Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

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The famously taciturn South African president reveals much of himself in Long Walk to Freedom. A good deal of this autobiography was written secretly while Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years on Robben Island by South Africa's apartheid regime. Among the book's interesting revelations is Mandela's ambivalence toward his lifetime of devotion to public works. It cost him two marriages and kept him distant from a family life he might otherwise have cherished. Long Walk to Freedom also discloses a strong and generous spirit that refused to be broken under the most trying circumstances--a spirit in which just about everybody can find something to admire.

Book Description

The famously taciturn South African president reveals much of himself inLong Walk to Freedom. A good deal of this autobiography was written secretlywhile Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years on Robben Island by South Africa's apartheid regime. Among the book's interestingrevelations is Mandela's ambivalence toward his lifetime of devotion to public works. It cost him twomarriages and kept him distant from a family life he might otherwise have cherished.Long Walk to Freedom also discloses a strong and generous spirit that refused to be broken under the most trying circumstances--a spirit inwhich just about everybody can find something to admire.

Customer Reviews:

A fascinating book that should be read by everyone.......2007-07-03

It is not very often that I set to read non-fiction. This book, however, was originally recommended to me by a Rwanda refugee and so I made an exception. What a good decision that was.
Although I was familiar with Mandela's life and South Africa's struggle against the apartheid regime, this book provided me with much more profound understanding of the struggle and the historical events leading to the eventual overthrow of the racist regime. This book, however, is much more than an account of a dark time period in the history of humanity. Above all, this book is an amazing portrayal of a life of a man, an exceptional man who is much too human. We are taken through time, from Mandela's childhood to his presidency, blessed with a unique view of a man marked to die in a secluded prison. His struggle to become a "first-class" citizen and the brutal force with which the then government crushes the hopes of the young men and women is only but a part of the story. Most importantly, we are allowed a unique window into Mandela's psyche and his philosophy, for this book, to me, is mostly about human spirit, its strengths and its weaknesses. Mandela's contemplations regarding the social order, humanity, law, schools and his personal approaches are fascinating and profound. He delves into the depths of human behaviour in a fluid, understandable way; his words flow on the pages from one event onto the next, while maintaining a uniform message. Although he did engage in securing financing for a possible armed conflict, his hopes and faith reside in a non-violent solution. Mandela's life is, after all, one giant wound on the face of mankind. Neglected and abandoned by the superpowers of the world, the people of South Africa never lost hope and Mandela is a fascinating and shining example of a man, stripped of everything, who, no matter what life threw in his way, maintained his dignity and his sight not only on the problems, but also on the solutions. An amazing read I am happy to recommend. This book should be read by everyone.

The story behind legends.......2007-06-15

I had always heard that Nelson Mandela was a living legend, yet I knew so little about him. This book confirmed the legend.

The book takes you through the journey of his life. From his upbringing, to his entering the political life, his 27 years in prison and finally his return from prison to lead the nation. It is very interesting to read his rationale and thought process behind every decision, personal or political. He was a strong-willed man with an exceptionally strong sense of what is right and wrong. He spent 27 years in jail without ever applying for an appeal and rejecting every offer of release. He never lost his resolve even in the most trying of times. He believed that equality and freedom are every human's birthright and he was willing to die for the freedom of his people. The book has countless lessons not only for political leaders who lead nations but for common people for their day to day lives.

A must read for everybody. I would highly recommend it.

Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela.......2007-05-07

An excellent autobio by one of the few truly great men of the 20th century. Details his boyhood, early adulthood, and 27 (?) years in prison as a political prisoner of the apartheid government of South
Africa, followed by release and eventual President of the country. The amazing part is how, as President, he avoided revenge and eventually brought re conciliation to the races.

Very inspiring.......2007-04-10

There are all kinds of inspiring biographies and autobiographies. This one is unique. Most biographies lean toward the spiritual and base their inspiration on some divine energy or God. This is the most grounded in life biography that you can read. Not much about God, just about his own passion for equal rights. Even mindedness, even in the face of incredible pain.

Polit thriller.......2007-01-17

Despite due respect for a great leader, I did not really expect to like this autobiography very much. Mandela is no great speaker, his TV presence is rather flat, his English apparently not masterful. The life story in summary does not seem to have that much interest either, considering the long jail time and the fact that most of the "hot action" of the anti-apartheid movement happened while he was on Robben Island.
All wrong. The writing is surprisingly fluent, the story telling surprisingly efficient and free of waste as well as redundancies. Also free of sentimentality and exaggerated pathos.
If there is anything that I wished to be more detailed it is the period of his childhood and youth. This period is described in a rather remote way and with a sometimes irritating lack of explanation or reflection. I realized that may have happened due to the conditions under which the book was written: in jail. Also I could imagine that editors suggested some shortening: after all the book is still quite hefty.
If there is one negative comment that I have to make, it refers to NM's insistence that all trouble between black groups, such as the Inkatha violence problems, or tribal conflicts, have been caused by the perfidy of the whites. As much as I can understand the psychology behind this wishful thinking, I do not think it is a realistic approach.
Despite this comment and despite the book's size, it is never boring. Highly recommendable.

The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom

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Thrilling adventure, lousy history
A Maze Ing
Escape from the Soviet Union
Book is a fictional account
What a Story

The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom
Slavomir Rawicz
Manufacturer: The Lyons Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1592289444

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Cavalry officer Slavomir Rawicz was captured by the Red Army in 1939 during the German-Soviet partition of Poland and was sent to the Siberian Gulag along with other captive Poles, Finns, Ukranians, Czechs, Greeks, and even a few English, French, and American unfortunates who had been caught up in the fighting. A year later, he and six comrades from various countries escaped from a labor camp in Yakutsk and made their way, on foot, thousands of miles south to British India, where Rawicz reenlisted in the Polish army and fought against the Germans. The Long Walk recounts that adventure, which is surely one of the most curious treks in history.

Book Description

"I hope The Long Walk will remain as a memorial to all those who live and die for freedom, and for all those who for many reasons could not speak for themselves."--Slavomir Rawicz

In 1941, the author and six other fellow prisoners escaped a Soviet labor camp in Yakutsk--a camp where enduring hunger, cold, untended wounds, untreated illnesses, and avoiding daily executions were everyday feats. Their march--over thousands of miles by foot--out of Siberia, through China, the Gobi Desert, Tibet, and over the Himalayas to British India is a remarkable statement about man's desire to be free.

While the original book sold hundreds of thousands of copies, this updated paperback version includes a new Afterword by the author, as well as the author's Foreword to the Polish book. Written in a hauntingly detailed, no holds barred way, the new edition of The Long Walk is destined to outrank its classic status and guaranteed to forever stay in the reader's mind.

Customer Reviews:

Thrilling adventure, lousy history.......2007-09-26

I would have admired this book without reservation if it were represented as a work of fiction, but since its supposed to be a true story, I can't be as positive. Even without the information about the author uncovered by the BBC, which pretty much ends the debate regarding the veracity of this account, I would have questioned the authenticity of this story anyway.

I can believe most of the horrible things described about the author's arrest, interrogation, transport, and incarceration in a work camp (though the forced march seems less plausible, but we should never underestimate the cruelty of the gulag camp system). If anything, the way he describes the work camps sounds too tame in light of what we know about the gulag. He describes a work camp without criminals (most gulag inmates were classed as criminals, not politicals) and with very relaxed boundaries between the commandant and the inmates. This sounds more like Hogan's Stalag 13 than a real gulag. (read Anne Applebaum's remarkable book on the gulag.)

What seems most implausible to me is the novelistic quality of the book. First, there are the supporting characters - in true hollywood fashion, each of whom has a characteristic that distinguishes him or her from the others - toothless guy, the gentle giant, the wisecracker, and most implausibly, a beautiful young escapee who miraculously crosses their path amid the vast wastes of Siberia. Next, there's the dialogue (always recalled by the author verbatim), which reads more like a hollywood script than actual conversation between people (e.g., each of the wisecracker's quips is recalled verbatim). Finally, there's level of detail that no memory could recall, such as who found what kind of snake on which day.

Read this book side by side with real stories of survival, accounts of undisputed veracity (omit those written by journalists or authors who kept a notebook during their travels). Next to a book like Herzog's Annapurna or Worsley's book on the Endurance, the Long Walk reads like a very good novel, but not a true account of survival.

Frankly, I'm surprised that so many people have accepted its authenticity over the last several decades. Credit should go to the journalist who wrote the book with the help of the "author." The true story I would like to read is how a journalist and a Polish camp survivor cooked up this tale and sold it to the public. The author's tells us that he donated his time to good causes. I have to wonder if he was trying to ease his sense of guilt or rationalize his long involvement in this hoax.

A Maze Ing.......2007-09-11

What an amazing life. I was expecting another "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" or "Gulag Archipelago." But this story is different -- there is very little bitterness, very little savoring-of-the-details. Instead, it is cleanly told and incredibly true. It is a simple book, not much complexity, just human nature laid bare. Amazing.

Escape from the Soviet Union.......2007-09-05

There is some debate as to whether or not this story is true, but it is not at all improbable. Sentenced to 25 years in the Soviet gulag system, Polish cavalry-officer Rawicz was determined to escape from the remote Siberian labor-camp, somewhere north of Lake Baikal. The brutality Rawicz experienced at the hands of the communist government is typical of such accounts from this era. It reminds one of the memoirs of Alexander Solzhenitzyn.
Rawicz assembled a group of six other prisoners: two more Polish soldiers, a Latvian, a Lithuanian, a Yugoslavian, and ...an American! They made their break in early 1941, during a winter storm. Along the way, a teenage Polish girl also joined the party. The resulting narrative (if it is all true) is a harsh tale of survival as they trekked across some of the most rugged and dangerous terrain on Earth: frozen pine-forests, open plains, the Gobi Desert, and the mountains of Tibet.
Sadly, only half the party made it to the objective, which was India. Had they been less hasty in their trek once free of Soviet territory, the entire party could have survived. Had they planned more, traveled with caravans, and learned some basic survival skills, they could have brought everyone out.
The crossed Siberia, Mongolia, north China, and Tibet, cut off from all civilization and news of events abroad. They passed through lands where life was largely unchanged in a thousand years, and oblivious to the titanic events of World War II. Had Rawicz's party stopped in Lhasa, they surely would have met the famed mountaineers Heinrich Harrer and Peter Aufschneider (read "Seven Years In Tibet").
The most sceptical account, is a sighting of the "Yeti", while in the Himalayas. Did they really see some as yet unclassified primate? Who is to say?
Regardless, the story is profoundly fascinating...I hope its all true! The only improvement to the tale: what happened to the survivors after they left India? Unfortunately, thats where the story ends.

Book is a fictional account.......2007-08-22

I'm reading the book for the 3rd time and I question a number of items Rawicz mentions. For one, he says they walked during the heat of the day in the Gobi so as to follow a due south direction judging by the sun. Tempretures in the Gobi during the day run over 45C and coupled with walking, there is no way any human can survive without water for more than 3 days under those conditions. Rawicz claims they went as many as 6 and 7 days without water. Secondly, his party found Lake Baikal without any compass. Add to this the many references Rawicz makes about the geography of the area. He keeps mentioning Lhasa. Yet they enter the Gobi without any provisions for water. How is this possible when they had ample opportunity to prepare during their numerous encounters with the local tribesman as they headed into the Gobi? It's also interesting that the one person in his party who would easily be tracable is Mr. Smith - a fictitious name. Surely, after such an encounter and the bonding that takes place under such conditions, Rawicz would know the name of this man from the United States? Even later in life, Rawicz made no mention of this person's real identity. Sadly, I believe The Long Walk is a fictional account. I believe Rawicz suffered through difficult times, but he also fooled a generation of readers.
For those who would like to read a true account of one man's walk to freedom, then I highly suggest "Long Walk To Freedom" by Nelson Mandela. There's no doubt about the authenticity of this wonderful and inspiring book.

What a Story.......2007-07-16

What a great story of humanity's drive for pure survival and freedom. What this man and his friends encountered and went through to survive is nothing short of a miracle. It's one of those books that was hard to put down, and when its finished, you want to cry.

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I am the Rabbit
GREAT BOOK!
King's overlooked classic.
Amazing
Stephen King's Darkest Hour

The Long Walk
Stephen King , and Richard Bachman
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0451196716

Book Description

Phenomenal bestselling horror.

On the first day of May, one hundred teenage boys meet for an event known throughout the country as "The Long Walk," a deadly contest of endurance and determination, where each step could literally be their last.

On the first day of May, one hundred teenage boys meet for an event known throughout the country as "The Long Walk." If you break the rules, you get three warnings. If you exceed your limit, what happens is absolutely terrifying.

Customer Reviews:

I am the Rabbit.......2007-08-31

My favorite book ever. This book is amazing and there truely are no words to describe it. I was honestly surprised, i figured there would be a main character and he was the only one you would care about, but halfway through the book i found myself caring for 5 different characters not wanting them to lose and die. So yes, this is an amazing book and you are stupid for not buying it the moment you read this review.

GREAT BOOK!.......2007-08-28

I have loved this book eversince I discovered it several years ago! I continue to read it over and over. I always thought that this would also be a GREAT MOVIE! I would reccommend this book to anyone its a great book!

King's overlooked classic........2007-08-23

A bunch of guys start walking. If they stop walking, they are killed. If they wander from the path, they are killed. In the end, there can only be one winner. And what does winning do to the soul of that lone survivor?

That's it. It is the simplest premise, yet Stephen King explored every possible psychological angle to the story, peopled it with a huge variety of competitors and beautifully imagined the pain of the walk, the stress and especially the fragile bonds that grow between competitors...bonds that WILL and MUST be broken by death.

It's a brief book, and could easily be read in a long afternoon. It is also impossible to put down. It's very old now, and some references and mentions of technology show those seams...but it is gripping. Occasionally funny...often bleak. It shows Stephen King's skills at dialogue at their best, and also his ability riff on mundane details until they are infused with meaning.

This book cries out to be a movie...but I'd sure hate to see it done poorly. Over the years, I have read this several times. It just cries out to be dusted off and re-enjoyed.

King has written what I consider a number of masterpieces (and these "materpieces" vary from reader to reader. THE STAND, THE SHINING, DESPARATION and to some extent, THE DARK TOWER are my gold standards). But this modest book, which doesn't even bear King's name, always sneaks in there for me. An unexpected jewel.

DON'T OVERLOOK IT!

Amazing.......2007-08-13

Not even done with this book yet and I love it!! I got into the characters a lot more than I thought I would, and almost care about them like I know them. Its very different from his normal horror stories but has so much symbolism about life and death, and makes you think constantly about how you would react in the same situation. I wish it was a longer book just because I love the characters. But you have to read it!

Stephen King's Darkest Hour.......2007-07-26

Back when "Richard Bachman" was a pseudonym that really hid the identity of the author, Stephen King unearthed this malevolent dark gem from the literary graveyard of his college days. THE LONG WALK is a fearless (some may say tasteless) trek into mankind's tendency towards self-destruction. The story vehicle for this idea is a marathon in which 100 boys start walking--and never stop. The boys must maintain a continuous walking speed of four miles per hour. Monitored by a roving contingent of future-military-types, they may receive up to three warnings in a given hour before they are shot dead to the applause of their roadside audience.

Enter Ray Garrity, the "hero" of the story. You follow his progress through the long walk as, one by one, his fellow contestants--many of whom he develops friendships with along the way--are unceremoniously dispatched. King takes you deep into the mind of this character, as he seeks to understand his own motivations for volunteering himself to this unholy contest. All the while, for seven dark and nightmarish days, he keeps putting one foot ... in front ... of the ... other.

THE LONG WALK is not an especially long book, but it sure does feel like one, and in this case, that's a good and deliberate thing. King makes you feel the nightmare in drawn-out excruciating detail, leaving nothing to the reader's imagination .... until the end.

I'm still not sure I understand what happened there, and I don't get the impression King fully understood himself. It's a flaw in an otherwise fantastically clear adventure into the worst in human nature. This is a great book that could have been brilliant if only it had had even a good ending.

(This review has been posted by Marcus Damanda, author of the vampire book, TEETH: a Horror Fantasy.)

Wandering Home: A Long Walk Across America's Most Hopeful Landscape:Vermont's Champlain Valley and New York's Adirondacks (Crown Journeys)

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A Connection to the Land
An Insight into Place and Community.
Review of Bill McKibben's "Wandering Home"
Thin but worth reading
A dangerous book

Wandering Home: A Long Walk Across America's Most Hopeful Landscape:Vermont's Champlain Valley and New York's Adirondacks (Crown Journeys)
Bill Mckibben
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0609610732
Release Date: 2005-04-12

Book Description

The acclaimed author of The End of Nature takes a three-week walk from his current home in Vermont to his former home in the Adirondacks and reflects on the deep hope he finds in the two landscapes.

Bill McKibben begins his journey atop Vermont’s Mt. Abraham, with a stunning view to the west that introduces us to the broad Champlain Valley of Vermont, the expanse of Lake Champlain, and behind it the towering wall of the Adirondacks. “In my experience,” McKibben tells us, “the world contains no finer blend of soil and rock and water and forest than that found in this scene laid out before me—a few just as fine, perhaps, but none finer. And no place where the essential human skills—cooperation, husbandry, restraint—offer more possibility for competent and graceful inhabitation, for working out the answers that the planet is posing in this age of ecological pinch and social fray.”

The region he traverses offers a fine contrast between diverse forms of human habitation and pure wilderness. On the Vermont side, he visits with old friends who are trying to sustain traditional ways of living on the land and to invent new ones, from wineries to biodiesel. After crossing the lake in a rowboat, he backpacks south for ten days through the vast Adirondack woods. As he walks, he contemplates the questions that he first began to raise in his groundbreaking meditation on climate change, The End of Nature: What constitutes the natural? How much human intervention can a place stand before it loses its essence? What does it mean for a place to be truly wild?

Wandering Home is a wise and hopeful book that enables us to better understand these questions and our place in the natural world. It also represents some of the best nature writing McKibben has ever done.

Customer Reviews:

A Connection to the Land.......2007-06-26

I have spent much of my recreational time in the two places Bill McKibben writes about in this book -- The Adirondacks of New York and the Champlain Valley of Vermont. They both offer some of the most beautiful, pastoral scenery in the US. From Lake Champlain itself you can see the Green Mountains of Vermont on one side and the Adirondack Mountains of New York on the other. As Mr. KcKibben points out, while they may look similar and proximate from afar, each is quite different from the other. The Champlain Valley is more pastoral, bucolic and New England-like. The Adirondacks are much more rugged, wilderness-like and rough around the edges. Both can call to you in a way that becomes a lifetime's pursuit.

This book is an easy and short read. It is engaging, paints wonderful pictures with words and gets you to think about the tension between a simpler life closer to the natural world and modern society and progress/development. He is fair in his assessment of the joys and the struggles associated with a simpler life closer to nature. I don't know who would enjoy this book more - the person who has enjoyed this simpler life or one who can only imagine it through books like this one. I highly recommend this book for people who love this part of the world or who have thought about getting closer to the land and living a simpler life.

An Insight into Place and Community........2006-10-17

Bill McKibben describes a walk through place and community. The community is bound by a geographic region but the displaced reader is imperceptibly drawn into the mind-set of McKibben and his guests. You are introduced to a group who love the land on the Vermont/New York border and recognise it as one of the few "wild" places left in America. It is their passion to preserve and conserve that comes through and it is infectious. The book inspires the reader to analyse their relationship to place and modes of behaviour driven by place. The antithesis of economic consumption exists in all of us, however repressed. Bill brings it to the fore. The effect on the distant reader is such that you will join the community despite being so far way. Bravo Bill !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Review of Bill McKibben's "Wandering Home".......2006-05-15

Bill McKibben walks for sixteen days through the Adirondack Mountains to share his love of the land with his readers but what makes the book so special are the people Bill introduces, walks with, and talks with (and about...) along his journey. I was a Travel Agent for five years and was lucky enough to be sent to some of the best, first class places in America and this journey that Bill McKibben takes us on with his words is more meaningful than many of those places I went to which include the Grand Canyon & Scottsdale, AZ; the San Francisco Bay Area; Paradise Island & Nassau, Bahamas; Manhattan; the Sierra-Nevada Mountains (by train); and New Orleans & Mississippi River Cruise!

Each authentic and real person that McKibben joins on his trek lends a hand in telling the story. The book is as much about the beauty of the people as it is of the land. I grew up twenty miles away from the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania, and presently I am a steward and guardian of 400 acres of land in central PA with my husband, his uncle, and my husband's brother and I share and appreciate Bill McKibben's deep love for the power of nature, the wild, and the people. I found John Davis (owns a bicycle, no car) as one of the most interesting characters in the book. I also like the stories of Chris Shaw, who has the good sense of memorializing the people who have passed on but that once lived in the Adirondacks and give the book historical authenticity. My favorite stories in the book are from Donald Armstrong and especially Armstrong's memory he shares with McKibben (and us) about Don's wife, Velda and a fly-fishing event. I laughed so hard I cried! It is a funny moment, but this husband-wife story is so cute and sweet, and gives one a feeling of nostalgia. (The church steeple is a cool part, too.) This is a gem of a story and Wandering Home is a gem of a book.

I am a people person and for the first few chapters of Wandering Home I'm thinking that it is too bad Bill McKibben spends all this passion on the Adirondacks. I imagine what his passion could do to improve the lives of the infirm or impoverished people. Much to my chagrin, in the last few chapters McKibben admits this deficit with charm and honesty. He admits he should spend more time helping the less fortunate, and then justifies his love and preservation of the Adirondacks as his way of giving something back to people. And, I agree that he has. Furthermore, he explains that he tries not to be a drain on the planet. If only we could all think this way, maybe our global warming and environmental problems would vanish. For the first time in my life, I realize the full extent of the impact that people have had and still have on our surroundings and I am saddened and sickened by it. (I imagine a sunrise or a sunset over a mountain, or an ocean breeze I thank God there are still a few areas left in this world that man / woman hasn't been able to get his / her hands on.)

I do have one eco-criticism of Wandering Home. Bill writes that he and John Davis climb to the top of Owl's Head on page 93 of his book. Owl's Head is a considerable distance away from Bristol, and is not included in the path outlined on the inside covers of his book. But, every author has to create mystery in some way, right? Judging by the description of Owl's Head I can see why McKibben would include it in his "walk" since Owl's Head sounds like a stunning place with it's 390 degree view of the Adirondack mountains. On my map, Owl's Head is about sixty miles north of Lake Placid one way, as the crow flies.

Dr. Robert Bernard Hass (English Professor, poet, writer, and Robert Frost expert at Edinboro University) and I got into a discussion about hyper-individualism in class one day. Dr. Hass told me about his friend named Bill McKibben and how McKibben writes about hyper-individualism and that a good place to start on the subject would be Wandering Home. I am grateful that Hass recommended the book to me. It was a book that I was sad to see end, but a journey I will always remember in more ways than one. I was so inspired that I am planning on a short family vacation to the Adirondacks for this summer. I will do my best to demonstrate a sense of forest preservation and protection while I'm there, visiting the wild of the Adirondacks.

Thin but worth reading.......2006-04-06

This book is thin. I mean literally. It is really just a somewhat longish essay. I was disappointed that there was not more depth, more history, more "more."

This is the story of McKibben's amble from Vermont to the central Adirondacks, with a crossing by row boat of Lake Champlain. McKibben is a good writer and he loves this landscape and is very concerned about it and its place in the global environment, but I could not help comparing him and this book to another Bill-namely Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. Bryson is a much more energetic writer. In my opinion, he is funnier and deeper than McKibben. A Walk in the Woods is a great book, Wandering Home is light weight by comparison.

McKibben has some very good thoughts on environmental issues and expresses an admirable moderation in this book. He is especially sensitive to the complexity of many environmental issues and actively criticizes the "knee-jerk" environmentalists for over-simplifying the issues in many cases. On the other hand, McKibben is something of a romantic airhead. Often his ruminations are fatuous and patronizing; for example, his dogma that those simple Vermont farmers and old Adirondack loggers that he's met are more "authentic" than you or I (McKibben makes this claim more than once in Wandering Home).

Nevertheless, I liked this book and enjoyed reading it. McKibben loves the Adirondacks and so do I. In this short book he's managed to capture something of the flavor of the hidden Adirondacks, that fortunately so few people know. The Adirondack Park of New York is the most beautiful sylvan landscape in the world. McKibben's book raises, but barely starts to answer, such questions as why and how to protect and preserve the Adirondacks and other similarly blessed places.

A dangerous book.......2005-10-24

Bill McKibben is a thoughtful writer. Most of all, this book made me wish I could take a hike with him and meet the land he loves so much. Be warned that this book might make you homesick, even if you've never been to Vermont or the Adirondacks. But beyond that, the book has some serious points to make.

I'm a suburbanite trapped in the cycle of debt that has sucked in so many Americans (in my case, student loans and a mortgage). I work for the Department of Commerce. I have a husband. I have a child who is addicted to video games. I don't have the money or the freedom to move to the Adirondacks, or even take a trip there. This book is a reminder that Americans don't have to live the way we do. We might very well be happier if we got rid of a lot of our stuff and lived more lightly on the land. Of course, McKibben punctures that little bubble by pointing out that a lot of people have tried to do that in Vermont, with laughable results.

I believe that once the cheap oil is gone, life in America is going to be very different. Ordinary American life today puts so much emphasis on getting places quickly. In the not-so-distant future we're going to be staying much more in one spot, and only rarely going anywhere we can't reach on foot or bicycle. This book is a reminder that such a stationary life might not be so bad. There's more to a meaningful and happy existence than what cheap gasoline and Wal-Mart can bring. Maybe someday the science of economics will remember that.

Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith

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Amazing Walk
Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith
So Great a Cloud of Witnesses
Awesome book
Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith

Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith
Henri J. M. Nouwen
Manufacturer: HarperOne
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060754737
Release Date: 2006-05-23

Book Description

Spiritual Direction gives us the unique and unrivaled experience of having Henri Nouwen as our personal spiritual director, answering our questions about the spiritual life in his wise, comfortable, and engaging style. With Nouwen's guidance, we can reorient our lives and open the door to true spiritual transformation.

Henri Nouwen, the world-renowned spiritual guide and counselor, understood the spiritual life as a journey of faith and transformation that is deepened by accountability, community, and relationships. Though he counseled many people during his lifetime, his principles of spiritual direction were never written down. Now two of his longtime students, Michael Christensen and Rebecca Laird, have taken his famous course in spiritual direction and supplemented it with his unpublished writings to create the definitive work on Nouwen's thoughts on the Christian life. Stories, readings, and thematically organized questions for reflection and guided journal writing provide an unparalleled resource for spiritual direction, both for individuals and for small groups.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing Walk.......2007-08-08

This book is much better than I expected - and I like Nouwen. The directions are useful and lead to a wonderful change in life. The result of begining the walk yields peace of soul. The effects of continuing the journey provides spiritual joy. I recommend this for anyone seeking happiness.

Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith.......2007-03-31

Even though I have not entirely finished this book--it is designed to be a slow read--Henri Nouwen is a strong, gentle hand leading the way. His questions to the reader provide an opening into one's own soul and allows it to grow. He is making my "Long Walk" a most pleasant one and I am so excited and anxious to see where my walk will take me.

So Great a Cloud of Witnesses.......2007-01-18

In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the author states concerning believers of the past that "though they are dead, they yet speak." That is, their witness outlives their lives. Such is certainly true with "Spiritual Direction," a new book published a decade after Henri Nouwen's death.

"Spiritual Direction" is a compilation of Nouwen's course on the topic plus other unpublished writers, developed by two of Nouwen's past students. As such, it is a practical book about the character of the spiritual director, the nature of the spiritual direction process, finding and relating to a spiritual director, and practicing fundamental spiritual formation principles.

Spiritual direction, by many names, has a long (2,000 years) history in Christian circles. Interestingly, as early as the first century after Christ, lay women provided spiritual direction for the Church Fathers. This practice continued unendingly, as even the great Cappadocian Fathers, including Gregory the Great and Basil, received spiritual direction from lay women. A century later, Catherine provided such direction for Cardinals and Popes.

The practice, though not always by this name, has also been performed by laity and clergy in Protestant circles from the days of Martin Luther, by the Puritans, by Methodists, Baptist, Anglicans, and so many more. The African American church, with their "mother wit" and founding fathers of the Black Church also skillfully practiced the art of spiritual direction.

Nouwen's work exemplifies this time-honored practice and is valuable for lay people, ministers, men, women, and students who are Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant. Obviously, there are areas of practice impacted and influence by doctrinal difference, but the astute reader will be able to integrate his or her own philosophy of spirituality into their application of this material on spiritual direction.

Reviewer: Dr. Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Soul Physicians, Spiritual Friends, and Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction.

Awesome book.......2007-01-16

This book is superb for anyone looking to deepen his or her relationship with God!

P.S. Read From acknowledgements all the way through or you may miss some insight.

Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith.......2007-01-08

One of the most interesting things Nouwen affirms is that you are not going crazy if you feel driven to seek a closer relationship with God through the Holy Spirit. That was His intention. It is a bit scary to have it also affirmed that the unnerving intensity may be a lifelong thing here on earth. I especially like the reference he makes regarding present despair. Nouwen states to not think that the experience you may be struggling through is the last experience and encourages that we focus on the place "on the other side" of this experience where we will be held in love.

The Bachman Books : Four Early Novels by Richard Bachman (Rage / The Long Walk / Roadwork / The Running Man)

Average customer rating:

Bachman Books
A glimpse of things to come
The Greatest
Deep Inside King
Rage is horrifying

The Bachman Books : Four Early Novels by Richard Bachman (Rage / The Long Walk / Roadwork / The Running Man)
Stephen King , and Richard Bachman
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0452277752

Customer Reviews:

Bachman Books.......2007-06-16

Purchased this book as a gift for my husband. It's a classic!!!The Bachman Books : Four Early Novels by Stephen King (omnibus of Rage, The Long Walk, Roadwork and The Running Man)

A glimpse of things to come.......2007-02-26

These stories were written by a young King, before many of his more well-known works were published. After reading The Bachman Books, it is easy to see the talent Mr. King possessed at an early age.

Rage is the reason this book is sought-after, and it won't disappoint most readers. It is a great study of social cliques, adolescent psychology, and shifts of power. The controversy surrounding the story may lead people to misguided expectations. This is not a story with huge body counts of high-school students and faculty. My second-favorite story in the book.

The Long Walk is a brilliant character study. Possibly a metaphor for the Vietnam War (my personal opinion there, not necessarily King's), this story focuses on a handful of "walkers" participating in a field of 100. Rules are simple and are enforced strictly. Characters meet sides of themselves they never knew they possessed when faced with situations you wouldn't normally encounter. This story alone is worth seeking out this book. I'd place The Long Walk right up there with other King short stories like The Mist, The Raft, 1408, The Body, and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.

Roadwork, although my least favorite of the four, still has its place. It is also a character study, but after reading The Long Walk any story would have a tough act to follow. You can empathize with the main charcter even as he slips into madness and King writes him in a way that you almost root for him.

The Running Man was a pleasant surprise. I'd seen the film that was LOOSELY based on the story (and by loosely, I mean the character name, the reality game show, and the future dystopia is about it) and altough I enjoyed it I soon realized that the story was infinitely better (isn't that usually the case?). The story paints a very bleak, not-too-distant future where the haves and have-nots are separated to an extreme that frighteningly may not be that far off. Our protagonist runs in order to help his family, and the hunters seeking him aren't rejects from the WWE. It's about a man pushed to his limits and how he's forced to choose his victories.

It's spooky how King wrote two stories in this book about futuristic reality game shows, and today these shows--although not nearly as extreme as King's versions--are so popular and prevalent. All the stories are worth reading and a couple of them are excellent. If you can locate a copy of this book I strongly suggest picling it up.

The Greatest.......2006-10-07

This is going to be a shory review. The Long Walk has got to be one of the greatest stories I have red in my life, I can not find anything wrong with it. Rage, all I can say about Rage is "WOW". I"m glad I got this before the school shooting and all, cause it is such a great story about standing up for one's self but going too far doing so. Roadwork and The Running Man, were also good stories the the first two I mention is whhat made buying the book worth it. If your a KING fan you must buiy the book.

Deep Inside King.......2006-09-07

When Stephen King first started to gain prominence in the mainstream public eye, there were a series of works that were published under the name of Richard Bachman. Supposedly Bachman was a New Hampshire dairy farmer who suffered from insomnia and spent his nights writing. After the publication of THINNER, it was revealed that Richard Bachman was actually Stephen King--he had taken on the alter-ego so that he could publish more book in one year. THE BACHMAN BOOKS is a collection of the first four novels that King wrote under the Bachman pseudonym. The four novels are:

RAGE--this collection is about the only place you can find a copy of the novel RAGE. After the Columbine shootings King had the book pulled from shelves across the country and didn't want it to be published again. In the story a very disturbed and troubled high school student, Charlie Decker, in a small town community shoots one of his teachers and takes control of the school. Keeping the students under a sort-of hostage control, Charlie leads them in an examination of their inner lives.

THE LONG WALK--one of King's best novels of all times. In a future where a dictatorship controls the U.S.A, a group of 100 young men sign up to participate in the nation's favorite sporting event and pastime, the Long Walk. Walkers participate for a chance at winning The Prize, which is anything you want for the rest of your life. However, only one person can win and everyone else dies.

ROADWORK--a common man stands up against the system and decides to get even before his home is destroyed for the roadwork for a new highway because of eminent domain.

THE RUNNING MAN--in 2025 the hottest television show is "The Running Man". A man who is pushed to the brink is selected to participate and runs not only for his life, but for the life of those he loves.

THE BACHMAN BOOKS includes an introduction by King entitled "The Importance of Being Bachman." In the intro King tells about FBI investigations concerning RAGE, why he wrote as Bachman, etc.

Including both some of King's roughest works (RAGE) and some of his best writing (THE LONG WALK), THE BACHMAN BOOKS is a good collection of writing that most fans of King will enjoy.

Rage is horrifying.......2006-08-05

I've only read Rage, so far, and haven't finished it yet, but am so stunned by the sickening events that have taken place in this story that i was shocked to find that so many people on this board liked the story so much. After what's happened in Rage, so far, i'm not sure i even want to finish it. I just finished the part where the 'pretty girl' was telling the class about her relationship with Ted and their 'first time' together. I couldn't believe she revealed so much personal stuff about them--in front of their whole class ! I think Ted was just as shocked as i was lol. I was equally stunned at the way Charlie talked to the psychiatrist. I hope that would not be a realistic way for a crazed student to handle a doctor/psychiatrist in a situation like that.. i don't remember hearing about that kind of thing happening at Columbine. I sure hope no one else dies in the story (except Charlie, of course) but i might not finish reading it.

I'll read the other stories and see how i like those.

Average customer rating:

The Long Read
Classic King
The most frightning stories King has written
I'm looking for the book
An Excellent Anthology

The Bachman Books : Four Early Novels by Richard Bachman (Rage / The Long Walk / Roadwork / The Running Man)
Richard Bachman
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0452257743

Customer Reviews:

The Long Read.......2006-10-04

"The Long Walk" is my favorite novella in this series. Never in so few pages can any author amaze me like King can. The way he writes is so matter-of-fact in this story.

I bought the book when I was in Jr. High, but things were much different then. People kept their problems to themselves and suffered in adolescent silence. Because of recent events concerning the youth of today, the book containing "Rage" has since been banned, I heard. Maybe it's for the best. If you're a preteen and you're reading this, it probably should be best read by mature audiences only.

Treasure this book if you don't like to read his longer volumes. His snippets suffice for your horror fix.

Classic King.......2004-09-14

Long ago, before Stephen King was hit by the money bus - and later a real van - he could actually write. This collection of novellas helps celebrate that time; a time before slavish devotion to formula had him cranking out the same story over and over. A time before King's new-found relgious zealotry had him extolling the virtues of steadfast belief in a higher power at the core of his every over-long, soapy new novel. This four-story collection is a distillation of the writer King used to be.

I have retained my copy of this set since I was a kid. Luckily it is a hardback, so it has withstood the test of time relatively well. Every now and then I pull it out to re-read one of the stories and I am reminded of just how good this guy was. There is real talent between these covers.

Unfortunately the collection starts off with what I feel to be the weakest story of the bunch. Perhaps I'm just not a fan of self-indulgent adolescent revenge fantasies. "Rage" is just that. It is markedly similar to "Apt Pupil" and a short story, found in one of the ten thousand compilations King has cranked out, about a college kid going amok with a sniper rifle. A lot of the other reviewers have decried the so-called censorship that has removed this story from publication. Frankly I applaud King for realizing how harmful the story is. It is a pointless revenge fantasy in which a student kills a teacher and threatens his fellow schoolchildren with a gun. Romanticizing this behavior is only harmful, as is evidenced by those who post how "prophetic" this is. As if the kids who shot up Columbine or the other copycat incidents were wounded, tortured souls who wanted to discuss philosophy. They were petty thugs. This story asks us to empathize with such petty thugs. While there is a good bit of King's patented adolescent angst writing (he must have had a crappy childhood), the story itself is just creepy.

In my mind, this first story seriously cheapens the collection. I read it once, when I first got the book, and haven't read it since. Perhaps the publisher could re-release the collection without "Rage". Unfortunately to fill it out they might include "Thinner", which is awful for different reasons.

The other three novellas in this collection are nothing short of sublime. "The Long Walk" is an amazing tale about a futuristic game in which 100 volunteers walk until only one man is left. Anyone who flags beneath the required speed is shot. Anyone who tries to desert is shot. They never stop, walking and walking until all but one can walk no more. Overall this sounds like a boring concept, but King works his psychological wonders with the characters and has you turning page after page, empathizing with them and actually caring about them.

"Roadwork" is an odd story. It, too, is a revenge tale but is much less reprehensible in that the person attempting to get revenge does so without taking hostages, without shooting innocent people, and without putting himself up on a soapbox. The hero sees his world falling apart and lacks the desire to reconstruct it. So he just goes along for the ride. In the introduction King says that he wrote this story to deal with his own grief when a loved one died. The truth of that statement shines through. This is a very powerful piece.

The final story, "The Running Man", simply shows the raw talent King embodied. Apparently the entire story was written in a span of 72 hours. Another futuristic game show tale, this one is about a society which is heavily splintered into have and have-not; the have-nots appearing on game shows to try to earn money to survive. The lead character, trying to earn money to take his daughter to the hospital, applies for a game show spot and is given a slot on the titular show, which sets a man loose to run while professional hunters - and all of society - track him down. The rules state that if he eludes capture for 30 days he wins, but there are reasons to doubt that. An effective update of "The Most Dangerous Game", this story grabs you and holds you. If all you know of "The Running Man" is the godawful Schwarzenegger film, you definitely need to read this one (the book version will definitely never be filmed, at least not with that ending).

So three novels of four are must-reads. I highly recommend picking this one up, even if you have to buy it used.

The most frightning stories King has written.......2004-08-04

These four early stories all share the same theme of a terrifing not to distant future that strikes as close to reality as a book can. The first story, Rage is a dark psychologial portrit of teenage boy who loses grip of his sanity yet at same time feels alive for the first time in his life. The most frightning thing about the story is that it has happened in real life, more than once. The second story, The Long Walk really got to me. Its a chilling tale of a disasociated American watching and waiting for a group of runners to get their "ticket" one by one. Helped inspire the contraversial Japanese satire film Battle Royale (amazing film, see it!!) The third book Road Work is the story of a man whos life and mental state detiriorate around him along with his home, job, and marrige. Until he reaches the point of no return and lashes out at society. The final story, The Running Man is the tale of a decayed and apathetic America, where the poor are expendable, and people get their thrill by watching desparate people run for their lives on the Running Man. Some of these stories are cautionary tales. Some are stories that mirror reality in a frightiningly real manner.While others are a pesimistic Freudian analisyis of the human race. All in all this is a must read book. So buy it already!!

I'm looking for the book.......2004-05-04

I have heard every thing about this book. I have been looking for it for the longest time. If any body knows how or when to get it please e-mail me.
krisstarlee28@earthlink.net
Thank you,

Persephone Star

An Excellent Anthology.......2003-08-01

Wow. I am amazed by these stories that Stephen King wrote so early in his carreer. They are all impressive and well written. They all have lasting impact. The first two are excellent psychological thrillers, complete with plenty of interesting philosophy. The third is a slow moving, character analysis of a schizophrenic. The final story is a fast moving action story. All of the stories are excellent.

Rage(5/5)- This is the reason that you won't be finding this anthology in stores. This story is about a school shooting incident. In it, a boy named Charlie Decker takes over his class after shooting his math teacher. I know it sounds ludacrously violent, but it isn't. There aren't many deaths, but alot of excitement and plenty of philosophy. It is told from the first-person (unusual for King) point of view of a killer. You get to watch his sanity slowly slip away. Very intriguing.

The Long Walk(5/5)- A tie with Rage for my favorite Bachman Book. This one involves a grim future in the style of my favorite book, 1984. In this grim, 1984-esque, future, there is a marathon held every year with 100 boys starting off on the U.S.-Canada border and they simply walk. If they go below 4mph for 30 seconds they recieve a warning. If they walk for one hour without a fresh warning they lose an old warning. If they acumulate three warnings, then stop again, they recieve a ticket a.k.a. a bullet in the head. This is the story of one walker - Ray Garraty - who enters the contest. He and others, including Pete McVries, Hank Olson, Art Baker, Barkovitch, and Stebbins. A bit predictable, but haunting and disturbing.

Roadwork(4/5)- This one is interesting. It isn't the best in the collection, but it is still an excellent story. It is a character analysis of a schizophrenic man pushed over the verge. The stoy involves a man named Bart whose house and business are threatened by a new construction project. He speaks to his dead son Charlie in his head. It should be known that in these conversations, Bart is George and Charlie is Fred (they called each other by their middle names).

The Running Man(4/5)- A fast paced story about a game show in the future where a man tries to avoid assassins. It is similar to The Long Walk just as Roadwork is similar to Rage. I like it, I just wish it had more of the philosophy that the others had. This one would be the best for young or immature readers while Roadwork would be really good for serious readers.

Book Description

Concepts, methods and techniques of statistical physics in the study of correlated, as well as uncorrelated, phenomena are being applied ever increasingly in the natural sciences, biology and economics in an attempt to understand and model the large variability and risks of phenomena. This is the first textbook written by a well-known expert that provides a modern up-to-date introduction for workers outside statistical physics. The emphasis of the book is on a clear understanding of concepts and methods, while it also provides the tools that can be of immediate use in applications. Although this book evolved out of a course for graduate students, it will be of great interest to researchers and engineers, as well as to post-docs in geophysics and meteorology.

Customer Reviews:

very complete.......2005-08-11

As I am teaching the statistical mechanics part of a graduate class in mathematics,I was looking for a textbook on complex systems & statistical physics with derivations, intuitions, and some physical examples. I did not realize that I was looking too far --Sornette, with hom I correspond regularly, is well known for his contributions and his prolific output (actually some physicists make fun of the quantity of papers he writes). So his book did not come to mind. I once stumbled on a problem with the derivation of preferential attachments;he recommended his book, which I took with a grain a salt. After spending some time working the derivations on scalable laws, extreme value theory, renormalization groups in this book, I elected to use it as my textbook. There is no equivalent. I have a dozen such yellow manuals; this one is complete and ultimately clearest.
I do not know of a better textbook.

One of the best textbooks ever written for graduate students.......2004-04-09

Didier Sornette who is potentialy nobelisable realises with this book a great present for everybody interested to the recent progresses toward the physics of critical phenomena.
Particularly, it shows the way that some seismologists follow toward the ultimate goal to predict the event of large earthquakes. If this task was impossible yesterday,Didier Sornette shows that it is now became realisable.

A must for understanding complexity.......2001-09-06

Sornette's book is quite an achievement both in quantity and
quality. The presentation remains informal and quite readable; it reads like a physics textbook, not a math textbook. The references are very extensive (a total of 832! altogether) and they are a very valuable component of the book. In fact much of the book is about the reference material. You might choose to read the book instead of the 832 references... I think this is
the point...

There's probably nothing wrong with this book besides the fact that it throws it all at you at a high degree of sophistication and in as terse a way as possible, it seems. It's a unique and beautiful achievement but because it is so dense with information and insight, it seems every word counts for ten and you'll want to read several chapters again and again. Also, even though there is a clear unifying theme from chapter to chapter, the book simply ends almost like in the middle of a sentence. After machinegunning out 392 pages of material at research level spanning quite a few scientific fields, there is absolutely no attempt to put it all together. It's up to you to do it and it almost seems like the author is indirectly suggesting you start reading it all over again to "get it"... So, for the second edition, perhaps the author will be bold and add ten pages of wrap up material at the end so that this will read less like an atlas. Apart from that, it's the best!

Average customer rating:

Fantastic, Fascinating

Prison account is interesting but rest is dull

Audio - Long Walk to Freedom

Interesting narrative

Long Walk to Freedom: Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Manufacturer: Hachette Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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Mandela, Nelson | ( M ) | People, A-Z | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

My Experiments With Truth (Listen to Genius)

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: A Fully Rounded Portrait of the Many-Sided Franklin, Notably the Moralist, Humanitarian, Scientist, and Unconventional Human Being (Audio Editions)

Biography - Nelson Mandela: Journey to Freedom (A&E DVD Archives)

Making Standards Work, 3rd Edition: How to Implement Standards-Based Assessments in the Classroom, School, and District

ASIN: 1586216880

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic, Fascinating.......2007-02-13

All of my students (all white, all American) love this book. Some say that they haven't read anything like it in the past.

Prison account is interesting but rest is dull.......2007-01-01

I only found half the book interesting, the half where he talks about life in prison. The rest is just too much factual information that one can get by reading a history book or reading wikipedia. There is also a lot of political mumbo jumbo that tries to simplify a very complex political problem.

One really gains little insight into Mandela the human being . If you want to learn about Mandela the politician then this book is for you. I also did not like the narration by Glover. It was difficult to understand his accent and he spoke in a very unusual manner. I have a collection of over a hundred audio books, mostly non-fiction and this narration ranks among the least 'listenable'.

Audio - Long Walk to Freedom.......2005-08-27

I had to read the book for a class so I purchased the audio to go along with it to help speed things up. The audio follows the book's order, but skips over sections here and there. As a stand alone audio, it flows just nicely and was very enlightening.

Interesting narrative.......2005-04-08

Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the first democratically elected president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela began his autobiography during the course of his 27 years in prison. This audio offers a biography of Mandela's life from his birth in 1918 to his inauguration as president of South Africa in 1994. A large part of the audio is a description of his 27 years in prison, an account that could stand alone as a prison narrative. Long Walk to Freedom also explores Mandela's strong spirit that refused to be broken under very difficult circumstances. It ends with a call for everyone to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. From AudioColumn.com

Navajo Long Walk (The Council for Indian Education)

Average customer rating:

This is a good book, and I never wanted to put it down.

Navajo Long Walk (The Council for Indian Education)
Nancy M Armstrong
Manufacturer: Roberts Rinehart Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1879373564

Book Description

Navajo, Arizona. Ages 9-12.

Customer Reviews:

This is a good book, and I never wanted to put it down........1999-04-08

I think this book is a good book to read because it gives a lot of information about the Navajo way of life. I also liked it because it makes you want to know what is going to happen to Kee and his family. They are captured by the U.S. government and made to walk out of their sacred land to a fort controlled by the government. They have to do many things differently. They have to build new homes and grow crops from a place that does not supply the right materials for them. Kee learns many things on the walk and at the fort. You will never forget it once you've read it. And if you read it, you will find out if Kee's family will be free. By David Umphres, 5th grade

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