It was exactly what my history teacher called a "Mickey Mouse Book". This book (in my opinion) is a very good resource item for history if we're talking about with younger kids, but not with teenagers. The sentences are absurdly short and it doesn't really connect the story all that well. The information in it is great if you want to know about what George Rogers Clark and their relating people did during the entire American Revolutionary War, but as I have said before, the sentences are extremely choppy.

In reading this anthology, I realized why I tend to stay away from short stories: even good authors may be unable to create a worthwhile story in relatively few pages. There is definitely a talent and also a honed skill needed to accomplish character development and sufficient plot in the space allotted. I initially picked up this book because the title led me to believe that the stories might be fun, funny, amusing...which they are not in any way -- rather the stories are all quite serious and not what I expected (as others have noted the blurbs on the back cover are untrue.) In one story a woman wants to have sex with a male slut she somehow learned about because she thinks she is dying -- how is that naughty? In another, a woman trying to divorce her scary husband has not-very-exciting sex with a stranger in a bar and we then follow them as they try to extricate her from her marriage. The last story about the woman who has sex for the first time with a man who yelled at her for "encouraging" a near rape while sunbathing fully clothed left me cold. Susan Johnson is the first author in the book and recognizing her name and her usually good stories led me to expect a lot more than is delivered here. I usually enjoy her work, but in this case I actively hated the story almost by the 10th page. Johnson takes what I consider her worst characteristic -- a tendency to be a little too anatomically descriptive -- and makes it into the entire story. This piece consists of a couple engaging in constant unemotional sex without any foreplay, which is not of interest, I would think, to most readers in this genre. More importantly, the sex scenes are BORING! Then she throws in some military/political hooha just to give it some kind of plot. The story would have been much more interesting had it acutally followed the plot listed on the back cover in which debutantes make the bet, rather than bored society matrons in Vienna. Save your money and buy a good Susan Johnson book, rather than this anthology.

Although short stories aren't always the truest introduction to an author, I've read enough Susan Johnson to realize that I'm not going to read her anymore. She is the best-known author in this anthology, but her story is the worst. As another reviewer has already pointed out, the book blurb regarding her story is totally deceptive. Her characters are shallow, their relationship unfathomable, and the language used in the sex scenes is jarring, considering the time setting of this story.

The story by Leandra Logan, seemed as though there was too much story trying to be crammed into too few pages, so the story felt choppy to me. The initial sex scene set up as a one-night-stand didn't seem true to the female lead. There were some interesting secondary characters, but the story form is just too short to allow adequate development of that many characters.

I felt that the stories by Adrianne Lee and Anne Marie Winston were the best of the bunch. The characters were better developed, the sexual tension better maintained, and storyline flowed better. I would recommend the book for the sake of these authors. I don't know if they have written anything else, but I'm certainly going to find out.

I wanted this book for the story by one of my favorite authors,Susan Johnson, but to my delight I found "Winner Take All" by Adrianne Lee. This story really drew me into the characters. I found Mitch to be a totally believable hero. He struggles to prove an important point to his business partner (along with winning a bet!) and in doing so, matures as a "whole" man rather than a male lead by his "other parts". He finds himself confronted with a special woman who truly touches his heart...but she wants to touch so much more! Talk about FUN conflict! I was so impressed by Ms. Lee's characters I've decided to add her works to my "To Be Read" pile.

I enjoy learning about 1850s California, so I quickly bought this book. My excitement turned to dismay when I was 40 pages in and the auther was still talking about herself. I thought this book was supposed to be about the Gold Rush.

I only made it about 150 pages before I bestowed upon this book a rare honor, one that I have only bestowed upon two other books in my life: I threw it away. I refuse to allow any other human being to be subjected to its unfocused, egotistic narrative.

Avoid this book and (unless you're interested in personal accounts of lesbian difficulties) everything else written by Susan Lee Johnson.

While some of the topics Johnson brings up such as the mixing of cultures that takes place during this time, she lacks the organizational skills and talent as a writer to make the book compelling. Her work is all over the place and it's hard to follow especially when trying to use it as the basis of a research paper (which is what I had to do for a upper division history class of mine).

I always thought reading a book about Gold Rush-era California would be interesting, but Susan Lee Johnson has been able to make it seem not very compelling.

This is a "People's History" sort of book, a tale of the minor characters in history, in particular the miners and their society. In such a book, there are oppressors (often white males) and oppressed (usually women and non-whites). Johnson supports this thesis with numerous tales of robbery and murder, which may all be true, but also reflect a political agenda that she is trying to promote. This removes any real objectivity from her book.

The main problem with this book, however, is it is not very well-organized. Johnson has filled the book with some good (and some not-so-good) anecdotes, but there is not all that much joining these stories together. The result is a sometimes informative but usually rambling work. In the end, I felt like I hadn't learned very much about this era other than a few tales that needed a better context.

what does it take to put a book together and get an exhibition done at a regional museum, with funding from a major foundation? apparently nothing. this book does nothing to further the cause of art and artists of the south. why doesn't somebody do a good survey book on self-taught art? and why does the university of mississippi press publish every book on self-taught art? black folk art 1930-1980 was a decent book on a then emerging field, but that was done in 1981. that was almost twenty years ago. and here we are in the year 2000, and no one has done a book that is any better than that. there is great art out there by these talented artists, there must be someone out there with half a brain to do a good book. when they do, email me and i'll buy it. i wonder if because the artists are self-taught, someone out there thinks it is cute to let elementary school students write about them. much of the art is very sophisticated and cerebral, and it is time the scholarship in this field rises to the level of quality that the art deserves.

I am disappointed that the book with a title about tailgating has so many recipes requiring the oven! I can use any of the cookbooks I already own to find things to bake and take to the game. If you are looking for a cookbook with recipes to cook on a grill or with some other portable devise in the parking lot before the game, this is NOT the book you want. If you are looking for interesting and even tasty recipes that you can cook for guests in your home (watching the game on TV or such) this cookbook is fine.