Edward Bowen has selected what he thinks are the most important sires of the twentieth century and devoted a chapter to each, giving their own achievements and those of their descendants, as well as information about some of the more interesting people involved. To this end, he has included one or two sire lines that might not actually be the most important, but where their story is particularly interesting. In his introduction, the author acknowledges that the Challenger sire line was selected instead of the Count Fleet or Pharamond lines precisely because it presented a more interesting story. None of them were essential based purely on their importance.

Of course, all the essential lines that are still thriving are there, including Nearco and Native Dancer, who between them have each established several important sire lines. Indeed, a significant proportion of the book is devoted to those stallions and their descendants, which include Storm cat, America's leading sire at the turn of the millennium, and Sadlers Wells, Europe's equivalent.

This book is not a comprehensive guide to sire lines. Although there are charts near the back of the book giving diagrams of the sire lines covered by the book, they do not list once-important but now extinct lines like the Diomed/Lexington line - a line that was already struggling at the beginning of the twentieth century, but somehow survived into the 1980's. Indeed, there is no diagram of the Herod dynasty at all, although a different branch of it survives in Europe, most notably via the Irish stallion Indian Ridge.

Also, the diagrams that are present focus, with few exceptions, on those branches where a stallion was standing in America at the time the book was written. Of course, this is understandable, as it is a book about American bloodlines, but since thoroughbred breeding is international, it is a bit misleading. The Hyperion line is not as close to extinction as the diagram makes it appear, although its long term future is uncertain.

Still, I have learned that the best place to look for comprehensive sire line charts is on the internet, which has the advantage of being more up-to-date than any book is ever likely to be. Despite my reservations about the charts, the author is a great storyteller and the charts will be sufficient for most purposes.

Edward Bowen has done it once again with having written a marvelous book about the great sires of the twentieth century and their influence upon the thoroughbred breed. All of the important sire lines are included, such as Nearco, Northern Dancer, Princequillo, Mr. Prospector, Hail to Reason, Nasrullah, Bull Lea, and, in this reviewer's opinion, the greatest sire of them all, Bold Ruler. Bowen gives a detailed biography of each sire and that horse's important descendants.

An added bonus is a section of charts in the back of the book of each sire's male line and the important winners from each of those lines. For example, the chart for Bold Ruler shows all of his male line ascendants, and his important descendants. One descendant, Bold Bidder, has under his name the important race horses Spectacular Bid and Cannonade, and Cannonade in turn sired Caveat who in turn sired Awad and Ops Smile. What is nice about the charts is that they instantly show how so few sires have had so much influence on thoroughbred racing.

I highly recommend this book and the companion book MATRIARCHS.

One of the best books ever written about lawyers, judges and prosecutors. Anyone familier with the legal system will find that little has changed in 400 years. Catherine Bowen was a fine writer and an excellent "popular" historian. Her biography of Lord Coke not only describes a critical period in English history, but also illuminates the origins of the concepts of ordered liberty that eventually found their way into the US Constitution. Anyone interested in either law or Anglo/American history would enjoy this book.

I loved this book, both for its history of the period and its history of English Common Law, with Sir Edward's role in the formation of that Law. Couldn't put it down.

The seventeenth installment of the outstanding "Thoroughbred Legends" series from Eclipse Press, War Admiral by horse racing expert Edward L. Bowen is the story of a singularly remarkable racehorse. The only son of the great horse racing legend Man O' War to become as great racer as his illustrious his father, War Admiral claimed the title at the Triple Crown races, and even ran with a badly cut foot at the Belmont Stakes. The life, training, exploits, great races, and more of this noble animal are painstakingly chronicled in this fine animal biography which is especially recommended reading for racehorse aficionados. Also highly recommended is Edward Bowen's Man O' War: Thoroughbred Legends...

"Where Have All The Children Gone?" opened my eyes to the various issues revolving around abortion - those in the press and purposely withheld! This small, but powerful book, tackles the very heart issues every woman and man need to know about babies, abortion, and life before making such a critical decision.

You should already be somewhat knowledgeable about the history of American Thoroughbreds before reading "Matriarchs". Otherwise this book will probably remind you of a long Sunday School spin through the 'begats' in the Book of Genesis.

However, Bowen has produced a treasure for those of us who like to flip to the back pages of "The Blood-Horse" every week and pore over the genealogy charts of the stakes winners. If you catch a loved one doing this and muttering phrases like, "Inbred 3x4 to Nijinsky II, eh? No wonder she toes out," then "Matriarchs" could be 'the' perfect birthday gift.

Edward L. Bowen is an Eclipse Award-winning Turf writer, formerly editor-in-chief of "The Blood-Horse" magazine, and currently president of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation. I believe his most recently published book is "Nashua," which is volume eight of the 'Thoroughbred Legends' series.

In "Matriarchs", Bowen ambles gently through the race records, sales histories, and 'begats' of 20th century America's twenty-four most influential Thoroughbred matriarchs. There are also black-and-white photographs and (of course) genealogy charts of the mares and their famous descendants. The author fleshes out what could have been a very dry volume of statistics with anecdotes about the mares and their colorful owners, and some of the theorizing that goes into the breeding of these beautiful, courageous animals. Here is his riff on The Bride, a foal of Somethingroyal:

"In 1969, Somethingroyal foaled a Bold Ruler filly who went to Ogden Phipps [as part of a foal sharing agreement]...Named The Bride, she was unplaced, but produced stakes winners At Ease and Heavenly Match. Short of winning the Derby or rescuing children from a burning building, there was little The Bride could have done to avoid being known in history as the one-who-was-not-Secretariat."

"Matriarchs" should be savored for its rich detail, not read in one sitting. I suggest you dip into its pages at bedtime and drift off to Bowen's amiable and knowledgeable tale of La Troienne and her descendents, or the perils and triumphs of the imported Rough Shod II, or the career of the great champion, Cicada.

This was amazing. So much interesting information. I could not put it down.

I wish I could say that I loved this book. I wanted to love this book, since thoroughbreds and racing history are two of my favorite subjects. The quality of the paper and the photographs are outstanding. The subject matter is of course inspirational, but the truth of the matter is the writing did not live up to its promise. Bowden is obviously familiar with his subject, and undoubtedly has many stories to tell, but it all seems to have become jumbled up in his mind. He frequnetly starts talking about one topic (say a famous horse race), then goes off on a tangent (say the horse's owner), leaving the reader to try to figure out what has happened. He also fails to focus on one main theme or point in each of his essays, trying to cram ractrack gossip, the human drama and information about the horses (breeding, training history, previous races, etc.) all into the short space available. The result is that the really interesting, in-depth stuff, the details about the horse and what made him or her truly unique, never get written. I found this book very irritating to read and wish that Bowden had had a good editor around to help him pare down and focus his work. If you are wanting disjointed tidbits and facts, buy the book. If you are wanting to really experience the personalities of the horses and the excitement of the races they participated in try another source.

Racing fans should own this book by the outstanding turf writer Edward Bowen. He provides a comprehensive look at some of the most famous racing moments in the twentieth century, not only the great but the infamous (the 1933 "fighting finish" Kentucky Derby) as well. Great racing moments such as Man O'War's duel with John P. Grier in the 1920 Dwyer Stakes, Phar Lap's famous win at the 1932 Agua Caliente Handicap (his last before dying somewhat mysteriously), Secretariat's 1973 Belmont, Affirmed and Alydar's 1978 Belmont, the triple dead heat 1944 Carter Handicap, and the celebrated Jaipur/Ridan Travers of 1962 are among the profiled.

Bowen has a real feel for the subject matter, and he gives the reader the background of each race and even provides the charts for each race. There are also numerous photographs in this book, which is printed on high quality paper.

Bowen leaves out very few of racing's greatest moments. Two that are omitted are the 1976 Marlboro Cup (Forego barely winning over Honest Pleasure) which Bowen does mention briefly, and the great 1978 Jockey Gold Cup, where Seattle Slew gallantly and unsuccessfully tried to defeat Exceller. There's also a tiny bit of bias in this book, as is expected. Bowen seems a bit defensive in a couple of places with regard to Man O' War and Secretariat. According to him, "polls" supposedly crown Man O'War the greatest horse of this century, even above Secretariat. He doesn't really tells us which polls, of which there is only one that this reviewer is aware of, which the publisher Blood Horse conducted among 7 alleged experts and was published in a book about the top 100 North American racehorses of the 20th century. These "history savvy" experts, it seems to Bowen, know the truth that Big Red I was the best, and never mind the record or recollections of racetrackers and writers who saw both Man O' War and Secretariat and said the latter was greater. Frankly, I put my trust in the recollection of the dean of turf writers, Charles Hatton, who unhesitatingly called Secretariat not only the greatest he had seen but "the greatest horse anybody has ever seen." He saw both horses run, and the panelists didn't. (Furthermore, one of the panelists didn't even rank Secretariat in the top 10, and this was the real reason Man O' War finished ahead. As a result, no racing fan takes the Blood Horse poll seriously.)

But this is a minor quibble in a book full of information and great photographs. This is an ideal coffee table book.

I am adult age and fully agree with the 11 year old reviewer; this book was a huge disapointment! There is too little detail about the horse and no real feeling involved. Man O'War was an all-time marvel; is it too much to ask for some of that story? Was this a designated project with historical reasearch or time limited? I had planned to purchase the entire series, this is the end of that idea.

I agree with the 11 year old reviewer; this book was a huge disapointment! There is too little detail about the horse and no real feeling involved. Man O'War was an all-time marvel; is it too much to ask for some of that story? Was this a designated project with historical reasearch limited? I had planned to purchase the entire series, forget that idea!

I can't really explain why I like this book soo much, maybe it's because of it's ideal of a American race horse. Or maybe it's just the words, maybe that's what keeps me reading!...