The Franklin Cover-Up: Child Abuse, Satanism, and Murder in Nebraska

Customer Reviews:

Incredibly shocking, unimaginable, and disgusting!!!.......2007-09-27

If you don't mind being sickened out of your mind, not sleeping for days, and feeling depressed for a few days then go ahead and read this book. I can't believe the amount of allegations that this author writes about in the book. I promise that you will either think this man and these children have sick twisted imaginations or that we have some serious sick people in high places running our government. Either way, it makes me think "What's Wrong With People?!"

Given the information in the book and doing a little research on the internet, I am leaning toward believing the State Senator. However, I do hesitate to completely endorse the book because I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Regardless, it was an astonishing and incredible read that will grasp your attention throughout. Fair warning you will most likely be grossed out by the allegations made by these children and their stories behind them. One cannot help but sympathize with their everyday troubled plight and ordeals. Highly recommended if you have the stomach for it.

So Disturbing I Hope It Isn't True.......2007-09-21

Who really knows the extent that people in power can go to cover the truth? I'd like to think that former Senator DeCamp is a trustworthy man. Obviously there are quite a few people who think so. If what he reports is true (which honestly wouldn't surprise me based on his pretty convincing arguments) then this book is the most disturbing one I've ever read.

I don't want to give anything away here, because I want to encourage as many people as possible to read this and choose for yourself. All I will say is that DeCamp alleges that a group of people in high places in Omaha (political figures, a sheriff, a bank manager) all were involved in some REALLY disgusting things involving drugs and underage kids, as the title implies.

I urge you to check this book out. If this isn't true it is one of the most bizarre schemes ever thought up, if it i true, God help the human race.

It's true.......2007-09-08

I live in Omaha. I married a man who graduated from boystown. I know two of his friends from boystown, one who worked in the media and the other worked at franklin credit union. All 3 attended the parties. All 3 were coke addicts. All three witnessed child abuse. All 3 kept their mouths shut. My husband told me the truth but realized there was nothing he could do. Who was going to listen to a cokehead? I know it's the truth. Call us crazy when the corruption gets so bad that it affects YOU.

Insights into the Cult of Power that rules the world.......2007-08-28

Maybe I am paranoid, but as I waited about six weeks to get this book, I had two events happen that gave me no choice but to believe that a Satanic Cult (for lack of a more accurate term) rules our world.

The first had to do with how my long-held AT&T Universal Card was being discontinued by AT&T, and would be switching over to CitiCard. I had gotten in the habit of paying it online and did not want to change my login name or password. So I called customer service at CitiCard and they helped me so that I would not have to create a new username to continue to pay online. When my card was through AT&T, the first screen that came up once I was logged in gave random numbers and letters before the dash and the last four numbers of my account. The first time I logged in to CitiCard to pay online, I noticed that the characters that preceeded the last four numbers of my card were no longer random. Now, every time I log in to pay my CitiCard I get reminded of the goal of the international banking families because these letters are rather specific: S L A V E R Y!!!

This was not the more troubling thing that happened. While I was awaiting THE FRANKLIN COVER-UP (I had already received GEORGE BUSH: THE UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY and RULE BY SECRECY which I ordered at the same time as THE FRANKLIN COVER-UP), I received an UNSOLICITED letter from one of my Senators, Dick Lugar. I have been known to write my Senators in the past, but had not done so since just before this debacle in Iraq. My last letter to Senator Lugar was demanding that he say no to this Zionist, neo-con, imperialistic war in early 2003. I read through his letter which was thanking me for contacting him about my, supposed, opposition to small businesses being able to provide medical insurance. This is definately a stance that I would never have taken, and I knew it had been over three years since I tried to exercise my rights to express my opinion as a constituent to my "elected" officials. However, it became very clear to me what the real message was when I returned to the top of the letter and reread the date it was composed: June 6, 2006.

So while awaiting a book about satanism from Amazon that took over six weeks to arrive, I got a perpetual reminder of my place in the grand scheme of things from my credit card (SLAVERY) as well as a letter that was dated (6/6/6). Coincidence or synchronicity?

My only critique about this book is concerning the relationship of its author (John de Camp) and the former Director, Central Intelligence William Colby. They met in Vietnam when the de Camp was working for Colby in the Phoenix assasination program. Since this book deals with MK-ULTRA and trauma based mind control, could it be disinformation coming from a CIA operative? Most disinformation is presented with much information and I have had to question what the author's true intent is. It was also through this book that I became aware of the martyrdom of Gordon Kahl, because Mr de Camp is representing his son whom the US Marshalls tried to murder in 1983 thinking he was his father. Another tragic story that most people are ignorant about.

That said, I believe that this book is the key to what happened to Johnny Gosch on his paper route in 1982. But, I believe that little Johnny Gosch grew up to become Jeff Gannon/James Guckert. This book also seems to collaborate Cathy O'Brien's story of the horrors of trauma based mind control. This book is filled with the types of horrors that drove me to tears of sorrow/compassion for the victims and tears of rage against the perpeTRAITORS. Watch CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE for the short version, read this book for the longer version. If anyone can disprove this book, please do so, for the sake of our future!

great book everybody must read.......2007-05-07

great book every one must read there is more than enuff evadence to prove this book we must not forget .

How to Succeed in the Game of Life: 34 Interviews with the World's Greatest Coaches

Average customer rating:

A Great Read
What a great read!
Game of life
Coaching advise from athletic coaches
Overcome Adversity

How to Succeed in the Game of Life: 34 Interviews with the World's Greatest Coaches
Christian Klemash
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0740760653

Book Description

What would legendary Boston Celtics coach and 16-time NBA champion Red Auerbach say is the most critical quality for a person to be successful? Would his advice differ from 10-time NCAA championship coach John Wooden's? What would each say to a young person just starting out in pursuit of their dreams? What is the best advice they were ever given?

It took author Christian Klemash more than two years of research, persistence, and original interviews, but now he's ready to pass on the best advice you'll ever get. Only the rare individual has had the opportunity to pick the brain of just one legendary sports coach—let alone thirty-four of the best sports coaches of all time. Klemash gives sports fans a once-in-a-lifetime chance to learn valuable life lessons from the most famous, intelligent, and victorious coaches ever. The legends span the sports world, from gold medal-winning gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi and three-time college football championship coach Tom Osborne to four-time World Series-winning baseball manager Joe Torre and hall-of-fame boxing trainer Angelo Dundee.

These coaches know how to teach top athletes about character and winning, how to manage pressure at crunch time, and how to bring out the best in their players when it matters most. How to Succeed in the Game of Life shares their insights into sports, life, and the most vital keys to sustain success.Featuring Exclusive Interviews with:

Red Auerbach, 16-time NBA World Champion

Bobby Bowden, College Football's All-Time Winningest Coach, 2-time National Champion

Scotty Bowman, 9-time Stanley Cup Champion

Bill Cowher, Super Bowl Champion

Tony Dungy, Super Bowl Champion

Dan Gable, 15-time NCCA Champion

April Heinrichs, Gold Medal Winning Coach of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team

Bela Karolyi, The World’s Greatest Gymnastics Coach

Bill Parcells, 2-time Super Bowl Champion

Emanuel Steward, Boxing Trainer of 30 World Champions

Joe Torre, 4-time World Series Champion

Bill Walsh, 3-time Super Bowl Champion

Lenny Wilkens, NBA’s All-Time Winningest Coach, NBA Champion

John Wooden, 10-time NCAA Champion

And More!

Customer Reviews:

A Great Read.......2007-08-26

Wow!Could not put it down.An extraordinay self help book.Gave it to my kids they loved it.Don't miss this one

What a great read!.......2007-07-25

I took it on vacation with me and I couldn't put it down. A great book for aspiring athletes and coaches as well as your average Joe who works 9-5. The coaches discuss a variety of topics from their childhood to how they motivate their players. Any easy read for all ages.

Game of life.......2007-07-24

I've read through Game of Life and I enjoyed it very much. There are so many things to take from this book, not just into sports, but also some reflections on life. I would recommend this book to everybody.

Coaching advise from athletic coaches.......2007-06-27

A fun read, especially if yoiu're a sports fan. I read it in search of things that would help my own ability as a coach in my company. Much of it is light stuff but the easy read makes it fun nonetheless and there are few golden nuggets laced throughout the book.

Overcome Adversity.......2007-04-12

Anyone looking for inspiration, either for their own life or to share with others, will find a gold mine of quotes here. This book isn't just for sports fans.

Average customer rating:

Dandelions
Great story
DANDELIONS by Eve Bunting
Dandelions
Dandelions, A Wonderful Book

Dandelions
Eve Bunting
Manufacturer: Voyager Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0152024077

Book Description

Embarking on a new life, Zoe and her family journey west to the Nebraska Territory in the 1800s.
When Zoe and her family arrive at their claim, nothing distinguishes it from the miles and miles of surrounding prairie. Even after they build their soddie, the home can't be seen from any distance. Zoe has never seen Papa so happy or Mama so sad. But when she takes a trip to the small prairie town with Papa, Zoe sees something that might make a difference to their new soddie, and to Mama's life, too.

Customer Reviews:

Dandelions.......2006-08-04

This is a book I would use to add to the list of the many books written by Eve Bunting.

Great story.......2006-03-20

This is a great introduction to the saga of the western movement. My daughter is almost 4...a bit over her head.

DANDELIONS by Eve Bunting.......2002-07-24

DANDELIONS is a very moving story. It does an excellent job in describing the struggles and bravery of a pioneer family. Although it doesn't detail why the family had to leave Illinois (their home), it does show readers that even back then parents may not have always agreed on family issues. Through the dialogue in the story it is apparent that the family wants their apprehensive, pregnanat mother to be happy, and they strive to make her so. The painted illustrations by Shed were very true-to-life and warm; they establish the setting and mood of each page. Further, the pictures helped define the characters by showing emotion through facial expressions and body language. Of course, those factors contributed in reinforcing the text. Despite the fact that the artwork has a warm fuzz to it (almost giving a surrealistic feel), attention to detail was definitely established, giving the story realism and life.

Dandelions.......2000-01-16

This beautifully illustrated(Greg Shed) picture book tells the story of a pioneer family settling in the Mid-West. Mama, Papa and their two daughters, Zoe and Rebecca have left the security of home in Illinois to settle on the Prairie. Papa and Zoe make a pact that they will help Mama feel better about living on the Prairie. After Zoe and her sister plant a patch of dandelions on the roof of their sod house, Mama agrees that their family is hardy and will bloom just as the dandelions are sure to do. This book, told from Zoe's viewpoint, is a touching recount of the feelings of the sodbusters. Would be very useful for primary teachers and media specialists in the mid-west states.

Dandelions, A Wonderful Book.......2000-01-06

My third grade class read Dandelions as a large group. We loved the pictures and the characters.It was very interesting learning about the way families settled the land. We decided that the book was showing us that families are like dandelions and they both grow with love and caring.

Average customer rating:

Insights about life that still apply.
A Wonderful Sentimental Read for any Mom with grown children
A Book For All Time
Appreciate this story more as an adult
What a Beautiful Read

A Lantern in Her Hand
Bess Streeter Aldrich
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140384286

Customer Reviews:

Insights about life that still apply........2007-07-22

Recently had a family reunion in Nebraska to return ashes of a family member. This book was suggested because it would give one a real feel as to what life was like for the early pioneer families.
The book was a bit silly at first; but as the young lady matured so did her actions and speech. I ended up enjoying it very much and enjoying the insights about life and family that still apply.

A Wonderful Sentimental Read for any Mom with grown children.......2007-05-13

I first heard of 'A Lantern in Her Hand' and Bess Aldrich many years ago when my children were in elementary school in Omaha. (There is even an Aldrich elementary.)While the setting is in the praries of Nebraska, the story is universal of a mother's love for her children and how she finds joy in them and through them. I just bought 4 more copies to give as gifts to moms I admire!

A Book For All Time.......2006-11-08

I get the chills when I read the reviews for this book, because I have felt the same thing as so many of the reviewers. This book can (& should) be read over and over again - at different ages. This is what I have done. I started reading it in grade school, when I got it from Scholastic Books, and every 5 years or so I pick it up again. Each time I read it I feel differently about the characters. They haven't changed, but I have! What a wonderful way to see how I have developed over the years. Get it for your young adult, but tell her to hold onto it.

Appreciate this story more as an adult.......2006-07-18

I picked up this book the other night to read. I read it when I was young, and haven't read it in the past 35 years. I knew immediately as I started to read, that I would appreciate it more now, than as a young girl. There is so much life experience in this book that young adults wouldn't really understand. This is a wonderful book for many reasons. It tells the entire story of Abby's life, it gives a good picture of how Nebraska became settled, but most importantly, it shows how people change as they grow up and age. I would highly recommend this book to any woman, any age.

What a Beautiful Read.......2006-06-24

Personally, had I read this book at a younger age, I probably would have been unable to appreciate it. In this story about Abbie Deal, life is very layered just as life really is. A carefree little girl living in the mid-1800's goes through a life journey of extreme emotional and physical circumstances but her heart of love takes on layer after layer in a format that redeems her own humanity. What might look like insurmountable burdens to the culture of thought today at the reading of this frontier story, in fact was an opportunity to become the best of who Abbie really was.

After a very active life at home and survival for 80+ years spanning roughly 1850 to 1930, Abbie is perfectly content with herself much to the chagrin of her own family. Laura, the young granddaughter who alone understands Abbie best, the portrait of her ancestor Isabelle Anders-Mackenzie that is searched for and found near the end of Abbie's life, and Katherine's "modern" day (1920's) personality that reverts back to the ways of an old-fashioned woman who happens to be her grandmother end this story in a delicate, endearing, soul-grabbing way.

The tune that Abbie sang aloud during her many rough times became more and more inspiring as the story presented it yet again in each new layer.

"Oh, the Lady of the Lea,
Fair and young and gay was she,
Beautiful exceedingly,
The Lady of the Lea.

For she had gold and she had land,
Everything at her command,
The Lady of the Lea.

Dreaming visions longingly,
The Lady of the Lea."

Excellent story. Older women and younger, single and married ladies will like this beautifully written story.

Average customer rating:

Good old fashioned keep on keepin' on
Nice Story
Take Me Home
The Floor of the Sky
A great piece of fiction

The Floor of the Sky (Flyover Fiction)
Pamela Carter Joern
Manufacturer: Bison Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0803276311

Book Description

In the Nebraska Sandhills, nothing is more sacred than the bond of family and land-and nothing is more capable of causing deep wounds. In Pamela Carter Joern's riveting novel The Floor of the Sky, Toby Jenkins, an aging widow, is on the verge of losing her family's ranch when her granddaughter Lila-a city girl, sixteen and pregnant-shows up for the summer. While facing painful decisions about her future, Lila uncovers festering secrets about her grandmother's past-discoveries that spur Toby to reconsider the ambiguous ties she holds to her embittered sister Gertie, her loyal ranch hand George, her not-so-sympathetic daughter Nola Jean, and ultimately, herself. Propelled by stark realism in breakneck prose, The Floor of the Sky reveals the inner worlds of characters isolated by geography and habit. Set against the sweeping changes in rural America-from the onslaught of corporate agribusiness to the pressures exerted by superstores on small towns-Joern's compelling story bears witness to the fortitude and hard-won wisdom of people whose lives have been forged by devotion to the land. Pamela Carter Joern is a widely published author whose work has appeared in South Dakota Review, Red Rock Review, Feminist Studies, and Minnesota Monthly. She is also the author of five professionally produced plays, the winner of a Tamarack Award in 2001, and the recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board writing fellowship.

Customer Reviews:

Good old fashioned keep on keepin' on.......2007-08-04

4-.
Set in Kansas, a large farm. Only Toby (Gwedolyn) is left to try to preserve and make a go on the old place with handyman George. Characters and plot to keep you turning the pages. Sister Gertie who married a man who didn't love her and lives in constant resentment and anger. Lila, Toby's granddaughter, pregnant by a boy who doesn't want her or the baby, comes to live with Toby. She stirs things up. The Alhambra homstead is deeply in debt and hounded by Malcolm Lord the local banker. There's Clay, Gertie and Howard's grandson, who is left to live on the old place and keep it going. Tim Pickford, a nerdowell druggie, lives on the place. Owen, the smart kid who works at the library. Meets Lila. Well, enough to keep you more than mildly interested.

Nice Story.......2007-03-29

I enjoyed this book very much. It was a really nice story
about a family who loves one another......even if they don't
realize it all the time.

Take Me Home.......2007-01-14

While I was reading THE FLOOR OF THE SKY I kept thinking about how I would cast this as a movie. Toby Jenkins could be played easily by Shirley MacLaine or Ellyn Burstyn. Robert Redford would be a perfect George in my estimation, and I'm sure Robert Duvall would fit in too. I'm not sure about Lila, Toby's pregnant, sixteen year old granddaughter. Maybe a newcomer, an unknown actress would be the best choice for this role. I could go on, but I think you get the idea. This wonderfully told story, pure and poetic in style, would make a wonderful movie.

This story takes place in the Sandhills of Nebraska. I've probably driven through there without stopping, but I can imagine the ranch and the house described as though it's an old home of mine. The nearby town is a place where I'd like to visit (although I'm not sure I could live there). I love the way George talks about the stars overhead, stars I haven't seen in years, if ever.

This book is one of those that you don't want to end. I've been reading it slowly and with great joy. It's not a happy story, but it's not a sad one either. Full of family secrets, wonderful descriptions, and people who will stay close to my heart.

The Floor of the Sky.......2006-11-20

I loved it! The undercurrents of family secrets along with the stark setting of the Sand Hills, Nebraska, makes this a great read. Pamela Joern did a great job of setting the story, developing the characters, and like a magician, drew me into the story in a compelling way. I'd recommend it to anyone.

A great piece of fiction.......2006-10-30

THE FLOOR OF THE SKY by Pamela Carter Joern
October 29, 2006

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Another great novel I've read this year has to be THE FLOOR OF THE SKY, the story of a family living in the rural farmlands of Nebraska. Beautifully written, the story focuses on granddaughter Lila, who has left her family back in Minnesota and has come to live with her grandmother Toby. Lila is pregnant, doesn't want to talk about it, but apparently has left home because she's not getting any support from her mother, Nola Jean. She has always loved her grandmother Toby, who tries her best to support Lila, who refuses to discuss the pregnancy and continues to harbor a sour attitude despite Toby's willingness to be there for her.

What made this story riveting are the layers that make up the book. The various characters all have secrets, and it's through Lila that the reader learns what the older generation has been hiding for decades. Gertie is the older sister of Toby, and the two are like night and day. Gertie is a bitter old woman whose husband is in a home suffering from Alzheimer's. Toby lives alone, but is full of life, but at the same time is preparing for her own death, feeling that it is soon her time to go. The two sisters do not get along, although Toby is living with Gertie because it is not safe for her to live alone anymore. Other characters come into play, most of whom were present when a tragedy decades ago took the lives of Toby and Gertie's mother, as well as David, the younger brother of George, a man that had lived on the property for as long as they remember, helping the family out with the land.

Lila's relationship with her cousin Clay is another facet to the story. The two had been very close growing up, but hadn't seen each other in years. Now, Clay is involved with a married woman, and Lila is not happy with this. As time passes, Lila begins to come to terms with her pregnancy, and as she gets acquainted with the people that surround her grandmother, Lila begins to open up.

THE FLOOR OF THE SKY is probably one of the best novels I've read in 2006. Intriguing characters drive the story to its conclusion, with a tragic ending that in some ways helps bring resolution. The writing is superb and eloquent, and while it may come across as a more literary effort, readers will be drawn to the story because of its themes of family and forgiveness. THE FLOOR OF THE SKY is highly recommended.

Boy from Nebraska,: The story of Ben Kuroki

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Boy from Nebraska,: The story of Ben Kuroki
Ralph G Martin
Manufacturer: Harper & Brothers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen

Average customer rating:

nostalgic look at the past
Love the story, despise the writing and the writer
Oey! A great story but NOT a good storyteller.
Feel good book about the greatest generation . . .
The Good Old, Bad Old Days

Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen
Bob Greene
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 006008197X
Release Date: 2003-05-06

Amazon.com

Millions of American soldiers, many of whom had never left their hometowns before, crossed the nation by rail during the years of World War II on their way to training camps and distant theaters of battle. In a little town in Nebraska, countless thousands of them met with extraordinary hospitality--the "miracle" of veteran journalist Bob Greene's title. "The best America there ever was. Or at least, whatever might be left of it." So Greene writes of North Platte, now a quiet town along the interstate, its main street all but dead. It was a quiet town then, too, at the outbreak of the war, but still a hive of activity as its citizens gathered to provide, at their own expense, coffee, sandwiches, books, playing cards, and time to the scared young men who rolled through by the trainload, "telling them that their country cared about them." Greene's pages are full of the voices of those who were there, soldiers and townspeople alike, who took part in what amounted to small acts of heroism, given the shortages and rationing of the time. Greene, generous in his praise if rather disheartened by the modern world, against which he contrasts the past, turns in a remarkable account of the home front. It deserves the widest audience. ---Gregory McNamee

Book Description

The author of the New York Times bestseller Duty shows how a small town in Nebraska gave meaning, joy, and hope to every train of World War Two soldiers passing through their town. The town came to symbolise the patriotism of the American people during World War Two.

North Platte, Nebraska, is alone on the plains in the middle of the country. But before the air age, the Union Pacific Railroad's main line ran right through town. When World War Two began, the trains transported young soldiers across the continent to both coasts on their way to battle. Then a local resident had an idea: why not meet the trains coming through, offer the servicemen and servicewomen some warmth and support? On Christmas Day, 1941, the first train rolled in and the surprised soldiers on board were greeted with welcoming words and baskets of treats.

What happened in the years that followed was a miracle. The railroad depot was transformed into the North Platte Canteen. Every day of the year, every day of the war, the Canteen was open from 5 a.m. until the last troop train pulled away after midnight, staffed and funded entirely by private volunteers, to serve thousands of military personnel daily.

Customer Reviews:

nostalgic look at the past.......2007-01-06

This was a book I read for my book club. I liked the story yet I felt it became repetitive. I think I would like to see more pictures and a few less stories. I found myself wishing the book would end and kept going back to the photos.

Love the story, despise the writing and the writer.......2006-11-09

Six million boiled eggs, more or less.
Fried chicken, sandwiches, cookies, milk, birthday cakes, chewing gum, candy, matches for six million.
North Platte, a small town in western Nebraska, was a water stop for steam locomotives. From a few days after Pearl Harbor until 1946, the people of North Platte and the surrounding farm and ranch country of Nebraska and eastern Colorado met every troop train that came through town.
Dozens, sometimes, in a single day, at any hour. During the 10-minute stops, the ladies of the area handed out food and smiles.
No other place did that. When Bob Greene tracked down some of the men who were met at the North Platte Canteen, most of them started crying. It was, they said, the nicest thing that happened to them during the war.
You can take it as heartwarming or as a slap at the rest of the country, much of which was indifferent or hostile to men in uniform in those days. In places like Norfolk, Va., there were signs on stores that said: No sailors or dogs allowed. Either way, it's a remarkable story.
It started with Rae Wilson, then 26, whose brother was in the Nebraska National Guard. She thought, mistakenly, that her brother was coming through town on a troop train and wrote a letter to the North Platte Daily Bulletin suggesting a canteen to greet the local boys.
Somehow, the community recognized that all the soldiers and sailors passing through were their boys, and they spontaneously formed the canteen.
Greene takes the story as purely heartwarming. The mothers, some of whose sons had been killed in combat, coming down day after day, the young girls excited to meet the handsome boys even if only for minutes.
It was a women's outfit. Men participated, but only in the background.
The story never got the attention it deserved, and Greene was barely in time to salvage it. The heroism of the people was worthy of a better messenger.
Greene's attempt to explain why this happened in North Platte and not anywhere else is superficial.
To him, it was a remarkable effort from a town of 12,000 people who had been through the Great Depression. But in fact western Nebraska's economy had collapsed in 1922. Most of the banks had failed even before the stock market crashed in 1929.
The rest of Greene's ruminations are equally ill-informed, trivial or both.
The writing is as inept as we have come to expect from Greene, a long-time Chicago Tribune columnist until he was forced to resign in disgrace for a serious violation of ethics. The book does not appear to have been edited or even proofread.
The story is wonderful, though, and worth reading anyhow.

Oey! A great story but NOT a good storyteller........2005-11-17

I agree that the story of the North Platte canteen and all the people supporting it for all those years is wonderful, incredible, definitely a story needing telling.

However, I only give the book 2 stars b/c the author repeats himself what feels like hundreds of times. I forced myself to listen to the entire book b/c I had a lot of hours in car. But the gist of the story can be completely conveyed in 1 cassette. Sure, we would have lost the personal vingettes, but mostly we would have lost hearing the same words repeated again and again and again and again. The author may be a journalist, but definitely it felt like one who likes to hear himself talk.

Plus, transitions between sections, sometimes even sentences, was terrible. So many times, there wasn't even a pause or a breath before a major turn was taking place in the story direction, making it difficult to listen to.

I'm grateful to know of the North Platte canteen and what the people did. But, this was a laborious way to hear the story.

Feel good book about the greatest generation . . ........2005-07-14

It was a monumental act of generosity that kept the North Platte Canteen in operation from 1941 to 1945, offering food, drink, and gratitude to the multitude of troop trains carrying young servicemen through Nebraska during WWII. Greene's book is a tribute to those who made it possible - a scrapbook of memories recalled by men and women who are now in their 70s, 80s and older.

Through scores of interviews, he is able to capture again the excitement, the emotions, and the utter innocence of that place and time. Just 10-20 minutes - as men burst from the trains, were welcomed with home cooking and smiles, and then dashed back onboard again - are remembered 60 years later by men who have never forgotten and often dissolve into tears as they try to explain what it meant to them, no more than boys then, far from home and family.

The book is written in a breezy Sunday supplement style, and social historians may desire a bit more objectivity. Oddly, Greene never explains how he located all the former servicemen he interviewed. And finally, it's not all feel good. Greene notes how time has changed North Platte, symbolized in the deserted downtown and the absent train depot, torn down long ago. "Dust in the wind," he muses sadly at the end. But like an old photograph, there is his book to preserve the memory that "once upon a town" it all really did happen.

The Good Old, Bad Old Days.......2005-06-24

Good, because of everyone being so generous. Bad, because it was the beginning of World War II and so many Americans, particularly in the midwest, had suffered enough in the first world war that they bitterly opposed US entry into the War until the day that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and isolationism became a thing of the past. Still that change from opposition to the war to a full-scale call for vengeance must have been a bewildering one for the little people of the midwest, and they showed it in the incidents that led to establishing the North Platte Canteen.

Bob Greene has always had a soft spot for the little person, and he has two sets of them here--the GI boys who passed through North Platte on their way to God knows where, some of them never to return to our shores. The kindness done to these boys at the station might have been the last friendly voices they heard before death. And on the other side, a gallant band of townspeople and farmers--traditional enemies--put aside their differences and started carving up pheasant to make sandwiches the likes of which most of these soldiers never tasted before. Greene underplays the generosity of these Nebraskans, for my grandmother, who lived in the town during the war, always maintained that the food and coffee wasn't just for soldiers, but for anyone who they felt like giving it out to. She was present at the station when one cup of coffee, given to a pregnant lady passing through Nebraska, triggered her labor there on the north side of the station, and she gave birth to a baby an hour afterwards. The sad thing, grandma said, is that the baby was born without a father, for he had died in the Leyte Gulf and the mother was travelling to go live with his folks in Denver.

Those were the good old, bad old days all right, and Greene's book, while repetitious, is nevertheless valuable. A few more years and most of the first person participants of the "Miracle of the Pheasants" will be stilled forever. Too bad the publisher didn't run to printing some photographs of the boys who ate and the girls who made the popcorn. Maybe there could be a special edition, as with SEABISCUIT, with an accompanying DVD.

Average customer rating:

Excellent book
Very well done
Perhaps his best.
Long and lingering
Incredible Experience

The Road Home
Jim Harrison
Manufacturer: Atlantic Monthly Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Dalva (Contemporary Classics (Washington Square Press))
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ASIN: 0871137240

Amazon.com

With his 1988 novel, Dalva, Jim Harrison commenced an epic of the American Midwest--or more specifically, the Nebraska sandhills. In The Road Home his eponymous heroine returns in search of the son she abandoned 30 years before, only to find herself more deeply enmeshed than ever in the coils of the family romance. (Quite literally, by the way: the father of Dalva's son was her half-brother.) Now, a decade later, Harrison continues her story in The Road Home. Ranging over an entire century, this second installment encompasses both Dalva's ancestry and her valedictory impulses in the face of death, circa 1987.

As he did in the earlier book, the author passes the narrative baton from one character to another. There are five highly individual voices at work, including not only Dalva's own but that of her grandfather, mother, and son. This makes for a dense, Rashomon-like structure, in which events are revisited by one generation after another and truth is a relative thing--in every sense of the word. Harrison leavens this spiraling saga with splendid passages about everything from the Lakota Sioux to bird hunting, from the complexities of art to the simplicities of the wandering life: "There's a sweet, vaguely scary feeling in disappearance," notes Dalva's son, Nelse. And as always, the author can convey both the surprising beauty of a landscape and an almost suffocating sense of its abundance. "It is neither more nor less endurable in May," says Dalva of the lilac-encircled family cemetery, "when it is enshrouded by the heavy-scented purple and white flowers, a smell that on warm evenings is so dense as to be almost visible.... The sound of the crickets arrived one by one until they were a chorus, and if you walked down the gravel road toward the Niobrara the frogs from the lower, marshy areas were so loud as to be barely endurable." --Bob Brandeis

Book Description

The Road Home lies in the shadows of Manifest Destiny and Wounded Knee;

it is etched into the landscape of an old man's memory and into the stubborn dreams of a young man's heart. In Jim Harrison's latest masterpiece, five members of the Northridge family narrate the tangled epic of their history on the expanses of the Nebraska plains. They strive to understand their fates, reconcile with demons of the past, love with honor, live in accordance with the land and the lessons in humility it teaches them. And to die with grace. As the family grapples with the mysterious forces that both pull them apart and draw them inextricably back together, they learn of life's lessons: the deception of passion, the pain of love, the vitality of art, and the supplication to nature's generosity and fury.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book.......2007-05-03

This is the first book that I have read from this author and I am hooked. His writing is so good and descriptive that it kept me glued to reading this novel. The story is great and sometimes sad and sometimes funny and sometimes happy. It runs the gamet. It has just about everything and I would strongly recommend that if you like good writing that you try this author and this book.

Very well done.......2007-02-20

Mr. Harrison has constructed a story that, as one other reviewer has stated, is so well-written it is as though the reader knows the characters personally. I preferred the opening section, as the patriarch of the family has many characteristics that strike a cord. There are portions of this book that are poignant with the very elements of life, and there are moments of, what I call "filler". The Summer He Didn't Die (short stories) is tighter. There's a little flab on this work, but not enough to not read. Mr. Harrison has a gift of revealing human nature; warts and all. Highly recommended.

Perhaps his best........2006-11-26

I've been reading a lot of Harrison lately ( in fact ,nearly all his prose) and I must say that this is the best of the bunch. There are times when I was quite simply awed by the emotion he can evoke. While the beginning of the book is better than the ending( I cant say I was too crazy about some of the later characters) this is Harrison at the the height of his powers, which can be substantial ! At his finest Harrison rivals any American writer.

Long and lingering.......2006-10-05

Harrison definitely hooked me on this one. He certainly takes his time, and as one reviewer has pointed out, each character keeps bringing up the past, but that is an effective technique. The story unfolds as memories of the characters, interwoven with one another's perspectives. Each character gives the reader a bit more detail, reveals another secret, answers mysteries that Harrison threads through this family.

At first, I expected a lengthy diatriabe, a grueling literary mountain to climb. I did put the book down the first time, after reading the first page. Later, when I picked it up again, I couldn't remember why I chose not to read it earlier, for the narrator was suddenly sitting there in front of me, and I was engrossed.

The novel is nearly five stars by my standards, but I found Dalva's narrative a bit hasty. Her section seemed dashed off in a hurry, as though Harrison just sort of glossed it over at the very end, after all the intricate development to that point.

Incredible Experience.......2002-09-03

After discussing this book with several other literature-lovers, I've found that you either really love this book or you're so-so on it. Women love it more than men, which surprised me, but then, I'm a woman and really loved it and don't see how you can't. But I also love nature, which is BIG in Harrison, and psychological depth, and romance, and family ties, and it's all there.

Average customer rating:

Cerebral cop story set in Nebraska
Excellent Police Thriller!
Like telling your friends you were in a high speed chase with a gun-toting biker gang...
Author's Getting a Lot Better
Simplicity isn't perfect

The Cleanup
Sean Doolittle
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Rain Dogs
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ASIN: 0440242827
Release Date: 2006-10-31

Book Description

Matthew Worth is a mess. Somewhere between a good cop and a bad screwup, he botched a marriage and a career. His fellow officers think he’s a joke. His commanders are tired of cutting him breaks. Even his wife has left him for a flashy homicide detective. Busted to night patrol at a robbery-prone Omaha supermarket, Worth is doing time, wearing his uniform and asking shoppers if they want paper or plastic. If that isn’t enough, he suspects he might be falling for Gwen, the shy checkout girl who may be an even bigger mess than he is. It couldn’t get any worse. Until it does.

When Gwen comes to him one night scared and desperate for help, Worth discovers just how far he’s willing to go to protect and serve. The next thing he knows, he’s driving a stolen car with a corpse in the trunk, a pistol in the glove box, and no way to turn back. Everything he doesn’t know could get them killed. And things haven’t even begun to get messy yet....

Customer Reviews:

Cerebral cop story set in Nebraska.......2007-07-07

Officer Matt Worth has divorced his wife and duked it out with her new lover, a Homicide detective. Now Matt works as PD security at a grocery store knocked over a few times. He feels sympathy for a girl checkout clerk. She's in an abusive relationship and that lands Matt in trouble. The lines between good and evil blur and blend. Matt is forced to make moral decisions. The plot switches points of view with ease. A freak snow storm on Halloween adds to the suspense. This is the second Doolittle title I've read. This one retains the sharp dialogue complex characters, and violence kept to an R rating. Fast-paced and a fast, satisfying read.

Excellent Police Thriller! .......2007-07-06

This was my first Doolittle book, but it won't be my last. In this book the author weaves a fast-paced tale with fascinating characters, a compelling plot borne all the way with a sharp whiff of reality. You can smell the gritty police station, the snow and the blood. The plot flows naturally -- no contrived serendipitous plot tricks -- just a good story told most ably. Once you start reading, be prepared to finish it without setting it down. A winner of a book!

Like telling your friends you were in a high speed chase with a gun-toting biker gang..........2007-06-12

...when it was really just a fender bender with a VW Beetle in 5-mile-an-hour traffic.

THE CLEANUP hit a lot of Top Ten lists this past year. And I mean A LOT. In every mystery mag I read, I saw Doolittle's name up for an award or a favorable ranking. With such overwhelming popularity, I decided Sean Doolittle was next on my personal reading list, and the book from his catalogue to be examined and enjoyed would be the much-touted CLEANUP. So I slapped $5.99 across the palm of my local bookseller and looked forward to THE CLEANUP wiping the floor with me.

The result? An inflated caper that should've been a short story.

Not that CLEANUP wasn't fun or engaging; on the contrary, Doolittle's prose is quick and clever and reminds noir fans of the classic pulp writers. The characters are sympathetic and well-drawn, the dialogue sharp, the action believable, and the caper itself is twisty and turny with a high dose of suspense. The ending is crash-bang, like a volcano that has built for centuries and has finally erupted, and the resolution is bitter as much as it's sweet. It truly is a modern-day noir mystery, as if Doolittle reached back in time to the `50's and pulled out a lost gem from the desk of Hammett.

That said, CLEANUP had 10-pounds of manure stuffed into a 5-pound bag. At 270 pages, it's already "short" for most novel-length stories, yet so many scenes are unnecessary or stretched beyond their usefulness that I got the impression Doolittle included them only because they were fun and they got him to a good novel length. Don't get me wrong: Every scene in the book is enjoyable reading because it's so well written. But relevant to the plot or story? Not so much.

It's too bad Doolittle didn't perform a little extra "clean up" on this book as it would have rocked as a short story or novella. In the end, however, rest assured that THE CLEANUP makes for a contemporary noir novel that's a breezy and fun read.

Author's Getting a Lot Better.......2007-05-31

I really didn't like the author's previous work "Rain Dogs" but this is a marked improvment. The characters are well developed, both the good guys and the baddies. The twists and turns of the plot show real imagination. It was quirky in places but not a quirky that screamed "I took 6 credits in Creative Writing at Chadron State Teachers College and here's what I learned!!!" Rather all the action evolved naturally. I didn't mean to buy a second book from this author who had already disappointed me but I did by mistake and now I'm glad I did.

Simplicity isn't perfect.......2007-04-19

There is nothing wrong per se with Sean Doolittle's The Cleanup. It's tight little novel that is easy and fast to read and that answers to all the genre's conventions. But that's also it's biggest problem. The Cleanup is too simple for its own good. I've read this story before, too many times.

Matt Worth used to be a cop but now works as a security guard in a grocery store that is prone to robberies. It's there that he meets Gwen, the beautiful, battered girl who will soon enough ask Matt for help. Need a femme fatale that will send our main character twirling down into an abyss of his own making? Here she is! She offs her abusive boyfriends ans asks Matt for his help. This help will involve hiding getting rid of a dead body, lying, uncovering a mob conspiracy, running away from hitmen... and none of it ever really felt very interesting to me.

You can see the so-called surprises from a mile away. From the first chapter, you know exactly where this one is leading you. The writing is smart and well done, so you're always wishing for just a little bit more, so that the book will break the barriers set by the genre and try to be at least a little bit different. But Doolittle never truly gives you want you want. It's as though he had a checklist of all the conventions he needed to answer to by the end of the book. I can very well imagine him checking off one item after then next as they unfold in the story.

I was expecting more out of The Cleanup. For what it is, the book is a no-frills study of crime fiction that has very little to offer to the genre. It's been done before, too many times.

Big Red: The Three-Month Voyage of a Trident Nuclear Submarine

Average customer rating:

Journalistic description of sub life
Sail Quietly and Carry a Very Big Stick
Ever want to sail on a submarine? Read this book...
As close as you'll get to being there...
BIG RED

Big Red: The Three-Month Voyage of a Trident Nuclear Submarine
Douglas C. Waller
Manufacturer: HarperTorch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0380820781
Release Date: 2002-04-02

Book Description

Taller in length than the Washington Monument, wider at its center than a three-lane highway, the 18,750-ton Trident nuclear submarine is the most complex war machine the United States Navy has ever produced: a $1.8 billion marvel crammed with more modern military technology than any other vessel in the world. Deep beneath the ocean it can sail for months, undetectable to enemies.

Now for the first time, veteran Time magazine correspondent Douglas C. Waller -- granted more access to one of these awesome submarines than any journalist before -- penetrates the silent, secret world of nuclear subs, taking you on a tension-packed, three-month patrol under the Atlantic Ocean inside the U.S.S. Nebraska, fondly nicknamed Big Red. In chilling detail, witnessed through the eyes of the men on board and told in their own words, Big Red reveals the top-secret procedures for starting World War III, including secret codes, elaborate fail-safe mechanisms, and highly classified battle tactics for nuclear combat. It's a ride you'll never forget.

Customer Reviews:

Journalistic description of sub life.......2005-10-31

I don't know about you, but I've never been on a nuclear submarine, and have no idea how they work. This book reads like a Rolling Stone-style investigative article, minus the hip counterculture references, in that it focuses on the people and machines working together for a task. It does its best to push that task to the background and portray instead for us the life which wraps around that unspoken task, and how the psychologies of these individuals were able to adapt. It gets a bit fat in the second half (like most of our lives, I suppose) and is never a dramatic or flashy read, but if you wouldn't mind reading a 250 page Newsweek article on submariners, this book is a fertile ground for the imagination.

Sail Quietly and Carry a Very Big Stick.......2005-06-07

We all know they're out there...God help the bad guys if they ever have to launch. The U.S. Navy has 18 ballistic missle submarines, known as "nukes" or "boomers". The Nebraska ( Big Red ) is one of them. Carrying 24 missles, each with five MIRV'ed ( multiple independent re-entry vehicles ) nuclear weapons ranging in yield from approximately 250 to 475 kilotons ( the Hiroshima bomb was about 70 kilotons ). Meet the men ( no gals, thank you ) that crew this sub. Learn what they do on a typical patrol, how they do it, and to a lesser extent why they do it ( it's not just a job, nor really an adventure ). The one weakness of this book is how sterile it is. Like the sub they man, most of the crew are described as well scrubbed, highly capable and about as salty as a junior executive or assistant college professor. I suppose that's to be expected. No rough and ready warriors are to be portrayed. Might scare the public. Still, I recommend this book.

Ever want to sail on a submarine? Read this book..........2005-02-20

For so many young men, submarines are the things of fancy - objects of awe that create dreams. Many people are members of the Submarine corps, but for those of us that are not, we have to rely on people like Douglas Waller to help us understand all that goes on during a "regular" patrol.

Waller was granted uncommon access to spend a patrol on board the USS Nebraska (SSBN-739), and gives us a wonderful account of those three months.

Starting with the challenging departure from home port (this particular submarine is not based at a shore port like some ships; instead, it is based slightly inland, which requires travel down a lengthy channel before reaching the ocean), Waller engrosses the reader from page one.

I enjoyed the entire book - I felt as though Waller was giving me the opportunity to spend three months on patrol (although I did it in a few days, reading through the 400+ pages that he has written for us). I never once found myself wanting less - I do not think that he included any non-relevant information or extraneous details.

After reading this book, I have a better understanding of how tough the life of a submariner can be, and why these men demand our ultimate respect. Three months sitting underwater with virtually no human contact except for your shipmates must play havoc with a sailors' psyche, but they all perform admirably.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the United States Naval Submarine Corps.

As close as you'll get to being there..........2004-08-26

As a former submariner on U.S. fast attack submarines, I was skeptical as to how accurate this book could be.

I was hooked before the end of the first chapter -- in fact, I was blown out of the water, pardon the pun.

The author must have not only gotten immense cooperation from the navy, but also from many of the sailors. The level of candor in this book is unparalleled.

The book started to read like a glowing review of submarines, where no one was less than 100% gung-ho navy. But you soon start to see some of the attitudes of real people -- not everyone is happy in their job, many people become exhausted, lonely, and scared -- it's not all medals and photo opportunities.

I can't wait to have my family and friends read this book -- it discusses the life I had lived in subs in detail and clarity that I could never hope to achieve -- you won't get a more accurate picture without signing on the dotted line.

BIG RED.......2004-02-26

I am a veteran of 22 years and 17 FBM submarine patrols including 5 years onboard a diesel submarine. What made me throw the book in the garbage can was when the author starts to praise the unique intellengence of a sailor because the individual achived the rank of E-7 or Cheif Petty Officer. That is far from the truth. There are many E-6 Petty Officers in the Submarine Service that have more brains and knowledge than the E-7 that they work for. The only reason an E-7 has so much power is because he is constantly protecting the back side of the other group of ELITE individuals called OFFICERS. It is the Officers that have made the Navy a corrupt branch of the Armed Forces. I work for the United States Army and from what I have seen and experienced the Navy should take lessons from the Army on how to treat individuals with the rank of E-1 thru E-6. I would never let my son join the Navy. It is corrupt. I am quite sure the Navy had a lot to say as to how the book was written and what went into it. It is a sad case when the author stooped so low in writting this book. I regret that I served 22 years in the Navy.

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