history

Sorrow Mountain is both a novel and a woman's life story. As Adelaide Donnelley explains in an afterword, "It is as much narrative as strict biography." Stories of the "life" of Ani Pachen, including her spiritual power to transcend torture and twenty-one years of imprisonment, and to transform destruction into hope, were the BASIS for this remarkable book. Ani Pachen wanted to be a nun, living peacefully and not killing (many Tibetan people have a religious calling); the circumstances of her birth forced her to become a warrior against the Chinese (again, this echoes the history of those of her generation). Captured, imprisoned, and tortured, she preserved her spiritual beliefs and her integrity (again, read the story of many her generation; the difference is that so many did not survive). Ani Pachen survived, made it to Dharamsala, and finally lives a life of meditation and spiritual focus. Thousands of Tibetans have escaped; many of those now live in northern India with His Holiness. The spiritual example they set: certainty of impermanence, compassion, forgiveness, and detachment--works for everyone on the planet. All of this matters.

But there is something more which matters. This book, like the story of its subject, transcends and crosses boundaries: in form, in approach. It is a novel, a spiritual guidebook, a history of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism. The tone is mythic: "My country was once at the roof of the world, a place where the great spirits lived." The tone is cinematic: "In a darkened corner of my mind, a small patch of green appears. I watch it grow brighter, larger, until a vast green meadow stretches out at my feet. The meadow is dotted with clusters of flowers and is treeless, except for a willow or two." The tone is intensely personal, acutely descriptive: in prison, "The lice were so bad that I could see them crawling all over the heads in front of me. So thick I could sweep them off with my hand and not make a difference in their numbers."

The story is woven of dreams, memories, Buddhist teachings, horrors re-lived or imagined, and above all details that give it taste, sound, texture, and breath. As a work of art, it breaks all prior boundaries and should be studied by all writers who ever consider telling life stories--their own or anyone else's. If there is any drawback to the book, it is only that we cannot know what is Ani Pachen's voice and what is Adelaide Donnelley's. A Buddhist would assure us that the illusion of separation is unimportant, temporary, superficial. A Buddhist would tell us that Ani Pachen's story, and Adelaide Donnelley's storytelling genius, have become one voice for all of us. As the editor of another woman's life story, I come to this book to learn. I look back at my work and see how much trouble I took to leave Mpho Nthunya's voice exactly as it was, to be merely a secretary, taking dictation from her. I tried to keep my white privilege and sensibility out of the way of her African experience and her African ways of seeing. I think that was a good thing to do. But I deeply admire the merging of voices in the Pachen/Donnelley collaboration. It is a miracle to read, to study, to learn from. I am deeply grateful for it.

The story of Ani Pachen resonates with the kind of courage and spiritual certainty that perhaps very few of us our capable, but all of us admire. In contrast to her indomitable strength, the Chinese occupation of Tibet takes on outrageous dimensions -- an ugliness and brutality hard to bear. For one nine-month period during her twenty-one years of imprisonment, Ani Pachen endured a dark, earthen cell slightly larger than her body where she spent her time praying, accomplishing one hundred thousand prostrations devoted to the well-being of all. When released by the Chinese, she took up the cause of a free Tibet in Lhasa, demonstrating against the torture and murder of her people and country, putting herself in the greatest possible peril. Ani Pachen has lived at the very depths of the soul and sorrow of Tibet and emerged triumphant, a woman of compassion and beauty who will inspire all who read her magnificent story.

I just finished reading this book and didn't want to put it down. The story of Ani Pachen is both horrifying and inspiring, how she against all odds not only survived but kept her faith, battling against her own anger at her captors to try to reach a higher spirit of generosity. The writing of Adelaide Donnelley is gorgeous and poetic, capturing the inner spirit and the mystical beauty of the land in words that lift this book to a high literary level. This book deserves to be widely read over many years. But it! Read it! It will move you.

This is the most encouraging book I have ever read about the holocaust. It beckons the reader to stand up and do the right thing in the midst of an overpowering adversary. It is Diet Eman's story of love, adventure, and courage. It is a book written with a disarming openness that is founded in her faith in God. After reading this book, you can't help but admire and love this wonderful Christian woman and her fiance', Hein Sietsma.

Hein Sietsma died in Dachau on January 20, 1945.

I loved this book, it is so inspiring and really makes you count your blessings, that we aren't at war now, and for some of us have never had to live through a war! We can thank and praise God that He has been faithful, and also was faithful to Diet Eman and many others, He never left them. I recommend this book true story) to anyone.

Diet Eman's book won me over more than any book I've read in the past few years. At only 23, she helped organize a Dutch resistance movement that hid hundreds of Jews and supplied them with fake ration cards throughout World War II. She suffered incredibly to see justice done, even being thrown into a concentration camp for a year. Yet through her tragedies, through the death of her fiance, and the suffering she experienced knowing that her friends were being tortured and killed, her faith in God rarely wavered. Her miraculous answers to prayer are inspiring and moving. She says she was reluctant to write the book because she didn't want to bring up the memories of the horror she lived through in war-torn Holland. I am so glad that James Schaap offered to organize her story into this book. It has strengthened my own faith in God enormously.

This is the second Aubrey/Maturin novel I've read recently and it won't be the last. O'Brian is an exceptional storyteller; his subtle prose, excellent character development and skillful portrayal of the nautical (and political) world in early 19th century Britain all combine to produce an engaging and satisfying diversion from the everyday life of an ocean-loving landlubber like myself.

In the first half of "The Reverse of the Medal," the aging H.M.S. Surprise sails her last voyage (an intense one at that) as a Royal Navy frigate before her retirement. Returning to Britain (now in the second half), Captain Aubrey is soon snared in a legal battle with furiously political motives. Dr. Maturin, who is unofficially involved in British intelligence work, diligently seeks to help his friend and ultimately learns Captain Aubrey is a victim of a larger scheme instigated by agents loyal to Napoleon.

Even in the space of one book, O'Brian deftly brings Aubrey and Maturin to life. These men, each a complex character and different in many ways, are men you can easily develop respect for. Not perfect, having foibles of personality as all men do, but honorable, trustworthy men. In one way or another, every man will likely see something of who he is and who he would like to be in either Aubrey or Maturin (or more likely in both). Another virtue that underlies the whole series is the fraternal affection between the two, manifested in a loyalty seen clearly in this novel when Captain Aubrey finds himself in considerable trouble. I could write much more, but in the interest of brevity I'll stop here. Read it yourself, I highly recommend it!

The eleventh installment in Patrick O'Brian's excellent series of naval adventures finds Aubrey and Maturin back in Britain as their journey to the Pacific, begun in the previous book, comes to a conclusion. Aubrey, always a minnow among land sharks when he has money in his pocket, finds himself innocently ensnared in a complicated stock exchange scam that may have been set up by Maturin's enemies in the intelligence game. The complex case and courtroom scene, O'Brian assures us in a note, are based on a real case. The pillory scene is powerful, as Bonden gruffly clears the square of all but sailors, and officers and seamen of all stripes come to show Jack their love and respect.

After several books at sea, "The Reverse of the Medal" brings readers back to the Admiralty in London with its complicated and layered intrigues, back to Ashgrove and Sophie, and back to Maturin's espionage machinations. As always, O'Brian's wonderfully intelligent prose and satisfying grasp of historical nuance captures the reader in little pockets of 18th-century Britain. The entire Aubrey/Maturin series is great, and this installment is no exception.

Some critics have referred to the Aubrey/Maturin books as one long novel united not only by their historical setting but also by the central plot element of the Aubrey/Maturin friendship. Having read these fine books over a period of several years, I decided to evaluate their cumulative integrity by reading them consecutively in order of publication over a period of a few weeks. This turned out to be a rewarding enterprise. For readers unfamiliar with these books, they describe the experiences of a Royal Navy officer and his close friend and traveling companion, a naval surgeon. The experiences cover a broad swath of the Napoleonic Wars and virtually the whole globe.
Rereading all the books confirmed that O'Brian is a superb writer and that his ability to evoke the past is outstanding. O'Brian has numerous gifts as a writer. He is the master of the long, careful description, and the short, telling episode. His ability to construct ingenious but creditable plots is first-rate, probably because he based much of the action of his books on actual events. For example, some of the episodes of Jack Aubrey's career are based on the life of the famous frigate captain, Lord Cochrane. O'Brian excels also in his depiction of characters. His ability to develop psychologically creditable characters through a combination of dialogue, comments by other characters, and description is tremendous. O'Brien's interest in psychology went well beyond normal character development, some books contain excellent case studies of anxiety, depression, and mania.
Reading O'Brien gives vivid view of the early 19th century. The historian Bernard Bailyn, writing of colonial America, stated once that the 18th century world was not only pre-industrial but also pre-humanitarian (paraphrase). This is true as well for the early 19th century depicted by O'Brien. The casual and invariable presence of violence, brutality, and death is a theme running through all the books. The constant threats to life are the product not only of natural forces beyond human control, particularly the weather and disease, but also of relative human indifference to suffering. There is nothing particularly romantic about the world O'Brien describes but it also a certain grim grandeur. O'Brien also shows the somewhat transitional nature of the early 19th century. The British Navy and its vessals were the apogee of what could be achieved by pre-industrial technology. This is true both of the technology itself and the social organization needed to produce and use the massive sailing vessals. Aubrey's navy is an organization reflecting its society; an order based on deference, rigid hierarchy, primitive notions of honor, favoritism, and very, very corrupt. At the same time, it was one of the largest and most effective bureaucracies in human history to that time. The nature of service exacted great penalities for failure in a particularly environment, and great success was rewarded greatly. In some ways, it was a ruthless meritocracy whose structure and success anticipates the great expansion of government power and capacity seen in the rest of the 19th century.
O'Brian is also the great writer about male friendship. There are important female characters in these books but since most of the action takes place at sea, male characters predominate. The friendship between Aubrey and Maturin is the central armature of the books and is a brilliant creation. The position of women in these books is ambiguous. There are sympathetic characters, notably Aubrey's long suffering wife. Other women figures, notably Maturin's wife, leave a less positive impression. On board ship, women tend to have a disruptive, even malign influence.
How did O'Brian manage to sustain his achievement over 20 books? Beyond his technical abilities as a writer and the instrinsic interest of the subject, O'Brien made a series of very intelligent choices. He has not one but two major protagonists. The contrasting but equally interesting figures of Aubrey and Maturin allowed O'Brien to a particularly rich opportunity to expose different facets of character development and to vary plots carefully. This is quite difficult and I'm not aware of any other writer who has been able to accomplish such sustained development of two major protagonists for such a prolonged period. O'Brian's use of his historical setting is very creative. The scenes and events in the books literally span the whole globe as Aubrey and Maturin encounter numerous cultures and societies. The naval setting allowed him also to introduce numerous new and interesting characters. O'Brian was able to make his stories attractive to many audiences. Several of these stories can be enjoyed as psychological novels, as adventure stories, as suspense novels, and even one as a legal thriller. O'Brian was also a very funny writer, successful at both broad, low humor, and sophisticated wit. Finally, O'Brian made efforts to link some of the books together. While a number are complete in themselves, others form components of extended, multi-book narratives. Desolation Island, Fortune of War, and The Surgeon's Mate are one such grouping. Treason's Harbor, The Far Side of the World, and The Reverse of the Medal are another. The Letter of Marque and the ensuing 4 books, centered around a circumnavigation, are another.
Though the average quality of the books is remarkably high, some are better than others. I suspect that different readers will have different favorites. I personally prefer some of the books with greater psychological elements. The first book, Master and Commander, is one of my favorites. The last 2 or 3, while good, are not as strong as earlier books. I suspect O'Brian's stream of invention was beginning to diminish. All can be read profitably as stand alone works though there is definitely something to be gained by reading in consecutive order.

"The human race, without intending anything of the sort, has undertaken a gigantic uncontrolled experiment on the earth. In time, I think, this will appear as the most important aspect of twentieth-century history, more so than World War II, the communist enterprise, the rise of mass literacy, the spread of democracy, or the growing emancipation of women." (J. R. McNeill)

Over the past few years there have been a spate of histories of the 20th century. Most of them have been written from traditional, often Eurocentric, historical perspectives that focus upon political history set in the context of socioeconomic development and ideological and military conflict. J. R. McNeill's *Something New Under the Sun* replaces the political narrative, usually found at the center of histories, with an environmental one. It invites readers to reevaluate the legacy of the 20th century.

By any measure, the 20th century is, as McNeill characterizes it, "a prodigal century." In terms of growth of population, economic development, and energy production and consumption, it is a case of 'quantity having a quality of its own.' On the one hand, it is a triumph of the human species. (McNeill suggests readers consider that over the past 4 billion years of human history, 20% of all human life-years took place in the 20th century.) On the other hand, this prodigal century - this triumph of human ingenuity - has also exacted an unprecedented environmental cost. It is this trade-off that McNeill's book explores.

McNeill's approach is interdisciplinary, and the book is divided into two sections. The first section is organized around transformations to the lithosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere, and the resulting pollution and resource depletion. Each topic includes a (very) brief conceptual introduction, case studies from around the world, (black and white) photos, maps, and tables. This section also includes the best example of unintentional environmental consequences. McNeill introduces Thomas Midgely, the inventor of leaded gasoline and Freon, "[who] had more impact on the atmosphere than any other organism in earth history."

In the second section, McNeill introduces the 'engines of change" - 1) population growth, migration, and urbanization, 2) energy, technology, and economic growth, and 3) politics and environmental awareness. The pulses of 'coketowns' and 'motowns' take place amidst the tumultuous social, economic, and political events of the 20th century. Environmental awareness doesn't take root until the 70's - a critical period for women as well. (His examples of Rachel Carson and Wangari Maathai were well chosen - and gendered.) In his epilogue (So What?), McNeill's history portends an environmental crunch, a change of circumstances - a dilemma unlike the world has witnessed so far.

"With our new powers we banished some historical constraints on health and population, food production, energy use, and consumption generally. Few who know anything about life with these constraints regret their passing. But in banishing them we invited other constraints in the form of the planet's capacity to absorb wastes, by-products, and impacts of our actions. The latter constraints had pinched occasionally in the past, but only locally. By the end of the twentieth century, they seemed to restrict our options globally. Our negotiations with these constraints will shape the future as our struggles against them shaped our past." (J. R. McNeill)

*Something New Under The Sun* is written in a popular style well suited to both non-fiction readers and students. Readers of environmental historians like William Cronon, William McNeill, or Alfred Crosby will certainly find McNeill's book interesting. Personally I think that McNeill's global perspective of the 20th century will stand the test of time.

McNeill's basic thesis is that in environmental terms, the 20th century has been unprecedented in human history and planetary history in general. He points out that the impact of humankind's breathtaking technological advancements in the last 100 or so years can be likened to a major cataclysm, like an asteroid hitting the planet. The book provides a wealth of background information on a number of major technical/technological developments, and how they have improved the lives of many people but also damaged or imperiled the air, water and soil that sustain all life. McNeill is hardly a Luddite or a primitivist, but he does make some reasonable calls for restraint and, perhaps, a worldwide assessment of where human economic/industrial/technological activities are taking the planet. Interesting in this vein is his consideration, toward the end of the book, of how the economic thought of the last century, with its adherence to the concept of unlimited growth, has played a key role in preventing such an assessment. As he points out, overcoming this way of thinking represents a daunting task, since these (Anglo-American) economic doctrines have assumed the status of irrefutable dogma - like any system of religious beliefs.

I have a read a few good histories but, in terms of relevance, this one takes the cake. No other single-bound volume (that I know of) captures the sweeping changes humanity has wrought in the physical environment. Indeed, of all other life, homo sapiens alone has distinguished itself as a global geo-physical force. You will also notice that this history is less controversial than most, as J. R. McNeil takes a strictly empirical, scientific approach. Very explicitly, McNeil lays out how humanity's emphasis on unrestrained, fast-paced industrialization has cost millions of lives, driven many species to extinction, and utterly altered the stability of the biosphere. Without a doubt, unless more people gain the kind of perspective this book provides, we will surely witness continued destruction well into this century as well. After reading this book, whatever "So what?" attitude you may have had about the environment will have dissipated completely.

I grew up in China. My family had similar experiences and background as the author. I could identify myself with the characters in the book. My personal experience was very painful before and during the "Cultural Revolution". For a long time, I couldn't look back without crying hard. Thank you for telling your story.
Whenever I read a book about China, either by native Chinese or foreigners, I found certain sterotype about China, Chinese families and Chinese people. A Chinese given name consists of 1 or 2 characters. Since Chinese characters are very rich in meanings they could represent, a name could tell a lot. My name, as well as my siblings' and all my cousins were carefully chosen by my grandfather. My given name, only two characters, tells where I was born. It also represents fountain flowing at great speed, which my grandpa thought was a symbol of life. It may be true that China is a male dominated society. However there are a lot of people who don't follow the trend. I was the third girl in the family. My parents were just as happy if not happier about my birth as compared if I were a boy. As a matter of fact, in the environment I grew up, there was no difference what so ever about boys or girls whom the parents preferred. Many families actually preferred girls to boys as Chinese people all believe when children grow up, girls are more considerate to their parents (this is another sterotype, but many believe it). I guess, after all, it is the parents, not the society decide if boys are preferred to girls. Families are different in China, just like they are different in the States.
BTW, My late father was a surgeon. My beloved mother had been a teacher before she decided to quit her job to be a full time mom.

A wonderful account of life and childhood during the Cultural Revolution. As a college student interested in Chinese history and culture, I have been reading every Chinese memoir I could get my hands on over the past few years. In fact, I am often times more interested in the books these books I'm reading on my own than those assigned to me for class. "Thirty Years in a Red House" was one of the best Chinese memoirs I have read thus far. It was also the first Chinese memoir I have read written by a male author. The way Zhu told his story, of his father, family, and the struggles of everyday life drew me in like few books have. Every time I read someones personal account of the Cultural Revolution, I become even more fascinated and intrigued with how so many people held together over such a difficult time. The "seen through your eyes" style Thirty Years In A Red House was written in enables the reader to view Zhu's childhood and journey through Mao's China as if he or she were following his every step. I also enjoyed how historical and political events were artfully woven into the text. A great read!

Having spent two weeks in Beijing preceding and during President Clinton's state visit to China, I returned to the United States with many questions. I was curious to learn more about the Communist government, China's history, its culture, and especially, the conditions under which the Chinese people have lived in the period since Mao Zedong founded the People's Republic of China. In my quest for knowledge and understanding I came to read Zhu's _Thirty Years in a Red House_. This book offers the reader remarkable insight into the hardships and heartaches of a Chinese family during the years of the Cultural Revolution. While I had been dismayed at other accounts of the injustices dealt to the educated and intellectual citizens and leaders of this time, I was greatly heartened by Zhu's account of his parents' beliefs and practices in spite of the hardships they endured. This book gives one hope that the people of China will one day prevail, and that their leaders, both present and future, will learn from the sacrifices of those who went before.

Phil Carson has hit one out of the ballpark with his biography of Roy Buchanan, a musical talent of first rank but probably not the easiest biographical subject.

This is an excellent book that gives one a feel for Roy as a person (as much as that is possible), his life as a journeyman musician, and his brief flirtation with fame after having been "discovered" in 1971.

As an added benefit, in the process of telling Roy's story, the author takes the reader on a wonderful voyage through the last 50+ years of American music; of course the two subjects are so closely related it's totally unavoidable, but I still have to say kudos because Mr. Carson has done such a fine job of weaving the two stories together in a very readable way.

Roy Buchanan's skill as a guitar player was unsurpassed and may never be equaled. Few guitarists (past or present) can even be compared to him, and many so-called "guitar gods" fall well short. But he was also a tragic figure, in many ways, and perhaps this was the price for his lofty talent.

We'll never know, but Phil Carson brings us as close as we'll probably ever get to understanding the contradictions that made Roy Buchanan who he was -- a genuine guitar god and deeply troubled mortal.

This is a nicely done book. I enjoyed it and do not hesitate to give it five stars here.

At long last comes a book that, for the first time, gives a detailed look into the life and music of this gifted (and largely unheralded) guitarist.

Even those unfamiliar with Roy's particular genius will find "American Axe" a fascinating chronicle. The book provides not only insight into Roy's early influences but gives an historical perspective to the very beginnings of rock and roll itself. You get a real feel for what life on the club circuit was like for the journeyman musician in the 50's and 60's.

Phil Carson has obviously taken great pains to garner first-hand accounts about Roy from family, friends and musical colleagues in order to piece together some understanding of what made Roy tick as accurately and fairly as possible. Roy was generally media-shy so there are many eye-opening revelations here.

I couldn't make a higher recommendation for this book. It is a much overdue and welcome addition to the Roy Buchanan fan's collection.

I was about fourteen years old when first exposed to the innovative guitar playing of Roy Buchanan. I knew even back then how skillful he was, yet dissimilar from his peers. It was a PBS special on television. I sat mesmerized and frozen while listening to the sweet, steel guitar-like sounds of his Telecaster guitar for the first time. Hearing the beautiful, yet melancholy melodies of 'The Messiah Will Come Again', 'Sweet Dreams', and others still echo in my mind 30 years later.

'Roy Buchanan: American Axe', by Phil Carson, is a special biography of a special person. The book takes the reader on a journey through the guitarist's childhood straight through to his days as a journeyman guitarist, a man haunted by the same demons that haunt many an artist and musician, especially blues and rock guitar players it seems.

Carson tells the story of a warm night in June of '72 when an ordinary, mellow man first headlined to a full house in New York City's Carnegie Hall. Backed by his band, the Snakestretchers, Roy stepped up to the mic and began reciting in a soft drawl: "Just a smile, just a glance ... The Prince of Darkness, he just walked past ..." You know the rest. His solo then rang out through the hall in crystal clarity. The audience left awestruck at the end of the show, knowing they'd witnessed a guitar great for the first time.

Roy's life was cut short; only God knows why. But at least he was able to leave us an amazing legacy of recordings. He was an incredible blues player. This book is for the fans of Roy, and for those looking forward to learning about the life of the guitar legend himself. For those who have yet to get into him, start here as well ... while listening to a CD or two of his music. As great as his recordings were, though, it was almost impossible for producers to catch him in the right essence. Not only did they have difficulty choosing the proper material for him and his band to record, but Roy was always best in the live club setting as opposed to the studio. His earliest studio albums were his best, as they were raw and untainted. Try 1972's 'Roy Buchanan', or 1973's 'Second Album'. 'Sweet Dreams - The Anthology' is a good compilation, too.

This is an excellent book for those who love the guitar, and also for those who want to learn more about one of its true masters. 'Roy Buchanan: American Axe' is a receptive and comprehensive biography.

If you liked M.M. Kaye's "Far Pavilions" of TV miniseries fame, you may find this earlier work by the author even more enjoyable. A romance novel to be sure, but non-fans of the genre (I am usually amongst their number) will find it a very pleasant surprise, especially if you can get a copy of the early editions, which were considerably shorter than those that came out after the success of the "Far Pavilions". Ms. Kaye's outstanding attention to Indian historical and cultural detail surrounding the Great Sepoy Mutiny supplements the central love story wonderfully. Actually, the reader soon becomes aware that "Shadow of the Moon" is a tale of two love stories - one between Alex and Winter and one between Ms. Kaye and the people, culture and land of India. If you like a good love story, lots of action, many interesting secondary characters, and a generous dose of education about a fascinating and pivotal time in Indian and British history, this book is a must read.

M. M. Kaye's extraordinary novel "Shadow of the Moon" combines historical fact with a wonderful love story set against the beauty and complexity of India during the British Raj. One of Ms. Kaye's gifts as a writer is her ability to create three-dimensional characters and plausibly insert them into historic events. Here she intertwines her cast of characters with history and through the microcosm of their lives we view the dramatic events of the past.

The action in M. M. Kaye's novel pivots around the Mutiny of 1857," also called the "Sepoy Rebellion." Indian soldiers in the Bengal army of the British East India Company rose against their British rulers in May 1857 and the violent uprising quickly spread throughout British ruled India. "Shadow of the Moon" is the love story of an Anglo-Spanish heiress with vast land holdings in India and a political officer of the East India Company. The author intertwines the lives of these two central characters, and a large supporting cast, with historical events to create a wonderful epic novel.

Ms. Kaye has written more than a historical novel here, although the book is full of romance, intrigue and the extraordinary colors of India. The author is the daughter of Anglo-Indians and writes with an obvious love of the country and all its varied cultures. She portrays many of the colonialist characters with the arrogant and superior attitudes so prevalent at the time and juxtaposes them and their narrowly focused lives against the realities of the world which surrounds them. These Victorian colonial attitudes, beliefs and zeal to spread their culture and religion appear to have made the uprising an inevitability.

I couldn't put this novel down and can't recommend it highly enough!
Jana

Read this one. It's the best romance I've ever read and is full of adventure, bravery, suspense and history.

My mother pitched this paperback to me and now I won't part with it. (It's survived many spring cleanings!) It's one of the best fictional tales I've read. Set in nineteenth century British India, M.M. Kaye describes a world with which she and her family for many generations were intimately familiar.

For a long book of 799 pages, (I loved the ending), I actually regretted that there were not more pages!

It is the War of 1812 and Elisabet Holder's father has been kidnapped by the British! Since she has no other relatives she has to move to New Orleans from Boston to live with her Aunt. She finds mystery and suspense in her new home... talk of a ghost and treasure! Elisabet really wants to find the treasure so she could buy her father freedom... but soon she finds out that she's not the only one that wants it! This book was easy to read and fun. It's the kind of book you can read at midnight when you can't fall asleep. It keeps your attention. Besides being a cool mystery, it tells a lot about 1814 and pirates and smugglers!

In 1814, after her father is captured by the British, eleven-year-old Elisabet Holder must leave Boston to live with her aunt and uncle in New Orleans. When she arrives, she learns her uncle is dead, her aunt has gone to Baton Rogue, and she is expected to work in her aunt's bakery like a servant. When Elisabet learns of a treasure her uncle hid before he died, she decides to search for it so she can ransom her father. But that's only the beginning of the story. THE SMUGGLER'S TREASURE is an exciting combination of mystery, adventure, and history. I immensely enjoyed it and look forward to future books in the HISTORY MYSTERIES series.

The Smuggler's Treasure, Sarah Masters Buckey

Elisabet Holder, is the main character in the novel, The Smuggler's Treasure. She is sent from Boston to New Orleans to live with Aunt, because her dad was captured by the British. This takes place in 1814, when America was fightening against the British. Elisabet forces herself to find the smuggled treasure to earn her dad's freedom. In my attention was grabbed right from the beginning. As the book progresses Elisabet realizes the treasure has been hidden in her own house. This book is a great book for people who like mysteries. I liked this book because every chapter has a mystery to it. I would recommend this book to girls.

An apt title, as Art Pepper tells in his own words what he did, and how he felt about it. Pepper was one of the finest alto saxophonists of all time but also a tortured individual who found escape from the reality of living through heroin. This book is not a fluffy piece of a read and not for anyone looking for such.
Pepper tells the raw truth about his drug use, prison time and even sexual activities ( some of the latter criminal). One is struck by how much time he wasted in prison and being so stoned he was unable to function. If that time could only have been spent recording and playing how much more of a legacy he would have left us!
If you wish to read a searing portrait of the life of a jazz musician and drug addict then read this book for there is probably no finer written example. I found it difficult to put down. Mesmerizing! Highly recommended.

I have read this book twice now. The first time I read it, being a fanatical fan of Art Pepper and having seen him at his best, and worst, I was looking for reasons why Art had such a difficult life. I was impressed by his compelling and brutal self-appraisal. The book underscores Pepper's music, which is brutally self-revealing, and helps us see the connection between life and art. The second time I read it, I tried to find out whether it would help me understand the music, and it failed there. There is little of the music in this book. It does not go much into his musical life; it is mainly about Art as a man, not a musician. And remember Art did not write the book, his wife Laurie did, but of course she taped Art's comments on his life and edited them. It is revelatory, of course, but one would have wished that she had asked him more pointed questions about the music. Otherwise, as an autobiography, it ranks up there with the best in history. Hail, Art Pepper, the greatest saxophone player of our day!

This brutal portrait of jazz virtuoso Art Pepper reads like a Bosch painting of the infernal pits of Hell...from drug addiction to peeping tom to armed robbery ... and doin time in San Quentin Art Pepper's fall from grace and eventual comeback late in life is related in hard as nails prose...throw in some of the best accounts of Jazz biography with opinions and rants on Miles Davis, Coletrane, Louis Armstrong and others and you have a redemptive, brutal look into the tortured heart of a true criminal/addict/musician...for Pepper was all three and considered each elemental in the struggle of his existence...

I've read all of his Tennis Shoes books so far. I can't wait for the next one! I can never seem to put these books down. I even skip dinner sometimes so I can finish...that's how cool his books are. He really knows how to write. Way to go, Chris!!

When I first heard that the main character was going to be Harry Hawkins in this book I thought for sure that this book and The Lost Scrolls wouldn't be as good as the first for with Jim Hawkins as the main character. To my suprise it was just as good as all of the other Tennis Shoes books (which is really really good.) I can't wait to read Heimerdinger's next book.

I was really impressed with this one. At first, i wasn't sure about it. I was kind of mad that they were through with the ancient Americas, but this was worth it! It gave amazing info on the results of the apostosy. Some of the "True Christian" cults that sprang up were pretty scary!