I am almost embarrassed at how much I enjoyed this book. I purposely avoided it for a long time annoyed at how much hype it was getting thinking surely it wasn't a 'real' baseball book for true fans. I gave in recently when the paperback came out and must admit that I am dumbfounded with delight. This is a GREAT book for true fans of the game and even for those who know next to nothing about baseball! Michael Lewis is a remarkably gifted author who can tell a great story, entertain, and inform with amazing ease while writing in excellent prose. His central focus in this book is "Why have the Oakland A's won so many baseball games lately with such a relatively low payroll and so few established stars?" You will quickly find out if you are a fan of "Old School" baseball or the "New Wave" thinking running through Oakland, Toronto, and even the Red Sox. Many will take strong stands along these sides and may even rate their opinion of this book solely upon that. Either way, this book is great entertainment and is very much worthy of a place on your bookshelf for "read it cover-to-cover keepers"!

Because North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il may STILL believe he can pull off an invasion of South Korea in a way similar to what is described in "Red Phoenix". This is a very enjoyable and readable military techno-thriller written by Larry Bond who collaborated with Tom Clancy in writing "Red Storm Rising" in the mid 1980s. This book mixes remarkably accurate details of military activity and combat planning in Korea to create a very plausible plot in 1989 for the start and action in a Second Korean War. Some of the details are now dated by the introduction of 'smart' technology but, speaking as the US Air Force veteran of Desert Storm that I am, this is what it was like in military culture towards the end of the Cold War. Larry Bond uses his knowledge of the geography and politics of the Koreas to create very plausible events and characters that make this book a real pageturner. He tries to get you into the minds of the 'Cult of Kim' so you can understand why North Korea acts in the belligerant, Stalinist way it still does to this day.

Time, so far, may not have proven this book accurate, but it will help you to understand about why Kim Jong Il and North Korea are still threats to Asia and America to this day. I have been told that "Red Phoenix" is still 'required reading' for many American military personnel who get assigned to posts in and around South Korea. Give it a try if you enjoy military thrillers and like to be up on world events.

This book is the second book in Ferrol Sams trilogy about the adventures of "The Boy", otherwise known as Porter Osborne, Jr.. I read through the first entitled "Run with the Horsemen" and was bowled over by the wit, charm, hilarity, and just plain engaging writing style of the author. The first book ended suddenly at an event around graduation from high school and "The Whisper of the River" picks up shortly after as Porter prepares to go to the college his distant but beloved father went to.

The events in this book are written simply as they happen and are to be enjoyed on that level. You are basically the 'fly on the wall' as the brilliant backwoods farmboy goes to college in the late 1930s. His adventures range from poignant to side splittingly funny (and it is hard to make me laugh) in a seemingly random way, but anyone who has lived on campus for four years will 'understand'. Porter learns much in and out of the classroom that he never knew existed back on his family's farm in rural Georgia. His campus time starts in the fall of 1938 so the events leading up to World War II and the ending of The Great Depression play active roles.

If "Run with the Horsemen" brought smiles and enjoyment to you, you will absolutely not want to miss out on Porter's further adventures. I didn't think the mule named 'Pet' incident in the first book could be topped for screaming, side-splitting laughter, but Ferrol has several incidents in "The Whisper of the River" that may put you in the hospital from laughing til it really hurts!

Sams is not Faulkner, but this is no beach fluff either. You will be much better for the effort. Highly recommended.

I am almost embarrassed to admit how much I like this album! I am one of those types country-music executives love to hear about. I am not normally an everyday country-music listener, but I can't get enough of this modern pop country-music album!

Sara Evans is an example of everything that is going right in modern pop country-music. She is very happily married and just gave birth to her second child. The joy that is apparently in her life and heart simply overflow like cataracts in this album. Mind you, the content is not all joy in the songs. The classic country gem "I Learned That From You" is biting, but brilliantly on target in showing the effects of poor male example. "Why Should I Care" and "Four-Thirty" lament over memories of love gone wrong. However, these three songs serve to anchor this CD to the ground as the rest of it just soars to the stratosphere with ebullience and hope. The opening title track deserves all the attention it has gotten both in country- music and mainstream press. This album version is over five and one half minutes long and segues perfectly into "Saints and Angels" singing of the power of grace and forgiveness to heal in a loving, but imperfect marriage. Then comes the centerpiece of the album in "I Could Not Ask for More". This is an unabashed love song to be sung right into the eyes of your spouse telling them how wonderful they are and how much you love them. If you hadn't fully noticed Sara's somewhat nasally vocals, you certainly will on "I Keep Looking" singing about wanderlust and growing older with a coy twist. "Let's Dance" is another uplifting love song about the romantic joys of true, committed love. Fluff? Not if you are in love and Sara clearly is. "Show Me the Way to Your Heart" sings of winning over the heart of a love interest who had been burned before in love. Then comes my personal favorite cut. I can only best describe "You Don't" by recalling a time when I watched a springtime Texas thunderstorm roll in from the west. It appeared on the horizon, rolled into my immediate area building in intensity and power. First the sight, then the smell, the wind, the rain, finally, the rolling thunder and pink-hued lightning bolts. It is a perfect metaphor here. This song is an emotional thunderstorm of astounding intensity telling the female side of how much her lover affects her. It is GOOD STUFF. "Every Little Kiss" is a brilliant upbeat cover of the Bruce Hornsby original to finish this 52 minute tour de force album.

To give you a little more perspective on the mindset that went into creating this album, consider the liner notes. "My son Avery. My sweet little punkin! You will never fully understand the depth of my love for you. Even when you were in my womb, I knew you and loved you! You have changed my life forever. I love you so much more than any song, or album, or concert. Always know that! Since I wrote these songs in the first few months of your life, I dedicate them all to you. Love Forever, Mommy. Craig, I didn't know it was possible to grow closer and more in love with someone every day, but it is. You are my rock and my shield. You take such excellent care of Avery and me. Thank you. I am so proud of you sweetie. You are a godly man and I will love you always. And finally, Lord Jesus, let everything I do be pleasing to You and be Your will. I love You above everything. Thank You for the blessings in my life and thank You for giving me music. Please help me to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which I have been called." Can you have you priorities any better in order?! Wow! Talk about really having your head on straight! You will find, if you listen to this CD with your heart open, that it will bring some of Sara's joy to your heart as well. This is truly a work of art. Great work, Sara! I look forward to your next offering and wish you and your growing family the continued best. Thank you for warming my own heart.

The Mavericks are possibly the most appropriately named band around these mass-marketed days. Yeah, yeah, I know that record companies need to make money to function, but they don't need to take out the fun as well! The Mavericks plainly are in the music business because they love what they are doing and it shows everywhere in "What A Crying Shame". This may not be their most profound or original work, but they put their exuberant all into making it. "There Goes My Heart" and "What A Crying Shame" are stellar alt-country hits that explode with well-made sincerity. The Roy Orbison cut "I Should Have Been True" is lovingly done along with the Bruce Springsteen penned "All That Heaven Will Allow". Lead singer and songwriter Raul Malo's fabulous voice and the band's prefect timing will leave you marveling with delight when you hear "O What A Thrill". The song that put me over the top into the status of "new fan" was the hopelessly catchy final song "The Losing Side Of Me". I play it any morning when I need to wake up fully and start the day right with my toes tapping and guitar hooks caught over and over on my tongue. I got to see them once not too long ago and my suspicions were confirmed. They simply BROUGHT THE HOUSE DOWN and had everyone (including themselves!) laughing non-stop as the sonic joy went on until they admitted after over two hours that they had played every song they knew! These guys really do LOVE making good-time rock and roll alt-country music that makes everyone willing to give them the chance better for the listen! Give "What a Crying Shame" and The Mavericks a try. Your toes and smile will thank you heartily for it!

This book is a stunning accomplishment written by the on scene American commander of the first major combat engagement in VietNam in late 1965 at the Ia Drang Valley. It threads the line masterfully between human interest story and gripping actual war story. It is quick to read, but also remarkably detailed. It is not a "literary" masterpiece, but it is in no way a "dumbed down" book.

This 560 page paperback tells the story of the formation and first time use of what would become a standard image of the war in VietNam, Air Assault by helicopter. The book opens with a number of pages telling how portions of the 1st Cavalry Division were being converted by technology and need from old style mobile ground infantry into highly mobile, helicopter-bourne shock troops for use in the hostile territory and hostile terrain of the growing conflict in South East Asia. We follow many of the participants from their training in the United States over to deployment "on the cheap" in South VietNam. Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore was the battalion commander and Joe Galloway was the UPI reporter who found themselves dropped right into a massive hornet's nest of eager for battle North Vietnamese Army regulars massively outnumbering the Americans at Landing Zone X-Ray. The details of the battle from BOTH SIDES are described in vivid detail giving the reader a harrowing image of the horror that combat actually is. The main battle rages on day and night for a couple days as every bit of the new training and tactics taught to the battalion are put to desperate use. New tactics are developed on the spot as American soldiers frantically fight to save themselves and their buddies. The history of the embattled unit (the 7th Cavalry of General Custer's last stand at Little Big Horn) weighs heavily on the Americans as they fight to prevent being overrun again nearly 90 years later half-way around the world. The value of Hal Moore's excellent leadership during the X-Ray battle is vividly illustrated later when poor leadership gets the unit's sister battalion decimated nearby at Landing Zone Albany.

This book is well worth reading even to the casual reader. It is not a "flag-waver" or an anti-war book. It simply tells the true story of relatively ordinary humans who find themselves mixed up in "a new kind of war" that seems destined to get all of them killed brutally. "We Were Soldiers" is expertly presented and researched. Many of the American survivors of the battle meet each year in remembrance and the authors have used these gatherings to make sure they got the details and full stories right. The authors also met the North Vietnamese commander of the battle at length when writing this book who gave them fine insight into the perspective from the "other side". You can smell the sweat, and the fear, everywhere.

This book is not to be missed by any human being who wants to understand (and hopefully avoid) what war is like. It is sobering and very much worth your effort.

So you still can't get enough of Jackson Browne's 1993 album "I'm Alive", eh? And "Late for the Sky" still sounds just as fresh today as it did in the Fall of 1974? If those two sentences are spot on for you, then it is highly likely that you will love "The Naked Ride Home". Jackson has had a long and storied life and musical career, but he just seems to wax brilliant when he writes music about relationships gone askew. If the Jackson Browne you know and love comes in the form of pop hits like "Doctor My Eyes", "That Girl Could Sing", or "Running On Empty", you will probably not be thrilled with this release. "The Naked Ride Home" seems to complete a trilogy of astounding introspective albums centered on less than ideal relationships started in "Late for the Sky" and peaked in "I'm Alive". Jackson maintains superb musical focus here by putting almost all the album's energy into his piano and heartfelt singing without going completely accoustic. Both "Never Stop" and "The Night Inside Me" could easily make their home on easy-listening pop radio while "Casino Nation" and "Walking Town" easily update Jackson's reputation for political songwriting. The showstopper on this album is "My Stunning Mystery Companion". What the cut "Late for the Sky" started and "Sky Blue and Black" developed, "My Stunning Mystery Companion" completes. The wistfulness heard here in the interplay between the electric guitar notes and piano notes is absolutely remarkable. Jackson's trademark lyrics (provided in the booklet) will continue to blow you away with their thoughtfulness and maturity if you make the effort to ponder them. All in all, he will make most people happy to have the gift of hearing.

The bottom line: Definitely pick this up if you enjoy the thinking side of Jackson Browne. Beware if you are looking for "Running On Empty, Part II".

First off, I must point out that I work about eight blocks away from the infamous Five Points intersection in New York City. Also, I am very familiar with American history. With these two points mentioned, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed and learned alot from this book. If you are considering reading "Five Points", it is very important that you assess beforehand what you hope to get out of this book. It has the potential to be either VERY rewarding and informative to you OR, to bore the life out of you and make you want to fling it in the trash! This book is certainly NOT for the casual reader. It is remarkably detailed and meticulous in research chock full of 66 pages of footnotes and a small font, select bibliography of five pages. I had the great advantage of being able to walk over on my lunch hour and follow the included maps around the neighborhood to see where these locations were and, in some cases, see the still standing buildings mentioned in the text. If you are not from New York City or familiar with it's history, this book can be painfully tedious. If this book was a college course, I would estimate it to be either of the 300 or 400 level.

Some may take issue with the way the material is arranged. Trying to write about a whole neighborhood with so many layers of diverse history is no easy task. I personally enjoyed the format once I got used to it. Anbinder starts each chapter with a prologue vignette of a few pages describing an event or person who well exemplifies the topic following in the main chapter. I found myself going back at the end of each chapter and re-reading the prologue with the new information just gleaned in mind. The chapters cover the historical making of the Five Points neighborhood, why the neighborhood inhabitants originally (mostly the Irish before the Civil War) came there, how and where the residents lived there, how they worked and what they did, the politics the neighborhood was involved in over the years, the diversions and entertainment found in the neighborhood, types of vice and crime seen there, religion and reform issues (including extensive accounts of the activities of the Five Points Mission and the House of Industry), the infamous riots the neighborhood was a part or cause of (mostly in the 1850s), the neighborhood changes underway during the Civil War and the rise of Tammany Hall, the remaking of Five Points after the Civil War as Italians became more prevalent, the life and activities of the Italian majority in the 1870s and 1880s, the influx of Chinese to the neighborhood and the making of Chinatown, and the activities of Jacob Riis and other reformers towards the eventual demolition of much of Five Points in the 1890s. The author fills in some background information on discussed topics, but it helps greatly to be already familiar with the era's history. Examples would be needing to know the basics of Andrew Jackson and his "Democrats" before fully understanding the causes and issues relating to the rioting so common in Five Points before the Civil War or, familiarity with what Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall was. Some may also quarrel with the need for extensive statistics about the nationality makeup of individual Five Points tenements or the amount of money in residents bank accounts over the years, but extreme details such as those give insights to how New York City has become what it is today. Causes of the rise of the modern fire and police departments, some unions, gangs, and building code details are just some of the contemporary NYC realities that can trace a significant portion of their origins to Five Points.

With the previously mentioned warnings in mind, I highly recommend "Five Points" to the ravenous history student. This is no beach read or intro to Five Points. It is thick and heavy like cheesecake, but make sure you know that you love cheesecake before trying this supreme example!

This is a brutally hard hitting book. And strong opinions on specific topics abound everywhere. If you endeavor to read this book and consider the merits of Hanson's logic, I feel quite safe to say that you will form a distinct opinion of your own. Hanson is the type of writer whom you will either absolutely love, absolutely hate, or be baffled by what he is talking about. But too his credit, he is a formidable thinker and writer. Many, many people will write him off as "one of those conservative, right-wing types", but he takes an interesting tack through this book working to avoid injecting ideology into his premise. There is some ideology to be found, but there is clearly a very conscious attempt to lay down logical reason and facts before stating an opinion. He used a doctoral student for an editor so, the writing is rough in places and bound to appear downright repetitive at times. Still, the power of his thesis that Western culture at war is a blisteringly lethal fighting force when engaged in combat against the fighting ability of non-Western culture stays remarkably focused through the softcover book's 463 pages. He also avoids most discussion about the morality of the Western way of fighting so as to stay locked in on the hows and whys of the West's use of military power (although his thoughts on non-Western treatment of prisoners of war compared to the West's uses of massive firepower are very insightful).

With all that said, this is a book well worth reading if you desire insight into the turbulent world we live in. Hanson is a military historian and professor of classics at California State University. He has also been a full-time farmer and brings a refreshing bit of hard earned real world insight into his scholarly work. He chooses and describes the events of nine landmark battles over the last 2500 hundred years to illustrate nine central concepts he considers essential in the formation of the Western way of fighting. They are "Freedom or 'to Live as You Please'", "Decisive Battle", "Citizen Soldiers", "Landed Infantry", "Technology and the Wages of Reason", "The Market - or Capitalism Kills", "Discipline - or Warriors Are Not Always Soldiers", "Individualism", and "Dissent and Self-Critique". The battle itself is described in vivid detail and then several more sub-sections break down pertinent points illustrating aspects of the concept. An epilogue entitled "Western Warfare - Past and Future" wraps things up and includes interesting discussion on whether other battles are exceptions, the export of Western armaments to non-Western nations, and what happens when Western culture meets Western culture on the battlefield. The softcover edition also contains an afterword entitled "Carnage and Culture after September 11, 2001" that was not in the hardcover as the attacks occurred less than a month after the original publication. I was particularly astounded by his insights on the Greek influence on battlefield discipline and what "bravery" consists of in Western culture during the chapter on the Battle of Rorke's Drift.

Many of a liberal or leftist persuasion may be enraged and/or dismissive of "Carnage and Culture", but don't let yourself get sidetracked before completing it. It will challenge many of your past assumptions. I served as a weather officer for a U.S. Air Force unit in Operation Desert Storm and saw first hand the devastatingly lethal way a Western military fights in combat. This book gave me much to think about as to how and why the Western way of combat developed. Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs and Steel" provides thoughts on how natural resources and geography have helped or hindered cultures, but "Carnage and Culture" addresses the formation of the military values that have helped the West dominate much of the world. I like to think that Diamond set the stage while Hanson develops the mindset of a dominant character. This is no quick read. You will also very likely go back and read sections again to fully absorb Hanson's writing before thinking on your own to your own opinions. That, to me, is the hallmark of a worthy book. Very highly recommended.

First off, I must point out that I work about eight blocks away from the infamous Five Points intersection in New York City. Also, I am very familiar with American history. With these two points mentioned, I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed and learned alot from this book. If you are considering reading "Five Points", it is very important that you assess beforehand what you hope to get out of this book. It has the potential to be either VERY rewarding and informative to you OR, to bore the life out of you and make you want to fling it in the trash! This book is certainly NOT for the casual reader. It is remarkably detailed and meticulous in research chock full of 66 pages of footnotes and a small font, select bibliography of five pages. I had the great advantage of being able to walk over on my lunch hour and follow the included maps around the neighborhood to see where these locations were and, in some cases, see the still standing buildings mentioned in the text. If you are not from New York City or familiar with it's history, this book can be painfully tedious. If this book was a college course, I would estimate it to be either of the 300 or 400 level.

Some may take issue with the way the material is arranged. Trying to write about a whole neighborhood with so many layers of diverse history is no easy task. I personally enjoyed the format once I got used to it. Anbinder starts each chapter with a prologue vignette of a few pages describing an event or person who well exemplifies the topic following in the main chapter. I found myself going back at the end of each chapter and re-reading the prologue with the new information just gleaned in mind. The chapters cover the historical making of the Five Points neighborhood, why the neighborhood inhabitants originally (mostly the Irish before the Civil War) came there, how and where the residents lived there, how they worked and what they did, the politics the neighborhood was involved in over the years, the diversions and entertainment found in the neighborhood, types of vice and crime seen there, religion and reform issues (including extensive accounts of the activities of the Five Points Mission and the House of Industry), the infamous riots the neighborhood was a part or cause of (mostly in the 1850s), the neighborhood changes underway during the Civil War and the rise of Tammany Hall, the remaking of Five Points after the Civil War as Italians became more prevalent, the life and activities of the Italian majority in the 1870s and 1880s, the influx of Chinese to the neighborhood and the making of Chinatown, and the activities of Jacob Riis and other reformers towards the eventual demolition of much of Five Points in the 1890s. The author fills in some background information on discussed topics, but it helps greatly to be already familiar with the era's history. Examples would be needing to know the basics of Andrew Jackson and his "Democrats" before fully understanding the causes and issues relating to the rioting so common in Five Points before the Civil War or, familiarity with what Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall was. Some may also quarrel with the need for extensive statistics about the nationality makeup of individual Five Points tenements or the amount of money in residents bank accounts over the years, but extreme details such as those give insights to how New York City has become what it is today. Causes of the rise of the modern fire and police departments, some unions, gangs, and building code details are just some of the contemporary NYC realities that can trace a significant portion of their origins to Five Points.

With the previously mentioned warnings in mind, I highly recommend "Five Points" to the ravenous history student. This is no beach read or intro to Five Points. It is thick and heavy like cheesecake, but make sure you know that you love cheesecake before trying this supreme example!