Good Read. One that after you start you do not want to put down. Takes the horse racing scene, the prison scene, mixes them together and comes up with a good story. Nice education of horses and horse semen and makes it interesting.

If you like a good story and a good read this is one to take with you on a trip. Light reading, however after you finish it you have enjoyed it.

I have met Mr. Ramus in real life. He's a friend of my father's, so when I saw the book on my father's shelf, I had to pick it up. I had been slightly unaware of Mr. Ramus' writing until that point. I usually can tell if I'm going to like a book within a few chapters. Needless to say I couldn't put this book down. I've now re-read it enough times to actually put cracks in the binding. It's a very wonderful piece of work, keeps you on edge. I happen to be a very big horse lover and this book's topic just hit me hard. I LOVE IT!... I've given the book to a few friends of mine to read, and so far they've all liked it. I say give it a try, you'll be surprised at Ramus' writing talent!!

I can not put the book down , its wonderfullly written from what I read so far. I am not even barely aware that i am in my room when reading this ,it keeps my attention and it does not stay on one thing for to long. I like the way Mr. Ramus describes the characters. Its got everything I like , the horses , the fights , suspense , and a little bit of romance. I would give it 16 stars if not more. It is worth your money and time.

I had to come back to this book. Once I started to read "In Due Time" I could not wait for the narrator to talk to me again. Great story. Great characters and REAL characters. I look forward to more works by Mr Reynard.

I really like this book! It is very powerful book that relates to a Black man struggels of doing the right thing regarding to women relationship. I believe that Nigel Reynard put his heart and soul into this book. I would recommend anyone to read this book! I could not put this book down!

I really like this book. It is a powerful book that can relate to a African American man that goes through the struggles of doing the right thing regarding to relationships with women. I believe that Nigel Reynard put his heart and soul into this book. I would recommend anyone to read this book.

Richard M. McMurry is best known to me as the principle modern biographer of John Bell Hood. His book on that general was judicious and intelligent, if short, but Hood wasn't a particularly prominent character in the Civil War, at least for the first half of the war, so it seemed reasonable. Atlanta 1864 is as far as I know his second book, and while it's good, it's also very short and cursory.

The book covers the campaign in the spring and summer of 1864, when Sherman challenged first Johnston and then Hood for the city of Atlanta, which turned out to be decisive in the outcome of the war. The campaign has been controversial ever since, not the least because the two principle Confederate commanders engaged in a vicious debate for some years after the campaign, and only ceased when Hood died suddenly. Frankly, this aspect of the campaign would have been interesting to go over again, but the author only briefly deals with it, instead concentrating on the campaign itself, and the events that occurred in 1864.

Sherman has a very good reputation as a general, and much of that rests on the Atlanta campaign that is the book's focus. Johnston too has a good rep, and Hood, by contrast, has a very poor one as an army commander. Much of the author's attention is taken up going over the performance of these three men during the campaign, looking at the decisions they made in a strategic sense, whether they could have chosen to do something else more advantageous, and how their decisions fared. All three generals come in for some criticism, though Sherman gets by with the least. Johnston is criticized for a variety of things, and praised for little, while poor Hood appears to have been out of his depth, in the mind of the author.

The campaign itself is detailed only briefly, with battles occupying a paragraph or two, and strategic maneuvers a page or so. The decision to fire Johnston and replace him with Hood, made by Davis in the midst of the campaign, gets a whole chapter. The campaign is put into context with a couple of chapters that detail what was happening in other parts of the country, politically and militarily. Everything is laid out so that it's easy to understand, and the discussion is reasonable.

I don't agree with all of the conclusions of the book (for instance, I think Grant's Overland Campaign of 1864 was a success, not a failure) but the discussion is interesting, and nothing's particularly out of place or unreasonable. I would recommend this book to any Civil War buff. It's a very good book.

Richard McMurry writes an interesting account covering the1864 military and political events in North Georgia stating "Gettysburg had brought no alteration in the relative strength or position of the opposing armies or in the course of the war" noting that Union successes at Gettysburg, Vicksburg and Chattanooga boosted Northern morale and assured that southerners couldn't gain a military victory and secure Federal recognition of Confederate independence. The author outlines the responses of the Confederacy and Union to this strategic dilemma with a narration of Sherman's North Georgia campaign that ultimately resolved the problem.

Lincoln appointed Grant commander of the Federal Armies and Jefferson Davis appointed Joseph E. Johnston, a general he did not trust; commander of the Army of Tennessee and the text states "All the Rebels would pay a very high price for Jefferson Davis long-standing evasion of the command personnel problems in the West." The author makes the fascinating observation that " By 1864 two irrefutable facts about the conflict should have been clear....neither side was likely to win the war in Virginia. The Confederates were too skilled to loose, at least as long as Lee lived, but not strong enough to win.The Northerners...were too strong to lose the war in Virginia but not skilled enough to win it there."

McMurry notes that Grant having nearly achieved military victory in the West, Grant made two decisions that made a Northern victory costly while enhancing Confederate independence chances. The strategy in Virginia to defeat Lee and prevent moving Rebel troops elsewhere; and two, appointing Sherman in Georgia instead of Thomas. Both decisions resulted in "Ten of thousands of Americans --North and South-- paid for this misjudgment with their lives...." and "The outcome of the war remained doubtful much longer..." The author observes that Thomas finished the war as a general "who never suffered defeat on a battlefield where he was in command" concluding "On the basis of his record, Sherman did not merit such a promotion...."

Both Sherman and Johnston had command personnel problems. Johnston inherited a command muddle which one historian described as a "pit of vipers". The narrative and analysis of Sherman's campaign from North Georgia to Atlanta is informative. Sherman dependence on the Western & Atlantic Railroad limited his strategic options to only advancing toward Atlanta because that was where the railroad ran.

The writer makes the intriguing statement that Union General McPherson's seizure of Snake Creep Gap on May 7th probably "determined the outcome of the campaign." adding the fascinating opinion "....if Grant had allowed Thomas to succeed to the command of the Military Division of Mississippi by seniority, the 1864 campaign in Georgia would have ended two or three weeks after its opening with "....a crushing Federal victory that, for all practical purposes would have ended the war in the West....ripping open the entire center of the Confederacy" and "save many lives during the last eleven months of the war."

As the campaign proceeded, Johnston would fortify a strong position and hope Sherman would attack. Sherman was not going to launch a massive assault against strong fortifications and moved against the Confederate left and flanked them out of every prepared position including Dalton, Resaca, Allatoona, Kennesaw Mountain, and Smyra. On July 8 Sherman crossed the Chattahoochee and the battle for Atlanta was imminent.

Davis replaced Joe Johnson with Hood on July 18, 1864 and the text notes "Rarely has a general assumed command of an army under more inauspicious circumstances than those facing John Bell Hood.... His army was backed up to a city it had to hold" which limited his strategic options and maneuvering room. Hood reversed Johnston's conservative policy striking Sherman at Peachtree Creek, Atlanta and Ezra Church but failed to cripple or destroy the opposing force.

Sherman ,after trying artillery for several days, realized the only way to force Atlanta's evacuation was to cut off all rail traffic into and out of the city. Interestingly, the text also notes "Hood too, sought some means of ....forcing his opponent to give up his position at Atlanta." Hood initiated an unsuccessful cavalry raid on railroads supporting the Federals. Sherman finding cavalry ineffective against railroads used infantry to cut the Macon & Western Railroad isolating Atlanta and Hood forcing the Rebels to abandon Atlanta. The Rebels after opening government warehouses to anyone (military or civilian) to take food, clothing etc.the Rebels burned what they couldn't take with them including five locomotives and 28 freight cars containing ammunition which exploded leveling adjacent buildings in a scene well depicted in the movie Gone With The Wind. Hood's infantry cleared Atlanta by 01:00 AM, September 2. Shortly after daylight Mayor James Calhoun rode north of Atlanta and surrendered the city.

The author concludes with an excellent analysis of the generalships of Sherman, Johnston and Hood noting that Sherman as a field general was "probably not much above average". However, by 1864 Sherman had developed a grasp of the geopolitical-psychological strategy, matched by few, realizing that a war can be won "by destroying the enemy's society and its logistical-economic-social infrastructure and he put that doctrine into practice on a grand scale...." McMurry states Davis contributed to the Rebel command failures in Georgia through his failure to involve himself in western matters.

McMurry concludes "Grant's much-vaunted plan did not work" and "It was a Confederate policy....that kept Lee from sending troops to reinforce the Rebels in Georgia, not the pressure of Grant's assaults on the Confederates in Virginia." Failure of Grant's plan resulted in tens of thousands of casualties.

A strong point throughout this work are the brief parallel accounts given of military and political activities in other areas providing a balanced account of the situations facing both Northern and Southern governments and their commanders. The books ends with two appendices analyzing Grant's strategy and Johnston's railroad strategy plus two excellent appendices titled "Numbers and Losses" and "The Atlanta Campaign and the Election of 1864".

Lots of military historians have gone over this ground, but McMurry takes an iconoclastic stance that yields fascinating results.

His broad argument is that Grant made an error in putting Sherman in charge of the "west" rather than Thomas. Grant made a second, and related, error in personally directing Meade, while leaving Sherman to himself. These goofs caused many thousands of lives on both sides. The war could have been brought to an end much sooner had the full weight of the federals been put behind a drive to and then beyond Atlanta, under Thomas' leadership and perhaps with Grant's supervision, with Meade left in control of the Army of the Potomac.

On the confederate side, I see this book as rehabilitating Hood, and as driving a stake through whatever remains of Joe Johnston's once-high but always undeserved reputation.

This is a wonderful story based on the true life of a young girl. The author has taken Sallie Clayton's diary and turned it into an account of life before, during, and after the Civil War.

The only problem is the long footnotes. Some of these notes take up most of the page and tell boring historical information. Sometimes, it helps set up the plot. At other times, it's annoying and makes me want to throw the book against the wall...

I say you should read this book if you want to look inside the life of a Civil War woman, or if you just want to learn more about life during the Civil War...either way, it's a wonderful book.

I found this work fascinating! Sallie Clayton's account was so descriptive as to make day by day life in war time Atlanta come alive. Her account of Sherman's seige was particularly engrossing. A must read along with other such biographical accounts of the period.

An interesting and provocitive account of the attacks on the civilian population of Ante-bellum Georgia by Federal forces under command of William (kerosene) Sherman. This book substanciates that the "Lincoln-Sherman Plan" to make Georgia "howl" was an unpresedented reaction to propaganda and political gain. The sacking and burning of Atlanta and its long term effect on the state are sobering. Another book related to this topic that fully illustrates this unlawful and evil destruction is "The War-Time Journal of a Georgia Girl," by Eliza Francis Andrews.

The "Hounds of War" destroyed Georgia's economy well into the 20th Century.

I would have rated this book much higher had it not been for two reasons: 1. It took almost half the book for it to get really engrossing and 2. At times I had the feeling, especially in the first half, that the author favored the South and so was biased in some of his reporting. However, once the story got to the Battle of Franklin the narrative had a quick flow to it and was so compelling I could not put it down. Some of the gruesome depiction of war dead is so vivid that even a week later it sticks in my mind. I also question some of Mr. Groom's beliefs about what happened. At one point he makes a statement that leads you to believe that 1. the war was a big mistake and 2. the North was the aggressor. The statement is that "the war, by far the most destructive to human life of all America's wars, produced 600,000 casualties while freeing 3 million slaves." If Mr. Groom thinks the sole reason for the war was to free the slaves and not to preserve the union he is sadly mistaken. I think intellectually he knows better, but that old bias seems to constantly get the better of him. Still I would call this one of the great books about the war, in spite of the criticisms, because when all is said and done, it is still a great read. It ranks up there with books like "The Killer Angels."

Shrouds of Glory does an efficent job of laying out John Bell Hood's last hurrah at a little known, but crucial battle of the Civil War. What may not be so well known is that the Battle of Nashville in December of 1864 was also the vindication of the Union General George "Pap" Thomas, (who by the way was originally from Virginia).

Linclon & Grant had their doubts about Thomas's waiting game at Nashville. The orders to relieve him of command were on the the way when Thomas unleashed the Union attack and the resulting disaster to the Confederate Army of Tennesee vindicated his patience. Sherman said the Battle of Nashville was the only battle of the Civil War where a whole army ceased to exist after the fight.

If Hood was desperate to make a break through, and he was, as Groom has laid out. Thomas was just as determined to close the door once and for all. I appreciated how this book laid out the events leading up to that battle.

Just as a side note, one of the Union regiments at Nashville was the Ohio 182nd Infantry. In that regiment was my great-grandfather, Sgt. George Debolt Newcomer.

As a high school history teacher and Civil War Buff, I am always looking for ways to bring the deeds and accomplishments of history to life for an audience with open hostility for the topic. This book accomplishes this next-to-impossible task. Groom writes with the prose of a novelist (no surprise), the research of a scholar (surprise)and a genuine love for and interest in the subject matter. One of the most fascinating non-fiction books I have even read, complete with excellent maps and interesting photographs.

When Europe and the West, including Russia were surged by new movements like Fauvism and Cubism, i thought that the spirit of Impressionism and its brevity were lost in the midst of the new trend in the art scene. Through this book i came to understand sequel story behind Impressionism when it was introduced to the States in the early 1900s. A must-read for any die-hard Impressionists out there who seeks to understand the culture and history set by the pioneering American Impressionists.

This book is absolutely FANTASTIC!!!! Very pleased with it. There are 102 pages in this softcover book and many color reproductions of California Impressionists works of art to include: Wendt, Payne, Bischoff, Gamble, Rose, Hills, and many more. About 60 pages of color photos of the above listed artists and more. Chapter titles include; Impressionism's Indian Summer, From Giverny to Laguna Beach, The California Style In Perspective. The bottom line....I'm VERY happy that I bought this book and recommend it to others. Enjoy

I got curious about California impressionism a few years ago when someone saw my sketchbook and pointed out that what I was doing was called "plein air" art. One of my favorite things to do is to go up into the hills over Berkeley with my sketchbook and get pastel dust all over my nose and on some paper. I poked around for quite a while to find more images of this style but felt like the images I was seeing were not the real deal. They looked a bit flat and dull.

I had the good fortune of seeing an exhibit in Oakland, California at the museum there and got hooked on the luminous colors in the paintings. I managed to view the collections in Irvine and Laguna beach. I don't recall where I got this book, but I took it with me to Laguna Beach and held the pages next to some of the originals.

This books is the only book I have seen that comes even close to reproducing the beautiful and luminous quality of this genre of painting. For me, this book is helpful for those occasions when I struggle with picking a color in one of my own works that hits the quality of light I am trying to arrive at. Plus, it is wonderful to just sit back and say, "Wow."

I will be the first to admit that I have not read the text carefully. I just skimmed it. But the color quality and selection of images merits two thumbs up, a gold star and a California sunset.

What an amazing book! Jerry Gentry studied the patients, nurses, and doctors that make up the Grady Hospital Maternity Ward in Atlanta. He follows several mothers on their journey through prenatal care, pregnancy, and the births of their children. He then follows up after the babies are born. I found this book compelling because it demonstrates every aspect of its subjects' lives. You feel like you personally know the people discussed. It is an emotional and monetarial journey of hardships for most of the mothers involved. Being an Atlanta native this novel has given me new respect for Grady hospital. A great ethnography for anyone interested in the subject and/or social behavior.

I found this book hard to put down.

I constantly kept thinking of what the main characters might pull next.

This book demonstrates that life can be stranger than fiction.

Gentry does an excellent job of getting the reader involved in the daily dramas that make up Grady Hospital. You could not begin to make up the tales of some of these characters! Riveting.

Castel's history of the Atlanta Campaign is well written and a fine study of the events. What is most interesting about the book is the study of the personalties involved. He makes no bones about the fact that he believes that Sherman has been overrated as a general, and at times it seemed that his criticism of Sherman was based on the advantage of hindsight. While Sherman may not have been the military genius that some have portrayed him as, Castel seems to lose sight of the fact that he did lead the force that captured Atlanta with casualties that were low enough to allow the division of his army into forces that would march to the sea and also crush what was left of the Confederate Army of Tennessee at the battles of Franklin and Nashville.

But that aside, Castel's treatment of the politics of the campaign, both on the Confederate and Union side, was the books strength. He does a fine job of putting the campaign into the political context of the 1864 Presidential election. Although he may have exaggerated its importance, Castel correctly points out that the capture of Atlanta removed any doubt that Lincoln would be reelected.

The treatment of Confederate politics is also well handed. Concentrating on the pressure put on General Johnson to defend Atalanta and his conflict with Jefferson Davis, Castel explains one of the general failings of the Confederacy. Other than Lee, Davis trust in the wrong generals. This led to Castel's harshest criticism and the command of General Hood.

Decision in the West does a fine job is explaining the whats, hows and whys of the Atlanta Campaign. It was a worthwhile read.

History of the Civil War has devoted much to the campaigns of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and those of General Ulysses S. Grant. Indeed, their epic showdown in 1864 seems as close to an American version of The Illiad as anything in history. But the campaigns of the west- Sherman's March to the Sea, Thomas's victory in the battle of Nashville, and the campaign to capture Atlanta are three of the most under-discussed elements of the Civil War.

It is of the latter event that author Albert Castel has elected to write about. The Atlanta campaign was filled with some of the most brilliant and interesting minds of the Civil War- General William Tecumseh Sherman (commander of the Union's armies in the west) was one of the most complex generals of the Civil War. General George Thomas (commander of the Army of the Cumberland) was a stoic Virginian whose skill helped his troops escape from traps time and again. General John Logan brilliantly stepped into the breach to rally the Union Army of the Tennessee after its commander was killed. The battle for the city, a tough campaign that took all summer long, featured skillful maneuvering on both sides and a tragic series of mistakes which cost the Southern army control of the city. In the end, the capture of Atlanta was the deathknell of the Confederacy.

Castel does a good job writing about the battle and the participants. Civil War buffs won't be disapointed.

As a person who has read just about every book concerning the Atlanta Campaign that I can get my hands on, I can say without hesitation that this is the best of the lot. Indeed, of all the books on the history of the Civil War, this is my favorite. The research is exhaustive and the detail incredible. Castel sees the war through the eyes of the highest ranking generals and the lowest privates. Quite balanced, with none of the regional basis so often encountered in Civil War history. Brilliant.

The first Lelia Kelly book I read was Officer Of The Court. If I had started with Presumption of Guilt I may not have continued with the Laura Chastain series. The character Laura Chastain, in my opinion, just isn't a likable person. I liked her even less in False Witness. She improves a lot in Officer of the Court.

In Presumption of Guilt and False Witness I got tired of Chastain deciding her scenario is always the correct one and trying to force everyone to prove she's right. Come on, Tom would still be alive if it wasn't for Laura. It's as though Lelia Kelly can't decide if she wants Laura to be a wimp or a great heroine.

If you're bored and need something to read, the Laura Chastain series is OK. If you've just gotten back from the book store with several good books, put Lelia Kelly's book on the bottom of the stack.

Lelia Kelly's "Presumption of Guilt" is a fine legal thriller/police prodecural. Her protagonist is Laura Chastain, a corporate lawyer with a talent for criminal defense work. After getting a high-profile client off the hook, Laura takes on the case of a cop who is accused of killing a suspect. Laura gradually finds out that she has taken on a case that is extremely complex and potentially dangerous. She also becomes romantically involved with an older man with whom she falls deeply in love. Kelly writes dialogue that is funny and sharp. Her plot is fairly tight and engrossing until the end, which is a little too complicated and has one too many coincidences. Having read this book, and the next in the series, "False Witness," I recommend Lelia Kelly's novels to fans of this genre.

The two things that make Presumption of Guilt fun to read are its setting-contemporary Atlanta-and the wonderful skill with which Lelia Kelly describes both the city, his history, and its residents. The plot is solid, a classic lawyer-crime drama, but Kelly's rich narrative asides make this book more than it might be otherwise. The protagonist is Laura Chastain, a lawyer with an old-line Atlanta corporate firm. A senior associate, she is on a fast track to become a partner. The only problem is that she has developed a taste for criminal law, and the partners of her firm tend to think that is too vulgar. That opinion, however, does not stop the partners from calling on her when one of the firm's corporate clients needs a criminal lawyer. The story starts with the end of the trial where she successfully defended the neer-do-well son of one of the firm's biggest clients against an assault charge. She is soon approached by a vice squad cop who expects to be charged in the death of a prisoner. He insists he is innocent, but if he is, then there is some skulduggery going on down at police headquarters. As Laura investigates she becomes more and more convinced that something strange is going on. She also becomes more and more involved with the dashing young bachelor partner who is her supervisor in the firm. There are interesting twists and turns before Kelly leads us to an interesting and suspenseful conclusion. Maybe it's having spent twenty-five years in Atlanta that makes me think that Kelly's descriptions of the city are so rich. Example: "...it's growth had occurred late enough to allow planners to benefit from the lessors on older cities, but they hadn't. Atlanta, Laura believed, actually aspired to be Los Angeles." And:" Atlanta...had become the embodiment of the Old South for much of the world-all because it had been burned, first by Sherman, then by Hollywood. It was the second, fictional burning that had done the most damage." Whether you lived in Atlanta or not, you should enjoy Presumption of Guilt.

I was looking for something that would show the Atlanta I know and love, but the main character just was too self-righteous; one who appears to be so open minded, but had clearly never even considered riding a MARTA bus. The plot idea was original, but I was not suprised by the ending given the main character's leanings. I loved the descriptions of the area and all the other characters; they were all so more grounded in reality. If the author considers writing about them and less about her heroine, I'll definitely read it.

I love this series and it simply gets better and better. If you're new to this series, take advantage and begin at the beginning. The stories are interesting without being overly done or contrived. The characters are complex and welcomed visitors. Trocheck really has something here.

I came to this one after "Every Dead Nanny" and "Happy Never After" so for once I'm reading a series in the right order. I thought this was the best of the three. The plot is believable from beginning almost to the end (I never quite buy those heroine-save-in-the-nick-of-time scenes but they seem obligatory in this female private eye genre which is a descendant of romantic suspense). It unfolds piece by piece rather than being a series of interviews and the murderer is the kind of surprise that has you turning back pages and saying "why didn't I think of that?" Some great writing. I loved a scene where she describes a vivid temptation to buy Krispy Kreme doughnuts and then looks across the street and describes a crack-buying transaction.