Brown Books

This book is easy to follow and understand. It uses real world examples and is somewhat interesting. For being my introduction to statistics, this book has made it oh so easy. Recommend it for beginners.

This is THE BEST elementary statistics book I have read. Covers all concepts in a very easy to understand manner. The examples and solved problems show you eaxctly how a problem can be approached. For non-statiscians who want to use statistics to analyze their data, this is an excellent starting point. Wont boggle you with extensive formulae and derivations. But will tell you how and why the tests were developed and why and where you should use a particular test. Excellent ready reference for any data analyst.

easy steps approaching to statistics and good examples to practice the text.

I have read many statistics books but never one I understand on the first read. This book is for the true beginner. Excellent.

This is by far the best stats book I've found. I actually used this book instead of the one assigned for my graduate course. Everything is explained very clearly from step 1 and on. The book assumes you have very little or no stats knowledge. There are plenty of examples to further clarify each concept, and full explanations are provided. The book is very well-written and the chapters are well connected.

I also found the pictures/graphics extremely helpful, especially in the sections on probability. I can finally make sense of combinations and permutations and other probability concepts.

Also extremely helpful is the way the book explains which formulas to use when, and why they should be used in that instance. This helps to pull everything together and see how many of the concepts relate to one another. I think this is key to understanding stats.

I've gone from fearing stats to actually enjoying it, all because it now makes sense thanks in large part to this book.

My 8 year old son 1st 4 in the Encyclopedia Brown books by Donald J. Sobol for Christmas but has yet to have read them. We discovered that they are "new" and the Volume 1-4 is different than the "old" Volume 1-4. He has loved these books. They are titled Boy Detective, Case of the Secret Pitch, Finds the Clues, and Gets His Man. As an extra bonus he was delighted to find out that his father had read these books too.

my 6 year old nephew just loves these stories

I have not read many EB books but this was my first one. The first mystery was very easy. so i like it pretty much.

Teaching kids to observe, think, and have fun at the same time? Difficult? Not with the Encyclopedia Brown books!

This is actually the third book in the Encyclopedia Brown series by author Donald J. Sobol. In this volume, Encyclopedia Brown, the smartest kid in Idaville, tackles ten cases. Kids (and adults) will have a great time matching wits with Encyclopedia as they gather clues with him and seek to put together the pieces of the puzzle. If you can't crack the puzzles, don't worry: the solutions to each case appear at the end of the book.

These stories were first published in the 1960's, so they're a little dated, but they still provide loads of fun, and some of them are pretty tricky. If you'd like to develop critical thinking and observation skills in your kids, you can't go wrong with Encyclopedia Brown.

10 cases, 112 pages total

Encyclopedia Brown is a 5th grade boy who solves puzzles, crimes and mysteries as easily and as unconsciously as breathing.

Each book is a series of short mysteries (5-10 pages each) ending with a question - usually "how did Encyclopedia know that X was responsible for the crime". The answer to each mystery is at the back of the book. Solving the mystery takes no special knowledge, but it does require paying attention to detail. Don't turn to the answer too fast.

This book is the third in the series, but the books do not have to be read in order. I loved the Encyclopedia Brown books when I was growing up. I am reading them again before I give them to my nephew who I hope will enjoy them as I did. (The target reading level is ages 9-12).

Adults who like this series may also enjoy the Lateral Thinking Puzzles books.

Extremely useful set of forms and ideas for use in the restaurant industry. It is skewed towards full service restaurants; but still has lots of useful stuff to apply to QSR. Do not expect to find a treatise on training, though. The CD ROM helps to take advantage of the material because it has the full text on pdf format and several of the sections in MS-Word format.

Douglas Robert Brown's excellent reference tool is worth every penny and should be in every food service operator's reference library. I have recommended his book for my tea students for the last five years and am pleased to endorse the revised media. From the small tearoom owner to the chain restaurant, Mr. Brown's resource is a valuable tool. Carnelian Rose Tea - Tea Business School - Jennifer Petersen

There is not one page of information in this incredibly handsome book that is not useful. The book includes every possible form I can think of, and many many more I never thought about which would be incredibly useful to our business today! The companion CDROM of forms allowed us to use this book from day one. Highly recommended!!!

The Encyclopedia of Restaurant Training is a no-nonsense, thorough resource covering the necessary training for all positions in the food service industry, from professional chef to maitre d to bartender and much more. Written in clear, easy-to-understand terms and charts spelling out explicit training instructions, and illustrated with some diagrams (such as a picture of how to properly set a formal table), The Encyclopedia of Restaurant Training spares no effort to be as understandable as possible. No background knowledge in any trade is needed to grasp explicit instructions ranging from a step-by-step breakdown of the hostess job to the proper order of service for a luncheon handout to how one can go about creating a memorable presentation to food service employees, and much more. A CD-ROM accompanies this absolute must-have for anyone preparing for a career in food service, or charged with the responsibility of training food service recruits.

As a long-time user of The Restaurant Managers Handbook by Douglas R. Brown, I have found The Encyclopedia of Restaurant Forms and it's CD Rom to be the most complete and comprehensive selection of forms and ideas for every day and every situation that can or will arise in the food service business.

There's a lot to like in this book. It's comprehensive and easily the most readable 1500 page book you are ever likely to encounter.

Two substantive criticisms (i) it can be astonishingly opinionated at times. There is a pronounced pro-Bell bias and a dismissive attitude toward regulation and regulators generally. Not every reader will consider that a bad thing, but I found it shrill and annoying. (ii) The book can be very weak and frequently inaccurate when it wanders off the law and into policy analysis. I didn't sense that the authors were particularly knowledgeable about economics or technology and it showed in a poor comprehension of the reasoning behind FCC policy.

I was surprised that another reviewer recommended Benjamin's 'Telecommunications Law and Policy' as an easier introduction. Benjamin et al is an excellent casebook, but Kellogg et al is an easier read. In fact, they are excellent complements as Benjamin provides the more authoritative reference with lots of source materials. Sharon Black's book is an excellent but basic introduction to Telecom Law.

My recommendation. Read Black, then Kellogg, then Benjamin. That's not an order of preference, just the best sequence to peel away the onion of telecom law.

This is a comprehensive introduction to all sorts of telecommunications (mainly telephone regulation) issues. It's probably a bit much for the novice; something like Stuart Benjamin's Telecommunications Law and Policy is probably a better match there. But, if you want all the details, this is definitely the place to go.

This book was amazing. I could not put it down. The interesting and comprehensible writing was magnificently crafted and very thought-provoking, a real page turner.

This book gives the novice a very accessible route to the world of telecommunications and gives the expert a very comprehensive reference book. Very highly recommended. The FCC wants universal service? This book is universal in and of itself.

There isn't anything else like this on the market. It contains all the FCC and court and DOJ lore on telecom from the beginning of the century through the 1996 Act up to the present. The spicy bits apparently were written by pundit Peter Huber (who isn't identified in the listing above).

If you enjoyed The First Team, you will surely also enjoy Taylor Caldwell's The Devil's Advocate. It's another good story about an American underground/resistance movement, in America, after a take-over by a hostile government.

When you read about the underground during the wars in Europe, it is hard to believe that any country could of won without it. The USA is not so big that it can not be taken down due to a lacked government. I would hope that the USA has something and someone intelligent enough to think ahead and prepare for the weak and inadaquate times to come. I thought that this book had a scary feeling of realism intertwined with fiction.

John Ball, best known for In The Heat Of The Night, creates a gripping political tale which opens with Russia having taken over the political machinery of the USA. The story tells of the struggle of a group of American heroes who plot to take back the control from the Russians and restore the political structure as it was.

In the tradition of In The Heat Of The Night, Mr. Ball creates heroic, believable characters which made this reader wish he could meet them.

A stirring but believable pre-Reagan cold war thriller. A lame duck President is soon to be replaced by a liberal who campaigned on the promise to unilaterally disarm and achieve peace with the USSR by whatever means necessary. The outgoing President establishes a super-secret "First Team" to form the framework of resistance. Our story begins as the Soviet occupation troops land on American shores...

I had read The First Team when I was a kid in Jr. High School - my dad bought these books, and I wondered what kept him up at night. When I read this paranoid Soviets-Invade-America thriller, I was completely enthralled by the detail, the character of Hewlitt, and the theme. This was indeed pre-Reagan times, America looked like it very well could die, and we were looking for heroes. We got one in Hewlitt, and as much as I like Tom Clancy's early books, this book is every bit as good as "The Hunt for Red October" (did Clancy "borrow" the idea from Ball?) and "Cardinal of the Kremlin." It is sadly out of print, but it deserves re-release as a historical political thriller (along with "The Jesus Factor" by Edwin Corley and the books of Fletcher Knebal). I recently ordered this out-of-print book from Amazon, and received, oddly enough, a British version of the book, complete with spelling changes to British-English! Nonetheless, I found myself once again engaged in this book, and I literally stayed up all night to finish it. The quaint sexism and Ball's restrained sex scenes are charming to 1999 sensibilities, and the theme of the USSR invading America without a shot seems incredibly anachronistic and unlikely - but the main idea that constant vigilance is the price of liberty remains as cogent today as then. I thank Amazon Books for finding this book for me in great condition, and will treasure it! And no, I don't get paid to say that - no one can buy me.

I wonder if John Ball is alive today. I'd love to option the book to make this into a film. I'd cast Donna Murphy as Barbara Stoneham, Val Kilmer as Percival, Danny Glover as Frank Jordan, Will Smith as Davy, and perhaps Alec Baldwin or Tim Matheson as Raleigh Hewlitt, the heroic Russian Language translator of the White House staff. Adm. Barney Haymarket could be played by James Earl Jones or even John Vernon (against type), and Zalinsky - ah, someone with a REAL Russian accent, cold as steel. Col. Rostovich needs an evil, vicious character actor, perhaps Rutger Hauer.

Does anyone know if John Dudley Ball, author of "In the Heat of the Night" and "The First Team", is still alive?

I got the book, Fit and Fat, and read it from cover to cover, stopping several times to conduct certain "tests" (surveys, questionnaires, fit tests) on myself. When I completed the test on myself, I did the tests on my husband, my mom, my best friend and in some of the classes that I teach! I found the tests the funnest part in the book. But what I like to tell others is that you really can be fit AND fat, and I want people to look "inside: at the heart muscle" to determine how fit they are. In fact, just look at the mortality table to make the point that if you are Fit and Not Fat, you will die at the same rate as someone who is Fit and Fat (read the book for the research studies on this one!). Get it and share it with someone you love. It could save their life!

this word is still an understatement to describe this book. IT's all about getting people moving towards a more active lifestyle at their own pace. It truly changes the way we think about working out. It's educational and well documented. Simply fabulous.

This book dispels several myths about fitness and fatness that I found very refreshing. The authors really did their homework in providing the latest in research and providing the citation for each source. The book is relatively easy to read and is packed full of practical activities designed to increase self awareness, motivation, and physical and emotional fitness. Definitely exceeded my expectations and I would recommend it to anyone that wants to explore and enhance their metabolic, emotional, and physical fitness.

I read Fit and Fat and loved it. It has a lot of useful information. It is well written, and the analogies were especially powerful for me. The book takes shame or embarrassment out of not being fit, and teaches how to get more fit in a friendly, nonjudgemental way. It has made a big difference in my life! My friends have read this and report it was helpful for them, too, as they made lifestyle changes.

This book makes sense!!! This is a must read for anyone who is looking to get fit. If you are trying to lose 5 lbs or 50 lbs, the real life stories help you feel that you are not alone in your quest for health. As a personal trainer, the information in this book is valuable. The program designed in this book is a great supplement to the strength training excercises I recommend to my clients.

This is the third book of Parkman's that I've read. Previously, I read Pioneers of France in the New World and The Jesuits in North America. About all three I would say a) they are absolutely amazing works of brilliant, inspired scholarship, b) Parkman's measured, objective, caring approach to the topics -- and the beauty and tone of his writing -- is extremely compelling, and c) my grade school, high school, and college education did not provide me with the gritty, fascinating facts about what REALLY happened back in the 17th Century in North America.

This is not James Michener (as much as I have enjoyed his works) packaging and making sense of history -- or the dry, intellectualized expert texts I had to read in school -- or the politically correct wholesome simplified upbeat teachings of my youth, with for example the perfect Puritans and the friendly Indians sharing Thanksgiving.

This is what really happened, detail by detail, based on exhaustive research of original texts -- letters, reports, maps, government documents, earlier histories, etc. Fortunately for Parkman, the early adventurers did a lot of writing, including many of the members of religious orders who accompanied or in some cases led the explorations.

My main takeaway from these true histories is how incredibly dangerous, unsuccessful, and unpredictable the courses of events were in these times (and probably in our time as well). In a way they are like anti-stories, or anti-history. Good often does not prevail over evil; heroes do scandalous things; scoundrels act heroic; no one is assuredly, consistently good or evil; when you least expect it there is a generous caring act; and when you least expect it, when all is going well, there is a foolish, unfortunate, destructive act that ruins all that has been accomplished, etc.

That is, while there may be certain patterns in events, these patterns themselves are constantly shifting, and the most logical and predictable outcomes almost never happen. In other words, Parkman has truly captured life in all its shades of grey and inconsistencies.

His treatment of the Indians is a perfect example. By modern day standards, it is egregiously politically incorrect. But he reveals them in all of their savagery, helpfulness, childish immaturity, wisdom, thievery, generosity, deceit, and unpredictable kindness. The commonplace cannibalism and similarly common extreme forms of repulsive torture done by Indians are carefully documented and reported throughout his texts, as well as the way their easily given friendship essentially saved the lives of most of the key European adventurers at one time or another.

These books are definitely not for the faint of heart or people who want a simplistic "Dummies Guide" to history!

While there is a new Introduction, this is the historic account of Robert LaSalle's exploration of the Louisiana territory in the 1680s. Parkman first published this treatise in 1869; it has since been reprinted numerous times. An excellent, thoroughly engrossing recounting of the exploration of the territory which LaSalle claimed for France in 1682, through which the reader not only learns of the daily travails of the little band of explorers, but also, the human frailties of the man, Robert Cavelier, known as LaSalle. This book gives life to a name from history, and exemplifies the methodical research done by Parkman in the days before telephones, faxes, and copiers. I was thoroughly impressed by the subject and the writer. Excellent; informative, totally enthralling reading-writers of today should take note! Kudos to the publishers (and Krakauer) for bringing this series (back) to life!

Parkman is that unusual combination of great scholar and wonderful writer. His books depicting the history of French exploration of North America and the conflict between the French and the British for control of North America remain the basic narratives of these events. Parkman's writing, combining narrative, psychological insight into major historical actors, and use of rhetoric that seamlessly reflects his narrative, is often superb. This particular book is almost entirely devoted to the career of the Sieur De La Salle, the French explorer obsessed with establishing French control over the Mississippi valley. Parkman provides vivid portraits of the almost incredible hardships of travel in North America, the character of politics in the French colonies, and an insightful treatment of La Salle and his associates. Parkman's powerful but restrained language often recalls the style of Tacitus.

I picked this up on a lark and found I couldn't put it down. A fascinating story, extremely well written and a pure pleasure to read. I travel extensively and found it amazing how many places I go to regularly have a direct link to La Salle. Couldn't recommend it more.

Frances Parkman was a man who lived and breathed his history. He not only researched his subjects thoroughly, but seems to have crawled inside their heads as well.

Parkman's gift for bringing people alive is nowhere more evident than in this complex story of Robert Cavalier de la Salle's attempt to realize his dream of making France a leader in the new world. Parkman's skillful examination of the man behind the story lets the reader understand why LaSalle and his ideas were the cause of such controversy. At the same time, Parkman paints a vivid picture of the new world frontier as it existed in LaSalle's time. This is a book that can be savored on many levels: as an entertaining adventure story, a psychological thriller, and a historical reference.

Parkman's prose is rich and full of details you will need to understand the complexity of the charcters and the consciousness of the times. Therefore, you should be prepared to spend time working your way through this book. Whenever I tried to hurry through a section, I found that I missed something important that was needed later on. In other words, patience is needed, but well worth it. Parkman was a true lover of history and the people who shaped it and it shows.

What a great idea! My wife and I both loved the book. Needless to say, we are animal people. Thanks Paula for entertaining us with this book. A must read for animal lovers.

Very fun and practical reading as well as the design and illustrations. I would share this with kids as well. I LOVE this book. I am also an illustrator, designer, animal lover and loved this book so much, I bought several copies as gifts and one for myself, as I collect art books for reference. I gave one to my vet and she immediately called me to rave about this book. This makes such a cool gift to any animal lover, even those of use who know nothing about the art of Feng Shui. Two thumbs WAY UP on this one.

As a feng shui novice and a major animal lover I was intrigued by the title. Paula Brown's writing made the feng shui principles easy to understand and apply. Fur Shui: An Introduction to Animal Feng Shui is a delightfully intelligent read, not taking itself too seriously, but offering the reader a new perspective on their home environment and how it relates for furry loved ones. Brown's illustrations are humorous and creative without being cutesy, serving up a charming complement to the text. Fur Shui is a fun read and a unique gift.

I am so glad I stumbled upon Paula Brown's FUR SHUI. What a fantastic idea! While the packaging immediately caught my eye, Paula's fun voice and easy-to-follow instructions have made my home a much happier and harmonious place. I thank you and my pets thank you too, Paula! Everyone who has a pet should purchase this book. :)

Fur Shui has been a God send to this house. With a house full of dogs, it was becoming overwhelming with no direction. This book has helped to restore the joy and happiness of existing with these dogs. Using her methods defined in the book, the dogs are more at peace with themselves as well as each other, offering us the harmony among all that we wished to achieve. I recommend this book to anyone who truly cares for their animal's well being as well as their own. Thank you Paula for your logical and benificial answers to we humans, but mostly for the dog's.
jean b

An engaging, accessible biography of George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Major events such as the Conway Cabal and the defection of Benedict Arnold are treated with some detail and authorial analysis. Flexner's final evaluation of General Washington ("Cincinnatus Assayed") is excellent at presenting Flexner's conclusion on General Washington's military performance. This chapter is also quite helpful in teasing out and summarizing the multiple threads that, through the course of the conflict, led inevitably to Washington's transformation from general to president.

This is part four of a four-volume series of George Washington's life and this final installment is the strongest book of all. Flexner's narrative takes the reader up to Washington's last breath and his description of his death is particularly interesting. Despite the fact that there is a plethora of interesting material on Washington's ilness and death, this book brings out facts hitherto unknown. It is reliable and accurate, but one sometimes yearns for a more enlightened and exciting presentation of the earlier years. This is the personification of how history is usually taught: in a manner not designed to capture the reader or the student.

One strong point is that Flexner successfully presents a balanced portrait of Washington. Any bias from the author is thankfully masked from the reader. When Washington deserves criticism or censure, the author soberly dispenses it. Praise and plaudits are similarly given. If you are deeply interested in Washington's early years, this is an adequate and trustworthy source. But if you are merely dabbling in Washington and prefer a swifter narrative, then this is not a recommended selection.

This is the final volume in the set of four, in this series about George Washington, written by James Thomas Flexner; and the most intensely dramatic covering Washington's second term, his retirement and death.

George Washington takes his oath for a second term as President of the United States, in a time when the young United States is growing following a time of relative peace and a policy of non-aggression with France and England. And grow the young Republic did, by leaps and bounds, but with this growth, evolved some discontent. Factions in the fragile government wanted to be self-serving... Hamilton's lust for power and control, contrasted by Jefferson's lack of anything having to do with a central overseeing government. All of this coupled with the growing friction between North and the South, East and West, Federalism and Republican views all differing wanting a better stake in the government. If this wasn't enough, the French Revolution... with its pro and anti French sentiments creating unrest throughout the republic.

We see the ever dominent Hamilton trying to further himself at the expense of Washington... and again Jefferson wanting nothing further in the government... retiring to his Virginia agrarianism, but later both men working toward Washington's anguish and distrust. Washington wanting to retire himself and enjoy what little time he had left to him at his beloved acres... Mount Vernon.

We see again Washington's self-doubts, but with his aging, his brilliance fading and his body wreaked with infirmities, we see his judgement being clouded and distrusted. This book gives us the contrasts of Washington the public figure and the private Washington... a man deeply hurt by his attackers, now apprehensive, and forced to remain in office and in power, in thought a man weakened by age. Yet his last major services to the nation were as vitally important as his previous services had been. A man that wants to retire and leave the running of the government to others... wanting the cycling of power to be peaceful... a demonstration that humanity could rule itself, the orderly relinquishment of power by one elected representative to his elected successor. This, making the cycle complete, vindication that the new government is viable.

We next see Washington get his long awaited dream of retirement albeit shortlived and the freeing of his slaves as his final act to free ones bondsman. This is the most engrossing and engaging of all the books in this four volume set... knowing Washington as a man with real human emotions and feelings.

I highly recommend reading this volume, but to get the whole picture, reading the four volume set is a must.

What a fascinating man, brought to us in a brilliant and scholarlly work.

This is volume #2 of the four volume masterpiece written by James Thomas Flexner on the life of George Washington. As we have read previously, George Washington was content living a life at Mount Vernon with his wife and family, but the tides are turning in the life of George Washington, bringing him to the forefront of leadership... albeit woefully prepared.

Now, in the skillfully written volume, we see the wartime deeds and the soul searching that Washington goes through. A man thrust from the bosom of his home and hearth, a civilian who is now to lead the Continental Army for the American Revolution. An army that is hardly an army... more like a patchwork of the American cross section of life and skills. No formal training, little leadship, under equiped was the army Washington was to have.

Washington at heart loved his army as they loved him is very evident. We see Washington's mood swings here, his wild furious temper... like an untamed bull, his mistakes, indiscretions,
and a great deal of personal misery... we now have the man of Washington revealed. Washington's path was that of a mortal man, not that of an Icon, a man all-to-human, frought with inadequacy. Washington has to reach down deep to keep his dream alive and instill it in the men he has to lead.

And to lead he did... being out-generaled by far superior forces was the norm for Washington, but nevertheless, always on the lookout for that shread of hope to call victory. Flexner writes of Washington's failures and the anguish of what Washington felt as the battles turned against him... but we also see the resourseful resolve coming to light, learning though trial and error... becoming the master of the American Revolution and the Continental Army.

But Washington never happier to be at home with his wife Martha is not forgotten either. Martha seemed to know what was really troubling Washington.

I found this volume much more interesting and with an impeccable eye for detail. Written in an engrossing and an engaging style that keeps you reading to find out the tidbits left out in your school's history books.

This is a solid and well documented work.

Okay, I admit it. One of the pleasures that I take as a leftist (not a liberal, mind you, but a leftist) in reviewing American history books is in the debunking of the hagiography that passes for the biographies of our great men.
But for anyone who claims to want to look at history with a hard realist eye there is one uncomfortable fact that (like a well-aimed rock tossed by Clio herself) smacks you upside the head now and then.
The truth is that there are great men and women. And that it is simply not possible to make these individuals seem small without fudging the facts.
Flexner, in this his second volume of a four volume standard of American biography, makes the strongest possible case for the greatness of George Washington.
Washington was a farmer, a man who delighted in his domestic life. He was also an exemplar of the classical mindset that was common among the founding generation. For these men and women, fame was to be sought as the founder of a just constitution or as the general who served his country to save it from foreign or domestic enemies not as a career or a means to power.
In some ways, Flexner's Washington reminds me of his near contemporary, Tecumseh. Both men seemed to have sought power as a modality of service. Hard to even imagine in this the Era of the Millionaire Serving His Own. Among other virtues, this book serves to remind us that there are many types of patriotism and that some of them can be the foundational virtue for truly admirable lives.
The structure of this book is quite brilliant. All but the last chapter is a straightforward narrative of the eight years that Washington spent as the Commander-In-Chief of the Continental Army. The last chapter, "Cincinnatus Assayed", serves as a summing up of Washington's quality as a general and an explanation of how that service prepared him for his Presidency to come. All of his points have been made by the preceding narrative and seem inconvertible.
Two examples: Washington struggled throughout the war with the unstable financing of his army by the various States. Part of the problem was the fact that the continental currencies became increasingly worthless. Under the tutelage of his friend, Robert Morris, Washington gained an understanding of the need for a strong national economy and monetary system. This understanding would then influence his reaction to the Hamilton-Jefferson debates that were to largely mark Washington's Presidency.
Another point that is worth pondering is how Washington's innate merciful nature served the development of a growing sense of nationalism in the various States. Whenever possible, Washington did not punish Tories, enemy soldiers, his own soldiers who violated his orders or civilians who lived in the areas where the war was being fought.
He seemed to understand that if you want to win the hearts and minds of a people that it is necessary to treat them as much as possible as if they were your neighbors. Time and time again in Flexner's narrative it is apparent how much this policy of restraint added to Washington's prestige and effectiveness. Our current George should pay more attention.
Finally, I would also like to recommend Charles Royster's great A Revolutionary People At War as a companion volume. Royster very effectively tells the history of the Army from the point of view of its soldiers. These two books together make it obvious just how lucky we were in the great founding generation. I can say this as a leftist and an American (not a contradiction and never has been): these were great men and women. We would do well to study their example.

Chris Ledoux was a 1970 and early 80 rodeo star. If you have ever wondered what a bare back bronc rider goes through to win the National Finals Rodeo bareback bronc riding championship this book is a must. The author David Brown takes you through the early days when Chris was just a kid watching his childhood rodeo stars perform where he got the desire to be rodeo bronc rider himself. Chris started in Little Britches Rodeo, then High School and College and on to be a professional rodeo star where he endured low pay, bad rides, and severe injuries, all the way to the NFR where Chris finally wins the Gold Buckle in the bareback riding to fulfill his Gold Buckle Dreams. This is one of my favorite books.

I've rodeoed for a number of years and been a Chris LeDoux fan for even longer. This was a great book about how much it took him to win the world. I passed it on to my younger brother who read it and thought it was great. It was a sad day in rodeo and country music when he passed away.

this is an awsome book about chris ledoux's rodeo day's it has some very cool pictures you may or maynot see anywhere else, this is a must reed,for any of you chris ledoux fans out there. sadly chris is no longer with us, but he will always live in our memories of his rodeo days aswell as his music. long live chris ledoux a real cowboy.

This is a look behind a legend - something I'm sure he'd deny. Chris left this world much too soon, but this covers his early days before Nashville took note through his name being mentioned in Garth's song. For Chris fans or rodeo fans...excellent book.

Anyone who's every rodeo'ed or thought about going do the road, pick this book up, through your rigging on and hang on for a wild 8 second ride!

As both a former rodeo cowboy and long time Chris Ledoux fan, I found this book a very excellent read!