Teams Books

All american girl is the storyr of the golden oldies of the Womens National soccer team! It shows how some 10+ ordinary girls came together to make a HUGE difference in the history of sports! Best book ever!!!!!!

This book will give you the facts and inside scoop of the wonderful ladies. Some of the stories the team tells are hilaroius. It's not the best book I've read but it's great for young girls to see how they got to the highest level.

This book is fantastic. It gives an inside look at each player to pass through the National team program for an extended period of time. Includes player interviews and a sort of "rap"sheet for each player, like their most embaressing soccer moment, their favorite number, and other interesting facts. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in learning more about the Womens National team. Don't Miss it!!

If u don't have this book, u must buy it because i never liked soccer untill my friend bought me it. I was hooked. I read it 5 times that is how good it was. Please buy the book. If u don't, you are missing out....... BIG time.

If you are a fan of any player on the US womens team and wonder what they do in there life (Yes they do have a life out side of soccer)this is the book for you. Your brothers picking on you saing girls cant play sports. Will now you can prove him wrong. Hand him this book tell him to read the first page, it will make him think twice before he makes fun of womens soccer again. This book has each player tell about there life in and out of soccer. They tell of all the interesting hobbies they have and some of am even rat on there team mates. If you buy this book and dont enjoy reading it you are not a true womens soccer fan.

Sit back and relax with this read because W. A. Heisler exhibits a truely remarkable understanding of what Christmas is all about. His storytelling will fill your heart with the love and peace we all need to feel. I'd recommend this to all those who are looking to get away from the hustle and bustle that Christmas has become.

Wow, what a journey An American Christmas will take you on. From the first story "The Tradition" it touched my heart and I could not put it down. This book is an emotional, heartwarming and inspritational read. So enjoyable. I have actually read it twice. I have given it for gifts and encourage everyone to read it. You will truly feel the power of the words.

I liked this book a lot. My favorite stories are "Stille Nacht" (set during World War II) and "These Four Walls".

The author has a good sense of humor and it's most evident in "These Four Walls" (the story about the kids and the 'witch').

There's also some suspense in "Stille Nacht" and "The Long Road Home." (That surprised me even though I read and liked a few of the author's uncollected suspense stories.)

Three of the stories have spiritual elements. I normally wouldn't enjoy stories like that (outside of the horror genre), because I'm an atheist. It takes talent to make an ornery guy like me appreciate a sentimental and spiritual Christmas-themed story.

I'm looking forward to a book of Heisler's suspense and horror tales.

W. A. Heisler does a magnificent job with these five spiritually uplifting and inspiring Christmas stories that will touch and warm your heart. Heisler is able to quickly pull you into each story and connect you personally with each character. His ease and humor keeps your interest. A great holiday gift idea for someone you love.

What a great way to spend your christmas vacation! The Christmas memories shared in the short stories of this book offers such a variety of characters each with a feel good theme that offers an uplifting solution to the commercial driven christmas it puts the focus on the real meaning of christmas and the importance of the memories we make during the holdays. I laughed, cried and really enjoyed An American Christmas.

This tape set was incredibly helpful. Listen as you drive and feel empowered to help your organization grow.

The book "The Fifth Discipline" is a standard in the field of Organizational Learning. The CD is interesting to hear, sometimes a bit lengthy, butin any case worthwhile hearing!

I must say I think I was lucky on reading this book after I had read "The art of systems thinking" and being familiar with the concept of feedback loops, etc. Yet what makes this cd-book unique is not only the fact that cover the essentials of systems thinking, but also to the fact that you have to personal values that will make you recognize interdependencies and the fact that there are lags to deal with, and that wisdom is indeed a time process.

The insights are so deep, the narration so intimate, the examples so clear.. this is one of my favorite for my 10 hour drives.

If you are in a leadership position, read this book! If you want to be in a leadership position, read this book! Change management is one of the more challenging aspects of leading any organization or team. Change in your organization to create a "Learning Organization", can put your team at the front of the pack. This book seems to the best analytical manual I have read that helps accomplish this goal. This book puts it in perspective from the viewpoint of "Circular Thinking" versus "Linear Thinking". Through leveraging, you can develop your organization into a learning one. The book works in concert with 5 Learning Disciplines and 10 system archetypes that can help develop you to be a circular thinker, or a systems thinker. My favorite archetypes that hit home the most to me were: Balancing Process With Delay, Fixes That Fail, and Eroding Goals. All ten are rock solid, but I related the most to those three.
If you want you and your organization to grow together, I recommend this book.

The Fifth Discipline is a seminal book by the famous author Peter M. Senge. The book teaches the concept of the learning organization namely that the successful organization must continually adapt and learn in order to respond to changes in the environment effectively and therefore to grow and prosper. I have read the book a number of times and keep on referring to it as is filled with a lot useful knowledge and wisdom. System thinking and learning is critical to organisational growth and development in the present highly dynamic operating environment.

According to Peter Senge, "real learning gets to the heart of what it means to be human. Through learning we re-create ourselves. Through learning we become able to do something we never were able to do. Through learning we reperceive the world and our relationship to it. Through learning we extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life. There is within each of us a deep hunger for this type of learning"--powerful advice indeed from a real learning guru.

I recommend this book for individuals interested in understanding the nature of how organizations develop, how behaviours are formed, and how organizations achieve growth and augment their capabilities. You will learn how to improve the way your organization or department functions, how to review and improve systems and how to develop shared visions, create long term goals among other critical insights.

THIS IS THE STORY OF THE NEW YORK JETS, HOW FAILURE AFTER FAILURE HAS FILLED THEIR HISTORY. THIS STORY DESCRIBES IN GREAT DETAIL THE FEW SUCESSFUL SEASONS AND THE MANY DISAPPOINTING AND TOTALLY PAIN FILLED ONES. THE AUTHOR DOES A GREAT JOB DESCRIBING AND INTERVIEWING THE PEOPLE WHO WERE DURING THESE DISASTEROUS TIMES. FROM WEEB AND JOE TO THE COMING OF THE TUNA, THIS BOOK HELD MY INTEREST AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS FOR ALL FOOTBALL FANS, I FEEL THE JETS PAIN.

This is a well-written history of the New York Jets. It covers the one great accomplishment (Super Bowl III) and the many failures and disappointments. As a fan you love the team and always get your hopes even though you know they will dash them in the end. This book covers those emotions well.

Gerry gave a very honest account of the New York Jets.

You'll enjoy the stories of the early years. Recounting the selling of season tickets from the apartment of one of the original owners, Walt Michaels finding a "good practice field" while flying home from a game (it was located on the grounds of a NYC prison), the press' examination of Joe Namath's knee in the restroom of a local restaurant and many others.

Those who were at that dreadful Miami comeback at the Meadowlands in 1994 will relive that sick feeling in the pit of their stomachs.

Parcells has come and gone and we still don't have another appearance in the Super Bowl. This book might expain why.

But we return each season with high hopes of reaching the big game. Reading Mr. Eskenazi's book will remind all of us of the pain we go through to have some fun on a sunny Sunday afternoon in the Meadowlands (NJ).

Well written, exciting and very difficult to relive all the abysmal moments in Jets history. END

Along came Bill Parcells and New York thought its troubles were over. Last year we were a half hour from the Superbowl and now we're in the cellar again. If you find yourself scratching your head and asking why. This book has the answers--the history of the Gang Green struggle and where we went wrong.

Born and raised in Fort Worth, I have been a Dallas Cowboys fan for decades. I was 13 years old and watched every minute of the "Ice Bowl", and still feel a twinge of regret over Bart Starr's quarterback sneak (helped by the blocking of Jerry Kramer) that won the game for Green Bay.

I bought Instant Replay the year it came out, and I read it every two or three years, to get me geared up for the football season. My first edition copy is well worn and beloved.

Indeed, reading the other reviews, I am struck by how many people also admit to re-reading this book. And no wonder. Mr. Kramer simply wrote a beautiful love-story about football. You get the feel of the locker room, of the players preparing for each game, and of the game itself. Names from the past float by, such as Alex Karras and Bob Lilly. Vince Lombardi is huge, of course, and the stories about him are simply fun to read (interestingly, Vince would not allow any photographs of him in Jerry's book, since Vince planned on writing his own book). As others have noted, the Packers were an aging team, and Jerry writes vividly at one point about how, as he gazed around the locker room, he saw players getting shots, getting taped up, etc., all evidence of their aging, breaking bodies.

Instant Replay transcends team loyalty. Any fan of football will enjoy this book. Buy a good copy and be prepared to read it several times over the years.

This is a classic look at one of the greatest football teams of all time, headed by one of the greatest coaches of all time: the incomparable Vince Lombardi.

The book started out with a desire to keep a journal of a year in football from training camp through the end. Serendipitously, this particular year turned out to be the third straight (and unprecented) championship year for the Green Bay Packers -- and featured a spectacular end-of-the-game play by the author.

I wouldn't call myself a rabid football fan (that would be my husband), but this was an excellent book for anyone with a passing interest in football.

I am not a Packers fan, yet I found this book fascinating. Jerry Kramer has opened up the mystique of America's favorite spectator sport to the public in "Instant Replay." And what a cast of characters! So many legendary figures of the game participated in this single season: Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, and Ray Nitschke, to name a few. After the fabled "ice bowl" league championship game against the Cowboys, the Super Bowl vs the Raiders was almost anticlimactic. Football fans of any age would truly enjoy this personal account of a remarkable team in their most memorable season.

I read this book twice: once when I was a kid shortly after it was initially released, and again several years ago. It was just as interesting a read the second time as it was the first. I recently bought a copy of this re-released version for a friend. I thumbed through it and noticed some additional photo's have been added since the release of the paperback edition that I own.
Anyone who has an interest in football will want to read this book, despite the fact that it relates to events that took place 30 years ago. If you're my age, it will bring back memories of the glory days of the Packers (back when a water bucket was a tin pail with a ladle on the sidelines). If you aren't old enough to remember those days, the names in the book will most likely be familiar to you as great characters in football history.

Instant Replay is an essential book for every football fan. The tradition of the NFL and the inside story of the Green Bay Packers in the Vince Lombardi era come to life with a wonderful blend of humor and pro football detail in this great book.

The New York Yankees are the most popular and successful franchise in major league baseball history. They have boasted such legendary performers as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, and Reggie Jackson. Those great players and teams can all be found in The New York Yankee Encyclopedia, the most complete record of Yankee baseball ever published.

An in-depth volume that include statistics on every Yankee player and manager, more than 250 classic photos, chapters on different Yankee eras, rivalries, ball parks, and much more

The New York Yankees are the most popular and successful franchise in major league baseball history. They have boasted such legendary performers as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, and Reggie Jackson. Those great players and teams can all be found in The New York Yankee Encyclopedia, the most complete record of Yankee baseball ever published. From their humble beginnings in 1903 as the Highlanders through nine decades of unforgettable players, teams, and classic games, noted baseball author and historian Harvey Frommer has compiled everything about the history and lore of this fabled club in the one book no true Yankee fan can afford to be without.

Here is the ultimate reference for baseball's most storied team.The "Bronx Bombers" have won 35 American League pennants and 24 World Series championships, and have boasted such legendary performers as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, and Reggie Jackson. 250 photos.

I bask in the loveliness of being the fan of the baseball team of the millenium! The Yankees have won for three consecutive years and there is no stopping them! I have Yankee fever. I like a book that describes the history of this amazing team and its past accomplishments. I marvel at the fact that so many great players have been part of this team. I also enjoyed reading the stats of past players and the rookies. This is a book that every Yankees' fan should own. Go Yankees!

I laughed. I learned. I loved Open Net.

Plimpton summarizes (page 254) his experience with the Bruins to Junior Achievers in Edmonton, "I described some of my brief forays into sports as a participatory journalist, and what it was like, and how I envied the athletes their skills and the fellowship, but how I had always left their camps with a faint twinge of relief that I was returning to my own world..."

Plimpton is the vanguardist for creative-nonfiction/participatory journalism, and Open Net is the standard by which other hockey books should be measured. I envy not his weak ankles, for they're as instable as his writing is strong, but rather his wit and way of balancing humor and enlightenment.

I didn't grow up in New England, but I suspect those that have will still enjoy the way Plimpton brings back to life the boldness and brashness, the grit and the glory, of the Big Bad Bruins.

From Plimpton's interaction with the likes of "Grapes" and "Taz" and with goalies "Seaweed," and "Cheesy" to our hero's own moment in the crease, you'll want to stand up and cheer!

If you enjoy Ice Hockey, especially from a historical perspective, this is the book to read. Fans of Don Cherry will love this book.

THIS IS ONE OF PLIMPTON'S BEST. I REALLY ENJOYED HIS STORY PLAYING GOAL FOR THE BRUINS. HIS CONVERSATIONS WITH VARIOUS PLAYERS AND COACHES ARE EXCELLENT. HIS DESCRIPTIONS OF THE EVENTS MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE RIGHT THERE ON THE ICE WITH HIM. PLIMPTON DOESN'T WASTE TOO MUCH TIME DESCRIBING HIS SURROUNDINGS LIKE HE DOES IN OTHER BOOKS. HE GOES STRAIGHT TO THE POINT. SOME HIGHLIGHTS ARE DESCRIBING HOW HE PUTS HIS UNIFORM ON IN A DETAILED ORDER, OLD STORIES ABOUT EDDIE SHORE, AND HIS ACTUAL TIME ON THE ICE PLAYING GOAL DURING A COUPLE OF EXHIBITION GAMES MAKE THIS A GREAT READ.

As a big hockey fan, and a goaltender, this was just required reading. Yet, it turned out to be more. This well written, quick read was a gas to enjoy and quote. I will be glad to read others by George Plimpton, and I'm already on the hunt for PAPER LION.
I guess thats my ringing endorcement. If I'm looking to read a book on football, the author must be wonderful. Quick, funny, well written, and vastly enjoyable, you wont regret buying this book, no matter what the price.

George Plimpton once again dons a uniform and plays a game. This time he tackles hockey while training with the Boston Bruins.
Plimpton does a wonderful job of painting a realistic view of life as a goalie. He uses the voices of other players to help the story along, rather than as just filler from big names. He also tells his tale without a lot of false excitement. You can tell he totally loves the experience, yet at times, you can see the effort does drain him (naturally).
His comments about and conversations with the likes of 'Seaweed' Pettie, Garry Cheevers and Don Cheery really add a lot of depth to the book. In conversations I have had with some of these men, I clearly got the point that they enjoyed this as much as Plimpton did and as much as I did as a reader.
This is a great read for the unfulfilled athlete in all of us.

From beginning to end it keeps you on the edge of your seat! An insightful and frightening journey into the world of spritual warfare that will leave you sleeping with the lights on. I'm an avid reader and never before has a book haunted my dreams like this one. Heisler is definately among the best! Can't wait for his next!

SALVATION is the real deal. I like it more than Stephen King's THE SHINING and possibly more than Blatty's novel THE EXORCIST.

I've read hundreds of horror novels, and I can spot a good one.

SALVATION consists of a prologue and six parts. I recommend skipping the prologue at first and waiting until after you've finished reading part three. Read the prologue sometime after that.

I think one of the main characters should appear in some sequels, but I'm concerned about some of his powers. I think Arandavius has too much power to heal people and undo physical damage to objects. (At least the author limited Arandavius in some way: he can't cure insanity.)

I hope the storyline of any sequel features action in at least two places at the same time. Arandavius apparently can't be in two places at once. (He can travel quickly though -- almost instanteously. He just walks into a shadowy corner in one room and walks -out- of a shadowy corner in a completely different building. Pretty cool.)

Also recommended: Heisler's "Santa's Little Helpers", Stephen King's "Cell" and "Desperation", and William Peter Blatty's "The Exorcist."

PLEASE FORGIVE MY WRITING BUT ALL I CAN SAY IS "WOW", I STARTED THIS BOOK DURING THE DAY AND WAS AFRAID TO GO DOWN THE BASEMENT! AS IT GOT DARKER SO DID MY IMAGINATION, SO I DIDN'T MOVE WITHOUT MY DOG BESIDE ME. I HAVEN'T BEEN AFRAID TO SLEEP WITHOUT A LIGHT ON SINCE THE "EXORCIST", BUT MY ELECTRIC BILL IS DOING DOUBLE TIME! I CANNOT WAIT FOR A SEQUEL, I'M HOPING THERE IS GOING TO BE ONE. I LOVE THE WRITERS STYLE AND I KNOW THIS IS GOING TO BE AN AUTHOR TO LOOK FOR ON THE BEST SELLERS LIST! GLAD I GOT THIS BOOK AS A CHRISTMAS GIFT, IT WAS VERY GOOD.

W A Heisler has quickly become one of my favorite authors. This book is a great read. It kept me in suspense and on constant guard of my surroundings while I read it. I highly recommend it!

move over dean koontz, stephen king, peter straub. there's one new scary mother in town. i read this book in record time. characters will forever be memorable. arandavius is impressive, i do not want to ever meet him in a dark or well lit place, but i definitely want him in my corner in the event that i would have to need him. i will also say that one night when i finished reading, i kept the lights on all the way to bed, if i wasn't a mature, fairly rational adult, i would have looked under the bed. awesome book. loved it, can't wait for the next book.

Please note: This book contains an error. When visiting the Koret Health & Recreation Center, the Red Pass ONLY allows you access before 2pm (Monday-Thursday) and anytime on Friday-Sunday. You can NOT attend a group exercise class if time restrictions apply.

In the City by the Bay and its surrounding other cities. Change and Restructure in the Work place is so common that Time Off from the corporate grind is expected and can be useful too. This book shows you how to make excellent use of your Time Off in between the next career adventure.

I've been reading this book while commuting to work. Yes, I wrote work! I still have one, but I have uncertainties. So I thought "Hmm this can be a good how-to book just in case in a couple of weeks I get fired or laid off. Excellent! hehehe." The book is very helpful as it suggests where to eat and shop when your tiny little checking account is about depleted. Saying that, they mentioned as well how to obtain/maintain your finances. Humor and tidbits of SF made this book a best buy. There are some websites that are no longer up, but not to worry, just email the writers for updates. Whether you're working or not, who's in a tight budget or no budget at all, this is a great book! And.. you'll be surprise of how much you don't know of SF, I don't till this book.

Yesterday was my one year anniversary of not working. I picked up this book shortly afterwards and as a result, I have to say that this last year was the best year of my life. I have to highly recommend it for the unemployed of the SF Bay Area. Not only does it provide some interesting, low-cost things to do in the City, but also (and more importantly), it addresses the psychology of unemployment. It's easy to get in a funk when you're unemployed - this book will help you see it for a chance of an excellent adventure.

Escaping unscathed from the dot-com fallout, Dean LaTourrette and Kristine Enea have taken a cue from Cary Grant's character in 1938's "Holiday" when he chose to take an extended period of adventurous unemployment despite pressure from his fiancée's family to accept a staid, unfulfilling job at a bank. Although they state that they have been "successfully unemployed since 2001", each has found the financial means to pursue their creative interests in order to build an ideal leisure lifestyle. Their most renowned outlet has been their "Time Off!" books, which I think are terrific, eminently readable resources for those wondering how to handle the abrupt reversal between time and money when between jobs.

I still have a ragged, used copy of the first edition which was called "The Unemployed Guide to San Francisco". The switch to "Leisure" seems quite intentional, especially since much of the text is directed to anyone in a high-stress situation. In fact, the first part of the book is devoted to the art of leisure, and it gives informative stepwise advice on managing the transition to unemployment. This section covers not only the psychological aspects, including nagging feelings of guilt and dismantling time schedules based on going to work, but also practical advice on dealing with dwindling financial resources. I particularly like how they clearly define the three phases of money management - Finance 101 for planning and budgeting, Finance 202 for paying off debt and keeping a cash reserve, and Finance 303 for getting cash in the immediate term.

By far the biggest part of the book, Part 2 is a cleverly organized guide to free or low-cost activities in San Francisco, including museums, festivals, volunteer organizations and a great matrix of the more famous coffeehouses. Granted some of the information is dated (e.g., the National Maritime Museum is closed until 2009), this was still immensely helpful to me when I was unemployed and trying to live comfortably in one of the world's most expensive cities. There is even a large section on travel and how you can reasonably journey to far-flung locales on a budget. It's inevitable that the book should end with how to manage the transition back to the job hunt and work, and the co-authors remain steadfast in ensuring you incorporate leisure even during this process. The revised book feels a bit heavier, but the graphics remain pleasing and the text relatively light-hearted. I think it's a great instructional resource for those trying to make the best of a most trying time.

When I was thirteen years old (circa 1985), I saw a book on the shelves of the famous "A Clean Well Lighted Place for Books," located in the Larkspur Landing Shopping Center, Larkspur, CA. It was the picture of the Israeli Uzi on the cover that caught my attention. Like many 13 year old boys, I was fascinated by sub-machine guns and automatic pistols. I bought the book because of the cover, but I was in no way ready for the tale I was about to be told. It was the tale of the Israeli Mossad avenging the deaths of the athletes that had been murdered at the Olympic games in Munich (circa 1972). The book read like a Ludlum novel, only this story was true! Contrary to the cover, all the assignations were carried out with .22 caliber ordnance (the choice of Mossad assassins), and not by the 9mm Uzi. This book opened my eyes to a historical tragedy that happened while I was still in diapers -- a tragedy not mentioned in American High School textbooks. And it gave me a fine respect for the prowess and professional nature of Israeli Intelligence (HaMossad leModi'in v'leTafkidim Meyuhadim).

"Vengence" is an insider's account of the formation and actions of a counter-terrorism team. Unlike the fictional Bourne series emphasis on hand to hand fighting skills, the bulk of the subject's work involved obtaining information, being smart with it, and executing the target. Who can you trust and how much of what they are saying is true was always the key question which would make the difference between being killed and making the kill. A very tense and disquieting story which reads fairly well for a non-fictional account, I recommend it to anyone interested in gaining insight into the dark side of war.

George Jonas's "Vengeance" is the book from which Steven Spielberg's "Munich" was derived. Both concern the Israeli hit team sent into the cold to track down and kill the authors of the 1972 massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes. While reaction to the movie focused on the moral ambiguity of it all, we see here that this is at best a minor angle in the book, and at worst, a willful distortion by critics.

The as-told-to story of Avner, the team leader's pseudonym, "Vengeance" details how the team is formed and begins work in Europe. With massacre perpetrators mostly dead, the hits are aimed at those higher up: those who hatched the plot, the leaders of international Palestinian terror.

Some, openly terrorists, live in hiding or in countries sympathetic to terror. They travel surrounded by bodyguards. These are considered hard targets. The Israeli team is not given permission to go to Arab or Communist countries.

But some are soft targets: Palestinians with covers as journalists, diplomats, intellectuals or professors, whose involvement with terror remains secret - the Sami Al-Arians of the 1970s. Trusting their covers, they live openly in cities like Paris or Rome, walk the streets alone, have fixed addresses, and generally don't carry guns or take attention-getting secret-agent precautions.

The hit team - assembled at the government's highest levels and severed from Mossad to preserve deniability - flounders at the outset. They can't locate their prey. Their big break comes through a chance contact: Avner reconnects with a childhood acquaintance, now a hanger-on of the Baader-Meinhof Gang, who, believing Avner to be a radical terrorist, introduces him to bigger wheels in the underworld of terror.

Avner discovers that terror, a big business, has developed a certain amount of outsourcing - organizations that, for hefty sums of money, secure safe houses, deliver arms, supply explosives, provide lookouts, do surveillance, arrange transportation, help with getaways and bury bodies. Providing networks terrorists couldn't possibly match, they free the latter to plan hits and getaways without worrying about logistics. The support networks also provide an extra cut-out level for the terrorists. They aren't picky about who they work for. Most important for Avner and his team - cut off as they are from Mossad and its resources - they even leak information on other terrorists' whereabouts.

Tapping into these networks - penetrating the terror world by impersonating terrorists - Avner hits the gold mine allowing his team to find and kill Israel's enemies.

At first they are so successful they marvel at how easy it is to find and kill a man. Almost too easy. Later, snags emerge. The hard-to-find people are still hard to find. A couple of missions don't go smoothly. Their Mossad liaision hints they're not moving fast enough. The team begins to press, attacking with less planning and caution. They are compelled to involve themselves - and their precious underworld contacts - in a major Israeli commando raid in Beirut, blowing the team's cover.

Their mood darkens as three team members die, two by assassination, leading survivors to wonder if they've been sold out by the very people who sold others out to them.

Yes, they contemplated the morality of it all - having to become terrorists, complete with constantly changing fake passports and shadowy changes of address - to fight terrorists. But their conclusion is that they're not like terrorists at all. Terrorists kill schoolchildren - the infamous Ma'alot massacre comes to mind - while the hit team kills terrorists, delivering justice crude, justice extralegal, but justice nevertheless. At the explicit orders of Israeli Premier Golda Meir they avoid killing bystanders, family members and anyone not on their hit list. By and large, they are successful. They go outside their orders only marginally: assassinating a Dutch hit woman who seduced and killed one team member, probably on behalf of the Palestinians, and assassinating a PLO replacement for an earlier target.

Avner's greater concerns are more specific. He is haunted by insecurity as a "yekke", an Israeli Jew with German roots, in Israel, a country dominated by "Galicianers", or Polish Jews, who, Avner feels, form a ruling clique reserving power and privilege for themselves. He and his teammates are all "yekkes", picked because they can blend in in Western Europe, but they all worry about being left hanging once their mission, and usefulness to the state, conclude. Avner's own father is a former Mossad agent, now embittered by his treatment. Avner worries the same thing will happen to them.

Gloom and paranoia set in as his teammates die. At mission end he returns to his wife and baby and decides he's had enough of this kind of life. His fears materialize when his superiors, refusing to let him go, take back $100,000 that had accrued in a Swiss bank as his pay. Avner accuses them of threatening his family in an effort to force him back into the fold - and notes his own countervailing "I know where your children go to school" threats against an Israeli security man in New York City he suspects of involvement.

Finally they leave him in peace, but penniless and forced to take menial jobs. Avner's decision to go public about his mission is clearly payback for this, a quest for recognition, and maybe for some money as well..

Avner and Jonas conclude the mission in the end presents no moral dilemma. Yes, the terror world replaces the dead terrorists and, yes, terror continues. But the people who were killed, deserved it. A message is sent that attacks on Israel and Jews no longer go unpunished, and that the Jewish state will go after those responsible, wherever and however.

He and his teammates ponder the morality of what they're doing because they are indeed normal human beings, not, unlike their adversaries, hardened killers. They ultimately believe in their mission. They see themselves as disciplined soldiers fighting for a democratic state. They fight an extralegal war because the world, again and again, has offered little or no justice for Jewish terror victims while encouraging, tacitly or actively, their murderers. In the 1970s Palestinian killers are let go, again and again, by appeasing Western governments, and commit more murders. Israel has no choice but to pursue them alone, by any means necessary, to show the world no one can strike with impunity at Jews ever again.

The book is convincing, possessed of details large and small about how teams of this sort operate. You can't help but be fascinated in learning Mossad's technique for doing a hit. Each step is developed with supreme calculation and attention to detail: small caliber, low power, quiet weapons, with safeties never used, rounds left unchambered, weapons never drawn until it's time to shoot, no shooting except to kill, and shots always fired in pairs.

Particularly convincing are details about bureaucratic infighting. The team, say, balks at participating in Beirut, not only because it will jeopardize their own work, but because, having taken the risks and done the work to plan an operation, they want to be the ones to do it and get the credit, secret though it is, inside Mossad - quite recognizable human behavior.

Overshadowing the book is the whole question of whether Avner is who he says he is, whether the book is true; is distorted; or is an out-and-out lie. Israel can't be expected to acknowledge its truth, if it's true; even few people within Mossad were party to it; and outside intelligence experts would have no way of assessing the truth of what is explicitly an ultrasecret mission.

Jonas says he believes Avner, in the end, not because of his own attempts at verification, but because Avner knew how the light switch in the lobby of a particular Roman apartment building worked. The detail most straining credibility, in my opinion, was the terror outsourcing network; it's a deus ex machina, these shadowy all-powerful guys who are on your side if you can pay them and know how to find them. And Avner stumbles over them because of a chance relationship with a childhood friend. It's so convenient, maybe too convenient. But it is still plausible.

At the end, this book is vivid and compelling, one you can't put down.

I read "Notes on a controversy" at the end of the book first, because this justification of the text by the author deals with the issue of veracity. The book has apparently been attacked on this score, and of course the very nature of the subject excludes the possibility of total and certain verification of all the facts, but the author makes a convincing case of the techniques he used in circumventing this problem and checking out his main source's story. That story itself is gripping, not only because it describes in thriller-like fashion the actions undertaken by an Israeli hit team against the masterminds behind the killings of Israel's Olympic team in 1972, but also because of what I would call, perhaps oddly, its humanity: the personal torment felt by the members of the hit team is faithfully portrayed, and is perhaps the most unforgettable part of the narrative. One closes the book with the uneasy feeling that there really is no way to avenge, let alone deter, the monstrous deeds perpetrated by terrorist scum. But I do not share a shred of the hit team's doubts that their actions were fully justified. This book is an eye-opener on the nature on terrorism, but also on the ruthlessness demanded of those who are called to combat it. The book leaves one with few illusions about "the secret world" either, which adds to its aura of truthfulness.

Vengeance succeeds on many levels. It could easily stand as a classic tradecraft work about espionage operations or as a fictional spy thriller. It is action packed and a real page-turner. I was disappointed when it ended.

Terrorism succeeds, when it succeeds, by using violence to send a public message to one's opposition. It amounts to negotiation by murder and bomb blasts. The message being: "If we aren't safe, you aren't safe either." That was the message that the Black September organization sent to Israel with their 1972 Munich action, and it was the same message that the Israeli state sent back to Black September via Avner's hit team. Terrorism is warfare by symbolic violence, although it's more than symbolic if you're there when the bombs go off or the shooting starts.

As to whether all aspects of Vengeance are literally "true," I admit I have my doubts. But so what? It has verisimilitude where it counts and whether this or that specific detail is literally true or is a mishmash of several events or characters combined is largely irrelevant. The ongoing terror campaigns going on all over the world today show that the morally ambiguous world that Avner and his opposition existed in 1972 hasn't changed that much. And it probably never will.