No comments about Pavements to Ploughed Fields: An Evacuee on a Norfolk Farm 1939-1948 (Isis (Hardcover Large Print)).

2 comments about Home from the Hill (Ulverscroft Large Print).

1. Great book. Now, when is the video/dvd of the accompanying documentary going to be released ? By Molly Dineen, made in 1985 and shown on the BBC at the time.
   
   It's listed as no. 45 in the 50 best documentaries of all time ( a UK survey - check Wikipedia for the entry )
   
   But nowhere is it possible to find a copy to watch....come on Amazon, your fat tail profits from hard-to-find videos should mean that its worth getting hold of this one. And fifty quid from the RAI is just too much [...]
   Let's see...



2. I'm amazed nobody has reviewed this book yet. I strongly recommend it as a well written account by a man's man who led very adventurous life. It's a classic in the tradition of "Lives of a Bengal Lancer" ( though better written in my opinion), an account of a full life in an era now long past, that an officer of the British Army serving in the far reaches of the Empire, before, during, and after the second World War. If the thought of fishing the Nile, hunting lion in the Sudan and tigers and pigsticking (hunting wild boar on horse-back) in India makes your heart beat faster, this is the book for you. Likewise, if this turns you off, it is obviously not. Hook is not one to lay his private life on the line, so we learn little of such matters as his marriage and subsequent divorce, but he is a most perceptive observer and an accomplished raconteur and we learn a good deal about the people and animals of the countries he serves in. Hook tells us of his experiences in the hunt and on the field of battle in a simple, direct manner, not without a touch of humour. Refreshingly, as one would expect from an officer and gentleman of his time, there is no gratuitious sex, violence or obscene language, though I have no doubt he was exposed to a great deal of the above. A good reminder that you don't have to talk tough to be the real thing.

1 comments about Sinatra: The Man Behind the Myth (Part 1).

1. I have read a number of books regarding the life and times of Frank Sinatra and this is the most balanced of them all. Stories that can't be proved one way or the other are presented in the following way; "This is the most often told rumour regarding this incident, this is how much I have been able to verify, now make up your own mind regarding the rest." Excellent. Unlike other writers, I was unable to determine what the author felt about Frank, and that is as it should be. Other books are written by people who clearly love or hate him and are slanted to reflect whatever impression they want the reader to leave with. If you want to read the facts are far as they go and then make up your own mind regarding the rumours, this it the book for you.

5 comments about Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in His Time (Thorndike Press Large Print Americana Series).

1. A well written piece with good research about the life of this great man. Good book for any sports fan.



2. This is the story of Lou in more than just baseball terms, from his humble upbringing, to his marriage and untimely death. The book is full of great stories and insights by someone who has obviously done their homework on the topic. Alot of fact-correcting with regards to the Ruth-Gehrig squabbles, and sets the record straight on aot of issues. It is not a "pageturner", but I came away feeling like I learned a great deal about a baseball legend I thought I knew alot about.



3. Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig In His Time charts the life and accomplishments of a truly legendary ball player, plus author Ray Robinson provides the reader with a wealth of background details on the era of baseball through the Depression years. Most of all, it's a recreation of the man who played over two thousand consecutive games before he was diagnosed with the fatal disease named after him. A lively writing style blends history and biography, setting the times and baseball events for newcomers to the sport and providing a vivid account of a legend. Highly recommended: even non-baseball readers will find it engrossing.



4. Lou Gehrig is a baseball legend. He played on the dynastic New York Yankees teams of the 1920s and 1930s alongside Babe Ruth. He had a .340 lifetime batting average and 493 career home runs. He set a record of 2,130 consecutive games played, a record that stood for decades. And he died of ALS in 1941 at age 38, a disease that now bears his name in the recollections of most Americans. His story, with proper dramatic license, was portrayed in the classic baseball movie, "The Pride of the Yankees," with Gary Cooper as Gehrig in what many consider the actor's greatest performance.
   
   Ray Robinson, a sports journalist and editor, tells this story in "Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig and His Time." It is a book very much in the genre of many other conventional sports biographies. It is a serviceable biography at best, and far from great. In it we learn about one of the greatest stars of major league baseball in the pre-World War II era. If you want a basic introduction to the life and career of Lou Gehrig this book is fine. If you want a well-researched, thoughtful, and sophisticated biography of the Yankee great go elsewhere. This work is very much a "once over lightly" treatment of a person who deserves better.



5. In "Iron Horse", Ray Robinson gives the reader an introduction to the Lou Gehrig persona. More than a list of records and triumphs of the baseball star, we meet the human being behind the records. I always had the impression that Gehrig was a good man, whereas Babe Ruth was only a good baseball player. This book confirms that impression.
   
   Growing up the son of German immigrants, Gehrig had the disadvantage of being something of an outsider in his own world. Baseball was just one avenue he traveled in his efforts to advance himself. Various jobs and Columbia University were other options pursued by Lou. His parents discouraged him from playing a game which they did not understand. When Lou had to choose between Columbia University and baseball, his parents urged the University, while a professor recommended baseball. Going to work every day was not extraordinary for Lou. That was how his parents raised him.
   
   In his chosen trade, Lou achieved excellence and attention wherever he played. Lou lived the thrill of playing baseball, and as a Yankee to boot! Lou always considered himself the luckiest man alive, even as he lived in the shadow of two giants, Babe Ruth at the start of his career, and Joe DiMaggio toward the end. Through it all, Lou considered himself a lucky man.
   
   Robinson leads the reader through a character study of his boyhood hero. We see Lou's relationships with his loving parents who could never understand the stage on which he strode. His wife, who gave him joy while suffering his mother's resentment, would be his solace in his illness. His relationships with his team mates, particularly Babe Ruth, get much attention. In this book we see Gehrig as a man not only driven by passions and wants, but guided by a sense of right and wrong. He was the moral compass of the Yankees. This trait prevented him from ever being the close friend of Ruth with whom he is so commonly associated in the public mind.
   
   Driven, perhaps, by contemporary interests, Lou's earnings are frequently reported. We are brought to understand that even a star of Gehrig's luminance earned a large salary, but still needed to work when he retired. Lou found post baseball employment in a department of the city in which he grew up, achieved stardom and gradually deteriorated and died.
   
   The illness of the only patient to give his name to a disease forms much of the latter sections of the book. Robinson tries to give an accurate report of how the disease affected Lou without over exaggerating its effects. We travel with Lou throughout his slump, ending of the streak and his gradual deterioration. At the end we have seen all 37 years of his remarkable and admirable life.
   
   Although the reader is introduced to the persona of Lou Gehrig, there is plenty of baseball too. This is an excellent book for any baseball fan with a desire to into the soul of one of baseball's most noble knights.

5 comments about Wild Justice.

1. ______________________________________________
   Fluff or not? Fun and fluffy
   _____________________________________________
   
   ---- Comments ----
   Power struggles on a global level, evil hidden around every twist and turn, a hero with guts and sensitivity, and a heroine who's a trained killer, international spy, and a fashion maven with brains. Although the premise is typically otherworldly, the story never rests from start to finish, you get to travel to and fro on a Lear following our two protagonists around the planet as they battle an unidentifiable evil of global proportions. Following Stride and Magda is anything but exhausting and filled with thrills to the final scene.
   
   ---- What I liked ----
   The twists and turns. This one was hard to put down
   
   ---- What I didn't ----
   Not much



2. There were only fifteen passengers for the British Airways flight at Victoria Airport on the island of Mahe in the oceanic republic of the Seychelles. But one alone made the others seem insignificant by the sheer splendour of her physical presence. Once aboard she becomes a brutal and fanatical terrorist, spearhead of an international organisation intent on holding the world's powers to ransom. As the search for the power brain controlling the terrorists heightens, the explosive passions aroused by the beautiful hijacker reach an unforgettable climax in the sun scorched deserts of Galilee. Top suspense and action with a very well designed plot.



3. Great book on the issues of pirates stealing elephant ivory. Informative about Africa as a whole. Great read! Smith gets a bit preachy at times, but you learn about the ivory trade, Africa, and it is suspenseful to boot! Tops!



4. 
   I am a Wilbur Smith fan since reading THE SEVENTH SCROLL which was wonderful. This book I had a hard time on the first two chapters and then it takes off and really provided excitement. One of my favorite scenes is when the main character's daughter is kidnapped and he must find her with few clues. I really liked
   this book and it stays with you. Also the tension when he suspects his love interest of being a terrorist was acute.
   
   Besides the 7th SCROLL Hungry as the Sea was a huge hit with me
   as well as most of his other books. Smith is able to write action scenes that really stick with one's imagination.
   
   I am eagerly awaiting his next novel.



5. I'm a big "Willllburrr" fan, but this book was disappointing. This book was was not as engaging as his historical novels (which I ADORE), & parts of it were ludicrously implausible.

No comments about Friends and Villains: An Autobiography.

No comments about The Life of the Fly.

5 comments about The American Revelation: Ten Ideals That Shaped Our Country From The Puritans To The Cold War.

1. The premise of these ten biographical essays is to concentrate on individuals who brought "fundamental Americanism", values at a time in which our leaders prefer polarizing the people to consolidate power via the money mechanism needed for reelections. Readers may disagree on the choices (no presidents), which is part of the fun of this tome. For instance, this reviewer expected Lincoln as the influence of changing from state-centric to national-conscience, but instead he failed to make the cut and some that were selected I never heard of before. Historical buffs will enjoy reading about values of this country from the seventeenth century: John Winthrop; eighteenth century: Thomas Paine and Pierre Eugene Du Simitiere; nineteenth century: Ralph Waldo Emerson, John L. O'Sullivan, and Henry George; twentieth century: Jane Addams, Israel Zangwill, Carter G. Woodson, and George C. Marshall. Written somewhat like the required reading of an American History 101 course, Neil Baldwin presents a fascinating concept supported by his chosen ones who he argues lived the American ideal of individual freedom and rights.
   
   Harriet Klausner



2. This book reminds me of the pretentious, mind-numbing courses on intellectual history I suffered through in college. Clearly, it was prepared with a great deal of thought and scholarship, but the sum is not a fraction of its parts.
   
   While I'll give the author credit for coming up with an interesting premise and giving credit to some lesser-known thinkers/doers, I can't call this book an enjoyable or illuminating read. It's so choppy and written so strangely that long sections are incomprehensible. Most inexcusable is the author's decision to put quote marks around every possible phrase, as if to prove he read all the original texts and related texts he references. There are literally scores of examples in which he puts quotes around one or two words -- and not important words, either -- which destroy the flow of the book. Furthermore, because he's doing short sketches that include a person's biography and historical context, he scants attention to the thing he purported to write about: their intellectual contribution to America.



3. This book is a collection of ten short biographies of people who had an enormous influence in the growth and development of the United States. Each person was significant in the creation and implementation of a major ideal of the American nation. They are in order:
   
   *) City On a Hill - John Winthrop, 1630. John Winthrop was the Governor of the Massachusetts colony established by the Puritans and the ideal was that of establishing a place where people could freely practice the religion of their choice.
   
   *) Common Sense - Thomas Paine, 1776. More than anyone else, Paine described the reasons for the American Colonies rebellion against King George. Widely circulated, his "Common Sense" was the chief item of propaganda in favor of independence.
   
   *) E Pluribus Unum - Pierre Eugene Du Simitiere, 1776. Historically obscure, Du Simitiere was a Swiss artist that was hired to create the Great Seal of the United States.
   
   *) Self-reliance - Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841. A talented writer, Emerson espoused the American pioneer spirit of doing things yourself, blazing new trails into whatever "wilderness" you encounter.
   
   *) Manifest destiny - John L. O'Sullivan, 1845. O'Sullivan was the person who coined the phrase "manifest destiny" to describe the role of the United States in the world.
   
   *) Progress and poverty - Henry George, 1879. George was one of the early commentators on the problems of poor people living in a wealthy state. He argued that labor was the key resource, "labor is the employer of capital."
   
   *) The Sphere of action - Jane Addams, 1902. Addams was one of the founders of Hull-House in Chicago. It started as a place where "ragamuffin" children could attend kindergarten classes and grew into a beacon for neighborhood social work. Addams then became a pioneer in the ideals of how the better off could assist the poor.
   
   *) The Melting-Pot - Israel Zangwill, 1908. Zangwill described the United States as "the greatest idealistic experiment in government." He wrote extensively on how so many different people of so many different backgrounds were able to come together to construct a nation.
   
   *) The Negro in our history - Carter G. Woodson, 1922. Woodson was a scholar whose focus was on capturing and describing the history of black people in America.
   
   *) The Marshall plan - George C. Marshall, 1947. Marshall was the chief architect of the massive program whereby American aid was sent to Europe after the end of World War II. By giving so freely of its' treasure, the United States remained a world power and stopped the advance of communism in Europe. It is no exaggeration to say that it was the most significant act in the American victory over communism in the cold war.
   
   These short biographical bits describe principal American ideals by describing the lives of people who are for the most part not part of the mainstream of historical study. They are well written and worthy of study. It is a valuable lesson that many people who made major contributions, but are rarely mentioned in the history books also built this country.



4. The 10 ideas that shaped America is quite an important topic of conversation, really. Why DID we get this way, exactly? How did we come about? Why do we have the dichotomy of a nation founded by religions, but a government free of them? Why did we shun socialism when Europe embraced it? Unfortunately, after reading this book I did not feel that any questions were answered.
   
   Neal Baldwin is easy to read, that much can surely be said. But each chapter was so divorced from the other as to leave the reader imagining that he were reading a simple volume of selected essays from various sources with no overriding theme. To be fair, Mr. Baldwin does warn that he didn't intend any overarching theme, but that sort of makes the book a bit hollow.
   
   And, my biggest problem with this small tome is that he ignored the Founder's ideas of representative democracy leaving it out of the mix. These ideas were the bedrock of our nation without which we would not have had an America in the first place. I believe his second chapter should have been on the Declaration of Independence.
   
   Also it would have helped to have some thread enlightening us as to how the preceding chapter foreshadowed the next. After all, enlightenment ( that of showing the reader what great ideas led Americans to today) was the goal of Mr. Baldwin's work.
   
   Still, the book did lead me to seek out some other sources and that is valuable in and of itself.
   
   So, I give it three stars. An interesting read, but not what it could have been.



5. Americans love political discussion and debate. From colonial days when pamphlets and town meetings were the mechanism of discourse, to modern times when talk radio and political blogs stimulate discussion of important public issues, robust political debate is a crucial element of American life. For many, an important element of current debate centers on the historical perspective. From documents and speeches such as The Federalist Papers, George Washington's farewell address and Lincoln's second inaugural address, great respect is often given to the intellectual contributions of America's founding fathers. It is a rare day when the opinion pages of major print media or television commentators do not make reference to the written word of bygone centuries.
   
   THE AMERICAN REVELATION: Ten Ideals That Shaped Our Country From the Puritans to the Cold War, by Neil Baldwin, is both a thought-provoking and thoughtful narrative of important examples of ideas that have shaped American thought, life, and our unique American identity. The ideas selected by the author pre-date the founding of the United States as a nation and traverse nearly four centuries of American life. By the author's own admission, they are not intended to be exhaustive. Rather, they are a selection, a few out of many ideas, concepts and phrases of American history and how they came to be part of the American lexicon.
   
   Baldwin's list is neither political nor polemic. His first selection, "City on a Hill," the remarks of John Winthrop to the Massachusetts Bay Colonists in 1630, has been quoted by proponents of diverse political philosophies --- President Ronald Reagan and Governor Mario Cuomo, to name just two. Baldwin's discussion of The Marshall Plan, the American effort to rebuild a shattered European continent after World War II, is probably the finest example in American history of truly bi-partisan foreign policy in action. In each chapter Baldwin provides the reader with a brief biographical note of the author of an important contribution to American thought, the times in which the author lived, and the impact of the ideas on the American nation. In a nation that still fiercely debates the words and deeds of its founding fathers, it is important to stimulate debate about American values throughout the life of our country in order to understand what those values truly are.
   
   It is Neil Baldwin's belief that our nation is currently suffering the consequences of a deeply divisive political debate. The pulse of 21st century America, he writes, "often sounds as if it is emanating from two separate heartbeats." Americans need to turn to core beliefs that can provide a unifying focus for our thoughts and our lives. There have been times in the life of our nation when such unifying thoughts were presented to the nation. They may have been, in the words of Thomas Paine, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry George, Jane Adams, or any of the ten sculptors of American thought whose words serve as the foundation of THE AMERICAN REVELATION. The perilous times in which we live demand an idealism that leads to a new definition of patriotism and national character. That critical goal begins with one citizen and one reader at a time.
   
   --- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman

No comments about The Confession of a Child of the Century (Large Print Edition).

No comments about A Shining Fragment (Isis Nonfiction).