MO

Philip Ziegler was Mountbatten's official biographer. However, he claims in the preface to the book not to have been subject to any censorship, and given the frankness with which he acknowledges his subject's flaws, one can believe his claim. Mountbatten was a close relative of the British royal family; Prince Philip is his nephew, and he regularly referred to Queen Elizabeth as his niece; and he was also a close confident of Prince Charles. He was quite ambitious, and not above using his royal connections to advance his military career. How successful that career was is open to some debate. There is no question about his physical courage -- indeed, he may have had too much of it. As Field Marshall Mountgomery enjoyed pointing out, Mountbatten had three destroyers sunk under him during the early part of the war. Later, he oversaw the Dieppe raid, which was one of the worst fiascos of the war -- a large commando raid on a fortified port resulted in near elimination of some units by German forces composed in many cases of file clerks and cooks. This loss did not stop his career, however; he ended the war with the command of the Burma theater, where he seems to have performed well. After the war, he became the last British Viceroy of India, with the task of working out a peaceful transition from British rule. That was a failure, as hundreds of thousands died in riots between Hindus and Muslims. The Muslims could have been forgiven for suspecting Mountbatten's neutrality; his wife was carrying on an affair with the Indian leader Nehru. Mountbatten was no saint in these matters, and could hardly complain. Mountbatten was murdered in 1979 when the IRA put a bomb on his boat. Why they did this has never been clear. Mountbatten had never been involved in Irish affairs, and at almost 80 years of age played no important part in the Government.

Ziegler does a good job of capturing Mountbatten's charm -- almost everyone who met him liked him -- and his vanity -- after Elizabeth became queen, his aides would compete to see who could be the first to get him to refer to "my niece, the Queen." Curiously, Ziegler begins the book with a description of Mountbatten enjoying reading books on his family tree, an opening that is quite similar to that of "Persuasion" by Jane Austen. The similarity is odd because the character in Austen's novel is a fool and a snob with no ability, and no other claim to distinction. That could not be said of Mountbatten.

Mountbatten lead a truly interesting life, and Ziegler has produced what is likley to be the definitive biography of that life. His honesty is such that one need not be an uncritical admirer of Mountbatten to enjoy this biography.

In the steamboat era, St. Louis, Gateway to the West, was the fourth largest city in the US, while Chicago was little more than a crossroads. If one were to write a history, the first chapter would be the story of the railroad system built by the State of Missouri. It included a network of roads--Missouri Pacific, Frisco, Iron Mountain, and North Missouri (Wabash)-designed to fan out across the state bringing all traffic to St. Louis. Stock was sold to land owners and county governments, who hoped railroads would increase the value of land-locked land. Bonds were guaranteed by the state.

But Chicago interests, unencumbered by threats of Civil War, won the competition. Backed by Boston financiers, they completed the Hannibal and St. Joseph (CB&Q) across the state before completion of any of the state railroads. Along the way, 43 were killed on the inaugural run of the Missouri Pacific when a bridge over the Gasconade River collapsed. Those killed included some of the most progressive boosters in the state. The state railroads went bankrupt. The state assumed their debts. Missourians paid twice for their railroads. Costs that were scandalous in construction of the Transcontinental Railroad through mountainous terrain, were paid quietly by Missourians for railroads built through their rolling hills.

In the second chapter, Missouri interests hoped that Kansas City or St. Joseph would be selected as the Eastern terminus of the Transcontinental Railroad. Possibly a Southwestern route would be built from Kansas City that would avoid the difficulties of keeping a railroad passable through the mountains in Winter. Again Chicago interests won. Omaha was selected (and railroad building across Iowa took off with vigor).

Jackson's volume describes the third chapter. Chicago had built a drawbridge across the Mississippi at Davenport, IA, in 1855, but it was destroyed by a steamboat collision and fire in 1856. A young Abraham Lincoln represented the railroad in a lawsuit filed against the bridge company (and supported by St. Louis interests). He won the argument that bridges must permit free passage of both railroads and steamboats. Now forces were building to build more Iowa bridges. St. Louis needed a bridge to compete, but the Mississippi in St. Louis is a much more formidable obstacle and bridge building was still a primitive art. Enter James Eads, not really an engineer, but a charismatic, accomplished, doer of projects. He had backing from Pennsylvania Railroad interests (the leading US railroad, whose tracks ended on the East side of the river at St. Louis). Active in the bridge project were president, J. Edgar Thompson, vp Thomas Scott, and Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie is best known as the builder of what became US Steel in Pittsburgh, but he began his career at the Pennsylvania Railroad, where his business skills were noted. He was protege to Thomas Scott. In the Eads' Bridge story, he was present as representative of Keystone Bridge, a private company founded by Pennsylvania Railroad interests to specialize in the construction of iron bridges especially for railroads. Keystone constructed the bridge to James Eads' design.

Author Jackson notes the Pennsylvania Railroad's interest in the Texas Pacific and the Northern Pacific as well as the Atlantic and Pacific (Frisco) and North Missouri (Wabash) in Missouri and suggests this indicates a desire to build a transcontinental railroad system. Its more likely the Pennsylvania thought it important to take care of its feeder lines. Railroads make their money on ton miles. Freight that runs the length of the system is most profitable. Therefore, its important for an East-West system like the Pennsylvania to maintain relationships with lines to the West so they can swap traffic. They do this with personal relationships, and by lending management expertise (as board members) and prestige to assist with financing-preferably without investing the railroad's own capital.

In an age of Enron and Adelphia, its interesting to see the ethics involved in some of the transactions. Robber barons like Jay Gould are known to have bled railroads dry while operating them in bankruptcy. Usually this was accomplished by executives personally owning businesses that sold key supplies to their own railroad-coal, railroad ties, bridges, etc. Profitable construction companies was the device used in the Credit Mobile scandal related to the Transcontinental Railroad. The book suggests that executives of the Pennsylvania Railroad also engaged in these self-dealing practices, practices that would be considered unethical today.

The book tells the full details of the construction of the bridge including the use of caissons to sink the pier foundations to bedrock and the discovery of the bends as the affliction of workers who worked in high air pressure and decompressed quickly. The bridge is mostly iron but used some of the first steel, and fabrication of this steel was troublesome. Numerous difficulties were encountered. The book includes copious illustrations. Its well written and tells the story well.

The book ends in chapter four of our railroad history. Jay Gould becomes the owner of most Missouri railroads and leasee of the Eads' Bridge. He assembled the structure (after years of delay) that finally created a terminal railroad association to construct the first Union Station and the necessary trackage to connect the bridge and the railroads of St. Louis. Other sources indicate Jay Gould's railroad empire in Missouri was assembled to force admission to the Iowa Pool, a revenue sharing arrangement for the lines that connected with the Transcontinental Railroad. He failed in that aspect, but succeeded in being a robber baron, though his empire collapsed soon after his death.

In the end, Eads' Bridge probably came too late to have much impact on the St. Louis-Chicago competition. It did alleviate a serious bottleneck that otherwise might have been a limitation, but the bridge was expensive, and the tolls charged by Jay Gould were high. According to Jackson, the bridge still had $5MM in bonded indebtedness recently-even now long after it is obsolete, but it still is a much deserved landmark to the Spirit of St. Louis.

I picked this book up off a used book rack in some tiny town while backpacking through India. What a great read, especially since I had previous knowledge of the situation in East Timor (upon which this book is based) from my activist days in college. A revealing book about inner strength and weakness, the will for survival, and one man's struggle between his principles and his comfort all in the backdrop of a tropical guerrilla war. Probably hard to find these days, but if you can, get this one and read it.

Taking Care Of Yoki is an excellent book for young kids. It shows both that girls can take charge and do something right and that you should stick with your heart to make good decisions. By the first few pages in the book you fall in love with Yoki the milk delivery wagon horse and after that you feel like you are right there in St. Louis with Barbara Ann the girl who rescues Yoki from the glue factory.

The stout-hearted title can be a little misleading for it ultimately purports to answer the most redundant question ever proposed. Nonetheless it is quite funny and the artwork is exquisite. Great as a little gag gift for anyone needing to give their spirits a lift.

Many Polish, German and Bohemian Jewish settlers traveled to St. Louis in the 1800's because of the growing community of Jews there, and the ease of travel over major rivers. The community developed from around 1810 on through the end of the 19th century and continues today.

This book documents the history of large numbers of Jewish families and synagogues, schools and business in the St. Louis area. Using newspapers, city and county records, published works and genealogy studies Ehrlich has provided a valuable resource for students and historians alike.

The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, is a good book to read. The plot of the story is set around a mother and her two children; Laura and Tom. The mother, Amanda, is a very proud woman and wishes the best for her children. The only problem is that her daughter, Laura, is crippled with a bad leg and extreme shyness, which keeps her from interacting with the outside world. Her brother, Tom, has stepped in to take the role of the father in the family. He works to support the family but often find himself bored with his job. To fix this problem, he does whatever he can to take his mind off his life.

There are a couple things I do not like about this book. I think that the main reason I did not like this book is because it was so short. Because it was so short, the book did not have a very interesting plot. It also lacked very much emotion and thoughts from the characters, which made it hard to see the world from their shoes.

But there were also a few things that I did like that made the book easier to read. First, the book was in the form of a play. This showed you exactly who was talking. There were also very few characters with each of them having distinctly different personalities. This kept the story from getting confusing like Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," which has like five characters with names that sound alike .The ending of the book was decent but it could have been better if it did not leave the reader with so many questions.

Overall the book was a good read. I would suggest it to everyone even though it has some flaws and dull points.

We liked to read this play even though it is a tragic story. The father left his family a long time ago and so Amanda ( the mother) had to bring up her children of her own. Now she is looking for a gentleman caller for her crippled and shy daughter Laura. Her son, one of the main persons in the story but also the narrator, earns the money for the family. But he isn't satisfied with his job at the warehouse and with his whole life. Well, if you're curious now how the story will go on, then you have to read the play. The story is full of symbols. For example the glass menagerie is like Laura, very fragile and tender. It also shows the unrealistic world in which the family lives, especially Laura and Amanda. We really can recommend to read this play. It's really great.

THE GLASS MANAGERIE, written in 1944, is a painfully poignant drama about a crippled girl, Laura Wingfield, who is so shy and insecure that she spends her days in her mother's house, playing old phonograph records left by her father, who deserted the family long ago, and caring for her collection of glass figurines ("the glass managerie"). Laura's mother, Amanda, is an old-fashioned "southern belle," charming but emotionally weak; though she finds fault with Laura and her shyness, Amanda lives in her own world of illusions. She dreams of a business career for Laura; when this fails, she dreams that Laura will find a handsome "gentleman" to marry. Aside from the "gentleman caller," the other character in the play is Laura's brother, Tom, who also dreams - of being an artist, another "Shakespeare." Tom is both a character in the drama and its narrator; in this way, THE GLASS MANAGERIE is a "memory play": its action is RECOUNTED by a narrator, Tom.
The similarities between this play and both A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE and Arthur Miller's DEATH OF A SALESMAN are striking. All three of these works deal with the contrast between illusion - dreams -and reality. In STREETCAR, Blanche du Bois is a delicate, refined "southern belle," who prefers to live in a dream-world; in this way she is like both Laura and Amanda Wingfield. But I find the parallels with SALESMAN even more interesting. These begin with the opening stage directions, which describe the set of the Wingfield's house as having transparent walls (so that Tom can narrate, then walk through the walls into "the past" to become a character in the play) and as being located in an overcrowded section of town. In SALESMAN, the Lomans' home has transparent walls for the very same purpose - so that the characters can exist both in the present and in the past - and is at the same time shown to be "boxed in" with many other houses, showing the desperation and helplessness of the family's situation. Like Willy Loman, Amanda has great but unrealistic hopes for her children. And like Biff Loman, Tom Wingfield is bored with his menial job and dreams of being free to create and to go where he likes. Jim, the gentleman caller, also resembles Biff in that he was a success in high school but now, six years later, is only a shipping clerk - yet he believes in the myth that a winning personality will eventually make him a success. That MANAGERIE and the later SALESMAN resemble each other in so many respects means that Miller must have admired and learned from Williams. Indeed, the twentieth century was extremely fortunate to have had these two great dramatists writing practically simultaneously. THE GLASS MANAGERIE is certainly one of the jewels from that golden age -- the 1910's to the 1950's -- of American drama.

My week off work has been spent with my nose buried in novels. Out of the six I've plowed through this week (all by Black authors) All American Dream Dolls is my favorite. It reminds me a bit of "She's Come Undone" by Wally Lamb, except Deneen has soul, a sharp wit, and a way with words. I admit the first 40 or so pages left me wondering "What the hell?" But the real fun began when she was fully ensconsed in her mother's house, and was fully aware of her state of mind (totally crazy). I laughed out loud more than once, and also found myself completely relating to ole girl! David Haynes accurately writes from Deneen's point of view, that of a woman who needs a little time out from the world, and finds it in snack foods, hot sex, and hair-do's. I've got other books by the author, but this one, by far, is my favorite. It's one of the books you can give to friends at Christmas - if they have the sense of humor and wit to "get" this novel, that is. KUDOS!

This book is one of those surprise reading experiences. Begun with very little expectations to speak of, I soon found myself on a fast-paced, no-holds-barred adventure to . . .

In the crazy 1990s Haynes' Deneen is a heroine for single working women all over . . . Exhale, and get your s@*! together! This story is at once hilarious and wise. Pass it on . . .

KDP Toronto, Ontario

as i sat in my bed, munching on junk food and reading this book, i kept looking around wondering where the hidden camera was! david haynes aptly captures some of the moods women experience with his depiction of deneen. she is a well drawn character that i could totally identify with.

as with his other books, haynes creates a subtle theme that, if you allow it, will slowly blend into your mind. i find myself thinking about some of the themes that he talks about, such as learning to love self or buying into commercial concepts of beauty. his story craftily weaves the theme within the plot so well that you don't realize that your view point may have been changed.

the theme and the subject will not bat you over the head. haynes employs a light touch in his writing style, so if you are looking for a formula type of story, then you won't find it here. instead, read about the characters, read about their development and let the characters reveal to you the connecting thread of their story.

all of this and a wry humor, too. mr. haynes should be lauded for his skill in developing interesting characters and weaving their lives within an engaging and subtle theme, as well as his consistent use of humor.

The book sounded interesting when reading a synopsis, but after reading it was not as good as it could have been. It was an interesting read due to the fact that it was done in the first person, but that is about all I can say.

The main character is definitely twisted, in his logic and everything else. To think that he could be that quick on his feet with his thinking, especially when he has been drinking etc, brings it down. Definitely not the worst book that I have read (thus 2 stars and not one), but not all that great either. Hopefully he can do better with his next novel. There is potential, but it was not fulfilled here.

Everything is going right in Jake Conason's life. He is a college student at Washington University in St. Louis. He has a beautiful girlfriend who he is very serious about and plans to marry. He is a popular member of a fraternity yet manages to take school serious, has excellent grades and is an excellent prospect for one of the top law schools in the country. Everything is going right until one fateful night when he commits an indiscretion then a horrific crime. To keep his future prospects intact, Jake must do all he can to cover it up-- even if it takes murder.
Cornell Woolrich wannabe, Andrew Lyons has managed to hit a home run his first time at bat. The plight of antihero Jake Conason is so compelling that the book is virtually impossible to put down. The well paced and clever plot lacks originality but makes up for it in pure fun. This is the type of suspenseful thriller that few debut novelists attempt to write. So many of these first time authors write amateur detective stories that they are difficult to distinguish from each other and most are quite forgettable. Perhaps this type of suspense tale is very difficult to construct. However, the ending lacked originality and any semblence of realism. This marred an otherwise excellent debut effort.

Andrew Lyons writes a captivating suspense story that demonstrates his talent. It took me 28 hours to finish the book during which time I competed in a triathlon and went to a Rams football game...ie I had trouble putting the book down once I started. Mr. Lyons, when is your next book?

I really wanted to like this book. I admire women who are comfortable with the bodies they have, regardless of what size or shape those bodies might be. However, I found the tone of this book to be insulting and rather hypocritical. Our society's treatment of overweight people can be incredibly cruel, but that doesn't make it okay to diss skinny women. I am a size four, and this book made me feel bad about myself in the same way that fat jokes make larger women feel. I found certain parts of this book quite funny (though I sometimes found myself wincing even as I was laughing), and I really admire Mo'Nique for the things she's overcome in her life. I also like her conversational prose style, but the pervasive attitude against skinny women who don't harbor some secret desire to be big really turned me off. Major kudos to Mo'Nique for loving the skin she's in, but she doesn't need to put other people down to express that.

Now while the last thing I want to do is give any hint of an agreement with some of those who hated this book just because it's pro-fat (since those individuals are sickeningly bigoted), this book lame.
Look, I'm thrilled about fat acceptance. I am.
And Mo'nique is my girl.
But the woman can't write and her editor can't edit! Paragraphs that stretched through an entire page, rambling about a few very mundane life experiences, ect ect. I tried so hard to get through this book but I just plain couldn't. I trudged halfway and got mired down in the rambling.
I liked everything she had to say, but I didn't like her lack of writing style. And while it may be true that she likes to eat a lot, I think that isn't the case at all with most fat women who actually on average eat as much as skinny evil women. I'm glad she's comfortable with her lifestyle, but she neglected to point out that she's the embodiment of the stereotype (which should not be shameful) and not all fat women are. Lots of fat women can excercise with the best of them and have the appetites of birds but remain gorgeously heavy.
Conversely, I appreciated that she could brag about eating a lot, since many of the fat acceptance gurus blow their trumpets about how fat girls DON'T eat more, which actually seems to make eating into a criminal act.

Also, she was hatin a little too much on the skinny girls, it got a bit ridiculous. She should have spent more time talking about how gorgeous fat girls are instead of trashing skinny girls. I understand she was just trying to give them a taste of their own medicine, but it just came off as mean. My skinny girlfriend, who has never been anything but loving and genuinely complimentary, happened to find it in my bathroom and was quite hurt when she read excerpts.

Oh, and she had a whole chapter about how fat women are appreciated by men because they cook and clean, while skinny women don't. That was just offensive, really it was. I don't cook for my husband, he cooks for me to keep me plump, and the house can be in shambles - he loves me for my personality, my heart, my intelligence, and my curves, not necessarily in that order. Geez, did she want to set the women's movement fifty years backward?

I'm giving her three stars for being her, for flashing the cleavage on the cover, for putting another book on the market that says what needs to be said to conteract fat prejudice, for that magnificent title, and that's it. The book itself was horrible. Sorry Mo'Nique, I wanted to give you kudos.

This book is ok for what is was. Mo'Nique cracked jokes on her life and skinny women as she usally does when she is on stage. The book was not well written but she had a view good points. I'm a plus size woman and listening to Mo'Nique get on stage and tell big woman to stand up and be known makes me feel good. I'm not dissing skinny women but I do support her on her views about big women. We should feel good about ourselves just as much as thin women do. You don't have to be a size 4 to be sexy.