Jackson Books

I love Michael Jackson,so of coarse I am bound to like books about him that.This book was Wonderful,it has alot of information on his songs when he was in the Jackson 5

Michael Joseph Jackson has made milions smile with his voice, passion and love, but what a lot of people don't know is where his roots of love come from. Michael is a man of soul, way back with the legendary Jackson 5.
With the book MJ The Early Years, it captavates Michael from way before Steeltown, to Steeltown, Motown, Jackson's, and every album and song that help led up to who Michael is today. Many unheard of people are discovered in this amazing book. I urge you to give it a try! You will love it, and most of all: It will place you in a state of shock!

Michael Jackson the Early Years: An incredible book! The very first in a long time to tell you just where Michael came from. MJ The Early Years, paints you a picture of the Jackson household, telling you the ever lasting story of Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael.Remember Dancing Machine, I Want You Back, Ben? Well these are all here with the stories to back them up! You think you know so many things about Michael, and how the J5 started... You don't until reading this book. I dare YOU to try it.

this is really cool a book that covers early MJ&His Career&whatnot.this Book does a Great job of refelcting on the artistic side of MJ&going over His work.also a Great reflection on Jermaine,Tito,Marlon,Jackie&later Randy.it's about time the real reason why people got into MJ is mentioned&showcased fr more here with this book.

Any fan of Michael of any age is perfect for this book. Full of very rare stories of each album, and photos. Pure heart and soul of one man from a child to growing, but fully grown. Get a view of Michael we don't ever see anymore. From the J5 to solo with his bros, to acting as a man of his own in Epic. A true and beautiful book.

Hey this is Jeff. Im not usually into romance novels, but I like to snowboard and have sex so this made sense. I loved what I read from the summary i'm totally pumped to read the real thing. Take care

I really enjoyed Mountain Betty, the character was not sure of her direction in life and an act of kindness that came naturally gave her hope for a better life. I love McCouchs writting style she is honest and very bright.

Like in her first novel, Girl Cook, McCouch invites us to take a funny and honest peek into the interior world of a young woman making her way in a male-dominated sub-culture: this time the ski slopes of Jackson, WY. McCouch's writing is smart and funny, and had me howling at her narrator's sense of displacement and her own brutal honesty with herself. Betty is a modern heroine, endearing like a good friend is endearing: human and fallible but ultimately strong and triumphant. I loved it, wolfed it down in one sitting, and will never look at ski instructors in quite the same way again!

I loved this book! McCouch writes an honest portrayal of life post-college and keeps us energized with the non-stop adventure. She handles the delicate topics of infedelity and drug use with true insight, and offers a powerful message of "girl power" in a ski resort where the testosterone is flowing.

If you liked Girl Cook by Hannah McCouch, then you are in for a treat! This is not "deep literature," but it is a lot of fun, and touches on issues such as finding a career, leaving relationships that are bad for you, facing up to your limitations and being proud of your strengths.

McCouch's primary gift as an author is creating a full fictional world (the professional kitchen in Girl Cook). Here, it's the ski slope. McCouch packs the novel with details about ski instructing and skiing itself that make this world full and believable.

Mountain Betty is about a girl named Elizabeth who went to a small liberal arts college, got fired, and then moved to Jackson Hole, Wyoming with her married-but-separated boyfriend to live the skiing life: free lift passes, teaching lessons, and working as a cocktail waitress at the Mangy Moose. She is growing tired of working so hard just to make ends meet (barely), especially when her boyfriend is a little too fond of recreational drugs and women.

This is a lively, fun narrative written with a deft touch. McCouch has an MFA from Columbia and is definitely talented. Recommend.

For those of you who run storytimes for prek- 2nd grade and are doing a bug/insect theme, this book is an excellent read-a-loud selection. It has enough suspense and drama to draw the children into the story and also has a repetitious aside that the children pick up immediately. So you have the combination of a great read-a-loud/participation story all rolled into one. I heartly recommend this book for a prek-2nd grade storytime.

This book is absolutely my favorite to read to my kids. Stories that I can make come to life and create some adreneline in them are fabulous and this one certainly does it. We stumbled across it at the library and I HAD to order it -- not to be found in a brick and mortar book store. Get it today! You'll be reading it forever!

Check out "Storms Comin" too.

This book was absolutely great. My 7 year old thought it was funny and we had a lot of fun in the creak-creak-creak and the crick-crick-cricks. Besides being an entertaining story, the underlying message about excuses and what goes around comes around couldn't be better.

Old Cricket is a delight! Having read Wheeler's other books, this one was another jewel to add to our growing home library. You don't get to be a smart cooky unless you read the best books, and Wheeler knows exactly what we like!

There are few things I like better in this world than finding a great new read-aloud picture book for my library storytimes. Maybe Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream, but that's about it. For me, a book that reads well to large screaming hoards of five-year-olds is worth its weight in gold. I don't know how I missed the publication of "Old Cricket" back in 2003, but I give you my solemn word of honor that it will rarely find itself anywhere but in my finest storytime collection from now on.

On a fine clear morning Old Cricket wakes up on the wrong side of bed. He's feeling particularly cantankerous and his missus tells him in no uncertain terms to fix the roof. "You don't get to be an old cricket by being a dumb bug" the text informs us, so Cricket makes up an imaginary creak in his knee to get out of the job. While en route to the doctor (or so his wife thinks) he meets up with his cousin, Katydid. She asks him to help pick some berries off the bush, but Old Cricket adds a fake crick in his neck to accompany the supposed creak in his knee. You see where this is going. Ants ask him to help them bring in the last of the corn and a crack in his back is the additional malady. It's only when he meets up with Old Crow who wants to eat him that his tricks no longer work ("You don't get to be an old crow by being a birdbrain") and he develops every physical ailment that he invented in the process of running away. In the end, Cricket does visit Doc Hopper (who's name will remind certain members of my generation of the villain in "The Muppet Movie", I'm sure) and is cured. So it's homeward to fix the roof and a happy ending for one and all.

The text reads aloud beautifully with lots of different voices, plenty of "cricks" "creaks" and "cracks" to sound out the text, and a fast-paced chase sequence for those who weren't paying attention at the beginning. Author Lisa Wheeler has slowly been making a name for herself and I look forward to reading other titles of hers like "Sailor Moo". The repetition in this book works beautifully for younger readers and I daresay this would make an excellent storytelling tale sans book if it came to that.

Not that you should forget about the gorgeous pictures accompanying the text. Rendered in acrylic paints, artist Ponder Goembel (who's first name I may well steal for my own child someday) throws her back into this book. Every animal here is rendered realistically with a kind of gently shaded sheen. Leaves sport natural holes and bites, and though every animal (with the exception of the nudist ants) wears clothing in this tale, it never looks unnatural or out of place. Old Cricket, for example, doffs a worn red cap and what looks to be a fisherman's vest when he goes out into the world. I especially enjoyed the little details that appeared here and there. Old Cricket has only one antennae, a fact that becomes crystal clear when he and the missus (also lacking that particular protuberance) pose in a final touching shot. Even if your child is not reading on their own yet, they'll be delightedly poring through this book for hours and hours on end.

I certainly hope that "Old Cricket" won itself a fair share of awards the year it came out. This book needs to be on every reading list in the country for kids below the age of... oh say.... 72. Funny, fine, and frantic, it is the kind of book every author of folktales hopes to write and so few actually do.

The lessons are super - also gives you templates to
produce the same pictures with help features along the
way

When using this book I found it easy to understand the preliminary sketches and follow them quite easily. The explanations about colors, how to mix them in order to get shades and contrast are superbly explained. The materials used an how to handle them are clear, and "secrets" about which amount of water to use, the techniques of wet over wet and wet on dry are perfectly understandable and easy to follow. once you tested you learned al the "how tos" you can try your own design. Yet, I'd have liked to see more step to step indications if this publication was directed to beginners. This publication is a must for amateur and self-trained watercolorists but not for fresh beginners.

It was sheer luck that I picked up this book. I had finished stenciling all my walls, all the wood in my house and was looking for a way to continue when I picked up this wonderful book. It's perfect for a beginner. I loved it and every painting lesson in it. She's clear, she goes at the reader's pace. This isn't for advanced artists or even hobbyists in watercolor of long standing, but it got me into the wonderful world of watercolor painting, a medium I had never tried. Jackson should write more books and give more advanced lessons. Great book.

Besides her obvious talent and teaching ability, Louise Jackson brings a generosity to her book that only someone who is completely secure in her life can do: she has given permission, in the introduction, for her book 'students' to copy the work, sell it, enter it in competitions, as their own. The only thing she asks is that she is mentioned somewhere, as in "after Louise Jackson" under the new artists name. She says judges and purchasers deserve to know that the DESIGN is not original although your rendition is. How is that for sharing? The other thing I noticed is the absence of the word, "I", without which most other artists cannot begin a sentence. I have checked this out of the public library so often they have cut me off. Today I am buying the book from Amazon. Thanks, Louise, for sharing all.

If you are interested in painting watercolor flowers, and you are beginning or intermediate painter, this book is a must. The instructions are very easy to follow, and the illustrations are beautiful, as will be your painting if you follow the instructions. I looked at at least 6 other books on painting watercolor flowers, but chose this one because of the ease of the instructions. I highly recommend this book. Please note: as a beginner, I am choosy because many art instruction books are simply over my head at this stage. This one is not, but will make you feel like a professional artist. I hope that the author publishes a second book, and makes this a series!

At first the concepts in this didn't seem all that different from other Christian parenting books I've read. And as I think about it, they're not really that different, they're just organized in a way that keeps me thinking about them and applying them. Since I finished the book about a month ago, I literally think daily about new ways to apply the principles (Foundation, Connection, Direction, and Correction). I realize that I keep buying these books to find new ways to change my kids. But this book has changed me! I'm more prayerful and thoughtful about how God is present in my daily life with my family and interestingly (though the book talks little about this), at work. I'm more peaceful when I come home to chaos. As I change, so do my kids. Life at home is more pleasant. I'm much more eager to talk about faith issues with my wife and children.

Other than The Purpose Driven Life, I don't think I've ever been so impacted by reading a book. I'm really loooking forward to how God will use these concepts in my family's life.

This book offers real stories with real solutions. The suggestions are easy and practical, yet need to be said. This book helps me realize I am normal, my parenting path is the way God intended and all is as God has planned. I am finding it extremely useful as I parent my three children and look forward to sharing it with friends and family.

I don't usually write these reviews. But this book accomplishes an amazing feat, so I couldn't resist! The feat it accomplishes is that on the one hand, this book is quite simple. Through the presentation of four basic ideas, readers are shown a framework (the authors call it "The Connected Family Framework") for measuring or thinking about their parenting efforts. What sets these simple principles apart from the many other parenting books I've read is the way they fit together, and the way they immediately have significantly impacted my parenting. I've already found, in just the short time since reading the book, that I remember and implement the principles, and know when I have missed the mark. I am already closer to God, and feel more connected to my kids.

On the other hand, the more I think about these principles, and about the author's stories and teaching, the more I realize how deeply profound and truly Biblical they are. It is so tempting to trivialize parenting into a set of steps or a method without regard for the amazing complexity of what it means to lead and guide the unique miracle of each of my children. In this framework I believe I have found clear ideas that will guide and influence my parenting for as long as I'm a parent.

This book erases the confusion I get from reading so many different parenting perspectives. The four principles seem to bring everything together so that I can parent from my strengths, and according to my style. The main effect on me and my kids is that our relationship is now more fun and relaxed. The really cool thing is that as I'm more relaxed, the kids don't act up so much. They still act up some, but I'm much more able to deal with it and still feel connected to them. It's better on all of us.

One of the best books available to help parents think through issues of parenting. Designed for the mother and father to work through the chapters together. Relevant and helpful.

I absolutely loved this mystery thriller. Many times when I lay down to read at night, I fall asleep. This book kept me up late, many times. It was hard to put the book down. Heartwarming along with lots of suspense!

I expected this book to be corporate and political and I usually don't get into books like that. This, however, was a suspenseful page turner that was difficult to put down. Since the chapters were short, I found myself saying "okay, one more chapter" until the next thing I knew time had passed and the book was finished in a day and a half. The writing style made this a very comfortable read and I would recommend this book to absolutely everyone regardless of whether or not it's in your usual "genre" because this book has something for everyone. I hope to read many more from Richard Jackson!

I don't normally come back to the site to write reviews, but this book was exceptional and I had to let others know. Chapter after chapter it keeps getting better. By the middle I could hardly put it down. I'll warn you, by the end, I had to stay up until I finished it. It was well written, full of detail, makes you feel like you are a part of the investigation. I will absolutely buy another book by this same author.

Power and Deceit is a page turning action packed must read! Richard Jackson truly has a gift for writing. I can't wait for his next book!

"Power and Deceit" is a great story...if you like James Patterson or John Sanford, you will enjoy this book! Chapters are short, so it is a quick read...and before you know it, you are so caught up in the story, that you won't be able to put it down until you finish it! Thumbs up to this new author on the scene! Hope to see more stories from Richard Jackson soon!

Along with Life Among the Savages, this is one of my very favorite books. If you have children, or have ever been a child, you will love it! Jackson was such a talented writer and possessed of such enormous wit and perception about human nature, you couldn't find a better book to raise your spirits along with her demons. I grew up reading and rereading this book, and continue to reread and to give it to friends who need cheering up.

This is the sequel to 'Life among the savages', which describes the trials and tribulations of raising four children. Here we have more about the Jackson children as they grow older and more complex. Shirely jackson is wonderful at describing the weird behaviour of children, and the sometimes even weirder behaviour of adults. There's a wonderful description of the tensions that occur between mothers while watching a Little League baseball match in which her older son is playing, and a very funny account of a trip to New York, where her daughter Sally has her own unique view of the Empire State Building. Shirely Jackson describes the ups and downs of family life with great humour and a complete lack of sentimentality. She is very sound on the subject of husbands. Writing about the trials of being a faculty wife, she says "naturally a husband presents enormour irritations no matter what he is doing" (how could anyone argue with that?) Whether she is writing about a dangerous refrigerator, a daughter who does magic, or a husband judging a beauty contest, she is always very entertaining and very funny.

Shirley Jackson proved with this book that she is not only an excellent mystery writer, but by writing Raising Demons and Life Among The Savages she can have the reader laughing until he cries!

This book should be included in the recent printings of "Life Among the Savages." (especially as "Life" is much too short!) It is very funny and also serves as an historical peek into the flavor of it's time.

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RAISING DEMONS is the second and last of mystery writer Shirley Jackson's autobiographical accounts of her life as a small-town mommy in bucolic Bennington, Vermont in the Baby Boomer Fifties. Although many of the chapters in this book were originally published as short stories in various women's magazines and the NEW YORKER, in final form together the work functions as a good chronological novel set in the "Together-ness" mid-fifties.

But if the prospective reader thinks that Shirley Jackson's acceptance of the roles of Housewife, Mother of Four and Faculty Wife doomed her to an empty-headed vacuity, think again: there's a universe of verbal subversion going on in her mind and on these pages.

At the time RAISING DEMONS opens little Barry, with the remarkably flexible nomenclature characteristic of this family now called "Mr. Beekman," is headed firmly toward toddlerhood and the older children (counting upwards Sally, Jannie, and elder son Laurie) are all spaced conveniently three years apart. And that, to hear her tell it, may be just about the only orderly domestic act Mrs. Stanley Hyman, the social and familial name for Our Heroine Shirley Jackson, saw to conclusion. Not that her children were outrageously disruptive or combative (but perhaps a bit more than other people's kids, she worries) -- but they certainly had their own ways of talking and thinking.

Laurie fell in love with jazz and jivester slang, to the point where his father started fining him for that "oleaginous jargon" as though terms like "real cool" were real obscenity. Jannie's take on logic was to enter a house filled with toxic gas from a dead, antique refrigerator and when her mother confronted her with "That sign says DO NOT ENTER," countered with "I didn't think you meant me." (And I thought that trait only emerged in adolescence!) Sally so desperately wanted to help Laurie find a critical gym shoe for his basketball game that she ignored Dad's edict not to perform white magic:
" 'Laurie's shoe is weaker and creaker and cleaker and breaker and fleaker and greaker . . .' Sally wound through the study, eyes shut, chanting. Barry came behind her, doing an odd little two-step. . . 'Now wait a minute here,' my husband began. . . . 'We're just untending,' Barry explained reassuringly."

Quite often Shirley graciously consents to make herself the butt of the humor--and then, like a good mystery writer, offers a twist ending as she barbs her way out. When her husband joins the faculty at Bennington College, watch how la Jackson confesses mixed feelings about hubby's (all-girl) students as she breaks dams of faint praise: "I never saw any student, of whatever year, kick a sick cat. They were, as I say, neat, well-mannered, and demure. Their clothes were subdued, sometimes so much as to be invisible. . . "

As with LIFE AMONG THE SAVAGES, even the most trivial of domestic upsets turn, in Jackson's high prowess, into high drama. And RAISING DEMONS is consistently funny and consistently filled with a wide variety of humor: sitcom-but-twisty outcomes, barbed repartee, and perhaps best of all the legendary Shirley Jackson revelations of the occult on brilliant display, here a kind of mythical kiddie-occult that at times out-Tolkiens Tolkien. All from their own little minds, too, which makes it all the more endearing and frightening. I know Modern Moms who have read RAISING DEMONS and love it for its pinpoint accuracy of family life, archaic references to dry-clutch automobiles and afternoon newspapers notwithstanding.

Unfortunately, and for no reason I can fathom, RAISING DEMONS is out of print as of this emendation (January 2006), except for a two-in-one edition of LIFE AMONG THE SAVAGES and RAISING DEMONS put together by the Quality Paperback Book Club people. If DEMONS proves difficult to purchase, the neophyte might want to try out LIFE AMONG THE SAVAGES first, because it is cheaper and comes first chronologically. Dollars to (1950s) donuts 'most all readers will be more than happy to scout out RAISING DEMONS after that!

Dr. Grace Jackson has done the human race a great service. She has produced
an Owners Manual for the human brain.

This book goes far beyond "informed consent".

More precisely, this is a "Shop Manual", of the sort normally reserved for the
"priesthood" of technicians who work in the "under the hood" innerds
of todays highly complex marvels.

Because of the deluge of misinformation and disinformation on the human mind
one is faced with in everyday life; it is vital to get the straight story. Anything less
might produce catastrophic consequences. Dr. Jackson's no nonsense approach demystifies
this much-bedeviled topic.

This is not light reading. While her book is a meticulously documented and precise
treatise written by a professional for professionals; Dr. Jackson provides helpful, brief
explanations of the medical terms involved for the lay reader.

This book should be standard equipment for every human being.

Keep it handy in your "glove compartment".


Vince Boehm, Wilmington, DE

The very best I have read on the subject of psychiatric drugs...Dr. Jackson does not merely describe the effects of the Rx as with most other text on the subject, but actually provides explainations for the effects. It is exceptionally well researched and written and does indeed provide a guide for informed consent. In fact it provides a very sound critque for NOT consenting to psychiatric drugs...Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs should be compulsory reading for all Health Professionals as part of their CME ( continiung medical education). It is written ineasy to understand language without the extreme academic medical jargon incomprehensible to the layman. It is an ideal book for those who have found themeselves having to care for someone who has been labelled as "mentally ill"...and being treated with these mind altering drugs. The book is a revelation that these Rx's do indeed prevent symptomatic recovery...ask any patient in a psychiatric ward.

Dr. Grace Jackson has done an excellent job in engaging and capturing the reader's attention beginning with the Prologue and ending with the epilogue... Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs: A Guide for Informed Consent.... as Emeril would say.... BAM!!! Job well done.

The structure of the book is well organized; the headings are clearly defined with supporting data, statistics, and content. The size of font and spacing are excellent ... I appreciate that the paragraphs are not lengthy and made for easy reading.

The book is a worthy reference manual. literally... each line led me to want to read more. more .. faster and faster.. I did not find myself having to ask, what am I reading? What is this author trying to tell me?

Most of chapters are short (7,8,9-are longer chapters), concise, clearly outlined, digestible, revelant, not awkward or overly complicated, and they flow.

Beginning with chapters 4 to 9 Dr. Jackson provides a variety of scientific studies, visual aids, tables, and comparison studies, which substantiate the content of her book.

I appreciate that Dr. Jackson deciphers and explains the comprehensive data for the non-scientific mind in chapters
4 to 9

As a mental health professional, Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs: A Guide for Informed Consent has now equipped me with some vital information to be a more effective clinician.

A hundred thanks you, Dr. Jackson!!!

Very highly recommended. After obtaining data through the Freedom of Information Act from the FDA, Dr. Irving Kirsch did an analysis of the 6 most widely used antidepressant drugs. It found that on average they only have an 18% effect over and above placebo effects. Given the side effects, expense, and withdrawal syndrome, these kinds of findings should cause everyone to reevaluate reliance on medication treatment. There are similar findings with anxiety medications, and shockingly, the average ritalin follow-up study is only 3 weeks long. However, tne multi-billion dollar drug companies have tremendous influence on psychiatry and the FDA. The public must realize that FDA approval for a drug only requires 2 controlled studies showing a statistical significance over a placebo, and there is no limit on how many other studies have been done that found no positive effect. Although medications can certainly play a role in treatment, this book will inform the public and mental health professionals alike on how over-rated medication treatment is.

This is a brilliant and well referenced book. Dr. Jackson explores the scientific information involving psychiatric medication. Not the usual stuff from the sales oriented psychiatric establishment or from antidrug supplement salespeople. As a psychiatrist, I have read the book three times as the detail and complexity merit repeated readings. This should be a standard text for medical students and psychiatry trainees - psychiatrists should not be recertified for their boards unless they know the information in this splendid book. If you are a patient, looking for information upon which to make an informed decision about a potential drug therapy, 'Rethinking' has what you need. The book describes drugs in general and then goes into detail about specific classes of drugs. Information is both scientifically and technically appropriate for physicians and also readable and informative for the patient. Dr. Jackson has performed a major service to humanity in this book.

This is a quality production. The photos and the descriptions are fantastic. I found myself pouring a glass of scotch from whichever region I was reading that night, ie. Islay, Speyside, etc, and enjoying the dram more than usual.

A couple of years ago I was blessed by being given one of the best, if not the best job in the world. "Brand Ambassador" for one of the finest and best known Scotch Whisky Brands. After an all too brief trip to Scotland, I have dedicated most of my free time to reading everything about Scotland and her Whiskies that I can get my hands on.
Mr. Jackson's wonderfully poetic description of the land that now owns my heart has served to make a return trip much more than a wish.
I so loved this book that I made a gift of it to the library of Cardhu Distillery.
Thank you Mr. Jackson for making Scotland come alive to Whisky lovers everywhere.
Slainte bha
Charles Swett

This book was purchased along with MJ's 5th Edition Whisky guide. I found it an excellent read while enjoying a nice glass of single malt. The pictures are beautiful and MJ's commentary make me want to visit Scotland and tour the distilleries myself.

An excellent book about my favourite all time drink! That's how I would describe this well written, beautifully photographed and intricate journey through Scotland, describing its whiskies.

Working together, Jackson and Wright have put together a combined piece of verbal and photographic artwork. The information provided is very educational, but enjoyable, with historic and technical information entwined with Jackson's fireside conversational style making this a pleasure to read. I can't reproduce the photography but I can give you a sample of the style of writing from page 63:

"After I had breathed the air of early Christianity and Celtic myth, the journey back was slow. It was not just the two hours' drive from Fionnphort to Tobermory, the main town of Mull, but also the otherworldliness of the landscape."

This book has been broken up with the chapters as follows: Overture; The Islands; The East; Coda; Directory of distilleries; Glossary, Index and Acknowledgements. I liked the maps each section had that showed where distilleries were either operating, operating with visitor centre, mothballed or operating intermittently; or closed. This information would come in handy if you are planning on visiting the areas yourself.

`Scotland and its Whiskies' is the perfect gift for that special person who has everything (including you!). It is an informative and enjoyable read; while pleasing the eye at the same time.

I got hooked on single malt scotches a few years ago--not hooked in an AA "higher power" sense--but hooked on sipping and savoring Balvenie, Oban, Cragganmore, and others.

As an adoptee who recently learned of his Scottish heritage, this handsome book with its lovely pictures of the highland countryside makes me proud. The Scottish have given the world the telephone (Graham Bell), the bicycle (Dunlop), the game of golf (St. Andrew's), cloning (Wilmut), penicillin (Fleming), and capitalism (Adam Smith)...not to mention some fabulous hooch

Our author is a foremost specialist on the subject of single malts discussing the subtle differences based on barrel-wood and mineral earth that make each scotch unique to its region. Besides, with someone like Michael Jackson says a 12 year old is tastier than a 16 year old, you better believe him.

This book showed me just how weak and vulnerable the Southern army was and how it took extordinary action to acheive success. Jacksons success was shortlived and paid for by the horrendous
burden he put on his men.

I'm only about 1/3 through, but I can tell that this is an awesome piece of work. I'm surprised not to see more feedback here.

Tanner does an excellent job of presenting the Confederate deatils of the early valley campaign. He gives an excellent quick history of the valley as far as original colonization, American Revolution tie-ins, etc. He also paints a good picture of the strategic importance of the valley. So far reading, I'm surprised that more action did not take place within the 2 mountain ranges that make this "valley."

Tanner covers every level of the campaigns from simple private, to captains, to regimental colonels, to brigadier generals, all the way up to division commanders and of course General Jackson. Detailed troop movements are given, yet I did not find myself lost in details. Maps are excellent and numerous.

Also, very important, is reference to other Eastern developments which caused the ebb and flow in the Valley. You get the details as to why certain troops found themselves headed in or out of the valley, especially for the Union side.

The writing is very clear, concise, and at times very poetic. I wouldn't say Tanner is another Catton or Foote, but he comes pretty darn close. Much better than a typical dry account of campaigns you usually see out there.

I've been doing a lot of reading on ACW lately. I wasn't quite sure whether to read this because there seemed to be so many other more important works out there. But I'm glad I'm reading it as Tanner does an excellent job of briging this often forgot and vital campaign to life.

Remember it is Jackson's brilliance in the campaign which delays McCellan from striking Richmond by causing panic in Washington and delaying troop concentrations, and more importantly, it is his superiority in the Valley which allows him to break loose and help kick off the 7 Days (although he was MIA in helping).

Any serious ACW student should read this book.

I have always been fascinated by the Valley Campaign, and surprised that nothing appeared to have been written specifically on the Campaign itself - at least nothing definitive.

I just knew Tanner's book was what I was looking for, just by the appearance of it. And in fact it is THE definitive account of the Shenandoah Campauign of 1862.

This is a remarkable campaign history. Never does Tanner's pacing seem off. He tells the reader precisely what he or she wishes to know. At proper moments he gives a literary touch to th writing; at other times he tells us what the soldiers were thinking; and at other times he tells amusing anecdotes.

THe sheer amount of research that must have gone into this book is phenomenal. Most books on civil war battles and campaigns tend to rely on accrued secondary evidence, and those pieces of primar evidence that are already widely known.

Tanner, on the other hand, has miraculously discoverd sources NEVER before seen. He is so thorough that the bibliographu and notes take up a seriously large portion of the book. And the information is important - a good deal of it clarifies points that have always been puzzling. For example, he proves that the famous Staunton maneuver, where Jackson seemed to deliberately leave the Valley on foot, only to return by train, was actually ad hoc, and probably not intended.
On the other hand, the new evidence regarding the march south from the Battle of Winchester really makes you feel sorry for the Valley soldiers - my feet really almost felt sore even reading about walking that fast, and going without sleep for so long.

Jackson himself comes across as a flawed genius, which he undoubtedly was. While he was a remarkable soldier, one must admit that there were certain aspects of his character that nearly defeated him on occasion; his almost continuous friction with his subordinates, his extreme strictness, his extreme inflexibility, his religious fervour, his inability to know when his soldiers were past breaking point.
Yet we also see Jackson's incredible energy, his strategic genius, his unerring instinct for what to do next.

Ultimately Tanner's book is about as definitive as a campaign book can get, and is highly recommended to anyone interested in the Civil War.

Tanner has written an excellent summary of the Valley Campaign that established Jackson as a Civil War legend. He manages to describe the experiences of privates and officers who fought in the campaign. While the majority of the book focuses on the Southern side, Tanner is fair and objective in his description of the abilities of the main characters.

Before going into the campaign study, Tanner describes the early history and importance of the Shennandoah Valley and why the area was such an important objective during the Civil War. The maps were okay but could have been more detailed and numerous to enable the reader to better understand the campaign movements and locations.

I particularly appreciated Tanner's fair treatment of Jackson: while we Southerners tend to idolize Jackson, Tanner points out Jackson's most serious flaws: secrecy and inability to get along with subordinates. Indeed, both tendencies probably would have kept Jackson (had he survived the war) from attaining the status of Lee, Grant, Sherman, Thomas, and Johnston. Admittingly, I have read of Jackson's tendencies in several other books.

I highly recommend the book as the standard for a study of the 1862 Shennandoah Valley Campaign. Read and enjoy!

A well-written and thoroughly researched account of one of the most impressive military campaigns in history. Mr. Tanner's portrayal is an enjoyable read without the sappy hero worship yet with all the details that gave us the Stonewall legend. No one can doubt the genius of this unlikely military leader nor his place in military history. Few could compare to the Elder Jackson's pious and quiet humility in victory and genious of maneuver. The valley campaign is studied to this day as a model of the indirect approach and the importance of maneuverability. Mr. Tanner gives us the best account yet of that campaign to thrill and inform. Very highly recommended.