Historical-cost

I really enjoyed reading the book The Best Bargain Family Vacations in the USA. At the advice of this book, my family and I just went to Family Camp at the Centerville Mills YMCA Camp in Bainbridge Township, Ohio, over Memorial Day weekend 1999. We arrived at 10 a.m. Saturday and left at noon Monday. The $75 per person fee included six meals, two nights lodging in a dorm style lodge room, a lot of horseback riding on lovely trails (they have over 150 acres of land), canoeing in the little lake, making tie dyed t shirts, archery, a hay ride, a campfire with s'mores, a night hike, other nature hikes, and swimming in the pool. My son loved shooting bb guns and fishing - the little lake is stocked with bluegills. My daughter loved the Rodeo Games, and, of course, the trail rides. I am looking forward to trying some of the other "Best Bargain Family Vacations in the U.S.A." - this first one we tried was a real winner. Great book!

The author retells, in beautifully descriptive prose, the all too true story of the loss of a new mother, as recorded in the very first written journal by American pioneers, daring to pursue their dream into the Indian country frontier west of the Alleghenies. John Donelson's Journal of the Adventure tells how these hardy souls did not give up. Though beset by Dragging Canoe's tribe of rifle-armed, hostile Indians, by an outbreak of smallpox and by a terrifically cold winter producing impassable ice jams in their river path, these rugged souls persisted on flatboats over more than 1000 miles of arduous water trek to become founders of present day Nashville, Tennessee. I find the story, told in the first person, as anguished thoughts of the muted, grief stricken girl-become-woman, is extremely well written, as one would expect of its English professor authoress. I cannot wait to read her other books. I also testify to the accuracy of quotes from Donelson's The Journal of the Adventure, on which the story is based. I thank her for making once again alive the story of my gr-gr-gr-grandfather, Colonel John Donelson, and the hardy men, women and children who had faith in his dream, and that of James Robertson, leader of the frontiersmen who went overland to prepare a place for the new settlers. How they all anxiously hoped beyond hope for the safe arrival of their loved ones! Little did anyone suspect that, somehow, one child among them was destined to become the bride of the seventh president of the United States.

M.T. Dresser's historical novel, Freedom's Cost is everything a good historical novel should be. The setting of Dresser's book is post-Revolutionary America when the fledgling American nation is confronted by Indian uprisings and a strong British presence in the Great Lakes' region. The British refuse to honor the terms of surrender following General Washington's victory at Yorktown and continue to occupy several strategic forts in the region and foment the Indians against the Americans by supplying them with arms and intelligence. Understanding the importance of the Northwest Territories to the future of the new nation, Washington dispatches his most trusted spy, Alex Grant, to the wilderness to access the situation. Alex, of Scottish and Negro descent and a former slave, is adept at merging into the society of his adversaries, a skill he developed as Washington's spy during the Revolutionary War. From his excursions into the wilderness to the uprising in France, Alex, known to his Indian adversaries as "Many Wounds" because of the hardships and tortures he has endured in a lifetime of struggle, must draw upon his courage and indomitable will to survive and maintain his precious freedom.
Dresser's novel realistically mixes historical characters such as Washington, Lafayette, Jefferson, Paine, "Mad" General Wayne and others with her well-developed fictional characters. On the surface, Freedom's Cost is a thoroughly researched and an extremely well written novel that engages the reader from start to finish. At a deeper level, Dresser conveys the powerful message that freedom is fragile and often exacts a severe price in blood and tears from those who wish to embrace it.

A classic tasteful romance book. Not your garden variety.

This book was sooooo good. You might think that it is your average tale of a woman who is in love, but it is so not. This story has so many suprising events that you wouldn't know would happen. It really gives you a look on life that is normal. It is not a story that yeah is nice but isn't gonna happen in this life.It shows you all the ups and downs that come every day, and how they can be solved. This book really is something i couldn't put down and i would fully recommend it.

I purchased this book at a library booksale in my hometown almost 3 years ago and have just read it for the first time. Ms. Arnold makes the characters in her book, very literally, come alive. I began reading yesterday evening and continued until 1 AM. At that point, I was so overcome with gratefulness to God for all His mercy and grace that I got out of bed, went into the living room, and cried, praying and thanking my God for all he has done for me. I am going to make this book, along with "In His Steps," recommended reading for all the young people at our church. It is a fine example of how God can take the tragic consequences that arise when we try to run our own lives and turn them into good when we yield ourselves to His will.

I am always a bit nervous when beginning to read the work of an author that is new to me. It seems to me that in all genres, but especially that of Regency Romance, it is extremely difficult to predict the quality of writing and the research behind that writing.

This novel was a happy surprise. It is the first I've read by Emma Lange and it definitely made me want to buy more. The storyline is intriguing (an earl is forced by honor to marry a girl of good family when he mistakes her for a willing bedmate and takes her virginity--she's been drugged by an unscrupulous servant) and the romance is very well-developed. The secondary characters are, for the most part, well-fleshed out. I also enjoyed the fact that the main characters' family played a large part in the storyline and did not fall into the usual Regency role (established by the great Heyer) of dysfunctional, irritating hangers-on. And yes, she does get the titles right! I really recommend this book to those trying Lange for the first time--it's better than fluff!

I am conflicted on this book review. My first response would be that I was disappointed with the book. The title and dust jacket lead me to believe that the author was going to cover story after story of mean, nasty, back stabbing methods past Presidents had employed to get their way. Real tricky Dick Nixon type of stuff that makes people who are skeptical of politicians stand up and cry out "look at those scum!". What I got was a chapter length review of some of the past Presidents from Washington to Ike. Sure it was easy to read, but it did not have enough detail to really get into the topic. The author presented his book in a very nice and calm manner. My opinion is that with a book covering this subject, the author needs to be frank, direct and maybe have a little chip on his shoulder to get the right level of distain in his writing.

This author had not one disagreeable thing to say in the whole book. I got to the mid point and started to think that this author would be hard pressed to speak of criminals in a harsh tone. On the other hand the author did have a very easy to read and almost conversational way of writing. The pages flowed along and before I knew it I had completed the book. Did I learn a lot from the book, well some, but again not what I wanted. I wanted to sit and gawk at a train wreck and this author presented a view to a tea party. He was just so darn nice that I feel some obligation to give him a high mark on the rating.

In his book, Shenkman does an excellent job of ferreting out and explaining presidential ambition. While it may seem that Shenkman is concentrating on the negative, he is vigorously fair, and his ability to empathize with his subjects is his greatest asset. His central themes are:

1.Our presidents have been (from Washington onward) insatiably ambitious men who have done not-so-nice things to get and maintain power;

2.Their ambition and willingness to bend the rules often provided the leadership needed to steer the country through difficult times; and

3.Changes in the media, immigration, political parties, and technology forced presidents to take extreme measures to get and keep power.

What makes his book even more interesting is that he uses evidence from the historical record of presidents *before* Truman. And Shenkman spends a lot of time discussing presidents that most people know nothing about: Cleveland, Hayes, Buchanan, Polk (and his chapters on Buchanan and Polk are the best of the lot). This alone makes the book worth reading: I can't wait to suggest it to my blowhard uncle who claims Clinton was the first president besides Nixon to lie in office.

So why 3 stars, given that I am so enthusiastic about the content and the rigor of Shenkman's work? His writing has been called "breezy" and "journalistic". And his prose is both of those things, but there are times in this book that Shenkman gets in his own way with his self-conscious prose. He overuses two devices that should never, ever be overused in prose--sentence fragments and slang. The first time he used the word "caved" to describe a presidential capitulation, it was refreshing, but by the fourth I was tired of it. More annoying was his continued use of sentence fragments. Some of his points flourished with the punchy use of such informal prose; but in other cases, the device felt to me like an affection-an affection unworthy of someone like Shenkman whose prose in other places was indeed breezy and graceful.

That said, these problems are not serious enough to diminish the maturity of Shenkman's commentary. I think it is an excellent book for people (of any age) interested in the presidency. Some readers may be put off by Shenkman's moral relativism, and I guarantee the book would make for a lively discussion for a book group.

This book offers a fascinating insight into the lives of some of the men who have held the office of President. The author maintains that as times have gotten more complex, presidents are pressured to break the rules, lie and lend themselves to scandal to maintain political power. Shenkman poses and interesting question when he asks if the system is flawed or the individuals. He fairly concludes that both are flawed and proceeds to give example after example of how different presidents manipulated situations and circumstances to achieve and maintain their presidential ambitions.

The thing that I liked best about this book is that it spotlights some obscure presidents that you rarely hear about such as James K. Polk, James Buchanan and Chester A. Arthur. I particularly found the chapter on Franklin Pierce very interesting. He had high presidential ambitions but at the same time, he had to keep his ambitions a secret from his wife because she did not want him involved in politics.

The book does an excellent job of covering presidential amibitions up until the Eisenhower administration. After this, the author gives an abbreviated view of the Cold War, Vietnam and Watergate. I found this to be strange because it would seem that this period of American history would provide the most blatant examples fo men manipulating events and circumstances to maintain power and shape policy. In anycase, this was the only shortcoming that I didn't like but overall it is a very good easy to read book that is well worth your time.

This book shows how even the resistance movements against apartheid fell to the mercy of apartheid. White people who worked against apartheid were treated better than black people in prison and in court. A white person was less likely to be convicted in court of crimes against the state than a black person. Also, since many of the white people had economic privileges they could leave South Africa for other countries when the police harassed them. Also, many white people who worked with the ANC claimed to be communists but lived lavish lifestyles. This book focuses on the white aspect of the movement as its title suggests.

If you've read Mandela's 'Long Walk to Freedom,' and want to learn more about some of the people you met in that book, such as Helen Suzman, Ruth First, or Bram Fishcer, this book will take you day by day through their lives in the anti-apartheid struggle. Frankel weaves together the intricate threads of their stories to create a solid tapestry of experience.

For a human face on Apartheid. Read it if you want to explore idealism. Reading this book makes one think of the wellsprings of commitment to a cause. It is sufficiently engrossing that it is possible to imagine why one would join in to try and change an unjust society.