams, Duane, Bache, Franklin, Hamilton, Washington, etc. speak for themselves through their letters and articles. The result is a far, far more candid and more lucid understanding of the American Revolution and the battles of the early republic than I have read.

Every American should read American Aurora or something like it.

I am one of those cooks that has never had any formal training (beyond my mother/grandmother) -- so I appreciate the teaching and conversation beyond the recipe. For example, the book details homemade chicken soup and the technique for making an excellent base. This lets me experiment and expand on the ingredients that I like -- so that I can build my "perfect" recipe.

The recipes have all turned out well and at the same time, have taught me a lot about cooking. This is an excellent book for an aspiring home cook.

This series is great.
Don't be put off by the boring format.
Not one recipe tried has been less than it promises.
I like them so much I've bought them all.

This review refers to "Best American Recipes 2000." I noticed that Amazon hasn't always segregated these reviews by year, so I include this information. The review for the 1999 edition is at the bottom, due to Amazon's silliness with this.

I have trusted Fran McCullough ever since she co-authored "Great Food Without Fuss," another book full of easy-but-perfect and unusual recipes. I also loved McCullough and Hamlin's "Best American Recipes 1999," so I bought this for my birthday. WOW. I have had it for 2 weeks, and I cannot stop cooking from it. Just from browsing all the books in "Best American Recipes" series so far, I get the feeling that McCullough/Hamlin is the best co-author team in the series, but I haven't had the others as long, so I'll report back when I've cooked my way through the later ones.

So far, I have made:

Stuffed French Toast with Lemon-Cheese Filling and Blueberries: impressed even the most jaded of palates
Puffy Maine Pancakes: the classic Dutch baby pancake
Fresh Fig, Gorgonzola, and Walnut Salad with Warm Port Vinaigrette: worth the price of the book for the salad dressing alone (requires reducing 1 cup of nonvintage port)
Pasta with Baked Tomato Sauce: so easy, creamy, and lovely, but without any cream
Watermelon Salsa: a salad, actually. My husband and I devoured the recipe that "serves 4," and not because the recipe was skimpy!
Wine Grapes, Walnuts, and Olives: a magical transformation of basic high-quality ingredients. Great as a side dish, or on pasta.

All have perfect directions, incredible flavor, and helpful notes. Main dishes come with a "serve with" menu, with all the recipes included in the book. I love that! Who can resist a foolproof, perfect dinner party menu?

Both this book and the 1999 book have a whole menu for Thanksgiving dinner, including the turkey. Most years, I scour my hundreds of cookbooks and cooking magazines for the perfect menu, never trusting that a particular side dish or dessert will come out as promised. This Thanksgiving, the only hard thing will be deciding between the 1999 and the 2000 menus from the "Best American Recipes" series. From me, this is strong praise, as I have never in my 30+ years of cooking made a whole menu as written from a book or magazine.

Enjoy!

1999:

This review refers to "Best American Recipes 1999." Amazon sometimes prints a copy of the review under a different edition.

McCullough and Hamlin are a great team. They went to great lengths emailing everyone in the food world asking for the best recipes published in the preceding year. They came up with some real winners.

Lately, I'm addicted to the Watermelon Milkshake (yes, where else would you get a recipe that sounds so bad and tastes so good?) I have been freezing the watermelon so I can use Greek (drained) nonfat yogurt and still get that thick and frosty, made-with-ice-cream mouth feel. Lest you think I only like the book for inspiration and doctor/change the recipes, this is not true. I'm sure the vanilla ice cream version would blow my mind (and my diet!).

The Blueberry Lemonade is wonderful, and again, I never would have thought of it. Why not make a lighter, fresher version of blueberry pie in a glass? It's hot today, so I made mine in the blender with ice cubes instead of water.

Obviously, I really appreciate that every year of this series includes some non-alcoholic beverages that delight the taste buds. Enough of sickly-sweet punches!

Actually, clear and consistent goals are things that make this series great. Clearly, there is a Thanksgiving menu. Clearly, there are the nonalcoholic drinks. Clearly, there are summer salads and winter sides. Consistently, there are lovely brunch/breakfast specialties, often with the comment that one is perfect for the morning after Christmas. McCullough and Hamlin know how real people cook, what recipes they need, and they deliver!

Butter and Egg Soup For Newlyweds was as good as any "amuse buche" at a fancy restaurant, and I made it at the last minute on my own birthday!

This book has enticing recipe after recipe, with clear descriptions, clear directions, and perfect results. The "cook's note" next to each recipe helps, as does the suggested "serve with" menu and wine selection.

The suggested menus and wines disappear starting in 2003. I DO hope they are back for 2005!

Here is what some of us do--collect recipes from all kinds of varying sources, sorted through and published in book form.

Tried few recipes thus far, and each lives up to rating: Scallop and Corn Chowder, unique Ricotta Hot Cakes with Honeycomb butter, Port-and-Black-Currant Glazed Chicken Thighs,Roasted Potatoes with Garlic,Lemon and Oregano.

For a different closing meal treat, try "Roasted Apricots with Sugared Pecans and Dulce de Leche. It's simple and sooo sooo good!

Unique--simple--- zipped up kind of cuisine, with outstanding variety of cuisines and sources--- great collection for varying levels of cook levels. Neat feature is wine offerings with each entree suggested.

Now that I have gone through this cookbook, I need to go back and find the similar recipe books McCullough has done for the last four years. If this one is any indication, I predict that I will think I died and went to heaven.

I cannot wait to try some of the recipes that I earmarked in this book--including some unusual soups, the Garlicky Sun-Dried Tomato Spread (looks good AND easy!), a salad made with prosciutto and sugar snap peas, an Italian beef stew, and more desserts than I have any right to want to taste!

I especially liked the conversational tone of the book, the way the recipes are introduced and the tips that accompany them. It's kind of quirky, and I liked that!

This book lacks the details of publishing. No how-tos, no business aspects of publishing, or what to publish. It's a compilation of talks with minor writers.
And as you guess, the author herself is a self-publisher.

Better read "Complete Guide to Self Publishing" by Tom Ross and Marilyn Ross. You get much more with less money.

Technical note: For those who are not familiar with publishing industry, books without discount at Amazon are usually not commercially worth to publish. They include small quanity and self-published books. Commercially worth means publisher can commit because they think they can sell minimum print run of 3,000 copies which is industry standard.

Very good real-world stories from small independent publishers. In most cases, the publisher saw a need for a book -- on touring New Jersey, or hiking, or buying a horse, or serving educational niches -- and began with the premise of wanting to provide information and ideas not already "out there." What inevitably follows is a collision with the reality of a crowded and brutal marketplace, and "Make Money Self-Publishing" shows the creative ways each publisher pursued to create a livelihood.

An earlier reviewer found the book depressing -- I found it inspiring. I would say to anyone with a pipe dream of making a fortune from their book to take a good look at this and other books on self-publishing, learn that it is a battle royal even to break even, and to instead pursue publishing as a way of spreading new ideas. Hopefully Suzanne's book will demonstrate that this may lead to you making a livelihood as well, but only if you go into this field with your eyes wide open.

If you are considering self publiching then this is a nice book to have, especially if you are a fan of real life stories. The 14 author/publishers all tell their stories without hype. Most took a very long time to receive a return on their investment and explain but also show that after years they are now all getting paid regularly without having to do an awful lot. I like that the book is realistic in this sense.

Certainly, there are a few tips and pointers throughout but this really isn't a "how to" book. It is a collection of real life stories that you may be able to pick some pearls of wisdom from.

I thought this book was going to be inspirational with tips and Do's and Don't from other self-publishers. This book made me rethink me self-employment and self-publishing dreams.
Almost every one didn't make any money for years and the book was depressing and boring.
It show the reality of working for yourself, which will cause some people not to take risk.
Read it and refund it.

Despite the somewhat pedestrian title Make Money Self-Publishing has significant impact on the reader. Foutreen successful self-publishers tell us their stories--their failures as well as their successes--what worked and what didn't. For those interested in the self-publishing field this is fascinating reading.

The stories are varied. One author updates and reissues a single title year after year; others have extensive backlists. Some publish only their own work, others have parlayed their success into publishing the work of others. The abiding lessons are: there is no single formula for success, rules are made to be broken, and often the key element for success is discovered by accident.

Prefacing the fourteen tales is a chapter called "Self-Publishing 101" which outlines succinctly much of the material told in greater detail in the other books reviewed in this collection.

Ironically it is the tale written by an E-book publsher that highlights the continuing need for paper books. Through that story we found an Ebook publisher well-suited to our needs. Internet searches had not come up with this information.

We are very high on this book. Libraries should order one.

For fans of the Mark Manning series, this will rank high on the favorites list. Craft gives an interesting display of the minature world of hobbies along with a challenging web of mystery. Clues begin popping up in early pages, but most readers will have to stayed glued to the unfolding chapters to find the murderer. A well-researched and plotted mystery.

He's back and better than ever. Now firmly ensconsed as publisher a small Wisconsin town's newspaper and as his young cousin's guardian, Mark seems more settled than in past installments, but he's still as perceptive and exciting as ever. With long-time partner, Neil, in town as an architect overseeing the town press's plant, he's more present than ever, and it's nice to see how readily he and Thad (their ward) have formed a relationship, one that Mark's initially a little jealous of. Neil serves as a rock for Mark and Thad.

The town's leading miniature proprieter has organized a combo show-and-tell and seminar, and has lured the best in the business to serve as judge. When said judge is found dead, there is the initial shock, and annoying DA Harvey Kaiser looking for someone to convict, whatever the cost. The prime suspect? The town's sheriff, Doug Pierce, Mark's friend and a closeted gay man who was carrying on a torrid affair with the deceased.

The town's loyalties soon become divided. Add into the mix an upcoming obscenity trial with many political consequences. Craft has done an excellent job fleshing out these characters. You actually understand them, their insecurities and their strengths. He's also delivered a wide array of possible suspects and does good work making the actual villain NOT obvious. Isn't that nice for a change? Highly recommended.

In NAME GAMES, Michael Craft's fourth novel in this series Mark Manning has settle in in Dumont, Wisconsin, has taken over the reins fo the local newspaper, his lover Neil is in town working as an architect for the local printing company, and the two of them are finding they like being the parents of Thad, the sixteen-year-old they have "inherited" when his mother was brutally murdered in volume three of the series, less than a year ago. The peace and tranquility will not last for long, however. Grace Lord, owner of The Nook, a shop specializing in furniture for dollhouses, has scheduled an annual regional exhibition of the Midwest Miniatures Society for the people who design and collect these dollhouses or "roomboxes." Any writer who can write an interesting story about such an unusual subject-- and that's putting it nicely-- obviously can write about anything. Carroll Cantrell, the outrageously gay and national authority on these little houses, soon after he arrives to judge the competition, is found brutally murdered in Ms. Lord's carriage house. Pierce, the friendly local sheriff whom we know from the previous mystery is outed as a gay man when he turns up as a suspect since he has been sleeping with Cantrell since his arrival in Dumont.

In addition to Neil, Thad and Pierce, Roxanne, Mark's attorney friend; Lucille and Glee, newspaper employees; the local DA Kaiser and Marian of Fem-Snach make return appearances as well.

As usual, Mr. Craft takes on bigotry against gay people and voices his support for free speech. (Kaiser, who is up for reelection, forms an alliance with Marian in an effort to close down the adult bookstores.) Of course we have Mark's erotic dreams to add some spice to the narrative too.

I do not usually figure out "who done it" but I did this time. I'm not sure if that says something good about me or something less than excellent about this novel. At any rate, it's always a pleasure to read Mr. Craft. I'm ready to begin volume five of the series.

Name Games is book four in the Mark Manning Series. Mark Manning is a newspaper publisher. He once again had to come to the rescue and solve a murder. This time, there were many suspects, including the Sheriff, the Sheriff's deputy, the DA and a retired physician, just to mention a few. As always, the book read so well, that I felt I was there, and could actually see everything that was described.

The origin of the term Name Games comes out in the story. It is mentioned a couple of times. This book is a winner! You will not regret buying it! Enjoy!

By the way, my name would be Rusty LaRue! Now you will have to read the book to find out what that means!

NAME GAMES is a fascinating and exciting addition to the Mark Manning Mysteries. The plot lines keep getting better and more complex. This particular book is replete with clues for the "wanna-be" slueth in all of us, and a careful reading will provide the reader with all he or she needs to "figure-it-out". Porn, sex, "outing", and murder all add up to a fun read. Don't miss this one.