Arizona Books

So it's a cookbook, along with many others. It does have easily found common ingredients and the recipes are fairly easy to follow. Not a bad buy.

This is the first of Paula Deen's cookbooks I have owned, and wow! Recipes are so easy, and most ingredients are already in my pantry (really amazing for me!!) Tonight I made her gooey butter cakes, and what a hit! So far, haven't found a recipe we haven't liked! I love cookbooks, but normally only find a couple recipes I actually like in the entire book. Not this one!! My favorite!!!

Paula Deen delivers in this book full of fantastic recipes. So far everything I have tried in this book has turned out great. I always get praises from the desserts I have made from this book. If you like to bake, I'd highly suggest purchasing this book. You won't be disappointed!

I have many Paula Deen books. I just love her. Every recipe I've tried has that great old fashioned southern taste. This is one of my "go to" cookbooks. I know that whatever I make from it, will be fabulous.

I was very disappointed by this book. There were very few photos (16 pages of photos for 120+ recipes). I expected higher class recipes from a restaurant (less use of canned Pillsbury biscuits, brownie and cake mixes, jarred ice cream topping, frozen whipped topping, and saltines). And way too many recipes call for coconut (with no note of possible substitutions or omissions).

I bought this book for my mom. I hope she likes it more than I did.

Wasted enough time reading this. So, this will short. Pretentious. Boring. Two things a good book isn't. Thank you.

I'm no critic. Just know what I like when I read it, and this is a lovely novel. What a cool movie it could be. (Sounding like a teenager is cool, too.) I hope Poirier publishes another novel soon.

I have been reading all the previous reviews of this book and I don't want to be redundant, so I will simply say that this is one of the most enjoyable, easy and fun to read books of its type. Its a real shame that it is not more well known as people are missing out on a good thing. If you havent already done so, read it now. You wont be disappointed!!

The novel started out strong. I immediatley became immersed in the life of Ellis, Wendy, Goat man and Barney. I wanted so much for Ellis just to keep his cool composure and not sell out to the stuffy persona that his prep school embodied. I did want him to become more responsible than his parents, but I feel like he never really got to have a child hood and then he started becoming a jerk and I was never really sure why. I thought that the novel ended abruptly and didn't give proper explanation of certain details. Like Why was Wendy so crazy? Why did Frank really leave? Did she always love him? Why did Ellis start acting like a spoiled brat? Was Goat man really doing anything with the goats?@! It might have been more of a coming of age novel for Wendy than it really was for Ellis

Goats is an off the wall coming of age story, that brings with it the emotion and depth of a classic novel. The writing style of Mark Jude Porrier entrances the reader and creates an excitment that makes this book impossible to put down. Some of the subject matter may be extreme, but it suits its purpose of being a down to earth coming of age story. The goats that are so vividly described are so personified you begin to associate with them as much as you do the main characters. This book is a great example of a lazy summer read, and will bring a smile and possibly a tear to anyone who reads it.

My granddaughter, who just had her 8th birthday, enjoyed the book I sent her very much. She began reading it just as soon as she got it as a present for her birthday.

This is one of the few Goosebumps books that we've seen a recording of the television show that was made...and I have to say, in this case, the television episode was actually better than the book version. This The Haunted Mask is the story of Carly Beth just fed up with being wimpy, wimpy, wimpy...tired of constantly being teased, pranked, and scared by her friends Carly Beth is determined to get the scariest Halloween mask ever and show her friends that she's not such a wimp after all. As with all things in the R.L Stine universe, Carly Beth's quest to teach her tormenters a lesson comes with a hefty price.

On the night of Halloween, she just can't bring herself to put on the not-so-scary costume her mother's made for her, instead she runs out to a shop and finds "the perfect mask" in the back room of the store, unfortunately the owner is hesitant to part with it...ultimately she gets the mask and embarks on what she thinks will be the best get even Halloween scare ever...until she realizes that the mask much more than an ugly face to care her friends with and that she may become trapped inside as it begins to change her personality as well. Will Carly Beth get the mask off? You'll have to read to find out!

Not as enjoyable as I'd have liked...The Haunted Mask isn't a "bad" book, for me it boils down to feeling no connection to any of the characters...we don't get to know Carly Beth before we see her pranked, teased and scared constantly and the picture the reader gets is that if these are her friends, she sure doesn't need any enemies...they're downright mean, the goal seems to be to embarrass her more than anything else. I think young readers would enjoy The Haunted Mask, as a whole it is one of the scarier premises of the series but for me personally, this was a flop. I didn't think the interaction between the friends was indicative of "friend" behavior, it felt mean spirited perhaps if the build up to Halloween had been longer and we'd gotten to know the four friends just a bit more, this would have been a better read. Overall, I felt a bit let down, I rate this at three stars because the idea behind it is good, but the execution and character development was really lacking.

Sixth grader Steve Boswell has a problem, a very serious problem. He has been sentenced to coach a 1st grade soccer team as punishment for a prank gone wrong. As if losing every afternoon after school was not enough the team of 6 year olds seem determined to destroy him with their antics. Steve has decided to extract revenge by scaring them with a Halloween prank. His plans call for a particularly frightening costume, like the one a classmate scared him with the previous year. When he asked about the mask, however, his classmate was very reluctant to tell where she had gotten the mask. After Steve did manage to get the information she pleaded with him not to get a mask. Before Halloween was over Steve wished he had listened to her.

This is part of the popular GOOSEBUMPS series targeted to 9 to 12 year olds (Reading level 4th grade). As with the rest of the series this one is rather scary and very gross, totally appealing to it's pre-teen audience. Also attractive to this group is the organization of the story into short cliff-hanger chapters urging the reader to continue. The book itself is quite short, only 124 pages - most adults would be able to finish it in less than an hour - making it likely to hold the interest of even a reluctant reader until the end.

This book in not nearly as good as the first Haunted Mask by the same author. It never tied up the ending of the first book by explaining what happened to Karlie's brother. The rest of the story was too predicteble.

I JUST LOVED THE BOOK. IT ALMOST SUCKED ME INSIDE IT.

This is one of the best books I have read in a while. I thoroughly enjoyed Sandra Day O'Connor's vivid depiction of her youth living on a ranch in the southwest. Particularly impressive were the connections made between lessons learned on the ranch and her philosophy on life, which ultimately shaped her career. I couldn't put the book down. I have purchased several copies to give to friends and family who have connections to ranching and/or the southwestern U.S. I highly recommend this book, even to those who do not have connections to ranching. As the majority of the population moves further away from agrarian life, this book is a refreshing reminder of the importance of agriculture and those who labor to provide for our basic existence.

LAZY B by Sandra Day O'Connor gives the reader a picture through words and photographs of life on a ranch in the arid southwest. But it also presents the development of independence, the value of a job well done not for praise or monetary considerations but because you believe in yourself.
The way of life is fading into myth and legends, but an aspect of the value of children to the economic unit of the family needs to be examined and studied to give us greater insight into our educational processes. Productive work is the hallmark of a human being, it shines through the dust for this family and their employees.

A wonderful and genuine book that provides great imagery and a window into the real and raw Southwest. The book is less about Justice O'Connor and more about our magnificant Southwest. Environmental issues, farming, education, and family relationships are all discussed in an authentic and beautifully descriptive way. It's not a page turner but it's a lovely book if you want a picture about growing up in the Southwest when cowboys roamed and cattle were plentiful.

I loved reading this memoir about growing up on a huge cattle ranch in the American southwest. Sandra Day O'Connor and her brother H. Alan Day write from the heart in an easy to read book with lots of pictures. This is a tribute to their parents, a portrait of a colorful childhood in a remote setting on the Arizona border. The Day family raised cattle for a living; real cowboys worked the ranch, broke wild horses, built and mended fences, rounded up cattle, drilled wells, and built windmills. The children participated in all aspects of ranch life.

The story is about three generations of a family surviving on an arid and strange land - what the land taught them and how they coped with extremes of drought and distance. Individual stories of the cowboys, their love of horses and cattle and other animals are portrayed in a warm and loving way, as if the authors are smiling as they remember those happy days and their parents who taught and encouraged Sandra, Alan, and their sister Ann; the fun times, hard work, windmills and wells, rodeos, the first train thru the area, school, and so much more.

Short chapters, wonderful pictures, and a pleasure to read about a part of America where it truly was "home on the range", and where the cattle industry flourished over a span of a century. Thank you authors for sharing. The quotations are priceless. Here is one of them: When Time, who steals our years away, Shall steal our pleasure, too. The Memory of the past will stay, And half our joys renew. (Thomas Moore, "song")

"Lazy B," like the title implies, is the story of Sandra Day O'Connor and her younger brother growing up on a ranch in south-eastern Arizona. They grew up in an isolated environment that mandated self-reliance and initiative. Sandra received much of her formal education through riding the train to El Paso to stay with her maternal grandparents while attending a local girls' school. Her father had wanted to attend Stanford but the responsibilities of taking over the family ranch prevented that. Sandra O'Connor was able to achieve that for him, where she excelled academically, was then inspired by one of her instructors to study law (also at Stanford), met her husband (and also dated classmate William Rehnquist), and then struggled to begin a law career at a time that women had almost no such opportunity. (Despite Sandra graduating from Stanford Law #2 in her class, her early job searches were at best met with "Can you type?")

Then it was on to Phoenix where she started a law partnership, then moved to the Attorney General's office, became elected to the State Senate, became a Superior Court Judge, was promoted to the Arizona Court of Appeals by Governor Babbitt (D), and then selected by President Reagan to the Supreme Court.

Personal Note: In the late 1970s I appeared in Judge O'Connor's court as a witness and was astounded at her astute (and polite) questioning of one of the attorney's. Later, I witnessed the buzz as those who knew her stopped to congratulate her Supreme Court appointment. And most recently I had the opportunity to hear her and her brother give a presentation on this book - very insightful, witty, and again - polite. (She autographed my copy!)

An inspiring person!

I delved into this book expecting the typical mob story: lots of violence, vendettas and brotherhood. That isn't what it is. Its certainly more of a character study, focusing on Billy and the boss, Dutch Schultz. I was disappointed at first, but next thing I knew I was done with the book and I think I enjoyed it. If it had been longer I think I wouldv'e lost interest though. Good length.

I had read "The March" and "Ragtime," so I figured "Billy Bathgate" would be excellent, and it was. On the surface, it's a simple story of the last few months of gangster Dutch Schultz's life. But Doctorow tells the story through the eyes of Billy Bathgate, a teenager who gets in with Schultz's gang as a go-fer. Doctorow's writing is, as always, superb, and more than just a recitation of facts, going deeply into the gangsters' world and their behaviors, and how they operated within society.

I'm still not sure if Billy Bathgate was based on a real person or if he is entirely fictional, but telling the story through his experiences as a lesser member of the gang allowed an inside look at Schultz without disturbing the facts.

A very readable and fascinating look into the New York crime scene of the 1930's.

We've all read scores of stories in which a young, spunky kid makes his way up the criminal ladder with his wit and little tricks...but this is by Doctorow, so it's done better than most. The book contains some of the standard themes inherent in the drama -- the thugs, the incredibly sexy woman that no one can resist, betrayal, and death. However, it often defies expectations and leads the reader to really share with Billy's emotions. All the scenes, whether they be about torture, sex, familial love, or childish musings, connect to universal emotions.

The only problem I had with this book was the ending. I was thoroughly enjoying it and unable to focus on my work until I finished but towards the very end it just got...unimpressive. While everything did wrap up well, it seemed more like an easy or expected conclusion than one that was original and fitting to the characters themselves. But overall, it's a great read.

EL Doctrow's talent with language is a step or two or three or four beyond that of the average scrivener. And even of the somewhat above average scrivener. Most of us aspire to prose as good as his without ever quite achieving it. But sometimes in this book he is a bit undisciplined in the application of his talent, and gets himself in trouble as a result. It's evident right from the first chapter, when passages like this:

"He had to have planned it because when we drove onto the dock the boat was there and the engine was running and you could see the water churning up phosphorescence in the river, which was the only light there was because there was no moon, nor no electric light either in the shack where the dockmaster should have been sitting, nor on the boat itself, and certainly not from the car, yet everyone knew where everything was...."

...and this:

"But anyway I wasn't thinking of any of this at the time, it was just something I had in me I could use if I had to, not even an idea but an instinct waiting in my brain in case I ever needed it, or else why would I have leapt lightly over the rail..."

...establish his protagonist Billy Bathgate as a capable, savvy, and colloquially eloquent street urchin. Then, a few pages later, we get this:

"I think now that the key to grace or elegance in any body, male or female, is the length of the neck, that when the neck is long several conclusions follow, such as a proper proportion of weight to height, a natural pride of posture, a gift for eye contact, a certain nimbleness of the spine and length of stride, all in all a kind of physical gladness in movement leading to athletic competence or a love for dancing. Whereas the short neck predicts a host of metaphysical afflictions, any one of which brings about the ineptitude for life that creates art, invention, great fortunes, and the murderous rages of the disordered spirit."

Those of you familiar with Mark Twain's hilarious evisceration of James Fenimore Cooper's literary offenses in "The Deerslayer" will recognize the problem. For those who aren't, think specifically of Twain's Rule #7:

"They require that when a personage talks like an illustrated, gilt-edged, tree-calf, hand-tooled, seven- dollar Friendship's Offering in the beginning of a paragraph, he shall not talk like a negro minstrel in the end of it. But this rule is flung down and danced upon in the 'Deerslayer' tale."

Doctrow violates this rule too. Not as egregiously as Cooper, and not within one paragraph, and from the bottom up rather than the top down, but he still violates it. I'd have given Billy Bathgate a four or even five star rating if he'd been more consistent in his management of character voice.

Billy Bathgate sucks you into a world of a down and out street wise kid who is seduced by a low level seedy mobster into being his protoge. The writting is crisp and the story sharp. Very entertaining and probably Doctorows best work.

This is the No. 1 classic of all Louis Lamor's novels. It is both true to our western heritage and descriptive of man's inner goodness. I find it rewarding to repeatedly read it, and also to view the movie again and again.

I ordered this book so long ago I can not remember the date. Is it lost on the internet or is it in the mail?

I've always liked Westerns better in the movies than in fiction. What makes for good mythic archetypes on the silver screen often makes for something less than that on the printed page. Still, Louis L'Amour's Hondo worked for me. It's a tale of the tall silent loner, hard on the outside and a sensitive soul deep within, the kind of archetype first given us by James Fenimore Cooper's Hawkeye character in Last of the Mohicans. Since then writers of Westerns have reworked the character again and again. And L'Amour does it, as well, with Hondo Lane. He creates a supremely likeable loner who is equally at home with the Apache Indians as with the white settlers, and who is suddenly thrust into a situation in which he must worry about a lone settler woman and her six year old son living in Indian country as the Apaches rise up in rebellion at the broken treaty foisted on them by the white man. Vittoro, the old and implacable Apache chief, takes a shine to the woman's son when he shows unexpected pluck and extends his protection over the boy and his mother. But another Apache, Silva, balks at this, even as Hondo is heading to the homestead to rescue the mom and her son, the woman's ne'er-do-well husband hot on his heels, intent on murder and mayhem. Hondo must fight his way back to the woman and boy, despite the harsh enmity of the Apaches, and balance the demands of his army employers with the needs of the little family he has decided to adopt. It's a good, fast moving story though it hasn't much depth to it. Nor are the characters, who are mostly well drawn, very deeply portrayed. In the end its the drive of the narrative and the rich evocation of the Arizona desert that carry this one. L'Amour worked the Western myth as well in print as many contemporary filmmakers sometimes managed to do in celluloid. -- SWM

In thirty five years, L'Amour wrote over one hundred books. Every one is still in print. Quite an accomplishment. I've read dozens of his books and Hondo is unquestionably my favorite.

Louis Lamoure is often described as a good storyteller, but a mediocre writer. Hondo, his first novel, proves that Lamoure could write when he paid attention to his craft. When you start late and publish over one hundred books, it's difficult to maintain the quality required to get a first novel published.

Unusual for a Western, Hondo is a love story, reminiscent of the The Virginian (Enriched Classics (Pocket)). Published in 1953, the story also provides a balanced view of the Apaches.

Lamoure loved of the West and it comes through to the reader in his stories.
The Shut Mouth Society
The Shopkeeper

A classic western complete with horses, guns, Indians, and of course a hero.

Well organized by city, this book provides great usable maps for trail-finding and sets expectations appropriately for each trail experience. Latest edition adds some new trails and accurately reflects the changing trail landscape in Phoenix due to continued land development.

I'm a Flagstaff native and now living in Tucson. I STILL use this guide and carry it like a bible... it is, hands down, the best trail guide I've found. The information is presented in a clear and consise manner, with humor and great illustrations. When Cosmic Ray says that you will most likely ask "This is a trail???" (ie Airport Loop in Sedona) he is correct. Yes the maps may *seem* playful and rough, but they ARE spot-on... don't let them fool you.

As with ANY riding in Arizona... come prepared. Plenty of water, tools, extra tubes (did I mention extra tubes?) and Cosmic Rays.

I reviewed this book after I bought it and before I used it on my trip to AZ. I still like it a lot--it's charming, funny, and spot on about trails. Its technical ratings are cautious--trails he rated "advanced" I rode with ease with some walking, which is unusual for me. But the maps are "cute" and highly stylized, so don't depend on them. I got lost on every ride. Buy the local maps whereever you ride. But still buy the book.

This is my 6th copy of Cosmic Ray's Trail guide. I tend to give copies to friends headed to Arizona for Bike vacations.

For me, Ray's trail guides have been a wonderful blend of humor and useful information. The trail descriptions have been very accurate and always includes additional information or some nice tips.

In numerous trips to Arizona, I've riden most of the trails mentioned in Flagstaff, Sedona, Phoenix and Tucson. My trail experiances have always accurately matched Ray's description.

If you are looking for a boring technical manual or something for GPS navigation, this book is not for you. This book is really about fun and enjoying some great new trails. Ray's descriptions will give you more than enough information to experience the trail for yourself.

Every time I return to Arizona, I pickup the latest version. This is the Arizona trail bible.

For what it's worth, you also need Topo's, good equipment and supplies. On the trail, things can happen and you need to be prepared.

I am sorry Mr. Rawlins got lost, but keep in mind that my cartoony maps are traced from topos. They are to scale, oriented north and include many details and tips not found on topo maps. He says he got lost on every ride. Interesting. That's not what I hear from other riders. In fact, many, if not most of the rides in my book are SIGNED. Mr. Rawlins must not be paying attention. About "Rating The Rides". It is not possible to rate rides to satasfy every rider. Riders vary greatly in ability. On page 3 of my book there is an entire page devoted to "Rating The Rides" explaining exactly how I arrive at the ratings. Mr. Rawlins should try reading the book he is reviewing.

This non-fiction book is about the expedition of John Wesley Powell and their pioneering and death-defying exploration of the Grand Canyon in 1869. Powell, a college professor who had lost an arm at Shiloh, was well-prepared to map the canyons of the Colorado and do a scientific andgeological survey. Unfortunately, he was no leader, and the expedition suffered terribly for it. He rounded up a crew of mountain men and ne'er-do-wells, as well as a few neurotic former Civil War veterans and set off in rowboats that couldn't have been more ill-suited to running the violent rapids of the Colorado. Powell and his men saw amazing sites, but they almost perished multiple times. Finally there was a mutiny in which several men ended up leaving the party and trying to hike out of the canyon(they were never seen again); the others ran the rapids and somehow lived to tell the tale.

While I liked learning more about Powell's expedition, Dolnick has little sense of pacing, and uses annoying modern metaphors every time he gets the chance. The result is a plodding read on what should have been a can't-miss story. Down the Great Unknown has its merits, but the definitive book on Powell and the Grand Canyon has yet to be written.

Reviewer: Liz Clare, co-author of the historical novel "To the Ends of the Earth: The Last Journey of Lewis & Clark"

I've "rafted" the upper Colorado.

Of course that was in a motorized raft, led by experienced pilots, with a map and they did all the cooking and if something really bad happened the ranger service could chopper in and get me (Hey, I *did* hike out from Phantom Ranch)

I can't conceive of doing it in an ungainly rowboat, without a steering oar, having little provisions, without a map or even knowledge of the river (what happens if you hit a 100 ft fall and nowhere to portage?), and where a broken ankle would have meant an almost certain death -- and with one arm.

Truthfully, its amazing this exposition survived.

Dolnick weaves in Powell's embellished account with the other expedition journals to craft a balanced account of the expedition, along with correlating the trip with known features of the canyon. Dolnick describes the tensions within the team -- categorizes their moves, good and bad and tracks their trailblazing passage.

Excellent read.

I enjoyed this book very much. So much that I have loaned it to family and friends to enjoy.

This is a pretty decent book for the newcomer who has never read anything about Powell. I found it less entertaining than my fellow reviewers though, as it follows the tedium of the daily journals a little too closely. I also found the narrative to be interspersed with too many digressions. These range from opinions of the Green/Colorado river by modern rafting experts to accounts of other early rafting expeditions, and a lengthy 2-chapter segment on the American Civil war and Battle of Shiloh. This latter exercise contributes nothing to the book, by the way! The reader is also left in the dark about the Native American peoples, Mormon settlers, and miners who inhabited this area at the same point in time ... Really, it is as if the expedition were done in a vacuum. Even worse was the lack of information on 9 of the 10 men who took part in the expedition. While there is more than enough about John Wesley Powell, readers get only sketchy details about the lives of the other 9 men. Even the simplest details like where these men were born is left out, nor are we given much about the kinds of lives they lived (careers, families, etc.) prior to the expedition (and precious little afterwards as well). Although 6 of these 9 men were, like Powell, fellow Union veterans of the Civil War, but we get nothing about their wartime experiences! We also have no clue what motivated them to join this expedition. This oversight would not doubt have suited the egotistical Powell, but is a serious oversight for a modern historian.

This book was informative but not a real "page turner". The author went off on tangents often that took away from the story at hand. It was not a bad book, but it was not full of the adventure that you would have expected the trip to have been.

Don't expect science fiction. And don't enter into this because of the fascinating description of the game for immortality: it is explained in no more detail than as described in the synopsis. What this novel from Silverberg does offer, rather unexpectedly, is a quartet of intriguing character studies. The four young college students who set out on this expedition are examined in such astounding detail that they are given an authenticity unrivaled by any other characters I have encountered. Though seeming stereotypical at first glance, a Jew, a homosexual, a farm-boy, and a blueblood, each personality contains much deeper elements and motivations than in any literature I've read. Partially, this is due to the graphic, and at times horrifying experiences that make up their pasts. No detail is spared here; the prudish and faint of heart will likely find themselves repulsed. What prompted my average review, however, is something of a product of my own expectation, though it is fostered by the novel's description. I was searching for a story of the quest for immortality and the ultimate culmination of this search in some form of success or failure. While this element of the plot is indeed fulfilled, it is vastly inferior to the four characterizations that make up this work. To be truthful, they are superb characterizations, but this is simply not what drew me to the novel in the first place and sparked my interest.

3 stars for an admirable display of skill in the portrayal of these four young men, but not nearly enough time was devoted to the fascinating concept of a search for life everlasting.

Blood and Rain
Blood for the Masses

The Book of Skulls
By
Robert Silverberg

Reviewed by
B.L.Morgan


Novel
5 Daggers of Death

What would you be willing to do to live forever?

Four college students are asked this question and take a mystical journey to a forgotten temple called The House of Skulls in the Southwestern Desert. The answers each one of then find in this temple are devastating.

Make no mistake about it The Book of Skulls is a very powerful novel. After reading this book you might be examining your own motivations for the choices you've made in your life. I've never read anything like this book anywhere else and I don't expect to read anything like this ever again.

Told in the first person by four different characters, the structure alone of this novel is fascinating. Writers should read this one just to see how Robert Silverberg put this book together. The most important aspect though was the realism of the characters and the situation they are in.

On the spine The Book of Skulls was labeled as Science Fiction. There was no way this novel was science fiction, not even close. The front cover blurb called it a Dark Fantasy. That's closer but still no cigar. I would call this book a Dark Drama with violent consequences. Usually I don't like dramas. Silverberg makes this drama entrancing.

I highly recommend The Book of Skulls to anyone who wants to experience a novel unlike anything you'll find anywhere else.

So, what would you do to live forever? Remember, the price for immortality is very expensive.

The answers you find may not be to your liking and living forever may not be worth the cost.

Afternote:
As was reported in Sinesteria Volume 1, Issue 2, The Book Of Skulls is being made into a movie with William Freidkin as the director. If the movie is true at all to the book it will be an extremely good movie. I'll be waiting to check that one out.

I bought this book because I thought it was horror. When I read the back and saw it was classified as SF I was a little leary. I don't think it's horror or SF. I see it as a piece of fiction that delves into four very different personalities, how they interact with each other, how they examine their own personal demons. This is definitely a book I want to read again!

I found this book among some SF and Fantasy books being thrown out for trash and am really glad I saved it. Though presented and packaged as a dime novel mass market popular paperback, the work is deserving of high literary merit and probably should be taught in literature classes where character study and symbolism are main themes.
Silverberg's scharacter developement of the four college boys who have discovered directions to an Arizona cult that can grant immortality is astounding. Parts of the story are told from the first person viewpoints of each of the four questers, and as in Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" each section has a distinct style and train of thought in order to effectively describe the different personalities of each of them. Knowing that in order to complete the ritual, one of the companions must be murdered and another must commit suicide, the thought processes of the companions become exceedingly intricate as the story unfolds.
The most obvious symbolism in the book is stated by analogy when the tracking of a wild beast by primitive hunters is described. The four companions are, essentially, a War Chief, a Political Chief, a Witchdoctor, and a Court Jester. They are tracking a wild beast across a vast landscape, and this beast is symbolic not only of immortality but also of an ideal civilization. The interaction between the four adventurers is an analogy to the relationship, communication, and strife between different factions of government.
Incredibly profound, hypnotically interesting, and with an ending that will blindside even the most astute reader, The Book of Skulls is indeed a novel worthy of cannonization. I am exceedingly happy to see it back in print!

I first read this book when it came out (I was in high school). I was profoundly affected by it then, and it still hits the spot today. So glad it is finally available again after such a long time. Probably Silverberg's best work, and a quick and easy read, whether the first time or the 8th. A great psychological exploration of 4 separate characters told in first person by each. Probably my favorite book of all time.

I've just finished Marks' book and was very impressed. The readers who will most appreciate the book are those with a researcher's heart, who aren't looking for simple good and bad, right or wrong but simply wanting to sift through as much of the available information as possible in one place and come to their own conclusions. For those who have already made up their minds about the characters involved, find a different book that suits what you wish to see.

As with any historical event with multiple witnesses, there are a lot of contradictions in the stories given. Marks sifts through the various versions, gives the readers the facts of who recounted what and also ties together information to let the reader have a better idea what might be true or not. For example, if one person is supposed to have killed another and this information is from hearsay sources, she will offer what other factual evidence is known to let the reader know that this event is likely to have happened or unlikely to have happened (as in one case where the story had someone killed three years before another event they were known to have been involved in actually happened).

Having read the entire book, I don't see the claims made by some other reviewers that the book attempts to be politically correct, but politics does play a part in helping explain how different factions chose sides. Marks lays out the local politics that helped to split the town. The Earps are not presented as good, bad or indifferent. They, and the other cast of characters are presented as people, with their own goals, their own agendas and those agendas are not presented as either good or bad. This is a story of people in a time and place where the common rules for living together that we take for granted in today's modern civilization were still in the process of being developed. The events of the book appear to be scrupulously researched and documented. An outstanding book that doesn't tell you what you want to hear either way, but instead tells you what was said, what others reported happened and then tries to lay out what most likely happened based upon all the evidence available. For those who say that the book is derivative, the nature of the book is that Marks has taken what is available on the people and the events, tells where the information comes from and makes no assumptions that the stories told to those biographers were 100% accurate and true. She compiles the information and lays it out in such a way that the reader can make his/her own decision.

I have received and commenced reading this story. After going through the first 50 pages of the hard-to-let-go narrative, I am inclined to say that the topic is very well-researched and written by the author - Prof. Paula. Many books and movies have been produced about this ugly confrontation in the frontier days of United States. Each seems to claim that its version is more authentic than the others. But result speaks for itself and the reader at large is the best judge of this abbreation in American history. The gunfight and subsequent death of several cowboys were inevitable given the chaotic and gun-totting period and the final showdown or shoot up in the OK Corral reflected the conditions and society of that time.
Wyatt Earp and his two brothers including the former's sidekick Doc. Holliday were determined to take law into their hands when they shot Bill Clanton and McLaury brothers. The feuding group reached its tensionable climax at OK Corral showdown could not be avoided and both parties insisted that they were right and other was wrong. For the book it provides all the evidence and background development until the shootout. As for the movie, I think the best was TOMBSTONE. I highly recommend this book and the movie to all readers of Amazon.com...so go for them while the stock lasts. Thanks.

I strongly recommend this book. It is not only about the infamous gunfight. It also covers the political and economic conditions that led up to the incident and the events that followed. The actual gunfight, which does not occur until the middle of the book, was part of a larger picture of the times. Marks has done a great job. My only complaint, and it is not really a complaint as much as a comment, is the lack of a photograph of Wyatt Earp's wife Josephine Marcus. Many of the other players covered in the book, both major and minor, are shown. But Marcus is curiously absent.

When I began reading this book, I was quite favorably impressed. The author had obviously done her homework and wrote widely about all manner of happenings in the early west and about the Earps' early days. Gradually, however, I noted that she was cherry picking her facts and was choosing her words quite carefully so as to depict the Earps, in general, and Wyatt Earp, in particular, in the worst possible light. It occurred to me that she must be setting them up to be the villains of the piece when she finally got around to the subject of the book, "The Gunfight at the OK Corral." As I continued to read, I looked forward to seeing if this would prove to be the case. I was not disappointed.

It was hard for me to believe but, in spite of her apparently extensive research, the author had somehow concluded that the Earp brothers were the cause of the problems in Tombstone, and (if I understand what she wrote and I read) that they initiated the action at the corral. She even went so far as to hypothesize a number of scenarios, leading up to that event, all of which reflected badly on Wyatt Earp, his brothers, and Doc Holliday. Strangely enough, however, although she had inadvertently set the stage for an even more likely scenario, she failed to mention it. I refer to the fact that, a number of pages earlier, she had quoted Ike Clanton as telling Wyatt Earp that if his associates ever became aware of the fact that he had conspired with Earp to capture three stage robbers, his life wouldn't be worth a plugged nickel.

What, then, would a cowardly Ike Clanton do when faced with the possibility that that information was, or was about to become, known? Of course: he would get drunk and go on the warpath against the Earps, which is exactly what he did. Add to this the fact that several of Ike's friends and associates, including his younger brother, just happened to arrive in town shortly after his widely known threats and the stage was set for a deadly confrontation largely based on a serious misunderstanding. In this scenario, Ike Clanton, by his threats and blustering tirade, would inadvertently have caused the gunfight at the OK Corral. This, to me, is a real possibility.

But with regard to the Earps and their reputation: does this author seriously believe that men who had been law officers in Wichita and Dodge City over a period of years, with minimal blood shed and with stellar reputations, would suddenly become outlaws? And does she seriously believe that a sickly dentist, who had made his living as a gambler, would all of a sudden decide to become a stage robber? A more likely scenario is that the "Democrats," as she termed them, i.e., those opposed to law and order in Tombstone, would use the same approach that Democrats use today. The best defense being a good offense, they would simply accuse the Earps of doing what they, themselves, were doing. Which is exactly what they did. Furthermore, if one considers the Earp brothers friends and associates, and their accomplishments over the years, as opposed Sheriff Behan's friends, associates, and posse members, Curly Bill Brocius, Ike Clanton, John Ringo, etc., one must conclude that the Earps, although flawed in many respects, acted in accordance with the law and that Sheriff Behan was either an outlaw; an associate of outlaws; or was somehow beholden to them, possibly for voting him into office.

So, although I found this book to be interesting in many respects, I find the author to be on the wrong side of the fence. And I can't help but wonder: How could someone seemingly know so much and understand so little. (For a better read, try "Murder in Tombstone: The Forgotten Trial of Wyatt Earp" by Steven Lubet, "Famous Gun Fighters of the Western Frontier" by Bat Masterson, "The O.K. Corral Inquest" by Alford E. Turner, "Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend" by Casey Tefertiller, "The Earps of Tombstone" by Douglas D. Martin, "The Tombstone Story" by John Myers Myers, or Tombstone's Epitaph" by Douglas D. Martin.")

If you want tall, rangy, squint-eyed men in dusters standing in the center of the street at high-noon, go elsewhere. If you want some real information on what the old west was like including the nitty-gritty of Republican vs. Democrat as a part of the troubles in Tombstone, this is the place.

I've read a biography of Wyatt Earp and several articles from various sources on this topic prior to reading Paula Mitchell Marks book. I wish I'd come here first. There's more good information (well documented too) packed into each page than you're likely to find in other sources. She doesn't just tell the story of the Earps, Clantons, Mclaury's and Doc Holliday (not to leave out Ringo & Curly Bill and all the rest), but sets the scene, showing what kind of society these people were operating within as part of a mining town in the old west.

Best of all, the author doesn't take a side. She's not out to paint anyone as a villain or saint. Therefore we're presented with both sides in their full glory, warts and all. Yes, the Earps were, to a degree, duly appointed wardens of the law. They were also gamblers, grifters and probably confidence men, not to mention thugs. Yes, the cowboys were rustlers and hell-raisers. They were also hard working cattle-men providing a service to the community. Both groups may or may not have been stage coach robbers. Each group broke down on party lines showing a fractious American political landscape not too discimilar to our own (although ours involves a bit less gun play). She even outlines how the treatment of the Apaches in the area played a part in the atmosphere and attitudes.

I enjoyed this book and I can recommend it if you're looking for a good set of information about the old west in general and the infamous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.