Away

I picked up a copy of this book because a colleague emphatically recommended it several times over the last couple weeks. As an Internet strategy consultant, I figured this would be another "me too" book full of ridiculously obvious suggestions for improving a customer's web site experience. Instead, I found a thought provoking book written by 2 very experienced customer service experts. Zemke and Connellan do a very good job of analyzing the web through tried and true customer service paradigms. The "hockey stick" loyalty analysis was a great demonstration of the exponentionally positive impact of excellent customer service. As well, your suggestions on how to improve customer service were clear and actionable. Thanks for the quick and extremely useful read.

E-Service is a terrific read if you are concerned about customer satisfaction in the age of "E". This book outlines 24 ways to use "E" service to differentiate your business from the competition.

Zemke and Connellan are well known customer service guru's and their observations and strategies in this new book are right on target. Great customer service is an integral, component to any business that wants to generate revenue from new and existing customers -- and the on-line world ups the ante. This book shares key ideas for enhancing the service end of your business using the web to keep customers coming back for more.

A must-read for every business person in this age of rapid change.

Many books, articles, etc. have been read. But tricks for success in e-service has not been explained better. I would highly recommend this 5-star-book to anyone who would like to improve her/his skills/knowledge in e-commerce industry.

William Hart, in his debut work, presents an absorbing & touching story of an unusual relation between a teacher & his student, a relationship which fringes on the borders of romance ' but is never romantic in the traditional sense of the term.

Never Fade Away is a wholly believable story with fallible but truly heroic protagonists. A great story of friendship, of self'discovery & self' understanding.

It's 1985, & Tina Le, a Vietnamese student has just signed up for an ESL language course in a California college. Life is hard for Tina, who finds adjusting to a new culture difficult, especially the new language & a hostile environment, where the memories of the Vietnam War are still fresh in many minds.

John Goddard, her writing teacher & a war veteran, is still haunted by his bitter experiences in Vietnam. One day, Goddard reads a heartfelt story written by Tina. It is of her harrowing experiences in her homeland at the time of the war. Goddard is touched & impressed by Tina's talent, & he takes upon himself the task of developing & improving her potential.

Minter, the university administrator, however, is a bigot of the first order, & has another idea in mind. He intends to deliberately fail all ethnic minority students in the course, under the guise that they are not meritorious enough to pass. Goddard, who discovers this nefarious plan, objects vehemently & is fired. Goddard mobilizes students & the public against this injustice. Minter consistently maintains that there is no question of racial bias, & that merit is the only consideration. A Grievance Committee is called to check into the allegations, & in what follows is an almost courtroom'like hearing where the truths, the half'truths & the untruths are revealed.

The highlight of Never Fade Away is the flowing force of narration. Told in first person, (through entries in a personal journal) the author shifts focus from the precise & crisp language of Mr. Goddard, & the broken but almost poetic language of Tina Le ' almost like that seen in Amit Mathur in The Inscrutable Americans. Goddard reminded me of Hawkeye Pierce of MASH & the 'Mashesque' effect is clearly felt throughout the book.

With just over a 200 pages Never Fade Away is an easy read, but at the same time, it offers a thoughtful & poignant story. A fantastic debut! I will surely want to reread it.

This story hit, "Close to Home", for I am a Vietnam Vet and a member of a minority. It is for these reasons that I was very sympathetic, understanding, and emotionally drawn to the people in this story. William Hart has written a short, but powerful story that packs quite a punch.

It's a solid and touching story of the relationship between a teacher and his student, that could become romantic but does not quite reach that point. It's 1985, and a Vietnamese student, Tina Le, has signed up for an English Secondary Language (ESL) course at a Los Angeles college. John Goddard is her writing teacher and a Vietnam Vet, who is still experiencing flashbacks of the war. The story is told in alternating journal entries, so that we are exposed to the views of both characters daily lives. This creates a very personal and intimate method of telling the story. I think it brings us closer to the characters real feelings. The story unfolds as the English Department decides to flunk out the many Asian Students. Tina Le, a math major, has a talent for writing stories. She writes a heartfelt story on the suffering of her family back in Vietnam during the war. Goddard recognizes her literary talent and tries to reward her by having the story published. Soon Goddard finds out the university administrator plans to fail the overabundance of ethnic minority students, including Tina Le. Once Goddard finds out Tina Le has failed the course unfairly he strongly brings his objections to the university administrator, and soon finds himself fired from his job. After filing a grievance, they are given a hearing, and what follows is a courtroom like drama, where both Tina Le, who testifies for Goddard, and Goddard fight to save his job. During this time, Tina Le's and Goddard's relationship deepens, to the point where it could become romantic. Of course, this creates even more problems for both of them.

This is a short and easy read, and an impressive debut by a writer that is a force to be followed in the future. I especially enjoyed and related to his Vietnam experiences and the emotional and caring feelings he had for his ethnic and Vietnamese students. This is a book that's hard to put down, and a story that should touch almost any heart. Highly Recommended!

Joe Hanssen

This is a superb novel about Vietnam War veteran John Goddard and his ESL pupil, Vietnamese refugee Tien Le, as each confront past war traumas and current problems with the English Department's grading policies at a fictional California State University.

Hart presents a dual-first person narrative in the protagonists' journals, and this is where his mastery shows. Unlike other first-person novels (or dialogue in 3rd person), Hart gives John and Tina (her chosen Anglicized name) authentic voices true to their strengths and, most importantly, limitations. The bounds on their perceptions and emotional responses ring true: Goddard's cynical and sometimes sweeping moralizing tone, for example, seems appropriate for a man tuned into the "black and white" rather than the gray shades: "Then there's Memorial Day...here the underlying theme is human sacrifice by auto crash, as thundering engines and screaming gears are echoed a millionfold on the nation's highways." Though the book effectively attacks the ESL practices and the self-righteous administrators who impose them, Hart restrains from using his characters' voices as a proxy for his own; they do not suddenly become eloquent or insightful so that Hart can make a point.

The book's pace, character development, and alternating narratives show great balance. Hart is patient with his characters, letting them reveal explosive bits of the past in wider and wider circles as they approach their Vietnam experiences. Mr. Goddard initially confronts the past indirectly, seeking answers in the lives of other war survivors: Ulysses, the prototypical soldier and war refugee, humorist/Civil War veteran Ambrose Bierce, and in his own farcical but somewhat detached Vietnam novel. However, this intellectualizing does not abate his continuing symptoms strongly indicative of PTSD (e.g., nightmares, flashbacks, isolation, anger). Goddard (as well as Tina Le) gradually faces the past through his journal entries (and ultimately through some briefly mentioned therapy at a VA Medical Center and a Vet Center.)

Hart doesn't stereotype the hurting vet, he shows us Goddard's intelligence, compassion, and a cynical idealism that serve him well in his battles against the discrimination of the English Department. Similarly, Tien "Tina" Le is a well-rounded character, showing doubt, strength, and maturity. The writing, with very few exceptions, is excellent: "...the polyglot students of CSUM are quiet but tough...a leatherlike durability cured to absorb 10,000 blows without a flinch or whisper." Goddard also injects a somewhat mordant levity to the book:" Once our squad did a body count after a wall-to-wall carpet [bombing] our leader called...We confirmed 32 kills, although all the pieces could have come from-And I believe did come from-one unlucky water buffalo." Excellent. However, I did think that Rayneece, Tina Le's roommate, sometimes seems a bit "pasted" onto the story. But no matter, this is a great book.

What could have been a confining format becomes instead an insightful and exciting scope in to the protagonists' inner and outer lives. I can't help but compare "Never Fade Away" to Alice Walker's great "The Color Purple," though Walker's work covers deeper ground. Hart, like Walker, allows the characters to tell the story, and the overlapping perspectives give us a whole greater than its parts. He has found a true voice for each narrator. I recommend this book very highly, and look forward to more work from this outstanding writer.

Bach has defined the meaning of the words "pure" and "simple" in what is marketed as a childrens book. I read this book and it brought tears to my eyes. I read it to my wife and 14 tear old daughter and it held no meaning for to them. Bach has laid a foundation for thought using very simple language that grows and develops with in a mind that is open and willing to see. If you are "ground bound" with no desire to think of or acknowledge bigger things in life don't bother. If you want to feel emotion and provoke thought you must read this piece of work.

My oldest sister sent me this book for my first birthday away from home and family. I read the book and loved it, and put it away for a few years. I found the book again years later and reread it. I loved it even more. I have found that I get something different out of it with each subsequent reading. It is about life, and death, about hope and love. It is a spiritual affirmation about how we endure, and that love truly spans time and space. It is also a love story of a journey not across land and water, but of an opening of the mind to see the true essense of what it means to live and love.
As the author takes his journey of discovery, the thoughtful reader cannot help but be shaped by the beautiful words of the text. When I first received this book, I couldn't imagine what a uniquely special gift I had receive. How incredible, a book that grows with you as you journey through life!

It would be a wonderful gift for someone leaving home (as I was), someone suffering from the loss of a loved one, or for someone you may not be able to see as often as you wish.

It is a truly special book on spiritual growth and discovery, without including the usual character suffering that often preceeds such a transformation in thought..

Beautiful and simple spiritual jouney. A joyous affirmation of life. Thought provoking and emotionally uplifting. An ideal gift book for all ages.
Arlene Millman
author of BOOMERANG - A MIRACLE TRILOGY

I picked up Home and Away because I like to read books on sports by sophisticated minds. And initially, I wasn't disappointed. Scott Simon delivers a vivid depiction of his childhood and his childhood love for sports, offering touching and revealing personal moments in the process. When he discusses his father and stepfather, we see the fan in a context larger than just the game, which I appreciated and admired.

But after the stepfather's criminal conviction, the narrative transitions into the story of the recent Bulls dynasty. Here is where book's self-indulgent love for Chicago turns to insufferable, sentimental cheese. In addition to slathering extra layers of sentimental goo on the Bulls--more than Simon previously appropriated for either Butkus's or Ditka's Bears--Simon covers ground already covered expertly and thoroughly by David Halberstam in Playing for Keeps. Only unlike Halberstam, Simon all but kisses Michael Jordan's behind, assessing no blame and even offering excuses for the star's occasional bad behavior. To me, the blatant sycophancy (is that a word?) on the part of the author makes me wonder if he willfully compromised his journalistic integrity or if that occurrence was inadvertant. Either way, I was thoroughly disappointed and had to stop reading. As do most Chicagoans, Simon simply got unBearably self-indulgent in his love for his city.

Any sports fan (especially from the Chicago area) will definitely enjoy this story of growing up as a fan in Chicago. The only thing that keeps me from giving this book 4 stars is the inaccuracies. In several instances, Simon gives incorrect scores, dates and places. You would think it would be easy for someone in his position to have the correct info, so this unfortunately distracted me from an otherwise fine read.

I admit, as a transplanted Chicagoan and die-hard sports fan, its hard to be objective about this book. Scott Simon cleverly weaves his own personal remembrances of growing up in Chicago, into an historic timeline of sports and politics, which amounts to must read for anyone who wants a true glimpse into the soul of 'the city with big shoulders'.
I laughed hard and often at the family anecdotes, its easy to see where Simon gets his sense of humor, thrilled at reliving the Cub season of '69 and saddened, once again, at Brian Piccolo's courageous battle with cancer.
After finishing 'Home and Away', I was compelled to send copies to a few of my sports buddies...less fortunate souls having grown up in cities of less character.
I am a fan of the city, its teams (except the Sox...go Cubbies), and this writer ,who embodies it all so well in this book.
Bravo.

I didn't think this book was very funny at all and I like the author's work. I would have given this book less of a rating except for the fact that I did finish it. Lollie is so inept it was painful and Sam is so mean and verbally abusive to her, calling her stupid all the time, even when he is supposed to be falling in love with her. Except for the fact that he is always there to save her from her ineptitude, this man is a brute and has very little redeeming features. Poor Lollie never seems to improve and her accidents are not very funny. Why these two people wind up together is a mystery. Don't like dumb women, don't like mean-spirited men.

I loved this book! I can understand why some people didn't like the book and after reading the reviews I was thinking about not reading the book, but I glad I didn't listen. I enjoyed the character Lollie. She wasn't perfect, but she had a lot of heart and was just what Sam needed. Yes, he did say some things that I didn't like, but I feel that it just added to who he was and his individuality. Both characters saved each other and helped each other grow. I laughed while reading this book because of all the things Lollie got into. I love the characters that Jill Barnett makes up. She is one of my favorite authors and I have yet to read a book by her that I didn't like. I read all of her books, but two and can't wait for her to write more. Jill Barnett has the writer's gift!

Sam and Lollie are two of the most mismatched characters I won't forget in a long time. They are the true definition of "opposites attract". This book made me laugh, cry, and sigh. The fast moving plot kept me up till the wee hours of the night, unable to put it down. Great job Jill!

The Spirited Away film comic is great for those who want to admire each of the film's scenes without having to pause their DVDs every second. The book starts from the beginning of the movie, and it ends right before Chihiro enters the boiler room. You have to read it from right to left, and there are some japanese sound fx words that aren't translated in the pictures. Luckily though, Viz put a list of ALL the sounds and what they mean when translated in the 'back' of the book. Anyone who liked the film and wants to read it while on a long drive or in a waiting room should get this. My only complaint is that they should've made the book larger in size, so the small pictures can be seen easier. Either that or I need glasses. :0

Before they can go to their new home, Chihiro and her family end up in a strage fake-looking place. When her parents are turned into pigs, Chihiro has to depend on the help of a strange and mysterious boy named Haku. I'd never read in the Japanese right-to-left format before, so I had a little bit of trouble at first, but it's not too bad once you get used to it. Everything is read from right to left, not just where you start in the book, but also which speech bubble you start with and what side of the page. I haven't seen the film yet, but, after reading this, I'm really looking forward to seeing it. I liked Haku the most, although Chihiro got more interesting as the story progressed.

Poor 10-year-old Chihiro Ogino is so unhappy that her family is moving to a new home. But, things go from bad to weird, when her father takes a wrong turn, and finds what he believes to be an abandoned theme park. When night falls, Chihiro finds herself in a strange and threatening world of magic and weird creatures. Rescued by a young boy named Haku, he tells Chihiro what she must do to survive and rescue her parents.

This wonderful little book is the work of Hayao Miyazaki, one of Japan's premiere animators. A great thing about this book is that it is printed so as to be read from back-to-front, right-to-left, in the Japanese style, helping to give the reader the feeling of entering another world. I really enjoyed this book, and found the story to be nothing short of wonderful. I highly recommend this book.

I have suffered from dire chronic muscular pain in my neck and shoulder and low buttocks regions for well over two years and it's been hell to say the least. I have done everything imaginable to fight this - I have seen three accupuncturists, three massage therapists and four physical therapists, taken NSAIDs, RICE techinques and yet my pain still persists.

One doc i saw had the arrogance of telling me that i had to live with this condition, as yet still undiaganosed. But after a lot of patient persistence, doctor shopping (over 10 docs believe it or not), opening up books like this and a subtle hint from a very kind chinese massage therapist that i had injured ligaments i finally found out that i had upper body myofascial pain syndrome (great sigh of relief) and then i came across ligament reconstruction therapy (aka prolotherapy). Given my persistent nature, i have compiled a countless amount of research on this and this book is one great source of it.

And then came Dr. Hauser's explanation of myofascial pain on page 198 and a light went off in my head. I made an appt to see a prolotherapist (from the getprolo.com referral list), asked him a ton of Qs and eagerly looking forward to my first visit.

One of the problems i have with this book is the lack of information on bad things that can happen as a result of prolotherapy. I realize the authors are enthusiatic about their realm of expertise but in real life there has to be risks for everything we take, the disclaimer glosses over these, it's too bad the authors did not elaborate on what a bad result means.

Nevertheless for me, the risks are well worth taking given the alternatives and living with chronic pain.

Bottom line, do your homework and research this. If it proves effective for me, i will come back and add two more stars.

After suffering for years with all kinds of chronic pain from accidents and injuries combined with years of hard physical work which did damage to my joints and tendons, combined with the "over 40 gaining weight I just can't get off" syndrome, I found the answer I literally prayed for in Dr. Hauser's book. I live 4 hours from Chicago and I made the appointment and the trip(pretty scarey for this country girl) and had my first prolotherapy treatment a week ago. Before I got home from the Dr.'s office, the severe pain I've had in my right shoulder and shoulder blade that radiates all through my right shoulder and down my right arm was gone. It hasn't returned along with the fibromyalgia pain I've experienced in my back every time I go to sleep. Conventional medicine says "you're just going to have to live with this pain. We'll send you to a pain management class and give you drugs to kill the pain and give you the number of your local de-tox center when you get addicted to these drugs" Been there-done that!!! This is NOT God's will for his children. There is healing available for chronic pain but it doesn't cost thousands of dollars and keep you dependent on expensive drugs and surgeries, so the conventional medical society is not going to tell you about it. This therapy actually causes your body to grow new ligaments and restores the joints to work like they're supposed to allowing you to exercise without pain and doing more damage, like I've been doing for the last 10 years. This book is very affordable and worth it's weight in gold. Get it. Read it. Believe that God loves you enough to send you an answer to suffering. He's your Father and He loves you. Try it, you'll like it. What have you got to lose?

I found this book and the treatment of Prolo for my wife. She had suffered for two years after a fall that caused chronic whiplash syndrome. She was off of work for months at a time and had severe headaches, vertigo, insomnia, terrible constant migraines, memory loss, shooting pains in arms, neck, and shoulder, as well as depression. We had mri's, cat scans, x- rays, accupuncture, accupressure, physical therapy, chiro., and nothing helped. Other doctors said there was nothing wrong and she was faking it!!!! Within days of first treatment we knew something was different. Within 6 weeks she was back at work and has been steadily improving. She is about 90% totally healed after four treatments. Insurance did pay about 75% of the cost also. Buy this book if you have chronic pain, buy it today and start to live again!!!! Dr. Hauser is MY personal hero, he gave me back my wife!!!!!!!!!

Okay,I like that the teens have made the transition into modern times(read:the biggest tramas in some of the original Sweet Vally High series were Jessica having a hot date and not knowing what to wear).But I am NOT happy with some of the new charecters.I dispise Conner.He's a jerk.So why do all the girls go crazy over him? No one's that good looking.And I really want Jessica to try dating someone after she knows some stats on them.By the way,what has happened to Todd? Elizabeth and him were hot and heavy for so long and now he's lucky to say a sentece in every other book.The series on whole rocks!!! :]

I LOVED THIS BOOK! I will start off by saying it kept me in suspense and was a real page turner! You just want to keep reading until you finish. I finished it in an hour the day I got it. I actually don't think Will is that bad a character, he seems sweet. Don't get me wrong, Jeremy and Jess rule, but maybe we could find another sweet girl for Will. Okay, onto the book. Liz and Conner are hardly in it. Jessica and William make this meeting which really isn't a date because Tia was coming, but then Tia backed out at last minute so it seems like a date and Jeremy caught them after Mellissa(YUCK)told him Will made a date with Jess, which wasn't true at the time and now Jeremy and Jess broke up. Whew, long breath, huh?

"The One That Got Away" centers primarily around Jessica Wakefield, Ken Matthews, and Angel Desmond. First up: Jessica, who discovered her secret admirer was Will Simmons in the previous book (#8: "Maria Who?"), has decided not to tell her boyfriend (Jeremy Aames) anything about it yet, which causes problems later on when he does find out via Melissa Fox. (Melissa definitely lives up to her last name again in this book; she's extremely sneaky and manipulative. I can't wait to see what else she's up to in the following stories.)

Next up: Ken appears to be finally coming out of his shell (caused by the death of his girlfriend, Olivia, in the big Sweet Valley earthquake awhile back). The reason for his attitude change? Maria Slater. Looks like these two will be pairing off pretty soon--that is, if Ken can completely get over Olivia first.

And lastly: Poor--and I use the word intentionally--Angel is developing a bad betting habit at the horse track. His whole college career could be riding on his careless spending.

"The One That Got Away" pretty much ends on a bum note for everyone. Hopefully, a few of the characters will find some hope and resolve in the next book: #10, "Broken Angel".

Egan's direct, profound insight make this socio-history of the West remarkable. From tracing the paths of writers like Edward Abbey, to carving out a new perspective on the way the West is currently being won, Egan's book is an important read, especially for easterners and midwesterners removed from the issues the book presents. The West's immigrant communities and its continuing demographic migrations, as Egan points out, will shape America's future. The only criticism I have is that he doesn't delve into California sufficiently. The book ends with a look at California and some broad, bold statements about it. But, he doesn't present the same kind of historical analysis on California as he does with the rest of the West, and this leaves a reader wanting more or at least and explanation for his statements. However, for great insight into the modern sociology of Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, this book offers a thorough and entertaining analysis.

After reading 'A Good Rain' a number of years ago, I couldn't wait for Egan's next book. And I was not disappointed. Egan casts aside the romantic visions and fanatasies about the real West, and gives his readers a large dose of reality and fact. As with his previous book, I felt myself both incredibly drawn by his accounts, descriptions and history of his subjects - while at the same time agonizing for the atrocities carried out by my predecessors. Egan's prose perfectly captures the geography of the west in a way few authors have been able to.

'Lasso the Wind' falls under the "must read" category for anyone living, working or studying in the West...regardless of whether they are a 5th generation rancher or a 1st generation Sierra Club volunteer.

I don't often read nonfiction books that make me laugh out loud, but this one did. Egan is something of a gonzo journalist, taking on the vast subject of the American West and finding in it cause for both wonder and humor. The book is a collection of 14 essays, in which the author travels to places in 11 different states, giving readers plenty of local history, descriptions of dramatic landscapes, and a portrayal of "custom and culture" that reels under colliding visions of what the West should be. At every turn, he has an eye for ironies that both reveal and entertain.

After an introduction that takes place at a conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, he begins his journey in New Mexico and Arizona, then moves northward, swinging through Colorado, Montana, and the Great Basin states, ending in California. There is much about cowboys, cattlemen, and Native Americans. We also visit London Bridge at Lake Havasu, an ostrich ranch outside Denver, the pit left behind by the Anaconda copper mining company in Butte, the casinos of Las Vegas, and the site of an appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the back of a road sign in Sunnyside, Washington. There are accounts of fishing in the Bitterroots of Idaho, river rafting on the American River above Sacramento, and hunting for Anasazi petroglyphs in the canyons of the Escalante in Utah.

Meanwhile history comes alive from a colorful and sometimes jaundiced perspective in stories of the conquistador Don Juan de Oñate's conquest of the Indians at Acoma in New Mexico, the massacre of a wagon train of settlers by Mormons at Mountain Meadows, Utah, in the 1860s, and the California Gold Rush. There are historical figures who make vivid appearances, including Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, Lewis and Clark, and Brigham Young. The most affecting story is the author's retelling of Chief Joseph and the fate of the Nez Perce.

Egan gives us a whirlwind trip across a vast area of the U.S. He touches on themes that are common in books about the west -- the follies and vanities of those who have defied the realities of its arid climate, laid waste to natural resources, decimated its wildlife, and attempted to eradicate its native populations. While there is much to lament in what it reveals of the devastation brought by settlement of the West, it also seeks earnestly for signs that the spirit of the West still survives and can eventually thrive.

I highly recommend this book as an addition to any bookshelf of Western nonfiction. As a companion volume, I also recommend Frank Clifford's "The Backbone of the World," which recounts a similar journey by a journalist across the states that lie along the Continental Divide.

This novel is great for middle schoolers all over the country. I particularly liked this novel because it not only had language arts ties but also social studies ties with all of the historical and period information. Lois Ruby, true to her other works, does a great job of providing a lot of information about the area. This book, about a girl who finds a skeleton in her house, is well written because it switches back and forth between present time period and the time period of the underground railroad (which is the era of the skeleton that was found in Dana's closet).Ruby does a great job with this book, it is highly entertaining and informative. Massive amounts of information plus a great storyline make this a wonderful book for middle school students.

This is my first book by Lois Ruby, so I don't know her literary track record, but I must say: I am impressed! She offers detailed scholarship, twisting plots with tantalyzing revelations of the mystery, good character development and the ability to juggle two different storylines, some 130 years apart. This book will capture the interest of today's teens; the coexisting stories feature a girl of the 90's and a boy of the pre Civil War era. While enjoying the mystery and trying to piece together the historical puzzle, readers will effortlessly absorb information about the anti-slavery movement in Kansas, Quaker lifestyle and the underground railroad.

Through it all as the chapters flip-flop in time, there emerges the character of a strong heroine--one Lizbet Charles, 23, an escaped slave and self-proclaimed "conductor". This undaunted young woman dedicates her life to aiding fugitives seeking freedom in Canada. Her sudden arrival impacts the home of the Weaver family, already embroiled in the anti-slavery wars in the Midwest. Ma risks her marriage to shelter escaped slaves, while Pa works through legal channels to establish Kansas as a Free state. All of which poses a difficult moral dilemma for young James; to fight fire with fire (and a gun) or to stand by the family's religious convictions. How will a conscientious Quaker youth respond under pressure? Whose Right has greater precedence? And how can the kids of the present honor the homespun heros of the past? What would be fitting memorials to Lizbet's courage and James' dedication? This is one fast and fascinating read!

This is an excellent book for any kid who lives in Kansas to read. It includes a lot of Kansas History during the anti-slave era of the 1850's. I enjoyed the story and loved the way the story took you back in time through a journal that the main character, Dana, finds in her Lawrence, Ks. home.