Burnett Books

"Rare Birds, An American Family" by Dan Bessie (University Press of Kentucky, 2001), gives an extremely personal look at one person's family history. Yet it's also a peek into just about everyone's family history, applied with a widely-sweeping paintbrush.

And it is a piece of art. Dan Bessie manages to take each family member - from ancestors he never met but whom who he heard all the stories about, to candid accounts of his closest relations - and give telling, engaging, entertaining, and poignant accounts of each of their lives. Every story Dan tells gives the reader an intimate snapshot of a real human life. Not all the folks are heroes but neither are they all villains. Somehow, he manages to engage their true humanity in all its beauty and warts.

"Rare Birds" shows that families are made up of characters, so many characters as different, and the same, as the fabrics in a well-worn, comfortable, and somehow exciting tapestry that's been handed down generation after generation after generation . . . and still loved with each and every touch of another human experience.

Students of human nature, genealogists, biography lovers, and anyone who simply has a thing for a good character study will enjoy "Rare Birds." Dan Bessie is the consummate storyteller.


-- Linda Alexander, author, "Reluctant Witness: Robert Taylor, Hollywood, & Communism"

After reading "Rare Birds" by Dan Bessie I thought, "What a family!". Every family has a few characters or maybe a semi-famous person. But, in "Rare Birds" I was totally fascinated by the wide range of interesting and famous family members. I especially liked the chapters on his Uncle Harry Burnett and the Turnabout Theatre. The book is written in a relaxed style that makes you feel like you're having a conversation with the author. It made me want to search out my own family tree, shake it and see who falls out. Fascinating and enjoyable book!

This is a truly heartfelt look into a talented, creative and outspoken family. From the wild west days to the Spanish Civil War, Mr. Bessie examines and tells the tales of his family with warmth and wit. These are people who lived life, not coasted through it. The exhaustive research is evident yet the author honestly points out when the trail goes cold and he is left with only oral history or speculation. Above all, he treats each life with respect and love even when he doesn't wholly approve. Not just a truly entertaining read, it prompts all of us to really get to know our own family members, rare or otherwise, in a meaningful way before we find it's too late.

Great book. Not only well written but written with the insight of a mature, intelligent sensitive human being. Great insight into the human condition. The author comes from a unusally talented and creative family and as this book demonstrates is as creative as any of them. Telling us the story of his family gives us alot information about the political climate in the USA and its effect on individual citizens. Extremly interesting and varied Family members from the world's must prolific bird watcher to a Leftist screen writer who fought with the Abraham Lincoln`Brigade in the Spanish Civil War.

Dan Bessie implies that we ALL have such people in our families. Frankly - I doubt that. Certainly, if we all had his talent, we could make much of our own oddballs and eccentrics, but in the final analysis we would still only be colouring the grey. His family is and was extraordinary.

"Rare Birds" is an affectionate sketch of an abnormally talented and unusual family. Mr Bessie - being a modest man (judging by how little he refers to himself in the narrative) - would doubtless take issue with that summation, but it is nonetheless true.

In another century, the father of a famous family of writers (Patrick Bronte) acknowledged his own rather eccentric attributes, but at the same time pointed out to his daughter's biographer that if he had been one of the world's "concentric" men he would not, in all probability, have produced such children as his were.

Mr Bessie can, in a way, lay claim to the same process. Talent only occasionally emerges from nowhere, with no previous indication of its existence. Even with the most fascinating material, more illustrious writers have failed to grip the imagination of the reader. Mr Bessie's almost tangible affection and respect for his subjects shines through the narrative.

"Rare Birds" can be as strongly recommended to scholars of the McCarthy witch-hunt period as to those who simply enjoy good writing. Mr Bessie grew up in one of the most unnerving and nervous periods of US history and his personal reflections are both telling and educational.

Was very pleased with my purchased. Great price and book is in excellent condition.

This book was great. It came in really good shape and I received it within days of my order!

Book was exactly what i ordered. Arrived promtly with no issues at all. Would by from this buyer again.

This book was the old version, but my teacher let it fly. It saved me about 120 bucks getting this one.

Great price for a textbook, although they are rediculously overpriced to begin with. Very fast delivery. Cover (front and back) slightly warped, but serves the purpose.

This is a must have for any systems engineer who needs to take a proactive approach in system monitoring. Used in conjunction with ASP and a backend database, real time monitoring apps are a snap to build.

This book was basic and lacked in depth detail. I actually got more out of the help file that came with log parser. I was hoping for more detail on creating and using charts. This is not one of the better books i've bought this year.

This tool is amazing in that it supports a variety input and output formats including reading in syslog and outputting into databases are pretty Excel charts. The filtering uses an SQL syntax. The tool comes with a DLL that can be registered, so that scripters (VBScript, Perl, JScript, etc.) can access the power of this tool.

This book not only covers the tool (alternative being to scrape the network for complex incomprehensible snippets), but shows real world practical solutions with the tool, from analyzing web logs, system events, security and network scans, etc.

This tool is just heavensend for analysis and transforming of any data in a variety of formats. The book and tool go hand-in-hand, and I highly recommend incorporating this into your tool (and book) into your tool kit and/or scripting endeavors immediately.

I bought this book thinking it would be a good reference point for using Log Parser 2.2, and am exceedingly impressed with the volume of real-world, practical examples.

Within minutes I had several scripts in production and was on my way to writing much more complex queries to squeeze every drop of valuable data from my logs. I'm querying IIS logs, Event Logs, CSV files and more with ease.

I've got this book at my side any time I go to write a new script. I would definitely recommend it to others.

This is a complete reference for utilizing the MicrosoftLog Parser Tool in real world scenarios.
The authors do an outstanding job of bringing you from the basics of Log Parser through advanced techniques and tricks. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it end to end, and have begun utilizing Log Parser in my daily log assessment routines. The Tips, Swiss Army Knifes, and Master Craftsman sidebars prove extremely creative and helpful.

Original artwork, creative (yet corny) titles and headings, but most importantly it is written by High School students. It's great for all you non-geriatrics out there that are struggling through the reading of your incredibly boring textbooks. It is written in lay man terms, but it is still packed with all the facts you need to know about the creation of our great nation.

This book is INCREDIBLE. I had a C in US History, and after purchasing this book, it jumped up to a B+ in a matter of weeks. This book is an excellent resource. It contains information that helps even the worst of students. What i like most about it is it's layout and the text. It is so easy to read! If you don't have this book, your US History class is lacking something: INTELLIGENCE. Buy it now!

Original artwork, creative (yet corny) titles and headings, but most importantly it is written by High School students. It's great for all you non-geriatrics out there that are struggling through the reading of your incredibly boring textbooks. It is written in [common] man terms, but it is still packed with all the facts you need to know about the creation of our great nation.

Now...I know I'm a bit partial because it is my name at the bottom of the book, but I really can't imagine a more useful, student/teacher friendly U.S. History book.

Every year I've taught U.S. History I always had to pull from a ton of different sources to find out the information I wanted to teach. But not anymore. We put it all right in here. The summary charts give exactly the right amount of info. The pictures were done by some extremely gifted artists. And the wording is entertaining and you won't need a dictionary in your lap to understand what's being explained.

There are parts that are gross, parts that are funny, and parts that might be just a bit controversial. But I guarantee, it has everything you'll need to understand American history from those first fellas that crossed the Bering Strait to America's recent war with Iraq.

So...buy a copy. Buy two. Heck...buy 47.

And if you think it's inappropriate for an author to be tooting his own horn, just remember that none of us receive a dime for this book. Every last bit of the book royalties we'll be donating to a children's charity.

Enjoy!!!

Eric Burnett

Sorry to rain on the parade, but somebody's got to tell the truth about this book. It's written by a bunch of high school students, and it shows. The high school history teacher, Eric Burnett, did not even bother editing this book; there are countless annoying grammar and factual errors. Perhaps Mr. Burnett simply asked his students' permission to publish their history homework essays. What's next? High school music teachers selling CDs of recorded band performances, or drama teachers selling DVDs of high school Shakespeare productions? The student writers are obviously enthused about the material, which is great, but they are simply too glib to make this book of any real use to anybody, except as an example of bad history writing. Here's a sample: "His wife died in 1480 in childbirth, which was very sad and depressing for our friend Columbus so he decided to make himself rich and famous and go find the Indies." If you're looking for a fun and readable history of America aimed at younger students, take a look at Joy Hakim's "A History of US."

In fairness I should point out Mr. Burnett's claim that all royalties from the sale of this book go to charity, and I applaud him for that. But he would sell more books and raise more money if it were better written!

The book was in excellent condition as was the jacket and the attached ribbon for a bookmark. Thanks for the great quality.

I've a smart librarian friend who told me that whenever she gets impatient with a new (adult) novel's ploddingness, she just takes up The Little Princess and rereads it. I've found this a great practice, and I've reread it myself now several times with pleasure. Although the storyline of orphans and wicked proprietresses may sound overwrought and dated, the writing is so clever and the characterizations so deft and loving, that sentimentality is transformed to tenderness, and preachiness mutated to inspiration. Indeed, the level of writing is so much more sophisticated than the Harry Potter series, that, at the risk of heresy among Amazon fans, it took me quite some time before I was willing to accept the more earthbound magic of Rowland's gifted children.

This book is more dated than THE SECRET GARDEN, but it's still a great story. It's hard NOT to identify with Sara Crewe.

I loved this book as a child (though not as much as I loved THE SECRET GARDEN, which I think is a better book). However, A LITTLE PRINCESS is far better than most books written for children! It tells a great story and it makes you think, even if some of those thoughts make you uncomfortable, like the thoughts about differences between rich and poor children.

For a modern, well-written book about a girl at an English boarding school, read Libby Koponen's BLOW OUT THE MOON. It has the same classic feel, though the American heroine is very different from Sara and MOON is quite funny in places.

I read this book to my first through fourth grade students last year, and they loved it! Even the youngest were transported to another time and another place through this book. Our school targets students in need (mostly lower-income, minority children), so Sara's story really is a world away from the lives they know. Yet they truly enjoyed this book, and so did I!

A Little Princess follows the story of Sara Crewe, a young girl whose mother died when she was a baby and who has been sent to bording school. She has the finest clothes and toys and anything she wants but isn't spoiled (the story is a fairy tale, by the way). She imagines herself as a princess and wants to be kind wise and just. She does good deeds as her way of "scattering largess to the population." This results in her being the social butterfly of the bording school and earns her the animosity of its queen bee. All this changes in an instant when her fortune is lost and she becomes a scullery maid in the same boarding school. She works all day, sleeps in an unheated attic, and is underfed. She now imagines herself as a princess in disguise, and continues to try and do good deeds for anyone less fotunate. But now she has another identity too - a soldier, like her father, who must live on rations and bravely face each day.

I didn't find this book to be overly sappy and sentimental, but it got close to the borderline at times. There were plenty of discussions of dolls and lacey dresses and ribbons. I read this as an adult. I guess these are supposed to appeal to little girls who want to have a little princessy playground and so would love to read about ribbons, but I think descriptions of lace would have put me off as a child as well. Like I said, these only get borderline sappy, probably because Sara soon becomes penniless and enters the lower class. As a scullery maid she experiences hunger, phsychological abuse from the bording school mistress, and a grinding work schedule. This is not sugar coated for the children, but it isn't the focus either. The focus is on Sara's internal thoughts, her relationships with her few loyal student friends, and what she thinks of the neighbors and the new people she meets and things she sees. So even though there is all this poverty it is there as a setting and not because the author has an axe to grind. Strangely enough, this book came across as realistic.

This is a children's book, but functions as a book for adults as well. For example, the estate agent's diplomacy in getting Sara hired by the bording school after she is found to be penniless has some subtlties that are going to be more real for older readers.

I recommend this book to all. It is a children's book that works for adults too. It skirts the border of sappy, but for me didn't cross over at any point. It was a good story that I read through quickly and did not get bored with or bogged down by.

This kept me reading and I loved it. It killed me when ever I got to a good part I need to stop reading because it was the end of reading class. This book starts out sad but as the book went on the girl in the story was better then ever before.
Mary a girl who lived in India had some hard times since her parents had just died and she needed somewhere to go. She had to go to this place close to the moor This place was huge. She thought there must be thousands of rooms. She was right. In the middle of the night she gets up and walks around and hears some one crying and she goes through every room but still could not find that person. One day she did find him and his name was Colin. He was just a boy and thought he was a hunch back one. Mary loved it outside and she found a garden but inside the garden she was digging and found a key. She also found the door that goes with it. Her friend Dickon is helping fix it and it looks great. But she does eventually tell Colin and he wants to see it but Dickon needs to wheel him outside. As the days went on Colin decided he didn't need a wheel chair any more and soon started walking and running slowly and then racing. Colin's father was always so sad and then he came home and saw Colin walking and he thought it was a amazing and he was proud to call him his son.
This book is good for some one who likes to wait for surprises and likes gardens as well as happy endings from sad beginnings.

Beautiful story with a great cast! Made my car ride fly by!

The Secret Garden is a wonderful classic tale. I've read the original book, and seen two different movie productions of it. This "radio theater" version, however, is different. Apparently produced by Focus on the Family, it brings religion into a story that wasn't originally religious. To read the original, you wouldn't think of it as "Biblical" at all. What if Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island was rewritten so that Long John Silver viewed his piracy as an allegory for doing Christ's work in an imperfect world, and started carrying on about the Holy Spirit? This is not so different from what has been done with this Secret Garden version. For some, this could be a plus, but in case you are in the "other" category, let the buyer beware.

Focus on the Family puts on the best Radio Theatre Productions - they're vivid and beautiful. The Secret Garden was one of those "beautiful" productions, truly excellent.

I'm giving this version 3 stars, as a sort of compromise with my kids, who both enjoyed it... I thought the production quality was fine, but the adaptation itself was very poor.

First, the story is changed to a first person narrative where Mary (now an old woman) tells the story. This might have been an acceptable framing technique, but changing the entire story to first person for no clear reason was awfully annoying. I would have far preferred a simple narrator and fewer changes to the text itself.

There was also a lot of "interpretation" that went far beyond the original text. I felt this version was "talking down to" me and my children, as if we couldn't possibly understand the story as written. ... Now I disagree with the previous reviewer who felt this version inserted Christian themes that had not existed in the original. On the contrary, I thought on that level it was quite close to the original. The only mention of anything religious is the scene in which the children sing the Doxology ("Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.") which was pulled exactly from the novel.

My other objection was that none of the characters were particularly "hard" in the beginning. Mary, Mrs. Medlock, Ben Weatherstaff, etc, were all pretty darn sympathetic right from the beginning. Seeing them come to life is far less effective when they all seemed to be more or less alive to begin with. I wanted more change, more growth... I didn't need kinder, gentler characters with which to begin the story.

Over all it does follow the story pretty closely, but I felt keenly the loss of some of the original language and feel of the novel. I had enjoyed the Focus on the Family adaptations of the Chronicles of Narnia, but wish I hadn't spent money on this one.

This is a very emotional book written by a very strong Spiritual Lady.I highly recomend this book.

I had seen Deena Burnett on tv during the days after Sept. 11th. She told her story in a very quiet way. When i read her book i saw a strength and depth in her and her husband Tom that was amazing. This book told me their story but also shed more lite on that terrible day. When a tragedy has a voice, it makes it impossible to forget it. It left me feeling that we all have to do our part in paying attention to the world around us. We all have to have a voice and keep moving forward, even when we think we cannot.
A Must Read!

I feel that the story of Tom Burnett is very inspiring and he is a true hero. I read this book to learn more about the man and what he did on September 11th. Unfortunately this book is mainly about his wife, who has lived a rich surburban life and seems out of touch with the typical working class American.
Those who are very conserative I am sure will enjoy this book because Ms. Burnett throughout the book is very critical of people is this country for having lack of morals. On top of this, she is critical of Bill Clinton and public schools yet she praises the leadership of George W Bush.
One thing I thought was almost humerous was that she proposed that public schools needed to bring back prayer to the classroom yet she had stated earlier that she could never send her children to public schools.
I am very sympathetic for Deena Burnett, I just feel that there was way too much religion and politics in her book expecially regarding issues that really shouldn't be politicized.

This book should be required reading for all Americans, expecially with the anniversary of 9/11 coming up. We forget too soon not only the life lost in 9/11, but also those left behind whose lives were changed forever. Deena's story tells not only of the courage and determination of the passengers on Flight 93, but also tries to awaken us all to the price of freedom, and our responsibility to do our best to make America a better place. It is a very emotional and inspiring book.

Once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. Deena's story inspires me to be a better person, to make right choices not only for myself but for my family and my country. Her determination to make her husband's life count for something by her perseverance to not let America forget what happened on 9/11 is admirable. She struggled to keep her little girls safe and secure, sacrificed her time to get the message "Stand up and Fight" out to the world, and shared her innermost thoughts of losing the love of her life. She is to be admired for her openness in sharing such a difficult time in her life and her boldness in sharing her faith in God.

Imagine yourself being flown back in time to the late 1930's and dropped of into a dark and lonely alley on the north side of Chicago, commonly known as Little Italy. This area, ruled by the mob, forms the setting for Little Caesar, world's first gangster novel.

Sam Vettori is one of the toughest gang-bosses of Little Italy, but his days are counted. A new ambitious predator is on the verge of throwing Sam from his throne. Cesare Bandello, commonly known a 'Rico', is that guy. On more than one area has Rico proven to be Sam's superior, but on pulling the strings Sam stays the expert. That's why both decide to co-operate. But when a robbery turns bad -a captain of the police gets killed- everyone starts fending for themselves.

Little Caesar is simply a masterpiece. Not only because it is the first of its kind and it gave birth to a whole range of gangster fiction, but also because the peculiar way it is composed. Although it is written in an almost objective and factual style -almost like in a newspaper-, it still succeeds in getting the reader emotionally involved into the action. The action itself, of which there is plenty, is being reported in a very compact narrative, which gives the story a fast and suspenseful pace.

One warning though: the book contains quite some thirties-slang, which might disturb the inexperienced reader. Do you know what happens if someone turns yellow, for example?

Written in a straightforward and almost colorless style, this book reads a bit like a docudrama, or even a long film treatment, so it's not surprising to learn that the author went on to a very successful career as a screenwriter. Author Burnett gives us an entertaining peek at a presumably typical rise-and-fall in the Chicago underworld of the early twentieth century, long before this type of material was well-mined by others. As usual, we are indebted to Otto Penzler for a beautiful edition; the jacket art is a deco masterpiece.

Little Caesar is a great example of what it takes to survive in the world of organised crime, and shows whsat goes on in the minds of criminals like me. 4 stars cause of the cliff-hanger ending,but still a must read.

Wow...I give this book 5 STARS. One of the best gang books ever, This is about 5 guys that their lives have change from friends to stab in the back.

This novel is a masterpiece of spare prose, vividly telling the story of the rise and fall of a 1920s gangster in 1/2 to 1/3 the number of pages that a present-day writer would take. The novel is fast-paced and expertly evokes the era, though readers unfamiliar with the times might have a little trouble with some of the slang expressions. Like his The Asphalt Jungle, this became the template for numerous subsequent imitations, including the films The Long Good Friday and Scarface.

The information that is contained in the book is right on point with the ongoing issues with corporate communication. The book works well with the course which enables the professor to assign tasks that align with the text. The companion website is also a great resource to use.

I am using this book for my technical communication course and I am very impressed. Being an engineer, I am usually weary of English classes, but a good teacher and this book have made my tech com class very worth my while. The book does a very good job of providing outlines for various types of documents without just providing a fill in the blanks form. It even addresses internet issues such as web site analysis and email etiquette.

Perhaps the best testimony for this book is that the author practices what she teaches. The book uses the ideas taught by the book and this makes it an easy read.

I will be keeping this book after my course is over. I anticipate it being a useful reference after I graduate.

I had this book for the Techincal Writing Class.

I do think that this book really does good job on giving guidelines and advices.

I give 3 stars out of 5.

This book provides a solid foundation for technical communication. It covers all the basics from audience analysis, to outlines, to document design, to technical writing essentials.

This is a definite must read for anyone starting out in the Technical Writing industry.

I have been a teacher of technical and scientific writing for over 15 years. I feel I have to write a review of this new edition because I truly think it is the best textbook on technical communication on the market. This is a truly superior learning and teaching resource not only because of the range of topics it covers, but also because of the very interesting examples it uses throughout. It also is very up to date; this new edition draws on current research on reading and writing, not old stuff, as some of the other popular text books do. The teacher's guide also makes this text easy to use, and provides lots of material useful in class preparation.

If you bought the two graphic novels of the Sinestro Corps War storyline this is a good buy as well. It contains all of the side stories and origin stories told/retold during the aforementioned storyline. And it includes an encyclopedia of sorts of the Green Lantern universe. The Lanterns, their villains, the Guardians, pretty much all of it.
But there is one problem. The side stories collected in this book are sort of chronological. They fit in with events of the larger storyline as it transpires, so it would have been best to have these stories put in the order they were released inside the two parts of the Sinestro Corps War graphic novels. I would gladly pay a few dollars more for each part of that storyline and have a more complete reading experience in two books than have one extraneous(though worthwhile) book that exists sort of out-of-whack with its companions.
Bottom line: If you want the whole experience of the Sinestro Corps War, buy this. If you want to delve into Green Lantern with this storyline or have recently delved into Green Lantern comics and simply need an information resource, buy this. If you just want the main storyline with no side stories and no extra info, don't buy this.

I've read both volumes of the Sinestro Corps war and this third volume feels like the perfect companion for it.

It develops the conflict between Kyle and Parallax, explains Kyle's new role on the corps and the involvement of Superman Prime in the war and shows a little bit more about Sodam Yat and the most interesting memebers fo the Sinestro Corps. It answers a lot of question and geaves new perspectives on the events.

It includes also a very long list and bios of many of the corp's memebers, places and creatures of the Green Lantern mythology.

If you liked Sinestro Corps war, this is the book that will complete your collection.

My feelings differ from other reviewers of this title in that I don't think it is important to the telling of the Sinestro Corps War nor is it of the same caliber. Some of the art, especially Dave Gibbons', is exceptional. The rest, not so much.
I personally dislike the framing device of having a narrarator introduce the stories (ala the Crypt Keeper) but realize that that is a personal preference and not a flaw.
What makes the book earn a 4 star review (instead of 3) is the Secret Files and Origins chapter that rounds out the book. It is here that I heartily agree with the other reviews. Like DVD extras, it is bonus material that gives the story of the Corps some depth and richness.
All in all a worthy volume if you can't get enough of the GL Corps or are a completist, but not nearly the quality of volumes 1 and 2 of the Sinestro Corps War and not necessary to understanding the story.

A hardcover collection that compiles various side-stories and one-shots, Tales of the Sinestro Corps fleshes out the events of the epic interstellar saga The Sinestro Corps War, and many of the major players and the impacts they make as well. Featured here are backstories pertaining to various members of the Sinestro Corps, most notably being Sinestro himself, the sentient virus known as Despotellis, the insane and murderous Superman-Prime, and Hank Henshaw, AKA the Cyborg-Superman. Also featured here are tales dealing with the aftermath of the war, including Kyle Rayner's struggle against Parallax, as well as his new role as a Green Lantern, and his training of the newly christened torchbearer of the Lanterns, Sodom-Yat. What really makes this hardcover collection worth picking up however is the Secret Files & Origins one-shot featured here, which collects a horde of information detailing the mythos of the Green Lantern corps and the Sinestro corps, as well as a hint of the Black Lanterns and what is to come with Blackest Night. A more than worthwhile companion for The Sinestro Corps War, Tales of the Sinestro Corps is a must-own collection for anyone the least bit interested the epic crossover event.