Product Description

Customer Reviews (13)

I didn't find this helpful
Since this book has had so many positive reviews I know I'm going against the grain in saying I didn't find this helpful.

I suppose if this is the first book you've ever read on the subject you may find it interesting. In my case, I've read a few so I didn't find any new information.

It was so girly-gushy to me I can't imagine how any guy could ever wade through the trying-to-be-cute phrases. In my opinion, these should have been edited out. I found it interesting that the author was incorporating the opinions of several guys, then realized she was quoting basically the same group over and over.

I also read David Hawkins' book, "When the Man in Your Life Can't Commit," and found it had much more new information. I also think Hawkins' book may be one I could ask my boyfriend to read without feeling like I'm subjecting him to a mountain of sugarcoated fluff, enough to make any red-blooded American male gag.

For the price, it may not be a bad deal for the girl just encountering this subject. At least it doesn't advocate as much game-playing as some of the books out there. But from what I've seen, there are more informative, better organized, less annoying books available on this subject.

Not for the depressed
I ordered this book as a self help solution to try to calm me down from having the addiction with wanting to get married. However, it just made me cry every time I read it. I'm glad that the women in the book finally got engaged, but I'm still not and this book just made me more depressed. There were examples of women who had been together for 2.5 years and finally got engaged. I've been with my boyfriend longer than that and still do not have a ring on my finger. It just made me more upset to see what the author considered a long waiting period, and I've been waiting even longer. The book does list good reasons why he is waiting, but I've already heard all those from his mouth. I had to check the cover to see if I was reading, "he is just not that in to you." I guess it helped to confirm that some guys are really holding off for financial reasons. Otherwise it just really made me all the more upset every time I went to read it looking for self help and found more self pity for myself.

Very helpful for those in pre-engagement limbo
I've been with my boyfriend for over seven years and have read almost every book out there about men with commitment issues.None of them were as helpful to me as this book was.The focus of this book is not about what you should do to get him to propose, but rather about how to communicate more effectively and openly about engagement.My boyfriend and I have been talking in circles for years, but by using the communication tips and tools in this book, I have a feeling we'll finally stop spinning.

Insightful!
This book addresses an old age issue existing between men and women and breaks it down in a way that we all can understand.The book made me ask my own questions and gain understanding of how men and women approach marriage so differently and why.After reading the book you feel less alone in the struggles surrounding marriage and more at peace regardless of the outcome in your life.

Great book
Great book.She got me.Wish I could say exactly how I was impacted but ... I can't. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Very funny classic McCall Smith
This is the second book in McCall Smith's Corduroy Mansions series.

It has many of the same characters as the first book and is just as funny.It leaves you waiting for book #3.

A. M. Smith does it again.
We are solid fans of this writer and will read literally anything and everything he writes, because he writes so very well.This book is a worthy sequel to Corduroy Mansions.If you have read Alexander McCall Smith, you know you'll enjoy this.If you haven't read A. M. Smith, poor you, and get started ASAP!

My Heart's In the Highlands....
Alexander McCall Smith is one of those men with whom I'd love to sit down to dinner.Clearly he's an articulate (at least in prose) raconteur; a cultured, well-educated man with a keen eye for the vagaries and foibles of human nature.

I am a rabid fan of his "44 Scotland Street" series with its quirky characters and intensely humorous plot twists but, sadly, I cannot say the same for his new endeavor, the "Corduroy Mansions" series of which "The Dog Who Came In From The Cold" is the second volume.Something of his old stylistic sparkle is missing, and I actually found myself skimming through both books because the plot was dragging and I was not as invested in this cast of characters as I am with the eccentrics of "44."

True, the author has reprised the apartment house setting of "44", but this time he's set his stories in London. Since he himself is a Scot from Edinburgh, the "44" books -- set as they are in his own back yard -- seem the livelier for it. The Londoners are quite unremarkable by comparison.

If you have not read the "44" series, I urge you to do so.It's money better spent than on the "Corduroy Mansions" books, although it grieves me to say it.I, for one, fervently hope Mr. McCall Smith will resurrect the "44" characters, among whom is Bruce the Narcissist.Angus Laurie also has much potential for quirky mis-adventures, along with his ankle-biting dog who far outshines Freddy de la Hay, the title subject of this "Dog Who..." book.

I'd also like to know the reason for the lag in release of Mr. McCall Smith's books in America.We are always a year, at least, behind Britain's releases and we are not allowed to order them through Amazon.co.uk. If I'm willing to pay the price and the shipping, I should be able to get the book from Britain. There's some faulty logic at play in this situation. ... Read more

Product Description

California Homicide Detective Tom McMichael has every good reason to pass on the investigation of slain city patriarch Pete Braga. After all, it was former mayor and self-made millionaire Braga who killed Tom's grandfather in a dispute over money -- and Tom's own father who, allegedly, sought revenge by savagely beating Braga's son into imbecility. But there are others who hated the old man as well. And McMichael is a good cop determined to perform his duty to the best of his abilities -- despite his growing feelings for the beautiful nurse who is the prime suspect in the brutal bludgeoning death ... and despite a twisting trail that is leading him into deadly, dark, and very private places where he dearly wishes not to go.

At times the book's richly complex plot gets confusing, and some sections aren't especially suspenseful. However, every page is absorbing and affecting, and the ending is a shocker. Peopled by a teeming cast of full-blooded characters and set in a San Diego so vivid you can smell the beach and the blood, Cold Pursuit may be Parker's subtlest, most satisfying tale yet. --Nicholas H. Allison ... Read more

Customer Reviews (30)

this one was wonderfully written
although there were parts that just read like developed or evolved from parker's other books, but when you read along, you seemed to be able to link those anecdotes together with the storyline. parker did a great job and wrote beautifully about the love that mcmike felt for his son; the old fisherman's retrospection when tuna fish were still so abundant in the ocean, so vividly described and so fascinatingly told over a tuna lunch. there were many parts and sections that written so beautifully even it was a slow going and slow burning murder investigation story. i have also found out there are segments lightly touched in this story became parker's other books later. to parker, the storyline never ended or broke, even the characters or scenarios changed.
this is a good reading material that you can drop anytime but can also pick up anytime to continue, because certain sections always lingered and never faded out.

Another T. Jefferson Parker Surprise
Cold Pursuit is a summer afternoon pleasure. It took me several times as long as usual to work through this book because it was that good. Parker's characters are rich, interesting, and believable. The plot is dense as a thicket and the sub-plots were worthy of follow-up novels. Loved it. Highly recommend it.

Complicated and Compelling Mystery
T. Jefferson Parker has a new fan. Someone recently gave me this older book of Parkers, and I am so glad they did. When the murder of tuna-boat captain turned former mayor and Ford dealership success fell to San Diego homicide detective Tom McMichael, by all rights he should have passed. After all, there were decades of death and destruction between the Bragas and McMichaels. Because Tom was the consummate professional, he accepted the case.

With many twists and turns throughout this fabulous story, the reader is carried along by the plot and the intriguing characters. To add to the tension, McMichaels becomes intrigued by and begins to fall in love with the chief suspect. This book of many pages and plot turns is well worth the read all the way to the truly surprising ending.


Cold Pursuit

The usual SoCal fare
Typical southern Calif. murder procedural. Wealthy powerful man is murdered. Who stood to benefit, who to lose....How is his big pie gonna be sliced.

Parker, T. Jefferson writes better than most but it's still a typical southern Calif. murder procedural.Wealthy powerful man is murdered.........

Also the ending was insanely irresponsible. I mean the shoot out at the Mex/Cal border. I don't think the real cops etc. would have done it that way. Or at least I hope not! They, I hope!, would of waited until the beach transfer then made their move, having filmed the whole trip along the way, making for a nice neat wrap up.

I recommend Newton Thornburg's 'To Die in California'

May be Parker's best book
A man is found dead in his home with a home health nurse as the possible suspect. After all, the man was brutally murdered and her story doesn't add up. Enter Tom McMichael, a detective with a family background that clashed with the victim's family. Will his own bias or his family's bias towards the deceased impact the investigation?

Meanwhile, corrupt police officers, a twisting plot and a great dialogue make for a great book. Who would benefit from the murder of Pete Braga? Who wanted him dead?

I could not put this book down. It's a top notch read. ... Read more

Product Description
This comprehensive study of China's Cold War experience reveals the crucial role Beijing played in shaping the orientation of the global Cold War and the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union.

The success of China's Communist revolution in 1949 set the stage, Chen says. The Korean War, the Taiwan Strait crises, and the Vietnam War--all of which involved China as a central actor--represented the only major "hot" conflicts during the Cold War period, making East Asia the main battlefield of the Cold War, while creating conditions to prevent the two superpowers from engaging in a direct military showdown. Beijing's split with Moscow and rapprochement with Washington fundamentally transformed the international balance of power, argues Chen, eventually leading to the end of the Cold War with the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the decline of international communism.

Based on sources that include recently declassified Chinese documents, the book offers pathbreaking insights into the course and outcome of the Cold War. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Chen Jian Corners the Market
Chen Jian's works on China's rise to international power are groundbreaking books exploiting Chinese (and Soviet too) source materials and interviews.This book follows along the same pattern established in his 1994 book, "China's Road to the Korean War," which argues that Mao's ideological commitment to the social and political revolution forecasted, even guaranteed, a shooting conflict with the United States.In Mao's China and the Cold War, Chen goes further in his analysis, demonstrating that it was Mao's worldview and determination to make China the central figure in the international Communist movement that was the driving force behind China's many foreign entanglements: Korea, First and Second Indo-China Wars, Taiwan Strait Crisis, the sundering of the brotherly alliance between Beijing and Hanoi, and the nearly fatal rift between Mao and Moscow.Chen deftly describes Mao's concern for "continuous revolution," and the fear that reactionary movements abroad would influence the Chinese population at home.Of equal concern to Mao was the effort to harness the people's enthusiasm for ultimately disasterous endeavors, such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.Chen shows that Mao accomplished these "mobilizations" and maintained his grip on power by demonizing first the United States, then the Soviet Union.This form of politics served Mao well, allowing him to keep his supporters in check (even if he ended up purging them in the end) and his opponents disoriented.It even allowed him the freedom to make the compromise most surprising of all -- normalization of relations with the United States in the early '70s.Chen points out that even with this act, Mao was pursuing his goal of radicalizing his own movement, particulary vis-a-vis the Soviets.Ironic, then, that in permanently casting away from the Soviet-led bloc (to which Mao had more than once pledged allegiance), Mao nearly guaranteed the former's disintegration and went a long way to undermining international Communism's appeal world-wide.

A bibliographical essay addressing each chapter enhances the usefulness of this book for students and those getting acquainted with the Far East during the Cold War.

A pathbreaking piece of scholarship
Chen Jian's book for a number of years has been the standard "must read" text for any student of modern Chinese history. An excellent example of "new Cold War" scholarship, the book makes excellent use of newly available Chinese primary sources and secondary materials to explain policy making of the PRC leadership. The book's central argument is that Mao's endless pursuit of "continous revolution" in China defined his priorities in foreign policy, so that essentially a confrontational foreign policy became a necessary backdrop to domestic political developments. The argument has its own critics; one may argue, for instance, that the domestic politics first approach is unduly Sino-centric, and ignores the dynamic of China's relationship with other powers, notably the US and the USSR. But for better or worse, Chen Jian's argument cannot be ignored. The book is nicely written, and I had my undergraduate students digest it with apparent ease. Highly recommended.

View of the Cold War years from a different perspective
Chen presents the Cold War from a Chinese perspective and he details Chairman Mao's rise to power and his complete control of the party till his death in 1976.His discussion on the internal political struggles within the Chinese Communist Party is fascinating.I found the book helpful in understanding the underlying communist thoughts and policies as related to the Korean War and the Vietnam War.I also really enjoyed Chen's closing thoughts on the future of communism in China.The book is quite insightful and an enjoyable read. ... Read more

Product Description
Few aristocratic English families of the twentieth century enjoyed the glamorous notoriety of the infamous Mitford sisters. Nancy Mitford's most famous novels, The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate, satirize British aristocracy in the twenties and thirties through the amorous adventures of the Radletts, an exuberantly unconventional family closely modelled on Mitford's own.

The Radletts of Alconleigh occupy the heights of genteel eccentricity, from terrifying Lord Alconleigh (who, like Mitford's father, used to hunt his children with bloodhounds when foxes were not available), to his gentle wife, Sadie, their wayward daughter Linda, and the other six lively Radlett children. Mitford's wickedly funny prose follows these characters through misguided marriages and dramatic love affairs, as the shadow of World War II begins to close in on their rapidly vanishing world.Amazon.com Review
Few aristocratic English families of the 20th century have enjoyed quitethe delicious notoriety that the Mitford sisters courted in the yearsbracketed by two world wars. For a start, two of the girls, Unity andDiana, were Fascists (the former was a friend of Hitler and Goebbels, andthe latter married Sir Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union ofFascists). Two others took the writing route: Jessica ranaway from home and became a famous muckraking journalist, and Nancycomposed maliciously witty--and transparently autobiographical--novels aswell as several biographies. The Pursuit of Love (1945), hergreatest fictional success, and its companion, Love in a ColdClimate (1949), keep closely to the spirit (and details) of theiryouthful amusements and more grown-up adventures.

Seen through the adoring eyes of Fanny Logan, the self-effacing cousinwho records their shenanigans with a wicked sincerity, the Radletts ofAlconleigh shine with Gloucestershire glamour: apoplectic Uncle Matthew;Lord Alconleigh (modeled to a fine nuance after Mitford's father, LordRedesdale, who like Uncle Matthew used to hunt his children withbloodhounds); his kind, rather vague wife, Aunt Sadie; as well as Fanny'sfavoritecousin Linda and the other six Radlett children. The Radlett daughtersand Fanny wait impatiently for life tobecome interesting. Because of their station, however, nothing butmarriage is expected of them, so they hurl themselves at love likecrusaders, with varied and always fascinating results. At one point Fannyrecounts:

A few minutes only after Linda had left me to go back to London,Christian and the comrades, I had another caller. This time it was LordMerlin...."This is a bad business," he said, abruptly, and withoutpreamble, though I had not seen him for several years. "I'm just backfrom Rome, and what do I find--Linda and Christian Talbot. It's anextraordinary thing that I can't ever leave England without Lindagetting herself mixed up with some thoroughly undesirable character.This is a disaster--how far has it gone? Can nothing be done?"

Customer Reviews (36)

Really fun!!
There were parts in Pursuit of Love that I was laughing so hard I was crying! There are two stories in this anthology, and I really liked Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate a bit less.Both stories are told through the eyes of Fanny who having been abandoned by her trampy mother is raised by the mother's sisters and grows up with her cousins.THere are assorted relatives, who provide the majority of the humour, who live or frequent Fanny's home.Pursuit of Love focuses on cousin Linda and her loves, mis loves and...well I won't tell you all.
Love in a Cold Climate, also narrated by Fanny, tells the story of Polly the friend and neighbor.This story I found less entertaining, maybe I was expecting a continuation of Pursuit of Love, or maybe because the story focuses on an ultimately much sadder story involving estrangement between a daughter and her clueless mother.Its a bit colder story..as the title would suggest.
The stories will educate you on all sorts of entertaining English frases, and great nick names, like Fanny's mom who is called Bolter...because she bolted on her daughter. The stories are both very interesting looks at the English aristocracy at the cusp of the second world war, well told with much insight and, in one case, a great deal of humour.

Delightful Reading
Based on lives (focusing on one Linda) of privilege in England before and briefly during WWII, The Pursuit of Love is full of character, insight, wit and fantastic characters. The view this book offers of an existence few of us will ever know is never off-putting. I felt what she did for the people her characters are drawn from and I smiled and laughed a lot. Mitford's writing is full of warmth, heart and bright humor. The delivery is honest and natural. Her style is, of course, wonderfully English. A story I did not want to end. Great, great fun.

Update: Just read Love in a Cold Climate. Not as cohesive and enthralling as The Pursuit of Love but very, very good. Loved this book.

Satisfied Me After Done with Jeeves, Bertie, Mapp and Lucia
In my dotage, I have felt the need to abandon in part contemporary fiction and return to earlier classics which I never got around to reading before.I first tackled every single Jeeves & Wooster by P. G. Wodehouse.I was very sad after finishing as they had become my best friends.Then I had the exact same reaction to reading all of Mapp and Lucia by E. F. Benson. In desperation I turned to a long time friend who has never read anything but this earlier fiction and she sent me on to Nancy Mitford's books.These are my first two Mitfords.Alas, I find myself sinking under the very same spell.My friend has me preparing ahead this time so I have Patrick Dennis's Auntie Mame waiting in the wings as soon as I suffer pangs of loss over Mitford.

What is best about Mitford, just like Wodehouse and Benson, is her understanding of people within a certain niche of society and then rendering them in perfect prose portraits with great style, wit, grace and a light, sure hand.Thus, we meet the fictional alter egos of the Mitford clan as they grow up between the two world wars in England.They are titled and the father is in the house of Lords so there is a certain style of life that they follow down to the ground.These are not privileged wastrels or decadent leeches.In fact, the Mitford women, all six of them, went on to great success in anything which they attempted.

They are brought up in the country in the manor house of their father's estate.If you are picturing great luxury, forget it.The manor house is freezing as all of these huge houses were impossible to heat.The kids meet in the linen cupboard as it is the warmest room in the house.Their father, who is referred to by the narrator as Uncle Matthew, is the best character in the books.He is eccentric, strong willed, works hard on the land in his care and is a fanatic about the all the manly English pursuits of hunting and the like.When he runsout of animals to hunt, he makes his children stand in as prey.The people Uncle Matthew dislikes are generally well worth disliking. His mind can be changed though as in finding out someone he thought of as a leech is an excellent chef who will cook for him through the war years.

I could go on and on about the plots here but the really important thing is the portrayal of these English characters at this time in society.Their love lives, which rarely turn out for the best if they are beautiful and fascinating, are the supposed center of the books but I think the characters are far more universal in their appeal than just by how their love lives are going.

Also, it may take age to appreciate this aspect but I find myself resonating with the comic older characters more than the romantic younger ones.In addition to Uncle Matthew there is the illness obsessed Davey and a direct rival for Lady Catherine from PRIDE & PREJUDICE, to wit, Lady Montdore.

The books obviously love the eccentric people and hate the boring ones, no matter how virtuous, which again is about as universal in characterization as one can get. Also, one doesn't need to be English to be equally smitten by eccentric and fascinating people.

Mitford - Love in a Cold Climate/The Pursuit of Love
Haven't read the book yet, but it arrived quickly and in excellent condition.Have heard good things about the book, so look forward to reading it with great anticipation.Now...to find the time.

Witty, entertaining chronicle of a lost age
I'd read Mitford's books on Louis XIV and La Pompadour prior to these largely autobiographical novels. Mitford writes in an easy, flowing, engaging style.

These two novels are highly entertaining and yet insightful, ironic -- "I don't know quite why, but I felt somehow that Linda had been once more deceived in her emotions, that this explorer in the sandy waste had only seen another mirage. The lake was there, the trees were there, the thirsty camels had gone down to have their evening drink; alas, a few steps forward would reveal nothing but dust and desert as before." - The Pursuit of Love

Highly worthwhile reading. ... Read more

Product Description
A popular best-selling thriller follows the events surrounding a quiet and reclusive man who emerges as a guardian angel for those in need, but who also warns of an impending evil. Reissue. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (115)

What the?
I started out really liking this book and then about one-third of the way through Koontz became possessed and dumped his first idea for something totally weird.I kept wondering what happened to the good book I started out reading. It didn't get any better as I muddled my way through this novel searching for the original plot. I think Koontz tried to redeem himself towards the very end, but it didn't work. I had to struggle to finish it. I wouldn't recommend Cold Fire.

Terrible
Terrible book.the story was way dragged out.Very boring.I had to fast forward throughout the book.Now I came to almost the end and the ending seems quite a let down.Not sure if I should even finish it.

Starts Strong, but Takes a Nosedive Halfway Through
"Cold Fire" by Dean Koontz starts off very strong. We are introduced to former teacher Jim Ironheart, sort of a "Batman meets Charles Bronson" kind of guy traveling the country saving lives just before tragedy strikes. Koontz throws in a spunky newspaper reporter named Holly Thorne who crosses paths with Ironheart, and whose curiosity leads her deeper into Jim's troubled world. The opening chapters of the novel are gripping and suspenseful. The entire episode of Jim and the two maniacs in the motorhome is classic Koontz suspense.

After setting the stage with some pulse pounding action, and some true nail-biting passages things kind of fall apart in the middle of the novel...and go downhill from there. I don't want to ruin the tale so I promise not to spill any spoilers. As Jim and Holly dig deeper into what is "sending" Jim on his life saving missions, and trying to find out what is causing the vivid sleep shattering nightmares both have been experiencing the story kind of falls apart. What was a taut action/thriller gets bogged down in psychobabble junk, corny scenes and a lousy non-ending.

I think Jim Ironheart and Holly Thorne deserve a better finale than what "Cold Fire" gives us. I would love for Koontz to re-visit these characters and perhaps catch us up on what has happened to them since the events of this novel. As it is, "Cold Fire" just kind of peters out, and the payoff is less than spectacular. If this were the first novel in a trilogy or series I would definately rate it higher, but as a stand alone tale it just doesn't live up to other Koontz tales.

" Whoosh, Whoosh, Whoosh " - The Windmill
This is the Dean Koontz I love! I listened to this as an audio book a few years ago and was thrilled to re-experience the story in print. Cold Fire was published in 1991, after The Bad Place and before Koontz starting coming out with 2-3 novels each year. Some issues examined in Cold Fire include: Environmentalism, Religion and Mental Illness. Like many Koontz novels, this work crosses over many genres including: Science Fiction, Mystery, Suspense and Adventure.

It appears that Koontz has created a fictional work within his work of fiction: The Black Windmill, reportedly written by Arthur J. Willott. We of course know that Koontz is and expert at creating fictional names and works, claiming they were written by someone else but really the author is Dean R. Koontz. Another example of this is The Book of Counted Sorrows from which the following quote appears twice in Cold Fire to introduce readers to both part one and two of the story:

"In the real world
as in dreams,
nothing is quite
what it seems."

A windmill is a central focal point of this story and the imagery is wonderful :

"Night pressed at the narrow windows, which were almost like castle embrasures in the limestone walls. Rain tapped against the glass. Suddenly, with a creak of unoiled and half-rusted machinery, the four great wooden sails of the mill began to turn outside, faster and faster, cutting like giant scythes through the damp air. The upright shaft, which came out of the ceiling and vanished through a bore in the center of the floor, also began to turn , briefly creating the illusion that the round floor itself were rotating in the manner of a carousel. One level below, the ancient millstones started to roll against each other, producing a soft rumble like distant thunder".

Another great imagery example from four pages earlier in the story (this one much shorter):
"Night floated down like a great tossed cape of almost weightless black silk".

Some of my other favorite quotes:

On Religion: "I'm reluctant to believe that some statue of the Holy Mother wept real tears in a church in Cincinnati or Peoria or Teaneck last week after the Wednesday-night bingo games, witnesses only by two teenagers and the parish cleaning lady. And I'm not ready to believe that a shadow resembling Jesus, cast on someone's garage wall by a yellow bug light, is a sign of impending apocalypse. God works in mysterious ways, but not with bug lights and garage walls."

On Evil: "There's too much darkness in some people, corruption that could never be cleaned out in five lifetimes of rehabilitation. Evil is real, it walks the earth. Sometimes the devil works by persuasion. Sometimes he just sets loose these sociopaths who don't have a gene for empathy or one for compassion."

On Books: " Around her, thousands of times and places, people and worlds, from Mars to Egypt to Yoknapatawpha County, were closed up in the bindings of books like the shine trapped under the tarnished veneer of a brass lamp. She could almost feel them waiting to dazzle with the first turn of a page, come alive with brilliant colors and pungent odors and delicious aromas, with laughter and sobbing and cries and whispers. Books were packaged dreams."

And this bit of conversation:
" 'When we get where we're going, you won't carve me up with a chainsaw and bury me under the windmill, will you?'
Apparently he understood her sense of vulnerability and took no offense, for he said with mock solemnity, 'Oh, no. It's full-up under the mill. I'll have to bury pieces of you all over the farm' ".

My only criticism of Cold Fire, is the occasional bits of overdone horror which seem to be tossed in, not necessarily flowing with the story, following are two examples:

"Sensing something above her head, Holly looked up. A large web had been spun above the door, across the curve where the wall became the ceiling. A fat spider, it's body as big around as her thumbnail and its spindly legs almost as long as her little finger, greasy as a dollop of wax and dark as a drop of blood, was feeding greedily on the pale quivering body of a snared moth."

and

"Without warning, a vision burst in Holly's mind with such force and brilliance that the library vanished for a moment and her inner world became the only reality; she saw herself naked and nailed to a wall in an obscene parody of a crucifix, blood streaming from her hands and feet (a voice whispering : die, die, die), and she opened her mouth to scream but, instead of sound, swarms of cockroaches poured out between her lips, and she realized she was already dead (die, die, die), her putrid innards crawling with pests and vermin -"

All of Koontz novels have a supernatural element and some, like Cold Fire also have a Science Fiction theme. I'm not a big fan of Science Fiction but have really enjoyed Koontz' trademark genre mix. If you enjoyed or are interested in reading Cold Fire, I would also recommend the following Dean Koontz novels: Lightning, The Bad Place, By the Light of the Moon, and Brother Odd (Odd Thomas Novels).

Great and Unassuming, Like the Main Character
In a quest to continue reading most of Dean Koontz' early novels, this one was written in 1991, I picked up Cold Fire.

Jim Ironheart is a very unique person; A voice drives him to save people. He doesn't know when the voice will move him, but when he hears it, he is single minded in his desire to get to a specific place to rescue someone. The introductory act of heroism is the saving of a child from being killed by a drunk driver in Portland, Oregon. It is during this action that a reporter, Holly Thorne (Koontz provides an excellent scene involving her name), witnesses the event. Holly is motivated to find out more about Jim, as he is very unassuming and not one for the limelight. While researching Jim, which motivates Holly to be the reporter she always had hoped to be, she discovers that the boy wasn't the first person he has rescued. There have been others, many others. But not everything that Jim "sees" is good; There is evil coming and it seems that he is the only one that can stop it.

Even though this is only the third Koontz novel I have read, it isn't anything like the other two (Watchers and Darkfall). Cold Fire is a novel that centers on Jim and Holly, their relationship, and the support that Holly provides to Jim to understand his gift and help with the dark times. Koontz keeps the suspense level high as the voice guides Jim through a few rescues, and when "The Enemy" makes its appearance. From that point, it is a testament to Holly's strength and love for Jim that they are able to battle The Enemy. After finishing the book, I felt a little disappointed with the climax and subsequent ending, but, later, as I turned the story over in my head, I realized that this was an outstanding novel. It seems like a very unassuming book, but, much like the characters and ending, it grows on you as you review what it is that you have read. Even now, as I write this review, I realize that I have been witness to another facet of Koontz' excellent writing ability. While not in the "horror/thriller" genre, this book should not be discounted solely on what you read on the jacket. Cold Fire will stay with you long after you have turned the last page.

And what a great last page it is, too. ... Read more

Product Description
The massive disorder and economic ruin following the Second World War inevitably predetermined the scope and intensity of the Cold War. But why did it last so long? And what impact did it have on the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, and the Third World? Finally, how did it affect the broader history of the second half of the twentieth century--what were the human and financial costs? This Very Short Introduction provides a clear and stimulating interpretive overview of the Cold War, one that will both invite debate and encourage deeper investigation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Very short but very good.
After searching some time for a short history of the Cold War, this little gem virtually fell into my lap. Though it's very, very brief, I cannot mark it down for excluding material because it is simply meant as an introduction. Because my previous experiences of this genre have been mixed: The Wall: The People's Story, The Berlin Wall: 13 August 1961 - 9 November 1989 and The Cold War by John Lewis Gaddis, I actually approached it with some trepidation. This was particularly the case because it was written by an American.

What I got was very different from what I expected. While Gaddis approaches the subject with heavy handed jingoism, relating standard conventional wisdom, Robert McMahon delivers a very reflective style of analysis which promotes a real understanding of what was going on. I have never believed in a partisan approach to history because it only ever gives one side of the story while making the other side look ridiculous or untenable. Rather than simply saying that the Soviets did something evil and getting bogged down in a moral argument, McMahon actually explains why it happened the way it did and leaves it for the reader to judge for themselves. Without this approach it would be just another book.

He goes into some detail about the levels of political aggression on both sides but with particular reference to the rhetoric delivered by a conga line of US presidents starting with Truman and ending with Reagan. This is what makes the book unique and it is this question of American sense of proportion which takes it to another level. How bad was the threat from the USSR and how much did a level of US paranoia contribute to upping the ante? Gaddis, in contrast, is simply incapable of doing that.

In the end we learn that it was Gorbachev who was making all the concessions, usually against the will of some extremist apparatchiks and not without significant personal risk. It happened so quickly, in fact that the changes even pre-empted US pressure. The subtext of McMahon's thesis is that the traditional view that the US won the Cold War by superiority in technology and philosophy was not actually what happened. It was not the US who won but the entire world and from the point of view someone who lived through it, is a far more accurate and sympathetic analysis of what happened.

This is a great little book, as is the case with so many in this series and I wholeheartedly recommend it. It's not for everyone and if your political persuasions don't run in this direction, you probably won't like it. If you are reasonably open minded, you will end up with a far better understanding than you might from a traditional view many times the length. McMahon has enough material to easily write a book 4 times the size which would be a great source on the period and would probably be a best seller. The sooner he does it, the better because I'll be first in the queue to buy it!

Quick and to the point
This is exactly what the title says, the entire Cold War in 168 pages. Oxford University Press has started this "Very Short Introductions" series on many different subjects for those with short attention spans or those teaching undergraduate courses (two categories which aren't necessarily mutually excusive). I decided to read this one to see what there books were like, and to see if this book could be used in one of my future classes. For anybody that has some in depth knowledge of the Cold War, or certain aspects thereof, this book can be very frustrating, since it is a brief overview of events. However, everything is covered, from the origins to the battle for the Third World to Cold War culture to the collapse of the Eastern Block. For someone wanting a short intro to the Cold War outside of a University, this would serve them well, though the book pays much more attention to the US than the Soviet Union. When I cover this subject in future classes I will cover most of the areas covered in this book in lectures, and will assign reading looking at one or two aspects of the Cold War in more detail.

Excellent introduction to the Cold War.

This is a pocket sized book with a title that implies it offers a brief overview of the Cold War but make no mistake, there is nothing lacking in this little gem. Starting with World War II and the destruction of the old Eurocentric world order, the book progresses to the origins of the Cold War, through developing problems in South East Asia, the rise of the Superpowers and finally ends with the fall of Communism in the former USSR.
There are many illustrations and some useful maps along with a very useful chapter pointing to further reading for anyone wishing to extend their knowledge of the subject. This book contains more than enough information to give a good grounding in the subject, not only for the casual reader but also for the student. It may be a `very short introduction' but it is an extremely thorough one.

Very well written.
I'm a Political Science/History major at the University of Pittsburgh, and this was one of the books in a ps class I took.It's very well written, and very informative.McMahon gives a brief rundown of the history and policy of the United States and the Soviet Union during this era in a way that's not at all hard on the reader.It was actually a very fun read, and is quite helpful if you don't know much about the Cold War.It's also short enough that it can easily be read in one sitting in a couple of hours.Great read, and a good book to pick up.

Good on the Facts but Limitied in its Understanding
Although McMahon hits all of the salient events in the Cold War, he views the Cold War as a rivalry only between the USA and USSR, one in which their respective allies have little or no abiding national interest but, with few exceptions, act at the direction of their overseers in Washington and Moscow. Perhaps a broader analysis of the multiple national interests in the Cold War would give the work a dimension that could not qualify as a "very short introduction." But that doesn't seem to be McMahon's issue.He defines the Cold War solely in terms of a conflict between the superpowers:

"In brief, it was the divergent aspirations, needs, histories, governing institutions, and ideologies of the Untied States and the Soviet Union that turned unavoidable tensions into the epic four-decade confrontation that we call the Cold War" (p. 5).

McMahon is quite good when he shows how the conflicts in the Cold War were principally played out through third-world countries.He needs to discuss a bit more the frequent devastating effects the conflict had for the lives, prosperity, sovereignty and dignity of the people in these nations.Multiple millions of people died as a result of the international chess game among the major powers.

McMahon is one of the few writers to point out that Stalin offered the West a unified Germany with free elections as long as Germany was demilitarized (much like Japan was after World War 2) and was not a part of NATO, reasonable conditions given that Germany had invaded Russia twice in the 20th century.But the USA turned down the deal thinking that an armed partitioned West Germany met the USA's strategic interest by providing an advanced front line abutting the Warsaw Pact nations.

McMahon gets high marks for showing that it was principally the unilateral actions taken by Gorbachev that led to the end of Cold War and not, as in the USA propagandists' fantasy, Ronald Reagan.
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Product Description
From the queen of the naughty bedtime story, an anthology of all-new erotic stories written especially for couples.

With Bawdy Bedtime Stories, Joan Elizabeth Lloyd offered sexy tales to keep fans awake-and aroused- long after dark. Now she presents all-new sizzling stories guaranteed to make readers hot...

A woman asks the Gods to fashion a magical object- a tempting tool that will provide her with infinite rapture. But some pleasures are not so easy to give up.

When a couple realizes that their lovemaking is being watched by a voyeur, they take the opportunity to put on the best show they can in an exhibition of pure ecstasy.

After a curious couple discover their neighbors' great sex life, they find out that watching can be fun-but doing is so much better... A man dies and discovers a heaven filled with willing, wanton women. But he soon discovers that sex without caring, without challenge, is not the paradise he'd imagined. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Quick and sexy, this anthology is a series of short fantasies.
Hot Stories for Cold Nights by Joan Elizabeth Lloyd
Contemporary Romance -Oct 5th, 2010
3 ½ stars

Hot Stories for Cold Nights is an anthology which was more and less than I expected. When I read the blurb I thought there would just be a few stories in this anthology. But to my surprise this books contains about 30 shorts!A few of them are different 'scenes' with the same couple. .This was good because it had a lot of variety but except for the longer stories.I felt a little dissatisfied. Many of the stories I wished the author had expanded the story past the sex scenes and let me learn a bit more about the couple so I felt more invested in them.

As mentioned earlier, most of the stories involve a couple (m/f).But there are some ménage scenes, too.What I did find refreshing is that there were also several stories from the man's perspective (The hero is the main character).At first it felt a little strange since I am used to the woman being the main character.But I realized I liked the `sneak peak' into a man's fantasies!

Here are some of the storylines which I enjoyed. The short stories called Friday NightGames are about a couple who spice up their relationship by role-playing fantasies. There is also a series of shorts about a husband who loves movies and likes to `play' them in his fantasies.They include a pirate scene, doctor scene, and an alien scene!I particularly liked the story about the author experiencing writer's block while trying to write an erotic scene when a mysterious man with the same name as her hero suddenly appears and takes her on a sensual journey.There are also some funny stories which include a leprechaun who offers great sex instead of the pot of gold and a man who finds a potion that makes him irresistible to woman.

Most of these stories are about couples who are already established finding new life in their relationship. There is a little bondage and spanking.The stories are sexy and fast reads. But for me I was disappointed that most were not as developed as other books I have read by this author.If I had known this books was complied mainly of vignettes beforehand I don't think I would have felt as disappointed.

Readers who love this author will find these stories enjoyable but may find their brevity a bit unsatisfying.But if they purchase this book realizing that most are just short scenes instead of actual stories with a plot then they will be prepared.

Quick and sexy, this anthology is a series of short fantasies.

Reviewed by Steph from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club

entertaining erotic Hot Stories
The thirty entries are in fact twenty separate tales as the other ten are additional chapters rather than stand alone short stories.Thus, readers initially will be confused but quickly pick up that "Creating a Bestseller" is followed by "Creating a Bestseller: The Next Chapter" thanks mostly to Jared and Mandy.The longer multiple entries like the Madam's Brothel" (Options in five parts), "Movie Mania (three parts), and "Friday Night Games" (played in three periods) are the best contributions as the reader has the chance to meet the lead participants outside of just sex.Still even the short shorts (approximately eight pages on an average) are fun to read as accentuated by the opening act in which Pete and Missy capture a Leprechaun who provides lovemaking advice that the Penthouse Magazine guide would say makes for a wonderful cocktail. Ranging in sub-genres and encounters, for the most part, Joan Elizabeth Lloyd provides entertaining erotic Hot Stories for Cold Nights (temperate and hot nights too).

Harriet Klausner
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Product Description
Gordon Rhea’s gripping fourth volume on the spring 1864 campaignwhich pitted Ulysses S. Grant against Robert E. Lee for the first time in the Civil Warvividly recreates the battles and maneuvers from the stalemate on the North Anna River through the Cold Harbor offensive. Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26June 3, 1864 showcases Rhea’s tenacious research which elicits stunning new facts from the records of a phase oddly ignored or mythologized by historians. In clear and profuse tactical detail, Rhea tracks the remarkable events of those nine days, giving a surprising new interpretation of the famous battle that left seven thousand Union casualties and only fifteen hundred Confederate dead or wounded. Here, Grant is not a callous butcher, and Lee does not wage a perfect fight. Within the pages of Cold Harbor, Rhea separates fact from fiction in a charged, evocative narrative. He leaves readers under a moonless sky, with Grant pondering the eastward course of the James River fifteen miles south of the encamped armies. AUTHOR BIO: Gordon C. Rhea is the author of The Battle of the Wilderness, May 56, 1864; The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern, May 712, 1864; and To the North Anna River: Grant and Lee, May 1325, 1864, winner of the Fletcher Pratt Literary Award, among other books. He lives in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, with his wife and two sons. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Rhea One of the Best
I read a LOT of Civil War books, and Gordon Rhea consistently puts out some of the best writing on the subject. This book, part three I believe of a four part series on Grant's final push to end the war, is right up there with his previous two in the series.
If you are into the Civil War, read it.

The culmination of a series of bloody battles
Gordon Rhea has written a series of four books, providing a chronicle of the bloody fighting in 1864 as Ulysses Grant headed south and Robert E. Lee tried to prevent him from success.From the Wilderness to Spotsylvania Court House to the North Anna River to Cold Harbor.These four books take us through this sanguinary period, day by day.There is no obvious end of one battle and start of the next.It was a continuing slugging match between Confederate and Union forces.

This book begins with Grant pulling away from the trap that Lee had set for him at the North Anna River.The moves in the chess match between Grant and Lee featured both misreading the other.Each missed opportunities to maul the other.Grant cleverly sidestepped Lee from the North Anna line, but did not follow up the march that he had gained on Lee.

Each side moved in response to what they thought the other was doing, and did a slow dance of maneuver toward Cold Harbor.Major cavalry fighting broke out (e.g., Haw's Shop). Both sides saw some problems with generalship at Corps level (Early's hotheadedness led to some foolish attacks on Union positions; Burnside continued his blundering; Warren dithered; Anderson was at the very limit of his competence).The bleeding of Confederate generals slowly reduced the effectiveness of the Army of Northern Virginia, and Lee had to assume more direct control.

Finally, the two armies fought it out at Cold Harbor, with the Union forces being driven back with many casualties.

And here is where Rhea's book is distinctive.He argues that Cold Harbor was not nearly as disastrous to Grant's forces as often thought.Indeed, as a percentage of forces lost to casualties, the Confederate Army was in worse shop after Cold Harbor than Union forces (that is, they had lost more troops percentagewise than Northern forces). Grant could replenish his forces; Lee had a much more difficult time.

At the end of the slugging matches from The Wilderness to Cold Harbor, Grant pondered his next move.And that's how the book ends.

This is well written.Many maps help the reader visualize the movements of the two armies.The order of battle at the end shows the organization of each army, down to brigade and regimental levels.All in all, a worthy addition to the library of students of the Civil War.

Part 4 of a masterful series
Cold Harbor Grant and Lee May 26-June 3, 1864
by Gordon C Rhea

Anyone who would understand the complexities and difficulties of the duel between Grant and Lee in 1864 would do well to start with Gordon Rhea's masterful four-volume "Overland Campaign" series.

Cold Harbor is the culminating Volume and the agony of that battle is not diminished by the fact that it is actually a very different battle from the one people have talked about in generalities.

Cold Harbor was the logical culmination of Grant's continuing efforts to get around Lee's right flank.Grant had a sophisticated understanding of the strategic problem he faced. If he simply kept maneuvering Lee backwards he would eventually be in the fortifications of Richmond and Petersburg.The war would be reduced to a grand siege. Grant was confident he would win such a siege (just as he had won the siege at Vicksburg in 1863) but he also knew it would run the risk of exhausting the patience of the North and costing Lincoln the election.

To a degree, modern American military officers often underestimate Grant.He understood that the Civil War was political and that if he could not produce victory within a politically acceptable time table the war would be lost.

Lee understood the exact mirror image of Grant's challenge. If Lee could not find a way to outmaneuver Grant and fight a decisive battle in the open he would be forced back into a siege and once pinned to Richmond in a siege he would inevitably lose.

Thus, the aggressive assaults were not mere butchery nor were they tactical incompetence.

Two of the best generals in American history were grappling with how to force a battle of decision out in the open before the realities of siege war closed in on both of them.

They failed, in part because Lee no longer had the forces necessary to fight a battle of decision and the Union Army was not a fast enough instrument to execute the kind of maneuvers Grant and Sherman had exploited in the West.

Rhea brilliantly helps us understand how this happened and why.

He also notes that the common soldiers understood the importance of digging in and entrenching long before their officers did and that the challenges of the First World War were already showing up in the last year of the civil war--some half century earlier.

The Overland campaign Series
The Battle of the Wilderness May 5-6, 1864
Product Details
* Hardcover: 520 pages
* Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (July 1994)
* Language: English
* ISBN: 0807118737

The Battles for Spotsylvania Court House and the Road to Yellow Tavern May 7-12, 1864
Product Details
* Hardcover: 483 pages
* Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (May 1997)
* Language: English
* ISBN: 0807121363

To the North Anna River: Grant and Lee, May 13-25, 1864
Product Details
* Hardcover: 505 pages
* Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (May 2000)
* Language: English
* ISBN: 0807125350

Cold Harbor: Grant and Lee, May 26-June 3, 1864
Product Details
* Hardcover: 552 pages
* Publisher: Louisiana State University Press (September 2002)
* Language: English
* ISBN: 0807128031

I am reviewing the four books a single series although each book is a full stand-alone history.This is a highly detailed military history of Grant's Overland Campaign of 1864.Two of the best generals commanding two of the best armies, in American history, decide the Civil war in the East.Gordon Rhea gives this month the detailed attention it requires and had never received.The 2,000 pages allows for the full story of the campaign, the personalities, failures and success.

The first book covers the major battle of The Wilderness an area Grant wished to clear and Lee hoped to trap him in as he had Hooker in 1863.Through a series of Union miscalculations and command problems, Lee manages to get in Grant's way.What follows is a confused bloody two-day battle that has been termed "Bush whacking on a grand scale". An excellent series of maps, help the reader stay abreast of the battle and understand the confusion of both sides.Lee loses Longstreet and starts to make the hard decisions about personnel that he has avoided since 1862.Grant while testing his relationship with Meade and Burnside, is trying to learn the AOP's generals too.This process dominates the four books as repeatedly Grant is forced to deal with the problems this creates and Lee takes steps that were unthinkable in 1863.

The second book moves the battle from The Wilderness south to Spotsylvania and Yellow Tavern.Grant refuses to "play the game" and retreat behind the Rappahannock but pushes past Lee and continues south.What follows is a race from defensive point to defensive point, which the AOP concedes to the AoNV.Union commanders hesitate at critical moments while the AoNV reinforces the objective.This allows Lee to stay up or ahead producing one of the bloodiest battles in our history at Spotsylvania.In addition, this book covers the critical cavalry operations, Grant's reasoning, and the price paid in taking Sheridan away from Meade.J.E.B. Stuart's death, is well covered.Both in terms of what it means to the AoNV, to Lee and to the Confederacy.

After one of the hardest weeks in their history, the two exhausted bloodied armies eye each other over their entrenchments.Lee understands that he is being trapped and that defensive war can only end in defeat.Grant is trying not to be stuck in a siege and determined to continue south.What follows is a series of forced marches and small battles as Grant and Lee test each other.Each general wins and loses daily as the armies march, counter march and fight.However, at the end of each day, Grant is always closer to Richmond.Lee produces a brilliant trap, Grant takes the bait but circumstances keep lee from springing it.Almost to late, Grant sees the trap pulls back, changes direction and continues south.Book 3, To the North Anna River covers this brilliant and exciting time in detail.Rhea produces some excellent analysis of both commanders and the developing personnel problems they are facing.Neither man is having an easy time of it and both understand they have never faced an enemy like this.

The last book takes us to Cold Harbor, one of the most controversial battles of the war.The detail history and excellent analysis leads us through this battle and produces some startling conclusions.As always, the author provides full support and justification for them.This might be the most important book of the series and the definitive book on the battle of Cold Harbor.

Each book has a full set of maps and illustrations.The writing is uniform and very readable.While detailed, the actions are understandable and you are seldom lost in a sea of names and/or unit numbers.Each book is a stand-alone history and is readable as such.The books were published from 1994to 2002 and had to be written that way.This is the best account of the Overland Campaign available.It is both an invaluable reference and a great reading experience.

Disappointing and unfulfilling

It is not surprising that Gordon Rhea has sold many books through his four volume overview of the Overland Campaign in 1864.After all, the practicing attorney writes well, captivates his audience, and stirs up controversy in the academic community.But after completing three of the four books, it appears that Rhea's personal vendetta against George Gordon Meade and love affair of Ulysses S. Grant has taken over as one of the central themes of this study.

Granted, Rhea's scholarship of debunking American folklore surrounding the battle bears appreciation.Grant as the butcher and Lee as the talented commander are too fabricated into popular memory.Rather, Rhea carefully depicts Grant as the strategist who attempted to "employ combinations of maneuver and force to bring a difficult adversary to bay." (xii)Recently, scholarship is aggressively rethinking memory and its affect on the public.Much of what has become popularized in the Civil War apparently has a different side.Gordon Rhea is one of those trying to reshape the myths and legends that many Civil War buffs grew up with.However, his success comes with failure.

What transpires in the text is Rhea essentially letting Grant off the hook as the so-called "butcher" of the Union, which is appropriate, but not that well-done by the author.Simply stating that the reported thousands killed on June 3 "has no basis in reality" is too easy for a Grant sympathizer.Perhaps the casualty reports for Cold Harbor do not match the figures we know today.But Rhea has apparently made it his mission to deliver Grant as the American hero of the Civil War.No more is this apparent than his continued attack on George Meade, the "commander" of the Army of Potomac.What Rhea fails to understand is the concept of emotion and its attachment in this sense to manhood.Meade was shattered mentally when his army merely was passed over to Grant.Meade's reputation suffered but he continued to be a soldier.Perhaps the relationship of Grant and Meade was rocky.How could it not be?True, Meade had his shortcomings and his handling of the army on June 3 was less than stellar.But Rhea's attempt to inflate the image of Grant by destroying the figure of Meade is one of failure and disappointment.
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Product Description
A CHRISTMAS SECRET...Emery wants to flee hard memories of Christmases past. The mountains of Idaho offer distraction...plus the key to a long-buried family secret. But her host, rancher Nate, hardly gives her a warm welcome...The former soldier's smouldering good looks mask a dark, painful past. And now he has his hands full as guardian of two orphaned nieces. Still, despite his rough manner, Nate can't ignore his fierce attraction to Emery or his nieces' instant attachment to her - until Emery shares a shocking secret. Will it be a lonely Christmas for four lost souls? Or the best family holiday ever? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Nice Story
This book was an easy read when you feel like relaxing.If you loved reading about the Dalton Family, you'll love this book. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (26)

Troubling Evidence
The author is obviously well informed on the subject.He expresses serious concerns about the politics of the Kremlin and the manner in which internal dissent is addressed.This is not a balanced perspective of pros and cons but rather a compelling agruement for us to be concerned.Having said this, the author doesn't appear to overstate the case (e.g., he clearly acknolwledges that military power is limited).An overall excellent book.

May 17, 2010
Has Russia really changed from the Soviet Union in the Old Cold War?Looking at the situation economically, politically, Militarily not much has changed.Many of the Soviet Union's old habits continue to be used in contemporary Russia.Many of these habits have greater implications today than during the Old Cold War.Adapting to this reality will be increasingly difficult within the new global situation.The author begins to discuss the current situation and how the West can adept to the situation.The situation might even be more dangerous today in the new world and everyone needs to adapt the new reality.

Russophobic Garbage
This book isso full of contradictions and the biased opinion of a russophobe that I can't understand how anyone takes it seriously.I will give you some examples.On the one hand ,Russia's nuclear arsenal is the only thing it posseses that gives it any claim to be a military superpower.A few sentences down,we learn that its ability to launch a devastating nuclear attack on NATO is history.On the one hand russia is a "giant ,nuclear-armed Saudi Arabia so rich and powerful.. with a weight not seen since the 1950s" but on the other it is doomed to collapse.Mr Lucas mentions how Russia is no longer a global adversary but the title of the book does not give you that impression.
Mr.Lucas also shows a personal apathy to Mr.Putin.Yeltsin ,the man who bombed his own parliament defying his Constitutional court in the process ,introduced rigged and manipulated elections (acording to his own memoir ,at one point even considering postponing it indefinitely,dissolving parliament and banning the Communist PArty),started a brutal war ,created a parasitic oligarchy ,made a deal with Putin so that he did not get prosecuted for corruption ,saw a number of journalists and parliamentarians killed ,was hated by most of his subjects and was drunk for most of his reign is lauded as a flawed but democratic hero.Putin who is popular with his countrymen,pursued sensible economic policies (although lucky to have high oil and gas prices),reined in the oligarchs and regional governors ,crushed the chechen separatists , restored Russia's prestige and obeyed the Constitution is labelled as a tyrant.Never mind that China,Saudi Arabia andKazakhstan have far worse human right records (Mr.Lucas even supports doing business with some of these countries to exclude Russia),yet Mr.Lucas is silent about these countries.Mr.Lucas does not even bother to disguise his feelings on the matter,he admits that the day Russian soldiers left the Baltic states was the happiest in his life.My opinion ,only russophobic people will like such a book.

A rushed collection of blogs
The arguments in the book are actually not arguments: they are a collection of name calling, branding, and bumper-sticker slogans. Lucas successfully revives the worst of the Cold War journalism and applies it in a hurry to Russia. It is apparent from this collection of assertions, assumptions, and plain bias, that Lucas doesn't like Russia or the Russians. One suspects a possible case of the "small nation syndrome", made more acute by Russian recovery under Putin. Yet, though Russia is dangerous, Lucas will not conclude that Russia is strong - this would mean that the country is recovering and is becoming successful under Putin. Hence Lucas sprinkles his haphazard but instinctive attacks on the country and its leaders with assurances for himself and his unfortunate readers that Russia somehow will fail, has failed. Utterly left out is an analysis of past conduct of other powers and neighbors of Russia - or at least a short discussion of American moves since 1992, as it should be clear that states do not act in a vacuum, but have to react to threats. Before publishing this paranoid and alarmist tabloid, Lucas would have been well advised to submit a few drafts to reputed scholars for comments and criticism, like undergrads and graduate students do.

Informative, but rather dull
Lots of good information about life and internal Russian political interests. Author makes many good points, provided
of course that you can get through the dull narrative text. ... Read more

Product Description
Mitch Berger, a top film critic with a major New York newspaper at a surprisingly young age, has become almost a recluse since his wife died one year ago. He spends his time secluded in his apartment or in the dark recesses of a screening room. Although he continues to dazzle moviegoers and the film elite with his criticisms, his editor and good friend is alarmed about him. As a scheme to pull him out of the doldrums of his grief, she gives him a non-film assignment - to do a color story on the wealthy and social homeowners on Connecticut's Gold Coast. It takes some doing, but in the end Mitch agrees.

He is fortunate to find a cottage to rent on Big Sister, the absolute top-of-the-line private island outside the town of Dorset. His landlady, Dolly, is pleasant and friendly, but some of the other inhabitants of this small piece of land, although too well bred to come right out and say it, are not happy to have Mitch, born of parents only one generation away from Eastern Europe and raised on the city's pavements, arrive in their back yard. But Dolly, whose husband has recently left her, needs the money, and at least she is more than gracious.

The discovery of a body during a bout of optimistic gardening in Dolly's back yard brings on the other main player - Lieutenant Desiree Mitry, one of only three women on the Connecticut State Police major crimes squad, the youngest of the three, and the only black. A dedicated officer, she is the terror of everyone who doesn't really want to give a home to one of her stray cats. She is, as well, a closet artist and a complicated and beautiful woman, and she intrigues Mitch from the start.
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Customer Reviews (11)

a page turner mystery
the characters come alive of the page and are memorable. I love that.this is my second book by this author and I have ordered more.

Wonderful start to this series!
The two main characters: Mitch Berger, New York film critic and reclusive curmudgeon; and Lieutenant Desiree Mitry of the Connecticut State Police, six-foot-one, long dreadlocks, legs up to there, and a rescuer of feral cats.

Hooked yet?

I was, but I was also in for a shock. For some reason when the term "curmudgeon" is used to describe someone, I automatically think of that person as being over fifty years of age. Mitch Berger is barely in his thirties, and has been thrown for a loop by the death of his beloved wife. He's lived and breathed movies his entire life, and being a film critic is the perfect job for him:

"I discovered that I come alive in the dark," he said. "Not so much like a vampire but more like an exotic form of fungus. A darkened movie theater is my natural habitat."

Enough time has passed after his wife's death that Mitch begins to feel a need for a change of scenery, someplace where he can work on his latest book. He finds a place on Connecticut's Gold Coast:

"Because this was no ordinary outbuilding. It was a genuine antique post-and-beam carriage house with exposed beams of hand-hewn chestnut. The room, which was a good-sized one, had a big fieldstone fireplace at one end, wide-boarded oak floors and floor-to-ceiling windows that afforded a totally unobstructed view of the water in three different directions. It was a bit like being on the bridge of a ship at sea."

Although Mitch had just thought of staying at a B&B for a couple of weeks, after seeing this carriage house, he couldn't help himself and rented it immediately from its blue-blooded Yankee owner. Mitch moves in, the sea air begins working its magic on him, he decides to put in a garden...and when his spade uncovers a dead body, he has the pleasure of meeting Lieutenant Desiree Mitry. What did the good lieutenant think when she first laid eyes on Mitch?

"Mitch Berger had the saddest eyes Des had ever seen on any creature that was not living at the Humane Society, its wet nose and furry paws pressed to the door of its cage."

A few pieces of the plot are well-known devices: the small town community that shuns outsiders; the rich folks who expect doffed caps and tugged forelocks and know that the laws do not apply to them. Well-known and well-worn or not, what drew me into this book hook, line and sinker were Handler's way with words and his characterizations. Handler has an eye for detail and a talent for snappy dialogue. Although Berger and Mitry are the stars of the book (each with a personal arsenal of life's scars), there are other characters that stand out and remain in my memory: the single mother who makes a fatal mistake, the old "Cranky Yankee"....

It's been a long time since I was so charmed by one book that I immediately started grabbing as many of the other books in the series as I could get my hands on, but that's what I did when I finished The Cold Blue Blood. I have the next three books in the series waiting to be read. I know I'm in for a treat!

More mystery than romance...
This was a great book.I give one small warning, only by this book if you're more interested in mystery, plot than in a hot romance.This book delivers on the mystery, characters and plot, but is a little lacking in the hot, steamy romance department.

Well-written but sap
The text is simple, with common vocabulary and basic sentence structures. It is rich in description and humor. The characters are given distinctive backgrounds and attributes to make us like them. The mystery is simplistic, however, and ultimately all motivations in this book are one-dimensional. This is where detective fiction becomes soap opera, and not particularly well, but annoyingly you'll have to read until the end to find that out.

A wonderfully quirky pairing
What makes this mystery so enjoyable is not so much the plot (which is good, but perhaps a trifle far-fetched) as the characters & their interrelationships, particularly Mitch & Des.I love the way both of them are presented as less than perfect, & having their wounds from the past.When this detailing is combined with smart & sassy dialogue similar to that of a '30s romantic comedy, a seemingly illogical couple becomes completely convincing, & highly endearing.Kudos to Handler for a great series setup! ... Read more

Product Description
He's wrestled under many names but to the fans he is and will always be Stone Cold Steve Austin™. His quick wit and colorful use of language combined with his everyman character captured the hearts of fans worldwide and rewrote the dynamics of professional wrestling forever.

Steve's ability inside the ring and his quick-witted responses lead to his becoming one of the most popular WWE© Superstars of all times. With the creation of the Stone Cold™ character, Steve's popularity expanded exponentially. It seemed nothing could stop the Texas Rattlesnake™, except himself.The Stone Cold Truth is an unvarnished take on his life, and you know it's the truth " 'cause Stone Cold says so!™" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (39)

Stone Cold Fan
Overall, I loved this book. i loved this book because I liked how it explained every detail of his life. Also, because he told stories between chapters that relate to the chapter. i loved the pictures of his childhood and his carreer. I liked how he explained everyone in his story so that I could get a better picture of his life. Lastly, I liked the book because it told what he did during and after his carreer as a professional wrestler. It told about his last match and why he decieded to leave WWE. ONe thing I would have liked to know before reading was if he made books before this one so I could get a better picture of him. Also, what was his carreer like is what I would have liked to known. I would recommened this book to all WWE fans and Stone Cold fans because he was a huge superstar and everyone who watched him was a fan. Overall, I loved this book and I hope more People read it. And that's the bottom line caus Stone Cold said so.(quote from Steve Austin.)

Its stone cold
Ive read three wrestling books so far bret harts, ric flairs to be the man and this one.What i liked reading about in these books is road storys and all the crazy crap that on the road.Bret hart did a great job in his, the stone cold book have very little road stories.If you watched his whole career on tv, or through dvds you will not learn any new information in this book, he just talks about how he got into wrestling and his best and worst moments.If your a stone cold fan i would recommend this book, if not I would read something else.

Reads like a child's book
I'm a big fan of Austin, but this book is really lame. He literally talks about the 3 biggest Wrestlemania's of his career in about 4 pages. It's like 'yeah, Stone Cold got huge', and that's it. No insight from him on how it felt to be the most popular athelete alive for a time.

He also repeats himself over and over about his love for his children, parents, how he only has a handful of friends, blah blah blah.

Very uninteresting read.

Good Book
This was a really good book. Shows how he grew up and how great of a wrestler he was.

My Stone Cold Truth.
The book was absolutely amazing.Although some of the stories jumped around a little bit, it was still interesting to read about the man behind Stone Cold Steve Austin.From his humble beginnings, to how he got his gimmick, and lastly to how his career finally ended at Wrestlemania.A fantastic read that is quick and captures your attention from the start to the finish.Highly recommended!

- Griffin ... Read more

Product Description

Multiple award-winning author Sue Henry takes us into the heart of America's last frontier with a gripping tale of suspense set in a rugged land that appeals to the adventurous and strong ... and to those who are drawn to darkness.

Famed Alaskan "musher" Jessie Arnold thinks she's finally put her dark past behind her. But the excavations on her new cabin unearth a decades-old skeleton entombed in a crumbling basement wall -- along with a butterfly pendant necklace worn by the alleged victim of a brutal serial slayer who preyed on area women twenty years earlier.

Pulled once more into a murder investigation against her will, Jessie fears a grim, half-forgotten nightmare has been reborn. For, in this stark and lonely place, in the first days of the all-too-brief Alaskan summer, another woman has disappeared without a trace. The signs suggest the unthinkable: an insatiable human monster has returned. And the clues she's uncovering hint that Jessie Arnold may well be his next victim.

Customer Reviews (15)

Cold Company
Cold Company, a Sue Henry Alaskan mystery, is a great read! It's fast-
paced,interesting....a good "who done it?". As in all of her books, Ms.
Henry's wonderful descriptions of the Alaskan wilderness and lifestyle
are sure to make one want to visit the state. What I especially enjoy,
reading each of her books, is the brilliant way she weaves in references
to events and people from her previous mystery books. So, for example
if you are reading a "Jessie Arnold" mystery, it's fun to start with
the first one; however her books are great "stand alone" stories too.
I first fell in love with her books when we vacationed in Alaska, and
was impressed also with the accuracy of her descriptions of the state,
cities, roads, topography, and history. I only wish more people in the
"lower 48" were familliar with her works. But I digress..."Cold Company"
is a true KEEPER.

Cold Company
Though I enjoy Sue Henry and her protagnist Jessie Arnold this book was a little too gruesome for my tastes.Suspenseful but plot continuity was lost in gory details.Guess it is time to stay with Maxie and leave Jessie behind.But I would like to see another Jessie Arnold book sometime soon with more Alaska history thrown in.

Cold Company is a chiller of a good read.
Sue Henry's knowledge of Alaska adds so much authencity to her writing. Her Alaska mystery series using Jessie Arnold, girl musher, as heroine, are interesting, full of vivid detail, and have enough "male" (stuff/point of view) in them to make a good read for men as well. I especially like her attention to detail of the Alaskan scenery and way of life. She must research like crazy! Cold Company is another book worth reading in this series. I look forward to reading all of them. I always "guess wrong" who the offender is, and Sue Henry keeps you guessing to the very end! She also makes one dream of making the trip to see her Alaska for themselves!

APage Turner
At first I was not sure I would like this book, it seemed to start off a little slow.After reading through several pages it became quite interesting and I was not able to put it down.I almost gave up reading it at first, I'm glad I didn't. The characters are interesting and her style of writing keeps you on the edge of your seat, kind of like some action movies! Enjoy!

Almost Like Being There
Jessie Arnold is building a new cabin on her property to replace the one that was burned to the ground by an arsonist a few months ago (Beneath The Ashes).During the excavation for her basement, a skeleton is unearthed.Meanwhile, women are being found to have been murdered in a way that recalls a serial murderer of twenty years ago.Sue Henry weaves a wonderful plot in which several characters could be the perpetrator.The reader worries Jessie will trust the wrong person while suspecting another.As always, Henry's landscape and wildlife descriptions are so well done, it's almost like being there.I read Sleeping Lady several years ago and I don't remember the story, but I remember the descriptions of the Alaskan wilderness. These books let the reader reside in the wilderness for a little while with all the perks and none of the hardships. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (22)

A Hermit`s Manifesto
Admired by the likes of Kerouac and Snyder, the wisdom-filled poems of Chinese hermit, Han Shan, have a timeless magic to them.Whether extolling the virtues of the solitary life or capturing glimpses of wilderness beauty, Han Shan`s poetry sings with a refreshing blend of simplicity and elegance.

Revered as a sage in his native China, Han Shan, who cloaked his writings under the Zen nom de plume, `Cold Mountain,` was a free-spiritwho subscribed to an individualistic credo that mixed elements of both Taoist and Buddhist tradition.Han Shan chose to live in severe isolation from his fellows in close intimacy with the natural world.The finest poems in this collection constantly return to this theme of willful exile

Since I came to Cold Mountain
How many thousand years have passed
Accepting my fate, I fled to the woods
To dwell and gaze in freedom
My quilt is the dark blue sky
A boulder makes a fine pillow
Heaven and Earth can crumble and change

Such gems are scattered throughout this fine volume of Cold Mountain`s Songs.While many of these poems celebrate the purity and liberty of the solitary life, others tackle social issues.Despite his hermetic exile, Han Shan nonetheless attacked the injustices that plagued T`ang Dynasty China.The targets of his poetic scorn are as varied as they are deserved:hypocritical monks, avaricious nobles, vain youths, and especially those flesh-eaters insistent upon taking life.In accordance to the Buddhist principle of protecting all forms of life, Han Shan saves his most acerbic barbs for those who endanger their own spiritual well-being by destroying life.

Here`s some advice for meat-eating people
Who eat without reflecting
Living things were formerly seeds
The future depends on current deeds
Seizing present joys
Unafraid of sorrows to come

True to his calling as a voice in the wilderness, as a mountaintop prophet, Han Shan fills his poems with either instruction or admonition. Nearly all the poems in this collection carry some sort of teachable lesson.Epigrammatic wisdom trickles forth from them."Better to know nothing at all, to sit and not speak and have no cares...A straight mind means straight words."While often enlightening, these nuggets of wisdom can be overwhelming with their ubiquity.Like the Analects or the Tao Te Ching, Cold Mountain`s songs have a pedagogical mission:enlighten the ignorant.

The richly evocative descriptions of nature common to other Chinese poets (think Tu Fu and Li Po for example) are conspicuously muted here. Imagery and description both serve the main goal of transmitting wisdom and virtue.Emerald mountains, jade streams, crane-like clouds are all present in these songs but always in support of some greater meaning.Nature unadorned and unburdened is the exception here.

Those unschooled in the finer intricacies of Buddhist or Taoist thought will have a difficult time unearthing meaning from the layers of scholarly allusion and metaphor.Han Shan`s penchant for encoding spiritual messages within seemingly simple images can be frustrating.Thanks to translator Red Pine`s copious notes, the reader can better understand each poem`s meaning and message.That said though, having to decode nearly every poem takes away its spontaneity to some extent.Few are the poems that are accessible without assistance from the translator.

Yet, Cold Mountain`s best poems are like rare stars.Their clarity and beauty set them apart.Like the rocks and pines on which they were written, they feel like part of nature itself. Something immutable and eternal is expressed within their words.For those enamored with `wilderness` and the hermetic life, these poems carry a special value.Had Thoreau written his Walden in sparse, terse fragments, the result would have been something akin to Cold Mountain`s Songs."Deer live deep in the forest surviving on water and grass/But tie them up in a fancy hall and their loveliness fades."

A good complete edition
Red Pine's translations capture Han Shan's simplicity and concision but sometimes fail to convey his cutting sense of humor.Arthur Waley and Gary Snyder are better in the few dozen poems they have translated; Burton Watson does a fine job with 100 poems.But if you want a complete edition of the 300+ poems, Red Pine's version is more than serviceable.

Wonderful book
This book is a must have if you want to learn more about the meaning of the poems.

Unemployment literature at its best
I discovered this gem of a book as a result of reading another text. I was absolutely amazed to realize how well the "songs" (named because many Chinese poems are written to go with a tune) covered the angst and anguish of unemployment, parting with friends, watching a war go on and on...the line "ages to come will warm themselves at your verses" wasn't originally written about Han Shan, but it could apply to him.

It's dramatically different from western poetry: plainer, blunter, shocking in the depth of its emotional content conveyed in a dry, often matter-of-fact tone.

A light dose of the history of the times, detailed footnotes explaining metaphor and meaning, and above all, the humanity of the poet, is revealed by the poems. He is like us; his times were like ours; his art shows what he thought about it as he came to terms with the unexpected turns of his life.

Get the video, too.
I first learned about this poet, a Chinese hermit who lived outside of a Buddhist monastery, from a video called Cold Mountain made by The Center for International Education: www.thecie.orgI became intrigued with Han Shan (Cold Mountain is the English translation of his name), decided to buy this book translated by Red Pine (there are several translations) because I most liked what Red Pine had to say in the video.I love Cold Mountain's down-to-earth observations on daily life and find Red Pine's notes deepen my appreciation.

A poem that I really like:

Two turtles aboard an ox cart
took part in a highway drama
a scorpion came alongside
begging desperately for a ride
to refuse would violate goodwill
to accept would weigh them down
in a moment too brief to describe
acting kindly they got stung

The translator's note: In the Lotus Sutra, the ox cart is used as a metaphor for the Great Vehicle of Salvation, with room for all.The turtles are a scurrilous reference to bald-headed monks and nuns.First among all Buddhist virtues is charity, but here its unwise practice leads to the loss of life.Such are the results of dogma, even Buddhist dogma.

I gave the book to a friend for his birthday and now I miss it.Guess I've got to buy another. ... Read more

Product Description
In this Higgins adventure classic, an Allied spy operation is suddenly jeopardized just as it's about to discover Rommel's plans for defeating the D-Day invasion. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Entertaining Read
One of Higgins' better books. This WWII-based story revolves around the infiltration of a French chateau where a meeting between Rommel and his subordinate generals will take place. The story is full of non-stop action and interesting array of characters. A quick and entertaining read.

More garbage.
Why did they use a picture of a WWI U boat to illustrate a story that takes place in WWII?How many of these anti-German hate novels can people read anyway?

Not worth it
I found this book for free and read it based upon the rating of 4 stars that Amazon.com readers had given it at the time. I'm sorry, but it's definitely not worth a 4. Even giving it a 3 is being generous. It's a decent book, but, given all of the other better things out there to read, this book isn't worth your time. The story has some interesting twists. But, for the main, it is contrived, lacks energy, has flat characters, and lousy dialogue.

A few too many twists but a solid thriller
Higgins has pretty much mastered this genre and has been known to "phone a few in, but COLD HARBOUR does a nice job within the confines of Higgins' rather straight forward style. Playing around with the typical conventions of cross channel warfare, identical twins(never a good idea), and a foray into LeCarre territory, a nice thriller emerges. The story does have its flaws with a rather obvious villain and a few too many twists to hold onto the realism that Higgins generally strives for but overall it works its way to its inevitable conclusion effectively. Other than the ridiculous cover on this paperback, as astutuely mentioned by another reviewer-a U-Boat which has nothing to do with this tales of an E-Boat and espionage, this one's a rather nice page turner and not bad for a quick thriller to fill in on the plane trip or at the beach.

Goofey in Places
Buy the book to save the cover.It display a German U-Boat.There's a partial photo of a submarine on the back page.And, each chapter is signaled with a small image of a submarine.So, it's about a submarine, right? Wrong.The only boat in the book is a German E-Boat. The cover designer didn't know the difference between a German U- and an E-boat! :-} One has to wonder how this got past the proof readers!! Meanwhile, the story is fair, but in places it leaves the reader saying, "Naw, that wouldn't happen." ... Read more

Product Description
Even fifteen years after the end of the Cold War, it is still hard to grasp that we no longer live under its immense specter. For nearly half a century, from the end of World War II to the early 1990s, all world events hung in the balance of a simmering dispute between two of the greatest military powers in history. Hundreds of millions of people held their collective breath as the United States and the Soviet Union, two national ideological entities, waged proxy wars to determine spheres of influence–and millions of others perished in places like Korea, Vietnam, and Angola, where this cold war flared hot.

Such a consideration of the Cold War–as a military event with sociopolitical and economic overtones–is the crux of this stellar collection of twenty-six essays compiled and edited by Robert Cowley, the longtime editor of MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History. Befitting such a complex and far-ranging period, the volume’s contributing writers cover myriad angles. John Prados, in “The War Scare of 1983,” shows just how close we were to escalating a war of words into a nuclear holocaust. Victor Davis Hanson offers “The Right Man,” his pungent reassessment of the bellicose air-power zealot Curtis LeMay as a man whose words were judged more critically than his actions.

The secret war also gets its due in George Feiffer’s “The Berlin Tunnel,” which details the charismatic C.I.A. operative “Big Bill” Harvey’s effort to tunnel under East Berlin and tap Soviet phone lines–and the Soviets’ equally audacious reaction to the plan; while “The Truth About Overflights,” by R. Cargill Hall, sheds light on some of the Cold War’s best-kept secrets.

The often overlooked human cost of fighting the Cold War finds a clear voice in “MIA” by Marilyn Elkins, the widow of a Navy airman, who details the struggle to learn the truth about her husband, Lt. Frank C. Elkins, whose A-4 Skyhawk disappeared over Vietnam in 1966. In addition there are profiles of the war’s “front lines”–Dien Bien Phu, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs–as well as of prominent military and civil leaders from both sides, including Harry S. Truman, Nikita Khrushchev, Dean Acheson, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Richard M. Nixon, Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, and others.

Encompassing so many perspectives and events, The Cold War succeeds at an impossible task: illuminating and explaining the history of an undeclared shadow war that threatened the very existence of humankind.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Incomplete and ultimately biased
This book disappointed me and I agree with the other reviewers who say it is incomplete and too heavily focused on Korea and Vietnam. Even beyond that, the selection and content of the essays is negative to the point of bias against the US--I do not agree with the reviewer who says the theme is "America won." To the contrary, many of the essays go out of their way to point out alleged American errors of diplomacy and military action, and ignores significant American steps that led to success, such as Reagan's decision at Reykjavik not to compromise on SDI. While the book is framed as a military history, it does discuss arms treaties and the importance of missile technology (and limitations thereon) to the Cold War; not to mention Reagan's role in structuring the limitations talks is a non-trivial oversight. Further, there is nothing about submarine warfare or undersea cable tapping, Grenada, Afghanistan, Uganda, Nicaragua or other East-West proxy wars, the terror caused by Soviet projection of military power (e.g., Hungary 1956), the Walker Navy spy ring, military uses of cryptography, or other important areas. If you want to read about American errors in Vietnam, buy the book, but otherwise look for a more complete and balanced account of the whole conflict.

Limited scope...
The quality of the individual articles is very high.As a collection, however, something is lacking.A better title would have been, "The Vietnam and Korean Wars with Bonus Material".Such huge portion of the book is dedicated to southeast Asia that one would think it was heart of the Cold War.I find it amazing there isn't a single article on Afghanistan (heck, he could have even have put in the Vietnam section that dominates the book and called the chapter "Russia's Turn").In fact, the word Afghanistan doesn't even appear in the entire text.Not a word on the wide variety of surrogate wars fought in the Americas or the Middle East either.

Another flaw is that the introductory pages to each article written by the editor add almost nothing to the text.The articles would stand better on their own.

So basically I'd give the articles five stars.I'd give the editing/collation perhaps two stars.I gave it four overall because the bulk of what your read is very good and I'll give credit where credit is due.Nonetheless, the narrow scope of the collection and the poor quality of the editor's introductions is annoying.

interesting but unsatisfying
there are a number of vignettes in this book that are interesting, however the general tone of the book is very America centric, perhaps with an underlying tone of "we won", which detracts from those essays that are more balanced. Generally this was unsatisfying, frustrating eneough to write this review, as although the better essays are quite good, overall there is a lack of substance.

However, the title is a tad misleading .

Excellent but Incomplete
The book is a series of articles by many prominent modern historians and it begins at the beginning (a very good place to start) of the Cold War with an article entitled, "The Day the War Started."

Unfortunately, the book essentially ends in the early 1980s with, "The War Scare of 1983."What this means is the book does not consider the last years of the Cold War or how it ended.Another missing piece is that, other than the first series of articles on the war's beginnings and the more well known aspects of the Cold War such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and Berlin, the focus of the book is on the Korean and Vietnam Wars.It ignores other aspects of the Cold War such as our military involvement in Central America throughout the 1980s, the whole issue of brush fire wars in Europe's former colonies in which one side or the other was supported by the US or USSR, and the bipolarization of mid-level conflicts, such as in the Middle East, where, again, the US and USSR supported opposing sides.These missing aspects are not trivial in the context of the Cold War.

Having said that, I'm glad I bought the book, and I've already recommended it to others.It's impossible to not get a lot out of a book that includes articles by the likes of Williamson Murray, John F. Guilmartin, Jr., Douglas Porch, Stephen E. Ambrose, Victor David Hanson, and far more.But, in the end, it is incomplete - hence the three stars.

The Military History of a Time of Peace, Unless You Were There
From the end of the Second World War until the collapse of the Soviet Union almost a half century later the two major powers in the world faced a kind of war. It was called the cold war because not much fighting occurred. To be sure, there was some in places like Korea, Viet Nam and Afghanistan. And there were some time where the two superpowers faced each other over loaded weapons such as Berlin and Cuba. But all in all, this was the longest time since the Roman Empire that the two strongest countries on the globe didn't go to war.

During much of this time the Military History Quarterly has provided a venue for the most prominent historians of our time to present articles on points of history as it was being lived. Robert Cowley is the founding editor of MHQ. In this volume he has selected articles from the Cold War period that serve to be a history of the Cold War written as it happened. The authors include some of the most prominent historians of that time, and some others that are not so well known but who provide an insight into the times. ... Read more

Product Description

After World War II the United States faced two preeminent challenges: how to administer its responsibilities abroad as the world's strongest power, and how to manage the rising movement at home for racial justice and civil rights. The effort to contain the growing influence of the Soviet Union resulted in the Cold War, a conflict that emphasized the American commitment to freedom. The absence of that freedom for nonwhite American citizens confronted the nation's leaders with an embarrassing contradiction.

Racial discrimination after 1945 was a foreign as well as a domestic problem. World War II opened the door to both the U.S. civil rights movement and the struggle of Asians and Africans abroad for independence from colonial rule. America's closest allies against the Soviet Union, however, were colonial powers whose interests had to be balanced against those of the emerging independent Third World in a multiracial, anticommunist alliance. At the same time, U.S. racial reform was essential to preserve the domestic consensus needed to sustain the Cold War struggle.

The Cold War and the Color Line is the first comprehensive examination of how the Cold War intersected with the final destruction of global white supremacy. Thomas Borstelmann pays close attention to the two Souths--Southern Africa and the American South--as the primary sites of white authority's last stand. He reveals America's efforts to contain the racial polarization that threatened to unravel the anticommunist western alliance. In so doing, he recasts the history of American race relations in its true international context, one that is meaningful and relevant for our own era of globalization.

Customer Reviews (4)

What impact did racial considerations have on U.S. strategic priorities and decisions after 1945?
Borstelmann asks, in closing out The Cold War and the Color Line, "What impact did racial considerations have on U.S. strategic priorities and decisions after 1945?" (Borstelmann, The Cold War and the Color Line 268) To answer his own question he provides, "By the end of the Cold War, the United States had emerged as the multiracial leader of a multiracial world" (Borstelmann, The Cold War and the Color Line 271). However, to frame the question so narrowly does an injustice to both the Cold War and Civil Rights efforts. One thing is for sure; both the Cold War and the Civil Rights movements had an impact on each other. After World War II, the United States faced two paramount challenges: how to manage its responsibilities abroad as the world's strongest power, and how to handle the rising movement at home for racial justice and civil rights. The effort to contain the growing influence of the USSR resulted in the Cold War, a conflict that was marked with the American rhetoric vis-à-vis commitment to freedom. The lack of that freedom for nonwhite American citizens confronted the nation's leaders with an uncomfortable incongruity. World War II opened the door to both the US Civil Rights movement and the struggle of Asians and Africans abroad vis-à-vis decolonization. It seemed all these issues converged to challenge domestic stances in relation of race and screamed for a resolution. First, America's closest allies against the USSR were colonial powers whose interests had to be balanced against those of the emerging independent Third World in a multiracial, anticommunist alliance. Second, in the US, racial reform was vital to maintain the domestic consensus needed to sustain the Cold War struggle. The Cold War and the Color Line is a comprehensive examination of how the Cold War converged with the final destruction of global white supremacy. Thomas Borstelmann pays close attention to Southern Africa and the American South as the spaces of white authority's last stand. He reveals America's efforts to contain the racial polarization that threatened to unravel the anticommunist western alliance. In so doing, he recasts the history of American race relations in its true international context, one that is meaningful and relevant for our own era of globalization.

During the fifty-five years or so since World War II, it has been unusual for the federal government to give its undivided attention to civil rights and rarer still for foreign policy toward southern Africa to occupy center stage. Almost never did policy makers link American civil rights to the worldwide advance of decolonization and majority rule. Yet as Thomas Borstelmann argues, these two movements were inextricably linked. While the attention of American governments, at least into the 1990s, was riveted on the Soviet Union and the activities of its allies and clients, an enormous change was occurring out of focus, a development that the author argues is in many respects more important than the defeat of Soviet communism. To follow this alternative history, from the apex of white supremacy in the early twentieth century to the present, is to recognize that America had "emerged as the multicultural leader of a multicultural world" (Borstelmann, The Cold War and the Color Line 271).

The question for Borstelmann is how this momentous change came about: what forces, intentional or not, combined to loosen the grip of white supremacy in America and in the Third World. He argues that the issue of anticommunism had a profound effect on progress toward racial justice. Opposition to Soviet advances meant the need to court allies like former colonial powers and white supremacists in Southern Africa. At the same time, Harry Truman and his advisers sought to court emerging Third World nations.

Borstelmann's analysis includes double demise of communism and apartheid in the early 1990s. While the story, particularly the second half of the book, extends to the present, his core interest is in presidential administrations from Truman through Johnson. The period after 1972 receives far less attention, in part because civil rights takes root in the United States, and because the forces that eventually undermined apartheid had begun their course. On his stage, the cast of players is fascinating because most of them were forced to play conflicting roles. Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and Jimmy Carter, who to one degree or another were committed to move civil rights forward in the United States, seeing a confluence of internal opposition, public opinion, and the sacrifice of their best intentions to policies and alliances demanded by the cold war.

The X factor in this narrative is the Cold War. American competition with the USSR gave rise to dire contradictions: alliances with racist, anti-communist southern senators and white supremacists in southern Africa, and, on the other hand, policies encouraging Third World nations to accept American models of democracy. Inexorably, this is a complex story, and predictably, Borstelmann finds ironies at every policy turn.

A must read...
The Cold War and the Color Line is a must read for anyone who is interested in understanding democracy and the challenges of making it real.Another great read to accompany this is Eyes Off the Prize.Were high school students allowed to read this sort of text not only would they find history more interesting, but they'd likely become more engaged as citizens.

Race Relations - A Global Perspective
"The Cold War and the Color Line" by Thomas Borstlemann was a textbook in one of my stepson's history classes at Southeastern Louisiana University. He thought I might enjoy it and I did. The focus is on the presidencies of Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson during the U.S. civil rights era. Borstlemann describes how America's practice of racial segregation (and support of European colonial powers, and the segregationist regime in South Africa) hampered it in the minds of third world countries as these mostly non-white countries chose between capitalist and democratic systems and the Communist model. An interesting observation of Bortlesmann's is that the presidents that did the most in support of civil rights for racial minorities were those who grew up in the South--Truman (Missouri) desegregated the military; Johnson (Texas) got the Voting Rights Act passed, and both Carter (Georgia) and Clinton (Arkansas) took a strong interest in the rights of both African-Americans and blacks in Africa. On the other hand, the presidents raised outside the South (Eisenhower in Kansas, Kennedy in Massachusetts, Nixon in California, Reagan in Illinois and Bush in Connecticut) viewed racial equality as a secondary issue at best, or in some cases even worked to reverse past gains.As a "50-something", I lived through most of this era (albeit in central New York state, not the deep South), and found Borstlemann's work to be very illuminating.Since I've lived in the south (South Carolina, Virginia and Louisiana) for the last 30 years, I appreciated the book from the "new South" perspective as well.Highly recommended to students of history and race relations.

The Cold War and Race Relations out of their Vacuums
In The Cold War and the Color Line, Borstelmann evaluates how US domestic and international race relations shaped the Cold War and how the Cold war shaped the domestic and international race relations. From my studies, and I imagine the studies of the majority of average Americans, the civil rights movement, de-colonization, and the Cold War happened in individual vacuums - separate from each other, only linked by common abstract dates. Borstelmann shows these happenings are all highly connected - at times acting as catalysts for another. "There was no greater weakness for the United States in waging the Cold War than inequality and discrimination," Borstelmann asserts. The United States had to confront racial segregation and discrimination within its own borders as well as regimes around the world to develop a multiracial global coalition against Soviet Communism. The US had to inspire the newly de-colonized non-white nations to sway towards the "free world." But how was the US to inspire a world, the majority non-white when Jim Crow was still firmly implanted in American society? Borstelmann follows the developments of these issues through the Presidencies that were tempered by the Cold War. I found the book a pleasant surprise. The book went beyond what I expected - being the race situations during the Cold War. Borstelmann took his work beyond that to a living political environment - domestic and international as one -where de-colonization, the Cold war environment, and the Civil Rights movement were taken out of their individual vacuums and thrown into a perspective that understands the complexities of that no so long ago reality. I am positive that anyone interested in race relations will embrace this book. Also I believe for a complete perspective of the Cold War or for any interested in the momentous events that transpired in the 20th century, this well researched book will make an excellent read. ... Read more

Product Description
Cold reading, the art of analysing personality, predicting the future, describing the past, is now taken to a new level.Combining the best of the traditional cold reading techniques with new methods and interpretations, this book is every professionals dream.Whether you are a Medium, a Psychic, A Stage Magician or Tarot Reader, this book will send your act shooting upwards to a whole new level of audience astonishment and admiration.You can dip into the book again and again and always find something new to help you become the consumate professional. ... Read more

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Hero, Husband, Father . . . Monster?

Customer Reviews (35)

kathryn casey is great as usual!!!
I THINK SHE IS THE BEST TRUE CRIME WRITER OF OUR TIME....EVEN BETTER THAN ANN RULE....THEY ARE BOTH UP THERE A THE TOP OF THE LIST AND AS USUAL WITH THIS BOOK IT IS A GREAT READ....HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

Good Stuff!-
I live near Houston where all of this took place and I remember WELL the events of this case as they played out on the evening news.This book, however, told me all of the fascinating background information that was NOT on the evening news, and, as such, I found it hard to put down.Ms. Casey has hit another home run with this one.

Shattered
A remider that gut feelings should never be ignored. Belindas family always knew something was wrong with David.

This book Shattered my reading experience
Shattered: The True Story of a Mother's Love, a Husband's Betrayal, and a Cold-Blooded Texas Murder
Well, I am back in the loop of true crime readers.This book has seriously impressed me.No, not the crime, it happens frequently. But Kathryn Casey's portrayal of the crime victims and the criminal mind is astounding.I've been reading true crime since the 70's.It came a long way with the appearance of Ann Rule.Since then, a few others have been able to hold my attention.But I've taken serious time off from true crime because of my disappointment in many of the lesser skilled writers.
I took a chance on this book not really expecting to get my socks knocked off.Well, I'm barefooted.Talk about a page turner, this was it for me.The writer's investigation and careful thought as to organization is profoundly superior to ANY I've read.I'm savoring every page, not finding those dull spots filled with words which so often happens.I hate for this book to end.I feel I might have withdrawals from Kathryn's genius style of writing, so to avoid that, I just ordered her other five nonfictions.

Great product and service
Book was in new condition, arrived promptly, well packed, what can I say?what's to complain.I would highly recommend this vendor based on my experience. ... Read more