This book is an interesting and informative work. It gives a brief overview of what the iron industry was like during the end of the 18th and majority of the 19th centuries. It discusses methods that were used in smelting the iron, and the importance that iron had in the daily lives of those who lived in that era. It will also give you a glimpse of what life was like during that period of time. It will increase your knowledge of a former day, and give you an appreciation of what those people went through so that things can be where they are today. This book is well written, and easy reading. I would recommend it to anyone who would like to learn more about the importance of iron and life in the 19th century.

By Parks own admission, the memories are hazey, and are patched together in this vague account of an American fighter pilot operating out of Port Moresby and later inland New Guinea. Stumbling along, he recalls "soirees" over the hills and mountains, the ocassional dogfight encounter and the bad landings on roughly made airstrips. An easy read, though not truly compulsive, but appealing to anyone interested in the subject.

Back in 1977, Edwards Park published the sparkling "Nanette", a fictionalized account of his days as a neophyte P-39 pilot in New Guinea. "Angels Twenty" could almost be considered the non-fiction companion volume. There is no shortage of action-packed fighter combat oral histories on today's shelves, and readers interested in combat anecdotes of the P-39 and P-47 may be appeased by this book, if not sated. Yet Mr. Parks offers something more, well, soulful -and wrly humorous. The author is a gifted story-teller, and the perspective he offers may be one unfamiliar to the public: The anti-hero fighter pilot. The author's adventurous journey from uncertain tyro to capable veteran is refreshing and memorable (an underlying theme seems to reflect a great truth: In the flying business, there is little that is more satisfying than earning the respect of your peers). I was completely absorbed by the mirthy and genuine "Angels Twenty". I was left feeling as though I'd just finished hearing Mr Parks recount his tale fireside. I was also reminded of the closing words to the introduction to "Nanette": "That was the way we were". Mr. Parks' work is eminently enjoyable, and could perhaps offer insight to my largely untried generation.

I didn't like any of these people. Sly, conniving, unfaithful --I didn't sympathize or agree with their actions at all. Felix is apparently falling in love with Manuela Malliende & popping round to see her all the time despite being engaged to Sophia. And Manuela appeared to have set her cap for Felix too. Lord Manville, supposedly horribly disfigured but amazingly in perfect health takes advantage of all the tangled feelings so he can advance his own suit to Sophia - disgusting. And Sophia, finally learning of Felix's faithlessness, is caught in a passionate embrace with Lord Manville! So much for true love. I guess they all deserved each other in the end. No Beauty and the Beast story like I thought it might be with a wounded war hero. Other Rachelle Edward's books are wonderful -- this one disappointing and definately not a keeper.