5 comments about A Pirate of Exquisite Mind: Explorer, Naturalist, and Buccaneer: The Life of William Dampier.

1. having been loaned a copy by a friend, I have now bought a number of copies for myself, friends and relatives.Anyone who has ever thought of themselves as a traveller[rather than a tourist] should buy themselves a copy-even Tony Wheeler of Lonely Planet fame would see himself as a mere tourist after reading this wonderfully researched and written history,that is more important to all of us than we would ever guess.Loved every line.



2. Dampier was a fascinating person, a real live buccaneer and also one of our first naturalists. Since I like buccaneers and naturalists, he works well for me. The book is fun to read and well-researched. I dug it.
   
   If you're into books about explorers, you can check out my list - imaginatively titled "Books about explorers" - for a few more recommendations.



3. One hundred years before Charles Darwin there was a pirate whose works Darwin called "a mine of information". Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe used his experiences in writing Gulliver's Travels and Robinson Crusoe. Capital James Cook depended on his observations when circumnavigating the globe and Nelson urged his officers to study his books. In the history of exploration, few have ventured farther or achieved more than William Dampier.
   
   Dampier circled the globe 3 times and sailed 200,000+ miles visiting people and places never seen by any other European. Beginning his journey in Virginia and the Caribbean, this pirate crosses the Pacific east to west, spending time in Southeast Asia. The publication of his observations influenced generations of scientists, explorers and writers. His observations and calculations surpassed Edmund Halley and sent Bligh and the Bounty in search of breadfruit. He reached Australia 80 years before Captain Cook and is responsible for over 1000 entries in the Oxford English Dictionary.
   
   Completely forgotten by historians William Dampier has handed down a profound impact throughout the ages. And yes, he was a most decided pirate!



4. This book about 17th Century Explorer William Dampier really surprised me - it was so good! I received the book as a gift and it turned out to be one of those books that I might not have chosen on my own, but I really enjoyed.
   
   The book chronicles Dampier's 3 voyages around the world, is interesting, and super easy to read. Two thumbs up for sure.



5. Ol' Cap'n Bill plundered only knowledge - couldn't keep two pieces of eight together to save his life. In fact, when he crossed the Isthmus of Panama, he was a lot more worried about keeping his charts dry than about the gold. Trouble was, nobody in his earlier days ever thought about funding a mission for pure scientific research - at least 'til Edmund Halley's voyage in about 1702 or so. And the only British vessels heading into the Pacific had to subsidize their own voyages (at the expense of the Dons, of course). So what was an insatiably curious soul to do? He stuck out his thumb, sailed everywhere -- and I mean EVERYWHERE! and if he's no longer at sea, he's now in print -- everywhere! Don't believe me? Pick up ANY book on exploration, vanished species, oceanography, evolution, British history, British colonialism -- and, of course ... pirates ... and you'll find him there, glaring huffily at anyone who'd demean him as a pirate.

5 comments about I'll Do My Own Damn Killin'.

1. THIS STORY IS SO WELL WRITTEN AND SO INTERESTING THAT NICK CASSAVETES, MOVIE PRODUCER AND POKER PLAYER, HAS PURCHASED THE RIGHTS TO MAKE IT INTO A MOVIE. WHILE KICKING THIS AROUND A POKER GAME THE OTHER DAY THE PLAYERS AND I AGREED JOSH BROLIN SHOULD PLAY THE YOUNG BENNY BINION.



2. If you have found yourself in Soprano-withdrawal, this book is for you. "I'll Do My Own Damn Killin'" is a raucous gangland tale of a long and bitter feud between two former partners for control of the Dallas gambling scene of the 1930s and 40s.
   
   Most people know Lester Ben Binion as the Las Vegas icon who
   owned some of the early casinos there, with the downtown Horseshoe Club being the most famous and longest-lived. But before his Las Vegas days he was known as the Dallas "boss gambler." He had most of Dallas law enforcement "fixed" so he could run his numbers, his policy wheels, and his poker games at the Southland Hotel without fear of arrest. He was temperamental, braggadocios, but also jovial in a sinister sort of way. The title of the book comes from a reply he gave when asked if he had ever hired a hit man.
   
   Herbert Noble ran crap games in downtown Dallas and soon came to resent the 25-percent protection money he had to pay to Binion. He had dreams of being the Dallas gambling kingpin himself, and formed a partnership with a like-minded underworld financier. Soon the gambling wars had begun, with one Noble partner after another turning up dead, and back and forth contracts put out on various hardcases from both sides. Noble himself had no less than thirteen assassination attempts made on him. As the author says, "By the early Fall of 1950, planning to kill Herbert Noble had practically become a cottage industry in Dallas and Fort Worth."
   
   Tragedy finally struck when Noble's 36-year-old wife made the fatal mistake of borrowing her husband's booby-trapped car. The explosion was heard eight miles away and the blast shattered windows for blocks. Her mangled body was laid to rest in a solid copper casket said to be the most expensive one ever sold in Dallas.
   
   After this incident, the hatred that consumed Noble escalated the war and led to a hellish confusion of such grisly murders and maiming that it's hard to believe that this actually happened in Texas and not in some 12-hour Francis Ford Coppola trilogy. Notorious people move in and out of the pages, people like Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, Bugsy Siegal, Meyer Lansky, Estes Kefauver, and even one Jacob Rubenstein, aka Jack Ruby.
   
   Finally by the end of the book, the good guys have arrived on the scene, the Texas Rangers, who put a stop to the violence. Thus ended the bloodiest two decades in Dallas history. The appendix contains testimonies, transcripts of recorded conversations, and progress reports on some of the still-unsolved murders from this shocking, full-scale gangland war that happened in Texas.



3. This is a great book. I knew Benny Binion. My new novel, Texas Poker Wisdom, has several stories about Benny, including the day I met him in 1960. When Binion moved to Vegas, he took a giant step down being a casino owner considering the many things he controlled in Dallas and Ft. Worth and elsewhere. The gambling wars in Dallas and Ft. Worth are hard to believe. Mr. Sleeper has written a book any Texan, gambler, or curious reader will love. I loved this book.
   Johnny HughesTexas Poker Wisdom



4. I expected to be somewhat entertained and learn a small bit about the history of Dallas gambling. I didn't expect to be so thoroughly consumed with the stories, the history and the characters. Excellent!



5. Although that fellow on the cover could not read, he was making over a million dollars a year from illegal gambling --in 1940! (That was a lot of dough!) Anyone encroaching on his business was killed in "a clear cut case of self-defense." ;^) The title is both a quote and a lie. He is portrayed as a self-made man in a world of treachery.
   
   This is more than a chronology of a gangland war; it is a window on another place and time: Texas in the old days, where you could get your tail kicked just for having a tail. ( <- Appropriate word considering what rats the "soldiers" were. It was double-cross-o-rama.) Although it has 16 pages of photos, I wanted even more as I read about these formidable characters, some of whom are not pictured, and most of whom succumbed to lead poisoning. In a refreshingly realistic observation, the author points out that they were lousy shots. The book is a fun little romp until it gets to what happened to a 36-year-old Mildred Noble, who really had nothing to do with any of this.
   
   Other notable persons in this story: Jacob Rubenstein (aka Jack Ruby), Clyde Barrow of Bonnie & Clyde fame, Dallas District Attorney Henry Wade (as in "Roe vs. Wade"), and the "Two Tonys," whom I suspect inspired the twins in Mario Puzo's novel "Omerta."
   
   This is well-researched, well-written, and it's only got four typos --not bad copy editing by today's crummy standards. Includes a good index. One appendix is an interesting transcript of a bugged conversation. Got to agree with the suggestion that there is the potential for a movie here. [Confidential to Gary Sleeper: put your fishing pole away and write us another one.]

3 comments about Jack the Ripper: The Definitive History.

1. This book has helped me allot in regards to a project I am working on. When one recognizes the significance between Jack the Ripper and the media, and it's part in ascending him from serial killer to Victorian icon, it is impossible to ignore this book. I highly recommend it.



2. I had to read this took for a Collage Class and have never enjoyed reading a "textbook" more.
   
   Paul Begg is a very entertaining author and gave alot of details concerning the Jack the Ripper Murders.
   
   At first he tells about the area of London called Whitechappel where it happened and then he talks about the Ripper Murders themselves.
   
   Not only does he give much detail about the Ripper Murders he talks about the Police investigation about it, as well as goes into detail about some of the people that historians and investigaters have claimed were Jack the Ripper.
   
   All in all a very comprehensive acount of the Jack the Ripper Murder case.



3. The book really is more about the context than the case itself, but Begg present solid research and writes very well. In terms of presenting the conditions of 1888 Whitechapel, it is probably the best book out there. For a history strictly of the JtR case, Sugden would be the way to go. However, Begg's new book, "Jack the Ripper: The Facts" (only available at amazon.co.uk now), which contains much of the research done in the past ten years, would be definitely worth getting from there. Still, this book is worth it for the Ripperologist.

2 comments about The Ski Mask Way: Based on a True Story.

1. Randy Thompson aka Ski had two options while growing up poor in Long Island New York, ball or be a baller. Randy had the skills neccessary to leave his hood behind and pursue his basketball dreams but sometimes even the most seemingly attainable goals can slip away. When's Randy's opportunity slipped away he still had to provide for his family and being a small time drug dealer just wasn't gonna cut it. Randy was gonna have to do things the Ski Mask Way and with his clique of childhood friends that wouldn't be hard at all.
   
   From Long Island to upstate NY nowhere was safe from the wrath of Ski and his crew. Jewelry Stores, Drug Dealers and Department Stores all got touched but would Ski's clique remained untouched? Or would Ski find out that becoming a baller by amassing ill gotten wealth would be even harder than going to school to pursue his NBA career. Especially when you have to overcome more than just the police but jealousy within his own clique. Read the Ski-Mask Way and find out what's harder balling or becoming a baller!



2. Although words can't be used to describe how truly HOT, this novel really is, I decided to pick a few of my favorite to give you an idea!
   
   SPLENDID, SUPERB, SUPERIOR, WONDERFUL...and the characters were...VICIOUS, WICKED, FIERCE FEROCIOUS!!!
   
   To say that I thorougly enjoyed this novel is an understatement. And the fact that it's based on a true story is CHILLING!
   
   From the very begginging Randy pulled me into the pages of this novel and I felt like I was right beside Ski through his entire journey. Although some disloyal people surrounded themselves around Ski, (disguised as friends) I smiled when I realized that in the end REAL friendship prevails.
   
   You are a fool if you call yourself a lover of "Street Fiction" and don't cop this book!
   
   It's a MUST READ!!!

No comments about Another Man's War: The True Story of One Man's Battle to Save Children in the Sudan.

5 comments about Frank Nitti: The True Story of Chicago's Notorious Enforcer.

1. Far too little research has previously been available about Frank Nitti, Capone's "Enforcer" and the public face of the Chicago Outfit after Capone was sent to prison, but anyone with an interest needs look no further than this book. Ron Humble, in what can only be described as an amazing researched book, has brought Frank Nitti back to life within these pages and has revealed the complex and contradictory gangster in a way that no other writer has ever been able to do. This is a highly readable (although filled with great detail) book that no one with a serious interest in the Chicago gangland era should be without. Don't miss this one!



2. Author Ronald Humble mentions a number of things I wasn't aware of prior to reading this book on Frank Nitti. Humble mentions that Nitti was likely responsible for the hit on Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak in retaliation for Cermak's sending two men to eliminate Nitti. Giuseppe Zangara was chosen by the mob to assassinate Cermak because Zangara was in debt to the mob, and if he didn't carry out the hit he and his family would suffer torture and death. If Zangara did as the mob ordered, the mob would see that Zangara's family was taken care of in a positive way. Author Humble draws comparisons between the assassinations of Mayor Cermak and President John Kennedy. Zangara and Lee Oswald were both expendable. Zangara was quickly eliminated through execution, and didn't dare express what he knew due to concern for his family. Oswald was quickly eliminated by Jack Ruby. Author Humble also states Nitti was likely in on the rub out of despised enemy Machine Gun Jack McGurn, and north sider Hymie Weiss. The author wonders whether Nitti's death was a suicide or was he a victim of foul play. I would stick with a suicide due to his reluctance to return to prison. Finally the author spends quite a bit of time on Nitti as he was portrayed on television and in the movies showing how much coverage he was given in this area. When the author isn't sure about events in Nitti's life he makes sure to point that out. I found the book very worth while and one that should interest those who enjoy mob-related books.



3. Everyone knows of mob boss Al Capone. But what of his successor in the mob, Frank Nitti, who should be just as infamous, if not more so? "Frank Nitti: The True Story Chicago's Notorious 'Enforcer'" is his tale, bringing the tale of the countless murders and conspiracies for more, the vice and corruption that came with Nitti's leadership. With examinations of how Nitti has been portrayed in myth, legend, television, and movies, it tries to find out the truth about the man through scholarly research, covering everything from his time as Capone's enforcer, his plots to extort Hollywood, and his mysterious death, ruled as a suicide, but could it have been a complex assassination? "Frank Nitti: The True Story Chicago's Notorious 'Enforcer'" is highly recommended for anyone with a strong interest in the golden age of the mob and for community library true crime shelves.



4. I thouroughly enjoyed Ron Humble's book on Frank Nitti. The incredible detail of Nitti's grim circumstances in his youth and the insights the author provides of how his personality fit the needs of the mob and allowed him to rise to mythic status was fascinating. The depictions of Frank Nitti by Hollywood that Humble includes are further indications of how ruthless a person can become in the right circumstances while still retaining a human quality. I highly recommend the book.



5. I enjoyed this book so much - I read it in two sittings. As a ghostwriter on several mafia stories I've had to read dozens of books about Chicago's powerful mob organization - The Outfit. I've found most to be overly sensational, speculative and gruesome in their story telling. Ronald has broken through the mold. Frank Nitti: The True Story of Chicago's Notorious Enforcer is written in a refined style that makes the true horror jump off the page. Ronald does a great job framing the mafia in historical context, showing the blurred lines between good and evil in mid-nineteenth century. Great book.

2 comments about Blackbeard: The Real Pirate of the Caribbean.

1. Harrrr... maties! As a huge pirate fan I love this book! Blackbeard Rules!!



2. Writing a whole book exclusively about Blackbeard would require a good deal more material than currently exists. The author does an excellent job of collecting together a good deal of the material available and organizing it in a chronological fashion. However, that is probably at most half of the book, the rest is rounded out with general pirate history from the period, as well as pictures and movie stills from the Blackbeard documentary. Ships sanded their decks before going into battle for the added traction it yielded; this book offers that added traction in the history of a notorious pirate.
   
   The only fault I can find in the author's delivery, almost to the point of distraction, is the constant use of Thatch as Blackbeard's real name. Most author's that I have read over the past 10+ years favor the use of Teach as the preferred name. That aside, I found the story line well paced and easy to read. The added bits of pirate history, including the obligatory references to Anne Bonny and Mary Read, were well placed in the chronology to give the reader more of a reference to the time period.
   
   The author has omitted an index, but does include a Sources and Further Reading page. The bottom line is that this is as good a biography of the pirate as I have found, and an enjoyable read to boot.
   P-)

5 comments about Rescuing Patty Hearst: Growing Up Sane in a Decade Gone Mad.

1. I thought this book we tell me something new that I didn't know about mental illness but it didn't really do that.



2. Holman's autobiography of her childhood abuse at the hands of a schizophrenic mother is surprisingly tame: Holman writes with considerable emotional distance, as if she's still uneasy about approaching the memories. This tone makes the book read more like fiction than reality at times. Unlike many memoir writers, Holman talks little about her childhood emotions, instead opting to probe into the "why's" of the events: why her father didn't "save" her from her crazy mother, why Holman herself didn't flee, etc. It makes for an interesting psychological tale. However, by the same token it prevents readers from getting too emotionally tied to the book and its young, suffering Virginia.
   Holman's tactic of switching abruptly back and forth between the present and her childhood also does some major damage to the book's flow. The same goes for the book's structure: Holman divides her story into short chapters, many of them only 2-3 pages long.
   Still, anyone with a relative suffering from a mental illness--particularly illnesses as quirky and unpredictable as schizophrenia, will find a familiar voice in Holman's childhood self and will recognize all too well her adult frustrations with finding logic in the illogical waters of her experiences.



3. When she was eight years old, Gingie was forced to leave town with her mother Molly, a schizophrenic under the delusion that she was needed to set up a makeshift hospital for war children. Molly took Gingie and her baby sister Emma, who was only a year old, to the family's Virginia summer cottage, and for several years, forced Gingie to humor her in collecting supplies, adapting their home and going along with a variety of delusions as she began to descend more and more into the illness.
   
   Meanwhile, Gingie's father remained in the family's original home, visiting on weekends. After he requested a divorce, he told his daughters he couldn't take them, because the law usually ruled in favor of the mothers. That may have been true in the mid-1970s, but what jury could possibly recommend two little girls remain in the custody of a schizophrenic? It seems odd, how the girls' father knew first-hand what they were undergoing, but did nothing to remove them from the situation.
   
   All the while, Gingie keeps thinking of Patty Hearst, the heiress who was kidnapped and found robbing a bank with her captors the previous year. She wonders what really happened to Patty; did she cooperate of her own free will? Was she brainwashed? Did she want to get away? Gingie figures it's not too different from her own situation.
   
   Interspersed between Gingie's recollections are brief comments from the adult Virginia. Although happily married and doing well in life, she's unable to stop thinking about her childhood. Why did it have to happen? If it happened to her mother, well after she entered her thirties and had children, could it happen to *her*?
   
   An intriguing read, giving a vivid picture of life with a mentally ill person in control of the situation...



4. At first when Gingie's mother begins to show signs of becoming delusional, it's a bit like an adventure. Gingie and her sister Emma is one. When their mother, in the early stages of schizophrenia, announces they must be vigilant and look for clues, it seems to Gingie that they are plunged into an exciting world, like Nancy Drew, where anything could mean something important. They walk though the woods, examining the trash they find, and Gingie's mother records everything in her notebook.
   
   Life continues to get stranger and stranger, though. Gingie's mother moves her daughters into their summer cottage and paints the windows black, confiding in her that they have been chosen to create a field hospital for the war orphans who will be arriving any day. For years Gingie endures night maneuvers and quizzes on the contents of the first aid book her mother expects her to learn, so she will be able to help treat the war children.
   
   Despite this weirdness in her childhood, other parts of Gingie's life are remarkably normal. She plays with her cousins who live nearby, attends school and worries about making friends. Nobody seems to be concerned with her mother's increasingly strange behavior.
   
   Although Gingie's experience was worrisome, I didn't get a feeling of urgent danger from her story. She described some of the crazy things her mother did, like refusing to leave their cottage during a flood, or giving her sister a glass of bleach to drink, or, much later, physically attacking Gingie when she was visiting from college, but she didn't give the impression that the situation was dire. I think this made the story less dramatic than it could have been, because the narrator didn't seem overly horrified by the effects of her mother's mental illness.



5. This book chronicles the experiences of one family when the mother develops schizophrenia after giving birth to her second child. Unable to convince the mother to get psychiatric help and without the legal means to force her to do say, the family is instead forced to simply stand by as her delusions slowly take over their mother's life, and, in the process, also their own.
   
   Quote: "I think about this now: I was seen at my worst and loved. Forgiven. This still astounds me. And it makes me want to be kinder to people, more compassionate. I begin to wonder: Can I find a way to forgive my mother for being so sick?"
   
   
   I thought this book was extremely interesting and also very saddening because, as it is written by the family's older daughter, the reader gets a glimpse into how schizophrenia affects both the person who is diagnosed with the condition and the people who love and surround the individual. The daughter finds that she is able to connect with her mother less and less until she is forced to choose between having nothing to share with her mother or being a part of her mother's delusions.

5 comments about Frank and Jesse James: The Story Behind the Legend.

1. The information is great, but it just did not grab my attention. I love the photos of the family and era.



2. Much has been written about this icon of American outlaw mythology. If you are into the facts in detail, and an even-handed view of this subject, then I would highly recommend this book. If you are looking for an exciting tale, full of action and mayhem, you might wish to look elsewhere. All in all, it's a fine read with a lot of facts, and would make an excellent text source for a univerity class. There is a lot of interesting material within, such as Frank James' life after his brother's death. It's well worth the price of admission into this world.



3. This is high-quality 19th century history that captures the tension with which the James brothers lived. It places the reader in Frank and Jesse's historical and geographical context. Above all, it is fair. Yeatman lets the reader decide. Frank emerged as particularly complex, because he was able to straddle the life of a respectable taxpayer and a dangerous outlaw.
   
   This work is particularly poignant, because of current U.S. debates about government spying, habeas corpus, posse comitatus and many other issues that matter as much today, as they did in the days leading up to the Civil War and Reconstruction.
   
   Yeatman's handling of the James brothers Civil War material is particularly deft.
   
   Yeatman's work is filled with numerous historical gems, such as Bess Truman's family's connection to the James brothers; Phil Sheridan's connection to the bombing of the James Sammeul home.



4. I have to agree with some of the reviews of Mr. Yeatman's book.
   This is extremely poorly written. If I had wanted to read a Civil War recantation, I'd go back and re-read the many in my library.
   While some of the historical references during that period may be necessary background for the James family, more often times than not, in this book, the author flies off on a tangent leaving the reader wondering "what happened?"
   Trying to muddle through this book is like wandering through a blizzard. There are moments when the snow clears, only to be shrouded again moments later.
   Where were the editors? A fascinating subject that has been sadly botched by this effort in my humble opinion.



5. That any reviewer can grant this book five stars, as some here have, boggles the mind. I have to seriously ask them what books they read that they consider this one worthy of such a high rating. Yes, the subject of the James boys is inherently fascinating and, yes, Ted Yeatman's research was extensive, which is worth one extra star, but as a writer he failed to present his material in an interesting fashion. First, he is too much in love with facts and uses them whether they are necessary or not. (I do not need to know, as just one example, the name of every insignificant Missouri militia outfit that ever marched in the same county as the James boys unless that name is relevant to them. Footnotes would have been a better location if Yeatman felt compelled to include this arcane data.) Another reason the narrative bogs down is that Yeatman failed to heed his word processor's grammar checker when it pointed out the thousands of passive sentences he wrote. Or perhaps he had that feature turned off. If so, he should flick it back on immediately. Lastly, a good writer spins out a narrative that flows like water. Yeatman's jumbled writing contains too many icebergs the reader must dodge or sink in the process.
   
   I am not yet finished reading it and am not certain that I can continue to the end much as I want to learn about the James boys. What a shame. Bad writing made this book a great waste of the author's extensive knowledge. I fail to understand why Cumberland House published this book without extensive editing or not publish it at all. Obviously, they thought the subject material would carry it.

5 comments about The Man Who Invented Las Vegas.

1. A really fascinating little book, with a very rare quality... it's really the first time this story has been told. Other Vegas books are good, some are great, but most in one way or another repeat the stories we've read before (another exception: Fly on the Wall by Dick Odessky).



2. This is a sketchy at best account of a powerful man during his time. The book is short and did not give me enough details to his insight on Vegas except that he was a gambloholic. It left me wanting to know more about this man and his rise to power. Honestly I enjoyed more his accounts as the publisher of the Hollywood Reporter and the power he had there than his accounts of trying to build the Flamingo. I thought the book would give more insight on early Vegas but to me gave more to early Hollywood.



3. Whatta story! If Mr. Wilkerson only had control of his addiction there is no telling what he could have accomplished. This is a talented man who had half the world by the tail, but couldn't get that 2nd half. He was able to accomplish a lot and was the creator of modern casinos in Las Vegas. This is a short story, but filled with interesting information. Highly recommended.



4. One man's chronic gambling habit became the foundation for modern Las Vegas: The Man Who Invented Las Vegas documents his rags-to-riches story and his impact on building the casinos and hotels of Las Vegas. Black and white photos pepper an examination of publisher Wilkerson's life and investments in the Las Vegas image in a fascinating blend of local history and biography.



5. This is a top notch read. It is hard to find books of this caliber about the mob. The research is scholarly but still accessible. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the birth of Las Vegas and the gritty details of Hollywood history in general.