EDGAR Books

This is a "must have" for a kid working on a mythology project. Interesting, accurate and informative.

A book that is part of my Lang Arts classroom when we talk about Mythology in class. Thank you!

from the first illustration of Gaia this book had me at hello! i checked this book out time and time again from the school library and poured over its pictures and stories of the Greek Gods and Goddesses. It was from then on that i wanted to rename myself Persephone!
a must for imaginative and curious children!

I bought this all by myself when I was eight years old (25 years ago!) and it's still here on my shelf, musty, dusty, taped together and well-loved. It was great as a starting foundation for cultural literacy - for learning enough to understand Classical themes in art or other literature. The illustrations are so engrossing and to this day when I open the book I find that I remember the tiniest details of every drawing. This is a book I would enthusiastically give to any child.

My seven year old daughter was spellbound by the prose and the drawings in this wonderful version of the Greek myths.

This story is great! It is so sad about the troubled life of Edgar and it is good to see a writer like Mr. Carbajal adding a new twist and dimension to one of the worlds greatest poets. I also like the dark tone of the recording. My friends and I are using this audiobook to help us with our english term papers. This audiobook makes it fun to learn about Poe.

My friends and I are doing book reports on Edgar Allan Poe and this audiobook of stories and poems is very helpful. Mr. Poe seemed to have a troubled and sad life but he wrote so many neat poems and scary stories. I have friends who write poems and draw. So a bunch of us can relate to Mr. Poes story.

Wow, very new . Like Techno mixed with poetry. Filled with vision.

This thing is really creepy and it makes you think. I like Stephen King and my friends like Charmed and Buffy. This is kinda like that. This is actually interesting stuff. The music is like techno stuff and classic music mixed. My friends and I think it adds to the story. Mr. Poe had some wild things going on inside his head.

my friends and I love Poe. We are using this tape for our tenth grade creative writing class. It tells a sad tale lots of us artsy students can relate to. Sometimes we are misunderstood. Just like Edgar.

This collection is hard to rate. The "Tales of Mystery and Horror" are very good, such classics that you have to remind yourself reading them that the tinges of romanticism are a function of the Romantic Age in which Poe was writing, and the cliches weren't when he penned them. The "Humor and Satire" section is even better, surprisingly funny without the occasional romantic excesses of the horror tales.

From there on out ("Flights and Fantasies", the novella "The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym of Nantucket", and "The Poems") are virtually unreadable morasses of romanticism run amuck, long turgid descriptive paragraphs, and almost no dialogue.

Skip 'em.

Hey...what do I really need to say here? I mean, this is Edgar Allan Poe we're talking about! It's an excellent collection of his stories and poems. Many people are of the opinion that Poe's works are all rather macabre. Although many of his works do fit into that category, he was also a brilliant satirist. For example, I recommend his short story, "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether". Quite hilarious, and very witty. Poe was a highly educated member of society, and was also the 'inventor' of the modern detective mystery with his short story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." His incomparable literary style has gone unequaled to this day. For those already familiar with Poe, I suggest you read him again to have a fresh look at his works. For those who are NOT familiar with his works, you are missing out BIG time! Poe having been homegrown right here in America, we can be proud of his literary achievements. Check it out.

Allan F. Whitney

I bought this book as a gift for my friend. She loved it.I was so glad I was able to find it here.

I love Poe's writing, but this book is in the original "olde" English and is very difficult to read for me. So I am really not too happy with this particular version. I should have read the "small print".
ascott

Edgar Allan Poe, born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809, died October 7, 1849.

What is it that makes an author famous? I don't mean famous in the sense a news article reports that "Jack Greylea's novels sold 15 million copies last year," but in the sense that he is thought of as being profound, and seminal. That he is quoted, and scholars analyse his works, and he is looked upon as being the original voice of his style, or the font from which many imitators have drawn inspiration.

Edgar Allan Poe is one such. The very hint of his name calls up images of midnight graveyards, of crumbling mansions lit by wax candles, the home of strange and tormented aristocrats, till the description "Poe-like" can draw as vivid a picture in our minds as "elephant-like."

Yet his output was not great. Basically a short story writer and poet, he produced only one full-length novel, which received more censure than praise, and which very few people today can name. Without wishing to run him down as an author (what he did, he did well, but what he did well, was to be Poe) he was a limited writer, and all of his works over twenty-two years can be contained in one thickish book.
So what is the secret of Poe, whereby a scanty writer becomes the cult-centre of a world of horror that carries his own stamp? It lies I think in two things.

Not to place these two in any order of importance as regards his continuing fame - I leave this to you - but I would say....
Firstly, that it was his choice of subject and execution of it. The mournful, weird and macabre, in which man becomes little more than an instrument of darkness, and that usually the worst darkness, that which wells up from within, whose black light shows us as being not the pawns of evil, but the source of evil itself. But to seize on this idea - or any other idea - as inspiration is nothing, merely the starting point from which the quill hits the paper. It is in the execution of his vision that Poe's genius emerges. Not with a great deal of subtlety, nor a much complexity, but with great and disciplined fixity on the horror of his intentions, Poe moves relentless to the nasty culmination of his stories, and they come to us with all the rawness of unconsoled misery. His art was that of the short story writer, and as such he wrote little, but when reading Poe a little is more than enough.

Secondly, that Poe more than any other author is identified as a man with his works. An orphan and an outcast from his adopted family, overly sensitive and reckless, he lived wildly, lied readily, lived in poverty, married strangely to his thirteen-year old cousin, was widowed miserably, and finally died mysteriously at age forty, from uncertain causes that speculation has named as anything from drug addiction to murder. As if this were not enough, his works were controlled after his death by his executor, who attempted to blacken his name. More than any other author that I can readily think of, Poe was his own tormented, tragic hero, and his oppressed characters were him.

In the nineteen-sixties, several of Poe's stories and poems - The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death, The Raven, The Tomb of Legeia and others - were made into popular, low budget films, cementing Poe's reputation firmly into the mythology of modern horror movies. It's common of course for movies to be nothing like the original written work, but all of these are based on not on fully worked out novels, but ideas that Poe dealt with in comparatively few pages.

Incidentally, the principal actor in many of these was Vincent Price, whose tall, mournful frame instantly springs to mind as well nigh inseparable from Poe's weird gems.

Graham Worthington, author, Wake of the Raven

This is a beautifully written book about a horrible time in history. It is the life of Seren a Jewish girl who was born and lived in Romania. Seren had long blonde hair and blue eyes so she could easily pass as Aryian/Gentile.

From childhood she was a girl who stood her ground and would not let herself be put down for being Jewish. She lived with her large family close to the Romanian border at a lumber mill that her father was the head of.

Seren was a very smart girl and ended up winning a scholorship to gymnasium in Bucharest an all gentile school. She ends up leaving home to go against her fathers will. She also gets kicked out of the school when she fights back against anti-Jewish statements made by a Priest instructor.

She finds herself as an apprentice to a Seamstress and she is very good at it. She is most sought out by the high society women. Of course they do not know she is a Jew.

Then her friend at work Rachel doesn't come to work one day. The family just disappears..Seren now is fearful for herself and decides to return home. Her landlady's son is in the service and he gets her safely onto the train saying she is his sister going to tend to grandma and sits her down between two Iron Guards (NAZI's of Romania) and she is thus spared showing her Papers and being thrown off the train. When she gets to the border there are guards and she knows she cannot cross being a Jew so she goes thru the forrest at night full of wolves. She finds an unmanned gate and crosses safely home.

Seren and the few sisters left at home have about a year together then the knock comes in the night. Father and daughter are taken away, they are made to walk down the mountain some 2 weeks of travel and thrown into prison as spys. They are beaten for weeks. She never signs the paper they want her to saying she is a spy because she is not.

Seren ends up in Ravensbruck concentration camp with Ester her sister and two friends. The story of their survival together is both shocking and tender at the same time. Seren lives and conducts herself always in a manner most becoming even in the most horrid of times.

This is a heartbreaking and heartwarming book all at the sametime. An account that needs to be treasured and remembered. You will not be dissappointed in this book. I highly recommend it.

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It is a story of human spirit and triumph of good over evil. Very inspirational! Wonderful read.

This was one of the best books I ever read. The book was written so well. I wish more books were written about the Holocaust that were this good. 5 Stars!!!

Instead of buying Harry Potter we need more books like this. This was such a beautiful story of hope and courage, strength and determination. It tells history the way it was and I cannot tell you enough how this book touched my heart and my daughters heart. My daughter picked up the book and never put it down, she read the whole thing in 3 days. I could hear her giggle and laugh at some of the funny parts and I could see her tears in some of the sensitive heart moving parts. This book will capture you. Just beautiful
I wish they could make Sareen's story into a movie

God Bless

I read many books on the Holocaust and have always found inspiration and admiration for those people who have experienced such an appalling event and have managed to survive. But this book left me totally disturbed with the graphics given by this amazing woman, Sara Tuvel Bernstein, and I highly commend her for sharing her horrific ordeal.
I recommend everyone should read this book and maybe,just maybe, we will learn something from it... that war is futile, and all people are equal.

Read troughout the world, admired by Dostoievski and translated by the famous French poet Baudelaire, Poe has become a legendary writer, representing the artist as a romantic failure. A lot of his stories seem a description of the frequent nightmares he had.

But his popularity and his influence on literature - even today -depend less on nightmares than on his accomplishments as a writer of fiction and as a great lyric poet.

'The fall of the House of Usher' and 'The Cask of Amontillado' show Poe's mastery of Gothic horror. His 'The Pit and the Pendulum' is a classic of horror and suspense. He invented the modern detective story with ' The Murders in the Rue Morgue '.

But he was also a great poet famous for the lyrical 'To Helen' and for the incantatory rhytm of 'The Raven'.

This book is a good recompilation of the Poe's work. The hard cover is pretty good, but the paper is not the best.

This is a must-have in your personal library. A complete book from E. Allan Poe. AMAZING!

As a child, I couldn't put any of Poe's short stores down, now a few decades later, nothing much has changed. I was thrilled to add this book to my collection, it is well made, and comprehensive collection. All of this at a great price.

I've bought a few complete Poe collections over the years, and this one is my favorite. The font size is not squashed down to save pages at the expense of my eyes, and it does seem to be complete. It's also an attractively put together book.

Poe is essential reading for anyone interested in horror, and for any apsiring writer. He not only is a master of horror, but he's credited as being the inventor of the detective story.

"The Raven", "The Pit and the Pendulum", "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Black Cat", "The Masque of the Red Death", "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", and everything else you're looking for plus stories and poems you may never have heard of yet are all in here.

This is a great volume at a great price. I'd also recommend: The Best of H. P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre, Cold Streak, It (Signet Books), Coraline, & Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance.

The book is well written and entertaining. The story was nicely presented around the letters of Mary Pringle. All the similar names of the characters make it a little confusing. A nice reference chart showing the relationship of the characters should be included at the beginning of the book. Did the author hide some things to make the family look better? I wonder. It's hard for a Northerner to muster up a lot of sympathy for this family of slave owners. Perhaps Julius, who likely became a Unionist, was the real hero of the family. It's ironic that the South nearly destroyed our country in the 1860's, but is saving it today.

Mary's World helped me to understand life in the Antebellum South and the culture that thrived on slavery. But it also showed the North's response to winning the Civil War, which was anything but forgiving. It was a thrill to see the Miles Brewton House and the St. Michael's Cemetary on my recent visit to Charleston, and to feel the connection with the Mottes, Alstons, and Pringles.

In Mary's World Richard N. Cote has succeeded admirably where so many others have tried and yet missed the mark. With his succinct style and exceptional organizational skills he has laid bare the thoughts,emotions and lives of Mary Pringle, her family and their slaves, and done so in a way that has given us a book
that is informative as well as enjoyable. By putting their lives
into context with the times Mr Cote has given the reader not only the opportunity to learn what they thought and felt but the ability to understand why they thought and felt the way they
did. This book will appeal to historians and the average reader
alike.
It took me only 2 days to read Mary's World and I found myself
so absorbed that when interrupted I was momentarily confused to find I wasn't in 19th century Charleston.

FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN ANTEBELLUM CULTURE AND THE CIVIL WAR, THIS IS A MUST READ. EVEN FOR THOSE WHO AREN'T A STUDENT OF THE ERA, "MARY'S WORLD" IS STILL A FASCINATING GLIMPSE OF THE LIFE OF AN ELITE SOUTHERN PLANTER FAMILY. TAKEN FROM FAMILY PAPERS, THE STORY OF THE PRINGLES IS A FIRST HAND ACCOUNT OF THEIR INNERMOST THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS.

THE READER GETS TO WATCH WILLIAM BULL AND MARY ALSTON PRINGLE'S CHILDREN GROW UP. BY THE END OF THE BOOK YOU FEEL AS IF YOU HAVE KNOWN THEM ALL. I DREADED FINISHING THE BOOK BECAUSE I FELT AS IF I WAS LEAVING OLD FRIENDS.

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND MAKE TIME FOR THIS BOOK. REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOU ARE AN "ANTEBELLUM-OPHILE" LIKE ME OR NOT, THIS IS AN EXCELLENT BOOK.

I found this book in Charleston on vacation after touring this home. I loved this book! Now I want to visit again because I am so much more invested. I read this book for pure pleasure, and di it deliver! One doesn't need to visit the south to enjoy, the book takes you there. It gives such insight to the era and history the reader gets pulled right in.

This book is amazing in its scope. Mr. Toker has researched the Kaufmanns, Pittsburgh, Fallingwater, Wright, and American culture with incredible depth and breadth. As a fan (but layperson) of architecture, I found the insights into the design and construction fascinating. Of particular interest was the information about the overall architectural milieu into which Fallingwater was inserted by Wright(or inserted itself). I also enjoyed the sections of the book that reconstructed the commercial history of Pittsburgh.

That said, I hesitate to give a universal accolade to this book. Toker occasionally belabors his arguments and stretches his scholarship to its limits. Particularly tedious are his chapters on the literary representations of Fallingwater, the press coverage of the completed house, and the interminable lists of objects d'arte found in the house (either currently or in the past). I also found the lack of illustrations of many of the referenced architectural works (of Wright and others) bothersome. Certainly I can look many of them up on the internet, but I shouldn't have to, especially since Toker insists that these works are so important to any understanding of Fallingwater and Wright's conception of it.

Finally, the binding on the paperback edition is atrocious! Less than a third of the way into my reading, the book fell apart. I am not that hard on my texts! I see that others have had the same problem. This is not the fault of the author, but it does detract from the reading experience.

Overall, if you are a fan of Wright or Fallingwater, or if you want a better sense of the American architectural scene of the period, give this book a read. You will come away with a much better understanding of all of these than if you merely read a picture book or general guide to the house.

The binding on my paperback copy also fell apart half-way through the book. While I found some of the writing less than crisp and the organization sometimes left me confused as to sequences of events, overall it's a wonderfully detailed history of how a great house came to be. I wish I had read it before I visited Fallingwater; it would have greatly increased my enjoyment of the house.

I have now read FALLINGWATER RISING twice, and I think it is one of the most well-written, readable, and engrossing books about any subject. What I like most about it is that even though Fallingwater is an inanimate object, we feel that it is a living thing; this is our emotional response to it. This book makes it clear that people made the building happen. People with all of their strengths, foibles, desires and aspirations. Each of these people come to life on the page, and Toker's delightful spirit of inquiry illuminates the writing and makes it sing.

I got this book over the 2008 Christmas Holidays. I consider myself a big Wright/Fallingwater fan. I have studied the home for years. I am also a published writer and producer of architectural documentaries.

Toker presents his work in a scholarly and yet vividly suspenseful manner. Sometimes it is hard to cut through the mythology and hyperbole of the building of Fallingwater. Toker is able to do so in a way that brings complex nuances to the heroes of Fallingwater. The heroes are flawed just like the building itself. Perhaps the greatness of Fallingwater is that it symbolizes man's ability to reach beyond what man thought he could achieve to create something, although not perfect, far better than what was thought ever possible. In this way Fallingwater represents in one structure, the making of the American Dream.

Toker needs to be commended for his scholarship and story telling abilities. If you are interested in Wright, Fallingwater, or just enjoy a great story, you must read this book! -- Alan Oakes

I must say that as an architect who has been practicing for over 25 years, I have not read any book quite like this before that reaches so deeply into the creation of a master work such as Fallingwater. I have always "appreciated" FLW work but only recently have more fully understood what he has accomplished and created in built architectural works that to me borders on magical and genius at the same time. The glossy pictures alone only begins to reflect him as the gifted craftsman he represented. Living in Chicago I get to enjoy much of his work all the time. I'm still enjoying the book and must say your work here is amazing and a fitting tribute to an increbible individual and architect. Thanks for the experience. Jack Svaicer

This was the best introduction of horror short stories for me. I am aware of so many top-notch writers due to this compilation. Modern short stories have become a let-down to me after reading this book. You have to go backwards to find solid reading material. There is really no need to get into specifics because the proof is on the pages - many of these stories have left me amazed, and if you do not already possess the stories in this anthology, I strongly recommend this book. It is the main source of my awareness of the classic horror short story genre. I read this book and tried to find more like it, and many anthologies do not live up to this selection as far my tastes are concerned. I only wish that Herbert Wise would edit more anthologies. I love short stories, and though I am not a die-hard short story fanatic, I believe that these writers are so superior that anybody would become an instant fan reading them.

as others here have elaborated on, and detailed some of the mastery compiled within this amazing collection, i'll be brief with my comments...

if you're seriously looking for "the perfect horror anthology..." put simply: you've found it. this deliciously thick volume has been one of the cornerstones of my macabre short story collection for quite some time.... and, honestly... i'm quite certain it always will be. it has earned it's place amongst the very best within my bookshelves.

for any / all fans of horror this tome is simply a must-have. PERIOD.

another standard, must-have volume for you die-hards is "The Dark Decent," edited and compiled by David G. Hartwell...

both of these tomes collectively should represent the basic core of any horror short story collection... from the beginner to the advanced reader....

A book to keep by the bedside; tales to enjoy again and again. A haven for those familiar with the genre, and, for the novice, a menu of the fine writers of dark imagination.

This book is, quite simply, the best collection of 19th and early-20th century short fiction of the dark variety in existence. First published in the 1940s, this single (albeit fat) volume is a goldmine of the roots of modern horror, a great way to see where today's horror heavyweights got their inspiration and influence.

Some authors whose stories appear within: Bierce, Blackwood, Dickens, Faulkner, Hawthorne, Hemingway, James (both Henry & M.R.), Kipling, Lovecraft, Machen, Poe, Wells, and many more, a good mixture of horror genre regulars and more conventional or 'literary' authors to whom dark fiction was a departure from the norm. If many of those above names are unfamiliar to you and you consider yourself a fan of dark fiction, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

[Sidenote: The book also contains two of my all-time favorite short stories from two slightly lesser-known authors: Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game," and W.W. Jacob's "The Monkey's Paw." As far as I know, this is the only single volume that includes both. The latter story is, in my humble opinion, THE most perfect scary story of all time.]

Once again: Wagner & Wise's collection is the best thing of its kind.

If you're looking for a little fear on your pallet, this book will dish it out in buckets. The authors are old world craftsmen who wrote these stories on dark and stormy nights. As you read, the wind will howl, dead children will laugh, and the scurry of rats will make you look around your room. Drink a glass of wine, eat dark chocolate, and curl up to this one in bed. Dead men do write good tales.

Robin Edgar's book is a comforting, charming memorial to the loving relationship she had with her mother. It could have been just that and still be an enjoyable read; however, Edgar takes the reader further by suggesting rituals to call up special times with a lost loved one and exercises to help one write family stories.

In My Mother's Kitchen can be read in a single sitting, yet it is worth returning and savoring the memories which Edgar's reminiscences trigger. She writes of her mother's disapproval of the young Edgar's experimenting with makeup. I immediately recalled my own father telling me, "Wipe that lipstick off your face. You could paint the side of a barn." I imagine many women have a similar memory which is a great story to pass on to our daughters and granddaughters. Or don't they wear makeup anymore?

Edgar writes of her mother's illness when Edgar is fifteen, and of her mother's struggle for the next ten years. However, this is not a sad story. Instead, it is a celebration and a savoring. Each vignette is charming within the four chapters: Where to Begin: Follow Your Senses, Keep the Memories Alive: Laughter Is Good Medicine, Look for the Lesson: Hindsight is 20/20, and Treasure the Touchstones: Make Rituals from Memories. I felt that the author was talking to me.

The book has been used by families in Hospice and grief counseling situations. Joy Johnson, founder of The Centering Corporation, a bereavement resource center, in her foreword calls In My Mother's Kitchen one of her favorite tools.

This is a gentle book for pleasure now, and for healing when we need it.

Reviewed by Judith Helburn
For Story Circle Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviews.org
reviewing books by, for, and about women

I'm quite impressed with the author's memories of her mother and how she uses that as a base to help others get in touch with their own loss. Writing down family stories is so valuable to the one recalling the memories and to others in the family who read them. Remembering food, our mother's activities in the kitchen, what we shared together there... these are all powerful memories.
The author gives the reader the tools to get in touch with your loss and grief and to heal through your memories and writing. Through memories the person is still a part of our life.
The sections are titled:
Where to Begin: Follow Your Senses
Keep the Memories Alive: Laughter Is Good Medicine
Look for the Lesson: Hindsight is 20/20
Treasure the Touchstones: Make Rituals from Memories

Does the smell of baking bread take you back to a familiar kitchen? Does the first snowfall of the season remind you of holidays past? Robin Edgar shows us how to use these memories to reconnect with our past as a way to heal our present and preserve precious family traditions. In My Mother's Kitchen is a rich medley of Robin's own recollections of life with her mother. Each section of the book is followed by a set of practical exercises aimed at assisting the reader with the delicate mining of memories and the careful excavation of the attached emotions. "Your memory is like a muscle", the author tells us, "the more you use it the stronger it becomes." And like any good coach she leads us through the calisthenics that will get our memory muscle back into top form. If your goal is to preserve family history, work your way through bereavement, or recognize the value of the people, places and things that have shaped your life, this workshop in book form is a great place to start.

Robin Adelman's storytelling flare is what lures us into this very helpful guide to remembering. In a pragmatic (workbook format), yet sensitive way she turns us inward to the stories that bring lost loved ones back into our consciousness and back into our hearts. In My Mother's Kitchen teaches us to tell our stories, painful or peaceful, happy or sad. Because telling our stories bears our souls, we become transformed in the process. Robin took me to places that I had forgotten to go. Read this book and become nourished In My Mother's Kitchen.

Better than grief counselling, or assistance with medication, In My Mother's Kitchen is a must for every bookshelf.
Healing by reminiscence created by the author, is a unique method of dealing and overcoming grief, and loss.
I was priveledged to have had a personal encounter with Robin and her book, at the time of my Mother's stroke.
In My Mother's Kitchen has helped comfort and humour me through this difficult period, and I regularly reach for the book in times of need.Thank you Robin.

For nearly twenty years I've been obsessed by Edgar Watson, the Everglades Planter known as "Bloody Watson" and "Emperor Watson" for the 50-odd murders attributed to him by a century of legend and myth.

Peter Matthiessen was way more obsessed than me, writing four novels about Watson. I read the first in 1990. The last just this past December. It, Shadow Country, won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2008. It is Matthiessen's masterpiece, and I have no qualms saying it is among the top novels in all of American literature, a book I would stack against Moby Dick, Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises, Gravity's Rainbow, White Noise ....

Matthiessen does several important things that won my admiration. First, his voice, his writing, is a very spare, zen language that is short on embellishment but poetic in its nature. Second, the structure that he brings to the narrative is very inventive. The first part of the novel is the tale of Watson's death at the hands of more than two dozen of his neighbors who gun him down after a hurricane in the fall of 1910, hitting him with 33 bullets. That part, which formed the basis of Killing Mister Watson, is an succession of reminiscences by those on that Chokoloskee beach, a backwater Rashomon that bring some amazing vernacular, history, and drama. The book starts with the killing -- and what follows is an utter mind-twister of why Watson was killed.

The second part of the novel is the story of one of Watson's sons, Lucius, who tries to reassemble the facts and seperate them from the myths about his father, who, among other legends, was the reputed murderer of outlaw queen Belle Starr. Lucius compiles a list of those on that beach, a list which makes him a very suspicious figure to the survivors and their descendants, back-water plume and gator poachers who would prefer that Lucius not be asking so many questions. The detective work, the sheer genealogical complexity of Lucius' quest is a reminder to the reader -- this is a true story. Matthiessen's research and attention to detail would shame a historian.

And finally, the true masterpiece in the three tales is the first person account by Watson himself, a story that begins with his childhood in the post-Civil War Reconstruction of South Carolina (in the most violent county of the state), and his subsequent abuse at the hands of a drunken white trash father, his flight to north Florida and from there a descent into the American frontier, and Watson's lonely home on Chatham Bend, the only house between Chokoloskee and Key West, literally the end of America.

Read it. Matthiessen won my respect decades ago with Far Tortuga, The Snow Leopard, Men's Lives, but Shadow Country is my candidate for the Great American Novel.

I haven't finished this book yet, but it is a great read, I can hardly put it down. It is a very large book but that is good, because if it is a good book I don't want it to end.

Matthiessen's flamboyant characters bring vivid life to _Shadow Country_, and as a result, I am reminded of Faulkner's "bigger than life" people of Mississippi. The writing is strong as it explores human strengths, fragilities, and life in a developing part of the country.
This is an excellent read.

I've just finished Book One and know I will enjoy the rest of this marvelous work of fiction based on reality. The author is a great storyteller as we all want to be and when we talk about yesterday we are talking both reality and our fictional account of it. Peter M. has a unique talent for speaking in tongues and it is hilarious to read his story with Mysoo Frenchman Chevalier et al. It reminds me so much of my home town and its dialect peculiarities even though I grew up in northern Michigan 'pernear' to Canada.

The big question of Book One is 'Did he do it?' This question is the frequent call of the red wattled lapwing bird and all readers of Book One. Did E.J. commit all the murders that is used as a rational for Killing Mr. Watson? I can't remember any part of book one relating an actual murder by Mr. Watson! But his murder is a horrendous tale to read and P.M.'s talent for relating it in words made me cringe and not want to be in Watson's boots ...or in the boots of any of the murderers.

Peter Matthiessen's Shadow Country just might be the great American novel. A nutshell description that grants this masterpiece its due is that it rivals Faulkner - in gravity of themes, complexity of moral vision and rootedness of place - but with a 75% reduction in confusion of narrative form and style.

I read the trilogy a decade ago and am now relishing rereading his single volume revision. Knowing this is something I will probably reread every 5 or 10 years, I bought the hardcover version.

A word (but not a caveat) for women: although this is "manly" fiction in subject matter - concerned as it is with the precarious existence of pioneer settlers in the ruthless, wild, wild West of the Florida frontier around 1900 - the multiple narrators, many of them female, present nuanced, detailed, contrasting and contradictory depictions of people and events. So, though this is perhaps masculine fiction, it is not Hemingway, in style or substance.