I LOVED this book! Ordinarily, I do not recommend religious books to anyone, because what works for me will not usually work for other people. In times past, I would simply say that I enjoyed the book, but would be very noncommittal when asked if I would recommend it. This time, however, I highly recommend this book!

It was an excellent retelling of the story of Gomer and Hosea. It moved me from anger to love, from tears of sorrow to tears of joy. It was a great example of how God's love, expressed through man, can heal another person's heart. It showed how no matter how far we try to run, God is always there for us and with us, and He will take as much time as we need to teach us of Him and His love.

Redeeming Love is, at its heart, a story of restoration and forgiveness -- the kind that has to take place not only on a spiritual level, but also on an intrapersonal level and within one's self. It's also a lesson on judgement. So many people had so quickly passed judgement on Angel that she internalized their negativity, and they missed out on the opportunity to heal her wounded spirit. Even Micheal almost missed his chance, until he allowed the Lord completely bend his will to the divine purpose the Lord had intended.

This book will make you fully appreciate the goodness of the Lord. I will awaken in your spirit a renewed desire to be drawn into His fold. If you are not moved by this story, check your pulse, you may be dead.

What a joy to be able to share my thoughts about this book with whomever may read this. This is the first book Francine Rivers wrote after coming into her relationship with Christ. Because of that, it has a rawness and a fresh fascination with the incredible love of God. The characters are real and believable, especially Angel, whose life experiences have left her bitter and angry, certain that there is no hope for redemption or love. The story that unfolds is so much more than the "sappy" romance-novel cover depicts (I wish the publisher would redesign it). Even for me, a Christian for 15 years, it was deeply moving and humbling to read of how unshakeable God's love is, and also His discipline. I have reccomended this book to so many people, all of whom have had similar responses to mine, and I would suggest it as a way to show God's amazing love to anyone you may know who doesn't know Him. Praise God for servants who are gifted in such unique ways as Mrs. Rivers - may she continue to glorify Him with her stories!

The first day I bought this book, I sat on my desk and told myself I'd just read a chapter before I go to bed. That was 9pm. No matter how hard I tried, I could not put the book down. I found myself teary eyed, reading the ending, at 5am the next morning. Intending to read just the first few pages, I ended up reading the entire book in one sitting (with one bathroom break!).

Everytime Angel would run away from Michael's love, I would say, "you stupid, ungrateful woman!" But as I was reading, God reminded me of all the times when I myself would backslide from my faith, thinking that I could make it on my own without Him - and of how unconditional His love is (like Michael's) when I come to my senses and ask for His forgiveness. After I finished the novel, I couldn't help but thank God for His forgiving, faithful, redeeming love.

I definitely recommend this book. But don't read it like I did - Don't read it in one sitting until 5am when you need to be at work at 7am.!!

I work casual hours in a bookstore and my manager picked up These Is My Words to let me know that it was on the New Releases list. The title had me at once. I bought it immediately.

Never have I felt so as one with a novel. Reading Sarah's entries, I too fought those Indians, felt the hurt with the loss of loved ones and loved Jack. On more than one occaison, I found myself in the most absurd places reading this story, (one morning for an hour sitting on the edge of the bath tub). I have been waiting for a book like this my whole life and now that I have found it, I doubt anything can replace it.

Nancy Turner's characters are vivid, believable, real. They grow through the course of the novel to become your friends, family and loved ones. I have never cried, laughed and siged with relief so many times through one book. I just hope that this treasure stays safe within yellowing pages and bypasses the big screen.

Truly amazing, an adventure everyone should have. Thank-you so much Nancy Turner!

When I began reading this book, I was, at first, annoyed by the prose. The author intentionally used misspelled words throughout the first few pages-- not to mention horrible grammar-- and I find that exhausting to read! However, after heroine Sarah Prine gets her hands on a newspaper and a wonderful young woman helps her learn to read and write a bit better, Sarah Prine's words become an adventurous, thrilling report of her life in the American West.

This book is loaded with adventure (Indian attacks, shooting contests, rape attempts, childbirth, and train robbery!!). I loved that the main character has a thirst for knowledge and love of books, too. She is easy to relate to, and impossible to dislike. I like Sarah because she is independent, sassy, and very real. Sarah's tongue is sharp, but her soul is so good, and it was exciting to read about her passion and lust for Jack and then watch their lives fall into place together.

This book was absolutely convincing as the diary of a young woman out West so many years ago. I found myself wondering about Sarah Prine as though she were a real person more than a few times... Also, as a Tucson resident, the parts about the erection of the university and the climate of the city back then were particularly interesting.

I could not put this book down. I stayed up three nights in a row, reading until 2 or 3 in the morning, just to find out what could possibly happen next. I laughed at the scrapes the characters found themselves in, and how they reacted to them, and I sobbed for half an hour as I turned the last few pages. To find out why, you will simply have to read this wonderful new piece of literature...

I'm expecting a baby soon, and my best friend enclosed this book for me along with a baby gift. I can't imagine a more wonderful gift than this book. I recently read "Cold Mountain" and thought that it was my all-time favorite ... well, "These Is My Words" has topped "Cold Mountain"! I wish I had the discipline to have read it slower, but I devoured it and now feel almost mournful at having finished it. I agree with the earlier poster ... I, too, pictured Jack as looking like the actor Sam Elliot. I also agree with another poster that I hope this is not made into a movie ... it's a precious treasure on its own. I loved Sarah, in fact I almost felt as if I became her charcter ... I felt as strong and courageous, yet at the same time as vulnerable, as she. It was a great character to live through! I fell in love with Jack, and I'm still angry at him for getting himself killed! While I almost feel disloyal recommending another book right now, in this same vein is "The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All" (which is VERY long, so you can savor it a bit), and of course "Cold Mountain" (which is a much slower pace than "These Is..." but an amazing tale of the rugged pioneer spirit and a poignant love story). "These Is..." and many of the other books about this era make me a bit ashamed to see how "soft" we have become as people at the 20th century's end ... we take for granted so many modern conveniences ... the people in these novels didn't have the luxury of being lazy, and they seemed to have much richer lives in spite of it.

I have started riding again and plan to get my own horse(s) in the next year or so. I have collected several different books on horse care, horse problems, etc. This book was great. From the first few pages I was hooked and read it cover to cover. Most horse books that I've gotten I have only scanned the pages.

This book is great because it tells stories about particular horses, their problems, and how the problems were overcome, all by taking the time to "consider" how the horse feels about a situation. This book was really great reading, and I would suggest it for any horse lover.

I have lots of books on horse behavior, horse psychology, etc., but this book is better than all the rest put together. I have a young mare who is my first horse at the age of 40plus, she is quite nervous at times which doesn`t do my nerves any good either! This book has been a great help in my ways of dealing with her & we now seem to have a closer partnership. If one thing wasn`t working with her, then I`d approach the problem in a different way as Mark suggests, & we`d finally sort the conflict out. The one thing that struck me after reading this book, was how much calmer I was if she started playing up. I just had to think how Mark, or the old man, would deal with the situation & immediately became calm & resolute in my actions. My mare obviously sensed this & became calm herself. I have just read the book again & am about to order his other one. If you want to solve your horses problems then this book is a must. It is not a book saying you must do this or that, but is a book saying this may work, or because all horses are different then this other way may work, or you may have to find a solution yourself. After reading this book the solution to your problem will be easy to see. If I had to part with all my horse books apart from one, this would be the one left on the shelf

This is the first book I have read by the recent crop of "horse trainers" in which the author does NOT claim to be the inventer of his techniques OR infallible! Mark's style is easy, flows nicely, and is very readable--it's almost like he's sitting on the couch in your living room talking with you about working with problem horses. He stresses approaching problems from the horse's viewpoint, and in the process of doing so makes the trainer reassess his own techniques and approaches to horses. Excellent book, well worth the price and the time to read.

In preparing our list of Christmas books to share with others, we had to search far and wide on amazon to find this particular book, a paperback edition of the classic Night Before Christmas.

This is the book I've used for years when reading this story to my own children, passing on Tasha Tudor and other illustrators. Why?

Although we can find the same poem and pay a lot more, with award winning illustrators, the illustrations provided by Douglas Gorsline are surely the best. They are quite colorful, and offer details little children love looking into...cats lie sleepily on the window sill, we see an overview of the town, the presents spilling from the open sack are intriguing and plentiful, and Jolly St. Nick is -- well, quite Jolly (as you can see by looking at the cover!)

The story is an "abridged version" - I'm not sure about other parents, but we read this on Christmas Eve, and we only have so much time and energy. Everything we remember from the classic poem by Clement Clarke Moore is in this version.

(From "'Twas the Night Before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse" to "He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!" In between we have everything, from the names of the eight tiny reindeer, to a belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly, including dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky".

In other words, don't be scared off by 'abridged'!)

Perhaps a hardcover edition might be more appropriate if you're giving a gift (unless you're giving to more than one child), but this book is one of the best offers we've found!

A classic done simply and inexpensively!

We have an inexpensive paperback version (see our reviews) of this classic poem, and we said that's enough for us. That was before we looked through this beautifully illustrated (by Bruce Whatley) edition of The Night Before Christmas.

The lyrics are the same, from book to book, but the fanciful illustrations in this one are enough to engage adults and children as they read this book together.

The perfect gift for any family whose Christmas tradition includes reading this classic!

This beautiful book was in my family as a hard cover edition for many years and was a Christmas Eve tradition for my four sons when they were growing up. It's poor battered body disappeared some time after the last of my little ones went off into the adult world. I am so delighted to see it back again, though this time as a nicely affordable soft cover. Clement C. Moore's enchanting story poem already provides an atmosphere filled with warmth and joyful expectation and with the addition of Tasha Tudor's quaint, nostalgic water-colors from an antique New England the Christmas magic is complete!
The winter landscapes fill our senses and Tasha's own gray tabby cat and Welsh Corgi welcome us into this charming world.
Tasha's Santa that you will meet in this book has been portrayed as the poem describes him...a right jolly old elf. He's not that much larger than the corgi and his team really consists of eight "tiny" reindeer. His pointy ears and his Eskimo mukluks add to the delightful ambiance of the book. He dances with the toys and with the happy animals and we can truly believe it will be a happy Christmas for all.
I hope this book becomes a Christmas Eve tradition for many, many more families.

A handful of entertainment works (books, movies, music, TV shows) have connected with me in ways that I can barely describe. They move me emotionally, they provoke my imagination, and they make me want to experience them over and over again. They describe people and situations to which I can completely relate. Bruce Springsteen's music does that for me. Star Wars used to do that until the prequels came about. The TV show St. Elsewhere used to do it (haven't seen it in years, but I assume it holds up). And Lonesome Dove continues to do so. There are so many positive reviews here that it's hard not to be redunant. I agree with it all: believable characters that you feel like you know, not long enough even at 900 pages, brutal but realistic violence. This is simply the best book I have ever read, and the emotional impact still rings true after nearly 16 years. I haven't reread it in several years, but I'm certain that I remember nearly every scene and much of the dialogue.

Several warnings:

1) Nothing you read afterwards, for years to come, will compare. Lonesome Dove will spoil you and diminish everything else you read, no matter how good it may be.

2) It really is not long enough even at it's sizable bulk. You will not want this to end. It starts slowly, but like the cattle drive it depicts, it builds momentum.

3) You will have a difficult time convincing anyone else to read this fine book. You'll hear several standard excuses, especially "I don't like Westerns" and "It's too long" (refer people who say this to my #2 warning above). I know few people who have ever read the book, but those of us who have share the same feelings. It's frustrating to read something so wonderful yet have so few people with whom to share it.

4) McMurtry's sequel and prequels are inferior. You will want more after reading this book, but his other works in the series do not live up to the standards set here. They are good works by themselves, but are inconsistent with the facts and spirit established in the original book. I've heard him speak at several book signings, and for reasons unknown he seems to hold Lonesome Dove in contempt. It has always struck me that he must have intentionally sabotaged the other books as a way of "sticking it" to the fans who inundate him with their love for this book. Don't let that diminish your enjoyment of Lonesome Dove.

5) It is emotionally devastating. This is a sad, brutal, tragic book (bet that really sells you on it, doesn't it? well, sad and brutal have never been done so well). You will experience the characters' joys, but you will also share their considerable pain. Do not let anyone tell you how this book ends. I was not expecting the outcome, but it flowed naturally with the story. Given its realism and insight into life and human nature, the book ended in the only way it could if it were to remain true to itself. Life doesn't end happily, and neither does Lonesome Dove. These characters, their stories and their fates, will haunt you until the end of your days.

When you're finished with the book, watch the movie- looking forward to seeing it should be some consolation after the letdown of finishing the book. Don't fall into the mentality that "the movie is never as good as the book". In this case it is, and they offer a wonderful complement to one another.

That is the best way to convey the quality of this novel. McMurtry succeeds in writing a wonderfully descriptive novel of the only true American myth -- the cowboy. Americans have always been fascinated with the West. McMurtry realizes this and embraces the world of cattle drives, whores, indians, gunfights, and more. In doing so, he refuses toshow us the picture through rose-colored glasses. Instead he weaves a rich tale with wonderful characters -- who contain vivid human flaws. I can honestly say that this is the single greatest piece of contemporary fiction I have ever read because it captures the spirit of the old West without dilluting it with glorification. There are times when this book and its villains truly frighten you, times when you laugh along with the "good guys", and times when sadness shamelessly sweeps over you. Like all great novels, this books embraces the reader and makes you a part of its world. Even better, that world is the great American horizon -- the land west of the Mississippi. Truly, a great epic novel. If you want to read a tale of American history, full of wonderful characters, drama, comedy, and action, then this is the book for you.

My love of westerns prompted me to read this novel. I generally stay away from "Made for TV movie" novels, but I had heard from many of my friends that this was a novel that couldn't be passed up. I am very glad I took the time to get into the novel. It is a fabulous epic that I will read again and again. Not only that, but I have gone and purchased the other three books of the series, and am anxious to begin reading them.
"Lonesome Dove" starts out kind of slow. You are introduced to the main characters early on, but the story line doesn't really pick up until the journey to Montana begins. Lorena's capture was the clincher of the novel. From that point on I was hooked. I could not put the book down until I finished it. I liked the development of Lorena's character, but unfortunately McMurtry puts it to an abrupt ending as soon as they reach Nebraska. She immediately went from a major character to a background character.
I am also wondering a bit why McMurtry decided to leave Woodrow Call's character such a secret until the very end of the novel. Like Clara, I don't particularly like Call, and wonder why McMurtry made him the character who rides into the sunset. I guess I will have to read "Streets of Laredo" to find out.
Augustus McCrae is by far my favorite character of the novel. His character is so well developed that you feel like you know him personally. He is fun, playful, sensitive, caring, skilled, and opinionated. What a great guy! What a hero.
My second favorite character of the novel is Newt. You can see him mature before your eyes. I hope that some day a novel is written about him.
Using myth, mystery and superstition, I believe that Blue Duck is an awesome character. He is crude and devilish, and his ending is so grand. McMurtry gave us just enough information to keep us in suspense, but not enough to form the whole picture of who this villan was.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is in for a great epic tale of the American west. I think McMurtry is one of the best American authors we have ever had. I cannot wait to pick up his other novels.

Lewis gives us excellent insight and perspective on the nature of temptation and how Satan works. The work is set up as correspondances between a beaucrat in hell and his nephew Wormwood. The letters are advice and training for Wormwood who is given charge of luring certain people down to Hell. The book is entertaining, humorous, but also deep and should strike a chord with those expiriencing strong temptation in their life towards some form of evil. The best way to fight your enemy is to know him, and this book is an theory on how the devil and his angels might work to take souls away from God. The book is also very easy to read, and without the pretentious philosophical jargon that theologians use. It's down to earth, common sense theology taught in story form. An excellent work!

Witty, brief (no chapter more than four pages, the book easily read in an afternoon), timeless Truth presented with refreshing satire aimed where it should, C.S. Lewis' legendary "Screwtape Letters" is at once soul and brain food.

Lewis tells his story through the title character, an experienced devil instructing his apprentice nephew to lure a young man to condemnation. The apprentice, Wormwood, tempts with everything from family (distancing prayers for the man's mother from behavior toward her) to social circle (flippant friends stray him from his new life, a new girlfriend moves him closer to it) to work and even worship.

Lewis then flips God's love and law into effective, ironic Satanic reverses. He shows temptation most effective and deadly in its smallest doses: prayer posture, creation and consideration of an Historical Point of View (including an historical Jesus as opposed to One of faith). Lewis redefines gluttony, defends Puritanism, shows the misunderstanding of romantic feelings in love and sex, and misperception of the large ever-broken promise, "The Future." (This book must be read if only to debunk one of Henry Ford's most famous quotes and the cliched, selfish phrase "impose on my time.")

Lewis shows (and Screwtape plants) the landmines of an early Christian walk: the role of a Church, of humor and the temptation inherent in its roots, Christian truth made trivial and a commodity beside social causes. He even dissects everyday, mundane pleasures (books, walks, music, wine, dated references to cigarettes) for their own sake and not as means to follow an ever more mediocre crowd.

Lewis' final Screwtape letter is his most moving. Sarcasm joins sanctification as we learn target's and tempter's final fate. It ties to themes present throughout Lewis' letters and providing fodder for his conjoined, equally humorous essay, Screwtape Proposes A Toast: "The safest road to Hell is the gradual one...without milestones, without signposts..." This absolutely essential book is just such signpost; "The Screwtape Letters" is joyful, instructional, fun reading for anyone wishing to know what forces fight for the human soul.

One of the best, and most influential, Christian authors of any time, C. S. Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters" is a compelling, and chilling, fictional look at what goes on behind our back in the demonic spirit world.

Screwtape, an upper level demonic spirit, often writes his subordinate, Wormwood, a demonic spirit assigned to misguide and misdirect a human on earth. The letters explain to Wormwood how he would best accomplish his mission of keeping the human our of the Enemy's (God's) hands and ensure that when he dies he goes straight to blazes.

What is most chilling about "The Screwtape Letters" is that, even after all of these years, how much a person can see of themselves in them. Letter after letter seemed to be talking about me directly. Time and time again I saw one demonic trap after another I had fallen into being explained in a letter.

I have to caution you, however. This book is not an easy read. C. S. Lewis did not attempt to write a book that everybody could understand. You will probably have to spend some time re-reading many letters and looking up words in your dictionary and/or concordance for a better understanding of what is being said. This can become quite frustrating, but when you are able to break through and understand a letter you will be able to see how it can apply to your own life.

If you were ever interested in getting a better understanding of how the Enemy and his demonic spirits work, this is a great book to do it with. But be warned: you will learn something about yourself in the process.

C.S. Lewis's "A Grief Observed" is a brief book -- only about 70 pages-- but it contains some of the best metaphors for faith I have ever read. Like his challenging work "The Problem of Pain," this book is unsparing in its belief that a good God can will awful things on people. Like death, for instance. Why would an all-powerful God allow people to suffer and die, especially those well before their prime? Lewis went through this questioning himself when his wife died, and his journal of questions and answers fill the pages of this book.

How can God remain silent when the ill cry out in pain? Lewis compares God to a surgeon performing open heart surgery. The doctor, knowing best the full process required, can't relieve pain at every cry, or he would never complete the process, and the intended purpose of the pain would never come to fruition. This is a pretty unsparing description -- I wonder how many people in grief feel comfort reading such things. This is where faith comes in -- if you believe that the end result of pain and death is resurrection, and you trust in God's plan, you can find comfort knowing that every death is part of the plan.

Not an easy concept to grapple with -- I'm glad I read this book, but I can't help but flinch a bit at Lewis's viewpoint. It is lucid, poetic, and erudite -- and yet I still find myself uncomfortable with a God who would bring suffering on innocent people.

CS Lewis began writing this journal one month after his wife died of cancer. He was distraught, shocked, and confused, especially about the meaning of life. The journal rambles from one throught to another, reflecting his daze and despair.

As a widow, I can identify with his varied reactions to death; however I found the book rather difficult to read. It is only 72 pages long, but each sentence needs to be reread, and slowly, in order to follow Lewis' thought processes. He finds no answers to his questions (mainly: How could God take his beloved away from him?); he simply asks them.

For me, this was not a particularly helpful or insiteful book on grief, merely one person's thoughts on the subject. I am sure however, that admirers of CS Lewis would find it of interest.

After having read several of Lewis' books, I read "A Grief Observed" which quickly became my favorite. It is his journal - and almost too personal - where you bear witness to Lewis' progress as he sloughs his way through the deep mire of sorrow and grief.

In the first pages of the book, he tells of going to God, seeking relief from the agony he feels in his heart over the fresh loss of his beloved wife, Helen Joy, only to find - the door slammed and the sound of the door being bolted and doubled bolted from the inside.

He rails against God and his faith is stirred to its core.

In the end, he finds his way back to God, but it is not an easy journey or a primrose path.

For all of Lewis' intellectual reasonings and scholarly attainments, I find "A Grief Observed" to be his best work because it comes from the very heart of a man seeking to find the answers to life's hardest questions. It is not a philosophical insight or an intellectual wrangling, but a spirit-filled work that lays bare the heart of a man who loved his wife completely.

This is an important book. Read it. You'll be changed.

Pfff. I'm a girl, and I started reading these when I was 11. I haven't read any of the ones by Frederick Christian, but I've read four of the ones written by Oliver Strange, and I find him just as good as Max Brand and maybe even better than Louis L'Amour (and I have 45 of his books, so it's not like I don't "get" westerns). I can see why they would stop publishing them, but really, why can't they just change the name? But at least I can find them in old book stores in Pakistan.

The Sudden books by Fred Christian are okay, not as good as the originals by Oliver Strange. It is sad that some people cannot look past the "political incorrectness" of the language and just enjoy the stories. They are the best westerns that I have ever read, as good as Louis L'Amour. I read them all as a teenager and am lucky enough to have kept them all. My son also loved them. James Green, Sudden, is a hero in every sense of the word. If you like westerns you could not help but love these stories.

As a young kid I loved to read, so when I was introduced to the SUDDEN book series written by Oliver Strange and later continued by Frederick H Christian, I went out and bought every copy as soon as they were available in the bookstores. I found that reading these books were even more easier to visualise than seeing an actual Western film on TV. The humour, the slang, the handsome Jim Green ( the SUDDEN character) comes to life before your eyes. It feels like you are riding right next to him.
I have read a couple of L'Amour's and J.T Edson's books, but I have never before or since then, read a western book that I could not put down, (that I did not want to lend out, that I kept hidden and locked away, from family and friends), until I read a SUDDEN.
Had I known, that these books would be out of print so soon, I would have devoted more time to protecting my copies. I have been searching for these books for years since I was a teenager, I am almost 40 and those in my island who have copies refuse to let them go (but I do not blame them). I have only one SUDDEN book now. I won't stop searching for these books until I have them all under my wing. Cause once you pick up a SUDDEN book, like all the rest of us desperately searching, you will never put it down and then you will be one of the thousands, searching for the other lost books of the SUDDEN series. To me, these books are worth more than gold.

....

OK, just go order this book right now and read it.

Now that we have that out of the way. Wow what a story! Ernest Shackleton what a man. Since the south pole had already been "discovered", in 1914 Shackelton decided to dog sled across the continent of Antarctica! Unfortunately opon reaching the east coast his ship became locked in the ice eventually completely demolished by the ice flow. Cast out they lived on a floating ice pack for five months! When they were down to one small berg they abandoned the ice and sailed in very small lifeboats to a barren rock Elephant Island. Here the majority stayed behind and Shackleton and small group sailed again in one of the lifeboats over 600 miles to a whaling port! Talk about endurance, the word pales in the accomplishment of these men. And mostly in the fortitude of will that one man Shackleton had.

Some enlightening aspects:

The men on Elephant Island so desperate for cigarettes they smoked the inside packing of their boots.

Shackleton dirty, stinky and having just climbed over impassible mountains knocking on the door of the whaling portmasters door and stating:

"My Name is Shackleton".

I highly recommend this white-knuckle, bone crunching, gut-wrenching adventure story that you will not be able to put down and will enthrall you. I was so excited I also bought the complete photo record by Frank Hurly.
....

I literally couldn't put this book down. And that rarely happens. Yes, the story begins slowly as Lansing has to give us some background on the crew and some context for the expedition, which goes as planned for the first few months. But both the story and Lansing's telling of it become increasingly compelling as the events become more and more unbearable.

I mean, think about being stuck on a floating island of ice for 5 months, eating seals and penguins, exposed continually to sub-freezing (even sub-zero) conditions roughly 1000 miles from civilization's last outpost. And the truly horrendous conditions are yet to come! The story pushes you well into the territory of the unimaginable... and just keeps going. There seems no end to their trials, no constraints on the degree of their suffering. And yet all survive.

Others have said the Lansing version is the best, and I was very satisfied to read it first. It has narrative power. But I would also recommend you buy Caroline Alexander's book as a companion, mainly for Hurley's amazing photos but also for even more context on the flawed aspects of most expeditions during this period and the class differences among the Endurance's crew.

Still, this a story everyone should know. It really stretches the limits of what one imagines is humanly possible for one to endure. It's as if Shackleton and his men made definitive claim, for all time, to some capacity for survival that should make us all potentially much stronger than we tend to think we are.

The story of the ill-fated 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, bent on glory, but ultimately humbled to the barest thread of survival. The Endurance becomes locked in an ice pack in the Weddell Sea, and is eventually crushed and sunk. The ship goes screaming into the icy deep. The men scurry for safety onto the surrounding ice. And that's just the beginning. I'm frankly surprised ANYONE survived this horrendous ordeal; if this were a novel, I'd say it's far-fetched. But it happened, and all hands survived. Imagine an acute scarcity of food, months on end in darkness, an interminable landscape of featureless whiteness, no sanitary facilities, and all through this you're cold and wet, and it's windy, and the temperature's below zero. You eat your sled dogs. You're nauseated from undercooked food. Your face and hands are frostbitten. You shiver even in your sleep. And no one knows you're marooned. Your only escape is to travel by open boat through the gale-wracked Drake Passage-the most treacherous body of water on Earth. Imagine your fingers are frozen numb, and yet you must chip off ice from the sail, and raise the sail, and tie the lines fast. Otherwise you'll sink and die. These men did the impossible-and they lived to tell about it.

I was saddened when I finished Connell's work -- saddened because I didn't want it to be over. I wanted to read it forever. Connell's book is an absolutely fabulous read! I liken it to sitting around a campfire and listening to him tell marvelous stories surrounding the players, both white (and black), and native American. He even holds your interest while tracing the path of a pocket watch taken in the battle. Connell gives a very good account of Custer, Reno, Benteen, Gall, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Rain-in-the-Face, and virtually every player in that conflict. When Connell flitters about going from one theme to another, it is fun to follow him. I cannot recommend this book too highly. Read it over and over again!!!

This book, in my opinion, is a superb introduction into the world of Custeriana and other characters and invents in U.S. history of that time.

What makes this book unique in it's portayal of the General and the events surrounding the famous last battle is that Evan S.Connell, who is primarily I believe a novellist, approached this topic with absolutely no agenda of his own on the subject.

Whilst this may not satisfy many historians it makes for great reading!! Making this a book ideal for somebody new to the subject wanting to learn more or the learned reader who just wants to be entertained and not swamped with complex time theories or arguments over the size of the village etc. There are plenty of books on the market that do this much better but not all are always as enjoyable.

Connell just reports on various different accounts in an easy going prose without really putting his own slant on the proceedings. He simply just writes about Custer, Benteen, Crazy Horse et all, giving examples of both the good, the bad and the downright ugly in all of them.

It is left to the reader to make up his mind on the events and actions of those who took part in them. Too many historians come to this powerful and contreversial subject with their own ideas on what happened, be it pro or anti-Custer, and this has a tendancy to sometimes, neccessitate a need to distort or bend the facts accordingly.

Refreshingly you come away from this book wanting to know more about the protaganists involved but without having a biased opinion on them. The General himself comes over in a fairly good light considering at the time of publication his character was probably at it's nadir.However Connell also shows up the darker side of the man that made him the paradoxical figure he was and why he remains so fascinating even after all this time.

Indeed what the book clearly shows is that what makes this such an enduring legend in America's history is that arguably it's most famous, or notorious, soldier left his mark not by a glourious victory but rather(as it was thought of at the time)a fairly ignominious defeat.What Connell does do is also give the credit where it's due to the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes at the Little Big Horn who actually won the battle that day, which tends to get forgotten in a lot of literature ammassed on this subject.

This was the first serious book that I bought on George Armstrong Custer and back in 1984(which I think was the year I got it) living in the United Kingdom there wasn't many books around at that time specifically on this subject. I found it an excellent starting point to begin further and more in depth reading on the General and his last battle.It may seem an odd subject for a Yorkshireman to show an interset in(I think it might be Errol Flynn's fault!!)but this book certainly kick-started a long lasting interst in Custer and that particular area of American history.

I have read many books about Custer, Little Big Horn and the plains indian wars, but this one is truly the very best of the lot. Connell has given us an exellent biography of Custer, but we also get to know such men as Major Reno and Captain Benteen. Indians such as Sitting Bull, Gall and Crazy Horse are also prominently featured in this treasure of a book. This is so much more than a book about Custer and his last stand at Little Big Horn river in 1876. It's a book about the whole drama, that is the conquering of the west. Also, the photo section is exellent and the bibliography is unparalelled. Two very good maps helps the reader follow the movements in the 1876 indian campaign. If You're gonna buy just one book about the American west, please choose "Son Of The Morning Star". It's history, for sure, but it's not boring. It's also a source book in the best sence of the word, not to mention a literary masterpiece. Connell is a novelist, and it shows in his quick and precise eye for charaters in the play and their often peculiar behavior and actions. The heroes and/or villains is only so human in this highly entertaining book that leaves the reader wanting more. I have so far never read a better book, fact or fiction. Why don't You read it too?