This is the best book on English grammar I have ever used. I purchased the fourth edition in 1991 while a freshman in college. I bought the fifth edition several years later while in graduate school and it is even better! This edition has been on my desk in every job I've ever held and has been an invaluable resource on a daily basis. I recommend this handbook to everyone who writes for school or for work. It's easy to use and easy to read.

--In memory of Father John Rechtein of St Mary's University, San Anotnio, TX-- the world's most amazing professor of English who had every rule of this handbook memorized by number and letter. We should all be so lucky to have a man so dedicated to the craft of our language and to a single book!

Book was in excellent condition and arrived quickly!

This book has been with me now for three years. During those three years it has saved me hours of corrections and prehaps a few bad grades. This book is easy to follow, easy to use, and a real bargain for the price. I have used many different books in the past and have not found one that has been as useful as Hacker's Handbook for Writers. It is a clear and concise guide to MLA documentaion and writing. This is the only book when it comes to a writing. Great for all students and all ages. My only regret with this book was that I did not find it sooner!

As a young woman is cleaning a church, the pastor's widow arrives for a last look around. They find a jar filled with little trinkets from previous church members. The widow explained the jar was "a story jar" and that each item had a special story behind it. Thus three stories emerge about some of the items.

*** A special book just in time for Mother's Day! In between each novella are poems and short true tales from various other people. Many of them are author names I recognize. However, several are not. I saw some poems from children about their mothers. It was so special and gave me such a warm feeling. The stories are inspirational. I found myself near tears of sadness at times, joy at others, and a few times a feeling of awe and wonder that only another mother could understand. Fabulous! ***

This book isn't just for Mother's Day--if you are a mother, have a mother, or would like to BE a mother, this book is for you. The three authors have given us such different stories--they cover all aspects of motherhood, including the desperate wanting to be a mother an infertile woman feels. A lovely book that's as honest as anything I've read lately. There are no easy answers, but God is faithful. I highly recommend!

A collection of heartwarming stories that honors mothers of all ages can be found in "The Story Jar." Top inspirational writers Robin Lee Hatcher, Deborah Bedford and Angela Elwell Hunt team up to produce a continuity story about an ordinary jar that holds an extraordinary power to encourage and heal the heart. The story jar was placed on the alter of a small country church each Mother's Day, and the mothers of the church would each contribute some small memento that has meant something to them during the previous year. Those mementos are the basis for a tale that weaves through several generations of women, and how they drew strength and encouragement from the lessons learned. Also included in "The Story Jar" are tributes from some of the country's top inspirational writers to their mothers including Lori Copeland, Linda Windsor and Jerry Jenkins. This book will inspire women everywhere to rejoice in the gift of children, and after all, this is the reason behind Mother's Day! Now, go get your mom a present!

I have nearly every book written on Nathan Bedford Forrest. He was a complex man, a man that should stand out more amongst the 'peacocks'. Who, having had any knowledge about the War Between the States, does not know JEB Stuart? Forrest did not believe in plumbed hats, jackboots or riding around the Union army to prove a point to the Union troops and his Father-in-law. He believed war was fighting and fighting means killing, and his brilliant military tactics demonstrated this. I think by being raised on both sides of the pond, Forrest first fascinated me because I saw much the same 'force' in Forrest I admired in William Wallace. They were common men, men who were willing to give all in a cause they believed, men that were driven by fighting at 110% and never giving quarter. Many of Forrest's tactics of near guerrilla fighting came from Lighthorse Harry Lee's tactics against the British in the Revolutionary War (Robert E. Lee's daddy by the way!!), a character in himself and much in the vein of Mel Gibson's Patriot. The North despised Forrest - why?? Because he was SO EFFECTIVE. One wonders, what the outcome of the War Between the States would have been had Forrest commanded the Army of the Potomac instead of Lee. Grant and Sherman hated him - Grant giving him the label of 'that devil Forrest', while Sherman admired him - grudgingly - considering him "the most remarkable man our civil war produced on either side", and by Lee `the most extraordinary man the Civil War produced'. Historian Shelby Foote called him one of the two great geniuses of the period (Lincoln being the other). Sherman moaned in disgust that Forrest's men could travel 100 miles faster than his troops could 10. Forrest 'liberated' more guns, horses and supplies than any other single Confederate unit. He did not play at war. He rose from the rank of private to a Lieutenant General - the ONLY man to do that in the Confederate army, but he was just as a complex man before and after the war.

Perhaps, you will not come away liking Forrest, but you cannot doubt his sheer genius, his driven power and his ability to spur men to match his dedication and willingness to give all - just as Wallace did.

There are many books that give interesting views of Forrest, but I hold a special spot in my respect for this book, for unlike the others that were written with the distance of time and careful study, this was written by John Allan Wyeth - a surgeon who died in 1922. Wyeth served as a private in the Confederate army until his capture two weeks after Chickamauga. This was written by a man who lived through the war, not an arm chair historian. So his view is unique, more vivid than any other writer or biographer on Forrest. The text is base almost solely on accounts of military papers and records and the people who knew Forrest personally.

So if you have come searching for information on Nathan Bedford Forrest, you collection MUST have a copy of this work.

First published in 1899 as "The Life of General Nathan Bedford Forrest", this renamed and updated account is not only full of facts, but the presentation of them is made most readable.

Motivational interest in this subject for me lies in the fact that a Great grandfather was a member of the Kentucky Brigade under service with Gen. Forrest in several of his most famous battles, i.e.- Tishomingo Creek (Brice's Cross Roads). This book was the first I'd read concerning Gen. Forrest's life and career. Since then I've read and studied much concerning Gen. Forrest, even travelling to some of the battlegrounds associated with his military campaigns. I think that Allen Wyeth treated the subject of Gen. Forrest with the respect and dignity due such a great man, without white-washing the controverial portions of his nature and career. He brings Gen. Forrest to life with startling clarity in this original account, full of subject material gleaned from actual eyewitnesses and other people from all walks of life who were acquainted with him. Enough time had gone by when the book was first published to gain an even better perspective on the life & career of this most remarkable soldier and man.

Truly the very nature of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest is emboided in this book by highlighting his well known theory put into practice that: "The time to whip the enemy is when they are running."

If you happen to be looking for a great book on the South during the Civil War, be sure to read this book. I myself am not a Civil War buff, but I sincerely enjoyed reading this. It gave me insight into the life of a Southern general who I had previously known only as "the man Forrest Gump was named after." I had a rather large bone to pick with the producers of the movie after having read this book. He was a man of unmatched military genius, and a man of character. He was never a part of the Ku Klux Klan as he was portrayed in the movie, and they had no right to claim that as the sole accomplishment of his life. The book is an impressive piece of work, whether you are a history buff, or if you are just looking for a good read. Check this one out!

Wyeth's biography of Forrest stands as one of the best written about him. It is a 'must read' for any serious student of the civil war as it was fought in the west (Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Kentucky). While other biographies have been written (such as, "Bedford Forrest and His Critter Company", by Ansrew Nelson Lytle and "First with the Most Forrest" by Robert Selph Henry), they don't have the breadth that Wyeth's book has. Of course, the only biography actually reviewed and approved by General Forrest was Jordan and Pryor's "The Campaigns of Lieut. Gen. Forrest and of Forrest's Cavalry", but this work is flawed by a markedly biased position on the part of the authors and by their inability to access the Official Records. On the other hand, they did interview Forrest and most of his surviving authors and Wyeth drew much of his material from this work. Still, for the definitive story of Forrest's life, Wyeth's book is the acknowledged source.

THIS IS THE BEST BOOK I HAVE READ ON THE LIFE OF GENERAL NATHAN BEDFORD FORREST. IT IS WELL DOCUMENTED ON THE POINTS OF INTEREST THAT HAS CAUSED A BLIMISH ON THIS GREAT MAN'S LIFE. IT IS A MUST READ FOR ANYONE SEEKING THE TRUTH ABOUT GENERAL FORREST. IT CLEARLY SHOWS HE IS THE GREATEST CAVALRYMAN OF THE WAR. NO ONE ELSE COMES CLOSE TO HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND VICTORIES ON EITHER SIDE OF THE GREAT WAR.

This book gives exquisite detail into the life of the South's Greatest General! It is a must read for any Civil War enthusiast. I highly recomend this book for anyone interested in the South.

June 6, 1944 has been written about extensively by American authors almost from the moment it happened. The invasion to free western Europe has filled perhaps more pages than any other event in history. Beyond books, D-Day has been the subject of more movies than one can count. Among the most famous films about D-Day was The Longest Day and a generation later Saving Private Ryan. What else can be said about the invasion of Europe?

Somehow, the story of the young men from Beford, Virginia has been overlooked. When you read the book you'll ask the same question I did....Why didn't Stephen Spielberg make his movie about WWII using this story instead of the fictional story of Private Ryan. When you read the Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw you'll ask the same question.

Bedford, Virginia is a small blue ridge mountain town of 3000. Before WWII jobs were scarce. Most of the men of the town joined the national guard unit to augment their meager incomes. Most earned a dollar a day for the days they trained. When the war started their unit became part of the 116th Infantry, one of the most battered units in Europe. On D-Day twenty-one of Bedford's sons would die on the beaches of Normandy. No other town of any size would suffer such a devastating loss. Twenty-one sons, brothers, fathers, boyfriends all lost; lost as completely as anyone can be lost....erased with the sweep of an hour hand. It boggles the mind even today nearly 60 years later.

Alex Kershaw does a wonderful job of bringing these young men to life. These young soldiers aren't just characters on the stage of history. As you learn about them, wome in more detail than the others, they become real people. The book follows them from prewar Bedford, through training, and on the a blood stained beach in France. The book is brutal. The book is poetic. You won't soon forget it.

The Bedford Boys is well researched. While Kershaw's coverage of the landings is strong on details it is never the less accurate. He uses the narratives of the few survivors to great effect.

If your a student of history you'll most assuredly want to read this book. It is a landmark story.

Wow. As an avid reader of World War II history, this book stands out with the likes of "Band of Brothers" and "Flags of Our Fathers" as one of the greats. This book appealed to me on several levels. First and foremost, I'm a living historian with the 29th Infantry Division re-enactment group and therefore have special feelings for that particular units sacrifice on D-Day. Also, I used to go to college twenty miles from Bedford, so I could relate to things like climbing Sharp Top mountain and strolling through the town. Other than that, the story pretty much sells itself. It's hard not to fall in love with the Bedford boys with all of the anecdotes and intimate stories that Kershaw tells in the book. The writing is crisp and sucks you in to the point where you really feel like you're there, struggling with them. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I still gasped a few times. In short, if you're a World War II buff or just someone who appreciates the cost of freedom, you should definitely grab this book. It's well-written, factually correct, and tugs at the heart -- just the way a good history book should. 29th, Let's Go!

June 6, 1944. Many books have appeared about this famous date in history. However, none quite like this one. It details the town of Bedford Virginia and the lose of 22 of its young men in Normandy. No other town in America gave as much as Bedford.

The book starts in pre-war Bedford and follows the yong men from training through battle to coming home. Sadly, most never saw Bedford again. The research that went into the battle chapters is impressive. It is some of the best battle writing I have read.

Having grown up in a town like Bedford, I could understand the small town feeling the boys grew up in. I highly recommend this book. You will not soon forget it.

Plunkitt was a king in a world that needed benevolent despots. In a place like turn of the century of New York before Keynesian economics and the Welfare State, Tammany was the only relief the poor knew. Plunkitt reveals with refreshing honesty the seemingly rough and coarse manner with which one needed to play the game of politics in his town. However, one must look at it in context. This was a different time from our own, and the reader must imagine whether a person of Plunkitt's demeanor can last in the information age political world. Then again, the book also illustrates how many of the problems Tammany had still exist today.

I originally read this book in undergraduate school as Political Science major, and had to go back and find a copy because of the profound affect it had on my psyche. George Washington Plunkitt was a "stereotypical" politician. You know, the one who says what he needs to say to get elected; but once there does what's necessary for his party.

Comparing his comments to the actions of present day politicians, I don't think there are many differences. Everyone does a little grafting and civil servants are still "civil servants." Understood?

As with any politician, Plunkitt "seen (his) opportunities and (he) took 'em." This is a must for anyone interested in any realm of politics.

I first read this highly informative, often hilarious book for Intro to Political Science back in college. In this short tome are pearls of wisdom about politics and human nature still relevant 100 years later. Plunkitt, high atop his regular boot-black stand in NYC, declaims to his biographer, Riordan, a life spent in the political machine known as Tammany Hall, with such disarming honesty that is nearly non-existent today. Plunkitt's diatribes on "honest graft vs. dishonest graft," "Brooklynites Natural-Born Hayseeds," and the evils of civil service exams are outright hilarious. I highly recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in politics.

You will laugh, cry and be confused when you read this book. This book can teach you that what you think is good is not always good.

There is a boy named Peter Pan. He sprinkles fairy dust in Wendy and her two brothers. Then he shows them how to fly. He takes them to Neverland and shows them to the Lost Boys who live there. Wendy becomes their mother. She makes up rules, like any other mother would do. The boys have to follow these rules. Everything was fine until Captain Hook came with his crew to where the boys and Wendy were. While Wendy and the boys were at the lagoon, where they go every day after dinner, they see a girl named Tiger Lily, princess of her tribe. She was captured by Smee, one of Captain Hook's men. Then Peter saved her. A few days later Wendy and the boys were on their way to Wendy's house when they too were all captured by Captain Hook. Then Peter saves them. Then the lost boys, Wendy and her brothers go home. All except for Peter.

It is mostly about what the people in the book think is right with childhood. The kids in the book think that if you grow up it is bad, but in our case it is actually good.

Peter Pan is a violent book not really made for children under the age of 10 but people 10 and up can read it. It is violent because of the language that is spoken and the idea that killing could be fun. Also, the vocabulary is very difficult for children under 10 to understand. Even if you're older it is difficult to understand.

Overall, it is a good book but watch out for the violent ideas if you are reading it to little children.

When talking of literature, people tend to look solely at books they read today but forget what they used to read, namely the ones we read as children. It is a common misunderstanding that children's literature is to be read by children and children only, but when we come to think of it, which one of us are not children, at least in our hearts?

One of the best books any child, young or old, can read is Barrie's Peter Pan. Although written in the past century, it has something for any generation at any time. Its humorous views at the world from a child's mind left me rolling over the floor, laughing; the exciting storyline kept me busy with reading until the end; and the serious undertone made me think of whether the world wouldn't be a better place if we realised that deep down, however deep, we are in fact all children. So if YOU are a child, which you most certainly are, get yourself a copy and enjoy your ongoing childhood.

This is an utterly charming work. It has been retold myriad times, but nobody else has done it as well as the original teller, J. M. Barrie.

It's difficult to know what to say about a book like this... everybody knows the story. But I guess that unless you've read this book (not just seen a movie or read a retelling), you don't really know the character Peter Pan, and without knowing the character, you don't really know the story. So read it.

By the way, if you enjoy this, you probably would also like "Sentimental Tommy" and its sequel "Tommy and Grizel", both by Barrie. There are differences (for one thing they're not fantasy), but there are also compelling similarities. Anybody who found Peter Pan a deep and slightly bittersweet book would be sure to enjoy them.

-Stephen

What Mel Gibson's latest movie, Signs, tried to do but did not quite pull off. This book is thought-provoking and surprising, fast-paced, a fine read. It is one of the most realistic stories I've ever read to look at honest disappointment and honest faith. Is there really a God, or do you think everything around us is left to chance?

Bea Bartling has been praying for her son to come home and her prayers are not answered the way she thinks they should be. Instead, sometimes you find out that the one is charge of everything knows more about what we need then we do.

The characters are plausible and the dialogue is good. I will look for more books by this author.

Thank you, Deborah Bedford for writing a book that is wholesome and interesting. I am a stay at home mom, and even though I was interrupted regularly while reading this book, I was always eager to pick it up again and find out what was going to happen next. It kept my interest and was never hard to get back into once I had put it down. The story of the roses is fascinating. This is ultimately a book about a woman's faith in God and how her relationship with God was tested during a difficult time in her life. The book does a good job of tying everything together. I would highly recommend it!

My mother had been in the doldroms, or worse, for so long that she wasn't reading or doing crossword puzzles anymore. She is normally an avid reader. I bought this book because it was advertised in People magazine. I liked it so well, I bought another copy and gave it to her for Christmas. After reading this book, she is going to back to the library again. It's a great read and a beautiful story. Thank you to this author for sharing her very special talents with all of us. Yes, there is hope in the world even during difficult time and A Rose By The Door has a joyous way of pointing that out. Be prepared with a box of tissues because you WILL cry. But you'll be laughing almost the same time. This story is a slice of life at its best.

Both my mother and I would love to see another book with these same characters.

Cunning as the Devil was Nathan Bedford Forrest and this book indicates just how quick and clever this military genius was. Little wonder then that Lee considered this dark knight to be his finest soldier, above even the legendary Stonewall Jackson.

In terms of his impact on modern warfare, no general of the Civil War had more than Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest. Not Grant, not Lee, not Longstreet or Sherman. This is the man. No less a general than Erwin Rommel studied Forrest's tactics and implemented them with modern weaponry when his Afrika Korps marched all over Libya and Egypt in World War II.

The reason I say this book isn't for the "politically correct" is that it was written some 70 years ago, by a man of the old South who obviously idolized Forrest and everything he stood for. As you know already, not everything Forrest stood for was good. He was 100 years ahead of his time as a soldier, but stuck in 1860 in his personal beliefs.

But...getting into the book. He was a brilliant commander who never had enough men under his command to turn the war in the South's favor. Still, he was a hero to the people of the Tennessee river valley where he won most of his victories, with good reason. When the Union troops overran these areas and placed them under military rule, Forrest made sure they treated the citizens decently. Once he even saved a group of innocent men from a flaming death at the hands of vengeful Union soldiers whom he was defeating in battle. Reading these and other stories makes you understand why he was such a hero to the author, who would have heard first-hand accounts of Forrest's exploits.

Lytle believes that the South would have won the war if Forrest had been placed in command of the main Confederate army in the west, and he's probably right. Forrest was an extraordinary individual who had more impact on the 20th century than any other Civil War general.

I never fully appreciated the intellect of Forrest until I finished this book. It peels away the myths about the man, and tells about what he was really like. I loved it, and often flip around in it from time to time. A must for Civil War buffs!

As a farm kid and a veterinary student, I found this book to be extremely realistic and funny. I enjoyed his stories recalling veterinary school and farm calls. Dr. Lucas tells it how it is. It is a good eye opener for people interested in large animal veterinary medicine and the life one has because of it. If you come from a farm you will certainly enjoy this book.

James Lucas is a seasoned veterinarian playing his trade in southern Iowa for more than 36 years. He kept notes of his experiences with the people and animals he encountered throughout his career. In Birth In A Chicken House, Lucas draws upon those personal reminiscences to spin out his humorous true-life tales that will engage the reader's rapt attention from first page to last. Highly recommended reading for anyone who loves a good yarn well told, Birth In A Chicken House provides perceptive and very funny descriptions of the animals and culture, the beauty and history of a rural farming community, and the dedicated veterinarian that served their needs.

Birth in a Chicken House is a great read for anyone who has experienced life in a rural setting, and it's a must read for anyone in the 50s' plus era. As you read the stories, it's as if Dr. Lucas is sitting across the table from you telling a story. He writes it just like it happened. I found myself laughing out loud many, many times as he related his personal accounts of people and animals...I think almost everyone can identify with his experiences. The short story format makes it a great book for busy people to pick up for a few minutes and read a story. However, once you start reading it, you'll probably not want to put it down.