Americas Books - Page 3

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America

Erik Larson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 773 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Highly Rated for History Fans 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

For this reviewer The Devil in the White City was a noteworthy reading experience. Like his other book Isaac's Storm I was exposed to events and experiences of America's history that were completely unknown to me. As a reader of history my goal is the acquisitions of new information and perspectives, which this book fulfilled. I found the details of the enormous construction project build with late 19th Century technology most noteworthy. I wish the published had included more photos and maps of the Fair. Be warned Mr. Larson covers many themes and issues, which he describes in great detail. This is not a book to blast through in an evening but one to read and reflect upon the rich lives and events described. I will admit that I found a few sections in need of a good editorial hand and the title seems to imply it is a novel but these are minor criticism and does not prevent me from recommending it to the Amazon community.

Editorial Review:

Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America’s place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.

Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty

Jeff Pearlman

Amazon Price: $25.07 List Price: $37.99 Not yet published By: Tantor Media

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 31 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Boys will be Boys 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Pretty good synopsis of the High Flying Cowboys of the 90"s. I felt it was a little disjointed in parts. If you aren't a faithful follower of the Cowboys, you might not understand some of the references. Also, since he brings up Troy Aikman's sexuality, it might have been nice to follow it up with the facts relating to his marriage.

Must for any football fan 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Jeff Pearlman, author of a terrific Barry Bonds biography and a book about the 1986 Mets, does a great job of profiling the 1990s Dallas Cowboys. Even if(like me) you hate the Cowboys you should read the book. The characters are far more interesting than in any work of fiction, from the extremely promiscuous Michael Irvin to the square Troy Aikman to heartless but effective coach Jimmy Johnson. This is the best sports book of 2008.

Editorial Review:

The New York Times bestselling author of The Bad Guys Won! chronicles the rise and fall of the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s---the storied three-time Super Bowl champions and the most beloved, despised, and unforgettable dynasty in NFL history.

A People's History of the United States

Howard Zinn

List Price: $14.00 By: Harpercollins Amazon Marketplace: 66 new & used starting at $0.65

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Total reviews: 644 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Since its original landmark publication in 1980, "A People's History of the United States" has been chronicling American history from the bottom up, throwing out the official version of history taught in schools--with its emphasis on great men in high places--to focus on the street, the home, and the, workplace. Known for its lively, clear prose as well as its scholarly research, "A People's History" is the only volume to tell America's story from the point of view of--and in the words of--America's women, factory workers, African-Americans, Native Americans, the working poor, and immigrant laborers.As historian Howard Zinn shows, many of our country's greatest battles---the fights for a fair wage, an eight-hour workday, child-labor laws, health and safety standards, universal suffrage, women's rights, racial equality--were carried out at the grassroots level, against bloody resistance. Covering Christopher Columbus's arrival through President Clinton's first term, "A People's History of the United States, " which was nominated for the American Book Award in 1981, features insightful analysis of the most important events in our history. Revised, updated, and featuring a new after, word by the author, this special twentieth anniversary edition continues Zinn's important contribution to a complete and balanced understanding of American history.

War As They Knew It: Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, and America in a Time of Unrest

Michael Rosenberg

Amazon Price: $17.81 List Price: $26.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Grand Central Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 39 new & used starting at $14.52

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Those Who Stay Will Be Champions 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The story of sports is not in a vacuum and Michael Rosenberg does an outstanding job in delving into a pair of coaches in one of the college gridiron's most bitter rivalries during a tumultuous time in American history.

Woody Hayes of Ohio State - who was a student of military history - and Bo Schembechler - once an assistant to Hayes at OSU - started the "10-Year War" in 1968, with both teams so dominant in the Big 10, that the conference earned the moniker, "Big Two, Little Eight," during this decade.

But with the excellence on the field was the unrest that was growing on college campuses nationwide and on Main Street, USA, as such issues as the Viet Nam War, the rise of the New Left and the push of counter-culturalism against societal norms were dividing the nation. Rosenberg successfully juxtaposes the times outside the stadium with the game inside the vast edifices.

Hayes and Schembechler were successful in a time when it appeared - at least on the surface - that the times were changing rapidly and their form of leadership and teaching was quickly fading away. That they became iconic figures largely for what they accomplished during this time period is a story that Rosenberg succinctly tells, as if carrying the pigskin for a classic "three yards and a cloud of dust."

Editorial Review:

For many, the late 1960s/early 1970s meant a country in turmoil. Sit-ins. Vietnam War protests. Don't trust anyone over 30. Nixon was 'not a crook' - or so he claimed. At the other end of the spectrum was the intense rivalry between Woody Hayes, the legendary Ohio State football coach, and his nemesis, Bo Schembechler from Michigan. To them, the American heartland was still 'pure and sacred', and they were totally in command of their troops. Hayes idolized General Patton, the great war hero. Schembechler idolized President Ford, a former All-American football player. Rosenberg sets the stage brilliantly for this coming clash of cultural differences, as Hayes and Schembechler try desperately to win a national football championship while coping with a shifting political landscape. It all leads to a climatic, and in part tragic, downfall of an important era gone by.

No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II

Doris Kearns Goodwin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 125 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Peek into One Family's Life 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

We may think we know all there is to know about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, but Doris Kearns Goodwin shows in this well-written and fascinating book that we only *thought* we knew the whole story.

This book is full of intimate moments, as told by those who were present to see them. Beautiful detailed, interesting and colorful, this is a layered and nuanced description of life in the Roosevelt White House during those turbulent years between 1940 and 1945.

What I wasn't expecting, and what turned out to be a delightful surprise, was the discussion of what life was like on the Homefront for average Americans during this time. This made extraordinary reading.

For those who are interested in history, this must be added to your list of titles. Highly recommended.

Editorial Review:

No Ordinary Time is a monumental work, a brilliantly conceived chronicle of one of the most vibrant and revolutionary periods in the history of the United States. With an extraordinary collection of details, Goodwin masterfully weaves together a striking number of story lines--Eleanor and Franklin's marriage and remarkable partnership, Eleanor's life as First Lady, and FDR's White House and its impact on America as well as on a world at war. Goodwin effectively melds these details and stories into an unforgettable and intimate portrait of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt and of the time during which a new, modern America was born.

America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It

Mark Steyn

Amazon Price: $23.66 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Blackstone Audio Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 17 new & used starting at $17.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 502 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Where are the babies? Steyn knows... 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Whether you like the author or not (I do), and whether you dislike his dry wit or not (I'm all about it), you're going to have a hard time disagreeing with his main point: much of what will be decided in the world in terms of Islam has already been decided by birth rate. Many countries aren't producing enough babies to replace themselves, and they need immigrants in order to pay for their lavish social programs. Those immigrants, especially in Europe, are (a) most often Muslim, and (b) often very uninterested in doing anything other than recreating their respective countries in their god's image.

That being said, Steyn is able to tell this story with ample statistical and parenthetical examples of his claims along with the ability to predict the future by simply observing the present. It's a thought-provoking read, and it's certainly one worth considering.

Editorial Review:

It's the end of the world as we know it. Someday soon, you might wake up to the call to prayer of a muezzin. Europeans already do. Liberals tell us that diversity is our strength while Talibanic enforcers cruise Greenwich Village burning books and barber shops, while the Supreme Court decides that sharia law doesn t violate the "separation of church and state," and the Hollywood Left decides to give up on gay rights in favor of the much safer charms of polygamy. If you think this can't happen, you haven't been paying attention, as the hilarious and provocative columnist Mark Steyn shows to devastating effect in this, his first book on American and global politics.

The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War (Politically Incorrect Guides)

H. W. Crocker III

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

How a present day legatee of the Confederacy views its history 3 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

In 1972, I was a freshman at Michigan State University. One night, sitting in a student lounge, I struck up a conversation with a fellow student who hailed from the South. As I asked him questions about his life we drifted into a discussion of history. When I said the words "The Civil War", he ignited. There was no Civil War, it was a war of aggression by the North. The South had a clear right to self-determination and the right to leave the Union. The war was NOT over because it had not been legally concluded. He went on like this for quite awhile and I was bewildered because I had never heard thoughts like these before. While I did not agree with him them and do not agree with him or H. W. Croker III now, I think it is healthy for everyone to learn that these ideas remain alive in our nation and in parts of our culture.

The folks who hold these ideas see many things very differently and hold that certain issues that the Civil War seemed to settle are still unsettled. While parts of their arguments may seem attractive, when I view them as a whole, I think we have to give up too much to adopt them. If the United States were to fragment and refragment into smaller "nations", it would weaken us and invite predatory behavior from other and stronger nations. Plus, their history of certain issues in the Civil War, particularly around slavery and race seem strained, contrived, and often wrong to the point of being disturbed.

However, if you have not heard the flip side of the Civil War history before, this is a good and easy place to get that through the looking glass experience I had back in 1972. As you read through it, be sure to check the facts for yourself. It isn't that Crocker is lying, but rather that his priorities in telling his history of the war require him to view things differently. Seeing things from other perspectives, especially if you don't agree with them, is usually quite healthy. So it is here.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

Editorial Review:

Get ready for a rousing rebel yell as bestselling author H.W. Crocker, III (Robert E. Lee on Leadership) charges through bunkers and battlefields in The Politically Incorrect Guide(TM) to the Civil War. Crocker busts myths and shatters stereotypes as he profiles eminent--and colorful--military generals while taking readers through chapters such as "The Civil War in Sixteen Battles You Should Know" and culminating in the most politically incorrect chapter of all, "What if the South Had Won." Revealing little-known truths, like why Robert E. Lee had a higher regard for African Americans than Lincoln did, this is the "P.I.G." that every Civil War buff and Southern partisan will want on their bookshelf, in their classroom, and under their Christmas tree.

Stealth Jihad: How Radical Islam Is Subverting America Without Guns or Bombs

Robert Spencer

Amazon Price: $37.79 List Price: $59.99 Not yet published By: Tantor Media

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Nail on the Head 5 out of 5 stars.
13 of 13 people found this review helpful.

I am blazing through 'Stealth Jihad', witten by Robert Spencer. That guy hits the nail on the head. He puts in perfect words about the naiveté and futility of the now seemingly bi-partisan belief that we can negotiate ourselves into a state of coexistance with the imperialistic Islamic agenda. As he writes, there is absolutely nothing we can do or not do that will change the radical Islamic view of our society or bring a peaceful state of coexistance.

This is a world war we are in and it is a war of ideals and religion (the most grave sort). As referenced in the book, the first rule of war is to know your enemy and to understand the nature of the battle you are in and that is where our policies have failed. You can't win the hearts and minds of the Islamist, no more successfully than the bomb-wielding child murderer can win you or I over to accept and share his reasoning.

The book also points out the success of the non-violent plan to assimilate the non-Muslim population. As a metaphor, I am reminded of the fictional Star Trek characters, the Borg. The difference is that with the Borg, the purpose of assimilation through both violent and non-violent means was to expand its ever-growing "hive" of like-minded, efficient, dedicated and submissive community for the betterment of the whole. The assimilation agenda of Islam has no wants or expectations of a truce or acceptance of its ideals... there is no live and let live thought toward non-believers, it is about conquer, domination, religious biggotry, slavery and brutal iron fist rule.

Not only am I afraid that our President Elect lacks the knowledge, experience and guts to understand and deal with our enemy, I am afraid that we will not soon see a leader who can do the job that needs to be done. We have been P.C. browbeaten and brainwashed so successfully by the leftists in our own society, that the agents of this "stealth Jihad" agenda can see the clear-cut path for success... and they are working all the angles. As it stands, any elected official that calls an Islamic terrorist and Islamic terrorist is committing political suicide and setting himself up for a civil lawsuit. Any policy maker or elected official who points out hateful language spewed in mosques and these "moderate Islamic social justice group" meetings and the correlation between it and the very writings that Muslims hold most sacred is committing political suicide and setting himself up for a civil lawsuit. The attacks not only come from the Islamic "justice and civil rights" lawyers but our leftist P.C. stormtroopers in the US media are more than happy to lead the charge to "right the wrong".

Again, the words of Ariel Durant come to mind: "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within."

Daniel Webster warned, "There is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence. I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing."

Webster's warning rings hauntingly clear when you witness first-hand our own policy makers roll in their own filth of ignorance and unwillingness/inability to muster the courage to call this huge, feathery, quacking thing for what it is.

Great book!

Editorial Review:

New York Times bestselling author Robert Spencer argues that the United States is being subjugated under Islamic law through initiatives designed to advance the jihadist agenda.

Kitchen Confidential

Anthony Bourdain

By: Bloomsbury Pub Ltd Amazon Marketplace: 16 new & used starting at $5.81

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 576 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A great read! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

It's amazing where writing talent is found. I originally discovered Bourdain via his "Les Halles Cookbook" -- one of the funniest cookbooks I have ever read. And then slowly, I began to remember -- hadn't this same guy written an earlier book, much more scandalous?

Well, this is that earlier book. You may not care for the tales it tells, or think very highly of the author, but the man writes like a god! Most of his best jokes are on himself, and all of the wimped-out sissy mistakes he made on the way to becoming a member of The Brotherhood, and its storyteller.

One of his bottom lines: "This stuff is EASY. My cooks are all recent immigrants from Latin America who had never tasted anything better than a taco in their lives. If they can learn, so can you."

It is also, for me, quite amazing to really sit back and think about a gang of five or six guys who actually manage to serve dinner to 600 people! Not once, but day in and day out! For this, you don't want no inspiration, you are not in the market for genius, man, you are a member of the freeping army/ballet corps, and everything depends on precise execution of tasks you have done a kazillion times before. (Oops, I slipped into quasi-Bourdain mode there.)

This book is really a lot better than Orwell's pretentious "Down and Out in Paris in London," especially when you learn that Orwell was basically a middle-class guy who volunteered to go slumming, and left when he got tired of it. This is not the case with Bourdain. This is HIS LIFE, and I for one really appreciate his gusto, his zest, and his willingness to work hard for what he wants.

Enjoy, enjoy (and don't order fish from a restaurant on Monday!)

Editorial Review:

After 25 years of sex, drugs, bad behaviour and haute cuisine, chef and novelist Anthony Bourdain has decided to tell all. From dishwasher to chef, from the Rainbow Room in the Rockerfeller Center to drug dealers in the East Village, his tales are as unpredictable as they are funny and shocking.

Boom!: Talking About the Sixties: What Happened, How It Shaped Today, Lessons for Tomorrow

Tom Brokaw

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Total reviews: 93 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In Boom!, Tom Brokaw, one of America’s premier journalists and the acclaimed author of The Greatest Generation, gives us an epic portrait of another defining era in America: the tumultuous Sixties. The voices and stories of both famous people and ordinary citizens come together in this “virtual reunion” as Brokaw takes us on a memorable journey through a remarkable time, exploring how individuals and the national mood were affected by a controversial era and showing how the aftershocks of the Sixties continue to resound in our lives today. In the reflections of a generation, Brokaw also discovers lessons that might guide us in the years ahead. Race, politics, war, feminism, popular culture, and music are all delved into here. Brokaw explores how members of this generation have gone on to bring activism and a Sixties mindset into individual entrepreneurship , as we hear stories of how this formative decade has shaped our perspectives on business, the environment, politics, family, and our national existence. Remarkable in its insights, wonderfully written and reported, this revealing book lets us join in these frank conversations about America then, now, and tomorrow.

Bonus DVD: Excerpt From 1968 with Tom Brokaw, A History Channel special


Praise for Boom!

“Tom Brokaw does an excellent job of capturing an exciting, controversial period in American history and Boom! is a worthy addition to his growing canon.”–New York Post

“[Tom Brokaw] approaches this magnum opus with warmth, curiosity and conviction, the same attributes that worked so well for his Greatest Generation.”
–The New York Times

“[A] verbal scrapbook of the Sixties . . . [Boom! shows] that the era’s core issues–racism, women’s rights, a nation-dividing war–remain central today, and that the values boomers championed haven’t yet gone bust.”
–People (four stars)

“Packed with memorable people, places, events . . . A ‘virtual reunion’ of 1960s folks telling what they did back then, where they’ve been since and how they assess that tumultuous decade.”
–Chicago Tribune

“Genuinely fascinating recollections . . . plenty of memorable anecdotes.”
–The Wall Street Journal