Book Description
Wednesday 22 January 1879 was one of the most dramatic days in the long and distinguished history of the British Army. At noon a massive Zulu host attacked the 24th Regiment in its encampment at the foot of the mountain of Isandlwana, a distinctive feature that bore an eerie resemblance to the Sphinx badge of the outnumbered redcoats. Disaster ensued. Later that afternoon the victorious Zulus would strike the tiny British garrison at Rorke's Drift. How Can Man Die Better is a unique analysis of Isandlwana v of the weapons, tactics, ground, and the intriguing characters who made the key military decisions. Because the fatal loss was so high on the British side there is still much that is unknown about the battle v until now. Mike Snook is the first military professional to scrutinize the battle in print since 1879. He has an unparalleled grasp of the nuances of the ground at Isandlwana and of their implications in practical military terms. Most compellingly he has an instinctive feel for the characters who forged this supremely dramatic history, for this is µfamily' history v the battle was fought by soldiers of the author's own regiment. This is a work of unparalleled depth, which eschews the commonly held perception that the British collapse was sudden and that the 24th Regiment was quickly overwhelmed. Rather, there was a protracted and heroic defence against a determined and equally heroic foe. The author reconstructs the final phase of the battle in a way that has never been attempted before. It was to become the stuff of legend, which the author brings to life so vividly that one can almost sense the fear and smell the blood. How Can Man Die Better is essential reading for anyone interested in Isandlwana, the wider Anglo-Zulu War or the Victorian Army.
Customer Reviews:
The new standard for Isandlwana.......2007-08-24
Been reading about this battle since the 70s. Starting with Morris and moving through Knight, we have evolved to this highly detailed and scholarly analysis based on evidence and professional insight. I was sorry when the book ended! Savor every word. This will be hard to top.
Great Battle Anlaysis.......2006-11-12
This is the best battle analysis of Isandlwana I have ever read! I have been a long time student of the Zulu War, in particular Rorke's Drift and Isandlwana. I was lucky enough last year to visit both battlefields and spent hours walking the field. I am a West Point graduate and former armor officer, so I do understand the nuiances of terrain and the disposition of troops. Lt Col Snook gets it right. Many of the histories I have read fall apart when you're on the battlefield. Why did Pulleine push his companies so far out, because he had to in order to see over the intervisibility lines present. Otherwise, he couldn't see into or shoot into the dead space on the other sides. I've always questioned the theories that the camp was simply overrun by sheer force of numbers. Men, no matter how aggressive, simply cannot charge into the face of disciplined fire and survive. Lt Col Snook's narrative agrees well with my own and follows a basic understanding of human bahavior, terrain analysis, and 19th century British doctrine. The British failed to laager the camp; that is known. If all #3 Column was in camp during the time of the battle, I believe, as Snook does, that the battle would have turned out differently. As it was, the camp had only half the numbers it needed to defend the frontages it had and was ultimately defeated in a double envelopement.
Based on this book, I am now looking forward to read Snook's book on Rorke's Drift.
From a Soldier's Practiced Eye.......2006-10-11
Col. Snook provides an in depth view of the battle at Isandlwana largely from a British/European perspective and does it masterfully. I am adding my review to others on Amazon and will not belabor the points well made by other reviewers. If you are interested in the Zulu wars from a tactical perspective (thus from a soldier's perspective), THIS IS THE BOOK TO BUY. I know Donald Morris and respect his work, THE WASHING OF THE SPEARS. Donald is not perfect and he made mistakes in his account of the battle and his drum has been beaten by others in their accounts. Col. Snook sets things straight. I attribute this to Col. Snook's soldier's eye for terrain and logical battlefield progressions. Col. Snook was a soldier and Donald Morris was a member of the American Intelligence Community. It's telling in their writings. ---oh, just buy the book!
WOW!.......2006-07-28
This is everything a military history book should be. This fantastic book, written by a serving British officer, Lt. Col. Mike Snook, tells the story of the battle of Islandlwana. Col. Snook calls on a plethora of sources, including his own training and experience, to tell the story of the opening battle in the Zulu war where the British lost 1200 men in an utter defeat.
The battle is laid out in great detail based on original sources, with some interpretation & re-interpretation from Col. Snook, until the point at which all the possible witnesses, except Zulu warriors, are gone. From that point on, Col. Snook goes into a forensic military mode, determining movements & positions of units from their origin points to the place where their corpses were found. This leads to a more thorough and complete story, founded on evidence if not eye witness testimony, that tells a lost portion of the battle. He also pops hoary old myths like the quartermaster who won't distribute ammunition or the ammo boxes no one can open as well as others.
It makes for a fantastic read. I can't wait to get on to "Like Wolves On The Fold", the second book by Col. Snook, which tells the story of Rorke's Drift. I hope we'll see lots more books from Col. Snook. His first is destined to become a classic.
Solid analysis from a military professional.......2006-01-30
Lt. Col. Mike Snook's account of Isandlwana stands as a solidly researched, solidly written reconstruction of one of the most famous battles of the Victorian British Army. "The Secrets of Isaldlwana Revealed" subtitle is perhaps a publisher's effort to generate cover interest, as Snook's book really does not say much startlingly new about the battle. It might be called a Post-Revisionist history, rejecting those works of recent years that questioned the courage and competence of the British soldiers who fought and died at Isandlwana (Snook is particularly disdainful of those writers who challenge the appropriateness of the award of the Victoria Cross to Lieutenants Melvill and Coghill for their effort to save the battalion colors.) Although Snook certainly gives the Zulus credit for their bravery and skill, he assigns chief blame for the disaster to Lord Chelmsford (for setting up the whole situation) and to Lt. Col. Durnford (for tactical errors and poor leadership). It might be argued that Snook's service in the successor regiment to the 24th has led him to give a "free pass" to Col. Pulleine, as the author seems to find nothing remiss in that officer's handling of the battle, and in fact Snook vigorously defends Pulleine's actions. And Snook has nothing but praise for the men and officers of the 24th and the way they fought.
Although "How Can Man Die Better" may be too much a professional military man's book to fully engage the general reader, I certainly think highly enough of it to look forward to the publication of Snook's companion volume about Rorke's Drift.
Book Description
Experiencing the death of a parent is a traumatic experience for anyone. For men, though, the death of a father is uniquely and deeply traumatic. Whether or not a father and son are close in life, they are undeniably connected-and this is acutely evident to a man when his father dies. At that moment, a man realizes how much of his identity has been defined by his father. The powerful emotions and life adjustments that follow Dad's passing catch most men completely off guard.
Authors Dave Veerman and Bruce Barton both experienced the life-altering deaths of their own fathers, and in When Your Father Dies they share not only their experiences but also the experience of more than sixty men, including Max Lucado, Chuck Colson, Hank Hannegraaff, and Bill Hybels. They also include insight and practical advice from professional counselors to prepare readers for the emotional struggles that accompany the death of a father.
Veerman and Barton's biblical perspective on grief and long-term life adjustments, along with important sidebars and probing discussion questions, will help men understand their emotions, heal other damaged relationships, and even change the way they parent their own children. Many women will want to read the book so that they can understand the complex emotions and changes the men they care about are going through.
Customer Reviews:
A great book with a Christian dimension.......2007-02-08
In this wonderful book, two Christian authors discuss the subject of the death of a father, and its affects it has on sons. Based on years of working with men, both old and young, this book shows how the death affects men, what they experience and how they deal with it. But, it goes on to discuss how men should face the future, and think about the legacy that they themselves will leave. As an added bonus, each chapter ends with a series of question to make you think about what you are going through.
Overall, I found this to be a great book. Yes, it was written by two conservative Christians, so expect it to have a Christian slant. In fact, I liked the Christian slant, which added a real dimension of spirituality that many books don't bother to discuss.
I am now a son without a father, and it's something that affects me much more than I ever expected. I am glad that I got this book, which really spoke to me. (I never picked up this book without ending up with tears in my eyes.) I think this book is great, and I give it my highest recommendations.
Comforting and Supportive.......2006-02-26
Of all the books that I have read in my lifetime, this is one that I wish I never had to. The death of a father is one of the most difficult things that we can ever expererience and one that I went through recently. This book cuts through the trite and simple ("He's in a better place" etc) and offers a viewpoint that is more the way of a fellow traveler along a very difficult passage in life. I left this book knowing that I was not alone or crazy, and with a sense of having my feelings acknowledged as reasonable and necessary components of the healing process. The authors touch a nerve with this work and I would highly recommend it for any man who unfortunately finds himself in need of it.
A Must Read for men of any age, who have experienced their Dad dying........2006-02-23
My daughter bought this book for me while she was home for my father's funeral. It was such a good "source" to help me begin the journey of not having a "living" father. My mother had died 10 years earlier, but it is not the same experience. Since reading this book, I have purchased 4 more, for a brother, my 2 sons, and my late best-friend's son. Whether you are 60 like me, or 30's , it still helps. It is full of "experiences" shared by other men they interviewed.
Great book on a tough topic.......2005-08-02
This is a fantastic book for men or women dealing with a death of their father. Highly recommended.
Average customer rating:
- my new love...
- Very few touched me as this...
- Honest Writing
- The world's most powerful book
- An excellent albeit depressing work
|
See a Grown Man Cry, Now Watch Him Die
Henry Rollins
Manufacturer: 2.13.61
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1880985373 |
Book Description
Two companion pieces released in one volume, containing selected writing and
tour journal entries from 1988-1992.
Customer Reviews:
my new love..........2006-08-29
i have never read anything by henry rollins before i purchased this book. and i fell in love w/ his writing. i have now bought almost every book by him and in the process of reading them. his books touch me in a way, and help too. its hard for me to find a book, let alone an author that i like as much as henry rollins and his books
Very few touched me as this..........2005-11-06
this is the most honest, heartbreaking work I've read. It puts your personal misery into perspective, reminding you what it means to live life. Even after you lose those that make you whole.
Honest Writing.......2003-09-18
There is so much farcity in the world today that it's so good to come across a writer like Henry who's willing to show everyone what he thinks, how he feels, what his life is like and how he perceives the world around him.
This book is very brutal and honest, which I think always makes for good writing. He has a very clear perception of the people around him and how they think, which lets him view the world from all sides including his own. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to open their eyes to someone else's reality.
The world's most powerful book.......2002-03-03
7 years ago, a friend of mine read me a poem from "Now Watch Him Die" (They were seperate books back then). It's the one on page 164 of this volume, the one that starts with "I love you and you'll never know." Since then, I have not gone anywhere without a copy of these books close at hand. They are an all-encompassing chronicle of one man's solipsism, isolation, desperation and depression. This may not sound fascinating, but that man happens to be Henry Rollins, who has a talent for intensity and a command of words rivaled by no one of this era. Not since Bukowski has someone used so little to say so much. If you are ready for a descent into a maelstrom of anger, violence and pure, blinding pain, then this is the book for you. If you're looking for something sappy, sweet and redemptive, then try Oprah's Book Club instead.
An excellent albeit depressing work.......2001-08-18
I bought this book on a whim one day from a local bookstore and wasn't able to put it down. It's a brutally honest rendition of a life filled with tragedy, depression, doubt and one unsuccesful relationship after another. It's one of the more depressing books I've read, but I pick it up even when I'm feeling down. The intense emotion is almost palpable, you'll feel every bit of rage, heart-ache and frustration, loneliness and confusion. See a Grown Man Cry is worth every penny you pay, every minute you read and every pang of grief you feel for the suffering Mr. Rollins. If you ever by a book by Henry Rollins it should be this one.
Customer Reviews:
A good tool for practicing German.......2005-04-24
If you like the Good News for Modern Man version and are learning German, this would be good for you. The Gute Nachricht is to German very much what Good News for Modern Man is to English.
Book Description
A KILLER BACHELOR PARTY
Carnegie Kincaid plans weddings, not stag parties. When a client asks Carnegie to manage a pre-wedding blow-out—complete with a stripper—she tactfully refuses the job. So why is Carnegie peering through binoculars across the Seattle Ship Canal, watching a shapely Santa Claus turn naked inside a hip dockside bistro? Because her own significant other—with whom she is having some significant differences—is at the party too. And, so it turns out, is a killer. When the body of the groom’s best man is pulled from the canal the next day, critical questions arise. What did Carnegie really see through her binoculars? More important: What will she tell the police she saw? As a wedding planner, Carnegie has her connections to maintain, and before she points Seattle’s finest to some possibly innocent suspects, she’ll look into the crime herself. But while Carnegie is snooping around, word of a witness has gotten out—and now
a killer is watching her...
May the Best Man Die
Download Description
Carnegie Kincaid plans weddings, not stag parties. When a client asks Carnegie to manage a pre-wedding blow-out -- complete with a stripper -- she tactfully refuses the job. So why is Carnegie peering through binoculars across the Seattle Ship Canal, watching a shapely Santa Claus turn naked inside a hip dockside bistro? Because her own significant other -- with whom she is having some significant differences -- is at the party too. And, so it turns out, is a killer.
When the body of the groom's best man is pulled from the canal the next day, critical questions arise. What did Carnegie really see through her binoculars? More important: What will she tell the police she saw? As a wedding planner, Carnegie has her connections to maintain, and before she points Seattle's finest to some possibly innocent suspects, she'll look into the crime herself.
But while Carnegie is snooping around, word of a witness has gotten out -- and now a killer is watching her...
"A bubbly blend of farcical humor and madcap mystery"
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Customer Reviews:
So enjoyable!.......2006-06-09
This is the best mystery I've read in a while. The writing was impeccable, the characters interesting, the mystery kept me guessing, the Seattle setting was unique, and the protagonist wasn't irritating. I even had to pick up a dictionary for several of the words in the book. Imagine: a mystery that elevates my vocabulary.
A killer bachelor party.......2005-09-23
Carnegie Kincaid is a wedding planner in Seattle. Normally she doesn't plan stag parties. She plans weddings. But, her new client insisted. After she left the party, she ends up looking through binoculars to watch the party. Why? Her significant other, although they're currently having trouble, is at the party. What she doesn't know is that a killer is there, too.
The next day the best man is pulled from the canal. Who could have killed him? What did she see in those binoculars? Anything important? After she tells police what she saw and gets a friend in trouble, she decides she'd better look into things herself before telling them anything else. She gets Aaron, her significant other, to help her.
Not only does she have this New Year's Eve wedding to be planning, she has another Christmas wedding to plan. And now Ivy, the mother of the bride for the New Year's Eve wedding, has asked her to plan another party.
Since the murder is related to that wedding, she wants to spend as much time as possible with the parties to try to determine who could have been the murderer. Can she do that before anyone else is murdered, including herself? Plus what about her new love interest? Will this muddy the waters?
Carnegie is a great character. She is a lot of fun, and she gets herself into predicaments throughout the book. I felt it was a very believable story, and a lot of fun to read. I can't wait to read more.
I am originally from Washington State, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading a book set in Seattle. I think the author does a great job of weaving the wedding planning and the sleuthing.
I highly recommend this book.
Good, breezy writing.......2005-01-22
Seattle-based wedding planner Carnegie Kincaid has a lot on her plate. Dry rot has forced a temporary evacuation of her home and office, a rented houseboat moored on the east shore of Washington's Lake Union, and from her interim quarters she is overseeing the final preparations for two end-of-year nuptials. Preparations for the Buckmeister/Frost Christmas Eve wedding aren't unusually problematic, but the blowout Carnegie's planning for New Year's Eve proves to be a trial. For one thing, bride-to-be Sally Tyler--the daughter of renowned conductor Charles Tyler and his superstar CEO wife Ivy--is a spoiled rich girl with the people skills to match. For another, the groom's disagreeable best man turns up dead the morning after the bachelor party, and Carnegie--spying on the debauch for her own reasons through a pair of binoculars--may have witnessed the prelude to his murder.
May the Best Man Die is the third book in Deborah Donnelly's series of Wedding Planner Mysteries. (I have not read the first two books in the series but plan to remedy that fault.) It's a tightly-plotted mystery with a likable protagonist and good, breezy writing: "So, roundly cursing Ms. Tyler and the stack of wedding magazines she rode in on, I climbed into my van [the Vanna White Too, by the way] and drove south." Readers looking for a quick, well-written cozy will find Donnelly's series delightful.
Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece
I like this series,.......2004-07-23
I am having such a fun time reading each book in this series. I can't wait for the next book to be released.
It Only Gets Better...........2004-03-15
Deborah Donnelly has a great series with her sleuth/wedding planner - Carnegie Kincaid. The plot/subplots are great and her wedding and party planning ideas are pretty good as well.
I would not have missed reading about the Christmas wedding for anything. The "Killer B's" were great. I am going to miss them and hope that somehow they'll be included in the next book if only slightly. (Kind of how the southern Sheriff always managed to appear SOMEWHERE in the James Bond movies.)
This is not a "gruesome" murder series. It is a joy to find another great read.
Book Description
Who could have suspected that the exciting stag party for the groom would be the prelude to the murder of his close friend Charlie Hatton? And Charlie's death was only the first in a string of puzzling murders involving small-time gangsters, cheating husbands, and loose women. Now Chief Inspector Wexford and his assistant join forces with the groom to track down a killer . . .
Customer Reviews:
An Inspector Wexford Outing: Two Cases Intersect.......2007-08-14
Ruth Rendell has twenty Detective Chief Inspector Wexford crime novels in her arsenal, and this was number four in the series. Wexford is a big, heavy man, not particularly good looking, happily married, who has one plain Jane daughter and a stunning one who is a famous stage actress. Rendell never really brings the wife to life; she's just there. Wexford is a conventional guy, not a boozer like many British police detectives. He spars with his sidekick, the prosaic Inspector Burden.
This mystery is built around the intense friendship between two working class men. One of them is a dodgy little lorry driver who has too much money for a man in his pay grade. Two police cases intersect: one is a murder and the other a highway accident with fatalities. Wexford goes about the job of interviewing witnesses thinking, "If only they knew that to him their revelations were but bricks in the house he was trying to build, rungs on the ladder of discovery..."
If you're alert, you can figure out fairly early on who the murderer is and what the connection is between the two cases. It's a well-told tale with insights into British life and the class system. Rendell keeps your interest with some flinty characters, interesting details embedded in the story, and a vivid town setting. Her characters often are unlikable, but there is a feeling of reality that comes across. These aren't stick figures or stereotypes--now if only she could breathe life and personality into Wexford's spouse. Not the best of the Wexford series in subtlety and grace, but with a few flashes of humor, it does nicely as an introduction to the series.
The Daemon in Our Dreams
Nine Lives Too Many
The Rice Queen Spy
Somewhat "Sourpuss" Characters Spoil Classic 1969 Police Procedural.......2007-08-12
No one can complain that award winning Brit mystery author Ruth Rendell is anything but prolific - her some fifty novels span a career launched in the early 1960's now into our new millennium. About one-third of the stories, as herein with "Best Man", feature Chief Inspector Reg Wexford, who heads the Kingsmarkham district, which seems to correspond to maybe a county sheriff-type jurisdiction. In this tale, a fairly mild, tavern stag party on the eve of Jack Pertwee's wedding is marred to say the least by the murder of his best man (and great friend) Charlie Hatton. Though by trade a truck driver, Charlie had recently been flashing big bills, buying rounds of drinks and spending tidy sums on gifts for his wife and friends. Yet he was unpopular with most people, and apparently involved in some shady deals involving truck hi-jacks, hence the wads of otherwise unexplained cash and a mouthful of expensive false teeth! Unfortunately, these circumstances lead to a plethora of motives and suspects for the crime, and of course it's up to Wexford, with sidekick Inspector Burden, to hash through all the clues to zero in on a killer. Distracting them from their duties was a car crash a few weeks earlier that killed two people, of whom one, a young lady, turned out to be difficult to identify. Whether the print space devoted to this side issue comes to bear on the Hatton affair was yet another angle of the mystery for most of the book.
Compared to today's suspenseful modern crime and mystery thrillers, this nearly 40-year old work seems pretty tame. There is little but a straightforward storyline to captivate our interest, and the characters, even the leading ones, are only so sparsely described it left us relatively uncaring in the process. That they were mostly unpleasant folks, unhappy with their affairs, doesn't help, leaving us almost as blasé about events as were they. Some of the social commentary about the differences in "class" between the policemen, the dentist, and the other everyday characters seemed rather dated, as were the sums of money that they all talked about (expressed in British currency of course). While a modest twist at the end gained us some final satisfaction, we would not highly rate this book for its entertainment value. We suspect from Rendell's outstanding reputation that her more recent works might be better indicators of her craft, but her 1969 "Best Man To Die" is little more than a couple hours of modestly pleasant pastime.
A reprint of a 1969 Inspector Wexford Novel.......2004-04-10
While the Inspector Wexford novels are generally good, this one is a little dated. The references to money, with an indication that 120 pounds sterling was a large amount that made a man flush, needs to be taken in the context of the time and the country, i.e., the UK where pay scales may have been a quarter the amount in the US. The amount noted, at that time a little under $300 in US funds, would not have been exceptionally high by US standards even in 1969. I also had a bit of a problem with the writing style as the author tends to jump from one character and scene to another while going from one written sentence to the next. It would be nice to have a break indicating a change of scene, even a blank line on the page. This is an editorial problem which I blame on the publisher.
The plot is complex, and initially starts out with a number of seemingly unrelated events. It involves marriages, mistresses, children, a dog, some amount of crime, of course a couple murders, people not cooperating with the police, and class distinctions with some working class people just trying to keep their heads above water.
When the police investigate a man's murder, the investigation opens up various cans of worms. There are people making a little money on the side, women looking for rich men, men looking for rich women, married men chasing around, and the police trying to tie everything together. Overall an interesting plot of 201 pages in this edition.
My continual rantings about Rendell must be getting tiresome.......2004-03-18
As I'm lazy, I'm just going to copy out the official blurb (plus, I can't say it any better):
Jack Pertwee was getting married in the morning.
Charlie Hatton drove his lorry eleven hours down from Leeds just to be there. Charlie was Jack's best friend and he would be his best man. When the two parted at the Kingsbrook bridge, jack felt as though his life was just beginning. But for Charlie Hatton, life was about to end.
Detective Chief Inspector Wexford wondered why the fatal Fanshawe car accident kept upsetting his concentration on the Hatton murder. There couldn't be a connection. Fanshawe had been a wealthy stockbroker, Charlie Hatton a cocky little lorry driver with some illegal dealing.
But was it just a coincidence that Hatton had been killed on the day following that of Mrs Fanshawe's regaining consciousness?
On first read, several years ago when I was about 12, this book didn't strike me as one of the greatest Wexford's. On re-reading it, my estimation is much, much improved. The Best Man to Die is another excellent Wexford novel from Rendell's early period. It doesn't have the wonderful, vicious darkness of Wolf to the Slaughter or the unique quality of Some Lie or Some Die, but it remains a very very excellent and clever mystery that will likely confound even the most practiced of crime-fiction readers. It did me, even though I had read it before! I could remember, just about, who, but for the life of me I had no idea why, until Rendell revealed all in one of those excellent last-revelation chapters that she does so so well.
At this point in the series, neither Wexford nor Burden had begun to fully develop quite yet; primarily these early books are plot novels and character foible novels. Still, Wexford is certainly beginning to show hints of how interesting he is, and his family life begins to take on the wonderful life it does later in the series. Here, actually, Wexford seems slightly out-of-character; he's less patient, possibly. Less tolerant perhaps? Certainly, he wasn't quite as warm as in many of the other books, but his skills as a detective are borne out wonderfully in an excellent mystery.
The Best Man to Die (again, one of Rendell's treasures that have been left out of print. I doubt you'll be able to get this anywhere except second-hand) is a great, impeccably written mystery. Rendell dissects her characters motivations marvellously. I would recommend this, of course, very highly indeed, but I don't think it's really the place to begin reading Wexford.
Twists of plot all over the place - excellent!.......2003-02-01
Not your usual predictable murder mystery. I usually don't like the Inspector Wexford stuff, but this one was outstanding, read it!
Book Description
On December 31, 2004, the last of the baby boomer generation will turn forty. Of the 97 million Americans already 45 or older, almost 40% are single. Middle-aged men suffer performance anxiety and over-forty women harbor deep insecurities about their bodies. These and many other problems prevent baby boomers from seeking and forming loving relationships with members of the opposite sex. Yet, single baby boomers are afraid of growing old and dying alone. Patsy Stagner, in her new book, "Baby Boomer Bachelorette or, How to Have Sex at Least Once More Before You Die," challenges baby boomers to rise up and rebel against the status quo. She shows them how to maintain their mental, physical and spiritual prowess. Most of all, she teaches over-forties how to meet the man or woman of their dreams, and achieve a meaningful relationship and a fulfilling sex life.
"I'm fed up with baby boomers being told the last half of their lives doesn't count," Stagner says. In her crusade to convince boomers to start a new life, she explodes many long-held myths about over-forty dating and sex: the necessity of self-esteem; everyone who claims to have a sense of humor actually has one; you should never tell a lie; it's desirable to make love all night; and many others. Readers receive practical and efficient instructions on how to overcome dating anxieties, shake off inertia, achieve vibrant health, and master dating and sex techniques designed to overcome problems associated with middle-age. "Baby Boomer Bachelorette" is not an instruction manual, but a personal, moving and humorous guide for the baby boomer journeying into the exciting realm of over-forty dating.
"Love, like youth, is wasted on the young," first time author, Stagner, quotes. Her short story, "First Impressions," about her over-forty dating experiences won the Katherine Anne Porter Literary Festival Humor Award. From that story, her fascination with "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" series, and her experiences with Internet dating, sprang the idea for "Baby Boomer Bachelorette." She performed extensive research, conducted interviews with her peers, and drew from personal experience to create a book designed to bring new hope to single baby boomers all over the world.
Customer Reviews:
One of the Best.......2007-08-21
This is one of the best books I've read on middle-aged internet dating. The author's tone and style are delightful and it's full of great information.
Book Praised in National Magazine.......2005-05-04
"What You Learn. That it's never too late to have a happy dating (or sex) life - but this guide addresses much more, urging those in the post-40 set to alter their perspectives on getting older and embrace the process with humor and heart. With solid advice on getting back in the dating game (and even playing it better than before), as well as useful tips for looking your best and cultivating a positive attitude."
-- Alexa Joy Sherman, "Ages of Enlightenment," SHAPE May 2005
Fifty can be fabulous!.......2004-09-24
A tell it like it is fun read full of wit and wisdom.
Loved this book!.......2004-08-23
I was very impressed with this author's straight-forward and sincere, warm and funny tone. This is one of the best books I've read for those of us who've found ourselves in the "over the (fill in the blank)" category of dating singles. Stagner has some of the best advice I've read on the subject. She is brave enough to go against conventional wisdom with tips like not always telling the truth (about age, for example) and why we don't really need self-esteem to succeed in the dating scene. Buy it for yourself, buy it for a friend or your newly-divorced sister. Even the married can benefit by the book's candid (and did I say funny?) wisdom.
Charting the different world of midlife dating.......2004-07-16
Single baby-boomers re-entering the world of over-forty dating will find Patsy Stagner's Baby Boom Bachelorette a unique guide charting the different world of midlife dating. From assessing 'baggage' and whom to date to locating bachelors and getting noticed, Stagner provides many candid tips based on practical real-world experience.
Book Description
The first known mystery written by an African-American, set in 1930s Harlem
Customer Reviews:
Great Book........2004-06-14
I read it for an english class. It was my favorite book of the semester. My friends and I would just keep guessing what twist would come next, and we were consistantly wrong. Great fun.
Couldn't put it down...........2003-06-07
I read this book on a flight from Philadelphia to Seattle and just couldn't put it down. The characters come alive, the plot thickens with each passing page and the ending is fabulous.
A MUST READ!!!
The original African American mystery novel.......2002-11-13
This is the first African American mystery novel, originally published in 1932, and much celebrated by Walter Mosley, the most successful African American writer of mystery novels. (This book preceded Chester Himes's Coffin Ed and Grave Digger novels by more than a third of a century.)
W. E. B. DuBois castigated the group of younger writers of which Fisher was a part for sensationalizing low life rather than celebrating the "talented tenth" of which they were presumably a part. I don't know if Fisher was stung by this, but the protagonists include a physician (like Fisher himself), a policeman who is the only black who has risen to the rank of detective, and an African prince with a princely sense of noblesse oblige. Also an critically important part is played by a mortician, a kind of professional.
The main lower-status participants, who liven things up with a running game of the dozens, are not debauched, and the "conjure man" turns out not to be the wacko many thought him to be.
The middle of the novel sags. Unfortunately, Fisher did not live to hone his craft, leaving only this and _The Walls of Jericho_ and a few stories.
Excellent.......2000-01-06
This book transports you into the Harlem streets of the 1930s. It has the vernacular, the attitude, the mystique, and the community values of residents of 1930 Harlem down pat. I found the narrative very inviting. This book has detectives, criminals, lawmen, africans, and mystics. Once you read the first chapter, you will not be able to put the book down. It is a shame that the author did not live long enough to produce much more in this detective series.
WONDERFUL!.......1998-02-02
Mr. fisher has you guessing until the very end! If you like Mosley, then read the man who inspired him. An excellent murder (?) mystery.
Book Description
Merton Naydler joined the RAF at the age of nineteen and served for the next six years until May 1946. He flew Spitfires and Hurricanes during a tour of duty that took him to North Africa, Burma and Malaya. This well written and extremely entertaining memoir portrays wartime life in the desert environment where sand and flies and life under canvas made living and flying a daunting experience. When the author was posted to Burma he was filled with 'a deep and genuine dread'. After a long uncomfortable trip he joined 11 Squadron and was now faced with Japanese Zeroes in combat over dense tropical jungle rather than Bf 109s over a barren desert terrain. 'Daytime flying was hot as hell, the humidity intense' - the author's description of his new posting that goes on to describe life in 'Death Valley', named because of the likeliness of falling victim to tropical disease rather than enemy aircraft. This is the story of a sergeant pilot who learned his trade the hard way, in action over Africa and then honed his combat skills in the skies over Japanese-held tropical forests where he was eventually commissioned.
Book Description
An inspiring story by a two-time Edgar Award-winning writer of how a six-man football team united a school and a town
Down Farm Road 308, an hour's drive south of Dallas, amidst sprawling fields of cotton lies a small community--Penelope, Texas (population 211). Here, where the only thriving businesses are the granary and the post office, unless you count the soft-drink machine in front of the fire station, two-time Edgar Award-winning writer Carlton Stowers discovered a special town that came together, not only to support their six-man highschool football team--the Penelope Wolverines--through thick and a lot of thin, but also, and more importantly, each other.
Where Dreams Die Hard is a warm and revealing portrait of the American heartland--and of one small town's love affair with the team that unites it.
"Through his unforgettable depiction of innocence, goodness, loyalty, and friendship...Carlton Stowers gives us a moving portrait of a community that, in the words of one of the Penelope faithful, is like 'stepping into a Norman Rockwell painting.'" (Billie Letts, author of Where the Heart Is)
"High school football in Texas is both sport and religion, and Stowers brilliantly brings this to light in Where Dreams Die Hard." (Jim Dent, author of The Junction Boys)
Customer Reviews:
Small town Texas in "Where Dreams Die Hard".......2006-07-18
Having chronicled so much disaster, destruction and unspeakable horror committed by people against other people during his extensive writing career, Texas author Carlton Stowers was looking for something simpler in the wake of the 911 tragedy. As he writes in the preface of the non fiction book "Where Dreams Die Hard" on page XIV:
"When a young editor argued that what those of us under her charge had to provide readers was more `red meat,' more hard-hitting, finger-pointing controversy, I rolled my eyes and began considering my leave-taking. Though fully aware that there were endless fakes and frauds needing exposure and countless crimes begging courthouse justice, such tasks no longer interested me. It was time to let someone else try to sort reason from the unreasonable, spend days in the company of devastated victims, and chronicle the social ills for which there seemed no cure."
His quest was for a Norman Rockwall type America if it still existed. Where folks still cared about each other regardless of political or religious affiliation. Where crime was not a problem and where red meat referred to what was on the grill and not something literary.
He found what he was looking for in the small town of Penelope, Texas located about an hour south of Dallas. Penelope has a population of 211 and eagerly and actively supports their six man football team the Penelope Wolverines. As sports fans may know, six man football has seen a revival the last few years in a number of states including Texas. Much of the book covers one season in the life of the town both for the players, their families, and the surrounding community.
While he chronicles the struggles of the 2004 team, author Carlton Stowers does much more than that. Writing about the months before and after the season as well, the town of Penelope and its citizens are brought alive for the reader. Mr. Stowers' folksy style works wonders in this regard as the words flow and skip from point to point much like in regular conversation. Along the way he touches on the history of six mean football, the economy of small town Texas and such basic fundamentals as how to impart responsibility to today's youth among other topics. This is not a lecturing or antiseptic read but more of a good friend talking about life as he sits next to you on your front porch.
The result is an excellent 205 page read that provides a look at basically slightly more than a year in the life of a small Texas town and its citizens. The bad, the good, and everything in between are covered. At the same time it becomes uplifting as one knows no matter how bad the world news gets, folks that live in Penelope, Texas and thousands of other places are taking it one day at a time, prospering in their own way, and helping each other everyday. A little of that attitude goes a long way and Mr. Stowers book is a very refreshing and enjoyable read.
Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2006
Six Men From Now.......2006-04-17
What do kids do who want to play football and the town's too small to field a football team in the high school? More importantly, what do their moms and dads do, especially in a state like Texas where everything is football when you're a teenager. He can join the Penelope Wolverines and their brand of rural, thin population "six-man football," designed for school with 99 or fewer students! If you liked FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, you'll appreciate the even bigger sacrifices made by the boys in this book.
Stowers tells the perhaps apochryphal story of a country in west Texas where one man refused to give up his farm and move to the next county, even though a prominent oilman dangled him a job with a salary far beyond anything he would ever be making if he stayed home. The oilman, you seem had designs on the farmer's son. No, not sexual designs, but he figured if he could get that boy enrolled in the high school of his own county, the boy was talented enough to score enough touchdowns to make the difference in the season. But his dad kept saying no, we're staying put. The oilman didn't understand the meaning of the word no and one night, while the family was away, their entire house was moved, lock, stock and housecat, to the oilman's county. The dad figured he might as well join em at this point. Because he would have to pay the cost of airlifting his house back to its original cellar and that he couldn't afford. So the boy joined the high school team and, sure enough, justified the oilman's belief in his nascent talents.
Why, I had never so much as heard of "six-man football" before picking up the latest effort of Carlton Stowers, a true crime expert whose own family was touched by tragedy some mite back.
Now I know plenty. His down home style goes down smoother than a Texas mojito. You'll crack up at another anecdote, in which Penelope plays its rival, Abbott. Now there's a town so proud it has erected a giant billboard with a grinning, full color image of musician Willie Nelson, who they say was born in Abbott. Town pride in Nelson has never diminished, but the fool billboard got too much for the "rebel" singer-songwriter, who one night, got pretty drunk I guess and tried to burn down the darn thing. The billboard remains, half-torched, a visual memory of people's mixed feelings about the little towns from which we fled but to which we return with smiles and tears all mixed up.
A friendlier "Friday Night Lights".......2005-09-05
As the August breezes begin to pick up, the days start to become shorter and thoughts return to fall, the end of the summer season brings about the start of another season, the high school football season.
Thousands of players will have participated in two-a-day practices throughout the dog days of August, all in the hopes of winning games, setting records and pursuing championships.
The only difference between most of the squads competing in the United States and the 112 public high school teams competing throughout Texas, is that they do it a little differently. For those smaller Lone Star Schools, whose student enrollment falls below 100, they play under their own Friday Night lights in the glorious game of six-man football.
Author Carlton Stowers became tired of his own newspaper's front pages, dedicated to the misdoings of others, bombings and mayhem he had seen from a news reporter's eyes. He made the decision to turn his reporter pen and pad towards a quieter town, in a quieter portion of Texas and follow the world of six-man football for a season.
His travels took him to the small town of Penelope and it's populous of 211 residents and the Wolverines six-man football team.
The railroad had left Penelope in 1960 and so went with it the cotton commerce that brought people to it. In 1963 the high school made the decision to abandon its football program. In 1999 a student, Marvin Hill, prodded by his classmates asked the superintendent requesting that football be re-instated in the Wolverines fall season.
The game of six-man football was established in the late 1930's as a sport for the small rural schools. It involves three lineman, three backs and a quarterback. Traditionally it is played on an 80-yard field, 15-yards are needed for a first down, 10-minute quarters are played and all players are eligible to receive a pass. Also included would be a 45-point mercy rule after the first half was complete.
With the help of the superintendent and an open board of education, donations flowed in to field a team that first season. As the interest continued year after year, a playing field, all two-acres of it, was purchased, grass planted and goalposts were acquired when a neighboring school moved up in class, they too were sent to Penelope.
It would be Hill who made history, scoring the first-ever touchdown for the Wolverines that first season.
Fast forward to 2004 when Penelope is led by coach Corey McAdams, the former state championship quarterback and college star at Hardin-Simmons University. It would be his job to bring the Wolverines back on a winning track, turning the tide on the squad's current 1 win, 31 loss record.
Stowers takes the reader onto the practice field, into the hallways of Penelope High and into the homes of the players, their families and their lives.
It is a different type of life in the small towns in Texas, something that many suburban readers may have a hard time comprehending.
When the entire town turns out for a football contest, they may not fill most local high school auditoriums, the coaches drive the bus to away games, that is if his players show up on time after they finish building a sheep fence.
"Where Dreams Die Hard" is not as hard hitting as the best selling "Friday Night Lights", but Stowers stills delves into issues that would make any towns population uneasy. It is the picture that Stowers paints of the small towns in Texas, the wins and the losses by the Penelope High Wolverines squad that make the book so enjoyable.
The length of "Where Dreams Die Hard," is also agreeable to the reader with its 201 pages, fitting for a sport which boasts just 12 players on the gridiron compared to the traditional 22. Stower's work has intrigue, history, heartwarming stories about the players, their families as well as the author's own relationship with his dying father.
While they may host smaller lineups, play in front of smaller crowds, the characters in "Where Dreams Die Hard" are focused on success every Friday evening under the Texas sky, proving that things in Texas are bigger, especially the hearts of those playing six-man football.
Books:
- Human Exceptionality: School, Community, and Family (8th Edition)
- I Cherish You: Words of Wisdom from His Needs, Her Needs
- Ida B: . . . and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World
- In Sylvan Shadows (Forgotten Realms: The Cleric Quintet, Book 2)
- In the Company of the Courtesan: A Novel
- Investments
- It Doesn't Take a Hero : The Autobiography of General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
- Journey to the Celestial City: Glimpses of Heaven from Great Literary Classics
- Lisey's Story
- Living Large in Small Spaces: Expressing Personal Style in 100 to 1,000 Square Feet
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