An interesting tale of Larry Lavin. A dentist with a career ahead of him. The Lure of money led to him dabble in the "Candy" of the 1980's. Intriguing was how he hid so close to the authorities as a fugitive. Good reading. Perhaps he was pursuing what many of taught is the American Dream....well worth the read.

I read Tom's newest book, both prior to publication and since it came out, and can say that I have never read a more enjoyable book on the old west. This little-known piece of history is brought forth by Tom in the context of the surrounding wild cowtowns of Wichita and Caldwell. In that context, Tom tells the reader of many of the seemly incidents endemic to the cowtowns. With that basis, he brings out Belle Plaine's desire to steer their community away from such a life, toward that of a well-to-do farming community. But that road was not without tragedy as Tom points out so well. I would certainly recommend this well-illustrated and very readable book to both the serious historian and the casual reader of 19th century Americana.

I can't believe that this book is not reveiwed. As a big band trumpet player for twenty five years it provided insight into not just Woody Herman,but the musicians that played on his band . That's what this book is really about. The life of being on the road with a big band. I could relate as I've been their and if you read this book you can live it to. The book is written by the alumni of the band as a kind of tribute to the man who created the band that played the blues. Its' more anecdotes then a actual biography.

Dog Road Woman received the Before Columbus foundation American Book Award on September 5th, 1998. As Allison Adelle Hedge Coke read on April 14th at the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, her voice added another dimension to already profound poems. This collection of 22 poems is like "an autobiographical sketch of a contemporary mixed-blood native life. These poems recount surviving diaspora, domestic violence, racism, and an extraordinary number of challenges." Allison uses writing as a vehicle to take herself and us from one place to another, psychologically and geographically. Since her work is mainly inspired from her personal experience, knowing some major aspects of Allison's life brings the poems closer to us in meaning and in purpose. She shares with us the proof of a powerful will for survival and pride. Her "work is a catalyst" for sanity, love, and humanity. Allison Adelle Hedge Coke believes in hope and possibilities. Her poetry is straight forward, honest and real, and never falls into self-pity and dark cynicism. It talks about anger but never spite. Since Dog Road Woman does not have Allison's biography, I added here a piece from Reinventing the Enemy's Language, edited by Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird. I believe that this bio-abstract will help you understand Allison's poetry better. Allison introduces herself: " I am a mixed Canadian: Native Huron and Tsalagi (North Carolina), French Canadian and Portuguese. I grew up mostly in North Carolina but also in Canada during the summers. We stayed with various relatives in other areas as well and I spent a great deal of time in South Dakota. ...I have gone from working in the fields of tobacco in North Carolina and sweet potatoes to working for an international Indian organization based in Los Angeles. I have had a very varied life. Two things which affected me a lot are my father's belief in traditional values and my mother's insanity. I still deal with this in my work, as it is still a big part of my life. ...I always wrote. As soon as I could write words, I used them in different ways to describe my feelings, observances, and experiences. I often felt like a witness as a child and wrote volumes which I never showed anyone hoping that someone would find them when I died. I believed I would die very young given the circumstances of my youth and my extreme close calls with death. These included reactions to local anesthetics and antibiotics, attempts made on my life by people very close to me, and severe automobile wrecks. I lived in battering situations as a child and as an adult. I am lucky to be alive now... A lot of my work also deals with abuse and its effects on the psyche. We have to stop this current before it floods our very existence. I believe in change. Some we experience through no fault of our own and others we create as a means of correction. The latter part of change is often a direct result of the former."

(editorial note: misprint in "The Change." William Morris is supposed to be Philip Morris. Confirmed by Allison Hedge Coke on April 14th, 2000).

There are good reasons Hedge Coke's debut collection won the American Book Award. These poems tell powerful stories in powerful language.
A brilliant collection from an important new Cherokee writer.
Highly recommended!

Coke Newell's preface highlights a theme familiar to anyone who has had the often-frustrating experience of discussing religion with Mormons: when looking into Mormonism, one can only trust books written by faithful Mormons. Anything else (particularly anything critical) is "dirty water." Newell is perfectly right, however, in saying that one should learn about Judaism from a rabbi and about Mormonism from a Mormon, which is why I read this book. I've read other books not so flattering to Mormonism, so why not go to the source and see what the faithful say about it?

Some might be amazed at the assertions made by Newell, perhaps the most brazen found in the book's subtitle (any Christian can make the case that their faith ultimately predates Jesus -- this is not the shattering novelty Newell would like it to be). Astonishingly, Newell seems to believe that only Mormonism can answer (or at least is by far the best-qualified to answer) the questions long answered in various ways by all the world's religions: "Where did I come from? Why am I here on earth? What will become of me after this life is over?" That kind of bold confidence, however, has been a core part of the Mormon spirit since its birth in the midst of New York's feverish revivalism in the early 19th-century -- a climate that produced a dizzying variety of religions and "prophets" (of which Joseph Smith was arguably the most gifted).

Newell's first seven chapters are for me the "meat" of the book and the most interesting part. In this first section he charts the basic outline of Mormon beliefs, fantastic as they are. The suspension of disbelief required here is formidable, but it's a good yarn despite the glaring historical and theological errors. The bulk of the book follows the Mormons on their dreary Westward trek in great and purple-prosed detail (Mormons good, U.S. government BAD, etc.); Newell so overdoes this story that I had to scan through whole sections to get through it. The last chapter and the Epilogue reveal much about the Mormon mindset. Newell is fond of commenting on the rapid international growth of Mormonism and quoting conversion statistics as proof of its truth (the world's religions are running scared, etc.). He also touts the high level of education and dedication of the average Mormon (smart people become Mormon and really love God, etc.). My favorite of his many dubious assertions is his notion that Mormonism is intellectually viable because Mormon scholars have possibly written as much as scholars of other religions (apparently, 98 miles of books in BYU's library = intellectual strength). Newell happily criticizes Thomas Cahill's "religious assumptions," which is ironic since Mormonism is built on some of the wildest and most outrageous assumptions I've ever come across.

Mormonism, based as it is on the subjective "intuition" of the individual (you'll "feel the truth" of it, and if you don't, you're not open to God...) and what Newell calls a "generous plan of salvation" (i.e., easy), is a remarkably irrational non-Christian religion born of a remarkable man in 19th-century New York. Coke Newell offers here a well-written and often interesting read, and to his credit he is, on the surface, more objective and forthright than any other Mormon author I've read. What he gives, however, is only a partial picture (as is the case with Mormon missionaries and their pre-packaged evangelization program). What he offers may indeed be "clean water," but it needs to be taken with more substantial food. I recommend Fawn Brodie's classic, balanced, sober and exhaustively researched biography of Joseph Smith: "No Man Knows My History.". Stay away from the really emotional and vehemently anti-Mormon stuff out there. A Mormon friend of mine criticized me for reading Brodie and Isaiah Bennett (without reading them himself), but I found in Newell's book everything they assert about Mormon beliefs. More importantly, I found much that Newell does NOT say about them, and when looking at Mormonism this makes all the difference. Straight answers are hard to come by.

Coke Newell's "Latter Days" has all the makings of a good book: it is interesting, accurate, amazingly thorough for its length, and eminently readable. The book flows quickly (he does not get off on tangents--has no time to), and covers a lot of territory.

I notice one other review that takes the author to task for working in the PR department of the LDS Church. Well. Every author writes from their personal perspective. I'm at least impressed when an author is upfront and revealing regarding where they are coming from. There are things Mr. Newell can tell us from and with his background that are unique and interesting.

Mr. Newell notes at the outset that he hopes to provide an accurate and helpful "insider's view" but one which he intends to be insightful and reasonably objective to anyone (non-member or member alike) with an interest in understanding Mormons or Mormonism. He simply never comes across to me as being in any kind of proselytizing mode.

Mr. Newell is primarily factual in presenting Mormon doctrine and history, but he does occasionally provide some "spice" in the form of brief commentary as well as some personal feelings and anecdotes from his own experience. I welcome that, as it makes the book that much more interesting and readable.

In the end, I felt I came away from the book with a rather complete view of Newell's topic. Yes, it is from his perspective, but he's upfront regarding himself and his purposes which are explicitly to tell a story, not to convert. I think this is as it should be. Bottom line: I loved the book.

For the layman, and for those itching to take a glance at Mormonism, this book far more than any other present offer is the one to read. And for those only begining their studies into the religion of the Latter-Day Saint Church, this is where you want to begin (possibly excepting the Book of Mormon itself).

Coke Newell brilliantly and swiftly traverses through the wonderful history surrounding this religion. From the humble beginings in Palmyra to their vast empire in Salt Lake City. Every major event in the history of the Mormon people is covered. Not objectively, of course, since the author is a member of and works for the church. Thus, the embarassments of history, as are evident in all peoples, are left out and ignored. Nevertheless, Newell's brief outline of how the Mormons came to be where they are is engaging. Written with those not of the Mormon faith in mind, the work is a captivating introduction into a history which is often overlooked and ignored (perhaps considered an embarassment of America for some).

Two things stand out about the work: the prologue and epilogue Newell includes with his history. Other books have been written before, with Latter-Day Saint or 'Gentile' in mind, that do just as worthy a job as this one. This stands alone in the pack, to be noticed and admired, for its treatment of Mormonism as not simply a new creation brought up out of the creative mind of Joseph Smith, but as other religions view their ideology: an eternal, everlasting truth. With this attitude, Newell discusses what Mormons believe happened in the before-life and in the after-life. And it is this attribute which adds to the unique flavor this book presents and gives it the quality to be a worthwhile read (it gets a 5star because of this, too).

I confess that I am a little disappointed in the revised 3rd edition of this book which I purchased after seeing an earlier edition in the reference section of our local library. I am a collector of Big Top peanut butter song glasses, and this book seems to be one of the few that has information about these glasses. When I looked up the Big Top glasses in this latest edition, there was actually less text and fewer photographs of these glasses than there had been in the earlier edition!! For this reason, I have a hard time considering the third edition "revised and expanded." There are also a number of Big Top glasses with children's songs that are not listed (London Bridge, Farmer in the Dell, Little Bo Peep, Billy Boy, etc.)

I bought two other books at the same time as this one.. Chase and Kelly's "Collectible Drinking Glasses" and John Hervey's "Collector's Guide to Cartoon and Promotional Drinking Glasses". All three are good, but this one is the one I keep coming back to, while on the hunt at flea markets etc.

I am new to collectible glasses so I can't speak to issues of accuracy or pricing.

Hope this helps!

We have waited paitently for the release of this book as it has been 2 years since we were told it was going to be released. Time and effort are clearly visible as it gives reference of over 800 new glasses that the previous editions lacked. Many of the small mistakes about certain glasses have also been corrected.

This is clearly at the top of its class for promotional glasses and is more extensive in categories then all the other so called glass books available on the market. As with any collector book this one has prices in it and not all of them are reliable as the common items appear to be overpriced and the high end glasses appear to be underpriced. The only dissapointment I had overall with the book was its combining black and white photos on same pages as color shots, since part of the page is in color it would be nice to have the whole page in color.

In any event Tom Hoder did an excellent job overall and this book will still stand above others as the one people will use as a guide.

Beverly Oliver was not in Dealy plaza during Kennedy's assassination, and is perhaps the biggest liar alive today.

She cannot support any of her contentions about being a witness and her book is just an example of the two adages- "A fool and his money are soon parted" (this is you if you buy this piece of tripe), and "There is a sucker born every minute."

Beverly Oliver waited over ten years to spring her preposterous story on the public and the thing is so shot full of holes that you could sail a ship through some of them. Save your money!

not only what happened in Dealey Plaza, but also what took place backstage.

here's the juicy stuff........

Mrs. Oliver not only knew Jack Ruby, (she worked for him), but she also claims that Ruby knew Oswald. Beverely comes out in the movie JFK. she is interviewed and then says she won't testify. in real life, she didn't speak with Garrison, but she did know Ruby and Oswald.

Beverely Oliver, aka The Babushka Lady, was present in Dealey Plaza the day JFK was shot. we know this throught over dozens and dozens of photos taken that day. in the photos taken that day, one of which is the front cover of the book, shows her taking film of the JFK assassination. a couple of days after the killing, the film was taken by an FBI man. she identified that man as FBI Agent Reggis Kennedy, who denied it.

Thirdly, and most importantly is that she knows who killed JFK, and it wasn't Oswald. i want to say, but i can't. read this book.
she says exaclty who killed JFK and who the shooter was, because she knew him, and he knew her.

good luck.
good book.

with the Lady who not only was present in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963, but the very person who knew Jack Ruby.

she came out in the movie JFK. the girl at the Carousel Club. but anyway, Mrs. Oliver's book is very interesting. She talks about...........okay, i don't want to ruin the book for you. go and check it out in the Library or buy it. you won't be dissapointed.

This is a fabulous reference for how Lyndon Johnson outedged Coke Stevenson for the Senator of Texas in 1948 by a mere eighty-seven votes. Had Lyndon B. Johnson not of won this election he may of never became President.

A well-written, thorough study of one of the forgotten, yet most important, moments in Texas and American politics. Kahl provides a complete story of "Landslide Lyndon's" ballot box fraud in his race for the U.S. Senate in 1948. Had Johnson lost this election, he might never have been president, and this book tells the complete story of how LB J and his cronies stole an election, then used parliamentary tricks to avoid being overturned. Mary Kahl puts the whole story together in a fascinating read. If you are a Lyndon Johnson fan, or a Lyndon Johnson critic, you have to read this story.

A must have for all Tintin fans. Capitaine Haddock is in fineform as he hurls an impressive stream of curses at a ship of slavers.

The author does a credible job researching facts and figures surrounding the entry and the eventual reign of Goizueta in the Coca-Cola empire. The book succeeds in being able to provide the reader with an initial glimpse of how Goizueta operated and the transformation of Coke from a an above-average company to one of the greatest corporations in the world. The only setback is the admitted non-cooperation of Goizueta himself in the creation of this book.

Maria Kozak
per.4
3/22/02
Economcs
Mr. Jimenez

I LIke To Buy The World A Coke, David Greising
John Wiley &Sons, Inc., 1997, 304 pages

David Greising- is the Atlanta bureau cheif of Business Week magazine. He is also an author of: "Brokers", "Bagmen& Moles: Fraund and Corruption in the Chicago Futures Market".

The main idea of this book is to show the reader a life history of a Roberto Goizueta

The book, "I Like World To Buy A Coke" by David Greising gives us very detailed information on Coke Compnany history. Robert Goizueta, CEO of the Coca-Cola was a Cuban imigrant. Thanks to his ambitious character he was able to start a new better life in United States of America. He menaged to live through all the obstacles of an immigrant and become most succesful CEO. Thanks to his possition and strength he changed Coca-Cola into the most profitable corrporation. Who knew that Coca-Cola was loosing its market for Pepsi? If you want to learn more about Coca-Cola you've got to read this book!

"Some of the materials were repeated" (A reader from Malysia).
"This is unauthorized bibliography and the author makes some assumptions and leaps of faith that are not substantiated sufficiently" (A reader from North Carolina).

I highly recommend this book to all students especially those who are thinking in majoring in business, and or have just emigrated from a country and need motivation. Roberto Goizueta was a young man who emigrated from Cuba. Despite his hardship in his country and living in the United States he was able to overcome all of his obstacles and become one of the most powerful man in the Coca-Cola Company. He was able to use his tragedies and make the Coca-Cola Company one of the most successful companies in the United States. Roberto was known as the Big Man in the business world. Goizueta's successful tips are revealed in this book, in order to find out you must read this outstanding book.