history

Growing Up Baseball is the first oral history that reveals the dreams of a select few who actually made it to the major leagues. In their own words, players like Nolan Ryan, Bob Feller, "Sparky" Anderson, Jim Palmer, and Bob Tewksbury share their early memories of playing catch with their dads or baseball with their brothers in the neighborhood or on the farm. These experiences ignited the dream and indelibly shaped the futures of the sixty-nine players highlighted in this book authored by father and son, Harvey and Frederic Frommer. During their first-hand interviews, the authors discovered such interesting facts as:
•Dom DiMaggio polished his fielding skills playing catch with brother Joe on the steep hills of San Francisco
•Bob Feller was lucky to have a father who built him a complete baseball field in a pasture on their Des Moines, Iowa far m in 1930-the first "Field of Dreams."
•Keith Hernandez started at age five to catch and hit tennis balls thrown to him by his minor league infielder father.
•Monte Irvin played many years in the Negro Leagues until his dream of making it to the majors came true at age 51.
•Bob Tewksbury still has memories of wet baseballs from playing in the early spring snows of New Hampshire.
From baseball's greatest players to those less frequently remembered, the heart-warming stories in Growing Up Baseball are a reminder that there is a time in a player's career when everything seems possible.

On city streets and suburban sandlots, millions of boys have played the nation's game. Growing Up Baseball recounts the stories of those few whose childhood dreams of playing in the big leagues came true.

Noted oral historian Harvey Frommer joins his son Frederic in collecting interviews and published commentary together with photographs to create the first thorough oral history of the "growing up" years of baseball's greatest heroes. Readers will discover new experiences in the words of those who lived them, including:
-- Bob Feller, the winningest pitcher in Cleveland Indians history
-- George "Sparky" Anderson, the only manager ever to have won championships in both leagues
-- Monte Irvin, who was already past 30 years of age when he made his major league debut in 1949
-- Jim Palmer, who won three Cy Young Awards and four Gold Gloves with eight 20-win seasons

In addition, Growing Up Baseball features interviews with singular figures such as Bobby Thomson, Don Larsen, Red Murff, Keith Hernandez, Mel Parnell, and Ralph Kiner, and is framed with inspiring commentary by coaches, relatives, teachers, friends, rivals, and scouts.

Growing Up Baseball contains a rich and varied montage of memories from players and fans across generations and cultures. Compelling, informative, and overflowing with a deep and abiding love of America's Pastime, it will delight and inspire anyone who's ever treasured a well-worn glove or thrilled to the crack of a bat.

I thoroughly enjoyed GROWING UP BASEBALL. It was definitely a memorable reading experience. --David Dewse

This book is one of the best books I have ever read on the subject matter of American Revolutionary thought. Bailyn masterfully synthesises the source material to show the influences and assumptions the founding fathers and people of america were working under. He shows how they essentially took the thought process of the previous 100 years of English thought to the next logic conclusion for their situation. He shows how they didn't break from the past but harnessed it to their needs. Of course, the other large conclusion one takes from the book is just how much the thoughts behind the revolution were affected by Enlightenment thought: Montesqui, Locke, the ancient romans, and how little christianity influenced it in any substantive way. The obvious 'flaw' of this book is how it essentially ignores the questions of socio-economics and of how the founding fathers 'betrayed' their ideals on the question of slavery. But, I would contend that both are outside the realm of the argument. Socio-economics are obviously important but do not explain the forms that ideology take. and the betrayel of slavery is essentially a story of the constitution and the great sectional compromise, not of revolutionary idealogy. All in all, an excellent source of what our founding fathers were thinking when they founded the country.

This is probably the finest book on the American Revolution published in the second half of the twentieth century. No-one can truly claim to understand the Revolution without having read this book in its entirety. In it, Mr. Bailyn gives a full and thorough analysis of the causes and perceptions of the Revolution on both sides of the Atlantic. The politics, journalism, and thought of the time are all carefully scrutinized and both painstakingly and wittily described. Seldom has one book so completely altered the understanding of a period as has The Ideological Origins.

This is the critically acclaimed book by Bernard Bailyn that stands in contradistinction to Charles Baird's Economic Interpretation. With unusual courage, Bailyn attempts to understand the founders as they understood themselves. In the preface, Bailyn recalls the "intense excitement" and "sense of discovery" he felt at Harvard Universtiy when he studied the ideological themes of revolutionary America. This excitement and sense of discovery is passed along to the reader.

This is a very scholarly work. The extensive footnotes are fabulous. I especially enjoyed the chapter called "Power and Liberty". Bailyn develops the pre-revolutionary idea that the ultimate explanation of every political controversy is the disposition of power. Power is defined as "dominion" or the human control of human life. With dozens of fascinating examples, Bailyn illustrates why power is essential to the maintenance of liberty, but dangerous and in need of restraint lest it extend itself beyond legitimate boundaries.

I found it refreshing to read a book about America's founding that didn't condescend or politicize. It wasn't until I read this book that I fully appreciated how impoverished my public school education was on the topic. You wont be disappointed.

I'll be the first to admit I had never heard of Alex Grey before. However, I am a fan of the music group Tool. The artwork on their new CD was done by Alex Grey. I never paid this much mind until I was in a book store a couple weeks ago and passed right by "Sacred Mirrors". I stopped, turned around, snatched it up and ran to the counter. Upon further reading I must say it is phenomenal..

The essays presented talk about Alex and his work. They provide an indepth look at his philosophies on transcendence. While enjoyable to read the real reason to buy the book is the art. I have never seen anything quite like Grey's work. It is bold and bright. His use of colors and their correspondence in the human body are simply amazing.

This book is definitely recommended for anyone who wants to view the human body; our physical, mental, and most importantly, our spiritual side, in a whole new light.

This book is a masterpiece. The artist, Alex Grey, has created visions of mystical spiritual beauty-- visions captured and inscribed on the pages of this book.

I don't know of any artist whose work is more frequently included in slides shows and books about mind body healing, consciousness and spirituality.

Just this week, Newsweek did a cover story on neurotheology-- the study of the neurology of spiritual experiences, and two of Alex Grey's works of art were prominently featured in the magazine.

Grey paints with the detail and precision of a medical illustrator-- but one on mescaline. The images are both beautiful and shimmering with energies-- the kind of energies which connect human souls and spirits together, which connect the whole universe together.

I met Alex Grey while attending the Omega Arts week. He was teaching a course on visionary art-- expressing the sacred visually. It is to his credit that he is a popular teacher of this unique approach-- expressing the visionary and spiritual through art. It's amazing to see the great work he inspires in his students too.

Once you see this book, you'll probably need to buy more copies-- as gifts. But first, start off by buying one for yourself as a real treat.

There are several sequences of art in here. Plans are under way for the primary sequence's original works to be assembled into a kind of "temple" or special building which will house them. Grey has designed the whole building. You can learn more about it under the web site which is spelled out by his name then dot com.

in paperback, contains the following:

Acknowledgements: Ditto

Preface: Written by Allyson and Alex Grey. To paraphrase to entice you, - "...we silumtaneously shared the same psychedelic vision: an experience of the "Universal Mind Latice". ...seemed as if the real material world was an illusionary veil, now withdrawn, and the energetic scaffolding of causation and creation. Mentions Abraham Maslow, and his theory of biological need of transcendence in human beings, and that it contains the healing force...

In the Eye of the Artist: Art and Perrenial philosophy:
This section is written by Ken Wilber, and is fairly self-explanatory.

Through Darkness to Light: the Art path of Alex Grey:
Section written by Carlo McCormick, focusing on Alex's disturbing yet fascinating pre-body/mind/spirit artwork that takes a break from Middle-Eastern philosophy and thought and focuses on the physical mutilation of corpses and what not. Allthough not for the faint of heart, it is essential for the interested onlooker to establish why he creates such mesmerizing pieces later in his career...very significant, not very attractive to most anyone.

The Sacred Mirrors: By Alex Grey, this section patiently molds his vision for his audience in the creation of his phenomenal series "Sacred Mirrors", his definitive work on body mind and spirit, and the seperation of each.

SACRED MIRRORS: the Plates. All plates are exihibited in full-color, with no breaks to define each independently(which would have been nice). There are tiny captions that give the titles and date produced, and the medium.

I feel that writing my own opinion on this genuine piece of "New Age" art history(why must we categorically define our artwork of past present and future?) is misguided. But I will do this: the book itself is a good representation, and the only representation of Grey's vision. It contains good commentary from well noted psychologists and art critics alike, that traces the path of Grey's spiritual and artistic journey. So the writing itself I give a 5 out of 5 and the art quality I give a 5. I recieved this book today in paperback, along with "Visions". Allthough the copy in Visions is hardback, the paperback is exactly the same. If you purchase both like I did, I suggest extracting your Sacred Mirrors pics from your paperback, framing them, and posting them in respectable positions. Keep the hardback for authenticity, but definitely still get both. They're well worth your pesos, hombre.

What more can I say? It's an honest coming of age story for a young lady, Mattie, growing up in the early 1900's. It's her dream to be a writer, but family obligations have other ideas for her. Simultaneously, an unusual death takes place at the summer resort where she is working. The death is historically true, which adds an extra angle to the book. Through this other woman's death, and a compassionate teacher, Mattie understands her own life and her own path. A sweet read and encouraging for girls coming of age, even if the story was set a century ago.

I finished A Northern Light in a weekend; what a pleasure! I don't fit the intended young adult demographic, but I've always had an interest in children's and young adult literature as a result of my many careers.

Ms. Donnelly brilliantly captures the boom era of the 1900s New York Adirondack Mountain region. The story of Mattie Gokey, a young woman coming of age and struggling with difficult life choices, is a familiar story to most female readers. Her determination to become a writer reminded me of my own career aspirations. I found myself holding my breath and sighing with relief when Maddie finally decided her fate.

A Northern Light will stir passion, and even raise ire, among the young women who are fortunate to discover this beautiful book. Many readers will recognize themselves in Mattie, her teacher, Miss Wilcox, or even Weaver, her friend and fellow wordsmith. Most importantly, A Northern Light can be appreciated by readers of all ages, not just young adults, who appreciate great writing. A truly enjoyable read; I hope there's a sequel on the way.

Also recommended: The Lightkeeper's Daughter, Witch Child

This story is about Mattie, who gets accepted into a college, and she has to decide if she wants to stay with her family and friends or to pursue her dreams of becoming a journalist in New York, if her Pa will even let her go.
She has to learn on her own what she wants, and not what others want for her to be. This is a truly inspirational book for anyone who is trapped between two worlds.

This book is a collection of dozens of (short) biographies of mathematicians ranging from the ancient Greeks to leading 19th century mathematicians, like Cantor or Weierstrass. His writing is charming, to say the least, and he puts forth his personal opinion numerous times throughout the text. While the work contains some mathematics, it is at a level simple enough for most people to understand, and in any case, those parts can be skipped through without too much loss in content.

We learn that mathematicians really are like the rest of the world, not nerds or ivory-tower type academicians. The types of people here span the whole gamut, and as their lives were intertwined with historical events of the time, we learn a bit about general history in this book as well.

Bell's writing is also excellent. He keeps the style varied, and as his material spans almost 2500 years, the book is never boring. My personal favorites were the biographies about Galois and Abel, and as their lives were tragically cut short by lots of unlucky circumstances, Bell writes wonderfully about their lives and how mathematics touched them, and in return was blessed by them. It is perhaps Galois' story which can ring true with younger readers - like many teenagers, he was full of ambition, dreams, and hopes, but, well, he had an incredible gift for mathematics and also a whole lot of bad luck - but you'll have to read the book to see for yourself!

This book is definitely not to be missed. Although the book is long, you'll enjoy every minute of it, and also come away wiser about a group of people not many people in this world know much about.

In this book, Bell provides the reader with an engaging look into the personal lives of many great mathematicians. While most mathematical biographies focus mainly on the individual's work, Men of Mathematics pays special attention to the lifestyles and life stories of some of the math greats. Mathematical contributions of the men are not downplayed, they are just presented in the context of their social and private lives and of the society in which they lived. For these reasons, Men of Mathematics has become one of my favorite pieces of biographical literature.

This book is a wonderfully detailed account of all the men who made mathematics - from their personal biographies to the math they invented or took a step further. Definitely a classic, Bell elegantly explores the lives from birth to death of each mathematician paralleled by their proofs and conjectures.

It is also a great resource for classic proofs and their derivations. In this way, Men of Mathematics may also be read like an encyclopaedia, by turning to any page that catches your interest. Highly recommended for anyone (even 10 year olds) who show unsatiable interest in mathematics.

In the summer of 1967 the USMC found itself engaged in a battle that caught them by suprise and cost them over 180 soldiers KIA and many more WIA. Vietnam was a war where many restriction were placed on American fighting forces, those restrictions were even stricter in the strange terrain of the DMZ. Like other books by Mr. Nolan (Into Laos and Into Cambodia come to mind) there is rich detail and information woven into a story by a chronological telling of event leading up to and through the battle. While there is a very good and informative sitrep of American (particularly USMC) involvement in Vietnam the strength of this book is it's "put you in the foxhole" eyes view of the fight. I had never read an account of where almost an entire American Company was overrun by large NVA forces, it is not pretty. I have read that ear collecting was something that happened in the war to dead enemy soldiers, the NVA put their own sick twist on this sort of war atrocity by collecting USMC tattoos from fallen grunts. There are graphic descriptions of the early M-16 problems which ended up causing the USA and USMC many casualties. This book contains some things that really suprised me, NVA soldiers equiped with flame-throwers looking for suvivors of the initial ambush, NVA artillery support which was accurate and protected from US airpower hitting American forces with a sustained barrage, NVA use of USMC gear such as flak vests and radios, American tanks being blown away like toys. There are many sad twists, if you are looking for a John Wayne type combat read stick to a novel, this one hurts the heart. I can't say enough about this book, if you are a student of the fighting in Southeast Asia get this book, Mr. Nolan really puts things together in this clear and painfully vivid book.

Operation Buffalo should be made into a Movie as it the best written book I have ever read about what the Marines and Corpsmen of Northern I Corps endured in Viet Nam. Time and again the men of the First Battalion Ninth Marines found themselves fighting against numerically superiour forces with very little support available at critical moments. Mention is made in the book that the First Battalion Ninth Marines was marked by the North Vietnames Army for destruction. I can't say for sure that this was true, but "The Walking Dead" nick-name was was paid for in blood. Keith N. Price Former HM3 Disability Retired Bravo Company, First Battalion Ninth Marines

All I want to say is that I was there in Brovo 1/9 I lost my best friend there and to this day I still have a hard time with it, as I'm sure I always will. I love this country and I'm prood to say that I'm a Marine.
Ollie B 1/9
One of the Battling Bastards of Bloody Brovo

The introduction to this book, written by Stephen Ambrose, states that the Journals of Lewis and Clark are an American treasure. At first this seemed like hyperbole, but while reading the Journals, it became clearer why this statement was made.

For in the Journals the reader sees in the mind's eye the vast prairies, indominitable mountains, wide, powerful rivers, and vast Pacific Ocean as Lewis and Clark saw them. Through the Journals the reader encounters Indian tribes, both friendly and fierce. At other times, the puzzling descriptions of previously unknown species of animals and plants give insight as to what discovery and exploration mean. This is what makes the Journals a national treasure. Reading the Journals gives the contemporary reader a sense of what it was like to look at the American West for the first time. In an era when there are precious few corners of the earth that have not been mapped, the Journals convey reader to a time when exploration was not only commonplace, but a necessity for national survival.

The Journals of Lewis and Clark are not particularly easy to read at times if you are not accustomed to the reading genre of travel diaries. Also, at times, the terse writing style of William Clark made the Journal difficult to "plow" through. Merriweather Lewis' entries were much more readable, but his entries do not appear until after the first quarter or so of this edition.

If you are a person who likes maps, the number of maps is low and and the detail they provide is small. There may be other versions of the Journals out there that provide better maps.

The commentaries provided before certain chapters that summarize the events that the Journals are about to relate are very helpful in understanding the narratives that follow.

For the reader not well versed in the Corps of Discovery, I am not sure if the Journals of Lewis and Clark is the best book to read first when learning about their expedition. Undaunted Courage or another such book might a be better first choice if you want to build a curriculum on Lewis and Clark. Looking back, I would suggest reading the Journals in tandem with such a book, to get a balance between the two styles: historical narrative and diary.

Regardless of how the reader approaches the Journals, either by itself or in conjunction with other works, at some point, the critical reader will consult if not read the Journals of Lewis and Clark for a broader perspective on the secondary histories.

This would be, if I could do it, a two-part review. To the source material itself, the journals, I would award five stars out of five--six out of five, even, spelling errors and all, for it's absolutely superb stuff. I have read a fair bit in the adventure and exploration line of literature, but nothing as good as these journals for conveying what it felt like to be on such an expedition. Often, it is the little detail at the end of a day's entry that works the magic; for example, when you read several dozen times about the mosquitoes and gnats being "verry troublesome," or "exceedingly troublesome," it tells you something. As does Lewis's quiet contentment with a bellyful of fresh meat after a long and weary hike. And, as Stephen Ambrose notes in his moving and evocative foreword to this book, the fact that these are on-the-fly journal entries--not memoirs--means that the reader sees the good and the bad choices, the discovery that went on along the way. You will probably recognize at once, for instance, that not all grizzlies will be as easy to kill as the first one the corps encounters, but they don't know that, and you are there to read of their changing opinion of these bears as they meet more and more of them. So the raw material is first rate.
The second part of my review would be for the editing, and I would give that four stars out of five. DeVoto, for all his erudition, does make something of a nuisance of himself from time to time. In the first place, he was clearly writing for the "Manifest Destiny" camp of historians--an outlook now taken with a few grains of salt. Here he is, for example, commenting on the earliest hostile encounter with an Indian tribe, "Indian bluster immediately collapsed and from then on the terrible Tetons were mere beggars. The moral of the episode was that a new breed of white men had come to the Upper Missouri, one that could not be scared or bullied. The moral was flashed along the Indian underground faster than the expedition traveled. It explains why the captains were received with such solicitous respect by the Arikaras," etc (p.34). So there's a bit of that sort of thing to put up with. Also, for reasons I cannot fathom, DeVoto inserts bridging passages, paraphrases, in certain spots rather than using actual journal entries. One of these is the death and burial of the expedition's one fatality. How did the captains and the other men react to this? I would have liked to know that. There's another such paraphrase covering Sacagawea's incredible meeting with her long-lost brother. What did Lewis and Clark think of that amazing coincidence? We're not told by this book.
All in all, however, this is a magnificent read, and my quibbles above don't detract materially from its enjoyment. If I have one suggestion for anyone looking to read this, however, it would be to view Ken Burns's extraordinary PBS documentary on the expedition first; your library should have it.

Fascinating personal day-by-day account of the journey of Lewis and Clark through the Louisiana Territory. As you read, you feel yourself slowly seeing the American west as it was seen by those who first wrote of its magnificence, the customs of the natives, the wildlife, and climate. You see it for what it was, and for its possibilities. This edition has been edited from the individual journals of both Lewis and Clark and some of the others. It has been made more compact by putting in only passages that tell the story, but with no sentence restructuring or spelling corrections. Sometimes this requires you to figure the meaning out, but is never a big problem. The chapter length was perfect for reading a chapter a day which means 33 days. The only bad chapter was 31, which was a summary of one leg lifted from DeVoto's The Course of Empire, which I felt was harder to understand than the journals. The appendix includes Jefferson's Instructions, list of personnel, and specimens returned.

Holy cow! I attended Airborne School at Ft. Benning, GA, back in May of this year. There was a lot of downtime, so I decided to pick up something to read at the PX. Since all we ever hear about in the Army is how cool Rangers are, I decided to pick up this book for some entertainment. A couple of Rangers I know personally try to convey how hard Ranger School is, but aren't very convincing.

Well, this book WILL convince you how hard it is. It's a series of personal accounts from different guys who made it through the Army's premier leadership school. One thing is certain: there is NO way I'm ever going to this school now, because I want to keep all my body parts, thank you very much! One student experiecnes the death of four classmates, another student permanently loses feeling in his big toe, and so on.

As a special treat, Colonel "Tex" Turner writes the final installment in this book. Anyone familiar with West Point will really enjoy Tex's story.

But this book is more than just personal anecdotes; as these tales are told, the Rangers explain the lessons they learned and how Ranger School helped them become better leaders in the Army and in civilian life in general.

I must've read this book about seventy or eighty times sitting on my stuffy bunk at Ft. Benning. If you really want to know what Ranger School is like, this is the ONLY book in town!

The only downside is that, well...these ARE Rangers writing these accounts, not necessarily the smartest of fellows. The grammar is kind of tough to deal with if you're a real stickler for English. But so what?

This book was really eye-opening. Everyone should know just how fully dedicated our American servicemen (and women!) are. As someone who has not gone through Ranger School, but find it fascinating to read about {sure glad I never had to try and do it), .... First of all, I do agree that there are good reasons of American principle and character for Ranger School. And, second, as an Army football fan, I actually did get the book "West Point", by Norman Thomas Remick... when I was down there for a game. And, I agree, it does compliment "Ranger School, No Excuse Leadership" perfectly. It worked for me!

I am planning on going through Ranger School next year. To kind of prepare (though you can't really prepare for it) I have been doing and extreme amount of PT. I have also been gathering as much material as I can read so I can toughen myself mentally as well as physically. This book is by far one of the best I have read!

I have not gone through Ranger School but the detail in which these Rangers describe their experience makes you feel as though you are an RI (without the yelling) watching these Rangers progress from phase to phase. You can almost feel the elements they are exposed to...the snow, the endless rain, the massive heat, no sleep, no food. You can almost hear the firing of guns, the helicopters, the rivers roaring and anything else they experienced during Ranger School.

As if that wasn't enough the way they have applied what they learned to everyday life is incredible. They live life as though they were in Ranger School everyday. Sure you get to eat and sleep, but they are always pushing their limits further than anyone can ever dream. They know nothing but themselves can hold them back. They have the confidence in themselves to continue on when times are good and when times are rough.
I dream for the day when I proudly wear that tab!

I enjoyed this book rather immensely. It was short but was simultaneously gripping. It one man's story of the Vietnam War as he experienced it serving with a LRRP unit in the 101st. For those interested in seeing and understanding the Vietnam War from all the angles necessary to more completely comprehend the goings on over there, this book is an excellent addition.

Having been in the army, served in a war myself, and now turned helicopter pilot, I can truly recommend his book to everybody. Especially readers who are thinking of joining, people who have served and wifes who are trying to understand. Larry Chambers tells it how it is. It's the "real experience" without the politics and the [] Hollywood drama. I personally enjoyed most how the book showes that in the real world, all that was learned in basic and from the handbook, needs to be "slightly modified" to survive a real battle and keep working. You guys are true heroes to me and I thank you, Larry, for a wonderful book I couldn't put down until I was done at around 3am next morning.

If you want to fully comprehend and sense the rigors of that unforgettable war in Viet Nam, RECONDO is a "must read paperback." Larry Chambers' powerfully written book, accurately documents what has been told to me again and again by every one of my buddies who was there.

The prose in this book is lush, the writing lyrical, even if it often rhapsodizes the ordinary, like many books white people write about Africa, where the landscape and animals are more important than the people. But at least Dinesen does devote time to people - her African servants, especially Farah, who she clearly comes to love, albeit in the way that one loves a lesser mortal.

Despite that, Dinesen's view on Africa is fundamentally racist, very much a product of its time. She incessantly compares Africans to animals. As an African, I read much of this book with disdainful amusement at so much ignorance masquerading as truth, and, less often, with empathy at her misguided earnestness. All her generalizations on the different tribes are silly - "all 'Natives' have in them a strong sense of malice, a shrill delight in things going wrong." And her epiphanies are even sillier - when a 'Native' shows himself to be a genius at western-style cooking, she thinks to herself: aha! perhaps Western civilization is divine and predestined.

Most shocking is that SHADOWS ON THE GRASS, written years after she left Africa, sounds more racist than OUT OF AFRICA. One would have thought that time and changing attitudes would have changed her views, and released her from the cage of the 'times she lived in.' It is in SHADOWS ON THE GRASS that she propounds her theory of retarded mental growth in black people. Kikuyu children, she writes, stop developing mentally at age nine. But the irony is that she seems to be unaware that her stories of her Kikuyu servants - who come across as intelligent - do not support this theory.

At the end, she writes about the servants she has kept in touch with. Moving enough, but there was something about the insistent tone that made me wonder if this was a woman keen to present an 'image of herself.

Time does not diminish true talent and Dinesen had talent to let. With every re-read, I am transported to a magical place and another time.

It's difficult to find truly magical prose in today's publications. Recently, I was hungry for some poetic fiction and pulled this volume from my bookshelf. I'm so glad I did.

Karen Blixen writes with true insight and an artist's approach about her beloved farm in Africa. There's a paragraph where she wonders if Africa knows of her like she knows of Africa. What other author has ever asked that question? She also details the migration of buffalo, elephant and antelope with such majesty that the mind's eye can almost see the dust rise from under their hooves.

If you're looking for a satisfying story that will entertain you for many nights, read "Out of Africa." You will not be disappointed.

If any of you have ever wanted to visit Africa and know you will never have the opportunity, read this book. It is a narrative without artifice, written in gorgeous prose and with extreme tenderness. Karen Blixen's love affair with Africa will make you long to roam the Masai reserves and to hear the cry of the eagles and the roar of the lions. This book will stay in your heart long after it ends.