May Books

This is a great, great little book. One of the better ones in the Battleground America Series. The narrative is compelling and exciting, and gives a good detailed overview of the battle without being too technical and boring and reading like a textbook. This is a good account of the Bloody Angle battle, without having to read about the entire Spotsylvania campaign. The suggested reading chapter at the end also lists a valuable resource of references for further reading and learning and more technical volumes. Gettysburg perhaps steals a lot of the thunder of the other Civil War battles as compared to exposure and popularity, but the Spotsylvania battle, specifically the Bloody Angle fight, deserves a lot more attention and exposure than it gets. The Bloody Angle is important to Civil War history in that it ushered in a level of ferocity and brutality in Civil War combat that had never been seen prior to the Spotsylvania Campaign. It remains a unique and very exciting battle and hopefully there will be more written about it in the future.

"Bloomsday for Maggie" follows an 18 year old girl in 1920s Florida on her quest to become a "front page girl." This story was relatively easy reading without lacking in depth. It provides information on life during prohibition without droning on like a history book- in fact, it is so entertaining that you fail to notice you are getting a mini history lesson. Life is seen through Maggie's eyes as she watches the real estate boom, bootleggers, and newsroom mayhem unfold. I recomend it for anyone with an immagination...great for young teens but still enjoyable for adults.

Blue Night is an engaging and compelling novel. Set in New York City in 1957, the novel is beautifully written, with a richness and texture to the language that draws the reader in and makes one feel there with the characters. Blue Night takes place over one day and night in New York in October 1957 several weeks after the Russians launched the Sputnik, and involves the interactions of four engaging main characters- a Afro-American jazz saxaphonist, a Jewish teacher about to be fired because he will not make his students uselessly practice hiding under their desks to protect themselves in case of an atomic bomb attack (as was done in New York in the 50's), a Palestinian refugee who has fled the middle east to New York, and a rich woman who befriends them all. Each of the characters is in his or her own way a rebel. The novel is a brilliant psychological and philosophical exploration of individual rebellion, the reasons people choose to rebel, the price they pay for their acts of rebellion, and the loneliness they endure and the community and dreams they find and share.

As one who grew up in New York City in the 1950's, I felt that the novel captured life in New York in that era. The descriptions of the jazz club, where a good part of the novel takes place, were particularly captivating. The reader can really imagine being transported back in time to a club in that era, the depictions of the jazz scene were that good. Anyone who is a fan of jazz should read this novel, and will thoroughly enjoy it.

Finally, the novel is particularly relevant to today's America. Blue Night is set against a backdrop of fear, of fear of the atomic bomb, the Sputnik, the Russians, and of the other. Todd May explores these fears and offers hope of overcoming them. Today, as in the 1950's we again live in an age characterized by fear- of terrorists, weapons of mass destruction, of crime and criminals, of aliens, of each other. Reading Blue Night gives much insight into these fears and how our interactions and individual actions might help us overcome them.

This is one of the very few books that deals with small, ancillary boats rather than on the biggest, fastest, or latest ships or yachts. It gives a history of British military ship's boats, from the earliest known specifications through the steam era. This includes myraid boat plans, scantling dimensions, sail and rigging details, armament, and period illustrations.

While I would have liked a bit more in the operational side of the boat use and more on the preferred woods used, this is very minor. Overall, I found this a good and thorough work.

Excellent, as are many of the books I've seen from the Naval Institute Press.

For reasons that defy both logic and instinct the poetry of May Swenson continues to fly under the mainstream publishing radar. This compilation of essays on Swenson, published by Utah State University Press, is the first major book we have on the poet, and is obviously only a jumping-off point. A variety of points of view are given and anyone interested in Swenson's poetry will find fascinating windows on her many-sided genius. Of particular note is Swenson's correspondence with Bishop, eeirly similar to and echoing Bishop's previous correspondence with Marianne Moore. Swenson is shown to be one of the most acute readers of Bishop - sometimes almost too acute in her understanding of the many poetic dodges and balancing acts her older friend maintained in achieving an aesthetic response to Swenson's essentially Dionysic questioning.
Reading through each essay reveals Swenson's profound intellect, one that used an ongoing and unceasing internal discourse to create her own poetic vision, a vision imbued with complexly positive felicites, delighting the senses, even as darker thoughts jangle the mind.
Any first work on so fine a poet as Swenson is welcome; this work, with its variety of essays is especially true to its goal - a rereading and initial introduction to one of America's great poets. As the authors correctly put it, "Her work is ripe for further discovery."

Even if you own this book on paper, listening to it in audio form has it's own rewards. Nadia May's mature voice is appealing and unannoying. She does not try to be "ye olde" narrator. Listening to it also takes care of any odd or unfamiliar names (like Ypres) but I did note that a lot of names started with a "j" sound which lead to a moment of confusion.

Highly recommended.

The perfect read-aloud book that allows your children to interact with the story. 2 thumbs way up. We laughed and laughed, and laughed some more just re-telling the story.

I was elated to locate this book! I just ordered this hard-to-find book and eagerly await its arrival. I wanted to share the order info so those who have been pursuing this long awaited revision can obtain their own copy. I have rated it a 5 based on the earlier editions that started my geneaolgy research years ago.

THE BOOK OF THE WILDERS (REVISED) by Edwin M. Wilder, M.D., 1585 total pages. THIRD PRINTING IS NOW AVAILABLE from Justin E. Wilder, 904 Redding Road, Angola, IN 46703, Phone: 260-665-9568, http://members.aol.com/wild190/wilder.html

Short Description from the website:
This book covers the descendants of Thomas and Edward Wilder who came from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony about 1638. It was first printed in the 1960s as an update of the old 1878 Book. Much information has now been added correcting many omissions and errors. A complete new index is included.

This is one large hardbound volume of 1585 total pages. Price is $59* (check or money order) to just cover the cost of printing and mailing.

* This price is for shipment within U.S.A. Call or write for international shipping.

Having read BRIDGE OF SIGHS AND OTHER STORIES, there is no doubt in my mind that Edward T. May has a serious future in the writing business. Ranging through several genres (much as this reviewer does with his reading materials), May has a potent collection of stories - some SF, some horror, and some mystery - that will engage and entertain you in a quite worthy manner.

May acknowledges growing up with shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Outer Limits, among others, and that was a tip-off to me that I might have found a winner. Revenge is a strong element in some of these stories like "The Penalty for Unconcern" (a title I particularly love) and "Reality Split". In all cases the means of revenge are excruciatingly imaginative and the results well deserved. The search for answers is another element in "The Cult" and "So Full of Sorrow". May quite successfully shows that some things are best left untouched - some questions unanswered.

The bottom line is that this is a truly enjoyable book. The stories are consistently clever - consistently original - and consistently readable. Read "The Death of Compulsion" and tell me imagination wasn't afoot. Read "Bridge of Sighs" and tell me that chance encounters aren't always fruitful. My chance encounter with Edwin T. May was quite fruitful and I look forward to more such encounters. May definitely has a future. I will be extremely happy to read more.

I first came across this play when I heard it on the radio (BBC) in England in 1974. I enjoyed it so much I went and saw Roy Dotrice perform it on stage, at around the time this recording was made. An astounding performance which vividly portrays life in 17th Century England. Abounds with remarkably funny anecdotes on people, both famous and unknown, of his (John Aubrey's) time.

A continuing theme is one of "'Twas not so in Queen Elizabeth's time", the complaints of the older generation about the youth of today - whenever today happens to be.

A failing of the recording is that, from time to time, as Roy Dotrice moves about the stage his voice can get quite muffled and faint, due to a shortage of microphones, maybe. Don't make the mistake of thinking this is a dry and boring monologue, it's anything but that.