Average customer rating:
- Excellent ! A real treasure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
|
B29 Navigator Korean War 1951
Ralph Livengood
Manufacturer: Authorhouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Military & Spies
| Professionals & Academics
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| Leaders & Notable People
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Memoirs
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Asia
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Middle East
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Strategy
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Korean War
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1414008376 |
Customer Reviews:
Excellent ! A real treasure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2006-07-14
This book is a masterpiece. It is a very touching story and an unbelievable historic account. The records and logs included in the book are originals and are astonishing! This is a must for everyone to read and a great book for the younger generation to grasp a bit of history before it is lost. Truly an amazing work!
Average customer rating:
|
Following the Water, Working the Land: Profiles of Mississippi Outdoorsmen
James Tighe
Manufacturer: Quail Ridge Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Scientists
| Professionals & Academics
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
South
| Regional U.S.
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Mississippi
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Genealogy
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1893062104 |
Book Description
From the Delta to the north Mississippi hills to the Gulf Coast and points in between, Following the Water, Working the Land is a journey in the footsteps and in the wakes of Mississippi's skilled farmers, fishermen, trappers and others who gain their livelihood and their inspiration from the outdoors. Wherever the story leadsto a shrimper trawling the Mississippi Sound, a trapper on the habits of gators, or a boatbuilder designing and building a 42-foot wooden schooner, these Mississippi outdoorsmen reveal the special knowledge and instinct required by their vocations and avocations. Other stops along the way include a day in the life of a Delta catfish farmer, a morning on the water with a Gulf Coast oyster fisherman, and a visit with a cotton farmer who struggles to survive against global market forces beyond his control.
These are the stories of skilled men who share with us their shop talk, allowing the reader a comprehensive look at their unique worlds. The book offers a rare chance to witness their skills and knowledge, in some cases an opportunity that will be lost forever when they are gone.
Award-winning writer James Tighe has tracked down these stories and others to provide the next best thing to a ring-side seat in the great Mississippi outdoors.
Book Description
Two teenagers with diabetes have partnered with a diabetes expert to put together an easy-to-read, fun, and useful guide for children and teens. They provide helpful hints on how to deal with diabetes at school, pursue sports to the fullest, travel with diabetes, be prepared in emergencies, and more.
Customer Reviews:
Recommended reading.......2007-08-07
My 25 yo daughter was diagnosed was Type 1 diabetes in April of this year. I read everything I could find on the subject. This book by far was the most helpful and encouraging. It helped me realize my daughter can handle this new challenge and live a full, active life.
If Spike and Bo can do it I can do it too!.......2006-06-16
I gave a copy of Getting a Grip to a twelve year old neighbor boy...he read the book with his mom...they said Getting a Grip gave them a sense of well-being and that it answered so many of their questions. They especially liked the chapters on sports, and academics and out door school!
RC
Uplifting & Positive Book Written by Two Teens w/ Diabetes.......2002-08-31
If there are only two books you buy for diabetes type 1 management this is one of the two (the other being "Real Life Parenting of Kids with Diabetes)" written by Spike and Bo's mother (Virgina Nasmyth Loy).
I really enjoyed reading about diabetes from the viewpoint of the person with the disease. Spike and Bo provide practical suggestions on how to integrate diabetes management in a variety of settings: school, surfing, eating out, traving the globe, driving, etc.
A Positive Read.......2002-06-11
We received this book as a gift when our son was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. The whole family read the book and found it positive and very helpful. The book is filled with real life experiences and dozens of helpful tips. You just feel like you can do it when you read Getting a Grip on Diabetes.
Okay for Beginners.......2002-06-03
This book is easy to read. A newly diagnosed parent or child may enjoy this text because of it's simplicity.
As an avid reader of Books on Diabetes, I found it difficult to follow. The writers seemed disoriented and got off track often.
Book Description
A Tuscan cookbook with a difference, From the Tables of Tuscan Women turns its gaze away from the overly familiar areas of Florence and Siena, and looks westward to the less familiar province of Lucca. Tuscany's most diverse province geographically, Lucca spans mountains and forests, olive groves and terraced vineyards, with a pristine coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
The cuisine of Lucca reflects both the richness of this diversity and the wealth of ingredients it provides -- from fritto misto di pesce, an assortment of fish battered and fried in olive oil, to cacciucci, a soup made entirely of fish and served on thick slices of toasted bread rubbed with garlic, to castagnaccia a sweet cake made with chestnut flour.
Integral to the way of life there, Lucchesian food is inextricably bound up with the character of its people and their "uniquely Mediterranean lifestyle that mixes marvelous climate, a relaxed attitude, and an unrelenting passion of sitting down at the table," as Anne Bianchi says in her introduction.
So, in order to most fully give the flavor of the cuisine of Lucca, Anne Bianchi, who has spent much of her life in Tuscany, introduces us to the spirit of the province and the soul of any Tuscan meal: its people. "No people anywhere in the world are more dramatic, outspoken, or riotously arrogant," she writes. In these pages we meet nine amazing Tuscan women, "hear their stories, stroll through their towns, and sample the best of their recipes." These virtuoso chefs share their secrets and opinions on everything from sauces to politics, spicing their conversation with witty and revealing anecdotes of life in their rural villages. Accompanied by lively photos, From the Tables of Tuscan Women gives intimate access to the culinary recipes and traditions of Lucca while offering an incomparable Tuscan experience. The voracious reader and adventurous cook will find new roads down which to travel, as well as sumptuous dishes to sample -- whose recipes can be easily replicated in American kitchens.
Amazon.com
One of the most profound differences between American and European movies is the prominence of cooking and eating in the European films. The occasional American character might stop at a fast food joint for a burger (especially if that chain had paid the film studio a handsome fee for visibility on the silver screen), but in European films, there is almost always at least one scene of characters preparing, relishing, or discussing food that they or a friend had created. Although
From the Tables of Tuscan Women may seem at first glance to be a wonderful cookbook filled with exquisite recipes from the Tuscany, Anne Bianchi's newest book is also a meditation about the intimate interdependence of food and life. Perhaps from a purely materialistic perspective, "we are what we eat" but Bianchi reminds us that "we are how we cook--and how we eat."
Customer Reviews:
Tuscan comfort.......2003-10-30
What greets the arrival of colder weather better than Italian food - the comfort of pasta, and long-simmered meats? "From the Tables of Tuscan Women" focuses on the province of Lucca in west Tuscany, and nine women who have spent long, productive lives turning out dishes like potato or chestnut croquettes, stuffed mussels, poached fish with parsley sauce or oven-roasted stuffed rabbit.
Chapters center around ingredients and courses from mushrooms and chestnuts through pasta, fish, game, meat and dessert. Each chapter opens with a visit to one of the chefs who shares Tuscan anecdotes, good-natured arrogance and cooking tips
Bianchi's unabashed admiration gives the book an intimate feel which is borne out through simple recipes like fried polenta or pork sausage with white beans and fennel or more complex dishes like tacconi alla Lucchese which tops homemade pasta squares with a thick herb-flavored sauce of rabbit, beef and red wine. Basil, sage and rosemary are staple herbs, prosciutto is a frequent accent, mushrooms and chestnuts are gathered wild, everything seems infused with the sunshine of the Mediterranean. Bianchi also offers variations and optional ingredients to suit the American kitchen.
A great read before visiting Italy.......1998-12-12
It really works to read this book before visiting Italy. After reading this book, I had a good idea of what I was after in my visit to Italy, of the authenticity of the people, of the places I had to go to in order to find what I wanted. It's a great read, and the recipes are good, really good. Pretty easy, too, a lot of them. It's an odd mix, this book--literary and hands on. I liked it, and it really made my trip (and my cooking!) complete. I think this woman writes books for people who really know how to love food and cooking.
Average customer rating:
|
Gorillas and Their Babies (Zoo Life Book)
Marianne Johnston
Manufacturer: PowerKids Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Nonfiction
| Apes & Monkeys
| Animals
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Animals
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
| Fiction
| Nonfiction
General
| Ages 9-12
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Animal Care & Pets
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Mammals
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Primatology
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Primatology
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0823953130 |
Product Description
Illustrated Crochet Book
Customer Reviews:
Stitch Patterns Galore.......2005-05-14
Step by step illustrations on learning how to crochet on the double, the pattern stitches are broken down into sections making it easy for you to find what you are looking for or you can just flip through the book for lots of inspiration.
All the Stitches you Need in One Book!.......2005-01-04
I just recently started learning how to crochet on the double with a double-ended crochet hook. I came across this book at my local craft store and purchased it.
Each page is dedicated to just one stitch. Each page has a close up color photo of both the front & back of the sample. Under each photo you are told which size hook was used for the sample. Below this are easily understood instructions for achieving the stitch.
All in all a wonderful reference book.
Average customer rating:
- A wealth of information
- A wonderful addition to the birdlover's library!
|
Songbirds in Your Garden
John K. Terres
Manufacturer: Algonquin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Birdwatching
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Ornithology
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1565120442 |
Book Description
Whether you're an avid birder or just someone not sure where to begin, John K. Terres will help you enjoy attracting birds to your backyard. Having sold over 500,000 copies in four previous editions, Songbirds in Your Garden has become the best-loved guide to feeding and attracting birds at home. Songbirds in Your Garden brims with stories, practical wisdom, and expert guidance. "No matter whether you consider yourself primarily a gardener or a birder, you will love the updated and expanded version of a classic."--Omaha World-Herald. A Country Homes and Gardens Book Club selection. Fifth edition, updated and expanded. Introduction by Roger Tory Peterson.
Customer Reviews:
A wealth of information.......2000-09-22
I've been amazed at the amount of information packed into this small book. In addition to the handy lists of information, such as the list of flowers that will produce seed for birds, there are also amusing and inspiring anectdotes sprinkled throughout the book. Definitely worth having in your library!
A wonderful addition to the birdlover's library!.......2000-04-04
John Terres provides fascinating insight into the life of songbirds and how to attract them to your home and garden. Beyond mere identification, the descriptions of individual bird behavior greatly enhance the birdlover's understanding of their feathered friends. Included are easy-to-follow suggestions for making your own bird feeders, houses, baths and other sundries, and references to other intriguing books on living with birds. I would highly recommend this book, more for the depth of information than it's ease of use as an identification tool.
Average customer rating:
|
Songbirds in Your Garden
Manufacturer: Thomas Y. Crowll Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HTR0O8 |
Average customer rating:
|
Songbirds in Your Garden
john terres
Manufacturer: thomas y. crowell company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: B000LPPL9Y |
Product Description
a description of how to house, feed, and enjoy birds through your home window
Book Description
Sooner or later, no matter how much we want to protect them, our children will face adversity when we cannot be there to help. Perhaps there will be a bully to deal with at school, an offer of drugs, or a life-threatening accident, attack, or illness. But eventually, in some way, life will demand that our children face fear, make choices, and take appropriate action. This groundbreaking guide explains how courage develops from birth to adolescence and provides solid information and practical ideas to help parents nurture courage at every stage.
Customer Reviews:
Compellingly practical.......2005-05-13
I saw this book and two other parenting books reviewed in my diocese's weekly paper. I bought "Raising Courageous Kids..." and another book mentioned in the review; I'm glad I did. Expecting merely an intellectual treatment, I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that - more than an eighth into the book - there were very realistic means to implement each of the eight steps discussed by Mr. Smith. This is the first book I've read from cover-to-cover in the past few years. What a way to get back into one of my favorite pasttimes!
I certainly would have appreciated having this book to raise my two daughters who are now young adults. The older one just made me a grandfather; my girlfriend became a grandmother a year and a half ago. These two young people are the reasons for my buying the book. Your first reviewer said that anyone connected with raising or regularly interacting with a child needs to get this book. I heartily agree!
Excellent Resource for parents with children of all ages.......2004-08-21
In the newly released book Raising Courageous Kids: Eight Steps to Practical Heroism (Sorin Books, July 2004), author Charles Smith offers parents a treasure chest of resources for recognizing and nurturing the qualities of courage and heroism within their children.
Looking at developmental stages between birth and adolescence, Raising Courageous Kids provides parents with practical, realistic guidelines for arming children to meet challenges with courage. As an added source of inspiration, Raising Courageous Kids features numerous "Mighty Heart" stories of children who have risen to the level of real-life heroes through tremendous acts of courage.
I strongly recommend that parents, teachers, grandparents and anyone playing a role in the raising of a child or young teen read this book and begin to implement its principles.
Amazon.com
Ken Mansfield first worked with the Beatles in the 1960s when he was the American manager of Apple Records. More than likely it was his brush with Beatles fame that landed him this publishing contract, but it is his writing talent and depth of personal story that makes this spiritual memoir rock. Mansfield jumps back and forth, from his childlike fear of landing in London for the first time to his mature and reflective life in the California fishing community of Bodega Bay (seen in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds). Beatles fans will love all the insider's scoop about the Fabulous Four, although the more recent information about Mansfield's friendship with the currently drug-free and sober Ringo Starr seems the most fresh and intriguing.
Occasionally the Beatles references seem overdone, such as the numerous chapter headings named after Beatles songs or the conspicuous song lyrics stuck into the middle of the narrative. For example, when the 50-something Ringo Starr makes a deal with the 50-something Mansfield that will make the narrator globs of money, he writes, "It was nice to get a little help from a friend!" Biblical quotes are also sprinkled throughout. Take this memoir as a long and winding road or a joyful spiritual romp that travels here, there, and everywhere but ultimately leads to the riches of contemplative living. --Gail Hudson
Book Description
Ken Mansfield can write authoritatively about the music business of the sixties and the Beatles because he was there in the midst of it-making it happen. As a young record label executive at Capitol Records, the Beatles were his clients, and they became his friends. When the lads from Liverpool began their own record label, Ken Mansfield became the first American manager of Apple Records. The Beatles, the Bible, and Bodega Bay contains his reflections on those heady days of the Beatles era, including his personal recollections of the members of the Beatles and personal reflections and commentary on the times and the people. But that is only part of the story. Ken Mansfield reconstructs his journey of discovery that led him to faith. His personal reflection on the Bible and his faith bring the narrative into the present tense and places everything into perspective. A life that has seen the wealth and power that fame and fortune can offer, now reflects on the inescapable spiritual realities, tying together The Beatles, the Bible, and Bodega Bay.
Customer Reviews:
How An Ultimate Beatles Insider Made Peace With His Past And With His God.......2006-08-06
A couple of weeks ago, I happened across an interesting advertisement in my community newspaper, the West Seattle Herald. The ad was for a presentation being given at a local Calvary Chapel church about the Beatles. What caught my eye, was the name of the speaker, a guy named Ken Mansfield.
Having been a pretty hardcore Beatles fan for most of my life, I knew that name from somewhere. I just wasn't sure exactly where the recall came from. With my curiosity appropriately piqued, and with the church in question a convenient two-block walk from my house, I decided to check it out.
Now, if your experience has been anything like mine, you already know that at least part of me expected the worst. When Christian churches or organizations do any sort of special presentation having to do with rock music, it is most often intended to expose it as the evil scourge it surely is, what with all the backward masking and those satanic heavy metal bands out there.
If you've ever come across one of those late-night broadcasts from something like The 700 Club, where some guy who worked as a roadie for say, Marilyn Manson, is dishing up salacious tales of group orgies and blood drinking, you know exactly what I'm talking about. The message is usually something along the lines of you need to burn all of your rock CDs and get with Jesus.
Which is why Mansfield's presentation ended up being such a pleasant surprise. Mansfield's church lecture turned out to be a truly wonderful remembrance of his time in the inner sanctum of the greatest band of all time, complete with music and lots of rare slides.
Mansfield did not dish up a single sordid tale of drugs or groupies (though he did verify this sort of thing went on... I mean, let's be honest here). Nor did he have a single bad thing to say about "The Lads" as he referred to them often in the most endearing of terms. In fact he described them as "the sweetest, most polite group of guys you'd ever want to meet." Perfect Gentlemen, was how he put it. I had to pinch myself to make sure I was really in church.
So the expected "burn your rock CDs" part of the program never did come. The "Get With Jesus" part, of course did. But here again I was rather surprised and somewhat taken aback by the gentle and non-judgmental way this was presented.
Mansfield wrapped up his remembrances of the Beatles with his personal testimony of his eventual fall from the music business (again revealing none of the sorry details in the same show of class that characterized his earlier memories of the Beatles). He went on to tell a simple story of finding personal peace with Jesus and settling down in the quiet California fishing town of Bodega Bay with his wife.
There was no hell and brimstone preaching to be found anywhere in the entire presentation. Yet, I was absolutely riveted by it. The part where he talked about one day not being able to find a job in the business he devoted so much of his life to hit me especially hard. As someone who worked in that business myself for over twenty years (though at nowhere near Mansfield's level), his was a testimony I had no problem relating to myself.
I decided to buy a copy from Amazon the very next day and devoured it in a single six-hour sitting. In much the same laid-back style of the presentation I saw in church, The Beatles, The Bible, And Bodega Bay alternates chapters between Mansfield's Beatles memories of the past, with his present-day prayers and meditations with God, most taking place from the idyllic Bodega Bay home he so clearly loves.
Alongside the Beatles pages, run chronological event summaries in the form of bullet points highlighting the Beatles' career milestones. Meanwhile, selected biblical passages run alongside the pages recounting his bayside devotional conversations with God. Despite what one might see as a contradiction here, the two themes weave together remarkably well, and never for one second does the Christian part of his story come across as preachy or judgmental.
In the Beatles portion of the narrative, Mansfield traces his journey from his humble Idaho beginnings to the ivory tower of Capitol Records in Hollywood, to being asked by the Fab Four themselves to run their Apple Records operation in the United States. Along the way, Mansfield recounts numerous personal recollections from those heady days in the form of some very interesting and telling anecdotes.
This is all wonderfully illustrated with priceless, never before seen pictures and memorabilia from his personal collection. He even tells the story of nearly selling one such piece -- a handwritten and signed note from John Lennon -- to a used record dealer when he was later down on his luck. As soon as he realized what he almost did, he snatched back the picture as well as the 25 cents the dealer was about to pay him for it.
Mansfield describes the thrill of being at the Beatles historic final London rooftop concert for the Let It Be film, with all of the excitement and awe of being a kid in what had to be the world's greatest candy store. He also details the negotiation tactics of a ruthless Allen Klein as he was in the process of taking over Apple. In what came down to a tennis match for Mansfield's job, Mansfield won, enabling him to wisely walk away from Klein's offer. He talks about how Capitol Records handled the "Paul Is Dead" rumors which swirled about after the release of Abbey Road. They eventually got a handwriting expert to verify that everything Paul had signed for Capitol came from the same man.
There are also the numerous personal stories of his private moments with the most famous four men on earth. Such as the time Mansfield had to be literally saved by Paul McCartney at a meeting where he was first shown the nude photographs of John and Yoko for the Two Virgins without prior warning. Or when he witnessed an impromptu living room jam session at George's house with the likes of Eric Clapton, Donovan, and the Jefferson Airplane's Jack Casady taking turns trying to one-up each other.
Of course there are also tragedies as Mansfield recounts the deaths of close friends such as Beatles confidant Mal Evans, who was found shot under mysterious curcumstances while Mansfield was across town accepting a Grammy Award. The two had spoken earlier the same day and Mansfield recalls sensing there was something terribly wrong. When Mansfield got the news of John Lennon's death, he was in the process of going through his archive of Lennon photos at his home in what proved to be a moment of bittersweet, poetic irony.
Amazingly, Mansfield recounts these stories (and many more) not only fondly, but without even a hint of the scandal which colors so many of the other Beatles biographies and tell-all books which have come out over the years.
His credentials of having actually been there at a very high level are without question, having run Apple in the U.S. for the Beatles. The numerous photographs and personal recollections which color this book only further cement Mansfield's credibility. Yet it's clear that despite being the ultimate insider, Mansfield was also the Beatles' friend first and foremost. And that he remains so without a single ax to grind here.
It is little wonder that this book is the only Beatles retrospective outside of the official Anthology that McCartney, Harrison, Starr, and the Lennon estate represented by John's widow, Yoko Ono, personally signed off on and approved.
Likewise, Mansfield never really dishes up any dirt on his own eventual fall from grace in the music industry, though it is clearly implied that such a fall did in fact take place at some point. Rather he fast forwards throughout the book to the present. This is a time which finds Ken Mansfield at peace. With his past. With his family and his marriage. With his life. And at peace with the God who he finds himself in deep devotion and prayer with in his daily walks along his beloved Bodega Bay.
Mansfield is a man who has lived several lifetimes worth of experience, and any one of us should find ourselves so lucky at the journey's end.
Top 5 All Time Books I Ever Read.......2005-05-14
I found out about this incredible book just recently after attending a speaking event featuring the author. I have to say that this is not only my favorite Beatles book but also a refreshing literary surprise that is now among my top 5 of all books of all time. The fascinating combination of inside rock and roll history with a visual and spiritual travelogue truly pays off. The rare look at a different side of the four lads is so unique and unexpected and the spiritual offerings are just that---offerings to partake of at any degree one chooses. No preaching just an honest mans reflections and heartfelt conversations with God. Only the most intolerant advocate of "no God, no time, no where, no way" could reject these beautiful reminisces. I was really blown away when I found out that this is the only book outside of the Beatles" own "Anthology" that the entire Beatle organization has approved. (George received the original manuscript before he passed away and Yoko approved it on John's behalf.) Now that the book is becoming a collector's item I was happy to find a great selection here on Amazon.com private sellers section---especially check out that you can buy a personally autographed copy directly from the author.
The Beatles, The Bible, and Bodega Bay.......2004-04-15
This was one of those books, that you read once, and cherish! Ken has a very beautiful heart, and a way of sharing about his life with the Beatles, that is both funny, and thought provoking! If you are sorry for reading it, you are missing out on something very important in your life, and if you are glad you've read it, then you've received a wonderful blessing! I highly recommend this book!
The Worst Book I've Ever Read.......2003-12-20
Zero stars. Buying this book was a huge mistake. Nothing new on the Beatles, nothing interesting on the Beatles.
It is merely, not so subliminal advertising on the good name of the Beatles. Mansfield spews his sickly sweet born again christian blather like a cheap red wine puke. Thank God it eventually ends.
If I had the money, I would buy all copies and burn them to spare other unsuspecting Beatle fans and everyone else.
An immensely satisfying experience........2003-01-08
This is an astonishing book by one time Beatles friend and US manager of their label Apple.
Unlike the sleazy tabloid portrayals of The Beatles in many books, Mansfield explores The Beatles as no other has done. He exposes not their excesses, but their endearing humanness. You see John, Paul, George and Ringo often simply as ordinary everyday people in the most casual of circumstances.
Mansfield journey is a strange one. Trusted to run The Beatles Empire firstly as a major US label rep, then as Apple manager Stateside, he seems unaffected by his famous bosses and often unaware of the fame that surrounds him.
Of course for any Beatles/rock fan (like me!) his stories are a delight. Yet his stories are often low- key, even ordinary and that is one of the great strengths of this book. His friendship with and respect for The Beatles means, for once, they are treated with dignity. Unlike many books, you don't feel like the author has betrayed his subjects.
The style of this book is like no other rock book I've read, as Mansfield oscillates between Beatles stories, Bible reflections and coastal metaphors. It is though an immensely satisfying experience.
Book Description
Raquela Prywes lived on the front lines of Israel's history. A ninth-generation Jerusalemite, she found her true calling as a hospital and battlefield nurse, delivering babies in the infamous Athlit detention camp, where Holocaust survivors were interned by the British, and literally walking across minefields to tend the wounded during the 1948 War of Independence.
Surrounded by men of uncommon bravery, Raquela fell passionately in love with the handsome young captain of one of the refugee ships and had to choose between him and the brilliant and distinguished doctor who waited for her back in Jerusalem. Upon her return to Israel, she helped to found the first hospital in the desert frontier of Beersheba, where she delivered the babies of Bedouin women and Jewish immigrants, eventually organizing the hospitals credited with saving Israeli soldiers during the Six-Day War.
Alive with the courage of a rare woman and a rugged nation,
Raquela tells the powerful and deeply moving story of an Israeli woman who knew passionate love, great danger, and shattering loss and who witnessed the darkest -- and most triumphant -- moments in the history of the Jewish people. This edition of
Raquela, which won the National Jewish Book Award in 1978, includes an introduction by best-selling novelist Faye Kellerman.
Customer Reviews:
The history of modern Israel through the telling of one exemplary life- story .......2007-06-27
When Ruth Gruber began the research on this book she searched throughout Israel for an ideal figure whose life - story could embody and best exemplify the history of modern Israel. At Hadassah Hopital in Jerusalem she was told by Prof. Kalman Mann of a woman named Rachel Prywes who had been a nurse and midwife. This was the ideal figure and Gruber embarked on telling her story.
It is that of a twelvth generation- Jerusalemite who from childhood was involved in the struggle to create an independent and free Jewish state in the land of Israel. The story is told in the form of the novel. Much of the dialogue seems simplistic and awkward. This is not great literature.
But the story is told with a straightforwardness. It has a quality of authenticity. It tells the basic Zionist narrative in which the conflict in the Middle East was by and large created by Arab intransigence, and refusal to live in peace with Jewish neighbors. It tells of heroic chapters in the life of the country. In the course of the story the nurse Raquela also comes to work at the interment camp at Atlit where the British are holding concentration- camp survivors who want to enter Israel.They were taken at sea by the British and held in prison. Her heroic efforts there and later . The efforts made by the medical team she is a part of in saving Bedouin infants and introducing medical care to the Bedouin community , are evidence for what to my own mind has become a painful ironic truth in regard to many people's reading of the Arab- Israeli conflict today. They forget completely the great efforts made the Jews to improve the life for all citizens of the country, Jew and Arab alike. They say nothing about the way the Arabs perpetuated their own refugee problem, how they refused to settle the six hundred thousand Arabs who left the Holy Land during the War of Independence. They say nothing about the great task the Jews did in taking in and providing new lives for such a vast number of immigrants.
The book points out again the irony that it is precisely the side that has been decent, fair, humane , the Israeli Jewish one which is perpetually accused of being the oppressor.
The story of Raquela herself, her romantic struggles especially is again told in a simplistic, straightforward, and nonetheless not unmoving way.
I simply great enjoyed this book, and I think most readers who want to learn more about how the Jewish state developed, while at the same time relaxing with a good novel, would do well to read this book.
Amazing.......2005-10-10
This biography details in vivid tones the life of a ninth generation Jerusalemite. Through her life we see the history of modern Israel, joys and hardships, wars and victories, all in personal terms without any heavy-handedness. Because it reads like a novel, it is engrossing; because it is a true story it is amazing. Ruth Gruber paints a rich and vivid portrait of the woman and of the nation.
Fabulous readable account !.......2005-06-22
Terrific story, well-told, exciting, thrilling, heartwarming, and real. An eye-opener to what really went on there and just how hard the Israeli people had to fight. I have never throughout all my education and reading understood Israel the way I did through Raquela's eyes. I had no idea the British were involved in that way, and was disappointed to learn of it. I learned a lot from this book from the perspective of an Israeli-born Israeli. The internment camps were dispicable, the people who ran them disgusting and almost as guilty as nazis.
A real gem........2005-01-13
My son converted to Judaism last year, he went to study in Israel. He met an married a beautiful young Jewish woman who gave me this book as one of her all time favorites. It is extremely well written, a real page turner. I hated to put it down and would have read the whole of it in one sitting if I'd had the chance. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a great read, and who really cares to understand the heart of Israel's struggles for Statehood - from the human perspective.
First rate!
An Admirable Woman.......2004-06-18
I read this book when I was 15 years old. Wow! I was SOOO impressed with Raquela's courage and integrity that at that point I decided if I had a daughter I would name her Raquela. Nine years later, I had a baby girl and her name is Raquela. I read this book again a few years ago and was once again impressed. Just a month ago my husband, daughter, Raquela, and I were able to go to Israel and I saw Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus. My daughter was able to see and walk the same places as her namesake. Ruth Gruber beautifully laid this story out and I agree it reads like a novel and is very hard to put down.
Product Description
The tumultuous true saga of a beautiful, passionate woman who gambled with her life to protect the land she loved.
Average customer rating:
|
Raquela
B. Lynch
Manufacturer: Cooperativa Editorial Limitada
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ME8ODE |
Average customer rating:
|
Raquela
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GSKQK0 |
Product Description
Condensed versions of: Summer Lightening by Judith Richards; Tara Kane by George Markstein; Flight into Danger by Arthur Hailey and John Castle; Raquela by Ruth Gruber; The Snake by John Godey
Product Description
Five books condensed into one volume.
Books:
- Biting the Bullet: Married to the SAS
- Bluejacket Admiral: The Navy Career of Chick Hayward
- Born to Blush Unseen
- BOTTLE TO THROTTLE ( THE DRINKING LIFE OF AN AIRLINE CAPTAIN )
- Brown Shoe Black Shoe: Memories of Two Air Forces, Two Wars and One Military Occupation
- Buffoons, Queens, and Wooden Horsemen: The Dyo and Gouan Societies of the Bambara of Mali
- Bury Me With Soldiers: One Grunt's Honest Story About Vietnam
- Caught in the Crossfire: The R. E. "Gus" Payne Story
- David Lloyd George (University of Wales Press - Celtic Radicals)
- DOWN THE COLORADO: John Wesley Powell, Diary of the First Trip through the Grand Canyon 1869; Eliot Porter, Photographs and Epilogue, 1969.
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Six Sigma Way Team Fieldbook: An Implementation Guide for Process Improvement Teams
- The Lorax
- The Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair: With 350 Projects and 2300 Photos
- Q & As for the PMBOK Guide
- The Big Book of Wordoku Puzzles: Sudoku for Word Lovers
- The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- The Elephant's Secret Sense: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa
- Foundations of Multinational Financial Management
- Principles of Accounting: A Focus on Analysis and Interpretation with Accounting Database Software
- The Essential Limited Liability Company Handbook: The Newest Alternative in Business