Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance

Book Description

"A deeply moving and very disturbing story of a gross miscarriage of justice and an eloquent cri de coeur of Native Americans for redress, and to be regarded as human beings with inalienable rights guaranteed under the United States Constitution, like any other citizens.We pray it does not fall on deaf ears.America owes it to herself." (Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu, Nobel Peace Laureate)"For too long, both Leonard's supporters and detractors have seen him as a metaphor, as a public figure worthy of political rallies and bumper stickers, but very rarely as a private man who only wants to go home.I pray this book will bring Leonard home." (Sherman Alexie, author of Indian Killer)"It would be inadequate to describe Leonard Peltier's Prison Writings as a classic of prison literature, although it is that.It is also a cry for help, an accusation against monstrous injustice, a beautiful expression of a man's soul, demanding release." (Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States)"Listen to this fresh, brave voice, then inform yourself about the shameful case of Leonard Peltier." (Peter Matthiessen, author of In the Spirit of Crazy Horse)"This book takes the reader on an emotional and spiritual journey as Leonard Peltier's surprisingly hopeful reflections make the terrible injustice of his imprisonment for 24 years even more difficult to accept.Peltier's important journal details his trial and conviction which was based in part on admittedly false testimony and evidence so inconclusive that reasonable people everywhere have concluded that he should be granted clemency." (Wilma Mankiller, former chief of the Cherokee Nation, and author of Mankiller)"Leonard Peltier's words reveal a wise man who has become freer than his captors, despite his false imprisonment for a crime he did not commit.His thoughts here remind us of our true mission as Indian people, as human beings here on this humble, beautiful planet.These thoughts cannot be captured or locked behind bars, or destroyed by gunfire.They fly free." (Joy Harjo, Muskoke poet and musician, author of The Woman Who Fell From the Sky)"If you care about justice, read this brave book.If you care about the perpetuation of the white man's justice against the Native American, you must know the Leonard Peltier story." (Gerry Spence, author of Give Me Liberty!)AUTHORBIO: Leonard Peltier, who emerged as a Native American leader in the 1960s, was arrested in 1976in Canada and extradited.He has been in prison ever since, and is now confined at Leavenworth.This is his first book. Harvey Arden is the author and co-author of several books, including Wisdomkeepers and Travels in a Stone Canoe (both with Steve Wall) and Noble Red Man.He lives in Washington, DC.

Customer Reviews:

A work of fiction........2007-09-25

The rhetoric of the other reviews aside, Prison Writings would make for a compelling story had Peltier included some truth to support his allegations surrounding the events of June 26, 1975 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota.

By way of a brief background, Peltier was represented by capable and experienced counsel and during his trial the jury heard that FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams were following who they thought was another wanted person. They actually followed Peltier and two teenagers who began shooting at the agents who were then trapped and exposed in an open area. Peltier was joined by several others, including Dino Butler and Robert Robideau who also fired on the agents from another direction. Both Coler and Williams were severely wounded and unable to defend themselves. Peltier's jury heard that Peltier, Robideau and Butler went down to the wounded agents and shot them both in the face at point-blank range with a high powered rife. The jury believed the testimony they heard and Peltier was convicted for, among other things, aiding and abetting and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. He later received an additional seven year consecutive sentence for an armed escape from Lompoc federal penitentiary. (In a separate and earlier trial, Dino Butler and Robert Robideau were acquitted of the murders. However, this review relates specifically to how Peltier portrays the facts surrounding these events in Prison Writings. There is much more to the entire saga.)

It's important to place Prison Writings in its proper chronological context. Prison Writings was published in 1999. An important related book touted by Peltier and the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC) that "immortalizes Leonard Peltier," In The Spirit of Crazy Horse (ITSOCH) by Peter Matthiessen was first published in 1983 and in 1992. A film, Incident at Oglala (Incident), narrated by Robert Redford was released in 1992. Collectively, these sources, in addition to the many public statements made by Peltier, Butler and Robideau, demonstrate that Peltier is not only fabricating the history of his own case but knowingly lies about certain events.

There are many more, but for example:

The scene:
Peltier initially claimed he was in the AIM camp to the south of the Jumping Bull property, heard shots, responded and "I fired off a few shots above their heads, trying not to hit anything (p.125)." And also "I didn't see their agents die, had no hand in it..." (p.127). Yet in a CNN interview in October, 1999 Peltier admitted being there and told interviewer Mark Potter "I don't know, just two people laying there. I mean, the car door--the car door open and stuff."

The alibi:
For the better part of nearly two decades Peltier had offered only one alibi about who was responsible for the final killing shots to the agents' faces. He claimed that someone they all knew but would not identify (Mr. X), had driven to the reservation that day in a red pickup truck to deliver dynamite and that it was Mr. X who engaged the agents initially and then, once wounded and unable to defend themselves, killed the agents and drove off. In Incident Robideau is filmed pointing to the area where Mr. X murdered the agents and drove off in the red pickup truck. This claim was so far-fetched that not even Peltier's trial lawyers wanted to go near it, but they did their best to create confusion with the jury over the alleged red pickup truck. Matthiessen, although skeptical himself, spent a great deal of time on Mr. X in ITSOCH. However, in a 1995 interview with News from Indian Country, one of the three participants, Dino Butler, publicly said that the Mr. X story was a lie; "Well, there is no Mr. X. There was no man coming to our camp that day bringing dynamite." "To create this lie to show that someone else pulled the trigger." " That is totally false. Totally untrue. That never happened."

It should come as no surprise that Mr. X. and the red pickup are never mentioned in Prison Writings.

Aiding and abetting:
Peltier tries to convince the reader that the "vague crime of aiding and abetting" (p162) was somehow later added to the charge of murdering the agents. Yet, during one of the many appeals (one dealing with this specific issue in 1993), the appeals court stated that "Peltier's arguments fail because their underlying premises are fatally flawed. (A) the government tried the case on the alternative theories; it asserted that Peltier personally killed the agents at point blank range, but that if he had not done so, then he was equally guilty of the murder as an aider and abettor."

Preplanned assault:
Peltier lays the groundwork for claiming that according to a document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the government "...had been gathering in the area for a preplanned paramilitary assault on the Pine Ridge reservation," (p.129) comprised of "...dozens, maybe hundreds..." (p.127) of law-enforcement personnel. The document (dated April 24, 1975) he refers to (the noted "sanctioned memo") says nothing of the kind and related to the 1973 takeover by AIM of Wounded Knee. Ironically this memo was still being circulated around FBI headquarters in Washington D.C. even after the murders of agents Coler and Williams with a date at the bottom of the memo of August 11, 1975. This memo is not even in the same universe as Peltier claims. This assertion was so outrageous even Matthiessen shied away from it by claiming after all his research that the initial shooting at the agents was spontaneous, neither a pre-planned government event nor premeditated ambush of the two agents. "...if there is another persuasive explanation of the location and position of their cars, I cannot find it." (ITSOCH p.544).

Further, it was well documented that when the agents were first pinned down in the open field, Agent Williams made desperate calls for help and assistance over his FBI radio. These transmissions were overheard by a number of individuals who all confirmed how quickly the shooting started, and ended, and that the nearest agent was about twelve miles away. That FBI agent, Gary Adams, responded with a BIA officer, the first two to even reach close to the scene. They were also shot at and had to back away to Highway 18 and await more assistance. In the meantime, Coler and Williams were murdered and Peltier and the others escaped.

Robideau:
Robert Robideau who has been assimilated and rejected by the Peltier organization several times over the years has made damning admissions. Robideau stated publicly on numerous occasions, and in emails to this reviewer, that he's the one who actually killed the agents:

"As far as I have ever been concerned the killing of the agents was justified..." "They were shot in the head at close range..." "I have no remorse..." "I am "Mr X" (which is no lie) and I did kill them with honor befitting a warrior, but they died like worms." "I thought I already told you that I killed the agents."

Of course Robideau has the constitutional protection against double-jeopardy, but this reviewer believes he is even too much of a coward to shoot two severely wounded and incapacitated human beings. But whether he killed the agents himself is immaterial; the Peltier jury heard and accepted the testimony that the three older Indians, Robideau, Butler and Peltier went down to the wounded agents and murdered them by shooting them both in the face.

Of course, Prison Writings suggests none of this but hides behind fabrications and outright lies to further the folklore surrounding Peltier and perpetuating The Myth.

What it does do however is firmly establish that Peltier did not remove himself from the scene of the crime.

Prison Writings is self-serving drivel and should not be used to document in any fashion what happened that June day at Pine Ridge. Anyone interested in going beyond The Myth should spend some time reviewing the very detailed appeals that cover every aspect of this case.

[...]

Read the Government documents!.......2007-09-14

After all is said and done, just read the thousands of pages that the U.S. government, through the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's office and court records, was forced to release about this case. It is their own words about their own deliberate withholding of evidence, fabrication of evidence, deliberate perjured testimony and numerous other violations of U.S. law, rules of evidence, and other assorted felonies.

Manifesto, Memoir, History, and the Fate of Mankind.......2007-08-09

Leonard Peltier, United States Prisoner 89637-132, has been imprisoned since 1977 for the deaths of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation of the Lakota Indians during the 1973 siege at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Most likely the scapegoat for the deaths during a blundered surveillance attempt, Peltier has been a cause celeb during the final throws of every president since Jimmy Carter as many supporters - including the U.S. Prosecutor that put him in jail in the first place - come together to call for his parden.

There are other sources for an in-depth understanding of the events that led to his imprisonment such as Peter Mathiesson's *In the Spirit of Crazy Horse* and the Robert Redford film *Incident at Oglala*. But Prison Writings is a must read in any study of not only the Wounded Knee incident, but the American Indian Movement as a whole and native issues throughout the country.

This book weaves Peltier's life as a prisoner in the U.S. prison system with his account of the events of 1973 and his views on the state of affairs for Native Americans as a whole. Peltier's life evolved from an aimless youth on the reservation to a political activist, and at times it seems that his life sentence is a natural extension of this progression - as if his destiny was to suffer for the cause.

When you look at the evidence of all that transpired at Wounded Knee in 1973 and the years that followed, including what happened to other activists such as Annie Mae Aquash, and the now revealed manipulation of evidence by the FBI and the all-out war against Native American activism in the 1970s, Leonard Peltier's *Prison Writings* become somewhat of a manifesto and call for a better future.

Innocent yet in prison.......2007-06-08

This is a true story of an Indian who is in prison
just because he's an Indian. I real eye opener and
interesting facts about the Indians here today.

A must-read!!.......2007-05-17

Words fail me when I try to describe this book, just as words fail me when I try to describe my feelings about this man, Leonard Peltier.

This is a moving, touching, powerful book that will evoke emotion in the coldest of hearts. I still wonder why it took me so long to finally read it. I'm so glad I did.

Suzanne Whitaker

Tell My Horse : Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica

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Great but dated
Really entertaining !!
Engaging reading, fantastic stories
Interesting, but not a real ethnography
It Will Change Your Reality

Tell My Horse : Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica
Zora Neale Hurston
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0060916494

Book Description

As a first-hand account of the weird mysteries and horrors of voodoo, Tell My Horse is an invaluable resource and fascinating guide. Based on Zora Neale Hurston's personal experiences in Haiti and Jamaica, where she participated as an initiate rather than just an observer of voodoo practices during her visits in the 1930s, this travelogue into a dark world paints a vividly authentic picture of ceremonies and customs and superstitions of great cultural interest.

Customer Reviews:

Great but dated.......2004-01-01

A highly influential book on vodou in its day and worth buying still as an historical document, but now rather dated in terms of information. A good book to accompany this would be Vodou Shaman by Ross Heaven, which brings the whole subject area truly up to date.

Really entertaining !!.......2003-03-20

The writing of Zora Neale Hurston is fine. The content of the book is, in his second part, is a "first hand" experience of what voodoo was in 1930. This is therefore a classical and valuable source of knowledge. Interesting enough, Zora Neale Hurston took probably part at various voodoo initiations, and we would have been interested to know more about her experiences, feelings, philosophical and religious insights. Unfortunately for us, she respected the "secret de l'arcane" which characterizes most of the so called esoteric societies. There is also hope for Haïti in this book, but it demonstrates also the power of USA to bring some kind of mismatch in the political affairs and economic life of a poor and very small country. Abobo!

Engaging reading, fantastic stories.......2002-11-20

Reading this book is like travelling along with Ms. Neale Hurston as she explores life in Haiti. You will meet fanscinating and intriguing people. The practices and beliefs are explained in just enough detail to make you feel like you were there, but all the mystery is retained as even the author is unable to explain or understand the depth of experience and strength of beliefs held by the native Haitians. Finding non-fiction that reads like a novel is a rare and wonderful treasure.

Interesting, but not a real ethnography.......2001-10-05

Make no mistake, this is a travelogue, not an ethnography in the traditional sense. Hurston, who was a voodoo priestess of a high order herself, was too immersed in the culture to really view it objectively, which is necessary for any anthropologist. That said, it's still a very interesting read and certainly emphasizes the fact that voudon is a valid religion and not a set of superstitions. However, I'm puzzled as to why Ismael Reed (himself an accomplished writer) is listed as a credit. Did he write the introduction? Because he didn't write this book. Hurston wrote it. She traveled to Haiti by herself in the 30s to investigate this. It was not written by Reed.

It Will Change Your Reality.......2000-10-08

If this book was fiction I would call it one of the most imaginative books I have ever read, but it's real. It is scary, unbelievably deep, and true. A wonderful anthropological gathering of stories, ceremonies , and everyday life. Let me wash my face with Jalapeno rum if I'm not telling the truth about this book being great. You can tell my horse.

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AAA Review
A true champion
I'd congratulate Jerry..........
JOCKEYS ARE SUPERB ATHLETES!
A brutally honest autobiography

Against the Odds: Riding for My Life
Jerry Bailey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: B000EUKQT6

Book Description

Jerry Bailey has been called "the Michael Jordan of racing." One of the greatest jockeys ever to break from the starting gate, Bailey has won every major race-and then won it again. He's set earnings and stakes records and entered the Hall of Fame. In the sport of kings, Jerry Bailey is the king of jockeys. But first, he had to beat his own personal demons.

Against the Odds vividly chronicles Bailey's years of drinking, cruelty, anger, and despair, the moment of truth when he decided he wanted to live again-and his astonishing rise to the top. As thrilling as the stretch drive, it's a fiercely candid autobiography of professional racing's greatest jockey and his most exhilarating victory of all-against himself.

Customer Reviews:

AAA Review.......2007-09-06

Book is mainly about his personal battle with alcohol and his resulting "wondeful" family life.
Would like to have seen more racing industry insights and information!

A true champion.......2006-08-09

Bailey tells the story of his sometimes rocky rise through the ranks of the jockey colony to become the premier rider in the world. He doesn't hold back any in discussing his battle with alcoholism and how it nearly ruined him and his family. It's an honest self appraisal by a man with an enormous talent for his craft, yet glaring weaknesses that almost denied racing fans the opportunity to watch his genius at work.

I'd congratulate Jerry.................2006-07-22

....but he does so much of it himself. I've always admired Bailey for his professionalism as a jockey and applaud his having overcome addiction, but was put off by his repeated blowing of his own bugle, so to speak. I cringed at times. It might have been better left to a biographer, with quotes from Bailey relative to his recovery from alcoholism.

On another front, I do think that Jerry Bailey does a nice job as a television commentator.

P.S. Still not buying the excuse for his Belmont tactics with Eddington.

JOCKEYS ARE SUPERB ATHLETES!.......2006-07-11

I gained a brand new respect for the jockey profession after reading Bailey's book. They are superb athletes and deserve every bit of the money they earn. That being said, I also lost a lot of respect for the horse racing industry after reading this and another top jockey's biography. The use/abuse of the thoroughbred & quarter horses as a means to an end to line the human pocketbook with riches is really undefendable. The book makes clear that these amazing equine athletes are given the very best of care right up until they drop dead on the track from ruptured lungs or shattered cannon bones. Sorry, my concience was pricked & my heart broken in the course of reading this and Gary Steven's biography, and not for the owners, trainers, handicappers, or even so much the jockeys, but for the horses. You will also get your eyes opened as to how self-serving these people are and how ruthlessly they behave toward one another. If this is the "Sport of Kings" I'm glad to be a commoner.

A brutally honest autobiography.......2005-11-02

Now that Breeders' Cup 2005 is in the books, 48-year-old jockey Jerry Bailey can claim 15 Breeders' Cup wins, which are the most ever for a single rider. Yet he has been talking very seriously about retiring, possibly within a few weeks.

So far, Bailey has come through this very dangerous business with relatively 'minor' injuries (broken jaw, broken collarbone, smashed ribs, etc.) He has also won over $22 million in purse money, has won every big American race there is to win, not to mention four editions of the Dubai World Cup Classic. He is in the Hall of Fame and is widely recognized as the greatest jockey of the last two decades. It is a joy to watch him ride. He is one of the few jockeys that I can recognize in a race by his classy, quiet, straight-backed crouch, the tip of his boots barely connecting to his stirrups, his horse positioned exactly where it has to be in order to win. And win he does---an incredible 25% of his races.

Maybe it 'is' time to get out while he can still walk, can still enjoy life.

Now that I've read "Against the Odds," I have to worry about what this thinking-man's jockey is going to do with himself after he retires. Much of his autobiography is about his fight against alcoholism. He can count the years and days since his last drink. But what is going to happen when he no longer needs his extraordinary reflexes and his ability to guide a thousand pounds of thundering horse past, around, and sometimes through its hard-galloping rivals? What happens when the euphoria of winning is replaced by a less adrenaline-soaked lifestyle?

I wanted to read "Against the Odds" as a celebration, and instead I ended up worrying about the author's future. This book is about Jerry and his struggle against alcoholism, his struggle to keep his marriage together, his struggle to conceive children. Only about a third of the text concerns his brilliance on the race track.

I was expecting a slightly different story--something a bit more prettified, with more about the great horses that he has guided into the winner's circle.

Cigar is the only Thoroughbred Jerry admits to falling in love with, and what a ride they had together! He was aboard for 15 of the 16 races that tied Cigar with Citation for the greatest number of consecutive wins.

I'll only read Jerry's brutally honest story once, but I'll never forget it.

My Turf: Horses, Boxers, Blood Money, and the Sporting Life

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Great Sportswriting
WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!
There's More to Sports than Sports

My Turf: Horses, Boxers, Blood Money, and the Sporting Life
William Nack
Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0306812002
Release Date: 2003-01-07

Book Description

Collected for the first time, the remarkable profiles and investigative stories of William Nack, esteemed Sports Illustrated writer and author of Secretariat: The Making of a Champion.

William Nack is widely acknowledged as one of the finest sports writers of the past half-century. He has won the prestigious Eclipse Award, given annually for the best magazine piece on horseracing, an unprecedented six times. Laura Hillenbrand, best-selling author of Seabiscuit, recently called his acclaimed biography Secretariat the "gold standard" of horse books. But Nack's "turf" goes far beyond the racetrack.

In this, his first collection, Nack's finest horse racing journalism is coupled with his legendary, one-of-a-kind profiles of athletes from Sonny Liston to Formula One driver Alex Zanardi, Rocky Marciano to Rick Pitino, and Keith Hernandez to Willie Shoemaker. And that is not all. From his compelling history of Yankee Stadium, to his inspiring account of Bob Kalsu, the only professional American athlete to die in Vietnam, to his poignant portrait of Cincinnati Reds catcher Willard Hershberger, who, at fifteen, discovered his father dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and later committed suicide himself, Nack serves up riveting stories of people and places. He also uncovers some of the dirtiest secrets in sports from the shady world of hit men and greedy owners who hire them to kill their horses for insurance payoffs to weightlifting muscle men, who, while stoked up on steroids, have gone on murderous rampages.

Whether writing about famous athletes--human and equine--or weighing in on some of the most controversial events and personalities in sports, William Nack has few equals.

Customer Reviews:

Great Sportswriting.......2003-10-29

I've always enjoyed William Nack on ESPN's Sports Century programs, and I'd read some of these selections in Sports Illustrated. It's great to have a collection of such eloquent sportswriting. The characters he writes about come to life. Even non sports fans would enjoy the features on Secretariat, Bobby Fishcher, and Bob Kalzu. In a nutshell, this is a treasure. Next how about a book of Gary Smith's SI stories?

WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!.......2003-06-10

I thought this book would be for sports enthusiasts only. Instead, it is actually a compilation of beautiful human interest stories that capture and inspire the hearts and minds of its readers. I highly recommend this book for boys and girls, young and old.

There's More to Sports than Sports.......2003-02-28

Bill Nack reports the "back stories" of human and equine athletes better than anyone around and this collection of some of his best work kept me turning the pages for more. From Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston to Secretariat, interesting and important figures from the world of sports are shown as human (or animal) beings, not simply athletic commodities. Nack's writing is elegant without being flowery, and often ironic. This book is a terrific read. The best quote in the collection is attributed to Liston and the meanest person was Rocky Marciano.

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A horse, a boy, and a family
My Friend Flicka
Surprise! A clinical description
A COMMANDING NARRATION OF A CLASSIC
Simply wonderful!

My Friend Flicka CD
Mary O'hara
Manufacturer: HarperChildrensAudio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 006089931X
Release Date: 2005-12-27

Book Description

It seems Ken can't do anything right. He loses saddle blankets and breaks reins . . . but then comes the worst news yet: a report card so bad that he has to repeat a grade. How can you tame the dreamy mind of a boy who stares out of the window instead of taking an exam? Enter Flicka, the chestnut filly with a wild spirit.

Over the course of one magical summer, both will learn the meaning of responsibility, courage, and, ultimately, friendship.

Performed by Michael Louis Wells

Customer Reviews:

A horse, a boy, and a family.......2007-04-10

I have to give this book 5 stars. Mary O'Hara wrote an incredibly beautiful story about a struggling family. Many of the details of the story are so true to life. As an adult reading this story, I found the details about the parents to be more interesting than the story of the horse and the boy. O'Hara really understands the concerns of a parent for a struggling child and it's very true to life in the book. Many important issues are touched upon in this book too; responsibility for our domestic animals, love for people and animals, doing our duty in our every day life are all there with out being mushy and sentimental. O'hara also paints a vivid picture of Wyoming and old-time ranch life. It makes me wish it was still like that, so I could visit it. This is another great book for a read aloud family time.

My Friend Flicka .......2007-01-15

This is a very good book. My granddaughter really enjoyed it.

Surprise! A clinical description.......2006-02-19

I am in the middle of lstening to this book. Its detailed descriptions of ranch life and horses are quite compelling. But what surprised me was the absolutely accurate description of a boy with ADD. This book was written some two decades before attention deficit disorder gained anyone's attention, but O'Hara's descriptions of Ken's behavior are absolutely consistent.

And then O'Hara answers the question of what to do about the condition: give the kid something he really wants to do and stand back. Of course, it helps that Ken has two wise and good-hearted parents; but then, maybe that is the start to solving most problems that children have.

A fine book on many levels, and a fine companion on the road for adult and child.

A COMMANDING NARRATION OF A CLASSIC.......2006-01-26

Although he made his audio book debut just two readings ago, stage, screen and television actor Michael Louis Wells is in full command of the metier with his narration of the classic My Friend Flicka. Many will remember the story as a film with Roddy McDowall, as a TV series or as a current film. Wells is on a par with all of the actors who have undertaken bringing this touching tale to life. The reason for the story's many incarnations is obvious - it is one of our best-loved books and well deserves its place among others that are enjoyed from generation to generation, such as Treasure Island and Mutiny on the Bounty.

Pivotal to O'Hara's story is Ken and his seeming laissez faire attitude. Where his mind is his father, Rob, certainly doesn't know. He's a young boy who would much rather just look out a window than study his arithmetic. He should have studied because his report card is so poor that he's doomed to repeat a grade. Rob undoubtedly wonders whether he'll even catch on the second time around.

Their home is Wyoming's Goose Bar Ranch and Rob is working hard to make a go of it. He doesn't need a son who seems given to daydreams. Then, along comes Flicka, a beautiful chestnut filly, with a wild streak inherited from her sire. Ken is certain he can tame Flicka, and so begins the unforgettable relationship between a boy and his horse.

O'Hara wrote a follow-up to her story, Thunderhead, but it never achieved the popularity of My Friend Flicka, a timeless story to be enjoyed over and over again.

- Gail Cooke

Simply wonderful!.......2005-08-27

On the Goose Bar Ranch in Wyoming, between the World Wars, former Army captain Rob McLaughlin and his Eastern blue-blood wife, Nell, are raising two sons and an ever-growing herd of thoroughbred horses. Rob, a stern but loving father, doesn't know what to do with younger son Ken. The boy daydreams constantly, and for that reason just failed to be promoted at his boarding school. Why should Rob give small Ken a colt of his own, as he already has older son Howard, when Ken can't do anything that demonstrates he's responsible enough to be trusted? Yet a colt is what Ken wants more than anything else in the world. Until he finds out what happens to male horses when they're two years old - after which he decides he'd rather have a filly.

Not just any filly, though. Flicka, born to the half-wild mare called Rocket. Flicka is faster already than her sire, the ranch's stud horse Banner, and Ken believes he'll be able to train Rocket's "bad blood" out of the yearling. Rob thinks his son is (to use his word for it) dumb, for a lot of reasons that now include choosing this filly that Rob is sure will turn out to be just as "loco" as her dam. Untrainable, and downright dangerous to those who try to handle her.

This novel is a perfect example of the type of children's classic that, when read by adults, proves to have depths and layers its target audience never perceives. I know I read it as a young girl, and enjoyed it as both a good "horse story" and coming of age tale. But in reading it again now, I was amazed by the detailed and multi-faceted characters of Rob and Nell. Their love story is one of the most interesting I've read, because the author not only captures the tensions between these two very different people - she also captures the way that raising their children, who are (for better or worse!) a blending of those differences, affects their relationship. No wonder this book is still in print more than 60 years after it was first published. Simply wonderful!

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Monty's Horses
A Book Where the Love Comes Through
I loved it!
I loved it!
I laughed and cried and read it it one sitting!

The Horses in My Life
Monty Roberts
Manufacturer: Trafalgar Square
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1570763232

Book Description

Trainer Monty Roberts, who is famous the world over as "the man who listens to horses," celebrates his best-loved horses, chosen from the tens of thousands he has worked with over the past 60 years.

Customer Reviews:

Monty's Horses.......2006-10-29

Interesting reading if you're a Monty Roberts fan. Basically short stories
of horses he has owned or trained. Not much educational content but an
overview of his life with horses and fun reading.

A Book Where the Love Comes Through.......2005-10-31

This book is a set of stories about the horses in Mr. Roberts life, not all of them, but a collection of sixty or so. It starts with the first horse in his life and ends with a horse named Johnny Tivio that he road to win numerous championship event. Mr. Roberts stresses in this book that these are the horses that taught him things.

Mr. Roberts, the author of the best selling 'The Man who Listens to Horses,' clearly loves horses. In this book, that love comes through. Each horse is treated with respect and understanding, perhaps more than you would normally think goes to an animal. Perhaps, but it makes it easy to see why Mr. Roberts has chosen to spend a lifetime with horses.

Knowing that the horses are long lived, there is a bit of trajedy here as each horse goes to his own ending. But that too is part of life.

This is not a book on how to train horses, not even about how to ride horses. This is a life of loving horses.

I loved it!.......2005-09-30

It was fascinating to follow how the different experiences with horses led Monty to become the person he is today. I have seen him work in person and it is truly amazing to watch what he can do. Learning more about what the horses have taught him gave me even more insight.

I loved it!.......2005-09-22

This is a great bunch of stories and such a marvelous perspective on a rich life involved with animals - pure love!

I laughed and cried and read it it one sitting!.......2005-09-16

Monty says these horses made him the amazing trainer that he is and it is a fascinating journey through the decades of his life. He created a movement that will forever change the way we treat animals - not just horses.
I read a review by the American Library Association touting this book and they are right on!

My First Horse (James, Will, Tumbleweed Series.)

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My First Horse (James, Will, Tumbleweed Series.)
Will James
Manufacturer: Mountain Press Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Wild West | Obsessions | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0878424881

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Donw-home ramblin'

Guess I'm Lucky: My Life in Horseracing
Woody Stephens
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Veterinary Medicine | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Donw-home ramblin'.......2000-06-12

One of the most successful horse trainers in history, and the only trainer to win the Belmont Stakes five times in a row, tells his own story. Its language is about what you'd expect from a horse trainer in his upper seventies (at the time the book was written-- Stephens is now deceased). It's laconic, plain, understated. Easy reading. Probably interesting, if you follow horse racing, and especially if you remember Woody's streak of Belont wins in the early to mid eighties. If not, it probably won't hold your interest.

Average customer rating:

This the best book ever!!!
Truly a GREAT book
Best Of The Best
Riding for My Life

Riding for My Life
Julie Krone , and Nancy Richardson
Manufacturer: Little Brown & Co (T)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Veterinary Medicine | Medicine | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0316504777

Customer Reviews:

This the best book ever!!!.......2006-07-16

I read this book in 14 hours. I coudld read this book 20 million times!!! This book is a book where can't put it down!! I loved this book !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Truly a GREAT book.......2000-07-05

I found this book while trying to get an interesting biography about a famous woman athlete for a project I had to do. Because I am fond of horses, it was my good luck that this autobiography of the famous jockey, Julie Krone, came up in my path. With the help of Nancy Ann Richardson, Julie Krone has been able to capture her younger years and early racing experiences and give them an interesting twist. Even when it turned out that I didn't need to do the project, I felt that the book had been a worthwhile investment. I greatly enjoyed it and highly recommend it for it's interesting and real-life quality.

Best Of The Best.......2000-06-19

This book is truly the best of the best. I've re-read it probably over seven times, yet I still get that feeling of astonishment at how Julie was able to become a racing hero. She went from the extreme bottom of horse racing to the top. After reading this book and watching her race. Julie is now my idle, my hero. She has inspired me to become a successful jockey. I, because of her, feel that I am going to be the first female jockey to win the triple crown. Everyone, remember my first name, Carly, for you'll be hearing of it a lot in a couple of years. Julie, I thank you and Nancy for writing such an extraordinary book, and for giving me the encouraggement through this book to live up to my full potential.

Riding for My Life.......1999-12-31

This is a heart-breaking story about a jockey who made her way to the top, only to nearly be killed when falling of during a race. I recomend this book for any reader.

Horse Wise: Thinking Outside the Stall Other Lessons I Learned from My Horse

Average customer rating:

Great book

Horse Wise: Thinking Outside the Stall Other Lessons I Learned from My Horse
Cheryl Kimball
Manufacturer: Conari Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Death & Grief | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Pet Loss | Death & Grief | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Personal Transformation | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1573248665

Book Description

Horses teach life's great lessons--keep it simple; learn to think differently; lead by respect, not dominance; consider the horse's perspective. Horse Wise is full of horse sense and human common sense. Horsewoman and author Cheryl Kimball uses endearing real life stories of working with horses to tell readers what her horses have taught her about managing a company, being a leader, and how to live everyday life more deeply and authentically.

Customer Reviews:

Great book.......2006-05-07

Great book, for folks that like horses and those that do not. Great way of looking at things going on in your life. The book is very short and doesn't take long to read.

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