I have used this book with my 7th graders for the last two years and I have had good results with my students. I stopped another book we were reading as a class right after September 11, 2001 and had my classes read this book. There are many great lessons in this book. The two boys are from different cultures, have different Gods, and different cultural beliefs. I used these topics to lead many interesting discussions not only about the book, but how our culture and other cultures see each other and have different ways of working out our differences. I HIGHLY recommend this book as a teacher.

I got this book after grocery shopping. I was looking in the multicultural section because I desperately needed a book for a project in school. I looked at it and I didn't really think it would be that great but it was so good that an hour later I was asking my mom to get me a new book! The ending wasn't that great but otherwise it was the best book! All of the charactors actions were surprising. I highly recomend this book!

I got this book at a reading festival that my school had. As sson as we left the festival, I started reading this book. I couldn't get my hands off it. When I finished it, 5 days later, I read it over again. Not only if this an adventure book, but it is also very inspiring.

While some of the interviews in this fascinating volume on the dark consequences of American culture are very slanted, 'Dialogues' is filled with tremendous revelations and alternative perspectives on a diverse range of critical issues, including war, the environment, the death penalty, public education, globalization, agricultural subsidies, propaganda, urban planning, maternity, urban poverty, religion, and racism. Jerry Brown engages in very profound conversations with key left-wing figures on all of these issues and more that will astound and edify any reader with an open mind. This book brings to life the kinds of political figures normally thought of as tree-hugging nanny-state bleeding-hearts, and critically considers consequences and alternatives to the contemporary global economy.

Two elements in particular distinguish this text. First, Brown speaks with thinkers of profound philosophical depth, so perspectives on the environment, the death penalty, etc., are given in the context of larger alternative worldviews. This immerses the reader in the deeper substance of political debates, and makes this book a very stimulating read. Second, the perspectives offered bring to light facts and arguments never considered in mainstream political debates. The experiences revealed in the dialogues on racial segregation in New York City and investment in India are particularly startling.

Reading this book, I found myself being repeatedly inspired by the contributors' passion for social justice, and by the peculiarity and novelty of their perspectives. I really don't think that you can come to any conclusions about American politics until you've read this book or one like it; you can't call left-wingers crazy until you're truly exposed to how powerful some of their perspectives are. Before embracing received concepts such as "development," "free trade," "schooling," etc., read this wonderful, wonderful book, and then see whether you think that American common sense is really so commonsensical after all.

The contributors to this text all have an agenda, so beware. But if this book were required reading in every school in America, I think we would see a generation of millions of young people inspired to fight for justice and to eradicate human misery.

Jerry Brown is that rare thing - an ethical politician. Read this book to get some insight into the otherwise private nature of an influential figure. Read how Mayor Brown served with Mother Theresa in Calcutta and decided to save a city rather than "monitor" government at the state or national level. Courageous and noble man.

This book was excellent in the contents and it is full of interesting thoughts and ideas, expressed by a selected assortment of 18 people that inspired Jerry Brown himself. In the book, he gets to interview each one of them in a sort of dialogue that engages these peoples ideas. Most of the topics deal with social and political criticism, well founded by the way, and it is very insightful into looking beyond the reality of everyday life, what are the larger mechanisms at work, what are our limitations, what are the problems, what are the underlying issues, etc. It tends to uncover many assumptions and should provoke in the reader much thinking on issues that affect us all in today's society, from religion to environmentalism to capitalism.

After reading the first three stories I called three friends and told them they had to get this book. Mr. Brown's imagination and diligent investigation of the psyche provide an engaging view of human reality. Not since Denis Johnson have I been so inspired by a collection of stories.

Having been a former student of Mr. Brown, I remember reading some of these stories as he shared them with students. I have been waiting for this collection to come out and it has been well worth the wait. Brown is yet another in a long line of very talented young writers to come out of Cornell and Stanford! Animal Stories is my favorite, but all of the stories in this collection are intense and immensely readable. I now look forward to Brown's next collection!

DARK, DISTURBING & BEAUTIFUL. THIS IS THE BEST BOOK I'VE READ THIS YEAR.

This was one of my favorite books when I was a child. I even bought a book to have in reserve BEFORE I got married.

Margaret Wise Brown has put together a rhythmic, engaging story about a bunny that seeks for its own place. As the story progresses there are lessons that can be learned and taught about changes of the seasons, and where animals live and what they do.

I like the pictures, the story, the whole ball of wax. We have read this book over and over to our children. When it resurfaces from the bottom of a stack of books it still gets read through a couple of times -- by popular demand!

5 stars all the way.

Home for a Bunny is a gem, both beautifully written and illustrated. Its gentle rhythm is smooth, great for reading aloud, and reminds one of the journey the bunny is taking: "Down the road and down the road he went. He was going to find a home of his own; a home for a bunny, a home of his own, under a rock, under a stone, under a log, or under the ground. Where would a bunny find a home?" The illustrations are by Garth Williams, lending the story extra beauty and realism. (This same man illustrated the Little House on the Prairie books.)

HFAB is also a rarity in baby books in that it has a recognizable plot, with scenes and dialogue. This gives parents a chance to practice their storytelling skills. I enjoy using different voices for the characters (e.g., a low, low voice for the frog, and a nasal one for the groundhog). Plus, having a plot helps develop the child's ability to follow a sequence of events.

And for the crowning praise--it is my 2-year old's favorite book. As soon as we finish reading it, he asks to hear it again, and again, and again. How can a book get any better than that?

Home for a Bunny should be a part of every child's library. This was the first book I learned to read and 25 years later I am buying it for my new baby girl. The colorful pictures, rhythmic text, and the loveable ending are unforgettable. Home for a Bunny is a classic!

This is a good book, but i would only recomended for mature christians, it relates a lots of situations with demons and that can scare you, and i meant it. I truly believe that this book is only for those who need to know more about spiritual war, and even thou i should said, read it with precaution, you can not play with this kind of things; but if you are a mature christian, this is a very good book.

On a trip to NJ two years ago, a friend advised me of this book and told me she was going to send it to me to PR. The book arrived two months later and I read it in less than a week. I was very impressed with all the details of the book. As a christian I heard many times about Satan, but Dr. Brown shows in this book how he uses people like you. However, it is great to know that the King of Kings, GOD, was the one who won the battle and set us free forever. I recommend this book to anyone, specially, those christians who doesn't recognize that evil is everywhere and we must wear the uniform and weapons God has given us in order to survive! The book was a blessing to me and others. I return the book to my friend in NJ and bought one for me. A friend read it and she kept mine and bought me another one and now someone else is reading it, so this book is all over the world. Accept JESUS as your savior today and God bless all.

GRACIAS,LE DOY A MI DIOS PORQUE EL ESTA LEVANTANDO UN EJERCITO Y YO NO DUDO QUE USTED DRA. REBECCA ES PARTE DE ESE EJERCITO PARA VENCER LAS OBRAS DE SATANA. YO NO SABIA QUE AL EMPESAR AL LEER EL LIBRO EL VINO A LIBERTAR A LOS CAUTIVOS EMPESARON A SUCEDERME COSAS RARA EMPESARON A APARECERSE Y EN UNA OCASION ME ATARON PERO GRACIAS A DIOS QUE EL NOS DIO AUTORIDAD SOBRE LOS DEMONIOS. Y OCURRIERON OTRAS COSAS CON MI ESPOSO QUE YO NO SABIA PERO ESO ME GUSTARIA PLATICAR CON USTED DRA. DE ALGUNA OTRA MANERA ME GUSTARIA SABER COMO A REGLAR ESTA SITUACION QUE NO ME DEJA TRANQUILA Y ME GUSTARIA UNA CONSEJERIA ESPIRITUAL YO TENGO CONFIANSA EN QUE USTED SIENDO UNA SIERVA DE DIOS BIEN USADA POR NUESTRO DIOS ME PUEDA AYUDAR A COMO SACAR A MI ESPOSO DEL SATANISMO. PORFAVOR NECESITO AYUDA Y DIOS SABE QUE ESTO ES VERDAD. ESTOY DESESPERADA, RESPONDAME ESTA CARTA O LLAMEME (305)752-0795 MI NOMBRE ES MARGINI. ESPERO ESCUCHAR PRONTO DE USTED. QUE DIOS EL TODOPODEROSO LA BENDIGA Y LA SIGA USANDO MAS PARA SALVAR MAS ALMA PARA EL CUERPO DE CRISTO. Y RUEGO A DIOS QUE MI ESPOSO PASE HACER PARTE DE ESE CUERPO COMO ESTA EN LA PROMESA TU Y TU CASA SERA SALVO.(HECHOS 16:31)

The Everlasting is a great game for both beginning roleplayers and those playing since time began. There is not much you can't do with this game, and you can literally use it for many different kinds of gaming adventures from the medival dungeon crawl to a modern day war with a group of fallen angels. This game literally has everything.

Well, its about time someone did a good modern fantasy RPG. Good ol' Steve Brown really pulled something out of his hat this time. The Everlasting combines all the interesting things of the mythology of many different cultures, mixes them with some straight up fantasy and tosses in a very well-thought out, flexible game system to come up with a truly great game. You can play close to whatever you want, and the system and setting is so flexible you can go and do close to anything(hey, we've done some crazy stuff in our campaigns). Maybe I'm biased because I've been buying comics and Magic cards from Steve for years, but this game rocks. It is nifty. Buy the Game. ;)

First off, it wasn't released in 1990. It was 1998. The Everlasting books are great (they just came out with Book of the Light). There are very few things I don't like about it. It is almost as if its creators made it around the idea of Live-action Roleplaying. In fact, one of its creators talks about being inspired by a speech made by Mark-Rein Hagen(White Wolf). It provides numerous different systems and even has personality traits to keep players in line with their characters. In fact, the only real complaint I have about it is that so far, VESI has only released 2 of The Everlasting's 4 Foundation Books. When all the foundation books have been released there will be character rules to play almost any creature there is. Ghuls, Vampires, Revenants, Dragons, Angels, Wer, Faeries, Orcs, Dead souls, Reanimates, Demons, and more.

In the fall of 1988, Patricia Brown Coughlan enrolled as a graduate student at Sonoma State University, and found herself drawn to classes dealing with gerontology, the study of aging. As part of her studies, she began attending meetings of a Santa Rosa-based Alzheimer's support group.

A dozen years before, Coughlan's grandmother had begun to show symptoms of Alzheimer's, a neurological disorder with psychological fallout. Already sensitized by her own personal experience, Coughlan was touched and inspired by the compassion, bravery, humor, and sheer practicality that characterized the women in the support group.

She requested permission to interview some of them for her master's thesis on women in the caregiving role. Her extensive interviews with eight of the group members eventually became "Facing Alzheimer's", a remarkable mixture of oral history, demystification, and practical information for anyone dealing with the disease. Although the book deals primarily with women, specificaly wives, as caregivers, much of the information it contains is applicable to anyone placed in a similar situation.

In spite of its sobering subject matter, Coughlan's work is never grim nor gloomy. In fact, once one has taken the mental step of deciding to "face Alzheimer's", the book is pretty much of a page-turner, as the reader connects with each of the eight storytellers, becomes familiar with her situation, and begins to understand the indomitable spirit that, in spite of varied life circumstances and personality differences, characterizes all of these women.

On one level, this is a rich emotional document, with the words and stories of Aileen, Mary, Bonnie, Helen, Irene, Edith, and Angie woven throughout the text to give the reader a deep and personal look into the actual life of an Alzheimer's caregiver. In chapter after chapter, we see through these women's eyes, following their stories from the first appearance of symptoms in their husbands, through diagnosis and attempts to learn abot the disease, through responsibility-shifts and mutual emotional turmoil when a once-independent spouse can no longer drive, deal with finances, find his way home, use the toilet. They speak of their own struggles with practical matters, their own emotional changes, their widowhood, their grief, their healing. Their words are ordinary, their spirit astounding.

On another level, by means of text that interacts with these stories, Coughlan traces the emotional and social factors that affect Alzheimer's patients and caregivers, and offers information and coping techniques for every step of the way. There are clearly laid-out sections for identifying early signs of the disease; dealing with its advancing stages and gradual physical and mental degeneration; managing day by day; handling friends and relatives; understanding changes in marital roles, sexual relationships and fiancial responsibilities; and maintaining through death, bereavement, and beyond.

On yet a third level, "Facing Alzheimer's" is a practical and accessible handbook for caregivers, providing informatin about dealing with doctors, nursing homes, family complications, financial matters, and legal considerations. It includes overviews on coping strategies, information on support groups, interviews with support-group leaders, an appendix of resources and recommended reading, an exhaustive bibliography, and a comprehensive index.

While there's a lot of information in the book, Coughlan emphasizes that "I'd like to make it very clear that this was never meant to be a scientific or sociological study. There are plenty of those out there", she says, "and while they serve a valuable purpose, most of them really aren't that helpful for people dealing with the disease on an everyday basis. I wrote this book primarily as a way to pass along the enormous quantity of information these women had acquired just by making their way successflly through the Alzheimer's scenario. I wanted to write something that other people in the same situation could use, and that someone unfamiliar with Alzheimer's could learn from."

Typical of Coughlan's approach is one of the more telling chapters that reveals the limitations of the medical profession in dealing with Alzheimer's. Since there's currently no cure for the disease, many doctors feel defeated and frustrated by Alzheimer's patients. In addition, Coughlan notes, they are often dealing not only with harrassed and bewildered caregivers, but with patients who may be in full denial and whose grasp on reality may vary widely from visit to visit.

Acknowledging the sources of both doctors' and patients' frustratons, Coughlan writes: "What is necessary for effective caregiving is not an adversarial relationship with medical personnel, but a recognition of the inherent limitations of available treatment." She does point out, however, that it is often in dealing with doctors and nursing-home personnel that women begin to emerge from frightened and passive roles and begin to take charge for both themselves and their spouses. Helen, faced with her doctor's unfeeling attitude, finally took action:

Helen: I reported her. I did. I just thought, I didn't want anyone else to get that sort of treatment. I can remember thirty or forty years ago I would have been a whipped puppy, with her attitude. Not any more.

The chapter suggests ways for caregivers like Helen to become the patients' advocates, asserting temselves appropriately when necessary and working with doctors as partners, rather than adversaries. It also includes such information as standard procedures for a good and complete diagnostic work-up for Alzheimer's.

Equally eye-opening are two chapters dealing with the heartbreaking issue of putting an ill spouse into a nursing home. Once again, Coughlan lets her narrators tell their own tales of making decisions and surmounting difficulties, and then quietly supplements them with the kind of information and criteria that can make those processes much easier to deal with.

Coughlan is, in fact, the ninth remarkable woman in this book. her clear and compassionate eye, her extremely readable writing style, and her crisp and cogent presentation of facts and information surround and reinforce her interviewees' stories without ever overwhelming them. In the end, in spite of its practical nature, "Facing Alzheimer's" has an almost tribal feeling to it, as the voices of these kind, strong, and very human survivors unite to pass on the hard-won knowledge that will enable others to survive as well.

A man with Alzheimer's disease was making his wife crazy, every night getting out of bed and dragging his pillow and blanket to the floor. Awaking several times throughout the night to return him to bed was ruining her sleep, she said, as well as his.

Finally, another woman in her support group spoke up to say she saw nothing wrong with him sleeping on the floor, if it made him happy. The exhausted woman thought about it and, gratefully, agreed.

Anyone who has ever scoffed at a support group doesn't understand that such a gathering may be the only place where a person in crisis can get advice like that. It is also the only place you'll come across a collection of people like the eight women profiled in "Facing Alzheimer's" by Patricia Brown Coughlan.

People whose worlds have been turned upside down by a loved one's dementia learn that coping calls for creative and unorthodox measures, often different from what medical professionals might suggest or the neighbors approve of. The best instructors are often people with 24-hour experience, like the ones in this book, women who took over the primary care of husbands diagnosed with the progressive brain disease.

The book grew out of Coughlan's graduate studies in gerontology at Sonoma State University and her personal experience with her afflicted grandmother.

Coughlan's women talk about how it is to suffer the loss of a mate to Alzheimer's disease, what some call a "never-ending funeral."

"He's here, but he's gone," says Angie, of Hugo, her husband of 30 years and a once-successful businessman. Bonnie, whose husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at age 60, shares the despair of being with a partner who still looks the same, but whose personality has disappeared. "I still wanted him to talk to me, and the poor man couldn't. And I'd just plead, you know, 'Please, Henry, talk to me.'"

But, just as the women counsel others in their situation, they learned how to move beyond despair and dread in order to care for their husbands and save themselves. They represent a generation of women raised to be "nice" and "not complain". Yet, when their husbands got sick, they got tough. They became ferocious advocates, taking on unfeeling doctors, surly nursing home attendants, rude health insurance processors. Caregivers, says Coughlan, eventually recognize that they know better than the professionals how to individually handle thier Alzheimer patients.

Sonoma County readers can take pride in this book, not only because the author lives in Sebastopol, but because her eight wonderful subjects also live in the region. The agencies and programs they turned to for support are local, including the Sonoma County Alzheimer's Task Force, Catholic Charities Alzheimer's Respite Center, and the Sonoma County Ombudsman Program. Surely there will be many people across the country who will read this book and wish that they had the same kind of services in their community.

All the caregivers in her book are women, and Coughlan explains that reflects reality. "At the present time, caregiving is still something that falls most heavily upon women." She does, however, note that there are many men who provide care for their sick wives and parents, including her own grandfather. No matter who does it, it's a full time job.

Not only is Coughlan respectful and admiring of her subjects, she obviously likes them. So will the reader. After all the nightmare years ending with her husband's death, Bonnie wishes her late husband well. "I hope Henry's in a great body somewhere, having great sex."

The women were obviously willing to speak frankly, on just about every subject. "Have I ever had self-pity? Yes. I felt cheated, and abused, and all the other unpleasant emotions", says Mary.

As much as the women show great sensitivity for their husbands' tragic changes, so does Coughlan sympathize with the women. "If Hugo's vision of his future self was destroyed by the specter of an incompetent man being pushed in a wheelchair, then Angie's vision of her future self was destroyed by the vision of a woman pushing one."

Coughlan also interviewed leaders of Alzheimer support groups who offer special insight into how this memory-robbing disease is different from ordinary forgetfulness. "It's not: 'I've lost my keys'; it's 'What do keys do?'"

The book includes a list of Alzheimer's organizations, how to do a living will, financial planning strategies, and a good bibliography of other resource books on Alzheimer's.

There's also a reminder to enjoy the present, because while these eight women are very special there is nothing exclusive about a disease that affects more than 4 million Americans. Aileen's advice: "Take time to do what you want to do. My neighbors, ever since Louie got sick, and they saw what happened, they go on a cruise every year."

On a personal note, I'm familiar with the Santa Rosa Alzheimer's support group and recognize some of the women in this book. The first time I met the group I was a reporter doing a story on the disease and how it affects families. A year later I was back, sitting in the same circle, minus my notebook, not a journalist but the daughter of a newly diagnosed Alzheimer patient. I'm not sure if it was Mabel or Mary, but someone very kind passed me the kleenex.

The fiber of this excellent book is woven together with the voices of experienced family caregivers. In chapter one, we are introduced to eight such family members and follow them throughout the pages; examining different aspects of the disease process and individual coping skills for the evolving issues. For instance, during a discussion on sexuality, caregiver Bonnie responds, "As far as the body next to me in bed, my main concern was that he not wet it!", while Mary is quoted as saying, "There's the void. The feeling that there's a huge chunk of your life that's been plucked out, and has ceased to be a comfort and joy. It becomes either something that's mechanical, or nonexistent, or an added frustration."

This book is never preachy and always compelling. It is a warm marriage of factual information and anecdotes that are at once witty, emotional, and realistic.

In "Facing Alzheimer's", Ms. Coughlan has presented us with a clear outline of disease stages while taking a step beyond the usual textbok approach to caregiving. Her commonsense outlook in a chapter addressing "The Basis of Coping" is typical of the entire text. Coughlan states:

"A person who insists that everything must be done in a certain way will have a harder time dealing with a dementia patient than someone who is willing to be flexible and overlook unimportant things. If the dementia patient is sitting quietly in a chair looking at a book that is upside-down, the flexible caregiver will forego acting on her own response. She will not risk a bad reaction by going over and turning the book right side up. The more she is able to overlook, the more contented everyone will be. Finding new ways of doing things, and working with the patient, rather than against him, facilitates daily management."

An omnipresent theme is the need to care for oneself in order to be the most effective caregiver possible. The families herein openly discuss methods of dealing with stress in order to caregive more salubriously. The personal accounts are interspersed with Coughlan's text:

"At that time Louie was very combative. In the middle of the night he would, if I would get up and say, "Louie, come back to bed", he would just grab my shoulders and he'd say, "What are you doing in my house?" He thought I was an intruder... Oh, it was terrible. And my son thought maybe one night I wouldn't be able to get through to him who I was, and he might hurt me..."

"In order to do what is truly best for her husband and for herself, a dementia patient's wife must develop the ability to rely on her own determination of what is correct. Perhaps what makes placing a spouse in a nursing home the hardest decision of all is that she must learn not only to rise above the judgments of others, but above her judgments of herself, as well. She must grant her own needs as much legitimacy as those of her husband, and this is something that is virtualy impossible to do in any rational, systematic way."

Family caregivers, support group leaders, dementia specialists and listeners... all would benefit from adding "Facing Alzheimer's" to the bookshelf. Remember to pull it out frequently as a quick reference as to why he behaves as he does and as written validation of your own caregiving skills.

If you have any interest in sports, you have to read Glory for Sale. Jon Morgan has written a fascinating and carefully crafted book about the inner workings of professional sports. Few of us have ever been privy to the secret meetings, the betrayal, the calculated lies, and the greed at work whenever a professional sports franchise tears free from a city. This book is more than the tale of Art Modell's apostasy, it is the frightening blueprint for a society whose religion sports is founded on a single commandment: Thou shalt win. -- Tim Green, author of The Dark Side of the Game and sports commentator for ABC's "Good Morning America," "NFL on Fox," and NPR's "Morning Edition

Glory for Sale is a fascinating read. Morgan manages to penetrate the personalities and structures of the NFL in a lucid and compelling fashion while providing a probing and critical analysis of city stadium subsidies, franchise movements and the business of football. -- Andrew Zimbalist, author of Baseball & Billions: A Probing Look Inside the Big Business of Our National Pastime and co-author of Sports Jobs and Tax: Economic Impact of Sports Teams and Facilities

. . . a detailed, engrossing and fast-paced account of am increasingly volatile aspect of sports. -- Bortz & Co., Sports and Media Consultants

Team relocation is a controversial and complex issue that hotly divides avid sports fans. Jon Morgan's Glory for Sale insightfully lays out the importance of stadium economics in building a competitive team, and it clearly, easily explains why teams move. It is one of the best analyses I've read. --Paul J. Much, Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin (financial advisor on sports economics to teams, leagues, stadiums, and governmental agencies)

Morgan goes through excruciating detail as to how the cities of Cleveland and Baltimore will now be forever conjoined. The book gives the reader a true perspective of the shenanigans by owners who are looking for the "easy money" of professional sports and how they will stoop to breaking the hearts of thousands of loyal fans just to fatten their wallets. Not only does it cut to the quick about the move of the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore; it also touches off on that fateful winter's night when Bob Irsay packed the beloved Colts onto the Mayflower trucks and stole away the heart of a city. A great read for Clevelanders and Baltimoreans alike; both of which can take small consolation that the heartbreaks of '84 and '95 will finally be resolved when the Browns return next August.

"Glory for Sale" is full of the sort of detail most football fans only dream of accessing...the book enables readers to become part of the franchise process, to feel as though they were actually there. Jon Morgan's style is fluid and literary, and the book, however intricate, reads as easily as a novel. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the world of sports, and for anyone with a solid appreciation for plain old good writing.

Since when is truth determined by adhering to majority opinion? Those that constitute the most powerful block can filter history and erase memories of those who are not acceptable. Several of the reviews mention the Trinity and Arianism as the "main" heresy. Review the histories of Harnack, Rowan Williams, and RPC Hanson. The 4th century historical context was not so black and white or good and evil. What of the Protestant Reformation, or the history of the Jewish people at the hands of Catholicism, the oldest "orthodoxy" (next to the eastern Orthodox). Does a judgment of hersy lead to persecution? Historically it has and it would again if enough people in our modern society hadn't become unbelievers due to dictated doctrine and practice by the powers that be among the large churches. People like Shelby Spong certainly react to that same rigidity. Think for yourself, our God is not to small to reach towards all that truely seek him.

Well done! This book is an excellent summary of church history in light of heresy. Dr. Brown does an admiral job of explaining the doctrine under attack, describing the heretical viewpoint, and then telling how that particular heresy was handled by the Church.

A wonderful survey by a real master. Dr. Brown really know shis subject, and navigates the reader through some complicated material with ease. A really magnificent work.

Well, I read "Rubyfruit Jungle" and loved it, and rated it "5 stars". Now I've read another Rita Mae Brown book, and it's even better, so I suppose it goes without saying that it's also a five star effort.

"Rubyfruit Jungle" was five stars purely on the basis of a fascinating main character; the plot was nothing to get excited about, and the supporting cast was mediocre. This book, while it does not have a character as marvellous as Molly Bolt, (sorry, Geneva) nonetheless is strongly character-driven; it has a dozen characters more interesting and memorable than the second-best character in "Rubyfruit Jungle". More, it has a significantly more interesting plot, and just as much to say about life and how to live it.

A must-read for anyone who has enjoyed anything written by Rita Mae Brown, anyone who enjoys stories about strong female characters, and anyone who enjoys historical novels set during the civil war.

This book is beautifully written, thrilling, entertaining and heart warming. Set during the Civil war, it is filled with love, honor, courage and fine horsemanship. The characters are people you want to know more about. It brings the reader into the unbelievable horrors of the Civil War as the characters find our what they are made of and what is important in life. This book is both romantic and exciting as well as filled with philosophic treasures. It is one of the few books I have read twice!

What a shocking book. The toll of the our most bloody war has never been so real. The descriptions of the battles and aftermath made me want to put the book down and yet never put it down. It made me want to read more about the war.

All of Rita Mae's characters are real, with their fears and flaws. Even though the central charater is Geneva, the depth of each character and their role in the dynamics of the politics of the time is brought forth. There is no minor character in this tale. Everyone, as in the war, has a story and a purpose. WONDERFUL.