Kansas Books

There are not many books which treat comprehensively the period of 1899-1941 i.e. from Boer War till Fall of France. Especially books which consider with some length with russo-japanese or Balkan Wars.
Besides book is very good written with good flaw - you won't get bored.
Citino is also author of many more books - and all of them are of very good standard.
"The quest for decesive victory" is of course not definitive history but a starter - but very good starter. You won't regret buying it.

Robert Citino starts with a problem: from the middle of the 19th century, decisive battles, so common in the Napoleonic Wars, suddenly disappear. Although battles were still fought and won, they became increasingly sterile, deciding little. He shows that this had more to do with command, control and communication (C3) than increasing firepower or any imagined superiority of defense over attack. He then takes us through the campaigns of the early 20th century to see how the problem (and solutions) evolved. In the process, he gives us excellent operational histories of many little-known wars, such as the Russo-Japanese (1904-05) and Balkan (1912-13) wars, as well World War 1. This alone would make the book a "must-buy" for me. However, this is just a way to his goal of showing how battles once again became "decisive". His discussion of the inter-war period, which has been analyzed ad nauseum, still finds some new things to say. In particular, he shows how the radio was more important than the tank to Blitzkrieg. He winds up with the opening battles of world war 2, where mobility and decisiveness were restored to the battlefield.

Dr Citino's newest book is a must read for anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of modern military history. I anticipated this books publication for over a year and was not disappointed. The focus of the Quest For Decisive Victory is the evolution of tactics and strategy to deal with the innovations in technology and the changing battlefield. From the rise of the "invisible battlefield" due to smokeless powder in the Boer War to the simple introduction of the wireless radio set to the tank intended as a replacement for hand flags as the main form of communication among tank commanders , a weapon system or technical innovation is only as good as the commanding Generals understanding of its capabilities and how best to employ it in war. Dr. Citino Traces this process from 1899-1940 showing how the static stalemate of war first appearing in the Boer War and the Russo Japanese war was finally overcome by the "War of Movement" as practiced and envisioned by Guderian, Rommel, Fuller, and Von Seckt.

Dr.Citino's work is exceptionally well written in describing the roots of combined arms warfare. The first part of the books descrbes the small wars before the outbreak of the First World War. The absence of artillery support made tasks made the infantry's task extremely difficult in the the Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War. Another factor that impeded success was the lack of communications so that the Russian army was able to escape repeatedly from the Japanese pincers. Dr. Citino also analyzes the little known Balkan Wars of 1912-13... This is by far the best book about military thought of the early twentieth century,but Citino could have written more about the Russian and American military thought during this time period. Nevertheless I would highly reccomend this book to anyone interested in military thought and practices.

In Quest for Decisive Victory, Dr. Citino analyzes the progression of warfare from the age of Napoleon to the opening battles of the Second World War. The study consists of the numerous military leaders in the period looking for methods of winning a decisive victory in Napoleonic style despite the great technological advances of the time. Dr. Citino puts to rest the abundance of myths that have risen about the period, especially the military doctrine of all commanders in the opening stages of the First World War. In the period following the end of World War I, Citino is at his best, providing a tremendous amount of information about the great debate of the "interwar period," and the opening battles of World War II, which proved some analyists to be correct in their debates, and others to look like fools. Overall, Dr. Citino's narrative style makes the work enjoyable to read and easy to understand.

Designs are easy to duplicate and instructions easy to follow. Quilts are show stoppers!

This book is everything that I expected it to be. Barb Adams is an expert at everything she does.

The blocks in this book are beautiful! I am making the first block now. The patterns are fullsized although they overlap which makes them a little harder to trace onto freezer paper. My block is looking great and I can hardly wait to make the other eight!

The Blackbird ladies have done it again. Another gorgeous book, a feast for the eyes! This quilt is on my to-do list for sure.

The lady who complained about getting the patterns increased at Kinkos - I will give her the benefit of the doubt and presume she didn't look through the whole book. The patterns are in the book, at FULL SIZE! You don't need to increase the patterns at all.

What she is talking about is the page which shows you the whole block put together - a layout template. Some quilters like to use a layout template, others don't. I find it easier not to use one. Most people are not going to need to add $45 to the cost of the book!

I hope it won't put anyone off buying this book. The pages she is talking about are not necessary to make this quilt. Once again, the patterns are in this book and are FULL SIZE!

The lady before me is also quite right in saying that you can enlarge sections and paste together. This will cost you maybe 20 cents, not 5 bucks!

A beautiful book which I highly recommend, especially since a trip to Kinkos will not be necessary :)

I really love the look of these blocks. The person who complained about the cost of enlarging the patterns has no clue that you can enlarge portions of the pattern and then tape the pieces together. It shouldn't cost $45 to enlarge the patterns! Why go to Kinkos and pay that kind of money? She must have limited resources or is just plain lazy. It's not difficult and it should not be an excuse not to buy this book. I plan to make a grouping of 3 of the blocks and hang them in my dinning room. They are all just lovely and the photos are beautiful! I haven't been so excited over a quilt book in ages. Highly recommended!!!

Most women in modern times have a vague idea that things are "better" now than before - and that a few spots on the globe still present issues for humans who are born female. Sometimes it really helps to look back at a biography and realize how MUCH better things are now than before. Revolutionary Heart by Diane Eickhoff is one of those wake-up calls.

Revolutionary Heart tells the story of Clarina Nichols, born in a quiet town in Vermont in 1810. Her family is relatively well off and educates her - something rare for females of her time. Dutifully, she marries and attempts to settle down to the quiet life of a homemaker. But fate has other things in store for her.

Like many women throughout history, Clarina is not provided with a good husband. He squanders their money, and she is forced to work multiple jobs to keep them from starving to death. Even though she is earning all the money, and saving the family assets, the laws of the time say that the husband controls everything. Clarina hears this from friends and family all around her. The woman can slave from morning to night bringing in earnings - and the husband has full rights to spend it all on booze and gambling. If he dies from his excesses, she literally can be left with nothing. Clarina gets a divorce only years before her husband dies, and struggles to regain a footing for her family.

Soon Clarina has found a much more worthy husband, one who publishes a paper and both supports the family and supports her due rights as a contributing member. He lets her run the paper, and her works are highly praised. Soon she is lecturing around the country about the rights of women. These are rights we take for granted in modern times. The right of a woman to escape an abusive partner. The right of a woman to have at least a chance of custody of her children. The rights of a widow to have some access to the assets of the family, when her husband dies.

Clarina did not choose an easy life. She trudges through mud in Kansas. She risks life and limb going to speak in states that are full of violence. She in fact does not live to see the day when women are allowed, finally, to vote. In her world, women are not sent to school because their little brains are not capable of learning. A female doctor? Hah! Women could never understand anatomy and other issues involved in medical science. Women are only supposed to cook and clean.

On one hand this is a biography - it tells of the life and times of Clarina Nichols. But really, the book is written in a very moving and involving way. I read right throught he book, wanting to know what happened and spellbound at the hardships our ancestors struggled through. This isn't just the story of one woman who often risked it all to help convey her message. It is a reminder to all humans in our modern times of just how recently it was that entire blocks of humanity - blacks, females, non-land-owning white males - were denied the very basic rights. We take a lot for granted in our modern world. It's time we step back and realize just how precarious our position is - and how, if not for the daring steps taking by a few people - we could easily be in a position of complete helplessness, being condemned to a state that thousands of years worth of people were trapped in.

It's worth it to take a moment, each day, to give thanks that we were born in a time where we do have rights - and to reach out to support and help others who even now were unfortunate enough to be born in a location which denies them what we enjoy so easily.

Revolutionary Heart: The Life of Clarina Nichols and the Pioneering Crusade for Women's Rights is the amazing true life story of Clarina I. H. Nichols (1810-1885), one of America's first female newspaper editors. A founder of the American women's movement, Nichols had experienced some of the most terrible heartbreak a married woman could experience, yet she not only faced head-on the challenges of financial hardship and single motherhood; she also crusaded to improve life for women and remedy their mistreatment. Author Diane Eickhoff has gone to great lengths to collect Nichols' scattered writings, and assemble as many other sources as possible to give a complete portrait of this trailblazing woman. Highly recommended, especially for library and women's studies collections.

Clarina Nichols was one of the nation's most amazing women of the Civil War Era--or any era. Any of the hats that she wore--crusading newspaper editor in Vermont, temperance lecturer and political activist in four states, pioneer abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor in "Bleeding Kansas," and defender of abused women--would be more than a lifetime of work for most people. Diane Eickhoff's superbly researched and presented biography Revolutionary Heart: The Life of Clarina Nichols And the Pioneering Crusade for Women's Rights shows us how far we have come in 150 years--largely due to the heroic efforts of women such as Nichols and Eickhoff herself!

When I got Revolutionary Heart, I had a hard time putting it down. Diane knows how to make history come alive through her writing about a woman who seems as contemporary as today's news. Her writing is spell-binding. I feel I know Clarina very well after reading the book.

Reviewed by Mary Nyland for Reader Views (5/06)

Revolutionary Heart, written by Diane Eickhoff, is not only well written, but also well researched and extremely readable. The text is intelligent, provocative, and moves at an interesting pace.

Clearly, this author has done her homework. Not only is she historically accurate, she also puts meat on the bones of her characters to make them dynamic and memorable.

Clarina Nichols is a rare and determined woman. Life in the 1800's in early America is no place for a woman who liked to make up her own mind, yet she became one of America's first female newspaper editors. She moved on to public speaking and is a founder of the woman's movement. Married twice, she faced the challenges of choosing the wrong mate, of being a single parent, and of having opinions that she simply had to express. Amid the laughter and the heartache, we get a glimpse of the life of a strong, resourceful early settler who set the pace for many to follow. Early in her career she says: 'If we are the weaker sex, oh, give us, we pray you, equal protection with the stronger sex!' (p63) and in later years: 'Only those who have suffered as I have can have the courage and determination to move steadily forward against such opposition (as the laws against women's rights). She spoke out against the laws that protected fatherhood: fatherhood included 100% custody of the children. If a man died, his children were, by law, given to people who were considered worthy to raise a child. This short list did not include the mother. Wives were to 'submit to the will of her husband in all things.' But what, she asks, is a woman to do if her husband wishes her to vote?

I would encourage all historians, students of American history, and any man or women wanting a good read to pick up "Revolutionary Heart."

Although the title is fitting, it is the only criticism I have. I would not buy a book with that title off the shelf. The word 'Heart' would confuse someone with my taste as I am not a romance reader.
Sorry, I cannot think of a better title but that is my opinion.

If Diane Eickhoff writes more books, and I hope she does, I will definitely purchase them.

Everytime a think I am the only one in the world who remembers something, I happily find I am wrong. Like the rest of you, I read these books many years ago. Actually it was in the 50's and they have stayed with me. I have tried in vain to find them over the years and now to find that they are back in print has totally made my day! I would also like to see the Candy Kane series back in print as Candy was a favorite of mine, as well. I was fortunate enough to find the first in the series at a rare book store on line a few years ago. Now I am eagerly awaiting my copy of Star Spangled Summer.

In the 1940's, when I read this book, it was like a trip to another world. Did it ever exist? I wonder. The book, written in 1941, is an introduction to the Parrish family in the summer of 1939. I was in awe of the glamor and excitement of the military trappings, West Point, horse shows, formal dances.

Twenty years later, my daughter read these books, including the ones about younger sister, Tippy Parrish. The series traces the children through adulthood, marriage and their families, along with interaction with characters in other Lambert books.

When I tried to find these books for my "Army Brat" grandchildren, children of West Pointers, I learned they are recently in reprint. However, I buy them used when I can. In an old battered copy, which I read, I found an anachronism which amused me. The teenagers loved the movies of Debbie Reynolds, Grace Kelly, and Gregory Peck, not movie stars of 1941, and barely in 1947, the reprint year. I am going to check it with a library copy, when I see one.

I am enjoying reading the series in order, and know my granddaughters will too.

I read this series, and Margaret Sutton's Judy Bolton Series at about the same time, and a few year's later, Elysweth Thane's Williamsburg Series (which I highly recommend, especially for those who love historical novels). There has always been a most special place in my heart for Carole, David, and Penny and the Parrish family. I think I must have outgrown the series during Tippy and her stories because I know I didn't finish them. The Parrish/Jordan stories warmed the heart of a girl, much like Carole, an only and somewhat privileged child. Interestingly, the impact of these three series has influenced my professional life and somewhat my private one. I married young, had three children in four years, who became my family. I lost my parents when I was 18(mother) and 23(father). Later influenced by the women's movement, I obtained degrees in history and English and am finishing my career as a history department chairperson and American history teacher in a Florida high school. For pleasure, I still read murder mystery/detective stories, J.K. Rowling, and historical novels. I own all of Elwyeth Thane's books. Although some of these series reflect the racial segregation and white ignorance of the '40s and '50s, the other values of honesty and integrity are a refreshing shower on these sad/difficult times.

I first read these books over thirty years ago (as did, apparently, many other women of a certain age;)) and *still* love them. Yes, the time period is very different, but the heart of the tale (of all the Parrish/Jordan books, actually) still remains universal. We all struggle through the same gamut of emotions as young adults, trying to find our place in the world and we all (mostly) need the love and support of our family members as we work our way towards being grownups.
War was not an 'instant broadcast' thing back in those days (Beloved Walter Cronkite (if you're old enough to have read these books thirty years ago, you're old enough to know who 'Uncle Walter' is!) wasn't even on the news yet!) and it *is* interesting to gain a perspective of the world that existed without the social and technological advantages we have now.
Not to mention that, if you *do* have pre-teen/teen daughters, this is a completely wholesome and totally appropriate way to feed those dear little imaginations.
I am so pleased to see a continuing interest in this series of books by this delightful writer....it would be a shame to have such good material shelved and forgotten.

A simple story of first love. The memory of it has stayed with me for over 30 years. How often can you say that? How wonderful to find it still exists. This book will take you back to a time when love didn't seem so complicated. Although written decades ago, it still tugs at your heartstrings.

After reading the book, I purchased several copies. They make great gifts for friends who are going through struggles. The many personal stories of hope often bring just the right encouragement.

Many examples of how God is there for us in all of or problems and everyday disappointments in life, and how he turns what could be a bad thing into good.

As a grandmother, mother, and wife, the author has lived through many of life's storms. Her vulverability, humor, and ability to see beaury in every aspect of life are qualities that make this book a winner. I felt I had gained a friend for life after just the first few pages. The book will encourage and uplift your spirit.

Through stories that touch your heart, Nancy Hoag shows how God comes alongside each one of us through the storms that buffet our lives. Nancy draws on her own experiences to help the reader see God's faithfulness in ALL situations. My copy of this book is dog-earred and worn -- a testament to its valuable insights for my life.

Storms Pass So Hang On is the kind of book you will take to bed with you -- especially on long dark nights. I was hooked by the time I finished the Prologue and the first two chapters. All chapters are mercifully short, which tells me the author understands that the attention span is the first thing to go, when you're stressed. In my opinion, this book leap frogs over the usual perky devotional book which often leaves me feeling a bit guilty if I haven't triumphed over my traumas in the first 15 minutes (with the aid of a Bible verse and a wink). Storms Pass is one delightful slice of life after another, painted with a vivid eye for detail and a total lack of saccharine. At LAST, someone wrote a book for the REST of us! I've been looking for a book like this for the past ten years. Thanks, Nancy.

Cecil Murphey's "When Someone You Love Has Alzheimer's" is exactly what it claims to be -- a source of daily encouragement. It offers honest and open feelings along with a sense of companionship by recognizing that we are not alone in having those feelings. It gives Scriptures to remind us of God's presence and provision, and a short prayer to focus our attention on the One who can provide all we need -- whatever that may be for the day or situation. Ideas and adjustments for coping are given that offer hope...

I highly recommend this devotional book for anyone who is on the journey of caring for someone with Alzheimer's or related diseases. It would be a wonderful gift of encouragement.

With Alzheimer's, my first thought was, There's nothing we can do. This book helped me see how wrong I was. With his daily encouragements, Cecil Murphey reveals many ways to reach out to a loved one who doesn't even know who we are. The truth is, there's a whole lot that we can and should do.

Thank you Cecil for writing this wonderful book. It's pure love, compassion and encouragement.

If alzheimers is robbing your loved one of his or her memory, this book will help you remember you are not alone.

On a retreat with Restored To Serve, a ministry I'm involved in, we used this and two other books by Cecil Murphy to open dialogue between all of us. As we read page after page someone would say, "I really need to read this whole book."

What we got was that the books let us know there were others going through the same things we were. Those who are caring for elderly people who have their "moments" were helped and we read and found comfort in the pages of When Someone You Love Has Alzheimer's.

As with all of Cecil Murphey's books, this talented author writes with a simple beauty that speaks to the reader's heart. These brief, one-page devotionals will strengthen and encourage those who care for loved ones with Alzheimer's, and will help them through that "long goodbye."

Wings, Women, and War by Reina Pennington was a delightfully quick read. There is a lot of research and in depth coverage that is very informative. At the same time you laugh at stories of Liliia Litviak's fur collar and flowers and stand amazed at her combat exploits. The book exposes you to the lives of many women volunteers and their transformation from civilians to military pilots, navigators, armorers, mechanics, and commanders. There is no propaganda. Just pure facts based upon interviews of participators and archives. No matter what your politics, or issues with women in combat, you will find yourself captivated and surprised by many discoveries.

I recently had the occasion to read Dr. Reina Pennington's book, Wings, Women, and War: Soviet Airwomen in World War II Combat. It was required reading for a masters program I am completing. I had my doubts about the value of this book based on many prior textbook experiences. I was extremely surprised with this one.

The book was part of a class on race, gender and sexuality issues in the military. My male sensitivities and defenses were heightened when first opening this book, but my curiosity convinced me to proceed (as well as the required reading part!). It convinced me that gender issues are important when it comes to studying things military. Dr. Pennington gave a face to and personified the women warriors and their male counterparts in the air force of the Soviet Union during World War II. This is something she accomplished while at the same time supporting her academic theoretical work this book represents. The book reads like a novel and draws the reader in to its stories about these very brave and determined Russian women. The stories are often funny; very funny. It proved to me that Russians during the war were people just like us in their humanity.

If you are unconvinced of women as warriors or want to understand something about how the Soviet Union treated women, recruited women and encounter their successes and their failures, then this book is what you need.

Dr. Pennington provides a remarkable bibliography including archival materials, correspondence and personal interviews. She spent time in Russia following the fall of the Soviet Union when war time documents and records became available. One thing that you might not find answered or answered to your satisfaction is the fundamental question about why the Soviets allowed women into combat. Like all the other belligerents involved in the war, the Soviets resisted this at first. Just like the others the Soviets dismantled their women warriors after the war. If it were not for scholastic efforts like Dr. Pennington's the efforts of women like Evgeniia Prokhorova and Liliia Latviak would be forever forgotten.

I read this book cover to cover on Friday (in the office, door shut, looking very busy). Living with WW 2 aviation everyday through the collection of fighter aircraft we restore and fly in England, it is easy to become a little blasé about the way people lived their extraordinary lives in that time. This book hauled me right up by the collar all over again.

It is remarkable - the pages turn as easily as reading the most engrossing novel and yet this is clearly a thoroughly researched review of these womens' history. I am utterly impressed. To communicate passion for a subject while speaking with such authority - the authority that can only come with knowing and understanding a subject as well as Pennington does - is so rare.

Having read almost every single book available in the narrow field that covers these Soviet women, I belive this book sets the new benchmark.

If only history could always be communicated like this!

For most Americans World War II is John Wayne, Tom Hanks, D-Day, and Pearl Harbor. The plucky British gave a hand now and then and the ungrateful French needed us once more to pull their goose-fat from the fire. Oh yes, it snowed a lot on the Eastern Front. Yet, more than a cursory examination of the Second World War shows even first year history students that the Atlantic Theatre was very much a Russo-German War, with the Western Front playing a secondary role. The Russian story of the Great Patriotic War has not imprinted itself on the American popular imagination. Even less known is the role played in that great struggle by Russia's women.

Over 800,000 women served their Motherland in World War II, nearly 200,000 of them decorated. 89 of those women eventually received Russia's highest award, the Hero of the Soviet Union. Reina Pennington's book tells the story of Russia's airwomen during World War II with the passion of a best selling novel. Yet, the well documented footnotes and thorough Appendix attest to the research that has gone into this scholarly work.

Pennington's book focuses on three female regiments formed by Soviet hero, Marina Raskova, but also gives insight into women who served in mostly male regiments. She provides a gripping account that will satisfy those hearing about the USSR's airwomen for the first time, as well as adding new information about command struggles within the fighter regiment.

The story of 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, staffed through the entire war completely with women pilots, navigators, mechanics and commanding officers, makes any current debates about the suitability of women in combat seem like a convocation of the flat earth society. These women settled that debate long ago. Pennington quotes Soviet test pilot and HSU Mark Gallai on what it was like for the women bombers to fly their missions in the outdated biplanes to which they were assigned:

"It means coming under fire from anti-aircraft weapons of every calibre...it means enemy night fighters, blinding searchlights and often bad weather, too; low cloud, fog, snow, ice, and gales that throw a light aircraft from one wingtip to the other...all this in a Po-2, which is small, slow and as easily set alight as a match."

Yet, these women, averaging 5-15 flights a night(more in the winter, less in the summer), surviving on 2-4 hours of sleep a day for four years, managed to fly over 24,000 sorties, drop 23,000 tons of bombs, and account for 23 Hero of the Soviet Union awards.

Up to this point English language readers interested in the heroic stories of these women have had the excellent works of Kazimiera Cottam ("Women in Air War," "Women in War and Resistance")and the interesting interviews conducted by Anne Noggle ("A Dance with Death"). Yet, as important as these works are, none attempts to tell the story of Soviet airwomen as a complete narrative. Pennington weaves the individual tales of these women into a fabric that is compelling in its humanity. Hers is the story of ordinary women in extraordinary times who achieved what today seems impossible. They gave the full measure of their devotion in a valiant fight that deserves to be known. Reina Pennington's "Wings, Women, & War" does honor and justice to the stories of these women.

This is an important book which dispells the usual misconceptions about women in combat in general and Soviet airwomen's contribution in particular. The chapter on Soviet women fighter pilots is especially valuable. Through personal interaction with several surviving former members of the 586th Fighter Regiment, especially its second permanent commander Aleksandr Gridnev, Pennington has gained a lot of inside knowledge pertaining to this regiment, the most controversial of the three combat units formed by Marina Raskova, the "Soviet Amelia Earhart." This reader was surprised to encounter six misspelled Russian and Ukrainian place names in the book. In addition, the name of the first chief of staff in the 125th "M.M. Raskova" Borisov Dive Bomber Regiment has been rendered as "Militsiya Kazarinova" instead of "Militsa Kazarinova." However, these misspellings can still be corrected using an errata slip affixed to the inside of the back cover of the book.

Your Unforgettable Life isn't something you can read in one sitting because it requires you to stop and reflect on your own life, but when you're done, you'll walk away with a better understanding of what's truly important to you and you'll have a road map to get you there.

Schuchmann and Chapin have written an important book. The basic premise is that life should be lived deliberately, keeping in mind that the choices we make will have an impact on generations to come. Regardless of the legacy left to us, we can and must choose the legacy we leave to our children and to our world. I recommend "Your Unforgettable Life" as a good book-an important book. It could affect your life "to infinity, and beyond."

Don't all of us feel we want our lives to count? to make an impact? to be remembered? What if we deliberately chose how we want people to remember us for the next three or four generations? Your Unforgettable Life offers extremely helpful insights on how to make our lives matter now-and in the future.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I've heard bits and pieces of some of the examples the authors use, but this book captures so many great perspectives in one volume. It's a book I'll be going back to again and again as I work to leave the legacy that I envision.

This book really made me think. I tend to get caught up in the big things in my life, and I want to leave a lasting impression on people. But the authors of this book made me take a look a look at all the small opportunities I have every day to leave a legacy-to make a difference in people's lives.

I tend to think that only famous people, or very important people, have legacies to leave. But we all do. Our days are filled with minutes and plenty of opportunities to make deliberate choices. Regardless of how wealthy we are, we all have the same number of minutes in any given day.

The authors reminded me that God cares about the smallest of details-the birds of the air and the hairs on my head. They helped me think about my priorities versus where I spend my time and how they often don't line up. They also helped me think about stewardship-that the money I've earned really came from God, and I have a great deal of responsibility on how it will be used. If I remember who really owns the money, then my choices and legacy will better follow God's desires for my life.

The book also helps in practical areas, such as developing integrity, taking risks, remaining loyal, and choosing our words carefully. Even a few words have incredible power to do harm or encourage someone.

Ms Schuchman and Mr. Chapin have done a great job of reminding me to put my focus on God and let my actions follow my love for Him. Through that, I can leave a legacy to my family and friends that can last, as God said, a thousand generations. The authors have encouraged me. They are not bombastic, but with humility and without judgment have made me think hard about my choices. I strongly recommend this easy read to anyone who is interested in what legacy they will leave behind.

If you're a Royals fan (like I am), if you can remember the disappointments of 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981 and 1984 (like I can), if you were on top of the world when the Royals won it all (like I was), this is a book to buy. It is chock full of memories of the 1985 Series, with little interesting facts thrown in about various player's lives after the Series, (where have you gone Buddy Biancalana is answered among others), and neat insights into the running of the Royals that year. "The Call" warrants a chapter of it's own, as does a member of neither team, Don Denkinger.

The only reason I didn't give this book a "5" is that the writing of the book itself is only average, even for a sports book. It doesn't come up to the level of some of the great true-sports authors of our time such as Halberstein.

If you are a true-blue Royals fan, you need this book. If you aren't, it is still a nice story of a team that came together at the right time to win the World Series.

The Kansas City Royals won the World Series in 1985. Most people aren't aware that the team had a few occasions when they were really good and competitive. Sure, those were many years ago, but you can't take away a World Series victory for a team that truly deserved it that year.

The opinions and memories that this book provides is worth a serious read. Every baseball fan should order this book right away.

I am a lifelong Royals fan and like many Kansas Citians, I have vivid memories of the games that year. However, I have very limited information about what this series meant at the time to the actual players. This book transcends the box scores and recaps to provide true insights to the thoughts and emotions of the players and the fans. The importance of this series to this team and city is epitomized by the graphic descriptions of players' mental impressions surrounding the key plays in that series. This series was the greatest sporting event in this city's history and this book is a wonderful way to relive the splendor.

As a faithfull and lifetime Royals fan, this book is amazing. The stories and memories of that faithfull series are brought back very vividly. The author does a very good job of re-creating the suspensefull moments of one of the most exciting times in Kansas City History

It's a shame that any Royals team wouldn't be inspired by reading this book. Former Kansas City Royals outfielder Frank White is right, "You've only got a few chances in life when a special challenge is put before you." So I hope future Royals teams will read this book, and maybe that inspiration will help improve the franchise. It was wonderful to experience what the former Royals are up to now-a-days, and Mr. Spivak did a great job in describing the feel of all seven World Series games. Finally, "The Curse of The Call" was a brilliant twist.

For those of us who live in tourist towns and see how the incredible number of visitors changes them, this is the book! It looks at a large number of places -- from Santa Fe to Maui, from Las Vegas to Aspen -- and shows in great detail how they change. It reads well too, on a par with better known authors like Robert D. Kaplan and Tim Egan. I heard the author speak here in town--I guess he lives here-- and it made me buy the book. I came away extremely impressed. This is not my usual reading. I'm more a John Grisham type. But this one rang bells for me. After I read this book, I was in Thailand on business and I found myself using Devil's Bargains as a lens for what I was seeing. The comparisons were striking and I wondered if this book might apply to more than the West. Well written and snappy, showing a lot of research, this one is a real winner, especially for anyone in city planning or tourist development.

For discerning travelers planning a western vacation this summer, or for that matter, for anyone curious about the popular allure of the West, Hal K. Rothman's "Devil's Bargains" is a must read. Rothman, a professor of western and environmental history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, provides a richly detailed assessment and critique of the development of tourism as it has evolved from the late nineteenth century to the present in the inter-mountain West. Synthesizing the existing scholarship on tourism, enhanced by wide ranging primary research, Rothman reveals a fascinating, yet disturbing, underside to the glitz and glamour of the tourist economies firmly established in western resort towns from Santa Fe to Las Vegas.

"Devil's Bargains" presents a series of provocative histories recounting the development of resort towns and tourist sites across the inter-mountain West including the Grand Canyon, Santa Fe, Carlsbad Caverns, Steamboat Springs, Aspen, Vail, Sun Valley, and Las Vegas, among others. The book also codifies the history of tourism under a new interpretative framework which divides the development of tourism into three phases: cultural and heritage tourism, recreational tourism, and entertainment tourism. Beginning at the turn of the century with cultural and heritage tourism spawned by the transcontinental railroads seeking to expand passenger traffic, tourism evolved into recreational tourism made possible by the automobile and a growing fascination with exercise and the outdoors in the aftermath of World War I, and culminated after World War II with entertainment tourism dependent on the Jet airplane and the dramatic expansion of widespread prosperity, a leisure ethic, and a pervasive consumer culture. Rothman focuses on the Grand Canyon and Santa Fe to illustrate cultural and heritage tourism; various western ski resorts define recreational tourism; and Las Vegas embodies entertainment tourism. These three phases of tourist development reflect the historical transformation of tourism from an elite pastime to a more individualized, democratic experience, to a mass culture phenomena. They also reveal a process of economic development, reflecting the evolving strategies adopted by western communities to replace tapped out extractive economies.

Defining tourism as the quintessential service economy, the pinnacle of post-industrial capitalism, Rothman argues that the promises of tourist industries have been embraced as a panacea for economic decline in towns throughout the West. However, as his research reveals, locals and even "neonatives" have found tourism to be a bitter pill to swallow. Although the advent of tourist economies in places such as Jackson Hole, Steamboat Springs, and Sun Valley has resulted in phenomenal economic growth, prosperity has come with a price. As the book's title suggests, in the process of reviving the economy, tourism displaces locals with outside capital and corporate control, sapping a place of its soul, and leaving in its stead a facade of hollow images and a service economy manipulated by distant corporations whose only interest is the bottom line. What has emerged in places like Vail and Santa Fe is a two-tiered class system where workers who are predominantly people of color (Hispanic, African, or Filipino) hold low-paying, menial jobs providing for the comfort and amusement of wealthy second home owners and visitors. There is little room for an established community of year-round residents when the bottom line centers on the paying visitor. Las Vegas is the exception. In defining itself as the ultimate themed destination resort constantly reinventing itself to satisfy visitors' desires, Las Vegas remains one of the last places where unskilled workers can earn a middle-class income replete with benefits and job security. Las Vegas alone, according to Rothman, has succeeded at perfecting the service economy, becoming a model of sorts for the rest of the country. "The colony became the colonizer," he writes, exporting a model of entertainment tourism for a nation entranced by the spectacles of multi-media consumer culture.

In detailing the ways in which western communities reinvented themselves as tourist resorts, marketing an idealized western ambiance and a scripted history, and in the process losing control of the very community they sought to promote and preserve, Rothman provides a rich assessment of the social and political impact of tourist-based economies as they evolved from local ventures to corporate productions. But more than that, he presents a thoughtful and disturbing critique of the promises and realities of post-industrial, post modern capitalism as manifested in the twentieth-century tourist's West.

Marguerite S. Shaffer, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina, Wilmington

I read the book as part of a course I took, and I found the book to be too long, and somewhat dry. However, Dr. Rothman, a UNLV history professor, does make a very clear point: that tourists towns or places are dealt a "devil's bargain" in which they lose the authenticity of the place for the funds or profit that is brought in by tourists.

Overall, Dr. ROthman does drive his point home. But the same point is made in 20 different ways.

At once extremely learned and passionately engaged, DEVIL'S BARGAINS puts forward a startling analysis of Western tourism. From Rothman we learn about skiing and much else: the economic and historical forces shaping our sense of place, our connections to nature, and our troubled relationships to one another. A travel book of another sort, it takes the reader to a vantage point from which our Western landscapes can be seen most clearly.

I was born into the park service and lived the tourist experience. This book really helped me form a perspective about my early years growing up in western tourist and resort environments. Western history is fascinating, but this angle on western history really gives another intriguing dimension to america's perception of the mythic frontier.