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Review Date: 3/4/2016
The book has something of a Cinderella theme, but Mrs. Hill handles it deftly. She has the gift of creating characters you care about, right away. "Astra" was written in 1941 and paints a convincing picture of life in America just before the war. This author is not a "formula" writer or a hack -- she uses stock situations and familiar patterns of conflict, but with a great deal of originality in each story. If you like romances where the right guy and girl end up together, you'll enjoy this one.
Review Date: 9/26/2010
Ford's book was first printed in Oct 1969. It covers a broad selection of Nazi Germany's advanced weapons (rockets, aircraft, submarines, artillery, chemical and other munitions). However, given the print date, I have found no mention of the Enigma cipher machine and Britain's success in decrypting Enigma messages. It was not until the 1970s that Britain declassified some aspects of the intelligence warfare conducted so successfully by the Bletchley Park team using the Colossus computer. For a discussion of Enigma, Colossus, and Bletchley Park, the reader may find R. V. Jones's "The Wizard War" (printed in 1978) to be of interest.
One theme that comes through in this book is that Germany often produced brilliant, ground-breaking prototype weapons (or made a handful of them in factories), but muddled the deployment of them. Granted, the V-1 and V-2 weapons fired at Britain were numerous and did grievous damage. However, to take one example out of several, if the ME-262 jet plane had been produced earlier in the war, and fitted out exclusively as a fighter plane, the war would have been prolonged at least.
Like all the books in this series ("Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II"), there are numerous B/W illustrations, mostly photos, probably 60% of the 160 pages. The text is concise and readable, and will encourage the reader to delve deeper in other, more recent books. Eleven of Brian Ford's other books on weapons of this period are cited at the end.
For other works on the WWII Luftwaffe, readers may want to read authors such as Walter Boyne, Alfred Price, or Albert Speer.
One theme that comes through in this book is that Germany often produced brilliant, ground-breaking prototype weapons (or made a handful of them in factories), but muddled the deployment of them. Granted, the V-1 and V-2 weapons fired at Britain were numerous and did grievous damage. However, to take one example out of several, if the ME-262 jet plane had been produced earlier in the war, and fitted out exclusively as a fighter plane, the war would have been prolonged at least.
Like all the books in this series ("Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II"), there are numerous B/W illustrations, mostly photos, probably 60% of the 160 pages. The text is concise and readable, and will encourage the reader to delve deeper in other, more recent books. Eleven of Brian Ford's other books on weapons of this period are cited at the end.
For other works on the WWII Luftwaffe, readers may want to read authors such as Walter Boyne, Alfred Price, or Albert Speer.
Review Date: 3/4/2016
Helpful Score: 1
An interesting collection of stories. The title story probably draws on Mrs. Hill's experience with the Christian Endeavor societies active in churches at the time. If I'm not mistaken "A Chautauqua Idyl" is Mrs. Hill's first published work, printed through the efforts of her aunt Isabella Alden, when Grace was 12 years old. I'm not sure about the third story, "A Little Servant," but it must be a fairly early work as well.
Review Date: 12/6/2010
Dr. McGee's book is proof positive that sound Christian doctrine and compassionate counseling can go together. This is not some feel-good treatise about how we're all entitled to health and prosperity. From what I've read of it so far (I have another copy) it is a Bible-based approach to helping people to become whole.
Review Date: 2/5/2010
Helpful Score: 1
This is one of Heinlein's best "juveniles", although the treatment of war, and why humans fight, were very grown-up indeed. If you have seen the movie and find it somewhat off-putting, don't avoid the book on that account. I have not seen the movie (except for a few scenes), but I don't think it "tracks" the book very well. There is lots of action in the book and a little romance. But it is most of all an exploration of why war, as hideous as it is, may be more acceptable than some alternatives.
Review Date: 6/10/2010
Helpful Score: 2
Jack Finney is the grand master of time travel stories. This book and the sequel (From Time to Time) are both tours de force of the time-travel genre. In "Time and Again," Finney carries us to the New York of 1882 with convincing authority. Simon Morley, the hero, and Julia Charbonneau, the girl he meets in old New York, are vividly drawn. The twists of the story and the memorable characters keep the reader's attention and make for some unanticipated outcomes.
"Time and Again" is every bit as good as Richard Matheson's "Somewhere in Time." Highly recommended.
"Time and Again" is every bit as good as Richard Matheson's "Somewhere in Time." Highly recommended.
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