Illinois Books

This book was given to me to read when I took my first fire fighter class. My instructor loaned me her copy and I ended up buying my own copy. The tragic events detailed in this book led me into teaching fire prevention and making sure that a tragedy such as this never happens again.

I have recommended this book to several people both in and outside of the fire service. Everyone that I know who have read it have been touched by this story. I have also given this book as a gift to several students taking their first steps into the fire service so that they never forget the impact a tragic fire can have.

I love to read and I feel that this is one of the best books I have ever read. I am also a firefighter and decided to read this book because it had to do with a historic fire, little did I know that I would love this book for much more than historic and educational reasons. This book was very well written and showed all aspects of this event from the firefighters to the victims themselves. I would recomden this book to anyone who wants a good read, as well as to anyone who is interested in fire history.

This was a fascinating book. I bought it to read on a trip, because of the excellent ratings. We were stuck in a plane on a runway in Dallas for 6 hours. The wait seemed much shorter, because I was thoroughly involved in reading this book.

I highly recommend it.

There are some hard parts to get through describing the fire, but you'll appreciate the Chicago history, the history around the event, what it did to the surrounding neighborhood and how it changed fire codes in the U.S. and likely the world. Your children are safer today because of what happened to these kids.

The book also made me replace all of my smoke detectors!

This is one Chicago tragedy that resonates with me strongly. My former attorney, recently deceased, was a survivor of the deadly fire at Our Lady of Angels Catholic School.

Despite our shared interest in history, he never spoke of the fire during the twenty years in which I knew him. Last year, I found a web site maintained by survivors of the fire and questioned him about the inclusion of his name and that of his sister on the list. His sole response was that the entries were correct. Both had attended school on December 1, 1958, the date of the fire. Our brief conversation proceeded no further. My friend was visibly uncomfortable and I did not make press him with additional inquiries.

Having read this well written account of the fire and the arson investigation, I can understand why my friend preferred to change the subject. This book is compelling, but it is not for the faint of heart. The descriptions contained in "To Sleep With Angels" will haunt and disturb you. You may not be able to read the book without pausing to weep.
I could not read the book in a single sitting.

It is difficult to forget any of the tragic events described in "To Sleep With the Angels." In no particular order, the random images include a father, who rushed to the school with a ladder to rescue trapped children, watching his own son perish in a cloud of toxic smoke as the ladder was too short to reach a high window; a sick ten year old girl had a premonitory dream, but within a few hours the same child felt much better and asked her mother to let her attend school after recess; from an upper floor window, frightened children recognized an adult neighbor, the owner of the local candy store, and began shouting at the woman and begging her to help save them. The terrible list goes on and on as the authors relate the individual memories and recollections of many of the survivors, the families of the victims, the witnesses and the investigators.

More than ninety persons perished that on that cold December afternoon. In addition to ninety-two students, three nuns were also killed in the burning building. A majority of the victims succumbed on account of smoke inhalation. In the aftermath of the fire, a national campaign was launched to improved fire safety at schools throughout the USA.

Almost as painful as the fire itself was the ultimate fate of many of the survivors. Following the tragedy, many local residents began to move away from their formerly beloved parish. Some people would describe the exodus of the families from the blue collar West Side neighborhood as white flight, but others believed that it was simply too painful for many parents and children to continue living in close proximity to the school where their loved ones had died. They needed to find new surroundings in which to live rather than be reminded of the tragedy on a daily basis. There were far too many unanswerable questions: How many additional lives might have been saved if a set of doors had been closed? How many children would have been spared if the fire had occurred fifteen minutes later after the three o'clock dismissal bell? Why wasn't the fire alarm bell sounded at the school more quickly? Firefighters felt that they could have saved many more lives if they had been given the correct building address and had arrived on the scene four minutes sooner.

No one was ever prosecuted for the crime of arson in connection with the suspicious fire. A juvenile offender set the fire, but he could not be tried under Illinois law since the crime occurred before his thirteenth birthday. This same minor was subsequently tried and convicted for a series of arsons committed in suburban Cicero, where his family moved after the fire at Our Lady of the Angels. The authors posit that church and civil authorities sought to shield the identity of the boy on account of his minority. This explanation is wholly credible.

After my friend's funeral, his two sisters related that their brother regularly attended memorial masses held to honor those who died in the fire at Our Lady of the Angels. The elder sister, who had also attended the school on the day of the fire, exited the building safely. Her brother was also escaped without serious injury. Their father heard a radio broadcast concerning the fire while driving his car and he was permitted to enter the police cordon to look for his children. He was unaware that they had arrived home safely during the confusion. There was a great deal of crying when the children and parents were reunited at their home that afternoon. These personal stories are not repeated in the book.
************************************************************************
In a bizarre and equally disturbing development, one of the authors of this book was convicted of arson after setting a fire to a storage building opposite St. Benedict's Catholic Church on the North side of Chicago in June of 2005. Thankfully, only property damage resulted from the fire. David Cowan was said to be despondent after losing his janitorial job. The defendant, who was also a former suburban firefighter, was sentenced to serve a three year prison term in December of that same year. He has been paroled. Ironically, he was also the author a book entitled, "Great Chicago Fires" and had reported on fires for various newspapers.

I was a bit skeptical about this book but the reviews enticed me. The book did not disappoint. The author and the Barb's Captain, Eugene Fluckey may have written a somewhat self serving book, but it seems that he actually deserves credit for his superb job as skipper. He certainly deserves credit for writing an extremely entertaining book. It's a book that will awe you with Captain Flukey's crazy and bright ideas and choke you up with some of the painful experiences they encountered. Even my 26 year old son devoured the book and he's not a naval or WWII history buff.

After reading this outstanding WWII combat submarine book, I now have a new war hero, and he is the late Admiral Eugene B. Fluckey, recipient of four Navy Crosses and the Medal of Honor as the commanding officer of the "Barb" in five combat patrols in the Pacific. Even though this book was my first submarine book, I cannot imagine how any other book can be a better, more entertaining, and more informative historical account of WWII submarine tactics and leadership.

In the preface, Fluckey stated his objective: "...to provide the reader with the best and most complete account of every attack, whether against land or sea targets, as reported by those concerned...I have not fabricated this history. I was there." Using his recollections, official U.S. Navy records, and over ten years of personal research in Japan and China, I believe Fluckey achieved his objective in the pages of this exciting book.

Besides learning of the actions that produced the "Barb's" 29+ ships and 146,808 tons sunk (plus three shore gun bombardments, four rocket attacks (a true Fluckey innovation initiative), seventy-four vessels destroyed by gunfire, a train with sixteen cars destroyed by a saboteur party, and one vessel destroyed by ramming), the book was filled with many insights of Fluckey's character and leadership that led to those actions, and the unique lifestyle and challenges of submariners:

"It seemed as if we were loafing, but submariners on the bridge have an instinct for relaxed tautness. With binoculars sweeping sky, horizon, and water surface, they know the lives of their shipmates depend on their spotting the enemy first. It takes only one hole to sink a sub. Survivors are a rarity."

"`Captain, I'm scared. I've never had a night like this. It's horrible. Those depth charges pounding against the hull as if I was in a coffin. It's like thunder below! We'll be lost!'"

"The "Barb" was never in competition with anybody but herself. We were determined on each patrol to do better than the last one. And we should have, since we had more experience as tactics, weapons, targets, and the war moved on. Not only our own experience, but that of others, motivated us."

(To a new chief of the boat unsure of his readiness for that leadership position): "On responsibility, you'll grow with it and enjoy it as you shape things and people. On goofing - so you goof. Don't hide it or cover up. Do your best to correct your mistakes and don't be afraid to ask for help from anyone from top to bottom. You'll find people are complimented when you ask for help...the other chiefs understand that as chief of the boat you become the senior chief [senior enlisted sailor] on board. In submarines we hang our rates on the gangway when we come aboard. It's what you can do that counts with me."

"I had to get something off my chest about the unspoken decision after the previous night's combat as to whether to head for the survivors [of a sunk Japanese transport filled with Allied prisoners of war] or reattack the convoy. Having seen the piteous plight of the 14 survivors we rescued, I could only say that I would forgo the pleasure of an attack on a Japanese task force to rescue any one of them. There is little room for sentiment in submarine warfare, but the measure of saving one Allied life against sinking a Japanese ship is one that leaves no question, once experienced."

"...The [American air] strike force knew our locations. Should it become necessary to ditch some aircraft for mechanical failure or enemy action, the pilot would head for the nearest lifeguard submarine. The sub was required to stay on the surface as much as possible. Consequently, as soon as a plane disappeared, the "Barb" would surface, if submerged, to be seen by friends and to receive any distress messages."

"Lying in my bunk reading war patrol reports was my favorite pastime at sea, and it was educational. Life is not long enough to personally garner sufficient experience for anything. Without blood, sweat, tears, responsibility, or danger, one can absorb vicariously and harvest the experience of others. Otherwise, their history of errors is bound to be repeated."

"What was I most proud of as commanding officer of the submarine "Barb" during World War II? My answer is simply this. No one who ever served under my command was awarded the Purple Heart Medal for being wounded or killed, and all of us brought our "Barb" back safe and sound - ready, eager, and willing to fight again after unparalleled patrols, lauded by naval seniors and authors."

I highly recommend this great book to anyone interested in learning about WWII submarine warfare from someone who lived it, and helped revolutionize it's tactics, weapons, and strategic importance in today's modern warfare. For me, Fluckey will now be remembered along with other American military heroes like Patton, Puller, and MacArthur.

This book is an excellent first person view of submarine operations in the Pacific 1944-1945. The commander of the submarine "Barb" threw away the normal standard procedures and created a new series of operating methods that changed the nature of submarine warfare for the future.

Fluckey's memoire, "Thunger Below" , ranks with the best of the WW 2 submarine histories. I am thankful he was able to write such a stirring story even many years after the events. His action descriptions and hisrecounting of the actual dialogue among officers and crew during the actions makes for a truly memorable read. I recommend this book to anyone really into WW 2 history.

The story of the SS-220 Submarine BARB's WWII story as told by the Captain, Eugene 'LUCKEY' Fluckey. A wonderful story of one of the most successful WWII submarines in the US Navy.

I purchased the sandwich spreader and metal spatula. I paid twice what I would have paid anywhere else. They turned out to be junk. Both plastic handles separated from the metal parts within 9 months of the purchase.

I absolutely loved this book. Doris Christopher's ideas and humble beginnings are absolutely inspiring! She has built an amazing company and shares it for everyone to realize their own potential. Her basic no nonsense attitude towards life and her company are shared in this incredible story. I do not sell Pamperd Chef, but if I was not trying to build another direct sales business I know I would after reading this book!

I have been purchasing Pampered Chef products for over 16 years and my husband and I have always been huge fans. After many years of buying from someone else, I decided to give it a try and then so did my husband. . . yes, we are both consultants because we believe so much in the products.

I signed up as a consultant a few days after the book was released and read it in one night! After reading the book I was more of a fan than ever. The story is very inspiring to anyone who wants to take the leap of faith in themselves and try to start their own business.

Doris' vision of having a business to earn extra money and still have time to raise her family is very much alive today as it was 25 years ago. The book takes you through the 25 years of her dream from where she started the business in her basement with $3,000 to being the founder a of multi-million dollar company with thousands of women and men who work with The Pampered Chef as hobbyist, part- and full-time consultants.

A must read for anyone who wants to be inspired to start their own business.

An interview with the author and her daughter, who grew up in the culinary business, supplements The Pampered Chef, a story of Doris Christopher, a former teacher and home economist who returns to the work world with a vision of making cooking more convenient for families. Selling high-quality kitchen tools through demo groups and growing her business, The Pampered Chef, from a basement enterprise to a successful franchise. A story of personal success comes alive in audio.

In 1980 author Doris Christopher, former home economist and teacher, wanted to return to the workforce after raising her children: she began selling high-quality kitchen tools through cooking demonstrations and began her company, The Pampered Chef, from her basement. Twenty-five years later it's a corporation specializing in kitchen shows - and The Pampered Chef: The Story Of One Of America's Most Beloved Companies tells of how she became a culinary industry success. Insights on how the company expanded and handled its challenges provide entrepreneurs and cooks alike with much inspiration.

Originally published in 1982 (revised and re-published in 1990), this book tells the story of who Marva Collins is, starting with her childhood and what contributed to her becoming the person she is. The book explains her start as a public school teacher and dealing with the negative politics of schools, then about how and why she opened her own private school where she was freer to use her own teaching methods including the ability to have full control over the curriculums and books she wanted to use.

While working in the Chicago public school system she held her students to a higher standard and taught more difficult material than the school felt was necessary. She felt that children would rise to the level of the teacher's expectations. In times of civil unrest regarding black and white relations, she felt that children from the "ghetto" are indeed teachable. Even the students who have been labeled as having numerous disorders (by school staff) or who are said to have been unteachable, indeed are teachable.

This book tells the story of what Marva Collins believed, the general philosophy is clearly explained. Why she feels a return to the classical education method is a good idea, including why rote memorization of math facts and some other information is explained. She believes a liberal arts education is right for all children of all races and income levels. Her anti-progressive education stance is explained. What specific content she taught and why is there. A good amount of information is given about why she believes that intensive phonics education is necessary and good for all children (and avoiding the look-say / sight reading method). How she taught Shakespeare to young children and her use of the classics and other, more difficult older books is covered. (This is not a curriculum guide for school teachers or homeschoolers to read and copy her method.)

What is not stated that was clear to me is that Collins is a truly brilliant person who used her own knowledge to make many connections within the classroom. Her teaching methods do not rely only on use of certain curriculums but rather depend on the teacher having certain knowledge from their own education and then using that in classroom discussions to make connections between the books and facts that the children were using and what they were learning. In order to teach in the exact way that she does, the teacher must have a foundation of education present, specifically a good liberal arts education herself. Collins realized this was an issue when she first began hiring teachers to work in her private school.

Collins also criticizes many teachers who she feels are uneducated and blames them for not only setting low standards and looking for easy ways to teach but for not being able to have the type of discussions that she has with her students. Collins comes out being quite harsh on public school teachers. Collins' blames teachers for being a main cause of the breakdown of public education. She thinks that some are products of inferior educations themselves, leaving them ignorant and uneducated without a strong foundation from which to teach from. She feels there are teachers who don't know how to teach, who are then subject to various educational fads that clearly are not working (i.e. the look-say method of teaching reading). She also condemns teachers who have low standards about children's abilities as being the issue, feeling children will rise to the level of their expectations.

This is the first book written about Marva Collins. It is a good read to get the beginning of the story and the general background of her theory. She has a second book if you are left wanting more "Ordinary Children, Extraordinary Teachers" is the title.

"Marva Collins' Way" would be of interest to educators who like to read success stories of teachers who do things differently, those who want to or like to buck the status quo or try to stand up to `the education machine' to do what they think is right and best for their students.

Teachers and others interested in charter schools or private schools who have different standards for their students would also like this book.

Anyone interested in the topic of the history of American education or education reform would enjoy this as well.

This will appeal to anyone concerned with the education of inner city, low income level minority children and their experience in public schooling.

Lastly homeschooling parents may learn a thing or two about standards in education and expecting more from students.

At the very least the book is a good read that is inspiring. At its best it may influence you, in whatever role you have with children or education, to raise the standards and to stand up to a failing system in whatever way is applicable in your life.

How I came to read this book: Two years ago a local classical method homeschool support group leader recommended the writings of Marva Collins to me to provide encouragement for having high standards in educational content for children, even young children. I was going through a time when I was being pressured by some homeschooling parents who feel that education should be dumbed down and that little should be expected of elementary grade children. Later another classical homeschooling mother/ blogger whose writing and opinion I respect credited Marva Collins' books as providing inspiration for her educational model for the very same reason. I decided to obtain a copy of Collins' books and I read her first book this month (finally).

The Marva Collins story is an inspiring story of a teacher who was passionate about teaching and excelled through the odds set against her by the school system.

marva collins is such an idol and inspiration for me. she is so full of morals and has a brilliant answer for all of life's problems. get this book if you want to hear the most intelligent things from the most intelligent human being walking the earth! she is HIGHLY underrated as an educator and everything! i really needed to find her b/c as she says, "in this slippery world we all need something to hold onto...." thank you Marva, I love you and God bless you!

I first read Marva Collins Way several years ago, and have reread it many times since, to help guide and clarify my thoughts about education. She has revolutionized public education, and people's perceptions of it. She has also effectively refuted the growing slew of people in the highest places
of academia who stubbornly cling to long-discredited theories about the intellectual inferiority of certain races in this country. I would recommend this book to anyone, and ask only that you read it at least twice, because it has too much to absorb, to just read it once. It will possibly alter your concept about education, and just who is capable of learning. If you use Marva's concepts as a teacher, I guarantee powerful results!

I read about 70 pages of the book and unfortunately lost it during my travel. I will be buying this book again. Marva is an extraordinary teacher who has taught me at my middle age that NO CHILD CAN FAIL TO SUCCEED in school. She has achieved this with such re-sounding success that one would want to have a teacher like her for all children in the world. I have no words to express how great the feeling is when you know that every child has all the potential to succeed.

The series of Yada Yada Prayer Group is wonderful!! Christian women and all women can be entertained and learn a few things from reading this series!!!! The books get a 5 star rating from me.

Bonnie A.

Love love love these books. I am going to hate to see this series come to and end. Pleased with the condition of the book and was here very quickly.
Thanks
Connie in NC

this is an awsome read...just as goood as the first 5 in this series...can't wait to start number 7 and hope she writes more!!!!

I have enjoyed the entire Yada Yada series. I and my friends have been blessed.

These gals are a hoot. Even got their guys going. What a great story line. I enjoyed every line of every book. Wish there were more - what about new grandchildren and new members of Yada Yada? Peggy Touchtone Sholly

Once again Konrath wrote an excellent Jack book. The only problem I have with these books is once I finish one I have to wait for the next one and I hate waiting!

Like a long gulp of the titular drink, this fourth Jack Daniels thriller goes down smoothly but kicking. Chicago insomniac homicide cop Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels is up to her ears in family trouble again when a madman dubbed "the Chemist" goes on a poisoning rampage intending to bring the city to its knees. Saddled with an eccentric mom, a father she didn't know she had, a killer house cat, a loyal but suddenly reticent partner, and a marriage proposal, you might think Jack doesn't have time to mess with crazed mass murderers, but you'd be wrong. The Chemist soon develops a bizarre relationship with Jack, toying with her in "Dirty Harry" style even as he targets cops all around her with his deadly traps. Narrating in a deadpan comic pseudo-noir first person that alternates with the Chemist's creepy point of view, Konrath will keep you in stitches even as the killer parades around the city, dosing random innocents with rare toxins and diseases. Of course, he has a grand finale in mind, but will Jack catch on before it's too late? Konrath's thrillers are sometimes shockingly dark, yet breezy and fun - all action and humor, perfectly laid out for the screenwriter. If you like the taste of this Dirty Martini, stock the bar and mix up a Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, and Rusty Nail, too. Your funny bone may never be the same. And you may never look at a salad bar the same way again, either.

It can be hit or miss finding a new author after you've read everything by someone you enjoy. Fortunately, with J. A. Konrath, you can sit down and order a drink and enjoy reading it.
After reading Dirty Martini I am going to have another and then one for the road.
I won't tell you who done it...well, OK, it was the Chemist but you knew that from the first few pages. The picture that Konrath paints of the evil plot being hatched by the Chemist will scare your last drink out of you. It is brilliantly graphic without being tastelessly gory.
Our heroine, Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels is tasked with finding the Chemist and stopping his terror spree. Throughout the entire cat and mouse chase Konrath serves excitement straight up and humor on the rocks like few authors can. The brilliant dialogue serves as a great garnish making even the less important characters come vibrantly alive.
The realism added by Konrath's obvious research let's you enjoy the ride without your brain having to do mental gymnastics to accept the story line as plausible.
I say buy it and drink it in. Right now though, I have to head out to the bar...er bookstore and grab a Whisky Sour.

Picked this book up at Barnes a day ago, and finished it today. Given that I read through it in two days, it was a good read and engaged me throughout. I can't say I was ever bored, which was good.

The things keeping this book from getting five stars:

** SOME SPOILERS **

- some of the situations struck me as over-reaching. The climax of the book during Policefest seemed too easily solved. It also seems like if they were going in the wrong direction, they wouldn't have reached the destination they wanted to go.

- I didn't really connect with any of the characters. While they were amusing to read, I didn't find myself emotionally investing in them, which makes this book more of a beach read, rather than something I'd read multiple times.

- The feeling of Jack being invincible. I didn't feel she was in any danger during the story, despite all of the deaths occurring around her. Sure, she took a couple of hard hits from the Chemist, but none of them had the feeling of "yikes, she might DIE!"


Still, I think it's a four star book, and it was enjoyable. I'll definitely read the other ones in the series.

This series of books is great. Just wish they would come out closer together. I will continue to read them as they do get published. I like them as well as Sue Grafton stories.

We used this book as one of our monthly Book Club selections. We had a wonderful discussion.
For me the whole book is a commentary on what he says on the first page. He learned to "let go." the rest is all a way of living a CHristian life from this point of view; not be attached to anything but keep your eyes on God alone.
Based on the Gospel of Jesus, this ability of "letting go" is the secret of Christian life; to allow God to work in us and through us require that we learn how to discern His will. Once we do this, we can live our lives without letting the storms determine the direction of our journey.
Cardinal Bernardin learned this the hard way.
I read the book in a couple of hours but had to go back again over and over to let the truth of his experience sink in my own heart.
I particularly enjoyed the chapter titles: they used his own handwriting. It was his wish. I liked that he reclaimed beauty (handwriting) in a world that was being destroyed by the ugliness of his illness.
easy read, thought provoking, life changing book.

I found this to be a wonderful piece of work and have lent it to several friends who were diagnosed with cancer. Monsignoir Velo's reading was very delightful and I give him a lot of credit for being able to read his good friend's memoires.

Beautifully written. As Cardinal Bernardin reflects on the last three years of his life, he shares the importance of embracing prayer, family, suffering, beauty, reconciliation, pain, and forgiveness in order to appreciate and completely enter into the fullness of peace.

For anyone who feels lost or alone in life or frustrated, angry, or scared at the thought of facing death, I recommend this book. Love and peace pour out of the pages as the author shares his life experiences, struggles, and genuine concern for others. He shared his love with countless people he encountered in his life, and his love continues to be shared after his death to any reader who has the opportunity to read this book.

The book is quite short (can easily be read in one sitting) and is incredibly focused and well organized. The book title, chapter titles, and introductory letter are handwritten by the author and really add genuineness to the book. Highly recommended.

For anyone facing a devastating tragedy or terminal illness, this is an uplifting story one of the great leaders of the American Catholic Church. As Archbishop of Chicago and later a Cardinal, Cardinal Bernardin was a well-known leader in Catholic circles. The accusation of sexual misconduct leveled at him by a young man catapulted the cardinal into the national spotlight in a humiliating way. Later, the young man recanted his tale and met personally with Cardinal Bernardin to apologize. Through this whole ordeal, the Cardinal acted with great faith, but was naturally bewildered about a charge from a person he did not know about something he knew he did not do. He found the words of John 8:32 (The truth will set you free) to be his guiding light and found their promise fulfilled.

The story of the allegations and their later withdrawal is a small part of the recollections he shares with us in his very personal and intimate style. The major thrust of the book concerns his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and how he struggled with his fate and rediscovered a newer and stronger faith in God. In a very heartfelt way he discusses his understanding of suffering---not merely its inevitability but also its purpose and redemptive value. He recalls quite vividly the words Jesus used at the Last Supper, knowing that in a matter of hours he would be crucified. "Love one another. Such as my love has been for you, so must your love be for each other. This is how all will know you as my disciples: your love for one another." Cardinal Bernardin lived these words, most completely in the last three years of his life, the period covered by this remembrance.

As noted by others, this book comes as close as any to a person describing their final days on earth and preparing to enter the kingdom of God. Cardinal Bernardin finished the book on November 1, 1996 and died thirteen days later on November 14, 1996. Even if you have never heard of him, you will be inspired by his poignant recounting of a life well spent and discovering the great gift of inner peace amidst tragedy.

"Subito Santo!"(Make him a saint now!) was my first thought as I finished reading "The Gift of Peace: Personal Reflections by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin". This was a book I noted when it first was published, but I waited to read it until now. Perhaps I thought it would be sad or even depressing. How wrong I was! This is an uplifting book, recounting in his own words the major events of the last three years of Cardinal Bernardin's life. It is a book filled with moving stories of reconciliation, kindness,
care of others even in the face of his own debilitating illness, and love of the highest order. It is the truest expression of the saying "Let go and let God" I have ever encountered.

This is not a long book and I suggest reading its short chapters over several days or weeks. This will allow the "Gift of Peace" the book offers--which is Cardinal Bernardin's real legacy--to take root and grow in the reader. If this happens, the book has served its purpose and Cardinal Bernardin, now in the company of the saints in light (even if not an official saint yet) can, himself, rest in peace.

"Santo subito!" Make him a saint now!

Good for Fern Chapman as she attempts to make sense of family roots in a tourist-level return to Europe, even while knowing that a previous generation is largely inscrutable, fragmentary, and ultimately impressionistic. Much to the book's credit, both mother and daughter, as protagonists, explore this generational divide. The book's stated purpose of pursuing WWII understandings "Beyond the Holocaust" promises new insight into unresolved moral issues. Chapman hopes to liberate the reader from that form of simplistic guilt-conveyance which stifles further thinking about the Holocaust.

Chicago-based Chapman plunges us into a post-Christian and post-Judaic landscape, a brave new world of secular humanism that hopes to compete with the centuries-rooted religious foundation that we've come to respect in the book we've come to know as the Bible. We find ourselves adrift in the modern world of American and European apostates, no longer tethered to ancient heritage, but reluctantly forced to bear the social mantle of being either a Jew or a Christian.

The character Mina is representative of the WWII Christian German who never left: "I mean, I was brought up in the church every Sunday and I prayed. But we weren't a deeply religious family." Her family, dysfunctional to the point of abandoning her to the servant needs of a local Jewish family, attributes their lack of faith to the Christian disorientation resulting from the World War I, untimately a civil war in which Christians and Jews were destroying each other. World War II would be the same unfortunate imploding of the Judeo-Christian bulwark. Our sympathies to mother and daughter! Even so, Mina is forced to shoulder the guilt associated with Holocaust, even while the visitors from America remain speculative.

The mother Edith deserves our sympathies as well. "After the war, however, she had little use for religion. When I asked her why, she said, 'I want nothing to do with it. Look what happened in Germany--that was among mostly Christian people. After that, I couldn't trust any religion. I just couldn't believe in God.'" Edith simply cannot fathom the horrible waste of internecine warfare.

Chapman is often superb in "Getting Beyond the Holocaust" with its propaganda-like group-think. During the war, German Jews seemed to know as little about the Holocaust as did everyday German Christians. Neither knew much, if anything. This accounts for several characters offering only "symbolic" protests against Nazi incursions into their lives. Knowing more would presumably have led to ever more forceful resistance from both communities.

Nor does Chapman attempt to whitewash typical Holocaust guilt formulas. Mina represents the easier vantage, i.e. that "You are a Nazi to the end of your life. You are stamped." Yet the Nazis voiced principle-based (to them, at least) complaints that might be acknowledged: apostate Jews, not faith-based Jews, were leading the godless Bolshevik revolution. Marx himself had descended from a long line of rabbis before his family's desperate plunge into Lutheranism and religious disorientation, ultimately a cogent formula for atheism, socialism, and secular humanism. Overall, the book leaves us with a sense of tragic loss among "should have been" partners in a unified Judeo-Christian Europe, rallying around the Old and New Testaments. Too bad today that a weak, self-propagandized Europe has replaced the Jews with its real historic enemy, jihadist Islam.

I had begun this book and put it down--to pick it up again was a very good idea. This author has a very readable style. A great book to read if you want
to know about the Holocaust and beyond--just like the title says--it says it all.

"Motherland" by Fern Schumer Chapman centers around an intriguing premise, that of a mother and daughter returning to Germany to discover what happened to the family left behind during the war, in an effort to let go of the war that plagues their relationship. The author's mother was sent as a refuge to America a year after her older sister, leaving her grandma and parents to endure the wrath of the Nazis. Feeling abandoned and unloved, the author's mother never returned until the early 1990s, still hesitant to encounter the past.

For Germans, it seems as if WWII and its legacy is always close to the surface; a feeling a guilt pervades their interactions with those from other places due to the constant association with evil they must endure. Mother and daughter certainly encounter that on their journey to the small town where her mother lived her first 12 years of life. The town, while greatly changed, is still home to many former classmates. Escorted around town by a man eager to make amends for his past actions, the two discover that the past is always present, no matter how hard one tries to forget.

Overall, "Motherland" is a quick-paced read, an accounting of the author's attempt to understand her mother. Yet at times the narrative reads as if the author is trying to hard; she was five months pregnant when the journey was made, and perhaps her emotional swings show through too much. The flow is often interrupted by liteary efforts at similes, comparisons which aren't necessary and do not add to the story. However, the story is one that the author needed to discover and one that she needed to tell. It is an interesting look at how someone who wouldn't necessarily qualify as a 'survivor' did survive, but still passed on that legacy of loss and war to her daughter.

Edith Westerfield Schumer left Germany in 1938 as a twelve-year-old. She left alone. Her parents sent her to America, removing her from the threat of the Nazis in her German homeland. Her Jewish father mistakenly believed that Hitler would acknowledge his service to Germany in World War I. However, most of her family did not survive the persecution or the death camps. Edith never saw her parents again.

She rarely spoke of her childhood. Perhaps so much loss could not be expressed in words. Perhaps she didn't know how to convey to her family what was ripped apart in her past. Her daughter Fern knew little of her heritage.

"Motherland" tells their story through her daughter Fern's perspective. When her mother finally agrees to return to Germany, Fern accompanies her-hoping to learn about her grandparents, hoping to see aspects of her mother's childhood, hoping to better understand how the Holocaust stole her past when it stole her mother's.

Through their journey Fern and Edith learn much more about each other and about the quest to reconcile the past than they expected, significantly deepening their mother-daughter bond. Fern relates with poignancy how moments from her mother's childhood are revealed during their visit. For the first time she realizes that her mother's inability to speak German without an American accent parallels her inability to speak English without German pronunciations creeping in. Her speech identifies her as different from other Americans-and other Germans. Fern learns her mother's favorite German food only to realize that Edith never learned to cook it before she was sent away. For the first time she hears of her mother's insecurities about leaving her home.

They encounter people from Edith's childhood who through their silence aligned themselves with the Nazis. Their lives still echo with hidden guilt. The mother and daughter speak with others who have never overcome their anger at the Nazis and what they suffered when they tried to help and protect the Jews. The women are struck by how people's lives have never returned to normal.

Their story provides insight into mother-daughter relationships and the role of roots in those relationships. The memoir was named a finalist in 2000 in the National Jewish Book Awards by the Jewish Book Council and a number of schools use Motherland to teach about moral choices.

Edith and Fern acknowledge that the Holocaust has now affected three generations of their family. Somehow those who carry on must remember history and honor those cut down by cruelty, yet let go of the past moving ahead with the new generations into healing.

This book covers the return of a Jewess, at 12 years old separated from her parents from the Rheinland on a Kindertransport, to her small hometown, Stockstadt-am-Rhein in 1990. Her daughter, pregnant, goes with her, although unable to speak German, and writes from her younger, American Jewish perspective on this whole process of reclaiming her mother's past, her Heimat (homeland), her Motherland so to speak.

As you can read, most reviewers rave about this book. It is well-written, if a bit too introspective at times (these parts a reader can skip, such as the daughter's thoughts dwelling on herself and her own children). I'd like to make these criticisms for the author, that she may rewrite it perhaps, or if it should be done in a film version, some negative feedback could also perhaps be useful in making a tighter story:

1. The mother's verbatim words should be used in the text, with footnotes underneath for translation into English. Many who read this book know German and do not want to read about the daughter's struggle to make out this or that trival word. Dare I say it, the daughter might have made a better effort to know her mother's language? How else to understand her own roots, her own mother's culture, her longing for her childhood?

2. Don't introduce side issues that remain unresolved. For example, a very intriguing juicy bit is thrown in, that her older sister was sent a year ahead of her to America, adopted by another set of relatives, and now that the two sisters (her mother and her aunt) are now in their late 60's, they still don't get along. This isn't worth delving into, or at least explaining a little bit? WHy leave it hanging? Why bring it up if not to grab the reader's attention? WHy not go and interview the aunt, find out her own bitter memories or reasons for spurning her younger sister an entire lifetime?

2. Why no mention of this author's father? Who was he? How did he influence the family with his own traditions, career or job, attitudes and hobbies, personality? Reading this book, one could think that there was no father in the author's life. If we are to understand her pain as a daughter in not grasping her parents' lives, then surely some mention should be made.

3. Why not explain her mother's cowardice in not giving her own daughter Jewish names? She says she is named Fern (for a relative, Frieda) and Brenda (for another one, Brondl). This is strange to me, for the names "Fern Brenda" certainly don't indicate the great Jewish heritage that the mother wants kept.
Meanwhile, we hear that the German families are naming their kids Joshua and Sara, with no shame or hiding. Strange indeed.

4. Why not look at Germans more as people? Her impression of a silly clerk called the immigrations controller is that of a nasty Nazi, simply because he is German with blue eyes and blonde hair, and stamps their documents with authority. Don't ALL immigration people behave this way in every airport of the world? They're SUPPOSED to be abrupt, to give people unease. Does she call the ones down in Israel with their "brown eyes and dark hair" typical Mossad types? Nasty because they're Jews? I should think not, it's lame stereotyping at best.


Overall, this book needs editting by a non-Jewish, non-German hating professional editor, who can guide Fern into a more balanced presentation of her mother's beloved homeland. Otherwise, the hatred comes through with the stereotypical slights, and weakens the story's validity.

The best angle, if a movie were to be made - hopefully in Germany's Babelsberg and not here in Hollywood, God forbid - the theme of Mini, her childhood friend. Now there's a morality play full of contradictions! Wilhelmine (Mini for short), a child six years older from a dreadfully poor family of seven kids, is sent to be a servant/maid to the well-off Jews, and becomes best friends with the daughter she is meant to serve. Then her friend is sent to America, making Mini 18 and Tiddy 12 when they separate. Mini is so enraged to have lost her adopted sister and family that she spends the rest of her life documenting the Nazis, and whether they're all prosecuted. Her own grown son, nearing 50, feels himself deprived of a proper childhood or mothering because Mini devotes herself to fighting the evils of the past rather than living in the present. She is a living testament to the folly of grudges, which the author's own mother avoiding doing - she purposefully shunned nostalgia for her lost homeland and family, until her 60's.

In many respects, this daughter and her emotions, this author, is the problem in the story. She should rewrite it from the participants' point of view, either her mother's or Mini's, in the third person, and take her own petulant self out of it.

Now THAT would be a mature and interesting novel.

Hey, also, put in some of these pictures that she dwells on!

Hat's off to Mr. Elliott for putting together such a true to life story about young boys coming of age after WWII . He takes you back in time to when life was simple but harder . A story about an area and time not so much different from my own childhood in the midwest .Sedwick had me asking myself , why I hadn't talked to my own father more about his own WWII experiences when I had the chance The book is filled with elements of both joy and sadness .Along with some thoughts to live by.I found a lot of pleasure in reading this book, and I hope to find out how John Walters does in life as an adult .

I lived in Mr. Elliot's geographical and emotional era, and shared with many others his source of inspiration. The elders of our era greatly affected our lives, as they had fought the great wars, and lived through the great depression.

Ray does an excellent job of describing the feelings of those who lived through those times. His local descriptions are true to his early formative years, both in the people and the farms and small villages that surrounded him. Reading this book reveals an insight into the source of the values of people who live in mid-America.

As I read the book, I kept thinking about Thomas Wolfe's "You Can't Go Home Again", as the style of melding autobiography and fiction is similar. Not only is the style similar, the quality of descriptive passages and the expression of personal philosophy urges the reader to become personally involved in the book.

Ray shows us through this work that our lives today are not that much different from the 1950's, it was just that our lives now move at such a much faster pace and those threats that seemed so far away back then are now much closer and personal.

Just as the general store that is presented in this book is now torn down, and the bridges described are replaced by modern structures, this way of life is also gone. Read this book to learn what formed all of us into what we have become, and discover more about our common roots. The people that are described are the people that helped make America great, the people who helped secure our liberty in the past.

Ray Elliott's novel brought to life many characters and events from my roots and childhood experiences in a similar Midwest rural environment. Vivid characterizations made the storyline especially poignant for me. I heard the author speak in the fall of 2005 @ The Memphis Peabody Hotel on a panel with Larry Heinemann and Ron Kovic (who was connected via a conference phone line) during a James Jones Literary Society symposium. The author's empathetic and perceptive analysis of people, places and events from WWII through the Vietnam era were astounding. I highly recommend this novel and I look very forward to Mr. Elliott's next novel which I understand gives a treatment to the characters and drama of Iwo Jima.

With „Wild Hands Toward the Sky" Elliott closes the circle from Mailers „The Naked and the Dead" and James Jones` „The Thin Red Line". He shows us the fears, hopes, feelings and problems of those who stayed home and those who came back from WWII. For me, as a student of American Studies in Frankfurt, Germany, „Wild Hands Toward the Sky" also gave me an excellent insight to language of the Midwest.

Ray Elliot's novel is an interesting first work in very much the same way as James Jones's THEY SHALL INHERIT LAUGHTER. Although the style is more accomplished and even than his predecessor's first unpublished work, WILD HANDS TOWARD THE SKY perhaps contains too much descriptive detail rather than a distinctive voice the author should work towards. But, despite containing problems affecting every novelist's first work, WILD HANDS TOWARDS THE SKY remains memorable as a insightful chronicle of southern Illinois in the postwar period and a record of a lifestyle which will change as succeeding decades pass.

EllIot adopts a realistic style to narrate his own version of a touching "Bildungsroman" romance of a young boy who has has lost a father he never knew during World War Two and surrounded by a walking wounded community of survivors and bereaved relatives. Although one might see traces of Bobbie Ann Mason's IN COUNTRY, Elliot wisely avoids the "don't mean nothing" syndrome which can lead to ahistorical, postmodernist appropriation. The war has meant everything to its survivors who sympathize with the bereaved John Walter. Although they do not engage in "Phony War" stories, they act as moral guardians of a growing boy doing their utmost to deglamorize war using everyday, low key statements in the hope that he will learn indirectly from their experiences.

Southern Illinois is, of course, the home territory of James Jones whose influence casts a deep shadow over this novel both by reference to the man himself and the deep changes every character faces in the novel whether they have participated directly in the conflict or not. Ray Elliot charts his own direction but acknowledges indirectly the important role of his predecessor. WILD HANDS TOWARD THE SKY is an important novel of local history. Hopefully, it will represent the first in a series of works where the writer will explore themes more intuitively with the development of his own particular style which will come by constant practice over the years. This novel definitely represents a "first" and deserves acclaim as an important achievement in its own right. But a "first" often leads to much better things and this novel reveals a promise which the author will probably fulfil in his later works in the fullness of time.

I'm going to be a police recruit in the NYPD in the upcoming months, and wanted to know more about this line of work..Armed & Dangerous would be the book to read. This book is for anyone wanting to be a cop, marrying a cop or the friend of a cop...Gina pulls no punches. She is gritty, raw and honest in her writing, which a lot of other police novels lack. I'm currently reading another police novel now, and its so hard to get into it. Gina raises the bar on all other novels..if you never pick up another true crime novel, read this one!!

Riveting, disquieting, amazingly well written. I had to check the cover a couple of times to make sure it wasn't written "with Joe Shcmow." Ms. Gallo names names and leaves out no details about how she managed to function, survive, succeed, and retain personal dignity within a most wretched hive of scum and villany.

This was an interesting book, however I would have liked to see a little more of the positive side of being a policewoman. There had to be something positive about the job, or she wouldn't have been a policewoman for so many years.
Having a policeman for a friend, I did appreciate some of the insights into how they may feel different from "civilians".
It's a very sad tale of how many people live and how instead of the police being encouraged become discouraged.
I struggled with how to rate this book, because it's discouraging and haunting, with no upside I wanted to rate it a 3, but Gina does a good job of writing and relating her experience, so I rated it a 4.

I'm a retired police Sgt. my wife Ann Jillian an actress, and we just finished reading "ARMED AND DANGEROUS" by GINA GALLO. This book is FANTASTIC! It's easy to know that Gina Gallo was the real police and did real police work - that's a given, but her talent for putting it all in her book is something only a GREAT WRITER could do. This is a real page turner, we could not put it down until we finished it. My wife and I highly recommend this book to anyone. Thank you Ms., Gallo for an excellent book. Mr. Mrs. Sgt. A.& A Murcia. Los Angeles, CA.

At last, an interactive experience of life in big-city law enforcement! In a relentlessly authentic voice, Gina Gallo translates every nuance of the police experience into an unparalled copspeak primer for those who've never worn the badge. Forget cop stories as a spectator sport. Gallo pulls you into the action with "the real police", presenting the reader with the same visceral punch, emotional blindsiding and residual angst that haunts anyone who's been there. In my years as a Chicago homicide detective, job success often depended on equal parts of tenacity, intelligence and guts. Gallo's book provides this in spades along with an unflinching scrutiny of our own vulnerability. This book elevates cop docudrama to a new art form. I'm proud that Gallo is one of our own, even prouder of her courage and talent in telling our stories.