I find myself smiling when I read the poems of Charles Harper Webb. He has the ability to energize his work with wit, irony and in his latest--Tulip Farms and Leper Colonies--nostalgia and serious observation. Like Billie Collins, Webb's work is readily accessible, however it is uniquely his own. I can't imagine Collins writing Feeling Sorry for Myself or, for that matter, Congratulations, Charles H.Webb,, You've Just Won Ten Million Dollars. Webb just gets better and better..

As if that really mattered. Read this book and all others by Webb. I think you'll find it stands up just fine with Collin's work, and, rather than being derivative, the two poets complement eachother.

Enough!

Get a life!

This is one of the most helpful travel books I have read. It explained things in a detail easy to understand. I am buying my second book on Boston, to send to my out-of-town family, so they can also enjoy this great city.

This was a wonderful book. It reads a bit like Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, but more modern. There is humor and heroism, as well as grand thoughts of life. "Great happiness was given to me once, yes... but shall I forget that now? And forget the one who gave it to me? All that has happened since came from the same hands that gave me the happiness. I shall not doubt that it is good and has a part in something I cannot see..."

An interviewer asked Yogi Berra to do word association. The interviewer's first words were Mickey Mantle. Yogi's association was - What about him?

Mickey takes us through his World Series appearances - 1951 when he permanently injured his knee, 1952 when Jackie Robinson told the press that Mantle beat the Dodgers and that the Yankees didn't miss DiMaggio, 1953 with Mickey's tape measure homeruns, 1955 when the long suffering Brooklyn Dodgers won their only World Series, 1956 when the umpire gave Don Larsen that final strike, 1957 when Yankee reject Lew Burdette beat the Yanks, 1958 when Bob Turley returned the favor by beating the Braves, 1960 when Casey failed to use Ford 3 times against the Pirates, causing the most heartbreaking disappointment in Mantle's baseball career, 1961 when Maris outpaced Mantle and substitutes won the World Series, 1962 when McCovey lined out to Richardson, 1963 when they ran into Koufax-Podres-Drysdale-Koufax, and 1964 when Whitey had a sore arm and couldn't pitch to St Louis.

Mickey blamed himself for failing to do rehab on his legs. He endured constant pain, and it was a miracle that he had a baseball career at all. He rated himself as equal to Mays in fielding, faster than Mays on the bases, but without the longevity.

If you look at the incredible Yankee dynasty of the 1950s you see a team that wasn't great on paper. The Cleveland Indians were at times as good or better. The Brooklyn Dodgers had much better hitting. It wasn't like the awesome Yankee teams of 1998 and 1999. The Yankees of Mickey's day had no business winning so many pennants and world championships. What they had was Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Gil McDougald, and above all Mickey Mantle.

Did you ever see him swing a bat? He hit the ball harder than Babe Ruth. He had the best swing in history, combining the grace of Ken Griffey Jr. with the power of ...... of nobody but Mickey Mantle. McGwire is a deep popup artist like Babe Ruth was. Mantle would drive the ball through a brick wall. He was the most powerful hitter who ever lived, and had the Olympic class speed of Rickey Henderson.

This collection contains a dazzling reading of C.P.Gilman's "The Yellow Wall-Paper" that should not be overlooked. The powerful reading makes the reader herself seem confined to the old children's room. Quite gripping.

I can remember the impression gained from American history textbooks that Andrew Johnson was impeached because of the vindictive radical Republicans who were themselves betraying the ideals of the assassinated Abraham Lincoln. In the intervening years Andrew Johnson's political reputation has taken a decided down turn. His chief political liability is now seen as being his stubbornness and his ideological position has clearly been defined as more anti-planters than pro-freedmen. In this juvenile biography for the Our Presidents series, Judith E. Harper takes a more middle of the road approach to telling the story of Johnson's life. Acknowledging Johnson's stubbornness, Harper's most critical comment is that Johnson "believed that African Americans should be free, but he did not agree that they should have all the rights of white people." Johnson's thinking is characterized as being similar to a majority of Americans in the 1860s, in having "the mistaken belief that African Americans were not as capable or as smart as whites." Of course, this opens up a major can of worms in terms of defining a major paradox with Americans freeing the slaves without really wanting to give them equality. Teachers are going to have some questions to answer from their students after they have read this biography.

As with all of the volumes in the Our Presidents series this one has four chapters: (1) Poverty and Ambition covers Johnson's early years as he turned from a tailor to a politician in Tennessee; (2) On to Washington looks at Johnson's political career on the national level, where he was the sponsor of the Homestead Act and achieved notoriety as the only Southern Senator who did not resign when the South seceded from the Union. It was because of this latter distinction that Johnson, appointed Military Governor of Tennessee by Lincoln, was chosen as the President's running-mate in the 1864 election. Lincoln was a Republican and Johnson a Democrat, but they ran on the "Union" ticket (great trivia question, since that means Lincoln was the last President who was elected as something other than a Republican or Democrat). Johnson's tenure in the White House is divided into the two key issues of his administration: (3) Reconstruction looks at the hornet's nest that Johnson was thrown into following Lincoln's assassination. Harper makes an interesting point, that Johnson's plans for Reconstruction were premised on needing Southern votes to win the election in 1868. Johnson's objections to the efforts of Congress are based on Constitutional objections and it is clear that his decision to violate the Tenure of Office Act (which was clearly unconstitutional) was deliberate; (4) Impeachment! covers the details of the impeachment and the Senate trial, the verdict, and the end of Johnson's political career. Although he was re-elected to the Senate (the only President to return to public office other than John Quincy Adams), he died of a stroke after serving only a few months.

Andrew Johnson is certainly a mixed bag as a political figure. On the one hand he was clearly the least educated man ever to become President and his stubbornness clearly overwhelmed his intelligence at key moments, but he had an innate faith in the Constitution that is certainly admirable. Then again, it is not like anybody this side of U.S. Grant would have looked good to the public (or historians) after Lincoln. The margins of this book contain all sorts of Interesting Facts, such as how Johnson hired men to read to his workers in his tailor shop and debated Mordecai Lincoln, a cousin of Abraham Lincoln. Each chapter includes a side-bar on topics from Johnson's love for the spoken word to explaining impeachment. The book is illustrated primarily with historic photographs and etchings. The entire Our Presidents series is an excellent introduction to the nation's leaders. There are other, more detailed, presidential biographies for juveniles out there, but this series does an excellent job of providing the basics.

I recently read Mrs. Harper's book on the fabulous banana slugs of the Pacific northwest. I have to say that I was pleasently surprised by the amount of information contained in such a little book. I am currently keeping banana slugs in the zoological institution where I work and needed a little extra information on their daily lives to provide the best care for them. This book contained information from their breeding habits to nutrional requirements to morphology and everything in between. Alice Harper is definately the Slug Lady and hopefully we will see a updated edition of this book with even more information in the near future. Still, I would definately recommend this book to anyone looking into studying these wonderful yet slimy little creatures.

I thought that this book was very helpful if you want to want to learn more about the birds of paradise. It is a short book that is packed with information. I would reccomend it to anyone who is interested in These amazing birds.

I really enjoyed reading this book. Jordon and Seth were interesting characters, and I enjoyed the fact that they were able to find eachother again after all those years and fall in love again.