I started listening to the audio tape some time ago in the car, and was initially somewhat ambivalent about the program. However, within fifteen minutes, I was thoroughly engaged, and fifteen minutes after that, wiping held-back tears from the corners of my eyes, wondering if "Nathaniel" (as in Hale) would be a good name for my future son.

Our forefathers, with courage and genius, created the most immitated society the world has ever known. How proud and fortunate this audio book makes one feel. I'm committed to listening to it with my teenage nieces and nephews on a "captive" drive sometime. It'll be a great topic for discussion.

This book was a gift from my uncle, and one that I was thrilled to receive. I have a passion for learning about the Founders and the War that defined the way we live today. The author brings out the best quotes, poems, and letters from the most influential men in American history. Their level of devotion is unparalleled throughout the world. I find it most admirable that these men relied on God for their wisdom and through prayer and faith they pledged their "sacred honor" to the cause. I am only a high school student, but I understand that these values apply to everyone in every class. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for God or guidance.

Our form of government has been the most lasting, widespread innovation in modern history. As wonderful as that is, in many ways it is even more wonderful to return to the frame of mind and the values that engendered this invention.

Although (as Bill Bennett rightly points out) our founding Fathers (and Mothers) often fell far short of their own ideals and were profoundly skeptical about the potential of people to do the right thing, they also aspired to a kind of virtue on Earth that combined true nobility of spirit and deed with good relations towards others.

Bennett has put these ideals into the following categories: patriotism and courage; love and courtship; civility and friendship; education of the head and heart; industry and frugality; justice; and piety. You can dip your inquisitive toe into any of these, whenever you want. .... I suggest that in addition to buying a copy for yourself, that you plan to give this book as a gift to your children and grandchildren as they reach the age when they will begin to make important moral choices for themselves. .... In most cases, I felt like the material here was stating timeless principles that do apply today ....

Bennett does a nice job as editor in explaining the context of each passage. His love of these people, these ideals, and these words is obvious. It will move you. And hopefully inspire you to follow the good advice in those words.

Nicely done, Bill Bennett! This is a good use of history . . . to help us learn not to repeat the mistakes of the past needlessly.

Steve Bain's book on CorelDRAW ranks among the best books I've read on any technical subject. The organization is excellent; essential tools are named and described in the first few chapters, and then explored in detail later along with the remaining tools and functions. The author's command of English is wonderful; the book is clear, concise, coherent, thorough, and readable. I have been concurrently reading through this book while I use CorelDRAW at work, and am enlightened at every turn of the page. The desire to praise this book (& author: thanks!) inspired me to write my first review for Amazon.

I recently bought CorelDRAW 9 together with Steve Bain's book titled "Special Edition" Using CorelDraw 9. I am finding the book *very* useful in helping me to better understand the complexities of CorelDRAW 9.

This is one of the best-designed books I've used. The notes, tips, and cautions are plentiful, which really helped to enhance the topics. There is also a quick reference to special features called Power tips. A large tear out section of keyboard commands is included in the front. I had no idea there were so many shortcuts.

I found the illustration techniques uniques and extremely helpful. The tables not only show the function of a tool but where to find more information if needed. The whole book has cross references to other sections, great help.

If you are looking for one book on CorelDRAW 9, you can't go wrong with this one, it is excellent!

Danger Girl is a blast of a comic book and this huge collection allows you to read the one and only real DG storyarc all together in one format.
DG's potent blender mix of 007, Charlie's Angels, VIP and Austin Powers makes for one of the most fun reads a comic lover could ask for.
Campbell's art is full of campy fun, loaded with gratuitous T&A shots and top-notch action sequences. DG was infamous for its lateness, and the fact that it took more than three years for this story to complete, you can see Campbell's art progress each issue.
This edition has a foreword by Bruce "Evil Dead" Campbell and features sketchbook and promo material in the back exclusive to this edition.

Comic fans, put this one in your shopping cart and prepare to have a ton of fun reading Danger Girl.

J. Scott Campbell no doubt has become one of the comic book world's most iconic artists, with his old school penchant for muscular men and most infamously of all, the ample babes whom 15-year olds have gawked at with every turn of a page. Campbell's most well-recognized work before Danger Girl was Gen 13, but as he said truthfully, spandex was not his preferred choice of costume for superheroes, and superheroines....

Well now comes Danger Girl, which no doubt is a delightful hybrid and homage of the Indiana Jones movies and Charlie's Angels. Comic fans have got to love Campbell's writing style, coming up with stylish one-liners and puns that have littered the guilty pleasures of action-adventure camp. It's also great to see every chapter start off in a splashy monotone spread shortening the story with hilarious summaries.

The story, if there actually is any, is about a roguish archaeologist babe (duh) named Abbey Chase. As we see early on, Chase has a habit of teaching men a lesson or two about what legs are REALLY meant for while she investigates historical findings before any other individual does.

Or so that's how it begins. Chase finds herself hired under the enigmatic and optimistic Deuce, who has hired a league of Danger Girls to stop the notorious crimes of a surviving Nazi faction known as The Hammers. The Hammers intend to steal the artifacts of the semi-angelic beings known as the Ubermensch, whom the Hammers claim descent. But there's no telling what kind of danger can be amounted once The Hammers find them, so it's the Danger Girls to the rescue... The Danger Girls also include the bullwhipping lassie Sydney Savage (who despite her Australian background doesn't seem to carry an accent) and Natalia Kassle, an ex-KGB agent with a sharp mind and even sharper knives. Things don't get any more relaxing for Abbey when some men get into the action, and what men. One is the cool and collected playboy Barracuda, who hopes he gets to kiss Sydney Savage right before he ever dies, and the puzzling Agent Zero, a masked ninja who may hold a past connection with Miss Chase.

The result is a wild crescendo of bullet-flying action and escapist chase sequences. Campbell's intentions for this comic were to make this feel like a movie, and for a medium not made out of film, the comic excels on pace and really has a momentum unprecedented by most other comic books. This speed makes Danger Girl definitely one of the best I've ever seen. And when I'm talking about movement, I'm not talking about a jiggle factor.

Combining the action of James Bond, the exploration aspect of Indianna Jones and the hilarious puns and writings of Charlie's Angels, Danger Girl provides everything anyone would ever want form a movie in comic book form! Starring four sexy spies, these Danger Girls will enchant your heart while the fast pace action and quick witted writing will leave you laughing and begging for more!

I first became acquainted and fell in love with the work of F.Scott Fitzgerald when I read a hardback copy of The Great Gatsby in my early 20s. Since then, I have read Tender Is The Night and This Side of Paradise, so when I discovered this collection of stories by my literary hero, I floated up to the cieling. My favorites include The Diamond As Big As The Ritz and Bernice Bobs Her Hair, and anyone who has not already been introduced to Fitzgerald, either in English class at school or while browsing in a local bookstore, it's not too late to change your mind, and it is my sincere hope that you will love this man's work as much as I do!

I was delighted to find out that not only were F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories being narrated on audio cassette, but that one of the performers was none other than Robert Sean Leonard. Scottie is by far one of my favorite American authors. It takes an incredible talent to condemn the life you live in your literature, and when I think how he strived for excellence but fell victim to society, I can't help but pity him. His writing is so delicious to read as well. He has such wonderful similies and metaphors, and is so descriptive I can taste the wine, feel the rain and see the stars. The Jazz Age is one of my favorite time periods and F. Scott Fitzgerald captures it perfectly. You see the glittering side but then the glitter gets tarnished as it must. What is even better about this audio is that one of the narrators is none other than my favorite actor, Robert Sean Leonard (better known as Neal in Dead Poets Society and Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing among other films). His voice is wonderful to listen to, even if you're not a fan of his acting. It's perfectly clear and flowing and it reminds you of listening to your parents reading you a bedtime story. The tape itself leaves you feeling as if you've been on an emotional rollercoaster. There's a nice beginning, then it peaks with conflict, the resolution, and then the end finishes as calmly as it started. Yet you've gained something from it. Fitzgerald has some incredibly phenomenal themes in his work. The odd part is that I usually don't like getting audio books, but I certainly reccomend this audio of The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald" It's worth every penny.

Surely an icon in the annals of American literature, F. Scott Fitzgerald produced a body of work which epitomized the Roaring Twenties. It has been said that his dominant influences were "aspiration, literature, Princeton, Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, and alcohol." Nonetheless, his writing possesses an urgency, a bite, unrivaled by his peers.

Collected in this superb audio are nine of his early stories performed by accomplished actors. Broadway/film actress Blythe Danner reads "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," a narrative inspired by a lengthy letter Fitzgerald wrote to his younger sister, Annabel, in which he offered advice on how she could become popular with boys.

"The Jelly-Bean," read by Dylan Baker, takes place in Georgia. Fitzgerald credits his wife for her expertise in helping him write a portion of this tale involving crap shooting, saying "as a Southern girl" she was an expert at this endeavor.

The talented Peter Gallagher reads "Head and Shoulders," the first of Fitzgerald's story to appear in The Saturday Evening Post.

Also found in the collection are "The Diamond As Big As The Ritz," "Dalyrimple Goes Wrong," "The Ice Palace," "Benediction," "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button," and "May Day."

This is an exemplary combination of memorable prose and oral presentation, a remarkable listening experience.

Most books seems to be written for and about widows, with perhaps a few pages about how the experience might differ for men. But this book is ALL about men -- their words, their stories, and commentary by the authors. A particularly helpful list of resources in the Appendix.

This booked helped me look at different ways men handled grieving and seen myself in some of the men. I seen that I wasn't crazy to have all these emotions and knew that I wasn't the only one going through this. It really is a great book for widowers to read and understand what they are going through.

Each widower should read this book in which the authors list interviews with twenty bereaved men and analyze the results. A friend of mine gave it to me three months after my wife died. I was depressed and had just started couselling sessions with a therapist. The book provied me with a great deal of insight on how other men were dealing with the most devastating loss of their lives. I recommend it highly

I've read a number of books about sleep and they all seem similar to me. This book has a number of questionnaires to give me what the book calls my sleep personality profile (it's sort of like a Briggs-Meyers profile). Using the results I can then find recommendations that apply to my type. Plus, there are a bunch of tests and forms I can use to help me do the things I need to get better sleep. A great, hands-on book.

My father bought me this book when I was 11 and now that I am 18 I decided to read it again. The book is as sweet and charming as it was when I first read it in 6th grade. The story is about a sophomore in high school, Miranda, who has recently moved to the U.S. from Europe. Her sister Joey wanted to spend her senior year in the United States and graduate from a real American High School so they are living with their grandmother in Virginia for the year. All Miranda has ever wanted is a horse of her own. Her parents agree that for the 9 months that she will be in Virginia she can buy a horse for $300. At that price the only horse she can find is Drummer, an ugly, well formed jumper. Miranda looks beyong Drummer's ugly exterior and finds in him a kindred spirit. Drummer's previous owner Gray is at first resentful of Miranda for having to give up his horse but later becomes important in Miranda's life as he helps her train Drummer for the Claybourne Cup.
This story is wonderful in what it is: a sweet story of making choices, falling in love, and looking beneath the surface. The writing is very well done and the characters are believable. I only wish Virginia Campbell Scott had written more stories.

Seabiscuit's "gallop was so disorganized that he had a maddening tendency to whack himself in the front ankle with his own hind hoof." And so the spell-binding story about a horse that runs with a duck waddle, a jockey (Red Pollard) who is blind in one eye, a trainer (Tom Smith) who is practically mute, and an owner (Charles Howard) who brought cars to the West is born. This unlikely group of misfits joins together through chance -- and because all three men immediately see the untapped potential in a mistreated, high-spirited, and lazy horse named Seabiscuit. This trio devotes their love, skills, and energy into turning Seabiscuit into one of the most phenomenal horse racing legends.

Tom Smith, perhaps the original "horsewhisperer", spends hours learning and understanding his horse. When Seabiscuit is first put into his care for training, the horse is nervous, paces incessantly, weighs too little, and suffers from a sore body. Tom spends time caring for Seabiscuit, showering him with affection and carrots, even sleeping in Seabiscuit's stall at night. A daily routine is introduced plus animal companionship. Before long, Seabiscuit has his own entourage: a cow pony named Pumpkin, the little stray dog Pocatell, and Jojo the spider monkey. Under Tom's care, the high-spirited Seabiscuit learns to trust, becomes calm, and, most importantly, starts winning horse races.

The triumph of Seabiscuit is ultimately the story of what any person (or animal) may accomplish when their talents are recognized, supported, and expanded. Seabiscuit, given his inauspicious start in life, could just as easily have faded away into non-existence running third tier races. However, the love and care he receives from his owner, jockey, and trainer have you cheering until the end of the book for Seabiscuit to keep running (and winning) with his heart. Not only does Seabiscuit capture the hearts of the misfit trio, he will capture yours.

This fascinating work of non-fiction is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Unlike a lot of historical non-fiction, this intriguing story did not read like a textbook - it read like fiction and not once did I find myself skimming the details ... too interesting to skim through!

When I first heard about this story, I wasn't sure about it - after all, I really know (or should I say "knew") very little about horse racing. Despite my misgivings, I soon realized that a major purpose of this book was not only to teach the reader about this sport via Seabiscuit's career but also to memorialize the amazing individuals (Charles Howard, Tom Smith, Red Pollard, George Woolf, etc.) who defied all odds to make such a successful racing career possible.

I especially liked the chapters dealing with the difficulties of life as a jockey - the way the jockeys punished their bodies to the extreme for the honor of participating in a harrowingly dangerous sport was truly unbelievable...and I thought ballerinas were harsh on their bodies when it came to weight loss! Red was my favorite character and I can't help wondering if the author felt a particular kinship with the jockey as a result of her own struggles with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - after all, she did have to push her own body beyond her normal physical limits to complete her research and write this amazing book!

Ms. Hillenbrand successfully incorporated the story of Seabiscuit's racing career into the historical context of the era. Seabiscuit was a much needed diversion for Americans who were suffering the depths of the Great Depression. ...And perhaps, through Laura Hillenbrand, Team Seabiscuit is still providing us all with an inspirational diversion from today's distressing headlines!

Oh - and don't skip the interview with Laura Hillenbrand at the end of the book. It was very interesting to see how Ms. Hillenbrand's own background influenced her writing and how her research helped her to resurrect this intriguing epoch in American history.

I'm excited about the movie although I hope Universal Studios does this wonderful literary work justice!

This is more than a book about horse racing, it is a book about four fascinating people and a special horse during one of the USA's most interesting time periods. Seabiscuit was indeed an american legend, who came from humble beginnings and a rather undistinguished early racing career, to become Horse of the Year and a legendary racehorse.He was able to take on and defeat the more fashionably bred Triple Crown winner War Admiral in a memorable match race. Readers also get to meet the colorful characters associated with Seabiscuit: Charles Howard, Tom Smith, George Woolf, and Red Pollard. The exploits of Seabiscuit's jockeys Red Pollard and "Iceman" George Woolf provide a fascinating and (sometimes comical) read. Seabiscuit captured the imagination of late 1930s America; Franklin D. Roosevelt was a big fan and listened to Seabiscuit's races on the radio. The author explores the pedigree of Seabiscuit, a grandson of Man O'War. Seabiscuit's sire Hard Tack was a terror on and off the racetrack and at one point flatly refused to leave the starting post. I enjoyed this book tremendously and highly recommend it.

Let me start this review by confessing that I am biased. One of my letters from Vietnam is included in the book. I therefore view the book differently from the average reader.

I also got an advance copy of the book a week before the official release date, and have been able to read it.

Andrew Carroll produced this book by reading through almost 50,000 letters and selected roughly 200 that best show what everyday life in the military - and in war - are like from the viewpoint of the average soldier, sailor, marine, and airman.

Andy was able to get these letters by persuading Dear Abby to publish an appeal in her column on Veteran's Day in 1998. The column urged readers to contribute these letters so that the sacrifices of the writers would not be forgotten. The result was a flood of 50,000 letters - some faded, some muddy, some blood-stained, and one pierced by a bullet. One letter was written on Hitler's personal stationary by an American sergeant who worked in Hitler's personal quarters in Germany just after WW II. What could be a better symbol of justice?

The letter writers' views are very different than the views you will get by reading the memoirs of a general or an admiral. When I was in the Army, there was a wonderful comment that explained life in the Infantry:

"The general gets the glory, The family gets the body, and We get another mission."

Your view of the military - and of war - changes depending on your position in this food chain.

Overcoming an enemy machine gun is an interesting technical problem when you are circling a firefight in a helicopter at 1,000 feet. You take a very different view of the problem when you are so close to the machine gun that your body pulses from the shock wave of the muzzle blast.

These letters were written by soldiers while they were in the military. They are describing events that happened that day, the pervious day, or the previous week. Their memories are very fresh. Their views also are very different from the views that someone might have when writing his memoirs thirty years later. In thirty years the everyday pains, problems, and terrors could very well be forgotten or become humorous.

The book groups these letters by war or police action. There are sections for letters from the Civil War, WW I (the war to end wars), WW II, Vietnam War, Desert Storm, and Somolia/Bosnia/Kosovo.

Some things never change. The Civil War letter writers grumble about poor food, tiresome marches, mindless sergeants and incompetent officers. The Vietnam letter writers (myself included) grumbled about the same things.

One anguished letter was from an officer in Vietnam who was torn by his need to hide his opposition to the war for fear of demoralizing his men. At the end of the letter is a brief comment explaining that the officer stepped on a mine and died shortly after writing this letter.

Welcome to life in the military. Welcome to war.

You should read this book if you want to see what life was like and is like in the military and in war.

This book, War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars, by Andrew Carroll (Editor) is a touching book. With the recent release of the movie Pearl Harbor, the questions that my generation wants to ask the veterans of war are rising out of the ashes once again. Carroll did an excellent job of putting together a collage of soldier's letters which portrays the true emotions of our freedom fighters. Recently having studied many of the wars included in this book, War Letters pulled everything into one book; from the Civil War all the way through Bosnia/Kosovo. The letters in WWI and WWII seemed more hopeful, and 'the great generation' seemed more patriotic. While the soldiers fighting Vietnam had more of a sense of urgency, kind of 'get this over with already' attitude. A common theme with all the letters was they were writing to loved ones, and would claim they would see them soon. Unfortunately, many of these letters were the 'last letters' to the families, some even written on backs of photographs, on scratch paper, or on Hitler's personal stationary. Also, these letters are written a few hours, days, or weeks after the events happened. The soldier has no opportunity to hear what the media said, or how the nation reacted to such a horrific event. They write with their souls, spilling their guts to their families, and shedding their blood for their nation. Granted, having just completed one year of US History helps me understand these events just that much more, but all in all, this book was everything from terrifying to heart warming.

Let me start this review by confessing that I am biased. One of my letters from Vietnam is included in the book. I therefore view the book differently from the average reader.

I also got an advance copy of the book a week before the official release date, and have been able to read it.

Andrew Carroll produced this book by reading through almost 50,000 letters and selected roughly 200 that best show what everyday life in the military - and in war - are like from the viewpoint of the average soldier, sailor, marine, and airman.

Andy was able to get these letters by persuading Dear Abby to publish an appeal in her column on Veteran's Day in 1998. The column urged readers to contribute these letters so that the sacrifices of the writers would not be forgotten. The result was a flood of 50,000 letters - some faded, some muddy, some blood-stained, and one pierced by a bullet. One letter was written on Hitler's personal stationary by an American sergeant who worked in Hitler's personal quarters in Germany just after WW II. What could be a better symbol of justice?

The letter writers' views are very different than the views you will get by reading the memoirs of a general or an admiral. When I was in the Army, there was a wonderful comment that explained life in the Infantry:

"The general gets the glory, The family gets the body, and We get another mission."

Your view of the military - and of war - changes depending on your position in this food chain.

Overcoming an enemy machine gun is an interesting technical problem when you are circling a firefight in a helicopter at 1,000 feet. You take a very different view of the problem when you are so close to the machine gun that your body pulses from the shock wave of the muzzle blast.

These letters were written by soldiers while they were in the military. They are describing events that happened that day, the pervious day, or the previous week. Their memories are very fresh. Their views also are very different from the views that someone might have when writing his memoirs thirty years later. In thirty years the everyday pains, problems, and terrors could very well be forgotten or become humorous.

The book groups these letters by war or police action. There are sections for letters from the Civil War, WW I (the war to end wars), WW II, Vietnam War, Desert Storm, and Somolia/Bosnia/Kosovo.

Some things never change. The Civil War letter writers grumble about poor food, tiresome marches, mindless sergeants and incompetent officers. The Vietnam letter writers (myself included) grumbled about the same things.

One anguished letter was from an officer in Vietnam who was torn by his need to hide his opposition to the war for fear of demoralizing his men. At the end of the letter is a brief comment explaining that the officer stepped on a mine and died shortly after writing this letter.

Welcome to life in the military. Welcome to war.

You should read this book if you want to see what life was like and is like in the military and in war.

"Eddie's Bastard" was the first audio book my husband or I ever listened to. It made a very long drive VERY enjoyable. It is rare that we like the same stories, but "Eddie's Bastard" is very much like real life and hard not to like. It was sometimes funny, sometimes ironic, sometimes sad. As a life long resident of Western Pennsylvania, I found his depiction of life in the rural parts of this state extremely accurate and believable. The story puts me in mind of "The Green Mile" and "The Shawshank Redemption" for reasons I can't articulate, it's in the overall feel of the story. The ending was not what I predicted at all, it was not the contrived "and they all lived happily ever after." It was a mature ending even though the character is still quite young. We would definately read or listen to more Kowalski stories in the future!

This book just sweeps you away. Picked it up on a whim, I think somewhere it was compared to John Irving's work and he hadn't had a new one for a while. Billy Mann and his family were strange and wonderful and every page was completely compelling. It's a first novel and I will read everything Kowalski writes for the rest of his career. I'm an avid reader, a couple of books a week if I can, and this was the best book I read in all of 2000. We're halfway through 2001 and I don't think anything else is close yet. No matter what your interests in novels, this book will be one you fall in love with. I can't wait to find out more about Billy Mann and the rest of the family. I've given copies to most of my friends and family as birthdays come up.

It is difficult to believe this is a first novel. That William Kowalski is a gifted novelist is simply a given. He is a fine story teller, able to weave threads of pulsing narrative toward a nourishing conclusion. He creates characters who are not only credible but about whom we care. Too many descriptive phrases might get in the way to the individual response to this rich novel.... Suffice it to say that the title EDDIE'S BASTARD is more than a label. A Bastard is one without parents and therefore without knowledge of history - genetic, philosophical, time sequence. This beautifully crafted book reveals the detective work involved in the main character's quest for self discovery. His journey is at once interesting, touching, warm, and curative. As he reads excerpts from his great grandfather's diary - sophisticated, elegant prose set off in italics which if separated from the novel would still provide a cogent guide to knowing ourselves through understanding our history - Eddie gains insight into his place in the world, his questions about his responses to that world, and eventually an understanding about where he fits in in a world that has seemed alien.

Read this novel - for entertainment, for fresh words, for disarmingly beautiful story, and for restoration in the faith that we are a meaningful part of what was and, therefore, what will be.