Texas Books

Suzanne Crowley is a beautiful writer. She has a unique style and Marilee has an unforgettable voice. From the beginning, the author grabs you with her humor, her insight into Asperberger and her understanding of all sorts of people, and you know that you are along for the whole West Texas ride. I can't wait to read Suzanne's second book.

I have been handing this book out to friends, family and teachers because it leaves the reader with a hopeful feeling, especially with regards to one's own sense of dislocation...not fitting in.
One recipient, who is an elementary school Special Ed teacher, was totally impressed with the author's insightful descriptions of autistic behavior - "Even the nuances!"
Many of the characters remind me of myself or people that I know...Veraleen, with her "big ole heart" that loves big and hates big, for example.
I wish this book would be chosen for school literature programs. It has all of the elements of good literature that students need to learn, including some phenomenal symbolism.
Everyone has thoroughly enjoyed it...great read for all ages!
Two suggestions for readers:
1) Read slowly. The sentences are so well-formed that you'll miss important bits of information if you try to skim over them.
2) Older people should empty their bladders before reading. 'Burst out laughing' humor is subtly woven into the narrative.

I love this tender coming-of-age story about outsider Merilee Monroe, a/k/a Dragon Girl to her fellow citizens in the thriving West Texas metropolis of Jumbo (population 1000, including the goats). When new misfits arrive in town desperately needing her help, Merilee is dragged into the heart-warming and heart-breaking world of family and friendships. I laughed aloud at the many comic scenes and amusing anecdotes about small-town life. And who doesn't have a mean-as-mudpie crazy old biddy somewhere in the family tree? For all that, the magical storyline took me down a path of souls lost and found. As prematurely cynical Merilee redefines her place in the emotional landmine-field known as her community, she discovers the most mysterious of all places in the universe: the hopeful human heart. A delightful read and not just for youngsters.

First of all, this is not just a book for 10-12 year old children. Teens and adults may well relate even better to the thoughts and experiences of Merilee Marvelous. Parents with high functioning children who "just don't seem to fit in" will find this a stirring narrative of provoking insight and light hearted humor about the inner thoughts of a "special child" as she relates to her world.

Readers may even recognize some of their own family and neighbors in the collection of eccentric Jumbo residents. Merilee explains, "It's amazing what people will tell you while sucking on a purple Tootsie Pop. I hand them out so that everyone will shut up and leave me alone, but all it seems to do is open up a whole can of worms."

This is a story with a beginning and an end much like a hello and a goodbye... a story told in a lacework pattern, handing out just the right amount of bread crumbs to lead the reader to a bear-hug conclusion. I felt like I was listening to a story told by a wizened old spirit.... remembering a great life story....a poignant story about love, fear and redemption. When I closed the cover on the last page, I was satisfied.

When you read as much as I do, you relish finding authors new to you who have the knack of creating characters that are not characatures and putting them in situations that are far from ordinary. I discovered Sarah Bird thanks to amazon surfing, and marvel that I've never heard of her before. As opposed to the cookie cutter plots so prevalent in chicklit offerings so "hot" today, her approach is truly original. She deserves a much greater readership. I love passing her books around and introducing her to others.

While I can't say this was a wonderful book, it certainly was a lot of fun. I truly enjoy reading Sarah Bird... her characters are so real, yet so unique.

My favorite book of hers, the Boyfriend School was so great, I looked everywhere to find more by her. And it was only when I found her on Amazon that my thirst was sort of quenched.

If you like reading fun stories, that stand apart from the usual stuff, her books are it.

This humorous and touching tale captivated my attention and had me searching through the dictionary. The heroine's vocabulary is impressive to say the least. I enjoyed the search for her father even though I had a good idea of who it would be. This book is as good as the author's others and I only want to know one thing...When will we be lucky enough to read a new novel by Sarah Bird?

Sonja K. Getz, a young woman in search of her father, dismantles the shrine to him on her closet floor, packs all her important belongings in one suitcase, and leaves her mother and new step-father. Forcing her big-shouldered way into the company of Prairie James -- a man well on his way to being a has-been trick roper and whom she half-suspects as being her father -- Sonja starts her journey as a quest for an unknown man only to have it become a discovery of the unknown woman she has been suppressing. All of her formidable education can not prepare her for what she is about to learn on the small town rodeo circuit. A great cast of characters abound -- misfits, superficially, but each the star of a little morality play.

I was expecting woeful tales of life as a female in Muslim society but I was wrong. Her stories are wonderful in the context of just being a human female. She thinks of a lot of the things that I do, for example obsessing over someone else's possessions at a yard sale. Her insight into male/female thinking is very poignant. This is a bargain book and leads me to seek out other female Arab writers works.

The Waiting List is a book that depicts the emotional struggles of Middle Eastern women. The short stories could all be talking about the same person at different times in their life. The author Daisy Al-Amir lends to us her insight into the various issues facing women in the Middle East. Each story, though short, leaves us with a lasting impression that is emotional and thought provoking. "The Umbrella" tells what it is like to be a woman who lives for the approval of her spouse with no self-image. Her friend finds her walking in the rain but barely recognizes her because of her bad appearance. The story called "Weeping" was about a mysterious weeping at night and no one was able to tell where it was coming from. In this story, our heroin brings a different meaning to being in touch with nature. I like the creativity in the weeping. In "A Doctor's Prescription" the woman used intelligence for the wrong reason. I want to withhold what she did because it would be giving the story away. Nonetheless, it shows an intelligent woman who lost hope. "A Crutch in the Head" brings to us a female who confronted her husband with the issues that made her unhappy.

What I liked most about this book was the author Daisey Al-Amir. She was strong enough to cross boundaries and bring us stories that appeal to people all over the world. During times of war in her own solitude she reached outside herself to create. I feel a kindred spirit with her and I appreciate the different sides of women that she was able to portray through her short stories. The stories were in depth enough to be interesting and short enough for us not to get bored.

Al-Amir writes in a minimalist style, focusing, for the most part, on small scenes of humanity. Interesting observations about the place of time within an individual person's life are explored in "For a Pittance." After purchasing a photo album in an estate sale while visiting a foreign city, the narrator ponders the idea of living in the present. By immersing herself in the history of an unknown family, the narrator is able to live in the present because she is distracted from her own personal past and future. On page 21, the narrator thinks,
"I was squandering the present that I had planned to enjoy. I had deliberately forgotten my own past so that it wouldn't disturb the serenity of my present, the present I had rescued from crisis in order to forget the past and distance me from the future. And now I was intentionally occupying myself with an unfamiliar time and place, with people who are strangers to me. In my imagination I had arranged a future for their past."
I think what the narrator doesn't realize is that only by immersing herself in the photo album is she able to live in her own present moment, a moment she is glad ends at the end of the story when she returns to her home.

A few things bothered me about Al-Amir's writing style. I am willing to attribute these minor details to lingual discrepancies, but of course I can't read the Arabic version and thus don't know for sure. Exclamation points abound, along with rhetorical questions. There are very many brief paragraphs, which I found somewhat disruptive. Nonetheless, once I got to a certain point in the book I was able to overlook these grammatical and structural issues because I was interested in the stories that Al-Amir was telling.

In the story "Oh the Waiting List," Al-Amir returns to an exploration of what is means to live in the present. The narrator is placed on a waiting list at the airport to get on a flight home. She feels as if the present becomes burdensome and overwhelmingly static because it is purely about wasting time. This resonated with me and how I feel when I travel-which is that time spent in an airport or on airplane is literally dead time.

I have to say that I loved the story "The Doctor's Prescription" simply for its anecdotal qualities. The woman's breathtakingly logical argument for why the pharmacist should give her tranquilizers belies her true motive in a very clever way. The story is brief, but actually the one that stuck with me the most after finishing the book.

In the last two stories, "A Crutch in the Head" and "The Cake," Al-Amir tries to discuss gender relationships--with mixed results. The play-like dialogue format of "A Crutch in the Head" was off-putting to me at first. I'm also not sure why she separated the dialogue into five line "stanzas." Nonetheless, there is a certain universality of her depiction of the argumentative man and resigned woman. The dialogue format also piqued my interest and served her purpose, I think. I found "The Cake" to be a more powerfully written story. Again, she uses the dialogue format, but in doing so also gives the reader a context in which to understand the story. I think Al-Amir's message is that women protest through tears and men through anger. They each do so because they think that it is the only way to get a response.

The Waiting List by Daisy Al-Amir is a collection of short stories about
Arabic women. These women are all suffering in some way, either through
separation from their home or some other emptiness inside of them. I like
this book because the author really made me feel for the characters, even
though I have never been through their situations. The author wrote this
book in a way that anybody could read, understand, sympathize, and enjoy.
One of the stories that I really liked is "The Doctor's Prescription". This is a very depressing story about a woman who goes from pharmacy to pharmacy without a doctor's prescription and convinces all the pharmacists to give her some tranquilizers. She does this by giving them all the same elaborate story of how she would never be able to kill herself with these tranquilizers. She is so convincing that all these doctors each give her the pills, saying "With an intelligent woman like yourself, who thinks through all these stages, I suppose there's no concern". The woman then goes home and
kills herself by taking all of the pills.
I think that this is so ironic, and so true in life. You never know
what a person is thinking or feeling inside. The way that Al-Amir wrote this
story, even the reader herself is fooled into the woman's story until the
end. I like the way that this story made me think about the shows that
people put on for other people, and how they could really be feeling inside.
Also, it made me think about how unhappy this woman must have really been.
The manner in which she convinced every pharmacist to give her the pills, she
seemed so intelligent and honest, not like a woman who is about to kill
herself. She wasn't insane, she was just unhappy. I liked the way this story
was written because at the end it made me think. I wondered what could have
been so terrible in this woman's life that she would kill herself. I like
the way that Al-Amir didn't give a clear motive for suicide, because a reason isn't the
important part of this story. The important part of this story was the
woman, and what the woman was thinking and feeling in the moments before she
decided to take her own life.
Another story that really made me think is "For a Pittance". In this
book a woman is traveling in an unfamiliar city when she happens to walk by
an estate sale. The woman is intrigued by this, and goes back everyday to
see what has been sold and what remains. She decides that she is going to
buy the very last item left, the unwanted item. That item ends up being that
family's photo album. The woman is once again intrigued with the family and
begins to look at the pictures and try to figure the family out. Towards the
end of the photo album she finds a picture of the family at a funeral. The
woman can't figure out who died, and she feels like she has invaded their
lives by looking at the photos. She leaves the photo album at the hotel and
returns home.

This short story made me think for two reasons. The first is, how could a
family sell their own memories? I found myself once again trying to think of
reasons for this since none were given. I felt sorry for the family that
was in such a state of despair that they had to sell their own memories. The
other reason this book made me think is how the woman who bought the book
became to too involved with this family through their pictures. I wondered why
she was so interested and thought maybe she had some issues in her own
family that made her search out this surrogate family.
The reason that I liked his book is that it made me think, which not
all books can do. I found myself trying to figure the stories out further
after they were finished, NC because Al-Amir made me want to know more about
these characters.

Wanderer Springs is a dying town in Northwest Texas, one of that string of dusty towns left to wither away when the highway from Fort Worth to Amarillo bypassed them...For Will Callaghan, that country and the town of Wanderer Springs are carved into memory, indelible in their clarity.

Called home from San Antonio by a funeral, Will begins a journey, both physical and imaginative, that crosses not only geographic and cultural boundaries but darts back and forth in time, mixing stories of the town's frontier past with episodes of Will's high school days. In sometimes hilarious and sometimes painful detail, Will relives the football game where he dropped the pass and lost the championship for Wanderer Springs forever, the time he got his gum stuck in his girlfriend's hair, the strangely distant but close relationship of a motherless boy and his taciturn father. Equally clear are the tales from the past--the Turrill family's desperate wagon ride to find a doctor for their daughter, dying of appendicitis or Lulu Byars who danced in town and caught pneumonia riding back to her dugout in a norther. Wanderer Springs said she died of frivolity.

Through it all, the clear voice of Will Callaghan, a good old boy grown into an intellectual, gives meaning to the chaos, seeks sense out of the past, recognizes our inextricable link to the past.

A masterful combination of community, great plains living in a time now lost to modern ways.

Most people think of Texas and think of Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio. But the stories of Texas are really the tales of its small towns, how they started, how they grew, how they survived or died.

Robert Flynn's Wanderer Springs is a masterfully written novel of one such town, told through the eyes of one of its products, one of its survivors, one of its storytellers.

The novel weaves together a vast cast of characters and generations of families, and its easy to get lost or confused between the Spruill family or the Slocum family or the Shipman family (a ten page who's who is included for your reference pleasure). But these intertwining stories and familes are what makes a small Texas town what it is, and their tales are its history.

Mixed in with the history of the town and its families is the story of Will Callaghan, heading back to Wanderer Springs for the funeral connected to a tragic event from his long ago high school life. As he gets physically and mentally closer to Wanderer Springs, the stories of the town show their influence on his life, on his friends and on the decisions he made. A history teacher and writer by trade, Will Callaghan revists several "ghosts" from Wanderer Springs: townspeople, his loving wife, his father, past loves and friends.

Bob Flynn has won several awards for his writing, and, while I have been a long time reader and fan of his shory story work, this novel is one of the most authentic Texas works to ever grace my shelves. Highly reccommended.

A Discussion of Wanderer Springs

by Robert Flynn

The novel opens with a reference to the funeral of Jessie Tooley, an old-time friend of Will Callaghan, the story's main character. It takes place in Wanderer Springs, a tiny Texas town that was "born beside the railroad and died beside the interstate.'' Flynn tells about life in a small American town with a lifespan of "three or at most four generations.'' It is the story of people struggling to get by in the rough and isolated land, which frequently witnesses brutal sandstorms, dry summers, and cold winters.
Numerous characters (over 120; more than the population of the Alamo,) come to life with impressive clarity as they are revisited repeatedly; this horizontal approach to the characters' stories paints a strong sense of the continuity of life in this small community where accidents often shape the destiny of a character: The three most striking events in this novel are Will's drop of a pass during the infamous football game against Center Point team, the lynching of Joe Whatley, and Dolores' death in a car accident.
The main character, Will Callahan speaks in the first person and the past tense and tells an intricate, brutal, funny saga. When Will returns to his hometown, he chronicles its rural past and urban present not as a detached observer, but as a painfully concern citizen who loves every stone, tree, and person of the Wanderer Springs. As he reveals the dark and sad past that he has shared with his neighbors he imparts a strong sense of place and people.
The story is rich in detail; the characterization, deft; the voice, strong and effective. Like our second novel, "All the Pretty Horses" this one uses Texan idiom, frequent hyperbole, and compassionate memory. Although Will is a likable observer and trusted historian, he is not void of feeling, passion, love, ideology, or opinion about life, religion, universe and God. He paints a beautiful picture of how a small Texas town came to be and ultimately vanished peacefully. It was pushed to its birthplace with the arrival of the railroad and was pulled out of existence on flats of asphalt.
When Will leaves the funeral he takes up the task of immortalizing a dying town and its brief existence by writing a novel describing the story of the people of Wanderer Springs; how they came to be, how they lived and how they died or left town. There are neither castles nor old barns in the town's cemetery, only high brush, hidden old railroad tracks, and sober memories.
The novel is rich with meaningful remarks and beautiful phrases such as:
"In America richness of life means a recreational vehicle and a condominium away from it all." "Only thing bigger than the law is money." "Texans believe the constitution guarantees the pursuit of happiness in a private automobile." "There was no doctor in the county who would get up in the middle of the night to treat a black woman." "I'd give up my bible before I'd give up my guns." "Marshall said things like, `Maybe God creates babies, but He doesn't create teenagers.'" "Hooper told Dixie a pregnant girl could not attend high school but a girl who had had an abortion could." "Blacks and whites lived parallel lives, like railroad tracks that never touched and seemed close only at a distance." "Death is the only peace there is, it's the only peace that lasts." "I had reached the age where I was sentimental about gravestones, enjoying the sorrow of my own death." "It's hard to lie about being bald." "In war truth is the first casualty." "A woman who laughs a lot can't be happy."
Mo Saidi, M.D.
San Antonio, Texas 78257

Robert Flynn has captured in his ficticious west Texas town of Wanderer Springs, not only that area but all of Texas, every small town from El Paso to Texarkana, Amarillo to Brownsville. All of the day-to-day exploits so interlinked with both small town glory and tragedy, the pathos of memories and the wonder of that which is remembered not as it was but as it should have, or might have, been. This is a book for anyone who wants to know more about the small town experience, the history of places with no historical signifigance, the what of what happened and where. A good book, an excellent story and well written by one of this state's best writers.

Timothy Moy is a professional historian and he has written a scholarly book. It digs deeply into the issues at hand, offers carefully measured conclusions, and supports those conclusions with a wealth of evidence. He makes a persuasive case for the idea that the technologies that made possible long-range precision bombing and amphibious assault were created by a complex set of forces: some technological, others political, still others institutional. Moy's treatment of amphibious assault is particularly welcome, since (unlike long-range bombing) it has received little attention from historians.

Moy is also a graceful and efficient writer. His argument flows smoothly, and--even when deeply immersed in details--he never loses sight of the point those details are intended to reinforce. The result is a book that can be read with profit *and* enjoyment by historians, military personnel, engineers, or anyone else with a serious interest in how new weapons systems are born.

How do military organizations successfully "transform" themselves to meet new priorities and situations? Equally important and interesting, do technological systems employed by these military organizations bear the mark of the institutions that created and employed them. Timothy Moy considers these salient questions in this book by exploring two case studies in the interwar period when the U.S. Army Air Corps and the U.S. Marine Corps transformed themselves by developing unique capabilities that found expression in World War II.

The Army Air Corps between the two world wars has been the subject of considerable historical investigation, and from the standpoint of employing new technologies it was a natural for Moy to consider. It represented a profound transformation, both in terms of a doctrine emphasizing strategic bombardment and flowing from that a reorientation toward the development of the manned strategic bomber. No less important, but certainly not enjoying the same level of scrutiny, was what the Marine Corps did during this same period. During the 1920s and 1930s the Marines developed the tactics and the technologies necessary to undertake amphibious assaults, creating a unique niche for their services that found expansive use in the Pacific Theater in World War II. Moy also notes that while the Army Air Corps relied on high technology to accomplish this mission, the Marines employed more modest technologies--landing craft and tactics emphasizing riflemen--to build a new mission for the Corps. Moy notes that these two organizations might have approached their perceived tasks in a strikingly different manner and reached different solutions, but the approach they took shape because of shared "beliefs, habits, and practices of mind," in other words because of an institutional culture that prompted the leadership to think about the challenges before them in a specific manner (p. 5).

Both the Air Corps and the Marines were searching during this period for legitimacy and therefore chose to emphasize unique capabilities not available elsewhere. In a succinctly argued text, Moy makes the case that as it sought legitimacy each organization pursued decisions that reinforced its ideals about itself. For example, the Army Air Corps believed it was on the cutting edge of technology and it had to pursue futuristic aerial bombardment options. At the same time, the Marines built capabilities around its riflemen, taking a decidedly low-tech approach to amphibious assault. Moy warns that both organizations were captured by their leaders' decisions and found change difficult thereafter. He cautions: "By the time the war came, The Air Corps and Marine Corps were prepared to do little else" (p. 169).

"War Machines: Transforming Technologies in the U.S. Military, 1920-1940" is a superb discussion of the interplay of technology, ideas, and organizations. It is a welcome addition to the literature of the twentieth century America military experience.

War Machines: Transforming Technologies in the U.S. Military, 1920-1940 examines the U.S. Army Air Corps and the U.S. Marine Corps' uniquely different relationships with technological developments during the interwar period. The Army Air Corps, which owed its very existence to technological developments, emphasized high-tech strategic bombing in order to support and expand the role of the Air Corps in the military structure. The end result for the Air Corps was that it left the Army and became the independent U.S. Air Force. The Marine Corps, which owed its very existence to the rather low-tech concept of a man with a rifle, focused on producing rugged and dependable landing craft whose sole purpose was to safely and efficiently transport riflemen and equipment to a hostile shore. The result for the Marine Corps was that it was not annexed by the U.S. Army, which believed it was essentially a redundant force.

The author, Timothy Moy, who is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico, received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, and this book is an outgrowth of his doctoral dissertation. After an introductory chapter, Moy, a historian of science and technology, devotes four chapters of his ten-chapter book to a roughly chronological examination of the Army Air Corps' development of strategic bombing. He then devotes four chapters to a likewise roughly chronological examination of the Marine Corps' development of amphibious landing craft. Moy concludes with a chapter concerning what he perceives as the military, bureaucratic, and cultural victories won by the Army Air Corps and Marine Corps, and how these victories were manifested in the roles of each service during World War II and in the creation of the independent U.S. Air Force in 1947.

Moy has produced a book that is both well written and researched. He tells his story not from a strictly military history point of view, but also includes the bureaucratic and cultural issues which played such an important role in the process of technological developments. Moy's conclusions certainly appear to be supported by the roles and successes of the Army Air Corps and the Marine Corps during World War II.

Despite these positive points, I do believe that this work has some weaknesses. In both cases, Moy has chosen technological developments which he knows, in advance, were perceived as successful during World War II. I find myself wondering, therefore, if his use of only successful outcomes somewhat biases his analysis of the relationship between these services and technology. From my point of view, he would need to demonstrate examples of failed as well as successful technology to truly make his case. In fact, I believe that examining the failures might be just as useful (if not more useful) than examining the successes.

Though some of the text can be confusing when dealing with the discussion of technological detail and despite my questions regarding Moy's methodology, I do recommend this volume for historians interested in the military, bureaucracy, and science and technology.

Timothy Moy's War Machines: Transforming Technologies In The U.s. Military, 1920-1940 is the fascinating story of how during the interwar years from 1920 to 1940, leaders from the Army Air Corps and the Marine Corps recreated their forces based on concepts and equipment emerging from new military technologies. Moy carefully examines how bureaucratic pressures, institutional cultures, and technological enthusiasm shaped and affected the choices and decisions of key military leaders. Indeed, the very existence of an Army Air Corps was based on the new technology of the airplane, while the Air Corps was compelled to compete for money and other resources during the years following World War I with an America enmeshed in isolationist policies. Moy provides the student of American military history with a cogent, articulate, astute, scholarly, and compelling analysis that will prove a greatly appreciated contribution as both a personal study and an academic reference.

This is a fascinating book! It tells at least three stories simultaneously: the birth pangs of television; American cultural and political history in the 1950s; and the relationship between Jack Gould and both his employers and his media. There's an excellent introduction which introduces Jack Gould, and his biography by itself is interesting. Most absorbing for me, however, was reading Gould's take on the nascent medium of television: was it better for news or art? was it the same as theatre? did it have a duty to the American public to cover certain events? what were its educational limits? Some of his criticisms of tv are astonishingly contemporary. Others are clearly of a different era. The book is spiced with personalities that many of us know--Elvis Presley, Lucille Ball, Howdy Doody, David Brinkley--and Gould's take on them is fun to read.

Also illuminating are Gould's views of historical events: the quiz show scandals, the blacklist of the Red Scare, the "rise and fall of Edward R. Murrow." Gould championed actress Jean Muir, who was dealt an unfair hand in the 1950s, and his columns help explain how the blacklist worked from the inside. I particularly liked questions Gould asked about children's television programming and the responsibilities of the news shows.

Mostly, though, this book is marvelous to read because Gould was such a lively writer. His columns are full of real zingers that run side by side with his ruminations on American society, culture, politics, and values in the Cold War era. Despite the age of the columns reprinted here, the book provides much to ponder today, which is why I'm buying this for many people on my holiday list. People who lived through the 1950s will be just as interested as folks in their 20s and 30s. I highly recommend this book; even if you've never considered reading about television or cultural critics before you will get so much out if it. It will make you think about what's on your set today, and it's just _so_ wonderfully written!

Since I was born well after Jack Gould's retirement..it was exciting to feel the development and growing pains of the medium..through the columns Gould published. Lewis Gould's profile of the man and his life added to the sense of connection I felt to him..

You feel television's evolution...as if you were there.

Jennifer Salem
Antioch California

Born well after Jack Gould's retirement..it is exciting to feel the development and growing pains of the medium..through the columns Gould published. Lewis Gould's profile of the man and his life added to the sense of connection I felt to him..

You feel television's evolution...as if you were there.

Jennifer Salem
Antioch California

I have spent a delightful day reading this book, which brings together more than seventy columns written by the late Jack Gould, television critic for the New York Times from 1947 until his retirement in 1972. Not being from New York or a regular reader of the Times until after Gould retired, I must confess that I had never previously read any of his media criticism. This book has been a most welcome surprise.

The critic's son, Lewis Gould, a distinguished scholar in American history, selected the reviews that appear in this volume and also provided a remarkably candid and objective assessment of both his father and his influence. Insights about television, political figures--American culture in general--can be found throughout. Among the topics that Jack Gould considered were Edward R. Murrow, the quiz show scandals of the fifties, blacklisting, and live drama. As a baby boomer, I particularly enjoyed reading about two of the most memorable television performers of my childhood, "Miss Frances" of "Ding Ding School" and the inimitable Pinky Lee. Perceptive, too, is his assessment of the phenomenon that was--and is--Lucille Ball.

Some months ago the TODAY show celebrated, with much fanfare, its fiftieth anniversary on the air. But what was the show like in its earliest days? Gould tells us, in a no-holes-barred critique that NBC executives later admitted spurred changes in the program's format and presentation. Readers will find here in its entirety the review that Gould wrote in January 1952 in which he bluntly said that TODAY "needs a lot of work." "Thus far," he concluded, "TODAY has been excessively pretentious and ostentatious and unreasonably confusing and complex." Gould did not throw softballs!

In September 1952 Gould recognized that Nixon's so-called Checkers Speech, while "effective," might herald a turning point in the nature of political campaigning. Gould praised the embattled Nixon (who was on the ropes because of allegations that he benefited from an illegal "slush fund") for his "earnest" and "persuasive" presentation of his side of the story. Unfortunately, "the second half of the program saw Senator Nixon succumb to theatrics," as he attempted to grab the audience's heart with his tale of the cocker spaniel that had been given to his two young daughters. In Gould's judgment "there is a very real danger in superimposing the methods of show business in politics." He cautioned that the American public should "hold the line against television turning politics into a coast-to-coast vaudeville show or a daytime serial."

Any reader interested in television, media studies, or America at mid-century would find much of value in this collection.

I had this book as a child 30 years ago and loved it. From age five to age ten, it was one of my most requested bedtime books. My mother never understood why, as the illustrations were not vibrant as with other children's books, but the stories and far-away setting just entranced me. I still have my copy and will read it to my own daughter when she is old enough for stories. Highly recommend.

When the author was living in Turkey, she heard many tales about Nasreddin Hoca who was a religious teacher, Moslem priest and judge who lived several hundred years ago. He may be a mythical figure predating Emperor Tamerlane but he is so well loved that that his fame and stories have spread to many countries, where he is used to make a point because there is a tale to fit almost every situation. Hoca stories are very much alive today and Bruce Lansdale, Director of the American Farm School in Thessaloniki Greece from 1955 to 1990 used a Hoca story in every talk he gave. In fact, he was so famous for his Hoca stories that if by chance he had not told one, the audience insisted on a tale before he was allowed to sit down.

Hoca stories are not only full of wisdom but they are a way of breaking down barriers so if you are doing business in the Middle East you must anticipate hearing some in the course of your visit. In fact you would be wise to travel well armed with a collection of Hoca stories so you can tell one back to your client - especially if you have enough at your finger tips so that you have one appropriate to the point you want to get across. If you are giving a public speech, Hoca stories are a good alternative to a joke which the audience may have already heard. But the lovely thing about a Hoca story is that you can hear it time and again and it seems to get better. If you are reading to your child at bed time, a Hoca story is not only fun but later you can discuss the inner meaning and gain a double benefit. If you are an enterprising story teller, you can even make up your own Hoca stories. If you are teaching a course on the Middle East, you should definitely include Hoca stories; in fact if you started with a Hoca story your late arrivals will probably drop dramatically.

While this collection of 18 of the most popular stories has been prepared with children in mind, the message is there for people of all ages to appreciate alongside the beautiful illustrations which provide an insight into a very different culture from that of the West. At the end of some of the stories we are given a sentence such as: "This tale is so well known in Turkey that anyone whose innocent action brings down a punishment entirely out of scale with the offense is said to have 'frightened the potters' mules.'"

This book is well worth a read or giving as a present.

I look forward to reading this book. One of the stories is reproduced on the Teaching Tolerance website...
The reproduction also includes audio and the site is well worth a visit. It is simply written, but that enhances rather than detracts form the message.

I read the original edition of this book nearly 30 years ago, and keep buying it for friends, and my own daughter - it is a sensitive, whimsical and accessibly deep look at Islam, the nature of life, the Turkish culture, and simple, transcendent morals. The humor, and the points of the fables are all gently made, with a great deal of charm and simple eloquence. One of my favorite books of all time. Great for anything from laughter, to learning about another culture, to simple and timeless morals, to an understanding of the common ground we share with Islam

Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (1/07)

Being professionally involved with the travel industry for years, I've met my share of travelers and my share of tourists. Same thing applies to travel writing - some writers are tourists, some are travelers. Thomas Swick is without a doubt a traveler. His "A Way to See the World" is subtitled "From Texas to Transylvania with a Maverick Traveler" which immediately gives you an inkling on the scope of his writing. What the title does not convey is how deeply Mr. Swick explored every place described within this marvelous book. He delves into the usual topics of history, landscape and culture; and while all of those are great reading, in my opinion he truly excels when describing the people and their everyday lives.

No matter where his travels take him, be it to Cuba on a cultural exchange, to the Croatian seaside, a carnival in Trinidad or the one in Mobile, Alabama, a dinner with cartoonists in Russia, a baseball game in Chicago, the last leg of Oregon trail or searching for Hungarians in Transylvania, Thomas Swicks discovers the people and talks to them. More importantly, he lets them talk when they so desire. And he listens real well. His explanations are brief and only added when necessary. He discovers real people everywhere he goes, even on board of a cruise ship and in a tennis tournament in Miami.

His observations are keen and detailed and he captures the spirit of each place wonderfully well. Take, for example, this brief scene during the carnival in Trinidad: "At nine the next morning - five hours after the soca stopped - eight middle-aged Germans sat eating fried eggs and tomatoes on the terrace. `Winston, what time is it?' one of them asked the manager. `Time? I don't know. It's carnival.' Then Winston went and put on some calypso."

Or this absolutely brilliant description of Americans: "Restlessness is in our genes. It shows itself in everything from our national literature - `Moby Dick,' `Huckleberry Finn,' `On the Road' - to the short life of the average address book. [...] It seems no coincidence that our largest export company is Boeing. From a historical perspective, no other country could have beaten us to the moon. If, as is said, England is people and France a civilization, the United States is an experiment in perpetual motion."

Each of his stories in "A Way to See the World" is different and every single one is wonderful reading. Take them with you on your next trip, keep them in your car for when you have to wait somewhere or devour a whole book in one sitting when you are too broke or too busy to get on the road yourself - in each and every case they will open your eyes to how life-changing, exhilarating and wonderful travel could and should be.

Thomas Swick's A Way To See The World: From Texas To Transylvania With A Maverick Traveler isn't your usual travelogue of wild and woolly adventures; for Swick chooses no ordinary path for his journeys. His accounts are unconventional at the least; from attending a hobo convention in Iowa to his search for James Thurber's spirit in Columbus, OH and his entry to the forbidden Cuba on a cultural exchange program. Colorful observations of counter-culture and local color provide a first-person journey which is stimulating, fun, and never too predictable. A fine armchair adventure awaits.

Tom Swick has written not just an exceptional travel book, but an exceptional book. Period. Horizon broadening, mind opening, amusing, pure pleasure.

Delightful! Thomas Swick's writing is elegant, his observations about the places I've been to are perfect, and his descriptions of places I haven't seen make me feel like I've just been there. Highly recommended.

The book is a wide selection of delicate and touching fine black and white prints. It certainly adds volume to my "artsy" collection.

Weeping Mary isn't an icon but a community in rural East Texas: its name has been attributed to an African American woman called Mary who wept over the loss of her land to a deceitful white man. Photographer O. Rufus Lovett was drawn to the story and the town in 1994: his WEEPING MARY represents 10 years of photographing the small Southern town and its residents, and creates an involving, hard-hitting set of images of particular interest and recommendation to any library strong in Southern history and culture.

Everything about this book screams "quality." The reproduction is amazing, and the images are beautiful. This book is a excellent collection of amazingly moving photographs from a small community in East Texas.

I've passed the "Weeping Mary" road sign many times on my way back to Marshall from visiting my son in College Station, and have always wondered about the story behind the community's name. I'm so glad Rufus Lovett and Anne Tucker took the time to find out. I already knew that Rufus is a wonderful photographer, but the book is even better than I imagined. Everything about this lovely book is excellent! It's a nice, large book, too -- much bigger than I expected it to be. Very impressive.

Ms. Lopez has really done something special as she combines a love of animals with practical advice on how humans and animals can co-exist. She passes on to her readers the benefits of her amazing experience as a volunteer at a Texas wildlife refuge. Her special connection with this subject matter enables her readers to discover new and exciting ways to enjoy wildlife while still preventing thos unwanted problems that sometimes result when we get "too close" to nature. Thanks Andrea!

I Loved this book it's finaly nice to have writen material on how to deal and live with our wildlife. I live in the country and some people just dont understand that the animals were here first and it is our job to learn animal safty and respect and also safe ways to deal with the animals. Andrea covers all this in her book and I would like to prsonally Thank her.

Sincerly,
Julie Hanenberg

Andrea Dawn Lopez's book explains in easy-to-understand text why human/animal conflicts or situations occur, and what to do to remedy them. Anyone who's ever had an animal visitor in their home will find this book useful. As the title suggests, Andrea explains how to coexist with wildlife in a non-lethal manner. The author's affection for wildlife is evident in her warm, tender writing.

How true this writing is. The animals are being forced out of their natural habitat to make room for humans.
I have no doubt that Andrea's experiences go well beyond what she has written about, even as a child. She has made it clear that co-existing is possible without much effort on our part.
BE PREPARED! Where have we all seen those words written before?
Although "common sense" is not all that "common", I think this book makes clear to all of us what we can do to make our lives and the lives of the animals a much safer place.