Burroughs's book is a wonderful tale of exploration into the dense, winding, wonderful Waccamaw River in SC, and into the mostly forgotten past of his native Horry County. His marvelous sense of detail, poetic sensibility, and grand sympathies with all things natural and human make this a memoroble book indeed. I know Prof. Burroughs might hoot at the comparison, but I enjoyed this book as much as anything I've read in Thoreau.

A human life, I think, should be well rooted in some spot of native land, where it may get the love of tender kinship for the face of the earth, for the labors men go forth to, for the sounds and accents that haunt it, for whatever will give that early home a familiar, unmistakable difference amidst the future widening of knowledge: a spot where the definiteness of early memories may be inwrought with affection, and kindly acquaintance with all neighbors, even to dogs and donkeys, may spread not by sentimental effort and reflection, but as a sweet habit of the blood. -George Eliot (Daniel Deronda)

This sentiment and the chance discovery of Nathaniel Holmes Bishop's The Voyage of the Paper Canoe (1878), detailing a canoe trip down the East Coast which included a side trip on the Waccamaw River, were the twin impulses that lead Burroughs to return to his native Horry County, SC and make his own trip down the Waccamaw. Burroughs, a professor at Bowdoin, published a terrific collection of essays Billy Watson's Croker Sack in 1991 (it even made Mr. Doggett's Suggested Summer Reading List for Students) and this book is every bit as good.

Whether he's detailing the history of the county, the river and his own family or relating his encounters with the river's unique residents or describing the wildlife he encounters, Burroughs has a sharp eye, a sympathetic ear and a silver tongue. Here is his description of one bird he meets:

Yesterday a red-shouldered hawk had called the day to order, and got its business underway. Today it was a pileated woodpecker: a staccato drum-burst against a hollow tree, then the bird itself. It flew across in front of me, with its peculiar alternation of flap, swoop, and collapse, and its last swoop fetched it up against the trunk of a cypress. It clung there a moment, cocked and primed, a perfectly congruous mixture of Woody Woodpecker, frock-coated nineteenth-century deacon and pterodactyl. Then it gave the tree an abrupt, jackhammer strafing, rolled out its lordly call, and swooped away, leaving the day to its own devices.

If you've ever seen one, you know that a pileated woodpecker has never been described better and if you haven't you must almost feel that now you have.

This is a wonderful bucolic look at the history and nature of the Waccamaw, which will leave you wishing that you too had such a place coursing through your blood.

GRADE: A

I also have an original copy of this book. I am unsure of the exact publication date but this is a portion of the front inside page: "Eastern District of Pennslyvania, to wit; Be it remembered, that on the twenty-fifth day of September in the forty-ninth year of dependance of the United States of America, A.D. 1824, H.C. Carey and I. Lea, of the said district, have depositied in this office the title of the book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit; The Life of Gen. Francis Marion" I would also like to know the value of this book. The book condition is fair to poor.

I would like info on it's valu

Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury

I am grateful to Stephen King for having brought this novel to notice in his horror fiction chronicle-critique 'Danse Macabre' (which I will recommend to anybody who is even remotely interested in horror/fantasy media).
The main protagonists of this supernatural adventure are the sunny Will Halloway and his companion and counterpart, the wild Jim Nightshade. The plot centers on how their lives are turned upside-down with the arrival of that very unusual sideshow carnival, Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show (God, this has such a Heavy Metal feel to it).
If it were to be judged by its start-up this would undoubtedly be one of the best books ever. Bradbury in his element comes up with the literary equivalent of a Rick Wakeman solo. The words fly fast and furious, magically arranging themselves into such dizzyingly ornate and mellifluous phrases, sentences, paragraphs that almost threaten to drown the reader in their exuberance and beauty. This major portion of this book contains some of Bradbury's finest literary moments and as anyone who has read his work will till you, that is an achievement of no mean order. Characters like the Dust Witch and Mr. Dark aka The Illustrated Man are described in such vivid and astonishing detail as to strongly etch themselves onto readers' minds. You do not merely read, you see, hear, smell, taste, feel whatever the pen of Bradbury commands you to. This book bristles with parts that I will be happily re-reading for many months on.
Wherein lies the catch? The plot after one of the best build-ups ever constructed grows somewhat loose with several potentially interesting supporting characters (Mr. Electrico, the Dwarf) given marginal footage. Although lavish description is used to paint what Stephen King describes as the 'Apollonian-Dionysian' divide between Will and Jim, once the action heats up, this is pretty much left by the wayside, the boys rendered almost interchangeable in their personalities. The story, after a point moves IMO almost into the realms of the straight-ahead thriller format, although Bradbury's writing alleviates a lot of the conventionality and it is perhaps only the cynical bastard in me that finds it difficult to swallow the 'Love Conquers All' driven denouement.

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury, is a very exciting book that uses a lot of symbolism. It is about evil that comes to a little town in Illinois. It may be difficult to read for some people, but once you understand the symbols and the plot, the book is excellent. In this book, evil comes in many different ways shapes and forms. If you are not satisfied with your life, evil will temp you with your most deepest desires, but if you are not strong willed, you will be taken over by evil and lose something very important to you. I would encourage anyone to read this book if you are looking for a good book to read. Evil comes in town in the form of a carnival and everyone associated to the carnival is evil. All the "freaks" in the carnival are people that weren't satisfied with their lives and gave in to the evil temptation. The prince of evil, whose name is Mr. Dark, controls all the freaks and everyone else in the carnival. The main characters in the book are Jim Nightshade, Will Halloway, and Charles Halloway. These characters are the main people that evil is after throughout the book. Charles Halloway is Will's father and Jim Nightshade is Will's best friend. On a scale of one to ten, I would rate this book as an eight. I would strongly encourage anyone who likes to read to pick up this book sometime.

Great.

Something Wicked This Way Comes is a little gothic masterpiece by Ray Bradbury. The story concerns Will Holloway, his best friend Jim Nightshade, and his father Charles Holloway. One October a carnival comes to town. The carnival is run by a group of freaks who are intent on evil. The entire town, and particularly the two boys, and put in terrible danger. That all leads to a tremendous climax as Will, Jim, and Charles have to try to learn the true nature of good and evil to save themselves and the town.

I can't believe that some people have written that this book is dated. I don't think that anyone will be saying that after the events of September 11. As long as fathers and sons still love one another and as long as there is evil to strive againgst, this novel will still be extremely valid. Something Wicked This Way Comes is fairly symbolic, and comments greatly on the nature of good and of evil. The story is fascinating and enlightening. Absolutely any reader can read this wonderful novel, be moved by it, and come away with a better understanding of human nature. I don't think that Ray Bradbury gets the credit he deserves, but any read of one of his novels will prove to the reader that he is a GREAT novelist.

Poor, good and brave General Francis Marion. A true american hero. What a hack job this book is. This book is actually about General Peter Horry, who served with Marion during our American Revolution and uses poor Marion as a backdrop to blow his (Horry's) egotistic horn. Some may accept the author Weems, use of flowery language as "the style of the times," but it is no more than silly platitudes towards Marion, that quickly become offensive as one realizes the real purpose was/is to build up Horry through association with the great Marion. Horry just isn't up to the compairson. This is not a book worthy of it's proported subject.

THIS BOOK IS ONE ONE THAT MAKES THE SWAMP FOX GLOW. ITS PREFACE ALLOWS THE READER TO SEE THAT IT WAS WRITTEN BY REV. WEEMS WHO HAS A VERY ROMANTIC VIEW OF THIS FINE REVOLUTIONARY OFFICER. IN THIS BOOK THE GENERAL CAN DO NO WRONG AND IS BASICALLY FLAWLESS. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE AUTHOR STARTED THE MYTHS ABOUT WASHINGTON NEVER BEING ABLE TO TELL A LIE AND CHOPPING DOWN THE CHERRY TREE. OVERALL, IT IS A FEEL GOOD BOOK THAT MAKES ONE ROOT FOR THE CONTINENTALS. THE ONLY NEGATIVE IS THAT THE BOOKS SCOPE IS TOO BROAD, AND DRIFTS FROM THE SWAMP FOX TO OTHER PLAYERS IN THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE

Written in 1824, the poetic descriptions are seldom found in todays authors. Captures the spirit of the times and causes one to cheer the heroics of the brave American soldiers. The citizens of the USA today owe such a debt to those who fought for our freedom, yet, we hardly hear a word about these times. Should be required reading in schools and universities.