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I gave copies of this book to (italian) relatives for Christmas and they are still cracking up in April. This is a must read if you grew up Italian, lived near an Italian family or just wished you did. Vinnie Penn is funnier than h*** and can write!

This is a great read. I finished it in one sitting. The book covers everything from the Italian founder of Viagra (?) to that little known superhero from New Haven, CT -- Zuppaman. Very funny! The author delves deep into the Italian American culture to uncover yet again one of it's most important strengths...the ability to laugh at our heritage and not take things too seriously. The authors witty humor is both entertaining and captivating as he weaves in and out of his personal experiences and the Italian American experience in general. Even if you are not an Italian American, one can enjoy the stereotypes, creative situational comedy and artful prose. This is a must read!!!!!

My wife has always said that I am Italian by name only -- meaning that my last name is an Italian one, but I don't have many Italian traditions in my family. We never ate fish on Christmas Eve, we listened to the Beatles not Sinatra, and in my house gravy is for mashed potatoes not macaroni. However, despite all of this, I have always wanted to attach myself to my Italian heritage more than any of my three other ethnicities.

I have always enjoyed and found Italian stereotypes humorous, like visiting the relatives with the plastic on the furniture and I love mobster movies like 'The Godfather' and 'Goodfellas'.

If any of the preceding Italian stereotypes have made you laugh, then Vinnie Penn's new book "Guido's Credos: The Paisan Point of View on Everything from Marriage to Macaroni" will thoroughly entertain you.

Penn is a former morning radio show host in Connecticut, who grew up in an Italian neighborhood in New Haven. Penn is a wordsmith who can find double meanings in anything and he covers every Italian sterotype in 39 credos that range from family life, to pizza toppings, to dating:

Guido Credo No. 16
Dating is like buying a suit. First you gotta try it on, and then you just alter the hell out of it.

On the surface, you might think this is just another joke book (unfortunately it is shelved in just the humor section of the book stores, when it might do better with memoirs). But Penn really uses the topic of embracing his Italian heritage that used to embarass him as a way to laugh and be critical of the political correctness of stereotypes.

Penn has written mostly fiction (very good fiction) before "Guido's Credos", but after reading this book, I look forward to more of Penn's humor and views about the nonfiction world that is around us.

The Credos are hilarious...

Vinnie Penn's perspective on growing up in an Italian-American family in New Haven CT is just wonderful. Penn's' rants about siblings are so right on and his musings on relationships from dating through marriage as well as the anecdotes about religion and the movies are priceless...

Get one for each of your cousins! ( I did ! )

This book is great, especially if you're a Paisan, but even if you're not! (I thought I was the only one who still referred to all pasta as macaroni!) It is a really witty, funny book and I would recommend it.

This book should be passed down as an heirloom. I am so proud of all the talent in this book. It would make excellent gifts and it's for such a worthy cause. SHARE IT WITH EVERYONE!!

Best Anthology of the Year

Everyone loves a good pot of gumbo for its unique blend of different ingredients filled with a spicy great taste and satisfying indulgence. The Gumbo for the Soul Anthology is the best recipe for success and encouragement in support of literacy in The African American Community. The roux for this gumbo is the intelligence and insight of several authors in a collection of poetry, short stories, essays and other forms of creative expression. Don't forget to pick your copy today you are guaranteed to be filled with motivation and self determination after reading this anthology.


Peace and Love

African Americans have a unique heritage and distinct culture which supports the saying - "it takes a village to raise a child". This collection of stories, poems, essays and testimonies offer direction, comfort and flavor for the village. As you read and reflect on the recipe for literacy presented you will be filled with pride, encouragement and drive to do more for those in your family and neighborhood.

Who did you look up to when you were young? Who took interest in you and provided motivation for you to reach for the stars? How did you get through that terrible college algebra class? Most of those from the old school, will say it was a parent, auntie, uncle, school teacher or church member. Surely, there was someone that provided insight on the difficult times and praises during those celebratory moments. What happened to the love freely given in the "hood"? Let's take it back by sharing the stories of warmth and devotion from those folks in the village.

GUMBO FOR THE SOUL should be standard reading in every household. The vast knowledge on education along with the promise that proceeds will support literacy definitely benefits our community. Invest in yourself today, purchase GUMBO FOR THE SOUL and support the village in which we all belong.


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Reviewing for Real Page Turners

Gumbo, A Potpourri of Literary Treats

As any good cook will tell you, when you combine a cup of this, a pinch of that to a recipe, it will enhance the flavor of whatever you're cooking. Well, the same holds true for the ingredients included in Gumbo For The Soul, The Recipe For Literacy In The Black Community. Beverly Black Johnson has taken a pinch of poetry, a cup of essays a handful of testimonies and a drop of gumbo recipes to complete a literary gumbo fit to feed an entire community. We have a saying down south that when asked what's in our gumbo, we respond by saying, "Everything, but the kitchen sink!" You can see evidence of this by checking out my family's gumbo recipe listed on page 219 and see that there are as many variations of gumbo as there are ingredients to put in them. In Gumbo For The Soul, with its assortment of poems, essays, testimonies and recipes, there's surely something in there to whet your literary appetite, as you savor the flavor of your own gumbo recipe, or experiment with one of the recipes included in the book.

This was a wonderful book that I recommend to everyone, especially those in the Bay Area of California! Proceeds will fund the Gumbo For The Soul Literacy Program & Scholarship Fund based in San Jose, California. Comprised of stories and essays that celebrate our commitment to the education of our children, this anthology is a must have for anyone looking for inspiration. Great for teachers seeking to enlighten students or for parents looking for alternatives. Do your family and community and purchase this book ASAP!

Sir Walter Scott's second novel GUY MANNERING; OR, THE ASTROLOGER is built around three sets of incidents spread out between +/- 1760 and +/- 1782.

--First incidents: around 1760 Guy Mannering, English, fresh out of Oxford University and on a walking and painting tour, finds shelter from the elements in a manor house called Ellangowan in Galloway in Southwestern Scotland. There he is hosted by its Laird, Godfrey Bertram, who is dining with his companion, the absent-minded, taciturn Presbyterian non-pulpited divine, Dominie Abel Sampson. The night of Mannering's arrival, Lady Bertram gives birth to her first child, a son, Henry, later usually styled Harry.

As a joke, Guy Mannering draws on now passe astrological lore he had picked up from an early mentor. Mannering casts young Harry's horoscope. He had once before cast a horoscope: his girl friend's, and foreseen that that 18 year old would either die or be imprisoned at age 38. He now foresees a similar negative rhythm for the infant Harry: big trouble or great danger at ages 4, 10 and 20. Mannering's horoscope is wrapped up and hung around the infant's neck. It is still there to identify him 20 or 21 years later.

On that birthing occasion we also meet a six-feet tall, broad Lowland Scots-speaking gypsy woman, Meg Merrilies. Meg is come to keep away evil spirits from the first-born son of a family that has allowed loyal Meg's tribe to squat on Bertram land for centuries. Her first words are a chant:

"Canny moment, lucky fit;
Is the lady lighter yet?
Be it lad, or be it lass,
Sign wi' cross, and sain wi' mass." (Book I. Ch. 3)

Meg foresees that young Harry will live a full 70 years but with three major breaks in his upward course, followed by three re-stitchings of his predestined path. We also overhear a meeting between the gypsy woman and a smuggling German sea captain, Dirk Hattaraick.

--Second set of incidents: four years later, around 1764, the ambitious but impoverished Laird Bertram was appointed a justice of the peace. His devious estate manager and lawyer Gilbert Glossin was made a minor justice official. Good natured Bertram's new self-image required him to crack down uncharacteristically both on smugglers from the nearby Isle of Man and on the gypsies whose presence both his ancestors for centuries and he had tolerated. The Laird became great chums with revenue agent Frank Kennedy. Months later Kennedy snatched away from the boy's tutor, Dominie Sampson, four-year old Harry Bertram to let the youngster enjoy watching the arrest of Captain Hattaraick and his crew of smugglers run aground by a British warship.

Witnesses who arrived later found evidence of a scuffle. Kennedy was dead, the boy Harry Bertram had disappeared. The County sheriff (not named) did a thorough investigation and ruled murder. Meg Merrilies was suspected and spent some time in prison before being released. The boy was never found. Shocked by the news, his mother gave birth prematurely to a girl (not named) and died. The murder remained unsolved 17 or more years later. And we have read through the tenth chapter of Volume One of this Three Volume novel.

--Third Set of incidents: 17 years later or so, toward the end of the American Revolution, say 1782, the story resumes. Guy Mannering had married his sweetheart and become Colonel of his regiment in India, winning military fame. His teenage daughter Julia Mannering was wooed in India by a young recruit from Holland named Vanbeest Brown. Guy Mannering erroneously suspected this subordinate of wooing his wife, not his daughter. They fight a duel in which Brown is wounded. But bandits fall upon them and the combatants are separated. Mrs Mannering dies. Colonel Mannering resigns his commission and returns to England, enriched by inheritances. But the injured Brown has survived and eventually returns with the regiment to England -- unknown to Guy Mannering.

Taking leave, love-stricken Vanbeest Brown traces Julia Mannering to Scotland where her father is keen to purchase the old estate of Ellangowan. But immoral lawyer Gilbert Glossin has dispossessed his onetime patron, the old laird, of his ancestral holdings.

Meg Merrilies and Captain Dirk Hattaraick reappear, the latter, it develops, long protected by Glossin. New characters also make their appearance, most notably, the amiable lowland farmer Dandie Dinmont (the terrier breed will be named for him after Scott's novel). Dinmont provides an even warmer reception to young Vanbeest Brown than the Laird had given Guy Mannering two decades earlier.

An austere, wealthy aunt of Miss Lucy Bertram dies in Edinburgh, having been persuaded by none other than Meg Merrilies that somehow her nephew Harry Bertram has survived and will soon return to claim his ancestral home. Guy Mannering, Lucy's host after the sudden death of her father, volunteers to go to Edinburgh for the reading of Lucy's aunt's will. The current sheriff of the shire, Mac-Morlan, gives Colonel Mannering letters of introduction to his predecessor as county sheriff, now a prominent lawyer in Edinburgh. We finally learn that lawyer's name: Paulus Pleydell, Esquire. Pleydell in turn gives Mannering letters of introduction to David Hume and a few other luminaries of the Edinburgh enlightenment. Pleydell also agrees to represent Dandie Dinmont in a property suit.

All of the major players are now linked, in place and the plot gathers speed.

The greatest family of the shire, the Hazelwoods, also come into play. The wealthy Laird of Hazelwood begins to think highly of the crooked lawyer Glossin. The laird's son, Charles, falls in love with Miss Lucy Bertram. It slowly seems likely that Vanbeest Brown is Lucy's missing older brother Harry Bertram, though this is first surmised only by lawyer Glossin and Harry's loyal old protectress, the gypsy Meg Merrilies.

In a scuffle Brown/Bertram accidentally wounds Lucy's admirer Charles Hazelwood. All players shortly come together in a fiery ending so complicated that I had best leave its fun and denouements entirely to you.

Themes embedded in GUY MANNERING occur in other Walter Scott works as well: gypsies, inter-generational tensions, a missing heir, the role of cities and lawyers in accelerating the sunset of the "auld ways" of feudal Scotland, the virtual impossibility of a poor untitled man marrying a rich titled girl -- or vice versa. Once encountered, some of the characters can never be forgotten, notably Meg Merrilies, Dandie Dinmont and taciturn Dominie Sampson with his repeated exclamation of "pro-di-gi-ous!"

And we see old superstitions still holding sway a hundred or so country miles west of contrasting Edinburgh, with its immortal 50 year ascendancy in art, learning and science comparable only to eras of Periclean Athens and Medici Florence. -OOO-

There are some appalling cliches here - the mysterious gypsy, a lost infant (who turns up as a strapping handsome adult, but who still has the identifying talisman tied around his neck) - but my guess is that these weren't such cliches back in 1805 (so this predates Il Trovatore by a few decades). Even so I was completely taken with this, and found the last 100 pages to be very compelling reading, put down very reluctantly.

As a child I struggled with Ivanhoe (though my English teacher's advice to skip the first 30 pages certainly did help). As an adult, I enjoyed Waverly but still found it rather hard going. With this background I approached Guy Mannering with some trepidation but ended up enjoying the book thoroughly. This edition is excellent and the notes and glossary are very helpful. The story moves fairly slowly compared with modern novels but the richness of detail, the topographic descriptions and especially the humor make it memorable. Read it when you have time to enjoy it and don't be put off by the rather archaic Scottish dialect (I was brought up close to the Scottish border but many words and phrases were completely unknown to me)

I read Walter Scott for atmosphere, for mood, for humor and characterization and perhaps most of all, to listen to his voice. Scott has an endearingly present narrative persona--he's that chatty, knowledgeable, and even slightly eccentric uncle, the one with all the hobbies and interests and entirely too many books, who seems to be a kind of expert on every subject. The best Scott novels tap into this feeling of cozy kinship and exploit it, and in the end this is often more important than the story proper.

More than many other Waverley novels, more than Waverley itself certainly, Scott's second novel, Guy Mannering (1815), excels at producing this complicated, friendly, peculiar narrative hodge-podge. There's a bit of everything here, from romantic scenery to sharp satire, from a bookish name-dropping to curse-muttering gypsies. There's smugglers and kidnappers, astrologers and cranks, the Scottish lowlands and the English lake district. Like all Scott, there's old and new joyfully intermingled--a birth mystery worthy of Tom Jones yet a good deal of what would become Treasure Island. More Gothic and less historical than Waverley, more fun than Heart of Midlothian, less forced than Ivanhoe, this novel was an unexpected treat. It remains underrated and understudied.

Consider that Scott dashed this novel out in six weeks, and you'll get some idea of both his own considerable talents and also the casualness, almost carelessness of its tone. Like all of his novels, Guy Mannering should be imbibed slowly, savored rather than gulped. Kudos to Penguin Classics for tapping into the Edinburgh Edition and providing us with a cheap, well-annotated text of this neglected classic!

Addendum: Someone asked me, so I thought I'd add: this is the novel featuring Dandy Dinmont, for whom the popular terrier is named.

This novel combines action, humor, unforgettable characters and intelligent writing. The author takes you into the landscape-you feel every bump in the road. A very accessible novel, considering Scott's other works. While I loved The Antiquarian, the Bride of Lammermoor, Waverly and Rob Roy, Guy Mannering is the best so far, with a plot that never falters and a few heroes that inspire admiration as well as inquiry. There is also little of the thick, unintelligible scot's dialect that can trip up the average reader. While Scott falls short on his female love interest,(she's only human) he excels in the character of the female lead, a brave gypsy filled with a sense of her own doom.
Please read Scott. He's good, and good for you.
Note to dog-lovers: the fun-loving Dandie Dinmont Terrier takes its name from this novel.

Hands down the best book of it kind. Tilman picked up the trail where Joshua Slocum packed it in and added climbing to the adventure. You'll want to pick up your ice-ax and practise bowlines for a Spring voyage to South Georgia or Greenland.

I read this after I got "The Perfect Storm" and got interested in sailing. Tilman is well-known as being one of the few explorers who were good writers. I wish his Asian travels books were still in print.

By reding Tilman's books one can travel staying comfortably home, his descriptions are so precise and complete that one can really imagine to have travelled by his side. But his accounts makes also rise the desire of adventure and of being as much as possible outdoors and in contact with nature. I would also like to ask everyone who has read one book or more by Tilman to contact me, because I am writing my degree thesis on him and I am trying to collect reviews, opinions or every other kind of comment on his books. Thank you to everyone who will answer me. My name is Brandalise Nadia.

Tilman wrote these books over a number of year, mostly between expeditions to some of the more remote places in the world. They read as if they were written yesterday - Tilman comes across as both laconic and erudite, but also with a lot of dry humor. This is a great collection of his books and as one who enjoys both sailing and travelling (and reading about climbing rather than doing it) I found these books particularly enjoyable and very well-written.

The expeditions themselves were to places like Patagonia, Kerguelen Island, Greenland and Heard Island. None of them easy places to get to, even now. That Tilman managed to sail there in an old wooden Bristol Pilot Cutter was an outstanding achievement in itself. That he managed to climb as well seems to me the icing on the cake so to speak. Loved these books, can't wait to pick up the Climbing books and read them next.

Bill Tilman was an unbelievable man and his writings provide an unforgetable image of a bygone age. I love his dry sense of humour and matter of fact descriptions of perilous situations. His real life exploits are absolutely unbelievable. From being wounded twice in the first world war, to a coffee planter in Kenya, to cycling across africa in the 1930s, climbing Kilimanjaro, Mt Kenya and the Ruwenzori, the first ascent of Nanda Devi in 1936, reaching 27,200 on Everest without oxygen 1938 (many with Eric Shipton), fighting behind enemy lines in Italy and Albania in the second world war, finally sailing to such remote regions including Greenland and Spitsbergen. His descriptions as detailed in this compilation proudly sit on view on my bookselves. The currently available biography 'The Last Hero' unfortunately is disappointing compared to J.Anderson's 'High Mountains and Cold Seas'.

I first saw / read this book at my local public library. I knew than that I MUST have this book!
VERY interesting, well written, educational, excellent pictures!

Buy this book and see the wonderful and varied career of Gordon Parks. See the world through this stunning photographer's eyes, and you will never see the world the same again. Then buy *A Choice of Weapons* and find out how this man came to create these masterworks. Everyone knows his genius as a photographer, filmmaker, and composer, but people may not know that he is a master memoirist as well. Put this book and *A Choice of Weapons* on your Christmas list!

mr. parks' book is autobiographical in photo and text. the book reveals his journey to becoming a documentor of turbulent times during his career. this is a must purchase.

Please note that the cover that you show on the internet is incorrect. I am the photgrapher and what you show is the photograph that was used for the dummy book shown at the book fair. The photograph shown is an unpublished photgraph. Please look at the book for the actual cover.

Seeing the exhibit was the most wonderful day of my life. Getting the book was the next best day. I am not sure if another photographer so talented in all fields will ever appear again. Raad A Choice of Weapons also by Gordon Parks, it will help reinforce the Retrospective.

Boswell's been teaching the art of writing literary fiction for almost 3 decades. He's got seven novels under his belt and a boatload of stories. That's a lot of experience.

As a student of his, I had the pleasure of taking both a craft class and a workshop class with him. We got the chance to study this book in a craft class taught by another instructor, Rus Bradburd, at the same university, NMSU. Normally, I tend to frown on this sort of behavior. It has a whiff of nepotism and it'd be similar to a teacher assigning their own book. It just looks bad, like you're trying to humor your colleague rather than genuinely appreciating the book. Thankfully, this was not the case at all.

Boswell (AKA "Boz") has written an excellent craft book, honed by his years of writing and teaching. The first chapter, the titular essay, is destined to become a staple in craft essays, as it clearly and distinctly distills the essence of what separate literary writing from, well, everything else. Unlike Margaret Atwood's craft book "Negotiating with the Dead", Boswell avoids high-toned philosophy or simple pragmatic rules for something much more even-handed. Each chapter, a single essay, is focused also around a narrative that utilizes the chapter's lesson about writing.

He also avoids trumpeting his own successes more than he has to. In his essay on political fiction, he talks about a moment in "American Owned Love" where he feels his made a mistake in balancing a large politically-charged event with a personal, interior tension. Not many writers take shots at their own stuff, especially years (10+) after publication. I applaud this type of hindsight and honesty.

My few complaints about the book are that many essays are definitely less strong than others. The essay on omniscience, although extensive, has a list of 12 narrative "planks" necessary for a good omniscient narrator. The structure of this chapter is far too dense and prescriptive when compared with the other essays. It's actually a hard chapter to read and comprehend on the first few reads. His other chapter on urban legends and pornography is a bit scattered, with an unclear thesis to the essay. He's trying to connect different ideas of truth very loosely together, and it's not as centered as others.

The list of authors cited in the text is not terribly energizing. He runs the gambit of Chekov, Hemingway, Munro, Melville, with a few Chicano writers like Marquez. The writers cited are predominately European or American in nature, and represent a traditional literary canon and a certain aesthetic homogeny. This is Boswell's book and he can like whomever he wants, but I was disappointed in the stylistic variety of writers utilized, especially from someone with such extensive experience.

Overall, this is a great read. Informative, accessible, expansive. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to buff up their wordsmithing.

I was fortunate to work with with Robert Boswell as a graduate student and know, first-hand, what a brilliant teacher he is. I've read or heard portions of a few of these lectures over the years and have been eagerly awaiting the publication of this book. I devoured it as soon as it came out, immediately began re-reading it, and will certainly include it as a text in the undergraduate and graduate fiction writing courses I teach. These essays--frequently funny, always provocative--deftly combine first-rate and lively analysis of classic and contemporary fiction with a master storyteller's understanding of craft and an artist's understanding of process. These essays fall squarely in the tradition of books by brilliant writers--Henry James, E. M. Forster, Flannery O'Connor, Charles Baxter come to mind--who know how to excavate and articulate the mysteries of the art of fiction in a way that is enlightening, witty, and, quite frankly, deeply moving. If you're a serious reader of fiction or a writer of it, buy this book. It might very well, as the title of the last essay suggests, change your life.

Unlike some of the other Amazon customers who have reviewed The Half-Known World, I have never been fortunate enough to be Robert Boswell's student, nor have I ever met him. But after reading the book, I understand some of the reasons for their praise and loyalty. These essays are not only well-written and therefore quite entertaining in their own right; they are also very useful.

To give one example, I was very taken with "On Omniscience," an essay about the uses of the omniscient point of view. Here is the provocation the essay wraps itself around: "Omniscience and half-knowledge would seem to be adversarial terms, but it turns out they're not." Boswell follows up with a list of "twelve planks in my platform on omniscience," which clearly and, so far as I can tell, for the first time in literary history clearly identify the parameters and possibilities of the omniscient point of view as clearly as they have been many times (in many ways, by many writers) been articulated for points of view limited to the consciousness of a single character.

For the reader of fiction, this is an interesting thing to think about, and it certainly enriches the process of reading stories rooted in omniscient strategies. But for the writer of fiction, this is a hugely useful analytic tool that can help the writer find the right form, the right voice, the right distance, and the right balance of characters in order to create organically a container and working method suitable for the story and thematic concerns of his or her project.

The only other contemporary writer I know who has grappled so helpfully with omniscience is Richard Russo, in an uncollected essay I can't find anywhere. But Boswell has done Russo one better, and I am grateful for what he has given his readers in "On Omniscience."

There are nine other essays in the book, all of them quite good, all of them deserving more space than an Amazon review allows. What I mean to do here, anyway, isn't to tell you everything about the book, but rather to whet your appetite a little, to do a little bit of consumer advocacy on behalf of The Half-Known World, which is worth your time and money, and then some.

More a personal vision of writing itself than a manual, Boswell's book connects probing discussions of technique with the larger sense of writing as an engagement with the wonder and challenge of being alive. With disarming self-deprecation and lively anecdotes, Boswell explores writing as a moral act.

Writing fiction requires a combination of expertise, talent, experience, and imagination. In "The Half-Known World: On Writing Fiction", Robert Boswell (the published author of five novels and an instructor in creative writing at the New Mexico State University, the University of Houston, and in the Warren Wilson MFA program) draws upon his more than twenty years of personal experience and earned expertise to compile nine compelling informed and informative essays on the craft issues facing every literary writer and author. Comprising this extraordinary compendium of observation, insights and advice are Process and Paradigm; Narrative Spandrels; On Omniscience; Urban Legends, Pornography, and Literary Fiction; The Alternate Universe; Politics and Art in the Novel; Private eye Point of View; You Must Change Your Life; and the title piece, The Half-Known World. Enhanced with a two and a half page listing of referenced works at the end, "The Half-Known World" will prove to be a fascinating and educative read for anyone who aspires to literary success as a writer of deftly crafted fiction.

This anthology was bought for a college class I took at U of P. It is well written, the biography of each author is included prior to each selection. Before each new era of American literature there is a "historical" piece. My only camplaint was the font was too small (for my 40 year old eyes) and the pages too thin, so it was hard to use a highlighter other than yellow otherwise it bled through.

I had to buy this book for school and I'm glad I did. I couldn't possibly do a better review than Mr. Mazza's so I won't even try. He is correct in every aspect so I'll leave it at that except to add that even after being done with the class I'm still enjoying the book!

I'm overall very satisfied with this purchase. I received a shipping confirmation from the seller, received it promptly after ordering, and the book was in good condition.

This is a nice collection for the 21st century, including lots of new voices while still maintaining enough of the canon for a good survey course. It's a big, heavy book (for a paperback) that might have been easier to read in two volumes, but as far as content goes, this one has Norton's beat by miles.

No anthology of United States literature is going to be ideal for every student, teacher, or general reader. But "The Harper Single Volume American Literature," under the general editorship of Donald McQuade, is probable the best overall anthology of its kind. Weighing in at about 3000 pages, this is a huge gathering of American voices. The third edition of this text includes some major changes.

The anthology starts out with such foundational texts as Native American myths, an excerpt from an Icelandic saga about the discovery of the New World, and writings of Christopher Columbus. There follows a good sampling of 17th century Colonial literature. From there, the anthology moves chronologically to the contemporary era.

There is a great diversity of material here: poetry, autobiography, letters, speeches, short stories, excerpts from novels, plays, political documents, and more. The authors chosen represent the ethnic diversity of the U.S.: there are Asian American, African American, Native American, Jewish, Latino/a, and other voices. There is a good balance of male and female authors, and an interesting representation of lesbian and gay literature (most notably the first part of Tony Kushner's play "Angels in America"). Through it all, most of the great names in U.S. literature appear.

There are informative introductions to each of the book's separate sections. Also fascinating are the several "Cultural Portfolios" scattered throughout the book. These are gatherings of texts and (in most cases) images that reflect a focused theme: the Salem witch trials, the Harlem Renaissance, etc. The most interesting of these Cultural Portfolios, in my opinion, is the one entitled "Who Is an American Writer?" This portfolio questions why some writers are "excluded" from the "canon" on the basis of birthplace, citizenship, or language in which they write; the portfolio includes examples of the writings of Vladimir Nabokov, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Maria Irene Fornes, Bharati Mukherjee, and others.

As excellent as this anthology is, there are some flaws. There is a virtual exclusion of important science fiction authors. Isaac Asimov, Octavia Butler, Ursula LeGuin, Ray Bradbury, Samuel Delany: neither these nor any of the other great sci-fi writers appear. The neglect of this important genre is lamentable.

I also question the inclusion of Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in its entirety. This book is a pivotal masterpiece, but it is widely available in a number of inexpensive additions. I would have used the space in the anthology to include a variety of other works by Twain and other authors, and let interested teachers order a copy of "Huckleberry" separately.

Despite its flaws, this is a truly outstanding anthology. If you have a serious interest in the literature and history of the United States, I recommend that you get this book.

Most boys at some times in their life want to be a ballplayer. Most don't have the ability and eventually. recognize this is an impossible dream. Harvard Boys deals with the minor league experience of Rick Warren and his son. We rarely get inside information about the frustrations and triumphs of the minor league experience. This book effectively provides these insights

Harvard Boys tells the story of a father and son's times in Minor League Baseball. No game has brought fathers and sons together more than America's past time, and this is truly evident in this recount. This account is heart felt, genuine, and a great read for any baseball fan.

I liked the book Harvard Boys.

The book brings out the realities of baseball (good and bad). The book illustrates that baseball management people really are not very bright and are poor judges of talent. Baseball management think a pitcher has to throw 90+ miles per hour or they are not a prospect --tell that to Jamie Moyer (he wouldn't even get a looksee tryout today.

In the book Wolff talks about how baseball is a game of rhythm and about being in the groove, yet guys are signed and then cut within days or a week... Players need a chance to settle into the surroundings and get 200 at bats to really be evaluated.

A smart guy like Rick Wolff proves himself in spring training hits .300, does all the right things and yet still gets cut without a legitimate shot. -----That is not logical..

Baseball is run by old school thoughts and practices. Baseball needs to get rid of the good old boy system and update its evaluative techniques. There must be a place in baseball for smart guys from Harvard "who can play".

Bottom line: When the book ended, I wanted to keep on reading....Enjoyable!

When I first picked up "Harvard Boys," I didn't know what to expect. However, I was happily surprised! Despite this being John Wolff's first book, he has proved himself as an incredibly talented writer with a very natural writing style that lends itself to easy reading. I thought the book was very honest, and despite the fact that I have never played in the minor leagues, I found myself relating to his moments of uncertainty as well as moments of triumph. I especially liked all the parts that included Ian Church...I'm a big fan!
A great book - I would definitely recommend it to anyone!

I finished this book in 6 hours. Anything that can shun my A.D.D that long gets 5 stars. However, when I saw the title of this book I thought it was some story of an ivy league fight club in some fraternity basement. I totally did not expect a father/son story of going from Hahvid to minor league baseball. I started reading just for laughs and my feet hurt after 25 minutes standing there. I finally said F it, and shelled out the 20 bucks and rolled home with it. About 5.5 hours later I finished the damn thing. Only get this book if you have a few hours to kill, its one of those books you will not put down till you finish it. The stories in here were not only fired up, but really interesting as well. Funny to hear a harvard grad talk about the struggles/laughs that minor league ball can bring about. The younger Wolf (John) is crazy.

It has been some time since I've read Hawk and Me but the wonderful memories still linger. David not only describes this beautiful country from above in a way only a few can, but his flying ability is so apparent. I have had the opportunity to fly twice with David and I was impressed with his attention to detail. Safety was always in the forefront of his flying. He once flew to Alabama for a visit and landed at an alternate air field to avoid bad weather. I met him there and had my first opportunity to fly with him to his original destination, but only after the weather had cleared. I was so impressed by his pressence in the airplane that I knew that I would fly with him anywhere, anytime. The second time I flew with him we took off from an air field in Orlando to fly to Florida's west coast for lunch. Shortly after take off the radio failed and we lost all communications. I am not a pilot but I knew we were in good hands. David flew back over the air field and dipped his wing as a sigal to the ground crew that he had lost communications. The ground crew responded and we landed safely. He followed all the rules that he had learned while earning his pilot's license and it paid off. Let's go flying David.

I usually do not skip around when reading a book. However, no matter where I start, Hawk And Me is always ready to go. The author's style reminds me of another favorite aviation writer, Len Morgan. Both writers have that wonderful ability to place the reader right beside them in the aircraft. Each page has Great Stuff!

This book was a pleasure trip from the take off in Florida to the last touchdown at the author's home base. So many of the same places he saw I had also viewed and with the same feelings of them. This book is for any one that loves America.

When I got into this book I couldn't read it fast enough. I was so very impressed at the author's writing ability, especially his descriptions of the country side. Well actually the descriptions of everything. His love of flying was apparent as was the love and relationship with "Hawk". Also, the tense moments he experienced-such as picking up ice over the Rocky Mountains and the several instrument approaches to minimums-made me sit up and take notice. Such things give the reader a real sense of the drama that flying can offer. I'm a retired Air Traffic Controller, and the respect this man had for ATC made me proud. Think I'll go take flying lessons.

Chester Edge

This book is one of those you find hard to put down. I took it with me everywhere in case I had time to read a few pages. Written by a gentlemen who obviously had years of flying time, exceptional knowledge of navigation, geography, technical matters, the fine details of flying an airplane, and of course the Hawk itself from tail to nose (you'll love the way the Hawk becomes personified--a companion rather than a piece of metal.) Mr. Helms keeps a thorough diary of each day and fills each page with anecdotes, political observations, comments on his environment, descriptions of the interesting people he meets, tidbits on the "art" of flying in all sorts of situations. Truly a fascinating book -- for the private pilot and all us "wannabe's."

Since reading this book in 1994, I have used it as a reference for my life AND work. Using a warm and witty style of writing, Allen teaches us the physiological and emotional benefits of mirth. My favorite chapter title is "Strike While the Irony is Hot!" So clever!! I recommend this book to friends who are facing life challenges and to everyone who attends my workshops. On a more personal note, since embracing The Healing Power of Humor, I felt freer to add a little levity to my Aunt Alice's funeral. My family was amazingly grateful. Me too!

This book showed me the evidence that I need to have humor in my life on a daily basis. I have always loved humor, but until I read this book I didn't really realize the powerful effect it has on me and my family. This book will help anyone learn how to have a more healthy, mind, body and spirit. --Tom Antion

Wonderful book, which truly elevated my spirits so much that people started complimenting me about my positive attitude. Good bedtime reading. Chapters are written so that you study one "lesson" per day.

Educational and entertaining, this book relays convincing evidence as to the psychological and physiological benefits of humor. The author gives concrete and helpgful techniques and suggestions as to how we can begin to bring more joy and laughter into our lives. Lots of humorous anecdotes and examples bring the points home. I found this book informative and motivational.

I was taking a training that was particularly difficult. At lunch and breaks I would open this book and read. It is like the sun coming out after a thrunder storm.

It is fun and serious at the same time. Read and enjoy.