This has got to be the best series I have ever read! At first you really hate Eleanor Caskey and what she does to rule the rest of the Caskey's family. Eleanor gets married has a daughter but what are in store for the family is beyond what they could ever imagine.
I would love to have this on audio or have a movie made of this! The book is very well written it brings you there and with the maps of where every body lives is an extra touch.
At the end of the book what happens to you is awesome because you find you have falling in love with her and will miss her terribly. This is a horror story and has some parts in it that will set you up in the chair and have you looking around the room.

I really enjoyed this series. Each book made me eager to read the next and then start all over again. I have each of the six books and read them at least once a year. Great series.

I read this series in the eighties. Since then we lost the books in the attic. I have been haunted with thoughts of these books for years. We found the books recently and I'm looking forward to reading them again.

Nathan's book is very well written, fun to read, and
should excite every reader to a commitment to
take steps immediately to use what he or she has
learned from this book. The thought processes and
logic supporting the concepts of high-level selling
are the best I have ever read in a book covering this
subject.

Nathan's knowledge, experience, and expertise are
noticeably evident in each chapter, and his book
should be used as a reference guide by every reader
whose goal is to excel in his or her career. In today's
highly competitive marketplace, the book is a quick
but ongoing study is how to achieve and maintain
competitive advantage in every sales opportunity.

It provides any practitioner with incredible insight into
determining sales strategies, pursuing chosen
opportunities, and the ability to achieve a high close
rate. Of equal importance are the lessons it teaches
in establishing and maintaining the type of relationship
with your customers that issures continued success
and elimination of competition.

Congratulations to Nathan, who has taken his "Been
There, Done That" approach to a new level. Anyone
who reads this book and puts the ideas into action
will surely experience great success, have a lot of
fun in the process, and unlock the key to what this
game called "selling" is all about.

Looking forward to reading Nathan's next book.

This book has all of the essential elements for anyone in the Sales profession to use and master in their career. It is insightful with lots of great thought and examples of how to really sell. If you have heard of the saying "Selling is an Art", well Nathan gives anyone who reads this book the ingredients for being successful. I highly recommmend any sales person read this cover to cover.

Not the marketing fluf or another layer of gimmicks to memorize, Strategic Clarity just says it like it is and how to get the job done. Selling major accounts by a focus on the fundamentals... just pay the F.R.A.T.E and cash in on the sales. Of course you have to read the book to GET the success formula. djp

Tom's book contained exactly what I was looking for, financial information about the business of book publishing. I come from the franchising industry were every business has its operating norms and ratios. To my dismay, I was unable to find norms and ratios about the book publishing industry until I read this book. I would urge anyone in the publishing business or anyone considering publishing a book to read this book.

The first time I read this book was early in my career as a publisher. With only one book on the market, a lot of the advice didn't hit home. How hard is it to manage one title and a part-time assistant? Now with three books in print and more in the pipeline, I'm finding Publishing for Profit ever more useful. With growth in mind, I need guidelines from someone who's been there, done that. Mr. Woll's experiences with a number of publishing companies gave him a broad-based view that will be equally as helpful to companies who are reorganizing as well as to upstart companies who want to start off on the right foot. Does the single title self-publisher need this book? Not really (though if he or she is planning or dreaming of bigger things, reading this book might be educational). But the multi-title, multi-author, multi-employee publisher should take a look to see if his or her publishing system could be improved. Mr. Woll covers it all, from working with staff and authors, to managing cash flow and developing company goals.

Whether publishing their own work or taking in manuscripts, publishers pursue fame, fortune or both. Unfortunately, most publishers are interested primarily in marketing, promoting and distributing; selling more books. Tom Woll shows you something more important: keeping track; counting your money. He shows you how to manage your cash and organize your business--to sell more books.

I have been a publisher for 31 years and I wish this book had been written 32 years ago. DanPoynter@ParaPublishing.com.

A DEADLY DOZEN (TALES OF MURDER FROM LOS ANGELES ) is the third anthology following the 1997 DESSERTICIDE (DESSERTS TO DIE FOR ) and 1998 MURDER BY THIRTEEN.

The Los Angles chapter of Sisters in Crime has released a book of twelve short stories, based on murder and mayhem. I usually do not like to read short stories, but these stories were fully contained with well-crafted plots and well defined characters. My favorites were Wifely Duties, because every woman can identify with Lucy and her discontent with her marriage, but I would like to think that we would not go to the lengths that she did, and with such a startling conclusion. Cats and Jammer was another favorite, it's about a teen-age detective that finds a body and the suspects are many.

Stories included are: Sentience Imposed by Kris Neri Wifely Duties by Cory Newman Push Comes To Shove by Nathan Walpow Fatal Tears by Ekaterine Nikas Miss Parker and the Cutter Sanborn Tablets by Gay Tolti Kinman Driven To Kill by Jamie Wallace Touch Of A Vanish'd Hand by Phil Mann Ai Witness by Kate Tornton Over My Shoulder by Lisa Seidman The Cats And Jammer, by Gayle McGary Copy Cat by Joan Myers Midnight by Dorothy Rellas

This book is well worth the read.

A Deadly Dozen is a compilation of short stories, naturally involving murders, written by the Sisters in Crime in Los Angeles, California. Featuring a deadly dozen stories from such authors as: Kris Neri, Cynthia Lawrence, Cory Newman, Lisa Seidman, and others, these stories provide a platform for these writers to dip their pens into stories with a twist. This group, which formed in 1986, led by Sara Paretsky, Sisters in Crime is now a respected national organization. The Los Angeles Chapter was formed by Phyllis Miller in 1989. In recent years, male writers have been welcomed into the organization. A Deadly Dozen is the second anthology published by this group.

The problem...and the thrill...of short stories is that the characters have to introduce themselves to the reader early and completely. The reader has to immediately descend into the world that the author has created, and be ready for a real jolt at the end. Kris Neri's chilling "Sentence Imposed" does just that:

"Call it fate, call it chance--either way, it'll change your life. Sometimes you just find yourself staring into a crowd, your gaze floating aimlessly over a sea of faces you won't remember the instant you look away--until one person's eyes seem to grab hold of yours and you make a connection. You can't explain it, but somehow your life and that stranger's become bound together. When I made that link, it was with a little girl."

Whatever the subject, these writers know how to pull no punches. "Wifely Duties" is a Hitchcockian tale of a wife who plots to kill her husband, and ends up as a victim herself. "Push Comes to Shove" is a wrestler's nightmare. "Fatal Tears" is a classic sibling rivalry piece. A Deadly Dozen exposure is like taking in several episodes of "Night Gallery," with cataloging students catching a murderer in "Miss Parker and the Cutter-Sanborn Tables."

Shelley Glodowski, Reviewer

I found this collection of short stories to be amazingly gripping and enjoyable. Each of the stories were well written and kept my attention from start to finish. I've not been a fan of locked room mysteries, however, I must admit that Phil Mann's "Touch Of A Vanish'd Hand" not only kept my attention but spurred me to purchase more books in this specific genre. Joan Myers' "Copycat" was another personal favorite. I tip my hat to each of these authors as well as the three editors. Thank you for such a wonderful piece of modern literature.

Elegant writing by Ernest Hebert. In some ways he reminds me a little of Norman Maclean in style. Honest and elegant. A compelling time-period and characters who struggle with the way their lives are and what they could have been.

One day last spring, one of the other parents dropping kids off at school stopped me to say, "I stayed up late last night finishing the most wonderful book, and I have to tell someone, so I'm telling you." The book she was so ardently recommending was Ernest Hebert's The Old American. What is it about certain books that elicits such a need to pass them along?
I remember when I first read Hebert's novel The Dogs of March, which I've argued should be assigned to newly arrived New Englanders as required reading, like taking Vermont's Freeman's Oath. Myself, I read every paragraph twice as I made my way through the pages, the only time I ever recall doing that. Hebert has an incomparable ear for dialogue, an ability to set off a dramatic incident like a blasting cap, and his prose conveys the gnarled, bruising beauty of the north country. Darby, the town he invented as setting for his characters' collisions with fate and one another, is a place now present in detail in my mental cosmos.
Having achieved so much in a certain mode, Hebert evidently felt constrained by the conventions of the contemporary "realistic" novel. In the early 1990s he wrote a cyber-punk thriller called Mad Boys, worked on a nonfiction book about wood, then commenced work on a project seemingly very different.
As he explains in a note at the end of The Old American, he had been pondering childhood memories of a monument in Keene, New Hampshire. Almost hidden behind a hedge, a plaque commemorates the site where in 1736 a settler named Nathan Blake built the town's first log cabin, indicating that Blake was captured by Indians and taken to Canada for three years then ransomed by his wife.
So why do certain books compel readers to pass them on? First, there's the power of a fabulous story. The Old American has that, in spades: the tale of Nathan Blake's captivity unfolds with gravity and old-fashioned excitement. This is the New England frontier, sparsely populated, opulent in game, and with cloud-crowned forests and wild, spume-torn rivers. Nathan survives a series of tests among his captors, including traversing the infamous gauntlet in a rather original way (this episode is a tour de force of narrative strength and agility). Ultimately, although by definition still a slave, Nathan makes a home for himself in the village of Conissadawaga, a town of refugiés from tribes decimated by assimilation, war, and disease. Pulled between contesting strategies for survival ' settlement with European-style cabins and farms, or continuing the nomadic, foraging life further north ' the community is coming apart along age-old rifts. Saturated with historical insights and accuracies, Hebert's writing nonetheless vaults above its scholarly sources and succeeds as a vivid, vigorous story. In scenes of hunting and fishing, planting corn, gossiping by the fire, and gambling (paradoxically, to gain prestige by losing everything), the ancient dwellers on this land come alive. Especially moving and frequently comical is Hebert's way of conveying the linguistic mix surrounding Nathan, a simmering stew of Iroquian and Algonquian languages, French, English, Dutch, and even "slaughtered" church Latin.
Secondly, The Old American has magnificent characters. Although he initially tried to tell his tale from the viewpoint of Nathan Blake, according to Hebert after several failed drafts he re-routed and built the novel around the thoughts and narration of the elderly Indian named Caucus-Meteor, former slave himself and skilled as a multi-lingual translator. He is a combination of philosopher king and court jester, grand in intellect but self-effacing and mischievous. While Hebert's story is endlessly engaging, what lifts this novel to the level of greatness is the character of Caucus-Meteor. Hebert's bold choice, defying imaginative difficulties as well as literary-political correctness, is a mark of his stature as one of our most gifted novelists.
The Old American evokes an epoch far from our own, a time exhilarating in potential yet verging on catastrophe. Those of you who have read the book have surely noticed the enthusiasm and even urgency with which you commend it to others.

Fascinating plot and characters as mentioned above. Ernest Hebert is one of the rare ones who can start a sentence and then come seemingly out of nowhere to surprise the reader with images and rhythms juxtaposed in new and delightful ways. Treat yourself to this book now!

Wow! This book was compelling to me. I seen myself in Nathan's life's journey. I must admit that by reading his reviews on Amazon.com some people of Massachusetts just don't like him personally. ... Read this book with an open mind not with condemnation .. I was so amazed how Nathan found his mother and I wish the best for his biological family. Let's be kind and not be cruel. I do not support Nathan's player's way during his immature years, I doubt that he would write about if he was living a contradiction of his book. ... This book is not for judgmental and perfect people. I will buy as many copies that I can afford and give them away... God Bless America

Nathan Landers is an inspirational man. His experiences could have easily left him bitter and angry towards the world. Instead he is setting and accomplishing goals at an incredible pace. Reading this book, I could feel the pain he endured and peace he found in God. Nathan shows the true power of trusting in the Lord and allowing Him to guide. This book tells how a person can endure much pain and even use others, but realize the error of their way and turn away from that lifestyle. I would whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read an uplifting, inspiring story.

I have read "A Walking Peace" by Nathan C. Landers and was amazed! I finished in one night. "A Walking Peace" is about a man named Nathan Landers who struggles throughout his childhood to understand his backgrounds, and upbringings. He expresses how those cruel and abusive upbringings have effected his life in some sort of way and how he was able to step over those negative vibes and create his own vibes through music to God, keeping him away from drugs and alcohol. Nathan is being put down by others who haven't taken the time to understand and hear him completely. He is like everyone of us...God's child and we should commend Nathan for his courage in writing this brilliant book and sharing his experiences to us...not for fame, but for help to those in abuse and neglect. TO NATHAN...Keep stepping over those negative vibes and maintain the positive ones!!! (Happy,happy,happy,happy,happy...)

If you believe that every dish has a story to tell, in other words, if you are the kind of person who likes to read cookbooks as much as you like to cook by them, then "The Foods of Israel Today" by Joan Nathan is a book for you. While the title indicates these are foods found in contemporary Israel, each dish is traditional, originating perhaps in Israel, or more often somewhere else: Germany, Iran, Italy, Libya, Morocco, Turkey, etc., but all a part of the Jewish diaspora and eventual return to multicultural Israel. The author really tells the story of each dish (there is just as much "story" as actual recipe): the people that make it, where they come from, how they live, and how the author came to learn it all. There are lots of historic photographs too. One slight drawback is that this book is most useful to someone who is an experienced cook, especially one who is familiar with Jewish cuisine. In a few places where a food or cooking technique may not be familar, it is not as much a step-by-step guide as it could be. However, this is a minor fault in a very valuable and enjoyable book.

When was the last time you took a cookbook to bed with you? This is a book that you'll read from cover to cover, and not necessarily in the kitchen. Well researched and expertly written, "The Foods of Israel Today" is actually a history of food traditions in Israel with a bonus of assorted recipes. Joan Nathan, formerly an assistant to Teddy Kollek, knows all the right people and has been to all the right places. The book is filled with delightful food-related anecdotes about well known Israeli personalities. This makes for a great read. For example, a full-page anecdote about a visit to Arik and Lili z"l Sharon's ranch with a photo of Lili and a description of their kitchen, precedes Lili's recipe for roast lamb. Her secret? A whole head of garlic pressed into the lamb.

The introduction to this book is a fascinating history of the development of agriculture in Israel and how that influenced Israeli cuisine. The book has several full page color photographs, but more captivating are the many small black-and-white photos of Israel in its early years. There are other handy items such as recommendations for favorite Hummus haunts in Jerusalem, pita bakeries and where to get Baklava in the Galil. The recommended places are not all kosher, but the 300 recipes appear to all be kosher. This book is a must-have.

The Foods of Israel Today is a delicious tour of Middle Eastern tastes and sights. The black and white photos of Israel's early days and the beautiful color photos of contemporary life in its varied ethnic communities provide a vivid picture of the country's history and the complex textures of its vibrant daily life today.

I love reading all of Joan Nathan's books almost as much as I enjoy cooking from them. The dishes I choose to emulate are enhanced by the stories of the people who have already fed these goodies to their own families. Where else can you find recipes for life alongside recipes for casseroles?

The cooking instructions themselves are easy to follow. I don't read a cookbook like a science text; I don't much care if what comes out of my kitchen is exactly like the original. The fun is at least partly in the process. And with The Foods of Israel Today, as with all of Nathan's books, there's an added reward: while your friends and family are enjoying their dinner (and complimenting you for it) you can regale them with the stories of the interesting folks who made these recipes possible.

National security is a term we're used to hearing in the United States, but with rare exception "security threats" are in fact threats to America's vast informal empire abroad (military bases, troop deployments, the security of client regimes and business interests). As Ross and Nathan ably show, this is emphatically not the case for China. Even though "China is stronger today and its borders more secure than at any other time in the last 150 years", it continues to face a bewildering array of vulnerabilities -- from internal unrest to border insecurity to economic instability.

This book is a good corrective to the growing right-wing trend of playing up the "China threat". Ross and Nathan make clear that China's goals are not particularly ambitious and their capabilities so limited that even if the sinister cabal of Communists plotting against America's beneficent reign were real, it would be hard pressed to act out its evil intentions. Chapter 8, in particular, demolishes the idea that China's military will any time soon provide a real challenge to Japan, much less the USA.

Despite the great service Ross and Nathan provide in refuting the containment school's arguments, this book also has basic problems. Because it is a survey, the authors can only superficially treat each of the many issues raised. They do a good job of integrating history and current events, and the book should be quite useful for those mostly unfamiliar with its topics, but for those with more detailed knowledge it will often by unsatisfying.

Second, the authors use the national security paradigm to orient their analysis, but seem unaware of the drawbacks to such an approach. "National" security indulges the false idea that all groups and individuals within a nation can share the same interests and that national leaders act, fundamentally, on behalf of the whole population. In reality security policies generally hurt the interests of some groups while advancing those of others, and China's leaders act to perpetuate their own power and the power of the Communist Party, and to protect the interests of the increasingly influential business elite. The authors' inability to consider such matters leads them to seriously downplay the ruling class's increasing economic exploitation of workers and its violent domination of ethnically non-Han peoples in East Turkestan/Xinjiang, Tibet/Xizang, and Inner Mongolia.

And finally, the authors approach the subject from the perspective of the engagement school, which has both strengths (discussed above) and very serious weaknesses. Proponents of engagement are ideologically incapable of seeing that the current global economic system is based on inequality, exploitation, and the denial of people's basic needs (food, health care, shelter) and that it is upheld by American military domination of other people. Ross and Nathan's ultimate recommendation, then, is that China be safely integrated into this system -- not because doing so will help the Chinese people, but because doing so removes a threat to the safe operation of a fundamentally unjust world order.

Nathan and Ross have constructed an excellent book discussing the vulnerability of China. The book goes into great depth discussing issues such as: Taiwanese independence, nuclear proliferation, the strength of the chinese military, the necessity of U.S. intervention in Asia, the relationships existing between China and Japan or the two Koreas, Tibetan freedom, technological exchange with Pakistan. Ultimately, Nathan and Ross conclude that China is a weak and vulnerable country that is more concerned with maintaining its borders and internal stability than initiated a policy of imperialism. This book is a great edition for any student of Asian Politics. Easy to read.

Andrew J. Nathan and Robert S. Ross's THE GREAT WALL AND THE EMPTY FORTRESS is a clearly and tightly written presentation of Chinese foreign policy and defense issues. It is as reliable in its treatment of aspects of the pre-modern Chinese state and society that impinged on the course of modern Chinese affairs as it is authoritative (and well documented) in its analysis of the contemporary Chinese situation. With books on contemporary Chinese affairs, one must be concerned with material becoming dated, but though this book is some four years old in content, nearly its entirety is nevertheless very relevant. Its treatment of Chinese-Taiwan relations, for instance, is still on the mark. Since the book was written before the restoration of Hong Kong to China, the reader will not be able to glean anything new about that situation here. However that may be, this book remains as "must reading" for any student of contemporary China. The reader will happily discover that the style is eminently readable.

This lovely short novel was written in 1939, and made into a movie with Joseph Cotten and Jennifer (appropriate name!) Jones in 1948. It's an odd, very haunting book. At times it is extremely beautiful and moving, though I don't think Nathan quite manages the ending: which isn't to say I can see a better answer. It's about a young struggling artist who meets a mysterious little girl playing by herself in a park. He befriends her and learns that her parents are high wire jugglers. Then she disappears, but reappears a few more times, always a few years older. After a while the artist realizes how strange things are (Jennie always seems to know). Basically, she seems disconnected from time. The artist's sketches of Jennie give him the break he needs to make his career, but before long Jennie is all he cares about. The book moves quickly to the inevitable ending. Parts of it, as I said, are haunting: the images of the lonely girl in the park bring tears to my eyes as I type. And there are some very fine lines as well. Really a very good book.

I first came across Portrait of Jennie in a BBC "Boy Meets Girl" play in about 1969, with the utterly wonderful Anna Calder-Marshall playing Jennie, and fell in love with both her and the story on the spot. (I found out later from the BBC that "the recording of this play is no longer in existence" -- vandals!)

I found a second-hand copy of the book in 1970. I foolishly lent it (complete with pasted-in treasured press pix of Anna Calder-Marshall as Jennie) to someone a year or two later, and didn't find a replacement till twelve years later. NO ONE borrows that. The author Robert Nathan (1894-1985) normally churned out (I'm told) undistinguished romantic novels; Portrait of Jennie (published 1940) was a one-off in its strangeness, wonder and beauty.

...

Do yourself a favour: read the book, and be haunted for the rest of your life.

This is one of the most wonderful love stories ever written. I first read this in 7th grade, and since then Robert Nathan has become my most favorite writer and "Portrait of Jennie" has become my most beloved book of all time. This is a timeless classic novelette. I am usually able to read this in one sitting, because the haunting story keeps me so hooked. The climatic, yet tearful ending only proves that love endures all things. If you ever feel depressed or hopeless, read "Portait of Jennie" and let it be your muse for inspiration as Jennie Appleton was Eben's muse during his time of hopelessness.

The receipes are functional, even if you are not a gourmet chef. But the stories behind them are just fun to read! A taste--for the mind and tongue--of what life was like for some of our ancestors. I recommend the story of the orange, and the recipe for cranberry applesauce!

What I love most about this cookbook is how international it is. I've never seen another cookbook with so many great recipes from so many different countries. It makes sense really, if you consider that Jews have come to the U.S. not only from Eastern Europe, but also from Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Cuba, Mexico, Morocco, Spain, etc. Consequently, many of the recipes, such as ceviche and chicken adobo, were a welcome surprise in addition to Jewish favorites such as knishes, hamantashen, and matzoh ball soup. Introducing most of the recipes are fascinating personal stories of the people who've brought their wonderful culinary traditions to America. Any food lover/cook will appreciate the heartfelt style of this excellent cookbook.

This book contains user-friendly recipes, and most of the ingredients called for are easily obtainable. The majority of the recipes appear to be for dishes that are actually eaten by Jews rather than for ones that are definitely not part of Jewish cuisine although they have been passed off as such by some authors. Ms. Nathan is passionate about the food she describes and provides a generous amount of information on the history, lore, and cultural and religious traditions of the Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews who settled in America. She also includes menus, a helpful glossary of Jewish terms, and many interesting illustrations.

I would also like to recommend "Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen: A Culinary Journey through Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan," by Sonia Uvezian. This definitive volume offers superb recipes and fascinating text, including information on the region's minorities (particularly Jews and Armenians) that is not found in previous cookbooks.