This collection of stories and poems is one of the best I've ever read. I don't usually read books like this, but because Robert Ashcom was my college English teacher when he published this book, I felt I should. I was very pleased with his charming and sometimes quirky perspectives of the quiet Fauquier County country life that he portrayed so well. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to remember a good time in life.

This is an excellent, fully-illustrated, turn-of-the-century tale about the adventure of a brave fox seeking sanctuary from the hunters and dogs. I have a very old copy that I found at an antique store. If you liked "The Fox and the Hound", "Foxes of Firstdark", "The Running Foxes" or "Biography of a Silver Fox", then you will like this book, I'm sure! (...)

A conservative Episcopal priest, Capon is to theological reflection what stand-up comedy is to an academic lecture. Both may be true, but which one will you spend money to hear on a Friday date?

His lighthearted style belies the depth of his thought, and his passion for the truth. I have a theological degree myself, and found that his style resonated with some of the most meaningful theology I have encountered. That he makes it accessible is even more to his credit.

In sequence he deals with quite serious themes: our common priestly office as human beings, the nature of and reason for evil, and the will of God. He is always creative and original.

"We have forgotten, you see, not what reality means, but how it smells and what it tastes like. The work of theology in our day is not so much interpretation as contemplation. God and the world need to be held up for oohs and aahs before they can safely be analyzed. Theology begins with admiration, not problems."

Any pastor who expects me to sit weekly to hear him preach should spend time with Capon. Maybe some of it will rub off on him, too.

Like most Americans, you and I have already devoted countless hours absorbing the latest reports about high-profile legal cases. A short list reminds us of the time we have spent: O. J., JonBenet, Rodney King, Lorena Bobitt, Monica Lewinsky, and the British nanny Louise Woodward. In the 1990s, these and other judicial soap operas have become a mainstay of mainstream television, newspapers, and magazines. These "dramas" are the lifeblood of the newer cable and Internet "news" media. These cases have so worked their way into our collective consciousness that the mere mention of one can easily evoke (and provoke!) a long and far-ranging discussion.

In their new book TABLOID JUSTICE: CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN AN AGE OF MEDIA FRENZY, Richard Fox and Robert Van Sickel have dissected how the increasingly entertainment-oriented news media have covered such high-profile legal cases. The authors show how growing familiarity with celebrity criminal cases has distorted our understanding of the U. S. legal system and undercut our confidence in law enforcement, attorneys, judges, and the jury system.

TABLOID JUSTICE offers a concise introduction to this important subject. It is richly documented without being pedantic. It is a wonderful text for college-level courses in Law and Society or Mass Communications. Students will find its argument compelling. Faculty will appreciate its value as a catalyst for class discussions about the impact of the media on our legal system.

Soon a new "trial of the century" will come our way. Fox and Van Sickel want all of us to be better prepared when it does.

In the Pacific Theater of World War II, Clay Walker was a Navajo "code talker' for the Marine Corps. He had always wanted to be a warrior like his Native American ancestors, but had been told by his people from childhood that there were no more wars and no more warriors. That all changed with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and his chance to prove the tribal elders wrong. But during the bloody battles in the Pacific, his boyhood dreams of the glory and honor of combat are shattered as he sees only pain, destruction, and death -- perhaps the old ones were right! To Be A Warrior is a deeply engaging, wonderfully crafted, highly recommended novel.

This book is a delightful series of stories and events that are of interest to folks with their roots and family life along the banks of the Fox River. It is very important to me because my father, Edwin C. Tagatz, provided some of the information used by the authors. The book answers some of the questions of why early settlers found the area so appealing for them to settle in. I have an autographed copy of the book and I pick it up and remember how is was many times each year. We can only go back in time in thought and memeories but this book makes both easy.

Bob Kono's military/fiction "The Last Fox" was very good. It covered the action of the 100th/442nd RCT very well. I found the description of the battlefield very realistic and heart rending. When people ask about the travails of the 442nd RCT, they can now refer to "The Last Fox."
For every ten men in uniform only one faces the enemy and is in a position of being shot face to face or actually killing someone. The other nine men are important rear echelon, engineers, artillery, service supply, and training echelons but they rarely directly face the enemy. It is the rifleman in the rifle company who dig the enemy out of their machine gun nests on a person to person basis. The military campaign is well described from Anzio, Cassino, Rome to Pisa (Hill 140), France (Bruyeres, Biffontaine) and the breach of the Gothic line on the Apennines (Mt. Folgorito). Rarely does a rifleman or a medic like myself attached to a rifle platoon get the overall picture. The author has given it in all its glory and goriness. His comments and thoughts evinced from mail from internment camps and the main character, Fred's philosophy and counterpoint arguments with Sam, were well done. The bar room brawl was edgy but that is the way it was and the reconciliation in the hospital was very good.
I liked the way the author covered Hill 140, our first 442nd RCT major battle in the early stages of the march above Rome to Pisa and to the RR embankment in Biffontaine, France. I can still remember that night in Biffontaine. It was very dark and I thought I felt a German soldier poke me and say "Hans" and then he melted back into the blacknes of the night before the attack.
It must be noted that for a rifle platoon soldier particularly in a 442nd RCT rifle company that after a year in combat, you were either dead or wounded.

***** A dramatic novel of many dimensions
Reviewer: William Ratliff from Stanford University, Stanford, CA USA
The first and most obvious achievement of this outstanding book is its novelistic dramatization of battles fought by the all-Nisei 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team in World War II. Many young Japanese-Americans volunteered for the U.S. military after they and their family members (75% American citizens, mostly second-generation Nisei) were suddenly dragged off to concentration camps in the wake of Pearl Harbor. These young men became the most awesome, feared (by Germans), sought-after (by American military commanders) and decorated group of American soldiers fighting in Europe. Kono gives grueling, gripping, hill-by-hill, bunker-by-bunker descriptions of Nisei military campaigns against the Germans in Italy and France. In the process, he graphically shows how wars are "ceaseless waves of madness that [fill] the earth with graves." But Kono's chief character, Sgt. Fred Murano, the leader and last of four "foxes" that wreacked havoc on the "Jerries," and all of his other comrades, are much more than players in this intense war drama. They also carry and convey the anger, anguish, outrage, frustration, courage and patriotism of these young Nisei Americans of the mid-twentieth century and the complex, often tragic, traumas they faced in Europe and their families confronted in the United States. Reminiscing with a few surviving comrades at the end of the book, more than fifty years after the end of the war, Fred says, "We made the supreme sacrifice, laid our lives on the line. Not to go on the record that we are loyal Americans, which we always were...we know that ...but to win our own freedom as any other freedom-loving American." Like King Arthur, who asked that younger generations be taught and pass on the glorious story of Camelot, Fred believes the Nisei role in the war should be passed on down the generations and fully recognized by the world at large. With this book, Kono has made a major contribution to fulfilling Murano's dream of telling that story, a critical but still little-known chapter in modern U.S. and world history. Even more than this, in recounting the Nisei experience, the author has thrown sympathetic light on the ongoing problems, not always as traumatic as those of the Japanese-Americans in the 1940s, that any minority encounters trying to "fit in" without being absorbed, in the United States and in other countries around the world. Though this book's most obvious subject is war, it is also a testimony to freedom from war in the world, social equality and justice in America and other societies, and peace, if not always tranquility, in the individual soul.

This is the book we have been waiting for. We have read about the exploits of the Nisei soldiers and have heard the campaign stories. I don't read war novels but this one promised to give me the inner drama of the soldier.
This novel does that and much more. The hero faces the enemy in combat, internment of his family in his own country, racism after victory, and after living a life overcoming adversity, a terminal illness. His values sustain him and they are the book's gift to its readers.

While limited in scope, this is a very good book about an extraordinary figure in American history. Beginning only a few days before Fort Sumter and concluding with Appomattox, Mr. Davis' narrative is not designed as a biography of Robert E. Lee, and only limited dimensions of his character and his life are revealed in it. What the book does achieve is to paint a vivid picture of Lee's role in the Civil War and, through this vehicle, to reveal something essential about this bloodiest of American tragedies, which is a story of many sad paradoxes. A genuinely kindly and self-effacing man, Lee the military commander was nonetheless a wily aggressor who, along with his Union counterparts, invented a new kind of warfare which at the time had no precedent anywhere in the world for the degree of mass slaughter it unleashed. Lee adamantly opposed slavery on moral grounds and was appalled at the decision of the southern states to succeed from the American nation, the service of which he had devoted his professional life to. Despite these misgivings, he took up the Southern cause for the purpose of defending his native Virginia. Having reluctantly committed himself, he took up command of the Confederate army with such determination and skill that, prior to Gettysburg, he was arguably within range of accomplishing the Southern victory that he himself always believed to be unlikely. One of the strengths of this book is that the author seeks neither to romanticize nor debunk Lee. He lets primary sources speak for themselves through much of the narrative, and the portrait of Lee that emerges is one largely consistent with the popular image of the man as one of history's great tragic heroes. This books biggest weakness, at least for me, was it's failure to flesh out the strategic context for Lee's actions during the war. The narrative follows him through the major engagements in which he participated, but gives minimal perspective on military or political events occurring outside of Lee's camp. A comprehensive history of the war is beyond the scope of this short study, but the marvelous story it tells falls somewhat short due to the lack of background information. Still, the book is very well worth reading, and I recommend it.

I remember reading "Gray Fox" many years ago, and for some reason it didn't leave a major impact on me then... Then I recently bought the "new" version, and found it extremely gripping, and more importantly - quite readable.

The first chapter sets the tone of the book - it tells of the inner crisis that Lee faced with Secession, the attack on Fort Sumter, and his decision to reject President Lincoln's offer of a command of the Union Army.One can sense the full drama of the moment, as Lee turns his back on his love of country and army in favor of his state, about to join the Southern Confederacy.

Above all, Burke Davis is a master storyteller - and his Civil War Histories, though basically written from a Southern perspective (he has also written biographies of "Stonewall" Jackson and Jeb Stuart, as well as the wonderful "The Civil War: Strange and Fascinating Facts")are on a par with those written by Catton, Foote, and McPherson.By emphasizing both the history and the human interest aspects of Lee, Davis makes the reader feels a part of the story; as if he were at Lee's side at Antietam, Gettysburg, Appomattox...

For those interested in learning both the realities as well as the legend of Lee, I would strongly suggest purchasing this book, as well as Alan Nolan's controversal "Lee Reconsidered" (which presents a more sobering view of Lee the man) as vantage points to begin reading about the man considered by many to be America's "finest General" - though I'm not so sure about that opinion myself.

Nicely written clear and concise facts from beginning to end. Burke Davis quotes and paraphrases several first hand accounts of civilians Confederate, and Union officers. Mr. Davis also recites several letters from General Robert E. Lee to family, Jefferson Davis, Confederate officers and General Grant.

The reading of this biography permeates vast knowledge of Robert E. Lee. Starting with his birth, education at West Point, emergence from the Mexican War, "with a reputation as the army's most talented young officer." Mr. Davis does a great job of conveying General Lee's concerns about the possibility of civil war. Robert E. Lee made the difficult decision to resign from the U.S. military. Here is a sample of General Lee's letter of resignation. "I have devoted all the best years of my life and all the ability I posed. During the whole time-more than a quarter of a century-I have experienced nothing but kindness from my superiors and a most cordial friendship from my comrades. To no one, General, have I been as much indebted as to yourself for uniform kindness and consideration. I shall carry to the grave the most grateful recollections of your kind consideration, and your name and fame will always be dear to me."

The book is worthy of reading I'll probably read it a few more times. Therefore five stars seems appropriate for a truly amazing book. This book is for folks from any geographical area. Whatever your race, creed, culture, religion is this book can be an enjoyable read. I leave you with one last quote this is Robert E. Lee's opinion of slavery. "There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will acknowledge that slavery as an institution is a moral and political evil...I think it greater evil to the white than to the black race."

My son is a beginning reader and this book just has a few words in it. The Fox on the Box and a few others. I would suggest investing in the Bobs Books Series for beginning readers. You get a lot more for the money.

This is a wonderful first reading book.The book is structured so that there is a page with words and then a page with an illustration only. This structure gave my son a break from concentrating. Reading a book like this made his first reading experience enjoyable.

This is the first book that my kindergarten son was able to read independently. After practicing with Level 1A books at school, he was so proud to be able to pick up this book and read it from start to finish. He got a big kick out of the surprise ending and has read it over and over to anyone who will listen--in person and on the phone. The sentence construction is very simple ("The fox sat on a box.") but it's a sweet, funny story that is enhanced by beautiful watercolor illustrations. Even our 15 month old daughter now loves to sit in his lap to have him read it to her. Although he'll outgrow it soon, his reading confidence has been helped a great deal by having books of his own that he can read. We're adding more of Barbara Gregorich's books to his library for just that reason. It's an easy investment to help him develop a lifelong love of reading.

Its good that Fox shares his experiences with us, so we get these ideas, consciously, and then can use them, when the time is right. New doors opened.

First, let me make it clear that I am a very skeptical person.

At a time when I had started to have grave doubts about the existence of the soul, this book came to my rescue. It was so self-evidently authentic that it put all my doubts to rest.

I didn't want to learn how to do astral projection or anything like that. I just wanted something---in layman's language---that could provide some proof of extra-dimensional consciousness. I've read many other books, but none could do the job.

The experiences of this guy, and the way he wrote it gave me what I needed. The fact that he was just an ordinary guy and not some spiritual occultist only served to establish his credibility.

After suffering severe but expected disappointments with many other books on this quack-ridden subject, I have frequently returned to this one. Unlike 90 percent of them, I don't think many readers would doubt the truthfulness of Fox (a pseudonym). True, it lacks detail on technique, and many would ascribe the term 'lucid dreaming' to Fox's experiences thse days. But the book is lucid, extremely charmingly written (the man was a professional writer), and credible. One feels throughout that one is reading real journal accounts of a real and committed investigation. Ignore the other reviewers and buy it. You'll need other books for technique (try David Conway and Drury & Skinner), but this one is a great pioneer's record.