This is a fun book that should help your youngster develop an interest in American History. It is easy to read an has great illustratiions. You will not be disappointed with this purchase. Look for others by the same author.

Guns For General Washington is a great book because of the action and advenerture. Henry Knox, a patroit who goes to Fort Ticonderoga, a fort in New York that has at least 183 cannons, lead for bullets, flint for flintlock muskets. There were also mortars, a type of gun, howitzers, a another type of gun,and a cohorns, another type of gun. They, Henry and his brother and some others who help out, have to go 300 miles to Fort Ticonderoga from Boston and 300 miles back to Boston from Fort Ticonderoga.This takes place in Massachusetts and New York in 1775 and 1776. The conflict is that General Washington is fighting a british general ,General Howe, with no aritillery like cannons and gunpowder.This book has very good action and advenerture

THIS BOOK WAS A VERY DETAILED AND CURIOUS BOOK. IT GAVE YOU ALL OF THE DETAILS NEEDED TO FIGURE OUT HOW THE STORY GOES. USUALLY WHEN I READ A BOOK I STOP IN THE MIDDLE BECAUSE IT IS TOO BOARING, BUT I READ THROUGH TIS ENTIRE BOOK. IT ALWAYS FINDS SOMETHING TO FOCUS ON SO IT DOESN NOT LOOSE YOUR INTREST.IT MAKES YOU REALIZE JUST HOW MANY PEOPLE RISK THEIR LIFES TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU ARE SAFE.

Robert Fagles has done an excellent job at giving life to this ancient 'song', an epic of war. If you read this translation aloud (which you should certainly do!!), you will see how he has tried to give it the feel of an oral tradition, as if a bard were truly singing it. If you want to read this for the excitement of it, and really get a feel for the life behind it, read this translation. There are some boring parts, but that's just how the Iliad is, and it has nothing to do with Fagles's translation.

However, if you are in a reading group of some sort where you all have different translations, you will quickly realize upon comparison that Fagles's translation, especially compared to the Lattimore, leaves something to be desired in terms of its literal-ness (is that a word?). For studying the particulars, I would suggest the Lattimore translation instead, which makes more of an effort to be true to the original Greek, and is still interesting, but less readable and intense than the Fagles translation.

I highly recommend this boxed hardcover set, because after reading Robert Fagles translation, you'll want to keep it as a part of your personal book collection..to re-read again and again. I have read many fine and not-so-fine translations of these works (including the admirable Robert Fitzgerald and the classic Richard Lattimore translations), but Robert Fagles' translations are by far the best I've seen. Fagles manages to bring the stories to life while still maintaining a sense of the poetic beauty of the original. I especially liked the Illiad. These translations are far from being dusty and archaic, but instead are very much "alive", capturing the excitement and beauty of these classic tales. If your first exposure to these classics was a very negative one, try again with Fagles (you'll be very glad you did!)... and if you're a great fan of Homer, you'll definitely want to read these wonderful new translations by Robert Fagles.

Also, the "introductions" by the well-respected classicist, Bernard Knox, are a great source of additional,up-to-date information about these works and the Homeric period of Ancient Greece.

What distinguishes the Fagle's Translation of Iliad from dozens of other great translations, is he put the sense of "epic" into its English version. I read and reread it, I can not get over how it achieves to give you a sense of solidity and all encompassing grandeur, in a scale that evokes heroism ,fate, courage, beauty, adventure in every line. I do not read Greek, but I can only imagine if an ancient bard who sang these lines in an amphitheater would want to achieve, what Fagle's translations does in reading all by yourself, alone.

Written in the 15th Century and directed towards monks, this is a devotional for Christian living and Monastic life. While noting the time period helps give depth to the historical backdrop of when Thomas was writing this book, it is perhaps more important to know the audience. The intended audience for The Imitation of Christ was monks. This is obvious in the text and it should be kept in mind while reading this work.

This highly influential work has a very simple message: live like Christ. Presented in this book, it is a very strict message. Thomas takes a very strict interpretation of following Christ and the message is very much rooted in the idea of works. It is the actions that one must perform, and not so much the inner state (though he does stress that the inner state is important). This would be a difficult message to take or to give, but again, we must consider the audience: monks living in a monastery. They must live a harsher life and because of their vows, this devotional makes perfect sense.

This can be read as a historical document in Christianity or as a devotional. Either way, one can find great value and and some illumination of the words of Christ through this volume.

Thomas a Kempis was medival monk and priest (1380-1471) who served as chronicler of the monastery at Mt. St. Agnes. During his long life of scholarship, he wrote several biographies of church fathers and a number of devotional works. The "Imitation of Christ" remains his most famous work and the one that has best stood the test of time. Indeed, one of the wonderful things about this work is that it reminds us that the life of the mind is not a creature of the Enlightenment. Even during the so-called Dark Ages there were brilliant scholars with a wide knowledge of both scripture and philosophy. Reflecting its vibrant insight into the human condition, the "Imitation of Christ" remains influential on both sides of the Reformation divide. It reportedly was, for example, one of John Wesley's favorite devotionals.

The "Imitation of Christ" is divided into 4 books, each undertaking a basic theme for development. They are, respectively, the Spiritual Life, the Inner Life, Inward Consolation, and the Blessed Sacrament (i.e., the Eucharist). In turn, each book is sub-divided into numerous chapters, each a page or two long. All of which makes the "Imitation of Christ" a useful book for daily devotionals. One can skip around freely within the book, dipping in as the mood strikes. Yet, I think one is well-served by reading it through at least once. Only then does one see Thomas' thought in its fully-developed form. Do be sure to get a good translation. I am fond of the one by Leo Sherley-Price.

Thomas a Kempis was medival monk and priest (1380-1471) who served as chronicler of the monastery at Mt. St. Agnes. During his long life of scholarship, he wrote several biographies of church fathers and a number of devotional works. The "Imitation of Christ" remains his most famous work and the one that has best stood the test of time. Indeed, one of the wonderful things about this work is that it reminds us that the life of the mind is not a creature of the Enlightenment. Even during the so-called Dark Ages there were brilliant scholars with a wide knowledge of both scripture and philosophy. Reflecting its vibrant insight into the human condition, the "Imitation of Christ" remains influential on both sides of the Reformation divide. It reportedly was, for example, one of John Wesley's favorite devotionals.

The "Imitation of Christ" is divided into 4 books, each undertaking a basic theme for development. They are, respectively, the Spiritual Life, the Inner Life, Inward Consolation, and the Blessed Sacrament (i.e., the Eucharist). In turn, each book is sub-divided into numerous chapters, each a page or two long. All of which makes the "Imitation of Christ" a useful book for daily devotionals. One can skip around freely within the book, dipping in as the mood strikes. Yet, I think one is well-served by reading it through at least once. Only then does one see Thomas' thought in its fully-developed form. Do be sure to get a good translation. I am fond of the one by Leo Sherley-Price.

Robert Fagles's translation of Homer's Iliad is spiritually if not literally true to the original. Both versions repeat set speeches and descriptions in precisely the same words, and the translation exhibits a fairly regular rhythmic beat. But Homer's Greek was chanted, and the set passages were like refrains in which listeners could, if they chose, join in as a chorus. In English, the repetitions sometimes become tedious, especially when the same speech is given three times in two pages, as in the relay of Zeus's orders in Book II. Especially noteworthy is Bernard Knox's long and fascinating Introduction, a masterpiece of literary criticism which conveys Homer's grim attitude toward war, the interplay of divine and human will, and the ancient concepts of honor, courage, and virility in the face of the stark finality of death. Knox also includes a succinct explanation of the quantitative, rather than accentual, basis of Greek (and Latin) verse. For easy readability, Fagles's translation is without rival. For elegance and poetry, however, I recommend Richmond Lattimore's older but still gripping and fluent translation.

Robert Fagles's translation of Homer's Iliad is spiritually if not literally true to the original. Both versions repeat set speeches and descriptions in precisely the same words, and the translation exhibits a fairly regular rhythmic beat. But Homer's Greek was chanted, and the set passages were like refrains in which listeners could, if they chose, join in as a chorus. In English, the repetitions sometimes become tedious, especially when the same speech is given three times in two pages, as in the relay of Zeus's orders in Book II. Especially noteworthy is Bernard Knox's long and fascinating Introduction, a masterpiece of literary criticism and scholarship which conveys Homer's grim attitude toward war, the interplay of divine and human will, and the ancient concepts of honor, courage, and virility in the face of the stark finality of death. Knox also includes a succinct explanation of the quantitative, rather than accentual, basis of Greek (and Latin) verse. For easy readability, Fagles's translation is without rival. For elegance and poetry, however, I recommend Richmond Lattimore's older but still gripping and fluent translation.

Robert Fagles's translation of Homer's Iliad is spiritually if not literally true to the original. Both versions repeat set speeches and descriptions in precisely the same words, and the translation exhibits a fairly regular rhythmic beat. But Homer's Greek was chanted, and the set passages were like refrains in which listeners could, if they chose, join in as a chorus. In English, the repetitions sometimes become tedious, especially when the same speech is given three times in two pages, as in the relay of Zeus's orders in Book II. Especially noteworthy is Bernard Knox's long and fascinating Introduction, a masterpiece of literary criticism and scholarship which conveys Homer's grim attitude toward war, the interplay of divine and human will, and the ancient concepts of honor, courage, and virility in the face of the stark finality of death. Knox also includes a succinct explanation of the quantitative, rather than accentual, basis of Greek (and Latin) verse. For easy readability, Fagles's translation is without rival. For elegance and poetry, however, I recommend Richmond Lattimore's older but still gripping and fluent translation.

Considering recent events, I thought it might be worthwhile to dig up Dive Into Terror. As always, the book is descriptive and accurate, but now it packs a much greater punch. Time to get ahold of the sequel, eh? And I'm assuming that there will have to be another after that. Friends are asking me if you've started writing about the Day of Terror yet. How about it, Uncle Randy?

I'm just an average guy ( Army Cooking School Graduate) who likes to read in his spare time. I found "Dive into Terror" a diverting romp through the hellish nightmare of terrorist/anti-terrorist tactics. I haven't yet had occasion to utilize any of its several lessons, but my personal motto is "Be Prepared." I have heard mention (but cannot verify) that this book has been standard reading for strategy toadies at high levels since its discovery. I suppose it has an interest value for that reason alone, but privately suspect it of having additional intrinsic literary merits which I, an average guy, wouldn't dare to approach. I may not know art, but I know what kind of steely determined violence I like. Thank you, A disinterested Army cook who likes to read.

Mr. Cruts is a cool guy and a great writer... The events in this book WERE based on true events. Not to mention a great teacher.

An email buddy of mine from New Zealand recommended this book. I purchased a copy mainly because I'd never read a single thing from anyone in NZ. Plus, he told me that there was a gay relationship that 'sort of' pervades the story. Boy was I surprised at how wonderful this story was! Like others who reviewed this story I, too, found that it took me over 50 pages to really get into it since it's completely character driven and written in a style that took a little while to get used to. Once I got into it tho, it was impossible to put down.

I found the love affair between Sobran and Xas to be one of the most moving love stories put into print. The fact that it spanned such a long time was extraordinary. The fact that the author is a woman explains how she was so capable in fleshing out Aurora. She was a wonderfully strong character and I enjoyed everything about her. How the author was able to flesh out Sobran, a male, so well, is the mark of how talented Ms. Knox is. Despite the fact that I'm completely non-religious, the angel/heaven/hell/Christianity stuff was NOT a put off at all. It was somewhat quaint (to me) yet completely interesting. I was utterly unprepared for how well it was worked into the story without being in the least bit preachy. Without it, the story would have totally flopped.

Ms. Knox is a master storyteller. There's no doubt about it. She even worked in some wonderful phrasing and some very interesting concepts. I got chills several times throughout the book as I read when a certain collision of words struck me as particularly innovative.

I can't say that I was sad at the end, altho I expected to be. I was more like upset that the story had ultimately come to an end. By that time the characters had leapt out from the pages and I was into all of their lives. Again, the sign of a master storyteller. Ms. Knox, a big American thanks for this work!

"Vintner's Luck" by Elizabeth Knox, is astonishing. Set in Burgundy, in the first half of the last century, it deals with the major themes of life and love - and what happens when you meet a beautiful (male) angel, one night in your vineyard. The angel and main character make a pact to meet each night once a year. This book is unputdownable! The prose is descriptive and set in a very earthly world. Furthermore the angel is very real. Seldom have I read such detailed observations of how angels move and how they manage their wings! Meanwhile, life continues for the vintner, his marriage, the murders of local girls, and the yearly meetings with the angel who asks "Tell me the news". Well worth buying and reading.

I have read this book three times from cover to cover and I never get tired of its beautifully written prose and vivid imagery. Knox creates a heaven and hell and an angel that are wholly real yet beyond anyone's imagination. The characterizations of even the most minor characters are carefully thought out and placed before her readers to draw us into this very different world.

But it is the developing relationship of the two main characters I find so riveting and intriguing because it is so original. Xas is both adoringly innocent and inadvertently sexy. The way his emotions and experiences are depicted, the reader is able to feel everything he feels right along with him.

I couldn't recommend this book enough, but be warned, though it deals with heaven, angels, and God, it is not for the average Sunday church-goer. The male/male relationship would probably stop many cold even though Xas and Sobran share a love and lifetime that takes them both on an incredible journey of self-discovery.

I'm so smitten by this different angel, I find would love to read more of Xas in future books. The ending leaves the door open. Please Ms. Knox?

Reads like an inquisitors manual but unfortunately only repeats tired charges with the same scant evidence and thin standards that the original inquisitors used in their investigations. In the first third of the book only one piece of "solid" evidence is brought forth linking the anabaptist and the manichee. This fact being the common usage of the idea that "Christ passed through the Virgin Mother as water through a pipe." This is about as conclusive as asserting someone is from Alabama on the basis of saying "kit and kaboodle." The book is certainly fun to read, fans of Knox love it, it is full of inuendo and characterizations. "Heretics" meet in "nests" and the "virus" of protestanism spreads throughout the land. Obviously this is antimodernist hoopla which makes fun reading for those interested in Catholic historical narratives before the rise of sound scholarship. -JL

It's true, a book by Ronald Knox is something you can just flip through in one sitting. You really have to pay attention. This is not "fast food" - and for a previous reviewer to dismiss Monsignor Knox, and this book, as "antimodernist", perhaps says more about the reviewer than about Monsignor Knox. I highly recommend that you print out the sample pages which Amazon.com provides, and read them, slowly, carefully, lovingly. Knox's writing is his own best advertisement - you will see that the slower you read, the more you get out of it, and the more you WANT to read. At which point, buy it!

Knox's "Enthusiasm" is a survey of the history of certain mystical trends, which the author dubs "ultra-supernaturalist", throughout the course of Christian history. Knox examines the various outbreaks in detail, especially those of the 17th and 18th centuries. Furthermore, he successfully and profoundly analyzes the psychological basis for all such movements.

This book is necessary reading for anyone interested in the history of fringe religious movements in general, any of the sects described here specifically, or the psychology of fanaticism.

I also recommend that students of Eric Voegelin read this book, as it provides much food for thought in light of his comments about the nature of gnosticism. Likewise, anyone who finds the psychological portions of this book interesting should look at Voegelin's work, which deals with similar issues from a philosophical perspective. I suggest that you begin with "Science, Politics, and Gnosticism" and then move on to "The New Science of Politics" to get a basic grounding in Voegelin. He and Knox share a fundamental insight - that fringe religious groups are motivated by an antinomian hatred for reality and society that seeks to destroy nature rather than to heal it, which is the goal of more mainstream religion. What Voegelin adds to the discussion is a deeper fund of historical examples of such attitudes, an investigation of a paralell set of ideas to be found in modern philosophy, and an understanding of how these ideas have influenced modern culture and politics (for example, Voegelin regards socialism, in all it's forms, as a secularized version of the same kind of anitnomian millenarianism to be found in, say the Montanists, who Knox investigates at length).

Fitzgerald is to be congratulated for her frank portrayal of her father and uncles. Even so, I felt something was being withheld. After all, the Knox brothers were part of the Waugh generation and lived through an incredibly revolutionary period in world history. As interesting as each of these brothers is, it's hard to believe they were as domestic and tweedy as she wishes to think of them. One needs to look elsewhere for the dirt on these fellows (but, alas, I know not where).

My interest was primarily in Ronald Knox, the youngest of the children (the Knoxes had two daughters, as well, but neither of them seems to have made much of an impression on their neice). As a young man Ronald converted to Roman Catholicism, to the chagrin of his father, an Anglican bishop of Evangelical leanings, and of his brother Wilfred, an Anglo-Catholic priest. Although Fitzgerald does not sidestep religious issues, I sensed that she herself was not very religious and that she never quite understood why dogmatics could be so divisive in her family. Ronald wrote so-so detective fiction. His great achievement, however, was the translation of the Latin Bible into modern English for Roman Catholics (sadly at a time when the Roman Catholic church was just about to realize the importance making Bible translations from the original Hebrew and Greek). I wanted to know more about Knox's process of working and the public response to the finished translation. But Fitzgerald, ever bouncing from one Knox brother to the next, gives very little information on this subject.

Fitzgerald doesn't waste much ink, either, on examining sibling rivalry (it must have been strong--not one Knox could be considered a slacker) or on psychoanalysing family dynamics. There are no lessons here to glean about family life in general, nothing that could serve as a mirror to one's relationships with one's own siblings. The Knoxes seem to have been truly unique, and are probably best appreciated as accomplished individuals.

Those looking for juicier portraits of bright young Brits in the years leading up to World War II, should turn to Humphrey Carpenter's "Brideshead Generation: Evelyn Waugh and His Friends" or Martin Green's "Children of the Sun: A Narrative of 'Decadence' in England after 1918."

Why read biographies? Several reasons come to mind: to get a glimpse of a vanished past, to live vicariously through glamorous and interesting people, to learn truths about the good life that survive those vanished pasts and apply to even the unglamorous.

All of these apply in spades to _The Knox Brothers_, novelist Penelope Fitzgerald's 1977 biography of her father, Edmund ("Evoe") Knox and his brothers, Ronald, Wilfred and Dilly.

The most famous of the Knox brothers today is Ronald, a famous British convert to and apologist for Catholicism. His conversion is well-detailed by Fitzgerald, along with the strife it caused within the family: his father was an Anglican bishop, and remained essentially unreconciled to his convert son, and his brother Wilfred also became an Anglican clergyman. Evoe, who also achieved great fame as editor of the humor magazine Punch, was an indulgent agnostic, but Dilly was rigorously atheistic.

Despite such differences, mutual love and respect prevailed among the brothers, and as Fitzgerald writes, "one would think it must have been as clear then as it is now that if human love could rise above the doctrines that divide the Church, then these docrines must have singularly little to do with the love of God." The humane perspective that would later distinguish her novels is on ample display in this biography, as is her wry humor.

Perhaps most fascinating and unusual of the four brothers was Dilly, who served in both world wars as a codebreaker, and played an instrumental role in cracking the German Enigma machine during World War II. Fitzgerald describes his work in generous detail, and places it in the context of the family's general fascination with language and wordplay.

I highly recommend this biography, which like the lives of its subjects is briskly paced and rich in variety. One caveat: if you have no place in your heart for Anglophilia, you may find the personalities of Fleet Street and Oxbridge rather tiresome.

Penelope Fitzgerald produced some of the finest short novels written. Before she started her career as a novelist she wrote these collected biographies of her father and his 3 brothers in 1977. It seems appropriate that this collection of familial histories was updated and placed in its final form by Ms. Fitzgerald shortly before her death.

For those that believe Genetics play a role in the hereditary talent of later generations, this book certainly will reinforce that view. Whether when reviewing her Father's life, or that of his 3 brothers, all these men were exceptional in there own manner. There were characteristics they held in common; amongst them were brilliant wits, and integrity. The latter trait would seem redundant, or perhaps should be one we hope someday will be for all men like her Uncle Wilfred and her Uncle Ronald. Both of these men were Priests, but even here these Brothers maintained their own identities. Wilfred was an Anglo-Catholic Priest, and his Brother was a Priest of The Roman Catholic Church. The History of these men's lives are all of great interest, however the differences in the Religious Denominations, at first so similar to the ear, and then so different theologically, provided some of the more interesting aspects of the book.

Father Ronald went beyond the normal duties of his calling, and expanded his talents not only into journalism, but I believe rather specially as an Author of Detective Novels. All this was in addition to being The Chaplain At Oxford, and a man who translated a revised form of The New Testament, so that so many more could enjoy the writings.

For readers familiar with World War II, the word Enigma has a meaning in excess of the dictionary definition. Enigma was the machine that the Germans used for enciphering their communications, had it remained a secret, the War if nothing else would have been lengthened, perhaps dramatically. Uncle Dillwyn was repeatedly promoted and was critical to "finding a way in" to Enigma, and was credited with contributing to several strategic victories that without the understanding of Enigma could not have taken place.

Her Father was again a man of many gifts, but it is his time as Editor of the legendary "Punch Magazine" that seemed to best define the man's many traits. He too was a writer, journalist, humorist, and devoted Husband and Father. He may or may not have foreseen that a short 6 years after his death his Daughter Penelope would begin her own literary career with a book that paid tribute to he and his brothers.

Ms. Fitzgerald does honor to the memories of her family members without appearing to lose objectivity, and succumbing to fawning over her subjects. If you have read her books, or the interviews she gave none of this will come as a surprise. She was a woman of great talent, minimal ego, and she happily, for readers, shared all her gifts.

"What makes Sneden's history remarkable is his attention to detail... So compelling was his drive to document the war accurately that Sneden kept notes even while in Andersonville, writing in shorthand on scraps of pages of books that he later sewed into the linings of his cloths to keep hidden.... It is astonishing that such valuable experience could have remained hidden for so long." --Michael Larkin, The Boston Globe

"This is quite simply a wonderful book.... One can virtually hear the soldiers snoring and the mules braying.... Especially moving is [Sneden's] account of the horrible months he spent in Andersonville.... Sneden's all-observing eye was truly 'in the storm,' and his belatedly published memoir should soon become a standard in the field." --Ben L. Bassham, Civil War Book Review

Robert Sneden served as a map maker during the early years of the Civil War, and finished his war in the Andersonville prison camp. Recent discoveries of his drawings and diary have allowed this book to be published. The story is breath taking, a personal sojourn through the mud and battle of America's great tradgedy.

The book is well edited. Brief italicized passages place the reader within the context of the battles and time. Sneden spent most of his time as a staff member at the Division and Corp levels, allowing him to see a wider view of the war than most. He drew maps, but he also drew many sketches. These provide a visual beauty to the book.

The water colors were obviously created after the war, and the diary entries were also updated from memory. His style as an artist is horizontal, with landscapes and muted muddy colors and great details, a map maker who draws the world around him.

Sneden was an interesting man, with some bigotries, and some brilliant insights. His frustration with the generalship of the Army of the Potomac is shared by the reader. His description of prison life in Andersonville reminds me of the book King Rat, and is both evocative, realistic, and saddening.

The wealth of detail is incredible -- early balloon experiments, the frustrations of mud, dysentery, and nature, and the incredible rapaciousness of the average soldier (digging up church cornerstones in search of souvenirs). Thse details are fascinating, but they are encapsulated within a story of great scope -- one man's war that mirrors the entire Civil War.

Sneden was an artist, a good commentator, and he got around. The result is a true story, fascinating for both the civil war buff and the average reader. A tremendous book.

This book is remarkable and different from almost any other war remembrance I have come across. Not only has Robert Knox Sneden penned a highly descriptive account of his years with the Army of the Potomac and as a prisoner of war, his work is illustrated with scores of his own watercolors depicting what he saw -- many made at the time he was witnessing places and events during the war.

Sneden had an unusual vantage point. An engineer and draftsman, Sneden's services were employed as a map maker for several Union Generals during the first two and a half years of the war. Although a private, this posting gave him an easier life than experienced by most privates. Although in the field, Sneden was attached to headquarters. His staff position and duties also gave him considerable free time -- from which we benefit. Sneden used this time to record his observations in both written form and via sketches and watercolor renderings of war scenes.

Sneden's posting was not without difficulty or danger. Several times he had to reconnoiter close to the enemy or between the lines in order gather the information needed for accurate local maps. He was also asked to journey over recently fought over battlefields to aid in the construction of after-action reports -- after the Union army had left and local control had reverted to Confederate partisans.

On one such journey away from the main army, Sneden and a few of his companions were captured by Mosby's Rangers. Sneden then began his journey through the Confederate prisoner of war system staying in Richmond, Andersonville and several other locations.

His experiences are well written. Sneden has a very matter of fact style of writing that gets to the point and is descriptive without being overwrought. Having read "Company Ayche" by Sam Watkins and "All for the Union" by Elisha Hunt Rhodes, I would rank Sneden's work as highly among Civil War remembrances. His unique position enables him to comment on battlefield and camp experiences in all their gritty detail as well as those portions of the Union high command with whom he came in contact. His prisoner of war writing reveals the brutal realities of life at Andersonville and other locations. The raw and inhumane world of these men is given testamony by Sneden in his gripping account of what he and others bore.

The artwork illustrates the text well. Although probably considered somewhat rough strictly as art, it is poignant and captivating. His original maps are also fascinating as historical documents.

This is a very good book. The war and prison scenes are engaging and very interesting. The author's style is highly readible and very convincing in terms of giving a front line view of army and prison life. The plentiful contemporary illustrations makes this book a stand out among the genre.

I was in a gang and sence reading this book I been dressing like a civilized person and my selfesteem and grades have improved. I thank Mr. Knox for this book it has helped myself and my family and everything in his book is so true.

Mike Knox has his finger on the pulse of America's youth. The book describes in detail how to recognize gangs and gang behavior but also lets us know what we as adults need to do to help recover these children from such a life. As an educaror I recommend this book to all of my colleagues and to all school districts, because as Mr. Knox informs us this is a national problem not just an urban problem.

I'm a fourteen year old in the eighth grade. After reading this book I became aware of some of my friends that met the criterias of gangsters. So I sarted to stay away from them and they asked me why. I told them about the book and one of them has started to get out of the gamg. The others are a little bit interested in the book but won't admit it. This book is so good and has helped me so much I want to share it with my friends parents. I would like to thank Mr.Knox for writing this book because it helped me and so far one of my friends. I give this book 5 stars.