History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Average customer rating:

No way does this deserve a Newbery Award
Fall into the time period!
Hooray for Hattie Big Sky
What? No shock value?!
Hattie Big Sky

Hattie Big Sky
Kirby Larson
Manufacturer: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Historical Fiction | History & Historical Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0385733135
Release Date: 2006-09-26

Book Description

Alone in the world, teen-aged Hattie is driven to prove up on her uncle's homesteading claim.
For years, sixteen-year-old Hattie's been shuttled between relatives. Tired of being Hattie Here-and-There, she courageously leaves Iowa to prove up on her late uncle's homestead claim near Vida, Montana. With a stubborn stick-to-itiveness, Hattie faces frost, drought and blizzards. Despite many hardships, Hattie forges ahead, sharing her adventures with her friends--especially Charlie, fighting in France--through letters and articles for her hometown paper.

Her backbreaking quest for a home is lightened by her neighbors, the Muellers. But she feels threatened by pressure to be a "Loyal" American, forbidding friendships with folks of German descent. Despite everything, Hattie's determined to stay until a tragedy causes her to discover the true meaning of home.

Customer Reviews:

No way does this deserve a Newbery Award.......2007-08-05

I waited for a very long time until I finally found Hattie Big Sky at the library. Hearing some very good reviews and reading the general synopsis for the book, I was excited about reading this story. And now, once again, I'm going to veer from what everyone else has said and give my part.

Hattie Big Sky follows the story of Hattie, who catches some luck when her uncle, Chester Brooks, unexpectedly sends her a will deeming her the sole owner of some new land in Montana. This is particularly fortunate because Hattie, orphaned very young, was on the brink of having to work at a boarding house. The story basically follows her path and journey in making her home her own.
First of all, kudos to the author for keeping everything clean. I do greatly respect that.

Now, the bad part. Hattie is a little too perfect for my taste. I'm not saying I wanted her to break out and rob someone or anything, but like many stories I'm so tired of reading because of the protagonists' syrupy sweetness, this made her extremely dull. At several points in the story, Hattie makes a remark that if her aunt could only see her, she would have been disapproving. This made me flip back and go disapproving of what? One of the times, the author did make the source clear and the others were just kind of thrown in. So Hattie's constantly saying I'm doing things people won't like and none of the things she's doing really seem wrong at all. And I don't get the impression it was about her taking care of her home all alone...
Then of course there is Hattie's quicksilver change of feelings that I believe was a mistake on the author's part. She contradicts herself constantly, saying she feels a certain way and then two paragraphs later the author writes something going against that.
----SPOILER----
Hattie is asked to sell her land right after a kind of heat spell as if the person is too eager to wait until she isn't weak. Her first reaction is anger, and the author verifies this. "I fought down the hot anger boiling up in my stomach..." This one is not as contradictory as some others, but she quickly changes her feelings, going from anger to, oh, he's so right. She immediately, only a sentence later, begins to take on another thought process entirely. I should really be thankful he's doing this...yadayadayada...This was annoying.
----END SPOILER----
I think all characters should be rock solid in their development. Hattie seems too vacillating when it comes to her own choices and is too good, which I hate hearing and saying, but it's true.

Continuing on a note of characterization, I also found major problems with the character of Perilee, who quickly becomes friends with Hattie. I kind of felt like I was reading a Stepford Wives-Little House on the Prairie blending. Perilee is also too perfect, although her character remains one-dimensional the whole story. She mentions horrible things that happened in her past and stays absolutely, sickly pleasant about it all. Also, at times she seems overly kind and childish. I don't know why. She wasn't developed enough. Perilee's husband (And I just knew they'd have something like this.), Karl, who just so happens to be a foreigner and living in Montana during World War I, is generically ostracized and is thrown through the usual torment of these types of characters, mainly there, I am beginning to think, to fill in the empty pages that needed filling. Everyone in the town refuses to help or even be seen with his family...blah, blah, blah. I'm so tired of this type of plotline that I didn't even care; plus, he wasn't very well written either.
My biggest problem with this story was the way everything flashes by so fast. Hattie mentions some major hurdles, like moving across several states just to reach Montana, having to learn, after living in the city, how to plant and take care all of the inherited land by herself, building a fence that reaches regulations, and farming her land. But each of these problems never lasts long and is quickly done away with. Hattie's journey to Montana is barely even mentioned; she arrives to a house that looks more like a shed and that fades away. She states that she knows nothing about farming, gets some manuals on the subject and only a paragraph later is an expert...Nothing is ever drawn out. Also, she has money problems which, like everything else, is resolved immediately. This became so annoying to me that I wanted to jump into the story and strangle the main character. Basically, following Kirby Larson's writing, homesteading seems very simple, more than simple, child's play...I say, if you're making a point of writing a story about a young girls' difficulty in surviving and raising her own land, there needs to be some evidence, not the miraculous sponge that Hattie turned out to be, reading and using her read knowledge with precision.
It sounds like I hated this book and after writing this review and reviewing the many issues, I almost do, but not quite. I am just very picky about everything, from plotlines to miniscule details. While Hattie's character was too nice, she was not unlikable, and while I didn't take too much of a shine to the story it was okay. I did feel like I wanted to keep reading although most of the time I was frustrated and wondering just where exactly I've heard this story before, finding familiar, overly-used elements that have been written much better over the years...

Overall: Okay read, nothing worth a Newbery, which I find incredibly hard to believe and almost impossible to believe; but the facts speak for themselves. I would not have read this if I knew beforehand what it would turn out to be like, nor would I recommend it. Waste of time.

Fall into the time period!.......2007-07-01

Within the first few pages I felt like I was right back in 1918 Montana. Enjoyable book, well written.

Hooray for Hattie Big Sky.......2007-03-26

I love historical fiction, and this is one of the best books I have read in a while. I couldn't put it down and felt connected with the characters. It is about a simple 16-year-old girl who has moved around from relative to relative ever since her parents died. Then one day she gets a letter with her Uncle's will that he left her his claim in Montana. Hattie goes along with the journey and meets very exciting people along the way , dealing with troubles of proving up her claim and being friends with a German in WWI. This is a great book and anyone who loves historical fiction will love this book.

What? No shock value?!.......2007-03-23

It's refreshing to read an elementary/middle school appropriate book (award winning or otherwise) that does NOT rely on shock value tactics such as inappropriate language or behavior. Just proves that the opening lines or paragraphs of a novel do not have to be filled with swear words or questionable words or acts worthy of a much older audience. Thank you.

Hattie Big Sky.......2007-03-09

HATTIE BIG SKY is a wonderfully written story with likeable characters. Larson portrays both the pioneer life and America during World War I very well. However, the book failed to wow me.

Sixteen-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks is tired of being Hattie Here-and-There, so she was so happy to learn that her deceased uncle whom she never knew has left her his Montana homestead. Off she goes from Iowa to Montana, basically to the middle of nowhere, to begin her own life in her own home. With the help of her neighbors, most especially the Muellers, Hattie works to prove up on her claim so that the land is hers forever. Meanwhile, Hattie deals with the anti-German sentiment in the community as well as sacrifices what cannot be sacrificed to help in the war effort. By the end of the book, Hattie has grown up considerably and has learned the truth about home and family.

This book was sweet, but I've read bits and pieces of it in other books. In many ways, HATTIE BIG SKY reminded me of MONKEY TOWN by Ronald Kidd, which I enjoyed more. The questions that faced Frances, the heroine of MONKEY TOWN, were deeper. However, I'd still recommend HATTIE BIG SKY as an enjoyable story about one young woman's search for a place to call her own.

PS. I absolutely love the cover.

Big Sky Mind: Buddhism and the Beat Generation

Average customer rating:

Great to pick up and flip to a page and read
Buddhism and the Beat Generation
essential to my existance
A fresh angle on two cool topics!

Big Sky Mind: Buddhism and the Beat Generation
Carole Tomkinson
Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1573225010

Customer Reviews:

Great to pick up and flip to a page and read.......2003-05-29

I have had this book for years and it goes everywhere with me. It's got some great poems in it, some that are humorous and some that are inspiring.

Buddhism and the Beat Generation.......2000-12-12

This anthology makes a statement which has been needed for 50 years: the Beat Movement was at its core a spiritual quest. Beat poets and novelists of the 1950s hungered for something more satisfying than the mainstream Judeo-Christianity of Eisenhower's America. For many writers of the Beat era, this search for enlightenment brought them to Buddhism. Editor Carole Tonkinson has gathered together a terrific complilation of Beat writings on Buddhism, including major figures in the Beat canon such as Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, Michael McClure, and Philip Whalen. But more interestingly, she has also included texts by less well known Beats such as Lenore Kandel, Lew Welch, Albert Saijo, and Harold Norse. The introductory essay, by Stephen Prothero, does an excellent job of providing literary and historical background for the Beat movement's embrace of Eastern thought. Several excellent anthologies of Beat writing have been released in the last decade, but this one is the best for readers who want to understand the profoundly spiritual roots of this group of cultural rebels.

essential to my existance.......1999-01-20

it guided me, moved me, changed me like nothing you can imagin. the beat generation (esp. kerouac) have helped me find my place in world that isnt tailored tword individuals. anyone who liked the work of any of the beat poets should read this.

A fresh angle on two cool topics!.......1997-04-30

Poets, buddhists and a lively history of how they mixed together. . . this is a great read for anyone who likes the beat poets OR the buddhist view of the world. There are details and connections and insights in this book that you won't find anywhere else

Average customer rating:

Big Sky Cooking
Excellent and Different Recipes
Beautiful Pictures and great recipes
A fine blend of full-page color photos, recipes, and dishes
Fantastic

Big Sky Cooking
Meredith Auld Brokaw , and Ellen Wright
Manufacturer: Artisan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1579652689

Book Description

The West has a permanent pull on the American psyche. It's the place where the prairie meets the mountains, the mountains meet the sky, and the sky goes on forever. It's the home of our legends, our heroes and outlaws, our romanticized past.

Meredith and Tom Brokaw could feel the attraction all the way from their home in New York City. Native South Dakotans, they had settled into a frenetic Manhattan lifestyle, tempered by frequent visits to Montana, until Tom could no longer resist. He convinced Meredith to join him in buying a ranch north of Yellowstone. Meredith, in turn, convinced her friend, passionate cook Ellen Wright, to come and discover for herself the bounty of the region—its trout, bison, and elk; locally raised poultry; native fruits and vegetables. The result is Big Sky Cooking, a personal story of this Montana experience told through delicious recipes and menus, charming reflections, and glorious color photographs.

Nearly one hundred recipes, from new dishes to family standbys to reinterpreted classics, are organized into twenty menus that let you dip into the western lifestyle for any occasion: from a sunrise breakfast with eggs straight from the chicken coop to a picnic on the fly, from a rodeo dinner to a moonlight supper under the stars. The food is straightforward, unpretentious fare, as honest as Montanans and guaranteed to make every hour of the day an opportunity to enjoy the good life.

Along the way you'll be introduced to the region's charms: its slow rhythms, its work ethic, the influences of the ancient people and European settlers who formed the present-day state, the "neighbors" who live two hours away, the glow at dusk that's so extraordinary it has its own name.

Customer Reviews:

Big Sky Cooking .......2007-01-04

Beautifully done. Pictures magnificent. Recipes unique. I gave this book as a gift to a friend who grew up in Montana... she was thrilled!!!!

Excellent and Different Recipes.......2006-11-05

This book is filled with excellent recipes that are different from your every day common recipes. An excellent addition to my wife's cook book collection.
One recipe in the book "McCleod's Hot Mustard" is worth the price of the book.
Carl Robinson

Beautiful Pictures and great recipes.......2006-11-03

Interesting book to read as well as some really good recipes

A fine blend of full-page color photos, recipes, and dishes.......2006-10-15

The authors experienced a frantic Manhattan lifestyle tempered by visits to Montana until they bought a ranch and become involved in the food traditions of the area. When passionate cook Ellen Wright discovered the area's blend of fresh game and ingredients, she joined them and BIG SKY COOKING WITH REFLECTIONS features a fine blend of full-page color photos, recipes, and dishes steeped in Montana ingredients. Sesame-Soy Venison Chops, Elk Pepper Steaks, and Bison Osso Busco aren't dishes you'll find many other places, either.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Fantastic.......2006-09-20

Loved this book and am giving it to lots of friends for the holidays. The recipes are fantastic!!

Average customer rating:

Big Sky Country
Joan Johnston
Manufacturer: Mira
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0778322459

Under The Big Sky: What Heaven hath joined together... let no man cut asunder.

Average customer rating:

A WHOLE LOT MORE THAN A SIMPLE COMING OF AGE STORY
it was okay
Teenage Brokeback Mountain
costly unexciting novel
Flawed but enjoyable

Under The Big Sky: What Heaven hath joined together... let no man cut asunder.
S. Bryan Gonzales
Manufacturer: AuthorHouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1425965245

Book Description

Somewhere on the edge of a long-forgotten land called the Great Open, two fiercely strong-willed, all-American high school boys come together-forging a relationship hotter than the blazing Eastern Montana summer sun. Cash McCollum, a short-tempered, fifth generation rodeo cowboy, finds his simple, black-n'-white world bulldozed over by rich, handsome Travis Hunter, star jock of the football team. And what begins as a secret liaison between them, eventually stirs up into an impish, and sometimes humorous, whirlwind of gossip-awakening the small, sleepy town of Miles City. ".you 'n Travis seem to be slidin' into a real comfy corner." A corner that Cash's older brother, Clayton is not okay with. As time passes, and the friendship deepens, it's their extreme popularity that continues to attract a whole lot of unwanted attention-thrusting them from the closet into the middle of local limelight. From the beginning, the stakes are high with each risking a lot. Cash cannot lose sight of the rodeo crown title, All-Around Cowboy, at his fingertips; and Travis is dead-set on taking the football team to state championship-gaining the trophy of Most Valuable Player for himself as well. Compounding this star-studded drama, these two boys also discover their worlds are COMPLETELY different-with nothing to bind them together but an unbridled attraction and a fierce determination to make the relationship work. "We're comin' from two different cultures-can't you see that? Cash forces Travis to smell the roses. "You obviously come from money. I don't. I never will." It's Travis' persistence, however, that keeps them glued together. ".I can't live without you, Cash, because it's you. who makes me a better guy ." Under the Big Sky unveils a world that many overlook, or refuse to acknowledge. It is where the human heart beats as strong as ancient echoes of Indian drums along a mighty and untamed Yellowstone River. Within its pages, you'll be take

Customer Reviews:

A WHOLE LOT MORE THAN A SIMPLE COMING OF AGE STORY.......2007-09-28

There are a lot of gay coming of age stories out there, and most seem to follow a well traveled path, the angst of coming to terms with one's sexuality being the primary concern. UNDER THE BIG SKY begins this way, but quickly shifts to a broader focus, leaving the reader challenged and awed by what it has to say.

This starts out as a story about Cash McCollum, a handsome young Montana cowboy, on the verge of becoming the state's next high school rodeo champion. Cash comes from a long line of rugged individualists, and is a loner by nature.

Travis Hunter is a hot football phenomenon, and he's recently moved from California to Montana with his mother. He's a rich big city boy on the fast track to local celebrity. Travis and Cash share that special look, so common in romantic fiction, the first time they meet, and begin a relationship almost immediately.

But here is where this coming of age story changes course. Certainly Cash deals with the traditional issues surrounding coming out, Travis has been out for a while, but Cash realizes that he's as passionately in love with Travis as Travis is with him, and he accepts it. Their problems aren't the expected ones. Cash's family with the exception of one of his brothers, adjusts to them as a couple fairly quickly and pressure from classmates is almost a non-issue. The course change comes with the friction that is quickly developing between the two.

Cash and Travis, both aggravatingly headstrong, are having an extremely difficult time coming to terms with each other's lives. Both have very definite ideas about the direction of their future, and neither really wants to compromise. Travis' mother is no help either, trying to steer her son back to a former relationship with the son of one of her wealthy associates.

Things are clearly headed in the wrong direction when Travis holds off on committing to the football scholarship he's offered at the same university Cash will attend, and they really spiral out of control when Cash's number one rodeo rival, Lee Biruni, inserts himself in the picture. Lee's an attractive first generation Arab-American cowboy with a complicated past, and he's determined to make Cash his own. Travis' overly jealous reaction to him only helps Lee's plan along.

Yes, UNDER THE BIG SKY is a coming of age romance but it takes a detailed look at the choices these two young men make after that initial fact is established, and in so doing transcends to a higher level. This is an exploration of the importance of commitment, both intimate and social, and the novel makes it clear there are no easy answers. Love, trust, dignity and compromise must all be considered and that can prove as daunting for two young men in love as the big Montana sky.

it was okay.......2007-09-18

this was a well written, entertaining story. it was very "G" rated though and i like a little(okay a lot) more spice to my stories. Sex between the characters was only alluded to on ocassion. i wanted details.
i also felt the story was too positive. there was mention once or twice of the problems a gay couple could face, but these guys never faced them. i find it hard to believe that two guys could be together for years and never really face any trials and tribulations from peers and the community. i also believe if you love someone you love them, the main character in this book couldn't make up his mind between two guys. he loved whichever one he was with at the time. this is not an admirable quality to me. i did not like him very much.

Teenage Brokeback Mountain.......2007-07-27

From reading the other reviews, it's clear to me that readers either love or hate this book; that mean's it hits a nerve, it moves the reader, one way or the other. Me, I loved it.

It's gay romance, it's gay coming out, gay Western (Cash really does epitomize the ideal Western cowboy as a teenager). It's reasonably well written and FULL of conflict, especially conflict between the three (yes, three, not two) main characters.

There is a clear love triangle created: Cash loves and is loved (kind of) by both Travis and Lee, both of the two latter hate each other (as you would expect). The process of love beginning, growing, becoming conflicted, etc., in each of the two relationships is written well and convincingly. I accept that there are some weaknesses in the plotline, but I don't think they take away from the fact that the characters are created so real and credible, that they have to face real issues and conflicts, that they are all flawed yet the reader can still hope for them.

I admit that I did root for Cash to "pick" Travis; I think he and Travis needed to grow a lot for that to happen and was glad that it did. I was saddened that Cash hurt Travis so much (so did Cash), but Cash had to find out his feelings, not only for Travis but also for Lee, the hard way. Hard on everyone. I could see a sequel for these characters set sometime after they had left college to see if they did, in fact, survive the college experience and the changes that inevitably happen to people between eighteen and twenty-five. Did Travis come to resent Cash for keeping him in Montana? What happened when they graduated from college and had careers to pursue? Lots of challenges still face these two flawed beauties.

This book is full of powerful feelings and heart-stopping romance, but no sex. The sexual activities are passed over with a few words only. If the plotline, romance, a Western/oater, coming out story (rather than explicit sex) is your interest, and if you want to read about two dynamite, sexy characters falling in love, finding all kinds of challenges to that love, going through a hell of a ride, then grab a hold and go for it.

costly unexciting novel.......2007-07-26

IF YOU THINK YOU'RE GETTING A HOT, SEXY LOVE STORY FORGET IT. THERE WASN'T ANYTHING HOT OR SEXY IN THIS OVER PRICED BOOK. CASH AND TRAVIS FALL IN LOVE. THAT IS IT. NOTHING EXCITING IN THEIR SEX LIFE AT ALL. I'M TRYING TO RECALL IF THEY EVEN HAD ONE AND IF THEY DID IT CERTAINLY WASN'T PUT INTO PRINT. THE AUTHOR TRIED TO RAISE SOME INTEREST BY PUTTING IN A CHARACTER NAMED LEE TO COME BETWEEN CASH AND TRAVIS BUT NOTHING THERE EITHER. PURE AND SIMPLE, IF YOUR WANT TO READ A DULL LOVE STORY THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU. IF YOU'RE EXPECTING ANY HOT SEX SCENES OF ANYTHING CLOSE TO IT THEN PASS THIS ONE UP.

Flawed but enjoyable.......2007-07-23

I enjoyed this book, it was readable although I did find some of the behavior a bit out of character at times and there were a few editing errors that were irritating. I was however left feeling that it had wrapped up rather abruptly without fully addressing the issues raised, and the uphappy sense that the characters were likely to face the same issues again. I am not sure I would have classified it as a great romance as per the cover, more of a coming of age story. All that being said it is a book that has stuck with me so I recommend it and I would give another book of this authors a try, might even welcome a book about the same characters.

Incident at Big Sky: The True Story of Sheriff Johnny France and the Capture of the Mountain Men

Average customer rating:

A riveting tale of desperate outlaws on the run.

Incident at Big Sky: The True Story of Sheriff Johnny France and the Capture of the Mountain Men
Johnny France , and Malcolm McConnell
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Criminology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

True Crime | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0393023346

Customer Reviews:

A riveting tale of desperate outlaws on the run........1999-10-10

Beneath some of Montana's grandest mountain peaks lurked a preditor. Caught in the crosshairs of Don Nichols twisted logic was Kari Swenson. The idea of a mountain bride, stolen from a remote wooded trail. Most amazing is how the Nichols' not only managed to elude the persistance of Johnny France, but stayed one step ahead certain death in the Montana winter of 1984 with just the packs on thier backs. You wont be able to put this one down!

Average customer rating:

as good as The Way West
The Beginning of an Adventure
Guthrie Captures the West and the End of an Era
Did not like at all
Vivid storytelling may disappoint

The Big Sky
A. B. Guthrie Jr.
Manufacturer: Mariner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0618154639

Book Description

Originally published more than fifty years ago, THE BIG SKY is the first of A. B. Guthrie, Jr.'s, epic adventure novels of America's vast frontier. THE BIG SKY introduces Boone Caudill, Jim Deakins, and Dick Summers, three of the most memorable characters in Western American literature. Traveling the Missouri River from St. Louis to the Rockies, these frontiersmen live as trappers, traders, guides, and explorers. The story centers on Caudill, a young Kentuckian driven by a raging hunger for life and a longing for the blue sky and brown earth of big, wild places. Caught up in the freedom and savagery of the wilderness, Caudill becomes an untamed mountain man, whom only the beautiful daughter of a Blackfoot chief dares to love. With THE BIG SKY, Guthrie gives us an unforgettable portrait of a spacious land and a unique way of life.

Customer Reviews:

as good as The Way West.......2007-07-28

I felt this novel could just as easily won the pulitzer.Guthrie has a way of knowing his characters deep down and portraying all that and more to the reader.

The Beginning of an Adventure.......2007-05-04

Take the plunge and read the whole series. I found this book by accident and was drawn in by its lonely main character, Boone, from the start. The language is a little odd to get used to at first, as Guthrie's characters talk in the syle of men of their ilk and era. It transports the reader to a time when Indians and trappers lived freely. I think if you stay with it you will be richly rewarded. To me, Guthrie's characters are like characters in many McMurtry books I have loved; I remember them as if they were real people I have known. Also I found Guthrie's plots to be surprising and moving. After finishing this book I continued with four more, reading them in order. Guthrie chronicles the West, returning to Montana after The Way West, a wagontrain journey to Oregon, from the early unsettled times of The Big Sky to post World War II. Some characters, or their decendents, thread their way through each novel. This was an extremely rich reading experience that left me with a deeper understanding of the "progress" we have made.

Guthrie Captures the West and the End of an Era.......2006-07-27

The Big Sky is the first in a series of great Western novels by A.B. Guthrie. The story begins in 1830 as young Boone Caudill escapes his Kentucky home for the plains and mountains of the west. He meets up with Jim Deakins, a pleasant country philosopher, early on his journey and finally the experienced mountain man Dick Summers on the keelboat trip up the Missouri.

I enjoyed Deakins' theological disquisitions. "You can't beat God for bein' picky. No, sir. If he catches you playin' cards or sayin' one swear word...it's to hell with you forever and ever...Even thinkin' is mighty dangerous. As a man thinketh, that's how he is, and to hell with him ag'in. Why you reckon he gave us a thinker then?...God is some busybody."

Guthrie takes us up the Missouri, a slow fight all the way, across the plains, into the mountains and back. He creates for the reader the palpable sense of the openness and wildness of the West. Yet the book steps back from fully romanticizing the end of the mountain man era. The story is often disturbing, not the least in Boone Caudill's quick and often brutal ways.

Highest recommendation for anyone interested in the American West.

Did not like at all.......2006-07-22

Very surprised at the ratings on this book. I thought it was very poorly written and really boring. Actually, just the first 100 pages were boring, I gave up after that.

Vivid storytelling may disappoint.......2005-07-22

Guthrie's story of the 1830s-1840s American northwest frontier, while drawing the reader in with excellent descriptions and characterizations may disappoint some readers.

The main character, while no doubt a faithful representation of a man driven by a need to be free developing into a rugged mountain man, becomes an unlikeable and unsympathetic character as the story progresses. In fact, he finally becomes downright despicable by the novel's end. Of course, that may have been part of Guthrie's goal; to describe a man surviving in the wild places turning into a selfish human being with the ethics of an animal.

The story is completely told from the point of view of men from that era, so the contemporary female reader may be offended by the lack of substantive, strong willed or independendent-minded female characters. In fact, one gets the impression that, to the men in this novel, the sole purpose of a woman is to provide sexual gratification.

In spite of these subjectively perceived "flaws," the story is well told and worth reading. It is refreshing in the sense that finding contemporary, quality authors who can write historical fiction as well as Guthrie is difficult.

Dining at Great American Lodges: Recipes From Legendary Lodges, National Park Lore, Landscape Art, Music by the Big Sky Ensemble

Average customer rating:

Dining at Great American Lodges: Recipes From Legendary Lodges, National Park Lore, Landscape Art, Music by the Big Sky Ensemble
Sharon O'Connor
Manufacturer: Menus & Music Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Special Occasions | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1883914353

Book Description

Recipes from Legendary Lodges

National Parks Lore and Wilderness Landscape Art

Music by the Big Sky Ensemble

Book Description

A personal celebration of the American West by one of its finest photographers and authors.

Distilled from more than two decades of exploration, Tim Fitzharris' Big Sky captures beautiful panoramas rarely matched in majesty and diversity. Big Sky includes tinted canyons, cactus-studded deserts, ice-capped mountains, rumpled badlands, the misty beaches of the Pacific and a limitless expanse of prairie wildflowers. These are images that reflect the still heart of America's native wilderness.

Fitzharris opens Big Sky with personal observations on photographing the American West and then presents a retrospective of his photographs, organized by region:

High Plains
Canyon lands
Rocky Mountains
Sierra Nevada
Southern deserts
Pacific coast.

For each of these six sections there is an introduction to the landscape, followed by 12 plates for a total of 72 panoramas.

Stunning and beautiful, Big Sky is a lovingly compiled collection of remarkable panorama photographs of this vast section of the nation. This will be Tim Fitzharris' definitive work, demonstrating his reverence and respect for the American West.

Customer Reviews:

Big Sky.......2007-06-09

Gorgeous book. Almost like being there as we read. Enjoying it now and

will for years to come.

It's a personal celebration of the American West.......2007-04-12

BIG SKY captures some gorgeous panoramas, capturing natural landscapes and tinting to explore some of the lesser-known state parks and wilderness areas across the country. It's a personal celebration of the American West by a photographer who spent over twenty years searching for just the right sites and experiences: when one was found he'd take a series of panoramic shots and stitch them together on a computer, here produced in panoramic 27x9 inch spreads to properly capture the results. Art photography libraries as well as public libraries strong in visual travel representations will want this.

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