Flag

Don't bring any expectations to this read. The less you expect... the more you will enjoy this "gem", written by an actual Civil War veteran, who served in the Ohio 65th Volunteer Infantry. Although the regiment in the story is fictitious and from Indiana instead of Ohio, its experiences, roughly follow the experiences of the author's factual regiment. The battles in the story, though purposely unnamed, will be identified by a knowlegeable reader as those fought by the Army of the Cumberland... including Stone's River, Chickamagua, Chatanooga and the Atlanta Campaign.

The book, as it's title states, is about the life of a volunteer soldier. And peppered throughout it's excellent narrative, is authentic, sincere and heartfelt dialogue. Dialogue, written in the style of the way the men spoke, with all the ye's, ter's and reckons included. It took a little while accustomising myself to it, but shortly afterwards, I enjoyed the dialogue so much that I started reading it out loud.

Josiah Klegg is a young, enthuisiastic and patriotic recruit, who is unwise in the ways of the army. And Shorty "his pard", whom Si meets shortly after enlisting (or 'listing as they call it) is a hardluck Huckleberry Finn character. Though having had a rough lot in life, Shorty is a quick thinker and wise to the ways of the world. The two of them are "stayers", and together, they travel the long hard (and often painful) path from inexperienced recruit to veteran soldier.

Their personalities play off each other wonderfully. Shorty tolerates Si, who is naive and never short for expressing an opinion. And Shorty, always faithful and yet slightly dower, is continually uplifted by Si's irrepressable enthusiam.

There is much in this story of interest for the Civil War buff, including detailed descriptions of marching (blisters and all), camp life, hospital scenes and actual combat. In the end, this story is about the bonds that tie men together. If it is at all possible to understand the feelings men had for each other, during that terrible interlude in American History, you'll get closest, reading this book.

This is a very good book, much like Hardtack and Coffee, and it goes into details that John D. Billings did not cover. I give this 5 stars because it is a good insight on the camp life and more unknown things about the war for the Union. Late Lt. Col. WIlbur F. Hinman is an excellent writer with lots of humor and further insight.
I also would like to reccomend to the civil war buffs out there that they should buy it. This is a rare opportunity to buy a book that I looked for for 2 years! Never did I see it once and I was repeatedly told it was out of print and I would never find it. I never gave up my search and I decided (just for the heck of it), to search for it on amazon.com and I was amazed. One thousand thanks to Amazon.com. One cheer and a tiger for Corporal Si Klegg and his pard!!

EXCELLENT READ! ALTHOUGH A FICTIONAL CHARACTER; WE FOLLOW SI KLEGG AND HIS FRIEND SHORTY THROUGH HARD CAMPAIGNING, IN THE WESTERN THEATER. FROM HIS INITIAL ENLISTMENT IN AN INDIANA REGIMENT TO THE END OF THE WAR. THIS BOOK WAS INTERESTING AS WELL AS ENTERTAINING! IT IS OF NOTE THAT THIS NOVEL WAS WRITTEN BY A CIVIL WAR VETERAN. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. EXCELLENT.

This is one the great comic novels of the history of the world. I would expect it would not be quite the work to start out with, but for people aware of what Britain was like during the first days of WWII, this is pure pleasure.
The book, like most of Waugh's satires, contains a number of secondary characters who are often quite amusing. In this Waugh is the equal of Dickens (a comparison Waugh might not have appreciated), in his celebration of the English eccentric. From a technical execution the novel is rather interesting in that its main character, its anti-hero, Basil Seal, is somewhat of a character himself.

Basil Seal originally appeared in the work "Black Mischief" is a trickster, eternally on the lookout for a way of earning a dishonest living. Basil's life is complicated by the outbreak of war and the insistance by the women in his life to play a hero's part in it (preferably dying while do so, in the case of his mother).

Possessed of considerable guile he hotfoots it off to the country where he runs a profitable extortion racket involving three very undesirable war refugee children. These obnoxious brats manage to destroy most of the stately cottages of, if not the upper classes, then the upper middle classes.

Another central character in the book is Ambrose Silk. Silk wishes the war would go away and at the same time wonders what his role should be. Eventually he settles on publishing an arts magazine, whose most notable work celebrates his love for a German soldier is twisted into Nazi propaganda by Basil working as a counterespionage agent.
Though filled with topical humor, "Put out More Flags" manages to transcend the time in which it was written. It contains a number of thinly disguised portraits of famous people. If anyone is curious as to the various identities, I would recommend Humphrey Carpenter's excellent work, "The Brideshead Generation."

The work is also interesting for fans of Waugh as
well. It is the second to last of his "funny" books. The next books would take on a more serious tone. Waugh's next book would be Brideshead Revisited. With the exception of "The Loved One" Waugh's later works would take on a seriousness which ultimately would set him apart from his contemporaries. I also recently read "The Sword of Honour" Trilogy and it is interesting to compare this work with "Put out More Flags." The themes are similar, but the approach is markedly different. This book shows Waugh as a writer who had already conquered many worlds, but at the same time was preparing to take on new challenges.

Not even the traumas of World War II could put Evelyn Waugh's delightfully satirical pen on hold; the horrors of war expose the grimness beneath his humor and invite a new kind of irreverence. Consider a scene in "Put Out More Flags" (1942) in which a woman's husband has just been killed in combat and the man with whom she's been having an affair wastes no time in proposing marriage. Her lackadaisical response to this most solemn of requests: "Yes, I think so. Neither of us could ever marry anyone else, you know."

Like Wodehouse, but with greater subtlety, Waugh finds an underlying silliness in all types of characters and sets them up to be knocked down like ducks in a shooting gallery. In "Put Out More Flags," he dredges up some characters from previous novels and introduces them into comic situations within the context of the incipient European war (1939-1940). Foremost among them is Basil Seal, a thirty-six-year-old who is as unemployable as a six-year-old. His mother tries to help him get a prestigious position in the Army, but he blows it when he unintentionally and unknowingly insults the Lieutenant-Colonel of the Bombardiers. Fortunately, he is able to get a job with the War Department where he discovers that the secret to success is to level charges of Communism and Nazism against his (mostly) innocent friends and inform on them.

Basil's friends and family also make the most of war time. Ambrose Silk, a Jewish atheist, takes advantage of his job at the Religious Department of the Ministry of Information to start a fustian periodical. Alastair Trumpington, a pampered aristocrat, dutifully enlists as a soldier because he believes that "he would make as good a target as anyone else for the King's enemies to shoot at," while his wife Sonia waits for him in the car outside the training camp like a mother picking up her kid at school. Meanwhile, Basil's sister Barbara is allowing the use of their country estate as a shelter for poor people evacuating London for fear of German bombing raids; among them are a trio of insufferable brats named the Connollys who provide Basil with the fodder for an irresistible extortion scheme.

Waugh's great insight was the immediate recognition of the potential humor of the war's impact on the British class conflict, and therein lies his brilliance. His books are funny, but more importantly, they're every bit as intelligent, perceptive, and well-written as any "serious" novel, whose level of social consciousness they rival. The twentieth century needed an Evelyn Waugh, and we certainly could use one now.

It's vintage Waugh, standing halway between the farcical funny ones and the serious ones. He's unique in being a satirist of the idiocy of war who can also deal with patriotism and courage.
This is set in that strange time when Britain had just gone to war but France had not fallen. You meet some characters from his other books. This added to the pleasure for me but I don't know if it's the one I would recommend to someone who'd never read any Waugh before. It also helps if you know something about the 1930's British literary scene and can recognize who is being satirized. Parsnip and Pimpernell are presumably Auden and Spender. I've heard of various candidates fir being Ambose Silk.

Despite it being 27 years old (and as a result, having a number of now-obsolete flags in it's world flags segment), Dr. Smith has made a wonderful book of flag history, definitions, and other information for those folks like me who are intrigued by flags. This book (taking into account it's age) is by far the best reference book on flags that I now have. Thank you, Dr. Smith.

I just bought this classic in first-rate condition from a used/rare bookseller two weeks ago. What a treasure it is! It is a joy to behold, to browse, to read. The author's writing style is a bit ponderous, but that's acceptable in view of the wealth of information that he offers. The book does need updating: it's missing some information that I have in some other vexillology books (e.g., Znamierowski and Crampton) and contains a couple of subtle errors. But this criticism does nothing to dissuade me from endorsing it most highly. It's terrific!

I have owned this book since it first was published, and I love it. I read it cover to cover about once a year. It is factual, accurate, comprehensive and beautiful. The histories of several nations' flags makes me want more of the same for more countries and their flags. A section on the flags of Japanese provinces was the first time I had ever seen flags like that, which display the influence of Oriental art. But so much has changed in the last 25 years. New countries have been born; old countries have changed (and sometimes rechanged) their flags. I don't know if Dr. Smith is still alive; but couldn't someone update and enlarge the scope of this book? I know I would pay as much as $100 for a new edition -- IF it were as good as this edition is.

I read this book many years ago and I still have a copy on my shelf. I think all parents who have strong feelings about nuclear disarmament should read this to their children and use it as a jumping off point to discuss nuclear weapons, war, and the impact that softspoken leaders like Mahama Ghandi and little Georgie (the book's main character) can have when our nations' leaders let fear prevail over morality. I also believe it reminds those who seek to use the flag as a symbol of blind patriotism and allegiance to American military actions that pacifists can be patriots, too. There is so much to carry away from this simple, but elegantly written book that an elementary or junior high school student can understand and appreciate... it certainly speaks to many of the issues that are being debated in the current political climate.

I just got this book out of the library, and it was GREAT! I thought it looked dumb, but when I picked it up, I couldn't stop reading. Georgie leads the march and they walk to washington, DC. Preisident Toby isn't real, but the author makes him sound so real! My favorite characthers are Georgie and Weezie. To bad this book is out of print.

I read this book when I was a kid! And it still sticks with me after all these years. All I remember is this chick walks to washington dc. Pretty cool though. I'd buy it if I were you. Too bad it's out of print.

Pam Munoz Ryan is a wonderful writer. I love the book The Flag We Love. I love all the interesting facts about our flag. My favorite page is when she explains Betsy Ross who created the American Flag. I really enjoyed reading about our flag.

I enjoyed the book The Flag We Love. I found out by her, and Ralph Maseillo the true meaning of the book. It's about the history of the Flag. It's a very sad book, but also very interesting, fun facts, and just great to feel how many lives were lost so we could have our freedom! My favorite part in the Flag We Love is when I saw the wall of all the soldiers that died in the Viet Nam War. I just don't think elementary students would like this book, but also a higher grade! It's an educational book, but it is also a very wonderful book! I think if you have not read The Flag We Love then you should try it!!

This book is a great way to teach children about the Amnerican flag through rhyme and pictures. You can focus primarily on the rhymes for younger children and then focus on the factual information given as a sidebar on each page for older children. Wonderful resource!

This book should not just be read my Southerners, but by all Americans. While just a fictional story, the author gives excellent examples of how the "race card" is being used to often in our country today, and what it could possibly lead to in the future. Hopefully this book will shed some light to those walking in the dark.

Mr. Lenard has created a fast-paced, brilliant book. This is well worth reading by any American....but especially the Southern population who may not be aware of what is and has transpired the last few years toward those individuals that still hold the "Southern" traditions and ideals with much respect and honor.

Even though Mr. Lenard's book is a fictional read, the subject matter of the book has been in the national news many times since the publishing of the book.

It is very sad that many American's do not know their own history. And even scarier is that many will believe anything that they view on television news or newspapers.

In conclusion, I could not put this book down. A true page-turner indeed.

This is a chilling account of anti-South bigotry run amuck. It is fictional---for now. Read this and prepare yourself for the fight to keep our cherished Heritage. Hopefully if we all become aware of what could happen, we can keep this story from becoming reality. Fly the Flag!

Seldom do I see a business book that captures one compelling metaphor and carries it out over an entire book like this one did. The writing is good, detailed, and clear. Further, the book is filled with valuable team-building exercises that will improve communications and effectiveness, as well as work satisfication. If you work with manufacturing teams in the automotive industry, this book will be extremely valuable to you. In fact, it may function at beyond a five star level. On the other hand, if you work in high technology away from the NASCAR circuit and do most of your communicating in a virtual team by e-mail and shareware, this book may not seem very relevant.

The book's main weaknesses are part of its strengths. If you do not follow NASCAR, a lot of the metaphor will be lost on you. For that reason, I think the book would have worked better with more metaphors or one that was more universal than this one. The exercises are very good for bringing out differences and welding them together into an effective team, but they seemed very dependent on having a facilitator. I suspect that this facilitator would normally have to be from outside the team, for best results. Many organizations would not have the resources to draw on facilitators this much. Also, for short-term ad hoc teams, the exercises here could be overkill. There was not enough guidance about what you could cut back on, in those circumstances.

Also, I have seen a lot of team-building exercises blow up due to inexperienced facilitators. This book would not provide enough guidance to the neophyte facilitator on what to do, should a heated disagreement occur.

I graded the book down one star for its facilitator-intensive approach.

After you have finished enjoying new ways to improve team effectiveness, I suggest that you think about where people should work in teams but do not in your organization. What are the costs of this approach? What would have to be done to switch over to teams in those areas? Focusing on those opportunities may be an even bigger payoff than making your existing teams more effective.

May you enjoy the race, as your team is able to move faster, more safely, and more efficiently!

In today's increasingly complex business environment, "speed" has become the mantra of successful organizations. The ability to learn and adapt to changing conditions more quickly than the competition is what separates the winners from the losers. In their book, Checkered Flag Teams, Renee Merchant and Jo Ellen Roe capture the centrality of speed in the modern business environment by creatively building their presentation of team development around an auto racing theme. The auto racing theme also provides an interesting juxtaposition by demonstrating the importance of teamwork in a sport that to an outsider seems more of an individual endeavor.

The primary strength of the book is that it is based on a theoretically eloquent and easy-to-understand model of teamwork. I have never been overly fond of Tuckman's model of team development because it focuses too heavily on the social dynamics of teams while ignoring the crucial element of the tasks that the team was created to accomplish. The authors' model of team development (presented on page 31), however, corrects this weakness by providing a convincing case for the need to balance task and process issues in team development.

The more obvious strength of the book is that it provides a number of "tools" for developing effective teams. These team activities are indexed early in the book, so you can quickly locate just the activity that you need. The instructions and rationale for each activity are precise and easy to follow, so that even novice team leaders should be able to employ them successfully. In addition, most of the team activities are fairly brief and to the point which makes them perfect for teams on the move.

I especially recommend the book for teams that are just getting started, as it provides an excellent toolkit for getting teams off to good start. Though it also provides a nice reference for team leaders in any field who are working to develop their team facilitation skills or are just looking for some creative new team building activities.

Checkered Flag Teams: Driving Your Workplace Into The Winner's Circle employs an automotive racing template to provide the corporate manager an up-beat approach to having a strong business team utilizing a "Fast Start Teamwork" process. Authors Renee Merchant and Jo Ellen Roe provide the reader with more than thirty tools and activities that anyone who drives a car can relate to. Included is a completely new communications style inventory, "CARStyles", inspired by the type of vehicle team members prefer to drive. Checkered Flag Teams is highly recommended reading for corporate policy makers, human resource directors, managers, supervisors, team members, consultants, and aspiring entrepreneurs.

They say the school children aren't taught much about Pearl Harbor and the great battles of World War II anymore and I wonder why. The generation of Americans that fought for all Americans is fast disappearing. Beore that happens books like Flags of our Fathers should be required reading for one of the high school history courses to educate the kids about the sacrifices made by 17-20 yr old boys in 1945. I was16 at the time yet I did not understand how vital the battle of Iwo Jima was to the victory over Japan; of how determined the Niponese soldiers were to fight to the death for the glory of their emperor; how brave our boys were to face the onslaught of all the guns and bullets thrown at them even as they stepped off the landing ships thru the ocean water turned red by the Marines blood. No wonder the few survivors did not want to talk about the night mares they endured for years after returning home. This book along with other stories of WW II should be read by all of us in memory of each man and woman who answered their country's call to defend our lives and the way we chose to live it. Otherwise we might be speaking Japanese or German today.

Born in 1974, I can hardly claim to have experienced the terror and patriotism that surrounded WWII. By all accounts, the picture of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi has always existed for me. In ever history book through school, the six men hoisting the American flag on a makeshift pole atop this sawed-off "mountain" was printed as the epitome of American valor. Little was mentioned about the people or the event that surrounded this monumental photograph. Now, thankfully, we know.

This book is an absolute must-read. At once a biography of each of these six brave men, a history book, a war novel, and a tale of struggle, this book should find its way onto the bookshelf of every American. The lives of these men before, during, and after the battle of Iwo Jima is enough to fill you with great sadness and immense patriotic pride simultaneously.

This book is as relevant today as it could have been had it been published 55 years ago. While it is quite usual to hear words like honor, courage, and commitment strewn about by talking heads that pervade our society and media, it is rare to see these demonstrated by actual human beings. The stories of these men will show that that even under great strain the human spirit can thrive, and that occaisionally our heroes can be taken at face value.

However, as Bradley points out, these men were not heroes for raising that flag on Mount Suribachi. They, like every other American boy who set foot on foreign soil for God and country half a century ago, were heroes for the simple act of being there and doing the best they could.

Buy this book.

My father ran away from home when he was 17, lied about his age, and joined the Marines. He was standing guard duty on the Panama Canal when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He shipped out almost immediately for the South Pacific as part of the First Marine Division. He served on Guadalcanal and Bougainville. That is almost the entire extent of my knowledge of my father's World War II experiences. Although I lived with him until I went away to college, he just didn't talk about it. Reading this book by James Bradley helped me to understand that I am not alone in this experience.

Our fathers' generation fought a war without daily body counts on the evening news, without "embedded" journalists, and without carping from the home front about why they shouldn't be there. They fought it quietly and stoically. They won their war, and the survivors came home to get back to the business of being human. This is a great book with many lessons for a country facing a war against terrorism. May God grant that we fight it as effectively, successfully, and heroically as our fathers' generation fought their war.

I felt like I was there. I could feel my eyes stinging and my heart pounding with every page describing the battles. These scenes were some of the best I've ever read. However, the book seemed to drag toward the end. Still, it was a proud book that honors the military that will make you want to salute all the veterens you know.

This is a most moving book about heroism born of necessity; of ordinary men who, as young marines, were propelled into the hideous island battles of the Pacific during WW2. The book tells the stories of the men who raised the flag, of those who died and those who lived, and what happened to them afterwards.

Ex-combatants sometimes find that peacetime doesn't bring happiness and the story of Ira Hayes' inablity to cope is poignant. The one who found peace, the author's father, was the one who was able to let go.

This book introduced me, a European, to a part of the war I'd known little about. It also, to my astonishment, challenged my revulsion about the use of the bomb. It puts into context the military realities of the time and the likely human cost of an invasion of Japan.

This is a human story, well told with honesty, compassion and pride.

Flags of Our Fathers is a grand book by James Bradley. It is about the small island of Iwo Jima is in the pacific region. It is a Japanese controlled airstrip close to the country of Japan. The Americans wanted to take control of this very small island because it is a prime place to re-fuel and land aircraft on, the island before they go to attack Japan. This book is about six men and the rest of the Marines and Navy that all go to the island to take control of it.

Those six men fought on that island and they raised the flag on top of Mount Suribachi. They started the famous image taken by Mr. Rosenthal.

This in my view is the greatest book in world. It is a very touching and emotional book. It was sad and really spoke to me. It is hard to believe that these men were just doing their duty.
I recommend this splendid book to anybody that wants to read a very touching book about the heros of Iwo Jima.

What starts out as a witty account of the origins of "The Star Spangled Banner" and the text to it, continues into repetitions and ends with endless reprints of Supreme Court decisions and congressional hearings. Points go to the author for reminding us of the half-forgotten war of 1812 and for giving us a good overview. Pity he could not stop in time.

Just to preface the review: I was sitting in a restaurant reading this book when the waitress asked me what I was reading. I explained the book, and she said who was on the cover. I said it was a picture of Francis Scott Key. She said, "Oh, the man they named the Florida Keys after."

For those Americans who don't know their history, particularly the often untold truths of the War of 1812 and the contentiousness over our national anthem, this book is a perfect place to start. It's short, informational and at times very humorous. Molotsky brings the reader history and current debate on topics such as flag burning and how to preserve that wonderful flag that flew over Fort McHenry.

I learned some new things in this book, and if the response from the waitress is any indication, this country is in need of a few more history lessons. This a short read but the value cannot be underscored.

As an author of a novel in its initial release that addresses, among other themes, the essence of what makes an American an American, I genuinely enjoyed Irvin Molotsky's THE FLAG, THE POET, & THE SONG. Mr. Molotsky, a semi-retired newspaperman, spins a wonderful tale about the history of our national anthem. This book is light. It is a popular history. It is amusing, yet it is most enlightening. Mr. Molotsky presents a history of the War of 1812, which led directly to Francis Scott Key's composing of the poem that became the song. He discusses the American invasion of Canada (yes, we did invade Canada) and the burning of Toronto (then York) that led to the British infamous torching of Washington (I bet that was in your history books). He also paints a portrait of Francis Scott Key (a distant relative of F. Scott Fitzgerald whose masterpiece THE GREAT GATSBY was briefly called UNDER THE RED, WHITE, & BLUE--which I used for the title of this review) who reluctantly joined the militia during the war. Mr. Molotsky additionally explains the compostion of the poem, its linkage to a British drinking song, and its evolution into the national anthem with the final two words "Play Ball!" THE FLAG, THE POET, & THE SONG is a informative book. It is well-written. I recommend it highly.