Dunne Books

As I initially began the book, it felt like a translation that was not done very well. The sentences were stiff and non-descriptive. They seem to be from the mind of a teenager, not the 70 year old telling the story. It is an odd way to tell the story.

As the story evolved, I said to myself that there isn't much new here. If you have read about occupied Europe and the plight of the home countries while Germany raped the cities and states of everything to keep the war machine going, then there isn't anything new here.

This is an interesting story, for the most part, it's been told many times before. There is one plot line angle, a new perspective, something that touches you straight through the heart. This is what is new and original. This is the twist of life as seen from the eyes of someone that we cannot possibly understand.

While I enjoyed it, I would only recommend it to someone that has not read something like this in the past. It takes almost no time to read and is really a novella, instead of a full length book. I really would not pay for it, but would pick up a copy at the library if you are interested.

For the entire book, I was grading it a 3, but because of the last third of the book, I've upgraded it to a 4. The writing is child-like and the descriptions do not really pull you into the life of the characters. There is not the character development that is necessary to make it a first rate book, but it was a very different perspective than that you've read about in the past.

I don't read that many books but I read this book for my Senior Project. This book isn't one bit boring and always makes you wonder what else is going to happen! I encourage you read it!

This book went by too fast and didn't develop relationships enough to entice me. I thought the father / son relationship, specifically, should have been more though. I was also a bit frightened by the rage the narrator expresses toward Anne Frank. "What's so great about her book? I don't see it. A moody teenager, boy-crazy, she hates her mother, who cares? And spoiled! She gets twenty pounds of peas, with no appreciation of the danger people went through to deliver them or that the delivery would cost someone, me, his job. All she can see is the inconvenience to her in shelling the peas." ..... "Maybe I am cracked like you say."

A great story that is wonderfully told. Richard Lourie has again done a masterful job.

This is a clever exploration of venality amongst ordinary people faced with surviving in wartime (WWII) Netherlands. It utilizes/exploits the reader's familiarity with the Anne Frank story. It is told from the point of view of a teenager, who begins as a would be resistance fighter, becomes a black marketeer, then is willing to betray Jews for the price of a few eggs, to keep his ill father alive that much longer. The book is chilling in an understated way, and I did find myself thinking about its perspective on people under stress. However, none of the characters is really interesting, and the father-son relationship which is so important to the story is so poorly developed that it seems more a plot device than anything else.

In The Jaws Of The Dragon is a beautifully written analysis of the rise of China and the place of the U.S. in the alarming age of globalization. It documents what our policymakers have chosen to ignore and presents its case with astonishing clarity. This is a must read for every westerner.

In an evolution of economies that appears to confound the thesis of Fukuyama globalization is showing an unexpected new 'mutation' as the developing economic system of China is resisting the transition to democracy. The Chinese have reinvented the forms of capitalism, witness the shadow authoritarian tactics of increasing the savings rate. In the process of describing the Chinese case the book also illuminates the history of Japan in this regard. And American corporations have shown the shallowness of their allegiance to democratic principle by embracing this trend as they tread down the dangerous path of reverse convergence.
I think in the end the result will prove its own undoing, and as the totalitarian Olympics approachs we see how the natural emergence of civil society if thwarted will prove an abortive result that the Chinese people must move to correct.

Anyone who has read "The World is Flat" should also read "In The Jaws Of The Dragon" to understand both sides of the issues involved in offshoring. Eamon Fingleton clearly defines the differences between the economic systems in play in China and Japan and the United States and how those differences have damaged the United States economy. The naive position taken by both the Republicans and the Democrats that offshoring is good for America is shown to be wrong because of a fundamental lack of knowledge about who we are dealing with. Every member of Congress and the executive branch should read this book before ratifying any more trade agreements. The old saying of the marketplace applies: Take advantage of me once, shame on you. Take advantage of me twice, shame on me.

This is a very well-written and thought-provoking book, and I would have liked to have given it 4.5 stars if it were possible.

I cannot give it the last half-star for one reason, and that is that I don't think the book does quite enough to stand on its own as a persuasive work to the uninitiated. At the very least, readers of this book should also read Fingleton's Blindside. Despite its unfortunate subtitle, Blindside is an absolute must-read offering the best exposition on the East Asian economic system to date. Points touched on in Jaws, such as the advantages of cartels and the reasons for favoring certain industries over others are treated in more depth in Blindside.

In addition, I would also like to have seen some treatment in Jaws of China's relationship with Europe. I am left wondering to what extent the US's troubles with China also apply generally to the whole of the West.

Of course, Jaws is only one book, and there is still more than enough of interest here to make it an important and fascinating read.

A veritable page-turner for anyone interested in the worst political mistakes of the modern West. Opening up American markets to communist China has not fostered the spread of a democratically inclined spirit but has had devastating effects on the U.S. economy that can no longer be ignored. Jaws should be mandatory reading for anyone with even a passing interest in the impending economic crisis that looms large on the Western horizon. Fingleton's conclusions are elegant, his evidence compelling, and the relevance of his book immeasurable.

Great seafaring book. I have all the Lewrie books. Mr Lamdin is an exceptional author. One I start reading one his books I am enthralled. I feel like I am there with Captain Lewrie, on and off ship. Will keep buyimg all his books.

When a fellow reviewer wrote "Would not go to work this morning without turning the last page and then required several hankies and some Visine to do so." they mirrored my experience almost to a "T".

I have thoroughly enjoied all of Lambdin's Lewrie novels and this one defiantely didn't let me down. In fact, it is at the top of my list of favorites in this line.

My only complaint is that each new book in the series seems to get released later and later. For a long time, the books would release in Sept / Oct and I learned a long time ago to wait and read the current book around the end of August so I caould delve right into the next one.. Now I'll have to wait until January!

Would not go to work this morning without turning the last page and then required several hankies and some Visine to do so. 4 out of 5? Well, there must be something better and I'll be ready when I discover it. Lambdin again provides rollicking entertainment, and is a fount of archaic blasphemies and curses. This work is well worth the price and the exciting ride. Dosvadanya

Ever since the first of this series came out, with our lad bedding his half sister and getting caught in the proverbial act on page one, he's been called Alan Lurid in our household, and for good reason -- the earlier books were a real romp in misbehaviour, Royal Navy style. Alan boarded and vanquished at least as many young maidens -- and former-maidens -- as enemy ships in these earlier books and you could count on all sorts of action in every title. Then he hooked up with this Caroline character, married her, and his love life pretty much went to hell...kids, house payment, a vast estate to manage, crabby neighbors, and a wife who turned into something of a shrew just because she discovered he's had a few girls in a few ports -- what was she expecting? Well, along comes this latest book and I am hoping he'll recruit a new mistress or two, but no -- Lewrie flirts a bit with an actress in this story but her virtue (if any) remains as pure at the end (so to speak) as when he met her -- no bodices ripped, no panting orgies on this literary cruise. Caroline has him throughly intimidated and I almost expected him to go into counseling. But don't let me talk you out of reading this title -- it's still fun. And wouldn't the sailors of two hundred years ago smile if they could know that, here in the Twenty-First Century that we'd be fascinated with their lives and times?

The French Admiral (2nd book) will probably always be the best book in this series, with the opener `The Kings Coat' a close second. The books that followed were readable but slowly deteriorated until it hit rock bottom with the 2 HMS Jester books (7 & 8 I think).

A King's Trade however has totally rekindled my passion for this series and left me on a high waiting for the 12th book. It is great to know that we are only in the year 1800 and have 15 years left of war/peace for Lambdin to write Lewrie into.

I do not understand a previous reviewers comments about the story not being fully developed and being a prelude to the next novel. The book does have an apt ending and is book 11 in a long series, of course there is a prelude to the next novel. Far from feeling let down, I believe this to be Lambdin best work since the French Admiral. Great writing, good flow of the story and a battle in the end.

Good book, style is a bit uneven, but it is Jim Dent's style. Football in the early days, no money, riots on the field, in the stands, gambling, and the greatest football player of the era. If Red Grange brought professional football respectability and to the nations attention, Bronko kept it interested.

Good job of reporting on the era surrounding the story. 20's through the 40's in America.

This is a highly entertaining biography of one of the most celebrated football players in Chicago Bear history, Bronko Nagurski, who starred for the Minnesota Golden Gophers as a college athlete before turning professional. Jim Dent's welcome book may well serve to introduce Nagurski to a new generation of football fans.

Nagurski, the son of immigrants from Central Europe (from the Polish Ukraine), was born in Ontario, Canada, but his family relocated across the border to International Falls, Minnesota, where Nagurski would continue to live for the remainder of his life. He compiled an outstanding athletic record while at the University of Minnesota that earned him national acclaim. Later, he would be elected to the National Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio for his many accomplishments as a professional player.

For most Americans of Nagurski's era, football was secondary to baseball and the sport was viewed by many as simply a means to pass the time during the Fall and Winter months while waiting for the next baseball season to begin. In fact, many celebrated college football players turned to the baseball diamond after graduation because it offered better paychecks and the prospect of greater job security. "Papa Bear" George Halas, himself, had played a handful of baseball games for the New York Yankees. Jim Thorpe, Ernie Nevers, Paddy Driscoll and so many others did the same, but many great football players were only mediocre baseball players. In other instances, however, pro football lost talented players to pro baseball.

The pioneers in the National Football League operated under circumstances that would seem incredible to the spoiled millionaire athletes playing today: player salaries were minimal in most cases (oftentimes, as little as $2,000.00 per season for ordinary players). Sometimes, the ticket sales receipts from the box office had to be collected in order to pay immediate expenses and wages. NFL franchises frequently folded due to insolvency.

In one telling example that addresses both the hard times of the Great Depression and the legendary penury of Bears' owner George Halas , author Jim Dent describes how players who required athletic tape, bandages and liniments from the team trainer, Andy "Doc" Lotshaw, earning some extra dollars after his summer baseball employment with the Cubs concluded, were subjected to wage deductions imposed by the thrifty Halas to recover the nominal costs of the trainer's supplies.

Another obstacle to the prosperity of professional football was the fact that an overwhelming majority of fans viewed college football as the legitimate brand of the game. Nagurski's own college coach actually tried to discourage him from turning professional. The upstart professional league was considered too undignified by many fans of the college game.

When George Halas relocated the Decatur Staleys, a factory sponsored team, to Chicago, he appropriated the orange and blue team colors from the University of Illinois, his alma mater, and named his football team "The Bears" as a derivative of the Chicago Cubs baseball team which also played at Wrigley Field. In another bid to gain further respect for the fledging professional league, Halas signed well known college stars such as Harold "Red" Grange and Nagurski to the team roster.

I found this book to be enjoyable for a number of reasons. The Halas family once lived in the same Catholic parish as did my family; the Vanisi family, which produced two sons who went on to become football general managers, once lived one block down our street. My grandfather worked with Red Grange when "the Galloping Ghost" began selling insurance after his injured legs no longer permitted him to make the "cuts" that made him such an exceptional gridiron runner. Dent provides an accurate description of Grange bandaged and taped like a mummy as he played his final season of football.

Notorious gangsters like Al Capone and his constant bodyguard and companion, "Machine Gun" Jack McGurn, were frequently in the grandstand at Wrigley Field, where the Bears played their home games for nearly fifty years. Capone would generously tip the Bears players if the team had played an especially exciting game. Players and fans frequently mingled in the same speakeasies after the contests concluded.

Nagurski continually had quarrels with Halas concerning his salary and eventually retired after one such dispute in 1937. He took up professional wrestling as a new moneymaking venture and became a champion. He reinvested his big city earnings into a gas station that he operated for many years in his hometown of International Falls.

During World War Two, when the National Football League struggled to operate with depleted rosters, Halas requested that Nagurski come out of retirement and return to the Bears. After a six year absence, Nagurski helped lead the team to another title in 1943. This unique and unprecedented comeback season is the central episode in Dent's book.

After reading "Monster of the Midway," I corresponded with the author, Jim Dent, a football enthusiast best known for writing "The Junction Boys" an earlier book which described the beginning of the career of coaching legend Paul "Bear" Bryant. "The Junction Boys" was eventually adapted for a cable television movie.

Dent, who is a Texan, sent me a gracious handwritten letter which acknowledged the receipt of a list of corrections and suggested revisions that I had sent to him. His book, like many written by authors who are not natives to the localities that they are describing, contained a number of minor errors and misdescriptions. Some authors have delicate egos when it comes to readers pointing out any research errors and omissions that they may have made, but Dent politely admitted that my suggested corrections were largely accurate and that he added that he intended to incorporate several of the changes to the text when the book was reprinted. Like many authors, Dent had almost all of the essentials in place, but missed a few secondary details about Chicago and its sports teams.

I was interested to learn that Nagurski's son played college football at Notre Dame and joined the Hamilton Tiger Cats of the Canadian Football League afterwards. Before his death, Nagurski accepted an invitation to attend a Super Bowl game as the guest of NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle.

Someday, I hope that a movie adaptation of "The Monster of the Midway" can be produced. Jim Dent alluded to this prospect. In the meanwhile, seek out this book if you like old time football or are curious about the origins of the game, you will probably be pleased with this title. It is fun to read and not too heavy in its approach to the subject. By all accounts, Nagurski was an honest, hardworking and unassuming man and Dent captures his spirit in this way.

Jim Dent's Monster of the Midway is less a biography of Bronko Nagurski, and more of a historical look at the era in which Nagurski dominated the National Football League.

If you are a sports fan, you may enjoy this book; if you are an NFL fan you will love learning about the story of one of the league's most endearing names and a charter member of the pro football hall of fame. If you are a sports history afficianado like myself, you will enjoy the stories Dent has to tell and appreciate the way he makes this book read like a novel at times. In some ways I even feel this book will translate well to a television movie -- like the Junction Boys.

It took me about two weeks to finish this book which is my average pace of about one chapter per night. Where Jim Dent fails to deliver to the reader is an inside look at the life of Bronko Nagurski. After completing this book, I did not feel as if I had spent those two weeks with Bronko himself, rather, I felt I had just spent the entire time watching old films of the Bears against the Packers and reading old newspaper clips from the Chicago Tribune.

Jim Dent is a good writer, but I would not put his Monster of the Midway in the same league as Jane Leavy's biography of Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy -- one of my favorite sports books. Leavy's work made me feel as if I had spent a September evening at Dodger Stadium sitting next to Sandy Koufax reliving his glory days. I did not get that type of feeling when I read Monster of the Midway.

Perhaps this is an unfair comparison. Part of the problem that Dent may have faced, primarily is that Nagurski is no longer with us, but also, there probably was not a whole lot said or heard about Nagurski for him to work with. The National Football League at the time was in it's infancy and nowhere near the media monster that it is today, or what Baseball was in the 1960's for that matter.

Regardless, I added this book to my collection because it is a good book. As a football fan, and a Bears fan in particular, I enjoyed this book and will cherish what I learned.

The name Bronko Nagurski. You know this man was not a ballet dancer. This is more than a book about "The Nag" and the Chicago Bears. It is also a book about a number of other old football names I have heard of, but knew nothing about. Sid Luckman, Hunk Anderson, Don Hutson, Johnny "Blood" McNally, Clyde "Bulldog" Turner, Beattie Feathers, George Preston Marshall, Curly Lambeau, Slingin' Sammy Baugh, and, of course, the Papa Bear himself, George Halas. This was a period of players playing both on offense and defense, no hash marks, the fat ball, the quarterback being fair game until a play is blown dead by an official, and other rules that had not been placed into the game. George Preston Marshall, owner of the then Boston Redskins who played in Fenway Park, spoke to the conservative owners about the need to change some rules to jazz up the game to make it more exciting to the public. He was lucky to have a sympathetic listener in George Halas as support for his ideas. The demise of the fat ball made it possible to throw more passes, and put an end to the endless amount of running plays. One of Marshall's best ideas was to split the league into two conferences, and setting up a championship game each year. For all his good ideas, he stated he wanted Negroes out of the game. Black players had been part of the game since 1920, but Marshall's appeal banned black players from further play. Bronko Nagurski played for the Bears throughout the 1937 season, and left the team over a difference of $500 that The Nag and Halas differed over. Nagurski made money wrestling, and eventually came back to play for the Bears during the 1943 season. What surprised me was the number of college coaches such as Amos Alonzo Stagg and Knute Rockne who discouraged college players from entering the professional ranks. In 1990 Nagurski traveled to the Mayo Clinic to fuse bones in his ankles. A doctor asked for an autograph for his son, and The Nag wrote, "To Jeremy--Do Not Play Football. Bronko Nagurski." This is a book filled with colorful anecdotes, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Jim Dent tells the story of Bronko Nagurski's football career. "Monster of the Midway: Bronko Nagurski, the 1943 Chicago Bears, and the Greatest Comeback Ever" is not a biography. It is about a football player and why he became among the greatest players ever, with special emphasis on one season (1943). Dent, however, can't help but to provide the background of Nagurski's early life.

Bronko Nagurski was the Babe Ruth of football. No one was greater, more dominant, more powerful at their sport than Nagurski. Others have played well: We all know about Michael Jordan, Mickey Mantle, and Lance Armstrong, but few have embodied the essence of their sport with such successful excellence. I should mention Muhammad Ali. He often bragged he was the greatest, and he was.

Someone needs to make a movie of this story. Bronko began the Hollywood/Horatio Alger as a hardworking, not too complicated future football hero. He had heart and the physical strength size to back it up. Good true football movies are sparse. There's "Rudy" and "Brian's Song," but that's it. A Bronko Nagurski story could add to this short list.

Most of the book reads like a docudrama, utilizing storytelling techniques rarely found in sports books.

If I were a high school football coach, I would have my players read this book. Bronko Nagurski played the game before the lights shone brightly on the pocketbooks, when the swagger and dance of endzone celebrations were still years away, and the game was still played by big, tough men not pretty enough for white-toothed smiling products endorsements. Nagurski was the kind of player the NFL needs today.

I fully recommend "Monster of the Midway: Bronko Nagurski, the 1943 Chicago Bears, and the Greatest Comeback Ever" by Jim Dent.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

Ok... so I know my title to this review is a bold one, but I don't think that it is too far-fetched. Kalstein, in his debut novel, sets his story 30 years in the future and pulls it off beautifully. He must have done quite a bit of research in order to create that world as well as the Orwellian Stansbury School, an academy that combines isolation from the real world and designer drugs (called the "med cycle") to mold its students (called "specimens") into leaders that will use their skills to make the world a better place to live.

Kalstein's characters are all very interesting, from the rebellious Cooley to the "by the book" valedictorian Goldsmith, coming together in a top notch thriller that has all the twists and turns that make for a great read. Other reviews claimed that this book was a "slow starter", but I disagree. Kalstein initially develops the futuristic setting and really lets the reader get to know the characters in detail before plunging into the "excitement".

This is a wonderful novel that you will find hard to put down once you start reading. I can't wait for Kalstein's next one.

This book was so good until it was about 2/3 done. That's when it started to drag and drone about the horrible deed done to one of the not-so-main characters. It made this book less than wonderful and kept taking away from the two main characters. It also didn't help that every other character that I thought was a good guy turned out to be truly terrible.

PRODIGY took such a long while to develop, I almost gave up on it about 1/3 of the way thru - but it is just at that point that the book starts to contain some decent action and become interesting. It is clear that some editor understood this, and had the writer put an action scene (which really belongs in a later part of the book) right at the beginning of the book - otherwise, this book would have been even easier to give up on, very early on.

The author does a good job of describing a near-future USA, where a specific school has been given almost carte-blanche to teach/develop the next Einsteins, which an over-populated world needs even more than ever... while the school definately succeeds in developing geniuses - it also succeeds in developing a lot of other "screwed up individuals" - and when the school is up for a $1 trillion dollar grant from the US Govt., there are those that would stop at nothing - even murder - to make sure it happes.

Besides the slow opening, the author was also able to sneak in some political propaganda, which would probably have been best to have been left out... for example, his obvious position regarding open immigration.

The year is 2036, the location is California, and the place is the Stansbury School, a super-elite, 125-story, K-12 boarding school. In this era, cars fly Jetson-style, the streets on ground level have been abandoned to junkies and criminals, and the California coast has metastasized Los Angeles and San Francisco into a San Angeles megalopolis.

Kalstein's self-contradictory premise begins with the populist notion that the public education system of 2008 was in complete collapse, blaming overpaid ($211,000 for a high school math teacher in 2008?) and underworked teachers and their intractable unions for the failure to educate children past a fourth grade level. In response, a high school principal named Raymond Stansbury (who conveniently happens to own a "California ranch estate") convinces 45 of the country's best teachers to quit their jobs simultaneously (shades of John Galt and ATLAS SHRUGGED) to join the newly formed (and certainly not accidentally named) Charter School in 2009.

For a mere $100,000 annual tuition, parents could enroll their little darlings as specimens, Dr. Stansbury's endearing term for his pupils. Specimens they indeed are, since the loving Dr. Stansbury clearly envisions the educational issues as being rather larger than mere obstructionist unions and lazy teachers. His Charter School (later renamed the Stansbury School after his death in 2020) is nothing more than an educational Skinner box, driven by behavior modification principles and primed with an orgy of high performance drugs that make sugar candy of the soma from Huxley's futurist world. Well-crafted pharmaceuticals from an early age have turned these nerds into super-nerds, not just intellectual superstars but perfect physical specimens with extraordinary reflexes, fighting skills, and athletic talents. Far from being those eponymous prodigies, Stansbury's students are just carefully screened, first-class druggies who make today's professional sports steroid junkies look like Little Leaguers. Laughably, the new school not only produces a first-year Class of 2009, but 78% of the graduates"were admitted to first-tier Ivy League universities." Now those are some really fast-acting drugs!

By 2036, the Stansbury School's faculty and student body have become an international phenomenon, the astonishing source of Senators and Supreme Court judges, corporate CEO's, developers of the gyro technology for flying cars as well as the thermal fingerprinting technology for heat-seeking bullets, and discoverers of cures for AIDS and (imminently) cancer. In fact, the school has been so overwhelmingly successful, it is poised to receive a $1 trillion government grant pending Congressional approval. Ah, but Kalstein's opening pages reveal that something dark and mysterious shadows this great institution as a small handful of less-than-stellar alumni are being assassinated.

If the inanity of this setup hasn't already convinced you, suffice to say that the remaining 300 pages lay out an utterly conventional, less-than-stellar action story of the Ludlum/Cussler/Patterson ilk. Good guys in white hats, well-intentioned but supremely naïve leaders, villains so totally evil they can barely control their wax-laden handlebar mustaches (even the females!), unassuming heroes, miraculous conversions to the truth, unexpected inner strengths discovered, irascible, curmudgeonly Senators, mystery drugs, and the like. Occasional pop references to the second coming of Hillary Clinton and the music of The Strokes (Still, in 2036? Heaven help us if they've become the geriatric Rolling Stones prancers of 2036.) don't help.

The book cover, actually quite cleverly designed, contains blurbs that reference Bret Easton Ellis's Less than Zero, Donna Tartt's The Secret History, Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, and classic sci-fi author Philip K. Dick. PRODIGY, and Mr. Kalstein, belong in this company about as much as I do. A toss-away beach read, at best.

Prodigy is an solid, impressive novel. Kalstein's prose is stylish yet efficient and his characters are richly drawn and sympathetic. Kalstein takes his time early on, but it pays off: Our glimpses of the characters' lives strengthen our connection to them and ensure that we care about their fate, and Kalstein's attention to detail in establishing the story's elaborate future history lends the setting an extra level of versimilitude. And once the plot gathers steam, it's hard to put the book down.

Occasionally, the story's fictional world strains credulity, but not where you'd think. The audacious broad strokes, in which Kalstein extrapolates the politics of this new world, ring true. It's the smaller details that sometimes stick out. Is it just a coincidence that all the main characters' favorite literature and music hails from the "late 20th century"? Each time a reference to Kenneth Lonergan or The Strokes or a classic Shelby appears, it's hard to escape the feeling that the author is name-checking his own favorites. And the surprisingly outlandish laser-syringe feeding system, while facilitating an excellent set piece, also seems to create a forgivable yet significant plot hole.

In spite of these nitpicks, however, Prodigy remains an engaging read with vivid characters and an entertaining rollercoaster plot, as well as powerful moments of genuine emotional weight.

I was very disappointed with this book. It deals with much of the overall picture of the air war with a few crewmen stories thrown in.

This is not an account of the whole European bomber offensive but that last 6 - 9 months, and although it covers both US daylight and RAF night offensive it is largly weighted towards the RAF Experience (which it should be if you consider the Tons Dropped and the losses suffered). However I reccomend this book because it is one of the few which tries to provide a accurate assessment of the events at the time without the benefit of hindsight, and avoids the revisionist approach of condemation of the events and the men. It gives a very fair analysis and perspective relating to "Bomber" Harris. and highlights the disgusting postwar treatment and abandonment of the Veterans of Bomber Command, by the British Government

Wonderful, moving, heartrending stories of these heroes and their courage in the face of the most formidable odds.Finished the book in no time and reread many of the incredible stories to my family aloud.
We can never repay them.
Bless'em all.

Great read. My son is reading now. You get a new appreciation for what these young men did in WW II.
The author relates so many great previously untold stories. As this generation of people passes, this book will become more important to tell their story.

I bought this book for my dad who was a tail-gunner in WWII, stationed in England. He really enjoyed this account but thought it focused more on the Royal Air Force, RAF, than the US Army Air Corp. He enjoyed learning about what went on prior to him being stationed in England and could easily relate to the stories.

This is a wonderful book and with Amazon's amazingly inexpensive price, you really can't pass this one up. Tony Duquette was a master of style with an incredible eye, and a creative genius. HIGHLY recommended.

I met Tony and his wife in Ireland - we were staying at Heney McIlhennys castle - he was terrible charming - I did not know of his career and am so sorry I didn't question him til he was exhausted.

karen marcus

Tony DuquetteI am an interior designer of some 20 years and while I found this book interesting it had very little to do with interiors and more to do with a very specific, unique and strange lifestyle. I'm sure the man was brilliant just know this book is not about liveable interiors.

Having lived in Los Angeles since 1981 and working as an art editor for a regional magazine, the name Tony Duquette came up time and again in my social circles. Without question, he was an amazing talent the likes of which we may never see again in our lifetime. His imagination and passion for his unworldly, surrealist visions are captured in this brilliantly orchestrated book. Bravo and brava to the authors! A must-have for everyone's art library!

This is a visually beautiful book that surveys the creative life of Tony Duquette, an artist best-know for his stage sets (Kismet, etc.)and high fashion jewelry. Less well known are his amazing home interior and garden designs, as well as his free-wheeling sculptures, many of them made from recycled and re-imagined objects. The photography is of the highest quality - most of it, I suspect, archival from fashion magazines over the decades.

Historical setting for a very riveting book. I was drawn into the story and felt like I was a witness, instead of a reader. The characters are complex and well defined. The mark of a good writer is one who can compel the reader to become emotionally invested in the story and the characters. As with all of Nann Dunne's works, this book brings the setting to life and the characters become as real as someone you know. I highly recommend this book!

A couple of bad words, too small of a courtship in the romance part of the story, and that most feared for girls in combat took place. I would have preferred to not have read this book (or that the Civil War happened, for sure).

This is the first book that I have read from Nann Dunne and I was not disappointed! I loved this book...and it really makes you think about how strong and couragous women are. The story is so believable and the characters are realistic. Sarah and Faith are amazing women. I was very touched by Ben, Faith's son and Lidsay,Sarah's siter-in-law. Lindsay is the support all of us want in our lives and Ben is the hope we want for our future. This book is so well writen and it does a good job taking the reader back to the 1800's. I hope that there will be a sequel to this great book! This a timeless classic and a very easy read! I look forward to reading more from Nann Dunne.

Sarah-Bren Coulter and Faith Pruitt, meet under the direst of circumstances. The country is at war - the North against the South - the Union against the Confederacy. Sarah, anxious to help the Union, disguises herself as a man and joins the fight. When she is injured, Sarah finds shelter with Faith and her son.

Time passes while Sarah heals, and both women soon find themselves with feelings for the other - feelings that could prove dangerous. Suddenly Sarah is betrayed and her "identity" unmasked. Faith does nothing to intervene, convinced that once Sarah is discovered to be a woman, she would be safe and sent home. Instead Sarah is sent right into the middle of another kind of hell. Reinjured and filled with both hatred and a need for vengenance against her betrayer Sarah returns to her home and family.

Unexpectedly, Faith shows up at Sarah's home as the fiancee of Phillip, a childhood friend of Sarah's. Both women are completely blindsided. Neither thought they would ever see the other again. Sarah wants little or nothing to do with Faith, convinced that she was the person who betrayed her. As for Faith, she soon finds herself torn between love and loyalty, even as she remains betrothed.

When a near tragedy threatens to take the life of someone close to Sarah, she is forced to acknowledge that she still has feelings for Faith. Will she lose Faith to marriage with Phillip? Can she convince Faith, who is still somewhat bitter over Sarah's mistrust and blame, to give her a second chance? Or will circumstances and the mistrust that forced them apart prove to strong to overcome?

Nann Dunne displays a unique talent in her telling of The War Between the Hearts. Her book is a dynamic story revolving around the lives of two women as events in history unfold. It is a truly intriguing tale of how war, hate, mistrust and deceit can cost you anything and everything - even the chance at love. Simply put - you may laugh, you will cry, and you might even cheer but you will be truly entertained.

I read this book on a cold, rainy weekend day; and the story has been in the back of my mind all week. The tale is compelling, the characters are believable, and the love story is heart wrenching.

Growing up with a twin brother, Sarah-Bren Coulter (aka Bren Cordell) learned how to ride and shoot like a man. She wants to support her Yankee countrymen in the Civil War effort, but as a woman she will have little impact. As a result, the determined woman disguises herself as a man and enlists as a scout. After a few years of dedicated service, Bren is shot. A southern woman, Faith Pruitt, and her son find themselves caring (and falling) for the injured soldier. Ok... that part you can get from the back cover...

This is a great story that addresses women's rights (and how far we've come). It deals with aspects of coming out in a very unaccepting environment. It touches on the "brother vs. brother" aspect of the Civil War. But, best of all, it draws the reader in and keeps the reader pleasantly (or frustratingly)confused until the very end.

Dunne successfully pulls together a myriad of tough topics into a wonderful romance. This one will stay on my shelf for many years to come.

Great human elements. Wish my small town could adapt some of Ms. Challis' well-developed empathy. Vivid, multigenerational characters are portrayed realistically. Her descriptions of local flora and fauna provide visions of thick hedges, stone walls, thickly-wooled sheep. Finished with a big smile and a cup of hot tea with milk - not a bad commendation for a summer-read in Georgia!

I've run out of Maeve Binchy books and this was a great substitute! I love getting to know the characters in the little towns and this book entertains with just that. I am going to be buying more of Sarah Challis's books.

Very hard to get into.... I'm almost 1/2 way and can still put it down easily.............

Enjoyed very much. Readers who are Rosemund Pilcher amd Marsha Willet fans will also like Sarah Challis'works.

This was my first Sarah Challis novel and I found her delightful characters living in a charming English village completely captivating. Readers who are enchanted by Rosamunde Pilcher and Marcia Willett will find Challis to be an equally enjoyable writer to spend time with.

Claudia Barron has led a glitzy and glamorous life in London. Alas, her well-known husband has recently been splattered across the tabloids, convicted of fraud, and exposed as an adulterer. Humiliated, Claudia flees to an inconspicuous village and hopes to live anonymously and detached from fair-weather friends. Even though she changes her name, her reclusive behavior causes mumblings in the village and before she can say "no comment" she has been thrust into a cast of characters as endearing as any you would want to meet: Julia Durnford, her nosey parker neighbor who manages every detail of the village; Peter, Julia's milquetoast husband; their daughter Victoria who is feeling the pangs of being the left-out and lonely teenager at boarding school; Jena, the ten-year old gypsy who runs free; and Valerie, the semi-alcoholic neighbor to whom Claudia can reveal her secrets. Add to this mix, Claudia's visiting adult children: the lively Lila who flies in from New York and Jerome, the brooding son who returns from India with a secret too devastating to share. And finally, there are the two available men who catch Claudia's eye---will she succumb to the sexy and suave Anthony Brewer or be stabilized by Chris, the straightforward widower with four daughters?

Cozy and comforting, this is a most appealing novel I was sad to see end.

This book, written in a beautiful, almost poetic prose, is engrossing, informative, and covered commonalities of the immune system, human behavior, genetics, family relations, faith, reason and science. I particularly liked the parallels between paranoia and immune system. In paranoia, the mind views almost everything as a threat, and may even inflict damage on innocent parties. In the latter the body attacks itself and other non-threats, causing injury to itself. Also, the details on how the immune system "remembers" and how the various organs police the system was fascinating. Not all of the personal family story snippets tied strongly to the central theme, but all were excellent writing and emotionally powerful. Anyone wanting to expand their horizons and view the world from a unique viewpoint could do well to read Callahan's fine book.

I didn't know a darn thing about the immune system, and it wasn't high on my list of must-research material, but this book is the best one I've read this year. What an amazing book! Absolutely fascinating -- and not just for science minded folks.

This book oddly jumped between an interesting view of the human body and, in particular, the immune system, to creepy and morbid personal memories of the author. Ick.

Callahan is that genre of author I like to describe as "scientifically based mystic." Scientist in that, true to his craft, he primarily uses the scientific method to probe the answers to life in the biological sense. Mystic in that he recognizes that science can provide many wonderful answers and statistics, but seldom the "meta" answers man has yearned for since we can remember.

"Who am I?" and "What is my place in the universe?" are questions seldom answered satisfactorily by science, and more comfortably by religion. Using his considerable experience and knowledge in the science of immunology, Callahan tackles these questions in a much different way then most scientists would, yet without an appeal to religiosity. Always with a healthy respect for the unknown, unseen and unknowable, Callahan deftly explores the hidden relationships between ourselvs, our parents and every other living thing comprising life.

He'll make you think in ways you possibly haven't thought before, and even tug at your heartstrings while recounting intensly personal stories experienced by us all. Highly recommended.

I call "Faith, Madness..." scientific poetry. It is a work of humanity, written in earnest, baring its flaws and uncertainty to reveal a possible truth about WHY and maybe more importantly HOW we are what we are. Callahan weaves snippets of insightful, passionate prose with personal ancedote to illustrate his theory that our immune systems help to define our individuality. I have been touched by this book. Not only does it speak to my thirst for scientific understanding but it lightly stroked my sense of spirituality. Science books like this don't come around very often.