Commendably, Mr. Brooksher has added another volume to the limited literature devoted to the American Civil War in the West. The author concentrates the majority of the text to setting the stage, discussing events leading up to and following the outbreak of the war; but then does a credible job narrating the battle itself. His prose does tend to be a little "purple," from time to time ("angel of death," "happy camper," and "spit-warm ditch water") but it is a fascinating tale, replete with colorful characters. Decent maps and well done orders of battle compliment the text. His bibliography seems a bit padded to me with Ken Burns and American Heritage thrown in with the more often seen "Jennison's Jayhawkers," Castel's "Sterling Price," and Tunnard's "3d Louisiana." A few too many secondary sources to suit me, personally. Nonetheless, good intro volume before purchasing Piston's or Bearss' volumes. I would also recommend following this work with "PEA RIDGE," by Shea and Hess.

Bill Brooksher is a retired USAF Brigadier General. He writes in a style that showcases a brilliant mind and his dry humor. Bloody Hill began the Civil war in the west. It provided the Union with its first hero, BGen Nathaniel Lyon. Bloody Hill captures the drama of the era in Missouri. It is an insightful review of the intrigue that characterized the border states. Bloody Hill is a valuable addition to the sparse literature on the American Civil War in the west.

This is a narrative of Kansas settlement troubles which culminated at Wilson's Creek. Detailed coverage of the missed opportunity by Gov. Jackson to secure the St. Louis Armory. It even mentions Belle Starr nursing the fighting men down at Carthage. Complete works cited list and end notes. Brooksher tells this true story in a way that I really enjoyed. A treat to read and I will read his other works.

The facts in this book seem complete and accurate. We learn that Annie Oakley did not deliberately lose a shooting match to Frank Butler as she did in "Annie Get Your Gun," a product of the unfeminist fifties.

The information on the trials of Oakley's early life was especially interesting. I felt the book bogged down when the author began trying to fit Oakley into a feminist straitjacket, relating everything she did and didn't do to its connection with women's rights. I also grew tired of hearing how sweet, feminine, and ladylike Oakley was.

This was one of the sources that I used for my college term paper. Glenda Riley is concise and simple in her explanations; she does not "wander" in explaining and includes an extensive index which makes this an invaluable scholastic reference. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to quickly sort out the fact from the ficition of Annie Oakley.

I've read many spurious versions of Annie Oakley's life. Now I don't have to read another, because I've seen the real story as documented by Riley. Her scholarship is outstanding, and she analyses Oakley's role as symbol of the showbiz Western myth as well as her quiet, hardworking life behind the scenes. If you like the dramatic lies, this book is not for you. If you want a portrait of Oakley as a woman and a symbol, read this.

I guess The River of God is technically a new history of Christian origins since it is a new book. However, new does not equate with original. Riley disappoints by not coming up with any original ideas from what I could see. He just rehashes the same old story of Christianity forming from many cultural influences. If you have read anything from somebody at the Claremont School of Theology, the various Ivy League theology schools, or the Jesus Seminar, then you have already read what this book has to offer. I expect more from a professor than to simply publish a long book report of other people's ideas.

This is also not a book for Christians who believe in the bible and the God of the bible. Riley's Jesus is more of a relativist created by cultural influences before him as opposed to being God in the flesh.

I really like this book. The analogy to an actual river is a concept of brilliance.
All these religious ideas have interplayed with others. They are the products of the human mind in various stages of cultural evolution.

The anthropomorphic god who walked in the cool of the day in the garden. He became the ethereal Monad in the perfect spheres of the geocentric universe.

What is a soul? What is the body? Riley shows that 5'th century
BCE Greek science created the concept of a soul. It was adopted by the religous beliefs. First Greek then Zoroastrian then Jewish then Christian.

Great read!

In The River of God, Gregory Riley shines light on much of the history of Christian origins often ignored by scholars. Most researchers of Christianity restrict themselves to the influence of the West (Greek and Roman) and often confuse Rabbinic Judaism with the Judaism of Jesus' times; Prof. Riley adds the whole of Middle Eastern religious history to the story of our search for God. Riley includes the development of Cannanite and Mesopotamian religion in the history of ancient Judaism. In addition to Greek ideas of Orphism, Pythagoreanism and Plato, he recognizes the Egyptian and Persian Zoroastrian influences on the development of Christian concepts of afterlife. Riley outlines the role of Persian Zoroastrianism on our understanding of Satan and a world savior. He details how various ancient religious models of God from both East and West as well as Greek science contributed to the development of our understanding of the division of body and soul and the creation of the doctrine of the Trinity in the fourth century. The River of God is not a general overview of world religions; it is specifically about the development of Christianity from a modern Christian perspective. Prof. Riley writes with a broad brush in his outline of the development of Christianity and, while scholars will quibble over some of the details and generalizations, I found The River of God to be an excellent overview of our understanding of "the process of the River of God."

I sure wish I could get my money back. I bought this book about 18 months ago at a bookstore and after a few months I wished I could take it back, but they had gone out of business ( hope this doesn't happen to you Amazon) :-) . This guy Riley doesn't have much taste or imagination. Don't waste your money.

It's a reference book folks, not something you curl up with to read on a rainy afternoon.

Given the huge problems with indexing actors who seem to change names (or spellings) with each video, and videos that seem to change what scenes are included with each reprint or edition.... it's an amazing reference, nothing online or in print comes close!

If you want to know what videos your favorites are in, this is your best resource.

Is it perfect? No, in particular, there is no reverse reference, so you can find movies by actor, but not actors by movie. The number of pictures and descriptions is extremely limited making it often difficult to attach a name to a face.

Then there is the problem of what do you do with an X-rated industry where anyone with a video camera can shoot their own video... there is so much out there, so much that is not in any kind of traditional distribution.

Pay no attention to that last reviewer... I'm not exactly sure what he thought he was buying. Buy this book for one purpose alone - to serve as a comprehensive reference tool. If you're a serious fan of X-rated movies, particularly a collector, this is just the book you need. Whenever you want to know exactly how many films a starlet made, and exactly what the titles are, you just flip this open and there's all the relevant info, indexed by the actress (or actor, but why you'd want that is beyond me). Kudos to Patrick Riley!! (Don't look to this book for details of what each actress DOES in each movie - he has another book for that, which I plan to get when I find it.)

This is NOT a mathematical book. It looks like a bad's students cheat-sheet. I don't know how they can learn math in England from this? Especially, when their undergraduate studies are only 3 years (actually, 3 x 8months < 3years). Conclusion: do not study in England.

I've bought this book to learn the mathematics I need for physics. I'm a high school student (currently, but I plan to study physics). I'm interested in physics and learn it on my own. This book has help understand (and solve) mathematics needed for physics. I used it to learn mathematics, now I use it for reference. A great book.

As a physicist I'm constantly scrambling to my bookcases to look something up. This text sits at the top of my shelves and is used more often than any other. I give it 5 stars as a reference text, however I cannot really rate it as a 'learning' mathematical methods text (maybe 3 stars?) since most of the methods are familiar to me.

Whoever decided to let Fabio write a book was seriously disturbed. I'll put it nicely and say that the book seems rushed and not very well thought out. Save yourself the money.

I also thought I would get a good laugh out of this but I gave it a chance and though not something that will win any major literary awards it was really quite good for it's genre so if you will only read books that are literary works of art avoid this because it's not for you but if you have an open mind about books and can read and enjoy every thing from classic literature to more lightweight books like this, well you won't be disappointed and might even find yourself actually liking it.

I listened to an audio cassette tape version of Viking and though I thought I would probably hate it and think it was hokey I found myself really having fun listening to the story and totally liked it and the fact that Italian actor Marcello filming a movie about the ancient Vikings is transported back to Iceland during the time of the Vikings becoming Viktor the Valiant a Viking warrior, and I really liked Marcello/Viktor, and Monica/Reyna, in fact I liked this audio cassette version of Fabio's story so much I'm going to search the used book stores for the paperback book. My only minor complaint with the audio cassette version is that the American woman who read the story didn't use any accents, and though I would have liked the reader to have used the proper accents I think she had a very nice sounding voice and even with the minor complaint of the accents I still feel that the audio is a keeper!

Exciting romantic suspense????? Obviously Harriet Klausner read a different book. Maybe something by Susan Andersen? I have to agree with Disappointment from New York. I WANTED to like this book. Reinventing Romeo was a fun read. However, I found myself skipping great portions of Romancing Riley. Too much "head" conversation and not enough real conversation. Riley was just too much period - not sympathetic. Again, I agree with New York. Just could not like Riley. I hope Ms. Lane's next book is better, but the brief preview in the back of Romancing Riley did not bode well.

I really liked Riley at the beginning of this book. I mean, I really, really liked her. She was fun, independent, and sassy. She was the first romance heroine I've ever encountered with short, spiky dyed hair, a dog collar, and a navel ring. She was everything most romance heroines are not. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I didn't find her unsympathetic at all. I found her a refreshing break from the cotton-candy pink of most other romance heroines. Her careless sexuality, far from being off-putting, was more based in reality. If you like Carrie Brandshaw and pals of Sex and the City, you'd really like Riley.

Where this book started to derail for me was when the hero, Zap, who I found to be totally arrogant and annoying, started to change Riley. Plain dresses and ordinary hair styles & color came first, along with the removal of her body jewelry. At the end, it leaves the impression that only those cotton-candy-pink heroines who are demure and shy about sexuality deserve to be loved. And that I don't like at all.

Talk about mismatched lovers. Riley and Zap aren't star-crossed, they're galaxy-crossed, and Riley isn't the standard romance heroine by a long shot. But flashy, trashy Riley is warm-hearted, loyal and vibrant, and Zap, with his Midwestern manners and ideals is her perfect foil. If you're looking for a vivacious romp, with characters who aren't cookie-cutter all-American, then don't look any further. This one's a keeper. As for the teaser chapter? Clown showgirls, ATF agents and male strippers? Personally, I can't wait.

As a student of history, not focused on the period, I found this book a hard and annoying read. Riley-Smith focuses too much on proving his arguments through repetative evidence, and only through a close examination and arduous reading of the title from front to end does one gain a good understanding of what Riley-Smith wanted to convey. The art of story-telling does not live in this one...

Riley Smith focuses on the title of his book, that is what he wants to present and does. It is not a light read, but anyway it is very clear and dinamic; the author presents facts in an interesting and condensed way, and he does take time (we apreciate that!)to explain the sources he has used in his investigation.

This is a brilliant book by a leading historian of the crusades. It needs to be understood on its own terms: it's a detailed analysis of *why* so many Europeans set off on the 1st Crusade. Riley-Smith has produced a closely-argued analysis that places the crusade within the context of the world of eleventh-century Europe that created it. This isn't the place to go if you want accounts of the battles of the crusade, and it isn't a "light" read. But it's extremely valuable---I've assigned it several times to my classes.

I did not enjoy this book at all. I felt it was an insult to women everywhere. I did not feel anything for Riley and Jayne and the silly way the heroine was portrayed was insulting.

Jayne Murphy is urban chic standing on top of the world with her best selling relationship book, Heartbreak 101, that uses her sorrowful experience with photojournalist hunk Riley Davis. Jayne fell in love with Riley, but he did not miss a heartbeat as he skipped town without a look back. Her current project is a retreat workshop for five "dump-ees" that she plans to use for her next self-help book.

However, the tour guide turns out to be clueless Riley who does not realize he is the model starring in Heartbreak 101. Neither one expected the other at this retreat, but there is no question that urban Jayne and wilderness Riley have different opinions on life yet both desperately desire the other. With no common ground except love, this second chance seems doomed to failure once again.

Lisa Plumley is gaining a deserved reputation for her amusing romances and her latest tale RECONSIDERING RILEY, will strengthen her standing among sub-genre fans. The story line is a delightful fluff that is fun from the beginning, but really hooks the audience at the retreat. The key to this comical, at times slapstick, romp is the cast. The two charming lead characters and the support group turn the novel into a marvelous merry mirth.

Harriet Klausner

Reconsidering Riley by Lisa Plumley Is truly a opposites attract novel Jayne Murphy is your typical "girlie-girl" her whole wardrobe consist of her favorite color baby blue and she can not go anywhere without her bath products. What happens when Jayne an author of a self-help realtionship novel Heartbreak 101:Getting Over The Goodbye Guys decides to hold a retreat for some of her fans who are affectionately called the dump-ees and her ex-boyfriend the subject of her book is leading the group Utter and Complete Chaos!!

Riley Davis Jayne's ex doesn't know that he is the man who inspired her Heartbreak 101 novel and is even more surprised when he founds out Jayne is the author he takes it upon himself to help "get over the bozo" that made her write the book. He proposes a plan to Jayne they can have a "fling" for closure Jayne agrees but she has conditions. But Riley gets more then just his casual fling.

My first read by Lisa Plumley and it was very enjoyable. Riley and Jayne are great characters and their romance was very touching and heartwarming some of my favorite parts are the workshops that Jayne holds for the "dump-ees"Riley not knowing what to do during the workshops decides to conduct his own workshops it is truly hilarious. I found myself laughing throughout this novel. I have now become an instant fan of Lisa Plumley