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Latest FireBlade Book Reviews

Also, check out the best books I’ve reviewed and all the books I’ve reviewed.


The Civil War in Popular Culture Jim Cullen Reviewed 12/26/2002 Purchase
Shelby Foote called the Civil War “The crossroads of our being” as Americans. Cullen writes that “officially, the Civil War ended in 1865, but culturally, it was just beginning.” The war’s meaning was at stake; if history can be said to be written by the victor, outside observers might find it hard to understand that the South lost the war. More...
An Unlikely Prophet Alvin Schwartz Reviewed 10/24/2002 Purchase
The subtitle is “Revelations on the Path Without Form,” and the book begins with a quote from Rainer Maria Rilke: “We must take on our existence as broadly as we possibly can; this is the only courage that is demanded of us: to have courage for the most strange, the most inexplicable.” More...
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee Reviewed 9/8/2002 Purchase
I don’t think you can fully enjoy any Southern civil rights work without having read “To Kill a Mockingbird.” All such works are written in the shadow of Harper Lee. More...
The Abolitionists Merton L. Dillon Reviewed 9/2/2002 Purchase
This is a fascinating look at how a tiny minority came to affect the course of a nation. The abolitionist movement was vocal, idealistic, principled, and their arguments irrefutable. But ultimately, nobody cared. More...
The Worm Ouroboros E. R. Eddison Reviewed 7/1/2002 Purchase
This book does everything wrong; under no circumstances would it be published today, except perhaps as a self-published venture, and then it would be used as an example of why self-publishing is wrong. More...
Webmaster in a Nutshell Stephen Spainhour, Valerie Quercia Reviewed 1/27/2002 Purchase
Without doubt the best reference work for webmasters that you’ll find. It contains the “reference” part of most of O’Reilly’s web-relevant nutshell books. You can find references for HTML 3.2, the CGI standard, JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets, PHP, the HTTP 1.1 protocol, and configuration statements and server-side includes for the Apache/NCSA webservers. More...
The Siege of Harlem Warren Miller Reviewed 1/6/2002 Purchase
This is a strange artifact of the sixties. Written in 1964, published in 1965, it tells the story of when Harlem seceded from the Union and built its own government. The cover blurb says “Beneath the hilarity is a clear warning: ‘Laugh at your peril. It could happen.’” More...
Alec: How to Be an Artist Eddie Campbell Reviewed 10/16/2001 Purchase
Another in Eddie Campbell’s wonderful series of semi-autobiographical “Alec” books, this one is more autobiographical than semi. More...
HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide Chuck Musciano, Bill Kennedy Reviewed 9/13/2001 Purchase
I’ve never found an HTML book that I’ve considered great. This one is probably the best. It covers just about everything in HTML, as well as a little bit of Cascading Style Sheets. More...
Perl Cookbook Tom Christiansen, Nathan Torkington Reviewed 9/12/2001 Purchase
This is probably the most useful Perl book I own. Whenever I need a solution quickly--which is often here at the University--I am very likely to find my start in the Perl Cookbook. More...
Blackout Matt Ward Reviewed 9/10/2001 Purchase
A murder mystery and thriller, but the deceased is television, the suspects big business and Middle-Eastern revolutionaries, and the detective a master foley artist. More...
The Heretic Jason K. Chapman Reviewed 9/8/2001 Purchase
A fast-moving cyberpunk tale that is about as realistic as it can be and still be called “cyberpunk”. More...
Bordersnakes James Crumley Reviewed 9/6/2001 Purchase
Two crazy private investigators and long-time drinking buddies snort their way across Texas in search of a missing financial advisor, a mysterious woman, and three million dollars. More...
The Blowtop Alvin Schwartz Reviewed 8/29/2001 Purchase
First published in 1948, this “original Beat novel” has been revived by the author and Olmstead Press, and advertised as “classic!”, “Legendary!” and “Incendiary!” More...
This Is Not An Assault David T. Hardy, Rex Kimball Reviewed 8/5/2001 Purchase
Liberals who fear a police state will have their fears confirmed, and Conservatives who believe in strong law enforcement should receive a wake up call from “This Is Not An Assault”. More...
Javascript: The Definitive Guide David Flanagan Reviewed 8/2/2001 Purchase
Javascript gets a bad rap on the web, mostly because of advertisers who abuse its ability to open windows, which is too bad, because Javascript can do some really nice things for web surfers. More...
Possession: A Romance A. S. Byatt Reviewed 7/30/2001 Purchase
Jumping between nineteenth century poets and the twentieth century scholars studying those poets, this is a richly detailed romance and mystery. More...
Hitler’s Last Courier Armin D. Lehmann Reviewed 7/25/2001 Purchase
Lehmann’s account of the last days of Hitler’s Germany, from the standpoint of a sixteen-year-old, is fascinating, but just as fascinating is his account of the ten years leading up to that end. More...
Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide Eric A. Meyer Reviewed 7/23/2001 Purchase
Cascading style sheets really kick ass. Once you start using them, you’ll find it hard to imagine what you did without them. More...
Tortilla Flat John Steinbeck Reviewed 7/17/2001 Purchase
The first of Steinbeck’s novels to be set in the Monterey area, Tortilla Flat follows Danny, a paisano, from his inheritance of two houses through his “mystic end”. More...

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Jerry

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