The Storyteller screen conveniently puts most of the frequently referenced charts and tables at the ST's fingertips, while providing plenty of room to hide dice rolls and ST notes. Frontier Secrets gives additional gifts, ideas about antagonists (information about Wild West Fomori), and plenty of other surprises for both players and storytellers. All in all, a great "supplement" for anyone running (or even playing) in a Werewolf Wild West game... even more so for the book than for the screen.

Great ideas to make your own Haunted Houses. I used ideas from this book for my own haunted house. We really scared people I doing it again this year.

Seelie and Unseelie elves trying to eke out an existance in Banal world, battling invisible chimaeric toys in the streets of Frisco, clinging tenaciously the nobility of the Middle Ages. I found this book quite refreshing from the run-of-the-mill fantasy books one can find. Unlike many of the novels about the faerie people, this one actually takes place on present-day Earth, and the faeries have to juggle two lives (human and faerie) besides trying to keep from losing their memories to the cold, unbelieving Banal world. All in all, a refreshing take on the faerie folk, and all in all, a great read.

White's book is a fascinating read for anyone who has ever thought about the question of national identity and how the rest of the world perceives a particular country's people. While White's focus is the Australian identity and the images associated with it, what he has to say applies to the rest of us, as well. His argument is that national identity changes with different ages, but that the images which become those identities, for instance, the World War I "digger" or the "convict" identity which have at different times been seen as "Australian identity," are really the constructions of people in power who believe a particular identity will further their own or the country's aims. The image, then, of the Australian "digger," the tough-minded, uncomplaining and stalwart soldier of World War I, is an identity that was necessary and helpful to those in power as they tried to convince people that Australians had a duty to fight and were good at it. The book may not be as interesting to those who are unfamiliar with these Australian images of themselves, but it is not hard to apply it to American identity. Our own images of ourselves as an "immigrant," "wealthy industrialist," or "pioneering" society are just as vital to our perception of our own history, and just as challenged by White's thesis. However, the book may be most interesting to those who have spent time outside of their own culture or have had experiences being stereotyped because of their nationality. This is a challenging and useful book for anyone who has ever wondered about cultural issues and how national identity is influencing policy and history.

Recently, movements such as the Sagebrush Rebellion in Nevada have sprung up in the West pitting ranchers, mining companies, and developers against federal government agencies in charge of managing the land. It's been a long held myth that the government agencies, especially the Forest Service and BLM, have enacted rules to hasten the end of these economic interests in the Western US. This is one of the first books to accurately dispel many western myths such as the lone individual expressing a lifestyle of freedom, land and neighbors be damned! Read this book and learn before automatically siding with groups whose sole motivation is greed at any cost to our precious land, land that will take centuries to recouperate if left alone. These "interests" hide their motives behind "noble" state rights issues, insisting that American taxpayers turn over to state politicians (who receive the bulk of their campaign funds from these special interests) what's left of western wilderness so cattle can graze, ranchers can grow surplus crops such as alfalfa, foreign mining companies can rape the land and pay a pittance to the US Treasury, and developers can hasten the destruction of what's left of our western lands. We need more books like this one to combat the misinformation these special interests spread. Remember that in the end all american taxpayers pony up the money for these groups either through ridiculously low grazing and mining fees to subsidized water systems. This is big business, not mom and pop operations nor is it the Marboro man riding into the sunset. And after reading this book, read Cadillac Desert (Marc Reisner) to better understand how these special interest groups are threatening our beloved west.

For many years, Philip Larkin wrote reviews and essays on Jazz. He fell in love with the music as a young man. This love might seem odd, because Jazz is a distinctly American form of music (and Larkin almost never travelled abroad and never to America) and it is also dominated by African-Americans (Larkin has unkind things to say about minorities in his Collected Letters). Nevertheless, Larkin found in the music of Armstrong, Ellington, Basie, and others a joy that was missing from much of the rest of his life. One warning for serious Jazz fans -- for Larkin, the downfall of Jazz began with Charlie Parker. He had no interest in Parker, Mingus, Miles Davis, or almost anyone who recorded after the later 40's. In fact, he lumped Charlie Parker with Ezra Pound and Pablo Picasso as person with reputations as great artists, but whom he felt had a terrible effect on their art. In some ways, this book tells you as much about Larkin as Jazz. Nevertheless, the enthusiasm he had for Jazz, and his skill as an essayist make this an enjoyable book.

Those who complain that Theodore White was too deferential to JFK in his groundbreaking classic "The Making of the President 1960" should read this book. Here, White is not nearly as hard on Richard Nixon for Watergate as subsequent events have proven he should have been. Nevertheless, this is still an informative account of the 1972 election, which was much more exciting than the final result would indicate. The inepitude of George McGovern's campaign alone provides plecty of entertainment. An excellent book for political junkies.

There are times when working closely together in one crisis arena builds bonds that provide an essential glue for sticking closely together in another. In this case, the crisis is the growing gap in revolutionary military capabilities between the United States and its NATO allies as described in 1999 by David Gompert, Richard Kugler and Martin Libicki. And, I argue, had the prescriptions for addressing this challenge been followed at the time, there would have been less political separation between the U.S. and its allies in the UN Security Council in the run-up to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The authors write with the authority of top-level national security leaders and analysts. At the time, Gompert was a VP at the distinguished RAND Corporation, and Libicki worked there as a senior policy analyst after a previous posting at National Defense University. Kugler is a research professor with the Institute for National Strategic Studies at NDU.

"Mind the Gap" argues that the "United States is moving not only at a different velocity but also in a different direction, with different priorities, based on a different philosophy than its allies in modernizing its forces to exploit new technology." The authors assess this situation (Chapter 1), and put forth a "four-tier" solution to the problem (Chapters 2-5). Chapter 6 concludes with prescriptions for the roles of national governments, military services, NATO, principles of collaboration and establishing practical ways to do this.

The "first tier" gives a broad view of international security interests to which the United States and most European countries ought to be able to subscribe. The "second tier" expresses how the NATO allies should work toward an agreed view of the most critical operational military challenges and requirements. To the extent that political authorities can forge a shared strategic outlook, the "ability of militaries to play their role will be enhanced."

The "third tier" gets into detail that explains how effective coalition building can be facilitated by development of a combined military technological infrastructure -- one based on C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. The "fourth tier" discussion centers on how to accomplish the practical matter of pursuing a common goal in revolution in military affairs capabilities on both sides of the Atlantic. This, the authors argue can be facilitated by open market competition in information technology.

Despite the successes of U.S.-led coalitions and alliances in wars since "Mind the Gap" was written (Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq), the problem described between its pages persists. Now, with the U.S. Defense Department embarked on a major effort to further transform capabilities, the gap will continue to widen.

In the short term, this may not impose very severe penalties, at least as far as battlefield successes are concerned. But we have already seen a widening of the political gap between some NATO allies and the United States. Should both gaps be allowed to continue to expand, we are left with the possibility of considering the U.S. role as not only the world's chief of police, but as the world's policeman as well.

Coalitions are a critical element to military successes, and an equally critical dimension of political achievement. This book shows one way to address the former challenge, and by extension, helps to show a way shore up the latter.

Gilbert White lived the quietest life, but he succeeded in gaining the attention of all the prominent naturalists of the 18th century. His only book was the result of years of observations of his gardens and surrounding countryside of southern England. Written in the form of letters to interested fellow naturalists, White comments on birds, geology, insects, and even a visit to a North American moose that has been imported by a neighbor. As a writer, Gilbert White is astute in combining his observations with a charming delight in everything he sees that makes the reader want to follow him wherever he goes.

This book is a much underrated novel about the Scotsman Henry Sinclair -- Baron of Rosselyn and Jarl of Orkney -- who beat Columbus to the Americas by a century. In 1398, he sailed to Nova Scotia and Massachussetts Bay, which would become his legacy. While the characters are somewhat one-dimensional, the dialogue is superb, and the narrative brings to life 14th-century values, mores, and humor. The book is out of print, but it shouldn't be.