Close Books

Bon livre de base pour apprendre la photo,bien expliqué pour connaitre les choix d'équipements et les options pour prendre des photos (Closeup Shooting: A Guide to Closeup, Tabletop and Macro Photography )

Exciting and inspiring. This book contains many exciting closeup photos and also has clear photographs with text that help the reader to achieve similar results. Written and illustrated by a famous photographer, "Closeup Shooting" is a must have for all aspiring macro photographers.

Not remotely worth the cost. Far too few images. Many images are very average. Not remotely enough detail or examples in the technical discussion. Boring. I'm amazed others find this book so impressive.

If you want a serious introduction to shooting macro photography, read John Shaw's Close Ups In Nature. It's a classic. Even though it was written before digital, you'll learn from a master. And the basics apply directly to digital. And look for titles by Tim Fitzharris and George Lepp and other true masters of the art.

With the vast number of good photography books available that are devoted to or include discussion of macro photography, I'd put this one way down on the priority reading list.

Some guides simply brag of the authors experience, others throw technical terms, shutter speeds and f-stops at the reader. A good guide should be wonderfully assembled to teach and inspire without arrogance. This book does that, providing a wonderful resource that even experienced photographers can learn from. Stunning photos and explanations inspire and teach. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to make their photos the best they can be.

Buen y serio trabajo con algunas fotos realmente magnificas. Profundiza mas que otras obras similares en aspectos técnicos sin olvidar darle también ese leve toque tecnico a aquellos capitulos que tratan temas mas basicos e introductorios. Resulta facil y agradable de leer al no tratarse de de un tratado cientifico-técnico sobre macrofotografia. Interesante y recomendable para aficionados y amateurs.

This is the first book I've read by this author, and I was pleasantly surprised by her deft handling of character and plot. She really got everything she could emotionally out of the situation, and I agree with other reviewers who said that the sexual tension was built up deliciously, and handled well.

The characters had good chemistry, a rich family life, friends...they were 3-dimensional. I also like that we got a sort of epilogue in the last chapter where loose ends were tied up, but where we also got a glimpse of how the future of these characters will work out. It was cute.

It wasn't perfect. It was interesting to read about characters in their 40s, but it was a bit frustrating to have them dithering like teenagers at points rather than acting like adults. There were some contrivances and cliches, and the ending was headed to "happily ever after" but wasn't quite there. But perhaps some of these weaknesses were strengths, showing that actions and reactions are universal, and don't fade with maturity.

I was pleased with the overall quality, and I'm considering looking up other efforts by this author on the strength of this outing.

I really liked this novel! I had never read a Georgia Beers novel before but this won't be the last. She built her character profiles slowly and subtly allowing us become intimate with the characters. She built her romance in the same way allowing us to feel what the characters felt. Although sex was not the driving force of the novel, there were a few (enough to make it interesting) smoldering "page turners." I read it in one sitting. I literally didn't want to put it down. I think a sequel with Gretchen and Kylie would be interesting with some relationship conflicts to see how the couple weathers the storm.

A woman falls in love with her boss, a high-powered executive whose fear of commitment has previously kept her from truly loving anyone.

Book came fast and really was a great read! The first Georgia Beers book that i have read, though wont be the last!

One reason this book succeeds is that the protagonists are so unique. Gretchen Kaiser, a successful executive in her forties, has not resolved her childhood issue that her father refused to acknowledge even her most basic need for recognition. As a result she is driven to ever higher levels of achievement while a loving relationship eludes her. Seemingly incapable of giving or receiving love, she routinely engages in casual sex with an endless string of women.

Kylie O'Brien is intelligent and compassionate. She is an attractive woman of thirty-seven who lives alone and has been celibate since the end of her last relationship over a year ago. She enjoys the company of her loving family and is prepared to continue her life alone if the right person doesn't come into her life.

When the two women meet and feel an immediate and intense attraction to each other, they struggle to deny it, then to avoid acting on it. But tragedy and necessity draw them closer together, until their personal issues can no longer be ignored. As the story unfolds, it becomes a heart-warming tale of the journey of two women toward personal growth. This book is sure to be remembered as a "first" in lesbian literature.

I had kind of sworn off romance novels and this is the first one I could tolerate in a long while. With an interesting concept, a planet with no men I think that would send us all in search of a little action just like our protag Mala. Some of her interactions with the folks of Washboard Texas because of her openess about sex are hilarious. IMHO certainly worth a read for the scifi fan in serch of a good love scene

I enjoyed this book so much and immediately placed an order for the second book in the series as soon as I finished it. Both Mala and Mason are lovable characters and it was a pleasure to follow their story. Though I'm an alpha-hero romance fan, and Mason isn't an alpha-hero even if he's the sheriff, he is sexy in his sweet, caring ways and the ideal mate for Mala.

I have CosmiC Sex on my TBR and will be reading it next. I can't wait to see what happens when Mala's cousin comes to Planet Earth to persuade Mala to return to Nerak - and gets caught up with sexy Nick. Those post-coitus scenes when the heroine tries to tell the hero she's an alien really crack me up.

Because it is from her perspective, the book translates as if the alien wrote it in her "this is my second language, me Jane" awkward and blocky thinking. I can't get beyond the 5th chapter because of this ... and don't get the many star reviews AT ALL. Very disappointed.

This is the only book I have read by Karen Kelly. It is an okay book about a woman from another planet who is bored silly and decides to come to earth to look for a little excitement, hopefully the sexual kind. She meets up with the sheriff and they proceed to get it on as much as humanly or alienly is possible. There are some very funny scenes and Kelly is a good writer.

The book is what it is suppose to be, and that is a hot easy read that you can enjoy as you get away from everyday life for a little while

The planet Nerak is perfect--perfectly boring for Mala. When her android valet suggests one more hormone smoothie to deal with her boredom, she decides to follow her explorer-grandmother's example and visit Earth. After all, she is something of an expert on Earth. She's viewed the fascinating XXX documentary, Callie Does the Sheriff a number of times. Although the elders have banned space travel (they've also banned males as that sex created wars and problems, something tiny and resource-poor Nerak couldn't support), Mala decides to hijack a spaceship and head for Earth. She leaves her valet, Barton behind to cover for her.

Sure enough, Mala finds a sheriff--sexy Mason McKinley. But Mason is the kind of guy who only believes what he sees--and insists he doesn't see anything he doesn't want to believe in. What he does want to believe in is Mala, though. Fueled by chocolate (there's no chocolate on Nerak), Mala is a sexual dynamo and Mason enjoys every minute. The only problem he has is her strange delusion that she is an alien. When Barton arrives, sorting out problems for the town of Washboard, Texas's single female, everything seems to have fallen into place. Unfortunately, though, Mala's ship was seen and tabloid reporters want to make Mala a story--a story none of them believe to be true.

Author Karen Kelley goes completely camp in this novel of alien love. Mistaking an XXX-rated movie for a documentary is only the first in a series of mistakes and blunders as Mala explores a huge and different world, determines that bigfoot (Hypotronds to those of Nerak) have survived on Earth, mistakenly believes she is dying when the sun sets (Nerak has two suns and never gets dark), and spends three thousand dollars of Mason's money on sex toys to make sure her seduction of the local sheriff goes off on schedule. Barton, rejected on Nerak, is precisely what Mason's friend Carol needs--and would be pretty much a treasure to any woman.

Modern Science Fiction requires development of plausible explanations for such details as having a tiny planet with gravity equal to Earths, parallel development of the English language, sexual compatability between alien species, faster than light space travel, and a breakdown in the law of conservation of energy (at one point, Mala admits to generating a gigawatt or so of energy through sex--the equivalent of a nuclear power plant). Harking back to an earlier time in SF, Kelley simply goes for the romp. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE SEXY KIND isn't Science Fiction to make you think, it's paranormal romance to make you smile--and guess what, it works.

I was a machinegunner with the 1st Inf. Div. ('66-'67')and found this book to be one of the most compelling and accurate portrayals of the ground war I've read, and I've read plenty on the subject.

Close Quarters: A Novel From a strictly female point of view, I found the story very rambling and a comentary about sex and war (duh). Even though there was a story line, it seemed disguised by the language and the way it was written. The story line was very simple; go to Vietnam, talk about sex, listen about sex, have sex, watch your friends die, killing, talk about it, come home and have sex, and finally marry. I kept thinking the story would get interesting but it never did. Perhaps it could be enjoyed by a man, but "I just didn't get it".

In addition to the foul language and repeated denigration of women, it was read by a man that used a mostly monotone manner. I guess boring would be sufficient to call it.

"The best work of fiction to come out of the Vietnam War"? "This is the way it was"? Due to the tremendous reviews, I sought long and hard for this book. I was truly disappointed. I found the book hard to read and had to force myself to finish the book. Fortunately, the latter part of the book dealing with the return home was more captivating. There are many, many more worthwhile works of fiction on the Vietnam War. I would not recommend this one. Try James Webb's "Fields of Fire". I also liked his post-war fiction "Lost Soldiers".

This is a review of the CD. Heinemann does a first-rate job of pulling you into the dirt and grime of everyday life on the front lines in Vietnam. Using the soldier's raw lingo, known only to those who were there, he rubs your face in the heat, pain, and futility of Washington's hopeless little war. It doesn't take long before you can smell the cordite, hear the screams and ache for some rest, smokes and booze. As a HouseCat in artillery at Ft. Sill from '63 till '65 I saw first hand the military's transition from a peace-time, good ole boys club, to the rat-hole where draftees were hustled off to the jungle to be forever corrupted emotionally and physically. I always wondered what it was like to be caught up in that kind of nightmare. What it was like to be one of the 10% who did 90% of the dying. Now I know. Vets have always been reluctant to discuss the war with anyone who hasn't seen the elephant. It's just too difficult to try to make the uninitiated understand, so why the f**k try? Heinemann's book makes that leap and bridges the gap. Richard Ferrone does a masterful job of reading the difficult prose. His tired, cynical, knowing voice puts you directly on the front line, right inside the stinking, rattling APC named the Cowcatcher that was Deadeye's home for a year. If you were ever curious about Vietnam, listen to this book.

Larry Heinemann is one of our greatest writers and this book is an intense and painful trip into the hell of war. I could not put it down. Heinemann made me feel fear, anger and desperation at the insanity of war. He uses words like paint, piling detail upon detail until you are inside the story with him feeling rage at the waste of people's lives. Read it and weep. But read it if you love good writing.

My children (ages 5 and 7) and I adored this book and ended up buying the series and watching the dvd which was also awesome (starring Glenn Close and Christopher Walken). The story is touching, emotional at times and very sweet. The characters are easy to love.

Sarah came to the Prairie from Maine to marry papa. but that Summer, a drought turned the land dry and brown. Fires swept across the fields and coyotes came to the well in search of water. So Sarah took Anna and Caleb back to her hometown Maine, where they could be safe. Papa stayed behind ,he would not leave his land. Maine was beautiful, but Anna missed Home , and Papa. And as the weeks went by, she began to wonder what if the rain never came. Would she and Caleb and Sarah and papa ever be a family again.

This well written sequel to Sarah, Plain and Tall is a page-turner. Readers can't wait to find out what happens next to their beloved family on the plains. The dreaded drought causes much hardship; no water for the livestock, wells going dry, families leaving their farms, and the barn fire. Sarah and the children flee to Maine, her birthplace, to wait out the drought in safety. Luckily, the drought ends and Jacob goes to Maine to retrieve his family, including the newly pregnant Sarah! Patricia Maclachlan's writing is beautiful; full of imagery and feeling. It's easy to identify with these well-rounded characters.

Sarah came to the prairie from Maine to Marry Papa.But durring that summer,a drought turned the land dry and brown.Fires swept across the fields and coyotes came to the well search of water.So Sarah took Anna and Caleb back east,where they were safe.But on the other hand Papa would not leave his land.

Maine was beautiful, but Anna missed her home ,and Papa.And as the weeks went by she began wondering what would happenif the rains will never come.Would they all still be a family.

With the companion books Sarah, plain and tall skylark represents acceptance for love, tradition, value and companionship for other as well as yourself. As student read this book it will deal and discussion separation, love of ones illness, plant history, and cultural values of others and they deal with real life situations.

This was a great book. The author uses a lot of real life experiences to bring Del to life, which needed to be documented for future generations.

Even if you aren't in the Chicago Improv scene, this is a very funny and cleverly written book about the one and only Del Close. Del was a drug addict, an actor, and a believer in the art of long-form improv. I would imagine knowing him would have been bitter-sweet, but got a better glimps of him from "Guru." You should definitely read this if you want a good chuckle.

This is the story of real life pop culture Zelig Del Close (Mike Myers, L. Ron Hubbard, the Grateful Dead and Lenny Bruce all make appearances) and his relationship with his the assistant, the author of this book (and a very funny writer). Over verbal scrapping and absurd adventures Del and Jeff reach a sort of understanding and Jeff gain insight into the importance of taking risk in art, even as his "guru" rants about the usefulness of ropes as belts and the lack of bats in Chicago. Were they "friends"? Of a sort.

It's a very funny book with barbed and profane dialogue between the protagonists, but it still manages to be inspiring. Couldn't put it down.

If you have any interest in comedy or improv, especially the history of both in the United States, this book is required.

This book was a real blessing for me. I was a student of Del's for four months during the last year of his life. He was a complex man, by his own admission, not a very likable one. This book allowed great insight into what was going on during that last year or so. Del did some very generous things for me during that time, but i always felt our relationship ended poorly. After reading this book, i felt a great weight lifted, and a greater understanding of that period of my life. I am able to forgive Del and realize there really was a method to his madness. He was an extraordinary soul and this book nails that with a few tears, and a great deal of laugh out loud escapades that prove Truth... is far stranger then fiction. My girlfriend read this book after me in one 5 and a half hour sitting. She literally could not put it down, and she never even met Del. This one is a gem that i look forward to reading again down the road. Well Done Jeff! No small feat. Thanks for setting the record straight on just who Del Close really was.

True genius - that of visionary and driving force caliber - is rarely seen and even less seldom acknowledged during one's own lifetime. Del Close, the father of long-form improvisational theatre and the idea of improv as an art form, casts a long shadow as the central figure of Guru: My Days with Del Close, by Jeff Griggs.

In a mentor/protégée dynamic reminiscent of Ronald Harwood's "The Dresser", Griggs - a young, talented performer - finds himself entrusted with, at first, weekly errands for the slowly ailing Close. A somewhat odd pairing from the start - the ever-rebellious, outspoken and temperamental Close and the somewhat reserved, patient Griggs - find they are alike at the very core as both are insightful, driven and passionate about the work on stage. In his teachings at IO (formerly ImprovOlympic) in Chicago - along with Charna Halpern - Close taught, mentored and sometimes fought fiercely for honesty and intelligence onstage.

Through Griggs we are privy to the secrets, insights and, oftentimes, despair that accompanied a mind of such magnitude. The critiques of class work, for instance, are priceless for anyone who has taken an improvisational stage class: Take it seriously. Commit. Think of your stage partner and your relationship together, over yourself. (In the spirit of full disclosure, I have been fortunate to have studied with teachers mentioned in this book, including Jeff Griggs, who is remarkably insightful as a teacher and tremendously talented as a performer. Being taught by a mentored student of Close's gives me a kind of "Closean Pedagogical Contact Buzz" - a metaphor Mr. Close might have enjoyed. Or not.)

Deftly interweaving Close's biographical facts with the continuous and growing narrative bond, Griggs establishes a private - and oftentimes poignant - look at a psychologically complex man and we are all the wiser and more mature for it. For baby improvisers to seasoned vets to actors who may still think improvisational games are just for warming-up before acting, to those who simply love the theatre, this book is necessary because it is a part, a record, of our theatrical history.

I hate females who think they can do it all and eventually get the hero in trouble.
Fortunately Lieutenant Karin Scott falls just short of that. Her skrewed up emotions don't keep her from accepting help from DEA agent T.J. Vasquez when she realizes that Special Agent Reese Garrick and his wife, Jade have already left on their honeymoon.

Karin has returned from her 6 months tour of duty and started seething when she realizes she will be working with Lieutenant Doug Callahan again. He tried to destroy her career.
She is dumbfounded when she receives a note saying that "Class Twos are walking". It has to be Doug playing a trick on her. Someone knew how to correctly identify the drugs.

Then TJ "Tijuana Jones" shows up and makes her understand the note falls under his jurisdiction. She hates his nickname after he tells her his reputation is true. She is humilated when she hears that a couple of guys are betting that she will become TJ's next conquest.

Soon we learn of TJ's hatred and anger for Admiral Thomas Banks, his biological father. He almost bumps into him at one of Manning's parties where Eric tries to start trouble when he notices one of the waiters constantly watching Karin.

Tomas is working with fellow DEA agent Joaquin on the death of two girls who overdosed on some drug. Then another death is reported, TJ is having a hard time getting any information on the 16 year old girl named Magdelina.
Ah, but he gets caught in Karen's office at the hospital by Admiral Banks who wants to show TJ his file on him. It had taken 8 years to track TJ down.

I never did understand the trouble Karin had with her mother and step-father. I chuckled, finally a 27 year old virgin - glad she had the guts to withstand the "but everyone's doing it" whine! And Tomas, he has gone 6 years without a female, finally got some brains working, probably because of Antonio.

Intense passion, dangerous enemies, skrewed up emotions, sorrow and regret, finding the right priorities, definitely love wins in the end.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED -m - You wont want to pass these books up.

Well unlike the other reviews, I found the main characters to be two of the most unappealing characters I've ever read about. I couldn't muster enthusiasm for either one of them. I felt the writer was trying too hard with the,"macho latin" thing when it came to TJ. I hate to say it but, I found TJ to be written as a stereotype. How could Karin think that he was mispronouncing her name when he referred to her as, "Cariño", that got really old really fast. I finshed it but, it was painful.

Magnificent! I couldn't put this book down. I have been waiting it seems forever to read the second book continuing with some of the dynamite characters in Ms. Irvin's first book with Reese and Jade. Now it's time for Jade's friend, Doctor Karin Scott, and Reese's partner in the DEA, TJ Vasquez, to have their story told. Wow! It's hot and delicious and keeps you in suspense right up until the very last page.

>

Passionate, intriguing, heart stopping: do any of these words capture your attention? If so, I invite you to savor the opportunity to experience Candace Irwin's IN CLOSE QUARTERS. Through an anonymous note, Navy Doctor, Lieutenant Karin Scott learns of missing drugs. Further investigation reveals the mysterious note is not a hoax, but a major clue to a lethal narcotics operation, which is taking place at the San Diego Navel Hospital. Fearing this knowledge could endanger her life and career, she contacts a close friend who works for the DEA. She is stunned to learn her friend is off on his honeymoon and sent Special Agent T.J. Vasquez in his absence. Six months has past since her last encounter with T.J., who at one time she hoped to form a relationship. Learning the truth of T.J.'s reputation, as a well-known playboy and a womanizer, she abruptly ends her pursuit before it had a chance to develop. Now she must entrust her life to this fearless warrior, but is it her heart that risks the most endangerment? Special Agent Tomas Juan `T.J.' Vasquez has counted the days since he last saw Karin Scott. Karin's absence left a hole in his heart, which refuses to be filled. When he learns she is in grave danger, he rushes to her side to provide the protection she needs. Soon they discover their dangerous undercover mission is bound to land them in close quarters, will Karin be able to resist the urge to go under the covers with T.J.? Candace Irwin has developed a fast paced novel, which will be a forceful rival against any of the best writers in military romances. She has created two dynamic characters, as well as a gripping tale full of tension and suspense, and added just enough passion to leave one breathless!

TJ Vasquez is extremely SEXY!! And instantly attracted to USN Dr. Karin Scott when he 'met' her aboard a Navy ship. TJ is a DEA agent and his help is needed when Karin discovers drugs are missing at the hospital. She reluctantly seeks his help but refuses to let herself give in to him or the passion brewing between them. But TJ is determined to have the woman he loves.

I love foreign heroes! And the fact that this hero was so true to his heritage through out the story was very satisfying for me. This story has it all....an interesting plot, HOT steamy sexual tension & a beautiful romantic completion. FANTASTIC!!

Looking forward to more books by this talented new author!

what can i say? um...yes i am a U2 fan. U2 fans like glossy covered books with the "four lads from dublin" inside and on the cover...books that put them up on the rock n' roll pedestal (is that even how you spell it?). so...what i'm saying is...well YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING if yer a fan and to quote Bono (just cause i want to) "rock n' roll dooggie!!!"

This book allows you to do what every U2 fan has always wanted to do: go on tour with U2. It is told through the eyes of someone who is doing just that, in a plain, day to day format. Although the arrangement is a bit random, it lets you peek into the offstage life of the band. The pictures alone are worth the price of the book.

I can't see why every U2 fan wouldn't have this in their collection. The pictures in this book are amazing. It is by far the best behind-the-scenes photo's collected in one book for U2, if not any band. If you love the band (especially the 'Zoo TV' period, in which this book thoroughly chronicles) then grab this book.

A book about U2 with pictures included seemed to me a chance to find out more about U2 than I ever wanted to know. In some cases that was true, but I came away from this book wanting to know more! I wanted to scream, "Where are more pictures? Where are more stories?" B.P. Fallon gives us a glimpse of life on the road for U2,and after reading this book I wish that I could have seen it through his eyes. It is a quirky diary, however, and the time sequences change enough to drive you batty. You wil be page flipping back and forth. But the craziness was worth it. While the book uncovers U2 on tour, the pictures provide more mystery than ever about the world's greatest band.

A warning: If you are looking for an easy-to-read book to enjoy on a nice afternoon or before bed, this is not for you. While the content of "U2 Faraway So Close" is nothing short of absolutely fascinating, the book's layout is highly stylized and can be visually assaulting and rather difficult to read.

BUT...

If you want fabulous pictures and fun, often hilarious, anecdotes about the greatest band in the world (U2...duh!), track down a copy of "U2 Faraway So Close" and snatch that puppy up as fast as you can!

"U2 Faraway So Close" takes you on the Zoo TV tour with U2, as seen through the eyes and camera lens of B. P. Fallon (before he got kicked off the tour, but that's a story you can learn more about in "U2 at the End of the World" by Bill Flanagan). Fallon shows us the band in concert, partying, relaxing, with friends. He captures a couple of great shots of Adam in his famous skirt, as well as some faboo pictures of Bono's wife (she's gorgeous!), The Edge's Morleigh (she's gorgeous too!), and Adam's then-fiancee Naomi Campbell (no comment from me on her). All the photos are accompanied by entertaining, sometimes roll-on-the-floor-laughing hilarious, stories from the tour, offering some juicy tidbits for people who just can't get enough U2.

While its format doesn't lend itself too well to bedtime reading, "U2 Faraway So Close" does make a great coffeetable book, gift or obsession-feeder for U2 lovers. Go snag a copy and enjoy!

I sold Real Estate in the Detroit Metro area back in 1978, it was a tough market back then, left Real Estate for an Engineering position after two years. I have worked for this company that follows every business fad that comes along. Seven years ago we re-engineered and we Engineers had to be jacks and/or jills of all professions (Marketing, Accounting, Engineering, Administration etc....). At first many of us were scared and afraid to sell or market anything. It had been 20 years since I sold Real Estate but I looked at my old selling manuals and nothing seemed to help. I read about Ralph Roberts in a local paper here in Macomb County and went right to his office and purchased his book. This book has helped me sell over a Million dollars worth of Product and I am the No. # 1 Salesperson for our Company. This book is not only about about selling Real Estate but about preparing and being mentally ready to make sales, I've fallen in love with selling again. Thank You Ralph - Someday I would like to meet you and buy your lunch.

I'm a new agent and I don't think this book is very helpful. The information in it is pretty obvious and not specific enough to help me. I think the book is a waste of money.

I read Ralph Roberts' previous book, "Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like A Madman" prior to reading this one. I found the information much the same, but organized differently.

Taken on a week-by-week basis as Mr. Roberts recommends, it could be a useful guide for your business. It's a basic reminder to us that it's the little things that count with our existing and future customers.

Good book. I had alread read Sell like a madman by same author and was concerned that this would cover the same info. It had new info and was very easy to read. With 52 chapters I'm planning on reviewing 1 chapter in each of my weekly sales meetings for a year.

Although this information can be fairly obvious - it is often overlooked. This quick and easy reference can be thumbed through in order to gain new a new approach regularly. Doing the same thing day in and day out makes you very regimeneted but this book helps the creative juices to flow.

There's no shortage of blood and guts in this text; nor is there a shortage of the enumerations of military equipment that insures fellow Vietnam War writer Tim O'Brien a place in every college literary anthology. In fact, the literary nature of the text is a sub-theme of the work: Heinemann is either enough of a gentleman or schooled enough to make direct references to other writers, and does so in the casually learned style of hooks' use of author/title rather than formal citation. Ironically, Heinemann refers to Samuel Clemens and Mark Twain -an amusement, to be sure, for the reader-and the text of Black Virgin Mountain itself echoes a social acid reminiscent of the much-lauded, much banned Huckleberry Finn.

My dad was in Vietnam and I have often wondered what went through his mind when he returned in the late 60's. This book gave me some idea, though of course each man is unique, and Larry Heinemann's story is brilliantly written. He pulls no punches and tells it like it was and like it is. Truly an honest look into the heart of the average Vietnam Veteran. God bless everyone of them for their courage in the face of a nasty, bloody, unjust war. They didn't deserve the kind of misery they got when they were drafted into the US Army. Larry shows us the heart and soul of Vietnam and his story is a beautiful thing!

This book has its moments. The author returns to Vietnam years after being a soldier there and travels around the country.
I really wanted to like the book more than I did. However, even though it is a small book, I got the feeling that at least 25% of it was sort of filler. I understand his Paco's Story is a great book. I need to read it. In the meantime, I wouldn't recommend this book.

The voice of violence is heard in cities and among the rural poor across America today, and its not just because the corporate statists have successfully veiled the voices of peace that have been ignored by corporate media or sometimes forcefully silenced; but also because violence is the voice that America has taught to its own disenfranchised for a long time now. America is a violent teacher. Violence is as American as apple pie.

Author Larry Heinemann grew up in an American working class family with a "straight arrow upbringing", a result "of all those belt whippings" by his old man who had a "fierce and violent temper". This was normal for most working class families living in what would become known as cannon fodder neighborhoods - neighborhoods from which Uncle Sam conscripted draft slaves to fight his war in Vietnam. Heinemann tells us that when his draft notice arrived in the mail box back in '66, there was another draft notice with it for his brother. These two young men and later another brother were all drafted into the armed forces, instructed in the use of deadly weapons, taught how to kill, and then brainwashed into believing it was honorable to wage war against innocent civilians. That whole draft affair and military induction was violent instruction.

For over two hundred years America has permitted genocide against its own native peoples as well as thousands of lynchings of African-Americans. America has burned babies in Alabama and in Vietnam. Heinemann was in Vietnam shooting "Vietnamese down like dogs", napalming or strafing "them hard enough", and poisoning them and their farmland "with Agent Orange". Is it any wonder that the violent whirlwind haunts America with her echo "Burn, baby, burn"?

Heinemann returned to America, the Violent, only to find one brother a post-war suicide while the other left his family never to be heard from again. Heinemann realizes that America has a class system, though not as apparent as Europe's, and that the children of fat cats never paid the sacrifices that blue collar do. As Tom Paine once put it - "War is the gambing table of governments, citizens the dupes of the game", or as Heinemann says - citizens are "an integral, even dedicated, party to a very wrong thing".

Heinemann is still trying to get over growing up in America, the Violent, and his killing experiences in Vietnam in order "to be rid of it". He is unable to become proactive in today's peace movement. Heinemann doesn't address current concerns, such as what is the future of violence in America? Will Bush's information warfare against Middle Easterners give way to riots with whites against Arabs and Blacks? What are the corporatists in power teaching those not in power? The crop of peace or blood depends on the seeds sown today - so move on Heinemann! There's peace to reclaim.

Although it did not garner national attention or give rise to any widespread outpourings of remembrance, this past April marked the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of Saigon. The most lasting impression we have - aside from that gleaming granite commemorative engraved with 58,000 plus names on the Washington Mall - seems to be the quintessential "bug-out" photo of a chopper on the roof of the American embassy, a too-long tether of people desperate to clamber aboard.

As is often the case, the years have been kind to Vietnam annealing some of its sharpness, if not in the memories of the generation that served there, then at least in terms of the original stigma attached to it. Perhaps as a country we have mellowed enough to see that it had some unpleasant but necessary lessons to pass along. All wars do, though it is the young who must purchase that knowledge for us. But even with that, there remains the lasting stench of defeat, along with the awkward doling out and acceptance of blame by aging politicians, whenever the word 'Vietnam' is uttered.

According to the record books, American soldiers were long gone by the time those frantic Vietnamese began queuing up for the last chopper out. But when it comes to war in general and Vietnam specifically, the records aren't always on mark. Which is why three decades later books like Heinemann's Black Virgin Mountain are still being written and read. We simply cannot get enough of the subject to affix it with a permanent, acceptable label and then hang it away like an out-of-fashion coat.

The mountain of the title was the focal point of Heinemann's year in hell. He had already returned to the country a number of times in the 1990s, often in conjunction with writers' conferences, when he and another writer, Larry Rottmann, took the trip to what is known in Vietnam as Nui Ba Den.

The text crackles with an anger that, by Heinemann's own admission, remains unabated despite the passing of thirty-seven years since his tour in `Nam. Having lost two brothers to those residual emotional conflicts that simmer long after the actual combat is over, he is brutally frank about his experiences ("Every human vitality is taken from you as if you'd been skinned; yanked out like you pull nails with a claw hammer; boiled off, the same as you would render a carcass at hog-killing") and his opinions concerning the conduct of the war. It is difficult to decide which leader bears the greater brunt of his scathing commentary - LBJ or William Westmoreland.

Happily, the entire book does not focus solely on the author's lingering revulsion for the war. There are large travelogue segments, life slices of rich imagery showing how the Vietnamese have moved along with far less lingering acrimony than have we since the end of what they call the "American War." Included is a wonderful description of the French colonial era bureaucrat's home-turned-guest-house at which they stayed in Hanoi. Its exotic past (koi pond, louvered windows with a dozen coats of paint) resonates like something straight out of 1940s cinema - "Casablanca" on a different continent. Heinemann includes engaging snippets of a portion of one trip involving the Vietnam Railway and its sometimes idiosyncratic train station employees. Something we don`t expect after all those plane loads of bombs and Agent Orange, is the spectacular scenery. Perhaps most revealing of some kind of personal transformation is a statement he makes after watching the Southeast Asian panorama from the train`s window, "And there it was, the country at peace, the thing I had come to see."

In contrast to the many positive things Heinemann has to say about that nation, in the latter part of the book there is the unnerving visit to the tunnels at Cu Chi. Juxtapositioned next to his own middle-aged physical discomfort at "duckwalking" through a small section of the enlarged-for-tourists-maze, Heinemann gives us a palpably frightening description of what it was like for an outfit's smallest soldier to be pressed into service as a tunnel rat. Fear, claustrophobia, the myriad things to remember to listen for, to smell, to see in order to scope out a tunnel and stay alive - if after reading it you don't come away with the distinct itch of something crawling on your skin, the feel of dirt sticking to the sweat on your bare back, then you may already be dead.

Language rampages back and forth between politely literate and gritty street talk, oftentimes within the same sentence. Normally this would be where a caution against putting it into the hands of middle school children doing history papers would be placed. But there is little early teens have not already heard. For obvious reasons anything related to that period of time is best displayed in the lingo of the day. Heinemann's choice of words may have been his way of showing us that he can walk both sides of the line, i.e., that he is an accomplished writer with a well-developed, post-tour vocabulary, but whose awareness is forever etched with the earthy, peppery talk of men at war. He may also be enjoying his ability to keep the non-military reader a little off-balance: the seriously out-of-kilter, day-after-day world of the average soldier. And whoever predicted the pending demise of the semicolon, hasn't read Larry Heinemann.

But to the rest of those doing research on the embattled 60s and 70s, this is a seminal book, one that stands outside all the political posturing and sociological conjecture. It is an invaluable look into the dehumanizing influences of combat by someone who lived it.

So, once again to war and its lessons. Our unglamorous departure from Saigon over thirty years past remains a thorn in the side of many, though for an assortment of differing reasons. It is a picture we need to keep close to us as we devise our exit strategy for Iraq after destroying their corrupt, sadistic, but functioning political infrastructure. It would be lamentable if history were to look back on our crucial departure from Baghdad only to have it described by some future Heinemann as "an agony, and an orgy of unambiguous betrayal ... right to the end and still, a bungled tangle..."