United States Books

There was not one moment during this book that I wasn't totally captivated. The author puts a human face on the struggle of those in Iraq who lived under Saddam Hussein. And throughout, you are constantly reminded that she was among the "fortunate" by comparison. I found it to be an excellent education in the history of the country and the evolution of it in recent decades as well. I read this book on a recent camping trip in New England when I should have been mesmerized by my surroundings. Instead, I found I could not put this book down.

Short and sweet.. This is an awesome book. You see so many sides of Suddam. His dark side certainly made him a candidate for his execution!

it took a while to get here, but it was in good condition when it did.

Zainab Salbi's life seems idyllic, but even as a child she senses the tension felt by her wealthy parents as they entertain and are entertained by Saddam. Salbi's story shows two sides of Saddam: the cruel and abusive despot and the genial manipulator. In spite of the web Saddam spins around her family, Salbi experiences adolescent rebellion, ignorant of the danger her parents see threatening her, just as it threatened her mother and eventually ruins her parents' marriage. Salbi's story is a fascinating portrayal of a family living in luxury under tyranny and the dangers faced whether the choice is to endure or to escape.

Wow! This book knocked me out. I could NOT put it down. It really helped me understand some of the conflict within Iraq, but more importantly, the author and tone of this book is just very human, real, and accessible. As a youngster, and for all of her formative years, Saddam Hussein is in the background as a family "friend". Though her parents resisted his friendship, they found it more and more dangerous not to be his friend. It's like living with the devil! However, the author eventually gets out of Iraq and away from Saddam Hussien, due to an arranged marriage. I won't say how that goes as I don't want to ruin the ending.

I do feel that this is one of the absolute BEST memoires I ever read and it was written with a lof of grace and humility. For me, it was an important book, and I highly recommend you read it. I think it will become a classic memoire.

Blue Monday is an interesting but not a compelling read. We never get inside Fat's head to understand the man, so we get an expanded discography. The dates, times and places seem to be well researched which begins to wear after a while. The matter of fact style just does not bring Fat's personal life into focus, although there are many descriptions of incedents about him. He remains a mystery in reference to his personal motivation, dual life style, and reclusive habits.
Russ H.

I guess if Antoine "Fats" Domino could keep the President and First Lady waiting, then he could keep us waiting for his first biography - this is a Natural Born book about a musical genius, intriquing personality, and unassuming cultural revolutionary.
The author tells his story and includes many entertaining anecdotes about life at home and on the road with several sets of support players - the greatest names of course being Dave Bartholomew, Herb Hardesty, and Lee Allen. We get a strong picture of the smiling, "safe" rock and roller, as the often defiant man's-man. And a complex artist/showman: he could sing The Rooster Song while flashing rings to make Freddie Blassie envious.
A great bunch of previously unpublished black and white photographs from Look magazine, among other handsome prints of lesser known shots really bolster the text.
A serious ommission for the audiophiles: not even a selected discography and no sessionography. [Though there are "Notes" in the back of the book on the mysterious Broadmoor recordings, including personnale and dates!]. Of course the '50s period sessions can be found as a booklet in the Bear Family 8-CD set, and in a European book, "Jazz Records"; also in a fairly recent issue of Goldmine magazine. But Fats Domino ABC-Paramount, Mercury, Broadmoor and Reprise FD session data has never, to my knowledge, appeared in print, and what a fabulous component that would have made.
Speaking of the ABC-Paramount tracks, the author did not mention in the text a very important 4-CD set, "The Paramount Years", which included the *incredibly* rare fourth l.p. for that label, plus the 1980 "If I Get Rich" from another record company!
The idea that "The Fat Man" is the first R & R record also doesn't agree with me. Yes, the elements are there, the upbeat shuffle and bright lead vocal, but that powerful sound (and many others by Fats in that '49 to '54 period) were not *primarily* for the youth. The first discs to be produced for teenage tastes came much later. I wouldn't even include "Tutti Frutti" in that category, as it too, lyrically and instrumentally echoed an earlier, "swingin'" sound. [It was "Ready Teddy" folks which screamed out...Rock and Roll!!!].
Still, this book should be "required reading" for those dedicated followers of those Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.

Rick Coleman's new book "Blue Monday" is the first full biography of Fats Domino. Many interesting things are therein.
- Fats was the first black rock & roll star. His records made the pop charts before r&r's dawn in 1955.
- Kids did not buy albums in the 50s, but Fats' albums sold, meaning he had an adult following like Louis Armstrong's.
- Fats concerts were often scenes of teenage riots. He may be known for `Blueberry Hill,' but his fierce rolling piano ignited his audience.
- "Blueberry Hill" was the product of a botched session. Engineer Bunny Robyn edited together the best parts of several incomplete takes and simply repeated the chorus.
- The string-laden "Walkin' To New Orleans" was a big breakthrough which traditionalists lamented. But it hit R&B (#2) even higher than pop (#6).
- Roy Brown once ditched a plan to have Fats open for him on tour. Fats never forgot it, and refused to have Brown open shows for him when the tables were turned.

Of the Big Five (EP, FD, CB, JLL, LR), Fats is the least lionized because he was not a "rebel." Historians normally embrace only people with bold lifestyles.

Boy ol Boy, Rick Coleman has written a great book on the TRUE story of Rock & Roll! I know as I was there and if you want to know what it was really like to be on the scene when true rock & roll was called race music on a juke box, Boogie Woogie and the down home blues was taking over the country then get this book and turn others on to it also. No one person was more responsible for the birth of R&R and R&B than the Fat Man! This was long before Elvis, Haley and the hand full of others came on the bandwagon. [...]

From his first record in 1949 until his harrowing escape from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Antoine "Fats" Domino has defined New Orleans and its culture. This book puts Fats, his city, and his music into perspective in amazing detail. In the process, Rick Coleman convincingly demonstrates that Fats and his collaborators--especially songwriter/arranger Dave Bartholomew and producer Cosimo Matassa--have as solid a claim as Elvis, Carl, and Jerry Lee with Sam Phillips in Memphis or Wolf, Muddy, and Chuck with the Chess brothers in Chicago as the prime architects of rock 'n' roll. The product of more than 20 years of exhaustive research, this is, surprisingly, the first biography of one of the greatest early rock stars. Coleman had his work cut out for him; Fats is notoriously reclusive. Nevertheless, you come away from this book admiring Fats's talent and drive, and Coleman's exhaustive research and evocative writing. All the other great Louisiana rockers are here--the bayou wild men, backwoods musical savants, and forgotten honkers, shouters, string-benders, and drum-thumpers who helped create the Crescent City sound. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to understand the real, complete history of rock 'n' roll instead of the revisionist pap that passes for such. -Mark Hoffman, co-author of "Moanin' at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin' Wolf"

To know Rockaway is to absolutely know what it's like to not be able to live without Rockaway. Kevin Boyle captures Rockaway's darkest moments and shows how a community bonds together and rebuilds. He shows our strength and our unity during these tragic times. Thanks Kevin.

Kevin Boyle writes about Rockaway and its inhabitants with respect and humor. It has a nice balance of history, humor, and gripping unreal reality. I am from the area and lost a loved one. This book was tough for me but I can honestly say it is the most personal and realistic look at not just the firefighters that were lost, but the people that were lost. I recommend it.
- James Suhr

Fascinating account of the history of The Rockaways, and the devestating impact of 9/11 and the November 2001 airline accident. The reader is introduced to a number of families, and how they were impacted by the two tragedies. It is a wonderful read, and although The Rockaways are a scant few miles from Manhattan, the feeling is one of a small-town, where neighbors look out for neighbors and there is a community spirit of togetherness.

I must have read twenty 9/11 books and only came upon this after doing a search about 9/11 books. I had only heard of Rockaway Beach from the song, Rock, Rock, Rock, Rockaway Beach. I didn't know such an amazing place actually existed. Kevin Boyle writes of a place we want to call home and of people we want as friends. The bravery and toughness seen here is superhuman, and so is the goodness and strength. It's a story I'll never forget.

Being from "Rockaway", although technically from Breezy Point, I know what the people around here faced in both tragic events. I know the numbers involved. I decided to read this book because I wanted to know the names and thoughts behind those numbers. It was nice to know about all the places described in this book, and I found myself nodding at many of the comments or descriptions about life in Rockaway. Rockaway is really THE forgotten part of New York City, and this book puts us out there. I particularly liked the sections about the history of Rockaway, most of which I knew absolutely nothing about.

Thanks Kevin, for bringing out Rockaway's story and for making it so genuine and truthful!!!

So... was glad to be able to order the one Betsy book I had never read. It's lovely - all MH Lovelace's Betsy books are. And FINALLY, finally, you get to find out what happened to Larry and where Sam came from. When I first got on the 'net last year, I was so glad to be able to order books I could never quite find, and also to find there were (adult) Betsy fans everywhere - what a pleasant surprise. But if you've never been to Mankato, you want to know about the house (it was a "side trip" when visiting Mall of America). Well, Betsy's high school house is gone, but I was only disappointed briefly, because you can see Tacy's house (being restored), and Tib's house and the big hill (the hill is somewhat different than the image the books present) - but Carney's house looks just as described in the book. I wondered exactly what that add-on structure in back was - well "Carney's House Party" explained that. Bonnie's house, which I would like to have seen, across the street from Carney's, is gone also. One nice surprise - on Front Street there is a charming 2nd-hand bookstore, which my sister loved, probably about the size Mr. Ray's shoe store was. The proprietor there directed us to the library where you can purchase some Betsy items, the main one being a booklet with very nice pictures of most of the crowd when they were in high school, so at long last I also got to see what they all looked like, including Carney. I think part of the enduring attraction of this series is that it is autobiographical and therefore also historical. As a history buff, that's why I have stayed a fan of a book series discovered as a young person.

I loved the book for the same reasons everyone else does -- it's a fresh perspective on the Deep Valley Crowd AND it solves the mystery of what happened to Carney's high school ideal Larry.

I have only two quibbles:

1) The illustrations look somewhat recycled from other Betsy-Tacy books.
2) Carney mysteriously loses her eyeglasses. I noticed this in the illustrations and also wondered what happened while she's hanging on to the bumper of Sam's car in the rain: wouldn't they have fogged up? :) It's a small thing, but one of the reasons Carney was always my favorite is that she wore glasses and so do I.

A great book overall to add to our collections!

I vaguely remembered reading Carney's House Party over 35 years ago in my public library but the details certainly faded with the years. Now that I replenished my Betsy-Tacy library, thanks to Amazon, I decided to get Carney's House Party as well. What an interesting view it is of Deep Valley and the Crowd, as it is from Carney's perspective. As Carney's personality is markedly different from Betsy's, her opinions of events differ from those we'd expect from our beloved, but admittedly more dramatic, Betsy. I also found the description of college life at Vassar to be interesting and so different from my own at a women's college in the early 70's. Finally, Carney's romance is both surprising to those of us who followed the series and ultimately right for her.

I was thrilled to see that Carney's House Party is back! I grew up on a farm near Mankato, MN (Deep Valley) which was featured in Betsy and Joe. I loved these books as a child and now am so happy to be able to share them with my own daughters. Carney was always one of my favorite characters beause of her calm good sense combined with a love of fun. Her loyalty to her friends and respect and love for her family are powerful messages for today's young women. I only wish I could find comparable literature for my son.

I have 5 sisters and each and every one of us read all the Betsy Tacy books when we were girls. I read the ones of their childhood when I was little and then "graduated" to the High School and past, series as I grew older. Oh, so many fun hours reading them, trying to copy the wonderful Vera Neville illustrations, wishing I could live in Deep Valley just for awhile. Several years ago I startled the customers near me when I whooped with pleasure at finding these books in a bookstore -- just like I did a few minutes ago when I saw here on Amazon recommendations "Carney's House Party"! THANK'S Amazon!! I didn't know that that one, and "Emily of Deep Valley", had been re-published. I've just ordered both, (for me!) as well as two complete sets of the younger-age books for my two eldest granddaughters. This tradition is one I am happy to pass on -- I can't wait to give them this treat. By the way -- I don't agree with the 9-12 age rating for the books that are set in high school and beyond: they are really for a bit older, although there is certainly nothing harmful in them for little girls: on the contrary. But they are intended for a bit older -- say 12 and up.

This book introduces jazz to a young audience. It explores the sounds, rhythms, and emotions of the genre through colorful pictures and rhythmic words similar to the beat of "scat" singing.
Lots of the words are there just for the sound of them. By focusing on the sound words, students could develop spelling strategies that help them move from phonemes, the sounds they make, to graphemes, the written representations of those sounds.

This book is excellent. The illustrations and musical text allow for early readers to really enjoy and learn from this book. Perfect for preschool and kdg age. I used this book as the basis of a jazz unit, it worked wonderfully.

"Charlie Parker Played Be Bop" was my son's favorite book when he was two and nine years later we still have fun reading it. I now purchase a copy for new parents to read to thier babies. As a speech language pathologist, I want to share to magic of words and the music they can make! This book is an absolute MUST read for all children.

I wasn't sure how my little one would respond to this book even though I love it. If I ask, "Do you want to read about Charlie Parker?," she lights up and starts literally starts to bop. The baby digs it. Just more evidence that the jazz is a universal language. I like the introduction to poetry, rhythm and randomness ("Never leave your cat alone"). I bought two other copies and gave them to my friends for their babies.

I am an elementary school music teacher with students ranging from pre-K to 5th grade. I read this book to all of my pre-K and kindergarten through second grade classes and sometimes the mood strikes me to read it to older students. There is something in here for most every age. Everyone loves it.

So why does Raschka draw chicken feet in such odd places, e.g., on overshoes, alphabet letters, pancake flippers?

Well, rumor has it that one day Charlie Parker was driving back to his boarding house and, as luck would have it, he hit and killed a chicken that had run out into the street from someone's front yard. Such chickens are called "yardbirds". The alleged events include Parker doing the unthinkable, namely, backing up his car, picking up the dead chicken (aka "roadkill"), taking it to his landlady (hey, it was fresh!), her cooking it, and him eating it. When friends heard this story, Parker was known forever after as "Yardbird", which was eventually shortened to just "Bird".

If you didn't catch the part about the chicken feet on your own, don't feel badly. Insiders like Rachka and myself know it and now you do too. Rachka has done a terrific job in providing a lot of feeling about some very notable personalities. Plus he does it with humor, some of which is very subtle.

My students probably have as much fun going through Parker's history as with the book itself. But all of that is just the preliminaries: I then have to read it several more times with the students reading and acting out the story. We have a rockin' good time.

The Washington Times wrote a terrific review of this book, which follows:

A President Of the Peephole
By Carl Sferrazza Anthony
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, June 7, 1998

Fearing revelations about his illicit affair with a young campaign volunteer - which included sex in an Oval Office hideaway while under the guard of Secret Service agents - the president realized that stonewalling was ultimately futile. He stunned a private party of reporters at the National Press Club by confessing his carnal desires.

"It's a good thing I am not a woman," the president said. "I would always be pregnant. I can't say no."

In this administration, the scandals never seemed to end. There was the strange suicide of an administration official, made even more mysterious by a note that disappeared. Then came an investigation into payoffs and coverups connected to a notorious land deal. The president's friends launched smear campaigns against his perceived foes. Dossiers were compiled; private eyes and snitches deployed. Affidavits were drafted in which various women denied liaisons with the president. Jobs were arranged to keep people quiet.

Through it all, a steel-willed first lady kept the press at bay and did whatever was necessary to defend her husband's reputation - even if it meant destroying evidence.

The scandals erupted at a time when technological advances in communication were feeding a nation hungry for distraction, and the economy was booming. Sex sold - and the ravenous press corps was all too happy to name names and offer seamy details. The president and his wife boosted their public image by bringing Hollywood stars to the White House; they knew the value of glamour and the power of celebrity. It also helped that he was a genial populist and inveterate shaker of hands, fond of golf and cards, a man of the people.

Ladies thought him virile and handsome; he photographed well.
For some reason, all of this seems familiar. Whatever else may be said of Warren Gamaliel Harding - whose tenure as 29th president ended with his peculiar, premature death in 1923 - he was a truly modern politician. His administration, which reeked of corruption, offers a prototype for Washington scandals. Whitewater, Iran-contra and Watergate are better known today, but the granddaddy of them all was Teapot Dome, a political maelstrom that broke 75 years ago this month and is still hard to top in terms of sheer outrageousness.

Harding, a small-town Ohio newspaper publisher, was uniquely unsuited for the job of president - and he knew it. "I am not fit for this office and never should have been here," he once said. But he "looked like a president," as one major backer put it, and his wife, Florence, was instrumental in shepherding his political career. (The press considered Florence, known as the Duchess, to be the power behind the throne; one cartoon depicted the couple as "The Chief Executive and Mr. Harding.") Harding, a one-term Republican senator, won the job by promising Americans a "return to normalcy" after World War I.

Though his legacy was soiled, his domestic achievements were substantial: the 40-hour work week, improved health care for new mothers, the first balanced-budget bureau, a focus on technology. And we have to give Harding credit for establishing a venerable institution: the Washington gossip mill. Based on new documentation, here's a reprise of the Harding era.

I love your back, I love your breasts
Darling to feel, where my face rests,
I love your skin, so soft and white,
So dear to feel and sweet to bite. . . .
I love your poise of perfect thighs,
When they hold me in paradise. . . .
-- A Harding poem to one of his mistresses, Carrie Phillips

No president had more "women scrapes," as his attorney general put it, than Warren G. His first affair, three years into his marriage to Florence, was with Susie Hodder - his wife's best friend from childhood - resulting in the birth of a daughter. His second affair was with Florence's closest adult friend, Carrie Fulton Phillips. It lasted 15 years. His third enduring mistress was his Senate aide, Grace Cross.
Number four was the most infamous and the first presidential mistress to write a memoir: In the large Oval Office closet, the president had at least one tryst with Nan Britton, a campaign volunteer who had started having sex with Harding when he was 51 and she was 22. Their assignations, facilitated by Secret Service agents James Sloan and Walter Ferguson ("Harding hated to have them around, for he despised being watched," reported the chief usher), came to an abrupt stop when another agent, Harry Barker, tipped Florence off, and she ran down for a confrontation.

It was in Harding's Senate office, late one night in the winter of 1919, that Britton claimed she conceived their daughter, Elizabeth Ann. They disrobed because Harding wanted to "visualize" her while he worked there during the day. Britton worried that they lacked the "usual paraphernalia which we always took to the hotels . . . and of course, the Senate Offices do not provide preventive facilities for use in such emergencies."

He had assorted other flings, including one with Rosa Hoyle, said to have conceived his only illegitimate son, and one with Augusta Cole, whose pregnancy by Harding was terminated. He bedded a Washington Post employee known as Miss Allicott, and former chorus girls Maize Haywood and Blossom Jones - all procured by Harding's crony, Washington Post publisher and owner Ned McLean. And then there's the string of "New York women" - including one who committed suicide after Harding wouldn't marry her, and another who had a stash of incriminating love letters purchased by Harding loyalists.

The president even publicly ogled Margaret Gorman, the first Miss America, in Atlantic City, days after her crowning.

Follow the Money

Just weeks after his inauguration in 1921, Harding approved Interior Secretary Albert Fall's request to transfer oil reserves from the Navy Department to Fall's control. Fall then secretly leased the reserve at Elks Hills, Calif., to oilman Edward Doheny and the one at Teapot Dome, Wyo., to Harry Sinclair - in exchange for a "loan" of cash and stock worth nearly $400,000, delivered in a small black satchel, and a "gift" of $100,000 from Doheny. Fall became the first Cabinet member to be thrown in prison.

Col. Charles Forbes, the first director of the U.S. Veterans Bureau, created by Harding, was particularly close to the first lady. She saw to his appointment, and entrusted him with $450 million to build hospitals and provide decent medical care for the thousands of disabled veterans of World War I, on whose behalf the Duchess was a national activist.

Instead, he bilked tens of thousands out of building contractors and medical supply companies. He was eventually imprisoned - but not before Harding personally throttled him against the Red Room wall in the White House.

Although Attorney General Harry Daugherty, a Harding crony and campaign manager, eluded conviction on a variety of pardon-selling and influence-peddling charges, his Justice Department was riddled with malfeasance, kickbacks and payoffs. One of the department's central tasks was to intimidate any Harding mistress who threatened the president with blackmail.

High Officials

Evalyn McLean, the Post publisher's wife, was a confidante of Mrs. Harding and an admitted intermittent morphine addict. Despite Prohibition, she also was a heavy drinker and speakeasy regular - but then, so were her husband and other ranking government officials: Albert Fall, Col. Forbes and the president's chief aide, George Christian. In the Veterans Bureau, stories eventually broke about flapper secretaries and young officers having a regular cocktail hour, with shakers and glasses at the ready, overseen by Forbes.

The president served liquor freely in the present-day Yellow Oval Room to his guests. Alice Longworth - a regular at poker - recalled that the first lady mixed the drinks. "No rumor could have exceeded the truth. . . . [T]rays with bottles containing every imaginable brand of whiskey stood about," she remembered. And, according to recently declassified FBI reports, Harding was drunk on whiskey during an Oval Office confrontation with railroad union leaders during their 1922 strike.

At the center of the capital's most elite bootlegging service was Jess Smith - who, even though never an employee or even a volunteer at the Justice Department, used official letterhead, cars and staff, and sat in on private meetings with FBI Director Billy Burns. Smith enjoyed these perks as the bachelor companion of the attorney general. Smith also served as the first lady's favorite escort and arbiter of her jaunty '20s fashions.

Through the Justice Department, Smith had access to whiskey supplies confiscated by Prohibition agents, and some of the booze went directly to the White House, and to the McLeans, while the rest was kept for parties at the "Love Nest," the small house shared by Smith and Daugherty, complete with a pink taffeta bedroom.

Hollywood Values

Working closely with Republican National Committee Chairman Will Hays during the 1920 campaign, Florence Harding conceived of recruiting Hollywood movie stars to support her husband. Al Jolson was drafted to head the Harding-Coolidge Theatrical League, and on Aug. 24, 1920, the marriage of politics and entertainment was forged forever when Jolson brought 40 movie stars to the Harding home for a campaign rally.

The White House became a little Hollywood. On any given day, D.W. Griffith, the Gish sisters or Tom Mix might pose for newsreel cameras with the Hardings. When Hays left his job as postmaster general to become president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, he developed a "project to link the White House with the motion picture industry" by providing a movie library. All of this was nothing short of immoral to old society. The religious press took even greater offense to Florence's ringing the stately halls with jazz for the first time. The Biblical Recorder excoriated the Hardings for "setting a bad example by joining in the modern dance with its 'jazz' music."

Squelching the Bimbos

There was a good reason for Jess Smith having a vaguely defined association with the Justice Department. In this way, he was able to act at the implicit direction of the attorney general and FBI director and carry out a systematic intimidation of Harding mistresses who threatened to do as Carrie Phillips did and demand blackmail for their love letters. At one point, in exchange for apparently small amounts of money, affidavits disclaiming rumors of their liaisons were wrestled out of Evelyn Ruby, Augusta Cole and Cecilia Hoyle, and made their way to the first lady.

In April 1921, Ned McLean officially became an agent of the FBI, and did his utterly unethical best to destroy any anti-Harding efforts he heard about as publisher of The Post. Such responsibilities included ripping the blouse of Nan Britton to try to snatch letters she claimed to be carrying - in the privacy of his editorial office.

Even on the eve of his inauguration, Harding was providing more trouble for his troubleshooters. He had arranged a late-night rendezvous with Grace Cross, his Senate aide, in a Willard Hotel room. Some of his friends, recalled Olive Clapper, a reporter's wife, "ordered her to pack and get out of town, threatening to put the FBI on her trail if she didn't go at once. She was so frightened she left immediately."

Psychic Guidance

Mrs. Harding's diary, discovered last year at an Ohio barn auction, revealed her to be a true believer in crystal ball readings, the zodiac and clairvoyance. In February 1920, as a Senate wife, she had her first consultation with capital society's seer, "Madame Marcia." The psychic predicted that if Harding ran for president that year, he would be nominated - but that if he won the election, he would not live through his full term and instead die of "sudden, peculiar, violent . . . death by poison."

Knowing that the blackmail price of $25,000 demanded by Carrie Phillips for the love letters could never be met unless her husband became a presidential nominee, Florence pushed him through the primaries on to the nomination, ignoring the ominous prediction. During the Harding presidency, Madame Marcia was regularly fetched by the first lady's Secret Service agent, brought through the back entrance and escorted to the presidential bedroom for zodiac updates. Madame Marcia also did horoscopes for the president's public appearances; the first lady was trying to protect him from numerous assassination and bomb threats.

When Florence got early inklings of the Teapot Dome, Veteran's Bureau and Justice Department scandals, she asked Marcia to do astrological charts of Cabinet members - and used the results as evidence to remove some of the crooks from the administration.

Blackmailers' Delight

Newly discovered documents now prove that Harding was the only president successfully blackmailed by a mistress. Once he was nominated as the Republican candidate, the national GOP committee paid off Carrie Phillips's lump-sum demand of $25,000 and monthly stipend of $2,000, funneled through a secret bank account kept, apparently, under Jess Smith's name (the records were burned by Attorney General Daugherty).
Once Harding became president, Phillips returned from an all-expense-paid trip abroad and demanded that her brother and son-in-law be given federal posts. It was done. Harding even circulated the name of Phillips's husband to be ambassador to Japan - before word got out why he thought a dry-goods salesman from Marion, Ohio, deserved the post and the idea was quashed.

One night, when he was a senator, Harding had such a row with aide Grace Cross that she cut his back and the police were called. Thereafter, Cross went around town talking about a "birthmark" on the president's back that she could identify - undoubtedly the wound - which became part of her arsenal in unsuccessful attempts to get blackmail money. However, former Democratic attorney general Mitchell Palmer would later use his knowledge of the Cross affair to force Harding to drop a Justice Department prosecution against him.

Crossing a Friend

After a failed attempt to frame Cross with a phony affidavit claiming she was a liar and blackmailer, Smith approached Bertha Martin - a friend of Cross's - to try to get possession of the aide's love letters from Harding. Martin said she would turn on her friend on the condition that she was given the job of society editor at The Post. Smith went to McLean, who gave his nod. Martin took Cross to lunch, asked to see the letters, snatched them away and bolted out of the restaurant. She was made society editor - and still managed to stay friends with Cross, taking her on a European vacation, courtesy of the secret blackmail fund.

Deadly Sins

During a party at Smith and Daugherty's "Love Nest," some New York chorus girls were brought down to entertain a stag party. In attendance was the president. When glasses and bottles were being flung off the table so the dancing girls could perform, one Washington prostitute, identified only as a Miss Walsh, was knocked unconscious. Harding was hustled out. The woman died and was buried in a potter's field.

In recently discovered transcripts of her taped revelations, Evalyn McLean recalled that the FBI director "railroaded" the woman's brother into St. Elizabeths mental hospital when he suggested a blackmail payment.

Censorship by Book Burning

"The Strange Death of President Harding," written in 1930 by the notorious perjurer and former FBI agent Gaston Means, implied that Florence Harding poisoned her husband in retaliation for his adultery, but the book has long been dismissed as a fabrication. New evidence shows that while Means lied in details, he told general truths. He said that he was part of an FBI effort to seize and destroy a small, privately printed book, "The Illustrated Life of Warren Gamaliel Harding," that revealed Harding's affair with Carrie Phillips, the RNC blackmail payoff and Florence's out-of-wedlock child by a common-law first husband.

This turned out to be the only book suppressed by the government in peacetime. The entire action was illegal, and thus the boxes of books and updated manuscript inserts were taken not to any government property but to the McLean estate, where they were all burned. Well, not all: An original with the author's notes sits with none other than Evalyn


Spying

Among Gaston Means's other sensational charges was that he spied for the first lady on Nan Britton. In fact, it was probably Grace Cross - for at least one letter sent to her from the president's office was purloined and found its way into the file on Cross in the McLeans' private papers. Post reporter Vylla Poe Wilson later admitted that both "Mrs. Harding and Mrs. McLean were very jealous women, and they hired Gaston Means to follow Harding and McLean and report on their actions." In congressional hearings on the Justice Department, it was confirmed that Agent Means not only spied on Cross but the president's physician, Charles Sawyer, and his mistress, the first lady's housekeeper.

Suicides

Congress first heard tales of gross corruption at the Veterans Bureau in February 1923. Col. Forbes's colleague in kickbacks, Charles Cramer - the bureau's chief counsel, and the purchaser of the Hardings' Senate home - wrote out a letter to the president in his dining room, then stood before the bathroom mirror and shot himself. The letter mysteriously disappeared.

At the start of the summer, the first big Harding scandal broke with the news that Jess Smith was found in his room with his head in a trash can, and a bullet in his head. The official word went out that it was a suicide due to health and emotional problems. Bertha Martin of The Post recalled that it was "noised about" town that Smith was a known homosexual, and that he was heartbroken over Daugherty's sudden rejection of his friendship when the president learned of Smith's nefarious activities. Others, like Evalyn McLean, simply believed Daugherty, Means or Burns had Smith killed because he knew too much. As for Martin, after a second career bootlegging whiskey to embassies, she was found dressed in her fur coat, pearls and white gloves with her head on the gas range, another alleged suicide.

Negligent Homicide?

Beginning on June 20, 1923, the Hardings sought to escape the heat and scandal of Washington on a 15,000-mile transcontinental train trip and voyage to Alaska. The president was 57 at the time. The recently unsealed diary and notes of naval physician Joel Boone reveal Boone's grave concerns about the president's heart condition. The warnings were ignored by longtime Harding homeopath "Doc" Sawyer, who made no effort to stop Harding from speaking in the blistering heat, driving the golden spike to complete the Alaska Railroad, or doing other arduous tasks. In this Sawyer had the absolute approval of the first lady, who was now enjoying the height of her national popularity and didn't want the trip canceled. She viewed the incompetent Sawyer as her own Rasputin, who'd miraculously kept a chronic kidney ailment from killing her.

When Harding suffered a bout of food poisoning from tainted crab meat at Cordova, Alaska, Doc Sawyer ultimately weakened the president's sick heart by treating him with heavy doses of purgatives to flush out the toxins. On Aug. 2, 1923, when Boone was out of the sickroom in San Francisco's Palace Hotel, Sawyer plied one too many purgatives - in Florence's presence - and Harding died. There was a quick coverup regarding who was in the room and at precisely what time the president died. Mrs. Harding refused to permit an autopsy or a death mask, protecting her beloved Sawyer. "Now that is all over," she told Evalyn McLean after Harding's death, "I think it was all for the best."

Evidence Destruction

At the McLean estate, aptly named Friendship, Evalyn permitted the widowed first lady to bring from the White House wood crates full of government documents (which may have been incriminating to Harding) and helped burn them. Even though Mrs. Harding was being spied on and her phone was tapped during the congressional investigations of the scandals, she was able to keep destroying documents within the privacy of her Willard Hotel suite.

Four months after leaving Washington, Florence died at age 64 in Marion, Ohio. She was staying in a cottage on the grounds of the Sawyer Sanitarium "for the treatment of nervous and mental diseases," amid signs that read: "Please do not stare at the Patients."

This article is adapted from Carl Sferrazza Anthony's just-published biography, "Florence Harding: The First Lady, the Jazz Age and the Death of America's Most Scandalous President" (Morrow).

The Harding administration is buried in 20th century obscurity. Aside from the words "Teapot Dome", which few laymen know anything about, and the overriding scandal that dogged Harding's reputation after he left office, there are few people who would even know the name of the first lady.

Florence Harding portrays the image of a plain, dowdy hayseed, but the author brings her to life in the context of an amazing time in our history.

The 1920's were a time of a burgeoning economy, a rich underground economy with speakeasies, amazing jazz, racial awareness, and a recovery from World I. Florence Harding worked behind the scenes to prop her husband up to the challenge of the presidency. Recent revisionist historians have re-examined his presidency to look at his leadership, and his vision beyond the republican side of the aisle.

Florence Harding welcomed in the Jazz Age, consulted "spiritual advisors", and looked at feminist causes long before many of her contemporaries. She also loved and adored her husband, looking past his infidelities, and his out-of-wedlock children.

Warren Harding was in over his head as President. He was an innocent idealist who was thrust into a dark horse candidacy by unscrupulous men who he believed were his friends. He was also a popular and beloved President at he time of his death.

This book, however, is about his wife. She was a tirelessly driven woman, cannily intelligent, with a strength that propelled her to the pinnacle of American leadership.

It is a story few would undertake to tell, and it is riveting. While Florence Harding never comes off as likable, she is portrayed as loyal, admirable, and visionary beyond her time. There is a touching passage, as she sits next to Warren's open coffin, when she tells her husband "nobody can hurt you now, W'urrn".

She clearly understood the power of the office, and the damage it had done to her husband.

An engrossing biography, on an unlikely subject.

How to make a fairly dull and unpleasant like Florence Harding come alive is a difficult enough feat, however the author does a splendid job of doing it! Expertly researched and pleasantly told, Mrs. Harding comes off far better than she has ever been depicted before - and perhaps even better than she deserves.

Writer Carl Anthony has composed an outstanding biography in his work Florence Harding. Harding Florence Harding been one of the more easily understood or admired First Lady's in this nations history, this book would have been written years ago. However, Mrs. Harding's legacy has been in the past told and retold more as a tabloid story than factual account.

When approaching this book, one needs to understand how Mrs. Harding's legacy was tainted by three men, none of which was her husband Warren G. Harding. First, Gaston Means - a grifter and one time low level FBI agent - did a master job at maligning the deceased Mrs. Harding in his book, The Strange Death of President Harding, a ghost written work that was penned by a tabloid jouranlist who sued Means when he failed to honor his obligations to the writer. In this book, Means paints the picture of Mrs. harding that is pervasive in American Pop Culture: that Mrs. Harding was clueless love lorn hag, who spent her time with mystics plotting the Presidents next moves in star charts. This is an image that the public bought, hook, line and sinker.

The other two men who betrayed Mrs. Harding were her doctor, Charles E. Sawyer and his son Dr. Carl Sawyer. The Sawyers held Mrs. Harding in their sway - she believed that they were great medical doctors, however it was the elder Sawyer's mis diagnosis of President Harding's heart condition as food poisoning. When Charles Sawyer discovered that the widowed First Lady's kidney ailment acted up, he travelled to Washington DC and demanded that Florence return to Marion Ohio for treatment at his private Sanatorium rather than seek treatment at at the better suited facilities in Washington. Mrs, Harding was placed in a cottage at the facility, and then kept at the facility by Sawyer's son Carl after the elder Sawyer died. Following Mrs. Harding's death, Dr. Carl Sawyer assummed total control of the Harding Memorial Association and maintained an iron grip on the Harding legacy until his death in the 1960s. As with all great dictators, Carl Sawyer controlled all aspects of the Harding legacy. As a result, the public never had a fair opportunity to study the Harding's, but rather were fed a steady stream of "approved" information about the couple.

Anthony's work goes the distance in seperating the negative myths from the honest truths in her life, which by any standard was not charmed. However, the author does take liberties in communicating his emotions about Mrs. Harding. He believes that she has been mis-portrayed and his passion about correcting that sometimes overstates her case. However, his book is very well documented by copious endnotes and reliable first person accounts and primary documents.

This book will never be a New York Times best seller - the public would rather believe that Harding Myths inseatd of the facts - but for those who care to learn more about the truths of the 29th President and his most remarkable wife, this is a satisfying and accurate book to read.

I found this book hard to put down. I had not realized all the things this obscure first lady was involved with in her life. She looks like somebody's stern grandmother so when I idly looked through this book, I was surprised to find myself drawn in immediately. It is a large book, but I read it very fast as I just could not put it down. This is how a biography should be written, it is well researched and yet still reads almost like a novel.

I am now a fan of Peter Speir books. This is a very nice book. The provider was very prompt and arrived in new condition.

My four children are now in their thirties and they loved this song when they were young. I bought this edition for my two grandsons aged 18 months and three and a half and they love it. No publisher has it in Australia but Amazon came to the rescue! It also has the music included which is great for our musical famly. The whole family - children and adults- join in the singing and we always end up laughing. The illistrations are tasteful and vibrant.

A favorite family song brought to life with wonderful pictures. Perfect for a child--music and lyrics included.

Wonderful adaptation of a traditional song to a child's storybook. Superb pen and ink drawings display the tale of a fox coming into town to obtain food for his Mrs. and ten pups (or whatever they are called). The drawings are charming showstoppers - I find that my two year old gets impatient while I stare into the pictures, trying to find every rich detail. PC warning - it's a bit odd to see that the goose in this story apparantly survives the ride home to the fox's den - with eyes wide open and a few tears in his eyes. On one page we see him gazing, shocked and defenseless, at his unfolding circumstances. On the next page we see him plucked - but delicious. Hey, it's a cruel world out there and foxes don't live on salads. Great book and it deserves a new generation of fans. Buy it and pass it on!

This is one of my all time favorites. The text consists of one version of an old folk song, general known as "The Fox." There are probably several dozen versions of this particular song, likely even more. I know of at least nine myself. The one used in this work is from a Burl Ives recording done in 1945. I was and am a big fan of Ives, so this book has been a real treat for me. The song originated from a poem, written in the 14th for 15th century in Middle English. I can remember versions sung of this song at various gatherings back to the late 1940s. This particular work was originally published about 1961 i.e. the Spire's version...not to be confused with one written by Wendy Watson which is a good work itself.

Anyway, the text consists of the words to the old song and this is a wonderful sing-along book. The art work by Peter Spier is some of the best. It is extremely detailed, the colors are wonderfully blended and even though they are actual paintings, they give a true feeling of being there. The story consists of a fox who goes out on a chilly night and visits the hen/goose/duck house of a local farmer in or near a village. The fox does this in order to feed his family. The book is the picture and word story of his journey there and back with the meal for his family. I note that there is some disagreement here as to the location of this story. It certainly took place (the story) during the late 1800s or possibly the early 1900s. The setting is rural. If I were to give a guess, I would say it probably took place in New England, possibly Massachusetts, Connecticut or Penn. Of course you could make a pretty good argument for Virginia also, but the civil war monuments shown in the book look to me more Union than Southern. Yes indeed folks, they do grow tobacco in New England. There are several pictures of tobacco drying sheds in the book. There are also pictures of covered bridges and wonderful details of the country side, farm and village.

The illustrations alternate between full color and black and white sketch type drawings. I personally find this technique quite appealing. I know the kids to which I read this book to don't seem to be bothered a bit by it. In fact, I have caught several of them trying to copy some parts of the black and white drawings. I do love the author's use of color, shades and his minute attention to detail.

Now, parents do take note: The fox does indeed kill the old goose and makes off with a duck to boot. There are not graphic details of this other than the fox family finishing off the cooked bones after their wonderful meal. Some parents may feel that their child may have problems with this. To be honest, this is where parenting comes in. Each parent knows, or should know, what his kid can or cannot handle and at what age. I personally have no problems with it. The fox is acting according to his nature and yes, foxes do indeed raid hen houses.(Goodness knows I have lost enough chickens to the little guys). Again though, this should be the parent's call.

There is another note of interest and suggestion. This book is ideal to introduce the young reader to Middle English. A quick wed search can provide the text of the original poem, along with many versions of this song. It is interesting to see how our language has developed and evolved over the years.

All in all, there is little not to like about this book. The art work is wonderful, you cannot beat the text, you get a great sing-along book and I have found that kids love the thing. I have used this particular work from Kindergarten up through the seventh and eight grades. Adults also enjoy listening to it.

We live about four hours from the Bay Area. We own two of the other Trailblazer books. Since we trust their accuracy and like their layout, that alone convinced us to try their Golden Gate guide. Just don't make the mistake of buying this older version. Click on the author's name and it will take you to the newest edition. It blows away all the other hiking books for the region. We use it for 3-day weekend getaways to where it's cool.
Golden Gate Trailblazer: Where to Hike, Walk, Bike in San Francisco & Marin

I just bought this book based on the reviews and will be returning it. We live in Sausalito and the Marin Headlands are essentially our backyard. I bought the book to find new areas in the Golden Gate area to explore but when I looked at the area I know well, the Marin Headlands, the information ( map and route description ) were inaccurate and misleading.

This book is excellent but readers should know the authors have recently revised it for 2004/2005. They've added more maps and photos and a section for family outings. The easiest way to find the new edition is to click on the authors name. Note the title has changed slightly too. It's now Golden Gate Trailblazer: where to hike, walk, bike in San Francisco and Marin.

My vacation to San Francisco lasted three weeks. I bought Golden Gate Trailblazer when I arrived and walked many miles with it as my guide. Treasured memories are Limantour and McClures beaches at Point Reyes National Seashore which I never would have found on my own. There's so much more to the Bay Area than Fisherman's Wharf and the cable cars and traffic. This book excels when it comes to organization with maps in every section and a very detailed index. I highly recommend it to hikers and walkers who have never visited this part of California's coast. Like me, you'll probably be surprised at all the places these local authors have packed inside.

Simply said . . . wow. What a find! High on my list for seeing all the offbeat and major sites around the City and along Marin's rugged coast and bay wetlands. For years I've been the chauffer when guests come and stay. Now I just hand my friends a copy of Trailblazer and tell them to begin at trail #1, The City. For trails in the Golden Gate National Recreation area and Mt. Tamalpais, this is the most detailed book. You really get a feel for northern California and its history by reading it. Maps are A+ too.

You gotta have this book if you're a Bruce fan. Great history and old photos. Great back stories and nostalgia. I was a bit dissapointed with the reproductions - both in terms of relevance and also the quantity of them, but all in all it is well worth the money. I mean, people actually paid $50 for the Madonna book a few years back. Puh-lease.... there is only one BOSS!

I recently took my 10 year old to a Springsteen concert and he is hooked. At his urging we went to the local library to see if they had a book on the Boss..we found this one and he loved it so much I ordered it..the great thing about it was that I loved it too !! Nothing better than something you can enjoy with your kids. I give this a thumbs up !!

My daughter got this book for me for X-Mas,
and it's the neatest thing !
Great chronological history of Bruce and his
various bands, along with the cool artifacts
placed throughout the book, including 2 great
posters !
Great bargain and must-have for any fan of the Boss !!

It's one of the greatest gifts you can give a Springsteen-fan. It holds the hole story from start til today and includes som replicas of tickets and posters

I bought this book not knowing what to expect. Talk about a labor of love. I highly recommend Greetings From E Street to any serious Bruce Springsteen fan. It's chock full of nifty things and some good information, as well. I was very pleased with this book. It has replicas of tickets, backstage passes, concert posters, and other memorabilia. The writing, which is fine, is secondary to the entire package. Just a real treat. If you have a die hard Springsteen fan in your house, he or she would love this book.

I could go on for pages and pages about what was so great about this book, "How to Be Like Walt". But in the end all I really mean is this book is a must read for anyone who has ever had dreams; wants to be astonished; loves anything Walt Disney created; and likes to read a book they won't want to put down. Part biography; part self-improvement; part fascinating facts. Lots of quotes by Walt Disney, his family, Disney imagineers that worked with Walt; and more. Learn where it all started. Read about the failures, the triumphs, and the Walt Disney philosophy EVEN after success hit - Walt called it: "plussing". TEN STARS!!! No make that 1928 STARS!!! "It all started with a Mouse."

This is the best book about Walt; and on how to get that magic in your everyday life. I strongly suggest this book for everyone looking to improve their leadership and make magic everywhere they go.

One of the best "self help" books I have ever read. The author uses Walt's real life experiences to drive his points home. I could not put this book down. You don't have to be a Disney fan to appreciate the messages in this book. And if you are a Disney fan, you will LOVE this book!!

With my life-long admiration for the creative genius of Walt Disney, a book with the title "How To Be Like Walt" proved irresistible and became the first book I chose to read about Walt Disney. I couldn't be happier with my choice.
Whether you are a Walt Disney fan - or a person who wants to live boldly and creatively - or someone looking for inspiration in adversity... this book is going to impact you in a beautiful way.
Both biographical and inspirational, Pat Williams not only tells you the personal story of Walt Disney (which I found surprisingly full of difficulty and heart-wrenching moments) but weaves it into an engaging how-to manual on living your life fully and at full-throttle. Without getting preachy or fawning, the author (who's a pretty accomplished and unconventional guy himself) allows Walt's own infectious energy and joy to permeate the pages and the reader.
I truly believe there isn't a soul who won't be better for reading "How To Be Like Walt"...because who among us doesn't have dreams lying dormant, waiting to come true? Who among us doesn't need a little more magic in our everyday? If a man who came from so little could find the will to accomplish so much despite the resistance of so many...why not you?

This book is 75% biography of Walt Disney and 25% self-motivational...but put together, it's so much more than that! Love how Pat Williams ends each chapter on how to LEARN from Walt on HOW TO BE LIKE WALT. Very inspirational...for everyone...!!