While They're at War: The True Story of American Families on the Homefront

Book Description

Kristin Henderson is married to a Marine Corps chaplain who has served in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Her portraits of military wives with spouses at war are both deeply engaging and hard-won. The author's insider experience allows her to uncover hidden and often difficult aspects of military culture on and off the vast bases that define many regions of America. It has earned her respect from military families as well as unique access to military staff. Henderson's story focuses on two very different women, Marissa Boots and Beth Pratt, as their husbands leave for Iraq and they both experience intense indoctrination into life alone at Fort Bragg, South Carolina. Extraordinarily revealing scenes from the lives of these women and other military families illuminate the truths of living in the shadow of America's military. The overwhelming effects of anticipatory grief; strongly enforced mores concerning infidelity; feelings of alienation from nondeployed military and the rest of the world; the effects of e-mail/cell phone/CNN culture; the too-frequent homecoming violenceall of these, Henderson shows, are powerful psychological realities for military families. Hidden Homefront offers moving and necessary testimony to all of us from the families who support America's way of war, and way of life.

Customer Reviews:

Every American should read this book.......2007-07-17

A common comment these days amongst military families is "our country isn't at war...our military is...the country is at the mall." Although our country is still at war, the only ones truly sacrificing are the military and their families. (and for many those sacrfices will continue for a lifetime, no matter when this war ends.) I nodded and sobbed and laughed throughout this book. Kristin is an amazing writer and managed to do incredibly thorough research to follow these families through their experiences. A military spouse herself who has dealt with multiple deployments, she captures the challenges. We wish every person in Congress would study books like this so they have a full view of the impact of their decisions.
Kathie Hightower, coauthor of Help! I'm a Military Spouse...I Get a Life Too!

An Awesome Read!.......2007-07-06

I haven't even received my copy yet, but I've already read this book several times (borrowed from a friend) and wanted a copy of my own. From the moment I picked it up, I couldn't put it down. This book takes you on an emotional rollercoaster that you'll appreciate whether you're a military spouse or not. I cried along with the women during their trying times and rejoiced with them at their husband's homecomings. The author captures the essence of the moments exactly. I would reccomend this book to anyone looking for a good read, just remember to bring the tissues!

good read for Military spouses.......2007-05-16

This was a decent book for Military spouses and civilians alike. It explains the hardships that we endure, the pain of saying goodbye to our loved ones, and the stress of running a household alone. I learned a few things from this book even though I've been a Marine's wife for a few years now. The only thing that I didn't really like about this book was that it focused too solely on Army spouses. It confused me, being that the author's husband is a Navy Chaplain serving with the Marine Corps. She definitely should have included Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force spouses in this book. And the whole situation with the one wife conspiring to get her husband out of the Army and speaking at anti-war protests was unbelievable. It's one thing to not agree with a war, but it's another thing to protest what your husband does for a living. All in all, I give this book 3 stars- it's a bit confusing at times, since it jumps around a lot. But I recommend it for a spouse who is new to military life, especially an Army spouse.

**Until they all come home**

A Moving Account of Deployment Issues for Those Left Behind.......2007-05-13

I was looking for information on deployment and got so much more from Kristin Henderson's book! Moving, emotional, real-life accounts that touch the heart and help us civilians better comprehend the challenges of wartime delpoyment. Kristin interviews a variety of spouses and 'significant others' recounting their respective experiences, all with very different perspectives.

It's definitely a book that you won't put down until the last chapter is read!

Not what I was expecting.......2007-04-15

After reading so many wonderful reviews for this book, I felt that I needed to read it. My husband is currently deployed and I'm always looking for related books.

As I got further and further into the book I found I was increasingly disappointed. The book is very scattered - to the point of frequent confusion. While the stories of the women are very touching and easy to relate to, I found it difficult to keep all the the details for each story together because of the nature in which the book was written. Henderson does a good job of working through the policies of the Army, though again it was so scattered and frequently interjected in the middle of a story.

While the stories of the women are well told, I was disappointed that the aspect of being a wife with no children was practically ignored. Yes, one of the characters is childless, but Henderson didn't discuss that dynamic and that disappointed me. Not every military spouse has children, childless spouses face different (and hard) challenges because of that.

All in all it wasn't a bad book, but I wasn't as impressed with it as some of the other reviewers.

Homefront Club: The Hardheaded Woman's Guide to Raising a Military Family

Average customer rating:

Highly Recommended
SOO HELPFUL
Proud Army Wife
Navy Finacee in training..
Fun and informative.

Homefront Club: The Hardheaded Woman's Guide to Raising a Military Family
Jacey Eckhart
Manufacturer: US Naval Institute Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Motherhood | Family Relationships | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

Military Science | History | Subjects | Books

Life & Institutions | Military | History | Subjects | Books
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Accessories:

philosophy hope in a jar daily moisturizer
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ASIN: 1591142288

Book Description

As anyone with a spouse in uniform knows, the military offers families neither geographical stability nor guarantees of life under one roof. Those conditions make it tough to keep a marriage together, raise good kids, and maintain some semblance of normalcy, but help is on the way. Jacey Eckhart's new guide navigates readers through military life on the homefront. Aiming her advice at the wife—male spouses, she says, need their own book—she covers issues from the first day in the "fortress" to the last day the husband is piped ashore with humor and encouragement. An Air Force brat herself, Eckhart swore she would never enter the military, but married the first Navy man she dated and over the past seventeen years has raised three children, moved thirteen times, and tackled five deployments. She argues that being able to manage military life is not a secret some wives know and others don't, but rather a set of skills to be acquired.

Eckhart presents the realities and then offers some solutions for the married-but-single parent, starting out on the bottom rung of the career ladder with each move, and worrying if military life is hurting the kids. She helps newlyweds and long-marrieds alike better understand the people who are drawn to military service and find ways to fit into the military community without losing a sense of self. Her guide offers helpful ideas about managing the demands of a teenager during a move, finding playmates for toddlers in new neighborhoods, and even telling mothers-in-law why they shouldn't be at the homecoming. She also lists methods of finding full and part-time work. From pre-deployment work-ups through Christmas blues and post-deployment problems, Eckhart and her guide are at the homefront ready to help.

Customer Reviews:

Highly Recommended.......2007-05-11

This book is a definite must-read for any military spouse. I also recommend it for extended military family, to help them understand what life is like in the home of their servicemember. Eckhart offers good advice, much-needed encouragement and a realistic outlook. It might ruffle a few feathers on those who are more liberal or lean toward a feminist mindset. If that's you, you're probably not going to be too content as a military spouse anyway. However, one of Eckhart's points is we're all from different backgrounds, but we're in the same boat and should help each other out. That's something we should all learn to do, whether we are liberal, conservative, working, staying at home, etc.

SOO HELPFUL.......2007-04-11

I found this book to be incredibly helpful when I decided to marry my Marine. While some of what she writes is definitely Navy (ombudsman, for example) it can still be applied to any branch, by simply translating the lingo (Ombudsman into Key Volunteer for USMC). I have found this book helpful in finding a career at our new duty station in Japan (it's okay to Starbuck sometimes!), for understanding my husband when he got home from deployment, and I'm sure it will be helpful when we have children. It's nice to read a book with real stories, real life, and real lessons learned. I have learned to be a happy military wife with this book, and am forever grateful.
I also had the chance to meet the author when she came to my workplace where we're stationed. She's so honest and real and funny that I can't help but love the book more!
A definite must for the new, frustrated, or expert military wife. Everyone can use a laugh, and the knowledge they're not the only one who's life can fall apart at the seams every three years. =)

Proud Army Wife.......2007-01-31

I loved this book! Some parts could have been written by me. It is a great look at military life for those who are just married, married forever, with or without kids. I Jacey Eckhart did a great job giving information on all branches and making this a must read.BRAVO!

Navy Finacee in training.........2007-01-16

This book is geared toward those women who have chosen to be stay at home wives and mothers. I'm still green to the service and couldn't really apply this book to my situation. Also, this book could really stand to be separated into branches. While some information is universal ( like how to move your family across country ) other information is not ( an ombudsman is specific to the Navy) I put this book away for perhaps a future time.

Fun and informative........2006-04-18

I love this book for its uplifting and real tone. Write more for us wives!

Voices of War Compact Disk: Stories of Service from the Homefront and the Frontlines (The Library of Congress Veterans History Project)

Average customer rating:

compelling listening
A compelling and moving collection from America's veterans

Voices of War Compact Disk: Stories of Service from the Homefront and the Frontlines (The Library of Congress Veterans History Project)
Max Cleland , and Chuck Hagel
Manufacturer: National Geographic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Biographies & Memoirs | Books on CD | Audiobooks | Formats | Books

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HIS FINEST HOUR

ASIN: 0792282272
Release Date: 2004-11-01

Book Description

The experience of war has affected every generation in the 20th and 21st century. Every soldier has a story to tell, and since the year 2000 the Veteran's History Project, a new permanent department of the Library of Congress, has been carefully collecting and preserving the memories of the veterans of all wars. The collection is astonishing in its scope. In addition to more than 50,000 recorded oral histories, the VHP has amassed thousands of letters, photographs, scrapbooks, and invaluable mementos from nearly a century of warfare. In the first book to showcase the richness and depth of this collection National Geographic has highlighted themes common to all war experiences: Basic Training, First Combat, Courage, Special Bonds, the Homefront, Fun, and Coming Home. Short introductory essays introduce each topic, but the purpose of this book is to allow the veterans their chance to speak, which they do, deftly interweaving the letters, memories, and pages of compelling oral history of U.S. veterans' experiences in World War I and II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf. Brief connecting passages provide background information where necessary. Readers will discover the extraordinary memoirs of men like John Casper Wister, a so-called "ordinary soldier" who vividly described army life in World War I and tried to warn his fellow soldiers about Germany's threat in the years following the war. They'll experience the courage of soldiers like Bruce Fenchel, who fought all five of the major battles of Europe under the command of General Patton. Blasted in a tank explosion at Chaumont, he hung onto a gas truck with frozen hands long enough to be dropped at a Belgian family home and pub, where he was hidden in the attic. After fierce battles at Bastogne and the Rhine River, he witnessed terrifying sites of torture apparatus and death when his division liberated the Ohrdurf Concentration Camp. They'll meet Red Cross worker Peggy Henry, who was plunged into a harrowing story of survival during the Battle of the Bulge when she and two local women had to flee the advancing German army under cover of darkness. They'll read about the bonds of brotherhood experienced by Walter Morris, who trained the Army's first all-black paratrooper unit. They'll read about families and sweethearts on the homefront, and share the remarkable stories of "ordinary" wives like Margerie Gufein, who each month during World War II and the Korean War created a handmade "Goofein Journal" to update her husband on family happenings. They'll share the extraordinary story of a husband and wife who volunteered to go to Vietnam together rather than be separated by the draft, and meet Rod Hinsh, an army special forces fighter assigned to the highly unusual task of guarding USO performer Martha Ray during the Vietnam War. Twenty-three years after the war, Ray vividly recalled their first meeting. They'll also see how the legacy of war continues in the modern world, experiencing how the story of was has changed with emails, digital photographs, and embedded journalists. And finally they'll read the heartwarming tale of Ray Shipley, a veteran of World War II and Korea, who each day for the past six months has been rising at 6am to go to BWI airport to extend a handshake and free phone cards to soldiers returning from Iraq on leave. Though he has no official authority, he carries their bags, points them to their connecting flight, and never forgets to say "welcome home." Through the diverse stories collected in this volume emerges the moving story of America at war. This is a book that will provoke memories and thoughtful reflection and truly celebrate the sacrifices made by the millions of veterans who have fought to defend our freedom.

Customer Reviews:

compelling listening.......2005-02-15

compelling listening with excellent classroom applications. big problem: no index to the contents.

A compelling and moving collection from America's veterans.......2004-12-17

The Voices of War CD set that is a companion to the book does an extraordinary job of melding together the experiences of average Americans who answered the call to service in any one of the major conflicts fought by the U.S. in the 1900s. Veterans from World Wars I and II, Korea and Vietnam contributed memoirs, sat for interviews, and sent letters that captured thier impressions of their time in uniform.

The book is subdivided so that similar experiences are grouped together. For example, one chapter deals with the wait for and then the actual homecomings the contributors experienced, whether it was World War I, Korea, or another war. Another deals with the entry into military life, and the unique challenges that were far different from what they had known in civilian life.

One notable item about the book is its effort to provide a good amount of material concerning women veterans, with stories that span all four conflicts. While most of them are nursing related, each shares a personal, compelling narrative that shows the strong feelings that came with the jobs they performed, especially those that concern taking care of wounded soldiers away from home.

The 8 CDs that make up the book go by very quickly, and would probably be worth listening to again for the variety of emotions and experiences that are presented. This was a very worthwhile audio book, and is highly recommended.

Homefront: A Military City and the American Twentieth Century

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Who is a Soldier, and What is War?
Fayetteville writ large
Understanding America
Looking beneath the surface
Removing the Wool from our Eyes

Homefront: A Military City and the American Twentieth Century
Catherine A. Lutz
Manufacturer: Beacon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0807055093

Book Description

Fayetteville has earned the nicknames of Fatalville and Fayettenam. Unusual and not-sounusual features of the town include gross income inequalities, an extraordinarily high incidence of venereal disease, miles and miles of strip malls, and a history of racial violence. Through interviews with residents and historical research, Catherine Lutz immerses herself in the life of the town to discover how it has supported the military for over a century. From secret training operations that use civilians as mock enemies and allies to the satellite economy of the town, Lutz's history of Fayetteville reveals the burdens that military preparedness creates for all of us.

Customer Reviews:

Who is a Soldier, and What is War?.......2002-09-15

Residents of Fayetteville, North Carolina awoke one morning in April of 1954 to find the front page of their local paper carrying news of a nuclear attack downtown; they were informed that sixty-four thousand soldiers were being deployed to amend the situation, aided by six tons of maps and forty-six chaplains. The attack, of course, was a fiction, but the soldiers and their simulated nuclear reaction mission (Exercise Flash Burn) were very real. Catherine Lutz demonstrates in Homefront: A Military City that the life of Fayetteville cannot disentangle itself from the life of Fort Bragg, the nation's largest military base. This study by the renowned anthropologist from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is both as specific as a city history and as broad as a national story. Though Lutz uses Fayetteville as a zooming-in point, her argument-that the dichotomies of military and civilian, war-time and peace-time, are collapsing-is applicable to the country as a whole.
Fayetteville, a city of one hundred thousand semi-affectionately known as "Fayettenam," was chosen as the centerpiece for this project because of its long and bittersweet relationship with Fort Bragg. Lutz traces this history from 1918 (when the city's founding fathers first lured the lucrative industry to the collective pocketbook of the townsfolk), through the patriotism and turmoil of the World Wars and the bitter clashes of the Vietnam War, to the present-day Hot Peace. Relations between the base and the city are both interdependent and strained so that, upon the close inspection Lutz conducts, it becomes unclear where the line between the two is drawn, if indeed it can be drawn at all. Lutz describes Fayetteville's economy as engineered to serve the needs of soldiers on paydays. While other North Carolina cities chose technology industries as their major source of income, Fayetteville cast its lot with the base and the retail sales it would create. This plan has had the two-fold effect of making the few who own the businesses quite rich and the many who work in them, merely touching the money as it passes from soldier to civilian businessman, rather poor. The question of who is serving whom (soldiers training to protect the lives of civilians while civilians tend to soldiers' needs) becomes blurred, as does the question of whom is actually receiving the government paychecks. Further blurring the dichotomy between military and civilian are the many civilians whose presence in Fayetteville is attributable to the military-for instance, the refugees who have come from all over the world, and the "war brides" who moved to Fayetteville with their soldier husbands and settled down. Lutz posits that the draft further lessened the gap between military and civilian by presenting a difficulty in readily distinguishing between the two; the idea that soldiers were lower-class, uneducated, and crass was prominent prior to the World Wars, but suddenly college boys from good families were moving into the base, and some soldiers were the type of boys by whom local upper-middle-class families might want their daughters courted. Another assumed intrinsic difference between soldiers and civilians-that soldiers always see war as the right course of action whereas civilians are more peace-loving-fell during the Vietnam War, when thousands of soldiers protested the United States' involvement and eventually brought about the military's departure from Vietnam. As the differences between soldiers and civilians have become blurred, so have the differences between formerly binary options of war and peace.
Though hegemonic history usually describes time as a series of wars and their interstices, Lutz finds the concepts of war-time and peace-time becoming ever more complicated. While war was formerly viewed as an interference upon the normal state of peace, the periods between war are now filled with preparedness for war, making war the natural state. War games are one, often bizarre, aspect of this war readiness. Obscuring not only the distinctions between war and peace but also those between Fayetteville and Fort Bragg, homefront and battlefield, are the situations in which Fort Bragg's training missions take them into the city in the acting out of a war situation. Though Fayetteville's civilians are notified when the soldiers will be rehearsing for nuclear holocaust or an invasion of "Pineland" (the imaginary country in which Fayetteville lies during war games), such realm-blending upsets traditional ideas of what war is and where it takes place. The Cold War also called into question the nature of war, since only recently has it been true that one can exist in which no blood is shed. Lutz contrasts this state with the current one of Hot Peace-even when the United States is not technically at war, the military is active on peace-keeping missions internationally, assisting insurgents or established governments in the protection of America's best interests.
Homefront is meticulously researched in all manner of sources. Largely ethnographic, Lutz's research consists largely of interviews conducted with eighty residents of Fayetteville over a six year period. Lutz's interviewees include not only the traditional writers of history, but also those whose stories are often left to fall silent-the result is a less favorable military history than the red, white, and blue ones usually heard. The recounts of these interviews have an informal feel to them, occasionally interjected with questions from Lutz and usually accompanied by the interviewees' actual names and personal, unposed photographs. This very human approach should not be seen as a substitute for heavily researched scholarship-Lutz is adept at providing both. Also cited are records from Fort Bragg itself, as well as reports found in the National Archives, local newspaper accounts from the turn of the century, and history books of North Carolina. Lutz allows her subjectivity to shine through the text-though raised in a military family, her horror at the effects of war on all involved are apparent, and it is clear with whom her sympathies lie. With such a well-researched argument, however, Lutz's agenda is incapable of falling through the cracks of substantiation. In the end, Lutz presents a compelling picture of Fayetteville/Fort Bragg as one town, under a base, indivisible.

Fayetteville writ large.......2002-09-14

While President Eisenhower warned about the Military Industrial Complex in the United States, one could argue that what is more troubling is the military cultural complexion of the United States. Catherine Lutz makes this argument forcibly in Homefront: A Military City and the American 2oth Century.
Lutz uses Fayetteville, North Carolina as a microcosm to examine the quotidian and epochal influences arising from America's military in times or war and peace. Homefront is the result of intensive data collection and wide ranging interviews. Lutz masterfully combines the two to tell a story of the city and its people that are always interconnected with the ever-widening influence of the U.S. military in the past century.6.
Using the prisms of race, class, and gender, Lutz deconstructs the image of the military as the defender of the American Way. She inverts the paradigm to show that often the presence of the military reinforces existing divisions. Fayetteville is an army town. Throughout the last century it was also a town that experienced Jim Crow, increased domestic violence, hate crimes, and a widening gap between the haves and the underclass. Lutz also documents that the spit-shine image of the Army often camouflages environmental degradation resulting from base operations. Homefront tells the story of the costs-both quantifiable and hidden-to the United States of becoming and remaining the planet's only superpower.
Lutz sets each of her six chapters within an identifiable era for Fayetteville and the U.S. military. The book begins with the opening of Fort Bragg in 1918. This period is, as David Blight argues in Race and Reunion, formed by the previous half century of American mythmaking that raises both the soldier and the South to places of honor in the national psyche. Homefront details how the perception of heroism often conflicts with the local experience of oppression. As Lutz herself writes, when recounting the history of former slave John Nichols-who refused to leave the land that was to become Fort Bragg, "[T]his story is structured around the time's stereotypes." Indeed, throughout the book the presence of the Army is often described by Fayetteville's residents in archetypal terms.
Lutz calls Fayetteville a company town. Because the army is the base for economic activity, the long-time residents of Fayetteville both love and fear it. Lutz describes how already well-off whites have reaped great wealth from the development that Fort Bragg created. She also describes how the city's inability to broaden its industrial base has left poor whites and most blacks working retail jobs with some of the lowest pay scales in North Carolina. In addition, the presence of thousands of young men has created another economy-where sex is the commodity. Sex workers represent the underside of the military culture that envelops a military town. Homefront is direct in examining that underside.
Lutz's voice is clear throughout the book (even when examining the negative effects of World War II-"the good war"). And her critique resonates strongly in the current climate. As Lutz states several places in her book, a military definition of the situation is essential to the military project. The military and its supporters thrive on an us versus them paradigm. Most of the public embraces this paradigm.
Two letters to the editor in the August 28, 2002 Wall Street Journal excoriated the subject of a story who resisted operations at a nearby military base because he thought the base was a detriment to his neighborhood. One letter-writer accused the subject of being more concerned with his lifestyle than his fellow countrymen's security. A letter published in the September 1, 2002 Raleigh News and Observer went even further. In response to someone who questioned the presence of the Junior ROTC on a local high school campus, the letter writer commented: "What's wrong with our children having the same values as, say, George Washington . . . Ulysses S. Grant . . . or Dwight D. Eisenhower." Lutz warns that such conflating of all things military with heroism and leadership is exactly the problem with the cultural complexion that looks back at most Americans in our national mirror. And though Lutz book was finished before 9-11, her research helps explain much of the reaction and rhetoric that has met anyone who questions our current policy in the war on terror or toward removing Saddam Hussein.
My own critiques of Lutz's book are mainly on two fronts. First, her work seems to intentionally avoid the role of religion in Fayetteville and in the broader national discussion. Early on she quotes a minister who states in 1923: "It is a pleasure to record that the relationship between the church and the government as represented in the authorities at Fort Bragg has been most cordial." But aside from the arrival of a Quaker House during the Vietnam years, Lutz does not detail the ebb and flow of the relationship. It seems a dramatic lacuna. The relationship of religion to the military, especially in the South, was pivotal during much of the 20th Century. In fact, I remember that Fayetteville was a regular venue for evangelical gatherings-often Billy Graham-in the 60s and 70s.
Second, the scope of Lutz's work occasionally confuses issues. Because she is focusing on both individual anecdotal evidence and metalanguage, the arguments do not always match. For instance, her work in Fayetteville convinces her that "civilian is the majority, dominant category," but there is "widespread acceptance of a military definition of the situation." For those of us accustomed to identifying the dominant category by determining who has the power to define the situation, these two explanations seem mutually exclusive.
However, my complaints pale in comparison to my admiration. Catherine Lutz has given me-and I believe this will be true for all readers-a new prism through which to view our national military culture. In Fayetteville and throughout the United States, we have met the enemy and they are us.

Understanding America.......2002-03-12

Homefront is brilliant, incisive and chilling. Catherine Lutz is among the finest of story-tellers and ethnographers of contemporary America. With an anthropologist's eye for detail in the everyday, to a social theorist's eye for the big picture, Homefront is written with passion and intelligence. This book goes a long way in enhancing the readers' understanding of the culture of militarism that is so integral to the present moment. This is definitely a must-read!

Looking beneath the surface.......2002-03-11

Catherine Lutz has once again taken us beneath the surface to get a first hand look at the powerful forces shaping America's psyche, forces so interwined in our lives that they have become almost invisble. But with the anthropologist's trained eye, Professor Lutz helps us to see that in this time of calls for military protection for every parade and football game across the country, a call which many are ready to support, we will be paying a bill on many dimensions. Her careful and thoughtful analysis in the works long before the tragic events of 9/11, is more important than ever in helping us understand the larger consequences of our reponse. It is not easy to ask unpopular questions, but I am thankful for the skill and rigor Lutz brought to the task

Removing the Wool from our Eyes.......2002-03-09

This is an eye-opening, honest, and thoughtful examination of the role the military plays in our society. It is obvious that Lutz has thoroughly and carefully studied Fayetteville, NC, and she has delivered a powerfully written document of the effects an army base has had on the community. What makes this a brilliant work is that it invites the reader to consider the many arenas of our culture which have been influenced, even created, by the military complex we have embraced as our defense. Homefront is an extremely important book.

Bombshells: War Stories and Poems by Women on the Homefront

Average customer rating:

A Collective Spiritual Consciousness about War and the Women left at Home!

Bombshells: War Stories and Poems by Women on the Homefront

Manufacturer: OmniArts, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

The Blog of War: Front-Line Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan

ASIN: 0978848934
Release Date: 2007-02-14

Product Description

Bombshells: War Stories and Poems by Women on the Homefront offers a unique exploration into the homefront experience of 39 women who are connected to a soldier in some way--as a mother, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, friend or lover. Most of the stories unfold with war as the backdrop--sometimes it looms, sometimes it wages, sometimes it lingers from the past inside the writer's house. Some of the stories center on the concept of "home" itself, and the search for roots in a culture where home is constructed, and de-constructed around frequent relocations and deployments. Each woman, in her own words and style, tells a unique story, and collectively they illuminate the pathos of this unsung microcosm of American society.

Customer Reviews:

A Collective Spiritual Consciousness about War and the Women left at Home! .......2007-04-14

Rarely does an anthology contain such nuggets of wisdom, and pain as does this wonderfully edited collection of stories and poems by the women who are left behind at home during war. The book`s cover shows the image of a pink hand grenade that jumps out at you. The title is just as explosive, "Bombshells: War Stories and Poems by Women on the Homefront". Inside the book is even better and is filled with stories, essays and poems that will rip and shred your very soul! It is one of the most gripping books related to war that I have read.

The book was put together and edited by Missy Martin and Jesse Lorne. It is a brilliantly done. The placement of the poems and stories is thought out well and it seems that the emotional energy just keeps building throughout the entire book. It is one of those books that you cannot stop reading.

There are many different and diverse voices contained in the book, which reflects again, some good editing choices. The book brings war into another level of thinking. War is not often viewed from the point of view of those who were left at home waiting for their loved ones to return; I often wondered what that would feel like when I was in Vietnam. When my own son was in the Gulf War in Iraq and I did not know his daily status, it almost drove me insane with worry. It hurts worse then being in combat yourself!

This book is an honest, compelling look at what these women went through while waiting fro their warriors to return. You cannot read this book without feeling your heart rip and break apart with their pain. This book transcends war -it is about people!

The Military Writer's Society of America gives this book its highest rating of FIVE STARS! It is a must read book! I give this my personal recommendation and fullest endorsement!

Note:
A portion of the sales from this book is donated to "The Fisher House Foundation". That foundation builds "comfort homes" on or near active military and Veteran Affairs medical facilities. The houses are provided for free for injured soldiers who must be close by for treatment. It is also open to their families.

Average customer rating:

Girl In The Hood
Wildcats!!!
Welllllllll
Greatest Book For Teenage Girls
Like Sisters on the Homefront

Like Sisters on the Homefront
Rita Williams-Garcia
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Literature & Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0140385614

Book Description

When Gayle gets into trouble with her boyfriend, her mother sends the street-smart 14-year-old--and her baby, Jos--down to Georgia, to live with Uncle Luther and his family. There's nothing to do, nowhere to go, and no one around except kneesock-wearing, Jesus-praising cousin Cookie. Then Gayle meets Great, the family matriarch--and her stories of the past begin to change how Gayle sees her future. Williams-Garcia has surpassed herself.She has set these fictional characters firmly in the real world while still allowing them to rise from the pages and into readers' hearts and imaginations. --The Horn Book, starred review

Customer Reviews:

Girl In The Hood.......2007-03-04

Gayle was an `around the way girl,' straight from the projects of Harlem. She had a sharp tongue and funky attitude. She didn't respect her elders and she had absolutely no respect for her mother. She was the perfect example as to what would happen to a teen that would drop out of school and do nothing with her life. She had a baby with a married man at the age of 13 and she was pregnant with her second child at the age of 14, but her mother made her get an abortion.

Her mother sent her to live with her aunt and uncle in Georgia. It was a different environment for her. She couldn't hang out on the streets with her so-called "girls" anymore and she couldn't lazy around all day doing nothing. Her relatives in Georgia lived a nice life. They had a nice large home. Her uncle was the pastor of a church and they had a daughter named Cookie who was 16 and overweight.

Cookie was the lead singer in the choir and in-love with the local college's star football player. He respected Cookie but her cousin, Gayle, kept trying to get her to have sex with him. Cookie loved God and she respected her body and God's commandment not to have sex until you get married. Gayle was a bad influence but Cookie, on the other hand, was a great influence on Gayle.

Gayle decided that she didn't want to attend school and her aunt did not enforce it. She gave her a choice. She either go to school or stay home and work as the housekeeper and babysit her great grandmother that they called Great. Cookie chose to do the housekeeping. Although she felt that her aunt treated her as a slave. For most of the story, Gayle was trying to find ways to get back to Harlem. She wanted to make another baby with her boyfriend. That was her way of trying to get back at her mother for having her to get an abortion.

Great was a wise old woman who stayed in her bed 24-7. Cookie would bath, feed and change her clothes. After awhile, she grew to love her great grandmother. Great's last wish was to have some homemade Peach liquor. She told Gayle the ingredients and Gayle made her some but without anyone's knowledge. Her uncle would not allow alcohol in the house.

We laughed when Gayle was trying to buy a walkman. Walkman? Wasn't that in the 1980s? We knew then that the book was outdated. Nowadays, it's all about CDs and DVDs. Gayle's language was very, very hard to understand. She spoke in Ebonics which was hard for us to follow the story. But that was the language and lifestyle she grew up in. If you can manage through the dialect, then you'll find a good story behind it.

The premise of the story teaches that education is important and even though Gayle loved her baby, he interfered in the things that she wanted to do but couldn't because she had to tend to his needs first. Her priorities were screwed up but her relatives helped her to see the light. We recommend this novel because it had a good example. It answers the question what would happen if you disregard your education and get involved in premarital sex.

3.5 Snaps!!!-!
Teens'R'Us

Wildcats!!!.......2006-04-03

The month of Feb.We discuss this book and we really enjoyed it .
Thanks for the book.

Welllllllll.......2005-07-26

Well, this book is not bad. But it is good. But sometimes when your reading it your eyes just glaze over. It was a great story though.

Greatest Book For Teenage Girls.......2004-06-11

Williams Garcia, Rita. Like Sisters on the Homefront. Dutton: Lodestar Books, 1995.

Like Sisters on the Homefront is a book that could actually be used for learning from our mistakes. This book could actually teach some morals to a lot of people, especially teenage girls. It is about a girl, Gayle who makes a lot of mistakes in her life. Gayle is a very tough, brave girl who doesn't cry for anything, no matter how much it hurts. First she gets pregnant by a married man and later when she is 14 she gets pregnant again by another guy, but her mother makes her get an abortion. Her mother then sends her off to live with her very strict, Uncle Luther. There she has to work really hard and get along with her very upright cousin, Cookie. The only person she can relate to there is, Great, her great grandmother who teaches her about her family history. It is there where she learns her manners and becomes a respectful person and where she cries for the first time. The best part of all is that she decides to go back to school. Gayle changes her life a lot, all for the better.

Change

Change is common in everyone's life, in fact it happens constantly. Change is crucial in all lives because people should be open to different things. This is the only way that people will be able to succeed in life. In the book Like Sisters on the Homefront, Gayle a fourteen-year-old mother, changes dramatically for good. She changes from being a rude, mean, tough girl who above everything, has not, and does not plan to ever cry for anyone or anything in her whole life. Gayle changes every aspect of herself once it comes to her attention that those are not good qualities for any person to have. Gayle changes the way she acts towards school, her mother, her son, her sisters on the homefront, even the way she talks, and well of course she pretty much changes her attitude towards the whole entire world.
One thing that my parents taught was to be respectful to all elders whether I know them or not but Gayle sure is not even respectful to any elder, not even her mother.
Before Gayle went to her Uncle Luther's house she was always a really rude person to everybody whether she new them or whether she didn't. An example of this is when she was really rude to her mother. She would never listen to what her mother would say, she would ignore her, and she would not do what her mother would ask her to do. Whatever her mother would say she would do the complete opposite, everything her mother would say would go in through one ear and would go out the other ear. She was always mouthing off to her mother and as we all know that is very disrespectful. Gayle was also very rude to her aunt in Georgia, her cousin Cookie, and even her friends' mothers. After her journey of self-reflection she changes the way that she is, meaning that she is not so

disrespectful towards everyone. Some ways that show this is how she decides to listen to her mother. She also decides to be more open to new things. Like before she changes she hated church and she hated how Cookie was always talking about god and how her cousin is in the choir. After her change she decides to go to church on her own will and she even considers joining the choir.
Another one of her really bad qualities is her attitude. Her attitude also changes thoroughly. Before she went to her Uncle Luther's house she didn't care much for school or for baby, two very important things of her life. These are very important things because in order to make something of yourself you have to go to school and graduate. Her baby is also a very important thing because she has to take care of him and lead him in the right path, so that her son will not have such messed up life just like hers. This is something else that she is able to change drastically. She is able to notice with the help of other people that she has to do both things, finish school and raise her son properly. That is exactly the reason why she decides to go back to school to graduate and she also starts to take better care of her son. Another very important thing that shows how she changes her attitude is when she cries for the first time. Her crying shows how she is not so sober anymore.
So as you can see change is very important. Change is especially important when it has to do with the way you are. It might be hard but you should still try hard to change a little. It is very important to be open to a lot of new things as well as being a good person, concerning the your actions, your attitude, and being open to new things. Just like Gayle changed her life you can also change your own. It wasn't easy for Gayle to change her bad aspects, but she still did with the help of others. You should really read the book so that you can see how you can change and what could help you change while also reading how Gayle changes and what she does to change.

I recommend this book earnestly, because you can learn a lot from. This is a book that you can learn a lot from so that you won't make really bad mistakes that could mess up your life. So I really hope that you will really read this book so that you can be conscience and you can ponder about some things before you do them.

Like Sisters on the Homefront.......2004-02-04

What if your mother sent you away to Georgia because you kept getting into trouble? Gayle Whittaker, an impertinent 14-year-old girl, is very disrespectful toward herself and her elders. Her view on life is misunderstood because she thinks school is not needed. In addition, she has a baby, Jose, but gets pregnant again and her mother forces her to get an abortion. Her mother realizes that if she doesn't take action Gayle will get even more disrespectful toward everyone. She decides to send Gayle to Georgia to live with her uncle. At first Gayle thinks that sending her to Georgia is a waste, so she doesn't cooperate with her uncle and his family. Gayle starts to realize how important life is once she meets her great grandmother, who knows all about the power of her family.
Rita Williams-Garcia, the author of Like Sisters on the Homefront, used a lot of details to get her message across. I felt as though she expanded on certain subjects where she needed to and left some things to the imagination. She made it seem like you were the character. In comparison to other authors I think she used fewer details, but that didn't take away from the book.
I would recommend Like Sister on the Homefront to young females between the ages of 12 and 16 because it speaks to people who are confused about there purpose in life. I would also recommend this book to people who like realistic fiction because it teaches you that there are unexpected obstacles that are thrown at you in life, but you just have to make wise decisions when you reach those obstacles.

World War II Homefront Collectibles: Price & Identification Guide

Average customer rating:

THE FIRST IS NEVER THE BEST
A unique, authoritative, impressive collector price guide.
OUR GREATEST GENERATION SPEAKS....
A Treasure Trove of WW II Homefront Collectibles !

World War II Homefront Collectibles: Price & Identification Guide
Martin Jacobs
Manufacturer: Krause Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Americana | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Military | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Popular Culture | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Postcards | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Reference | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0873418530

Book Description

World War II was fought on many different fronts. One of the most important places from which the war was waged was right here at home. From 1941-1945, everyone and everything was focused on the war effort. Over that time, many war-related keepsakes and novelties were produced, which are known as "homefront" collectibles. This price and identification guide is the first-ever look at these historical items: jewelry, postcards, movie posters, matchbooks, banks, statues, toys, games, trading cards, books, magazines and anti-axis memorabiliaits all here. Interest in World War II and homefront memorabilia is at an all-time high. Prices are skyrocketing, and collectors and dealers will need to have this book in their arsenal.

-High nostalgia. -Only book on this subject. -More than 600 photos. -Over 2,000 listings.

Customer Reviews:

THE FIRST IS NEVER THE BEST.......2002-12-05

Jacobs must be given credit for producing the very first priceguide on homefront collecting. And Jacobs has assembled photographs of some fairly uncommon items from his pool of experienced contributors. But thats where the kudos end. It is mostly all B&W with just a few color. The organization makes it almost impossible to identify an item that does not have a picture. He lists two different prices for the same item on different pages. His coverage of the homefront area is poor. He wastes several pages on listing gum cards while completely failing in the areas like anti-axis where covers, cinderellas and postcards are just about all that is listed missing ceramics, toys etc in that subcategory. He has a slug of jewelry photos that someone obviously spent a great deal of time shooting but they are all in B&W completely subduing that contribution. And his prices are plain and simply not credible especially when compared to his V For Victory book which has many of the same items but radically different prices without explanation. Overall I'd say buy it just for the pics but throw out the price guide part. Its a woefully error ridden text. An obvious rush job. I give it two stars for being the first.

A unique, authoritative, impressive collector price guide........2000-06-04

World War II Homefront Collectibles: Price & Identification Guide presents more than 2,000 items known in antique collector circles as "homefront collectibles" originally produced in the United States to bolster civilian moral during the years of World War II. Profusely illustrated with 600 photos (including a section of full-color photography), World War II Homefront Collectibles is a unique, invaluable aid and guide for both beginner and experienced collectors and dealers. From jewelry, postcards, movie posters, and matchbooks, to toys, games, trading cards, and anti-Axis memorabilia, this definitive, authoritative, reliable, highly recommended guide is an essential addition to any personal, professional, or community library antiques/collectibles reference book collection. Send for the free Krause Publications catalog for a complete listing of fine antique/collectible price guide titles.

OUR GREATEST GENERATION SPEAKS...........2000-04-15

Tom Brokav said it all in his best selling novel, The Greatest Generation: "The World War II Victory era from 1941-1945 will undoubtably be forever known as the 'Greatest Generation' in America history! My book is a visual journey into the most humerous, often outlandish, and fascinating World War II collectibles ever assembled.206 pages.Over 2000 listings, 600 wonderful detailed photos,chapter biographies,with a price and identification guide for each collectible. Chapters include: V for Victory, Remember Pearl Harbor, Patriotics, Civilian Defense, Anti-Axis, and Wartime Kids. Homefront hobbyists as well as collectors of Americana will treasure this book.

A Treasure Trove of WW II Homefront Collectibles !.......2000-04-08

Great, new 208 page volume with over 600 black and white and more than 60 full color photos. Covers homefront items ranging from: arcade pin-up postcards, greeting cards, matchbooks and POW, to stationery, comics, gum cards and toys. Numerous paper items are shown. Each major chapter includes an interesting and informative introduction to the topic. Values are provided. An outstanding compilation of a variety of collectibles, providing insight into life in the U.S. during WWII that will be of interest to people of all ages.

Average customer rating:

A Universal theme
Homefront
Highly Recommended
Enjoyable and moving
Unpredictable, and not just for the military wife.

Homefront
Kristen Tsetsi
Manufacturer: Penxhere Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0615139906

Book Description

Homefront explores the uncomfortable truths of a deployment: jealousy, selfishness, joy, anger, and abject fear. Through the interactions between the book's true-to-life characters (Mia, the professor-turned- cabdriver whose boyfriend deploys to Iraq; Jake, the boyfriend; Olivia, Jake's mother; Denise, a disgruntled soldier's wife and friend to Mia; Donny Donaldson, an alcoholic, maybe-Vietnam veteran and Mia's cab fare), Homefront reveals the unexpected beauty to be found hiding in the torture of waiting as each character responds to the war in his or her own unique, and painfully intimate, way.

Customer Reviews:

A Universal theme.......2007-09-05

Kristen has written something that is at once female and universal. The book is about a young couple, the boyfriend Jake is in the Army and gets deployed to Iraq, the girlfriend Mia is left to wait for him to complete his tour of duty. They're not kids, they're mid twenties, have been living together a couple years, want to get married. She's left behind basically, and has to rely on news reports and bulletins to know if he's been killed or not. And I think this is where the universality comes in, how we send our young men into firefights on the other side of the world for the lamest of reasons, then while they are living 24/7 getting shot at, mortared, bombed, strafed, beheaded, tortured, we're here catching maybe thirty minutes a day of reports, mixed in with the news about Brangelina or Brittany or Republicans cruising men's restrooms.

The absurdity is captured perfectly. The characters all through the book are real, they breathe
right off the page. And the mood of the times we live in is right there, told from the point of view of someone with 100% sympathy for the troops, even if not for this stupid war. That's why I loved this book.

Homefront.......2007-08-23

Great book.Gives the insight of what family members go through when their loved ones are at war.

Highly Recommended.......2007-08-15

While a few have read this wonderful book already, it is my hope that it will one day reach a much larger population: a population, and the recognition, that it so deserves. Other reviews have captured the essence of this book, and it couldn't be more deserving of all the "5 star" ratings it has received. As a soldier, and Army Veteran who served in Afghanistan shortly after 9/11, it's easy to see the complete relevance that this book has in accurately depicting the many emotions that those, on the "Homefront", experience day-in and day-out. The wide range of emotion experienced is captured beautifully and make this a true masterpiece that I hope many will read, and enjoy. Even still, to say that it is only limited to military and military supporters back home, would be quite unfair. It's story, and message, is one that a great percentage of the American Population (at the very least), SHOULD read and try their hardest to understand.

Enjoyable and moving.......2007-07-23

Occasionally, a book comes along that you know you will want to share before you've finished the read. Homefront is such a book. Drawn in from page one, I stayed mesmerized, needing to know how Mia survives her own emotional battles after Jake (her boyfriend) leaves for Iraq. The author has given us a character full of depth; opening her life, sharing her fears, and making us care. And in the end, allowed me some small bit of insight in to what my mother must have faced when my dad was off at war.

Unpredictable, and not just for the military wife........2007-07-23

I started to read "Homefront" late at night, before I slept, and the next morning when I woke I didn't leave my bed until it was finished. My own life was on hold as I followed the life of a young woman whose boyfriend deploys to Iraq. Even though I am nothing like the main character, Mia, I FELT what she was going through. I am a military spouse and spent many hours of my own watching CNN live coverage and chewing the nubs that I called my fingers whenever a convoy was attacked. So often, when we see the people whose lives are entwined with those of the deployed Armed Forces, we think they are amazingly strong to endure such separation. They are, they are strong, but they're also weak at times. Sometimes, beneath their public face they pout and curse and weep. In a shameful moment, they may imagine life without the beloved face they kissed so many months ago. Mia's unseen life is fascinating and the people she sort of...finds herself with are about as mismatched as they can be-another frequent reality of military families. Her story is all about the little moments; the events taking place are merely a vehicle to take you to her innermost thoughts. Kristen Tsetsi is an amazing writer, the words in her story placed like the sometimes bold, other times faint and whispering strokes on a painted canvas. Her timing plays havoc with your senses. She doesn't give you what's expected at all. Loved this book!

Remembering You (Faith on the Homefront #3)

Average customer rating:

Love it!
This was the best book in the trilogy
such an insprational book!

Remembering You (Faith on the Homefront #3)
Penelope J. Stokes
Manufacturer: Tyndale House Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Romance | Fiction | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Regency | Historical | Romance | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0842308571

Book Description

In this moving conclusion to the Faith on the Home Front series, Owen Slaughter returns from the battlefields of Europe to Eden, Mississippi, to keep a promise made to the dying Charlie Coltrain. Charlie's sister, Willie, is overjoyed that Owen is alive but heartsick that his amnesia means that he doesn't remember her--or the love they shared. When Owen decides to leave Eden to rediscover his past, Willie must put her future in the hands of a loving, all-knowing God. When Owen returns--if he returns at all--she prays it will be out of love for her, and not some misguided sense of duty.

Customer Reviews:

Love it!.......2007-08-01

I loved this whole series, I didn't know if I would because I never liked history in school, but I really loved it, I have read everything Penelope has written and this was great. It was down to earth and you really just fall in love with the characters.

This was the best book in the trilogy.......2003-08-28

I love WWII romances, but I love even more seeing how they make those romances work in every day life after the war. They deal with injuries, disabilities, and hard memories. They make it work and they learn to love each other more all to God's glory. You have to read it - now!

such an insprational book!.......2000-04-15

This book follows up the other two very well and has all the romance and magic, maybe more, from the first two in the trilogy. I LOVED IT! I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about true love and god's love all in one. What a combo!

Average customer rating:

Domesticated Tough Guys Are A Losing Proposition
Much less than great
Even better
Could not put this book down!!
Great Thriller

Homefront
Chuck Logan
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: B000EMSZBA

Amazon.com

Nina Pryce, one of a select few women attached to the Army's elite Delta Force, is on an extended medical leave, recovering from a firefight with a terrorist that claimed the lives of two teammates and left her badly injured. While her body has begun to heal, her psychic wounds are still raw; unable to care for her daughter, repair the damage to her marriage, or face the fact that her military career is over, she and her family take refuge in a remote Minnesota town. But trouble seems to follow in her wake, and what begins as a schoolyard fight between her daughter and a bullying classmate soon escalates into a terrifying standoff with a clan of backwoods methamphetamine "cookers" and a hitman bent on revenge against Nina's husband Phil Broker, a former undercover cop. Logan expertly balances the tough and the tender, as Broker attempts to nurse his wife back to health, protect eight-year-old Kit from the effects of her mother's post-traumatic depression, and guard those he loves from the legacy of his own violent past. Logan's solid pacing, strong narrative drive, and expert rendering of two complex characters whose unusual relationship is as fascinting as they are make this sixth title in an excellent series a standout guaranteed to keep the reader's attention riveted until the last page. --Jane Adams

Download Description

It never occurred to Phil Broker and Nina Pryce -- still recovering from their life-and-death struggle with a demented terrorist -- that a minor school-yard tussle could lead to this.

In the winter backlands of Glacier Falls, Minnesota, nobody knows a thing about the crucial roles Broker and Nina played months earlier in averting an act of terrorism. Nor does anyone know about the damage -- both physical and psychological -- that Nina, especially, suffered as a consequence. This is why they'd moved here in the first place: for anonymity, calm, and the restorative powers of a remote landscape. Also for the chance, maybe, to become a family again. Broker tells himself that if they just keep a low profile, stay out of trouble, and tend to their wounds, everything will work out fine.

But it doesn't take much to set off an avalanche, and one is triggered for them when a school-yard bully picks a fight with the wrong third-grade girl: Phil and Nina's daughter, Kit. She humiliates Teddy Klumpe, and so too Klumpe's parents, by giving him a bloody nose -- and thereby puts the Broker household in the crosshairs of a vengeful local clan notorious for violence and criminal behavior.

Suddenly little things start happening -- a flat tire, footprints in the snow, garbage spilled across the driveway. Did Broker leave the door unlocked? Or was somebody in the house when he and Kit were out cross-country skiing?

Broker copes as best as he can -- monitoring Nina's mood swings, running interference for Kit at school, and keeping a wary eye out for whoever's engaging in the small-time guerrilla warfare, which grows increasingly malevolent. When his daughter's kitten disappears, though, he begins to fear for his family's safety. But Glacier Falls' tiny police force is already stretched too thin, battling the scourge of methamphetamine that has extended even to this rural outpost.

That's when the ghosts of Broker's past begin reappearing -- question is, to haunt or to help? The good news is that Harry Griffin, whom Broker served with in Vietnam thirty years earlier, advises him on how to deal with the locals -- and so an old friendship is reaffirmed.

But the bad news is really, really bad. An ex-con named Gator Bodine (another Klumpe relative) discovers Broker's role, long ago, in an undercover drug sting that resulted in the death of a mobster's son. Seeking advantage in his own criminal endeavors, he gives Broker up to the mobster, who dispatches a hit man to confirm that Gator's info is accurate -- and, if it is, to exact vengeance on Broker and his family.

Customer Reviews:

Domesticated Tough Guys Are A Losing Proposition.......2007-03-20

This is the second book by Chuck Logan I've read, and sadly it will be my last. I had much the same reaction to this work as I did "Absolute Zero"; that is it was what I would call literary. Problem for me is, literary often equates to boring. I wouldn't call this book a thriller so much as a "cozy" with a little attitude. It's not terrible by any means, just not my personal cup of tea. If you're looking for a real thriller, look elsewhere. Try John Sanford, Stephen Hunter, Rober Crais or Michael Connelly. They all write intelligent thrillers that have deeply human charachters and are actually thrilling.

Much less than great.......2006-07-28

Wow! I am suprised to see all of the 5 stars! I did not find this book interesting in the least. Quite the opposite of a quick read as it took me 1 year with a couple of good action-packed books in between. Boring, actually. Mixed with unrelated side tracked stories, the plot was weak. It sounds like the story of Nena in special ops would be the readable. One great line on page 214 about the professional eaters at the County Buffet makes me give it 1 star. Otherwise, not so many.

Even better.......2006-07-06

Just when I thought Chuck Logan couldn't surpass previous efforts, he changes gears and gives us Homefront. The only weakness of the work is the unusual number of typos in the paperback version, the publisher obviously needs to work with their copy editors on this. As for the content, as a John Sanford fan, I can say that I look forward to Churck Logan's masterpieces more than any other author's. Not only are his characters frighteningly compelling and real, but he provides an impeccably accurate depiction of northern Minnesotan topography, culture, and life, which is a real treat for the many displaced Minnesotans imprisoned in horrid cities on one of the coasts (like myself!). As for Homefront, while Phil Broker offers only a few surprises, the real star of the show is his young daughter Kit, whose candid inquisitiveness should bring a smile to every face. Mr. Logan, keep the books in this series going - today, no one writes a better thriller than you, and the Broker-Pryce team is hard to beat.

Could not put this book down!!.......2006-03-24

Logan takes suspence to a new arena. One of the most intriging books I have read in quite some time. A real pleasure....

Great Thriller.......2005-10-30

This latest Broker/Pryce adventure finds them in Northern Minnesota, with Nina recovering from her physical and mental problems while Broker deals with a nasty local bad guy is all out for revenge. The bad guys are really bad and Broker has his hands full taking care of Nina and dealing with some wierd locals. This is one of those stories that keeps you reading page after page to find out how things turn out. Quick reading, highly recommended.

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