Books

Stories of the Great West
Letters from the Dead: Last Letters from Soviet Men and Women Who Died Fighting the Nazis (1941-1945)
Sex Mythology
The Salvage of the Century
Greek Studies: A Series of Essays
Apollo's Warriors: US Air Force Special Operations During the Cold War
Biplanes and Bombsights: British Bombing in World War I
The Cold War and Beyond: Chronology of the United States Air Force, 1947-1997
Abelard and the Origin and Early History of Universities
ARCHIE, FLAK, AAA, and SAM: A Short Operational History of Ground-based Air Defense
Military History of the American Revolution: The Proceedings of the Sixth Military History Symposium USAF Academy
The Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America: v. 1
The Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America: v. 2
Military Operations in Low Intensity Conflict
The Foundations of US Air Doctrine: The Problem of Friction in War
Air Warfare and Air Base Air Defense 1914 - 1973
Russian Combat Methods in World War II
Conflict, Culture, and History: Regional Dimensions
History of American Socialisms
Indian Slavery in Colonial Times Within the Present Limits of the United States
Florentine Life During the Renaissance
New Granada: Twenty Months in the Andes
A History of Military Government in Newly Acquired Territory of the United States
Military Pedagogy: A Soviet View
American History Told by Contemporaries: National Expansion 1873 - 1845

Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies (Hornblower Saga)

Average customer rating:

Five Desperate Adventures in the Twilight of Hornblower's Career
A Wonderful Friendship
A collection of short adventures
Dissappointing End to an Otherwise Brilliant Series
C.S. Forrester makes a clever joke

Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies (Hornblower Saga)
C.S. Forester
Manufacturer: Back Bay Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Lord Hornblower (Hornblower Saga)
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ASIN: 0316289418

Book Description

"The eleventh tale of naval adventure in C.S. Forester's Hornblower series finds Horatio Hornblower an admiral struggling to impose order in the chaotic aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. As commander-in-chief of His Majesty's ships and vessels in the West Indies, he must take on pirates, revolutionaries, and a blistering hurricane. The war is over, but peaceful it is not."

Customer Reviews:

Five Desperate Adventures in the Twilight of Hornblower's Career.......2007-02-12

This, the last in C. S. Forester's Hornblower series, is very unlike the novels which proceeded it. This book is segmented into five stand-alone short stories, the first four of which could be read in any order. The fifth story needs to be last as it relates Admiral Hornblower's retirement from active duty and return to Britain with his wife, Barbara, whom we first met in "Ship of the Line." The Napoleonic wars are over, Bonaparte is in prison for the second time, in St. Helena, and our aging (46) hero is in the twilight of his career. He is effectively waging a police action defending British interests in the Caribbean and fighting stateless piracy (the terrorism of that age). In the first story Hornblower discovers through stealth that a French ship in New Orleans has taken on six hundred muskets and bales of French uniforms. When he learns the the captain plans on racing to St. Helena, freeing Bonaparte, and restoring the French Empire, we are off to the last naval engagement of the Napoleonic wars. In the second story Hornblower engages a large topsail schooner, the Estrella del Sur, in a desperate race to prevent her cargo of slaves from reaching it's destination, Havana. Flying Spanish colors, she takes refuge in San Juan. Hornblower's plans to capture this much faster ship pits his daring and ingenuity against his opponent's two knots superiority in speed. The third story takes place entirely on land, on the island of Jamaica. Hornblower and his secretary, Mr. Spendlove, are captured and held for ransom by pirates. The pirates' impregnable lair is on a ledge on the face of a high cliff. The conclusion involves a weapon we see here for the first time, a ship mortar, which fires bombs with a timed fuse. The fourth story has a more historical setting, Bolivar's defeat of royalist forces in Venezuela's fight for independence from Spain. Readers familiar with Lord Cochrane's campaigns in Chile and Peru will see his persona recreated in Mr. Charles Ramsbottom. He is the wealthy son of a Bradford wool merchant, and arrives in Kingston harbor in his private yacht, a decommissioned brig. Eventually we discover that he is what was then called a "Liberal," come to the assistance of the revolutionary, Bolivar.

C. S. Forester hasn't lost his knack for a tale: "There was something just over the horizon of his mind, some stirring of an idea. And within a second the idea was up over the horizon, vague at present, like a hazy landfall, but as certain and as reassuring as any landfall. He could not help glancing over at the Estrella, sizing up the tactical situation, seeking further inspiration there, testing what he already had in mind."

A Wonderful Friendship .......2006-09-09

This is the next Hornblower chronologically, it was not the next one written. Now that the series is completed it makes sense to read it as Hornblower's career progresses in the Royal Navy.

The whole series is a pleasure to read full of action and adventure; with enough time for a little romance.

Get acquainted with one of the most popular characters in modern literature.

After reading this you will be back for more. And that is a wonderful thing.

A collection of short adventures.......2006-08-07

Napoleon is securely in exile, and Admiral Hornblower is in charge of the Royal Navy in the Caribbean. It is the end of the pirate age and in the midst of the rebellions of the Spanish colonies. It's a series of short stories without a larger theme, but they're well-written and worth reading.

Dissappointing End to an Otherwise Brilliant Series.......2005-08-22

I found this book to be excrable. It was inconsistent, badly designed, and really a let down, after the other 10 books which were (mostly) surperb.

Spoilers ahead: One of Hornblowers firmly established character traits was his beating himself up over those he perceived as having "failed," his dead wife Maria, his dead lover Marie, his dead best friend Bush. And his sad remembrances of his two dead children. He thought of all those "ghosts" often.

In this book, he's facing death in a hurricane. Through the days of this storm, he gives not a single thought to any of these people, or even to his one living son, who will in all likelihood, be left an orphan.

All he can think about is how jealous he is that his wife was once married. HELLO? HE (Hornblower) WAS ALSO MARRIED, and had children, no less. But, his biggest thought is how happy he is when she callously says she never loved her (dead) husband.

This overjoys HH who now feels "healed." Very disturbing. Very lame.

While I never enjoyed HH's exploits and infidelities, I did relate to his love of those people he'd lost. This last book he was so self-absorbed, even the cool pirate battle couldn't redeem it for me.

Honestly, I'm sorry I read it and in the future, will stop with Book 10. Trust me on this.

C.S. Forrester makes a clever joke.......2004-12-02

This final book of Hornblower's advertures is structured into 5 relatively self-contained episodes concerning his final posting before retirement at half-pay. The final story contains a really good joke, too. A young marine bandmember faces court martial for refusal to play exactly as the music is written. Hornblower and Lady Barbara take an active interest in his case. The joke here is that the musician who bucks the system in order to maintain his sense of dignity plays the cornet. He literally is a HORN BLOWER!

At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England

Average customer rating:

Interesting and easy to read.
Why Isn't Hollywood Calling???
Good book!
What I Think!
Poignant and Unlikely Story of African Princess

At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England
Walter Dean Myers
Manufacturer: Scholastic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Liberty

ASIN: 0590486691

Amazon.com

Once there was a little girl--an orphaned African princess--who narrowly escaped death by human sacrifice in a West African village in 1850. A British sea captain named Frederick E. Forbes saved her life by talking King Gezo of Dahomey into giving the girl to Queen Victoria of England as a gift: "She would be a present from the King of the blacks to the Queen of the Whites." As impossible as this tale sounds, it is a true one. Award-winning author Walter Dean Myers--piecing together her story from letters he found in a rare book and ephemera shop in London--paints a hauntingly detached portrait of the small African princess whom the heroic captain named Sarah Forbes Bonetta.

We follow her charmed but unlucky life as the Queen's protégée through a succession of British middle-class households, beginning with the Forbes home. Because of her celebrated association and frequent visits with the Queen, Sarah grows up in an unusual position of privilege, education, and celebrity. On the flip side, she is keenly aware that her decisions are not her own, and as a rescued orphan under the Queen's protection, her life's path is dictated by those acting in what they perceive to be her best interests. It is hard not to feel that it was cruel of her protectors to wrench her (more than once in her life) from the adopted family she adores, and eventually to encourage her to marry a West African businessman whom she clearly stated she could never love, and who would take her away from her adopted country. As the epilogue states, "She was both unfortunate in her losses, and fortunate that those losses were not greater.... She seemed to find a measure of comfort wherever she was, but was destined to be apart from the world in which she lived." This story, rich with historic prints, photographs, newspaper clippings, excerpts from Queen Victoria's diary, and Sarah's letters, is both fascinating and tragic. We have Myers to thank for rescuing this fine woman again--this time from the forgotten shelf of a London bookstore. (Ages 11 and older)

Customer Reviews:

Interesting and easy to read........2006-07-13

My son had to pick two books off of a large list to read over the summer for school. After reading the other reviews of this book, we picked it. It was a wonderful choice. The book was very interesting, fast paced, well written and easy to read. I read it in 3 hours, and my son was able to read in in a few nights without any complaints of boredom.

Why Isn't Hollywood Calling???.......2001-09-08

If any literary giant needs to have his work adapted to film, it is Myers. As one of the premier writers of fiction for juveniles, the author has added another significant piece to his long line of classics. This one tells the story of a little-known African princess who comes under the wing of England's legendary Queen Victoria.

Not only does the book reveal the horrors of the African slave trade, the atrocities that some tyrants inflict on their enemies, and the class system that pervades much of a "civilized" society, it is a marvelous tale of a girl who overcomes such obstacles and becomes the darling of English society.

Although Sarah's life is brief, it is a memorable one as the character grows from frightened child to a loving mother.
I am recommending that all my students read this book as well as others by Myers. Now, if only someone in "Tinsel Town" would discover this fine author.

I'd much rather see his stories on the big screen than any about a teenaged wizard.

Good book!.......2001-02-18

I think this is a very well written book. I think that Walter Dean Myers is an amazing writer and that it is great he found this fantastic girl that many have never heard of.

What I Think!.......2001-02-07

The book, At Her Majesty's Request was the most wonderful book I've read because it tells the story of how Sarah Bonetta overcomed so many problems. First w/ the horror of watching her parents being killed, and then almost being sacrificed by the slave holders because of who she was and where she lived.Then when she was saved by a white man whom she couldn't even understand becase she spoke a different language.And then soon after that she learned how to speak english and then she became friends w/ the Queen of England, Queen Victoria.So the book to me was very heart-warming and I hope you love the book too! Go Wells Wolverines!

Poignant and Unlikely Story of African Princess.......2000-08-14

"At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England" tells the life story of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, who was born an African Egbado princess, captured by rival Dohamans and taken to Dahomey to be murdered in a ritual sacrifice, rescued and adopted by a British naval captain, taken to England and presented to Queen Victoria, and raised under the Queen's protection in England and Sierra Leone. This handsome book is a very fine biography for young readers; it includes many excerpts from Sarah's letters and the Queen's diaries, as well as historic illustrations. Relevant information about 19th century West Africa and Britain (e.g., the Dahomey empire, the slave trade and British actions to end it, Christian missions in Africa, Sierra Leone, the British class system, women's place in society, etc.) is well presented. Although Sarah's story is interesting because of its uniqueness, much about the lives of ordinary 19th century West Africans and Europeans can be learned here. Despite the fact that there is little material concerning Sarah's life, the author has done a fine job and readers interested in Africa should be glad he did. The book contains a useful bibliography which includes "Dahomey and the Dahomans" (1851) by Frederick E. Forbes (the captain who rescued and adopted Sarah).

19th century Dahomey is also the setting of "The Viceroy of Ouidah" by Bruce Chatwin.

The Great California Story: Real-life Roots Of An American Legend

Average customer rating:

Now I Really Know What California's All About
An engaging look at legends, customs, & laws

The Great California Story: Real-life Roots Of An American Legend
Carl Palm
Manufacturer: Northcross Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Imagining New England: Explorations of Regional Identity from the Pilgrims to the Mid-Twentieth Century
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Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West

ASIN: 0975483218

Book Description

From Mark Twain to Jack LaLanne, and from conquistadors to health-food stores, The Great California Story covers it all. If you've ever wondered just what it is that makes California such a unique and extraordinary place, you'll find your answer here. If you only have time to read one book to get that answer, this is the book to read.

Customer Reviews:

Now I Really Know What California's All About.......2004-03-27

The Great California Story paints a vivid picture of just what it is that makes California such an amazing place. I've read a lot of books about the Golden State, but this is the best one yet. If you really want to understand what California is all about, this is the book you've got to read.

An engaging look at legends, customs, & laws.......2004-02-09

Enhanced with 35 photographs, endnotes, and an index, The Great California Story: Real-Life Roots Of An American Legend by Carl Palm aptly combines history and trivia to paint a marvelous picture of what sets the Golden State apart. An engaging look at legends, customs, laws, and how history shaped the residents of California from colonial times down to the present makes The Great California Story an engrossing and enjoyable venture. Especially recommended for school and community library California History collections, The Great California Story is also available in a hardcover edition.

Tales from the Angels Dugout: The Championship Season and Other Great Angels Stories

Average customer rating:

THIS BOOK IS WORTH IT
Brings the story of the Angels up to date.
Attention Angels fans. Read this book.

Tales from the Angels Dugout: The Championship Season and Other Great Angels Stories
Steve Bisheff
Manufacturer: Sports Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 158261685X

Book Description

In "Tales from the Angels' Dugout", take a look at the lighter side of 41 years of frustration and then re-live the excitement of 2002, when the Angels finally got the monkey off their backs. Author Steve Bisheff reminds us of those colorful days with The Cowboy, Gene Autry and the struggles under the ownership of Walt Disney Co., as well as the curses, hexes and tragedies that haunted the Angels for so long. Bisheff contrasts zany personalities such as Bo Belinsky, Dean Chance, Albie Pearson and Reggie Jackson with the remarkable, but non-superstar bunch that finally won the World Series, including The Gamer, The Pest, The Pure Hitter and The Phenom. Finally, what Angels book would be complete without the Rally Monkey, a mascot that took on a life of its own. "Tales from the Angels' Dugout" is just what Angels' fans have been waiting for to capture on paper the long road culminating into a world championship.

Customer Reviews:

THIS BOOK IS WORTH IT.......2006-05-28

THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT THE EARLY HISTORY AND THE CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON OF 2002 CONCERNING THE ANAHEIM ANGELS. THE AUTHOR DOES A GREAT JOB DESCRIBING THE EARLY YEARS WITH EMPHASIS ON THE TRAGIC AND DISAPPOINTING EVENTS THIS FRANCHISE HAS ENDURED. FROM THE PLAYOFF LOSES IN 1979, 1982 AND 1986, THIS TEAM HAS ALSO BEEN SNAKE BITTEN WITH THE DEATHS OF LYMAN BOSTOCK AND DONNIE MOORE. AS THE HEALTH OF OWNER GENE AUTRY DETERIORATED, THE TEAM IMPROVED. HE DIED BEFORE HE SAW THE ANGELS WIN THEIR 1ST WORLD SERIES. THE BOOK ALSO COVERS THE ANGELS 2002 SEASON IN DETAIL AND ALSO FOCUSES ON THE MANY PLAYERS WHO HELPED MAKE IT HAPPEN. I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR ALL ANGELS AND BASEBALL FANS.

Brings the story of the Angels up to date........2004-10-28

Although it is not as well organized a book as Ross Newhan's earlier book, this volume brings the story of this often overlooked and tragically plagued franchise up to date, including the magical 2002 World Championship season. Steve Bisheff does bring in stories about the earlier Angels, whom I remember fondly, although he concentrates on the contemporary stars. Both Newhan's and Bisheff's books should be read in conjunction if you want a good picture of the adventures of this team, of whom I have been a fan since its beginning. GO ANGELS!!!

Attention Angels fans. Read this book........2004-06-05

If you're an Angels' fan like me, you will love this book!!

Average customer rating:

Adventure and Positive Character Development
Turkeys Galore
The Great Turkey Walk
This Book's no Turkey!
The Adventurous Turkey Walk

The Great Turkey Walk
Kathleen Karr
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0374427984

Book Description

Yeeeeeee-haw! Git along, little . . . turkeys?

Big, brawny Simon Green, who's just completed third grade (for the fourth time), may not be book smart, but he's nobody's fool. When it's time to be done with school and make his way in the world, Simon hatches a plan that could earn him a bundle. He intends to herd a huge flock of bronze turkeysall the way from his home in eastern Missouri to the boomtown of Denver, where they'll fetch a mighty price. In the year 1860, the hazards of such a trek are many - how does one shepherd the birds across a river, for instance? - but Simon is undaunted. Accompanied by a faithful drover, and eventually to be joined by two boon companions, he undertakes the biggest journey of his young life, in this high-spirited Wild Wild West adventure by an acclaimed author of historical fiction.

Customer Reviews:

Adventure and Positive Character Development.......2006-01-31

This book is entertaining and full of adventure. It shows even a little guy, with challenges, can have the strength of character and the determination to reach his goals.

Turkeys Galore.......2006-01-20

If you thought turkeys were just for holidays think again. Back in 1860 trains didn't connect the East and West United States. The only way to get any live cattle anywhere was to walk them their, even through whatever the wilderness gave them. This story involves a young boy who is a misfit to the entire town. Upon finally completing third grade for the fourth time he finally figures out his place in life. He decides to walk one thousand turkeys some five hundred miles from Missouri to Denver with limited supplies and only a drover, a dog, and himself. Along the way he makes some unexpected friends, enemies, and even meets up with a long lost family member. This is a story that will keep you guessing at every turn, as well as giving entertainment to people of many age groups. You should reed The Great Turkey Walk, By: Kathleen Karr, for yourself.

The Great Turkey Walk.......2006-01-20

The Great Turkey Walk was written by Kayleen Karr. This book is about Simon Green who is fifteen and gets an idea to take a thousand turkeys to Denver and sell them for five dollars each. The setting of this story takes place from Missouri to Denver during the 19-century. The thing that I like about this book is the way in which she writes and how she describes each character in this book. Another thing I enjoyed is how she tells everyone the story or about them when Simon met someone new in his journey. The confusing part of this book was that some of the characters in this book had multiple names. If you like adventure story. This is a great book for you.

This Book's no Turkey!.......2005-10-11

Kathleen Karr hit a homer when she penned this story for kids. The Great Turkey Walk is fiction, but based on actual occurences from the old west. When a very slow student finally gets his walking papers, he enters into an enterprise nobody else would have ever considered. The enterprise? Herding Turkeys to the Gold rush of Denver! His slow and difficult trip brings many adventures his way. He meets his long lost father, who desparately tries to steal his turkeys. He is surrounded by Indians. He meets a half crazed girl who becomes the love of his life. In the end, the dumb boy turns out to be smarter than he even thought he could be. It is a delight and my kids loved the book. Yours will too!

The Adventurous Turkey Walk.......2005-09-16

The great turkey walk is a book about a 15 year old boy who is only in fourth grade because he keeps failing. He buy 1,000
bronze turkeys by borrowing the money from his uncle. He wants
to bring them all the way to Denver because he can sell them
for five dollars a turkey and he bought them for less than that.
His partner was Mr. Peece.

This story takes place when there were slaves so there wasn't
any cars or airplanes to get there. He has to go by foot and
on his journey he encounters 2 people: Jabeth and Lizzie.

This story is a little violent so I wouldn't recommend it for
anyone younger than 6.

I liked the story because it was very exciting since there were
turkey theives trying to steal the turkeys. There were also
some puzzles to figure out like how to get the turkeys over
the river and the secret of being safe from locusts.

This is a great adventure story.

White Hurricane : A Great Lakes November Gale and America's Deadliest Maritime Disaster

Average customer rating:

The Great Lakes Perfect Storm of 1913
MAKES "THE PERFECT STORM" LOOK LIKE A PICNIC
Entertaining & accurate; better than fiction.
The last trip of the season
Amazing and scary

White Hurricane : A Great Lakes November Gale and America's Deadliest Maritime Disaster
David G. Brown
Manufacturer: International Marine Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Great Lakes Shipwrecks & Survivals
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ASIN: 007138037X

Book Description

The riveting account of a 1913 storm that paralyzed the heart of America

Autumn gales have pursued mariners across the Great Lakes for centuries. On Friday, November 7, 1913, those gales captured their prey. After four days of winds up to 90 miles an hour, freezing temperatures, whiteout blizzard conditions, and mountainous seas, 19 ships had been lost, two dozen had been thrown ashore, 238 sailors were dead, and the city of Cleveland was confronting the worst natural disaster in its history.

In White Hurricane, writer and mariner David G. Brown combines narrative intensity with factual depth to re-create the events of the "perfect storm" that struck America's heartland. Interweaving human drama, mystery, and historical consequence, Brown has created a vast epic ranging over Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie and echoing down the decades.

Customer Reviews:

The Great Lakes Perfect Storm of 1913.......2007-02-22

In "White Hurricane" the reader is taken on a fascinating and frightening trip across each of the Great Lakes during the November Gale of 1913. Winds would reach 90 miles an hour, and waves cresting intense heights of 35 feet.
With a dozen ships sunk, another twenty five stranded (or shored), and at least 250 lives lost. "White Hurricane" keeps the reader on edge, and in suspense as Brown jumps, back and forth, from ship to ship...While describing the terrifying events of those five days on the Great Lakes.
The only draw-back of Browns jumping is the reader needs to pay close attention as to where he leaves off, with each ship.
Other than that, the book is highly interesting, moving, and suspenseful. It touches the heart of the reader, and the sailors come alive, and Brown pulls the reader into the events of the storm, causing a chilling feeling, as if they were there.
Brown also describes the inadequacies of the National Weather Service in 1913, and how the events of this storm would bring about improvement. Also, rescue services would immensely improve over the years, the rescue crews of 1913 were a courageous lot beyond compare. The tid-bits of information regarding the attempts the rescue crews made, send chills down the readers spine.
White Hurricane is a recommended read, with interesting facts of history and America's deadliest maritime disaster.

MAKES "THE PERFECT STORM" LOOK LIKE A PICNIC.......2004-12-25

In November 1913, multiple storm systems collided above the Great Lakes, fueling a deadly maelstrom that lasted several days. There was no ship-to-shore radio. Meteorology was in its infancy; the jet stream hadn't even been discovered yet. Weather news was transmitted via telegraph, and then signal flags were hoisted at assorted spots along shorelines to warn mariners. It wasn't enough.

After unseasonably warm weather in the 60s, ships docked along all the Great Lakes set out for their final trip of the season. For many of them, it was their final trip, period.

The author compiles a staggering quantity of data from a by-gone era to present a sequential, methodical telling of the multitude of ships which sailed headlong into the worst Great Lakes storm in recorded history. While his wide-ranging narrative can sometimes lose the reader in a blizzard of names and places, gradually a larger picture comes clear of flesh-and-blood men struggling to just get home against unimaginable odds. This book evokes tension, courage, even nightmares, followed by heartwrenching tales of frozen bodies washing up on beaches, lifeboats occupied by dead sailors lashed to their seats, and even a message in a bottle hastily penned by a man who knew he'd be dead in minutes (and whose corpse indeed washed ashore a few weeks after this bottle was found). This is man vs. nature, this is man looking into the abyss, this is man meeting his Maker in no uncertain terms.

The next time you stroll along a sunny beach with the water washing around your ankles, consider this:

Your ship battles 30-foot waves driven by sustained 70-mph winds. Out on deck, there's a jackline which extends from bow to stern, specifically to help sailors walk safely along the ship's deck in rough seas. That jackline is now coated with ice as thick as a man's torso. Soon the waves smash out the pilothouse windows. Skylights in the boiler room have also shattered; men somehow continue to shovel coal into the engines while knee-deep in 40-degree water. One gigantic wave actually crushes the pilothouse; all hope of navigation has now vanished. The captain shouts to drop anchor; within minutes the anchor's chain snaps like twine. The ship's inch-thick steel plating begins to crack, and iron rivets snap like buttons. There's nothing to do now but pray and wait to drown--and every minute lasts an eternity.

Entertaining & accurate; better than fiction........2004-07-13

Dave Brown has really done the necessary, comprehensive research. His description of Great Lakes' shipping is 100% accurate. The reporting is factual and not embellished with contrived dialogue. I was an engineer in Great Lakes and ocean ships, one cited in the book, and can visualize the events he described and emphasize with the crewmen's situations.

The last trip of the season.......2003-12-17

Ninety years ago this November, one of the worst disasters in Great Lakes history took place over a period of four days, when twelve ships foundered and thirty-one were stranded, and 253 sailors drowned during the deadliest storm ever to hit the Great Lakes. The actual toll was probably higher, but no single agency in 1913 kept track of vessels lost or sailors killed. According to this author, the death toll did not include "the commercial fishermen, hunters, or anglers who also lost their lives."

At least three books have been written about this storm, including "Fresh Water Fury" (1960), "Ships Gone Missing" (1992), and this book by David G. Brown, published in 2002. One of the things that sets Brown's book apart from the others is his meticulous meteorological reconstruction of the 1913 storm that raged for four days in early November and sank ships on Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron (the worst hit) and Erie.

According to the author's research, the weather in early November 1913 was remarkably dry and balmy, tempting the shipping companies into making one last run before the end of the season. The U.S. Weather Bureau issued storm warnings on November 7, 8, and 9 but these did not come close to suggesting the true ferocity of the 'White Hurricane.' In fact the Weather Bureau never did post hurricane warnings--two red flags with black centers, displayed one above the other--on the Great Lakes, preferring to reserve that warning for tropical storms even though the four-day storm that struck the Lakes was of hurricane intensity.

This book is organized as a temporal narrative of the storm, starting on Wednesday, November 5 as freighters such as the 'Charles S. Price' took on loads of coal, railroad ties, and iron ore for their last trips of the season. The 'Price's' Assistant Engineer Milton Smith had such a strong premonition about the forthcoming voyage that he quit his job and went home. He would later be asked to identify the bodies of his shipmates that washed up on Huron's icy shores.

On November 6, ships on western Lake Superior were already experiencing rough weather, but nothing that qualified as a full-fledged November gale--not yet. In Detroit, a prominent halo ringed the moon, perhaps bringing to mind the rhyme: "When halos ring the moon or sun/ Rain is coming on the run." In the case of this particular storm, it was a warning of the ferocious blizzard that would paralyze Cleveland and other cities on the Lakes, and add to the woes of the ships that were already battling life-threatening gales.

The empty wooden bulk freighter 'Louisania' was the first casualty of the storm. On Saturday, November 8, the onrushing gale stranded her near Port des Mortes on Lake Michigan, where she burned to the waterline. Up on Lake Superior, the storm "began picking apart the 'L.C. Waldo' shortly after midnight near the Keweenaw Peninsula." Her sailors were some of the lucky few to be picked up from their stranded, ice-bound freighter, but they would have to wait until Monday, November 10 to be rescued.

Brown's narrative of the height of the storm is truly frightening and he can only speculate on the fates of the ships that disappeared far from land. Of the seventeen ships known to be in lower Lake Huron on Sunday, November 9, only two survived and they sustained serious damage.

This book also provides an extended aftermath, appendices, bibliography, and index.

If you'd like to read more about the 'Big Blow' of 1913, I highly recommend Dwight Boyer's "True Tales of the Great Lakes," William Ratigan's "Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Survivals," and the above-mentioned "Ships Gone Missing" by Robert J. Hemming.

Amazing and scary.......2003-12-06

I read this book when my father-in-law bought a 40 footer and docked it in Port Huron with easy access to Lake Huron. Living in Michigan most of my life and now in Chicago, I have always appreciated the beauty of The Great Lakes. As we cruise the lake in all its beauty and glory, I can't help but wonder just what scatters the floor of Lake Huron or any of the others. This book illustrates the dramatic account of the only Great Lakes hurricane, if such a thing could happen.

This book was no less than amazing and will really open the eyes of anyone that takes the fury of the beautiful Great Lakes for granted.

Rising In The West: The True Story Of An "Okie" Family from the Great Depression Through the Reagan Years

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Rising In The West: The True Story Of An "Okie" Family from the Great Depression Through the Reagan Years
Dan Morgan
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0394574532
Release Date: 1992-09-29

Fred and Rose: The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors

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SICK! SICK! SICK!
Fascinating and Terrifying but True!
A Classic True Crime Title from Britain
Howard's Happy Tale of Woe
Not So Good

Fred and Rose: The Full Story of Fred and Rose West and the Gloucester House of Horrors
Howard Sounes
Manufacturer: Little Brown & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0751513229

Customer Reviews:

SICK! SICK! SICK!.......2006-09-12

what a sick family, I have read many true crime books but this is one that will stay with me forever. Not for the faint of heart.
Good writing on a very sick subject.

Fascinating and Terrifying but True!.......2006-07-25

I like this book because it has a family tree, a diagram of the house and useful information regarding location of the bodies. I just started this book and I find the writing to be pretty good. The author stays clear of his personal views until the end of the book. The story is horrifying to believe but reading the backgrounds of this unusual couple helps understand the crimes behind their union. They were unspeakable to say the least to include the murder of their own teenage daughter who wanted to escape. I remember watching a documentary aired on A&E with other surviving children. They knew that this didn't go on in other families and they envied families who had discipline and kept the x-rated stuff to the couples themselves rather than including their own children, strangers, and regularl visitors. The Wests' open sexuality actually probably caused more disturbances to the children who were affected most of all. They weren't loved as they should have been. They were beaten and abused physically, sexually, and emotionally. I wish the West children found solace and comfort now more than ever. They really lived in a a house of horrors beyound our imagination.

A Classic True Crime Title from Britain.......2004-07-01

This book is a classic true crime title. The case is extraordinary: an apparently ordinary and pleasant married couple, Fred and Rose West, molest, torture and murder a series of young women and girls -- including their own daughter -- bury the dismembered remains under their house, in the middle of the city of Gloucester, and continue living happily in said house for many years. The author, Sounes, broke the story as a reporter, and this is the big book on the case, which is very well known in England. Absolutely riveting and a big seller ever since published about ten years ago in the UK, though not so well known in the US. It will make your hair curl (if it doesn't already). A classic of the genre alongside Profession of Violence, Helter Skelter, and Killing for Company.

Howard's Happy Tale of Woe.......2003-01-25

Howard Sounes' book about the West Country's most infamous couple is an enlongated bubble gum, tabloid gossip article. Whilst I'm sure Sounes spent a lot of time researching the case and fingering through the many aspects of intricacies, the book does not delve anywhere as deep as the graves of the victims the couple butchered. The glossy account of the details is, however, intensified by the awful and very humbling circumstances in which the murderous pair grew up and met, but this has nothing to do with the author. There is minimal discussion or investigation as to the reasons why the pair undertook their Road to Hell by way of torture, ... voyeuristic prostitution, despite them being up there with the best of the serial killers. The plus point of the book is that it is written in a childish journalistic format and is thus very easy to read, almostunputdownable. The pair's heinous crimes are some of the worst I have read about and it is almost unbelievable that anyone could inflict these attrocities. For pure sensationalism and an easy introduction into the wonderful world of serial killers, this book hits the mark. But for those who want to question a little further and obtain explanations or theories as to why the necrophilliac, nymphomaniac, sadistic and self-centred pair committed such crimes, best give me a ring and we can discuss over a beer. Perhaps at a pub in Gloucester!!

Not So Good.......2002-06-28

I don't really see how you could call a book like this good anyway. But, I have read alot of true crime stories and I definitely thought this one is the worst. I don't feel it is very thorough. You read 4 chapters at the beginning ALL about the family history and then it just kind of jumps to everything happening. In my opinion it could have been written alot better.

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Stimulating

Landscape Stories
Jem Southam , Andy Grundberg , and Gerry Badger
Manufacturer: Princeton Architectural Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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William Christenberry
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ASIN: 1568985177

Book Description

Early in the morning, before breakfast and the beginning of the workday, photographer Jem Southam takes to the countryside of southwest England, visiting and revisiting the hills and dales of Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset. His lyrical photographs of these places, taken in series over several years, chart the subtle evolution of this picturesque countryside as it has been transformed by both natural processes and human intervention. Ostensibly topographic and descriptive, each achieves a greater power thanks to an allegorical language that draws on our collective imagination.

Landscape Stories is the first comprehensive collection of Southam's work, drawn from three completed series: The Pond at Upton Pyne, The Red River, and Rockfalls, Rivermouths, and Ponds, along with several smaller groups of pictures from series still in the making. Southam's brief narratives about each site—together with essays by Gerry Badger and Andy Grundberg, which examine Southam's work from European and American perspectives, respectively—create a rich context for viewing these remarkable, large-format photographs.

Customer Reviews:

Stimulating.......2007-06-14

Southam's wonderful book of (mostly) large format images taken from multiple series has been one of the most stimulating of the medium I've yet come across. I think it was Fay Godwin (also from the UK) who first made me look at both the beauty and timelessness of the landscape and the detritus of habitation despoiling same. One can get too precious with the subjects considered worthy of an exposure. From the methods of the photographer as revealed herein, Southam is a painstaking master of the medium with a strong idea of what he's trying to convey. His images of rock falls and dew ponds are unquestionably beautiful and with great colour. But it's the "stories", the multiple approaches of aspect or over time that are most interesting here. With some thoughtful essays and excellent printing, this is a book worthy of consideration.

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True Tales of the Prairies and Plains
David Dary
Manufacturer: University Press of Kansas
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Ever wonder why cowboys sing? Or where Henry Starr's treasure is buried? Or what legend lies behind the origin of the word "rawhide"? The prairies and plains are bursting with stories, a region whose flat openness belies a colorful history that's now captured in this cornucopia of colorful tales.

David Dary is a master storyteller and award-winning historian who was born in the region and still calls it home. In this book, he shares forty forgotten tales that capture the history, romance, and lore of early life on the plains and prairie-rollicking adventures set between the Rio Grande and the Canadian border that reflect the reality of life in the region during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

These stories have been gleaned from old newspaper accounts and little-known published sources, reflecting Dary's intimate knowledge of his stomping ground. A veritable treasury of lost legends, the book blends history and folklore to offer a fond look back at settlers and Indians, desperados and cowboys-including just how it is that the latter became known for singing.

In these enchanting vignettes, Dary takes readers along trails and rails to tell how the Staked Plains got their name and to recall times when women were scarce. He unearths legends of buried treasure spanning the region and spins tales of buffalo and bears. He tells of famous lawmen like Seth Bullock of Deadwood fame and outlaws like Belle Starr, and sheds light on other famous and obscure personalities, from Chief Old Wolf to Fort Mann's woman soldier, Caroline Newcomb, to Teddy Roosevelt, the badlands rancher who became president.

For anyone who thinks of America's middle as dull, True Tales of the Prairies and Plains offers a corrective that entertains as it informs. It is a book as wide-ranging as the land it covers, preserving nuggets of lore from perpetual obscurity and promising readers hours of enjoyment, whether on or off the trail.

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