Truman Books

I was unfortunately persuaded by a review of this book that it was a better one to start with than McCullough's Pulitzer-prize-winning book "Truman." So I gave it a try, but had to quit about 100 pages in because it was SO bad.

I suspect that Hamby (who wrote a book on Truman in 1972) had this book in the works when McCullough came out with his tour-de-force a few years before. Not wanting to lose out on his efforts to date, he packs his text with the most meaningless minutiae (eg, endless quotes of dollar figures regarding Harry's business ventures) just to show the reader, I think, how many hours he spent slogging through county records and such -- but at the cost of any flow to his narrative.

Now this is actually a very favorable spin on his writing, but I suspect the truth is that -- even without this junkyard of data -- he is not a writer capable of holding the reader's interest. SO many times while I was reading this book I kept a running argument with the author over why he was not providing more backstory to the events in Harry's life. When I finally dove into McCullough's book it was a man starved for oxygen finally breathing it in.

Perhaps the most telling part of Hamby's book is his dig on McCullough's book (p722). He describes it as "a nicely told story but (despite its length) episodic and lacking much in the way of historical perspective." From this I can assure Hamby that he has succeeded beyond his wildest expectations in producing a book that is A POORLY TOLD STORY. Congratulations.

As for his own implication that he, and not McCullough, has provided historical perspective for Truman's story, well, I guess he's right if "historical perspective" is defined as "a mind-numbing recitation of meaningless but accurate little facts."

Using the "forest-for-the-trees" analogy, McCullough is a pilot carrying you effortlessly over the forest with a flawless narration. Hamby is a blind stuttering lumberjack who gets off on the texture of tree bark while you quitely go insane with boredom. (My apologies to any blind stutterering lumberjacks who may take offense.)

David Mccullough's book on Truman is great. It is well written, full of great information, and though many people think too pro-Truman it does show why he was a Great Man. Unfortuantely many professors and especially those with Revisionist Tendancies don't feel Mccullough's book is scholary. They see it as Pop History. I think this is academic snobbery, and also stubborness upon the part of the revionists to admit Truman was a great President. However, a good way to silence the revisonists and to read another great book on Truman is to read Hamby's Man of the People. Though a little more critical than Mccollough, Hamby again paints a great portrait of a great man. For whatever reasons, Hamby is considered more scholary and his book more scholary. Whatever makes our Professors happy. But regardless, this is a great book. Though long like Mccollough, it tells a great story. Hamby is a fine historian who was also on c-spans look at Truman for its President's series. So in short, a more "academic" but just as great book on Truman.

Hamby uses the tools of a professional historian -- excellent documentation and sources, superb prose, and healthy skepticism -- to brilliantly move beyond the standard adoring view of Truman as a plain-talking, quick-deciding everyman. While he is shown to have been those things, he is also revealed to have shared much of the pettiness, anger, and impulsiveness that have marked many of his predecessors and successors. He is (surprize, surprize) a human being rather than an icon. Especially good is Hamby's narrative of the downhill trajectory of Truman's second term and the post-Potsdam evolution of his anti-communism. Historical biography at its absolute best. And by rendering Truman human, he ultimately produces a more admiring portrait than other books that set out to be adoring.

This is one of the better biographies of a US President I have ever read. Hamby avoids the hero worship which plagues other authors and, instead, takes a frank look at the man and how he discharged his duties, public and private, throughout his life. I found this book invaluable resource for understanding the cold war and American politics in the middle of the 20th century.

I had a hard time getting through this book. The first half was pretty dull, and throughout the book the writing is workman-like, but not inspiring. As for the author's integrity, I would say the book is written fair-mindedly and with adequate research having been done.

I own over 30 Star Wars Trade Paperback Comic collections, and I find myself coming back to this one time and time again. Is it the best? No. But the art is good, and the subject matter is great. I really enjoyed Kenix Kil's character, as well as the Aurra Sing and Boba Fett stories. Overall, highly recommended!

I am reviewing Star Wars: Bounty Hunters ISBN 1569714673 which was published in Sept 2000, printed in Canada.

It collects the comics called -

Star wars: Bounty Hunters - Aurra Sing and is story 1. Good story, pencils and ink -grade = 3.5

Star wars: Bounty Hunters - Scoundrels Wages and is story 2. This wasn't bad except that Lando looked like a black Geraldo rivera or the late sammy davis, Jr. Maybe Mel rubi was to busy to bothering finding out what lando looks like, but surely DH pays editors to assume some responsibility for quality control. Given that the story and inking were above average, you'd think someone would have cared if the pencil work was subpar. 2 stars.

Boba Fett - Twin Engines of destruction and is story 3. What a shame that the pencils and inking here were on par with a newpaper comic strip. I complained about the art in story 2, but the inking And coloring were rich and visually strong. The effort here was on par with that done in THE EARLY ADVENTURES - ranging from mediocre to good. Some pages are brilliantly done. Some are lazily done and other pages were washed out.

Star wars: Bounty Hunters - Kenix Kil and is story 4. The art, penciling and ink are pretty good here, there is a richness and detail that here accommodate for the darkness in which the story is drawn and colored. An interesting story of a character we see elsewhere in the DH EU.

My version has a completely different cover than the one shown by amazon. But the Darkhorse site is showing the same one that I have. Either way, if amazon has this one in new or used, it is a worthwhile read. The art and writing is a mixed bag, as this TPB is drawn from 4 different comics.

This one is hard to place on the time line but dark horse says it is -32+ BHN meaning that the stories take place anytime after the year 32BNH. Ok. That explains why Characters that are 8 years old in -32 can be adults.

The cover art. Dorman is the best. There is a new artist Duursema that is my second favorite.

Collective graded, the work here is to good to grade at a 2, but not nearly as good as other comics that I have graded a 4 so we give a weak 3.

The Bounty Hunters was an above average graphic novel. each story differed greatly from each other, so I'll review each one seperately.

Aurra Sing by Timothy Truman (3 stars)
Aurra Sing was ok, but could have had better art. It also felt as if Truman didn't plan before he wrote, he just wrote. An example of this is an organization called the Ffib. What a name.

Scoundrel's Wages by Mark Schultz (4 stars)
This was problably the second best story in this graphic novel. It's about Lando getting "arrested" by a Hutt and made to take part in a hunt, him being the prey. A good story, but bad art. Lando had an enormous beard one one page, but then a small one on the next. He also looked nothing like his movie counterpart.

Boba Fett: Twin Engines of Destruction(TEOD) by Andy Mangels (4 stars)
The best short in this collection, TEOD featured Boba Fett going after Jodo Kast, a bounty hunter pretending to be him to get the big bounties. Another good story wasted over the art. I frequently had to try looking at this from another angle due to the fact that I had no idea what the picture was of.

Kenix Kil by Randy Stradley (2 stars)
Another wasted effort. This supposedly takes place before Crimson Empire 1 or 2, which makes no sense, as Kanos looks really old. The main plot is Kir Kanos is running from bounty hunters and he disguises himself as one to hide. Finally, a story with good art. But the story is bad. The worst of the bunch.

Want a guide to the notoriously infamous benefactors feeding off the rage of others, dealing exclusively with an eclectic montage of bounty hunters from all species and all walks of life? Well, this just be the book for you then. It pits not on the popular into a world of hunting and trying to survive, but it also sports newcomers as well, introducing its reader to why these faces are revered as some of the most successful seekers in the business. First there's the lovely Aurra Sing, Jedi-hunter extraordinare, capable of capturing the most elusive prey in the best and worst of conditions. In fact, she makes a great deal of sport out of it, finding herself capable of outwitting even the most dangerous proponents. This is something she finds herself entwined in now, the calling card of the face she seeks taking her to Endor and beyond. Switching gears, see how Bossk, Dengar, and 4-Lom work into the plans of Quaffag the Hutt as he decides to deal once and for all with Lando Calrissian while playing games that Hutts are known to play. Then its off to see the most reviled of the feared in action, with Boba Fett finding himself needing to take out a little trash by the name of Jodo Kast; a bounty hunter who thinks that he's in the same league as the man with the Mandalorian armor. Lastly, we join Kenix Kil as he makes his way through the remnants of the empire disguised as a bounty hunter, the last of the Imperial Guard left in circulation and one of the most dangerous men alive, still loyal to his oath of destroying all those enemies of the Empire years after the Emperor's departure.

All the stories collected within these pages are good despite being short, with Aurra Sing, Boba Fett: Twin Engines of Destruction, and Kenix Kil rating within the praiseable ranks. Of these three, I'm partial to the telling of the Boba Fett story because it is written well and is drawn well, plus its dealing with the most infamous of the big kids. Aurra Sing comes in a close second with Kenix Kil right behind her because these stories are done well themselves, and they are also about characters that many haven't yet tasted that much. Scoundrel's Wage, while an interesting story in some rights, doesn't do much in regard to bounty hunters at all and only explains how Lando manages to get himself into Jabba the Hutt's palace in Return of the Jedi. It paints the hunters out as ineffective and is more about Lando himself and the cunning he possesses than the minions commanding the high dollars.

If you find the forces working outside the boundaries of both good and ill, then this might be something you'd like to check out. All the stories are pretty good in this TPB form, and the Boba Fett: Twin Engines of Destruction tale needed to be harvested for quite some time now. So, sit back, barter on the outcome of who will and won't taste the talents of the figures lurking in the shadows, and read up on some rather exquisite struggles. For the Star Wars seeker, it is something that comes highly regarded.

Dave Dorman rendered the cover art for this work. Mr. Dorman is by no means the only artist that creates the visual work for this and other Star Wars Series, but I have always felt he is one of the best. I wish I could say the same for the collection of short stories profiling some old friends and some new, but that would be a stretch for even science fiction.

The books short stories vary greatly in terms of the quality of the stories, and several of the "Hunters" are worthy of their own books, as some of them have already enjoyed solo pieces with the focus on only one of their guild. Boba Fett has already extended well beyond a few pages in a mediocre collection, and his character enjoys a following that is almost as large as the gap between his skills and those of his fellow hunters. He is in a class by himself, and I believe that is how he should be portrayed.

There are two newer entries that were not part of the original trilogy and they both seem to have strong futures. The first is Aurra Sing who appears to be headed to a level of performance second only to her male counterpart Fett, and then Kenix Kil, who brings the whole storyline of the Imperial Guards that were seen in the first movies, but never spoke or revealed anything about their elite group. This same character has appeared in the "Crimson Empire Series" which I feel is one of the better groups of collections.

One of the three of these I read recently covered in detail the work that goes into the cover art. It also documented how careful Lucas and his people are to be sure that characters have consistent visual appearances. In this work that quality control stopped at the cover as far as Lando Calrissian was concerned. I don't know who was drawn for that episode, but this guy didn't even look like a distant relative. Very often the level of enjoyment I get out of these is determined by the quality of the art, and I think that is appropriate given the level of effort involved. And I guess that is why I continue to be mystified that you can read one book and the renderings are as faithful to the characters as film, and then pick up another volume and view images drawn with no care given to the fact that a real actor played this part, in many cases for hours at a time on screen. Who they are and what they look like are not open for interpretation. When they are badly rendered you have to wonder how they ever got approved.

Letters are interesting to read and you get a real feeling for how needy he must have been to be loving everyone so much.
I think it is better to read his biography first, so that you know who the people are in the letters. It's a little confusing otherwise. That's what I plan to do.

When you read personal correspondence written to friends, lovers, and business associates . . . well, it doesn't get any better! Candid, un-censored, witty, funny, revealing, cutting . . . it's all there! A great look at the true Truman Capote. Very interesting.

I always loved Truman Capote's writing and looked forward to this book oh, so much, especiallywhen I saw it was edited by the estimable Gerald Clarke, who has written so brilliantly on Capote in his biography (and who also wrote GET HAPPY, a terrific life of Judy Garland). (Hmmm, he must specialize in the tiny.)

But alas Capote's letters just aren't as good as his fiction. They seem hurried, scattered, as though he were writing too fast to revise, everything exactly the opposite of what one likes about the stories and filmscripts. I will say you do get a different side of him, and the outlines of his social world become clearer, so view this compilation as an addendum to the biography, and you won't go far wrong.

I was surprised to see him make so much of (i.e. flatter) Cecil Beaton, it sounded phony. It seems that he treated Newton Arvin pretty well all things put together. Some have said that he "used" Arvin to get ahead and then dumped him once he had found a measure of his own success. But Arvin can't have been an easy guy to live with IMHO. Another interesting correspondent is William Goyen. I think the best letter in all of TOO BRIEF A TREAT is Capote's letter congratulating Goyen on the achievement of THE HOUSE OF BREATH. That letter, in the perfection of its phrases and the conviction of its rapture, is alone worth the price of the book. It's a shame that Goyen later turned on Capote and treated him so shabbily. Good for Gerald Clarke for pointing this out.

Meanwhile the good news for Capote fans is that his novel SUMMER CROSSING, about which many of the letters to Bob Linscott are devoted, has been recovered and now, fifty-plus years later, it might be seeing the light of day. In the interim we will re-read these letters, hoping to scan in more data on the terrific catastrophe that was Truman Capote's life.

Truman Capote is one of my all time favorite writers so I was surprised that his letters are somewhat of a disappointment. The letters span 46 years with the majority of them from the late 40s and 50s. It's too bad that there are only a handful of correspondence from Capote's celebrated period following the release of "In Cold Blood," a book which turned him into a celebrity. I suppose he was too busy with his success and celebrity to write letters during this period. There is nothing about his famous Black and White Ball or the infamous article which scandalized the jet set. Hardly anything is here from the 70s either, a period in which he was practically a household name, appearing in movies and talk shows.

What is included are letters to his editors, Robert Linscott and Bennett Cerf, discussing his work and responding to criticism. Many letters to his lovers also are included but Capote seemed to have been very discreet (unlike in public life). Letters to David Selznick and Jennifer Jones give us a glimpse into the years of Hollywood life but very little juicy gossip - they leave the reader wanting more. During the years of Capote's research for "In Cold Blood," he corresponded frequently with Alvin Dewey, the detective in charge of the case, and his wife Marie. These letters are mainly questions from Capote concerning details of the case and Capote providing the Deweys with access to his Hollywood friends. Letters to the Dewey's son, Alvin Jr., show remarkable affection and advice and criticism to an aspiring writer.

Capote was a wanderer and his letters were written from his various residences across the globe - Sicily, Spain, Paris, Switzerland, Venice, California, New York, Alabama, etc. Jack Dunphy, his longtime companion is often mentioned with love and affection. Cecil Beaton and Christopher Isherwood were also frequent correspondents, but again, very little gossip.

The letters do show that Capote was obviously a very compassionate man and despite his biting wit and bitchy persona, they reveal a warm and caring man.

"Your letter was too brief a treat, but a treat all the same; there is only one excitement to my day, and that is when the postman comes." So wrote the author who sometimes waited an hour for the best word to come to mind when engaged in concocting a novel, yet spun off letters to friends and colleagues like cotton candy.

Truman Capote, to whom fame came early and lasted long, called all of his correspondents by such adorations as "precious baby, darling child." To almost anyone he was likely to say, "much love, little blue eyes" or "I miss you 24 hours of the day" or "a thousand kisses, precious." It seemed that nearly everyone he wrote to was his darling, his love, and wanted showering with kisses.

Not that he couldn't be cutting and catty, though always with gentility, at least on paper: "I'm afraid he's set fire to too many bridges"; "he's furious because anyone other than himself is here" (of W.H. Auden); and, of Jimmy (James) Baldwin, "his essays are at least intelligent, though they almost invariably end on a fakely hopeful, hymn-singing note."

Of his early work on IN COLD BLOOD he wrote, "This is my last attempt at reportage." Like almost every writer, he wanted to know what the critics were really thinking and get copies of all his reviews. He managed to sound both humble and very puffy when referring to his successes, and terribly anxious about the fate of pieces in progress.

A collection of so very many letters (for that is all the book is) can start to feel water-logged after a while. It's a good thing to recall that posterity will not necessarily be fascinated by one's complaints about the cold, the prices of goods in foreign cities, or the antics of one's pets (and Truman had many). We would all make our letters more artistic and succinct if we imagined that they'd be read generations hence.

So we can speculate on two forking probabilities. One: that Capote well knew that his words would be taken for gemstones ages from now and wrote with the cagey casualness of the omniscient observer. Two: that Capote never imagined for an instant that anyone would collect his letters to friends and place them on the altar of memory for the entire world to see.

I prefer the second alternative, because I like thinking of Capote as a natural, sweet-hearted man, who showed his artistic brilliance to the public but saved his syrup and a touch of spice for his epistolary relationships.

TOO BRIEF A TREAT is a book for fans of the genre and of the man.

--- Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott, author of WITH IT: A Year on the Carnival Trail

The description sounded promising, but in fact this is one of the least well-written books I've read in a long time. The prose iss stilted. Sentence fragments abound. The style is that of a 16 year old writing a travelogue, complete with irrelevant details about every aspect of the author's daily routine. Harold Truman has an unusual fondness for italics, and puts quotation marks around the title of each chapter. Don't waste your time or your money on this book.

Reading "A Country, Not a War: Vietnam Impressions" is like listening to Jazz; Truman uses language like a musician uses his instrument. The words riff across each page evoking the sights, sounds and smell of Vietnam as the book weaves back and forth between modern day Vietnam and the war-torn Vietnam of 30 years ago. Truman effectively juxtapositions the country's current courtship with capitalism with its horrific, centuries old history of war and turmoil. Truman is at his best when he describes the Chu Chi Tunnel complex, the intricate underground system represents everything the U.S. didn't know about Vietnam at the time, and when he describes it's current tourist attraction, you can literally sense the difference in perception Vietnamese and Westerners have about the conflict that tore both countries asunder. This is must reading for anyone affected by the war, and for those who would like to understand how Vietnam overcame its past to become the beautiful land it was before the many wars the country has been involved. Truman, a true Texan attempting to avoid the "Ugly American" label and married to a lovely Vietnamese woman, also intersperses generous dabs of humor throughout the book as he describes his attempts to transcend cultural and historical barriers as he travels across the country.

I enjoyed reading this book. Vietnam never interested me before as a vacation destination, until now. The author made it sound interesting and fun and exotic. His historic comments and quotes added to the learning experience. The author's sense of humor made it a fun read.

Vietnam! For most Americans, Vietnam dredges up images of jungle fighting, tiger cages, 53,000 dead U.S. soldiers, and political turmoil. American political leaders thrust this country into a civil war without knowing anything about Vietnam's history, its people and its culture. For more than a decade, the people of the United States knew only that their brothers, husbands and fathers were fighting and dying in a tiny land 10,000 miles away. In the two decades that have passed since the last GIs left, Americans still do not know Vietnam and its people. Our images of Vietnam are shaped by the books and movies, most of which focus on the war and the political events surrounding U.S. involvement. However, the books and movies do not provide insight into the history, the culture and the lives of the Vietnamese. Even the few post-war books about Vietnam since the fall of South Vietnam in 1975 examine the political environment, with little attention paid to the Vietnamese people. "A Country, Not a War" is a journal that offers an insightful commentary regarding the people and their lives in post-war Vietnam. Author Harold Truman traveled from Ho Chi Minh City, which most Americans remember as the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, to Hanoi, the former North Vietnamese capital that now serves as capital city of the unified Vietnam. Along the way, he visited some of the places that are familiar to many Americans: My Lai, Da Nang, Phu Bai. Although he doesn't speak Vietnamese, he was accompanied by his wife, Petite, a Vietnamese lady who moved to the United States in the 1960s. With Petite acting as interpreter, the author was able to engage in conversation with the Vietnamese, including men who fought on both sides during the war. He seems surprised at the lack of antagonism toward Americans in Vietnam; he also is stunned by the level of corruption still prevalent in the country, which despite the economic reforms still is a Third World nation. The concise commentary by Mr. Truman spares no one. He makes an honest appraisal of modern Vietnam, its successes and failures, and the stupidity of the American military bureaucracy, which understood neither its enemy nor its ally in the war. But he doesn't spare himself either, using dry humor to relate his unintentional breaches of local etiquette, offending an artist, as well as Petite's elderly cousin. It is obvious in the book that as he traveled throughout Vietnam, the author developed a genuine affection for the people, knowledge of their history, and a respect for their culture. "A Country, Not a War: Vietnam Impressions" is not ambitious; it isn't intended to be THE book about Vietnam. Still, it is unique. It achieves the author's goal superbly: It relates the impressions of one American about a small country that has become part of our collective psyche. For Mr. Truman, as well as for most Americans, the word "Vietnam" does produce a strong emotional reaction. Thanks to this book, we can begin to shed our long-held misperceptions of that land and its gentle people.

I am in the habit of buying books from new authors and small publishers to discover new talents. I will not even try to mask my disappointment with this book. The glowing reviews that showed up on this page were obviously written by friends or family members of the author. The plot is weak and the character dialogue is worse. The best thing I can say about this book is that it tries too hard. I have read more engaging words on the back of a cereal box. Apparently Harold Truman writes non-fiction as well. To be fair, I have never read his non-fiction. Perhaps it is better. But his weak attempts at fiction are adolescent in development at best. If you are thinking of buying this book do yourself a favor and read the first few pages online first. If those still strike you as interesting, then do yourself another favor and at least buy a used copy or go to a library.

i loved it. charley manson (rather a fictional representation who gets out of jail) is the funniest character in the book.
laughed my ass off.

In Games, Mr Truman spins a fascinating tale full thrills and unforseen plot line twists. His character and scene development make you feel you actually know "that young bartender at the La Jolla bar with the slighly sticky feel in the atmosphere." 5STARS!!!GREAT READ!!!J. Pierpont DuPont

Harold Truman takes the reader on a fun ride. Truman already has established himself as a superb storyteller with his two travel journals, "Vietnam Impressions: A Country, Not a War" and "Sunday Islands," and now he moves out of nonfiction into fiction with another great story.

"Games" is an example of synchronicity. It was released just in time to take advantage of renewed interest in the murky world of intelligence. Just a few months ago, the U.S. and China were involved in a confrontation over a downed spy plane - and the Chinese are players in "Games." With the intelligence lapses cited in the Sept. 11, espionage again is something that intrigues readers and Truman's brand of storytelling is right on the mark.

Truman is writing about things of which he knows. A member of an elite espionage unit during the Cold War, he has the background to write a book like "Games." And, he certainly has come up with a captivating story.

My 12 year old even loved it. Has everything pics, websites, even phone numbers. Hope he writes another one

This book is truly fantastic. I have a huge, huge, huge collection of ghost and haunting books, and I will say that this book rates among the very top. In my opinion, this is one of the better ghost books out there. All of the stories are extremely credible. A very unique feature of this book is that the author has personally visited, reviewed, and photographed every haunted location listed! You don't find that in a lot of ghost books. So, you get the authors personal experiences as well as the background and history of each haunted place. Another neat feature is that he only included in the book haunted locations open to the public. What a great idea! Each location also must be historically significant to Missouri.

Remnants of War:
Ch. 1 - 1859 Jail, Marshal's Home and Museum, Independence
Ch. 2 - Anderson House, Battle of Lexington State Historic Site, Lexington
Ch. 3 - Bone Hill, Levasy
Ch. 4 - Fort Osage, Sibley
Ch. 5 - Lone Jack Battlefield, Lone Jack
Ch. 6 - Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, Republic
Ch. 7 - Kendrick House, Carthage

This is My House:
Ch. 8 - Rockcliffe Mansion, Hannibal
Ch. 9 - Lemp Mansion, St. Louis
Ch. 10- Vaile Mansion, Independence
Ch. 11- Big Cedar Lodge, Ridgedale
Ch. 12- Grand Avenue Bed & Breakfast, Carthage
Ch. 13- 1069 Salon and Spa, St. Charles

School Spirits:
Ch. 14- Mt. Gilead School, Kearney
Ch. 15- Roberta Hall, Northwest Missouri State University, Maryville
Ch. 16- Senior Hall, Stephens College, Columbia
Ch. 17- Yeater Hall, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg
Ch. 18- Central Methodist University, Fayette

Ghostly Graveyards:
Ch. 19- Workman Chapel, Maryville
Ch. 20- Hazel Ridge Cemetery, Brunswick
Ch. 21- Peace Church Cemetery, Joplin
Ch. 22- Glore Psychiatric Museum, St. Joseph

Returning to Their Old Haunts:
Ch. 23- Mark Twain Cave, Hannibal
Ch. 24- The Elms Resort and Spa, Excelsior Springs
Ch. 25- Jesse James Farm, Kearney
Ch. 26- Governor's Mansion, Jefferson City

Someone's Watching You:
Ch. 27- Old Tavern, Arrow Rock
Ch. 28- Spook Light, Seneca
Ch. 29- Pythian Castle, Springfield
Ch. 30- Landers Theatre, Springfield
Ch. 31- Hotel Savoy, Kansas City
Ch. 32- Main Street Cafe, Marceline


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Lindy
www.hauntedcolorado.net

I came across the author's blog on the net and decided to order his book after reading some of his stories. You don't need to have any particular interest in Missouri to enjoy this book. I'm sure I will never go there myself, but then I've never been to most other locations in books about ghosts, either.

The author provided thorough a description of each setting and event and personally interviewed the percipients. He writes with a subtle humor that enhances his search to experience a haunting for himself.

This book probably isn't going to make you sleep with the lights on, but I found it absorbing and interesting - and scary enough. It was also nicely designed (something that you can't always say about ghost books any more).

I'd also like to point out that this book is not about legends, as the first reviewer implied. It's about ghost experiences. I'm extremely choosy about the ghost books I read and this book has everything I look for in a ghost book. I hope the author writes another volume on Missouri ghosts.

I've read some of the book and came away with the opinion that the author devoted more time to areas of Northern Missouri than the state as a whole. The author could've added more to the stories and instead kept them brief missing out on some elements of the legends.

Everybody seems to praise Margaret Truman for using inside information on Washington to form her books. Well I'm sorry, but I don't think Washington works the way she casts it --- certainly not as bad. Hired CIA assassins do not go after newspaper reporters, and US Senators do not take orders from the President. The ending to the book has the cavalry coming out of nowhere to rescue our heroes just in time to wrap up 300 pages of ... boredom. This book lacks the tension of a good mystery.

If you didn't already know it, the daughter of our 33rd president is quite the successful mystery writer. All of her books take place in and around the Washington. D.C. area and involve government figures and the temptations involved with power.

In this book the daughter of a powerful senator with Presidential ambitions is killed in a park after embarrassing her father at a socialite party with her lewd and suggestive dancing. Is it the father, enraged by the threat to his candidacy? Is it a jealous ex-boyfriend? Is it a jealous classmate from her Georgetown University journalism seminar? Reporter Joe Potamos is on the case but is suddenly fired when he gets to close to the answer. Too late - his curiosity drives him on.

This is a decent mystery - the main characters are solid and likeable.

I'm a big fan of armchair-type mysteries, as well as novels about political intrigue. And this one is about as good as it gets. Margaret Truman was the daughter of a President, so of course she has a firm grasp of the culture of Washington's movers and shakers. And she can spin a captivating and well-constructed yarn with the best of them. The main character here is a newspaper reporter who has had the bad luck (or bad judgment) to cross some of Washington's most powerful people. Now his efforts to unravel the murder of the young daughter of another Washington figure threaten to make him even more unpopular with the Establishment. Truman plays fair with the reader all the way, never tipping her hand, and the mystery comes to a completely satisfying ending (although, as in all mysteries, the killer is never the guy you WANT it to be!). Fans of cozy mysteries or political intrigue novels can't do better than this one.

Murder in Georgetown By Margaret Truman was one of the most exciting mysteries I have read in a long time. The plot of the book kept me on the edge of my seat. The characters in the book I found to be very interesting. Joe Patamos was the most interesting of them all. I did find it kind of odd that a small time newspaper writer like Joe would be going around trying to solve the case on one of the biggest murders in Georgetown like he was a cop but, on the other hand it was very interesting. I loved the way that Margaret Truman kept changing my point of view of who I thought the killer was by giving many different views of what was going on. Right of the back I had no doubt in my mind that Valorie Frolich was killed by her own dad. As the book went along my opinion changed a lot as I learned more about her and the people should hung around with. Throughout the whole book I changed my thought on who killed her at least ten times. That is the main reason that I loved this book because it was not like some mysteries I have read in the past where the killer is so obvious. I would suggest this book to anyone who loves reading mysteries because the surprise ending will shock just about anyone. cass pd5 cj

After reading the book I have to say that it was a good book. It was full of action, suspense, and some gory scenes. The first half of the book excited me more than the second half, I found that after the murdering was over the book slightly lost appeal, though the plot thickening and suspense kept me reading. The fact that there really was a killing involving the Clutters made the book almost awkward to read, I felt like I shouldn't have been reading it because it was based on the murdering of the Clutters. The plot was very well thought through and I believe the book is written in a way that keeps the reader from putting it down.

I recommend this book to almost everyone excluding the younger people out there, the scenes were slightly graphic. For the most part, this book was a great read.

I had to read this book for my Criminal Law class since it is my minor and I was surprised by how much I liked it. Truman Capote did a wonderful job at relaying the events of the murders and the whole span of events involving the crime.
In the rural town of Holcomb,Kansas in 1959 The Clutter family was murdered by Dick Hickock and Perry Smith in hopes to steal a rumored 10,000 dollars the family had in a safe. They left the scene of the crime with a mere 40 dollars and a few items from the house. An old cellmate of Hickock's gave him away to the KBI and they were apprehended soon after. The book gives account of the trials they hold and they were eventually sentenced to death. Capote got to know these men who murdered the Clutters and gave a compelling account of true facts of the whole story.
I highly recommend this book to anyone. You don't have to be interested in law to appreciate this book. A very controversial book at a time when no one wrote of murders like this.

This book is pretty good, Its considered a Nonfiction book since its based on the killings of the Clutters, but Truman did make up some of this stuff too. I watched a video about In Cold Blood, lemme tell ya, this Truman guy has the weirdest voice ever, and he has the 2 male killers in the book constantly calling each other 'Honey' and stuff... Its a pretty good attention getter for about the first half, but the last half gets kind of boring when Dick and Perry are being questioned and all that jazz.

Anything Joe R. Lansdale puts out is one more thing the public just may see and finally get. This guys stories should be savored in whatever form it comes out in. Joe's work is so visual that doing comics of his earlier short story work makes alot of sense. Love the whole design of this book.

That's right folks! AC is not really for readers of Joe Lansdale's stories, as there is quite a bit of repetitious stuff in these comics that were covered in his other paperbacks -- the most egregiously copied one being DEAD IN THE WEST, which is already in another special edition trade paperback! The stories are great (hence the three star rating), but I felt ripped off because of this excessive reprinting of DEAD IN THE WEST as well as the other old, staid stories that have reappeared in other short story anthologies. The AC book would have been infinitely better if had served up more of Joe's lesser known horror stories; and AC would have been spiced up considerably if Joe had added a more witty number, like GODZILLA'S TWELVE STEP PROGRAM, to the menu as well (even though adding that story would also have been reptitious).

JL is certainly of a sufficiently inventive mind to crank out more new stories. And he would have better served his readership out there if'n he'd a done this with AC -- like, maybe, totally fresh short stories, dude! I mean, if King can do this with his CREEPSHOW anthologies, surely old Joe can crank 'em out too.

That's my only beef about AC; other than that, the stories are first-rate, even though they're as old and crusty as two-week old dog turds.