I had never before understood the true hardships that the early Saints had gone through, as well as the ramifications that their faith has on me, as a Saint today. I am free to worship as I please because of their sacrifice - a sacrifice I did not understand until I read this book in the series.

This is by far the most emotional volume out of the series. It takes you into the persecutions of the Saints and does not let you forget the pain and suffering they endured. It is also an emotional time for the fictional family, which still brings me to tears when I read it. I love this series!! I highly recommend it!!!

This book takes you though the short and painful period of time the Mormons spent in Missouri, including the massacre at Hauns Mill, Liberty Jail, and the infamous extermination order issued by the governor of Missouri. Mr. Lund writes these events through the eyes of both the victims and the people causing the suffering. Terrific documentation of actual events also. Highly recommended!

Thank heavens for people like William Swain who took the time to record their personal stories and let it become, in a sense, a first-person history tale to people in the 21st century. Swain goes into great detail about his trials and tribulations and you begin to care so much about him, it almost becomes a novel. It accidentally sets the reader up for disappointment in the end by Swain reaching home and the story suddenly stopping. You'll find yourself asking, how did Eliza greet her papa? What did Swain do with the meager amount of money he made? What was Sabrina and her husband's first words to each other after an almost two-year absence? Of course, it's not Swain's fault for ending his diary at home. He merely kept the journal to update his family on his journey; not give readers 150 years later an autobiography. Holliday can not answer these final questions either and rightfully so, he does not try. You are left to ponder how it ended and hopefully, after reading so many emotional passages from William and Sabrina, you can use your imagination to answer the homecoming questions.

Holliday blends the information together wonderfully by arranging each chapter into three sections:

1. an overall historical account

2. Swain's diary

3. A Back Home section in which letters written to Swain from wife Sabrina and brother George are included.

The format works splendidly for the reader and keeps everything in a proper time frame. Holliday also includes scaled-down regional maps for every chapter which lets the reader follow along on a microcosm/macrocosm scope of the total journey. Holliday has also laboriously researched hundreds of other personal diaries and includes passages from them when Swain leaves gaps or when a quirky story can be added to intrigue the reader further. The World Rushed In is a fast read and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in Western US history or is just looking for a great story.

This is a superb, gripping and very personal account of one man's experience travelling to and from the California gold rush. The fact that Holliday had access to virtually all the letters sent from him and to him on the trail makes this book even more enticing. It made me feel that I was taking every step with William Swain on his journey, sharing in his joys and sorrows and those of his brother and wife back home. I thoroughly recommend this book, I couldn't put it down.

This book tells the story of my wife's cousin, William Swain. Swain witnessed over a hundred cholera victims, alive a day earlier, now buried in the sand banks of the Mississippi River. Bodies strewn along the Nevada trail, he viewed the tragedy. Ships, valued in the millions, he viewed abandoned in San Francisco bay.

As family members, we have John Holliday to thank. Moreover, I was thrilled with each page of Holliday's book. The 1849 Gold Rush extracted more from its participants, due to gold fever, than they got in return from the California mines. That's exactly what happened to William, who, in May of 1848, left his lovely wife, Sabrina, a newborn daughter, his brother George, and his farm residence in Youngstown, NY. William, in his heart, knew he would make it big in California country. At least he must try. And, Sabrina, not knowing the hardships and penniless outcome, gave her loving agreement. Along the way William witnessed death and deprivation, loneliness and hunger. He arrived hopeful in gold country, plied his efforts, and came away luckily with the skin on his back. He differed from most in one important way: William kept a journal. And, Sabrina and William wrote and saved their letters, from which Holliday made one of America's finest narratives. William, weighted with introspective highlight, wrote to George, "If you're thinking of coming out here, for [Gosh] sakes, do not!" William pleaded. Prospectors and miners everywhere, food scarce, prices high, California gold fields deluded nearly all. "And no one I know has gotten rich," William offered. William, beaten in his quest, longed to be with Sabrina and brother George. Ready to return, he had saved $400. He longed to bring it all home, to hand to Sabrina. But, think of it, did you ever try to get from Sacramento to Niagara Falls in 1850, while tired and broke? Yikes. No train. William would have to walk the same way home he came, over that horrible trail. He couldn't face that prospect. So, William scraped his pockets clean, and purchased passage on a ship, via Panama. Just one catch: There was no Panama Canal. That happened 60 years later. William made his way to San Francisco bay. He boarded ship. He endured sea sickness. He ate crummy food. He arrived at Panama, shaken. Next, he and all passengers traversed the 50 mile overland eastward trek with a guide. Threatened with abandonment in the jungle, he paid double. Weak, he arrived at the east side of the Isthmus, broke. William struggled on board ship. It traveled north, taking forever, to arrive at New York City. There, George, who knew to meet him from William's earlier letter, stood waiting at the gangplank. William, broke and sick, 25 pounds skinnier, staggered into his brother's arms. George helped William toward home, finally past beloved Niagara Falls, north to Youngstown. There, adoring, relieved, Sabrina faithfully nursed William back to health. Asked late in life if it was worth it, William avoided answering. He merely declared he loved his Youngstown. Can you read between the lines on that one? 'Nuff said.

Wonderful old time adventure. No porn just fun to read. A fabulous story for a Disney movie.

Of all the adventures in all the books and all the movies I've happily devoured, this one, by little-known author, is gonna stick right along side the likes of Treasure Island, Jewel of the Nile, and especially, The African Queen. I say this tongue-in-cheek of course, because of the classic, tongue-in-cheek style of these timeless adventures. Though I have never heard of this author, I simply wonder, "Why not?" "Is there something missing?" I asked myself. Pages turned and burned through my eager fingertips; each succeeding chapter thrusting me further into the exciting plot - just as surely as the Gulf tides buried missing Mayan gold further into the muddy bottom of the unpredictable sea. Simple characters emerged quickly and developed just about as fast into cunningly intelligent, or conversely stupid, but driven-to-death inspired seafarers from the Old School. But the skipper, "Captain Frank," or just plain "Captain," or "Skipper," as he was called in the beginning of the story, develops backwards, slowly at first, so that suddenly everyone is just calling him plain-old-ordinary-everyday "Frank." He must retrieve his natural authority if they are to survive! But plain and ordinary is about as descriptive of his crew as calling the Mona Lisa, "a nice picture of a pretty girl." The rest of the crew, Bob, Joe, and Blackie are indeed colorful - as in Technicolor, as the author projects this modern masterpiece like a classic black-and-white movie script. And the total irony of the plot comes, not from a darling parallel to the "African Queen," but from something so simple it screams for recognition from day one of this dangerous voyage. Allow me to introduce them: You've met the captain, Frank. Then, on the converse, our semi-villain, there's Bob Thompson (Bob), who came to Galveston from Detroit with his unfaithful wife, Betty. He is an alcoholic (a bad one, too!) with an explosive temper and psychotic tendencies. Sober, one of the best crewmen on the coast. Then, Blackie, the Cajun engineer whose improvisational mind keeps the engines running effortlessly smooth and efficient. And, not-to-be-last-in-anything, Joe Glenn - Our hero! Enter, Joe, from the houseboat of a wealthy beautiful woman. They pick him up from his point of sexual exploitation, a favor extended to none but Joe. This crew of four set sale aboard the "Miss Julia" for shrimp close to Mexico's waters, encountering instead, the remains of a ghost ship, The Titan - badly shot-up and all, save for one, dead aboard. From here, the action never stops, slowing down only for the author to pigment his expert's picture of life along the border in general and along the fishing coast and waterfronts precisely. The reader learns much about the lifestyles of the local peasants, both American AND Mexican (of the-not-rich-and never-famous), and of buried treasure in the author's back yard -Tex-Mexico! Mr. Reynolds writes, too and true of the opulent gringos, who pay the big bucks to go sport fishing from the Mexican side, making port in tiny fishing villages where the locals can't imagine that kind of carefree wealth, tossed around so very freely. But locals do know the value of gold, though rarely let on about it. Their ancestors had most certainly passed this info down from mother-to-daughter. (All the men were slaughtered.) This fact is not lost on our fearless foursome as bizarre coincidences pile into stranger and more dangerous happenings. Having already exaggerated the shot-up condition of the ghost ship, Titan, to the U.S. Coastguard, our crew omits entirely the fact that they had already found a goodly amount of treasure in the form of gold bars hidden cleverly under tons of rotting shrimp. A bloody scrap with scrawled characters clenched in a deathgrip by a dead man revves the story up and starts the high-velocity action pendulum swinging in the reader's favor. And so, by hook and crook, our brave, but constantly terrified "Crewe" (Did I say that Blackie's Cajun?) finally discover the object of their search! Ingenuity reigns. But time races towards reality and an actual method of recovery, modified-for-fiction, plays out. With a psychotic, short-fused, and armed crew member, an ambush by local natives, heavily-gunned-out and combative Mexican Patrol Boats, and gobs of mounting obstacles, not the last of which includes Nature's pending furies, it seems ALL will be lost. The Spectre of Death hangs heavy over the entire scene and reaps fertile with every short swing of his scythe. The author twists and turns his tale as if he, too, were an ancient mariner speaking to captive audience hanging dead on every spoken word. (i.e. ...SEA-MONSTERS!). He spins his wares and weaves his words, creating a brilliant tapestry of adventure. His imagery of the salty Gulf paints no less than masterful -- The reader feels not so much an omnipotent observer, but a participant in the swashbuckling drama of life extended "grateful" from each unturned page. Unlike Robert Louis Stephenson, et al, Joseph Reynolds has an ending prepared for this story that will blow you out of the water! Unlike "The African Queen," the hero(s) of this first-person-related story are not dependent on performances by the best actors in Hollywood history. And, just like Joseph Reynolds, apparently, the story is more ironic than an O.Henry masterpiece. It is a used-up plot made fresh; where stereotyped characters have no place, and adventure breaches the walls of bedtime novels, grappling-"hooked" into your own imagination. Though I have never heard of this author, Joseph Reynolds, I must simply ask myself, "Why not?"

A wonderful story! Historically accurate in every detail, Apache Gold tells the story of a young man, Charles Wayne. Charles is a station agent and telegrapher at Jefferson, a booming metropolis of two whole buildings, the station and the water tank. Charles is quite lonely in his little station until one day a train tramp is evicted from a train and left to die in Charles's care. The tramp tells him of gold--gold hidden somewhere in the mountains far away, and gives Charles vague directions. So Charles quits his job and goes in search of the hidden gold. But he finds more than he bargained for, including a mad professor, raging grizzly bears, and the torture-loving Apache Indians.

I recommend all of Joseph Altsheler's books, although Apache Gold is one of my favorites. All historical information in Altsheler's books is very acurate, and I like his strong heros.

I bought this book years ago when I first visited Reno, Nevada and Virginia City's Comstock mines. Years have passed and I'm buying again because of all the books every written on the Comstock, this book has it all. If you want to know what it really was like in those mines, read this book.

DM was a point in the right direction for the MechCommander Series. But still, im not to pleased. They could include LOADS of more mechs for the game. Online play revoles around the Madcat, Thor, Masakari,Atlas, adn every once in a while the Awsome. Thats it. no fun after a while. We need more mechs!

this iis the best game ive ever played it rocks if you hate it you suc

The authors present detailed and complex research very clearly and offer the reader a comprehensive study of one particular Manhattan project spy (Ted Hall). There are places, however, where history is turned into to sensationalism. Granted, this is meant to be a case study, but at times too much emphasis is placed on Hall's contribution to the spy network. One questions how important any individual person was in a secret operation so large. The authors fail to distance themselves from their subject and consequently do not write from a totally credible perspective.

Beyond Fuchs et al, there had always been suspicions of an extra spy. Now we know. This is the gripping account of Ted Hall,code name Mlad, a teenage whiz kid who suddenly found himself at Los Alamos, savy enough to be at the dead center of bomb calculations, and deciding for idealistic reasons, refusing all payment, to share the secret of the atomic weapon with the Russians. Soon the a virtually complete description of how to construct a weapon is in the hands of the Communists. It is interesting that the original communication was decoded in the late forties, and that he was almost caught, but simply slipped through, until the opening of the archives after 1989.

4/28/99: Almost all histories of the Manhattan Project mention the quiet German refugee scientist, Klaus Fuchs, code name Charlz, who gave the Soviet Union a good working blueprint of the Nagasaki bomb. But a couple of weeks before Harry Gold picked up Fuch's information, KGB courier Lona Cohen met Ted Hall, code name Mlad ('youth'), in Albuquerque, and got an equally revealing description. BOMBSHELL fills in one of the major missing pieces of the puzzle of Soviet Espionage against the Manhatten Project. Now, if we can just find out who code names Pers, Kvant and Nejtron were, and what information Oppenheimer passed... Highly Recommended.

...But, then again, what is? I guess my expectations for this book were way too high. I loved "Catch-22", and it ranks amongst my favorite books of all time. But "Good As Gold" seemed...off. It reads almost as if someone was trying to immitate Heller (a poor immitation at that). It was nearly as funny as "Catch-22", nor was the humor as dark or ironic. It was absurd, for the most part. Only Ralph and the other Politicians in the book had lines with any real biting social criticism that were comparable to EVERYTHING EVERYONE said in "Catch-22". It does make many interesting comments on politics in America, though frankly they are expessed elsewhere in a more productive manner. I found my copy at Half price books for about a buck, and I consider it worth that much, at least. In short, read "Catch-22", if you just love it, read "Good as Gold" for a Heller-heroin fix...

(I do need to write up my favorite quote from the novel though...from Ralph- "American Democracy is the most rigid aristocracy on earth...")

It so apropos today. Bruce Gold has a job at the White House... to make sure the politicians say absolutely nothing of any importance at all, but sound like they are. This book is biting. Hilarious. I have read all his books and oddly enough while I loved Catch-22, and Something Happened, this one sticks with me. It is all about the Orwellian newspeak which I seem to hear everywhere these days. But done with a wicked sense of humour. Laugh out loud funny. The best political satire I have ever read.

Good As Gold successfully transposes the anti-logic and hilarity of Catch-22 to the world of lecturing and high-level politics.

Politics is, of course, a natural home for Heller's sense of the ridiculous. And although the machinations of the White House staff seem absurd, they are also naggingly true-to-life. The book is actually too near the bone for comfort on occasion.

But it brings tears to the eyes, it's so funny.

Gold at home with his extended family (where he spends much of the novel) suffering their babbling insanity is supremely comical. No matter how successful he is, they just treat him like dirt. And he has to grit his teeth.

These are hilarious characters and you just feel a touch embarrassed for whomever they were based on. Because they're too real to be entirely fictional... Surely.

Excellent, intelligent, funny, thought-provoking novel. But it's probably safer to not read it on the train. People might stare while you lose your composure.

After the masterpieces had all been written Conrad began writing a purer kind of adventure story. These late books are interesting and though not masterpieces themselves there is something in each one that makes them well worth your while. The young man in Arrow of Gold has fallen under the allure of old Europe in the form of the lovely Spaniard Dona Rita (Conrads most complete and most attractive portrait of a woman) and finds himself involved in her schemes to smuggle guns to her countrymen from Marseilles. High adventure ensues, including a breathtaking boat chase, but every cause and every ideal is corruptible and Conrad with this book contrasts the heady ideals of youth with worldly experience and wisdom. In these last books(Rescue, Arrow of Gold, Rover) it feels as though Conrad felt he had already tackled his great themes so there is a calm in the writing of them that is very pleasing and one imagines he is enjoying the writing of them in his retired captains easy chair as much as we enjoy the reading of them. The arrow is a gold pin, a rich symbol, the fate of which must be left unknown to potential readers. The historical setting of 1870's Marseilles is one Conrad knew well as that is the port from which he set off to sea for the first time and the gun running episode as well as the boat(especially the boat)Conrad spoke of with great fondness in his memoirs.

The Arrow of Gold is a must for Conrad fans, as it is based on one of the most interesting and obscure periods of the Polish-English writer's life. Action happens in the 1870's in Marseilles, France, where a young and naif sailor, back from West Indies, is engaged by a couple of conspirators to smuggle guns and ammunition for the Carlist army, with the idea of putting King Carlos back in the throne of Spain. All this is almost exactly what happened to Conrad, all which is partially narrated in the "Tremolino" chapter of his beatiful book The Mirror of the Sea, as well as in the souvenir book entitled Some Reminiscences. The Arrow of Gold is a book of Conrad's maturity. It was not well received in his time and Conrad himself was not fully happy with it. But it is a deeply moving and funny novel, full of adventures, fascinating ladies, charming crooks, bizarre characters and sharp descritions of places and milieu. All this in a neat prose, now free from the philosophical statements or stylistic refinements that at times burden some of the works of the great Master. In summary, a rather forgotten book by the author of Lord Jim, Nostromo and so many masterpieces, which deserves to be "discovered" by old and new Conrad devotees.

The book was interesting. After reading the book of Castner's explorations in Alaska I would find it hard to believe that Lt. Castner would ever have a part in letting a boy go along on the exploration. Castner was a very strict man believing in discipline at all time.

It was enjoyable to read.

This book shows history of Alaska.It shows what it was like before it became a state.From the fishing to the rafting I liked this book and I think you should read it too.