Borden Books

It was suppressed after its publication: all copies were bought up and destroyed, and never reprinted. The verdict of acquittal has never stopped interest in this case, or new solutions.

The rooms where the bodies lay were in perfect order; doors locked, windows closed. The victims showed no signs of struggle, their blood had not bespattered the rooms and furniture as it generally does under these circumstances. The assassin had left absolutely no trace of himself (p.13). A sudden unforeseen attack that killed with the first blow. The house had not been robbed, nor was any enemy known of with such hatred as to commit these assassinations.

Special officer Philip Harrington questioned Lizzie; suspicions were raised in the minds of the police that she knew more than she cared to tell. The police and the mayor searched the house from cellar to attic, delved into every nook and corner; every particle of hay in the barn loft and every blade of grass was turned over. Nothing was found.

The autopsy found 13 blows on the head of Mr. Borden, 18 on the skull of Mrs. Borden. The cuts were deep and long and any one would have produced instant death. Could any but a madman have struck so ruthlessly and unerringly, time and time again?

The Government side presumed that Lizzie would desire to bring the butcher to the gallows (p.76). It was either him or Lizzie. It was supposed she would answer every question, and volunteer every particle of information in her possession. She had everything to gain, and nothing to lose. But the Government must have known that this charge would leave a blotch on her name, and if acquitted, would forever blight her life. After Lizzie's arrest the Woman's Auxiliary of the YMCA held a prayer for her, the WCTU and religious societies all over the country did the same (p.80).

Mr. Jennings describes the murder on page 126. "There is an unnecessary brutality about this that suggests nothing but insanity or brutal hatred." "Every blow showed that the person who wielded that hatchet was a person of experience with the instrument." "... no hand could strike these blows that had not a powerful wrist and experience in handling a hatchet."

Regarding the claimed attempt to purchase poison, Jennings says "If there is one thing which is weakest in criminal cases it is the matter of mistaken identity. The books are full of such references" (p. 130). Page 195 gives the testimony of Prof. Edward S. Wood; he tested the Bordens' stomachs and found no prussic acid, or other poisonous substances. He calculated the difference in time of death at about one and a half hours.

Page 137 Knowlton discusses Lizzie's changed stories about what she was doing that morning. He then asks why the sender of the note to Mrs. Borden never came forward, and concludes it never was sent. Knowlton also claimed the absence of bloodstained clothing is proof of her guilty concealment! Lizzie was indicted and held for the Grand Jury. Hilliard and Seaver posted bond for Bridget, ex-Congressman Davis for Mr. Morse (as material witnesses).

Chapter XXI tells of the Trickey-McHenry affair that resulted in one of the most famous hoaxes of the time. False information was given to a reporter, who rushed this scoop into print. The reporter was then indicted as a result of this plot; he fled the country, and died accidentally. McHenry had been hired to watch the Pinkerton men, who had been hired by Jennings to watch the police. McHenry had previous trouble with Trickey's reporting on a trial in Denver, and another case. McHenry claimed Trickey was reporting to the Pinkertons in Boston.

Pages 212-213 quote George D. Robinson as to the killer "a maniac or fiend", "not a man in his senses ... but a lunatic or a devil". "They were well-directed blows.... They were aimed steadily and constantly for a purpose, each one finding its place where it was aimed, and none going amiss on the one side of the other." "The perpetrator of that act knew how to handle the instrument, was experienced in its control, had directed it before or others like it, and it was not the sudden, untrained doing of somebody who had been unfamiliar with such implements."

Pages 266-267 tell how Lizzie shielded Bridget and Andrew's workmen from suspicion (they were checked out anyway). This left her as the remaining suspect; but she never told! Page 280 says "there is a skeleton in the household of every man, but the Borden skeleton - if there was one - was fairly well locked up from view. They were a close-mouthed family."

Pages 304-311 contain part of Justice Dewey's charge to the jury. Robert Sullivan's "Goodbye, Lizzie Borden" has it all. After an hour the jury returned with its verdict of "Not Guilty". "Lizzie Andrew Borden returned guiltless to her friends and home in Fall River."

Lizzie Borden took a walk,
To let her Dad have his talk;
When she came back to the room,
She found Dear Dad met his doom.

The story behind the book may be more interesting than the book itself. Porter who worked as a journalist for one of Fall River newspapers decided to cash in on the Borden trial. How many books were printed is unknown, but a good judgement would be 200 to 1,500. As the story goes, Lizzie on the instructions of her lawyers, was to buy up all the books and destroy them. 1. That doesn't make sense and 2. It's not true. If the book had been way out of line perhaps Lizzie would have filed for a law suit. However, during the trials the papers were a lot more harsh than this matter-of-fact somewhat bland book. While in jail, one of Lizzie's request was to not be given the newspaper. Did she buy up the books or threaten Porter.... No. If the book had been that popular at the time, Porter would have had more printings. Also, lets say Lizzie paid him off to not make anymore editions. This was before the 1923 copyright law. If the book was in that great of demand it would have been reprinted many times between 1893 and 1985. Even the 1985 edition was kept at 1,000 prints. No, the truth of the matter, not many books were printed and the ones that were, were of very cheap paper quality... Most of the copies ended up in library's, and when worn out.... trashed. If the quality of the pages had been better, then rebinding would have been considered. However, if the pages are cheap and 90% acid... little could be done. Some of the copies that were retained by the library's were stolen. You can find at least two dozen original copies under lock and key at the larger library's. In 1985 a reprint was made of 1,000 copies. This Aug (2005) another reprint is due out.

A reprint of the elusive first book ever written about Lizzie Borden, the Fall River spinster who was acquitted of murdering her father and stepmother with a hatchet in 1892. I have two of the 1893 first edition copies of this book. For decades writers about the Lizzie Borden murder trial have stated that only three or four copies were known to exist, but since I have two of them, I suspect that the book is not nearly as scarce as is believed. Many years before getting these copies, I acquired the facsimile reprint, and was pleased that I could finally read the book and add it to my Lizzie collection. I was not overly impressed with Mr. Porter's writing style; he was a newspaper reporter who used his news stories as the basis of this book. The prose is rather dry and slow-moving. (For more entertaining "Lizzie" reading, I would recommend books by Victoria Lincoln or Edmund Pearson). I gave this book 5 stars because of the quality of the facsimile. In the forward, Robert A. Flynn states that he made the facsimile from a copy he found after a forty-year search. Having compared it to my two copies, I must say that he did an exceptional job, considering the cheapness of the original edition. The only major differences I noticed were the endpapers (biege with a green floral pattern in the original and plain green here) and the lack of filigree at the top and bottom of the spine. I suspect that Mr. Flynn's copy was frayed and the filigree was missing, because otherwise the book cover is just the same (I could be wrong). Other than that, this is an extremely handsome volume, and belongs on any Lizzie buffs bookshelf.

fly high! is a story of a woman that name is Bessie Coleman who meets a guy that tells her to go to France to learn how to fly.She traveled all over the world , until one day she crashed in California.She was in the hospital for three long months,and was not able to fly for a year.She didn`t give up on flying again.one day she was ready to fly again.A texas mechanic,William Wills,joined her.Bessie didn`t put on her seatbelt,and the plane went out of control.Bessie fell from the plane.

A little light in the loafers is this story of Bessie Coleman. Though a worthy subject and a fascinating tale, this particular biography of the great Bessie C. is an awkwardly formal affair. Containing no source notes aside from a brief authorial thank you at the start of the book, most of the facts surrounding the life and times of Bessie Coleman are credited to Marion Coleman, Bessie's niece. Reading through this tale, I could only conclude that it was a pity that such a dry product could come from this powerful woman's life.

Bessie Coleman was a sharecropper's daughter in Waxahachie, Texas. Having grown up poor, Ms. Coleman moved to Chicago, Illinois to make a name for herself. After years of hard work, Bessie determined that the only job she wanted was to become an aviatrix. Scrimping and saving allowed Bessie to travel to France, where she was able to earn her pilot's license. Throughout the years Bessie would wow American audiences everywhere with her tricks and derring-do. In the end, Bessie died in a plane crash and was buried in Chicago once more. Her life allowed her to become the first African-American to earn a pilot's license. Not the first black woman but the first black person ever! Fairly impressive stuff.

There's a kind of disconnect between the words in this book and the images on its pages. Both the words and the illustrations are rather stiff and formal. Each illustration is contained neatly within its own little space and every narrative sequence is typed in nice little sections. It's funny that I felt the book to be so blah. There's no one moment in the story where I could say to myself, "Now THAT is why I find this telling so dull!". For the most part the story is factual (to the best of my knowledge), the only exception possibly being the moment when the text says the following about Bessie's license:

"It was the very best license to have:
With it, Bessie could fly anywhere in the world.
Nobody could say, `You're a Negro woman, you can't fly.'"

Well.... actually they probably could. That's a bit of a problem with this book. Racism is just sorta understood to have existed in some form. But it's never confronted directly. Most of the pictures in this book are of (sorry but it's true) smiling happy black people. No white person is ever singled out as racist or contributing to the system of racism. Bessie herself must have encountered several instances of it within her lifetime, but they are never mentioned. The fact that Bessie has to learn to fly in France is said matter of factly. Yet the comparative European openness towards African Americans is never mentioned. All in all, a kid's going to need a lot more explanation about WHY Bessie had problems during her life since this book's not about to clear up such questions. It's a worthy effort, but it falls well short of the mark.

Imagine walking four miles to school and four miles home from school. That's what Bessie Coleman did a hundred years ago. She wanted to be somebody-like Harriet Tubman and Bookier T. Washington. She knew that with schooling she could be. She worked hard, picking cotton, walking miles to collect laundry, and learning her numbers. When she was twenty-three, she moved to Chicago. There she became a manicurist. She read the newspaper, and listened when customers told tales about French lady pilots in World War I. She wanted to be a lady pilot. She boldly went to Publisher Robert Abbot who told her to earn some money and learn French. He would help her find a flying school. In 1920, she went to France,learned to fly, and became the first African American to fly. When she became a stunt pilot she spread her message, "You can be somebody. You can fly high, just like me." This colorful, beautiful, simply written book shows how Bessie Coleman was an inspiration. Her determination and hard work made her dreams come true! Read and find out the sad ending to this courageous woman's story!

I am old enough to have lived through WWII. Much emphasis, rightly so, is given to the horrors of the war: the concentration camps, the Burma death march and the like.

It is far too easy to forget the incredible bravery of the every day civilian. If Londoners had not held out during the blitz, if the British people had not brought home the troops from the beaches of Dunkirk, our history might well have had a different outcome. These everyday civilians held out until America was geared up to take part. If they had not done so our history might well have had a different outcome.

This was indeed "Their finest hour."

Yet, until now, the only book I have had in my library that commemorates these incredible feats is Paul Gallico's beautiful, "The Snow Goose." Now I have added "The Little Ships."

This is a lovely little book, with delightful illustrations. It is a fine book for introducing a child to this heroic tale.

I could wish there were a more complete, historical book written before there is no one left who actually remember those heroic days.

I first learned of the Battle of Dunkirk when I read 'The Snow Goose' at the age of 11. I am sick of Harry Potter and its ilk and want my grandson to learn about stories that last. I realized he neither knows nor cares about history, nor is he so a precocious reader as I was at his age (pre-television). I decided this would have to be a gradual process, and that he will have to know about one of the great heroic events in our history before 'The Snow Goose' would be meaningful to him.

To this end, I discovered 'The Little Ships' and found myself with tears in my eyes over the beauty of the writing. For example, when the little girl is relating what she sees in the water (broken planks, army coats and boots) as she and her father are ferrying the soldiers, she sums it up by ' . . . and everything soldiers leave behind when they can take only themselves.'

The 'Snow Goose' will have to wait - although I certainly enjoyed reading it again. He's simply not old enough, but he's ready for 'The Little Ships.' The beauty of the writing and the wonderful illustrations will capture him. Best of all, the basic story is true. I'm buying two more copies - one for my library and one for the grade school. Children should know that, while we humans are capable of hideous acts, we are also capable of breathtaking acts of bravery, and they should be moved as they read about them.

Although this is a picture book, it's pretty difficult reading for early elementary. I bought this for my first and second graders, but after reading it decided to save it until they're older. Until they're ready for it, I will enjoy it myself! To me it is a very real and moving account of the famous rescue of the soldiers at Dunkirk. I think it would be a good supplement to a class studying World War 2, any age from 3rd grade on up, but probably more benefit for slightly older kids. Younger kids would definitely need some preparation for the vocabulary before reading the book.

This book was exactly what I wanted, it arrived very quickly and was very cheap. I am very satisfied with this service and all the others so far with Amazon.com. Thank you very much. I will continue to be a satisfied customer and look forward to many more transactions.

havent read yet sounds good

I just finished reading it...I put myself into a trance last night....I couldn't open my eyes! I can't wait to try this more!

If you're from or live in Indiana and perhaps you also paint, then this book is very nice to have. The book itself is top quality with nice glossy thick pages. It's the best to display artwork.

This book is filled with beautiful artwork and excellent descriptions of the changes in agriculture here in Indiana. The paintings by Nancy Maxwell are particularly incredible.

This book shows various aspects of agriculture through wonderfully painted artwork. Range and variety of work shows depth. Great coffee table book, good gift for all Hoosiers and lovers of art.

I received my book w/in 2 days of the order, just in time to do the readings for class....I'm very happy, and will recommend!

There is one major error in the text. Page 101 is wrong. I emailed the publishers but got no response. Be careful with some of the figures. Other than that, the book is great!

This text has, for the past 10 years, been the best and most prestigious of introductory books in our field. It is a fine lead-in for students wondering how speech is constructed. A follow-on for the more advanced student is my "Acoustics of Speech Communication: Fundamentals, Speech Perception Theory and Technology" 1999, Allyn and Bacon. J.M. Pickett

This book has some excellent accounts, and is more then it appears upon first time picking up the book. The author's attitude is witty, straight forward, and surprisingly light hearted.

This book is unique - A must read you have to experience for yourself...

Open Your Minds And This Book...

This is a great book... like Michael Moore, we need more people out there voicing in opinion - Sex, politics and religion seem to be hard topics for American's to discuss... WHY? What are we afraid of? Perhaps it's because we're afraid that what we have been told is not true!!!

Most bowlers know that this book is a "must-have." Fred Borden is a world-renowned bowling coach and this book provides the fundamentals and concepts important for the serious beginning and advanced bowler to develop his/her game. I am a 200+ average bowler and I often pull this book off the shelf for reference (especially when I'm in a slump!).

This book is a cut above most of the stuff on the market. It is very practical.

While short on pictures, it is long on drawings and diagrams that explain many bowling concepts in ways that are easy to understand.

This book is useful to the advanced bowler as well as the beginner. The lane condition chart at the back and the advice on playing different lane conditions is interesting and valuable.

Borden is somewhat dogmatic in telling one how to bowl, but his way does work and work well. He spent hours taping professionals and distilling their games down to the fundamental things you have to do to succeed. His other book, Secrets of the Big Money Pro's is even better. I give that one 5 stars.

This is my absolute favorite title on the four seasons, as the approach is from a kid's perspective. The language is simple, but there is a rhythm to the text that is poetic, making it appealing for a wide age range. I have found myself saying the words from the book out loud in different situations: while bundling up my son, "Winter is a lot of stuff to put on and a lot of stuff to get off!" The book is an excellent launching point for kids to talk about what the different seasons mean to them and what they like best about each one.

Better get out your caps, hats, socks, and mittens for the wintertime. What a better way to learn about the seasons than in a childhood book. In this book children will learn about Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter and how they rotate. If your getting discourged because your children are forgetting which season comes after which than this book is perfect for you. It's filled with fun information and lots of repetition and rhymes for the whole year and many more to come. The illustrations are colorful and very detailed with the storyline.

Magic ain't pulling rabbits out of a hat. Magic is all about manipulating what people see. It's directly applicable to politics, fist-fighting, advertising, seduction and a whole host of other human activities which require the attention of one or more participants. Reading this book has changed my outlook on things like few have. Learning to live it will require much study. If you look at politicians and captains of industry, many of them will actually admit to being amateur magicians. There is a reason for this. It's not just a nerdy hobby. It's a way of looking at the world which is very powerful indeed.

The other volumes are also OK, but they don't hold the attention like this one does. This is the core to it all. There is a reason it is going for $200 used.

Magic and deception are not an art about sleeving or double bottom, traps and mirrrors. It's the art of taking people into their own dreams where attention to the secret movements, tricked props etc becomes secondary. Misdirection is the word magicians use to wrongly route spectators' attention, focusing it only where it supports the dream. This book is not an how to book but it's one of the best analysis of what misdirection is.

The art of misdirection is what makes the difference between a guy doing tricks (properly or badly) and a true magician.

The two other books in the trilogy are the Trick brain which classifies every magical effects and the author's book on showmanship. They can be completed by Maskelyne and David Devant's "Our Magic" and by Henning Nehlms book on showmanship.

Anybody seriously interested in magic or deception (politics, military and business strategies) should know this unknown book.