Richard Books

Blood and Rain
Blood for the Masses


Re-Entry Of Evil
by
Lee Pletzers

Reviewed by
B.L.Morgan

5 Stars

Re-Entry Of Evil is one of those books that drive marketing departments insane. It's equal parts horror and science fiction and because this is a book that is more about the characters than about the props in the story, Re-Entry Of Evil really does not belong entirely to either genre.

This novel begins with Peter Clement, a down on his luck antique dealer, being given a supernatural book that grants all wishes to the person who possesses it. Of course there is a price tag that goes along with the unlimited good fortune that the book brings. You'll have to read Re-Entry Of Evil to find out what it is.

At Chapter Seven Re-Entry Of Evil shifts to the world of the year 2368. For me this is where the novel really shined. The future world that Lee Pletzers described was entirely believable and plausible. The advancements that technology made from today to then were realistic ones. Everything in this world fit together in the same kind of misshaped jigsaw puzzle way that our world fits together. I felt entirely at home in the world of 2368 and in most science fiction novels of the future I usually don't get that.

The only complaint that I could make, if I was looking for one, was that the story shifted between too many characters. But I get that with King and Koontz also so maybe that's not a bad thing. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's not a good thing. The two K's are extremely successful so I don't argue with success.

I do highly recommend Re-entry Of Evil. Lee Pletzers more than passed my quota for gruesome violence and wild sexual scenes and he did it without becoming redundant. That is not an easy task. Re-Entry Of Evil was hard driving and inventive.

I predict that Lee Pletzers will one day be on the best seller lists. Pick up a copy of Re-Entry Of Evil and find out why.

RE-ENTRY OF EVIL is a headbanging mix of horror and science fiction, plunging the reader not only into a deal with the devil, but time travel, war, intrigue and conspiracy. Richard Lee has a gift for not only crafting scenes of horror and violence but inventing eerily realistic future worlds. A truly unique literary masterwork...Buy it, Buy it, BUY IT!!!
--K.K. (Author of CLOWNWHITE and INHUMAN RESOURCES)

I loved Re-Entry of Evil by Richard Lee, a novel that draws you into the life of antique dealer, Peter Clement, and into a terrifying new dimension of Evil after he acquires a certain book. Lee's characters are well-fleshed out, and be warned: you will care about them as they pull you through a chilling plot with all kinds of twists and turns. Once I began reading Re-Entry, I couldn't put down this screamer of a story!

Remember when you were a kid, and Grandma used to tell you to stay away from that dark cellar door. You didn't listen ... did you? Re-entry of Evil, the new novel from horror author Richard Lee, is that dark cellar door, beckoning to you. Once you open the cover, and begin the dark journey through this novel's pages, be ready to sleep with your lights on.

Enter the mind of Peter Clement-a simple man, when we first meet him in the opening of Re-entry of Evil, who owns an antique shop handed down to him from his father. But once Peter finds the devil's wish book, his life will never be the same. With the help of the Meph Man, Peter begins his descent into a world filled with ultimate power and unforgettable terror.

Re-entry of Evil offers up the perfect recipe for a good long-lasting scare. Take a healthy helping of horror, add a pinch of science-fiction and a generous dash of action, and you have the page turning read that fuels this heart-pounding novel.

Horror author Richard Lee offers you a sneak-up-and grab-you creep out with Re-entry of Evil. So go ahead, read the first page, open those cellar doors, and take the black, wispy hand that summons you into the heart of an unstoppable plot. Re-entry of Evil will have you in its grip after the first sentence, and I guarantee you'll be back for more of Richard Lee's gripping, creepy tales.

There's going to be hell to pay after Peter Clement signs his name in a supernatural book that can make all of his wishes come true. The Devil's wish book collects its payment and annihilates the simple world that Peter used to know. In "Re-Entry of Evil" Peter transforms from an ordinary antique dealer into a powerful, bloodthirsty force that seems unstoppable. Unlike the other victims of the Devil's wish book who followed the rules, Peter decides to shatter every rule established and refuses to give up his possession of it.

Throughout this richly detailed and horrific story, you'll feel bewitched by the strong desires of Peter Clement. You'll dive deep into hell and into the twisted mind of Peter, as you engage with a dagger that can kill and entrap its victims, plus you'll meet characters who will linger in your mind long after they've been seduced by evil. You'll also meet characters, such as Penny, Ami, Samantha, and Father Michael who will stop at nothing to prevent Peter from claiming victory. And, you'll have to travel hundreds of years into the future to keep up with the likes of Peter.

"Re-Entry of Evil," although most definitely a horror novel, has shreds of science fiction seeping from page to page, too. The futuristic world that Peter emerges in is vividly described and seems quite real. Don't make the mistake of getting overly attached to any of the characters and don't assume you know what Richard Lee is going to throw at you. His words will shock and amaze you; the storyline is excellent. If you dare to walk that line between sanity and insanity and where the Devil plays with your mind, read "Re-Entry of Evil" for a hell of a good time.

Here is another helpful resource for anyone who works with churches and church organizations in this rapidly changing context.

Hamm is a credible coach with decades of celebrated investment in all facets of church life. Those of us who have worked with Dick know him as a gifted leader and a serious disciple of Jesus Christ.

What makes this book so particularly useful is the way it reads. If you ever enjoyed viewing Rick Steves' Europe on PBS, you'll enjoy reading Hamm's foray into leadership for the post-modern age.

Our mid-level judicatory pastoral staff is reading the book. The conversations it generates are well worth the price of purchasing extra copies to go around.

Bill Rose-Heim
NW Area Pastor
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Mid-America
811 S. Walnut
Cameron, MO 64429
www.nwareacc.org

I need to begin this review with two admissions. The first is that I don't read a lot of nonfiction. This book is one that I would likely never have picked up if I was not related to the author. Which brings me to the second admission, the author is my father-in-law. I'll start with the negative. The main reason I subtracted a star is a style issue and may not even bother others. I felt there was a consistent overuse of quotation marks and italic print to emphasize words and phrases, which I found distracting. In a well-written argument, the reader can easily pick out which words are important without a neon sign around each one. And this book is full of well-written arguments.

As former General Minister and President of his denomination, the author is abundantly qualified to make these arguments. I especially enjoyed the discussions stemming from both sides of his role as GMP, the administrative and the spiritual. I believe all pastors face a little of this duality, this business of church. They must balance the will of God with the Earthly needs of the people for the church to thrive. No one would argue that the will of God is not the more important of the two, but since very few pastors have a direct line to God and most congregations do have a direct line to their pastor, the balance can be difficult to achieve.

I applaud that there is no whining in this book. It's not just a laundry list of what's wrong with churches these days, but gives specific reasons why something is wrong and details about how we can go about improving it. I would recommend this book to anyone in a position of church leadership, or those who seek to be. I believe you will find something of value in here, whether you belong to the mainline or not.

Dick Hamm has written an informative, insightful, and inspirational book on congregational transformation for mainline Protestant congregations. With Dick's experience in the Christian Church [Disciples of Christ] as a pastor and denominational leader, he understands the dilemma faced by many mainline congregations. In this volume he effectively communications a pathway for these congregations to experience being recreated.

His efforts at applying the work of leadership guru Ron Heifetz on adaptive change versus technical change are powerful for many congregations. He effectively weaves the concept of the perfect storm to show how congregations in many mainline denominations have been hit by a perfect storm which makes it difficult for them to transform.

Coupled with three other resources, this book makes a great guide for congregations to use to engage in a transformational journey. These resources are,

Renew Your Congregation: Healing the Sick, Raising the Dead (TCP Leadership Series)

Pursuing the Full Kingdom Potential of Your Congregation (TCP Leadership Series)

Reaching People Under 40 While Keeping People Over 60: Being Church for All Generations (TCP Leadership Series)

Richard Hamm understands church leadership from the inside out. He currently serves as the first executive leader for the broadest-based ecumenical collaboration in the US, Christian Churches Together. Before that, he was the General Minister and President of a mainline denomination. Before that, he served as a regional minister (a middle judicatory pastor, a bishop), and before that as a gifted congregational pastor and a new church planter. Dr. Hamm understands churches. He understands leadership. And he knows what makes people tick.

This book reveals both Hamm's incisive perception and his love for the church. It will be most helpful for established church leaders (both clergy and lay) who are trying to make effective shifts in the current, chaotic cultural climate. Hamm's perceptions will enrich your understanding. Recreating the Church will give you hope and help you start taking steps toward transformation.

This excellent resource for ministry in congregatons covers the bases. It is a book about context. The context for congregational ministries both empowers and limits the work of a congegation. Dr. Hamm has offered dozens of ways of analyzing the context for mainline congregations in this first part of the 21st Century. His writing is both informational and inspirational. He helps people in congregations understand the cultural and social changes that have reshaped the context for congregational ministry. When congregations use this book to understand the world in which they do ministry, they will be much better equipped to alter what they are doing to be more effective. I highly recommend this book for pastors and lay leaders in congregations. It will serve as a great conversation partner as you imagine new ways to be church in the North American context in the 21st Century.
Dan Moseley, Professor of Practical Parish Ministry

I pastor a congregation where the primary members are older adults. We used this book as springboard for discussion of life story and leaving a legacy. I consulted with the supplemental leaders guide, which I also highly recommend, that is set up to use this book over a ten-week period. We did not take ten weeks to use this book, but used selected exercises from this book to reflect on our life stories and our faith journey. After the three evenings, there were many in the group asking for additional sessions.

This book is helpful to older adults and those wanting to assist older adults talk about their lives in two ways: 1) it provides questions and exercises to assist people in reflecting on their lives and 2) the questions and exercises encourage people to see their lives as important and see them as something that others can learn from.

I would recommend this book for use by people wanting to help older adults with a life review, for middle-aged people who feel lost in order to gain perspective on their lives and find a spark for a possible new change in direction, and for people who want to record the life stories of aging relatives for future generations.

The exercises are designed to meet the variety of learning styles that exist and not all exercises will appeal to all users of this book. The variety of exercises is great and the results of actually doing the exercises will lead to gentle reflection on life and ones spirituality.

I will be using this book again in the future.

I have used Morgan's REMEMBERING YOUR STORY as a basic guide for doing spiritual formation groups in a parish setting. It lends itself not only to personal story sharing, but to a bonding into community and providing a basis for genuine interaction. It was also helpful in relating our stories to stories in Scripture, which are quickly becoming forgotten in our information overload. This book can be a valuable source for growth ..... and preservation of our stories; we are our stories; but we can lose our stories if we don't save them. REMEMBERING YOUR STORY shows us the way.

Many older people suffer from depression or despair and often the reason is that no one takes time to hear their life stories. We used Morgan's book in our Nursing Home (especially the 100 questions at back of book) with powerful results. Many older people's lives were changed

We used REMEMBERING YOUR STORY during a 10 week class in Midlife Transitions. Some of the group were experiencing changes in marriage, others in job, and still others with illness issues. Morgan's book helped us all to find the golden thread, the "story" in our lives which not only helped discern our pattern, but also gave directions for the changes which we face, Excellent book for group process.

We have tried to connect generations in our church and had service projects and programs but Morgan's book helped connect all five generations through stories. Older people and youth listened to each other as they shared their life stories

The stories are great to read aloud to children and all of the children in my reading group were especially intrigued by the illustrations. Hope to see more books by this talented duo!

We made this book are favorit book of the year. The book teaches us new words. It is scary and humorous. In Straw we talked how can things be true if they are not believed and God. In the House of Untold stories we talked on whats fair and being writers and write are own stories. You shold read it to.
Third Grade All Saints Elementary
- The children were drawn in by the thrilling and suspensful stories, and the richness of the language. The book is an excellent primer for moral discussion, and has wonderful applications for Creative Writing and Language Arts.

I liked this book. Five good stories for kids. I liked the first and third the best.

These five stories are wonderful for children ages 6-12. They're truly intriguing and told in a casual, convincing voice. Adults will enjoy reading them to smaller children.

The stories in this book are creative and fascinating. My kids (ages 7, 10 and 13) listened spellbound and repeatedly begged for "just one more" story. The stories are scary without being gory or terrifying. The characters are interesting and just believable enough to keep your interest. Highly recommended!

This book accompanies an exhibition of Diebenkorn's works painted in New Mexico in the early 1950's. Wonderful illustrations make it a valuable addition to the literature on the artist. Now, you really have to be an all-out Diebenkorn fan to consider that these early works measure up to what was being painted at the same time in New York by the likes of Pollock, De Kooning, Rothko, Kline and Guston. Diebenkorn became great when he started the Ocean Park series in the 1970's, but here, he only reveals himself as a good colorist. The merit of this catalogue lies, in my opinion, in the high quality of the illustrations, albeit of minor works, and in the sensible text written by a leading authority on the artist.

A very good primer on progressivism, liberalism and conservatism. Not a light read.

If you went to college and/or graduate school in the late 1950's or 1960's, chances are very good you read at least one of Richard Hofstadter's (1916-1970) books. Particularly "The American Political Tradition," "The Age of Reform," "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life," and "Paranoid Style in American Politics" were ubiquitous on college reading lists. And this was for good reason: Hofstadter many believe was the most incisive and insightful American historians of the first two-thirds of the 20th century. Coupled with his perceptive and innovative analytical abilities were writing talents that made his books fascinating to read.

Until now, there has not really been a full-scale biography of Hofstadter. This book, by David S. Brown, fills that gap very nicely. Brown has well handled the central challenge of writing about Hofstadter--how much attention should be devoted to the books and how much to the man? Someone who was born in the 1960's, as was the author, might well wonder what all the excitement was about. Brown's excellent discussions of the various Hofstadter volumes will clue such readers into his approach, prejudices, accomplishments, and contributions to the writing of American history. One also gets a pretty solid feel for Hofstadter the man as well. Brown has interviewed many who knew Hofstadter: his students (such as Dorothy Ross) and his colleagues at Columbia. He scoured oral history collections and published recollections as well. One of the most effective dimensions of the book is that Brown incorporates discussions of some leading historical interpretations that appeared at the same time as Hofstadter's books--some agreed with Hofstadter, others took issue with various of his positions, and an interesting dialogue resulted.

The research is solid; the writing flows very well, and the narrative is quite interesting. A helpful bibliographic essay, "The Search for Richard Hofstadter," concludes the volume and is quite useful. For anyone interested in the development of 20th century American historiography, or who is just curious about what was going on in this country's political history, Brown's book is a valuable and stimulating introduction.

Richard Hofstader is one of the foremost US Historians of this century even though his career was less than half as long as Arthur Schlesinger's and included no service to an incumbent President. His work is especially noted for interpretations reflecting a multiethnic more urban America and also lessons from social theory. Immense prestige within the scholarly community was complemented by books that are readable and more `popular' than most histories. Almost all College Graduates, at least through the 70's will have read one or more of his books. Continually historians and others have been stimulated by discussions of "social Darwinism," "anti-Intellectualism" and a "paranoid style" in American politics as well as his `take' on American Political thought and the Progressive era.

Interests in American intellectual history and in American historiography are central to this study. Insights on regionalism and politics in the academe add to the book. The Morningside and general New York intellectual environment are also evident. There is even some insight into the student rebellion of 1968 and its consequences.

My own enthusiasm is partly personal; I attended Columbia as a History major starting in the same class as Hofstader's son Danny (although I graduated a year early). Many of the personalities mentioned, as well as guest speakers at the Graduate History Lounge like Hannah Arendt and Phillip Curtin were part of my experience and some of Hofstader's books enlightened History and Government courses. However, any historian and especially students of the US should find much of interest.

David Brown does an excellent job in this "intellectual biography". There is probably no way it could be authored with the more exciting style of Hofstader himself. Nor will it find so broad a readership as books like "The American Political Tradition". It is a shame hat so many of Hofstader's works are out of print although this does reflect some further evolution in interpretation as well as new themes and approaches. Times have changed and the numbers of PhD's has boomed with ever more narrow studies and perhaps fewer stimulating interpretive books for the `educated reader'. As education has become increasingly more like job training and history as well as language and other substantial general education and critical thinking courses have reduced places in education intellectual and public discourse have eroded.

Brown reinforces awareness that history is not dates and facts, that it is not neutral, and that it is an evolving effort to understand our own day and its origins. Intellectual history and analysis of historiography, together with the better comparative histories, are the source of more realistic and better understanding - a more than welcome and mature improvement over ideologues and shallow discourse prevalent today. Education in general and the study of history in particular, is no absolute assurance against stupidity of leaders and public discourse. Yet without the study of history such foolishness is common.

I have read an except of this book, and a few reviews of it including all those heretofore posted on 'Amazon'. Thus what I have is an 'impression' of the book, and not an in-depth understanding.
My impression is simply that it is a very good book. One reviewer Ronald Clark says that David S. Brown meets the challenge well of narrating both the story of the life, and the content of the books, or the intellectual development.
This seems to me the key thing in a book of this kind. I recently read an excellent detailed biography of an important intellectual figure which went into every possible aspect of the daily life without confronting the ideas and the intellectual development. It simply did not do the job.
Brown sees Hofstader as not simply a committed liberal, but as a political thinker who was able to react to the changing challenges he met throughout his life. He was an intellectual whose thought involved reacting to events, and not simply fitting them into a predisposed pattern.
He has been faulted for misunderstanding and not doing real justice to ' conservative thought'. This may well be the case. But then again his major years of working and writing were years of such great Liberal predominance that this is in some way not surprising.
Hoftstader is credited with being the most savvy and moderate of the 'New York Intellectuals' especially in regard to his relation to and support of the Democratic Party.
In telling of the life Brown tells of Hoftstader's tragic loss of his first- wife, his successful second marriage. The father of two children, a son Dan from his first marriage, and Sarah from his second he seems to have been an excellent and responsive father. His son Dan speaks highly of him and of his irrevent sense of humor, a quality not especially felt in the books.
My sense is that this is a responsible and respectable work from which one can learn much about an important American intellectual.

Richard Hofstadter obeyed the unwritten rule: tenured liberal arts academics who teach at an "elite" university should make sure they are of great value to the Democratic Party. It is wise to place one's wet finger in the air to see which way the prevailing ideological winds are blowing. Was the admittedly great scholar a raving Left-winger? Nope, the reality is that Hofstadter may have been the most conservative member of the Columbia University faculty. Alfred Kazin even referred to him as "a secret conservative." There is little doubt, it must be added, that Hofstadter would have never had such a prominent and rewarding career had he been even slightly more right-wing. I suspect had that been the case, he would have been doomed to barely earning a living at a third tier school. The famous historian was a indeed a proverbial knee jerk liberal. He admittedly was no longer a Communist, but his secular faith in "New Deal" liberalism was near dogmatic. Furthermore, communism was possibly less dangerous that anti-Communism. Hofstadter was at best an anti-anti Communist. Republicans were deemed to be paranoid and reactionary. Left-wingers may occasionally get a little goofy, but they are essentially well meaning. It is those right-wing buffoons who are supposedly crazier than jay birds and warrant intense scrutiny. Thankfully, Hofstadter's commitment to rational thinking was sufficient to reject the radical left's attempt in the 1960s to take over Columbia's campus. The enemy was not always to the right. Sometimes it does reside on the left. These leftist students were nihilists, although perhaps unwittingly so, and not true reformers. If nothing else, Hofstadter deserves credit for realizing that a nonnegotiable line had been crossed. Biographer David S. Brown hits the nail on the head: "Hofstadter's selective use of the paranoid style brings to mind David Potter's earlier criticism of the status thesis. Like status, paranoia is a slippery concept that belies strict categorization and can be used indiscriminately to pathologize political opposition." "Always looking for the enemy on the right," continues the author, "Hofstadter never suspected liberalism's vulnerability to self-destruction."

Richard Hofstadter also inadvertently harmed the American Jewish community. His unrelenting focus on anti-Semitism in some conservative circles blinded him to the far more dangerous threat posed by leftist extremism. One wonders what Hofstadter would say regarding Columbia University's current pervasive Jew bashing. David S. Brown's book is well worth reading. Conservatives should make sure to obtain a copy. It will almost certainly help them to better understand the inevitable collapse of our once great universities.

David Thomson
Flares into Darkness

Gillingham does it again. John Gillingham, again,provides us with another superb account of a remarkable ruler of England.

A great introduction to those curious about this legendary monarch. Gillingham pulls off a bit of a hat trick here. While he does have strong opinions of surrounding figures, particularly Philip and John, he lets the facts speak for themselves about Richard and does not argue one particular point of view. With one exception, his sexuality. This also one of the few times where I found the primary historians, both Arab and Norman, becoming "characters" and their presence is missed when they die or no longer are around the King. The very difficult task of giving all of the counts of Normandy, the Vexin, and the Aquitaine distinctiveness is handled incredibly well. In the hands of a less skilled author this would have been very dry reading and frustratingly convoluted. Also, bit of a heads up to the future reader: This is Gillingham's second book on Richard the Lionheart and he has written numerous articles and essays on the monarch. He has no problem using himself as a reference and he flat out lifts an entire chapter from his previous work and places it in this one. I found this shrewdly entertaining. It does benefit this volume and since the older version is no longer in print, no harm done. After reading this you come away better informed, entertained and with a desire to pick up another book on this era and this king. I can't think of much better praise than that. An essential work for a medieval library.

Richard the Lionheart's life and personality may be the stuff of legend, but they are hidden by the mists of time -- or rather the paucity of relevant documents. Gillingham does a brilliant job of breathing as much life as possible into rather arid fragments without stepping beyond what is warranted by the evidence. For his understanding of the king, he draws as much on contempory Arab sources as European ones, arguing convincingly that the Arab writers may have had fewer axes to grind in talking of Richard. Gillingham goes so far as to place his evaluation of Richard's character at the point where the evidence ends -- following his captivity in Germany -- rather than at the end of the book. Instead the book ends with a well reasoned argument that it was John (and John alone) who lost Normandy whereas Richard was winning the war against Philip Agustus of France. Gillingham also points out that, had Richard lived to complete that struggle, the empire of Henry II might still have disappeared with his death.

Inevitably, some of the work is frustratingly dry -- especially for the process of Richard's development into a strong ruler and military genius against the background of one of history's most disfunctional families. But that dryness arises from the lack of evidence, not from immersion in trivia at the expense of substance.

The book itself is a delight, with strong narrative supported by a myriad of footnotes which are where they should be -- at the bottom of the pages. All in all, a good story well told with insightful analysis based on the record.

I was sceptical getting started on this biography. Certainly, the early parts were fact-laden, slightly uninteresting and slow going.

I am very glad I did not give up.

This is one of the few strictly historical books that restores one's faith in objective research and non-agenda, non-ego driven truth finding.

One might wish for a bit more of a picture of Richard's persona, but from the remove of nearly a millenium, this would be fudging anyway. The facts that there are are clearly and neatly laid out regarding all of Richard's attributes, and some of the modern fadist mythologies (so many of which have their underpinnings in a given academic's desire or need for attention) are dealt with fairly and thoroughly.

Example: Richard was not a homosexual, as "The Lion in Winter" would have a viewer believe. The evidence against it is clear and plenary. It isn't that one doesn't wish him to be, it's just that this notion has its roots in a modern attempt to overlay ancient male and political bonding customs with a template of modern behaviours and modern conclusions which would stem from modern interpretations of those behaviors.

All in all, Richard emerges from the historical record as a great warrior King, who was grossly treated following his exertions during the Crusades, and was forced to try to reclaim the lands that Phillip of France stole while Richard was away. He was therefore forced to stay away from Britain, because the Angevin and Acquitainian and Norman parts of his empire were on the continent. He did not stay away from Britain by choice or by neglect (another myth debunked), but because he was forced to by the duties of his Kingship. Also, Britain WAS part of continental Europe as well in those days. (Or vice versa, if you happen to be English.)

This is the most balanced royal biography I've read to date. Gillingham begins by tracing Richard's reputation through the ages, beginning at it's peak in the 12th and 13th centuries, when he was considered one of the great leaders of his time to it's nadir in the 1950's when academics began to consider him a "Bad son and a bad king..." who spent far more time on the continent than he ever did in England, leaving it in terrible financial straits when he went off to fight in the crusades, and began to conjecture about his sexual preference. Gillingham explores and discounts these and other myths about Richard and his reign simply by letting the historical record speak for itself and allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions, rather than stating his own opinions as facts and then selectively using the historical record to back them up. He also isn't afraid to admit that he can't be sure of something when the historical evidence is either too thin or simply obscured by the mists of time, which is refreshing. The author is among the first to rely heavily on contemporary Muslim sources in constructing his portrait of Richard, because he believes they are less biased in their evaluation of Richard's character than a European chronicler might be. These sources are, for the most part, complimentary, and add great perspective and depth to the reader's understanding of Richard as a warrior. Gillingham strikes the perfect balance between academic research and popular history, making the book very readable. Whether you're interested in Richard himself, or merely seeking an introduction into reading further about his fascinating family dynamics, or the crusades, this is the book to read!

I actually prefer the larger format red paper-back (which I believe is out of print, but includes nursery rhymes). However, this version is great too. The stories and illustrations are great. A must-have.

This is a must-have in every toddler's library. The stories are classic, and the illustrations are colorful and lively. My almost-3-year-old son can't get enough. This is an excellent gift book as well.

This book is one from my childhood with an updated cover. It has many different stories that are 1 to 3 pages. I can't wait to share it with my daughter! It has great stories like the Teeny Weeny Mouse, the 3 Billy Goats Gruff, Gingerbread Man and SO many more! A must buy for kids!

This book was given to me as a christmas present over 20 years ago. I still have it and still love it.

There are many, many fairy tales books out there. I wanted something that would hold my 2 year-old daughter's attention while I read to her at night. I thought a good place to start would be some of the fairy tales I remembered as a kid, stories such as the "Three Little Pigs" and "Goldilox and the Three Bears."

Most of the fairy tale books I found were composed mainly of text with a few antiquated pictures every now and then. And this is fine for older children, but no so for a two year old. When I came across this book, I knew I had struck gold.

Those of you with children not familiar with Richard Scarry's books are missing out on some of the greatest learning/reading tools out there. Scarry's books are visually appealing -- multiple drawings of delightful animal characters on each page, moving the story along and giving your child plenty of details to view while listening.

As a child of the 70's, I was already familiar with Scarry's books. I must have read each of them dozens of times as a kid, pouring over and appreciating the details in every picture. Let's face it, the way to get kids into reading is to make it interesting; this is certainly a good way to start them off early.

If you're looking for a good way to get the kids interested in reading, or if you just want a quality book of fairy tales for the children in your life, look no further than this one. It's a book your children will cherish and, like myself, read to their own some day.

I came across this book while basically just browsing many different topics. I had read "Black Boy" and "Native Son" many, many years ago, and had kind of lumped them in with books by other black authors like "Invisible Man" and "Go Tell It on the Mountain". However, having fortunately had my consciousness raised significantly since the late 60's, I decided to read this biography - there was another biography by Margaret Walker, a former friend of Wright's, but it seemed a little bitter and so possibly not as objective. I noted right away this was what I call a "two bookmark" book - one for the text and one for the footnotes at the back (I much prefer footnotes at the bottom of the page but realize this is sometimes too awkward and voluminous). The story evolved of a man whose life somewhat overlapped with my own, beginning with his wretched and impoverished childhood in Mississippi, spent mostly with his mother and brother after his father left and started another family. Richard's family was incredibly poor, in a poor black section of a poor town in the poor state of Mississippi. Other adjectives for Mississippi at that time, and for years to come, spring to mind, like "brutal", "racist to the nth degree", "lynching addicted", "determined to maintain a questionable (and certainly not enviable) "white way of life" by harsh infliction of Jim Crow laws. However, the young Richard Wright had great artistic intelligence, as well as an exceptionally mind, and a dream for his life from which he would not waver. He could no longer live in a State where his inferiors were seen to be his superiors. He moved to Chicago ("up North") with an aunt while in his teens and was disappointed and horrified by many of the conditions he found there. There were minimally more opportunities for Negroes (as they were called at that time, also "coloreds") and "race-mixing", while widely frowned upon, was accepted in certain circles. Richard was introduced into the Communist Party, and thus began a decades old love-hate relationship with communism. Yes, he got many good opportunities to exercise his writing abilities through the Party's many literary outlets, but he resented its stifling nature and in-fighting. Eventually, he felt he had been duped by the Party and he also felt he could no longer tolerate the obvious infiltration by the FBI and CIA, who were beginning their paroxysms of anti-Communist hysteria at that time, wasting millions of tax-payer dollars scrutinizing and harassing ordinary and innocent citizens, particularly those involved in the arts and in civil rights. This hysteria, of course, culminated in the insanely megalomaniacal frenzy known as "The McCarthy Era", after the fixated, parapolitical, ranting Senator who gave this era its name. He also progressed through work he did under the auspices of the WPA. He had some close writer friends and developed close friendships with his agent and his publisher, and lived a fairly social life (although he most loved to be by himself, writing), mostly through activities in the Party, the WPA and earlier, at the Post Office where he was temporarily employed. He also lived for quite some time in New York, which was a little more progressive; however, he encountered instances of racial prejudice there, as well. His first big book, Native Son, was a huge success considering white America really didn't like to have more than one big Negro writer at any one time. Black Boy followed. He also wrote many short stories and essays. He married precipitously (actually his second choice) because he felt he should be married and have children. After considerable passport problems, he moved his family to France, where he felt much more at home, despite France's somewhat straitened circumstances following WW II. Richard Wright was keenly aware and interested in matters of a political nature, and particularly as they affected "people of color", which included also citizens of the oriental countries, Africa, Muslim countries, etc. He also traveled to Spain and some of the Nordic countries. He was fascinated by people and their reactions to their circumstances in life. He maintained close correspondences with many of the literary figures of the day, both black and white, and counted them among his close friends. In his personal professional life, he was incredibly focused and hard-working. Most of his books were required to be extensively edited by his publisher, often up to over one-third of the original book. However, he took on these tasks with diligence, resignation and hard work, as he realized that a book that doesn't sell is basically just a home decoration. During his life, he wrote fiction, biography thinly disguised as fiction, short stories, songs, plays, non-fiction travel memoirs, books of political and historical theory and, toward the end of his life, haikus. He and his wife had two daughters but eventually his wife and children moved to England, while he remained in France to write. Even when they all lived together, he often traveled for six months to a year at a time by himself researching and writing. Needless to say, he and his wife grew emotionally apart - his weakness for other women didn't help. Instead of bemoaning this turn of events, although I'm sure she did in the beginning, Ellen Wright turned to publishing, with the help of Simone deBeauvoir, a friend originally of Richard's but then later, Ellen's very close friend. His later books, written in France, did not do as well, with the possible exception of "The Outsider". His publisher and agent speculated that perhaps he had been overseas too long and was not aware of the changes that had taken place in the U.S., and particularly in Mississippi, where his stories took place, making his books dated. Paradoxically, his books that took place in France and Spain were panned as not being familiar enough to him. He never gave up, however, despite ill health that had plagued him off and on since adulthood and which had become worse in his later years, culminating in a truly scary course of treatment by his German doctor. His untimely death was a blow to the millions of people who would have been enriched by the books still in him, and of the books unpublished at this death. In particular, I would have loved to have read his book about Africa. Richard Wright was a writer of uncommon intelligence and research habits, with a gift of seeing into the hearts of people. He wrote equally well about the white races. He also comes across as a fairly loyal and interesting friend, as well as a loving father. Even in hard times, he provided for his family, despite his basic estrangement from Ellen, his wife. His untimely death was a loss for all readers, but his legacy lives on, as I, for one, fully intend to read (and in some cases re-read) every book I can find by Richard Wright. This was a fairly long book, with voluminous footnotes, but I can honestly say I was never bored, and there were never parts I felt I had to skip over. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to "meet" Richard Wright, the man and the author.

Why has it taken a half-century for a really good writer to produce a biography of Richard Wright? It had not seemed "natural" until Hazel Rowley's new book.

Far beyond crippling "racial," political, and professional cliches, Rowley has crafted easily the most comprehensive, insightful and balanced life of Wright. Her prose and understanding are unaffectedly live and clear. Her feel for Wright's accomplishment, the range of the man's life and times is superb! Her book is an enriching pleasure that ought finally to compel honest recognition of this unique American genius.

Many biographies have been written about Richard Wright but this remarkable book gives you a fresh perspective on this man who turned the publishing world upside down with his book Native Son. Unlike the other books written about him, The Life and Times focuses on the personal life of Wright and how over the years he developed as a writer.

Rowley takes us to his home state of Mississippi where we meet Richard Wright as a boy. Raised in a fundamentalist religious family in the midst of poverty, Wright was a true outsider who was not understood by his family or friends. His migration to the north (Chicago) unfolds a new world for him where his writing abilities are recognized and nurtured.

You see a Richard Wright who embraces individualism and won't allow the Communist Party or any other organization to dictate to him how to write. As time goes on Wright takes the step of permanently leaving the United States by going to France. It is there that he finds a freedom never felt before in America.

I enjoyed this book and was surprised about many facts concerning his personal life and writing career. Wright's psychological development and philosophical stances are intriguing. At times he is an outspoken voice against racism but ends up making compromises in his work and personal life. Towards the end of his life, Wright becomes suspicious of those around him. He alienates himself from his family and friends.

Rowley shows us the complexities and humanity of a man who went from poverty to fame and then on a downward spiral into spiritual poverty. What was it that made this man tick? The author does an outstanding job in answering that question and putting him in perspective of his day and time. This is an outstanding book that deserves to be in the libraries of every reader.

Wright undoubtedly is one of the most interesting figures in American literature. He was among the second generation of post-slavery African Americans and received only the most rudimentary education in the segregated South, but went on to be one of the most celebrated literary figures of his time, trading wits with Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre at the height of the French existentialist movement in Paris. In 1941 the eminent sociologist Robert Park summed it up upon meeting Wright, asking simply "how in hell did you happen?"

Rowley's biography is well written and thoroughly researched, and the subject matter is a fascinating one. Wright is probably more interesting as a personality and sociological phenomenon than he was as a writer (it's been argued that Native Son was his one and only true work of genius) but the story of his life makes for riveting reading. Wright's life is a study of contrasts and ironies. He grew up in the injustice and grinding poverty of Jim Crow Mississippi, spent time as a Communist immersed in Marxist doctrine, and after achieving fame and fortune went on to live in bourgeoisie luxury in post-war Paris surrounded by impoverished White Europeans.

This is an excellent biography: thorough, well referenced, and compelling. I give it four stars instead of five simply because it is somehow missing that element that is present in the best of biographies which allows the reader to look into the motives and inspirations of the subject. Rowley includes a lot of facts about Wright's early life (his influences, who gave him his first books, etc.) but I never felt like I understood the reason that this particular Black youth from the Deep South ended up reading Mencken, Chekhov, and Maupassant in his spare time and dreaming of fame as an author. In short, I'm not sure that Rowley's biography succeeds in answering Robert Park's question.

Overall, however, this is an outstanding book. Rowley is an objective and unbiased biographer. Rowley covers not only Wright the author, but also the age in which he lived. Wright was a truly original voice in the history of American literature, and was among the fist to bring the Black experience to American readers. He deserves to be remembered, and Rowley does a fine job of telling the story of his life. Highly recommended.

Richard Wright is a major American author and, as such, deserves a major biography. Up until now, this has not happened.

Sure, there have been previous attempts. Friends (Constance Webb), enemies (Margaret Walker), and scholars (Michel Fabre) have all had their turn, but only Hazel Rowley's account, RICHARD WRIGHT: THE LIFE AND TIMES, can be considered definitive.

The fact that Wright is the subject of a major book in the 21st century is in itself marvelous. Too often, Wright has been dismissed since his death in 1960 by critics, readers, and other writers. That a major publishing house (Henry Holt and Company) would even put out Rowley's work is a testament to the revival of Wright in literary circles.

And Rowley has provided us with a wonderfully balanced account. She recaps the triumphs (NATIVE SON, BLACK BOY), and is not afraid to include the faults (Wright's weakness for casual affairs and his indulgence in psychological babble in later works). What emerges is a portrait of a gifted outsider who managed success in spite of an almost crippling self-doubt.

In chapter after chapter, Rowley describes not only Wright's experience; she manages to incorporate the context of the experience as well. This journalistic tactic is especially rewarding in the passages describing Wright's travels to Spain and Africa in later life (his reactions *to* those travels make sense in the narrative as well). In fact, the book's only flaw is the quick wrap-up; I would have liked to read a summary of Wright's influence, and a few lines about his family today, in the closing.

But this is a small problem compared to what Rowley has achieved. Here, at last, is a clean, readable account of a neglected but nevertheless important figure in American literature. It is to be hoped that the book spurs renewed interest in the actual works of its subject.