Along Forgotten River: Photographs of Buffalo Bayou and the Houston Ship Channel, 1997-2001 : With Accounts of Early Travelers to Texas, 1767-1858

Book Description

c Quick & Easy Guidance so your customers will have more time to enjoy their trips and less time to rummage through pages of useless information. Heavy use of dynamic icons, maps, and indexes expertly developed by our Frommer's travel staff. c Idiot-Proof Instructions so your customer will know when to go where and why, all without the stress of wondering, "Will I get burned?" c Down-to-Earth Advice detailing the location by sights, hotels, restaurants, do's and don'ts, tourist traps, and time- and money-wasters to be avoided! Our new Complete Idiot's Travel Guides have the advice and opinions that matter for the perfect idiot-proof trip.

Customer Reviews:

made my trip great!.......2002-02-04

i went to new orleans last spring break with five friends, and we used this book as our primary guide to the city. it helped us pick a fantastic (and fantastically inexpensive) hotel and some really great things to do. we ended up having the time of our lives. this book is so helpful and well-organized! if it could help a bunch of clueless kids plan a great trip, it could be great for anyone.

Good Start.......2000-08-01

I purchased this book from the front seat of Big Rays cab in the Big Easy . He is a wild driver but his book is right on . It is a good start ,lots of "Local Tips" ,and if you also ask locals who are friendly and helpful you will have a great time and will stay out of trouble . Ann Rice fans stay out of the graveyards at night!

Writer really knows his stuff.......2000-04-17

The author is also a cab driver in New Orleans (and has his own web page), and he really knows his stuff. It's obvious that he had to constrain his enthusiasm and knowledge to conform to the "Idiot's Guide" editorial format. Vast compilation of street smarts and long-time resident information is contained in this book. I used it before the trip, and brought the mini Rough Guide on the trip, and had a great-and-safe time. This is a city that you don't even want to look lost in, so use these two books and you'll be fine.

Conveys what's important with clarity and good judgment.......1999-10-31

I used this book on buisines trip to New Orleans. I found it extremely helpful, especially because I had not traveled much previously. The information comes from a long-time resident, cabby,& carriage-driver. I found his food recommendations invaluable, and I liked the background information he provided.

This book really is for idiots..........1999-08-19

I thought the title of this book was a joke. It's not: this book really is for idiots! I can do without all the silly worksheets for picking a hotel or deciding on an airline, or advice on what to wear on the plane or how to pack my bag! And this goes on and on, page after page... The type of information I do want (New Orleans' history, culture, etc.) is very limited. The book is full of hints on how to save money. Well, here's mine: don't buy this book and save $12.76! Get a Lonely Planet Guide or The Haunted City by Joy Dickinson (specially for Anne Rice fans), which is great fun to read and really gets you into the right mood...

The Complete Idiot's Travel Guide to New Orleans (Complete Idiot's Guides Ser.)

Average customer rating:

The Complete Idiot's Travel Guide to New Orleans (Complete Idiot's Guides Ser.)
Big Ray Macmillan Travel Staff; Jones
Manufacturer: Alpha
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O96GKK

Amazon.com

Kambia Elaine has told Shayla how afraid she is of the Wallpaper Wolves. "They live in the wallpaper... they have five-inch fangs, fiery red eyes, purple horns, long sharp claws, and spiky gray fur... they whisper horrible, nasty things in your ear... then they make you do them." Kambia is Shayla's next door neighbor and friend, but Shayla doesn't have the time to listen to Kambia's fanciful imaginings about Memory Beetles, Lizard People, or even the fearful Wallpaper Wolves. She has her own trouble brewing at home. Between her older sister Tia running away after a heated argument with their mother, and her no-good father, Mr. Anderson Fox, nosing around the neighborhood, Shayla has her hands full. But she's noticed the real bruises and blood on Kambia's legs that come from the fictitious Wallpaper Wolves, and knows that, despite her own problems, she has to get to the bottom of Kambia's dark imagination and find the truth behind her stories. When Kambia begs her not to tell anyone about her injuries, Shayla has to make some hard decisions about the differences between telling the truth and protecting a friend.

First-time author Lori Aurelia Williams has written a novel that eloquently ties together the importance of family, the power of imagination, and the simple strength of innocence. Although Williams takes her time telling this sweetly sad tale, teens will be so caught up in Kambia's creative imagination and Shayla's strong voice that they will quickly move through its 200-plus pages. (Ages 12 to 18) --Jennifer Hubert

Book Description

So I just made another note to add to my blue notebook later, when the house had cooled off: Tia's nature is boiling out of her like hot soup out of a pot, and Kambia Elaine just flew in from Neptune.

Shayla Dubois lives in a Houston neighborhood known as the Bottom, where life is colorful but never easy. She wants only two things out of life: to become a writer and to have a nice, peaceful home. Instead, her life has been turned upside down. Shayla's mama kicked her sister, Tia, out of the house for messing around with an older guy, and months later Tia still hasn't come home. Shayla's father, Mr. Anderson Fox, has rolled back into town and has been spending a lot of time at the house with Mama. And Shayla still doesn't know what to make of her strange new neighbor, Kambia Elaine.

Kambia tells Shayla the most fantastic stories: that the Lizard People turn into purple chewing gum when the sun comes up; that Memory Beetles gather up and store people's good memories; that she is a piece of driftwood from the Mississippi River. All Shayla knows for sure is that Kambia's mother has a lot of male visitors and that Kambia doesn't look too healthy. When Kambia tells Shayla about the vicious Wallpaper Wolves that hide in her walls to catch bad little girls, Shayla knows something is wrong. But she doesn't know how she can help Kambia when she can't get past her stories, and when Tia still hasn't come home.

Told lyrically and gracefully by debut author Lori Aurelia Williams, When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune shows how complicated life can get when children are forced to grow up too quickly, while it also celebrates the bonds of a strong, loving family.

Customer Reviews:

Child Abuse.......2007-07-02

Shayla, a twelve-year-old girl living in a poor neighborhood with her mother and her older sister Tia, just wants everything in her life to be calm and normal. But then Tia is caught having sex with an older guy named Doo-witty, who everyone in their neighborhood thinks is stupid. Shayla doesn't know what Tia sees in him, but their relationship causes a fight between Tia and their mother, and Tia disappears for months.

To make things even stranger in her life, Kambia and her mother move in next door. Kambia is Shayla's age but she acts really funny. She hums nursery rhymes to herself and plays what Shayla thinks of as babyish games, pretending she's a tree or a piece of driftwood or a crab. She also tells odd stories, about lizard people and memory beetles. Kambia sometimes makes Shayla nervous, but Shayla starts to like her more and more. Then Kambia's stories get scary, about wolves in her wallpaper who try to catch her and hurt her. Shayla has seen bruises on her legs and doesn't understand what could have caused them. And Kambia is losing a lot of weight, saying the wolves won't want her if she is too skinny.

Shayla has promised Kambia that she won't talk to anyone else about Kambia's bruises or her wallpaper wolves stories, but Shayla starts to feel more and more like keeping that promise is the wrong thing to do.

I liked that Shayla was open to a friendship with Kambia, even though Kambia was so strange. I liked the relationship between Shayla and Tia; they weren't always at odds like most sisters. I also liked that Shayla was true to her dream of becoming a writer.

It was very sad, though, to read another depressing story about child abuse in a poor neighborhood. It was easy, reading this book, to see right away what the problem was with Kambia, and it was sad that nobody from the neighborhood realized what was going on.

When Kambia Elaine Flew in From Neptune.......2005-12-07

I'm not done reading this book, but what I've read of it is awesome. I'm only in chapter 4, but my teacher recomended it for me and I love it. Anybody that wants to read a deep book that is really realistic this is the one for you. If you are under the age of 13, than I wouldn't read this book. This is more of an adult book, and you need to be very mature, but it is a great read.

Listening is fun.......2005-09-30

I have just listened to When Kambia Elaine Flew in From Neptune which was beautifully read by Heather Alicia Simms. She read the book with such style that you actually could feel the characters,
as she made Shayla and Kambia sound so real (just like real children). I can not believe how vivid she made all of the characters sound it was like seeing a movie without the picture. I would love a part 2 of this book just to see how Kambia and Shayla's friendship grew. I would recommend anyone who has read this book to get the Audio also, it is absolutely wonderful.

Lea Hopkins Clinton MD

Again I would like to say to Heather "Great Job" I could listen to it again and again thanks for a wonderful Job.

Truly Amazing.......2005-07-03

This book is number one a incredibly wonderful plot for young adults wanting a true novel that will affect them in a wonderful way, number two beautifully and poetically written... definately one of the best styles of writing in my opinionl, number three a great way to learn about other people and other styles of life or a great way to relate to a novel and get involved with a character. This book is one of my very personal favorites that I read when I was eleven years old and reread when I was thirteen. I have shared this book with many of my friends whom all have loved it as I have. Most of my friends do not read on a regular basis as I do, but they all loved it! If you are looking for a great way to get into reading or getting your child into reading this is definately a great way because of its realistic views and its amazing truthfullness.

Too good to be missed. .......2004-07-29

In WHEN KAMBIA ELAINE FLEW IN FROM NEPTUNE, first-time novelist Lori Aurelia Williams fashions a contemporary, coming-of-age tale as beautiful as it is difficult. Her narrator, 12-year-old Shayla Dubois, an aspiring writer with a gift for language, fills her blue notebooks with the observations and emotions ("Tia's nature is boiling out of her like a hot soup out of a pot") she isn't allowed to express --- as children should be seen and not heard.

In parallel plot-lines, Williams explores Shayla's sister Tia's blossoming sexuality and the tension it causes, as well as Shayla's budding friendship with Kambia --- a girl with a far-out imagination who moves in next door with her no-good mother. Hoping to prevent Tia from making the same mistake she did, Shayla's mama puts Tia out of the house when she discovers she is sexually involved with the town dumbbell, Doo-Witty.

Meanwhile, Kambia is filling Shayla's head with stories of Wallpaper Wolves that come to her in the night, Memory Beetles that store good memories in their chubby bodies, and Lizard People that turn into purple chewing gum. At first, Kambia's strange tales and antics annoy the usually word-loving Shayla, but when she accidentally sees Kambia's bruised and bloodied thighs, it dawns on her that something dangerous is lurking in her tortured tales. But when Kambia begs Shayla not to tell anyone about her injuries, Shayla learns, with the help of her wise and opinionated Grandmother Augustine, that sometimes you have to break a promise to protect a friend.

Williams's utterly original and metaphorical treatment of Kambia's sexual abuse, along with her tender handling of Tia's deepening relationship with herself and the seemingly dumb, yet gifted Doo-Witty, combine to create an engaging, original story too good to be missed.

(...)

Average customer rating:

When Kambia Elaine flew in from Neptune.
Lori Aurelia. Williams
Manufacturer: [NY], Simon & Schuster, [c.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune.(Review)(Young Adult Review)(Brief Article): An article from: The Horn Book Magazine

Average customer rating:

When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune.(Review)(Young Adult Review)(Brief Article): An article from: The Horn Book Magazine
S.p.b.
Manufacturer: Horn Book, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Horn Book Magazine, published by Horn Book, Inc. on March 1, 2000. The length of the article is 348 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune.(Review)(Young Adult Review)(Brief Article)
Author: S.p.b.
Publication: The Horn Book Magazine (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2000
Publisher: Horn Book, Inc.
Volume: 76 Issue: 2 Page: 201

Article Type: Book Review, Young Adult Review, Brief Article

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:

A STORY THAT BRIDGES GENERATION GAPS

When Kambia Elaine Flew from Neptune
Lori Aurelia Williams
Manufacturer: Pan Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Customer Reviews:

A STORY THAT BRIDGES GENERATION GAPS.......2005-12-31

It's seldom that a story bridges the ever widening generation gap, but "When Kambia Elaine Flew In From Neptune" surely does. This chronicle of love and friendship appeals to both teenagers and adults.

The author has said that she grew up poor in a neighborhood where children were "seen but not heard," so does her protagonist, Shayla Dubois who lives with her fractured family in other side of the tracks Houston, Texas. Shayla's sister has been ousted for carrying on with an older man, and her absent father has suddenly returned to town.

To complicate matters further, Shayla has a unique new neighbor - Kambia who tells absurd tales about Lizard People who turn into purple chewing gum, reports that she is a piece of driftwood from the Mississippi River, and more.

Shayla well knows that something is amiss, but what can she possibly do?

- Gail Cooke

Book Description

This book provides a single source of information for all molecular methods. Expert advice is given on sample collection and storage for molecular work.

Product Description

For many, a mummy is an Egyptian pharaoh, wrapped in cloth, found thousands of years later in a pyramid by archaeologists. But mummies need not be ancient. Modern-day mummies can be found under glass in special tombs built in their honor, in private collections where they have come to rest after decades on the carnival circuit, in dissecting rooms of medical schools, and in the basements of funeral homes waiting for decades to be claimed by the next of kin. Stories about the famous (Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Ho Chi Minh, Eva Peron) and the not-so-famous (Leslie Hansell wanted her body mummified to bask in the sun rather than being buried in the cold ground) mummies are told here in great detail, along with a broader look at the history and process of mummification. The book includes a comprehensive study of the successful prolonged preservation of the human body, and delves into the law and science of modern mummification.

Customer Reviews:

Only book of its kind.......1999-04-03

I read this book while researching a film about mummies. It is, to my knowledge, the only book of its kind. Most think of mummies as belonging exclusively to the ancients--Egyptian, Peruvian, and otherwise--but this book illuminates a continuing need to deny the reality of "dust to dust" in our modern age. Passages on the secular communist icons that have undergone permanent emblaming (Mao, Lenin) and on Summum Corp., a contemporary mummification facility, are very interesting. Highly recommended.

Book Description

The three Oxford Guides to Chaucer are written by scholars of international repute, with the purpose of summarizing what is known about his works and offering interpretations based on recent advances in both historical knowledge and theoretical understanding. They will provide readers at every level with new interpretations and ideas, with essential and up-to-date information on such matters as dating and sources and with analyses of thematic issues, structure, style rhetoric and generic relations brought right up-to-date for this second paperback edition. Helen Cooper's volume on The Canterbury Tales tackles these matters both for the whole work and for each individual Tale. It also includes a survey of literary responses to the Tales over the two centuries following Chaucer's death. The book is perhaps the most comprehensive single-volume guide to the Tales yet produced, bringing together a wide range of disparate material and providing a readable commentry on all aspects of the work. It combines the comprehensive coverage of a reference book with the coherence of a critical account and since its first publication in 1989, has established itself as a standard work on the Tales.

Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales.

Average customer rating:

Oxford Guides to Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales.
Helen Cooper
Manufacturer: Publisher Unknown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UYAFJW

Book Description

On the night of March 2, 1962, in Hershey, Pennsylvania, right up the street from the chocolate factory, Wilt Chamberlain, a young and striking athlete celebrated as the Big Dipper, scored one hundred points in a game against the New York Knickerbockers.

As historic and revolutionary as the achievement was, it remains shrouded in myth. The game was not televised; no New York sportswriters showed up; and a fourteen-year-old local boy ran onto the court when Chamberlain scored his hundredth point, shook his hand, and then ran off with the basketball. In telling the story of this remarkable night, author Gary M. Pomerantz brings to life a lost world of American sports.

In 1962, the National Basketball Association, stepchild to the college game, was searching for its identity. Its teams were mostly white, the number of black players limited by an unspoken quota. Games were played in drafty, half-filled arenas, and the players traveled on buses and trains, telling tall tales, playing cards, and sometimes reading Joyce. Into this scene stepped the unprecedented Wilt Chamberlain: strong and quick-witted, voluble and enigmatic, a seven-footer who played with a colossal will and a dancer’s grace. That strength, will, grace, and mystery were never more in focus than on March 2, 1962. Pomerantz tracked down Knicks and Philadelphia Warriors, fans, journalists, team officials, other NBA stars of the era, and basketball historians, conducting more than 250 interviews in all, to recreate in painstaking detail the game that announced the Dipper’s greatness. He brings us to Hershey, Pennsylvania, a sweet-seeming model of the gentle, homogeneous small-town America that was fast becoming anachronistic. We see the fans and players, alternately fascinated and confused by Wilt, drawn anxiously into the spectacle. Pomerantz portrays the other legendary figures in this story: the Warriors’ elegant coach Frank McGuire; the beloved, if rumpled, team owner Eddie Gottlieb; and the irreverent p.a. announcer Dave “the Zink” Zinkoff, who handed out free salamis courtside.

At the heart of the book is the self-made Chamberlain, a romantic cosmopolitan who owned a nightclub in Harlem and shrugged off segregation with a bebop cool but harbored every slight deep in his psyche. March 2, 1962, presented the awesome sight of Wilt Chamberlain imposing himself on a world that would diminish him. Wilt, 1962 is not only the dramatic story of a singular basketball game but a meditation on small towns, midcentury America, and one of the most intriguing figures in the pantheon of sports heroes.

Also available as a Random House AudioBook

Customer Reviews:

GOOD READ.......2007-06-17

THIS IS ABOUT THE NIGHT WILT CHAMBERLAIN SCORED 100 POINTS IN AN NBA GAME. I FOUND MOST OF THIS BOOK TO BE GOOD BUT AT TIMES IT HAD ALOT OF THINGS THAT WERE JUST PLAIN BORING. THE AUTHOR TRIES VERY HARD TO GIVE US THE NOSTALGIA AND ATMOSPHERE OF 1962, BUT I FOUND THE DETAIL TO THE GAME TO BE LACKING. I REALLY DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT MUCH ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP OF GOTTLIEB AND ZINKOFF. SEEMS IT WAS USED TO FILL SOME PAGES. WHEN THE BOOK STICKS TO GAME ACTION AND DETAILS THE BOOK EXCELS. BUT THE ONLY REAL DETAIL OCCURS IN THE 4TH QUARTER. I ALSO LIKED THE INTERVIEWS WITH VARIOUS PLAYERS AND COACHES WHO PARTICIPATED IN THIS GAME. ALSO LIKED THE STORY OF THE STOLEN BASKETBALL AND THE LATER YEARS OF WILT'S LIFE. OVERALL THIS IS A GOOD READ AND I RECOMMEND FOR ALL NOSTALGIC BASKETBALL FANS. ALSO A BOX SCORE OF THE GAME WOULD HAVE BEEN A NICE TOUCH.

Wilt's era and big night.......2007-01-31

This is a fascinating read about one of the most charismatic personalities to play basketball on the professional level, Wilt Chamberlain. Although the book focuses on the night the record was made when Wilt scored 100 points the book reads like a sophisticated movie complete with flashbacks into Wilt's past. This allows the reader to see Wilt in very real terms in spite of the superhuman feats he performed, culminating with the 100 point game. There are many anecdotes that bring the story to life for a compelling portrait of the man and his times. This is a thoroughly good book that can be enjoyed by a variety of levels of reading ability. With slightly over 200 pages of interesting material this is a good book for the student of the game of basketball who may be attending high school. This book would be good for writting a book report on a sports biography.

And Whatever Happened To That Basketball?.......2006-12-11

In the early 1960s - light years before the era of 24 hour cable sports coverage - most pro basketball games might as well have been played on the Moon due to the lack of national media interest and with "home" games being played at neutral sites for bigger gates.

That was the case for the 1962 Philadelphia Warriors, a franchise on the brink of being sold, though it featured a hometown legend, Wilt Chamberlin, and had a history of legendary high-school and college teams.

On March 2 in Hershey, Pa., Wilt accomplished the impossible; scoring 100 points versus the New York Knickerbockers. The arena - with a capacity of 8,000 - was about half-full, the game was not televised and there were no New York sportswriters in attendance. Author Gary M. Pomerantz breaths life into the grainy photos from the event through interviews of referees, players, fans, reporters and team officials.

Though the book breaks the game down into four quarters, it is not simply a history of that night. The early 1960s was a bridge for many black athletes to articulate about the rampant racism in society and sports. Pomerantz aptly writes about Wilt the individual - who was very vocal about the racial quotas on NBA clubs - and businessman as much as Wilt the athlete.

And Pomerantz outlines the biggest controvery from the game; who got possession of the basketball.

It is a record that may never be broken, but there was more to that evening than the game on the court. Wilt, 1962, again shows how sports mirrors society and even the greatest feats on a field of play cannot escape the reflection in black & white.

The day of 100.......2006-09-06

One of the more interesting points of this book is that the day of 100 points kind of became forgotten. The authir attributes one of the reasons to Wilt himself who stopped talking about the game.

The authors opens up this book with Wilt's death in bed and the circumstances around it. he then takes us thru each quarter of the game with story of witls life between each quarter.

One of the most interestingparts of this book is the detail the author descibes how one young kid stole the game ball and years later put it on EBAY for sale. Great research for that part.

The Big Dipper.......2005-09-07

As you have probably read by now: In a basketball game back in March of 1962, Wilt Chamberlain, scored one hundred points for Philadelphia in a game against the New York Knickerbockers, an amazing achieve-ment in any era. Back in 1962, the National Basketball Association was undeveloped and the players traveled on buses and trains. Along came Wilt Chamberlain a strong and coordinated seven-footer and changed the dynamics of the NBA. The author conducting more than 250 interviews to recreate in detail this amazing performance that had not been televised at the time.

Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era

Average customer rating:

Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era
Gary M. Pomerantz
Manufacturer: Random House Audio Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM
ASIN: B000MHL2JO

Book Description

As Charles Frazier's novel Cold Mountain dramatizes, dissenters from the Confederacy lived in mortal danger throughout the South. In scattered pockets from the Carolinas to the frontier in Texas, these dissenters, or "brush men," often died at the hands of their own neighbors as a result of their belief in the Union or an unwillingness to preserve the slaveholding Confederacy. Brush Men and Vigilantes tells the story of how dissent, fear, and economics developed into mob violence in the Sulphur Forks river valley northeast of Dallas. Authors David Pickering and Judy Falls have combed through court records, newspapers, letters, and other primary sources and have collected extended-family lore to relate the details of how vigilantes captured and killed more than a dozen men.

Betrayed by links to a well-known Union guerrilla, many dissenters were captured, tried in mock courts, and hanged. Still others met their death by sniper fire or private execution. Their story begins before the Civil War, as the authors describe the particular social and economic conditions that gave rise to such tension and violence. Four more chapters follow, each detailing the horror and hysteria that characterized post-Civil War Texas.

Customer Reviews:

A Detailed Study of the Brush Men of Texas.......2000-09-16

This is the most comprehensive study of the subject of the men who fought the "silent war" in northeast Texas that saw innocent men die just because they were suspected of being pro-union. The amount of research that went into this book is tremendous and should be a real asset to those interested in not only the history of the era, but the geneology of the families involved in a terrible time of Texas history. This book should be a must have for anyone interested in Texas history in depth.

Texas Brush Men Hangings.......2000-05-02

This is a very well researched book pertaining to the Civil War tensions that arose in northeast Texas prior to and during the Civil War. A lot of the settlers were from non slave holding areas of Kentucky and Tennessee while others were from slave staes and owned slaves. The two groups had opposing views, with one supporting the Union while the other supported the Confederacy. The wealthier slave owning group who supported the Confederacy put down those with Unionist views by making them leave or in some cases hanging them after mock trials. Some Unionists escaped to a dense thicket in the area, only to be later captured and hanged. This book is not a work of fiction. It is based on real events about real people. I highly recommend it to anyone with family connections to the Hunt County, Texas area and to anyone with an interest in those unfortunate people who ended up in the Confederate States, but were still loyal to the Union.

Brush Men and Vigilantes: Civil War Dissent in Texas. (Book Reveiws).(Review)(Brief Article): An article from: Journal of Southern History

Average customer rating:

Brush Men and Vigilantes: Civil War Dissent in Texas. (Book Reveiws).(Review)(Brief Article): An article from: Journal of Southern History
John (American tribal leader) Ross
Manufacturer: Southern Historical Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Southern Historical Association on November 1, 2001. The length of the article is 499 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Brush Men and Vigilantes: Civil War Dissent in Texas. (Book Reveiws).(Review)(Brief Article)
Author: John (American tribal leader) Ross
Publication: Journal of Southern History (Refereed)
Date: November 1, 2001
Publisher: Southern Historical Association
Volume: 67 Issue: 4 Page: 875(1)

Article Type: Book Review, Brief Article

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Average customer rating:

In a word - DRY

Hardened cynic

A Pirated Nation

Clay Feet, Wrong Bullets, CIA's African War

In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story
John Stockwell
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

African-American & Black | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Angola | Africa | History | Subjects | Books
General | Africa | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Praetorian Guard : The US Role In The New World Order

INSIDE THE COMPANY: CIA DIARY

Deadly Deceits: My 25 Years in the CIA

Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II

The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives

ASIN: 0393009262

Customer Reviews:

In a word - DRY.......2006-10-06

Not to put too fine a point on it but this book is DRY - almost like a text book. There is very little action and/or suspense brought forth about involvement in the Angola operation and what could have been was quickly blunted with operational and bureaucratic detail. And that's how the book drags on, with excruciating detail. In one part, Mr. Stockwell describes what he did to finally get a desk to work from at Langley by sitting in the hall in everyone's way and stacking his papers up beside him. What took him pages to describe should've been done in a simple paragraph. To be fair, the book is written from the viewpoint of an intelligence staffer not a cloak and dagger operative. Yes, there might be some interest in how inefficient the CIA was operating back in the mid-1970s but that's true for most large government organizations. He also describes some of the "political" machinations between officials within the CIA. Again, mildly interesting but nothing notable. Some of the descriptions of dialog and reactions of persons seems contrived, almost as if he (or some ghost writer) added these things for effect. It almost "reads" like a fiction novel in that respect. Rather than writing a solid, crisp account with thoughtful and concise opinions about CIA policy and inner workings the book devolves often times into monotonous detail. However, in the latter chapters the account does get more interesting as he discusses "plausible deniability" and the deception of the CIA to "hide" their involvement. One of the more interesting parts is the organizational background and resources needed to run an operation of this type including the shipping of weapons and ammo, the propaganda strategy, the political workings thru committees, the State Department and the President to gain support, etc. The book does makes one wonder what other rebellions or conflicts the CIA was involved in over the last 30-40 years and is an eye opener about our nations espionage policies. On this level, the book succeeds. But, in the end the book was almost a grind to finish. I'd only recommend this one for the hard core 'spook' fan.

Hardened cynic.......2005-12-17

It is most interesting to read Mr. Stockwell in light of the fall of the Soviet Union. Before it fell, he was preaching the dread of nuclear annihilation and the common brotherhood of American and Soviet peoples. Ronald Reagan of course, was a apocalyptic fanatic. All well and good - except we won the Cold War and the people behind the Iron Curtain celebrated their liberation for all the world to see. The Soviet horror was worse than we had imagined.

One can not but honor John Stockwell for his service and listen to him carefully for his experience. Especially the bloody mistakes we have made, which he exposes. But in the end, he leaves us with no other plan than for shame and national passivity. What can we do, if all that we do leads to the suffering of innocent peoples caught in the middle?

I make this judgement only from having read John Stockwell and heard his speeches - but he seems like the character who sees too much of the horror of the world - and is utterly cynicized about any good - especially that of his own country. He alone knows the truth.

His first-hand experience makes him a powerful voice. But that does not mean his voice speaks true.

A Pirated Nation.......2003-02-25

Please read this book. It tells all, that you didn't know about the direction and practices of your own country. I attended a lecture by John Stockwell and he pleads for you to not purchase this book but pirate it from your local library. The US government sued him and won the rights to this book so all proceeds go to the CIA or the Federal government. Also read "The Grand Chessboard" This is the blue print for the United States foreign policy. You will be blown away.

Clay Feet, Wrong Bullets, CIA's African War.......2000-04-08

By the former Chief of the Angola Task Force at CIA, this book is a classic on the Keystone Kops aspects of paramilitary operations as run by the CIA"s Special Operations Group within the Directorate of Operations, as well as the lack of contextual judgment that accompanies the CIA's decisions to "get into" local conflicts that are none of our business. Ammunition from the warehouses that doesn't fit the weapons in the field is just the beginning.

Average customer rating:

In Search of Enemies - A CIA Story
John Stockwell
Manufacturer: WW Norton, New York
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MTRKLQ

Average customer rating:

In Search Of Enemies: A CIA Story
Stockwell John
Manufacturer: Recorded Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

General | Books on Cassette | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
ASIN: 1556902514

Average customer rating:

In Search of Enemies; A CIA Story.

Manufacturer: W.W. Norton and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I34A64

Average customer rating:

IN SEARCH OF ENEMIES: A CIA STORY.
John. Stockwell
Manufacturer: Lon., Deutsch, 1978. 285 pp., illus., maps. Fine copy of first edition in dust jacket.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UDTEH2

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books