Nebraska Books

I've been through the book twice and know I will pick up even more on the third. The book is a very fast read with practical and easy to understand advice. He covers everything from rhyming and metaphors to just plain good writing advice - poetry and prose. His advice makes great use of modern poems so you can see what has been getting published in the last few years. He only touches passingly on specific forms such as sonnets, but gives several recommendations for folks that want to dig deeper into specific forms.

This book is for those of us that like poetry - but don't know much about it.

I continue to enjoy this book and have found it useful even though I am a published poet and author.

This book is the best I have seen for any beginning poet. Its simply a must have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ted Kooser has written a poetry manual for amateur and professional poets who are interested in improving their writing craft. His suggestions can be easily implemented. As a poet I've read many books on the writing craft but this one rates in my top three. There is more to writing poetry than to jot down the words the pretty Muse whispers in one's ear. For those serious about becoming better poets, this is the book for you.

This excellent no-nonsense book about writing poetry also manages to be inspirational. In clear and compassionate prose, Kooser addresses real issues that poets struggle with, such as the fine line that exists between gushing sentimentality and the resonant expression of real feelings, the subject of one of his 12 chapters.
Kooser provides wonderful examples to illustrate his points, giving us the pleasure of reading good poetry while we learn to write it. He also provides vivid images as metaphors for how writing works and how readers read, transforming glass bottomed boats and ham cubes into tools for crafting poetry.
Laced with humor, this book feels like a casual conversation that you want to return to again and again.

This book humanizes the whole astronaut experience. Written with a deft touch, that goes beyond the pleathora of books that are out there concerning the experience of being an astronaut...I've read almost all the books there are on this subject... and this one is far more intimate, in that it tackles a very broad subject with a real glimplse into what it really took to be a "pioneer" in the unknown reaches of space...In essance it made me "feel" these guys..

I recently finished reading "Into that Silent Sea: Trail blazers of the Space Era 1961-1965". All I can say is this is one of the best books about the personal stories of those involved in the "Golden Age" of manned spaceflight. Well researched and very well written Colin Burgess and Francis French have done an incredible job writing an interesting and very informative book. Fresh, with a new take "Into that Silent Sea..." does an amazing job of telling the story of not just the astronauts, and the Soviet Cosmonauts, but also the lesser known but no less important stories of others involved in the space program. Of particular interest was the segment about Dee O'Hara the astronauts nurse, and the women of the Mercury 13, a, long forgot, but very important story. I also enjoyed the accounts of the Soviet Cosmonauts, a subject that does not recieve enough credit. You do not have to be interested in manned spaceflight to enjoy this book. If you are interested in the stories of how every day people can accomplish extra-ordinary things, read "Into that Silent Sea......" For those interested in the history of manned spaceflight, you have to add this book to your collection. "Into that Silent Sea ...." Is one of the best books ever written on the history of manned spaceflight.

This book is probably one of the best books i have ever read. Very rarely a book comes along that you just can't put down. This is one of those. There have been thousands of book about this era is spaceflight but only a handfull really stick out. At first i was skeptical as to what this book would be, but as soon as i started reading it i knew that i loved it. Get this book along with In the Shadow of the Moon. You will not be dissapointed.

A must read for anyone with a love of Space, Astronauts, etc. Very well written.

As the author of The All-American Boys, I never miss an opportunity to read space books by others. Into that Silent Sea takes you into the early years of human spaceflight and tells the story in a way that will appeal to both space buffs and the public at large. It is full of little-known facts about well-known Soviet and American space flyers along with new and interesting information about lesser-known astronauts, cosmonauts and behind the scenes players.

I found Into That Silent Sea extremely interesting, and written in such a readable style with so much new material that I hated to put it down. French and Burgess did a great job with the cosmonaut chapters. They are loaded with new and interesting material about Yuri Gagarin, Gherman Titov and Alexei Leonov's harrowing first spacewalk. The book is a rare opportunity for a behind the scenes look at the competition between the two superpowers as they raced to the Moon.

Into That Silent Sea humanizes the Russian program as well as our own. I highly recommend this excellent book.

There's an excellent western hidden in the 442 pages of this book, but you will have to wade through all of them to find it. The author writes in the style of Pat Conroy, but is not as gifted as Conroy with his descriptive language and similes. The characters are strong, but they're pretty well disguised in all the words you have to endure to discover them.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Shane" by Mr. Shaefer, but it was 160 pages long and I was engrossed with every page. If "Monte Walsh" had been about 250 pages long I could have said the same thing about it.

If you like westerns it's worth a read, but be prepared for some tedious reading at times.

One of the best novels I have ever read, with some of the best writing I've ever enjoyed. I simply disappeared between the covers of this book. Hilarious, heart-breaking and oh so real, this isn't just a story about a man, it's about a cowboy and the cowboying way of life, about a strict code and living up to it especially when it ain't easy, about the settling of the American West, and about the progress of civilization and what gets left behind. People like Monte exist anywhere there is a frontier, the loners who go out ahead of the rest of us. And when they're done, there is no place left for them.

Towards the end of this book I started thinking about Lazarus Long's saying: "When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away. It is time to go elsewhere." Monte would have agreed.

And if you don't cry at the end of this book, you aren't human.

In my opinion, the latter movie version, starring Tom Selleck, is far superior to the original, which starred Lee Marvin.
Whilst trying to purchase that movie for a 70 year old friend of mine, I found this book, and tried it. The character development is far stronger in the book, and I would have to judge it at least twice as good as the movie. These characters remind me of the 'boys' I was around at my grandfather's ranch, before the virus of political correctness laid waste to this once great land.
In the words of two other movies: "We're after men, and I wish to God that I was with them." (The Wild Bunch) "This was a good ol boy- the kind of ol boy who would find a neighbor's calf stuck in a bog, drop a loop over his neck, take him back to the neighbor's, and expect nothing in return except a 'thank you'. They ain't many of these old boys left, and we're going to miss them when they're gone." (Good Old Boys)
"He's still out there, riding fences; you just can't see him from the road." Buy this book- you won't regret it.

This is by far the best Western I've ever read. Not only are the characterizations real, but the description of the Cowboy way of life is too.

Jack Schaefer is depiciting for his readers not just the story of Monty, but of the old West. I felt as if I were on the trail, eating cold beans, fighting storms, wild animals, dangerous outlaws. The author's knowledge of the workings of a cattle ranch is thorough. His knowledge of the breed of men who make up this world is just as complete.

There is a pathos to the telling of the story, wonderful as it is, that broke my heart. Monte is part of the way of life that is fast disappearing from him. He never loses his integrity--his is the integrity of the land itself--proud, honest, stubborn, soft-hearted towards the weak, and implacable towards evil.

Monte Walsh had become a friend. I had come to love him and Chet Rollins, his faithful buddy as if they were real people.

Monte Walsh makes Lonesome Dove seem like a comic book (and I have long been a die hard fan of LD) In Monte Walsh, the writing is superb, often lyrical. The colors are vivid, the scenes are vast. You can smell the dirt and taste the chili. The men are men and their friendships are rich and soulful. The trails they ride are long and dangerous. Jack Schaefer was a master of his craft and Monte Walsh has become a close friend I've never known, but think of often.

A very interesting book. Iy gives a very detailed look at life in Communist China.

This is quite simply the best memoir I have ever read, and as a professional writer myself, I've read a lot of them. It deserves to be considered in a class with America's greatest storytelling.

Fan Shen writes in an understated, no-holds-barred, external style that is in some ways reminiscent of his literary heroes: London and Stendhal, to name two. Like Martin Eden and The Red and the Black, this is a story of the struggle of the individual against the system. And what a struggle! No slow internal musing over small questions here - this is a pedal-to-the-metal ride through China's bloodiest and most oppressive modern period, told in one shocking life event after another, and emotions bend all the more powerfully by racing to keep up.

With increasing personal, moral, and ethical risks as Fan struggles to develop an individual identity and freedom from oppression in a country where individualism is anti-revolutionary and a capital offense, this is a page-turner that you may never forget - with a beautiful love story at its heart.

I think this is perhaps the best memoir I've read by someone who survived the infamous Chinese Cultural Revolution. Many other authors have tried to capture the chaos and pain it has caused them, but Fan Shen outdoes them all. I'm glad he told his story, or other people would never know how horrible things really were at that time. Each chapter in this book is captivating, and its hard to put it down. It is also extremely sad, and at the end of the book you wish you knew Fan Shen so you could at least talk with him and give him a hug. :(

A fascinating look inside the chinese mindset. A must read for anyone who wants to know about the crazy history of the Red Guard, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. Also provides a great insight into how the chinese operate today. Fan Shen tells a story that will stick with you as you purchase your next "made in China" item.

I spent about 8 months reading Dr. Shen's book -- not because it bored me, and not because it was overly long. This is just one of those books that needs to be savored in order to be properly enjoyed. It's also one of those books that you really don't want to finish.

Savor it. :)

I own and have read most everything related to the Mercury through Apollo space program and this book shows new information that I hadn't seen in the other books published by many other astronauts and authors. Information was gathered from a myriad of sources and checked against other sources. The book greatly changed my opinion of a few astronauts and paints the entire NASA program in a more accurate light. The passing of time since the event depicted in the book has allowed the authors to see the "big picture" and step away being politically correct and instead be factual and accurate instead.

Just when I thought I had read everything about the space program, French and Burgess have done it again will a follow-on effort to their book "Into That Silent Sea."

I have no idea when they have the time to create such excellent work, but the latest book begins where the first one ended and includes much information I had never seen before, especially the chapters on the Apollo 1 pad fire and monumental Apollo 8 mission, it alone, a historic accomplishment rivaling the actual Moon landing.

Riddled with numerous never-before seen accounts (at least by me), the book is simply bulging with information such as Lola Morrow's dire premonition concerning the Apollo pad fire, and the raw emotional impact experienced by the crew of Apollo 8 upon seeing the first Earthrise observed by man.

I sincerly hope that Francis and Colin keep up the good work; maybe they could do a similar effort on underwater exploration? That would be such a contribution....

C. Newport, D.Sc.
Author of Lost Spacecraft: The Search for Liberty Bell 7

I just finished this wonderful historical and personal account of the race to the Moon, and feel privileged to know a little more about the brave men at the apex of mankind's tremendous achievement all those years ago. The authors have expertly captured the spirit of the times and given us the "warts and all" perspective on the personalities involved. For those who love history but are concerned that this book may be a "technical" account, there's no need to worry - it's exposition of events is clear and uncluttered, and clevery interwoven with the life stories of the people involved.

I strongly recommend this book as required reading to younger, high-school and college-age readers who may wonder today "How did we get there?". (Or sadly, even if we got there at all!). The answers are here, where we learn that despite our ever-present human failings, we CAN do great things when united to a common purpose. By the end of the book it will become obvious why and how we could reach the point where Armstrong and Aldrin could safely land on the Moon and return home - in fact it's almost anti-climactic!

Knowing more about the fallibilities of the astronauts has only deepened my respect for these remarkable and courageous men. As they grow old over a time when we haven't returned to the Moon, it's important to capture their stories for future generations, and French & Burgess have succeeded eminently in doing so.

My only niggle is that apparently the publishers balked at the idea of an index, which would have served as a guide for those who want to return to this book from time to time to "dip in" - as I'm sure I and many others shall do for years to come.

What authors French and Burgess have managed to accomplish with their book "In the Shadow of the Moon" is a sense of being there.

This book transcends a third-party recounting of events. French and Burgess have created an extraordinary interface between the reader and the people sharing their stories. "In the Shadow of the Moon" does an exquisite job of bringing us into the fold, allowing a rather personal access to these astronauts' lives and innermost thoughts: helping us to better understand an experience we will never have ourselves.

The authors' skillful marriage of informing and storytelling help to ensure that it is a book that will be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of their interest level in space history. The authors did an excellent job of introducing background information on a mission, and then following it up with personal interpretation by someone who was there. The authors' thorough research is apparent, but it is woven so well with the narrative that it allows the reader to simply take it in, absorbing it effortlessly.

By writing this book, French and Burgess share with humanity that which few have experienced. But more than that, they help us all understand a little better the magnitude of our venture into space. The accomplishments of the few, holding meaning for us all.

There are and have been hundreds if not thousands of books about manned spaceflight over the years but only a select few have really been able to communicate the true story and feeling generated by one of the most fondly remembered era's in American history. A time most commonly remembered as being one of technological marvel. However the true story is one of the men & Women who supported and flew the missions. This book goes deeper into the "Golden era" or manned spaceflight and tells stories that have never been told all the while keeping the reader enthralled. It touches on subjects long since forgotten or ignored and brings them to the fore. With first hand interviews with the people involved the authors really touch on the human aspect. I was especially taken by surprise that they told the story the way it should be. Not just the American effort, but the Russians too as there story never really gets told. I have read many books on spaceflight and I can honestly say this is one of only a few books that have kept me addicted and wanting to come back for more. Buy this book. You will not be disappointed. Even if you are not interested in manned spaceflight buy this book as you will be by the end. It reminds us all why we were interested in spaceflight to begin with. For a long long time the Book A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin was the book to beat. This is no longer the case.

Reading this novel was often like looking at an impressionist's painting. It's incredibly rich in scenic description, character nuances and, most importantly, mood setting tone. Wallace Stegner lives on through his writing and we shall all be richer for this reading experience. This novel, while focused on a socially turbulent era (late 1960s), is timeless. Generational and political conflict, as well as the matters of preservation and development, life and death, and the persistence of human crisis will always be relevant topics.

And so we have the characters portrayed in All the Little Live Things. Joe Allston, the narrator, is much like a diarist recording his keen and colorful observations from his five-acre hideout in glorious California. With his wife Ruth at this side, together they grieve the loss of their 37-year-old son, and try to fit in as key players in their new community. Meanwhile, a freethinking, anti-establishment sort named Jim Peck squats on Allston's property--first with permission--however, Peck takes extreme liberties. Joe's distain for him (and his beard!) is the focus of much of the novel, and it leads him to come to terms with his feelings toward his son. Meanwhile, there's another neighbor, a young woman named Marian, who helps enable Joe to come to terms with his feelings about both life and death.

This is the most beautifully written novel I've read all year. Highly recommend for those who appreciate fine, sensory-based literature.

Michele Cozzens is the author of It's Not Your Mother's Bridge Club.

I was so disappointed in the quality of the paper and print that I returned this book. A big part of the enjoyment of a new book for me is the physical quality of the product. I thoroughly enjoyed the author's other works and was disappointed not to read this one.

All the Live Little Things began the golden era of Wallace Stegner's writing career. Finding the right voice in a first person narrative, he followed this beautiful novel with Angle of Repose, The Spectator Bird and Crossing to Safety; all are highly acclaimed.
In All the Live Little Things Stegner brings to the page a great deal of raw material from his life. The character of Marian was a composite of friends who had died of cancer, Peck was a composite of the 60s "beatnik", which in real life caused Stegner to retire from teaching and devote his time fully to writing. The callousness of Dave Weld's bulldozing on virgin land reflected the author's long term concern for the environment. His beautiful description of nature throughout the novel, and use of nature as a learning tool, expressed his life-long love and dedication to the American West. Even Joe and Ruth Allston were drawn from the real life marriage of Wallace and Mary Stegner. This matrimonial understanding and bliss is reflected in the opening page of the recently published "Selected Letters of Wallace Stegner":
What does more to stay us and keep our backbones stiff while the
world reels than the sense that we are linked with someone who
listens and understand and so in some way completes us?

All the Live Little Things flows beautifully. It has rich, well written characters that keep the novel moving towards a bittersweet conclusion. I did not believe the plot was forced or took unnatural turns; rather it followed the characters as they thrashed about with their struggles, sins and destinies, all seen through the eyes of the flawed but wise Joe Allston. As the character says near the story's conclusion: "There is no way to step off the treadmill. It is all treadmill."

Stegner once wrote that "In fiction I think we should have no agenda but to tell the truth." All the Live Little Things does draw heavily from the truths of Stegner's life in the 1960s, but it also holds its own as a thoughtfully written fictitious story of pain, hope, resignation, acceptance, and other qualities that mark the human condition.

just a note for everyone
the hippie in the book was actually based on Ken Kesey

This is my third Stegner novel including Angle of Repose and Crossing to Safety. All the Little Live Things has a more 'elemental' style than the other 2 novels. It is compact and extremely logical. There is not a throwaway sentence in the book. For anyone looking for deeper, relevant background reading - I suggest these pre-requisities prior to reading Little Live Things: Shakespears 'The Tempest' - where the literarary figures of 'Calaban (i.e., Peck)' and 'Prospero' are introduced. I would have been quite lost without having first read Tempest. Another great book that I think provides the 'mythological basis' for Little Live Things is Joseph Campbell's 'Pathways to Bliss'. In Campbell's book I learned the basic philosohpy of Jainism - which is the foundation for Marian Catlin's character as well as the title of the book. You get a better sense of the Joe Allison's heroic struggle as he confront his personal demons (personified by Peck)living deep in the gully across the 'spritual bridge' that he cannot bring himself to go across. Quite a hero's journey indeed.

Human All Too Human and Daybreak can be considered as volumes one and two of the same work. As Nietzsche said in Ecce Homo, a careful reading predicates a full understanding of his later polemics. Here, the bombast is not yet as evident but the seismic rumblings of the will to power, the eternal return, the death of god, the over and last-men all are all foreshadowed in Nietzsche's grand, classical deftness and precision of thought. Nietzsche's largest printed work, HAtH has perhaps the broadest and best sustained discussions of nearly every topic of importance to thoughtful and reflective thinkers. This, together with Dawn is a great place to begin reading Nietzsche.

If you like aphorisms and philosophy, this book will become one of your bibles. If nothing else, it's just plain fun to read for his incredible wit. Of course you have to put his ideas in the context of the period in which he wrote and understand that he has his own odd prejudices, but the brilliance of his understanding of the human condition really shines through. The biggest mistake any reader could make is to think Nietzsche was an anti-semite---far from it. He was anti-neanderthal. In this book especially the reader sees his low tolerance for received wisdom. This book is nothing less than part of the origin of Western psychology as practiced today. It also represents the demolition of science and philosophy polluted by the received Western theological framework. Some of the best parts are when he skewers religion. You have to love his style even if you do not agree with his pessimistic disgust for piety. This is the kind of philosophy book you need not fret over, unless you harbor wishful thinking about a supremely benevolent deity. Instead of making an elaborate argument about the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin, as preceeding systematic philosophers did literally and figuratively, Nietzsche bends the pin and throws it in the trash. I wish I had read this before his Genealogy of Morals, as knowing his thoughts here would have made that book far more interetsing and understandable. I highly recommend philosophy students first approaching Nietzsche pick up Human, All Too Human to start their study. And if you are religious and want to bolster your faith, well, you should stay far away from this book.

O.k. So I have a minor in philosophy and Nietzsche was one of my inspirations to pursue this as a degree in college. Nietzsche deals with androgony. In more modern terms, men and women are crossing over the line of androgeny with their jock image. They are getting more and more androgynous you can't distunguish between even basic differences between the sexes anymore. While my philosophy professor and classmates dismissed Nietzsche as "not being a first rate philosopher," he does have his points about god and androgeny. This is part of our changing world and in philosophy class I did make my points.

In response to some of the prattlings below-only those who do not know the first thing about Nietzsche think that he was at all anti-Semitic. He wrote clearly, very clearly, against that and against nationalism. In one of his books he stated that Germany should not admit any more Jews inside of her borders. Why? Because he felt that the German people lacked an identity, and knew that Jewish people had a very strong identity. He did not think that Germany, weak and unrealized as it was, could stand an influx of a people that he repeatedly characterized as remarkable.

I am somewhat obsessed with Nietzsche, and this book started it all. Do not dive into his later, more well known masterpieces (Beyond Good and Evil, the Genealogy of Morals, The Gay Science) without acquainting yourself with this book. It is an introduction to his style, and there is no better example of his mastery of psychological observations. In this book he comments on all elements of social reality ("no one thinks to thank the clever man for restraining his wit when in the company of those who cannot practice wit" for example), going into love, friendship, the tenor of social gatherings, absolutely everything that is psychologically investigatable. He brings this method to his later books, in which he tackles larger issues, like the history of religion, philosophy, morality, and other things. But it all starts here-his later critiques of Christianity and everything else are far more understandable after a thorough acquaintance with his psychological method, first and best presented here. If you are at all sensitive and introspective, this book will move you to tears more than a few times.

if you want to have your moral foundations knocked out from under you, read this book - and then build upon the ruins - Nietzsche's, in my opinion, most accessible work, as his aphoristic style floats over many different topics - don't stop here however, i recommend Kauffman's "Nietzsche, Philosopher, Psychologist, AntiChrist" as a starter if you find the complexity and diversity of Nietzsche's thought to be overwhelming or incomprehensible - he's frequently ambiguous and contradictory but it's more a positive trademark of his works and shouldn't dissuade one from further readings.

I read this book about three years ago, and enjoyed learning more about Elliot See, Ted Freeman, C.C. Williams, Ed Givens, Charlie Bassett, and Roger Chaffee. I didn't know that Freeman graduated from Annapolis in the same class as Ross Perot (1953), and I didn't know that both See and Chaffee were both Eagle Scouts. See is often noted as a "civilian", but he was a Navy Reservist, and stayed that way throughout his time in the Astronaut Corps.

It was nice to learn about the Russian Cosmonauts, since I was familar with the deaths of Vladmir Komarov and the Soyuz 11 crew only. However, I was disappointed that Robert Lawrence was omitted. Lawrence was a MOL astronaut who was killed in a plane crash in October 1967. MOL was cancelled around the end of 1968. There were two other former MOL astronauts who were killed in plane crashes, but not while they were part of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) project.

The gravesites of Freeman, Williams, Chaffee, See, and Bassett can be found at Arlington National Cemetery. A few years ago, I found them and put flags on their graves. There's also a section of the Electrical Engineering Building at Texas Tech University named for Charlie Bassett. The library in Clear Lake is named for Ted Freeman. Colleagues of Freeman and Bassett have said that these men would most likely have had moon missions if they had not succumbed to early deaths. Buzz Aldrin dedicated his first book Return to Earth to Charlie Bassett, saying "to Charlie..whose place I took."

If you grew up in the 1960s and could name every astronaut and recount the details of each Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo mission (or, if you didn't), this outstanding work is a very important milestone and accurate record that enables us to remember the sacrifices made to reach the Moon. In great detail from the impressive research conducted by the authors, this book provides very rare insights into the lives of Astronauts Freeman, See, Bassett, Grissom, White, Chaffee, Givens, Williams, and the cosmonauts from the former Soviet Union. The book also dispels some rumors with respect to the accidents that took the lives of these skilled pilots and astronauts, as many of those rumors have been reported, merely repeated, and accepted in other accounts unfortunately as facts.

Thank you for reminding us of a time when America tackled a monumental challenge, and allowing us to be more fully grateful for the lives lived and lost so that we could meet that national challenge and extend the spirit of exploration to the heavens.

As a keen observer of the space program from Mercury through Apollo, I was very impressed by the scholarship and professionalism of this book. Although I have researched many of these incidents, this book provided details that I had never seen. Congratulations on an excellent tribute to these brave individuals.

I'm keeping it short and sweet - If you want to know about the "unsung heroes" of the early space programs in the USA and former USSR, pick this book up and read it - you will see who these men really were, and how any one of them (Americans) could have been first on the moon, instead of Neil Armstrong.

Another excellent book from Mr. Burgess. I especially enjoyed the great level of detail in this book. Mr. Burgess even provides the astronauts' mothers' and wives' maiden names, their childhood addresses and many obscure yet interesting facts about their early careers. It was also interesting to learn how many of the astronauts had interacted with each other in the years before they joined NASA. While you know the eventual outcome of each chapter, I still found myself hoping it would somehow turn out differently.

I had just started working for McDonnell Aircraft on Gemini 9 a few months before the crash of See and Bassett into the Gemini manufacturing building in St. Louis. This book clarified several details of the accident that had become fuzzy over the years.

The epilogue was of interest to learn how many of the relatives and colleagues have moved on.

I was initially not going to write a review of this book, as there are already many justly praising it. The one negative review, however, saying that this book has little in it not in Harold Peterson's "The Man Who Invented Baseball" (published over thirty years ago) gave me pause. On one level it is clearly true. I remember as a boy my father telling me about Alexander Cartwright and the New York Knickerbockers, and dismissing the Abner Doubleday story. I don't know that he read Peterson's book, but the timing is right and Peterson did popularize the Cartwright story. This provoked me to dig out my out copy of Peterson and read it for the first time in many years. I can now definitively assure you that David Block is most certainly not just recycling Peterson's book.

They agree that there were earlier versions of ball-and-stick games, which they discuss, and that the version of the game that has come down to us as modern baseball was standardized by the Knickerbocker club.

That may make it look like they have similar theses, but they really do not. Peterson's thesis is right there in his title: someone invented baseball and he knows who it was. Earlier versions were fundamentally different from the Knickerbocker game, and the Knickerbocker game was the product one man's flash of genius. Earlier games are discussed, but they don't really matter, since the Knickerbocker game is taken as being so different. The discussions of earlier games mostly are there to discredit the Doubleday story, which typically has predecessor games being even more primitive than in the Cartwright story

Block's goal is also named in his title: he is seeking baseball's roots. The Knickerbocker game is part of a story that began centuries earlier. Earlier versions aren't a distraction, they are the story. Only by knowing what came before can we see what the Knickerbockers did and didn't do: what parts of their game were selections from an existing menu of options and what parts were true innovations. It turns out to be far more interesting than any myth of a heroic lone genius.

Why should we believe Block rather than Peterson? Peterson's is a book with no footnotes, but with detailed descriptions of events down to quoted conversations. Even if the events were found in histories that actually cited sources, we would know that this is fiction. Peterson probably considered it putting a human face on the story. I consider it making stuff up. He does that a lot. The chapters on early ball-and-stick games are a mish-mash of solid data, poorly understood facts, and utter fiction. So it is that he can, on adjacent pages, give two contradictory accounts of the origin of cricket. He has a story to tell and he isn't going to let facts get in the way. Block's book started out as an annotated bibliography of early baseball sources and Block is meticulous about documentation. When he is forced to interpret beyond the actual evidence he tells us this. You come away knowing exactly what is really known and what is educated guesswork. It is honest history.

I rarely give five stars in my reviews, but I have no qualms about doing so here. The book is quite simply the important book on the subject published in my lifetime. It may be surpassed some day, but that day isn't likely to be soon. For the foreseeable future this is the one book to own if you have any interest in the origins of baseball.

Having just been to Block's talk at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago, this reader got an eeyeful and an earful, bought the book and began reading it on the "el" on the way home and kept reading far too long into the wee hours of the morning.

Althought I'd like to have seen some of the compelling documents that were at Block's library presentation included in this volume, as a reference book on the incredible linkages to the game of baseball, Block's work is fascinating and as he said, still ongoing.

I'm a SABR member, too, as well as the Executive director of The Old Timers' Baseball Association of Chicago. sorry, I've never heard of the 1972 book that the sole negative reviewer mentioned, but this award-winning hunt for the origins of baseball takes odd turns throughout history, and while it may not be worth a hill of beans to fans in the Cubs bleachers today, for researchers, this is a great mystery that will, no doubt, be ripped off endlessly by hack writers for decades to come.

Kudos to ya, Dave; if this is your first big dig, I'm stoked to see what you unearth next!

The author seems to be primarily engaged in trying to debunk three myths: (1) that Gen. Abner Doubleday invented the game, (2) that the real inventor was Alexander J. Cartwright of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club, and (3) that the game developed from the English game of rounders.

For the first, there has already been so much evidence that Doubleday had nothing in particular to do with baseball, so it would seem there was little more that could be said, except that, in fact, the author finds out some interesting evidence that he believes to be the main reason that A. G. Spalding might have favored Doubleday's claim-- that Spalding and Doubleday were both adherents of the same religious cult!

Regarding the Cartwright claim, the author has much less to say. He accepts that the Knickerbocker Rules were an important step in the development of baseball, but in addition he states that there is evidence that Cartwright's role in developing those rules was less significant than has been believed. And he shows that organized baseball games occured before the adoption of the Knickerbocker Rules.

It is in debunking the third "myth," I think, where the author strains to do something undeserved. So the name "rounders" does not seem to have been used prior to the nineteenth century. But the author admits that "rounders" was simply a name that has come to be assigned to an earlier English game, and that baseball developed from that game. The difference between that and the "myth" he is trying to debunk is minimal. If you really think it makes a difference between saying "baseball developed from rounders" and "baseball evolved from a number of games, but the most important was the game now known in England as 'rounders,'" you can accept this book's argument. I don't see it that way; to me "developed from rounders" and "developed from the game now known as rounders" are not significantly different.

But the book is interesting. It should be in your possession if you're interested in baseball, and especially in its history.

Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search For The Roots Of The Game by baseball historian and expert David Block is a well researched, expertly written, inherently interesting, reader engaging, in-depth study of baseball and its historical roots. Baseball's actual origin is in Europe and Baseball Before We Knew It resents a wry and informative authorship of Block's intricate study of the great 'American' sport. Baseball Before We Knew It is very highly recommended reading for baseball fans and students sports history for its invaluable documentation and seminal, groundbreaking collection of information compiled and comprised to create what may easily be seen as the ultimate book of baseball. No personal, academic or community library Sports History collection can be considered complete or comprehensive without the inclusion of David Block's Baseball Before We Knew It!

I have just read a number of rave reviews for Baseball Before We Knew It, so I won't try to outdo them. But I am a member of SABR and interested in tracing the development of 19th century uniforms and caps. I had email contact with Mr. Block before he finished his book, so my anticipation was high, and now I can say my expectations were more than met. From a practical and special point of view, I can now hang my "uniforms" on Block's chronological reconstruction, knowing that not every issue is settled, but that wide new vistas have been opened for my own research. His chronological flow chart toward the back is most helpful for the historian. Now we need to watch a good documentary movie on the Discovery Channel, so we can "see" what a game of ball looked in the Middle Ages. Would Kevin Kostner be interested?
Great job, David Block!
Jim "Batman" Battenfield of California

After reading the Dakota series, I thought I would try another of Stephanie Grace Whitson's series'. While I enjoyed the ending of Book 1, the first 150 pages were a rerun from the Dakota series. The only redeeming point is that I loved Books 2 & 3. In fact, they were by far, my favorite books by this author.

I really enjoyed reading this book! I've read a few of Whitson's books before I got to this one and I'd have to say that this one is her best, so far... It's not just your average "love" story. And it's not full of tragic sorrow like a lot of other similar books. It was wonderfully written and is a must read for anyone who loves romance...

This book focuses on Karyn and Mikal Ritter, who lived in Nebraska in the 1800s. Karyn is a "mail-order bride" from Germany, rather disappointed to arrive in her little soddy on the plains, but like most romantic heroines, determined to adapt. It's a sweet little tale, with enough historical references to arouse my curiousity.

This book was just as inspiring and precious as 'Sarah's Patchwork." I still read both over and over. When you close the book, you feel as if you have observed something very intimate and rare, and want to close it as gently and as unobtrusively as possible. These books are an absolute treasure.

Karyn Ensinger travels to America from Brandenbourg, Germany to meet and marry Mikal Ritter -- a stranger. After making an agreement that they will be married "in name only", Karyn determines that she and Mikal will be great partners, building a bright future together.

Just when she convinces herself that a good marriage can be built on things other than romance and love, she finds herself falling in love with Mikal Ritter. But how can she tell him? He seems happy with their "marriage in name only" agreement, and she doesn't want to ruin things. Maybe one day she'll build up the nerve...

But when Karyn's attractive younger sister Sophie surprises Karyn by traveling all the way from Brandenbourg unannouced, Karyn's hopes of spending time alone with Mikal fade. Dashed hopes quickly turn into anger and despair when she realizes that Sophie is plotting to steal Mikal away. Since she and Mikal agreed to be married in name only, what can Karyn do? How can she tell Mikal how much she loves him when he's falling in love with Sophie?

And if she prays for Mikal's heart to change, will God answer by making Mikal love her? Doesn't God ever give us what we want?