Book Description

In New Mexican Lives, Richard Etulain and a distinguished group of twelve collaborators re-interpret the state’s history through biography. Profiles of fourteen notable, complex characters provide a unique view into New Mexico’s development from prehistoric times to the present. Here are lives of men and women that illustrate memorable events: from Popé and the Pueblo Revolt to Spanish colonizers Juan de Oñate and Diego de Vargas; from Hispanic widows exercising their property rights to Billy the Kid and the shoot-out in Lincoln; from Mabel Dodge Luhan and her avant-garde, idealistic salon to Senator Dennis Chavez and his exercise of Hispanic political power on a national level.

By emphasizing the links between important New Mexicans and their times, this book makes history a personal story of drama and pathos played out within a larger context of pivotal events and formative ideas. For example, we see the contradictory forces compelling Chiricahua Apache Mangas Coloradas to be committed to peace while nevertheless waging ceaseless war on Mexico, Kit Carson’s struggle to find a humane way to carry out his duty to wage war on the Navajo, and Susan McSween’s valiant and determined effort to modernize a seemingly untamed town.

This book will appeal to anyone interested in knowing more about how a fascinating mix of people of various cultures have molded New Mexico’s history. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Famous New Mexicans
"New Mexican Lives"
Richard W. Etulain, Editor
ISBN 0-8263-2433-9

This book offers eleven chapters by different authors on various personalities in the history of what is now the state of New Mexico. The most interesting to me are about Tony Hillerman, Mabel Dodge Luhan, Pope and Wendell Chino.

Two of the least interesting chapters are about Billy the Kid and Kit Carson. Kathleen P. Chamberlain tells us that at least 250 books and hundreds of articles have been written about Billy the Kid, a part of a "search for a romantic old West that never existed." Barton H. Barbour describes the "powerful resonance" of Kit Carson's mythic life. In other words, the reputations of these men have as much to do with fiction as fact.

A lesser-known subject is Wendell Chino. Through Mr. Chino's leadership, the Mescalero Apaches have, perhaps, been the most successful tribe in New Mexico at becoming financially independent through the development of their gambling casino and Ski Apache resort area.

Pope was an Indian from San Juan Pueblo, who organized the revolt of 1680. Joe S. Sando, who wrote this chapter, describes this revolt as the original American revolution. It is difficult not too sympathize with the Pueblos in their rebellion against the Spanish conquerors who set about destroying everything these people held dear and exploiting them for Spain's purposes. Pope, it would appear, was a legitimate Indian hero.

Lois Palken Rudnick's chapter about Mabel Dodge Luhan is interesting. Luhan had already had several previous lives of wealth and glamour in Europe and New York prior to showing up in New Mexico. In 1918, she began an affair with Tony Lujan of Taos Pueblo, to whom she was ultimately married for thirty nine years. In Taos Pueblo, Luhan discovered a community that was a model of permanence and stability, where individual, social, artistic, and religious values were completely integrated in a way that she had not previously known. Ultimately, Luhan played a key role in promoting modern art in New Mexico and the work of people such as Andrew Dassburg, Ansel Adams, D. H. Lawrence, Georgia O'Keefe, and Frank Waters.

In the chapter on Tony Hillerman, Ferenc M. Szasz does a good job of characterizing the author's accomplishments. Hillerman, born in Oklahoma, has become a major New Mexico phenomenon as well as a literary voice for the Navajo and the American southwest in general. Szasz explains that Hillerman's themes in his sixteen novels include the following: the nuclear world and the cold war, southwestern anthropology and western history, Indian gaming, alcohol abuse, hantavirus, Indian education, and, in particular, the Navajo view of these things. Hillerman's writing, as it turns out, complements well the state's multi-million dollar tourism industry, said to employ 60,000 New Mexicans. It has been suggested that Hillerman's novels have brought more tourists to New Mexico than any other single source.

On the whole, for those interested in New Mexico, Richard Etulain has brought together some appealing reading. ... Read more

Book Description

In 1970 Margaret Hollenbach, an idealistic twenty-five-year-old graduate school dropout, changed her name and gave up her possessions to join a commune known as The Family, located in Taos, New Mexico. The Family believed in "group marriage" and practiced its own version of Gestalt therapy, sometimes coercively. Hollenbach spent only a few months in this intense environment, but the lessons she learned have shaped her life. She tells the story of the young woman she was then in an unsparingly honest memoir. ... Read more

Book Description

Biographies of six "ladies of pleasure," whose parlor houses were scandalous ornaments to the whole state, make amusing reading. ... Read more

Book Description

In February of his forty-fourth year, journalist David McCumber signed on as a hand on rancher Bill Galt's expansive Birch Creek spread in Montana. The Cowboy Way is an enthralling and intensely personal account of his year spent in open country---a book that expertly weaves together past and present into a vibrant and colorful tapestry of a vanishing way of life. At once a celebration of a breathtaking land both dangerous and nourishing, and a clear-eyed appreciation of the men---and women---who work it, David McCumber's remarkable story forever alters our long-held perceptions of the "Roy Rogers" cowboy with real-life experiences and hard economic truths.

Reviews (30)

A brilliant study of modern ranch life
This is a towering and lyrical journal of a year's life on a vast Montana ranch. McCumber has a fine eye for detail as he catches the daily toil, heartache and joy of the ranch hand. He carries us through the seasons, from Montana's brutal winters, when the calves begin to arrive, through the fierce summers and idyllic falls. This is a narrative that strips the romance out of ranching, forever destroys the mythic cowboy, only to replace that American legend with something more honest and in the end, more poetical and heroic. His descriptions of doctoring cattle, feeding hay in brutal weather, heat and thirst, and the ever-changing crew of rural nomads who come and go at modern ranches, is unforgettable. This book gripped me from the first sentence.

A Must-Have Resource For Writers of the West
This book ruthlessly (and wryly) strips away any idealized notions of the everyday life of a modern-day cowboy. McCumber also strives to reconcile the "old" west to the new (four-wheelers vs horseback, for example) with appropriately ambivalent results. His prose is very much in the style of the kind of work he spent a year performing: nothing wasted. As a writer, I'm sure I'll refer to this book often. As a reader, I wish he'd spent _two_ years on the ranch. That way, the book would have been twice as long.

Montana and Cowboying At Its Best!
David McCumber's, The Cowboy Way: Seasons of a Montana Ranch, is nothing short of brilliant. The inconceivably hard life of the modern day cowboy is described with gripping passion and confident ease. Having spent time in Montana made the memoir even more engaging for me. For those who dream of the cowboy life or simply the magic of the Rocky Mountain west, this wonderful account will do little to suppress the inherent desire to act on those dreams.

Writer Living the Modern day Life of a Real Cowboy:
This is quite an undertaking by the author to leave the comforts of the modern world to work in a Montana cattle ranch for a year. The author experiences everything that a new hand will be required to do from the ground up. From virtually using large farm equipment to dump trucks, to manure haulers including repair work and cleaning that keep the equipment in shape. McCumber does a lot of humbling work all through the year with high points of fence repair in beautiful wide open country, to capturing strays usually on four wheel all terrain vehicles and the highlight of occasional work on horse back. Long, often-grueling days of honest work that test many a hand that quit and occasionally return. The amount of land involved in the Galt ranch is mesmerizing along with all the equipment needed to keep it all going. Quite astonishing to read that the owner can actually perform successful cesareans on cows that have breech problems along with a unique castration of a bull with a stone cramping his hose so to speak that as a result now has an alternate urethra. The author does a wide range of mundane work but works his way up to running heavy equipment, wrestling steers for branding to actually vaccinating cows to the joy of driving cattle when its on horseback. He may not have learned it all but he experienced it all and actually became accomplished at most. The rewards for the hard work are his satisfaction of accomplishment, being out in beautiful open country and the occasional run at old cowboy style work on horseback. This book reads like a highly readable and entertaining diary, which also lets you get to know all the hands and owner who must love the life to endure the days. At the end of the final chapter, you feel like you know them very well and you wish for another chapter or perhaps a personal newsletter.

Magnificent scenery and aching muscles - the cowboy way
I love books that help me travel to worlds unknown to me. And, as I live in New York City, ranching is something I know absolutely nothing about. That's why this book by David McCumber, in which he chronicles a year spent as a ranch hand, intrigued me. As he was a 44-year old journalist with no experience ranching, I could easily relate to his trials as tribulations as he learned what it takes to be a cowboy today. He's a straightforward clear writer and he uses his words well to describe even the most mundane tasks that are the daily routines for the people who live and work on ranches.

Basically, it's all about the care and feeding of cows and this includes the baling of hay, an essential job which has its own set of challenges. There's the birthing of the calves and the cleaning of the pens. There's setting up and irrigation system, and fixing miles of fencing. Often the weather is brutal and virtually all the work is outside. There's some horseback riding, of course, but nowadays most of the work is done with various trucks and motorcycles and vans which always need mechanical work, also done by the ranch hands. Mistakes are made often and result in a tongue lashing from the owner who knows everything there is to know about ranching and wants no other way of life.

These are real people that the author meets and he writes about them all with a sense of admiration and I'm glad he also included the history of the White Sulphur Springs area, which he researched as background. The magnificent scenery comes alive, as do his aching muscles. He enjoys it all completely and made it quite real for me. I must admit though, that in spite of his detailed explanations, I didn't understand it all, especially when he described the mechanical aspects of the baling machines or the irrigation system or the fixing of the motor in a truck. However, I had no trouble at all understanding the birthing, branding and castrating process. And I was right there with him as he fixed fences and chased straggling cattle for miles.

I thank Mr. McCumber for writing this book. I learned a lot from it. Now, whenever I hear the word "cowboy", I'll think about the real work that that is his daily grind. I'll think of the harsh and beautiful country. And the simple joy of a job well done. Recommended. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Very well written with a fabuolous sense of humor
A very inspirational book and a must for anyone interested in the Grand Canyon. Betty's sense of humor captivated me throughout.

excellent treatment of a fascinating subject
Ms. Leavengood delivers a captivating look at the lives of women who helped to shape the Grand Canyon - not geologically, but culturally. These early explorers helped to open up the Canyon for the millions who would follow, and the author does a great job in capturing the both the appeal of the Canyon and of the women who first made the trip. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the Grand Canyon or the human spirit. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A very fine read
Gen. Shelby did remarkable things with his small command. His genius was unappreciated due to Jefferson Davis' myopic pre-occupation with west point pedigrees instead of ability and results. A Southerner can only sigh at the lost opportunity, if Shelby had been given command of command of the Army of the Trans-Mississippi instead of Theophilus Holmes.
This is a very readable volume about the greatest Confederate cavalryman in the war who led several different lives. About a half of it covers the war, another 1/4th the Mexico adventure, and the remaining 1/4 are split between his growing up and the post-Mexico (1868-97)years.
It features vivid descriptions of many battles in MO and AR, as well as the tale of his expedition to Mexico after the war. The details of his tactics at the Battle of Cane Hill, which he used repeatedly after that is fascinating. The author's style is a bit colorful and folksy, sorta like you're there talking to him. If you demand that your history read like a textbook that may spook you off, but if it doesn't it's a wonderful bio about a neglected figure ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Fantastic journals of a tough breed,lifestyle and adventure
I own originals of Hobson's three books and re-read them every few years. His ability to vividly portray the life that he and The Top Hand and later Mrs. Hobson had in the interior of British Columbia is to have been there. It is hard in today's comfortable way of life to envision the situations and dangers that were simply a part of how it was back then. Having grown up in the mountains of the U.S. West, I can only marvel at the abilities of these adventuresome pioneers in the cattle country of B.C. To have met Rich Hobson was of great interest to me... I simply waited too long and he had passed away. The travels and travails through Hobson's life would make an awsome story for a movie. Note: Make sure you read the three books in sequence... and enjoy! ... Read more

Book Description

In 1972, Dennis Parks, a young potter with a promising academic career ahead of him, decided to move to Tuscarora, a near-abandoned mining town in remote northeastern Nevada. Parks and his wife were attracted to Tuscarora's isolation and beautiful setting, and they believed that it might be a healthy environment in which to raise their two small sons.

Living in the Country Growing Weird is Parks's account of his family's life in Tuscarora, a tiny settlement whose population even forty years later numbers fewer than twenty permanent residents. Parks created a pottery school that attracts students from around the world and developed for himself an international reputation as the creator of powerful, innovative works in clay. Meanwhile, he and his family had to master the numerous skills required of those who choose to live in the back country--growing and hunting their own food, renovating or building from scratch the structures they needed for residences or studios, resolving conflicts with neighbors, inventing their own amusements.

Living in the Country Growing Weird is an engaging and often amusing account of one family's move to a simpler life. As Dennis Parks reveals, the life that he and his family found in Tuscarora is also richer, infinitely more interesting, and profoundly more creative than what they left behind. This book is certain to delight admirers of Parks's pottery who want to learn about his environment and the inspiration of some of his work, but it will also fascinate any reader who has ever dreamed of relocating "far from the madding crowd" and living a simpler and more self-sufficient life. The complexities of life in Nevada's harshly beautiful and remote back country have never been depicted with such sensitivity, or with such good-humored candor. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the English translation of the dime-novelesque biography of one of the most infamous bandits in the history of the Old West, a source of fear and legend in the state of California for decades following the Mexican American War. Ireneo Paz's Spanish-language biography was first published in Mexico City in 1904 and translated into English by Frances P. Belle in 1925. This edition includes line-drawings that appeared in the original volume. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Undoubtedly the most scholarly work yet on this topic.
"Holy Man" is undoubtedly the finest and most scholarly work to date on this topic. Prior to Daws' work, the overwhelming majority of books on this topic have been somewhat biased as they were produced by Catholic clergy and lay writers. Daws has brought the secular historian's skill to this subject and has produced a truly balanced account of the life and work of Father Joseph DeVeuster. Only a visit to the Molokai, Hawaii, settlements of Kalawao and Kalaupapa will provide the reader with a more detailed account of Father Damian's life and work among the lepers of Molokai. Father Daimian was beautified in 1993. A church inquiry is underway to determine whether or not this "Holy Man" should be made a Catholic saint. "Holy Man" is required reading for anyone even marginally interested in Hawaiian history. In the short period of time this work has been in print, it has become required reading for all students of Hawaiian History, American approaches to chronic and incurable disease and Catholic doctrine pertaining to leprosy and lepers. Daws has written a masterful account of the life and works of this important nineteenth century Catholic clergyman. "Holy Man" is the definitive work on Father Damian and is likely to remain so well into the next century. Father Damian was buried on the island of Molokai until earlier this century when his remains were exhumed and re-interred in his home of Louvain, Belgium. Today, only his hand remains buried on the island of Molokai. The hand is widely regarded as a religious relic.

Excellent Book!! Great history, very inspiring!
Gavan Daws does an excellent job writing an unbiased account of the life of Father Damien. The author shows great respect for all the characters that appear in this story. The history surrounding Damien's life is accurate and enjoyable. The book is very inspiring and eye-opening. A must-read if you are interested on the Hawaiian Islands. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Timothy Isaiah "Longhair Jim" Courtright operated on both sides of the law and became a legend in his lifetime and after his death. One of the most colorful characters from the wild and woolly days of Fort Worth's Hell's Half Acre, Courtright was at various timescity marshal, deputy sheriff, deputy U.S. marshal, private detective, hired killer, and racketeer. Today, he is almost forgotten, either as a gunfighter or a lawman, except in Fort Worth.

Little is known about Courtright's early life, though he apparently served in the Union army during the Civil War. But when he arrived in the West, Courtright seemed to attract trouble. He was involved in a shootout during the 1886 railroad strikes and was accused of murder in New Mexico. Deputies were sent to Fort Worth to escort him to New Mexico to stand trial. His escape from them, complete with guns hidden under a restaurant table, is one of Fort Worth's most colorful stories. Finally, he was killed in a shootout that he apparently provoked with gambler and gunman Luke Short. To this day nobody is sure what provoked that feud, but Courtright was honored with the longest funeral procession Fort Worth had ever seen.

The myth of Courtright as legendary gunfighter was built in two previous biographies--one by a novelist and the other by a Franciscan priest. After exhaustive research into contemporary newspapers and other accounts and close study of the previous two books, historian Robert K. DeArment deconstructs the myth of Longhair Jim and reconstructs the gunfighter as a real human being, complex, flawed, often courageous, usually both honorable and dishonorable.

This book is a must for all those interested in the legends of the West, its lawmen, and its outlaws. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Biased opinion
I have been enjoying this book mostly because it is the story of my great great grandfather's sister, Mother Marianne. The personal history about the life of one of my ancesters and the times she lived in is facinating. I am also interested in the history of the island of Hawaii, which I had only thought of as a vacation spot before this book. The conflicts and politics of the early colonial powers is something I had never even heard about. I am only halfway through, but its a good book to show what immigrant life in the US was like in the late 1800's, as well as the life and choices of women in that time. What is shows of the treatment of the Hawaiians is sad. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Fascinating insight into the foundation of modern California
San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Jose, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Diego - some of the string of pearls along the length of California.
The book uncovers the work of those few hardy souls who founded those communities in the seventeen-hundreds. Their development model was radically different from the US mainstream: that the land belonged to the Native Americans, and that the missions were to mentor those who volunteered in their transition from the hunter-gatherer/horticulturalist to the agriculturalist strategy.
Already then we see the clash between Serra and the naive Europeans who wanted to rush to impose a European-model urban-based governance system, regardless of the vulnerability of Native-American culture to urban European abuses, and how he held them off for a generation.
And we also see the human dimension: how every great person is in the end a bundle of strengths and weaknesses, and how a person that felt ordinary in himself performs historic achievements. This account is both humbling and empowering.
A clear and fascinating account of Junipero Serra, key person in one of the greatest and most influential states of today's world. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great inside look at the "Wiescamp horses".
Hank Wiescamp ultimately breed some of the greatest horses from four registeries - Quarter, Appalossa, Palomino, and Paint. "The Hank Wiescamp Story" allows the reader to understand how and why Hank made many breeding decisions to create the great "Wiescamp horse". After this book, you too will appreciate what Hank Wiescamp has done to create many of the modern breeds.

Hats off to Hank...... Highly recommend this book for all. Pictures, pedigrees and stories. However, 207 pages could not begin to touch the surface of the 70 years it took to create the "Wiescamp horse". ... Read more

Book Description

From the late 1870's until 1930, Juan Lorenzo Hubbell traded at Ganado, Arizona, in Navajo country.While Euro-Americans viewed him as the dean of Indian traders in the Southwest, Navajo sentiment varied.

J.L. Hubbell's life story tells the larger tale of the settlement of the West, the reservation trader, and the Indian economy.Marths Blue's ethnobiography weaves the conflicts and complexities of the Southwest into Hubbell's life: the Navajos' repatriation and economic recovery, the sera of the reservation trader in frontier history, the tourist explosion wrought by the Santa Fe Railway and the Fred Harvey Company.It also explores Arizona's quest for statehood, water development in its desert plateau country, the transition of the Navajo blanket to rug, and the image-makers' (artists, writers and photographers) portrayals of the Southwest.

Drawing on historical documents, oral histories, and archival materials, Blue presents a fascinating tapestry of character and place richly illustrated by over 100 photographs and maps.Her portrait of Juan Lorenzo Hubbell positions him squarely in the gallery of the West's prominent men. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Indian Trader: the Life and Times of J. L. Hubbell
This new book by Ms Blue is a fascinating read for anyone interested in the Indian trader of the Southwest or indeed of the Southwest itself or of the Navajo people. For anyone who has visited the Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site, at Ganado, you will feel as if you can indentify with the places mentioned. Ms Blue's long connection with the Navajo people gives her a great viewpoint from which to approach this subject. ... Read more

Book Description

Down the Hill is Roy Stier's personal account of the evolution of early logging in the misty-green mountains of Washington.

It is a work that gives detail, character, and historical substance to the logging industry. The St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company is a true microcosm for a brash, new Western adventure which became the sprawling 20th century timber industry.

Filled with incredible historical photos, charming anecdotes, and absorbing narratives of the Pacific Northwest, Down the Hill is a unique, insider's perspective of this adventurous industry. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Logging From the Ground Up
Here's an excellent book about logging and lumbering in the greater Tacoma, WA area.It traces the arrival of those hardy men and women that carved a living out of this wild and untamed area.The author waspersonally involved as a child and spent a number of his early years in avariety of jobs from the ground up.It is also an excellent testament tothe vision of some of those early lumbering businesses that started treefarms and re-forested large tracks of land long before it was a governmentrequirement.If you're interested in the techniques of logging with thevarious apparatus or riggings and what each is called in the woods, this isthe books for you.One thing you'll learn for sure is that noself-respecting logger would ever call himself a "lumberjack" andthe only place you'd hear someone call "timber" as a tree fallsis in the movies. ... Read more

Book Description

Alaska’s climate, extreme topography, and settlement distribution make airplanes and helicopters a crucial means of transportation. Ninety percent of this state is unreachable by road, and at least one third of Alaska’s people live in the bush. In Alaska, travel by air has always been more than just recreational and piloting has always been more than conventional. Alaska pilots are some of the most experienced and skillful aviators in the world, and they run the gamut from commercial pilots to aviation safety inspectors, from big-game guides and bush pilots to aerobatic fliers.

In Alaska’s Women Pilots: Contemporary Portraits, Jenifer Fratzke has compiled seven interviews of contemporary women aviatrices from nearly every reach of that gamut. This collection begins an important documentation of what women have contributed to the aviation industry in Alaska. Fratzke herself has been a flight attendant, flight engineer, copilot, and pilot. Through her eighteen years of experience flying in Alaska, she has tapped into Alaska’s rich and unfolding aviation history by flying with and interviewing many women pilots.

The seven oral histories she includes here explain the women’s motivations for flying; they include the descriptions and praises of mentors that made all the difference; and they recall stories of grief and stories of good fortune. Each personal history is remarkable in what it reveals of the history of aviation in Alaska and the individual contributions that history is built on. These stories are unique and inspirational; at the same time they have an echoing quality that compounds, strengthens, and supports the voices of those who have gone before (Harriet Quimby, Beryl Markham, Pancho Barnes, and many others) and those who may come after. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Cowboy vs. cows, a contest of who's smarter
Wild cows, as the author explains, are just plain ornery, uncooperative cattle that resist all efforts to be rounded up. As a young Texas cowboy in the 1920s and 30s, Green made a living going after these hard-to-catch cattle, and this book is a collection of accounts of his successes (if he ever missed any, he doesn't mention it). Usually he works alone, on horseback, gathering up cows a few at a time and driving them to the nearest train station where they can be shipped to market. Typically he has worked a deal with the owner, buying them "range delivery," and spending sometimes many weeks to outsmart the critters, often one by one, to get them roped, corralled, or whatever it takes.

A young, tough, wild cowboy, as he often refers to himself, he has more than his share of hot, sweaty work, getting bunged up, frustrated, and frequently outmaneuvered. On one job, he's also shunned by a whole community of folk who regard him with disdain as he works to gather up a herd of cows for a bank collecting a bad debt. Each account is different, presenting a very different situation, and Green takes the reader along as he mulls over the problem, tries this and then that, eventually finding a solution.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a departure from other books about cowboying, and it gets very much into cowboy psychology and the wealth of knowledge acquired in dealing daily with cattle. Green writes in a conversational style, with dry humor and a leisurely way of setting scenes and describing action, meanwhile building a kind of suspense as he figures out each time how to outsmart his "wild cows."

Thanks to the University of Nebraska Press for reprinting this and many other classics of western literature. Western illustrator Lorence Bjorklund provides many fine drawings, and with the cover design from a painting by W.H.D. Koerner they capture the spirit of this book wonderfully. I happily recommend this informative and entertaining book to anyone with an interest in cattle ranching and cowboys.

wanting to live a dream
i,m into the cowboy scene.i,ve worked on a ranch in west texas one year,that was the best time of my life.for the review,i read wild cow tales quite a few years ago.i was able to get caught up in the stories,if anybody is into livestock working or otherwise,they can relate to Mr.Ben Green and his stories.hope to get all of his books.thanks for making the available.veral overstreet. p.s. i purchased this book for my great nephew who is seven years old.every since he has been able to talk all that he has wanted to do is be a bullrider.i hope he gets as much enjoyment from the book as i did,again, thanks

Classic Texas Cowboy Book
Ben Green probably writes one of the best cowboy stories I've ever read. A book full of short stories that are enjoyable for the adult as well as the kid. ... Read more