Henry Books

This book is simply that.... refreshing. The approach of assigning credit to the African 25th Egyptian Dynasty of Kush is really well explained. And also, traditional ideas about "Divine intervention" or "rats who ate the bowstrings of the Assyrians" are dismissed with good enough explanations.

This is one of the greatest books I have ever read. Before I read Aubin's book, I went out to either purchase or research about 10 books (excluding the versions of the 4 bibles I read ) that covered the subect matter. His explanation is the only plausible explanation I've read to-date. What a great mystery that was well argued and the wonderful detail that he presented was excellent. I read the whole book in about 2 days as if it was a mystery novel. It is great to know a that "white person -a father" wrote this book because it strengthen my faith in mankind, regardless of race. History should be about facts and not racial agendas, black or white.

I also happened to luck-up on a copy of James Henry Breasted "A History of Egypt", one of the writers mentioned in "The Rescue of Jerusalem". What a racist this guy was, who at the time was consisdered the premire expert in Egyptolgy. I'm glad I read Breasted's book myself to verify the accuracy of Aubin's quotations. Boy, he was right on the button concerning Breasted comments as well as the other theories that really doesn't add up.

I also read "What If" by William H. McNeill, who stated that the retreat of the Assyrian army was one of the greatest turning point in Western and therefore the world's history. Unfortuntely he believed in the "plagues theory". However, A 2nd review of the Aubin's book back cover now lists this author as a convert.

From my research into the biblical story of Jewish deliverance, The rescue of Jerusalem is the best source I could find, with clear and untterly convincing points.

Henry Aubin examines this biblical story with the uttermost scrutiny from most, if not all, the modern available evidence.

Henry Aubin with Rescue of Jerusalem, has opened a whole new way for me to look at history and religion. Henry is a Canadian Prize winning journalist and his perspective compared to certified historians makes the writing much easier to digest. His sense of drama lifts this detailed and accurate history to an art form. Don't be afraid of the footnotes. They are there for "doubting Tomases" and in no way detract from an exciting read. Congratulations Henry, I can't wait for another one. Lets hear more about these forgotten but vital parts of history.

This two-piano version has been corrected and updated to reflect the original Gershwin "chamber" version, which is now commonly available for full orchestra. If you are listening to recordings, it is the version used by James Levine in his recording with the Chicago Symphony, as opposed to the old classic Bernstein/NY Phil. A great buy for the price, very accurate and easy to read, with a helpful analysis of the work at the beginning.

This is a great edition of this great piece of music. It one of the only full and true editions for the piano. It's a challenge that's for sure. But I'm very happy about my purchase.

Overall excellent. Deviates in some areas from traditional orchestral renditions -- leaves out a few minor portions and adds in others. Some sections very difficult (e.g. apparently carry-overs from 4-hand/2 piano version). But a great work nonetheless.

Simply said, I am using this as the feature of my senior piano performace recital at my college. This brilliant work is something to behold in its concerto form, something to enjoy it its orchestral form, and something that every one should study in its piano solo form.

Gershwin himself wrote this arrangement, so it can be safe to assume that everything in this piece is exactly how Gerswhin wanted it. I would imagine he would best realize what he original thought to be the important parts...

Ryan

Some of Robert Frost's best poetry, woven together with insight and thoughtful comments.

It could be said that art, including poetry, should never be taught, only presented. A sure death knell to reader endeavor is having an artist's work forced on reluctant subjects at very young ages. Frost's universal appeal and critical success made him a favorite of the pedantic, institutional teaching of the 50's and 60's. His late-life ties to Kennedyýs Camelot made the situation worse, as increased recognition diverted plaudits askew from the real measure of his work. The negative experience of my own such introduction forced in me a habit of deliberately overlooking celebrated well-knowns for the shadowy lesser-knowns. This practice unearthed for me a few rare delights in reading, music and general discovery. Then, in my late twenties I picked up a copy of the Frost/Untermeyer, The Road Not Taken, read a couple of poems along with some of the commentary and thought well enough of it to actually buy it. I summarily read it cover to cover (something I'd rarely done with books of poetry). There were the same poems again--the ones I'd been lead to read as a youngster...but not quite. Untermeyer teaches, not out of pedantic duty, but as a true friend and scholar of Robert Frost, the man. There may be less skewed critical evaluations of Frost's poetry; but these are usually set apart from the work, and most often geared to literary scholars. In essence, Untermeyer presents rather than evaluates Robert Frost, and does it in the same manner Frost wrote--simple, deliberate, and non-intrusive.
This (an earlier edition of the one offered here) is one of my most treasured books--not so much for the poems within, but for what Louis Untermeyer offers--an access to opportunity missed. Frost ýdoubted if [he] should ever come back,ý to where the roads diverged; yet, Untermeyer offers us a second chance, and this time (for all who think they know enough of Robert Frost), it may very well make ýall the difference.ý

i am doing a report on Robert Frost in my English 3 class. Robert Frost is the greastest. No poem is alike. My two favorite books of his were Stopping by woods on a snowy evening and a road not taken. he has a way with words that i have never seen. I give him him and is writings 5 stars!!!!

Excellent collection of Frost Poetry. Plus, the analyses by the author are a nice addition.

As a 54 year old librarian and writer, I was amazed at the author's ability to maintain the voice of an 11 year old narrator and tell the story and grow the characters. This is an easy-to-read book and very charming. It must have taken the author years to write because it reads like not-reading, like you are standing there watching the characters live.

Highly recommended!

This was a wonderful story of forbidden friendship, and how love develops between an uncle and his orphaned nephew and what it can do to their relationship. The orphan went from almost nothing to everything he could dream of.The book was very interesting all the way through, and had an ending that made me want to cry almost. The book is well written for all ages.

If you are into mysteries you will love this book. I could not stop reading it. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did! 5th grade

I am an eighth grader at Lucille Erwin Middle School and I have recently completed the book, "The Robber and Me". I fell in love with this book. It literally became impossible for me to put it down! I was so intrigued with Josef Holub's style of writing because of the way it incorporated passion, mystery, drama, and comedy. This book needs to be on your "must read" list, because it is incredibly dazzling!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Ethel Pochocki. This book is one of my favorites, but anything this gifted and tender author writes is bound to be wonderful. (No, I'm not a relative of hers!) I assumed when I first "met" her that her stories were mainly for children; it was awhile before I saw that the themes she uses are universal, and any age reader will find something to mull over. Get ready for a warm glow.

Illustrated by Mary Beth Owens, who has exquisitely captured Ethel Pochocki's wild & flowing tale, when you open ROSEBUD & RED FLANNEL you venture into the whimsical & enchanting, with an endearing ending.

A RebeccasReads heirloom family treasure.

I'm so glad to see this book still in print! This was a favorite "Bedtime Storytime" book in our public library when it first came out...and the story bears out that love is stronger than adversity, longer-lasting than physical beauty, and, in the end, the rewards of love far outweigh vanity and pride. A sweet and funny book for all ages, especially for those with a favorite pair of pajamas that are put on the clothesline to dry!

I am delighted that this book is back in print! It is an engaging story illustrated with gorgeous watercolors. Rosebud is a rather refined nightgown, and is not impressed at first with Red Flannel, the pair of long johns that adores her. How her opinion of him changes and her respect for him grows is a story that parallels many a human love. Their deep commitment to each other is a lesson in lasting love. This book would be a lovely wedding present.

This is a disarming, affecting, simple story about a Muslim-American Boy. I like it also because it depicts a real family, not a "typical" family. I found the story easy to read, easy to understand, yet deeply affecting and interesting. It is a perfect story to read aloud to my ESOL students, some who are Muslim. A really, really good book.

Simply beautiful, honest and real. I cannot think of a better book to share with young children, both Muslim and non-Muslim, to learn about and appreciate a culture lived by millions in the United States.

This book is as must read for all folks no matter what age. It portrays the American dream only thru the eyes of a Muslim boy. It is sensitive, provacative, and has superb imagery of life. You must read this book.

This book is excellent for kids of all ages. I bought this for my 4 year old twins and I've read it to them several times. The photos are excellent and the writing is simple and beautifully written. Makes a great gift as well!

[I was just reviewing this book and had nearly finished when I was taken off line by a phone call. How can I retrieve my vanished draft-review? My email address is ElianaRefaya@aol.com. Many thanks for any help you can provide.]

I had my spinal fusions in April, 1998. The surgeries were exactly liked decribed in the book. All his information is correct and I found the book to be extremely helpful through the whole ordel. I would recommend it highly.

This book is very helpful for anyone who is facing surgery for scoliosis. It explains everything in detail and the real life accounts give you hope that you can get through it too. I would recommend it for anyone who is either contemplating or scheduling surgery.

My daughter had scoliosis surgery in June, 1998. Answers to 98% of all questions I had were in this book. I am president of a local scoliosis chapter support group and this is the FIRST book I always recommend patients to read. Very easy reading.

I say "could be" because most of the book features the Comanches interacting with one another. It is possible the author captured them accurately, of course, he could be way off. Who knows? For the most part, I felt a sense of realism. But that's just my perception. It's a matter of taste. As far as the story goes, some parts drag and some parts were very exciting. But by the end though, I realized that this is just like real life.

One complaint is that Douglas neglects to explain how the white captive feels living among a people who killed her father, whose scalp she sees hanging from her captor's lance. And when her captor gives her away to his father later in the book, Jones once again neglects to explain how Chosen (the white captive) feels about this.

Despite this, by the end of the book, I felt that I had been on a journey with these people. Also, it should be noted that Jones is very fair to both cultures. The atrocities were a two-way street.

In closing, I highly recommend this book. I believe the follow up to this book is called Gone the Dreams and Dancing. I look forward to reading this book, too.

I knew for a long time that Douglas C. Jones was a well-liked author, as I worked in a public library and I shelved books for a living. One day, though, "Season of Yellow Leaf" happened to get into my hands, probably by someone else checking it out. I read the flyleaf and held onto it.

"Yellow Leaf" is the fictionalized story of a young girl in a remote Texas settlement who is captured by the Comanche tribespeople, adopted and named "Chosen." When "returned" to white culture as a married mother, she pines for the family she has been torn away from.

Loosely based on the story of Cynthia Ann Parker, it is a well-written story of the trials of the culture clash that has been going on for 500 years on this continent. The story is only repeated and repeated, families torn apart, then torn apart again.

Like so many tales involving native people, there is a "golden" time to Chosen's life, as there seems to have been to the lives of the tribes as well, that is to say, just before white culture influenced every circumstance.

I never read another book by this author, but I cherish this book for Chosen's viewpoint, albeit fictionalized.

I also do not know if this represents the Comanche viewpoint well, or is total supposition, but it's a very good read.

In the two existing reviews the date is off by 100 years. It should read 1830!

It would be hard to discuss one of Douglas C. Jones' books without mentioning the others. I have read all of his novels and found them to be well-researched, historically relevant and entertaining. Season of Yellow Leaf is one of my favorites, but Jones is at his best when writing about historical life in his native Arkansas (Weedy Rough, Winding Stair, others). I would recommend his books to anyone. He really knows how to bring history to life.

My father served in the 1st marine division in WWII in the Pacific but would never talk about it. So for me reading these recollections enabled me to hear what he experienced....incredible stuff.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to get a flavor of the real guys who fought and what they experienced.

Henry Berry's 'Semper Fi, Mac" is an oral history of the Marine Corps in the Pacific in World War II. Berry interviewed about 75 Marines who had fought in some of the toughest battles and places in the Pacific. There is a rough chronological order to the interviews but most of the stories start on or about Dec. 7, 1941. The stories most of the men tell start with either this date or shortly before, coupled with with some background material, their training, the trip to the Pacific, and then their personal experiences in combat. There is misery and death, heroism and tragedy, but overall a sense of comradeship comes from every story. Berry sprinkles his work with humorous tidbits of Marine history and stories about famous Marines, such as Chesty Puller, the only Marine to win five Navy Crosses. Also there are sections on Marine lingo and a brief historical synopsis of the Marines' Pacific battles. Berry himself was in the Marines near the end of the war and gives a proper perspective of all events and personalities. But this book is about the men who fought and died on such places as Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Guam, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Its their book, their story, their history, and it should never be forgotten.

I really liked it's snapshot format of battles all across the Pacific. I even found out that the Confederate flag was used by several Marine units instead of Ol Glory; as a Southerner that made me even happier.

This books title sums up the story inside. Every Marine's story in this book carries a similar thread. They were scared as hell in combat but never regretted joining the core. Mr. Berry, (a WWII Marine himself, which is probaly the reason they opened up so much to him) brings a personnal story from every Marine battle during the war. The confusion and deprivation of Guadalcanal, the bloodbath of Tarawa, the Japanese suicidal frenzy of Saipan, the slaughter of Peleliu and Iwo Jima up to the conclusion at Okinawa. It is all here: death, disease, and destruction; all first hand accounts told by tough Marines. It is amazing any of them survived, yet 75 of them share there memories here in short personnal histories. These men are remembered here for their supreme sacrifice so many years ago.

this was where you truly could appreciate the Greatness of Ralph Wiley.He knew His Boxing&the way He broke down each subject matter is Classic.Boxing has had many Fighters but you know the Guys that you still debate&talk about many years later.Great takes on Ali,HitMan hearns,Sugar Ray Leonard,Mike Tyson&Everyone else mentioned.A Knockout of a Book from start to finish.

Intellectuals have long had a fascination with boxing, an athletic contest reduced to its very essence-two semi-naked men trying to kill each other for the enjoyment of a crowd. That's about as stark as it gets. A long and varied list of literary heavyweights have fallen under boxing's spell-Hemingway, Mailer, Oates, Earley, etc., etc., etc. Ralph Wiley belongs up there with the best of them. The ideas he expresses in "Serenity" are meaty and delivered in a style that is both clear and artistic. Mr. Wiley can flat-out write and my goodness does he have an eye for detail and an ear for dialogue. His descriptions of knockout blows are downright poetic; one fighter "... went out like a broken light bulb"; another was struck so hard that the blow "... sent his eyes into the top of his head like snapped windowshades". The sights and sounds and smells of the gym all ring true in "Serenity", from the lowliest trainer ("...with a trainwreck of a yellowing smile") to the beatific Ali.

Mr. Wiley defines serenity as "...the inner peace which comes from doing something well enough to understand it". Boxers, per Wiley, can only acheive pugilistic serenity after they understand that pain, and maybe death, are part of the equation. Pain can not be avoided, no matter how skilled the fighter. So why do so many of them continue on, or return for more once they retire, even (or, perhaps, especially) the successful ones? Larry Holmes, one of the best, (whose latest comeback, at age 50, was against a 300 pound sideshow attraction named "Butterbean") is quoted that a fighter has "... gotta enjoy the ones you take just like the ones you give". Sugar Ray Leonard, like Holmes a wealthy man, made more comebacks than Marley's ghost and risked permanent blindness in the process. Bobby Chacon, another champion, "...smiles at the sight of his own blood". The title of a Gerald Earley essay-"I Only Like It Better When The Pain Comes"-is a direct quote from an early '80's crowd-pleasing Philadelphia middleweight Frank "The Animal" Fletcher. (Aside-Frank "The Animal" once fought James "Hard Rock" Green in a brutal, blood-gushing bout, a great nickname bout, where Mr. Fletcher's mother spurred her son on by leading the crowd in chants of "AN-I-MAL, AN-I-MAL, AN-I-MAL".) Do these otherwise intelligent men actually enjoy getting hit? Hardly. Mr. Wiley has delved deeply into the psyches of men who fight for pay searching for motive, for purpose, and he has succeeded. This is good stuff. "Serenity", like Evander Holyfield, is the Real Deal.

I was a great fan of Ralph Wiley's regular columns on ESPN's Page 2, and when he passed on (earlier this summer) I decided that it was well past time to get one of his books and see how he did in a longer form.

I'm glad I did. Wiley wrote a vivid description of the art and science of boxing; with every page offering insights that are provocative, disturbing, and important. It's as much about Wiley as it is about Leonard, Hearns, Hagler, Ali, and Tyson. That's not a problem as Wiley was an articulate, interesting, and experienced Black man.

Wiley relates that when he was a copyboy for the Oakland Trib, he would type "RALPH WILEY IS THE GREATEST SPORTSWRITER OF ALL TIME, BAR NONE" on the old IBM Selectric from time to time. It's a shame that so few sports fans seem to know him these days, especially now that he's gone. This great little book, which destroys boxing as completely as boxing seems to destroy its greatest talents, is quite an argument for Wiley's place in the pantheon of the greatest sports writers of all time.

If you enjoyed Wiley's columns, or his writing in SI, or his work on other subjects, OR if you have a passing interest in, or disgust over, or passion for boxing, you will enjoy this book. If you enjoy reading about one man's developing views on an activity that he at first approached with veneration and eventually came to see as horrific, you will enjoy this book. If you read Bill Simmons' columns, you will enjoy this book.

It's such shame that we don't have Wiley with us any more; and I'll miss him, but now that he's gone on maybe he's met Joe Louis at the gates and had that talk with him. We can only hope so.

Serenity, as Ralph Wiley tells it, is a state of mind that all fighters try to find. It's not easy, but then, writing a book about the most personal side of boxing - the fighters - isn't easy, either. Especially a good one. But Wiley has done that here. He includes himself a bit, which works, and uses a sharp, witty style that brings the fighters he writes about to life. Best are the chapters on Larry Holmes, and also a letter he writes to his son, Cole. Wiley is enormously gifted, and he will definitely be a writer to watch in the future.