Nemesis: The True Story of Aristotle Onassis, Jackie O, and the Love Triangle That Brought Down the Kennedys

Book Description

A longtime investigative journalist uncovers one of the great untold stories of twentieth–century international intrigue, and the secrets it has held 㟵ntil now.

Shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis and Bobby Kennedy, two of the world's richest and most powerful men, disliked one another from the moment they first met. Over several decades, their intense mutual hatred only grew, as did their desire to compete for the affections of Jackie, the keeper of the Camelot flame.

Now, this shocking work by seasoned investigative journalist Peter Evans reveals the culmination of the Kennedy–Onassis–Kennedy love triangle: Onassis was at the heart of the plot to kill Bobby Kennedy. Nemesis meticulously traces Onassis's trail – his connections, the way that he financed the assassination – and includes a confession kept secret for three decades. With its deeply nuanced portraits of the major figures and events that shaped an era, Nemesis is a work that will not soon be forgotten.

Customer Reviews:

You won't be disappointed...........2007-06-25

Fans of Callas, Onassis, & Kennedy(s) should embrace this book a.s.a.p. Peter Evans does a wonderful job. What an extraordinary story that is told. I couldn't put this book down for several weeks. Even after I've finished it, it inspires re-reading. Highly recommended!!

Confusing.......2007-06-09

I thought that this book would be interesting to me because I like the Kennedy family and am interested in conspiracy theories, but I was wrong. This book is pretty good, but it is really confusing with so many people involved that sometimes it is hard to keep straight who this person is and what they did.

Rumors and Questions Answered.......2007-03-24

Those who find a conspiracy in every world event will be satisfied with the well-researched and well-written account of the possible involvement of Aristotle Onassis in the assassination of Robert Kennedy. As to the oft-asked question as to why Jacqueline Kennedy would want to marry the Greek tycoon, it is answered with a new understanding of the greed and lust that drove these compelling personalities. The narrative fairly jumps from the pages of this very fast read. Even the footnotes are fascinating.

Whoa!.......2006-05-04

What a fascinating, very well written book! It seemed every page had a juicy morsel or two and really opened my eyes into what was really going on during the last months of John Kennedy's life and why Jackie married Aristotle Onassis. As a teenager, I was shocked she'd married someone who obviously wasn't a friend of the United States. But Peter Evans portrays Onassis as someone so fascinating, even desirable in his "bulldog" approach to women, maybe money wasn't the only reason. Then again, once you read this book your whole image of "Camelot" and the "Holy Widow" will never be the same.

Review for Seller.......2006-01-15

The book came quickly and in exactly the condition stated: like brand new. Will definitely look this seller up again next time I'm shopping for books.

Average customer rating:

Sweet & Romantic
Disappointing lack of content
Great Gift
Outstanding
A Different look at World War II

Love Stories of World War II

Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Love & Romance | Relationships | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
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Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer

ASIN: 0609607235
Release Date: 2001-11-06

Book Description

Both poignant and inspiring, these are the moving stories of men and women who met amid the chaos of the most devastating war in history and became the loves of one another’s lives. Many are now enjoying their seventies and eighties together after more than fifty happy years of marriage.

They met in many remarkable ways, some in the briefest of chance encounters, and their love endured heart-rending ordeals of long separation and the constant threat that a husband or lover might not return. As these couples reflect on the profound experience of the war, the stories they most like to tell are of the deep bonds they forged during that tumultuous time, bonds so strong that they lasted a lifetime. As one man put it, “We’ve all got war stories. Some of us like to tell them and some don’t. But the story of how we fell in love with our wives, well, that’s still with us every day, and I know a lot of us can still get a little choked up over it. The war was a long time ago, one part of our lives. But we’re still living the love stories.”

Bestselling author and master interviewer Larry King tells the stories of these love affairs just as the couples recalled them, capturing the special feeling of those times in their own words. The stories are complemented with a wealth of personal photographs and reproductions of touching memorabilia, including V-mail letters, cartoons, cards, newspaper accounts, and even the ticket stub from the movie seen on a first date. The stories reflect a wonderful range of experiences, from couples who met and got married within a few weeks to those who waited years after a brief first meeting to see each other again. There are stories of falling in love at first sight, stories of tragedy transformed by love, and stories of the remarkable resourcefulness that can be exercised by two people determined to be together.

A treasure trove of unique reminiscences, Love Stories of World War II offers an unprecedented view into this personal side of the World War II experience and celebrates the incredible legacy of remarkable relationships forged in the midst of tragedy.

Customer Reviews:

Sweet & Romantic.......2005-09-05

This is a great book for all ages. I'm 22 and I obviously wasn't alive during WWII, but I still find the stories so very touching and romantic. You feel as though you know the individuals personally when you read their stories and you get this warm spot in your chest when everything comes together and works out for them during that time of war.

Disappointing lack of content.......2002-08-20

I read this book because my mother and father, a career soldier, were married shortly before World War II, after knowing each other only 3 months. I hoped this book would offer me some interesting insights. But trust me, this book has no insights to offer. The vignettes are too short and most seem incomplete; further, they are repetitious and shallow, and the whole book is poorly written. Do not waste your time. Instead, spend it finding one of the really good books on WWII; there are plenty out there. Larry King must be spreading himself too thin these days!

Great Gift.......2002-03-03

I bought this book for my mother. My father is a world war II vet. She tells me it brought back many memories - some happy, some sad. Overall, she really enjoyed it. I would recommend it as a great gift for parents and grandparents who lived through it.

Outstanding.......2002-02-23

I was given this book as a Valentine's Day gift by my boyfriend at the dawn of our relationship. He is an Army officer and I am in training to be one as well, and as such, we are often separated by our respective training. In this current time of war uncertainty and world instability, the stories in this book serve as a poingnent reminder of what we are living and fighting for every day.

A Different look at World War II.......2001-12-28

I am a huge fan of history. I love to read historical fiction, mainly, but every now and again, I will pick up something else. I was given "Love Stories of World War II" as a gift and I am by no means disappointed. In a time when the world was at war and death and dying was a harsh reality, some people were falling in love. Larry King has done an excellent job of putting this book together, keeping with facts and mementos of the couples in the book. Rather then sweeting it up, their stories are told with excerpts from letters and the histories behind the love. It is not mushy stuff, just simple stories of love in a time of war.

Customer Reviews:

A Foggy and Romanticized Rendition.......2001-12-06

This book reminded of me a child telling a story about the excitement and fun of a carnival, and while I might appreciate the child's viewpoint and comprehension of the carnival, I had the adult's perception of knowing better and wanting more. This is a very incomplete and undocumented tale, like a child's leftover cotton candy -- a bad-tasting remnant from a trip to the carnival and a reminder of the flashing lights, the excitement, and a ride on the ferris wheel. And like a child, the author told her story without a mature understanding of what a carnival really is -- a lot of flashing bright lights, games and rides, crowds, noise, dirt, and smoke and mirrors. This book is at best, a foggy and romanticized rendition of historically important events. I truly believe that posterity will demand a clearer picture and better documentation of the claims made by the author.

A person to person opinion!.......2000-04-14

I purchased "Texas in the Morning" directly from Madeleine Brown at her home in Dallas. She was kind enough to invite myself and the Senior Class of 2000 from Roberts High School in Roberts, Montana to her home for lunch. Madeleine was a very gracious host, seemly honest and forthright. I read her book thoroughly on the airplane on the return trip home. It was intriguing and very interesting. I question her having so much patience, but not her commitment to both this relationship and her book. An excellent book for a person with an open mind!

Worth the price for the information contained inside........1999-10-07

The author is no word beater when it comes to writing skills, but she obviously knew President Lyndon Johnson very well. No one reading this book could not take her seriously. Madeleine Duncan Brown was part of history. She was indeed a secret lover of LBJ. In fact, she bore and raised his only son. The most interesting passage in the book takes place on Thursday night in Dallas, Texas, November 21, 1963, at the home of Clint Murchison. Read the book for the details of that night as Johnson whispers in the author's ear, "After tomorrow those goddamn Kennedys will never emparrass me again--that's no threat--that's a promise." A must read for JFK assassination researchers.

LBJ meets the romance novel.......1998-02-20

If you are interested in political biography skip
Texas in the Morning. This book reads like a bad
dime-store romance.

I was hoping that Madeleine Brown would have some
insight into the character of LBJ. She doesn't.

Customer Reviews:

A saucy strumpet.......2006-06-12

For awhile I've had a fascination for the air war over New Guinea during WWII. To help me with this, I was visiting the website PACIFICWRECKS.COM looking for more material to read. In reading thru their listing of books I discovered this book; Nanette: Her Pilot's Love Story by Ewards Park.

Nanette tells Edwards Park's story as a young airman in WWII and his time spent in the South West Pacific flying Bell P-39 Airacobra. In telling his tale, Mr. Park focus's on his aircraft and it's temperament rather than on specific battles. We get to read about Mr. Park's training in the US (interestingly, he ground looped three times and was still made a fighter pilot), his trip to Australia, preparation for combat, and then flying in New Guinea. Once in New Guinea, Mr. Park is assigned to a P-39 squadron near Port Moresby. While there (and other locations in New Guinea), Mr. Park tells us about flying P-39's. Rarely does he focus on this opponents, rather he focus's on his temperamental aircraft that seems to have life of it's own. We learn how Nanette will do anything to avoid aerial combat (the only aerial engagement he describes was when he was flying a different plane), bucking, stalling, starving itself of gasoline. Instead, Nanette lives to be at low altitude, not worrying about the Zero's and Oscar's the Japanese fly.

Nanette is fabulously written! When I first got this book, I was reading another book. After sampling a few pages I became engrossed in the book. Mr. Park's writing still is first rate, his love of his saucy strumpet is shown by how clearly he descriptions her. I can't imagine having that great of a memory where I could remember every fact of how my plane performed. Because of this, I'm certain that Nanette was his first love. This book is great for those interested in P-39's, what it was like in New Guinea in WWII, or reading people's stories about going to war, this is a great book. For those wondering, I give this one a solid 5 stars!

Nanette, a story for my life.......2006-05-31

I am a veteran of New Guinea through the eyes of Edwards Park. I am seasoned and wiser for reading it. I bought Nanette in 1977 as a wild eyed 19 year old WW II aircraft fan. I found that Nanette was the first time I could relate to a story personally about WW II. Mr. Park's point of view in the book was not an aged veteran. He wrote as a young man fighting in terrible conditions while showing all the confusion, bravery, machismo, fear, and honor that a boy would have so far from home. Who knows if Mr. Park was a great pilot? But I have read books from great pilots who couldn't write. Mr. Park will make his experience your experience because he is a great writer. I wrote a letter to Mr. Park about the book back then. He even wrote a cordial reply to my questions. I have read this book at least a dozen times in almost thirty years and had to buy another copy to keep the original from falling apart. Nanette is easily one of my all time favorites. Easy reading and easier to relate to. I wish I could give it ten stars.

theoldALFER's affair with Nanette.......2002-10-24

My fascination (or should I say obsession?) with the Bell P-39 and the air war in New Guinea in WWII is fueled by the pages of Edward Park's "Nannette."
Park's likening of his tour of duty as a P-39 pilot to an affair with a strumpet named Nanette is a can't put down read for any aviation buff.
While short on historical details such as dates and statistics, the human drama and personal feelings of a pilot and his squadron mates come alive much as Nanette did for Parks. Life, death, and reason for being are examined through the eyes of a reluctant combatant and pilot.
My favorite all time aviation book.

One of the best pilot memoirs I've ever read!.......1998-12-03

"Nanette- Her Pilot's Love Story" is distinguished from many WWII pilot memoirs by the superb writing of Edwards Park. His vivid, often wry prose truly takes you into the world of the WWII fighter pilot in the Pacific as he focuses not only on the heroic but also the mundane, the frightening and, sometimes, the downright unpleasant.

But for all its worth as a detailed glimpse of the pilots' war, the real story here is the growing love of a young pilot for his first fighter aircraft. "Nanette", a P-39 Airacobra, is nondescript, skittish, often dangerous- and enlessly fascinating to her pilot. Anyone who has ever formed a bond with a machine which, inexplicably, transceded flesh and metal will find this book a superb read.

One of the best first-hand WWII fighter pilot's stories........1997-02-16

As an avid reader of WWII fighter pilot first-hand accounts, especially from the Pacific Theatre, this is one of the very best available. Edward is concise, a powerful wordsmith, and you will be hooked after reading just the Introduction (one-third page) and the first couple pages of the first paragraph. He was the typical WWII Army Aviation cadet, and fell in love with his Bell P-39 Aircobra. He starts, "Nanette was an airplane. That should be made clear right at the start. She was not a very good plane; actually she stank. But she did a lot for me, I realize, as I look back on her. All the planes of that old war had distinguishing looks and personalities. The P-40, the Warhawk, was knobby and arrogant, a tomboy. The P-38, the Lightning, was lean and coltish, a rich debunte. The P-47, the Thunderbolt, was massive and dull, a peasnat girl. The bombers had their distinctions, too, but I didn't know much about them. Of all the fighters, two could really excite a flyer. One was the P-51, Mustang, lovely to look at, honest, efficient, hardworking and dependable. In those days she was thought of as a wife, and I know men who married her, back then, and are still inlove with her. The other was the P-39, the Aircobra. It was slim, with a gently curved tail section, a smoothly faired in air intake, and a perfectly rounded nose cone with its ugly, protruding cannon. But the Aircobra was lazy and slovenly and given to fits of vicious temper. It was a sexy machine, and rotten. Nanette was like that, and I was a little queer for her." You can find a lot of books by fighter pilots, but you won't find many better to read than this one.

Lilla's Feast: One Woman's True Story of Love and War in the Orient

Average customer rating:

The Rise and Fall of a British Colonial
A Remarkable Story
Split decision
The story of Lila's life will stay with you...
A very good read if you're in the mood to feel sympathetic

Lilla's Feast: One Woman's True Story of Love and War in the Orient
Frances Osborne
Manufacturer: Random House Trade Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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

General | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0345472381
Release Date: 2005-09-13

Book Description

At the end of her life, Frances Osborne’s one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother Lilla was as elegant as ever–all fitted black lace and sparkling-white diamonds. To her great-grandchildren, Lilla was both an ally and a mysterious wonder. Her bedroom was filled with treasures from every exotic corner of the world. But she rarely mentioned the Japanese prison camps in which she spent much of World War II, or the elaborate cookbook she wrote to help her survive behind the barbed wire.

Beneath its polished surface, Lilla’s life had been anything but effortless. Born in 1882 to English parents in the beautiful North China port city of Chefoo, Lilla was an identical twin. Growing up, she knew both great privilege and deprivation, love and its absence. But the one constant was a deep appreciation for the power of food and place. From the noodles of Shanghai to the chutney of British India and the roasts of England, good food and sensuous surroundings, Lilla was raised to believe, could carry one a long way toward happiness. Her story is brimming with the stuff of good fiction: distant locales, an improvident marriage, an evil mother-in-law, a dramatic suicide, and two world wars.

Lilla’s remarkable cookbook, which she composed while on the brink of starvation, makes no mention of wartime rations, of rotten vegetables and donkey meat. In the world this magical food journal, now housed in the Imperial War Museum in London, everyone is warm and safe in their homes, and the pages are filled with cream puffs, butterscotch, and comforting soup. In its writing, Lilla was able to transform the darkest moments into scrumptious escape.

Lilla’s Feast is a rich evocation of a bygone world, the inspiring story of an ordinary woman who tackled the challenges life threw in her path with an extraordinary determination.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

The Rise and Fall of a British Colonial .......2007-07-09

"Lilla's Feast" describes a time not so very long ago that seems impossibly distant. The world-wide expansion of European colonialism in the 19th century caused thousands of people, especially British, to seek their fortunes in the colonies and the trading emporiums in the exotic East, especially India and China. Lilla, the great-grandmother of the author was one of them. She was born in Chefoo, China in 1882 and spent most of her life in China or India.

Lilla never did anything of great importance, but she stands for all the Brits born and raised abroad who felt a bit foreign when they returned "home" to England on visits. During the course of her 100-year life Lilla was present during the peak of Western power and prestige in the Orient before 1900 and its rapid decline thereafter culminating in World War II in which Lilla and her family ended up in a Japanese concentration camp.

We follow Lilla through marriages, births,deaths, family troubles in India and China, the hardships of Weihsien internee camp in China during World War II, and finally back to an uneasy old age in England -- the money, power, and prestige of life as a privileged Westener in China now gone. It's a good story to be read about a class of people who saw their pleasant lives and lucrative livelihoods destroyed by war and politics. We don't feel all that sorry for Lilla, nor even that fond of her, but we are interested in her experiences. Along the way we get some fascinating pictures of the life of Brits in China -- and especially the hardships of Weihsien, a concentration camp that has catalyzed a sizeable body of literature. See "The Call" by John Hersey, a novel about a missionary who is interned in Weihsien and "Shantung Compound" by Lawrence Gilkey, a sociological classic about people under the stress of imprisonment.

Smallchief

A Remarkable Story.......2006-12-06

This is one of the most amazing stories that I have recently read. The book is beautifully produced, and the Author has gone to an enormous amount of trouble in collecting photographs and information concerning her Great Grandmother, who defied every hardship she faced. This incredible Lady lived to the age of 100, having survived a Japanese concentration camp in World War 2, preceded by other trials and tribulations. Her story is an object lesson to us all, in how not to give in, how to keep going whatever the circumstances that life brings to us. The early days of her first Marriage tell us how to keep a man happy even though she had a miserable time with him!!!This is a book to be read again and again, a wonderful read and most inspiring.

Split decision.......2006-10-03

What we have here is a woman's life spanning just over 100 years. Lilla is not a particularly likeable woman, but if you digest the details you can see why (possibly). She is an interesting woman who weathered particularly exhausting situations and managed her life so that she did what was expedient.
This book has numerous photographs.
The book isn't well-written or edited. That aside, the details of survival, one way or another, are quite out of the ordinary and at times fascinating. It became even more so when I realized I had actually seen this cookbook when I was lucky enough to come across it several years ago at the Imperial War Museum. It was a nice , unexpected connection. And I have never before read of the Japanese prison camp existence within China. An easy read of eras gone by.

The story of Lila's life will stay with you..........2006-05-19

The previous review which reviles the colonial bias of this biography has little relevance ... this is the world as it was then and the story is not being told to address the right or wrong of it, but rather to tell the story of the author's great grandmother in the grand sweep of WWII. The woman in this incredible story makes the best of deprivations and a bad marriage and far flung family, circumstances take her from her beloved China to England, India, all of this in that bygone time with none of todays conveniences and she remained a figure of dignity and elegance who also has experiences of sublime beauty and love... I think this little masterpiece will make its way into your heart and stay there, it did with me.

A very good read if you're in the mood to feel sympathetic .......2005-05-29

But I for one was not. The book is steeped in a bias towards colonialism. The tone of the book encourages the reader to think of the Chinese, Japanese, and Indians as faceless "others" surrounding the more civilised and elegant British and European populations, only to be depicted in elementary-school-textbook-like passages about historical events.
Although the author's inclination to view her great-grandmother as a victim of nearly everyone and everything (fate as well!)is certainly understandable, it hardly makes for captivating reading. The writing style is a dry mix of "facts" derived from personal effects and sheer speculation.
This book is based upon a recipe book which was donated to a British museum.... as opposed to the priceless artifacts which Britain so self-righteously helped itself to during it's tyrannical episode of colonization... and still doesn't feel the need to return.
I suppose it's hardly possible to expect an unbiased view of colonization from the wife of the youngest conservative member of Parliament, but one can hope.

Average customer rating:

Touching
A different WWII novel - from a current active duty bombardier
Diabetic warning: pretty syrupy
very well written book
Touch the face of God: A WW II Novel

Touch the Face of God: A WW II Novel
Robert Vaughan
Manufacturer: Thomas Nelson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

War | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0785266275

Book Description

This inspirational novel explores the drama, sweep, and grandeur of World War II--those who fought it overseas and those who lived through it on the home front--and a time when faith in God was our national security.

"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth . . . Put out my hand, and touched the face of God"--John Gillespie Magee, Jr., a WWII airman who died in combat at the age of 19.

It has been called "The Last Good War" and those who fought it have been called "The Greatest Generation." They lived every day as if it were their last--loving, laughing, and trusting that God held their future.

In this moving novel, Lt. Mark White, a B-17 bomber pilot, meets Emily Hagan only weeks before he ships out to England. They fall in love through letters as each faces the war on separate sides of the Atlantic, but will the war and a misunderstanding tear them apart forever? Lt. Lee Arlington Grant has disappointed his military family by becoming a chaplain instead of a warrior. He hopes his service in the war will heal his rift with his father while he shares Christ with his fellow soldiers-especially Tom Canby. Their lives and the lives of the men and women who fight at their side are interwoven with danger, romance, tragedy, and ultimately hope as the war and their roles in it draw to a close.

This powerful story is about a man's love for a woman, the soldiers' love for their country, and the love of God for each of His children. Written by a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, Touch The Face of God brings to life a time and a place that is quickly being forgotten.

Customer Reviews:

Touching.......2006-06-29

This is a very good story, quite touching, and what a beautiful cover! It really depicts the times. I like books such as these. Flags Of Our Fathers is another favorite! I am a regular WWII buff when it comes to things like this!

The opening train sequence captures your imagination and then you just cannot let go! Highly recommended!

A different WWII novel - from a current active duty bombardier.......2006-05-02

This book is a superb historical fiction in the setting of WWII. The book, while dealing heavily in the American daylight bombing campaigns, is not a typical book about the war. There are a few aspects that make this book unique when comparing it to other WWI books.

This is a book that deals with a few characters and covers all aspects of their lives: families left at home, US soldiers in an armor division, US aviators in a B-17 bomber squadron and US fighter pilots. This also deals with the human aspects of the soldier's relationships with the families back home and in their deployed locations. This is not a hard-core war book, nor is it a mushy romance novel. This book also deals heavily in the spiritual aspects of the members involved.

The writing is superb and gripping. I couldn't put the book down. I relished the spiritual aspects of the book, and there are all types of people involved from chaplains, church members, knowledgeable agnostics and a-spiritual people. One of the main characters, a chaplain in the USAAF, shows the relationship between a chaplain and the bomber crews flying daylight precision bombing missions over Europe. Some of the missions are merely mentioned in a journal-like setting. Others are described in detail. But, the book does not focus only on the aircrews and their plight, but also deals with men under the command of Gen Patton in N. Africa. You get to know the characters, making it more than names when characters succumb to enemy fire.

This is not a book for someone looking for a hard-core wartime historical fiction, because of the softer aspects dealt with in the writing. But, this should not be overlooked because of the real-life air this book sets up.

A superb read and one of the rare fictions I will keep in my library.

Diabetic warning: pretty syrupy.......2006-03-23

My dad was a bomber pilot in WWII, and I enjoy fiction set in this era. I enjoyed some aspects of this book; there were several little asides that evoked the time period very well. It is a very warm story, and there's nothing in it I wouldn't want my mother to read.

BUT, it's a little too sweetly corny and predictable to get more than three stars. The ending, in particular, was telegraphed from the very start, so there was no surprise when it arrived.

There's also a very strong Christian-faith-promoting undercurrent, which didn't bother me, but it gets in the way of the plot. In fact, it is the plot, pretty much. So this book would be a popular addition to the library shelves at the local Bible college, but I can't say it rates very high on my list of recommended reads. Sorry.

very well written book.......2005-07-17

Like the other reviewers I would highly recommend this book. I do not remember how I got a copy of it, and frankly was not sure it would be worth reading since I feared an overly pious book with under whelming plot. I was wrong in both counts. If you are familiar with World War II history, then you should have no problem following the plot. However if you are looking for blood spurts and four letter words being used, this is NOT the book for you.
My only objections to the book were the fact the author attributed certain actions to fictional characters that actually happened to real people, but then unexplainably included those same real people in his novel. Also he seemed to spend some time on a couple of characters thru the novel, but then near the end they just disappeared from the narrative but with no explanation as to why.
These two quibbles aside, it is definitely worth reading.

Touch the face of God: A WW II Novel.......2003-05-30

Definately one of Robert Vaughan best! I loved this book and so will you. An entertaining blend of history, adventure, drama, romance and spirituality. Vaughan gets you inside the minds and hearts of his characters. You will feel like you are with these young airmen on their flying missions in Europe during WWII. A page turner that you wont want to put down right up to the magical ending. You will want to share it with others.

Average customer rating:

Love, War, and Spirituality...
All's scare in love and war
A Real "Wow" of a book
An Near Perfect Work

A Perfect Peace
Glynn Compton Harper
Manufacturer: Electric eBook Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1553521110
Release Date: 2003-12-17

Book Description

A Perfect Peace is a story about men in love and war. Set in wartime Britain and France in 1944, nineteen-year-old Bobby Joe Keyes, an athletic, resourceful young man from rural Texas, survives the D-Day invasion of Europe. After he is wounded in battle, he meets another soldier, Anthony James, en route to a recently built American Army Camp in Devonshire. They recognize in each other mutual attraction and mutual need. A Perfect Peace conveys the spiritual transformation both men experience, giving them the conviction and strength of character to hope that their love will survive despite the many trials it has and undoubtedly will face in the days to come.

Customer Reviews:

Love, War, and Spirituality..........2007-09-29

As a female Master of Social Work student planning to work with veterans, I selected this book to gain insight into the gay population within the military. This topic was difficult to find. Most gay military fiction is meant more for arousal than a sensitive and emotionally complex story. Mr. Harper did an excellent job filling this gap in literature.

From the very beginning, the reader is invited into the quiet and private world of Bobby Joe Keyes. By the time this 19 year old man reaches England for the pre-staging of D-Day, his life is marked by the tragedies of losing his family in a car accident and being sexually molested by a coach in his small Texas hometown. Throughout the book, the yearning for intimacy and truly being loved drives him to make great sacrifices to maintain his first love affair with Tony, a fellow soldier who has been injured and hospitalized. The emotions of Bobby Joe are written so personally anyone who has ever been in love, straight or gay, can put themselves in his place. I can honestly say I have never identified with a gay man before, but couldn't help myself as I became more and more involved in the story. It is important to recognize this book is about LOVE, not sex. Though the sex scenes are described well enough to stimulate the senses, they are certainly not what you will find in erotic literature.

Another important theme I have not seen ANYWHERE in popular portrayals of gay men is spirituality. Mr. Harper beautifully writes of Bobby Joe's spiritual awakening and awareness of the love of God. It fills a void in Bobby Joe's life that extends beyond his lover who introduced him to the Anglican Church. An interesting thing the author does is portray the religious people Bobby Joe encounters as accepting of his homosexuality. I wonder if Mr. Harper, a retired Episcopalian priest, is not offering a moral lesson to his fellow clergy on the importance of inclusiveness in the expression of God's love. He contrasts this with the fundamental version of Christianity Bobby Joe was raised with that alienated him.

The last thing is for those who may generally not find war stories appealing. The setting is World War II and the middle of the book DOES take place on the battlefield, but it is not about "guts and glory". It is written interestingly, but not graphically, and moves along so even non-action lovers like me can enjoy it. The war, like all the other experiences Bobby Joe has while in England, forms him as a person. During the battle, Bobby Joe proves himself to be an excellent soldier and leader and real hero. These, again, are not traits frequently given to gay men. Mr. Harper demonstrates that these characteristics are not inherently straight, but are available to all people - regardless of their sexual orientation.

Overall, I enthusiastically recommend this book and am looking forward to reading Mr. Harper's next novel, Arise Beloved.

All's scare in love and war.......2004-09-11

A Perfect Peace by Glynn Compton Harper opens with Private Bobby Joe Keyes playing with himself under a blanket while watching a soldier sitting across from him in a truck. With this on the first page, I was afraid I'd walked into a gay spank book-definitely not my cup of tea. Fortunately there's a story here, not 342 pages of Private Keyes finding clever ways to drop the soap.

Set in England and France in and around D-Day, A Perfect Peace is a coming of age story and a comedy of errors. Amidst the bombs, snipers and trench-to-trench combat, Keyes fights another war across the internal terrain of his heart and soul.

Very early in the story Keyes meets Private Anthony James. There is an immediate connection between the two men-a mutual attraction that transcends the providence of one gay in the 1940's US Army finding another within his own company. Aware of his own sexuality, but having never been with a man his own age romantically, Keyes is flayed to the spiritual bone by new and overwhelming emotions. What follows is a journey of angst that most young men go through during their first great love affair; desire tormented by fear, wonder polluted with insecurity, but with the added barriers of being gay in the `40s. Keyes' and James' relationship is abhorred by society, illegal in the military, and forbidden based on a literal interpretation of the bible. As if these complications weren't enough, any place the two men might go for a first date might be shot up, burned down, or blown to smithereens at a moment's notice.

Circumstances of the war separate the pair, leaving Keyes in a position where he will do absolutely anything to reunite with James. Struggling against military bureaucracy and English high society, Keyes is further hampered by Private Bernie Bibbs, a man so filled with self hatred that he poisons anything he touches. Bibbs is loathsome to the degree that at one point while reading I wanted to reach into the page and throttle the character.

Throughout A Perfect Peace, author Harper is excellent at presenting Keyes' environment and his reactions to people and situations that don't so much influence the young private as hogtie him like a calf bound for slaughter. The lengths Keyes goes to maintain contact with James-while at the same time keeping their love secret-are metaphoric of any sacrifice any person makes when seeking something without which they feel they cannot live.

A Perfect Peace is difficult to place in a specific genre. It's not gay erotica; the story is too intelligent and the sex is written tactfully enough that even a redneck prairie boy like myself could read it without discomfort. It's not a typical romance novel; those seeking cookie cutter formula and cliché will have to look elsewhere. It's not entirely a war novel; there are no insights as to the minds of generals, or attempts to tackle ideals on a nationwide level. This is the story, honestly written, of one man in conflict. Keyes' tale could just as easily take place in a coal mining town, or a lumber camp, without losing any of its impact.

A Perfect Peace is for anybody who enjoys reading an intense story of the human condition, without needing everything to be wrapped up in pretty pink bow. I look forward to reading Harper's forthcoming novel, Escape from Eden.

A Real "Wow" of a book.......2004-09-10

Anyone who remembers the Mary Renault books "Last of the Wine" and "The Charioteer" and wishes that there was another tale that rises to the level of Ms. Renault's stories can find it in Glynn Harpers's sensitive story of two men in love. The book transends the Gay trash genre. It is about love and relationship, courage and commitment. When I reached the end, I had a real sense of loss in having to say goodbye to Bob Keyes and Tony James. Yes, there's gay sex, but the book is not just about sex. The story is told in a way that is restrained. There is also war and violence, but both the sex and the violence are integral to Mr. Harper's story. He is a masterful writer and I for one will look forward to reading more of his work--and the sooner the better.

An Near Perfect Work.......2004-09-06

A Perfect Peace, by author Glynn Harper is an amazing book. And I know amazing is a word widely over used these days, but amazing it is indeed. It deals with a subject matter I am not overly interested in (a sort of homosexual coming of age set right smack in the middle of WW 11), but after some word of mouth push, I took a day off and read my way through this book.

It is beautifully written. The characters are well thought out the dialogue all rings true. If I had to scrape my head and come out with a comparrison to any author out there, I would have to write that if Flannery o' Connor were still with us and she deciced to tackle this (actually parallel subject matter), she would have turned out A Perfect Peace. It is written in a direct, unpretentious way that hits home and resounds with the reader.

I do not want to give away the plot or the outcome; however, one does not need to be only a fan of war stories, tales of love, or homosexual coming of age content. It is a riveting tale of relationships of all sorts, and of growing and expanding in a world that does not always give us an unimpeded path to explore our inner-selves.

Read this book!

Collin Tate

The Girl With the White Flag: An Inspiring Story of Love and Courage in War Time

Average customer rating:

Not Great
Hope and Miracles
traumatized me in 4th grade
Great for all
A great book

The Girl With the White Flag: An Inspiring Story of Love and Courage in War Time
Tomika Higa
Manufacturer: Kodansha Amer Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Japanese | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 4770015372

Customer Reviews:

Not Great.......2007-06-12

I thought this book was okay. You would like it if you liked learning about Japan during WWII, but I found it badly written. The end is unsatisfactory and the way it was written, even though it was non-fiction was boring to me.

Hope and Miracles.......2007-06-06

This book with its unadorned account of survival through the terrible battle of Okinawa is an important reminder of just how cruel war is, especially to those caught in the middle. Little Tomiko struggles against all odds and lives to tell this amazing story of desperation and courage. Not for sensitive kids; I would recommend this to middle schoolers and older - this is the real thing, not just a video game. Heartbreaking and horrifying, but with beautiful moments and miracles.

traumatized me in 4th grade.......2007-02-01

I just googled this book to show to my friend becasue its recommended as a childrens book and when i read it in 4th grade (im 24 now) this book scared the poop out of me. I dont think its a ppropriate for young children. I still cringe thinking about some of the chapters where she is forced to squezze puss from her amputated friends limbs. Ewwww! Amazing story but i think you should be a bit older before you absorb the ferocious atrtocities of war.

Great for all.......2007-01-15

Title: The Girl with the White Flag: An Inspiring Story of Love and Courage in War Time
Author: Tomiko Higa
Genre: Memoir

Synopsis: Tomiko Hiko was seven years old on the island of Okinawa when Allied forces land. Decades later, she discovers a picture of herself as a child, carrying a white flag and surrendering to enemy forces, with a line of Japanese soldiers behind her. Finding the picture triggered repressed memories, which were compiled in this short memoir of the war years, particularly the invasion. Separated from her family, she faced the enemy alone.

Quote: "Remembering Father's words to die with a brave smile, the author waves at the camera."

Grade: B+
Review: I first read this book in high school, and it is one of the few I picked up at that time that I remember vividly. I have to come back to it every few years to see if it is as moving as I remember it. OF course, it always is. It's a great book the other side of Okinawa, family, love, war.

A great book.......2006-12-27

I fell in love with this book. I'm currently stationed on Okinawa and I can't imagine how a girl so young could wander around the island and survive for so long.
This book is translated so some of the English is broken. However if you're interested in a different perspective of WWII in the Pacific, it's a nice read. It gives you a better understanding of how the Okinawans got thrown into a war they never wanted to fight in.
I love this book, even mailed a copy to my sister.

Average customer rating:

Bess and Harry: An American Love Story
Jhan Robbins
Manufacturer: Putnam Pub Group (T)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal

Average customer rating:

Review of Book not Audio CD
An Enveloping Tale Of Espionage---And It's All True

Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
Ben Macintyre
Manufacturer: Harmony
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Military & Spies | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Intelligence & Espionage | Military | History | Subjects | Books

20th Century | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Espionage | True Accounts | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0307353400
Release Date: 2007-09-04

Book Description

Eddie Chapman was a charming criminal, a con man, and a philanderer. He was also one of the most remarkable double agents Britain has ever produced. Inside the traitor was a man of loyalty; inside the villain was a hero. The problem for Chapman, his spymasters, and his lovers was to know where one persona ended and the other began.

In 1941, after training as a German spy in occupied France, Chapman was parachuted into Britain with a revolver, a wireless, and a cyanide pill, with orders from the Abwehr to blow up an airplane factory. Instead, he contacted MI5, the British Secret Service. For the next four years, Chapman worked as a double agent, a lone British spy at the heart of the German Secret Service who at one time volunteered to assassinate Hitler for his countrymen. Crisscrossing Europe under different names, all the while weaving plans, spreading disinformation, and, miraculously, keeping his stories straight under intense interrogation, he even managed to gain some profit and seduce beautiful women along the way.

The Nazis feted Chapman as a hero and awarded him the Iron Cross. In Britain, he was pardoned for his crimes, becoming the only wartime agent to be thus rewarded. Both countries provided for the mother of his child and his mistress. Sixty years after the end of the war, and ten years after Chapman’s death, MI5 has now declassified all of Chapman’s files, releasing more than 1,800 pages of top secret material and allowing the full story of Agent Zigzag to be told for the first time.

A gripping story of loyalty, love, and treachery, Agent Zigzag offers a unique glimpse into the psychology of espionage, with its thin and shifting line between fidelity and betrayal.

Customer Reviews:

Review of Book not Audio CD.......2007-09-29

I see there are two books out on ZigZag (Eddie Chapman). the other by Nicholas Booth. According to the Booklist's review Booth's ZigZag book goes "into greater detail about Eddie's life BEFORE he became a spy and into the histories of some of the people he knew and worked with.
Drawing heavily on the memories of Eddie's widow, Betty Chapman, .."

Ben Macintyre's book on the other hand is more about the how and the aftermath of Eddies becoming a spy. The nuts and bolts. The missions etc. Sure Macintyre goes into Eddie's prior (and later) life as a career criminal but just enough to give you an idea of his character.

Eddie was a constant criminal like I'm a constant reader. He blew many safes, stealing tons of money and blowing it all on booze, women, clothes.
"He had affairs with a number of women on the fringe of London high society and then blackmailed them with photographs taken by an accomplice." He was a real nice guy. He was a rip thru and thru. A stone cold liar. BUT he came together, risked his life, and put his talents to work for his country.

It was interesting all the elaborate deceptions the British war machine concocted and successfully carried out. How the British steadfastly held / guarded their secrets and how they (rich, poor, media, businesses...) all came together to fight.
Something the US would never be able to do.

Eddie himself wrote about is life (The Eddie Chapman story, The real Eddie Chapman story, Free agent:) and even made a short film. But being the lier that he was, a lot of it was lies.

An Enveloping Tale Of Espionage---And It's All True.......2007-09-13

Over and over through the years as I've read books about real life spies ("Comrade" Kim Philby and Sidney Reilly among others) I've been struck by how much more amazing these non-fiction stories were than those concocted as would-be pulp fiction thrillers. I've also been struck at how all the best spies were anything but good people, and they shared traits of cruelty and self-love that bordered on sociopathic narcissism. Ben Macintyre's biography of Eddie Chapman gives us a man who continues that dubious tradition. This page-turner is fact-filled and well-written and the life it tells of outdoes anything fiction has cranked out in quite a while. It's a very enjoyable read that presented the history of someone I personally had never heard of before I was introduced to him in this book.

Eddie Chapman was no James Bond or even a Sidney Reilly, but he was one of the boldest, most brazen con men ever to serve a nation or a cause, and in so doing he found some redemption from the wrongs of his earlier life. From his days as a roguish charmer who infiltrated high society and first infatuated and later blackmailed rich women in the most callous and base ways imaginable, this safecracker, thief and extortionist found himself sprung by the Germans early in the war when he was then serving a fifteen-year sentence in an English prison in the Channel Islands.

The charismatic Chapman, as liked by his German liberators as by those who'd known him back home, was then recruited by the Nazis as a spy who agreed to do their bidding and sabotage a British aircraft factory in Hertfordshire. He parachuted back onto his native soil during the busy Christmas season of 1942, only to prove his ultimate loyalty by going to the British and offering to in turn spy on the Germans. Ultimately faking the attack in Hertfordshire and returning to Germany through neutral Portugal, Chapman concocted a plan in which he would assassinate Adolph Hitler at a political rally. Although this plan obviously never came to fruition, Chapman bravely continued his double agency thru to the war's conclusion, an astounding feat of skill, luck and sheer courage all the more amazing considering the short lifespan of most other double agents.

So skilled was he at his falsehoods that Chapman was befriended by a number of well-placed Nazi personnel, and was decorated for his service to the Third Reich. Eventually after a posting in German-held Norway, late in the war Chapman was again smuggled into the United Kingdom where in his most noble deed he saved countless lives by concocting false reports to the Germans on the accuracy of their V1 and V2 rockets. In his communiqués Chapman claimed these flying bombs were landing beyond their intended targets, causing the Luftwaffe to re-adjust them to locations the British deemed less populated and therefore safer.

Incredibly after this the gifted liar and actor Chapman returned yet again to Nazi-controlled Norway, where he continued to be of service to his government in London, this time by turning over misleading information to the by-then moribund German military.

Chapman's life was one of amazing luck, daring, and amorality, but his story is also one of a man who betrayed nearly every friend who ever trusted him, and who ruined many lives, even as his service record shows he saved many others. He went on to not only survive the Second World War but live to old age, profiting from an MI5 pension and from the proceeds of the book and film royalties to his remarkable story. Macintyre skillfully takes us into the deeds and era of this confidence man turned double agent, and in doing so has given his readers a fine work of non-fiction that is a pleasure to complete.

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