THE GREATEST SPEECH EVER

THE GREATEST SPEECH EVER              JAMES L.COTTON JR.
Posted:  Mar. 3, 2014

The Greatest Speech, Ever  This book was written to be more than a specialized monograph about the Gettysburg Address. The author digressed along the way into side excursions and back rods of Abraham Lincoln's remarkable life- exploring his hardscrabble childhood, and his courageous but controversial Emancipation Proclomation. After all, to fully understand how the Gettysburg Address came to be. Part of the greatness of the Gettysburg Address is that the the DANA of Lincoln's life is found in every word. Senator Baker in his Foreward wrote "Judge Cotton's book is not only a fascinating and scholarly assessment of the Gettysburg Address and its impact on America, but also an absorbing look into Abraham Lincoln's life."

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This is a very in depth look at the speech that President Lincoln gave in Gettysburg for the dedication of the memorial. The author said that he had not heard it or looked at it in a while until Sep 11, 2012 during the memorial for all of the people that were lost at the Twin Towers. This is a very in depth look at not only the speech and how it came about, but also about Lincoln. That he had his own body guard by the name of Ward Hill Lamon. He was paid $2.00 a week and he was a friend of Lincolns back when the President was a lawyer, he also campaign for him. Hill stood 6ft 2 inches, carried a gun, brass knuckles and was incorruptibly loyal and willing to step in front of a bullet or a blade to safe the President. Lincoln did not want to be seen as a King or someone who needed consent protection, but from the time he was elected into office he was receiving letters daily of threats of his life. Hill was really the only who saw though letters. Lincoln also made him and U.S.Marshall as well. As for the speech it really started back in 1858. He gave a speech in Chicago about immigrants and how they were promised the same assurances in the Declaration of Independence as someone who was born here in America. “That if not we are living a contradiction of the expressed promise of the Declaration of Independence “”All men are created equal”. Whether Thomas Jefferson consciously intended his words to extend that beyond white males, slaves, immigrant and people of color you do not know. It is not written. Lincoln’s argument spoken as a lawyer which he was at the time of this speech, was the word expressed promise that “ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL.” It was like no one got it. On July 7 1863, celebrating the victories of Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Lincoln speech was the beginnings of the Gettysburg address. “How long ago is it – 80 years since on the 4 of July for the first time in history of the world a nation by its representatives, assembled and declared a self-evident truth that all men are created equal”. He went on to say that the Confederate war against the Union was to overthrow that very principle. He went on to say, “Some people talk of freedom for the slaves a few speak of equality you cannot have either until you have both”. For this speech which I had never seen before was more powerful than the Gettysburg Address. The author also wrote about how Lincoln could have delayed the election of 1864, he did not because he said by “doing so would be like the South winning for we would be doing away with are principles”. He could not stand for that. That was something also no one had ever talked about. He then dispelled the rumors of the speech being written on an envelope or anything else. He only went by what is in museums and has been authenticated. The day of the speech was strange for a number of reasons. This has been in all of the books I have read about Lincoln, (my wife says too many). Lincoln in his Youngers years was a surveyor, so he meet with the man William Sanders, who was the landscape architect of the Soldier’s National Cemetery. He then toured the grounds with Seward, who was Sec of State. It would be nice to know if anything was said then. Then back to the podium, band played a short introduction and then the first speaker. Edward Everett he spoke for two hours. Boring, but they said he was entertaining, I don’t know how but all the books agree on the time. The President of The U.S. Lincoln gets up the crowd is stirring standing for two hours people begin to talk it is hot the President starts talking and he is done, his speech is less than 3 min and the ones that heard it say it was great but most people don’t even hear it. Mr. French said “it was the best speech he ever heard and wished he would have written it”. Really the speech was printed in some papers that for emancipation but the speech was torn apart by northern and southern papers. It would really be 50 years later that his speech was looked at again for what it really was and herald as one of the greatest speeches ever. But WW1 was beginning. Now the book at the time of the war South Carolina who actually fired the first shot, had more than half of their population were slaves. 1 out 7 persons in America was a slave & the south had when he became President over 4 million people languishing in human bondage in the south. Lincoln goal was freedom for all men, he believed ALL MEN WERE CREATED EQUEAL. No ands or buts about it the sad thing is he also killed for that belief. This is a good book with more information than what I gave in my review. You can tell I liked it. I got this book from net galley.

SPORT AND THE SHAPING OF ITALIAN AMERICAN IDENTITY

SPORT AND THE SHAPING OF ITALIAN AMERICAN I.D.   GERALD GEMS
Posted:  Mar. 3, 2014

Sport and the Shaping of Italian-American Identity  This book represents an interdisciplinary analysis of the role of sport in the formation of an ethnic identity and the transition in that identity across four generations. It portrays the struggles, the triumphs, and the ambiguities of the assimilation process.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
An interesting book on Italian Americans and how sports and sport figures played a role in their lives. The first three chapters or so talks about the life of the Italian American in the U.S. and the prejudice not only from the people already here but also from the Northern Italian to the Southern Italian and Sicilians. The first few generations that came over very few played any sports there was a few that run track but it really was not until the 20s when some of the more baseball players were Italians and then boxers that boys start to think about maybe sports. Still many of them had to work first to help support the family. That is why the older boys are usually the ones that stayed home and the younger ones played ball. Joe DiMaggio for example had three older brothers 2 became fisherman like their father the next oldest played pro ball though you never hear of him he helped break the news for Joe and his younger brother Dom to go and play baseball with the hopes of making it to the pros. Not a bad book but for me it was a slow read. A lot of the information I already knew but if you don’t know the plight of the Italian immigrant in the U.S. this is a good book. I got this book from net galley.

WHITE FIRE

WHITE FIRE                                              PRESTON & CHILD
Posted:  Mar. 3, 2014

White Fire (Pendergast, #13)  Special Agent Pendergast arrives at an exclusive Colorado ski resort to rescue his protégée, Corrie Swanson, from serious trouble with the law. His sudden appearance coincides with the first attack of a murderous arsonist who--with brutal precision--begins burning down multimillion-dollar mansions with the families locked inside. After springing Corrie from jail, Pendergast learns she made a discovery while examining the bones of several miners who were killed 150 years earlier by a rogue grizzly bear. Her finding is so astonishing that it, even more than the arsonist, threatens the resort's very existence.

Drawn deeper into the investigation, Pendergast uncovers a mysterious connection between the dead miners and a fabled, long-lost Sherlock Holmes story--one that might just offer the key to the modern day killings as well.

Now, with the ski resort snowed in and under savage attack--and Corrie's life suddenly in grave danger--Pendergast must solve the enigma of the past before the town of the present goes up in flames.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This is a first time that I have a Pendergast book by Lincoln Child. I was very pleased with the story line and with the characters. A very well thought book. It starts out with his protégée Corrie Swanson trying to find a project for her class. She is trying for a grant she wants to pay for the rest of her schooling herself. She comes across a story from Colorado in a small ski resort where they are in the process of reburying some miners from 150 years ago who were killed by a bear. Once she gets into town things start to happen to her that she cannot explain. Pendergast makes it into town to really safe her the first day. There is so much going on in this story I don’t want to give anything away. A very good book with an ending that I did not see. I was very happy with this book and will look for another one of this Pendergast books again I can get hooked on this character. I got this book from net galley.

IN THE SHADOW OF KINZUA

IN THE SHADOW OF KINZUA              LAURENCE M. HAUPTMAN
Posted:  Mar. 3, 2014

In the Shadow of Kinzua: The Seneca Nation of Indians Since World War II  Drawing on extensive federal, state, and tribal archival research, Hauptman explores the political background of the Kinzua dam while also providing a detailed, at times very personal account of the devastating impact the dam has had on the Seneca Nation and the resilience the tribe has shown in the face of this crisis.

HUBBY'S REVIEW:
This book is another sad and long tall of the American Government breaking treaties of Native Americans. This treaty was signed by George Washington in 1794 and gave the Seneca Nation a parcel of land. The Seneca belong to the Iroquois. This treaty was signed by one of their most fearless and trusted leader and warrior Canandaigua, he was the Chief who signed the treaty and fought for it as well. The name Kinzua is the name of the dam and from which the area was being called over the years. The governments’ of New York, Pennsylvania and the federal government. In the 1840s the government took the tribe to court and lost, the court sided with the leaders of the tribe and with the treaty. It was not until the end of WWII that the federal government started going after this land and other Indian land. The reason it was said was that dams were needed to be built for the growth of the nation. The Truman and Eisenhower administrations ended federal regulations and status of approx. 100 tribe’s lands, Rancherias. Displacing 13,263 Native Americans and basically seizing 1,365,801 acres of land that was given to them by our government. The Seneca’s fought immediately in court to delay the taking of their land other tribes were not as fortunate. This same time Truman does away with any Indian commission and comes up with a new title. Indian claims commission migration, if that is not bad enough the person he puts in charge is Dillons Meyer who is a career administrator and headed the war relocation authority from 1942-1946. Yes the same agency that supervised the tragic removal, detention of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans now he was allowed to destroy the Indians as well. The government still had to pass a bill in congress (108) in 53, because it wanted to make sure that they got all of the land they needed in California, Florida, and Texas to be freed for federal control. By 58 the dept. of interior had contrasted 34 power plants and there were dams in the west named, Big Bend, Bonnyville, Boyson, Cochtli, Dulles, Fort Randell ,Garrison ,Glenn Canyon, Gramculee, Roosevelt and Yellow Tail Dam. All were divesting to Native Americans, from there burial grounds to plants they used for medicines’ to name a few. The Arikara, Hidatsa and Mandan on the Missouri river were devastated. Gone was the reservation splitting up families destroying food, timber and coal they used for fuel. The cost of the dam was 299 mill and took them from 47 to 59 to build it. The three tribes did go to court a got 12, 605, and 65. Far less than the Seneca’s would get, but all the tribes still just wanted their land. The fight now went into the Kennedy administration where the tribe lost. During the 50s the government went on a new fight saying that they needed all of these new dams and power plants to keep up with Russia. They just happen to be mostly on Indian land. The fight with the Seneca’s they referred to the Johnstown flood also as an explanation. Since the dam has been built there have been at least two major floods that this dam was supposed to stop when you look at the testimony for approval to do away with the treaty. As during the hearing 15 of the local white population were allowed to testify but no Tribal member until one of the last days when it was reported in a paper that no one from the Tribe had spoken. Then only 5 were allowed to testify. Not only did they build a dam but also a toll road through their land. The nation still has active court cases and with some of the money the new tribal leaders are lawyers, doctors, teachers, business owners etc. also the government had to move the chiefs burial plot to a new resting place, but what was lost cannot be replaced with money. The plants they used for medicine’s some were only found in the area that was flooded plus not everyone’s burial plot was moved. This was a very long book but for me it was worth the time I am glad I read it. THE Iroquois, Seneca are a proud and fighting nation. They are still fighting to this day. I got this book from net galley.

INDULGING IN IRELING

INDULGING IN IRELYN                           D.L. RAVER
Posted:  Mar. 3, 2014

Indulging in Irelyn by D.L. Raver  NFL quarterback, Zolt Hamil was America’s heartthrob until a career ending injury changed his life. Years later, he’s picked up the pieces and carved out a new path for himself. But the mental and physical scars of that day have left him moody and reclusive, and his only relief is indulging in pleasure and pain with his many one night stands. Though many women have tried, Zolt refuses to care about any of them. Only one woman has his heart; a hallucination of a young, sable-eyed, blonde beauty whom he conjured that painful day on the football field.
On the first day at his new job at a law firm in Scottsdale, Arizona, Zolt comes face to face with his hallucination, Irelyn Wilkes. Their fateful connection, and explosive passion for each other pulls them together, and this time, Zolt refuses to let her slip from his life.
But Irelyn has her own demons to fight and her controlling boyfriend is one of them. He doesn't take kindly to other people playing with his toys, and he’ll stop at nothing to keep her by his side. 
Can Irelyn and Zolt defy the odds and find a way to be together? Or, will the events set in motion years ago keep them apart forever?
Book 2, Being Zolt will be release early June 2014
New Adult. Recommended for eighteen and above due to adult content, drug use, language, and sexual situations.

MY REVIEIW:
    This was one intense “Freakin’ Story!”  OMG!  It’s like where do you begin and how do you keep from giving anything away or at least to much?  First and foremost you need to know there is a whole lot of sex going on in this book, not to mention light BDSM (meaning it goes on the out skirts of it and talks about it more than the definition of it thank goodness for me.
     The book revolves around Lrelyn Wilkes and Zolt Hamil to people whose paths crossed under unusual circumstances.  When Zolt was injured at the fatal NFL game that ended his career Irelyn happened to be on the field and their eyes made a connection that gave him comfort then and over the last six years.  He really thought she was just a hallucination for all the pain he made up to give him comfort that day.  Especially, since in that dream the girl couldn’t be more that 15 or 16 so what would she be doing on the field anyway?  He knew if he ever found her she would have to be his.
     Well, after the NFL he became a lawyer, a damn good one when he was asked to come back to Arizona from Chicago he said okay.  When he finally meets with his new boss a picture of his angel from 6 years ago is on his boss sideboard.  It’s his boss’s daughter.  Then his boss tells him that she is working the summer at the firm so he will meet her and Zolt is freaking out he can’t believe she’s real.
     When he does meet her in the copy room when he helps her with a paper jam he can’t believe it’s really her.  The air around them is sizzling.  Zolt has a 6th sense about things and he is filling a sense of a dark cloud around them as if something big and bad is going to happen.  The rest you will have to read yourself.  Wow, this wouldn’t end with all the twist and turns the way it did but it did, damn.  The only thing that got me was this was a, to be continued ending.  I can’t say I am totally disappointed this book had so much going on I did not expect at all that I don’t feel cheated but it did not have a clear cut ending.  It was one of those books you just can’t put down.  Provided by netgalley.com
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CAN'T SHAKE YOU

CAN'T SHAKE YOU                                  MOLLY MC LAIN
Posted:  Mar. 3, 2014

Can't Shake You by Molly McLain  Lovers to friends to lovers…could it get any more complicated?

One thing Carissa Brandt knows: spontaneity always get her in trouble. Still, she’s gone and jumped head first into an impulsive summer renovation project with her fingers crossed. When her contractor turns out to be a cheat, it seems her only lifeline is the proffered hand of Josh Hudson—the sexy Marine who left her aching for more than their single night together three years ago. 

Josh has two hard and fast rules: never mix business with pleasure and don’t look twice at women his friends have dated, much less loved. It makes life in a small town simple—or it would, if he wasn’t harboring a secret with the potential to destroy his good name and the reputation of a woman he can’t get out of his head. 
When Carissa finds herself in a bind, Josh’s integrity—both personal and professional—won’t let her fail. Will working together finally extinguish the attraction lingering between them? Or will the smoldering embers of their passionate rendezvous ignite all over again and set aflame the friendships they cherish the most?
Warning: This book contains a hella-sexy, inked up hero, a spunky heroine who isn’t afraid to speak her mind, smokin’ hot sex, and enough swearing to make your momma blush. For readers 18+.

MY REVIEW:
       This story revolves around Carissa Brandt and Josh Hudson to people who Three years ago went to dinner and drinks with Dan (Josh’s Brother) and Maddie (Dan’s Fiancé and Carissa’s friend) and were ditched during after dinner drinks.  There were sparking chemistry between this Marine and the new comer to River Bend, Nebraska from the minute they both walked in the door.
     Carissa really didn’t want to go to Maddie’s and hear her and Dan getting their groove on so she thought out loud and Josh responded.  Josh being the nice horny guy he is tells her she can stay on his couch or bed, with a devilish smirk and Carissa jumps on it and him.  At some point Josh deploys for two tours never giving any indication that he would want a relationship or more so she ask for him to keep it their secret. 
     When he returns she is with one of his best friends.  He’s not happy but what can he say, “Hey Fletch, I jumped you gal bones before you did.”  I think not.  So, he’s kept the secret even though it killed him, dreaming about her daily and Carissa about him too.  They were both wanting each other and both not happy but not wanting to be the first to call “UNCLE!”
     When the contractor that Carissa hires turns out to be a fraud and Josh comes to the rescue things take a huge change.  You wouldn’t want to miss it…

     I totally enjoyed this story.  There was not only a romance going on but a mystery suspense going on at the same time it turned out to be who I thought  from the start.  It did make me start questioning myself thinking it could be one of the key supporting characters.   I totally enjoyed the bond and pull Josh and Carissa had on each other.  What just tugged at me was the talk between Josh and his Dad.  You won’t want to miss it, I know you will enjoy it and this book too.

FALLING FOR THE WINGMAN

FALLING FOR THE WINGMAN            CRISTA MC HUGH
Posted:  Mar. 3, 2014

Air Force pilot Caleb Kelly has come back home with one mission in mind—to propose to the woman whose letters and lucky charm helped him survive his deployment in Afghanistan. But when he finds their apartment empty with a note saying she’s left him, he arrives at her mother’s house in rural Alabama less than a week before Kourtney is about to marry another man. Now he’s out to win her heart again and gets some unexpected assistance from her younger sister, Alex.

Alex Leadbetter has always thought Caleb was too good for her manipulative, social-climbing sister. She had assumed Kourtney’s identity to write letters to him and keep his spirits up until he returned home to the hard truth, never expecting to fall in love with him along the way. After he shows up in town, she convinces him that the best way to get Kourtney back is to make her think he’s fallen for someone new — her. But when a fake romance becomes all too real, her deception may leave them both grounded.

MY REVIEW:

   What a fun story this was.  A classic Cyrano with a flip of the coin.  Alex Leadbetter, she is Cyrano.  Caleb Kelly is Christian who Alex helps woo her sister in this case Kourtney.  Whom would be the said Roxanne?
     You see Caleb is a Flyboy and was dating and living with Kourtney on a base when he go deployed to Afghanistan, not soon after he left Kourtney wrote a dear John letter and left it on the bar at the house not even bothering to mail it to him.  So, Alex who had been in love with Caleb since the moment she met him hacks her sisters email account and writes to him for 9 of the 11 months he was gone to give him hope and courage to keep going and stay safe and for safe passage home.  While trying to soften the blow saying she didn’t like being a service man’s girlfriend it’s not for her.        When he arrives home to no girlfriend to meet him and a note he jumps in his car and drives to hours to get to her mother’s home to get the answers from Kourtney.  One small problem.  He’s met at the door by Alex only to find out Kourtney getting married in 6 days.  Alex and him come up with a plan…
     I really enjoyed this story a great deal.  The characters were a lot of fun.  I really enjoyed Alex’s zest for life and how she really cared about all her friends and towns’ people, most of all how well she loved Caleb.  She loved him with her whole mind, body and soul.  He just never saw her he was too blinded by her sister’s boobs.  Although he had so much more in common with Alex you could tell from the start of the story.
     I love how Alex stays and is the same person but yet in Caleb’s eyes she is the caterpillars morphing into a butterfly.  Fast read but so worth it all the supporting characters only add to its charm.  Proof readers would be helpful this book had a lot of third grade mistakes.  Provided by netgalley.

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