This book is a must have for coaches and players alike. I own and run Centerfield Baseball Academy and this book is like having the best coaches in the country in my place 24-7!. If you are a coach it is amazing to have such an organized blue print for success at your fingertips. As a player who got to the professional leval I could have been twice the player and teammate had I read Dugout Wisdom. A young player who reads this book will get tips to exponentially improve his game and, what's more important, he will relate to his coach and team in a way he never has before. This is worth every penny. ...

I bought Jim Murphy's DUGOUT WISDOM because I wanted to learn about managing a winning business team. I don't confess to know a lot about baseball but after reading a few pages of DUGOUT WISDOM, I realized that this is not just a book for baseball coaches and fans. It's a book for anyone wanting to be a champion, wanting to be the best that they can be in all that they do whether it be in sports, business, personal life, anything. DUGOUT WISDOM is very practical.

I recommend DUGOUT WISDOM for anyone who wants to gain wisdom and be motivated, challenged, and inspired!

The amount of quality managers and coaches he interviewed is outstanding, and putting it all together with the ten principles really clarified for me what the top managers do. As a business professional I feel I can transfer much of these principles into my life, because we're all dealing with people, whether it's sports or business. I really liked the chapter on Forming a Covenant, and having a spiritual base, which is really inner strength. I was especially intrigued to find out what Dusty Baker had to say, as I feel he's one of the best at dealing with people and forming a winning team from different personalities. Highly recommended.

This book is very good & understandable. I like it mainly for the pictures.

Read this aloud with my children about 2 years ago. It sparked my son's interest in Civil War historical fiction. He is not an avid reader, but has read several civil war books including "Red Cap" by Clifton Wisler and just picked up "Across Five Aprils" for his sixth-grade historical fiction assignment. Jim Murphy is a fine writer, weaving quotes, diary entries and anecdotes into a lucent and revealing account of the lives of youths who participated in the Civil War. A fine book!

A very interesting book with all you need to know about the railroad, transcontinental or Robert Louis Stevenson. Very descriptive, Great Literature.

Acclaimed historian Murphy shows how a devastating 1888 blizzard not only shut down our northeastern states for days, but radically altered the way Americans live; its repercussions are being felt even today. He illustrates how political corruption, ineptitude, and contemporary social attitudes exacerbated the storm's fallout. Using carefully chosen excerpts from survivors' personal accounts, he also gives us a vivid feel for what life was like then for immigrants, women moving into the workplace, and others who had to struggle to survive everyday. He employs an interesting mix of graphics to further illustrate his story. Junior high school students who believe history is boring may think differently after reading this; it should also appeal to readers interested in natural disasters, and in social histories. Here's another winner from the author whose "The Great Fire" brought Chicago's infamous conflagration so brilliantly to life.

I've been reading one chapter a night to my eight year old, and he and I have both loved this book. It discusses the history of whaling, from early humans through modern times. Whenever possible, the author quotes primary sources, including the writings of "cabin boys", the young all-around helpers who served on whaleships. This youthful perspective keeps even an eight year old interested.

Original photographs, boat plans, painting, etchings, and other illustrations are often used to illuminate the main points made in each chapter.

The book strikes a good balance between environmentalism - the fact that many species were brought to the brink of extinction - with economics - the fact that people 100 or 200 years ago needed work and baleen and oil, and whales provided these in abundance.

Anyone young reader with an interest in animals, American history, ships, technology, or whales will likely find this a most enjoyable book to read.

There's nothing like this book on the market. The prayers and poems are truly child-centered, and the highly unusual pairing of each poem with a scriptural quotation invites adult readers to meditate both on Easter and on children's experience of it.

Simplicity and innocence--and surprising depth.

I have not read the entire book and am not qualified to give a proffesional review I thought it was a book that reveals the deepest side of manand of nature.Thank you for letting me and others read it.I always like to read a good vampire novel... You never know what's out there.

Poetry chapbooks don't usually fly off the shelves in massive numbers, but this debut by Jim Murphy deserves to. Murphy covers a wide range of subjects -- from Faulkner's characters to Elmore James -- with dense, lyrical language and an exacting yet awed gaze that seems to me quintessentially American. His "Florida Resort Scene, 1964" is unquestionably one of the most brilliant poetic observations on the sordid power of celebrity in poetry, and many other pieces in this 30-page work pack a similar punch. "The Memphis Sun" marks the debut of a powerful new voice in American poetry. Catch him now before everybody else does.

I'm 12 years-old and I thought this story was very exciting. My older brother read it also, and he said it was great. It is about a fifteen-year-old boy who is eager to go to war. However, it ends up being the most horrifying life a young man could have. I would give six stars if I could. Since I can't, I'll write it down: six stars!

"West to a Land of Plenty" was a great book, in an 1880's diary form, on a 14 year-old Italian American girl, Teresa.

Teresa lives in a crowded, New York neighborhood with her family, when her father suddenly decides to take the family west, to a new community called Opportunity. With that decision, Teresa's changes just begin!

Going west by train and wagon is exciting to Teresa, but she is also very sad to leave her school and friends. Her pesky little sister, Netta, also gets on her nerves, and Teresa constantly tries to hide her diary from her! When Teresa begins to make friends, however, she finds that things might not be so bad, but then disaster strikes...

This was a great book, and a must read for anyone aged 10 and up! Be sure to also read "Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie", and "The Great Railroad Race", two other "Dear America" novels.

Though this wasn't really a historical event, something may of happened like this. The writer mentions that between 1870-1900 was when most communities were being born, so that's the main idea of the story. This is about Teresa Angelino Viscardi, a 14 year old Italian Immigrant. She travels with her large family on a train and by wagon all the way to Idaho territory. But the journey is not easy. It is FAR from easy. They cross a river and two girl's from another wagon drown. Then the saddest thing happens! But you have to read it of course. This diary was so well written I kept thinking that Teresa and Netta, her little sister, who you come to love, were real. This is another powerfully emotionaly and exciting, and truthful Dear America Diary. Keep up the good work Dear America writers! We can't wait for more. Even though this book is sad, you MUST READ IT! Sniffle, sniffle, sob, sob. :(But most of the journey was :)

In the spring of 1883, fourteen-year-old Teresa Viscardi and her large Italian-American family, which includes her, her younger brother and sister, her parents, her aunt, uncle, cousin, and grandmother, leave their home in New York City and decide to head west to Idaho to participate in the founding of a utopian community. The community is to be called Opportunity, but Teresa isn't of the feeling that the west is filled with opportunity. She wants to return to New York City, where her friends and home are. Instead, she's stuck, first on a crowded train, and then on a covered wagon caravan, with her annoying family, of which her grandmother and sister are the most annoying. Nanna is stubbornly traditional, and pesky Netta reads Teresa's private diary. But when tragedy strikes, Teresa realizes how much her family means to her, and she may be the only one who can save them from disaster. I highly reccomend this excellant addition to the Dear America series. It's a great read if you like historical fiction, stories about pioneer life, or the other books in the series.