Heartbreak Hotel is the story of women. Set around a group of women living and working together in the ultimate feminist museum, The Museum of the Revolution, Heartbreak Hotel shows how women are still struggling to gain a balance with identity, culture, and feminism in the post feminist movement era.

When one of their own is struck down in a hit and run motor cycle accident, the women of Heartbreak Hotel suddenly come under attack by the town government who wants to shut them down. The story is set mainly around these women holing up together and dealing with this 'attack'. These scenes are interesting as they present the women of Heartbreak Hotel working togehter, playing together, and fight together (and with each other).

The women themselves bring to mind Jungian archetypes. You get to meet an ex-nun (who may have left the monastery in body, but not necessarily in spirit), an ex-cop whose been thrown off the force and is very busy being pissed with everyone around her, a language genius who thinks in seven languages at a time, a woman so comfortable with her sexuality that she has little care for who hears her vibrator running, a wife/mother on the run from her family who is ate up with guilt for abandoning her husband and children, and a hunchback woman named Quasi (no kidding) who says not a word, but brings them all together.

This book is really great and often funny. There are many insights into the conflicting emotions that women have about themselves, other women, and the world around them. While the feminist movement may be beyond it's prime, from this book it is clear that there is much to be done, and that most of it needs to take place not within society, but within the hearts and minds of women.

Which brings me to the one point that I didn't like about this book. Like so much feminist literature, the author of Heartbreak Hotel seems to take the line that women should be accountable only to themselves. That what a woman wants, is what a woman should have, regardless of whether it is right or wrong, regardless of what her responsibilities are, be damned who gets hurt.

While I want women to be liberated from our patriarchal society, I just can't agree with that. Wrong will still be wrong. And as unpopular as it is to say in this day and age, people (women included) have responsibilities that need to be fulfilled whether they like it or not, whether it feels good or not. When this is recognized by the broader feminist culture is when feminism will move from it's current stage (rebellious teenager) to where it can be (glorious, mature womanhood).

This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I have never regreted taking the time to read it. The novel is full of unusual writing describing the occupants of the Heartbreak Hotel and their place of work, the Museum Of The Revolution. The occupants are what the book is really about. While they try to cope with the city's unacceptence of their existence, they reveal the truths, tragedys, and joys of growing up and being female. Burton manages to capture this with eloquence and accuracy unlike any other book I have read and consequently, I was able to identify with every woman Burton introduces - I could see parts of myself, or parts of other women that I knew in each character. With passages such as the following, who could help but fall in love with this sure-to-be classic of women's literature?

"Rita stares at the glints, and all of a sudden telescopes: sees herself clear as day a pubescent girl waking early in the morning, sun pouring in. She lies on her side and looks at her arm where the sun strikes the golden hair, makes little glints and sparks, is there too much hair? She wonders, do I look like a gorilla? Rita stares at her arm trying to see it the way a boy will, will he find it attractive, is it too thin, bony, oddly shaped, soft enough?, she runs her fingers around her elbow, is my arm beautiful, what will he think? Rita studies the premiere lesson of pubescent girls: not How do I see? But How do I look?"

Heartbreak Hotel is a brilliant book--a layering of complicated and intricate storylines coupled with a scathing and perceptive look at our society and its mores. A winner of many honors including the Maxwell Perkins prize, it is a pleasure that it has been republished by the prestigious Dalkey Archives. This book is funny, sad, difficult, and delightful. There have been PhD dissertations in Psychology written on this book, and it is no wonder when you reach the end and its satisfying, revealing summation. A marvelous book, especially in these times of slipping back into conservative ease with the status quo.

Land of the Buffalo Bones is the story of Polly Rodgers, a young girl whose father is a Baptist minster who organizes 80 religously persecuted Baptists in Yeovil, England, to colonize the Minnesota Territory in the New Yeovil Colony. Although the advertisments and her father's false words tell of a wonderful and bountiful country, the 80 colonists come upon a surprise when they reach the colony--which isn't built, is covered in snow, and is in the middle of nowhere with no trees or parks or houses or anything of the sort that was promised. After the grueling ship ride over, this hardship is even worse. Soddies are built quickly for the many families, as is one for the Rodgers, since their father is not expected to work with his hands. However, all the land brings is despair. Locusts attack and destroy the crops that the first time at farming colonists grow, Polly's best friend's family is destroyed with the death of the mother and brother and the runaway of her best friend to be married to a Native American. However, the land brings Polly and her step-mother closer together and many of her other family members, despite Laura's constant pesturing. However, even though her father is taken away from his position as minister and the Rodgers must move onto a new colony, they leave happy and together, knowing they will make it.
This diary is based on the author's family, the Rodgers, and was an interesting and treasuring contribution to the series. Although I would recommend Love Thy Neighbor more out of the two new books, this diary was still very good, very unique, and worth you time.

Great story! It's actually based on the author's great-grandmother, so it's a true story. Tells of Mary Ann Elizabeth Rodgers, a fourteen year old girl whose father is an English priest and decides to move Mary Ann and a band of English immigrants to Minnesota. The trip itself is a hardship as they cross the Atlantic, face violent storms, food shortages, flies, locusts, illness and death. Mary even has to bury a dear boy friend at sea because he dies. When they finally arrive in New Yeovil, as they called it, they find no town and have to build one from the ground. Bad weather, few trees and grumbling immigrants makes the job all the more harder. Mary Ann also must succumb to difficult step-siblings and her best friend's parents' suicide and alcoholic rages. The book contains vulgar words and actions so I would recommend this book to anyone ages 14 and up. The story ends on a good note, and her great-granddaughter tells her story. Unique and interesting. A real page-turner. Good for girls, but boys boys can read it too--if they want. Buy it. Worth your money.

Mary Ann Elizabeth Rodgers, called Polly by her family, is the fourteen-year-old daughter of a Baptist minister. She was born and raised in England, but now her father has decided to move the family to Minnesota in search of religious freedom. Polly begins her diary on the journey by steamship to America and describes the challenges her family and friends face on their journey to their new home, challenges that do not end once they reach Minnesota. The Rodgers and their fellow settlers face the bitter cold of winter and the scorching heat of summer, endless blizzards, a disastrous plague of locusts, as well as illness and death. Land of the Buffalo Bones is an excellent addition to the Dear America series that described the hardships of life on the prairie in the 1870s. I recommend this book to all fans of the series.

I read a library copy of this book several months ago and now I am thinking about buying a copy for my own library. I thought it was a bit uneven but parts of it have stuck with me. I want to go back and reread it. I found similarities between this book and the nature writings of Amish author David Kline.

When a book comes along that speaks with a voice that gives the reader an emotional understanding of the west, it quickly moves to the top of our "must read" list. "Windmill. Essays from Four Mile Ranch" by David Romtvedt is such a book. It is a book that makes the reader feel that you are there...experiencing a real understanding of what it means to live and work in the west.

Calling Romtvedt's experiences "essays" is appropriate. They are separate stories...but more than merely stories. They appear to be unrealated chapters, but the thread that weaves throughout is an understanding and appreciation of living in the west. Those who live, or have lived in Wyoming and the west (and we mean LIVED in the west, not just had a residence there), will share the kindred spirit of which Romtvedt writes.

Often, when reading these essays, we had to put the book down momentarily to absorb the words, and the experiences behind the words. The words paint pictures of the landscape, the heritage, and contemporary life near Buffalo, Wyoming. Romtvedt allows us to peer into his very personal thoughts and experiences. He lets us know that there is beauty in the "mundane", for what we may first perceive as mundane can been experienced on so many levels. The only limitations to our experiences are those we impose upon ourselves. In Windmill, Romtvedt shows us that it is possible to experience the beauty of the west through something as common as a windmill, as distant as the thunder rolling across the plains and as close as ourselves.

Through this book, we are able to experience the beauty of simple words and the complexity of the west. Romtvedt draws us into his world and shows us how easy it is to open ourselves to an awareness of life around us. Whether intended or not, he almost seems to defy us NOT to increase our awareness as we share his awareness of his world.

Occasionally, the pictures painted by the words are enhanced with charcoal drawing (or pencil drawings) by Gregory Truett Smith. Those pages don't detract from the word pictures, but rather make us wish there were more of them.

The following passage from the book shows the beauty and meaning of simple things:

"One June night as I was coming down out of the Bighorns with my friend John Lane, we saw a light we didn't recognize off to the northeast. UFOs maybe, or a giant city that had been built in our two-week absence from civilization. We stopped our truck and got out. In the stillness, we saw the Northern Lights - long shimmering bands of yellow and white pouring down from the top of the world, then racing back up.

We stared. After a few minutes, we heard the rumbling of thunder from the southeast, and, turning, we saw lightning - jagged fierce bolts, some running up and down, some back and forth across the sky. We turned from one light to the other.

Next came singing. It wasn't the long howling singing of wolves - the last Bighorn wolf was shot in 1939. Rather, it was the singing of coyotes - short bright yips very close to laughter. There were so many singers that the song took on a quality that seemed familiar, human.

Sheep need to be protected from coyotes but I can't help but feel sympathy for the clever dog. Coyote will find a way around every impediment - traps, poisons, guns, trucks, snowmobiles, airplanes. When night falls, no matter how hard the day, Coyote begins to sing. Coyote's song is 'We are here; it is now'."

Romtvedt's words are simple. They invite us to share personal experiences. They invite us to be open to personal experiences of our own. The book quotes poet Lew Welch when he made an observation to a friend:

"...to the mountains the trees are just passing through".

This not only shows us OUR place; but shows how important it is for we mere mortals to appreciate our place in the world around us. Romtvedt expresses that appreciation. He shows us how simple that complex appreciation can be...and, in many ways...how vital it is for us to cultivate that appreciation.

If the contemporary west has a voice, it may be the voice of David Romtvedt. If it is not HIS voice, "Windmill. Essays from Four Mile Ranch" shows us that, without a doubt, he HEARS that voice.

The Wyoming Companion

In his essays on his small town, the local economy, the local culture, being a nonhunter, death, sheep, and weather, Romtvedt indeed conveys a sense of place and simple wisdom. Recommended for regional, large public, and academic libraries. LIBRARY JOURNA

This book would make a fine gift for someone wishing to introduce a child to a little history of the old west, while at the same time acquainting them with an outline of the coin minting process. Accompanied by many illustrations (nicely printed book), the text is suitable for younger children (I'd say up to 10 years old or so) and will offer a pleasant insight into the life of the man who designed one of our nation's most distinctive coins. Definitely recommended.
-- Greg Burns
-- Editor, The NASC Quarterly, ...
-- Editor, The GlenCoin News, ... (pending)

Having been a teacher of gifted children, it is exciting to have a book such as "The Buffalo Nickel" to offer them. Morrison's telling of the non-fiction story develops their appreciation of American history; the beauty of the artwork teaches a sense of dignity; and the respect for the sculptor helps all children learn about the importance of excellent work. Gifted children need fiction and fantasy, but they also need the challenge of great minds working on great things. This book takes them behind the scenes and tells an interesting story of an important American.

Floyd Salas, author of the classic Tattoo The Wicked Cross (a novel that was originally written as a short story about a rape in a juvenile detention center)delivers with a memoir about the love and respect he had for his family, his life, and particularly his older brother, a man who would have a tremendous affect on him. Honest, tough, funny, and sometimes so sad it's hard to read, Buffalo Nickel is written in the same stark realist fashion as Fred Exley's A Fan's Notes and throws the same righty-cross Charles Bukowski hit us with in Ham On Rye

Buffalo Nickel by Floyd Salas is a poignant and moving tale of a man and his older brother. The strife and hardship experienced by the characters within their complex relationships allow the reader to experience a true-to-life story about the effects of drug abuse and suicide. The metaphor presented early in the novel of the buffalo nickel can be applied to the relationship of the brothers Floyd and Al Salas. In the first chapter, Al presents his little brother Floyd with a buffalo nickel. Floyd had just been in his first fight. Al later asks for the nickel back; Floyd returns the nickel. It is this metaphor, the giving of something desired and the subsequent demand for its return, that runs throughout the relationship between Floyd and his big brother. The physical action of Al giving and retrieving the nickel in the first chapter can actually be found through the entire novel. The promises that Al didn't keep becomes the focus of thier hardship. It is a tale of the anguish involved in loving an addict, the trouble that that gets Floyd into, and the eventual reality of letting go. From the beginning of the book, Floyd loves and admires his brother. After the buffalo nickel incident Floyd remarks, "he'd do that a lot to me before it was over." (p. 15) Al teaches Floyd to box. Boxing would, throughout Floyd's life, be a mixed blessing. Due to his brother's aggression Floyd finds himself in many bar fights that he would otherwise have not been involved in. When Al acts as Floyd's coach he is supportive when Floyd is winning, and extremely abusive when he feels Floyd could have done better. It became a bond between the two boys when they were young and remained to be one their entire lives. Boxing would later be extremely important and lucrative to Floyd, as it would earn Floyd a scholarship to college at University of California. Al taught Floyd how to box. He helped him earn this athletic talent. Eventually Al would waste his talent, and desert it for drugs and alcohol. Many of Al's fights were illegal and unfair, and he often got Floyd involved. He gave Floyd something valuable, the drive and ability to box; but he often used his own and Floyd's abilities for the wrong reasons. Floyd completely trusted his brother when it came to boxing, from the very beginning. When Al puts Floyd in the ring with a gypsy-kid a lot taller than him Floyd is fearless. "My brother had put me in there, though I was scared, I wasn't afraid." (P.22) Due to his drug addiction Al had an extreme tendency to steal and be involved in illegal and unfair business. This ultimately would harm the whole family; and early on it harmed Floyd. The second chapter foreshadows Al's future. Al plays with Floyd by pretending to steal his saved money. When Floyd is caught stealing from a store with another child, Al ironically reprimands him, "...don't let anybody lead you into anything like that again." He says to Floyd, "You don't want to end up in reform school like me." (P. 29) Al had saved Floyd this time. Later, Al promises to help Floyd buy a bicycle, because he doesn't want him "...hanging around the streets..."(P. 32) to sell magazines. It seemed as if Al was going to really let his little brother down (again) when he offered a pair of Levi's instead. Then their father stepped in. If he hadn't it would have been the buffalo nickel all over again - promises unkempt. Floyd often feels optimistic about his brother and their relationship during his childhood. As the two of them rode home on the brand-new bike he remarked, "He'd come through again. My brother." (p. 36) Al often warned Floyd against the evils of drugs and crime. During the time that the two were training together Al would say, "Never lie, never cheat, never drink or smoke... and don't take many from people... always be loyal to your buddies..." (p. 64) The extreme irony in these statements become evident as the story progresses and Al proceeds to do all of these things. Worse than that, he encourages Floyd to participate in them. Despite his apparent efforts to steer Floyd away from this kind of life Al's influence gets Floyd into trouble time, and time again. Floyd and Al would end up swindling people for their money as a collaborative effort. This is something that Floyd had watched his big brother do for years. When Al quit training and began drinking and using drugs heavily, this was how he used his time and made his money; he would then blow his money on booze or smack. Floyd is eventually able to use his intellect and his talent to help him overcome the heart breaking disillusionment that Al's unreliability as a brother caused. Through establishing his own separate life and through his poetry and writing Floyd is able to free himself from the invalid personality of his brother Al Salas. When Floyd notices he is being followed by the police he realizes that Al ratted him out. "...The one thing I knew: I could never trust my brother Al again." (P. 276). Ultimately, Floyd is able to release his pain caused by his brother, his addiction, and his unreliability through his writing. A boxing match helps Floyd get out his aggressions as well. During the match Floyd hits Al for some of the many wrongs Al has done him: "...that's for forty years of bullshit!" (P. 341) Floyd is even able to tell Al, "You've cheated everybody you've know and manipulated every situation to your own benefit! To this very day!" (P. 344)

This collection of essays on issues related to organ transplantation is both thought-provoking and timely, as our society grapples with critical problems such as the allocation of donor organs, the use of animal organs, etc. Caplan and Coelho have done a superb job of editing this anthology.

I have gone through a very emotional period in which twice, I thought I was going to be a living organ donor. Once it was to have been a kidney and the other time a lobe of my liver. Each time, I was unable to undergo the surgery. My liver's blood vessels are in the way, thus the surgeon cannot safely operate without risking severing an artery. Going through the process of preparing for surgery, even though ultimately the surgery never took place, has given me an interest in the topic of organ transplants and the ethical issues surrounding them. This book has articles on the ethics of living transplants as well as many other topics such as the allocation of scarce organs, using fetal tissue, defining "brain death," etc. Some articles are several years old so the technology discussed may be a little dated but the ethical issues remain. Some articles are from medical journals and are rather technical from a lay person's standpoint. Nonetheless, most articles are interesting and when I showed this book to my would be surgeon for the liver transplant, he immediately ordered a copy for himself.

The Squadron/Signal series has always been good value for money and this one is no exception. The Brewster Buffalo was deservedly much-maligned due to indifferent performance, stability issues and manufacturing defects, making it dog meat for any Zero pilot. It was, however, an important factor in the early battles of WWII. The book gives little indication of the general feeling of allied pilots towards the F2A; only the Finns were able to make it work at all and much is made of that, which gives the reader cause to ask why. Otherwise, this little book covers the brief history of the aircraft quite well. The illustrations have always been a strong suit of this series and this one is among their best. Good value for money is the key here.

This is one of the best works produced in the series of "in action" books produced by Squadron./signal publications. The Brewster Buffalo aircraft has had a bad press, due to its perceived contribution to the Fall of Singapore in 1942 and its failure at the battle of Midway, and this work goes some way in correcting this view.
This work covers all of the operators (US Navy, USAAF, Finland, Belgium, RAF, RAAF, Royal Navy and Dutch East Indies) as well as captured aircraft flown in Japan and Germany, and the development of the Buffalo.

This book is good value, highly informative and is the best book on this aircraft so far produced. I recomend it highly.

Is a total of 46-informative pages. For the price it is defintely worth the read. Learned a few new facts I didn't learn before.

This book was the most useful of the recent pile of buffalo/bison books I purchased. Biologically, the book gave me all the answers I sought. As a bonus, it included history and lore of the buffalo/bison of the Old West. If you're looking for a book to help you learn about these giant animals, something to help with a school report, or just a great field guide to add to your existing library, this is the book.

Excellent descriptions of how survivors dealt with the total destruction of everything they had built and accomplished in their entire lives. All of this was taken from them by a "man made" damn and wall of water within minutes. Mr. Erikson did a wonderful job of relating to the people from the coal camps and realizing what their lives had been about......he truely shows the suffering involved in this disaster.

One of the better books I've read detailing the issues involved in natural disasters and their aftermath. Erikson describes in detail what the survivors went through and how they dealt with the destruction of their community.

This was an excellent book, well-written and informative. Using Buffalo Creek as the fulcrum, Erikson provides readers with a good introduction of communities and trauma. It is interesting to note the similarities and differences between the aftermaths of Sept 11 and Buffalo Creek. Erikson's book is a must read for social scientists and anyone interested in creative non-fiction writing.

This rich story is a tapastry of who we are as a nation. It is our history. This book can teach us a lot about how to make our cities live again.

It has become almost cliche to say that modern writers make a character of the settings of their novels. But in this book, the author truly vitalizes Buffalo, N.Y. Through the novelized true story of his wife's Polish immigrant parents and details plucked from two centuries of municipal history, he weaves a story about a place that is arguably the most American of cities. Situated on a Great Lake, with the belching prosperity of smokestacks and a miraculous curtain of snow as backdrops, he tells the story of a family that finds a home in industrial America. Gritty urban scenes give way to a confrontation between the races which ends in a flight to the suburbs. In "The Last Fine Time" we find the story of a family, and of a once-great city, that is a fable about American life. He answers the question of how, in 100 years, puritanical farmers became the empowered factory workers that became alienated, shell-shocked suburbanites on the edge of the 21st century.

This is the best book ever written about Buffalo, the best book, fiction or nonfiction, that uses Buffalo as background. The decline of a proud city, enabled by its matter of fact certainty about destiny and greatness, is recounted with intelligence and a generous style. The sadness of change is inescapable, but people's memories, especially those of Polish Americans, create a light that still shines in the city's shadows.