Texas Books

A fine tribute to those who served in our Amphibious Forces.
This is a very well researched book about the men who served on our Amphibious Ships during WWII. The detail can't be found in any other source. It's not just the story of one ship, it's the story of all the ships that helped win the war.
In addition to being incredibly well researched it is very readable and a must read of those who served, their families and those who want to learn about this part of our history.
Russ Padden - Webmaster for Amphibious Forces of WWII

I served on an AKA (USS Yancey AKA-83) during the Korean War. I am the historian for the Yancey and found the story of the Tate similar to the Yancey's experience during WW2. The Yancey was in commission for about 25 years was a part of Antartic expedition (Natl Geo.Oct 47'), the Korean War, the Cuban blockade and was in both the Pacfic and Atlantic fleet. I was very pleased to read about the day to day experiences of the AKAs in the Tate story

Last night I was reading this book well past midnight. I could not put it down until I saw how the Tate and her sister ships came through a series of unrelenting kamikaze attacks. The narrative in this book is riveting. I read it to gain insight into my father's WWII experience. He served aboard the USS Ormsby (APA-49). I was particularly interested in the many first-person stories that provide windows into the lives and experiences of sailors aboard these ships. I was surprised to find how well I was able to follow the combat sequences. I usually get lost in a jumble of unit designations, but the author took great care with charts, maps and verbal descriptions so I was able to understand what was going on and why. He explained the complex choreography of amphibious assault in a way that even I could understand. It is a great read.

I was an officer on one of the USS Tate's sister ships in the early 1960's, and I'm in contact with numerous shipmates from WWII. This book presents an accurate account of life aboard an attack cargo ship. Additionally, it gives interesting and informative accounts of the amphibious landing support mission in the Pacific. No other book has ever done either of these, though the famous "Away All Boats" dealt well with shipboard life in a fictional way. Combat Loaded is well-written from both the historic and human point of view. I read every word of it, and I found it hard to put down.

First, in the interest of full disclosure, let me first say that my father served on this ship, so please excuse me for being being a "homer" on this one. Ships such as the Tate and sailors like Dad played an important role in keeping many ships (battleships, carriers, etc") supplied and attacking the enemy. The designation AKA was funny in that the A stood for "attack", which means they had at least one gun.

Tom has done a great job of shedding light on a group of WWII's unsung heros, who faced the same enemy attacks as some of the better known Navel elements. Enjoy the book.

Companions of the Blest was my favorite book this year. The characters were believable and likeable. It's a very interesting story and one I didn't want to end.

An absolute joy to read. The author has done an excellent job of intricately weaving important Texas historical events and characters into the evolution of his fictitious family in modern Hill Country society. I highly recommend it.

Jim Boyd has captured the essence of the people that live on the land in the Texas Hill Country better than any other. His descriptions of this wild, and still untamed part of Texas, put me right out there in the that magical country right along with the characters in the story. I had trouble putting the book down because I longed so much for Mac Taylor and Rene to ride off in the sunset together - unfortunately this was not to be. A really great read. In the past I have been blessed to know many Mac Taylors, my own father was indeed one of them. The author is most correct on this point: the Mac Taylors of the world are disappearing from my own personal view, and I doubt seriously that I'll see many more like them in this lifetime.

Companions of the Blest captures the essence of Texas culture. Reading the book is every bit as good as attending a concert by Willie -- or Ray Price.

The culture portrayed in the book endures in spite of increasing urbanization. Hopefully, the spirit of Mac Taylor and Juanita Navarro will remain a part of who we are and what we stand for.

I greatly enjoyed the book, and I'm buying copies for friends.

An absolute joy to read. The author has done an excellent job of intricately weaving important Texas historical events and characters into the evolution of his fictitious family in modern Hill Country society. I highly recommend it.

I found this book to be much more accurate than any internet source about the same subject. Further credibility is lent by the fact that many of those interviewed reflected upon the same events, from different perspectives (e.g., the so unfortunate death of the their contemporary idol, Marina Raskova). As with all eyewitness accounts, you can also get a grim reality of life during the war in Soviet-held territories. Imaging a mother, who has to put her children into an orphanage, because her skills are needed on the front-line. There is nearly no account at all without mentioning the death of a husband, brother or father in the war - everyone seems to have lost someone very dear. This book is a must-read for every fan of IL-2 Sturmovik air combat simulator.

In this excellent book, surviving Soviet veterans of World War ll are interviewed about their service in the Red Air Force. Not only pilots and navigators, but gunners and ground crew also, relate their experiences of what is commemorated in Russia as the Great Patriotic War. Ms. Noggles'recent photos (taken in the early 1990's) contrast poignantly with the black-and-white photos, taken over half a century ago, of the young airwomen in uniform. I highly recommend this book. Read about the courage and sacrifice of these aviators, and the horrific circumstances and conditions which they endured, and remember that these were perfectly ordinary young Soviet women. Some had personally experienced Stalinist oppression, but when their country's existence was threatened, they all voluntarily joined in her defense.

That's exactly what this book is. Their story. The Soviet Airwomen in WW2 were very overlooked by the international community. This book is one of the best sources of information on them. When you read it you hold your breath during the tense parts, even though you know they make it out fine.

It's amazing how these girls were able to laugh in such a desperate time, and indeed, in many places where it is defined, the girls found that things happened where you just couldn't afford not to laugh. For example, their boots were so big, because they only wore male suits, that when given the command to face another direction, one girl turned the complete opposite direction but her boots stayed in the same place!

I loved this book about the brave women who fought in world war 2. Not many people had known that women flew in combat so long ago. This book will make the readers see what it was like when everybody had to fight. These women are heroines. I like the photos of the women in their old age with all their medals. They look like anybodies Grandmother! I would be proud to know them. This book makes me feel like I do.

A superlative book..action packed! I was astonished at their courage and patriotism. (Who would actually go out on nightly bombing attacks in a PO-2? They did!) Their continual struggle against the Nazis was made so much more burdensome under the unjust tyranical yoke of Communism. What fine women and what a great "eye-opener".

As a member of our USAF and knowing several TACP Airmen, this book really put into light what exactly TACP's really are. So many people forget about how Air on Armour happens and its about time the ROMADS get the credit they rightfully deserve.

This was an exellent look into an Air Force most Airmen do not even know about. The book was well written and provides a look at how all of those bombs fall on time on target.

The TACP's are smart, dedicated, Airmen that find ways to get air cover over our ground forces and save counless lives. More books like Danger Close need to be written about our forces that show the heroes that our men really are.

So, I bought this book for a friend who is a ROMAD. He recently crossed trained into the job and thought it would be an interesting read since he will be deploying overseas in the future. I hadn't planned on reading the book myself. But as soon as I got it, I couldn't help but open it up and read it, and I'm glad I did. This book is awesome. It has helped me understand what he's doing and what he's talking about when we talk about his job. It makes me realize what a great asset he is to the military and how special he is to be doing what he always wanted. This book shows the obstacles and triumphs that TACP has had to overcome over the years. I have true appreciation for thier duties. I totally recommend this book!

Okay, it looks like I'm the first to review this thing and it's a pretty good read. As a younger TACP, I found this book very informative. The author is a former Air Laison Officer. The author briefly talks about our "twilight worlds" where we're "held at arms length by the Air Force" and "not fully embraced by the Army" that we live with everyday. This book, at times, reads like a collection of events from the initial invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq told by TACP's in their own words. Among the numerous topics covered are the virtues of Close Air Support, the difference CAS makes on the battlefield, how TACP's are often misused by the Army, how reluctant the Army is to use TACP's, how CAS has saved the Army numerous times, and how TACP's always improvise and overcome obstacles to do our job. It talks about our fallen brothers and their sacrifices. It addresses the problems within the job and how in the past of TACP's, we were largely ignored before the war and how the future needs to be better as the battlefield evolves into the Joint atmosphere. There're about 2-3 years of war covered in the book, so it's a lot to address here. If you're a TACP, ALO, Army officer, or anyone curious as to what TACP's are or have done in the last two wars, buy this book. The book doesn't really offer any real solutions to the TACP problems it mentions, but I guess if you you at least identify the problem, that's a good start.

This is really a great book, hard to put down at times. You can see the battles through the eyes of the people that were there. You also get their perspective as well as the importance of the techniques that they are using, and in some cases developing for the first time. This is a must have for anyone interested in knowing the real story behind the overwhelming success in the initial days of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Too often historical fiction concerning the 1900 Storm is riddled with inaccuracies presented as fact or suffers from weak characters and a forced plot to incorporate the Storm. Marian Hale surpasses all of this.

I fell in love with the Braeden family and even though I knew what was coming next, Ms. Hale wrote it in such beautiful, flowing language I found myself looking forward to the rest of the story.

Ms. Hale treated her characters with respect and honesty--especially Seth's observations and relationship with Ezra and Ben--without resorting to exaggeration.

On a personal level, I appreciated Ms. Hale's ability to incorporate many real-life characters and situations of the first hand accounts reproduced in my own publication, Through a Night of Horrors: Voices from the 1900 Galveston Storm. I easily recognized familiar settings and stories experienced by Seth and the Braeden family, and found a loving tug at my heart that Ms. Hale had given so much thought and attention to bring them into her novel seamlessly.

Under my ever-searching intense eyes I found only only one teensy historical error that can easily be overlooked. This is a Galveston I recognize, with factual history blended smoothly in a way that propertly sets the touching story and characters.

I highly recommend this novel for use and will be giving it to my own 4th grade daugther to read - especially since she's not interested in reading mine just yet. Thank you Ms. Hale for an excellent novel.

I originally read both books by Mrs. Hale because I know her personally, but was blown away by this one. It is a story about a 17 yr old boy's, Seth, experience with the devastating Galveston Storm of 1900. It is so precise and well-written historically, I actually assigned it to my students to better understand the impact the storm had in Galveston. The only thing I want to warn about is the graphic nature. Some of my students had some trouble with the descriptions of the bodies, devestation. So if your child has a queasy stomach, you may want to wait until he/she is older. However, overall, it is a great historical fiction book!

The Galveston hurricane in 1900 was a tragedy in which over 6000 died. The author has interwoven a touching fictional tale with the facts resulting in a gripping, fascinating story. I highly recommend this and Hale's first novel, The Truth About Sparrows.

This is a moving and beautiful story based on the actual events surrounding the Galveston storm and flood. As with many of today's books for younger readers, this is a novelist who is writing for young adults yet dealing with issues and life decisions in an intelligent way--edited to a reasonable length--so that an adult would find this a most satisfying read. I certainly did, and the images and lessons of this story will stay with me for a long time.

A friend told me about Marian Hale's first book, "The Truth About Sparrows". She said that even though it was written for pre-teens, she had enjoyed it very much. I must agree with her. It was an excellent book, and when I finished it I wanted more! As soon as "Dark Water Rising" was available I read it. Sometimes when we have expectations about a book we are disappointed, and then there's that old axiom about everyone having one good book in them. However, I was delighted to see that Ms. Hale had done it again!

"Dark Water Rising" captivated me from the beginning. When I was reading it, it was as though nothing else existed. I looked forward to the limited time I have each day for reading. This book seized hold of my mind and my heart, wrapped them in tears and smiles and wouldn't let go. I made it last as long as I could, because I didn't want it to end. I was amazed at Ms. Hale's ability to achieve such depth and detail of content with a warm simplicity. I would not like to see adults pass this book over thinking it is only for "children". Any adult who enjoys good writing will love it!

It's been a long, long time since a writer has taken me back to the first good feelings that I associate with books. My grandmother read to me as a child. She sat in front of a blazing, crackling fireplace with me on her lap, reading the same stories over and over. Her gift to me was a love of reading. Ms. Hale's books take me to that same lovely, warm place. She obviously has a superior gift as a storyteller, and I impatiently look forward to many more books.

This book is for Young Adultsand older. It's a true historical and depicts a more simple and basic way of life. The contents are suitable for any age group. It's more than just bare bones historical facts and dates. It goes to the heart of the people who lived the story. Emotions come to the surface and simple pleasures are relived, fears surface and a wide range of raw apprehensions and a subtle suspense creeps in at times. The key word was survival.

He had been chozen by her mother, and the marriage ceremony had been a simple affair beside her mother's dying bedside. DELPHIA'S new husband was a railroad man---helping lay the tracks for the railroads that would criss-cross the country. He was a good worker, and (as her mother had shrewdly surmised) a good provider, but he had no roots nor a place he called home. Now DELPHIA gathered everything into a covered wagon and prepared for her journey into the unknown with a stranger---

He had been chozen by her mother, and the marriage ceremony had been a simple affair beside her mother's dying bedside. DELPHIA'S new husband was a railroad man---helping lay the tracks for the railroads that would criss-cross the country. He was a good worker, and (as her mother had shrewdly surmised) a good provider, but he had no roots nor a place he called home. Now DELPHIA gathered everything into a covered wagon and prepared for her journey into the unknown with a stranger---

This is a profile of the frontier woman---the biography of Delphia Eliza Odell Reoh and her journey from Kansas to Oklahoma in a covered wagon. Delphia's husband was chosen by her mother, and she struggled with tubuculosis. This book chronicles her wild ride in the Oklahoma Land Rush, and encounter with a mad dog. Frontier women struggled with birth, death and bed bugs while establshing a home. They settled in Spokogee--- present-day Dustin. Delphia bore eight children and lost three before they reached adulthood. Delphia's last journey took her to the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, near present-day Raymondville, where she and her husband established a farm. All are buried in the Raymondville cemetery, but the name endures in the Valley.

I was thrilled to be able to read this account of my great-grandmother. I got to meet her once when I was very small; little did I realize the life she had lead.

The book takes you into her life. You feel what she feels and you see her life through her eyes. You understand her fears, her pride, and realize the tact she used in dealing with her quiet, intense husband.

The book recounts a time gone past. It vividly describes south Texas and what is was like to live there. You see this young woman who is reticient about south Texas, age to an elderly woman who loves the valley.

It is a book like no other I have read. I recommed it highly.

Excellent condition.Excellent translation of Bakhtin whose writing is a Russian take on phenomenology. In the Dialogic Imagination he considers ficition writing--I enjoyed discovering his analysis of the "road" or journey.

Bakhtin is quite a character, and much more accessible as a writer than the reviewer below might suggest in this volume. He has been regarded as the most important theorist of the novel, perhaps ever. But when he celebrates "the novel," it is not always obvious if he's discussing actual novels, an idea ubernovel, or a quality that is novel. I prefer the latter interpretation, but all three are possible.

The crown jewel of this collection of essays is the third one, on the crhonotope. Here, Bakhtin inquires into what amounts to genres of being in narrative space and time. The vampire's lair, the old western saloon, the medieval castle... These chronotopes circulate around in our heads, and can get dangerous if you try to actualize them in the wrong way. Bakhtin himself experienced the horrors of the Stalinist version of the Worker's Paradise chronotope. Enter "the novel", the potential for nongeneric being, open-ended action. That's freedom, no?

Meanwhile, it's great fun to inquire into how the chronotopes in your neighborhood operate, and perhaps to unpack them. Ideals in the U.S. about how a "perfect American" may move and have his/her being might be a good place to start, assuming introspection is not yet so unpatriotic as to become illegal yet...

Bakhtin arguably at his best. Sure the final essay in the volume is not an easy read, but if you think Bakhtin is hard to read try Heidegger when he grooves along with his own lingo. Bakhtin's key idea of contextual language and the many voicedness of novels against the backdrop of an author's voice and that of his times is prehaps the sum total of what the novel as a genre is. In fact, the novel is not quite a genre but an ongoing process that escapes ossification as it changes with the times. Wonderfully done.

I was introduced the Bakhtin, by way of this book, in my grad literary theory course. I found him at the time to be a long-winded individual who took 200 pages to say what could have been said in 50. How wrong I was.

I've since become very enamored of Bakhtin's ideas and I think now that this collection was a wonderful place to start. Yes, Bakhtin is demanding but once you step up to the challenge you will find yourself rewarded beyond your wildest dreams.

The key to this whole collection is the final essay, Discourse in the Novel. This is perhaps his most influential work and it contains some very interesting ideas about the novel, the definition of language and how labguages interact with one another. I would not recommend that a newcomer to Bakhtin start here. If you pick up this volume start with the first essay, Epic and Novel, and go from there. The writing gets progressively more dense and the ideas build on each other so you'll be quite lost (like I was) if you try to tackle Discourse first.

This book consists of four essays of Bakhtin's "Middle Period", two short and two longer works which have been arranged, according to complexity, with the most accessible essay first and the most difficult last. Cooincidentally, this is also the reverse order in which they were written. None of these essays were avaiable in English before the present translation/compilation by Emerson and Holquist, and judging from its many reprintings (the 10th by 1996), quotations and misquotations, and various interpretations, it is the most influential of Bakhtin's works.

Some brief notes on the four Essays:

1. "Epic and Novel" dated 1941 - A rather straightforward comparison of the Novel and the Epic. Its aim is to show the distinctiveness of the Novel. This can be seen as a transitional essay between the Chronotope Essay and the Bildungsroman Fragment. It is well organized and introduces several characteristics unique to the novel such as three-dimensionality, imagery and openendedness.

2. "From the Prehistory of Novelistic Discourse" dated 1940 - This is in essence a brief history of the novel according to Bakhtin. It concentrates on style, theory and as the title states, discourse, beginning with Greek works and going to the Renaissance. Conceptually this is strikingly similar to Erich Auerbach's "Mimesis". This essay is incomplete.

3. "Forms of Time and Chronotope in the Novel" dated 1937-38 - Another long (175 page) discussion on the distinctiveness of the novel. The concept of the Chronotope is introduced simply as "time space" and the essay seeks to show its use from the Greek Romance to the novel of the 19th Century. Bakhtin inserts here also a discussion of the "Rabelaisian Chrontope", the role of the clown, etc. Special emphasis is also given to the Blidungsroman. This essay, it seems to me, is essentially, Bakhtin's own favorite Reading list in which he experiments with his own concept of Chronotope, skillfully fitting it to each work. Despite its digressions it is basically a chronological presentation.

4. "Discourse in the Novel" dated 1934-35 - Another lengthy essay which is in essence Bakhtin's discussion of his philosophy of language. This essay also seems to be unfinished. It consists of five distinct parts in which Bakhtin experiments with different approaches to discourse in the novel. As is often the case with Bakhtin, this essay is also open-ended.

I find this compliation of four essays to be most stimulating. It seems to be well translated and edited. Ample footnotes assist the reader with Bakhtin's many, sometimes obscure, literary references. In my opinion, particularly the last two essays, constitute Baktin's most important work on the novel. Those expecting distinct conclusions and theories will be disappointed, because this is not the aim here at all. Bakhtin instead provides many different starting points from which to continue the study of the novel. This is, for example, what makes the chronotope indefinable, because it is constantly changing. I highly recommend this surprisingly accessible book. I believe that it is, along with "Speech Genres and other late Essays" Bakhtin's most important work on the novel.

Even though I have lived my whole life in Houston, I often find myself at a loss when I'm trying to think of fun things to do with my kids. This book has been a valuable resource, providing me with information on educational activities, parks, playgrounds, and so forth.

My in-laws are about to come into town from South Africa, and I will be relying heavily on this book as we plan out outings with the kids.

This is a wonderful resource to have for showing Houston to out of town guests. Visitors can tell you what they would like to see,and there is no guess work left for the host. It is a great book to have on hand for young or old visitors. I have also given the book to families with children and grandchildren.

This is Deborah Frontiera, Jasper Frontiera's wife speaking in this review. As a kindergarten teacher in Houston, ISD, who is in charge of planning field trips for the grade level, I am always on the look out for good resources. Elaine Galit and Vikk Simmon's book, Exploring Houston With Children, is one of the best, most complete, easy to use resources I have seen in a long time. Everything I need is right there all in one place and neatly organized.

Simmons and Galit explored the 4th largest city in the United States, and found lots and lots of fun stuff to do with kids. They researched and interviewed and spent a lot of time gathering so much information that you couldn't possibly get to it all in one summer.

This book is a must for finding the perfect summer or all-year-round activities for your school-age children. It's great for the big kids too, because even if you've lived in Houston all your life, like I have, you didn't know about some of this great stuff!

I was surprised to find so much great information on the space program and astronomy, in general, in and around the Houston area; and I was happy to find so much to do "In your own Backyard," on a shoestring budget.

This is a great bargain in the investment of your kids' childhoods and futures. I wish we had a book like this when I was growing up.

As the author of "Offbeat Houston", I'm always looking for interesting and fun places to see in Houston. "Exploring Houston with Children" is packed with lots of great places to go and fascinating things to see. If you're looking for ways to entertain and educate the kids, you'll find lots of great ideas here. There are many suggestions on integrating the featured attractions into lesson plans, and the resources, photos and web listings provide plenty of additional information. The kids will have fun while learning and, who knows, you just might learn a thing or two yourself!

I came to this site to buy this book, but after seeing the prices I called a local non-discount book store (the one with Star Bucks in it) and bought it new for $24.95. What's with the inflated prices for a used paperback? Makes no sense to me.

We have snakes. Lots of them. But rather than "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out", as my husband prefers, I take this book with me during ourdoor activities and literally look up the snake I'm looking at. The photos are extremely helpful, limited only by my own perceptual problems---for example, Texas brown snakes look like rat snakes look like copperheads to me, even in the pictures. But the majority of the snakes in Texas and in the book do NOT deserve to die...life imprisonment, maybe...this is a very comforting book to own.

This field guide on snakes is excellent. The pictures of each snake are clear and you can identify them easily when you see them in the wild (or in you're house). The organization of this book splits up into two sections venomous and nonvenomous which allows a very quick way to tell if you should be anywhere near the snake. The infromation on each type is plentiful and everything you need to know is included. There are maps of where to find each type and whether they are endangered or protected in the state of Texas. A system is given in the beginning of the book for how to easily determine a snake and also what to do if you happen to be bit by a venomous type. The only thing I would like to see in the next revision is the striking distance of each snake which isn't given in this book.

A great book. A fantastic book. It's slightly larger than what one might expect for a field guide, but the difference is put to good use. Not only are the excellent photographs printed at such high resolution that you expect to see these scaled beauties slithering off the pages, but the accompanying text is so easy to read that you might find it to be a page-turner that ranks with some pretty good novels. This book is crammed with really useful or, at the very least, interesting info -- like the relative potencies of venoms from different snakes. (You might be surprised...) A detailed discussion of the mechanisms associated with different snake venoms and what might be done to counter them is really fascinating. The text for each species is accompanied by a distribution map; that text includes information on whether the snake in question is venomous, its behavior, reproduction, abundance, size, etc. I can't say enough good stuff about this book. If you live in a state adjacent to Texas and Mr. Tennant hasn't written a book about your snake population, it would well be worth getting this one. He also wrote the "Field Guide to Snakes of Florida," so you guys in Florida are lucky, too! This book made me want to head out at night to the local megapuddles that form near my house south of Houston to see what might be after those little frogs that seem to appear out of nowhere in the spring. Now, that might seem to be a little strange, but if you've read this book, you probably know what I mean.
Come to think of it, I'd like to give this one 7 stars...

Very thorough research, orderly referenced example pictures, and easy to use.

Excellent Book!! We will be giving several as gifts this year. The service provided in processing our order was superior too. Thank you!

Anyone who begins a book on Galveston by describing it as haunted knows his Galveston. A wonderful history and guide to the island by someone who truly appreciates its uniqueness. I have a bookshelf of Galveston books that I love and this one is on it.

This is the most facinating and interesting book. It's amazing how much history this small island has to tell. I grew up going to Galveston and have always loved the city, but I had no idea it had this much history. You really won't be able to put this book down, every section is more intersting than the previous. Mr. Carwright has always known how to weave a tale. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in facinating history, written in a compelling way. Be aware that after you read this book you will have the most incredible desire to visit this wonderful island. Galveston is truly a treasure and I always tell anyone visiting the Houston area to make it their top priority.

This books gives a detailed history of the island of Galveston from it's first inhabitants to present day. Unlike some historical accounts this book is a real "page turner," completely absorbing the reader in each different time period from hostile indians to mafia men. The author lays out areas on the island to explore as well as important historical landmarks. He helps one understand the rise and fall of the island's fame and fortune along with it's leading families. I highly recommend it whether you are visiting Galveston or you are just interested in history.

This is simply the best and most entertaining historical study that I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It literally made me laugh out loud as well as tear up several times. I can't say enough wonderful things about this book. It reads like a very well written novel whose topic is endlessly fascinating. I've given it as a present several times since I first read it about 10 or 11 years ago and the recipients have all been as thrilled with it as I've been.