Bradley Books

The Emotion Code
As a chemical dependency counselor, this book is fascinating. I'm looking forward to learning the techniques for releasing trapped emotions as described in the book.

So interesting and intriguing, I read the entire book cover to cover in one sitting. Dr. Nelson's theories on healing the body just make sense. Our bodies are intelligent and know what they need to be healthy, we just need to know how to ask them, and Dr. Nelson's techniques make it so simple. This book is written in an easy-to-understand format, with lots of real-life experiences and testimonials. Clearly, Dr. Nelson sincerely wants to help people heal themselves and others. I highly recommend this book.

There is actually a book out there that will, quite possibly, save your life! It's called The Emotion Code and it's author is Dr. Bradley Nelson.

There have been few books that have left me with a feeling that there is so much more to this life than what meets the eye. In fact, I don't think I have been this excited about a book in years. That is why I felt it appropriate to put a book review on an indie music review site. After all, this book is about as indie as you can get.

Within the pages of The Emotion Code Dr. Nelson explains the inner workings of the subconscious mind and lays it bare for all to see. He writes simply so you, the readers, are not left scratching your heads in complete bewilderment. This book makes so much sense that it's scary. Why do we have phobias? Why does it seem certain people can't seem to loose weight? Why can't some people seem to ever find someone to love? Why are some people always sick and the doctors can never find the answers? The answers are all within The Emotion Code.

Dr. Nelson also teaches his readers and patients how to become healers themselves by releasing what are called Trapped Emotions - trapped emotions boil down to an emotional event in our lives that becomes trapped within our energy field/body - yes, we are all made of energy and all energy vibrates at different frequencies. We all send out our own unique frequencies. Have you ever felt like someone was staring at the back of your head so you turn around and someone is staring right at you? Yup, that's what I'm talking about. Well a small part of it anyway. Actually, everything that you can and can't see on this earth is made of energy. Sometimes our trapped emotions get caught in the energy field of our body and can have any number of effects on us. But don't worry, we can all learn how to release them through a technique called muscle testing, which has been around for a while now, but Dr. Bradley has come up with his own techniques. I have tried all of them and they all work (for me some are easier than others). Learning how to find my trapped emotions and release them has been one of the more eye opening experiences in my life, not to mention seeing other people have their emotions released from them is amazing. It can be a lot of fun to release these emotions and at the same time very spiritual.

Yes, there is a whole theory of medicine in this book. For the most part it's new (Dr. Nelson calls it "Future Medicine") but if we open our minds just a bit, this book can be totally change the lives of every living being on this planet. Every problem that occurs on this earth can be looked at in a totally different light once you have read, studied and understand The Emotion Code.

Some people, the narrow minded ones might call The Emotion Code "hokey", to those people I say, times are changing. We are learning new things everyday and this book and it's teaching could quite possibly lie in all of our future's. This book has positively affected so many people in my life that I am truly grateful for Dr. Bradley's life changing methods. There are numerous testimonials in The Emotion Code and on his site to give further street cred for his teachings.

If there is a "Must" book of the year, it's The Emotion Code! - BEAR

I haven't finished The Emotion Code yet, but at the rate I'm going, I'll be done with it shortly. It's obvious how much time and research Dr. Nelson has put into this book, but it doesn't read like a boring journal article or preachy self-help title. The tone is genuine and heartfelt, and the message is one of healing. I highly recommend this book to ppl who have chronic pain or illness that lowers their quality of life and to anyone who is interested in furthering their spiritual and emotional development.

I enjoyed the book very much. Learned lots. Have become involved in doing to Emotional Code. Very helpful. The free session was very helpful in understanding the procedure.

Kayak Reef by Bradley Stewart, reviewed by Seth Kerin.

Right from the start Kayak Reef by Bradley Stewart is one of the more original novels I have read. The setting alone, taking in a people and culture that is little known by most, make the novel worth reading. Stewart does a fine job blending interesting bits of Inuit culture and legends and weaving the information - mostly necessary information - seamlessly into the story.

There are many themes in the novel, from adventure and romance to the environment and almost supernatural legends, and those themes are tightly bound throughout. There are, of course, coming-of-age themes as well, as the protagonist and his friend work to find their way in a world that is somewhere between the modern world and the old ways of their people.

There are times when the storytelling veers off into explanations of things that seem a bit unnecessary (albeit often interesting), or when there is a time jump that seems to be a bit off, potentially confusing some readers - however these minor issues aren't enough to take away from the overall experience of the novel, nor do they detract from the book's message. It's a message that is deep on many levels, and a careful read will lead to the best understanding.

In particular the main character's conversations with his mother are fascinating, bordering on fortune telling, yet always seeming to fall back to the casual and loving relationship of mother and son. The mother seems to enjoy doling out wisdom in her own peculiar style, and this draws the reader further into the story.

Kayak Reef succeeds on many levels, whether you are reading for pure enjoyment or whether you hope to get something more from the story, any reader will find something to their liking in this novel.

Within a few pages of this book, you realize this tale of two boys is building a subplot. Pages later on the edge of your seat, the story rewinds a hundred years and Myauka's world on the Arctic, comes to life. Suddenly I was inside a legend that would rival Walt Disney's best.

The closely weaved double story of Myauka's past, and the boys, developed as if two books were inside. I especially liked Geoff's talks with his mother. I was impressed by the author's description of how the universe was made. The vivid scenes were structured, and then a theme of putting others first was rippling in.

This adventure brings to surface the harrowing events that strike in the path of poachers on the hunt. From the youth's growth and elements of fate, came two teens galvanized with inner strength. The theme matured, and paralleling this, a love story entered.

Protecting wildlife and kayaking in such severe conditions, gave these boys extremely potent senses. It is this supernatural nature in the tale which allows the reader to experience the enchanted story in real time. Excitement, love, pain and joy, brings this metamorphic tale, which provokes with such diversity, together as it heads for an emotionally uplifting close. I didn't want it to end.

Chris V.

Excellent read! I really enjoyed this book so very much. The typical beginning of a mother and two toddlers opening the story in conversation is a clincher. The main character, Geoff, lives in a world like any other boy; never mind things are familiar. His life is anything but normal.

The author, Bradley Stewart has really captured my imagination with his innovative writing characteristics. I love when a book carries you away to thoughts and places in your own mind that aren't visited often enough, and Kayak Reef certainly does so! This heartfelt tale is full of adventure and fantasy. I hope you and your family enjoy it as much as I did!

With so many cliff-hanging moments in this adventure fantasy, and wild developments, digressions, whip-sawing transitions from the present to the past and back again, back and forth, shifting point-of -view focussing first on the present day teenaged hero and his extended family and then the spirit/ghost/legend of a long-lost Eskimo girl (and her remarkable pet, a rather intelligent penguin named Louie), the book reads like a stream-of-consciousness coming-of-age tale (reminding me of some surreal foreign novel I read in school ages ago?) pitting the good and noble native cultures and traditions against the "civilized" hunters. The words tumble on to the page with passion, evoking sorrow, pain, and happiness - and sometimes wit, as when the "golf ball machine" rained down hailstones, and I felt like running for cover and simultaneously reading on to see what could possibly happen next.... What a ride! This would make a great movie!

This book is relevant to what is happening to the wildlife on our planet. It is very spiritual and life changing. It's more than an adventure, a mystery or a romance it keeps the reader rivetet with twists and turns. In the end of this book good prevails over evil.

If Mark Twain comes back from the dead to write a guidebook of the state where he was conceived (in Jamestown, as Bradley explains on p. 196), then buy that. But old Sam Clemens would be wasting his time, because in Moon Handbooks: Tennessee, Bradley's already written the "Life on the Mississippi" of Tennessee travel guides.

Like "Mississippi," Bradley's "Tennessee" is so fascinating in in its details and anecdotes that I kept finding myself reading far more than I "needed" to for the travel at hand. And like Clemens, who clearly wrote from a genuine love of the river and the bygone steamboat days that he wanted to capture on paper, all of Bradley's local lore and country cookery reviews and sidebars on everything from roots musicians to the development of the the atom bomb in Oak Ridge...well, these all swirl together to create a sort of love song to the author's native state.

Bradley isn't afraid to criticize where criticism is due--look at his coverage of the outlandish developments near the Smokies. But even then, it's clear his concerns are not based on some disaffected political agenda, but from a genuine, familial concern for a cousin who has lost his way. Consequently, Gatlinburg doesn't "outrage" Bradley, it breaks his heart because of its failed potential. And even then, Bradley doesn't just sneer and proceed into the pristine National Park, shaking Galinburg's dust from his feet. Just as any good family member will make a point of telling you that old yellow-eyed aunt Ruth used to knock 'em dead at the USO dances and can still cook a mean casserole and belt out a showtune, Bradley lingers and explores Gatlinburg on its own terms. He points out its cherished place in many Volunteer hearts (including his own) as a childhood wonderland, and shows that he's not above enjoying the small simple pleasures of a candy shop, or even the more garish wonders of Ripley's aquarium.
If you don't know Tennessee, you won't find a more comprehensive introduction to the entire state. And if you already love Tennessee...you'll find all of the states most endearing qualities captured between the covers--and in the spirit--of this book.

I have the first edition of this book, and I've raved about it to my circle of friends. I heard this third edition was vastly improved, and I doubted this, but figured I couold always give it as a gift.
This book is going nowhere but to a choice space in my book shelf!
It covers more material, has a format which invites digging deeper into a topic at hand, highlights special topics, has a clearer type face, and is simply loaded with URL's for further cyber digging. I got out my Tennessee Atlas and Gazetteer by Delorme mapping, a topo coverage of Tennesee, my state, and put a "mark" by all the towns and villages Mr. Bradley covered. Not a page without copious markings. What a living history exprience.

He begins in the East as our state did, moves west, and brings out information about people, about the locale, gives historic facts and loads of human interest materal. He covers the Civil War as it progresses in various locations and is in fact more historical than a course or two I've had in Higher Eduction. And READABLE!! His wry, delightful humor graces most every entry. And as you follow this through the topo maps you SEE how history unfolds. Now I know where the Cumberland Gap is, I know where the mysterious Melungeons 'are', I've followed the tragic trail of tears, I know where to find barbeque all across Tennessee etc etc. I know where that terrific meteorite hit Tennessee, where biggie dinosaur fossils are found etc. .
What a book! What a marvelous travel companion, what a history of my state. And I have a store house of "stories and tales" I'll make good use of.
If you have an interest in Tennessee and can get only one book: THIS is it! Hands down. I'm grateful to Mr Bradley for doing it.
Hap Eliason

You don't have to be planning a trip to Tennessee to appreciate Jeff Bradley's book. If you are, don't leave home without it. Bradley not only tells you what you must see if you have the time, but he frankly tells you what might not be worth a visit, or at least what to be prepared for that you might not expect, such as the bumper-to-bumper, big-city-like traffic in the Smokies, especially in the fall when the leaves begin to change. He also provides interesting facts and historical details you won't find in other travel books. I grew up about 50 miles from Bean Station in East Tennessee but didn't know until reading Bradley's book that a tavern there was the best place between Baltimore and New Orleans to get a bottle of wine back in the stagecoach days. Almost every page is enriched with little-known facts, insights and advice, and the book is organized in a way that takes the frustration out of trying to find what you're looking for.

I once had a job that took me to every one of Tennessee's 95 counties, but I moved away several years ago and my children, unfortunately, know little about this beautiful state that is as geographically and culturally diverse as any in the union. I brought the fourth edition of Bradley's book when I began planning a cross-Tennessee-and-back trip my 22-year-old son and I decided to take this summer in a rented convertible. Taking Bradley's advice, we chose many roads now less traveled (since the interstates were built), visiting places like Jonesborough (Tennessee's oldest town, first capital and home of the National Stortelling Festival) in East Tennessee, Lynchburg (exactly like the Jack Daniels' ads portray it, except for the abundance of shops on the town square selling things Gentleman Jack would never have imagined, as Bradley points out) in Middle Tennessee, and Grinders Switch between Nashville and Memphis, which I had always thought was a figment of Minnie Pearl's imagination. Our trip, thanks largely to Bradley's book, was as much one of discovery for me, a native, as it was for my son, who grew up in the Northeast.

You will enjoy Bradley's book not just for its contents but also for his writing style. As the "About the Author" page notes, this Tennessee boy has been a stringer for The New York Times and taught writing at Harvard, so he knows a thing or two about sringing words together. He writes from personal knowledge of the place with respect but also with wit, honesty and a good measure of irreverence whenever he feel so moved, which is often.

Buy the book or you'll never know how far in advance you need to make reservations for lunch at Miss Bobo's Boarding House in Lynchburg, how to get to the Lovelace Motel Cafe outside of Nashville for the best country ham and biscuits, where to find worldclass white water and bluegrass music in East Tennessee, or that the Talbot Heirs Guesthouse is one of the best and funkiest places to stay in the funkiest part of Memphis, a stone's throw from Beale Street, darn good barbecue and sweet potato pancakes you'll never forget.

I'm a lifetime Tennesseean, and I couldn't put Mr. Bradley's book down. I know Middle Tennessee and the Smokies fairly well, but as I got into his marvelous book I couldn't believe one author could capture and capsulate so much in such limited space. I've garnered information about my State- so much new to me- that it just blew me away--some info right at my doorstep, so to speak. About locales I know fairly well his presentation is right on target. I especially value the boxes about history, personalities, buildings etc. Don't hesitate. Buy the book!

We recently completed a trip to Eastern Tennessee and brought along several guidebooks. After a few days, it became apparent that one guidebook was head and shoulders above the others: Moon Handbooks Tennessee by Jeff Bradley. It is both comprehensive and concise. It contains lots of local color without drowning in it. And it is spot on in its evaluation of sights. (We didn't have any occasion to use it for lodging or food.)

Full credit to Jeff Bradley for a writing syle that is one of the best in the business. He keeps things lively without neglecting the basic facts that need to be conveyed. In almost every instance his entries were more interesting and more complete than other guidebooks, while being about the same total number of words. He seems to know just when to insert a clever turn of phrase or an offbeat tidbit while still writing in a very direct style.

The book covers all of Tennessee. It starts with general information about the state's natural history, settlement history, and culture. It then covers each region of the state. He does a good job of conveying which sights are most worth seeing in each area without neglecting second tier sights. He weaves together a complete tapestry that puts everything in the larger context of the region and the state. Throughout, there is a pervasive sense of the joy of travel in this interesting state. This guidebook is the real McCoy!

Borrowed this book from the library and liked it enough to buy my own. Covers lots of ground with a can do attitude.

I love this book! My husband is in Iraq, leaving me to handle the kids and home maintenance. This book is a great resource and designed for women in mind, leaving out all the "contractor talk." It's also very funny and entertaining.

I bought this for a friend after using the book myself during the planning for our new kitchen. Its a good basic home repair project book.

This is a great book for the new female home owner who doesn't want to spend all her time and money at the big-box how-to stores or be at the mercy of professional tradespeople. Written with the special needs of women in mind, especially in regard to safety and environmental concerns, this is a light-hearted, yet serious book that will come to the rescue when you need quick, good answers. Joanne knows what she is talking about and helps you feel good about taking the best care of your biggest investment. Buy it for yourself or give to a friend. Fine Book.

Joanne Liebeler's DO IT HERSELF: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO FIX, MAINTAIN, AND IMPROVE YOUR HOME is written by women for women and offers step-by-step directions for a range of easy fixes, from tightening loose hinges and stopping a running toilet to unclogging sink drains and installing a GFCI receptacle. Each tip comes with good-sized color step-by-step photos and accompanying directions for installations and repairs, including a 'time and talent' sidebar defining job complexity. Perfect for women who want to develop basic home repair skills.

This exciting novel puts an unusual twist on a subject that is on all our minds -- international terrorism. The action is centered on a beautiful island in the Caribbean where horror lurks. I would guess that Leeward is set somewhere in the 1980s and 1990s but it doesn’t really matter. This is a fast-moving thriller involving a number of different people with different nationalities and backgrounds. They are bound together in a common purpose: to defeat the apparently unconquerable Organization. The book is loaded with horror, tragedy, love and hate and is hard to put down -- you never know what’s going to happen next. A cool read.

Author David Bradley has crafted an intriguing story about a group of people who end up at the Leeward Hotel on the small island of St. Barbe. Tragedy binds them together. Each one has lost someone close to them - but death hasn't been satisfied. There is something else on the island - and monster nicknamed "The Guard." The island police don't want anyone to leave, and a mysterious group called "The Organization" appears to have a hidden agenda that could cause destruction to many people beyond the tiny island.

"Leeward" is an intricate thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat. I look forward to more of David Bradley's work.

This exciting novel puts an unusual twist on a subject that is on all our minds -- international terrorism. The action is centered on a beautiful island in the Caribbean where horror lurks. I would guess that Leeward is set somewhere in the 1980s and 1990s but it doesn't really matter. This is a fast-moving thriller involving a number of different people with different nationalities and backgrounds. They are bound together in a common purpose: to defeat the apparently unconquerable Organization. The book is loaded with horror, tragedy, love and hate and is hard to put down -- you never know what's going to happen next. A cool read.

This was a really creepy, sexy, surprising story! I recommend it
to anyone looking for something fun and different.

If you enjoy a good treasure hunt filled with mystery and suspense, you'll love Leeward-- a thrilling, timely story of intrigue and international terrorism set on tropical St. Barbe Island. The action begins in the hotel gardens one steamy night when a four-legged creature terrifies a little girl. Soon after, the child's older cousin, Jon, and his striking African-American girlfriend, Josie, discover a horribly mutilated body in the island's reservoir, high in the rainforest. While on vacation from Boston, Josie's father, Judge Marvin Winchester, unintentionally intrudes upon a meeting at his hotel in London; he is puzzled to see the dim image of St. Barbe's on a projector screen. In Stockholm, information agency director Anna Andersson decides to visit Leeward when she discovers that her two Caribbean agents have disappeared on St. Barbe's. Soon after arriving, she finds their bodies near the hotel. And this is only the beginning . . . .

Leeward is another classic D. Edward Bradley novel with all the usual hallmarks-- unexpected twists, flashes of imagination, action and suspense, and well-researched characters, locations and politics. This well written page-turner is a must read novel guaranteed to keep readers on the edge of their seats.

I am so glad this book is still in print (it was first published in 1904, I think). My original copy was second-hand and it would be awful to think I couldn't get another! Bradley is so illuminating on Shakespeare's intentions, and on the characters of his great tragic figures. If nothing else, read his brilliant discussion of Macbeth - it will convince you that, for a perspective on human nature, for conceiving a dramatic character whole, Bradley was as great a critic as Shakespeare was a playwright. Don't miss him!

Bradley offers some of the most eloquent, complete, and balanced criticisms of the tragedies that I have yet read. Unlike so many literary critics of today, Bradley does not disdain to view Shakespeare's characters as actual people, which lends his view of the works a sense of import and meaning which so few critics manage to convey. These lectures are necessary reading for anyone at all who wishes to understand Shakespeare's tragedies better, actors, directors, and academics alike.

A.C. Bradley wrote these lectures in 1904, and the book has gone through at least 26 printings. It is significant that the Folger Shakespeare Library has republished these lectures. They are hugely important and vibrantly written. I am sure my father read these in college, and I know my son did, too. I'm glad I finally got around to them! You will be, also, for all the reasons that other reviewers have noted.

(Amazon should spell Macbeth's name correctly - not as "MacBeth"!) This has for almost a century been, and continues to be today, one of the most important books on Shakespeare's best and most popular tragedies. For much of the time since around 1930, it has been severely criticised: on the grounds, chiefly, that the author is too much inclined to respect or have sympathy for the heroes (which he is), and that he treats them too much like "real" people (which he does, and which they aren't).

Yet, for all that, Bradley's approach to the heroes as though they were characters we all know has revealed a great deal about what Shakespeare has made those characters, and those who see the characters as complex and psychologically worth exploring identify a more significant aspect of Shakespeare's interest in humans and his art than do many of Bradley's opponents. Moreover, the detail of his examinations of the texts makes it possible to probe much with him, even if one continues to question or quarrel with him on the way (and he is not infrequently demonstrably wrong). Thus this remains a work of criticism which is inspirational and searching even if at times quite wrongheaded; and every serious reader of Shakespeare (including actors and directors) should read this book and own it. - Joost Daalder, Professor of English, Flinders University, South Australia

In his opening chapter Bradley defines for us the essence of Shakespearean tragedy. He points out that Tragedy involves the fall of a great hero, but that this fall does not come as random event or as willful act of God , but rather through the results and consequences of the action of the hero himself. He points out too that the effect of this fall is not to leave us in despair or depression, but rather to leave us with a sense of the wonder, mystery and greatness of life i.e. that paradoxically Shakespearean tragedy has an effect on its audience which is uplifting. And this though the hero invariably is killed at the end.
Bradley points out also that the death in tragedy is not the slow crawling death of an illness, but comes out of a sudden violent effect of the action. This too sharpens our sense of wonder and mystery.
The heroes of tragedy and their stories somehow give us a feeling of life and its terrible end which magnifies our feeling of 'greatness' while somehow leaving us more humbled.
I do not know if the paragraphs written above translate Bradley in a completely accurate way.
I do know his writing is inspirational, moving and uplifting. The criticism of the plays makes you want to know and read the plays more.
This is the kind of Literary criticism which is great literature in and by itself.

Most of us grew up believing that the Civil War ended the moment Robert E. Lee surrendered to U.S. Grant at Appomatox Court House in Virginia. One can only assume that his came about as a part of the deification of Lee and the promotion of the 'Lost Cause' doctrine that was so popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Historically, most things regarding the Confederacy have always begun and ended with Lee. Thanks to the scholarship and hard work of Mark Bradley, we now have a much more accurate picture of how the war ended and the major roles played by Joseph Johnston and W. T. Sherman well after Lee's surrender.

As a companion to Bradley's earlier work on the Bentonville battle, 'Last Stand in the Carolinas', 'This Astounding Close' creates an extremely satisfying conclusion. But, as a stand alone work, 'This Astounding Close' is a tremendous asset in its own right.

If you want a comprehensive blow-by-blow description of the battles of Averasboro and Bentonville, read 'Last Stand in the Carolinas'. For a valuable capsule summary of the battles, combined with a complete historical account of the negotiations leading up to the surrender, 'This Astounding Close' fills the bill wonderfully!

Without doubt Bradley's book does justice to each side all the way from the Generals to local people in
Chapel Hill to Raleigh. It fails to note Bennett Place was in Orange County at the time. Durham county did not exsist
until 1868 when it was carved out of Orange Co. I had a 3 Great-grandfather, CSA Col, who was killed at Bentonville, NC
James Henry Neal.
His daughter lived until 1935 when she died in Atlanta Ga. She as a child of 6 living in Atlanta Ga.during the
"March To The Sea" Gen. Sherman set-up his HQ in her mother's kitchen, my gg-aunt Louise Neal, served Sherman biskets.
I have many hand-written letters by John White and his daughters Laura and Delia who discussed Chapel Hill
immediately after the war in 1865.John White eventually became U.S. Postmater in Chapel Hill for three years and later left that job to be Orange County Sheriff twice.
Bradley's book is a wealth of knowledge of events ocurring on the local scene.
Sherman conducted several military trials in Raleigh of civilians and soldiers alike. I have original documents and judgements of the
officer's tribunal. Each were charged with various offenses from plundering to murder.AT least 2 soldiers and 1 civilian were
sentenced to death,only to have Grant void the verdicts with Pres.Andrew Johnson's permission.

Mark Bradley has written a most excellent account of the last days of the Civil War in North Carolina between Joseph Johnston and William Sherman. Being a North Carolina native and having visited and traveled through many of the places in the book, I was particularly interested.

The book is not so much a detailed account of the last battles in North Carolina (Bentonville, Averasboro, Wyse Fork, Fort Fisher, etc.) as it is the military and political maneuvering between the two generals - Johnston in attempting to gain favorable surrender terms for his army and Sherman attempting to be lenient with the South at the end of the war. Indeed, aside from the aforementioned battles, most encounters between North and South during the last days in North Carolina were no more than brief skirmishes.

I particulary enjoyed reading the accounts of the Union occupation of Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, and Goldsboro. Having lived in Goldsboro and Raleigh earlier in my life, I enjoyed reading the accounts. Also interesting were the accounts of the Rebel occupation of Greensboro and Charlotte.

Throughout the book, Bradley manages to incorporate several interesting anecdotes: the unfortunate luck of Rebel Lietenant Walsh from Texas, the marriage of Northern General Atkins' courtship and marriage to a Chapel Hill lady, etc.

Bradley's writing style is interesting and maintains a fine balance between being a free-flowing read, just like his excellent Battle of Bentonville title.

Read and enjoy! Highly recommended.

The Civil War didn't officially end with General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox. General Joe Johnston's Army of the South and General Kirby Smith's forces in the Trans-Mississippi still remained in the field.
This is the story of the situation in North Carolina facing Johnston and Union General William Sherman after the Battle of Bentonville. The author presents both sides of the story along with the political pressures from Richmond and Washington.
There is not an abundance of information about Johnston's eventual surrender of the Army of the South and other forces under his command. The author is a leading authority about the 1865 North Carolina Campaign and presents an entertaining, interesting and scholarly review of the events after Bentonville.

Mark Bradley has written an excellent companion book to his "Last Stand in the Carolinas," which has currently gone out of print. In this volume, Mr. Bradley picks up where he left off, following Johnston and Sherman from Bentonville to the surrender of the Army of Tennessee at Durham, North Carolina. Bradley's writing is, as in his other book, great!

But missing from "This Astounding Close," are the excellent maps created the very skilled cartographer Mark Moore. The maps provided are not bad--they are actually quite good--but they could have been better. The small numbers of maps left me wanting more, especially ones detailing the smaller skirmishes taking place during the maneuvering in North Carolina. If the maps had been better and mpre plentiful, I would have given the book five starts instead of four.

Being from the South, I have always considered Sherman and his subordinates nothing short of the devil-incarnate. But from this book, I gained a new respect for these men and saw the softer side of them. Bradley depicts how John "Black Jack" Logan saved Raleigh from destruction at the hands of raged Federal troops intent on avenging Abraham Lincoln's assassination. Mr. Bradley also told of how lenient Sherman was toward the surrendering Confederate troops and toward the civilians of North Carolina, especially after the surrender. Sherman even offered Johnston and his troops much kinder terms than those given to Robert E. Lee at Appomattox! But Northern politicians saw these terms as too soft and evetually gave Johnston the same terms given to Lee.

This is a very good book; no doubt a great addition to my rapidly growing Civil War library. Before reading this volume, I knew next to nothing about Johnston's surrender at Durham, North Carolina, in the Bennet Farmhouse. If you are a Civil War buff get this book; if you are a military history buff, get this book! I got it, and am happy I did.

This was my children's favorite story. Now I can read it to my grandchildren. And it is their favorite, too.

This book is a humorous way of explaining the eeks, creaks, squeaks, taps, raps, snaps, bumps, thumps, and clumps you here in the night. The three bears in this story are frightened by sounds of mice, spiders, and bugs getting ready for bed. Little do they know however that the noises they make frighten the little mice, spiders, and bugs just as much.

I've been looking for this book for a long time..I used to read this when I was 8 years old...now I can share it with my younger siblings and nieces and nephews.

I've had this book since I was 4 years old and from that age, up until I was around 8, my mother read me this book every night before going to bed. I enjoyed it so much because it was such an amusing book and I loved the way the author emphasized the noises. Being 14 years old now, I treasure this book. I strongly suggest buying this for the young children in your life. They'll love it! I don't know of any kid who wouldn't.

After first being introduced to this book by Captain Kangaroo, this story became a favorite bedtime read for our children. Puts a new and delightful spin on "things that go bump in the night!" Have been trying to locate a copy for years and years to read to a new generation! Thanks, Amazon.com!

This book is beautifully produced and seems to be what Stephen Crane originally wanted. The book looks expensive and has a binding like a classic which it was and will continue to be. It is amazing how current Crane's poetry is even more than 100 years later. Pastore should be complimented for continuing the legacy in its original form.

This is a wonderful version of the difficult title to find in its original format. This is just spectacular and Mr. Pastore should be proud.

This Crane book will set new standards for the way classics should be handled. The editor has taken a big risk and comes out on top with this beautiful volume. What a great addition to my library.

This was THE surprise book of the year. What an innovative idea. This is a must for all Crane lovers everywhere.

What a lovely book! Crane's poetry, usually so stark and fresh, is made all the more wonderful by this edition. Crane deserves this book as a tribute to his lasting memory.

It is page turner, in a way, indeed. The main interest is that the author has had a long and direct experience of the type of people she is dealing with : the children and their parents that are taken care of by the Child Protective Services of San Diego, California. She takes us into a three generation situation that has led and leads to criminal activities, murders, multiple murders that are all committed within the family circle by one member of it. The elimination game that the murderer plays leads us to the murderer as the only survivor. But we have to understand how it happened and why it all took place. And that is the difficult part. To disentangle this situation the author explores all the actors around the case, all the CPS social workers, the police and the doctors and psychiatrists, the foster families and the service they depend on, etc. This leads to a characterization of these actors. The foster family in question lives on fear : the fear that the child may turn psychic and dangerous because they do not understand what is happening. So they try to protect themselves. The police, or rather one policeman, retired but still working in the shadow of the FBI, is obsessed by his own hypothesis and tries to run it to the end of the line where it does not stick anymore when his supposed murderer is assassinated in his turn. So he is obliged to revise his view and then jumps to the right solution, in time to save two CPS agents. The CPS supervisor had gotten entangled in the case through a short love affair with one of the protagonists thirteen years earlier. So she appears split between her administrative being that makes her protect herself even to the cost of having one victim punished if not destroyed, and yet, deep under, she is a very sensitive and caring woman. Her dilemma. The doctors and psychiatrists really try to help, and yet their opinion has no weight when an administrative service or a court is at stake. But the principal characteristic of the book is that the main character, Bo Bradley, is herself a manic depressive person who has difficulties establishing balanced relationships with others and to acceopt a shared love life. She is always trying to defend herself from other people, isolating herself in so doing, locking herself up onto herself and using medications to keep herself in line. You add to that two teenagers, one the main victim, and the other a could-be victim if she wasn't helped by an uncle, and you have the whole picture. Gothic in a quite new meaning : « What ends when the symbols shatter ? » The totally disillusioned ideology of a whole generation that witnesses the end of a social order and its beliefs and sees no new perspective. They become blasé, but they could easily get into drugs, violence, criminal activities or even state-sanctified warfare violence to retain some sense of providence or fate or historical justification. A disquieting thriller that forces us to question some fundamentals in our own vision of life and society.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

I enjoy Abigail Padgett's books so much that I buy them in hardback. That's the highest accolade I can give a book, since money is the thing hardest to part with, for starving artists.
When I was a child, I listened to "The Shadow" on the radio, and Orson Welles' rap about knowing "the evil that lurks in the hearts of men..." marked me for life. Well, not only the Shadow knows, but also Padgett and her protagonists.
Men will not like her books; honest women will. Witty, insightful, entertaining, telling a gripping story.

This book doesn't follow the usual paths of detective fiction. At first, the reader isn't even sure what type of case it will be, burt in the end it all fits together in an exciting and difficult to guess manne

Abigail Padgett is my numero uno favorite mystery writer. My choice is based on her characters (I feel that I know Bo Bradley better than some friends). superb plotting, and excellence in her way of telling the story. "The Dollmaker's Daughter" is a page-turner spiced with some wonderful comments on bureaucrats. I laughed at Bo Bradley's spunky handling of her officious boss, and I kept turning the pages to find out "Who is Janny?" and "Who is trying to hurt Janny", and "Will life work out for this lovable girl?"

This book was wonderful. It was unpredictable with no clear-cut villain. It's very inspiring to have a competent heroine with manic-depression, or any mental illness for that matter. It adds a whole new dimension to the story and an unusual one at that for a detective story. The characters are all complex and well-written. This book, like Padgett's other Bo Bradley novels, are wonderfully written and lovely to read. I have read this book over and over again and pick up new nuances each time.