DWD's Reviews

It is better the second time around. Tony Hillerman (1925-2008) Read by George Guidall. Lasts about 6 hours. Unabridged. I've read all of the Hillerman books so I'm re-reading them as audiobooks to ease a tedious drive to work and to re-enjoy them. I had remembered this one as a weak link in the series, and I was wrong. The book, as usual for this series, is set on the Navajo reservation. Joe Leaphorn is retired but gets involved anyway. The story involves the is about the armed robbery of a Ute Indian casino that results in the murder of two security guards. Throw in an anti-government militia movement and, as always, plenty of local color and you get the makings of great Leaphorn and Chee mystery. Watching retired Lt. Joe Leaphorn work the mystery from one end and current Navajo Tribal Police (now called Navajo Nation Police) officer Jim Chee work it from another was interesting and enjoyable. The banter in the early parts of the book between Chee and Co...

A Must for any Civil War buff Published by HighBridge Audio Read by George Hearn Lasts about 6 hours Abridged This book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1975. Way back in 1989 I had to read The Killer Angels as part of a American Military History class while I was attending Indiana University. Since then I've read it 3 or 4 more times and I've recommended it to countless friends and students. Surprisingly, hearing it as an audiobook was an entirely new experience for me - it was much more powerful than I remembered. The Killer Angels is the story of the Battle of Gettysburg told from a variety of points of view, but mostly from the points of view of Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet on the Confederate side. The Union side is largely represented by John Buford and Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (1828-1914) Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain of Maine who won the Medal of Honor for his actions on the second day of the battle. The Killer Angels won the Pulitizer Pri...

This must be THE definitive book on John Singleton Mosby Published in 1999 by University Press of Kentucky James A. Ramage has written what must be THE definitive book on the life of John Singleton Mosby, Gray Ghost: The Life of Col. John Singleton Mosby . I cannot imagine a more thoroughly written book on the topic. Ramage discusses his family history, his childhood and more. Of course, the largest amount is written about his service in the Civil War as a partisan ranger that terrorized the Union troops arrayed against Robert E. Lee. Ramage is definitely a fan of Mosby, but he refuses to get involved in the hype that Mosby and his contemporaries sometimes engaged in concerning how effective Mosby's men were. Ramage agrees that Mosby was cost-effective, meaning that his small groups of men - usually around 120 or so - would tie down thousands of Union soldiers, but disagrees with Mosby himself that he tied down tens of thousands. John Singleton Mosby (1833-1916) ...

Looks at both sides of the Atomic Bombing debate Hiroshima: Fifty Years of Debate is intended for middle and high school students. It is designed to give them both sides of the debate over whether or not the United States should have dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. It offers a short re-cap over the issues involved, including a short synposis of the war. It includes fairly comprehensive arguments from both sides and shows pictures of the results of the bombings. I would have only added one thing to the arguments: the United States was unwilling to trust its intelligence estimates of Japan's ability to continue the war since it had bungled on the German front the year before and nearly lost everything in the Battle of the Bulge (there were 75,000 American casualties) - a battle that was considered impossible by Allied intelligence since the German's were supposed to be close to surrender by that point. I will ...

The next best thing to The Far Side Published in 2005 by ECW Press. Speed Bump is the next best thing to The Far Side - it is one of those smart and funny comics that make you think and laugh all at the same time. If you're the kind of person that cuts out comics and sticks them up at the office, this is your type of comic. Coverly has Just One %$#@ Speed Bump After Another broken up into themes and has a little introduction (one written by Rick Kirkman, the guy who draws "Baby Blues.") These are all clever (especially the one in which he describes a typical cartoonist's day). Well, you'll have to excuse me now, I'm off to the scanner to make a few copies of some cartoons for the office! I rate this collection 5 stars out of 5. This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Speed Bump by Dave Coverly . Reviewed on June 20, 2008.

An informative book without an ax to grind from someone who was really there (who also knows how to write well!) Published in 2006. If the Iraq war interests you in any way, even if you are a partisan of the pro-war or anti-war persuasion, read The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq . Rory Stewart was a member of the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority.) He functioned as governor of Amara province in Southern Iraq - a semi-swampland where the Tigris and Euphrates come together. His tale is a tale of success, failure, friendship, war, violence, trust and betrayal. In other words, his is a story of real people in a very difficult situation with the compounded challenges of religious, language and cultural barriers. Here's what you learn from this book: -Success in Iraq is best measured on a relative scale and will ultimately have to be determined by the Iraqis themselves - on their terms with their leaders. Rory Stewart ...

Tony Dungy scores big with this children's book (a dual review - DWD's 8 year-old daughter as co-reviewer) Published in 2008 by Little Simon Inspirations. Tony Dungy is a successful author, family man, public speaker, and a fine example of how to be a Christian gentlemen. Oh, he also manages to coach an NFL team in my city, the Indianapolis Colts. In You Can Do It!   Tony takes us back to his childhood in Michigan and tells the story of his little brother, Linden, who is a cut-up in class but can't seem to find his way. He can't figure out what is his "it". Tony is an athlete. His sisters take care of animals. What is his thing, his "it"? To Dungy's credit, the story is simple, but not preachy and not so simple that it bores the adult reader. I read right to the end and was genuinely interested in seeing how it came out. The illustrations are perfect and really help tell the story. My daughter, an 8 year-old and an excellent read...

An important piece of the story of the American Revolution Thomas Paine (1737-1809) Published in 2003 by Running Press Sad to say, this history teacher had never read Thomas Paine's famed pamphlet Common Sense until three days ago. I came across a stand-alone printing of the book and was prepared to buy it when I found 46 Pages . The entire text of Common Sense (originally just 46 pages long, thus the title) is added as an appendix at the end of the book. I read the original text first and then proceeded to the first part of the book which consists of a short and pleasant combination of a biography of Paine, a history of Common Sense and little snippets of what several founders thought of the pamphlet at its author. This is a solid addition to any American history buff's collection.  I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. This book can be found on Amazon.com here: 46 Pages . Reviewed on August 5, 2008.

A decent little documentary about Indiana, its history and its people Filmed in 1991, this 63 minute production is the first work of two brothers, Jim and John Hilgendorf who were inspired after visiting relatives in Indiana. They learned how to make movies while filming this one and logged more than 10,000 miles covering the state. They have since gone on to make more than a dozen documentaries about such places as Mexico, France, Oregon and St. Petersburg, Russia. While the production values on Indiana: A Tribute The Hoosier State   are fairly low, the movie more than makes up for that with its thoroughness and its obvious affection for the Hoosier State. This native-born Hoosier cannot think of a thing that was left out, from James Dean to the Covered Bridge Festival to the Indy 500 to Tecumseh to Notre Dame to young Abe Lincoln to the architecture of Columbus to basketball to John Mellencamp...it's all here. Beautiful shots of the Indiana countryside abound a...

Very rarely does a book live up to the hype... Hannah Tinti You know how it is. You get a book because the blurbs on the cover tell you it is the most wonderful book since Stephen King was in diapers. This one has the audacity to have comparisons to Oliver Twist , Huckleberry Finn and Robert Louis Stevenson. To be honest, I picked up The Good Thief figuring it would be wrong and I would skewer it in this review. Well, I am pleased to say that I was wrong. This book DOES live up to that hype. It does belong in that august and lofty crowd. Somehow it pulls off being filled with literary allusions and homages to other works and being a unique work of its own. There are multiple literary allusions that I noted, including Treasure Island , Sleepy Hollow , Huckleberry Finn , Oliver Twist , A Clockwork Orange , Faust , Milton and Terminator 2 . So, in short, pick it up. This one is a unique winner. I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. Reviewed on August 18,...

A great piece of historical fiction - strongly recommended Originally published in 1948. When I teach world history I always give my students a project in which they are to read a piece of historical fiction and do a bit of research. This book is exactly the type of book I recommend for them to read and why I created the project in the first place. My Glorious Brothers is well-written and re-creates a little bit of the historical world for the reader. Set in 2nd Century B.C. Israel, this is a story of national liberation and freedom of religious expression. Many Protestants will be unfamiliar with the Maccabees since Maccabees 1-4 is not included in the Protestant Bible. This book is an ideal place to start to explore that time between the exile in Babylon and the Roman occupation that is featured in the New Testament. The main characters are 5 brothers and their father, descendants of the Tribe of Levi. They refuse to be "civilized" by Hellenized (Greek-i...

A bit of smartly done, high-tech adventure Michael Crichton (1942-2008) Michael Crichton is re-visiting some old stomping grounds in Prey . The 1970s sci-fi movie classic Westworld was written and directed by Crichton and it features technology run amok and set loose on a killing spree. Jurassic Park features the dangers of tampering with the gene pool with an ensuing killing spree. Prey , in many ways, is a combination of the two - the dangers of nanotechnology, specifically the dangers of using bacteria in combination with tiny, tiny bits of technology to create something new. The problem is, of course, the same problem that he pointed out in Westworld and Jurassic Park : Things never turn out the way you think they will. Is this a Pulitzer Prize winner? Hardly. But, it is a creepy thriller with some good points about science, the dangers of unintended consequences and some good thrills and chills. I enjoyed this one thoroughly. I rate this book 5 stars out...

Where were you when you discovered the world was flat? I 've taken a number of basic economics classes over the last 5 years and I've tried to tell people about what I have learned about globalization as a reality. Friedman likes to ask people when they learned that the "world was flat", meaning when they learned that the advent of cheap instantaneous technology coupled with lowering trade barriers, and the fall of many political barriers (like the Berlin Wall) has made the world a very small, very competitive place, indeed. Well, I learned the world was flat last summer when one of my econ classes visited a Subaru plant in Lafayette, Indiana. When I tried to tell people who have not taken economics lately about global supply chains and comparative advantage they looked at me like I was a babbling fool. Now, my mom has read this book and now she suddenly understands my economic babblings and we speak the same language. Thomas Friedman What kind o...

Lots of fun and you learn a little about economics along the way Beloved YA author Gary Paulsen ( Hatchet ) shows a side I was not aware that he had: a madcap sense or humor (he may have lots of funny books, but the ones I am aware of are not particularly funny). I am not much of a reader of YA books, but my daughter was reading Lawn Boy and she was laughing out loud so much and begging to read passages to my wife and I that I decided to look into it. When I saw on the back o f Lawn Boy Returns that the series had been named a Notable Book by the National Council for the Social Studies I was certainly intrigued. I discovered a simple, fun book that just about any kid would love to read that could also easily be incorporated into an economics lesson (in fact, here's a sample I discovered online: click here ). The book follows a pretty simple idea - a 12 year-old boy is given his deceased grandfather's small lawn mower. He mows his family's tiny lawn just to try it ou...

Full of good advice about ALL boys and special education Jawanza Kunjufu While Jawanza Kunjufu, an author of nearly two dozen books, writes primarily for an African-American audience, Keeping Black Boys Out of Special Education is full of good observations about boys in special education in general. There is a growing concern about the number of boys in special education as compared to girls. Kunjufu joins more established authors such as Christina Hoff Sommers (' The War Against Boys ' ) and Michael Guiran (' Boys and Girls Learn Differently ') in pointing out that there is something wrong out there in the world of education as far as boys are concerned. Kunjufu gives wonderful advice about the questions parents should ask if they are brought in to the school to discuss placing their student into special education. His suggestions include signing nothing until you completely understand it, insisting on seeing what modifications have been done...

An Important Book - for Liberals and Conservatives Published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning author David K. Shipler takes a long hard look at the rights we have sacrificed in the era of the War on Drugs and the War on Terror, and lesser wars such as the War on Handgun Violence in T he Rights of the People: How Our Search for Safety Invades Our Liberties . I picked this book up figuring that my Conservative sensibilities might get ruffled a bit by a New York Times reporter but I might learn a thing or two along the way. I always tell people that the traditional left-right continuum used to describe someone's politics is so inaccurate as to be useless. Really, what is the difference between an aging hippie living on a hill somewhere raising some dope for personal use and telling the government to get out of his business and a Barry Goldwater-type conservative (like me) living by himself on a hill somewhere that tells the government to get its nos...

A Fine Bit of Historical Fiction Originally published in 2006 by William Morrow No Greater Courage: A Novel of the Battle of Fredericksburg  is Richard Croker's novelization of the events leading up to and including the Battle of Fredericksburg in December of 1862 and it is just about as good as it gets in the "cast of thousands" (lots and lots of characters) type of historical fiction. Due to the nature of this sort of book, it is just about impossible to get too deeply involved in many of these characters. But, Croker does an admirable job of giving us something to know about each of them, reminding the reader who each character is when they re-join the narrative and then we get to watch them in what is arguably one of the Union Army of the Potomac's worst moments. Most of the characters are real and not all of them are big generals. Not only do we get to see the action in the battle itself, but there is plenty of focus on the behind-the-scenes pol...