New Jersey Books

John and Lisa's family moved into a haunted house. I like when it's scary. It has lots of actions and lots of details. There are other languages in the book. It is a little confusing. They look around the house and everything looks really old. The ghost has been tapping on people. Lisa has a new horse. Then John and Lisa went to the battlefield with Arab the horse.

I was reading the Battlefield Ghost. The main people are John, Lisa and the Mom and Dad and the Ghost. This book is about when they move to a house and it is hunted. I did not like how short the book was. It is OK and I liked the book because it was like a forth grade book, and I'm in fifth grade. The ghost was a little pushy, but he was nice. I liked the ghost. He was cool. I would recommend you reading this book. I liked the end. The ghost goes to the place he should go to, and I like that kind of book.

If you have not read this book, you should. It's about a boy named John and a girl named Lise. One day John, his sister and their mom and dad moved to a haunted house. The ghost that haunted the house was named the Hendersen Ghost.
Something that I did not like about it was that they talked too much. I think there should have been more action. Anyone who likes suspense and a lot of fun you will like this book.

this is a book everyone could read! If you're looking for excitement, and chilling story, *READ THIS

I read a book called the "Battlefeild Ghost" and it is about a boy named John and his sister Lisa who move into their new house that everybody says that it is haunted... and it is. The only strange thing is that the house is haunted by an Hessian soldier and they're wondering what he's doing in their brand new house .To find what he's doing in their house read the best book in the world the "Battlefield Ghost".

This book is quite enjoyable. Mr. Edelstein's prose is both witty and informative. A true gem for anyone who vacations, or plans to vacation, at the Jersey shore.

I used this book when I took my family to Ocean City at the end of the 2006 season. It is organized by topic rather than by place so it was hard to find the Ocean City specific items. Information in the book was also very much out of date. The Ocean City aquarium that the book referred us to had burned down 5 years ago. A nice restuarant that the book talked about was a vacant lot when we tried to visit it. This type of thing happened at least two other times. Things weren't entirely bad. There were some gems in the book, but you had to dig for them.

My wife and I love the Shore. We spend a lot of time there and found this book to be a great guide. It's not only accurate but it's also a really fun read! I love it and will be giving it as gifts to a few of my shore-loving friends.

Although I did find the book somewhat useful in giving an overview of what people might do for a weekend at the Shore, I was a little disappointed in how briefly the author described many of the attractions. The book didn't really seem to give a sense of what the places were really . Would especially have liked to know more about good places to eat, like mini-reviews, not just a few short listings. Also wuld have liked more general stuff to read and more detail on activities for children in preschool to middle school range. Just didn't seem to be a really serious effort to help first-time visitors or people in need of real information.

Never could I have imagined a writer so eloquently describing the New Jersey Shore. I look forward to reading Mr. Edelstein's next product. Where in the world has this guy been? Buy it you'll love it!

I enjoyed this book very much, but Kennedy's absolute conviction of Hauptmann's innocence made me skeptical of his presentation of the evidence. He does manage to successfully humanize the defendant...so much so that you grieve along with his widow when he is executed. I hate to nitpick, but I wish the American publishers had substituted 'learned' for the archaic and very British 'learnt.' The author uses it so often it's like fingernails on a blackboard. As to Hauptmann's guilt, you need only ask, "How many coincidences can you believe?" He just happened to have some of the ransom money, he just happened to be of German descent, just happened to match Dr. Condon's description of "Cemetery John," just happened to have handwriting similar to the ransom notes, (though this is disputed by Kennedy) and just happened to have a floor plank in his attic that seemed to be the source of one of the kidnap ladder's rails. (a photo of the two boards shown end-to-end in Jim Fisher's excellent book "The Lindbergh Case" is completely convincing) For further clarification, try to catch Court TV's "Forensic Files" re-examination of The Lindbergh evidence which was so fascinating I purchased from Amazon this book along with Fisher's.

This is one of two books that served to convince me that Hauptmann was in fact innocent. I am delighted to see it is back in print, and with a new forward too!

Richard Hauptmann MUST be exonerated. What a shame it could not be done before his wife passed on.

As an avid fan of true crime, this book was recommended to me by my mother who told me to read "the original true crime book" (originally published as "The Airman and the Carpenter"). She was right! This book was terribly disturbing and really rocked my faith in the American legal system. I had heard stories about the Lindbergh kidnapping and how Hauptmann was NOT the kidnapper, but hearing those tales and reading the book and seeing everything in black and white are two very different things. The facts are astounding . . . people (including the "heroic" Charles Lindbergh) told outright lies and railroaded Hauptmann. His own lawyer basically said Haputmann was guilty and deserved the electric chair . . . NJ Chief of Police Schwarzkopf admitted that he would "do anything" for Lindbergh, including lie! It is a terrible shame how the media and the public crucified this man; he never had a chance. Everyone assumed his guilt from the beginning, and after actually reading fact after fact after fact that was blatantly ignored during the trial . . . it is disturbing and shocking. So much for "innocent until proven guilty" . . . in Hauptmann's case, everyone around him searched for clues that would make him look guilty, and if that meant fabricating evidence against him, then so be it. This book shows the justice system, the media, and the American public in general at its worst. I found myself becoming more and more angry and incensed as I turned each page, as people lied under oath, fabricated evidence, made up stories, and ignored evidence that would have cleared Hauptmann. I felt terrible for him, his wife, and child. I think people inherently believe that if they are innocent, everything will work out for the best and a judge and jury could not possibly believe lies and invented half-truths. An innocent man was put to death for something he obviously did not do. In this day and age, when a jury can find O.J. Simpson "not guilty," I think Bruno Richard Hauptmann should finally be exonerated and have his name cleared.

Those who have read this book and felt terribly sorry for Hauptmann should now read Jim Fisher's The Lindbergh Trial to see what really happened. There was no miscarriage of justice and Hauptmann deserved his fate. Kennedy's book is a mishmash of sentimental reasoning and special pleading. Just one example: he pretends that there was extreme prejudice against Hauptmann because he was German. The fault with this theory is that in 1933 there was no widespread hostility to Germany and Mrs Hauptmann herself denied that she encountered any such problems. Fisher points out dozens of similar examples of faulty reasoning from Kennedy.

This is one of the best books of its kind in the world. The author does a wonderful job of stitching it together. This goes beyond a page-turner: this book will take over your life. If you are at all interested in the tradition of mock trials fronting mock justice, this is one of the most ridiculous examples to ever hit the American big top.

I read this one because it's set in a fictionalized version of my town, Montclair NJ. Aside from figuring out how the fake places correspond to the real ones, I got no enjoyment out of this book. I found the writing pedestrian, at best, and the main character annoying and preachy. Katz seems to think he's clever by setting the action in, say, a strip mall as opposed to a gritty urban setting. It's really just tiresome.

I found this book by accident and then couldn't put it down. It is well-written, the characters are developed well,the plot very interesting and believable. I have since bought the rest of the books in this series and hope Katz continues the Suburban Detective.

Kit Deleeuw is a private detective in Rochambeau, New Jersey, an affluent suburb. Deleeuw used to work on Wall Street but was fired in a scandal which almost sent him to prison.

Two kids from the local high school are found dead on the Brown estate. It looks to the police like a murder-suicide. The Brown estate is sought by developers who will pay $60,000,000 just for the land. The two dead students are Ken Dale and Carol Lombardi. Friends of Ken approach Kit for help in clearing Ken's name. They do not think he was capable of committing the crime.

In the end we realize the town has not changed much in the last century. It is still marked by greed for land and money. Kit's position as a suburban detective becomes firmly established. He goes from the dog house of Wall Street to being a hero to his family and community.

Death By Station Wagon is a great first-of-series mystery by Jon Katz. I found the situation of the protagonist, Kit Deleeuw, one that I had not seen before. The stay-at-home (sometimes) father and husband making a new way in life after his career on Wall Street has been shattered by scandal and innuendo. As a storefront detective, his cases seem rather ordinary, except for the expertise used in telling the story. A simple case combined with some history leads the reader on a wild ride through suburbia. A great read.

Yes, this is a good detective story, but the surprising part is the new look at suburbia. Here is the normal, prozaic good life considered in the context of murder. How does a man who loses his former life as a stock broker, rebuild it. He has seen through the social definitions. This gives him a warmly cynical view - if the two words can fit together. I have enjoyed this and all his other books

This was my first time learning qualitative research and I have found this book to be very good for the beginner, like me. It is written clearly and has many examples to clarify points.

I have recently read this book and found it very useful in terms of providing up to date references on most aspects of Qualitative Research. I found the chapters on Thematic analysis and coding very helpful indeed and wished that I had this book when engaged in my doctoral studies. I am pleased to refer researchers and students engaged in such work to carefully read this book. I plan to use it in an upcoming Journal paper that I am writing.

I used this as a reference during a Masters class. It was very useful when it came time to design my research project.

This was the set text for a post-grad qual methods course I did. It gives a good coverage of the basics but it is horrible to read, boring and dull. Get Patton's book instead, more depth of coverage and actually enjoyable to read. My copies of Patton and Miles and Huberman are dog-earred with use after finishing my thesis and I am wishing I had bought my own copy of Rubin & Rubin as well as the Bilham book but this one I have never picked up since I finished the course.

If you are in graduate school and decide to do your thesis as a qualitative research project, I would highly recommend this book. Even though the authors describe what qualitative research is, I would recommend that you read one of the texts they mention for the individual techniques. For example, even though it has a nice overview of case study, one should read Yin's book on case study research.

I read all of BS Levy's books - all I can say - for a racing history buff this is elixire for the soul, the books reflect global racing history of the post WW2 years - great series -

I see Burt Levy compared to JD Salinger. If Salinger is this good I guess I'll have to try reading him again.

I've read the whole Buddy Palumbo saga now. This is a good entry in the series, stronger than Montezuma's Ferrari, but not equal to the joy and surprises of The Last Open Road. This story takes Buddy back to the road courses of the USA, driving and wrenching on his customers cars while he builds his own. Pretty predictable and with the obligatory happy ending, it's still a lot of fun, and Mr Levy does a great job of transporting the reader back in time to the golden era of sportscar racing.

"The Last Open Road" was great, I loaned it to twenty friends, car nuts and non-carnuts, and gave copies as gifts. Everyone loved it. This is the second sequel (and probably the last from the way the plot developes). If you enjoyed the first two you'll enjoy this as well but, standing alone, it's not as good as the second ("Montezuma's Ferrari") which wasn't as good as the first.

Well, I read this book in one day. Started it, and 24 hours later I was done. Didn't want to set it down. If you liked Burt's previous two books, I'll bet you like this one as well.

What supprised me the most was reading about some of the folks who Buddy meets along his adventures and thinking "Hey, I know/knew those folks, too." It certainly made the book more interesting for me.

The only down side was, since I had a preview edition, there were enough typos to be distracting. Shouldn't be an issue as the final version is supposed to be out.

Burt does get extra credit for having the advertising section in the middle of the book. It's a great idea.

Coakley did his best to include an overview of the relevant aspects of New Jersey State Police history and lore.Any one topic of the book deserves a book in and of itself.Well done and well worth reading.It reminded me of what it took to become the best of the best.

The New Jersey State Police has a very storied past. The book glosses over a lot of serious issues that transpired throughout the history of the New Jersey State Police. More in depth reporting should have been done. I guess the blue wall prohibited this from becoming a great book. Better luck next time.

I have read this book many times over the years. The stories told reflect greatly upon the storied past of the New Jersey State Police and the sacrifices that have been made from the beginning up to the date of publication. Proud to be a part of the Blue and Gold.

This book was givin to me by my Father who recieved it from Ret. Col. Dentino. Recently grdauating from the 52nd Trooper Youth Week class run by the NJ State Police, I saw how diverse and highly trained NJ Troopers are. It does give a good history of the NJSP, but after reading half the book, the stories don't seem to be as interesting. If you are interested in the NJSP, this is the book for you, but don't expect to pick it up twice and finsih it.

Coakley did his best to include an overview of the relevant aspects of New Jersey State Police history and lore.Any one topic of the book deserves a book in and of itself.Well done and well worth reading.It reminded me of what it took to become the best of the best.

The Keeper is the story of a young man's coming of age during the Vietnam War. The language and images are vivid, passionate, and at times, heart-breaking. I was especially moved by the race scene, such that I felt my own heart pounding with every step. I highly recommend this novel to young people who want to capture and understand the spirit of a turbulent time and to aging baby boomers who lived through the trauma of Vietnam.

With crisp dialogue and a fast-paced plot, White weaves a fascinating coming-of-age tale of a teenage boy in a New Jersey town during the Viet Nam era.

Through characters that are fresh and deep White explores moral issues that are equally relevant to current times. The story is passionate and idealistic without getting bogged down in philosophy or taking itself too seriously. It's a funny, provocative page-turner from front to back -- a must-read.

A slow and tepid tale of the Vietnam era. Set in New Jersey, the central character is a teenage boy who is trying to deal with growing up in a time of changing values. His father works at a gun factory, but he falls in with an odd leftist who runs a local hotel and is the main anti-war organizer in the town. Loads of typical events occur: golden-boy older brother goes to Vietnam and gets killed, Mrs. Robinson syndrome as boy gets involved with the older activist, boy becomes estranged from parents, parents refuse to admit futility of older sons death, blah, blah, blah. I think you had to have lived through the times to remotely enjoy this book.

A fast-paced book full of funny and bizarre images of a small Jersey shore town and the explosive tension among patriots, protestors, and those caught in the middle during the Vietnam war. The most memorable characters are a one-eyed, sexy (and tragic) heroine and her one-time lover, a sadistic, Machiavellian bohemian whose nihilistic sputterings are dead-on. The dialog is crisp, funny, and real. Its hyper-realism evokes the crazy days of the 60s and early 70s better than a lot of the overwrought, posturing books and films that have come out about the era. It's sincere, but doesn't take itself too seriously. I loved it!

An interesting story told in fresh prose. Will be enjoyed by those who lived through the Vietnam era and those who want to know what it was like in the way that only good fiction, and not factual data, can reveal. Memorable characters, realistic dialogue, the usual combined disarmingly with the unusual, and an intriguing dance between tension and humor. "Keeper" is definitely a keeper.

Great book to find awhole lot of stuff about New Jersey. Would highly reccomend it to any Jersey person. Great to remember the weird quirks of Nj.

For anyone who likes the concept of Weird NJ but feel the folklore and reader letters are fiction, this is a great non-fiction book for you. It's about the many quirky things in the wacky garden state, broken down into three sections-- North Central and South. Besides summaries on Lucy the Elephant, and and the blind waiter diner in Hasbrouck Heights, the book also includes little known fun facts about the state, that we are home to the nation's only on-campus diner, and that the oldest log cabin in the country. And did you know the movie Jaws was based on a fatal Jersey shark attack? Well, then, read the book.

A great read for fans of Weird NJ, regional history and the offbeat in general, Peter Genovese's book is both entertaining and informative. Unlike Weird NJ, you won't find much about ghost stories, UFO sightings and urban myths in "New Jersey Curiosities"; instead, the focus is on real, specific locations that have down-to-earth yet interesting histories.

One of the nice features of this book is that the curiosities are organized by region, so you can easily look up the oddities in your area. Genovese also includes specific directions to aid in sightseeing. One area of improvement would be to include more pictures, but other than that, it's a superb travel guide.

Being a fan of Weird NJ for several years, I recently decided to try out other books that chornicle the strange, unusual and the funny stuff that can be found within our borders. I found this to be a very decent, relatively comprehensive guide to those weird roadside items of the book's title.

The author, Peter Genovese, is a writer for the Star Ledger, and runs a regular series about good places to grab lunch at, and has also written several other NJ based books about such things as diners, the jersey shore, and a previous book on weird stuff in NJ. He clearly has qualifications to write such a book, and it's obvious he enjoys Weird NJ, as many of the items referenced can be found in Weird NJ.

In fact, this book is really a cross between Genovese Munchmobile column and the Weird NJ Roadside Guide. This book really is not comparable to the Weird NJ book recently published by the Marks, in that they are two different books. The Weird NJ book is all about stories and myths, and although you can go out and visit some of the things referenced in the book, it isn't meant as a travel guide. This book is, and it functions quite well. It features many things not found in the Weird NJ Guide and really does deserve a spot on any weird NJ fans book shelf.

Some people like his first roadside guide better, while others found that book totally useless/. I can't compare the two books but I can say that this book is thoroughly enjoyable and worth the money.

Pluses: interesting trivia and factoids about NJ
minuses: pictures are B&W

While this book was okay, I was kind of disappointed. It seems to just be rehashed articles from the author's previous two books, Roadside NJ and Jersey Diners, without all of the great pictures that originally accompanied them. I would recommend buying one of those books, which are still published by Rutgers University Press, rather than this one.

The murder of Robert Solomine, Jr. is as senseless as a crime can get. What's so abhorrent is that there's no motive and the boys involved were so young to be that callous. These kids just got it in their heads that Rob had to die, and found enjoyment in plotting ways to get rid of him. Although the three boys who were present tried to convince the judge that they didn't think Wanger would actually go through with it, they did nothing to stop him or help Solomine before or during the murder. If it seemed unreal to them, it's indicative of their lack of value of life. I admire Solomine's mother for her ability to channel her energies to making changes in the juvenile justice system, but I disagree with her that the boys' behavior was due to lack of parenting. Many parents have rebellious or wayward children, through no fault of their own. This was a very well written and sad story.

i didnt get to read it yet. i actually found out about this book from my grandma today. my family never told me what happened when my cousin (James Wanger) stop showing up at family events. now i found out y. im about to read it and see how true it is. pretty crazy.

This wasn't your typical true crime novel. It was well-written and not exceedingly repetitive as many true crime novels are, repeating all the facts over and over again throughout the telling of the story. The fact that this was a murder case involving 6 typical teens, yet atypical teens, makes it all the more interesting. This book was hard to put down and unlike many novels, it seems that the murderers get for the most part, what they deserve.

They were as different as six teenage guys could be. They ranged from fourteen to eighteen years old. One was an altar boy and Eagle Scout; another was a high-school dropout who worshiped the Mafia. Nevertheless, Robert Solimine remained the perpetual outsider, the kid too nerdy to ever fit in. But what started as cruel but not unusual ways to punish one of their own escalated into an unthinkable plot for murder. Finally, while all six boys sat in parked cars next to their high school, Solimine was convinced to recite the Hail Mary-and then garroted with an extension cord from behind. Suddenly, the plan sketchily, even jokingly, conceived by a group of seemingly typical suburban New Jersey youths had become an irretrievable act of monstrous evil, a crime that horrified the nation.

From the reporter who alone covered both trials in the Hail Mary murder case comes a riveting true crime story-and a shocking expose of the violence simmering beneath the deceptively placid surface of the Ameriacn teenage dream.

The best part of this book is the author's description of southeast Passaic County, New Jersey, where the action almost exclusively takes place. Clifton, Paterson, and the industrial Passaic River valley are evoked quite well, especially the area's weird mix of industrial might, industrial blight, and lower- to middle-middle-class residential. The kids are the same dumb (but the author unconvincingly claims throughout the book that most of them are smart), wasted youth described in so many true crime books lately (e.g., Bully, Smoked), with an ethnic twist. All you need to know about a crime that was sensational back in the early 1990s but is probably forgotten now, even in northern New Jersey.