Terri Crisp will carry one through every emotion imaginable as she tells of her many courageous rescues of animals during both nature and man-made disasters. There are numerous inspiring stories, but the most heartbreaking and disturbing are the ones which tell of owners leaving their pets behind - treating their pets as disposable items.

Ms. Crisp explains the tragic consequences of not being prepared for a disaster throughout the entire book. She also includes invaluable pet disaster kits and other information in order to prepare for a disaster.

This is one book that I could not put down until the last page was read. It's one that will be read and re-read.

I am a 13 year old girl, and I just finished reading this book. My friend reccomended it to me and gave me the book, telling me that if I didn't enjoy the book I could just stop reading it. It never crossed my mind to stop reading it. It was a great book, one of the best I've ever read. Even if your not too into animal stories, the book tells about one amazing woman and her lifelong pursuit to save animals while still caring for a husband, 3 children, and pets of her own.

If you care about companion animals, please please read. The content made me more aware of Animal needs during a disaster, and has inspired me to take a UAN/EARS training course that certifies a volunteer to help in the rescue effort of animals when disaster strikes (tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, etc.). This book reads like fiction and I could not put it down. I am buying several to give as gifts, as this book moved me beyond belief. I hope Ms. Crisp writes more books on Animal Rescue in natural disasters, her personal experiences, and how crucial volunteers are. Ms. Crisp focuses on the positive side of Emergency Animal Rescue for the animals that were left behind to fend for themselves. Great reading and extremely uplifting.

This book was recommended to me by a black woman. She said it was a book for black women but it's really for all women. It will help you understand the misfortunes in your life and why we go through the same pain over and over again. When I started to read it, I found myself relating to a lot of the stories these women went through. And then she would explain why we choose the people we choose and why we go through it anyway when we know it's not good for us. I thought it was amazing. I have been recommending it to every woman I know ever since. It's an inspiring book and helps you become strong or stronger. It helps you empower yourself to controlling your life the way you would really want to live it. Definitely a book to read and have in your collection!

Here we find the words we all look for when we find ourselves speechless, and at a momentary loss for ideas of what to do next. I know here is Oakland, many sisters refer to this book as the "other book next to the bed". We were blessed with a visit from the sister to talk about "The Spirit of A Man", but found that anything written is evidence of her ability to incorporate her words into pages. I have to order a second book since my sister friend "won't" return mine. I feel this book is one we all should read. Those of us that are constantly doing spiritual work to better ourselves know this as a reference tool for all times. The sister's work is phenomenal. Thanks for being on Oprah show this week and sharing Iyanla. I have been waiting for your prime time conversations with the world. But, most importantly, keep writing the books. We can take them everywhere. I can't put a value on "The Value". Peace and Blessings

This is truly one of the best books that I have ever read. From start to finsh, the author captivated me with her spiritual and inspirational style of writing. It is also one of the few books that I did not want to rush to get to the ending. I wanted to savour every last drop of inspiration and knowledge this novel had to offer. I recommend this book to any woman who has ever gone through trials and tribulations in her life. And I don't know any who have'nt. I wish I could have read a book like this a long time ago. I know I would have had a different outlook on life. After reading it, I gave it to my 23 year old daughter to borrow until her copy comes in that I purchased. This is a book you'll want to refer back to time and again. The "valley" she talks about in her book, is what one goes through in life. The "value" is what one learns, when she comes out of the valley, if she truly gets it. There is a whole lot of "value in the valley". This book has really changed my life, and made me a better person. Too bad the rating ONLY went up to five stars. If you or someone you know find yourself in the valley, do yourself a favor and get this book. You will not be sorry.

Ms. Jackson

Ally to Adversary is a unique opportunity to be in on the planning and conduct of a military conflict that most of us only see "highlights" of on television. Rick Francona allows us to be the "fly on the wall" in high-level intelligence briefings, the multi-service coordination chain, and grass-roots level contact with real people. Francona's story-telling style takes the reader into an exotic world of danger and intrigue as smoothly as any best-selling fiction author. Occasionally, I found myself thinking, "Things like this only happen in the movies!" But this is his true story. His "characters" are real and sympathetic. The situations into which he takes us along are delicate and, at times, hair-raising.

As I read his book, I was enlightened about things I saw watching the war and its prelude from afar, as did so many other people. Francona lends understanding to that which is often misunderstood, such as the hows and whys of war. He doesn't whitewash the Gulf War; he gives it human faces and personal conflict.

Ally to Adversary is a candidate for everyone's "must-read" list, whether you are a veteran of the military, a military historian, or a civilian looking for a fascinating read.

Rick Francona, a retired USAF LtCol., has written an account of the Gulf War as no one else can. He is probably unique in that he served in Baghdad during the Iran/Iraq war (to include excursions into Iraqi frontline trenches during the fighting) and then on Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf's staff as an interpreter and intelligence officer. Francona's experiences and perspective make for an interesting memoir of the war. He was there for most of the key decisions and events of the war, and he is very frank in his description of working with the Coalition partners, particularly the Saudis. Likewise, he provides an honest account of the efficacy of the air war, summed up in the placard over the desk of one of the airpower planners in Riyadh: "We are not preparing the battlefield, we are destroying it."

Also, readers will learn how the politics of realism comes into play in the Middle East -- from US involvement in the Iran/Iraq war to the decision to end the Gulf War without moving into Baghdad.
Francona has written an extremely readable history. This book belongs on the shelves of historians, collectors, and military history buffs.

For those of us who have spent many years in the Middle East, or Southwest Asia in military geographic terms, it is quickly apparent that LtCol Francona has an insight into the Arab military mind which can only come from mastering the Arabic language, and living among the people. He worked with the Iraqi officer corps for years and developed relationships, moreover friendships, which last to this day. To be selected and assigned as the personal translator for the CinC, General Norman Schwartzkopf says it all. The General was well acquainted with the mindset and customs of the region, having lived in Iran as a youngster, and would demand only the best. Then a Major, Rick Francona served him well and came to know the General in ways different from his subordinate staff. No other book on the Gulf War will reveal the inner workings of the US and Coalition commanders as will 'Ally to Adversary'.

I was introduced to An Old-Fashioned Girl when I was in fourth grade, and I must have read it hundreds of times since. Now that I am in college, I've read Plato, Aristotle, Dante, and other famous authors. But none of these authors have impacted me as much as this classic by Louisa May Alcott. This book gave me the confidence I needed to hold true to my values, and whenever I am tempted to give in to peer pressure, I just think about Polly and her bronze boots. I love this book, and I'm sure I will continue rereading it until the time I die. A definite classic that leaves you feeling warm inside!

This is a touching book that shows girls simple lives are the best kind of lives. A girl named Polly visits her cousins' at the city. Polly is modest and simple looking girl, compared to Fanny who flirts with all boys and receives flowers from them,and Polly, detests and is ashamed of flirting. Polly isa kind-hearted girl who is always trying to help others including Tom who tries to madden her every second, but Polly manages to find a weak spot in his heart. As Louisa May Alcott always has a twist at the end of the book, this one is no exception. You will be touched to the core of your heart when you read this book , it makes iron into water and steel into liquid. Hope you enjoy it! Cheers! : )

Polly, a poor, old-fashioned girl from the country, comes up tothe city for a long visit with her friend Fanny. Over the basicframework of country mouse/city mouse, Alcott embroiders extensively, adding the themes of peer pressure, societal pressure, riches and their relation to happiness, the rights and proper roles of women, love, 'proper' behaviour vs. right behaviour, and vice-versa. But the story reads like a story, not a dissertation on philosophy. Polly is very human, and her family, though less-well drawn, is collectively a very human family. Tom, Fanny's brother, is the star of the book. "An Old-Fashioned Girl" is filled with humourous incidents, the number of which increases as one grows older. I first read this book when I was seven. I loved it then, when I only got a small part of it. I love it even more now. Those readers who dislike Alcott's moralizing will not love this book, but they will find it better than, say, "Little Men." Ignore the character of Grandma, through whom Alcott voices most of her morals, and concentrate on Polly and Tom, and even the most cantankerous reader would surely, if grudgingly, admit that this book isn't half bad.

This writer does more to explain the Appalachia of my parents and grandparents than anything I have ever read. I am a college professor too but I was born and brought up in the north. I never understood my parents' love for the area of their birth. Frankly, I was ashamed of it and always resisted going "home" as they insisted on referring to East Tennessee. Creeker has given me insights into the strengths of Appalachia without glossing over the weaknesses. I appreciate that. I hope this author is continuing to write about her roots because I am finally interested in discovering mine. This book is well-written and I just passed it along to my mother. Thank you, Linda Derosier, for your honesty and your willingness to let a city girl finally learn about "our people" in your Creeker.

Just before Christmas my husband and I saw this author speaking on BookTV and he called and ordered Creekers for me. I am glad I saw and listened to her before I read the book because I could clearly hear her cadences as I was reading. In a most unique writing voice she takes us along on her journey from an Appalachian Creek, to which she forever remains loyal, out into the wider world beyond. Though she speaks lovingly of her home in Appalachia, along the way this writer manages to show us the time and the place and the people without a hint of sentimentality or condescension. I particularly enjoyed her description of the metamorphosis brought about by her education. Her story is by turns funny and painful, sometimes simultaneously! Both my husband and I enjoyed this book, which is not the usual occurrence, though he liked the first half while I preferred the last half. We look forward to more work from this talented writer and we agree that she really should put this book on tape!

If you've ever thought about the consequences and significance of your life, your family and your home, then you are like me. And, if you're like me, then chances are pretty good that you'll count Scott-DeRosier's "Creeker" among your favorites. This is an interesting and gripping autobiography of a woman who is living the kind of life we all hope to live; it made me laugh out loud, reflect on the choices in my own life, and it moved me to tears -- all qualities of a book to be read more than once. In addition to all these strengths, Scott-DeRosier shared her Appalachian Mountain memories lovingly and candidly. Through her you will see what you've never seen before, respect people you might not have thought about before, and find reasons to hope for renewed community in our own lives. There was so much familiar in Scott-DeRosier's life story that I recognized those universal questions and truths that resonate in my own life, in all our lives no matter where we come from.

Borjesson's "Buzzsaw" is a collection of well-researched insider stories from journalists who sometimes had to fight insurmountable odds to tell the truth. Because these are heroic tales from survivors, the book is a real page-turner from beginning to end.

These heroes fought (and most are still fighting) deep behind the newspaper banner pages and out of sight of the cameras - fought to give you the facts on various stories. Most of these people have paid a very high price for their dedication to the truth. These are the stories about the stories - and information that powerful vested interests preferred that we not hear about. Reason enough to read this book.

If you are at all interested in how the news gets "processed" on its way to your eyes and ears you have to read these stories. That process is currently impaired. In the land of the free press our media got sold to commercial interests and that is the story that we now urgently need to understand. Like the air we breathe, the media is somewhat tranparent. But even if it gets polluted slowly and imperceptibly we will still suffocate.

Borjesson brings tales of the possibility of fresh air.

A democracy depends on a well-informed citizenry and therefore an unbiased watchdog in the media. Universally, survival depends on clear minimally distorted perceptions of the world.

As a design engineer myself, I can assure you that no system is perfect. But after you better understand the news process problems scrupulously detailed in this collection, you may realize like I did that you must do something about it yourself. Thankfully we still live in a nation where we can effect improvements.

Continued ignorance may be bliss, but it is not safety.

If you're like me, perennially skeptical about conspiracy theories and "unsubstantiated" claims, you're in for a shock. I used to blame the dumbed-down American media on a "dumb public" - I said, "we're getting what we asked for." Now I see that this idea was not just arrogant and supercillious (I knew that already!) - it's also dumb, and dangerously misinformed.

This is an exceptionally brave and candid book in which over a dozen award-winning journalists detail a shocking, and rapidly growing, pattern of media censorship in America. It's an excellent introduction to the state of information - and misinformation - in America today, and helps explain why, in the midst of an information flood, the American public is unaware of the deeper picture of government and corporate corruption.

You get the stories straight from the journalists who wrote them, how reporters had to fight for years to get some of the biggest investigative reports of the 1990's into the press - and how many of them lost their jobs in the process.

Into The Buzzsaw shows how corporations and the federal government use the legal system to blackmail the media into silence, and how the consolidation of media ownership and the quest for profits has nearly obliterated the media's service of the public's need to know. The book explains, with detailed examples, how mainstream, respected journalists and editors go out of their way to discredit colleagues for daring to expose taboo information.

For instance, one author is Gary Webb, who wrote the San Jose Mercury News story about the CIA's sale of pure cocaine in LA, which preciptated the national crack cocaine epidemic. You've heard that the story didn't "hold up under scrutiny", right? A BIG lie, perpetrated by the "respectable media".

We're being taken a for a ride folks, and not toward where we want to go. Read this book, and begin to wake up. But, fair warning; it will make you very angry.

I highly recommend this book to both those who read the news and to those who report it.

As an already extreme skeptic of American news sources, I thought this book would be more entertaining and not so much informative for me. It is actually more informative and shocking than I ever expected.

This book not only provides information you may never have heard before about some high profile news stories, it tells how this information was obtained and the price journalists paid to report it, or try to report it. It has varied views from varied journalists regarding their take on the American media today.

Its an easy book to read, as you can't stop turning the pages, but the stories it tells are not pleasant. As you read this book, you discover that too many media companies use news as a tool to earn higher advertising revenues and manipulate the public, not inform. Our right to a free press is in jeopardy, except for a few courageous, die-hard journalists. After reading it, you wonder how this book ever got published.

As a young (29) person who is still building a collection of classic TV shows, I found this book a very valuable tool. I don't like it that it says 'to present' in the title, because it seems like a ... trick to have people buy it once it's outdated.

Anyway, I'm going to comment first on what the book has, and the on the flaws.

The book comes with a list of more than 5,500 TV series. Each entry includes original and last air dates, cast and a synopsis, and often interesting notes. It also comes with the primetime schedules for all networks since 1947, a list of Emmy winner, and several rankings (top-rated programs, longest-running series, top 100 series, etc. The index is good, too.
The flaws: Information is not always accurate. I'd like to say this is occasional, but I have spotted several mistakes, and well, I haven't watched all 5500 series, as you can imagine. If I found like 5-6 mistakes in 30 series I really checked (even watched the tapes to make sure), I wonder what the real ratio is.

Also, there's missing shows (mostly from HBO and/or the last year, which probably means they didn't put a lot of work in updating the book).

Still, I think this is a great book to buy for TV fans. However, the information it contains can be easily found on the web (the list of Emmy winners, or information about shows, etc are freely available), so for the casual person who just wants to check a specific fact, it's probably not worth the money.

This is a comprehensive and entertaining guide to US network and cable TV series. It contains so much information (e.g. cast lists, synopsis, trivia, air dates) and will keep any TV fan reading till past midnight! An excellent book - I'm looking forward to the 7th edition.

I have been purchasing this book ever since the 1st edition in May of 79. While it's true typoes are made and other mistakes occur, they aren't serious ones, and are usually remedied by the next issue 3 years later. In addition, Brooks and Marsh include new info on old shows at times. For example, the 7th edition is the first to identify Wrangler Jane from F Troop's middle and last name "Jane Angelica Thrift". A must have for every tv fan.

I was saddened when I finished Connell's work -- saddened because I didn't want it to be over. I wanted to read it forever. Connell's book is an absolutely fabulous read! I liken it to sitting around a campfire and listening to him tell marvelous stories surrounding the players, both white (and black), and native American. He even holds your interest while tracing the path of a pocket watch taken in the battle. Connell gives a very good account of Custer, Reno, Benteen, Gall, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Rain-in-the-Face, and virtually every player in that conflict. When Connell flitters about going from one theme to another, it is fun to follow him. I cannot recommend this book too highly. Read it over and over again!!!

This book, in my opinion, is a superb introduction into the world of Custeriana and other characters and invents in U.S. history of that time.

What makes this book unique in it's portayal of the General and the events surrounding the famous last battle is that Evan S.Connell, who is primarily I believe a novellist, approached this topic with absolutely no agenda of his own on the subject.

Whilst this may not satisfy many historians it makes for great reading!! Making this a book ideal for somebody new to the subject wanting to learn more or the learned reader who just wants to be entertained and not swamped with complex time theories or arguments over the size of the village etc. There are plenty of books on the market that do this much better but not all are always as enjoyable.

Connell just reports on various different accounts in an easy going prose without really putting his own slant on the proceedings. He simply just writes about Custer, Benteen, Crazy Horse et all, giving examples of both the good, the bad and the downright ugly in all of them.

It is left to the reader to make up his mind on the events and actions of those who took part in them. Too many historians come to this powerful and contreversial subject with their own ideas on what happened, be it pro or anti-Custer, and this has a tendancy to sometimes, neccessitate a need to distort or bend the facts accordingly.

Refreshingly you come away from this book wanting to know more about the protaganists involved but without having a biased opinion on them. The General himself comes over in a fairly good light considering at the time of publication his character was probably at it's nadir.However Connell also shows up the darker side of the man that made him the paradoxical figure he was and why he remains so fascinating even after all this time.

Indeed what the book clearly shows is that what makes this such an enduring legend in America's history is that arguably it's most famous, or notorious, soldier left his mark not by a glourious victory but rather(as it was thought of at the time)a fairly ignominious defeat.What Connell does do is also give the credit where it's due to the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes at the Little Big Horn who actually won the battle that day, which tends to get forgotten in a lot of literature ammassed on this subject.

This was the first serious book that I bought on George Armstrong Custer and back in 1984(which I think was the year I got it) living in the United Kingdom there wasn't many books around at that time specifically on this subject. I found it an excellent starting point to begin further and more in depth reading on the General and his last battle.It may seem an odd subject for a Yorkshireman to show an interset in(I think it might be Errol Flynn's fault!!)but this book certainly kick-started a long lasting interst in Custer and that particular area of American history.

I have read many books about Custer, Little Big Horn and the plains indian wars, but this one is truly the very best of the lot. Connell has given us an exellent biography of Custer, but we also get to know such men as Major Reno and Captain Benteen. Indians such as Sitting Bull, Gall and Crazy Horse are also prominently featured in this treasure of a book. This is so much more than a book about Custer and his last stand at Little Big Horn river in 1876. It's a book about the whole drama, that is the conquering of the west. Also, the photo section is exellent and the bibliography is unparalelled. Two very good maps helps the reader follow the movements in the 1876 indian campaign. If You're gonna buy just one book about the American west, please choose "Son Of The Morning Star". It's history, for sure, but it's not boring. It's also a source book in the best sence of the word, not to mention a literary masterpiece. Connell is a novelist, and it shows in his quick and precise eye for charaters in the play and their often peculiar behavior and actions. The heroes and/or villains is only so human in this highly entertaining book that leaves the reader wanting more. I have so far never read a better book, fact or fiction. Why don't You read it too?

The House of Morgan is a book that must be read by any and all people who have a significant interest in the early stages of American capitalism and its place in modern global economic history. Chernow demonstrates assiduous research and presents a wonderful review of the nascent stages of a economic and financial clearinghouse at Morgan. He writes quite cogently on the Morgan family and it's inner circle of elite and well groomed senior management's ability to harness this power to the benefit of both the firms parners and the U.S. economy at large. Further, Chernow does a admirable job discussing the more evolved stages of captial formation in the early to mid 20th Century that greatly increased competition and radically diminished the power at Morgan.

Where I believe he fell short, as was the case in his Titan tome as well, was in the integration of his specific thesis into a more general historical and socio-economic context. While some may agrue that this would be too much to conquer in one book, I would argue that improved editing of certain repitions would make room for this improvement and make this work a true treasure.

Chernow excellently portrays our country's most famous banking dynasty from its formation during the early 1800's to the late twentieth century. Throughout the book, readers are entreated with not only the history of the Morgan family but also the transformation of American banking and finance of the past two centuries.

The Morgan history began with Junius Morgan. He was concerned with establishing America's financial credit with European countries, which were very reluctant to lend money to a country that had been recently formed. Their doubts were reinforced when several American states repudiated payment on loans. In his efforts to preserve America's credit worthiness with Great Britain, Junius Morgan created a financial link between the Anglo-Saxon countries that would influence Morgan politics for the next century.

The most famous member of the family was J.P. Morgan, who presided over the bank during the Age of the Robber Barons. During his tenure, the Morgan bank would play the role of lender of last resort for America. Because laissez-faire capitalism was the prevalent practice during this era, only the Morgan bank under the energetic J.P. Morgan possessed the financial and political clout to organize efforts to stop widespread bank failures and catastophic stock declines. Despite being portrayed in the media by Populists as crooked and elitist, the Morgan bank continued to play this important role for the American economy and remained influential nationally even after the creation of the Federal Reserve System.

Although the Morgans were economically powerful, they possessed many human frailties. Many of the Morgan men were reluctant to participate in the family business. Even J.P. Morgan, despite his fame and power, was for most of his life fearful of his father and felt constantly nervous about the imperfections of his nose. Chernow is lauded for depicting the personal lives of the Morgan family.

Despite desperate attempts by the Morgan bank to remain influential and anonymous, the combination of the American public's demand for accountability, its fear of elitist organizations, and the rise of international finance and trade, divided the Morgan bank and forced its successors into such mundane practices as the public listing of its financial records and the offering of common stocks. The abandonment of such traditional practices as the Gentleman Banker's Code culminated in the merger mania of the 1980s, as Morgan Guaranty, Morgan Grenfell, and Morgan Stanley each sometimes assisted one client in acquiring another of its client.

From cooperation to cutthroat competition between bankers, the House of Morgan is filled with triumphs and tragedies of Morgan and American history. It is recommended for every American adult. I am looking forward to reading Titan.

Ron Chernow is arguably the best business historian writing today. His ambitious attempt to tell the story of the famed banking dynasty of J.P Morgan could not have succeeded more brilliantly. Here is a story not of just a bank. It is even more than simply the story of the financial services industry. It is, in fact, the story of the modern era, where everyone from Teddy Roosevelt and Benito Mussolini to Paul Volker and Ivan Boesky figure prominently.

At the heart of this epic is a great paradox: the rise of modern global finance ushered in the demise of the banker. In J.P. Morgan's day, a small group of bankers held sway over giant corporations and the governments of global powers, serving as intimate advisors and self-regulating their industry with a strict but unwritten gentleman banker's code of conduct. The institutions that banks like Morgan created ultimately grew too powerful to control. Whereas once governments and companies were at the mercy of their bankers, today the reverse is true. Chernow tells the story of this transformation in exquisite detail and with admirable clarity.

As interesting and well written as this book is, some may still find it to be a challenge to finish. For those who like to read a few pages before bed every night, you should expect the "House of Morgan" to be on the nightstand for several months. However, if you have the time and commitment, you'll likely find the experience of reading this book to be a worthwhile and fulfilling one.

A good friend sent me this book even though she calls me a "right-wing Republican" and not a Carter fan even though I happen to live in Georgia and ironically have the same last name at the author. This book is bigger than all that. It is the human story of one man's life, rich stories about Vietnam, Washington and the civil rights movement and powerful, emotional and important stories about Mr. Jordon's three different bouts with cancer. But not just a cancer book but a book for anyone who likes a good read that grabs you and holds you and holds you to the very last page!

Being a southerner myself, and also having almost every single male member of my family die of cancer, this book really hit home for me. It is inspirational and full of hope. I think Mr. Jordan's legacy will not be his time in politics, but more importantly it will be his own life story and the war he and his family have waged against cancer. The book is uplifting and entertaining. The political history itself makes the book a fascinating read, but the real story is Mr. Jordan's successful battles with cancer. I am so glad that I had an opportunity to read this book, and I truly believe that it will inspire anyone who picks it up. I guarantee you won't be able to put it down- I couldn't!

Unquestionably the finest memoir that I have read in my life. Mr. Jordan powerfully describes his most personal experiences with both cancer and American politics in an incredible manner. This book contains stories that every human should have the opportunity to read. Mr. Jordan is a cancer survivor, a family man, a politial leader, and most importantly a gentleman. My recomendation is to not only buy this book for yourself, but also copies for every person who is important to you as well. You certainly will be glad that you did. I thank Mr. Jordan for writing such a wonderful book for us all to read. It is certainly as good as they come.