I waited over a year for this sequel to Invasion and Conquest of North Carolina: Anatomy of a Gunboat War to become available. Being from Elizabeth City, NC, Lt. Flusser's exploits were of great interest to me. (He played a major role in the Battle of Elizabeth City.) I was surprised to find out how much action took place on the local waterways during the war. The best part of the book is the emphasis on the people involved in the action. You get to know the characters personally. They become real.

This is a unique and fascinating book about the most successful Confederate ironclad of the Civil War. The book is rich with detail, much of which has never been seen before. Being a resident of Plymouth, NC where the events took place, my reader's copy of this book is filled with highlighted text that reveals facts that had not been brought to light, including never before published letters between Commander Cooke and his wife!

Mr. Hinds provides a new perspective by focusing on the personalities of the opposing naval commanders as well as the events that forever changed people's lives. Have you ever read a non-fiction book and wondered what happened to the characters later in life? Well Mr. Hinds does a great job of telling the "rest of the story", not only the major players, but also many of the minor characters.

This is a timely written book since a replica of the CSS Albemarle was recently launched in Plymouth and there is renewed interest in the subject. I highly recommend the book!

A great "story" based on obviously a thoroughly researched topic. I knew little about the subject at first, which is why it got my attention. My wife was also a little incredulous at first, but then we realised it was all factually based. I will be looking out for this author's next book.

I also wonder if this book will turn up as a swashbuckling movie down the road. I plan on sending copies as presents to friends who love history based books. It makes one want to go to the Carolinas to check out the scene - perhaps we have our next vacation destination determined.

Edgar Wood's HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE COUNTY IN VIRGINIA is an excellent quide for family researchers whose ancestors lived in Albemarle County. He covers the geography and history of the county, and includes account of varouis Albemarle families. The appendix has a wealth of information for the genealogist. I highly recommend this book!

Beautifully written and thoroughly researched, this book offers a glimpse into the history of the architecture of Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia. Additionally, the reader can learn of the fascinating personalities who have lived and worked within the walls of these works of art. It is a lifetime endeavor and a real treat for the local, the traveller, the Jefferson enthusiast and the historian.

It is an interseting story of a plucky Confederate Ironcald that was a powerful force until sunk by a Union Torpedo Boat after its brief stormy life. Ironic in the fact it was built in a Cornfield. Confederate Ingenunity at it finest! A very good book!

I own a signed first edition of this fine tale. I found it as I cleaned out old books from my great aunt's house before it was sold. This exciting story really gives a great picture of life in the Carolina colony in the early days of European settlement. It has a great storyline,well told, a strong love interest, brave deeds of daring, serious villainy and natural disaster in an historically accurate framework. This was not the Crown Colony of Virginia, but it was a land of opportunity for people trying to build a future and leave behind a past. If you are at all interested in pre-Revolutionary coastal North Carolina, this is a "must read". It is worth looking for!

This is a romantic historical novel about hero Adam Rutlege's growth from a North Carolina planter actively disinterested in entering politics in the mid-1760's to a devoted participant in the American Revolutionary cause who both loves his native North Carolina and loves the new country as a whole, as well as some of the western lands it will someday include. This is also a love story about Adam Rutledge and his neighbor, Mary Warden, who keeps her love secret from most people, as Adam keeps it secret for a long time even from himself, because of Adam's loyalty to his invalid wife and Mary's to the much older husband she married--apparently in name only--before meeting Adam. Adam and Mary's story, the early subplot involvign the Regulator movement that draws Adam into politics by giving him a specific group of people's problems to care about (a group that Fletcher deals with in _The Wind in the Forest_, where Adam and Mary make appearances), and the author's careful attention to details that appeal to the reader's senses, all kept me reading long stretches of this novel, sometimes when I knew that I should be reading other things for my college classes; it was only with difficulty that I made myself postpone reading the second half until catching up on class reading. I have since reread _Raleigh's Eden_ and again enjoyed it.

This is a really neat little book. So much has been written about Thomas Jefferson's life and the building of Monticello that it is hard to find books that offer anything really different. This book is a treasured part of my library for several reasons. The biggest reason is that it offers something unique: a look at the ordinary life of Jefferson. This isn't about the statesman, the president, the revolutionary. It's about the things he loved most: farming and working on his beloved home. The hardcover edition I have is beautiful in appearance, and this little book serves as a nice endtable conversation piece. It's a great gift for history lovers (I received it as a wedding present, believe it or not). In short, I couldn't recommend it more highly.

George Monck, later Duke of Abermarle, is best remembered as the man who led his Coldstream Guards to London in 1660 to effect a bloodless coup against the Cromwellian Republic and restore the Stuart dynasty. He was also one of England's most distinguished sailors of the 17th century, fighting alongside General Blake and Prince Rupert in several Anglo-Dutch wars. Earlier, as a land general, he fought in Ireland for Charles I, then switched sides and fought in Scotland for Oliver Cromwell. This is a competent and comprehensive biography of one of the greatest military careers in British history; I withhold a star because the story could have been told with a dab more flavor. Still, a life well lived.

I received Bland Simpson's "Into the Sound Country" as a gift. I've had it by the bed for my night reading. It's an unlikely book for me to read -- no plot, no tight narrative, no famous folks or... well, it's different.

You walk into it rather slowly. I kept thinking of John Parker quoting White's description of Roanoke Island (site of the "Lost Colony") as "the goodliest land under the cope of heaven."

"I got no respect for a man with judgment like that," Parker said.

Simpson takes on this swamp filled, brackish, mosquito plagued, twisted tree, run-down and Godforsaken part of the world (except for the beaches) that he and his ancestors grew up in, and Suffering Cats! You can't put the book down. You want to go there. Hell, you want to LIVE there. Remarkable.

I read until I couldn't keep awake last night and then for some reason -- perhaps my wife being away baby sitting in Charlottesville -- I woke up this morning a bit! before five and finished the book. Hated for it to end. That kind of book.

Simpson teaches Creative Writing at Chapel Hill. His long ago past was at one time my present, the forties and fifties on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It's a funny book to recommend. Who the hell has time for a book that is so... leisurely. And such good company. I read passages to Jutta. Long passages. That kind of book.

Very quietly in a sort of sneaky way, you get a picture of this guy and his family. Not a bad life. Not bad at all. You'll be glad you got to know him and them. His wife takes pictures. Good ones. You'll like her too.

Henry Morgan, the buccaneer-turned governor of Jamaica, begins this epic journey in his homeland of Wales. From his Welsh roots and escape from prison there, to Jamaica and his life as the ruler of an island nation, Henry Morgan lived hard, but fair. The writer entwines history, romance, and adventure to make this a very worthwhile read.