This book was written in 1895 and according to the forward, was "'lost' for nearly half the years since its publication". After suffering through it I now know why. The plot is dull and little background is given as to the reasons for the strike that the events do center around. Many happenings are expected and do not help to keep interest in the story. The characters are all underdeveloped. After reading the whole book I still don't feel like I know who Andrew, the preacher, is; or why Stuart and Eric felt such a close attachment to each other and were willing to go to such lengths to keep their friendship.

The only redeeming qualities of this book are seeing a man commit himself to Christ and for a group of people to try to settle their disputes in a "Christian" manner - meaning through discussions and mutual respect (I don't see what is necessarily Christian about that!). I was disappointed in Stuart's "conversion" however as it comes upon him very quickly, early in the book and with seemingly no impetus for it. A friend tells Stuart that he has committed his own life to serving Christ and then the next morning Stuart is a believer and begins to do what he thinks is right in God's eyes. The problem is it happens to quickly and we don't get a look at the thought process that led him to this decision. In addition, a major character flaw in Stuart and the rest of his friends is they become very judgmental of those who are not believers and go so far as to think they are better and tell others what to do. It was a struggle for me to finish this book as it was not only boring, but promoted qualities and behaviors that I do not feel are living God's way. Perhaps these characters should have asked themselves more often "What Would Jesus Do?"

Why 2 stars?:
This book should have remained lost and not rediscovered by its "updater". The plot is dull, characters uninteresting and they reflect ideals that are not as Christian as they touting themselves to be. The only reason I gave it 2 is they did at least pray and ask for guidance from the LORD. My suggestion however, leave this one on the shelves!

A beautifully written book set in the early 1900's around the mining business. It tells the story of a young man deciding on the priorities of his life. It shows all of us the true meaning of life. It's based on fact about the mining strike of that time and is a must for historical buffs!

I wonder if people know that this book is the long-lost manuscript written by the author of In His Steps, which is the best-selling modern-day religious book that began the whole "What Would Jesus Do" movement.

I really enjoyed reading this Book,Marilyn as seen from another's perspective, in this case a young Susan Strasberg.
It wasn't hard to understand how Susan could feel at once so jelous and insecure around marilyn, yet seek her approval and friendship. Ignored by her own parents in favor of her surrogate sister Marilyn, Susan recounts all her conflicting emotions during that time in her Life.
I found her recollection of her affair with Richard Burton equally interesting, as well as a closer Look at Paula Strasberg and her relationship with marilyn.
This is a good read for any Marilyn fan...a different Look at the Legend.

Why do I like this better than most MM biographies? Strasberg actually knew MM. So many authors, like Norman Mailer among many others, didn't even know her and that makes their biographies debatable in terms of accuracy. Sometimes Strasberg does go into too much depth about her complex feelings about MM, but there are antedotes that have never been published before. Now that Stasberg is sadly deceased, this book becomes even more valuable because this is her last words on MM. However, I do think "Conversations with Marilyn" by Weatherby is a much more revealing book; Weatherby also knew MM. (See my review of that book if this interests you.)

This book contains many of the essential keys to understanding Marilyn Monroe. Although told through the eyes of another actress, it focuses more on Marilyn rather than Susan Strasberg. The best part of the book, to me, was how they first met. It also shows that Marilyn Monroe was in a way a normal woman with many insecurities and sometimes just as scared as all of us sometimes are. It was good that someone so close to her could write a book looking back at not only her as being a legend, but someone we could relate to. I have read many books on Marilyn Monroe, but I don't think any of the books I read so far actually helped me to understand her point of view as this book did.

Well, if you've bought other books about Marilyn as I do, this one won't add much to your collection. I prefer to choose a book with relatively unseen pictures of Marilyn since we've all seen so much of her, and this book certainly fails in this regard. I also don't like the presentation of this book, the quality of the paper is bad, and there are too many words surrounding the pictures, making the pages look rather crowded...

I received this book as a gift and was surprised to see many photos of Marilyn i had never seen before. That was some feat for the author considering i am a die-hard Marilyn fan. Like many others i am always looking for new things to discover about the screen legend. This book delivers and is a must have for any Marilyn Monroe fan!

I found this book unique in it's presentation, from photos to Marilyn speaking to the reader through narration. It contains many photos that have not been previously published by other books about her. It should be added to any Marilyn Monroe lover/afficinado's collection. A really beautiful book!

I read Tales From The House Of Bunnicula
I thought it was a good book because it gets exciting at the end. I think a lot of other kids would read it. Kids and adults would like it. I think ages 8-30 mostly would like it. I recommend reading this book as soon as possible.

I must admit that I bought this book for my 8 year old son and 6 year old daughter solely because the main character is a dachshund. Both children could not put the book down and have asked me to buy MORE, MORE, MORE of these books. They contain exactly the right mix of scariness and humor for children this age. And I enjoy the stories too!

Eagles and Johnston have constructed a great text for an introduction into government. This text discusses parliamentary government, bicameralism, federalism, separation of powers, totalitarianism, organized interests, elections, etc... However, this book is probably not suitable for a student with an existing knowledge of politics and the United States government.

After years of writing political theory, this book was supposed to be for me a simple reference 'just in case'. I found myself scouring it again and again, for it superbly filled out those little pockets of ignorance which are intrinsic to the vast study of democracy. The book is comprehensive enough to mention and guide the reader through the basics of nearly every aspect of government. Where it leaves off, a reading-list is given, further guiding the curious into the next levels of study. I feel extremely lucky to have found this book, and this after majoring in Politics, after receiving a law degree, and after years of private study and thought. If only I could have found it sooner, say, in college. Well, better late than never.

Isaac Monroe Cline, writing of a storm he weathered off the coast of Veracruz, Mexico, made the prescient comment that "This was my first experience in a tropical cyclone, but it was not to be my last." Prescient, that is, for native Galvestonians who have listened to stories of the fateful, terrible Great Storm of 1900 from their forebears. I myself am a descendant of a survivor of an event that binds people together like Pearl Harbor survivors. Every B.O.I. (Born On the Island), it seems, had someone in the family or knew someone who made it through the night on September 8 one century ago.

Storms, Floods and Sunshine is one book that will be indispensable to storm descendants and Texas history aficionados. It is the autobiography of Isaac Cline, the weatherman who followed the storm as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico after its birth under the sweltering West African sun, traveling thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean, cutting a swath of destruction across Cuba before turning its fury directly on the industrious city of Galveston, the Wall Street west of the Mississippi and number one cotton port in the nation.

The chapters are short and the sentences are spare of the sentimental, flowery rhetoric one might expect of a Victorian-age Southerner born at the cusp of the Civil War in 1861. His life was one of Masonic diligence, Franklin-like in his pursuit of science and the betterment of mankind, shunning distractions like strong drink, gambling, even the company of women, until he could convince himself that perhaps the soft touch of a woman's hand could help him in social advancement.

Predictably, the longest chapters concern the development of weather technology, from its infancy under the Signal Corps of the U.S. Army., the political undercurrents, the infighting, and the agricultural aggrandizement. There are some snippets of humor, such as one forecaster who typed up the forecast for the week, submitted it to the newspaper, and took off fishing.

"History does not record a greater disaster in the United States, than that which occurred at Galveston, Texas, on September 8, 1900."

The one chapter that stands out, of course, is the one which changed the lives of thousands of residents and the course of a city. It materially changed Cline's life as well--he lost his wife in the disaster. Curiously, he is very silent about her other than a short description of how they met. Perhaps the memory of her death was too painful to relate in the wake of a hurricane that took at least 6,000 lives.

Some of the asides and anecdotes may strike the modern reader as a little bizarre. To put it in perspective, the writer is, after all, a devout Methodist who put aside a promising career as a preacher to study medicine and the weather. For example, a whole chapter is devoted to the novel idea that the ark was actually built in America--near the swamps of Florida and North Carolina, to be exact. Yet even here he marshals evidence he considers scientific, such as wood type and ocean currents. Plausible, maybe. Unusual, certainly.

It is a firsthand account of someone who helped a neglected branch of science become an essential part of our understanding of the natural world today. As Cline writes, "The slow progress made in the study of weather is surprising. The barometer was not invented until 1643, and the special study of weather and its changes did not receive much attention until two hundred years later."

In a field of science where writing can be used more as a weapon than as a tool for understanding, Isaac Cline still shines as a meteorologist who knew how to write in a way most anyone can understand, without "dumbing up" the prose. The only thing missing are pictures, charts, and diagrams, if for no other reason than as a necessary break from all the text. His short chapters work to the book's advantage.

Even after 49 years, the spirit of the author comes alive in his writings. He was in a unique situation - witnessing the birth of the National Weather Service, and leading to its eventual acceptance from a public unable to believe anyone could make a one hour forecast, let alone one for two days!

He expanded the role of the NWS in his 55-year career, and now has an award named after him, long after his demise. He lived to a ripe old age, doing what he loved most. His personality is in full effect - he comes across arrogant at times, and uses shameless self-promotion in order to get everyone to know all the contributions he has made to meteorology and Early American Art. It was, and still is, well deserved, however.

He goes over his role in the Galveston Hurricane, the 1915 New Orleans Hurricane, and numerous Mississippi River Floods, including the great crevasse of 1927. He put most of the pieces of the hurricane puzzle together, and advanced the science significantly. He raised a family, and still found time to restore old paintings and make great contributions to his community in Galveston and New Orleans throughout his life.

The lessons he learned in life were hard, but it helped make him the man he was. His story is still fresh, even after all these years. This book is well worth owning, and is valuable in its historical information. Meteorologists and local historians could do worse than do read/own this work.

The setting, Wilmington, Delaware, used to be my home, so I'm always scouting for books about Wilmington to stave off my homesickness for a "great place to be somebody." What fun to meet Holly Hannah and discover the twists and turns her life takes over a year. Great character development, a realistic lifestyle and the attention to detail was fun. This is a good book to take to the beach. It is a quicker read than the size and page numbers hint as the print is large and very easy to read without my middle-aged cheaters. Enjoy and I'm looking forward to Holly's next adventure.

Until "A Theory of Survival," I never heard of Jane Monroe. The cover photograph first captured my attention. What kept my attention was Monroe's use of dialogue, rather than wordy, endless narrative. In this book of hope you are drawn into the life of Holly Hannah. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story (but not one that is plot-driven) and look forward to Monroe's next.

This book was given to me as a gift, but I didn't really want to read it, but several days later I read it and discovered it was informative and educational.

This book provides adequate facts about drinking prolems among teen-agers, legal aspects of drinking, peer pressure, prevention and treatment.

It's well written and easy to understand. I think it's good reading material for all young adults.

S. Paige Baty's American Monroe is one of the most riveting academic books on popular culture I have ever read. The author does an excellent job of explaining how the star has functioned as an icon of popular memory over the past three and a half decades, exploring her image from cultural, historical, and political angles.

She explains that the "real" story began once Monroe died, in so much as her corpse provided the ground for recent history (Hollywood, Presidential politics, feminism) to be written. If you're looking for an ordinary biography of Marilyn, or a typical rendering of her place in history, don't look here. But if you'd like to gain a critical or philosophical perspective on the star, buy this book! Now!

Of particular interest is Baty's take on mass media, virtual communities bound by the internet, and a re-thinking of the way American citizens cast our vote in the democratic process.

So you wanted to know how automated theorem proving algorithms work? This is a "hands on" book that tells you just that and gives you the sources of a program that implements these algorithms. The book is a cross between giving you theory and telling you about the included programs. As such it is a fast read and is great to learn the basic concepts. Its short comings are that you sometimes need to reread a paragraph a few times because it is written in a fairly terse style. The code is meant to work under unix but compiles and run well under windows visual C++ although one program does not work fully (COMPILE).