Author Patrick O'Donnell has done a masterful job of interviewing surviving Pacific war veterans for this marvelous book. From the first American offensive at Guadalcanal to the final shots on Okinawa, McDonnell's interviews take the reader into the heart of combat in the Pacific. Often graphic and touching at the same time, these interviews tell the reader firsthand what it was like to fight against the Japanese. The soldiers often speak of the horrors of war, such as having a buddy die in their arms, seeing a fellow soldier break down mentally, or facing the atrocities of the Japanese, such as cannibalism of dead American soldiers.

The heart-felt interviews by these veterans were touching to read, and they brought a human element to the war. Many of the vets said that they tried to never get too close to another soldier because of the risk of death, but inevitably, friendships were formed, and when someone died, it usually affected other soldiers in a very personal way. Many of these men would cry like babies after losing a buddy, especially if his dying had saved someone else's life. Uncommon valor was a common virtue amongst these men. The vets spoke of men hurling themselves on live grenades to save their platoon or crawling great distances under enemy fire to rescue a wounded comrade. Compassion was also talked about by the vets. American soldiers on Okinawa continuously helped the civillian population after the Japanese tried to use them as human shields to stop the Americans.

This book moved me in a way I've never felt by a book before. I found myself grimmacing with every bullet wound and crying with the men as they discussed the death of a friend or some horrible act committed by the Japanese. This book offers a perspective on the war which can only be told by the men themselves. I highly recommend this excellent work. The stories contained inside will truly move you, and I'm sure your emotions will come out as well.

Into the Rising Sun is simply the finest oral and narrative history on the Pacific War. After reading this book I felt like back in time with these heroic soldiers and Marines. This book takes you to the sharp end of the combat, placing the reading in foxholes, trudging through jungle swamps, or facing the full-weight of Japanese banzai attack. Each story is seamlessly integrated into a narrative and a part of a larger whole that covers all of the major campaigns of the Pacific and Burma.

The stories hit you like a sledgehammer. Robert Moore describes America's first contested assault landing on the tiny island of Gavutu a few miles off Guadalcanal.

"Over 30 dead. Many were shot in the head. Brains were all over the place. I'll never forget this."
After being discharged for his wounds on Guadalcanal Moore reenlist in the Merchant Marines and ironically gets dropped off at Iwo Jima months after the battle only to find almost his entire platoon buried in the cemetery.

Harry Clark who describes his condition after trudging through New Georgia's jungle swamps for over a month. "I had dozens of ulcers on each leg and they went right down to the bone. Our medic used o keep us going by putting cotton on a pencil and putting it down and taking the [pus] out. We were all ill from every illness you could get from the jungle. I weighted ninety-seven pounds."

One of the Marines describes an all night assault by the Japanese on their positions on Guam's Hill 40.

"They pulled on all-night assault. They hit our positions hard and had visible targets for an hour. We could see them moving forward; their helmets would throw a shadow on their faces." ....the next day there were hundreds of bodies lying out in front of us. You feel guilty killing guys that were wounded. I cut a guy's throat with a my knife. That hurts. [Chocks up] I've never really talked about this to anyone."

Merrill's Marauder veteran Ed McLogan describes Sgt. Roy Matsumoto's amazing exploits that saved the battalion: "We vacated and booby trapped our foxholes after the after Roy crawled behind their lines and found out were and when they were going to attack." Matsumoto went back behind Japanese lines, again, the next morning. "He ordered them to Charge! Charge! In Japanese, and we mowed them down."

11th Airborne Division, Medic Bernard Coon describes the heartache of a man dying in his arms. "Our medic got shot through both femurs and was heavily bleeding. We had no instruments - we last them on the jump - we couldn't do anything for him. He turned to me and asked, "Are am I going to die?" and I said yes, you are." We started talking about baseball and slowly he bled to death. I had to go through his pockets and pull out pictures of his family."

A Marine describes the opening assault on the beaches Iwo Jima's Beaches:

"I was only twenty years old and my birthday was on the twenty-eighth. I thought to myself, "God am I ever going to make twenty-one?" The ramp went down, and honest to God the, bullets came in. Many of the men were machine gunned to death. I was pulling bodies of my men aside as I tried to make my way out."

This book is a watershed in the reporting of battlefield accounts. Anyone interested in World War II, the heroism of American fighting men, or both, will surely want to read this splendid tome. THIS BOOK IS BEYOND FIVE STARS!!

Reading "Into the Rising Sun" takes one to places of great emotion and leaves the reader's mind going over and over what those courageous Forces went through and had experienced. If you want the truth of battle and just what took place, this is the book to read. Mr. O'Donnell's book "Beyond Valor" is emotionally charged reading. Now, "Into the Rising Sun" gives oral histories a new and deeper perspective. The variation of Airborne, Rangers, Marine Raiders, Paramarines and Merrill's Marauders' stories go to the heart. From bloodshed, cannibalism, distribution of body parts on the battlefield to the compassion of Marines taking care of a crying baby are just a part of what can be found in the author's expertise of drawing out the many stories of these great men. For those that returned -- their lives went on building families and careers, but feeling and knowing that they had done the job of their country's call. They are the forerunners of our Elite & Special forces of today of whom we can be so very proud.
Mr. O'Donnell, thank you for bringing to 'life & lite' one of the greatest wars of time and introducing us to yet, more of it's 'heroes' as no other as done.
Recommend: Beyond Valor, Author Patrick O'Donnell

I don't often re-read a book in the same decade, but after recently re-reading K-9 Sodiers, Vietnam and After, I learned over the "NET", that Suzie's story is to be aired on Discovery Channel early next year. I think this is SUPER, giving our four-footed heroes some much deserved recognition. ... For readers who haven't read K-9 Soldiers, you really should. It's the kind of book you won't put down until you have reached the back cover. ... For those of us, who have read it, I heartly recommend Paul Morgan's barely fictionalized account of behind the lines action around the Cambodian border, entitled "The Parrot's Beak". This is another slam 'em, bam 'em, damned good read. You can taste the smoke of battle and feel the humidity and tension ... go now ... read "K-9 Soldiers", read "The Parrot's Beak" ... Look for Suzie's story, it's to be featured on Animal X, Discovery Channel in 2001 .... AND K-9 officers attention ... "K-9 Soldier's" is a must read for you, I understand some K-9 units consider it to be one of their manuals!

Paul Morgan's book K-9 Soldiers: Vietnam and After is a story of Paul's military life from beginning to end and the intense training this soldier endured to become a U.S. Army Green Beret with two tours in Vietnam. There are stories about Suzie his faithful German Shepherd that saved him and his buddies more than once in the jungles and rice fields of Southeast Asia. After the military he started his own K-9 security business. The many stories that he tells about his K-9 companion's will bring tears to your eyes and make you smile.

Jim Hart 12th SPS K-9 PhuCat 1970-1971 USAF

Thumbs up for K-9 Soldiers. Paul Morgan Shares his wartime and civilian experiences with his K-9 partners.Dog lovers, history buffs and anyone in between will find this book to be a fascinating and very enjoyable read.

I have had this book for over 10 years and use it for everything. It is my absoulte favorite cookbook. I refer to it quite often and all of recipes that I have tried work wonderfully! I recently tried the pineapple tarragon chicken (I baked it in the oven instead of grilling it) and now family and friends can't get enough. This is just one one many great recipes. If you don't have it, get it! It's the best.

I am extremely selective of any cookbook. This book has a wonderful variety of recipes and ALL are very quick and easy, which is great for us busy parents who believe in a well-rounded, balanced and wholesome meal. That's hard to do these days AND in this economy. I'm not a "chef" by any means but try to put out very "taste-bud" pleasing meals. This cookbook allows great meals on a budget w/little prep/cooking time or mess. You will love the extra bonus info that comes with the book. Detailed explanations of "how to's"; shop for vegis, identify forms of fish, barbecue or grill, cut up and bone chicken, etc. Also, cooking tips (very helpful:),and such a variety of recipes in each catagory of food. **Great taste w/clear & easy instructions**

I bought this book over eight years ago and still pull it out whenever we have dinner guests in our calendar. The full color pictures are inspirational even if you don't follow the recipe to the letter.

The preparation and cook times are very accurate -- great for when you have guests arriving for dinner at a certain time and the directions are easy enough to follow for when my 15 year old wants to try her hand at dinner.

This book is not just for dinners either! There are great dessert and sandwich recipes as well. All recipes contain quite a bit of butter (it IS a Land o'Lakes cookbook) so they are not for those cooking light, but are very tasty.

The skillet pizza is the only recipe I have not liked so far. My favorite recipes are the deep dish apple pie and chicken Kiev.

I'm a new homeschooling mom, and I found this book to be a great hands on resource book about how to start homeschooling your children. It has detailed learning ideas for primary, middle and teen years. If you are looking for answers to alot of tough questions like when, why, and how to homeschool your child, then "The Homeschooling Handbook"by Mary Griffith, will be a valuable tool for you. Whether you homeschool your child or not, read this book for it's many helpful fresh ideas for working with children.

I borrowed a copy of this book from the library and signed it out several times. This book is the best book I have read, so far, on the basics of homeschooling. It was very informative and helped me to get through my second year as a homeschooling parent with less stress. I would recommend it to anyone who is open to, or looking for new ideas or new ways to home school. This book is very un-schooling oriented but it helped me to find a balance between both the "normal" homeshooling methods and un-schooling. I would highly recommend it for first time home schoolers and those with gifted or special needs children.

We will be starting homeschooling in June of 2001. I have read no less than 7 books on this topic and this one stands out amongst the others. It is so informative, it answered all of my questions and then some. It gives very specific information on the different "styles" of homeschooling, loads of resources, and best of all you get to read about real homeschooling families, how they do things and why. The author does write with obvious favor to her own schooling method of choice, but not nearly as overtly as others I've read. If you are considering homeshcooling, then read this book before any others.

I really loved this book! It's an amazing tribute to Jackie, and the pictures are incredible. I've never seen most of them, and so many of the ones with JFK and John Jr and Caroline are so touching. Most picture books have a smattering of photos, but this one seems to cover just about every month of Jackie's life! It's really something to see her as a lovely little girl, maturing into a young woman, and then going through all that she did. The captions are very interesting too, and well-written. If you remember Jackie fondly like I do, you will want to get this book!

I was captivated by this book. James Spada has compiled several well-known photographs with many photos I had never seen. He does not try to analyse or to delve into the behind the scenes. He presents the photos with a paragraph or two, and lets us glimpse into Jackie Kennedy Onassis's life. I was entranced by the pictures of her youth and the pure beauty and joy in several ungarded moments. A beautiful tribute.

I really adored this book - it is so much more than yet another reprinting of the famous pictures of Jackie. The photos chosen by Spada are remarkable in their ability to portray both the remarkable strength possessed by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, as well as her frailties that we can all relate to. While many people have seen the countless photos that have been published of Mrs. Onassis from her birth to death, Mr. Spada managed to select mostly photos that are little-seen, as well as photos that needed no text to give the reader a better sense of the people portrayed in the book. The text that does accompany the photos is well written and restrained. Purchasing "Jackie: Her Life in Pictures" will be money well spent.

For this author to write this book, it had to be ordained by God. Ms Harris was able to tell her secrets to help us realize that our God is a forgiving God. Even when we don't feel we deserve it, He keeps on blessing us over and over again. I had some doubts when I was asked to read this book. I really thought it would be another of one of these self righteous books about what you better do, how to do it and what is going to happen if you don't. Ms Harris told a story that I could find a lesson for myself and a lesson to witness to others. This is a book that I have been and will continue to recommend to those who feel the need to overcome shame, guilt and doubt.

I read this book and at first, I must confess, I was a little sketical, but as I read on, oh my God! This precious author, Patricia Harris reveals herself that we may be healed. The Holy Spirit uses this book to minister to deep, dark, hidden hurts that we as women never want to talk about. If you want to be healed than read this book with an open heart. Write notes to yourself as things to mind, pray and God will do the rest. He will bring life to your dead situations and heal your broken heart!

Patricia Harris has given me the hope that I've longed for and searched for in believing that I, too, can be free from the shame that has kept me in bondage since my early childhood. Her transparency in revealing the details of her shame and the way she portrays the forgiveness, mercy and redemption of our Heavenly Father will only draw you closer to Him, to a place where He can minister to your own wounds. After reading "Imprisoned by Secrets of the Heart," God began to open the prison doors of my own heart, and I am now in the process of walking off the chains that bind. This book may be a divine appointment for you... don't miss it!

Rita Williams-Garcia's Like Sisters on the Homefront is the tale of a fourteen-year-old girl who is sent by her mother to live with her Aunt and Uncle in the south after getting pregnant for the second time. Gayle Whitaker, the protagonist in the story, compares her stay at the relatives as 'being sold into slavery'.(Williams-Garcia. 23)
This link is constantly being made throughout the story by Gayle, a girl who seems to lack any kind of regard towards anyone or anything except herself and three friends. The reader has a hard time connecting to her because she appears so self-centered which although common among young teenagers is hard to accept from a girl who seems older than her years as a result of her experiences. It is only through Gayle's interpretation of the world that one can see how vulnerable she is and realize that her lack in concern is directly related towards her age and development.
Gayle's lack of any type of emotion is clear from the beginning of the book when the reader discovers she is pregnant. To the reader it seems as though her regard to her situation is without concern. Her response to the abortion was more a sense of annoyance than any type of loss or even understanding about consequences. When the Doctor tries to offer some sympathy and encouragement during the procedure Gayle responded with, "Oh, Doc, it ain?t nothing to cry about."(Williams-Garcia. 8)
The inconsistency Gayle expresses shows how she can still easily be taken advantage. Throughout most of the book she tries contacting her boyfriend Troy with no success. Instead of realizing he has moved on she places the blame of his lack of response on everybody else but him. Yet the flight attendant on the plane causes Gayle to feel suspicious. "Gayle didn?t trust her. She was to nice." (Williams-Garcia. 21)
Although she seems experienced and often the reader forgets her age, comments Gayle makes throughout the book often expose how young and unexposed to the world she really is. While flying over New York, Gayle notices the landmarks like a wide-eyed child. "Jose! Look. There go that Freedom Lady and her torch. See! And those two giant buildings be on postcards. Look!"(Williams-Garcia. 22)
Upon meeting her relatives at the airport, Gayle refuses to show any emotion towards her cousin Constance. Although she is aware the 'insolent' response to her cousins 'sympatric look' causes Constance to feel rejected and reveals this by justifying her unfriendly behavior to herself. "How can I smile at you? Smiling means we know the same thing, and you don't even know what I'm feeling. Cootie still sore fore the abortion. Ears still ringing from the plane ride. Back fit to split wide open from playing the mule, but I?m s?posed to be grinning at you?"(Williams-Garcia. 27)
Many readers may have a hard time relating to this book. The main character seems shallow. Taking a closer look though shows depth to Gayle and allows a great deal of maturity and growth throughout the book.

Like Sisters on the Homefront is one of the best books that I read. This book is about a girl named Gayle who is pregnant by a boy named Troy.After her mother found out she went and got her an abortion because she already has a child. After getting her an abortion, Gayle's mother sent her down South to live with her uncle and aunt. These are the issues that Gayle was dealing with: family problems, stress, dropping out of school, getting along with people, looking for a job, and pregnancy.

I think teenage girls will read this book, because they would think it's interesting because having a baby at a young age is not the way to be cool. It takes away a lot of your time and freedom. Gayle learns how to take responsibilities for her and her child.

Down South, Gayle learns that being on her own is hard. Being a full time mother is a hard job. She has to work to get her and Jose things that they need. Doing all this while taking care of Jose is hard because her mother is not there to help her, and she is learning her responsibilities quickly because her mother is not there to do everything any more.

I encourage you to read this book because you can learn a lot from this book.

My eighth graders loved this book! They were so excited after I read the first page to them as a preview of what's to come, that they went to the library to check out the book because they weren't scheduled to read it for another week. They really connected with the author's use of language and her up-front, in your face style of writing.
The author deals with teen pregnancy, abortion, and religion in a well-written, well- balanced way. She makes sure that the "real deal" of these teen issues are portrayed, as well as offering a "there's still hope" message for the readers.
As a reading teacher, part of my job is to expose my students to well-written, exciting books they might not ordinarily find on their own, and I'm surely glad that this wonderful treasure has been found!

Residents of Fayetteville, North Carolina awoke one morning in April of 1954 to find the front page of their local paper carrying news of a nuclear attack downtown; they were informed that sixty-four thousand soldiers were being deployed to amend the situation, aided by six tons of maps and forty-six chaplains. The attack, of course, was a fiction, but the soldiers and their simulated nuclear reaction mission (Exercise Flash Burn) were very real. Catherine Lutz demonstrates in Homefront: A Military City that the life of Fayetteville cannot disentangle itself from the life of Fort Bragg, the nation's largest military base. This study by the renowned anthropologist from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is both as specific as a city history and as broad as a national story. Though Lutz uses Fayetteville as a zooming-in point, her argument-that the dichotomies of military and civilian, war-time and peace-time, are collapsing-is applicable to the country as a whole.
Fayetteville, a city of one hundred thousand semi-affectionately known as "Fayettenam," was chosen as the centerpiece for this project because of its long and bittersweet relationship with Fort Bragg. Lutz traces this history from 1918 (when the city's founding fathers first lured the lucrative industry to the collective pocketbook of the townsfolk), through the patriotism and turmoil of the World Wars and the bitter clashes of the Vietnam War, to the present-day Hot Peace. Relations between the base and the city are both interdependent and strained so that, upon the close inspection Lutz conducts, it becomes unclear where the line between the two is drawn, if indeed it can be drawn at all. Lutz describes Fayetteville's economy as engineered to serve the needs of soldiers on paydays. While other North Carolina cities chose technology industries as their major source of income, Fayetteville cast its lot with the base and the retail sales it would create. This plan has had the two-fold effect of making the few who own the businesses quite rich and the many who work in them, merely touching the money as it passes from soldier to civilian businessman, rather poor. The question of who is serving whom (soldiers training to protect the lives of civilians while civilians tend to soldiers' needs) becomes blurred, as does the question of whom is actually receiving the government paychecks. Further blurring the dichotomy between military and civilian are the many civilians whose presence in Fayetteville is attributable to the military-for instance, the refugees who have come from all over the world, and the "war brides" who moved to Fayetteville with their soldier husbands and settled down. Lutz posits that the draft further lessened the gap between military and civilian by presenting a difficulty in readily distinguishing between the two; the idea that soldiers were lower-class, uneducated, and crass was prominent prior to the World Wars, but suddenly college boys from good families were moving into the base, and some soldiers were the type of boys by whom local upper-middle-class families might want their daughters courted. Another assumed intrinsic difference between soldiers and civilians-that soldiers always see war as the right course of action whereas civilians are more peace-loving-fell during the Vietnam War, when thousands of soldiers protested the United States' involvement and eventually brought about the military's departure from Vietnam. As the differences between soldiers and civilians have become blurred, so have the differences between formerly binary options of war and peace.
Though hegemonic history usually describes time as a series of wars and their interstices, Lutz finds the concepts of war-time and peace-time becoming ever more complicated. While war was formerly viewed as an interference upon the normal state of peace, the periods between war are now filled with preparedness for war, making war the natural state. War games are one, often bizarre, aspect of this war readiness. Obscuring not only the distinctions between war and peace but also those between Fayetteville and Fort Bragg, homefront and battlefield, are the situations in which Fort Bragg's training missions take them into the city in the acting out of a war situation. Though Fayetteville's civilians are notified when the soldiers will be rehearsing for nuclear holocaust or an invasion of "Pineland" (the imaginary country in which Fayetteville lies during war games), such realm-blending upsets traditional ideas of what war is and where it takes place. The Cold War also called into question the nature of war, since only recently has it been true that one can exist in which no blood is shed. Lutz contrasts this state with the current one of Hot Peace-even when the United States is not technically at war, the military is active on peace-keeping missions internationally, assisting insurgents or established governments in the protection of America's best interests.
Homefront is meticulously researched in all manner of sources. Largely ethnographic, Lutz's research consists largely of interviews conducted with eighty residents of Fayetteville over a six year period. Lutz's interviewees include not only the traditional writers of history, but also those whose stories are often left to fall silent-the result is a less favorable military history than the red, white, and blue ones usually heard. The recounts of these interviews have an informal feel to them, occasionally interjected with questions from Lutz and usually accompanied by the interviewees' actual names and personal, unposed photographs. This very human approach should not be seen as a substitute for heavily researched scholarship-Lutz is adept at providing both. Also cited are records from Fort Bragg itself, as well as reports found in the National Archives, local newspaper accounts from the turn of the century, and history books of North Carolina. Lutz allows her subjectivity to shine through the text-though raised in a military family, her horror at the effects of war on all involved are apparent, and it is clear with whom her sympathies lie. With such a well-researched argument, however, Lutz's agenda is incapable of falling through the cracks of substantiation. In the end, Lutz presents a compelling picture of Fayetteville/Fort Bragg as one town, under a base, indivisible.

This book, although a specific case study of one town, is an excellent way to learn or be reminded of the complex relationship between war and our society. While many persist in seeing military strength and military action in black and white terms, a writer like Lutz reminds us that the apparatus of war right here in our towns and cities affects lives in complicated and enduring ways, day in and day out, whether or not it is a time of war. It always seems easier to criticize the mistakes of the past. Lutz's book makes us question the complications of a present that many of our leaders would like us to keep seeing in simple terms.

This is an eye-opening, honest, and thoughtful examination of the role the military plays in our society. It is obvious that Lutz has thoroughly and carefully studied Fayetteville, NC, and she has delivered a powerfully written document of the effects an army base has had on the community. What makes this a brilliant work is that it invites the reader to consider the many arenas of our culture which have been influenced, even created, by the military complex we have embraced as our defense. Homefront is an extremely important book.

I think most people who are somewhat clueless to the stock market would benefit from reading this book. What I like is that it is full of easy examples. Even though I have read some books concerning the same issue, this book was helpful to me. He gives you lots of hints, or should I say quotes other investors, in how to be a good investor, i.e CANSLIM , and basics things like beating the Dow. The downside is, however that if you're not from U.S.A, including me, you will find many pages that are not worthy reading, like Internet resources for American companies. This equals a very good book, which is worth every minute.

I didn't have a clue about the stock market before I read this book, although I was interested. I picked it up from the library by accident, read it, and now understand a great deal about the stock market. It's easy to read and starts from the beginning, even talking about how Wall Street was named. I took some notes from the book and use it as a reference guide. I highly recommend this book for those who don't (like the title says) have a clue about the stock market.

This is the first book I read before buying shares. My advice is don't buy any shares until you have read this book. I did and made 30% in three months.

When he died in 1891, historian Draper left unfinished this massive biography of legendary Kentucky frontier hero Daniel Boone (1734-1820). Now Belue, who teaches history at Murray State University in Kentucky, has transcribed and annotated Draper's rambling manuscript, whose florid, hagiographic prose should not deter readers from some real merits. First, Draper, an indefatigable researcher, drew upon thousands of documents as well as interviews with white, Native American and black frontier dwellers to re-create Boone's colorful exploits, including his blazing of a trail through the Cumberland Gap; his construction of Boonesborough, the first permanent settlement in the "Far West"; and his dramatic rescue of his daughter Jemima and two other girls from Indians. Second, Draper's tome is a treasure trove of early Americana, covering Indian-Anglo wars and relations, the fur trade, the British presence and trans-Appalachian life, flora, and fauna. Third, the 76 period drawings, engravings, photographs and maps offer revealing glimpses of both whites and Native Americans. And finally, Belue's entertaining and informative chapter notes diligently correct Draper's romanticization, offering instead a lifelong wanderer from home and family, a failed land speculator, an adventurer who watched his son tortured to death by Cherokees but who still sought accomodation with the Indians. Regrettably, Draper's text breaks off in 1778, but a chronology, epilogue, and appendix sketch Boone's later exploits.--Publishers Weekly, September 14, 1998

I simply cannot tell you how critically important this latest offering is from Ted Franklin Belue. For close to 150 years, ninety percent of everything you've ever read in regard to the longhunter and the frontier Cumberland and Ohio valley experience was documented via information contained inside this book! Except...you couldn't just simply read it until our friend from Kentucky's Murray State University (the famous author and historian) Mr. Ted Franklin Belue, got his hands on it....Draper always intended to transform this incredible wealth of primary and secondary documentation into a book, but it never happened....Well, thanks to the Herculean efforts of Belue, we common folk now have unlimited access to "the entire motherlode"! Draper's THE LIFE OF DANIEL BOONE....There is much never-before-published information on Boone, his lifestyle and those who were associated with him. But this is just the tip of the iceberg!....There is a great deal more information on Boone's contemporaries and the world around them....Basically all the legitimate reliable documentation we have on the classic Virginia/Carolina longhunter came from and is contained within this book!....No longer need we be content with the little scraps and quotes. At last (thanks to Ted Franklin Belue) we now have "the source": Draper's THE LIFE OF DANIEL BOONE. Handsomely hardbound with a beautiful dust jacket, the huge 600 page book is filled with all sorts of appendices, early maps, and period and contemporary illustrations--never before published photographs from the Dresslar and Grant collections. The book literall overflows with numerous first-person narratives and biographies of frontier notables, including the entire diary of Dr. Thomas Walker's monumental 1750 exploration of Kentucky. Folks, if you have an association with the 18th century frontier and you'd like to become infinitely more knowledgeable about the people who actually lived there and what actually happened in those places and times through their own telling--you need this book. Now that this gem is available to the public, I can't imagine anyone who considers himself a serious student of the 18th century West not owing a copy of Draper's THE LIFE OF DANIEL BOONE.--John Curry

In 1856, the eminent historian, Lyman C. Draper, temporarily laid aside the 800 handwritten page biography of Daniel Boone that he had just recently completed. So far, Draper had documented the famous American frontiersman's life only through the year, 1778, and he fully intended to renew the project one day to cover the forty-two additional years of Boone's life. But that day never came, Draper went to his grave in 1891, and his unfinished manuscript was filed away and largely forgotten in the collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. One day in 1990, Ted Franklin Belue, a history professor at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky, was studying Draper's manuscript on microfilm. Here, according to Belue's own words, was a national treasure, "known only to a few, filled with tales of Boone, frontier lore, Long Hunters, Indians, wild exploits, hunters' skills, genealogical data, descriptions of native flora and fauna, miscellaneous Americana, trans-Appalachian history, and much more." It took Belue eight years to transcribe, edit, and annotate the monumental manuscript. The result is an equally monumental book. More than 600 fact-filled pages tell the story of Boone from his birth in Pennsylvania in 1734 to his residence forty-four years later in Kentucky. Draper's original biography is much enhanced by Belue's interesting preface, his own extensive notes which shed a great deal of additional information on Boone in light of modern-day research, a chronology of Boone's life, a fine selection of period illustrations and maps, and an index. The Life of Daniel Boone is a book that anyone interested in America's "first West" will read with relish and appreciation. It is a testimonial to a man whose name-even today, nearly two hundred years after his death-is one of the country's most recognizable. But, beyond its tribute to Boone, the volume presents a gold mine of information about everyday life on the trans-Appalachian frontier, the mores and lifestyles of the region's first Anglo settlers, and a number of mini-biographical sketches about some of the key players of the times. --James A. Crutchfield