I am a student majoring in Education at Macon State College. Several students (including myself) chose to read Marva Collins' Way and present our information to the class. We thought it best to actually do a skit from the first chapter to show our fellow students just how Marva's methods of teaching got through to her students. Needless to say, we received rave reviews from our fellow students! In a nut shell, Marva's methods on teaching stem from SELF-ESTEEM. Marva builds on that and the skies the limit! Marva's teaching methods reflect so much of Emerson's Self-Reliance - it's all about the student's perception of the teacher and how that teacher views the student. If you have a chance, go online and read Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson and compare it to Marva's methods. This will give you a better idea just how Marva can take negativities in students and change them into positive aspirations. Marva Collins' Way was very easy to read and had a fantastic preface. I was "sold" on the book as much as Marva's students were "sold" on learning. I thought the book put a bit too much emphasis on this being a way to teach African American children and not enough emphasis on "Returning to Excellence in Education" which is something I fell breaks through all racial barriers, yet keeps diversity intact. I would suggest this book to anyone, not just teachers, who would like to reinforce positive attitudes in children both in and out of school. With all the reference material provided at the back of the book, it is a must have!!! With positive self-esteem, anything is possible! After all, "Man is his own star" - Emerson.

I am a college student majoring in education and I read this for a class. I like the way Marva told about her family life to show what strenghts she focus on and how she was able to pass those strenghts on to others. She also revealed how to break those barriers that some children tend to build around themselves. I felt that this book is a great resource for many different situations and how to relate to children. Learning what is needed on your behalf is what it takes in order to be a good teacher that gives understanding, love, and patience to every child. Once you put forth every effort you'll get your students to put forth every effort. I truly enjoyed this book. I find it to be very helpful. It's great!!

Loved the book, MARVA COLLINS' WAY by Marva Collins and
Civia Tamarkin . . . this is the inspirational story of a woman who started her own school in Chicago and made a difference in the lives of her students . . . it is a MUST READ for anybody interested in education--or, in general, having children succeed in life.

Her thinking makes so much sense . . . for instance, she tells
teachers to not mark papers with wrong answers; instead, tell
students how many they got right.

There were many memorable passages; among them:
[talking to a student] "Very good, James. You're so clever,
but I don't want to see you put your head on the desk. If you are leepy, you should be home. This is a classroom, not a hospital or a hotel. I don't ever want to see any of you napping in your seats or just sitting with your hands folded, doing nothing. This is not a prayer meeting. If I see your hands folded, I'm going to put a Bible in them."

When Tracy rummaged through her lunch sack a half hour before noon, arva reminded, "Don't worry so much about feeding your stomach. Feed your brain first and you'll always find a way to get food for your stomach."

[to a student who was erasing her wrong answer] "No, darling.
Remember, we draw a circle around the error and put the
correct answer above it. We proofread mistakes, we don't
erase them. When you erase a mistake from the paper,
you erase it from your mind, too, and you will make
the same mistake over again."

What a compelling, magnificent journalistic work this is! Plus, it has a heart, to put it mildly. All the other reviewers have given this book the praise it deserves and I am sorry to say that the year of the fire, 1958, I was in high school in California and don't remember anyone ever mentioning this fire (and I was a journalism major!) It is shocking that more people don't know about this book and more shocking still that the Catholic church has never even laid a placque or mentioned this catasgrophe from the pulpit at OLA! Bless the authors for their obviously painstaking work in writing this exhaustive book. I feel proud to have read it and come to know, even so slightly, the children and parents involved, as well as the firefighters who are our ultimate heroes.

I am a teacher of English and history at a high school and a junior college. I have a son who is studying to be a professional fire fighter. In fact, I bought this book for him but read it first. This story is gripping and powerful. It is also beautifully written and it is clear the authors have a close affinity with the countless victims of this nightmare--the children, the nuns, the families, the fire fighters and all who suffered as a result of this catastrophe. To read this book is to go back in time to 1958. I was a student in a catholic elementary school at the time and this book captures the spirit of parochial schools of that era. Their tribute to the nuns who gave the last full measure for their children is overwhelming. In fact, it hs been a long time since a history has made me gasp aloud and I have to admit that I felt the tears well up as I read the accounts of tragedy, loss and heroics. The book captures a moment in time and stands as a tribute to those who died so young.

While only a kindergarden student at Our Lady of the Angels School in 1958,(OLA) the book brought back memories that I had no idea even existed. The tears my parents shed were not understood at the time. I clearly remember the smoke and fire, the bodies being carried out of the shell of a school, and many of the kids I grew up with lost older siblings in the fire. As a kid, I never really understood it.

It was never discussed in my house or at any of my friends houses either. Everyone seemed to suffer their losses privately.

I pray frequently for the souls of those lost to the fire, their families, and for the survivors as well.

The book forced me to relive 1958 and to better understand the fire and its aftermath as an adult looking back. I commend the writers for their outstanding efforts. I cried every 20 pages or so. It had to be painful for them to relive the fire as well.

I wish a memorial could be placed at the new school. It would be a nice tribute to the lives lost so schools could be made fire safe.

Never have I read an interesting, deep book. After completion of reading this book, I had mixed feelings: Happy for the positive ending for the characters and SAD because I finished reading. I wanted MORE.

Mr. Ayala, has a way of drawing you deep into the characters as if you are right there while reflecting on your own personal experiences, this is a 'work in progress' book...A work in progress of making yourself WHOLE.

On a spiritual note, after reading the book, it made me reconnect my relationship with GOD and to read my bible; regaining my positive attitude and believing that "God Will Get You Threw This".

In closing, I have to say, thank you Mr. Ayala for a well written, positive book, thank you for Will You Be Made Whole?

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Ayala personally and we had a great discussion about his passion for writing. Before he left I was handed his 2nd novel "Will You Be Made Whole", not knowing the story content I read the book in it's entirety. Amazed at how Mr. Ayala captured the pain and suffering of his characters I found myself in tears. Each time I turned the page I was pulled into the story placed on a emotional rollercoaster, which most books do not do. He showed his reader that life is full of choices and with every choice there are actions and reactions that follow with God is the midst. A real story of good versus evil. God sometimes have to take us through the bad to get to the good of us all. He showed us that in each character from KC, Cookie, Old Man Ben, Katy and even Katy's father. The book is one of the best I have read in many months. Each reader will enjoy it from beginning to end.

I have never read a book that has touched me more than Will You Be Made Whole. I felt the pain of the individuals in this book, as well as their feeling of no hope for a life any different from what they had. I admit I have spent a good part of the day weeping over Kat because I could so relate to her feeling of being trapped in a relationship that she saw no hope of escaping from but yet drawn to stay in.

The frequent interweaving of Ben through their lives reminded me of the many times that I would hear the Holy Spirit speaking to me, drawing me to Him, but never fully relinquishing myself to trust Him.

Ayala did a wonderful job of portraying the feelings and pain of the characters' lives and at the same time showing readers that their is no problem or situation in our lives that God cannot bring restoration to if we only trust Him.

Joravsky's book is a thorough and honest portrait of the lives of two boys and their dreams of playing professional basketball. Unlike the original documentary film, the book explores each boy's family history, avoiding the cliches and staginess which render real life as caricature. Instead, we get an honest, direct and compelling account of growing up poor and black in Chicago and of having the chance to chase a dream. A fast read that captures the excitement of the game of basketball. Recommended for youths and adults alike; for classroom and recreational settings.

For two inner city kids from the west side of Chicago this is a chance of a lifetime. They get to get out of Chicago's west side for at least ten hours every weekday, to go to St. Josephs to play basketball. The book was excellent and I would rate it 5 stars. I could not put it down. It not only takes you through thier basketball lives, but through thier real lives. I liked it so much, because it was real, true to life, nothing in that book was fake, it was all real. I like reading books about athletics, but Hoop Dreams put each of them in, athletics and real life writing, which was a great combonation together. For these two young men, it was a struggle to try to fullfill thier own hoop dreams. Even with all of the adversity in thier life, they stuck with it thtrough thick and thin, and that was really enjoyable to read about. I would reccomend this book to any teenager who loves basketball. I would not reccomend this book to anyone younger than thirteen, because it does have some foul language in it. To anyone who has not read Hoop Dreams yet, go out and read it, it is one for the ages!

Hoop Dreams is a book everyone can relate to. Whether it be for the fact that it is for athletes or just for people who like real stories about people struggling for success. I personally liked the book because you got to know the kids and where they came from, not just about their basketball lives. You know it is a great movie when in the credits for He Got Game they have both the kids, one is one the brooklyn bridge and the other is in the gardens. Great book. I recommend it to all who love to read.

It's so great to see one of my NY Cop Online Magazine comrades hitting it big with her two books. Gallo is a cop's cop regardless of gender. And she is a Top Cop because she just is -- not because it's politically correct to praise female officers. What I enjoy about Gina Gallo is her natural tough but sexy tone in her prose. Do I sound like a fan? You bet I am. I hope this book makes Gallo a member of the cop/writer elite that includes Joe Wambaugh, William Caunitz, Joe McNamara and Robert Daley. She deserves such recognition.

"Armed and Dangerous: Memoirs of a Chicago Policewoman" is an exceptional book by Gina Gallo, a woman who has been there, done that with uncommon courage. Now she writes with honesty, sensitivity and skill about her observations and experiences -- some funny, some tragic and many worthy of discussion on institutional bureaucracy, crime and domestic violence and so much more.

Her world is multi-dimensional as she is: a former artist and counselor who found herself in the uniform of a cop. Thankfully, she has lived to tell her story.

Gina Gallo's memoir Armed and Dangerous raises this question in one of its more vivid anecdotes. Sometimes outrageous, frequently hilarious, and always thoughtful, this book provides an up-close, gritty, honest look at the lives of Chicago's "Po-lice." Gallo brings us inside the training academy, squad cars, and district headquarters. Then she takes us to the streets, housing projects, and crime scenes she came to know during her 16-year career with the Chicago police force. After reading this book, you will perceive police officers differently. Stereotypes are shattered as we see how the cop lifestyle affects individual officers in very different ways. If you know Chicago, Gina Gallo's book is a must. Even if you don't know Chicago, this is a fascinating, unforgettable read

Cardinal Bernardin talks candidly about dealing with a false accusation of sexual misconduct, his panceatic cancer, and his later terminal illness and preparation for death. He talks about surrendering to the Will of God and how to do this. I found it helpful in finding peace within crisis, and hope within despair. I recommend it without reservation

Recently I lost my father to a 10 year bout with cancer. This book provided me with joy, tears and abudance within a month of my own fathers death. Cardinal Bernardin was a remarkable man who had the courage to face his accusers, his illness and ulitmately his death. He has reconfirmed that faith, hope, love, forgivenss and kindness is the very essentials of what life needs to be about. It is clear from the Cardinal as it was from my experience with my own father that even when you think you are at your darkest human hour you need to reach out and make a difference every single day until your final moment in this part of your journey here on earth.

This book is a must read for anyone who has doubted that there is peace in death. He reconfirms that the lessons most important in life are to continue to give of yourself every day despite the adversities you face. In his illness, through his false accusation and his wonderful rediscovery of a deeper faith in Christ it makes accepting God's plan for you important.

Anyone who has an ill parent or someone close to them should read this book it will give you a much clearer spiritual understanding of illness, death and living every moment under God's plan.

A year ago, on November 14, 1996, our beloved Cardinal Bernardin died, as we the people of his flock, spent time in prayer and reflection over his years as our shepherd. It is amazing to realize how we were enveloped into his loving care, even as he lay dying. Some months later, his book, "The Gift of Peace: Personal Reflections" was published, as his gift to us. More than its worldwide sales, is its personal value to those who read it, perhaps once, maybe several times. How many people near death will ever have the energy to focus on the Lord's Presence, amidst physical pain? For Cardinal Bernardin, the pain he wrote about may have focused on physical and emotional difficulties that surfaced in the final three years of his life, but clearly, there are words in his book that can yet feed the flock, "how if we let Him, God can write straight with crooked lines," if only we let go of the control and allow HIM to direct our life's journey. This does not mean we should make no plans, but rather, set aside time daily to draw close to the Lord, and let go of the concerns that may grip us --- to make room for HIM in our lives. Is there room for HIM in the inn of our deepest selves? There is no other option. No matter what difficulties or hurts arise, we are all still family, always needing to work on healing; the other choice leaves us without family and friends. Cardinal Bernardin speaks of redemptive suffering -- the kind Jesus felt, the kind we may experience. The message clearly leads the reader to know that we, like Jesus, can move beyond the suffering, toward something better, allowing the Lord to work in our lives, bringing us into communion with Him and others who are feeling pain and suffering. In the midst of his pain, Bernardin's faith was strong, but he was preoccupied with the pain. His message is this: develop a strong prayer life in your best moments so you can be sustained in your weaker moments. Lean on family and friends, and church community, as they minister. As you read this book, you may feel the connection with Cardinal Bernardin because either you or a family member or friend is experiencing the pain and suffering of illness. Cardinal Bernardin's presence remains with us, in these words, "Pray while you're well, because if you wait until you're sick, you might not be able to do it."

Allison Clements pulls off an amazing feat in her debut novel. She creates a character who is vain, selfish, and not particularly self-aware, lets her tell her story in the first person, and makes us cheer for her!
Even as some very predictable plot points come along, when the reader knows exactly what's going to happen and knows it will happen because of the character's flaws, we still hold our breath and hope it somehow will come out all right.
There's a lot of small town stuff that rings true in this amazing novel, and there's a great twist at the end that the reader WILL NOT see coming. There's also a sort of timelessness. Clements has carefully not cemented the story into a specific time or decade, so we can all feel as if it's part of our own life.
In the end, it's not about whether Lucy can get together with Billy Lee. It's about whether she will find out who SHE is. That journey turns out to be incredibly entertaining. This is a perfect summer book. A lot of fun and a great read.

Instead of Eudora Welty's "Why I live at the P.O.," it could very well be Alison Clement's "Why I'm Leaving Palmyra." In a running first person dialogue, Palmyra resident, Lucy Fooshee, describes small town life from a very subjective point of view. While Lucy tells the story, her own blatant character flaws are humorously exposed.

As a result, we seem to enjoy loving or hating the vain, self-absorbed Lucy. Our strong reactions indicate that the main character has enough depth to actively engage the reader. By the end of the book, defenders of Lucy Fooshee are pleased to discover there are hints of her maturity on the horizon. Who knows? Perhaps someday Fooshee fans will find out if there's life for Lucy AFTER Palmyra.

What happens when you fall in love--two weeks after you've married the man you're supposed to marry?

Lucy Fooshee, the local beauty newly hitched to farmer Bob Bybee, has dreams and yearnings unacceptable to the unspoken but rigid social rules of Palmyra, Illinois. She can't even get the color thread she wants due to the lack of choices in her small town. In Lucy's words, "What you do in Palmyra is you make a compromise. You take green and not turquoise. You take something else, instead of what you want."

While Lucy is spoiled and self-centered, we relate to her wanting what she can't have. And as we get deeper into the story, Alison Clement shows us how Palmyra made Lucy who she is. Clement demonstrates impressive technical skill by telling the story in Lucy's voice, yet giving the reader insight beyond Lucy's scope of insight. The characters--Lucy, Bob, Billy Lee, Evaline, Mama, Mother Bybee, Aunt Babe, and a cast of eccentric extras--are vivid and human.

I love novels that make me change my mind about the characters as I read along. We may not like Lucy, but Clement's fine writing helps us understand her. I highly recommend this original book.

A must read! Lee Martin takes a deeply honest look into who is, where he has come from and how that will shape his identity. Never have I come away from a piece of literature and felt so moved. Martin's memoir has a sort of constant rhythm that propels you to take the journey with him into another time. He avoids with great dignity the "poor me" syndrome, and takes the time to reflect with honesty and integrity the struggles of life. While 1960s life on a farm in the midwest might seem a nostalgic and peaceful setting, Martin brings to life the kind of violence and true grit of living and emotion that takes place in this typically idealized setting. A pleasure to read in that you come away feeling that you've learned as much as about your own life as you have the author's.

Written with extraordinary eloquence, elgance and honesty, Lee Martin's powerful memoir "From Our House" deserves a national reading audience. Revealing the horrible and enduring hurt regularly dished out by his angry and bereft father, the author journeys where few have the courage to go: to the depths of the human heart turned against itself, to the terrain where lives twisted by loss and regret recoil against each other, to the crooks and crannies of our soul where we try to forgive, to start anew, despite all evidence against hope. Whatever words of praise I write cannot begin to measure the profound respect I have for Lee Martin. This slender, compelling work will be recognized, I have no doubt, as a masterpiece, and Mr. Martin will be recognized as a skilled and compassionategeographer of how families can enter the darker regions of abuse.

Three characters dominate the narrative, which follows the life of the author from childhood through the ultimately redemptive acts of both father and son. Lee Martin interweaves his story with that of his mother, Beulah, and his father, Roy. The most poignant character is that of the mother, a woman who married very late in life and appeared to accept an existence of diminished possibiliites. Beulah emerges as an amazingly strong woman, whose faith and quiet optimism never flags in the midst of a household of anger and violence. Lee Martin describes her as "a woman of duty and endurance, selfless and without need, at least none she was willing to place before the obligation she felt toward her family." Earlier in her life, she battled against her father's alcoholism; her adult life would witness her constant attempts to broken a sense of peace between her enraged husband and alienated and terrified son. The author is acutely aware of her emotional exhaustion and the gnawing toll an abusive home exacted on her physical and spiritual life. Ultimately, if anyone triumphs in this memoir, it is she. Her quiet optimism, faith in the future and belief in the power of forgiveness transcend the violence, anger and mistrust which were the hallmarks of their home.

If Beulah symbolizes faith and redemption, Roy represents blasted hopes and unfettered violence. The author's evocative description of how his father lost his hands in a farming accident foreshadows the rage and sense of impotence that will become life's companions to his father. Roy regularly whips his son, and for those of us who have felt the anger of a father as expressed through whippings, Lee's understated pain permeates this novel. Yet, Roy is presented as a whole being. Lee knows his father is a "sensualist," whose passions for life were stripped from him by the accident. We can see Roy's jaws kneading in anger; we feel his hooks clamp into us when he grabbed his son by the throat; we know how he can use powerful words to sublimate the frustrations boiling underneath.

Yet, the son, Lee Martin, must be the focus of this memoir. We see him as a little boy, yearning for the caress and embrace of his father. Instead, "although he never really maimed me, he often left red marks on my skin, marks that faded more quickly than the heartache that filled me on those occasions." Lee senses that his family was skewed and recognized that difference in the other dysfunctional families he encountered in his childhood. He grows up with a sense of shame, both of his family and of his own apparent evil, for mustn't he by defintion deserve the abuse his father so unsparingly gives him. His family's move away from his rural origins brings only temporary relief to his family; Lee is an outcast, an outsider -- both in his new environment and in his own family. By his adolescence, Lee dallies with delinquency, involving himself in theft and arson. His eventual embracing of his mother's religious convictions provides the lever by which he may offset his own sense of existential anguish and family displacement.

Not only does the author carry the narrative with conviction and purpose, Lee Martin is an amazing writer. Each page is exquisitely crafted. His description of his childhood farm/home is Whitmanesque. As you read this novel, you will constantly comment at how hard this author has worked for you. Redolent with pain and anguish, "From Our House" instructs us in the manner of living.

Lee Martin's memoir "From Our House" is more than an unsettling portrayal of a unique American childhood or the clash of generational values that were the seeds of the Sixties. It aims beyond a painful depiction of how rebellion and cruelty, even betrayal, can be bound up and contained within the love of a family. In fact, at its most daring, it is a suggestion of the very nature of forgiveness: that even as an offense and heartbreak continues, the indictment is never made and final judgement, despite so much bitterness, never rendered. It suggests something about the human spirit very hard to believe and by the end of the book, impossible to deny.

Martin uses a strong grace to tell us of the accident that takes his father's hands on the farm. "I'm free to imagine that day anyway I'd like: a brilliant sun glinting off the picker, the dry leaves of the cornstalks scraping together in the wind; or perhaps it was overcast, the sky dark with the threat of rain, and perhaps the wind was cold on my father's face." It happens when Martin is a baby, this event that will shake his family so powerfully, releasing his father's terrible anger and shame, and his own struggle to understand, gain approval and finally forgive. Later in the book he imagines being present at the accident, older in this dream, and able to warn his father to turn off the tractor before manipulating the picker. He dreams of the power to prevent the accident that leaves the elder Martin with steel hooks to drive his car, hold a cup of coffee or touch his wife and son. Remarkably, at the conclusion, we're not sure Martin would want to change the past, or that we would have him do so.

"From Our House" hangs in the heart and mind's eye, this image of what we can be, drawn with the sharp lines of what we are. I read the book a second time because it is good news and true, true because it never cowers at our inhumanity.

Martin's father and he share a rare moment of understanding on the morning of his grandmother's funeral. Coaxing his reluctant boy into preparing for the morning, his father lays beside him on the bed. "Such a strange day," he says. "You'd hardly think it was meant for you." The same can be said of this book, a stunning and beautiful declaration of everything we are.

Detective Sergeant Samantha Casey has a "gift" from her Native American heritage. She is able to speak with the dead. Not words, but images. When a man's body is found encased in a cement pillar in a burb of Chicago, she is called in. The dead man has a golden pin shaped like a lightning bolt clutched in his hand.

Sam, with a little help from Jake and Tim (a boy computer genius/hacker), she unravels a complex case which dates back to the Korean War. The case gets worse as it connects to the death of her own father years ago.

I did not think this one would be good. A detective that is able to speak with the dead? Never work! I was wrong! This was an interesting book from the first page. The case gets more complex than I let on. Very good reading here!***

In this first Sam Casey series mystery, Chasen Heights detective sergeant Samantha ("Sam") Casey uses psychic powers inherited from her Lakota medicine-woman mother to solve a Korean War era crime. During a Chicago rush-hour traffic accident, a car plows into a cement pillar, cracking it open, and revealing a body that's been entombed there for so long it has turned to a soap-like substance. The first time she touches it, Sam is tormented with visions of the African American man's violent death.

The action-packed story weaves together sub-plots involving illegal gambling in high social circles, historic racism in the supposedly integrated US Army in Korea, and police departments' eternal political struggles. And, if that's not enough to hook readers, Sam very reluctantly falls in love with another cop -- one who seems to be out to get her kicked off the force. Tooley's characters are memorable -- even minor ones like the big-breasted blackjack dealer who mesmerizes male gamblers.

This book will leave you wanting to know more -- about bodies that can turn to soap, race relations in the 1950s Army, Sioux medicine women, and especially Sam Casey.

What fun!

When The Dead Speak by S.D. Tooley will hold the reader's attention riveted until the last page is turned. With a foundation of Native American mysticism blended with a solid murder mystery, Tooley creates a masterful tale of love and murder. A freak accident where a semi swerves to collide with the concrete columns of an overpass in Chicago. As chunks of concrete fall away, a body is revealed encased in its concrete tomb. In his hand is a gold pen shaped like a lightening bolt, and a clue that spans the world reaching into Korea and the racism that American soldiers perpetrated against their own. The corruption of the evil done in Korea has spread on American shores to the highest levels, and even ties to Sam's own deceased father. Detective Sergeant Samantha Casey has a gift inherited from her mother, a Sioux medicine woman. Using her hands, Sam can hear the voices of the dead. When she touches the mysterious golden lightening bolt, she witnesses the ravaged, bullet ridden bodies, and she smells the blood and gunpowder. From a corpse dead twenty-one years, Sam hears the screams of battle and senses the fear and terror. If you enjoy Alex Matthew's series with the heroine Cassidy McCabe, then you will find Sam Casey equally satisfying and yet uniquely different. When The Dead Speak is a rocket paced, addictive novel that is impossible to put down. The heroine is sexy, gifted, and imperfect, with just enough vulnerability to keep the reader hooked. While it reaches a satisfying conclusion, When The Dead Speak also leaves just enough untied and interesting loose ends to lead into the sequel, Nothing Else Matters.

Cindy Penn, Reviewer

"The Outfit" is a well written, thoroughly comprehensive look at the post-Capone history of organized crime in the city of Chicago. Gus Russo does an excellent job of leaving no stone unturned as he chronicles the Outfit's activity from the jailing of Capone to its decline in the 90s. Along the way we meet the gangsters who made the Chicago mob rich and famous: Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo, Paul "the Waiter" Ricca, "Curly" Humphries, Johnny Roselli,Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik, and Sam "Mooney" Giancana. Russo discusses the role of each in making the Chicago Syndicate the power it was in the world of organized crime.

Russo's breezy style makes "The Outfit" an absolute joy to read, deftly mixing facts and ancedotes like a master chef. Read about the takeover of IATSE, the Hollywood union, and the infiltration of the mob into the world of the Hollywood studios; the Mob's entry and takeover of Las Vegas; the infiltration into the Teamsters and the scheming of the Outfit to fix the 1960 presidential election and what happened when they were doublecrossed. It was by no means a smooth ride - along the way Russo details the eforts of law enforcement to balance the books, so to speak, with the result that the Outfit always had to keep scheming, keep looking, for new rackets and businesses to infiltrate. Russo keeps the pages turning with a compelling style that makes the book's 550 pages seem like 100 when you hit the end.

Few books even attempt to cover the history of the Chicago Mob after Al Capone left the scene. Fewer still are this enjoyuable. A must for crime historians and those just interested in a good book.

This is the best and most informative book I've read on the Chicago Sydicate (aka, the Outfit). Mr. Russo really did his homework on this opus on one of the most successful criminal enterprises this country has ever seen. I was particularly interested in the role of Curly Humphreys. This shadowy figure was the backbone of the Outfit and was a brilliant strategist. He is not as widely known as Meyer Lansky, but was just as savvy. There was also much information on the rest of the Chicago bosses and bigwigs (Tony "Joe Batters" Accardo, Paul "The Waiter" Ricca, Sam Giancana, and Johnny Rosselli, among others). There was also some great information on Frank Sinatra and has involvement with various mob families across the country. If you want to read a definitive work on the Chicago Mafia and its far-reaching influence, then this book is it.

This is about as good as it gets in terms of criminal history. I agree with others that some of the secondary sources Russo cites are questionable (my eyes crossed when he cited the discredited "Last Testament of Lucky Luciano"), but Russo does an excellent job of placing the Outfit in historical context and telling their tale. Much previous writing on American organized crime has focused on the fractious and colorful New York families, but after you do a certain amount of reading, it begins to occur to you that the guys in Chicago seem to have a finger in every pie, but (after Capone) a knack for staying out of the papers. Russo makes the argument that the Outfit was actually much more powerful and cohesive than the New York families and had a much greater influence on American politics and culture. He convinced me.

I am also convinced by Russo's basic thesis -- that "upperworld crime" utterly dwarfs underworld crime, both in terms of dollar volume and its affect on society. For example, it would take a thousand Outfits a thousand years to steal as much money as Wall Street did during the dotcom bubble.

Thorough, well-organized, but never dry, this book will probably stand as the best work on the subject for many years to come.