Arthur Books

This is a FANTASTIC children's book (easily the most creative ABC book I've ever run across)! The rhymes are funny and well thought out, and the illustrations have an amazing retro spy feel. This book is dark and funny at the same time, and the illustrations are worth a long second look. I can't wait to read this book to a storytime group!!

I am *not* Andy Rash's cousin or any relation at all, but I *still* think his latest book is an absolute delight! I have a professional review posted at www.planetesme.com/dontmiss.html, but I wanted to say from a personal perspective, when I read this book aloud in the classroom, every turned page was met with laughter, groans of "cooool!" and plenty of "Wow!" The artwork is so hip and the rhymes are really creative. Even though the theme is action-packed, the level of violence stays PG. The spy dance party at the end complete with fedora-wearing record-scratching DJ was a HOOT! When I was done sharing the book with classes, boys dove after my copy like tigers on a t-bone. This book taps into what kids want to read here and now, with a finger on the pulse of the reluctant reader. It is my own son's new favorite book. If your family enjoys The Spy Kids movies, Rocky and Bullwinkle or any of the Pink Panther stuff, you've got to add this title to your shelves! I also love Andy Rash's collection of subversive verse _The Robots are Coming_, which has become one of our standard gifts for boys turning eight. Can't to see what this offbeat talent will offer up next!

Okay, I'll 'fess up -- I might be slightly biased because Andy's my cousin. Nepotism aside, this is just a great book. It's funny in the same way Andy is and engages the reader in the story. The illustrations are amazing and perfectly suited to the text. Although now he's all grown up, as they say, Andy still has the ability to see life through the eyes of a child, and his work always connects with children and adults alike. Great job, "cuz".

The images are fantastic and the agent rhymes are the perfect mix of humor and wit so both kids and adults will love this book. I loved turning each page to see what the next agent was up to! I'm buying this book for all my little cousins.

Talk about how (as a character suggests in the movie "Hurricane") "sometimes a book chooses you"... Was it quirky intuition or some funky higher power that moved me when, as I was about to leave the library, a sudden urge made me turn around and, overlooking all the other fictions on the shelves, with unknown purpose shuffle aside the books in a bin until my hand lit on this one. Had never heard of the author or the book (although the title was appealing), but something inside of me whispered "Read this!"

Whatever the spell, subconscious or spooky, I'm glad I did. This was a book that started out good and only got better; read it practically overnight. In the end, it was Arthur Flowers' vibrant storytelling, so warm and alive with understanding of human frailty and fullness of spirit--like a downhome, latter-day incarnation of the oldtime poet who said, "I am human, therefore nothing human is alien to me"--that spoke to me, made me smile and ache and glow.

"I am hoodoo, I am griot, I am a man of power," he trumpets at the opening in a verbal fanfare, a narrative device echoing and acknowledging ancient oral tradition; there is power in the word and magic in the story. "My story is a true story, my words are true words, my lie is a true lie--a fine old delta tale about a mad blues piano player and a Arkansas conjure woman on a hoodoo mission.... Plan to show you how they found the good thing. True love. That once-in-a-lifetime love.... because when you find true love my friend its strictly do or die."

Set in the Mississippi River delta country in and around Memphis, Tennessee, at the dawn of the Jazz Age, ANOTHER GOOD LOVING BLUES tracks the sweet & sour course of the relationship between bluesman Luke Bodeen--peacock proud, stylish and sure--and alluring, stiff-necked hoodoo woman Melvira Dupree, who's haunted by her past and future. Yet other rivers run through it: memories of arcane gods and religious rites variously practiced by descendants of African slaves throughout the Americas; the trickle, then stream, of Southern blacks fleeing impoverished indenture in the fields for the promise of Northern urban opportunity post-World War I. Race-conscious workingclass intellectuals gather with college-trained professionals to debate Garvey vs. Dubois, the church vs. traditional African religion. The periodic floods of "The Great Muddy," the mighty Mississippi itself, become legend in song and story.

It's territory that Zora Neale Hurston (who makes a "guest appearance," as does W. C. Handy) plumbed and celebrated, and more recently Ishmael Reed: the nexus of history and folklore, literal and visceral, sanctified and streetwise.

But, aah, the core of the story, that man-woman thing! Heart of the blues. "You don't know what love is until you know the meaning of the blues," goes the famous song. Flowers, a veteran bluesman himself, is especially deft, and searingly compassionate, showing "how to go down like a natural man" after Luke breaks off with Melvira:

"Lucas Bodeen let the music say all the things he wanted to say to her. O baby, I love you so. I don't understand why or nothing, I just love you. Lucas Bodeen played his heart out, another man hurting cause my baby's gone and o the loving sure was good blues.

"O God baby, how could you really leave me?

"Tears.

"...After awhile the music start getting good to him, and ol Bodeen, he forgot all about how bad he felt. Got into the music, made that piano stand up and do tricks. No matter how much trouble you got in mind, the blues tend to remind you that the sun is going to shine in your back door someday. For all the pain it cost him, he had to say he was glad she had come into his life. Don't do for a man to live and die without having known at least one great love in his life. He would have hated to have died without having ever felt like she made him feel."

Flowers, besides his talent, experience and skill, obviously has considerable affection for all his characters; all the people of this book live and breathe. What's more, he tells a plethora of stories and all of them involve you. And his triumphant narrative voice is the finest, most lyrical and comprehensible use of Southern black vernacular I've ever read. I love this book: It's a work of enormous heart, healing and redemption. Told plain and simple, touching and to the point. ("Literature and hoodoo," says one character, "both are tools for shaping the soul." "Spiritwork," says another. "Sacred literature... Rootwork.") Let this nexus of love, blues and hoodoo work its magic on you.

I read this book a couple of years ago... It was not a book I normally would have read, but I picked it up and was quickly drawn into it. The voice of the narrator is very powerful and persuasive, convincing you that the characters are real--the emotions behind each of the words certainly are! The story is very believable. It seems simple, but it is more. You can actually hear someone telling you this story and it almost doesn't feel as if you're reading. In the end, you definitely feel a deep appreciation towards the writer and his gift.

Need something to cozy up to and sweep you away on a mighty good time? Get this book. The writing is lush, beautiful, yet concise. It's a good read. Thank you Mr. Flowers! And keep on writing. I, for one, want more.

Arthur Flowers has created the most beautiful love story to come out in years.I was drawn into the world of Melvira, Luke, and the Delta's conjure women. I gained a deeper appreciation for the blues, (that I could hear gliding across the pages)as I savored the flavor of this magnificent work.

Absolutely hilarious! Makes me want to listen to the radio broadcast all over again.

These authors take you through the 5-book Trilogy (although they mostly focus on the first 3 books) in a series of essays. They are all light hearted, but some of them are more serious that others. It also includes a great interview of Douglas Adams from the 80s.

I had a lot of fun with the book and remembering my favorite scenes. The essays also helped me see different interpretations of the actions of the characters. I recommend it for the bookshelf of any H2G2 fan!

The book covers tons of details, from how important food is to the series, to computer design, the meaning of life, the meaning of 42, Marvin's place in the universe, Vogon poetry and even British humor. At under 199 pages, this tiny book seems to cover a lot, but I feel they could have done so much more. There is so much to debate and think about when it comes to Adam's universe that this book barely peeled off the first layer of the massive tome. But maybe we should leave some mystery for future readers to find and enjoy on their own?
To list just SOME of the contributors whose work is within these pages we have Stephen Baxter, Susan Sizemore and Adam Roberts.

Twenty essays make up The Anthology at the End of the Universe and each author basically tries to tell us what is so important about the 5 book Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy. It's sort of like the old joke about the blind men each trying to describe an elephant when they each had only a small piece of the animal in their grip. No one essay can be expected to give you a definitive answer as to what the Hitchhiker's Guide is truly about or what Douglas Adams' message was when he wrote it. What the essays do is give you an understanding of why the books are so popular and how so many people have found a place for them in their lives and hearts.

Some of these essays had me laughing out loud so that I had to read those parts to my husband to prove I hadn't really gone off the deep end. Other's had me wondering about how you could come up with such serious connections from a series of comedic science fiction books. Then there were the essays that had me saying, "hmm, never thought of that". And of course, being me, there were the essays that had me sniffling discreetly into a tissue. There's a lot to like in this collection of essays. However, they are essays rather than short stories and if you're looking for the latter this book is not for you.

Mike Byrne in "Beware of the Leopard", Cory Doctorow in "Wikipedia: A Genuine H2G2 - Minus the Editor, and Bruce Bethke in " The Secret Symbiosis: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Its Impact on Real Computer Science" talk about the impact that Hitchhiker's Guide has had on computer science, computer interface design, the internet as a communications media, and the impetus it was in starting many young people on a career in the sciences. The Guide in the television version, while done with colored gels and press on letters was heads and shoulders above what computers at the time were capable of achieving. Once people saw what a really good user interface could be like they demanded better than they had and the computer companies listened. In some ways, we have Douglas Adams to thank for the usability of computers because once users began to think there could be something better they demanded it.

Others see the Hitchhiker's Guide as a round about way to think of the truly important things in life: religion, humor, 42, looking at the world as it is. The following essays dealt more with the philosophical aspects of the books: "That About Wraps it up for Oolon Colluphid" by Don Debrandt; "The Holy Trilogy" by Selina Rosen (this one is so funny it should have a spew alert); "The Zen of 42" by Marie-Catherine Caillava.

No book about the Guide could be complete without a mention of Vogon poetry. Lawrence Watt-Evans in "A Consideration of Certain Aspects of Vogon Poetry" discusses the merits of quantifying poetry so that the Guide can equivocally say that Vogon poetry is the third worst. He also wonders about Arthur's seeming immunity to it.

Adam Roberts in "42" and Jacqueline Carey in "Yes, I Got It" discuss the philosophy of humor and its place in our lives. While Susan Sizemore in "You Can't Go Home Again, Damn It! Even If Your Planet Hasn't Been Blown Up by Vogons" realizes that the person she was when first exposed to the Guide and the person she is now do not view the Guide in the same way. Even with all the happy memories of that first reading, she finds that it doesn't have the same impact now as it did then.

Food, food, glorious food. Douglas Adams loved a good meal especially with good friends and food plays an important role in the Hitchhiker's Guide. The role of food is touched upon by Steven Baxter in "Lunching at the Eschaton: Douglas Adams and the End of the Universe in Science Fiction", A.M. Dellamonica in "Digital Watches May Be a Pretty Neat Idea, But Peanuts and Beer Are What Get You Through the Apocalypse".

When the world or universe is off kilter or just plain crazy, how do you remain sane when all about you are crazy? Well, some writers have evidently come up with some ideas on how to remain sane in a crazy world from their reading of the Guide: "The Subversive Dismal Scientist: Douglas Adams and the Rule of Unreason" by Vox Day; "Another Fine Mess" by Adam Troy Castro; "The Only Sane Man in the Universe" by Marguerite Krause; "Douglas Adams and the Wisdom of Madness" by John Shirley; and "Loop-Surface Security: The Image of the Towel in a Vagabond Universe - A Semiotic (Semi-Odd) Excursion" by Mark W. Tiedemann.

There's also an interview with Douglas Adam by John Shirley ("A Talk with Douglas Adams"). Amy Berner in "Words to Live " talks about how everything she needed to learn to life live she learned from the Hitchhiker's Guide. "Goodnight, Marvin" by Maria Alexander is the final essay in the book and a touching tribute to Douglas as a person who touched many of our lives with his writing.

One of the world's most respected masters of the art of Erotica has recently published what is perhaps his masterpiece. William Maltese has for years been one of the most consistently praised writers in the field.

"Ardennian Boy" is a remarkable book. It tells the explosive story of the two Nineteenth Century French poets Paul Verlaine and Arthur Rimbaud and their sexual affair that shocked the world and ultimately brought a stint in a Belgian prison for the unfortunate Verlaine.

This story of course has been told before, but never like this. Mr. Maltese has put the sex back into the story where it belongs. Explicit, hot, dirty sex as it was most likely experienced by the poets. Of course this is not a biography, but a novel, so Maltese has taken some liberties, imagining what "must have been" between the lines of the well-documented actual events. In addition, the novel is enhanced by liberal samplings of the poetry itself in sparklingly sexy new translations by Professor Drewey Wayne Gunn.

The affair between Verlaine and Rimbaud lasted less than two years. But oh! What an affair! Rimbaud was only a 15-year-old country boy from the Ardennes region of France (hence the title) when he sought out Verlaine, ostensibly for advice and help with his literary career. From the first moments, the recently married and terminally "bourgeois" Verlaine fell hard for the sexy young teen.

Mr. Maltese skillfully follows the trajectory of the torrid affair from Paris, to rural Charleville, back to Paris many times, to Brussels, to London, and back to Brussels (where the shooting incident leads to the conviction and jail time for Verlaine.) The reader becomes exhausted from all the explosive, exciting action so beautifully and volcanically described by the master story-teller, William Maltese.

No fan of gay erotica should miss this fine book that's presently short-listed on the Lambda Literary Awards list for erotica! It is not only a novel; it is a great anthology of the work of both poets. In a well-written and scholarly appendix to the book, a factual history of the poets and their work is summarized, along with references to the actual titles of the original French poems and where the interested and/or scholarly reader can find the originals.

Don't miss this one. It is HOT!

I still remember a maybe 13 years old girl who stole a book of poems from the shelves in her mother room. They were, as I read on the preface, poems that Paul Verlaine has written during his relationship with Arthur Rimbaud. Really I didn't find any clue of this relationship in that book, but I cherished the memory of this love. I remember that the preface underlined the age difference between Verlaine and Rimbaud (10 years) but said nothing about the fact that Arthur was 16 years old when he met Paul. When he coscientely and willingly seduced the older poet.

In Ardennian Boy, Arthur admits that he didn't find Paul physical attractive, seems an excuse, but in this case we can absolutely believe when Arthur says that he is attracted by the genius of Paul Verlaine, the greater poet in Paris, excluse himself of course. Even if Arthur is younger, he is the why and the how of the story. He is him who drags Paul out of his bourgeois life. But what they have together is not a romance, a pure love to leave to posterity. It is a selfdestructive relationship, brings forward by a selfish and genial boy and a whining and genial man, who apart are nothing but together are a vulcan of poetry.

And while Wayne Gunn translates for us rhymes that I truly find difficult to believe are been written more than 130 years ago (but it seems so, according to the detailed chapter where he explains how he has done the work), William Maltese tells us the life story of these two men, with a force and a writing style that make them alive again. Story and rhymes alternate themself in the book, and you can't say if it is the story which brings alive the rhymes or if they are the rhymes which give a sense to the story. During sex Arthur and Paul exchange poems as others exchange grunts and moans.

It's not a romance, all us know what the end of this real story is, and if you still believe it's a romantic story, the everyday life describes by William Maltese will remove you of any lingering dream. But even if there isn't romance, you will find a lot of love: even if Arthur says he loves only Paul's dick, and not the man, that he loves only his poetry, and not the coward man who seems not to be able to give up to his bourgeois life, even if Paul tries to set himself against the way of life Arthur wants to coax him, he only can follow this man everywhere he wants to bring him, until...

These two gifted authors combine their considerable talents for this incendiary retelling of the notorious love affair between the celebrated French poets, young Arthur Rimbaud - a "wild boy" from the Ardennes with a passion for living life at the brink and beyond - and Paul Verlaine, an older, closeted bisexual.

Gunn's translations of the often X rated poetry, many of them done in partnership with his longtime companion, the late Jacques Murat, are alone worth the price of admission, and Maltese disperses them throughout the book for maximum effectiveness in buttressing his story. The book's cover rightly warns that this is not for "the sexually faint of heart." This is the tale, after all, of a romance that scandalized 19th century France and fomented some of the bawdiest--and, yes, most beautiful - gay-themed verses ever penned.

The novel's sexual content, much of it frankly scatological, is unrelenting and ultimately so stupefying as to altogether lose its eroticism, but Maltese makes skillful, even subtle use of it to limn his characters and further the story.

The book would no doubt have benefited from the inclusion of even a single sympathetic character or, more importantly, the discovery of any redeeming qualities that might have humanized the two lead characters, without which they sometimes veer dangerously close to caricatures. One puts the book aside when finished with no feeling of satisfaction but rather with a sense of having wallowed in the excrement of which they are so fond.

This was almost certainly not intended, however, to be a pretty nor a cheerful story. Genius and insanity go hand in hand, as the old cliché has it, and what these two writers have done, and done brilliantly, is to offer compelling glimpses into the tortured psyches of two poetic geniuses who, if not quite insane, certainly dwelt on the far reaches of anything that could be considered "normalcy."

It is generally thought a wise thing to separate the art from the artist. The authors here have suggested that this is not always possible--nor even always wise.

The ultimate result is a masterpiece of its kind, an instant classic of literary erotica, and, if not for the faint of heart, certainly a must-have for every serious collector of the genre.

Maltese, William and Gunn, Wayne. "Ardennian Boy", MLR Press, 2007.

Romantic Erotica

Amos Lassen

I have always been drawn to historical fiction mainly because you not only get a good read but you learn a little something. This is essentially true in Maltese and Gunn's "Ardennian Boy" which is based on the lives and loves of French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine. You not only get historical fiction but classy, raw erotica (and Maltese is well known for this).
We first meet Rimbaud as a teenager from the French provinces. He is wild and will do anything and he believes that the more excesses that he experiences, the better poet he will become. He experiences much as a young man and lives an extremely decadent life.
Verlaine is in a marriage which seems to hold him a prisoner. His wife nags him and he must suppress any homosexual feelings that he has. However, when the two men meet, sparks fly and the two men begin a torrid love affair, one that Verlaine is totally unprepared for. Before Rimbaud, Verlaine's poetry was merely passable but the passion that is awakened in him by the younger man from Ardennes, pushes him to the position of a great French poet. Verlaine ultimately ignores the societal conventions of the time and the two men live on the fringes of French culture. Ultimately the two poets join others such as Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde as "literary pioneers in the struggle for gay rights in the 19th century.
When the two men met, Rimbaud was only 16 years old and Verlaine was ten years his senior. "Ardennian Boy" tells us that Rimbaud was not physically attracted to Verlaine but admired his mind. Rimbaud manages to "drag" Verlaine out of his mundane life style and brings him into a self-destructive relationship and this self-destruction seems to be the reason that the two men rose to the heights of poetic expression. I think it is important to understand that the book does not deal with modern times but actually takes place some 130 years ago. Maltese tells the story with vivacity wile Gunn is responsible for the translation of the poetry. The two authors alternate poetry and story and it works beautifully. Both the poetry and the storyline are important to understanding the "love" that the poets shared. I particularly love the way that the poets exchange their poetry while they are involved in sexual activity. There is not a lot of romance here but there is great sex.
The two authors tell a story that is blatantly erotic. The relationship between the two Frenchmen scandalized French society and also brought us some of the most beautiful and bawdy gay poetry ever written. Maltese gives us hot sex all through the book and he does so in a sublime manner. The sex is hot but it also beautifully written. The story is not one that I would call "pretty" but it is compelling and a look at two of France's greatest poets in a new light is a rewarding experience. The characters are geniuses who need to the sex to set off the fuse of their minds.
Granted the book falls

I was given this book by a patient. The people in the stories are the same as today. The truths he tells and the antedotes are priceless. A must read for medical students and young professionals.

When I first picked up this book, I was interested in it because it was so old. As I read it, especially the first few chapters about his adventures in elementary school (I teach fourth grade) I was pleased. I feel better about the antics my students have gotten into. The rest of the book is an entertaining, yet infomative first hand account of the growth of the medical profession. We have come a long way. I am looking forward to seeing where we go.

I just finished this book last night. I have an interest in medical history, particularly american. The author gives a detailed insight into early american medicine. He was truely a wonderful man and physician. I am a physician and am surprised how many problems he experienced that are still currently problems in medicine. This book is a must read for anyone interested in early american medicine.

This book is excellent for understanding life in the mid to late 1800's, for understanding the speed with which the "practice of medicine" has grown, and growing in honesty with oneself. The humor and joy is the best! And I empathized with the pain and difficulty.

From time to time, a historian will write a book, as opposed to an author writing history. And when TWO historians write a book, you get what Bigler and Bagley have created here. The entire series, "Forgotten Kingdom" is dynamite, we are fortunate to have these books available to us.

David Bigler and Will Bagley are two of the nation's leading experts on the history of the Rocky Mountain Mormons.

They have combined to present an extremely readable history of the Mormon Battalion - an army unit that traversed thousands of difficult miles and never fired a shot in anger.

Extremely well researched, ARMY OF ISRAEL is must reading for those interested in the many facets of 19th Century Mormonism.

David Bigler and Will Bagley successfully collaborated to bring together a series of previously unpublished documents, as well as some published ones, in an outstanding collection of firsthand accounts and other primary sources on and about the Mormon Battalion's epic 1846 U.S. - Mexican War march and their role in securing the Southwest from Mexican control and claiming the territory that would become the states of Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah -- thereby fulfilling the mandate inherent in the concept of "Manifest Destiny". Several eye-witness sourced perspectives are provided including the journal of teenager William Pace, letters from some of the women associated with the battalion; as well as military and government correspondence. Army Of Israel: Mormon Battalion Narratives is a superlatively presented and informative contribution to American history in general, and the role of a unique military command in particular.

The significance of the events from 1846-1848 in the history of our country has long been overlooked. Education in many schools jumps from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War; completely disregarding the major influence the Mexican-American War had on our nation. Not only did the war result in the United States increasing it's territory by over a third, but the wealth of mineral resources in California, Arizona, and New Mexico helped to propel the United States to global prominence in the twentieth century. But if the war as a whole is neglected, the unique contributions of a single group to the formation of the U.S. border and to the development of American western migration is almost completely forgotten. The Mormon Battalion, which marched in 1846 from Iowa to California, blazed a trail that would define our nation's borders and history. Published in 2000, ARMY OF ISRAEL: Mormon Battalion narratives gives a fresh look at this regiment's history from their own viewpoint. The editors are both historians with backgrounds in journalism and a special interest in the American Far West. Mr. Bigler is a past president of the Oregon-California Trails Association, founder and first president of the Utah Westerners, and has served on the Utah Board of State History. He has also edited the diary of his great-uncle Azariah Smith, one of the members of the Battalion. Mr. Bagley has edited several books and narratives on the American West and serves as the chief editor of the series KINGDOM IN THE WEST: The Mormons and the American Frontier. The narrative focuses primarily on the events encountered by the battalion during the actual march from Council Bluffs, Iowa to Los Angeles, California in from June 1846 to January 1847. Thought the infantry regiment made the entire journey without firing a single shot, the march was the longest in the history of any American army. It's legacy, however, is much greater than simple trivia. On its way to California, the battalion occupied Santa Fe, Tucson, Yuma, San Diego, and Los Angeles, instituting the first American military presence in each of these cities. They were also to first to construct an east-west wagon road, which intersected the great mountain ranges of the Southwest. Previously, Mexican and Native American merchant traffic traveled north-south along the valleys. The roads were a major factor in the mass migration to California that would soon follow. The roads continued to be used until 1880, when the railroad was built along the same path. Interstate 10 now follows almost the exact same path that the company forged over 150 years ago. The little "Army of the West", made up of five regiments of one hundred men each, made President James Polk's vision of a continental nation into reality. In the Introduction the editors claim, "Only in recent times have historians begun to realize the achievements and the important role the Mormon soldiers performed in California and Western history. The narratives found in these pages reveal ... the significant part these men and women played in that history" (p. 29). Fortunately for us, a great number of the soldiers kept account of their experiences in pocket diaries, which many then transcribed into more detailed journals after the war. These documents not only provide us with detailed information on their day-to-day activities, but also give us eyewitness accounts of the major events of this period - the occupation of Northern Mexico, the opening of major transportation routes, and the discovery of gold in California. The book proceeds chronographically, beginning with the situation surrounding the Mormons and the U.S. government at the time. The Mormons were in need of money to finance their exodus to Utah; President Polk was in need of an army to occupy California. Polk's concern for the West Coast was not over Mexican possession but of the threat of British invasion. Once the deal was brokered, the Battalion set out almost immediately, under the command of Gen. Stephen W. Kearny and Lt. Col. Philip St. George Cooke. The editors utilize a great number of original documents from James Polk's presidential papers, War Department records, and Congressional archives. Correspondence between the Mormons and the government is also well recorded. The narrative then turns to the march itself, which is presented mostly by means of diaries and journals from the soldiers and their officers. The editors employ a framework that keeps the narrative interesting and ties the various accounts together, giving historical background for each event. This approach enables them to let the documents stand on their own merit but also provides them with the opportunity to accentuate events that demonstrate the importance of the Mormon Battalion campaign. The editors clearly explain the ramifications of events not only during the war but even down to our time. The result is indeed convincing. They make proper use of their source data describing not only the events but also their historical significance. The narrative is interesting and informative. An effort is made to include the journals of women who traveled with the army, as well as to maintain a balance between purely historical documents with entertaining stories. On the other hand, although the stated scope of the book is to present the experiences of the Battalion from their own perspective, there is very little information on Native Americans and even less about the Mexicans. Additionally, though the editors make an attempt to curb their glowing assessment of the Battalion by introducing a few arguments that call the Mormons' intentions into question, the effort is half-hearted and falls short of credibility. What remains is a biased depiction of the campaign that nonetheless does not detract from the authenticity of the source documents. The end result is an extremely readable book about an extraordinary group of people who played a part in our nation's history that often goes unnoticed.

This series of books (there is one for Hammet too) are beautifully designed and layed out, with text, pictures and tablature. I can't really comment much on the content as I bought this one as a present for my brother, who is a good guitarist and Metallica fan, who prefers Hetfield's playing solid rhythm & lead over Hammets widdling(although not a fan myself and not adverse to "widdling", I am inclined to agree). He liked the present. I hope they grow this series in the future (Santana, Jimmy Page, Brian Robertson, Scott Gorham, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Duanne Alman, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Johnson, SRV, Peter Green, BB King,...).

Here in "The Art of James Hetfield", you'll find James' rhythm guitar riffs for such Metallica classics like "Hit the Lights", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Fade to Black", "Creeping Death", "Battery", "Master of Puppets", "One", "Enter Sandman", "The Unforgiven", "Until It Sleeps", and "Fuel" among others, plus the solos for Puppets, "To Live is to Die", "Nothing Else Matters", "The House Jack Built", "Thorn Within", and "Carpe Diem Baby", and it even has the entire transcription of "Sad but True". Everything is explained and transcripted beautifully (it even has tabs), making this a good book for novice guitarists looking for a challenge, and a good companion for seasoned guitar players looking to play some classic Metallica tunes.

This book has a bunch of James's rhythms and solos. But be aware that this book doesn't have fully transcribed songs, only selected riffs from each of the albums.

This book is a great book if you are a Metallica fan. Even if you a new fan or a die hard fan its a great book to learn about the lead signer of Metallica. From his childhood to the band life you learn it all. You learn that his life wasn't all what it was cracked up to be. You learn about the history of the band also.

In this novel, Arthur C. Clarke's entire life story is told. Also, actual interviews with Clarke and his family members are used. A fascinating bit of information is that Clarke co-anchored the moon landing in 1969 with Cronkite. This is a great book for any fan of Arthur C. Clarke.

Arthur C. Clarke had been one of my favorite writers since the early 1970's. The first book of his that I read was 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was hooked on Mr. Clarke and science fiction forever. This biography of Mr. Clarke is a pleasure to read. The most satisfying thing about the book is that Mr. Clarke in real life is very much the man you picture while reading both his fiction and non-fiction. The three most interesting aspects of the book was his early work with the British Interplanetary Society, his life in Sri Lanka, and his work on the movie 2001.

As a long-time admirer of both Arthur C. Clarke the man and his fact and fiction, I've been looking for a good biography for quite a long time, and am glad to say I've finally found one. Neil McAleer has done an excellent job, and obviously put a lot of time into research and interviews. This book was compiled from several interviews with Clarke himself as well as with many of his friends, family members, editors, publishers, fellow writers, colleagues, and the like. One is greatful to get such a great glimpse into the lives of science fiction's most famous author, as well as one of the 20th century's most famous visionaries. Truly a remarkable man, Clarke has had an almost unbelievably productive, meaningful, and memorable life. Here we learn about his upbringing and exploits living on a farm in England in his childhood, and through his experiences in school and budding interest in science and science fiction. We then learn of Clarke's going on to join the Civil Service and eventually the Royal Airforce (where he helped with the radar "talk down" system), and through his college years. We are able to see the development of his writing years, and his active and vital role in the British Interplanetary Society. All of Clarke's major novels and several of his short stories are gone into in detail, and oftentimes we learn of his motivation for writing them, and also something of his writing method. One of the most important and revealing aspects of the book for Clarke fans are the long behind-the-scenes look we get at the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey. We learn of the working relationship between Clarke and Kubrick, and also get a glimpse into the super hush-hush activities that took place on the set. This book covers his career up to the release of his novel The Ghost From The Grand Banks, and a little beyond. It also touches mightily upon his non-fiction writing, as well as his many other and less celebrated exploits - lecturing, popularizing of communications, diplomatic interests, and the like. We learn a lot about Clarke's vital role in the establishment of communications satellites. This is quite simply an essential book for Clarke fans, with much knowledge held within it to put across and share. The only real drawback to it is that it does only go up to 1992, and thereby misses out on some important events in Clarke's career (the release of further books, including his final novel, 3001, his collected stories and essays, his knighthood, the unfortunate (and falsely alledged) accusations of pedophilia against him, and the actual coming of the year 2001, just to name a few.) Still, this is by far the most comprehensive and thorough book about Arthur C. Clarke available. Obvioiusly, as with any biography, it's not a book you'll want to dive into unless you are already familar with the author and his works. If you are, though, then this is an essential volume to add to your collection.

THE biography of Arthur C. Clarke ! Finally ! it was well worth the wait

I orginally bought this book for my son (now age 10). He absolutely loved this book. It has peek-a-boo pages where it shows many different things. It has one section where its focus is contrast. So, you will see a short flower, and you lift the flap and it's a tall flower. Or, it will show a full plate of cookies and you lift the flap and the cookies are gone.

It also has counting, alphabet and the story of the three pigs. This book was used throughout his infant/toddler and preschool years. Now, my 2 year old daughter has attached herself to the same book (great quality board book). She loves to lift the flaps and see what is underneath. The alphabet is the last 2 pages..and under each letter is picture of something, so this also teaches word recognition and memory recognition. This one book has so many aspects of learning in it. It's bright and colorful and your children will love it! Worth every penny!!!A++++++

It seems like most all of this kind of big lift the flap books are a little similar---a page about letters, one about numbers, an opposite page and so forth, but they are also all pretty well done and big child pleasers! My 2 sons really like this one. Their favorite part is the "book within a book" of The Three Little Pigs. It got my older son interested in that fairy tale, which we then read in different versions, and then in fairy tales in general! One thing to note---the characters of Arthur and Francine and all of the gang seem younger in this book than in the show, more like preschool versions of themselves.

My four year old son has 3 precious "comfort" reads and this is one of them. We've read it so many times together he knows it by heart. It's a great book because not only does it hold his interest (he never tires of the flaps) but it also reinforces the alphabet, counting and teaches him about opposites. And it's also a fun book for me to read aloud (over and over . . . )

An excellent book for school readiness. My kids
fought over it so much that I had to buy a
second copy! An absolute must-have for all
4-year-olds. Make sure to buy one for each
child!

Arthur Lost and Found it is a bad day for Arthur and Buster. They miss the bus. It is a good book. Arthur and Buster are lost. "We've taken the bus before" said Mom. I love this book. You should read this book. It is funny. My favorite part was Arthur and Buster fell asleep on the bus.

I read "Arthur Lost and Found." In this story Arthur was on the bus. He fell asleep and when he woke up he was lost. I have a connection. My little brother always gets lost. I worry about him just like Mother.

The book is one of the best books I have ever read in my life. The author, Marc Brown uses vivid details to capture every event perfectly. I enjoyed the book thoroughly. The pictures are so descriptive. The story plot is also very funny. Although the book is a work of marvelous fiction, the author depicts an event that can happen to absolutely anyone. My favorite part was when Arthur and his best friend Buster wanted to go use the phone in the diner and it was broken. Then they spent all their money on snacks and then the supposedly evil bus driver is actually very nice. I really liked the book.

This book artur gets lost. They don't know where they vare. Good book!