P-coast

I have just finished "Heaven Is A Beautiful Place", by Genevieve Chandler Peterkin...it is a wonderful, wonderful story of South Carolina history at its best...you are 'right there' with tales Mrs Peterkin tells of Lillie Knox, Zacky Knox, her mother-in-law Julia and Mama...cringe at the ghost tales of Alice Flagg and others...the romance and marriage to Bill, then the birth of their only son, Jim...grieve at the lost of that young son...her faith in God that grew stronger and stronger as troubles came.

It was hard at times to lay the book down, while at other times you could not wait to see what happened.

I am now going to pass my copy of "Heaven Is A Beautiful Place" on to my 89 year old mother, who likes to read, as she says, 'something real'...

This book is a must read for all ages! I had a feeling of sadness come over me as I finished because I realized my adventure with Mrs. Peterkin was over.

I was not going to read this book, figuring it was yet another trivial book by a local person with famous connections (Julia Peterkin, a novelist who won a Pulitzer, was the author's mother-in-law). Was I wrong! This is one of the most riveting books I have ever read. Peterkin is a gifted storyteller with amazing stories to tell, stories that are right up there with the best fiction. I want to compare her to Flannery O'Connor, to Nabokov, to Kipling, to Dickens, to any fiction writer whose stories linger with us for the rest of our lives. Yet these powerful stories are true and open a window into recent times. Some of her stories prove that truth is stranger than fiction. They are in turns hilarious, outrageous, tragic, moving and illuminating.

Please, get this book. I don't know Peterkin but I wish I did. I picked up the book by accident and never put it down till I finished. Beg, borrow or steal it, whatever it takes to get it in your hands.

a must have for the serious cruiser, a joy just to read as well.

A wonderful and entertaining resource book. It is filled not only with reference information for the cruising sailor, but geography, advice, local history and accounts of sailing (mis)adventures.

Well worth reading for anyone who loves the Northeast coastline - whether or not they have ever entered an unfamiliar harbor, short of food and fuel, just ahead of a storm.

I found a copy of CIVIL AND SAVAGE ENCOUNTERS in a little bookstore while vacationing in Alaska. The Alaskan landscape is beautiful and awe inspiring. However, once I started reading this diary, I couldn't stop. It is a treasure! I stress, I became so engrossed in Golovin's exceptional descriptions, I totally lost interest in the beauty of Alaska. I don't understand why this diary did not become a best seller.

I loved Golovin's comparative descriptions between his beloved Russia and Europe. Americans will be mesmerized by his perception of the American Civil War.

Golovin has a charming and wonderful vividness in his writing style. Could he have intended for his diary to be published? On the other hand, I have often heard it said that we have lost the art of good writing. We'll never learn the answer. Regardless, CIVIL AND SAVAGE ENCOUNTERS is a wonderful piece of literature.

Hi,

I would say that this book is a must for anyone who wants to envision the early entry by non-Native Americans into the "Yo-Semite". One definitely gets a "You Are There" experience by reading this book and gains an understanding of the conflicts that brought Bunnell and his group to the area. ....

This book is about life. Most of it takes place on a sailboat (actually, several sailboats). It is not about sailing, although there is alot of sailing and misadventures about sailing in the book. If you have ever been sailing, ever owned a sailboat, or ever wanted to, you will enjoy this book. It is a very easy read. It is light hearted literature and the author is very honest about his sailing experiences (actually quite alot as a merchant marine officer in WWII, to recreational sailing in the Chesapeak and Narragansett Bays).

I read this book when it was first published and it made a huge impression on me. It is a coming of age memoir that avoids both sentimentality and cynicism. It is one of those books that helps you understand yourself better, and that also makes you fall in love with reading all over again. Highly recommended.

Tom Stoppard is arguably the single finest playwright of his generation, and the Coast of Utopia trilogy is a massive undertaking that in the hands of a less skilled author could have gone awry and badly. Stoppard though manages to make what could be a painfully pedantic history lesson into a moving portrayal of love, ideology, loss, and change.

The mess of Alexander Herzen's life, and those of his closest friends and family, is tragic in a really monumental scope. There are no clear places to lay blame, nor clear winners or losers, instead the entire piece is pervaded with a sense of futility (and I don't mean this negatively), Herzen trying vainly to convince his associates that the blood being spilled is of no use, and trying to mend the broken relationships surrounding him.

The history is neither dominate or secondary to the characterization here, rather Stoppard manages to make the historical events we know (or may not know) part and parcel of the volatile and fascinating lives of some of Russias greatest citizens.

This is a well-written, well-organized field guide, like all other Peterson Field Guides. The book is divided into five parts: 1. About This Book, a very brief introduction of the book; 2. Collectin and Observing Fishes, again, a brief chapter, but very useful. The next three chapters are divided into: 3. Jawless Fishes; 4. Sharks, Rays and Chimaeras and 5. Bony fishes, which is where the bulk of the book is about. The book also contained an excellent glossary, and a limited number of references. Particularly useful are the detailed habitat information of each fish described, ways to identify them, and of course, the 48 pages of color and black and white drawings of the fishes. The book is an invaluable sources of information not only to ichthyologist, naturalist, but also to the comercial fisherman, professional anglers and recreational angler. The only complaint I had is that this field guide uses artists' drawing for the fishes instead of the actual picture of the fish. With the actual picture of the fish, it will make the identification of an unknown fishe much easier for the amateurs and weekend angler. Overall, an excellent book.

I bought this book in anticipation of a SCUBA trip down the west coast next year. Why? Because I have good luck with Peterson guides and know that they are concise, well written and all inclusive. So far, as I try to gain some familiarity with the fishes of the west coast before I go I have not been disappointed. I'm sure that this book is to the west coast what the Atlantic guide is to the east and gulf coast. I'll write another review after I finish my trip.

Anyone interested in Coast Guard History... or it's new Department should take a day or so to read this book. It excellently reviews the career of the first Commandant from his childhood & midshipman days (that's right, he was in the Navy first), to his days as an arctic hero... the author does a great job telling a compelling story. I suspect some research was difficult, as the Commodore probably did not keep detailed notes, nor publish an autobiography (He died shortly after retiring as Commandant.)

Bottom Line: Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it.

A championship San Francisco baseball team. Those words seem so incongruous. They seem dumb and odd and made-up. Like a self-effacing politician. How can a professional baseball team from San Francisco win a championship? How is that possible?

To ask that question is to see the world from a post-1957 perspective. Before 1958, it was VERY possible. The San Francisco Seals from the old Pacific Coast League (PCL) - a high-level Triple A league - won no fewer than ELEVEN - count 'em, ELEVEN - championships - more than any other PCL team.

Granted that a championship under PCL rules was arrived at through more direct routes than the multi-tiered playoff system extant in major league baseball today, there were still ELEVEN occasions when the Seals beat everyone there was to beat! Compare that with the record compiled by the team that has played in The City since 1958. The Seals outdistance that team by a total of ELEVEN! Jesus wept!

As the title indicates, this book is not so much a history of the Seals or a highlight of Seals glory as it is a retrospective of the Seals teams that the author, Brent Kelley, grew up with. This includes a lot of lean years; 1946 through 1957 was not all gravy for the organization, and in fact, it was only by going public in 1954 that the team was able to survive at all. Kelley provides a good overview on the story of the Little Corporation that saved the Seals - for four years.

Some information on the relationship that the Seals had with the major leagues is also provided. During the time frame in question, they had working relationships with the Pittsburgh Pirates, the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox - and ironically enough, even with the National League team in New York.

Kelly also recapitulates Lefty O'Doul's stature as king of both San Francisco and Japan. The Seals' post-war reconciliation tour to Japan, led by O'Doul, is still remembered on both sides of the Pacific Ocean and it was made at the urging of none other than General MacArthur himself.

The chapters are divided by the years in question, as Kelly interviews surviving players that he found from the teams that played during those years. The interviews themselves are unremarkable and seem to uniformly contain the patterns that one would expect of interviews with retired PCL baseball players: some players I stay in touch with; some I haven't seen in years; some are no longer with us; the money was nothing like the players are making today, but we worked harder and had more fun and I made more money on the Coast than I did (or would have) in the bigs and we didn't have to travel too far from home and we even had Mondays off and I'd do it again.

The uniformity doesn't matter; the names should live forever in the annals of West Coast baseball: Frank Seward, Jeep Trower, Jack Brewer, Roy Nicely, Neill Sheridan, Joe Brovia, Bill Werle, Con Dempsey, Dario Lodigiani, Ed Cereghino, Bill Bradford, Rene Cheso, Nini Tornay, Jerry Zuvela, Jim Westlake, Ted Beard, Chuck Stevens, Bob DiPietro, Don Lenhardt, "Riverboat" Smith, Jack Spring, and Bert Thiel. Young fans once pronounced these names with reverence.

Con Dempsey's story should be of particular interest because it removes some of the luster associated with the name of Branch Rickey. Dempsey's contract was ultimately sold by the Seals to the Pittsburgh Pirates of the major leagues. After he reported to the Pirates, Rickey, the innovative Hall of Fame executive who integrated the major leagues and invented the modern "farm" system for development of minor league players, ruined Dempsey's arm and his career by trying to force him to become an overhand pitcher, in spite of the success that Dempsey had attained by throwing sidearm and three-quarters. Evidently, the corporate mentality is no less prevalent in baseball than elsewhere, even among the best executives.

Kelly also interviewed two players whose names that will be familiar to major league historians: Ferris Fain and Lou Burdette. Both had successful major league careers. I had not known that either of them had a resume that included a stint with the Seals. A credible case is made for Burdette's deserving membership in Baseball's Hall of Fame.

And although they are not interviewed in this book, it is equally interesting to see that the Seals roster also included such familiar-sounding names as Frank Malzone, Ken Aspromonte, and Albie Pearson.

And fans of the baseball team that currently plays in San Francisco (the one with no championships) will be interested to read the interview with ex-Seals shortstop Leo Righetti, father of Dave Righetti, whose major league career includes a stint in San Francisco as both a relief pitcher and a pitching coach. Befitting of an Italian surname, the Righetti family history in San Francisco baseball extends for two generations.

The Seals saga has a bittersweet ending. After a number of years of futility, they win the 1957 PCL championship just before major league expansion from New York to San Francisco chases them out of The City. Most San Franciscans were delighted with the arrival of major league baseball, as can be seen from the tremendous welcome that Willie Mays & Company received when they arrived and from the intense interest displayed after the season started.

But there yet remained a strong minority of PCL fans who mourned the loss of their beloved Seals and regarded the invading strangers from New York as unworthy substitutes - especially the audacious presence of Willie Mays in Seals Stadium's centerfield threatening to appropriate the memory of the great Joe DiMaggio. How provincial those fans must have seemed at the time -- but did they possess some sort of crystal ball that foretold how the usurpers from New York would bring giant heartaches, endless futility --- and no championships?