Book Description
The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since. Timothy Egan's critically acclaimed account rescues this iconic chapter of American history from the shadows in a tour de force of historical reportage. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, Egan does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes, "the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgency and respect" (New York Times). In an era that promises ever-greater natural disasters, "The Worst Hard Time" is "arguably the best nonfiction book yet" (Austin Statesman Journal) on the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land and a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of trifling with nature.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding.......2007-10-10
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
This is an outstanding book! I had no idea how bad the Dust Bowl was. I was so impressed with the book that I bought a copy for each of my 3 siblings.
Unbelievable!.......2007-10-03
This book was fantastic. Although the majority of books I read are fiction, I'm not hesitant to read good non-fiction. This book was so well written that it reads like a taut novel. Along with Seabiscuit and The Devil in the White City, it is one of the best historical books I've read. Very well researched and thought out. You almost can't believe that this could have actually happened. You feel like you know the characters, and you certainly root for them even though you seemingly know how it will turn out. I would recommend this book to any avid reader - fiction or non-fiction.
Hopefully, we will learn from our past.......2007-10-02
This is an important event in US history that is so relevant today, supplying more fuel for both side of the ongoing debate on global warming.
I found it a bit difficult to stay connected to the characters. In spite of that, the story remained interesting, showing the plight and hardships endured by the generation before us, and bringing us an awareness of our fragile ecosystem.
Eye Opening and Hard to Put Down.......2007-09-25
A must read for history buffs and readers in general. Information places the midwest, its people, and past in an entirely different light of appreciation. (Absolutely Facinating)!
Fine story, good history, a little light on analysis.......2007-09-18
Egan's *Worst Hard Time* is intriguing and largely well done, if a bit relentless. Granted, he's writing about a phenomenon that dragged on for years, repeatedly raising and dashing ever-slimmer hopes; the people who lived the "Dust Bowl" years were literally worn out, but Egan needed to do something more with the material than recreate that sensation. Toward the last third of the book, in particular, a kind of sameness creeps into the narrative, as if Egan didn't really know what else to say -- which I suspect is connected to my sense that he relied too much on too few sources (including a diary that he overuses) -- and his slightly jerky style gets distracting (he's not a great one for writing transitions). For me, one failing is that Egan never explains, in any specific way, the origin and cause of the "black dusters" and other freakish weather phenomena of the "Dust Bowl" era. He tells us that the dust storms came because the topsoil had been carved off by overfarming (and then aggravated by the abandonment of unsuccessful farms), but a meteorological or ecological explanation - even a nontechnical one - wouldn't have been a bad idea. His description of the CCC efforts at re-grassing the plains left me with significant questions that he doesn't answer: Given that the dust storms continued unabated throughout the effort, what was the government's strategy for protecting the newly planted grass during the time it would have taken for it to mature enough to hold the soil? And how did they water it? In addition, I'd have appreciated a more substantive "bring us up to date" chapter at the end that explained more clearly what happened in the wake of the human and policy failures of the Dust Bowl. Nor would a little class analysis have hurt -- other than wagging a kind of general finger at get-rich schemes perpetrated both by private interests and by the government, he seems careful not to accuse anybody too directly of creating an ecological disaster, of maiming (psychologically and literally) and killing tens of thousands of people, or of engaging in a kind of class warfare that embodied the ferocious social Darwinism of Depression-era capitalism. Finally, I'd just point out that the book isn't really the story of "survivors" of the Dust Bowl; there are essentially no survivors, and this is no movie-of-the-week tale of grit, courage, and heroism that win out in the end. The people Egan follows are bleak and broken, and their desperation is palpable. *Worst Hard Time* begs the question: Is there any redemption? I think Egan knows there was none, but he seems loathe to say it in so many words.
Average customer rating:
- Great Information for arthritis sufferers
- Using The Book
- Great Book!
- The Type of Arthritis the Author Has Should Be Revealed!
- a miracle
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Conquering Arthritis: What Doctors Don't Tell You Because They Don't Know: 9 Secrets I Learned the Hard Way
Barbara D. Allan
Manufacturer: Shining Prairie Flower Productions
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Binding: Paperback
 Healthy
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How to Eat Away Arthritis: Gain Relief from the Pain and Discomfort of Arthritis Through Nature's Remedies
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RESPeRATE Blood Pressure Lowering Device
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Airborne Effervescent Health Formula, Original Orange, 10 Tablets (Pack of 3)
ASIN: 0971889708 |
Book Description
This book provides hard-earned, practical, detailed information that is critical for successful healing of arthritis, but that has never before been collected in one book. Without this information many people with arthritis will not get well.
The information is organized into a well-researched, easy-to-follow plan for getting well again and includes case histories of people with dramatic and lasting recoveries.
It focuses not just on coping with the symptoms of arthritis, but on correcting its underlying causes using proven alternative medicine and pain management techniques.
Anyone who is serious about healing from arthritis needs this book.
Customer Reviews:
Great Information for arthritis sufferers.......2007-09-02
This author has figured out what causes many cases of arthritis. I have osteoarthritis and have been following her recommendations for about a month now. I can already tell a difference in the way I feel. If I cheat, I can really tell the difference the next day. I recommend this book.
Using The Book.......2007-03-26
Book was very organized and as a result was clear. The format of explanation and then giving a plan of action was excellent. The only thing it needed to be a 5 Star was a little more humor.
Great Book!.......2007-03-26
A different theory at what causes arthritis, written by someone who generally cured herself. Talks a lot about food sensitivities that cause arthritis and how to figure out what your food sensitivity so you can avoid or reduce your expose thus feel better.
The Type of Arthritis the Author Has Should Be Revealed!.......2007-03-13
I think this is a good book, but unfortunately, the author's type of arthritis (allergic) is not related to rheumatoid arthritis, which is what my husband has. So, basically, I wasted my money on a book we cannot use.
a miracle.......2007-01-20
This book and the ideas expressed in it are nothing short of a miracle. I started having my first hints of RA 11 months ago. It took 3 months of rapidly developing pain in most of my joints until I was finally diagnosed. After the devastating news & realization that the heavy drugs I was on were not having much if any effect I started seeking out alternatives on the internet. That is when I ran across the food/arthritis connection & this book - Conquering Arthritis. It has been nothing short of a miracle. After the week detox I could already bend my fingers which was something I thought I would not do again, I was already convinced. The process of healing is a very long & stressful task. Identifying all my problem foods took 4 - 5 months & it seemed like I would never be able to eat a normal meal. It has been well worth it as now I have no pain from RA. This takes complete dedication & I was amazed at how much strength I had as I went though so many struggles emotionally & physically to be pain free. My motivation was thinking about a miserable future where I couldn't walk & enjoy the outdoors which made the alternative, the temporary struggles of the diet, seem like nothing. I can now make relatively normal meals again with just a few substitutions. I know that at this point I am not completely healed but I am well on my way. It has been a year since my first pains. I have come so far & feel so blessed everytime I go out to take a jog or hike. Barbara Allan has been such a blessing and an inspiration. I am so thankful for this book. I encourage anyone with any kind of arthritis to buy it. It is life changing!
Book Description
The decline of cheap oil is inspiring increasing numbers of North Americans to achieve some measure of backyard food self-sufficiency. In hard times, the family can be greatly helped by growing a highly productive food garden, requiring little cash outlay or watering.
Currently popular intensive vegetable gardening methods are largely inappropriate to this new circumstance. Crowded raised beds require high inputs of water, fertility and organic matter, and demand large amounts of human time and effort. But, except for labor, these inputs depend on the price of oil. Prior to the 1970s, North American home food growing used more land with less labor, with wider plant spacing, with less or no irrigation, and all done with sharp hand tools. But these sustainable systems have been largely forgotten. Gardening When It Counts helps readers rediscover traditional low-input gardening methods to produce healthy food.
Designed for readers with no experience and applicable to most areas in the English-speaking world except the tropics and hot deserts, this book shows that any family with access to 3-5,000 sq. ft. of garden land can halve their food costs using a growing system requiring just the odd bucketful of household waste water, perhaps two hundred dollars worth of hand tools, and about the same amount spent on supplies - working an average of two hours a day during the growing season.
Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series
Customer Reviews:
Gardening When it Counts.......2007-09-24
This book is an exciting addition to books on vegetable growing- so much so, that many
others become unnecessary. The author covers in detail everything about the art- from seed buying,
his own complete organic fertilizer recipe, preparing the soil, simple tools, planting and watering etc
His long experience and total integrity and commitment shine through and make it a must for those
wanting to seriously feed themselves.
Mostly good - with attitude.......2007-09-14
This book was highly recommended to me and I bought it hoping to learn some techniques to help in growing food plants and vegetables for our home use. Since the author lives in a very distinct growing area, if I lived in a maritime New Zealand area it would probably be a perfect book. Many of his techniques would only work in his specific climate and for a full time gardener, which I am not. Sigh. The section on growing and storing each individual type of food is excellent if you can adapt it to your own climate. I was not too happy with the preachy, arrogant, "Everyone else is an idiot and only I know how to do it right" attitude which extends the lenght of the book by quite a bit. Overlooking that, there are a few helpful tidbits but there are other books that I think are more helpful.
best garden guide i've found.......2007-08-15
after looking through a lot of gardening books, i can confidently say that this book provides the best basis of knowledge for starting a garden. My garden is in only its first year, but with the info in this book, I'm already making money selling organic produce through two different coops.
Great for first time gardeners.......2007-05-10
I will be starting my first garden this summer and this was the first book on gardening I read. It makes for a great introduction. Solomon goes into detail about how plants grow and what they need from the gardener. He has a good formula for Organic Fertilizer. He has a good list of what tools you need and what to look for when buying them. He has a great section is the back of the book that goes vegetable by vegetable and explains how to grow and harvest them. He also has a great bibliography in the back that points you to a lot of additional reading.[...]
Great hands-on resource.......2007-03-25
I have a whole shelf of vegetable gardening books, but I turn to this one again and again. Solomon gives clear information on tools, making garden beds, mixing up your own fertilizer (this alone is worth the price of the book), selecting seeds, storing them (another great section), and growing individual crops.
I especially appreciate his perspective as an ex-seedsman, as well as his discussion on different types of brassicas (cabbage, kale, broccoli, and the like) and onions. I had no idea what the difference between long-day and short-day onions were until I read this book. While I garden intensively, I find his discussion on the differences between the intensive method (John Jeavons, Square Foot Gardening, and the like), and the row method.
This book is worth reading and rereading.
Average customer rating:
- Fantastic.
- Wow Huston comes through
- Great hard-boiled vampire action
- Meet Joe Pitt, Again!
- Vampyre Noir -- subtle maneuvers
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No Dominion: A Novel
Charlie Huston
Manufacturer: Del Rey
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Binding: Paperback
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Vampires
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ASIN: 0345478258
Release Date: 2006-12-26 |
Book Description
Joe Pitt’s life sucks. He hasn’t had a case or a job in God knows how long and his stashes are running on empty. What stashes? The only ones that count to a guy like Joe: blood and money. The money he uses to buy blood; the blood he drinks. Hey, buddy, it’s that or your neck–you want to choose? The only way to lay his hands on both is to take a gig with the local Vampyre Clan. See, something new is on the streets, a new high, a high so strong it can send a Vampyre spazzing through Joe’s local watering hole. Till Joe sends him through a plate-glass window, that is.
So it’s time for Joe to gut up and swallow that pride and follow the leads wherever they go. It won’t be long before he’s slapping stoolies, getting sapped, and being taken for a ride above 110th Street. Someone’s pulling Joe’s strings, and now he’s riding the A train, looking to find who it is. He’s gonna cut them when he finds them–the strings and the hands that hold them.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic........2007-08-10
Not only am I waiting on pins and needles for the next book in the series, but my boyfriend, who doesn't usually read, is completely hooked. It's an easy, high action read.
Wow Huston comes through.......2007-07-25
Looking for a gritty sam spade vampire novel. Almost perfict noir. A little romance, alittle mystery, and a deeper story arch, this novel is for you.
Great hard-boiled vampire action.......2007-07-21
Down on his luck and running low on his blood stash, vampire private detective Joe Pitt decides to do what he never does--solicit business. His former mentor in The Society is willing to offer him a job--tracking down the strange drug that turns vampires into out-of-control crazies. Although The Society is dedicated to the proposition that vampires eventually come out of the closet, they don't want to rush that moment, and they certainly don't want to come out of the closet with vampires mowing down dozens of normal humans.
Pitt's investigation takes him across the vampire worlds of New York. From the south of Manhatten, where members of the Society struggle to power, to the northern end--the Hood, where African-American vampires suppress dissent and urge a bloody war against the Coalition that rules the central part of Manhattan.
Almost from the start, Pitt's life is in danger. In the vampire world. a rogue is never trusted and frequently killed. While Pitt merely wants to retain his independence, the other vampires see him as a rogue to be killed. It doesn't help that he pissed off the Coalition's leader so badly they'll do just about anything to kill him.
Pitt gradually unravels the plan, and learns that his friends in The Society have been infiltrated.
Author Charlie Huston continues his fascinating Joe Pitt series with another hard-boiled vampire story. Pitt, with a convincing blend of cynicism and desire to do the right thing makes an interesting protagonist. Huston adds some nice twists at the end, leaving Pitt frustrated and falling short of his goals.
Charlie Huston's prose is fast and engaging. NO DOMINATION is a hard book to put down. Nicely done.
Meet Joe Pitt, Again!.......2007-06-20
Joe Pitt is back and better than ever. I do think that reading "Already Dead" (the first book in the series) would be nice, but I don't think really necessary. In this latest installment, Joe is low on jobs, therefore making blood (his secret stash) thin. The story opens with Joe, a self proclaimed muscle man, encountering a "stoned" vampire, which is impossible because of what the "virus" does to the human body (normally it rids itself of things that can hurt it, which explains why Joe can drink large quantities of alcohol and not get drunk). Curious, yet stuggling with bigger issues, he is low on money and blood, and his girlfriend, Evie. Evie is HIV+ and wants Joe (who knows his blood can cure her, but make her a vampire) to donate blood.
So Joe can at least solve one problem, money for blood, he reluctantly asks his old friend, Terry for work. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the beginning of an adventure/search for the truth in what is making newly turned vampires act crazy? Joe soon discovers that it is "anathema", the blood of someone newly turned ingested by a vampire. To determine who is behind this new drug, Joe must encounter several clans within New York. Amongst them is a very old female enforcer (who lives on the "hill", attended Columbia and appears to be manufacturing the drug); a "hood" leader named DJ Grave Digga (who runs Pit Bull fights and acts like a gangsta..LOL; a barber with information (Percy); a vampire who starves himself (takes only a few sips of blood) to understand the "meaning of life"; a young "Count" (who is caught up more in the trappings of being a vampire, than really being one) and several who hate him and want him dead. So while solving a mystery, that in the end only makes sense, you wonder what will become of his girlfriend and will she learn of the truth.
As the story unravels, the issue becomes is "everything what it seems", and "who can Joe trust"? I loved this book, especially the story of his love for Evie was the most compelling. Will I tell you what happens? No, but I will tell you that I can't wait until the next one!
Vampyre Noir -- subtle maneuvers.......2007-05-14
In No Dominion, Joe Pitt has settled down a bit since Already Dead. The jobs have been few and far between but he's been doing okay -- except his stash is down to 3 pints, his girlfriend's HIV is getting worse, and she's wants to know what Joe does for a living. But that's just background as Joe's face is getting pushed through safety glass by a vamp hyped up on drugs. This is no small thing since the vyrus doesn't let vampyres get more than a light and fleeting buzz from drugs. So what's the drug that can get a vamp high? Who's making it? And where the heck are all these new vamps coming from?
No Dominion is noir squared. Joe Pitt is a vampire Sam Spade. Joe's a cynic but he can't help trying to do the right thing even when it means it might cost him everything he is. Vampyres are all about politics and territory. To learn what the new drug is and who is making it, Joe must travel out of his territory, and to do that he has to have the help of Terry, who wants to control him, and Daniel, who believes Joe should take his place when he dies. Joe is a holdout not beholden to any clan but picking up jobs and living free by Terry's whim in Terry's territory.
Pitt might not be a mover and a shaker in vampyre politics but he knows when he's being used and, even knowing, he allows it to get the job done. But in the end it just might cost him more than he's willing to pay. Huston continues to develop the character and the story unfolds allowing us to see how it works -- there are no winners here. There are those who are used and those who don't realize they are being used and those who make a choice for a better chance for others.
While you could probably pick this book up without having read Already Dead; there's a lot of backstory given in the first chapters to help out with the set up. However, the first book is excellent, so give yourself a treat.
There's no happy ending, just a visit to a place that's got to be worse than wherever you are now and that's got to make this world and this reality look better just by comparison -- and a nifty mystery to boot.
Book Description
They meet in a no–name diner. A shadowy man hands Burke a CD dossier of someone he wants found. Minutes later, as Burke watches from an alley, his client is gunned down by a professional hunter–killer team. Burke slips away, unsure if he’s been spotted. Later, when he examines the dossier, he discovers that the missing woman is Beryl Preston, a girl he’d rescued from a brutal pimp twenty years earlier—when she was only thirteen—and returned to her father. Now he has to find her again—not only because she might be in danger, but also because he has to prove to himself that his rescue mission hadn’t been financed by a predator who wanted his “property” returned. His search will force him to confront a new kind of human ugliness and, finally, to practice the survivalist triage that has marked—and cursed—his life since childhood. In Mask Market, Burke the outlaw investigator finds himself searching for the truth: not only about a girl named Beryl, but also about himself.
This is classic Burke: dark, dangerous, and galvanizing, from the opening scene to the explosive climax.
Customer Reviews:
Pass on Mask Market.......2007-10-03
First, let me say that I Love Andrew Vachss's early books, I agree with most of his social and political viewpoints and admire him as a man, but his writing has reached the point where it just plain stinks. Every new book is just a series of boring conversations between his by now very familiar main characters, conversations which go nowhere and signify nothing. You can always count on a slew of new anecdotes about life in jail and life on the streets. You can count on a plump female character talking about how she needs to lose weight and Burke saying how she doesn't because he digs fat chicks. (okay, Andrew, after all this time we know you like a lady with a little meat on her bones. Stop rubbing that point in our faces) You can also count on a paper-thin "plot" being tossed in as an afterthought, with the plot never being fully realized or explained. I told myself 5 or 6 books ago that I would never read another Vachhs book because at this point, all they do is waste my time. However, I inevitably find myself picking up each new novel and reading it, hoping it will be as good as his earlier works, only to be disappointed every time. Mr. Vachss, here's an idea; instead of trying to crank out a book every year, why not take some time off and come up with a really good plot before you begin writing again? With apologies, from a former---and hopefully future---fan.
Weakest of the Series.......2007-09-17
I am a huge Vachss fan. I really enjoy the Burke series. Mr. Vachss has also had a terrific effect on child abuse and child pornography in this country.
That being said, this is the weakest of all of the Burke novels. It gets extremely preachy. He also spends a lot of time reliving events from past Burke books. This may be due to the fact that he changed publishers, but I don't know. All-in-all, I felt this was an OK story but it bogged down in several places and we got lectures instead of action.
Oh well, they can't all be great--only most of them.
Let's hope "Terminal" is back up to his usual stratospheric heights of excellence.
Still writing winners.......2007-09-07
I discovered the Burke books 16 years ago in a small run down Alaska bookstore. The man behind the counter told me to put down the trash I was reading and take "Flood" on the house. What a gift that book was to me. Vachss doesn't flinch from the reality of the "Children of the Secret." Nor does he waver in his ongoing war against those that hurt children. If you're looking for a hard eged hero who pulls no punches and takes no prisoners, the Burke books deliver. More importantly, the characters evolve and grow over time. This is the case with Mask Market. Burke hasn't lost his edge, though it has softened a bit. Like many of us the character looks back on some decisions and wonders if he would have taken the same action under the same circumstances now. It's this evolution of the Burke character that glues his universe together. Rather than a collection of short stories, the novels read more like excerpts from a complex life peopled by engaging and very real folks. I highly recommend reading the entire series from start to finish. It's an intense ride with a real message. Vachss is more than an author though, he's putting his money and his time where his pen is so to speak. His organization makes a difference in the lives of countless children. Read a Burke novel and if you aren't outraged, you're not listening....
Back to his old stomping grounds.......2007-08-21
After the disappointing Two Trains Running, Vachss returns to Burke and writes the kind of story that beats virtually all other writers out there.
The thing with Vachss is that he tells a story apart from the "mystery". The story is usually about child abuse and he does this extremely well, allows the reader to feel the issues and to help understand where Vachss is coming from - he is without a doubt an extremely important writer.
As for the mystery, well Vachss is not really here to tell a mystery story, it is more of an instructional tale that he weaves. The mystery is secondary and for me, I don't mind if it is a bit messy and unclear, Vachss has already grabbed me with his writings in the first two-thirds of the book.
Recommended.
Maybe it's me but I was bored..........2007-07-24
For the record, I LOVE Burke. I have been reading this series from the begining, and I have really enjoyed most of them. But this last one felt like the odd one out of the bunch, and didn't seem to fit in with his normal "saving a child" books. I hope in the next one coming out in Septemeber, that he goes back to Burke's roots.
Average customer rating:
- Enjoyable first-person story in dark a NYC crawling with zombies and vampires
- Vampires vs. Zombies--well done
- A disappointment
- dark, gritty, and mean
- The New Noir meets NYC Vampires
|
Already Dead: A Novel
Charlie Huston
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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Hard-Boiled
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
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Rain Dogs
ASIN: 034547824X
Release Date: 2005-12-27 |
Book Description
Those stories you hear? The ones about things that only come out at night? Things that feed on blood, feed on us? Got news for you: they’re true. Only it’s not like the movies or old man Stoker’s storybook. It’s worse. Especially if you happen to be one of them. Just ask Joe Pitt.
There’s a shambler on the loose. Some fool who got himself infected with a flesh-eating bacteria is lurching around, trying to munch on folks’ brains. Joe hates shamblers, but he’s still the one who has to deal with them. That’s just the kind of life he has. Except afterlife might be better word.
From the Battery to the Bronx, and from river to river, Manhattan is crawling with Vampyres. Joe is one of them, and he’s not happy about it. Yeah, he gets to be stronger and faster than you, and he’s tough as nails and hard to kill. But spending his nights trying to score a pint of blood to feed the Vyrus that’s eating at him isn’t his idea of a good time. And Joe doesn’t make it any easier on himself. Going his own way, refusing to ally with the Clans that run the undead underside of Manhattan–it ain’t easy. It’s worse once he gets mixed up with the Coalition–the city’s most powerful Clan–and finds himself searching for a poor little rich girl who’s gone missing in Alphabet City.
Now the Coalition and the girl’s high-society parents are breathing down his neck, anarchist Vampyres are pushing him around, and a crazy Vampyre cult is stalking him. No time to complain, though. Got to find that girl and kill that shambler before the whip comes down . . . and before the sun comes up.
Customer Reviews:
Enjoyable first-person story in dark a NYC crawling with zombies and vampires.......2007-08-15
"But I did get sloppy last night, and someone is gunna swing for it. So I'll fry a little to keep them happy and to keep myself alive. Because I don't want to die. Except, oh yeah, I'm already dead."
An interesting blend of gritty suspense, first-person detective thriller, and action in the context of a dark New York City (NYC) riddled with zombies, vampires and their socio-political hierarchies, Charlie Huston mixes a tangy cocktail punch in the form of ALREADY DEAD. There's a love mixed in as well, but true to guy fiction, it's a bit tragic and certainly not the primary focus of this novel. I liked the noir feel of ALREADY DEAD, I liked the fast-paced action, I enjoyed the dark NYC settings, I even liked the politics amongst the vampire (or "Vampyre") clans. The wry, sardonic humor our main character Joe Pitt exudes prompted some laughs. Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt reminded me of Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs, but I liked Kovacs better. Charlie Huston's ALREADY DEAD hums with an impassioned detachment - if I can call it that - that stems from its main character Joe Pitt, and the book contains plenty of violence and explicit language. All of it builds the dark and gritty scene in an unsympathetic New York City nightlife crawling with vampyres, zombies and other creepy creatures you don't want to meet in a dark alley.
A cool, fun book overall, I still found the final pieces of the mystery puzzle a bit lacking, a bit anti-climactic. Although I liked the anti-hero persona of Joe Pitt, I thought the book had him in a reactionary role throughout. From beginning to end, Joe Pitt is always reacting to the circumstances others have set in motion, never really dictating any of his own. I suppose that's part of what makes this book a mystery/suspense, but it'd be nice to see Joe setting something up for once. Even at the end when he retains Horde's teeth and ultimately evades the Coalition and Predo, I thought he lucked out rather than eliciting an outcome of his own making.
There's some memorable soliloquies and humorous lines in this novel. That in and of itself made the reading experience very worthwhile.
"Death has truly and finally arrived.
Good.
I have failed. Failed as a child; failed as a man; failed as a revolutionary; failed as a lover; failed as a goodguy. My only success in life has been as a pawn. [Screw] it, I never asked to be any of those things. And my life was over by rights long ago. I've just been waiting to catch up to it. Then my heart explodes, beating a manic rhythm, and a I realize my life is not over.
Hell."
The Story, possible SPOILERS.
We pick up the story as rogue vampyre Joe Pitt eliminates some "shamblers" (zombies) which pose a threat to the underground Vampyre hierarchy by drawing undue attention. 6-foot-3 Joe Pitt looks 28, but he was was turned into a Vampyre some 30 years ago, and initiated into the vampyre clan the Society in New York City by his then-friend, Terry Bird. In Terry's clan the Society, Joe serves as the Society's de facto Enforcer, meting out the Society's justice and punishment. He leaves the Society though to live as a rogue vampyre, no longer wanting to play someone else's thug enforcer. Joe is very cynical and often times unapologetic over his brutal actions and prosaic immorality.
Joe settles into a life of a rogue vampyre after he leaves the Society. Sometimes he's hired for jobs by the Society, other times, he's hired for jobs by the biggest vampyre clan, the Coalition. The Coalition hires Joe to eliminate some zombies as the book begins, zombies he cuts down on Society's turf. After eliminating the zombies, Joe realizes he still needs to find and kill the carrier who is at large. Predo from the Coalition threatens agonizing death (sunlight) if Joe doesn't clean up the mess from the zombies Joe killed, a mess in which Joe leaves an innocent witness alive and the zombie corpses in plain sight.
It's Joe's soft spot for trying-to-do-the-right-thing which lands him into some trouble, and Predo from the Coalition exploits these good-guy tendencies, and stages events which ultimately position Joe between a rock and hard place. Predo further confounds Joe's problems as he obliges Joe to help the most wealthy family in NYC (and the closest thing NYC has to an aristocracy) find their missing 14 year-old girl, Amanda Horde. Dale Horde (CEO and founder of Horde Bio Tech) and his wife Marilee are seemingly at odds with each other and with Joe. Meanwhile, Terry and the Society are on Joe's case for all the unwanted events on their turf. The most powerful and also the most surreptitious Vampyre clan the Enclave also seems to have adopted Joe against his wishes.
Between trying to balance the different vampyre clans (Society, the Coalition, the Enclave), finding the zombie carrier, finding the Horde girl, Joe also struggles to maintain a semblance of normalcy with his HIV-positive girlfriend Evie. He loves Evie and Evie loves him but of course she knows nothing of what he really is; that is, his vampyre life.
Welcome to Charlie Huston's ALREADY DEAD, where the [everything] hits the fan, and Joe Pitt must solve some riddles and cope to survive with everyone breathing down his neck. Except, of course, he's already dead.
The action is good, and I was glad the end refrained from a Matrix-esque finale. However, I was disappointed by the reactionary elements in the storytelling and the various pieces of the mystery puzzle itself seemed empty once we learn everything. Still, there's some good kick-butt writing here, fast pacing, plenty of action and of course, a hard-nosed gritty first-person characterization to sate anyone's appetite.
Vampires vs. Zombies--well done.......2007-07-21
Death would be easier for vampire-detective Joe Pitt if he'd join up with one of the vampire organizations that rule New York. The Coalition owns the center of Manhatten and they've got plenty of money and access to blood. Further south, though, where Pitt lives, The Society has resources that could help him. (Pitt definitely doesn't want to join up with the crazy vampires of The Enclave--vampires who insist on starving themselves of blood in a weird hope that they'll thus overcome the 'Vyrus' that turned them into vampires. Being independent, a rogue, has some advantages, though. Pitt manages to work for multiple groups and keeps himself supplied that way.
When Pitt runs into a group of zombies, he realizes something has been added to the equation. Zombies aren't unknown, but they don't tend to run in groups. Somewhere, there's a vombie master, and the Coalition instructs Pitt to terminate him at once. Then there's the beautiful woman looking for her daughter. Could the girl have simply run away to enjoy the goth scene, or is there more going on? When Pitt's emergency blood stash vanishes, and rumors of a wraith start to circulate, he finds himself in a world of trouble--with none of the vampire organizations ready to help.
Author Charlie Huston creates a powerful blend of hardboiled detective story and vampire urban fantasy. Pitt is a strong and sympathetic character as he strives to keep his independence, to discover the truth, and to keep the zombie master from converting more innocent people.
Huston's New York is a strange and fascinating place--physically it's the same New York ordinary humans see, but the social overlay of Vampire society lets us see the city through different eyes. Pitt's loner habits and his tendency to slap people around to find the truth definitely bring the best of the old hardboiled detective stories to mind.
A disappointment.......2007-06-20
I rushed to buy Already Dead after reading that it is being turned into a film since books are almost always so much better than their celluloid counterparts and all the reviews I read praised it highly. Unfortunately, it just never grabbed me in the way I was hoping. It was well written, was plenty dark -- just how I like my vampire stories, and the characters were well developed; but for whatever reason the story was somewhat offputting. It all seemed too contrived and convoluted. I just never felt a bond with the characters, and by the end I hardly cared what happened. I was just ready for it to be over so I could move on to the next thing.
dark, gritty, and mean.......2007-06-16
THIS is the contemporary vampire vampire novel I have been waiting for and just didn't know it. While many vampire novels are veering more towards a romantic angle, Huston is bringing the archetype back into a down'n'dirty milieu. What Huston is doing with the undead isn't breathtakingly original - vampire detective, vampirism-as-virus, et al. - but his approach is. Huston comes from a hard boiled crime fiction background, and it makes a difference; the book crackles with a rough energy that is lacking in many of the fantasy/noir hybrids I've read. This is easily one ofthe best and most refreshing vampire novels I have read in years. Freakin' awesome.
The New Noir meets NYC Vampires.......2007-05-13
Noir Writing
adj.
1. Of or relating to the film noir genre.
2. Of or relating to a genre of crime literature featuring tough, cynical characters and bleak settings.
3. Suggestive of danger or violence.
Gentle readers should note that this book contains, in tasteful amounts of course, and integral to the story, violence, blood, gore, paranormal beings, cross dressers, burnt out Hippie Vampire leaders, more violence, and kinky sex. But wait, it gets even better.
Do you know over 4000 thousand Vampyre, attached to various clans like The Society, The Coalition and The Dusters live, work and drink in Manhattan ?
Trying to remain unattached and pick up a payday of a few pints of Blood, Vampyre Joe Pike takes care of " problems " for the Clans. And Joe is not a Really Nice Person. Funny, tough, honorable and a smart mouth, but Not Nice. Not even a little.
If Anne Rice Vampires are your trip, Tri Chic in velvet smoking jackets, sipping 100 year old sherry while babbling their soulful tales just keep going; because if you tool up with a tape recorder next to Joe, anti hero of "Already Dead" he`ll likely break your arms before inviting you out back for a drink or two. On you of course.
The other, more articulate reviewers below have pretty much covered the plot, so all I want to say is this: There is some seriously good writing going on here.
Huston has created a fully formed character in Joe Pike, as you follow him and his friends through the gritty streets of New York, he`ll charm, infuriate, depress and excite you, and make you laugh. Your going to like him and hate him, root for him to win and not care if he gets his fangs kicked in, and that`s just in the first 100 pages....
Besides, you got to like an author whose ultimate threat is staking you out in a New Jersey Mall parking lot to watch the Sun come up. I live in NJ. Believe me....you don`t want that.
Buy this Book and read it.
Average customer rating:
- Stephanie Plum series
- Got as gift - my brother loved it
- Finally the Ranger we've been waiting for!
- Hard Eight - on audio
- Like a Tastykake, but Without the Fat and Calories
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Hard Eight (Stephanie Plum Series #8)
Janet Evanovich
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0312265859
Release Date: 2002-06-18 |
Amazon.com
In Hard Eight, Stephanie Plum picks up a case a little nastier than anything the wisecracking bounty hunter's seen before. Evelyn Soder and her young daughter have gone on the run, leaving an angry ex-husband who's planning to collect on a child custody bond that will leave Evelyn's grandmother homeless. Stephanie's first clue that there's more to it than that comes in the form of Eddie Abruzzi, a shady local businessman who warns her to butt out of the case. Stephanie doesn't scare easily, but when Abruzzi's henchmen leave a bag of snakes on her doorknob and tarantulas in her car, she has no choice but to call Ranger, the hunky man of mystery whom she already owes too many favors. Steph knows that Ranger will soon be calling in his marker, but with her ex- fiancé Joe Morelli out of the picture, that should be OK--shouldn't it? In the meantime, she's got other fugitives to catch, aided by the usual band of misfits, plus a bumbling correspondence-school lawyer who's developed the hots for Stephanie's sister, Valerie. And Steph's in for a surprise from her mother, who proves she's not above wielding a dangerous weapon to save her daughter's life.
Author Janet Evanovich has made a bold move in using a soupçon of child jeopardy to pull this series out of the comfortable but formulaic pattern it was threatening to fall into. It's still funny, and yes, some cars are destroyed, but now there's a real edge of darkness under the humor. Fans needn't fear, though: Jersey girl Stephanie is still full of sass and Tastykakes. --Barrie Trinkle
Book Description
In Hard Eight Stephanie, Morelli, Ranger, Lula, Valerie, and Grandma Mazur are strapped in for the ride of their lives. This time, Stephanie is hired to find a missing child. But things arent always as they seem and Stephanie must determine if shes working for the right side of the law. Plus, theres the Morelli question: can a Jersey girl keep her head on straight when more than just bullets are aimed at her heart? And with the Plum and Morelli relationship looking rocky, is it time for Ranger to move in for the kill? Janet Evanovichs latest thriller will leave readers begging for more.
Customer Reviews:
Stephanie Plum series.......2007-09-02
I love the Stephanie Plum series of novels. I really hate reading so I purchase them both in audio for me and paperback for houseguests and friends. I'm drawn in with the excitment and adventure of the story that Janet seems to capture in every novel. It has twists, turns, Lula, mystery, wonder, and of course two very "HOT" men! Who wouldn't want a mix of both men. :} I would recommend the "Plum" series, her "Full" series, as well as her earlier novels of mixed titles. They're all great fun and keep you as a reader at the edge of your seat waiting to see if a cars going to get blown up, who's died this week, who attends the pot roast dinner, who she sleeps with next, what will burn down next, and will she get her man (love or bounty). I hope you enjoy them as much as I have. I look forward to #14 in the "Plum" series, the next "Full" novel, and the new novel Janet recently wrote with a new author being released this October. Thank you!
Got as gift - my brother loved it.......2007-06-08
He's been hooked on the series - wonder how high the numbers will go?
Finally the Ranger we've been waiting for!.......2007-05-01
In Hard Eight, Stephanie has the usual problems - people trying to do her in, Lula wanting to shoot everyone in sight and a new woman - Jeanne Ellen who has some secret background with Ranger. But Ranger, oh Ranger - who finally gets Stephanie in bed and totally ruins her for any other man or so she thinks. She's still in love with Joe - handsome cop, good guy, protector, but Ranger.....hot, dark, sensitive, listens to classical music for heaven's sake is hot for Stephanie but has told her he's not the marrying kind. I say use Ranger for all he's worth and go back to Joe when you're ready to settle down. We could all use a Ranger in our lives!
Hard Eight - on audio.......2007-04-12
I have listened to the majority of the Stephanie Plum series on audio, narrated by talented voice actress C.J. Critt. Ms. Critt does a fantastic job with the voice characterizations, but even she could not make this a truly good story. I found this book a little "darker" and less humorous than the previous seven in the series. Stephanie began to get on my nerves in places. I enjoyed getting to know Ranger better and he has an even bigger share of this book than Joe Morelli. This is not a bad book and I will keep reading the series; however, this story is not as clever as some of the other Evanovich books.
Like a Tastykake, but Without the Fat and Calories.......2007-04-07
Janet E's Stephanie Plum series is one of my guilty reading pleasures. I brought Hard Eight with me on a six hour flight and it entertained me the entire way (wish I could same the same of the airline...). This particular offering doesn't really break any new ground - Stephanie is still the bad luck bounty hunter with an attraction for blown up cars and dangerous men. The regular cast of characters is out in full force - Lula, Grandma Mazur, Joe Morelli, Ranger, and Cousin Vinnie - as Stephanie tries to find a missing woman and child on the run from a mobster and capture a few bond hearing deadbeats (always amusing). The dialog is sarcastic and snappy, but in a few scenes it felt a bit overdone and contrived - no matter though, it's still an entertaining and fun read. I always wondered why they haven't turned any of these stories into a film or TV series - it could really be a great combination of comedy and action/adventure.
Book Description
"Once I picked it up I did not put it down until I finished . . . What Schwed has done is capture fully-in deceptively clean language-the lunacy at the heart of the investment business."-From the Foreword by Michael Lewis, Bestselling author of Liar's Poker
This hilarious portrait of everyday Wall Street and its denizens rings as true today as it did when it was first published in 1940. Writing with a rare mixture of wry cynicism and bonhomie reminiscent of Mark Twain and H. L. Mencken, Fred Schwed, Jr., skewers everyone including himself in his brilliant send-ups of bankers, brokers, traders, investors, analysts, and hapless customers.
"How great to have a reissue of a hilarious classic that proves the more things change the more they stay the same. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent." -Michael Bloomberg President, Bloomberg, LP
". . . one of the funniest books ever written about Wall Street."-Jane Bryant Quinn, The Washington Post
"It's amazing how well Schwed's book is holding up after 55 years. About the only thing that's changed on Wall Street is that computers have replaced pencils and graph paper. Otherwise, the basics are the same. The investor's need to believe somebody is matched by the financial advisor's need to make a nice living. If one of them has to be disappointed, it's bound to be the former."-John Rothchild, Author, A Fool and His Money Financial Columnist, Time magazine
"A delightful classic and reminder of excesses past and how little things change." -Bob Farrell, Senior Vice President, Merrill Lynch
Customer Reviews:
Know more about the stock market and participants.........2007-10-10
You should consider reading this book if you are an active investor in the stock market or even participating in the market through mutual funds. This book is too fun to read and most probably you will not be putting the book down till you finish it, at least I found it so interesting to finish it in one sitting. Though I read lot of more academic and conceptual books on investing, this book is also much relevant to investing.
The writing is so hilarious and it presents very hard look at brokers, bankers and different participants in the financial markets. Some of interesting chapters from this book for me are on stock options and short selling. If you don't like playing with stock options like me, then you will surely find the chapter on stock options much useful and fun to read. It would be worthwhile to consider reading this book before you visit your broker next time or investing in any stock based on tip from your portfolio manager.
An Amusing Review of Wall Street's Denizens, Past and Present.......2007-09-24
This funny book is a mild rebuke of Wall Street operators and Wall Street customers alike. In fact, there are many more outright crooks on the street than Schwed lets on, specially if they perceive you as an easy mark, an orphan or a widow. I speak from experience having seen them churn an account to milk it of commissions.
I was delighted to discover how old some of the Wall Street sayings are. It seems that nothing really changes in the human condition. One passage I found very entertaining is about a large group of Wall Street operators competing in a coin tossing game. As soon as you lose a toss, you are out of the game meaning that with each toss half of the players are gone. If you start with 500,000 players, after 15 tosses you have about 16 people left in the game. According to Schwed, these lucky people will soon take on airs of expert coin tossers even if they are winning based on pure luck. What I found amusing was that the author of a recent investment best seller uses this exact scenario to "prove" that most people who make money investing are just lucky. I wonder if this unnamed author read Schwed.
I found one commentary rather unnerving. Schwed say that you cannot buy "competence" on Wall Street. You can find a competent plumber and a competent lawyer or doctor but you cannot find a competent investment advisor. While I'm no fan of Wall Street operators, this statement seems over the top. They might be hard to find or maybe the competent ones don't need clients, but that there is a total lack of competence on Wall Street must be an exaggeration.
Read the book and be prepared to be entertained and instructed. There is a lot of solid Wall Street experience behind the humor.
A Masterpiece.......2007-09-11
All I can say is READ THIS! READ THIS! READ THIS! Very amusing and very dry treatise by a pro (yes, Mr. Carl) who clearly has been around a couple of blocks in Lower Manhattan.
American classic.......2007-01-17
This is a great book. The writing is first rate and the point of view is one that you should take into account as an investor, if not follow. It is a book that can be read many times. It is brilliant and a great read. Don't miss it!
An Occasionally Humorous But Dated Take on Human Nature.......2005-10-30
In a supposed conversation between the writers Ernest Hemmingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, it is claimed that Fitzgerald said that the rich are better than the rest of us, to which Hemmingway replied, "Yes, I know. They have more money." For me, this is and perhaps will always be the most humorous statement regarding the fundamental truth about money, class and human nature.
This was one of those leisurely reads on The Street that on occasion served the reader a laugh or two. Human nature remains the same then as well as now. Reading this book, I believe, will give you insight into the follies of today, which are on a grander and more pervasive scale than they were in the Roaring Twenties, because now with the internet, any fool can participate with his (often borrowed) money.
Book Description
A lifelong New Yorker, Rachel Alexander has seen her city change shape through the years. But while New York has never been cleaner and crime is rapidly in decline, a vestige of grittier days remains. When wealthy business owner Eleanor Redstone approaches Rachel to ask if she can investigate her father's murder—a brutal slaying that occurred when he was pushed onto the subway tracks—Rachel takes the case, plunging herself into parts of the city only its poorest residents have ever known. Because to solve Gardner Redstone's murder, Rachel must disguise herself as a homeless woman and live on the streets, searching for the dispossessed man witnesses say made the fatal push. In one of the coldest winters New York City has seen in years, Rachel is helped by a homeless Iraq War veteran, a man whose sad circumstances leave Rachel pondering her own fortunate life. This is a once-in-a-lifetime case that, before it's over, will engulf Rachel in a dangerous new world and change the way that she sees her city forever.
As her fans have come to expect, Carol Lea Benjamin once again uses deft plotting, an intimate knowledge of New York, and a considerable skill for creating believable and compelling characters to bring this captivating story to life.
Customer Reviews:
PI team of woman and dog investigate a murder........2007-09-03
Rachel Alexander and her dog, Dashiell are a team of private detectives. Yes, Dashiell is a very important part of Rachel's work. Most of us that have dogs realize how much a part of our lives they are and we treat them like the "kids" they are to us. When businessman Garner Redstone is pushed off the platform into the front of a subway train and is killed, Rachel receives a call from Redstone's daughter requesting that Rachel find out who did this terrible deed. It seems there were some homeless among those standing on the subway platform and could they have pushed Redstone? They were suspected and accused by many on the platform.
While seeing a bad fire among a group of people, some of who are homeless people that had lived in the burning building, Rachel wonders who could have set such a fire and put so many people out of a living area. Seeing all the homeless, she decided the best way to obtain information on this murder was to go underground and become a homeless person herself. Using "Eunice" as her homeless name and "Lookout" for Dashiell, she started touring the homeless areas near where the fire occurred. She was accepted by a few but rejected by most. Eunice didn't have the look or moves of a homeless woman. She had to learn--and fast! Some of the homeless took her under their wing and trusted her.
Rachel was in and out of underground living while attempting to find the stories of those on the subway platform at the time of the push murder. With the wife's knowledge, she took an undercover job in the exclusive store owned by the deceased and his wife. This store catered to only the high-class sector selling exclusively designed jackets, coats, purses, and ultra specialty dog coats! Rachel researched the files of all ex and present day employees trying to find someone that had any reason to kill Garner Redstone. Her research led her to several employees and others that had any reason to kill Redstone. Rachel made several trips to interview most of the people that could be suspected killers, including some of the homeless People.
Rachel had friends in the police department that got her information she was unable to find on her own. Dashiell was the talk and attention of all that met him, but he did not like some of them he met and made that known even though he wouldn't hurt them.
The Hard Way is a very good suspenseful read and it has some humor to lighten things up along the way. Rachel learns how extremely hard the homeless have it in their day-to-day attempt to exist. She ends up helping some of them in different ways. It has many surprises along the way including the ending as it wraps up the murder. A good read.
Easy on the mind.......2007-03-19
This is number nine in this series featuring "Research Specialist" Rachel Alexander and her faithful pit-bull Dashiell. These books are a nice read. No blood and gore, no shoot- outs not even psychological thrills. Just good detecting work hitting the streets, working the clues from our heroine who just happens to "help" people. I've read all of the books in this series and I have yet to figure out how Rachel pays her bills. She refers to a previous life as a wife and a dog trainer, but I can't see how finding lost soles, or solving `cold cases" pays her bills.
Besides that there are plots to the stories and Rachel does keep the pace moving along.
This outing she is looking for the person who shoved a man onto the subway. She goes undercover as a homeless person in New York in the winter. She sees an entirely different side to the city she loves, even encountering her ex who doesn't recognize her. I thought that could have been left out, it seemed contrived.
Rachel follows the clues from the underground subways, to the ritzy shops to the homeless shelters and back to the why and who of the crime.
This is a soft mystery book, not a lot of action, but the pace does move along from clue to clue. The books are just long enough to while away a Sunday afternoon with a cup of cocoa. Any avid mystery reader can pick out the ending way before the last chapter; it just takes Rachel a little longer. There are moral issues involved and lots of commentary on the way of the world, so maybe this is Benjamin's soapbox.
Just keep getting better.......2007-01-06
This is, to me, the best to date, even though I fell in love with Dash and his partner in book One. Her social commentary is right on, and the description of "Eunice's" daily treks were so engrossing I thought I was back in NYC. Time just flew, and there I was feeling seeing and grateful, that I have a roof over my head, food to eat, health insurance!!! and my family. Ms. Benjamin's stories are well done, packed move quickly, but even in the midst of the primary story line, she gives us a social commentary to "worry" on - that is a wonderful way to have an interesting story and remember others around us. I lived in NYC (as a consultant for the software firm I was employed by)for 6 months - June to Dec 23rd 1994 - I had the most difficult time ignoring the homeless and when we encountered a woman panhandling I always gave money - especially to those that I was close to in age, because, there but by the Grace of God, go I.
Another wonderful read.......2006-12-12
Ms. Benjamin does it again, another wonderful read, an engaging mystery that gives glimpses into worlds most of us never see. I felt cold when reading about the homeless out in the snow and ice and felt a different kind of cold watching the very rich waste their oh so disposable income. A thoughful and thought provoking read, I highly recommend it.
It's a Hard Living on the Street.......2006-10-28
When Eleanor Redstone hires Private Investigation Rachel Alexander to find the man who pushed her father into the path of on oncoming subway train, little does she know how the case is going to effect her life. The police have no clues and after questioning the witnesses, who all seem to have just a different take on the situation, Rachel doesn't either. So she decides to go undercover as a homeless person.
While in disguise she meets and befriends Eddie Perkins, an Iraqi War vet who can't remember his real name. He has trouble remembering other stuff too. Eddie is homeless and living on New York's mean streets. With Eddie's help, Rachel is able to find the man who supposedly pushed Gardner Redstone in front of that train, but after talking to him, Rachel doesn't believe he did it, so she keeps looking and what she finds will not only surprise her, but you as well.
I like Carol Lea Benjamin's stories. She has a way of writing that makes Rachel seem human. I almost feel as if I know her. Ms. Benjamin also has a way of not only drawing you into her stories, but of making you think. In this book she does an excellent job of showing the readers, by virtue of Rachel's undercover jobs, the vast difference between the way the homeless and the wealthy live. I know it should be obvious to most, but I have to admit, until reading this, I hadn't given much thought as to how the homeless survive, especially in winter. Ms. Benjamin opened my mind to this without being even the least bit preachy. She did it in the context of a superb mystery, one I just know you're going to love as much as I did.
Amazon.com
First published in 1970, this classic of oral history features the voices of men and women who lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s. It includes accounts by congressmen C. Wright Patman and Hamilton Fish, as well as failed presidential candidate Alf M. Landon, who recalls what it was like to be governor of Kansas in 1933:
Men with tears in their eyes begged for an appointment that would help save their homes and farms. I couldn't see them all in my office. But I never let one of them leave without my coming out and shakin' hands with 'em. I listened to all their stories, each one of 'em. But it was obvious I couldn't take care of all their terrible needs.
The book includes also the perspectives of ordinary men and women, such as Jim Sheridan, who took part in the 1932 march by World War I veterans to petition for their benefits in Washington, D.C., where they were repelled by army troops led by General Douglas MacArthur. Or Edward Santander, who was a child then: "My first memories come about '31. It was simply a gut issue then: eating or not eating, living or not living." Studs Terkel makes history come alive, drawing out experiences and emotions from his interviewees to the degree few have ever been able to match.
Book Description
Studs Terkel's classic history of the Great Depression.
In this unique re-creation of one of the most dramatic periods in modern American history, Studs Terkel recaptures the Great Depression of the 1930s in all its complexity. The book is a mosaic of memories from those who were richest to those who were most destitute: politicians like James Farley and Raymond Moley; businessmen like Bill Benton and Clement Stone; a six-day bicycle racer; artists and writers; racketeers; speakeasy operators, strikers, and impoverished farmers; people who were just kids; and those who remember losing a fortune.
Hard Times is not only a gold mine of information—much of it little known—but also a fascinating interplay of memory and fact, showing how the Depression affected the lives of those who experienced it firsthand, often transforming the most bitter memories into a surprising nostalgia.
Customer Reviews:
Book review.......2007-05-09
Book was never received and four inquiries to book dealer were ignored. I gave it one star because there was no zero or less.
Not great, but still very good........2007-03-09
This is the second book by Terkel I've read, the other being his superlative "The Good War". Like that book, it is a joy to read, and it was often hard to put down. He usually opens his interviews with just enough exposition to set up a scene, and then lets his subjects talk. And, do they! The personalities of each come through such that you feel as if you're sharing the room with them, an experience that is the more poignant for the realization that most of the people in this book are long-dead, taking their stories with them.
Nonetheless, the book has its weaknesses. Though the Great Depression is by definition an extremely broad subject, I never felt quite like I was getting a good "slice of life" of the times. For instance, there seem to be a disproportionate number of interviews with former Communists and socalists; though their movement was powerful during the Thirties, one may get the idea that they were more common than they actually were--especially since, as one reviewer noted, much of the book is set in and around Chicago. On the whole, it's a less gripping text than "The Good War"; reading that book felt like an awakening, while this one will reveal little to those with a working knowledge of the Depression-era U.S.
All that said, I'm glad I read it, and still recommend it for anyone interested in this complex and unsettling period of American history.
Informative. But It Dragged........2005-08-12
There is undeniable value in recording the memories and perspectives of people who have lived through something as remarkable as the Great Depression. The Internet of the future may provide the best possible compilation of such raw materials: only then may we see video and hear audio of the actual event, culled from tape recordings and home movies of the 1970s and before, and from film reels of the 1920s and after. Compared to resources like those, the relatively brief excerpts that Studs Terkel offers in this book cannot help but feel tailored, managed, and limiting.
I say the Internet of the future may be the ultimate resource. But in an important sense, that is exactly wrong. The ultimate resource would have been to have lived during those times -- to have experienced the event firsthand, and to have interviewed people and recorded information as it was unfolding. Do we, indeed, obtain a more compelling, a more visceral impression of the Great Depression by reading these timeworn memories, from the 1960s, of events that had taken place some 30 years earlier?
In some ways, no decade in the 20th century could have been farther away from the 1930s than were the 1960s. We had newfound suburban materialism; the race to the Moon; John Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.; the Great Society; LSD; rebellious youth and college as one's real home; American global supremacy; Vietnam and the Cold War. We were *so* far removed from the 1930s, by then. When Americans looked back from the later decade to the earlier one, they could not help but do so through very colored lenses. The values of the 1960s -- the things that people would tend to speak about, in the 1960s -- did visibly flavor the way that Terkel's interviewees spoke about their distant past.
Terkel's work is not history. It is a compilation of raw materials that a historian could use for some purposes. No doubt the historian would have to work through heaps of old material that might frequently repeat itself or express the same general impressions, just as Terkel's increasingly tedious interviews tend to do, as one progresses through the book. But a good historian would find a way to condense that material, to extract its most telling points, and to organize and present them in an intriguing and highly thought-provoking manner. This would be true even of the historian whose written work rested heavily upon verbatim quotations from primary sources. You have to make a point. You have to say something provocative if you expect people to get excited about your work.
I do recommend skimming this book, dipping occasionally into its anecdotes and observations. There is much to be learned here. But I don't believe it is going to give many people just what they want for the Depression. Instead, consider reading a novel about the 1930s, or one written in the 1930s; browse old magazines and, particularly, old newspapers, including both the big ones (e.g., the New York Times) and the small, local ones -- if you can find any of the latter that have been preserved in your area.
Gather your own data from these sources and elsewhere, and don't restrict yourself, as much of Terkel's book does, to one city. The 1930s was a world unto itself. This book does not do it justice.
Listening to people's stories .......2004-10-31
Studs Terkel discovered the great value of talking and listening to people, having them tell him their stories. In this way he developed a technique for gathering together a tremendously rich picture of life in the Depression. And these accounts generally have an authenticity and power of their own.
This is social history which is highly readable.
Required Reading For The 21st Century Depression.......2002-12-19
This book is a compilation of oral recountings of the Great Depression of the 20th Century, taken by Studs Terkel. The book can be regarded as an excellent primary source of information from a historical point of view. These are anecdotes from people ranging from sharecroppers on up to highly placed executives, politicians, and professionals. Terkel leaves no stone unturned, as these stories (grouped by occupation and social stratum) show how the Depression affected people in all walks of life in the United States.
No secondary source is going to prove as truthful as the stories themselves. No high-flying armchair analysis by a detached political commentator, PhD or windbag is going to give you the true flavor of what our country went through after October, 1929.
We are in the midst of an economic downturn that has 800,000 American citizens without unemployment insurance, a looming health crisis among unemployed members of the middle class, and a war on the horizon. If you want to be prepared and to understand the ramifications of this situation, I urge you to not only read this book cover to cover, but also to go out and find people who lived through this time and listen to their stories. Go to your grandparents, parents, elderly relatives, the old guy on the porch across the street, the local senior centers. Ask them to talk.
Understanding history helps us understand the future.
Studs Terkel's book is a recounting of the past, but is also a story of our coming future.
Read it!
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