DWD's Reviews

Published in 2005 by Simon and Schuster 944 pages   "No harm's done to history by making it something someone would want to read." -David McCullough When I read a history book I realize that there multiple types of history books out there. Setting aside the ones that are designed to distort history (such as holocaust denier literature) there are still several styles of history book. They range from the small topical books that offer a brief overview to the more popular histories such as those that David McCollough specializes to definitive works - the type of work that others will refer back to for decades to come. Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals is just such a definitive work. It checks in at 754 pages of text with more than a hundred pages of 8 font footnotes. It took her 10 years to produce this book and it is a work of which she can be proud. It is exhaustively researched and documented. However, that is also the problem with the book. It...

A Real Treat As An Audiobook Published by Whole Story Audio Books Read by the author, Robert Lacey Duration: 5 hours, 50 minutes Unabridged Robert Lacey has done something that many writers have failed to do (unfortunately) - he has written history in a fun, accessible, easy to grasp manner. After all, as Lacey points out in his introduction to Volume 1, the "history" and "story" come from the same Latin root word. Essentially, history should be the simple story of how things happened, to the best of the teller's knowledge. Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) Lacey's power as a storyteller is highlighted here in spades. He narrates his audiobook as well so there is the added bonus of hearing the author add nuance to the reading - essentially reading it the way he meant it to be heard. The stories are short and entertaining. Only a couple of times in nearly six hours of listening did I find my attention wandering. This is a terrifical...

Powerful and dead on. Published 2011 by Thomas Nelson 237 pages, including end notes. David Murrow has put a lot of thought into why men do not go to church. I am in my mid-40s and have gone to church all of my life, with the exception of 2 or 3 years right after college where my wife and I went every once in a while at best.  We have been at the same church for 18 years. We have a great church but we do have wives that come to church without their husbands week in and week out - not many, but after reading this book and being made more aware of the issue I am sure I will notice more. Murrow has studied and interviewed and talked and listened about this topic for years and he has come up with 12 reasons that men do not come to church. Among them are: -I'll hate church, like when I was a kid; -I'll lose control; -If I become a Christian, I'll become soft; -Church is full of hypocrites; -All they want is my money; -I'm jealous (women who idolize the p...

A breezy look at a worthy topic Published in 2011 by Regnery Publishing, Inc. 394 pages including extensive notes and an index. Generally intended as an antidote to the slanted education that many of us have received, the Politically Incorrect Guide (P.I.G.) series is an entertaining series loosely based on the "Idiots Guide..." and the "Dummies..." books. The Politically Incorrect Guide to the British Empire is an immensely readable look at the British Empire - it's origins, its ideals, its controversies and its rather abrupt ending after World War II. The format of the book is pretty simple. Crocker picks an area of the British Empire and than gives a brief (15-25 pages) history of the Empire in that part of the world, from beginning to end. Then, he focuses on several of the personalities mentioned in the brief history with biographies that go into greater detail. Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596) Those personalities are way more interesting than...

A fun introduction to American history for young children Published June 2011 by Big Tent Books Illustrations by John W. Ewing 32 pages My Best Friend, Abe Lincoln is a children's book (ages 5-8) that creates a fictional account of the adventures of Abraham Lincoln and his best friend as a child in southern Indiana. The best friend, Sam Harding, is entirely made up (as the book makes clear) but the story is based on known details of Lincoln's childhood (for example, Lincoln called the school of his sparse formal education a "blab" school and this book does too) and includes details that would have been common to almost all children of the frontier. The illustrations should be very approachable to all children since the illustrator, John Ewing, is a former Disney illustrator and he uses a familiar Disney-esque style with his characters. I thought his interpretation of young Lincoln's face was interesting - I had never considered how Lincoln's distinctiv...

Very good Published by Audioworks in 1999. Read by the author, Stephen Ambrose. Duration: approximately 3 hours on audio cassette. Abridged. Ambrose's stories of male friendship in Comrades: Brothers, Fathers, Sons, Pals would be good in any format, but why read what Ambrose wrote when you can hear him read it to you? There is the added benefit of hearing Ambrose's emphasis on a phrase, his light-hearted tone in some areas and, even more important to the emotional punch of some of the stories, hearing his voice break at particularly touching moments (perhaps the most touching was a comment that is highlighted in HBO's Band of Brothers . A veteran of Easy Company is asked by his grandson, "Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?" "No. I served in a company of heroes.") Stephen Ambrose (1936-2002) Ambrose focused on the friendship he and his brothers share, his friends from college, from work, the friendships of Lewis and Clark, Dwight E...

Very, very, very good Published by D.C. Comics in 2004 160 pages First things first. I am not a gigantic comics fan. I've never been to a comic book shop. I know the big names. Basically, if they had a live action TV show, I know them. So, my opinion is not as well-informed as that of some. But, I know what I like and I thought this was some grade-A, high test sci-fi with a good deal of political science thrown in. Superman has always been of limited interest to some because he is an all-powerful good guy. He can't be hurt (technically, I know he can but who has Kryptonite sitting around?). He has the tools to deal with any situation. He has a healthy psyche. He is a good guy to have on your side but not particularly interesting. But, let's take away his All-American freedom-loving politics and partner him with a truly soul-crushing totalitarian regime - the Soviet Union. Stalin backed by Superman's talents is a truly scary thought. Soviet theory b...

Robert Lacey Thouroughly enjoyable Published by Whole Story Audio Books Narrated by the author, Robert Lacey Duration: 5 hours, 45 minutes. Robert Lacey has done something that many writers have failed to do (unfortunately) - he has written history in a fun, accessible, easy to grasp manner. After all, as Lacey points out in his introduction, the "history" and "story" come from the same Latin root word. Essentially, history should be the simple story of how things happened, to the best of the teller's knowledge. Lacey's power as a storyteller is highlighted here in spades. He narrates his audiobook as well so there is the added bonus of hearing the author add nuance to the reading - essentially reading it the way he meant it to be heard. The stories are short and entertaining. Only a couple of times in 5 hours and 45 minutes of listening did I find my attention wandering. This is a terrificly fun experience for any history lover. Ful...

Two great stories Published in 2008 by Galaxy Audio Multicast performance with music and sound effects Duration: approximately 2 hours. <br /> <img src="http://wms.assoc-amazon.com/20070822/US/img/noscript.gif?tag=dwsre-20" alt="" /><br /> The audiobook If I Were You is actually two very entertaining short stories written by L. Ron Hubbard when he first began his writing career writing for class pulp fiction magazines. The stories are performed by multiple actors and include music and sound effects to help the story move along. The first story ("If I Were You") has a celebrity voice, Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson for the last 23 years. She portrays Little Tom Little, a little person in a traveling circus who, despite his great success, wants to be big more than anything else. A mysterious circus magician (who really dislikes Tom) leaves Litt...

Very entertaining Published by Hachette Audio in 2005 Multicast performance Duration: 3 hours, 12 minutes . Fast-paced, loud, chaotic, sometimes confusing. Sounds like a typical night with Batman. Also, it describes the Batman: The Complete Knightfall Saga audiobook. This project was completed as a full-fledged production, just like an old-time radio show rather than having one reader cover all of the characters. I am an occasional Batman reader but a regular listener to audiobooks and I found this one to be outstanding. I am not totally enamored - the ending was too "Leave It To Beaver", the Joker degenerated from credible threat to goofy annoyance as the story went along and Avenging Angel Azrael was more hilarious than scary on the first CD (he constantly yelled out the beginnings of a speech about transgressors, punishment, etc. He did it so many times that it became slapstick). However, I'm going to grade it on a Batman curve. Was it better than the mov...

An interesting read with a twist at the end Published in 2005 by Dark Horse Books Written by Mark Millar. Illustrated by Peter Gross 72 pages. I will not include any spoilers here - suffice it to say that a 12 year old starts to exhibit powers that Jesus once exhibited - healings, etc. The artwork highlights the drabness and ordinary, humble origins of this boy and hints that others have been waiting for these powers to surface. The ending has a good plot twist - good enough that I read it 3 times to make sure I got it right. The end of this edition has a "DVD extras" discussion between author and artist full of the little clues they had put in along the way and their motivations for making this graphic novel. It's a welcome addition. Good work on this one. I give it 5 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: Chosen by Mark Millar and Peter Gross. Reviewed on March 16, 2007.

Fascinating Originally published in 2004 by Pavilion Books. 144 pages. Indianapolis Then and Now is part of a series that looks at cities all over the country. While this book would most likely be of limited interest to non-Hoosiers, I found this book to be riveting. I've lived in Indy for almost all of my adult life and I often visited the city as a child. The format of the book is side by side photos of an Indianapolis address in the past (from 60 - 150 years ago) and a current photo of the same building. Sometimes the same buildings and landmarks are still in places, other times there are whole new buildings and landscapes. Part of Indy's canal walk (photo by DWD) Most striking are the changes in the area around Indy's much lauded canal walk, White River State Park and IUPUI. I was also surprised that the Indianapolis Star building is actually quite old - two beautiful buildings with character were merged into one building and then covered with one o...

Published by NAL Hardcover in 2005 320 pages An enjoyable memoir of  Dick Winters ' life, mostly focusing on his time in the military. Dick Winters is one of the main focuses of the splendid HBO mini-series Band of Brothers and the Stephen Ambrose book by the same name. Throughout, Winters gives open and honest assessments of fellow officers and soldiers, and training levels of replacements soldiers and Korean War soldiers. Dick Winters (1918-2011) I have not yet read Stephen Ambrose's book B and of Brothers but am a giant fan of the mini-series. Dick Winters re-tells this story with the focus on his own experiences. The Nixon-Winters and Stobel-Winters relationships are explored a bit more in-depth than are presented in the TV program. The pacing of the non-military aspects of his life is generally very good, with the exception of one page early that goes into too much detail about his family background. This reflects the fact that the author is a...

A beautiful book. Recommended for map lovers and hard-core Civil War buffs. Published by Rutledge Hill Press (Thomas Nelson) in 2004. 48 pages   Thomas Nelson's Rutledge Hill Press publishing division has created a lovely book that tells a simple narrative of the Civil War focusing on the importance of maps in the war and the men who made them. The cover of the book is designed to look like a leather bound canvas portfolio, much like a mapmaker's sketchbook of the era. The text of the book is beautifully printed on high quality paper. I appreciated the fact that the publishers included lots of pictures of everyday soldiers - not just the same old posed shots of the generals and politicians. Lincoln and McClellan after Antietam There are 32 removable maps included as well. The removable maps are stored in between the pages. The publisher has printed on only one side of the thick paper pages and then glued the blank sides together on the edges to make an e...

Wolfsie's lighthearted, witty style is perfect for this topic Published in 2003 by Globe Pequot 306 pages Indianapolis TV personality Dick Wolfsie is well-known in Central Indiana for finding fun, interesting human-interest segments for his station's morning show. Wolfsie continues this theme by digging up oddities from all over the Hoosier state that would interest any traveler who wants to stray from the beaten path. Wolfsie provides a description of the curiosity, organized by region, and alphabetized by the town in which it is located. The book covers five regions and includes a map of that region that labels every town mentioned in that section of the book, no matter how small the town. Examples include the RV museum in Elkhart, a jar museum in Muncie and the site of John Dillinger's first official crime in Mooresville. Wolfsie includes addresses, phone numbers, websites, e-mail addresses, and contact names (some are only available through appointme...

WOW! Published in 2008 by Brilliance Audio Read by James Daniels Duration: 9 hours, 33 minutes. Unabridged. I must be out of the loop - I am a Crais fan but have never seen this book before nor was I aware that it had been made into movie until I wrote this review. Nevertheless, despite my previous ignorance I found Hostage to be thoroughly enjoyable. More than that, I found it to be riveting, fascinating and I enjoyed Crais's ability to turn a cops and robber story into something more. James Daniels's brilliant narration is perfect for this text - every character has his own distinct voice. Daniels puts the right edge in his voice, be it the menacing quality of some of the characters or the panicky threats of others as they scream at the hostage negotiators. This is an audiobook done right! The plot revolves around 3 guys who rob a small town gas station and then while attempting to flee run into a gated community and take a family hostage inside their own h...

An important piece of "comic book journalism" Published in 2007 by Fantagraphics books. 320 pages . Joe Sacco headed off to to the Palestinian refugee camps with a few bucks in his pocket, a sketchpad, a little training in how to draw comic books, a rarely used camera (film was too expensive) and a curious mind. Sacco interviewed Palestinians and asked them about all sorts of aspects of their lives: jobs, the intifada, women's rights, Land for Peace, and much more. Sacco turned those interviews into this graphic novel (although Sacco does not like that term much - instead he prefers "comic book journalist"). Joe Sacco (self-portrait) There is no traditional narrative to Palestine: The Special Edition . Sacco does not turn these interviews into a large overarching history of the Palestinian people. Instead, it is like reading a series of illustrated interviews. This gives the reader the feeling that he or she is there sitting right there wit...

A great collection, a terrific exhibition Published in 2002 by Bullfinch. 160 pages I caught this exhibition at the Indiana State Museum while it was on a nationwide tour. It was so interesting that I took full advantage of my museum membership and came back and saw it several times while it was here in Indianapolis. I picked up the book Chicano Visions as the exhibit was winding down but only recently read the well-written introductory essays that make up the first 35 pages or so of the book. Cheech Marin has created a high-quality full color text of this travelling show which is mostly comprised of pieces from his own personal collection. Marin's taste tends to run towards political art, but there is plenty that speaks of life for artists who are both Chicano and American, as the exhibition title (also the book title) imply. Artists that grabbed my attention include: Carlos Almaraz - his car crash paintings were gigantic attention getters in the gallaries. His...

Blaze is Stephen King's twist on Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men." Hardcover edition - published June 2007 by Scribner. 285 pages. Stephen King and DWD's Reviews have had an "on again off again" relationship. 25 years ago I read everything the man wrote and very much enjoyed it. It is one of my favorite books. But somewhere around Insomnia I got very tired of the Stephen King train and I got off for about 15 years. I picked up Cell at the library and I enjoyed it. Since then, I've done a little more Stephen King reading (and audiobooks) but not a lot. I've missed a lot of his books and will slowly work my way through many of them. I always enjoyed his Bachman books - Thinner and The Running Man have stayed with me for decades (especially The Running Man - King predicted reality television even better than he would have imagined way back when) so I picked this one up at a local bookstore and decided to give King another whirl. Stephen...