NURSE IN CONFLICT is another of author TROOPER'S fast moving adventures based on factual events drawn from personal experience. This tale of passion, explicit sex, jealousy, intrigue and murder makes for an thrilling banquet of highly descriptive emotional extremes that transports the reader right there.
The story unfolds in the Saudi desert at the start of the Gulf war 1991 and culminates in Jordan, where one of the central characters is rescued by an SAS patrol providing a visual feast of excitement.
I found the book hard to put down, and my personal opinion is that the contents would provide great movie material - as do all the other books in the series written by this prolific and intelligent author.

I truly enjoyed the conversational style used by Lt. Simmons. He defines military jargon when he uses it in the book. It saddens me to see how unfairly people are treated simply because of color. I had naively thought that we had grown as a nation. This book is a "must read" for those who find war glamorous. There is certainly nothing glamorous about vomiting after training in a gas chamber. As a child of a World War II and Vietnam War Veteran, I have gained insight into some of the situations my father must have witnessed during his thirty years in the military. I look forward to reading more by this talented author. I thank him for serving this country of ours, and I thank him for sharing his military experiences with his readers.

I thought this book was a great adventure story, told as only a real seafaring man could. You guessed it! I'm the widow of a seafaring man. Great book, and it would make a great movie.

Pearling In The Arabian Gulf: A Kuwaiti Memoir by Saif Marzooq al-Shamlan is a picturesque, poetic, and thoughtful memoir, aptly translated into English by Peter Clark. Based on documentary and oral evidence and enhanced with a section of black and white historical photographs, Pearling in the Arabian Gulf provides the reader with a crystal-clear vision of the pearling industry from 1900 to the 1930s. Deadly rebellions at sea are chronicled along with the more mundane concerns of an industry and way of life that eventually became supplanted by the development of the Japanese cultured pearl. Highly recommended reading, Pearling In The Arabian Gulf is a fascinating and involving autobiography, an accomplished contribution to Kuwaiti and Gulf of Arabia historical studies, and a must for any non-specialist general reader with an interest in the evolution of the pearling industry.

told by real active duty naval officer who has been there,done that and tells the story realistically in a combat situation,heroics abound by men who still believe in duty and honor with a respect for the enemy,who are characterized as humans with agendas not demons,but as the author writes we see the evil personified ..the bad guys are truly delineated and you cant wait for them to get nailed.the authors words ring with authenticity and you know he has been in these situations himself..no phony contrived plotlines..just the facts mamm...clancy better look to his laurels,,,,,,,,,over and out

For those wishing to understand how the choice to secede came about in a state where elitist planters did not dominate the political process (as in South Carolina) this is an excellent book. Thornton clearly shows that secession was a product of populist Jacksonian democracy in Alabama, providing an alternative to the view that only slaveholders supported disunion. Alabama's politics were marked from the beginning by class conflict between the yeomanry and planter class, and politicians learned early to exploit these tensions for political gain. Parties fought to outdo each other in labeling the other side as "elitist" aristocrats who would subvert the rights of freemen for their own selfish interests. This line of argument set the stage for the development of state's rights theory in Alabama, as promoters of internal improvements, banks, and social reform were often portrayed as elitist cabals. However, state's rights arguments were often little more than sophisticated versions of the election demagoguery that characterized debate over all the state's political issues.

Lack of policy-making expertise and the necessity of courting public approval often led the state's legislators to enact laws that hurt Alabama's long-term development. Forged in the Jacksonian era however, the electorate did not accept the Jeffersonian ideal of deferring to their betters in matters of policy, and regularly removed legislators who did not hew to the voters' instructions. Prior to the 1850s, most Alabama voters were not directly involved with the market economy, and were thus less likely to be affected by national economic and political policies, as well as less aware of the character of Northern opinion regarding slavery. Secessionist fire-eaters therefore enjoyed little support during the nullification and secession of 1850 crises, but their arguments gained respect during the 1850s as phenomenal economic growth drew more people into the market and its attendent insecurities, as well as making them more aware of the power of the federal government and the strength of the abolitionists.

Prosperous times and the marginalization of the Whig Party decreased the number of significant issues of disagreement among Alabama's politicians, leaving them in search of an issue to demagogue for political gain. The fight over Kanasas allowed them to portray northerners as elitists who would deny southern men of their rights and reduce them to the status of slaves. Such an argument gained creedence even among non-slaveholders because of the state's long populistic rhetorical tradition, which had convinced the yeomanry that elitist villains seeking to reduce their rights were always afoot, and could be defeated only by political supermen fighting for the rights and values of the electorate.

The southern rights argument clearly resonated among the yeomanry, particularly among those most affected by new economic uncertainties. In both the Presidential election of 1860 and the subsequent election of delegates to the state's secession convention, voters overwhelmingly chose candidates who supported secession or who would do so as long as Alabama would be joined in secession by other states. While Thornton's argument could be more thoroughly reinforced by exploring social factors that led the yeomanry to support secession, his argument for a hyper-democratic political tradition abetted by demagoguery and voter ignorance as a cause of Alabama's decision to quit the Union is quite persuasive.

Enter the hearts of a man and a woman, newly married and swallowed like a drunken night on Bourbon Street in the dangerous criminal world of New Orleans. Ruffin's power lies in his ability to use incredible imagery entwined with an amazing storytelling ability to hook his reader and slowly unwind the tale to its dramatic finish. You will be hooked, and you will not be disappointed.

I had the fortune of hearing Ruffin speak live in his hometown of Columbus, MS during a book reading and interviewing him for a newspaper story. His skill live convinced me to read his written work. He is an incredibly talented writer I grow to increasingly appreciate the more I read.

As a student of National Security, and as somebody who currently works on the National Missile Defense program, "Pursuit Of The Shield" is simply the finest resource available on the history of missile defense. As this volume concentrates on the history of limited missile defense systems, the first half of the book focuses on the early missile defense efforts and the Sentinel program as well as the Gulf War and the debate surrounding the landmark Missile Defense Act of 1991. This legislation and the debate that produced it became the blueprint for tactical and national missile defense programs throughout the Clinton administration. Today's architecture is a direct result of both the technological and political past -- framed by the historical account of the Gulf War and the Missile Defense Act of 1991.

The latter half of the book discusses today's threat environment and Mr. McMahon's vision for missile defense. I have to admit that I disagree with Mr. McMahon's assertion that any future missile defense system should be a cooperative effort between the US and Russia. This point, however, does not detract from my love of this book. It is exhaustively researched and Mr. McMahon's analysis is first rate. Today's missile defense debate usually lacks the correct historical context. This book is a must-have if you're looking to fully underatand the debate surrounding the National Missile Defense system.

This book is a murder mystery entwined with the story of the restoration of an historic house on Florida's Gulf Coast. The cast of characters working on the house and living in the surrounding neighborhood is seen through the looking glass of more than one amusingly twisted sense of humor. Once you get the hang of bouncing back and forth between speakers the constant shifting is fun. By the end of the book, the characters are so wound up into hilarious positions, points of view, silly stances that you will be laughing out loud---and thinking you've met them somewhere before in real life. I'm afraid to say much about details as it might give away some of the fun.

click on the thumbnail to view the book cover - see?