I first read this book as a teenager, it changed my life! I'm now 40 and I must have re-read it at least a dozen times. Anya Seton transported me back to the fourteenth century and I live and breath those characters each time I re-read it. I have looked up all the places on the map, visited Old Bolingbroke, Kettlethorpe and Lincoln Cathedral. The Cathedral bookshop publishes an interesting booklet about Katherine and Joan's tomb. The book has inspired me to study medieval history at university, read about medieval mysticism and The Great Pestilence and study the lives of the mighty Plantagenets. One can learn so much from this book, matching the facts to the necessary fiction and the truly great thing about it is that it compels the reader to want to find out more and more about this fascinating period in English history. Oh how I wish the Savoy was still standing! English history lovers will also enjoy the excellent Green Darkness (tudor)and Devil Water (Stuart).

My mother first read this book as a late teenager, and fell in love with it--the characters, the history, the writing style, etc. She named me after Katherine, and presented the book to me when I was thirteen--I have since read it five times. The novel transports you back to the late fourteenth century, into a time immediately before the chronicling of history really began. It brings clarity to a fuzzy image of the period. Not only is this book the least painful way to learn about this era, it also brings it alive with a vividness not often seen. This time period, so often snubbed by historians as just another unimportant century in the Middle Ages, has its share of important characters and events: Geoffrey Chaucer, the Peasant's Revolt, the Black Prince, etc. Seton does well in portraying a time colored by intrigue and revolutionary change. It paints a portrait of England directly before its transition into a world power. All told as a subtext of a great Romance and historical drama. A wonderful portal to another time.

"Katherine" is Anya Seton's finest book, which is high praise considering her talent. She is a very fine writer with excellent attention to detail and historical accuracy, as well the ability to make the characters come vividly alive.

This is of course a very fine and entertaining story. There is our heroine Katherine, with all of her trials and tribulations, and who finds herself unexpectedly thrust into a turbulent life with a turbulent royal family! It is interesting to note that through the children she had with John of Gaunt, she is a direct ancestress of all of ruling Kings and Queens of England from that time on (and a great many members of European royal families as well)! Katherine made her mark on history in many, many ways.

This is an utterly charming and beautiful book. I was about 12 when I first picked it up and was immediately enchanted by the writing, the adventure and the history, and return to it time and time again. The book is peppered with other interesting historical characters - for example Geoffrey Chaucer was married to Katherine's sister, and appears from time to time full of wit and stories.

So read it for yourself, and introduce it to a young lady in your life. You could not bestow a finer gift.

Hands down one of the most electrifying reading experiences of my reading life! It looks daunting at first, with all those big gaps in the prose, and maybe boring too, with all the footnotes, but what "saves" the book is the fact that the stories D'Agata is telling are funny and smart. They're also very sad sometimes too. One night in bed I started reading a whole one of these out loud to my husband, a man whose usual idea of literature is the Sunday Times Magazine (if that), and he started hollering at the ceiling in laughter! Then the next thing you know he's dead silent listening to me read through the tragic life story of that miserably lonely artist named Henry Darger. The prose in this book makes turns as fast as life itself, and that's what's exciting about it. The reading is difficult, and the style it's written in is a challenge, definitely. But I think that's the point. I think this writer is trying to find ways of exloring the world through stories (and through styles) that are somehow similar to how we experience life normally. So this isn't an easy, breezey, Oprah Book Club kind of read like most traditional narrative books. It's going to ask you to work hard, but then it's going to pay you off. Big time!

(By the way, my husband has now taken the book away from me and is hording it. I think he's hiding it in the bathroom.)

This is an eternal read. It's "characters" will stay with you forever, probing deep into the way we construct wonders and meaning, and therefore boring deep into its readers too. My daughter brought this book home with her from school and hooked me onto to it immediately. Its story about the small experimental school in California that caters to young male outcast geniuses (a school the young author apparently attended, go figure!) is a thrill ride, written in a five page long sentence. His profile of the president of the Flat Earth Society is precious and touching, and his take on the man who takes care of the brightest light in the world (situated in Las Vegas, Nevada, of course!) is hilarious and saddening at the same time. I had some worries that this new crew of young adventure writers in nonfiction would only continue to produce works that made jokes at the expense of their subjects. Now John D'Agata comes along...

i'm writing a review this one time because john d'agata's book rocks and i want to get the word out. i also want you to know that i'm not coming on here in order to profess my love for him or anything, so you can take my opinion seriously. in fact i think you really gotta hand it to the guy, i mean he's got the teenage popstar looks that prolly would make most people immediately not take him seriously plus he's insanely young and that never helps with the jealousy factor. when he was in the city to read in fact i was all set to despise the punk. but the thing is you can't. he's young and he's hot and he's got more talent at 26 than most writers have access to their whole lives. he won me over totally. read the first essay in his collection called "round trip" and you'll be trapped in his web eternally. (he says in the notes that it was inspired by an essay on the same subject by joan didion but the reality is that his treatment of hoover dam is breathtakingly better. so the kid's modest too!) halfway through the book, as you're reading the startlingly innovative "hall of fame: an essay about the ways in which we matter", you'll be wondering why no one in the nonfiction world ever tried this before. later on, in "notes toward the making of a whole human being", you'll be laughing your butt off. and toward the end, in the essay about the lonely artist named henry darger, you'll be crying. and if you're not crying you're not reading the book correctly. for the most part everyone i know and respect has adored this book, and for so many people in my little back biting writing program to agree to love a writer who is both younger than they are, more talented than they are, and already hugely successful, already with a book out and supposedly another on the way at the age of whatever he is...well this is a big deal. he's a big deal. i think d'agata's going to change the literary landscape, that's a quote from our prof, a critic who's really famous and always right about these thngs in the creepiest of ways. so that's all for my review. it's more of a nudge i guess.

Every year for Christmas, my parents like to buy me several books that I would probably never hear of and never try...they call it broadening my horizons, and a couple of years ago this book was among the pile. I started reading it Christmas day and I refused to leave my room until I finished it. It is one of the most gripping, suspenseful, poignant, intelligent books written for teens that I have ever read. Marsden appears to be one of the few adults who actually understands teenagers, and gives us the credit we deserve. In this book, he tells a tale of 8 typical Australian teens, on a camping trip in the bush, only to come home and find their country has been invaded. Bonding together, they form an accidental guerilla group, who make a life for themselves in the Bush, while risking their lives to take back their country. Though the book is incredibly suspenseful, edge-of-your seat thriller, what Marsden does best is character development. He makes his book at one realistic with incredibly detail, and allows the characters to spend plenty of time ruminating on their actions, morality, their own fear of mortality, and their ability to cope with the death and capture of their friends and loved ones. Finally, here is a book, told through the eyes of Ellie, and thoughtful, down-to-earth protagonist, who allows us to see that teens are much more adult then many give them credit for. A must read.

Although the book has been out for a few years, I got it for Christmas 1999 after a strong recommendation from my friends. Today is January 1 2000 and I have finished the book. I couldnt put it down! I loved the characters and since I am 15 I could relate to them. They were so real! It was easy for the reader to believe that they werent' just writing on a page. I loved the relationship that developed between Ellie and Lee. The action was written in such detail, everything was described brilliantly. I loved how the plot developed, never once crossing over to being totally unbelievable, despite the invasion. At the moment I am rushing out to buy the second book and I can't wait to start reading it! John Marsden has written a truly brilliant series and he should be commended for his work. Congratulations on your success John Marsden!

I started to read this book when a friend told me how good BURNING FOR REVENGE was. I new nothing about it, only that it was good. When I read Tomorrow... I was instantly hooked. The series is vey well written and packed full of action. There is a mixture of Action, Love, friendship and a strong will the group of teens to survive the downs of War, help free there families and return life to the way it was. It is the perfect book for young adults. If you like lots of Explosions and heart pumping, page turning, edge-of-your-seat excitement, John Marsden's Tomorrow series is the path to go down. From the first page to the last it catches you in it's grasp and won't let go until you die of starvation or are wrestled to the ground by family members. It really will take you to hell and back.

This Rare book hits the fan!

This is an excellent manual from Hell that reveals a few of the enemy's methods. Unless you are unusually self-aware or totally self-unaware, this book may/will show you some dark spots of your heart, hidden so deeply that you no longer realize their presence. Satan (along with his minions) is truly worthy of the moniker deceiver. Maybe the devil does "make" us do it, but we still may suffer the eternal consequences if we let Satan play his hand to the full.

This fictional book is well-written as a series of letters from a demon in his bureaucratic office to his subordinate field worker. It tells us how a young demon may learn the craft of temptation while we learn along with him. It also tells about the hearts of his temptees (us) and how noble we often feel while we are being lured away from Jesus. After all, pride may be our greatest sin.

C.S. Lewis is a master of thought, insight and plain expression in my opinion, as well as in the opinion of many others. Read this one, then read more, like Mere Christianity, etc. And don't forget his fantasy tales. Tolkien had nothing on him except popularity.

C.S. Lewis has said that he found it painful to write this book since it required him to spend days on end thinking upside-down. But it is lucky for us that he did, since the result is a book that both delights and enlightens.

THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS documents the correspondence between Screwtape, a senior devil, and his nephew Wormwood, a novice tempter. Wormwood's mission is to win a soul for the underworld, and Screwtape offers him the accumulated iwdom of Hell on how to accomplish it. The result is a well-laid out map to the pitfalls to which we humans are all-too prey. Lewis' had great insight into human weakness, especially the uncanny way ou pride pops into almost every thought we might have. He is also alert to the ways our unquestioned assumtions can lead us astray. As Socrates said, the first step towards wisdom is to "know thyself" - and the tempters in this book do all they can to prevent that from happening.

Lewis, of course, is a Christian, but THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS are useful to any person who is seriously engaged on the spiritual quest. I read this book about once a year, and am always chagrined to find that Screwtape is still one step ahead of me! (And he is unfailingly eloquent to boot.)

This volume includes "Screwtape proposes a toast" which employs the same technique to discuss modern education. I find this a weaker part of the volume. It seems Lewis could have done more with the concept, but his arguments about the failings of modern education are much sharper in his book, THE ABOLITION OF MAN.

Still, this is an invaluable volume. It is the book that I most often give away to people - it is laugh-out-loud funny, and sadly all-too true.

Well, I won't repeat the other 100+ plus reviewers about what a great book "The Screwtape Letters" is, other than to say it will reward you to read it. I'd just like to comment on the unabridged audio version, narrated by John Cleese. They couldn't have picked a better vocal talent to do the Letters. In the introduction, Cleese speaks the persona of the Oxford/Cambridge don C.S. Lewis, not mimicing Lewis' voice, but copying the style of speech heard on Lewis' World War II broadcasts that eventually became "Mere Christianity". Then, through the rest of the tapes, Cleese becomes the ultimate fiendish (literally) bureaucrat, Screwtape. Screwtape's sputtering indignation and fury at his nephew's incompetence, which leads him to turn into a giant centipede, is captured to perfection. In the closing essay, "Screwtape Proposes a Toast", his effete snobbery at the fine vintage of bottled Pharisee is delightful. All in all, the ideal audio presentation of Lewis' masterpiece.

I just finished a class at school on black/white relations, and this book drove to the heart of the issue in a dramatic and truthful fashion. The book is the true account of Griffin, a white man, changing only the color of his skin so as to experience first-hand the life of a black man in in the very openly racist Deep South of the late 1950s.

The account becomes particularly revealing when Griffin describes how towards the end of his investigation he "switched" back and forth between black and white on a daily basis, noting the negative reactions he received from both black and white communities based on the color of his skin.

Additionally, the epilogue by the author is incredible. He bemoans how people, particularly northerners, have tokenized him, seeing him as the only white person capable of communicating with blacks. Specifically, he describes one situation where a city task force brought him in as the "liason" to their black community, yet they had not even taken preliminary steps to communicate with its most outspoken representatives.

I don't typically read books in their entirety at one sitting, but this book drew me in by its interesting topic, and I wasn't able to let it go until I had finished it. This book is a great book, and I recommend it to all. Specifically, I would imagine this book to be particularly helpful for a white seeking to better understand the nature of race in this country, but there is nothing about the book that would preclude enjoyment by another demographic.

I just read an incredible book. It is called, Black Like Me. The author, John Howard Griffin tells about his accounts of taking skin pigments to change his Caucasian body to African-American. This is one of the few books out there in today's literature that gives a true account of what life is for an African-American male living in the south in the late 50's early 60's. Griffin, a journalistic man, went out on this experiment to get a story but instead of getting a story he got a life long lesson. This is a story where it is more then putting yourself in their shoes. You are they, you live their life and you understand what they always talk about. The details in this book, come out and grab you. While reading this book you will not want to put it down because you as the reader are always waiting to see what happens next. This may shock you because it cannot be found in any history or biographic book. It is a story you can understand because it comes from a person who entered a life they never experienced before. It makes you believe that you were there and maybe now you have a little more understanding of what African-Americans deal with then and now. This is a must read book because you will not find this anywhere else and it is a fact that we need to learn. We cannot hide from this any longer, we need to come to reality and face it.

This gripping book helps whites to experience life from the other side of the racial divide. In 1959, author John Howard Griffin (1920-80) used special medication to darken his skin, and then traveled the Deep South as a black man in the latter days of legal segregation. The "Negro" Griffin encountered separate facilities, hate-filled stares, assumptions that he was over-sexed, and job options limited to menial labor. He found conditions slightly better in big cities like New Orleans and Atlanta, but never free of rudeness or indignities. Griffin also met a small number of whites that apologized for racism. When Griffin switched his skin color back to white, blacks became surly, and whites became friendly. Unfortunately, Griffin never ventured outside the Deep South, depriving us of a chance to compare racism between regions. In this sense, his stirring book is too short.

BLACK LIKE ME angered white southerners when published in 1960. Griffin (who'd once recovered from blindness) received anonymous death threats, and soon developed health problems associated with his special medication. Too bad we cannot step into each other's race the way Griffin did - it might make for a better society.

I was expecting a recipe book full of the best recipes for both baking and cooking. What I got was a book full of great baking, but extremely simple, cooking recipes. The Best Recipe is innovative in that it explains why the authors choose to use particular cooking methods. As a beginner, I learned quite a bit from these explanations. While The Best Recipe does do a fabulous job of teaching you how to cook various types of dinners, the recipes left me wanting in flavor. Almost every recipe looks like this: ", salt and pepper". Here is their prime rib recipe: "1 3-rib standing rib roast, salt and ground pepper". I hope I didn't breach any copyright laws there. Seriously, almost all of the cooking recipes look like this. Granted, some have a "master" recipe of salt & pepper, and include "variations" that have actual ingredients in them, but this was less common. I really don't understand how everyone can give The Best Recipe 5 stars. I suppose everyone else is using the book for baking, for which it does excel - their coconut chocolate chip recipe was indeed the best. I was quite disappointed with buying a "best recipe" book full of salt & pepper recipes. The Best Recipe should be renamed "Modern Cooking Explained", or some other educationally-focused title.

I've been buying cookbooks for decades. I'll buy cookbooks for just one recipe I'm dying to learn. The funny thing is, I'm really not that good of a cook, but I love working in the kitchen.

This cookbook just blows me away. Just like the Cooks International PBS television series, it explains the why of cooking. Lasagne without ricotta? Beef marinade without acid? How could that be? The explanations are there, and they make total sense.

I sit in my bedroom reading this book at night. I read about the things I already know how to make, looking for the subtle ideas to make them perfect. It's really not a cookbook even though it's got hundreds of recipes. It's more a book about cooking, and it's got me more inspired than all of the scores of books I've bought before.

I'll give these guys the best compliment I can think of: I wish I had written it.

If you love to learn, and if you like experimenting in the kitchen, then Christopher Kimball could easily become your hero.

Whether or not he has really identified the very best recipe in every case is certainly open to debate. But you can't help but admire the approach Kimball and his crew have taken to sorting through the variations on different means of preparing almost anything you're likely to cook at home. Moreover, even for a relative novice chef like me, the descriptions of his trials and travails in the test kitchen can be as much fun to read as the resulting recipes are fun to eat.

This is an awesome cook book if: you want a survey of the basics, you like to learn WHY different ingredients or prep methods are employed in a dish, you enjoy experimenting a little in the kitchen, or you simply want to enjoy great food with simple preparation.

Kimball has changed my approach to cooking. Now, before I make anything, I take out several cookbooks and compare recipes. What's different? What's the same? Is there a simpler way to prepare it? Do I really need that rare ingredient? I feel like I gained 10 years of kitchen experience in the time it took me to read (and sometimes prepare) the sampling of "best" recipes I've already tried.

A real-life account of two young smart entrepreneurs with sterling educational credentials (MBAs from the Wharton School of Business) who start a business in an industry that they know nothing about. It's a tale told with insight, pace, and self-deprecating humor that will teach you a lot of lessons about being a small-business entrepreneur. After an era in which everybody focused on VC-funded companies seeking to dominate multi-billion dollar markets, it's refreshing to read a story that reminds you about the boostrap process of the great majority of American businesses. As a former small-business founder myself, many of their lessons and observations hit home with me, and I think this book represents a great education in the perils and pitfalls of taking a business idea from concept to fruition. Whether you are considering starting a business yourself or just enjoy reading a well-written story that will make you laugh, I'd rate The Mousedriver Chronicles as a must-read!

About John Lusk & Kyle Harrison, two Wharton MBA graduates who eschewed the siren call of the dot coms to start their own business selling computer mice shaped like the head of a golf club. A real page turner, this book originally started out as a series of e-mail newsletters that the authors wrote to keep their friends and family apprised of how their company was doing. I found the writing style honest and realistic, yet humorous. Must read material for anybody who has ever thought about starting a company, or who worked in the computer industry during the dot-com era and ever thought about joining a startup.

I saw "The MouseDriver Chronicles" in several bookstores, and passed because it sounded like it would be yet another story of dot-com failure. But finally I decided it looked like a "fun read" and bought it, and I'm glad I did.

I'm adding "The MouseDriver Chronicles" as my number-two title (after "Dot.Bomb," by by J. David Kuo) on my "must read" book list for entrepreneurs.

"Dot.Bomb" was more fun to read, in part because it was about a dot-com company that crashed and burned, and it's always more fun to write about failure than success.

Though "The MouseDriver Chronicles" isn't quite as fun to read, it is more useful for potential entrepreneurs. The book recounts many logistical and planning issues, in an exceptionally well-written style, using straighforward language and sharing more details (business and personal) than I'd expected (though the details seem to fade in the later chapters, presumably to protect the trade secrets of the continuing company).

Most important, "The MouseDriver Chronicles" is not about a crash-and-burn dot-com failure.

It's about a modestly successful startup whose mission was to build a product and sell it at a profit, a concept that seemed almost obscene when Lusk and Harrison launched their business in mid-1999. In January 2002, that concept (build a product and sell it at a profit) sounds much better, making the book more timely. Even if there are fewer entrepreneurs this year, they all should profit from reading "The MouseDriver Chronicles."

The authors especially deserve credit for admitting how "ignorant" they were (in many respects) when they received their MBA degrees from Wharton, even after earlier careers working for consulting firms. They frankly disclose some embarassing experiences, which should profit wise readers who may experience fewer mistakes as a result.

My main gripe with the book is that it ends before the end. I expected the final chapter to recount the company's failure, or its sale to a larger company, or some other "exit strategy" that would provide "closure" for the book.

Instead, the book's chronology ends in early 2001, but the company continues even today. Ending the book a year before it reached bookstores (in January 2002) seemed quite unfair (but that is the reality of the book-publishing industry).

Fortunately, the MouseDriver.com web site contains an archive of the author's "Insider" newsletter updates, so I could read "the rest of the story" (which is still unfolding, since the company is still plodding along).

This is the book we have all waited for. For almost 30 years we have waited; and MAN!!! Was it ever worth the wait. This book is at first glance; one of the most beautiful books I've ever held in my hands. The paper used is thick, heavy, and smooth as silk. It's a rather large book, which gives the photographs an impact few books have offered before. Even the shots I've seen before are striking. This is by far the most comprehensive document ever published on the "Fab Four". So many surprises, so many "little" details that only the boys could know. Everything about the "Anthology" project has been done with such loving care, and this book is no exception. The beatles have given the world so much over the past four decades; and now, with this rich impressive chronicle, they give us their own personal recollections of a time when the world was just beginning to learn how to ROCK!!! Thank you, John, Paul, George, Ringo, George Martin, Neil Aspinall, Mal Evans, Derek Taylor, Klas Voorman, and Yoko Ono. This is without doubt; the "Ultimate" book on "The Beatles". Still the most influential band in the history of Rock n' Roll.

So very many books were written about the Beatles, and so many TV documentries were made about them. Anthology is definitely the best one yet, and I don't think there will ever be another book as complete and sincere as it. For the first time the Beatles tell their own story (yes, even John - material from old intreviews with him are beautifuly collected and edited into the book), along with some help from George Martin, Derek Taylor and Neil Aspinall and some old quotes from Brian Epstein, Mel Evans, Pete Best and others, and that makes Anthology a truly unique experience. The story is told from such a personal viewpoint that you will feel like you're part of the band. George, Ringo, Paul and John will become your closest friends for the period of reading the book.

Anthology covers every (well, probably almost every) aspect of the Beatles' life and musical career. It starts as four seperate stories as every band member describes his childhood, then melds into the story of the band. All the interviews from the wonderful Anthology TV series are in the book, but so are many more. There are far more details - especially about the music itself, which was neglected in the series. While in the series some albums were hardly mentioned, in the book the Beatles refer to almost every song, telling a thing or two about its background. Also, more touchy subjects which were avoided in the series appear here - such as, the (phony) death of Paul McCartney, the (real) death of Stuart Sutcliffe, the unfortunate Hell's Angels incident and the terrible case of Charles Manson and his connection to the White Album. The photographs and documents shown in the book are facsinating as well.

And no, it's NOT too long. The only problem with the book is its weight, which makes it quite uncomfortable to read. Anthology is a superb book, which reminded me why I used to love the Beatles so much and got me to hear all their albums again - twice.

This past weekend, my copy of The Beatles Anthology came from Amazon.com. The deliverer was glad she didn't have to go to the front office with it since it's so heavy!

This book is special because the Beatles themselves are the authors! There are also contributing quotes from Pete Best, Stuart Sutcliffe, George Martin, Mal Evans, Neil Aspinall and others.

The stories are great, from their childhood (John being an avid reader in grade school, Paul's father supporting his music skills, George mastering the guitar at a young age, and Ringo being shuffled in and out of hospitals) to their days in Hamburg (John claims that's where he truly grew up!).

In Hamburg, John, Paul, George, Pete, and Stu play various taverns (and meet Ringo) until Stu falls in love and abandons the Beatles. It seems like Ringo fits in better so they eventually sack Best for Ringo.

Funny stories include Mal breaking a windshield on a cold day while driving the Fab Four to their next gig and the Beatles hiding like school kids from an angry George Martin after missing a recording session!

They meet celebrities like Fats Domino, Little Richard, the Queen, and the King (Elvis).

John discusses "Help", "Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds", and "Revolution 9", Paul discusses "Yesterday", "Eleanor Rigby", "Yellow Submarine" and the Abbey Road Medley (particularly its highlight "The End"), George discusses "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Taxman", and Ringo discusses "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus' Garden".

There are the sore subjects, too, like Manilla (Paul claims they were the 1st to snub Marcos), John's comments about Jesus, the death of Brian Epstein, the breakup coming close on the White Album and later on Let It Be.

Although some of the photos and interviews here can be seen and heard in the Anthology video series and some perhaps read in other books, this brings most everything you need to know about the Beatles in full circle.

And of course, the Beatles experiment with drugs (and later both John and George get
busted by Sgt. Pilcher for possession of them), seek spiritual guidance from the Maharishi (is he as "cosmic" as they think?), fall in love (John with Yoko, Paul with Linda). Unlike in the video series, there is mention of Paul being "dead" and the final nail in the coffin for the Beatles in late 1969 and 1970.

You can't tell it all even in this one (no mention of the Christmas singles, save for a poem by John called "Wonsapon a Pool Table"), but since the Beatles themselves (and their closest comrades) speak for the Beatles, a lot of myths and legends are put to rest. If you're a Beatles fan, you won't want to pass this by!

I am a retired Army Guard and Reserve officer of twenty eight years. I was first introduced to the book, "Once An Eagle" while I was going through OCS and college. I was amazed at the detail of thoughts of the young Sam Damon and how much they paralleled my own thoughts. I could really identify with him. I tried throughout my military and civilian careers to model myself after the leadership examples of Sam Damon. I looked for and became very aware of the Massengale officers. Once you are aware of that type of "problem" you can combat it. Later I re-read the book when I was a company commander. Boy had Sam become smarter. It really helped my at that stage of my career.

This past weekend I saw a huge write-up in the Minneapolis Star and was suprised that the book had that big of a following. I am re-reading the book again, for the third time, and I find my self re-identifying with the characters. I recommend this book for all young NCOs and young officers to help them formulate a mentoring guide book, like a set of rules to work towards, that they can use in the daily experiences that will make up their careers. If you use the book to help focus your committment to leadership, you will have a great experience, a great career, and a love of adventure.

You've had Total Quality Management. You've read Sun Tzu and Musashi on business as war. You've been to Outward Bound and you've undergone Team Building exercises until you're blue in the face. Now read the novel that has more to say about the qualities a real leader should have than any text written by a management guru--Anton Myrer's classic "Once an Eagle."

The book is a youth-to-death story of "Sad" Sam Damon, a midwestern boy who steeps himself in military history and a code of honor that requires him to step forward and take the lead in almost every situation. Myrer has tapped into a simple truth. That's what real leaders do; they lead.

While Sam Damon is a military hero, he's no marble monument. Myrer shows us that real world leaders are assailed with doubts, real fears, and insecurities that can lead them to cave in to expediency under extreme pressure. But in Sam Damon, Myrer shows us that true leadership can consist of recognizing your mistakes, swallowing hard, and stepping up to the plate again to do the right thing.

Such a strong protagonist clearly needs a strong opponent. Myrer delivers with Courtney Massengale, a supremely brilliant and ruthless adversary whose weakness, as Sam Damon realizes, is that he does not love any man. It is the byplay between these two characters that Myrer uses to telling effect in illustrating how love is a key element in leadership. I know of half a dozen executives who have patterned their management styles on Sam Damon's lessons. They are the best bosses I ever had. This is a book that should be required reading in our service academies, and as part of every MBA program and civil service exam in the country. Fortunately, it's also a wonderful read.