profil de Frank

Great book!, Fév 11 2004

This is one of the better books in Hillerman's series. We learn more about Jim Chee's life progress in the context of a murder mystery, which is neither too complex, nor too simplistic. Hillerman throws in the Navajo history, lore and lifestyle without preaching, or assuming knowledge on the part of the reader. In a neat touch, we learn an awful lot about Mary Landon without her actually appearing here as character: she's there in Jim's memory, in phone calls, and in a letter she sends Jim.

Well worth reading!

Very poor book, Fév 11 2004

This book lost all credibility when I read the authors' attack on fundamentalism. I am a former fundamentalist, so I might be expected to have an apostate's bias against fundamentalism, but these authors are not only inaccurate but almost comically biased. The authors claim that the fundamentalists' belief in the truth of the Bible is "borders on idolatry," that fundamentalists are "often parasitic" and define themselves not by belief in their scriptures or truth, but by their opposition to "other approaches." Instead of examining the mainstream Christian fundamentalist beliefs, the authors simply define all fundamentists as having "a totally closed… Lire la suite

Fantastic book on the WWII infantry soldier, Nov. 30 2003

This book focuses on the World War II infantry soldier. McManus does a great job of balancing facts, context, and individual soldiers' memories of the war, including excellent presentations on soldiers' food, equipment, weapons, fighting conditions, attitudes, leadership, and motivation -- not to mention a detailed refutation of a "scholarly" study of how most soldiers avoided combat.
Now, as one reviewer said, if you've read 100 books on World War II, everything you read on the same subject has some repetition to it. But if you've only read 20 or 25 books, like me -- or if this is going to be your first book on World War II -- this book will be well worth… Lire la suite