Expansion Books

Reading about this book, the incongruence of real Greece and mythical Greece, it sounded cheesy, corny. But only Gemmell could pull it off this well. His works stand alone as never following the genre, always changing, never playing it safe. Most fantasy book series feature lead characters that never die, just go on for book after book after book. Gemmell doesn't hold to this tradition - his characters are real and what happens to them is dictated by the story. As a result, his characters always surprise you - evil, vile characters redeeming themselves, once powerful, great men becoming traitors for gold, etc. You really never know what's going to happen. All of a sudden, half way thru a book you can have a new chapter "20 years later...." and you think "what the heck?!" but he does it masterfully - he's telling an epic story - not a "day in the life on this one character."

This is a sequel of course, so you can't read it alone. But the story ends here, as it should. Gemmell even ties in some elements of his other books cleverly, no spoilers. A shame we'll have no more from him, I only found his books about 5 years ago but have literally read every one of them. They stand apart and above all others. The only 2 I have left to read are his last 2 Troy books.

If you are new to Gemmell, start with "Legend" and I envy you - the first time reader of it.

This book covers a lot of ground. A sequel to the Lion of Macedon it takes place a few years after the birth of Alexander(the great). The first part of the book takes place in an alternate realm filled with all the mythical creatures in Greek Legends. Alexander has been kidnapped by an evil version of his father in this magical Greece. But Alexander may be the prophet the creatures of legend need to return magic to the world. Parmenion is sent to rescue the boy. The second part of the book takes place much later in Alexanders life and his battle with the demon inside him. Though they involve Philip and Alexander, these are really about Parmenion. He is the main character throughout the stories and he is a good one. Very brave and noble, but a man of flaws. Like just about every other Gemmell book, this one contains references to the Source(which is Gemmell's all mighty power source and possibly god) and it contains the larger than life battles filled with mighty heroes. The big difference is his use of so many fantasy creatures. Gemmell has not traditionally used centaurs, minotaurs, cyclops and such, but in this book he does well with them. This is another achievement for one heck of a writer. I am waiting for his last Troy book to read and I will surely be sad knowing that there will be no more after.

Dark Prince
This is a very well written sequel to The The Lion of Macedon. I loved the fact that it pick up pretty much where the first book left off. David built the characters up even more and made me feel like I was a part of the story. David does it again!!! Great book !!!!

What an incredible book. Once you start reading it, you won't be able to set it down. I even got yelled at by my boss for reading the book on company time. I've read it 4 times and each time is like the first time. There is alot of information to process so get ready be blown away. It's awsome. Also, if you missed reading Tino Georgiou's masterpiece--The Fates, go and read it. It's a great novel of Greek Mythology.

This is a companion review to Lion of Macedon.
Dark Prince takes us back to the David Gemmell reconstructed world of ancient Greece. There are a whole heap of goings-on that occurred in Lion of Macedon that led to certain events in Dark Prince, but to tell you them would ruin Lion of Macedon for you, so I won't.
Anyway, this is rather a strange book. It retains some of the feel of Lion of Macedon but is completely different in many aspects. A significant portion of the novel is spent in an alternate reality Greece where mythical creatures such as centaurs and minotaurs still roam the Earth. There is also an evil Phillippos of Makedon to contend with.
Alexander is an extraordinary child in many aspects. He has an extreme constitution and a very high intelligence for one supposedly four years old (in the first third of the book). Actually, despite the possession of the Chaos Spirit, I did still struggle to deal with the adult-like conversations and concerns of the toddler Alexander.
The book improved for me greatly when the setting resumed in the Greece we knew from Lion of Macedon.
Still, in all, this novel had what one expects from a David Gemmell. Heaps of battles, the odd love scene, sword fights a-plenty, revenge, betrayals...
If you pick up this novel expecting an historically accurate re-telling of the Alexander myth, then this is not the novel for you. But, if you are looking for a rousing tale of friendship and loyalty set in a similar world to the ancient Greece we know and love, and a familiar David Gemmell world, then you will not be disappointed.
In my opinion, this sequel does not live up to the heights of Lion of Macedon though. However, it had a satisfying ending that tied together loose strings very nicely.

I stalled out on this expansion. It was interesting for a while, but the storytelling descended into go here and get/do this, as directed by the [literally] insane main story character. Oblivion was such a great game, I'm surprised how much this expansion disappointed me.

Book was in good condition and is very usefull for completing all tasks in the game.

I've using the Oblivion guide for the main game and it had helped me wonders. The information is accurate and bast. It includes details of all the missions including main and side missions plus a lot of additional information on maps and points of interest as well as books, spells and other goodies.

If you are completist, buy the guide.

The Prima Guide is so complete. Has a sence of humor in scripting and is very detailed in what you should know and what you need to find out on your own... I got one for Dungeon seige, Elder Scrolls Oblivion and now Shivering Isles. It is a must have side kick!

The book is written very well and is in full color. If you have the Prima guide for the full Elder Scrolls IV it is written in the same fashion. I find it a must to have a guide for this game if you want to truely explore every inch! Buy it when you buy the expansion, you won't be sorry!

Few Americans have won the mythical status enjoyed by Andrew Jackson. Often portrayed, in his day and since, as the champion of the common man, Jackson came to Washington as an outsider, the first President born outside the thirteen original states, indeed the first president born neither in Virginia nor Massachusetts. Throughout Jackson historiography, Jackson via his policy of `rotation' in office has been accused of instituting the spoils system in American politics. This criticism highlights how Whig myths have come to permeate the historical writing on this subject.

Starting with James Parton in 1860, anti-Jackson historians have followed this criticism, blaming Jackson for replacing a supposed merit system with a partisanship that corrupted the civil service for generations. Despite further research since Jackson's time, many historians have uncritically repeated these accusations without examining the actual record of appointments during the presidency unhappily described by some as "The Reign of Andrew Jackson".

There have been essentially four cycles of studies into the life and Presidency of Andrew Jackson. The first cycle began soon after the death of Jackson with the "liberal patrician" or "Whig" school, who were generally unfavourable towards the policy of rotation. Most familiar is James Parton's classic The "Life of Andrew Jackson". So critical of rotation was Parton that he stated "this single feature of his administration would suffice to render it deplorable rather than admirable." Other members of the "Whig" school include Sumner, Schouler and Von Holst, all very critical of Jackson's policy of rotation. Parton's biography was the standard source on the Jacksonian era, until the second cycle represented by the Progressive Historians, such as John Spencer Bassett's "The Life of Andrew Jackson (1911), which cast Jackson in somewhat of a different light. Bassett reduces the amount of blame put on Jackson for rotation by suggesting that his democratic views made him oblivious to unintentional dangers from partisan appointments. However, the Progressives shared with the Whigs the view that Jackson had brought a spoils system to national politics and that its effects were negative.

Historians in the third cycle of Jacksonian studies, of which Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.'s "The Age of Jackson" (1945) served as a pivotal work, shifted attention away from Jackson himself towards larger forces in his era. Historians of the third cycle, such as Hofstadter and Hammond, debated the effects of class and culture in determining party differences while showing little interest in evaluating Jackson's rotation policy, though tending to criticise it briefly. No biographies of Jackson discussed the policy of rotation in depth during the next thirty years.

The appearance of Robert V. Remini's three-volume biography of Jackson marked the start of the fourth cycle of interpretation. Based on modern scholarship, Remini covers all aspects of Jackson's life and career, demonstrating his contribution to the great developments of nineteenth century America, particularly empire, freedom and democracy. By returning to first hand sources, Remini shows that the policy of rotation in office has been exaggerated and misunderstood. However, having set himself the remarkable task of producing a thorough study of the life and Presidency of Jackson, Remini did not have the scope for a detailed re-interpretation and re-evaluation of rotation. Since Remini's work there have been many scholarly works on Jackson, but none offer an in-depth reassessment of rotation as touched upon by Remini.

Remini states that Jackson has received a disproportionate share of the blame for the spoils system and that there is a need to disprove the Whig myths, which have come to permeate the historical writings of historians over the generations. Remini was not the first to stress the need for such a revision; in fact a similar plea was expressed by J.R. Poinsett in the "Oration on the life and character of Andrew Jackson, delivered July 4, 1845" when he stated about Jackson, "His instinctive love of justice... gave a high tone to his government and exalted the honor of his country. His hatred of corruption rendered his administration pure.... I will content myself with expressing my belief that in future time the impartial historian will justify both his motives and his conduct on this trying occasion.

Remini offers the reader a great insight into the pioneering mind of one of America's greatest Presidents.


[The above Review is taken in part from 'Andrew Jackson's policy of 'Rotation in Office' by Alexander Rayden. © Copyright 2005 Alexander Rayden, All Rights Reserved].

Robert Remini completes his biography of Andrew Jackson in an excellent third volume. This biography is very well written and a pleasure to read. Remini is so well versed on his subject and really makes Jackson come to life as one of the major figures in U.S. History. This is as honest account of an individual that I have ever read and have come away with a new found respect for Andrew Jackson.
Remini does not shy away from Jacksons many faults nor does he make excuses for them and he also shows how tender and loyal Jackson can be to those that were family and friends. Remini makes the case that Jackson was the most influential person in shaping the Presidency and government to the modern democracy it is today and I am inclined to agree with him. Jackson had certain convictions on government and policy and would not bow under pressure and reshaped the role of the Presidency despite pressure from Congress. I would definitely recommend this biography to everyone interested in Andrew Jackson as well as those interest in the evolution of our government.

Excellent finish to an excellent 3-volume biography; the first volume took us from Jackson's birth through his tenure as governor of Florida; the second took us from there through the end of his first term as president and his successful bid for re-election. This volume takes us from the beginning of his second term to his death.

As with both previous volumes, the marvellous thing about this book is that Remini provides the reader with sufficient information that it is possible, with nothing more than the information he provides, to disagree with his evaluation of his subject. Clearly, on balance he is much more taken with Andrew Jackson than I am, although there are a few instances in which I actually think that he is too harsh in his judgement. But the marvellous thing is, he gives me sufficient information to make that judgement, an invaluable characteristic in a biographer.

Anyone interested in reading a detailed, in-depth biography of the first truly populist president (whether one considers that a good or a bad thing to say about the man says a lot about one's personality) and the president who appointed Roger Taney, the chief justice responsible for the Dred Scott Decision, to his post as Justice of the Supreme Court, needs to read all three volumes of this set.

The final volume in Robert Remini's definitive biography of Andrew Jackson follows the life of the seventh president from the beginning of his second term through the end of his life. In it, we see many of the things that made Jackson one of our most important presidents despite his significant flaws.

Prior to Jackson's presidency, the executive office was much weaker. The designers of the Constitution, with their fears of strong central figures, had intended Congress to be the most powerful of the supposedly co-equal branches. Jackson, however, viewed himself as the sole representative of the people - the only person elected by a nation, not a region - and through various measures such as an expansion of the use of the veto, was able to shift the balance of power. Although the following presidents would be weaker, the presidency as an office had been redefined.

As the book begins, Jackson's second term was beginning and he needed to deal with South Carolina and the Nullification Crisis. Essentially successful with this problem, he also dealt with other issues, including his war with the Bank of the United States and bad relations with France. By many measures, his presidency was a success, but there were a number of negatives as well, in particular his treatment of Indians and his disregard of slavery issues. His appointment of Taney to Chief Justice would eventually lead to the Dred Scott decision. Remini finds more positives than negatives with Jackson, but he doesn't disregard the black marks.

Probably only Washington was as universally adored in his time as Jackson was, and unlike Washington, Jackson was a true man of the people, a populist who courteously met with rich and poor alike. Even after his retirement, his popularity guaranteed his continued political clout, and few Democrats defied his wishes while he was alive.

The three volumes in this biography are around 1300 pages (plus notes and indexes), but Remini is such a good writer that this is far from a burdensome read. There may be shorter biographies of Jackson, but there aren't better. Remini knows this era well (he also has written excellent biographies of Clay and Webster) and he brings it to life.

If you have read my reviews of the first two volumes in this biography you already know my opinion of Remini and of his subject. Suffice it to say that if you are serious about learning about American history these volumes are for you. Not only are they an excellent introduction to many of the political and social issues of the era but they also allow the reader to wrestle with our national proclivity toward uncritical hero worship. Our past leaders were every bit as complex, as flawed and as human as our current crop .... What follows is a small portion of what I have learned from Remini's hard and honest labors.
Jackson's accomplishments were extraordinary by any standards and some of them are quite ironic. He very much believed in states rights yet he probably did more to strengthen and expand the executive part of the federal government than any President until Franklin Roosevelt. Consider the following (all discussed in Remini's volume):
1. He was the first President to use the pocket veto. He was the first to use the veto power for nonconstitutional reasons. We are so used to our Presidents using the veto because of policy disagreements with legislation that we forget how much of a shift this was in the balance of power as envisioned by the original generation.
2. He reformed every department of the federal government and greatly expanded the bureaucracy as a result. He eliminated much of the graft that was rampant at the time and (at least, gave the impression of) greatly democratizing the civil service by making it more of a meritocracy. All this inevitably led to more people working for the government. A lot more people.
3. Jackson changed the relationship of the various Cabinet members to the President. He was the first to fire a Cabinet member because of a disagreement over policy. Up until then Cabinet officers and ambassadors, because their appointments had to be approved by the Senate, were regarded as being accountable more to Congress than to the President.
This is only a partial list of the ways that Jackson's Presidency changed the stature of the Executive branch of the government.
Jackson's ideology (as I see it) comes from him trying to work out the tensions between his state's rights philosophy with his military experience, which taught him the necessity of a clear uncontested chain of command with his love of and trust in the people. I will comment on only one portion of that dynamic. Like so many of our leaders, the tensions in Jackson's ideology led him into conspiracy theories. He believed in and trusted the American people to always make the right decisions (the ones he would have made) and almost always credited any electoral reverses to cabals acting to befuddle and delude the populace.
As a result, he became one of ablest early advocates of putting a good spin on the issues. Early on in his first term he helped to establish a newspaper that served as the official organ of the administration. Altogether, Jackson was a fascinating and maddening character.
I find myself greatly in the debt of Remini. Jackson has always repulsed me by his blatant racism and his paternalism. Remini has humanized Jackson quite a bit for me. I am more appreciative of Jackson's great accomplishments and I have learned quite a bit of the politics of the time. I will be reading Remini's book on Van Buren next along with Seller's biography of Polk. One of the ways that I evaluate the work of a historian is by how much they increase my interest in further reading on their subject and on the period in question. By this standard, Remini belongs to my first rank of American historians.

This book will take you only a day to read. It is exactly 100 pages. I was hoping for more content on the actual event, ie. the massacre of Lt. Kidder and his men.

But no, the bulk of the book is the story of Kidder's father retrieving his son's body from the impromptu burial at the site. There are many letters printed in the book that were sent between members of the Kidder family agonizing over their loss. These are only modestly interesting. Nor did I find the old photos of Lt. Kidder's sister and brother to be necessary. There is also a photo of General Sherman. I already know what he looked like, and so will 90% of the Western historians who read this book, so why include it? Photo space could have been FAR more wisely used showing the battlefield from different angles, but sadly there are only two--both inadequate.

The author has made an important and highly interesting case in the book, but amazingly devotes less than 10 pages to it--in the Afterword section of all places. He theorizes that the present monument at the massacre "site" is misplaced, and his argument is compelling. He argues that the actual massacre site is 300 yards east of the monument in a different shallower ravine. I'll let you read the book to see his reasoning. I wish he would have spent more time on this and less on Kidder's father and siblings.

This is a very personal history as the author takes personal interest in the Lt. Kidder massacre that occurred to a platoon of soldiers carrying a dispatch from General Sherman to Custer. This was during the 1867 Kansas Indian war during the military's unsuccessful campaign to defeat the various tribes. Earlier references to Kidder stated that the young inexperienced officer was unfamiliar with Indians and was ill prepared for his mission. However, the author through research confirms that Kidder had Civil War and Indian warfare experience. The latter was during the Sioux wars in Minnesota. The author provides more detail than the normal few pages in books about Custer. The detail includes a biography of Kidder, a detailed description of his family and particularly information about his father who was a judge and politician in South Dakota. High points include the story of the massacre. It starts initially with Kidders recent re-enlistment and assignment in Kansas and within a few weeks of his arrival, the mission to deliver Custer a dispatch who at that time was with the 7th trying to locate and defeat the Indians. Kidder finds Custer's trail but unfortunately where Custer turned off the Wallace trail, Kidder misses the new yet faint trail perhaps because he passed it at night. Approximately 200 warriors found Lt. Kidder instead and he tries to escape finally fortifying himself in a small ravine among high grass. It sounds familiar to the last survivors of Custer Hill running to a ravine for cover also killed without survivors. The author's surprisingly successful archeology digs help them map a course of battle and determine what may have happened. Kidder also had an Indian guide who died with all 11 army members. The author also writes of Kidders father making a brave trek to the battle site to recover his son's body, which actually encouraged the army to recover all the bodies. It's a personal trip with history and a real person's story about the need to find more detail about an often referred to event without elaborate research. The authors virtually take you there with their visit through descriptions, maps and photos.

This book provides an interesting and poignant study of Lt Lyman Kidder and his brutal demise.The work also affords the reader an insight into the tragic existence of the frontier family by following the journey of Lyman's father to claim his son's body from the remote battlesite. The authors' skillful use of original sources paints a vivid picture of a father's search for meaning following the death of his son. Judge Kidder's subsequent correspondance with Custer and Sherman, among others, affords an invaluable window into these turbulant times. The book will not only be enjoyed by students of American Frontier history, anyone with any degree of empathy with, or sympathy for, a family's love for their son will be moved. I recommend this book without reservation.

This book provides an interesting and poignant study of Lt Lyman Kidder and his brutal demise.The work also affords the reader an insight into the tragic existence of the frontier family by following the journey of Lyman's father to claim his son's body from the remote battlesite. The authors' skillful use of original sources paints a vivid picture of a father's search for meaning following the death of his son. Judge Kidder's subsequent correspondance with Custer and Sherman, among others, affords an invaluable window into these turbulant times. The book will not only be enjoyed by students of American Frontier history, anyone with any degree of empathy with, or sympathy for, a family's love for their son will be moved. I recommend this book without reservation.

This is a very personal history as the author takes personal interest in the Lt. Kidder massacre that occurred to a platoon of soldiers carrying a dispatch from General Sherman to Custer. This was during the 1867 Kansas Indian war during the military's unsuccessful campaign to defeat the various tribes. Earlier references to Kidder stated that the young inexperienced officer was unfamiliar with Indians and was ill prepared for his mission. However, the author through research confirms that Kidder had Civil War and Indian warfare experience. The latter was during the Sioux wars in Minnesota. The author provides more detail than the normal few pages in books about Custer. The detail includes a biography of Kidder, a detailed description of his family and particularly information about his father who was a judge and politician in South Dakota. High points include the story of the massacre. It starts initially with Kidders recent re-enlistment and assignment in Kansas and within a few weeks of his arrival, the mission to deliver Custer a dispatch who at that time was with the 7th trying to locate and defeat the Indians. Kidder finds Custer's trail but unfortunately where Custer turned off the Wallace trail, Kidder misses the new yet faint trail perhaps because he passed it at night. Approximately 200 warriors found Lt. Kidder instead and he tries to escape finally fortifying himself in a small ravine among high grass. It sounds familiar to the last survivors of Custer Hill running to a ravine for cover also killed without survivors. The author's surprisingly successful archeology digs help them map a course of battle and determine what may have happened. Kidder also had an Indian guide who died with all 11 army members. The author also writes of Kidders father making a brave trek to the battle site to recover his son's body, which actually encouraged the army to recover all the bodies. It's a personal trip with history and a real person's story about the need to find more detail about an often referred to event without elaborate research. The authors virtually take you there with their visit through descriptions, maps and photos.

Inside you can find gnome (race) and bard (class) and so many new monsters and item cards. 112 cards to improve your fun rating :)

Muchkin is a fun game for lots of personality types. The game states it will be about 45 minutes. But plan on an hour or more for your first game with people not knowing the rules and having to read the card for what to do. This is a fun game to play with a group of friends with good a good sense of humor who have a certain, nerd flair. : ) I highly recommend this game.

This expansion set is an example of the rules of synergy in action. It isn't very many game systems that can get better and better as more and more product is added.

Munchkin, with both expansions, measures in at nearly 400 cards. Despite being almost eight times the size of the standard card deck, it is a very playable game that has gotten better with each addition. The new cards make the game less "fixed" in that you can no longer really anticipate any particular card coming into play during the course of a game. My group has abandoned the equally good, but not supported with expansions, Star Munchkin, to play Munchkin +2+3 exclusively when the evening involves card gaming.

A set of additional cards to the Munchkin set, it can also be played without the basic set. New classess and races, unforunately, aren't balanced, thus being an Orc, a Gnome or a Bard is much better than any other race or class. Nevertheless, the monsters are charming

This 112 card expansion to the Munchkins game add an additional race and class to the game, as well as more loot and even more monsters and curses.

The Gnome is a powerful race which can stand on it's own and the Bard class is provided a variety of cards which increase it's power over time.

The new cards build on the core in a very good way and really flesh out the original Munchkins game. Additionally, these cards easily fit in the original box.

I highly recommend this expansion both because it adds to an already great game, but because it's relatively cheap.

Michael Alvear has givien us another biography of Alexander, and it's a fun read. I don't agree with everything he wrote, but I do think that one can get a feel for the great king's more fun side while reading this book.

All-in-all, it was a quick and fun read. The history is supported for the most part (although I tend to think he takes a dimmer view of Alexander than I would).

An excellent book!

Finally! Someone with a sense of humor tackles one of the most amazing characters in history. I actually laughed out loud in some spots. This is the first comic biography of Alexander the Great. Being a history buff myself I was impressed with the book's historical accuracy. Most people know Alexander conquered the known world. But most don't know he was so vain "his generals had to rub Preparation H on his ego," according to the authors. My favorite example was the shaving craze Alexander started. Back then almost all warriors had beards. Alexander rationalized his shaving as a combat advantage. Hey, if the enemy couldn't grab you by the beard he'd have a harder time killing you. Here's what the authors have to say: "Historians have waved their BS detector over Alexander's reason for shaving and can't decide if it was legitimate or just another example of his vanity. Let's just say there's a whole school of thought that says Alexander didn't like hair on his face for the same reason Narcissus didn't like ripples in the water-it got in the way of the view."

Reading how the authors send up Alexander's temper tantrums, his flair for the dramatic and his marathon drinking sessions is worth the price of the book alone. One warning: the humor is a bit on the crude side. But that's half the fun.

I wish there were more books like "Alexander the Fabulous." Even though it's a mostly humorous account of the life of Alexander, it tells a lot more about what kind of person Alexander was than Oliver Stone's movie "Alexander." It's a fast, informative, fun book to read. My only complaint is that it was too short.

An excellent text to accompany the Oliver Stone movie, "Alexander," this book is astonishingly well-researched and written by Michael Alvear with assistance from Vicky Shecter, who is now working on a children's book about Alexander the Great.

If you laugh out loud at David Sedaris books, this book may remind you of what a serious ancient history book would be like if David Sedaris had written it. It is a laugh a minute. Yet, the basic facts provided are correct. This book just makes it FUN to learn a bit of history that most people (even in Greece!) know far too little about.

I am a public librarian, and have read at least 12 books on Alexander the Great in the past six months. What one inevitably finds when researching Alexander is that his life is hotly debated by many differing factions: Should he be called Macedonian or Greek? Should he be called bisexual or gay? Should he be hailed as a hero and liberator or condemned as a mass murderer? Was he buried in Alexandria or someplace else? Did he have a part in killing his father or not? You can forget about finding a book that makes EVERYONE happy, though the best overall book I have found is Robin Lane Fox's "Alexander the Great" published in 1986 by Penguin Books. I believe it stands head and shoulders over any other book on Alexander, and every public library MUST have that book. Oliver Stone chose Robin Lane Fox to be his historical consultant for the film "Alexander." I would avoid the new book by Paul Cartledge even though it is new; the Robin Lane Fox book simply covers so much more and does it so much better. Also, the account of Alexander's travels by Arrian is a must.

Every library needs sources on Alexander, however, for those who may not care to read the serious history texts. Mary Renault's "Persian Boy" is outstanding for fiction readers, and her other books on Alexander, especially "The Nature of Alexander," are also excellent. But for those who want to really have FUN as they learn their history, you just can't beat Michael Alvear's "Alexander the Fabulous."

Anyone who is terribly homophobic may not like this book, but then again, anyone who is terribly homophobic is not likely to be reading about Alexander the Great anyway. After Jesus Christ, Alexander may be the most influential human to ever live, and there should be as many books about his life in our libraries as possible. The fact that he was gay or bisexual should not be a reason for not providing a book about his extraordinary life.

Don't miss this great book! You will be ever so glad you found it!

Alexander the Fabulous is a tongue-in-cheek "history" of the great guy himself. The book reads like a gossip column, and is chocked full of "tell-alls", both real and imagined. Totally entertaining reading for those seeking a decidedly editorialized and glomourized "biography".

I loved the book because it is true western history. It describes places I have seen, but did'nt know the historical significance. The book kept me interested from beginning to end, and now I want to take a road trip to see this part of the USA with new insight.

Jack Slade was no Lone Ranger but a roughneck teamster who opened the Overland Trail from Missouri to California, creating a vital link between Washington and the California gold fields. A ruthless defender of his freight lines and the short-lived Pony Express, his violent, drunken binges finally bought about his own end.

Of two personalities, Jack Slade killed some and was feared by many. Mark Twain mythologized him as a gunslinger. Yet the stagecoach passengers who stopped at his relay stations found him polite and gentlemanly. His wife truly loved him but it's hard imagine why. True, he adopted an orphan boy but he himself had instigated the senseless slaughter of the boy's family. He gleefully cut the live ears off a helpless enemy and carried them in his pocket. He drove his horses to death. Like Shiva, he was first a herculean trailblazer and then a destroyer of the very civilization he created.

There's plenty to chew on here: who knew that California gold financed Lincoln's army and saved the Union? That Indians believed the telegraph carried the voice of their god? Author Dan Rottenberg paints a very big--and fascinating--picture of the times. Slade emerges as a small figure on this landscape as if in a grainy Matthew Grady photograph. As a writer long involved with the Southwest, I was intrigued by these details of our early commercial development and greatly impressed by the stamina of men such as Slade. Hero or fool? Author Rottenberg leaves the question open and provides plenty of archival sources for the next researcher: Notes, Appendix and Index take up almost a quarter of the volume. A really good read: I couldn't put it down.

This book provides a great insight into that part of the U.S. lying between Missouri and California in the years before the Civil War. There were lots of heroes, not just Jack Slade. The men who sacrificed their personal finances to buy the stagecoaches from New Hampshire, to find drivers willing to risk their lives to carry people and mail, to establish roads, to build stations every 12 miles or so to accommodate the passengers, to obtain horses to be kept at each station == was an enormous undertaking. The riders and drivers were themselves courageous as were the travelers, ordinary Americans seeking fortune in the West. This book tells it all in just the right amount of detail. Prodigiously researched. Easy to read. A true contribution to U.S. history.

This a book that should appeal to anyone who's interested in economic history or general American history.

Like the biographers who tackle Shakespeare, Rottenberg is writing about someone who hasn't left us a lot of information. He fills in the gaps-- as the Shakespeareans do-- by giving us a picture of the kind of things his subject was doing. In the Shakespeare biographies, we get a picture of the London stage in Elizabethen times. Rottenberg gives us engaging chapters on frontier capitalism-- the adventures of the men who set up ox-drawn freight lines in the decades before the transcontinental railroad connected the West Coast with the rest of the United States. Slade worked for these companies as a wagon master and then a section boss, responsible for hundreds of miles of vital, difficult trail. If you like books like Stephen Ambrose's history of the transcontinental railroad, Nothing Like It in the World, you will find these chapters just as fascinating as I did. Rottenberg has worked for the Wall Street Journal and he has a good feel for the romance and turbulence of frontier business ventures, including the history of the Pony Express.

Slade, as he concludes, remains an enigmatic figure. But that's partly because Hollywood has given us a simple good guy/bad guy picture of the West. Slade was a human being, with all the contradictions of real people. He carried out some rough, important jobs and did things no Western knight is supposed to do. He was also a young man who might have become less troublesome if he had made it past his early thirties.

Rottenberg has collected all the information available on Slade and lets us draw our own conclusions. But he's also created a memorable look at the American West during a period that includes the decades before the Civil War and some of the war's most critical events.

Jack Slade was the prototype of the American Western Outlaw. At one point, he was a trusted vilgilante dealing harsh justice in a harsh world (check out the advert inside the book for men for the Pony Express, where it declares a preference for "orphans"). On the other-hand, Jack Slade was a murderous, drunken sort. He is hard to pin down, and thus was a legendary character, even during his life. Mark Twain's infatuation with Slade is constantly being referred to. And it makes sense that Twain would use elements of the Slade myth in his own literary creations.

I had never heard of Jack Slade before. I wonder if he is one of those names lost to history. There's certaintly not a huge amount of certifiable information about him, and this is where Rottenberg really excells; finding and using each bit of information he can. The book has an extensive list of references.

Like I said, I had never heard of Jack Slade before. I don't really like westerns. In fact, I came across this book on a table in Barnes & Noble and I skimmed over the jacket. What attracted me to "Death of a Gunfighter: The Quest for Jack Slade" was the history and the mystery of it all. Jack Slade certainly qualifies as mysterious. Several times he had been left for dead, only to turn up in another town. Indeed, "the stories of [his] death have been greatly exagerated."

Rottenberg does a good job of disecting the turth from the myth, the tall tales that abound; and delivers them both. It is an enjoyable read, and my only complaints are that:

a. I wish that the writing itself were a little more engaging
b. I wish there was more to read about Slade! and for this, I cannot blame Rottenberg a'tall, because he really does squeeze the sponge dry.

This is an enjoyable book on a distinctly American historical figure.

Current US international policy shows just how brilliant and enduring Frederick Turner's Frontier Thesis really is.

The basic idea is that after the initial explorations by Spain, England, etc., the real colonisation of America was a flight from conditions in Europe (including Ireland and Britain) which led to a European-style culture and settlement of the East Coast.

This led to a second flight from European-like influences into the interior - which simply pulled European-style culture further west. And so it continued until Europe finally reached the West Coast.

There are numerous ramifications of the thesis, including the "force majeur" (might=right) attitude of the settlers towards the Native Americans - with its ominous overtones on the eve of war in the Middle-East.

As far as I understand it, for all the "warts", Turner was looking to UNDERSTAND the American mentality/culture, as shaped by by historical experience, and the Frontier Thesis is a critique, NOT a criticism.

Read this book and gain a whole new, or at least greatly expanded, view of what it means to be an "American".

Mr. Turner ingeniously express's who we are and the reasons why. This work produced last century harbors a number of ideas on what made this country the greatest nation in the world. Mr. Turner correctly weaves his thesis on the frontier in a very short span.

By reading this work you will realize what separates the United States from every other land. All other works on the history of this special place we call home are details and footnotes on the events that have taken place over our brief span of time.

The idea that the frontier is crucial to the development of American civilization has been one of the major themes of American history. It has also led to endless speculations as to what the closing of the frontier has meant. And it too has led to speculations about the search for new frontiers including the one in space. We went as far as we could to the West and then we went up.
I cannot evaluate the accuracy of the Turner thesis. I remember however that his idea that it is precisely the settled people of the East, the veterans who head out for the West gave me the idea of Americans as a people in constant motion away from their old and hopefully toward their new and better self.

Although this book is now considered by some to be politically incorrect and by others to have been superceded by later research, it is an important introdction to the ways in which the frontier experience has shaped American culture. From the time of the first European settlements on the East Coast until the 1890s, when Jackson and others first recognized that the American frontier had disappeared, the possibility of farming/mining/foresting new lands had always be a possibility for Americans and an attractant for European immigrants. This was a basis for Americans and other to think of the U.S. as a land of opportunity. An excellent read and a good introduction to a fascinating subject.

This is an interesting book. Well written, although at times painfully, soddenly dated (and I do not criticize the historic tone of voice nor the apparent biases of this emminent historian--prejudice, in itself, is an important contribution to the understanding of American history as it is learned--), The Frontier in American History develops an original idea of American expansion into empire.

Portions of this book are very relevent to the present, showing Turner to be an ambitious and far-reaching historian of the past. His chapters on the general influence on American government of the midwest are fascinating, especially in the light of present day hindsight. The shift in moral vision of people founding early regions of the American colonies and post-revolutionary national expansion, in a great sense, explores both the influence and subsequent dismissal of east coast religious Puritanism and the 'witch-hunting' mentality of the people. Of course, subsequent to this volume, (and even during its publication), that very religious notion shifted to the fear-mongering operation of federal government and explains something more of the fearful consistancy of American character. This book shows the manner in which religious and political interests have been and continue to be polarized based on the presumption of self-interest and regional safeguarding.

An important book well worth yet another reconsideration in the light of current international events.

Alexander the Great, was born on or around July 20, 356 B.C.E., and is my favorite personality to read about in history. To me he is the whole package general, statesman, conqueror, and philosopher. The smartest man who ever lived, Aristotle, tutored him. Alexander conquered more of the known world than any other figure in history, accomplishing all this before he dies at the ripe old age of 33. Some people called him conqueror and violent overlord. Some other called him civilizer and even God! All of them yet, called him "The Great". He was the first man in modern history that took this name, "The Great"! Even as a young boy, he shows great promise.
Curtius' work is the oldest extant work available and based on eyewitness accounts. He does a better job than most in explaining the battle scenes, and seems to be more balanced in his admiration and criticism of Alexander then any of the other early biographers. I love his Bucephalus Story, and I recount it here so you get a flavor of the promise this young Alexander shows.

The legend begins with Philoneicus, a Thessalian, bringing a wild horse to Philip for him to buy. None of the hands was able to handle it, and Philip grew upset at Philoneicus for bringing such an unstable horse to him. Alexander, however, publicly defied his father and claimed that he could handle the horse. The bet between Philip and Alexander was that if Alexander could ride the horse, Philip would buy it, if not, Alexander would have to pay the price of the horse, which was 13 talents, an enormous sum for a boy of Alexander's age to have.

Alexander apparently noticed that the horse had been shying away from its own shadow, and so he led it gently into the sun, so that its shadow was behind it, all the while stroking it gently and whispering into its ear, (Alexander seems to be the original horse whisperer). Eventually the horse let Alexander mount him, and Alexander was able to show his equestrian skill to his father and all who were watching. The incident so impressed Alexander's father, King Philip that he told the boy "Look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of you, for Macedonia is too little for thee". He named the horse Bucephalus, which means Ox head, and rode it across Asia, founding a city in its honor in India after its death. This story gives you an inkling about the man.

This book is a must read for students of Alexander, I also recommend Plutarch's and Arrian's work. Contemporary writers, J.F. C. Fuller and Tarn. Most of Alexander's greatest military traits are in the area of military logistics and to understand his genius in this area I highly recommend reading, "Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army," by Donald W. Engels.

As a retired U. S. Army Major, I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in ancient warfare, and history.

Another book written on Alexander the Great,but different from the others. So many have written books about Alexander and yet in this book so many things I read for the first time.The book is very easy to read, ofcourse it is about the wars,conquers,of Alexander.The details that are not written in Arrian for example and Plutarch are several.I will give a few examples.
One of Alexander's speeches,outstandingly written to pursue the killer of Darius.
The Amazon queen meeting Alexander and what she demands of him.The Caspian discovered by the soldiers, what they see and feel about the salted water.The speech of Coenus on behalf of the soldiers, and Alexander's speech.The fight of the Indus river.
The Gedrosian desert,and the judgement of Philotas. All is strongly suggest that if you are an Alexander lover you should add this book to your reading. Enjoy.

Though not the definitive work on Alexander, Curtius provides detail not included by other sources. Sometimes hypocritical and biased, Curtius details the campaigns of Alexander with heavy focus on Alexander the person. To read this book is a must for anyone interested in Alexander. It is one of the primary sources and the fact that he is not as nice about Alexander (such as Plutarch or Arrian) may indeed do justice to the reader. This book can best be understood with the addition of Fuller's "The Generalship of Alexander The Great".

The most interesting and controversial, but not necessarily the most accurate, ancient biography of Alexander the Great. In addition to Arrian and Plutarch, you can't say you know all about Alexander until you read this book. Full of information not found in the other two biographies. Though it is often touted as not reliable, contemporary scholarship owes much of their increasingly negative opinion of Alexander the Great to this book.

I recently read a slew of books about Alexander the Great in anticipation of the movie. I have to admit that hile this academic text might be required reading of many college and high school history classes, I found Alexander the Great's Art of Strategy much more engaging, insightful, and fun to read. The battle descriptions in the this book are phenomenal. One feels like one is right in the middle of a battle. Rufus doesn't do such a great job.

King's work is largely a response to the most famous work on the subject of the Donner Party, Stewart's "Ordeal by Hunger." King's book focuses on details of the tragic story, and leaves the reader with a depth of knowledge on the subject. More casual readers may wish that King had provided a chronological overview of the events. This work seems to be aimed at readers already familiar with the basics of the Donner Party story, and criticizes Stewart's work on so many occasions, it is hard to see the work as anything but an effort to correct Stewart's errors.

I had the opportunity to know Joe King and know the accuracy of his work and the tenacity of his searches. My family traveled to California in 1846 and were rescueres of the Donner survivors. Joe received hundreds of personal and family letters and diary entrys from living family decendents and opened new ground in this story. Most of the previous works were penned shortly after the Donner Tragedy and were very pointed in that they tried to soften some of the controversy. Many of the survivors were still living and no one wanted to talk about the gastly events at Truckee Lake. Joe King sought out the facts from family members like myself, the Donner/Houghtons, the Breens and Reid decendents. His work was reviewed by the true historians and deemed to be one of great accuracy without the myth that surrounded this topic for a century.

The Kings' wonderful historical account of the Donner Party disaster is not a bit dry - and it's not revisionist either! You may disagree with me, so like the Kings I will explain my reasoning.

To be revisionist, the book would have to refute prior historical analyses - but there are none.

The authors summarize the nature, general treatment, and key theses of earlier accounts. If these summaries are accurate, theirs is the first serious, full-length scholarly treatment of the subject. The works they cite consist of some combination of wide-eyed tabloid-worthy speculation, uncritical rehashing of selected contemporary accounts and ruminations on their import, and/or imaginative, fictionalized scene-setting, in some cases with fabricated dialogue. None of this qualifies as historical analysis, which requires thorough, critical consideration and comparison of all relevant documentation.

As for "dryness" - whether the book is sufficiently juicy depends on what sort of beverage you're looking for. This is not byte-sized infotainment in a pop-top. Nor is it a frothy, yeasty TV-tailored morality play that titillates with scenes of human depravity peopled by halo'd heroes/heroines & and deliciously bestial villains. And, if you dig Donner Party mythology as an American "Lord of the Flies" that's better `cause it's "real" - this book's not your cup of tea.

So what is it then? Just a series of thoughtfully reconstructed glimpses into the lives of a group of very ordinary people who lived and struggled with extreme hardship in a world we can never really know - except through accounts like this, and through application of the insight we gain as we age and pass in our turn into the realm of history.

The Kings' analysis makes clear that while our technology has evolved and advanced, in many ways our culture has not. The authors show us aspects of that earlier time that can only disgust and shame us when we reflect on how little we have advanced in some respects - instantly recognizable is our own ravening appetite for news nuggets, heavily spiced with someone else's pain and loss.

But they also give us factual evidence, cleansed of lies and willful distortions, that can inspire hope. We too can survive and transcend painful circumstances - not just the physical and mental challenge of extreme deprivation, but the spiritual challenge of living a worthy life despite injustice and disrespect.

Personally, I love the way the book presents these people to us because I find ordinary people - the tragedy and nobility of our neverending struggle with human weakness and harsh circumstance - endlessly fascinating and inspiring. If you agree, you'll probably love it too.

If you're a "just the facts Ma'am" type, you'll like it because the authors cite their sources and explain their reasoning throughout the account so that you can judge for yourself if their conclusions are sound. There are also detailed references you can use to check out the original material.

And there's more. The authors do not just expose the vicious slanders and misrepresentations that persist to this day regarding some Donner Party survivors, they also explain the contemporary conditions that made this possible (maybe even inevitable).

The small-mindedness, hostility, and willful ignorance that feed racism and prejudice cannot be news to any contemporary reader; but the historically diverse range of targets, the virulence of contempt which each endured in turn, and the general acceptance of these hateful attitudes and resulting injustices, may be an eye-opener for some.

The Kings provide a window into a world that sometimes doesn't look pretty - in fact it looks quite a lot like ours on a bad day. The treatment of the Indian and French/Indian members of the party is especially shameful, both during the ordeal and after the rescue. The Irish and Germans fared better in the sense that (as far as we know) none of them were murdered outright for the cookpot. But those who survived had the pleasure of being pilloried and demonized in the popular press, down to this very day; while their "racially superior" companions are still hailed as heroes and heroines.

If we knew nothing but the raw facts of their plight - days in isolation, available calories and resources, original roster vs. final death toll - common sense should tell us that everyone suffered greatly, that survival demanded considerable stamina and resourcefulness - and that folks in a rush to trash their companions the moment they reach safety may not be the most sterling characters humanity has ever produced. But when we're salivating over a virtual smorgasbord of hot, steaming scandal, cool reason can't command much market share, can it?

It's unfortunate that while there's little hard evidence of depravity on the part of the "racially inferior" survivors, there is not always much in the way of contradictory evidence either. But in the case of the Breens, the irrationality and gross injustice of the characterizations that made a mockery of their strength, courage, and generosity is clearly revealed by the historical record.

The Kings' defense of the Breens is made credible not only by a lack of evidence supporting their demonization, but also by contradictory journal entries and other documentary sources.

To me, the most convincing contradiction is the manner in which they lived in the years following their rescue. Indeed, once we know the facts, they seem exemplary of the best characteristics we associate with our pioneer forebears - willingness to start anew from humble beginnings, great hardships surmounted, a new land made their own through hard work, sacrifice and thrift, and generous hospitality offered to any in need of it. The vision I get from the Breen record is of faith, honesty, and simple, open enjoyment of the well-earned pleasures of family and community.

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NOTES:

To put the slander of the Breens and other Donner Party immigrants into context, remember that one of the intellectual fads of the period among the eastern elite was a bastard adaptation of evolutionary theory applied to the social/political realm - so-called "Social Darwinism."

This pseudo-science was used to justify ruthless exploitation of - among others - immigrants, impoverished urbanites, and Midwestern small farmers frozen out of the market by artificially inflated transportation costs.

Blatant injustice and exploitation resulted in the rising popularity of socialist and communist movements that culminated in the Populist movement. Eventually, political elites bargained for stability by adding Populist-inspired planks to their party platforms - these eventually evolved into key social welfare components such as Social Security, Medicaid, federally-guaranteed student loans, etc.

Once the political necessity of placating the working class and courting their votes was recognized, overt cultural elitism was largely consigned to a subcultural underground. Racism survived in a variety of ugly regional manifestations however, most notably and openly as practiced in the South against persons defined as Negro or colored.

It never really went away anywhere though - as shown by the poisonous blossoming of concentration camps for citizens of Japanese descent during WWII.

Another particularly nasty example of racism's survival was the forcible relocation of Native American children to boarding schools where they were "educated" (with indifferent results). The children were not allowed any contact with their families for years - and were beaten if they spoke their own language or referred in any way to their traditions or culture. Many of them were sexually abused with impunity. The entire vile enterprise was state-sponsored emotional abuse of almost unparalleled cruelty.

Incidentally, if you are discouraged by the vicious mudslinging, anti-intellectual demagoguery, shameless pandering/outright lying, tacky consumerism, and coldhearted "got mine, #@% you" attitudes of some of our leaders & fellow citizens, don't despair!

Read up on the stuff that was going on during the period of American westward expansion! It makes our bad boys and girls look like a bunch of amateurs.

This should cheer you up, because the grasping vulgarity of that time did not permanently define our nation. We went on to score world-class achievements in science, scholarship, politics, arts, and more. Better yet, we took on the conscience-driven task of painful self-examination and reform - something we can all be proud of.

We can do it again, if we care enough to make the effort.

Winner of the Award of Merit from the California Historical Association in 1994, this book chronicles the travails of the infamous Donner Party, a wagon train of about eighty-seven people who in July 1846 started off for California via a new, untried route through the Sierras. Unfortunately, this particular wagon train of pioneers would go down in history due to the horror and tragedy that it was to meet along its way. Stranded in the Sierras amidst its harshest winter in years, with unparalleled snowfall and frigid temperatures. A little more than half of them, mostly women and children, were to survive their unbelievable deprivation and suffering.

This wagon train was a loose confederation of strangers who originally were part of another wagon train, but who collectively branched off by consensus to try a new, though untried and unproven, overland route through the Sierras that was alleged to be shorter. Their decision to take this new route was one that would haunt them for the rest of their journey, as it was not what it was purported to be. The inexperience of these travelers, the poor decisions that were sometimes made, and their seeming inability to truly unify as one entity contributed to their ultimate debacle. They were, after all, representative of humanity at large. Some of them were good, brave, and unselfish. Some were just the opposite. As a group, they were pretty much reflective of humanity in general.

Beleaguered by thirst as they trekked across a desert, marauded by Indians along the way, plagued by the loss of necessary oxen and cattle, beset by accidents and personal squabbles that would sometimes turn deadly, they would finally reach the Sierras and begin their perilous crossing, only to find themselves snowbound at the summit while within sight of the pass that they needed to cross to be home free. Trapped by the weather in early November, they would set up a make-shift camp, never thinking about just how long their encampment would last. With minimal food supplies at their disposal, these intrepid, westward-ho emigrants would find themselves trapped for months, facing incredible hardships that would tax them beyond human endurance. Some would resort to cannibalism in order to survive.

This is a well-researched book that offers a fresh look at the ordeal of the Donner Party. It probably would be better for the reader, if the reader were to have some prior knowledge about the Donner party, as this is not a strict chronological telling of the tale. Rather, it is a dissection of many of the issues that were to arise during the journey of the Donner Party with many digressions, while focusing on one family in particular, the Breens, as the author believes this family to have been very much maligned by earlier accounts of the Donner party.

The author is evidently quite critical of the classic book on the subject, "Ordeal by Hunger", written by historian George R. Stewart. This author, also a historian, spends quite a bit of time chastising Mr. Stewart and his research, which the author finds to be quite sloppy. He is particularly critical of Mr. Stewart's sometimes florid prose, claiming that Mr. Stewart's book reads more as if it were fiction, being more mythical rather than factual.

The author spends quite a bit of the book fervidly de-bunking some of Mr. Stewart's assertions of fact. The author also takes exception to Stewart's offensive characterization of some of the individuals in the Donner Party. These characterizations, while undeniably offensive, are reflective of the times in which the pioneers lived, as well as reflective of the time during which Mr. Stewart li