I have been reading mysteries for more years than I care to count. I prefer cozy or comic mysteries. I have read them all but I have now read one of the best. I easily compare this fresh new writer to Lilian Jackson Braun or Donald Westlake. While their work is sometimes stale, Schweizer is fresh and unexpected.

What a hoot! This book is hilarious. If you are a music lover at all, this book will have you rolling in the isles. I have literally laughed out loud at some of the antics in this book. The situations that Hayden Konig (the main character) finds himself in when dealing with the church organist and choir members are so typical of muscians. If you have ever known a musician, or are a musician and have ever dreamed of being something else, this book is for you. A wonderful and refreshing read.

The Alto Wore Tweed, Mark Swcweizer's new "Liturgical Mystery" is a delight to read. Set in the mountains of western North Carolina, Schweizer introduces us to Hayden Konig, an Episcopalian choirmaster and organist, who fancies himself a mystery writer. While attempting to write a mystery, Konig gets involved in an actual mystery that takes him on an amazing path with a very contemporary conclusion.

Schweizer's word pictures of the scenery and people of western North Carolina are excellent and very true to life. His use of wry humor leaves the reader rolling on the floor with laughter, which is very out of the ordinary in the mystery genre, but very refreshing.

You will love this book. I highly recomend it!

Judge James G. Adams, Jr.

Charles Lummis is a very interesting person in American and Southwest history, but author Thompson goes way beyond what most biographers would do and produced a richly researched and highly readable story. I read this book in my car, under a streetlight, while my wife attended a Christmas function. Does that tell you how interesting it is? I've passed Lummis's home/museum thousands of times but never visited--now I will.

Mark Thompson's long & deeply researched biography of a forgotten, complex American born just before the Civil War, is fascinating. Over a long & restless life, Charles Lummis became a poet, prolific letter writer, journalist, photographer, archaeologist, editor, champion of Spanish heritage in the Americas, & Indian Rights advocate - the classic workaholic of the late 19th & early 20th Centuries.

It was his TRAMP ACROSS THE CONTINENT in 1884, which he weekly serialized in newspaper articles, that catapulted him into the public's eye. In time, as his assignments for the newly-formed Los Angeles Times, took him deeper into the Southwest which would capture his heart & soul, & closer to the American Indians for whom he would advocate mightily, he caught the ear of a President. Theodore Roosevelt came to consider Lummis a vital part of his "cowboy cabinet," & often invited him to Washington. Lummis enjoyed a life-long influence, via his editorials & many books, on the way Americans thought of themselves.

In this era of bland plasticity, AMERICAN CHARACTER, reminds us of how individualistic, passionate, offensive & charming our forefathers were. It also reminds us of how devastating was our impact upon the people & the land in a time when a man could bemoan the wholesale slaughter of buffalo & Indians, while not batting an eye as he shot other critters just for the thrill of it!

In the light of today's political correctness, Charles Fletcher Lummis' love life was as gilded with misogyny as you would expect from a man of his time - he kept his first marriage secret all through his Harvard years. As in every other aspect of his life, his thirst for affection & companionship was both utilitarian & fascinatingly eccentric.

AMERICAN CHARACTER: Charles Fletcher Lummis & the Rediscovery of the Southwest, has been named by the Western Writers of America as Winner of the 2002 Spur Award in the biography category.

Charles Fletcher Lummis was a phenomenon--journalist, poet, cross-country tramp, outdoorsman, hunter, newspaper and magazine editor, historian, archaeologist, folklorist, photographer, publicist, Indian rights activist, librarian, preservationist, museum founder, and prodigious lover of dozens of beautiful women. His life story makes for fascinating reading. This book is marred by some factual errors (a "new millennium" did not begin in 1900, and the territory of the Chiricahua Apaches was not "as big as Europe"), but the errors are mostly inconsequential (this is popular history, not a scholarly treatise). Thompson has told a great story, and he has done it very well.

(Foundations&Phil\Dowie-amazon Book Review) Dec. 19, 2001

There are over 50,000 foundations in the U.S. today. With $448 billion in assets (1999), foundations are an unbelievably huge philanthropic industry compared to almost 40 years ago, when the federal government launched its War on Poverty. Foundations' assets then were well under $30 billion.

Mark Dowie, author of American Foundations: An Investigative History (MIT Press, 2001), does not blanche in analyzing this industry, despite its diversity and differences in grant making and style of operating. Dowie sets an ambitious agenda. He reviews foundation funding of education, science, health, environment, food, energy, art, civil society, democracy and imagination! He is an accomplished writer with16 journalist awards and five books to his credit.
Perhaps consumer activist and Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader suggests best why this book should be read by those involved with the foundation world either as a staff member, trustee, grantseeker or academician. Dowie, says Nader, "is a scholar and a muckraker," who analyzes "foundations' past achievements and failures and then critically [takes] the institutions to task for directing their grants so often away from ?root causes.' Dowie shakes up the complacency, myopia, and insulation of [the] giant foundations by naming names and places."

Dowie clearly raises the most important questions about foundations' performance, and offers thoughtful, usually balanced answers that certainly pull no punches. As the longtime director of a national watchdog nonprofit organization charged with monitoring and redirecting foundations' grantmaking toward the disadvantaged and disenfranchised in the USA, I believe this study is both highly readable and extremely informative.

Education receives the largest share of foundation grants. Dowie observes that "Foundation trustees...seem to favor the spawning of an elite intellectual force over the principle of equal educational opportunity...The great preponderance of educational grants...have found their way to institutions of higher education where scientists and other experts are educated." Recently, however, more foundation money has been poured into reform of primary and secondary education, especially inner city schools. This money was stimulated by Walter Annenberg's $500 million challenge grant in 1993. Dowie applauds this trend. Nevertheless, he raises the question: Can such money ever change the entrenched public education monopoly to enable it to do significantly better educating poor and poorly prepared students? Maybe the foundations should "also be funding community organizations that demand more of public schools..."

"American foundations' second largest area of grantmaking is health." Dowie concludes that "foundations' enthusiasm for high-tech diagnostic systems, pharmacology, and the disease model of medicine has not only inhibited the development of preventative and holistic approaches but has also retarded public health and fostered the evolution of an essentially unjust health care system...Until quite recently the public health effects of environmental pollution have been virtually ignored by the large foundations."

More generally, beyond specific subject areas, Dowie identifies proactive philanthropy for criticism: "...when proactive philanthropy is pursued without the participation of the people most affected by it" serious problems result.

The 50-year Green Revolution is often touted as one of the foundation world's greatest achievements. Dowie acknowledges its success in significantly raising food production per acre in the developing world. But he goes on to challenge its social, economic and environmental consequences for the peasant-farmers and the urban poor. Unfettered scientific experimentalism in increasing crop yields, supported by the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, with little heed to culture, economics and sustainability, meant the rich got richer and the poor poorer, with 800 million people still hungry in the world.

The Energy Foundation was created in 1991 by the Pew Charitable Trusts, MacArthur and the Rockefeller Foundations "to assist the nation's transition to a sustainable energy future by promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy." This was a major proactive foundation initiative to do what the environmental movement was not perceived to be doing. Dowie records the positive accomplishments of the Energy Foundation, but worries that "concentrating so much leverage in one funding body could create serious power problems, as well as an orthodoxy, that, if misguided, would be difficult to challenge." And, in the end, he identifies how the Energy Foundation gave its largest grants to environmental legal organizations which were "agents of capitulation...deferring to free market arguments," while "throwing mere crumbs to energy visionaries, renewable activists, and consumer advocates."

Dowie's investigation into American foundations is not all negative. The author identifies several individual philanthropists as possible harbingers of "a new and imaginative era of philanthropy." In fact, the author seems mesmerized by the big money and big ideas of these individuals.

He singles out Irene Diamond, Ted Turner, Walter Annenberg and George Soros as "venturesome" philanthropists -- because they "imagined, respectively, worlds without AIDS, without strife, without ignorance, and without tyrants, then made massive and immediate financial efforts to make those worlds real"

The author acknowledges that it is an uphill battle for these individuals to be creators of "a new and imaginative era of philanthropy." He observes, "If historical precedent were to hold, foundations would [take] courses [that] would be safe and uncontroversial."

On the war of political ideas and foundations, Dowie writes, "During the last twenty years of the twentieth century, it was conservatives who prevailed.., financed the Reagan revolution, and provisioned the Republican recapture of Congress. A dozen or so medium-sized, uncharacteristically patient foundations can take a good deal of credit for the rise and endurance of America's conservative revolution...More recently, following this bold twenty-five-year foray into public policy by right-wing foundations, the Left has stepped timidly into the fray with a few programs in economic and political justice. Will mainstream foundations, too, learn from the conservative foundations' triumph of leveraged influence? Or will they continue their minimal, unimaginative funding of safe and soft institutions proposing weak, incremental solutions to urgent and undeniable crises?"

"Brilliant and constructive as some of their work has been," writes Dowie, "much of it has also been fruitless, uninspired, and designed to do little more than perpetuate the economic and social systems that allow foundations to exist."

He explicitly faults foundations for not doing enough for social movements which they have aided: "With the single exception of civil rights, foundation interests in America's signature social movements ? for women's rights, peace, environment, environmental justice, students, gay liberation, and particularly labor ? [have] been parsimonious, hesitant, late, and at times counterproductive...In any case, all foundation support for social movements...remains small potatoes any way it's measured."

In summation, Dowie argues that "Those empowered to make grants should not assume that they have the wisdom to solve such serious problems simply because they control the money." As a student of philanthropy and seeker of foundation largesse for the past 30 years, I can only say, "Amen!"

There are over 50,000 foundations in the U.S. today. With $448 billion in assets (1999), foundations are an unbelievably huge philanthropic industry compared to almost 40 years ago, when the federal government launched its War on Poverty. Foundations' assets then were well under $30 billion.

Mark Dowie, author of American Foundations: An Investigative History (MIT Press, 2001), does not blanche in analyzing this industry, despite its diversity and differences in grant making and style of operating. Dowie sets an ambitious agenda. He reviews foundation funding of education, science, health, environment, food, energy, art, civil society, democracy and imagination! He is an accomplished writer with16 journalist awards and five books to his credit.
Perhaps consumer activist and Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader suggests best why this book should be read by those involved with the foundation world either as a staff member, trustee, grantseeker or academician. Dowie, says Nader, "is a scholar and a muckraker," who analyzes "foundations' past achievements and failures and then critically [takes] the institutions to task for directing their grants so often away from ?root causes.' Dowie shakes up the complacency, myopia, and insulation of [the] giant foundations by naming names and places."

Dowie clearly raises the most important questions about foundations' performance, and offers thoughtful, usually balanced answers that certainly pull no punches. As the longtime director of a national watchdog nonprofit organization charged with monitoring and redirecting foundations' grantmaking toward the disadvantaged and disenfranchised in the USA, I believe this study is both highly readable and extremely informative.

Education receives the largest share of foundation grants. Dowie observes that "Foundation trustees...seem to favor the spawning of an elite intellectual force over the principle of equal educational opportunity...The great preponderance of educational grants...have found their way to institutions of higher education where scientists and other experts are educated." Recently, however, more foundation money has been poured into reform of primary and secondary education, especially inner city schools. This money was stimulated by Walter Annenberg's $500 million challenge grant in 1993. Dowie applauds this trend. Nevertheless, he raises the question: Can such money ever change the entrenched public education monopoly to enable it to do significantly better educating poor and poorly prepared students? Maybe the foundations should "also be funding community organizations that demand more of public schools..."

"American foundations' second largest area of grantmaking is health." Dowie concludes that "foundations' enthusiasm for high-tech diagnostic systems, pharmacology, and the disease model of medicine has not only inhibited the development of preventative and holistic approaches but has also retarded public health and fostered the evolution of an essentially unjust health care system...Until quite recently the public health effects of environmental pollution have been virtually ignored by the large foundations."

More generally, beyond specific subject areas, Dowie identifies proactive philanthropy for criticism: "...when proactive philanthropy is pursued without the participation of the people most affected by it" serious problems result.

The 50-year Green Revolution is often touted as one of the foundation world's greatest achievements. Dowie acknowledges its success in significantly raising food production per acre in the developing world. But he goes on to challenge its social, economic and environmental consequences for the peasant-farmers and the urban poor. Unfettered scientific experimentalism in increasing crop yields, supported by the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, with little heed to culture, economics and sustainability, meant the rich got richer and the poor poorer, with 800 million people still hungry in the world.

The Energy Foundation was created in 1991 by the Pew Charitable Trusts, MacArthur and the Rockefeller Foundations "to assist the nation's transition to a sustainable energy future by promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy." This was a major proactive foundation initiative to do what the environmental movement was not perceived to be doing. Dowie records the positive accomplishments of the Energy Foundation, but worries that "concentrating so much leverage in one funding body could create serious power problems, as well as an orthodoxy, that, if misguided, would be difficult to challenge." And, in the end, he identifies how the Energy Foundation gave its largest grants to environmental legal organizations which were "agents of capitulation...deferring to free market arguments," while "throwing mere crumbs to energy visionaries, renewable activists, and consumer advocates."

Dowie's investigation into American foundations is not all negative. The author identifies several individual philanthropists as possible harbingers of "a new and imaginative era of philanthropy." In fact, the author seems mesmerized by the big money and big ideas of these individuals.

He singles out Irene Diamond, Ted Turner, Walter Annenberg and George Soros as "venturesome" philanthropists -- because they "imagined, respectively, worlds without AIDS, without strife, without ignorance, and without tyrants, then made massive and immediate financial efforts to make those worlds real"

The author acknowledges that it is an uphill battle for these individuals to be creators of "a new and imaginative era of philanthropy." He observes, "If historical precedent were to hold, foundations would [take] courses [that] would be safe and uncontroversial."

On the war of political ideas and foundations, Dowie writes, "During the last twenty years of the twentieth century, it was conservatives who prevailed.., financed the Reagan revolution, and provisioned the Republican recapture of Congress. A dozen or so medium-sized, uncharacteristically patient foundations can take a good deal of credit for the rise and endurance of America's conservative revolution...More recently, following this bold twenty-five-year foray into public policy by right-wing foundations, the Left has stepped timidly into the fray with a few programs in economic and political justice. Will mainstream foundations, too, learn from the conservative foundations' triumph of leveraged influence? Or will they continue their minimal, unimaginative funding of safe and soft institutions proposing weak, incremental solutions to urgent and undeniable crises?"

"Brilliant and constructive as some of their work has been," writes Dowie, "much of it has also been fruitless, uninspired, and designed to do little more than perpetuate the economic and social systems that allow foundations to exist."

He explicitly faults foundations for not doing enough for social movements which they have aided: "With the single exception of civil rights, foundation interests in America's signature social movements ? for women's rights, peace, environment, environmental justice, students, gay liberation, and particularly labor ? [have] been parsimonious, hesitant, late, and at times counterproductive...In any case, all foundation support for social movements...remains small potatoes any way it's measured."

In summation, Dowie argues that "Those empowered to make grants should not assume that they have the wisdom to solve such serious problems simply because they control the money." As a student of philanthropy and seeker of foundation largesse for the past 30 years, I can only say, "Amen!"

You simply cannot understand the social and political order in the United States without reading this book. Dowie is at the top of his game here, and that says a lot since he is arguably America's best left-leaning investigative journalist. Some people slow down in their 60s, but Dowie is picking up his pace. He has the wisdom and perspective and gonads to speak it like it is, picking apart the influence of wealthy foundations in helping, and mostly hurting, the cause for social, political and economic democracy and environmental sustainability. Too bad he left out an analysis of foundations and their impact on the worsening state of US media, but maybe that's the next book. This is a great follow-up to Losing Ground, his brilliant critique of the failures of US environmentalism.

This is simply the best manual of English genealogy ever published. Let's hope any upcoming edition acknowledges the existance of the Internet.

"No other publication gives such comprehensive and up-to-date guidance on tracing British ancestry and researching family history. Illustrated throughout with more than ninety examples of the major types of records, and with detailed lists of further reading, Ancestral Trails will be the essential companion and guide for all family historians." Anthony Camp, Director, Society of Genealogists.

This excellent publication was created in association with the prestigious Society of Genealogists, perhaps akin to the US' National Genealogical Society. The author Mark D. Herber is a solicitor who began researching his family in 1979. He has successfully traced some of his lines back to around 1580.

Indeed I was impressed with this 674 page "encyclopedia." (Quotes added for emphasis!) The bibliography alone is twenty-two pages. My experience with English records has been limited to early parish records in Devon and some Court of Canterbury wills, so I was most eager to have the opinion of three friends who do extensive English, Welsh and Irish research, and indeed are successful in helping others make strong headway in their research. You can imagine the excitement at our local LDS Family History Center as they poured over the book with uncustomary enthusiasm!

The consensus is that ANCESTRAL TRAILS is as definitive of British research as Ancestry's THE SOURCE is of American genealogy. Lew, a 1st generation Brit, was impressed with the chapter on military records, and made a note to order the book forthwith. Elsie, born of English immigrant parents, had been inquiring previously about manor court records and found this publication provided more than she had found in explanation elsewhere. I was impressed with the 94 illustrations, including typical certificates of vital records, representative samples of wills and the like.

Also impressive is the attention given to beginning genealogists. Basics such as pedigree charts, personal recollections & memorabilia, spelling, handwriting, dates, obtaining certificates and organization of collected materials are discussed with ample illustrations.

Additional chapters include: General Problems Encountered by Researchers, Civil Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Census Returns, Parish Registers, Churchyards and Cemeteries, Directories, Combining Sources, Archives, Libraries and Family History Societies, Wills and Administrations,Catholic, Nonconformist and Jewish Records, Marriage and Divorce, Maps, Land Registrations and Property Records, Local and Social History, Newspapers and Elections,Parish and Town Records, Records of the Army, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force, Records of Shipping and Seaman, Records of Trades, Professions and Business, Oaths, Taxation and Insurance Records Records of Civil and Ecclesiastical Courts, Records of the Criminal Courts and Criminals, Education, Peerages, the Gentry, Famous People and Heraldry, Further Property Records, Tracing Migrants and Living Relatives, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands Immigration, Emigration and Investigation Abroad

Appendices included essential information under the following topics: Codes for areas and volumes in the GRO Indexes, Indexes to other GRO records, Chapman County Codes, Seize Quarters of Bessie Maude Symes, Extracts from the Bullied and Keates family trees, Public Record Office Information Leaflets, County Record Offices & other archives, Commencement dates of the reigns of English and British monarchs, Wills & Administrations in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury: A Summary of Finding-Aids, Records of the Court of Chancery: A summary of Finding-Aids.

Owing only to its tiny print, you'll need a magnifying glass in addition to your bi-focals to glean all that's contained in Ancestral Trails. On the best advice of our resident "British Research Gurus," I most heartily recommend this book.

DearMYRTLE

Daily Genealogy Columnist

Genealogy Forum on America Online

Keyword: dearmyrtle

The field of genealogical research in Great Britain is littered with literature. This scepter'd isle has a long history of excellently preserved source records, an enthusiastic community of genealogists, and a wealth of authors willing to guide the enthusiasts through the records. Given this background, it is difficult to imagine that a new work on British genealogical research could quickly become a new "standard reference". Mark Herber has made his Ancestral Trails just such a standard. Ancestral Trails, written in association with the Society of Genealogists in the United Kingdom, is 688 pages of top quality writing, organization, and completeness of coverage. It takes a textbook approach to the subject of genealogical records, leading the reader from the more basic sources such as civil registration and parish records on to the more specialized such as military and educational records. Far from being dry in style, the author uses well chosen examples from his own years of researching his ancestors to explain how the record types in question can be used by the family historian. Some authors who use examples from their own research can detract from their work by doing so. In contrast, Mark Herber has made his personal examples of real research situations enhance the text because of their relevancy to his topics. Nearly one hundred examples of significant records are included as illustrations. Researchers experienced in using British records as well as beginners will find this encyclopedic guide useful. The author covers newly-available resources such as the 1881 Census Index and provides excellent research advice and several clever shortcuts to using this new finding aid. Those researchers with Essex ancestors will be doubly blessed by this book as many of Mark Herber's examples are from research in that county. The extensive bibliography really sets this book apart as a new standard reference. Almost one thousand bibliographic references are conveniently referenced from within the book's 30 chapters. Researchers familiar with particular record types will be pleasantly surprised to find Ancestral Trails referring to an exhaustive list of other works on the topic. The author's writing style lucidly describes the important considerations when working with a record type and seamlessly refers the reader to the more specialized works of other authors for greater detail. Ancestral Trails is a thick and thorough tome and an excellent addition to the research knowledge of anyone with British ancestry.

If you are a serious collector or a dealer this is a must have book! Covers all of the major catagories.

This brand new year 2001 super guide can protect collectors from paying good money for fakes and reproductions. The book's 304 pages covers Art glass, Cameo Glass, Depression Glass, China, Porcelain, Scientific Instruments, Art Pottery, Black Memorabilia, Bronze, Furniture, Computer-related, Lamp and, Lighting, Napkin Rings, Silver items, and Toys. There are more than 1,000 great black and white, and a 16-page full color section to help you identify reproductions. The book's 6 x 9" is a handy size to take with you while antiquing. The book can save you far more than its price by protecting you from purchasing only one reproduction. Add it to your library.

Mark Chervenka, editor of the monthly "Antique & Collectors Reproduction News" and noted authority on fakes and reproductions in the collectible and antiques world, has compiled a 304-page compendium that surpasses our previous experts, Dorothy Hammond and Ruth Webb Lee. Mr. Chervenka makes detecting much easier as he loads his book with hundreds of photos displaying the old next to the new. The reader has only to study and to compare and contrast the entries in this book to develop a comfortable understanding of what to look for in detecting the mass of reproductions and fakes encountered in today's antiques and collectibles market. There's just one thing wrong with the book: it's about 50 years overdue!!

The Art of Identity deals with the importance of the corporate identity. Extremely well-written and researched. Rowden's book is sure to lead to powerful discussions on his ideas, especially 'firmwords,' a fascinating concept. Of course, a successful corporate identity is quite relevant nowadays, even critical to an organization's success, both on Main Street and Wall Street. The importance of identity is also emphasized in Guerilla PR: Wired, which relies on an examination of how to create and manage an image using the Internet and other technological methods.

Rowden has produced a major work relating to Corporate Identity; I believe his ideas will prove the foundation for a new direction in the business domain.

His concept of Firmwords will, I am sure, become an established mechanism through which identity can be constructed, remodeled or improved.

This deeply thought provoking book will become a classic for all who enter the business arena not just those involved in the marketing field.

Few books live up to their dust jacket. This one does. The publishers at Gower describe it as "Deeply thought-provoking, offering a profound insight into the creation, management and measurement of identity-and into why the right idnetity can transform your organisation". Though I steal their words this is a fair description.

I especially like the 'firm word' principal, I used this myself to great affect.

"... each trip includes descriptions of historic sites along the route and of shops, inns, B&Bs, restaurants and other establishments of interest. Hand-drawn maps are provided for each route, and reproductions of eight beautiful watercolors of autumn scenes by Mark Tougias are featured prominently. For motorists who don't want to risk a bad turn, here's your guide." Travel Reference Library on-line,

"A native New Englander, a naturalist, and a fine writer, Tougias has done everyone a favor by making it so easy to get out and see the leaves at their finest." Amazon.com

"... an excellent guide to 15 of the most delightful drives... stunning plein air paintings; rich, sure brushstrokes bring the color, form and simple strength of the New England landscape to life." The Shoestring Traveler

I was sorry to see that this was out of print. In fact I just read it tonight to my youngest child. This book has been a favorite of all three of my kids! Mark Teague is terrific. This book is fast paced and easy enough for even the youngest child to understand. The illustrations are pure hillarity! I also recommend "The Secret Shortcut" and "The Lost and Found".

We have a number of books by Mark Teague, and this is our favorite. We too checked it out from the library, and liked it so much that we had to buy our own copy. The paintings are very kinetic and the story is charming. I especially liked the kids' Secret Plan #2 to impress the babysittter!

We originally checked this book out from the library and decided to add it to our library. The illustrations are wonderful and keep the kids very interested from page to page. The message is very clear and creatively presented about trying to push someones buttons and the results of getting no reaction. Our small children found it easy to follow and remember the story.

...The stories and poems in the book are largely autobiographical, in so far as they follow a life much like the author's, and there are some very good things here. What there is not is a unified style. Scheel likes to play around with words and ideas and styles, and A BACKWARD VIEW has a little bit of everything, from the straightforward childhood memory of "The Old Buggy" to the strange, Joycean "Ulysses at a Kansas University."

Although Scheel seems to prefer his stories, his poems have their own strengths. We cannot lose the image from "Rain" of the little boy riding on his father's shoulders, "Cocky as a squirrel."

This is a book worth having.

Author Mark Scheel offers up slices of his life and times for our pleasure and consideration in his award-winning A BACKWARD VIEW. From sweet to bitter and then back to sweet, this collection of short stories, poems, thoughts and recollections drops refreshing moments into our otherwise crowded hours.

Scheel's family becomes ours in his humorous and playful recollections of the demise of "The Old Buggy." Granddad's calm smile, as Mother uses all her persuasive powers to convince him there is still value in the old family buggy, hints at the very beginning that the buggy is doomed. Throughout, Scheel's dialogue and word pictures make his memories part of our past.

The poetry tucked here and there is alive with sensation--touch, taste, smell and sound all take form as you spend time under Dad's oil-skinned slicker in the rain ("Rain") or sniff glue and take pills to jangle your "insight" awake ("The Bad Ole Days"). Scheel points out the bitter-sweet truth that what was strange or bizarre or obscene "back then" is commonplace and happening next door now.

Scheel gives us a glimpse of the sentimental in expressing the excitement and challenges of lifestyle changes; along with a wisp of regret. "But--every now and then an auburn hair (they come from the dust, I think, under the bed) gets me tangled in the way you used to smile."

As Scheel shares these moments in time the reader comes to understand that dreams and accomplishments are the fuel of life and that non-acomplishments are not really failures, but just a part of the backdrop of our lives.

As he looks back over the fabric of his life, Scheel asks an unrepentant Time, "When did you fray the fringes off my carpet?"

This book is "a keeper"--keep it on the night stand or coffee table--slice off a poem to enjoy before bed, a short story to help ease the day's pressures or a little of both for no good reason except to enjoy reverie created by Scheel's words.

The first, perhaps the only, test of a good book is--does it keep me turning the pages? This little book passes the test easily. It is so readable, so accessible.

The author has written about various episodes in his life, from childhood into adulthood, some as poetry, others as prose. All of it rings so true because of the settings, the situations and the words--real people living real lives.

Whether writing lovingly about his mother, or ruefully recounting how he'd been taken in by a con man, Mark Scheel pulled me into his stories and made me care about his people. I loved this book.

A great book! It covers generations of fads. Reading it reminded me of good times and bad clothing. I truly enjoyed the book and recommend it highly!

I grew up with Mark Long, so I know this much first hand. He and I know a bad fad when we see one, or should I say, lived one. This book is a personal trip down memory lane, and memory lane has alot of potholes and speed bumps, in other words, it's a rough and painful ride. I found myself laughing out loud most of the time while reading through BAD FADS simply because of the images of myself and my friends living those fads, Mark included. I promise, reading this book can only make you smile. It's worth every penny. Thanks, Mark, for the memories.

Once I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. A real walk down memory lane and a must read for nostalgia lovers. Great illustrations accompany the fads of the past century. Interestingly enough, many of these long-forgotten "Bad Fads" have reared their ugly heads in recent years, making what's old seem new again. This is one "bad" book.