Cunningham Reviews

Did anyone actually read this book before they published it? The plot seems solid: Malinche Adams travels to Alaska to investigate the death of the brother she'd never known. She turns to the man who found the body, Brian Kennedy, and of course, they soon find their lives in danger, with no one to turn to but each other. The execution could have used some work, however. How many times could Malinche and Brian repeat the same arguments over and over? Brian doesn't want to get involved with Malinche, because he "knows what rich girls like her were like." 200 pages of that argument grew old real fast. And if Malinche bemoaned how she never fit in just one more time... I really have to wonder if anyone edited this book, because the repetition that goes on to drag the book out of 250 pages is ridiculous. I couldn't believe one glaring example: On page 61, Malinche says to someone about her brother, "You must have known him very well." The man replies, "As well as anyone, I guess." On page 62--THE VERY NEXT PAGE!--Malinche asks the exact same man, "Did you know him well?" The man answers, (surprise, surprise) "As well as anyone, I guess." Don't you think, if we're shelling out hard-earned money for a book, the author and editor could at least attempt to make it look well-written? There are a few positive points: there are some good action sequences where the heroes have to get themselves out of a jam with sheer resourcefulness, and the revelation of the killer (and motivation) was pretty good. Cunningham also fills the book with a lot of interesting details. She obviously did her research. Too bad she didn't spend some of that time honing her writing on this one.

Can there be such a rating as a 4 minus.
I enjoyed the story and I liked the characters of Brian Kennedy [loved the cover - need more blondes] and Malinche Adams.

I was holding my breath when they found themselves on the ice floe but tell me, do they have to have sex to fall in love when they express fear of commitment?? I don't understand this.

Villian was almost powerful enough and I was glad to find out the reasons behind Dimitre's death but eventually I was left with a feeling of incompleteness?? disatisfaction? something left out?

Ah well, I am glad I read the story anyway. Form your own opinion as that is the only true test of a story.

This book is another one of her great novels. I recomend it to anyone who enjoys romances. It shows great creativity and captures the heart of the reader. Her indepth descriptions are superb.

I read this book shortly after my son, who has DS, was born. Maybe I should have waited a while! I found it kind of grim and frightening. It does contain lots of good medical advice, but I think that perhaps Karen Stray Gunderson's book is the best book to start reading. I also like the Pueschel book. Perhaps because these individuals have children with DS, whereas Cliff Cunningham does not, the books are written in a more sensitive fashion. As a new parent just learning about DS, we need encouragement!

This book is an excellent introduction to Down syndrome. The author of this book is British so it does not concentrate on US law as much as the book "Babies With Down Syndrome". This is the book to read after you have had a chance to catch your breath and are ready to learn some of the practical issues of raising a child with DS.

I recently did a presentation for my biology class on Down syndrome. I found this book to be very helpful. It was very informative and offered much information. Some information of which was not found in other sources. This book offers a lot of information on Down syndrome, as well as what to expect from an individual with Down sydrome and how to care for them.

I thought it was a good book...it will prob. be better once I actually finish it...

A well written, easy to read fantasy. It has that real-magic feel that's hard to find. As the "first quest" series title suggests, there is a definite Moral, "be yourself," which gets a little heavy-handed before the end but doesn't take away much from how enjoyable this book is.

I read this book in two hours it was easy to read and interresting. So far I've read it three times and I plan to read it again. The way she developes her characters is very well done, and the plot is great. It is a great introduction to fantasy for younger readers.

I remember being in 9th grade and digging through the garbage to collect trash to make psycho-sardonic-greeting cards with. Boy that was funny. Me and Ellen B just cracked up over that so hard...no one else seemed to get it. That's kind of how this collection struck me--a bit of an inside joke using old crud and dead end debris to create ghostly and funky tableaus. I've never owned a book of professional photography but was inspired by the reviewer notes to buy this online without a preview. I can honestly say that if i had been able to open the pages and experience the images even briefly--i wouldn't have purchased the collection. Yes, the psychological interiour is filled with murky matter and we are bound to witness it and some are gifted at illuminating it, but there was no heart revelation in this work for me. It just kind of felt ragged out and sloppy. No, we don't need another book of glossy yosemite postcards, but for thirty bucks and all the accolades i expected more of a transformative experience and less "event-bam". But hey, the snake on the den floor was cool.

Dream-like, mysterious, haunting,......but at the same time these images by Barbara Ess evoke a deja vu feeling in me. It's as if I've experienced these images myself....are these my own memories or dreams displayed on the pages? well, this book certainly makes me want to get hold of a pinhole camera to achieve at least technically (hopefully) some of the visual qualities of these dreamy images. Leave those books of Yosemite on the bookstore shelves (more than enough have been consumed) and pick up a copy of I AM NOT THIS BODY to get a taste of the artistic and subconscious-evoking possibilities of photography.

ALthough this text contains about 10x what the average 1L will need for a Property exam, it was a very helpful guide through a very difficult subject. It will remain on my shelf just in case I change the very core of my being and someday become a real estate lawyer. Students of Property: this is the ONLY text that will help you outside of the classroom.

This is an excellent treatise covering the major areas and topics of property law. It is sighted often by leading casebooks, including Singer's Property Law. I highly recommend this book to law students as the other secondary sources in this area of law are woefully lacking.

Cheezy dialogue, obvious plot, predictible characters, gratuitous violence, completely out of touch with what goes on with the real special ops people, this has all the ingredients that appeal to those who rely on Hollywood for their "literary" venue. Yes, this is fiction, yes fiction is supposed to be entertaining. But what age group is the author trying to appeal to?

This book was a wounderful read. Fast paced with a lot of action. Well done. I am looking forward to the next book.

In Kettering, England lies Castle Baldemere, the home of American billionaire J. August Marshall. Although reasonably famous for his entrepreneurial successes and his philanthropic donations of money and time, Marshall is better known in the gray world inhabited by spies and secret agents. For a decade, Marshall headed up the CIA, but quit when he felt his agency had too many bosses pulling its strings for personal advantage.

Marshall formed an elite counter-terrorist organization THE SPECILAISTS that consists of six agents who will do whatever is needed to complete the job. Currently, the group is in Berlin investigating why George, a cross-country motorcyclist, had an accident while riding his bike. George was seeking information on the person who accepted a bribe to get his Jewish grandfather into Switzerland in 1942. The team learns that a special German squad made millions in exchange to spiriting people out of Nazi Germany. These bribes allowed this group to start businesses just after the war. Today their companies make up twenty-five percent of the Germany's economy. The SPECILAISTS have two goals: (1) Obtain reparations for the descendants of the ripped-off Jews; and (2) Stop the appointment of one of them from being named Minister of Finance.

THE SPECIALISTS: PLUNDER reads more like an episode of the TV show Mission Impossible. The story centers on six individuals with no government sanctioning going up against seemingly impossible odds to right a wrong. Except for a bit on Marshall, the other characters (team members, the German bribe squad, and the victims) never are developed. Readers who want action, action, and more action will not miss that at all because Chet Cunningham provides that and even more excitement.

Harriet Klausner

Unfortunately, this is the type of book that tends to put readers off of history. The writing is pedestrian and dry, and I finished the book feeling I knew little more about the person, James Monroe, than I did when I began. It was like a social studies text listing facts and figures without coming to life. Compare a book like this to "John Quincy Adams, A Public Life, A Private Life", where one truly come to know the historical character.

As the last president who fought in the revolution and a lesser light when measured against Washington, Jefferson and Madison, James Monroe is often considered a transitional figure. Which has some validity in both cases. Although wounded in battle, he did not have anywhere near the stature that Washington did. He was also no match for the intellects of Adams, Jefferson or Madison, and was intellectually secondary to John Quincy Adams, his secretary of state. Nevertheless, he was a man of substance, showing patience in negotiating treaties that continued the inexorable expansion of U.S. territory.
Monroe also showed himself to be a true visionary when he enunciated the Monroe doctrine, where the powers of Europe were told to stay away from any interference with any country that had won independence from their former European masters. Given that it was the power of the British navy that enforced it, something that he was well aware of, it showed that he was trying to form a de-facto alliance with the former colonial rulers.
Cunningham chronicles these events, but also examines one other feature of the times, namely the lack of a second party. By the time of Monroe's second term, the Federalists were dead as a political party, although some still held office. Without opposition, there was no need to maintain discipline within the Republican party, a situation that led to the major problems Monroe had being generated by members of his party. This is a significant point, something that is covered in complete detail.
Monroe was also the first president to go on the equivalent of a campaign tour, which makes him more modern than he would appear. We see many hints of future presidents in that tour, how they will campaign, gather public support and simply how Americans receive their leaders.
In many ways, Monroe was a transitional figure as a president, which made his presidency relatively uneventful, considering what occurred in the previous administrations. Yet, he laid the groundwork for many substantial changes, starting the nation along paths of greatness, but also being a part of the trek towards a civil war. Cunningham describes all of this in detail, exploring the actions of a man who was a fine, but not great leader.

The Presidency Of James Monroe is an ambitious book, in which Noble Cunningham, jr. attempts to analyze the president's political beliefs, including his handling of domestic and foreign affairs from 1817 to 1825. For instance, Cunningham argues that Monroe used his powers as chief executive in a more pragmatic fashion than predecessors James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. In addition, Cunningham asserts that Monroe's attitude about Indians remained paternalistic, but the president did recommend the removal of all Indians east of the Mississippi River to a settlement west of Missouri and the Arkansas territory. Besides, the author recognizes that Monroe authorized Andrew Jackson to attack the Florida Seminole Indians. Next, Cunningham mentions Monroe's conflict over constitutionality regarding federally sponsored internal improvements. In fact, the author writes that Monroe vetoed a bill for federally sponsored internal improvements. Furthermore, Cunningham avers that the Monroe Doctrine, which warned European powers not to intervene in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere, represents the president's lasting legacy.

Cunningham persuasively argues that the Monroe Doctrine and legacy strengthened the power of the presidency in foreign affairs. Cunningham does, however, recognize Monroe's failure to gain treaty with Great Britain to suppress the International slave trade in 1824. Moreover, the author avers that Monroe used a cautious approach in foreign diplomacy in relations with Spain and the rebellious republics in Latin America.

Cunningham devotes an entire chapter to Monroe's cautious approach in dealing with the Missouri Compromise legislation. The author asserts that although Monroe did not wholeheartedly endorse the Missouri Compromise, the president used political expediency to forestall further problems in making Missouri a slave state and Maine a free state.

Throughout this exposition, Cunningham uses a number of Monroe's quotes to illustrate his points, and as in the Monr! oe Doctrine, he tells the quotes with a great deal of fervor. In addition, Cunningham adds interesting tidbits to enliven the narrative. For instance, the author informs the reader that Monroe resumed the formal entertaining that Thomas Jefferson had ended. In addition, Cunningham views Monroe as a "hands on" president, closely involved in administrative duties. But ironically, in Monroe's final annual message, he asserts that no divided interests exist in the United States, despite obvious sectional animosities over tariffs and slavery.

Cunningham uses Monroe's writings integrated with a narrative lucid and with adequate footnoting. One of my criticisms, however, concerns the confusing references to Monroe's political ideology. For example, throughout the narrative, Cunningham refers to Monroe as a Republican, but the correct term, Democratic-Republican , never appears in the book. This omission might confuse a non-historian. Also, during the mislabeled "Era of Good Feelings," the author only briefly describes the slavery debacle, which undermined America's progress at that time.

While the book was somewhat helpful with listing the various companies, it was very short in pattern names, examples and pricing.

Other than the photos, there isn't much here. It's very amateurish. Whole categories are missing -- there is barely a mention of "Fiesta" at all. Makes you think the publisher had an arrangement so as not to infringe on sales of their Fiesta books. There is no mention of Metlox. Also, while there is a price guide, it only lists the specific pieces that are shown in the photos, not all the pieces in the line. This is a major shortcoming. There should be some mention of pieces not shown. The book is also poorly organized, with ads from old magazines interspersed with original writing. It reminds me of an 8th grade book report. Spend your money elsewhere.

A wonderful beautifully done book.This is a great book for looking up patterns. There are plenty of color photos which show great detail. I plan on buying the previous and subsequent volumns of this book.

We used this book while hiking the Gila Wilderness. We are experienced day hikers and have bought many Hiking Books and have taken many hikes. This is by far the worst book from an accuracy perspective. The number one attribute of a hiking book is accuracy. This book is not accurate. From now on I will check where the authors live. The authors were not from NM and have no business writing about the Gila Wilderness.

I haven't read the book yet. It's being ordered. But I wanted to comment on the review by the person who lives 500 feet from the Gila, but didn't take the time to read the book title. The book is about the WILDERNESS. The Gila Forest is 3 million acres. The WILDERNESS is just over 500,000 acres. I look forward to reading the book soon.

This is almost a definitive guide to hiking in the Gila Wilderness. I used to hike trails in the Gila Wilderness, and I wish I had had this guidebook. It has all the important information you need, such as which trails are still in use, where the trail might fade away, where the reliable water is, and how long to plan your trip for each trail.

It is chock full of useful information. For each hike, it gives an elevation diagram for the hike; detailed directions to the trail head; the best season to go; a table of how far key points are from the trail head; special hazards and considerations presented by the hike; the highlights of the hike expressed in a sentence; the difficulty of the hike; and the maps you will need. It also covers the facilities at the trail head, and gives options for side hikes. All this in addition to extremely detailed information about the hikes themselves, likely camping areas, reliable sources of water etc. And it does this for every significant trail in the Gila Wilderness! This is a significant improvement over Murray's book which gives sketchy information about fewer trails.

The tables and diagrams in this book are a model of what good guide books should contain. For example, there is a map showing all the USGS quad map locations for the Wilderness, a Map showing all trail head locations schematically, a table that allows you to choose a hike based on what type of hike you want, a detailed table of contents, and a gear checklist. The only thing it doesn't have are GPS coordinates. Of course, it might not be enough to own just this book, if the trail is very lightly used...you should bring USGS topo maps and a compass at the very least. There is a also a Wilderness Map and Visitor Guide for the Wilderness which is worth purchasing.

This book is obviously written after long and hard backpacking through the wilderness. The authors are extremely well-organized and systematic in the things they note, and in their presentation. Even so, after having been in this wilderness, I know there is much that is not in this book that is waiting for the reader to discover. The black and white pictures in the book can only convey a little of the flavor of the beauty that is there. You really have to experience this beauty for yourself. Armed with this book, I think you will be able to have a safer, and more enjoyable time while doing it.

...the Gila Forest (which is 3 million acres), [is] not ...the Gila Wilderness, [which is] a more protected area which is indeed 550,000 acres. A wilderness is a place where cars, and all forms of motorized transport cannot go. In contrast, cars can drive along forest roads. ...