The rare photos enhance the story in this fine book, One Championship Season. Mr. Van Lindt gives credit where credit is due when he gives the reader insight to the building of the St. Louis Browns franchise. Excellent read.

THIS IS A VERY GOOD READ. THE ONLY BAD THING I FOUND WITH THIS WAS THAT IT WAS NOT LONG ENOUGH. IT IS PRESENTED IN A VERY DETAILED, HISTORIC, AND WELL RESEARCHED VERSION. IT IS FIRST A HISTORY OF THE YEAR BY YEAR DISAPPOIMENTS THIS FRANCHISE WENT THROUGH. THEN IT IS A DAY BY DAY TELLING OF THAT ONE GREAT SEASON. IT IS IN THIS DAY BY DAY RERELLING THAT THIS BOOK REALLY STANDS OUT. IT ALSO HAS GREAT PHOTOS THAT REALLY STAND OUT AND HELP BRING THE STORY COME TOGETHER. A MUST READ FOR NOSALGIA AND FANS OF ST LOUIS.

The first reviewer, Shari Just, has captured perfectly the quality, scope and value of Lear's biography. If you have ever wondered "can one person make a difference" this is the proof. A readable blend of history, place, people and events describing a modest scientist that loved to communicate scientific findings to a wider audience.

Lear's detailed biography offers an unmatched look at Carson's personal and professional life. This book takes the reader behind the scenes of Rachel Carson's brilliant works in order to demonstrate the difficulties that dogged her every day existance. Lear chronicles Carson's personal perservance and dedication to the environmental cause in an immensely readable format. A wonderful and inspiring book to read!

As unlikely as the link may seem, Cairan Carson is to Belfast and traditional Irish music what Nathanial Mackey is to California and jazz.

Carson's memoire of life as an adolescent in Belfast is ripe ground for etymological meanderings in an out of English and Irish. He dally's with Catholic dogma and sources whose only connective thread is his passing interest in them.

The Star Factory is an internal play of language, image and memory that gives spunk to the genre and good craic to the reader.

I was led to this book via Partickane's list of contemporary Irish literature on .... Partially a memoir, partially a meditation on language and history, and not quite like anything I have ever read before. Carson's prose style is lyrical, melodic and absolutely engaging without being in the least showy.

well researched book good biography. hope to see more detailed book on the same subject. craigavon should also be researched to see his important part in the crisus

A.T.Q. Stewart established his well deserved reputation as an objective, erudite scholar with this small book. Unlike many academic historians however,he also writes well. He treats his subject not as a sounding board for a trendy, modern "ism", but instead as an objective event in the past. He examines not only what happened, but why it happened. This volume examines the rise of Ulster Loyalist resistance to Irish Nationalist "Home Rule", which the Northern Irish Loyalists rightly saw as the short road to independence for Ireland from the Empire. Their threatened armed "rebellion" against the British government so as to (ironically) achieve their aim of remaining British, ultimately set in motion the events of 1916 and later 1968/69, which sadly continue up to this very evening. Stewart treats his subject dispassionatly and with great insight and detail. At the same time Stewart describes events almost as a jounalist would have done. One can almost see the gun runners unloading the rifles off the docks in the darkness from his narration. Ultimately, he also describes how the participants faired. The nascent U.V.F. marched off to meet their doom on the Somme. The peaceful Nationalists were ultimately politically outflanked by Sinn Fein who revolted in 1916, a mere six weeks before their counterparts went over the top in Flanders. The British Officers who threatened to resign at Curragh Barracks rather than enforce what they saw as an unpatriotic law, lost not only their lives but their world. In short, if you are interested in this aspect of British history, this is a book well worth having.

Wilma's two best friends move away and she spends three miserable years in middle school unable to make new friends. The poplular kids ignore her and she avoids the other unpopular ones. When a language arts teacher reads her "Secret Life" essay aloud (she speaks as her dog)things only get worse. Upon giving her seat to an old woman on the N.Y. subway, the woman allows Wilma to make a wish. Wilma's wish is to be the most popular girl in school. Unfortunetly, graduation is three weeks away and school will be over. Will her new friends still like her? Will Jared, her new beau still want to be her boyfriend? This book is ideal for the pre-teen girl looking for a story about friendship or one just becoming interested in boys. We learn what it is like to be popular and unpopular. It has a fairy tale essence although Wilma never actually changes. The wish only affects how others perceive her. Fans of Ella Enchanted and the Princess Tales will enjoy this too.

The Wish is one of the best books I've have had the pleasure of reading. This is the second book I've read by Levine. This book has an important message geared towards teenagers. She gives a very interesting description of what it's like to be a loner. I LOVED this book and have re-read it many times. This book has encouraged me to read other books that she has written. Although, I do believe that this will ALWAYS be my favorite book.
Here's my summary of the book:
Wilma Sturtz is an 8th grade loner at Claverford Jr. High. One day she gives up her seat on a bus to a strange old lady. The old lady rewards her by giving Wilma one wish. Wilma wishes that she can be the most popular kid at Claverford, and the minute she walks into school *POOF* instant popularity. Over the course of time she gains new friends, a boyfriend, and a date to the school dance. But how long will it last?
Do you expect me to tell you everything? Sorry read the Wish to find out the rest. I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!

I was a little scared to read this book, but the moment I started reading it I couldn't put it down!!! And I really mean it. I started reading it at 12:00AM and I would have kept going till I was finished,but my dad noticed my bedroom light was on and told me to go to sleep cause it was really late. Anyways this story is very cute, Gail has a way of creating likable and very relateable characters in her books. In her fairy tales like Ella Enchanted and the series of Princess stories. This is Gails first Original story since Dave at Night another great book, based on a true story. This is a Tale about a girl named Wilma who meets an old lady on the Subway in NYC and decides she looks so feeble she might topple over and get hurt so she gives up her seat for the women. And the woman grants her a wish of course like Wilma believed it. At first it didn't take affect, but once Wilma entered school she was the most popular girl there. In this book it simulates what being a teen is really like. Not feeling comfortable in your own skin, being insecure, wanting to be in the in crowd,and shunning those who are'nt. Wilma lost all her friends and she was lonely everyone ignored her and soon after something in school they not only ignored her but she was constently ridiculed by her fellow peers. This is a story anybody can relate to. Except someone who hasn't reached middle school yet. Although at sometimes it get's a little cheezy that doesn't spoil the solid story. I dunno what other people are saying about this book because I haven't read the other reviews yet, but if there are bad ones which I'm sure their are since not everybody likes everything. Don't listen to them give this book a chance go to the library and check it out today!!! And *enjoy*!!!

God Bless ~Amy

Carson Mccullers was a writer who had a confused, dramatic personal life, from a psychological as well as physical perspective. The feelings of alienation and suffering were prevalent in her life and had a direct influence on her writing. "The Ballad of the Sad Café" is a direct reflection of her personal suffering.
The story could be categorized as simple and to a certain extent grotesque, centred around three main characters: Amelia Evans, her cousing Lymon, and ill-natured Marvin Macy, all of them eccentric individuals. The setting is a small town alienated in time and space. McCullers writings should be interpreted in an allegorical way. In this particular story she deals with her pessimistic outlook on the nature of love, which according to her is bound to bring tragedy (as much as her own love life was involved in failure).
The story abounds on symbolisms and metaphors. Many of her stories are set in the American South and she addresses, in a beautiful allegorical way, the reality of racial bias (in the case of "The Ballad of the Sad Café" she uses the song of the chain-gang men).
Despite this expressionistic stage, the reader cannot help feeling empathy for the characters and their drama, which is exactly what McCulleres is willing to achieve through her writings. Highly criticized as well as praised by her contemporaries, McCullers has been somehow forgotten. Many certainly have watched the film "The Heart is a lonely Hunter" but few remember her as the creator of such a beautiful and touching story.

Carson McCullers, Ballad of the Sad Cafe was an extremely amazing tail. I read this book for an english class and I came to the conclusion that this story was not about love, but deception. Look closely at the way Lymon grew so attached to Marvin so quickly, and how at the end of the fight Lymon ruined the action. All signs point toward a definte duo of trash when it comes to Lymon and Marvin. The biggest kicker of them all is the end of the story with the prison men on the side of the road.

McCullers' captures the essence and delicacies of love in "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe." Three highly unusual lovers attempt to understand their feelings and desires. Each lover becomes a beloved and nothing seems to work positively. But look more closely: The real lover is the unidentified narrator, who painfully (as experienced by a lover) tells the story. The other stories included in the book magnify and enhance McCullers' universal concept of love and the loneliness and isolation of every lover. This is truly a book to read and enjoy. Then, think about it!

The more Dickens I read, the more impressed I become at his skill as a writer. No matter the form, be it short, long, or a monolith like some of his best works, Dickens excels at changing his style of characterization and plot to fit whatever mode he writes in. "A Tale of Two Cities" is one of his shorter novels, and he manages to make the most of out of the allotted space. The compression of the narrative sacrifices Dickens's accustomed character development for plot and overall effect, but what we get is still phenomenal.

"A Tale of Two Cities" begins in 1775, with Mr. Lorry, a respectable London banker, meeting Lucie Manette in Paris, where they recover Lucie's father, a doctor, and mentally enfeebled by an unjust and prolonged imprisonment in the Bastille. This assemblage, on their journey back to England, meets Charles Darnay, an immigrant to England from France who makes frequent trips between London and Paris. Upon their return to England, Darnay finds himself on trial for spying for France and in league with American revolutionaries. His attorney, Stryver, and Stryver's obviously intelligent, if morally corrupt and debauched, assistant, Sydney Carton, manage to get Darnay exonerated of the charges against him. Darnay, a self-exiled former French aristocrat, finds himself compelled to return to France in the wake of the French Revolution, drawing all those around him into a dangerous scene.

Dickens portrays the French Revolution simplistically, but powerfully, as a case of downtrodden peasants exacting a harsh revenge against an uncaring aristocratic, even feudal, system. The Defarge's, a wine merchant and his wife, represent the interests of the lower classes, clouded by hatred after generations of misuse. Darnay, affiliated by birth with the French aristocracy, is torn between sympathy for his native country in its suffering, and his desire to be free of his past.

"A Tale of Two Cities" is a novel driven by historical circumstance and plot, much like the works of Sir Walter Scott, wherein the characters themselves assert less agency, finding themselves forced to deal with the tide of epic events. Richard Maxwell's introduction to this newest Penguin edition does a good job outlining the themes of doubling and literary influence that Dickens works with. One specific influence I discerned in reading "A Tale" that Maxwell doesn't metion is Edmund Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in France," which if nothing else, gives the feeling that the rampant violence of the early revolution and the later Reign of Terror has brought about an irreversible change in human nature. While Dickens remains cautiously optimistic throughout the novel that France can recover, the tone of the novel speaks to the regression of humanity into a more feral, primal state, rather than advertise any real hope for its enlightened progress.

Despite the supposed dichotomy between England and France in the novel, Dickens seems to suggest throughout that there are no real differences, due to the way that human nature is consistently portrayed. With England in between two revolutions, American and French, Lucie's sensitivity early in the novel to hearing the "echoing" footsteps of unseen multitudes indicates a palpable fear that the "idyllic" or "pastoral" England he tries to portray is not exempt from the social discontent of America or France. In this light, stolid English characters like Miss Pross, Jerry Cruncher, and Jarvis Lorry appear to almost overcompensate in their loyalty to British royalty. In a novel that deals with death, religion, mental illness, I could go on and on for a week, but I won't. One of those novels whose famous first and last lines are fixed in the minds of people who've never even read it, "A Tale of Two Cities" demands to be read and admired.

Love, betrayal, drama, and suspense, the makers of a great novel, are all found in Charles Dickens', A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens not only sets a great foundation for the novel but he also builds an illustrious story with great detail. His creativity explodes in this book.

The book is set in the time before and during the French Revolution. It is about the experiences of two French families and how those experiences later collide with their future. Their experiences not only create a great fictional story but they also dipict the true horrors that occured in France at that time.

Dickens makes the plot very interesting because he incorporates fiction and historical facts and events. For example in the storming of the Bastille scene, he brings to life an actual event and adds the fiction of what the peasants found in Dr. Manette's cell and the inside look on how they may have felt. Two other examples include the scenes where the revolutionaries kill the king and queen of France and the many times they use the guillotine. They demonstrate this mixture because they're true events yet, Dickens adds fictional characters and the feelings and emotions the people might have had.

Another great touch that Dickens adds is all the detail. Although at times it is rather long it helps to make a clear picture in the mind of what is going on. One such example where he does this is when he describes fate and death. He makes two rather hard to picture objects visible in the mind as the Farmer and the Woodsman. Another example of his great use of detail is when he describes Mr. Lorry's trip down the Dover mail. His description gives the feeling of actually being there. These are just two but there are numerous of other examples.

One more thing that made this novel fascinating was how Dickens reveals bits and pieces of the plot mixed together, but then ties every piece together at the end. For example he dipicts the Marquis' cruelness first and does not explain his involvement right away. However, by the end he turns out to be a key character. He also does that with the character of Dr. Manette. He introduces the character but leaves the suspense of that character's involvement until later. The suspense keeps the interest in the novel going. Dickens details, mixture of fact with fiction, and suspense makes the novel a extremely enjoyable book. After reading this book a clear understanding is achieved of why Charles Dickens is such a renowned author. A Tale of Two Cities is a unique and fascinating story which is why it is a must for anyone's bookself.

Even after many centuries, a classic novel can still be read, understood and charm a wide audience. For it teaches the reader about life and death, society and history through a magnificent story. "A Tale of Two Cities", written in 1859, is one of those classics.

This magnificent story begins a year before the American Independence and several years before the French Revolution. As only Dickens can, he breathes life into the most bizarre, comical and memorable characters... such as Madame Defarge, Miss Pross, Jerry Cruncher and a slew of others. But in the midst of these people, the light shines on the few characters on which the story hence revolves. About Lucie Manette who has a true and beautiful heart that affects everyone around her and her aristocratic husband Charles Darnay, an ambitious man of French blood. Dr. Manette who after surviving 18 years in jail overcomes his weakness to rescue another. The light shines strongly upon Sydney Carton... a man who doesn't seem very redeemable in the beginning but who has a heart of gold who is capable of the greatest sacrifice of all for the woman he loves. It is these people whom Dickens chose to give life to during the grim and bloody French Revolution.

This novel is one of my most favorite of Dickens' novels. The hero and the heroine are rather complex and admirable characters. However, they are not necessarily the ones that win the sympathy and the heart of the reader... but suprisingly (and pleasantly) to the most unexpected of Dickens' character. On another note, the novel starts with a famous and recognizable opening line, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." and ends with a very memorable line, "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." To which I give great credit to the novel by Mr. Dickens.

Levine relays the story of Sleeping Beauty with humor, styleand wit. As in her other fairy tale retellings, the heroine has bothbeauty and brains, and attempts to take charge of her own destiny. Further plot twists include a know-it-all princess, a dimwitted suitor, and an explanation for why fairies are no longer invited to naming ceremonies to bestow gifts. Charming illustrations reminiscent of Lang's fairy books add to the text and extend the story. The novel is attractively packaged in a non-standard size format with delicate scrollwork, regal gold lettering, and soft colors decorating a book jacket fit for royalty. Although the story isn't as strong as Levine's Newbery-award-winning "Ella Enchanted," fairy tale fans will enjoy both this title and her retelling of the Princess and the Pea, "The Princess Test."

I loved Ella Enchanted so I was glad to find Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep. I really like the twists Gail Carson Levine puts on the traditional fairy tales. The book is interesting because it explains Princess Sonora's life before she falls asleep. She's like a real person even though it is a fairy tale. She doesn't just sit around and let things happen to her. She takes charge of her life so she can live happily ever after on her own terms. I haven't read the other Princess Tales but after reading this book I will be sure to.

The book I reviewed was Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep by Gail Carson Levine. My favorite part was when Princess Sonora falls asleep for a hundred years. It is really cool how she is still alive while she sleeps for so long.. My favorite character is Princess Sonora. I would recommend this book to a friend who likes fantasy stories. There was a very funny part in the story when the sheep come around and the whole world goes bald. While I was reading this book it felt like I was actually in the story. I would give this book five stars.

D.A Carson's book, and overall I think that it is an important book for a thinking Christian to be familiar with.

Overall, I would say that Carson brings forth some great points and thoughts about how the church should react in a post-modern pluralistic world.

The book itself is not exactly bedtime reading, nor does it claim to be. I agree that some of his chapters do tend to go into tangents and some of them could have been written in a LOT fewer words.

I don't know it it was Carson's intent or the fact that my classmates and I discussed the book extensively in class, but Gagging is a book that will at least make the reader ponder a vast range of topics. I've used some of Carson's ideas to start conversations with Christians and non-Christians and as catalyst for some of my thought process regarding ministry.

It is not an evangelistic book per se, but it provides a good framework and mindset for evangelism in a pluralistic age.

Overall, I would recommend the book with few reservations, knowing that Carson's style and writing may not be for everybody.

An earlier reviewer claims that Carson should change the so-called offensive title of this book. It is intended to offend, but the reviewer who said this doesn't seem to have bothered to read the preface to know what the title really is getting at.

The title has a two-fold meaning. On one level, it is talking about how contemporary pluralistic thinking gags God. If truth is impossible to communicate, how can God speak? I'm not sure this should be offensive to a postmodernist. Their whole goal is to deconstruct religious thinking so God can't be said to speak to us anymore.

However, the truly offensive aspect of the title is the more profound meaning. Much of what Carson does in this book is to show how Christians have been gagging God by reacting to pluralism in wholly inappropriate and unbiblical ways. Someone who has digested his analysis in a self-evaluating way cannot miss that. The title is supposed to be offensive to Christians because Christians are the people who should know better. Because of that, the title is not quite a very clever pun but something in that area.

D.A. Carson has given us the most detailed and helpful work on Postmodernism to date. This should be a textbook of every pastor, elder, deacon and layperson in seeking to minister to those who have lost (or never had) an understanding of TRUTH. Carson's patient attention to detail in this book shows that he has a real passion for ministering to those who are drowning in a sea of subjectivism and pluralism in this postmodern era. Highly recommended reading.

I thought this book was truly distressing, yet eye-opening as well. It showed how difficult the lives of outcasts can be. All characters that struggled in this book were outcasts in their own right. All of this rejection makes me realize just how fortunate I am to live with all the advantages of being a physically-abled, white male. To not have to struggle with the basic means of communication like the people in the novel did has never been granted as such a relief than when I finished reading this book. I never have felt so guilty about feeling lonely because I learned in this book what true loneliness is: rejection by the people you are trying to help. I was also shown what true depression is: the death of a dream due to circumstances that you cannot control. Carson McCullers showed the hardships of life by the underpriveliged in a way that cannot be ignored. Though the book lacked action, it made up for it in emotion. However, at times I felt the book stalled where action could have been used. Yes, I am a college student and though at times I did find it boring, I think Carson McCullers truly wrote a compelling novel.

This is one book where the reader cannot but help to become emotionally involved in the lives of the characters that, at the time of its writing, the twenty-three year old Carson McCullers detailed with such enigmatic and poignant care. It is a very emotionally draining expeience as Carson takes the reader on a journey of the depths of the human soul. She examines social prejudices through the eyes of a mute deaf named Singer, a young dreamer named Mick Kelly, a loud mouth drunken Marxist named Jake Blount, a tavern operator with a sullen heart named Biff Brannon, and a African-American Doctor known as Dr. Copeland who is both an activist and learned man. This is an extremely active story with subplots that interweave with poetic grace and styling. the setting is a small southern town in the post-depression era. The young McCullers wrote this without overexaming the social problems of the time. She lays the groundwork and lets the reader form his or her own opinions about the social situations affecting each of the main characters. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is a fascinating novel, depicting the hardships of life of a small southern town without purging itself on social stylings and prose. A must read for fans of classic American prose.

I'm a teenager who read this book as part of an English assignment and about 15 minutes ago finished this book while strewn across the chair with tears streaming down my face.
It is har to find books that truly reach inside you and shake you up, but when you do, it's like visiting with a long lost friend.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is one of those books. It is about a small southern town and all the people that exist in it. Exist isn't quite the right word though, it is more like they are standing on the outside looking in. Each character- Mick, Jake Blount, the doctor, Mr. Brannon, are hopelessly lost and the truth is just out of their grasp. They each have a piece missing and seek to fill it with drinking, sex, music, or just hiding from their problems. I find it ironic that the only one they can tell their problems to is the deaf-mute, Mr. Singer, for he is the only one that listens.
It was so real in some places that I was amazed that someone didn't read my mind, such as when Mick was talking about entering the "inside place" where music existed.
This book and its story will surely stay in my mind and haunt me for a long while.