The Last Hookers provides us with a compelling inside look into the historical facts that shaped the Vietnam War (going all the way back to the earliest events in Europe and WW II). Colonel Dunn has truly authored a comprehensive, well written and definitive war story. The story details not only the politics involved behind the scenes, but how families from all sides were affected and coped with the strain and tragedy of the war.

While this is a work of fiction the historical facts woven throughout the story really bring the characters to life. This realistic book was a thoroughly enjoyable read that gave me insights into the events leading up to and including the war itself that I had not even considered before.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is even remotely interested in the Vietnam War! You will come away with a much deeper understanding of the conflict and respect for those individuals and their families who were directly involved. Great stuff!

Carle E. Dunn has done the hookers and anyone who is interested in what really happened in Vietnam a great service in pointing out the good and the bad, the brave and not so brave, the strife and the glory. Having "been there, done that", the book brings out the history, the fights, the family of yesteryear long buried. It should not, for our brave who have given their all should not be forgotten. This book brings it well into the fore-front.

Carle clearly separates a bad war from the good warriors who faught it. The Last Hookers suggest a much more positive view of not just the outcome of the war, but also of American morale, competence, and performance. A must read.

Ex Hooker, (Recovery)

As a Flight Engineer with the 362Avn.Co. and having served under Col. Dunn I could not be more proud. After reading The Last Hookers I can honestly say I felt pride for the job we did in Vietnam. If anyone wants to know what Vietnam was like this is the book to read.

After Business Buy the Bible, I would rate this book; Success: American Style as Cook's most important book to date.

This is why foreigners have saved and planned to come to America.
It's SUCCESS: AMERICAN STYLE.

This is why we have FREE ENTERPRISE here.
It's SUCCESS: AMERICAN STYLE.

This is why Americans are far wealthier than people in any other country. It's SUCCESS: AMERICAN STYLE.

And this book tells me and all of us a lot about Mr. Wade Cook,
SUCESS: AMERICAN STYLE and a very proud American no doubt.

Notice there are no negative reviews here. I guess that tells us a lot about the bashers. I seriously doubt if Wades ever present bashers will ever read this book. Too bad--It's their loss!

And what a great book to shut Wades ever present detractors up. Only in this great country, does anyoe and everyone have the opportunity to reach the stars.Success American Style: Unfortunately terrorists and Wade bashers will never read and benefit from this outstandin work.Great book Wade. Keep em coming.

America is truly the land of opportuity.I found this book very motivational, inspiritional and rekindled my faith in the American Dream.This may be Mr. Cooks most important book to date (especially after 911). I also recommend Business Buy The Bible and Don't Set Goals The Old Way.These books will get your attitude tuned and help you reach those lofty goals that all too often lay dormant inside you.

Far from the first book on painting I've bought, "Conversations" is the one I keep reading. It is jammed with ideas, principles, and practical hints, punctuated with tons of visual explanations and demonstrations. Some bits are immediately applicable; some will take years to comprehend through my own practice, but that's ok because they're "chunked" into small pieces that aren't overwhelming. I wish I could find more information on where Mr. Dunn is, so that I might meet him, but alas, he's a mystery man...He's laid all the principles out in the kind of logic I need to build a coherent picture of the art, and it's organized with profoundly comforting statements like, "Painting adheres to universal principles; follow the principles, and you'll get good art..."

This is the book I would write after taking thorough notes from dozens of workshops and distilling the "best of the best" into one book. Lots of gems in one convenient place.

This is a beautiful book on the process of creating art. You don't even have to be an artist to enjoy this book. It can be for anyone interested in learning about the process called creativity. This book will be a treasure in anyone's collection. It will not go unread.

Apart from the "gripping" (boy is that word overused in book reviews) style, and an intense feeling of integrity, this book offers humorus/morbid insights to everyday life, through a not so regular week in the life of an american exchange student, trapped in a not so romantic paris. I found it very enjoyable.

Paris is usually written about in novels as romantic, luminous, but here it's grey, rainy, dangerous, claustrophobic--and thus, a revelation. On scholarship from Los Cruces, NM, Sabine is trying to fit in, to escape her lower middle class background, but can she ever really learn French so well that she *is* French? Powerful, gripping, hypnotic--and beautifully written.

A gritty taste of reality told by an author whose command of the English language is a thing of beauty. Samantha Dunn tells the story of a young woman caught in a crisis without anyone to turn to in a land that can never up to her expectations. I was compelled to turn the page and see this girl face difficult hardships, intense loneliness, and moral dilemmas that would test any resolve. I was surprised that I cared so deeply for the character of Sabine and her journey to become a woman. An amazing book written by an amazing author.

Dunn must be applauded for his first book about our nations best police department, The LAPD. Strap on the vest, log on with control, and hang on because BOOT takes the reader to the streets Lights and Siren! The reader is taken from Dunn's rookie year through monthly progressions and we see him grow into a better officer. Dunn freely admits his Tactical errors in a humorous way. Doh!! The reader is taken on a Great Year filled with humor, pursuits, tragedy all the elements for a great tale. I only hope BOOT was not the authors only endeavor. Truly a joy to read!! I have read it and underlined it Three times already. Highly recommended to not only those in law enforcement but everyone who wants an insight into those guys going code 3. What are they doing, HOW are they doing it? What are they Feeling? Read BOOT and you are taken there.So throw down that food,"We take our back ups seriously down here..."

I have just finished reading "Boot" by William C. Dunn. This is an excellent book on police work and the perspective of a rookie cop. I am a sergeant, just shy of completing thirty years on the LAPD, and currently work with Bill. I am his supervisor. Bill's book is easy reading and well written. His stories are insightful, and brought back memories of my rookie year. I enjoyed reading his book. I sincerely hope he writes another one. If, and when he does, I will buy it and read it. His style of writing makes it so you don't want to put the book down, you want to keep on reading. Great job, Bill

Anyone with an interest in the LAPD or police in general will want to read this book. An absolutely excellent title that is well written and hard to put down. William Dunn has done an excellent job capturing the essence of the LAPD officer's rookie year and the difficulties of learning what they don't teach you in the academy - especially the art of dealing with people, both inside and outside of the department. The stuff on the interaction between the LAPD and gang members is top notch. I gave this one a ten because it's one of those books that I may actually read again at some point. The only thing I can give Dunn a bad mark for is the fact that he hasn't written another! NOTE TO THE AUTHOR: Please - write another!

Don't get me wrong - the women featured in this book are all awesome, and the photos of them are great, but the I-centric approach Ali Smith chose when interviewing each woman was a huge turn-off. These women are all more than capable of speaking for themselves, so why couldn't Smith have stepped aside and let them do just that? For a book claiming to contain "words to live by" from the women portrayed in it, there were disappointingly few direct quotes from said women, and annoyingly much space alloted to Smith's opinions and impressions - what she thought about the women, what meeting them was like for her, how she first heard of them, and so on and so forth. (I understand from the book description that Smith wanted to create something "intensely personal", but surely intensely personal does not have to be synonymous with heroically self-obsessed?) For an interesting contrast, I recommend the book 'Picture the Girl: Young Women Speak Their Minds', by photojournalist Audrey Shehyn, who does an excellent job of portraying 35 young women WITHOUT stealing their spotlight. I bought Smith's book partly because I thought it would be interesting to learn more about Janeane Garofalo, who is one of my favorite actors and something of a role model to me, but I learned nothing about her I didn't already know, because, as it turned out, most of the text accompanying the photos of Garofalo was in fact about Smith.

I am sitting at a coffee shop and had to reluctantly tear myself away from Ali Smith"s LAws of BAndit Queens. At first I just opened the book and looked at the pictures. I felt a strange sense of reverence in front of the array of fiercely modern and independent women portrayed there. The pictures caught them in action .The photographs seemed to have captured the essence of each and every women . Nothing glamorous there. Just incredibly truthful. All the women seemed colorful to me, caught mid -sentence. Arrested between a defiant laugh and a provocative gesture. Some of them exuded a sense of radiant peace. Confidence. Clearly Ali Smith has no interest whatsoever in making her photography anything but honest. She captures a moment and that's that.
It's not a platform to stardom or celebrity. Just her take in color on what makes a great woman worth looking at.
Yet the photography is incredibly beautiful, something you might almost forget when looking at the book. Because the laws of the bandit queens will make you first and foremost think. About them. About yourself. About what it means to be a woman. Ali is so self effacing in her commentary that you might even forget she took the pictures and interviewd each woman. A nonobstrusive witness, Ali is noneteless the eye behind the lense, and the intelligent artist who is merely offering her unique take on the modern woman. By authoring the book, she too joins the legacy of all the bandit queens. And mostly establishes herself as a great woman photographer.

This book is an amazing piece of work, both artistically and in the strength of its message(s). Some girls grow up knowing exactly what the want out of life and then there are other girls who are "domestically" challenged, feeling very lost at sea. They spend half their lives trying figure out "where" and "when" they will fit in; never realizing that it may never happen, but that there is nothing wrong with that either.Through these compelling photos and insightful statements from the strong women in this book, Ali Smith gets to the heart of that matter. She does an amazing job of addressing the percentage of women feeling alone and depressed in their artistic and unconventional quests - whatever they might be, and whatever form they might take on.

At a time I needed it most, this book was and continues to be, a beacon in the very cookie cutter world around me. I have been crying out for such a book my whole adult female life it seems, and now it is finally here! There are women in here from all "categories" of life. I think every person who purchases this book; while reading it and taking in the colorful and exquisitely designed pages Ali presents to us; one can definitely start feeling a lot better inside about themselves, who they are, where they have been and about the course they choose to chart in these interesting times (not to mention the extraordinary journeys of the women in this book.) I cannot wait for Ali Smith's next book creation! Until then, "Laws of the Bandit Queens" is my constant companion!

A fascinating entry in the growing though nascent "Van Slyke" school of literature. Mr. Neugebauer's artful handling of the pain of semi-adolescent infatuation through the metaphor of the early 1990s Pittsburgh Pirates series of near misses makes for a must read. One can only wait to see what this gifted young author produces when he turns his attention from baseball to tennis.

Neugebauer does an awesome job of capturing the many emotions of growing up. His humor takes us through embarrasment, rejection, death, and other inevitable trails and tribulations of entering the world of adulthood. He does such a great job of relating everything that you wonder if this is really an autobiography! Looking forward to the next one!

This book is fantastic. Each time I read it, the more I realize how important college was to me. This book is as close to a college yearbook, a diary, and a picture album combined as one could get of their college years. The story was fantastic, and any reader will relate to some part of the trials and triumphs, the friendship, and the growth of the characters Phil and Fred. Buy it and read it when you get too involved with the adult world and need a reminder of the fun we all had when we were young!

This book provides good color plates of the warblers in various stages of plummage. The distribution maps are easy to read and color coded. I bought the book because of the multiple pages of natural history information on each species. The birding guide I use in the field has excellent illustrations but total lacks in the supplemental information. So, when I get home, I grab this book to learn the biology of the species.

Several years ago, while watching the bird feeders at Muskatatuck National Wildlife Refuge in Seymour, Indiana, I heard a voice behind me pointing out that there were two races of White-crowned Sparrow at the feeder. He went into detail about the subtle differences between the two. At first I thought to myself, who is this guy? Later, I realized that it was Jon Dunn! I have had a high respect for him ever since.
Years later, he was the guest speaker at our bird club meeting. He presented some of the plates from his, at the time, upcoming new field guide to warblers. I fell in love with the plates from the very start. Thomas R. Shultz and Cindy House did a remarkable job, and the detail that was carefully gathered from museum specimens is second to none. I knew from the beginning that I had to have this new field guide and I couldn't wait until it appeared on the shelves.
When I bought my copy of the finished product, it was even more than I expected. Aside from the detailed plates making fall and female warbler identification easier, the text is filled with information on virtually every aspect of life history of each species, with cross-references that will aid any serious researcher. More than just a field guide for identification purposes, this book belongs on the shelf of beginners and experts alike who share a passion for warblers.

This book is essential to anyone who enjoys warblers. Just take one look at the various plumages of the black-throated green warbler and you'll see why this guide is so awesome.

This epistolary novel is probably not for everyone. But if you enjoy sophisticated language and language manipulation (read: English majors), this is a wonderfully creative book.

Dunn creates an idyllic island nation, Nollopton (formerly Utopiana), that quickly descends to a military state reminiscent of Orwell's 1984, with neighbor turning in neighbor and students reporting teachers when letters from that famous panagram, "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog," start falling off the statue to honor the sentence and the man who created it, Nevin Nollop. The High Council, politicians elected for life, take this as a sign from Nollop himself, disregarding the fact that the glue that holds the letters on is over 100 years old.

And so, the people of Nollop, who because of inconsistent phone service are a letter-writing people, must, one by one, eliminate letters from their lives or face serious punishment, including banishment for the third offense. The letters become truly hilarious as more of the alphabet disappears--just imagine a world with no "D"! Dunn manages, despite all of this alphabetical mayhem, to build in love interests for the two young cousins who most consistently write to one another. A completely enjoyable afternoon read that I think has found a place as one of my favorite books.

ELLA MINNOW PEA is the masterpiece of a very creative mind. I approached this story thinking that perhaps the book was meant mostly for English majors or those individuals who just love words. I was right and also wrong. This is a very clever story filled with interesting word play that everyone can enjoy. It's also an imaginative fable that is told in the form of letters that are written in lovely prose.

The story takes place on the fictional island of Nollop that was named after Nevin Nollop, the author of a very famous pangram sentence. Mr. Nollop is revered by the islanders and most especially by the officials who are members of the town council. On the island there's a monument to honor Mr. Nollop and beneath it the famous pangram is printed. THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPS OVER THE LAZY DOG. One day the letter Z falls of the word LAZY and as time passes more letters continue to fall from the monument. The council members decide that the voice of Nevin Nollop is speaking to them from the grave and telling them to discontinue the usage of the fallen letters. Severe penalties are issued to the islanders if they use any of the forbidden letters in dialog or in print.

Most of the residents think that taking letters out of the alphabet is ridiculous, but since the penalties are harsh; they try to obey the new laws. As time passes, the people become desperate and begin to look for a way out of the miserable repression that had become their lives.

This book was very entertaining and it was also amusing to see the various words that people would come up with in their messages to one another. For instance, when many of the letters that would be used to spell chicken were forbidden, a man wrote a note to his friend thanking her for "the thermos of pullet soup" that she had sent to him.

'Ella Minnow Pea' is a delightfully diverting novel filled with wit and imagination. Its lovingly crafted structure is a real breath of fresh air -- one would be hard pressed to find another book like it out there. One must admire Mark Dunn not only for his lively imagination but for his awe-inspiring power over words. It is fun to see how he manages to continue telling his story while avoiding use of a growing number of letters in the alphabet. Never once does his prose sound forced or simple, even after he must resort to using his remaining letters to phonetically sound out his words. The plot (citizens on an island off the coast of the US rebel after their government begins restricting their use of the alphabet) could have easily been silly, cliched and like a poor man's 'Animal Farm' but instead forges out its own solid identity and endears itself to the reader through its inventiveness and wit. One can't help but enjoy 'Ella Minnow Pea'. I read it in one afternoon and my only complaint is that it had to end.

Give this one a try if you like thrillers. It's a go fast book about an unlikely duo, Sam and Anna trying to solve an unlikely problem. You do have to suspend belief a little bit now and then but that's what these books are for. The writing is pretty fair and the fresh plot ideas are good. The way Dun puts the book together keeps you guessing and keeps you reading. In this book that bad guys are a real trip and a story unto themselves. If you want high brow fiction don't read it. If you want a traditional mystery don't read it. Otherwise you'll find that you're glad you did.

This is the first Dun book I've read but I'm certainly going to give the others a try. Dun does a great job of sustaining interest throughout and the pacing was very good. Dun is gifted at describing the settings particularly the Northwest. The opening action scene was really good. You can feel the pain. Dun generally does a good job with his action characters. The main character Sam might be a little thin but part of that may go with the fact that he's a shadowy spook who we get to know slowly. The other characters are interesting and unique. The best part of this story is the plot and the way it moves always keeping your interest. The novel isn't really brilliant at any point but does a lot of things well and hence the total reading experience is pretty great.

This is Dun's third book, it obviously bears his signature action sequences that are, as usual, creative and spell binding. This is his best effort to date. Unlike his first two books the story moves around the world and the plot is a bit complex. The suspense is even better and the book is very compelling. Sam is an intriguing character with a fascinating profession. A self anointed bachelor, Sam is clever, sympathetic, and dashing but seems to suffer (or revel) in a sense of adventure and detachment where women are concerned. The bad guys in this book are really well done, there is more than one, and they create a great subplot. Sort of like those fighting fish that try to eat each-other. The book is driven by suspense and great characters and is a must read.