The Naval Historical Center in Washington has once again "crossed the T" by publishing a colossal illustrated history of the U. S. Navy and its involvement in the war in Southeast Asia. After a brief recap on how the United States became embroiled in this area of the world, this book traces in a concise, lively narrative, the U. S. Navy's activities in and over the two Vietnams, Laos and Cambodia. The Navy story is supported by more than 500, repeat 500, exceptional photographs, The hundreds of thousands of Navy men and women who served in Southeast Asia can rightly be mighty proud of the service they performed in this dirty, deadly, frustrating war. As shown in "By Sea, Air and Land," the Navy, contrary to the belief of some, was not confined to sleek men-o-war, cruising miles off shore in the South China Sea, lobbing an occasional shell toward the mainland and then taking a break for a visit to the ship's canteen and a first run movie. On the contrary, the Navy, during the Vietnam Era was at the height of its operational versatility: Carrier air strikes, amphibious and naval gunfire support operations, riverine and coastal warfare, counterinsurgency and civic action, and the advisory effort. All contributing greatly to the massive American effort in the Nam. Thousands of Marines, and I 'm one of them, can attest that, when the fecal material struck the ventilation apparatus, the Navy was there in the form of a Corpsman, a naval gunfire support officer, or often, a pilot making a hot run on an enemy strong point. And there were the Navy Chaplins, the "sky pilots," ministering to the spritual needs of their camouflaged flocks. The ministering did not take place only in lulls between firefights, as attested to by the Medal of Honor awarded Chaplin Vincent R. Capodanno, who, already painfully wounded, was finally killed while administering first aid to the wounded and last rites to the dying in a 1968 battle. Ask the Army members of the Mobile Riverine Force in the Mekong Delta who was responsible for transporting them and their artillery and providing direct gunfire support in the sharp, vicious fire fights along hundreds of miles of the Mekong, Dai, Ham Luong, Co Chien and Bassac Rivers, and in the forbidding Rung Sat Swamp -- the answer begins with U.S.N. Close to 7,000 Navy personnel became casualties during the war in Southeast Asia, 14 won the Medal of Honor. You don't get the MOH at the ship's store, you get it the old fashioned way, you earn it. "By Land, Air, and Sea" is a gold mine for students of military history or anyone who served in or was associated with the Navy in Southeast Asia. Every American naval operation conducted in the 25-year American effort to aid the Republic of Vietnam is represented in this massive, 410 page tribute to a first class fighting service. This book is definitely not a grand discourse on national strategy. The reader is transported, by photographs, into rice paddy fire fights, into a forward gun tub on a high speed river patrol boat, and into the cockpit of an A--4C Skyhawk as it makes its run on a target in North Vietnam. Once you own it, you'll discover that you've got a 410 page 11" X 8 1/2" photo album that you will be proud to put on your coffee table. It's just the right size to carry to a sea service reunion, too.

I need information on this ship. I would like to get a cruise book. Any info please mail me. kitzz2000_1999@yahoo.com

"30 Ten-Minute Plays for 4, 5, and 6 Actors from Actors Theatre of Louisville's National Ten-Minute Play Contest," edited by Michael Bigelow Dixon, Tanya Palmer, and Brendan Healy, is a solid anthology that is focused on a specific type of play. The book is part of a set of three volumes; the other 2 contain plays for 2 actors and 3 actors. The introduction to this book briefly discusses the 10-minute play as a distinct theatrical form.

This collection of plays shows diversity in both tone and subject matter. Some plays are funny, some are creepy; topics covered include romance, marriage, violence, the impact of popular culture, war, communication, betrayal, revenge, and broken dreams.

This book is full of great pieces, but I'd like to mention a few that stood out for me. Richard Dresser's "The Road to Ruin": a Twilight Zone-ish tale about a couple whose car breaks down; Stephen Gregg's "A Private Moment," a touching depiction of an episode in the lives of Chang and Eng, the original "Siamese Twins"; Kim Levin's "Just One Night," which explores the issue of date rape; John Pielmeier's "Pillow Talk," an outrageous, violent satiric comedy that takes place in a marriage counseling office; "The Processional," by Robert D. Kemnitz and Jennifer McMaster, which depicts a very bizarre wedding rehearsal; Jane Martin's "Tattoo," a funny and unsettling story of justice; and Sheri Wilner's "Labor Day," which is dominated by a word game played by the characters.

The only disappointing thing about this anthology was the lack of any information about the authors of each play. But that complaint aside, this is an excellent anthology which I would recommend both for literature courses or just for some entertaining independent reading.

Three fine books in the Smith & Kraus '30 10-Minutes Plays' series by Michael Dixon, et.al. present winners from the Actors Theatre of Louisville's national 'ten-minute play' contest, provide aspiring students and dramatists with a wide range of plays. These three volumes are divided into plays for 3 Actors (1-57525-278-3), 2 Actors (277-5) and 4, 5 & 6 Actors (279-1). Characters, settings, and details on obtaining performance rights accompany each sketch.

Quod begins by shifting his weight to the center of the concealed disc. No autobiography is complete without sleight-of-hand.

Quod defines the "vision" as a carpet thrown out from under,--dislodging the phantasm, the second-sight--. No vision is complete without the tug of failure, without an aggravating sense of the ironic. Quod may be misled by education.

Quod I've seen several times in the area, haunted yet perservering in the philosophical soup he's ladled onto a lyricism--stirred, tasted, and evacuated.

Quod still confounds me...and for that I am grateful.

Michael Palmer, one of the most influential poets of his generation, continues his trademark of meticulous experimentation here. Such a range of language is in this book. He's one of the poets I recommend most highly for any poetry reader, & this book is very exciting for its slow, deliberate, essentially unique clip.

Michael Palmer may likely be the most important, and consistently pleasing, poet of his generation: he balances elegance and palpability like a sky balances sun and moon. Even in the most brutish juxtapositions and disconnections, one senses the haunted calm beneath the discordant hum. The man can turn a phrase. The man can make ingredients congeal that should not congeal. Imagine Joseph Cornell with a Ph.D., tons of French lit books, a wife, a kid and a dance company. He's the poet that I'm struggling the most to not just blatantly copy because his verses are the most complexly lovely and moving of any I have worn. He's surprisingly accessible and un-academic.

Dr. Matt Rutledge obviously knows something is wrong in his hometown of Belinda, West Virginia when several of his patients in for not much more than a cold suddenly die with strange symptoms. He believes that the Belinda Coal and Coke Company has poisoned the air, land, or water or a combination of all three with their usual disregard for safety or environmental health. Matt detests the coal company because their practices led to the death of his father, an employee of Belinda Coal and Coke.

Matt digs deeper into why intelligent people are suddenly babbling and have unsightly lumps on their bodies. He learns that former Belinda residents also have died from the same mysterious ailment. He soon finds out that while he practiced medicine elsewhere, his hometown was the test site of a supervaccine whose consequences are starting to appear. That elixir is about to be approved for use across the country; a few deaths in backwater West Virginia is not enough to stop Omnivax from reaching the marketplace.

Michael Palmer is a sure shot (no pun intended) to have his tenth New York Times best seller with the action-packed FATAL. The story line never slows down from the opening sore throat to the final climax. Readers will admire Matt for his stand against Herculean odds, but what makes him feel real is his deep negative feelings about the coal company. Though the plot seems to go over the edge at times, Mr. Palmer provides a penetrating spot light on America's vaccination program and to a lesser degree the environmental unsafe at any speed record.

Harriet Klausner

Matt Rutledge, an internist and emergency specialist at a small West Virginia hospital, notices a recurrence of people being admitted with horrifying symptoms--an Elephant-Man -like condition which produces large lumps all over the head and body, accompanied by a gradual descent into paranoia. As Matts wife had died of a rare form of cancer,he becomes convinced that the local mining company, Belinda Coke and Coal, is somehow connected throuh its output of toxic waste from the mine.
A Boston pathologist, Dr.Nikki Solari, attends the funeral of her musician friend Kathy who was born in Belinda, and showed all the symptons of chemical poisoning. She is kidnapped after the funeral by the Sheriff of Belinda,and is rescued by Matt Rutledge. Many other very interesting characters are introduced in this gripping tale of greed, murder and medical mystery and will revive the for and against arguments about vaccination.A terrifically fast paced book and a wonderful read.

From M.D. Michael Palmer, a triple dose of terror!

Virginia emergency room doctor Matt Rutledge is convinced the Belinda Cole and Coke mining company is responsible for poisoning his patients. With a little help from some endearingly quirky friends, he sets out to prove it and is shortly dodging bullets.

Boston coroner, Nicki Solari loses her best friend to a bizarre illness and a speeding car. After leaving specific post-autopsy testing instructions, Nicki easily finds her way to Belinda for the funeral, but gets a deadly surprise when she attempts to leave.

A retired Maryland teacher turned child immunization advisor, Ellen Kroft has grave doubts about the safety of a new super vaccine, but before she can testify, she finds herself in front of a goon with an automatic and an unacceptable agenda. Terrified for herself and her family, she follows the trail of the gunman and ends up in -- ready? -- Belinda, Virginia.

What could these three diverse individuals, pursuing three different sets of circumstances, for three wildly varying reasons possibly have in common? The answer comes in a most memorable end convergence that could cost all three their lives.

Michael Palmer has crafted this complex, heart-palpitating mystery with a surgical precision that leaves his readers breathless. Bring on the crash cart!

This book differed quite a bit from the rest of Michael Palmer's books. While most of the books I've read by Palmer deal mainly with hospital life, this book focused a lot of hospital politics. The book itself was good, but not one of his better books. The ending of the book dropped off very quickly and left me wondering and guessing what happened. If you're a Palmer fan, read it. Otherwise, try another of his books.

I love every single one of Michael Palmer's books. They all keep me one the edge of my seat, especially Natural Causes, Extreme Measures and The Sisterhood. These books were so brilliantly written that I was scared out of my mind. They all kept me sitting on the edge of my seat. Want to know the best part? I couldn't put any of them down, I tune everything else in the world out and only focus on the suspense I have right in front of me. In Flashback, and eight year old Toby has a surgery and everything goes well. Months go by and then Toby begins to relive what happened to him in the OR. He is tormented with visions of everything transpired during the surgery, everything, including the immense pain. Unfortunately Toby isn't the only patient who is experiencing this bizarre effect after the operation. Other patients who has gone this weird twist of events haven't been able to live with the terror, so they kill themselves. Soon someone will reach the conclusion that something unusual is transpiring at the hospital. If that person doesn't hurry there will be some disastrous affects. If they do not hurry, another patient will be wheeled into the OR, none the wiser to the terror and torment that awaits them there.

I have finally found a writer that can get me to read. I have read all of Michael Palmer's books, and have loved them. I like the way he starts out with the plot in his first chapter or two, and then he drops it cold. The entire book goes by before he starts to bring the first plot into the picture. His plot is well thoughtout, very detailed, and paints a vivid picture in your mind of the scene and things going on. I have probably read only one paperback in my life, but at age 38, having found Michael Palmers books, I can't put them down.

This book was Michael Palmer's worst. The book begins in Germany during WWII with Nazi doctors conducting experiments on humans. Then, forty years later the story continues. Usually his books are full of suspense and drama. This book lacked both. I kept reading it in hopes that it would get better. Unfortunately, it didn't. I don't recommend this book to anyone.

We thought Michael Palmer's medical thriller ("The Sisterhood") was quite good, especially for a first novel; this one, his second outing, just might be great! An interesting prologue from Nazi Germany sets the stage for a story about illegal (and of course, unethical) testing of unapproved drugs on unaware human subjects. Incredible suspense and tension are generated through a number of faceted story lines:

- Leading lady Dr. Kate Bennett, a hospital pathologist, fights the establishment at every turn to uncover the truth;

- The wealthy patrician father of Kate's husband is ready to interfere in their lives and marriage at every turn for the political gain of his son;

- Women are dieing of uncontrolled bleeding with mysterious uterine problems almost new to medicine found in the autopsies;

- A greedy drug firm is in cahoots with a women's medical center to dispense secret drug tests;

- Unscrupulous hospital management is ready to lie, cheat, and murder to perpetuate the conspiracy.

A gripping story and complex plot is one thing, but Palmer's descriptive writing style and careful revealing of characters and situations really fleshes out this very believable tale. For once, the words "terrifying" and "vivid" on the paperback cover seem justified. We enjoyed this as one of our best reads of the summer -- highly recommend!

Yes - his books seem to following the typical formula/recipe for medical mystery thriller - BUT, each of the eight paperbacks of his books I finished in record time and couldn't get enough of them! After reading the first one "Silent Treatment" I ordered the other seven to read too! Yes, I too am fairly good at guessing the next "thing" that will occur in mystery books that I read - but I am pretty good at doing so with mystery movies and TV series too - so this is nothing new to me. I have to say that I have also passed on his books to friends and family to read and they are just as captivated by his writing ability and plots as I have been! They are a good, exciting, fast read and if that is what you are after you won't be disappointed - give his books a shot - I certainly did - and I'm not in the least bit disappointed that I did.

Samuel Palmer, disciple of William Blake, created his visionary masterpieces in his twenties -- see the Colin Harrison book for some of these glimpses of an earthly Paradise. In his later years in Shoreham, his artwork is more Tolkienian than Paradisal. See if you don't think some of these pictures are visual correlates of Tolkien's descriptions. The booklet is, I am sure, a work of love by admirers of Palmer's work who live in or near the Kent where Palmer created so many wonderful works in so few years.

This book was required reading for a class that I recently completed. The title seems a little misleading, as I had very little networking experience prior to taking this class, and considered all but two chapters as introductory. Despite errors in some of the diagrams (DCE and PAD mislabelled on p. 73, missing EIFO hub on p. 135 and missing CSU/DSU on p. 139), this book was an excellent read (Had these diagrams been correct, I would have rated this book five stars!). Overall, a solid foundation of topologies, protocols, network design, security and troubleshooting. The end result of this book was an A is the course and a strong interest in persuing network certifications (MCSE+I, CNE, CCIE). A must read for anyone wishing to gain an understanding of networking concepts.

Par for the course with a Michael Plamer book, Miracle Cure will keep you reading. However, what is also becoming all too true is that Miracle Cure is another in the line of books written based on the "Palmer formula". If this is your first book by Palmer, you'll probably enjoy it a lot. But, having read all of Palmer's books,which have now become all to similar in terms of plot development and solution, I was pretty much able to guess the ending of Miracle Cure well in advance of getting there. While I enjoyed reading Miracle Cure, it is too predictable if you are an expereinced reader of Palmer's books.

Be prepared to kiss the weekend good-bye when you tackle a Palmer book. This one is no exception, however I must say that the formula is getting a bit long in the tooth. We all know the hmo-drug corporate establishment is bad, and that everyone associated with the main character is potentially bad. And as we read more and more of Dr. Palmers books we ultimately become less fulfilled upon the completion of each succeeding one! This one was no exception...the plot was somewhat predictable, the scenario somewhat claustrophobic, the cast of characters somewhat limited..he probably wrote this thing in one weekend too!! Oh, by the way, as with all his books..LOVED IT.

I don't know if it was the mood I was in when I started reading this book, but I had a hard time getting involved in the first 50 pages or so. I almost put the book down, but I'm glad I didn't. The book really picked up the pace & suspense after that. Things started really coming together in the last half of the book. Great story, it's my first by Palmer, and won't be my last. Only criticism- characters left a little to be desired.

I've now read all but one of Michael Palmers's books and this really wasn't that great. For some reason, maybe because the printing is large, the story seemed short.
The book is based around a highly contriversial topic, euthanasia. Most of Palmer's books have been centered highly around hospitals and procedures. While this one had a doctor and nurse, it didn't seem like one of his typical books. The suspense just wasn't there. I've you've never read a Michael Palmer book, don't start with this one or you'll probably never read another again.

I stumbled upon Michael Palmer while looking for a book prior to a business trip and can't seem to stop reading his work. The Sisterhood examines the moral question of euthanasia with the ingenuity I've come to expect from a Michael Pamler novel. You don't get quite the insight into the background of the characters as you do in later novels, but the story doesn't quit. if you like medical mysteries, start working through the Michael Palmer collection.

This suspenseful novel by Michael Palmer was very fun to read as it kept you turning the pages and wondering what was lurking around the corner of the next page. At first, I wasn't sure which side to take, the sisterhood, or the doctor's side. Near the end, you find out which one you are on. It is a great book and I reccomend it very highly.