United States Books

The author doesn't get into the real information until almost half way through the book.

He does, however, give excellent information on the ways of receiving the Holy Ghost and how people react once filled.

This book serves a multitude of purposes. It is not only a detailed description of the purposes and value of tongues, but also a look back to how Pentacostalism began in the U.S. I've been raised Baptist and brought up thinking more conservatively. However, when denominational walls are knocked down and the Holy Spirit guides, wonderful things happen! I recommend this book to all who are seeking to draw close to God in new ways.

This is an excellent book. It is written in a very scholarly manner and exhausts the subject from a biblical standpoint, and tells the wonderful true story of an educated man being drawn into a new spiritual experience.

This is a book I can highly recommend. I believe that whatever your beliefs on the issue of tongues you owe it to yourself to read this book.

I have been a Christian since 1975, and was taught against tongues in the first couple years of my Christian walk. I was well versed in, why tongues was not for today.

Then in 1977 through a chain of events I ended up going to an Assembly of God Church. I was somewhat cautious of them as I knew they were of the Pentecostal persuasion. But from the very first service I attended I noticed an excitement in worship and over God's word (Bible) from the pastor and the members, that I had not seen in the other churches I attended. I really liked the church, the people, and the powerful preaching from the Bible, but, I still didn't agree with this "tongues" thing.

Anyway, one Sunday evening before service, in August 1977, I went to the church altar alone and was on my knees in prayer, looking at the cross and thanking Jesus for dying for me. Then I asked the LORD to fill me 100% with His Holy Spirit (with or without tongues). So there alone at that altar I lifted that prayer up to God. Just me and Jesus at that altar. There was no expectation from me of speaking in tongues. I was NOT seeking tongues, but to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Almost immediately from the time I lifted that prayer to the LORD, to my surprise, I instantly started praying in tongues. As I did, I felt a release in my worship to the LORD and also such a fresh appreciation for the Cross (that Jesus would die for me). A river of tears of joy flowed from my eyes.

That being said, I believe from that day I had a fresh desire to see others come to Christ and to grow in their Christian walk.

So, do yourself a favor, and read this book. I believe God can use it to touch your life. It is well written, it shows the authors own battles with the "tongues issue" and gives a good scriptural basis for "speaking in tongues".

I first read "They Speak with Other Tongues" as a very young pastor, more than forty years ago. At the time I already believed in and practiced the gift of speaking in tongues. Still, I found this book to be a tremendous confirmation to my faith. It was especially interesting to me because the author was a non-Pentecostal and at that time the vast majority of people who spoke in tongues belonged to Classical Pentecostal churches. The Charismatic movement among mainline Protestant and Catholic churches was barely in its infancy. No doubt, this book served as a catalyst to arouse interest among non-Pentecostals in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and thus helped birth the Charismatic renewal. Today, more than half of the Christians who speak with other tongues belong to non-Pentecostal churches.

I have read "They Speak with Other Tongues" several times over the years; on each of those occasions it has been a continuing inspiration. I've also bought many extra copies to share with friends.

Anyone who wants to learn more about the experience of speaking in tongues will find much of interest here. The author presents his story in an honest manner which is both unassuming and convincing. Those who speak in other tongues and those who are only curious about the practice will both benefit from reading this classic. Although dozens of books on the same subject have been written since this one, I know of none that have had as great an impact.

J. Stephen Conn, Author: "Growing up Pentecostal"

I stayed up all night reading this one night. LOVED all the stories and anecdotes from other child stars I fondly remember from my childhood - David Cassidy, Davy Jones, Stanley Livingston, Jay North, Mary Badham, etc., and of course Jon was my first "crush" (at the grand old age of five! But I adored him in the teen magazines, too - what a hottie he was and still is!). Hated hearing that Sal Mineo was such a lost soul, but then, it wasn't that big of a surprise, either.

I'm so pleased that Jon's life is happy and fulfilling these days, after all he went through in the past. Laurie sounds like just the woman for him, and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for helping Jon get this memoir written. I'll be recommending it to all my friends.

Yes, it is a fantastic book even for us outside the U.S. with limited insight to how Hollywood worked (and works) in the '50s and early '60s! I'm from Sweden where the Lassie shows were on the air week by week and sure was very popular with us kids!
Jon Provost and Laurie Jacobson is a perfect team making this book one of the absolut best biographies I ever read! The book is so fascinating that I really had to force myself letting it go for some sleep in the evenings! Especially the early years with the Lassie series, is close
to me - giving an direct emotional telling how it was like to be this little boy, completely left out in a adults' world with very limited freedom of playing and having a "normal" life with family members and friends of your own age!
Even though you may get the impression that he was forced to do this acting all the time (by his mom in particular), I can sense that she wanted all the best for his son!
The book is also densly enriched with pictures from those days which makes it extra fun! Also the "timelines" is a plus, establishing the stories in their original time!
Thank you, Jon and Laurie for this achievement - this book is a must in every American home! (and European as well!)
I'll give it a 5 star rating of course!!!
Chris Lindstrom in Sweden!

I found "Timmy's in the Well" to be a fascinating read. It brought to my consciousness the Lassie TV show's innate moral values which, watching it every week for years, had a positive formative impact upon my character (there's a positive for the power of the media!). It was then fascinating to see the oftimes contrast between the appearance of the show and the reality behind it: particularly chilling was the instance when Jon was applauded for his "performance" of drowning, when he actually almost had. Interesting also was the impact that Jon's career had on his siblings, another "reality" behind the scenes. In this autobiography, co-authored by his wife, Laurie Jacobson, Jon's recollections are balanced by many quotations of his family and friends; their statements often give different perspectives to the same event, and thus give a three dimensional depth to his story. The reader is left with some work to do, some conclusions to draw, which is analogous to the process of reading a great novel.

While this book covers the life events of Jon Provost's life, it is also a powerful statement of the social climate of the 50's and 60's in this country. It was startling to realize that it was less than fifty years ago that racial prejudices were so severe that Lassie's sponsors were afraid that they would lose business if a famous black sports figure appeared as a guest on the show. Later in this autobiography, the "highs" and the "lows" of the 60's scene are brought to life in a realistic accounting of those days of "free love." Laurie Jacobson did an excellent job of presenting Jon's life within the context of the times.


But the real value of this autobiography for me is that it is an exploration of love between all the members of a family struggling to cope with their roles in this unusual and unreal life. Despite the tensions, conflicts, jealousies, and inherent misunderstandings, each Provost family member managed to arrive at a place of mutual respect for each other. And any book, or any life, that can achieve that goal, is an inspiration for us all.

This book is absolutely terrific, not just for movie and TV fans, but also for any adult who might be preparing for, or currently struggling with, success, challenge, frustration, or failure. Do you enjoy Hollywood movie history, or info about legendary stars and classic TV? Or perhaps when growing up, you watched a favorite child star perform and dearly wanted to be like him or her, thinking life would be so fun, rosy and glamorous to be so popular, cute, rich and famous. Perhaps you dreamed it would bring fast cars, beautiful living, smart clothes, endless friends and gorgeous dates. Well, now's your chance to personally experience what all this might have been like. But beware. Things are not always what they seem. Sometimes they are more.

In this very special and unique autobiography, you'll become a member of Jon Provost's family, past and present. You'll feel right at home, following the young actor through all the ups and downs, hopes and dreams, thrills and chills (not to mention pains and strains), of a childhood spent working in 50's and 60's movies and television. You'll be transported into a wonderful, yet sometimes strange and even downright dangerous world of wild success, fame and fortune.

Fame does bring great stuff, attention and privileges. It's all here in this book, with amazing, wonderful, unbelievable, incredible times. You'll meet many famous adult and kid stars backstage and in real life, as well as numerous regular friends and coworkers, too. Their impressions and perspectives, both positive and negative, are quite candidly included. Family and off-camera photos on practically every page help to set the period and mood.

But fame and success bring even more. And the extra stuff is often not so good, seldom anticipated, or even understood, not only by the person at the center of the maelstrom, but also by family, friends, employers and fans.

In this book, Jon Provost and his entire family circle confide their personal lives with a most rare honesty and openness. It's a deeply personal journey toward success of a different kind. You'll find it hard to stop reading. I recommend it very highly. Just as his character "Timmy" did on Lassie, Jon Provost is still teaching us valuable lessons about life, but this time through his own.

From: [..]

"Timmy's In The Well" is an amazing accomplishment. If you ever watched Jon as Timmy Martin in "Lassie," you must get this book.

It's not a book for kids. Provost vividly evokes the sweeping social changes in America from the staid 50's, through the swinging 60's, and beyond. This is a real insider's view of growing up in Hollywood, with many revelations about the life of a TV child star.

All of the wild fun, the hard work, and the bitter pain, is told candidly, with total honesty and utter sincerity. There are many quotes and comments from Provost's colleagues and friends in the entertainment business, and although the photos are small, there are a lot of them, conveniently integrated into the text.

A massive forest fire swept through eastern Minnesota destroying almost an entire county in one day in September 1894. Several towns were leveled, several hundred lives ended, and hundreds more altered. The story is full of daring railroad escapes, awful suffering, and surprising heroism, and Daniel James Brown's vivid writing relays the drama. His narrative details the stories of over a dozen victims of various backgrounds and fates. (This is enough that effort is required to keep track of who is who.)

In the endnotes, the author mentions one witness was particularly useful, because he "tended to note the kinds of details that bring a scene to life." Indeed, the main text is full of details and even dialogue recorded in various survivor accounts. Brief asides about the region's history, the science of forest fires, and burn treatments are scattered throughout and add much to the book. The overall product reminded me of David McCullough's The Johnstown Flood, though with less socioeconomic tension.

Author Daniel James Brown is to be commended for his knowledge of the incident and his chronicling of it. What an emotional read! There was so much drama, so much carnage and human suffering, that I sighed sometimes as I put the book down to take a break. This author knows his subject, and he knows how to write about it to please his readers. I've never seen the monument to the fallen pioneers but I plan visit it soon. I've read books about the great Chicago fire, and the Peshtigo fire, but never have I felt the riveting force as I did in this book. Now I feel it. The dissection of a firestorm of this magnitude along with the destruction it brought, and the lack of medical knowledge at that time about burn treatment showed me what a scholar Brown is. I learned an immense amount. Thank you, Daniel James Brown, for such a glorious textbook and tribute to those who lived in Minnesota during this era.

I grew up in Sandstone, MN and happened to find this book on the "Noteable Reads" table at BN. Picked it up and couldn't put it down. I had, of course, been taught the history of the Hinckley Fire, but never realized the total horror those people went through or what a monster of a fire it actually was. This book had chills running up and down my back as I read it. I'm sure I have one up on most people reading this as I have actually seen the places in the book (though altered now) for example the Sandstone Quarry (Robinson Park now) is one of my favorite places. I have a personal thanks for Mr. Brown for writing such an amazing book that really touched home for me(no pun intended.)

This book is an easy, informative read about a horrific disaster. It follows several people before, during and after the fire. It was much like reading an enjoyable fiction book. I plan to use portions of this to teach my junior high students about the causes and effects of forest fires.

"Under A Flaming Sky," by Daniel James Brown, is an intense, enthralling book detailing the events of the 1894 Hinckley firestorm. The event itself has been buried in our national memory, part of the great fires that happened at the end of the 19th century, like Peshtigo and others, unlike those of Chicago and major cities. Occasionally it is brought up at its anniversary in Minnesota by the local media. As Brown points out, though, the same kind of horrific incident that happened at Hinckley can still happen today.

Brown builds the chronicle of events from the night before the fire, augmenting it with conditions that built the firestorm, through the day of the fire and the events afterward. In the book, many characters are introduced - it was a bit confusing sometimes to trace who was with which family - but in being caught up with this tragedy and people, one would wonder who would survive, how they would survive, who would not and how they would die. The human interest stories that Brown creates an almost fiction-like story - but you know that it is a true story, and you want to know how it ends.

There are also three parts of the book where the story is interrupted, something that may seem to be an annoyance in most books, but extremely useful in this book. The first takes several pages to explain fires and the creation of firestorms, where conditions build swirling winds that may reach hurricane strength, heat the melts steel and throws fire and gases to instantly burn oxygen and set fire to things miles away. Another impressive detour has to do with burns and their effects on humans: how the body has difficulty dealing with burns, in fighting infections, the process of fighting bacteria, and more. Add to this the perspective of the technology of the times, and one gets further insight to the evolving disaster. Brown has written an excellent book on an American tragedy, and done it in engrossing style.

I'm planning to take my two teenagers cross country this summer and this is a GREAT book for finding interesting places to show them. It has excellent maps, clear directions, and well-written descriptions of what you will (and won't) see so I can figure out what sites will best entertain the different family members. I only wish we had time to see more of the places they describe. It even tells you what other nearby attractions there are. Kudos to the authors!

My wife and I love to go on factory tours and visit company museums when we travel. It's corny, I know, but fun. This book gives wonderful examples of some of the best tours and museums around. Whenever we're going on a road trip, we always consult Watch It Made in the U.S.A.: A Visitor's Guide to the Best Factory Tours and Company Museums (Watch It Made in the USA) to help us decide where we might like to go. I would very much recommend it for families with young kids who might enjoy such tours, and probably retirees who have the time and interest for them, as well.

This is an excellent book for anyone who is interested in things made in the USA. It gives a nice description of the facilities, locations, tour times, cost and lengths, age appropriateness, and phone numbers.
We like to travel the country and will use the information to plan our trips. The book is well organized and very helpful.

This is my first review in Amazon.

I am always curious about how things are made,
and after watching many episodes of "How do they do it",
and "How it's made" on discovery Channel.
I started to look for extra resources for a better understanding on these "behind the scenes" mysteries.
Then, I found this book.
And this book is a real treasure!
The book is well organized,
It provides many detail information about the factory tours,
and the brief background of the companies.

Thanks to this book,
now I have some itineraries in mind.
I plan to visit KitchenAid's factory in the near future for my mom.
(My family is in Taiwan)
She is a big fan of KitchenAid mixer. ha.
I will also visit Airstream company as well,
Owning a travel trailer is my dream, and I want to know how it is made,
And I will be more determined to realize this dream!
Maybe one day I will write a similar book "Watch it made in Taiwan" in a mobile trailer office. Who knows?!

Great book, I did not know that a book like this existed. Will definitly come in handy when planning trips. Checked information on places we have already been and information was accurate.

Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb is an unusual combination of travel guide and presidential biography. The authors discuss the American Presidents by describing how they are memorialized. By exploring each Presidential gravesite, the Authors also describe the lives of the Presidents. The book is far from morbid and quite enlightening and entertaining.

Although this book is about the deaths & funerals of this nations chief executives, it brings history alive for folks like myself who enjoy all things presidential. Focusing on the events that led to the end for each of our late presidents, this book is a thoroughly enjoyable read. I have visited many of the gravesites mentioned here & intend to endeavor to visit the the ones I haven't yet. This book is an indespensible guidebook for my future travels. Lots of great photos, too.

This book does not immediately give one the impression that it would be as good as it is. My first impression from the cover was that it would be just a compilation of unknown facts and surprises about famous people ,things and places.Then, after noting the sub-title "A Tour of Presidential Gravesites";I thumbed through it and immediately saw it was a very good summary of all the Presidents,their time in office,their wives,what they did after leaving office,the cause of their death,funeral arrangements,interm and final resting places and detailed information for anyone who would like to visit any or all of them. From this book you will learn what to expect at the sites as well as what else exists as 'museums'
there,hours open and any admission costs.It also details other final resting places of other known personalities nearby.
Lamb does an excellent job of showing that in the American system of Government, the President is one of the people and remains so; even after his term of serving in the world's greatest office; he returns to being just another American Citizen;a point often made by President Harry S Truman.
One of the things I liked about this book was that the author didn't just put together a bunch of readily information to fill a few pages on each President.He provided all the same information for each President, and in doing that;he makes it very evident that these were highly different people and comparisons are clearly brought out.A guide of this type where things are given about one President ,but not another, would be a lazy approach and frustrating to the reader.
In a very thumbnail manner the author shows that all these Presidents put the privilige of holding the office above all the politics involved in their lives.
I have to admit,that the answer to the title,s question,left me wondering until I saw the answer in another Cusromer,s Review.
If I may,here is something to entice you;
What President was the sole mourner at the committal of a politician,who had gone to jail for tax evasion; and when asked by the pastor; "Mr. President,why are you here?, he asked. "It's cold and bitter. Did you know this gentleman?" The President replied; "Pastor,I never forget a friend."
Anyone interested in American History or Politics will find this a great source of information and a readily available reference source. While a super guide to the Presidents' graves ;it is also a good reference.

Brian Lamb and his C-SPAN team have written a number of wonderful and extremely-informative essay-filled booknotes on American History and Characters. "Who's Buried in Grant's Tomb" is no exception.

With contributions from Douglas Brinkley, Richard Norton Smith, and other noted Historians, this compact, easy-to-read volume is filled with vignettes and facts about all of the deceased Presidents, their last days, presumably their last words, and where they are buried. Admission prices to their libraries and museums (and this includes living Presidents and Jefferson Davis too) is also included.

Brinkley's insightful essay at the end of the book, in which he writes with great eloquence of the attachment of Springfield Illinois to Abraham Lincoln, and of his visits to other Presidential gravesites and museums is almost worth half of the price of this bargain edition.

Note: This book was published prior to the passing of President Reagan, yet it does note where he wished to be buried, and has information about the Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.

The book shows the human and humorous side of the Presidents, including Calvin Coolidge's funny comment to a woman who said she'd bet him if he would say two words ("You Lose", was Silent Cal's response), or how William Howard Taft, a Unitarian, deftly fought back against religious prejudice.

A solid and fun read, especially around the July 4th holiday, and at 4.99 is a much better buy, and totally devoid of political commentary ala Sarah Vowell's weak-at-the-knees "Assassination Vacation".

This unique book is full of surprises, plenty of clear pictures, and short evaluations of each president. From Washington to the present George Bush, the reader visits the final resting places of our American presidents and learns how and when they died and their final words, in many cases.

Altho this book was published before the death of Ronald Reagan, pictures of his library and of the other living presidents are discussed.

In back of the book are names and places of the presidential libraries, the presidential and vice presidential gravesites listed by state, the burial places of president's wives and a host of other relevant material. Websites are even included.

Reading this book is an armchair traveller's delight. The traveller will appreciate the excellent directions. The research is phenomenal. Students of American history may want to add this to their book list.

If you are a fan of the American presidency and appreciate the valuable information that Brian Lamb and C-Span staff give us every day on the cable channels, you will absolutely enjoy this lively and well written book. Chapters are short, to the point, and contribute a wealth of information .

Trever Arnason
Wide Open: A Life in Supercross
Jeremy McGrath
HarperCollins
© 2004
Pages 320


Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a professional motocross rider, or what it feels like? This book is an autobiography about Jeremy McGrath's life. It starts off when he is young and is first racing BMX bikes. He races in the local races in California, but these become too easy. As he gets older he gets better at racing and moves on to riding motocross. As the book goes on it goes through his adult life as a motocross racer.
My favorite part of this book was when he was telling about the parties that he would have at his lake house. The house would be crammed full of people and outside would be more people. He wouldn't even know half the people because they would just show up on their boats and get off at his house. His parties sounded like a lot of fun. The theme of this book was to not give up. McGrath had many struggles, which made it hard for him to go pro. Such as people telling him that he wasn't good enough, and not being able to get sponsors. But he never gave up and he was very successful.
I think that this book was really good. It had a lot of interesting stuff about the industry. Even though it was an autobiography and I thought that it would be boring, I really liked this book.

this book is great. this book will give you some helpfull tips in between the chapters. they've got some of his worst injeries ever. this book is great i think everybodey to read this book

Jeremy McGrath has been my favorite rider for a long time, and I was pretty excited to find out that he had put out an autobiography.

I thought the narration and sequencing of the book were solid. They covered all the major events of Jeremy's life and career. It is a very simple book, seemingly targeted for a young audience.

I had issues with the placement of some of the pictures, as well as a couple of typos. For example, a picture of McGrath with the caption identifying it from 2001, while the chapter the picture is located in talks about the 1999 season. Seems like the could have made room for that picture somewhere in the chapter that talks about 2001.

One picture was identified as Jeremy after winning the 1993 championship, when it was actually a picture from the 1998 championship, which was described on that page.

I really enjoyed the writing style and the pace of the book. I read it cover to cover in about 4 hours. I didn't really find any of it boring. The way the book is written makes it feel very down to earth and easy to relate to.

The book seems to be geared towards a younger audience, which is why I found it curious that there were a few swear words included. Not alot, maybe 4-5 in the entire book, but when I read those parts, the wording seemed very unnecessary.

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I didn't find McGrath to be bitter or morally bankrupt. He worked hard for what he has achieved.

Seeing as how the book came out at the beginning of 2004, only shortly after his retirement from competition, it would have been rather difficult to include things that he has done since retiring.

One thing I know he did after retirement was to write a book... and it was a pretty good read. At least for somebody who has followed Jeremy relatively closely for his entire career...

Jermey Mcgrath grew up in southern Califorina. When he was 4 years old he started racing bicycles. He was very good and competitive. he moved up to 80 cc mini bikes when he was 8. He made his way up to the 125 cc. For a while he didn't have a factory ride, which is when you have a dirt bike company supporting you. Then, Kawasake signed him. Win he moved up to the 250 class, he went to Honda. He won 4 titles with Honda. Then, he went to Suzuki for a year and did really bad with them. He went to Yamaha and got 2 titles with them. He created a team called Team McGrath/Mazda/Yamaha when he was 30 years old.

It was a very interesting book. I could never guess what was going to happen next. I would have never guessed that he won as many titles as he did. I didn't know if he was going to get the win or not ot get the lead by the first turn. The races thatthey had in the book were exciting. Thje races were exciting because he won most of them. They were close, and i didn't know who would win untill the end of the race.

It was boring at times, like when he talked about his parents. It was also boring at the end because there was no activity. It would of been better if there would have been more ezcitment like races at the end of the book.

Over all , it was a pretty good book despite of all of the boring partsand the injuries. I learned several things that I didn't know about Jermey McGrath and about supercross and motocross. A lot of them were interesting to me.

Genre: Biograph
Three sentece sumary : The king of super cross tells the story of how he started as a privater with nothing; and endend up as a legend.
What i liked most about this book: the book told the story of a profesinall supercross racer.
What i didnt like and why:The book didnt say much about what happend after his mx carrer ended.
My fariot charecter and why: Well jeremy mcgrath of coarse.
My favriot line or scene: when MC was battiling for fist with RC.
What would i say about this book to some one else: Its a great book to see how mc followed his dream and became a legend.
One question i have after reading this book: What did he do after he retiered.
My strongest resone for rerading this book : Its about the king of super cross and how he started out with nothing and got every thing.

this book was written by carol spinney, fan of henson, who ended up working with him and doing big bird and oscar the grouch for years.

i had seen an interview with him prior to reading the book where he equates working with henson to being asked to be a member of the beatles. just awesome.

this book has many anecdotes of his times working with henson, on sesame street, the story of the girl they did "big bird goes to china" with, getting punched in costume by rappers, and he tells the story of hensons death and how it affected him.

for any henson fan, it really is a must have.

To be honest, I have not kept up on Sesame Street since I was a regular viewer from say, oh 1974-77. So I was surprised that there was but a single guy playing Big Bird! I would have otherwise presumed the role was like Vader, a guy in the suit and a guy doing the voice. Moreover, the same guy did ALL the public appearances, award shows, White House dinners. I was floored; what an interesting time this guy had stemming from the Big Bird suit. He's very matter of fact about much of this so I am perhaps overly impressed? In any case, he comes across as very genuine and extremely kind and generally a good person. He also offers odd but intriguing insights into the puppetry world. A neat short read.

The book was easy reading, took me about 3 hours and filled with life stories/lesson's from Caroll Spinney, the man behind Big Bird & Oscar the Grouch. I laughed and cried and totally enjoyed the book.

A fun read. Carol Spinney is a man whom I never knew much about besides seeing his name in the credits of Sesame Street, and other productions where Big Bird made an appearance.

It was interesting to read about how Big Bird's character was developed, and how just playing the part of a lovable children's icon changed Carol's life.

Worth your time. For sure.

I'm still in the middle of reading this book. but, I'm admiring the work of Carroll very much and every time I look at Big Bird or Oscar now I imagine the position that Carroll is in to make the muppet come to life.

Dense like lead is dense next to tin, Chomsky's serial revelations of atrocious U.S.A. histories will leave you burdened to suspend belief. If you can read and you are a citizen you will contend with your complicity of the 'us' in U.S.A. These plotted histories(many times not linear by the way)spill you through hundreds of years of stuff you don't think 'we' could do and up into 1992. Instead of pushing the weary citizen reader to the safety of the beach and THE END you will realize it is 2004 and we, the U.S.A. are the same.

If you cannot suspend belief you will bend over dazed, thoughts spinning like an errant compass, by the time you finish a few decimals of the first chapter, let alone if you can possibly fight through the moral exhaustion to reach 288.

If you have heart you will finish. If this is your first Chomsky, 288 will not be the end as the Notes and Bibliography begin and spider into more places to go. This is the densest calorie of writing as behind each thought and twitch you sense the colossus of study behind that tiny notice called a footnote. You will feel that this word 'footnote' should be dismissed as a derogatory description for these 288 moments - they should be called Massivenotes or something.

This is a sorrowful journey that is impossible for rationals to contend with. All i can do afterward is know 'yes, i am American.' I feel as if orphaned and wanting to know who I-Am-We-Us are. And 501 hasn't left me alone.

I happened to be reading this on the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attacks; on the same day my local paper carried a Mallard Fillmore strip which tried to mock the liberal media by having a stereotypical liberal media commentator intoning, "Today the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor. Let's examine how we brought this on ourselves." Amongst many other topics, Chomsky actually does show how we brought Pearl Harbor on ourselves. The "Pacific War" as he calls it was not just an unprovoked act of aggression. The Japanese imperialists, even though (as Chomsky points out) they were every bit as brutal as their white rivals, had an arguably legitimate political goal: that is, they wanted Asia to be ruled by Asians rather than by Europeans.

As others have noted, this is a pwerful, angry and wide-ranging book. As you can see just from the title: "Year 501" refers to the 501st anniversary of Columbus's first voyage, but Chomsky's story ranges all over the globe abd all over history.

If you're like me, you know Chomsky's political works primarily from his extensive collaborations with David Barsamian, which are based on speeches and radio interviews. Chomsky voice is much more fiery when, as he is here, he speaks without Barsamian as a moderator.

Chomsky's Year 501 is another engrossing work from this erudite and learned treasure and scholar. A good place to start is the concluding chapter as it presents an incredible analysis with an astonishing array of facts and figures relating to the domestic American scene and the conditions that have befallen the average U.S. worker. He brings the same studious approach to this area of inquiry as he's done for the last forty years regarding the international arena and linguistics. Along with Michael Parenti's Democracy For the Few, it's simply some of the best work available on this pressing topic. Deindustrialization, increasing underemployment, rising poverty, the increasing gap between the super rich and middle class, and the business community's relentless assault on unions - Chomsky touches on all these issues. He summarizes these developments by writing that the United States is showing the characteristics of a Third World country by becoming a two-tiered society. That the child poverty rate in New York city is approaching forty percent is just one example of the many nuggets of information a reader can garner from Year 501.

Of course the majority of the book covers an incredible amount of ground pertaining to international politics and economics with particular emphasis on Latin America. As always these passages shine with insight and brilliance while being backed up with rigorous documentation and research. Colonization to neo-imperialism are broached along with the two rip off machines known as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Since he's always refused to punk out to mainstream corporate opinion Chomsky's a somewhat cruel reminder to the orthodox pundits and intellectuals of what intellectual responsibility is truly about. The New Yorker recently ran a hit piece against him; this of course demonstrates that he's still pontificating and writing truths the black-tie cocktail party set refuse to countenance. Year 501 follows in the tradition of a long line of Chomsky books that make the establishmentarians a bit uncomfortable.

This is a book by Chomsky that is probably even more scholarly than usual. At least in the way it is written. Chomsky wrote this book on the 500th anniversary in 1992 of the beginnings of the invasion of much of the world of what Adam Smith refered to, in a rather narrow context as "the savage injustice of the Europeans ("revealing himself to be an early practicioner of the crime of 'political correctness,'"Chomsky comments sardonically)". Chomsky begins his survey by analyzing the policies of the major European powers and the United States as they grew to dominate the world. Such policies., he explains, are not the free market doctrines stressed by right wing talk radio hosts, University of Chicago professors and other such bores and frauds but by massive state subsides, huge tarrifs to block foreign competitors, extreme violence and colonial occupation.

Places like India and Bengal (Bangladesh) which were highly advanced industrial societies by the mid-1700's but all of the industries which were superior to their counterparts in Britain were deliberately undermined or simply forced out of existence by the British colonisers. India and Bangladesh became extremely poor, feudal agricultural countries supplying Britain with raw materials and as a captive market for British goods. The latter is a familiar pattern outlined by Chomsky in this book. The West, since World war II, dominated by the U.S., has always sought any way it could to block advanced economic development in the third world. The exceptions to this that Chomsky points to are Japan and its former colonies in Asia who violated all the laws of the free market to create very dynamic, if, of course, very far from perfect economies. The British, noted Chomsky, started to adopt "free trade" as policy as the United States would do later under similar circumstances, around 1846 when they had no competitors in their field but this changed around 1930 when they, along with the Americans, French and Dutch erected high tarrif walls around Japanese exports to their colonies in Asia with which they could not compete, a major factor in staring Japan's wars of conquest.

He examines the U.S. role in the slaugter of half a million people in Indonesia in 1965 as the independent nationalist Sukarno was overthrown and "a staggering mass slaughter of communists and pro-communits." The U.S. media, rejoyced at the massacre of landless peasants and the destruction of the only mass-based political party the communist PKI. General Suharto took power initiating ongoing plunder and exploitaion of Indonesia's resources by Western corporations while engaging in mass murder in the U.S. backed occupation of East Timor and elsewhere. He examines the media reaction to this slaugter and the reaction back in 1990 when this great event was brought up again by Kathy Kadane.

He examines the showcases of capitalism in the third world like Brazil, whose liberal capitalist president Goulart was overthrown in 1964 with U.S. aid by a group of Neo-nazi generals who compiled over the next few decades a truly horrific human rights record but who were praised for producing an "economic miracle" as the population sunk into quite horrific levels of malnourishment and disease and land became ever more concentrated in fewer hands and millions of street children arose in the big cities. And Nicaragua where the massive terrorism, celebrated by the media liberals that Chomsky quotes, brought to force upon the Nicaraguan people a defeat of the Sandanistas in "democratic election" in 1990 (the 1984 election won by the Sandinstas dissapearing into the memory hole). This has predictably resulted in a terrible rise in starvation and disease and drug running and street children and on.

He continues with an in-depth examination of the woes of Haiti and the American and Western efforts to ravage it since 1804, and particularly since 1915 when the U.S. invaded and reestablished virtual slavery, with a U.S. imposed constitution ratified with five percent of the voting public participainting under the U.S. marine bayonets, reversing the ban on foreign ownership of land.

He compares the podering of the unique evil of Japan in being unable to fully face up to their past crimes and the comparable ignoring of things like the hundreds of thousand of tortured victims of U.S. chemical warfare in South Vietname, which occasionally elicits a comment in the science pages of the newspapers about how we are missing a great opportunity to study the effects of dioxin on a control population

This is a powerful book indeed. The facts are there for those willing to check them out. For some people this maybe hard to acknowledge , but Chomsky is writing an account of History that everybody should take a time to read and investigate. In so doing , I am sure that you will have a new understanding of how things are , how the world really works and why.
When you read all those books praising globalization , world free trade and neoliberal economics...take a time and verify...go to the real world...and see what is really happening to the majority of the people...Capitalism is a better system , I'm sure...but some adjustments need to be done to the way the big economies are trying to impose it to the little countries....It is creating more poverty and social unrest..and I am afraid that there will come a time when we are not going to be able to control this...

I loved reading this book about my favorite author, his devoted daughter and the life they shared while Richard was alive. Richard Brautigan was a brilliant writer who deserves much respect. I read his works over and over.

It was interesting to learn about his personal life, and Ianthe shares her story so beautifully. I'm sure her father would be proud. Her writing style is wonderful, and her telling of her father's life is a touching tribute to a great American writer and his complexities.

Everyone should read Richard Brautigan books. And follow up with Ianthe's.

Ianthe is the daughter of Richard Brautigan, although this book is more her personal story of overcoming her father's suicide than a biography of him. I would have preferred the latter. Still, you get a good, if incomplete portrait of Richard Brautigan through the eyes of the person closest to him. You get to know his multi-faceted personality, including his tragic drinking habit, but never understand his life or what drove him to suicide (nobody, including his daughter, knows). Some great stories about the last of the beats. I think my favorite was when he sat with a friend in his Montana cabin and shot out the hours on the clock, each hour on the hour, with his handgun.

Your favorite artistic hero from college days no longer rings a bell for many if not most. Richard Brautigan was one of the most innovative, creative, and "counter-culture" (as we used to say) poets of his day. His poetry was utterly refreshing and blew (literally) all the stuffy poetry elevated to a plane beyond God out of the room. As to this truly grand memoir by his daughter, Ianthe Brautigan, as much as a fan as I was - I did not know that her father's poetry revolutionized the genre and sold millions world-wide. Most profound of all, is Ms. Brautigan's literary gifts so evident in this book. For the price of a cup of good coffee, it is surely worth your time.

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Ianthe Brautigan stays on target throughout her memoir -- as the daughter of Richard Brautigan, and the daughter of a father who killed himself. Brautigan turns out to be an articulate author, and she expresses her feelings very openly. I feel callous saying that this is an enlightening read for R. Brautigan fans, because much of I. Brautigan's drive derives from her troubled feelings about him. But the book is also a biography of her father, the ways he lived (as well as the way he died, which is vividly described). While reading, I felt it was a reliable biography, from the POV of someone very close to him, who understood him, and had her own experiences with respect to growing up his daughter; it was a reliable/subjective biography, which turned out to have merits of its own that an outsider can't match -- for better or worse. What it loses in objectivity, it more than overcomes.

No doubt I. Brautigan has had many other life experiences too, but very impressively she keeps to her misssion to tell the story of her father, his life, his death, her relationship to and evolving feelings about it. I did not expect it to be as well-done as it is. Kudos, as well as my sympathy to the author who indeed had an unfortunate and difficult time due to his suicide. Regarding R. Brautigan, fans will appreciate her anectodes and stories, despite their coming from the place they do -- of having to learn that she can not "catch death."

This memoir was written with sensitivity and emotion but never seemed maudlin. I was sorry when the book ended. I wanted more.

Robert Conroy premises his most recent alternate history novel, about an American invasion of Japan during World War II, on the success of a real-life group of hard-core militarists who attempted to thwart Japan's surrender in the Second World War. With the emperor now in custody and the impending surrender suddenly called off, American forces now have little option but to carry out Operation Downfall, the invasion of the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. As is typical of many alternate history novels, Conroy's narrative unfolds through the experiences of a mixture of historical and devised characters, and it is through their eyes that we witness the consequences of the prolonged scenario.

Conroy's scenario benefits from a degree of verisimilitude lacking from the similarly premised but much inferior novel MacArthur's War: A Novel of the Invasion of Japan. His writing is also much improved from his imaginatively-plotted but poorly written first novel 1901, as his characters and their attitudes seem more plausible for their historical setting than they did in his earlier work. While not as evocative as David Westheimer's classic Death Is Lighter Than a Feather, it is nonetheless an enjoyable novel of the genre, one that entertains its readers with an engaging picture of "what might have been."

five stars all the way! an exiting page turner of an all too possible scenario. not for the faint of heart, however...

I am not usually drawn to alternate history but I found Robert Conroy's 1945 to be a provocative treatment of the possibility of the die-hards grabbing control of the Japanese government and leaving America no choice but to stage a costly invasion. Conroy provides plausible portrayals of the important historical players: Truman, Marshall, Macarthur, and Nimitz as well as Hirohito, Anami, and Homma He also portrays the brutal situation faced by his fictional infantrymen and sailors. This story brings up some interesting permutations such as the course the Russians would take and the use of atomic bombs after the first two were dropped.

The story also worked as a war espionage novel and particularly the exploits of the one-armed Japanese-American OSS agent were satisfying.

1945 is an alternate history novel that deals with the story of what might have happened if Japanese militarists had success with their coup on the night before Emperor Hirohito's surrender declaration was broadcast. This is an interesting, unique point of divergence from our history that results in an amphibious invasion of Japan without involving something happening to the Manhattan Project -- which was far too large an undertaking to be derailed by something like lightning prematurely detonating the Trinity device or that device simply failing to detonate, as is the case for at least two other "Invasion of Japan" alternate histories that I know of.

In any event, with the Japanese surrender called off, the United States prepares Operation Olympic -- the invasion of the southern home island of Kyushu -- and Operation Coronet -- the invasion of the Kanto Plain. We're introduced to the two "main" characters in succession: An infantry lieutenant transferred to the Pacific theatre from occupied Germany and a one-armed Japanese-American (Nisei), veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, who volunteers to be dropped into Kyushu on an OSS mission.

Though the story is interesting, Conroy does an overall poor job of developing his "main" characters. I put the word main in quotes, because although we do get to see them more than any other characters in the book, they're never developed much beyond what we're given in the first few paragraphs of their introductions and there's so many other secondary and tertiary characters used to show how the invasion is progressing that none of them are ever fleshed out either. Instead, we're left with a stream of characters who do little more than illustrate what's going on. A reader can easily understand what someone's doing and how, but will never understand why they're doing it or what's going on in their heads beyond the standard cardboard characterizations of "a family back home," "duty to country," and "just wanting to get home."

At times, Conroy seems to want to go into a historical viewpoint, showing what's happening and why, but because of the way he tells the story, he uses a cardboard character to demonstrate. It's not ineffective, but it's not as effective as it otherwise might have been, either. Because Conroy takes this approach, he has characters knowing things and sharing information that they would have no way of knowing in the first place. There are two glaring instances of this: One, when an American infantry captain shares news about a Japanese balloon bomb that knocked out power to "some super-secret military facility in Hanford, Washington," (something few people know even today, and if it's so super-secret -- why are you talking about it?)and when a Japanese officer bemoans the ineffectiveness of kamikazes by pointing out the plight of the Laffey, an American destroyer that was struck by several Kamikazes during the battle for Okinawa.

The most intriguing character is the Nisei, and I have to give credit to Conroy for writing about a character with a physical disability, which he does very well. Small mentions about his difficulty wheeling a bicycle along really sell that characteristic for me. But I don't get to know as much about the character as I'd like to, which is a real bummer. There's also a completely random romance thrown in at the end of his story, which simply reeked of fanservice and a desire to have things go well for the man.

Despite his weaknesses characterizing things, the story progresses logically. Though a major plot point is telegraphed early on when we're told that the Nisei has been ordered to investigate happenings around Nagasaki, most of the rest of the story unfolds with a minimum of heavy-handed foreshadowing, a major problem with many alternate history writers. Each character does a great job of speaking from their own point of view, even going as far as to express wrong information -- something difficult to have your characters do without confusing the reader -- but which Conroy pulls off very well.

Factual and historical matters are on target, as far as I can tell, and although I thought he stretched things early on with civilian protests in the United States, he provides an excellent reason for them and they never factor into the story as I had feared they would. (That's a personal peeve of mine with most AH invasions of Japan -- it doesn't jibe with the time period and the fact that returning soldiers from Europe and the end of rationing would defuse most homefront tensions.) Conroy doesn't bring too much in the way of historical grudges to bear -- he doesn't wholly indulge in historical wankery by having a mass replacement of Pacific Theater generals by their contemporaries from Europe. There is one replacement, and it's foreshadowed fairly heavy-handedly, but it wasn't as jarring as I feared it would be.

Overall, it's better than most alternate history novels out there today.

I've enjoyed Conroy's other alternative histories, especially 1862: A Novel. But, this novel rates as his best. The book is well researched and his characters are believable. He also explores some interesting points that reflect on current conflicts and policy. For instance, had the war with Japan continued with high casualties, would the American public continue to support the war? What would US policy towards the use of nuclear weapons have been had the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs not brought peace? What would war on the Japanese mainland have looked like? This was an enjoyable and thought provoking novel. Highly recommend. Download for your Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device today!!