No Promises in the Wind Review

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(More customer reviews)The book No Promises in the Wind by Irene hunt was about a young boy's struggle to survive during the depression in the U.S. It takes place during the winter of 1932. Josh is the main character in the book. He and his father Stefan always get into arguments because his father has no job and can't provide for his family, so his father takes his frustration out on his on Josh, his oldest son. This causes Josh to leave home and embark on his adventure. His mother Mary is the one that gives Josh the OK to leave home. She feels bad for doing this, but she only sees the situation getting worse. So, Howie and Josh decide to run away together and make a life for themselves. Howie is Josh's best friend. Just before they leave, Josh's little brother wants come along. His name is Joey. Joey is ten years old and looks like an angel. There many problems that the main characters encounter during the book, the first one happens when the brothers lose their friend. Howie is run over by a train in the beginning of the book. After this, the main problem is to get money and food. Different people help Josh and Joey get food. One day while walking, they meet a truck driver named Lonnie. Lonnie is very helpful; he gives the boys meals and a long ride down south to warmer weather. He also helps Josh find a job at a carnival. At the carnival Josh and Joey meet Emily. She is an older lady. She is very kind to the boys. Josh falls in love with her, but it does not work out because of the age differences. The carnival burns down so the boys head back north to find their friend Lonnie. Along the way they have to beg to survive.
The one character that I could relate to was Josh. Because I have had similar conflicts with my father. Like Josh's father, my dad was going through hard times and most of the time took out his frustration on me. At times I wanted to leave, but I did not. My father and I worked out our problems like Josh and his father did.
I really enjoyed this book. It keeps the reader entertained the whole time. You always want to find out what is going to happen to the boys all the way to the end. My favorite part is when the boys are at the carnival. The author does a good job of describing the people and events that happen during their stay at the carnival. My least favorite part was when the man at the shoe store took the boy's money. Personally I would not change anything to this book. I think it was written well, and it gets its point across.
I would recommend this book to any one who is interested in how life was during the 1930s. Also anyone that grew up during that time period might enjoy it. This book is a fun read that keeps you entertained the whole time.

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In 1932, America was in the depths of a deep depression. A job, food to fill you, a place to sleep, and shoes without holes--for millions of people, these simple needs were nothing more than dreams. At 15 years of age, Josh had to make his own way through a country of angry, frightened people. This is the story of a young man's struggle to find a life for himself in the turbulent 1930s.

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To Hell and Back Review

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(More customer reviews)It was interesting to read this account of Audie Murphy's travails in World War II (Murphy was one of the most highly decorated soldiers of that war) having read Ambrose's eulogy Band of Brothers .
Murphy received (every major medal, some more than once, that the army has to offer). He joined the army at age 17 to support six siblings after his mother died (his father had left the family earlier), and he doesn't talk about how the war haunted the rest of his life.
He portrays a brutal, harsh struggle to survive, where the only thing that matters is keeping oneself and one's friends alive. There are moments of great poignancy, others of humor. Once, hungry, dirty and wet, mired in their foxholes, they notice they are under a tree with ripe cherries. Not daring to stick a head up, let alone climb out of the foxhole, Murphy's buddy gets the idea of shooting down the branches with his machine gun, and soon they are delighted to have cherry branches falling on them, making the day just a little brighter.
Not once does Murphy mention his numerous awards, Clearly, Murphy believed that luck played as much a part in his survival as anything he did. He was however, the kind of person who tried to control his destiny, doing what was necessary and taking the initiative in order to get through the day. A little piece of Murphy died every time a friend was killed, and soon almost all of his friends were gone. He was delighted if they received a wound that would return them to the rear, away from battle. He sympathized and worried for the lieutenant who had been badly injured and returned voluntarily to the front only to lose his nerve under the intense shelling. It must have been horribly traumatic to develop such close bonds and to have them ripped apart.
At the risk of sounding a little chauvinistic, I quote from the last lines of his book:
" When I was a child, I was told that men were branded by war. Has the brand been put on me? Have the years of blood and ruin stripped me of all decency? Of all belief? Not of all belief. I believe in the force of a hand grenade, the power of artillery, the accuracy of a Garand. I believe in hitting before you get hit, and that dead men do not look noble.
"But I also believe in men like Brandon and Novak and Swope and Kerrigan; and all the men who stood up against the enemy, taking their beatings without whimper and their triumphs without boasting. The men who went and would go again to hell and back to preserve what our country thinks right and decent.
"My country. America! That is it. We have been so intent on death that we have forgotten life. And now suddenly life faces us. I swear to myself that I will measure up to it. I may be branded by war, but I will not be defeated by it.
"Gradually it becomes clear. I will go back. I will find the kind of girl of whom I once dreamed. I will learn to look at life through uncynical eyes, to have faith, to know love. I will learn to work in peace as in war. And finally - finally, like countless others, I will learn to live again."

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The classic bestselling war memoir by the most decorated American soldier in World War II, back in print in a trade paperbackOriginally published in 1949, To Hell and Back was a smash bestseller for fourteen weeks and later became a major motion picture starring Audie Murphy as himself. More than fifty years later, this classic wartime memoir is just as gripping as it was then. Desperate to see action but rejected by both the marines and paratroopers because he was too short, Murphy eventually found a home with the infantry. He fought through campaigns in Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany. Although still under twenty-one years old on V-E Day, he was credited with having killed, captured, or wounded 240 Germans. He emerged from the war as America's most decorated soldier, having received twenty-one medals, including our highest military decoration, the Congressional Medal of Honor. To Hell and Back is a powerfully real portrayal of American GI's at war.

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The Nuremberg Nazi Trial: Excerpts From the Testimony of Herman Goering, Albert Speer, Auschwitz Commandant Rudolf Hoess, and Others Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a collection of excerpts from the trial transcripts that will stir emotions while also making you think. Was this an exercise by the victors to get revenge from a ruthless enemy that started an unnecessary global disaster or an effort to send a message to future amoral leaders that their crimes would not go unpunished. While reading the book it becomes clear that the trial meant different things to different people. From Jackson's clear and logical opening statement to Goering's attempt to save his neck by avoiding direct questions and adding commentary to redirect the court's attention, this book was hard to put down. This is raw history with no spices added. Enjoy it, learn from it and draw your own conclusions.

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From the official record of the Nazi war crimes trial. The Indictment document, the prosecution's opening statement, selected testimony from survivors and Nazi officials, and the prosecution's summary closing statement.

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The Echo of Greece Review

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(More customer reviews)Edith Hamilton did it again with the Echo of Greece. This book looks at and explains, in a colloquial manner, the rise, apex, and decline of Greece during their golden age (from the beginning of the 5th century B.C. to the end of the 4th century B.C.). After finishing this book, the reader comes away not only with a better understanding of the Greek ethos, but also with an explanation of why things happened the way that they did. It is the latter accomplishment, I think, that readers will most appreciate.
Hamilton's book is divided into 10 chapters: I. Freedom, II. Athens' Failure, III. The School of Athens, IV. The School Teachers, V. Demosthenes, VI. Alexander the Great, VII. Menander, VIII. The Stoics, IX. Plutarch, and X. The Greek Way and the Roman Way.
The organization is brilliant, and leads the reader by their hand through the intellectual and artistic accomplishments of Greece not only during her height, but as you can see from chapters VI.-X., examines her influece on the world she helped create.
There are, however, a couple of frustrating parts about Hamilton's book as well. She provides excellent quotes throughout, but never explains where the reader can find them. A typical example appears on page 157, where she states that Aristotle said "The true nature of anything is what it becomes at its highest." But in which of Aristotle's myriad books should the reader begin to look to find this quote? Sometimes, even worse, Hamilton will just say "And a Stoic said that ..." Which Stoic?
A second complaint I have is that Hamilton spends a good deal of time talking about Greece's political, philosophical, and artistic achievements, but never really delves into Greece's artistic accomplishments. If she would have done so, it would have greatly improved an already great book.
But in comparison to the strengths of this book, these complaints are minor. Overall, I highly recommend this book both to the novice and expert alike. I couldn't put it down.

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Fourth-century Athens has a special claim on our attention, apart from the great men it produced, for it is the prelude to the end of Greece.
The kind of events that took place in the great free government of the ancient world may, by reason of unchanging human nature, be repeated in the modern world. The course that Athens followedcan be to us not only a record of distant and forgotten events, but a blueprint of what may happen again.

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The Girl in the Red Coat Review

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(More customer reviews)While I still don't know why some people survived the Holocaust and others didn't, I do know why Roma Ligocka survived: she provides testimony.
Her story begins as a toddler tells her tale of fear in the Krakow Ghetto. Scarcely more than an infant when the Jews were forced to wear Jewish stars on their clothing, she absolutely knew no other way of life. When an aunt said that she'd have men at her feet because of her beauty, she wondered if they'd be dead; that's what she knew.
She watched the snatching of her grandmother before her very eyes, as she hid under a table. Her father was forced to go to Auschwitz. Her mother begged for places for them to stay throughout the war.
The first half of the book deals with Roma's life before the end of the war. The second half deals with her life after the war: how events, seemingly minor, during the war, left permanent scars in her mind.
While this memoir deals with topics such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, failed marriages, show business, prejudice, and addiction, this is not a book ABOUT those topics. This is a book about a woman who saw "Schindler's List" and recognized herself and her family as subjects, and who had the courage to reflect, document, and move on. This is a story of survival.
(purchased via my amazon.com wishlist)

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Easy Company Soldier: The Legendary Battles of a Sergeant from World War II's "Band of Brothers" Review

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(More customer reviews)Don Malarkey offers yet another heart-felt memoir from those brave Band of Brothers, Easy Company, 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment. Malarkey writes deep from the heart on every page of this gripping account of his life. From humble beginnings growing up in Astoria, Washington to attending the University of Oregon, Malarkey beautifully describes the people, places, and occurrences that had the most influence on his life. Like the memoirs of Winters, Guarnere and Heffron, the bulk of the book's pages are devoted the exploits of Easy Company. Malarkey does not stray far from the chronological events of Stephen Ambrose's book and HBO mini-series; however, he delves deeper into his own emotions and philosophical questions than his predecessors. Rather than explaining events, Malarkey paints a human face on the people who participated in them. As Malarkey clearly explains in the book's final pages, the attention brought upon him and his Easy Company comrades by both the book and film coupled with a string of Easy Company reunions, has been tremendously therapeutic in overcoming over four decades of suppressed post traumatic stress and survivor's guilt. This memoir tells more than just the story of Don Malarkey's life; writing it undoubtedly helped Don Malarkey understand the meaning of his own life, an undertaking better than any high-priced therapist could offer.
Most of us probably know Don Malarkey by the character portrayed by actor Scott Grimes in the popular HBO mini-series. Images of the carefree mischievous red-haired Irish kid from Washington State, who foolishly risked his own life to retrieve a German Lugar, and efforts to keep a stolen motorcycle with side-car hidden from the much hated Captain Sobel, immediately come to mind. These events were true. Yet Malarkey takes his readers into the turbulent emotions of a young man who, on the surface enjoyed English literature, recited poetry from memory, yet inwardly was forever changed by his experiences in combat. The film only scratched the surface of Don Malarkey; the book takes us to the inner depths.
The awkward scene where Grimes goes to pick up his uniforms from the British laundress, and silently pays for all the bundles belonging to his dead comrades killed in Normandy, is what this book is all about. Malarkey took the deaths of all his fellow Easy Company men hard, but none harder that the death of his closest friend, Warren "Skip" Muck. After Skip's death, Malarkey exchanged letters with Skip's fiance promising to visit her after the war, but couldn't bring himself to keep that promise. When she showed up at an Easy Company reunion in the mid-1990s, Malarkey embraced her and allowed fifty years worth of tears to flow.
The film showed Malarkey fidgeting with his coveted Lugar in the frozen woods outside Bastogne, but could not adequately convey that Malarkey was a hare's frozen breath from committing suicide. His undying belief that "a Malarkey never gives up" kept him from putting the pistol to his head and pulling the trigger. "Never give up," clearly provides the underlining message of the book. Another reason Malarkey did not take his own life that night at Bastogne was the memory of a promise he had made to his aging grandmother (who died in her sleep the night of June 6, 1944), that he would return home unharmed. Physically, Malarkey kept his promise to her, yet mentally and emotionally, he carried wounds that would plague him for decades.
Malarkey offers a most important fundamental message: no matter what trials and tribulations life throws at you, never give up! He also underscores the downside of World War II's silent "greatest generation:" keeping the memory of traumatic experiences bottled up inside of you will be your undoing. For those expecting just another Easy Company vet's perspective on events portrayed in the book and movie, this memoir will not disappoint. But Malarkey's underlying message on coping with the memories of war and getting on with your life is the true gift in this beautifully written autobiography. This should be required reading for any returning war veteran!


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Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil Review

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(More customer reviews)Explaining Hitler: The Search for the Origins of His Evil by Ron Rosenbaum. Highly recommended.
Explaining Hitler is a misleading title, for the focus is primarily on the Jewish academic community's attempts to explain Hitler-to put it in grossly oversimplified terms, this is somewhat like the prey explaining the motivations of the predator. The result is that, while Hitler remains a mystery, the academic and personal biases of the explainers are revealed. To each person's theories and comments Rosenbaum adds his own analysis, finding the flaws with precision.
Hitler explanation ranges from the deeply personal (abusive father, infection by a Jewish prostitute, mother's painful death under the care of a Jewish physician) to the inevitable influence of historical forces (post-war inflation, depression). Rosenbaum discusses the personal in depth, including Hitler's rumored Jewish ancestor and bizarre relationship with his half-niece Geli Raubal, the convolutions each theory takes, and the lack of facts or reliable information to support any of them. For example, Rosenbaum astutely points out the only real "proof" of the abusive father is Hitler's own assertion and sarcastically suggests that there is reason not to trust Hitler's word. One argument that immediately comes to mind that Rosenbaum only briefly alludes to later is that millions of people have abusive fathers, bad experiences with individual members of ethnic and other groups, and so forth, yet do not turn into war criminals responsible for the deaths of millions. In short, these theories might explain Hitler's anti-Semitism, but not the results.
What is disturbing about so many of these explanations (some of which are advocated by such noted people as Simon Wiesenthal, who favors the Jewish prostitute theory), and more sophisticated ones that appear later in the book, such as George Steiner's, is their insistence that a Jew or a group of Jews is responsible. In these theories, a Jewish ancestor, a Jewish prostitute, an Eastern Jew with a different appearance, or the Jewish "blackmail of transcendence" and "addiction to the ideal" is responsible for Hitler-implying Hitler is not responsible at all. Although the egotistical and monomaniacal Claude Lanzmann, maker of the documentary Shoah, is too self-centered and angry to clearly articulate the basis for his belief that Hitler explanation is inherently "obscene," it could be because so much "explanation" has found a way to point a finger at the Jews, directly or indirectly, while minimizing Hitler. Perhaps for that reason, Lanzmann is interested only in how the Holocaust was accomplished, not with the motivations of Hitler or his followers. The major flaw is that Lanzmann has missed the point by dictating that his rule of "There is no why" must apply to all other individuals-and the irony of that.
As Rosenbaum repeatedly points out, no explanations for Hitler are acceptable that excuse him-that look to a bad experience with a Jew rather than to, for example, the influence of anti-Semitism surrounding him in Austria and Germany. Again, however, it can be said that anti-Semitic influence has surrounded many people (as Rosenbaum notes, pre-war France was more anti-Semitic than either Austria or Germany) who have not killed, let alone killed millions.
Rosenbaum's approach is excellent, pairing individuals with complementary or opposing viewpoints, e.g., Lanzmann and Dr. Micheels, the theologian Emil Fackenheim and the atheist historian Yehuda Bauer in "The Temptation to Blame God." Even revisionist David Irving is given a chapter. Rosenbaum saves what seems to be his preference for the last chapter-Lucy Dawidowicz's belief that Hitler decided on The Final Solution as early as 1918, based on what he said and did not say over time, and on the "laughter" that is transferred from the Jewish victims to the Nazi victors. While this does not explain the origins of Hitler's evil, it pinpoints the time frame and removes the notion that he was ambivalent or experienced a sense of moral ambiguity. Dawidowicz's Hitler knows early on what he wants to do and lets insiders in on the "joke" he finds it to be. Presented in this way, Dawidowicz does seem to have come closest to the truth about Hitler. After all, how can one capable of ambivalence ultimately kill millions?
To me, one critical question is not why or how any one man became evil or chose an evil course of action, for the explanation could simply be that the capacity for evil in an individual may be higher than most of us are capable of realising or accepting. That is, everyday evil like John Wayne Gacy's is accomplished in isolation and is therefore limited in scope. The intent and the desired scope given opportunity remain unknowns. The more frightening question is why and how so many chose to follow Hitler. I do not necessarily mean the German people, per se, but the thousands of bureaucrats, managers, and soldiers who physically carried out The Final Solution, knowing exactly what this entailed and what it signified. Hitler seized the opportunity offered by the political and social situation to institutionalize his personal evil. A single man may envision and desire genocide, but it takes followers and believers to carry it out. Explaining Hitler (or Stalin or Genghis Khan) is not enough to explain the scope of this particular human evil. Without followers, there are no leaders. And without followers, millions of Jews (and Cambodians and Indians and so forth) could not have died. The evil that is so hard to face goes well beyond Hitler to a place that no one could truly wish to discover.
Diane L. Schirf, 18 January 2004.

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Tonight We Die As Men: The untold story of Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment from Toccoa to D-Day (General Military) Review

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(More customer reviews)Nearly everyone knows the exploits of the "Band of Brothers" of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. This book covers the much less exposed Third Battalion of the 506th PIR.
Combining personal, first-person recollections of surviving veterans with details unearthed in several years of research, authors Ian Gardner and Roger Day cover the Third Battalion from training in Georgia and England, into action in France.
Written in an easy to read style, the story is not burdened with footnotes to draw away the reader's attention but instead utilizes frequent pull-quotes. These attributed quotes provide the referential validity that supports the accuracy of the narrative. There is also a short bibliography at the end. Six sections of photographs cover the entire timeline of the story. Clear and concise maps provide geographic context for the action.
This book will appeal to a broad range of readers from those casually interested in history, to D-Day enthusiasts, to serious historians seeking a clear and accurate account of a specific unit within the massive D-Day universe.
I highly recommend this book - you will want it in your D-Day collection!

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The exploits of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) have been long overshadowed by those of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, who were immortalized in Stephen Ambrose's book Band of Brothers. Yet the actions of the 3rd Battalion were every bit as incredible and this book finally gives them deserved attention. Formed in 1942, the 506th PIR were shortly after attached to the 101st Airborne Division. After training they were transported to Wiltshire in 1943 to prepare for the invasion of Europe. Whilst taking part in the D-Day landings, the battalion suffered many immediate casualties, including the battalion commander. This is the astounding story of how the surviving paratroopers fought on towards their objectives against horrendous odds, told in their own words, and those of the French civilians who witnessed the Normandy campaign. Through many hours of interviews, and in-depth research, the authors have pieced together the perspectives of the soldiers to create a unique, comprehensive account. Including a foreword by Ed Shames, veteran of the 3rd Battalion, and illustrated with black and white photographs and maps throughout, this book vividly details the experiences of the 3rd battalion from training through to D-Day and beyond.

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Patton's One-Minute Messages: Tactical Leadership Skills for Business Managers Review

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(More customer reviews)It is hard/cold/ethical/no-nonsense leadership principles.
There is a difference between being a leader and being a manager.
I wish colleges (all arenas including masters in business) taught a class that had this information in it. It is my observation that leadership training of this nature is only taught at high $$ seminars and at Military War Colleges. This book is a high $$ seminar for pennies on the dollar. I keep it on my desk beside my computer monitor and read a page every day then reread the previous day's page. Two minutes in the morning and I now find myself unconsciously following the ideas/concepts I read earlier in the week.
I found myself wanting more meat with every page. . . that is not the design of this book. I am sending a copy to my nephew who just graduated the Naval Academy.


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This collection of General Patton's "one liners" shows how business managers can succeed by applying the combat tested principles of one of American's greatest military leaders. General Patton was a professional soldier who spent his life inspiring people to accompllish the seemingly impossible. Now business managers can use his secrets to motivate their employees. The author uses brief quotes from the General to explain their inner philosophy and to obtain greater performance and productivity from employees. The book also presents corresponding references to both W. Edwards Deming and Walter A. Shewhart, two of America's experts on the subject of statistical quality control. This is not surprising when it is realized that fundamental principles of both military leadership and business management are universal.

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Lily's Crossing Review

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(More customer reviews)As thirteen year old seventh graders we really enjoyed reading this book for English class. Lily's Crossing was a book about friendship and both hard and happy times. Lily made a wonderful new friend, Albert, in Rockaway. This all happened during the summer of 1944, at the height of World War II. Everything occurred after Margaret, Lily's best friend, left Rockaway, Beach because her father was transferred to a new city were they manufactured bombers. Lily also had a difficult time dealing with her Poppy (father) leaving to help win the war. Read and discover the adventures and risks Lily and Albert experienced which built their friendship throughout the summer in Rockaway. Our feelings throughout this story were changing constantly. At different parts we both cried and shared happy and sad emotions with one another. Lily's Crossing is suspenseful, well written, and can be enjoyed by all ages.

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The Man from the Other Side Review

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(More customer reviews)Mr. Orlev's charaters are fully drawn, and his writing is superb. Marek is a young Pole, living with his mother and stepfather. He is an observant Catholic in a very anti-semetic society. Although he has never had a friendship or any relationship with a Jew, he is certain that they are bad people who deserve whatever harm comes their way. On acompanying his step-father through the Warsaw sewers into the Ghetto, he comes to see that they are quite normal. His anti-semetic feelings continue until his mother reveals things he didn't know about himself. In trying to make restitution for harm he caused for Jews, Marek helps a Jewish man. He finds that it is not always reliable to believe everything you are taught, and people are different but human.

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Emus Loose in Egnar: Big Stories from Small Towns Review

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(More customer reviews)This just in: journalism is not dead. This is how Judy Muller opens her new book about the newspaper business in small town America.
Muller, a Peabody Award winning reporter, had become weary of hearing - and even contributing to - discussions about the demise of print journalism. She wanted to see if there was a bright spot anywhere in an otherwise dismal landscape. The author, who lives part of her time in the small town of Norwood, Colorado, is a reader of the Norwood Post. She saw that the Post filled a vital need and played an important role in the life of her tiny community. It occurred to her that there may be other papers with similar roles out there in the hinterlands. She set on a journey to find out. The result is her engaging new book, Emus Loose in Egnar: Big Stories from Small Towns.
The quirky title is explained in the course of her discovery that print journalism is, indeed, alive and well, even thriving in places like Boonville California, Huntington West Virginia, Dutch Harbor Alaska, Concrete Washington and Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Muller spent time getting to know reporters, photographers, cartoonists, editorial writers, publishers, readers and even advertisers to uncover a rich tapestry of journalism in rural America. She focused on newspapers with circulations much smaller than the overruns of big city publications. A few of the more evocative mastheads include the Telluride Daily Planet, West Virginian Hillbilly, Canyon County Zephyr, Dutch Harbor Fisherman, Tundra Drums and my favorite, Original Briefs, from Hardin, Montana.
The lead story in Emus Loose in Egnar, is that, along with bread and butter accounts of births and deaths, marriages and high school sports, are stories as convoluted, complex and compelling as any on the nightly news. In fact, some of the stories on the nightly news originated from these blue highway dots on the map.
Muller also discovered that it often takes courage to publish the news in places where readers know the people being written about- in fact, may be the people being written about. They also know who did the writing. It's not easy reporting political intrigue, police blotter incidents and hot button issues when the reporter has breakfast at the same coffee counter as his subjects. To make matters worse, the owner of the coffee counter is likely to be an advertiser.
It all makes for great reading. And it is good to hear that journalism is alive and well.

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