These are two easy reading books that consist of short episodes in the lives of an "upper class" couple in Kansas City in the 1930s and 40s. Each book progresses through their lives, so you see them age and their children grow. The book "Mrs Bridge", characterizes her as a true ditz, the kinds who always says meaningless "right" things and rich woman preoccupied with shopping. Mr. Bridge is characterized as a remote, clueless kind of guy. The book ends with Mr. Bridge's death and his son sadly recognizing that his dad spent all his life trying to make life better for his family when all his family really wanted was some time with him. Showing the biases of the time of publication, Mr. Bridge becomes much more humane and likeable in the book about him. In "Mr. Bridge," even the annoying Mrs. Bridge is much more likeable. Even though set long ago, there are all sorts of insights that are very human. Everyone can see themselves in this book somewhere.

Connell does a superlative job of illustrating upper-middle class society in the 30's and 40's with these two novels. Each is a series of vignettes that serves to illuminate the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, through their interactions with each other, their family and the society they live in. Subtle, richly textured and very real - these are the people that lived ordinary lives. I recognized people I know in these portraits

Nancy does a great job filling us in on her climb to success. this book is NOT gossipy--she does not diss the other skaters (not even Tanya Harding). After reading this book I have great respect for Nancy!

This is a great book about Nancy Kerrigan. It is good for up-and-coming skaters!! It has dynamic photos of her along with a great descriptive text!!! However some of the wors are advanced and may not be suitable for children under 8.

I read this book almost two years ago and it still stands out in my mind. It is an interesting novel, but not for the weak at heart. It deals with many problems, like a drug addicted mother, hit and run driver kills a boy, another boy is sent to a foster home, and finally, the mother is sent to a rehab center to get over her durg useage but for some reason her dealer is after her only living son of some reason or enougher. I did say it's been a while since I read it so my review my not be uo to par. I'm looking for where I put the book so I can read it again.

This book is interesting and well written. I enjoyed reading it and found a lot of satisfaction by watching the plot unfold. Although the subject was heavy, the mystery of the story was intriguing enough to get you through the gruesome parts. I reccomend this book to anyone that enjoys a good mystery story.

Francis offers his usual fare: The same protagonist with a new name; a plot of investigation, discovery, physical pain and mental exercises; a supporting cast of believable characters who act in supportable, self-interested, and logical ways. All of which is not to say anything bad; i love to read Francis, and do so when looking for a vicarious thrill and a light read. The protagonist in this one is Edward "Link" Lincoln, an action picture actor ~ the sort who might star in movies made of Francis' books ~ who goes to South Africa for a little off-set investigation. At least, he thinks that's why he's gone there; he's actually gone to be killed. In a post-Apartheid world the picture of South Africa is rather sweet; i would guess Francis had some coöperation from the government in return for his portrayal of the country.

This is one of my favorite all time Dick Francis novels. Link is a character you'll love and you'll loves to plot twists as fiction can become reality.

I enjoyed every page of this book. It was so well reserched, and wonderful pictures. I think Ann Woodward is one of the most selfish self centered woman I have ever read about. I no longer envy people with unlimited wealth, it seems to bring nothing but tragedy. I highly recommend this wonderful book.

Susan Braudy's lucidly-written book does justice to the fearless, insular Woodward clan of mid-Century New York society. Poor Ann Woodward, who wanted nothing more than everything the Woodwards had, claws her way to the upper social strata using her good looks and sexual wiles to capture the heart of William Woodward, Jr., a handsome, rich and directionless young man. Their relationship desinergrates early, held together only by the birth of their two sons, but Ann Woodward fiercely clings to the power of her status and in the process, shoots the very man whose existence gives her validation in that tenuous world. Shunned from society after that, Ann travels the globe restlessly while the Woodward family falls apart, a glory of worlds past. After her suicide in 1975, her youngest son, Jimmy commits suicide by jumping out of a tall window. Ironically, in 1999, the oldest son, William Woodward III, does the same. This brief shining world of the Woodwards is factualy accounted for here and should not be missed by any lover of the rich and infamous.

I find it impossible to discuss this book without referring to the 1951 movie. The first 80 percent of the movie and the book are mostly similar. The endings are quite different. I slightly prefer the movie's improbable ending, although the endings of both have serious flaws.

Reading the first 80 percent of the book is a joy after having seen the movie. If you are like me, you will see and hear the movie in your mind as you read the book.

In the first 80 percent of the book, you will find more in the book than in the movie. C.S. Forester is able to tackle interesting themes in the book that were too delicate for Hollywood. Also, he employs an amazing mastery of the technical details in describing the African Queen's voyage down the Ulanga and Bora rivers into Lake Victoria. You will almost feel like you are reading science fiction from the time of H.G. Wells, as Allnut and Rose keep making something out of nothing.

To me, the best part of the book is that the contrasts between the "civilized" conventions and the "natural" instincts are drawn in extreme and fine detail. It will make you re-examine how you think about what is the right thing to do in your own life, which is what good literature should do.

To me, the weakness of the book is that the attitudes that The African Queen challenges are very far removed from our experience today. What was very scathing then now seems quaint. Somehow, the outrage behind the story is diffused into a dreamy period piece. Are there many women now of 33 who are so completely dominated by their brothers that they do not lead their own lives? Would many people today be inflamed by love of country to want to strike a personally fatal blow against the oppressor against all odds? Does the arrogance of colonialism seem believable, or just a silly notion to caricature?

Ultimately, Rose's instant rise from docile creature to Wonder Woman does seem to strain credibility. It's inspiring fun, though, like any book about brave heroines who are undaunted by the odds and convention.

After you read this book, think about where your assumptions about what you should be doing have not been re-examined by you in a while. What are you doing because someone else tells you it is a good idea? What should you be doing because you think it is a good idea?

Take the initiative to do the right thing with full speed ahead!

The lady has the will, and the cockney has the ingenuity. Between the two of them they conquer incredible obstacles.

Their great goal is to strike a blow for England in the war against Imperial Germany, but just as we might suppose, the efforts of two "very ordinary people" don't change the course of history. Nevertheless, it's an inspiring tale of courage, intelligence, and mutual respect. Each makes the other a better person.

Seen the movie, now read the book. This is an adventure tale about Charlie Allnutt and Rose Sayer set in WWI and was written by C.S.Forester in 1935. The book has been over shadowed by the 1951 film which starred Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn. The book stands on its own as a classic and centres on the relationship between the unlikely match of Charlie and Rose with the war as a backdrop. Charlie is a gin loving engineer and Rose is a religious missionary who manages to convince Charlie to take his rickety old boat, The African Queen, down a treacherous river to destroy a German gunboat patrolling the lake at the end of the river. The inter play between the two characters is developed beautifully as they influence each other to form a formidable team. Forester may have meant it to be many things, but to me it is a great love story. Two people who shine in the presence of each other. The novel is relatively short and keeps the suspense and sense of adventure high throughout. The ending of the book turns out to be more realistic and poignant than the film and just by reading it you will appreciate the brilliance of Bogart and Hepburn even more.

If you want to read a book about politics, this is the book to read. Even if you are skeptical or apathetic towards American politics, I would still recommend this book to you-- it might make you more interested in the subject. Woodward takes us behind the scenes of the 1996 presidential elections, showing us the intricacies and complexities involved. He does a powerful job of keeping this potentially flat topic lively and engaging. The first time I read this was in 1998, and I am still raving about it.

Woodward carefully documents the early stages of the 1996 presidential election, covering mid-1994 to April 1996. Note that the book's coverage ends before the national party conventions. Woodward tries to give equal treatment to both parties, but Republicans clearly cooperated with him much more than Clinton's staff (who no doubt feel burned by Woodward's earlier exposé of Clinton, 'The Agenda'). More than anything else, this is a character study of Bob Dole, who candidly shared his thoughts with the author throughout the period. We also learn a great deal about Powell, Forbes, and Dick Morris.

Woodward's style is not for everyone. He carefully reconstructs various meetings, explaining who said what to who. However, Woodward uses paraphrases instead of direct quotes, unless he's sure of the exact words spoken. Many readers will find the result to be incredibly tedious, although I appreciate Woodward's concern for accuracy when quoting people. The book gives the reader a real sense of being in the room when important conversations occur regarding the federal budget or campaign strategy.

Very good book. Being a preidential primary and pre genral elction junkie, this was the best book I ever bought... Very well written and researched. Woodward defintely got the inside scoop on election 1996.

Well, Bob Woodward has a bestseller again -- "Bush at War" debuted at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list today. What's Carl Bernstein up to? Never mind about that. "The Final Days" is still not to be missed, over 25 years since it, too, became a best-seller. The country has moved on to other pressing political matters, but interest in the unravelling of the Nixon Administration remains high. Books speculating about the identity of Deep Throat seem to come out annually.

"The Final Days" is marked departure from "All the President's Men", the first Woodward/Bernstein book and obviously the one that put them on the map. Whereas "President's" was the inside story of two journalists chasing down a story that led higher into the U.S. government than they ever dreamed imaginable, "Final Days" is a step back, since neither Woodward nor Bernstein (nor Deep Throat, for that matter) appear as characters. The focus turns to Nixon's family and close political advisers. Many of the oft-mentioned names remain relevant today: Pat Buchanan, Diane Sawyer, Henry Kissinger. It's also about twice as long as the earlier book, but reads just as quickly.

"Final Days" is divided into two parts. First is a general overview of the first two years of the Watergate Crisis, this time told from the view of all the President's men rather than from the Washington Post. Next is a dizzying chapter-a-day sequence of the final 17 days of the Nixon administration.

In the midst of the research are some surprisingly interesting detours. Nixon's final foreign journey as President is to the Middle East. A funny aside details how the White House press office had to avoid mentioning Israel on the same page of press releases naming other countries in the region, to avoid offending Islamic governments. Also amusing is the lengthy description of Nixon son-in-law David Eisenhower's obsession with fantasy baseball.

25 years, numerous Presidential scandals, and a war or two later, the undoing of Richard Nixon remains riveting and required reading. The Woodward/Bernstein books blaze with a you-are-there immediacy, and even the overuse of passive voice doesn't slow down the narrative. Every hour of mind-numbing research underpinning the book has paid off, because the story told is seamless. There's dramatic tension to every decision Nixon makes in his final month in office: to resign or stay in office? To surrender his private tapes, or continue the legal battle? Nixon himself even becomes a sympathetic figure, as the debilitating nature of his phlebitis is explored.

Perhaps you're busying reading Woodward's latest effort now. Perhaps you're numbed by his almost annual hardcover tomes about the private lives of American presidents, each less relevant than the last. At any rate, "The Final Days" is a detour well worth your time, whether you're on the left, the right, or above all that. It's surely no coincidence that Barbara Olson's excoriation of the Clinton White House bears the same title.

"All The President's Men" & "The Final Days" are an essential part of political history: They are also an essential part of journalism history. Watergate & the revealed power of the media to topple a president changed journalism -- and inspired a generation to enter the profession. ... Read "All The President's Men" first ... &, as you read it, know that the better book is still to come. "All ..." is vital to understanding what happened; "Final Days" is a far superior book. ... "All ..." reads as though the authors were still shell-shocked from what had happened & what they -- in their 20s -- had participated in. "Final Days" is a much more mature & calmer book. It offers a better understanding of what Nixon did wrong than the first book. Its portrait of Nixon is far superior ... even empathetic. ... I am a Republican (& a journalist) & someone who finds much to redeem Nixon ... & I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which is remarkably unbiased & deft at presenting even the least likeable participants as human. I also was jolted at some of Nixon's extremes, which I had prefered to forget because in some ways (i.e. foreign policy) he was a great president. ... Aspects of this story are remarkably dated ... would Nixon have fallen now? (Reagan didn't. Clinton didn't.) Are we as easily shocked? As naive about power? Do we even fantasize anymore that our leaders will be flawless? ... The comparisons with Bill Clinton are striking & obvious. Would Clinton's story have ended differently if he had been president 25 years earlier & before Watergate & Iran-Contra? ... For a real immersion in the story through popular culture, read the two books in order & see the movie of "All The President's Men" & see Sir Anthony Hopkins' brilliant performance in "Nixon." ... "Tragedy" is an abused word, but Nixon's story WAS a classic tragedy: Hero undone by fatal flaw.

This is an amazing account of the last few months of the Nixon presidency leading up to his eventual resignation. The first half of the book deals in larger chunks of time, but by the time the second half begins, each chapter encompasses a single day. As in ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN by the same authors, the reader may find the onslaught of different names to be intimidating; fortunately, the cast of characters list at the beginning of the book helps a lot. All the people involved are treated with a lot of respect, and their motivations are made very clear throughout with only a few exceptions.

Unlike ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, this is not told from the viewpoint of the two authors. Through interviews and other methods, the two journalists have reconstructed what they believe those last few months to have been like. The result is an amazing and richly detailed look at the aftermath of one of the most important scandals in recent US history.

One of the real strengths of this book is that it allows the reader to see how the scandal affected many of the different people that were close to the President -- his aides, his family, the lawyers defending him, congressmen, fellow Republican leaders, etc. We see how his team tried (and eventually failed) to fight the accusations made at President and how his staff continued to get the work done even as he retreated farther and farther into himself.

Before I read ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN and THE FINAL DAYS, I really didn't know too many particulars about the whole Watergate scandal. I highly recommend this pair of books to anyone looking for detailed, yet highly readable sources of information.

It says a lot about the character of Richard Nixon - his suspicion bordering on paranoia, his bitterness, his self-pity, and his intransigent resentment toward everybody who he perceives as an enemy (which was probably almost everybody), that he had to rubber-stamp the commitment of a crime in order to win an election he could never have lost anyway, by approving the break-in of the Democratic national headquarters in Washington in the summer of 1972.

A black night-watchman finds a door lock suspiciously taped over and calls the police. The police notify the press. And two young reporters from the Washington Post begin to investigate what looks like a third-class, amateurish crime and end up ripping the lid off the biggest can of worms in American history.

We watch in fascination as Woodward and Bernstein follow their mentor Ben Bradlee's precept of "If you can't find a woman in the story, look for the dough". We follow them as they chase the trail of laundered "dough" all the way into the White House. And along with them, we peel off the outer leaves of the artichoke one by one - the underlings who committed the crime, their superiors who planned it, the higher-ups who authorized it, until the ugly center stands exposed: the Chief Executive as Thief in Chief. Whether or not Nixon knew about the break-in in advance is irrelevant. What matters is that once the news was out, he did everything possible to cover it up, and by doing so, sank himself irreversibly in a morass of crime and deception.

The book reads like a classic detective novel, with the intangible presence of Deep Throat looming over all. Did he really exist, and if so, who was he? The question still puzzles us. Woodward and Bernstein have been playing cat-and-mouse with us over his identity for the last three decades. It's just one of the threads in this story that will be left dangling for years to come.

Woodward and Bernstein emerged from the Watergate scandal as American heroes. To say they brought down the Nixon administration may be overdoing it; but they certainly tore the cover off a malodorous snake pit and brought it kicking and screaming into daylight.

It has been 31 years since a small group of men entered the Watergate office building on the banks of the Potomac River for the purpose of gathering intelligence to be used against the Democrats in the 1972 election. There are many young adults who were not around then, and this is all the more reason to give a very high recommendation.

This is the story of two young reporters at the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, whose reportage of the Watergate break-in and the subsequent cover up led to the resignation of President Nixon on August 9, 1974.

These two journalists, so dissimilar in may ways, forged a trusting and cooperative relationship born out of initial competitiveness (and disrespect for each other). The book is written in the "third person" which, from a standpoint of style, was probably the best way to proceed instead of bouncing back and forth from one person to the other.

We know quite a bit more about Watergate today than we knew three decades ago, but this is the book that really brought the main story into focus. The people who inhabit the book are all memorable: The two reporters; Hugh Sloan, a man whose integrity made him leave the Committee to Re-Elect the President rather than be a party to what was going on; the female accountant (whose name is not mentioned in the book but who has since gone public) who reluctantly helps Bernsetin while he drinks numerous cups of coffee; the men and women who were too frightened to help.

And, of course, there is "Deep Throat," the mysterious source who helped keep Woodward on track and whose identity is speculated about even today, so many years after these events.

If you haven't read this book, please do before you read any other book on the Watergate affair (the movie of the same name is also wonderful -- with the cinematographer choosing shots which emphasized the massive government buildings as a backdrop against the insignificant looking figures of Woodward and Bernstein -- played by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, respectively).

What is largely forgotten is that in the summer of 1972, Bob Woodward and Carl Berstein were two young but complete nobody reporters assigned not to political reporting but the Washington Post's Metro section. When they were assigned to cover a "fourth rate burglary" at the Watergate Hotel, it changed the course of their careers and of American History. It is no exaggeration that had more conventional Washington political reporters been assigned to the Watergate story, it might never have been exposed in enough detail to bring down Richard Nixon. This book is an American classic. Though it lacks historical perspective on the Watergate affair, it is vital to anyone who wants to understand the greatest American political crisis of the Post World War Two era.

You will never find a book that will give you a better insight into the Supreme Court. This book explains many of the rulings that have come out of the Supreme Court as well. You will also gain better insight into the personalities of some of the Justices of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is also given excellent coverage as well. The functions of the judicial body as a whole are very well explained by this book. This book could be used to teach a course about the functions of the Supreme Court. Read this book if you can You will gain a better understanding of the Judicial body.

Although "The Brethren" was written a quarter of a century ago and it covers the Supreme Court sessions from 1969 to 1975, there are two reasons to hunt down a used copy of this book and read it today. The first is its examination of the important Court decisions of Warren Burger's early years, all of which still reverberate with their controversy and implications. The second is to learn how, in spite of its famously left-of-center decisions, the Court began taking a sharp turn to the ideological right, spurred by the appointment of Burger and by the ascent of the young William Rehnquist.

"The Brethren" gave the Burger Court a reputation from which it never quite recovered. Although the Supreme Court has historically had its share of in-fighting, incompetence, and inanity, its internal meltdowns in the 1970s were occasionally beyond the pale. Woodward and Armstrong portray Burger as a well-meaning but ultimately misguided man obsessed by the legacy of Earl Warren, concerned far more with image than with principle, unskilled in management techniques that would have helped bring the Court to a consensus, and unashamed of his repeated attempts to assign the Court's decisions in a fashion insured to thwart the will of the majority. Even today, most historians, regardless of ideological bent, view the Burger years as a mediocre and often inconsistent transition between the liberal Warren Court and the conservative Rehnquist Court.

It's not a perfect book, by any means. Woodward and Armstrong are at their page-turning best when they examine in detail some of the more famous decisions and controversies faced by the Court (busing, obscenity, abortion, the death penalty, and--especially--Watergate). And the account is surprisingly balanced: anyone expecting a "liberal" flogging of an increasingly conservative court will be surprised, on the one hand, by the authors' depictions of the increasingly unfit and ornery Douglas and the unsophisticated yet affable Marshall and, on the other hand, by their open admiration of Rehnquist, who comes across as (by far) the most likeable and amiable of the justices. Nevertheless, their account is a bit too heavy on office gossip. True--this journalistic style brings the fourteen justices who served during these years to life, but what's lacking is the necessary detailed legal background that would make sense of the Court's day-to-day work rather than its scandalous backbiting and personality conflicts. Overall, though, it's an admirable piece of journalism that makes the Court seem as human as it really is.

It is really a shame this book is out of print! I have had my students read it for in-depth, inner knowledge of the Supreme Court. It is a book that holds the interest of the reader whike giving factual information about our highest court. Now I must find some sort of alternative, equally as intriguing. I truly wish the publisher would consider returning the book to print!