Trials Books

The trial of Arthur Hodge for murdering one of his slaves began on the Caribbean island of Tortola at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, April 29, 1811. The proceedings went on continuously until 5:00 a.m. on April 30. The jury deliberated until 8:00 a.m. on that same day and returned a verdict of guilty. Arthur Hodge was hanged two days later. This trial was used in England as a significant reference to bring about the abolition of slavery in the West Indies. This book portrays in vivid detail the lifestyle of plantation owners like Hodge and the slaves of that era, as well as the abuses that Hodge and other plantation owners made their "property" (the slaves) suffer. John Andrews is to be commended for his professional presentation that makes this book an excellent resource for researchers as well as a good read for those wishing to be informed of the slave trade era.

Covers a little-known aspect of the Wild Bunch and Harvey Logan in particular. Well illustrated and fun to read

Got the book yesterday. It covers my favorite area on the planet (the Colorado Plateau) and as soon as I heard it was to be published, I decided to hike the section from South Rim to Zion National Park. With a lot of maps, trails could have been chosen and mistakes would have been made. This book has cut my planning down to less than half. The section getting from the Utah border to Highway 9 in Zion is worth the price alone. I can't wait to squeeze through "Fat Man's Misery".

This book should eliminate the planning mistakes. I'm sure I'll be able to make enough on my own. The mileages are essential information and well laid out in the different sections of the book. Important information such as where not to camp because of crossing private property and specific locations where there is danger of flash flooding, is vital to the component that needs to right up there with fun: safety.

The maps are excellent with the mileages shown on the maps corresponding with the mileages in the mileage portion of each section. Telling where water can be located and where to cache food for later pickup is equally important.

Most of the "Trail" is non-trailed. Excellent navigation skills are required for a successful completion of any portion of the Trail. I would have liked to see some GPS coordinates but most of those I wanted were available on the internet.

The book deserves additional credit for not sugar-coating the dangers that one will face on this Trail. The dangers cannot be overemphasized. It's not called wilderness for nothing.

Mitch and Joe want to bring attention to this wonderful area that seems to increasingly be under attack by those who look only at profit. To that end, I hope this book will be successful.

Use this work for the practical distillation of the anatomy and biomechanics of closed-head injury, associated physical and psychiatric disorders, treatment and vocational assessment, and case-handling tips for plaintiff and defense counsel. This gives you the detailed medical knowledge you need to understand the injury -- its causes and physical mechanics. It also covers the legal techniques and cases to evaluate and successfully try or settle closed-head injury cases

The maturation of the American society was a complex and idealistic endeavor that was accentuated by many different transitional phases. Hell Gate of the Mississippi marks one of these major transitions that occurred during the growth, which was emphasized by its' `Manifest Destiny'. The transition that the author, Larry A. Riney, transcribes in this journey presents nineteenth century America, and the great characters in these events utilized it as a major point of experience in their lives.
Hell Gate of the Mississippi presents a dichotomy that existed throughout history, the struggle between progress and the established norm. In this instance the established norm, the steamboat trade, and the desire to establish a progressive national railroad. The establishment of the national railroad meant that steamboats became more of an archaic endeavor. The railroads are presented to Americans as the cheaper, faster mode of transit for their businesses and social uses. However, even when the railroads were presented as an obstruction to the already established steamboat companies, the power of the purse prevailed. The railroads used the courts as their pulpit, presenting the American people with a high powered legal team, and the growth of the rail towns to accentuate a puppet courtroom. The legal team used savvy and their prestige, presenting individuals such of Abraham Lincoln, to push their case over the top, leaving the steam boaters cause with little more than a hope and a prayer.
The author presents to the reader a technical view on the maritime precedents that were established during this trial. This was a scholarly written piece of non-fiction that established most of what it sought out to accomplish. The most important presentation was to ascertain that the influential players involved in this event were not entirely essential to the outcome of the trial.

William Klotz

This book is the sequel to Rene' Belbenoit's first book "Dry Guillotine"(see review), which is the book the movie "Papillion" is substantially based. The book fills in some of the details and happenings in the periods of his escapes/adventures that there isn't room for in the first book and also relates numerous other prisoners stories, many of them as full chapters. It is also a major attempt to again enlighten the world onto the horrific conditions and administration graft that was truly going on in the French Penal Colonies of French Guiana for the previous 85 years. Written in 1939/published in 1940. I enjoyed it, as I did "Dry Guillotine". If you liked "Dry Guillotine" you'll enjoy Belbenoit's "Hell on Trial" also.

In the Southwest, water rights are a war zone; the film "Chinatown" (with Jack Nicholson), of course, showed that the fight could even be the background for fictional excitement. This work of legal and social history is hardly a whodunit, yet the real-life battle it surveys possesses a vivid life nevertheless, in the author's highly readable prose. Hall is a law professor, so it's not surprising that he's done plenty of homework, and has mastered the facts of the story he tells. But he also writes with a humorous touch--appropriately dry (what else?)--and knows how to keep things personal too; he weaves his own experiences (as lawyer, writer, and also gardener and weekend farmer) into the story. As I write (spring, 2002), water shortages may be turning from a regional into a national phenomenon. Even if that danger abates soon, though, we can't take any environmental issues for granted any more, so a book like this has cautionary value too. Water: Gotta have it. Maybe optimists can happily relax if a glass is half-full, but we all need to apply higher standards of worry, when it's a matter of reservoirs. And the book's a wonderful read, too.

There is always room for another book about the SIXTIES, and there is more than a niche market for the good natured and witty eye of RICHARD NEVILLE in his aptly titled HIPPIE HIPPIE SHAKE. The book is perfectly lengthed, is unpretentious, focussing, like a memoir, on those events with which the author was intimately involved. Neville was in the eye of the legendary sex drugs and rock and roll storm and has lived to tell the tale.He gives us a pithy picture of those good ole hazy lazy days when the living was easy and more than the cotton was high. The book reads as fresh as a Sunday morning fruit frappe and is surprisingly generous to those at whom he might have swung an axe. Well he does take a swing or two at Jerry Rubin but the anecdotes about rival Australians who even then were in hard training for the celebrity bigtime, are both amusing and affectionate. Clive James - Mr. Ultra-Square in a shiny blue suit non-inhaling in Neville's Notting Hill basement HQ; Robert Hughes in his acid/motorcycle/leather/pre-Time Magazine period when he had to do a moonlight flit from multifarious credtiors, not to mention a raging Nordic blonde bombshell of a wife. And most notably Germaine Greer (who has refused to read the book but has famously said that she will not sue. "Richard will be lucky if I ever speak to him again.") The narrative concludes of course with Mr. Neville in shining counter culture armour defending himself and his beloved and brilliant Oz Magazine from the forces of cultural and political darkness, his finest hour, the Oz Conspiracy and Obscenity Trial at the Old Bailey, one of the seminal events of the period in England, one that brought down the curtain on the decade and ushered in the horrors and delights of the seventies when we indulged ourselves acting out some of those swinging ideals. The results as we know, were mixed but have kept us going on our long strange trip all the way to the millennium. Where would we be without the sixties? Fortunately, Mr.Neville does not attempt to answer this question but yes, check out HIPPIE HIPPIE SHAKE, laugh and reflect, shed a sweet tear for what was and might have been. Jim Anderson (who was also there but may have forgotten)

I found this book to be very informative. It gave great accounts from both sides (Indian and non-indian). It follows the Santee Sioux history starting with accounts from explorers who encountered these wonderful people, to the Sioux Uprising, to their exile from their land, to the present day. You will find yourself unable to put this book down.

I have read a great deal about the House Un-American Activities Committee and the red scare significantly escalated by Senator MCarthy. In addition to the hurtful effects on people throughout the country, I am interested in the devastation to human lives in the movie industry in the 1940's and beyond. This book presented some vital information I had not read before in the numerous books and articles I've collected on the subject. I value the book greatly and would recommend it to anyone who has been appalled by the aggressive and mean-spirited actions of the political system that encouraged and allowed this to happen.