Gold Dust and Gunsmoke: Tales of Gold Rush Outlaws, Gunfighters, Lawmen, and Vigilantes Review

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(More customer reviews)A Review from Wild West Magazine, October 1999:
It is an odd twist of history. Hollywood created the gunfighter myth and placed its heroes primarily in Texas, with overlapping gun-toting cowboys in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Montana, Oklahoma and the Dakotas. Yet, when we think of California in terms of the Wild West, we usually think of someone salting a gold mine...period. It's high time, on the 150th anniversary of the Forty-Niners' rush to the far coast, to rethink Old California.
San Francisco attorney and historian John Boessenecker has done as much as anyone to change and illuminate California's Wild West image. With intense research and fine writing skills, Boessenecker brings us gunfighters, thieves, assassins, gamblers and highwaymen, the likes of which one seldom reads about. And these are not just ordinary ruffians and ne'er-do-wells; these people stole from other folks in a wide variety of ways and made an art out of shooting and cutting up friends as well as enemies.
So while we have plenty of biographies of Billy the Kid and lots of reruns on the OK Corral, it's refreshing that Boessenecker presents solid information on interesting but mostly overlooked California characters and events. The author says that the decade of turbulence and bloodshed that followed the discovery of gold "has not been equaled before or since in the history of peacetime America." In the epilogue, Boessenecker presents some murder-rate figures that lend support to that statement. He concludes that the gold seekers' ready resort to violence "left an enduring mark on our nation's history."
If you would like a good read (367 pages) about how gold fever ignited a rush not only of families, but of prostitutes, feuds, lynchings, duels, bare-knuckle prize fights, and vigilantes, then this is the place to start, the book to open.
Leon Metz

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Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero Review

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(More customer reviews)Maury Allen wrote a prior biography of Roger Maris in 1986, and now Tom Clavin and Danny Peary have written the definitive biography of baseball's "reluctant hero." Like several other individuals Maris has become more appreciated with the passage of time. Maris had people who would be remembered favorably and unfavorably in his career. Minor league manager Dutch Meyer punished Maris for a poor throw to third base by having him repeatedly make long distance throws to third base until Maris told him enough was enough. Kirby Farrell and Harry Craft would be remembered favorably along with Jo Jo White who taught him to pull the ball.
I graduated from high school in June of 1961 and vividly remember that memorable season when Maris challenged Ruth's home run record. Unlike today when players hold post-game press conferences the Yankees provided no protection for Maris as he was inundated with questions from all sides regarding his opinions on baseball and non-baseball related matters. Yankee publicist Bob Fishel said he never thought of having a press conference at the time following a game. It was baseball commissioner Ford Frick who taught the youth of America the meaning of the word "asterisk" when he proclaimed that Ruth's record must be broken in 154 games. Frick was a close friend of Ruth's and acted as a ghost writer for him. The authors correctly mention the unfortunate incident that took place in 1960 in Detroit involving someone who threw the back of a chair from the right field stands at Maris following a controversial home run by Bill Skowron. The movie 61* incorrectly mentions it as happening in 1961. I know it was in 1960 because I was sitting in the second deck above the Yankees' bullpen for that game.
Roger Maris spent two happy years with the St. Louis Cardinals during the seasons of 1967-1968 which brought the team two pennants and one World Championship. Following his career Maris was reluctant to return to Yankee Stadium because he felt the Yankees had lied to him prior to his departure from New York. George Steinbrenner convinced him to return to Yankee Stadium on Opening Day of the 1978 season when both Maris and Mantle would be introduced together. It proved to be a rewarding experience for Maris and he returned regularly after that as long as his health permitted. Maris said he suffered from physical ailments later in life due to playing with reckless abandon during his playing career by breaking up double plays and running into outfield walls. He said if he had to do it over again he would have been more careful with his health. Unfortunately years of smoking five packs of Camel cigarettes a day for several years did their damage ultimately causing damage to his throat. He quit smoking during the mid-1970s and passed away from cancer on December 14, 1985.
Maris won consecutive MVP awards in 1960 and 1961 and his defensive play is often overlooked in evaluating his qualifications for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, politics often plays a part as to who is elected and Maris was never one to be a self-promoter. It irritates me to know that when Mark McGuire broke Maris's home run record when he knew he was on steroids he still had the audacity to go to the box seats in St. Louis to hug members of the Maris family knowing he had passed Maris illegally.
I especially enjoyed reading this book because the year 1961 has special memories for me since my Detroit Tigers were a significant part of the pennant race that year. Maris never intended to denigrate Babe Ruth, but obviously he would want the record. The problem among Yankee fans was if anyone was to break the Babe's record (and they weren't sure anyone should) the wrong man was breaking it. They believed it should have been Mantle and not this interloper from North Dakota.
Whether you remember these historic years from the 1960s or not any self-respecting baseball fan needs this book in their library.

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The definitive biography of the baseball legend who broke Babe Ruth's single-season home-run record—the natural way—and withstood a firestorm of media criticism to become one of his era's preeminent players. ROGER MARIS may be the greatest ballplayer no one really knows. In 1961, the soft-spoken man from the frozen plains of North Dakota enjoyed one of the most amazing seasons in baseball history, when he outslugged his teammate Mickey Mantle to become the game's natural home-run king. It was Mantle himself who said, "Roger was as good a man and as good a ballplayer as there ever was." Yet Maris was vilified by fans and the press and has never received his due from biographers—until now. Tom Clavin and Danny Peary trace the dramatic arc of Maris's life, from his boyhood in Fargo through his early pro career in the Cleveland Indians farm program, to his World Series championship years in New York and beyond. At the center is the exciting story of the 1961 season and the ordeal Maris endured as an outsider in Yankee pinstripes, unloved by fans who compared him unfavorably to their heroes Ruth and Mantle, relentlessly attacked by an aggressive press corps who found him cold and inaccessible, and treated miserably by the organization. After the tremendous challenge of breaking Ruth's record was behind him, Maris ultimately regained his love of baseball as a member of the world champion St. Louis Cardinals. And over time, he gained redemption in the eyes of the Yankee faithful. With research drawn from more than 130 interviews with Maris's teammates, opponents, family, and friends, as well as 16 pages of photos, some of which have never before been seen, this timely and poignant biography sheds light on an iconic figure from baseball's golden era—and establishes the importance of his role in the game's history.

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The Gentle Art of Smoking Review

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(More customer reviews)This book was published in 1954, is 177 pages long, measures 8.25" x 5.25" x 7/8" thick. Hard board covers and I believe was issued without a dust jacket. Published in NY by Putnam's sons. The book covers all the bases from the history of tobacco, to the history of the match, to tobacco for smoking by pipe, cigar and cigarettes, growing tobacco, cigarette manufacturing and pipe manufacturing. In fact much of the pipe manufacturing information in the book appears to be where Hacker got much of the info in his book The Ultimate Pipe Book. The little 1954 book is a great one and a quick read, will teach you thing you didn't know, and I would recommend it for those interested in pipe smoking.

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Yastrzemski (Icons of Major League Baseball) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was a 7 year old Red Sox fan when Yaz was a rookie in Boston and I attended his last game in 1983. As did many fans, I spent most of my life assuming his name would be third in the line-up that day. Yet, in a city that has an obsessive relationship with its baseball team, Yaz' place in the hearts of Red Sox fans is a curious one.
On the plus side, he almost singlehandedly lifted the Sox out of the mediocrity of the late Williams era and into the World Series in 1967. He was at his best in the clutch (7 hits in 8 at bats in the final deciding games that year). He was a 5 tool player, albeit in moderate amounts, a Hall of Famer, the last Triple Crown winner and the first in the AL with 3000 hits and 400 home runs.
On the other hand, he made the mistake of following the legendary Ted Williams in leftfield. He hit 40 home runs 3 times from 1967 to 1970 and, due to the effect of injuries, never approached those power levels again. Yaz made the last out in game 7 of the 75 World Series and the 78 playoff game against the Yankees, both of which were decided by one run. Most importantly, Yaz seemed to be a cranky guy, smoking cigarettes in the runway, uncomfortable in interviews and often fighting injuries. He did not have the majesty of Williams, the grace of Lynn or the charisma of the always smiling Luis Tiant.
This book is a perfect antidote to that image. In the first person, Yaz tells of his endless preparations growing up in Eastern Long Island as well as the passion, work and focus he brought to every game. In an amazingly frank revelation, he tells us: "I'll level with you; I never enjoyed it. I never had any fun." He explains that not having the natural size, power or ability of a Williams or Lynn, everything he did was the product of uncounted hours of work. At times in his career, he was booed by Boston fans.
We should have loved this guy. The son of a working farmer just across the Sound in Eastern Long Island, Yaz spent endless hours as a boy swinging a bat in an unheated barn through Northeastern winters. He and his dad spurned the Yankees' offer to play in Boston. He stayed in Boston for 23 years and did not make his contract signings into an annual "Maybe I'll stay" soap opera. And, most importantly, Yaz cared about every win and loss as much as we did.
Freddie Lynn was sometimes called "Beach." A South California kid, he could shrug off a tough loss and go on with his life. Yaz would rework each at bat in his mind after the game until he could let go and begin to prepare for the next game. Lynn is who we all wanted to be. Yaz is who we are. And if his swing or the final pitch had been one centimeter different in 75 or 78, there would never have been a Curse and Yaz' image would have eclipsed Ortiz, Fisk and Dave Henderson.
It's great to have Yaz back; baseball's version of Larry Bird (unfortunately without the rings.) This is also a great book about baseball in a more innocent time. There is a DVD included so younger fans can watch Yaz in his prime.

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An inspiring 23-year baseball odyssey laid bare, from one of the greatest hitters to play the game.When the season was on the line, Carl Yastrzemski made history. No New Englander who lived through the summer of 1967 will ever forget Yaz single-handedly powering the also-ran Red Sox through the tightest race ever--winning the American League pennant on the final day of the season. Leading the league in batting average, home runs and RBIs that year, Yaz became the last player to win baseball's Triple Crown.Now Yaz tells the very personal story of one of the most prolific and eventful careers in baseball. From Ted Williams to Carlton Fisk, from the "Impossible Dream" season to the Greatest Game Ever Played, Yastrzemski's story is filled with the greatest players and most exciting moments in baseball history.

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The House That Hugh Laurie Built: An Unauthorized Biography and Episode Guide (No Series Information required) Review

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(More customer reviews)This new book is advertised as a biography of Hugh Laurie. It really isn't really much a biography. The book contains just basic thumbnail sketches of ALL the actors in the TV program "HOUSE", including Hugh Laurie. Most of the info written about him is lacking in depth or lengthy research, and almost all of it refers to episodes of British TV programs no American can relate to as we've never seen any of them. I'm a huge fan of HOUSE and the wonderfully gifted actor Hugh Laurie, but this book is not worth the money in my opinion. I know nothing more about him after reading it than I did before reading the book. Everything in the book has been previously written in magazine articles and other mediums. If you'd like a complete episode guide from the first 3 seasons this book is fine, but if you want a biography of Hugh Laurie, wait until a real biography is written at some future date.

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Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: A History of Anti-Smoking Review

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(More customer reviews)The history of antismoking began when Columbus brought tobacco from America to Spain - and the Inquisition clapped some of his crew into irons for smoking. Fast forward to that great public health promoter, Adolf Hitler, who tried to make Germany and much the world smoke-free. Fortunately for us, he was defeated by the armies of Churchill and Roosevelt - one a cigar, the other a cigarette smoker.
Tyrannical prohibitionists are at work today. Here, in New York, we have an ex-smoker billionaire mayor forcing poor smokers to huddle in the rain in the doorways. Elsewhere, my daughter just returned from dirt-poor authoritarian Turkmenistan where it is illegal to smoke in the streets. The fine is $50, which is about a month's salary for locals, and police enforcement is harsh. Why? Because their president stopped smoking and did not want to see other smokers from the window of his limo.
Snowdon writes in a engaging, lively, and sophisticated style. He runs through the scientific evidence: the addictiveness but also the relative harmlessness of nicotine; the health hazards of tar in cigarettes; the ridiculous claims about `secondary smoke.'
The anti-smoking campaigners started out mild and reasonable. They told us to be compassionate to fellow office workers in enclosed spaces. Emboldened by their success, they drove an ever harder bargain. The velvet glove was off and the iron fist of criminalizing tobacco was out. Their campaigns are very well documented in this book.
As a life-long recreational cigar smoker - as well as a man who literally risked his life for freedom - I read this book from cover to cover. It was like nicotine, which paradoxically both relaxes and sharpens the mind. My only minor criticism of this book is that it was written by a Brit and not edited for the American lingo prior to its publication in this country.
What next? What will happen with the Berlin Wall that had been built around smokers in this country, in much of Europe, and not to forget Cuba and Turkmenistan - what will cause that wall to fall?
I feel grateful to the author for his engaging history and wish every thinking person owned a copy. Perhaps that will help to begin cracking the wall.

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Spain, 1493 - Europe's first smoker imprisioned by the Inquisition England, 1604 - Massive tax rise on tobacco in a bid to discourage smoking Canada, 1676 - Smoking is banned in the street United States, 1899 - Anti-smoking campaigners call for the eradication of tobacco Germany, 1944 - Smoking banned on public transport to protect workers from secondhand smoke In this revealing and meticulously researched account of an untold story, Christopher Snowdon traces the fortunes of those who have tried to stamp out tobacco through the ages. Velvet Glove, Iron Fist takes the reader on a journey from 15th century Cuba to 21st century California, via Revolutionary France, Victorian Britain, Prohibition Era America and Nazi Germany. Along the way, the author finds uncanny parallels between today's anti-smoking activists and those of the past. Today, as the same tactics begin to be used against those who enjoy alcohol, chocolate, fast food, gambling and perfume, Velvet Glove, Iron Fist provides a timely reminder that once politicians start regulating private behaviour, they find it very hard to quit.

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Smoking: Risk, Perception and Policy Review

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(More customer reviews)Paul Slovic writes a compelling foreword to this persuasive and evocative book describing the health risks to smokers and their own perceptions of them. In it, he rebutts economist Viscusi's thesis that smokers make the rational choice to light up, having weighed the risks and benefits already adequately communicated to them by public health agencies. Slovic, unlike Viscusi, does NOT hold the opinion that the money spent communicating the risk of smoking to the public could be better spent elsewhere, and the studies described in Smoking: Risk, Perception, and Policy--undertaken by distinguished scholars like Daniel Romer and Patrick Jamieson--substantiate his position. A fascinating read that unmasks smoking a cigarette as political and public health crime. Loving it!

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This book presents a counter-view, based on a survey of several thousand young persons and adults, probing attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and perceptions of risk associated with smoking. The authors agree that young smokers give little or no thought to health risks or the problems of addiction. The survey data contradicts the model of informed, rational choice and underscores the need for aggressive policies to counter tobacco firms' marketing and promotional efforts and to restrict youth access to tobacco.

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Smokescreens Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is invaluable in exposing the Roman Catholic Church.
Jack Chick warns from the beginning of this book to BEWARE of the Roman Catholic Church. Jack insists that Rome has historically called a "cease fire" to bring ecumenism just before she strikes with the hot iron of persecution. Anyone who knows the history of the Christian Church can readily recall the horrors that the Roman Catholic Whore has brought upon Christ's church. Pick up Martyr's Mirror or Foxe's Book of Martyrs for detailed accounts of this brutality.
Roman Catholicism is demonic in origin and the largest deception on the earth today. Smokescreens helps the reader navigate the lies of the Pontiff and see it for what it is - a part of Mystery Babylon and the Great Whore. This book also details the compromise of men like Billy Graham who have tried to appease Rome.
As a missionary to Serbia, I know firsthand the results of the Roman Catholic brutality against the Serbs during World War II. This book is also a great resource for the persecution brought against the Orthodox Serbs and how thousands were slaughtered. The wars of Yugoslavia in the 1990's were given fuel for the ethnic hatreds because of what the Roman Catholic priests and nuns did during WWII.
The Roman Catholic Church is the biggest cult on earth today. Get this book, read it and take a stand against Rome while there is still time. Anyone who allies with Rome has always in the end been destroyed at the altar of Paganism.

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Highlights the Dangers of the Ecumenical Movement.Many Christians are joining the ecumenical movement, thinking God has ordained it to bring all Christians into unity. But this book reveals that the ecumenical movement is nothing more than a smokescreen, hiding the Vatican's real intent, to stamp out religious freedom and rule the world.

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Smokestacks and Progressives: Environmentalists, Engineers, and Air Quality in America, 1881--1951 Review

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(More customer reviews)The author, David S. Stradling, Ph.D., is on the forefront of today's analysis of environmental history. This work will soon be considered the definitive treatise on the subject. I recommend the text unequivocally.

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Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization Review

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(More customer reviews)Tobacco is "certainly the most equivocal substance in daily human use," according to Iain Gately. His author photo shows him unequivocally smoking his cigar, and so you might expect that he would go easy on the weed in his book _Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization_ (Grove Press). For those who think that cigarettes are an unalloyed curse, some of his book will be difficult reading. No history of tobacco can ignore the many social and health costs connected to the drug, and Gately's does not. But American Indians were using it for centuries, and in the five centuries since the conquest of the Americas, tobacco has insinuated itself into every diverse culture; there must be a reason that the killer drug is regarded by millions as a pleasure and a comfort. In fact, there are lots of reasons which the plant has exploited, and so it has a rich and complex history. Gately has researched widely and told the history well.
Tobacco has been part of human culture for about 18,000 years. It was cultivated in the Andes region about six thousand years ago, and only eventually smoked. "That lungs had a dual function - could be used for stimulation in addition to respiration - is one of the American continent's most significant contributions to civilization." The gift of dried tobacco leaves to Columbus in the Bahamas got thrown overboard; no one knew why the natives were getting rid of their tobacco leaves this way. The British took to snuff, in imitation of the fashionable French, but also smoked with pipes like the ones North American Indians used. The British were slow to follow the French in cigarette usage, for they were regarded as "a miserable apology" for the more manly pleasure of cigars or pipes; Oscar Wilde enjoyed horrifying society in many ways, and chain-smoking his effeminate cigarettes was one of them. All the nations of the world showed disgust at the particularly American practice of chewing tobacco and thereupon expectorating tinted spittle. Charles Dickens wrote, "In the courts of law, the judge has his spittoon, the crier his, the witness his, and the prisoner his; while the jurymen and the spectators are provided for, as so many men who in the course of nature must desire to spit incessantly." Modern advertising gets a good examination here; surprisingly, the Marlboro Man was originally no such thing; Philip Morris brought out Marlboros "Mild as May" in 1924, targeted for decent and respectable ladies.
Gately's book has not been edited to be turned into an American version, so American readers will note a disproportionate number of anecdotes and facts from Europe. (An appendix even tells how Her Majesty's subjects can grow the plant in England for their own use.) He has some limp support of tobacco as a guard against such illnesses as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and too often his disdain for the anti-smoking movement is obvious. However, this is a great subject. The effects of tobacco on bodies may be bad, and on society may be bad as well (slavery, for instance, was a New World tradition largely because of tobacco farms), and Gately tells the dark side of the stories well; this is not an apology or an advertisement for smoking, but more of a historical explanation. For anyone who smokes, or who is interested in a world-wide history centered on one particular plant and the uses to which addicted and habituated people have put it, _Tobacco_ tells an important story in an entertaining way.

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Subnature: Architecture's Other Environments Review

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(More customer reviews)Professor Gissen's Subnature may at first seem to be an in depth study of matter such as pollution, mud or debris. Not so in my opinion. This book is also about uncovering the intagible and invisible nature of history. An experimental history whereby events in the past may help us reshape the future.
An extraordinary and poetic journey in which the immanence of matter becomes a phenomenological vehicule for dreaming new creations.

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We are conditioned over time to regard environmental forces such as dust, mud, gas, smoke, debris, weeds, and insects as inimical to architecture. Much of today's discussion about sustainable and green design revolves around efforts to clean or filter out these primitive elements. While mostly the direct result of human habitation, these "subnatural forces" are nothing new. In fact, our ability to manage these forces has long defined the limits of civilized life. From its origins, architecture has been engaged in both fighting and embracing these so-called destructive forces. In Subnature, David Gissen, author of our critically acclaimed Big and Green, examines experimental work by today's leading designers, scholars, philosophers, and biologists that rejects the idea that humans can somehow recreate a purely natural world, free of the untidy elements that actually constitute nature. Each chapter provides an examination of a particular form of subnature and its actualization in contemporary designpractice.The exhilarating and at times unsettling work featured in Subnature suggests an alternative view of natural processes and ecosystems and their relationships to human society and architecture. R&Sien's Mosquito Bottleneck house in Trinidad uses a skin that actually attracts mosquitoes and moves them through the building, while keeping them separate from the occupants. In his building designs the architect Philippe Rahm draws the dank air from the earth and the gasses and moisture from our breath to define new forms of spatial experience. In his Underground House, Mollier House, and Omnisport Hall, Rahm forces us to consider the odor of soil and the emissionsfrom our body as the natural context of a future architecture. [Cero 9]'s design for the Magic Mountain captures excess heat emitted from a power generator in Ames, Iowa, to fuel a rose garden that embellishes the industrial site and creates a natural mountain rising above the city's skyline. Subnature looks beyond LEED ratings, green roofs, and solar panels toward a progressive architecture based on a radical new conception of nature.

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Peace, Love, & Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales, and Outright Lies from the Legends of Barbecue Review

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(More customer reviews)Peace, Love and Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales and Outright Lies From The Legends of Barbecue
Mike Mills & Amy Mills Tunicliffe
A Book Report by Gerry Dawes (Appeared in Food Arts magazine.)
This is a book report, not a review. I wrote the June 2004 Food Arts Silver Spoon Award piece about Mike Mills, the Southern Illinois Barbecue Legend Mike Mills, who, with his Apple City Barbecue Team won the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest more times (three, four in ribs) than any team in history. Mills has long been a friend of mine and still is, despite the outright lies he told about me and a lot of other people to his daughter, Amy Mills Tunicliffe, who wrote her father's story's in the remarkable, but veracity-challenged Peace, Love and Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales and Outright Lies From The Legends of Barbecue.
At least I am in good company. Bill Clinton, Calvin Trillin, Tom Viertel (producer of The Producers, Smokey Joe's Café, Driving Miss Daisy), the New York super-restaurateur Danny Meyer, Chef Michael Romano and star Vogue food writer Jeffrey Steingarten, along with most of the `cue superstars world are all in this book on down-home and championship circuit barbecue. In the foreword, Meyer, Mills's partner in New York's Blue Smoke Barbecue joint, wrote a pean to pig and to Mills. The exalted Vogue food writer, Jeffrey Steingarten, who wrote the saucy introduction calling Mills "one of the greatest barbecue cooks of all time," once wrote an article claiming that Mills's Memphis Championship Barbecue restaurants in Las Vegas are his favorites, only after Nobu.
While this indispensable guide to American barbecue could have been just that, a guide, it is much more. It is a loving (the "Love" in the title is no tall tale or outright lie) look at the Who's Who of American Barbecue as seen through the eyes of this country's greatest barbecue hero, who, like some starry-eyed youngster (Mills is in his 60s), often refers to these barbecue legends, his peers, as "awesome."
Mills takes us on visits to all the great barbecue legends of the south (and a few in the north as well), eating their barbecue,"visiting" with them, letting them tell their stories, and then trying to pry cooking and recipe "secrets" out of them, which is no easy task since they will sometimes tell him the ingredients (usually minus the "secret"), but they often won't give him the recipe quantities. (Mills plays this game himself; he told Steingarten that he would give him the recipe for Mills's celebrated 17th St. Bar & Grill `Magic Dust' Dry Rub, but then he said, "I would have to kill you.")
Besides picking pork, Mills picks the brains of such American Barbecue superstars as Don McLemore and Chris Lilly at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q (Decatur, Alabama); Desiree Robinson at Cozy Corner (Memphis); Billy Bones Wall (Midland, Michigan); Vencil Mares, The Taylor Café (Taylor, Texas); Paul Kirk, The Baron of Barbecue (Kansas City, Missouri); Wayne Monk, Lexington Barbecue (Lexington, North Carolina); the legendary El Mitchell, Mitchell's Ribs, Chicken & BBQ (Wilson, North Carolina) and many others. The story about Rick Schmidt, the owner of Kreuz ("Krites," Lockhart, Texas), ceremoniously moving-along a road thronged with his loyal barbecue customers-the hot coals, which have never been allowed to got out, from the old family establishment to his new place after a family feud with his sister is alone worth the price of this paperback book.
There are "secret' barbecue recipes galore-Mama Faye's Home Style Potato Salad, 17th Street's Tangy Pit Beans, Big Bob Gibson's White Sauce, Wilber Shirley's Hush Puppies, Eades Family Banana Pudding and Strip and Go Naked Punch (don't ask!)-enough to open the world's greatest barbecue joint. However, if you did, several somebodies would have to kill you and, besides, you would be too disabled by the hernia you would get from lugging in the 100-pound sack of sugar it would take to make all these sauces, potato salad, salad dressings and iced tea, many of which call for a minimum of two cups of sugar, refined white sugar, by long-standing habit.
The last chapter is devoted to a good nuts-and-bolts barbecue tips and a terrific list of this country's greatest real barbecue joints, but he whole book is full of Mike Mills's indispensable barbecue (and life) wisdom, practical tips, recipes and, indeed, secrets like my Gerry's World's Finest Barbecue-Friendly Margaritas. It seems that one day down at Mike's 17th Street Bar & Grill in Murphysboro, Southern Illinois, he induced me to give him my Andalucian Sangria Recipes, then after we drank two pitchers of white and red sangria, he wormed the margarita recipe out of me. However, I didn't give him the "secret" twist that I put in them, otherwise I would have had to kill him.
But, on second thought, I couldn't kill him. He might have another great book like Peace, Love and Barbecue in him. And I certainly wouldn't want to deprive the world of that.
The book is awesome.
- The End -


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A one-of-a-kind collection of recipes, photographs, and behind-the-scenes stories from legendary pitmaster Mike Mills.In this unique combination of cookbook, memoir, and travelogue, Mike Mills, the unrivalled king of barbecue, shares his passion for America's favorite cuisine--its intense smoky flavors, its lore and traditions, and its wild cast of characters.Through conversational anecdotes and black-and-white photographs, readers meet a diverse circle of colleagues and friends and join Mills in a behind-the-scenes tour of the barbecue contest circuit, with stops at some of the best "shrines, shacks, joints, and right-respectable restaurants."Also included are prizewinning recipes that have earned Mills his fame and fortune as a barbecue maestro. These 100 recipes will enable anyone with a grill to achieve champion barbecue flavor right in their own backyard. The selection features Mills' own secret concoctions and treasured family recipes as well as choice contributions from his pitmaster friends, and it covers all manner of barbecued meat and fish, sauces and dry rubs, as well as the sides, soups, and down-home sweets that complete any great barbecue feast.With its folksy, fun-loving tone and its unique insider's take on a hugely popular--and deeply American--subject, this volume will appeal to barbecue lovers, food mavens, and cooks of all stripes.

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Scooters: Red Eyes, Whitewalls and Blue Smoke Review

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(More customer reviews)As one of many Vespa books that I own, this book is good. It has a bit of a different slant, with a good history of scooters in the United States, along with the usual collection of photos that you find in any Vespa book. I like how it deals with other scooters, but some aspects of the effort seem a little slipshod, and it includes errors.

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Scooters tells the story of the scooters' transition from a practical, efficient workhorse to a counter-cultural catalyst.

The Scootering hobby blends a healthy obsession for things mechanical with a distinct taste for the unusual. Scooters offers an insiders' look at the massive growth of the avocation in North America since the mid 1980's and explores the diversity of characters that make up the scooter scene. Filled with photographs and revving with color and personality, this wonderful book takes the reader along to the rally and should prove revealing and entertaining to those involved in Scootering and those who simply appreciate what it means to love and ride a work of art.

Invented in America and perfected in Europe, the scooter became a critical component in post-war reconstruction on the continent. Out-of-work munitions and aircraft factories churned out the user-friendly two wheelers as a boost to manufacturing and a way of providing inexpensive transportation capable of traversing a beleaguered infrastructure. Two key Italian marques, Vespa and Lambretta, lead a wave of stylish offerings from across Europe and created instant fan fare. Enthusiasm for the machine was such that scooter clubs were formed almost as quickly as the first models rolled off of the assembly lines. Competitive scooter riding events soon followed, and, in their heyday, scooters gave motorcycles a run for their money both on the racetrack and in showrooms.

Colin Shattuck is an active and well-traveled Scooterist involved in DCD, a Denver coalition of Scooter Clubs dedicated to hosting the annual Mile-High Mayhem Rally, one of the most heavily attended in North America. Shattuck is also co-founder of Sportique Scooters, a small chain of Scooter Shops based in Colorado.

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Fire Without Smoke: Memoirs of a Polish Partisan (The Library of Holocaust Testimonies) Review

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(More customer reviews)Some readers may find the title a bit misleading, as the protagonist was a Jew, not an ethnic Pole. Moreover, this book is primarily intended to promote a remembrance of the Jewish experience, not the Polish one.
In any case, Mayevski (originally Moshe Aaron Lajbcygier and then Majewski), was born in Sulejow. During the later German occupation, he hid and then fought in the surrounding area, located approximately 55 km SE of Lodz. His grandfather admired Trotsky, and had a picture of him on the wall. (p. 10). (Did this plant a seed of latent pro-Communism in Mayevski's thinking?)
While hiding from the Nazis among Polish villagers, he indicated little fear of denunciation. In fact, he freely traveled from village to village. At one point, he had worked at 20 different farms (p. 40), and felt so safe that he went out for walks in the evenings. (p. 41).
Mayevski eventually served in the AK as an incognito Jew. (p. 116). Considering the fact that many Poles could identify even well-assimilated Jews after getting to know them, and that the AK was sensitive about the particulars of its members, Mayevski's Jewishness must have long been an open secret. In any case, there were also openly-Jewish members of the AK, including its top echelons, as noted by Polonsky. (Introduction, p. 4).
Contrary to the lurid portrayals of the AK as an anti-Semitic organization out to exterminate Jews (e. g., Yaffa Eliach, Oskar Pinkus), Mayevski doesn't describe his experiences in the AK in any such terms. The AK did shoot one fugitive Jew for robbing farmers. (p. 121). He also discusses a group of renegade AK members who deserted, turned to banditry, preyed on both Poles and Jews, and got recruited by the Germans for collaborationist activities. (pp. 101-102). His AK unit liquidated them. [Well after the start of the second Soviet occupation of Poland, bandits of all sorts still preyed on the people. The bandits included German deserters and Vlasov soldiers. (p. 146)].
This work gives invaluable details on the methodology used by the AK to identify, trail, and liquidate informers. (pp. 98-101, 108-109). It was clearly an arduous, hazardous, and time-consuming process. (This clarifies recurrent Jewish complaints of the Polish Underground "not doing enough" to liquidate denouncers of Jews. These tacitly suppose that it was a straightforward task that required minimum resources.) The Polish informers had been motivated by hefty payments (p. 100), and reprieves from being sent to concentration camps in return for collaboration. (p. 109).
One former AK member I had interviewed confirmed Polonsky's claim that the AK often regarded individual fugitive Jews as a security risk. (p. 4). When caught by Germans, having nothing to lose and owing minimal loyalty to Poland, they promptly divulged everything that they had observed, often with dire consequences.
Both Mayevski (p. 112) and Polonsky (p. 4) label the NSZ fascist. They should know better. Evidently, Mayevski's falling for this Communist propaganda, and that which accused the NSZ of being out to exterminate Poland's surviving Jews, were major factors in his decision to abandon the AK in favor of the Communist AL. (p. 112, 118).

Polonsky has a good grasp of the modus operandi of the GL/AL: "The communist-controlled forces, which were quite weak, advocated an immediate confrontation with the Nazi occupier, both to take the pressure off the Soviet Union and in order to radicalize the situation in Poland by courting savage German reprisals." (p. 3).


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Smoke Screens: The Truth About Tobacco Review

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(More customer reviews)I have only finished reading the foreword and intro to this book thus far, but it already has provided enough facts, research, and other details that clearly show the great hoax that has been perpetrated on the world regarding tobacco. In just the intro alone, this book contains more than enough evidence of the hypocrisy and outright lies that have been used to justify the unfairness of legislation passed to not just restrict but also to demonize the use of tobacco. And to what end? Take money from tobacco taxes to fund themselves under the guise of concern for public health. This book should be used as the basis for overturning every law passed prohibiting smoking. It's a must-read for everyone who's concerned about their right to smoke where permitted. More later as I continue the reading. This book has as high a recommendation as can be given.

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So Great a Light, So Great a Smoke: The Beguin Heretics of Languedoc (Conjunctions of Religion and Power in the Medieval Past) Review

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(More customer reviews)Louisa Burnham has shed light on a previously little-known heretical movement in southern France. Not to be confused with the Beguines and Beghards of the Low Countries, these Begins were involved in the conflict over spiritual Franciscanism and the apocalyptic prophecies of John Olivi (in which St Francis had inaugurated the "Third Age" of the Holy Spirit, perfecting and completing the earlier historical ages of the Father (OT) and Son (NT-St Francis).
What is most amazing about this book is its eminent readability: she had such a storyteller's knack that even abstruse theology and complicated doctrinal arguments become an exciting, page-turning read! Then, every so often, I'd step back and realize that one delicious paragraph might be the distillation of months in an archive. Turning piles of dusty documents into thrilling, dynamic prose is certainly one of the greatest challenges a historian must face; Louisa Burnham succeeds magnificently at this.

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The Smoke of the Gods: A Social History of Tobacco Review

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(More customer reviews)I have read numerous books written on tobacco over the last 100+ years, from the fairly dry (Alfred Dunhill's "The Pipe Book") to the too-trendy-to-be-of-any-use (G. Cabrera Infante's "Holy Smoke"). Burns's "The Smoke of the Gods" is hardly dry; the book can be highly enjoyable to read, especially in the first half. If you're looking for an apparently well-researched history of tobacco -- with a particular focus on its social impact -- from its earliest whiffs, the first half of the book delivers better than perhaps any other book I've read.
But it starts to falter once the timeline reaches the late 1800s. And unless you're interested only in the history of the cigarette -- and, then, only in the health/quitting discussion or the advertising impact -- you might as well stop once the book reaches the 1950s. From that point on, the discussion completely ignores the Cuban tobacco embargo, the entire subject of pipe smoking (including the sudden blossoming of boutique tobacco blenders that began in the 1990s and continues today), and the cigar resurgence that took hold in the 1990s. One could finish this book believing that pipe smoking had vanished and that no one really smokes cigars anymore. In fact, while pipe smoking's numbers are tiny (by comparison with cigarettes), there has, perhaps, never been so many artisan pipe makers (selling pipes in the $250-$1,000+ range) and pipe-tobacco blenders in existence as there are right now. In addition, dedicated cigar bars continue to exist throughout the country, in cities big and small. It actually would have been nice for Burns to consider why those facts are true, what tobacco delivers (besides nicotine addiction, which is largely irrelevant for pipe/cigar smokers) that continues to earn it a place in some people's lives.
I had no expectation that this would be a book by a tobacco consumer. I was not looking for a modern apologia. But it seems that Burns's perspective was completely skewed once the health debate surrounding cigarette smoking entered the picture. I would have appreciated a book that truly cast its eye at the *whole* social picture surrounding the continuing use of tobacco.
Finally, it must also be said that, while Burns begins the story in South America, he is really aiming at a U.S.-based readership; once tobacco makes its way from the Americas to Europe and back again, the rest of the world's tobacco use is almost completely disregarded.

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