There are several categories of books I seldom turn to. These include War Histories, Travel Books, and Romance Novels. Doris Baker's, "The Originals" is all three. So why did I read this book and why do I rate it so highly? A friend recommended it to me and said I wouldn't be dissapointed, and she was right. It fits the categories mentioned above, but it is a lot more. I learned so much about the period just before and during the Vietnam War, and about the behind the scenes work of the remarkable men of the Special Forces at that time. I traveled wide-eyed with the characters of the novel through much of Europe and Southeastern Asia, and I fell in love with Kate, the teacher in the American School in Bad Toelz, who is the glue of the story. So much for categories. The only category that really counts is that this is a fine book.

The ORIGINALS -- It tops my list!!!!!
I simply could not put the book down until I read it from cover to cover! If you remember the song, 'The Ballad of the Green Beret' ' If your vocabulary includes '10th Special Forces Group Airborne' ' If Bad Toelz is part of your past in any way, shape or form ' If you consider yourself to be one of the DoDDS old-timers ' If you ever heard 'Carmina Burana' ' If Munich really is your center-of-the-earth ' If you enjoy literary fiction with a 'too real' twist ' ' this book is for you! Doris Baker's insight about the lives of the first soldiers of the elite 10th Special Forces Group Airborne (Green Berets) is too real for literary fiction. Does she know more than she is telling? Doris C. Baker was the principal of Bad Toelz American School which supported the dependents of Special Forces in Bad Toelz, Germany. Her extended personal and professional contact with the 10th Group provided the rich context for this incredible book. She has a smooth writing style that is peppered with the words that make Bad Toelz and the area the special place that it is. Her two main characters, Kate and Ivan, have a unique authenticity. This is a gem of a book!!!

There's something about a black and white photograph that has a timeless, ethereal quality. It's almost as if it's a vehicle to take you back into a better time, a grander time.

Such is the case with "Our Finest Hour", a collection of black and white photographs from the pages of Life Magazine. All the photos were taken during what was likely America's grandest, most noble, time of all, World War Two.

Some of the master photographers are represented in this book, including Alfred Eisenstaedt and W. Eugene Smith. The images are extraordinary. Examples include a photo by Eisenstaedt of a sailor on furlough, chatting with two grizzled elderly men - all three sitting on a cannon in a city park; and classic pictures of the hell of combat on the barren, smoldering landscape of Iwo Jima taken by W. Eugene Smith.

The quality is no surprise. If it's from Life Magazine, you expect the best, and the tradition continues. The book is well organized with helpful text and narrative, beginning with Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and ending with soldiers coming home to their families, friends, lovers and a grateful country in 1945. The reproduction of the photos is superb.

"Our Finest Hour" represents photojournalism at its finest. It's art. It's history. It's fabulous.

Over 300 photos, illustrations and letters from the archives of LIFE Magazine, holder of the largest collection of WWII photos in the U.S. Many rarely seen. This collection was carefully chosen by the editors of LIFE. You see the faces and hear the voices of those who fought in the war and of their loved ones who sustained extraordinary efforts on the home front. It's a photographic essay of the greatest generation, shot by some of the best photojournalists of the time.

Forward by Bob Greene

Peace is Everybody's Business focuses on the peace making efforts of Elizabeth Baker and her husband, peace advocates and educators who proved pioneers in the field in the last part of the 20th century. Readers receive both an excellent biography of Baker and a focus on the establishment of peace studies in higher education. The latter is especially important as few books have examined this process.

THIS IS MY FINAL REVISED VERSION OF THIE REVIEW. SORRY FOR THE PREVIOUS ATTEMPT. jack troy wrote: Elizabeth Evans Baker's Quest for Peace Reviewer: jack troy from Huntingdon, PA USA

Elizabeth Evans Baker (1902-1990) led a full life as First Lady at Ohio University, founder of the Monomoy Theatre on Cape Cod, as an actress, mother, patron of the arts, and poet, but her inner tuning-fork vibrated for the cause of peace. She struggled with an ancient human dilemma - how to discover and use moral imagination as an alternative to violence in resolving conflicts. Because she and her husband were in a position to put their ideals into action, they were instrumental in funding peace studies programs at a number of colleges, but Elizabeth was the driving force, as Marta Daniels documents in her well-organized, and clearly-written book. Elizabeth Baker was in a position to do something about the sad fact that America has a War College, but no Peace College. Her response was not only personal (as Daniels shows, through excerpts from EEB's diaries), but far-reaching, since she helped fund and organize peace-studies programs devoted to what has become known as "irenology" - the systematic, interdisciplinary study of the causes of war and the conditions of peace. Her dedication helped establish and enlarge an awareness that has materialized so that nearly 200 U. S. colleges now offer courses and undergraduate degree-granting and certificate-granting Peace Studies programs. As I read this book I was struck by the degree to which Mrs. Baker's idealism found pragmatic expression with enduring effects, as authenticated by her persistence for 20 years to make possible Maya Lin's Peace Chapel at Juniata College in central Pennsylvania. Visiting the site helps me realize what this book documents: that art and peace can be as linked in locale as they were in the mind and spirit of Elizabeth Evans Baker.

"The Pig War" was written as part of the "I Can Read" series of books for beginning readers. It tells about an event in 1859, when San Juan Island, in what is now Washington State, was claimed by both British trappers and American owners. Tensions were rising, when a British pig was shot in an American garden. The real potential for war existed following this incident. Eventually this was peacefully resolved, resulting in the establishment of the border between what is now America and Canada in that region.

Betty Baker does an excellent job of making this ultimately humorous event readable for young readers. This little book experienced a revival of interest during the Washington State Centennial in 1989. In my opinion, it's still a must-read for students in Washington.

The one drawback to this book is that the illustrations depict the local natives as Plains Indians, and not as Coast Salish. This is a minor distraction, since the story centers on the struggles between the white settlers.

History is rarely an engrossing subject for young readers, but Baker has managed to engage them with a humorous and simple text. This story of the Pig War on the San Juan islands is a must-read for any children from Washington State.

Sam Turner was out and down on his luck. He recently divorced his second wife and is now trying to put his life back in order. He joins a men's group and lies to the group telling them that he is a private investigator. Shortly thereafter he is hired as one and someone from the group asks him to track his wife whom he suspects of cheating. Seems easy enough until Turner's client is found dead. Sam knows it could not have been the wife since he has been tracking her all day. It is not until he investigates the case a bit further and finds out that his client was a victim of a serial killer.

This book appears to be the beginning of a new series. The main character is trying to get back on his feet and he is helping everyone he can. He turns from a nobody into a somebody in a short time. He now runs a detective agency with the help of acquaintances he has made along the way. They help him as well as each other. Most of the supporting characters are looking for a meaning to their lives and Sam helps to provide it. POET IN THE GUTTER is an excellent start for a promising new author.

Sam Turner is adrift emotionally and financially when he tells his new men's group in York that he's a private investigator. Soon one of the members makes Sam's fantasy into reality when he hires Sam to follow his perhaps errant wife. When murder is part of the case Sam finds himself exchanging information with the York police. Gaining a bit of fame after a televised interview, Sam is inundated with work offers and must hire some assistants. Celia, a retired Quaker teacher becomes his motherly and intelligent office manager. Sam hires his pool shooting friend Gus, who also happens to be a whizz with electronics, to help. Little by little Sam befriends a homeless teen named Geordie and adds him to the team. Characterization is the strongest element of this book, although the mystery is good, too. The characters spring to life from the very first and keep the reader intrigued. This is the first book in a series of four, and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves good crime fiction.

As a parent in today's fast paced world, we are often in a big hurry.Rushing around to get the kids off to school or to daycare so we can get to work or do damage control on the house from the previous evening's madness.Sometimes the kids suffer, we feel guilty, so we go out and do something or buy something to make us feel better about not spending enough time with our kids. Well, that's what happened to us. My 6 year old came home from school after seeing a live performance by Mr. Peoples that the P.T.A. sponsered. Needless to say, she had a flyer that talked about Mr.Peoples and the book, Poetry with a Porpoise. Oh, instuctions on how to purchase the book were also included. Imagine that! Catching me at one of those guilty moments, it didn't take much for my daughter to get me to pull out my wallet. As it turns out, buying this book and C.D. has been a true source of enjoyment not just for my daughter, but for the whole family. We were all quacking and waddling around the living room feeling kind of "SILLY", but having a blast laughing at each other. This book is fun, it's educational, it teaches the kids in many ways. My daughter has colored in most of the pictures, which has improved those skills and my wife did a few too! I think it improved her skills as well! At any rate,The next time your feeling a little guilty, for less than a trip to McDonald's for Happy Meals, BUY THIS BOOK and C.D.. The whole family will benefit.Thank You Rick and Susan!

Thanks to Rick & Sue Peoples for a marvelously entertaining book! My 2 boys (5 & 7) love hearing the poems. The 7 year old is learning to read & spends hours reading "Poetry With a Porpoise". The poems make them think & make them laugh. The tape of songs & readings is a constant companion in the family van. My only warning - DON'T play your kids "The Silly" song just before they go to bed! You will hear laughing, clapping, barking, quacking & other assorted noises coming from their room for quite a while!

This book is all the more shocking when you realize that RIGHT NOW the taxpayer, thanks to credulous politicians like Senator Tom Harkin and Congressman Dan Burton and others, is being made to pay for "medical care" that is every bit as crazy as the things in this book. Someday someone will write a book like this but it will be about *present-day* nonsense, including a National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (the only center in the NIH oriented around the needs of practitioners - CAM practitioners in this case - as opposed to the needs of patients) that pays for psychic power therapy, a White House Commission on CAM headed by a former devotee of the Bhagwan guru whose group launched a biological attack in Oregon, and on and on ...

We have had a boom in interest in "alternative health care" recently, but that interest has been with us ever since there has been a medical establishment to which there could be "alternatives." In the American Midwest in the 1930s three alternative healers began a rise to financial, social, and political power. _Quacks & Crusaders: The Fabulous Careers of John Brinkley, Norman Baker, and Harry Hoxsey_ (University Press of Kansas) by Eric S. Juhnke documents the rise and fall of all three medical conmen, and gives a lesson in the dangers of credulousness.

John Brinkley was a licensed doctor, having graduated from a diploma mill. He latched on to the "gland transplant" experiments done on animals, and believed that transplanting animal glands into humans was a key for rejuvenation. "A man is as old as his glands, and his glands are as old as his sex glands," he proclaimed. Male goats were the randiest animals, so they were the tissue donors, but they turned out to be just the thing to boost female fertility and development of the bust, too. He compared himself to Jesus, gave sermons, and demonized the American Medical Association. Norman Baker specialized in cancer cures. He worked as a machinist and in vaudeville before settling down in Muscatine, Iowa. He persuaded city officials to let him start a radio station that would present honest-to-goodness down home programs as opposed to the high-brow fare coming from the cities. Baker called Morris Fishbein, the head of the AMA, the "Jewish dominator of the medical trust of America," and insisted that his clinic was a bastion for personal freedom and against the evils of urban industrialism. Harry Hoxsey proved to have the most staying power. He specialized in herbal cancer cures as well. Not a physician, he was able to enroll renegade physicians into his service, and he was bankrolled by an evangelist minister. In Dallas, he enjoyed poker, nightclubs, and womanizing, and his diatribes against interference by the AMA and the government won him friends from the political right wing.

Juhnke's tales of these colorful characters are great fun to read, even though the rascals bilked many of their patients of money and sometimes their lives. The eventual success of the AMA against them is not a pure victory; the shortcomings of the AMA at the time are examined here, too. Few people remember these quacks now. The towns that boosted them because they brought in business now view them as an embarrassing part of their histories. It is important that Juhnke has brought them again to our attention. We may no longer have such manifestations as goat gland transplants, but anyone who watches television knows that herbal cures, homeopathy, and healing magnets are still taking money from the gullible. There is still a large group of potential patients who view organized medicine (and governmental regulation of medical treatment) as some sort of conspiracy, and of course there are plenty of faith healers who are glad to have their flocks doubting the efficacy of regular medical treatment. People are finding it harder to pay for physicians, and drug costs are up. Brinkley, Baker, and Hoxsey may have eventually lost their power and their millions, but Juhnke's useful study reminds us that there are always healers ready to take their place.

What a wonderful book to read to a child before bedtime! It reminded me of laying in the grass looking up at the stars and dreaming about things afar. The Cree legend elopes with the pursuit of your dreams, as rabbit and crane take you there.

Retells Cree legend of how Rabbit wanted to see the earth from the moon and finally gets Crane to fly him there. Crane's legs are stretched and his head is bloodied from Rabbit's hands.

I chat online and when I see a photo of a person I've only known a few minutes, I use this book to read their personality. So many have accused me of being psychic, wondering how I knew so much about them. This book proves that people's faces are true reflection of their personality not only of that snapshot moment but at that time of their life. It proves the old wive's tales are true: weak chins mean a weak personality, generous lips, generous person, etc. Even looking at my own photos as a child and through the years, I see how my lips changed, my cheeks, my nose even. That's why some people look completely different years later because their personality changed.

I first learned of this book in an early 1990's issue of Omni magazine. After buying and reading the book, I spoke to Dr. Bellak, who had some fascinating stories to relate on his experience in this area.

At times, I think the book makes some leaps that may not be quite scientifically supported, especially in assigning certain character attributes based on facial features. Notwithstanding, the book is thought provoking and interesting reading.

Recently, my company developed a technology and website called Symmeter that uses a somewhat similar approach, and references this interesting and informative book and it's authors.

If you are interested in psychology and symmetry, this is a must have book.

This book now has a permanent place on my desk as an important reference book. Too bad it wasn't around when I wrote MMMMiami--Tempting Tropical Tastes for Home Cooks Everywhere. The book ranges from sophisticated information for the professional writer to general information for the novice. The book is arranged by categories such as recipe writing style and basic metrics. The authors take your hand and guide you through the difficult task of writing clear, interesting, and consistent recipes.

Barbara Gibbs Ostmann is the expert on cookbook writing. I recommend reading this book before you start writing your recipes. I already had everything typed in one file on my computer when I first found her book. I simply used my search tools in Word to locate all the items she discussed and believe me I had made quite a few common mistakes. The book itself was extremely useful...I was however more impressed that when I wrote to Barbara - she actually wrote back and gave me some of the best advice I have ever recieved. After using almost every principle taught in this book, I can truly say that I have produced a cookbook I am proud of and will enjoy using for a lifetime. So, whether you grew up overseas like I did and didn't realize powdered sugar was actually called confectioners' sugar, or you are writng recipes that contain foreign words, this is also the book for you. The chapter which gave information on leading food authorities gave me a greater insight into what I needed to give my readership. If this is the perfect guide - I hope I have produced the perfect cookbook. Thank you Barbara for taking the time to help cookbook writers everywhere. Now I am taking the next step - finding a publisher and creating a website.