I remember watching Greg Louganis in 1988 and his last dive that gave him his fourth Olympic gold medal. I was only 7 years old and had no idea about what a struggle he had. When I found out that he was HIV-positive and gay, I was shocked. I don't know why. I read the book during my junior year in high school and enjoyed it. The information on diving was informative and I enjoyed that part. The part that surprised me the most was the way he talked openly and frankly about his lovers and his feelings for them. It was the first time I had ever read anything like that and it shocked me but then I got used to it. Sure, I've seen "Philadelphia" and the dancing scene but I always figured that they're actors and it was part of their jobs to do stuff like that. Call me naive; I was. But this, the things in the book, happened to a real person, one who is a vivid part of my childhood memories. In many parts, I was crying, trying to picture what Greg's life must have been like all those years and how it hurt him-all the teasing, taunts, rumors and other things he must have endured. I think he has a lot of courage to come out and write this book; to me it shows a person who is confident of where he is now in life and wants others to accept him for who he is.

The first time ever I heard about Greg Louganis was when a friend of mine told me he had bought Greg's autobiography back in 1995. Early this year I learned more about him on the Discovery Channel during a documentary about the Olympics. I could say I was impressed by his achievements, other than getting to know that he was a diver and the best of his kind (hey!...I was 12 at the time of his retirement and in my country diving is not much of a hit). Later on I got to see the movie based on his book, which really struck me. My interest grew so much that the first time I surfed by at Amazon, "Breaking the surface" was the first book I decided to pick up. This opus is not only another ordinary autobiography, because it's at the same time a learning about human life and qualities. The book starts describing that well-known accident he had on the springboard back in 1988 and goes on with his childhood up to his current days. Each chapter is a challenge because each one not only narrates an achievement, in some way, in his life, but also an amalgam of feelings all of which relates the reader to the writer. The book is far beyond a recount of Greg's accomplishments as a diver, but it's a story that digs deeply into his personality revealing the most traumatic episodes of his life. It's not only a story about AIDS and homosexuality, since it also deals with discrimination, dyslexia and Greg's so impeding moodiness. This biography is hard to get through, not because it's boring or flat, but because there are so much emotions involved. "Breaking the surface" is a book destined to make changes, changes in your look at valuable things that will help you to cast prejudices away. "Breaking..." is unforgettable as well as a book worthy of reading. An enjoyable experience that will make you love Greg because of who he is rather than what his celebrity means. Oh, by the way, tears tend to drop.

Greg has written a book that is touching the hearts of so many people. As a young college student, I myself have had to overcome my sexuality and my HIV status. I finally met Greg on February 15th at the University of Miami, and it reinforced the idea of what a wonderful person he is. Greg's book is definitely one in a million. It's a must read for gays and straights, and people who are HIV positive and negative. His strength is capable of helping all of us live a more productive life... and to be happy with ourselves.

I first heard about this book on the CBS Sunday Morning program, telecast just before Christmas 2000 (write to CBS for a copy of that tape, if you missed it. It features the book's authors and some of the women they photographed. You won't regret it!) I fought Christmas crowds to go to the nearest bookstore to see it firsthand. I was blown away! I'm getting to "that age" when the mothers of the church are wondering when Miss Esteen's girl is finally going to start wearing hats to church. This book is pushing me closer to that day! Don't let the fact that the photos are in black & white, not color, deter you from buying this book. In a lot of ways, the black & white photography helps bring out the true beauty; I think color photography might have actually been a distraction from that. The only thing more beautiful than the hats in this book are the women that are wearing them! Pride, dignity and strength are on each page. If it were only about fashion, I wouldn't recommend this book so highly; it's the women who wear the hats, their spirit and their thoughts and that make this book. To the ladies photographed, I have only one thing to say: I want to be just like you when I grow up!

I am called the "Hat Lady". I relate to the queens in the book. In fact, some of the ladies made comments that I found to be very profound, i.e, wearing a hat in a coffin. I wear hats and love them. Like the ladies, when I put on a hat I stand taller, walk with a strut, and feel I am invincible. It's something about a hat that seems to add to my stature. "Crowns" gives a lot of insight into why we look so good in hats. It's true it's all about attitude and self-esteem. I try to wear them at all times. "Crowns" is relative. I felt so good about myself after reading it. The queens really put hats in their proper perspective in relation to African-American women. I always get a compliment like, "Girl, you're wearing that hat" from one of my sisters and from strangers I hear, "That's a bad hat you got on." (Mostly males) Several times I saw myself in those. I smiled and shook my head at the comments. It is a story that needed to be told. I commend the author & photographer, for I found no fault with "Crowns". A good read.

I live in Atlanta and for years I have driven by African-American Churches getting out on Sunday morning. When I pass these churches I often slow down and gaze at the uniquely dressed women coming out the doors -- all dressed to the nines, and most of them are wearing their crowns. For the African-American churchgoing women hats are not mere fashion statements they are integral expression of faith and cultural identity. The Apostle Paul should be thanked daily by all milliners for Paul furthered the fashion of wearing hats to church by writing "Every woman who prays or prophecies with her head unveiled dishonors her head" (I Cor. 11:5).

The hats in this book are as unique and alive as the women that wear them. Michael Cunningham, using black & white film, has beautifully captured the panache that these women and their chapeau's express. Just as every hat in this book has a woman, so every woman in this book has a story about her hats, and I think you will love their stories. This is a refreshing, original book that is not only is captivating but anthropological educational. Highly recommended.

Bruce Catton received the Pulitzer Prize for this final volume in his three-part History of the Army of the Potomac. Catton's greatness was that he combined historical accuracy with poetic insight, writing from the perspective of the citizen-soldiers who fought the Civil War and whom he had come to know and respect growing up in Michigan. "A Stillness at Appomattox" covers the last cruel year of the war, when the Army of the Potomac had become an engine of war under the leadership of Ulysses S. Grant. Although on paper the Army still belonged to George Gordon Meade, it was Grant who was the head of all the Union forces and who ran his command in the field. In this final volume Catton traces the Army's inevitable progress towards its grim victory, through the battles of the Wilderness, the Bloody Angle, Cold Harbor, the Crater, and on through the last months of the war to the moment at the MacLean house when the nation was made whole again.

Like its predecessors, "A Stillness at Appomattox" is divided into six sections: (1) "Glory Is Out of Date" follows Grant as he arrives from the West to check out the Army that needs to whip Bobbie Lee; (2) "Roads Leading South" relates the horrors of the Battle of the Wilderness and the new mood as the Army relentless pushes South towards Richmond; (3) "One More River to Cross" covers the bloody mess of the final assault on Cold Harbor; (4) "White Iron on the Anvil" details the final hemming in of the Army of Northern Virginia into a defensive position around Richmond, including the Battle of the Crater: (5) "Away, You Rolling River" deals with both the Siege of Richmond and Sheridan's efforts in the Shenandoah Valley; and (6) "Endless Road Ahead" finally brings us to the Fall of Richmond and Lee's surrender to Grant. Catton's History of the Army of the Potomac was unique because it insisted on telling the story of the Civil War from the perspective of the fighting soldiers, creating for an entire Union army what regimental historians and the memoirs of individual soldiers had done on smaller levels. His success is due to his ability to create a spellbinding narrative that is more reminiscent of literature than what we would expect to find in a history book.

With "A Stillness at Appomattox", Bruce Catton has achieved the high water mark for Civil War, and for that matter, Military history writing. The winner of the Pulitzer in 1953, this story is still fresh and energetic today, far outdistancing many other more modern accounts. Told from the Union soldier's perspective, this book isn't so much a history of battles, tactics...etc. but how the "everyday" soldier fit into the confrontations and how he subsequently responded to Union leadership. This volume (Vol 3 of the Army of the Potomac series) traces the War in Virginia in 1864 from the crossing of the Rapidan River for the Wilderness battle up to and including the final surrender at Appotmattox and what a story it is! Catton manges to weave the story of each engagement with just the right amount of personal and historical content that makes this very much accurate as well as incredibly readable. Nowhere can you find such elegant writing describing the horrific actions of both the Union and Confederate Armies as they battled from the Wilderness to Spotsylvania to North Anna and onto Cold Harbor in the first part of 1864. His descriptions and analysis of the battlefields and troop movements at Cold Harbor, for example, border on genius... I really felt like I knew how the Union soldiers felt and what drastic measures and portenting doom they went through preparing for and fighting this incredible battle. The subsequent movement to and siege of Petersburg is also wonderfully told with emphasis on the "Crater" fiasco, Fort Stedman and trench life in general... you get a true feeling of the frustration and, finally, the exhilaration that the Union soldiers and generals must have felt when the final breakthrough of the Confederate lines was achieved. Finally, the scene at Appomattox was presented in a completely different manner then I've ever read before...very little is discussed concerning Grant's and Lee's surrender actions...it's all told from the battlefield perspective and (to use a previous reviewer's words) is breathless. This "Army of the Potomac" series, needless to say, is very definetly essential Civil War reading with "A Stillness at Appomattox" the high water mark...extremely highly recommended!

Bruce Catton grew up in Benzonia, MI in the early 1900s. There were still Civil War Vets living at that time and a few lived in that same town. It was listening to their stories as a child that inspired Catton to write the Army of the Potomac Trilogy, of which A Stillness at Appomattox is the third and final installment.

Stillness, along with the other two books, Glory Road and the other's name escapes me, paints a picture of the Civil War few have been able to duplicate. He tells the story of the Civil War from the perspective of the common foot soldier.

Drawing heavily from personal correspondence and regimental histories, Catton puts us smack in the middle of the Wilderness, at the breastworks of Spotsylvania Courthouse and in the trenches around Petersburg as well at the surrender of Lee to Grant.

If you're a Civil War buff, and you haven't read Catton, you're not a Civil War buff.

This is a keeper book! I keep going back to it month after month. It has home styles as they came thru history grouped by style. It has pictures of house features that help identify what style a home is. It has lots of pictures. The only weakness I can think of is it does not have a lot of information on Home-styles being built right now. AntBiscuit@cs.com

It was during a conversation that I was having with a co-worker at a major N.Y. cultural institution that I was first handed a copy of this book. I needed it too, because I cound not identify the architectural style of my own house!! This book changed all of that! You will find every architectural style in covered in this book along with some fabulous illustrations, with variants and details. I was absolutely delighted to see a section devoted to Native American architecture, and eclectic architectural styles. The photographs are excellent as well. This book is perfect for students of architecture and Historic Preservation. In the many years since I was first introduced to this book I have yet to see any other publication beat it, and I don't think any will.

If I could only keep one volume from my small library of books on home architecture, I would probably stick with "A Field Guide to American Houses," by Virginia and Lee McAlester. This is a true encyclopedia of the American home.

The McAlesters combine an informative introduction with a chapter-by-chapter guide to each of the major styles of home architecture in the United States. Each chapter includes both crisp, detailed line drawings and a wealth of photographs of actual houses themselves. The photographs alone--there are literally hundreds of them--make this book an invaluable reference work.

The McAlesters also provide newcomers with a useful primer to the language of home architecture. After reading this book you might find yourself using terms like "hipped dormer," "decorated verge board," "roof-line balustrade," and "ogee arch" when you visit a new neighborhood.

From Native American tipis to geodesic domes, from Chateauesque mansions to mobile homes--all this and more is in here. This book is a monumental achievement.

What a visceral impact Tom Childers' Wings of Morning had on me. Unable to put the book down, I read it in two days. Not only does the author vividly describe the training and every day life of a WWII bomber crew, he also makes you feel like Goodner's family, anxiously awaiting the next letter. Not wanting to give away the results of a frantic search to find out what happened to this crew after being shot down over Germany, let me suggest that you buy the book, curl up in your chair, and read as one hell of a story unfolds. Next to Guy Sajer's "The Forgotten Soldier", you'll have a hard time finding a better account of the war and the men who fought it. As an aside, Professor Childers has a superb course on WWII available through the Teaching Company. And I encourage all of you to seek it out as well.

Having heard all of Dr. Childer's excellent audio courses available from the Teaching Company, I had very high expectations for this book. I was not disappointed; Wings of Morning is an exceptional book that details the war time experiences of a B-24 bomber crew from their initial induction and training, to their deployment to England as part of the 8th Air Force, through their fateful final mission in the closing days of Word War II. A final mission, incidentally, that the reader can not help but conclude should have never been flown.

Based on hundreds of crewmember letters home, Wings of Morning provides insights that go far beyond the usual combat narrative. The combat experience is here to be sure, but so is the training, off-duty hours, weekend leaves, camaraderie, devotion to duty, exhilaration, boredom, bravery, fear, hope for the future, and the families back home. This book, more than any I've ever read, gave me an appreciation for the near constant tension that these men must have felt. I repeatedly found myself asking what I would have done in similar situations and realizing anew why those who fought World War II are rightly called the "Greatest Generation".

Wings of Morning does not end with the loss of a B-24 crew over Regensburg, Germany, in April of 1945 nor with the War Department notifications to the families waiting at home. Professor Childer's uncle was a crew member on that tragic flight and the final chapters of this extraordinary book detail his quest to reconstruct the final mission of a B-24 known as the Black Cat.

I've read and own many good books about World War II but none has had the impact of Wings of Morning. Thank you, Dr. Childers, for this insightful and thought provoking work...

I would conservatively estimate that I have read 500 books on WWII, and this would rate in the top three. I cannot recall a book that more completely gripped me from start to finish. Childers' unique "first person" story telling breathes life into young men that have long passed from this world. Through dialogue that seems very easy to accept as real, he makes us love and respect these true American heroes, and then causes us to feel the loss (albeit a minute fraction) that their families and friends felt almost sixty years ago. I cannot recommend a book more highly, even if you are not a WWII scholar. If you are, it is a MUST read.

The basic premise of this book is: defensive use of firearms is not just for the military and police; it is for every citizen confronted or assaulted by violent criminals violating their personal and property rights. This book contains numerous examples of citizens who used firearms to save their own lives, or the lives of others, before law enforcement arrived.

There are also examples of armed citizens coming to aid of stricken law enforcement officers, who probably owe their lives to the second ammendment rights exercised by the citizens. The stories of survival in the face of certain death at the hands of a violent criminal are gripping.

The book is a fast and easy read. Although not a great literary work, Robert A. Walters succeeds in telling the stories of victims turned defenders completely and understandably. No matter which side of the "gun control" debate you are on, this book will give you a good source of insight into the reasoning behind the pro-second ammendment advocates.

You will probably not sleep well at night after reading this book - unless you have an appropriate, loaded weapon nearby.

There are two things that I like about this book. I have always believed that the best way to learn anything in life is by following the sucessful examples of others. What better examples are there than real life ones? The book also gives good refutations on gun opponents' most popular beliefs:

1. A robber will not hurt you if you do exactly what he tells you to do.

2. Using guns as a self-defense weapon is a deployment of more than necessary force to stop a violent encounter. Martial arts and self-defense sprays should suffice in any violent confrontation

3. Silent alarms should be able to get law enforcement agents onto the scene of a crime in progress before anybody gets physically wounded. In other words, carrying a gun in a place of business is equivalent to trying to take the law into your own hands

4. Law enforcement agents are always here to protect you

Buy this book and read for yourself about the burgular who breaks into the house of a sleeping woman and, without saying a word to her, pulls out a knife and begins to slash her face. The woman did not even have a chance to comprehend what is going on before there are two deep lacerations in her face. The attacker was so strong that after the woman shot him four times, he still continues to beat her and cut her for about another hour. Ask yourself if the martial arts or pepper sprays would have been able to stop him if four .22 caliber bullets barely could. When did the police arrive? One hour after the struggle began.

Read about the jewerly store owner who quickly activates a silent alarm after seeing three men enter his store with shotguns. The first thing the robbers did was fire a shotgun shell into a nearby glass window. At this point, the store owner decided it was time to fight back. Before the police arrived, there was already an intense gun battle. Had the owner not possessed guns, the only thing the police would find upon arrival would have been a pile of dead employees and their dead employer.

Buy this book and see why every smart and responsible citizen should be armed.

I would like to recommend "STREET KARATE" by John McSweeney as a good companion to this book just in case your handgun decides not to work.

I finished reading this book very quickly. Every story was intense and captivating. The book was enjoyable for entertainment value alone, but it also contains critical information about personal defense.

Ever wondered what it was really like to be attacked by someone trying to kill you? These are stories of people who lived to tell the tail. Many potential murder victims only survived because they had a loaded gun handy.

On a personal note, my brother wasn't as fortunate as many of the people in this book. He was returning a tape at a well lit video store on a Sunday night when he was kidnapped by four thugs. They had his car, his cash, and all his possessions, but they murdered him anyway. Apparently just robbing people had become boring to them. They are now in jail, but I often wonder if my brother would be alive today if he had a gun with him.

I checked this book out from my local library not really thinking that I would have the time to read it. But as soon as I finished reading the first chapter I was hooked. I mean who would have known that Lila Fowler's ancestors' stories could be SO touching. Everything was so descriptive that I could imagine myself being the characters in the wonderful story about friendship, romance, tragedies and just plain fun. If you are interested in ANY of the Sweet Valley series you will definately enjoy this book.
When I was reading this book I was really hooked on the Sweet Valley Twins Series. This book made me broaden my horizon's and got my interested in Sweet Valley Jr. High books, Sweet Valley High books and many other great Sweet Valley miniseries.
Recently, I read the book, The Wakefields of Sweet Valley. This book was even better than The Fowler's of Sweet Valley if that is humanly possible.
The only thing that I didn't like about this book and The Wakefield's of Sweet Valley is that they are SO sad. I have never cried so much in a series. The only time I could put the book down was to get a tissue.
These books in the Sweet Valley Saga series teach you a lot. I hope that you will condsider reading them.(Tip is you read any of the Sweet Valley Saga books: Get lots of tissues.)
I hated how in this book Lili never got together with her true love. It was SO sad.

The Fowlers of Sweet Valley, is, no doubt, the best book I have ever read---and that is a lot of books! I think it was even better than the Wakefield saga, which was good also. The book is truly a sweeping romance. Sensitive readers will surely cry reading this book. AMAZING WORK!

As a college student, I need some mental cotton candy every once in awhile. I found a few of my old Sweet Valley High books and I've gotten hooked on them like never before-- buying them at secondhand bookstores, etc. I have to say that I really love The Fowlers of Sweet Valley-- although-- it seems like in every single "Saga" book the generations-- in this case Beautemps vs. Oiseilluer/Fowler-- that preceed the SV characters we know and love come THIS CLOSE to falling in love and then die, move away, lose touch, etc. Every single generation-- in every book-- it starts to get just a little bit old. However, the only case where this is actually interesting and almost a little heartbreaking is when Isabelle marries Jacques' (oisiellur, who later changes name to Jack Fowler)friend when she thinks he is killed. I have studied the first world war in depth and there are cases like that where they think beyond a doubt the soldier has died and then he turns up somewhere. But with that-- and the background of Lila's parent's falling apart-- make this a wonderful read. Loved it when Celeste found out about her mother Lili!

Honus & Me By: Dan Gutman Would you like to read a book about Honus Wagner? What about baseball history? Well here it is. The book is Honus & Me. It is a very interesting book with a lot of facts about Honus Wagner. Joe Stoshack loves baseball. One day when cleaning up his next store neighbors basement Joe found a Honus Wagner card, the most valuable card in the world! In the middle of the night Joe wakes up and face to face with him is Honus Wagner. Now they will go to the past with Honus Wagner. They will go on the one of the greatest journeys ever.

The book that I read was really good. it is called Honus and Me by Dan Gutman. If you like baseball,then I think you would like this book. It is about a kid names Stosh who plays baseball, he's also a big baseball card collector. One day, he finds a Honus Wagner card! (these are very rare) Stosh isn't rich but he wouldn't call himself poor. His parents split up when he was younger and his mom doesn't make that much money. The card that he was holding was worth half a million dollars! Stosh goes to bed that night and wishes that he could go back in time and meet Honus himself. He feels a tingling sensation in the tips of his fingers just before he falls asleep. It turns out that he has the ability to go back in time! This adventure continues throughout the book as Stosh and Honus play in the world series and sign autograpghs. This action packed adventure is really good and everyone should read it. Even if you don't like baseball, you should also read other books by Dan Gutman.

This is a great book! First, Honus comes to the future to meet Joe Stoshack and then they both go back to Honus's time. Joe gets his dream and gets to play in a professionall game. At the end something REALLY COOL happens. I encourage all kids who are interested in baseball to read this book. P.S. I'm not giving any more away otherwise I would ruin the surprise!

Although I am an avid reader of American military history, I read few first-person accounts of war because I tend to prefer books about geopolitics, grand strategy, and decisive weapons systems. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book about a marine officer's experience during the Korean War. It was easy reading, its narrative was straightforward, informative, and, I believe, honest, and it provided some valuable insights into the harsh realities of the first of the Cold War's regional conflicts.

The United States' "forgotten war" began on June 25, 1950, when the People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) invaded the Republic of Korea (South Korea). At the time, Author Joseph Owen was a Marine Corps lieutenant stationed in North Carolina, living with his wife and their two young children. According to Owen: "Nobody at Camp Lejeune had expected a shooting war. Nor were we ready for one." A captain who had been an adviser to the South Korean Marine Corps predicted Korea would be "[o]ne lousy place to fight a war. Too hot in summer, too cold in winter, and straight up and down mountain terrains all year round. Except for those stinking rice paddies down in the valleys. Human manure they use. Worst stink in the world." Nevertheless, according to Owen: "The possibility of American Marines in a combat role excited us." Owen writes: "The North Koreans continued to overpower the meager resistance offered by the South Korean soldiers....Seoul, the South Korean capital, fell with hardly a fight, and the Red blitzkrieg rolled southward. In response, President Truman escalated American involvement in the war. He ordered General MacArthur, America's supreme commander in the Far East, to use U.S. Army troops stationed in Japan to stem the invaders." And: "General MacArthur called for a full division of Marines to help him turn back the North Koreans. According to Owen: "The Marine Corps welcomed the call, but we did not have a full division to put in the field;" and "More than seven thousand of us at Camp Lejeune received orders to proceed by rail to Camp Pendleton. There they would form into companies and embark for Korea." Owen's unit, "Baker-One-Seven became one of three rifle companies if the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment....Our ranks were filled by 215 men and 7 officers who had never before served together....Many of [the privates] were beardless teenagers with little training beyond the basics of shouldering a rifle and marching in step." While training, there was much concern about the readiness of the Marines for combat. At one point, after a sergeant remarks that the troops need more training in boot camp, Owen succinctly invokes reality: "They are not going to boot camp. They are going aboard ship. And they are going to fight." On September 1, the company boarded a Navy transport for the three-week voyage to east Asia. According to Owen: "Ready or not, we were on the way to war." And, according to Owen, the 1st Marine Division's orders were "to go for the Yalu River," North Korea's border with China. At one point, a veteran officer provides this paraphrase of William Tecumseh Sherman's famous dictum: "War is hell, but you never know what particular kind of hell it's going to be." The Korean War hell was cold and barren. Owen writes: "We were chilled through and bone tired as we slogged our way back to battalion....The bivouac was lumpy with rocks and boulders;" "The cold weather was as formidable an enemy as the Chinese;" and "Rarely did the [daily action] reports exceed zero degrees, and there were lows of twenty below."

By the time Owen's outfit arrived in Korea, he writes, "we were making bets that the war would be over before we got into it." Owen's Marines could not have been more wrong. While Owen is inspecting his men's weapons, a private asks: "Think we'll get shot at today, Lieutenant?" Owen replies: "We're taking the point for the regiment. If the gooks are there, they'll be shooting at us." A few pages later, after the outfit's first experience in combat, Owen comments: "We were fortunate that the enemy had not chosen a "fight-to-the-death" defense of this hill, as they would when we advanced farther north." But some fighting was hand-to-hand. At one point, Owen writes: "Judging from the noise they were making, and the direction of their grenades, the North Koreans were preparing to attack, not more than thirty yards away." The Captain tells Owen and the other subordinate officers: "The Chinese have committed themselves to this war....The people we will fight are the 124th Division of the Regular Chinese Army....They're tough, well-trained soldiers, ten thousand of them. And all of their officers are combat experienced, their very best....A few hours from now we'll have the Chinese army in our gunsights. We'll be in their gunsights. You damn well better have our people ready for some serious fighting." The combat was, indeed, brutal. According to Owen: "The Chinese attacked in massive numbers, an overwhelming weight, but they also endured terrible casualties." Owen recalls that, while waiting for one Chinese attack, the "men stacked Chinese bodies in front of the holes for greater protection." And the fighting around the frozen Chosin Reservoir may have been the most brutal of the war. Owen ultimately suffered wounds requiring 17 months of treatment, and he never regained full use of one arm.

A few months ago, I reviewed James Brady's wonderful The Coldest War: A Memoir of Korea here. This book has different charms. Whereas Brady is a gifted professional writer, there is no elegant prose here. But Owen provides an equally vivid account of this ugly war. Big, sophisticated studies of military history focusing on geopolitical principles and grand strategy rarely offer narrative moments like the ones in this book. Reader are unlikely to forget the Korean War after reading Joseph Owen's Colder than Hell.

Colder than Hell: A Marine Rifle Company at Chosin Reservoir. By Joseph R. Owen. Reviewed by Mike Davino

Army Korean War expert Lieutenant Colonel Roy Appleman has called the 1st Marine Division of the Chosin Reservoir campaign "one of the most magnificent fighting organizations that ever served in the United States Armed Forces." The remarkable and inspiring story of the division at the Chosin Reservoir has been the subject of numerous books and several films. During their fighting withdrawal, the Marines decimated several divisions of the Chinese People's Liberation Army while at the same time fighting an exceptionally harsh winter environment.

Joseph Owen's new book on the subject tells the story from the cutting edge perspective of a rifle company. The author served as a mortar section leader and rifle platoon commander in Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines from its activation in August 1950 through the Inchon-Seoul and Chosin fighting where he was severely wounded.

There are many reasons given for the outstanding performance of the Marines in northeast Korea during the winter of 1950. It is clear from this book that a large measure of the credit goes to the Marines and their leaders at the small unit and rifle company level.

Owen's narrative covers the hasty activation and training of the company, its brief participation in the fighting north of Seoul after the amphibious assault at Inchon and the details of its intense fighting at Chosin. He candidly discusses the mistakes made by the leaders and Marines of Baker Company, to include his own. More importantly, Owen covers what they learned from these mistakes and how they used that knowledge to defeat the Chinese in a series of intense actions.

Although focused at the company level, the author frames his story with the overall conduct of the campaign. Refreshingly, unlike many books about the Chosin campaign, it is free of partisan sniping about the contributions made by the various services involved. Owen gives credit to the Army units that fought at Chosin as well as the contributions of naval and air forces and our British allies.

This book is rich in lessons about small unit leadership, training and combat operations. It is an excellent addition to the personal narratives on the Korea War.

When preparing to travel to an Asian country on business, I seek context by reading of the wars the U.S. has fought there. When I look in those Japanese, Chinese and Korean eyes, I see the children of old enemies and old friends. While plowing through Fehrenbach's canonical Korean War history, "This Kind of War", I took a break and lost a weekend of yard work to "Colder Than Hell" which I ordered based on the praise given by my fellow Amazon reviewers. My thanks to the other reviewers, for this is a superb first person account of a Marine company fighting it's way up and then back down the Korean peninsula in 1950. Marines of Baker one-seven fought and froze to the death too often, but their sacrifice has let 47 million Koreans in the South build a democracy and learn the meaning of freedom. The price of freedom was huge for Baker one-seven, but the esprit de corps so crisply described by ex-Second Lt. Owen carried his Marines from hill to hill. This is an excellent book and a must read for fans of first person stories of war and sacrifice.