Dean Books

"The general's arm begins a slow arc from his side, riot stick in hand. His stiff arm in a rearward motion begins to rise, a motion I perceive will terminate above his head, the stick leading forward. I grip JC's arm, `We'd better step back from here.' Caught in the excitement, he makes no move to retreat... I dig fingers into flesh and spin him round, `Move, JC! Now!' The riot stick reaches an apex above the general's head. A terrible, terrible sound barks through darkness. Charge!"

A GATHERING OF ANGELS is much more than an autobiography. It is a potent, riveting, and brutally honest tale about the journey of one man's soul. In his spiritual memoir, Larry Dean Hamilton welcomes us into several periods of his life where we discover what being gay and coming out in the late sixties and early seventies meant to him. In A GATHERING OF ANGELS, Hamilton pours out his dreams, hopes, love, and loneliness with mesmerizing stories colored with irony and rich detail.

Hamilton begins with a dramatic narrative portrayal of the ambush riot that police unleashed on ACT-UP's protest march to the Houston Astrodome during Bush the Elder's 1992 Republican convention. It is unfortunately shocking to be reminded that, even at this point in the history of our movement, the civil rights of LGBT people were so cavalierly disregarded, and violently assaulted. He then flashes back to his grade school and high school years in Bay Prairie, Texas, and poignantly shares with us the painful alienation of his youth. Many will identify with the torment he experienced from being singled out by his peers as "different" before he'd even begun to understand why he felt different.

A GATHERING OF ANGELS focuses mostly on Hamilton's college years in Austin, Texas. Hamilton "came out" while in college. And, although his is primarily the story of a gay man's coming-out journey, he candidly shares with us what was also his college experience. For that reason, many young adults today will also identify with his youthful exuberance and curiosity, his thirst for life, and even his comical misadventures. Hamilton introduces us to a captivating cast of characters: Jim, his ostensibly straight roommate; Jackie, a freshman year pal with whom he brazenly walked out of a final test review lecture... the professor had the last laugh in THAT incident, Scott, a.k.a. Winnie, Winnie-the-Pooh, Teddy Bear; Joseph, the nervous queen with the "pompadour" hair; Mother Ferrel, the literally loony dormitory monitor; and many others. I laughed hysterically as he related how he and his dorm mates decided to welcome Joseph with a mock necking session on the unsuspecting young man's first visit to Jim's and Larry's room. And I later read with horror as Hamilton related his rape at the hands of a gay couple he'd brought home for a threesome... only to find myself on the verge of tears as he recounted how his roommate, Jim, cared for him afterward with tenderness and compassion.

While reading, I was often astounded to remember that most of the events included in A GATHERING OF ANGELS took place before the Stonewall riots: Hamilton's first visit to "The Cabaret", THE local gay bar in Austin at the time, occurred the night of the same day President Kennedy was assassinated. Judging from the openness with which he seemed to lead his life, readers might conclude that Hamilton was coming of age during the "Gay Nineties". But he wasn't. These days were PRE-Stonewall. "PERVERT SWEEP, QUEERS CAPTURED" read one local headline. Incidentally, Hamilton missed the Stonewall Riots by hours: he was living in Manhattan by then, and had visited the inn on his way to the airport for a weekend jaunt to Houston.

One might also observe after reading this book, however, that in spite of the growing social and cultural acceptance we seem to have gained during the last thirty years, so much else remains unchanged after the past three decades. During the late sixties, Hamilton was actually ejected at bayonet point when he came out during his U.S. Army pre-induction in New York. Gay servicemen and servicewomen living through "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" might understand THAT experience. Gay men and women today still have to struggle with finding self-acceptance, and with fighting institutional discrimination and religious-based bigotry.

A mystical strand also runs through A GATHERING OF ANGELS. Throughout the book, Hamilton relates several visionary experiences that ultimately helped him understand his yearning for love and his search for meaning in his relationships. This concept sometimes seems absent in gay encounters today. For Hamilton, the principle of Love is transcendent.

At the end of his elegant, complex, and well-crafted memoir, Hamilton brings us back to where he started... the police action in Houston, Texas. The ACT-UP demonstration, and the scenes that flashed across television sets throughout the nation during that week in 1992, played their own small part in unseating Bush the Elder:

"The legion comes quickly, a dark force, manner grim. They set about their work methodically. They bludgeon the boys on the ground. I see this clearly, from above, from behind my body running wildly across the grassy lawn. Boys felled to the ground, begging for mercy, bludgeoned; boys pleading, arms upstretched, bludgeoned; boys crying out where they lay helpless, bludgeoned; a slaughter of seal pups--bludgeoned."

Whenever a person tells their truth, they empower others to do the same. And "Deano" has told his truth... his stories drip with truth. As I walked his journey with him, I laughed with him, I loved with him, and I wept with him. Poetic and well-written, A GATHERING OF ANGELS is one of the best books I've ever read. It was a revelatory experience.

Hamilton, Larry Dean. A Gathering of Angels. Sigma Logo Books, 2004

Larry Dean Hamilton has written the rarest of books--a deep novel of love. It is a beautiful tale about how the capacity for love and spirituality is a reflection of the basic goodness of man. A Gathering of Angels tells the story of Dean who finds himself in search--looking for the way to find himself in a society that seems to demand that he conform to the existing order of things. His life has been one of hopes and aspirations and both great successes and terrible failures. His road to self discovery is contained in the saga and shows how the experiences he encounters shape his life. Yet it is not just Dean, the hero, we read about. We read about ourselves--Dean is every man and all men. He is who we are and he is who we become.

This is not an easy book. It is not easy because it deals with emotions---the emotions of growing-- and not just growing, but maturing as gay men. It is at the same time a straight shooting look at the way we deal with our lives, the mistakes we make and the great achievements we collect. It is more than a memoir, it can be a guide to us to become one with ourselves and with those around us.

As I was reading the book the one word that sat on my brain was "love". In giving us his story Hamilton (the author), presents us with all aspects of love--a capacity for giving and the willingness and hopefulness of reception. The love shown in this book is the spiritual love that so many of us seek and cannot seem to find. Through the interconnected stories are the definitions of love in all of its forms.

So many books about gay life are written about places so far away from us that it is nice to have one written about somewhere close by. Penned by a Texan, the book is the story of growing up on the Texas Gulf Coast and coming out in the underground gay scene of Austin during the "golden age of promiscuity", the 1960s. In this personal account of coming to terms with himself, we are let into the mind of the South and the difficulties gay men faced. Through his own "salvation" was he able to come to terms of who and what he was and while coming to terms with that salvation he introduces us to a bevy of eccentric and colorful friends.

The book appears to have been written as if it were an exploration of the author's mind. Chronology is not important and vignettes bounce around in no special order. At first I found this somewhat disconcerting until I realized that he was writing as many of us think--illogically and randomly. There were times that I felt love and pain walked hand in hand across the pages of the novel. Yet as I closed the covers and reflected on what I had read, I realized that everything that seemed illogical and disjointed was in actuality the opposite. It was a heartfelt voyage into the mind and one that will make me a better person for having read it.

When I said the book is not an easy read, I meant that what is written in it reflects so many things that we all go through and that we have to sit back and roll over in our minds what we have just read. We all know that truth hurts but what a pleasure it was to be hurt by the truths of A Gathering of Angels. I loved this book and I cannot recommend it enough. It should be in a prominent place on everyone's reading list. Thanks Larry for a provocative read.

This is truly an amazing book. When you do a lot of reading like myself, occasionally you come across a book that really does something to you. I like things, whether it is a movie, play, poetry, music, dance or art that reach inside of me and work their magic on me. When a performer or writer does this it sends chills down my spine and brings tears to my eyes. Larry Hamilton has this gift as he brings you along on a journey through his past and shares his friends and companions with you. He reveals his joyful experiences and those times of hurt and loss that must have been extremely painful for him to recall and relive as he reflected and wrote about them.

This isn't just an autobiography, but something special, a piece of literature written in a unique style that weaves in and out of prose and poetry with stunning imagery and lyrical phrases that make the reader hesitate and reread a sentence or paragraph more slowly. Also, it is a piece of gay history during the late 60's and the 70's with references to Stonewall, the early gay activists and his personal experience with the violence perpetrated by the police against gays at the Republican convention in Houston in 1992. Mostly it is a story of fellowship, caring and love among a small group gay and gay-friendly companions.

For those who have grown up gay during this time, the experiences related in this book are very familiar. The alienation from society and its institutions and the camaraderie with "those like us" bring back memories both joyful and painful. For other readers it will reveal what growing-up, coming-out and being gay was like during this time in Texas or for that matter anywhere during this period of time. More than that Larry or "Dean" is an example of someone who lived such a life with passion, compassion, and a good deal of humor. A person who never got caught up in anger and bitterness but rather led and leads his life in a deeply spiritual and loving way.

A Gathering of Angels is a real eye opener into a gay mans world. The autor describes trials and tribulations that any person entering into a realitonship will face. It brings to light a segregation of opinions that most people will never face. These opinions could either condemn a person, or drive them to persevere. The author of this book has driven forth beyond all odds. This book is extremely well written, and paints a vivid picture of a life that heterosexual male could never fully understand. By telling his personal story, the autor helps to promote an understanding of gay men and women across society's boundries.

With one foot in the modern world and one foot in a world of fantasy, Claire Dean's Girlwood takes us into the life of Polly Greene, who can see the colors that surround people, revealing their true selves. Polly's older sister, Bree, disappears into the woods one night, and Polly is the only one who believes she has not run far, that she's hiding nearby to heal her out-of-control life.

When Polly finds a magical clearing hidden among the trees, she's certain that her sister is close, and she determines to leave her food and clothing and healing plants to help Bree survive until she's ready to return.

Girlwood explores many themes as Polly enlists the help of friends and family in her mission:
What's the value of nature compared to development?
Why do girls sometimes subvert their own personalities when they start to date?
How does divorce affect family dynamics?
How can parents teach and protect their children while also allowing them to have independent thoughts?

The themes are woven into a story that is as enchanting as the magical clearing, Girlwood, itself. And by the end, you may even find yourself searching for your own Girlwood.

This is my favorite book ever! A beautifully-written, uplifting, green story of a girl who refuses to believe that her sister is lost forever. Three generations of women find their way back to each other and magic literally lights up the woods. Everyone should read this book. Perfect for mothers and daughters to read together.

I couldn't put Girlwood down. I am sharing it with my daughter who is almost thirteen. Because Girlwood touches on many issues that mothers and daughters face such as the push and pull of letting go and coming back together, mistakes, peer pressure, love, insecurity, accomlishment, finding oneself, coming of age..., it is the perfect book to read together to open the many conversations that begin during this volatile and beautiful time of our lives. It is real, and it is fanciful. It is empowering and it is beautiful!

I came across this endorsement of Girlwood by Jane Goodall. I've been an admirer of Goodall's environmental work for many years. After reading the quote below, I had to buy a copy of Girlwood. It's an enchanting and magical book that teaches reverence of our sacred earth, as well as empowerment of the individual. I'll be giving my copy to my 13-year-old niece, who I'm sure will love it.

"This is exactly the kind of book I would have loved as a teenager. It emphasizes the healing power of animals and nature which has helped so many young people cope with their problems all over the world. It will help young readers to understand that it is okay to be different. And that every individual can play a role in making this a better world."

Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE
Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute
UN Messenger of Peace

One night, Polly is awakened from a sound sleep to find her older sister, Bree, kissing her. As Bree's blood red aura trails behind her like the tattered wings of a ruined fairy, she tells Polly that she's leaving for the woods, so that she can try to be alright again. Half asleep, and not sure if she's really seeing her emaciated, drugged out sister or an actual fairy, Polly lets her go, with no argument over how much Bree has destroyed since she started using drugs.

No one believes her when she tells them Bree has run to the woods, so it's up to Polly to provide everything her sister will need. Winter is almost there, and a developer is coming soon to trade out the trees for a housing development. Following the guidance of her grandmother, Baba, Polly knows that she could rely on herself to survive alone in the forest, and, with her help, so can Bree.

Luckily, Polly finds that she doesn't have to be alone. Others may not be able to see the colorful bands of light around each other that display exactly who they are inside, but they will believe her. Under the protection of the hidden grove that Baba has shown her, Polly and her friends will learn that, with a little magic and a little faith, anything is possible.

Beautifully written and with vibrant imagery, this book will strike a chord with anyone who has found magic and solace in their own secluded spot of wilderness. The explanations that head each chapter of the different wildflowers and their medicinal uses are also fascinating, as is the descriptions of various auras and what they mean. The back cover states that the author wrote this as a gift for her daughter, and she will be writing one for her son next. I'll be looking forward to reading that.

Reviewed by: Allison Fraclose

The book Harlem Summer by Walter Dean Myers relates one summer in the life of 16-year-old Mark Purvis. Mark lives in Harlem and dreams of being a famous jazz saxophonist. Mark is exposed to the "New Negro" during a summer job at The Crisis, a famous African American newspaper, where he meets the likes of W.E.B. DuBois and Langston Hughes. After Mark gets into hot water with the police and some notorious gangsters, he has a better idea of who he wants to be as a man. This one summer impacts his life in hilarious and moving ways. The book incorporates real people that played major roles in the Harlem Renaissance. It's a history lesson told in a very entertaining format. I would definitely recommend this book to all readers, young and old!

Mark is at a crossroads in his life in Harlem in the 1920s. He has the dream of becoming a great saxophone player but doesn't have the discipline to practice. His hero, Fats, cons him into loading bootleg liquor onto a truck, and when the truck goes missing, a gangster threatens them. Mark isn't terribly worried, at first.

He goes with the flow and dutifully starts a summer job, arranged by his aunt, at The Crisis magazine, headed by W.E.B. DuBois. Mark encounters many other greats such as Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Ethel Waters. He attends a glamorous party at the home of publisher Alfred Knopf and just misses hearing Marian Anderson sing.

In a marvelous twist ending, Mark is freed from a life of crime, and inspired by great writers and singers, he comes to appreciate hard work and his own community. Walter Dean Myers gives us the Harlem Renaissance as seen through the eyes of a tremendously likeable main character. It is a treat to read the conversations between the young Mark and Langston Hughes. (Photographs of the real famous and infamous characters, during this time period, are included in an appendix.) Mark is a teenager that other teens can relate to; he doesn't have quite enough drive until he finds the right role models. Harlem Summer is filled with humor, glamour, and danger and recreates an important era in the twentieth century.

It's 1925 in Harlem, New York when readers are transported into the life of Mark, the main character of HARLEM SUMMER. Told from his point of view, this coming-of-age story features Harlem Renaissance figures such as Langston Hughes, Jesse Fauset, and Fats Waller.

As the book opens, summer has arrived, Mark, an aspiring sax player who wants to make it big. He gets an opportunity to work for Fats Waller, an already established and widely sought after musician, hauling crates. Though the job with Fats is a one day thing, it has a lasting impact on Mark's summer and introduces him to a number of unsavory characters and exposes him to life on the "shady side of the street." Around the same time, Mark lands a job at The Crisis magazine (the NAACP publication). He would be working under the supervision of Jesse Fauset as more or less an errand boy. At the magazine office, Mark learns about the "New Negro" for the first time, meets a virtual who's who of that movement, and experiences what life on the "sunny side of the street" was like. Mark is at a crossroads in his life, trying to figure out what he wants to be and how to live. The experiences with Fats, The Crisis, and the ensuing dramas force Mark to make decisions about how he wants to live his life.

HARLEM SUMMER is a wonderful book that pairs historical fiction with the day-to-day struggles of a teenager trying to find his place in life. Mark's character has a universal appeal, and his voice is genuine and humorous. At the end of the book there are brief biographical sketches and photos of many of the famous people who find their way in the story. Walter Dean Myers has written a funny and engaging tale that reminds us that all of our decisions have consequences and that life on the shady side of the street isn't always what it is cracked up to be.


Reviewed by Stacey Seay
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

"As soon as the news got round
The folks downtown,
Came up to Harlem,
Saw everyone Truckin'

It didn't take long
Before the high-hats were doing it,
'Park Avenuing' it,
All over town,
You see them shufflin,' shufflin,' shufflin' down."

--"Truckin' " written by Rube Bloom and Ted Koehler, and performed by Fats Waller

These days the course is listed as, "Afrocentric Perspectives in the Arts." Back in the spring of 1975 it was titled "Black Experience in the Arts." A couple of guys in my dorm at the University of Connecticut had heard that "Black Arts" was an easy class, if only because the lectures were of a civilized nature, being that their frequency was but once a week and they were held IN THE EVENING rather at some ungodly hour that might involve having to wake up in order to attend class.

My dormmates persuaded me to tack the class on to my already full schedule for that semester. That way, if they were too busy to show up on a particular evening, they'd be able to copy my notes.

Back in the spring of 1975 I was a teenager who owed so much of my sensibilities to having grown up tolerant in lily white northern suburbs and having spent the 1960s watching the horrific news on television of white "Christians" engaged in the beating, maiming, and slaughtering of Negroes and Negro sympathizers during the Civil Rights era.

But while I knew a lot about what American citizens of color had endured before and during my childhood, I hadn't a clue at the beginning of my semester in Black Experience in the Arts of the existence of the Harlem Renaissance, nor any knowledge of the colorful characters whose work defined this rich cultural period in American history. But my knowledge base changed rapidly. Structured in large part as a series of guest lectures, my fond recollections of that course involved evenings of hearing first hand accounts of those lives and times. A particularly memorable highlight was listening to the late George Houston Bass who had been Langston Hughes' personal assistant and who served as the executor of Hughes' literary estate.

These experiences came roaring back (as in Roaring Twenties) as I read Walter Dean Myers' exceptionally fun romp, HARLEM SUMMER.

"C. Cephus Carter owned the House of Palms Funeral Home over on Lennox Avenue, down from Freddy's Fish Shack. Now, whenever you talked to that man he only had one thing on his mind, and that was how good the undertaking business was.
" 'Everybody you see is a potential customer!' he liked to say. And he said it again and again. 'People dying today ain't never even thought of dying before!' "

At the center of this HARLEM SUMMER is a sixteen year old young man of color named Mark. It is 1925, and Mark is an aspiring sax player who knows neighborhood star Fats Waller and dreams of jamming with the famous and beloved musician (who would have been twenty-one that summer). But the summer of 1925 gets much hotter than Mark could ever have imagined, thanks to his getting a summer job at the downtown office of THE CRISIS (which was and still is the official publication of the NAACP), and also thanks to Mark's finding himself --through events involving Fats Waller -- in serious trouble with the infamous Prohibition-era gangster Dutch Schultz.

As Mark deals with moms and mobsters dishing him out some serious grief, Walter Dean Myers succeeds in bringing to life the mid-Twenties Harlem summertime neighborhood as well as the cast of Harlem Renaissance musical and literary figures whom I'd learned about back in 1975.

(Of course, what is great fun --and what we couldn't do in 1975 -- is going online and listening to 30 second snippets of Fats Waller between chapters. This is certainly a book that begs for an accompanying CD of tunes and poetry readings.)

"I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow
of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers..."
--Langston Hughes

"Mr. Dill made out the checks for the May issue. Langston Hughes got two dollars for a poem that had only twenty-five words. That was eight cents a word! The writing business was starting to look better."

The root of Mark's troubles is his desire for money -- the easier the better. While most readers know Walter Dean Myers as the author of some pretty intense award-winning stories, many readers are going to be thoroughly surprised by HARLEM SUMMER because of its being so dang funny. For instance, when Mark figures that writing poetry might be a road to riches, he asks Langston Hughes about it:

" 'You think I could learn to write poetry?'
" 'Sure. I used to copy other people's poems and rewrite them,' Langston said. 'That gave me a feel for what it was like.' "

The poem that results from Mark's taking that advice had me rolling.

So download some Fats Waller tunes, shuffle on over into a shady spot, and check out HARLEM SUMMER.

It's the summer of 1925 in Harlem, a summer that sixteen-year-old Mark Purvis will never forget. In just a months time, Mark will get to meet the best and the worst people of New York City.

Mark gets a job at The Crisis, a magazine that promotes and encourages "New Negroes." The magazine was part of a movement created during that time with a mission to discover talented persons of color -- poets, novelists, and musicians -- and show them to the world.

But Mark is not so sure that he wants to become a "New Negro." What he really wants to do is become a famous jazz player and play the saxophone with his band. So when "Fats," a well known piano player who made records, offers him and his friend, Henry, what sounds like an "innocent" job loading trucks in New Jersey, Mark and Henry don't think twice. This could be the opportunity they were looking for, their big break, a golden chance to be with "Fats" and tell him all about their jazz band. Maybe he could even help them get a record deal.

What Mark didn't know is that the job was actually for the most dangerous man and leading bootlegger, Dutch Schultz. And Mark didn't know that what they helped load was illegal alcohol, and that the truck driver was going to drive away, all of a sudden, with the merchandise. And now Dutch Schultz wants his money back, and he wants Mark and Henry to pay for it.

Will Mark get the money for Dutch Shultz? Will Mark become a "New Negro?" Will he be able to keep his job at The Crisis? Or will Mark end up traveling the wrong path? You'll have to read the book to find out.

Every single word in Walter Dean Myers' book flows effortlessly in this entertaining novel. He makes writing look easy.

HARLEM SUMMERS is a book that will strike a chord with all readers. Parents will love the lack of cursing and sex often seen in young adult literature. (Although, to be honest, I think that the author could have used some more cursing to make the dialogue sound a little more realistic.) Teachers and librarians will LOVE this novel that complements perfectly what we studied in 8th-grade social studies. I'm sure that this book will soon be part of many recommended summer reading lists. And teens will love the story, because after all... who wouldn't want to meet the head of a notorious gang?!

The end of the book contains a section with biographical information of real individuals that appear in the book and lived in New York City during that period, like Alfred Knopf, Langston Hughes, "Bumby" Johnson, and others.

Reviewed by: Christian C.

Wow, this book just blew me way. I was not the kind of person who loved reading and read during my spare time. However, my friend introduced me to this book, and to date this is the best war book that I have ever read. I would recommend this book to people of all ages but mostly to people who are in high school. The detail given in this book is outstanding and it really makes you reflect upon your life and ponder the freedom that we have, and how it was gotten by thousands and thousands of americans that put there lives on the line every day.

I am an 88-year-old WW-11 naval officer who served in the Atlantic and Pacific war zones. I was transfixed not only by the experiences these heroes endured, but by the mater-off-fact tone of their narratives. At the end of each story, I instinctively turned back to the cover picture of the author and studied the photo trying to momorize the features....portraits of true American heroes.
I was especially impressed by the individual comments about the Iraqui people, revealing them as decent, caring individuals who we would be proud to have as neighbors.
This book should be required reading for every high school boy and girl senior prior to graduation. The overall tone of the book runs counter to the torrent of negative comment directed at us by the American media. The indivuals portrayed in this book make me proud to be an American and to have served my country when virtually every living American supported our military. This book served to lessen my sadness over the limited support for present day American male and female military personal.

Al Kayworth, Author
Abenaki Warrior
Legends of the Pond
The Scalp Hunters
Iceman to the Internet

Maj. Chuck Larson is to be commended for compiling the heart-wrenching, uplifting real-life accounts of our nation's heroes. I believe it will change the way most people view the men and women that sacrifice so much for America's freedom. It's real life... this is not fiction.

You will be amazed at the self-sacrifices, the heroism, the humility and the optimism. Forget what the media is telling you, read this book. This is where you find out what is REALLY happening in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As I read this book, I shed tears for the warriors who wrote the stories -and also shed tears for the ignorant people that will never know what these warriors have done for America and the world.

Do you want to be inspired? Do you want to be moved? Read this book.

HEROES AMONG US is an inspiring collection of first-hand combat accounts by 29 Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force servicemen awarded either the Silver Star, Navy Cross, Air Force Cross, Distinguished Service Cross or Medal of Honor for heroism in Afghanistan or Iraq. Over 1 1/2 million men and women have served in those beleaguered countries but fewer than 500 have been awarded the above decorations. The men in this book are some hardchargers!

The two dozen award winners who contributed accounts for this book range from line doggies to Marine Recon, truck drivers to Navy Corpsmen, Air Force F-15 backseaters to Army Rangers. The group includes career soldiers and reservists. There's even a set of identical twins, both of whom served in Army Engineer battalions who were awarded Silver Stars. Sadly several awards were posthumous.

Some of the battles described in this book were absolutely hellacious affairs, pitting U.S. troops against swarms of enemy soldiers and irregulars all too willing to die for Saddam Hussein and/or Allah. Yet the accounts themselves are related in a matter-of-fact tone, a reflection of each individual's professionalism in the face of ferocious combat. What comes across in these narratives is not only that spirit of professionalism but also the dedication and commitment of each individual to the mission and their buddies.

For a first-hand, unvarnished look at modern combat, HEROES AMONG US can't be beat! Highly recommended.

Radiant. Insightful. Enchanting. Beautifully written. This is a book you will fall in love with. Themes of connection, separation, and "living thickly" (p. 69) flow through this collection of twenty essays like a river. Moore teaches philosophy at Oregon State University, and also wrote RIVERWALKING (1995). Derrick Jensen's recent interview with Moore in the Sun magazine prompted me to read this book.

"Sitting on a boulder whitewashed by western gulls," Moore writes, "I resolve to study holdfasts. What will we cling to, in the confusion of the tides? What structures of connection will hold us in place? How will we find an attachment to the natural world that makes us feel safe and fully alive, here, at the edge of the water"(p. 14). In nature, a holdfast is the root-like structure that keeps a plant in place, the "glue" a plant makes from sunshine and saltwater to "stick to a rock" (p. 13), or the connection that allows seaweed to "lean toward land on the incoming tides and swirl seaward as the water falls away" (p. 13), never letting go of the ocean floor. With an eye for natural detail reminiscent of Annie Dillard, Moore finds holdfast images throughout nature, from the grip of bullwhip kelp (p. 13), "oysters clinging to every rock, to each other, layer on layer" (p. 66), and "roots pushing through soil" (p. 68), to the "periwinkles, the urchins, the acorn barnacles and rock-wrack--thousands of tube feet on a single starfish, suction-cup stomachs for gastropods, tufts of black hairs to hold the mussels, bony tubes, sticky feet and calcified plates" (p. 28) in ocean tidepools.

Love, home, a daughter's cross-country move, her dying father--Moore also discovers holdfasts in the tidepools of life. "Humans don't have holdfasts of suction-cup stomachs," she observes, "but we do have hearts and minds. We have strong memories of smells that have held meaning for us since we were small, smells that fill us with joy or bring us to our knees with sorrow and regret. Certain sounds go straight to our hearts--seagulls, wind over water, a child's voice, a hymn" (p. 30). "If there is eternal life," she learns, "it will not be the length of your life, but in its depth" (p. 69). Although I have only given this book a four-star rating, it is not without many such five-star moments.

Another such moment is when she contemplates the house that separates her from the natural world on which it sits: "hardwood floors, a layer of spiderwebs and acoustical tile, eight feet of damp air, a laundry basket of unmatched socks, a slab of concrete, and a six-inch footer of gravel fence me off from the earth. But if I dug under that, I could find an ancient riverbed of round boulders, and below that, sea animals so old they have turned to stone, floating on a lake of burning rock" (p. 69). Moore's essays are like superglue for the soul. They will stick with you long after clinging to every last word.

G. Merritt

I've read most of the chapters in this book twice, some three times. The three sections - Connection, Separation, Connection - enforce the metaphor of the title, the holdfast, the structure that grips the kelp to the ocean floor. So we have holdfasts in life that Kathleen Dean Moore documents here. Love, family, being in the natural world, wondering, creating, remembering, are our connectors. Fear, pain, death, destroying the natural world are our separators. These truths are rooted in what seem simplicities like baking bread, avoiding estate sales, howling with wolves, canoeing a marsh, casting a fly, mastering a field guide, but each reaches out, like the wands of kelp, toward the mysteries of our existence. There is joy here and sorrow, a celebration of life in all its forms. I'll be reading more of Moore and many of these chapters again and again.

This book is part introspective -- looking inward. This book is part extrospective -- looking outward. For me, the books underlying theme was about understanding your connection (home) to all of that.

The author managed to do this all without sounding as vague and cheesy as I just did. :)

I don't want to over-hype. The book didn't revolutionalize my life. Yet, I have found myself returning to these pages for more.

If you are the least bit ponderous or enjoy natural beauty -- or would like to grow in either of those areas. I'd recommend it.

I previously read Ms. Moore's book, Riverwalking and loved every word of it. Her second book is again filled with a mixture of philosophy, family remembrances and nuggets of truth. How do we find our way in this world? She seems to live every moment and to cherish what has made her life fulfilling: camping trips, watching her children become adults, remembering her parents, and knowing that the quiet, small moments usually make the most significant memories that will be remembered. I can hear the wind, smell the campfire, taste the fish on the fire and feel the texture of her sleeping bag. I can feel the grief of her father dying, her anger about the clearcutting that ravages a once pristine mountain range, the joy she feels on a snowy morning, and the love and memories that return when she revisits the place where she first met her husband. What makes up a life? Who will remember us when we are no longer alive? I treasure this little book and recommend it highly!

A "must have" for anyone serious about understanding IBM's Information Management System. Clear, concise information for those in the know too! Don't format your RAA without it!

I've been documenting IMS- and DB2-related products for almost 20 years. I had the pleasure of working with Dean Meltz on a long ago version of IMS, and knew then that his knowledge of the database was detailed and comprehensive.

I'm so glad that he was able to put much of that knowledge into one, easy-to-understand IMS primer. While many IMS gurus are retiring, and replacements are hard to find, I think this book is a staple for any IMS shop. This is not an operator's reference. (IMS already has a good one of those.) But it does provide a good overview of database structure and design and explains key points well, with very good illustrations.

This book is a much needed addition to IMS literature. I'm sure it will stand the test of decades, just as the database has done.

After giving a very brief history of IMS, the authors give us a guided tour of its extensive capabilities.

You will learn that IMS has continually evolved from its roots as a hierarchical database to an industrial strength transaction manager that services both SNA and TCP/IP and supports Java, XML and SQL access via stored procedures.

This book does not attempt to describe every nuance of all the IMS features. Instead, it touches upon each capability and discusses the most-used functions. If there is more to know, the reader is directed to the applicable IMS manuals (available on the web).

You can sit down and read this book cover to cover, or you can reference individual chapters to find out what you need, when you need it.

This reference will be close at hand on my bookshelf.

This is the most complete reference book for IMS I have ever seen.

This is a very good java programming book, especially for beginning programmers. I've used it for both my java classes in college and it has helped me immensely in laying the foundations of my knowledge about java. It is very well organized and there is a nice flow to the book (the illustrations and examples are really helpful).

The best thing about this book is that it explains each new concept in detail, so that it would make perfect sense to somebody who has never had any prior programming experience.

This is one book that keeps you glued to the pages and makes learning a new language seem almost simple! I highly recommend buying this book!!!

I've used this book in my Java 2 class and found it very useful and accessible. I also used it as a reference when grading other homeworks. Either way the book was extremely good. This book shows clearly the authors knowledge of the subject and mentality of meeting the students at least halfway as they learn programming.

Heartily recommend this to anyone!

The Dean's emphasis on readability make this book very easy for someone who is not experienced with the philosophies of programming (OOP) and the Java language. Having used the materials for my own use, the content definitely help pave the way for mastery of other languages (c++, objective-c, javascript, etc) - thanks to the fundamentals from this book.

I would definitely recommend this book to those wanting to pick up Java or build a good foundation for understanding the principles of software development!!

This is the best Java book I ever seen. It explains all topics in a simple and efficient way. You can start knowing nothing about programming and you will finish with the first steps to be an expert. Reading this book helped me get 2nd place on the ACM Regional Programming Contest last year and several other awards. I've read some other Java books and this the best. I recommend this book to anyone!!!

This book is amazing! Dean Cycon is amazing! I've seen "Fair Trade" coffee in stores but until I read "Javatrekker," I hadn't grasped the magnitude of the problems so many coffee farmers face. Dean Cycon is on a mission...his dedication to help poor coffee farmers improve their lives is remarkable. He deserves the Nobel Peace Prize! If you read this book and you possess an ounce of compassion for humanity, you will never buy non-Fair Trade coffee again. I highly recommend this book. It is entertaining, educational and inspirational.

Coffee is more than just another drink: it's about politics, survival, and indigenous people - and Javatrekker is the perfect guide to the politics, culture and meaning of coffee. From Fair Trade business issues to adventure travel, anthropology and politics, JAVATREKKER surveys the peoples, customs and trade of coffee around the world in an invigorating, moving account recommended for any general-interest collection and in particular for college-level libraries strong in world economics.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

In remarkably few decades Fair Trade went, from a simple and hopeful idea, to a 2.3 billion dollar business! This unprecedented success owes much to the wit, the persistence and devotion of a handful of activists such as Dean Cycon. But unlike many of his fellow travelers who concentrate on improving the palate and the social conscience of western consumers, Dean sees Fair Trade as a vehicle for much more profound changes in the lives of the coffee producers. Accordingly, he concentrates his efforts in reaching out to the cooperatives from which he buys his organic beans and shares his profits directly with them in the form of infrastructure investments such as water wells and local schools and, far more than that, with his tireless concern and the effervescent warmth of his presence.

In "Javatrekker" Dean collects some of the many charming memoirs of his incessant globetrotting through the coffee lands in a style which both emulates and evokes the very story telling traditions which inhabit these regions. He calls these accounts, quite accurately, "dispatches" since most of the local situations he describes are evolving from dire to hopeful and will obviously require updates beyond the ones he provides. Through Dean's recollections we are introduced to a number of colorful characters, literally sages and saints, idols and heroes, traders and tricksters from all corners of the world but, more than anything, these are people engaged in bettering their lives and those of their kin peacefully and joyfully. Their stories range from the humorous to the tragic, but Dean always manages to describe their struggles with the touching note that conveys to the alert reader that these are hardly any different in their dreams and aspiration from those one meets on our everyday. It is this recurring slice-of-humanity which makes Javatrekker a far better read than most travel or development literature. More than a hybrid of these two popular genres this book is really a "field manual" for a new, global campaign whose time is surely here: one that firmly rejects charity and "aid" as the currency of exploitation in favor of peaceful productive engagement and the local community empowerment which the example of fair trade has proven possible. What propels Dean's trekking is also, quite clearly, the quest for the next stage, beyond fair trade, in this long but ever more necessary bridge between worlds.

Western fair trade supporters are found to point out that coffee, as a commodity, is second only to oil in total annual volume of trade. They stop short, however, from speculating on what the world would be like if coffee producers had a measure control over their global market even remotely comparable to that which the Oil Cartel exerts over the price of the barrel! Perhaps Fair Trade is still in its early stages and is likely to become the new platform for a globalizing economy concerned with product quality as well as sustainability and climate change. Or maybe it is time to think of a more ambitious formula to fight worldwide inequality in trading justice that may bring about more immediately results. In either case Javatrekker will remain a vital and historical testimonial beyond the delightfully entertaining wild ride that it surely is. GET IT! READ IT! (You will thank me later...)

Javatrekker is not just another book about fair trade coffee. Dean, founder of 100% fair trade, organic coffee roaster Dean's Beans, does describe fair trade, but entirely through recounting stories from his years of "Javatrekking" or traveling to coffee origins to meet the producers. Javatrekker is a great introduction to fair trade and is also some of the best travel writing I have read.
Javatrekker would be a great read for anyone interested in travel to LDCs or fair trade coffee.

While looking into becoming foster parents, I ran across this book. I am so incredibly impressed with this book! The ideas not only make sense, but THEY WORK. Children are our most precious resources and should be treated as such. Life should not be full of punishments no matter how troubled any person is. This should be required for anyone that has or plans to have children. Crisis' are a part of life, and don't have to be life threatening to be life changing. Thank you, Ross!

What a great book! Ross not only tells us how to deal with tough kids, he helps us prevent the situations in the first place. If every kid knew they were special for something, society wouldn't have any troubled kids.

What a wonderful book- a wealth of information and a sensible, progressive way of thinking. This is a book of ideas and strategies, not a fix all. Even though I don't have a child that would be described as "in crisis", I do have three teenagers, and we have occasional "crises"- short lived as they may be. This book is a wonderful help for our usually good/occasionally-not-so-good functioning family. Thanks Ross and Dean for a great reading and educational experience!

I read KIDS IN CRISIS this afternoon and couldn't put it down. As the stay-at-home mom of a four year old and a one year old, I found the principles to be just as useable for me as they are for foster parents struggling with seemingly hardened teenagers. Everywhere I turn (sigh), whether it's church, the pediatrician's office or the playground, I have to dodge popular parenting theories that lopsidedly embolden parents to "reach for a bigger hammer" (a term Ross frequently uses in his book). I know this only intensifies power struggles and disempowers children and young people, stripping them of dignity and worth, and often causing them to either become rageful and destructive or simply emotionally flat and "compliant." So I was excited to read this book which offers a brilliant, sound, tried and true, individualized, paradoxical strategy for parenting every age group: instead of reaching for "a bigger hammer" (read: becoming more punitive and emotionally distant), consider the developmental and temperamental needs of each child and work WITH that rather than against it. Using the analogy of a bank account, Ross encourages parents to make personalized deposits into their chldren's emotional bank accounts (love, compliments, understanding, grace, quality time) before making withdrawals (discipline, correction, requiring behavior change, etc.).

Citing real-life examples from decades of personal experience not only as an RTC/foster agency professional, but also as a parent, Ross will win readers over with his authenticity, expertise and sense of true compassion for even the most troubled youth. Without sounding preachy or clinical, Ross not only lays out sound and balanced theoretical framework (which he calls Love to Nurture), drawing from the developmental theories of Erickson, Piaget & Kohlburg, but he also provides practical tools to help any parent successfully integrate these ideas into everyday life by using the STAR principles. From the expectant mom to the seasoned foster parent who's at a loss with an especially disturbed teenager, every parent can benefit from this fresh approach to parenting challenges.

A few years ago, I sat speechless when a "mentor mom" at my MOPS group spoke and told a room full of young moms (of the 0-5 age group, mind you) to "never let them win." In that same speech, she told these moms to "strap" their one-year olds in time out if they wouldn't stay put. I walked away disturbed, saddened, and sickened that dangerous ideas such as these are being lapped up by desperate parents looking for answers to disciplinary dilemmas. But Ross's book provides a welcome respite from some of these punitive, emotionally bankrupt methods by teaching parents how to cultivate and maintain an actual relationship with their children--no matter how difficult--while optimizing the kids' development of their God-given interests, passions & gifts, leaving kids feeling empowered and motivated to rise to the task of giving their personal best.

As a veteran youthworker of ten years, and the father of three, I was so refreshed to read this practical guide to, not just parenting, but caring for young people. Society has in many ways sytematically abandoned our youth. I throughouly enjoyed this helpful easy read and I think it is a vital and neccesary tool for parents and youth workers alike.

Congratulations to Moonstone for bringing out a second anthology of our favorite underdog in a birdfeeder hat.

For those of you new, Kolchak was the X-Files before the X-Files. Get The Night Stalker/The Night Strangler (Double Feature), then the TV series (Kolchak - The Night StalkerS). And I must give kudos again to Moonstone: The Kolchak Papers: The Original Novels, the Holy Grail, is back in print

Each story deserves its own rating. The two best are "Stealing Fire" (Ch. 2) and "Call Me Sam." (Ch. 16). Coincidentally they are about mercy and justice respectively. Kolchak, when the writers are at their best, is not about chills or the fear of the unknown, but about the human condition. We all live below our potential, so we are all underdogs. We have all told our employer "See, I Told You So," so we are all Cassandras. And somehow, we still seem to come out on top, despite the dangers.

Chapter 17 "Cancellation" is a treat. It was written by Mark Dawidziak, the author of the The Night Stalker Companion: A 25th Anniversary Tribute. It is also a wonderful "In Your Face" for any Kolchak fan who was bothered, even scandalized by the not-short-enough revival series Night Stalker - The Complete Series. It has to be 2007's winner of the Tom Swift Award for Dead-On Satire. Again, Cassandra; again "See, I told You So."

The rest of the stories are ho-hum. This is not bad, because the series had it share of turkeys. Future Authors: Keep in mind that Kolchak has a very obvious pattern or format.

* The story being with a run of the mill crime, with some inexplicable details.
* There are Dragnet-esque time slugs, which gives the story a feeling of concrete and factual reality.
* Kolchak examines the odd details.
* Tony is skeptical, which he indicates at the top of his lungs.
* Kolchak interacts with quirky experts, oddball people, and mysterious contacts (The Monk of the lower orders is the best informant).
* Kolchak runs afoul of the Powers That Be who mastermind a cover-up in the public interest. (Claude Atkins is the best, with Mr. RING the creepiest)
* Kolchak takes matters into his own hands.
* There is collateral damage, for which Kolchak takes the blame.
* Justice is served to society, but not to Kolchak.

This formula also explains why Kolchak lasted only one season. The concept was limited, and there was no room for growth. At the end of The Night Strangler, Tony gets convinced, but then later in the series he thinks Kolchak is crazy. The backtracking locked the series into a formula that would quickly becomes stale and repetitive. The Cassandra complex got old since it never went anywhere.

*

So if you like you horror in a lo-cal version, such as Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) or Ghostbusters Double Feature Gift Set (Ghostbusters/ Ghostbusters 2 and Commerative Book), or just love Darren McGaven, get this book. It's not the over the top best, but the three stories are worth reading.

Another collection of fine stories. This is the character we all grew to know and love back in the seventies, not the one in the aborted new show(shudder). It's worth the price to lovers of the oddball character Darrin McGavin brought us way back when. Moonstone has a new novel on the way as well. Anyone who likes good adventure should check out The Spider anthology and The forthcoming Phantom anthology as well.

A wonderful collection of new adventures for our beloved Night Stalker, Carl Kolchak. Spooky, unnerving, supernatural, fun, funny, and thought-provoking, these tales stay true to the quirky character we came to love on television in the 1970's. Includes two gorgeous interior illos by Cortney Skinner for the Chris Golden/Rick Hautala and the Pierce Askegren stories. Absolutely worth the cover price.

When Kolchak: The Nightstalker premiered in 1974, I was firmly convinced it was the greatest show ever. Unfortunately not enough people thought the same way I did and the show lasted a single season...just 20 episodes in all. Despite that, the show has continued to have a strong cult following and re-runs were still turning up on the Sci-Fi channel just a couple of years ago. ABC even did a remake, which failed miserably. While the remake had the same character names, the show had no character, at least none of the character that the original did. Carl Kolchak, reporter for the Independent News Service, each week encountered the strange and horrific: werewolves, vampires, swamp creatures, Native American spirits, mummies, etc...Each week Kolchak would find a way to destroy the creature and each week no one would believe him.

While the remake failed to capture the spirit of the original show, Moonstone Books has been doing a marvelous job keeping Kolchak alive through a series of graphic novels and prose books. The latest is Kolchak: The Nightstalker Casebook, featuring 17 original stories by Tom DeFalco, P.N. Elrod, Elizabeth Massie, Joe Gentile, Mike Baron, Christopher Golden, John Ostrander, and James Reasoner, to name just a few. What is immediately obvious is that these writers were all fans of the show and understand the Kolchak character very well. Kolchak was an average guy. Unlike most central characters of TV shows, Kolchak was older, middle-aged in fact. Not especially handsome, nor athletic, and not particularly brave. His courage grew out of his need to always be able to get the story.

One unique characteristic of the TV show was that Kolchak (played remarkably by the late Darren McGavin) often voiced over certain scenes in the show in a first person perspective, usually a scene where a pretty girl was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Many of the stories in this book, and frankly my favorite ones, are told in first person point of view and it made me feel like I was sitting around my parent's living room on a Friday night watching the show again. They've not only captured Kolchak's character but also that of his irascible editor Tony Vincenzo, and fellow INS reporter the squeamish Ron Updyke.

While the TV show was set in Chicago, the stories in this book are set in California as Kolchak and Vincenzo have moved on to the Hollywood Dispatch. Allowing the writers some poetic license, they acknowledge the Chicago period yet these stories are set firmly in the present with mention of modern day technology such as computers and cell phones. Kolchak will encounter the spirit of a bloodthirsty Aztec priestess, a lake-dwelling creature, an inhuman grave robber, a ghostly diner, spectral pirates, and other denizens of the night.

One of the most poignant tales, Alternate Endings by John Ostrander, finds Kolchak back in Chicago and visiting the boarded up local tavern he frequented with an old flame named Cassie who was murdered by a serial killer. Walking through the door of the long closed bar, Kolchak is transported back in time with a chance to save his one time love from her terrible fate.

The series may have ended over thirty years ago but Kolchak lives on thanks to Moonstone books.

REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON