Australia Books

It's amazing that these poems,written well over half a century ago,still retain their bite,impact and immediacy. And it's rather inspiring that Ms. Parker,in spite of her personal demons, still managed to produce such an impressive body of work. A very good introduction to her writing,especially if you only know her from the movie made about her,or just as one of several people who hung around a certain hotel in NY,trading quips with other writers. Check this one out,you're in for a treat..!

Excellent - a must have volume of Dorothy Parker's work (as well as her "Complete Stories") - she was truly years ahead of her time. As was prevously stated, her style of writing poetry seems more an attack on the type of poetry that had come to be accepted in her day as "artistic" (for example, Dickinson - seeing life as beautiful, beauty in the everyday, etc.). I identify immediately with her pessimism (and since I'm a male, that ought to tell you something about her ability to communicate) and applaud her for having had the courage to express honest disgust with the habits of men and women instead of trying to always find the silver lining (this volume will definitely tell you why she was one of the Algonquin wits). My favorite poems of hers are too numerous to be listed here, but among them are "Frustration" (this is one you should keep with you at work), "The Red Dress", "Inventory", "Resume", "Indian Summer", "Ode to a Certain Dog", "General Review of the Sex Situation", "Little Words" and "News Item". If you're a fan of dry humor and can appreciate those who excel at criticism, this is a great collection of poetry. If you're not, we don't need you - go buy some Dickinson or Rossetti.

dorothy parker was one of the sharpest wits we've ever seen, and this collection of poems shows her talents at their best. you do get a little tired of her cynicism after a while, but her first two classics, Enough Rope & Sunset Gun both make it worthwhile to read. she is one of the best poets we've had.

This is a wonderful collection of poems from the "wittiest woman in America". She clearly earns that title here, with her hilarious attacks on anything and everything deserving of ridicule, of which her "Hymns of Hate" are a delightful example. Parker's prose also has a darkly introspective side; one often finds allusions to her painful romantic life and her four suicide attempts (such as perhaps her most famous poem, "Resume"). As her serious poems and her cynically comical ones start off in the same tone, one never knows quite what one is getting into.

Parker's poems are as much for the hater of poetry as the aficionado- they are in a sense a direct attack on the affected melodrama that pervades and stereotypes poetry. And if one doesn't find them, like some reviewers, "dark", "beautiful" and "moving", at least one will get a laugh.

If Margaret Cho could really, really write, and was a young white socialite in the 1920-30s, she'd have been Dorothy Parker. Dorothy is sharp, and she cuts people to the quick, and in no better light than in this Penguin collection. She hates husbands, wives, smart-asses (though she is the preeminent smart-ass woman of her time), summer resorts...you name it, Parker trashes it.

The cool thing about her is that she does this with such cosmopolitan flair (small surprise since she wrote for Vogue and Vanity Fair for years) and obvious care (her poems almost always rhyme and subscribe to some traditional structure) that she makes herself almost untouchable to critic. She's good, she knows she's good, and watch out world, here she comes.

Not just another pretty muse for a Prince song, and great for classes.

Thank you for the great quality book that I received. It was perfect and the students loved it.

My son loved the book as a young boy now the grandchildren are having it read to them and beginnning to love it.

This is a fabulous book integrating math and literature. Frank reminds us of someone we all know. You will laugh yourself silly, no matter what your age is!

This is a story for younger children, about a boy who likes to ask questions. Not about dragons, or witches or monsters, but about the ordinary things around us like ball-point pens, and peas, and his dog Frank. The best and biggest question is of course 'What if?' "What if I drew with this ball point pen until it ran out, how long would the line be?" "What if I ran this bath until the room filled up with water, how long would it take?" These are the sort of questions that all kids ask. The difference is that this kid has the answers. I found this book a delight with colourful and amusing illustrations. I would recommend it to anyone with children aged 4-10. Also to grown-ups who still have the enquiring mind of a child

This book contains wonderful illustrations of a boy and his unforgetable dog Frank. The boy, as he's referred to in the book, uses Frank as a unit of measure. The boy also calculates fascinating and interesting facts about peas (his least favorite vegetable), humpback whales, his father and the bathtub. It inspires readers to reconsider measurement and allows them to laugh at the same time. It is a wonderful book full of intresting, if sometimes seemingly useless, facts about numbers, calculation and one amazing dog name Frank!

This book is an expose' into the Nugan Hand international bank and it's connections to the CIA.
Jonathan Kwitny is a top-notch investigative journalist and he doesn't disappoint with "The Crimes of Patriots".

Among the topics in the book:
The origin of the "French Connection".

Fraudulent enterprises such as Ocean Shores.

The CIA's involvement in the overthrow of Australian Prime Minister Whitlam.

A shared office building and secretary used by both Nugan Hand and the D.E.A.

The work C.I.A. agents did for Muammar Qaddafi.

Mr. Kwitny cites the work of Alfred McCoy on the "the Golden Triangle" and international heroin trade.
He also covers money laundering operations, particularly for drug traffickers. Nugan Hand had to ba a C.I.A. asset!
The author has frequent footnotes documenting the sources for specific information.

The cast of characters includes some famous intelligence operatives, high ranking military officers, con artists, Air America pilots, and just about any other type of people you would expect in a best seller spy novel. But "The Crimes of Patriots" is nonfiction and very well done at that!

This book ties in nicely with Bo Gritz,
Stan Montieth, Rodney Stich, Fletch
Prouty and Tom Valentine works on the
same type subject matter. Also check
out Terry Redd's Compromised which
gores both Clinton and the Bush, the
Presidencila Elder. Highly recommended.

As an Australian I was both surprised and gratified that an American journalist should want to trace the extraordinary history of the Nugan Hand Bank's Australian operations. This great document decribes the most cut-throat, heroin dealing, crime syndicate ever to have sullied our shores, and all under the covert auspices of the C.I.A. Kwitny's research is exhaustive and his even handed way of presenting his findings is exemplary of fine journalism. The implications hatched in this veritable can of worms will have net-sleuths busy for years tracing the myriad references to the numerous associates of Nugan Hand who vanished into the night only to surface again in the Irangate scandal. Essential reading for anyone trying to come to terms with the scourge of heroin, the world arms trade and those members of the U.S.'s covert agencies that spread misery in their own and other countries...Read it if you dare!

On the advice of a friend who knows one of the "Cast Of Characters" (a "Yank In The Bank"), I ordered a used copy of this long out of print book. What an eye opener. It's amazing what a group of "former" senior military officers and spooks can get up to when allowed to run amok overseas. You name it and they got away with it. Even though some of the principals are dead, nobody has been held accountable for the myriad of crimes that have occurred abroad. With the lack of support rendered by the U.S. government (especially the F.B.I.), it makes one wonder how "former" some of these players really were. It's also amazing how many of these same people reared their ugly heads years later during "Iran-Contra". Read the book and then decide for yourself.

If the press was doing ots jobs, then Ronald Reagan would not have been able to appear in public during his Iran-Contra period without also being bombarded with cries of "What about Nugan Hand!"
The Nugan Hand scandal appears to be the biggest, dirtiest scandal to reach the upper levels of American government since Watergate. The suicide of Nugan and the flight of Hand occurred in Australia, but the scandal had all-American origins. If Australian authorities and reporter Jonathan Kwitny are right, then the coverup, which continues, involves at least the Defense and State departments, the CIA, the FBI, the Commerce Department and the National Security Council.
Such a coverup must reach at least into the president's Cabinet.
First a word about Kwitny, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. No investigative reporter in America is more highly regarded by other reporters, dating back to his exposes of the corrupt Teamsters Union Central States pension fund in the early '70s.
Frank Nugan was an Australian shyster. Mike Hand is an American, an ex-Green Beret decorated for heroism in Vietnam, later a CIA spook. Starting in 1973, the men set up a bank and a number of other financial companies, eventually opening offices around the world, though East Asia was their happy hunting ground.
Nugan Hand Bank may have been set up to launder and over up CIA money transfers; the Caribbean banks that performed that service folded about the time Nugan Hand Bank was set up.
It is not proper to be too definite about Nugan Hand. Because of incompetence by Australian investigators, many of its records were spirited away after Frank Nugan's death in 1980. (Kwitny says, "For an American, used to FBI efficiency, it is hard to imagine cops so spineless that they let criminal suspects carry evidence away right under their noses, while waiting for permission to examine it." That was written before Oliver North's testimony in the Iran-Contra scandal. Americans would have less trouble imagining such a thing now. 2007 update: This review was published in 1988. Kwitny's naivety seems quaint in the 21st century.)
"This isn't a book for people who must have their mysteries solved," Kwitny warns. No, it is only a book for those who need to have their eyes opened.
It is possible to say definitely that Nugan Hand laundered money and moved cash between countries where it is illegal to export cash. Many of their clients were trying to hide money from tax collectors -- for Australians, Nugan Hand usually charged 22 percent for this service.
Nugan Hand also was definitely, though ineffectually, trying to work illegal arms deals, and it probably was involved in a large-scale opium/heroin scheme in Burma.
Certainly, most of its prominent employees were con men, brothel keepers, dope and money smugglers, disbarred lawyers and other sleazy types. Its other top employees and consultants were retired generals of the U.S. Army and admirals of the U.S. Navy and former officials of the CIA, including former director William Colby. What, Kwitny asks, were men like that doing in association with the most notorious whoremasters and heroin pushers in Sydney, Australia?
For one thing, they were encouraging Americans who had served under them in the armed forces to place all their cash with Nugan Hand. Some of these men worked in places like Saudi Arabia, where there are no banks.
The generals and admirals later claimed that they, too, were victims of Nugan and Hand, but documents prove that these high officers were still taking in cash after Nugan Hand was in bankruptcy. Where the cash went is a mystery. The depositors didn't get it back.
Working with fragmentary records, receivers guessed that Nugan Hand owed more than $50 million when it crashed in 1980. It was probably much more -- many of the people who placed their money with Nugan and Hand were in no position to make claims against the estate in bankruptcy.
Nugan and Hand and their employees lived high, but they couldn't have spent $50 million on themselves in four years (though they started in 1973, the cash didn't start to flow in torrents until 1977.) the receivers found assets of only about $2 million.
Someone looted Nugan Hand after Nugan's death. Who?
There is a Hawaii connection to all this. There was a Nugan Hand Hawaii Inc. At the very least, Nugan Hand illegally engaged in banking in the USA without being regulated as a bank. When pushed by Kwitny, various agents of the American government have said that Nugan Hand's crimes, if any, occurred on foreign soil. But this explanation will not explain why Nugan Hand has escaped inquiry for its banking irregularities here.
It gets worse, right up to cold-blooded murder.
But the greatest value of "The Crimes of Patriots" is not just its partial exposure of a nest of very nasty crooks. Kwitny links it to a continuing pattern of lawlessness in the name of American national security that centers in the CIA -- and taints Congress and the highest levels of the executive branch. "As the theory of perpetual covert action is exercised, our national security is perpetually in the hands of criminals," he writes.
This is not news to anyone who has studied the activities of America's spymasters. But that is a tiny fraction of the voters. (See also my review of George Crile's "Charlie Wilson's War.") The torpor of most citizens in the face of repeated revelations suggests that they think that eggs have to be broken to make a spy's omelets. It is the virtue of "The Crimes of Patriots" to demonstrate that this is not so. Others have said as much, but seldom has the message come from anyone with credentials as respectable as Kwitny's.

I thought the book was very good but it made me mad how Nancy likes Mick rather then Frank. Frank didn't even seem BOTHERED by the looks Nancy and Mick gave each other. The mystery was a cool one but it wasn't exciting and it was kinda slow.
It was a good book but not the best.

This is a very good story. I just wish Keene would follow up on people in the stories in later books. Like Mick, you never get to see him again thus far in the series.

Nancy Drew comes to Australia to help Mick Devlin, an old flame). Then she runs into the Hardy Boys who are visiting a family friend. Frank is just a little jealous of Mick. Exciting ending. and a few other suspenseful moments.

This book is the coolest ! It is not only the most excellant book that I've ever read, but the most thrilling, too! Nancy Drew had to keep up with the Hardy boys in the first part, but they had quite a job trying to catch her up in the end! GREAT BOOK, CAROLYN!

I think that Danger Down under is a real mystery.Nancy and George are in Australlia trying to help a friend of Nancy's old boyfriend, Mick, When they run into the Hardy Boys! The Hardy's are looking for a poacher who has been killing rare animals.Nancy and George decide to help the Hardy's on thier case too!Together they come up with a long list of suspects. Could all the suspects be working together? Could the two cases be linked? You'll have to read the book to find out!

Darkest Hour very well captures the actions and consequences of life and death decisions by Australians in the World War II Pacific theater. A page-turner, I lost track of time while reading the book following the Australians and their Japanese pursuers through the jungles and waters around New Britain. Mr. Gamble's writing is able to relate historic events, the battleground geography, the environment, military plans and decisions (or lack thereof) with the personal struggles of the men and women caught up in a one-sided fight. It was a great reading experience that is most highly recommended.

Darkest Hour is not only an excellent historical account of one of the most important "battles" at the beginning of World War II but also an entertaining read that is hard to put down. The author does a good job at character development, which is often something lacking in these kinds of books. He follows the Lark Force from its inception in Australia to its demise (mostly) in the wretched hold of a Japanese cargo ship. All is not hopeless as the stories of those who did manage to escape the island and get back home are told in adequate detail. This book made we want to read more about this period of World War II in the Pacific theater.

Pearl Harbor, Normandy, Stalingrad, Iwo Jima. These are just a handful of the battles that come to mind when people think about World War II--and rightfully so. Thankfully, though, Bruce Gamble extends his vision to one of the most gripping, and tragic, stories of the entire war. The story of Lark Force. Not only a true page turner (Gamble is an excellent story teller), Darkest Hour is obviously well-researched and filled with detail. Put simply, their story deserved to be told, and Bruce Gamble provided a fitting tribute to their legacy.

Darkest Hour is a moving book about one of Australia's least known World War Two incidents.
My grandfather died on the Montevideo Maru and for years I've searched for information about his death and his time on Rabaul. This book provided me with many answers others haven't.
Bruce Gamble writes about the members of Lark Force as real men and honestly discusses the controversy surrounding their fate.

A compelling, disturbing book that brings this darkest hour in Australian war time history into the light.

The book "Darkest Hour: The True Story of Lark Force at Rabaul" is a compelling historic accounting of those Australian men and women on the southwest Pacific island of New Britain that was run over by the invading Japanese Army. Their fateful encounter began at the early morning hour of 2:30 a.m. on January 23, 1942. The Japanese rushed ashore to completely overwhelm the 1500 men and six nurses in the garrison; thus begins one of the most tragic tales of WWII.

Less than 25% of those in the garrison were able to escape and evade and after many weeks of hardship found their way off the island to safety. However, those that remained were captured and endure cruel and sometime lethal treatment at the hands of the Japanese. In one incident alone, two hundred POWS were executed. But a worse fate was still awaiting 850 of the survivors when they were torpedoed by an American submarine and went down with the ship while locked in their holding cells below deck.

The book is obviously researched very well. Author Bruce Gamble writes this historic story as if he were an eyewitness to the events. It is a most compelling and entertaining tale that shows the courage, sacrifices and horrors of war first hand. Gamble makes us feel the emotions of that group as he shares with the reader some of the small details of the events by the people involved. The writing is top notched and goes beyond a mere reporting of what happened. It captures the heart and soul of that time and place. Reading this true story will change you; you cannot help but be moved by what happened to these men and women.

This book is one of those that once you begin reading it you do not want to pout it down until you are finished with it. I give this book my personal endorsement and highest recommendation. It has also earned The Military Writer's Society of America's top book rating of FIVE STARS! This book is more than just history--it is also a tribute to those fine soldiers and nurses of Lark Force who gave their lives for freedom.

I've had this book for 10 years and would be heart-broken if I ever lost it. It's a wonderful source for the photographer who is ready to go beyond the basics and try more adventerous and experimental techniques in the darkroom. It's the only book I've ever found that has so many ways to jazz up your photographs beyond the 'same old.' If you like having fun in the darkroom, this is the book for you.

When i first began learning photography in high school this was my first textbook. With its easy to follow diagrams it really opened my eyes, with out intimidating me, to what there is to be done with photography. This book inspired me to continue my education into a college major. This is a great book for anyone interested in photography. It is full of great examples of the techniques used to creat this wonderfull art.

Quite simply the definitive darkroom handbook. You have to appreciate that some of the chemicals and products referred to are 20 years out of date, but the principles and basic techniques haven't changed one iota. If you're looking at processing your own films, transparancies and prints, both colour and black and white, you need this book.

Michael Langford's Darkroom Handbook has it all -- in clear, easy-to-read text and excellent photo examples. This is the book for someone serious about setting up a darkroom and starting to develop and print either B&W or color film, negative or transparency. In addition, a wide range of printing techniques and specialty methods are discussed and described, as well. Lots of good refresher information on techniques and methods for the experienced print-maker, too.

I have found it practical to use older textbooks on analog photography techniques to sharpen skills and enhance creativity in the digital realm. While newer books are being written on such topics they tend to skip along and trivialize important concepts. Good pictures only enhances one's ability to approach such hybidization attempts. Digital photography has enhanced my appreciation of all forms of photography and this book, and others like it, further fuel this love. Read, reread, and refer to this book.

I found this book last year in Australia and had several phone sessions with Dr. Amanda. She is the resounding voice of reason that any dieter loves to hear, that is starving doesn't work, listen to your body and learn when you are hungry and eat then.

She advocates whole, healthy food that is readily available and has simple tips like, eat plenty of fruit and veggies, eat a wide variety of foods and reaquaint yourself with what your body wants; she also says don't panic if you slip and don't punish yourself. When I moved to the US I carried my copy of The Don't Go Hungry Diet in my luggage so that I had it as soon as I arrived. Her recipes are also great.

Thanks Dr. Amanda.

If you have struggled with weight, whether it be 100 lbs or the final 10lbs. this book will be a refreshing break from all the weight loss info you have most likely compiled. I picked up this book when I struggled with losing the final 10 lbs. through calorie restriction and intense exercise. I was doing everything "right" but still never saw a break in the scale or my measurements. In fact, my waist was increasing!! I was burnt out with tracking every single calorie that went in my mouth.

This book was the relief I needed. Dr. Amanda's principles made sense and were backed by science. The thing that struck me the most was her explanation of how we can be so good on a diet and then suddenly binge like we had never eaten food before. I have struggled with eating disorders since I was in grade school (I'm almost 40 now) and have overcome most of my harmful behavior, but could not figure out why those binges would still grab hold of me. Once I started applying Dr. Amanda's principles, the binges stopped and so did my beating myself up. I realized that depriving my body for so long only leads to a craving. That it isn't something uncontrollable. I have control by listening to my body, eating healthy foods most of the time and allowing myself treats without guilt. I still have my days where I overeat past fullness, but if I truly listen to my body the fat brake kicks in and I typically eat less the next day, I still track my calories because it helps me, but I'm no longer obsessive. I have lost 2 lbs towards my 10 lb goal and know it will take time, but I am OK with it because I"ve learned a way I can live with.

I have read all of the diet books, and have lost the same weight over and over in the last 15-20 years. I stumbled across this book when I was feeling myself losing my will power after a 6 month period of calorie counting and regular exercise. I was stuck and just couldn't lose anymore. I read this book and followed it's deceptively simple concepts and am very slowly losing the last few pounds without any calorie counting, just truly tuning into my body and exercising. It is something I feel I can do for the rest of my life, because it is about what is within me, not about following some program until I just can't anymore. I do not work for the author in any way, but I have corresponded with her. She is kind and caring, and she is really onto something you have not read about in any other book. Buy it, read it two or three times until you really get it.

When I read this book, I knew it was something I was looking for - based on evolutionary theory. No, I'm not affiliated with Dr. Amanda in anyway and am not a paid reviewer.

This is the first "diet" book which truly gives you the information (power) back to make your own decisions. This book helps reconnect you to your body and its signals of hunger and satiety. We live so far from what our bodies are telling us, that its no wonder we're having such difficulty with weight issues. We crave nutrients, not volume.

Don't ever read another diet article about will power or motivation. You won't need it. Don't ever read another about counting calories. Just read this book and take back the ability to listen to your own body. I've already shared my copy with friends. Work with your body, stop beating yourself up, and be patient. This is the guide to a lifestyle you have been looking for.

Over the past 25 years I have been training clients in bodybuilding, fitness, and martial arts. In the diet arena I have often felt uncomfortable giving the same standard industry "advice" about eating 6 meals a day, not eating carbs, no food after 7.30pm, the list goes on....This is because of the massive variation in results witnessed with different clients under the same advice. Dr Amanda's book clarifies and destroys many of these myths with hardcore scientific research and real world testing.

If you are struggling with your weight you must buy this book immediately.

Grab a highlighter and read it until you understand the content well enough to teach it. Once you learn how to tune into your body's signals you will be on the road to success. Readers will also discover that if you arrive at your goal weight by sheer willpower you will have inadvertently turned your body into a super efficient fat storing machine. You may win the battle but will lose the war big time. In other words you will ultimately get fatter and fatter. Not surprisingly, as determined as you may be to stick to your "diet" when you go up against millions of years of evolutionary development you will ultimately fail.

The book will show you how to prevail by working with your body rather than against it. No fuzzy new age theories here. The author is not a celebrity trainer to the stars, she is a is a molecular scientist with a PhD from the University of Geneva, Switzerland, who has spent her professional life in this area of research. This stuff is all backed by hard science and based on how our bodies actually work.

A word of warning. The primary concepts taught in this book are very simple but can be easily misunderstood by anybody simply skimming through the book. Yes, you will never go hungry on this diet but first you must get back in tune with your own physical signals. Some chronic dieters have lost touch with their natural signals and re-acquainting yourself with them is a key component of Dr Amanda's approach.Detailed steps are provided.

The book is clearly written, thoroughly researched and referenced. If you want to lose weight all you have to do is read it thoroughly and apply the method diligently.

5 stars

Having lived in Australia three years, I recognized with nostalgia many of the scenes Brewster describes. She successfully captures some of the best Australian character traits while describing life on a sheep station and at a roadhouse where they made extended stays.
Her leisurely trek revisits places and people she knew 20 years before as a school teacher (in Australia under the Assisted Passage Scheme). This gives her the perspective to see changes to some areas (Coober Pedy) and lifestyles.
This is more in depth than just a travel journal. She comments on the struggles of the Austrailian agricultural family, racial issues and the generosity she encounters throughout the country. One chapter describes a wide range of Down Under musicians. A bibliography at the end gives more titles to lead you further in your reading on Australia.
If you are thinking about an Australian trip, this gives you much of the flavor that a guidebook just doesn't cover.

Barbara Brewster's book "Down Under All Over" gets inside a vast country, and let's us see, hear, see and smell it with plenty of detail and first-person account. The book has made me want to see Oz. The author's relationship with the people there has touched me as well. After all, what travel is about, when all is said and done, is the folks you meet. I highly recommend this book.

The best travel books are first-person, and Ms. Brewster's book is charming and insightful. A first-hand look at one woman's attraction to an amazing country!

This book made a perfect vacation read. On a domestic trip I read it a little each day for a week, and every moment it was like I was down under. Brewster takes us through quick stops throughout the continent, telling of her hitchhiking adventures, soulful solitary moments, profoundly happy and inviting stays with local friends and acquaintences, and unique cultural experiences, both during her more recent return trip to Australia and her original stay 20+ years ago. Interested in going, I checked the book out from the library along with some travel books on Australia, and it really brought some neat vicarious experiences into my life. I'm checking into getting some of the music she mentions, especially 'Gondwanaland'. Definitely a recommended read to those wanting an enjoyable look into some of Australia's life!

Your Amazon review diddles (cheats, swindles) your customers out of wanting to read a great book. Your reviewer does a GREAT DISSERVICE to Down Under All Over. Out of 46 chapters oozing with fascinating descriptions and experiences of the great land down under, your reviewer chose to tell readers about Brewster's surfing experience--something that could have taken place anywhere in the world.

Your reviewer completely disregards Brewster's masterful, enthusiastic depiction of an Australia that many non-Australian readers knew nothing about and have been fascinated to meet. People around the world have feasted on "Down Under" with vast enjoyment. Unfortunately, most Amazon browers will not have this pleasure because your reviewer so thoroughly fails to give them any reason to buy this book.

Readers:Take a look at the forward by "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport" Rolf Harris. He says he was moved to tears that someone from another country had so captured the gist of what Australia is all about, and that Brewster writes of Australia with the same love that he would.

Readers: THIS BOOK IS NOT OUT OF PRINT. It is readily available to Amazon from Four Winds Publishing both in the US and in Australia. Just check Barbara Brewster's website if you don't believe me.

I recommend the book Escape to Murray River to any one wholikes adventure.The book Escape to Murray River is foll ofsurprise.The only character I did not like was mr.Burke.I did not like mr. Burke because he framed Patricks father and said that he would help him in court.

This book starts getting exciting in the FIRST chapter! Patrick's father, John McWaid, is convicted of somthing he didn't do and is getting sent on a prison ship to Australia. The rest of the McWaids follow only to get in deep trouble when they find out that the man that wants John McWaid dead, Conrad Burke, followed them TOO!!

This series, Adventures Down Under, is full of adventure.

I Really liked the Escape to Murray River book. I liked it because I love to read.It was fun to read because it is mysterious.

We think Escape to Murray River is a great book for almost all kids. It makes you want to read more and more,you never want to stop reading once you start. It really makes you think that this is really happening to you. We think you will really like this/these books.

Jessica 4/10/00 This book is really awesome. If you like adventure,you should read this book. It`s filled with excitment, suspence,and a little romance. Robert Elmer puts very good details in his stories. Patrick, the main charecter is seperated from his family. Along with his new friend Jefferson. Patrick struggles to find his sister Becky ,his brother Micheal,his mother Sarah McWiad,and his father John McWaid, who was sent from Dublin to Australia. John McWaid was framed for being a Fenian in a bribe scandle, by Mr. Burke and head of chief police. Now Patrick tries to find his parents. So hold on to your seats and enjoy the ride with Patrick and everyone else.

I have read this whole series,it is truly fascinating. I gave the series away to a Seniors home and now am looking to find them again!!

the exiles was a wonderfully written novel that is full of suspense and keeps the reader glued to their chair. It is a masterpiece and is well worth reading. You really do feel like you are there with the convicts.

I have 10 hard back volumes of the Australian series, all written under William Stuart Long, all very well written and well worth the long wait to obtain your full series collection. I believe there are two more one being the Nationals which I would love to be able to locate.All are based on factual historical events making the fictional characters appear as real people in history.Apart from the history the story is very entertaining,making it hard to put the book down.

This book takes you back to the late 1700's to England where criminals, justly and unjustly accused, were transported under ghastly conditions to Australia to begin a new colony. When reading this book, you really feel as if you were there right along with the exiled prisoners. Although the book is fiction, it is based on events that actually happened, and I feel I now understand a bit more about this period in Australia's history. I enjoyed it and look forward to reading the rest of the series.

This series should be used as a teaching guide. It gives a remarkable insight into the reality of a new colony built on hatred and fear. What our ancestors endured was without doubt incredible. The corruption and politics unequalled. The insensitivity of the British Admiralty and the cruelty of the English Government against the Irish and their own people was horrific. Vivian Stuart's research and insight into the personalities of our founding fathers & early colonists is brilliant. This historical record has been written with passion and understanding. I advise every Australian and those interested in history to read this account. It is also a tribute to William Bligh, who should be vindicated in history as he was not only a great mariner but a fine leader. Read it.