W Books

This is a great book, especially if you are Irish-American. I couldn't put it down. After this, read All Souls, Easter Rising, Castle of the Fynns... Slices of life about growing up Irish in American in the 1960's and 1970's....

Anyone who reads Dan Barry's regular columns in the NYTimes will welcome his memoir first as if from a friend and buddy. Barry has given us, however, an extraordinary and, yes, radiant account of a man who would tell stories. He grew up in a haze of cigarette smoke, beer, and his father's howls of agony from migraine, but also with his mother's stories, his father's songs, and his siblings' affections. He traces his own journey to high school (casual boy torture on the school bus); St Bonaventure University (where he discovered you could make a job of tellling stories) to his early career in Rhode Island and then at the Times. He loves baseball, his mother dies, he and his beloved struggle first to conceive and then to adopt a child. He is diagnosed, and survives, a gaspingly terrible bout of cancer. Memoirs come by the handful, but Barry's is so vividly sketched, all the protagonists so fully present on the page, the prose so wickedly sure and sweet, that his sings close and real as a heartbeat. Wonderful.

As with all fine Irish writers, there's a poet's heart in Dan Barry.

Pull Me Up, A Memoir is Barry's masterful landscape of his life and family, wondrously painted with words poignant with pain and breathtaking in beauty. Never mind that the setting is the same Long Island I grew up in, nor the fact that this Irish-American love song calls to my own heritage, nor even the fact that there are personal connections I can trace to many of the people and places he writes about. The soul of Barry's story is its firm grip on universal human fears and foibles, how he captures the heart-piercing trials of childhood, youth, illness, addiction, and family.

Any reader who ever felt alone or insecure as a teenager, grew up with a sick parent, or whose family struggled with monthly bills will cherish the emotional depths to which Barry dives to harvest the treasures of his past. A truly rewarding read.

Kathy Carroll
http://www.oneclearcall.blogspot.com/

When I finished reading Dan Barry's book, I was hungry for more, but not so much on the same topic. Instead I wanted to find another book with narrative so well-written it would inspire me to fill my leisure time with nothing but reading. Sadly, there aren't many books that do that.

This one did. Perhaps it's my own connection to growing up in the same era, though I'm a bit younger. Maybe it's because we're both journalists, though books by journalists don't always merit reading sprints.

For me I think what astounded me was Barry's ability to be honest, allowing us to see the weaknesses of the people in the book and see those people as human, rather than evil (with a couple exceptions). As a reporter Barry has seen some amazing things, but that's not the focus of his book. Those things are sidelights in a story about family and about growing up. That takes amazing skill. I'm glad Barry lived long enough to tell us about it. In another 40 years or so, I'll be excited to read the sequel.

This is the best memoir I have ever read, beautifully written. While my Irish family is very different, I loved reading about his. I'm recommending the book to everyone.

While I enjoyed the book, it wasn't very original. I was hoping to find out additional information that wasn't already contained in Passions Child: The Extraordinary Life of Jane Digby by Margaret F. Schmidt, published in 1976, Charles River Books. This book didn't provide any additional information, despite the author's claims.

Jane Digby led a life of glamorous scandal - mostly played out during the reign of that most prudish of rulers, Queen Victoria. Biographies of her in the past have not been too successful as her story is obscured beneath layers of misinformation generated from the tabloid press of the time, and from well-meaning interference by such people as Richard Burton's wife.

Lovell has done a stunning job in digging through all the sources and turning up a great deal of new information on Digby which finally exposes her life in all its strengths and weaknesses. It is interesting how much you can dislike a subject and still like a story and that is what happened for me with Jane Digby. I found her as a person to be rather flirtatious and passionate and not very sensible. She did so much for 'love' and was so disappointed by in it. She married four times and had an equal number of well-known lovers as well. There is a litte on her childhood but the story really begins from her first fatally flawed marriage to Lord Ellenborough. As Digby's life progressed I felt Lovell managed to capture her increasing commonsense and growth as a person. The story of Digby is so amazing - she travelled all round Europe creating scandal as she went until finally settling in Palmyra with her last husband, an Sheikh.

Her life is part a travel-logue of Europe in the mid Nineteenth century part brilliantly readable scandal. A truly flawed subject, she makes great reading and Lovell has done a great job in presenting her.

I adore biography - especially those of the great characters of the second half of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries. I knew of Jane Digby el Mezrab from Irving Wallace's Nymphos and Other Maniacs which I read many years ago and also via several biographies of Sir Richard Burton. This is a well written, carefully and extensively researched book which benefited enormously from the author's good luck in uncovering much new, previously unseen and unpublished family material in Dorset and New Zealand. This, the author says in her acknowledgements, is more satisfying than the publication of the book itself. I agree, for this sort of discovery is palpably thrilling and the author's excitement shines through her narrative.

This biography reads like fiction and Jane Digby, firstly Lady Ellenborough, was one of those larger than life people who followed their own path, irrespective of the mores of their own time. Following Jane's life is a tour through the drawing rooms of Regency England, several European and Balkan courts to the deserts of Syria and Arabia. It is the story of a woman (thrice divorced) who eventually found happiness and fulfilment with a man of great nobility from an entirely different race, culture and religion. Jane's interest in the minutiae of life in Damascus in the mid 19th century makes fascinating reading and her wit and fondness for her adopted "tribe" in the desert is moving.

Highly recommended!

When the then Pamela Digby Churchill (later to be Pamela Churchill Harriman) shocked British and European society with her string of marriages and romantic alliances, she was actually following more in the footsteps of an ancestor than blazing new ground. Over a hundred years before Pamela romped her way through Europe and America, the Honorable Jane Digby, Lady Ellenborough was embarkening on a series of affairs that drove her from England and eventually to the desert where she spent her final years.

Mary S. Lovell could have potrayed Jane Digby as a heartless tramp or made her a cartoon maneater that wouldn't be out of place in a Jackie Collins novel. At times, Jane Digby's life does seem larger than life and more like a daytime soap opera. Her lovers included crowned heads of states and even her own beloved cousin. Her final years were spent as the wife of a Beduoin chief, performing the traditional female duties while the tribe was traveling. Luckily, Mary S. Lovell is a carefully biographer who sorted through masses of documents to find the truth behind the rumors and legends.

Along with the legacy of her scandals, Jane become a mother several times. Her children, mostly seen as more annoyance than objects of affection, where left with their fathers when Jane moved onto her next adventure. Tragically, one of her daughters succumbed to madness and two of her sons died in childhood.

If you adore biographies or have come across the name Jane Digby in your reading, "Rebel Heart: The Scandalous Life of Jane Digby" is must read.

An excellent and accurate account of Jane Digby - A woman ahead of her time. Several surprises and facts are in store and would be great interest to students of the Middle Eastern culture, in particular the Bedouin tribes, the Arabian horse, falconing, Salukis and the social customs and manners of this golden era of history. Couldn't put it down. Very highly recommended!

Having read a lot of WWI books and books on sniping this one takes the cake. It's written in the autobiographical tradition of Teddy Roosevelt and will impress the old and young alike with its vivid imagery and colorful prose. Great read.

Mr. McBride has written a book that nearly perfectly talks about what can be expected from a modern infantry man. He talks about sniping, putting in a properly sighted machine gun, raids, and patrols. Honestly, this book is so good that most Army ROTC and Marine Infantry instruction may want to have their future officers and NCO candidates read this book.

I will give you a story that really stuck me as being ahead of its time. Now, this book was written in the mid-1930s. However, Mr. McBride knows the problems of lugging ammunition. A soldier with .303 British (about equal to modern NATO 7.62 ammo) could only carry about 200 to 300 rounds. So, Mr. McBride thinks the armies should carry ammunition of about .27 caliber. That is almost exactly 6.8 mm. This is exactly the same solution the US Army discovered after 5 years in Iraq.

I liked this book. Mr. McBride thinks both the British and Canadian Armies did much better with their training time than the US military. Indeed, he thinks the US Army and military is overly tied up with paperwork. And that observation was made in 1918.

This is a five star book by a soldier who knows his field craft. Pay attention to his anti-sniper traps. They are still useful today. Also, the book is great for telling about how the Germans would leave abandoned grenades after an attack. Some were rigged to go off if picked up.

As written before, this book is five star. Mr. McBride writes a book about the birth of the modern infantry man. Indeed, their is little difference between a Tommy of WWI with a Lewis gun and a Grunt in Vietnam carrying an M-60 machinegun. In 50 years little had changed.

The modern professional soldier can learn a lot from this book. Some university military history departments may want this book for an individual study of a hard infantry man.

A thoughroughly enjoyable, mesmerizing, collection of a soldier's WWI remembrances. Somehow manages to be more than the sum of its plainly told, shy, politically incorrect, wars is hell but you get used to it parts. It ends up assembling and describing bit by bit the remarkable character of the author.

Also notable to me for how it reaches across 70 years to contrast how we've changed as a people. For example, I don't think this book would be published as written today. The editor would have probably added more polish, removed some of the namecalling and stereotyping and would have thus diminished the book.

As a rifle shooter with a historical interest i bought this book. If your looking for an overly dramatic or gruesome account of life in the first world war trenches dont by this book. From what i can tell it is a written collection of memories by the author. These memories are written in a matter of fact, straight talking way which does not hide the authors zealous approach to his task of being a soldier.

Although at times slightly rambling i found this an interesting read and at times amuzing. A good reference if you are interested in rifle shooting or battle history.

It might not be written in perfect English, and it's not always politically correct, but it's definitely always enjoyable.

You get the whole WWI experience from the author's point of view, including enough "war stories" to satisfy any reader.

McBride includes technical details, anecdotes, and just good old story telling, in this tale of a machine gunner / rifleman in the Great War.

Book was very easy reading and well organized. One of the best history books I have read.

if you want to no about the early to last romanov's and russia history this book is for you.this writer leave nothing out.

Mr. Lincolm, unlike Robert Massie who wrote "Peter the Great," left me with the clear impression that he understood the source material he had at hand, and was able to verify through corroboration every thing he said. Some of the more incredible stories, or speculative rumors are left out. This does not make his work any less enjoyable, but it does lend Mr. Lincoln's work a feeling of solid thoroughness in its research--something that is lacking in Massie's book. If a story was left out, I felt quite confident that Mr. Lincoln knew of the story, but could not corroborate it to his satisfaction.

This book is very thorough and incredible in its vast sweep. But it is broken apart into major periods. Each period is further broken down into topics, such as political history, economic history, social history, and so on. This format makes the book quite useful as a reference as well as enjoyable to read. This is the best book on the story of the Romanov family in the English language to date. And I can see this book firmly establishing itself as a timeless classic, alongside Shelby Foote's "Civil War," or Gibbons, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire."

W. Bruce Lincoln's history of the 300 years of Romanov rule in Russia (1613-1917) is easily his most readable account of Russian history. While Professor Lincoln's research is meticulous as ever, in this volume he has to cover far more ground than in his other more focused histories and thus he avoids some of the digressions that he normally might allow himself. The result is a superb one-volume history of the Tsars and Tsarinas who determined Russia's development from a minor principality into the largest empire on earth.

The Romanovs consists of four parts: Muscovite beginnings (1613-1689), the Rise of an Empire (1689-1796), Empire Triumphant (1796-1894) and the Last Emperor (1894-1917). The first three parts each consist of several chapters, with the first covering biographical details of the Tsars and Tsarinas in that period, followed by chapters on political and cultural changes in that period. There are only two significant problems with what is otherwise a superb presentation: a non-chronological methodology and a lack of a single supporting map of Romanov domains (there are two maps of St Petersburg's layout). In the first case, Lincoln tends to keep coming back to Tsars in subsequent chapters on culture, politics, etc which is very confusing. Indeed, he seems in a rush to plow through the biographies of the Tsars, then revisit their cultural accomplishments, then come back again and discuss their political accomplishments, and then maybe discuss a few scandals or wars. As for the lack of maps, it makes it extremely difficult for the reader to evaluate the territorial expansions of the various Romanov rulers or Russia's growth over three centuries.

Despite these two flaws, the Romanovs is a delightful read for anyone with a scholarly interest in Russian imperial history. Perhaps the three most significant rulers that Lincoln assesses are Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and Nicholas II. Most histories tend to elevate Peter to hero status, but Lincoln's evaluation is more mixed. While Peter gets great credit for pushing Russia to modernize, the costs he incurred may have been too great. In particular, Lincoln questions Peter's obsession with building his capital on totally unsuitable terrain; the fact that the Russians were able to eventually succeed in constructing Peter's dream capital often disguises the fact that the human and financial losses were exorbitantly wasteful. The reader will be left to ponder the question that if Peter had built his capital elsewhere, Russia's development might have been much less painful. As for Catherine, Lincoln prefers to minimize the scandal and corruption associated with her court and view this as the golden age of Russian cultural development. Finally, Nicholas II appears as even more of a fatalistic dolt bent on self-destruction than he did in Lincoln's previous books. In sum, The Romanovs provides a solid and very readable account of Russia's development under the Tsars and Tsarinas.

A genuinely great book. Lincoln certainly could write, and make
all those old Russians seem really interesting. As Lincoln's
former students (including me) know, his lectures were tediously
boring, so that makes the books all the more remarkable.

This is not close to the first review of this book. Read the other listings for much more detail.

I gave the book 5 stars, but it isn't at that level as a piece of literature. However, it is well beyond that level as an artifact of history. As I write this in late 2003, the Denver Post has almost daily obituaries for the WWII generation. Soon they will all be gone. In another 30 years the Vietnam vets, in another 50 the Gulf kids. Each will leave some worthwhile fragments of their experience, this is one of the better ones I've found from the WWII group.

As a Denver kid that had problems with Denver Pub Schools, sat on the bench for high school football, went off to war in Vietnam, flew in the Navy, I found Stiles' book to be a godsend, to understand MY life, and my relationship with my father's generation. Read it because it is a ROUGH manuscript, obviously not well edited, and it is honest, and for any number of reasons, it seems that honesty comes at a premium and probably always has.

The current President, who had the opportunity to really be a combat pilot and did everything he could to avoid it, now poses on flight decks. The current Governor of Colorado, who never did a day in the military, passed out pictures of himself in a flight-suit climbing down from a aircraft wing to associate himself with a strong defense. What a miserable collection of mutts compared to their father's generation.

The remarkable thing about these kids wasn't that they were courageous heroes, but because they weren't and they still got the job done. One bloody, gut-wrenching day at a time. Spin that.

Not much I can add to what others have written about the Big Bird. I first read the book while in college in the late 1960s. Some years later I lent the paperback to a friend and it went up in smoke during a fire. I was stunned and mad because I liked to go back on occasion and read a chapter or two when I felt I needed to read something from Bert. Now, to make a short story long, after years of trying to find another copy, the internet came along and I started to find out about Bert. I began pulling things up and contacting various folks. I came across one fellow and damned if they weren't having a get-together honoring Bert at Colorado College. I was there. It lasted two days and no more than a handful of old folks were in attendence (at the time I was in my mid 50s and I was the second yougest person there). As I was leaving at the end of the remberance a fellow took hold of my arm and asked if I would like to have a stack of books. They were compiled by friends of Bert's some time long after he had died! Of course I accepted them! There were writings ranging back to his high school days in Denver. Some of the stuff is pretty good, some not so good. But, the short stories (sorry, there is no lost novel) I found had a appeal for the time and demonstrated Bert's growth as a writer.

Yes, I too think Bert was on the brink of becoming a well known writer. He did, by the way, write for a magazine in New York. I have the books and I still return to then when I need a good laugh (Bert was quite a wit) or just want to step back into the late 30s or early 40s. There must be 5-6 of these books (private publisher, sorry). The fellow who organized the 'event' is no longer with us as, I would guess, many of the others aren't. My God, most were in their very late 70s or early-mid 80s. Alas the group is leaving us at an astounding rate.

Okay, I'm done now. The book gets 5 stars and I have been able to give you a very brief look at Bert and some of his pals - though not many. Yes, there are other "books" by Bert and you might just get lucky and find some of them.

I first read this book in 1960 and discovered that Bert Stiles was my uncle-Robert Langford's roommate in "Copilot House". I sent my copy to my uncle who subsequently got a copy (long out of print) from the publisher. He said the story was pretty much like things were. He said Bert Stiles always said he was writing a book but then everybody was writing a book. I have my uncle's copy filled with photos of the "Big Bird" full of holes afer Leipzig. The aircraft never flew again. It was repaired and blew up with the sqadron commander and chaplain aboard on it's test flight.

In 1969 I had the pleasure to visit with Richard White a co-pilot in a B-17 during World War II. His plane was shot down over Berlin in 1944 and he spent some months in a German Stalag. He told me that if I really would like to know how it was that I should read this book. I have read it. It is awesome! It is written in a style that had me totally engrossed from start to finish.

When Bert Stiles wrote this book, the war was still raging across the world. It was 1944, he had just completed a horrific tour of duty as a B17 co-pilot, and the memories were fresh in his mind. Even though Bert seemed to be a somewhat sensitive man, some of his words have a callous feel to them. He talks about the officers and enlisted men forming a baseball team, and "..after the Schweinfurt raid, we had to replace the whole infield"-Simply put, so many men had been killed on that mission, no one was left to play on the team. Bert was an intelligent man, a good writer, but he lacked the experience to know when to back out of the war. Passive, intelligent, creative people do not make good fighter pilots. Bert was killed in action shortly after writing his memoirs.

I was living in Cambodia when I came across this book, following the recommendation of one of my English friends. I bought the book, opened it... and could no longer put it down! This book came as a complete eye-opener to me, on both how America had conducted its war across Indochina, but also on how Cambodia's history had/has been so intimately intermixed with Sihanouk's.

If you are into learning the backside of what we could all dub "official history", then this book's for you. You will no longer look at Kissinger, Nixon or Westmoreland with the same candid, obedient and servile eyes after reading it. Packed with previously unheard-of accounts, reports, testimonies, following a clean, highly intelligent argumentation methodology, Sideshow acts as a real bulldozer on the reader, repeatedly confronting him/her with loads of devastating illustrations of unsound decisions, hidden political actions, secret wars of influences etc. It is certainly one of the punchiest, journalism-based historical account I have ever read, whatever the subject.

It shed a completely new and intense light onto the poor -though touching- little country I was living in then, and forever changed the way I looked at politics, diplomacy and intelligence.

Shawcross gets into the minds of Kissinger and Nixon so well. His is a book to be read over and over again to see the working of the U.S. Government and how it can destroy a country. He talks about the 25 pound shark at the bottom of a swimming pool full of children -- and we understand how the USA's leaders destroyed a country. It is a lesson to be learned over and over again as we go about destroying other countries. This is one great read - worthy of the time it takes to understand it. A victory for the author over Mr. Kissinger.

This book has managed to live on, which is perhaps unfortunate - historically speaking, it's far more relevant to contemporary geopolitics than it should be.

In any case, SIDESHOW has managed to stand as one of the better books on Cambodia, and America's involvement in Cambodia (Elizabeth Becker's WHEN THE WAR WAS OVER is a must-read as well). One could debate Shawcross' perspectives, but his research is meticulous and has withstood many attacks, and his depiction of the machiavellian darkness that can creep into foreign policy is chilling and ruthless, and - for better of worse - makes for hypnotic reading, all the more frightening as it's drawn straight from history, research, the Freedom of Information act.

Now more than ever, this is essential reading.

-David Alston

On Junior Day, 2006, I would recommend SIDESHOW by William Shawcross. It contains information about the twentieth century that could be applied to situations that America faces in the world in 2006. The global superpower naturally thinks that everything will be resolved by the application of hyperpower, as Japan suffered a humiliating defeat at the end of World War II when it discovered that the United States was not just fighting a war against Japan, it would nuke their cities to bring about whatever result it wanted. When American troops openly invaded parts of Cambodia, Congress responded by imposing limits which were still in place on April 30, 1973:

"The justification for bombing Cambodia had been to protect Americans in Vietnam. Since October 1970 the Congress had included in every military appropriation bill a proviso expressly forbidding bombing in Cambodia except for that purpose. By the end of March 1973 there were no American troops left in Indochina. Still the bombing of Cambodia increased. The administration now based its case on Article 20 of the Paris Agreement. Rogers now claimed that American withdrawal from Vietnam did not affect the situation in Cambodia, and that Article 20 legalized the bombing `until such time as a ceasefire could be brought into effect.' " (p. 277).

One of the strange things about the invasion of Cambodia was that Nixon made an announcement on April 30, 1970 which attempted to keep all previous secret activities secret:

Ignoring Menu, Nixon began with the lie that the United States had "scrupulously respected" Cambodia's neutrality for the last five years and had not "moved against" the sanctuaries. This falsehood was repeated by Kissinger in his background briefings to the press. That same evening he told reporters that the Communists had been using Cambodia for five years but, "As long as Sihanouk was in power in Cambodia we had to weigh the benefits in long-range historical terms of Cambodian neutrality as against any temporary military advantages and we made no efforts during the first fifteen months of this administration to move against the sanctuary." The next day he said of Sihanouk's rule, "We had no incentive to change it. We made no effort to change it. We were surprised by the development. One reason why we showed such great restraint against the base areas was in order not to change this situation." (p. 146).
In his announcement of the invasion, Nixon stated that his action was taken "not for the purpose of expanding the war into Cambodia, but for the purpose of ending the war in Vietnam"; he would give aid to Cambodia, but only to enable it "to defend its neutrality and not for the purpose of making it an active belligerent on one side or the other." (p. 146).

Currently Iran has a militia of five million, and if Iran were to officially enter a war in Iraq as a result of bombings by Israel, as urged by Vice President Cheney, to remove Iran's nuclear capabilities, even if a bomb based on plans provided by the CIA wouldn't work, Iran has other ways it could strike back. Being subatomic is very much like Cambodia was in 1970, but we shall soon see what issues are about to be submitted to the UN security council, and if it helps or hurts. A blockade created by Iran so American supplies might have more trouble reaching Kuwait and Iraq; oil exports from the region could end; American dollars could fall; the interest on bonds could rise so high that the U.S. government couldn't balance a budget; and some of the world's banks might then be alarmed.

SIDESHOW by William Shawcross is the only book I have in which I can look up Lon Nil in the index. Lon Nil might well be Cambodia's forgotten man. His brother, Lon Nol, declared himself Chief of State as well as Prime Minister and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces when he dissolved the Assembly in October 1971 and assumed emergency rule. (p. 229). In December 1971, an American psychiatrist in the U.S. Army found "his close associates indicate his mental faculties have deteriorated markedly as a result of his February 1971 stroke" (p. 208). On April 1, 1975, at the urging of his brother Lon Non, Lon Nol took half a million dollars and moved to Hawaii. (pp. 357-358). But for me, the best picture of events in Cambodia is the final page of Chapter 8, The Coup, in March 1970, when Lon Nol overthrew Sihanouk, using the hostility of the urban elite and military officers to Sihanouk to justify a power grab by a former Minister of Defense who "had been the principal scourge of the Vietnamese Communists while privately profiting from the thriving covert business that they brought through Sihanoukville." (p. 113). Sihanouk responded by forming a government recognized by Peking on May 5, 1970, shortly after the American invasion announced by Nixon. Sihanouk had flown from Moscow to China on March 18, 1970, but Lon Nil was still in Cambodia:

Rioting broke out in several provinces; opposition was strongest in the market town of Kompong Cham, Cambodia's second city, fifty miles northeast of Phnom Penh. After Sihanouk's radio broadcast, the town filled with peasants, fishermen and rice farmers from the neighborhood. The townspeople refused the government's orders to remove the Prince's portrait, and they burned down the house of the new governor whom Lon Nol had appointed. Demonstrators gathered in buses and trucks to march on Phnom Penh. They were halted by an army roadblock, and after that . . . About ninety people were killed or wounded. (pp. 126-127).

The most vivid display of anger against Lon Nol occurred, again in Kompong Cham, when peasants seized his brother Lon Nil, killed him and tore his liver from his stomach. The trophy was taken into a Chinese restaurant, where the owner was ordered to cook and slice it. Morsels were handed to everyone in the streets around. (p. 127).

Really bad decisions made by the Nixon administration toward Indochina and the Vietnam War are now fairly obvious. However, we must remember how difficult this type of investigation would have been back when Shawcross did his intensive research back in the late 70s. Here Shawcross builds a very hard-to-dismiss case against Nixon and Henry Kissinger, in terms of how their problematic military and diplomatic strategies at least indirectly led to the hideous destruction of Cambodia (in fact, one of Nixon's documented strategies was to make the Communists think he was a madman, assuming they'd get scared and give up).

During the earlier years of the war, Cambodia was a relatively tranquil nation that was trying to remain neutral. But the country was being used as a hideout by North Vietnamese soldiers, leading to bombing by the Americans. Here Shawcross shows how Nixon and Kissinger made use of political trickery and overhyped threats to keep the bombing going to an extent that was far more destructive than necessary. As a bonus, this book also documents the wire-tapping paranoia and unconstitutional shenanigans in the Nixon White House. Shawcross is especially tough on Kissinger, finding that he disregarded the integrity and safety of Cambodia (which he had only ever visited for four hours), in favor of short-term political advantages and unyielding ideology. The relentless bombing destabilized Cambodian society, leading indirectly to the hideous genocide and societal destruction enacted by the Khmer Rouge a few years later. It is difficult to argue with Shawcross' heavily researched conclusions, and the hellish wholesale collapse of Cambodia (of a type never before seen in modern history) becomes all the more poignant as a result.

Be sure to get an edition of this book from 1986 or after, in which Shawcross adds materials from the political firefight that the book ignited. Kissinger was obviously upset and went to great lengths, through articles written by his lackey Peter Rodman, to try and disprove Shawcross' assertions. If your copy of this book contains these articles, you'll be quite bemused by Rodman's evasive, dissembling, and downright condescending rebuttal attempts, which are easily shot down by Shawcross. This war of words in itself proves that Kissinger had, and always will have, a lot to answer for. [~doomsdayer520~]

As I started to read Slaters Fall I was automatically enticed. You wanted to know what everyone was talking about. What happened?? I wanted to read more. I couldn't put it down. It left you wanting to know more. What was Carl trying to say to the officer??? Will definitely buy to see what will happen. Slaters Falls - Official ABNA Entrant

I enjoyed the preview of Slaters Falls. It made me laugh with some of
the references such as those to the board game Clue and to the priest
watching Passions & Guiding Light.

In my opinion, some of the descriptions were a little long (that's the
quibble I mentioned in the headline), but that can be easily fixed with
minor editing.

I really liked the tone of the excerpt being a "dramedy." (I don't
know if the whole novel is like that because I only read the excerpt.)
I think it works well in this kind of material because it gives a good
balance to the different aspects of the story.

I'm interested in seeing the rest of the novel because I want to see
what happens to the interesting characters that have already been
introduced and find out what other personality types the author is
going to create.

Mr Grant knows how to hook a reader. He gives you a reason to get into the story right away. Some books start out with so much back story, by the 10th chapter its starts getting to the point. I dont want to know everyting right away, who killed who and why, and now lets all go catch the killer. All of the ending is at the begining. I feel that when Mr Grant writes, its like watching a rose bloom. You see the outside petals slowly open up and cant wait for the whole rose to open. Thats how I felt when I started to read this novel. I cant wait to buy it and see how it unfolds.

Gripping right from the start never giving the reader a chance to get bored. I was so disappointed when I realized there was no more to read. I want to know what Carl whispered to the cop, what happened to Jeremy and what "secrets" are hiding inside. I can't wait to read the rest. Fantastic job!

If the synopsis doesn't grab you, the opening lines will. We get a picture of the character of the small town through brief points of view of its inhabitants as a life-and-death drama unfolds.

Of course, some of the townsfolk blame it on the music the kids are listening to nowadays. Then, there's the movies....

The inhabitants of Slaters Falls are gathered at the Bank, waiting for a tragedy to unfold:

"In a small town, bad news travels fast, but potentially tragic news travels at a speed second only to lightning."

My personal shero is the librarian, Ruth, who's at first the only one with any sense in the crowd. The descriptions of her are priceless as "prim and proper but capable of telling it like it is" and "able to quell a rowdy group of fifth graders with a single glance." Then, there's her dirty little secret:

"if they knew their prim and proper librarian had once, while she was a student at Wellesley College during a protest in the 1960's, removed her bra on Boston Common, marched topless through the streets, and burned the bra on the Massachusetts State House lawn at the foot of the statue of Captain Myles Standish."

Then, there's the priest. I've wondered what men of the cloth think in confessionals, too. Fr. Mulroy's ponderings gave just enough of a good laugh before the action started up in earnest.

Matthew W. Grant can dish and he does in this great small town mystery. He depicts his characters with accuracy and humor. His narrative seldom wonders off the point. His timing, both tragic and comic, is close to flawless. If the rest of the manuscript is as good as the excerpt, a quick polish would have "Slater's Falls" ready for submission.

Matthew, I very much enjoyed the excerpt so far and I'll be waiting for the book in earnest. I can't say I'd want to live in Slaters Falls, but I've very much enjoyed my visit. Thank you and good luck.

We thing Spike In The City is a very good book for kids because all kids like adventures and this book is one big one. Ms. Bogan put a lot of detail in to this book and she put a lot of time into her pictures. Spike In The City is written so well that it makes you want to read on and on. So, check out your local library and read this and the rest of the series.

I love the pictures because they are so beautiful and I like the writings because they are easy for me to read. It is so much fun to
read.

Spike in The City is just plain fun to look at and fun to read. This story is perfect for its intended audience, children. The illustrations are as vibrant and fun as in all the Spike books. The little goofy dog gone to the big city is a perfect fit in the Spike series.

Spike is at it again! My kids love this book from Paulette Bogan. At the turn of every page, they are delighted with the colorful illustrations and laugh at the expressions from their favorite dog, Spike! We hope he keeps on going on new adventures to entertain us!

Spike In The City is a blast both for the adult and the little one listening (or reading) with you. We take it off the book shelf often and laugh and laugh about how life in the city must be or we reminisce about our own experiences in the big city. How many times have you been splashed by someone who doesn't even notice or step in disgusting gum left there by someone who didn't even care? Then, you discover that the city is actually a pretty neat place, a great place to meet new friends and do some of the same things you might just do at home.

My sons get a kick out of the hilarious illustrations and my little one learned to read with it. How much fun is to make a huge growling sound when you are 5 years old? Nothing beats that.

The author does a great job of thoroughly explaining our memory, how it works and more interestingly, he gives you over 150 key ideas you can use to improve YOUR memory.

While there is no drug that's proven to improve memory in healthy adults, Klemm's techniques work!

It's ironic that he gives his readers (presumably who perceive themselves to have less-than-stellar memories) so many techniques to learn - I will be hard pressed to remember them all - but how many techniques you remember is not important, as long as you focus on the key techniques that really matter to you.

For small business owners, his techniques will be especially helpful for remembering customers and contact names and faces, details about your business - and for remembering what you read in this fast-paced world we live in.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their memory, look smarter, network more effectively and feel more confident in your ability to remember key information and make a good impression on others.

Bill Klemm has been with us for a while. For about 40 yrs now he has been teaching and publishing books and articles on brain function. And if we've been paying attention we've been adding to our brains capacity throughout this period. But, if you're like me, and have just discovered Bill and his work, your in luck.

Bill's new book has a slightly silly title, but it's no lightweight little piece of fluff. Instead we are treated to a delightfully thorough, behind the scenes analysis, of how we create memories. As you can imagine, being a Ph.D. an all, there are some big words included within. But no to worry, Bill's worked long enough with his students to realize that everyone learns in a specific fashion and he offers several slants on his subject.

While he includes numerous common methods such as pegs, the picturing of related things hanging off a system of pegs, to acrostics, where the first letter of each word serves as a cue, to acronyms, think YMCA, he also offers us a host of other easy methods to increase our memory.

But the real helpful bits are why, how, when, where, and how much we are capable of remembering. And along the way we also learn how sleep can play an important part, how alcohol can be detrimental, and why we no longer need to subscribe to the myth that getting older means getting forgetful.

This is science at it's most fun. We all can't be Ph.D.'s, but with this little book we can astonish the grandkids, one up our college buddies pulling all-nighters, and best of all remember the name of that hunky guy or gorgeous gal we met at that party last week and now run into at the grocery store.

Here's a book on improving your memory by one who knows what he's talking about. Bill Klemm is a professor of neuroscience who, for 40 years, has been publishing research on brain function.

Patt Morrison of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "What a maddening thing a memory can be, dodging away from you when you're trying desperately to snag it, descending around you like a collapsing tent when you most want to forget it." How true.

Bill Klemm comes with help for this "maddening thing." He offers insight on how to remember. He shows the reader how to cooperate with his brain, learning how it works best. He gives advice on how to best study for an exam. He clues us in on the role of sleep and dreaming in forming lasting memories. Are there supplements which can help us? Are there chemicals which hinder?

I've read lots of books about memory. This book, though, isn't like others I've read: it isn't a book of tricks ("How to amaze your friends in ten easy lessons"). This is a book of substance: a review of the science of memory. I've grown from it, and I enjoyed it.

The work of Bill is very relevant for absolutely every age group from
young to old. As I read this book, I realized some of the issues one
has to keep remembering things, places, events, people's names; and the
tools one can utilize to turn the situation around. Because of the
insight Bill provides, this book is a confidence builder; a must read
for those interested in improving their memory, becoming more effective
at what they do and feeling empowered.

Dr. Klemm strikes a chord, again and again, addressing a variety of situations in which we think our memories "fail" us: in school, at work, at a party, around the home, the office. Scientific and lab experiences aside, the book offers a lot of tips for changing the way we learn and recall. / Simple ways to learn social skills like remembering the names of 10 people you just met. Using a skeleton outline instead of taking notes in class. And, for long-term recall, figuring out the answers rather than memorizing them. But Thank You Brain is more than a how-to book. When Klemm points out the short attention spans of today's kids he opens a discussion about the need to change the way our teachers teach their students. "Yes, it's true that learning is hard work," he says. The brain works harder to learn a new thing than it does to maintain a memory or a process. Exercise the brain by learning unique, foreign processes and the brain gets intricately involved in learning the requirements for the new subject, and you keep it active, alert, sharp. Klemm talks about the FOCUSED brain and how difficult it is to divide its attention, for example, when driving and using a cell phone. And how drug abuse hijacks the brain's coping system, takes it out of the loop and removes its power to manage emotions. He says recall is not the same as memory. Recalling someone's name is easier when all the original cues are present, such as when and where you knew that person in the first place. This is a fascinating read and one that gives the reader the knowledge to sharpen his own memory and recall.

In this book I finally found an explanation for the frustrating behaviors of my child. Reading it changed the dynamics of our family and greatly improved our functioning. Many of the books on these children, including Dr. Greene's Explosive Child, provide descriptions of difficult behaviors and suggestions as to how to address these behaviors, but none provided a detailed explanation of what is happening for the child and how that creates these behaviors. This book is a must read for all parents, teachers, and providers who work with difficult children whose behaviors seem to defy the traditional explanations.

I'm a clinical therapist with 18 years' experience. Several years ago I attended Dr. Green's training and was very impressed. So much in the mental health field, for working w/ behaviorally challenging kids and parents, focuses on rewards and consequences - basic behavioralism - which only works part of the time for part of the population. This is a wise and effective alternative, and one in consonance with what we're learning about why explosive kids are that way. My specialty areas are complex trauma and attachment disorders, which aren't mentioned as root causes for the difficulties in self-regulation skills for (I believe) a majority of explosive kids, which I think is an oversight. However, Dr. Green's creation of interventions which address the effects of these skill deficits remains an outstanding acheivement. His "Plan A, Plan B, Plan C" model is easily explained by clinicians and understood by parents. His model keeps parents empowered, gives them reasonable guidelines for which plan to use when, strengthens both kids' and parents' abilities to problem-solve in a connective, caring way, and gives kids hope for their own growth and change.

In my line of work as a behavior consultant, I read A LOT of research journals. However, this dry book was much harder to plow through and so I gave up and ordered a different book! For a parent or professional who is trying to help an especially difficult child, this is just NOT a user-friendly book.

This book provides both an excellent treatise on easily-frustrated/highly explosive children from both a clinical and practical point of view. I especially appreciate the approach to helping these children from the viewpoint of their specific struggle instead of their "diagnosis" as ADHD, Bi-polar, Oppositional Defiant, etc. While those labels might be helpful in the short term, it does little to speak to actually helping them with their day to day difficulties. There is a sad dearth in helpful treatment for not only children, but adults with these needs. While new medications can and should be included in treatment, it is the relational context that either perpetuates the problem or in which healing is experienced. This book is highly recommended.

Greene and Albon present some fantastic ideas about what makes kids behave the way they do and how to respond to them. It is a well written, thought provoking book. I found it to be an extremely easy read but loaded with conceptual richness. It is not an intellectual work as much as a wake up call to the understanding and treatment of children.