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Marrin devotes his first chapter to Lee's life and military career through John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, where Lee led the marines who retook the arsenal. The rest of the book divides Lee's actions during the Civil War into distinct periods defined by various tasks and battles (e.g., Savior of Richmond deals with Lee taking command of the Confederate Army after General Joseph E. Johnston was wounded and Lee's Masterpiece is about the Battle of Chancellorsville). What is revealed is the portrait of a young officer who graduated West Point without receiving a single demerit and whose loyalty to his native Virginia convinced him to serve the Confederacy. But Marrin also describes the battles in such a way that young readers can appreciate Lee as a military strategist, both in terms of his many successes and his final defeats.
"Virginia's General: Robert E. Lee and the Civil War" is illustrated with historic photographs and paintings, as well as small maps of each of the major battles of the war. Marrin provides an engaging narrative that covers a lot of information and works in a lot of quotations to maintain the effect that this is an interesting story and not just a history book. I also appreciate that Marrin covers the entire Civil War, since what was happening in the West affected Lee's decisions as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. Consequently, this is not the first book that a young reader would turn to for an introduction to Lee, but it for a more in-depth examination of his Civil War career this is a solid choice.
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On a structural note, the book is set in somewhat small print. A handful of maps are offered. At 900-plus pages, I'd suggest this book for (obviously!) serious students of the war or Genl Lee. Perhaps one should first digest on of the many biographies of R. E. Lee before attacking this Bible-sized epic.
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This novel is very intense: 355 pages stretched out over just three days. The first remarkable thing is the accuracy of Shaara's historic detail. Next we are impressed by his impartiality: each chapter focuses on one officer, but he switches "sides" easily, demonstrating absolute fairness to North and South. This style of the divine narrator leads us to realize that it is War itself which proves the real evil, since both sides espouse principals of honor. We are amazed that he can present such vivid word portraits of the officers who orchestrated the prolonged Battle of Gettysburg. Shaara takes us inside their heads--and their hearts. Their foibles, dreams, terrors, regrets, and private anguish are laid bare for the reader. We share the agony of mlitary decision, the loneliness of high command.
This novel also is impressive because it proves very readable--not the boring history text you might expect. One reason is the use of extensive dialogue. Some conversations seem to be scenes from a play; they remain with the reader long after the action has moved on. But the historical persons depicted appear very human, despite the intervening years. Even if you never cared for military history, this book will enlighten, touch and entertain you. Shaara provides great insight into why men will lay down their lives: for a Cause or for an Ideal. Fabulous literary and historical reading for all Americans!
Shaara doesn't appear to take sides in telling the story, as he cuts back and forth between extra-ordinary depictions of characters like Lee, Longstreet, Stuart on the Confederate side as well as Union participants like Joshua Chamberlain and George Meade. I especially enjoyed the interaction between Lee and Longstreet, who tried to talk Lee out of a frontal assault at Gettysburg in favor of a defensive maneuver in which the southern armies stood in the path of Washington D.C., as well as the heroic exploits of Virginia's Lewis Armistead, who gallantly charged under General Pickett hoping he wouldn't be forced to confront his good friend, Union General Win Hancock. The novel is filled with gripping, true to life storylines where generals and their inferior officers came to life in Shaara's skillful hands.
The research done to support The Killer Angels was obviously meticulous, and the book includes maps to give the reader a sense of the overall development of the battle, to accompany the personal interactions of the participants. If you are a Civil War buff you owe it to yourself to read this book, which is far superior to the later, similar novels written about the war, both pre- and post-Gettysburg, by the late author's son Jeff Shaara. If you are not all that interested in the War Between the States, read The Killer Angels anyway, and you may find yourself looking for more, like the 3 part history of the war by Shelby Foote, which this novel inspired me to read. I give it an enthusiastic five stars.
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Throughout the whole book there runs the leitmotif which may be roughly described as the conflict between Us and Them - or more specifically, the attempts made by Grahame's ideal rural society to defend itself against encroachment. I personally believe that this subtle theme can be a great vehicle to instill in the young reader (or listener) a sense of the importance of peaceful living, and of how our actions affect others. Adult readers will definitely have lived long enough to clearly recognize themselves in one of the main animal characters. Alas... I am undoubtedly Toad!
After flipping over the cover of this wonderful book, I started reading it. I found out that this astounding book is about the adventures of Mole and his friends. Mole, dwells in a small house in Wild Wood. He met many friends including the gentle Water Rat, the kind Badger, and the foolish but friendly Toad. The Badger hates society, and the Toad daydreams all day and his foolishness leads him to endless trouble yet Toady is still proud himself for everything he does. One day Toad was walking and his eyes caught a deserted car. He couldn't resist it, so he hopped in and took a ride. In time he got caught and sent to a jail in England. Eventually Toady escaped and returned to Wild Wood. There he found out that the weasels and stoats, the Wild Wooders, had taken over Toad Hall. The friends came up with a way to repossess Toad Hall. Thus one night when the Wild Wooders were having a grand feast, Toady, Ratty, Mole and Badger went through a secret passage past the guards and attacked the feasting stoats and weasels. After that battle Mole and his companions could finally live peacefully in Wild Wood.
There are plenty of high-quality chapters in this book but my favorite chapter is the last chapter, The Return of Ulysses, which is approximately 15 pages long.
It's the most exciting part of the book because it has the section where Mole and his friends defeat the Wild Wooders. I also like the ending of the chapter because it really sounds like what a mom would say to her kid in real life. The mother weasel tells the babies that if they don't behave, the terrible gray badger would get them.
Though there are many good parts, the part I hated was a chapter called the Wild Wood. It was all about the tedious subject of finding the hole of Mr. Badger. Half of the part was walking in the woods doing absolutely nothing! It also had a great deal of complex words, which made it kind of hard to understand. It was so boring; you could fall asleep just reading it! However, this is still a superior hardback.
Anyone who likes books with animal characters with human traits would thoroughly enjoy this book. The book has series of events that don't really fit in to the main problem but those events are what makes this book interesting. What made this book special to me is that each creature has a different personality. For example, there's the foolish Toad, the Badger that hates society, and Ratty who is obsessed with poems and river life. If this article interests you, why don't you try to read The Wind in the Willows yourself?
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My only complaint has to do with the long historic background in the book. Having studied history for a while in university, I find that the evolution of vampire through history section at the end of the volume doesn't really add anything, all they do is make a quick resume of all the different time period and adding the word vampire in it... not really necessary...
All in all it still a great book with magnificient illustration and a well written interesting content. I would recomend this game not only to RPG players but to vampire lovers everywhere !!!
This game is a modern game in the Modern World, not a D&D type of Fantasy. Vampires are real in this game, they live in all the major cities, they pull the strings of politics. They hide from Humanity though, because they fear discovery. Yet they have to interact with humans, because as Vampires they eternally need blood to survive and even more to power their dark powers.
Vampires are arranged into clans, 13 to be exact all created by Ancient founders. These clans are divided into three groups. The first is the Camarilla, most obsessed with secrecy and having 7 of the Vampire clans. The next is the Sabbat, a group of Vampires who believe they should rule humanity and arch-Rivals of the Camarilla. They only consist of two clans but their are other clan members who have decided to join. Finally their are 4 Independent clans who try to avoid keeping any alligence to anyone.
The Rules of this game are simple as well. All a person needs is a copy of the sheets, a pencil and maybe ten 10-sided dice. The rule system is rather simple and the game doesn't revolve around pointless hours of combat but story purposes. This adds more enjoyment to the game, if your interested in weaving a story.
The Vampire game is a good introduction to White-Wolf RPG's and it is not only an interesting play, it is an interesting read as well. I have bought many books just to read them, and even if you don't have a group, their is a huge online community.
I'm probably the only person who bought this book with no intention of using it as it was meant to be used--as a role-playing guide to the "Vampire: The Masquerade" game. I don't play role-playing games--I even have an aversion to games in general (mostly video ones)--but I really love vampires, so I had to buy this book. Probably the thing I like the most about it is all of the beautiful black-and-white drawings inside. They really get the imagination juices flowing.
The beginning part of the book is basically an introduction to VtM, familiarizing the reader with the basic rules, its Gothic-Punk setting, vocabulary, and tips on effective storytelling. Then it goes deeper into dice rolling, character creation, and bloodlines. This latter part is my favorite in the book, describing the attributes and abilities of the seven clans of the Camarilla: Brujah, Nosferatu, Tremere, Ventrue, Gangrel, Toreador, and Malkavian. (But if you really want further insight into these clans, then I'd highly recommend any--or all--of the Clanbooks.) There is also a character sheet at the end of the book you can Xerox, as well as an example story to further help players.
I think I've read this thing about half a dozen times (though not usually from front to back), and it takes about that many times to thoroughly comprehend and memorize all of the above--rules, guidelines, etc.--without having to refer to the book all the time (unless you're a fast learner). If you enjoy role-playing games--or if you're like me and just like anything vampire-oriented--then I highly recommend this book. It's well worth your time and money.
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Inherit the Wind is a short and sweet book which not only makes a good point, but makes it quickly and clearly. This is something I can respect...after sorting out Jane Austen's mess of romantic words and snotty characters in Pride and Prejudice, it was a relief to say the least.
It takes place in small town called Hillsboro in Tennessee and revolves around a freethinking teacher named Bertram Cates who deliberately broke the law by teaching about evolution in his classroom. His trial becomes known nation-wide for both political and religious reasons. His lawyer is smart, practical but heartless Henry Drummond and the prosecutor is the likable Mathew Harrison Brady, both huge political figures. The trial erupts into a rude awakening for the ignorant residents of Hillsboro and changes the way they all think about the world.
It is one of only three or four required reading books I've managed to enjoy and this is why I recommend it completely.
The play freely adapts the details of history. The authors even change the names of the principal characters involved: Bryan becomes "Matthew Harrison Brady," Darrow becomes "Henry Drummond," etc. But the core events of that historic trial remain firmly embedded in the play.
"Inherit" is an excellent play that is very readable in book form. Lawrence and Lee write superb dialogue, and create vivid characters in Brady, Drummond, and the rest. The play is an effective satire of religious fundamentalism.
With the continuing efforts of religious fundamentalists to force their views on the general public (both in the United States and elsewhere), "Inherit the Wind" remains as relevant as ever. Highly recommended.
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I've been buying Writer's Market for over 22 years. About 22 years ago, I sold my first freelance article to a national magazine. It was directly due to Writer's Market-- due to the solid nuts and bolts information you get, updated each year.
The book lists thousands of magazines, publishers and agents and the key info you need to intelligently contact them. You get chapter/articles which advise you on how to research a publisher before making contact, and then, how to submit your writing queries. Then, it lists thousands of magazines, categorizing them by demographics, subject matter, regions, etc. They give you the pay rates, lengths of the articles or stories, they seek, topics they are extra interested in, who to contact, how to get a sample copy and writer's guidelines. They tell you whether the publication accepts simultaneous submissions or e-mail proposals, and if they want S.A.S.E.s And if you don't understand all those terms, they provide a glossary of writer's terminology.
Since I started buying Writer's Market, (and the monthly magazine also published by the same company, Writer's Digest) I have had articles published in Success, OMNI (10 articles in OMNI alone) Family Health, and cover articles in Writer's Digest (on coming up with article ideas) and the National Enquirer (on arthritis pain relief and on vitamins)
Since I write on topics that grab my interst, it's important that I have a fast way to access info which publications cover which topics. This book does the job. I've recently begun writing poetry, so it was only natural that I got the same publisher's counterpart publication on Poetry. It was a fun read and helped me find a website that accepted two of my poems right away, plus, it reminded me of a publication I subscribe to, which I didn't think of for submitting poetry to.
You can't justify not buying this book.
If all you are looking for is having your work published in some unknown literary journal, go to the library and check the reference shelf. However, if you are serious about breaking into the real literary, periodical or book publishing world, lay down some cash and bring "2002 Writer's Market: 8,000 Editors Who Buy What You Write" home.
Last year's edition might get you into trouble. Old addresses will result in wasted postage. This year's edition will have up-to-date information.
This is a guide. This is not the Bible. When you see a publication you like, take it a step farther and explore the URL. Don't randomly send out your work. Verify they might like your kind of writing. I've made mistakes in this regard, and could've avoided it had I used this market guide in tandem with the web.
All the info you want is there: who and how and where to contact a publication; what and if they pay; recent authors they've published; tone and flavor; current needs; turn around from receiving an MS to replying. There are lots of little articles you'll find helpful as well (like discussing the current needs of then now booming evangelical Christian market in one recent edition).
One exciting aspect of browsing through this is the ideas you'll get realizing the diversity of publications out there. No matter what seemingly esoteric interest you have, be assured there is probably a publication out there clammering for your expertise.
I fully recommend "2002 Writer's Market: 8,000 Editors Who Buy What You Write."
Anthony Trendl
To save disappointment and to learn about the writer's market, you can't go wrong here. The book lists thousands of magazines, agents, book publishers, contests, email addresses and websites (which is why 2002 is useful if you have an older edition--web stuff is outdated quickly.) But even better is the section on getting published for the first-time author (with all kinds of help on formatting manuscripts, cover letters and book proposals.) There are interviews with bestselling authors, and also a useful bit on e-publishing.
If you want to see your stuff in print, this book is a wise investment.
Also you will find the most primitive tribes and the most courageous and resolute missionaries.
It is possible to find a lot of things in this history: abnegation and faith, adventure and hope, but also emotions and sadness... over all: reality!