I found Bettinger-Lopez's work very impressive, especially considering that the vast majority of her research was conducted for an undergraduate thesis. Bettinger-Lopez clearly spent a great deal of time conducting personal interviews and was able to get "inside" the Cuban-Jewish community. As the daughter of a Cuban-Jewish emigre to the U.S. (to New York) who still has many Cuban-Jewish friends and family members in Miami, I truly enjoyed the author's vivid, detailed portraits of the community. Bettinger-Lopez also provided interesting anthropologic and feminist analysis of the Cuban-Jewish community. I did, however, find one aspect of the book troubling, and that is Bettinger-Lopez's tendency to frequently inject herself and her personal issues into the analysis of the people that she interviews. While this technique is interesting at times, it comes off as mildly self-centered and lacks the detachment required of a primary source researcher. Overall, I recommend the book and especially recommend it to Cuban-Jews and their descendants.

This book is a good reference source about diving in southeastern Florida. Because of the Keys, many people don't realize the quality of diving that can be found off the coast of Miami/Ft. Lauderdale. The book describes many sites in detail and also provides depth, visibility, and difficulty information.

What is it about Florida? It's a magnet for "unusual" characters and this book is full of them. The Kirkus review in the editorial section does a wonderful job of telling the key plot points so I won't be redundant.

I liked a number of things about this book. Johnny/Jack Deal is a very appealing protagonist. While I will always have a bit of a crush on Travis McGee, he isn't exactly a everyday sort of guy. Deal is very much an everyman caught in a vortex of events that are beyond his control or understanding. He responds with a nice mix of anger, humor and action. The supporting cast is also well done - particularly Leon, the heavy for the bad guys. He's strickly a character out of the Hiaasen school of Florida wackos.

I'll be reading the sequel to this book (Raw Deal) soon although I am a bit perplexed as to how Deal will continue to find himself involved in murder. My father was a contractor and the most crime he ever saw was the periodic stealing of materials from a job site. Still, if Jessica Fletcher could encounter a body a week, I'm sure Deal can too.

Paul Levine kicks butt. He's just plain a great author, and his characters and places stick in your mind.

This particular story isn't one of his best, but it's certainly a dang good read nonetheless. I strongly urge any fan of detective/lawyer/murder stories to run out and buy a couple of Levine's books, because not only will you enjoy the stories, and the hero, but you'll also find yourself laughing out loud from time to time.

And that's what books are supposed to do (in my opinion, anyway)- entertain you!

"boat people" or "political refugees" are the most common words that pop up when one thinks of cuban emigrants. What's really behind the scene ? Are cubans really forbidden to travel ? Why are illegal immigrants welcomed with open arms in the United States - as long as they are cubans ? A thourough study of the mechanisms in action.

Waltzer's writing is riveting and transports the reader into the "Big Chair" as a department head. Practical, hard-hitting advice is masterfully woven with whimsical anecdotes to make this book a captivating piece literature. As an active educator, I believe Waltzer's book to potentially be the best prose to come out of Miami University in the last 8 years. The easy to read format and writing style allows the reader to quickly reference such topics as: the ethical use of alcohol for faculty recruiting; pipe selection to get noticed by graduate students; official opinions on mascot changes; and selecting the right khaki pants for casual summer classes. As a briefcase bible, or a nightstand slumber-aide, this book is a must for any academic who is gunning for Department Chair.

Wilbur Edel's book "Kekionga" is in fact not a detailed description of the worst defeat of the American army led by general St Clair against the Native Americans in the late 18th century. The story of the battle itself merely takes one page in this book. So people mainly interested in pure military history will not find a satisfactory answer. But I don't thing Edel, who is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science, intended to write a book focusing only on the military aspects of this dramatic battle , which is in fact not that well known in American history.

The author prefers a global approach of this battle which was the direct result of white settlers penetrating in the Ohio-lands of the Wabash Indian tribes after the American War of Independence.

Edel clearly explains the relation between Native Americans and their white opponents from the start of white colonisation untill the present. He indicates the role of the different European nations in the New World who played a important role in the Indian-white relations during the 18th and 19th century. So one can learn in fact each nation (European and Native American as well) had their own hidden political agenda. For example during the War of Independence, both Americans and English tried to use Native Americans for their cause. Indians tried to use them to obtain better trade-goods. Some tribes tried to form alliances with Europeans to protect their homelands from invasion of other Europeans. The author gives a clear inside in this processes which indicates that international politics in that period do not differ that much from the way international politics are run nowadays.

In a vivid description he brings back to life the voices of the people who played a decisive role in this confrontation. Fortunately he retains from giving too many details and keeps this book to the point. Nevertheless he is very accurate and each statement is linked to a bibliographical note.

I enjoyed reading this book, which gave me (as a European who is not that familiar with the American history) also a better understanding of the sometimes stressed relations between the American Federation and the individual States of the Union. In my opinion this book can be used as a standard introduction to understand the complex relationship between the Native Americans and the American Federation.

Jan Everaet Winksele / Flanders BELGIUM

A very interesting book for those who once liked Miami Vice. This book really deserved a second edition with corrections on minor details, like some episodes synopses. Also, unfortunately, this book is before the last three seasons (there are some comments and plans about what would come to be the third season), which would also demand an "expanded edition" with an approach to the entire series, after all, more than a half of the series still was to be done then. However, it's very interesting to get into the dynamic and intense production of Miami Vice, the pressure of a top hit show during the peak of its success, details about actors, directors, guns, cars, schedules, and producer Michael Mann and his style that still in recent movies, like "Heat" and "The Insider", has a relation to Miami Vice (the mental tension of the characters, workaholic good or bad guys who'll put the job in first, second and third place in life, and the intense narrative). Altough there are very good pictures in the book, certainly it could have more than it actually has (and colored pictures would be better).It's a very, very, very hard-to-find book nowadays. This text refers to the Ballantine Books paperback first edition.

As a youth in South Florida, I recall the Miami riots of 1980 as a time of excitement and menace. Although far removed from the violence, I remember the concerned voices on the radio and the firey images on television. Marvin Dunn, a sociologist and community leader, places the riot in historical perspective. He profiles the black communities of Overtown and Liberty City, the culture of the Miami Police Department and the incident that touched off the rioting. Dunn convincingly explains that the rioters came from a cross section of the black community, from middle-class professionals to the inner-city poor, and that the violence was not goal-driven, like the urban uprisings of the 1960s. The riots represented pure rage springing from a host of long-held grievences. In many ways, the Miami riot of 1980 foreshadowed the LA Riots. Dunn and Porter also fault the Miami Police for their handling of the riots and describe several scenarios by which they could have put a stop to the violence. I recommend this book to any and all who are interested in race relations and/or the relationship between urban law enforcement and the black community.

A sweet and sour combination of fun and tragedy, of sick humor and light reading, a 90 % of fantastic tales with a 10% of real historical background. One thing I surely loved: Zoé continues to spice her writing with colloquialisms, vulgarisms and Cubanisms and that makes one want to read more from her. The miracle in her book happens in and to Miami, but the fact of the matter is that Miami has been a true miracle in the USA: a place where Cuban immigrants have turned an obscure, marshy land-ridden spot in the United States into one of the most flourishing economic places and melting pots in the whole world. Zoé develops her story for the first time in the second homeland of all Cubans: South Florida, specifically Miami [although she prefers to live in France] and the result is quite good. The puns with the names reminds one of Cabrera Infante. The whole story knitting is just hers.