In part a traditional Western with a motley band of not-so-bad outlaws and a spunky heroine, and in part a more modern take on the difficulties of being a woman in a man's world. While the hero, John Grobart, seems tailor-made for a Clint Eastwood or a John Wayne, his situation -- obsessing over his dead wife Cat Dancing while trying to deal with his plucky captive, Catherine Crocker -- is anything but a cliche. The story has some shocking twists and turns that keep you guessing at how the characters will react. The only disappointment is the ending, which lets the author off the hook in forcing both John and Catherine to choose. I enjoyed the story on the surface, but ended up puzzled by the author's intentions and whether the story had any larger meaning.

Catherine Crocker has put up with a lot from her husband Willard, but when he slaps her face in front of his whole mining crew that's the last straw and she rides away from camp planning to leave him forever. Meanwhile, John Wesley "Jay" Grobart was once a respected Army officer, a captain of Mounted Rifles, but when he revenged himself upon the three fellow white men who raped and murdered his Indian wife, Cat Dancing, he was sent to prison for ten years. Now he's gotten a rather motley gang together to rob a train. Their paths cross when Catherine rides into the midst of the train robbery and Grobart is forced to take her with him as they are pursued across the 1880's Wyoming Territory by Harvey Lapchance--agent for Wells, Fargo and an ex-Pinkerton who just happens to be the man who arrested Grobart those years ago--and his posse which, much to Lapchance's chagrin, includes the loutish, violent, and increasingly drunken Harvey Crocker.

As they flee, Grobart has to try to protect Catherine from his unruly cohorts and from marauding Indians. In turn, she gradually unravels his secrets, learning that there was more to Cat Dancing's death than folks realize and that Grobart is purposely headed into Indian territory to retrieve his children, who are being raised by their Shoshone uncle, Iron Knife. Initially forced together by mere circumstance, there is an obvious attraction between Catherine and Grobart, but he is still very much haunted by the past. Catherine though, quickly adapts to her newfound freedom and turns out to be more than a match for Grobart and for the ghost of Cat Dancing.

Many of the greatest Westerns have featured strong female characters (see Orrin's reviews of Shane, Riders of the Purple Sage, and The Virginian), so this one is hardly groundbreaking, but Durham does bring a distinctly feminist sensibility to the story and, though there's plenty of action, keeps her focus on the relationship between Grobart and Catherine. Grobart, tortured by memories of his past, is a particularly compelling character, but it is Catherine's development into an independent and capable woman which holds the story together. They make for an unusual and interesting couple in this really fine Western.

GRADE : B+

This commentary has its moments, both good and bad. Durham is remarkably erudite in his translation of and critical notes on the Masoretic Text and its textual variants, and while somewhat brief, is concise in objectively surveying the history of critical & redaction analysis behind any given passage. His general attitude towards the text of Exodus follows in the tradition of Childs' canonical criticism: his concern is with the text as it is received in its canonical form, not with any status -- or lack thereof -- that deconstruction might accord it.

The weakness of this volume, however, lies in the content of Durham's "commentary" itself: the author seems to devote a considerable majority of his attention and energy to cross-referencing other major (and minor) related works, and to simply narrating the existing account; that is, less attention seems to be given to the meaning of the text, theological or otherwise, and more to simply re-telling the story.

This is not to discredit the work that is evident behind this volume: the obvious extent of research that belies this commentary is all too evident. Added pluses are the extensive running bibliographies throughout. All things considered, however, one would be wise to consult other commentaries in addition to this one.

John Durham has provided a commentary in keeping with the rich tradition of the Word Biblical Commentary series. This 516 page commentary of Exodus presupposes the divine nature and inspiration of the text. While Durham gives information about sources of the finished text (Source Criticism), he approaches the text of a "Canonical" method, dealing with the text as it has come to us in its current form. His emphasis is on extracting the theological meaning of the text as opposed to defending or debunking various theories about the historicity of the book or particular events within it. For example, Durham doesn't get caught up in the debate about where the Red Sea was, or if this was a real historical event. He focuses on the meaning of that event for Israel, and the latter Christian community that would also consider the event apart of their faith heritage. Durham uses his own translation which provides a hosts of insights about the original language uses in the canon. This book will be a valuable resource for scholars who are searching for a reliable example of Canonical Criticism of Exodus. It will also be helpful for the pastor or Bible teacher who seeks greater theological understanding of Israel and her dramatic beginnings.

This book is a great opportunity to get all the certifications you need fast, and it covers the most subjects very widely. It is not only for the exams, it is something that you can use in the real life after graduation the exams. Very well easy to understand and I'll recommend it to ALL who need some certifications fast.

This book gives you all you need to pass the MCSE test, it fills you in and the exams stuff can be used in real life as well. I recommend it To ALL who need MCSE.

This book is very poorly organized. It is divided into public and private trails, instead of by region. The index only contains the names of trails, not the names of the parks or places the trails are located. Some things which were missing from the book include a large map of the region with numbers indicating where the major trails are located and a listing of the trails with length and difficulty. If you can find the trail-heads the maps are very good and there are nice descriptions of the trails. This is not a good book if you are not familar with the area.

My husband and I bought this book last year after we found ourselves looking for a new place to walk. We had been frequenting the Chapel Hill Greenway, and, well, it's just not very challenging. So, we picked up this book.

It's a very informative book. There are maps of most of the trails, which really helps you get a feel of the lay of the trail. Each trail has is accompanied by a lengthy description which include items such as:

*driving directions
*flora on the trail
*total distance of the trail
*distance of trail segements
*types of trails (dirt, gravel, footbridges)
*geography of trail (hills, streams, roads to cross)

The only issue we really had with the book were the driving directions. We were trying to get to a trail at Jordan Lake during the summer, and we weren't totally familiar with the area. We were following the directions in the book, but we really needed a few more geographical points to help us find the roads. Also, once we got to the trail area, we couldn't find the trailhead. The state did not do a good job marking the head, but it would have been nice to have known this in the trail description.

However, we did "discover" the Duke cross country trail from this book. We enjoy this trail- it is the perfect length for us and it's difficult enough to be a challenge. We also discovered that if you get caught in a rainstorm out there, there's absolutely nowhere to go!

If you like to walk in the Triangle, get this book!

I suppose that dear reader could stereotype this novel and question why a man would read it. Considering the title and all, I guess that's a classic case of judging the book by its cover, isn't it? Because the title doesn't contain, the words "Kill," "Maim," "Suspect," "Massacre," etc., it's likely that this story would be easily missed. I'm glad that I don't fall for all of that stereotypical hype.

A young woman with four children finds herself widowed in a small mining town in England. She and her children are somewhat literate, being that they can read some and write their names. This particular talent seems threatening to her peers and she is treated as somewhat of an outcast. Finding little compassion for her loss, she is forced to uproot and go into the next town in search of a means to support herself and her family. She takes up residence as a housekeeper in the country manor of a reclusive gentleman who eventually teaches her children to read and write and introduces them to the finer things in life. But always at a price, we quickly observe.

Being the second Cookson book that I've been lucky enough to read, I can admit that she remains consistent. She chooses England in the early 1800's as her setting. Her characters speak (through her words) in that Queen's English that seems to be adopted by people of what was considered a low position on the social ladder. Reading this book was like learning a foreign language, but in an enjoyable way.

The best part about Cookson's writing is that she doesn't place all of her efforts in making the reader second guess what is going to happen. She doesn't present a mystery, murder, or crisis of some kind that would be clearly considered point "A" and spend the entire story leading the characters and the reader in the direction of point "B." If these points do exist in her efforts, the reader isn't aware of it. We just follow along with the story and read about someone's life. Life for most of us is not just a matter of getting from "A" to "B," where someone on the outside (such as dear reader) knows how we'll get from one place to the other.

I'm still trying to reconcile the title of the story, since the actual "black velvet gown" seemed like such an insignificant role in the story. But then again, I couldn't think of a better title that didn't sound like a cliché. Maybe it's this sort of literary obscurity that makes me want to read the rest of Cookson's work. I assure you that I'll read more and recommend that dear reader do the same.

An interesting book. But not nearly as comprehensive and thoughtful as Thomas Hauser's biography. One gets the feeling that Ali was looking to make a few bucks without spilling his guts.

I bought this book based on the title without having a chance to examine it. Had I had the chance, I would have picked something else to read first. The book is extremely detailed in it's review of the wall and of earlier writings on the subject, but the author has assumed a certain level of knowledge on the part of the reader. For those people well versed in the basics of the wall and it's study, I would highly recommend the book. The author's theories about the wall being as much an offensive weapon as defensive are certainly worth a look, as are his criticisms of earlier studies. He brings up a number of inconsistencies in some often accepted ideas. But for all the strengths, you need to understand some things that are not well explained in this book. Readers without a strong base of the local geography will often be lost (no pun intended) by his descriptions of geographical features and local sights. The pictures are almost useless for forming a general idea of what the wall looks like. In short, too detailed for a first book on the subject, but a valuable purchase for those who want a more in-depth look.

An overview of Uzbek history, with focus on Uzbek society, but the book has value as background reading only. The material does not even mention, much less address, the '98 regional crisis and its implications for Uzbekistan (conspicuously missing from the chapter on Economic Transformation) and dramatic changes following 9/11/01 have made the chapter on Foreign Policy and External Relations outdated.

I found this "Contemporary Look at the Wisdom of Proverbs" inaccurate, intolerant and judgemental. On page 13 the authors list the book of Ecclesiastes as recording the thoughts of King Solomon. Contemporary Bible scholars are unanimous that Ecclesiastes was written 700 years after Solomon died! Under foolishness in Proverbs the authors climb their soapbox to attach abortion and homosexuality on page 11. A much more positive and accurate approach to Proverbs is THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE BOOK OF PROVERBS by Cody Jones. The comments are interesting and very readable and put things into a historical setting. The in-depth guide (568 pages) includes 6 translations in parallel and many historical photos to give the reader a sense of the culture of the time.

Wayne House's work is better than Cody Jones' work and unfortunately Mr. Jones like to blast others using these reviews as a PR mechanicism to advertise his terrible book on Proverbs. I prefer Wayne House's work.

There is no way anyone associated with this book could know what Linux is, let alone work with the operating system or take the test. When I say "anyone", I mean "anyone" - not the writer, the editor (who obviously used time that should have been devoted to this project to look for other work), tech editor, etc. PLEASE look for another title....

This book could have been a great one; indeed, the fact that the author is actually the Director of CompTIA Training and Development should have made this an authoratitive reference for the exam.

Instead, this book is a complete failure as it is filled with literally hundreds of typographical, conceptual, and grammatical mistakes. The author's writing style is childish, and author's superficial treatment of topics reveals his possible fundamental lack of understanding of Linux concepts. The majority of the screen shots are ill-conceived and poorly formatted. Considering the numerous obvious mistakes, it reads like this book wasn't proof-read whatsoever. Worse still, there are obvious mistakes in the quiz questions that come with the chapters. In short, this is not the book to use to prepare for Linux+ Certification. Osborne-McGrawHill should be embarrassed for printing this book. I returned mine to the bookstore and urge anyone studying for the exam to consider alternative study sources.

While there is a lot of content there are literally hundreds of errors in this book. Everthing from words spelled incorrectly, to wrong file names used to incorrect explanations of regular expressions. There are multiple pages repeated (93-96 is almost verbatim to 97-100)!!

It looks to me like it was put together in a couple weeks with little to no review.