United States Books


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United States Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

United States
The Champion Real Estate Agent
Published in Paperback by McGraw-Hill (2006-11-06)
Author: Dirk Zeller
List price: $24.95
New price: $11.93
Used price: $9.44

Average review score:

Worth reading twice
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-07
I have read dozens of marketing books over the years. I am a CPA and run a real estate team that produces well over 100 transactions per year.
This book brought be back to the basics of running a business of selling, yes I said selling, real estate.

I am going to read it again. Maybe twice.

The whole package...
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-20
Dirk has put together a great resource for ALL Real Estate agents. From the beginner to the seasoned vet, this book can help to focus your activities in the areas most important to you in your career and life.

Dirk gets it right with humor and candor
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-20
Dirk has a laid back attitude that is icy to the point and right on with a no nonsense practical guide to being successful in the real estate business.

Dirk's books are always enlightening, follow the steps and you will be jetisoning your way to the top of the RE industry!

outstanding information
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-20
I personally found this book to be an outstanding review of what's required to be a top performing agent. I pass this book to all of my new recruits to help them get started.

The Champion Real Estate Agent
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-30
I have been listing and selling real estate for 24 years and have read many books on real estate sales and this truly is one of the best. I've read it twice in the last month and highly recommend that every real estate salesperson read it.

United States
Down These Mean Streets
Published in Turtleback by Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media (2002-02)
Author: Piri Thomas
List price: $22.29
Used price: $10.00

Average review score:

Forever a classic
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-11
Down These Mean Streets is the story of Piri Thomas' journey into adulthood. The book is set in Spanish Harlem in the 1940s. The author's writing style is refreshing and lyrical. He uses some Spanish words here and there(readers might find the glossary in the back of the book helpful), and kicks in a few slang words as well, which makes the dialogs that much more genuine.

Piri struggles through poverty, family troubles, and desperately wanting to belong. He fights with being a dark skinned Puerto Rican during a time when racism was strong, and trying to find his place as neither black nor white. Piri did some not-so-good things in his life, being in a gang, drug addiction, and armed robbery among other things, but throughout it all it is easy to tell that Piri is a good guy at heart.

Overall, this is a captivating story. You might find yourself wondering what you would have done faced with the same situations. I even found myself rooting for Piri at times. This book is still a very accurate depiction of "the hoods" of New York, despite being published for the first time about 40 years ago.

I was sad to have to finish the book, and in the end I felt like I knew Piri. I look forward to re-reading this book over the years. It is truly a classic. Everyone should read it. Anyone can find something in the story that they will be able to relate to.

an exciting nonfiction book!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-28
This book really told me what it was like to live in Harlem in the 40s. The discrimination and racism is real and raw (although Mr Thomas does get a little jaded and think all white people are bad). The way he describes coming off heroin is realistic, colorful, and explosive. This whole book is very alive, as a memoir. It was funny to see the slang they used back then!

One of the best memoirs ever written
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-10
I've read this book more than a few times and have taught it to different level readers a few extra times. There was one high school student who came to me after the book was done and told me, "This is the first book I ever finished." Even if it's not the first book you've read, you'll find writing that is fearless, honest, and powerful. You won't forget it, and if you're really lucky, you'll get to share it with someone else.

I will always love this book
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-28
Grabbed it off my english teachers shelf junior year of high school, loved it so much I never gave it back. This is an amazingly wonderful book. Vivid writing style...I could see every last detail in my head. It was like a movie in my brain. Love it.

We recommend this book
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-07
Book Review: Down These Mean Streets

We recommend this book because Piri Thomas wrote the book in a way that you can visualize the story. This book is interesting because it talks about a young Latino's life growing up in the streets of Harlem New York in the 30's. However Piri the main character in the story gets discriminated throughout his young life for being a black Puerto Rican. We think this book has some strong scenes suitable for children under 13. Little by little the story gets interesting to the point where you don't want to stop reading. To conclude, this story is a good autobiography to learn from

United States
The Effective Executive
Published in Paperback by Collins (2002-08)
Author: Peter F. Drucker
List price: $15.95
New price: $7.99
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Collectible price: $78.95

Average review score:

This is the best book on "Leadership" even after 40 years
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-21
Skip all the "hype" about leadership theory. Drucker is the king. Years since this book was written - it is all about Executive Effectiveness. Well isn't that the same as "leadership" but just without all the hype? You bet. Buy and read this and burn your leadership mental masturbation books.

If you have one shelf for books, this should be on it.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-08
If you're looking for concise, simple dialogue on what it means to be effective and how to parlay that into your work life, here it is. If you are looking for a fashionable, faddy, flashy Seth-Godin-type mantra to chant, you will be vastly disappointed and fantastically bored.

To those who are serious students of business and it's execution and are willing to do what it takes to be leaders, this is one of probably 3-5 books on the required reading list. Read through it quickly at your own peril, for amazing gems are buried mid-paragraph in the most seemingly innocuous paragraphs.

Now for the love of effectiveness, please buy, read and apply this to yourself so I don't have to do business with you sloths anymore!

Excellent book on management skills
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-27
Very good book on the true management skills required by any and every manager. Drucker clearly points out that not all great managers were created the same....but most share certain traits. An excellent, must read for any and all managers everywhere!

Long lasting advice for novice managers
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-04
Excellent advice from a incredible coach. From time management to management contribution this book offers what you need to achieve management positions. A must.

Not Just For Executives: With a Little Translation, This Book's Wisdom Can Be Applied to A Variety Of Life Circumstances
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-30
Peter Drucker was such a prolific and important writer, thinker, researcher, teacher, and philosopher! Although he is best known a the father of modern management theory, I find that his ideas are applicable to a wide variety of positions and enterprises.

The Effective Executive, like most of his works, is written with the assumption that the reader is part of an institution and needs to learn to function within the challenges of the corporate environment. I have never had a traditional job or position in a large institution, but can totally relate to the challenges of what Drucker refers to as executives and knowledge workers.

As a professional musician and holistic music teacher ([...]), I have worked to integrate the creative, intuitive sides of human nature with the organizational, rational aspects, both for myself and my clients.

Like many artists, I was never taught the principals of management and have had to adapt and educate myself along the way. I owe a lot to Peter Drucker for helping me make sense of the nature of effectiveness and management.

Drucker's wisdom transcends culture and industry. Just the acknowledgement that effectiveness is a skill in-and-of-itself, apart from intelligence, talent, charisma, or creativity, is a powerful distinction. His encouragement that it can be (and must be) learned is a relief!

His 5 basic practices for effective executives are invaluable insights. Here they are, paraphrased:

1) Be aware of and manage your time
2) Focus on results, not efforts
3) Play to and develop strengths, not weaknesses (yours and others')
4) Concentrate and align your actions and your purpose
5) Learn to make good decisions

The examples in the book are a bit old-school, but the principles still hold true. Thank you, Peter, for putting into words what so many of us were never taught at home or in school!

United States
The Frontiersmen: A Narrative
Published in Hardcover by Jesse Stuart Foundation (2001-03-01)
Author: Allan W. Eckert
List price: $30.00
New price: $19.67
Used price: $15.95
Collectible price: $30.00

Average review score:

Wonderful!!!!!!!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-17
While looking to see if one of my favorite historical authors (James Alexander Thom) had a new novel out, I came across the books of Allan W. Eckert on of those "If You Like This Book, You'll Like This Too" lists. I had never heard of Eckert before, but based upon the GREAT reviews of this book I decided to give it a try. What a suprise! All of the positive reviews aren't lying. I can't put the book down! It just pulls you in until you feel like you're roaming the Ohio Valley with Kenton and all the other brave folks (White and Indian). The 588 LARGE pages make it extra special for folks like myself who fly through books quickly. I would highly recommend the book and can't wait to start another one by him.

P.S. The books by James Alexander Thom are equally well written for those who are looking for a simular type author.

A great, exciting read!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-06
Wow, what an interesting, exciting, factual book! Just as engaging and excitingly written as any Louis Lamour or Zane Grey novel, except very factual. Based on tens of thousands of pages of interview notes taken from those who lived during this period of history. You will learn a lot of American history and enjoy it, to boot, if you read this book! Don't miss this one!

A Man's Man in a wild land
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-19
Eckert has written a truly engrossing book on an amazing figure in American history. Simon Kenton, like Daniel Boone had the lust to wonder the woods for days and both had a immense memory for the scope of the land he wondered. The narrative writing is excellent. It puts you back in the 18th century when America was truly wild. It was a harsh land when one false step led to an early death, often times gruesome. The Shawnees were none to compliant to give up their lands and sold it at a high cost of human life. Tecumseh also emerges here, also one of the greatest figures in history. A Sorrow in Our Heart, which is about Tecumseh is also a must read. In the Frontiersman, the Ohio River flowed blood red with hatred for intruders. There are captivating stories here of the many clashes that took place between whites and indians. It was a time period of two cultures clashing, one wanting to hold on to a way of life etched into the land through balance and harmony, aganst a culture that produced men who were determined to see new vistas and experience the thrill of blazing a trail that many would soon follow. But it was this migration which ruined the very thing they loved most, the feeling of true wilderness. This book captures it all. A must read for those who find history a fascinating subject.

I hate this book with the passion of a thousand fiery suns -- and so can you!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-07
I was assigned to read this book for my 10th grade American History summer reading. I loved to read as a teen. I loved history -- I went on to get my degree in it. This book threatened to change all of that.
A ponderous piece of agonizing minutiae, this book brought me to the breaking point. I read it -- the whole thing. As a fifteen year old. I think it actually made me cry, I hated it so much. It's well researched, but seemed almost masturbatory in its envisioning of the motivations of frontiersmen. And excruciatingly long. Some people obviously enjoy this book. To each their own. But for the rest of you, it is okay to hate it. Really. You know you want to.

The Frontiersmen
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-21
I first became acquainted with Mr. Eckert's books a few years ago while shopping for a gift for my son-in-law who loves local history and someone recommended one of his books. I took it home and while wrapping it, read a page. I was hooked, I went out and bought one for myself. We live in an area rich in history and his books cover our area extensively. I only wish all the history classes I took in high school and college had been this interesting. Our whole family now enjoys Mr. Eckert's books.

United States
The Journey Is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon
Published in Hardcover by (1997-10-01)
Authors: Dan Eldon and Kathy Eldon
List price: $35.00
New price: $18.14
Used price: $16.00

Average review score:

Amazing, Inspiring, & Beautiful
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-20
This book is absolutely amazing. My mother got this book for me when I was about 17 and just really starting to bud out and become an artist. Dan's work was absolutely mesmerizing and inspiring. His colorful life and tragic death spark something in you to go out and change the world.

An amazing visual record of a brief, spectacular life
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-02
This is a dense, rich book of images and words left by Dan Eldon, one of those brilliant, outsized people who burn through life like a flare and are gone. He surrounded himself with beauty and horror and tried to both record and to make some sense of his experiences and the constant, jarring disparity between the extremes of life.
If you love photography and art or are just drawn to precocious brilliance and the intense energy of people who are present in every moment of their lives, you should own this book.

giving inspiration
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2003-12-03
After seeing this book in a Borders store, I decided to buy it. I couldn't put it down, page after page offers so much of the author, yet offered so much to the reader. It makes your own imagination soar again, and as a fellow photographer, it gave me a kick in the butt I needed to start shooting again. The vision of Dan Eldon was not only through a lens, but through his heart as well. He accomplished a great deal in a short life, and definitely contributed to the bettering of our world. His photographs of Africa, combined with the scrapbook like additions of text and objects could be considered a new form of documentary photography. I strongly urge anyone who is interested in travel or photojournalism to get this book and have it transform your outlook on life.

Awesome read, beautiful art
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-24
Eldon's story of the war-torn Somolia is as much an artwork as it is an engaging story. This "book" is a reproduction of photojournalist Dan Eldon's journal from his travels in the most impoverished regions of Africa. Part insightful reading, part artistic work, this book should be on anyone's reading list who wants to know more about the world we don't see everyday, and it truly makes one think about all we have, and all Eldon lost...5 out of 5 starts easily!

Truly Profound
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2005-02-25
I bought this book upon it's release in 1997. I can remember allowing the contents of this memoir to captivate me for hours on end. I lent my copy to a friend shortly thereafter and subsequently forgot about it. I recently ordered a replacement and I must say, this book is even more compelling than I ever remembered. Dan Eldon was a profound visionary, an articulate statesman and a devoted caretaker. As a Reuters photo-journalist, he traveled the world and served as a dipomatic embassador to many, yet his life was taken prematurely in a stoning riot in Somalia. He experienced more in his brief 21 years than most of us will over an entire lifetime. A MUST HAVE.

United States
The Life You Imagine : Life Lessons for Achieving Your Dreams
Published in Hardcover by Crown (2000-09-05)
Authors: Derek Jeter and Jack Curry
List price: $21.95
New price: $2.96
Used price: $0.22
Collectible price: $21.95

Average review score:

Great Inspiration book for kids
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-26
I am giving this to a friend of mine's son who is nine who could care less about Derek Jeter or the Yankees. That is how good I think that this book is. It shows how Derek was focused on his goal from age 8, and I am going to get more copies for children of my friends to give to them when they turn 8.

He is the man
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-23
Great book and great lessons for kids. Shows what can happen when you are ambitious enough and try hard enough. Great book about Derek and where he came from and where he wants to go!

Derek Jeter
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-05
After reading the first couple of pages I knew right away that this book would be a good one. The reason Derek Jeter became so well known is because he started very young knowing what he was going to do in life. Throughout high school and college Derek Jeter was an outstanding athlete and student, but at times he did have those people that said that he couldn't do it and that he couldn't make it to the major leagues. This book would be recommended to those who look at Derek Jeter as an idol and also are athletes. Reading this book could change the way you look at Pro athletes and maybe even inspire you to do better.

um idk wut 2 put here ???
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-09-27
Book review mod 1

Over the summer I read a few books. One of those books was The Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your by Derek Jeter. I choose this book because I'm a Yankees fan and love Derek Jeter. This book is a great book for someone who needs a role model. Derek Jeter is an amazing role model he had strait A's growing up. In this book Derek Jeter tells you how he grew up and how hard it was for him and how he never stopped trying to get what he set his goals for. This book is wonderful it shows you how any body can do it. His dream his whole life was to play short stop baseball for the New York Yankees. This book is one of those books that will inspire a person to go out and try harder then every one and get what he set out for. That's how good this book is, your are into baseball and trying hardest any way. This book is written well and will show you how a person who really like really tries his hardest and never gives up and will do what ever he has to, just to get what he sets out for. If there was a rating for this book it would get a 10 out of 10 or 100 out of 100 or 5 stars. That's just my opinion. This book is just like I said be for just one of those books that just makes a person want to do something good in life or achieve a goal or something. In this book Derek Jeter said that he would write all of his goals down and check them of as he achieved them threw out the year. This book is wonderful inspiring and just an all around baseball lovers dream book, if I was to recommend this book to anyone it would defiantly be a YES! This book is one of my favorites and would hope it would be one of yours as well. =]


By Kevin Lunn



The life you imagine
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-06-05
This book starts off as derek jeter stating that he wil play for the New York Yankees when he is 8 years old. They discuss the 10 rules about how to live you life and what to do. Growing up derek had alot of racial problems with his parents. He had one black and one white, and he had a sister, they were a really close family.

growing up there were many racial problems in his town. He went to college in Kalamazoo michigan. He played baseball there and now hes making millions doing what he loves. He said he loves to wake up every morning knowing he loves his job.

Derek is always saying set your goals high so you are always working toward them. Not too high to where you cannot reach them but just high enough that you have to work at it to get to them.

This is one of the greattest books i have ever read. I will give 2 thumbs up. It was a very interesting book becuase i lvoe baseball and i want to be exactly like derek jeter.

United States
Ship Ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum
Published in Hardcover by Broadway (2003-06)
Author: Edward T. O'Donnell
List price: $24.95
New price: $4.93
Used price: $0.74
Collectible price: $24.95

Average review score:

Where Our History is Lost
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-30
"Ship Ablaze" helps fill in gaps of history that for one reason or other our parents, grand-parents, uncles and aunts. I grew up in that neighborhood and attended the LCMS (Trinity) Lutheran Church on 9th St. and Ave. B., yet I had to wait until late in life to learn of this disaster and the long term impact it had on the area. While the congregation I belonged to was not in worship fellowship with St. Mark's, I am certain that one would find a history of humanitarian fellowship at the time. But, these would be in the old records of that congregation written in German script. We need not only researchers, but multilingual researchers, in this incident as although there were those born in America, they lived a German life. My generation was the first not to speak German from birth. When I went to Germany to live for a while, I find myself very much at home despite the fact that this was post WWII Germany. If there are researchers interested out there who are fluent in German, a place they might want to look at is the resources of the NY Public Library and Concordia Historical Institute, St. Louis (records of the original Trinity on microfilm).

Mesmerizingly Morbid!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-04
An excellent book about the General Slocum disaster, a 1904 steamboat fire that killed more than 1,000 people, mostly women and children on a church outing. Absolutely mesmerizing from start to finish.

Well done, but enough to make you gag...
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2005-12-04
I think this is the year as a reader, as a watcher of television and news, that I've finally reached my endpoint as concerns human disasters. I've always been interested to an extent of this type of story...if we weren't newspapers would not fare well. But I started picking up more of these books after the making of the movie, Titanic, and it's about 7 years later, and I am pretty sure I've had it. Nothing about the writer's abilities, just between the constant onslaught of real life disasters with the hurricane season now ending, the tsunami of last year, constant reportage on this ridiculous war in Iraq, and normal everyday life, I cannot take on any more sorrow and of course, the stupidity and greed that goes with these stories. I didn't even finish this one. If you like this genre, and this type of reading doesn't depress you deeply, as it did me, then this book is for you.

This is not the 'ostrich' burying it's head. It's rather I decided to stop rubbernecking in this manner. I don't do it when there are fires or car accidents, so I don't know why this should be anything different. If I am interested in it from an engineering or scientific view of things, as occurred with the 1927 dynamiting of the New Orleans levees, then I'll go for the history. I know this stuff happened, and where it is absolutely necessary to know more for family research or whatever, fine, I can look it up online. This is not the type of reading that I consider as being of benefit for me, nor is it entertaining to read about the needless deaths of so many. There are other things I'd rather do and read than books of this genre, though it is obvious that as with true crime, this is a popular genre which will not be going away soon.

Karen Sadler

Hidden From History
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-09-10
This disaster has been hidden from historical references better than anything I've ever come across. Over 1,000 people die horribly, mostly women and children, and the following has occurred:

The 2004 Microsoft Encarta DVD Encyclopedia makes absolutely no reference to this event.

The book "New York Times Page One" does not show this as one of it's important front page dates.

The book "Chronicles of the 20th Century" (1300+ pages) only makes mention of the ship's owners being found negligent, not the event itself.

The largest loss of life from a single disaster from 1904 until 2001 and they can't mention it! Thankfully, this book does it justice and brings the hidden truth to light.

Horrifying Tale Spun Well
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2004-12-17
Edward T. O'Donnell tells a horrific tale in Ship Ablaze. In a matter of minutes a steamboat full of a German-American church group went from enjoying a ride down the East River on a beautiful day towards picnic grounds to fighting for their lives as an inferno consumed the lives of over a thousand people, mainly children and women, through fire or drowning. The very life preservers themselves became instruments for the deaths of many as it dragged them straight to the bottom of the river. The author does a magnificent job of setting the scene for the tragedy but his best work comes in the description of the disaster itself. It is heartbreaking and breathtaking and impossible to pull away from. This book is a wonderful memorial to a time and event that should not ever be forgotten.

United States
These Happy Golden Years (Laura Years)
Published in Audio Cassette by HarperChildrensAudio (2006-04-01)
Author: Laura Ingalls Wilder
List price: $22.00
New price: $15.10

Average review score:

A wonderful trip back in time
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-27
I love most of the Little House on the Prairie books, as well as the stories of Laura's great-grandmother, Martha, her grandmother, Charlotte, her mother, Caroline, and her daughter, Rose. I've read every one I can get my hands on. My all-time favorite of the all the series is These Happy Golden Years. This tells of Laura and Almanzo's courtship, and it is so chaste and sweet.

This book definitely belongs on my 10 favorite children's books.

A GOOD BOOK
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-02
I would rate this book 4.5 stars. It tells of Laura Ingalls years between the age of 15 to 18, and her first teaching job where she goes to live with a family where the wife doesn't treats her shabbily. It's a good story but it mostly told more of her and Almanzo than her teaching.

A Great Ending to the Series!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-29
Although the "Little House" books do not appear to be quite as popular as they were a couple of decades ago, I shared all the books with my grandchildren in the form of audio books. We would listen to them as we drove on both long and short rides. They, and I, enjoyed the first three books(Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, On the Banks of Plum Creek) but then felt the next three were just fair to listen to. When I first started These Happy Golden Years, I heard a grumble or two from the g'kids, but as the story unfolded their listening delight picked up. Soon they were begging me to drive the longer way home so they could find out what happened next. These Happy Golden Years is a sweet love story full of interesting historical facts, plus enough action to keep my grandson interested. The only flaw we found with the audio version of the book is the singing of the actor (Cherry Jones) that did the reading. It was a bit grating at times when she pretended to sing as Pa. (Poor Ma if Pa really sang like that) Other than that it is a five star recommendation.

Another winner from Ms. Ingalls-Wilder!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-17
Now fifteen-years-old, Laura Ingalls can't help but crave getting a job in order to help her family. Ever since her first taste of earning her own money, she is determined to find another position that complements her skills. Besides, with Mary away at college, as much as Laura misses the companionship of her beloved sister, she can't help but feel compelled to assist her family in keeping Mary in a place where she is learning, and happier than ever. To do that, however, she'll have to do what she can to find the perfect job. Now that she has her teaching certificate, she'll be able to do just that.

It seems like only yesterday that Laura Ingalls was racing around the schoolyard with the boys, playing ball and sharing secrets with her friends; now she is basically all grown up, and beginning her career as a schoolteacher. But being a teacher isn't as easy as Laura hoped it would be - especially when many of the students are older than she is. And, to add insult to injury, she's forced to contend with boarding with a couple who spends the late nights hurling insults at one another, and living in miserable conditions. The only consolation is that Almanzo Wilder drives in to town each and ever Friday, to pick her up and bring her to her folks house for the weekend, before she must start another grueling week. It is during these long rides that Laura begins to spend more and more time with the older man. But it also makes her question why he is so willing to drive the twelve miles to her aid each week. Laura is unsure of his motives. She is also too tired and busy to spend much time thinking about them. Instead, she thinks of the paycheck that will soon come her way; and the beauty and splendor of the items she can buy for her family as time goes by.

With each and every book in the LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE series, I have seen Laura get older and older. I have also grown to love her as much as an old friend. Laura is such a responsible, mature individual - quite different from the little rascal she was during her younger years. She seems so caring, and eager to assist her family, and see that her sister gets the education she has always craved. It is so refreshing to see a character who puts others ahead of herself. Like in LITTLE TOWN ON THE PRAIRIE, the reader has the opportunity to learn more about Almanzo Wilder; however, the more you learn, the more you see just how much older he is than Laura, and how strangely the relationship between the two of them develops. Another winner from Ms. Ingalls-Wilder!

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

A True American Literary Treasure (HONESTLY!!!)
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-10-16
"These Happy Golden Years" is one of the best books I have ever come across. (And I have come across a lot, so don't doubt my taste!) Everything is detailed in an interesting sort of way, and the emotions and lovering part is kept well under control so it's not an immensely disgusting romance novel but not exactly a plain sensible book either. Laura Ingalls Wilder allowed the sequence to be somewhat unpredictable but it exemplifies a good plot that a true book-lover would cherish.
The plot is about fifteen-year-old Laura, now leaving home to teach school. It is a rather big challenge as the weeks drag by, but she learns to deal with unruly Clarence, pouty Martha, shy Charles, and the little ones, Ruby and another boy whose name I cannot remember. And at her boardinghouse, she has to learn how to cope with fussy and quarelly Mrs. Brewster, and spoiled baby Johnny. But the highlight of this part is every Friday Almanzo Wilder comes to pick her up to go home and back again on Sunday. When the term is finished, something has happened and soon Laura finds herself subconsciously in love with handsome Almanzo, and he with her. Of course, they don't just go ahead and marry, because a long-time rival of Laura's, Nellie Oleson, is also after Almanzo, and Laura's older snotty sister Mary is taking all her teaching money to go to college and Pa's claim must be fixed up before the winter. But these things soon pass, and Laura learns the joy of early womanhood as she and Ma make dresses, Laura learns how to deal with money, and realizes Almanzo is really the guy for her. And soon they are engaged. And that is just the beginning of a whole new chapter of Laura's life as a pioneer of America.
This heartwarming little book provides all the things you could want, some romance, a girl's troubles and hopes, and most of all, a glimpse to the daily life which we now look back to as precious American history.

United States
A Field Guide to American Houses
Published in Hardcover by Knopf (1984-06-12)
Authors: Virginia Mcalester and Lee Mcalester
List price: $40.00
New price: $394.43
Used price: $19.78

Average review score:

A must have!!!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-21
I bought this book as reference material on the advice of an architect friend. He told me "If you need help figuring out the style of a house then buy this book" and he showed me his copy. He was right. The book is well organized which helps compare styles quickly and the many black and white pictures of houses that the author uses as examples are great because the b&w contrast helps your eye focus on details. This a great book to have in any architectural office. Its great for novices and experienced alike.

Great resource for writers
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-08
As a writer, you need lots of details to keep the reader interested, and this book has details on houses most people wouldn't know. Of course, if you give no details the story is not interesting, and if you give wrong details, some reader will know it and be disapointed. A book like this can be invaluable.

Great Resource
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-30
Great book!!! I'm using for my company to get a true representation of many styles for many of the house I'm designing. A great resource for any firm!!!

great book for the housing history
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-10
great at housing history
great describe for the house component
good picture to show handy book to show at real estate

A great description of historical architecture styles
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-03
After some introductory chapters on the history and theory of homebuilding, the McAlesters commence with descriptions of the different styles. Each major style is described with a large stylized diagram with its identifying features labeled, a description of the major subtypes, descriptions of the style's unique elements, a paragraph on the frequency and locations of its occurrence, some historical comments, and then dozens of black and white photographs. The styles are ordered roughly chronologically, from native dwellings and colonial houses in 1600 to the neoeclectric houses of the 1970s and 1980s. (Even my 2006 printing ended with the 1980s.)

I read the field guide cover to cover - something I never before done with a field guide. By the end, it seemed repetitive, but overall I was impressed with almost everything about this book from the introductions to the last diagrams. Every time I travel though a historical neighborhood, I am glad that I read this book.

United States
The House That Love Built: The Story of Linda & Millard Fuller, Founders of Habitat for Humanity and the Fuller Center for Housing
Published in Hardcover by Hampton Roads Pub Co (2007-10-10)
Author: Bettie B. Youngs
List price: $26.95
New price: $5.99
Used price: $2.99
Collectible price: $26.95

Average review score:

A Testament to What God Can Do
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-06
"The House that Love Built" is a testament to what God can do through open and willing minds and hearts. Bettie B. Youngs takes Millard and Linda Fuller from their childhood years through college and huge financial success to a crisis that led eventually to a radical new way of living.

In 1968 the Fullers, working closely with Clarence Jordan, co-founder of the Christian community Koinonia outside Americus, GA, laid the foundations for what would become Habitat for Humanity. The world-wide success of Habitat for Humanity under the Fullers' leadership is legendary, but in 2005 the Fullers were fired by the Board of Habitat for Humanity International, who wanted the organization to look more like big business than a Christian ministry. Youngs is able to relate the facts behind this shameful ouster without bitterness or recrimination--and to tell of the Fullers' faithfulness to God's call to eliminate poverty housing throug the newly organized Fuller Center for Housing. An inspiring story of faith at work and of the power of God to transform lives.

Great, now lets all build houses!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-27
Sweet story of the founders of Habitat for Humanity. I loved how he learned so much in business and was able to walk away from it all to become greater than the norm. They have drive and I'm happy they pulled so many behind to make the world better for everyone. More of this!

Inspirational
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-23
Millard and Linda Fuller's life story is an inspirational account of their lives and their calling. It is amazing to read how they gave up so much, created a truly ingenious way to help people help themselves, and overcome all of the obstacles thrown in their path. To be treated so poorly by the organization they created and then move on to start all over again shows what faith and the Holy Spirit can accomplish!
After reading their story I am challenged every day to live up to their example!
The book is well written and easy to read, and I highly recommend it.

Inspirational
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-14
From beginning to end this amazing story of unwavering love and faith speaks to anyone who has ever held a dream in their heart. The Fullers are truly fascinating and inspiring people. It was vicious what the Board did to them when they were ousted out of their own agency, but they simply rose from the ashes. As would be expected of these two. Thank you for telling the story, it is well worth the read.

Inspiring Story
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-22
A great read for anyone looking for guidance in the area of what to do with their lives that truly matters. The story of Millard and Linda Fuller and their journey that ultimately built Habitat for Humanity is a story worth telling anyone you can find. This is not just a "feel good" story but one that also points out that doing something good with our lives is not always easy. I appreciated most the willingness of the Fullers to share what really went on without any sugarcoating.

Faith in action is what this book is all about.


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