I really enjoy Irving Stone's novels. He writes factually, and very humanistically. You feel like you are right there with the characters and experiencing everything that they are going through. Immortal Wife has been my favorite book since I was a teenager. Jessie Benton Fremont was a great supporter of her husband. Whether it be his political aspirations, his travels through California, or any trouble that he got into. A great book if you enjoy romance, history and the flavor of the Civil War era. John C. Fremont was a great explorer, and he and his wife were very much against slavery, and started the civil war talk on slavery even before President Lincoln did! This is a must read.

I find reading Irving Stone very informative. I get my romance and my history all rapped up into one book. Immortal Wife has been my favorite nov el since I was a young girl. My husband just recently purchased the book for me, and I reread it. I loved it the second time too!!

This is a must read for any child who will be visiting the dentist for the first time. Out of all the books I surveyed, (most of them are about children loosing their teeth), this hit the mark in addressing the anxiety a child feels. While Little Bill may have some fears of his own, he gets over them after talking to his family the night before his visit. Once there, he notices a girl in the waiting room who looks scared and finds out its her first visit. In the end Little Bill helps this girl get over her fears by pretending to be a dentist himself and uses her teddy bear as the patient. My daughter and I read this book two weeks before her visit. It was a big help in setting her expectations.

This is a must read for any child who will be visiting the dentist for the first time. Out of all the books I surveyed, (most of them are about children loosing their teeth), this hit the mark in addressing the anxiety a child feels. While Little Bill may have some fears of his own, he gets over them after talking to his family the night before his visit. Once there, he notices a girl in the waiting room who looks scared and finds out its her first visit. In the end Little Bill helps this girl get over her fears by pretending to be a dentist himself and uses her teddy bear as the patient. My daughter and I read this book two weeks before her visit. It was a big help in setting her expectations.

Westward Go! presents the exciting story of how John C. Fremont, Kit Carson, and twelve-year old Rand Benton explored the American west in the Fremont expedition's 1842 Map-Making sojourn from St. Louis, Missouri to the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains. This lively, energetic text is enhanced with line-drawings and marginal notes as the expedition encountered Native Americans, buffalo herds, Sacajawea's son, mountainmen, rivers, and the vast unexplored horizon. Westward Go! is fun, informative reading for anyone with an interest in the Old West generally, and the John C. Fremont expedition in particular.

It's always a pleasure to discover the occasional historical novel that both educates AND entertains. This is not the tedious textbook presentation of America's past that I remember (and so painfully endured) over the years in required American history courses. Ms. Loftin's book is engrossing, with dialogue as dazzling as its illustrations. More significantly, she proves something I've always believed but rarely experienced--namely, that we can learn about America's remarkable past without being bored into a stupor.

This is a wonderful book with cute illustrations! My daughter asks for it again and again. It is a sweet story of two great friends and a disagreement. The result is not fun for either and they resolve their problem and the fun resumes! We received it when she was 20 months old...right when "being mad" was of great interest to her. It quickly lead to discussions about other people "being mad" and how one's actions can make others angry. She now really understands when she has hurts someones feelings and that her actions have consequence.

It also introduced her the concept of friends and play. Now she says she wants friends when she is "older". It also introduced her to the rhyme "Miss Mary Mack" which we now sing together while she pretends to skip rope. All in all a book that packs a lot of lessons in fun into a few short pages.

While the Boer War of 1899-1902 has been overshadowed in collective memory by the two world wars, in many respects the conflict was one of the first modern wars. The conflict was also unusual for its mobile operations over vast areas, its protracted guerrilla phase and in particular, the tactical successes by a small armed citizenry against a much larger, professional military force. Historian Gregory Fremont-Barnes does a wonderful job in Osprey's Essential Histories #52, The Boer War 1899-1902, in describing this landmark conflict. Even after a century, there are many lessons to be learned from a study of the Boer War by military professionals and this volume is an excellent starting place. The Boer War 1899-1902 is also one of the best volumes in the Essential Histories series.

After a short introduction and chronology, The Boer War 1899-1902 provides an excellent 10-page section on the background to the war. Interestingly, the discovery of diamonds and gold in South Africa in the 19th Century and its relationship to the crisis that led to war might seem analogous with the modern relationship between oil and international security. The six-page section on opposing sides is also quite good; in particular, the author notes the Boer's advantage in tactical mobility due to all their troops being mounted, and the possession of a small, but efficient artillery arm. In the section on the outbreak of the war, the author notes how both sides were inclined to seek war as a solution and how the Boers imported large quantities of weapons and ammunition just before the conflict began. The actual campaign narrative is 35 pages in length and is supported by ten maps (South Africa 1899, principal theater of operations, the siege of Ladysmith, the Battle of Colenso, the Battle of Spion Kop, the siege of Mafeking, Lord Robert's advance, the siege of Kimberley, the blockhouse system, and Smut's invasion of the Cape Colony). The section on "portrait of a soldier" profiles Deneys Reitz, a Boer commando who wrote a postwar memoir, while "portrait of a civilian" profiles Emily Hobhouse, an Englishwoman who attempted to improve the welfare of interned Boer civilians. Final sections cover how the war ended and its consequences. The bibliography is also quite good and more extensive than most other Osprey volumes, and the illustrations throughout are also excellent.

The series of military defeats that the British forces suffered in the first three months of the conflict are amazing by any standard; expert Boer rifle marksmanship, efficient artillery, knowledge of the terrain and cunning selection of defensive positions allowed the farmers-turned-soldiers to annihilate one British battalion after another. Most of the rest of the British army was cut-off and besieged in isolated posts like Ladysmith, Kimberly and Mafeking. Indeed, had the Boer's used their initial advantages to push on and seize the vital coastal ports, the British might not have been in a position to relieve their besieged garrisons for some time and the war might have been ended much sooner. As Fremont-Barnes narrative reveals, the Boers were very successful throughout the war on the tactical level, but on the operational level they were overly conservative and unimaginative. On the other hand, it seems almost incredible that so many British commanders could persist in frontal assaults against entrenched Boer positions, even after ample evidence that this was disastrous. The British had important deficiencies in tactical mobility and intelligence that left them unable to come to grip with their foes in the initial stages of the war. The British also had a tendency to split up their forces too much, based upon their innate (but false) sense of tactical superiority. Time and again, small British columns were surprised and overwhelmed. In the end, the British were able to win the conventional phase of the war by using overwhelming and concentrated force, as well as rectifying their mobility problems by widespread use of cavalry. The guerrilla phase was won by the controversial policies of "scorched earth," internment camps and blockhouses to contain the free-riding Boer commandos.

Fremont-Barnes' narrative is full of interesting insights that are applicable to other conflicts, in other times. One British officer notes that the seizure of the Boer capitals seems to have had little impact on their will to resist: "the Boers set no store by them [the capitals] apparently; neither Bloemfontein nor Pretoria have been seriously defended, and they go on fighting after their loss just as if nothing had happened." Barnes also notes that the British army found it relatively easy to control the few towns and even the rail lines, but found it almost impossible to control the vast stretches of open veldt upon which the Boer commando roamed (although in a few years, the arrival of aircraft would have made life tougher for the Boers) - which is still a problem familiar to modern military personnel in places like Somalia, Afghanistan and the Balkans.

Ultimately, the British achieved a military victory after committing 450,000 troops to subdue an enemy that never had more than 60,000 troops. Nor was victory cheap; the war cost Britain £200 million and 22,000 dead. Oddly, the victory was a hollow one. Fremont-Barnes notes that, "the greatest paradox of the war was the fact that, though Britain emerged the victor in the military sense, the Boers clearly won the peace. Within a decade of the end of hostilities all four South African Crown colonies had been unified into a self-governing union dominated by Afrikaners. The Boer republics had gone to war in the name of liberty and now they had achieved it."

Robert Newman not only leads up to his highly praised history of the Owen Lattimore story and the influence of the "China Lobby" with this account, but gives much denied credit as well to the history of the left which had been censored, denied, and castigated... Included is a little-known quote from Lillian Hellman in her opening remarks to the Waldorf Peace Conference in 1949, which she co-organized. The Waldorf Conference was a credit to the post-WWII anticolonialist peace movement fueled by the activism of the radicalism of the 30s. This social/political/cultural movement included among others Hellman and W.E.B. DuBois, who founded the Peace Information Center in 1950 and circulated the Stockholm Peace Petition at a time when the Soviet Union was allegedly running a "peace offensive" and at a time when anyone who promoted peace or who criticized U.S. policy must therefore be viewed as being an agent of a foreign govt. in the McCarthy hysteria. Not only was anyone associated with those promoting peace at risk of suspicion, but also anyone who showed any independent thinking regarding foreign policy, no matter how extensive the institutional experience (as in Melby's case) or how well-founded the logic. This was the case with John Melby, chief editor of the China White Paper which acknowledged the inevitable failure of the KMT and the subsequent "loss of China." Just as anyone associated with the Waldorf Conference was eventually brought before HUAC and/or blacklisted, so anyone associated with authorship of the China White Paper was subjected to loyalty security board hearings and their careers ruined, but for different cause. The irony of this book is that it illustrates how the relationship of Melby and Hellman resulted in a collision of these two very different worlds of thought, intellectual culture, career, and experience.

Marriage and parenting are not easy tasks. In this book, Dr. Fremont outlines the Biblical basis for a good marriage and successful parenting. I would recommend that every married couple, especially those with children, read this book carefully with a good pen for underlining.

Uncle Bill shares his delicious family favorites and more with us in this cookbook, but he takes it one step higher. He includes the nutrient analysis for every ingredient of every recipe and then gives totals. It makes it easy to figure out nutritional values even if you substitute or omit ingredients.

There is something for everyone here: ethnic recipes (Russian, Ukrainian, etc.), vegetarian recipes, low fat and low sodium recipes (he developed for his wife, Jackie), easy recipes for the novice, and more complicated for the experienced cook. He gives wonderful variations on themes and a world of choices. There are even several recipes for your canine pals!

The pictures alone will make your mouth water, but all of the recipes we have tried have turned out just as beautifully as the photos and delicious, too!

The book comes in several forms: Spine bound, wire bound, and computer disk -- but no matter which format you are using, you are sure to find some new family favorites!

My family heartily recommends both the Crabmeat & Corn soup and the Cannelloni with Meat. Both are sure to please.

The Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies which reminded me of the warm-from-the-oven cookies my mother used to serve us for after-school snacks are worth the price of the book alone! A glass of milk and a plate of these will make your day!

Having previously read Dianne Day's first book (The Strange Files of Fremont Jones) featuring the feisty sleuth/typist, I couldn't wait till I returned to San Francisco to find out what Ms. Jones was up to. And Dianne Day ceratinly amused this reader with her next tale set during the San Francisco Earthquake.

Because of severe damage to the boarding house where they lived, fremont and her friend Michael must find other living arrangements. Elusive Michael, who Fremont suspects is a spy retires to the Presidio where he has a room, while Fremont finds herself living with a new acquaintance with a rather strange story. As the city returns to its former vitality, Fremont discovers an assortment of valuable antiques in a storage area of her office builkding, is kidnapped by a Ninja, learns more about Michael and even manages to eke out a living as a typist.

Much as I enjoyed the first book, I found this read to be even better. As I read this book, I felt as though I was there in San Francisco and could not only feel the rumbling but see the fog and smell the smoke.

Ms. Day really has a good thing going! This is a wonderful book to read. Ms. Day does not short change her readers. I can't say enough good things about this book. The discriptions of the Great Earthquake in San Francisco are great! You feel as if you are there, and how truly horrible it must have been to have been in it. The mystery and touch of romance are very well handled by Ms. Day too. Yes, among all the rubble, Fremont finds a murder to solve and some one to fall in love with. I like the way that Ms. Day leads you into the next book too. Letting the cast advance to new places and people. So that you are not stuck in a time warp. Keep going and moving Ms. Day. This is a great read.

It's the Great Quake in San Francisco and there's our Fremont Jones with the mysterious Michael Archer in the midst of it all. Dianne Day instantly became one of my favorite mystery writers when I read "The Strange Files of Fremont Jones." (Start with that one, by all means!) This one is just as "can't put it down, can't turn the page fast enough" as that one was. I can't find proof, but I'm of the opinion that Dianne Day is Laurie King. (Start with "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" and see what I mean.) At any rate, they write in a similar manner, and both are excellent. TRY THEM!

Oh, yeah. ... She lives through the Quake. Hence, sequels abound! .