Ford Reviews

The infamous British upperclass reserve and all that it has represented to the rest of the world and not in the least- Americans, is the drumbeat that propels Ford's "saddest story." The drums, of course herald the not too distant coming of the first world war; and the decline of European world order. Concealed by perfect manners and the props of empire and rank, the atrocities of the savaged and wanton "best people" are largely, at least consciously, lost upon our narrator- a wealthy Philadelphia Quaker and cuckold. Hailing from the city of Brotherly Love, apex of tolerance and patience and the illusive spirit of democracy, he witnesses the ravages of chaos, humiliation and intrapsychic violence. He watches this occur in the most fashionable and debauched haunts of Europe and onto the exotic occupied lands of the Empire. His three companions, a monstosity of a wife and the silently murderous Ashburnhams are the four who victimize themselves and those whom they touch, unstoppably, no will, no personal power. It is not, of course, a sad novel, it is more comic and tense with a bit of satisfaction at the demise of these three monsters and a blind fool. The barely conscious narrator, is just a pre-cognitive glimmer that, lost in the industry and scrambling assimilation, Americans would embody, briefly, perhaps in a world-view. Europe falls and America rises, just as the Ashburnhams would fail in their 'destiny' release the pent-up demons and the power to their American 'Friends.' We all know the rest. They, who were at the junction to the modern world and we to the post-modern wonder who indeed are the "best people."

The book stands alone for its artistic merit and flawless style. It is further, in my limited assessment, startlingly relevant to our present historical precipice.

Told through the eyes of an American this is the best story about how love betrays, and how people can use the heart against you. It is the story of two couples who holiday together whilst the wife of the narrator is sleeping with the eponymous good soldier whilst feigning a heart condition. Once you read this, you will never trust your partner again, but you'll pass it to strangers on the train, I know I have.

I am Public Relations Manager for GreaterGR.com, the Greater Grand Rapids area website. As such, I am often asked which publications about history and life in Grand Rapids are the best. "Greater Grand Rapids: A City that Works" tops my list! It is a unique look into life in Grand Rapids as Gerald R. Ford experienced it. You will find this book in the reception area of many businesses in the Greater Grand Rapids area, most likely because the pictures are exceptionally vivid, capturing the essence of city life. It is a great coffee table book and conversation piece!

Being new to the Grand Rapids area, this book is the most effective and efficient way to get a glimsp at the Grand Rapids business and private sector as well as a view of Grand Rapids through the eyes of Gerald Ford. This is a must buy for anyone who is looking at Grand Rapids for fun and fellowship.

Eerie, Indiana was a wonderful show, and they did a fabulous job of writing a book series on it. The books are written so that even teens like me can enjoy them. Anyway, "Have Yourself an Eerie Little Christmas" is volume 5 of the Eerie book series.
Marshall makes a wish that it would snow for once, after shaking a strange snowglobe. The next morning, when they wake up, it's snowing...

It's two days before Christmas in Eerie, Indiana, and everybody's rushing to finish their last-minute shopping, including two friends: Marshall "Mars" Teller and Simon Holmes. They stop in at an odds-and-ends store called World of Stuff where Marshall finds a snow globe for his mother.

Later that night, while the two boys are getting ready for bed, Marshall makes an offhand wish for it to snow in Eerie like it does in the snow globe. The next morning, Marshall and Simon awake to a snow storm--and an 80-year-old curse that repeats the same day (December 24, 1917) over and over again. Only Marshall and Simon are aware of the repeated pattern and immediately search out the root of the curse, which originates at a mysterious house that looks exactly like the one in the snow globe.

"Have Yourself An Eerie Little Christmas" is the fifth book in the Eerie Indiana series, which is based on the same-named TV show ("Eerie, Indiana") that aired back in the early 90s. If you liked the show, you'll probably enjoy the books as well. If you've never heard of this series before (book or TV), I'd highly recommend you watch the reruns and read the books, especially if you'd like a junior approach to The X-Files.

As an owner of a recently restored Model A this book is a MUST. Contained in it are all the fine points regarding the various body types and accessories. No wonder this book serves as a primer for the expert judging of Model A's.

This book is a "keeper" for anyone with an interest in the Ford Model "A". All of the various body styles from 1928 to 1931 are covered in detail. High quality photos accompany descriptions of both "standard" and "optional" features found on each body style. Kudos to the author and the photographer for a high quality book.

This is a period piece. The boots are leather, with laces. There's a psyceldilic Volkswagen van, pot in the oregano jar, and the evil Corporation trying to cope with the counter-culture. Altogether, a delightful yarn about nothing in particular except skiing the most beautiful mountains in the world, and those skiing scenes are wonderfully well written. The town is Aspen, of course. (I know because I read the book last winter in the Pitkin County Library, on the recommendation of a ski patrolman who knew the author way back when :) Great stuff, especially for skiers and anyone who was young in 1970.

Hey, I wrote the book--how could I not love it? In 1967 I took the publisher's advance for "Incident at Muc Wa" and loaded my VW Beetle for a winter in Aspen. I ended in a hostel called the Garret with a bunch of college dropouts, Vietnam vets, and people like me who just wanted to ski in a place so beautiful we could scarcely believe it existed. Out of that winter came the fantasy of the High Country Illuminator, who puts on light shows and tries to rid the town of rats. Now it's back in print through an Authors Guild program called (are you ready?) Backinprint.com. The book exists in a computer. You buy a copy; they print a copy. Don't believe the 3-5 weeks stuff. It's much faster than that.

This book gives us a look at how Hitler viewed the world. This book is written with great skill. Here it is shown that Hitler had a self-consistent Weltanschauung. It is an analysis of Hitler's own writtings; both versions of "Mein Kampf" and his "Secret Book". See why he did what he did. The reason for his domestic and foreign policy. The truth that Hitler was neither a nationalist nor a socialist but a racist. And his thoughts on the Jews. And how he convinced himself that only through expansion, racial purity and the destruction of the Jewish people could any Nation/Race survive and prosper.

Hitler's Mein Kampf is one of the most boring books I have read. Even knowing what happened, I found myself thinking: "He must be thinking metaphorically; he really can't mean this." Jaeckel succeeded in making Hitler comprehensible, weird, but compresensible. He in particular clarifies the fact that Hitler was neither a nationalist nor a socialist but a racist. That's why he ordered the destruction of Germany. For him, the Germans were not fit to survive his death. The author also points to the ambiguities in Hitler's attitudes towards the Jews. If the Jews were so inferior, why were they a threat to the "Aryans." Hitler thought of the Jews as subhuman but also as the anti-race, somewhat like matter::anti-matter. Anyone who is interested in the most powerful, the most significant and the most enigmatic of leaders from the 16 th to the 21st centuries should read this book.

Davis Ford has compiled a labor of love, this by capturing the thoughts, ideas and personas of an era that is quickly leaving us. Just as Tom Brokow has referred to those who participated in WWII as members of a great generation, so are those whom Dr. Ford memoralizes in his book. You can almost hear the campfire crackle as the cowboys discuss their lives in a time soon to be remembered only by the false pictures generated by Hollywood of men who are truely of the ages. Everyone who has even sat astride of a horse, or watched John Wayne in action, needs to read this book to hear the true story of the American west and the men who made history, and won a country, in their own quiet way. This book will be read 100 years from now by those who want to know the true story of the American west and those that left their own personal brand on our country.

In his excellent book, The Last Cowboy, Davis Ford creates a colorful mosaic not only of Leroy Webb but also of many other authentic cowboys - as well as the development of an entire region. The format of the book enhances the story with quotes encased in barbed wire, action pictures, regional maps and appropriate quotations interspersed in the text. The Last Cowboy is an outstanding chronology of an era told through ancestral history, geographical details and economic facts woven into telling the life story of Webb. It is a pleasure to read this well-researched and well-crafted history, augmented by humorous anecdotes and the personal observations of the author.

Anne Ford has written a remarkable book. This is tremendously helpful for all parents that have children with learning disabilities. Also, it is a great lesson that shows the rest of us to reach out to others with love, patience and dignity.

When a child is born, parents are filled with positive dreams for his or her future. These typically include success in school, supportive friends, good health and a life filled with joy. If the child were a painting, it would have bright colors, sharp focus, every detail in place. But that fairy-tale existence is just that --- a fable. We are imperfect, and so are children.

And then there are families that get an extra helping of imperfection. Instead of dreams, they get challenges which can either pull them together or fracture them. In Anne Ford's case the "perfect world" dream dissolved when she learned that her daughter Allegra had learning disabilities. While they were not visible to the naked eye, what was going on inside Allegra was impeding her development and her ability to learn. It's never easy to accept a dark, definitive verdict, especially when it concerns a small child. To her credit, Anne did. And then she became Allegra's advocate and cheerleader, as well as her mother.

Few books have moved me as much as LAUGHING ALLEGRA. While the story of our family is different from Anne's, I do know what happens when the picture gets blurred. What works about this book is that Anne writes this memoir with candor and feeling --- right from the heart. She captures the swirl of emotion that surrounds this diagnosis, the questions that every parent asks and the path through what is always uncharted territory, as each child is his or her own mosaic. At the same time, she offers concrete information that parents of learning-disabled children need. Most important of all: Anne Ford shows us, beat by beat, how she helped her daughter build a world in which she could laugh instead of cower, succeed instead of fail. She empowered Allegra and along the way empowered herself as well.

The book is by no means whitewashed with only upbeat anecdotes. In her writing you can feel the pain that filled many of these years, as well as the uncertainty. The book took four years to write and along the way Anne had to dredge up some feelings that readers will see are still raw. There is no quick patch when you have watched your child hurting; clearly, she ripped the bandages off to write this.

Often when people learn that things are not "perfect," there is a natural feeling of being overwhelmed with the unknown. For parents who have found themselves either on the cusp of the diagnosis, or grappling with its meaning, or even those who are further along the path and want to read how another family grew with this, I recommend LAUGHING ALLEGRA. I also recommend it for parents of so-called "normal children," who may want to understand rather than dismiss the schoolmate their child knows who is different, or special.

Anne's book stresses that this is a family issue as it affects the entire family. She was a single mother, but also had a son, Alessandro, whose role as Allegra's older brother took him on a journey that he also had not expected. The effect on him is spoken about with enough depth to ensure that readers realize that that all people in the family must grapple with the challenge.

One thing to note here. Allegra is now thirty and living independently. As I read I thought about the great strides that are being made every day in the diagnosis and treatment of learning disabilities. Anne and Allegra came to tackle many of the challenges without the tools that are now in place. This, as much of any of Anne's stories, can bring parents great hope.

The back of the book has appendices with list of resources and excellent guidelines on such topics as Questions Parents Ask, Mothers and Fathers Understanding Each Other and Your Legal Rights. They are as well-written as the rest of the book, and provide more nuts and bolts information.

I cannot recommend a book more highly than this. Halfway through I found myself making lists of people who would enjoy it. I encourage you to pick it up --- and then spread the word.

--- Reviewed by Carol Fitzgerald

A certain dry humour makes the book very readable. The description of social pressures in learning to lie, and animal world comparisons, are a useful perspective. The central theme - the danger of lying to oneself, or self deception - is of great importance in working in any large organisation. I would prescribe it as essential reading for managers and directors of most modern organisations Many readers may lack the objectivity to appreciate and believe the reports contained in the book, though they are well researched and well documented. I hope the next edition may spend more time in coping with lies. There are 13 pages in this book on therapeutic approaches toward the deceitful person. The comments on "groupthink", which involves bias of group behaviour, could also be expanded in future editions, with comments on the efficacy of countermeasures.

Straightforward. Well written and referenced. A very well laid out book with excellent references for further study on the subject. I gained a great appreciation for the psychological causes of lying. Highly recommended.

This is an amazing and extremely insightful book on a most important topic to police. It covers all the areas that tend to stress police personnel from social to physical to political to extremely personal. The eye-openers are many and the recommendations right on the mark. A total program is laid out for dealing with stressors in a logical and intelligent way. It is a good read and a valuable resource for law enforcement and for their families. The Centurion's Octagon really wraps up the total picture and prepares the reader for the totality of the police stress challenge. Excellent book.

Dr. Ford's knowledge of what stresses police officers is obvious and extensive. As a veteran cop himself, he knows what he is talking about and lays out an excellent program to reduce stress incurred by serving as a police officer.

The tape that is included with the book is also very good, giving excellent exercises to mitigate your stress.

I use what Dr. Ford has given me in this book, and it really works. The very unique type of stress we endure is focused on here with great success. I recommend the book wholeheartedly.

Off. E. Whince