... In war, human lives are like dust
as bullets and arrows fly with death.
The wandering ghosts, the lost souls
make the scene still more mournful.
There were children, just tiny things,
born in a bad time,
separated from their parents.
No one was there to hold them close.
Heart-rending were their infant cries.

-Nguyen Du (1765-1820)

During the start of the 20th century, the countries of Europe increased in hostility towards one another. Few imagined a continental war. Even now, few of us can even imagine such a war, let alone what happened on Sept 11th. It is horrifying to imagine that in fact, it could happen a third time and repeat itself with alarming frequency until the end of time. In this cycle of violence, it seems man will never learn how to achieve peace.

What this book does, is take a look at the devastating first-hand reports and contemporary photographs of the battles that slaughtered millions.

The contents include:

Divided Europe - Aggressive policies and arrogant behavior.
The Fatal Shot - Assassination on June 28, 1914
War in the West - Interesting picture of Christmas pudding that was
sent as a gift to soldiers in 1914
Fighting Men - How the lives of millions of men changed
Enlisting - See what a survival kit looked like
Digging in the Trenches -The philosophy behind how the trenches were constructed
is interesting.
Life in the Trenches - Dealing with rats, lice and mud
Ready to Fight - weapons used during raids

Communications and Supplies - missile messages and postal pigeons
Observation and Patrol - Artificial trees and barbed wire. You can see how
adaptations were made during the war for various reasons.
Bombardment - Body armor and shell power
Over the Top - Pictures of men leaving the trenches and tending to the wounded>
Casualty - 21 million wounded
Women at War - Supporting the troops
War in the Air - Aircraft guns and fighter planes
Zeppelin - Early in the war, airships could fly higher than planes so it
was almost impossible to shoot them down.
War at Sea - Life inside a U-Boat
Gallipoli - Tin cans made into grenades
The battle of Verdun - "What a bloodbath, what horrid images, what a slaughter. I just cannot find the words to express my feelings. Hell cannot be this dreadful." ~Albert Joubaire
Gas Attack - What happened if the wind blew in the wrong direction?
The Eastern Front - Why Russian soldiers refused to fight at some point.
War in the desert - Pictures of Lawrence of Arabia's rifle and shoes called "sand shoes."
Espionage - A short story of secret ink, invisible ink, button messages, Mata Hari, hidden messages in tin cans, army intelligence, pocket cameras.
Tank warfare - See inside a tank
The US enters the war - pictures of infantry equipment
Under enemy lines - Pictures of the most horrendous conditions
The Final Year - Timeline of the end of the war
Armistice and Peace - Read about the Peace Treaties
The Cost of the War - The reality of war = death. Pictures of memorials.

I think it is good for children to read this type of book to see where we have been and where we don't want to go again.

In this day and age where what seems to make it in this worldis that and those people who conform to the do's and don'ts ofcorporate America, or perhaps I ought say america with a small"a", FM is a most refreshing change that renews my belief that there are still original thinkers out there making personal and important statements that are not only artistic, but personal, cultural, politically relevant, psychologically astute and desperately needed. It is hard to hold onto the hope that individuals can grow up in this world, develop and hold onto and feel good about an authentic sense of self - so kudo's to Lisa Adams for creating this book, and for those whos work appears. I am always impressed by the work of Lauren Hartman who seems to really have found a path to her authentic self - may she never lose that, and may this book inspire others to find theirs.

This is an extremely well-written book on a sadly neglected figure in American culture. The most popular newspaper columnist of his time, Adams made "Tinker to Evers to Chance" a national catchphrase and was mentor to George S. Kaufman, James Thurber and other distinguished humorists. I thought the research was particularly thorough--especially regarding the ancestry of Adams' second wife. And someone must have done a lot of work in musty libraries looking up all F.P.A.'s articles for now-forgotten magazines! I hope he got paid well. I would also single out the index for special praise.

Only five of the 1800 photos from which these were selected had been printed before. The photographer had put them away, after spending a summer in Mississippi, with a Whitney grant. As an artist, the time had never been ripe to look at them again. This is the only record of a single town in the midst of the Civil Rights revolution in America. It is the record of the largest project in Mississippi, which was overlooked and unpublicised at the time, probably for reasons of personal conflict & sexism. It is also a moment in the civil rights revolution preserved with the sensibilities of a participant, who is African-American & American Indian. It is a loving but never sentimental look at the people of the town in the midst of change, and of the young white college students & middle-aged, middle class African-American professionals who volunteered their services in aid of that revolutionary movement. One bookseller has called the introduction to the photographs "the best I have ever read." It is a good introductory history for the majority of this country who were born after that time. And it is a very beautiful book.

Not sure how many of you are familiar with the writings of Adam Zachary Newton, but for those who aren't, you should be. I have been anticipating this text ever since I heard (back in March) that it was to be published. A brilliantly educated lecturer and one of the smartest men you're ever likely to meet, Newton has again published a text (following the publication of his award-winning book, "Narrative Ethics") that confronts and educates the reader, this time comparing the writings of a selected number of black writers and the work of a number of Jewish ones on a one to one basis, pairing Ralph Ellison, Henry Roth, Philip Roth, David Bradley, Cynthia Ozick, Bernard Malamud, and others. Frankly, coming from a theater background, I must say that I particularly enjoyed the final chapter relating David Mamet's film "Homicide" to the O.J. Simpson trial. In a day where the O.J. trial has been looked at from more angles than the Hauptmann case, this offers a fresh and dramatic literazation of the event that is both interesting and incisive. Before I get off sounding like some sort of raving AZN fanboy, I will end this review by saying only that you should definitely read the book for yourself. The ideas in this text transcend the normal academic outpouring from the universities and are well-suited for a mainstream thinking audience.

Mr. Gazzaniga is a former Marine who has been there and writes from experience. His book, A Few Good Men, tells it like it is. Plain and simple. It's too bad this book is out of print because it's a great read. If you can find a copy of this book, get it.

Field Days is an outstanding anthology of poetry drawn from the pages of Common Ground. These paeans of lyrical celebration are arranged alphabetically and represent the combined works of more than ninety poets, both ancient and modern. From John Keats, William Blake, and Walt Whitman to Sylvia Plath, Robert Graves, and Seamus Heaney, here are poems that inspire, celebrate and document the complex and timeless aspects of human experience amidst pastoral landscapes and agricultural settings. Brockhampton: The land was too wet for plowing; yet it is done./Even the stones of the ridges lie sulky and brown./The roads are a slide of mud. The wet sky/Is blank as the chink of the hawk's perfect eye./A blink before the dark comes down/Drops the peregrine sun./The land glows like an awkward face./Broken posts, by which sheep graze/Shine pale as growing wood./Above, the last crow's wings/Cannot frighten from my blood/The stubborn light of things. Alison Brackenbury.

Well, I'm biased (distantly related), but I really enjoyed the read - Captain Bogardus knew more about hitting with a shotgun than just about anyone else of his time, and he shared quite a bit of it... The book was written at the turn of the century, and reading it is like venturing back in a time machine to the day when a man who was skillful with a firearm was looked upon as something other than evil...

I fell in love with this book's well-written and passionate articles a year ago and decided to teach it in my second-semester English composition class. My students, working-class youngsters from New York State, found it their favorite: it taught them about style in writing without being too abstract or introspective. They had energetic discussions about the issues Hochschild raises and the people he portrays: "Fishhooks and Chickens" led to some strong opinions on U.S. foreign policy, "Summer of Violence" prompted them to discuss their own civil-rights heroes, and the piece on ex-racist Floyd Cochran elicited opinions on reform and forgiveness. And their own writing showed that they learned a great deal from Hochschild's stylistic grace. This book will be a great document of its times for many, many years.

This cookbook has great recipes and the author really knows about what's involved with being a firfighter. He celebrates their contributions without being gushy. HOWEVER, the quality of this cookbook is pretty [bad] I have a first edition the author printed with cool full color pictures, and a way better cover and the paper and printing quality is by far superior. So while my dog-eared edition needs to be replaced, I'm going to wait until the new edition comes out. Check out ISBN 0963808915. It's the same book but better.