the book is almost of the same caliber Rommel was. Do not waste your time.Entertaining, exciting, it flows so fast. Buy this book now and have an wonderful time!

Charles Marshall has done an excellent job in preparing a literary work that is, in my studied opinion, a complete overview of Rommel...as a man and military genius. Marshall's detailed account of Rommel's life is reinforced by information received during interviews with Rommel's widow as well as the letters Rommel sent her during the African campaigns. Further, Marshall, as a former Army Intelligence Officer during WWII, relies heavily on his own detailed diary enteries of interviews with German/Nazi officals in captivity prior to the end of the war. Marshall's work details Rommel's life from pre WWI through his untimely death, forced by Adolf Hitler, before the end of WWII. If there is only one true account of Rommel's life, "Discovering the Rommel Murder" is it.

I read this book a couple of times long many moons ago but still must concur with those who say it's a great book. The author, John Greenway, enflamed the passions of students at his university and he claimed he was, by their lights, the campus reactionary. Alack! The students did not know that in a review of one of his early books, American Folksongs of Protest, he was described by the Soviet Appartchik reviewer as "America's most progressive folklorist." Gotta love the dichotomy! Greenway was also chummy with Woody Guthrie, Aunt Molly Jackson and a folksinger in his own right. In fine, Dylan himself even pilfered one of his songs.

The author, John Greenway, was my professor. This book is without doubt his masterpiece, his magnum opus. It takes the reader on a profound journey into the heart of Australia, explaining and teaching about Culture itself, the great driving engine of all human social organization. His chapter on religion is succinct and potent, and perceptive students will be indelibly changed by its insights. Dr. Greenway spent 15 years in the desert among the aborigines. His amusing tales of the characters he met and studied are almost mythic as described, a testimony to Greenway's powerful literary style (he was a student of Anglo-Saxon literature and folksongs, and studied under the great MacEdward Leach at the University of Pennsylvania). His storytelling ability is his strongest asset. But more important, the reader will be lifted above his own culture to see why people act as they do. I predict that this book will be republished some day and become a recognized text in cultural anthropology. Dr. Greeenway was a pioneer, and far ahead of his time.

In December of 1917, Mabel Dodge Sterne and her husband, artist Maurice Sterne, made their way up to Taos in an unforgettable journey up the rural road. Mabel immediately connected spiritually and emotionally with Taos and was drawn to find a place to stay. "Edge of Taos Desert" is the story of her personal transformation during her first year in Taos. In many ways, this book is an insightful commentary on Santa Fe and Taos in 1918. Mabel's description of the physical and cultural environment is vivid. She describes the Mexicans bringing in wood by burro to sell as well the first time she saw an Indian. Careful readers will discern the conflicts and prejudices between the Pueblo people, the Mexicans, and the more newly arrived Anglos. She provides many priceless early observations of the region that may best be understood by readers who have some knowledge of New Mexico history and culture. However, understanding Mabel's history may provide more information about the significance of this book.

Mabel Dodge Luhan grew up in a wealthy family that left her emotionally bankrupt. She spent years of her adult life looking for the fulfillment of her emptiness. She was a renaissance woman in Italy, and then a salon hostess in New York, hosting conversations with some of the brightest minds of her time. She was a radical modernist looking for a solution to the American ills brought on by the Industrial Revolution. "Edge of Taos Desert" is the most important autobiographical chapter in her life because, in the Pueblo people, she believed that she had found a solution to both her emotional emptiness and America's discontentment. Her role in the future became to draw artists to Taos to write about and paint the people, the place, and the culture in order that it might be saved and that, we, as Americans might also save ourselves with what we'd learned.

She had a messianic vision of utopia with the Victorian belief that a woman's role was to support others. She found her own voice, though, in writing her autobiographies and several other books. "Edge of Taos Desert" is a beautifully written literary piece. She journeys through with strong social and cultural observations and a bold confidence and irreverence that allows her to see what a white woman of her time would not have been allowed to see. By August of 1918, her third husband (Sterne) has returned to New York, and she enters the door of being one of the most infamous Taoseno's in that town's history with a poignant and personal tale to tell.

This book is a rare jem. The writing is of unparralled beauty and perception. Mabel Dodge Lujan describes her arrival in Taos, New Mexico in l9l7. Lujan has come from New York city where she was a wealthy socialite involved in various art and political/psychological cicles (She was the former lover of John Reed who was portrayed by Warren Beatty in the movie Reds). She has come to Taos to reunite with her husband, the artist Maurice Stearn. However, almost imediately she finds that the town of Taos, and especially the Indians of the neighboring pueblo, are awakening the depths of her in a sublime and inevitable way. She describes how this process of conversion from a relatively shallow person (though an earnest seeker of truth), to one who begins to understand and feel the life beyond herself is catalyzed by the Indian Tony Lujan, whom she later marries. The story is really a spiritual one, but never described as such. Rather one only feels the utter humility of this women in the face of a way of life that increasingly draws her to it while also drawing her to the depth of herself. Her descriptions of the Indian life of the pueblo must be some of the finest ever crafted about native Americans.

David Owens has written a real winner with this book! He tells us which plants will survive in our harsh desert environment and how to plant and take care of them. The book is easy to follow and I'm having good luck with all the trees and vegetables I have planted using his guidelines.

If you thought that gardening was not an option since you moved to the desert you need this book to show you the way!

I live in Phoenix and have the opportunity of catching Dave Owens tips for gardening on Channel 3 on a weekly basis. Dave has so many tips for gardening that the only way to harness his knowledge is to purchase this book. I have come to find that these tips work not only for those of us living in the desert, but I pass them along to my Mother in Wyoming, and she has as much success as I do with them. Dave is an extremely knowledgable gardner and his book reflects that, the layout was very thought out and takes you step by step from the "what do I need", to "now I've got what I need, what do I do" stages. Bravo, Dave!

As a native of Utah and a student of the geology and natural history of the Colorado Plateau, this is without a doubt the best available summary of the fascinating heritage of the Four Corners region. I've read the paperback edition from front to back twice and parts of it three times. I recently managed to find a copy in hard back in excellent condition that I've added to my collection of keepers, and I'll read it again before I make my next trip to southern Utah. It astonishes me that I have yet to find this book at any of the national park bookstores. This book is very highly recommended for anyone with an interest in or planning to visit the most remarkable region of the continental United States. It's a great introduction to so many facets of this awesome area! In my opinion, it communicates the flavor of the country as well as John Wesley Powell's classic documentary of the first formal exploration of the Colorado River. Don't miss this one.

Michael Shea, MD

This book deserves a less prosaic name. With an engaging writing style, Kenneth Brown provides a knowledgeable and highly readable introduction to the natural and human history of the Colorado Plateau, including the geology, forests and biological life zones, and the Anasazi, Pueblo, Navajo, Spanish, Mormon, and recent Anglo influences. I'd highly recommend Four Corners to anyone with an interest in this fascinating region.

"Great God Pan - Salt Desert Tales" sandblasts off layers of smog and grime that have been clotting up the West for the past hundred years. This is a history that has been abandoned or neglected, and when one delves into these tales a clear appreciation of this idiosyncratic region takes hold. These stories are not mere anecdotal tales, but stories with unlikely heroes, impossible eccentrics, and visionary madmen. The best part is that all of this is true. The writers of this book have gone to considerable lengths to find histories of the West that step outside of the traditional homage to the individualist, Western Expansionist prototype.

Salt Desert Tales is a bang-up collection of white hot adventure tales, history and culture. This time the Pan-Men have chosen the dusty burgs of Mormon Country to do their research, and friend the result is truiumphant! I read it cover to cover in one sitting. They capture the feel of the Western USA from the perspective of Western Americans. Reading the story about Nevada made me think of growing up in Yakima, Washington where high schools gyms are just as likely to have a quincinera happening, as they are a basketball game.

Now that Bob Ludlum's passed on you'll never have to look further than the Bluhm/Sundeen braintrust for highest quality, page-turnin' wild times.

Other recommendations include: Car Camping, all the back issues of Great God Pan, Cometbus, the WPA State books.. and any music by Oxes and Lightning Bolt you can find.

This is a collection of about 20 or so essay-format descriptions by different authors of great raids, including Drake's Cadiz expedition, John Paul Jones' hijinks off the British coast, the U-Boat raid into Scapa Flow, the botched invasions of Dieppe (1942) and Tehran (1980) and Israeli commando attacks on Egypt in the early 1970s. Inevitably, different authors, while adding immense color and depth to the stories, do tend to break the continuity, so this is a book best read in 30 page slabs. The descriptions of Wingate's first Chindit raid in Burma and Stephen Tanner's revealing account of the German commando raids and other intrigues which kept Hungary in the Axis camp are the standouts. Overall, an excellent compilation of military history and an excellent piece of collective writing.

(The numerical rating above is a default setting within Amazon's format. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.)

Daring actions by small units have always excited the imagination, not least because they affirm that individual initiative and courage count for something in the impersonal forces of war.

Here is a fine collection of accounts of some of those raids, from Elizabethan times to the present, beautifully written and (generally) well researched. Stephen Tanner's essays on Custer and Skorzeny particularly stand out as lively, reliable history writing. Less praiseworthy are the efforts of the conspiracy theorist who always seems to find American perfidy in every Allied reverse. With photos, bibliography, and an excellent index.

Buy it here or anywhere books are sold....

This is probably my favorite book of modern fiction. I love it! I read it and laugh and think and fall away to another time and another culture. The lead character of Mojamaje and his friends and family have stayed with me for years - a happy haunting because I fell in love with them. I take heart from the way these characters deal with a confusing, cruel world, and - as unlikely as it sounds, I let their philosphy and humor help me keep my sense of humor in the melange of confusion that is modern America. Set on the ever changing edge of the Kalahari desert, a small community withstands corrupt politicians, repeated invasions by both black and white oppressors, factionalism within the community, and the onslaught of the 20th century with a wry, sophisticated humor. Read it as a treat for yourself. Give it to someone you love -- if you are lucky enough to find it! What happened to Duggan? I haven't heard from him since the 80's?

This is a very beneficial book for any Southwest gardener (sepecially those of us in New Mexico). So many Xeric books focus on either the low desert zone in Arizona or the High Plains in Coplorado - they are of little help to those of us in the Chihuahuan Desert. This book covers all of the zones completely and accurately.

Growing Desert Plants is a life saver (it also saved me a lot of money by helping me identify those plants to avoid for New Mexico).

This is a MUST for anyone serious about Xeric landscapes!

"When I have questions about desert gardening, especially in the high desert, I oftern reach for my copy of Growing Desert Plants-From Windowsill to Garden" SUNSE

A seminal work of Thomas' experience living with the Kalahari !Kung hunter-gatherers in the 1950s. This is an intimate, personal account of her experience plus a colorful look at quite possibly how all of our ancestors once lived, including how this culture has, since the '50s, basically been destroyed by civilization. A valuable lesson in 303 pages.

This is a simple account, yet honest and very entertaining. It describes a people almost totally uninfluenced by the advancements and vices of the outside world. The stories held my attention without fail. While classified as anthropology, it is not written in a scientific manner and is approachable for anyone looking to experience a wholly foreign culture.
The last chapter, which describes the people after thirty years, is discouraging, but gives some insight into our own ways of life. This is probably the best non-fiction "story" I have ever read.