I was very touched by the story of the Elephant man, who was very deformed and endured many hardships in his childhood and young adult life because of his appearance. His life becomes bearable though in his end years thanks to the kindness of Dr. Fredrick Treves and many other people. If you haven't heard of or read about the Elephant man yet, I recommend this book, Joseph Merrick's story (the Elephant man) is something you won't forget. The terrors he went through and then how incredibly grateful he was for the simplest pleasures after being rescued by Dr. Treves make me see life through new eyes: it is hard to take things for granted. The book also includes photographs of Joseph.

THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ IT IS A TRUE STORY ABOUT A MAN JOSEPH CAREY MERRICK WHO SUFFERED A DISEASE PROTIO-SYNDROM WHICH DISFIGURED HIM. ITS ABOUT HOW HE LIVED AND HOW HE SPENT HIS TIME WITH HIS DOCTOR. THE WHOLE BOOK IS GREAT I FOUND IT VERY INTERESTING AND TOUCHING. BUT IN ALL I WOULD RECOMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE. -RANDY

The movie, which I saw when I was 7 was a lie. Tom Norman, his manager in the freak show treated him with great respect and was a portaryed as a monster. He was never stolen from the London Hospital and was not beaten. The movie focused on the bad of his life but not the good. Sir Fredrick Treves (forgiven an misspelling,s, I am only 12) the sugeon that helped him was a great man and help John and brought out the good that most overlooked because of his appearance. He is man i would love to personally meet and this book helped me realize that he was a smart man, a caring man, a loving man....This book would help anyone interested in this subject with it's photos and insight.

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An amazing amount of material on the wildlife of North America and, the "wild" lives of American Indians and captured settlers.

The book includes firsthand accounts of Indian life, gruesome conflicts, brutal torture, spectacular escapes, and spirited pursuits. The Indians killed, tortured, and sometimes adopted white settlers. Some were made into slaves, some fully adopted as family members, and other slated for, and escaped sure death.

I was particularly facinated by descriptions of the wildlife. The size and age of trees. The abundance of wild animals--particularly the bears.

I've read this book twice and found every story interesting.

Not often do we get glimses of the past through ordinary people, placed in extra-ordinary situations. Many of these people could not read or write but told their stories which were dutifully recorded. The feeling of authenticity of the stories is strong.

Everyone should read this book to fully understand the capabilites of humans, both in brutality and in kindness and understanding.

An unforgettable book.

This was definitely a good read, no doubt about it. I'm sort of surprised that other people say it gives insight into the daily lives of the indians though, because I didn't get that at all. More what I got was insights into the way indians generally treated their captives (the ones who ran away and told their stories) and the way things were seen and the life of the settlers maybe (only by how they told the story). The book is all firsthand accounts from escaped captives and is sometimes gruesome but always very interesting. People back then knew how to tell stories.

This is a short collection of some of the most famous Indian captivity narratives written during the late 18th and 19th centuries when warfare raged between white settlers and the native Indian inhabitants of North America. These narratives are not only interesting and entertaining as drama, but are invaluable to historians and ethnographers as they provide some of the best first-hand accounts of life among the native tribes of the United States at a time when they were being wiped out by white expansion.

These narratives show what life was like as an Indian, including all the blood and horror as well as the genuine kindness and devotion inherent in any human society. You will note that many captivity accounts were in many ways positive experiences for the captives who were adopted into a tribe and treated with the love and respect they would accord any of their own people. Such is the case with men like James Smith who spent five years living with the Ohio Indians along Lake Erie. These tales were popular in their own time for providing an entertaining escape for people who were both fearful yet fascinated by the Indians and their "savage" ways. From these accounts we learn much about Indian lifeways, food, culture, and religion. We also learn of the cruel barbarities that the Indians could inflict on their enemies, as we see in the tale of Dr. John Knight who witnessed the horrific torture and death of Col. William Crawford in 1782, or the daring escape of John Slover, who had spent many years among the Shawnee and Wyandot as a captive and who later escaped and returned to wage war against his former captors, only to be retaken after the Battle of Sandusky. A slow and terrible death awaited any escaped captive who fell back into Indian hands. But what is really interesting is the number of captives who spent many years living, happily in many cases, with the Indians, showing that they were not the totally savage heathens protrayed in many boosk and movies, but a society of human beings who could love and hate as equally as any other.

This is a valuble introduction to a fascinating genere of litereature and is an important part of history that should not be overlooked. To anyone interested in delving deeper into this subject I would also recommend checking out Archibald Loudon's "Indian Narratives" as well as "A History of Jonathan Alder".

"Until You Are Dead" is a popular history of capital punishment in the USA It
opens with the first electrocution (and the legal battles around that method)
it covers a wide array of methods for doing away with Society's unwanted.
Chapters cover electrocution, firing squad, lethal Gas, lethal injection, and
the traditional hanging. Famous judges and executioners are also given brief
biographies.

Most of the men (and women) who meet their end at the end of a rope are
unknowns in the annals of history, some are better known. Drimmer covers
such famous events as the Hauptman trial (kidnaper of the Lindbergh baby),
Gary Gilmore, and the "Red Light Bandit" (Caryl Chessman).

He spans the whole of American history with information about the Mayflower
Pilgrim who was hung for plotting revolt to the Quakers who were hung for
plotting salvation. The sad history of the Salem Witch trials is recounted
as well as the massacre of western pioneers by early Mormon settlers.

Drimmer is clearly no fan of Capital Punishment and makes sure that the
reader is introduced to people who have been executed though history declares
them innocent. He also highlights many botched executions where the painless
death was in fact state torture. . While there are some statistics about
other countries and individual states, there is really no long argument for
or against the ultimate penalty. Drimmer is content for the most part to let
the stories speak for themselves.

While the author has a tendency to jump around a bit and repeat the same case
in different chapters to highlight different aspects, the book was a quick
and enjoyable overview of the methods used and the struggle faced by this
nation to exact justice in the most extreme form.

Anyone interested in issues regarding capital punishment should get a hold of this book. Drimmer covers the history of the most popluar methods of executions in america: hanging, electrocution, lethal gas, firing squad, and lethal injection. Drimmer does a very good job of staying unbiased throughout the book - you never really get a sense of his opinion regarding this macabre subject. The book does drag at some points with anecdote after anecdote of specific cases. I also wish he had gone more in depth to some of the colonial methods of execution and torture. But this is a good resource for students and enthusiasts alike. Pick it up if you can find it.

I found Very Special People when I was browsing through a book store.....I had to stop and pick it up to look at it. Low and behold one of my ancestors was listed in the book!!!!! What we knew about Matthew Buchinger, was that he was my Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great (yes 6 greats) Grandfather, was that he was born without arms, was an excellent draftsman, had a coat of arms, had a daughter named Anne ( who married John Poole), that he was called the 'little man without arms' and that he lived and in Ireland, and died in 1739. Very Special People has a picture of a drawing of Matthew Buchinger on the seventh page from the end of the picture section. It says the he was also legless! (he was called the little man!), married four times and that he had 11 children! I need to learn more about Matthew Buchinger! Where can I find more information? Please e-mail me If you know where or how I could search to locate more.

For all its faults, Very Special People is still a very readable, personable book. Cloyingly sentimental, it still has its charming moments. A good book for youngsters, but able to appeal to adults as well.

Just finished reading this book this morning. It's a quick read. History of bodysnatching in Britain and the U.S., plus some miscellaneous dramatic stories about grave-robberies and embalmed freaks. History of Burke and Hare and story of Hottentot Venus are the standouts for me. Drimmer's writing is workmanlike, but that's OK -- it's the fruit of his research that interests, anyway. All the same, the book seems cobbled-together. Doesn't bother me so long as I like what's in it, and basically I do.