"Apprentice to Murder" movie starring Donald Sutherland was based on this book. The book relates the accounts of true events that occurred in York County, Pennsylvania. Media coverage of the ensuing famous murder trial was worldwide.

Having read this work some twenty years ago, I'm dealing with a somewhat clouded memory, but I clearly remember being enthralled by this book. It recalls a grizzly murder and the subsequent trial that took place in the Pennsylvania Dutch country around Harrisburg. I believe the period was the 1920s. Three young men, raised in the local culture of superstition and dark rituals became convinced that their personal and family misfortunes were the result of a hex. Before long, they identified the perpetrater as a local farmer,whom they believed to be a witch. The ensuing turn of events was to shock America. The author writes a thorough examination of the prevailing rural culture and its medieval European roots. The charming farmland and hamlets of the time hide the more sinister traditions of the populace, who's greatest fear is exposure by the outside world of the 20th century. Though it's somewhat dated, I believe this book is a useful look into the dark side of the human psyche. I would dearly love to read it again, if I could find it.

The purpose of this book is to inform the reader about the resources of Near-Earth space (the moon, Mars and asteroids) that can be used to decrease the cost of space activities. It is composed of 33 (if I counted correctly) scientific articles, by some 86 collaborating authors. The articles cover everything from natural resources (minerals, water, etc.) to processing, lunar base siting, and terraforming.

Warning: These articles are not for the faint of heart, they are written by scientists, for scientists. They are highly technical in nature, which means that people unfamiliar with the subject matter might find them hard to understand. That said, though, this is a unique and highly informative book, one that I highly recommend.

An invaluable reference, covering many aspects of potential resource use of the Moon and Mars, as well as the asteroids. Not for the technically faint-of-heart, this book covers many aspects of using off-world resources.

Part memoir, part travelogue, and part cookbook, this compellingly readable book offers insight into the people, places, ingredients, traditions, and taste of classic American cooking.

Serious Pig is broken into three main parts. In "Here," Thorne explores his Maine roots, telling stories of his grandparents' childhoods and sharing recipes for lobster stew, baked beans, and the like. In "There," Thorne covers Louisiana's cajun and creole traditions. And "Everywhere" is devoted to American classics: barbecue, pancakes, hamburgers, coffee, chili, and other food typically found in diners.

The recipes are sprinkled in among all the yarns and reminiscences. This makes Serious Pig somewhat less useful as a cookbook (though there is a separate index of recipes if you really need to track one down), but it doesn't really diminish the value of the book. What you get here is a heartfelt appreciation of American cuisine and cooking, and introduction to the folklore of regional cuisine that's missing from other books. You can read Serious Pig like a novel, even if you never cook. But don't be surprised if your mouth starts watering, and you find yourself unable to finish any given chapter without a slab of pie and a cup of rich, black coffee.

A serious look at Maine cooking both past and present. Full of both commentary and recipes. It makes you eager to take a country drive, stop at a few farm stands and then go home to cook an "classic" and hearty meal full of fresh produce.

Any one who has spent time along the Mid-Coast of Maine (or there abouts) will enjoy the book even more since part of "story" involves many people and places from that area including local farms, fisherman and hang-outs.

Both Mainstreet and Babbitt are critical and realistic apraisels of life in America. More specifically mid-western America. Carl Van Doren commented saying,"Not one of them ( the contemporaries of Lewis) has kept so close to the main channel of American life as Mr. Lewis or so near to the human surface. He is part of a channel and a surface. To venture into hyperbole, not only is he one American telling stories, but he is America telling stories." These books once swept the nation with controversy due to their honesty of American life. I would recommend these books to anyone who enjoy books about people and the details concerning their lives, dreams and aspiratins. Lewis slowly draws the reader into the ever intricate and mediocre lives of the characters. While the stories are rarely fast paced they are certainly worth the read. If I had to make any recommendation I would advise reading Babbitt first due to the fact that it is more involving and fluid than Mainstreet. In addition to the two novels this book is published under a beautiful binding made to library standards. Enjoy.

I read "Main Street" several years ago. It impressed me then and the memory of it has stayed with me. I had previously read "Babitt" and "Arrowsmith" which were both good novels but neither compared to "Main Street". Both previous novels poked fun at small town middle America. As a resident of North Dakota, I got a good chuckle over Lewis's portrayal of Arrowsmith's brief trip to our fair state. My recollections of "Babitt" are that it was rather satirical in its' imagery of a shallow well-to-do man. All of us could chuckle at him because he reminded us of so many people we knew. The impact of "Main Street", to me, is how we see the world through the eyes of the main character; the doctor's wife. She is a real person dealing with real observations about real people in a real community. Something in her clicks and says, "this is all too shallow, too plastic, too predetermined". We agree with her and yet feel somewhat uncomfortable in doing so because there is so much that she questions and much of it we have already accepted. I was extremely impressed with Lewis's portrayal of this feminine character and how he chose her (as opposed, for example, to her husband) to be the eyes of his reality. For that time and place, it was, I think, a bold move on the author's part. And it works! I remeber the impact of her questioning her relationship with her husband. It almost seemed like a scene out of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".

This book was the one that made Lewis notorious in his own home town. I expected to have to appreciate the times to be able to appreciate the book. I found myself sensing issues and scenarios that are just as common and real today. If you only have time for one book by America's first Nobel Prize-winning author, I recommend that you select this one to read. You won't be sorry!

I used this book for an introductory level religious study course, so I read the entire book and had lectures in addition to the book. And I'm very glad that I had those lectures, otherwise I don't think I would have a very good idea about the main world religions covered in this book (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, far east religoins ie. Confucianism, Daoism). The authors of this book ramble on and on, with no general direction. The organization of the book is done fairly well, but at times the text makes no sense, skipping back and forth in time with no structure. I found that an extremely frustrating aspect of this book. It was impossible for me to get a general overview of each religion without reading many pages of inane details.

The book does provide a wealth of information on each of the religions covered, however. The chapter on Islam is particularly good, but it's easy to get lost in the vastness of information provided. Every period of history is covered for each religion, so there is plenty of good material covered.

But overall, the book did present each religion from its pre-modern start to its post-modern state today. Just sometimes, it wasn't clear on what direction the authors were heading.

I have used this book in an introductory class in World Religions. I have found the book to be very usable and filled with the kind of information one needs. At the same time, the authors do not lose sight of the central ideas, practices, and trends of each major religion.
In reading the book, one needs to keep in mind the structure of each chapter, which begins with general ideas of religious practices and beliefs today, then goes back in time to show how they got the way they are. When one reads thoroughly, one gets a good picture of where the major religions are today and possibly where they are going.
The index is thorough, and there are two appendices, one a vocabulary for each major religion, the other a time line of major developments for each religion. These are very useful. Also helpful are the review questions at the end of each chapter
The theme of the book is the confrontation of each religion with modernism, and its status now in a postmodern (postcolonial)world. This approach is highly informative and increases the interest of the reader. There is an introductory chapter on religion in general, and the first chapter on Christianity includes a discussion of how the modern era was born out of Protestantism. This means that Christianity is shortchanged somewhat because much of the discussion is on "modernism". There are some printing errors that need to be fixed.
I was very pleased with this book, and I highly recommend it.

i thought it was a pretty good book, but was kind of boring at some parts so you just had to take a break from it. what i like about this book is that it is very descriptive so you can just imagine being there. when i first read the book i had to get used to the idea that it wasn't a Disney book but was more adult like.overall i thought that it was a pretty good book and i would've rated the book 4.5 stars but you can't do that so if you ever need a long book to read for a boring trip i would recommend the book to you.:)

Alice in Wonderland is a great book that i very much enjoyed. The story was very interesting and enjoyable. I liked how the author made things symbolize something else. Like the way the rules of the game they were playing were also the rules of the land. Even though this book is intended for young kids, this book is excellent for all ages.

This is one of the funniest books I've ever read and in my opinion, the Disney movie does not do justice to it. The Mad Hatter and March Hare are a great duo, as always. But I think the best character in the book is the Mock Turtle, who sings the song "Beautiful Soup." Lewis Carroll just has a great and unique imagaination.

I picked this book up after I read "April 1865" because I wanted to know more about the assassination of Lincoln. The book is a very interesting account of what took place. This is a reprint of a book that originally came out in the 1920's and that made it even more interesting. I enjoyed the book on two fronts. First the author does a very good job of detailing out the plot to kill Lincoln, the actors involved, the reasons behind it, the actual event and then the capture of the assassins.

There is just a great amount of details that, being an American; I am ashamed I did not know. Overall this was not a lone gunman, but a large-scale plot to kill the top three members of the U.S. government at the time. Sure the group performing this assassination was not the best and brightest, but they got the job done. The details of the escape, flight and then capture of Both is also full of detail that really brings the story to a new level. The added information about the capture and punishment of the rest of the group was also very interesting.

On the second front, what I also enjoyed about the book was the view of the 1920's through the writing of the author. When someone writes a book like this, there are bound to be examples and coalitions to the "current" day and in the case of this book it was the 1920's. That was very interesting and an added bonus to the book. Overall I enjoyed this book and learned a great deal from it. I would suggest it.

Now know more than I ever wanted to about John Ringling North.

The book was a bit slow in parts due to the excessive detail the author included. Such detail would be of much more interest to a fellow circus history aficionado than someone(like me) with a passing interest.

Well researched, even handed account of the subject matter.