To gather material for the book, Myrna and Harvey Frommer conducted over 100 interviews. Among those who contributed their personal recollections are an ex-ticket taker at Ebbets Field, a former Mr. America, a Baptist pastor, a retired garment worker, and an opera star. Their stories evoke a special place and time, a more innocent era when Brooklyn really was the world. Although that world is gone, the Frommers' book brings it all vividly back to life.

The inspiration for the Frommers' new celebratory album came about as they were traveling around the country to promote It Happened in the Catskills. They kept meeting people who, like themselves, were born and bred in Brooklyn. " We could be in places as diverse as Los Angeles, Brenham, Texas, and Canaan, New Hampshire, and invariably we's run into prople from Brooklyn. As soon as the connection was discovered, it was always the same question: What high school did you go to?, followed by memories of that special Dodger game, of trying clothes on the floor of he original Loehmann;s on Bedford Avenue, of eating the shorefront dinner at Lundy's or Nathan's franks in Coney Island, or the incomparable Ebinger's blackout cake. When we finished the Catskill book, which was filled with stories by Brooklynites, we thought it might be a good idea to apply the same interactive oral history approach to a book on Brooklyn, and try to discover what there was about life in the borough at mid-century that still exerts such a powerful pull."

I just finished the book and I enjoyed it so much. Its easy to see why
Brooklyn has been the inspriation for so many novels and movies.

It was so interesting to see how so many different ethnic groups had such
similar stories of growing up. A real shared memory .

Well this book is a treasure and I am so glad to have it.

Satisfies a persistent hunger for details about the inner workings of New York City, shared by the native and outsider alike. Frommer and Frommer have assembled a playful, interestingly arranged, and stimulating collection of extracts from oral histories. Organized topically, the comments span such issues as street life, school life, the not-so-private worlds of Brooklyn apartment dwellers, Coney Island, ethnicity, and assimilation. Over 100 voices include famous entertainers (e.g., Betty Comden, Jerry Stiller, and Marvin Kaplan), obscure teachers and school principals, and ordinary individuals. Asked to reflect on the three decades between World War II and Viet Nam, they offer comments that add up to a mosaic of the life and extraordinary times of a borough.

I first bought this book years ago, when it first came out-and it
shows: the biscuit page has tea stains all over it-so does the
potato-chip sandwich! The latter is worth a try, albeit a tad
salty, but it IS delish. You absolutely cannot fail to make good
biscuits with their recipe, it is simple, basic, and wonderful.
What they do with food is real simple, and the low-priced version
of "peasant food." It is worth it for the pictures in the center
alone, it doesn't put down white trash, it celebrates 'em! Darn
fine cooks, too. Really delicious summer produce recipes, and
the tomato sandwich idea is one anyone can relish.

This book occupies a proud, and well-used, pride of place in my
cookbook collection. Unlike snotty cookbooks where they look
down on the reader, presupposing a well-laden pantry groaning
with esoterica-this is REAL FOOD, REAL SIMPLE. A tribute to all
the white trash who built this country, and really tasty, too.

Y'all try it some, hear?

I bought this book years ago when it first came out, and absolute
ly LOVE it: great recipes, great pictures, down-home real food.
Best recipe for biscuits I have ever seen-my book's permanently
stained from use! Even tried the potato chip sandwich, a little
salty, but delish.

You don't have to pay an arm and a leg for pretentious, overpric-
ed "country peasant cuisine," you have it right here: polenta's
grits, baby! A lot of these recipes are solid, delicious food,
stuff we grew up on in the Midwest, stuff our granmas used to
make. And if you have ever attended a church social, you'll re-
cognize many of the dishes in this awesome cookbook.

It's worth it for the center photograph section, for a nostalgic
touch, for in the rush to urbanize here in Florida, many roadside
fruit and vegetable stands have been zoned out of existence. Up
in the Panhandle you might still find roadside boiled peanut sta-
nds(now THAT'S some great eatin'!), and some produce stands-but
if you can't go there-try this book-you won't regret it.

You might approach this book thinking of it as a joke, or in a
condescending approach to white trash(read American Peasants),
but once you start to read the anecdotes and recipes, you gain an
understanding and respect for these tenacious souls.

P.S. Try the cheese grits-with Velveeta and Tabasco sauce-that
will wake you up some!

I have spent many many hours reading and re-reading this book. This is a cookbook by it's cover but when you get inside and look at the recipes read the words and the see the wonderful photos you'll see that it's a cultural documentation of some very beautiful and proud people.

I just finished reading a draft copy of Robert Roth's Book, Natural Law Party: A Reason to Vote. Bobby's 20 plus years of media experience, and his work with the Natural Law Party since its inception in 1992 shine forth in this very easily read, charming book. The book reads itself, as you will see when you start. It is well-crafted and it inspires the reader with the vitality of our NLP message. Party supporters and newcomers to its many important issues will be delighted to read this book which touches on most of the major issues in politics today and provides innovative, scientific solutions to the as-yet unsolved problems in the areas of: energy, environment, quality food production, crime, education and many other important areas.

A must for everyone concerned about the Future of the US.

Abe Lincoln once called America, "the last best hope" for the world. Robert Roth's The Natural Law Party: A Reason to Vote - Breaking the Two-Party Stranglehold and Bringing Effective New Solutions to America's Problems may well be the last best hope for America and the world. The bottom line - even if you've given up on politics as a field of mud, blood, and influence peddling this book will send you back to the voting booth.

Roth's personal and powerful first person narration leaps off the page. As press secretary for the NLP, the fastest growing political party in America, he has stood on the front lines of third-party battles to reclaim democracy, and to regain third-party access to the ballot, debates, and airwaves. He begins by taking us there, and unmasking our democracy to be the most exclusionary and undemocratic of any on earth.

"...Republicans and Democrats have written the laws that grant themselves automatic access to the ballot. On the other hand, in 1998, a new party must collect over 5 million valid signatures to run a full slate of candidates nationwide."

This is only the first hurdle in an obstacle course built by the two major parties, and supported by the mainstream press. We hear harrowing experiences of NLP volunteers who, in 1996, faced unconstitutional opposition from the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Election Commission, and the courts (whose members are all either Democrats or Republicans) and still achieved ballot access for NLP candidates in fifty states. And we share in their exhilarating discovery that it is possible to meet the challenge of a nation in transition.

That transition from a world of disconnected, selfish, quarreling factions to one of purpose and unity, is profoundly described by the doctors, scientists, teachers, and farmers that Roth interviews. We learn how intimate "natural law" is to our lives from world-renowned Unified Field physicist and NLP Presidential candidate, Dr. John Hagelin.

"Everything we accomplish is achieved by applying natural laws," he says. ''We have the electric light courtesy of technologies that apply natural law, a man walked on the moon and a rover scoured the surface of Mars because of technologies that harness natural law, and we treat our sick with medicines that utilize laws of nature.

"The problem is that technologies can be used for good or for bad....With so much money invested in the research and development of new technologies, these technologies often get shoved into the marketplace before they are adequately tested for safety. To protect their investments, these industries also pour megabucks into the treasure chests of both the Republican and Democratic parties."

And the amazingly simple solution - the NLP's fool proof formula for assessing new technologies - only that they must work! It rings true even in sound bitten ears. Mike Tompkins, NLP Vice-Presidential candidate, and descendant of former Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, tells us why, enlightening us about our nation's natural law origins,

"... before the Republicans, before the Democrats, before all the other political parties there was natural law. One of the founders of our country, John Adams, called natural law 'the Great Legislator of the Universe.' And in the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, in the very beginning of the document, derived our very existence as a country and also all our rights from what he called the 'laws of nature.'

"...Our founders believed that if we could gain knowledge of natural law, of how it operates both inside us and all around us, then we would grow as individuals and also as a nation."

For the facts about genetic engineering that few reporters are aware of or brave enough to print Roth turns to Dr. John Fagan, the leading molecular biologist who in 1994 returned $614,000 in grant money and withdrew proposals for $1.25 million more from the National Institutes of Health in protest of the direction in which genetic engineers are leading us. No fuzzy science here. Fagan delivers a jolt of the real stuff, exposing the real dangers inherent in manipulating a system which has taken millions of years to evolve.

Then another jolt as we learn that

"...the testing of genetically engineered substances at present is largely voluntary-more than 90% of genetically engineered foods are not required to be tested before they enter the market. Consequently, the details of the testing programs are left primarily in the hands of the developers-namely, the biotech industry. We've left the fox guarding the chickens."

Still, Roth lifts us up again with the story of the Mothers for Natural Law, Laura Ticciati's amazing nonprofit group that has formed an unprecedented coalition of statesman, scientists, doctors, clergy, farmers, and businessman to stand up to the biotech industry.

We hear leading physicians describe America's 'disease care system', a system that results in more than 3 million injured by medical mistake, and more than 180,000 deaths from 'correct practice' each year. But relief is in sight with our own body's inner intelligence and natural medicine quickly rising to become the new world standard with proven preventative measures and zero negative side effects.

Crime? Drugs? No problem. With powerful techniques like Transcendental Meditation, judges report addicts stay out of prison and off drugs, and the American Heart Association reports the neglected victims of crime , the elderly, become free of hypertension.

From schools that foster creative genius, to a global information economy that encourages perpetual learning, to a peacekeeping force that will make war finally impossible, Roth keeps the emphasis on powerful, practical, and proven solutions. The appendices, with a Fifty-Point Action Plan to Revitalize America and the NLP platform, are packed with solutions.

It's an invincible book and it will empower all who read it. Free of the Donkey and the Elephant at last, we could vote with our heads on straight this November 3rd! We now have a reason to vote.

from Neale Donald Walsch (author of "Conversations With God")

I consider Robert Roth's book, '"The Natural Law Party: A Reason to Vote'" to be one of the most important books of the latter part of the twentieth century. It infuriated me. It enlightened me. I believe the Natural Law Party is the political mechanism of choice for decades to come.

I consider myself to be politically very well informed, but until I read 'The Natural Law Party: A Reason to Vote,' I had no idea how the Republicans and Democrats have blatantly and consistently violated the very spirit of our country's tradition of democracy for which they claim to stand, making it virtually impossible for Third Party organizations or candidates to effectively engage the American political process.

Having continually thwarted any attempt by Third Party candidates to present themselves to the electorate in a viable way, the two parties then assert that it is necessary to eliminate Third Party candidates from debates, joint television appearances and other forums and activities that should be open to all-by claiming that they are not viable candidates. The level of this hypocrisy is shocking.

That Americans have indulged this silencing of their voice for so long is the real shocker. I am certain that it is because most people do not know the extent to which their rights under our founding political mandate have been denied.

It might be argued that none of this would matter a great deal if we were all satisfied with our current reality, but when the vast majority of Americans are deeply unhappy with their political system and the values which run their government, not to be able to do anything about it produces a palpable national frustration, leading from disappointment to anger to apathy-and that is the death knell of any democracy.

We have run out of time on this issue. That's why I am supporting and joining the efforts of the Natural Law Party to reopen the American political process and reform the democratic system, to provide our citizens with true choice once again. I have chosen this particular party because I profoundly agree with the basis of its positions on the major issues confronting the human family -a basis in natural law.

To me the term 'natural law' means the ordinary and exquisite functioning of the Universe when it is left to its own devices. Can such universal life principles be applied in any practical way to a human system of politics and governance? The answer is, profoundly, yes. Indeed, it is the ignoring of such basic laws and principles which leads to our peril.

I am proud to take a political stand in America at this crucial stage in our history. Proud because the Natural Law Party gives me a party, a political philosophy, and candidates of which I can be proud-and with which my soul deeply agrees. It has been a very long time since I have been able to say that.

Lisa Birnbach's The Official Preppy Handbook is a bible for every Brooks Brother and Lacoste Polo Shirt wearing man and woman in the country. Birnbach's sarcastic approach to the preppy world makes you stop to consider how ridiculous some of the things we do are, or at the very least provides for a little dinning hall humor!

When I was in prep school in Massachusetts, my roommate and I were invited to an afternoon lawn party with several of the deans. Not knowing what to wear to such an occasion, we consulted "The Handbook" then headed off to J. Press. Although we were two of the only people wearing seersucker suits, we were confident in our attire and received many compliments throughout the afternoon.

Although the true prep will have a hardbound first edition in the top drawer of his or her desk, everyone who has ever thrown on some topsiders to wear to class will love and cherish this book.

I begged Mummy and Daddy to let me go board, but they said they were saving for the Ivies. I ended up at an Ivy and wished it were one of the schools listed as a party school in OPH. Man, talking about literature imitating life. Holden Caulfield, eat your heart out! When I tell people about the way I dressed and how I spent every dime on those Gucci loafers they just look at me like I have three heads. People still sweat the cashmere blazer. Who wouldn't?

You will love this book especially if you were one of the few people that grew up in the eighties that still has pictures they aren't embarrased to show others!

My copy is from the library. It seems I lost it...;-) The fine was only 10 bucks and was worth every PREPPY PENNY!

I am hard pressed to recall a humor book that was so very well done, that academics routinely cite examples from its pages. The Official Preppy Handbook has achieved that.

Lisa Birnbach and company, successfully documented the lives of the Prep School set, from youth to retirement. Along the way they explore in a brilliant and witty way, the mindset and lifestyle of this group. You learn immediately that being a Preppy is well beyond going to a private school. Preps exude Noblesse Oblige, while wearing Lacoste polos and drinking Bloody Mary's. You learn about their cars, colleges, clothes, food, jobs, music, pets, what they read and how they decorate their houses. You learn what "To Summer," REALLY means. You even learn their speech patterns, and prep vocabulary. Along the way you have a lot of laughs, while getting an education about what makes these people tick. Years later, I still pull out my pristine copy not only for laughs, but for reference as well. In recent years others have tried to follow this groundbreaking formula only to have missed the mark. You will find many books with: "In the traditon of The Preppy Handbook" in their titles. They do not even come close.

Sadly, this artifact is out of print. Perhaps someone will start a letter writing campaign to Workman Publishers, begging them to reprint it. It is REALLY that good!

I first read Dawn's Early Light and the other novels in the Williamsburg series 40 or 45 years ago, when we took them out of the library over and over again and read and reread them until I still could probably reconstruct large chunks of them verbatim if I were stuck on a desert island. The characterizations are so good that even years after my last rereading I can keep the complex family trees straight without effort. The well researched settings are so well done that even today they form the basis for a lot of my general knowledge of American (and later English) history in the periods they cover. The story pulls you right in, the characters are realistic, lovable, and intelligent, the dialogue is witty, the writing excellent--the Days, Spragues, and in the later books the Campions have always felt like members of my own family. What could be a better indicator of a great read? I'm glad to have thought of looking for them on amazon and am pleased but not surprised to find they're still in print.

The first book of the the "Williamsburg Series" I ever read was "Ever After", tucked away with other of my mother's books. I fell in love with the characters and England at the age of 12. After finishing the book I hied to the library and one by one picked up the other books in the series which were still available in the 1960's. During the 70's I visited Williamsburg three times, reliving the area through Ms. Thane's books. My greatest joy was having my oldest son choose the College of William and Mary for his undergraduate degree. The highlight of my literary life occurred when I discovered the bookstore in Williamsburg carried all of Ms. Thane's books, which were all purchased immediately. I have read and reread these books for over 30 years and now I am so pleased to have my daughter experience them. The Days, Spragues, Campions, and their worlds gave me and my son an incredible lust for history, both American and English. I still get a lump in my throat every time I see, hear, read, etc. anything about Williamsburg. Anyone who intends to visit the area should be introduced to these books before they go (although I do have to admit that these books are "chick stuff"!)

I first found the novel Yankee Stranger,the second book in the Williamsburg series, on the bottom shelf of a small town library. I was 13 at the time. I went home and curled up on my bed for a slow summer day read. I didn't not move for a solid eight hours. I was captured by the excellent history and charactization in that work. My mother asked what in the world I was reading. I told her the best book I've ever read. I was wrong. There are several books,all by Elswyth Thane,and each and everyone of them are the best. I read these books eight years ago. I still remeber the charaters I came to love. This book is the first book in a series that will lovingly haunt you for the rest of your life. Its awsome scenery and its family of characters will endure in your heart forever. Its more than a romance its an experience of times, places, and people that you will love for a lifetime.

In the Dark valley Piers Brendon gives us a panoramic view of the 1930's and of the leaders and events that led the world inexorably toward World War II. The sweep of the author's wit and analysis remind one very much of Paul Johnson's classic ''Modern Times''. Brendon clearly sees the Great depression as the seminal event of the era, the event which produced everything else. The thing that stands out most strongly in the book is the moral blindness of the world's leading democratic statesmen. With the exception of Winston Churchill they seemed oblivious to the threat posed by Hitler and the other Dictators. All of this is best summarized by a quote the author gives from George Orwell; Upon the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 Orwell said''History is over and the age of propaganda has begun.''The most memorable chapter of the book is the one about the Stalinist purges of 1937-38.Brendon has left the madness and the evil of Stalin and His regime exsposed for all time. This book is not only a great read but also a cautionary tale that in our own day our belief in the essential goodness of man seems to have caused us to question the very exsistence of evil. That was the same mistake that was made in the thirties.

Piers Brendon's massive work, The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930's, is an addictive historical treat. He concentrates on the countries of England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia, Japan and American as they hurtle towards a war that seems all but inevitable, driven on by the Depression and the growth of militaristic and totalitarian states. The reader will also hurtle through this massive book along with the decade covered on the roller coaster ride the author provides. One of the great charms of the book is the author's ability to select just the right quote from an observer at the time to make the reader feel the events on a personal level. Both the right and left get skewered along the way. The author throws his own opinion in and it is often as keenly observant as his selected quotes. This book is in the marvelous tradition of Barbara Tuchman, particulary her Proud Tower covering the period before the First World War. It is a marvelous achievment and a wonderful read for history buffs. Highly recommended.

This expansive historical survey opens with the First World War (highlighting the battle of Verdun) and proceeds with a protracted overview of the years leading up to the Crash of 1929--all of which proves to be essential background for a full understanding the book's focus: the infamous decade of Depression and dictatorships. The bulk of the book alternates between seven countries--the United States, Germany, Italy, France, Britain, Japan, and the Soviet Union, with important excursions to Spain and China. The first half highlights the repercussions of the Depression, and the last half details the events that led to World War II, with a pivotal intermission describing the Spanish Civil War as a preview of sorts to forthcoming afflictions. (The portrayal of Mussolini's conquest of Ethiopia makes particularly gripping reading.)

Instead of offering an overarching thesis or new claims (which, given the complexity of the decade, would nearly guarantee quick rebuttal from any of a variety of historiographic camps), Brendon summarizes the major figures and events of the decade, and his study benefits greatly from material that has surfaced since the fall of the Soviet Union. He occasionally presents two views of a major event or political figure and often presents the middle ground as the most probable. More descriptive than explanatory, this comprehensive history is unabashedly old-fashioned and traditional--in the very best senses of both terms.

In spite of its length (700 pages, not including notes, bibliography, and index) and its density, Brendon's prose moves the pace masterfully, and he infuses the decade with an astonishing mix of humor, warmth, pity, and horror. Every passage is spiced with several witticisms or barbs uncovered by his impressive research. Less confidently, he offers detailed presentations of such occasions as Britain's Silver Jubilee of 1935, the Berlin Olympic Games of 1936, and the Paris International Exposition of 1937 (but not, strangely enough, the 1939 World's Fair)--yet he still analyzes adeptly the international importance of each of these events. Brendon traps himself in a cul-de-sac, however, when he discusses Hollywood, exposing less about the pervasive influence of popular entertainment than about his own high-brow tastes (e.g., his easy dismissal of escapist fair from Disney to Oz as "nostalgic evocations of small-town virtues" and "treacly affirmations of New Deal values").

Oh, but who really cares! Rarely has a single book synthesized for me so much information--both well-known and unfamiliar. Brendon has written what may well be regarded as the standard history of the decade. Not only should this book receive a permanent place in anyone's library, it will undoubtedly encourage readers to explore some of the many other volumes mentioned in the exhaustive bibliographic apparatus.

I like the book Danger the Dog Yard Cat. I recommend this book to you because it tells you about a cat that raced in the Iditarod. The pictures are funny. This book is half true and half make believe. This book is about a cat that gets saved by a dog sled racer that has a lot of dogs. The Cat has to race for the dog leader because he hurt his paw. Danger had one friend that was a dog, and his name was Mud shark.

Danger is a cat that got adopted at a dog pound. The lady who adopted him ran a Iditarod. Danger didn't like the dogs very much, but he had a buddie called Mud Shark. When the leader of the Iditarod got hurt, there was not another dog that could take his place, so Danger had to be the leader that time. The iditarod race ended up as a dream. I like this book because it is funny.

Danger is a cat that got adopted from a dog pound.The lady who adopted Danger happened to have 39 husky dogs.But one cross eyed dog Mudshark was Danger's friend.One day on the Iditarod the lead dog was hurt.So the lady lost hope. But then the lady had an idea Danger was then hooked to the front and was leading the team. At the end of the race Danger's team had won.At the end he was just dreaming. I think this was a very funny story and I think you'll enjoy this book.

You'll start reading this and get a tale of many cities - it's not a true crime story, it's a stunning cultural tour of science, emotions, fads, murder and self promotion. Like all the other reviews say, it's a lengthy book - the first 100 fly, then you'll slog through another 100 or so but then it will fly and rivet your attention. Read it and then think about the latest flaps about autism, gulf war syndrome, whatever - you'll really get a sea change in views. I'd give it five stars but for the following reasons - 1) the "sag" in the second 100 pages and 2) the authors seem give blank acceptance to some people and statements and partially reconstruct some conversations, 3)They question multiple SIDS deaths in one family (murder?) but shy hard away from the single death, and never challenge the emptiness of the either the SIDS diagnosis or murder presumption (i.e. calling a death SIDS simply because there's no explaination or calling multiple deaths in one family probable murder because SIDS "doesn't run in families"). But still an excellent book - highly recommended.

This is a true story Crime Novel that every Police investigator and child abuse investigator should read. Medical personnel would greatly enhance their knowledge in preventing child deaths by reading this book. To uncover such horrible child abuse and deaths was amazing to me and the resistance that Professionals portrayed in allowing the deaths of so many children in any one family was beyond belief. This is must read for anyone dealing with children.

The Death of Innocents tells the gripping real life story of the tragic intersection of medical research into SIDS and the infanticide of five babies. It is one of the best true crime books I have read and it is destined to be a classic true crime book and deserves to be a best seller. I could not put it down. A must read.

As is the case in all the "Writer's Guide to Everyday Life" books, it is of course impossible for author Varhola to cover in full depth in so brief a book the vast and complex canvas that was the American Civil War. That much said, he does a very good job with the space he has. His price lists, descriptions of money, and period terms are especially well done and useful, and I found his descriptions of city life fascinating. As is usual, he does slip up once or twice (canned goods, for example, were developed in Napoleonic France and first commercially manufactured in the USA in the 1820's, though it's true that the industry didn't really take off till the War created a huge demand for portable food with a long shelf life), but that's probably inevitable. He also provides a lengthy bibliography which (with the Recommendations on this page) should give interested readers plenty of detailed background on the aspects that most intrigue them. This is definitely a book that should be read by all CW social-history buffs.

Varhola's book has been quite useful to me. A far cry from the usual recounting of battle minutiae, the book has cleared up several of my misperceptions about what life was like during the Civil War era. Chapter 8, "Slang and Idiom," is a must for any writer hoping to create believable--and accurate--period dialogue; and the book as a whole is loaded with the type of information that would interest anyone remotely interested in this aspect of our country's history. Bravo!

Not just a great guide for writers, this book provides an excellent digest of information about the Civil War to include military and civilian life. It accurately and simply portrays the culture and technology of that period. Of special interest are the sections on slang and idiom and entertainment. The book also provides useful information on resources to include interesting web sites and historic sites.

This gut-wrenching book is five stories. Each is fascinating... The first is that of a young man growing up in the shadow of his famous father, Marine Corps General "Chesty" Puller, "the most decorated man in Marine Corps history." The second is that of a young marine corps lieutenant leading a 40-man platoon in combat, trying (sometimes unsuccessfully) to keep everyone alive. He was doing what he thought was right. His tour ends in disaster; he is med-evaced out with horrific injuries. The third story is his hospitalization -- missing legs, missing fingers, he fights through a pain-ridden recovery. The fourth tale is his humiliating 1978 defeat in a Congressional race against Republican Paul Trible. The final story is Lewis Puller's battle against alcoholism. "Fortunate Son" was published in 1991, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1992. But in the alcohol war, this book just marked the eye of the storm. Shortly after it was honored with the prize, Lewis Puller relapsed into alcoholism; he and his wife separated. And on May 11, 1994, Lewis B. Puller, Jr., picked up a gun and killed himself. ---- Sometimes (to boomers) the Vietnam era and its aftermath now seem dreamlike; Puller's book is an icy hook, pulling us into the river of times past. It was VERY real! Throughout this book, the thought keeps recurring, this was a man who trusted too much, too many, too often, and was destroyed. He was indeed a tragic figure. There are many lessons to be learned from his life... but I suspect every reader will take different ones from this work...

What separates a good book from a great book is its ability to change the way the reader perceives the world and himself. Lewis Puller, Jr. has accomplished this difficult feat with his autobiography. Fabulously written and lavishly detailed, it takes the reader on a journey from Puller's hometown to the rice paddies of Vietnam and back. Lewis Puller, Jr's pain can be felt when the booby-trapped howitzer round erupts beneath his feet and when he struggles to learn how to use prosthetics in a military hospital. His emotional suffering is also felt when he loses the Virginia congressional election, and when he deals with both alcoholism and his growing bitterness for the war he gave so much to. Then, after all he fought through, after everything he accomplished, Lewis Puller, Jr. committed suicide three years after publishing his book. The book was powerful, but the knowledge that he could not, in the end, survive the horrors of a war that ended nearly twenty years earlier is truly moving. This book provides insight into what war really is, and into the lives of the everyday men and women that comprise our armed services. It is a lasting memorial to the sacrifice of those soldiers that offered their lives to protect our country, and to the shame all Americans should feel because of the way those veterans were treated when they returned to the States. I am convinced that Mr. Puller would still be with us today, sharing his incredible gift and influencing the world if the American people had been more supportive of his sacrafice in the years following Vietnam. He and those like him did not, after all, direct the war and the make the mistakes that lost it. Their country called and they answered, for better or for worse, and because of that we should have a great deal of respect for all veterens.

I just read this book for the second time. The spread between the first and second reading is nearly a decade. The first time I read this book I became emotional. Now that I have read it again, with added maturity...I fully appreciate its greatness.

Lewis B. Puller, Jr. is the patriotic son of a beloved Marine Corps legend. "Fortunate Son," is the story of how the author follows his father's footsteps...joining the Marines and going to war. What follows is a chilling portrait of the Vietnam war. It is also a fabulous window of understanding of how many Vienam veterans turned against the war.

The author's narrative of his childhood and his relationship with his famous military father is outstanding. Moreover, the tale of his combat wound and his subsequent survival along with other American casualties of the war while in military hospitals in the States is comprehensive and objective.

Puller does an enormous service for the nation. He honestly delivers one of the most powerful...as well as painful first hand testimonies of the longest war in the history of the United States of America. This book will endure the test of time.