This is a book that was loosely based on the life of John Wren. In the book Wren is known as West and other names and locations are rather superficially disguised. For instance most of the action takes place in a suburb of Melbourne called Collingwood, which is rendered as Carrinbush in the novel. Wren had a colourful life becoming wealthy by running an illegal gaming operation around the turn of the century. He gained immense wealth and later moved into more legitimate business. He became close to senior church figures in the Catholic Church and the Australian Labour Party.

Hardy the author of this book was a long term member of the Australian Communist Party. His book is a strange mixture of story telling plus an attempt to paint the political affairs of Australia as corrupted by influence and money. Despite his somewhat doctrinal and schematic approach the richness of the material on which the novel is based makes it a fascinating read. It is strongest when Wren was a younger man portraying his rise to power and the sort of society that Australia was around the turn of the century. One senses a strong sympathy for the younger Wren as a working class boy who defied his background and society to claim his place in the sun.

The book is not only interesting as a novel but was part of Australia's history. After it was published Wren's wife took a famous libel action against Hardy which failed. As a result the book achieved folk law status and was made into a mini series.

This is one of the most powerful novels to have come out of Australia. With very little attempt at disguise, it tells the story of an Australian mobster who ruled a network of criminal activity for several decades before the Second World War. It is a brutal story and one that somehow touches on an aspect of Australian history which is hardly ever expressed in print. European Australia has always been a hard land. With communities originally based on convict labour, it seems as though a certain amount of violence came to be taken almost for granted. In a country that long had an oversupply of men, it is perhaps not so surprising that they spent much of their time trying to dominate both the land, its original inhabitants and each other. A sometimes brutal Army Corps looked after convicts for the first fifty years or so. Later, law enforcement was taken over by a police force which has often had to face charges of similar brutality and deep-rooted corruption, up to the present day. Aussie politics has always had a particularly nasty underbelly, and it seems as though social conditions were ripe in the 1920s for the rise of just such a personage as is depicted here.

Frank Hardy had to fight (the mob) hard to get this novel published and once he had succeeded, he had to go to court to defend it against a defamation order. The book's main character, even though he tried hard in later life to attain a position of legitimacy, always found himself caught up in the web of underworld intrigue that he had created. Even so, it is probably true to say that most ordinary people didn't want to know about the activities imputed to a man who was, superficially, a pillar of the community. So Hardy was right to expose the ruthless nature of the beast underlying the ostensibly honest sports promoter and family man. And perhaps all Australia, or those who remember this particular episode (and its ongoing media life through film and television) did well to note what sort of man lay behind the mask.

Australia has taken a long time to come out of this period of its history, when personal might could be displayed almost with impunity, even in public affairs. This book, perhaps neglected today, serves to remind us of the imposing structure of organised crime that Australia has had to grow up with. In addition, it is a fine literary achievement and worthy of being read on that basis alone.

Excellent for beginners, but I suggest a more detailed SAS book as a supplement for the more in-depth details.

The simple stuff that is difficult to find in the SAS manuals is right there with a quick example. I almost always try to find my answers here first, and I have pretty good luck. The SAS institute should look over books like this befor releasing their next round of manuals.

callie wants to help the hardy boys in their work.when she is mugged and dicovers a code book,things start to get interesting.then joe is knocked cold in a daring robbery.will they uncover the secret code?read see no evil to find out!

When Callie demands to be let in on a mystery, she doesn't realize that's one about to find her. During her walk home, she is attacked and knocked cold. It seems to be an innocent mugging until a black book filled with codes is found inside her purse. Then news comes that someone who may have been connected to the case commited suicide! It seems like it until something else is later discovered. During this, the Hardys meet up with a girl called Lisa, who seems to be a victim herself. Is she to be trusted or is she one of them. Read for yourself to find out!

As a great admirer of "Jude the Obscure" and "Tess of the D'Ubervilles," I was intrigued when I saw this collection of some of Hardy's shorter works, and was not disapointed. The common theme running through these sketches is Hardy's dissatisfaction with the institution of marriage. Written in Hardy's impeccable style, these stories are short and biting looks at the circumstances that surround and influence marriage. You'll find few happy endings among these tales, but they are an enjoyable read. It's always a pleasure to immerse oneself in Hardy's world and language, and the twisted little plots Hardy creates show a side of his genius I had not previously realized.

These stories are not as profound as some of Hardy's other works, and, by necessity, the characters are not as well developed. However, I would still recommend this book. For a fan of Tess or Jude, it's a fascinating look into the mind of Hardy at the time he was writing these novels. And for someone who's never read any Hardy, they are an easy and enjoyable introduction to a wonderful author.

Many people consider Thomas Hardy to be a great novelist and poet; but he is equally a great story writer. These are 19th Century stories; so they do not start in the middle and expect the reader to infer what the author leaves out; they are are not pared to the bone. They start at the beginning, describing vividly the setting of the place and the history of the leading characters, and build up to a proper conclusion. Without trying to derogate 20th Century writers like Hemmingway, these stories are all the better for it. They could have been easily extended to fully blown novels. They have all the touches that one expects from Hardy: vivid decription of Wessex, tragedy untouched by sentimentality; a solid style with touches of literary genius; and a perceptive understanding of the relationship between men and women, people and their environment, and a keen understanding of rustic life just before it was swept away by the arrival of the radio, the telephone, the motor vehicle, electricity and other aspects of modernity. If you love Jude or Tess, read this book. As soon as I had finished it, I hunted down his other short story collections, Wessex Tales, etc., which are just as good.

Katherine Spencer has just broken up with her fiancé when she is kidnapped. She escapes and gets away in the kidnappers' car... only to be caught in a tornado. Farmer Tom Weaver and his son Jamey can only watch as the Cadillac flips in the grip of a tornado. The woman inside is alive, but once they get her to a hospital, they find she has amnesia. She has nowhere else to go. So Tom takes her in. Jamey calls her "Dorothy" after Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. Tom thinks she is a rich girl who couldn't cope with life on his farm. "Dorothy" figures out how little practical housework experience she has, after a hilarious series of household mishaps. Though they both fight it, they fall in love. But both of them wonder about her past. And neither one of them is prepared for danger.... The tone of this book is often reminiscent of 1950's sitcoms. A fresh, enjoyable read!

Just the right mix of suspense and romance. Susan Hardy is a marvelous writer--and she gets all the elements right in this one. More, more, MORE by this author!

Alway moving forward. I really think this Poem and many others within this Book are energectic and timely. They capture the frame work of a people who have struggled for all they have. This book depicts a part of that struggle in it's poetry and highlights the principles and practices of Kwanzaa very well. So many of us are making excuses about why we can't get ahead but our forefathers never stopped "Like the Waters of the Sea, Never stand still, Like life created to eternally be, never stand still, Like rocks on a hill, the avalanche, In the midst of storm, a trees branch, Like ships upon the ocean, atoms in perpetual motion, keep a focused mind and strong will, Never , ever stand still. The Poets..Alvin S. Wiggins,and Althea Pendergrass compliment Mr. Tripp Quite well. The chemistry is resident in the diversity of their backgrounds and the merging of their commonality. I recommend you buy and read it and share the emotions of their experiences as they are your own.

The writings in this book were straight from the heart. I found relation to many poems. The poems written by Alexander S. Wiggins were very real. I could see and feel the very things he wrote about. This book is not only is a collection of poems...it's a collection of people's hearts, souls, spirits, dreams, and lives.

Although written in the early nineties, the return of the social security issues and the Republican economic collapse have rendered this book relevant again. It provides a good background and bare bones analysis of the history of the program, as well as the nature of the crises as it stood at the time. It also includes a fine assessment of the then currant reform/repair formulas. Not surprisingly, the return of the problem has lead to the return of many of the same proposals, including that old Republican fetish, privatization. The authors own solutions are interesting, and complicated enough that they are not to be dismissed out of hand, although her 'balance the budget' suggestion has clearly not solved the issue. However, it is certain that accepting all her proposals would help considerably, since calls on both business and individuals to pitch in. The second half of the book (written by the 2cd author) is a discussion of investment strategies (some are common sense) that are interesting and still useful, though less of an interest to me personally. All in all a worthwhile work.

This is a book that all americans should read. Especially the seniors who thought they knew what social security was all about. Social Security reform was one of the main reasons that I voted for Bush/Cheney. And after reading this book you will see why social security needs reform. It is the ultimate "Ponzi Scheme."

The author uses literary styles with superb grace, with supple documentation throughout. This book is certainly not for the recreational reader, who is bound to be overwhelmed with its intellectual and scholarly approach to a subject consumed with controversy. The author stops short at doing justice to the topic by failing to adequately attribute the origin of polygamy to providential revelation. He instead ascribes its origin to naturalistic reasons, almost as though Joseph Smith read a sociological history of the eastern United States and then decided to carry forth those ideas. Joseph himself admitted that the introduction of Polygamy would rock the church and that he really had great reluctance in becoming involved himself. He went forward due to divine command. Overall, Hardy did well and deserves the utmost credit. But true history views its path in a panoramic fashion.

Carmon Hardy has done an excellent job of describing the Mormon church's doctrinal change from a polygamous to a monogomist ethic. The first part of his book deals with the polygamous beginnings and early Mormon justification for the practice. Polygamy was considered the "family order of heaven" and was sanctioned by revelation given to the founding prophet Joseph Smith. Polygamy was practiced in secret until the Mormons came to Utah, were it was openly taught. Early church leaders even taught that polygamy was a requirement to reach the highest Heaven, where God dwells. Hardy spends the rest of his book describing the slow death of polygamy. Even though polygamy had always been against the law, the Federal government started passing tougher laws against the practice. The most strict law became the "Edmunds-Tucker act" in 1887, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1890. This law disincorporated the church and most of its properties. The church realized that it could not survive and so that same year the manifesto was issued, which publically stated the church would abandon plural marriage. However, it was not that simple. Hardy shows how many members of the church, including high church leaders, continued to practice polygamy well into the beginning of the next century. This created a discrepancy between what the church was saying (that they had given up polygamy) and what they were still doing (allowing some to continue in taking new wives). Hardy's final chapter deals with the issue of deception used by some in the church to try to keep the practice alive. "Solemn Covenant" is very well written and Hardy's keen sense of irony manifests itself throughout the book. Especially in the chapters that deal with the church being so strong in the doctrine of polygamy, to a church that is now strongly anti-polygamous. This is the best book about Mormon polygamy that I have read.

I like the order of the presentation. Whether a bid is forcing or not is presented early (Ch 3).

If you call yourself an Advanced player you have got to get this book. Hardy describes in depth, the current modern bidding techniques. He starts with two over one, game force and adds in conventions and gadgets that should make your bidding much more accurate. His examples and quizzes are very well edited. Of all the bridge books I own (many), I would call this one "my bible."

Charity is one of the only crooks that's ever escaped the Hardys. Now they've spotted her in Bayport, and they're determined to stop her from escaping again. I believe this is one of the better Hardy Boys Casefiles books.

Charity is back...and Poor Joe is left to handle her almost all by himself!! This is one book where the brothers are hardly together ....and Definitely one of the most suspensefull. This plot is just one disaster after another..can't say more without giving away the plot!