I am from the part of New Mexico that Agnes Morley writes about. My parents live in a canyon approximately 30 miles from the Morley homestead. This book tells it like it was and anyone living in Magdalena, Datil, or Pietown today can tell you so. Morley conveys a deep affection for the land and an independence of spirit that still holds true in the area today. It made me proud of my community to read her book. It was also fun reading some of the local history from a first-hand account. I particularly enjoyed Morley's portrayal of the lawyer Elfego Baca, who is a legendary figure in Socorro County. His reputation suffers quite a bit at her hands! The only aspect of local history that I found conspicuously absent from her book was any discussion of the local mining industry. Mining played as great a role in the area as ranching did at the time. I suppose it indicates that the miners and ranchers didn't mix much. Still, it seems odd that she doesn't even mention it.

I work for a school that just purchased 600 acres of the ranch described in this book. The area IS as beautiful as she describes, is as rugged and the people are just as hard-working and caring.

I found the book to be a great story. She says she is just a story-teller, but what a good one! It makes the past come alive. My husband and I read parts of it out loud, while camping in the very ranch she describes.

WARNING! Once you start, it is hard to put down.

The title is misleading, as she truly must have been a great lady. This is a classic memoir by a woman who grew up in 19th-century New Mexico, and worked and rode side-by-side with the men, taking the full responsibilities and knocks of a hard life and keeping a great sense of humor through it all. The only concession to her gender is that she apparently rode sidesaddle, remarkably enough!

For me, the acid test of books like these is whether they manage to engage the neutral. Certainly Browns fans will enjoy this pleasant wallow in nostalgia from a time when football was still football.

I'm not a Browns fan but I found myself wallowing along with them. Pluto manages to capture the essence of the '64 season and yet not neglect the wider context. Fascinating stuff.

Award-winning Akron Beacon Journal sportswriter Terry Pluto's latest work is When All The World Was Browns Town. It discusses the 1964 Cleveland Browns, the last Cleveland champion in one of the four major professional sports. Pluto is one of the most gifted sportswriters working today, and the calibre of the writing in this book, like The Curse of Rocky Colavito, is a fine example of his work. It is far better written than the average sports book, in part because Pluto, like David Halberstam, does a fine job of digging up how the people involved saw the events he discusses. One thing I did not care for about the book is that it takes too much of the season itself as a given. The season up until the playoffs only rates one chapter, for example. For those who grew up in Cleveland and remember the season, that's probably sufficient, but I would have liked more focus on it. It's also somewhat unorthodox and anticlimactic to have the title game discussion come in the middle of the book and not the end, and the brief discussion of the 1965 season comes off as whiny and does not give the outstanding '65 Packers the respect they are due. There's much more that is good than bad here, however. Pluto is masterful as usual at showing how different people saw the same events differently. He handles the discussion of Paul Brown well, and did a good job of getting Art Modell's perspective even as he is (rightly) critical of him for moving the Browns to Baltimore. In short, I think any football fan would enjoy this book, and those who remember the '64 Browns firsthand won't be able to put it down.

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ IN MY ENTIRE LIFE

What happens when one of the most successful advertising agents in Cleveland disappears from his posh home in Pepper Pike without a trace? After being called by a frantic Richard Amber in need of a bodyguard, Milan Jacovich drove directly to Mr. Amber's elegant home, only to find that he was not there. After a night of waiting and wondering, Jacovich received a phone call from Mr. Amber's wife, Judith Amber, asking for his assistance, not as a bodyguard, but as a private investigator. Mr. Amber had disappeared.

The Ambers were an apparently happy and well-off couple, or that is how they appeared. In actuality, their marriage was one of convenience. Richard Amber's success had been arranged by his wife, Judith; he owed his success to her financial and social status. When Richard Amber disappeared, Judith Amber chose to keep his disappearance a secret from all but those closest to the situation.

Milan Jakovich, a private investigator, was permitted to question Richard Amber's girl friends (current and past) and colleagues (Jerry Stendall, Senior Vice-President of Marbury-Stendall; John Marbury, owner of Marbury-Stendall, and Jeff Monaghan, supposed best friend of Richard Amber). His attempts to question Walter Deming, Judith's uncle and owner of Deming Steel (both Richard's and Marbury-Stendall's largest account), were discouraged and, when eventually permitted, involved at attempt on Jakovich's life.

After having his life threatened, Jacovich was determined to find the man who both attempted to kill him, and who was Amber's killer. The outcome is shocking, and will make you think twice about every person you meet for the rest of your life.

Given that I practically grew up in Cleveland and have friends from Pepper Pike, this was an interesting and enjoyable read. This is Roberts first effort in the Milan Jacovich series. I fortunately read his latest effort (The Dutch) first and then had to backtrack and read the first effort. Most of the plot seemed straight out of a TV special, but the richness of the characters, the setting and the all around likability of Jacovich made this a fast, fun read.

You can expect that I will read the rest of the series!

Pepper Pike is truly a great book. It displays great character development to go along with great plot development. The main character of this story is Milan Jacovich, a Slovenian. He is an ex-cop, ex-military police officer, and ex-football player. He uses all of his jobs and experiences is his private investagation work. The story starts with a call that he recives from someone needing his services. Richard Amber. He accepts the job, but the man he is working for is missing. It is now Milan's job to find this man and find out about his past and present. He has to find every friend, associate, partner, and friend of Richard Amber. He is successful in finding mistresses and possible accomplices to this enigma. He is successful in finding someone very important to whom I will not reveal. This book is a must read.

After having this book recommended to me by a friend, I was amazed at the book's artistic sophistication - of course, the art books layering the coffee table at their house and the various art pieces around the house DID lead me to believe he was in fact a conossieur of art. this book is excellent - I would recommend it to ANYONE looking for a good historical art fiction book :)

When I tell you that this book revolves around a long-thought-lost Raphael painting, and one man's attempt to buy it and discover its secrets, not necessarily in that order, you'd be forgiven for thinking that you know what you're in for -- another art-crime detective novel. But you'd be wrong and, like me, pleasantly surprised. For this book stresses the art above the crime, and is far more about the man on its trail, than the twists in the trail. And the lost Raphael Madonna is so lovingly described you know why he becomes obsessed. And there's a fair bit of raunchy sex, too, with a woman he meets and enlists, and you can see why he'd want her as well. Along with the art and the sex there's Venice, oh and they eat ice cream - what more can you ask for? The prose style hits a few purple patches at the start, but soon settles down, with some fine business around our hero's mental state and life view. He's an odd, but believable, cove, who's sensitive to art but a bit of a bastard, and more than somewhat of a cynic. You'll care, I think, and be moved to visit Venice, eat ice cream, and...well, the rest's up to you. Historical note: this novel mentions that the famous and swanky Hotel Bauer Grunwald was the Nazi's hotel of choice during WWII and that the Gestapo used it for torturing. I assume that this is an historical fact, but it's not mentioned on their web-page, funnily enough.

Though this is nominally a mystery novel, it really is a tour de force of erudition, diabolical intrigue, raunchiness and sexiness. One need not be knowledgable about the art world--which this reviewer certainly is not--to be swept up in David Adams Cleveland's tour through the art and architecture of Renaissance Venice and his portrayal of the international cast of eccentrics and evildoers (dating back to Nazi Germany) who would own Venice's treasures. As a writer, Cleveland deploys with equal facility the elevated prose of the art world and the grittier language of the back channels of Venice. It adds up to fast and riveting reading.

I guess I just expected more from this book. I wanted more personal experiences and more discussions of individual animals that had been brought to the ranch. I feel that the book was to "general" in its approach. It just wasn't personal enough.

Cleveland Amory wrote of his beloved cat Polar Bear, "Heaven will be no heaven for me if Polar Bear is not there."

I say heaven will be no heaven for me if Cleveland Amory is not there. Anyone with even a small soft spot in his heart cannot fail to be moved by the stories of the Black Beauty Ranch and the animals of various species that call it home.

Someone recently asked me what I'd do if I didn't need to work for a living. I think I'd want to go to Murchison, Texas and help care for the ranch's residents.

Having never read anything by Cleveland Amory before I was quite surprised to learn of Black Beauty Ranch in East Texas.Ranch of Dreams opened my eyes to what really goes on behind the circus tents,most haunting and heartwrenching the cruel treatment of the elephants,ripped from their mothers and herds and beaten into submission.Dear Mr Amory;he passed before writing a follow up book. The book is well worth the read,a lesson in human compassion,and when you are finished,pass it on to a friend.

The writings themselves are excellent. The print is often hard to read and the typeface varies from section to section. The introductions and footnotes show the editors biases and are best skipped -- let the writings speak for themselves.

This 10-volume set is a treasure trove of the writings of the early church translated into English, from the Apostolic Fathers to the Nicene Council. The problem with it is that it is only a reprint of a collection originally published in 1885. Because of this it carries over many of the pruderies Alexandria's Miscellanies (in volume 2 of this set) is printed only in enters upon the refutation of the false-Gnostics and their licentious tenets. Professing a stricter rule to begin with, and despising the ordinances of the Creator, their result was the grossest immorality in practice. The melancholy consequences of an enforced celibacy are, here, all forseen and foreshown; and this Book, though necessarily offensive to our Christian tastes, is most useful as a commentary upon the history of monasticism, and the celibacy of priests, in the Western churches. The resolution of the Edinburgh editors to give this Book to scholars _only_, in the Latin, is probably wise." In other words, because it may corrupt our Christian morals, we won't print it in the venacular, but instead keep it only in the hands of professors. This editorial decision was disgustingly illiberal; a scholar should make all information accessible. Besides, Clement of Alexandria isn't considered a heretic; he's one of the official Church Fathers. Now a decision like that may have been acceptable in 1885, but it can scarcely be defended today. I do not see what could have kept this set's reprinters from providing a translation of Book III, if only as an appendix. I have not noticed any other example of suppression in these volumes, although the fact that there is even one instance is disturbing. This only serves to convince me that a new, fresh edition of these writers is needed. Many new writings have been discovered in the century since, including complete books by Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Melito of Sardis - this alone makes a new collection desirable. In the late nineteenth century all kinds of collections of these early writers were being published - why not now?

This is the (basically) complete set of the Early church writings up until 325 A.D. These 10 volumes contain quite a lot of material. Volume 10 is actually an index of all of the earlier books. The complete works of Justin, Clement, Athenagoras, Ignatius, etc are found within. I agree with the other poster that there are some problems. The issue of new texts discovered is a big one. Since the time this series was published many new texts have been found, such as the Gospel of Thomas and 2 works by Origen. So that is an issue. Also the way they put Clement of Alexandria's third book in Latin is silly today. Luckily I managed to find another translation that had it. The third problem is the English is pretty stagnant at times. Its very stiff and complex at times, but I actually have come to like it (don't ask me why!). But I am still giving this 5 stars because the set is fairly affordable, and there is a lot of great stuff in here for the price. Virtually every pre-Nicene writing, from the Didache to Alexander of Alexandria's letters to Arius, is in here. I would never be without this set.

SEE: Chronic Illness and the Twelve Steps: A Practical Approach to Spiritual Resilience by Martha Cleveland, PH.D.

For a support group using this book as its text, subscribe to Chronic Pain Anonymous WECARE12STEPS@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU

Due to pressure from groups like ours, Hazeldon is once again publishing this treasure of spiritual help for dealing with the emotional turmoil those with chronic pain and disability are prone to suffer.

I have had a f2f chronic pain group and found this book is most helpful.

I now own a wecare12step group on the internet and this is our group text. I highly recommend this book. The name of my list is WECARE12STEPS@maelstrom.stjohns.edu. For those who cannot afford the book, we do have a book fund to pay for your cogy!

I bought this book for my mom who is operating on less than 50% kidney function. The recipies are appetizing but a bit out of date. The recipes we tried were very good. The book needs to list the amounts of protein, salt, potassium and phosphorous in the servings. Elderly people who are restricted in those areas need that additional information to help them stay in compliance.

I have had this book for several years, we have tried just about every recipe in it and they are all great! I get complements all the time on the wonderful food, no one believes that the recipes are from the Renal cookbook.
My grandchildren especially love the spaghetti sauce.

I am very happy with this cookbook...my husband has an inherited kidney disease and my son has inherited potential cholesterol and heart problems from hsi fahter's family...I have tried unsuccessfully to create meals that are healthy and appetizing and finally this book has managed to help me meal plan for us all...and since we are a family of 3, we will have meals to freeze or take to lunch the next day...I would recommend this book to ANYONE in need of low protein, cholesterol, sodium diets...

I just moved to the Cleveland area and read the book as a way to get to know the city. Very fun reading but not very detailed.

"Maniac in the Bushes" is brought to life with the inclusion of street addresses and references to existing landmarks. As native Clevelanders, my Dad and I have enjoyed discussing the cases on which the author focused, many of which my Dad remembers. If you live in Cleveland, you gotta read this!

What a new perspective this gives on my adopted city! I live near where the Collinwood School inferno happened (and pass its replacement nearly every day) and live in a neighbourhood where many of the older residents remember being told to 'watch out, or the Phantom of Kingsbury Run will chop you up' when they were kids. Fascinating subject, and I can't get enough!!! (Got me drinking Eliot Ness Lager, too, but I digress). Fast-paced and well-written, even if you've never been to Cleveland, you should check out this darker side of American history, North-Coast Style.

This is the 13th book in the Milan Jacovich series, which is set in Cleveland and once again showcases the city to its best advantage while Milan does his investigative work. Milan is a middle-aged, clear-thinking, single and sensible private investigator who always seems to get things done with a minimum of fuss.

Although there's a minimum of fuss, there's still plenty to enjoy about this latest book in the series. Milan explores the unfamiliar territory of Irish bars when hired to track down a conman posing as an Irishman who is new to the country, He preys on Irish ex-pats, taking them into his confidence before disappearing with a modest haul. He oversteps the mark when his prey is Judge Maureen Hartigan and she demands a chance at a shot of revenge, using Milan to find him. Things become a bit more complicated when it is revealed that the judge hasn't been completely forthright about what was stolen. When Milan works out what some of the items were, their significance changes the tone of his investigation completely.

This is another enjoyable private investigator story, which I would term as semi-hardboiled. It's not going to offend any sensibilities with Milan remaining a gentleman throughout the entire case. As it's part of a series, I would recommend that a couple of the earlier books could be read to give you a bit of an insight into Milan and the other regular characters.

Maybe there's something wrong with me (many people would wholeheartedly agree), but I liked Les' newest book. It didn't tax my brain and I read it over one weekend. Milan Jacovich has become like an old pair of shoes--the one's you keep going back to when another pair beats up your feet and you're dying for something familiar and comfortable. There's no stomach-churning gore, the sex is so-so, and the plots aren't revealed in the first few pages. Les enjoys writing mysteries and making people think. As long as he keeps writing, I'll keep reading his books.

I cannot say too much about an author who has become my favorite. I stopped reading mysteries many years ago and then discovered the Milan Jakovich novels (my first ten years of life were spent in Cleveland and I was curious) and the Saxon novels set it LA. No other detective writer makes his characters as human as Les Roberts does and he is one of the few authors who causes me to go back and reread what he has written. He is articulate, he is concise, and he knows who and what he is writing about. This is as true of The Irish Sports Pages as of all his books. I would encourage mystery fans to read all his books and challenge non mystery fans with the belief that one Les Roberts book will get them hooked on all that he has written. Believe me, I went to old book stores and the net once I found I had missed the first few and the prices were well worth it.