Eagle Reviews

This is a book that takes some time to read. Poetry is concentrated language, and is best read slowly, perhaps out loud, often with a cup of coffee nearby. This is a book about a slow walk towards God, with ups and downs, fears and promises. I find that I keep coming back to it, and to make notes about further steps along this journey begun. I also find that interesting people are touched by different poems, and in ways I didn't expect, so at this point, I'm enjoying watching, and listening to the ways that God speaks to many different folks. Enjoy this book, and take it slow.

God bless your reading and walking with him.

This book, first published in 1966 and reissued in 2000, provides a concise, upbeat description of American expansion between 1800 and 1860. This work is refreshingly free of politically correct revisionism, particularly in its treatment of the Mexican-American War. Goetzmann, one of America's most prominent historians of the West, writes in a lively style. At just over one hundred pages, the main text is an easy read. The eight maps are helpful. The suggestions for addtional reading, while thorough, are dated. Michael Michaud, Vienna, Austria

Durrell's 1957 espionage classic is just as fresh and exciting as ever. Methuen, intrepid British secret service veteran, tramps about the mountains of southern Serbia in search of the White Eagles, a band of rebels to Tito's regime who support the long-deposed Yugoslav royal family and have come across a great secret. Lovers of the spy genre will enjoy this book immensely. Those interested in the Balkans will revel in Durrell's descriptions of the landscape and people of Serbia. The White Eagles do exist, in fact a modern incarnation was a paramilitary band responsible for much terror and mayhem in Bosnia in the 1992-5 war.

In the introduction, Richard Montgomery states "...where facts were lacking or where reasonable doubts appeared, I was content to advance opinions frankly stated as such." I found this very true, and am not sure whether I like or dislike the many occasions where the author "filled in the blanks." Also in the introduction, the author wrote "...my principle aim was to collect, between the covers of a single volume, such information about the 'White-Headed Eagle' as has heretofore been accessible only to the more enterprising students of western history." True to this aim, Richard Montgomery delivers a wonderful account of one of the greatest heroic figures of the Northwest, Dr. John McLoughlin. This book is definitely worth your while.

Much of the advancement of the science of aviation resulted from efforts to develop the airplane as a weapon of war but aside from the memoirs of some early "bird men" and biographies of a handful of other pioneer aviators little has been written about American aviation in the years before World War One. Considering the almost pathetic "state of the art" in this country prior to 1917-18 it is perhaps no surprise that the subject has received scant attention from historians, but virtually no attempts have been made to explain why the U.S was unable to exploit the technological breakthrough made by the Wright brothers. Wingless Eagle explores some of the social and political factors that affected American aviation in general and Army aviation in particular before the Great War.

Realistically, the government was the only potential buyer of those primitive flying machines in any sort of quantity, but neither Congress nor the General Staff was easily convinced that the benefits would be worth the cost. The young military and naval fliers who thought otherwise constantly struggled to demonstrate the value of aviation to the voting public but more often than not the hardware simply was not up to the task.

As the author (a law professor himself) discuses in some detail, one of the biggest obstacles was the Wrights themselves. Their bitterly contested-and expensive-patent infringement suits against Glenn Curtiss and others stunted the growth of the U.S. aircraft industry during its formative years. The author maintains that the Army overtly supported the Wright's position. Investors were justifiably leery, and without capital aircraft development stagnated.

Another legal episode, the 1915 court martial of Lt. Col. Lewis Goodier, is used to point out flaws in the Signal Corps management of the fledgling Air Service as well as to illustrate how personal jealousy among the flying fraternity and internal service rivalries also contributed to the sorry state of affairs in Army aviation. The author also makes an interesting assessment of what he terms the "aeronaut constituency", the various clubs and associations formed by enthusiastic-and often wealthy and influential-aviation boosters. Many other factors that aided or impeded the development of Army aviation are explored as well.

This is not a book about airplanes. (The caption on page 65 has the aviator at the controls of a "Wright Flyer", although he is grasping the steering wheel of what is clearly a Curtiss pusher.) Likewise, not much new light is shed on the operational aspects of Army aviation in those early years. The serious student of aviation history, however, will come away with a much better understanding of the complex military, political and personal interactions that determined the course of U.S. Army aviation through the end of the First World War.

In this very readable book, John Randolph Price discusses the secret school, the master teacher and the inner classroom where you can win your wings. He shares insights received from within on issues like self-realization, wholeness, the ego and the raising of consciousness individually and worldwide, also proposing ways in which the reader may write their own textbook through similar dialogues with the divine within. Uplifting and inspiring reading and contains a variety of useful meditations.

This is one of the best books I have read to do with yoga. Jenny Beeken is a wonderful teacher and the book is very easy to read.

If you have never had anything to do with Yoga before than this is the book to start you off. I love Yoga now and I contribute some of my love to what I was taught when I read this book.

Practice what she teaches and you will become a new person

Another kid had this book and i looked at it and i thought "this book isn't bad".Easy instuctions, stickers and stuff,just the only thing bad about it was it was sort of little kiddish.

This is a pleasurable entry in the Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn series. Though it seems minimalist compared with author Hillerman's earlier achievements in THIEF OF TIME and TALKING GOD, it really has a lot going for it. It does not cover the folklore in depth as previous volumes have, but it stands on its own as a diverting mystery with interesting characters.

Hillerman continues to make use of his own time-honored device to launch two plotlines in THE FIRST EAGLE, one featuring Jim Chee, now Acting Lieutenant on the Navajo reservation police squad, and the other, Joe Leaphorn, former Lietenant in charge, now retired. Jim Chee has the death of a cop and a suspect he's caught red-handed over the body, and Leaphorn has a missing person's case, his first civilian detecting job. Hillerman braids the strands together, along with many complications, including research scientists and health officers chasing down sources of contemporary outcroppings of bubonic plague on the reservation. While it is apparent who at least one bad guy is in the first chapter, the why, what and how unfolds not so easily. Clues and red herrings mount up entertainingly.

Chee and Leaphorn are nicely sketched, with progressive shading. Female characters have never been Hillerman's strength, but Louisa, Leaphorn's friend is good company, and the glamorous Janet Pete returns to drive an edginess into Chee's life and the plot. The bad guys are original but not particularly nuanced.

This pair is a little like Batman and Robin, except Leaphorn is a lot smarter than Batman (and waaaay older), and Chee is not nearly as ingenuous as Robin. But still. It's the older guy as prickly friend and wise mentor to the younger upstart. Chee is now a Lieutenant in The First Eagle, and Leaphorn, whose wife has died, is retired and trying the role of PI on for size. Chee has got a murder to solve, and Leaphorn's working on a missing person case; the two cases merge on Yells Back Butte while, on the side, we have hantavirus rearing its ugly head.
Good Hillerman stuff. Not the best, but really, just good stuff.

"The First Eagle", by Tony Hillerman, Audio Cassette version read by George Guidall, Harper Audio, 1998.

Another good Jim Chee/ Lt. Leaphorn mystery, well done and very easy to read. I was steered to this book by checking library listings on the Black Plague and other airborne illness, after I had read "The Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis. The so-called hanta virus had affected, in particular, the Navaho Nation in the American Southwest. The disease, spread by the droppings of small mice and other rodents, provided an opportunity for a cottage industry to grow up in the Southwest where many aspiring Ph.D. students were attempting to make a name for themselves.

In the midst of all this, Acting Lt. Jim Chee charges a Hopi Indian, caught while poaching eagles, with the murder of a Navaho Tribal Policeman. The Hopi was arrested red handed, literally!, and Jim Chee believes that he has an open and shut case. But, Chee's once and future fiancée, Janet Pete, returns from Washington, DC, as public defender, and, you guessed it, she is assigned to defend the Hopi

The plot is twisted and involved enough, when retired Lt. Leaphorn is hired as a "private investigator" to look into the disappearance of Cathy Pollard, a researcher, who vanished on the same day the Navajo policeman was killed. Both Chee and Leaphorn are then immersed in the academic scene as they seek to sought out the involved relationships of prairie dog colonies, fleas, the Black Plague, the disappearance of Ms. Pollard, and the deaths of some Indians from the plague. Hillerman continues to develop the characters of Leaphorn and Chee. For example, there is a poignant scene in the hospital, where Leaphorn's memories of watching his wife, Emma, being wheeled away on a gurney, never to be seen alive again, are described. Leaphorn's life as a widower, also shows up now and then, as in the shower scene in the motel and, later, when he is enjoying eating another person's cooking in the restaurant.

I have come to identify George Guidall's voice with Lt. Leaphorn, and, if I ever meet Tony Hillerman in person, I would expect him to sound like Mr. Guidall. Guidall does an excellent job of developing distinct vocal identities for each character, and his portrayal of FBI agents who have been hoodwinked by the "not-so-stupid" Tribal Policeman Lt Chee, is very appropriate. I enjoyed Guidall's reading of "The First Eagle" as I drove Interstate 495 around Boston. Hillerman has another winner.

Eric Leben is a brilliant rich scientist. He's not a nice guy though and after an encounter with a garbage truck is dead. Rachael who had decided to settle on next to nothing in their divorce settlement suddenly inherits his company.

The government knows what Eric was working on and wants his secrets and everyone who knows about them. Meanwhile Eric's corpse walks out of the morgue. He wants his documents back and his wife dead. Being immortal isn't as much fun as you'd think, Eric has some physical and mental issues to deal with.

Ben Shadway who has had a crush on Rachael since he met her decides to accompany her while she flees those after her. He has a few secrets of his own and enemies.

This isn't Koontz's best work. It's fairly dated with references to communism with national security. It's storyline is fairly predictable in parts and the ending is very disappointing and unimaginatively simple. I also didn't think the moral dilemma about Anson Sharp was resolved properly for Jerry Peake before he acted either.

I am a huge Dean Koontz fan, and unlike some, I like his newer work better than the older stuff, like Shadowfires. Sure, there's less gruesome, gory stuff in the newer books, but thank goodness Koontz's writing skills have improved - particularly with dialogue.

Don't get me wrong - Shadowfires is a good book, but it's not a GREAT book. It's very imaginative, but it's also kind of corny in places. For example, when Benny's friend, Whitney, meets Rachel for the first time in Las Vegas he says "I've seen your picture so many times your lovely face is burned into my cerebral cortex". Who talks like that?

Still I'd rather read a mediocre Koontz book than a lot of other author's books - Koontz always offers a unique and gripping story to his readers, and Shadowfires is no exception.

This book has a lot of DK staples:

Love triangles (not really a staple, but always a romance factor)

Governement secrets

Scientist obsessed with fountain of youth (most of DK's books contain an element of scientific study)

It all adds up to an interesting brew of suspense and his trademark wittiness and characters just add to it. A fun read not to be overly analyzed. It's the entertainment factor that is important.

Koontz knows how to write a great novel and while some think his books are formulaic, they need to take a refresher creative writing course (if they have ever taken one)!!

First-rate reading; not his best, not his worst, just a great tale.