A very good book. Filled with uefull information. Mr. LaCrosse knows his material. The drawings are useful.

Frontier Rifleman is an important addition to any library concerned with American history. Painstakingly researched, this book would also make a great gift for those interested in the particulars of the rifleman life.

This book takes a very in-depth look at the Revolutionary Rifleman. From contemporary accounts to sketches of the rifleman's clothing and accoutrements, it presents a lot of information very useful to the re-enactor or history buff.

As one of the Friday Riders listed in this book, I have known and ridden with Bob Sobie, the author of the Elroy Sparta Trail Guidebook, for a number of years. As a matter of fact it was my Bachelor bike ride that Bob mentions in the book. As an author and a psychologist I believe I have a unique perspective of Bob and the words he wrote in this book. If the famous analyst C.G. Jung were to meet Bob he would probably call him a "sensing" person. Let me tell you why I believe that's important for an author of a guidebook. Being a sensing person Bob writes what he gets through his senses. He writes about what sights you will see. He describes the sounds you'll hear. He includes how much the trail will incline or decline. He even includes what you should expect from sleeping and eating at various places along the trail. Though his own passion about the trail definitely does leak out, he leaves whether you ride or how much you ride up to you, as he does with all the other attractions in the area.

As one of the Friday riders listed in this book, I have known and ridden with Bob Sobie, the author of the Elroy Sparta Trail Guidebook, for a number of years. As a matter of fact it was my Bachelor bike ride that Bob mentions in the book. As an author and a psychologist I believe I have a unique perspective of Bob and the words he wrote in this book. If the famous analyst C.G. Jung were to meet Bob he would probably call him a "sensing" person. Let me tell you why I believe that's important for an author of a guidebook. Being a sensing person Bob writes what he gets through his senses. He writes about what sights you will see. He describes the sounds you'll hear. He includes how much the trail will incline or decline. He even includes what you should expect from sleeping and eating at various places along the trail. Though his own passion about the trail definitely does leak out, he leaves whether you ride or how much you ride up to you, as he does with all the other attractions in the area.

Finally....the essential trail guide worthy of the scenic Elroy Sparta Trail----America's first rails-to-trails bikeway. From tunnels to trails to history to tourist attractions to accommodations, the Sobie Guide is a celebration of cycling and the natural beauty of the unglaciated regions of southwest Wisconsin.

Don't be put off by the fact that Billy Verite is the second book in a trilogy: if you haven't read Harsch's quirky and brilliant first book, The Driftless Zone, there'll be plenty of chances to come. In the meantime, Billy Verite is provocative entertainment--funny, suspenseful, and sharply intelligent--and you shouldn't hesitate to pick it up. Then, if you haven't already, pick up The Driftless Zone. Despite its many connections to Billy Verite, Harsch's first novel is a different creature--more philosophical and poetic, while still containing enough hilarity, sex, action, and wild originality to split the seams.

I wasn't sure what I'd think of this book. I didn't read the first one beforehand or anything, but--wow! It's funny, exciting, smart, and sad. So I'd recommend it. Some of it is kind of hard but it's well worth it. Most of it isn't hard to read, though. They ought to make a movie out of it. It's definitely one of the best books I've read in the past couple of years, and I read all the time. Now I've bought the first book, the Driftless Zone, and have read 50 pages or so and am loving it, too. I'll let you know what I think when I finish it.

As much as I liked The Driftless Zone, I think Rick Harsch has topped himself with this one. He has a knack for creating unique, well-drawn characters, and has become a sharper storyteller. He also shows a strange affection and deep feeling for La Crosse's (Wisconsin) natural and unnatural wonders. After reading Harsch's first two books, I feel like I've been there for a six-month visit, even though I've never been within 500 miles of the place. Harsch promises Billy Verite is the second of a "La Crosse Trilogy" and I can't wait to return.

I would have given it a higher rating if it had at least given credit to the entire roster of 500 men hand picked to be Riflemen. The original Roster as complete as possible would have been nice. It seems to only center around a few not the entire regiment. All of these unnamed men were just as brave as the few written about, many of them suffered with the rest of the men at Valley Forge and elsewhere and stayed with the Riflemen to the end of the war.
While it gives a good account of the some of the deeds performed by Morgan's men, it should have been more centered on the entire group not just a few. Maybe there will be a follow up with more emphasis on the entire regiment?

This well-researched book provides valuable insight for the Revolutionary War student. While scholarly and fact driven, it makes this place and time in our history particularly accessible. It is especially of interest to those who would understand the significant role of the common man. Take special note of the photographs and the painstakingly presented appendices. Also, a nice bibliography is offered for further reading.

Review by Victoria N. Alexander

The aptly named Spleen is the alienated hero of Harsch's first novel, THE DRIFTLESS ZONE. While everyone with ambition or talent has happily escaped, Spleen has opted to remain behind in his hometown, a depressed area in Wisconsin called La Crosse. Spleen's lack of motivation may be attributed to his having learned that life has no meaning, but, absurdly, he can't help but pretend that it does. After stalling a good long while, he falls in love and quickly regrets it. His failure is partly due to his own real lack of initiative and partly due to his inability to discover a worthy object. This simple romance plot is made poignant by virtue of its relationship to the novel's larger theme of indeterminacy.

Without fixed references, Spleen is reduced to primitive means of searching for significance, to augury for instance, and to reading into appearances. Spleen's world is best described as a post-modern allegory, the meaning of which, while strongly suggestive, is ever illusive. La Crosse is populated with personifications instead of people, characters with names such as "Roman" a Roman seer of sorts, "Darwin" (one of this first characters on the scene who sets the tone for the story as Charles Darwin did for the 20th century), "Fag With No Eyebrows," and Spleen's lover "Sneering Brunette." This could be Bunyan--or Langland. The novel's obsession with determinism would be almost medieval but for its post-modern twist. The determinism is genetic and cultural, not providential.

If this situation is sadly comic, it epitomizes the ineffectuality of hope in anytown America. The call for a return to meaningful content throws back a hollow echo. But Harsch is not merely cynical. It is clear that the radical indeterminacy that ails Spleen is tragic BECAUSE of his covert nostalgia for essential meaning behind the sign. Harsch has dubbed the contemporary hero, "Noir Man." The "only reason he believes in anything is because he tells himself he has to or he can't act." Such self-aware practicality makes Spleen a likeable character on the one hand, but, on the other hand, his assumed posture of belief makes him superficially like any of the flat allegorical characters that surround and limit him. And eventually destroy him. Nevertheless, the potential for what was once known as real human heroism is there. It is this that makes the story interesting.

In the novel, none of the characters is capable of communicating with any other, but Harsch opens up the inner existences of these stock types TO THE READER, beautifully expressing the Sneering Brunette's pleasure, for example, as that which "lay bruised and hungover, empty from vomiting, dialing a telephone, marvelously spent, attenuated and unafraid." Harsch's insights suggest that while motivation is apparently absent from the world, it seems very real to the individual. As we approach the end of the millennium, writers are looking for the next new direction. Harsch, coming out of a post-modern orientation, carves out the space for an entirely unique kind of optimism, and if he doesn't attempt to fill that space yet, one gets the feeling that he, or someone, soon will. THE DRIFTLESS ZONE is an artfully written novel that is worth reading more than once.