Richards Books

"Ours is the signal honor of being the nation's bulwark. One day we must prove ourselves worthy."

Requiem for Battleship Yamato is about sacrifice-immolation on the altar of national survival. It was written not to needlessly lionize the wanton sacrifice of combatants in order to bring to an end what one historian called "a war to establish and revive the stature of man." Instead, it was written, and properly so, as catharsis: Yoshida Mitsuru, as a 20-year old ensign on the bridge of the Yamato during its final voyage, had witnessed War, and thus wished that future generations would no longer be called upon to "prove themselves worthy," and to bear the burden of armed conflict.

Yoshida's prose satisfactorily captures the spirit on board the Yamato prior to its climactic encounter. Yet there is no way to adequately describe what the men of the Yamato went through during the ship's final hours. One author called it "a glorious way to die." Alternatively, the battle could be described as a nautical siege, a maritime battle of Troy. There is no apotheosis in death; death is merely a release from duty. During the battle, one man struggles to keep the deck clean by throwing overboard limbs severed by bomb shrapnel or machine-gun fire. Below decks, men grapple with the bodies of their comrades; once-inviting hot tubs (the Yamato has several of them, we are told) are filled to the brim with the ranks of the dead. In the bridge, officers are mowed down by machine-gun bullets. There is no sanctuary aboard the most massive dreadnought ever constructed.

This is a highly readable book, redolent with poignant memories, written by a man who had the courage to confront his phantoms. Through Yoshida's book, many souls who fought during the Pacific War found a voice.

"Three thousand corpses, still entombed today. What were their thoughts as they died?"

In the 1950's and 60's, Japanese memoirs of the Pacific War flooded forth from the publishers. Saburo Sakai's "Samurai", Hara's "Japanese Destroyer Captain," Mochitsura Hashimoto's "Sunk!" are just the tip of the spear. But Yoshida's "Requiem for Battleship Yamato" is simply in a class by itself. The youngest officer on board the mighty battleship, he was present when the giant was ordered on her suicide sortie. Escorted by the anti-aircraft cruiser Yahagi and numerous destroyers in April 1945, Yamato's mission was sublimely ridiculous: sail down toward the Ryuku Islands (where a massive American task force was staging the invasion of Okinawa), attack the landing force, beach itself, expend all weapons and ammunition, then the surviving crew members would join the garrison in Okinawa's defense. It was no surprise that the force didn't even make it halfway before being annihilated by U.S. planes. Yoshida's book is poetic and is beautifully translated by Richard Minnear who also provides a superb introduction as well. Yoshida's account of the American air attacks which inevitably shattered the Yamato, the Yahagi and most of the escorting destroyers come off as not combat, but high slaughter. Veterans who survived idiotic orders and suicide charges will find a spiritual brother in Yoshida. Don't be surprised if you have a tear in your eye for the brave crews of these ships as you close this book for the last time.

Written as a tribute to his shipmates, "Requiem" is also a powerful anti-war book.

young, naive and inexperienced the author chronicles his one and only combat mission. relating his service on the japanese battleship 'yamato' author mitsuru gives perspective not only on what he does but on what he feels. fortunately for the reader mitsuru is an articulate writer who has had the opportunity to rewrite his recollections numerous times over the years before settling on this 'definitive' edition. the book runs as a subtle parallel of stories between the events happening around the author during war and what he thinks and feels as he faces his own mortality. an excellent perspective of man in conflict.
also worth noting is the outstanding translation and introduction by richard minear.

Although perhaps unsurprising given the scale of Japan's losses and the bitterness of defeat, the fact remains that there are relatively few accounts of the war by those who fought with the Imperial Forces, and even fewer available in English.

For this reason alone `Requiem for Battleship Yamato' would command attention even if it were only an average work. But it is not an average work; it is a classic in the truest sense of this much abused word, which must be placed alongside books such as `The Last Enemy' by Richard Hillary.

Written in a spare, almost poetic style, `Requiem' tells the story of the Yamato's last doomed sortie from the viewpoint of one of her junior officers. Alongside glimpses of life on board the great battleship, we gain an insight into the thoughts and personal lives of her crew as they prepare for what most realise will be a mission from which there will be no return.

As the tension mounts and enemy forces close in for the inevitable kill, Yoshida provides a moving commentary on the Yamato's last days and hours, with poignant vignettes of such figures as the force commander Vice Admiral Ito, who had correctly appreciated the futility of the mission yet carried out his task with calm resolution.

With the Yamato entering her final death agony, Yoshida gives us harrowing descriptions of the effects of explosives and steel on human flesh - a timely reminder in this age of glossy propaganda of the true face of battle. Then there is the homecoming, with Yoshida's personal struggle to come to terms with the meaning of his survival while so many of his comrades are dead.

No review of this book would be complete without acknowledging the outstanding work of its translator, Richard Minear, who has also provided an excellent introduction. Thanks to his efforts, this work will not only be read with profit by the military historian, but anyone who seeks to broaden his understanding of the human condition.

This book is not for readers searching for details of battle, or apologies for participating in the miltary adventure against the US. Yoshida Mitsuru was an unlikely survivor of a suicide mission.

Some of the reviewers have found this book morbid, and focused on death. Mitsuru attempts to describe his feelings and unaswered question that haunted him for the rest of his life. Why was he saved, when so many other died? Was there a purpose to his life, and the life of his dead shipmates. These are questions that all men ask to some extent, but for those caught in a war, life and death are close and constant companions.

The normal thoughts of young men towards life and the future are put aside as their ship plows forward on a suicide mission.

Do not buy or read this book if you are not prepared to think about the personal cost of war. Some have described this as an anti-war book. I do not believe that is a correct description. This book is written by someone whose education and social standing required him to enter the Navy, and go to war. I view this work as a refection of an eyewitness and wounded survivor. Such an experience at such a young age makes one an expert on the war experience, not the root causes of war or their justifications.

Most men who shared Mitsuru's experience do not write, or even disuss their experiences. For some, just the thoughts of their experience is unbearable and the reason some end their days in mental hospitals.

When Mitsuru wrote the first draft of this book, it fell under the authority and censorship of the American Occupation, which did not approve of the text.

Which brings up the question not posed directly by this book. What "truths" were censored during the official investigations surrounding Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, and other matters that impacted on the ledgends and careers of Americans of that time?

Richard Pipes does a good job at laying out the workings of Russia's Tsarist Regime. What I found to be most interesting and persuasive is Pipes' frequent contrasts between Russia and Western Europe. For instance, he looks at the status of the nobility and the strength of the church. In both instances, Pipes draws a clear path as to how, in Tsarist Russia, these institutions became virtual extensions of the state bureaucracy (in sharp contrast to Western Europe, where they often served as brakes on royal power). In addition, Pipes places Russia squarely in the sphere of Asian (specifically Mongol) influence. As evidence, he points to close similarities between the Khanate and Tsarist "patrimonialism." In doing so, he de-emphasizes the oft-stated argument that Russia was the close heir to Byzantium. Finally, Pipes continally demonstrates how Tsarist policies laid the groundwork for the Soviet system (though the latter took those policies to a far bloodier and more extreme conclusion). My only criticism of the book is that Pipes does not deal directly with the issue of Russia's "national minorities" (beyond a quick mention of the Jewish Pale of Settlement and several Polish rebellions against Russian rule) and the attempts by the Tsarist regime to "Russify" those groups. I think that this would have been quite relevant to look at in Russia during this period. I am looking forward to reading Pipes' writings on later events in Russia.

I think this is the best of what I guess you would call Pipes' "Revolutionary Trilogy." "The Russian Revolution," perhaps two or three times the length, is impaired a bit by Pipes' sometimes tedious moral-pointing. "Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime" seems a bit less ambitious than the other two, and in any event it is surely the one least likely to survive the torrent of new material that is becoming available after the fall.

What distinguishes Russia in Pipes' eye is the tradition of "patrimonialism" -- as a political category, a coinage of Pipes' own, though with its roots in Weber, in Hobbes and Bodin, even in Aristotle. Pipes means to denote "a regime where the rights of sovereignty and those of ownership blend to the point of becoming indistinguishable, and political power is exercised in the same manner as economic power."

"Despotism," Pipes continues, "has much the same etymological origins, but over time it has acquired the meaning of a deviation or corruption of genuine kingship, the latter being understood to respect the property rights of subjects. The patrimonial regime, on the other hand, is a regime in its own right, not a corruption of something else."

This is a brave assertion, and Pipes remains faithful to it. Indeed, the core of the book is perhaps his chapter entitled "The Anatomy of the Patrimonial Regime," where Pipes tries to show how utterly different is the tradition of governance in Russia from the tradition in the West -- even in Western nations that we might think of as "reactionary."

There are other virtues to this book. His introductory chapter on the environment is perhaps worth the price of admission, as he retails the grim arithmetic of topsoil and grain production. His discussion of serfdom provokes all kinds of questions about the relationship between serfdom in Russia and slavery in the West.

A work of just 318 pages can hardly pretend to be the last word on the history of a great nation, and Pipes maintains no such pretention. I take it as given that much more could be said to inform, expand upon, or criticize, Pipes' perspective. But as a framework for approaching the study of Russia, it is hard for me to see how it could be bettered. As a provative contribution to the literature of political analysis generally, I should think its claim is equally strong.

This book is an absolute must-read! Before I read this book the history of Russia was a weakly connected sequence of contradictory events to me - that I wasn't able to organize in my mind in any comprehensible way. After reading this book I see a clear picture of my country's history. I suddenly understand what is going on. Every historical event, every action of a historic person suddenly falls into place, I see their meaning. This book provides you with an understanding of the real issues that have been troubling Russia for the past 1200 years. You will understand Russia and you will understand its people. The mext time Russia is on the news, and you have some Russians making a statement or conducting some action - you will understand where they are coming from when they are doing that.

This is indeed a brilliant book. Any one who wants to understand Russia should read it. I can not praise it highly enough. Please get a copy and learn and enjoy.

When I purchased this title in a used bookstore for two dollars, I was somewhat apprehensive about its scholarly quality, author biography not withstanding. Upon reading, however, I must say that I felt Pipes admirably illumined what is a very complex economic, social, and cultural subject. Specifically, his thesis concerns the manner in which the Russian state, under various formative influences, developed an essentially proprietary attitude towards land and subject alike. In Pipes' view this has been the primary determinant of all Russian history following Mongol domination. I myself make no pretenses to be an authority on the subject, but Pipes' use of evidence generally convinced me of the credibility of his claim. I would recommend this title to anyone interested in a general account of the pre-revolutionary Russian state apparatus.

Everyone should read ee cummings, even non-poetry lovers will love cummings whimsy and clever wordplay. He has also written the most beautiful, most romantic poetry of anyone in the English language.

It really is a great collection of e.e. cummings - certainly everything I wanted.

But what's to review - it's e.e. cummings, it's great

Now I must get back to my toboganning into know

Enjoy.

P.S. e.e. cummings was emphatic about his name being in lower case, so I do have to criticize the Editors of this book for putting his name in caps

One of the great poets of the 20th century gets a nice treatment here. A few of my favorites were not included (disappointed!!), but all in all this is a solid, representative anthology.

This is not a review. It is a complaint about the review I just read critisizing the editors of this fine collection. E.E. Cummings HATED that his publishers put his name in all lower case. He was not emphatic about it. He thought it was gimicky and exploitive of his publishes.
Whoa, when'd this horse get so high. ooop
S.

This review is from a strictly prose guy, as poetry usually goes right over my head. In my efforts to understand poetry, I have discovered that the work of e.e. cummings breaks through the stylistic barriers that make many people shy away from poetry altogether. cummings' use of bizarre spacing, punctuation, and phrasings keeps the reader away from the "sing-song" routine that tends to damage the credibility of many a poem, and cummings uses the art of style to say many things and make many points in just a few words. The most fascinating aspect of cummings' work is letting the small number of words in a poem really sink in until you gain many insights. This book usefully arranges cummings' most noteworthy poems into categories so you can more easily dwell on his major areas of subject matter. cummings did not live the hard life of many noteworthy poets, so a good number of his poems are musings on abstract concepts like life, love, mythology, and mortality. However, his much sharper observations on war, prostitution, politics, and the dark side of urban life can be truly shocking once you delve into their deeper meanings. Contemplating the title of this review, which is also the first line of the poem on page 181 of this book, will help any poetry-fearing reader to dive into cummings' world.

Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883) is one of Russia's greatest authors. Turgenev was a pro-Western author who portrays a vanished Russia of serfdom and
rural landowners. Tsar Alexander II liberated the serfs in 1861. It is reputed that the tsar took this action based on his reading of these sketches.
The book is divided into twenty-five sketches portraying peasant life. Along the way we meet such characters as:
Chertopkhanov who loves his beautiful, spirited horse Malek Adel. When the horse is stolen the old landowner journeys across the steppes seeking to find the majestic creature. This tale will break your heart. Turgenev is good at describing animals and the joy of awaiting a day of hunting.
We meet the Hamlet of the Shchigrovsky who falls in love with a beautiful gypsy serf. Turgenev believed the statoc social structure in Russia needed to be changed for the better. He did not live to see the Russian Revolution living most of his life as an exile in France.
Death is a story of how several Russians met their deaths. Stoicism is a characteristic we see in this harrowing and sad tale.
Singers takes us to a village drinking den where we witness a raucous singing contest among serfs.
Someone who does not hunt may believe that this classic will be boring. How wrong! The book is written with lyrical descriptions of nature in all seasons of the rural year. We almost wish we could join the unnamed narrator as he journeys from his estate meeting the men and women of Russia. Turgenev is a poetic author who wells deserves a revival of popularity.

It's taken me until now to get to Sketches From A Hunter's Album. Now I have finished it and now I am grieving. It will stay in my nonlending collection so I can savor it even after the surprise has gone. It's like losing a friend.

Turgenev calls these 'sketches' rather than stories. It's a good distinction. More story writers should concentrate on their sketch pads. The sketches are of places and people in the rural south of Russia in the 1840s. Each is strung thematically on Turgenev's wandrings through the countryside while hunting for game birds. Each begins with a mention that he was hunting in a certain place. He goes into lovely thoughtful and surprising descriptions of the woods or marsh, the sky, the smells, the sounds, the light. Even in translation, these are exquisite. He speaks of shifting light shining through the leaves onto the forest floor, or unbreatheable noonday heat, or changing skies at the advent of a storm, a dawn, or a sunset; he calls up moments from your own life that you thought could not be shared with anyone who wasn't there and he makes you relive those moments as if he had been there with you.

For anyone who has spent time out of doors, these little Aldo Leopold nature essays standing alone would be reason enough to read the 'Sketches', but these are just hors d'œuvre to his descriptions of the persons he meets while hunting. When sketching people, Turgenev does gracefully what Dickens tried to do and did clumsily; that is, he describes the physical characteristics of a person and gives you a fully formed description of their character as well, and he does this without sounding forced and without showing himself. (And you will burst out laughing at the sudden recognition that, indeed, someone does look 'like a root vegetable'.)

"Sketches" was published twice in Turgenev's lifetime and in the second edition he added to it. In the earlier sketches, Turgenev brings a character to life in a description; the character may speak a few words, and disappear from the scene, as people do in real life, leaving the reader to speculate what became of him. Yet, Turgenev has given us enough insight into the character that we think we know what probably happened next, and so the story is complete. These are elegant Aristotelian constructs with the action taking place offstage, and, oh elegance! with the final action taking place in the reader's imagination after the story has ended. If my description leaves you wondering, read them! (Would that I could spur you to act as Turgenev spurs his readers to think. Ah, but it's too much... .) This is what Turgenev does. He starts you thinking, but requires you to complete the story. In the later sketches Turgenev is just as deft in his descriptions, but perhaps to satisfy the market or his editors he adopts a more plot driven model. These later contributions can more truly be called stories rather than sketches. They are equally well-crafted, but they demand less of the reader. Curiously, they give us less as well.

The hunter's travels theme gives the collection an interrelatedness, almost like a picaresque novel. As in Huckleberry Finn or Don Quixote, neither the author nor the protagonist directly express opinions, but as stories accumulate the reader acquires the author's strong politicized view. We meet the aristocrats and peasants of rural Russia. The serf-holding system had been 'liberalized' in the early 19th century, but it is revealed as the unnamed slavery it was. Landlords control peasants' rights to marry; they name the persons to fill regional conscription quotas; they assign agricultural and residential alotments; and thoughtless and uncaring aristocrats use these powers carelessly or maliciously to destroy lives. Liberal aristocrats fare no better than traditional feudalists, as Turgenev details social reformers' well-meaning disasters which beggar both for the peasants and the bumbling aristocrats who direct them.

America often forgets that its civil war was part of a European pandemic of peasant revolts driven by the extended logic of the Enlightenment. As masters and slaves in the United States were struggling with the immorality of a divine order handed down from a prior age, the masters and servants in Europe did the same. The 1840s, 50s, and 60s were tumultuous times in central and eastern Europe. Turgenev, arrested and exiled in 1852 because of the 'Sketches', has an historical place akin to the American abolitionists of the same day, however, unlike Harriet Beecher Stowe, Turgenev draws his characters in three dimensions with humanity, with love and understanding even when he does not forgive them their moral failings. The 'Sketches' would be an interesting book to teach alongside Huckleberry Finn.

Turgenev effectively invents a new form -- the literary sketch -- to impart a new kind of content. What is brilliant about these sketches which are in part nature meditation and in part biographical sketch is how Turgenev allows each character to speak for themselves. As a result we feel like we are hearing something we have never heard before -- the natural voice of the people. By allowing people to speak for themselves Turgenev gives us a truer and more genuine idea of how people -- serf and gentry -- really think and relate. Each sketch begins with a detailed description of the natural surroundings he is walking through and these descriptions give us insight into Turgenev's cast of mind which is infintely receptive, and discerning, even romantic and delicate at times as when he describes staring up through the forest canopy and imagining he is staring up at the world from beneath a vast body of water. These magnficent introductions set the mood for the character sketch to come. When he meets a serf it is as if he is merely continuing his communion with nature for the serfs live at one with the land. When he meets one of the gentry, however, and passes time in their company he feels removed from the natural settings and people he so values. It is a fascinating and very subtle technique but Turgenev makes the landowners seem like unnatural creatures who are disturbing the natural order. Though he is one of the gentry himself Turgenev hunts with the serfs , he values their company and conversation, and he values what they know. He knows them as individuals not just as serfs and so we too come to know them as individuals, each with their own personality and ideas about life and story to tell. Since we know these sketches are from real life we listen more carefully to them than we would if they were mere inventions; real life has a resonance that fiction does not. Given the choice of spending the day with a either serf or a landowner Turgenev would choose the serf. The serfs have not received an education and their opinions are often shaped by superstition, and yet it is these very superstitions that make them such colorful characters, the gentry may be educated but they are full of self-importance and affectations and see everything through the limited scope of their own self-interest which is merely another form of ignorance. Turgenev's most effective weapon is not bitter invective but irony. He never comes out and says serfdom is bad because the landowners are in some cases such vile creatures that there is no need to. By simply quoting them and describing their manners and actions Turgenev allows the landowners to do a fine job at condemning themselves.

The most profound sketch to my mind is "Yermolay and the Millers Wife" which relates the harsh treatment doled out to a beautiful serf woman merely because she wants to get married, and a close second is "Bezhin Lea" about a group of boys telling ghost stories around a fire as they tend a herd of horses grazing at night. The former sketch pefectly conveys what absolute power the landowners have over every aspect of the serfs life and the latter sketch perfectly conveys how the serfs pass down their own particular brand of wisdom from one generation to the next. Perhaps the most famous sketch however is "Khor and Kalinych" which juxtaposes two kinds of serfs--one resigned to his lot and the other who despite his status as serf finds his own kind of freedom by wandering the countryside. "Kasyan and the Beautiful Lands" is perhaps the most unusual story as it presents a sage-like man who speaks as though he were a living oracle. Deprived of education the serfs remain in thrall not only to the landowners but to ignorance as well; nonetheless there is a beauty and tragic grace in the voices of these serfs that remains in memory long after you have read these sketches. The sketches are complex and layered enough to invite you back to them again and again.

The biggest joy of the sketches is their casualness. Nothing is ever overly stated or stated in black and white but everything nonetheless appears clear as day. It seems at times as if Turgenev is the only enlightened soul in Russia and yet he is absolutely civil even when with a pernicious landowner because he innately knows what is right and he trusts that we know as well. Turgenev reminds me of Thoreau in his devotions which are equally divided between nature and the forwarding of liberal ideas. Though Pushkin and Lermontov both came before him Turgenev was the first Russian writer to achieve fame outside of Russia. Fathers and Sons is considered his masterpiece but these sketches stand as something unique in all of literature.

There was a moment, long back, when you lay in the dry, brown grass on Blueberry Hill, listening to the whispering wind on a bright September day. A catbird mewed off in the little green woods down by the tracks. A rabbit thumped once or twice; a white sea gull soared over your head in the brilliant blue sky that held promise of a crisp New England fall to come. The gull headed out to sea, that dark blue Atlantic lying just beyond the old seaside mansions of Boston executives, already boarded up for the season. Your thoughts flew off with the gull, to life beyond that little town on a rocky peninsula, but the clear light, the smell of the sea, the tiny mewing of a catbird--these stayed with you forever. Fifty years later, it's all gone except the sea. A writer tries to catch the world around him (her). The best create word-portraits that preserve the past into the future.

Turgenev caught the Russian countryside south of Moscow as it was in the 1840s, when serfdom still ruled, and hunters could roam properties at will. His lyrical descriptions of nature, in my opinion, have never been surpassed; on every page, you feel as if you were there. Your head fills with the beauties he saw, you cannot remain untouched. Turgenev wrote of the enduring peasantry warts and all, no simplistic pictures for him, and he lambasted the vanity or predatory nature of the landlord class. SKETCHES FROM A HUNTER'S ALBUM is just that, only a series of separate pictures composed around the author's trips through the countryside to hunt. Religion and poetry suffuse the pages along with insightful portraits of many individuals. "Bezhin Lea", "Kasyan from the Beautiful Lands" and "Bailiff" will impress you with their psychological excellence along with the beauty of their descriptions. "Singers" has to be one of the most powerful stories of music ever told. "The Living Relic" reminded me of India in its acceptance of human fate, though it is certainly a Russian tale of those times. Almost every story is a masterpiece by itself. In short, in all my readings throughout my life, I can scarcely recall a more beautiful book than this. I recently re-read it. It is ridiculous to give it five stars. If Russian literature contained only this book, it would already be world-renowned. Read some of my other reviews---you'll see I don't say this lightly.

Simply, one of the greatest book ever written. Turgenev's style is wonderfully evocative, and yet it has not an ounce of sentimentalism: its depictions of natural landscapes are incredibly lucid, almost detached, in a sense; today, we could say his writing has a "zen-like" clarity. His human character are little parts of this whole, but Turgenev's panteism has nothing of the desperate, ferociously ironic pessimism of, say, Thomas Hardy; his vision is perfectly impartial, and yet sympathetic: each of his characters appears in his fundamental, intact dignity of human being. I'm not myself a starry-eyed dreamer: but reading this book, with its wonderfully easy and aimless wanderings, is like psychoterapy; you can't get out of it but feeling calmly hyper-oxygenated, as it were; you can't read this book but thinking that this man, Turgenev, mysteriously understood what it is like to be fellow sharers of this strange place, Earth, and of this strange thing, life. If something like "occidental buddhism" does exist, this book is a lesson in it.

I love this book! Robin Jeep and Dr. Richard Couey have teamed up to create a healthy nutrition plan that will work for everyone who's serious about reclaiming optimal health--physically, mentally and spiritually.

My husband and I have now been following this nutrient-dense diet plan for over 30 days. We both feel great and have lost weight. My husband's chronic acid-reflux is now history and the "brain-fog" has cleared away completely for both of us. Robin's creative recipes make this lifestyle eating plan interesting and delicious (no deprived feelings whatsoever).
It just feels so good to know my cells are happy to receive the nutrients they need to thrive and keep me healthy.

Thanks Robin...now I'll be looking for you to publish a full cookbook soon! God Bless You.

Who says good health can't be fun or easy? Robin Jeep's book lets it be both. Her information is practical and her recipes are delicious. The whole book feels as appealing as the food is for body and soul. Like anything new, it'll take a little practice to make this way of eating a habit, but it's worth it. I like feeling the extra energy available to me for other things now. This is important to me because I'm committed to living my life with clarity, focus, ease, and grace.
Ingrid Martine
Personal Development Coach

This book has changed our lives. My husband and I have never felt better in our lives. This plan is easy to follow and Robin's receipes are fantastic and you are never hungry. We wanted to lose weight and lower our cholosterol and triglycerides and we have done just that. We were fortunate to be able to take Robin's 7 week class which was wonderful and made us accountable to this way of eating to achieve optimum health. We both never realized that we were not feeling good and now we have more energy and clarity and we have lost weight too. My husband has 20 pounds and I have lost 11 pounds and feel great. We don't want to end up being a cancer statistic and we have learned the science behind eating a whole and organic food plan. Dr. Couey and his input are fantastic and the results of this plan are wonderful. Our medical doctors are amazed. You will not be disappointed with this book, it is amazing.

What we eat is indeed what we are. Filled with healthy, easy to prepare recipes that when you read it, makes perfect sense, which means that intuition agrees with the food recomendations. An excellent, capsulized version of what to eat every day for vibrant health. Includes guides for not only healing the physical, but also those other parts of us that are not as tangible, yet directly affect the physical when those are not correctly balanced. An excellent reference that will remain in my kitchen

The Super Antioxidant Diet and Nutrition Guide by Robin Jeep and Dr. Richard Couey is outstanding in my opinion. The lifestyle changes that are recommended provide both weight loss and improved health. When I started the class and purchased the book, I was not interested in weight loss, but had been sick for about a year. This program has improved my immune system and helped me to to feel energized and healthy. As stated in the book, the body has a miraculous way of healing itself if nourished properly. I highly recommend the guide and the class. Additionally, the book includes delicious, world-class recipes, a section on how to arrange your kitchen, tips on shopping for healthy foods, and much more. For those interested in weight loss, ideal weight can be achieved as a natural progression following this guide. If you are fortunate enough to have access to the class, don't miss it!

I searched for hours for a coffee table book for a Christmas gift for a close friend who lives in TN but is from New Orleans. She told me she stayed up all night looking at it. When I gave it to her, she pointed out everything from local businesses to personal landmarks. More importantly, the pictures reflected a pre-Katrina city. They captured sites that she remembered but that don't look that way anymore. I would recommend this book for anyone whose heart is in New Orleans.

This is a gorgeous book full of information and amazing photos of some of the most prominent plantations that are on River Road between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Some of the most amazing photos were from plantations that have all but been destroyed. I'd be really interested to see an updated version as some of these homes have been completely transformed since these photos were taken. Most noteably would be Houmas House and Laura which both in this book are nothing like their now restored selves. Regardless, this book is an excellent addition to anyone's plantation library or coffee table!

I am fascinated with New Orleans and the River Road area and it's history .This has to be one of the best publications about this subject. Sexton seems to capture so much of it's history in the pages of this book, more so than any other author has. The photography is also wonderful and straight forward. I recommend it to any one who wants to learn more about southern Louisiana plantations.

I was born and raised on the River Road. I have grown up and almost all of the wonders in this book. Nothing comes close to the accuracy and beauty captured in these photos. I would HIGHLY reccomend this book to anyone that would want to know or learn about the grand homes along the Mississippi and South Louisiana. This book is second to none in my rating. A MUST HAVE and a MUST OWN for EVERYONE!

This is a fantastic coffe table book. This book is all about the pictures, with interesting text to accompany each image. Pictures are loveley, colour and large. If you are considering buying a copy without the dustjacket- go for it, as the cover image is on the underneath as well.
A great addition to any bookshelf or coffee table, my family have all had a look!

I couldn't add anything else to the other comments; just buy it - you will not regret.

This book is truely well written. Hard to put down. If you have read: President Nixon, Final Days and Abuse of Power this book puts it all together. It is the AH! HA! you've been looking for. It will also make you curious about the Pentagon Papers. All these books are written from a historical perpective by well know historians. Not journalist looking for a quick buck.

If your goal is to understand the depth of Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate scandal, Stanley Kutler's `The Wars of Watergate' is the book for it. It's a great introduction to Watergate without that qualifying caveat, of course, but Kutler perches his narrative squarely on Nixon's shoulder. This book doesn't take extended side trips to the creation of the Plumbers, to that dirty trickster Donald Segretti, or the back desks in the Special Prosecutor's offices. The wars of Watergate, Kutler writes, are "rooted in the lifelong political personality of Richard Nixon," a personality that is marked by political paranoia, a determination to wreak vengeance on his enemies, and an overweening concern with winning his own elections. For those who dismiss Watergate as a third-rate burglary, or a vague `everyone else does it,' Kutler provides a substantial "discussion of the abuses of power that precede the burglary and the obstruction of justice that followed it."

Kutler sets the stage with brief chapters on the LBJ Administration, Vietnam, and a biographical sketch of Richard Nixon prior to the presidential election of 1968. We're taken closer to our subject with Kutler's next few chapters on Nixon's first term as president, where Nixon's relationship with the media (antagonistic,) and congress (disdainful,) as well as his executive style (obsessive micro-management) are surveyed. Providing as they do a context for the crimes of Richard Nixon, these prelude-to-war sections properly prepare us for the battles of Watergate.

An American constitutional historian, Stanley Kutler is well qualified to guide us through the battleground that was the second term of Richard Nixon. The war analogy is apt. For Nixon the Wars of Watergate officially begins with the immediate Administration response to the break-in at the DNC headquarters by the Watergate burglars. The first phase may be called "The War of the Burglars' Silence," a phase that is marked by Nixon's active participation in those acts that would lead to his resignation less that two years later.

One gets the strong impression that `The Wars of Watergate' is Kutler's response to future revisionist historians. The revisionist template was already being hammered out by Nixon, and others, when this book was published in 1990. If Kutler is forestalling an alternate interpretation, he does so with a well-coordinate, thoughtful, balanced, and overwhelmingly convincing presentation of facts. His interpretation - that Nixon was at the center of the Watergate cover-up from the beginning - is, with the evidence he provides to back it up, irrefutable.

Although `The Wars of Watergate' is not a complete history of the scandal, it's a good chunk of it - the heart of it, if you will. It would make a good introduction for the uninitiated. Even for Watergate wonks its expanded chapters on the Rodino chaired House Judiciary Committee, which considered impeachment, will provide fresh insights and a more complete story of an under-reported Watergate subject. This may not be the best single volume on Watergate, but if it isn't I haven't read its rival. Highest recommendation.

At least for those us who cut their political teeth during the 1960's and 1970's, Watergate and Vietnam were the watershed events. There was life before Watergate and Vietnam and life after. Stanley Kutler's work is one of the first to bring an historian's perspective to the Watergate story. As the saying goes, if you read one book about Watergate, this is the one.

Kutler is by no means neutral on Richard Nixon, but one of the unique things about Watergate was that Nixon's own taping system provided the record to hang himself. If nothing else the tapes proved Nixon was a habitual and flagrant liar. Kutler, whose regular job is as a professor at the University of Wisconsin, was drawn into a lifetime of work by his expertise on the sprawling scandal that was Watergate. His work has continued as he battled first Nixon, Nixon's estate, and then the National Archivists for full access to the White House tapes. Nixon kept up his lies and deception to his last days, with far more success than one would have hoped. In the long run, history's judgment of Nixon will be harsh and will start with Kutler's work.

Not just about Watergate, but a comprehensive look at RN's political career. The Watergate break-in came to symbolize the abuses of this imperial presidency. Excellent historical analysis. Comprehensive history not just at RN's presidency, but the evolution of the office during the Cold War. Thank goodness G. Gordon Liddy was such an incompetent stooge that the whole bag of "White House Horrors" came to light.

This easy- to- read- page- turner provides new insight into a truly great man. I had admired him for years, but with reservations, due mostly to rumors. After reading this one-on-one report by a man who experienced the good and the bad of Ted Williams, I came away with tremendous insight into a sensitive, caring, loving, beautiful human being. Who knew?? I'm grateful for Richard Ben Cramer's memories of his thought provoking time with Ted Williams, so the rest of us can realize that there was SO much more behind this man than his remarkable life in baseball. I have purchased this book for many of my friends, due to its' uniqueness, and they have all loved it as much as myself. This little book can be read in an evening, but packs a powerful punch!

In a paper-thin volume, Richard Ben Cramer manages to capture the many contradictions of the greatest hitter who ever lived and the last man to bat over .400, Theodore Samuel (Ted) Williams. His book is must reading for any Red Sox fan, and for that matter anyone who wonders why baseball heroes like Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Pete Rose, Joe DiMaggio, and Williams lead such dysfunctional lives, often estranged from their own families.

Contradiction: Williams respected authority (never argued with umpires and liked the military life), but he refused to conform to societal customs, e.g. wearing a necktie.

Contradiction: He was an obsessive perfectionist, but often half-hearted on defense or while running the bases.

Contradiction: He was a self-centered loner, but unfailingly generous toward charities.

Contradiction: He resented the Boston sports press, but wanted no publicity for his unselfish work for the Jimmy Fund.

Contradiction: He came from poverty, was poorly educated, yet became a dyed-in-the-wool Republican and establishmentarian.

One thing Ted never lost was his potty-mouth, which he used to rail against the "knights of the keyboard," Boston's habitually self-righteous sports reporters who attacked him not only for his lackadaisical defensive habits but even for his failure to call his mother on holidays (she was a Salvation Army worker who wasn't home, anyway) or stay home for his daughter's birth (she was born two months prematurely, but he was supposed to have known it would happen). The more Ted cursed at his enemies in the press, the more they'd dig up irrelevant dirt to throw at him. Things never improved. He also refused to tip his cap for the fans after a home run, resentful of earlier booing.

So why did Ted Williams enjoy such a renaissance in public aspect, especially in Boston? It wasn't because he changed as a person. On the contrary, as Cramer makes clear, his later life (with his life partner, Louise, whom he settled down with after three unsuccessful marriages), was filled with the same profanity, the same volatile temper, the same need to be right all the time that the younger Ted Williams exhibited.

What happened, apparently, was that the public was no longer exposed to the constant friction between Ted and the press, and so remembered only the good stuff: his .406 batting average in 1941, his home run that decided the All-Star game that year, and the home run in his last at bat in 1960, all of which were replayed via TV highlights regularly. John Updike's dissertation on the 1960 home run helped, too.

Cramer makes us understand Ted Williams. Like Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Pete Rose and Joe DiMaggio, he was no scholar. Also like them, he was able to cultivate a specific skill set on the baseball diamond. He became (arguably) the greatest hitter who ever lived. Still, his lack of education and lonely childhood left vacuums in his life...he compensated for the first by having to be right all the time, and for the second by finally admitting to Cramer, "I was a terrible husband and father."

In the interest of full disclosure, the present writer met Ted Williams at two Red Sox fantasy camps.

Richard Ben Cramer wrote a somewhat controversial but well-researched biography of Joe DiMaggio. The major difference between this excellent portrait, and the latter project, was that we see and hear the protagonist in his own words. At times, it is a loud, booming voice full of life, stories, regrets, and accomplishments of one of our sporting legends.

Mr. Cramer does a masterful job weaving this interesting portrayal. This book is rather brief compared to the DiMaggio biography; however, it has more "life." The bulk of this work concentrates upon an interview that took place in 1986. It is written in such a way that the author fades into the background. In a strange sense, the reader feels present. As if we are sitting with Mr. Williams in his living room, and spellbound to imagine what will come next. The sheer force of his personality makes this a very entertaining and informative read.

Compared to the modern day ballplayer, Mr. Williams was indeed a rare bird. He had interesting and intriguing opinions about hitting, fishing, flying jet planes, marriage, lemonade, fickle fans, and the traffic patterns of the Florida Keys. ;-) He is both arrogant and enchanting, if one can imagine such a thing. Mr. Cramer draws out Williams in a way that writers of his own era failed to do. He showed him respect and deference, but like so many of the fish that Williams loved to catch, didn't allow him off the hook on tough subjects. In a way, this interview perhaps was a cathartic exercise for Mr. Williams.

The unfortunate circumstances that surrounded his death made this book quite pertinent. What do we think of him now? The best hitter to ever live, a true American patriot, a lover of the great outdoors, and a man who defined life in his own strike zone.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this excellent work by Mr. Cramer.

This book is deceptively short, yet like Ted Williams swinging at a baseball in his prime --- it packs one hell of wallop! Amazingly, the reader gets a very well-rounded picture of Williams the man, Williams the out-sized legend, Williams the S.O.B. and of course in his most famous guise as baseball's "greatest hitter who ever lived." The last man ever to hit .400 for a season with 521 career home runs to his credit (including one on his last ever time at bat), he was also the only man ever elected to both the baseball and fly-fishing halls of fame. His life was extremely rich and full and reads like it was five lifetimes rolled into one. A fighter pilot during WWII, many argue he may have even forfeited some of his best years in baseball to serve his country.... Considering his well-established contributions to the science of hitting, that's a scary thought! Anyway, if you're looking for a short and breezy read on one of baseball's all-time-greats look no further than this book by Richard Ben Cramer.

Ted Williams lived the kind of irrepressible life that Hollywood tried to invent for its toughest actors; old-skool masculinity personified, he was the finest baseball player of a generation (if not all time), a fisherman worthy of Hemingway's prose, and a lifelong Marine who served his country in not one but TWO deadly wars, the second of which nearly cost him his own life.

He was the eternal paradox, the New England sports hero with the "When Guns Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Have Guns" bumper sticker on his pick-up truck, the all-time All-Star outfielder who practiced his swing while playing defense, the surly bane to those in the sports press charged with selling his image to the Boston public, and the eternal cynic who could never fully give himself to the public's adoration because he would always hear the 2 or 3 boos among the thousands of cheers his very presence on the field generated.

This book does a fine job of encapsulating the highlights of Williams' career, covered sparingly among a (then) current interview of the man as living legend approaching his 70's. But the real joy and success of the book is the author's capturing the essence of the magnitude of Williams to the point that you can't possibly help but feel that you are listening to the man thunder away in your own living room, rather than from a far-off house in the Florida Keys (or from the more appropriate peak of Mount Olympus). Most enjoyable to me is the author's penchant FOR PRINTING WILLIAMS' QUOTES IN ALL CAPS (wherein I can't help but read them aloud -and at suitable volume- to my fiancee', much to her dismay).

We have a suitable account of Williams' life after his time as an active player and manager, but before his health began to rapidly deteriorate. It is a full portrait, balancing the more infamous qualities of the man with those that Williams fiercely guarded during his lifetime; that he was, beneath the callous exterior, as warm and giving a soul that baseball would be far more fortunate than it deserves to have as an ambassador today.
It's a joy to read, seemingly almost an afterthought in its brevity, but when considered that it was only ever supposed to be an article for Esquire magazine, it surely ranks among the finest sports writing of all time.

Good introduction to the value of money; or what government does to decrease the value of money. Written to be accessible to youth and does a good job of putting economic ideas into readable prose.

Using LinkedIn I've recently connected with a friend from twenty years ago. We've exchanged some emails and will try to get together when he is back in town. When my friend learned that I had three daughters he recommended several books by Richard J. Maybury. I requested a couple from my library. The first one I got was What Happened To Penny Candy?

What Happened To Penny Candy? is a short book of 80 pages. It is a quick read. The book is structured as a set of letters from "Uncle Eric" to his nephew "Chris." In these letters the book explains the basics of economics. It does a good job. Over the last thirty years I've read dozens, maybe even hundreds, of books on economics. This book does a good job of covering the basics. I even learned a few things. For example I didn't realize that the reason quarters and dimes were lined with the little ridges on the side was to show if little pieces were clipped off the coin.

Richard Maybury, the author, writes from a strong Libertarian viewpoint. He explains why government manipulation causes problems. Someone who feels government is the solution to economic problems will not enjoy this book.

I'll return the book to the library and buy my own copy. I plan to have each of my daughters read this book. It is short enough that they won't fuss too much about having to ready a dry topic. Economics is an important subject, one that I want my daughters to master.

This treasure of a book rises to the top amongst the scant Economics courses available for home education. Along with the Bluestocking Guide available to accompany it, Penny Candy provides all that is needed in a high school economics course and spares the reader the unnecessary fillers. Written in the creative format of correspondence letters, all the meaty issues are presented in a highly understandable writing style.

The Bluestocking Guide gives additional writings to amplify the chapters. Questions, essay assignments, and a list of supplemental movies and books make this a thorough and well-rounded course.

The great thing about this book is that it's a great explanation of inflation. The bad thing about this book is it's a great explanation of inflation. Yes, I said the same thing twice.

When it was first written-1978-inflation was the major thing in American economics. Today it is still a major threat-but the social urgency over it has declined as the rate of inflation has waned over the years. Yet, I still give this book a 5 star rating because understanding inflation requires explaining money. This book explains money better than any other book I've read.

Understanding money is VERY important. It is not only the key to explaining inflation, but it is the context in which almost all business activity plays out. A good understanding business requires understanding this context. This book does a great job a laying out that context.

The writing style is down to earth and simple. The book is short, very entertaining (for an economics book), and has clearly defined chapters. The author has some good illustrations. I don't really mean the expected graphical illustrations-although it has some of them too. I mean historical illustrations: stories of how societies have used (and abused) money in the past. These stories not only buttress the author's arguments, but also anchor the lessons in tangible human drama.

I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in learning economics and/or business.

I think this is the best book out there to help quickly spread a basic understanding of economics and therefore how the world works. The knowledge and importance per page ratio is the highest I have ever read. Even better than Harry Browne's intro to economics from his famous first 80 pages of "How you can profit from the coming devaluation" .


Pages 13 - 90 are the heart of the book. That is 77 pages that in less than 2 hours can take your average person from unfortunate ignorance to economic genius compared to your average economics college graduate.

Somehow someone needs to reach Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and get them to read this book and put a copy in every american household. That would really be the most charitable thing they could do.

Old age doesn't have to result in helplessness. "Black Gold Gray" follows a group of World War II veterans as they embark on a mission way past their prime - to go into the most current modern conflict, found in Iraq. Their adventure takes them all over Europe and Northern Africa, in their goal to find out exactly why the United States invaded Iraq. "Black Gold Gray" is an old school, deftly written political thriller, highly recommended to fans of the genre and community library collections seeking their patronage.

I had the pleasure of meeting on of the authors at the Bookexpo in LA, and we talked a bit. His personal experience caught my interest, so I read the book. I have a lot of international military background, and the concept of this book, WWII veterans, Class of '49 West Point, having to activate themselves to save one of their members from an international plot in Iraq, was pretty thought provoking.

The characters are all introduced quite well, and they seemed very plausible, to the point of suspecting that the authors had built these characters quite closely to the men they knew in that class. I mentioned my own international/military experience because you can't fool with these things- you either know them or you don't, and it is impossible to provide the level of detail and the feeling of these places- Paris, Morocco, etc, without the author having been there, done that.

I found the politics a bit off-putting, I am pretty conservative and there is some serious "Bush-bashing" going on in the book, but all in all this is a five-star yarn. Doesn't mean the evil oil money fantasy isn't right, either, because that sure happens.

Worth the read. I urge the reader to take the time, because the perspectives and the flavor of the experiences in this book are darn sure worth it.

Thanks for the book, I truly enjoyed it

Rarely does a book appear that is entertaining, fast, exciting, believable, and straightforward about the reality of a world that is affecting us now. It is real, alive, and compelling.

The moment you turn to the first page of the story you know it has you. The authors have done an excellent job of preparing the reader for a very fast pace by providing a "Cast of Characters," "Locations," and Preface prior to launching the story. Taking the time to "get warmed up" causes the reader to want to jump into the book. The characters are believable and the reader instantly feels part of the story.

The pace is fast, believable, and easy to follow. The authors have not overcomplicated the text with unnecessary verbiage. They do an excellent job of describing locations, surroundings, the environment, and the feel of each location. Many of the readers will have been to some of the locals, making it all the more believable. Some of us having spent time in the military will have a special affinity for the commitment, bravery, honor, and very human attributes of the characters.

This is an important read that captivates you; and brings you up close to many of today's realities both home and abroad. The authors salt the story with insight into what is happening politically, militarily, and economically. The poignancy of the book brings to mind a lot to ponder.

I have never understood much about male bonding, but this book is a thriller, and bonding plays a large part. You will become very involved in the lives of eight brave men, all graduates of West Point where bonds forge strong. There's exciting suspense when seven West Point Graduates (Class of 1949) learn of the kidnapping of one of their late West Point brother's sons. That's when they band together to rescue him; a USA Major General on his way back from Iraq. Great plot! You won't be able to put this book down.

When a "quick read"patriotic novel provokes the readers senses so they react. then the reader knows that the authors have acheived the golden fleece of writing. The writers have transformed their written words into images,feelings, and responses that are real.
This is a form of hypnosis.
I "could taste the sand in my mouth".
BLACK GOLD GRAY is based mostly on fact- and cast in 2004 during the war in Iraq.
The bad guys are not terrorists but a Saudi oil minister, several European and American financial types, and an aged Nazi slime.
They conspire to increase the number of USA troops in Iraq.
They dont give a damn for their own countries but are in it for power and profit.
The good guys are seven graduates of West Point class of 1949==they are all around 80 years YOUNG, and are bound for a last reunion when a crisis erupts---They learn that the son of
one of their deceased 1949 brothers, has been kidnaped--Probably
USA government officials are also involved, so they decide to "muster
themselves" to rescue their brothers son--a USA major general
on his way back from Iraq. I tell you no more----
This book is not only a thriller but a geography,history,and sociology lesson as well.
The scenes are from WWII,Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq--AND ARE REAL.
The women are real.Probably the conspiracy was real...
That said this book is mostly about the power of male bonding-
powerful and still in tact after 60 years from cadet life.
It is also about what we all suspect to be true about the Iraq war: corruption and fraud and YES even treason going on
at the higrst levels of business and government.
THE BOOK REVEALS how hopelessly our armed forces are WEDGED into this tragedy because they are trained and sworn to obey civilian
orders-AND THIS IS HOW IT MUST BE..
Does Truth,Duty,Honor,Country prevail??? Yes, but at what a cost!
BLACK GOLD GRAY are the colors of West Point, and we dont have to be reminded that West Point belongs to all Americans
WHAT A BLOCK BUSTER MOVIE THIS WILL MAKE----READ IT FIRST.