Book Description
From Louisa May Alcott's beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has animated the character of the absent father, March, and crafted a story “filled with the ache of love and marriage and with the power of war upon the mind and heart of one unforgettable man” (Sue Monk Kidd). With “pitch-perfect writing” (USA Today), Brooks follows March as he leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause in the Civil War. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. A lushly written, wholly original tale steeped in the details of another time, March secures Geraldine Brooks's place as a renowned author of historical fiction.
“A very great book... It breathes new life into the historical fiction genre [and] honors the best of the imagination.” —Chicago Tribune
“A beautifully wrought story about how war dashes ideals, unhinges moral certainties and drives a wedge of bitter experience and unspeakable memories between husband and wife.” —Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Inspired... A disturbing, supple, and deeply satisfying story, put together with craft and care and imagery worthy of a poet.” —The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Louisa May Alcott would be well pleased.” —The Economist
Customer Reviews:
Pulitzer's Reliability.......2007-10-10
As usual, any book selected by the Pulitzer Committee is a reliable horrible read. Too boring to waste my time on. . . Alcott would be mortified!
An ingeniously crafted tale of terribly tragic times!.......2007-08-27
Geraldine Brooks has produced an ingeniously crafted tale of terribly tragic times and has successfully drawn some of her principal characters from Louisa May Alcott's classic, 'Little Women,' creating in the process an elaboration of the life of the Revd. Mr March, father of the little women, who, whilst being an aggravating and hypocritical Yankee clergyman, nevertheless leads an extraordinary life, both in Connecticut and in The South during the American 'Civil War' (or 'War for Southern Independence,' depending upon personal preference: I prefer the latter). The fact that the author cleverly introduces Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and even John Brown (he of the body and the soul that marches on), all most effectively but without particular surprise in the context, is a tribute to her story-telling skill. The fact that Mr March learns a lot of the complications of that frightful conflict of 1861-1865 is a reflection of the author's fine research and scholarship. The fact that the mid-19th-century language seems to be 'spot-on' to one who reads and enjoys such stuff also reflects well on Ms. Brooks: she has produced another riveting tale, which I could not put down, and I congratulate her!
Sometimes a Good Man Is a Weak Man.......2007-08-11
March is told largely in the words of Mr. March, father of all those "little women," and it encompasses the year that he spent as a Union chaplain during the early part of the Civil War. Ever the idealist, one who at times refused to recognize the demands of the real world or to compromise his principles in order to better get along with others, March quickly managed to get on the bad side of both the men to whom he hoped to minister and that of his superior officers. As so often happens during war, March lived a lifetime during his one year of service, a year in which he learned more about himself than he really wanted to know. He came to realize that his ideals and principles did not necessarily come with the courage to do the right thing when to do so put him in personal danger. He ended his year a broken man, one barely alive and, more importantly, one who considered his year of service to have been a disaster for himself and everyone he tried to help.
Along the way, March unexpectedly finds himself revisiting a plantation he remembered from his days as a young traveling salesman trying to build the nest egg he hoped to invest for the remainder of his life. Some twenty years after his first visit, the home is now an emergency hospital for Union troops and life there is nothing like the one he remembered from before. But one thing has not changed. Grace Clements, the mulatto slave woman he was so attracted to on his first visit, is still there and he is still powerfully attracted to her. Grace Clements comes to be one of the two most important women in March's life, in fact.
Having so consistently irritated the troops to whom he was assigned, March is assigned to spend the bulk of his war at a cotton plantation teaching liberated slaves to read and write. This is my one quibble with the book. While, in fact, some southern cotton plantations were leased to northern entrepreneurs during the war so that much needed cotton could be brought to market for benefit of the North, this did not occur nearly so early in the war as portrayed in March. Despite the fact that the heart of the story takes place on this plantation, I could never completely forget just how unlikely it would have been for March to find himself on such a plantation during his particular year of the war.
But that's a minor thing because March has so much to offer. It is filled with the kind of period detail that marks the best historical fiction and fans of Little Women will very likely find it to be the perfect companion piece to one of their favorite novels.
This isn't The Year of Wonders.......2007-08-08
I read The Year of Wonders and loved it. I bought this book specifically because it's the same author, and with high hopes. Unfortunately, this book is boring and slow moving. It could not hold my attention at all, and I didn't get engrossed with the characters like in her other book. I would not recommend this book.
An absorbing read.......2007-08-06
Mr. March is often exasperating but always believable in this vivid Civil War novel. Not so much about battles as about how the hardship of war shapes families. Chapter 2 involving Grace the beautiful slave reaches near perfection. Longer review available on my website Impatient Reader. Also available at Impatient Reader: a chapter-by-chapter summary of March. See My Amazon Profile for URL.
Average customer rating:
- Civil War: historical fiction
- A fragmented soap opera
- Very readable.
- Character vignettes, but depth
- A Story of the Effect of War on the Participant
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The March: A Novel
E.L. Doctorow
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Historical
| Genre Fiction
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Doctorow, E.L.
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ASIN: 0812976150
Release Date: 2006-09-12 |
Amazon.com
As the Civil War was moving toward its inevitable conclusion, General William Tecumseh Sherman marched 60,000 Union troops through Georgia and the Carolinas, leaving a 60-mile-wide trail of death, destruction, looting, thievery and chaos. In The March, E.L. Doctorow has put his unique stamp on these events by staying close to historical fact, naming real people and places and then imagining the rest, as he did in Ragtime.
Recently, the Civil War has been the subject of novels by Howard Bahr, Michael Shaara, Charles Frazier, and Robert Hicks, to name a few. Its perennial appeal is due not only to the fact that it was fought on our own soil, but also that it captures perfectly our long-time and ongoing ambivalence about race. Doctorow examines this question extensively, chronicling the dislocation of both southern whites and Negroes as Sherman burned and destroyed all that they had ever known. Sherman is a well-drawn character, pictured as a crazy tactical genius pitted against his West Point counterparts. Doctorow creates a context for the march: "The brutal romance of war was still possible in the taking of spoils. Each town the army overran was a prize... There was something undeniably classical about it, for how else did the armies of Greece and Rome supply themselves?"
The characters depicted on the march are those people high and low, white and black, whose lives are forever changed by war: Pearl, the newly free daughter of a white plantation owner and one of his slaves, Colonel Sartorius, a competent, remote, almost robotic surgeon; several officers, both Union and Confederate; two soldiers, Arly and Will, who provide comic relief in the manner of Shakespeare's fools until, suddenly, their roles are not funny anymore.
Doctorow has captured the madness of war in his description of the condition of a dispossessed Southern white woman: "What was clear at this moment was that Mattie Jameson's mental state befitted the situation in which she found herself. The world at war had risen to her affliction and made it indistinguishable." And later, " This was not war as adventure, nor war for a solemn cause, it was war at its purest, a mindless mass rage severed from any cause, ideal, or moral principle."
As we have come to expect, Doctorow puts the reader in the picture; never more so than in recalling "The March" and letting us see it as a cautionary tale for our times. --Valerie Ryan
Book Description
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD
WINNER OF THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“E. L. Doctorow [is] always astonishing. . . . In The March, he dreams himself backward from The Book of Daniel to Ragtime to The Waterworks to the Civil War, into the creation myth of the Republic itself, as if to assume the prophetic role of such nineteenth-century writers as Emerson, Melville, Whitman, and Poe.”–John Leonard, Harper’s
In 1864, Union general William Tecumseh Sherman marched his sixty thousand troops through Georgia to the sea, and then up into the Carolinas. The army fought off Confederate forces, demolished cities, and accumulated a borne-along population of freed blacks and white refugees until all that remained was the dangerous transient life of the dispossessed and the triumphant. In E. L. Doctorow’s hands the great march becomes a floating world, a nomadic consciousness, and an unforgettable reading experience with awesome relevance to our own times.
“An Iliad-like portrait of war as a primeval human affliction . . . [welds] the personal and the mythic into a thrilling and poignant story.”
–Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
“Splendid . . . carries us through a multitude of moments of wonder and pity, terror and comedy . . . with an elegiac compassion and prose of a glittering, swift-moving economy.” –John Updike, The New Yorker
Download Description
Praise for E. L. Doctorow
“E.L. Doctorow is a national treasure.”
–
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Beautifully written, meticulously plotted, scrupulously imagined.”
–
The New York Times Book Review, about Sweet Land Stories
“In the assured hands of Doctorow, City of God blooms with a humor and a humanity that carries triumphant as intelligent a novel as one might hope to find these days.”
–
Los Angeles Times, about City of God
“A ferocious feat of the imagination . . . Every scene is perfectly realized and feeds into the whole–the themes and symbols echoing and reverberating.”
–
Newsweek, about The Book of Daniel
“One devours it in a single sitting.”
–
The New York Times, about Ragtime
“Marvelous . . . You get lost in World’s Fair as if it were an exotic adventure. You devour it with the avidity usually provoked by a suspense thriller.”
–The New York Times, about World’s Fair
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Civil War: historical fiction.......2007-08-24
This was an excellant depiction of life as it may have been seen at the time of the Civil War, and most particularly during Sherman's march thru the south. The use of fictional characters gave the story a vibrancy and realism that probably could not have been portrayed thru fact alone. My book club loved it, and, we rarely all love the same book.
A fragmented soap opera.......2007-08-23
A psuedo-romance novel set inside Sherman's march to the sea and beyond. The disjoined story lines lead to a fragmented novel that reads like the script from a daytime TV soap opera. There is little historical insight or significance; in fact, quite the opossite, with the fabrication of events that didn't happen(assination attempts of Sherman??). Not recommended for fans of the civil war.
Very readable........2007-08-03
"The March" is a very readable account of Sherman's march through the South at the end of the civil war. The focus is on what it meant for the soldiers and civilians, not the politics or the strategy. At the same time, the characters are well drawn as individuals. Doctorow maintains an emotional distance from the horrors; while the reader is made aware of them, none of the characters followed as individuals in the novel starve, or suffer unbearable pain (one Southern woman is driven to the edge of madness, and several die). There are some powerful passages, but for the most part the writing does not draw attention to itself. It captures the March in a book of modest size, has interesting sub-plots, and I would highly recommend it. For a very different, but very good and more powerful take on a March, read Patrick Rambauds "The Retreat", on Napolean's retreat from Moscow.
Character vignettes, but depth.......2007-07-22
I'd echo the well-written review from Debra Crosby, but acknowledge that the book is a departure from normal form. It is not a traditional plot-driven novel and it is not really about Sherman's march. Instead, it is a collection of character vignettes, with "The March" the unifying thread.
There are a lot of characters, and it can take some time to get oriented. However, I believe Doctorow manages to create depth in each character despite each character being dedicated fewer pages than in a typical novel. Occasionally I felt like a character disappeared from the book before I expected, but this was a mild distraction because there were so many other characters to latch onto.
The novel is powerful, and in no event sanitizes the Civil War. You cannot read the book without wondering what it must have been like for north and south, civilian and soldier, black and white.
There is a fair amount of military strategy. Hard core Civil War buffs (e.g., fans of Shelby Foote) will not find enough detail regarding troop movements to satisfy them. I've read Foote's three-part Civil War narrative, but I would not describe myself as hard core. In my view, there is just enough to make it real without distracting from the characters. If you despise descriptions of "flanking maneuvers" and cavalry, however, there may be too much here for you. Of course, that's probably going to be true with respect to any historical fiction centered around a war.
Doctorow is a talented writer. If you are looking for a repeat of Ragtime or World's Fair (one of my favorite books), you will likely be disappointed. If, on the other hand, you are looking for a well-written, sophisticated novel that evokes the power of civil war through several characters, I believe you will be happy with your read.
A Story of the Effect of War on the Participant.......2007-06-09
This is E L Doctorow's fictionalized story of "Sherman's March to the Sea". In late 1864 Sherman was give command of the 60,000 man 'Army of the West' and told to march through the heart of the Confederacy and bring it to its' knees. Sherman did just that by marching through Atlanta Georgia, Savannah and Columbia South Carolina and up through North Carolina through Raleigh to the Virginia border. Along the way his men foraged through the countryside while destroying cotton, railroads and anything else of use to the CSA.
Our story follows groups of people, including Sherman and his command as they travel through the South, we learn about the battles they fought and the losses they suffered. Along the way we also follow a rebel deserter, a freed slave (who can pass for white), an Irish volunteer from NYC (who is really a replacement for a wealthy man who paid him $300), an Army surgeon, the daughter of a southern Judge, and others.
Doctorow does a find job in presenting the death and destruction that was rained on the South by Sherman but he also give a human face to the people who fought and died for their convictions. He never misses a chance to make the Civil War as bloody as it was, nor does he ever put a shining smile on those who were in Slavery.
How true to life his description of Sherman is, is up to debate, but he makes the man human and though he was 'Uncle Billy' to the men who served under him and idolized him. He talks about how the pain of sending men to their death is never easy but is a trade-off for ending the War as fast as possible. The most startling thing that Doctorow found in his research was that Sherman, Confederate General Hardy and President Lincoln all lost sons named Willie during the war; one in battle (Hardy) and the other two to disease. All of them were under seventeen years of age.
The March shows that war is not a pleasant diversion and spending your days killing other men is not the 'glorious' ideal it is sometimes made out to be (just ask any combat veteran).
Book Description
Black Maps (“A stunner, a great debut roaring out of the gate”—Newsday) . . . Death’s Little Helpers (“Breaks new ground in detective fiction”—The Washington Post) . . . and now Red Cat, the third riveting installment in Peter Spiegelman’s thrilling series of novels featuring the brooding New York City private investigator John March.
With a troubled past and a job that attracts too much attention from the law, March has always been the black sheep of his staid merchant-banking family. Which makes the identity of his latest client all the more surprising: his smug older brother David.
David is desperate and deeply scared, and with good reason: a woman he met on the Internet, and then for several torrid sexual encounters, is stalking him. David knows her only as Wren, but she seems to know everything about him—and she’s threatening to tell all to his wife and his colleagues. His marriage, his career, and his reputation at stake, David wants John to find this woman and warn her off. Reeling from these revelations, John begins the search for Wren, and what he discovers both alarms and fascinates him. Part actress, part playwright, part performance-artist and noir pornographer, Wren is a powerfully compelling mystery—though no more so, John discovers, than his own brother.
But when a body surfaces in the East River, March suddenly finds he’s no longer searching for a stalker. Now he’s hunting a killer—and following a trail that leads ever closer to David’s door. . . .
Customer Reviews:
Ssssss noir.......2007-09-09
This is a very boring, bad book. If you have trouble sleeping by all means try to read it - nothing much happens, ever. Very little is explained about why the character do what they do - and it would be very interesting and help the plot to find out. The ending was so stupid it was laughable and there were SO many dangling plot threads it was silly. Thanks goodness I got this at the library and didn't pay real money for it. I'd never read another book by this author.
Dark, brooding work, full of secrets, shame and desperation.......2007-05-30
Peter Spiegelman is not a prolific writer, at least by today's one-book-per-year standard. In the past six years he has published three books --- BLACK MAPS, DEATH'S LITTLE HELPERS and now RED CAT --- at two-year intervals, just long enough that the readership could almost forget the razor sharpness and clarity of the craftsmanship exhibited in his prior work. There is simply no way, however, that anyone reading RED CAT will ever forget about him. This is a towering work, an instant classic of noir fiction, that establishes Spiegelman's position as the master of the genre for our time.
John March is Spiegelman's damaged Everyman --- an underachiever by the standards of his financially successful family --- who, as Spiegelman has subtly informed his readers over the course of three novels, is probably more intelligent than all of them put together. March is a quietly roiling mass of contradictions, a man who ultimately is unsuccessful at relationships whether it be with family, friends or lovers, but is intrigued by the machinations and interactions of individuals. His vocation as a private investigator in New York City provides him with plenty of grist to mill. Yet even he is surprised when his latest client turns out to be his outwardly superior brother, David, a successful merchant banker who is on the brink of losing everything he holds dear.
David, it seems, has a hobby that consists of conducting a series of affairs with women he meets over the Internet. The affairs are generally passionate, if short-lived, with everyone being very adult and sophisticated about their eventual termination. But then comes Wren, a mysterious woman who has provided David with sexual encounters unlike any he has previously experienced. When David seeks to discontinue the relationship, however, Wren begins calling his office and home, and sends him emails asking to see him and threatening to tell his wife about their trysts. David wants John to find Wren and warn her off, a task made difficult by the fact that David doesn't know where Wren lives or even what her real name is.
With a bit of dogged work, John is able to uncover Wren's identity and, with some more determination, finds her apartment. The apartment seems to be a dead end, even as he discovers that the woman his brother knows as Wren is an actress, a playwright and, most significantly, a pornographer. Everything changes, though, when a body that appears to be Wren's surfaces in the East River. John realizes that the trail of Wren's murderer leads directly back to David's door and that he needs to unravel all of Wren's secrets, even as he must face uncomfortable truths about David and himself.
RED CAT is a dark, brooding work, full of secrets, shame and desperation in even the most unexpected corners. Spiegelman's New York is full of shadows and sorrows, where survival at the end of the day passes for a grim happiness. His clarity of language and vision is such, however, that one cannot resist looking again and again at what is being lost and, in rare cases, being found. This is a book that simply cannot and should not be missed.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Solid Prose and Good Plot.......2007-05-21
Red Cat shows Mr. Spiegelman to be learning from experience. In his debut novel Black Maps, for example--you could see potential, but you could also see where some editing would have been helpful. The plot is juicier in Red Cat; and for sure, the cover grabs your attention.
Private investigator John March runs around NYC trying to find out the identity of a femme fatal who keeps pestering his married brother when their affair is long over. There are some neat twists and turns as March gets closer to the truth, and we meet a few of the characters to whom we were introduced in Black Maps. Although the plot and pacing are good, the final showdown is pretty unimpressive. In the end, it's John March who brings the book its few criticisms.
Previous reviewers have hit on these obvious points. His brothers and sister are verbally abusive to him, and March just lies back and takes it in the chin. Right off the bat in Red Cat, his very foolish brother starts sneering at him when he himself is quite worthy of contempt and in heaps of trouble himself. Our hero is positively Vulcan toward Clare, a smart, poised woman who seems to enjoy the roommate-with-benefits situation that she and March are sharing.
He doesn't care if she comes or goes; he's self absorbed; and seems so spartan as to be weird. Mr. Spiegelman would do well to get March some feelings. There can't be a new love interest in every book a la Fleming, and March needs to have other interests apart from running fifty miles a day and eating tuna fish sandwiches.
Don't be put off by these minor nuances. Mr. Spiegelman has been paying attention and making this PI series better and better. The setting of millions-of-dollars NYC apartments with window views showing "a wedge of the Guggenheim" is pretty fascinating, and we readers shouldn't get tired of many more novels set in our quintessential city.
Detective a la Noir.......2007-05-07
nice hard hitting crime noir...let's hope John March mysteries stay around a while
unsympathetic characters.......2007-04-08
This is my first John March mystery, and Red Cat does not tempt me to read his first 2 books. The plot concept is somewhat intriguing but after each interaction between John and his brother David, I lost more interest. Why does John allow himself to be abused by his brother? His brother David is a caricature. Ultimately I didn't care what happened to either of them and gave up.
Book Description
The Sixth Edition of a classic in organic chemistry continues its tradition of excellence Now in its sixth edition, March's Advanced Organic Chemistry remains the gold standard in organic chemistry. Throughout its six editions, students and chemists from around the world have relied on it as an essential resource for planning and executing synthetic reactions.
The Sixth Edition brings the text completely current with the most recent organic reactions. In addition, the references have been updated to enable readers to find the latest primary and review literature with ease.
New features include:
- More than 25,000 references to the literature to facilitate further research
- Revised mechanisms, where required, that explain concepts in clear modern terms
- Revisions and updates to each chapter to bring them all fully up to date with the latest reactions and discoveries
- A revised Appendix B to facilitate correlating chapter sections with synthetic transformations
Customer Reviews:
Pleased.......2007-09-27
The book arrived on time and in the condition indicated. Pleasure to do business with.
eh.......2007-08-31
i always thought this book was overrated. it's just not a text you can sit down, relax, and enjoy. it's definitely a reference text, and for a reference text, it's definitely not the first one I go to.
6th March is an excellent buy.......2007-08-08
It is very difficult to rewrite reviews for 6th edition of the "March". Classical flagships among textbooks and reference books in organic chemistry, unbeatable. With 7000 new refernces it brings unbelievable 25k reference citations, very well organized on the bottom of the pages. Excellent indexes, very good cross view between 5th edition and 6th edition aligning chapters of different numbering, perfect drawings made in CamSoft ChemDraw, etc. etc. As the text and accompanying material is polished and polished edition to edition, it is very difficult to do anything else but to praise this excellent reference book, which hardly could be omitted in any chemical laboratory. Not only that but hardcover book of 2357 pages for $73 at Amazon is not only a good book but also a good buy.
very fast shipping and very good conditions of the book.......2007-05-13
very fast shipping and very good conditions of the book
Good oganic chemistry.......2007-03-22
As for the 5th edition this new one is really clear and fully of bibliografic reference. I really appreciate that, now, the references are below at the page and not at the end of the chapter, form me this change help to finding the information. I think that this is one of the most complete book for the organic chemist.
Book Description
From the reviews of the Fourth Edition ...
"March has been uncompromising in his search for clarity and utility in presentations of a wide variety of essential organic chemistry. It remains an accessible and useful tool for both specialists and nonspecialists in the field. It does an excellent job both as a text for first-year graduate students and a handy reference for others."-Journal of Chemical Education
"The ratio of information to price makes this book a wonderful bargain."-American Scientist
New to this Fifth Edition:
* Michael Smith from the University of Connecticut joins as coauthor for the Fifth Edition
* Contains 20,000 valuable, selected references to the primary literature-5,000 new to this edition
* 40 entirely new sections covering the most important developments in organic chemistry since the previous edition
* Updated illustrations of molecular structures
Customer Reviews:
Nice book, for sure.......2006-11-06
I'm pretty sure that you _must_ have this book if you are studying advanced organic chemistry. Maybe it's not the best one to use as a study guide, but it's extremely helpful as a reference book both for undergrads and graduate students. However, one can argue that this edition is a bit out-of-date.
The Best Reference for Organic Chemistry.......2005-10-09
This is by far the best text I have found. Although it is considered a text book, it is more handy as a reference tool. I have seen no other book that contains more information than March's. This book is actually worth the price.
An investment that'll last you for years........2004-09-04
I bought a copy of this text (2nd Ed) after finishing my sophomore year of college, and it proved to be the best single investment I've ever made in chemistry. I used it so often, I had to duct-tape the book together.
I think the happiest moment of my career was when my name appeared in the index of a later edition. Anyway, buy it and treasure it.
The Green Bible of Organic Chemistry.......2004-08-15
March never leaves my desk. It covers everything. From functional group transformations to mechanisms to FMO theory - you name it it's there. Highly recommended for any advanced undergraduate, graduate or post-doctoral researcher. It's a bookshelf staple that any organic chemist should have available.
1495 Page Bible Of General Reactions And Mechanisms.......2004-02-09
I paid more for my 4th ed. new, and find it to be worth even more. It is not a cookbook per se, but it is a very comprehensive textbook that details general reactions by functional group. It outlines every way known to remove, add to, or otherwise modify every functional group. There is as much commentary as is needed, if not more, and every pathway is mentioned regardless of how exotic or primitive and low-yielding. The corresponding OS synth refs for specific cpds. are given for each type of reaction, along with a total of 15,000 other refs in footnotes. This was cutting-edge in 92, with much updating of the 3rd ed. The index will take you to the section that shows how to make the manipulations you want - if it doesn't, it probably can't be done.
Amazon.com
This issue celebrates Florida's historic 12 months that produced back to back basketball championships and football national title. Relive the 2006-2007 basketball season and emphatic tournament run that made Florida the first repeat champions since 1992. Sports Illustrated takes you inside the Final Four and how Coach Donovan and his Gators won with the right mix of talent, selflessness and desire. Also featured is Florida's football season and how playing one of the toughest schedules in the nation transformed them into a championship team. In their shocking victory over Ohio State, Florida showed it has the talent to dominate for years to come. This issue on the historic year in Florida sports is a must-have for all Gator fans.
Customer Reviews:
A 'Gator "must have".......2007-05-24
Any University of Florida sports fan must have this wonderful review of our three National Championships in 366 days. A great summary of the history that the Gators made.
Customer Reviews:
Epic Fables Tale.......2007-08-11
The fourth volume of Bill Willingham's Fables sees the pace of the story pick up significantly. Once again Fabletown is in jeopardy, this time by mysterious black-suited agents. At the same time a refugee arrives from the Old World: Red Riding Hood. No Fable has escaped from the Empire in centuries, so her arrival stirs tensions in the community. In addition we learn more about Boy Blue's past, the last days of the Fables in the Old World, Pinocchio, and the witches. This is bar far the most action-packed storyline so far.
Bill Willingham's re-imaging of classic fairy tale characters continues to amaze and avoids becoming stale. Another great entry in what is already a phenomenal series.
Demented fairy tales, but in a good way.......2007-06-11
The premise of this wonderful series is to rewrite and expand the world of fairy tales. They characters of which has entered our world fleeing a great evil. Lost of fun, smart and witty, typical american style illustrations for the most part, but nice. Some similarities of premise to the Sand Man series, but not quite as inventive or as extensively research and deep. Start at #1 for the best read.
Excellent Book.......2007-05-13
This was just as advertised and an excellent book. I would purchase from this seller again.
Best volume in the series.......2007-02-26
This volume of Fables is the best in the series. I've read through volume 7 and love the series, but this is the one stands out and is the volume I chose to review. The artwork was fabulous, some editions of Fables have semi-cartooning work and there is a hint of that here, but I found the artwork perfectly matched that of the subject matter. The story arc here hits on several levels, there is the big fight/war sequence which all of us, with the heart of a teenage boy, have been waiting for. The series has been building up to a big battle, and this isn't the big one, bit it'll hold us over until that comes. There is also an emotional element behind each side of the battle, maybe even more so the side of the wooden soldiers.
I find the writing in this series to be unbelievably great. I know some people are turned off because of the subject matter and find themselves lost in the due to unfamiliarity, but I haven't written a thesis on the Brother's Grimm or Mother Goose and I still find the subject matter deep and refreshing and continually interesting.
Long live Fables!.......2006-10-02
This is definately a great volume in one of the best comics series I've read.
In this one, the fables are attacked an army of wooden soldiers sent by the enemy that forced them to leave their fairy tale world and reside our world. A battle is fought, I won't give away much else, but it definately seems that a larger story is developoning in the series. I definately feel the suspense to check out the next volume.
Book Description
For more than twenty years, Richard Sharpe, the brave and dashing officer who rose from rags on the street to a commission in his majesty's army, has been thrilling audiences on both the page and on screen. Now the incomparable Bernard Cornwell ("the greatest writer of historical novels today"*) returns with a thrilling new installment—the first new Sharpe novel in more than two years.
The year is 1811. With the British army penned into a small part of Portugal, and all of Spain fallen to the invader except for the coastal city of Cádiz, the French appear to have won their war. Captain Richard Sharpe has no business being in Cádiz, but when an attack on a French-held bridge goes disastrously wrong, Sharpe—accompanied by Harper, his loyal Irish sergeant, and the obnoxious Brigadier Moon—finds himself in a city under French siege. It is also a town riven by political rivalry. Some Spaniards believe their country's future would be best served if they broke their alliance with Britain and forged a friendship with Napoléon's France; their cause is only strengthened when some letters written to a prostitute by the British ambassador fall into their possession. They resort to blackmail, and Sharpe, raised in the gutters of London and taught to fight, is released into the alleys of Cádiz to find the woman and retrieve the letters.
Yet defeating the blackmailers will not save the city. That is up to the charismatic Scotsman, Sir Thomas Graham, who takes a small British force o attack the French siege lines. The attack goes horribly wrong; Sir Thomas's outnumbered army is trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea, and on a March morning, at Barrosa, Richard Sharpe finds himself embroiled in one of the most desperate infantry struggles ever fought. Sir Thomas has his own reasons for revenge, as does Sharpe, who goes into battle seeking the French colonel who precipitated the disaster that stranded Sharpe in Cádiz. In a bloody and stirring battle, Sharpe and the English get their revenge and their victory, but at a terrible cost. A triumph of both historical and battle fiction, Sharpe's Fury will sweep both old and new Sharpe fans into their hero's incredible adventures.
Customer Reviews:
Cornwell continues his betrayal.......2007-07-28
I read all of the original Sharpe series in the eighties and thought that the series had come to it's natural conclusion with Sharpes Waterloo in 1990. I was very suprised to see Sharpes Devil a couple of years later and to my mind this was a book too far in the series. Cornwell was always writing other books including the excellent Redcoat as well as his nautical thrillers. When he started the Starbuck chronicles I was delighted and followed Nates adventures in the same manner as I had Sharpe's. Then, after the Sharpe series had been shown on tv Cornwell abandoned "The Starbuck Chronicles" mid-series (after four books)and resurrected Sharpe. Not to sound too cynical but the only reason for this betrayal of fans who had bought the new books and were following Starbuck could only have been money...Cornwell betrayed and sacrificed the Starbuck fans for a newer and more lucrutive market...the new Sharpe fans worldwide who came to the books after the tv series. In order to continue to cash in along came all the new books each one inserted in a different period of Sharpe's career. If you have read the original series you won't recognise Sharpe's description in the new books..because it's Sean Bean!...Thanks Bernard, how's the yacht?
Another good yarn from the imagination of Bernard Cornwell.......2007-06-04
Several years ago I began reading Sharpe books aloud to my dyslexic husband. At the time, I was less than excited by military stories of any sort, but love makes you do all sorts of strange things, and over time I have become a fan of both Sharpe and his creator, Bernard Cornwell.
"Sharpe's Fury" is a solid entry in the series, a fast-moving and enjoyable read. However, it is not a typical Sharpe book. Instead of being in the thick of battle, Sharpe observes from the fringes--which is probably fitting since, as Cornwell points out in his historical note, Sharpe should not have been at Barrosa.
Even if he's not rampaging across the battlefield, Sharpe still has something to do (retrieving some indiscreet letters), and still manages to leave destruction in his wake.
As much fun as it is to watch Sharpe blow things up and bed pretty girls, it isn't until the last hundred pages that we get to the real meat of the story. Cornwell is a master of describing the bloody chaos of the battlefield and there was plenty of both blood and confusion at Barrosa. It is particularly fitting that the capture of a French eagle by Sergeant Patrick Masterson be included as Masterson's real life exploits helped inspire the character of Sharpe.
sharpe`s fury.......2007-05-12
another good one from cornwell. but he had to go into the past (of sharpe`s) to do it. i hope he does one that will not go into sharpe`s past. but ither way, we need more of shape
Ray Schmitt's Review.......2007-03-14
This book was boiler plate Sharpe. It lacked the craftmenship and scope of such fine books as Sharpe's Regiment and Sharpe's Waterloo which were two of Cornwell's best. I enjoyed it, however.
Cornwell/Sharpe does it again!.......2007-02-22
Cornwell has produced another great novel with Sharpe and Harper. I somehow missed this one, it was the last of the Sharpe series that I hadn't read. I don't know where its possible for him to continue writing this series but I wish he would put out more!
Average customer rating:
- a classic piece of beautiful writing.......
- Little Women
- The Best Louisa May Alcott Novel!
- A Classic
- Quiet surprised
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Little Women (Signet Classics)
Louisa May Alcott
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
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Binding: Paperback
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March
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Little Men
ASIN: 0451529308
Release Date: 2004-04-06 |
Book Description
In picturesque nineteenth-century New England, tomboyish Jo, beautiful Meg, fragile Beth, and romantic Amy come of age while their father is off to war.
Customer Reviews:
a classic piece of beautiful writing..............2007-08-30
I must have read LITTLE WOMEN when I was about ten years old, yet, it is one of those exceptional examples of literature that stays with you years after you've first come to know the March sisters, their trials, triumphs, joys and sorrow. This beautiful book truly captures the strength of family, the courage one must exercise in the face of great adversity and the wisdom we are lucky to acquire if we get through it in one piece. Jo March is the epitome of the irrerepressible, hot-headed and adventurous tomboy. Her character was actually based on the personality of the author, Louisa May Alcott. Meg is the eldest and the most traditionally-minded, Beth is the more retiring, shy and selfless one and Amy is the selfish and strategic one. Together, they all are devoted to and have great respect for their mother, Marmee March, and await the arrival of their father who is serving as a chaplain for the Union Army.
LITTLE WOMEN is the first book in a series chronicling the lives of these intriguing and well-developed characters. Even more than one hundred years later, this book still presents timeless themes of friendship, courage, dedication, faith and determination. It's not difficult to see why this story was retold so many times in film.
Little Women.......2007-08-08
It was such a pleasure to meet the sisters as they were created by the aurthor. At first you feel like it was written to teach young girls their morals, but it is so much more. Ms Alcott's reflections on relationships still hold true today. For a period book, the writing is very smooth and clear enough for our generation to understand. In fact, it actually helps you to get closer to the era.
The Best Louisa May Alcott Novel!.......2007-07-28
I read this book when I was a little girl and I love it as much now as I did then. The neat thing about Little Women is how I connect more with different characters during different points in my life. Romantic Amy, Rebellious Jo, Homemaker Meg, I love them all. This is a definite must read!
A Classic.......2007-04-05
Girls of all ages should read this book and come back to read it again as women. This novel is truly a treasure.
Quiet surprised.......2007-03-08
Was very surprised in that I received this so quickly...one day before stated. Since was purchased for a grandchild, she will have way before Spring Break and be able to finish before returning to school.
Book Description
Twice a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, author Barbara Tuchman now tackles the pervasive presence of folly in governments through the ages. Defining folly as the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interersts, despite the availability of feasible alternatives, Tuchman details four decisive turning points in history that illustrate the very heights of folly in government: the Trojan War, the breakup of the Holy See provoked by the Renaissance Popes, the loss of the American colonies by Britain's George III, and the United States' persistent folly in Vietnam. THE MARCH OF FOLLY brings the people, places, and events of history magnificently alive for today's reader.
Customer Reviews:
A Timely Commentary.......2007-09-09
Though written in 1984, this book takes apart governmental decision-making and reveals that since Biblical times right on through the Viet Nam War, government leaders frequently operated against the best interests of their nations. The "folly" is that these leaders knew they were on the wrongtrack but did little to correct their errors while they continued to defend them. Though the book deals extensively with the Viet Nam War (as well as the American Revolution and the Seige of Troy), the current fiasco in Iraq is very much on the mind of the reader. Almost every misstep by the British at the time of the American Revolution was replicated in some form during Viet Nam and it is clearly being repeated again in Iraq.
The Optimistic Jew.......2007-08-31
Chapter One of this book is entitled "Pursuit of Policy Contrary to Self-Interest". Here Ms. Tuchman identifies what she feels are the three criteria for folly: 1) it must have been perceived as counter-productive in its own time (not in hindsight); 2) a feasible alternative course of action must have been available; and 3) the policy in question should be that of a group (of rulers or entire societies) and not of single individuals.
In my book "The Optimistic Jew" I identify Israel's misconceived settlement policy in the occupied territories since the Six Day War as the most self-damaging project in the history of Zionism. It is Israel's (and Jewry's) very own "March of Folly" and satisfies all of Tuchman's criteria.
Prescient and Unintelligible to Neo-Cons.......2007-06-24
Barbara Tuchman wrote this book to illustrate some of the worst examples of leadership throughout history. She retells the mythical story of Trojan defeat, Papal life that spawned the Reformation, British obtuseness that lost America and the U.S. experience in Vietnam. Although casual readers of history have heard these tales before, Tuchman's version is original and trenchant with a touch of weary sarcasm.
The origins of the Reformation are usually told from Luther's viewpoint, but Tuchman sketches the Popes' lifestyles and family conections from 1470-1530. It was an era when civil and religious warlords were so drawn to the demonstration of opulence and power that the Popes could no more represent Christ's message than mafia dons. Michaelangelo asked Julius II if he should be painted with a book in hand. "Put a sword there," he replied. "I know nothing of letters."
Most Americans have heard the improbable success-story of the Revolution, but Tuchman relates the story from Parliament where the British ruling class exerted their perogatives. America was only a newspaper item to the titled Brits- not one in position of authority ever set foot here- unless he commanded an army. This peek at Royal Britain goes a long way to explain why they were so determined to bend America to their laws and interests. Of course there were distinguished Cassandras among them- Pitt, Burke, Barre and others- But, all were ignored.
America became the fool in the 20th century when she tried to prop up a corrupt and incompetent faction in South Vietnam. I was surprised to to read that all Presidents involved had plenty of warning about the tenacity of the North, the ineffectiveness of our bombing, the futility of "Vietnamization, the ultimate harm we were doing to our country... Somehow we inveigled leaders who would lie and misrepresent only to dig a deeper hole. They persisted to "work the levers" even when they knew it was a lost cause.
If Ms. Tuchman were alive and able to update this work, Junior Bush's war would provide the perfect fodder. His war fits so many descriptives that could be applied to previous follies. And yet, the millions of Americans who remembered Vietnam and saw the similarities with Iraq were unable to stop it. I'll close with a quote from Tuchman that is about Vietnam, but is relevant to many ill-conceived conflicts: "The follies...begin with continuous over-reacting: in the invention of endangered 'national security,' the invention of 'vital interest,' the invention of a 'commitment' which rapidly assumed a life of its own, casting a spell over the inventor."
You can count on one hand the factors leading to folly, but...........2007-06-06
...it still persists. Tuchman lays out the history of 4 events - Troy, The Reformation, The US revolution, and The US Vietnam "War" - in her usual comprehensive detail. If you don't want the facts and the facts that lead to the facts, dont bother reading BT. She will bore you. If you are curious as to how history and events evolve, then she delivered again with this one.
What leads to Folly (defined as a group acting contrary to their own best interests) - self-interest over public interests, belief in the monopoly of power, belief that abndonment of the current course will lead to ruin.
An interesting conclusion I drew from this was that open systems that feared their own demise and debated it actually survived and grew stronger. The British Empire expanded for the 100 years after US rebellion, while there were many who believed it would crumble without the American colonies. Many in US policy circles believed that Communist agression, if not checked in Vietnam, would lead to the demise of free and open societies. Clearly events unfolded otherwise.
The open debate of folly in a society leads to progress as in the case of The British Empire and The US. The lack of debate led to the destruction of Troy, and the persistent decline in power of the RC Church since the Renassaince.
All leaders would do well to take heed...
Will the folly ever end?.......2007-05-17
"The March of Folly" is a book that is sure to get readers thinking about why countries can sometimes do absurd things that wound them badly. This book focuses on the phenomenon of the (page 4) ". . .pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interest." She asserts that misgovernment has four facets: (a) tyranny or oppression; (b) excessive ambition; (c) incompetence or decadence; (d) folly or perversity. This book focuses on the final aspect of misgovernment.
To be counted as folly, the policy enacted must meet three standards: (1) it is counter-productive in its own time and not just apparent after-the-fact; (2) practical and feasible alternatives had to be available; (3) the policy in question is not adopted by one person but is part of a group process. A part of this process is what she colorfully terms "wooden-headedness," which (page 7) ". . .consists in assessing a situation in terms of preconceived fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It is acting according to wish while not allowing oneself to be deflected by the facts." It reflects what psychologists refer to as "confirmation bias," the tendency to accept data consistent with one's views and reject information not compatible with preexisting perspectives.
The book considers four illustrations. The first is the Wooden Horse that the Greek besieging forces introduced into Troy. This fits Tuchman's definition of folly--it had immediate repercussions harmful to the Trojans' interests; there were simple alternatives available (not bringing the horse inside the city's walls; the decision was the result of group deliberation and discussion. And the result was disaster for Troy, of course.
The second example is the Renaissance Popes making decisions that led to the Protestant movement and the split in Christendom. The third case study is the British loss of America, as a result of the Revolutionary War.
The final instance is America's involvement in Viet Nam. Was this folly? The withdrawal of the United States from Viet Nam had immediate effects, with the fall of the South Vietnamese government and corrosive effects on the United States' national interest; there were other alternatives available than sending in massive numbers of troops and huge amounts of materials; no single person got the United States fully involved in Viet Nam; it was the result of many decisions, spread out over time. Was Viet Nam policy folly? While some disagree now, many more would contend that this case well illustrates folly.
Can one extend the analysis to the American policy toward Iraq? Is there enough evidence to suggest wooden-headedness (or confirmation bias) by the Administration? Is the engagement in Iraq counterproductive to America's national interest? Are there feasible alternatives to the status quo? Was the policy adopted by just one person or was it the result of numerous decision-makers deliberations? We can certainly answer the last question in the affirmative. As to the first three questions, each reader would have to make up his or her own mind. But the book can provoke such reflection, whether considering Iraq or other major policy choices. This book is well worth looking at.
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