I found this to be the most interesting book I have ever read! Furnas has the most alluring style , and the use of words is utterly fantasic. I learned more from this book than just history ; Furnas paints a picture with the text , you can feel the emotion of the times . The Grapes of Wrath has now a new meaning to me. I feel that the completeness of this work allows me to feel as though I lived during the times. So many intering parts of history , that I have never before known .

I used this book to learn how to surf, and I am now a very good surfer. If you want a how-to book on how to surf, this is the one you need. It is a slim volume, with a home-made look to it, but its slimness is why you can learn to surf FAST, since all the information is efficiently told.

_Goodbye to Uncle Tom_ is a nonfiction look at how American views of black people and slavery were shaped by _Uncle Tom's Cabin_---both the book itself, and the endless, increasingly low-rent plays derived from it. At one time "Tom-shows" were a large subset of the theater industry, since even the most pious folk could find very little to object to in going to one. They were a national institution until after World War One, and were only finally killed off by movies.

It's an interesting look at a little-known part of US social history, and I wish it were being re-printed.

This is a touching story of a boy whose mother abuses him during World War II. William is sent to live with a man named Tom, who lives in the country. As William slowely settles in he and Tom become the best of friends. Then one day he is sent back to his mother, who beats him and locks him in the cellar. Uncle Tom follows William and finds him and gets him to a hospital. They then get to live together. This is an exccelent book. I would reccomend it to EVERYONE!!!

This was a fairly entertaining book. Not too much of a strain on the brain, though. All in all, a fairly predictable story. No surprises, plot twists, or curve balls to keep the reader riveted, but enough action to prevent one from giving up on it entirely. Mostly a paint-by-numbers affair.

THE SHAPE is a fun read. It is not high literature, but that's not what I was seeking. I have a preference for books with some historical background, so I really enjoyed the first chapter and the last chapter of THE SHAPE. They are chapters you can learn a little history from. THE SHAPE has some awkward transitions between scenes. But most of the scenes themselves, I believe, are handled fairly well. The title THE SHAPE is from the novel's epigraph that is an excerpt from a Rudyard Kipling poem. It is an appropriate excerpt, since it refers to danger being around every corner; and the hero of THE SHAPE has to face one thing after another. I didn't mind facing the danger along with him.

This is a very fine thriller, and to be recommended