THE STRANGE CASE OF MISS ANNIE SPRAGG

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THE STRANGE CASE OF MISS ANNIE SPRAGG
LOUIS BROMFIELD
Manufacturer: PENGUIN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SDVX32

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The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg

Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000EGP5HI

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The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg
Louis Bromfield
Manufacturer: Popular Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UP6GNK

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The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg
Louis Bromfield
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0766195430

Book Description

1928. Louis Bromfield attained worldwide acclaim in the 1920s as the author of Early Autumn, his third novel and winner of the 1926 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. At age 29, Bromfield was regarded as one of America's most promising young novelists, compared to the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. His novels were among the first adapted for feature-length sound films. From The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg: He did not tell Mrs. Winnery that in attempting to solve one mystery, he had simply found himself face to face with another and more terrifying one which neither saints nor prophets nor scientists had ever solved in all the centuries of the world's recorded existence. It made Mr. Winnery seem to himself small and impertinent, and being a vain man, he did not care to have his wife share this discovery.

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The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg

Manufacturer: Popular Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GSKRJ0

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THE STRANGE CASE OF MISS ANNIE SPRAGG
BROMFIELD
Manufacturer: STOKES
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000S37U6Q

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The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg
Louis BROMFIELD
Manufacturer: Frederick A. Stokes Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000DEMRWC

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The Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I9738A

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Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg
Broomfield Louis
Manufacturer: Stokes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000QYJ77M

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the Strange Case of Miss Annie Spragg
Louis Bromfield
Manufacturer: Jonathan Cape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GTGLU8

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Captains Courageous

Scoot of the Antartic, A life of courage

An Admiring View of a Complex Man

A brilliant book
Scott of the Antarctic: A Life of Courage and Tragedy
David Crane
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Military & Spies | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Scientists | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Adventurers & Explorers | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Military | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Polar Regions | Australia & Oceania | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Journals: Scott's Last Expedition (Oxford World's Classics)

The Lost Men: The Harrowing Saga of Shackleton's Ross Sea Party

The Boys of Everest: Chris Bonington and the Tragedy of Climbing's Greatest Generation

Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration

The Last Explorer: Hubert Wilkins, Hero of the Great Age of Polar Exploration

ASIN: 0375415270
Release Date: 2006-11-14

Book Description

A richly illuminating biography of Robert Falcon Scott, and the first to transcend the myths that have taken root in the story of his life.

Since Scott’s death in 1912, he has been the subject of innumerable books—some declaring him a hero, others dismissing him as an irresponsible fool. But in all the pages that have been written about him, the man behind the legend has been forgotten or distorted beyond all recognition. Now, with full access to all family papers and to the voluminous diaries and records of key participants in the Antarctic expeditions, and with the inclusion in the book of excerpts from Scott’s own letters and diaries, David Crane gives us a portrait of the explorer that is more nuanced and balanced than any we have had before. In reassessing Scott’s life, Crane is able to provide a fresh perspective on both the Discovery expedition of 1901–04 and the Terra Nova expedition of 1910–13, making clear that although Scott’s dramatic journeys are the most compelling parts of his story, they are only part of a larger narrative that includes remarkable scientific achievement and the challenges of a tumultuous private life.

Scott’s own voice echoes through the pages. His descriptions of the monumental landscape of Antarctica and its fatal and icy beauty are breathtaking. And his honest, heartfelt letters and diaries give the reader an unforgettable account of the challenges he faced both in his personal life and as a superlative leader of men in possibly the world’s harshest environment.

The result is an absolutely convincing portrait of a complicated hero.

Customer Reviews:

Captains Courageous.......2007-07-16

David Crane shows how the death of the explorer Captain Scott galvanized the UK on the edge of World War I, but he qualifies British response to the tragedy by pointing up that, despite the weight of popular opinion, the pre-war Edwardian years were not exactly the Golden Age of empire the way they are nowadays painted. Crane's life of Scott is in every way a re-revisionist biography, kicking against what he feels has been the unfair denigration of Scott's life and deeds over the past thirty years.

Sometimes this approach works, sometimes it doesn't. Through meticulous handling of evidence, he tells the story without a hint of strain, and yet sometimes whole paragraphs stop the action to argue that history has shafted Scott once again. A prototypical Englishman in the days when "God was an Englishman," Scott has suffered from unthinking backlhas, or so says Crane, and indeed he says it about four hundred times so that, frankly, I began to sympathize with Scott's attackers a bit, for no one's that perfect.

Indeed Crane admits as much, citing his rivalry with Shackleton and then finally with Amundsen as proof, but in each case, the other man is deeply at fault and Scott was just trying to muddle through on Naval smarts and years of experience leading men. It was a time for heroics, and something in the air (together with a thriving media culture) made heroes out of the most unlikely souls. England expected every man to do his duty, and alas so did Norway and Amundsen came home with the gold, so to speak, whereas the Englishmen after the same glittering prize were all dead by the time Amundsen returned home. "The Englishmen, the goal accompished," bleated the press, "lay quiet in the snows. Through the months since . . . while wives and friends set forth for meetings and counted time, they lay oblivious. All was over for them long ago."

Beyond the heroics of the era, Crane attributes the legend of Captain Scott to his indispitable skill as a prose writer. There is something macabre about the veneration given to his last journal, found by the relief party, but it's a bizarre twist totally understandable in the context, the words that live on after the hand that wrote them has grown cold and still. Without that last journal, its reinscription of subaltern heroics, its narrative of deprivation and memory and love, how else would Scott be remembered? In this regard Crane has an interesting passage about the way in which Westminster Abbey had its own little competition going on with St. Paul's Cathedral about which site had the most pomp and had the most heroes of empire commemmorated there.

Scoot of the Antartic, A life of courage.......2007-03-21

The book is dreadful. It continually refers to other expeditions that the average reader will not know about. The writing is random and its impossible to follow the thread. There are also many deliberate and irrelevant literary references just inserted to be clever. A great subject that I w\as looking forward to, treated very badly by a pseudo intellectual. Try as I might I could not finish it.

An Admiring View of a Complex Man.......2007-02-20

I particularily like the subtitle to this book, 'a life of courage and tragedy.'

Scott was undoubtedly courageous. He could not have been otherwise. On the other hand, his courage and drive to get to the South Pole was not exactly balanced by experience or perhaps by common sense. There's an old saying that if you wanted to get somewhere like the South Pole, Scott would have been a good leader to follow, but if you wanted to get back, then other expedition leaders like Shackleton would be your first choice. Shackleton's quotation: 'Better a live donkey than a dead lion.' Consistent with this, Scott got to the South Pole, Shackleton didn't. Scott didn't get back.

In this book, the author is clearly a deep admirer of Scott. And indeed he did great things. Coming from a humble beginning he appeared driven to accomplish things, and he did. He was a complicated man, and Mr. Crane's access to the family papers and Scott's letters give a view that is perhaps more balanced than what we have seen before.

If nothing else, Mr. Crane is an excellent writer and the story becomes one of those can't put down books.

A brilliant book.......2007-01-22

The history of Arctic exploration is not a subject I've ever had a particular interest in. I picked this book up more or less by chance, was intrigued enough to buy it ... and haven't been able to put it down. The story itself is absolutely gripping from beginning to end, but it's the intelligence and skill of the writing that makes this such a memorable and remarkable book. Wonderful. Six stars.

Courage of Falcons (The Secret Texts, Book 3)

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Courage of Falcons (The Secret Texts, Book 3
A secret gem
Marvelous ending!
Too Much Talking with the Other-One Inside the Head
What a wonderful ending...

Courage of Falcons (The Secret Texts, Book 3)
Holly Lisle
Manufacturer: Aspect
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0446610658

Book Description

THE SECRET TEXTS Holly Lisle, the acclaimed author of the #1 Locus bestsellers Diplomacy of Wolves and Vengeance of Dragons, concludes the fantastic epic of The Secret Texts, as a millennium of blood curses, dark conspiracies, and arcane sorceries engulfs a world... THE FINAL BATTLE The Falcons, a band of fugitive wizards that includes skinshifters Kait Galweigh and Ry Sabir, struggle in their desperate battle against the immortal, soul-devouring necromancers called the Dragons. Meanwhile, a thousand tribes of long-banished Scarred declare war on the civilized lands, with a prophesied messiah uniting them into an unstoppable army. Bent on conquest and revenge, the Scarred don't care that their new leader, Luercas, is a being so evil that even the Dragons fear him... To defeat the Dragons, Kait and Ry must destroy the source of the sorcerers' power-the Mirror of Souls. But if they succeed, they will lose the only weapon that can stop Luercas from becoming a demonic god who will enslave the entire world...forever.

Download Description

The Secret Texts trilogy is the story of the deadly fight of smaller and weaker opponents against the enormous forces that wield evil magic in the world of Matrin. Over the course of the three-book series, a magical war threatening the people of an entire world will challenge the ingenuity of our heroes. In COURAGE OF FALCONS, Danya, Luercas, and their horde move on Ibera. Destruction, devastation, and disaster ensue. When Hardin fails to destroy this new threat, the Calimekkans bring back the few surviving Wolves who know the magic of the dark path. They offer endless sacrifices from their own people in a vain attempt to ward off the approaching evil. Meanwhile Kait and Ry are on the run, trying to figure out a way to create a new Mirror of the Dead that will contain Luercas permanently. Luercas has figured out that Kait and Ry are his main obstacle and begins to search them out to destroy them. Their only hope is to lure Luercas in and trap him in another Mirror of the Dead before he destroys them along with all of Ibera.

Customer Reviews:

Courage of Falcons (The Secret Texts, Book 3.......2006-08-13

I rate this book as a four because it was exciting and the detail, and suspense was excellent. The writer keeps you guessing. You should read the whole series 1-3. They will be well worth your time. Enjoy!!

A secret gem.......2005-01-02

This is a gem of a series. A family is wiped out, and the last survivor searches for an artifact that may bring them back--but its real purpose is a prison for dead sorcerers who derive magic from the souls of others. There is the standard plot of a prophecy of a savior, and that is turned around in a rather refreshing way. The characters are memorable and I really developed an attachment to Kait.

If you are a fan of this type of genre (as I am), you'll enjoy this series. I give it only four out of five stars for a couple of reasons. Although enjoyable, it seems as if the whole thing could have been much shorter. I'm not opposed to trilogies, but when a story is stretched out over three books just to make a trilogy then it can get a little slow in places (this could have been two books). Another thing was the main character's love interest. First she gets it on with the captain of a ship, and it seemed to work really well. However, she keeps having dreams about a stranger who is chasing her. He seems like a villain at first. They meet, and she resists him. Finally, she gives in to her (and his) desires and they stay together. Suddenly, this "villain" turns out to be cool. Frankly, the poor girl's whipped, by a punk prince. By the last book, however, all of this falls into place and their romance seems normal.

Jump on this one. It's well worth the read.

Marvelous ending!.......2003-10-23

This book continued where the last left off. Danya and Luercas have convinced the Scarred that they are the long prophesied messiahs that would lead them to victory over the humans. The Scarred did not care that their new leader, Luercas, was evil or that Danya was out for personal revenge. They became an unstoppable army and declared war on all humans!

Kait and Ry were skinshifters. They, along with Ian, Dughall, and the Falcons, struggled against the immortal, soul-devouring necromancers known as the Dragons. Afterward, they must face the Scarred armies.

***** This one is the best of the three! The author carries the reader along with the characters through hopeless situations. I flew through the pages swiftly to see what would happen next. Marvelous ending! *****

Too Much Talking with the Other-One Inside the Head.......2002-10-01

A good trilogy with very interesting mix of characters. However, characters talk too much to their (other)-selves, and that gets annoying after 500 pages. And, that (thing) happened to reborn is just plain stupid. Oh well... a good read non-the-less if you could withstand some disappointments in the storyline.

What a wonderful ending..........2002-09-25

I purchased the 1st book of this series and almost gave up (the whole idea of having to prick yourself to summon magic almost made me sick), but I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did.

Others have given a synopsis of this book, so I won't bother. But there's a point near the end of the book where Kait goes back to her family's mansion. She remembers the good times she had there as a child and it brought a lump to my throat. I've often done the same thing, remembering the parties and the times down the Jersey Shore with my family. After I got married and lot of my relatives died (including my father), those times went into my memory. I felt that Kait was mourning those sweet days as I have (and I probably always will).

I never thought another fantasy could make me cry like The Lord of the Rings did. I was wrong. Cheers to Holly Lisle for such a wonderful series!

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The magic is back

I love Falcon.

Dragonsbreath rules!

Pedestrian

Falcon is Back, Hurrah, Hurrah!
Falcon and the Charles Street Witch
Luli Gray
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic | Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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Falcon and the Carousel of Time

ASIN: 0618164103

Book Description

Since Egg flew off into the night more than a year before, Falcon fears she will never see her dragon again. Her mother wants to forget that Egg ever existed and her father never believed in dragons at all. But the magic finds Falcon again. First she leaps out of a plane after her younger brother, Toody. Then, blown to safety on a current of dragonsbreath, Falcon lands in an enchanted garden on Charles Street in New York City where she is greeted by the wonderfully peculiar Blinda Cholmondely. With the help of an ancient doggerel-spouting dragon named Dirus Horribilus, the rakish Saint George, and the astonishing Charles Street Witch, Falcon sets out to rescue Toody. In this rollicking tale of adventure and surprise, not only will Falcon see her beloved Egg again, she will also discover her own extraordinarily courageous self.

Customer Reviews:

The magic is back.......2002-12-02

Falcon was a great character when she first appeared in 1995, in the magical "Falcon's Egg." At long last, she is back, with more magic than ever. This time Falcon is surrounded by a new collection of wacky, fascinating characters, most notably Blinda the Charles Street Witch and Dirus Horribilus the old dragon (with a digestive problem whose consequences make for one of the book's most hilarious scenes). This is a book a kid can get happily lost in, while soaking up Luli Gray's witty, sophisticated and lyrical storytelling.

I love Falcon........2002-11-20

In this second Falcon book, she has even more friends, and more dragons. If you like dragons and friendly witches and hilarious saints, you'll love this book. It's a great, great story!

Dragonsbreath rules!.......2002-07-02

The first Falcon book, "Falcon's Egg", was a great insight into what a child of separated parents goes through. Falcon has to take care of her brother Toody as her mother is unable to deal with raising her kids and so she bears much responsibility on her young shoulders. Finding Egg, and the adventures that follow, give her a powerful secret and something she could choose to care for. What she learns is that loving something sometimes means letting it go, and that there are people in your life who will share some of the weight of world with you if you let them.

In this book, the sequel, Falcon watches as Toody is swept out of a plane and she follows him as she tries to save him. From that moment on, these two enter a world that is both real and fantasy. There is more magic in this book than in the first, and it is sillier. But it is a very enjoyable silliness that contrasts with the seriousness of "Falcon's Egg". I particularly liked Dirius, the old dragon with a little gas problem (hilarious) and Belinda Chomondley, the Charles Street Witch.

Pedestrian.......2002-06-20

"Falcon and the Charles Street Witch" strains to be an especially interesting fantasy story, but fails to be so. I haven't read the first book, but didn't have much trouble understanding this one; its simplicity works hard against it.

A year has passed since the events of "Falcon's Egg," when Falcon let her dragon go free. Now her parents are in denial over Falcon's existance, and the two kids, Falcon and her brother, are visiting their father in Australia when Toody needs to use the bathroom. He ends up falling out of the plane, and Falcon is falling right behind him.

Somehow Falcon ends up alive and well on the ground. She befriends a nice little old lady named Cholmondely, who reveals that Falcon's dragon Egg was the one to save both Falcon and Toody by blowing them on her dragonsbreath. Toody is with Egg, safe and sound, but very, very far away. To find him, Falcon has to band together with an old dragon called Dirus Horribilus, Saint George, and Mrs. Cholmondely, the Charles Street Witch.

Given that the book starts off with the heroine falling out of a plane and landing safely on the ground due to a dragon's breath, I really could not expect too much from the plotline. I appreciate the necessity of fantasy elements, but this is a little much. It reads a bit like the adventure daydreams of a small child. The dragons don't help; Dirus speaks of doggerel, while Egg now speaks in misquoted Shakespeare, a plot twist that made me cringe. The descriptions of Egg, physically, made me cringe even more.

The characterizations are quite flat. Falcon is a generic heroine, without any outstanding characteristics or sympathetic emotions to make her accessible to the readers. Mrs. Cholmondely seems to exist solely for the convenience of the heroine; the author seems to want to make her quirky, but she only comes across as pretentious. Egg is an unexceptional dragon, more inclined to annoy than to intrigue. And Toody is a pretty ordinary little brother character; he's been written a thousand times before.

If readers are searching for a good early-readers fantasy, they should try Emily Rodda's "Rowan of Rin" series or T.A. Barron's "Tree Girl." This one fails to captivate.

Falcon is Back, Hurrah, Hurrah!.......2002-05-24

For those of us who have been waiting for the sequel to the enchanting, brave and serious Falcon's Egg, this book is water upon parched soil! Moving from the grounded and richly rendered Manhattan of the first book, the author takes us to a surreal (and parallel) universe of Australial aborigines, Scottish bagpipers, classics-misquoting dragons and, most strange of all: happy, friendly New Yorkers!
Falcon's Egg was a love letter to New York and a tribute to great children's book authors of the past, like E. Nesbitt. In Falcon and the Charles Street Witch, the author follows the lead of Lewis Carroll and whips up a story that is absurd, energetic, and often hilarious. I just hope these books keep coming, as Falcon is a character I want to know for a long time!

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On The Far Side Of The Mountain

On the Far Side of the Mountain

Manufacturer: Recorded Books, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

Small Homes & Cottages | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0788703749

Product Description

The classic story of wilderness survival continues in this action-packed sequel. Filled with authentic woodland lore and exciting adventure, On the Far Side of the Mountain takes listeners back to Sam Gribleys treehouse in the Catskill Mountains, where he begins a dangerous fight for his pet falcons freedom. Sequel to My Side of the Mountain.

Customer Reviews:

On The Far Side Of The Mountain.......2005-04-27

I read the book On The Far Side Of The Mountain. I liked this book because I can imagine what sam is feeling as he had to let Frightful go. The author did a wonderful job writing this book " Way to go Jean Craighead George." It is the 2nd book out of 3 books.
My favorite part is when Sam tries all these different ways to get Frightful back. My least favorite part is when Frightful gets confiscated and when Sam has to let her go. I would recommend this book to people who are looking for a good book to read. This book is a 10 out 10 read it!

The Secret Texts Trilogy - Diplomacy of Wolves - Vengeance of Dragons - Courage of Falcons

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The Secret Texts Trilogy - Diplomacy of Wolves - Vengeance of Dragons - Courage of Falcons
Holly Lisle
Manufacturer: Aspect
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000JJINZ6

Product Description

3 massmarket paperbacks.

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The Secret Texts Trilogy: Diplomacy of Wolves + Vengeance of Dragons + Courage of Falcons
Holly Lisle
Manufacturer: Aspect
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000U940F2

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Audiobook: Six Interesting Essays

Collection of Magazine articles is good, but inconsistent

A uneven potpourri but enough there to make it worth reading

Various perspectives.

Fine, but flawed, collection

With My Face to the Enemy
Various
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | Civil War | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
Anthologies | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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No End Save Victory

The Great War: Perspectives on the First World War

Ordeal By Fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction

Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq

The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage)

ASIN: 0425184587
Release Date: 2002-05-07

Amazon.com

Moving crisply from Abraham Lincoln's inauguration in 1861 to the final Confederate surrenders in 1865, this smart collection of essays provides a neat history of the Civil War. With nearly two dozen noted historians contributing to the volume (it is an all-star roster that includes Thomas Fleming, Geoffrey Perret, and James McPherson), the approach is necessarily idiosyncratic. There's no essay on Pickett's charge, for instance, but there is an interesting discussion of Robert E. Lee's orders at Malvern Hill, which were arguably a forerunner to that fateful action at Gettysburg. The editor, Robert Cowley, has done an excellent job of piecing together a group of essays that stand well on their own.

Between these covers, however, they manage to become more than the sum of their parts--always a difficult goal for anthologies to achieve. Cowley himself is the founding editor of Military History Quarterly and the man behind the acclaimed What If? anthology. Each of the selections included in With My Face to the Enemy has appeared previously in MHQ, and many of them have appeared in book form as well. "Lincoln Takes Charge" by David Herbert Donald is drawn from Donald's biography Lincoln, for instance, and "The Ordeal of General Stone" by Stephen W. Sears appeared in Controversies and Commanders.

John Bowers writes one of the most interesting chapters, on Confederate hero Stonewall Jackson. "Jackson was not a natural leader," writes Bowers. "In fact, Jackson probably had what we now call a learning disability." Yet he became one of the most fearsomely effective generals in American history. "He personified the word indomitable. He would not accept defeat and had a way of coming back, prevailing no matter what was thrown at him.... When the Battle of Cedar Mountain was being lost, bluecoats storming over Stonewall's regiments in a clatter of musket fire, Jackson himself galloped into the maelstrom, drew his sword, and rallied his retreating troops back into the fight.... The tide turned, and Cedar Mountain was won." Filled with such compelling perspectives, With My Face to the Enemy is a worthy addition to any personal library on the Civil War. --John J. Miller

Book Description

This collection of essays examines the pivotal people and events of the Civil War-as told by some of the most respected names in Civil War scholarship.

Contributions from James McPherson, Stephen Sears, Gary Gallagher, David Herbert Donald, and others

"A gem: well-written, engaging, and sure to make a significant contribution to the already voluminous Civil War literature." (Kirkus Reviews)

"Fascinating, well written, logically formatted, and amply supplemented with useful battle maps. Recommended for all Civil War collections." (Library Journal )

Customer Reviews:

Audiobook: Six Interesting Essays.......2007-07-23

I listened to this book on audiocassette. I assume that the editor picked six of the best essays from the hardcopy book for the audio version. They are:
Lincoln Takes Charge by David Herbert Donald
Failed Southern Strategies by James M. McPherson
Malvern Hill by Stephen W. Sears
When Lee was Mortal by Gary W. Gallagher
The Rock of Chickamauga: George H. Thomas by John Bowers
Rebel Without a War: The Shenandoah by Robert F. Jones

All of these are worth listening to. Narrator Eric Conger does an excellent job, and of course, the highly-respected authors all conducted thorough research and wrote clearly on interesting topics.

Personally I found the last two to be particularly intriguing because they covered stories that were fairly new to me. For example, George Thomas was a native of Virginia who chose to remain in the U.S. Army after his home state seceded. His family never spoke to him again! His leadership at Chickamauga and elsewhere in Tennessee earned him well-deserved acclaim.

As for the final essay in this version, the CSS Shenandoah fired the last shot of the Civil War basically because the captain and crew did not know that the war had ended until late in the summer of 1865. Their job had been to damage Union commerce by destroying commercial vessels, and this they did. In particular they sunk a number of whaling ships.

Subtitled "Perspectives on the Civil War," the book is suitable for anyone interested in that period of American history and particularly for those who already have some familiarity with the Civil War and would like some fresh ideas and detailed stories.

Collection of Magazine articles is good, but inconsistent.......2004-08-17

Essay collections are hard to review. You always wind up with something you liked, something you didn't, and a few things you were surprised by, either pleasantly or otherwise. This book is no exception: while some of the essays in here are worthwhile, some are less wonderful, or otherwise uneven.

One real difficulty is that there's nothing new here at all: every "essay" in this book was previously published in Military History Quarterly. This means that if you subscribed to that magazine, you'd have all these articles already, and you wouldn't need this book. The only thing you'd get by having this is that Robert Cowley writes an introduction for every piece, but as noted elsewhere, he cribs his intros from the articles themselves, with the result that you almost read a short version of the piece before reading it itself. Some of the articles are also taken from larger books, so that you may wind up reading those twice before getting to this book. And as noted, there are no illustrations, maps, footnotes, index, bibliography, or any of the other stuff that you'd expect in a book like this. It sort of cripples the usefulness of the book, to be honest, for anything other than entertainment.

I've enjoyed stuff Cowley has done elsewhere (the What If? stuff, especially), but he and his publisher need to work on how these books are presented.

A uneven potpourri but enough there to make it worth reading.......2004-05-07

It's pretty much common sense that Anthologies are a real mixed bag but With My Face to the Enemy is more than the average. This compilation has some wonderful stuff and to be honest one or two that I'm surprised got past the editor considering the factual errors they have.

On the good side you have some really first rate pieces. Stephen Sears comes through with some great stuff as usual with 'The Last Word on the Lost Order', 'The Ordeal of General Stone' and 'Malvern Hill'. However these works can be found in his book "Controversies and Commanders" or his book on the Peninsula Campaign.

Still there are other less well known writers in addition to the well known ones like Sears, Gallagher and McPherson, to make this worth picking up. Robert Jones' Rebel Without a War sticks out as exceptional as does John Taylor's 'The Crater'. Also two different articles that cover Col William Oates and Col Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain 'The Antagonists of Little Round Top'I found to be very interesting reads.

On the bad side a few of the article lean a bit towards the dry side and there are some factual errors, especially in Tom Flemming's 'Band of Brothers'. The article makes a number of mistakes such as stating that General Richard Garnett rode in Pickett's Charge because he was to sick with fever to walk. The actual truth however is that Garnett had been kicked by a horse and his leg was still to sore for him to walk. Flemming also repeats the old fable that Grant sent an engraved silver serving set across the battle lines at Petersburg to George and Sally Pickett as a present when their son was born. However this story is widely known to be a fictional creation of Sally Pickett's after the war.

So in the end while a bit uneven, there's enough first rate material to make the book worth it.

Various perspectives........2004-02-19

This book carries a similar format to books that look at the "hows" and "whys" of a battle, but instead follows popular events in the Civil War. Featuring and all-star cast of writers such as Gallagher and Sears, the book covers a variety of topics concerning subjects like Lee, Jackson, Grant, Vicksburg, Forrest at Fort Pillow, Union prisons, Sherman, Sheridan and many others. I have to admit the lack of references was disappointing as at times writer opinion versus fact were questionable. A majority of the chapters did offer interesting insight and tried to look at either popular misconceptions or myths surrounding the subjects. There is over 500 pages of material here that offer the advanced student of the Civil War possible new insight to events. I couldn't recommend this book to novice readers as a majority of the topics seem to be written in the assumption of past reader knowledge.

Fine, but flawed, collection.......2003-05-02

I am greatly torn over whether to give With My Face to the Enemy three or four stars. Four stars ultimately prevails because it seems to me that just about any book about the Civil War is almost by definition worth reading, and there is much in With My Face to the Enemy that will please both Civil War aficionados and those with but a passing interest. Of particular moment are two articles about the Confederate pirate ships (and let's be honest, they *were* pirate ships sans the physical violence) Alabama and Shenandoah, which reveal the genuinely global reach of the conflict. Every article has something to recommend it, even if, like Stephen Sears' essay on Chancellorsville, you've read it all before.

But there are some flaws, too. Most glaring and annoying is the lack of an index. Is there any Civil War student who does not rush to the index first to find references to his (or her) favorite general or battle? No such luck here; you'll have to read the entire book for those brief references to Howard, Hancock, McPherson, et al. Second, the articles lack two of the major selling points of military history magazines - color maps and illustrations. Now, I'm a big boy and I don't *need* pictures with my text, but often the art that accompanies an MHQ article is more powerful than the text. Third, there is a fault that lies with far too many Civil War pieces: biographies of important figures devolving into hagiographies. For too many Civil War biographers their subject can do, and did no, wrong. Crowley himself uses the word "hagiography" in one of his introductions. Whether it's Stonewall or Lee, or Admiral Porter or Sheridan, the lavish praise becomes tiring. And the final gripe to be made is toward Crowley's introductions, which borrow too liberally from the essays, adding nothing yet stealing the thunder of the contributors. (The same complaint can be made of Crowley's introductions to the What If? series.)

These are not much more than petty gripes, however. The Civil War remains a fascinating topic, and With My Face to the Enemy provides a wide range of essays covering many areas of the war. The collection deserves a spot on the bookshelf.

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My Face to the Enemy
Matthew C. Bumgarner
Manufacturer: Tarheel Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 1931058024

Book Description

My Face to the Enemy is a collection of the memories of the Confederate soldiers who served during the Civil War with the Sixth North Carolina State Troops. The 6th NC was involved in nearly all major battles with the Army of Northern Virginia, and included such distinctions as the first troops ever carried by rail into battle, and capturing Cemetery Hill at the battle of Gettysburg.

The history of the regiment is penned by the captain of Company D, Neill Ray, circa 1899. Another chapter tells of the death of Issac Avery, the regiment commander who scrawled a note to his aged father in his own blood as he lay dying on the Gettysburg plain. Reconstruction era letters between Captain Neill Ray and another of the regiments commander, Colonel Samuel McDowell Tate add spice to the history of the men during the war and after.

Finally, one of the first Confederate Memorial day addresses, circa 1880, is included. Penned by Colonel Tate, it is a sorrowful, mourning view of his fallen comrades and amazingly courageous given the prevailing political views of the day.

Average customer rating:

Passably entertaining but no continuity

Engrossing story about human evolution

In The Face Of My Enemy
Joseph H. Delaney
Manufacturer: baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0671559931

Customer Reviews:

Passably entertaining but no continuity.......2005-05-19

Old Kah-Sih-Omah, in the late 20th century, digs up an alien computer that, according to the front-of-book summary, he knew was there because his old enemy Ketzal crashed into earth a really long time ago and left his computer there for the taking after fixing his space ship. This launches Kah Sih Omah into space and into the last section of the book.

The trouble is, though this whole plot is mentioned in the front-of-book summary, NOWHERE IN THE BOOK DOES IT APPEAR. Nowhere is Kah-Sih-Omah entombed in ice for a total of 16,000 years in two different stints. Nowhere does an alien crash-land in South America. Nowhere is he allies or enemies with Ketzal.

The center section of the book is a long digression into the middle ages where Kah-Sih-Omah searches for Jesus and Mohammed, believing they're his immortal alien-created brothers ... and then the plot peters out without explanation.

It's like the author started to write three different books, decided none of them were very good, and made them one book - but without fixing the continuity problems.

The discreet sections are entertaining enough, especially the last section dealing with space-colonization. But the characters other than Kah-Sih-Omah are poorly conceived and poorly drawn, and the author failed to sufficiently develop his world (particularly in the future), so the reader is often left confused or with a half-portrait of what's going on. (Not even an outline ... more like the author thought it through half-way, realized it wasn't going to all fit together, and gave up.)

Still, two stars because it's a decent beach read with some interesting exploration of traditional sci-fi themes, as long as you don't mind that it makes no particular sense.

Engrossing story about human evolution.......1999-02-19

An excellent book about the possibilities of immortality and how one man can be the key to the future of the human race. This book is a true epic in one volume, spanning a storyline of thousands of years in the life of one extraordinary man.

With My Face to the Enemy: A Civil War Anthology (Unabridged Selections)

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With My Face to the Enemy: A Civil War Anthology (Unabridged Selections)
Robert Crowley
Manufacturer: audible.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Download
ASIN: B000084QV5

Average customer rating:

With My Face to the Enemy
Robert Cowley
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GR7UGY

Average customer rating:
Happily Ever After: A Real Life Look at Your First Year of Marriage
Joanne Heim , and Toben Heim
Manufacturer: Navpress Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Marriage | Relationships | Christian Living | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1576835286

Book Description

Why do you feel irritated when your spouse doesn't fold laundry the same way you do? Why doesn't your husband remember to call when he's later than he said he would be?

Irritations, differences of opinion, and opposing lifestyles may not have seemed obvious when you were dating, but now that you're married, that's all you can see. Most of it stems from faulty expectations.

Happily Ever After will help you establish realistic expectations and goals for marriage. In an interactive, conversational manner, Toben and Joanne Heim address essential marriage issues such as sex, money, spirituality, and more. This book is packed with intriguing questions, journal pages, and honest personal stories from numerous other couples that will help you build a solid marital foundation.

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Happily Ever After: A Real-Life Look at Your First Year of Marriage . . . and Beyond
Toben And Joanne Heim
Manufacturer: Kregel Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Marriage | Relationships | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Christian Living | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Marriage | Relationships | Christian Living | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0825427584

Book Description

Irritations, differences of opinion, and opposing lifestyles may not have seemed obvious when you were dating, but now that you're married, that's all you can see. Happily Ever After will help you establish realistic expectations and goals for marriage through stimulating questions, journal pages, and honest personal stories.

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