The most moving novel I thought Madeline Baker had written was First Love, Wild Love--until now. Under A Prairie Moon was just as poignant and romantic, if not more, and was definitely a page turner. Mixing in humor, time travel, and honest emotion, I finished the book easily in one night. The end is a tear jerker, knowing that Kathy and Dalton's fate is inevitable, but only for a short time. I can see Madeleine really put her heart and soul into creating Dalton, and I found myself hoping that my own Dalton Crowkiller would somehow appear in my own Montana home. He's the epitome of tall dark and handsome, and still possesses a gentle soul that made me all the more attracted to him. Great book, wonderful character. This Eddie Little Sky must've made quite the impression on Madleine Baker if he was her inspiration for her Indian characters, particularly Dalton. Her attraction for him was more than evident.

This was the best book I have read to date. I loved it! No book has made me feel the emotional ups and downs of the hero or heroine. The way it was written made me feel for both Kathy and Dalton. Madeline Baker really took me from the present back to the old west and back again. It was truly an amazing story, I couldn't put it down. If you want a fantastic read, purchase this book. You will not be disappointed!

THis is book has to be the most captivating story that I have read in quite some time. And I read a lot of romance novels. I COULD NOT put it down. Dalton and Kathy's characters were so very real. Their love was everlasting. Kathy, suffering from depression from the lost of her husband, is not only carried away intrigue of Dalton, but thrown in to a different century with her beloved. This is, by far, Madeline's best Indian romance story so far

What would it feel like to be able to go back a couple of hundred years and experience in real life the magnificent vistas of the American west as they were then? Amazingly enough, this book of contemporary photography will magically let you feel that and then bowl you over with its message. It is simply the most moving collection of landscape images I have ever seen. The stunning beauty of these photographs of some of the American West's most spectacular vistas and the inspiration and purpose reflected in the artist's heartfelt interpretations of each image weave together a haunting sense of loss and, at the same time, a deep understanding of what we have done and must now do. It will be a long time before you make room on your coffee table for another book (probably about as long as it takes Mr. Williams to publish the next volume in the project). It will not take long, however, for you to make room in your life for its purpose. Thank you, Wayne Williams, for helping us see again with this important and beautiful work.

I have just spent an enchanted couple of hours visiting 'America's Vanishing Landscapes'. Wayne Williams has produced a visual feast and testament to the beauty of Nature. This book contains so many beautiful images, I felt compelled to write and reccomend it to you.
I am lucky enough to live by one of nature's rain forests in the West Indies. Everyday I am filled with awe and wonder by my surroundings. This book makes me feel the same way. What also impressed me too, was his mastery of the craft and it reminded me of Ansel Adams work. They have combined technological mastery of the photographic techniquies available to them; and have produced a vision that not only speaks to the senses, but also to the heart. This is a rare combination and achievement.

It's impossible to capture the grandeur and magnitude of beauty of nature in a photo but Williams comes as close as you can get in this amazing book. The greatest and worst terrorism is the terrorism against the environment. It dwarfs all the other forms. This book may give people the vision that is an antidote.

Book Two of the series "Jeannie, a Texas Frontier Girl," by Evelyn Horan is, without a doubt, the best children's book I've read since, well, the first one. Ms. Horan's work has been compared to that of Laura Ingalls Wilder, but in my opinion, she has proven to be an even better author. These books may be for children, but I, even though I am an adult, love them, and as I'm reading, I cannot wait to see what happens next with Jeannie and her family and good friend, Helga. The setting is the Texas frontier during the late 1800's, and Ms. Horan does an excellent job at edifying while entertaining the reader. Horan makes a wonderful transition from the first to the second book, and in Book Two, we see Jeannie and her friend Helga starting to grow up, the changes that take place in both Jeannie's and Helga's families, are introduced to a Comanche Indian family, and dream along with Jeannie as to what her future will hold. I'm excitedly looking forward to Book Three and hope Ms. Horan will continue these books for years to come. Ms. Horan is our present-day Wilder, an author whose work is so wholesome and wonderful, and I predict she will be a national bestseller in a very short amount of time. Cudos for an excellent book.

At her site, Professional Reviewer and Editor, Lisa of Bookreviewcafe.com, writes concerning her review of Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl Book Two:

In Book Two of Jeannie, A Texas Frontier Girl, only good things can be said about it! A very simple story involving a very complicated girl;Jeannie! Turning fourteen, Jeannie is getting to be a mature, young lady. Many things are in store for her and her friends this year. The girls learn to cook, sew and crochet and take care of Helga's new baby brother. These new skills will help them in the future. Living in the 1880's is hard work. You learn to grow up fast. Jeannie's wish for her own horse ranch might be coming true due to unexpected money. Will she be old enough next year to have a ranch? Who will she want to work on her ranch with her? She might have someone in mind! Evelyn Horan has a genuine flair for writng. The main characters Jeannie, Helga, Billy Joe and Henry all have great personalities. You really end up knowing them all personally! This series-four books in all-is a wonderful collection to keep for your children as they get older. Such wholesome stories should be read aloud to kids of all ages!
Lisa-Editor
Bookreviewcafe.com

Reviewer: Jennifer LB Leese...

This reviewer has had the privilege of reading Evelyn Horan's first Jeannie adventure book and immediately fell in love book two. Her writing style is unique, clear, and fun. Horan fills each of her books with detail, making it easy for readers to visualize the characters and scenery.

Young Jeannie is your average little frontier girl from the 1800s. She likes to train her horses, cook, sew, play with her school friends, and of course, she loves to go on adventures.

This book is a real page-turner! Young readers will enjoy the fun and excitement this book provides. Bravo!

Horan is a former teacher and counselor, and multi-published author. ...

I recommend this book to everyone who loves to read it is a great book.. I have been a reba fan for years and when I got her book I read it about 1000 times.. there is alot of lessons in there about life and things and alot of Uplifting stories to boot.

For anything you want to know about Reba's life, this IS the book to read. I was not fond of country music of any kind, until I read this book. Now, I am a HUGE Reba McEntire fan..one of the biggest, because I gained enormous respect for her for bringing the truth out to all her fans. This book is funny, sad, sometimes surprising...but always well written, straight from the heart. You will enjoy this book, and the audio is great too because she reads it herself! I highly reccommend it.

This book is a MUST read, even though I am a HUGE Reba fan, and somewhat partial!! It is the story of her life, and the lessons she learned while growing up in Oklahoma, as well as, her rise to fame as one of country music's leading ladies. It is the ONLY book that she has had anything to do with writing, with the exception of the upcoming, "Comfort From A Country Quilt" (I CAN'T WAIT!! :-), and therefore, is the only completely true account of her life. I loved this book...It will make you laugh, it will make you cry, and I HIGHLY recommend it!!!!! It is a fantastic book!!!! "Forever Love" You Reba!!

Being an avid reader and a resident of Tombstone, I read anything I can get my hands on about the area. This is, without a doubt, the best "history" book of Tombstone I have read to date. I highly recommend it to anyone who is searching for their past!

The most captivatingly written book I have ever read. It has brought Tombstone to life for those of us who want to know the other stories that didn't make the history books.

I highly recommend it to everyone.

Tombstone, Earp brothers, soiled dove girls, shootings, cowboys, Indians, mining, gambling, the 1880's in the wild, wild west...what else can be more interesting to read? The Bird Cage Saloon was only opened for 8 years, but what stories those walls can tell. Well written, and spellbinding, this large book goes by very quickly and is easy reading, planning to reread it many times. Have visited the Bird Cage in person many times in the past and recently, I have updates since the book was written if interested after reading this book. Enjoy your step back in time to the 1880's!

Had this beautifully wrought novel not received some publicity for winning the Governor General's Award in Canada in l996, I'd never have known of its existence, and what a sad oversight that would have been in this age of pop culture and instant bestsellerdom for many books whose primary value seems to be their bankability as future films. Yet author Vanderhaeghe probably would not have been surprised by this. In fact, one of the main themes of this absorbing and satisfying book is the power of film, "the glory of American lightning," and the different goals to which it can be adapted by "artists" and "visionaries."

Structurally, the book tells two stories in alternate chapters set in the Canadian Wild West of the l870's and in Hollywood in the l920's. The author makes no real attempt to create suspense about the identity of the Englishman's boy of the 1870's and who he has become by the 1920's. The author has a bigger vision than that. Instead, he chooses to reveal small parts of the continuum of history between these dates until at the end the full story of the Englishman's boy is revealed. At the same time, the thematically subtle juxtaposition of specific events from these dramatically different times and places shows how little human nature has changed and how much it is important to be true to ideals and values, whatever they may be and however they may have to accommodate the changes of history.

In this astutely crafted story of wolfer/hunters, Indians, Hollywood moguls, young strivers toward success, Socialists, preservers of the status quo, barely surviving traders, immigrants, hard men, and "visionaries" who would impose their dreams on the masses via film, the reader is caught up in the swirl of history and asked to think about the extent to which history is simply a succession of random events, whether the events have been imposed upon us, and how much, if at all, we can control our own dreams and our futures.

In this age of pop culture and instant bestsellerdom for many books whose primary value seems to be their bankability as future films, it's disappointing that a book this good remains relatively unknown. Yet author Vanderhaeghe probably would not have been surprised by this. In fact, one of the main themes of this absorbing and satisfying book is the power of film, "the glory of American lightning," and the different goals to which it can be adapted by "artists" and "visionaries."

Structurally, the book tells two stories in alternate chapters set in the Canadian Wild West of the l870's and in Hollywood in the l920's. The author makes no real attempt to create suspense about the identity of the Englishman's boy of the 1870's and who he has become by the 1920's. Instead, he chooses to reveal small parts of the continuum of history between these dates until at the end the full story of the Englishman's boy is revealed. At the same time, the thematically subtle juxtaposition of specific events from these dramatically different times and places shows how little human nature has changed and how much it is important to be true to ideals and values, whatever they may be and however they may have to accommodate the changes of history.

Had this beautifully wrought novel not received some publicity for winning the Governor General's Award in Canada in l996, I'd never have known of its existence, and what a sad oversight that would have been in this age of pop culture and instant bestsellerdom for many books whose primary value seems to be their bankability as future films. Yet author Vanderhaeghe probably would not have been surprised by this. In fact, one of the main themes of this absorbing and satisfying book is the power of film, "the glory of American lightning," and the different goals to which it can be adapted by "artists" and "visionaries."

Structurally, the book tells two stories in alternate chapters set in the Canadian Wild West of the l870's and in Hollywood in the l920's. The author makes no real attempt to create suspense about the identity of the Englishman's boy of the 1870's and who he has become by the 1920's. The author has a bigger vision than that. Instead, he chooses to reveal small parts of the continuum of history between these dates until at the end the full story of the Englishman's boy is revealed. At the same time, the thematically subtle juxtaposition of specific events from these dramatically different times and places shows how little human nature has changed and how much it is important to be true to ideals and values, whatever they may be and however they may have to accommodate the changes of history.

In this astutely crafted story of wolfer/hunters, Indians, Hollywood moguls, young strivers toward success, Socialists, preservers of the status quo, barely surviving traders, immigrants, hard men, and "visionaries" who would impose their dreams on the masses via film, the reader is caught up in the swirl of history and asked to think about the extent to which history is simply a succession of random events, whether the events have been imposed upon us, and how much, if at all, we can control our own dreams and our futures

I picked up this book after reading the USA Today review, which was essentially an unconditional rave. I decided to give it a try, but figured I'd probably be disappointed, as few books live up to the praise heaped on them. But GABRIEL'S STORY was a pleasant surprise. It begins with vivid homesteading scenes - all the toil and the poverty of it. Makes me glad I wasn't a homesteader, and it made it reasonable that Gabriel would want to run away from it. The journey that he sets off on is truly engrossing, well-plotted, with beautiful language and great descriptions of the Western landscape.

It looks like the novel is being compared to Cormac McCarthy's work. There are some similarities, but GABRIEL'S STORY is a bit more hopeful than McCarthy's work. The world is still harsh and dangerous, but Durham seems to have more faith in humanity, in family and friends. Also, I thought it was interesting that the reviewer in USA Today said that he was a city-dwelling white guy that still got into this book about a black boy in another century out on the plains. I felt the same way. Yes, the main characters are black, but their racial identity is only part of the whole world of the story. They're black like James Joyce's characters are Irish or Faulkner's are Southern - it matters, but it doesn't change the fact that anybody can connect with them. Altogether a really good novel.

The prodigal son always comes home. Iin life, in parable and in literature.

And he has returned once more in "Gabriel's Story," a haunting debut by David Anthony Durham. In this incarnation, the wayward youth is a 15-year-old African-American boy in the empty middle of a continent, caught between youth and manhood, naiveté and wisdom, family and flight.

Fleeing racism in Reconstruction-era Baltimore, Gabriel Lynch travels with his mother and younger brother to his stepfather's hard-scrabble homestead in 1870s Kansas. As with the Biblical story of the prodigal son, Gabriel finds the "outside" world less exciting and more threatening than he dreamed. He returns to Kansas wiser and chastened, prepared to take his place behind the plow and, more importantly, at the family hearth. "Gabriel's Story" is a classical bildungsroman -- a novel about the moral and psychological growth of the main character -- told in masterful prose reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy.

His is not just a startlingly poetic African-American voice (Durham is the son of Trinidadian immigrants), but a welcome new voice in the rich spectrum of American letters, where authors should -- and must -- be judged in different shades of black and white: The color of words on a page.

Page-turner, can't put it down, tour de force, and all those other cliches apply to Gabriel's Story. Actually, I could put it down, but only because I had to. Couldn't wait to pick it up again.

Gabriel's Story is an amazing adventure -- perfectly plausible -- of a teen aged African American in the 1870's who leaves his family's Kansas farm unannounced. He and a friend join a crew of cowboys headed for Texas....

How to tell more of the book without giving away bits and pieces of the story that is best discovered by the reader? Can't be done.

Suffice it to say that Gabriel sees and experiences more than he could ever had imaganed. He is handicapped by racism, his youth and inexperience, but boasts the distinct advantages of intelligence and a good heart.

If you're overly sensitive to violence, beware; but it all rings true to the times and is never gratuitous.

Now stop reading reviews of the book and buy it, you'll be glad you did.

I found this book alive and sizzling with great dialogue, humor and hot, hot love scenes. Abbie is a strong heroine and Rio is her match in every delectable way. Plus you can't go wrong with any book set in Texas. Great job, Delores. I'm looking forward to reading your next book.

Saddled is a FIVE STAR romance! It has everything a romance reader could ask for- love, danger, action and sparkling wit. With Saddled, Delores Fossen has written a tremendous romantic comedy with a very funny western slant. Ladies, not only will you fall in love with the handsome hero, Rio McCaine, but all the characters as well. From the spunky heroine, Abbie Donegan to her adorable outspoken kid sister, Gussie. The story is fast paced, the humor is really funny, and the romantic scenes... well, let's just say they are VERY WELL DONE! You DON'T want to miss this book!

I don't usually buy historical romances, but I was in the mood for a comedy and picked up this one. It didn't disappoint me. The main characters, Rio and Abbie, are colorful to say the least and gave me pages of fun with their antics as they traveled from Fall Creek, Texas, to Abbie's riverboat house in southern Texas. Add to that Abbie's sisters, who have a crazy way of keeping Rio on his toes, and the story just raced right along. I loved Abbie's devotion to her three sisters--Gussie, especially. Abbie's certainly no wimp, and Rio with his dry sense of humor and heroics is a perfect match for her.

Some enterprising publisher of lapsed titles--perhaps Dalkey Archives or someplace similar--should publish a new edition posthaste. "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters" is a walloping good read, full of excitement, humor, and vivid characters. In places it reads as if Mark Twain and Henry Fielding had put their heads together for a collaboration. Robert Lewis Taylor wrote several books about teenage boys coming of age on the frontier, but "Jaimie McPheeters" was the first and by far the best.

This is a touching, funny epic story of a boy's travels across the Wild West. It has remained on my personal list of favorite books since I first read it nearly 20 years ago. I promise I will buy the first fifty reissued copies to give as gifts.....men, women, young and old would love it. But don't take my word for it; it won a Pulitzer!

I was fortunate to stumble across this book in our local used bookstore. My children and I read it together and absolutely loved it. The children think it is much better than any of the books their schools have required them to read. It is exciting, insightful, educational, and mostly just fun. Read this book!

For most of the past century, there have been two schools of thought about Hitler and Stalin. One states that Stalin wasn't really so bad, because he fought the Fascists; the other insists that Hitler wasn't really so bad, because he fought the Communists. Alan Bullock leaves both viewpoints in the dustheap of history, where they belong. Both Hitler and Stalin came as close to pure evil as human beings ever get; both stood for the utter repression of the human spirit and the annihilation of anyone who might possibly be suspected of standing in their way. Bullock demonstrates this in exhaustive, but never exhausting, detail. More people should read this book, if only to be cured forever of any temptation to support any form of totalitarianism, any time, anywhere.

What is most fascinating about this novel dual biographical approach toward understanding both Hitler and Stalin is the startling degree to which such an unorthodox approach illuminates one's understanding not only of their remarkable similarities, but also their philosophical, tactical, and personal differences. This truly is a fascinating and absorbing book, and it is well enough written that the narrative seems to spin along on its own strength, and we find ourselves captivated by the degree to which these two seem star-crossed in terms of their destinies. As Bullock deftly illustrates, the main differences between the two dictators were found in their personalities. Yet, even after all these crucial differences in both personal style and substance are considered, the degree to which they were similar is both remarkable and frightening to comprehend.

Stalin was a creature of bureaucracy, the ultimate insider, someone who knew how to use the organization bonding the Communist Party together for his own rise to prominence and power, an increasingly clever, adroit, and masterful practitioner of power politics. He was nothing if not careful, cautious, deliberate, and shrewd. Hitler, on the other hand, was a gambler, a masterful politician, a bold, easily bored, and endlessly distracted dreamer whose natural ability to charm, captivate, and enchant helped him to rise by extraordinary means. In many ways, these men came to prominence in quite different ways; Stalin, by mastering the art of bureaucratic manipulation and quietly assuming key roles within the organization that gave him friendships, alliances, and information that he used masterfully to rise through the ranks of the faithful, and Hitler, the manic-depressive natural leader whose charismatic popular appeal and desperate, authoritarian, and often violent measures were used to gain political power through extraordinary means.

Yet Bullock shows how similar both men were in terms of the way they used their power once established to execute their national responsibilities, and in the way they ruthlessly pursued their goals without mercy, remorse or any concern for others who suffered for their sake. Both used extralegal means to maintain position, both cruelly purged potential rivals through purges or political overthrows. Both bordered on being psychotic; Hitler coming close to being declared certifiably insane, and Stalin by having all the symptoms of classic paranoia. Certainly both had personal histories that can most kindly be described as bizarre in terms of the ways in which they treated those close to them as well as the populace in general. Both also seemed convinced of their own central and unique role in terms of their country's destiny, and indeed each identified his own importance in terms of succeeding in accomplishing that historical mission. Also, both were guilty of massive crimes against humanity, both against the opposing forces they captured and their own subjects. Hitler persecuted German citizens who were Jewish, Gypsies, or otherwise "undesirables", while Stalin persecuted Ukrainians in general and peasant farmers in particular, not to mention the systematic purges of thousands of Army, Navy, and Air Force officers he or his cronies suspected of potential disloyalty.

This is a wonderful book in terms of its insights, unusual research sources, and provocative speculations regarding each of these two quite unique historical figures. The narrative carries itself in an entertaining, edifying, and comprehensible fashion, and his use of photographs and maps serves the text well. All in all, I would have to describe this book as a must-read for anyone seriously interested in how the personalities and characteristics of these two key leaders in 20th century history figured into the unholy calculus of madness and mayhem, otherwise referred to as World War Two. I highly recommend it. Enjoy!

To describe Sir Alan Bullock's Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives as a duel biography does not do it justice. It is no less than a history of the formation and evolution of the most violent and pathological dictatorships in the history the world, and an understanding of these dictatorships is necessary to an understanding of the twentieth century. However, Sir Alan Bullock tells this story primarily through the two men whose efforts, paranoias, prejudicies, and impressive if ultimately evil intellects made their regimes possible. Without a doubt, he tells their stories masterfully, interweaving their lives within the context of twentieth century history and ideas yet maintaining their distinct personal and political identities, talents, and mistakes. His book is both interesting narrative and unquie analytical fair for both the general reader and specialist. In their latest book, Stalinism and Nazism: Dictatorships in Comparison, Sir Ian Kershaw and Moshe Levin write of their subjects: "Studying the history of inhumanity, perpetrated on such a vast, unprecedented scale, has an emotional and psychological cost. It is not like studying the history of philosohpy, the Renaissance, or the age of the cathedrals. The subject matter is less uplifting than almost any other conceivable topic of historical enquiry. But it is history al the same. And it is important. The emotional involvement has to be contained, even when the very effort to arrive at some balanced and reasoned interpretation seems an affront. . . There is nothing else . . . than to adhere to scholarly methods in the hope that knowledge might inform action to prevent any conceivable repetition of such political pathologies as characterised Stalinism and Nazism." With his most recent work, Sir Alan Bullock has gone a long way toward achieving the ideals set forth by Kershaw and Lewin. I highly recommend this book