Product Description
The Allegheny River, of western Pennsylvania and New York, flows through a region rich in natural resources and human history. While the river is 320 miles long, the northern watershed district originates in Potter County, Pennsylvania, and joins the Clarion River near Parker, Pennsylvania. Along the Allegheny River: The Northern

Watershed showcases over 200 vintage postcards of the river, its landscape, and its people. These captivating images chronicle over 200 years of history, from the French and Indian War to the timber and oil booms of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ... Read more

Product Description
Now here is Charles Williams' River Girl, in every way a giant of a book--the story of a man and a woman who met and knew instantly that not all the world would tear them apart.

River Girl, first published in 1951 as "The Catfish Triangle," is a book that shares some similarities with Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice. Down in swamp country a deputy sheriff meets and falls in love with a young lass, but her husband stands in the way... for a time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Compelling noir read
Of the Fawcett Gold Medal writers of the 1950's glory years, there was no one more consistent than Charles Williams.And that includes John D. MacDonald.Decades later, when asked who he thought was the most overlooked writer from that period, MacDonald said Charles Williams.

The Amazon blurb says that River Girl is similar to James Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice, and there are similarities, though the plot and characters are quite different.To go into detail would mean revealing plot elements.Suffice it to say, both deal with a man and a woman coming together and realizing that nothing can keep them apart.

River Girl is the story of Jack Marshall, a small town deputy, who is growing disatisfied with his life.He is the bag man for the sheriff, and is not thrilled doing it.He gets along with his wife, but there is no real love between them.His life has become one of going through the motions.Then Jack meets Doris and everything changes.He falls hard for her, but she belongs to another man, a convict on the run hiding out deep in the woods on an isolated lake.But, Jack has a plan, a way for them to be together forever.As these stories often do, the outcome hangs on one crucial decision.

Williams writing is tight, with strong characterization and convincing dialogue. He ratchets up the tension in a deliberate and methodical manner.Consider this passage which takes place shortly after Jack and Doris meet:

"Don't come back," she said, staring.
"Why not?"
"You can't"
"You don't want me to?"
"No."
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Are you enjoying this?" she asked.Her face was white and she had forgotten to smoke the cigarette.It burned slowlly up toward her fingers, the long gray ash precariously clinging.
I wanted to reach out and put my hands on her arms, to take hold of her, but her eyes held me away.I could see the battle going on behind them.
"You came down here to tell me to stay away, didn't you?
"Yes."
"But I hadn't said anything then.Before you came tonight."
"Do you think I'm blind!" she said harshly."Don't you think I could see, there at the house?"
I leaned forward and took her wrist in my hand and lifted the cigarette from her fingers."You're going to burn yourself," I said, and threw it in the fire.She pulled back on the arm and I could feel my fingers shaking as they tightened.She hit me with the other hand, across the mouth, and stood up with her face held together only by an effort of will, and I could hear the dry sound of the crying in her throat."Listen," I said."Doris ---"She jerked away from me and ran through the darkness toward the edge of the lake.Before I could get there I heard the splash as she went in, and when I got down to the edge of the water she was gone.I could her her swimming away in the darkness.

BlackMask.com Publishing has re-released several of Williams' books and all are excellent stories, though beware, the proofreading is nonexistent, so errors are present.Also, Hard Case Crime re-released A Touch of Death, which I think is one of the top three Hard Case releases to date.Check them all out.You won't be dissapointed. ... Read more

Product Description
Charles Williams had a genius for choosing strange and exciting themes for his novels and making them believable and profoundly suggestive of spiritual truths. Beneath the brilliant and imaginative surface of his "supernatural thrillers" lies a concealed and meticulously thought-out Christian message. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Not for apologists only
I am sorry to see comments to the effect that this novel is less appealing because it is "dated." In some ways, that is what I love about it. Are we so convinced of the irrelevance of past times that there's nothing to be found in a book that takes a snapshot of attitudes and behaviors at an earlier time and place?

That aside, the beauty of this, all of Williams' books, and indeed all the work of the Inklings is that you don't have to be a Christian to admire the authors' respective abilities. (Sometimes I feel as if educated Christians and I are the only ones reading these books.) I have an atheist intellect and a pagan temperament, but relish Williams and Lewis, especially, for their deftness at capturing psychological types; specifically, the human ability to indulge one's personal immaturities while pretending to oneself and others that one has only the loftiest goals and is completely justified. Deep portraits? Perhaps not, but we've all seen people play the games with themselves (and others) that these characters do, caught up in supernatural dramas of one sort or another. That's what's most telling in a way: the knack Williams has for showing how his characters approach even miraculous happenings through their own preconceptions, just as we do with more mundane events every day.

And back to "dated" -- in some ways it's the most delicious part. When the African "heir apparent" makes his identity known, the response of one character -- straight from a reading of Rider Haggard -- is rich with both nostalgia and the ironic reminder that novels like Haggard's were often all even educated people once knew about the non-European world. Williams is a quirky miniaturist, but a skilled and generous-hearted one.

This may not be Williams' "best" to some people's minds, but that's possibly because so much of the plot is ambiguous. The average religiously-inclined writer is all too ready to make it foot-stampingly clear whether his characters are on the side of the angels or the devils. Thirty and more years after my first reading of this book, I still can't decide what I think of the immortal Nigel Considine.

Not his best
In my opinion, this book is not at all up to the standard of Williams' other novels. There are some interesting characters and ideas but a lot of inconsistencies and rough edges as well. Read it if you have read the other novels and want this one for completeness. The one memorable character for me was Isabel, and her most memorable quote,

"But those that die may be lordlier than you; they are obedient to defeat. Can you live truly till you have been quite defeated? You talk of living by your hurts, but perhaps you avoid the utter hurt that's destruction."

A view of reality to engage
Reading "Shadows..." I was constantly reminded of the whipsaw changes that are so characteristic of GK Chesterton in, say, "The Man Who Was Thursday" or "The Napoleon of Notting Hill". Rapid, unexpected alterations in perception-as one gets flashing glimpses through a glass no longer quite so darkly of the Christian reality at the core of each man's participation in existence-occur at nearly every turn. There is also a flavor of fellow Inkling CS Lewis's works, with some particular similarities in the setting, mood, and characterizations that one finds in "That Hiddeous Strength". Beyond giving the potential reader the ideas of similarly flavored works, however, it is difficult to unfold the story line in a short review - and probably of no particular value to the potential reader. Williams must be read and his reality swum in to get even a hint of understanding at the driving truths of his Christian faith - namely, that the things of this world all point to a reality beyond that is infinitely more real; and, that actions in this world reverberate into eternity in an actual and final way. I find less of another of the central themes of Williams's life-that of truly substitutionary intervention between men-but there are hints of that stream of understanding as well. All in all, though perhaps not quite as well done as the Chesterton or Lewis mentioned previously, a worthwhile read in the sense that something of worth can be taken from the book and incorporated into living.

Inklings of Eternity failing
Charles Williams was a member of a group of writers called The Inklings.(There is an excellent record of this group called 'The Inklings' by Humphrey Carpenter.)Another member of the group was JRR Tolkein.It's a while since I have read 'Lord of the Rings' (and I haven't seen the movie) but I did recently reread 'The Hobbit' and Tolkein is an engaging writer but does show a tendency to British parochialism.Another member of the group was CS Lewis and for me he is by far the superior writer - for SF fans see 'Out of the Silent Planet' and 'Voyage to Venus' (aka 'Perelandra'), for fans of children's literature see the Narnia legends, and then there is all the Christian writings, such as the Screwtape books.

Charles Williams in his novels (such as 'Place of the Lion' and the one I am reviewing here) explored less of fantasy (Tolkein) or speculative/philosophical writing (Lewis) but concentrated on the occult/spiritual world.In this novel there is a character who has 'conquered' death by power of the mind and self discipline. There is also a strangely unspecified threat/invasion from Africa (in some ways this perhaps foretells the waves of illegal immigrants) but it is a curiously dissipated threat.The greatest weakness in the book for me are the archetypal characters that are all overwhelmingly British - even the African 'king'.Not only that, but they are archetypal of the thirties when the book was written - hardly to be identified with now.

It is an interesting novel, if a bit slow, but I suspect most of today's readers will find it badly dated in a way that you wouldn't see with Joseph Conrad, Virginia Woolf or Anna Kavan. ... Read more

Product Description
Critical acclaim for The Last Great Frenchman

"This is a splendid popular biography . . . recounted with verve and anecdotal warmth, along with fresh appraisals of de Gaulle's career as soldier, politician, and head of state." —Publishers Weekly.

"Highly readable. . . . It is to Williams' credit that he is able to get so close to such a prickly personality." —San Francisco Chronicle

"Charles Williams has matched a great subject by something near to a great book." —Daily Telegraph (London)

"Marvelous vignettes. . . . Williams tells his story with pace and skill." —Martin Gilbert ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Greatness
The politicians of today are often - I`m sorry to say it - vague and unreliable. But to read about Charles de Gaulle is refreshing - in this book, at least. The author describes vividly his development from soldier to politician, the dramas of war and peace, his special place in history.

Among other fascinating things, the glimpses of the general`s private life and thoughts, his come-back in 1958, and the way he managed to influence France and the world, are not easy to forget!

Best English language biography
An excellent biography on one of the most elusive leaders of Europe. The book can get bogged down in minute details of WWII policy, but nonetheless provides a well-rounded view of who de Gaulle was--family man, soldier, general, president. He clearly had his own vision for France and did not want to be beholden to Anglo-American interests. While one may not agree with some of his positions, one has to respect the man for desiring a Francethat could stand on her own feet.

His story is also a sad one. The man who fought so hard for his country and was given a heroes welcome in 1945 is forced from office by the late 1960s.

A great book about a great man
De Gaulle was loved and hated by many people (oddly enough, the same people at different times) but whether you liked him or not you couldn't argue that he didn't love his country. And he loved his country so much he was unwillingly to see it subjected by the fascists and their collaborators during World War II. He chose resistance and ultimately the Resistance chose him.

Charles Williams does an excellent job with this book. De Gualle moves beyond the stereotypes that we may have of him to make him out of the ordinary, but not larger than life. Abrasive, but a man who was so because he felt that was what was needed. A man who took the courage to explore uncharted territory when he established not a "government-in-exile" but an alternate regime to Vichy, which has sold itself to the Devil. They may not have sold ALL, but they sold enough to forever stain their honor.

Well written and researched. I particularly liked the thumbnail sketches of many of the characters involved with De Gaulle, a device which provided info without detracting from the narrative.

Great and Obstinate figure of History
Truly a great figure of the 20th century. As the author points out de Gaulle would have been a minor footnote in French history if he had died before 1940. At the age of 50 he stepped unto English soil after leaving France where he had been condemned to death for refusing to go along with the French government in signing the armistice with Germany. His strength and moral courage brought France out of the abyss of collaboration to (once again) a player on the world stage.
De Gaulle is accurately portrayed by Williams as an uncompromising man - he skillfully out-maneuvered his rival, Giraud in Algeria during the war to place himself as the sole leader of Fighting France. De Gaulle was to share power with no man. The constant quarrels with Churchill would be humorous if there was not a war to be won. And as Williams states that war, for De Gaulle, was against Britain and the U.S. De Gaulle's single-minded vision was to return France to a position of power at the conclusion of the war. If that meant irritating Roosevelt and Churchill more than Hitler - so be it. Probably De Gaulle's biggest miscalculation, as Williams' points out was with Roosevelt. De Gaulle never comprehended the man or the nation. De Gaulle had a European view of the world and did not have Churchill's grasp of everything that the U.S. had to offer for the liberation of Europe. Roosevelt was reluctant to fight for the British empire and was therefore much less interested in preserving France's external holdings and viewed De Gaulle as a brash upstart with truthfully little to offer in terms of military strength.
Ironically De Gaulle himself came to see that anti-colonial point of view in the early 60's when Algeria was granted autonomy with the blessing of European France.
Williams' illustrates on several occasions how De Gaulle's sheer strength of personality and his ability to irritate most anyone on any occasion, including his fellow countrymen, makes for a great historical biography of an extraordinary individualist.

the only book worth reading on the French
De Gaulle was, as this book points out, the last great frenchmen.Some will debate this raising the name of Mitterand, but De Gaulle looms over france like an albatross as the conscience of the nation.

De Gaulle was influenced as a young man by the injustice of the Dreyfuss case.The hatred of inequality would later convince De Gaulle to fight to the death rather then submit to Nazi terror.

The book details De Gaulle as the war hero in WWI.He went on to write about the new generation of tanks and how best to employ them(as the Germans would) in concentrations.During WWII De Gaulle found himself watching the government vascilate and finally give in to the hated Germans.To cap it off De Gaulles WWI hero Petain was the one to give in to the Nazis.De Gaulle fled to Britian to carry on the conflict and he was found guilty of treason by the Vichy french.

De Gaulle carrried the honor of france abroad, helped to liberate hte colonies from the Vichy and finally leading the french back to Paris.De Gaulles later carerr found him helping to extricate the french from Algeria.

A wonderful book, easy to read and enthralling. ... Read more

Product Description
"'The new Sayers' is not merely admirable; it is adorable. There were, in Miss Sayers's more recent books, signs that a strange element was struggling to be free. In one this element seemed like philosophy; in one like fantasy. It has now become perfectly freed itself, and become perfectly united with her other capacities. The Nine Tailors is consequently not a tale of murder, but an experience of life."--Charles Williams, review of The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers, January 17, 1934. English editor, literary critic, poet, novelist, theologian, and Inkling, Charles Williams (1885-1945) wrote popular-press reviews of detective fiction in its golden age of popularity (early thirties) for such newspapers as The Westminster Chronicle & News-Gazette and The Daily Mail. This book presents all of Williams' published reviews of detective fiction--covering works by Agatha Christie, Sax Rohmer, Ellery Queen, Dashiel Hammett, and E. Phillips Oppenheim, to name a few. It begins with a discussion of Williams as a detective fiction reviewer, then presents the reviews year-by-year, from 1930 to 1935, and concludes with a discussion of the end of the golden age of detective fiction. An appendix lists the authors that Williams reviewed, which books were reviewed, the date that they were reviewed, and additional information on each author. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good, valuable, but containing at least one factual error
How excellent to have these materials collected and republished!

However, on the nitpicking level: Charles Williams was never a member of the Golden Dawn organization. (Lobdell indicates that he was.) Williams was for a long time a member of A. Waite's alternative to the Golden Dawn, the F.R.C. The F.R.C stood in relation to the Golden Dawn as the Lutheran Communion stands to Roman Catholicism, i.e., a historically related, but intentionally separated, group. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A sailor's story.
Scorpion Reef by Charles Williams can best be described as an action-adventure novel that takes place in and around the Gulf of Mexico.The protagonist is Bill Manning, a seafarin' man with a sensitive soul.Bill's life undergoes an abrupt and profound transformation when a beautiful, statuesque blond named Shannon Macaulay enters his world.
Bill and Shannon find themselves caught up in a nasty struggle with some very bad men over sunken treasure located off the coast of the Yucatan peninsula.Using a very descriptive and detailed writing style, Williams successfully spins an engaging tale of mystery, romance and danger against the backdrop of the open sea.And the ending is a really great one.
My only complaint about this otherwise genuinely appealing book, is the overly convoluted, highly improbable backstory used to set up the narrative's underlying conflict.
Scorpion Reef is a flawed but still highly entertaining work of fiction.Well worth reading. ... Read more

Product Description
They had gone down the hill together, the man and that creature of illusion which had grown like the flowers of Eastern magic between the covering and uncovering of a seed. The feminine offspring of his masculinity clung to him, pressing her shoulder against him, turning eyes of adoration on him, stroking his fingers with her own. The seeming trance prolonged itself in her in proportion as it passed from his own senses; he could plunge again into its content whenever the creature looked at or spoke to him. Their betrothal had been celebrated thus before they began to walk down the hill, and in that betrothal a fraction of his intelligence had slept never to wake. ... Read more

Product Description
Collected PlaysCharles WilliamsIntroduction by John Heath-Stubbs416 pp. / 5 x 8 / Trade Paper / $29.95Regent ISBN 1-57383-366-5Reprint of Oxford University Press edition, 1963Royalties: £150.00 prepaid to HighamNeed coverThis volume contains the complete dramatic works of Charles Williams. Williams' plays can be enjoyed at more than one level. Though what they have in common is the author's gift for poetic expression, they also demonstrate his range. Complex theology, knockabout farce, and historical tragedy are all represented here. The plays are simple enough for amateur performances but subtle enough to give scope for many interpretations.Thomas Cranmer of CanterburyJudgement at Chelmsford * Seed of AdamThe Death of Good FortuneThe House by the StableGrab and Grace or It's the Second StepThe House of the OctopusTerror of LightThe Three TemptationsCharles Williams-novelist, poet, critic, dramatist and biographer-died in his native England in May, 1945. He had a lively and devoted following there and achieved a considerable reputation as a lecturer on the faculty of Oxford University. T. S. Eliot, Dorothy Sayers and C. S. Lewis were among his distinguished friends and literary sponsors. He was also a member of the Inklings, a group of Christian writers that included J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Poise ofEverlasting Joys
For Charles Williams Words are everything. Why? We are not God and we don't live in heaven, so Words are the things we must stand by. A Word is much more than an utterance said, or written. It is, for Williams, an act of adoration--or blasphemy. It is the stuff that fills up life and makes it human. Or not. That, I think, is the key to Williams plays. Words do not so such signify as exist. They are bricks. Word upon Word, they build up patterns of being, real or an illusion, something or nothing, an arrangement of truth or lies, fashioned by Words uttered--and lived. God's or yours.

Skeleton Key
How great that this book is back in print. Now I can quote my favorite Charles Williams line, spoken by the skeleton in one of these plays: "The price of heaven, hell or earth is the same: always a broken heart, sometimes a broken neck." Lines like that are why we keep reading.

Mention Charles Williams' plays, and immediately someone comes up with more objections than even to his novels. Let's admit the plays are flawed so the critics will depart satisfied and we can lie back and read them.That indefineable, maddening something quietly lurking at the corners of the novels rages through the plays.

T.S. Eliot, in the view of many, took language as far as it can go in "The Wasteland" and "Four Quartets". Charles Williams doesn't make the journey; he just begins on the other side. The skeleton and other characters stumble dazed as if through the debris of bombed-out London, scavenging through the detrius of words. CW lived outside of his own time, which is why he has become so relevant in ours. For the form of that age was already passing away. The long, dark night of modernism over and done, the pre-modern and post-modern reach and touch one another, as blinking in the dawn we stumble from the rubble.

finally!
I can't say how pleased I am to discover this back in print (I have a rather expensive used copy). I am a huge fan of Charles Williams, and this book is one of my favorites of his, along with the Taliessin poems and All Hallows' Eve-- with the added benefit that it isn't as impenetrable as the Taliessin poems often are. Thomas Cranmer of Canterbury alone is worth (to me) getting the book for, with its sympathetic yet unsparing (even harsh at times-- Cranmer's last scene, ooh) picture of Cranmer mixed with haunting cascading language. Seed of Adam is kind of cool with its rather unorthodox portrayal of Joseph and Adam; The House by the Stable and its sequel are just fun. Terror of Light is perhaps my favorite after Cranmer; the portrayal is just so... right, for example Thomas's rejoicing in rationality and Saul's misplaced (but understood and forgiven) judgmentalism, and Judas's (possibly heretical?) authority even in damnation. The only play I don't love is Judgement at Chelmsford, which is a bit too formal for my taste, with not enough plot, although I'm sure that actually seeing it probably works better than reading it.

If you like plays, and you like Williams' other work, then I recommend this. Of course, there are lots of people out there who don't like his erudite and casually-theological/supernatural style, which I do quite understand, and those probably wouldn't like this either. I would also have to say don't read all the plays at once, as he has some language tricks he *really likes*, and reading them three times in a row is a bit tiresome. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Inspired Vision +++
I view "The Magical World of the Inklings" as an Inspired Vision of The Inklings and their Inspired Visions. Gareth Knight has created a fine presentation concerning these Inklings. My particular initial interest was J R R Tolkien, due to great interest in Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings. I had some interest in C S Lewis as well. The other two Inklings covered, Charles Williams and Owen Barfield, I did not know of yet. Now, however, I am very interested in all four of these Inklings due to this very fine work of Gareth Knight. I already liked this author due to such works as "The Rose Cross and the Goddess" [concerning Rosicrucian and allied topics].

"The Magic World of the Inklings" is very well patterned to present the situation of the Inklings in time and space [pre 1950 Oxford especially]. An example of very fine-tuned presentation is "The Inklings Time Chart" at the start of this book. This chart helps overview the Inklings and their lifetimes in parallel. This fine book equally presents each Inkling and created works, the levels of meaning of each and their interaction -- that is Cross Inspiration. Much additional wisdom and advice is given by Gareth Knight to support understanding The Inklings. I feel more-and-more that certain folks and their works can greatly aid in Inspiring our uninspired world -- especially for those of a Western tradition. They are not alone -- Jane Roberts and her works are as Deep as Well.

"First of all -- never mind what happened first because it's complicated -- then you had a matriarchy, then you had a patriarchy, now we have a 'mechanarchy', the rule of the machine. And matriarchy and patriarchy are both destroyed by mechanarchy, and something else has got to happen. And what's going to happen is one of the most exciting things ... I think somehow that the principle of magic -- (when you say magic people don't know the difference between magic and sorcery even) -- but anyhow the principle of magic will re-establish itself." [Quoted from the quote of Robert Graves by Gareth Knight before the foreward to "The Magical World of The Inklings"] +++ ... Read more

Product Description
Welcome to the roller-coaster world of professional con men - and the one wild beauty who can out-swindle and outwit them all. Utterly beautiful, smart as a whip, here is the most fascinating confidence woman in modern suspense fiction.

Her name is Cathy Dunbar - all soft and warm and ready for the taking, until one by one her men find out who is really being taken . . . ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

how much of the novel is here?
Charles Williams knew how to write.It is a pity that the publisher of this "reprint" did not reasonably proofread prior to going to print. Two pages are entirely blank. Several paragraphs from one page are repeated many pages later. I cannot be certain that I read the entire story as Williams wrote it. I ran in to a similar problem from this publisher in "Devil Thumbs a Ride", but it was not nearly as severe. Typos and mispellings abound. As for the novel itself, it is about mid-range Williams, which makes it superior to most in this genre. ... Read more

Product Description
"When you break the law, you can forget about playing the averages because you have to win all the time."

Madox wasn't all bad. He was just half-bad. But trap a man like Madox in a dead-end job in a nowhere town, mix in a femme fatale like the Harshaw woman, give him a shot at a fast $15,000 in a bank just begging to be knocked over...and his better nature doesn't stand a chance.

Merciless in its suspense, flawless in its psychology, THE HOT SPOT is a superb example of 1950s roman noir. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

OneCan Feel The Heat
Charles Williams was the best hard crime writer bar none.The Hot Spot (Hell Hath No Fury) is steamy, sexy and dripping with sweaty tension. Twists and turns keep the reader guessing until the final pages.
If you ever run into a woman like Gloria, run, don't walk to the next town.Williams wrote this in the 50s but even by today's standards, it's a corker. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (7)

Petain
This book is a 2005 biography of Marshal Petain by the British Historian Mr Charles Williams.

Mr Williams is a good writer and the book is well researched, but Mr Williams uses leftist rhetoric in regards to the Catholic Church and right wing organisations such as the Action Francaise. This might have something to do with the fact that Mr Williams was a former member of the Labour Party, the most important British left wing party. Also, the title with the word "traitor" and a photograph of Hitler in Paris reveals bias.

That being said, at the conclusion Mr Williams fortunately still admits the truth that Petain's actions were for the interest of the French people, Petain was not a traitor to his country, and he is sympathetic personally to the Marshal despite political bias.

3 Stars due to the good writing and sympathy but 2 lost for the bias!

A different perspective
I thoroughly enjoyed this biography of Petain. I was expecting it to be focused primarily on the Vichy years. However, covers Petain's entire life and career.

The treatment of his leadership at Verdun gave me a better insight into the French perspective on WWI. I have mostly been brought up reading about the British and American experience. For France the war was a brutal meat grinder as they threw men against the German onslaught etc.

This serves as an excellent backdrop for the subsequent sympathetic treatment of Petain in WWII and the Vichy government. Throughout Petain is presented as a man trying to save what he could of his beloved France.

The author demonstrates how Petain did not quickly realize the nature of the Nazi overlords. Many of his compromises were a matter of footdragging, delay and playing for time.

The book did not go into great detail about the policies and programs of the government relating to the Jews. The author did give some insight into Petain's dealings with the resistance. In short they were mostly communists and he didn't like them.

Based on the title I expected the book to be more of an expose of the underbelly of Vichy France. It was no such thing. It was a well drawn portrait of a man twice caught on the cresting waves of history. Succeeding brilliantly the first time and failing the second time.

Mediocre biography that never captures the man
After reading this book, I certainly know more about the sex life of Henri-Philippe Petain then I ever expected I would.But then when an author is writing about a man who sleeps with every woman he can, including the widows of the officers that died under his command, it is a hard subject to avoid.Petain was a hero to all of France after World War I and a traitor after World War II.We can easily think of many men who died too young, John Kennedy, Will Rogers, Buddy Holly.DeGaulle suggested that Petain died too old.

If Petain had died in 1920 he would be remembered as one of the greatest heroes of France, having saved the French army at Verdun in 1916, ended the mutiny of 1917, and stopped the German spring offensive of 1918.Already in his sixties when the war ended (he had been prepared to retire when the war started), Petain lived for 33 more years giving him time to become attracted to the idea of a dictatorship.He was fascinated by Francisco Franco and believed that the only thing that could save France was a single person in power, with himself as that person, of course.When France fell in 1940, Petain signed the Armistice to end the fighting and took up the dictatorship of Vichy France.While there, he let the Jews be deported, let the Nazis take French citizens as slave labor, he fought to stop the Resistance, and created a secret police to control his citizens.

Which leads to my major complaint with the book, that it is much too sympathetic to Petain.The author frequently falls back on Petain's age as being a factor or that Petain thought that he was needed to rescue France from the occupation.The one word that the author fails to use that describes Petain best is narcissist.No one could have possibly had a higher opinion of Petain than Petain.His mistakes were the faults of others.His triumphs were all his alone.Only he could save France.Resigning in the face of Nazi atrocities would destroy France.At the same time he was easily swayed by the last argument he heard on an issue.So it wasn't his policies that mattered to him since he really had none that he held intensely.

I have other complaints as well.The book could have used some maps.Describing the pitch and flow of battles running across the French countryside without having a good idea of where this river or this town is located makes it hard to follow the story.The pictures included were insufficient as they are almost exclusively of Petain.The author describes a picture of Nini (Petain's wife), but does not include the picture.The many people moving in and out of the story could have used brief biographies.It is hard to keep track of a person mentioned on one page who disappears for thirty pages but then is an important part of the continuing story.The final chapters of Petain's trial for treason and his imprisonment are simply too long.I really didn't need to know that at 90, Petain was having issues with incontinence.More detail about why the French government felt unable to move Petain to a military hospital would have been more helpful than gossip about Petain's final days.

Overall, the book is a readable biography of Petain.It certainly isn't a great book and had too many failings to make me truly enjoy it.I know more about Petain than when I started the book but I still feel that Petain himself is in the mist.

Fallen Hero?
This is a fine book, and, frankly, its brevity is a major strength. I really did not want to read a whole lot more about Marshall Petain than a few hundred pages. Williams has crafted a concise and workmanlike account of the man who rose to the height of France's status structure after World War I but who would soon fall to its nadir within twenty-five-years. Petain was, in equal turn, both a traitor and a hero. One could even argue that he spectacularly succeeded at both roles. The malicious nature of Vichy France is not something which anyone can deny, but we see here that Petain was oblivious to a good many things during the course of his collaboration with the Nazis. The Marshall does not seem to be an evil person but one whose vanity and pride allowed evil to use and exploit him. Regardless of what he may have wanted Vichy France to be, it became a cesspool of deportations, murder, and oppression. Petain's is a tragic story, but it teaches us that from evil no good can flow. He outlived his greatness and now is remembered chiefly for his flaws and his mistakes.

Man versus Myth
In 1914, at the age of 58, two years from retirement, Petain was a Colonel, with a dull and undistinguished career.But, when the Germans were stopped at the Marne, the French Army was in need of defensive specialists; Petain, who was lauded as the "Victor of Verdun", and later became a Marshal of FRANCE rose to the top of his countries military.Along with Foch (the Victor of the Marne)he was considered one of the 'Saviors of FRANCE' (you can almost hear the Marsaillaise in the background).

He was at the pinacle of his career right after the War and could do no wrong.There is a quote from DeGaulle saying, "it would have been better had he died in 1925".From then on, he couldn't do right, he flirted with the proto-facists in Spain, and worked with the right wing fanatics in France.He was one of the most famous of the backers for what became the "Maginot Line"; in fact he inspected it the week before the German invasion.

But after the French Army fell back behind the German onslaught it seems that every decision he made was the wrong one.He was 'requested' to lead the country in asking for an 'armistice' so as to protect the country from major destruction; and ended up running the government beginning in April 1940.

Under the Armistice, he became the titular head of government of 'unoccupied France' based in Vichy. He then spent the next four years fighting a rear-guard battle with the Germans, Colloborationists, Fascists and Resistance.He said he just wanted to protect France and his 'children' from the Nazis.Unfortunately this didn't include the 100,000 Jews who were sent off the the ovens, nor the french workers who were sent to Germany to work as 'volunteers'.In the end he was tried as a traitor, stripped of all his honors, and died under house area at the age of 95.

Williams spends a lot of time trying to explain Petain, and why he thinks he did what he did.The man was never a politician and may have been to ready to trust anyone who declared himself a patriot.He also was too enamored by the actions of Franco and the early successes of Mussolini.Most of what he did after 1940 (when he was 84) could be written off as the failing of his mental capacities due to the onset of senility.

I think that a lot of what happened at the end was due to a man who had outlived his era (he was 15 when Napoleon III surrendered at Sedan) and didn't fully grasp how the world had changed. ... Read more

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Montreat Edition ... Read more

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A dark, brooding masterpiece of guilt, greed, and lust in a town ripe for felony.

Madox wasn't all bad.  He was just half-bad.  But trap a man like Madox in a dead-end job in a stultifying small town, introduce him to a femme fatale like the Harshaw woman, and give him a shot at a fast fifteen thousand dollars--in a bank just begging to be knocked over--and his better nature doesn't stand a chance.

Merciless in its suspense, flawless in its grasp of the ways in which ordinary people hurtle over the edge, The Hot Spot is a superb example of fifties roman noir. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

pulp noir
Good book, this guy is right out of the 50s with his style. Easy read even if you can see the end from the middle. But still a twist here and there and it's fun to watch the main character slowly flushing it away, you want to reach into the book and shake some sense into him.

Gripping, well plotted.
The Hot Spot is narrated by Harry Madox a rootless drifter who arrives in town one steamy summer day.He takes a job as a used car salesman.But why go to the trouble of working for a living when the town's bank is so poorly guarded?

You see, Harry is not above stealing and he's not above having an affair with his boss' tramp of a wife. But when he falls in love with an innocent young girl he makes himself vulnerable and sets himself up for a precipitous descent into a world of inescapable torment.

The Hot Spot is a well plotted, engaging tale that has a very smooth narrative flow.Charles Williams has written this novel using a style of prose that is richly detailed and remarkably descriptive.And he unashamedly structures the story around a main character who is largely unsympathetic. Harry Madox is a thief and what one would generally refer to as a lowlife.Ironically, it is the one decent aspect of his persona, his genuine love for another human being that does him in.

This is a powerful and moving book that is hard to put down.Do yourself a favor and read it.

One of the best of 50's Noir
Much underappreciated Gold Medal writer Charles Williams'1953 The Hot Spot (originally published as Hell Hath No Fury) is a tightly-wound, taut and entertaining example of 50's noir at its best. One sees why master John D. MacDonald mentioned only Williams when asked to name writers of his generation who had been undeservedly neglected. If the glum melancholy of noir suits your taste, this 50's work is well worth finding and reading. Other recommended works by Williams:The Big Bite, Aground, Dead Calm and Scorpion Reef.

Consequences
Harry Madox isn't a bad man, but he has an unfortunate habit of submitting to temptation. And whether that means carrying on with the boss's wife, robbing a bank or killing a man, well, sometimes you've just got no choice but to do it. As a result of his impulsiveness, Madox leaves himself open to blackmail threats from more than one person.

Madox has recently arrived in a small town and has just started working as a car salesman. Life is quiet, but quiet just isn't interesting enough for Harry. By chance, opportunities to get him into trouble seem to keep falling straight into his lap. Before he knows it, he is planning a bank robbery, is fooling around with a married woman, and is falling in love with a beautiful, sweet girl who may be hiding a dark secret.

From early on in the book, the mood of the story is on a knife-edge with plenty of fast thinking and decisive action required on Madox's part. It's an entertaining hardboiled pot boiler with tension piling in on itself until you just know that something's got to give. I found it to be a great fast read packed with plenty of action, softened occasionally with just a little romance.

A king-hell classic
I finally got hold of a dog-eared copy of this in half-readable condition, and it's a real gripper. The Dennis Hopper film adaptation is almost totally faithful to the novel ( and the women are perfectly cast), butsomehow he doesn"t quite hit it the way William's does. The policeinterrogation is a heart-stopper, and the ending, well, forget about it, Ithought Jimmy Thompson held the copyright! ... Read more

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After your casebook, "Casenotes" will be your most important reference source for the entire semester.It is the most popular legal briefs series available, with over 140 titles, and is relied on by thousands of students for its expert case summaries, comprehensive analysis of concurrences and dissents, as well as of the majority opinion in the briefs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good not great
The briefs in the book were informative but a little short (often well less than a page).The brief statements of law were excellent but I thought that the more detailed explanations (especially the rationale) sometimes omitted information.It was hard to get a feeling for the nuances of each case just by reading the briefs.I would strongly recommend this as a supplement to use while reviewing and studying for finals but definitely would not rely on it for class preparation in lieu of reading the entire case. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A zany, screwball comedy by an unlikely author.
The late Charles Williams is perhaps best known as a writer of taut action-adventure novels usually with a nautical tie in (Dead Calm, Scorpion Reef, etc).He also wrote the very compelling noir masterpiece entitled The Hot Spot.The Wrong Venus therefore represents a 180 degree departure from William's usual literary fare.It's an over-the-top comedy about Americans in Paris.
This very funny book is populated with a number of interesting characters.A spinsterish authoress of best selling sex drenched novels, some thoroughly inept kidnappers, a ruthless French gangster and a six foot tall blond beauty of a ghostwriter who's pretty good at judo... to name only a few.There's also plenty of slapstick action and an abundance of very clever dialogue.
The Wrong Venus is a wonderfully entertaining showcase for asurprisingly different side to Charles William's substantial talent.

Histerically funny, a dynamite read from page 1, word 1
Why should one bother to review an out of print book?Because it is one very funny book.The plot is too convoluted to describe but involves a writer of bodice rippers, a blonde beauty and her Western novel writer buddy, a French gangster who gets shot with a crossbow...Order it and wait for it or search used bookstores for it ... Read more

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Word count: 1526. ... Read more