5 comments about Double Down: Reflections on Gambling and Loss.

1. The double-authorship of the Barthelme brothers makes their recounting of their addictive past with gambling provides for a fascinating memoir. At first glance, this book may seem to be merely a pop-fiction story, but the journey these two brothers goes through is deep and many-faceted.
   
   I read this book as a required text for a college course on American culture, and how society views luck and chance. The book worked well as our final text, but it can also be read for entertainment! At times, it reminded me of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing (with the obscene amounts of drugs). Definitely a book to read, and then pass on to a friend!



2. Excellent! A wonderfully entertaining story, beautifully told. The only problem, I wish it had gone another 100 pages! This is one of those stories you wish someone would develop into a screenplay for a movie!
   Final thoughts: BUY THIS BOOK! You wont be disappointed!



3. First, the obvious: neither Barthelme brother would have cushy college-teaching jobs had not their eldest brother, Donald, been a trendy post-modernist icon. The younger brother, Steven B., has managed to publish exactly one (1) book of short stories; Rick, the larger, plumper one, has some sort of gossamer reputation among those who like trailer-park fiction. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of better writers with better qualifications who would kill and maim with gleeful abandon for jobs at Southern Mississippi -- and who would devote themselves to those jobs, and to their students, rather than run off two or three times a week to squander Daddy's money at the blackjack tables [disclaimer: the undersigned thinks she is one of those "better writers"]. That said, this slender volume does indeed fascinate: I read it straight through in five hours, and so will most readers of a literary bent. The brothers B. have in fact done me a service, one years of shrink visits and antidepressants have failed to do -- in one stroke, they have made me glad, glad, glad that I abandoned the academy, failed to obtain a Ph.D., and find myself teaching high school English thirty years after my Iowa fiction MFA. Theirs is a cautionary tale, of what may happen to smart people with minimal reality contact and few, if any, day-to-day responsibilities. The cavernous lack of common-sense knowledge they display in their forays to the Gulf Coast casinos would be inconceivable to anyone who's punched a clock or handled an insurance claim. They are actually surprised to find that casinos have a corporate identity! Gee, they thought those people were their friends ... gahh! As for the dead father they apparently despised, I felt sorry for D. Barthelme Sr. His hard work, his habits of deep thinking and attention to detail, become monstrosities in the ham-hands of his two youngest sons, who in fifty-plus years on this planet have not managed to obtain perspective one. The book is good -- the descriptions of gambling's intoxications, the minute processing of each foolish and silly and self-deluding thought as it arises, are executed with consummate skill -- and yet one can't help concluding, as the memoir shrinks down upon itself into a puddle of anticlimax, that six months or so in prison would have been good for these men, taught them a painful life-lesson or two. Crucial to an understanding of the brothers' plight is the fact that neither Barthelme bothered to have children, thus giving themselves the right to be babies forever. They are not so much perpetual adolescents as they are pre-pubescent (wife and girlfriend notwithstanding), mired forever in Fiftiesland where, if you want to be a cowboy, you just put on the hat and yell, "Bang-bang!" They are not intellectual -- or accomplished -- enough for the ivory-tower defense they so quickly assume; what they are, are second- and third-tier journeymen blessed with a famous name and a glib ability to sling the relativist Crisco. While one may end up wishing Barthelme Sr., who unlike his sons appeared to be able to distinguish right from wrong, had willed his inheritance somewhere else, this reviewer is grateful for the folly of his heirs. A job at Southern Mississippi may be gravy, but that thin gruel isn't nourishing. Real life is the real meat.



4. Double Down is a terrific book about loss. Frederick and Steve Barthelme are brothers who moved to Mississippi to become college professors. They come from a very close knit family, and when it is unwoven from the death of their Mother and Father, a gambling addiction is triggered. Steve and Frederick become regulars at The Grand, a local casino, and they start going at least once a week and spending the whole night there all the way into early morning. After blowing all of their inheritance from their parents, they are acussed of cheating. They were indicted and charged with a felony, and forever kicked out of their favorite casino. This didn't stop their gambling addiction, however it did slow it down. They make fewer trips, to another casino and are less intense gamblers.

   The book was well written and for the most part it kept my attention. Some parts they seemed to ramble off about their parents and family, and it gets slow. The accounts of their gambling binges keep you wanting more. They know they should stop, but keep throwing their money in anyway. I recommend this to everyone who is intrested in gambling.




5. Double Down, a book about two brothers who discover the world of gambling, has the suspense and drama needed for a good gambling story. The two brothers, who happen to be respectable college professors, move down South to Mississippi to be around their parents. The family, which has drifted apart through the years, has come together for their parent's final years. Soon after their dad die's, the inheritance money starts burning a hole in the brother's pockets. Riverboat gambling puts out the fire. The wild ride lasts for two years, until the Casino accuses them of cheating. Through it all, the brother's learn about themselves, family, and why people do the things they do.

No comments about Behind the Scenes in the Lincoln White House: Memoirs of an African-American Seamstress.

5 comments about The Rebel and the Rose: James A. Semple, Julia Gardiner Tyler, and the Lost Confederate Gold.

1. The Rebel and the Rose is an extraordinary - and true - tale of the final days of the Confederate government, its exit from Richmond, the Confederate treasury money and the relationship between Julia Gardiner Tyler and James A. Semple. For all the books over all the years written of this era, The Rebel and the Rose manages to uncover a little known story full of interesting details and mysteries. The research put into this book is impressive. Highly recommended for those interested in the Civil War and history in general. You wont be disappointed.



2. The author takes a thoroughly documented time period (the civil war/reconstruction) and brings to light a fairly fresh story. I enjoyed the author's style which was interesting and full of detail without reading like a text book. He brought the involved figures to light well and I found the subject interesting and informative.



3. Explores events which are mentioned in passing elsewhere, uncovering fascinating story. Hated to finish it, because much mystery remains. Presents facts more sympathetic to Jefferson Davis than generally understood, and adds to understanding of turbulent end of war.



4. For any Civil War or history enthusiast, The Rebel and The Rose is by far one of the best novels written to date. The author's writing keeps the reader locked in to each page desperate for more. While historically the whereabouts of the lost Confederate gold remains a mystery, you have to enjoy the detail for which is was written.
   The book is very enjoyable, a fun read with facts and intrigue and lost rebel gold! This book is one of my absolute favorites in my Civil War collection!!



5. I really enjoyed reading this book. The depth of the "detective work" done by the authors is outstanding. The mystery and the relationships amongst all the individuals was developed and explained very well. Thank you for bringing this portion of the Civil War into such outstanding light.

5 comments about Generals in Bronze: Interviewing the Commanders of the Civil War.

1. Outstanding book, get a better feel of what the Generals were thinking during the Civil War.



2. It is hard to add anything new to what has already been written in the reviews, although I would say that not only does the book have excellent insight into many of the key Federal officers that fought in the war, but it is a window into 19th Century post war culture. James Kelly, the sculptor and artist who is at the center of the book, vividly recounts how he meets these gentlemen. Most of the time he must use calling cards to announce his arrival before he is called in- something wholly archaic in our modern casual society. There are other tidbits that are fascinating. One general whom he calls on uses a fan and a block of ice to keep cool as he answers Kelly's questions.
   Speaking of these questions, we the readers are very fortunate in that Kelly had studied the war and often asked the same questions we would. He was a small boy during the war, and these men were his heroes. We meet these men as real people, not just as names in a book. I do agree with one reviewer who writes that there is too much detail, but there again, it is the details that make the book come alive.
   My only regret (but it is a very small one) is that Kelly was so prejudiced against Southerners that he only recounts his meeting with one of them, and absolutely refused to sculpt any ex-Confederate officers. However, given his time and how he felt about the war, such feelings are understandable. It is instructive that most of the men he talked with did not share his extreme negative views about Confederate veterans.
   I would recommend this book for any seasoned Civil War enthusiast, as they would be familiar with the controversies and issues Kelly recounts. But Styple does a great job as editor and so perhaps even a novice might be able to wade through some of this and get something from it.
   Speaking of Styple, he deserves much credit for bringing this book into print, as he had to wade through all of Kelly's material to publish it. Not only that, but Styple researched Kelly's life and found that Kelly died a pauper with an unmarked grave! Styple was able to remedy that and recently had a grave marker erected for one of the finest sculptors our country ever produced.



3. As a young boy in New York City during the Civil War James Kelly fantasized about being a soldier and fighting for the Union. His passion for the heroes of that war continued into his adult life. A noted artist and sculptor, Kelly went on to immortalize a great many of them in ink and bronze.
   
   Kelly was also a unique historian. He could obtain from these men details and circumstances of events that an ordinary reporter could not. As he had them pose for his sketches, he told them that in order to get the picture right he had to know every detail. Then, as he was drawing he would write down their comments in his journal.
   
   In this way he gleaned fascinating insights from them that will change your view of the war. Here are some examples.
   
   We know that several generals turned down command of the Army of the Potomac during the period 1862-1863. Kelly found out in his interviews that one of the conditions of command was the stipulation that the general had to pledge that the war would not end until after the [presidential] election of 1864.
   
   I have always wondered why there were so few casualties during the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Why didn't the big guns of the fort not inflict any damage on the Southern batteries? The answer is that the Secretary of War under outgoing President Buchanan [1856-1860] was a Southern sympathizer. In his last days in office he had ordered that the powerful casement guns in the fort be removed and replaced with old ships' guns.
   
   Kelly obtained intimate details of the battles and why things happened the way they did as well as vivid images of life in combat. One general described having a horse shot out from under him. "He was hit as he reared. He went down over his front legs and blood shot from both nostrils like water from a pump".
   
   This is a "must read" for all afficionados of Civil War history.



4. I saw a rerun of the interview on CSpan with the author and ordered this book immediately. What a pleasure to read the off-hand remarks by the various Generals about the Civil War. MORE PICTURES please but otherwise a detailed, challenging and rewarding read if you can plow through the details.



5. This is the best first-hand account of Civil War action and detail that I have read since "Campaigning with Grant," and likely the greatest collection of its kind in American historic literature. Every page is a gold mine of detail straight from the lips of the Generals themselves, often expressing their true feelings about other officers that they never allowed into their memoirs. It also provides a rare glimpse into their true personalities as aging war heroes, reported objectively by artist and author James Kelly of NYC, while they sat for their sketches. Kelly transcribes their words, appearance, mannerisms, and peccadillos.
   Myths are broken, and the detail provided by the generals is almost unimaginable -- from what style hat they war in a particular battle to where they took a nap will Lee surrendered to Grant at the McLean house.
   Imagine Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock describing how the doctor removed the bullet and saddle-debris from his 8-inch deep wound at Gettysburg...simply an unbelievable treasure of information. The book also contains many of the actual pencil & charcoal portraits of the Generals, which are especially compelling, as you just read the actual conversation they had with the artist while he sketched away at the portrait you now hold in your hand, and the general autographed the sketch attesting that it was drawn from life and approved. If you have questions you always wanted to ask a Civil War general like Grant, Sheridan, Sherman, Hancock, or Doubleday, they answer your questions in this book; like a ghost returning from the grave to sit in your favorite chair. I am grateful that I caught editor William Styple on C-Span. In fact, all history buffs should fall on their knees and thank editor William Styple for finding Kelly's masterstroke memoir and resurrecting it so beautifully, in our lifetime.

4 comments about Pocahontas, Powhatan, Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives Changed by Jamestown.

1. I am fortunate to have read four excellent books on the Pocahontas / John Smith story. As I have read one after the other each has added seasoning, each has distilled the myth from the acts, each is a different perspective on THE seminal moment at the beginning of European history in America.
   
   The first book I read was "Captain John Smith: Jamestown and the Birth of the American Dream" (Kindle Edition) by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler. We learn from a thorough biography of Smith at what a full and tumultuous life he lived. If even one half of what Smith wrote about his exploits was true, then his life was one of the most storied and lucky of the century. No matter how you look upon his pre-American exploits, by the time he sets foot in Virginia he is a well seasoned and experienced soldier.
   
   The next book was "Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma" by Camilla Townsend. Full of very important information about Pocahontas, the author tends to vilify Smith as a boastful liar, her sympathies towards Pocahontas run as deep. We learn much about the Powhatan people and the times they lived in.
   
   The third book was "Love & Hate in Jamestown" by David A Price. He tends to take both Pocahontas at her word (the very few we actually know of) and almost all of John Smith's many words....at face value. All three of these books are very well researched but each draw very different stories and conclusions.
   
   Coming now to the fourth and probably the finest of them, "Pocahontas, Powhatan, Opechancanough: Three Indian Lives changed by Jamestown" by Helen C Rountree, I think that I have finally realized as accurately as I can who these people were and what happened at Jamestown. Whereas Townsend tends to reveal a degree of rage and resentment against Smith, Rountree does not get as caught up in the heated debates that still go on among Pocahontas/Jamestown writers and scholars. Having worked among the remnants of the Powhatan natives for 35 years, Rountree has absorbed their history and it is well integrated with mountains of scholarly research.
   
   What do we learn from Rountree's book that might have been missing in the other three? First, her objective was to tell the reader what happened to the three main characters and she succeeds to the fullest of the known evidence. Their stories are, with the exception of Pocahontas, that of long lives (Opachancanough might be have been close to 100 when he died) and of seeing a completely unstoppable change to their society. We must remember that Native American tribes by their very nature spent parts of their histories fighting with and either conquering other tribes or in turn being conquered by them in turn. Some tribes were wiped out, others brought into submission to a Great King, like Powhatan. The changes that the Europeans brought to the Natives of America was very unlike their previous history, a history that might have been as old if not older than the Europeans. Powhatan died with an uncertain notion of whether his people could push the smelly white strangers off their lands. Opachancanough died knowing that their civilization was doomed.
   
   One of the most important insights that Rountree presents comes close to the end of her book. She states that in the final uprisings against the Jamestown area settlements, the Powhatan natives were largely supplied by young men who had never known a time when their ancestral lands were all their own. They grew up in an embattled and bloody time of transition when the end of Amerindian culture was making itself known.
   
   Keeping this in mind, the life of Pocahontas, as short and sad as it was, exposed her to the most striking of contrasts. Can you imagine what her father would have thought had he been convinced to visit England? Would he have been able to absorb the sense of enormity of European society, positioned as it was with cities full of rank and foul airs, open sewage, filthy children running amok in the streets, clouds of black smoke coming from coal fires. Would he not have imagined Europe as a hellish nightmare? Certainly Pocahontas was astounded but what is amazing is that it appears that she actually liked being in England, if not in the smoldering big cities. Her feisty nature relished the changes that she had been pushed into. This is a strange aspect to her personality that is hard to understand.
   
   Much of the book relates the relentless waves of incompetent settlers who came to the Jamestown area. What is clear about this story is that the White Europeans were going to come and nothing was going to stop them. Not sickness, nor hurricanes, nor savage natives, nor starvation. They would come and more would follow and the superior technologies of gunpowder, steel and huge sail boats, coupled with animal husbandry were more than a match for the hunting/gathering subsistence native life.
   
   One comes away from this history wondering if it could have been another way and I suppose the answer is no. The clash of civilizations was inevitable, with swashbuckling Captain Smiths eager for exploring new and hopefully cleaner lands more than enough motivation to get out and go. That so many native lives perished as a result and thousands of years of history pulverized is a sad legacy to the memory of Pocahontas, her father and her uncle. But, it is what happened and we should know of their lives. Rountree's book is full of insight into these people as they tried in vain to deal with these strangers. The mythologies about Smith and Pocahontas I think have been finally put to rest and need not be resurrected again. The real story is much more gripping and important. Excellent book.



2. Everyone is familiar with the story of Pocahontas and British explorer/adventurer John Smith. They are romantic stories fed to us by the likes of Disney (10 yrs ago in the 1995 film) and countless romanticized versions in historical fiction novels. This "documentary" book exposes the truth about what really happened in the span of time that John Smith, Jon Rolfe and the Virginia Company founded Jamestown and dealt with the Indian tribes headed by Chief Powhatan and his brother Openchancanough. Since Thanksgiving is fast approaching, this makes a fine book to read if you are interested in the earliest British colonial period of the 1600's, when the pilgrims fist arrived in the Eastern coast of the United States. This period has been romanticized by movies and novels, evoking a thrilling time of danger, intrigue and romance, when Indians and colonists sparred and sometimes made peace, even made love. Princess Pocahontas was the daughter of Chief Powhatan. She was only fifteen or so when she first met Jon Smith and a romance was highly unlikely, even if perhaps the girl felt an attraction to the supposedly attractive adventurer. John Smith had traveled across the globe to foreign lands as a British explorer and was in his day a bad boy. That he may have gotten into trouble with Chief Powhatan and his people is probably true. Pocahontas was a diplomat, a healer/medicine woman and regarded as a peacemaker. Even if she didn't do a dramatic a thing as offer herself up as sacrifice to save John Smith's life, she did for a time lessen tension between the natives and the colonists. She married Jon Rolfe, a British nobleman, was converted to Christianity, learned to read and speak English. She journeyed across the Atlantic, leaving behind her old life in the tribe and became a popular figure in London society. She became a lady. Most people forget about this phase in her life and it must have been a very interesting story within itself. Did she miss her old life ? Was she as respected in London or did she experience a form of racism because she was not a white English lady ? Powhatan's life is documented well in this book. He was a very influential man in his time and he, too, was able to negotiate with the English. Jamestown brought these people together. They hoped that Jamestown would be an independent, Utopian society where English and natives could live and prosper. Unfortunately, Jamestown succumbed to disease and death. The dream died and conflict between natives and colonists resumed. If you're a big history buff, this book is for you.



3. The major theme of POCAHONTAS POWHATAN OPECHANCANOUGH: THREE INDIAN LIVES CHANGED BY JAMESTOWN revolves around truth. For each story that has been told about Virginia's Jamestown settlement or Pocahontas in general, its has centered on the Captain John Smith and Pocahontas legend and myth that has been overly romanticized in novels and in movies. At this time, no scholar has made the attempt to intertwine the Indian voice within the English story of Jamestown. However, Helen Rountree attempts to provide the Native American voice, but from letters and accounts by English colonists and foreigners. It is unfortunate that the Indians did not record their accounts of the arrival of these new world settlers, or as Rountree suggests, invaders. Nonetheless, Rountree places the three major participants' semi-biographical accounts at the forefront of this study in order to incorporate their contribution to the settlement as well as the invasion of white colonists to the Indian landscape.
   
   Rountree examines these three major actors and their way of life from anthropological perspective. Indeed, this is an historical narrative that deals with ethnohistory, but one that is " about one side only" (p. 6). Historians study their subject matters in order to get to the bottom of how an event occurred and its end result - think in terms of the past while writing in the present. Rountree takes the same approach, and studied the Powhatan side with why and how they acted the way they did. Rountree is critical and frank about past accounts of the Jamestown story as told by historian, William Strachey, HISTORIE OF TRAVELL INTO VIRGINIA BRITANIA and his plagiarized version of John Smith's narrative, GENERALL HISTORIE, which takes an English perspective that downplays the Indian presence. Rountree clarifies misconceptions that have been told within past narratives.
   
   Chronologically, the book covers the period from 1607 to 1644. With these periods, one has a time frame to work with. Rountree provides an in depth analysis of the inception and deterioration of relations between natives and colonists of the Virginia Company's settlement in Jamestown and the wars that concurred in 1622 and 1644. The book shows how life was like before the colonists, and the significance of Powhatan daily rituals. Rountree's expertise in so-called "digging deep" to the root of origins from an anthropological point of view allows the reader to understand how life was simple and structured for the Powhatans. Rountree suggests that life only later became complicated when the Indians had to provide and teach the colonists how to survive. In the process, both Indians and colonists discovered that their lifestyles and environments were different than what they had been accustomed to.
   
   For the sake of understanding, POCAHONTAS POWHATAN OPECHANCANOUGH will allow readers of history to see the bigger picture of the Jamestown story that took place three centuries ago. Although this history has already passed, its legacy and myths continues to engage readers. Helen Rountree should be commended for taken the task to reveal the real Pocahontas as human as possible and not as a Disney cutout, and to emphasize the predominant role of chief leader, Powhatan, and his successor or "brother", Opechancanough as essential actors in American history.
   
   
   
   



4. Most interesting. A story of the founding of Jamestown from the Indian point of view. It is a family tradition that we are descended from Powhatan, and the story meant a great deal to me.

5 comments about Five Sisters: The Langhornes of Virginia.

1. The only reason I bought the book is because the sisters are/were (whatever) cousins of mine. So, for me personally, being able to read more about them all was very interesting. That said, even if someone is a history buff - and I am - I can't imagine the general population being that interested in this book. I'm not that sure that the Langhornes during that time period were at all typical.
   
   However, as for a good bit of the other criticisms, you really can not lift these characters out of their time and examine them under todays light. Think of all the things we here now could be judged for in 100 years from now. You must leave historical figures in their own context as we should be allowed to remain in ours.



2. If you love the Mitford's of England you will love the Langhornes of Virginia. When I traveled to Virginia as a very young woman I kept hearing about them and finally I discovered Nancy Lancaster. These women changed the world and are a role model for me. You will love these stories written by a nephew and son who lived it first hand. Another world......long gone.



3. I had more fun looking at the pictures.
   
   To say I struggled through this book would be the understatement of the year. The teaser is "Gone With The Wind meets Pride and Prejudice". Really? Where? The text begins strong, with a gripping narrative about a family destroyed by the Civil War fighting to restore themselves and their fortunes to their prior grandeur. After covering the marriages of the five daughters, however, the text diminishes into a muddled mess of historical details interspersed with personal correspondence between the main players. I found myself skipping pages, sometimes entire chapters, in the hopes of finding something intriguing. Every now and then I'd be rewarded - a page or two about Bobbie's homosexuality and the resulting consequences; Winkie's boozing and recklessness with his money; Lizzie living luxuriously and expecting her wealthier kin to foot the bill. But these wonderful nuggets were few and far between.
   
   The main source of my discontent with this book was its focus on Nancy (Langhorne) Astor. How about equal playing time for everyone? There were five sisters, so why devote so much time, energy, and space to the acid-tongued malcontent of the family? I understand her social importance, but at the same time her harshness and cruelty reverberated through the family with devastating effects. Personally I would have liked to see more of fun-loving, free spirit Nora and level-headed, sensible Irene. Seems they only appear when something's gone wrong.
   
   BTW, I never finished the book. Couldn't bring myself to do it.



4. I didn't know that the author was related to the subjects of the biography until half-way through the first chapter. This relationship allows him access to many never-before studied historical documents, mostly letter between the sisters; however, it also provides him with an unfortunate bias. Within the first chapter, it seemed to me that he was stumbling over himself to extoll the virtues of his grandmother and her family. According to Fox, each of the sisters seems just about perfect in chapter 1, with the exception of Nancy, who is introduced as both needy and powerful and, honestly, sounds like the most (I almost want to say only) interesting sister in the bunch.
   
   I might have read further to see if there was further character development, but I was completely put off by what I saw as the author's disregard of historical fact in order to agrandize his own family. For example, I would enjoy reading more about Nancy Astor, as long as it was free of attempts to surreptitiously convince me that the Langhorne family slaves were really part of the family and they loved their masters. While I'll agree that Nancy Astor reminds me of Scarlett O'Hara, I think it's important to remember that Mammy and Big Sam are ultimately literary conventions and that the image of southern gentility painted in novels like "Gone with the Wind" is just that - an image.
   
   Additionally, while I'm sure it is admirable that his grandfather, Bob Brand, realized that forcing the Germans to pay reparations would breed economic and social instability, he was certainly not "almost a lone voice in trying to persuade the Allies." In fact, one of Brand's colleagues and an influencial economist of the day, John Maynard Keynes, not only recognized this, but also wrote an essay on the subject published in, I think, 1920 or 1921. In doing a Google search for "Bob Brand" and "The Wisest Man in the Empire," it appears that the only record on the Internet of this pseudonym is in this very book. While I'm sure that Mr. Brand was intelligent and influencial in his career, I found the author's idolization of his grandfather to be extremely self-serving.
   
   If you're looking for a book about sisters or about women in history who had to juggle their national and familial obligations with their own desires, fears, and personal weaknesses, check out "Victoria's Daughters" by Jerrold M. Packard. It's set around the same time-period, and there are even five sisters. It's not perfect, but I felt the character development was much more carefully done and the book is not so historically fluffy.



5. It was wonderful to reread an old favoritein such excellent condition. Many thanks for the quick delivery!

5 comments about The West of Billy the Kid.

1. Several years ago while at work, it became evident that at least for several weeks Billy Joels'well known song, "The Ballad Of Billy The Kid" was getting airplay at the same time each week. We could almost predict it and kind of expected it.I had heard it before but never really listened to it closely.Now, I was paying attention to every line as others may have,and took it for fact.This was right up until I heard a well known disc jockey discount the song and state that much of what was in the song was not fact at all but just made up ,fabricated and just literal allusion. At first I was taken aback, a little annoyed, but then I realized that Mr. Joel had to rhyme his words and possibly used what worked and to hell with the facts,which of course, was his prerogative.In doing so however, he did Billy The Kid a great injustice.Now I became curious for real facts about Billy and I did some searching and boy was I astounded at what I found.His life was nothing at all like the song or even what I had thought Billy the Kid was like based on my general knowledge of him picked up along the way.I envisioned a killer cowboy,a bank robbing,train robbing outlaw terrorizing the early west.Well,I have since developed an enduring respect for him after reading a very accurate and truthful history of him as written by Frederick Nolan.This book reads like a Russian novel.There are so many characters and people involved in the Kids world it boggles the mind.This book is completely filled with photos,maps,references and mini histories, one doesn't know where to begin. It does get jumpy at times where I felt lost in all the action but each chapter ends well seemingly tying up all the loose ends.How these guys did it and why anybody would go west is beyond me.But go they did and it was less than placid. The early west was a dry, dusty violent place and the Kid was right in the middle of it.His beginnings were confusing from a historical point of view due to lack of information and it seems he rarely experienced any lengthy periods of true peace.He always had to scrape for an existence,fight for scraps and he did defend himself as any respectable person would.He killed when absolutely necessary and was not the sociopathic killer history's tall tales have made him out to be.He had emotion,compassion and youthful exuberance and was well liked among his peers and was respected as well for his sense of fair play and justice.This it seems, was all for nought for his death was both tragic and violent at the hand of Pat Garrett who has his own version to tell and did for profit.He lived his life as best he could under the circumstances and remains a tragically misunderstood chapter of our midwest history. Just a blip on the radar, but a person who stood fast for his rights and was cheated out of a fair shake on more than one occasion. Nolan reflects that and is honest in his assessment of just what is truth and what is fiction.He attempts to dispell the myths and report the events down to their absolute truths without using dramatic,theatrical scenes.I did alot of research on Billy and boiled down the real books on his life.This book glared like a beacon for its honest assessment of just who and what Billy Antrum,and then Billy Bonney and then who became finally, Billy The Kid, was and what his life was from its mysterious beginings to its abrupt yet vague end.If Billy the Kid is a source of mystery that needs to be cleared then Nolans book is it.It is clearly evident that he did his research and would not fabricate facts to enhance the history.I recommend this book to Mr. Billy Joel.Perhaps he could compose a second edition more accurate to poor Billy Bonney to give him proper justice.As a book about the man and his times I highly recommend it.It is an arduous but fun read and when you hear the above noted song you will smile to yourself and know better and perhaps hold a place in your heart for the young man that history crucified perhaps a bit prematurely.The book is tops if you need or want to know Billy the Kid.



2. Nolan does a great job in describing the events of Billy the Kids life. One of the best historians out there. i would recommend this book for all who are interested in Billy The Kid. Unlike the book written by Jim Johnson this book is full of facts.



3. Fred Nolan is one of the most recognized and popular historians of the old west, but where he makes many of his mistakes is by repeating too many things written by previous authors without sufficient evidence. I find most of his statements impossible to prove incorrect, but there are a few problems in his writing. Also, the editing of his book has a few flaws in that there are many glowing contradictions within the book. But, if you can figure out where the errors were made, the rest of the book is interesting and appears to be factual. In comparison to the other books currently on the market on Billy, this is one of the better ones, especially if like good pictures..



4. Frederick Nolan has established a book on "Billy the Kid," which out does most before and after it's initial publication in 1999. An easy to follow book for all readers that tells the true story based on documentation and "real" proof to the life and death of "Billy the Kid." Bye far the best out there on this subject matter. Purchase it!!!
   
   Mike Koch, Author of "The Kimes Gang."



5. What lacks in this describtion in the life og Billy the Kid, is a bit more detail in the last chapters. Clearly Frederick Nolan is most interestet in the Lincoln County War - thats why I give the book 4 stars and not 5.
   
   Having said that I must hurry to make clear that this book probaly is the best biografy to read about Billy the Kid if you are just af normal human being knowning nothing first hand of the old west.
   I am such a person, and when I started reading the book, Frederick Nolan unfolded the true old west before my eyes in a manner I have never imagined anyone would be able to. He writes in a nice easy-to-read way even for a guy like me who hasn't got english as my first language. He mannages to tell all the details of the story in such a way, that it is easy to understand what was going on, and why people were acting as the were - and that is a very big accevement as some subjekts in the book - for exampel the Lincoln County War - is af very complicated affair involving many different persons.
   
   Frederik Nolans mission with this book is to show us the kid as he were in the old west as it was in the late 1870ties. And he succedes. He shows us a young man with a difficult childhood who has driftet from one bad area to another only to end up in the lions cave - Lincoln County - where a great cattle-war is about to break. And from their on his fate is seeled. Being the one he is with the past he has - he has no chance of avoiding bekomming a part of the war, and in the end one of the most feared - and wanted - outlaws in the territorry.

1 comments about The Expatriation of Franklin Pierce: The Story of a President and the Civil War.

1. As a student of the presidency and of 19th century America I was glad to find this book about Franklin Pierce, one of the most obscure of American chief executives. While there's not much coverage of Pierce's four years in office there is a good deal of attention paid to the tumultous times in which he lived, especially the years after his presidency ended in 1857 and during which the Civil War, and then Reconstruction occurred.
   
   What I found most informative about the book were Pierce's relationship to Jefferson Davis, the Confederate President and former U.S. Secretary of War and Senator and Pierce's role as a Peace Democrat during the Civil War and the official and unofficial, but all very public, animosity that role generated. One of the surprises was realizing the extent of Davis' experience and influence; in much of the Civil War history I've read Davis is presented as a kind of compromise flunky, playing second fiddle to the great Southern Civil War Generals. But it appears he was a much more consequential figure than that.
   
   So as a descriptive portrayal of an under-recognized American President and of the civil liberty abuses and social turmoil surrounding an important period in the nation's history, I think the book works well.
   
   In my mind the book's shortcoming is its failure to provide a greater understanding of why Pierce sympathized with the South, particularly in regards to the South's decision to secede, and its decision to fire on Fort Sumpter. The book treats both of these critical developments rather superficially. The election of Lincoln, for example, did not directly threaten slavery in the South, a point Lincoln and the Republican Party took great pains to emphasize in the years leading up to the 1860 election and immediately afterward. So the question of why did the South secede, and why in particular did Pierce believe they were justified in doing so goes unexplained. Further, even if a right to secede is recognized, how did Pierce think the federal government should deal with its installations throughout the South, particularly its military ones? And finally, if Pierce believed the South had the right to secede, and the right to attack federal government military installations in the South, under what terms did Pierce think the North should have negotiated with the South or worked to bring the South back into the Union?
   
   This is to say that the book's shortcoming is a lack of analysis, which is essential to better appreciating and understanding--even if not agreeing with or condoning--the thoughts and actions of those who have contributed to the development of our nation.
   
   But I appreciate the attention of this author to a heretofore neglected person in American history and of the conflict that existed for many people as the nation warred against itself.

5 comments about Andrew Jackson Higgins and the Boats That Won World War II.

1. This book tells one of the most under publisized and under appreciated stories of WWII, and gives wonderfull information and a good variety of photographs of the Higgens Boat,i.e. landing craft, story. My father was personnaly chosen by Mr. Higgens to be one of the instructors who taught the men how to run the craft, so I can tell you with pride and confidence that this book has great information about the A.J.Higgens story and the boat that both General Eisenhower and Sir Winston Churchill said that the war could not have been won without it. It left me wishing for more.



2. Andrew Jackson Higgins and the boats that won World War II by Jerry E. Strahan
   
   This is the story about one of the unknown heroes of WWII. While interviewing Dwight Eisenhower, Steve Ambrose was told by Ike that Higgins was critical in the winning of the war.
   
   At the end of the war, Higgins boats were 92 % of the Navy's boats.
   
   Two of his craft were the best known. One, the Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel. (LCVP) were the landing craft used in the Pacific and Italy, Africa, and the D Day landings. They carried the troops in and were commonly known as Higgins boats.
   The other were patrol craft, commonly known as the PT boats. John F. Kennedy's PT 109 was one of those.
   Higgins came from Arkansas, and moved to Mobile Ala in the early 1900's. He began making a fishing boat there, which later, modified, became the landing craft used in World War II. Higgins worked with Marine General Holland (Howlin mad) Smith on the design of the craft.
   Higgins had for years tried to get the Navy to use his designs, but the Navy was stubborn and refused.
   However, the Navy craft sunk, and Higgins boats worked, and with Smith's and Harry Truman's committees help, he finally got Navy contracts to build boats.
   Higgins also built Patrol Torpedo boats for the Navy. Before the war, Higgins moved to New Orleans and began building speedboats. Many of these were sold to rum runners, and had to be able to outrun the Coast Guard boats. Higgins typically sold the rum runners the latest, fastest model of the boats, and sold the Coast Guard last years older, slower model.
   
   With the advent of WWII, the Higgins contracts skyrocketed and he subbed out a lot of work. He had 6 plants in La, including a boatyard in Houma La. He was the largest employer in the state, with over 30,000 workers. He built housing for the workers, and they had free health care, with doctors on call.
   
   His boats, along with the LST's drove the war effort. Lack of invasion craft delayed the Normandy invasion from May until June, 1944. Higgins was able to produce another 700 craft to support the effort in the extra month. Lack of invasion craft forced the landing in Southern France from June, 1944, when it was supposed to coincide with the Normandy invasion, to August, when the craft used in June could be sent back to England, and reloaded for the Southern France invasion.
   
   Later in the war, Higgins got a contract to build C-46 cargo planes. He built a massive plant in east New Orleans to do this, but the contract got cancelled, and ruined Higgins. Higgins also designed a helicopter, and this work continued until the test pilot got killed.
   The plant in east New Orleans later became part of the Space program where the booster was built.
   
   The Higgins plants were sold, but old Higgins works still make the Navy's patrol boats, such as the one Kerry served on in Vietnam.
   
   Higgins was a giant in his time, but became unknown, until Steve Ambrose became interested and Higgins and his boats are displayed in the World War II muesum in New Orleans.
   
   Even today, the Oxford Companion to World War II has it wrong, saying that the Higgins boats went out of use after the North Africa invasion.
   
   It is an outstanding book, one that I had to read all at once, about a relatively unknown American hero.



3. A very interesting overview of how the Higgins family of boats (WW2 landing craft, PT boats,cargo ships)evolved to such a prominent role in WW2. Great overview of production challenges, wartime politics, war procurement, and certain national leaders during that era. The description of FDR being driven through the huge boat factory in a convertible is neat.

   This is somewhat of a "dry" read- lots of names, acronyms, etc.- but the story itself and the pictures are well worth the effort.




4. It is easy to see why Marine Corps Lt. Gen. "Howlin' Mad" Smith and Andrew Higgins were great friends. Both were dynamic men of genius who suffered the bungling of lesser men, often times, the same group of bunglers. But neither man would suffer in silence. Smith, along with other farsighted Marines, understood quite early the nature of the coming war in the Pacific. It would be a bloody contest of island hopping across the Pacific to the very shores of the Japanese home islands. The taking of those islands would necessarily require the landing of assault troops on defended beaches and the United States lacked proper amphibious craft for the task. There was a critical lack of troop transports, cargo transports and a satisfactory landing craft to bring both ashore had yet to be designed.

   From the bayous and backwater swamps of Louisiana, boat builder and designer Andrew Higgins produced a boat far superior to other designs, the now famous Higgins Boat. Incredibly, the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair (BCR), as early as 1934, preferred to ignore this boat. Even more incredible, in sixty-one hours he designed and built a tank lighter which far exceeded the design produced by the Bureau of Ships. Both craft were largely ignored in spite of their superior performance in multiple government tests. But the men who would use these craft first, the service men who formulated the "Tentative Landing Operations Manual" in 1934 became Higgins strongest allies and chief among them was H. M. Smith. The Marines saw the worth of the boats he designed and fought for them. They fought for the best landing craft which would carry their Marines ashore under enemy fire. But the battle against the Bureau of Ships would not be won until after widespread pettiness and favoritism was exposed by Higgins before the Truman Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program in 1942. One man, Andrew Higgins, took on the Washington and military bureaucrats, the leaders of the eastern shipping industry and won. In short order, he took on a vicious labor racket, profiteering from the war by so-called "labor suppliers". He beat them too.

   Remarkably, in September of 1943 the American navy totaled 14,072 vessels. Of these, 12,964 or 92% were designed by Higgins industry. Higgins designed and built high-speed PT boats, antisubmarine boats, dispatch boats, freight supply boats and specialized patrol craft. He produced several types of landing craft, including the famous Higgins boat (LCVPs) and the tank lighter (LCMs).

   Of Higgins, General Eisenhower stated in 1964, "He is the man who won the war for us."

   Strahan has penned a fine tribute to a truly remarkable man. Strahan's strength, like his mentor, Steve Ambrose, is his prodigious research skills. One wonders what he would have produced had he stayed in history in stead of venturing off to run Lucky Dogs in New Orleans.




5. This is a study in how to test ideas with practice and in leadership. The primary lessons for me in Strahan's book are how Higgins did this and became so effective, and his limitations. This book provides the unvarnished facts on both. Higgins' many boats were much better than his competitors, for three reasons: he tested his ideas, he inspired loyalty that got the job done objectively, and he was a very good listener. 1. He tested his designs repeatedly. He began building them commercially as work boats. His famous landing craft of WW II, were based first on what he learned in the business building shallow draft boats to retrieve farm equipment marooned by floods of the Mississippi River and the Ohio river. When he got a Dutch contract to build 20 boats, instead of setting up a production line to make them all the same, he made them one at a time and varied the design to see what he could learn. His next boats, for the Army Corps of Engineers, had deficiencies discovered in the bow construction by one of his sons, of being damaged by floating logs. His further boats, for fur trappers in the shallow waters of S Louisiana, also needed stronger bows. A faster and more maneuverable design was needed by people importing liquor during Prohibition, to outrun Coast Guard ships. Build it, test it, make the next one better.

   2. He inspired loyalty of the kind that got the job done objectively. To see what objective means, see (1) above on testing results, and (3) on listening.

   3. Higgins was a very good listener. He listened to his craftsmen. He listened to foremen. He listened to marine boat designers, including people who used small boats in wartime. The people he listened to, often continued to work for him for many years. He understood boats really well, and he understood people.

   One of the strong points of Strahan's book is to describe Higgins' real deficiencies as an administrator by quoting newly hired people such as his public relations agent. He kept far too much power in the hands of the same small coterie, and the loss of any of them was a serious blow to his operations. Any leader can tell you that he looks at his or her own strengths and weaknesses, and finds solutions, but few actually do that. I met few who actually did. Reading this book is a cautionary tale of one bankruptcy after another, for a company whose work was essential to winning the war both in Europe and in the Pacific.

   For anyone ever buffaloed in a meeting with people who are really hostile, and who have to make a presentation with a few people who will listen, mixed with a lot of people who want you to go away, Higgins' description of his meeting with Admiral Robinson on August 28, 1941 is of an extraordinary event. Surely Higgins' description is one-sided, but his shock tactics, built on the demonstrated successes of his boats, depict a meeting that seems unique. An unusual man. No college education. Understood his craft very well. Built more boats than any other company in WW II. People who like an inbred organization were likely hate him. Lit crit analysts might despise him. Michelangelo, and Ghiberti of the bronze doors, and others like them who knew how to make meaningful things by working with their hands and thinking it through, would have admired him and argued with him.

5 comments about The Hemingway Women.

1. This book will save you the trouble of reading the autobiographies, the biographies, and selected letters of Ernest Hemingway and these five women (his mother and four wives).
   
   But you will enjoy reading the autobiographies and selected letters first, and then coming back to this book to fill in the gaps.
   
   The writing is stilted -- often reads like a PowerPoint presentation -- compared to the writing actually done by its subjects. Specifically, "How It Was" by Mary Welsh Hemingway is a joy to read, and I recommend this one before reading "Hemingway Women."
   
   As a reference to fill in the gaps, this is an important book for the Hemingway fan(atic).



2. This is as much fun to read as a great novel and has all the ingredients of a great read, as they say: love, hate, success, adventure, etc. For the most part, Ernest Hemingway is remembered as a mans's man, an adventurer who loved bullfights, safaris, hunting, shooting, fishing. But at heart he was a man who needed to be taken care of, but resented every woman who tried. All of his wives were from the same basic mold: adverturers and writers (was Hadley a writer?) and all of them wanted nothing more than to be with this exciting man who loved and adored her. That is, until they got married. Then the fun for him was over and he resented being taken care of by a woman who he thought of as a sex object, and he couldn't fathom that they might be able to cohabit the same body. In his letters he pleads for his women to always love him and take care of him, but in reality he resented them for doing just that. He admired Martha Gellhorn, the wife with by far the most spunk, for being a good journalist, until they were married. He wanted her to stay home with him, but she resisted his control. So what does he do? He meets another journalist, Mary Welsh, and immediately, on first sight, falls in love with her and begs for her to take care of him and to always love him. Which she did. And he immediately hated her for it. And it destroyed her.
   
   It is so ironic that the man who professed to hate his father for committing suicide (albeit blaming his mother for it) would in the end take his own life. Of course, by that time he was a shell of the adventurer/writer/lover, and was beset by illness, both psychiatric and otherwise, none of which he would allow treatment for.
   
   Although Hemingway lived and loved in the early to mid 1900s, it seems a long time ago; the world has changed so much! No longer do we see artists and writers living as paupers in France, as expats and proud of it! It was a different time and place, to be sure. But it's fun to read about.
   
   I have not read a lot of Hemingway's novels (The Old Man and the Sea enthralled me when I first read it), but you don't have to be familiar with his writing to love the man and this book. This book, like no other biography I have read, shows the man through the eyes of the women he loved, and resented, and ultimately betrayed, beginning with his mother and continuing on through four wives and several beautiful women who he chased and wooed but for various reasons never made lasting connections with. Please read this book. It is important and entertaining and scholarly all at once.



3. This is a brilliant biography of a man whose name is, to many, synonymous with all things deeply, simply, brutally mannish. By telling the stories of Hemingway's relationships with women throughout his life- mother, wives, girlfriends, colleagues- Bernice Kert reveals the true smallness of the man with heartbreaking clarity. Yet, make no mistake, this is a thoroughly romantic book, albeit in all the saddest ways possible. Kert is not trying to smash the Hemingway legend,though after reading this book you will never see a Hemingway novel in quite the same way. Some people have commented that the individual stories of these women are insignificant because they did not lead notable lives "of their own", but any fan of Hemingway himself would be fascinated to see how much of these women and their lives were taken by Hemingway and retold in his most famous stories, always casting himself in a favorable light while reducing the woman to a fantasy of sexuality or revenge .... he being the famous author, whose story will we read? Whose myth will we believe? And how tragically familiar is the tale of one who gives up their "own life" to stand by their husband's side, only to see themself 'immortalized' with such coldness and cruelty?



4. I listened to the audio of this book and I really enjoyed it. Honestly, I am not a fan of Hemingway's books and stories but he sure was a complex man. For some reason, I find fascinating the events of the first half of the 20th Century. Living in Miami and having been to the Key West and the Hemingway House several times, made this book so real. If we ever end the ridiculous travel ban to Cuba, I would love to see his house there. This book flows well and the audio narration works.



5. Bernice Kert has given me my first true understanding of who Hemingway was and why he did the things he did. His choice of women, more so the women he married and the woman who gave birth to him are phsycoanalysis at it best. I now see the "Peter Pan" in Hemingway, not the masculine adventurer,hunter and "man's man". I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and recommend it highly.