Bashert by Andrea Simon is not only a labor of love and a remarkable gift to those who came before and will follow, it is an important addition to Holocaust literature, describing events that may not have come to light before. The events are described in a very readable and personal form.

What makes this book especially moving is the way the author weaves her personal story into her search for historical fact. It is the author's personal involvement, warmth and humanity that draw the reader in and create a sense of personal involvement for the reader. We are not just reading history, but being taken along on the author's quest for knowledge and truth. We share her hunger to know what happened to her lost family.

For those with personal experience or knowledge of the Holocaust, this will add; for others it is a good place to start. It is a remarkable personal odyssey which will leave the reader affected and transformed.

Andrea Simon has written a memoir filled with haunting memories. I found her descriptions so realistic, her feelings so intense that I was transported to the time and place of her ancestors. It became clear as I turned the pages that what began as the author's personal journey ended as a reminder to all readers, of events never to be forgotten.

The importance of family makes the biggest impression on me after reading this powerfully written literary book. The horrors that Simon's family experienced in the Holocaust bring that atrocity home in a profound way. Her personal journey becomes our journey with her as she discovers atrocities such as the killing of 50,000 Jews in mass graves, simply because they were Jewish. Making the reading even more insistent is her grandmother's voice which we hear throuought the book, urging her on and being with her. Being able to read a Holocaust account of one family, with photos of relatives past and present, puts the reader inside the family, as if this were your own family album, and an account and discovery of your own relatives. Evil such as the Holocaust gives us all pause and reaffirms the need to pray for God and goodness to prevail in all times, even now. While some people have a family tree that they borrow from family members, Simon's family has something much greater. They are so very lucky to have a relative who puts together a detailed family experience, researches its important past,and delivers it to present and future generations. Simon's grandmother and mother must certainly be very proud of her. Proud, too, must be her living relatives who can now hold in their hands such an intelligent, eloquent and profoundly moving account of their family. As outsiders,we are fortunate to have the opportunity to experience that family, and to acknowledge again the horrors of the Holocaust, through Beshert.

If you have the Taschen reprints of the collected Bizarre magazines and are wondering about this book - as I was - don't worry. This book is almost all different material, a good portion of it previously unpublished, and the quality of the edition is high enough to make it a keepsake in anyone's library. John Willie was, without equivocation, the master of genteel fetish art, technically beautiful illustrations of gorgeous women simultaneously in formal attire and bondage. If it sounds quirky, it is, and it is that quirkiness married to Willie's technical prowess and self-restraint which makes this collection as intriguing - and engaging - as it is. There is no sex here, and no full nudity. If you've never seen this work, imagine a Vargas or Elvgren print but with the pretty girl not smiling, but bound somehow or being costumed and you begin to get an idea of what John Willie was doing with his illustrative life.

BUT - just imagining these images does them no justice. Willie never used any 'dirty' words, and his characters are styled after 1930's and '40 serial digest types, even as his work moved into the 1960's. The overall effect is that of a fully conceived world, a complete universe of Willie's - and ours, as the readers - shared neurosis, of our fully realized but morally checked 'fun and nonsense' (Willie's words, not mine).

I am enamoured of this work. It is aesthectically beautiful, it is emotionally engaging, it is affectionate and ironic all at the same time. Where Bizarre magazine left off this volume continues, and where Bizarre is a rememberance this volume is better described as a tribute.

And a more fitting tribute could not be produced. This is an oversized hardcover, cloth bound and with a cloth bookmark - the binding and cover are both very well made, obviously a labor of publishing love. The paper stock is very thick (unlike the Taschen Bizarre collection) and acid-free. The cover of this book is stunning, and even from the spine a beautiful illustration of Gwendoline is visible when the volume is shelved. This is a bibliophile's book, something we see less and less of these days, whose physical presentation was designed to compiliment its content.

Included are also some sketches and unfinished work, and it is always fun to see an artist we admire in their off-the-cuff moments, forming ideas or simply riffing without worrying about an audience. A brief - the best I've read - biography is included, as well as several photographs of the artist himself. There are several full color plates as well, watercolors of Willie taken from private collections.

A beautiful, absolutely beautiful volume. Of the many books I buy and sell and trade, this will stay in my library forever. I can offer no higher recommendation.

As a UK fan of Love Bondage and simular material, I've waited for years to obtain a copy of this book. I can assure all wondering about the purchase that the wait was well worth it. The quality of the illustrations is exelent and there is plenty of bonus material contained within it's bulging covers. Well done the publishers, you made a UK fan very happy this Chrstmas!

I ordered this book as a Christmas gift for my husband. He has yet to see it, of course, but WOW! I love it! To see the many works that were previously unpublished, what can I say. John Willie really had a hand to match where his heart was! It's a great book for any one who loves erotic art or is familiar with the story of Gwen!

This was a great memoir about a "typical" southern boy's childhood. I wish Willie Morris had not died so young because I found his work so enjoyable, and it would have been wonderful to read even more of his writing.

I would not put Mr. Morris up on the same level as Mark Twain (and he probably would not want it either), but this book reminds me in a lot of ways of Tom Sawyer--a young boy's life on the Mississippi Delta. Everyone should experience these memories, whether in real time or vicariously.

He tells of his childhood in Yazoo City, Mississippi, with all his childhood friends, including Spit McGee (the forty's Huckleberry Finn). He recalls their baseball games, football games, hunting on the Delta with his father, practical jokes played on anyone and everyone. He recounts the story of the Witch of Yazoo and the broken chain. One of the best and most humorous of his stories is the tale of the haunted house and what the boys found in it one dark and stormy night.

I best remember in this book the chapters of a typical day in the life of a boy his age in Yazoo City--a day in the summer and a day in the fall. These are great vignettes and very poignant pulling in the reader to want to recall his or her own childhood memories.

This is a great memoir and can be enjoyed by all.

This is one of the best books that I have ever read.Mr. Morrishas a beautiful writing style, and captures the beauty of the southperfectly.

This was a great book ... I am from MS and Good Ol' Boy really makes you feel what it could have been like growing up in the Delta. If you dig Southern Lit, you won't be disappointed.

Very few books about nature can compete with time actually spent in nature. But this comes very close. Don Shuler tells the story of his 20+ year careful and loving relationship with an abused and exhausted piece of land in the Mississippi sand hills. His simple storytelling style makes vivid the plants, animals, birds and human beings that he finds in this special place. These encouters are so carefully described that I felt that I was experiencing them along with him. And I wanted very much to read all that he might have edited out of this volume. The book is sweet, poignant, and filled with an animist's sense of humility and wonder. I am very surprised it is not more widely known and up there with the A Sand County Almanac.

Why this book doesn't have a bigger following is beyond me. For anyone who's ever dreamed of owning a place in the country, this is a delightful, funny, informative and beautifully written book. Refreshingly, there's not a self-indulgent sentence in the entire text. Schueler delves into all facets of the city/suburban person's adjustment to country life. And because the memoir takes place over the course of 25 years, you get to see the impressive results of he and his partner's devotion to their land. I highly recommend it.

Why this book does not have a larger audience is a mystery tome. It is far more interesting, engaging, funny, educational and identifiable than Thoreau, IMHO. This is a guidebook for anyone who wants to buy land in the country -- or just wants to dream about it from the living room of his/her quarter-acre suburban property. Arborists will love it. One might think, given the various potential stereotypes at play (late 60s; gay men, etc.) that the book might have a strongly "granola," or countercultural, flavor. Not at all. It is wonderfully non-self indulgent. Schueler has great self-deprecating humor, and his descriptions of his neighbors and the wild and domesticated animals on his property are marvelous. A great read.

Willie Pietersen's Reinventing Strategy contains the basics of strategy, i.e., how to win, how to align the organization behind the chosen strategies, how to be sure that superior insights drive the strategic process. If that alone were his contribution, this book would be a significant contribution to the strategy literature.

But Pietersen goes much further than that. He shows us how, exactly, to develop these strategies, how he himself developed such strategies and what he learned about leadership in the process.

This book is about strategy, implementation and one man's journey as a leader and life-long learner. The result is an immensely human business book. The singular voice of the author comes through with clarity and humility. I know of no other business book that combines theory and practice with such a strongly personal view. Pietersen talks about the value of developing a leadership credo in his book. This book is, in essence, his own credo from a lifetime of leading and learning.

I am VP at a large consumer products company in Ohio and I found this book very insightful in the areas of creating strategy and leadership. I read a lot of business books and most are very slight in what they have to offer -- a few thoughts, old stories or worn out sayings. However, "Reinventing Strategy" is a real how-to-book and goes through running a successful business step-by-step. This book will definitely help my division be more profitable! In fact, I would love to go and take one of Prof. Pietersen's courses at Columbia University.

Willie Pietersen has managed to pull together what's really important to achieve breakthrough performance. He's done this by telling clearly and convincingly the lessons learned from his years as a chief executive, but explained them from his new role as a Professor of the Practice of Management at the Columbia Business School. I've had the personal pleasure of watching Pietersen in action with business leaders from around the world who have participated in Columbia's Executive Education programs. The overriding comment from these executives is "this guy makes sense and has shown we how to face up to the challenges to my business' survival." Reinventing Strategy: Using Strategic Learning to Create and Sustain Breakthrough Performance is the next best thing to the live program.

If you want to move from Strategy theory to action and have your business survive in the process, read this book.
William M. Klepper, Ph.D.
Academic Director, Executive Education
Columbia Business School

The Clinton Administration has manipulated the Federal government with one of the world's largest market research firms, Information Resources Management, as part of the Federal government. They have public corporations with false information about the officers listed with the SEC, High level Federal employees using false alias names to protect them from the crimes that they are committing in the Federal Government. The Clinton Administration and the Federal government completely control the court sustems in America. Mr. Brown and Mr. Bossie, I will call you, your book is not finished yet.

If you have read this book then there are no surprises when crisis after crisis rocks the Clinton presidency. The authors go back to the very beginning of Clinton's political life to map out a pattern of public unservice which has led to bimbo eruptions, campaign money-laundering, and "deals" with foreign governments on behalf of one man: Bill Clinton.

When I got this book in 1993, I found it boring and didn't read more than about five pages. I ran across it on my bookshelf again and read it. Floyd Brown really knew what he was talking about! Now, I can see how what he said has been played out in the past several years, and I wonder what will be next. I wish more people had read this book and listened then.

I bought this book for my one-year-old daughter thinking it was just Wee Willie Winkie, since this was one of the first rhymes I learned as a child. Much to my pleasure and surprise, this nicely-sized board book has much more to offer: Pat-a-cake, Jack and Jill, Down at the Station (very cute train rhyme), The Brave Old Duke of York, If I Had a Donkey (one I've never heard before, but very, very cute), Dance to Your Daddy, and Star Light, Star Bright.

The illustrations are attractive - happy and warm. The Dance to Your Daddy rhyme is a bit odd because the next line is "My little babby". Olde English? Also, in Wee Willie Winkie, one of the lines is "Crying through the lock" and I remember it being "Tapping at the lock", but that could just be my poor memory.

I am very pleased with this little volume and am thinking of purchasing more from the collection.

All of the Opie/Wells Mother Goose books are fantastic. Although I have the 2 volume "library edition" of their Mother Goose, this is the book we read everyday, since my daughter wants to grab and chew her books. No wonder this is her favorite: the rhymes are melodic, enchanting and accessable while the illustrations are inspired, beautiful and charming. It is the perfect introduction to the wonders and playfulness of language, for both child and parent.

We've gotten lots of mileage out of this little book. I really appreciate how thick the pages are (very easy for little hands to turn) and how well made it is. Even board books don't last long in my house (6 young children here), but this one has been around for well over a year, and it's well loved, too.

The rhymes are shortened to their most essential parts, perfect for little ones. We can go through the book several times in one sitting, and each poem fits neatly on a page.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Down By the Station, and several other popular nursery rhymes are in this book. The illustrations are adorable and the colors are nice and bright.

Highly recommended!

Like many others I have been a fan of Footes since I read my first Foote novel Love in a Dry Season. When I discovered The Civil War: A Narrative I was even more impressed. I thoroughly enjoyed Shelby Foote: A Writer's Life.

Like other reviewers, I especially liked the inclusion of Foote's fiction though more was read into it than probably should have. However, I think Chapman does a good job in bringing the hidden and private Foote to us. With all his foibles, Shelby Foote is destined to be remembered for generations.

If you're a fan of history then you need to read Shelby Foote: A Writer's Life.

Chapman's biography provides the reader with a fascinating insight into the complex mind of acclaimed author/historian Shelby Foote. Detailing the historical background and events that shaped Foote's upbringing and his ambitions as a novelist, Chapman draws clear connections between Foote's desire to reconcile his longstanding conceptions of aristocratic southern culture with the changing social and racial dynamics of the south during the civil rights era. This struggle is elucidated both within Foote's novels and in his three volume narrative of the Civil War.
This book is an absolute must read for anyone who has watched the PBS series on the Civil War or has read Foote's civil war narrative.

Chapman deftly combines his knowledge of literature, politics and human nature with a sensitive and balanced handling of the events and emotional currents of Foote's life. The result is a highly readable, deeply informed, and thoroughly captivating narrative. Foote, neither set upon a pedestal by Chapman nor villified for ambivalence in a time of cataclysmic change, emerges whole and, over all, well-served by the author's erudition and compassion.

What an amazing talent Gerald Lund has in his ability to merge historical events with the inclusion of fictional characters. Although this book's several pages can intimidate even the stoutest of novelists, I found myself unable to put it down as I moved from one chapter to the next. I found myself being pulled into the story and truly feeling what it must have been like crossing the unsettled West as a Mormon Pioneer. On more than one occasion I was actually brought to tears.

If you read this book, prepare yourself for some late night reading sessions.

When I started the novel, I was a bit overwhelmed by its length. But as I began to turn the pages, I was quickly enveloped into the amazing tale of the trials, bravery, and faithful diligence of the members of the Martin and Willie handcart companies. Gerald N. Lund paints a vivid portrayal of their struggles that stimulates the mind, pulls at the heart and envigorates the spirit.... 5 stars!

it is a powerful story that puts you right into the situation.

Tommy Monaghan is a Hitman with a conscience who's blessed with x-ray vision, telepathy and one hell of a skill-level. He'll shoot any meta-human you want (he doesn't take contracts on regular people because 'where's the sport in that') as long as you bring the money, AND he HAS to see the target as 'bad people'. Otherwise, no deal. In this book (which collects Hitman #4-8) the tables are turned when a mob boss from Tommy's past wants revenge and puts a price on HIS head. A hitman, who sees himself as the best in the world, called Johnny Navarone takes the job. Meanwhile Tommy himself, who doesn't suspect a thing so far, takes on a contract of his own. He's supposed to kill of a corrupt vigilante named 'Nightfist' (which is really meant as a mocking of superhero-comics) for the price of $10.000. The assignment turns out to be a set-up and Tommy gets in a world of trouble. Navarone then does something he really shouldn't have. Now IT'S PERSONAL ! From here the story turns into a kill-fest. Finally the book concludes with #8 which is a "Final Night" tie-in. The guys spend a night hanging out but when they realize the sun isn't coming up, and Superman's on the news, they decide to stick together in the bar to wait for the end of the world. They pass the time by telling each other about the time they came closest to death.

Compared to the previous Hitman collection (the one that hasn't got a name) this one contains a lot less one-liners and a heck of a lot more action and graphic violence. Off course there ARE still one-liners and the humorlevel is up to score (it IS a Ennis title after all) but you just have to look harder for it (just LOOK at the characters, it's a blast). It's a great addition to the Hitman series and people who like the typical Ennis' humor, and don't neccesarily need a story to be too complicated will have a lot of fun with it. That's mainly what going on, action and humor and it works out very good. The one downside this book has though is that it relates a lot to the previous collection, so you should really get that one first or at least read it prior to this one (or you'll miss out on things here and there). But that's also a good book so that's not a waste either.

This book, the second collection of Garth Ennis' 'Hitman' series sees the character of Tommy Monaghen (a hitman with superpowers and a fast wit) face major changes in his life. This collection also brings a close to one of the stories introduced in the first collection, as a mob boss (whose dead siamise twin's corpse decays on his bodies other half) sends a smooth assassin to deal with Tommy. All this, and a pretty funny jab at super-hero comics. '100,000 Bullets', an obvious play on Azzerello's '100 Bullets', is a fun read and a solid continuation of the 'Hitman' story.

By far, this is one of the greatest stories I have ever read. Comic book or otherwise. Action, heart, humour, and some of the best dialogue ever written. The scene with the bathtub... my God... it almost ripped my heart out. Garth Ennis is truly one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.