I have never read a book that i could not put down,i bought this book yesterday 1/10/03 and just finished it now 1/11/03. My heart goes out to those American Soldiers who were in this battle and how brave and galently they fought,i had never heard of this battle until i saw the movie,i wanted to find out the facts as to what happened in the battle.This book told me everything down to the last detail.This is a book everyone should read to see what its really like in battle.That battle and bravery our soldiers will stay with me forever.

I recommend this honest and very straight forward book to all who care to know more about the Vietnam conflict. As a kid who was born in the 1960's, my appreciation of the soldiers who fought and gave their lives has been limited to the various movies and stories of the era.

The authors of this book have done an incredible job gathering information from their fellow soldiers (and in some cases those soldiers families) in order to convey and portray what can only be described as an incredibly poignant account of their experiences.

I know that this will be a story I will one day recommend that my own children read in an effort to improve their understanding of the sacrafices such brave people have made for the sake of our continued freedom.

I wasn't quite old enough to fight in Vietnam, but after reading this book and listening to this tape, it's as though I had been there. The book was absolutely gripping and the tape ... well ... for those of you who saw the recent movie, Joseph L. Galloway is the on-scene reporter. His rough, unpolished voice is PERFECT for this tape. It's Hal Moore's story recounted by the reporter who flew into battle with him. A priceless, classic combination. I've worn out the tape already ... time to reorder. (Hint: Make sure you get the Galloway edition. The CD has a slick Hollywood-type doing the narration. It's not the same.)

Amelia Earhart is a very good book. I think every child ages 9 - 12 should read Amelia Earhart because it teaches them to do what you want to do. Amelia's dad was trying to stop her but Amelia said it was her dream to fly. Amelia always liked to see the airplanes take off to fly. I think Amelia Earhart is a very excellent book.

Once I started reading this book, I had a hard time putting it down. I thought this was a super book and I can't wait to read more of the "Young Patriots Series." I highly recommend this book to kids my own age (10 years old).

Brittani Castle

Amelia Earhart, Young Air Pioneer is well written, delightful and nicely illustrated. A geat read for both boys and girls, ages 8-12, and sure to entertain and inspire.

I'm a novice interested in the great variety of the palms. I'm also interested in taxonomy (classification). Having read several general books on palms (learning many of the genera and how to grow them), I wanted the "big picture" of how they all fit together. Genera Palmarum is perhaps the gold standard for palm taxonomy. Every palm (200 genera) is included, and given a place. One can immediately locate a genus, and discover its defining characteristics (as well as superb line drawings of a representative species). One can then discover how the genus differs from other closely related genera.

We have an inexpensive paperback version (see our reviews) of this classic poem, and we said that's enough for us. That was before we looked through this beautifully illustrated (by Bruce Whatley) edition of The Night Before Christmas.

The lyrics are the same, from book to book, but the fanciful illustrations in this one are enough to engage adults and children as they read this book together.

The perfect gift for any family whose Christmas tradition includes reading this classic!

I discovered this book 31 years ago, for my daughter and it is still loved by all the family. The illustrations are wonderful, warm, charming and delightful and bring a special meaning to the story. We still read it to all the young children on Christmas Eve and for adults we read the story and pass a grab bag gift every time the word THE is mentioned. It would not be Christmas without this book. It is magical.

This beautiful book was in my family as a hard cover edition for many years and was a Christmas Eve tradition for my four sons when they were growing up. It's poor battered body disappeared some time after the last of my little ones went off into the adult world. I am so delighted to see it back again, though this time as a nicely affordable soft cover. Clement C. Moore's enchanting story poem already provides an atmosphere filled with warmth and joyful expectation and with the addition of Tasha Tudor's quaint, nostalgic water-colors from an antique New England the Christmas magic is complete!
The winter landscapes fill our senses and Tasha's own gray tabby cat and Welsh Corgi welcome us into this charming world.
Tasha's Santa that you will meet in this book has been portrayed as the poem describes him...a right jolly old elf. He's not that much larger than the corgi and his team really consists of eight "tiny" reindeer. His pointy ears and his Eskimo mukluks add to the delightful ambiance of the book. He dances with the toys and with the happy animals and we can truly believe it will be a happy Christmas for all.
I hope this book becomes a Christmas Eve tradition for many, many more families.

Oh, what an extraordinary book. This book satisfies on so many levels. First, it provides an accurate historical account of the most important battle of the Vietnam War -- the first one. From this examination, the reader can understand why the U.S. reached strategic failure in Vietnam. Until its publication, there has never been an accurate accounting of this savage, enigmatic battle, only partial analysis and limited oral histories. This book presents the battle from the battalion commander view and integrates it into the goals of the war. Second, the book presents, in unsparingly frank terms, the sacrifices and courage exuded by average American boys in combat with an ardent foe in a foreign land. After reading this book, I dare anyone, ANYONE, to question the scope and magnitude of the sacrifices made by those who served in Vietnam. The depictions of combat and its accompanying loss will stay with the reader for a very long time. Lastly, for all military buffs, it's a great read and allows you to engage in some healthy hero-worship. In honor of those who served and died on this tragic battlefield and all those of Vietnam, a paraphrase of the inscription at Thermopylae is in order: "Go tell the Americans, stranger passing by, Here, obedient to their laws we lie."

Moore has done a great service to those interested in the war in Vietnam as well as those who have not experienced the horror of combat first hand.

This book about a relatively large scale U.S. Infantry operation in the Ia Drang Valley is very well written. The author tells the story of his unit's fight and subsequent movement well. So well, that it is possible to visualize the battle, the defensive perimiter and keep the individual soldiers -- whose story it is -- straight. Not only is the tale of the battle well told, but the fears and uncertainty faced by cut off troops who could not see their enemy and knew they had to hold their perimiter is brought home to the reader. This story has plenty of heroics, but also a lot of fear, anger and luck.

The story also underscores the problem with U.S. strategy in Vietnam. Unlike World War II, our troops were not driving across the country to hold land and capture territory. Many missions, like Moore's, were designed to find and harass a jungle hid enemy, inflict casualties and then retreat to a well protected base. That type of war without gain must have played heavily on the minds of the soldiers who could not measure their sacrifice in ground gained or villages freed, measurements their fathers and uncles had been able to see in their great war.

This is a good book. Moore's US infantry are very sympathetic (the chopper pilots merrit special mention from the author), doing a hard job and doing it well. It reads quickly and is captured my attention from the outset.

Without doubt, this is one of the best accounts of military history that I have ever read.

'We Were Soldiers' describes two separate engagements between the NVA and American forces in the Ia Drang valley in Vietnam. This battle, fought in 1965, was one of the first 'real' encounters between US and NVA forces, and it changed the Vietnam War from a political exercise to full fledged conflict.

Essentially, the book is divided into two stories, that of the soldiers that fought at Landing Zone (LZ) X-Ray, and that of the soldiers that fought at LZ Albany, two locations in the Ia Drang valley.

The book is frighteningly honest about the harsh realities of war, and does an excellent job at showing the human cost of war. Lt. General Harold 'Hal' Moore writes in a very forthright and honest manner, and it is obvious he is someone that does not mince words, and I believe that every word in this book is truth.

The book isn't easy to read, and it certainly isn't a light, entertaining story. If anything, the book is closer to a history text, rich in detail and thoroughly referenced, but that doesn't mean it isn't a fascinating read.

But overall, what I admired so much about this book was the honesty of it. Nothing is withheld, all is told, typical of 'Hal' Moore. After reading this book, it is obvious to me that Hal is a man of the highest integrity and earned every star on his shoulder.

I am an Australian, and although the men at Ia Drang weren't from my country, I was still deeply moved after reading this book. Every man that served in that valley was a hero, and I admire them greatly. I recommend all Americans read this book, young and old.

It used to be that the U.S. military turned out officers who could write decently. Apparently this is either no longer the case -- or the Rangers tend to draw their officers from that portion of the corps which consists largely of people who can't even write a decent field manual. Major Lock is one of these officers, and TO FIGHT WITH INTREPIDITY suffers badly because the publisher of this book didn't assign someone to edit Major Lock's manuscript as thoroughly as it needed to be. This notwithstanding, Major Lock's book is an uniquely well-researched and enormously valuable source of information on the history of the Rangers in America and the Ranger units of the U.S. Army in the wars and other armed conflicts of the 20th Century. I find this book a valuable addition to my library despite the fact that it reads like a badly translated copy of a textbook from the Frunze Academy, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone interested in the history of the U.S. Army's development and employment of light infantry forces.

LTC Lock has done in a compact form a BDU pocket-sized complete history of the U.S. Army Rangers, this quantification is usually what we praise, but we forget the quality of his writing when he does this. We need to realize what is it that we want to learn from Army Ranger history other than the predictable HOOAH! stuff?

LTC Lock in his book reveals an aspect of light infantry operations we simply do not understand today with our men turned into pack mules with "100 pounds of lightweight equipment". Read his accounts of Roger's Rangers and you will see a light infantry that could "fly" on its feet through the woods and outfight the Indians. The recent film, "Last of the Mohicans" best captures this capability. This was a Ranger infantry that was willing to use unusual mobility means, also---boats, ice skates, snow shoes, living off the land--all to get that mobility edge over the enemy. In WWII, Darby used speed-marches and carts to carry mortars/ammo to close on enemies rapidly to gain surprise/violence of action. Merrill's Marauders used mules to carry 75mm pack howitzers and supplies to penetrate deep into the jungles of Burma and take Myitkyina airfield from the jungle-seasoned Japanese. In Five major (WALAWBUM, SHADUZUP, INKANGAHTAWNG, NHPUM GA, & MYITKYINA) and thirty minor engagements, they defeated the veteran soldiers of the Japanese 18th Division (Conquerors of Singapore and Malaya) who vastly outnumbered the Marauders. Always moving to the rear of the main forces of the Japanese, the Marauders completely disrupted the enemy supply and communication lines, and climaxed their behind the lines operations with the capture of Myitkyina Airfield, the only all-weather airfield in Northern Burma.

Theese lessons need to be applied to today's light infantry that is still over-looking the capability modern mountain bikes and carts with oversized tires could give an Airborne Ranger-type force to close on an enemy after insertion out of detection range by parachute/airlanding aircraft.

My only fault with the book is that it doesn't clearly lay-out the roles/missions dilemma current Ranger infantry is in---it really has 2 types of missions:

1.) on one hand its America's shock troops storming defended high-value targets alone or as a spearhead for other troops (WWII Commando mindset),

2.)on the other, it has to be able to "Range" across the land as light infantry for days at a time to raid/recon (traditional Ranger missions).

These two missions are different and require different mindsets and equipment---and this is why TF Ranger in Somalia did not have armored fighting vehicles--because it was not seen as appropriate for "Rangers to do mech" if one was defining the unit by traditional roles/missions. However, shock troops need shock action and that means Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFVs) and shielded men, which Rangers lead the U.S. military by employing for the first time rifle-caliber resstant body armor and having the physical conditioning and willingness to take Soldier's load risks to go into battle with it. AFVs are not popular in the minds of some Rangers, but its necessary to successfully perform shock action missions in urbanized terrain. Other elite units in the world can ride AFVs without their image suffering. Walking is not always the best way to "range" across the battlefield, as Ranger gun-jeeps, RSOVs (Land Rovers) and HMMWVs attest from combat in Iran (Desert 1), Grenada (airlanded from C-130s), Panama (parachute air-dropped) and Iraq (Desert Storm). But these are unarmored vehicles not up to the task of advancing in the face of concentrated enemies and their fire. LTC Lock in his superb chapter on the Mogadishu raid expertly outlines why Rangers should have had armored vehicles and that they would have prevented 1-18 men dying that day. His Somalia chapter is as good as Bowden's entire book, "Blackhawk Down!" and in some ways better---because it doesn't mince words and gets to the point that AFVs were needed in the force structure.

If America's light infantry forces would look back via LTC Lock's fine book into its methodology of Roger's Rangers; it will find the mindset needed to make it the most mobile and hardest-hitting infantry on earth that can range across the terrain quick enough to defeat the stalemate sensors and optics will create against a slower moving force. If these forces will understand that as Col Daniel Bolger states in Death Ground: America's Infantry in battle: "Ranger tabs don't stop bullets", and accept a modest number of air-droppable and helicopter transportable light tracked AFVs into its force structure for its own organic shielded mobility and heavy firepower, it will have learned well from its Somalian ordeals and be ready to lead the way! into the 21st century.

Ranger units have always put tremendous emphasis on history and tradition as an aspect of pride in duty, and that's where this work has real value. Academic critique from recreational readers won't reflect this --it's just another book; however; Rangers and men in the Special Ops business out there will see much deeper meaning in it. If you want to take pride in wearing the beret a step further (whether today or years ago), read Lock's book. There are nearly four centuries of tradition behind the Ranger Creed and Roger's Standing Orders: Learn the history.