This was my introduction to Mary Wesley. I liked this book very much and I intend to read Wesley's other books. A Dubious Legacy kept my interest, my attention and was responsible for the discreet smile I presented throughout its reading. For, indeed, the doings of three couples through several decades in mid 20th century -- the subject under scrutiny in this comedy of manners -- was portrayed with humorous detachment and unwavering perspicacity. Ms Wesley is very good at placing her characters within the axioms of each decade's mores and develops insightful cameos of each era's preoccupations.
This is a short novel, a succinct book, developed in a fast tempo, keeping all along a mystery we hope to unveil. The central characters look at first as banal as they can be, but soon we realize appearances are misleading. These six upper middle class friends in the English country side are the source of great social commentary made by an ironic and warm narrator, a painter as it were, using few incisive strokes. The result is great fun and speedy reading, a book which I would recommend to anyone wishing to be intrigued and entertained.

A Dubious Legacy is the second book written by Mary Wesley that I have read, and her writing entrances me. This book spans the period of 1944 through 1990 and focuses on the lives of the participants at what appears to be a straightforward dinner party. As the evening progresses, unexpected and unusual things occur. The book goes on to tell the story of the effect these events have on the lives of those present at this dinner party.

By slowly telling the story, uncovering information bit by bit, the writer creates a feeling of suspense. I was reluctant to put the book down, and felt slightly uneasy until I was able to finish it. I enjoyed the unusual characters the writer was able to create and felt that they were right at home in the setting of this novel. Mary Wesley also allows the reader to feel that they intimately know the characters by the end of the story. Somehow she is able to accomplish this with a minimal amount of detail.

I totally enjoyed this book and I have no qualms about recommending it to readers who enjoy the genre of comedy of manners. I am eager to read other books written by this author.

Captain Paul Baron is traumatized by the fact that he
killed his own brother in the Civil War. Assigned to a Fort in
the Dakota Territory, he drowns his sorrows in whiskey, and while
impaired is captured by Sioux warriors. Although the warriors
want to kill him, a widow named Yellow Leaf claims Baron as a
replacement for her elder son.
The captain reluctantly becomes part of the community,
taking the name Swift Warrior and eventually thriving in his new
life. His interpreter and instructor in the Lakota language is
Hope, whose white father abandoned her and her Sioux mother many
years ago.
Eagle Dancer is told in two parts. Part One deals with
Baron's struggle to forgive himself and to face life. Although
the attraction between Baron and Hope is present, they do not act
on their feelings until the end of Part One. Ms. Scott's
extensive research into the Sioux and the psychology of war
veterans is evident in this story. The scenes of Baron adapting
to life with the Sioux have a mystical quality, transporting the
reader to another world. These scenes steal the show, and the
romance takes second place.

Union Captain Paul Baron entered the military with plans to become a lifetime soldier expecting to serve out west when the war eventually ends. On the last day of the Civil War, Paul kills a rebel sniper. However, when he sees his victim, Paul's soul feels as if it has just been sucked out of his body. Stunned, he wants his honorable discharge immediately, but his commanding officer 'persuades' him to remain with the Army by helping Paul turn into an alcoholic.

Out west, Paul is the lone military survivor of a battle with the Lakota. He is taken prisoner and welcomes the chance to die. However, the Indian Hope lives up to her name as through her, Paul meets depressed Yellow Leaf, whose son recently died. Yellow Leaf adopts Paul and through these two Lakota women, Paul begins to reclaim his life, but has doubts about spending eternity as an Indian even if he loves his two saviors, one as a mother and the other as his soul mate.

Theresa Scott has written her best novel to date with the exciting Reconstruction Era tale, EAGLE DANCER. The story line is deep as the Lakota and White ways of life conflict especially through Paul. The lead male character is three dimensional as the audience can feel his angst over that final killing that haunts his essence. Hope has her own internal disunity to deal with especially her love for the former enemy of her people. Fans of absorbing historical romances starring strong characters from different lifestyles will find Ms. Scott's strong story simply stupendous.

Harriet Klausner

As I settled down to read about a little known period of history--the Byzantine Empire and Otto II--I purred with anticipation. The characters are well rounded. The story plot is solid. But missing is the breath of focus, the width of historical sweep that we readers of historical fiction have come to expect from other historical authors likes Margaret George and Mary Stewart. There are good heavy doses of minute period detail, yet they lack the ricness we want to feel. It seems to be written for someone already familiar with the period and tale. Not bad, but not great.

Judith Tarr has written another brilliant book! This rich tapestry of a story covers the shaky Roman Empire in the West and the Bzyantine Empire in the East. Good storyline, setting, charactors. A book I highly recommend to anyone who adores historical fiction and shuge sweeping novels.

This book is continued and I would like very much to find the next book in this series.I liked the book very much. Diferent. Doyce Watkins

I bought this book at an "used books-store" and thought it would be a simpel novelette. But I started reading.. And loved it. It's a story about an impossible love between two young people and I would love to know how it finishes. Could someone please tell me? In Holland, they can't find the title of the book that continues the story!

The premise of Mitcham's book is clear and simple: the Luftwaffe lost the war because of human failure, not due to technological failure. As he states the purpose of the book is to look at the men behind the airplanes, it's leaders, pilots et cetera.

Mitcham fulfills his desired premise by focuses on the actions and decisions of key personnel in the Luftwaffe and how their ideas, successes and failures aided or hampered the Luftwaffe.

The book follows the chronology of the war by discussing the secret build up of the air force, it's testing opportunity in Spain, through the Blitzkreig years and through the years of defeat.

It is interesting to learn that a good portion of the men of the Luftwaffe transferred from the Army, which goes far to explain why the Luftwaffe was increasingly a tactical army support air force rather than a strategic one. However, as Mitcham reveals, there were a few key men in the Luftwaffe who did argue for the creation of strategic airforce but due to circumstances of war, lack of resources and the deaths of the proponents of the strategic concept this was not to be.

The book as a number of useful appendices including a German-US Air Force rank equivalent chart, a glossary, and a directory of the Luftwaffe's primary aircraft. However, the later has no pictures or even simple line drawings of the aircraft which would have been more useful.

The most useful appendix is a mini-directory of important Luftwaffe personnel who weren't given much attention in the book. The descriptions of these personalities range from a few sentences to a paragraph.

Final Word: The book serves as a very good introduction to the Luftwaffe, is useful as a "who's who", and even for readers who are already familiar with the Luftwaffe will find the book an interesting and informative read.

Excerpts from the notes inside the cover read: "Samuel W. Mitcham, is associate professor of geography at Henderson State University, Arkansas. Eagles of the Third Reich is one of his most fascinating books, backed by splendid research, unbiased and written with great verve....The author presents the story of the Luftwaffe, its successes and failures, by presenting the men who made it up.....Brilliant, ambitious, ruthless, deceitful and powerful there they all are in all their glory and infamy....".

Mitcham is an authority on WW-II history. The Luftwaffe nuts and bolts are presented from the Spanish civil war to the fall of Berlin. What the book offers more however is that through the Luftwaffe story the entire WW-II strategy in Europe unravels, condensed, without insisting on maps or logistics. An immersing book, the only drawback of it being its scarcity in the market.

If you're new to flight sims and trying to tackle Janes' F-15, then you'll no doubt find this guide to be of great help. More experienced sim-pilots will enjoy the detailed graphs and weapons overviews, but much of the rest of the guide will be of little value for them. Much of the info in the guide is already available in the Expert Manual that came with the simulator. There is good information here for any player of Janes' F-15, but the focus is definately on the less experienced sim pilot.

This book provides a wealth of excellent information on the Jane's F-15 combat sim. I progressed from a person who had not won a single dogfight to winning almost every single dogfight and destroying every single target I was sent out to destroy over the course of this book.

Tim McCarthy was a decorated Chicago cop, but in his free evenings he studied law, sociology, and English literature, among other things. Burdened with all those term papers he never had time to take a wife, and now, well into his 40's, he is a credit-rich but lonely man who in his retirement takes on eccentric and challenging investigation work for equally eccentric employers. It is in this capacity that he crosses the pond to Ireland to investigate Nora MacDonaugh.

Nora is either very wicked or very unlucky. She is also very rich. The Dublin Police Department believes she slept her way to the money, its curiosity more than roused by the untimely deaths of both of her husbands, the latter blown to bits in his study. Innocent or guilty, she is extremely smart, and with modest effort this attractive widow becomes emotionally invested in the lovelorn McCarthy.

By happy coincidence the good Bishop John Ryan is vacationing in the safety of his hip nieces on the Emerald Isle. How to describe his role in this caper? Well, he is there, offering an occasional witticism, restaurant review, or forensic jab. He has a "call me if you need me" role to play in this novel. One gets the sense that he knows how this drama will play out from the get-go but that he does not want to ruin McCarthy's fun, so to speak.

There are enough mysteries here to please almost anyone. Will Tim McCarthy lose his objectivity to the charms of the luscious Nora? Will they actually "do it?" Is Nora stringing him along to divert him from the terrible truth? Does she deserve the Dublin Police moniker, "Miss Yo-Yo Pants?" [So help me.] How do two very unhappy families, an Irish terrorist, a Dublin pol, and an upstart Irish cream company play into the picture? And does Bishop Ryan eventually get a bigger role in the story than Zorro's mute compadre, Paco?

It's not MacBeth, but it's a pleasant enough read, with or without the Bailey's.

Andrew Greeley has enjoyed considerable success as the writer of the Bishop Blackie Ryan novels. Until now I had not read any of these tales. Amazon lists "Happy Are The Peacemakers" as the first novel in the series and so there I decided to make my start. It was only later that I found a bibliography that actually lists it as his sixth novel. While starting in the middle of a series is often difficult, it was not the case here. I was a bit surprised by the novel, however, on several counts. While not unpleasant, it was not quite what I expected.

" Happy Are The Peacemakers" is set just before Bloomsday in Dublin. Bloomsday, for the non-cognoscenti, is the annual celebration of James Joyce's novels. Tim Pat McCarthy, retired Chicago cop and private investigator, has been hired to look into the murder of billionaire entrepreneur Jim Lark MacDonaugh. More precisely he has been hired to prove that MacDonaugh's young wife Nora was guilty of his murder in order to lay her hands on his wealth.

Naturally, the ethical McCarthy intends to find the truth, not injure the innocent. Especially since he has fallen under the spell of the beautiful Nora. In the background, like a deus ex machina, is Bishop Ryan, also from Chicago, and convinced of Nora's innocence. If Nora is innocent, then who really did blow her husband to smithereens in a locked room? Jim Lake's brothers? His children? His business partners? The IRA? The list of suspects is nearly infinite, and the murderer seems quite willing to kill again to protect his secrets.

Greeley tells this story with a light, almost comic, touch. Once can't help but smile at the antics of the MacDonaugh clan, the budding romance between Tim Pat and Nora, and the countless bit players that appear. Greeley seems to tell most of the tale with a heavy Irish brogue. The ins and outs of that dialect are a fascinating study all on their own

I have only two real issues with the novel. One is that all of Greeley's Irishfolk curse a blue streak. Except for Blackie Ryan, of course. There comes a point where all the expletives become overused, and one wishes that Greeley had been a bit more circumspect. The other issue is that Bishop Ryan makes very few lengthy appearances in this tale. Most of the time he receives McCarthy's reports with a curt "fascinating." It is only at the end that he displays an almost Nero Wolfe-like brilliance. I like my detectives to be a bit more prominent. In any case this is a likeable story that will serve to provide several entertaining hours. Those of a literary bent will find the countless allusions to James Joyce a source of much amusement. And the romantics among us will delight in the eccentric relationship between McCarthy and Nora.

I was a little disappointed when I received the book. I found several inaccuracies in the text and many of the photos appear to be of captive or mounted birds.

It was an interesting read about the different types of raptors seen in North America.

I bought this to complete the story of whatever happen after "Beaches". Sad to say, this is not as interesting.

Anyone who read or watched Beaches and loved it, has to own this book. It is one of the best sequels I have read. If you ever wondered what happened to CeeCee Bloom and Bertie's daughter, this book is a MUST read.